A Mage by Any Other Name

By Jody Wallace

Mary's new job with Wizard Williwim is perfect. The tasks burn off her excess magic, the district is remote, and her employer gives her access to the highly classified library of magic. There she hopes to discover a spell that will catapult her back onto the path to the respect and approval she yearns for. For years she's attempted one plan after another, and finally, at last, this one appears to be working.

 

But Mary's life has never been that easy. After only a month, an enemy from her past reappears to endanger everything she has nearly achieved. Williwim has been challenged in a wizardrite tournament by none other than Professor Grantus, a pompous mage at Concerto College whom Mary can't admit she knows.

 

The problem is, what she knows could mean the difference between success…and death. Can Mary figure out a way to vanquish a vengeful opponent who has bested her far too many times before?

 

This fantasy novella is 26,000 words and is rated PG-13. It's not a romance. Just FYI.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Meankitty Publishing
• Release date: Jul 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201334178

Jody Wallace

Jody Wallace’s 30+ titles include sf/f romance, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance. Her fiction features diverse protagonists, action, adventure, and humor. Her readers frequently comment on her great characters, suspenseful stories, and intriguing and creative world building. When describing her methods, Jody says: “There are two sides to every story. I aim to tell the third. And I add cats regardless.” Outside of her fiction career, Jody has employed her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing to work as a college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and all around pain in the butt. To discover other books by Ms. Wallace, visit her website at http://www.jodywallace.com  Ms. Wallace’s newsletter: https://www.jodywallace.com/newsletter/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jodywallace Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JodyWallaceAuthor To discover meankitties, visit the cat’s website at http://www.meankitty.com

Book preview

A MAGE BY ANY OTHER NAME

By

Jody Wallace

A MAGE BY ANY OTHER Name

By Jody Wallace

Meankitty Publishing

Copyright ©2012 Jody Wallace

Cover by Candice Gilmer

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This ebook is licensed for the original buyer only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people at sharing sites, loops, discussion boards or through other means. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Author’s Note for Readers: There are two excerpts at the end of this story. The first is a bonus deleted scene from this novella—a prologue—and the second is the first chapter of the science fiction romance short story Field Trip by Jody Wallace.

About the Book:

MARY'S NEW JOB WITH Wizard Williwim is perfect. The tasks burn off her excess magic, the district is remote, and her employer gives her access to the highly classified library of magic. There she hopes to discover a spell that will catapult her back onto the path to the respect and approval she yearns for. For years she’s attempted one plan after another, and finally, at last, this one appears to be working.

But Mary’s life has never been that easy. After only a month, an enemy from her past reappears to endanger everything she has nearly achieved. Williwim has been challenged in a wizardrite tournament by none other than Professor Grantus, a pompous mage at Concerto College whom Mary can’t admit she knows.

The problem is, what she knows could mean the difference between success...and death. Can Mary figure out a way to vanquish a vengeful opponent who has bested her far too many times before?

This fantasy novella is 26,000 words and is rated PG-13. It’s not a romance. Just FYI.

Chapter One

Mary had only been Wizard Williwim’s assistant for a month when the challenge came. A black pigeon fluttered through the open window, landing on the back of the wizard’s chair. He freed the tiny parchment cylinder from the bird’s limb.

His wrinkled face grew more wrinkled when he read the message.

Bother, he muttered, his white hair floating around his head like a dandelion puff. This is far sooner than I’d anticipated.

Mary set aside the mortar and pestle she’d been using to crush the dried rose petals into a dust fine enough for the most discriminating spell caster. Pigeon mail meant bad news, and bad news for her employer was bad news for her.

Has someone died, sir?

I’m sure someone has died somewhere, but it has nothing to do with the message.

Williwim renewed the animal’s health with a rub of his index finger and sent it flapping back out into the summer morning. It’s a wizardrite challenge.

Are you being invited to referee? she asked hopefully.

He shook his head. We should be so lucky. It’s a challenge for me.

You? But you haven’t been challenged in ages. Rumor was, Williwim had transformed the last opponent into an animal of some sort. It had been hushed up by the Council, but no one had wanted Bannoch-Faoran enough to fight him for it in years.

Until now. The timing was a bit too on the nose to ignore.

