“Huh.”
“Enough about that, tell me what Dragon Keeper Clifton said.”
“She agreed with the assessment that Lord is a dragon, and she is moving me to Advanced Dragon Studies.”
“Really? Wow.”
Jack frowned. “What you mean, wow?”
“Wow, I’ve never heard of a first-year student getting put into Advanced Dragon Studies. I mean, sure, it makes sense with you having a dragon familiar, but it is kind of unheard of. Word of this is going to get around.”
As Dragon Keeper Clifton had said, the benefits of having a dragon familiar would outweigh the cons of having to worry about jealous students, so he would just deal with it. Perhaps Lord Scratches was his advantage to staying in the school. “I don’t care what anyone thinks. We’ll be fine, right, Lord?”
Lord Scratches squawked in agreement.
20
The blade sliced in front of Jack’s eyes. He stumbled backwards and then lifted his sword to block the downward attack he knew was coming. Only, the attack never came—it was a feint. Instead, a boot landed on his chest, sending him flying backwards.
“Good work, Liahorn,” Instructor Brazee said. “Misdirection and a well-timed attack can be a powerful combination.”
Lana grinned as she offered Jack a hand up.
“Vance. You still are overthinking everything. You need to trust your instincts. Why did you lean back during her first head strike?”
“That’s what my grandfather taught me to do,” Jack said.
“It was a good move, but then you stood there like a bunny watching a wolf approach. That was your opening to take the fight to her. You need to recognize those moments and take them. If you hesitate in battle, you die.”
Jack nodded. When it came to fighting with his fists, he tended to be good at knowing when to attack. With swords, he was still hesitant, and it showed. Hopefully, with time he’d learn to trust his instincts.
Instructor Brazee turned his head to watch another team. “What in the seven hells are you doing, Wells? I swear my Aunt Lucille could block an attack better than that and she’s ninety-seven.”
As Instructor Brazee went to teach Wells the proper way to block, Jack turned to Lana. “You’re killing me.”
“Straight-up murder,” Lana said with a grin.
“Alright, you meatheads, it is time to put your practice weapons away and show me what you’ve done with your real blades,” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack was excited. Between his short dwarven sword and Lana’s elven blade they had two ancient blades, and he’d restored them to an excellent condition.
“I know everyone’s been dying to see what a proper ancient blade looks like, so let’s have our three students who managed to pick one come forward.
Jack, Lana and Craig stepped forward.
“Craig, let’s see what you’ve done,” Instructor Brazee said.
Craig unwrapped his sword. It was a steel blade that looked almost silver, and it was highly polished. It was obvious that Craig had put a lot of work into restoring his blade. Jack was impressed.
Instructor Brazee inspected the weapon. He looked at the handle, tested its weight and checked the edge. Finally, he handed it back to Craig. “Well done. This is a good blade. Ancient steel, a good weight and length for your fighting style, and you’ve done a good job restoring it. It could be a little sharper, but I’ve seen plenty of so-called soldiers who have blades that aren’t as well cared for.”
Craig looked visibly relieved. He smiled as he accepted the instructor’s praise.
Instructor Brazee turned to Lana. She unwrapped her blade and handed it to him.
“Another good example of ancient forging and blacksmith work. The ancients were masters at making weapons not just out of steel but many other minerals. Obsidian blades are reputed to be among the sharpest ever produced. And obviously this is an elven-style blade, so like Craig, you’ve made a fine selection in blades.” He went through the same process of inspecting the blade that he’d done on Craig’s. “And as I suspected, this is probably the sharpest blade I’ve ever handled. Well done, Lana.”
Lana went to take the blade back but she paused. “Thank you, sir, but I had help. Jack sharpened my blade.” She pulled out her old sword. “I sharpened this one.”
Instructor Brazee looked over at Jack appraisingly. He then felt the edge of Lana’s old sword. “Nothing wrong with the edge on this blade. Why did you have Jack help you?”
“Because he’s the best, sir. My weapon deserves the best.”
“So the dwarven-blood boy who is by far the worst student I’ve had in a long time is the best at sharpening weapons? Is that what you’re trying to tell me, Miss Liahorn?”
Lana nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“OK. Mister Vance, you have us all waiting with bated breath. Let’s see what you’ve done with the crustiest, ugliest blade chosen is some years. That blade has been here longer than I have. Let’s see what’s been hiding all this time.”
Jack unwrapped his blade and handed it to Instructor Brazee. The instructor grunted. “Yet another fine example of the diversity of the ancient masters. What can you tell me about this blade, Mister Vance?”
Jack was surprised he was getting quizzed on his blade, neither of the others had been quizzed. “I believe it is an ancient dwarven blade. It is pewter, the white color comes from high antimony and copper ratios.”
“Anything else?” Instructor Brazee asked.
“It may be a mage’s blade,” Jack said.
