“You are serious about fighting alongside of Ronica?” Gertie asked. “She will be beside herself to be on your team.”
“She would,” Jonathan admitted. “Which is why I am doing it. Her name will be known is the Kingdom before long. She wants to fight instead of heal, I think in the right circumstance that she will be able to do both.”
“I can’t believe we are going to watch a mage duel!” Alicia said. “This is an exciting date Albie, now stop being so nervous. His Lordship hasn’t even said anything about us being together. Her Ladyship might not either.”
“Oh yes she will,” Earl Gillespie said. “You are all she has been talking about. I want to see her face when she notices the other couple which only leaves one person.”
“How deep am I in it, Your Lordship,” Elijah said.
“Very deep,” Earl Gillespie said.
“Pit,” Elijah said.
“Don’t take it so hard,” Gertie said as she grabbed Jonathan’s hands. “There are worst things in life than to be around the opposite sex.”
“What she said,” Jonathan said as he returned Gertie’s smile.
“Maybe I should have gone on this trip with you all,” Earl Gillespie said. “It seems like I have missed out on much and I am not only speaking about the Barbarians.”
“I think it would have been made easier by your presence,” Jonathan admitted. “Having an Earl tell you to go away is different than having me say something. Not too many people would want to make you an enemy, then again they might recognize that they are already in trouble and go for broke.”
“I was talking about the stories I am sure you all have,” Earl Gillespie said. “But I am sure all of them will come out in the wash. Are you nervous about the fights that are about to happen?”
“He should be,” Winchell said. “Your little sister is probably the hottest head out of this bunch and she is more than a handful. She will never be called crafty but the power she can bring reminds me of Monica Manchin. Then you have initiate Danica who is both strong, fast, and able to cast multiple magics. The comparison to Thunder has been made by plenty of people. Initiate Segdrick is a tough all arounder and so is Initiate Ashley. Those four could also use raw power to beat ninety percent of the mages I know right now and that number is conservative.”
“Well then I will see how great they are,” Jonathan said. “I have had decent classes before, I know mages. I also know that styles make fights. Most of the time it is the stronger mage, but my style when I am really on it lends to mage duels. Initiate Wallace is fast and nasty, he would lose to either Charles or possibly Tobin just because his strengths would be neutralized.”
“Emma has beaten me when she was only eleven,” Gertie said. “I don’t think those girls and boys stand a chance.”
“I don’t either,” Winchell said. “Why are you here with Thunder girl?”
“The Tower Mage is a friend,” Jonathan said as he looked at Gertie.
“One of his only friends,” Winchell said.
“Maybe it is more appropriate to say that he is one of my mentors,” Jonathan replied. “He realizes that you would be besieged by many people by being seen with me.”
“She has already started the rumor mill up,” Earl Gillespie said. “I think this show of yours is about to start.”
Jonathan looked up and could see Lehman floating up towards the Tower Mage holding a piece of paper. Lehman looked relieved as he handed over the document, Jonathan wondered what his plan would be to peel the junior class off of the senior class if they were as strong as people thought. Jonathan looked over at the paper and could see there were two groups that wanted to fight him and Ashley. The first was Wallace and a boy named Bancroft, the second was a bit surprising. Danica wanted another fight and she wanted it one on one. Jonathan thought she was a bit salty over losing and thought the girl didn’t realize how out of her league she was.
Danica could reasonably match him in power, she was as strong as Kevin Wilson. She was faster than he was so Jonathan knew trading blows with her would be a bad mistake. She also could cast four spells at a time which wasn’t that big of a disadvantage to his eight. She had speed and could fill the air with her spells. She had no staying power, Jonathan could help take her deep into her reserves and end the fight there. Jonathan doubted his last plan by taking her airborne would work, that was more craftiness than endurance. This plan Jonathan was sure would work, all he had to do was keep up a steady stream of spells. Jonathan stood up as he could see an excited Ronica enter the area. She was looking behind her and probably trying to hurry her pregnant sister who was in no hurry. Jonathan floated down and got Ronica’s attention.
“We have a fight?” Jonathan said as Ronica looked perplexed.
