War mage crystals of mem.., p.8
War Mage (Crystals of Memory Book 4), page 8
There was a somber air for a moment, until Javina giggled.
“I highly doubt that I’ll be called to repel any enemies, any time soon.”
Which was true.
Enough so that Anders winked at her, getting a soft blush in return. At least he thought he saw that happening. Her dusky skin hid much of that kind of thing.
“I know. Still, the point isn’t to get you ready to fight Yansians. It’s more about making sure you can, in some years or decades, handle what may come. Plus, if you don’t learn fast enough, Lissa Sona will beat you with a stick.”
The words got the girl to nod then, and smile.
“That is my task, as I understand it. I’m to meet with Queen Maura, to instruct her in magic, later?”
Everyone looked at her, as if that wasn’t a real thing, even if it had been spoken of, the day before. It probably wasn’t, in a true fashion. That hadn’t been his point at all, so it didn’t really matter.
“Yes. No stick, of course. We need you to befriend her and to heed her council. Not that you shouldn’t teach her if she has a will to learn. Even a few things might be useful to her, after all. Don’t shy from engaging her in discussion, however. Now, with Jeld and perhaps some others, you’ll need that stick...”
That got a nod from the girl, as if it only made sense for her to teach strange men fearsome tasks. Then, she’d done it before, so it fit, after a fashion.
Her older sister, Salina, sighed then.
“Lissa will be in the top ten inside five years, if she keeps that kind of thing up. She’s already higher than me in the rankings, even. Not that you didn’t earn it, Lis.”
As they walked, Anders shifted his clothing, to a decently nice outfit, with bright, if slightly ugly, blue, green and purple stripes, in shining colors. He looked like an entertainer, instead of a fine noble, but that was on purpose. After all, he wasn’t supposed to look good. Just not poor. Daren did that as well, as, one by one, the foreign Princesses did the same.
Daren ducked his head.
“Master Tolan? I could see, if you wish, to your clothing?”
Instead of seeming put out, the older man beamed at the younger.
“That would be most welcome, Master Daren. Thank you.”
He ended up in a rather dapper and wealthy seeming mid-tones blue outfit with soft slippers in rather gaudy silver. It was dressier than what either of the other men there had on, but fit his station as the castle Wizard.
Javina moved in and waved a bit at Mathia, smiling. They didn’t exchange words, but the other girl was in a soft pink dress that was in a very good, fancy, Istlan style.
The princess clapped her hands, if gently.
“This is lovely! Thank you, Princess Javina.”
It was, thus arrayed in finery, of various levels, they entered into, not the high hall, but the room where the King and his family normally took their morning meal together. It was a pleasant space, with fine hangings on the walls, but not too vast seeming. It easily fit twenty people at the nice wooden table, with its padded matching chairs.
Everyone there stood, in greeting, including King Mathias, his wife, Princess Aisla and Prince Robarts. Several important people were missing from the space, though Sulana Meegan was there, smiling. At Daren, in particular.
Several of them were, in fact.
The King waved to the seat to the left of Prince Robarts.
“Prince Daren, if you would join us? The rest of you, as well, of course.”
The man, a boy in many ways, blushed at being called a Prince. Before he could stammer a refusal or become frightened by the new promotion, Princess Aisla spoke.
“We didn’t tell you, but you were named a Prince of Barquea. This comes with duties, as well as privileges. You are, also, the lowest of all of us, including Leopold, but you have full right to use the title and might be called on, to perform tasks as befitting a Prince. You rather impressed my father, the Sula, with your aid, given in time of war.”
Anders, still standing, bowed, going low, but still using first courtly. That got everyone else, including King Mathias, to do something similar.
Daren froze for a moment, then took a deep breath.
“I don’t understand?”
Anders could see that one.
“Sula Darian claimed you as a Prince of Barquea. This is a real thing, and a good promotion for you. It won’t mean much here, of course, so you have to help me make sure those rooms are tidy later, but you won’t be paid for it, so it will balance out. That’s one of the duties befitting a Prince, I think. It really won’t mean much, unless you travel back to Barquea and make an effort there, to aid people.”
The room stilled for a moment, with Sulana Meegan scowling at Anders for his words. She didn’t speak though, since Daren relaxed, a lot.
“Ah? That was most kind of him, Sula Darian, then! I can impress women with my new title, do you think?” He blushed again, realizing who he was with.
Salina laughed at the words. Then she spoke in a tone that wasn’t all that unkind.
“Well, it will mean more if you travel back home. I can’t imagine being a Prince of a land on another continent will impress women here that much. Not that you’ll need tricks like that at all. After all, you’re a man of worth, already.”
No one spoke for a time, though several of them nodded.
Anders chuckled, which was a bit force.
“All right now, we should stop needling Prince Daren. For the time being, at least.”
The King winked at him in return.
“Yes, please, sit, everyone. I was informed that many of you need to rush through the meal, having military training after this? I wasn’t thinking to force guests to work at a brutal pace, first thing, myself.”
Princess Lissa, rather informally, smiled at the man.
