The Battlebone

by Guy Antibes

  He straightened out the paper with the flat of his hand. It didn’t need it, but Jack wanted some kind of movement to start. He thought about Penny’s home and sketched the basement, main floor, and upstairs as he remembered it. After that, he outlined a better defense than the Black Fingers had put up and claimed the target was an object of power in Penny’s bedroom, with Penny sleeping while he worked.

  The rest was very easy for Jack. He described how he evaded the defenses and even wrote down alternate actions if he missed a defense. He could use magic for every step, but this was a wizard-warrior program, so he fought a wizard and two guards on his way in. He did levitate out the window, so he could confront Myra Pulini in the stableyard and climbed the fence to get out.

  He was glad he wasn’t the last to finish.

  “Here it is. I put in sketches of the manor,” Jack said. “I hope that was within the rules.”

  “I didn’t give any rules,” the teacher said. “You may return to your seat. We will critique each essay.”

  Jack fidgeted, while the last few students completed their essays. The teacher shuffled through the papers.

  “Sakoru Sinda? Our newest student will be first. Come up and read your essay.”

  Jack grimaced. He didn’t appreciate starting off. How could he learn arrogance when being picked on, he thought with a smile?

  When he reached the front, the teacher gave him his paper back. This was just like the presentations he had to make at extended school back in Raker Falls. He never had a problem with those, and with that thought, his anxiety disappeared.

  “This is a manor with a basement, main floor, and upper floor.” He went through the defenses and claimed that he was given a tip on a good place to enter. No one complained, so he guessed he was still on the right track.

  The rest of the presentation wasn’t that much different from telling the story in a pub. He finished with exiting over the wall and handed the paper back to the teacher.

  “Comments?”

  A student raised his hand. “His actions were preposterous. No one can do all that he did. It is all a fairy tale.”

  Jack frowned. “What was a fairy tale?”

  “Teleporting like that.”

  Jack didn’t want to rub it in the young man’s face, but he teleported to the back of the room. “Like this?” He teleported to stand next to the teacher. “Or like this?”

  The student blinked.

  The teacher cleared her throat. “Other comments?”

  The class was silent.

  “You may sit,” the woman said to Jack.

  The rest of the forays were descriptions of martial art confrontations with very little magic other than a magic bolt or a flame. If this were all they would be teaching at Deep Mist, Jack would be disappointed.

  When the last person, a young woman who reminded Jack of Namori gave her presentation, the teacher dismissed the class after they cleaned the classroom.

  “Sinda, stay.”

  Jack didn’t know where to go, so he didn’t have a choice either way.

  “Is this infiltration real?”

  “It didn’t happen in quite the same way. I added guards. In the actual situation, there were three wizards in the house, along with a servant who had been compelled. The layout was much the same.”

  “Have you done other things like this?”

  “I have gone on a few errands for my mentor, a healing wizard in Raker Falls in Corand.”

  “Seeking objects of power?”

  Jack shrugged. “Three times including this current errand. Entering a guarded house isn’t easy, and you are always fearful of what might confront you, so writing it down like that it makes it seem simpler than it was.”

  The woman nodded. “You might end up helping me teach this class. My goal is to have students strategize before entering an unknown environment. You heard the other papers. I thought they were all good, but none of them compare to yours in detail or creativity.”

  Jack could see he would have to fight off getting a swelled head in Deep Mist, but he was determined to do so.

  “I have some additional experience than the others, but I am sure they all have talents that I don’t have.”

  The woman looked up at Jack. “We will see about that. I will consider what to do with you since you are at the end of where I want to bring these students.”

  “What is next?” Jack asked.

  “Ah. Martial arts is next. You have had some training at Yomomai?”

  “A bit, but I don’t excel in swordsmanship.”

  “Or hand-to-hand?”

  Jack shook his head. “Not that either.”

  “That is a weaker part of Yomomai academy training anyway. Come.”

  The woman shoved everything into a cloth bag and had Jack follow her out to a crushed gravel area just outside the building in the training field. The other students were already doing some exercise forms, wearing short white robes and pants. They wore different colored sashes.

  A gray-haired instructor, wearing black exercise clothes tied up with a white sash with a band of shiny gold embroidered in the center, walked up to them. “This is the new boy? Sinda?”

  The woman nodded. “He is all yours. He is too advanced for my class. He doesn’t think he is for yours, though.”

  “I will test him once the class gets started.” He looked at Jack. “We wear exercise uniforms. White for my beginner class, black for the advanced classes.”

  “I’m white, for sure,” Jack said.

  “We will see. You are tall, and that isn’t an advantage here.”

  Jack was glad for that after his last experience. He followed his new instructor through another exterior sliding door into a room with a counter and exercise clothes in cubbies. After looking at Jack, his instructor pulled a set down, added practice sandals, and handed Jack a white sash.

  “You start white, and I will award you a different color as you progress. My belt is the highest for a Pearl Mist member. You can change in there.” The instructor pointed to another door. Find an empty cubby and hang this number on the hook. Moving hooks are not permitted, understand?”

