White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10)

by Donald Wigboldy

  “Unless you don’t wish to have a reason to stay and keep me out of trouble, then you may as well return home tomorrow,” Cheleya said with a shrug.

  Falconi Martina turned from glaring at the wizard and said, “Maybe if we knew what this magic was, we would know better on how to answer their offer. You are still offering to teach us your magic in exchange for us training you?”

  Alum looked like he wanted to argue more, but unlike the rest of the branches of wizards, he was a healer. By nature, the old man had always preferred to let others argue while he was the one to smooth things over and heal those who were injured. He wasn’t one to fight. No healer really was, so Cheleya’s announcement of learning battle magic and healing at the same time seemed impossible to him.

  Pointing to the stairs going up out of sight above them, Cheleya asked, “Do they go to the roof?”

  The others nodded even as Kel’lor crossed his arms being sullen. Unlike Alum, the mar’goyn’lya could fight, but Cheleya always seemed to make him do what she wanted. Fighting against her never seemed to go his way.

  Walking to the stairs, the girl waved for the others to follow. Exchanging questioning looks, they began to follow Garrett as he led them after her.

  A door standing vertically before her was opened revealing a sky starting to gray as the sun retreated behind the clouds in the west. Night was coming, but Cheleya didn’t care. Her ability to use dragon magic didn’t require light. Even her human eyes could see well enough to fly if she used a spell to disperse night’s advantage.

  “So what do you plan to show us here?” Alum asked looking leery of the outer ring of stone forming a low wall surrounding the roof. It was less to prevent people from falling over fifty feet into the courtyard below than to be used in defense should the enemy ever get close to the school.

  Stepping over to the low wall, Cheleya climbed up and stood between the crenellations. Turning her back to the open air beyond the stone, the girl fearlessly stood as the others looked nervous for her. “I want to show you what the final form of dragon magic is.”

  With that, Cheleya leaned back falling into the air beyond the ring of the tower. Several gasped, but two words rang through the air, “Dragon wings!”

  As the humans rushed toward the outer ring, the blonde haired girl thrust back into their sights on red wings. “Dragon scales,” she added and ruby like gems seemed to form over her exposed skin from her neck down to her legs.

  “Kel’lor change and fly with me. I know you are tired of being stifled by that form. Come on!”

  Grumbling the man held his amulet in his left hand saying, “Neruter emis ot flesym sa et sawen.”

  Those from White Hall looked from the girl hovering in the air before them to Kel’lor as magic engulfed the man releasing the form of a mar’goyn’lya. With his greater size, the gargoyle was able place his foot on the lower part of the stone battlements to propel himself beyond the tower on large gray wings.

  Like most mar’goyn’lya, Kel’lor was simply a shade of gray. They varied in tone, but they were all gray skinned and usually with brunette or dark brown hair. His weight and size were greater than his human form and Cheleya thought she saw relief in his eyes after nearly two weeks stuck in his human guise.

  “Dragon scale,” the giant winged creature spoke with a deep voice that sounded like the rumble of the earth.

  Already impressed by the sight of a girl flying on magic wings, they were told to watch as the two rose higher.

  “Fireballs,” the girl started with a typical fire spell that any battle mage or wizard could do.

  “Dragon shield,” Kel’lor countered catching the fire on what looked like a dozen large scales of onyx centered on a foot wide disc of the same material. The fire was snuffed and the gargoyle centered a new spell on his main hand, “Dragon gale.”

  A swirl of wind swarmed towards the girl who pulled in her wings to drop from the spell's path and looked up calling out, “Dragon breath.”

  A geyser of pink and red flame seemed to leave her mouth, though it started beyond her face even as her blonde hair whipped into her sight as the dragoness turned from the flames as they swirled blending with the wind spell creating a new tornado of swirling fire which extinguished twenty feet beyond where the girl had been.

  “Try the ice dragon,” Cheleya suggested as she returned to a position before the mar’goyn’lya. He looked unsure of the choice, but trusted the girl’s ability to dodge or use her magic effectively to save herself.

  “Ice dragon,” Kel’lor ordered sending what looked like a snakelike dragon towards the girl.

  “Dragon defense,” was the counter as her wings encircled the frail looking little blonde. Ice formed on the wings as she dropped from the air.

  The wings disappeared and Cheleya looked to be plummeting to her death to the mages and wizard on the tower watching the exchange. Cries from the courts came from below as the students and teachers watched an unprecedented display above White Hall.

  “Dragon wings,” Cheleya ordered and used the momentum of her fall to propel her back upward but in an arc while barely thrusting with her wings.

  “Play a game of tag with me, Kel’lor!” the girl called with a smile.

  “I hate that game!” he complained.

  “That’s because you always lose,” she giggled and swept close to the gargoyle, who looked big and slow compared to the agile movements of the little girl. “First one to tag the other wins.”

  With that the two aerialists began to dip and thrust in and out reaching with their hands to try and touch the other flyer without getting tagged in the process. While Cheleya never released her wings, the girl used them to maneuver very well, especially considering her opponent. Born with wings, the mar’goyn’lya were literally born to fly. Cheleya was a land bound dragon known as a che’ther but she had always wanted to fly, so she had been given a transformation amulet and a chance to learn dragon mage magic.

