by V. St. Clair
“That’s because it isn’t,” another boy cut into the conversation. “He didn’t call down a pillar of fire, but he did kill a fully-grown dragon with his bare hands.”
“Excuse me,” Aleric said in annoyance, pushing his way through the crowd at the bottom of the stairs and shoving his way past people who didn’t seem to mind being pushed. “I didn’t realize this was Junir’s official Block the Corridors Day,” he grumbled to no one in particular.
“Oh, Aleric, it’s you!” Maralynn Branton greeted him warmly, though for once she wasn’t blushing furiously or goggling at him like he was something divine. “I’ve tried explaining the truth to people, but the rumors have gone too far and wide overnight.”
Aleric raised an eyebrow and asked, “What in the world is going on? Did someone famous show up overnight and no one told me about it?”
Maralynn giggled and said, “No, but Asher was incredible in our challenge arena last night, and now the whole school is talking about it.” She exhaled heavily and said, “I was there, and it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. I had no idea he was that powerful.”
Aleric frowned and pushed his way to the front of the group, where the arena rankings were displayed. Asher’s group had been towards the middle yesterday afternoon; they’d moved up six spots overnight, lagging Aleric’s group by only four positions now.
That kind of overnight gain is unheard of. They could only have managed that if they got a perfect score…
The Masters almost never handed out perfect tens in the arena challenges unless you did something truly extraordinary. Aleric had only gotten four, in the entirety of his schooling.
“What did he do that was so wonderful?” Aleric turned to Maralynn, motioning for her to walk beside him to the dining hall for breakfast. It was the first time he had really solicited her company, since he did his best to discourage her affections for Asher’s sake, and she looked mildly stunned by the offer as she fell into step beside him.
“We found the trigger crystal early, but were supposed to be taking the long way around to it; the Masters had a field full of monsters blocking the quick route to keep us from going that way. There must have been a hundred of them there, all lined up and staring at us…”
“Surely that is an exaggeration,” Aleric cut her off abruptly. The Masters did their best to challenge them to their limits, but even they had a sense of what was fair and what wasn’t. They would never send so many monsters against a group of four…
“No, it isn’t—that’s why it’s so incredible,” Maralynn argued, still walking beside him towards the dining hall. “Like I said, I don’t think we were meant to fight them, they were just there to scare us into going around the long way…only Asher didn’t get scared like the rest of us; he charged in all by himself and started fighting.”
That didn’t sound like his best friend at all. Since when did Asher give a fig about the challenge arenas or his scores? Perhaps he was trying to take his desire to impress Maralynn to a whole new level?
“You want me to believe that Asher single-handedly declared battle against a hundred assorted monsters,” he didn’t frame it as a question because the answer would have been obvious.
“That’s what happened,” Maralynn argued, looking a little annoyed at him for not automatically believing her.
Good, maybe she’ll turn her attentions to Asher and stop mooning over me. He would have to try and irritate her more often.
“He just ran at them and started casting with his prisms; I saw him take down a fully-grown dragon with a single spell. When he ran out of prisms he switched to wands, and then elixirs. At the very end I swear he killed a lynx with his bare hands, though it almost got him twice before he managed it,” she insisted as they entered the dining hall.
“You realize how unlikely this all sounds, don’t you?” Aleric pressed, making his way towards his usual table while people called out to Maralynn to get more details about what happened in the arena last night. It appeared that Asher’s glory was the only topic of conversation in the school right now, which was a rather annoying way to begin the day.
“Just because you haven’t noticed how powerful he is doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t know,” Maralynn snapped at him, flouncing off in a huff to answer the requests of her peers.
Oh, I know exactly how powerful my friend is, Aleric thought darkly. He doubted there was anyone alive who monitored his friend’s abilities more closely, the constant barometer of success against which he marked his own progress.
Still, I’m the one who wins most of our duels, the one who is at the top of the school in research awards, arenas, and grades.
He sat down and summoned Cinder to him, waiting for his familiar to arrive while he ate some oat paste with maple syrup and milk mixed in. The noise around the entrance of the room rose sharply, and Aleric turned to see a slightly bemused Asher walk into the room. He still looked rumpled, clearly not expecting an audience, with a crease running the length of one cheek from his bedsheets and his hair an unholy mess around his circlet—not that it was tidy on the best of days. He spotted Aleric and made a beeline towards him, though he did stop to acknowledge the people who insisted on slapping him on the back or cheering as he walked past.
“Great lords,” he greeted Aleric, throwing himself heavily onto the bench beside him. “I’m not used to people applauding when I show up for breakfast. I’ve really got to set the bar a bit higher for myself.”
“Apparently you’re a big hero now,” Aleric said with an eye-roll. “Something about slaying a hundred evil monsters single-handedly. Even Maralynn is buying into it and spreading it around.”
Asher raised his eyebrows in surprise and turned in time to see Maralynn smiling at him. His lips tugged upwards in automatic response, and he waved. Aleric would never understand what his friend saw in the silly girl.
“Oh, that. I didn’t realize people would find out about it, or care.” Asher shrugged, making no effort to deny the wild rumors about what he had done.
