CHAPTER 16

The rest of the class went well as we just went over the rules and expectations we were expected to follow while in training under the instructor. Using our magic against another student inside the academy outside of a duel or within sight of a teacher for instructional purposes was expressly forbidden, which left me and Xanile safe from the Markis and their magic.

If it hadn’t been for the other students staring at me and Xanile like we were both going to explode any second, it would have been the most pleasant class I’d had so far.

The bell sounded for lunch and to signal the end of the first portion of the class, “I expect you all to hurry back here for the second class so that we can begin the practical applications portion of the course.”

The students made a collective noise of excitement and made their way to the doors and the mess hall. Both Xanile and I were in the line still to leave when the instructor called, “Cadets Doranda and Thorn? You stay.”

We both glanced at each other and then turned back to trudge wearily back to her desk where she was writing on a slate that she then set aside so she could pay attention to us. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken the liberty of ordering your lunch to be delivered here with my own. There is much we need to discuss for the two of you.”

The two of us just remained silent as she watched us and she sighed, “I’m not going to hurt either of you, I just want to talk.”

“Neither of us thought you were going to hurt us, but now that the statement is out there, what is it that you want from us?” Xanile’s voice was calm but I knew that she was worried.

“I want to ensure that the two of you have what it is that you need in order to flourish as practitioners.” Instructor Lialarn stared at both of us. “I can only imagine that you both understand how powerful your talents are? With the right kind of training and practice, you could be as strong as me one day. Maybe even stronger.”

As if to prove her point, or to get us to trust her, she closed her eyes and sighed. As soon as she took a breath in, her skin began to turn a mottled shade of purple and grey that I had never expected, there was not rhyme or reason to her markings, they were just there and they were deep enough a color that it was almost hard to separate the color from her skin color.

She opened her eyes and stared at Xanile, “We are much the same, you two and I. All I want is to have two of the most powerful students I’ve seen come through their first year prepared and to go on to become successful.”

“How?” I asked with my hands folded in my lap.

She turned her gaze on me now, “I mean to give you permission to go into the training forest early with me to go on an expedition of sorts to test your new powers.” She smiled as if this was the best news that could possibly be.

“We go into the forest outside the academy at the beginning of next month to hunt for beasts.” Xanile spoke calmly, not like she was unimpressed, but near it.

“But do you go with a talented practitioner like myself who knows that the school keeps some of the more difficult to find beasts contained within the bounds of the training forest?” She tried to look like she was pointing, instructor Lialarn knew she had at least one of us interested, because she added and looked straight at Xanile when she said, “And where to find them?”

“How difficult?” The girl narrowed her eyes.

Lialarn grinned, “I had to bring in three of them myself from Volunt’ron, and it took six men to handle just one long enough for me to capture them.”

“And you would hand them over to us, why?”

The instructor held a finger to her lips as another gray-skinned elf joined us with a large tray carrying three plates of food and large mugs of water for us and something an amber color for her. “Thank you, Dawkins, that will be all.”

The servile elf nodded and left with his tray and we looked at the food. It looked great, but I was more interested in her explanation. She picked up her fork and grunted, “Eat, we can talk more during.”

While I picked at my food, then decided it was delicious and had to be consumed at nearly break-neck speeds.

“I planned to go day after tomorrow.” Instructor Lialarn stated after a few bites. “As to why I would offer you the opportunity? Think of it as a way for me to get something that was previously lost to me, back. As an aside, these creatures are fair game to anyone who finds them and they would really only be useful to one or two third year students as they venture into the training forest regularly and a handful of second years who could go in. But those children wouldn’t be able to put them to good use the way one of you would, and they aren’t as talented as you are magically.”

“So what’s in it for you?” I raised an eyebrow at her and she stared at me as if I didn’t know what I had said. “You plan to take us to some secret part of the training forest with likely no one but you where you have three difficult-to-find beasts just waiting and all so that you get something back? If the beasts are for us, what is it that you get?”

Xanile crossed her arms as I finished speaking, “Thank you for beating me to the question, Saemus.” She smiled politely at the instructor, “Surely you have to forgive us for being more than a little cautious as it does seem too good to be true.”

“The beasts guard something that was taken from me to keep me here.” She replied sullenly, then pushed the remainder of her meal away in disgust like someone our age. “I can’t go home to my family, or to see my friends because my brother prefers I remain here. I can’t train myself in my craft anymore because he doesn’t want me to take any risks—all so the next generation of soldiers and war fighters can be trained up.”

“Who is your brother?” I blinked at her and she just crossed her arms.

“The headmaster.” Her reply caught me off guard, and was more than a little concerning. She eyed us both, then her expression relaxed, “They guard my warp stone so that I can’t go back home until one of the students manages to at least get the beasts away from it.”

