“That seems too easy” Allen replied.
“It is supposed to mimic travelling with an army” Tasha replied. “I know I am not going to do too well in it, I love to eat and hate to run. But I know how to hunt, prepare and cook my own food, I didn’t get this belly for nothing. I think I can keep in the top ten and challenge for sixth, I just came here to keep Julie company, I never thought I could make it as well. Bring on that battlemage, I can’t wait for the fight to begin.”
“You are all cheating” Julie said. “And you are depending on an Atropian to make things happen.”
“So what” Hydran said. “We will all get what we want in the end. This is about how you play the game as much as your power level. You have bragged about it yourself that you have beaten battlemages before. Do you think all of them got to that level by having weak classes or by being a fool? The smart is who win, not the strong. That is why a powerful mage killer wished to fight Mike and lost in a few heartbeats. You need to give whatever this is up, Allen was not the one who killed your mother.”
“Killed her mother?” Allen asked.
“Keep my business out of your mouth” Julie snapped.
“No, you made it my business” Hydran replied. “You are at least cordial to be around until you see Allen, then you turn into this complete knobber. Julie’s father was killed fighting Atropian mages a long time ago, that is the main reason she wants to be a battlemage because she knows it would bring her into contact with Atropian mages. All mages know how to fight and kill regular men, it isn’t hard. Battlemages get special instruction on mage duels, this is why this means so much to her and she has been especially nasty to you.”
“Then you are a fool” Allen said looking at Julie. “If I were your enemy I wouldn’t be here. Hold on to your stupid thoughts and let it eat you from within. If you lose out on your wish to become a battlemage, I will be the first to tell you it is because you are an idiot.”
“You are being a little too harsh aren’t you?” Mike replied.
“No” Allen replied. “Anyone willing to talk nasty to a potential ally is a fool. The enemy of my enemy is a friend, even I recognized that when I joined up with your king. It is the reason I am where I am and my enemies will soon be dead.”
“Look at all the old people” Conner Donahue said walking over towards the table. “Discussing your plan to stay on top? One of you are always going to be left out of the top five while I am around.”
“Listen kid” Hydran said. “Do you have a partner yet? I want to give you first crack at being mine.”
“You want me to partner with you?” Conner laughed for a second then became serious. “Are you playing with me?”
“You are the third or fourth strongest fire mage here and you are equally as powerful with wind magic” Hyrdan replied. “I am strong in water magic and know enough of the others to get by.”
“And this isn’t some kind of trick?” Conner asked.
“No” Hydran replied. “So are you interested or not? You are the best of the people I could choose, but I could win without you.”
“I accept” Conner replied. “I thought you and Mike were the best of friends, everyone knows you are protecting the healer.”
“He already has a partner” Allen replied. “Me.”
“You?” Conner asked confused. “Why would you risk your number one ranking by teaming with him?”
“He asked” Allen replied. “And I have beaten mages before, this shouldn’t be any different.”
~
“She doesn’t look pleased” Mike said as he stared over at the angry battlemage. That red hair of hers is all over the place and she has been looking angrily over here at us since she found out she was fighting us.”
“It is because she does not know our ranking” Allen replied. “She only has an overview of what powers we like to use just like we only had a brief overview of her. She probably wanted to fight the best students and see us as an insult.”
“Well I have a plan” Mike replied. “If you can keep her off me I can heal you while you beat her, we can outlast her. She is going to put everything into that first attack though.”
“I can use a combination of the things I used before” Allen replied. “The fast wall directly in front of her, the sand to the eyes, covering her foot in stone. There are too many moves that she hasn’t seen before. It should make her uncomfortable enough that she will need to think of something other than brute force.”
“So you are hoping she tries to take us out quickly then?” Mike asked.
“I am counting on it” Allen replied. “The hardest opponents are the ones that think before they react.”
“And she will try to get this over with as quick as possible” Mike laughed. “Well it looks like Glerig is about to start us off.”
Allen shot the wall up as soon as Glerig gave the signal, the mage blasted through it with wind instead of fire which shocked Allen a little. Fire would have blasted right back on her, the wind just peppered her with rocks. Allen shot another wall up in front of her but this time dropped the ground out from beneath her, he wasn’t surprised to see the battlemage break through his this wall and use her air magic to propel her out of the hole. A flying target was something Allen was not prepared for, Mike though used a bit of magic and had a blast of water strike her in the face. Allen saw her wobble then fall from the air a bit, Allen used that time to send dirt spires up after her. The battle mage was surprised when one grabbed her foot then started pulling her down, she blasted it but another had taken a hold of her. The mage blasted that one as well and any others Allen sent up after her. Allen made it into a game after that, he would drag her down and pop up walls in front of himself and Mike in case she tried to get a shot off. Only a few ever came as she was busy trying to protect herself from whatever Allen threw at her. The battlemage started running out of energy, Allen had been toying with her and saw it took her longer to free herself. Allen supposed he could have ended it a long time ago, it wouldn’t have taught him anything though. Now he knew how to counteract some of the faster attacks and thought about what contingencies he could put into place in case he meets someone who would not just come at him with fire magic.
