White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) (9 page)

The boy stood up and blurted, “I am Piotr by the way.”

Smiling at him before turning to face her horse, Katya managed to pull herself up without any help. “Nice to meet you, Piotr. I’m still Katya, if you missed it last night. I’ll see you later then,” she finished following Ardost west and out of Delanne.

By midmorning, Piotr still waited outside the inn with two others found by the wizards. A red haired girl named Briahnna and another boy named simply, Job, who looked as ordinary as his name with brown hair and eyes, were the only other recruits found in Delanne.

Wizard Qeyr stood talking with five wizards who were apparently holding up leaving while they waited for his brother. The air wizard looked annoyed and his apprentice, Iris, remained closer to the newly found magic casters staying out of the way, probably to avoid being targeted by her mentor’s frustration. Piotr had a feeling that they had planned to be off already.

Katya’s group had left close to two hours earlier, but at that point the other two recruits had yet to arrive from their homes. His brother wasn’t starting things out by leaving a good impression. In fact, he thought that the wizards were even more annoyed knowing that the hold up was only for a potential battle mage. A wizard might have been dealt with easier.

When the cart pulled up, Niklaus jumped out with his bag and a wave to his father.

“Cheese’s calf was acting up and dad had to calm things down enough for Owden to take over,” he stated to his twin, though the others could hear easily enough as well.

Qeyr stepped down from the porch and stated loudly, “Now that we are all here, we can finally go. Hopefully, in the future we won’t have to wait on any more cows. At least, I believe it is a cow. What kind of name is Cheese anyway?”

Piotr replied, “Our little sister named her that as a joke, but it stuck.”

Grunting in reply, the wizard led the group towards a stable yard in back of the Traveler’s Rest. Enough horses for each person plus four pack animals for the extra baggage stood saddled and packed for the trip waiting for them.

“If you don’t know how to ride, let us know to help you,” the air wizard continued as Magnus’ wizards found their mounts and held the reins a moment to make sure if there were novice riders among the recruits.

Iris added quietly beside Piotr, “Let us know so that we can help and potentially mock you anyway.”

Smiling at the apprentice, he tried to avoid any laughing to get them in trouble with Qeyr. Niklaus didn’t care in the least about the joke and quickly took the reins of an unclaimed horse swinging up into the saddle while holding his pack in his off hand. He had the pack secured to the back of his saddle quickly having been familiar with the set up from the horses at their farm.

“Well, he doesn’t mess around, does he?” Iris asked in a hushed voice leaning in to speak closer to Piotr. “Can he ride as well as he can mount the thing?”

Nodding as he attached his pack to the saddle before trying to pull himself up onto the horse unlike his brother, Piotr replied, “We have been riding for years. Our farm is large enough and the fields we need to cover warrant riding horseback sometimes. Niklaus helps dad and our brother Owden quite a bit.”

They stopped talking as Job admitted to Qeyr that he couldn’t ride. Since the wizard rolled his eyes at the boy and acted exasperated at having to help him, Briahnna said nothing; but could only hop on one foot trying to get into the saddle.

Iris took the reins and Piotr merely placed a hand on the beast’s flank using his ability to settle animals with a touch to stop the horse’s fidgeting. The boy added a hand to help the girl onto her saddle where she gave the two an appreciative look.

With all but Piotr on his horse from the untrained casters, the rest all mounted as he followed suit easily.

Wizard Qeyr led with the fire wizard, Magnus, at his side. Most of the other wizards took the lead while Niklaus followed closely behind. He had said little to any of the wizards in the group and his brother thought that he was just being sullen. Being drafted to join the battle mages had never even dawned on him as he hadn’t noticed any strangeness in himself that might be magical.

It was always Piotr who had drawn attention for his way with animals. Even before he felt his magic coming on, the boy had a rapport with the animals around their farm, while Niklaus was known more for his physical ability. His twin was slightly smaller and always seemed to be that way, but he was just as active though less physically strong.

Iris rode beside Piotr taking up the rear as they watched the new riders attempt to guide their animals. With the other horses leading the way, their animals knew to follow at least so the apprentice didn’t have to do much as they started out of town.

“So what’s with your brother? You two look alike, but I can tell that there are differences already.

“He certainly isn’t very social and not in the shy way you are,” she added with a smile for him.

Being in the country and somewhat secluded, Iris was the first girl he had danced with or talked to as much as he had in such a short time. They had come into Delanne for school as children, but as they grew older the boys were needed to help with the farm. Spending time away from the farm was rare now and Piotr found that he had liked his life of peace and quiet; but he did like Iris.

“I don’t spend a lot of time with people, I guess,” the boy replied as if he needed to justify his tentative approach with people. “My brothers and little sister are the main people I talk to besides my parents, so I just don’t do a lot of it.”

“The ones from the farms tend to be the ones that have trouble adjusting to the school the most unfortunately. You are so isolated that when you see how many other students are there, you might have a bit of a problem making friends just because you don’t know how to talk to them.”

“Did you come from a town?” he asked thinking the girl was very good at talking to him. She had made him dance as well, which was an accomplishment for the quiet boy.

She nodded. “A town along the river south of White Hall, you probably don’t know any other towns’ names beyond Delanne, I bet.”

“Not any that far away, aside from cities like Hala, Norcrom or White Hall; did being from a town make getting used to the school any easier for you? I would think knowing magic and being with so many others with magic might still be beyond what you were used to in your town.”

Looking at the quiet boy, she could sense his mind turning her words back on her. He was smart and, though Piotr wasn’t being defensive, the boy knew enough to keep her thinking as well.