“We?” Ronica asked.
“It is a team battle,” Jonathan said. “Me and you versus two initiates. Are you up for it?”
“I get to fight alongside you?” Ronica said as her face lit up. “This is going to be great. Who are we fighting? Can I use my golem? How are we going to fight? Are we going to lose?”
“Slow down,” Jonathan laughed. “Our technique is simple. I am going to block the incoming attacks while you get your golem together. If they focus on the golem then I can go after them and make them face me instead of her.”
“When do we fight?” Ronica asked.
“Right now,” Jonathan smiled.
CHAPTER 13
Still the Top Dog
Jonathan stood with Ronica. He could hear the initiates laugh at his partner which made her self-conscious. Ronica at one point looked to be on the verge of tears as initiate Bancroft kept insulting her. He asked her why she wasn’t at home with her dollies and any other insults about her age. Jonathan tried to calm her down, he told her only focus on the fight and nothing else. He told her about how he was jeered when he fought Quevin Wilson and all the nonsense he had to hear beforehand.
“He is fast,” Jonathan said as he pointed out a smug looking Wallace. “Faster than I am and he knows how to use his speed. I should be able to block us though. You just play your part and we will be fine. This is your big chance to show off your golem.”
“I am scared,” Ronica admitted as she pulled herself closer to him. “This feels different than my other fights.”
“Nerves,” Jonathan said. “It will go away. Just get yourself ready.”
The match started and Jonathan threw up his shields as fast as he could. Jonathan was able to get three shields up and mage bolts impacted on the outer one which made Ronica yelp. Bancroft started hammering on Jonathan’s shields, at one point he was sure he was hit with shatter which tore down his weaker outer shield. Jonathan held his arm out to keep his shields steady and gave Ronica’s shoulder a squeeze. Jonathan could see the golem forming on the far side of the sparring area and wanted to keep Wallace busy. Wallace had closed distance but was outside of Jonathan’s punching range.
“You going to hide in there all day commoner?” Wallace asked.
“I see that eye hasn’t been fixed yet,” Jonathan laughed which made Ronica giggle a bit.
“I can wait for your shield to drop,” Wallace said. “You have to come out of there sometime.”
“Let me use shatter again,” Bancroft asked.
“No,” Wallace said. “You will be out of power. He is going to throw up another shield quickly, we need to wait him out.”
“How about you wait out this,” Jonathan said as he dropped his outer shield. Two mage bolts blasted into his remaining shield. Jonathan knew Wallace thought Jonathan would drop both of his shields to attack and now Wallace was cursing to himself that he fell for the trick.
“You are not funny commoner,” Wallace said as the crowd began to yell. “You hear that? They know you are a coward and not worthy of the title of Champion.”
“I think they are telling the both of you to turn around,” Jonathan said as the golem was fully formed and moving.
The golem wasn’t made out of
gravel, the area they fought in was hard packed dirt and a few boulders. This golem was primarily dirt and moved across the arena at a decent pace. Wallace turned around and saw it, he blasted two quick mage bolts at the golem which only made it speed up. Bancroft hit it with fire, the golem walked right through it. The golem had closed the distance and Wallace hit it with the largest mage bolt he had followed by a wind spell. The golem soaked up the fire ball but was slowed tremendously by the wind spell. Bancroft noticed the spell working and joined in, both initiates forgot about Jonathan and Ronica who were to their rear. Jonathan tapped Ronica on the shoulder and then dropped his shield. Her small mage bolt hit Wallace solidly behind the head which made him lose focus on the golem. Wallace turned to fly but was caught by Jonathan’s mage rope spell and flung into Bancroft who lost his wind spell. The golem was on them after that, peppering the initiates which hard punches to the arms and legs.
“Is that it then?” Jonathan asked as the golem soaked up the few mage bolts the initiates tried. Jonathan tapped Ronica on the shoulder as the girl let her golem dissolve. Ronica had a large smile on her face as Jonathan called over the healers to see about Wallace and Bancroft who were moaning in pain.
