by Dixon, TJ
Peter of the Wind Book 1 of The War of Contractia By T.J. Dixon (part of The Chronicles of Contractia)
Author’s Foreword
Please note that all people, places and events in this story are purely fictional. Any resemblance to any real person, place or event (or anything else) is purely co-incidence. This is the first book in The War of Contractia, which is the first series in The Chronicles of Contractia.
This story is mostly told from the perspective of Peter, a magically talented young slave boy. It starts in the Arena of Contractia where Peter must fight as a gladiator, but it is mostly told at one of Contractia's great academies of magic. This is a school where poor grades mean execution! Contractia is a land ruled by the immortal and almighty queen, who has ruled for thousands of years. It is a land where most men are slaves and children are considered the property of their mothers. But change is coming. What does the future hold for Peter and the ancient land of Contractia?
Chapter 1 (Peter)
It is only my second fight in the Arena of Contractia and I am scared. My enemy is a giant cat, which should be easy to kill with my magic, but there is a problem. None of my attacks are working. It just shrugs off my fire, ice, lightning and wind based attacks. So far with my flight magic I have also evaded its attacks but my magic is weakening.
I prepare another attack spell but to my surprise there is an explosion in the distance, followed by many more. Then I notice a black skinned giant wearing only a cloth around his waist. He is approaching the Arena and there is panic in the audience. Looking around I see another one approaching from the opposite direction. I forget my attack and barely dodge the cat. The blue shield around the Arena is gone and the cat jumps at the audience but is swiftly killed with a pure magic attack far more powerful than mine.
“This fight is over, return to your cell.” A woman in red mage robes shouts at me before sending five blasts of magic at one giant. He falls instantly when the first blast hits him and she seems shocked that he didn’t resist it. The other giant seeing this runs away. She blasts him in the back. “I said return to your cell.”
Not daring to disobey I turn and walk towards the Gate of the Living. Better than being carried through the Gate of the Dead after a defeat, assuming there is anything left to carry. I take a look behind me and see the sky above the palace is filled with explosions. Despite the shield holding, the palace also seems to be on fire in places. What is going on? A rebellion? An invasion? Who would be strong or mad enough to even attempt such a thing against Contractia?
Before I was sold to Contractia I called it the Land of the Gods, but now only one word can describe it. Hell. Certainly I won’t survive more than a few more battles. I used to be proud of my magical prowess but the mages of this land have tamed monsters that should be beyond human control, just for us to fight. The few who can stand against them are pitted against each other until they fall. I hear that one man survived until his final battle, his thousandth battle, in which he died, but no man has ever survived and left the Arena.
My only hope is that Contractia is defeated. Even if I escape in the chaos they can just blow my head off from anywhere in the world, or even a different world. To do that takes time though, and time is the one thing they don’t have now. The guards are gone, undoubtedly busy fighting. Did that foolish mage really think I would simply go back to my cell? Perhaps she assumed I was stupid enough to flee or that I was too weak to cause any trouble. I smile and blast each door open as I go past.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Contractia is being attacked! Whoever it may be, they can’t be worse than Contractia! Let’s help them! Down with Contractia! Down with Contractia!”
“Down with Contractia! Down with Contractia!” The chant spreads and even though most people have no idea what is going on, all are united in their desire and anger. Alone we are weak. Together we are still weak, but even if we are no more than a thorn in their side they don’t have time to pull us out. Perhaps it will help. Perhaps we will be free. At worst we will just die a little sooner, but fighting against the hated Contractia. I never realised how many of us there were though as I keep on blasting open more and more doors. There must be hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
Suddenly in front of me a Contractian mage appears. She blasts me mercilessly but her attack is surprisingly weak. Shielding I am unharmed, though even against weak attacks I am not going to be able to shield many more. Beside me the old man I just freed starts chanting. I see something that I have never seen in a Contractian’s eyes before, fear. She desperately sends another attack, this time against him but I shield him. My power already weakened by both battle and freeing my comrades barely holds, but he finishes chanting just in time. Fire springs up around her and she disappears screaming and burning. I have no idea how they appear and disappear like that but I am glad she is gone.
“Thanks.” I say to the old man.
“Thanks to you too. For a riot like this to be possible though, Contractia must be in serious trouble. Perhaps the Golden Demon returned for revenge. Who else would dare fight against the Queen of Contractia? Her army isn’t that strong, but she and her personal guard are more than a match for any army.”
“I heard he died in his final fight. One more fight and he would have been free.”
“Well they wouldn’t want people thinking he’s still alive would they?”
“Was he really that strong?”
“He fought against royalty and won. Nobody is meant to know of course.”
“Who are you?”
“I was a general. My army of 500 mages and 250,000 soldiers was defeated by that Queen on her own. I have fought many battles here since, many against my own men, but the one I feared most was the Golden Demon. I would have died in an instant if we had fought.”
