White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (62 page)

It had been more than three weeks since the eventful trip to the forest. Piotr and his brother had been sobered by the events as had the other mages, most of whom the two girls were also friends with and were concerned about as well. Only resilience from being young and time managed to restore much of their friends’ old personalities after their first foray into magical combat. Even Krevahs had been noticeably quieted and the big cadet seemed almost meek after the event.

The boys, who had followed him creating a faction in obvious defiance of Niklaus and his friends, became disenchanted with his new personality at first. When he began relaying stories of the battle and embellished his role, suddenly Krevahs managed to become popular once more.

Katya had heard other stories from Piotr and the other cadets, so she heard of Krevahs’ escapades from third parties making him out to be more of a hero. The mentors never weighed in to dispel any of the rumors, but there were stories of Niklaus and Piotr’s part as well. While the boys had told her some of what happened, Piotr in particular seemed down about what he had to do to stop the bandits. A sore subject, they soon put it behind them and the daily grind of learning in a wizard school soon made up most of their conversations.

After several weeks of training with Cheleya when she could, Katya thought that she was becoming a decent dragon mage as well. She had to study general magic in the morning still, followed by classes for diplomacy magic and skills, but the end of the afternoon had become their time to have fun. Weekends were often used for extra study, though most might call it play.

The two girls would fly over the woods to the east of the river or chase the winding path of water to the north or south. They could fly several miles and even see other towns along the river. White Hall was the closest city to the wall along the river, even though there were hundreds of miles to that far off landmark, still there were many towns as well.

A river was a major draw. It had fresh water that was easy to use to lend its uses to homes and fields alike. Trees formed forests near them as well meaning that they had another resource and fertile ground could be used for farming.

It was also a source of transportation.

The two dragon mages would see smaller fishing boats and larger trading ships as they flew. Often they would be spotted. Fingers would point and arms would rise in surprise to gesture towards them alerting others onboard. Concern that the general public would be frightened to see people flying had been mentioned early on, but it was magic and those who lived and worked near White Hall were harder to impress or frighten after hundreds of years living near the school.

There were bushes nearby and no prying eyes to watch as Cheleya kicked off her short, leather boots. She pulled the light blouse over her head before stripping off her shorts as well placing them neatly in front of the bushes. Katya had her shoes off, but was surprised by the other girl’s complete disregard for being noticed. She doubted there would be boys out this far looking to find girls skinny dipping, but the girl was reasonably conservative in not wanting to be surprised.

She wore shorts as well made by Cheleya for flying. A skirt or dress was awkward in the air and liable to give a different kind of show to people below them, so the girl had been glad to let the dragoness use her magic to create what she needed. Alteration magic, Cheleya called it, but altering clothing was just the most mundane thing it could truly do, even if the girls enjoyed the products of her work.

Looking for boats, Katya removed her top behind the bush and asked Cheleya, “Are you sure that you didn’t see anyone nearby?”

Her white top was an altered apprentice tunic. Cheleya had lengthened the back and removed the sleeves. It was very warm this summer, unseasonably so for the area. The mountains to the west often brought cooling breezes, but summer was finally here and refused to give the north any break from the heat now. More than two weeks of the hot weather had driven the students to often go swimming in the river. It was usually done in the late afternoon, though the nightly dances had thinned out greatly as they slipped off to cool in the Cadhalla River.

Once removed, Katya’s upper body was as bare as Cheleya’s. Neither girl had worn underwear knowing that the flight would be broken up with a swim. She was more hesitant to remove the last of her clothing, but the younger girl joined the bronze dragoness. The summer was deepening and this wasn’t the first time Cheleya had gone off somewhere to take off her clothes and enjoy the summer sun.

Katya was nearly as dark and had been swimming with the other girl enough to think that she might be a bit of a nudist. Of course, che’ther or dragons didn’t wear clothing, so maybe it was just something in the dragon girl.

She might have believed that Cheleya didn’t like to wear clothes but oddly enough, the dragoness was more girly about them than most human girls she knew. Using her magic, Cheleya was constantly playing around with new looks. Colors could be changed by simply sliding her fingers against the material and imagining the color she wanted something to be. Even the girl’s hair was sometimes changed in fits of whimsy.

Laying back into the water, the dragon girl pushed back getting her hair wet and floating for a few feet further into the river. She stood and the water was now above her navel. Shaking her head sending a spray from her long blond hair, Cheleya rolled her eyes at her friend and stated, “You know it’s safe. Stop complaining and hurry up. The water feels great.”

Stripping off her shorts, Katya came out from behind the bushes and tested the water with her toes before stepping deeper. Each step brought the water higher and she winced as the cooling liquid fought against tanned skin that was warm from the sunlight and air.

“Neira moved out yesterday,” Katya remarked. They both had lived with the girl so it wasn’t really news to the dragoness. “She went to stay with one of her novice friends.”

Cheleya looked at her in confusion and replied, “I know this. Why do you mention it?”

Noticing a bit of the che’ther’s accent and phrasing, it was a rare slip in her common. Not bothering to remark on it, Katya simply answered the question, “I can’t believe she did it. I tried to be her friend. You tried as well and everyone seems to love you; but Neira never gave me a chance to be her friend.”

Again the dragoness looked a bit confused and asked, “If she refuses to be our friend, then why would you want to change that? There are more than enough other people in this school to have many friends. Why worry over just one?”

