stentorian
adjective
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Davrin sat on a log as he waited for his teammate to finally show up. Kless was probably in some weird magic shop, looking at some trinket or scroll. Davrin was lucky that looking was all the mage could do though, thanks to their recent and unfortunate lack of coin.
The warrior heard people coming through the woods. Two of them by the sound of it. He was no tracker, but he could at least tell one was an adult and the other, a child. It was that second one that meant he could afford to keep his weapon sheathed.
The first person he saw was Kless’ lanky form. He was pulling a few stray brambles out of his robes, cursing quietly. The second was a young girl, probably no more than eight years old. She was dressed in clothes that had probably been nice at one point. A merchant’s runaway daughter maybe?
“What’s with the kid?” Davrin asked.
“Huh?” Kless asked, looking startled that someone had spoken. “Kid? Oh, right. The kid. Her name is Levra, and she’s going to be my new apprentice.”
Levra smiled and puffed her tiny chest up at that.
“Apprentice, huh?”
“Yup.”
He turned to the girl. “And you’re okay with that? He’s not the best mage in the world, you know. You can probably do a lot better.”
She looked at Kless and nodded.
“Don’t talk much, do you?”
“Oh, she doesn’t talk at all.”
“A mute mage? Never heard of that before.”
Levra reached behind her and pulled out a magical writing board. It was a fairly common magical item, with the ability to erase whatever was written on it. She scribbled something on it, then presented it to Davrin. Her handwriting was surprisingly neat for such a young child.
I can talk just fine. It’s just not a good to say anything.
The warrior looked at his magically inclined partner.
“She’s a Gifted. Her parents tossed her out because her Gift is…unusual.”
Davrin let out a low whistle. Gifted were very rare, and usually very powerful. For a family to get rid of one was unheard of.
“Well, if you’re a Gifted, you can definitely do better than this guy. You could probably get an apprenticeship at a major guild. Maybe even a nobleman’s house.”
“Uh, that’s…that’s a bad idea.” Kless said, rubbing his arm.
“Why?” He turned to the girl. “What is your Gift anyway?”
I’m loud.
Davrin blinked. “That’s it? You’re loud? Doesn’t sound like much of a Gift to me. Might get you in with an acting guild, but…”
“She’s selling herself short there, my friend. Here, how about a demonstration? We should probably move deeper into the forest though. A nice clearing where we won’t disturb anyone.”
The girl nodded. Davrin shrugged and started heading deeper into the woods. After a few hours travel, they found a reasonably large clearing far away from town.
“Okay, let’s see what you can do.” Davrin said.
Kless stood close to him and began whispering a spell. It was a simple air shield that was intended to block arrows and other simple projectiles, but it could dampen sound just fine. Levra opened her mouth just a tiny bit and said something.
Davrin had no idea what she said. His ears were ringing too much. It felt like someone had struck a gong right next to him, and used magic to focus every bit of sound directly into his ears. He groaned in pain and clutched them, hoping his eardrums were not damaged. When he opened his eyes, he saw a cloud of dust filled the air.
Kless used a bit of magic to heal both his ears and Davrin’s, then blew the dust away. The once pristine clearing was a wreck. Dirt and rocks had been blasted out, and several trees had been broken apart. The girl stood in the middle of a shallow crater with cracks spreading out in all directions. Davrin could not help but notice that most of the damage was in front of her.
“She did that with her voice?” He asked.
“Yup.”
“She just…shouted…no magic at all?”
“No magic. But that wasn’t a shout. That was a whisper.”
He looked from the mage to the girl. “A whisper? That much power from a whisper?”
“Yup.”
“What would happen if she had shouted?”
Levra had come over to them and heard the question. She wrote something on her board and presented it.
No more forest. Probably not much of a town left either.
“Oh.”
Now he saw why getting her into a noble’s hands was a bad idea. That kind of destructive power would not go unnoticed. She could tip the balance of power between countries. Hell, the girl was the perfect weapon for demolishing an entire army. Who would suspect a tiny little girl of being dangerous? She could walk right into a military camp, maybe even a castle. Then all she had to do was say something.
“Maybe…maybe keeping her around is for the best.” He said.
“Yeah. I was planning on teaching her wind and sound magic. You know, control her Gift with magic.”
Levra seemed quite happy with that idea, and she nodded enthusiastically.
“Good idea.” Davrin said. “Let’s, uh, let’s get to it, then. Go back to town and get her equipped and registered and all that.”
The Gifted girl celebrated wordlessly as they turned, leaving the ruined area behind.
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That is a terrifying power, and one which I would not want. I don't talk much, but not being able to without causing wide spread destruction? That'd be terribly for a number of reasons.
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