Wizard (The Key to Magic) Read Online Free PDF

the hundreds. Such an abundance of raw material made it a simple matter to pool and filter skimmed dregs into a compact lance of pure whistling black. With patient care, he began to refine the aim of the lance so that it pointed unerringly at the central juncture of the confining spell.
    "You've become so adept at making the ether dance to your own tune that you've neglected what you read in the first of Oyraebos' texts. You should have realized that practically all spells of this age are designed around a Key. Finding this particular Key would be the simplest way to release the hex. It would also certainly avert an uncontrolled and disruptive flux release that will take out half the building."
    Magic had taught Mar to avoid thinking in terms like "impossible," but still he jumped when he heard the voice. It was a considerable shock to learn that another magician could pierce the magic of The Knife Fighter's Dirge .
    Another realization that caused him some consternation was the fact that the language that the sourly critical voice had spoken had been that of his own time, not the peculiar one that his captors -- and now he, by dint of the surgeon's spell -- spoke.
    Mar's bonds would not allow him to turn his head far enough to catch sight of this intruder. "Come around so that I can see you."
    "Certainly."
    Nimbly avoiding the obstacles of the frozen armsmen, the man came into view as he circled to Mar's left, taking a position between the questioner and the surgeon. This intruder wore clothing that struck Mar as normal -- that is, tunic, trousers and boots appeared to have been sewn of materials and in styles natural to Mar's native era. As far as the individual himself, he was shriveled, near bald, and moved with the care of someone plagued by aching joints. He was old. Older, or at least frailer, than Llylquaendt, it seemed.
    "You're me," Mar said as recognition immediately dawned. He knew the face -- sags, wrinkles, age spots, untrimmed white beard, unfamiliar scars, and hard expression notwithstanding.
    The wizened man laughed raggedly. "No. I am me and you are you. It just so happens that we are both Mar and possess identical life experiences up to a point of divergence. For the sake of accuracy, I must admit, given the current state of the event sequence, that I am the duplicate -- a cull in common wizardly parlance."
    "So, a future version of me."
    "Yet again, no. While our experiences up to the divergence are identical, we are separate individuals. Our paths diverged many days before the debacle at the bridge. Quite obsessively, I focused on the journal of the Wizard Whinseschlos and learned to step safely into undertime while still in Mhajhkaei. However, the specific event sequence that influenced me to attempt wizardry before you did so was afterwards altered so that you followed an entirely different path. I am, at least in your terms, now no more than a what-if."
    "I don't understand."
    "Neither do I, fully. I suspect that my path was manipulated out of existence by another Mar, perhaps you, perhaps another entity entirely."
    "But --"
    Somewhat impatiently, the old Mar waved a hand in a palsied, negating gesture. "Logic may be applicable to most of the magical disciplines, but it absolutely does not apply to wizardry or to travel through undertime, so you're just wasting breath. For once in your life, stop trying to figure out a way to dodge around something that you don't want to accept. It is what it is."
    Mar did not let the rebuke irritate him. "Why have you come to speak to me?"
    "To offer one bit of advice and some information."
    "I'm listening."
    "Just so you understand -- there are a number of things that I won't tell you because it would cause problems if you knew them now."
    "So, more riddles and more lies."
    "No, actually not. It's just that there are many facts that you have to discover on your own. When you have more experience in wizardry, you'll understand."
    Mar made a face. "So what can you tell