Plus Ultimate

by Simon Archer

  “That is my son,” Noham said, beaming with pride. He didn’t seem overly concerned that his teenage son was about to embark on the most dangerous quest in his kingdom’s history, but then again, I supposed the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

  “We will be in touch should we have more information for you,” Dalibor said, ignoring his brother and nephew. “The forest elves know to contact you directly at the training grounds should new developments arise, as well. I wish you great success and hope to see you all very soon, safe and sound.”

  We all bowed our heads to each other and turned to part ways, except for Noham, who seemed intent on clinging to Godfried until the last possible moment.

  “What I would not do to go on such a journey myself?” he said wistfully, staring off into the distance as if imagining a long-held dream coming true.

  “Do not worry, Father,” Godfried assured him. “I will make you proud.” He tried to sound confident, but I noticed that the young man looked uncomfortable now, a twitch appearing briefly above his eye. He must have been under a lot of pressure his whole life, and it was all finally culminating in this quest. On top of that, it seemed like his dad was living vicariously through him with this whole thing.

  “Oh, I do not doubt it.” Noham smiled jovially at his son and gave his shoulders one last squeeze. “Good fortune to you all.”

  We left then to meet up with the stableboy and our miniature horses outside. My own horse, a larger male I had named Bill, looked well-rested and almost chagrined to have to be leaving too soon. While the training grounds were great, the royal castle had the most luxurious stables in Eviorah.

  “Don’t worry, buddy,” I said, rubbing his long nose just where he liked it. “We’ll be back. You ready for this thing?”

  Bill huffed haughtily in response, but I knew my horse was up for anything. He and the other horses were already all set up with the things we’d packed the night before. That was when something occurred to me.

  “Will we be able to bring the horses into the mountains?”

  “We do not know,” Nadeine said, shaking her head as she mounted her own small white horse. “We know little to nothing of the terrain in the mountain regions. We will make a decision when we arrive.”

  I nodded. The forest elves would take care of the horses if we couldn’t take them with us, but it would definitely be slow going without them.

  “My horse has had much practice at traversing difficult terrain,” Godfried boasted as he mounted his own horse. It had a flowing yellow mane to match his mage’s robes.

  “I do not believe any of our training will prepare us for what is to come,” Nadeine reminded him.

  “It is better to be more prepared than less, no?” Godfried asked.

  Nadeine opened her mouth to respond, but not wanting to deal with another argument, I put myself in the middle of things.

  “How about we just chill for a while, sleep off last night’s drinks, and talk more later?” I suggested, and my companions agreed. Well, the conscious ones, anyway.

  Bernsten was already snoozing again atop his horse, having drifted off before he could finish his stina root.

  We traveled the kingdom for the next several days in relative peace, though Godfried and Nadeine continued to squabble from time to time. The whole kingdom was buzzing with the news of our quest, and we were greeted with questions and praise wherever we went. We also occasionally saw a forest elf traveling the cobblestone path, as the other race was now welcome within the kingdom’s walls. In fact, one of them came up to me as he passed us on the road. In contrast to the kingdom elves’ smooth skin and dark hair, this forest elf had brown hair and mousy features, as each adult forest elf took on some of the characteristics of a particular animal.

  “Is it true?” he squeaked as he pulled on the side of my robes gently, his mouse-like whiskers perking up in anticipation. “Are you coming to help my people?”

  “Yes,” I said with a confident nod. Even if I wasn’t absolutely sure myself, I wanted to keep the obviously distressed elf’s morale up. “We’re headed that direction now.”

  “Thank you,” the forest elf said as he released me. “Thank you.”

  “Have you been in the forest recently?” I asked. “Can you describe what they’ve seen there?”

  “No, I have not seen it myself.” The mouse-elf shook his head. “Only those on the very edge of the forest near the mountains can see it, and I have been here for several weeks now. I’m trying to learn some of your people’s food preservation skills to help my family. I just wanted to thank you, great mage, for your service to my people.”

  “No problem,” I said with a smile, nodding as I watched him scurry off in the other direction.

  That was only the first time something like that happened. I would go on to have numerous interactions like that over the next several days. It was clear something really did have the forest elves spooked, but on the bright side, it was also clear that the relationship between the kingdom and the forest elves had never been better. Our hope was that this would help us more than anything else.

  I was happy to be back at the training grounds when we arrived, and it felt like coming home. The long, circular building made of marble surrounded by bright green grass had really become my home away from home, and I looked at it fondly. Siara and Anil, the elderly kingdom elves who had trained me when I first spent time there after arriving in Eviorah, met us at the entrance. They were both wearing mage’s robes in the place of their old long white cloaks. Anil’s were a light purple color, almost lilac, and Siara’s were a soft yellow.

  “Oh, welcome back, Leo Hayden, welcome back,” Anil squeaked when we approached and dismounted our horses. The elder was nearly jumping up and down in his excitement, and that caused him to stumble a bit on his robes, which were a bit long for his short form. Fortunately, Siara caught his arm and steadied him.

  “Hey, Anil,” I said, grinning at him and laughing. “Good to see you again, too.”

