The Wizard of Time (Book 1) by G.L. Breedon Page A

time jump on my first try.” At Teresa’s sunny smile, Gabriel found himself experiencing an uncomfortable warmth all over again. For a moment, he wasn’t sure if it was from her words or her smile, which was enchanting as it lit up her face.
    After being congratulated by the others, the training began. The entire day was a training session of one sort or another, but it always began with defensive arts lessons led by Marcus and Ling. Gabriel was surprised to find that Marcus turned out to have as innate a skill in combat as he did with healing. Just another irony of his life, as he said. Gabriel was not entirely surprised to find that Ling was even more formidable, at least with her bare hands. Gabriel wondered aloud how a fisherman’s wife had learned to hit so hard and so fast. She explained her father had been more than a fisherman. More than that, she didn’t explain.
    The Council felt it was important for each member of a team to be able to defend themselves without the use of magic, in case they were trapped in a time and place where they had no access to an imbued artifact. The sessions began with unarmed combat taught by Ling and then moved to the use of different weapons throughout the history of the world, from knives and daggers, to swords and spears, and even to more modern weapons, as taught by Marcus. Magical training followed the defensive arts training.
    For Gabriel’s first lesson, they learned to weave magic together and fight other mages in combat. One team would be pitted against another in the gardens beneath the North Terrace, just outside the castle walls proper. Gabriel learned how to accurately project himself and others through space so that he could his help fellow teammates when under attack. The team members practiced fighting one-on-one with magic, as well.
    The power of the magical conjuring was reduced for safety’s sake, but Gabriel still ended up with singed eyebrows from dodging Teresa’s fireballs too slowly and bruises from failing to jump through space before Rajan rippled the lawn like a carpet, tossing Gabriel into the air to flail and fall on his backside. It didn’t help that he was still occasionally distracted by the sight of a gigantic, long-necked dinosaur in the distance. How were you supposed to concentrate with dinosaurs roaming around?
    After a brief lunch, they spent the rest of the day studying in the library. History. Geographical history, biological history, cultures around the planet, languages, customs, cities, famous people, important battles and wars, significant works of art, architecture and literature. The Council liked the teams to have a background in the history of the places their missions took them to, but Ohin insisted that his team have a knowledge of every time and place, because one never knew what might go wrong and where they might end up.
    They paid special attention to the dress and look of peoples from each place and time throughout the world. The magical amulets they all wore could only conceal them properly if they had a correct image of what to look like already in their minds. And even though the amulet would let them speak with anyone, what to say and how to phrase it was equally important. Gabriel began to suspect that he would need to study harder now that he was finally free from school than he ever had while he was in one.
    By the end of the day, Gabriel was exhausted. And starving. Dinner couldn’t come fast enough. When it did, it was just as mouth-watering as the night before. And the conversation between his new friends just as lively.
    “If it had been a snake, it would have bit him,” Ling said, referring to Rajan and an artifact that he had somehow misplaced.
    “If it had been a snake, he would have eaten it,” Teresa added. “Rajan will eat anything.”
    “What’s wrong with snake meat?” Rajan asked. “As long as you season it properly.”
    “I can’t understand how a boy brought up in a culture of culinary