Sebastian watched the match between the gargoyle and Gray Hall wizard until it inevitably ended. He was speaking with his teammates as they commented on the types of spells and tactics used. They were obviously worried about the black shield magic as well, but she noticed the mage's eyes seeming to calculate things that no one else might have noticed. His kind were said to be trained quite differently. Battle mages looked at combat with critical eyes that were trained on warfare and not just magic.
Looking down on the lower courtyard, the young woman watched as the man from Gray Hall finally drove the gargoyle from the ring. He sank to his knees and Annalicia wondered if this had been a battle to the death, if he still would have been the victor. The gargoyle roared angrily at his defeat, but in the end this was still a game with rules and he even calmed down enough to shake the victor's hand albeit reluctantly.
“That was a good battle, Falcon Sebastian,” her grandfather's voice spoke in the lull between matches. Wizards were already coming out to work on the battered duel fields, but from the wall's height the noise of their magic was muted. “Apparently, you still plan to try and use your advantage in these duels. If you get too drained, I should warn you that normal eating will just mask how drained you truly are. Be careful that you don’t kill yourself. It would be a major loss to see such a talented caster lost so young.”
Annalicia listened to the comments and frowned slightly. Obviously Darius had seen something in the way the mage battled or otherwise knew something that she did not. She had the feeling that the immortal knew the secret of his power fluctuations, but doubted that he would be candid enough to offer the answer to her. This was still a tournament where everyone tried to keep their tactics and spells secret for as long as they could, but if it was Darterian readying to battle the mage, Anna wondered if he would let him in on the secret.
Thinking how much closer her cousins were to their grandfather actually brought out a little jealousy in her. Blushing slightly, the color in her cheeks could easily be confused for that caused by the cold.
“I will try to be careful, sir. Can I ask what you think about these gray wizards? Do you think that they might be somehow working for the emperor?” Sebastian answered in response drawing her attention back to the two men.
Like everyone else, he too was curious about these wizards from Gray Hall, she thought.
“Hmmm, a change of topic, but all right. Though they use darkness spells, it is not the same kind of magic he and his warlocks use. So no, I do not believe that makes them his, but I do not know much more about them than that.
“Your country’s wizards let them join the tournament. Perhaps you should ask one of the ones in charge of the tournament more about them? They should know where they truly come from and what they stand for, shouldn’t they?”
“True, but I was just hoping to get your opinion, since you have dealt with the emperor himself.”
That led to a pause, but his next question seemed even more off topic to the wizards listening to them. “Do you think that the Grimnal still lives, Master Darius? I fought with that giant of a man with silver hair and from the description I have been told, I would almost swear that it could be him or his son perhaps. He seemed evil and could cast powerful magic, of course, but it was just this feeling I had.”
“I can tell you for certain that if he used magic, this giant was not Gerid Aramathea. Your legend probably never took note that Gerid had another gift besides his strength and immortality. He was almost like anti-magic," Darius answered authoritatively.
Annalicia wondered what giant this mage had encountered. She had seen gargoyles and heard of a girl transformed into a dragon. Did the north have even more magical creatures like giants? Taltan had elves and dwarves after all, even if they came from another world. Stories said that the Great Forest, which covered a vast part of the continent, hid other strange creatures that they could only guess at. Rangers went into those trees and came back with odd stories that few believed, but there was said to be an almost haunted look to their eyes from their time away from civilization.
Lost in thought, the girl missed much of their conversation. It didn't really involve her, or so she thought. In less than a week, the lady of Malaiy would discover that this odd little conversation would soon occupy months of her time.
Biting her lip in concentration, Annalicia moved in a dance of magic designed to keep her opponent off balance. Invisible winds cut at the man slicing chunks of rock from his stone banks. She had been a little surprised that all of the Gray Hall wizards seemed to use the same spells as the others. Since the girl had caught a few matches, she thought that this wizard was more predictable in his actions.
Being predictable in duels led even the strongest wizards to defeat, if their opponent was clever enough to use what they knew against them.
Wind and magic launched a spray of water up between them as Annalicia tried to further take away the man's sense of sight. While her wind spells could attack him unseen, this made it even harder for the wizard with his black shields. He had been put on the defensive almost from the first.
That was her plan, of course. If she couldn't beat his power thanks to his unfair magic, then she needed to do her best to both get around it and take it away from him.
Wind froze water and like in Sebastian's match, Annalicia froze the man quickly preventing him from using any more magic. His shields faltered and broke. Winds blew and drove him back uprooting him in the ice sheathe she had created around him.
Cheers went up for the girl from Malaiy. She was one of two female wizards remaining, but the second would have her match after Annalicia's. For now, the crowd was just excited to see her succeed. The wizards from Gray Hall had almost been painted as villains in the tournament, but she had spoken with a few of them briefly and they seemed like anything but villains.
They had been cheerful and congratulatory on her accomplishments. Unfortunately Reynolvan tended to shorten those conversations with his brooding protection. Her actual guards gave her way more room, but the other wizards were all overprotective of her. They were especially so now that she was their last chance to gain victory in the tournament.
