The Games of Ganthrea

by Andy Adams

  While munching on a ciabatta roll and sipping a refreshing lemon drink with his two friends and great uncle and aunt, he shared his thoughts of the match and listened to theirs—“I nearly bit my fingers off when you flipped over the dragon,” Sherry was saying. “I don’t know what you were thinking!”

  “I felt like that at the beginning,” said Brenner, “anxious, jittery…my nerves were all over the place.” He turned to Windelm. “But thanks to that potion you gave me, I felt calmer and more focused for the rest of the match.”

  Windelm chuckled in a bemused sort of voice. “That Alacritus potion before the game?”

  “Yeah. Thanks for having me try some.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to thank me for that.”

  “Huh? Why not?”

  “Because,” said Windelm, “It wasn’t anything more than tea leaves, water, and blue food-dye.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Wizard’s Gambit

  Having lived through the Finals of Agilis, Brenner no longer felt as queasy playing under the wave of sound and chants of the spell-caster crowds, which was good, because the Zabrani Championship between Silvalo’s Valoria and Montadaux’s Boldenskeep was hosted in Arborio’s professional stadium, Evermax, which held five hundred thousand fans—according to Finnegan, anyway—packed in hexagon sections of the stadium that rose hundreds of feet high.

  When Brenner and the team arrived to the interior of the stadium the afternoon of the seventh Games Day, the sight of fans flitting upward and downward, their hands full of greasy turkey legs and salted potatoes, flying some four hundred feet to family-sized honeycombs completed the resemblance to a massive beehive.

  After Brenner and his teammates looked over the grand arena, their captain, Maverick, led them away from the field and through arched hallways to what Brenner could safely say was the most unique locker room he’d ever been in. Individual cubbies lined the perimeter of the large common room, and in the middle were two pools: one a cool, deep blue, and the other a bubbling, inviting hot tub. Attached to the main locker room were numerous chambers with personalities of their own: one filled with tall windows and glowing crystals, another with exotic ferns and plush grass, the next had ice caked on the windows and a closed door that appeared to be frozen shut, another had warm sand and ample light streaming from a charged glowbe and, finally, a room with rows of vats filled with brown slop that Brenner hoped was just mud.

  “Francesca,” called out Haggerty, “if we win, how’s about you and me take a dip in the renewal pool?”

  Francesca rolled her eyes and made a face that clearly said not-in-your-wildest-dreams, before replying, “I would say yes, if only to force you to take your first bath.”

  The rest of the team laughed.

  “So, that’s a yes then?” Haggerty replied, undeterred.

  “Haggerty,” called Maverick, “How’s about you stop hitting on your teammates an hour before the most important game of your life?”

  Haggerty went silent at the admonition. Brenner looked from the spa to Gemry, who seemed to read his mind, and gave him a shake of her head.

  “As this is the professional arena, Evermax, there’s one team room. But we will take shifts in the antechambers to give privacy to Zabrani teammates. Lady knights, you get the common room first. Guys, pick a Stimulus Chamber to prepare for the game, and don’t come out for ten minutes, until I give the word. If you so much as put a toe out of the chambers, I will use a shocking spell on you from one foot away. Also, I don’t recommend the Ice Chamber until after the game—we don’t want you frozen stiff. Alright, get moving.”

  The teen boys obliged and each headed to a chamber. Brenner chose the green foliage chamber, and found a free spot to lie down on the wave-like grass, which wriggled against his back like silken tentacles of a starfish he had once touched at an aquarium. He closed his eyes in relaxation, and readied himself for the game. Presently, he heard Maverick’s voice summon the boys from their chambers. Then the girls rotated, taking their turns in the antechambers, and Brenner changed into his uniform.

  When all the Zabrani teammates were changed into their deep green uniforms, the healers and king in their capes, they met in the middle common room, and Maverick discussed strategy.

  “Alright,” he said, “Boldenskeep’s known for their strong accuracy and aggressive surges. So, we need to divide into five squads of four to be ready for unusual or improbable attack routes. Also, they excel at maneuvering around the midfield mountains, so my plan is to create a buffer zone of a long lake between mountains and the forests of our territory—that way they’ll have to make one surge at a time, which we can counter.”

  Most of the team nodded at this, but while Maverick was the official Zabrani captain, they also frequently looked to Brenner. Some teammates were elbowing each other—“Ask it, Lucas!”—“Why don’t you?”—“Come on!”

  “Alerio! Lucas!” Maverick said in vexed tone, “Do you follow or not? What are you jabbering about?”

  “We were just wondering,” said Lucas, “What does our Agilis champion think of this?”

  Maverick turned a little red at the interruption, but decided to hear what Brenner might say. “Well then?”

  Put on the spot, Brenner felt embarrassed. Nevertheless, he shared what was on his mind: “If Montadaux makes aggressive surges…wouldn’t it be good to have a few covert guards hidden at the base of the midfield mountains, to shoot their backs when they pass by?”

  His teammates murmured, and more than a few nodded.

