by Lisa Cassidy
“I’ll go and report in,” Tarrick strode off as they arrived.
Alyx gestured for the rest to come closer. “We’re all nervous, and for a good reason. Today we’re fighting against First Patrol and their captain is a very dangerous mage who’d love nothing better than to hurt and humiliate us.”
Mika’s face fell. Even Jayn and Finn looked disconcerted. Dawn, however, wore a confident smile. Cario glanced up briefly before returning his attention to his hands.
Alyx smiled. “Nonetheless, we’ve been training hard, and it’s time that we show the masters of DarkSkull that—suspended or not—there’s a good reason why they chose us for Third Patrol. Galien is one man. The rest of his patrol is fallible. Let’s do this for Tarrick.”
“Very rousing,” Cario said dryly.
“None of them can fly!” Mika grinned around at them, his bouncing intensifying.
“And Alyx has already defeated Fengel,” Jayn added.
“Easily.” Dawn’s smile widened.
“We know the plan, so whatever happens stick to it,” Finn spoke. “Discipline, trust and teamwork could break these guys.”
“All right!” Tarrick came striding back. “We’re up.”
“We’re ready,” Finn said in a tone of such confidence that Tarrick looked taken-aback.
“We try our best, and then we keep battling, no matter what happens.” Dawn touched Alyx’s arm with a smile as they filed past towards the platform. Alyx paused by Cario, curiosity filling her voice as she asked;
“How do you really feel about this?”
“It’s just a game, Alyx,” he said, smiling a little. “It means nothing.”
Rothai waited for them at the top of the steps leading up to the platform. He gave Tarrick a nod of acknowledgement as they approached. “Please enter the field. We’re ready to start.”
Alyx felt the slight pull in her leg muscles as she followed Tarrick up the stairs, relished the kiss of the afternoon breeze on her bare skin, and then there was the crowd, breaking out into cheers as Third Patrol reached the platform.
“Go Third!” someone shouted, followed by louder cheers and whistling.
The sheer number of spectators surprised her; it looked like the entirety of DarkSkull was present, along with the visiting families and most of the townsfolk from the surrounding villages that had come for the fair. Hundreds at least, she thought, then winced inwardly; getting trounced in front of so many people would not be fun.
She swung her arms around to loosen them up, gaze narrowing on Galien and First Patrol—Fengel, Tarran, Oscar and Parja—walking onto the opposite side of the platform. They were all tall, muscular and powerful young men.
“Silence!” Rothai bellowed, and the crowd noise dropped to a hum. “This is to be an exhibition match between DarkSkull Hall’s First and Third combat patrols. The apprentices will display their magic and fighting abilities by competing against each other in a mock battle. Are you ready?”
Galien strode lithely to the centre of the platform, his four patrol mates staying back. “Yes, sir.”
Rothai turned. “Apprentice Tylender?”
But it wasn’t Tarrick walking forward into the centre of the platform, it was Cario and Dawn, Finn a step behind them. Surprise flickered over Galien’s face, turning to amusement as he regarded his friend. Alyx smiled.
“We’re ready, sir,” Cario said, as casually as if he were asking someone to pass him the salt.
“When I drop the white flag, the match will commence. Are there any questions?”
Galien and Cario looked at each other, then at Rothai, shaking their heads. Finn reached up to place a hand on Cario’s and Dawn’s shoulders. Alyx moved lightly up and down on the balls of her feet, focusing her mind as Howell had taught them.
Rothai nodded, dropped the white flag he was holding, and jumped down off the platform. A loud roar rose from the crowd.
Galien’s hand began to move, but they’d expected that, and before he could do anything Jayn’s shield settled down over Cario and the twins, glimmering in the afternoon sun. At the same moment, Alyx drew her staff and took a protective stance in front of Jayn. Mika leaped into the air.
A hum came from the crowd. Galien hesitated, taken aback by their move and unsure what to do next.
Cario didn’t hesitate.
The other members of First Patrol suddenly found themselves losing belt buckles, a hair clip, shirt buttons and mage knives as Cario yanked the items from their bodies with insulting ease. An instant later they were flying around their owners like a horde of angry hornets, forcing the apprentices to slap uselessly at the air in an attempt to stop the onslaught.
