By The Skies

by J E Mueller

  Aylum gave another slow nod. “Do you ever feel like you have an abundance of magic and then suddenly it seems to be gone?”

  I paused and thought for a moment. “I don’t know if I’d say that exactly. It’s more like it wasn’t there at all, but just for a short time. I get my wits about me and normally can just walk myself to the healers.”

  Aylum continued to nod in thought.

  “Why?” I asked him curiously.

  “A theory I have, but time will tell.” He smiled. “Anyway, we should get some practice in, don’t you agree?”

  “What theory?” I asked instead.

  “When I can put it into words, I’ll explain. Deal?” His smile didn’t falter.

  “You randomly state you have a theory and I have to let it go?” I sighed as he nodded and chuckled. “Fine. Let’s be off then.”

  Aylum took off his sweater, his wings emerging as he did so.

  “Doesn’t that get cold?” I asked curiously as I stepped closer.

  “Not at all.” He laughed as he picked me up. “I’m sure you agree I feel quite warm.”

  I blushed, not having a reply. “Okay, let’s be off.”

  He laughed again at my insistence, letting his invisibility magic cloak us as we took off. I held on to him tightly, less concerned than I had been yesterday. It did seem to make sense that flying with me wouldn’t really be a problem for a dragon. All their extra magic and strength gave them too many advantages.

  As we landed I noticed two foils set on the ground.

  “Fencing?” Confusion washed over me as he set me down.

  “You said you knew some of the basics,” he replied, putting his sweater back on. “With your fog and teleporting, knowing a bit more than that will be perfect for a simple duel.”

  I went over and picked one up. It had been a while since I managed to sneak out my father’s. He had found it amusing, but mother did not exactly like the idea. Ultimately, she had won that argument.

  “Let’s see your stance then,” Aylum stated as he picked up the other.

  I frowned as I tried to remember how I had seen it done before. As I tried to get the stance right, I was certain I appeared untrained. The little I had practiced was too long ago.

  “You’ve no formal instruction I take it. You know from observing?”

  I nodded, relieved he didn’t sound bothered by it, more admiring. “Let’s start from the beginning then. Try to get into position.”

  Aylum didn’t hesitate to adjust my stance and start going through the basics. It was clear as he moved and demonstrated he was comfortable with the foil, but I didn’t have the pleasure of getting lost in his motions. I needed to focus and work on learning, not just mimicking what he showed. Time quickly ticked by before it was too dark to do much more.

  “Sorry about this. You were probably expecting to help someone more capable.” I sighed, lowering the foil as my arm ached. A heavy weight of exhaustion creeped through my body, threatening to pull me to the ground.

  He gave a reassuring smile. “You are plenty capable. You just haven’t had the same instruction I have. I’m sure you’ll have enough down before this duel takes place.”

  “I hope so. This whole Promised thing needs to be broken.” I tried to keep my frustration down, but even in the fading light, there was no hiding it from my expression.

  “I’ve no doubt it will be,” Aylum tried to reassure me.

  “You can’t know that. Even if I practice hard, he could have some magic I can do nothing against.” I hated how true that fact could be. I could only prepare to the best of my ability. My thoughts raced in circles. Would this be enough? Could this be enough?

  “There are other ways around things,” Aylum replied.

  It was too dark to see his face, and I couldn’t tell much from his neutral tone. “What do you mean by that?”

  “There are always ways around these things. They just get more complicated past that point. Either way, I’ve no doubt it’ll all work out.”

  “I hope you’re right.” A yawn took over my reply.

  “It’s far past time to head back. Let’s get going.” There was no use arguing it. Even he was starting to sound tired.

  Sleep found me as soon as my head hit the pillow, but that didn’t change that I went to bed so late. Morning was crueler than normal because of that. At breakfast I was exhausted. Learning more about fencing was wonderful, but now muscles I had forgotten about were stupidly sore. My fast healing wasn’t helping either, likely from being so drained from magic. Soleia yawned as she sat down next to me. The dining hall was always so much quieter in the morning, and I relished in it’s whispered glory.

  “You look worse for wear. Didn’t you go to bed early?” Soleia gave me a tired look as she stirred fruit into her porridge.

  “I guess it wasn’t that restful.” I shrugged.

  “Either something else is wrong and you should get it checked, or you’re lying to me again.” She gave me a sidelong look before taking a bite of her breakfast.

  “I’m lying to you again,” I admitted as I glanced around. Seeing that our normal group was fairly scattered this morning I whispered over to her. “I’ve picked up an interesting fact about you.”

  Soleia paused, spoon raised halfway to her mouth. “Well then, I was wondering when it would come to that. What exactly did Aylum tell you?” I looked surprised, causing her to give a small laugh. “There aren’t many of us at this school, and it's about time there was another one in our class.”

  “Oh…” I picked at my own food again. “Well, I’ve no idea how you kept it a secret for so long, and why would your family stay here? I am just going to be terribly nosy since you were expecting this anyway.”

  Soleia gave a noncommittal sound as she ate a bit more food before finally replying, “Humans aren’t supposed to know. There are a plethora of reasons of course. Aylum breaking rules like that is very frowned upon, but there’s enough good reasoning there. Just keep it a secret like you already have been and it should be fine.”

