Chapter 10

The Sorcerer's Knight

Cedric’s heart raced much faster than he anticipated. Before he could unsheathe his sword, a set of icicles cast by Nora were already on their way. Cedric stumbled to dodge, figuring there was no way his flimsy wooden shield could hold them off. Trying to pull his sword out at the same time, he tripped to the floor—inadvertently allowing the frozen projectiles to fly over him but also earning a distant laugh from Nora.

Lucy, meanwhile, handled the situation by casting a barrier in front of herself to intercept them. A couple icicles missed her altogether, but two others connected, and Lucy winced as they shattered violently against her magic.

She should have cast a barrier for Cedric too, she realized, seeing him get back up in the corner of her eye. But then another figure’s movement caught her focus from downrange, and she realized too late that her loss of focus in the battle at hand was a much bigger mistake.

It was Nora’s knight, Dominic. He had advanced upon them during their muddied defense. He ran fast at them, short-sword in hand, and shield abandoned to give himself a faster step. In a few more seconds, he would reach them, and he had Lucy right in his sights.

There was no time to cast an offensive spell, so Lucy cast a wide barrier with the intent to shove it right into him. As soon as the barrier appeared, though, Dominic pivoted his direction and raised his sword. He was going for Cedric now.

Cedric saw the attack coming, and instinctively raised his sword to meet it—a foolish decision as he soon realized. The first swing from Dominic hammered Cedric’s sword downward, out of his grasp, and the second swing cut upwards and slashed his chest.

It was an odd sensation. As Cedric anticipated, Dominic’s blade didn’t pierce his body. Instead, it scratched against a barrier that layered his body as a result of the charm the referees had cast. It still hurt, though. More than he expected. Like he had been whacked with a blunt rod rather than slashed with a sword.

A sound like shattering glass erupted amidst Dominic’s attack, and Cedric disappeared from the arena—looking as if he had exploded into shards of light. It didn’t worry anyone except Lucy, however, as he reappeared in a spectator’s box at the outside edge of the arena.

Cedric stumbled backwards, disoriented, even though he knew what had happened. It was another function of the tournament’s charm. Dominic’s attack was powerful enough that it was considered a lethal blow, so the charm had teleported Cedric out of play. He had been defeated so quickly, and now all he could do was watch from the bench as Dominic advanced on Lucy.

Frightened from seeing Cedric get taken out so effortlessly, Lucy tried to ready herself. Her opponent dashed left, trying to get around the barrier she had cast. Lucy moved it accordingly, keeping it between them. In a moment she would throw the barrier out towards him. It wouldn’t be enough to shatter him from the arena, but it might give her enough time for a follow up attack-

CRASH!

Lucy heard the familiar sound of ice shattering, this time accompanied by an abrupt pain on her left side. She had been hit by one of Nora’s icicles. The impact from the attack swept Lucy off of her feet.

Glancing towards Nora’s direction, Lucy had just enough time to see the second icicle before it smashed into her face. The icicle shattered Lucy, and she reappeared in the sideline box, falling to its floor alongside Cedric.

“Assaut rapide, six points,” one of the refs announced. To his left stood Nora’s scoreboard, which—like Lucy’s to his right—had three rows of nine crystals embedded into them. After his announcement, though, the first six crystals in the first row of Nora’s illuminated with light.

Cedric grit his teeth. Assaut rapide. It was one of the grades that determined how many points a team received for winning a round. The standard was five points, but Nora and Dominic had taken them out so quickly that they were awarded a extra point.

“Let’s cast the charm,” Cedric said, looking over to Lucy.

“Huh? Oh, right…” she replied, dazed. As she picked herself up off the floor, she noticed her breath was uneasy, and her legs shook—almost causing her to stumble. Finally getting up, she brought her staff up to cast the charm as she had done many times before, but this time when she closed her eyes to focus, her mind was met with the image of Nora’s ice crashing into her face.

“Lucy?” Cedric asked.

“It’s nothing,” she replied, setting herself up for another attempt. Again, she closed her eyes and focused on the spell process, and this time the image of Nora hitting her with a barrage of icicles flashed in her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Cedric asked, worried.

Lucy didn’t answer as she continued with another attempt. She put everything she had into this one, but her mind became distracted with another harrowing image of Nora’s ice. Suddenly, the spell-cast rebounded violently, and Lucy found herself being thrown across the sideline.

“Lucy!” Cedric rushed over to her.

The girl sat herself up, her breathing was erratic.

“I *hic* can’t cast it!” she choked out.

“Looks like we won’t have to worry about her protection charm after all,” Nora said, looking over towards Lucy from her team’s own dugout.

CHING!

The sound of Nora completing her own charm resounded around them.

“Ah, that’s better,” Nora let out a satisfied huff. “The first round always feels strange—not being allowed to use charms and all. Though I wonder if I’ll even need them for this match. After all, they’re meant for ones where the rounds last longer than ten seconds. What do you think, Rosseau?”