Laughing, Cario gestured with both his hands and the tiny objects flew up higher into the air and then floated down over the crowd like snowflakes. Spectators cheered as they grabbed at buttons and knives. Galien snarled, reacting by shooting fireballs from his palms straight at Cario. They crashed into the shield and dissolved with a mighty hiss, Alyx catching Jayn’s whisper-thought of satisfaction.
“Now!” Tarrick called.
Cario went for their opponents’ staffs next, face creasing with effort as his magic fought to rip them from their owners. Galien tried summoning a wind and then concussions bursts against the shield but Jayn’s magic held and his efforts proved useless. Fireballs shot into the air as Fengel fought Cario uselessly, but Oscar responded with his own telekinetic magic, stalling Cario’s efforts.
Magic flickered all around Alyx, bright sparks and eddies, all of it singing to her own magic. She sensed it as Dawn waded in, hammering at Oscar’s mental shield, distracting him enough to weaken his focus. Finn’s eyes were closed as he poured energy into both Cario and Dawn.
Cario gave a grunt of effort and won the fight, tearing Oscar’s staff from him. Unseen, Mika swooped down from the sky and grabbed it from the air before soaring back up and tossing it out over the crowd. With Oscar beaten, Dawn turned her magic to distracting the others. Cario and Mika made quick work of grabbing the remaining three staffs from their furious owners.
Giving up on attacking the shield but recognising Jayn as the critical piece, Galien came at Alyx. She met him gladly, placing herself between him and Jayn, eager to let loose her own power. Their staffs collided with an almighty cracking sound that almost drowned out the cheering.
“You can’t beat me, Egalion,” Galien snarled at her.
“I don’t need to.” She went at him then, a furious flurry of strikes and counters. Her job was to distract him, and that was what she was going to do.
“Fengel is pounding the shield with his fireballs. Jayn can’t hold much longer,” Dawn slid calmly into their thoughts.
“Just a moment,” Tarrick shouted aloud. “I’ve got him.”
Galien abruptly stepped away from Alyx, disengaging to lunge at Jayn. Finn stepped out of the shielding to intercept him, and found himself being encircled in Galien’s magic and hung suspended in the air.
Alyx went for him, dodged to her left to avoid the fireball that Galien launched at her, and came up, sweeping her staff in an arc and forcing him backwards. He summoned more fireballs, replacing Fengel’s attacks on Jayn’s shield. It shuddered, barely holding.
Across the platform, Tarran and Oscar paced, waiting to attack as soon as the shield came down. Fengel and Tarrick were battling furiously, but it looked as if Tarrick, who still had his staff, had the upper hand.
“The shield’s going down!” Jayn shouted, swaying on her feet.
It winked out of existence a moment later. Dawn grabbed the exhausted apprentice and dragged her over to the edge of the platform, staff held out protectively.
“Mika, cover them!” Tarrick bellowed.
Alyx couldn’t see what had happened to Cario, her entire focus on sending her magic crashing into Galien’s, trying to force him to release his hold on Finn. They wrestled together, but his power was superior, and the fight only resulted in draining hers. She disengaged, breathing hard, sta
ff raised and ready for another attack.
Cario was under attack from Parja and Tarran – Parja attacking with his magic, and Cario’s ability wasn’t suited for dodging fireballs. Oscar took advantage of Cario’s distraction and used his power to yank Mika’s staff from his hands and go after him with it.
“Mika, stay in the air and see if you can lift Finn out of Galien’s grip while we distract him. Dawn, stay with Jayn, but use your magic on Galien and help me distract him. Tarrick, make sure you get Fengel out of this fight then come help me with Galien.”
They responded quickly to Alyx’s orders. Cario cast Alyx a look as he ducked and weaved as if to say ‘what about me?’
Alyx sent two weak concussive bursts shooting across the platform, setting them to explode on either side of Tarran’s head. The mage winced and fell hard as the successive bursts went off, causing the entire platform to rock. Once he was down he stayed that way.
“He’s down a few moments at least, Alyx!” Dawn sent.
