It wasn’t the first time he had demanded the information from the wizards. No one was talking, however.
Niklaus stepped towards the wizard and mumbled a spell. The enemy wizards watched as he moved closer. The blood on his shirt made the young man look menacing, though at fourteen he shouldn’t be much of a danger according to their minds. His form shifted and grew massive as he mimicked the shape of a bear. He was a bear and as menacing as Bo. He stepped forward and fear could be seen creeping into the wizards’ eyes.
“You can change, boy, but you can’t scare me,” the earth wizard stated trying to look defiant in spite of the fear he had after the attack in the night from Bo. “Your rules say that you can’t hurt us as your prisoners and that you need to take me to a judge.”
Eyrk didn’t flinch as the bear stared the wizard down angrily.
“The boy is young and the will of a bear can cloud a mind,” Eyrk replied in turn. “If he loses control of his anger, I can’t vouch for your safety. Many of your comrades are dead in the forest. Our wizards might have avoided killing very many of you as they preferred bringing you to justice. We, on the other hand, are battle mages and if you try to kill us, we are more than willing to kill you.
“This boy has some of the magic of wizards, but he is also a battle mage. If you value your life, I think that you will choose to answer me finally.”
Refusing to give in, even in the face of a bear, the wizard started to refute the notion saying, “You can take your threats and...”
He failed to finish his statement as Niklaus lunged forward biting into the man’s shoulder. The wizard screamed feeling teeth and the pressure of a bear’s jaws gripping the opposite shoulder Bo had already injured with her teeth. Niklaus held the pressure drawing blood but restraining himself from crushing the man’s shoulder for the moment.
Piotr moved closer and told the man, “Like the falcon stated, my brother is a bit on edge in his animal form. Since he hasn’t crushed your shoulder or torn out your throat yet, I think you might want to rethink your answer. He bit several other men and broke the arm of your air wizard too as a wolfhound. My bear hurt you with your stone skin spell to protect you. What do you think he will do to your body now if he chooses to really bite hard?”
Nodding at Piotr’s advice, Falcon Eyrk asked again, “Why did you attack the village and where did you come from anyway? All those with magic power are taken to the schools to avoid harming others. You shouldn’t even be free to do such a thing.”
With the pain lessening, the wizard answered, but his foul attitude continued to be flaunted in the falcon’s face even so, “I was brought to Red Hall as a child, but I eventually escaped after learning what I could. I hated what they were trying to turn me into, so I ran away. When my cousin showed his power, I was there first and took him to train him. He leaned towards wind, but I trained him as best I could and we pieced together versions of wind spells that I had seen in the school.
“When my son became a teenager, he also had magic and I took him to train like I had my cousin.
“As you can imagine, we couldn’t stay in one spot too long. Those damnable seekers would try to take us all back if we were caught, so living away from the towns and cities was the best we could do.
“Living away from civilization makes it hard to earn a living, but we found like minded souls who were willing to take what was needed. Strength makes us capable of surviving anywhere.”
“Having strength and using it to persecute and kill others doesn’t make you survivors,” the falcon replied quietly, though the menace remained in his voice. What the men before him had done was reprehensible to those who served Southwall to keep it safe and protect its people. “You abused your power and killed women and children as well. We’ve seen the bodies.”
The earth wizard looked down and towards the fire wizard on his right. While he didn’t look directly at the younger man, who was the youngest of the rebellious wizards; Piotr could read the slight movement in that direction as something important. Niklaus had released the wizard from his bite, but the man’s sudden silence made him bare his teeth reminding the man of the penalty for not answering him. Frowning as if annoyed by the reminder, the earth wizard looked at Eyrk and stated, “It wasn’t supposed to go like that. We went to extort some food and gold from those villagers, but they wanted to fight. Several of their men attacked us like a bunch of fools. They tried to hurt my son. He fought back and things began to burn.
“Anyone killed was an accident though. He can’t always control his fire, even if he is capable of powerful spells.”
Zieran heard the comment and stated, “If he is so powerful, then he should have gone to a school for training. Even if you hate the schools, you should know that the more powerful a wizard is the more likely they will need special training to keep control over their magic.
“He is one step away from a wilder and you’ve kept that weapon ready to explode for years. You aren’t even a qualified mentor, if you ran away when you were young without finishing your training.”
Again the man looked at him defiantly and retorted, “They were the ones who caused it.”
“Because they didn’t want to give up what they had worked so hard for?” Falcon Eyrk defied the man’s logic. “You are criminals, bandits and murderers. Trying to justify your accident because they refused to give in to your bullying isn’t going to sit well with the court either.
“You will all see trial, but I wouldn’t try using that argument or the final judgment will be quick and to the point, I would think.”
The falcon stood up and said to the others, “I think that is all we need to hear. Make sure their bonds are strong and tight. We don’t need them starting any trouble. They will ride back in the bear cage.”
Looking annoyed Gorum added, “Keeping these scum with us will slow our return to White Hall. Perhaps we should send a few riders ahead to warn the lord of White Hall about our situation?”