“The magic is something few are ready for in the school, but I went to a different school in town until I was called away. At least, being a calm one, you have a chance to understand White Hall before anyone will realize that you are uncomfortable there.”

“You are sure that I will be uncomfortable?” he asked surprised that the girl seemed rather negative about his chances in the school.

Wincing as Iris realized that she was making the school sound like some dreadful place to be, the girl tried to be positive. “I didn’t mean it like that. It is just something new and unlike anything you have seen. No one...” The girl stopped making a face as she realized that she was doing it again.

“Well, I will be there for awhile to help you at least,” she finished off with a smile.

They rode for awhile just watching the others or looking at the scenery.

“So what made you decide to try and warn me about the school and about dancing with girls last night?” Piotr finally asked.

The girl’s cheeks were rosy, but the air was cold with the clouds blocking the sun. She took a moment before answering, but tried not to be flustered as she replied, “Well, it wasn’t like there were a lot of boys there last night and you looked a little lost just sitting with Caldeyr and the others. I decided to take pity on you. Can’t I be nice to a new wizard?”

“You can certainly be nice. I was just asking why you were being so nice to me specifically.”

His continued questioning of her interest in him, even though Piotr was three years younger than the apprentice, made her redden more with embarrassment and confusion. It was a question that had made her have trouble sleeping last night. Why did this boy fluster her so? Was it the trick with the dog that had made her curious about a boy from a farm with an impressive amount of control of his magic?

“I guess that I like you,” she nearly made it sound like a question as if the girl couldn’t believe it herself. “Don’t read so much into things. Let a girl be a friend if she wants to be a friend.”

It was probably as good an answer as he was going to get, so Piotr let her off the hook and they spoke of other things for awhile until they lapsed into silence again. With hours of traveling ahead, there would be plenty of time to learn more about each other, the boy thought.
 

Chapter 5- Glimpse of the Future

Breaking for lunch and a chance to rest from sitting in their saddles, Piotr looked to the trees as he quickly ate a sandwich prepared by the kitchen of the inn. Briahnna had managed to dismount without help, but Job looked completely out of his element, even though Piotr thought it was really just a controlled fall. How hard could getting off a horse be when gravity did most of the work?

While the two from Delanne followed Piotr and Iris into the shade of a grove of trees alongside the road, Niklaus seemed reluctant as he led his horse into the grasses growing on the other side of the path.

Iris noticed him looking to his twin and asked, “Is something wrong between you two?”

Briahnna looked equally curious if only because it was the first conversation held near her in almost an hour, since Job had been nearly as quiet as Niklaus. Even as they found places to sit or stand, the boy seemed more interested in his food than the others around him. Job looked a bit soft to Piotr’s eyes. Perhaps it was just the difference between farmer boys living in the country compared to someone with less to do in a town of that sort.

“As far as I know there is nothing wrong, but I would guess that Nik isn’t very happy to find out that he has to go to White Hall. It has been obvious for awhile that the wizards would come for me, but having magic in him was a surprise,” Piotr replied continuing to look at his twin as he seemed to be moping on the other side of the road.

Iris looked at Briahnna and asked, “Were you surprised to be chosen?”

Brown eyes opened wider as the girl was caught listening and hadn’t expected a question to be thrown her way. “I knew that I was different shortly after my birthday, but nothing strange happened around me that I could call magic. When they said I had magic, I wasn’t completely surprised.”

Feeling for the girl’s aura, Piotr was surprised to feel a mixed aura that he couldn’t say leaned towards any of the wizards he had met so far. Looking at Job, however, he thought that there was a feel of the earth to him; though Piotr had yet to meet an official earth wizard. The boy did know most of the elements had their own schools and, since Job didn’t feel quite like the nature wizards despite feeling more like them than any of the other wizards, he just assumed that meant he was an earth type.

“How about you, Job?” Piotr asked curiously. “Has anything strange happened like the earth moving or something?”

The other boy started and looked scared. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Not bothering to dispute him, though he could tell that the boy was trying to cover up something; Piotr placed his sandwich in his lap and tried something that no one had seen him do around the farm. Cupping his hands around his mouth, the self made wizard closed his eyes mentally shaping a sound in his mind before trying to recreate it with his mouth and hands.

The whistling that emerged drew the attention of the wizards resting about twenty feet away as the call came out sounding like a bird they had all heard before in their travels. Bridging a sound between whistle and the screech of a peregion, a native predator bird, found in Southwall; Piotr could feel the magic in the tone as did the other wizards.

A rustle from the dried leaves in the tree above the other wizards brought their eyes to the branches above them as a hawk like bird dropped to land with a rustle of its brown wings to land on Piotr’s drawn up knees. Gasps from the girls as they feared the bird might scratch the boy, dissolved into holding still and doing nothing.

Opening his eyes, the future nature wizard locked on the peregion’s blue eyes. While the wings and most of its body was brown, the tips of the wings, head and breast of the bird nearly matched the coloring of its eyes. While the peregion looked at him without worry, Piotr opened his hands keeping his thumbs and fingers together to make a triangle. Willing his mind into the bird, the young wizard’s vision turned around to see the boy close his eyes as the head sunk forward against his hands.

With a quick flap of its wings, the peregion launched into the air to circle over the road. The wizards had mostly stood up at the sight and most could feel the boy’s magic at work.

“Put out your hand away from your body, Iris,” he mumbled just clear enough to be understood. The apprentice stood holding her arm out to her side looking unsure of the whole idea.

The peregion glided down flapping its wings to slow enough to properly lock onto her hand. Being careful not to even scratch the girl’s skin as it grabbed with its claws only hard enough to lock in place, the peregion turned to look at the girl. Piotr smiled seeing her worried face looking at the bird.