The sun had now set and the half moon was peeking through the clouds when Adrex started on his way back to his dorm. He had not managed to come to any real conclusion as to what happened, but he did promise himself he would find out what it was. The others had all gone to their beds so Adrex had to silently sneak into his room. He made it a few steps inside the main room when he was confronted by someone holding a candle.
Adrex blinked his eyes until they adjusted to the bright light in front of him, until he could make out the person holding it. “Your highness,” He whispered, bowing, remembering to keep his voice down so as to not wake the others.
“Adrex, right?” She asked.
“Um, yes, what are you doing up?” He responded.
“I’m not used to these types of surroundings, so I found it hard to sleep.” She said quietly. “I also noticed you hadn’t returned, and I heard you approaching.”
“Oh, ah, thanks.” Adrex said, blushing and rubbing the back of his head. “Anyway, I’m heading to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He added, as he started to walk past her.
“Why did you walk off after the testing?” Nora asked, causing Adrex to stop mid-step, “if you don’t mind answering,” she added.
Adrex’s shoulders slumped, and he let out a sigh, looking up to see the Princess Royal pointing towards a wooden bench to sit down on. He followed her over and sat down as she placed the candle on one of the arms of the couch as gracefully set herself down. She then turned to Adrex, and gestured. “Well, ah, it’s hard to say,” He looked down at his hands as he started to try and find the words to explain what was going through his mind. He looked up and saw her waiting patiently in the low flickering light, swallowed hard then started again.
“It was the fear and anger I saw after my trial. Going in I was scared, everybody was, we had no idea what the testing was like, and the worry of not passing the test and failing was already there,” he said the words starting to quickly flow out of his mouth like a river. “Then to get the colour that I wanted, there was excitement, then the parchment started to change, and I saw the Grand Meister look scared at what was happening. I didn’t know how to react, I still don’t.” The words now running away from him, “to see your idol looking at you as if you were a Demon.”
Nora rested one hand on his, his breath caught in his throat and he looked up at her again. “Relax, you’ll wake the others.” She said slowly and calmly. “You were given a fright, but from what I heard from your fellow wards here, your friends were concerned for you. They could have helped.” She said.
Adrex took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, then asked, “What about you, your highness?”
Nora withdrew her hand and looked down. “Unless that is too personal?” He added.
“No, not that, I knew this was coming,” Nora responded, “Father wants me to gain some worldly perspective before I become a Lady of the court, and of course I have my latent abilities, so father decided that it would be best to gain my experience by learning to become a Magus. My Oldest brother is currently away with the Royal Knights in Vorleen, in the Central Kingdom, and my other older brother is with the Northern Watch.
“Father also wants us to all know what it is like to not be a Royal, to see how others have to live so that we can rule our entire Kingdom, not just the rich and wealthy Lords and ladies.”
The two of them had kept talking as the candle slowly burnt lower, discussing life in the castle from each of their perspectives, classes in mage craft and more, until both of them drifted off on the bench, the light from the candle still flickering as it slowly died out.
-
Adrex slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air; he smelt perfume and saw cloth. He looked around slowly and realised he had fallen asleep on the bench; he tried to move and found his arm trapped in Nora’s arms, she was resting her head on his. They must have slumped together when they fell asleep.
He started to close his eyes again when he heard loud footsteps approaching from the dormitories. He pulled his arm free which woke Nora, who looked around groggily, before slightly pulling away from Adrex, just as Derrik entered the living area. “So, where were you?” Derrik asked very nonchalantly.
“I was just out, thinking.” Adrex said, yawning.
“Oh yeah,” Derrik said grinning wickedly looking between Adrex and Nora.
Adrex would have thrown something at his ward mate if there was anything nearby, “Go make breakfast Derrik.” Adrex said sternly.
“What’s all this commotion?” Livia asked as she entered the room, already dressed to leave and wearing a stern look on her face, armed crossed.
“I just walked in to see the Princess Royal and Adrex waking up together on the bench.” Derrik remarked gleefully.
Adrex looked up at Livia, and then looked away, blushing, and Nora looked as if she wanted to be swallowed by the bench and disappear. The awkward silence grew slightly before Livia spoke up. “Derrik, I’m not sure if mocking the future Queen is a wise move.”
Derrik went bright red, apologised then disappeared into the kitchen. Livia turned to Nora and offered her a hand, “Would you like to get refreshed before we ride out?” She asked.
Nora nodded her head and took the offered hand. Livia just shot Adrex a look that made him feel worse than Derrik’s teasing. As Nora was led away all Adrex could think about was that it was a good thing he would not see either her or Livia for a while.
-
A few hours had passed and Adrex now sat in the saddle of a chestnut horse rocking along as he and Grand Meister Vista started their journey to the battle school. Along with his gear now sitting in two saddlebags he had been given some rations from the castle and a black traveling cloak from the Grand Meister, Black with a red trim.
He rode just off to the side of her and slightly behind as she led the way, having already passed the city travelling north through the city before heading west and travelling down river for a passage.
Already further away from the castle or the city Adrex had ever been he looked back to see the black stone walls and towers starting to fade into the distance, still looking like the top of the mountain it was built from.
“Do you miss it?” Vista asked as Adrex turned back to face the front, only to see the Grand Meister looking at him.
“That's all I have ever known.” Adrex responded.
“It is the same for a lot of the new students, every kingdom is different in how they select their candidates, but every new student experiences some form of missing home.” Vista said warmly, “most people don’t travel outside their own kingdom as it is, so it can be a bit of a shock.”
Adrex had to agree, and without any of his ward mates to talk to he was truly in the unknown for the first time.