“OK. I hope everyone learned a lesson here. The blade that was in the worst condition is actually one of the most valuable weapons you can get. For those of you considering taking the quester path, this is why it is important to not just rely on your eyes. Many students have inspected this sword and thrown it back in the pile. Taking a little time to see what was underneath the crust and rust would’ve revealed the color of the blade. That would’ve been a good indicator that it was something worth keeping. That it is a magical blade is a bonus, but even if it weren’t, this would’ve been a solid find for any quester. Same with Craig’s and Lana’s blades.” Instructor Brazee then went through the process of inspecting Jack’s blade. He then handed it back. “Aside from the obvious value of this weapon, I can say that it is an appropriate weight and length, and like Lana’s blade, is one of the sharpest I’ve ever seen. How is it, Mister Vance, that you are responsible for two of the sharpest blades I’ve ever had my hands on, yet you are without doubt the worst when it comes to wielding a weapon?”
Jack grinned. Even Instructor Brazee’s comments about his swordsmanship couldn’t dampen his mood. “My grandfather taught me. He was a tinker.”
“And nothing is sharper than a tinker’s blade, isn’t that right, Mister Vance?”
“Yes, sir.”
“There you have it. For those of you who are having issues with getting a blade sharp, I suggest introducing yourselves to him, although I suspect you’ll be too proud to take lessons from a lowborn. Anyways, those of you who didn’t find an ancient weapon, take your blades out. We’ll start with the advanced students and work our way down. Those of you waiting can take one last shot at getting your weapons ready. These three students have set a high bar on what a restored weapon should look like.”
As the other students pulled out their weapons for inspection, Craig joined Jack and Lana.
Jack closed his eyes and looked up to the sun, raising his arms like he’d just achieved a great victory.
“You know you look silly, right?” Lana said with a smile.
“Absolutely, but I may never have another moment like this while I’m here so I’m enjoying it.”
Craig shook his head. “Why wouldn’t he have another moment like this?” he asked Lana.
“Jack thinks his ability to sharpen a blade is his only skill and this is the pinnacle of his career as a Darkthorn Academy student.”
“That’s silly,” Craig said.
&n
bsp; Jack opened his eyes and lowered his arms. “Is it, though? I suck at swordplay. I’m the worst in the class by far. I’m also terrible at magic. The chances of my being successful at anything other than being a tinker seems highly unlikely.”
Lana laughed.
Jack frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“You. You’re being ridiculous. First off, you may be the worst in this class, but the rest of us have been training for years. You started, what, a couple months ago at best. Second, you have magical talent, even if you haven’t figured out how to use it properly. Not that many students have that. Third, you have a minidras familiar, how many students can say that?”
Suddenly Jack felt sheepish. Lana was right. The school was challenging for him, but he really did sound like a whiner when he talked like that. “Point taken.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate this little victory—after all, you really do have a talent when it comes to sharpening and restoring blades. In fact, that is what I was coming over to ask you about. Would you mind giving me some suggestions on how to get my blade sharper?” Craig said.
Jack nodded. “Sure, I can do that. Show me how you’ve been doing it.”
Craig pulled out his whetstone, spit on it to get it wet, and then started to sharpen his blade.
Jack stopped him. “Can I see your whetstone for a second?”
Craig handed it to him. Jack felt it on both sides. It was a good two-sided whetstone, but Craig had started with the fine side instead of the slightly coarser backside. “Unless your blade is already really sharp, always start with the coarse side. You want a little less angle. Try for about fifteen degrees, like this.” Jack demonstrated. “Once the blade starts to feel sharp, switch to the fine side of the whetstone. Also, when you can, use water—spit is fine in a pinch, but wetter is better. And lastly, always be consistent. If you do twenty strokes on one side of the blade, do the exact same on the other side.”
Jack handed back the whetstone and Craig tried again.
“That’s better. Keep doing that and you’ll have that blade sharp in no time,” Jack said.
“Thanks, Jack, I owe you one.”
21
After the morning Combat class, Jack sat through ethics class with no issues. It was a straightforward class, and fairly easy as long as he did the reading ahead of time. Jack had no problems following along. Although, he spent a good chuck of the class not thinking about ethics, but instead healing. It was finally time to go to healing class and he was curious to know what it would be like, especially with Professor Cyr teaching it. He doubted she would be as intense as Instructor Brazee or Professor Logston, but he doubted it would be as laid-back as Ethics. Hopefully it wasn’t too boring. He didn’t want to disappoint Professor Cyr, but the idea of healing didn’t excite him at all.
Jack walked into the healing class and the first person he saw was Isaac Dixon speaking to a small group of students. Suddenly Ethics didn’t seem so bad after all. Any class with Isaac in it was going to suck, Jack could just feel it.
“Healing is such a lame class, but it shouldn’t be too hard, I mean look, they even let the lowborn scholarship students take it.”
Jack didn’t rise to the bait—instead, he made his way across the room. He spotted an empty desk and sat down.
The girl next to him leaned over. “Ignore him. He’s a jerk.”
Jack turned. It was the girl from the library who’d also been looking for used books with notes in them. He nodded. “Yes, he certainly is.”
Then one of the students who’d been sitting near Jack in Ethics walked in and started talking to Isaac; they both looked over at Jack and started laughing.
“What’s that about?” the girl asked.
“I think I just found out who pranked me in the last class.”
“Like I said. Jerks.”