“We beat them!” Ronica said. “I am going to give them a doll to make them feel better, stupid boys.”
“Good job,” Jonathan said. “I have another match, why don’t you fly up with your sister and tell her all about it while I prep for my other match.”
“You are fighting again?” Ronica asked.
“Yep,” Jonathan replied. “I will see you after it is over.”
Jonathan watched her fly away. The girl was nervous at first but proved to be a good teammate. Her golem would be hell on the battlefield, Jonathan saw no way a normal man could fight against something like that. Wallace and Bancroft were eventually healed enough to fly off the field under their own power. Jonathan clapped for them as they left and wondered what they thought about the golem. Fighting that thing was beyond them. Once they turned their heads they could have been taken out by Ronica at any time. Even if she didn’t attack, they had to be frustrated about how the golem soaked up magic and kept coming. Jonathan would ask around, they were bound to tell someone. Jonathan saw Danica land in the sparring area. The girl had a focused look on her face. She wasn’t sneering like she was their first match, she respected him as a worthy foe now.
“I see you are not all full of yourself,” Jonathan said as he walked over. “Before you were in a hurry to put the commoner in his place.”
“You beat me,” Danica said.
“Lots of people have beaten you,” Jonathan replied. “The Mage Commander, Farrah Golad, Monica Manchin and Gerald Morningstar to name a few.”
“I can beat Gerald now,” Danica corrected. “And I have beaten the Mage Commander three times. I am also not far from being able to beat Mage Monica.”
“And Farrah?” Jonathan asked.
“I have only fought her once,” Danica said. “I was tougher than she thought and I am only going to get better. I am faster than both of you.”
“True,” Jonathan replied. “But other than Initiate Wallace, I am the fastest you have faced. You ready?”
“Stop trying to sweet talk me commoner,” Danica said.
“Sweet talk you?” Jonathan laughed. “You get yourself ready.”
Jonathan waited for the fight to start and launched two mage bolts and ducked. Instead of the mage bolts Jonathan thought would be coming, Danica decided to cast a strong wind spell. Casting wind made her spell slower, weak mage bolt was known for its ability to cast quickly. Jonathan hit her with both spells and then started filling the air with the spell while Danica was distracted. The first five hit Danica solidly as the girl dropped to the ground and put three shields around her. Jonathan kept up the barrage and Danica got her senses and then climbed to her feet. Jonathan knew her outer shield was weakening with every hit, breaking through it was not his only goal.
Danica had to expend energy keeping up her shield as Jonathan pounded into it. If she dropped it for just a second, she would be hit by the multiple spells coming at her even if she could get her own off. If she flew then Jonathan could use his ability to cast eight spells to hit her from a side she wouldn’t be shielded on and recreate the conditions he won the first fight with. Danica backed into a corner as her first shield broke, Jonathan could tell she was nervous from the look on her face.
“You gave up the advantage of speed,” Jonathan said as he kept casting mage bolt. “Bad decision but worth trying once. Now you have to come up with a better plan than what you have.”
Jonathan was not expecting Danica to fly right at him. She kept her shield up and plowed into him. Jonathan was knocked aside as Danica landed. Jonathan had took off towards the air with a few shields surrounding him, Danica did not follow. Danica didn’t even try to attack while Jonathan was in the air, Jonathan landed on the far side of Danica and dropped his shield. Danica didn’t immediately attack which caught Jonathan as strange unless she was conserving energy.
“Good trick,” Jonathan said. “You have any more or do you want me to end this? You should have started with mage bolt and then tried to hit me with something stronger when I put my shield up. Instead you thought your wind spell would be faster than my ability to cast mage bolt. Maybe you thought I would just cast a shield to start off with. Either way, you were wrong and got the pit beat out of your shields and had to have wasted a lot of power doing so.”
“Argh!” Danica screamed as Jonathan could see she cast a large icicle and rapidly cast shatter behind it.
Jonathan threw up his shields and shatter destroyed the outer one, barely. Jonathan didn’t have much power in his shields and the icicle was still large enough to blow through another one. As it fell to the ground, Danica unloaded two large mage bolts and a large fireball. Each spell splashed up against his shield but didn’t break it. Danica was down on one knee as Jonathan focused hard. The ground beneath her started squirming and Jonathan was sure the initiate didn’t realize what happened until her foot was encased in the ground.