“Sergeant Kerland sent two riders back during the night,” Wizard Zieran stated. “Piotr and I sent word to Blackwall to let them know of the current situation, but their riders might have left before it will reach the city. The rest of us will need to keep an eye on our prisoners. Not everyone can be held in a cart and transported that way.”
The grumpy wizard looked perturbed that he couldn’t just ride away and leave the criminals behind him, but as he joined the group about to head home; Gorum didn’t argue further. He took the reins of the bear cart with its prisoners and started off with the main column of riders.
Only Zieran and Piotr remained behind to finish the release of the last animal in their care.
Piotr soothed Bo with his magic and was allowed to pat the bear as she waited patiently. “Go on now and make this your home, Bo,” Piotr said softly. “No one will control you any more. Go be a bear and eat fish or find some bees’ honey.”
A last pat, as the boy moved towards her rear to spur her onward, received a last look from the bear. It was a look that seemed both reluctant and ready to leave the presence of humans finally. She could probably remember what happened in the night, if Piotr judged his magic correctly. The magic and men, the screams and fighting, even the death, would help make the gentle creature want to leave the world of men behind her.
The two wizards pulled themselves into the saddles of their new horses. Mages and soldiers would take turns riding the carts along with the injured, while this trip would be on horseback for the novice and his mentor.
“Do you think she’ll stay this time?” Zieran asked his novice mostly to break the uneasy silence of the morning while they hurried to catch up with the column.
Piotr nodded. He probably knew the bear as well as anyone, but as he looked back where they had left her, Bo had already disappeared into the green forest. “I think, human or animal, last night was enough to make anyone want to disappear for awhile. The forest has plenty for her and should be safe now that the bandits are gone. She should stay, es
pecially if Bo can find a mate here.”
Sighing at the idea, Zieran added, “Well, I think you are right. War and killing would make anyone, even a bear, want some peace and quiet for awhile.
“Come on, my novice, we have a long day ahead of us.”
Chapter 31- The Test of Leadership
The sound of two girls moving through the air using magical wings was followed by the sound of footfalls in long grass. The swishing of the green blades as their bare legs kicked through them as they landed would have been obvious to anyone nearby, but Cheleya and Katya had finished their flight landing on a strip of land between a grove of trees and the river.
It had been more than three weeks since the eventful trip to the forest. Piotr and his brother had been sobered by the events as had the other mages, most of whom the two girls were also friends with and were concerned about as well. Only resilience from being young and time managed to restore much of their friends’ old personalities after their first foray into magical combat. Even Krevahs had been noticeably quieted and the big cadet seemed almost meek after the event.
The boys, who had followed him creating a faction in obvious defiance of Niklaus and his friends, became disenchanted with his new personality at first. When he began relaying stories of the battle and embellished his role, suddenly Krevahs managed to become popular once more.
Katya had heard other stories from Piotr and the other cadets, so she heard of Krevahs’ escapades from third parties making him out to be more of a hero. The mentors never weighed in to dispel any of the rumors, but there were stories of Niklaus and Piotr’s part as well. While the boys had told her some of what happened, Piotr in particular seemed down about what he had to do to stop the bandits. A sore subject, they soon put it behind them and the daily grind of learning in a wizard school soon made up most of their conversations.
After several weeks of training with Cheleya when she could, Katya thought that she was becoming a decent dragon mage as well. She had to study general magic in the morning still, followed by classes for diplomacy magic and skills, but the end of the afternoon had become their time to have fun. Weekends were often used for extra study, though most might call it play.
The two girls would fly over the woods to the east of the river or chase the winding path of water to the north or south. They could fly several miles and even see other towns along the river. White Hall was the closest city to the wall along the river, even though there were hundreds of miles to that far off landmark, still there were many towns as well.
A river was a major draw. It had fresh water that was easy to use to lend its uses to homes and fields alike. Trees formed forests near them as well meaning that they had another resource and fertile ground could be used for farming.
It was also a source of transportation.
The two dragon mages would see smaller fishing boats and larger trading ships as they flew. Often they would be spotted. Fingers would point and arms would rise in surprise to gesture towards them alerting others onboard. Concern that the general public would be frightened to see people flying had been mentioned early on, but it was magic and those who lived and worked near White Hall were harder to impress or frighten after hundreds of years living near the school.
There were bushes nearby and no prying eyes to watch as Cheleya kicked off her short, leather boots. She pulled the light blouse over her head before stripping off her shorts as well placing them neatly in front of the bushes. Katya had her shoes off, but was surprised by the other girl’s complete disregard for being noticed. She doubted there would be boys out this far looking to find girls skinny dipping, but the girl was reasonably conservative in not wanting to be surprised.
She wore shorts as well made by Cheleya for flying. A skirt or dress was awkward in the air and liable to give a different kind of show to people below them, so the girl had been glad to let the dragoness use her magic to create what she needed. Alteration magic, Cheleya called it, but altering clothing was just the most mundane thing it could truly do, even if the girls enjoyed the products of her work.
