White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (64 page)

Once more Ylena stopped to check in with her student before the evening meal and asked, “So how do you think your day went this time?”

“Much better,” Katya stated with a weary smile. It had been a long day, but it had gone very well despite the hiccups introduced by the mentors. “Neira was a great aide and I had friends I could go to within each group to make things easier as well. I also made new friends and I think stronger ties as well because I knew that I could rely on Neira.”

This made Ylena’s expression change in surprise after the previous two days. “You could rely on her? I thought the two of you didn’t always get along.”

Shrugging Katya replied, “It is just one sided. I have always tried to be her friend or at least get along if I can’t.

“Today I knew I could trust her if only because Wren was watching her. She couldn’t very well undermine or sabotage my leadership without drawing herself under with me, now could she?”

Ylena laughed and shook her head, “Well, I guess we can’t always trust people, even our aides; but when they can’t hide, it does make it easier to trust.”

Katya nodded and gestured towards the campfire where the smell of food could already be smelled. “Are you hungry?”

“Of course,” her mentor replied pulling her brunette hair back in a tail so it couldn’t fall into her plate. Katya thought such a maneuver implied the serious effort Ylena planned to give to eating her dinner.

It had been a long day, but with Neira’s help the camp was set, dinner made and a sentry roster was in place. By the time her head lay on the bedroll, Katya fell instantly asleep.

Chapter 32- The Cliffs of Deras

The fourth day was similar to the second, though Katya thought perhaps Neira was a bit nicer. They got along and did what was necessary to lead the group. On the fifth day, things were changed up. Katya remained with the north group, but Neira and Wren made the ride to the southern group in exchange for Wizard Faren and Berlis.

Katya was nominated to lead and since it would have been her turn with Neira, she eased into the role without worry. She surprised Berlis by going up to the taller boy and stating, “Berlis, I need you to be my aide today.”

“Your what?” the blonde haired boy questioned as if the idea was unheard of, which let her know that the two boys had probably worked the way she had the first day.

“Neira and I worked together after the first day. You will field the more basic problems and go to me if there is a major decision. There is no point to just watching each other. It would be like just staying in the classroom, don’t you think?”

The boy still looked confused and he nodded slowly as she directed him with just her words. Katya worried then that Berlis might not be very good at being a diplomat wizard and feared that the next few days working with him might be a problem. If she had to, the girl knew that she could take the reins and lead by herself; but after the last three days with Neira, Katya remained hopeful. He had led in his own group after all, so she figured that he must have some talent to be with them.

She watched as the first problems came in from the mentors and Berlis managed to surprise her. Though he looked to the girl at times as if unsure of what was supposed to remain for him and what was to be handed off to the leader, by midday Katya was growing more confident in his skills to solve problems. Like her third day with Neira, she was able to work her way through the rest of the troops working her magic, so to speak. Her charm was even more of a weapon than her magic through most situations, the girl thought as her day continued.

By the end of the fifth day, they had moved both south and far enough west to be fully swept up into the rise and fall of the foothills of the Dimple Mountains. The southern group was forced to be much closer to those of the north. They remained separate to continue their training, but on the sixth day, the southern group led by Neira that day, led the way through the much narrower passes leading towards Mount Deras.

Katya rode next to Ylena playing aide to Berlis, who appeared more comfortable as the head leader though he had performed well enough as her aide the day before. Her mentor had tried to remain silent through most of the previous days as the novices did their best to lead, and Ylena seemed to have become comfortable enough in the role of silent observer; but the woman seemed pensive as she finally started speaking with Katya once more.

“You know the first half of the trip is the easy part, right? After the animals are released, we’ll be starting new scenarios to get the other divisions more practice at war time missions.”

Giving a brief nod, Katya replied, “Then that means that it will actually get easier for us.”

At Ylena’s questioning look, Katya explained with a giggle, “Well, the diplomacy wizards had to lead the whole time. Now we will be handing over command to those nominated as battle commanders.”

“Diplomacy wizards still need to remain observant to facilitate a smooth operation for whoever is in charge of combat,” Ylena disputed.

Shrugging, the younger girl didn’t argue, but asked, “Will they start combat drills before we release the animals into their habitat?”

Her mentor shook her head and replied, “No, we don’t want to cause undue stress to the animals. We’ll let the nature wizards release them and on the way back we’ll let you novices use your magic to fight.

“Mentors will add their magic to protect you all from errant spells, but otherwise remain out of it.”

Katya nodded. During the tournament and individual duels as novices, other wizards were used outside of the fight to cast protection spells over the duelists so they could unleash whatever spells they wanted without worrying over someone getting killed or injured for the most part.

She noticed a pair of riders coming back down the trail from Neira’s command. An earth novice with his mentor dressed appropriately in brown quickly met with Berlis and Katya.

“The campsite and release point is a mile ahead. Our air wizards have already confirmed the location.” The boy paused trying to remember all that he was supposed to say as messenger. “Our commander will begin setting up camp and wait for you there.”

His mentor rolled his eyes and Katya wondered why Neira had chosen this boy in particular as her messenger. Berlis on the other hand nodded and decided, “We will increase our pace and join you all there then.”

The messengers turned and rode back the way they had come.

