The Rawn Chronicles Book One: The Orrinn and the Blacksword: Unabridged (The Rawn Chronicles Series 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

plenty of discipline. Usually, the novice underwent a difficult aptitude test before entry into the academy, but not everyone passed. However, under the Ri Order guidelines, anyone could apply to the academy, but commonly the privileged nobility became students, a fact that annoyed Lord Ness because of his poor upbringing; he had struggled to become a Rawn Master and succeeded on his own merits.
    Entry to the academy was at the age of twelve for most students; this, however, did not apply to royalty. Havoc and Magnus started their training at the tender age of seven and, under the excellent tuition of Lord Ness, they had undergone, and mastered, the first two elements. They were able to manipulate base metals and compounds into other elements closer or distant from their original state. They could control water, mainly in their own bodies, by healing very quickly, reading other people’s minds through touch and not being susceptible to disease and, in time, aging. It had taken them a long time to master these properties; the training was hard and they, being young, found the discipline difficult, but it was important to stay focussed.
    It was usual for students of the Rawn Arts, who were the offspring of qualified Rawn Masters, to master the elements quickly. Lord Ness thought this was the case with the princes until they tried the third element. His instruction of said element was indoors to make it more difficult and to enhance discipline. After two years, they were just getting the hang of summoning the wind element, but not controlling it to any great degree.
    “Discipline and focus,” he would shout to the boys in their feeble attempt to lift heavy weights in the academy gym.
    “You can use the wind element to lift yourself into the air over long distances and to summon to your hand a fallen weapon, but from the look of you, we will not be trying that any time soon; I do not relish the thought of presenting two headless corpses to your father.”
    That was the last instruction on the arts that he gave to the princes before his consul mission for the king, three months previous.
    “Fire, on the other hand, is very difficult to summon, use and control,” continued their master.
    The sun was getting lower in the sky. Havoc could just see the high peaks of the Sky Mountains, in the north, turning a light orange, reflected by the last of the winter snow.
    “However, fire cannot be controlled as you understand it; it has to be governed by your inner-self,” Ness Ri went on. “Controlling your emotions is the key to harnessing the power of fire.” He cupped his hand palm up, and a bright orange-red ball of flame appeared.
    Both princes witnessed their master do this on any number of occasions, and were always amazed at how easily he could summon the fourth element. The ball shimmered with heat and spat out little streams of flame like a tiny sun. Not every Rawn had the ability to create what they were seeing. For one thing, it took a great amount of energy to produce this amount of flame. Havoc felt suddenly cold and realised that his master was drawing heat from the air around them to feed the burning globe, a trick he would have to remember.
    “Nevertheless, it is too soon for you to learn the fourth element,” said Ness Ri as he closed his palm and the ball vanished like a candle in a gale; the heat returned to the air, but Havoc still shivered.
    “Eventually, you will master the fourth element before undergoing the Canndali,” Ness Ri said, mentioning the final trial that an apprentice must undergo to become a master.
    “Is the Canndali difficult?” asked Magnus.
    “It depends on the person and his discipline in meditation, for that is all the Canndali is.”
    “Yes, but it can cause madness, can’t it?” Magnus started to fidget.
    “Ahh, you refer to Baron Telmar… Yes, he went mad because of poor training from his Vallkyte masters, not from the Canndali, but rest assured that would not happen to you