Conjures chair

Lim-Dûl held up a ring-bedecked finger. “Start with the basics. Cast me a chair.”

“Excuse me?” asked Jodah.

“Cast a spell that will create a chair,” said Lim-Dûl, slower now, with the maddening voice of an adult talking to a child. “Like the ones we’re sitting on at this table.”

Jodah frowned, then motioned to one side. Within his mind, he found a quiet spot, free of the buzzing insects, where he kept such knowledge. It seemed a peaceful, calm spot, safe from the madness that now surrounded him. Jodah called upon the energy of the farms and lowlands, and the energy came to him, though sluggish, almost frozen by time and climate. Slowly he formed the energy mentally into the shape of a simple chair—four wooden legs with cross-posts, a simple bar rising from the back. Not exactly what he was seated in but close enough.

Jodah took a deep breath and forced the image, and its attendant mana, from his mind and into reality. The air warped slightly in front of him, and the chair appeared as he had envisioned it.

Jodah exhaled. The irritating cloudiness had diminished somewhat. The act of spellcasting had brought something back to him. He was comfortable with it. Although he did not remember casting the spell to create a chair before, he knew that he had done so.

***

The Eternal Ice, Chapter 2