“I was sent to learn Prince Anders’ methods of teaching, if I can, by my father. I don’t know about learning to fight, but if that’s what we’re told to do, we probably should. I imagine it will be humorous, watching me stand there, not knowing what to do at all.”
Sulana Meegan growled a bit.
“That is not fitting, for a Princess. I must protest!”
She glared, but not at the King, rather over at Anders.
For his part, he nodded.
“I know. It won’t be that much, for the ladies, of course. Not in physical fighting. Prince Erold and Prince Daren will be worked hard and painfully. Along with myself. We’re heading to the front in a few weeks. The ladies need to have enough to protect themselves while they ready magics, however. It’s a bit improper. I hear the Captain Ford is putting his newest guard on it, so, you know, it won’t be taken too seriously. No broken bones or rent flesh, I’m certain. Not on the first day.”
Everyone looked at him, as if he were being very rude, instead of playful. He probably sounded a bit too dour, honestly.
The King nodded, regally, after a moment.
“I think I see. Well, see to propriety? We don’t wish to insult our friends from Barquea.”
Anders sighed then, and made a rather, he hoped, charming face.
“You mean I should stop teasing them all with promises of hard work and hardship?”
Princess Aisla giggled, which was a strained sounding thing, for her.
“You can jest? I wasn’t aware of that at all, Anders.”
Sulana Meegan scowled again and clearly readied to fight, stopping when Anders laughed at the words.
“I know. Clearly, I’m not doing it well. Still, you really do all have to sleep in the woods tonight. We need to practice making magical structures and beds. That and seeing to running water, from the ground. You all learned that, earlier?”
Daren nodded, and so did Lissa. Javina shook her head though.
“I managed two pages and a bit, but have most of the third to do still.” She looked down, as if that were too slow of her to be allowed. That or as if she were going to be shamed for her lack, in public.
“Work on that, after the meal? You have the skills for that. The time, as well.” If they weren’t all going to be practicing combat skills all afternoon.
Anders still wanted them to learn such things, at least a little, but working on magic for that was fine as well. He didn’t want to insult the Sulana. Mainly because she was, in a strange and harsh fashion, his grandmother. Then, so was Queen Maura. That last one was even true, as far as blood went.
Then, thankfully, they were allowed to change the topic, with Aisla and Meegan going over what would be expected of Daren now, as a Prince. It truly wasn’t that much.
Princess Aisla smiled about it, though.
“Given you are here, in the lands of our friends, you will need to stand ready for ceremonial efforts, from time to time. Attending functions as King Mathias requests, as well as seeing to your studies in magic and giving aid, as to your skills.”
Salina chimed in then, her face pleasant. For her.
“We all have to learn magic, if we have the skill. Truly, you have enough already to make Father happy. You should keep working on that however, if you plan to climb the ranks and become Sula, some day. That will take a lot of great works, and daily effort, but it’s happened before, I think. I can’t see making the effort, myself. I couldn’t at least. Now I’m in the second ten, which I never figured would happen.”
King Mathias smiled at the pretty Princess.
“That’s still a bit confusing to me. You say that Prince Daren, or Prince Anders could, possibly, raise themselves in importance there?”
Sulana Meegan bent her neck for a moment, almost in a bow.
“Indeed, King Mathias. Truly, being hard working and seeking to aid others will have both of these men doing so, over time. Even if they don’t seek the throne. Even here, at a remove from our home, Prince Anders has continued to train others in magic. If they receive notice for learning such, which they all will, then I have to imagine teaching will gain even greater placement.”
Princess Jasmin, who was next to Meegan, sighed.
“I should see to those lessons, myself. I’m to marry, but it’s a shame to drop such things, after coming so far.” She looked at Anders, a bit shyly. “Not that teaching us will aid Anders that much. He’s already in the top ten. We should find people for Prince Daren to teach. That will make a much bigger difference there.”
No one commented on that idea, but it wasn’t a poor one at all. If they ever had enough people to teach, that was.
Chapter six
“Ooof!”
The exhalation was followed by a bone shuddering thump, and a pain in both of Anders’ knees as he was forced to the ground. Straight down, not knocked back or even pulled onto his face. Even in a haze of pain, he rolled, moving to the right, which meant he was slapped on the back by the side of a wooden practice blade. That didn’t get him out of moving, so he kept going, being hit several times as he traveled.
The man doing the instruction for the day grunted.
Then smiled. Happily.
“Good, Anders! You kept going. Can you stand and turn back to the fight, do you think?” His voice was mild and even friendly sounding, considering Anders was almost ready to cry, from the humiliation and raw pain that had been caused.
Still, he turned, and instead of losing his cool and attacking back without control, he took a shaking breath and then forced his mind into a point of total focus. He didn’t cheat, using magic, exactly, but he had to allow that he might have been picking up a bit more about what the man in front of him intended than he would have otherwise understood.
What he found there was...
Not much at all. The new castle Guard, Alder Cohen, was simply focused on the lesson of the moment. Not in making him look bad or even harming him. Really, the man didn’t even care if he were the one looking bad. To his mind, he’d put the new student, a mere boy, in an almost impossible situation. Sword against knife, a boy against an adult fighter. Then, instead of calling foul or whining about the pain, the child kept coming back at him, ignoring the blows that came as if they were nothing.
