The Enchanter (Journals of Evander Tailor Book 1), page 36
He shook his head. “They are. But…trust me. It’s better that you don’t drink it.”
I looked at him in concern. “Osheen, are…are you okay?”
He shook his head. “I’ve sworn to not reveal anything. I can’t say more. Just don’t drink the potion.”
I nodded and did the best I could to push it to the back of my mind as I went to show him the other finds—namely wands with an artifact attack spell on them, the artifact foci combination staff, and the scrying enhancement foci.
Then it was time for him to show me the ones that he had found. We made our way to the area with the weapons, and he showed me a beautiful dagger. It was made of bronze, with a leaf-shaped blade. It was a unique artifact. It didn’t have a verbal-, Aura-, or even will-based trigger. Instead, it triggered when it came in contact with blood. It would then release a curse into the blood of whoever it touched, stopping their blood from clotting for five minutes. It was the knife of an assassin, that was for sure. But I still wasn’t sure that I was keen on the idea of becoming one.
The second item he showed me was a fencing saber, the kind that George had put his fire foci on. It looked to be well made but nothing special. The magic on it, however, was exceptional. It was a memory enchantment, which I’d only ever heard of mentioned in an offhanded way. It contained a copy of the knowledge and memory of swordsman Adalbert Heenling, and it recharged by being soaked in moonlight.
“Who was Adalbert Heenling?” I asked.
“He was a duelist who was pretty famous about eighty years ago. He dueled my great-grandfather and won. It may not be the perfect offense, but being able to tap into the recorded memories that he’s left behind would be extremely helpful.”
It would. It was a rare enchantment, hard to make. Being able to study one at my own leisure would be amazing. But Osheen had one more thing for me to see before I made my decision.
The final thing was an abjuration spell. Abjuration, also called counter magic, was a difficult field of magic. My own consumer glove was an abjuration foci, but it would be useless to anyone without the ability to see magic. Since most Abjurers couldn’t see magic, they had to design spells to be able to break things they couldn’t see or identify, which was an inherently difficult task. It was a bit like trying to fire a gun, while blindfolded, not being told what direction the target is in, and knowing that if you don’t get a bullseye, then you may well be executed.
This one was a ring. I hadn’t really looked over the rings or the rest of the jewelry. I’d been under the assumption that since they had more inherent value than a book, the book would hold better magic to make up for it. But I’d forgotten that magic was the tool of the nobility, so, of course, they’d want their best gear to be equally fashionable and functional. There were more good attack and defense spells in the jewelry than in most of the wands.
The ring he showed me was a basic silver band. The spell it held could be projected to strike a target like my paralysis spell, and it could be used to break off a chunk of an armor spell. There isn’t that much difference between force armor and stone armor in lower-level uses, though many advanced mages develop their own unique versions, with their own upsides and downsides.
It was tempting, but when I really thought about it, it served too similar of a purpose to my consumer glove. Really, there were only three choices. Most of the basic attack and defense artifacts were fine, but I’d be able to make them on my own someday. So that left the walking stick that combined both an artifact and foci together, the blood-thinning knife, and the memory saber. I dismissed the knife almost out of hand. I already had several knives, and switching between them was going to get to be a hassle. It wouldn’t help in school since we weren’t actually going to be bleeding each other out, and I had no real desire to do that to anyone anyway.
The memory saber and the walking stick were both excellent choices. Either one could be used both in the upcoming round and in the future for me to study and work on combining with my own magic. I wasn’t going to be studying much more advanced foci crafting, so having an example of how to create a foci that tied in and worked alongside an artifact would be invaluable. Then again, memory spells were also supposed to be extremely useful and rare. But the problem was, I didn’t know how rare or how valuable. I knew that a lot of noble houses kept their best spells to themselves and never made them publicly available. But were memory spells in that category? If they were, then the sword would be of extreme value. If they were rare simply because they were hard to cast, then the sword would be valuable, but it wouldn’t be as useful as the walking stick.
“What do you think?” I asked, after explaining the situation to Osheen. He stroked his chin. He hadn’t shaved for a few days, and ginger stubble was starting to come in. I wasn’t a huge fan of stubble or facial hair in general—despite mustaches being the high fashion at the time—but Osheen looked good with it.
“I don’t have the answer about Memory enchantment, I’m sorry to say. My family has a couple of training wands with Memory enchantments in them, to help you get the feel for casting certain spells. But if you’re asking which one I think suits you better, I’d say that you benefit most from the saber. The fire lance walking stick is cool, but fire is probably the most common offensive rune bond, behind force, and the lance of flame isn’t a rare spell. Plus, isn’t Victoria already working on combining types of enchantments?”
I felt like smacking myself. She was. If we were going to be sharing our notes, then I would probably be able to make something like that in time. But the sword could help out both of us.
“You’re a genius,” I said. I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He grinned, and then I went to show the sword to the guard.
The saber felt strange hanging on my belt, but it was actually helpful. With the bandolier of throwing knives on one side, and the saber on the other, it balanced the weight out better than when it had just been the combat knife. I’d also shifted that combat knife to that side, which would take some getting used to.