“You mean to say that you actually took on a hundred monsters without any help, and with limited weapons? And you didn’t die in there or collapse from Source-fatigue?”
If that was true, then his Source must be enormous…Aleric wasn’t at all sure whether he could pull off such a feat without passing out.
“If you’ll recall, I did hurl myself into bed and go to sleep the moment I returned to the room last night,” Asher explained. “I wouldn’t have made it back to the room at all, but Trish loaned me some of her strength for the walk back from the translocation circle. Speaking of which…I need to thank her for that,” he became distracted, glancing around the room for her, though Aleric didn’t see her in the dining hall yet.
Maralynn was rejoining their table now, sitting beside Asher and beaming up at him.
“I was telling Aleric how great you were last night, but he thought I was making it all up,” she greeted him without even looking at Aleric. “We moved up six whole spots on the rankings just from that challenge alone. I can’t believe we got a perfect score at last!”
She actually hugged him, which Asher clearly savored, saying something that sounded like, “Anything for the glory of the team,” into her hair, which muffled the words.
Aleric suppressed another eye-roll.
“Will you help me with Wands homework tonight?” she blinked up at him. “I know you’ll probably get lots of other invitations to do cooler things, but you’re the most powerful person in the school and I do so much better on my exams when you explain things to me, so—”
“Of course I’ll help you, Mara.” Asher grinned at her. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Really?” She looked surprised—and flattered—by his attention. “Even though Garrick is talking about throwing you a party tonight in the mastery-level common area?”
Asher looked distinctly haughty as he said, “If they want me to show up for a party, they can schedule it at a time t
hat’s convenient for me.”
“You’re the best!” Maralynn threw her arms around him once more, kissing him on the cheek so that Asher—who was rarely flustered by anything—actually blushed. “I’ll come to your room after dinner!” she ruffled his untidy hair with one hand so that it stood out even more, then hurried off to talk to a group of her girlfriends at another table.
“You are such a whipped dog when it comes to Maralynn,” Aleric informed him quietly, so that no one else would hear the dig.
Asher merely shrugged and said, “However she would have me.” Then he began digging into his eggs and toast with fervor, declaring, “This is shaping up to be an excellent morning.”
We’ll have to agree to disagree on that sentiment.
“If you’re strong enough to take on whole legions of monsters by yourself, then how in the world do you keep losing in duels to me?” Aleric blurted out unintentionally. “Don’t tell me you’ve been throwing them for some reason.”
The pleased look vanished from his friend’s face immediately, replaced by one of shock. He swallowed his mouthful of toast without chewing it properly and said, “Don’t be an idiot. You think I enjoy getting my butt handed to me in duels twice a week?” he scowled. “Truth be told, my heroism last night was mostly a misunderstanding, not that I’d tell Mara that.”
Aleric raised an interested eyebrow and asked, “What do you mean?”
Asher sighed. “The Masters have been goading me about my lack of enthusiasm for their games, my arrogance, my obnoxious personality, and anything else that strikes them at the moment. When I saw that field full of monsters, it didn’t even occur to me that it was just there to force us along a different path. I arrogantly assumed that they were trying to make my life miserable, and I got a head full of steam and just ran blindly into it to prove a point.”
Aleric covered his mouth with one hand, trying to stifle a laugh. That did seem like the sort of thing that Asher would do, and made the entire thing suddenly much more logical.
“Did you really run out of weapons and end up fighting them by hand at the end?”
Asher snorted and said, “Just the last one or two. I don’t remember it very well, other than wondering why my teammates were being useless while I did all the heavy lifting. Turns out they were wondering why I’d lost my mind.”
“Now you’re even more popular than I am,” Aleric pointed out, trying to keep the displeasure from his voice as he said it.
“Maybe for today,” Asher scoffed, poking at the remnants of his food. “You’ll go back to being the golden boy tomorrow. It wasn’t that big of a deal; you would have beaten them just as easily.”
Would I have? Aleric wasn’t certain.
Instead he smiled and said, “Well, at least you pulled it off, so now everyone mistakes your stupidity for heroism,” in the hopes of consoling his friend. “You moved up considerably in the rankings as well.”
Asher shrugged as though this annoyed him for some reason. Aleric sometimes thought he would never understand his friend properly, but dropped the depressing subject.
“At least some good came from it,” Asher acknowledged. “I’ll get to spend some one-on-one time with Mara tonight.”
Aleric refrained from groaning with difficulty and stood up, finished with his breakfast.
“You should just tell the girl you like her and ask her out on a date. You’re popular, talented, and reasonably good-looking—”
“Reasonably?” Asher interrupted in a tone of mock indignation.
“—she has no reason to deny you,” Aleric continued as though he hadn’t heard the interruption.
Well, no reason except for the fact that we both know she’s been pining over me for years.
But that was never going to happen, and the sooner the girl realized it, the better. Neither one of them acknowledged Maralynn’s feelings for him out loud.
“When the time is right, I’ll tell her,” Asher relented. “Where are you running off to, anyway?”
“I have some errands to complete outside of Mizzenwald. I’ll be back later in the morning.” He waved a dismissive hand and turned to leave the dining hall, eager to take a break from school.