“Cario, quit complaining and fight like I know you can,” Alyx snapped at him.
She swore Cario gave a faint roll of his eyes at her order, but then he was stepping forward to engage Parja and Oscar, employing both staff and magic.
Dawn shouted again into Alyx’s mind. Alyx turned—Finn was beginning to choke, struggling to breathe as an invisible vice closed over his throat.
“Fireball from the left, Alyx!’ Dawn came again.
Alyx dropped to the ground as Fengel shot a fireball straight at her head. It would have gotten her nicely if Dawn hadn’t read his mental intention to do it. Furious—the fireball could have killed her—Alyx spun faster than thought, green light flaring, but Tarrick was already there, his staff slamming into Fengel’s shoulder with the full force of his body weight. He quickly reversed the thrust and landed another, just as hard.
Cheers broke out amongst the crowd as Fengel crumpled to the ground.
Two down.
“Thanks!” she called.
“Anytime.” Tarrick jogged over. “Finn looks like he could use a hand.”
Alyx smiled and pushed sweaty tendrils of hair behind her ears. Galien smirked as he used magic to jiggle Finn around mid-air.
“I’m playing you like an orchestra,” he said in contempt. “Give up and I’ll let him go.”
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “You mustn’t have noticed that most of your team is down.”
He laughed in genuine amusement. “You think that means something? I don’t need them. I could take all of you single-handedly.”
“Jayn, forget your shield, you can fight as well as any of us. Mika, stay up there but help Cario if you can. It’s going to take all of us to win this.”
Another cheer swept through the watchers as Cario, off to the side, landed a significant blow on Oscar, sending him staggering into the ropes. Mika dropped out of the sky, landing on his shoulders and forcing him to the ground. Cario turned on Parja, staff raised.
Alyx glanced at the crowd, spotted a flash of cobalt and saw the Bluecoats. They were standing on boxes at the back, roaring and cheering louder than anyone as their Lady Egalion fought.
“Go for it!” Casta shouted, Tijer whistling loudly beside him.
She smiled back, gave them a jaunty wave, then returned her focus to the fight.
“All right,” she sent as quickly as she could, deliberately ignoring Galien’s taunting. He wasn’t going to do any permanent damage to Finn in front of so many people. “Let’s do it. Just like Finn planned.”
At the count of three, Tarrick leapt to his feet, raising a hand and sending one of his concussion blasts shooting into the air. It exploded in a silver flash right above Galien’s head, causing the mage to wince and duck at the subsequent blast of concussive energy that sent him stumbling.
Tarrick and Jayn were already moving, taking advantage of Galien’s momentary distraction to come at him from each side. Dawn drove into Galien’s mind, scratching and tearing at his mental shield while Alyx summoned every bit of strength she could to tear Finn from Galien’s grasp.
Tarrick collided with Galien first, and they ploughed into the ground. The Shiven roared in helpless fury as Alyx’s power swamped his and she grabbed Finn, lowering him gently to the floor. Tarrick and Galien wrestled fiercely, Dawn doing her best to keep Galien too distracted to summon magic.
“Mika, protect Finn!” Alyx shouted, then reached out with her magic and yanked the rope lining the platform, dragging a whole length of the stuff towards her and tossing it at Jayn. Jayn reached out and grabbed it, then dove as Tarrick finally got Galien underneath him. She quickly worked the rope around Galien’s neck. Once done she pulled it tight while Tarrick placed his mage knife at the skin over the Shiven’s jugular.
“One twitch of your fingers, and this goes right in,” Tarrick warned. “Do you surrender?”
Galien’s face tightened with hate and fury, but after a moment his right hand tapped the floor in surrender.
Tarrick grinned and stood, both he and Jayn releasing Galien to stand also. Alyx looked over to see that Parja was slumped in the opposite corner, unconscious. Cario stood a short distance off, reviewing a tear in his robe with annoyance.
“The match goes to Third Patrol,” Rothai’s voice boomed out.
The crowd surged to their feet, clapping and whistling in a crescendo of noise. Alyx looked across at Tarrick and they shared a tired grin.