  She had been a dragon mage for about a year and was a natural, which had frustrated her classmates who were both mar’goyn’lya. Kel’lor tended to take her achievements in stride and was proud of the girl, though he still tried hard to win against her.

  Misplaying a thrust to touch Cheleya, Kel’lor’s hand just missed her as she flipped up over his head and released her wings to land on his back. Her arms encircled his neck while her legs were quick to wrap around him as well. The move looked practiced and she declared in his ear, “Tag.”

  With a big sigh, the monster landed with the little blonde still clutching his back. They had traveled from Mar’kal similarly when Cheleya’s magic had been restrained by the evil wizard who had tried to kill her. Kel’lor didn’t even seem to notice her marginal weight, but landed on the tower standing close enough for her to step down using the battlement’s lower wall.

  “Very impressive,” Falconi Garrett said clapping his hands echoed by wizard Alum. Streith tried to look unimpressed, while Martina was simply too shocked by what she had seen to think to clap.

  Jumping down from the low wall onto the stone, Cheleya thought that hurt more than anything they had just done in the air, with a small smile.

  “There are more spells obviously, but dragon magic is about getting to the point of being able to fly,” the girl stated. “The magic casts simply, like battle mage spells, so I think that it will translate to both classes. The biggest problem will be having wizards who won’t be too afraid to try and fly.

  “It will come down to them to master flight or they will crash and die. While a master usually flies with a student until they become proficient, there have been accidents.”

  Kel’lor remained a gargoyle and added, “The emperor has sent out men in the form of shrikes, or perhaps they were shrikes made more intelligent like men and larger. Southwall could use this magic to counter those forces, but it will take time to teach others and many won’t be cut out for flying.

  “I am told many humans have a fear of heights, but mar’goy
n’lya are born to fly, so such fear isn’t in us.”

  Cheleya sighed at her big friend’s blunt words. “A little rough to say, but Kel’lor is correct. I think most wizards will have the ability to cast the wings, but few will have the confidence to actually use them in flight.”

  The others nodded in understanding. For some, just standing on the tower's heights was enough to make them want to retreat inside as vertigo played at the edges of their minds.

  Garrett mused, “If Kel’lor is willing to come on as a teacher, I think it would be wise to try at least. Cheleya can stay with the mages and train as she sees fit. Our classes start with weapons and move to magic.

  “The girl already knows magic, so she only needs to be shown what is different and to train to the weapons. We can also teach strategy and other core skills to her.”

  Looking to Wizard Alum, Garrett added, “She could also stay with the wizards to learn how to heal. Alum would be the one who can tell us how she would fit into the curriculum for his wizards. I guess it would come down to preference as to which would be more comfortable for her.”

  With a moment to think, Cheleya answered first, “I do have friends who are here. Katya, Apprentice Iris and Briahnna all are training to be wizards. Maybe I could stay with one of them?”

  The discussion moved downstairs to the falconi’s office and Kel’lor reluctantly transformed back to his human body. When they finally decided their course of direction, the girl looked happy.

  Katya followed Ylena up the stairs winding their way up one of the towers. Offices, both with wizards in them or sitting empty, were on each floor; while the stairs were arranged to climb the tower on one side where a door led back into the school with each new floor.

  On the third floor, the wizard gestured to restrooms immediately as they exited and said, “There are basic restrooms with doors identifying which to use as well as the larger communal baths and showers for each sex. While the floor and even individual wings will have both girls and boys on them, wizards do guard against sneaking into other wizards rooms; so do not trying sneaking any boys into your room or be talked into going to theirs.

  “The school teaches abstinence and there will be none of that allowed here.”

  Katya thought that her words left the opening that students might sneak off elsewhere like into the town to the south if they were set on such things. While Katya certainly liked boys, she didn’t plan on any such thing happening while she was at the school anyway. She needed to learn, if she hoped to ever be as good as her brother.

  “Magic has been used to prevent those not assigned to a room from entering also. Namely, boys can not enter a girls’ room or vice versa. Even using magic to disarm the spell would trigger an alarm.”

  Wanting to sigh at obviously one of the primary rules, Ylena continued on, “There are six sets of stairs leading from the third floor to the first. The tower we used has an opposite on the healers' side of the school. The two towers at the front of the school mirror each other, while two more flights are on the opposite side.”

  Katya was surprised that they didn’t have to walk very far before Ylena halted them. Both held one of the girl’s packs. The wizard cast a spell with her free hand and pointed to a metal plate next to the closed door.

  “Place your hand on the plate. This will assign the room to you. Only you and your roommates can enter your room.”

  Katya did as she was told as she began to wonder about all the continued warnings to not let someone else into her room, especially no boys. Did they have that kind of problem regularly or at least to the point that they had to prioritize putting up defenses against such a thing?

  Turning the door handle after setting the spell to recognize the novice, Ylena opened it to see that another girl was already there. A lamp was on inside since there were no windows. There was no smoke lingering in the air from the lamp, however, and Katya quickly realized that there was no oil burning to create that byproduct of flame.

