The Archmage

by Whiskey Flowers

  “Can we not?” a boy said as Jonathan was climbing on the stage. “No one here wants to hear what he has to say anyway.”

  “Who said that?” Jonathan asked as he scanned the room.

  “I did now go away,” a lazy eyed boy said to the laughter of his peers.

  Jonathan stopped climbing on the stage and took a breath. He would be lying if he said this wasn’t the best part. Jonathan already had a plan in place, it would be a bit more brutal than years past but it would get his point across. Jonathan started walking over towards the boy who stood up, Jonathan was sure the loudmouth had to notice the size difference, Jonathan wasn’t the tallest person he had met but he was taller than most.

  “Sit down now,” Jonathan said. “You are being disrespectful.”

  “You are being disrespectful by being here,” the lazy eyed boy said. “Now why did you walk over here like you were really going to do something?”

  The slap was fast and loud. Jonathan felt his hand throbbing from the impact it made on the lazy eyed boy’s face. The boy of course went stumbling into the chair he was in but his punishment didn’t end there. Jonathan followed him down and grabbed him by the front of his robe. Another big slap rang out through the area as Jonathan finally dropped the stunned boy. Jonathan eyed some of the initiates around him who looked like they were ready to attack.

  “Go ahead then,” Jonathan said. “See what happens to you.”

  Only a small girl met his gaze, Jonathan knew this class was supposed to be tough and he would have to assert himself. Jonathan walked by to the stage and climbed up as the boy he had slapped was getting his bearings. Jonathan could tell the initiates were shocked and could see some of their eyes looking at Russell as if pleading for him to do something. Jonathan fought hard to keep the smile off his face, he had slapped the pit out of that boy and he doubted the noble had ever been dealt with so thoroughly and harshly. That slap would stay with him for all time, well at least as long as he was in the Tower. Jonathan was about to speak when the lazy eyed boy started shouting.

  “Coward!” the boy said as Jonathan stifled a laugh. Jonathan could see the entire right side of his face was red and Jonathan thought he could see the outlines of each of his individual fingers across the boy’s face.

  “You already got slapped down like trash,” Jonathan said. “Do not make it worse on yourself. Get one of your new friends or possibly even one of your new instructors to heal you and settle down. My hand already hurts from slapping an idiot, if I had of known you liked it then I would have charged you for the encounter.”

  “We can take this outside in a magic duel!” the lazy eyed boy said.

  “Some town somewhere is missing their idiot,” Jonathan said. “I will meet you outside. I want all of you so called noble mages to go outside with him. Line yourselves up, I’ll beat you down like the trash you are. None of you are special, you have done nothing for the Kingdom except soak up awe for being a mage. I will let my magic do the talking, you will not be the first idiots I have dealt with and I doubt you will be the last. Now file out of here, those of you who don’t know where the dueling area is, follow someone who does. You may want to remember what you see here for all time, it will stop you from being embarrassed like your idiot classmate.”

  “We will see who the idiot is,” the lazy eyed boy said. “After I finish with you everyone will know you are nothing special commoner.”

  “While the healers are seeing to your face get them to do something about that eye,” Jonathan said with mock concern. “I think that slap knocked something loose and your eye is starting to droop.”

  Jonathan laughed loudly at his own joke, drowning out whatever the boy was about to say. Jonathan watched all of the new initiates file out right behind an angry and stomping boy. Jonathan let them all leave and looked forward to the sea of shocked faces he would see when he beat the lazy eyed boy. Jonathan was about to leave and get himself ready when he saw Prince Xalen talking to the Mage Commander and Russell. The day was going so well Jonathan thought without these people here to ruin it. Jonathan briefly thought about ignoring them but wouldn’t give Kevin Wilson the satisfaction. Jonathan walked right up to the group, whatever they were saying instantly caught his attention. Jonathan thought maybe it would be more correct to say that it was not their words but how they were delivered, they were whispering.