I suppose they think I’m getting decrepit. Williwim didn’t meet her gaze. Why couldn’t they pester Cheng or that Annui woman? They’re both a hundred and forty if they’re a day.

Apprehension curled through her like ivy. It’s because of me, isn’t it?

Nonsense. Williwim allowed the parchment to curl back into a cylinder, a tiny phut of sound. I kept it quiet when I let Tomas and Frieda go.

It’s got to be me. Most wizards have experienced assistants, while I—

Need to finish the roses. When you’re done, we’ll discuss the challenge. I need to think. The frown line between Williwim’s brows deepened as he unrolled the parchment and released it again. And again. Phut, phut, phut.

Mary shut her mouth and ground the pestle into the remaining petals. The powder might put Williwim one step closer to perfecting the youth spell he intended to name after his patron, but it didn’t lessen her anxiety one bit.

During a wizardrite challenge, the strongest assistant stood beside the wizard on the field. Mary was Williwim’s only assistant. While they’d developed a friendly rapport, she wouldn’t say they worked together as well as a...mortar and pestle.

More like a dog and pony, before they’d trained for that show.

If Williwim were to lose the challenge, he’d be demoted to mage and the winner would take his place as wizard here. Williwim could find another job, but Mary needed this one. This particular one, with Williwim, whose powerful magics obscured her own and whose status gave her access to the central library. The other option that would conceal her magics was a spellball factory, but that would be unwise, considering why she left the last one.

She’d known when she’d applied to Williwim that challenges would be inevitable, but she hadn’t counted on her new employer firing his other assistants in one swoop. She hadn’t counted on being thrust onto the challenge field so soon, if ever.

Considering she knew no disguise spells that would survive tournament purification, she had to find a way out of this. Not only would it be embarrassing when her true appearance came to light, but that combined with the alias would cause Williwim to distrust her.

A wizard wouldn’t want an assistant he couldn’t trust, and he surely wouldn’t grant her library access.

The rose petals reduced to dust, Mary sealed them into a baggie. I’m finished.

Williwim paused in the act of unrolling the parchment. Did you save all the dust? We can’t lay hands on that particular species again for a year.

I was careful, sir. She shifted her bulk in the hard seat. Can we talk about the challenge now?

Phut. The parchment curled around Williwim’s finger. I suppose.

Who is the challenger?

Not someone I’ve seen on the circuit before. A Professor Grantus. Are you familiar with him?

Did you say Grantus? Surely she hadn’t heard correctly. The sudden buzzing in her ears had drowned Williwim out.

He’s with Concerto College. It’s in the Velde-Faoran district. Primarily a shield and bludgeon sort of mage, but he’s got admirable reserves. Drat his hide. I should have known during the last lecture series he was up to something beyond his regular posturing.

The bottom fell out of Mary’s stomach. Grantus on the wizardrite circuit? Grantus the Lion, who loved his role as big mage on campus? Could you have misread the parchment? Perhaps he’s officiating.

Williwim glanced at her with mild irritation. I have access to a wellspring. There’s nothing wrong with my eyesight.

It’s just, I never thought he’d have the stones to— Mary stopped herself with a shuddery exhale. I’m sorry, sir. Questioning you was rude of me.

Why was this happening? Of all the mages she’d ever met, Grantus was least likely to drag himself out of his cozy academic world for a run at a wizardrite. She’d banked on that when she’d come up with this plan.

And of all the districts in all the kingdom, Grantus just had to challenge the wizard in this one. This tiny, unimportant district she’d chosen because no-one coveted it and the wizard had two assistants already.

Mary swallowed hard enough that her tongue clicked. This could go from terrible to worse very quickly. This could ruin everything she’d been striving for. Who...who is Grantus’s second?

Williwim glared at the parchment, as if by the power of his will he could change the words. In fact, he could, but that wouldn’t change the message.

Black Lily, he finally answered.

Mary slumped against the back of her chair, the blood draining from her head so fast it left her dizzy. Her heart pattered like a trapped bird. If she hadn’t had herself tested by one of the best curse-breakers in the kingdom, she would have wondered if her consistently rotten luck were magically-induced.

Alas, it was Mary-induced. And here was more of it, coming home to roost above her head and shit upon her.

I thought, she began in a squeaky voice, "Black Lily was on the quest