  “I do,” Jack said. The trickster in him was a bit disappointed. If he had to get back at one of the other students, he would have to find a different way.

  It didn’t take him long until he walked out wearing sandals that weren’t very comfortable.

  The instructor took Jack aside. “Do you know any moves?”

  “A few. We didn’t have much in the way of martial arts in Taiyo, and I was at Yomomai for only three months. I know more sword forms.”

  “Then follow along with me. I’ll be able to tell if you’ve practiced the moves.”

  The instructor put Jack through a series of moves. Jack mimicked them. He didn’t do too badly, but he didn’t remember all the names, by the time he was done.

  “Now for a little practical testing.” The instructor called one of the three females in the class.

  “Fight him, but don’t injure him,” the instructor said.

  Jack looked down at his opponent. She didn’t even come up to his shoulder. He smiled as he thought his knees were totally unprotected, but his face was safe.

  They walked to a mat spread out on the crushed gravel. The girl took her sandals off, so Jack did the same. She acquired a stance that was unfamiliar to Jack, but he tried to stay loose and react to whatever she had to give him.

  She attacked, bringing her foot up, nearly to his face. Jack backpedaled and waited again. She made the same move, but Jack grabbed the girl’s ankle and foot and twisted. He’d done the same thing when his friend tried to kick him in friendly wrestling matches in Raker Falls, and it worked as well now as it did then, but the girl twisted with both hands on the mat rearing back for another kick. Jack would have none of that so just as she was about to kick he let her go, taking away her using him as a leverage point.

  He backed up again. He let her kick him in the side and grabbed her le
g, wondering what to do, but she struck out with her hands. He leaned back far enough to evade her blows and pushed her leg, throwing her to the mat. She rolled and shot to her feet.

  She closed with a flurry of very fast body blows. Jack was at a distinct disadvantage once she got within range. He couldn’t match her strikes with his defensive attempts. He had to back away again.

  Jack didn’t want to hit the girl’s head, so he moved in with body blows of his own. She grabbed his hand and bent his fingers back and somehow got her arm beneath his upper arm while she applied pressure. He believed the girl was strong enough with that leverage to break his arm, so he stood up.

  “I’m defeated,” Jack said.

  The instructor curled his lip. “You did as well as I expected,” the man said. “You haven’t seen many of her moves, have you?”

  Jack shook his head. “I’ve twisted the foot of the kicker before, but the arm thing…” He twisted his fist and rubbed his forearm.

  “You will learn that and many more. The others are all ahead of you, so I will work with you in the evenings.”

  Jack didn’t have anything else planned, of course. “I’ll be here.”

  “Of course, you will be here. Observe the others as they practice.”

  The girl who defeated him and her opponent, a male, fought. It was apparent that she was better than the young man. Jack noticed both of them used several moves he had never seen before. This would be a much tougher class than the last one. The speed of everyone was faster than what Jack thought he could muster, but then he guessed that they probably used the same meditation technique Jack had been taught in the sword class. In fact, he surmised that all wizard-warriors used meditation to increase their speed in every physical activity.

  He walked around, watching the other four pairs work out, with the extra person in the class working in a threesome. That was more fun to watch, but less instructive for what Jack needed to learn.

  “It is time to eat. Change, and I’ll meet you out here and show you to the dining hall.”

  Only a few of the wizard-warriors-in-training were still in the changing room. He quickly changed and walked back out onto the training area. He didn’t wait long before the instructor met him. The instructor had wound his long hair into a topknot, but Jack noticed his classmates wore their hair, mostly like Jack.

  The dining hall was a building that was two stories tall, but the dining hall had no floor above it. Jack guessed it was used for more than dining. All the tables were low with cushions, causing Jack to groan inside.

  After collecting their food from a long service line, Jack discovered that the meal was a little spicier than what he had in Yomomai but not as bad as some of the food he had eaten in other countries. Everyone drank water with their meal. That made sense, at least for the trainees like himself.

  “Did you learn anything from your observations?” the instructor asked.

  “I don’t know very much about fighting without a weapon. I can use magic in those instances, but I’ve never seen so many different moves. I do know how to meditate on moving faster. I figured the students use the same technique.”

  The instructor smiled. “That is a very good observation, and you are correct. We have already been through meditation training. I will want you to spend time on your own, going through the moves you’ve learned.”

  Jack nodded. “But the speed isn’t as important as the strategy that is employed as the fight goes on. That is just like sword fighting.”

  “It is,” the instructor said. “Bring that thinking with you tomorrow. If you can remember the opponent’s moves in your match today, meditate on that tonight.”

  “After we get together after dinner?”

  “I’ll give you two days. Tomorrow, I want you to do the same thing. Show up a bit earlier to see how we warm up.”

  Jack nodded. He didn’t want to, but he didn’t know what else to say.

  “Wizard skills take up the second half of your days. They may not seem taxing, but for most students, they are the toughest sessions. They meet in the building on the opposite side of the administration. There is a lightning bolt above the courtyard gate.”

  Jack pulled out his map of Deep Mist. “Here?”