At the corner of their team’s sideline, Rosseau sat quietly—only there because he was required to. He didn’t answer his new leader, though. He didn’t even look her way.

“It was quite the shock when that magicless’s name was called from the list. You always were clever—even when we were kids.”

Rosseau sat still, continuing to ignore the rotten girl beside him.

“Fine, continue brooding if that’s what you want. You’ll get over it—as soon as that peasant loses and is expelled.”

Rosseau’s eyes suddenly went wide and he had no choice but to jerk his gaze towards Nora. “Expelled?” He asked. His voice trembled.

Suddenly, two circles etched into the ground began to glow before Nora and Dominic, who took their positions inside them. Pillars of light began to bubble upwards from each of the circles, slowly surrounding the two of them.

“She didn’t tell you such an important thing? She told him.”

Rosseau looked at Nora in disbelief, until the perimeter of light hid her from view. He then looked over to Lucy and Cedric’s box—catching a brief glimpse of Lucy looking back at him before she became hidden by her own light as well.

Once everyone was covered, four other pillars of light sprouted from the crimson circles within the arena. Then, suddenly, every one of them shined intensely before disappearing in an instant. Both teams were now in their original arena positions. The second round was about to begin.

Cedric watched Nora intently. Unlike before, the ref wouldn’t be signaling the beginning of the round anymore. Nora’s team won the previous round, so the current one wouldn’t begin until she or Dominic made a move, or until twenty-five seconds had elapsed without them doing anything. Without hesitation, though, Dominic charged forth, and the second round had begun.

Cedric took as appropriate a battle stance as he could figure and glanced at Lucy. To his dismay, she was visibly frightened. Her failure to cast the protection charm may have left them wide open, but Cedric’s biggest fear was that it had also devastated Lucy’s spirit. And, unfortunately, the fear in her eyes all but confirmed his worries. He had to do something.

Recognizing that hesitation would be their greatest enemy, Cedric ran in front of Lucy and brandished his shield forward—prepared to intercept Dominic who was already halfway towards them. Looking beyond his immediate opponent, Cedric could see Nora already prepared with an arsenal of icicles hovering around her. She hadn’t sent any out yet, but she surely would once his clash with Dominic began.

“Don’t worry about the protection charm,” Cedric said, keeping his gaze forward. “There’s more to your abilities than just that.”

Lucy stared at Cedric, bewildered by the vulnerable positions he had taken before her. As she looked closer, though, she could tell his legs were shaking. He was nervous, too.

Lucy didn’t have any more time to dwell on Cedric’s actions, though, as Dominic finally reached him.

Cedric braced himself, doing his best to watch Dominic and Nora carefully. He had to think, to calculate. How does a sword-fight work? More importantly, how does a sword-fight with spells supporting your opponent work?

He had a guess at what Dominic and Nora’s strategy entailed, but he would prefer an absolute answer.

Raising his sword, Dominic went in for a strike. Cedric stepped back, ignoring the opportunity to meet Dominic’s sword with his shield—and when his opponent followed his swing through with a low crouch, Cedric knew his guess had been right.

As Dominic crouched, he revealed behind him a set of rapidly approaching icicles sent by Nora. Cedric appreciated the coordination such a tactic must have taken. Nothing Nora did suggested she’d thrown any them, and Dominic’s near miss of them himself demonstrated how perfectly timed the attack was.

Knowing his shield couldn’t handle a direct hit from the attack, Cedric tilted it at an upward angle and swatted at the ice. The shockwave and sound of them bouncing off the shield’s hardwood gave him a jolt, but he was glad his inexperienced deflection of them had worked.

He couldn’t dwell on his cleverness for long, though. Dominic was already stepping forward with clear intent to slash upwards at him. Cedric wouldn’t be done-in with the same attack as last time, though.

Liking the result of his last tactic, Cedric stepped back again and let the swing miss him. If he could, he’d do this forever, but he knew he had to retaliate at some point, and that was the part he had zero confidence in. The short sword weighed heavy in his grasp, and the strength required to deal a lethal swing was compounded by the complete lack of muscle in his body. It wasn’t a surprise, but it was irritating. He was a reader, and his body wasn’t trained for combat.

Seeing Dominic go in for a horizontal swing, Cedric stepped back again. He was caught by surprise, though, as his opponent didn’t follow through with the swing, but instead made a quick step forward at him. A feint, Cedric realized. He had heard about them before, but it was a completely different experience seeing it happen before his eyes—more so being on the receiving end of it.

With nowhere to run, Cedric brought his shield up, absorbing a strong, rightward slash from Dominic’s sword. The force from the hit made Cedric’s shield-arm swing outwards, exposing his body for a follow up that he now realized Dominic had purposefully set up.