“I think she is beaten” Mike replied. “She can’t have much left, I tossed what little fire magic I can create at her and it shattered the little shield she put up. From where I am at it almost looks like you are toying with her.”
“I am not toying with her” Allen replied. “I am learning. You can end it if you want” Allen finished as he started to encase the battlemage in stone.
“Yield” Mike said as he walked over to the battlemage who was sweating and struggling to free herself. “You are already beaten, give up now before you get hurt.”
“We have a winner” Instructor Glerig said as the battlemage refused to yield but just stared at Mike angrily.
“You can let her out now” Mike said as the Allen freed the mage. “I think our friend here knows that she lost, once this is over with she might be one of our instructors. It is better to not make her angry.”
“One more test and I am done” Allen said looking over at Instructor Glerig. “I told you I was never worried.”
“That you did” Instructor Glerig replied. “Tawnia Donahue is one of our strongest battle mages.”
“Donahue?” Allen replied. “As in Conner Donahue?”
“I am his sister” the battlemage said angrily.
“That answers a lot” Allen replied. “You already had my moves scouted before we started, it explains why you didn’t try to use fire magic.”
“Are you calling me a cheater?” Tawnia said angrily.
“Yes” Allen replied. “And lower your voice, you were just thoroughly beaten. You are not going to intimidate me, without your magic you are nothing, with it you are nothing special.”
“Why you…” Tawnia said.
“Save it Tawnia” Instructor Glerig said. “Allen has been first in the rankings
since he started and has never been seriously challenged. I know you and your brother have talked, it was the only reason I made sure you fought him. I never expected you to win, you lasted longer than Warston did, so be satisfied in that.”
“I just wasn’t ready for his tricks” Tawnia replied. “If we fought again…”
“You would lose again” Allen replied. “And a lot faster. Instructor Glerig, when does the final challenge start?”
“In two months” Instructor Glerig replied. “You could still lose first place, I think those students that managed to beat a battlemage will do so quicker than you did here.”
“Doesn’t matter” Allen replied. “I have four challenges left and I will use them to get to the top.”
“Don’t try and take his shine” Mike laughed. “Somehow I am going to stay in the top five before this is all over and Allen is a big reason for that.”
“If Allen ever drops out of the top spot he may find out that his position is not as solid as it once was” Instructor Glerig replied. “He is going to be challenged by a lot of people if he ever gets into the fourth or fifth spot, you as well.”
“Until that happens” Mike said with a smile.
“Enjoy yourself Mr. Williams and Mr. Smith” Instructor Glerig replied. “I have other students to watch out for.”
CHAPTER 7
“Fancy meeting you all here” Julie said triumphantly. “I thought you would both never make it.”
“Oh we are going to make it alright, why wouldn’t we?” Mike replied.
“I didn’t expect a couple of low ranks like you three to be anywhere near this point” Julie replied.
“Well we are and we look a lot better than you do” Hydran replied. “I think this is the easiest survival we have ever done.”
“That is because you must have cheated” Julie replied. “I have been on the road nonstop, I trained just so I can push my body to run to this point.”
“We just aren’t stupid” Mike replied. “Allen made us a boat out of trees and we took the river the majority of the way. Only reason we aren’t farther ahead is because we waited out that nasty storm that just passed. If we hadn’t did that we would have been at least a day in front of you.”
“So you stayed in an inn” Julie said accusingly.
“Nope” Mike replied. “Allen can make pretty good homes out of almost nothing, even had a hearth to keep us warm. Hydran is a water mage so we had plenty of fish to eat and I even caught a deer. Our bellies are full and our clothes were washed in the rain and they are now dry. You had to run non stop and only stopped to get a few winks in whatever hole or cave you found, I think we are doing pretty good.”
“You still wont beat me” Julie replied. “You follow behind the Atropian if you want to, when this is all over I will be ranked first. I don’t even see the Donahue boy, maybe it was a good thing running into you three. That means he will have to slide out of first place.”
“The only reason he is in first place is because he dealt the finishing blow on the battlemage” Hydran replied. “The battlemage was busy trying to stop my assault and was wide open for another attack. “You just hold on to your little second place, I don’t mind being in third just like Mike doesn’t mind being in fourth and Allen doesn’t mind being in fifth.”
“He doesn’t mind now because no one has challenged him yet” Julie replied. “But when we get home he will have an unlimited number of challengers.”
“He will be in fourth place at the worst” Hydran said shaking his head. “And I even doubt it will come to that. We are all well rested and ready for the little run back to the finish while you look like death warmed over.”
“I am a runner, you can’t hope to…” Julie said as she noticed Allen had taken off at a jog along with Mike.
