Rising of a Mage Read Online Free

him. One by one they all saw their father and went quiet and watched for what would come next.
    “Is this what you want, Anwar?”
    He noticed his father had not called him boy or son. “I think I could learn a lot at the guild, father.”
    “Master Gabriel, when would you like to begin his training and what does this tutorship cost? I am a simple farmer; I don’t have much.”
    “I would like to begin immediately, if that is Anwar’s wish. As far as cost… Anwar will be fed and clothed. He will assist in the business of the guild as his abilities progress and he will be paid for his work.” Everyone was staring at Anwar and he was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. His expression, of course, showed nothing, and he took a moment to collect his thoughts.
    He broke the silence with, “Well, I can’t go off to live with a bunch a wizards without any small clothes, can I?”
    Everyone laughed, but now it was his mother’s turn to express her concerns. “We can bring him back tomorrow with his clothes. Is there anything else he will need? Will we be able to come see him?”
    “Anwar can bring whatever he feels he will need. You are welcome to see him anytime. He will not be a prisoner; he will be my apprentice.
     

Chapter Two
    Mariah

    C o-located with the wizards guild is the priest guild in Kampar. Mariah Leavenworth was just beginning her second year in Kampar’s priest guild. At fifteen years of age, she was one of the youngest apprentice priests in the guild, and quickly proving to be the most promising. Mariah was a well-tanned, lean and muscular young priest with curly dark brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. Mariah was considered very odd by the other apprentices. When she wasn’t studying, she was training with the guild guards. She was very athletic and was quickly becoming a master of the bow and, even at fifteen, she won near as many sparring sessions with the guard as she lost. She favored the short sword but made sure to practice with as many weapons as she could to at least familiarize herself with any weapon she may have to pick up and use. Mariah had a dream. She was going to travel, see adventure; she wasn’t going to stuff herself in some tower somewhere and feed the needs of a city or some royal family’s whims. She was going to travel the realms and make a real difference.
    Though she was born in Kampar, Mariah never knew her father and her mother had died when she was seven. She was in the city orphanage, but the priest who came to teach the children quickly identified how intelligent she was and when she turned fourteen they made her the offer to begin her training as a priest. She couldn’t have been more excited but she had held her composure and, with a blank face, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I guess that could work.”
    The priests were obviously entertained and took it as one more time that this young girl had proven herself. She could control her emotions well enough. Normally, priests and wizards have their own separate guilds but, as Kampar was a smaller city, the head priest and head wizard had come to an agreement and built one large guild separated internally so as to conserve resources and, in turn, make both guilds more successful.
    Mariah was beautiful and caught the attention of many of the other apprentices, but she had no desire to waste time in pointless relationships. She had her goal and she knew that she was leaving Kampar. There was no reason to involve herself with someone that she would end up leaving and making everything more complicated. She had dreams of great adventures, where she would fight alongside the greatest wizards and warriors of the age, protecting the realm, and she put everything she had into that goal. But, for now, she was an apprentice priest with chores and it was past time she should head into the market to pick up the ingredients for spells and potions. She had left the list with the priest. When given a list, she studied it