  None of them had a reason to whisper, they were important people surrounded by those they think of as their lessers. They definitely didn’t have a reason to whisper around Jonathan, they hated him and didn’t care what he thought of it. The whispering stopped as Jonathan stood across from them. Xalen looked smug, something was up and Jonathan wasn’t sure what.

  “Your Highness,” Jonathan said and gave a small bow. “I didn’t know you were making it out today, maybe I should have tempered the theatrics.”

  “No Thunder,” Xalen said. “You are doing exactly what you should be doing, making yourself an embarrassment. You went to pick on these initiates because you know they are young and it makes you feel good to beat on nobles. I want to remember you this way, after your fights, you make sure to meet me back here. In fact, why don’t you go throw on your Champion robes. I want to see Jonathan the Lightning out there, I know you have the staff in your room.”

  Jonathan was about to say something but decided not to. Xalen knew something and Jonathan wasn’t sure what. Jonathan knew who would know though, the Tower Mage would know something and perhaps even Red would as well. Jonathan gave a small bow and the departed, it didn’t take him long to run into Winchell Rebelle who was talking to the Archmage, Erlanger Telfarin.

  “Okay so what don’t I know?” Jonathan said.

  “I assume you were being Jonathan Thunder?” the Archmage said.

  “You know I am not going to take any gruff off of an initiate,” Jonathan said. “Now what is so important to have both the Prince and Kevin Wilson here?”

  “That girl His Highness is seeing,” Erlanger said.

  “Oh, she is in this class,” Jonathan said. “This ought to be good.”

  “More than that,” Erlanger said. “Four other mages in this class are said to be just as special as you and your group.”

  “And one of them is the boy with the lazy eye,” Jonathan said.

  “Wallace Vandergrift,” Winchell said. “You may have stepped into boy, he is fast. I am not sure how fast but many people think he is something special if a bit underpowered.”

  “Well the Prince wants me in my Champion robes,” Jonathan said. “I have been counted out before, and like the cream I always rise to the top. I’ll see you all after my matches.”

  Jonathan went up to his room and saw Farrah was there waiting for him. Jonathan had no idea what this was about and didn’t care. He hadn’t seen the girl in months and thought even seeing her now was even too soon. Farrah smiled as Jonathan walked over, Jonathan wanted to roll his eyes but kept his composure. He wouldn’t give her the pleasure of rattling him, whatever she wanted was most likely unimportant anyway. Jonathan made eye contact with Farrah and began to talk.

  “What do you want?” Jonathan asked. “I am a busy man Lady Golad, with only so much time to spare.”

  “Is that all you have to say to me?” Farrah said shocked. “We haven’t seen each other in nearly a year.”

  “And we are both better off for it,” Jonathan said as he grabbed his door.

  “Jonathan you are being set up,” Farrah said. “This class is supposed to be just as special as we were.”

  “I don’t need your help,” Jonathan replied. “I can take care of myself. I don’t know what you heard about me but you should ask around. I have never lost a mage duel and I don’t plan on it now.”

  “Jon I came here as a friend,” Farrah said. “Too much has happened between us, we were friends once. You could even say we were closer than friends.”

  “Because I was an idiot and young,” Jonathan said. “Thank you for your warning Lady Go
lad, if you do not mind, I have to get ready.”

  Jonathan found his Champion robes and put them on, they still fit perfectly. Whoever Wallace Vandergrift was would have to face down Jonathan the Lightning and if he was better Jonathan was prepared to go out on his shield. Jonathan mussed his hair a little and went back outside. The majority initiates were already seated, all except for three. Jonathan figured these would be the three then, he hoped they were ready because he was. Wallace made his way down to the fighting area and stood across Jonathan.

  “Come on then and let’s get this over with,” Jonathan said as he looked across at his opponent.

