MFF#12: Sorcerer's Staff by Daniel R Marvello

Welcome to Unwritten's  May Flash Fiction challenge! Every story (600 words max) began with this sentence: 

 I never expected to be in this position so soon, saying goodbye to my son. 


We had a total of thirteen entries before yesterday's deadline! I was excited to get this fantasy piece from author Daniel R Marvello! Here's a little more about it in his words: My piece is set in my fantasy world of Mundia, but it is not part of any current story. Your challenge gave me a chance to explore an issue that the mundane (non-magical) people of Mundia occasionally face: what happens when you discover that your son or daughter has the ability to work with magic? Sorcerers are generally shunned by the mundane population, so the discovery of magical sensitivity is both disappointing and frightening.


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Sorcerer's Staff

I never expected to be in this position so soon, saying goodbye to my son.

I watched him carefully consider the items arrayed on his bed. The set of leatherworking tools I gave him on his tenth birthday was one of the first things to disappear into the pack. He should be here with me, using those tools in our trade and eventually taking over the business from me. I said as much.

"But, Father, you were the one who took me to the sorcerer sanctuary in Northshore to be tested."

I hung my head with guilt. He was right, but I'd had no choice. The other village elders had insisted, just as I had insisted when a neighbor's daughter showed signs of being sensitive to magic. Everyone in the village wanted to know if they had a potential sorcerer in their midst. Now I wish we could just ignore it and let the children decide for themselves what path they would take. My son didn't have to become a sorcerer just because he had the ability to channel magic. I said that too.

"That hide's been punched, Father," he answered, turning one of my favorite sayings against me. "I hate the way everyone treats me now. It's like I have some kind of disease."

He rolled up the game of Kings and Peasants we had made together in front of the fire during his twelfth winter, and he added it to his pack. I took a deep breath to hold back the sob that threatened to burst from my chest when my memory flashed on the many times we'd played together over the past three years.

My only son pushed the last few items of clothing into his pack, leaving a little room at the top for the food his mother was preparing for him in the kitchen. I stood up from the chair I had been sitting in and told him he could come home any time he wanted.

"That's no longer true, Father, but thank you for saying it." He stepped over to me and we wrapped our arms around each other. I marveled at how he was nearly my height now and hoped he wouldn't feel the tear that fell on his shoulder.

His little sister sat silently in the corner of the room watching his preparations with wide brown eyes and a rag doll clutched tightly to her chest. When we embraced, she got up and ran over to us, putting her arms around our waists. She was trying to be brave as her brother had asked her to be, so she buried her wet face into my side to muffle her sniffles.

His mother appeared at the doorway to the room as we released each other. Her tear-stained face was a numb mask of grief. When we returned from Northshore two days ago with the news, it had caught her completely unprepared. Our family had no history of sorcery as far as we knew, but that didn't change the reality we faced now.

My son added the package of food to his pack and buckled the top closed. He hugged his mother one last time on his way out, and then the three of us somberly followed him to the front door.

Outside the door, he picked up the hiking stick he'd made for himself last year and gave a final wave as he took his first steps down the path away from his family.

I thought to myself that his walking stick would probably become a sorcerer's staff now.

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Daniel R. Marvello is a fantasy writer who lives in North Idaho with his wife, two wonderful dogs, and a cat who thinks she's a dog. His debut novel Vaetra Unveiled is the first book of the Vaetra Chronicles series (www.Vaetra.com). Daniel is also the mastermind behind the Magic Appreciation Tour (www.MagicAppreciationTour.com), a web site dedicated to readers and authors of magical fantasy.