“Well then you better catch them then” Hydran replied. “Mike has the ability to heal himself so he probably could last running longer than you may think and Allen is in good shape already. Allen even took off his sword belt for me to hold while you rush after them. I am not a runner, I am just lucky Mike happens to know the area. A healer may be a tough person to catch up to, you should get moving.”
Allen wasn’t surprised when Julie passed him up after half an hour, he still felt good while running and let her get the distance on him that she wanted. Mike though was way out front and would likely stay there for some time, healers could accelerate and heal injuries, including being out of breath and muscle fatigue. He would eventually run out of magic but Julie would have to be near her breaking point. Allen continued on for three hours and had legs that felt like jelly, he could see the finish off in the distance and was going to stop and start walking when he spotted Mike and Julie ahead of him. They both looked out of breath and were barely walking, Allen was sure he could catch and pass them both.
“Beat her Allen” Mike said breathlessly when Allen went by.
“No…” Julie cried out as she tried to start running.
Allen knew she wasn’t a serious threat but had to give her credit for even trying. At worst she would be second in the class even if she finished behind him and Mike and would still likely become a battlemage like she wanted. Mike wouldn’t finish no worse than third in the class, and Allen could possibly take second. As the finish line neared, that possibility got Allen thinking. He held no real loyalty to Mike but Allen could place him in a spot where Mike wouldn’t be protected by him or Hydran. There wasn’t any guarantees that Hydran would come in the next and Mike could be stuck with fighting Conner Donahue or someone else similar. Allen was less than a few feet from the finish when he stopped running and conceded the race to Julie who was still at least an hour behind.
~
“So you are the Atropian everyone is talking about” a brown haired woman said. Allen could see she was in great shape and had the handle of a nice looking sword sticking out over her shoulder. He thought it was a bit odd that she would favor a two hander, Mary had always like weapons that can be wielded with a single hand so she could either have two weapons or a sword and shield combo. Allen supposed she was thicker than Mary was but still did not think her choice of weapon was smart.
“And you are a warrior with a two handed sword” Allen replied.
“You are not used to seeing a woman with a weapon?” the brown haired woman said. “It figures Atropians are so backwards thinking.”
“Women with weapons are rare in Atropia but that is not so significant” Allen began. “Normally those who favor two handed weapons are big strong men. It gives them an advantage when they are fighting and allows them to overpower lightly armored opponents.”
“I am a mage killer, I will get my strength when I leech magical energy from stupid mages” the woman snapped.
“What happens when you fight someone that doesn’t have magic like a regular soldier?” Allen asked. “You may be a master with the sword when powered up but that doesn’t mean anything when you are holding a weapon you cannot wield properly and have to face down an enemy like myself.”
“Rebecca leave Mr. Smith alone” Warston said as he came walking over. “If he is giving you advice you should use it, he beat me without breaking a sweat.”
“He used magic to beat you” Rebecca said. “He is trying to give me sword advice.”
“I can spar you if you want” Allen replied. “I am an above average swordsman, maybe a step below being a master. I have gotten lucky though and beaten a couple of masters sparring before. I have lost to Queen Mary far more times than I have beaten her, in fact the last few years I haven’t beaten her at all so I respect female sword users.”
“The Atropian Queen knows the sword?” Warston asked.
“She is a master with one sword or dual wielding” Allen replied. “I think you would have a hard time defeating her, she is quick and can use her length well.”
“Well I can take you on right now” Rebecca said. “You can even use this magic you claim to have.”
“Are you sure?�
� Allen said as he made the stone come up behind Rebecca. Before she could answer, Allen lunged at her, the mage killer tried to back away and get into a defensive stance but tripped over the obstacle he had come up behind her. Before she could struggle to get up the block of stone morphed into a chair.
“He is as good as you said he was” Rebecca said as she got up. “Sorry about the attitude, I wanted to see for myself if you can do magic. As for my sword, I use it when the situation is good, normally I have these.”
“Hidden daggers” Allen said as the woman grabbed the bracers on her wrists and quickly withdrew two daggers.
“I don’t plan on fighting on the front lines with the enemy” Rebecca said. “I am an archer first, a knife fighter second and I use the sword last. I have trained a while but I will never be anything other than average with the sword. I am a bit better with my daggers but most of it is just for surprise. I am a good archer though, not the best but I am good enough. None of these though are my greatest talent.”
“And what would that be?” Allen asked.
“Spying of course” came a voice from behind Allen
Allen knew that voice and had the stone wrap around him as quick as he could and had already turned around in his stone armor holding a big stone hammer which he brought down with great force. His target moved out of the way just barely and started running and holding his hands up.
“Mr. Smith we are allies!” Dalray Bingley said as he looked wide eyed. “We both wanted the same thing, to put your sister on the throne!”
“I told you I would kill you the next time I saw you” Allen bellowed.
“If you had you would have never restored the monarchy” Bingley said looking for somewhere to run.
The Elemental Page 10