“We will travel until the sun is directly above us then stop for a quick meal and rest, then continue on until nightfall,” Vista explained, “we will then travel for another half day along the river before heading north towards the battle school.”
-
Adrex swung out of the saddle, his legs hit the ground and he collapsed onto his back. He went to stand and pain shot through his legs and all he could do was groan and sit up. The Chestnut horse he was riding looked at him and tossed its mane before bending down to eat.
Vista swung down from her black horse and landed gracefully before picking up the reins from both horses and tying them to a tree branch grabbed the saddle bags from both horses then she then walked over and sat down next to Adrex.
“Let me guess, first time riding?” She asked.
Adrex just nodded dumbly, it felt like his thighs were on fire, and he felt like he was almost on the verge of tears. He sniffed trying to hold it back, not wanting to cry in front of the Grand Meister.
The sun was setting, and they were preparing for the night. Or they were supposed to be, Adrex didn’t know how he was going to be able to help when he couldn’t move. Vista pulled her saddle bags in front of her and emptied them. “Well, time for your first lesson about battle Mages and Magae.” She said,
She held her hands up in front of her and several orange glowing symbols formed in front of her, she let out a small breath and the tent equipment moved, seeming to be pulled by invisible strings as it made itself planting the poles into the ground. “That first lesson is that magic is not just for attack or defence, there are simple mundane spells that you can also learn. It is a tool, not just a weapon.” She said as the sleeping mats rolled out.
She helped him onto the mat, before collecting some firewood and placing it down in front of them. Again, symbols appeared, before the wood burst into flame, “these simple spells will be what your starting apprenticeships will be teaching you, only once you understand how to cast spells will you be taught how to advance to attacking and defending with magic.” Vista explained as she started to set up a stand and pot over the fire. “But first, tea, it will help your body recover.”
-
After a meal of heated rations and an herbal tea that Vista brewed, both of them laid down under their cloaks, Vista seemed to drift off quickly, but Adrex couldn’t help but think. Only yesterday he was living in a castle wondering what his future held, and talking to the kingdom’s princess. Today he was camping outside his body aching from riding all day, on his way to learn magic, with none of his friends with him. His mind wandered to them, wondering how they were coping, some of them had even further to travel than he did. He hoped they were okay.
He rolled over and stared at the fire, the flames flickering as it started to burn out, his thoughts drifting away as the hypnotic flickering lulled him to sleep, that and the exhaustion of being in the saddle all day took its toll.
-
Gennel and Livia sat across from their Meister as they chewed on some toasted meats, Suvlin removed his hood as his eyes glowed blue and blue symbols appeared before his outstretched hands. A shimmering appeared in the air surrounding their camp, before the symbols disappeared. Gennel looked curious; Livia had a look of wonder and hope. Suvlin grinned at the two his now dark eyes observing his two new apprentice meisters. “It is a simple spell.” He said in a thick accent, marking him as a man from the southern isles, “designed to be a ward against anything snooping about.”
Livia looked around trying to spot the shimmering ward; Gennel was focused more on the Meister. “Meister, why would you use such a spell?” He asked.
“A defensive Mage or Magus has one responsibility above all else. Protect those in their care, be that an army or a small travelling party. You will learn that the best ways to protect those is trick those snooping and spying into believing you are not there. Only after that should more defensive shield spells be considered.”
Suvlin had Livia’s attention, though that wasn’t hard, she wanted to be a defensive Magus, the type of person who would defend her friends. Gennel was harder; he wanted to be the heroic mage that kids always pictured. “However, there is a third type of defensive magic that we only teach older students, shields and hiding is fine for defence, but sometimes you need to be able to fight back, so we do teach counter and mirror spells.” This caught Gennel’s attention.
Suvlin smiled, he knew it would be a longer night, and a later start tomorrow, but he had both students eager to learn, and that, was worth an hour of sleep.
-
Bo and Inca took their positions on one of the castle ruins looking over the edge of the forest as the patrols started their next round. Bo yawned and laid back on the ruins, arms crossed over his chest, “Damn is it boring tonight, it seems even the wind and animals have gone to sleep early.”
Inca sat down cross legged looking out at her barrier work,” it does seem like a quiet night, maybe we can get a bit of extra rest, unless the captain has his men running drills tonight.”
“Hope not, that just means more work for us. Perhaps we can sneak.” He started before the chiming of bells started.
Inca and Bo were immediately up and running towards the sound of the alarm, triggered by one of the defensive wards Inca had set up. The soldiers had beaten them to the location, having been closer, and had formed-up shields raised. Bo started crafting a fire spell while Inca checked the ward and area around it. “Relax Bo, something clawed at the base of the spell.” She said,
You could see the ward glowing a faint white where the claws brushed against it before digging into the dirt and creating slash marks away from the shield. “Good thing you dug that shield below the dirt, or it might have realised it could dig under, whatever it is.” Bo said.
“The claw marks look canine, maybe a Northern wolf being curious?” One of the guards said as the men eased up.
Inca was just about to speak when another ward went off. The two magic users and the guards took off once more, only to find nothing but the same claw marks. “Quiet night huh?” Bo said.
A shadowy creature stood inside the forest, he could just see the flickering torchlight, and the guard patrol approaching the second site. It crouched down next to a dog-like creature that was panting and drooling, blood red tongue sticking out of pure white fangs. The crouching creature laid a clawed hand on the back of the hound and patted it, the hound creatures’ ears perking up in response. “One more tonight, then let them rest. Try the far edge of the barrier.” The crouching creature hissed and growled.
The hound shook its head, and then took off, melting into the darkness of the forest. The shadowy creature stood, its emerald green eyes focusing on the two mages before it turned and slunk away deeper into the forest.