Katya glanced to Ylena curiously, but the older woman didn’t give her any information with her face. The girl wanted to sigh, but knew such a tell wasn’t something she was supposed to reveal to others either. It was rather annoying being a diplomacy wizard at times. They were supposed to be in control while watching others for clues to best run their missions.

As the column sped up, Berlis led the way while Katya dropped through the ranks letting everyone know in detail why the pace was changing.

When they reached the campsite, Neira’s team was doing as she had said she would. They had control of a flat land nearest a heavy stream. Not quite a river, there was plenty of water for both teams; but Berlis’ group would have to walk further to use the stream since they were effectively left with the land further away.

Katya thought that it wasn’t surprising given the way Neira had always acted when they were roommates. The girl always wanted to be in control and having the better placement because she was first to arrive seemed to follow her previous actions. While she didn’t begrudge the first group taking a bit of an advantage, it was still a little annoying to see.

One thing she noticed as they rode up was that the earth wizards in Neira’s team had constructed a set of formations to one side near the stream. Like changing screens, the stone walls were set to give people a place to wash up, even if they wished to strip down to bathe.

The smells of some of the people in her company had begun to change towards the more unpleasant side. While they had tried to clean up when they could, the previous days’ camps hadn’t really been suitable for bathing. As the water called to her, Katya helped Berlis finish setting the camp; but when Cheleya found her from the rear of their company where the other dragon mages had been following them, it took little convincing from the dragoness to go use the stream to wash off some of the road dirt.

Though she had a towel and soap; Katya felt like she had barely been able to use them. They smelled clean yet, but the girl did not, she thought.

“If Niklaus wanted to sneak a peek at some girls with their clothes off, this might be the place to try and do it,” Katya stated looking for the troublemaker and his brother also. She stepped behind the stone screens to see more than a dozen women in various states of undress. Some chose to be conservative and just wash as best they could, probably fearing for their privacy as Katya had mentioned.

Cheleya didn’t care about such things and joined those already bare and washing in the stream. The dragoness didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious, though some of the other girls looked at her remarkably smooth skin. Hairless like a child, the dragoness had created her body missing the smaller details. She knew what humans looked like and certain physical traits seemed programmed into using an amulet, but that was the only thing besides her beauty that might make someone wonder if she was a real human.

Deciding that she needed a bath more than she needed to worry over being caught naked by Niklaus or the other boys, Katya joined her friend quickly. It wasn’t long before it looked like nearly every woman in the two commands was trying to wash up.

Briahnna and Lyssa joined them. Uliya and Xara came with other cadets as well.

Noticing the two dragon mage friends and their bronzed skins, Briahnna questioned Katya and Cheleya, “Why are you two so tan?”

The girl noted her nearly white skin. Her arms were darker from wearing short sleeves, but the rest of her appeared to have been covered most of the time to avoid the sun. Cheleya answered with a smile and simply said, “When we fly, we get warm so sometimes we stop to go swimming to cool off.”

Lyssa pulled her brown hair into a tail and began to wring out some of the water after washing it with the shampoo brought along. She looked at the two girls and replied, “You two go skinny dipping in the river? I wish I could be a dragon mage and live like you two.

“It must be fun to fly and then have so little care in the world that you can go swimming enough to be that tan. I’m not sure which part I envy more.”

Katya giggled in embarrassment; while once again, Cheleya seemed totally unphased by the comments.

Xara scanned the area and when asked by the other girls why the tall, pretty blonde looked nervous, she answered, “I am just looking for any animal that might be Niklaus in shifted form.”

“He better not try it and certainly he better not get caught doing that,” Katya stated darkly. “It would be a very, very long ride back; if we even let him ride after that.”

The other girls laughed and they sounded equally dark in their sound. The laughter carried past the barriers to the boys working to finish setting up the camp and begin dinner. Niklaus in particular felt a cold chill run up his spine.

When Piotr noticed him pause looking worried, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Do you ever feel like someone is talking about you?” his twin asked while his brow remained furrowed with the strange feeling.

The younger boy looked towards the stone screens and stated, “Well, if they are talking about you. I am guessing it would have to do with what they would do to you if they caught you peeking in on them again.”

Giving a snort of disgust, Niklaus retorted, “Like I’d make it so easy if I wanted to try.”

“You don’t want to go look, when there are so many girls in the stream who are probably naked and bathing?”

Waving off his brother, the elder twin stated with a formal tone, “I think it would be wise to avoid being that childish, especially with those humorless wizards involved.”

Piotr laughed and pointed at his brother saying, “You’re really just afraid of Katya, aren’t you?”

“How can someone so cute looking, be so evil?” his brother replied with a shake of his head without disputing the question.

While the brothers considered the dangers of spying on the girls, Katya noticed as Neira and a couple of her closer friends arrived. There seemed to be less animosity from the elder novice since the two girls had worked together, but as usual Neira avoided approaching Katya.

Trying not to take it personally, the younger girl talked with her friends and when someone started a splash fight, soon all the younger girls were involved as most of their elders tried to escape the direct attention of their younger students. A water wizard took it to another level and created a large wave which washed several of the girls beyond the protection of the barriers.

Screams drew the boys’ attention and laughter as well, while the girls tried to cover up as best they could while retreating behind the screens once again. Naia, the water novice, received her complaints looking horrified by her accident.

It ended the horse play and the girls quickly finished up before dressing. While the boys went afterwards, they seemed more businesslike after the goofing around from the girls.