“We won!” Mika dropped lightly to the ground, mouth hanging open in astonishment. Jayn pumped her fist in the air and gave a victorious shout. Alyx couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face as the crowd continued cheering and chanting their names. Dawn had an echoing smile, and they hugged excitedly.
“Good plan.” Alyx went over and clapped Finn on the back.
He rubbed ruefully at his sore neck. “It didn’t go quite as I expected. You did a nice bit of improvising there at the end.”
“Not sure if you noticed, but I basically held off most of First Patrol while you took forever containing Galien,” Cario broke in.
Alyx pointed at the tear in his robe. “That looks terrible.”
Cario scowled, making them all laugh.
As they stepped down off the platform, Alyx looked out into the crowd, searching for her Blue Guard. They were still there, cheering with everyone, their cries becoming raucous when they saw they had her attention. She couldn’t help but laugh. Nor could she help her disappointment at not seeing Dashan amongst them. She hoped he was okay.
“Come on.” Tarrick threw an arm over her shoulders, grinning down at her. “Let’s go and get ready for this dance. I, for one, am in the mood for celebrating.”
Alyx laughed. “Lead the way, dear patrol captain.”
Howell was waiting for them at the bottom of the steps, hard-pressed to hold back the smile threatening to cross his face. The twinkling of his eyes gave him away though.
“That was a nice bit of teamwork.”
“What can I say, sir, we pay attention in class,” Tarrick said airily.
“You’ve certainly been paying attention in Master Renwick’s classes.” Howell looked thoughtful. “In a real-world fight Galien would have killed you all within minutes of that fight starting, but you knew he couldn’t do that here and you used it to your advantage.”
“Well, sir, we see it as your job to make sure that by the time we make it out into the real world, we’re strong enough to beat Galien,” Alyx said.
Howell’s mouth twitched. “You have been paying attention.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, get away with you all! Scram. Enjoy your dance.”
Chapter 39
Alyx and Dawn went back to their dorm’s bathing room, soaking deeply in the hot tubs and scrubbing the sweat and dust from their skin. Alyx floated in the water for longer than usual, allowing the heat to relax tired muscles. Her mind replayed the battle over and over—she was proud of herself, of all of them. After the confusion of th
e past weeks, it was nice to know they’d done something right.
“Come on, sleepyhead, move it,” Dawn eventually called out. “If you don’t hurry and dress, we’ll be late.”
Alyx climbed out reluctantly and dried off before donning the dress she’d had made in Weeping Stead. It was a pale green colour, patterned with sunflowers around the hem and along the straps. The cotton material fitted closely to her chest and stomach, then flowed out into a looser skirt that fell to her knees. A pair of green sandals finished off her attire, and she was glad it turned out to be a warm day.
Dawn twirled before her. “What do you think?”
Alyx’s best friend looked stunning, her shimmering raven hair falling to her waist, setting off a deep blue dress similar in style to Alyx’s. The blue in the dress matched Dawn’s eyes so that they glowed against her fair skin.
“You look amazing,” Alyx said honestly.
“So do you.” Dawn smiled cheekily. “Cayr is a lucky man.”
The mention of Cayr shook her, but she pasted a smile on her face. “Thanks for the compliment, Dawn, but I think you’re exaggerating a little.”
Dawn cocked her head suddenly. “Your consort for the evening is downstairs and broadcasting his arrival quite loudly in the hopes I’ll read his thoughts.”
Alyx chuckled. “I’ll see you down there.”
Cario waited outside the entrance of the dormitory building with a group of other male apprentices and initiates. Where most of them seemed nervous, with eyes firmly on their boots or wandering around, Cario stood handsome and confident in ivory pants and long jacket over a dark blue shirt. He smiled widely as he caught sight of Alyx, and immediately offered her his arm.
She took it gracefully. “You certainly scrub up well.”
“As do you, Lady Egalion,” he murmured. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
Together they strolled across grounds lit by the orange glow of the setting sun. Inside the great hall, many students were already gathering, enjoying glasses of punch and ale at the large opened windows along each side of the main hall. A long oval space running down the middle of the hall had been left clear for dancing, while tables of food and drink sat along the wall opposite the windows. At the northern end of the hall a group of musically inclined mage students were tuning their instruments.