With our selections made, we both were moved out of the hall, presumably so that we wouldn’t steal anything. We waited out there with Theo, who’d also been led out. Not long after, Jerimiah and George came out as well. The rest slowly trickled out, and once everyone was in the hall, another guard led us up. We walked all the way across Yesgol, and my legs were aching from the walk. We were led out to the same branch that held the arena that we had been to the previous times we had seen the king, but this time, we were led to a different door. This one seemed lower—it probably led out onto the field.
Then the door swung open, and we were marched outside, one by one.
My anxiety had already been high when I’d just been waiting for the fight. But as soon as we got onto the field, it amplified tenfold. Not just because it was almost time for the fight.
There were people there. People filled the stands. The entire school had to be there, but there were easily another eight or nine hundred people. Most wore the uniforms of the military or the colors of different houses, but there were some who were just dressed in civilian garb as well. They stared down at each of us as we marched out.
George went first, his sandy blond hair streaming as we walked out. Outside, I could hear someone announcing: “Now, please allow me to announce our final round—a no-holds-barred, free-for-all elimination match between the ten best students of this year! Our first student is George Heenling, enchanter and wardsmith. Last round he heroically provided defense for another competitor while locked in battle…”
Everyone was led out and announced. I thought that I was going to be sick when it was my turn, and I barely heard what the announcer was saying—something about a rising star of divination. I did, however, notice that it wasn’t the king who was making the announcements. He was probably too dignified to do that with the nobility watching. I could see his box though, above the crowd, with tinted glass windows.
I was so nervous and distracted that when the announcer shouted “Go!” and blew a whistle, I almost didn’t react in time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Final Round
Both of the force mage twins had been building a spell while I was distracted. They’d been working together, too, which I hadn’t even known was possible. But as soon as the whistle sounded, an explosion of force ripped across the field. Osheen took to the skies on his phoenix wings. I activated the luck armor that I’d inherited from Aldvarri and leapt back, but even with the charm spell protecting me, I was still hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me. When I climbed to my feet, I surveyed the battle.
Osheen, Theo, the force twins, and the earth Sorcerer had gotten caught in an all-out fight. The twins had thrown a force dome over themselves and were releasing rapid-fire force bolts at everyone else. Theo was hammering the dome with ice, and Osheen was using his cyclical flame orbs at it. The Chantal was sinking underground, presumably trying to burrow under it. I was surprised the ground went that deep, but I supposed that it had to since one of the combatants used earth as a weapon.
The Druid with the pegasus had flown upwards and was high overhead. He was presumably waiting for the fighting to die down. That way he could attack the wounded leftovers. Not a bad plan.
The wind Sorcerer that the Druid had worked with in the last round and Jerimiah were both gone, having been caught in the massive blast, but George had a force armor up. It had to be an artifact because it was still running. He’d drawn his foci Saber as well and was looking around, deciding if he should go after me, join the battle, or try to avoid both.
I could help Osheen and Theo if I used my consumer glove to rip the stabilizing lines on the force dome. I’d be able to get there too if I used a charge of my assassin’s cloak.
But George was standing in my way, and I’d already activated my luck armor. I drew the saber at my hip and walked toward him. He met my gaze levelly, which surprised me. I’d expected a sneer.
“Do you even know how to fence?” he asked. It was condescending, but there was also a hint of genuine curiosity in his tone this time.
“Yes,” I responded. He raised his other hand. It had the ring that he’d almost used on me in the forest, so long ago.
“Dolor,” he commanded, and red light shot out of the ring.
But I hadn’t been idle while he aimed his spell. I’d drawn my own saber and activated it with a trickle of my Aura. Instantly, the saber changed from an unfamiliar weight in my hands to the most natural thing I’d ever felt. I danced out of the way of the blast, aided by my luck armor, then moved in and swept the saber at George.
He blocked, and I twisted my hand, coming around from the other side with a half sweep. He took it on his force armor and then lit his blade up with flame and shot it at me. I leapt out of the way, and he fired again, using the range to keep me at bay while my own armor wore out.
I knew that, instinctively, as if it was coming from the sword. And I knew what to do with the tools I had. It wasn’t as if I was possessed. Rather, it was as if I’d spent my whole life studying duels.
I used a chunk of my Aura to activate my consumer glove and cut out the stabilizing lines on his force armor artifact. It’d be fine the next time it was cast, but for now, it’d drain the store of power far faster. I had to accept a small burn on my leg to do it, but that was an acceptable trade.
Then I used my spare hand to draw my knife. I’d been warned off dual wielding when I’d asked, but that was due to a lack of skill, and I now had that in abundance. I moved in slowly, waiting for his armor to vanish. The trouble was, whatever artifact was providing him with the armor had way more Aura than I’d expected. It had to be Journeyman work, at least.
I used my flash spell anyway. He knew it was coming, though, and he’d closed his eyes, trusting his force armor to save him. It was the smart thing to do. But while his eyes were closed, I was able to close the distance and hammer his armor with a wide stroke.
Then my luck armor faded. I was going to struggle to beat him without something, so I tapped into my assassin’s cloak as I parried his counterstroke. I’d hoped to save it until the end, but…I had to do what I had to do.