  “What good reasoning could there be if it’s such a big deal? Not that I'm not grateful, it’s really interesting to me that he did that to begin with,” I admitted.

  “That goes hand in hand with why my family is out this way. Dragons have a series of prophecies they follow. The first is seen when we are about five or six. It’s one that shows us what skills we need to build. The next leads us to where we will meet our destiny. The final is different for everyone. Some show exactly what you’re supposed to do to live your life to the fullest. Some show where your true love is. Others show you a fate you want to avoid. There’s really no end to the possibilities.”

  I debated asking more, but she had already alluded to things. “You said that’s why your family is here. What part exactly has to do with that?”

  She gave a small laugh. “The last two parts. It’s complicated and not for you to know right now.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Right now?”

  She nodded but didn’t say any more on the subject. “So, it’s well past your turn. Why are you so tired today?”

  I let the simple truth roll off my tongue as if it was not a big deal. “Aylum was showing me how to fence near the lake so I can take on Eastyn in a duel.”

  It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. “How? Wait, no, I have a guess. The jerk just flew to you because why not break all of the rules.”

  “If you’re going to break something, why not completely?” I smirked, amused by her reaction.

  Soleia shook her head and changed to the other point of my statement. “You’re going to need a lot of practice and it’s going to be getting dark sooner and sooner.”

  I sighed at the thought, already seeing the truth. “It’s not ideal timing but, at least it’s something.”

  “I’ll be joining you,” Soleia stated as a matter of fact. “We’ll just rearrange your room a bit and there will be plenty of room for the basics. We’ll need a better plan for some r
eal practice later, but it’ll be a good start.”

  I hadn’t seen that coming. “Are you sure?” I didn’t want to trouble her but the additional guidance was welcome. Relief coursed through me. This could be exactly what I needed.

  “Honestly, I was going to see he had an untimely demise, but this is probably more ethical.” Soleia shrugged.

  I stared at her for a moment, unable to tell how genuine she was being. “Are… are you serious?”

  “Completely.” She nodded, taking the last bite of her breakfast. “Humans are fragile. Poisons work so quickly and easily on them, making it look like a normal sickness. Rather a shame. No one would miss that snake though so it seemed like a win-win.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I had been worried for ages, trying to figure out the absolute best way out of this madness and this entire time my friend had been planning on simply killing him. “I’ve no idea how you thought you’d succeed, but I’m rather glad you’re on my side.”

  She threw me a lazy smirk. “Anything is possible when you have wings and can be very briefly invisible, my dear.”

  I shuddered, not sure if I found her statement horrifying or comforting.

  Chapter Seven

  The week went on as expected. Soleia insisted on helping, and it was oddly difficult to say no when both people wanting to help could just fly to your balcony. In Soleia’s case, she just let herself in. Aylum at least would wait to be invited in. When not working on fencing, it seemed that classes were getting too busy for any other worries.

  I was very concerned about the fire scrying. The notes I wrote down and presented to the teacher resulted in no useful aid.

  “Fire is wicked.” Was the unhelpful commentary the professor gave me. “It lies, or it finds the worst possible situation your future can bring. Study it, learn from it. See what paths can lead to it, and then avoid it.”

  It was something I had heard for years. It was what anyone gifted with that niche scrying heard on repeat. I had tried focusing on a timeline, trying to see when in the near future they could be. The most the fire would let on was a series of snowflakes. Things would start or finish before winter took hold.

  It was a distracting fact. I hardly realized Aylum was even talking to me during potions. “What was that?”

  He frowned, probably for the dozenth time that day. “There’s only one night left on this potion. It needs to be stirred in two hours. A few things added in four more hours then stirred again. The temperature needs to stay perfect for two hours with the final ingredient added and then it can rest for an hour before we bottle it.”

  I slowly nodded, the words finally catching up with my brain. “We’ll need an amulet to stay out after the curfew.”

  Aylum shook his head at me. “I can stay up, the last bit shouldn’t be too tricky. You look like you need to rest.”

  “I’m fine,” I insisted. “Just absorbed in these stupid scrying visions.” I shook my head. “If anything, working on something tedious and overly specific would be helpful.”

  Aylum nodded. “It would be easier with two people, there is no lie there.” He sighed. “I’ll get permission then.”

  While he got up I looked over the final list of things we needed to do. Only a handful more things to chop and add. All needed to be fresh. All needed to be handled specifically. The blasted thing wouldn’t even be finished until midnight. At least it would be the weekend once this was done. Then next week was the herbal spellcraft trip. If one thing could send boarding school teachers into a huff it was a planned trip that took extra supervision.

  The thought amused me a lot. It was more fun to think about then constantly mulling over the visions I could do nothing about until a thread showed they were starting and then react accordingly. Hopefully when they showed I could avoid the worst of it.

  “What has your mind so occupied today?” Aylum asked as he retook his seat, setting two chains with a green coin each onto the table.

  “Just thinking about the scrying madness. I was hoping for some clarity but the fire won’t budge and it is finally bothering me to no end.” I sighed, picking up one of the chains and fiddling with the coin.