  Two vents were in the ceiling though and another pair low on the walls as well.

  “For your safety, most of the rooms are built away from the outer walls; so there are no windows, but magic brings air to heat or cool depending on the time of year. It will be more comfortable year round than your old house used to be, I am certain.”

  Ylena smiled at the girl, who looked up from a bound book to see their entry. “Neira, I have a new friend for you. This is Katya, another wizard with diplomat magic.”

  Putting her book down, Neira stood to greet the newcomer. She was a little taller than Katya and not quite as slim, with long brown hair and blue eyes that seemed to catch the light of the lamp to sparkle. “Hello, Katya, nice to meet you.”

  Ylena placed her hand on the little blonde’s shoulder and said, “Well, Katya, dinner will be soon, but Neira can show you where it is. I will meet you in the dining hall tomorrow morning after second bell to help you get your new clothes.”

  Dropping the pack she was carrying, the wizard handed her a smaller book saying, “This book covers the rules and other things that you will need to know here. I can go over more of it tomorrow morning, since I am going to be your mentor for awhile.

  “New novices have an orientation class at the third bell, so try to be up on time. I don’t like having to hunt down my novices,” the woman stated with a stern look. With a brief wave, Katya was left with Neira.

  Giving the girl a smile in turn, she said, “Well, this should be interesting. I’ve shared my room with the girls on the trip here and with my sister at home. Is it just the two of us?” she asked noticing bunk beds meaning that there could be four.

  Neira sat down and picked up her book once more as she answered, “For now anyway, when I got here there were two girls; but they were either sent to the wall for a training mission or promoted to apprentice, so she got to go downstairs.

  “The second floor is considered the place to be, since I am told that most of the rooms are singles. You’ll also be closer to the classrooms, so there will be less walking.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Five months, so I am just a novice too, but they decided that I might be good at diplomat magic and assigned me here,” Neira said as her eyes started to look at the book in her hands. “The lower bed on my left is mine, but the rest are open.

  “The others didn’t leave any clothes behind to hold their places. Of course, I don’t think any of us came with as much as you have,” the girl finished as if she was surprised at the pair of packs in Katya’s possession.

  “My brother was the one who found me and decided that I had better go to the school. He was on the way to Hala for the tournament, so I took a few extra clothes and he bought me more for the banquets and stuff,” the younger girl said looking at the limited amount of space to put her clothing. There were just two wardrobes set against the base of the beds. A pair of dressers would serve as desks apparently and had a total of four drawers each. If all four beds were occupied, she wondered how much of a fight there would be to use the limited space.

  “Once you’re here,” Neira said, “it’s pretty much just white robes or dresses, a pants or two, maybe a couple shirts or tunics, plus your boots and shoes. Most of the clothing you took with you might as well be tossed. You never get time to wear it.”

  “They don’t dress up for dinner or dancing afterwards?” Katya asked in surprise.

  Shaking her head, the novice answered, “You usually just see a few dressed in something other than our uniforms when they first get here, but after awhile classes and studying get in the way and next thing you know it, you’re just wearing your novice clothing to every meal.”

  Before she could ask which dresser and wardrobe to use, the door opened again surprising both girls. It was rare to receive visitors, but even more unusual to have a second novice assigned to the same room the same day. Diplomat wizards were fairly rare after all, so it was unlikely; but to Katya’s surprise she saw a familiar face.
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br />   “Cheleya, what are you doing here? I didn’t know you had diplomat magic too,” the younger girl responded seeing her friend and giving her a big smile.

  Cheleya came carrying two packs as well, one rounder like Katya’s bag and another long skinny one about four feet long. Neira spied the bags and shook her head figuring if the two girls knew each other it wasn’t surprising that they had come similarly packed.

  “I am sort of a foreign exchange student, so I was able to ask to room with you,” the dragoness replied with a grin. “So where do we put our clothes?”

  Neira simply sighed.

  Chapter 12- The Game Changer

  The dining hall of White Hall was a large building with more room for tables than any of the inns Katya had ever been in, though it was still smaller than the king’s banquet room in Hala. That had been a special time for the girl as she had been in a room full of wizards, lords and ladies all the way up to King Alain and his beautiful queen, Alyanna.

  By comparison to that beautifully decorated hall made up in silver, white and blue; the school’s hall was rather plain not that she had expected the extravagance of the king’s banquets for the tournament to be displayed here. This was a school, even if it was for those gifted in magic for the most part. In its own way, Katya thought that it had its own flair for decoration; but not because of the room itself, instead it was the odd groupings of colors worn by the students that created a strange theme.

  “Well, this is the dining hall,” Neira stated and pointed to the far side of the room. “The kitchen is on that side, and they use a line going past trays of food that they switch out as they are emptied. The good news is you can eat as much as you want. The bad news is that it isn’t nearly as good as homemade.

  “You can also choose anywhere to sit, though soldiers and mage cadets tend to group on the same side as the kitchen. Maybe they work up more of an appetite since they work with weapons and such all day? Then there tends to be a novice area, but after awhile people build friendships and branch out from there.”