“So the caveat for you regaining those privileges is for one of the students to find and somehow get rid of these creatures and then you can just do as you please?” Xanile raised a distrusting eyebrow at her.

“My brother knew that if he tried to strong arm me with not going home at all, I would never have come here to teach for him, it was why there was a ‘way’ for it to happen it was just highly unlikely.”

I turned to Xanile and gave her a look, I wanted to go, mainly because I wanted a beast core for my shuna, but it was also her decision that mattered.

“We will be safe?” Instructor Lialarn bounced her head back and forth as she considered the question, prompting Xanile to amend it, “Will we be at least reasonably safe?”

She shook her head, “With you there, I could fight them myself, but it would be a matter of protecting you while I did. It’s not safe enough for right now.” She drummed the desk in front of her and frowned, thinking. Finally she looked up at the clock behind us, “I will begin to train you on how to use your magic outside of class—I’m not supposed to so we need to meet in secret. If you do well, we will go next weekend on the first day after classes. But that remains to be seen as to how well you do.”

She looked at both of us, “Do we have a deal?”

“Swear on your true name that you won’t kill us while we’re out there with you.” I said in a low tone. The instructor stared at me as if I had slapped her. “Yes, I know it’s an old practice, but I know that it holds to all beings even if they don’t know their own true name. Swear it.”

“I swear on my true name; I won’t kill either of you.” It was simplified but also a blanket statement meaning that she wouldn’t raise her hand against us. “Now, finish your meal and go back to your seats. Class will be back in session soon.”

We did as she said and cleaned our plates, then returned to our seats. Though I wasn’t sure about Xanile, I was thinking about the things to come. The events that were coming and how best I could turn them to my advantage.

And I still had points to spend that would improve my growth and make me formidable, though it was interesting that my stat for Magic appeared to have been capped for now.

Thinking on it, I decided to mentally call the the quest giver, What information can you give me about my Magic stat?

There was silence and I frowned, sighing to myself. I turned to Xanile and asked in a low tone, “Can I borrow your book on magic?”

“We can read it later together if you would like?” She smiled at me, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“I would like that, are you okay?” She blinked and tilted her head and I just shrugged as if I was just asking to ask.

She let a soft puff of air leave her chest and grunted, “I will be once I understand what I’m working with for my own power, I think.”

That was understandable and I couldn’t blame her, since I felt the same way.

A few moments later the rest of the class filtered into the doors and then their seats as Instructor Lialarn finished her meal.

She wiped her mouth and stood, “What we are about to attempt will be, for a lot of you, your first attempts at casting magic. I require absolute dedication and focus from you. If I feel that you’re doing something you shouldn’t be or aren’t paying enough attention, I will hang you from the rafters for the rest of class. Am I clear?”

“Yes ma’am!” All of us shouted back and she grimaced as if the sound irritated her. She sighed and pointed to the side of the room where there was practice equipment, and snapped her fingers. We took the hint and got up to move to the area.

As soon as we crossed into the space, there was the sensation that we had crossed through cool water.

“That feeling some of the more powerful among you just felt was a protective sigil placed into the stones on the floor and wall that won’t allow magic to pass through them, keeping the academy safe from any wayward spells.”

She waited until all of us had come to stand in the center of the half room, though taking it in now, it felt like it was larger than the classroom itself and then watched us all for a moment.

She pointed to the stone walls, “Inside the stone cubbies along the walls, you will find personalized tools that you can use to assist you in learning what your magic does. This is exceptional magic, and as such will be better suited to you than you can even begin to know, but before we can allow you to use them, you must learn to summon your magic.”

She raised her voice and ordered us, “Be seated.”

I raised an eyebrow and did so before I closed my eyes, rooting around in my body for the signs of magic as she began to walk us through the process of doing so. “Breath deeply and find the center of your being just below your navel, then focus on it until you can feel the magic that resides within. Once you do, all you need to do, is guide it up and through your body into your dominant hand.”

As I made my way into the area within myself below my navel, what I found waiting for me was insane.

It was a giant tree. The leaves were massive and it looked ancient, the bark a deep chestnut sort of brown but I knew it wasn’t that kind of tree. It was older. And it felt stronger than the Cindry trees had in our grove.

As I approached it, there as a connection immediately, and the bark of the tree split in two eight feet up the trunk in front of me and began to open like someone holding back curtains to part and open a pathway.

Come in, Saemus, we’ve been waiting for you for quite some time. The quest giver’s voice radiated from the opening in the tree and called to all that I was.

Gritting my teeth, I walked into the darkened void within myself.