Looking for boats, Katya removed her top behind the bush and asked Cheleya, “Are you sure that you didn’t see anyone nearby?”
Her white top was an altered apprentice tunic. Cheleya had lengthened the back and removed the sleeves. It was very warm this summer, unseasonably so for the area. The mountains to the west often brought cooling breezes, but summer was finally here and refused to give the north any break from the heat now. More than two weeks of the hot weather had driven the students to often go swimming in the river. It was usually done in the late afternoon, though the nightly dances had thinned out greatly as they slipped off to cool in the Cadhalla River.
Once removed, Katya’s upper body was as bare as Cheleya’s. Neither girl had worn underwear knowing that the flight would be broken up with a swim. She was more hesitant to remove the last of her clothing, but the younger girl joined the bronze dragoness. The summer was deepening and this wasn’t the first time Cheleya had gone off somewhere to take off her clothes and enjoy the summer sun.
Katya was nearly as dark and had been swimming with the other girl enough to think that she might be a bit of a nudist. Of course, che’ther or dragons didn’t wear clothing, so maybe it was just something in the dragon girl.
She might have believed that Cheleya didn’t like to wear clothes but oddly enough, the dragoness was more girly about them than most human girls she knew. Using her magic, Cheleya was constantly playing around with new looks. Colors could be changed by simply sliding her fingers against the material and imagining the color she wanted something to be. Even the girl’s hair was sometimes changed in fits of whimsy.
Laying back into the water, the dragon girl pushed back getting her hair wet and floating for a few feet further into the river. She stood and the water was now above her navel. Shaking her head sending a spray from her long blond hair, Cheleya rolled her eyes at her friend and stated, “You know it’s safe. Stop complaining and hurry up. The water feels great.”
Stripping off her shorts, Katya came out from behind the bushes and tested the water with her toes before stepping deeper. Each step brought the water higher and she winced as the cooling liquid fought against tanned skin that was warm from the sunlight and air.
“Neira moved out yesterday,” Katya remarked. They both had lived with the girl so it wasn’t really news to the dragoness. “She went to stay with one of her novice friends.”
Cheleya looked at her in confusion and replied, “I know this. Why do you mention it?”
Noticing a bit of the che’ther’s accent and phrasing, it was a rare slip in her common. Not bothering to remark on it, Katya simply answered the question, “I can’t believe she did it. I tried to be her friend. You tried as well and everyone seems to love you; but Neira never gave me a chance to be her friend.”
Again the dragoness looked a bit confused and asked, “If she refuses to be our friend, then why would you want to change that? There are more than enough other people in this school to have many friends. Why worry over just one?”
That was the question that bugged her most. Was it because Neira was a fellow diplomacy wizard that Katya felt that they should bond? Maybe it was that as a diplomacy wizard, Neira was a challenge to the younger girl? She didn’t want to fail at making a friend if she was supposed to be such a natural at befriending people.
“I guess that I just thought it would be nice to be friends since we are going through the same studies,” Katya finished with a shrug of her shoulders.
She had eased into the water deep enough to quickly sink down to plunge her entire body underwater. Katya held her nose a moment before standing once more and throwing her hair back in a spray of droplets. The river felt great on a hot day.
Something made her question Cheleya and she said, “I thought cold and heat didn’t bother you. I thought that you barely felt them, but you are enjoying the cold water?”
Cheleya smiled moving just o
ut of arm’s reach of the other girl as she bent her knees to keep the rippling river waves touching the tops of her shoulders. “It isn’t that I can’t feel hot and cold. My body just doesn’t acknowledge the extremes as being painful in one way or another, I guess. I certainly notice the temperature more than I did as a che’ther. Our scales cover our hides, which are also thick, blocking wind and trapping heat underneath.
“Mar’kal is colder than down here. Your people might get arctic winds reaching you in the winter, but summer is much warmer here than in the mountains.”
While the younger girl wanted to argue how she would know since Cheleya had been a dragon most of her life including summers in Mar’kal, it was unlikely to do anything but stir up a small debate. The dragoness hadn’t planned on being stuck as a human, so reminding her of her past and unsure future wasn’t worth asking such impossible questions.
“So what do you think they are hiding in the mage courtyard anyway?” Katya asked changing the subject. It was one of the new hot topics circulating throughout the school.
A messenger had arrived at the school, according to some apprentices working in the administration offices, and the next thing the wizards and mages had decided to cordon off the secondary courtyard of the mage cadets. It was the courtyard between one next to their barracks and the garden behind the dining hall.
Cheleya shrugged at the question and replied, “You asked me to fly over to look for something there, but all I saw was a few soldiers or mages on guard near the doorway. It does seem strange that they should suddenly close it off to everyone, but no one knows if the story about a messenger bringing news closed it off or not.”
Playing her finger over the water, Katya practiced a little water magic spell. Many wizards considered water magic too limited, especially inland, but they were trained in the basics of it as much as any of the major schools. A little swirl rose up out of the river until it spun up to touch her hand.”
A laugh caused her to release the magic and she looked at Cheleya questioningly.
White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) Page 48