“‘That’s how you defeat a drake.’ Can you believe she said that? What an arrogant little troll!” Ezah said, laughing as she stuffed another roll into her mouth. She sat with the rest of the group under an elm tree near the lake outside the main gates of the Academy, enjoying the beautiful early spring weather. Around them, other apprentice heroes went about their own tasks. A group of Archers launched volleys into a row of oaks, while an Acrobat dodged the flying shafts. By the lake, a pair of Paladins practiced their sword work, the clank of the blades drifting slowly towards the group. Nearer, some Mages huddled together. From this distance, Rachel could not see what they were doing, but occasionally she saw sparks and flames leap up from their circle. Everywhere you looked, apprentice heroes were practicing, trying to master those last few tricks before the start of the Trials the next morning.

Rachel had practicing of her own to do, but she was too tired to care at the moment. Their lesson with Professor Saroc had run late, even with Alexia’s lecture ending display. By the time they had gotten back, the noon meal had already been packed away. Thankfully their friend Benzen had also missed lunch. Putting his talents as a Bard to work, Benzen had convinced some of the cooks to give them the extra rolls.

Rachel reached into the basket and plucked her sixth roll out from the bunch. Say what you will about hero training, it was hungry work. She grabbed one for Jerome, and tossed it to him. Just before it reached him, Benzen snagged it out of the air, adding the roll to the ever growing collection he was juggling. Glaring, Jerome grabbed himself another roll and tore into it with animal ferocity.

“Did you feel her Permafrost?” said Jerome between bites. “Such power! I thought that was a Tier Seven spell. How does Alexia know it?”

“It is,” Ezah replied. “Little Miss Ice Queen over there gets special treatment.”

They turned and stared at Alexia. She stood under another elm tree a few yards from the group. When the chiefs had given them their basket of rolls, Alexia had received full sandwiches. She stood with her back to them, her face turned towards the afternoon sky. She still wore her heavy robes from earlier. In the sun, the patterns and symbols on it shimmered, reflecting the light back in a thousand directions.

“My, how I would have liked to have seen that.” Benzen muttered, still juggling his set of rolls. “That would have been quite a tale. ‘The Ballad of the Ice Queen and the Frozen Drake.’ That alone could have moved me up two ranks easily. Why, if I… hey, what are you doing?”

Ezah reached over and plucked one of Benzen’s rolls, giving him a wiry grin as she did. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with your food? How will you ever be able to serve our future queen?”

She took a bite out of the roll, then, after a moment, spat it out. “Look at her,” she said, pointing towards Alexia. “Thinking she’s so much better than us just because some moldy old parchment says she’s going to stop some evil or something. I’ll show her how much better she is.”

Ezah threw the roll at Alexia, hitting her square in the back of the head. The Acrobat let out a gale of laughter, falling over on the grass as Alexia spun around, furry plain on her face. She looked from the Ezah to the roll and back again. She raised her hand, and for a moment, Rachel was sure they would feel the power of her Permafrost first hand. Instead, a commotion by the lake caught Alexia’s attention.

As one, the two Paladins turned from each other and charged towards her, swords bared. Rachel gasped, jumping up from the ground. Just in the three years that she had been at the Academy, there had already been twelve assassination attempts on Alexia. Each one by a group worried that the evil she was going to stop was the evil they wanted to happen. Rachel would not let the thirteenth attempt succeed. Even without her Beasts, she would still try to help.

She hadn’t taken more than two steps before the Paladins reached Alexia. They charged her, swords and teeth bared, but Alexia flowed around them like water, dodging their sword strikes as if they were moving through molasses. As she passed them, Alexia turned, and with the force of her body, delivered chopping blows to the back of their necks, and the two Paladins fell to the ground like sacks of grain.

Before Rachel had gone five paces, the attack was over, the two paladins lying senseless on the ground. Alexia stood there, breathing heavily for a few moments. She looked up, and for a brief moment, her eyes met Rachel’s. Then, as Academy Knights came rushing out of the gates, she turned and left, striding through the main entrance.

“What was that all about?” Ezah asked when Rachel returned to the group.

“What was what?”

“That,” Jerome said, pointed towards the two fallen Paladins. “What were you trying to do?”

“Alexia was in trouble. I was going to help…” Rachel trailed off as she looked at her friends around her. None of them had so much as shifted during the attack. Benzen was still juggling.

“Help her?” Ezah snorted. “The Ice Queen over there can handle herself. Stars, if she wants to save the world, she’s going to have to learn how to deal with more than two apprentice Paladins. Don’t look so glum Rachel. She made out fine. Even if you had managed to reach her, she probably would have attacked you too.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“So,” Jerome said, eye’s darting around the circle, “who do you think you’ll be pared with for the Trials?”

“The biggest, tallest, strongest fighter in the Academy,” said Benzen. “We Bards are fragile creatures. Heavy lifting and violence hurts our voices. Without them, how are we to cheer on our comrades in battle?”

“Bah! I hope they leave me alone,” Ezah said. “I work better when I’m not weighted down.”

“Oh, maybe we’ll take on the Trials together,” said Benzen. He let his rolls drop to the ground as he removed a harp from under his cloak. He plucked the strings, adding music to his voice as he continued. “You could do all the work, and I could sit back and support. I’m so good at it, you won’t even know I’m there.”

A dry snort was the only response Ezah gave.

“Me, I think a Mage or a Geomancer would work well with my fighting style,” said Jerome. He paused, turning to face Rachel. “Or maybe a Beast Tamer.”

Rachel felt her face burn hotter than the drake’s Inferno. “I... I have to go…I have to go and check on my Beasts.” She managed to stammer out as she stood up

“But they’re just about to announce the Trials partners,” Jerome said, reaching for her hand, but Rachel was already beyond his grasp, heading towards the Creature Compendium.