  The boy Wallace stood sneering across at Jonathan. Wallace like most nobles probably was raised believing that commoners were far weaker than nobles and that smacking him down would be easy and seen as a public service. What he didn’t realize was that Jonathan wasn’t just given the title of Queen’s Champion, he earned it. Jonathan had stopped taking it easy on initiates and decided to make examples out of all of them. His opponent smiled at him and walked like he hadn’t a care in the world. His face wasn’t red any longer so Jonathan knew someone had seen to him.

  The boy wasn’t very tall, nothing about him made Jonathan pause. He had his brown hair tied back into a pony’s tail and his robes looked like they were custom made. The lazy eye the boy had made Jonathan want to laugh, he was not anything that would make anyone scared. Jonathan gave him his evilest stare, Jonathan knew his long dark messy hair made his eyes stand out and added to the intimidation. Mage Tabitha, one Jonathan’s instructors when he went through the Tower signaled for the fight to start. Jonathan went into his mage bolt and was surprised, just as it left his hand a mage bolt slammed into him and hit him right in the face. Jonathan knew his own mage bolt most likely went wide of its target and had to throw up his shield to reassess the situation.

  Jonathan had always been the fastest mage he knew, he beat most people on speed alone. Jonathan was never the strongest mage out there, he was sure Russell Golad had more power and his sister Farrah was not far behind. Jonathan thought he would have them in speed, if it came down to it he thought that would give him the edge. During his sparring matches with the initiates Jonathan had never used the spell he was known for, his lightning magic often put his opponents down less than a heartbeat after the match began. That gave his opponent a way out, they would cry about the lightning and complain that was the only way he could win. Jonathan had started using a weak version of mage bolt, it always hit before the other mage even got a spell off, well it did until today.

  Jonathan was hit again but had his shield up, it gave him time to clear his head and find his opponent. The boy was directly in front of him, smirking with his hands held out. Jonathan readied a mage bolt and dropped his shield for just a second, his opponent was faster than he was and hit him again. Jonathan tossed his shield back up and could hear the crowd of initiates cheering for his opponent.

  “Are you going to hide in there all day commoner?” Wallace said as he kept his hands up.

  Jonathan looked at the boy and thought the initiate had never been in a real fight. If he had then he wouldn’t have gotten so close to a larger opponent. Jonathan set his foot and threw a punch, just as his shield went down he felt the blow from the mage bolt as well as the boy’s face meeting his fist. Jonathan knew he hit him good, he could feel the nose give from the punch and followed it up with a cross from his off hand. Both blows landed and Jonathan looked down to see the boy crumpled at his feet. It was obvious the fight was over but Jonathan gave him three mage bolts to the face, it was the same amount of punishment Jonathan had taken from his opponent.

  “Send in the next one,” Jonathan said loudly so the rest of the initiates could hear him. “I don’t want any excuses.”

  “You cheated,” a tiny girl said as she climbed out of the stands and stood across from him.

  “If you are next then stop crying and let’s start this up,” Jonathan said. “You can be lying next to this idiot.”

  Jonathan knew this girl, well he had heard a lot about her and even seen her once or twice. Her name was Danica and she was the betrothed of Prince Xalen. She was strong, Xalen had bragged that she could have been the fifth member of the Big Four if she went through the Tower when he did. Jonathan had been on the lookout for her and so had a lot of other mages. She could handle four spells at a time and could put a lot of power behind it. Earl Davney Gillespie had tested her so it was well known among people in the know that she was the fifth strongest mage that had ever been tested in terms of raw power, tied with Kevin Wilson, the former Archmage. The present Archmage along with the Tower Mage had mentioned her before. Her power and ability to cast multiple spells isn’t what had Jonathan worried, it was her speed.

  Jonathan had heard about how fast the girl was, it was an open secret that some nobles wanted them to fight to see who was the fastest. Jonathan knew that she was well trained, Kevin Wilson and Gerald Morningstar had given her classes personally so Jonathan had to surmise that she was good at sparring. She had beaten Gerald a few times which should have been impossible for someone so young, power did not necessarily translate into fighting ability. Gerald should have been too slick for her unless she was just too much for him to handle. As she stood across from him, Jonathan thought he should give the girl the importance he should have given the last mage.