  “Fire?” Aylum repeated softly. “Most humans can’t scry with fire.”

  I shrugged. “Scrying in general is uncommon from what I’ve heard. They can hardly pull a divination class together.” I glanced over at him.

  “Fire is uncommon even for dragons.” He shrugged. “Either way, we should figure out tonight's plan.”

  I didn't get why he was so set on pointing out fire scrying was uncommon to everyone. Someone else in my class could do it as well. Instead of going over the levels of rarity, I shrugged back at him, moving on to what needed to be done. “Probably an early dinner, get here about fifteen minutes earlier to prepare and go from there. Not sure about you, but I do have a few assignments to finish.”

  “Just a few,” he agreed. “I’m fairly positive Professor Achworth won’t stay with us the entire time. Once she heads out I have an interesting idea to help with dueling.”

  “Soleia will be disappointed to miss it.” I couldn’t imagine what new thing it could be. After everything I’d already learned, it was difficult to imagine there could be more outside of refining the basics over and over again.

  “She inspired it, actually. We got to talking yesterday and the more I’ve thought about it…” he trailed off, smirking as he turned to put things away. “Well, you’ll see.”

  “When?” I asked before I remembered they both had destruction class together. Darn Soleia, getting to do the fun magic with no limits. “Which class?”

  “Weapons.” He smirked.

  I thought for a moment, “I suppose that’s when I’m begging fire for answers or trying to get tea leaves to share their secrets.” I shook my head shoving things back into my bag. “Which it's about time for.” I slipped on the chain and tucked it under my top.

  “Don’t overdo it,” Aylum commented nonchalantly as we headed for the door.

  “Yes, sir!” I saluted before laughing as we parted ways. “That just ruins my fun.”

  As I walked I heard the sound of two sets of footsteps falling loudly behind me. I ignored them, more concerned about getting to my next class.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Celibria demanded as we reached an empty hall.

  I glanced over my shoulder seeing her and Cressida following. “Going to class. I’m not sure what one you’re supposed to be heading to next but I know it’s not mine.”

  “Stop trying to sound smart,” Celibria demanded. “You are Promised and you are spending far too much time with another man.”

  “Oh darn, befriending prominent people while at school is such a terrible move. You are absolutely right. Everything in his pants matters so much more now!” I mocked.

  “Oh stop with that!” Cressida screeched as they continued to follow me. “You don’t even know what title he holds. You can’t be interested in that.”

  “True, I don’t know his title,” I agreed. “I suppose I care about the individual instead of titles or what they can provide.”

  “You better watch yourself.” Celibria shoved me. I reacted without thought, turning to slap her across the face. The realization of what I’d done hit me as the two of them gasped.

  The three of us stared at one another for a moment. “I will continue to be friends with who I choose. Good afternoon.” I turned and left, happy to hear them head off in the other direction, whispering fiercely to one another.

  I wondered if anything would come of that incident. They would have to either make up a story of me lashing out at them, which would be out of character for me, or admit to stalking and provoking me, which they wouldn’t do.

  After our last class for the day, Soleia followed me to the dining hall. I didn’t usually do my homework here, but I knew if I went back upstairs it would be too easy to get distracted and I didn’t have time for mistakes today. The potions for class were techn
ically due today, but the professor knew ours would take a little longer. Still, there were no second chances on this and I was not going to have my grade even mildly suffer when I normally excelled in this class.

  “Do you really have work to do?” Soleia asked, surprised as I sat down and started going through my bag. “I thought you were ahead on everything for the next five years.”

  “I am, but I want to stay ahead,” I admitted. “Now, if you don’t need help with any classes I’m going to bother you to help with my enunciation on some of these spellsayer assignments.”

  Soleia laughed, pulling out her language notes. “Let’s get talking.”

  As we worked, Keti and Neveah joined us until they finally started to serve dinner. Soleia eventually got up as I pulled out notes from my divination class.

  A tray appearing in front of me finally grabbed my attention. Aylum set it down as he and Delmar joined us.

  “Kareia aren’t you like six years ahead on studying?” Delmar laughed as I moved things over so Soleia could rejoin us with her food and another chair.

  “I wish. That would be very useful.” I gave a light smile before taking a forkful of chicken and going back to reading.

  “Eat now, study later.” Soleia nudged me. “You’ve got to finish that potion soon.”

  “I can multitask,” I replied as I read on.

  “If you had six hours to eat, then yes, I would agree,” she teased, grabbing the notebook from me and closing it.

  “Fine.” I tried to glare at her as I took it back and returned it to my bag, but there was no malice in it.

  It was easy to get pulled into a conversation, but we didn’t have much time to really enjoy it. As soon as we were finished with our plates, it was already time to leave. Delmar and Soleia continued to talk as we left.

  We arrived back at the potions classroom and got situated with plenty of time before stirring things. As we started to pull out the ingredients we would need for the next phase the professor returned. Achworth gave us a nod, sat at her desk, and started testing the potions other classes had turned in. After we were ready, I pulled out my classwork and got back to studying while Aylum did the same.