Exposed and having no time to intercept with his sword, Cedric waited for the next strike that would spell his defeat. Suddenly, however, a large piece of wood with a crystal embedded into its head extended forth from behind Cedric and smashed itself right into Dominic’s face.

“Get away from him!” A familiar voice yelled from behind Cedric.

The voice was familiar, but the tone wasn’t. Still, Cedric didn’t need to wonder who was responsible for saving him. It was Lucy—who came into his peripheral view with a mightily pissed off expression.

The attack shattered Dominic from head to toe, eliminating him from the fight with an explosive sound.

“RAHHHHH!” Lucy shouted victoriously, lightly scaring an unassuming Cedric.

Suddenly he felt a wind manifest around them, and he watched in awe as Lucy proceeded to shoot out a sizeable fireball from the end of her staff towards Nora.

“LET’S GO!” Lucy ordered at Cedric before charging towards the opposite end of the arena.

Cedric complied and charged along with her—afraid of what the repercussion might be if he didn’t. “Why are you yelling!?” he asked, trying to make sense of her confusing manner.

Lucy glanced briefly at him but didn’t answer. It felt as if it was the only response he needed to understand, however. Her eyes held shame in them. Shame that she let herself get paralyzed with grief while Cedric, with no combat experience of any kind, didn’t hesitate to throw himself out there to protect her. That was his guess, anyway.

“Duck!” Lucy said, seeing Nora throw another series of icicles towards them.

Both of them dodged the projectiles with ease and continued their advance. Cedric didn’t know if Lucy had a plan upon reaching Nora. In fact, he expected that she didn’t. Still, having them both close in on Nora would put them in a better position to take her out.

Cedric looked carefully at Nora. There was a cool look on her face as she threw another set of icicles at the two. Again, they dodged without trouble. It wasn’t a complex attack. It was almost too easy to dodge. It made Cedric uncomfortable, and the suspicion intrigued him enough to look back behind himself.

He only caught a glimpse of it, before the icicle struck his left shoulder blade. The hit threw him off balance and he tripped onto the floor, his momentum causing him to roll over a few times.

Lucy saw what had happened in the corner of her eye, but it was too late to take action as she felt herself get hit with an icicle from behind as well.

Lucy fell to the floor as well, a trail of dust puffing in the wake of her impact.

Neither of them had been shattered from the attack, but they each had enough time to look up and see another set of icicles thrust into their chests.

The explosive sound of magic encompassed them, and their view from inside the arena changed in a blink to that of their sideline view. They had both been shattered, and Nora had earned another round for herself.

“Assaut norme. Five points, Straughtvern.”

Nora’s scoreboard changed to reflect her total of eleven points. She looked at it, satisfied, while Lucy and Cedric viewed it with grim eyes.

“Defense Aut. Two points, Hardtvelt.”

“Huh?” Lucy said, watching in confusion as her own scoreboard changed to reflect an amount of two points in her name.

“It’s for taking out Dominic. Even if you fail to take out the Lead Sorcerer, you can earn a couple points by taking out their Knight.”

“Oh? I didn’t know it counted if I was the one to take them out. I always thought it had to be Ross- erm the other Knight,” Lucy said, shyly looking away. Why did she hesitate to say Rosseau’s name?

Cedric noticed her fumbled words but chose to ignore it. Nothing useful would come from digging into it. Right now, what they needed was to focus on the match.

“Do you think you can cast the charm now,” Cedric asked, hoping he didn’t sound too insistent.

“All I can do is try,” she answered, forcing a smile that Cedric saw through immediately.

Holding up her staff, Lucy closed her eyes to try the cast the charm. Unfortunately, her doubts from before began to show up again. Doubt in her ability to cast the charm. Doubt that she could to win the match. Even the inspiration she received after seeing Cedric try his hardest didn’t help her here. She wanted to succeed…wanted to prove that she belonged at Greidwhen. But when she thought about all the obstacles she was facing, it seemed impossible.

Then, Lucy felt a gentle touch on her hands.

She opened her eyes and saw Cedric. He stood much closer to her than before, and looking down, she noticed that he had placed his hands carefully on top of hers.

“I…know I’m not very good at this,” Cedric said. “The odds of you winning with me at your side are a far throw from winning with Rosseau. I know that. But…I also know that none of that changes what you are capable of. I’ve seen you cast the charm hundreds of times before…I know you can cast it here.”

Lucy looked into Cedric’s eyes. She was at a loss for words, but her heart felt warm.

“It wasn’t hundreds of times,” Lucy whispered, looking away bashfully.

“Perhaps. But I thought it made the speech sound better,” Cedric said bluntly.

Lucy let out a laugh, wiping away the tear she thought was in her eye. She smiled at Cedric and closed her eyes for another attempt, focusing on the comforting pressure of his hands on top of hers.

The wind around them surged. And almost as quickly as it had come, it left—leaving behind a pair of glowing rings around the two kids.

“Perfect. Now let’s go show Nora what you can really do.”