When I vanished, George sucked in a surprised breath. He drew a wand and released a wave of force at me. Not a bad idea, but I was able to drop the saber and roll under it, then scoop the saber back up again.
George slowly turned and rotated, looking for something that would give me away, but he didn’t know that my veil was as good as his own armor.
My veil had one advantage, though. It wasn’t gushing Aura. I tapped at him with the saber a few times, to drain the power of the armor, and I dodged and ducked his occasional sweeping attack, but I could already feel the saber starting to feel heavy in my hand, unfamiliar.
Then his armor finally, blessedly, broke. I lunged in and swept my blade at him, but he got lucky and shifted just enough that I had to change my swing. The edge grazed his back, drawing some blood, but the blow wasn’t enough to eliminate him.
He spun and slashed at me, and I parried, but it didn’t have even a tenth of the speed and skill that it had when the enchantment was active. The sword was knocked out of my hands and fell into the grass, promptly becoming visible.
Since he already knew about where I was, I powered another flash spell. It caught him off guard this time, with him not being able to see the visual cue of me aiming my knife. I used the disorientation to stab at his chest, and he vanished into the ground, much like I had when Sarai’s mother had pulled me out for my first round ‘death’.
The Druid, high above, had decided that I was going to make excellent prey. A winged snake dropped down from high above, and Oracle sent me a strange sensation.
Tasty but dangerous. He knew these creatures. He’d preyed on the weaker members of their species back in the Fae Sovereignties, but as they grew up, they got bigger and stronger until they were exceptionally powerful. This one was just big enough to be a challenge.
So I summoned him. It would drain my Aura, but if it kept the Druid occupied while I went to help Osheen, that would be worth it. I let Oracle have his fun and turned to examine the Sorcerer battle.
The situation had changed, but not in the way I’d expected. I’d half-expected Osheen and Theo to have cracked open the dome already, but Theo had been forced to retreat. One of his arms looked like it had been broken, and he was building his spells and directing them with only one hand. From the lack of disturbances in the ground, I was fairly sure that the Chantal earth Sorcerer had been eliminated entirely. Osheen had partially turned to deal with a sylph that was attacking him with blasts of air and was spending half his attention on the dome, half on the sylph. Whoever that Druid was, they were smart and clever. I had to respect them for that.
I couldn’t reach across the field to break the stabilizing lines in the twin’s force dome, and I didn’t have enough time left on my cloak to get there. If I used my second charge of the cloak, I could get there easily, but I’d have to hope that Osheen and Theo could eliminate the twins in under three minutes. It wasn’t as bad of a bet as it may have seemed. Three minutes was a lot of time in combat.
And if I didn’t use the second charge, the Druid would be able to see me, and he may redirect his sylph to attack, and that wouldn’t help anyone.
I sighed and used the second charge of my assassin’s cloak, then crossed the arena. I had to move carefully since I had to dodge the occasional blast or bolt of magic as I got closer. Once I was close to the dome, I powered my consumer glove and cut through the stabilizing lines, but my vision began to fuzz at the edges once that was done. I was almost out of Aura. I half-wished I’d taken the potion, regardless of Osheen’s warning, but I trusted him. I called out to Oracle, who was still locked in combat with the winged serpent, and called him back to stop the drain on my Aura.
The twins noticed the extra drain on their power immediately and rapidly started a whispered conversation. They started to build the spell for a second force dome, that way they could drop the one they were holding, but in order to do that, they had to stop pelting Theo and Osheen with force bolts. And with their way open, they attacked.
Theo drew back his hand and rapidly built a spell—the same massive one that he’d attacked the ward with in the first round if my guess was correct. Osheen turned his full attention on the sylph, and he caught her with a massive orb of flame to the chest. The Druid then recalled her, and she streamed back to him in a streak of cyan Aura. Osheen focused on the dome as well and built his own spell.
Then both he and Theo cut loose at the same time. Fire and ice exploded across the dome. It rushed around it, surrounding it, rushing up over my own body as well. Then I was in darkness before emerging in the box overlooking the arena, alongside everyone else who’d been eliminated. Sarai’s mother was there, as was the King.
But it wasn’t the king. It looked like the king, but I could see his Aura. There were only three stars there. The scepter and the crown were both gone, too.
Something was wrong. I felt a twist in my gut and turned to Archmage Chantal.
“I was so nervous this morning that I haven’t gone to the restroom. May I go now?”
She snorted. “At least you didn’t piss yourself in a fight. Lotta new fighters do that. Sure, kid, go ahead.”
It may have been the most obvious and well-trodden trick to get out of a place, but some things are common because they work.
I headed out, and as a pleasantly plump older lady dressed in silks and pearls passed me on the stairwell, I asked her the question I’d been dreading. “Do you know when the Equinox is?”
“Why that’s today, dear,” she said with a smile, then patted my arm. “You did very well for a commoner. Why, I’d love to chat with you for a bit. My family would be very interested in meeting you.”
“I’m honored, ma’am, but you caught me right as I was on my way to the restroom. Perhaps later?”