In truth, he didn’t have any errands to run today, though he could always use that as an excuse when he wanted some time away from school, because occasionally he did have to leave to do work for his family. Right now he just wanted to get away for a while, because everyone in Mizzenwald seemed to be talking about how awesome Asher was, and he wasn’t used to being overshadowed by his best friend—not since first year, at least.
First I find out we were secretly working on the same research project for all that time, and now this?
He was out the front doors and headed towards the main courtyard when he saw Master Kilgore approaching from the opposite direction.
“Ah, Frost,” the Master of Elixirs greeted him in his usual gruff tone. “Good, I wanted a word with you.”
“Oh?” Aleric asked with interest, stopping as their paths intersected so they could talk. He didn’t normally have much interaction with Master Kilgore anymore, not since he stopped taking Elixirs.
“My brother tells me that he and Susanna had dinner at your family’s house last night. Apparently he’s in a mind to marry my niece off to you.”
He didn’t pose it as a question, but Aleric got the impression that he was waiting for confirmation on this point before continuing.
“Uh, I think that’s the general idea, though I don’t believe anything will be formalized for several years,” he replied, feeling a little awkward discussing the matter with one of his former teachers.
Master Kilgore snorted and said, “I’m very fond of Susanna; she’s a nice girl. It goes without saying that you’ll treat her with the respect she deserves?”
Is he actually giving me the Treat My Relative Well Or Else speech right now?
This morning was beyond weird.
“Sir?” he asked, uncertain what exactly the Master of Elixirs was getting it. “I try not to be disrespectful to anyone, as a general rule…”
Unless they really deserve it.
“You’re quite popular with the ladies, from what I hear,” Kilgore stated bluntly, continuing before Aleric could open his mouth to defend himself. “Don’t bother denying it; your reputation is well known throughout most circles.” He waved a dismissive hand. “I realize it’s not entirely your fault, and that you are a young man who is still free to pursue his options, but if you enter into any formal agreements with my idiot brother concerning Susanna, I expect you to do the right thing and settle down.”
“Of course, sir,” Aleric responded, slightly annoyed that there was even a question in the man’s mind about this. “I’m the good one, remember? It’s my best friend that has the questionable integrity—according to you all, at least.”
Master Kilgore must have read something into this that Aleric hadn’t intended, because he looked suddenly shrewd as he said, “Speaking of Asher, the boy did quite well in the arena last night. I expect you’ve heard about it by now?”
Wondering at the change of subject, Aleric frowned slightly and said, “Who hasn’t? I woke up to find the whole school talking about it.” He rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s blathering on about how he’s the best mage at Mizzenwald because of one epic battle.”
“Jealous?” Kilgore asked evenly, surprising Aleric with his bluntness. Then again, that was one of the things that Aleric usually admired about the Master of Elixirs: he always knew where he stood with him.
“No, I’m happy for him; it’s about time everyone else starts realizing what a powerhouse he is. It just makes me wonder…”
Master Kilgore was watching him silently, waiting for him to continue.
“If he really took down a hundred monsters all on his own, it makes me wonder whether I could have done the same thing. Being the only two natural prism-users in the school, we’re constantly measuring our skills against one another. I u
sually win our duels, but sometimes I wonder if he isn’t going easy on me for some reason…like, if he really unleashed his full power, he might be much better than me.”
That was something he worried about almost daily, though it wasn’t something he generally admitted to people. He had no idea why he was explaining it to the Master of Elixirs right now, though he trusted the man to keep it in confidence.
“I know that it’s natural for you to compare yourself to Asher as a benchmark, but you can’t let thoughts like that worry you or it will sour your friendship. You’ve been friends with that knuckle-headed young man for years now; if there’s one person you can rely on to have your back, it’s him. Trust your friends, Frost, and let the rest go.”
Surprisingly, Aleric found that advice helpful.
He’s right. I shouldn’t spend so much time worrying over whether Asher is stronger than me or not. He’s my best friend, and whether he can slay a hundred monsters in a single arena or not, I’m still my father’s heir and the future head of the Frost family.
“Thank you, sir. That’s good advice.”
“If it makes you feel any better, those are words that Asher has probably never uttered in his entire life, so you’ll always be ahead of him there.” Kilgore chuckled, and Aleric smiled.
They said their farewells and Aleric continued on his way until he reached the courtyard itself, equipping a violet prism and twisting it around in his eyepiece to find the right series of alignments for a translocation spell.
Between one blink and the next he found himself standing in Merina, a town in southern Junir—though to be fair, Mizzenwald was on the northern coast of Junir so pretty much everything else was south of it. He had picked the location at random, mostly because he had heard the fair was in town, and thought it might be interesting to walk around and meet people he wouldn’t ordinarily encounter.
He appeared near the town square, which had been converted into a sort of market for the event. Fruit and vegetable stands lined three of the four edges of the square, with all of the local growers and farmers bringing their best crops to show off and be judged, hoping to win the distinction of a blue-and-white ribbon of excellence to attract more business in the coming year. Beyond the square, Aleric could see a parade beginning to form up, people already lining the cobblestone roadway on either side to ensure a good view.