“No offence but your attack seemed a little slow and weak for such a powerful man.”
“I just finished my previous battle. My powers, like yours, are exhausted. You seem a competent mage though.”
Suddenly a small girl in dark blue robes with fiery red hair and blue eyes appears in front of us. Her face is stained with tears. “It is over. There is no need for further bloodshed.”
“So you’re just going to let us all go free then?” I ask joking.
“Yes.” She replies to which I laugh at her ludicrous joke. “The Queen of Contractia is dead. My master killed her, and I am now Queen. Our forces and Contractia’s have stopped, so now only the people here are still fighting.”
“Who is your master?” The old man asks her. “Is he King now?”
“Gold is dead. You may have known him as The Golden Demon of Contractia.”
“So it was him. There was truly nobody else who could have done it. Will you really free us though?” The old man says sadly and asks dubiously.
“Yes. It seems the others have calmed down now. Please head outside. The mages there will send you where you wish to go.”
“If you knew the Golden Demon you should know that his greatest weakness was that he slept like a log.” The old man says staring her in the eyes questioningly.
“What are you talking about? He never slept well.” She says looking at him strangely.
“I guess you may be for real. There’s no way that he would have let his enemies know that.”
“Can they show me how to appear and disappear like you do?” I ask.
“You wish to learn magic?”
“I already know magic, but that is a different type to the one I know.”
“Except in unusual circumstances it takes years to learn. That is what Gold told me.”
“How long did it take you?”
“I
haven’t learnt it.”
“But just now…?”
“I used a magical stone.”
“Is there anywhere I can learn it?”
“The Academy of Contractia. If you truly must know this then ask them to send you there on Queen Emily’s orders. I will sort things out later, but I have many things to deal with right now. And the master I loved is dead.” She says and I can see fresh tears in her eyes. She takes out a stone and crushing it disappears.
“The Academy is a school for Contractia’s best mages. Only girls are allowed to go there. The Queen can make this happen for you if she really wants to, but you will be the only male there, and I’m not just talking about the students. You should also know that if you score too badly you’ll be killed. They may use fake test scores as an excuse to get rid of you even if you don’t do badly. It would be better to forget attending the Academy.”
“That power is one I must have. Risking my life is a small price to pay.” I tell him firmly.
“Why?”
“There is somewhere I wish to go, and my power is far too weak to get there.”
“Where do you wish to go?”
“To the stars. Hey don’t laugh!”
“But even with that power… You may be able to go between dimensions to parallel worlds, but to travel to the stars is impossible. Even alternate worlds with technology instead of magic can only travel to planets around the same star.”
“I don’t know what ‘technology’ is but, it’s not impossible. Even if it was I would still do it anyway.”
“Why do you want to go to the stars so badly?”
“I feel like they are waiting for me. Enough with the laughter! Hey! Stop rolling around on the floor!”
“Sorry, but you are just too much.” He says still laughing as he gets up. We walk in silence, other than his annoying sniggering, until we finally reach the exit. There is a small group of mages ahead. “You sure about this?”
“Yes.”
“Two more. I thought we had ported everyone already other than the ones still in cells.” One mage says wearily and with a glare on her face.
“Send me to my home town.” The old man says smiling sadly.
“Fine. Concentrate on it as vividly as you can.” The mage says in a bored voice and he disappears.
“You call this porting when someone disappears?”
“Yes. Now where are you off to?”
“On Queen Emily’s orders send me to the Academy of Contractia.”
“Why?”
“So I can study at my new school.”
“Are you crazy?” She asks me laughing loudly.
“No. Do you plan you disobey the Queens orders?”
“There is no way the Queen would order a filthy man to be sent to the Academy.”
“The old Queen sure. But the old Queen is dead.”
“So will you be, if you go to the Academy.”
“Perhaps, but that is my risk to take.”
“Fine… I’ll port you there. Perhaps they can dissect you and find out what is wrong with your head.”
“So I have to think of the academy, right? I have never seen it before though.”
“You don’t need to because I know it. Are you ready to die?”
“Just hurry up and port me.” I say and before I say the last word I am somewhere else. In front of me stands an elderly grey skinned lady in rich black silk robes. Her black eyes bore into me as if seeing more than is natural. She has long grey hair that would reach the floor if it didn’t float strangely just before doing so.
“I am told you believe the Queen wants you to be a student here.”
“The new Queen, Emily, agreed to let me study here. She said she would sort out the details when she has the chance. She is busy.”
“Undoubtedly. Even so though, I cannot blindly believe you. It will bring shame upon this Academy to have a dirty boy as a student.”
“Then I should not be a problem as I am quite clean.”
“You have dirt and blood on your face, but that is not the issue. I am talking about your filthy mind. You should not be inside these walls. I have put a tent up outside, which you will use until the Queen confirms or denies your stay here. Even if you are to study here, the same rules that apply to female students will surely end your life.”