  “We are glad to have you all back here,” Siara said, looking around at us once Anil was soundly back on his feet. “We hope your stay here will be fruitful.”

  An attendant came and took our horses off to the stables and our luggage to our rooms then, and I held open the door for Siara and Anil.

  “How has it been since we left?” I asked as we made our way inside the long circular building.

  “Very well,” Siara said merrily. “Though, somewhat expectedly, our progress has slowed since you left. Your presence truly is a great help, Leo. Your pre-existing knowledge of our magic system allows us to progress far more quickly than we otherwise would on our own.”

  “But nonetheless, we continue to practice,” Anil added. “The children are doing quite well. They come by magic more naturally than we do, I suppose, since we have lived so much of our lives without it.”

  “That makes sense,” I said thoughtfully. It was true. In the weeks I had spent helping the kingdom elves learn to use their new powers, my youngest students had progressed far more quickly than my older ones.

  We followed Siara and Anil down the long hallway and into the dining area for dinner, which was full of kingdom elves of varying ages in flowing mage’s robes. Now that they had their magic back, people traveled from all over the kingdom from all different professions and social classes to study here. In particular, members of the kingdom’s military, like Bernsten and Nadeine, as well as the children of important figures, had flocked to the training center once news got around that I would be teaching there.

  When we entered, everyone looked up to see me and cheered, letting out a chorus of greetings.

  “Welcome back, Leo Hayden,” called a young soldier in royal blue robes.

  “You have returned,” another said eagerly.

  “Are you truly going into the mountains?” a third asked, this one a woman.

  “Leo, you are back,” a little girl whose father headed up a castle on the other side of the kingdom cr
ied with obvious glee.

  “It’s great to see you guys, too,” I called back, waving to them all as I walked over to the buffet. With the initial greetings out of the way, I helped myself to some chicken, then sat down at a round table next to my companions to dig into my meal.

  “What’s on the docket for tomorrow?” I asked when we were all seated.

  “We have our children’s class in the morning and our military class in the afternoon, as usual,” Siara explained. “Would you be so kind as to join us?”

  “Of course,” I said, then I looked around at my companions. “Will you all come?”

  “Yes,” Nadeine said, nodding curtly. “It is why we are here.”

  “Are there any other military classes?” Godfried asked, instinctively reaching for the hilt of his sword. We had managed to avoid rehashing our earlier argument about swordplay versus magic thus far on our journey, but I was a bit worried now that we were at the training grounds, it would start up again.

  “Not at this time, but you are free to work on your other skills in the mornings,” Siara said kindly.

  “We will make a point of doing that,” Nadeine rushed to say before Godfried had a chance to respond. We went to bed shortly after that, fatigued from the day’s journey.

  The following morning, I met Siara and Anil in the main magi training room for the kids’ session. There were around twenty little ones between the ages of five and fifteen, with most of them falling somewhere in between. In general, the younger the kids, the faster they were picking up on the magical system.

  In my time teaching at the training center, I’d made a point to not just jump straight into the spells and instead teach my students the basic mechanics of music that I learned back on Earth. That was probably why the kids were doing so much better. Much like learning a new language, the younger the person learning, the quicker they were likely to pick it up.

  “How have you guys been doing since I’ve been gone?” I asked the kids once they all clustered around Siara, Anil, and me at the front of the room. “Been practicing?”

  They all nodded and assured me that they had.

  “Alright,” I grinned, “show me what you’ve got.”

  The kids all dispersed, and each one got into position on the edge of one of the wide mage’s circles etched into the floor. All at once, they started humming, filling the room with the sounds of music. They weren’t all singing the same spell, so some of the notes clashed with one another, but I smiled at the sounds, nonetheless.

  It was good to be back.

  Flashes of golden light appeared all over in the circles above the kids. Some of the spells weren’t fully formed, and all the kids could accomplish was creating bursts of light. However, according to the historical records that had been read to me, even that was quite an accomplishment for such young magi who had only been practicing for a few weeks. In some of the circles, though, full-blown spells appeared, long tendrils of light forming and joining together to perform a variety of tasks. Of course, there were no other objects in the room for the spells to interact with, but it looked like at least some of the kids were ready for that next step.

  “Hey, Anil, can you go grab some small tables from the dining hall or something?” I asked as I watched a couple of the kids create long arms out of the golden light. “I think some of them are ready-to-use spells on actual objects now.”

  “Of course, Leo Hayden,” Anil said as he rushed over to the door. “I will tell the servants to fetch some now. This is very exciting! Very exciting indeed!”

  “Alright,” I called out to the kids when most of them were finished. Only a few particles of the light remained hanging in the air. “Shanthi, Lana, Avitus, and Cosmo, are you guys ready to try that last spell you were practicing on an actual table?”

  The four kids all stepped forward and agreed excitedly. Lana and Cosmo were both around the kingdom elf equivalent of eight, while Lana was six and Avitus twelve. They were my most talented students, all the children of leaders in various castles scattered throughout the city.