  “Not a bad strategy, Brenner,” Maverick said, turning their attention back to himself. “Miggens and Brutnick, you each take a hidden alcove on each end of the mountains. Don’t fire until the opponents are well past you; the other two players in your squad can patrol around the lake.”

  Shortly, Maverick finished explaining the rest of his game plans, and a reminder to fly in groups of three or more over water. The team formed a line, and walked from the locker room through a torch-lit tunnel. As they approached the arena entrance to Evermax, the low buzz from the crowd grew louder, at first like chattering in the background, but as they came to the sun lit entrance, it sounded like an entire army shouting in the build up to battle.

  In front of Brenner, some of the players rubbed their fingers together, looking at one another with nervous glances. As they crossed the threshold into the arena, the chants, singing, and shouts of the crowd became a tumultuous crescendo. Following Maverick’s lead, the team flew from the dusty entrance at midfield across half of the formless field to their stone tower. As he flew with his Zabrani team, Brenner’s eyes widened at the mass of supporters packed around the stadium: everywhere he looked, more and more fans were sandwiched together, from ground level all the way up to the top of the combs.

  Brenner also noticed silver platforms floating in the air—twenty or thirty of them, staggered at different heights all around the field. Hmm…this might change Montadaux’s strategy…

  The team assembled on the upper turret of their tower, an intimidating structure ten stories high, and looked across the massive field. In the far distance, Brenner could just make out flying red figures, about the size of moltifrute balls, descending down to the opposite tower: his opponents, the Montadaux Knights.

  “Sorcerers, mages, and spellcasters of all of Ganthrea,” boomed a voice from high in the stands, as a green robed wizard floated from the upper catacombs of the stadium, “Welcome to the final Zabrani match between Montadaux and Silvalo. Zabrani kings of Boldenskeep and Valoria Academies, come forward to establish your landforms.”

  Maverick and the Boldenskeep king flew to the middle, as the wizard floated down to intercept them. Soon rugged mountains erupted from midfield, and Maverick used all the water seeds to create a deep lake at the foot of their side, stretching several hundred feet toward them, then prairie grasses, then he blanketed the last third of their territory with seeds that quickly grew into gnarled oakbrawns, tall willows, and thick D
ouglas firs.

  Another moment, and the creation of forest, prairie, lake and mountains was complete.

  “Where do you want to station the three glowbes?” a knight by Maverick asked.

  Maverick pressed his lips together, then responded, “This game, we are not splitting the glowbes.”

  “Why not?” Gemry asked him, frowning.

  “Montadaux is our strongest opponent. We need a couple blockades, and then a strong concentration in one area, with our glowbes, to withstand a surge and maintain control.”

  Maverick ordered the glowbes positioned at the top of their tower, with two sentries by them, and another squad of six making the perimeter defensive ring a hundred yards out. Aside from Maverick, the twelve remaining players divided into four squads, two for each side of their territory, ready to block. Most annoyingly, Brenner was ordered into a separate squad from Gemry. Brenner also felt like Maverick was making a mistake to focus on hanging back, that they were practically welcoming a surge. But he didn’t want to appear arrogant, so said nothing.

  “Zabrani teams take your positions!” the announcer called from above the mountains. Above their team on the tower, magical vapors appeared, giving their starting score of 0.

  The team fanned on all sides of the tower, shields and mircons ready, legs tensed to launch. He didn’t like that he would be in a different squad than Gemry. Brenner looked again to the silver floating platforms, scattered through the sky like tiny, flattened moons. They seemed to be hovering on three different levels in the air—the lowest were the heights of church steeples, the mid-range as tall as airport control towers, and the highest discs at levels of skyscraper observation decks. An idea came to Brenner, which would allow him to keep an eye on Gemry, and plan for eventual attack.

  “BEGIN!”

  His teammates shot Arcyndo spells across the field—hoping a few would get past the midfield mountains and score an early hit; most flew down to the trees, skimming the tops as they split into five groups: the largest as the defensive ring, two to push right, and two to push left.

  Brenner, however, broke ranks. He flew to the closest floating disc, a low-tiered one about a hundred feet above the field. From there, he paused, able to see over the mountain ridge, watching at the edge as the majority of Boldenskeep’s knights flew on the right side of their territory toward the middle mountains. They were indeed making a surge. If he pushed himself, he could get to a higher disc ahead, past the middle of Valoria’s territory. He brought his shield in front of himself, then thought, “Volanti.”

  Air rushed through his sandy-blonde hair as he flew over the forest and prairie below, to a larger disc hovering at the secondary level. He skittered on top of it and quickly flattened himself.

  Below, he heard the pulses of spellfire crashing into the mountains and trees, as each side vied for possession of the midfield mountains. He looked ahead: there were no red knights on the discs to his right, or above him…and then he saw movement on the far left of the field, on the first level of discs—below him. A knight had just landed on the floating platform and was firing brazenly at the green squads near the lake. Brenner raised his mircon. He had to make a decision: shoot now and reveal his position to the enemy—as the rest of the red players were still flying up the mountain like currents of wind—or keep his position secret for access to more targets later.

