White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (40 page)

It was funny that much of what she read about in the diplomacy magic books had less to do with spells than controlling situations and people. Katya had always been able to read people to a degree as if she was what the books called empathic. Her feel for people’s emotions and ability to read some of what crossed their faces could be as powerful as any magic spell, or so the books said.

Words were power and not just those from the strange language that the spells were written in, which was another question in her mind as she studied. What language was it and where did it come from? No one seemed to have a good answer for the question, so the girl let it go; though she hoped to stumble across the answer some day.

Concentrating on the spell the instructor wished to hammer into them this hour; Katya mimed the movements of her hands as she spoke the nonsensical words. Suddenly a wavering shaft of air appeared in her hands. As instructed the girl shoved the wind lance, as it was sometimes called, into a dummy made of straw as if it was an enemy.

A hole formed as the wind remained hard as a staff and Katya did it three more times as well. She had seen this spell at the wizards’ tournament in Hala, and had watched her brother make his own version of it as a battle mage.

“Good job, Katya,” Wizard Fala said to her with a warm smile. A girl slightly shorter than her wearing an apprentice’s dress with light blue banding on the hem and collar nodded looking equally happy with her achievement. The wizard wore a light wizard’s cloak over her shoulders in the light blue color trimmed with silver. She was the main instructor for air today.

“Yup, I couldn’t have done better myself,” the apprentice, called Lodia, said with a grin. Her violet eyes seemed to twinkle under her brunette hair as the girl, slightly shorter than Katya herself, followed her mentor.

Fala’s brown eyes rolled at her apprentice’s extra praise before returning to Katya. “I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised though, your brother is quite the clever one as well.”

“You know my brother as well or are you just familiar with his accomplishments?” the novice asked curiously. Now that the girl had been at White Hall for a few weeks, apprentices and cadets who had discovered her relationship to her brother Sebastian were beginning to introduce themselves to her quite often. As if speaking with her somehow was like talking to him, the students would often ask her what he was like and if she had seen his magic.

Since Katya had not only watched Sebastian training with his team at their family farm, but had been there for the tournament as well; the girl often found herself at the center of a circle having to regale them with stories of what she had seen. Though at first Katya had thought it both strange and a bit of a bother; Ylena had discovered a silver lining to the attention. Being a diplomacy wizard one day meant being able to capture others' attention with such stories, so it was good training as well.

Fala took a breath and sighed with a slight smile on her lips and said, “Who do you think he learned his first air spells off of? In fact, this was the first air wizard spell that I believe he learned, though mages can cast things like gust as well.”

The younger girl beside her said, “I met him in Windmeer a couple months ago, and even managed to catch one of his first duels there. He was very impressive.”

Rolling her eyes again, Wizard Fala added, “Lodia is a big fan of your brother’s.”

Blushing and looking towards the ground, the apprentice mumbled, “I just respect what he has done as a battle mage, that’s all. He saved you and all those other wizards last year and then helped save Windmeer also. He’s also kind of good looking, don’t you think, mistress?”

It was good for Fala that Lodia was still looking down, since Katya noticed a hint of a blush at the question from her apprentice. Apparently, even though Katya was pretty sure the wizard was quite a few years older than her brother; he had also made quite an impression on the older woman as well.

Clearing her throat, the wizard looked away from the girls and replied, “I only looked at him as a talented battle mage. He is entirely too young for me to see him as much more than a boy.”

It was about that point that the wizard and her apprentice looked up in surprise to the high wizard’s tower nearly sixty feet above them. There was a scream and as Katya looked up with the rest, she watched as an air wizard in his light blue uniform fell from the height pursued by a massive mar’goyn’lya. Long before the man could strike the ground, the gargoyle’s wings lifted the two up into the air after sweeping across the air wizard’s courtyard.

Katya, along with most of the wizards in their courts; watched as Kel’lor lifted the man high in the air in the test that Cheleya had done with her a few days beforehand. Unlike the young girl, the man squirmed and flailed until he could frantically turn and wrap his arms and legs around the gargoyle’s large upper torso in a death grip.

She could almost see the disappointment on Kel'lor's face knowing that this man had certainly not passed the test. He was only the first to try at least. While the test had been made secret for the first class, eventually no one would be surprised; but even prepared it was hard to face a fear of heights, Katya thought. There were those she knew who couldn’t stand on a ladder without turning pale or passing out.

“That was rather unusual,” Wizard Fala muttered in surprise.

Katya nodded and replied, “Cheleya said, if you can’t handle dropping towards the ground or seeing the world from the heights while flying, you can’t become a dragon mage. The main ability of the magic is the ability to fly, so any fears make the rest pretty useless.”

Noting her insight, the older woman nodded as she seemed to contemplate the idea.

“Were you going to try the new magic?” Lodia asked addressing her mentor. “I think I might like to try,” the girl added with a slight smile as Kel’lor returned to the school roof.

While they had started from the height of the tower, she guessed that Kel’lor had decided those unworthy of the magic could simply walk down from the lower height after failing. If those who failed didn't return through the tower, the other applicants would be unable to learn what had happened and it might introduce more anxiety for the test besides, Katya thought with a little bit of humor at the idea. Moments later the mar’goyn’lya rose to the height of the tower to disappear behind the battlements as he went to meet the next candidate.

“Well, returning without the man might cause a little extra worry for the next wizard,” Fala commented curiously. “No, I think I shall refrain from learning this new magic for now. I can feel the heights and fly on the winds with my mind. There is no need to actually fly with my body. Besides, the wind riding spell is better for scouting. The enemy can’t see us riding the winds.”

Lodia frowned and asked, “But wasn’t there that incident last year where one of the warlocks captured air wizards’ minds while riding the air?”