"You did it!" Xerese came flying towards her cousin with a big hug. "Everyone kept talking about how hard these wizards were, but you made it look pretty easy."
Annalicia glanced over her shoulder at the man from Gray Hall following her at a distance. He had needed to be thawed out of the ice she had encased most of his body in after all, while the girl was only slowed wanting to wave to the crowd watching her from the walls and castle.
"It wasn't easy, but my plan to counter his spells did work out well enough," she tried to agree without putting the other man down. While the match had certainly gone her way, he had fought hard to the very end.
Reynolvan looked the way the lady had looked and toned down his congratulations a bit as well. "You did wonderfully, my lady. Should we stay and watch the next match? I know that I am a bit curious to see if it will be the Tolmonan earth user or the pretty girl that tends to enjoy using lightning."
"I am almost more curious to see if Sebastian can win against his Gray Hall opponent," she responded grabbing a small plate. Three sweet breads covered in a berry jelly nearly made her mouth water as her depleted body cried out for nourishment. After two draining matches spread out over little more than half a day, the wizard was beginning to feel the push towards exhaustion.
Though most wizards practiced every day, there was a difference from training and real duels. It was like changing from a comfortable jog to trying to sprint for miles.
Taking a flask of wine mixed with juice, Annalicia moved towards the door which would give her a view of Sebastian's duel. Nothing was going on where she had just been after all. While she walked, cheers and cries of excitement came to their ears inside the stone tower. Wondering at what could be so exciting changed to shock as they reached the doorway into the Royal Gardens arena.
Trading blo
ws, Annalicia felt power radiating from Sebastian as he fought the wizard with his own magic. Black shields were being used against the Gray Hall wizard. He looked worried and she was stunned as the man countered Sebastian's night shields by firing a bright white light directly into them. When the mage in turn came up with a light spell of his own shredding his opponent's night shields, Annalicia could feel his desperation building.
If she were fighting him now, the wizard from Malaiy wasn't sure what she would do; so it was little surprise when the two gave up on the light and darkness spells for the most part. Water was pulled up from a tornado by the mage and countered by a fire vortex from the wizard. Large stones were thrown by the gray wizard only to be chopped up by Sebastian.
Annalicia thought perhaps the mage was getting predictable as he used wood and iron staves to attack the man. The iron would direct lightning and he could use the wood making it grow or move like snakes to bind. While the tricks had worked before, they had been seen so the Gray Hall wizard burned the wood or blew the iron away from his circle. To think that Sebastian was being predictable turned out to be exactly what he wanted.
Distracting the wizard with waves of water, Sebastian appeared to try to push him from the ring with their power. A sphere of night protected the man from Gray Hall for only a moment before the mage broke it with a beam of light. When the metal rods moved and flowed like the wood staves, Annalicia's eyes widened at the miracle. Few wizards, even those expert in the earth, could make metal move at their whim, yet they seemed to leap up and wrap the Gray Hall wizard's arms in their serpentine embrace.
After Sebastian was declared the winner, he released the metal bonds and turned looking exhausted. She could feel his aura's light dim like he had been wrapped in one of those night shields. Like a bright light one moment, he was now a broken man leaning on his staff for support. The energy seemed to have gone from him leaving a hollow shell.
She congratulated him as did the others, but he didn't seem to notice as he focused on the table of food. A flask of wine, a loaf of bread, some meats and cheeses were all grabbed by Sebastian before he sank against the stone wall inside the tower.
His team flooded the room quickly and the young, blonde healer who seemed with him whenever he wasn't involved with the duels started to attend him. Her movements and use of magic seemed a bit frantic.
To her magically heightened senses, Annalicia could see why the girl was so worried. Sebastian's magic was nearly snuffed out. A wizard brought that low could die like someone starved of water in the desert. He was drained dangerously low.
Darius seemed to appear from nowhere and he gently made the healer let him tend to the worn down mage. After several minutes of the high wizard's attention, she could sense Sebastian's magic beginning to grow again. He was still drained and the healer was sharing her power with him besides, but his face began to get color back into it. The flask of wine rolled away and the mage lapsed into sleep thanks to his exhaustion.
How he would possibly compete tomorrow, she didn't know. If Anna won her match, and Sebastian won his, then they would see each other in the finals unless the tournament committee had another surprise for the remaining four wizards. For the moment they only knew two of the final four; but Annalicia wondered if the mage, who had impressed them all, had finally been beaten by the one opponent he couldn't defeat... his own body.
The news that Sebastian had been forced to withdraw from the tournament both came as a relief and a disappointment to Annalicia. For the rest of Southwall and those who had come to love the spunky battle mage's dueling prowess, it was strictly a disappointment. No one had expected him to get past the first round, but he had made the final four.
There had been some talk of postponing the finals to give him a chance to compete, but Darius had been strongly against it as had his healer. Her second to last opponent was the Tolmonan, however, and Annalicia was all business for her match. This was the known quantity, while what would happen on the other side of the bracket was left in the air.