  The instructor nodded. “I have my advanced students to greet. Tomorrow, then.” He gave Jack the ghost of a bow. Jack returned it with something deeper.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ~

  T he wizardry building was actually a set of two-story pavilions, arrayed behind a six-foot wall. The central courtyard was raked in a jagged pattern. He noticed someone using their magic to repair the grooves without touching the gravel. He wasn’t the only one in the courtyard, disturbing the worker’s efforts.

  Jack walked into the central pavilion. A young woman stopped him. “Are you lost?”

  “I am here for wizardry. My name is Sakoru Sinda, and this is my first day. Do you know where I should go?”

  “Follow me, Sinda,” the woman said.

  She led him to the pavilion on the left. Inside here.”

  Jack bowed to her and entered the open doors.

  “Sakoru Sinda?” a man said, standing close to the door. He wore a wizard’s hat. “You are the tallest person in Deep Mist, so I am assuming you are you.”

  “I am,” Jack said.

  “Good. My name is Rekori. You come with high praise. It is true you are one of Akkora’s blessed?”

  “In my country, we are called wizard’s helpers,” Jack said.

  “Push a little energy into me,” Rekori said, extending his hand.

  Jack did as he asked.

  “That was a little?”

  Jack nodded.

  “My experiences with those claiming to be blessed are disappointing, but not you. “You can imbue healing rods?”

  “And energy rods. Those are objects of power, and I can make a few of those.”

  “I heard you have a collection of objects.”

  “Most I made myself. I only brought three with me,” Jack said, “but I didn’t make any of them.”

  “You have them on you?”

  “I have a wand in my room,” Jack said. “It stores power and gives me more control over wizard bolts. I have a little box from Tesoria that is a source of power and these.” Jack lifted his hands, showing the bracers.

  “And what do those do? Give you more speed when you fight?”

  Jack smiled and stepped just outside. He put a thin layer of ice on the gravel and then washed it with his other wrist guard.

  “Where do the ice and water come from?” Rekori stared at the wet gravel.

  “I don’t know. It was a gift from an extremely powerful wizardess,” Jack said, “along with the box.”

  “You haven’t disappointed me yet, and I was expecting to be underwhelmed. You have more tricks?”

  Jack shrugged. “I don’t know that many spells. I use telepathy to talk to my mentor, I can teleport reasonable distances, and I can clean people from coercion.” Jack waited for a response from Rekori, and he got one.

  The wizard frowned for a bit. “You know we use coercion to fortify our warriors?”

  “I do,” Jack said. “I’m not interested in what you do to pump bravery into them, but it almost got my companions killed. My friends went on a mission and left their charms behind.”

  “Charms?”

  “I made them anti-coercion charms, so they are immune from such spells. The Black Finger Society in Corand use their spells to turn sorcerers into their followers.”

  Rekori pursed his lips. “We would never do such a thing, but I am interested in the charms as a defensive measure.”

  “Some of what I do, others can’t. It is the nature of my condition.”

  “Your blessing,” Rekori said.

  “Most of the time, it is a blessing,” Jack said. “What will I learn from you?”

  “The spells that you don’t know. Perhaps you can provide me with a list of what you can do. It doesn’t h
ave to be exhaustive since we will be working together quite a bit. Wizardry is obviously your greatest talent.”

  Jack kept silent. He had a flippant comment on the tip of his tongue, but he just gave Rekori a nod for a bow.

  “I was going to put you in a class with the rest of the new students, but I’m afraid you will only intimidate them, and we don’t like our wizard-warriors to be intimidated.”

  “Miru said you like to teach them arrogance.”

  “The arrogance comes all on its own, but an Akkora-blessed is something else. We will meet after lunch each day on magic theory and spells. Later in the day, we will venture into the possibilities your talents lend us.”

  “Does someone integrate the warrior and the wizard at some point?” Jack asked.

  Rekori smiled. “Later. Sooner than later, in your case. I have seen and heard enough for today. The practical training will start tomorrow after our first session. I was told to tell you to report to the weapons hall after breakfast.”

  “That is different from hand-to-hand combat?”

  Rekori nodded. “Martial arts include hand-to-hand fighting and the use of weapons. Three morning classes: weapons, strategies, hand-to-hand. Two afternoon classes: magic theory and practical wizardry. Something will probably come up to keep you occupied after dinner.”

  “More hand-to-hand,” Jack said. “I start the day after tomorrow. I don’t know any moves.”

  “Easier to learn that than how to gain magical power. I will see you tomorrow.” Rekori bowed and walked back into the building.

  ~

  Having no place else to go, Jack decided to explore Deep Mist. The village wasn’t that big. He had figured that out when they rode in. His map of the village described the other side of the river as off-limits to students. This was Jack’s first day, so he figured he could take a stroll and return.

  Surprisingly, it was a residential district. Those who lived all the time in the village must live on the other side rather than in the dormitories that were on the side with the instructional buildings.

  Children were playing in the lanes. He found rows of townhouses with gardens in the back and in the front. He even found a string of shops. Jack stepped into one and bought some snacks, or what passed for snacks in Masukai. The knowledge of families in Deep Mist gave the place a different feel for him.