“You tried,” Jonathan said. “But my speed is still something you have rarely had to deal with, even if you are faster. Wallace has speed, but not the power I can bring behind it. You need more training before you think of taking me on. I am not Monica, I think you realize this now.”
“Get me out!” Danica panted.
“Only if you ask nicely,” Jonathan said. “You still haven’t called off the match.”
“I submit,” Danica said as Jonathan released her.
Jonathan flew up to sit with Gertie. She gave him a wide smile followed by a big hug. Jonathan almost didn’t notice the Golads were in the area and talking to Earl Gillespie. Jonathan looked at Russell who was rubbing his chin. Jonathan knew his rival had seen the fight and was probably trying to find one of Jonathan’s weaknesses. Jonathan would fight Russell differently though, his lightning magic would be front and center and Russell would have to react to that.
“You fought well,” Gertie said as she gave him a kiss. “Good job not being overly mean.”
“No need to,” Jonathan replied. “She knows she lost this fight, her plan was all wrong and she paid for it. Good desperation move, I never saw it coming until she hit me with it.”
“Here comes Emma!” Ronica said as Emma walked up with Ashley and little Russell. Jonathan thought he should stop calling the boy that, even secretly in his head. He had found out his name was Segdrick and should get used to calling him that.
“Is Initiate Segdrick from the mountain?” Jonathan asked Duke Golad.
“He is,” Duke Golad replied. “Well his Da was. Ran off and married a girl across the Kingdom but you can see the mountain blood in him. He is one of the best mages here.”
“I believe it,” Jonathan replied. “Reminds me of your son, Your Grace.”
“He is too soft,” Russell said. “You beating Xalen’s betrothed means nothing Thunder. I cou
ld have beaten her far faster.”
“Then get out there and prove it,” Jonathan replied. “She is a lot faster than you may think.”
“Those weak mage bolts only affect smaller people,” Russell said. “Mountain men would walk through such a spell.”
Jonathan was about to speak but decided not to. Russell did have a point. Tobin Mountain had soaked up weak mage bolts and kept coming, Russell was larger than he was and would probably walk through a bunch as well. Jonathan turned to focus on the match, the senior class brought out five people and were arguing that it wasn’t their fault that two of the junior class dropped out of the fight to face Jonathan. Segdrick let the match happen, he was confident in the two girls by his side and Jonathan soon saw why.
Segdrick held up his shield, he was correct in thinking that everyone would be coming for him. His shield was overwhelmed and was forced to duck to the ground where he was hit once or twice. The seniors attacks gave Emma an easy target, she blasted wind magic across the arena which took two of her opponents off their feet. Ashley already had large mage bolts on the way, they impacted the two downed seniors which left the fight a three on three.
Segdrick climbed to his feet as the three remaining seniors had cast their shields to fight against Emma’s wind spell. They were still being pushed back, Emma had upped the intensity as started casting strong mage bolts. The combination wind mage bolt was too much for one senior who was hit solidly and sent down. Emma was able to focus her spell on one mage. The wind ripped through the shield he had on and plastered him against the far wall until the boy took towards the air. Ashley met him up there and started peppering him with spells as Emma focused on the remaining mage. Segdrick had stepped back from the fight and was happy to watch. Not even a minute later, both remaining seniors were on the ground as Jonathan stood up and clapped.
Three mages versus five and it wasn’t even a fight. The five seniors had been thoroughly beaten and Jonathan thought without Segdrick that Emma and Ashley could have won. The trio walked off to cheers, Jonathan thought if Wallace and Danica was present that the fight would have been completely lopsided. The seniors won the next group match, the juniors fought valiantly but were out classed by smarter mages. Jonathan was happy that they did not need pulling off of the junior class. After the battle Jonathan had showed Gertie around the Tower and dreaded when Earl Gillespie let it be known that he was ready to go.
The Archmage Page 37