by Martha Carr
“See ya, Raven Alby.” William sighed, adjusted his hat on his head, and got back to work.
After stopping at the girls’ dormitory for a quick meal in the common room, Raven spent the rest of her afternoon in the field at Fowler Academy with Leander.
“No training. No studying. I’m happy to lay out here and wait for the day to end.” She leaned against her dragon’s side where he had curled in the grass.
“I don’t mind this either.”
She chuckled and looked at the sky and the small wisps of clouds moving slowly west. “Do you have any more thoughts about what we saw today?”
“Many.”
When he didn’t say anything else, she laughed and nudged him with her shoulder. “Do you care to share any of them?”
“I don’t think that dragon trainer knew what he was talking about at all. Wild dragons are no less capable of sniffing out one of their own than any of flyboy’s trained creatures. I smelled something different in that valley, Raven. His sneak-attack theory is foolish and dangerous.”
“I know. It didn’t seem like William believed his own words either. He simply tried to make us all feel better. Lighten the mood, you know?”
Leander lowered his head onto the ground and his eyelids fluttered against the long green blades of grass that tickled his muzzle. “I prefer a heavy truth to a light lie.”
“I’m right there with you. Do you think what you saw last night and the monster that attacked the sanctuary are the same thing?”
“I don’t know. I’m not in a hurry to find out, either.”
Raven ran her hands over the grass beside her and rested her head against his side. “Because that’s when it becomes an issue for us too.”
The huge red dragon didn’t have to say anything for her to know that he’d had exactly the same thought.
Chapter Fourteen
After breakfast the next morning, Raven headed out to the field to release Leander from his pen for another day of week’s end training with Alessandra. Bella crossed the field from the front gates of the school, and they both slowed when they saw the row of training dummies already set up for them.
“Woah.” Raven glanced at her companion, who shrugged in response before she continued her approach. “This is way more dummies than the last time we used them.”
“More targets to blast apart with the battle magic we get to learn today.” The other girl grinned. “Do you think she’ll put them on auto-attack again?”
“I can’t even pretend to know what War Mage Barnasis has planned for us. Ever.”
Snickering, the girls approached the stables as Alessandra stepped out of the weapons shed and closed the door behind her. “Excellent to see that we’re all on time this morning.”
“It’s a nice change,” Bella muttered.
The veteran war mage didn’t catch the jibe and focused instead on the two long bo staffs she’d brought with her from the shed. “I hope you’re ready to get to work immediately.”
She tossed the staffs at her students, and the girls caught the weapons almost at the same time. Bella spun hers in both hands and thumped the butt of it into the ground. “Weapons out means battle magic too, right?”
Alessandra raised an eyebrow.
“Then I’m so ready.”
With a smirk, Raven leaned toward the other trainee and held her staff out. “Can you hold this for a sec? I still have to release my dragon.”
The dark-haired mage took the weapon and rolled her eyes although she smiled.
Raven darted toward the pen gate, flashed her rune, and poked her head inside the enclosure. “We’re up, Leander. And seriously on schedule this morning, apparently.”
He rose quickly from where he’d curled after her last visit before dawn and headed toward her. “I hope it’s more than watching you meditate today.”
“Alessandra pulled the bo staffs out. I think we’re stepping it up a notch.”
When he emerged fully, she shut the gate and hurried to catch up with his hasty approach to where Bella and Alessandra stood in the center of the field. Wesley swooped overhead and screeched a warning. The dragon looked up and blew a thin stream of light-gray smoke in reply.
The veteran war mage stood in front of the row of twenty training dummies lined up across the field, her back to the vaguely human-shaped figures made of wood, straw, and burlap. Bella tossed Raven her staff, and the girls settled side by side to start their training.
“Yes, today’s the day you’ll learn more intense and highly advanced combat spells. Given that I’m not nearly as worried about the two of you casting them on each other as I was only a few weeks ago, I’d venture to say you can handle it.”
The young mages snorted but said nothing.
“The first is basically a higher-level version of the minor force spell you squabbled over during the week before the spring break.”
Raven darted Bella a sidelong glance. “Awesome.”
The girl stared straight ahead, her eyes wide with excitement above a small, eager smile.
“Observe.” Alessandra glanced expressionlessly from one young mage to the next, then whirled in the grass and shouted, “Ecflicto!”
A burst of white light streaked from her palm and struck the dummy on the end with a sharp crack. The frame exploded and scattered wood splinters, pebbles, frayed burlap, and a puff of loose straw in all directions. When the debris fluttered to the ground, all that remained was the wooden base and a sharp, jagged wooden spike where the center frame had split.
“Yes,” Bella muttered.
The woman turned slowly toward her trainees and folded her arms. “I’ve charmed these training dummies to withstand a much higher strength of magical attack than either of you have practiced with before today. When you can do that to any of them, you’ll be ready to learn the next spell. When you can destroy two or more of them at the same time, I’ll nod and tell you you’ve mastered this one. And it goes without saying, but don’t use this on any living creature whose life you value even in the slightest. Now, repeat the spell. I need peace of mind knowing neither of you will botch the pronunciation and end up doing something unthinkable.”