Like the previous earth wizard she had faced for the top sixteen, Drovan from Tolmona had no answers for her air and water attacks. The last matches had returned to the Heights and people lined the walls surrounding the last battle field. Earth wizards had used magic to add balcony space on the side of the king's castle making it look dotted with people.
Annalicia had managed to ignore the thousands of eyes watching her match and came out on top. The Heights limited Drovan more than it did her, but it was the chosen battle field. All of the wizards could use enough spells from other elements that it was supposed to be fair, but the air wizard had the advantage and drove the man from the circle eventually.
Though it was a victory, Drovan had proved why he was in the final four. It had been a draining match and Annalicia knew that her ability to return to full strength was no longer available to her during this tournament. At least the tournament committee had come up with a way to be fair.
Magnus, a fire wizard from Southwall who had gained a strong reputation during the tournament, was forced to fight a duel with an air wizard. They had fought in the same group of four in the third round. Some had believed that the fire wizard had gotten lucky in the way that it had played out, so the naysayers had their chance to see a grudge match of sorts.
The two men had fought hard, but Magnus used many quick spells like a battle mage and eventually his speed was just too much for the air wizard. Dissident beliefs quelled, Annalicia waited for the final afternoon match between her and the fire wizard.
Xerese paced back and forth in the shared common area of their rooms. While Annalicia ate and drank occasionally to regain what strength she could get, her cousin seemed a ball of nervous energy. Reynolvan and Ivanor had already been over the game plan for this last match over and over again. She had finally had to throw the two wizards out. She could only deal with Xerese at this point and even her favorite cousin was beginning to get on her nerves.
"Why don't you just sit down, Xerese?" Anna asked calmly. She didn't want to force the girl to sit, but her pacing was likely to wear a path in that stone floor at the rate she was going.
"You aren't nervous? I'd be nervous. That fire wizard is from Southwall. I've heard that he's been taught by the same teachers as that mage has. This could be trouble!" the dark haired girl said hurriedly to her cousin. She moved quickly to sit beside her on the sofa, but bounced right back to her feet.
Annalicia sighed and Xerese didn't even notice.
"It is the final match. I am just glad that it is just about over now," the petite blonde replied tiredly. Though the tournament had been fun for awhile, it was so exhausting that Annalicia just wanted to be able to relax for a bit before sailing home for Malaiy once more. She did like the idea of winning, but wished that someone else could do it for her while she just took a nap.
The dark eyes of her cousin locked on hers of green before asking, "Can you beat him? You do want to win, don't you?"
"I would love to return home the champion, but I think I can hold my head high no matter the outcome, don't you?" the wizard returned Xerese's question. "I mean, you saw the competition. To make it this far, no one should think me weak whether I win or lose."
Xerese frowned at her cousin and returned to sit beside her. Grabbing at Annalicia's hands, the wizard noted the difference in their skin tone. Even time in the sun training in Malaiy never made her quite as dark as her cousin. Her father's lighter complexion was hers as well. Now after nearly a month covered up for the north's winter, Anna thought she was losing what tan she had.
"You have to try, Anna. You can't come all this way and work so hard just to quit at the last minute. No matter how tired you might be, you have to find the strength to win!"
Laughing in the face of her intensity, Annalicia retorted, "I didn't know that you were so competitive. You know that I don't plan to lose, but I am definitely ready for this tournament to be finished.
"You don't know what it is lik
e to fight these duels back to back to back. Magic doesn't come back as quickly as a body's normal energy and, when it comes from both stamina and magic, it makes it that much harder to recoup."
Xerese's eyes renewed their worry, but her words expressed a different concern. "I know that battle mage had to retire. He looked so ill after his last match. Can that happen to you, a wizard?"
Nodding, her cousin tried to gloss over the true danger as she replied, "Every wizard and magic user has to be careful not to use herself up completely. You can actually push yourself so hard that your need for magic will start eating away at your body without food. The human body does that for anyone without enough nourishment though.
"Few wizards ever have that problem, however, since we know how far we can push. Most give a little leeway, unless it might be a need during war to save someone or something."
Though not looking completely convinced Xerese didn't argue. She didn't know enough about magic use to say anything contradictory to her cousin.
It wasn't long before Anna got up and went to the bathroom where she looked in the mirror. She did look a little tired, but resting and eating had kept the worst of it away. Using the mirror, the wizard applied makeup to hide the dark circles that were just beginning to form. Her youth would help her as well, Annalicia thought. She was only twenty-two. Her body could recuperate faster than some of the older wizards; but she was up against a fire wizard about her age as well.
Could her air magic deal with his fire? It remained to be seen.
Annalicia coughed trying to suck in any air. Her wind defense had not only been compromised, but it had fully betrayed her. Fire fed off the wind and joined in the swirling defense creating a fire vortex giving off such heat that it sucked her breath away.
The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus Page 17