“I am a quick learner. I will not fail the tests.”
“You already knew the risk, yet you still had the foolish courage to come. Brave fools are always the first to die.”
“I will die when it is my time. Do not write me off so quickly.”
“Come here.” She says coldly and I walk closer. With her left hand she grabs my head and I am outside. In front of me is the tent she mentioned. It is a small dirty brown tent with more than a few holes. Inside there is a thin blanket with a tear down the middle, and nothing else. At least it is a hot summer day so the lack of decent covering shouldn’t make too much difference. The ground is stony and baked hard earth so it won’t be a comfortable night’s sleep tonight. No worse than my cell though. But then it starts to snow!
“Elucia! I asked for a little light rain, not snow!” A girl’s voice outside calls loudly.
“I’m sorry! I think my spell went wrong!” Another girl cries out.
“You think!?” A third girl asks aghast.
“Well fix it quickly, or the old… Oh, too late…” The first girl says.
“Elucia! Rin! Kelliet!” An old woman’s voice calls out as the snow stops. Looking outside I see it is the same woman I spoke to earlier. “If this is what I can expect in tomorrow’s test none of you will live to take another test. And Rin, who exactly are you calling old?”
“Umm… Nobody.” The girl called Rin looks to be no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, so is no more than a year or two older than I am. The other girls seem to be about the same age as Rin and all are wearing blue skirts and shirts. Her short hair is blonde and her eyes are a shiny green. She reminds me of a bird of prey with her sharp chiselled white face, especially her nose.
“Was this spell yours Elucia?”
“Yes! Sorry!” Her hair is a cool blue like her eyes, and reaches to just above her shoulders. She looks a lot less confident, perhaps just because she is about to be told off, but I feel like it is more than that. She also seems somehow softer. The last girl must be Kelliet and has long brown hair and small green eyes. Her skin is also white but has patches of mud on.
“Be sure to practise some more before tomorrow. Oh and try not to kill the boy in the tent. If the Queen really sent him here, he will be your new classmate tomorrow.”
“But boys can’t attend the Academy!” Rin laughs.
“There’s no way the Queen would send a boy here!” Kelliet cries out at the same time.
“I’ll try not to kill him!” Elucia promises nervously at the same time. I gulp. Perhaps I’d best to be ready to shield myself. My power is starting to recover but only slowly.
“There is a new Queen so anything is possible.” The old woman says glaring at them.
“Don’t joke!” Rin laughs.
“Do you really think I would joke about such a thing? It would be more than my life is worth.”
“You’re serious?” Rin asks wide eyed.
“Yes.”
“But how could that be…?”
“The Queen was killed and the royal guard forced to surrender. The Golden Demon of Contractia with a small force of monsters managed it, but he was also killed. Now his heir is Queen. It will soon be common knowledge so there is no harm in telling a few kids the day before they fail their tests and get executed.” She says glaring at Rin before disappearing.
“It’s not like I’m going to fail the test, but I am worried about Elucia.” Rin says to herself, then looks at me and glares. “Get back in your tent, you male pig.”
I laugh but go back inside. I guess it is to be expected that the girls here are not going to welcome me anymore than the teachers. I focus on recovering
my energy and being ready to use it as a shield, but thankfully there is no need to shield myself.
Once it is dark I lie outside and look up at the stars. I can hear them calling to me. Right now it isn’t words, just an emotion and a feeling. I feel like they are calling me home. I talk to myself naming the stars and their constellations.
“How do you know their names?”
“I guess somebody must have told me, or perhaps I read it somewhere. Not sure. Wait, who are you?”
“I’m Elucia.”
“Oh. The girl who made it snow earlier. In the dark you look different.”
“Most people only know the names of the twin moons. You’re the first person I have met who can name them all correctly, except the woman who taught me.”
“What are the moons called?”
“You don’t know! You can name all the stars in the sky, but not the moons?”
“There weren’t any moons where I was born.”
“You’re not joking? Where were you born?”
“I don’t remember. I was a slave in Contractia and they removed many of my memories. Why bother though, when I was only going to die in the Arena?”
“You are most unusual.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep instead of talking to me? You have a test tomorrow.”
“I was trying to forget that.”
“Not a good idea.”
“I’ll go, but one last question. What is your name?”
“Peter of the Wind.”
“I hope I live to talk to you again. I want to know more about you. Perhaps there is a way to get your memories back.”
“I don’t care about memories. My only goal is the stars. Anyway, you are weird, because most people would want to live to live, not to get to know more about a stranger.”
“Good night.” She says laughing cheerfully before disappearing.
I do eventually get some sleep but I don’t sleep very deeply as there is no telling what danger I may face. The morning sun has only just risen when I wake. I lie there for a while before I notice the aura of a person behind me. No, she wasn’t there before, but she is now.
“Hello.” She calls out.