That was the question that bugged her most. Was it because Neira was a fellow diplomacy wizard that Katya felt that they should bond? Maybe it was that as a diplomacy wizard, Neira was a challenge to the younger girl? She didn’t want to fail at making a friend if she was supposed to be such a natural at befriending people.

“I guess that I just thought it would be nice to be friends since we are going through the same studies,” Katya finished with a shrug of her shoulders.

She had eased into the water deep enough to quickly sink down to plunge her entire body underwater. Katya held her nose a moment before standing once more and throwing her hair back in a spray of droplets. The river felt great on a hot day.

Something made her question Cheleya and she said, “I thought cold and heat didn’t bother you. I thought that you barely felt them, but you are enjoying the cold water?”

Cheleya smiled moving just out of arm’s reach of the other girl as she bent her knees to keep the rippling river waves touching the tops of her shoulders. “It isn’t that I can’t feel hot and cold. My body just doesn’t acknowledge the extremes as being painful in one way or another, I guess. I certainly notice the temperature more than I did as a che’ther. Our scales cover our hides, which are also thick, blocking wind and trapping heat underneath.

“Mar’kal is colder than down here. Your people might get arctic winds reaching you in the winter, but summer is much warmer here than in the mountains.”

While the younger girl wanted to argue how she would know since Cheleya had been a dragon most of her life including summers in Mar’kal, it was unlikely to do anything but stir up a small debate. The dragoness hadn’t planned on being stuck as a human, so reminding her of her past and unsure future wasn’t worth asking such impossible questions.

“So what do you think they are hiding in the mage courtyard anyway?” Katya asked changing the subject. It was one of the new hot topics circulating throughout the school.

A messenger had arrived at the school, according to some apprentices working in the administration offices, and the next thing the wizards and mages had decided to cordon off the secondary courtyard of the mage cadets. It was the courtyard between one next to their barracks and the garden behind the dining hall.

Cheleya shrugged at the question and replied, “You asked me to fly over to look for something there, but all I saw was a few soldiers or mages on guard near the doorway. It does seem strange that they should suddenly close it off to everyone, but no one knows if the story about a messenger bringing news closed it off or not.”

Playing her finger over the water, Katya practiced a little water magic spell. Many wizards considered water magic too limited, especially inland, but they were trained in the basics of it as much as any of the major schools. A little swirl rose up out of the river until it spun up to touch her hand.”

A laugh caused her to release the magic and she looked at Cheleya questioningly.

“Even when we take a break, you practice magic. You are one of those who can’t get enough of magic and learning spells,” the blond haired dragoness finished with a smile.

“Well, it isn’t a hard spell. It is no more than someone taking ink and drawing a picture on their desk when they are bored.”

Cheleya cocked her head to the side and asked, “It’s a water doodle?”

A giggle came from Katya at the words. She shrugged in return liking the term and found it funny.

Looking at her fingers, Cheleya sighed and began to walk out of the water. She sat in the sun letting it begin to dry her skin. Katya followed without using her wrinkled fingertips to make her decision. The water had been cool and refreshing, but she had limited time to fly or learn dragon mage magic each day. Whiling away all her free time soaking in the river wasn’t going to make her any better as a wizard.

The thought made her consider the dragoness’s words. Lying back onto the grass first, Cheleya quickly joined her. The warm sun and slight breeze following the river worked to dry their skin quickly. Before they became too warm again and lost the fresh feeling from the water, the girls got up and began to dress.

Katya asked about another thing circulating around the groups she knew, “Do you think that I am ready for a mission into the mountains? You don’t think we’ll find trouble like they did bringing the animals back to the forest, do you?”

Raising her eyebrows questioningly, Cheleya paused holding her blouse before shaking her head. “The dragon mages are going along meaning that you will have a lot of experienced wizards and mages coming along. We are just going to a place where we can let loose and fly more.

“Piotr and the other novices have to release more animals rehabilitated over the winter, but the biggest challenge will be getting carts up into the lower mountains from what I am told.” She grinned and added, “But we can ride horses or fly if we run into any obstacles we don’t like.”

Katya nodded and finished straightening her clothes. She could feel a piece of grass sticking to her back and reached beneath the cloth to brush it off of her. The dragoness stepped into her boots opened by magic. Using both hands to bring the two pieces of leather together, her magic bonded them as one making the result virtually seamless in appearance.

Both girls used their wings to launch into the air heading back towards the city and school.

Katya still worried over the things discussed, but she was just a novice. She didn’t have to lead or risk others’ lives, so at least people like Ylena would be able to work to keep everyone safe.

The procession leaving White Hall headed west towards the mountains looked like an army prepared for a long march. Katya was grouped with Neira and two other diplomacy wizards and their mentors. The other two were boys making the numbers even. Beyond their little group was nearly every other novice in the school at the moment. Fire wizard trainees, air, earth, water and nature, including Piotr and the others who had arrived in White Hall at the same time, were grouped in their individual niches.

This was a crossroads of sorts for the novice wizards. The summer event was apparently an annual thing designed to test novices beyond their basic comprehension of spells. They would be in the field and undergo specially created tests to see if they were ready to evolve to the next level as apprentices.

Katya was somewhat surprised that after three and a half months her class was part of that question. They had all studied and everyone seemed to be doing well, but it all seemed so soon. Of course, in reality a novice was just a young wizard with little knowledge and understanding of magic. She felt like she had grown quite a bit in that way at least. While she didn’t feel like she had mastered anything, that was what the level of apprentices was, not full wizards. Being an apprentice was that time between knowing little and wholly understanding one’s abilities.