“Ecflicto.” Raven’s hands tingled with magic as she said it, despite her very clear intention of not casting the spell.
Bella stared at the dummies behind their trainer. “Ecflicto.” A little shiver ran up the girl’s back, and her smile grew. “Let’s start, huh?”
“Jeeze. It’s like having two racehorses snorting behind the starting gate.” Alessandra released a long-suffering sigh. “We have all morning, Miss Chase. Do you have any questions?”
“What are the bo staffs for?” Raven lifted hers but stared at the destroyed dummy.
Alessandra frowned at her like that was the dumbest question in the world. “Sparring, Miss Alby.”
“So the dummies are gonna fight back like last time,” Bella said with a curt nod.
“No. You will spar with each other this morning. The goal is to use this spell correctly, accurately, and with as much force as you can muster while you ward off attacks from an opponent. Got it?”
Raven glanced at her bo staff and smirked. “It’s been a while since we’ve sparred against each other.”
“Too long, if you ask me.” With a grin, her companion grasped her staff higher with her hand and stepped back in a ready stance. “I look forward to it more than last time, honestly.”
“Huh.” She glanced at Leander beside her and met the girl’s grin with one equally as challenging. “I thought the same thing.”
“Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean we can’t fight each other.”
“That’s probably why we should.”
The girls stared at one another, smiled, and waited for their opponent to make the first move. Alessandra scoffed and tossed her hand in the air. “This isn’t witty-banter training, mages. Get going!”
Bella lunged forward and brought the staff up for a mighty swing aimed at the oth
er girl’s head. Raven blocked with a crack of wood on wood and stepped back again as Wesley swooped from the sky and darted between them. Bella attacked again, brought the staff up from below, and swiped at the other mage’s feet before she jabbed toward her stomach, all while Wesley fluttered around Raven’s head and screeched.
Sweat built quickly at Raven’s hairline, but she managed to duck, parry, and dodge each of the quick strikes. Bella grinned the whole time, her eyes wide and alight with a crazed-looking enthusiasm. I seriously pity the next person who ends up fighting her for real.
Raven found an opening for a return strike, and when the other girl lunged out of the way, the redheaded mage extended her hand toward the line of dummies and shouted, “Ecflicto!”
A bright white light erupted from her palm, but the attack went wide when Wesley swooped toward her and made her jerk her hand back to avoid his outstretched talons. “Nice trick.”
“Wesley’s only doing his part.” Bella swung again, and the sparring continued.
“That’s exactly what you’ll have to deal with in battle, Miss Alby. Distractions and attacks from every possible angle. Miss Chase is using every ability at her disposal. What do you have?”
I have a dragon.
Raven parried again, swung into an immediate attack, and pushed the other mage two feet back across the field. Bella empowered her next onslaught with a burst of speed and swung from every direction. She leapt away from Raven’s next swipe, ducked, and spun low in the grass before she swung the bo staff in a bold arc toward her opponent’s chest.
Wesley fluttered between them and circled again. Find another opening.
As soon as she thought it, Leander sent a quick image into her mind—Wesley heading toward the sparring mages from behind her, trying to sneak up on her. She smiled, blocked more attacks, and shifted her bo staff to challenge Bella from the other side.
The girl leapt away and deflected the blow. The red dragon sent another quick, split-second image of Wesley diving toward Raven’s upper back. She took a huge step back and tucked the bow staff under her arm as she crouched. Her back knee scraping against the grass. She thrust out toward the dummies with her other hand as Wesley darted without effect over her head and she shouted, “Ecflicto!”
This time, her spell didn’t miss. The brilliant flash of light exploded against one of the center dummies and it reeled away before the weighted base rocked it into place again.
Leander uttered his own small, triumphant screech.
Bella had stopped her relentless attacks to stare at the slightly charred wood of the dummy’s chest.
“That’s more like it, Miss Alby.” Alessandra’s deadpan expression hadn’t changed but she inclined her head in acknowledgment. “Using what you have.”
Raven straightened and thumped the side of her bo staff lightly against her opponent’s shoulder. “You almost made it impossible for me to get a good shot.”
Bella turned toward her and lifted her weapon in a defensive position. She smirked and raised her eyebrows. “Almost isn’t good enough, Raven. You know that. See if you can almost stop me.”
“You’re on.” She unleashed her own attacks with the sparring weapon and pushed the girl swiftly across the field. Wesley continued to swoop and dive around them while he shrieked and fluttered between them to distract her. “It’s bad form to hit a familiar with one of these things, right?”
“In training, very much so,” Alessandra muttered.
“I was kidding.” Raven pivoted and swung her staff toward her opponent’s right side, which made the other girl turn away to block and left her other side wide open.
As the girls moved from one side of the field to the other, Leander stalked alongside them, his gaze focused intently on Bella. When the girl thought she’d found an opening and stretched her hand toward the dummies, the dragon snorted a heavy breath of hot air against her face.
“What—” She ducked away from the huge dragon muzzle less than a foot away and laughed. “This is the kind of training we should’ve started with.”