  Jonathan thought she was at least as fast as initiate Wallace, and he had surprised Jonathan. Jonathan had three spells that he thought were his best, his lightning which was unrivaled, his shield and his earth magic. All of his earth spells were too slow to cast, Danica would tear through him before he could even get it off. Maybe his shield then, Jonathan thought he could cast it as fast as he did his weak mage bolts. If Jonathan had cast his shield when fighting Wallace he would have been just fast enough to block the first mage bolt. Mage Tabitha gave the signal and the shield was Jonathan’s first spell.

  Just as the shield popped in place four mage bolts slammed into it, Jonathan thought it would have hurt if they landed. Jonathan started walking towards her, maybe he could get her out the same way he finished Wallace. A strong spell hit Jonathan’s shield, it was an icicle which almost made his shield buckle. Jonathan went to strengthen his shield and saw two big icicles headed towards him, they would have killed him if he was a lesser mage. Instead of letting them hit, Jonathan took off in the air. Danica followed him up and kept the air filled with mage bolts and icicles, Jonathan’s shields were taking a beating as the small girl was a good flyer and stayed on him. Jonathan kept his shield up but tossed two fireballs at the girl, he controlled them so they should hit at two different sides. Danica raised up two shields quickly to block them both, that is when Jonathan knew he had her.

  The fireballs didn’t have a lot on it but it was enough to make her shields wobble. Jonathan tossed three stronger fireballs at her and saw the small girl throw up three shields. The shields barely held together as Jonathan tossed five fireballs at her. Danica could cast four spells at a time, if she had three shields up that meant she had an air spell going to keep her in the air. With five fireballs coming at her from the front, back, both sides and above she would have to make a tough decision. She would have to decide which was more important, taking one fireball or taking three or four. If she cast four shields then she would start dropping out of the sky and still get hit. Any less than four then she would be engulfed in flames. Danica surprised him by doing something he didn’t expect, she ran.

  Jonathan followed behind her and started filling the air with his mage bolts. Danica left a shield behind her and tried to get away. Jonathan discovered in the air he was faster than she was and it seemed like she was slowing down. Jonathan started making his mage bolts stronger and before long Danica landed and started pouring her power into her shields. Jonathan smiled as he next mage bolt tore through her shield and blasted her across the arena. Jonathan followed it up with another four bolts which left the girl moaning on th
e ground.

  “I don’t have all day,” Jonathan barked. “Send in the next one so I can get this over with.”

  “I want to fight you,” said a tall muscular boy. “I don’t have anything against you, I just want to say I got it on with Jonathan the Lightning.”

  “Then come on in,” Jonathan said as his demeanor changed. Whoever this boy was, he was nearly Jonathan’s height but Jonathan thought the boy definitely had him in the looks department. He looked like a slightly darker version of Russell Golad which made Jonathan think he had some of the mountain people in his blood.

  “Any tips?” the boy asked loudly as he stood across from Jonathan.

  “What is your name Initiate?” Jonathan asked.

  “Segdrick Davies,” the blond boy said. “I think I am pretty strong. At least I thought so until I saw you all fight.”

  “Well it is tough to beat me with speed alone,” Jonathan said boosting his voice. “I never met anyone faster until my last two fights, the chances of you having the speed of those other two is practically non-existent. Overwhelming me with spells probably will not happen either, I can cast more spells than anyone I know. Maybe you can take me with strength but I have always prepared for someone stronger than I am. Beating me is going to take smarts and a combination of the things I just talked about.”

  “How is your endurance?” Segdrick asked. “I can cast for a bit longer than a lot of the people I know.”

  “There are a few people that I think can outlast me,” Jonathan said. “Maybe my former classmates but any fight between us would be over with before endurance came into play.”