Katya noted a strange look cross Fala’s face. Anger, fear, and a wish to conceal such knowledge, the girl thought even as Fala replied, “It was an anomaly, I am sure. There has never been an incident before or after that.”

“Wasn’t Falcon Sebastian the one who saved you too?” Lodia asked looking to her mentor almost in idol worship of the young man mentioned.

While Fala looked like she would rather not speak of it, the woman was a teacher and warning students of the dangers of air magic was also part of her job. “He was with me when I went to search for our missing air wizards' minds. They had been gone too long on the winds and seemed to be in comas.

“Sebastian was a close friend by then. He saved the lives of myself and a squad sent out on a simple scouting mission north of the wall only weeks before with his new healing magic. When he asked to ride the winds with me when the others seemed lost, I wanted to refuse; but I couldn’t argue with his uncanny instincts.

“To his senses, Sebastian said a dark cloud came towards us as I towed him on the winds. I couldn’t see it and turned when I felt him pull back, but it was too late. The dark magic rendered me unconscious so I can only go by what Sebastian said afterwards, that he used his magic to create a powerful light to drive the dark cloud away.

“Then he restored our minds to our bodies.”

Katya looked towards the roof as Fala wrapped up her story. “My brother took me on the winds too. I liked the feel though it was only a short trip where we never left sight of our bodies; but I think I could do dragon magic also. It is more like battle magic though from what I have been told. They use simple words of power in common or their native tongue, both of which their races understand; but that is more like a mage spell.”

Looking to Fala, Katya asked, “Do you think we should keep casting spells the old way when Sebastian has created several easier versions? He can make these wind lances and throw them as spears besides. Isn’t that better than our longer casting?”

Fala frowned at the girl and lowered her voice saying, “We teach the magic as it has been taught for centuries to help you understand the harder magic that he can not translate. You are a wizard and there are hundreds, if not thousands of spells; but learning the basics will make you a better wizard than looking for the shortcuts, Katya.

“That said, as you mature and master your magic, I personally don’t see any problem with learning both ways of creating a spell.”

Thinking of the words used by her brother in his training and duels, Katya held out her hand and ordered, “Air lance.”

In a fraction of the time the other spell took, a duplicate of the spear formed in her hand.

The other two looked at her in surprise and Fala asked, “He taught you the spell? I thought that you hadn’t learned any magic before coming to the school. If Sebastian was teaching you...” Leaving the thought unfinished as the wizard worried over the young girl’s knowledge, she breathed easier as Katya shook her head.

“No, but he used this one quite often. Since I have already figured out the proper way to do it, I thought I would see if I could do his version of the spell,” the little blonde smiled sheepishly. “Battle mage spells are easy to remember though, so I think I can make a fireball similarly for example; but he never actually tried to teach me magic.

“Bas said that he wasn’t qualified to teach me and the other wizards with him were equally wary of teaching me also. Unfortunately, my power got out of hand so High Wizard Darius stepped in to control my magic before I became a wilder or before I could convince any of them to teach me any spells.”

Both women paled and Fala inquired, “And your natural gift is diplomatic magic?”

“I’ve heard others say coercion is the more accurate name for it,” Katya replied thinking that what she had been able to do with her power naturally was definitely coercion or complete control over other minds.

Lodia pointed and said, “Oh, he has another one.”

A woman in light blue stood on the parapet and even from that distance, Katya thought she looked afraid. A scream sounded as the mar’goyn’lya pushed her over the wall to repeat the process again. The second wizard regained her composure, unlike the first man, as Kel’lor lifted her higher into the air and even did a few turns and other maneuvers.

Katya wondered if that meant the wizard was going to be a student as he returned to the lower roof with the woman.

Sighing at the sight, Fala noticed the other novices growing distracted from the spectacle. “Alright everyone keep working on your air lances between the screams. You’ll never get the chance to learn to fly if you can’t even do the basics, so get back to work.”

To Katya she added, “Do ten more lances the proper way and ten the mage way, if you want. I doubt it will be long before learning to cast both ways becomes standard for teaching anyway, so you may as well do it since you know both versions of the spell.”

Nodding to her teacher, the novice exchanged a smile with the two women even as she wondered if she could convince Cheleya to teach her dragon magic without anyone finding out.

Chapter 21- No Short Cuts

Piotr watched as his brother slipped away to the gardens behind the dining hall after finishing his meal. Xara had gone with him leaving Uliya looking a bit disappointed. While they were all battle mages instead of wizards, the bond between brothers often brought both groups together for dinner and he had gotten to know Niklaus’ three closest friends pretty well.

He still liked having dinner with Katya and the other novices he had begun school with, though they were all likely to go into different guilds and directions within the wizard world in the future. It was a strange world and full of complications he noticed more and more. Though he and his friends were close, it seemed a bit rare within the school especially as novices became apprentices and learned more of who they were.

“If Jeraan doesn’t steal you for the first dance, Uliya, perhaps you’ll let me dance with you tonight?” he asked trying to be smooth enough to not look a fool. The girl was another red head interestingly enough, and Piotr wondered if he was developing a type, since Iris had also had similar hair. Though that united them in looks, it was one of the few points where they didn’t differ.

Uliya wasn’t as tall and was perhaps more timid though she was studying to be a battle mage. She had chopped off much of her hair as well, unlike Iris' long hair. The apprentice didn’t have to worry over stray hair getting in her eyes as she fought or having the length used against her by an opponent while fighting however. Uliya’s blaze of hair had been chopped into a loose bob touching her shoulders which still looked feminine to him, though he had often wondered why he considered such things. If she was interested in him in the least, Piotr couldn’t tell as the girl seemed to be competing with Xara for Niklaus’ attention every time he saw the three.