  “Alright, just remember to focus on the patterns in the scales. You’ll be fine as long as you remember to follow the patterns you already know,” I instructed them. “Don’t let the fact that you’re working with an actual object now scare you. It’s the same spell and the same process. You’ll be fine.”

  Anil came scurrying back into the room with several servants carrying tables. They each set one down in the middle of a mage’s circle, after which each of the four kids positioned themselves at the other end of the circles.

  “Alright, whenever you’re ready,” I said when they were all looking at me expectantly. The kids each closed their eyes and began to hum the appropriate scale. A few bars in, golden light appeared and coalesced into four sets of arms, one for each kid. Avitus’ spell was the first to do its job, flipping over his circle’s table with ease. His eyes gleamed at the sight of it, but he didn’t break his concentration, allowing the spell to run its course until the tune was up and the arms disappeared in a puff of golden smoke.

  Shanthi and Lana also both fared well. Their tables didn’t move as much, and the pair of arms Lana’s spell created were a bit thinner than they should have been, but they were both able to complete the spell successfully. Cosmo got off to a good start, but unfortunately, he got a bit too excited when the arms reached the table and made it move a bit, and he broke his concentration to pump his fist in triumph. As a result, the arms disappeared prematurely, and the table fell to the floor with a wobbly clunking sound. The little boy sighed in disappointment as his mood quickly changed.

  “It’s okay, Cosmo,” I said, walking over to him and placing a hand on one of his slumped shoulders. “You were doing really well. You just celebrated too soon. You’ll do better next time. Do you want to try it again now or wait ‘till later?”

  “I can try it again,” the little boy said, excitement returning to his small, sharp features.

  “Alright.” I walked over to the table and placed it back in a good starting position. Once I was safely outside of the circle again, I said, “Whenever you’re ready. Just remember to concentrate. Maybe keep your eyes closed until the spell’s over this time.”

  Cosmo nodded, took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. As he began to hum the spell, he stretched out his arms. His little voice filled the room, and the golden arms reappeared.

  This time, Cosmo followed my advice and kept his eyes closed for the duration of the spell, though I could tell that he didn’t want to do so, especially when he heard the table moving. It took all of his willpower not to open his eyes, and he scrunched them closed as tightly as he could so as to resist the temptation. But the effort worked, and the table flipped over on its top in one fell swoop. We all applauded for him when the arms disappeared, and Cosmo tentatively reopened his eyes.

  “Did I do it?” he asked, looking around at us.

  “You sure did.” I grinned as I pointed at the flipped table. “See?”

  Even though it was right in front of him, Cosmo jumped in surprise when he followed the direction of my hand, noticing it for the first time. A wide grin spread across his face.

  “I did it!” he beamed.

  “I knew you would,” I laughed. Cosmo was probably my best student. One of the youngest kids, he had taken to music theory very quickly and had learned and memorized the spells faster than anyone else in the class. I had no doubt he’d be an advanced mage by the time he reached adulthood.

  We worked on a few more things, and by lunchtime, most of the kids had managed to move the table at least a little bit. Anil and Siara were very impressed. While the kids were learning the spells, and by extension, music theory, faster than the older students, the adults were stronger and thus had been able to use the spells they did learn more quickly.

  “Now that the children have managed to make this breakthrough, I expect they will move on to more advanced spells far more quickly than our other students,” Siara remark
ed as we led the kids to the dining hall for lunch.

  “I agree,” I said. “The floodgates will open now, and they’ll be able to do all kinds of things.”

  “Oh, this will be a very exciting time,” Anil mused happily. “I am only sorry that you will not be here, Leo Hayden.”

  “Hey, I’ll be back,” I chided. “But anyway, now that they’ve got the hang of it, it’ll be easy for them to advance without me. By the time I get back, I expect they’ll be performing all kinds of spells.”

  “Indeed,” Siara agreed. “I am more worried about the adults’ progress without you, Leo.”

  “Yeah, I am, too,” I said, thinking of my older students. “They need more micromanaging, don’t they?”

  Siara nodded. “And they will be the ones we need to advance most quickly should this new conflict come to war.”

  “They’ll be alright,” I said, but to be honest, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe Godfried was right, and the training grounds shouldn’t have stopped their usual military training regimen so soon in favor of learning to utilize their new abilities. “But it’s not like they’ve forgotten how to fight with swords.”

  “This is true,” Siara said, looking a little less concerned now.

  Godfried, Marinka, Bernsten, and Nadeine were waiting for us in the dining hall, and they didn’t look happy. They were in a huddle around their table, leaned in close to one another as they discussed something furiously. Well, it didn’t look to be coming to a pitched argument yet, so I grabbed some lasagna and the local equivalent of a Caesar salad before making me way over.

  “What’s going on?” I asked them, and they all turned to stare at me at once.

  “Our youngest companion decided to make his concerns known to the head of the military training here,” Nadeine said, glowering in Godfried’s direction.

  I took a seat between Nadeine and Bernsten. “Uh, I’m guessing that didn’t go over so well?”

  “It did not,” Nadeine said, not taking her eyes off Godfried.

  “I merely expressed my concerns,” Godfried said, waving away Nadeine’s ire as he turned his attention to his plate.