He reached the far bank, and raised his arms in the air triumphantly. The boys cheered. Then on the way back to where Ella stood watching, her fingers twisting nervously, the icy surface of the river broke.
It didn’t happen slowly; it happened all at once. Miro plunged through the ice, his body vanishing in moments. Ella screamed, a piercing, little girl’s scream, but ear-splitting nonetheless. She frantically looked around her, trying to find some kind of rope, or a long stick. There was nothing that would come close to being long enough to reach the place where Miro had fallen through.
Miro struggled, desperately trying to find some purchase. All Ella could see was the occasional flash of his arm, or his white eyes, wide with fear. There was nothing for it. Ella took a step out onto the ice.
"I wouldn’t do that, young lady," a booming voice rang out.
A hand grabbed Ella by the arm in an unbreakable grip.
"Let me go!" Ella screamed, watching her brother’s movements weaken.
"If you want to save him, you will need to stop struggling," the man said in a steady voice. "I need both hands for this."
Ella looked at the newcomer for the first time. He was dressed in the green robes of an enchanter. At his side he held a stout length of wood, inscribed with arcane symbols — runes, Ella knew they were called. He had a crisp white beard, gentle brown eyes and a long face.
He let go of Ella and she stilled, suddenly transfixed, watching the thrashing of her brother and then looking at the enchanter, wondering what he would do, praying it would be something to save Miro.
The enchanter took his staff in both hands and moved it to a horizontal position, his body sideways so that his left shoulder pointed towards the river. He began to chant in a sonorous voice, strange syllables coming from his mouth in a lilting rhythm. The runes on the staff lit up as the man chanted, bright colours in silvery lines running up and down its length.
Ella gaped as the staff began to grow. The man grunted with effort as he angled its increasing length in the direction of Miro’s twisting form. The end of the staff reached the crack in the ice and stopped there.
"Grab hold!" Ella cried. "Miro, grab hold! Please!"
There was nothing but stillness. The group on the riverbank — the young boys, Ella, and the robed enchanter — cried and bellowed, but there was no activity.
Then an arm thrust out of the water and took hold of the staff. When a second hand also took hold, Miro shakily pulled his body out of the water. The enchanter began to speak the words again, and the staff began to shorten, bringing Miro with it. Her brother was saved.
From that day Ella wanted nothing more than to become an enchantress. The young girl spoke of nothing else. It hadn’t taken Uncle Brandon long to shatter her hopes.
It cost nearly five thousand silver deens to study at the Academy of Enchanters. Aspiring students sat a gruelling round of examinations, and the knowledge that was tested was more than just what was taught at the temple school. No, it was better that she learn the skills they taught at the sky temple — weaving, sewing, numbers and letters. If she was lucky she could get a position as a maid, or a nanny. Without gilden she would never be able to become an enchantress.
Ella had thought about it long and hard. She didn’t make the decision rashly, whatever Uncle Brandon said.
At fourteen, the earliest age it was allowed, Ella left the temple school altogether. Her mind set on the five thousand silver deens, she started a stall selling flowers in the Poloplats market. The arguments with Uncle Brandon were long and bitter, but Ella could not be dissuaded. She worked from early in the morning until late at night, and she began to save. It was difficult at first, and business was slow, but Ella applied herself, and soon the copper cendeens began to trickle in.
She put most of the gilden aside, in a cache that grew slowly but steadily. With some of it she bought books from the market. Any book she could lay her hands on, provided the price was right — books about history, books about language, and books about the laws of nature. Most of all Ella kept up with what she was supposed to be learning at the temple school. And Ella read books about enchantment.
If any were too difficult — and that applied to most of them — Ella put it to the side, and kept it for another day. Over the years it constantly amazed her how a book that made little sense to her could be comprehensible at a later date if she had since built on her foundation of knowledge.
She thought about all she had learned as she set up her stall and arranged the flowers in attractive formations. Please, she thought desperately, willing it to become true. Let Lady Katherine come today!