He was, in fact, impressed.
Which meant he moved faster as Anders moved in, delivering a pulled pommel blow directly to the tip of Anders’ chin. The move had set tears to flowing, so he forced a smile, at the same time, to show he wasn’t beaten. Then he muttered, just a bit.
“Andersana insana fen.” The words, with a bit of energy, took all the pain away, almost instantly. It meant he was able to go on, eventually hitting the other man with his knife, five times.
While dying over and over, if he were going up against a man on the battlefield.
Standing back, not clutching himself in the places he’d been stabbed, Cohen started to nod.
“I truly didn’t get it at first. Captain Ford said that you men were off to the front in two weeks... I couldn’t see the reason to send those so youthful, until now. If I had ten men this strong, I could fight an army. Are you all this tough?”
Daren shook his head, signaling that it wasn’t the truth, but Anders nodded.
“Yes. I had to cheat a bit, using magic, at the end there, when you landed that pommel to my face? Daren can do that, too. Erold is a better fighter than either of us, but not as used to meditation or magic, yet. He’s training for it.”
The guard simply looked interested.
“You can do that for him, with magic? While we work, I mean? While we keep moving?”
“I think so?”
“Very well then. You first then, Daren. Sword against sword.”
That went better, though Daren, new to the ways of war, even compared to Anders, wasn’t as good. He knew which part of the blade to hold, and how to move it properly, and if he was a bit slow, it wasn’t as bad as Anders had just done that way.
He also didn’t quit, just because he was hit a few times. He did call out a few times, grinning into the pain. Finally, he used a spell to dampen that for himself, as well.
Then Erold got to go. He really was better, as far as skill went. Spurred on by Daren, he didn’t give in to the discomfort, either. When the large, rather powerfully built, man in gray finished the beating, he moved to put the practice weapons away, taking them from them, without even spinning to attack, as soon as they were disarmed.
Then Guard Cohen grinned. It was a pleased thing, that spoke of comradery and fellow feeling.
“Here I’d thought the point was to give me the drudgery, being the new man, but you’re all fine for this. Oh, some sharpening and conditioning is needed, but any of you could stand as a man at arms, at this very moment, on a field of battle. Now, you all have magic, too? Healing?”
It made sense to think that, given what they’d done.
Anders smiled back.
“War magics, healing, wizardry, magician’s skills, some illusion. Repairing and building roads and shelters, as well.”
The man tilted his head then, and rubbed at his slightly hairy chin.
“Show me what you can do that way? In combat. What’s safe for that?”
Anders waved at Daren then.
“No explosions. Try not to kill. Against me.”
They moved to the middle of the practice space, and started fighting, fast, each of them rolling spells off and using hand motions to create various affects. Daren shot a thin line of fire through the air, after a moment, which Anders blocked, using his left hand, then returned with a blast of water, from the air itself, and a wave of cold from his right hand, nearly at the same time. That, the water, landed, coming from above.
“Gah, cold!” Daren moved to the side, almost dancing, and continued, throwing lightning, fire again and returned with an illusion of one of the other guards moving in and trying to jump Anders. He smiled at that.
A monster would be obvious, but the man in gray had actually seemed to be standing back and waiting, for some time. Meaning Daren had planned the move out, without Anders picking up on that at all.
“Clever!”
He answered by schooling his mind, becoming boring on a grand level, and adding power to it. Vanishing from sight. More clearly, disappearing from the ability of anyone watching to be bothered noticing him. Then he walked around behind Daren and pushed him, using magic. It was a simple palm thrust, done from four paces away.
“Bah!” The other man went flying, because the move had been unexpected. Even as he’d turned and searched for Anders, having seen the trick before. “You always get me with that one, Anders.”
There was a rather interested nod from Cohen, then.
“That’s advanced. I didn’t know that Istlan had any mages who could do that kind of thing, to be honest. Back home, in Yanse, while it was still my home, I mean, we had a few who could have stood with you here, in this. I think. Not many though. I have to believe that none of them would last long, if you can do that and stab them with a blade, at the same time?”
Erold simply nodded, looking away a bit. Anders didn’t get that, and wondered if he was worried over the man having come from Yanse. They were at war, but it was clearly not being hidden, at the moment. When the Prince spoke, the reason was different.
“I just started learning magic, today. I know... Seven different things?”
Anders took over then, running to the weapons rack.
“Erold, shield!” He waited for the boy to put that up, and checked to make certain it was being powered well enough with magic, then threw several blades his way. Wooden ones, but they bounced to the stones of the practice square.
Then he used fire, for ten seconds, making a flower of flame in the air where it hit the invisible shield.
“Knock this from the air, with a push!” That had a blade tossed, gently, past him. It flew away, with some power.
“Douse the flame!”
That one was harder and took some time, because Anders actually generated a globe of white-hot energy in front of him and tried to keep it going, making Erold work to shut it down.
“Light!”
The boy gestured then, and laughed, slightly, making a glow over his fingers. It was bright enough to find a path, in the woods, but probably not read by.