  He lowered his mircon. It pained him, holding back his shot when he could help his team now, but he felt it would pay off with more stuns later. He laid low, keeping his shield in front so that the red knight on the other disc could not hit him, and, through a narrow slit between shield and disc, trained his mircon on the enemy player, ready to fire.

  Brenner tensed and waited long minutes, while Boldenskeep surged over the left hills diagonally below him…the red knight knight kept firing from his disc to the ground green knights, unaware of Brenner above…

  Then, his patience paid off: a cluster of red knights moved from the top of the midfield mountain, down to the base of the lake, firing heavily at Valoria. While boulders protected them from direct, frontal shots, their backsides—and heads—were completely exposed to Brenner in the air above.

  Brenner waited for a second red regiment to get into range, but just as he was about to fire, the other aerial knight happened to look up—and saw Brenner’s shield.

  “Arcyndo!” Brenner thought quickly, loosening three spell-bolts toward the disc knight. The first shot was absorbed by the boy’s shield, but the other two sizzled into his torso and legs before he could move it again, immobilizing him. Then shouts of alarm rang out from below: Brenner had been seen.

  Let’s rain fire, Brenner thought, swiveling his mircon down at the regiment of red knights huddled below by a boulder, and sending a barrage of spells into the cluster.

  Thankfully, he hit two targets, and stunned the legs of the next, but this squad was smarter than others. Immediately, the surrounding teammates scattered like cockroaches to nooks in the hillside, casting Arcyndo spells pell-mell at the floating discs in the sky. That meant not all knew where he was.

  In their confusion, Brenner flew to another disc. This secondary-level platform straddled the midfield mountains, so that he could see both sides of the colossal field. He flattened to it, and could see each team’s tower with score pulsing above.

  Silvalo had taken an early lead, 7 – 2.

  He scrutinized his opponents’ territory. Boldenskeep had a unique land formation: at the base of the midfield mountains on their side, a narrow valley separated the next section of hills, rising up a quarter way into Boldenskeep’s territory like camel humps, with a dark blue waterway arcing through them, which flowed straight into the back half of their field, before finally wrapping around a miniature island, which stood out of the water like the eye of a long blue needle. The Boldenskeep tower was a bit further beyond the island. After the hills, there was a swath of trees, and then in both back corners, symmetrical rock crags connected endwall to the side-wall, fortifying the corners. From the faint red light emanating from behind the crags, Brenner concluded that that was where they stationed their glowbes…likely two on one side, and one on the other.

  Then spells slammed into his shield, ringing out loud, metallic tings.

  He scooted back from the ledge as more spells rocketed from below and shot past him like fireworks.

  “Got one in the sky!” came a shout from below.

  Judging from where the spells hit his disc, Brenner surmised there were two clusters of red knights firing on him: one on the far side of the mountain range, the other from the squad he had just broken up. It would be futile to return fire when both groups were shooting his platform with all the spells they could muster.

  He looked back to his side…a white-caped healer was advancing with green knights—that must be Gemry. She pointed to Brenner’s position, motioned something to her squadmates, then pointed to another floating platform above the midfield mountains. There was no one on that, was there?

  His teammates opened fire on the platform, and then Brenner understood: they were using the angle. Their spells hit the underside of the disc, and bounced down at sharp slants over the midfield mountains, right into the enemy squad.

  And thankfully, it worked.

  The barrage of spells against Brenner halted momentarily, giving him a brief window to fly back to safe territory, to a first level platform on the right side of the lake.

  “Lake knights, charge midfield with me!” Maverick shouted below him, capitalizing on their momentum.

  A second green platoon of knights flew up the side of the mountain—right into the nest of Boldenskeep fighters.

  “Wait!” Brenner called down, but it was too late.

  The squad of four flew up the side of the mountain, and immediately were stunned by knights hidden on the other side. Brenner cringed. With their king, Maverick, stunned, they just gave their opponents 21 points.

  He looked across the field to the distant tower,
and sure enough, Boldenskeep had just gone up from 2 to 30. They must have gotten a healer then, too. That meant only two healers were left for Valoria.

  Another green squad of reinforcements must have seen Maverick’s group go down on the ridge, as they were now flying over trees, grasses, and then over the lake to give reinforcement, when a shower of red spells sparked from midfield down to the lake. Most of the green knights blocked with their shields, but Haggerty was caught off guard, stunned over deep water.

  Brenner felt his heart rise into his throat. He’d seen this play out before.

  The other flyers split formation once the shots came. But Haggerty had been the last of their group, so they didn’t see him immobilized, then plunge down…his splash into the lake drowned out by pelts of spells hitting rocks.

  Brenner wasn’t about to let someone else die—let alone one of his teammates.

  He spun the Volanti spell in his mind, and launched off the side of his platform, diving down to the middle of the lake, spells sizzling past his legs. The white bubbles around Haggerty’s impact site were now fading… Brenner braced himself. He shifted his mircon to his shield hand, saw the dark outline of Haggerty’s body below the water, and dove after him.