Jack wasn’t going to argue that point.
Professor Cyr walked into the class. “Alright, everyone, take your seats.”
Those students still standing quickly found a desk and sat down.
“This is Healing. For those of you who don’t know what healing is, you’ve obviously never been injured in your life.”
A collective chuckle came from the class.
“The healing we’re talking about here is a little more specific than normal. In this class we’re going to be using magic. Traditional healing can be incredibly useful on its own, but magic allows us to do things that otherwise couldn’t be done. A good healer can bring someone back from the brink of death, restore the mana of a fellow mage, increase the energy of troops. The list of things a good healer can do is incredible. However, before you can become a good healer you need to learn the basics. That is what we’re going to do. But don’t let that fool you into thinking what you’ll learn this semester isn’t important. Basic healing is vital, even to a powerful mage. Even those of you who have no interest in being a healer will find healing spells valuable.”
Jack looked around the room. There were plenty of students that looked like they were mages, or wanted to be mages, but there were also a large number that looked more like soldiers. The more he thought about it the more it made sense. If a soldier had some magical talent, one of the best spells they could learn would be healing. It made him glad that he’d been put in the class. No matter what direction he went as a student, healing had value.
Professor Cyr continued, “One of the first spells you’ll learn here is a simple mana spell. It allows you to refresh your companions or patients. I’d like everyone to get a partner and practice casting the spell. Once you’ve got the spell to work on yourself you can try it on your partner. By this time, all of you have had at least two basic magic classes. Does anyone not know how to focal magic yet?”
No hands went up. Jack had wondered why it took so long for the first healing class, but now it made sense. He’d learned about focal points and harnessing magic in his first couple Magic Basics classes. If he hadn’t done those classes first there was no way he’d have known how to create a focal point, and if he hadn’t spent hours working with Cara Dale, he wouldn’t have been able to figure it out at all.
“Excellent,” Professor Cyr continued. “Everyone grab a partner and we’ll get started.”
The student to Jack’s left turned to another student right away, as did the one in front of him. Jack recognized a few of the students from his dorm, but they were on the other side of the room and had paired off already. He turned to the girl from the library. “You don’t mind working with a lowborn scholarship student, do you?”
“Not at all. I’m Talia by the way, Talia Payra.”
“Jack Vance.”
“Ah. You’re the boy with a minidras familiar. I heard about that.”
“You did?”
“Everyone in the school has heard about it. Surviving falling into the dragon pits, and then ending up with a minidras familiar? You might be the luckiest kid in the school.”
“I don’t know about lucky,” Jack said. “I didn’t feel lucky when the mother dragon was eyeing me up.”
Talia smirked. “No. I bet you didn’t. Have you tried to do a healing spell before?”
Jack shook his head. “No. You?”
“Yes. I find the trick is to imagine the magical energy flowing from you like the water in a stream. Nice and steady, not raging like a river, but just a gentle flow. Watch.”
Talia raised her hand and placed her palm so it was facing Jack. A soft light glowed around her hand and Jack felt her energy. It had a subtle effect on him, like he’d just eaten a couple coffee beans. Just a nice boost of energy.
“OK,” Talia said. “Remember, you first need to access your magic, then let it flow to your hand. While you’re doing that you think about your magic as energy that you are giving to me. Don’t think of anything else, just imagine that energy is flowing towards me.”
Jack closed his eyes and pictured his magic the way he’d learned in Magic Basics. He allowed the
magic to go towards his hand; once he started to feel the energy in his hand, he imagined it flowing out of his body towards Talia. He could feel the energy leaving his hand, but it felt like it was being blocked. Like there was a dam slowing his river of energy. He opened his eyes and looked at Talia. “You feel anything?”
“A little bit. Not a bad first effort.”
“I felt like I was being restricted.”
Talia nodded. “Your body doesn’t want to give energy away. It tries to hold it all in you. You have to learn to control that restriction. It is a good thing. Otherwise you could just spew out all your magical power at once and probably do more harm than good, and you’d also be out of mana until your body could restore it. With practice you’ll be able to let more magic out at once. The trick is you only ever want to use the least amount of mana necessary to complete a task.”
Jack could see the logic in that, running out of mana was the worst thing that could happen to a spell caster, especially if it ran out at the wrong time.
“Try again,” Talia said. “This time push a little harder, make your stream flow a little faster.”
Jack smiled. Talia had a good way of describing how to use magic that made sense to him.
He closed his eyes and repeated the process. This time he imagined more magic moving through his body, and then it moving faster out of his body. This time he felt more magic leaving him.
“Good. That felt stronger,” Talia said.
“How come this seems easy, when I had such a hard time casting a ward spell?”
Professor Cyr heard the question and walked over. “Mana and healing spells are mostly spirit magic. Wards are more elemental.”
Jack nodded.
For the rest of the class, Jack and Talia worked on the spells. Each time Jack did it he got more confident in his ability to cast. It was weird, only a week ago he’d never casted a spell in his life, now he knew a few different spells and was on his way to knowing many more.
Menacing Misfits: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Darkthorn Academy Book 1) Page 17