She jerked her staff in position to block the next attack, and Wesley dove toward Leander but veered away at the last second when the dragon opened his enormous jaws. Both girls chuckled but didn’t miss a beat in their sparring.
Alessandra narrowed her eyes and watched her trainees with her arms folded. “This is training, mages. Not a pillow fight.” And I still wouldn’t like my chances against these two when it really mattered.
The girls ignored her and continued their whirlwind attacks with broad strokes, lunges, parries all accompanied by the cracks of staff against staff. Bella swiped at Raven’s feet and forced her to jump back. She carried through with the momentum and swung her staff toward Leander’s head. The dragon snorted and reared as the dark-haired mage whirled and shouted, “Ecflicto!”
The spell streaked from her hand and caught the second dummy from the end to whip it sideways against its neighbor. She pulled her staff up in both hands again barely in time to block her adversary’s downward attack.
They grinned at each other, breathing heavily. Bella tossed her hair out of her eyes and stepped back. “Almost.”
“You almost hit me,” Leander muttered, his head lowered and swaying from side to side as he watched his mage’s opponent.
The girl shrugged. “I knew you’d move.”
Raven chuckled. “I’d hate to see what would happen if you actually did smack him in the face with that.”
“She couldn’t.” The dragon uttered a low rumble of certainty.
“Is that a personal challenge, dragon?” Bella spun her bo staff again and thrust the butt of it into the ground as she regarded the great red beast that met her stare with amusement.
“Hey!” Alessandra clapped her hands, the sound echoing across the field. “You’re sparring with weapons, mages. Not words. Do I have to make you fight each other?”
The young mages glanced at each other, shared a knowing smile, and stepped into ready stances.
“I guess we’ll have to turn it up a notch,” Bella muttered.
Raven lifted her staff and narrowed her eyes in amused determination. “Bring it.”
The trainer made a show of rolling her eyes and shaking her head. The girls returned to their joust and completely ignored her exaggerated reaction. But War Mage Alessandra Barnasis watched them intently and folded her arms again. So they’ve finally quit looking at each other as enemies. It took ʼem long enough.
Chapter Fifteen
The training dummy on the far end of the field crackled and sparked with Bella’s final attack. Unfortunately, it didn’t explode the way Alessandra had shown them.
“Come on!” the girl shouted and thumped the end of her bo staff against the ground.
The veteran war mage clicked her tongue. “I highly doubt that reaction will get the results you want, Miss Chase.”
The dark-haired mage sighed in exasperation and shook her head. “I’ve cast it perfectly. We both have. Those dummies should be in pieces by now!”
Raven wiped a sheen of sweat from her forehead and glanced at her clothes. Gross. I’m soaked.
“Advanced battle magic takes time, dedication, and practice,” Alessandra replied with a small frown. “It’s entirely unrealistic to expect mastery after only one day of sparring, Miss Chase. I don’t care how advanced you are or how easily you’ve mastered your spellcasting thus far.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “So what am I missing, then?”
“Time.”
The girl scoffed and turned to her companion. “I almost had it.”
“I know.” Raven tucked her weapon under her arm and looked at the charred, tilting dummies lined up across the field. “We both came really close. If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t blow any dummies up, either.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Bella raised an eyebrow at her fellow mage, sighed, and gave her a small smile. “It’s a tiny consolation, I guess.”
She chuckled. “Ta
ke ʼem where you can get ʼem, right?”
The girl pulled her sweat-soaked shirt away from her chest and shoulders, tried to fan it out, and finally gave up. “I don’t think we’ve worked this hard before.”
“I have a feeling this is what real training is like.”
“It’s always been real training,” Alessandra interjected. “But you two finally learned how to work together to challenge each other the right way instead of trying to demolish each other however you could.”
The girls shared another amused glance and turned toward their trainer.
“That’s it for today, mages. It was good work, but it won’t be excellent work until each of you obliterates a man-shaped blob of wood and straw. You can try again tomorrow.” With that, she spun away and marched across the field toward the stone archway.
Raven stared after her and glanced down at the bo staff in her hand. “What are we supposed to do with these?”
“Do you have access to the weapons shed?”
“Nope.”
Bella closed her eyes in exasperation. “Me neither. And there’s no way in hell I’ll take a sparring weapon home with me.”
She choked back a laugh. “I can actually see the looks on your family’s faces with that one.”
“I don’t even want to think about it.” The girl twirled her staff a couple of times, grasped it in both hands, and shrugged. “The stables?”
“I believe I can help you with that,” Headmaster Flynn said as he approached them from the other side of the barn.
Raven peered at the barn with a little frown. Where did he come from?
“You’ve both made some remarkable improvements,” he told them and his long, scraggly gray beard caught the breeze. “I had the opportunity to watch some of your training today and I must say, I’m quite impressed.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Headmaster.”
Bella shook her head. “It’s still not enough. We didn’t destroy any of those dummies.”
“True. But I wouldn’t say it’s not enough, Miss Chase. Quite the contrary, actually. You didn’t destroy each other, and that’s a much better start than at the beginning of the school year.”