“Oh,” Jack said, somewhat taken aback by her explanation. He’d been totally clueless about the concept of being a warrior mage.
“Yes, oh indeed. Your mother was an exceptional warrior healer. She could watch her party, keeping everyone’s health and spirits high while dealing as much damage as anyone. She always knew when to switch from group healing to focusing on just one person when the situation called for it. Her skills allowed us to defeat enemies far more powerful than us. Beasts that would make a normal warrior crumble to the ground in fear. But not us, we had your mother, and we could stand toe-to-toe with powerful enemies and know that even if we took a hit we’d be healed. We just had to stay alive long enough for her to heal us. The warrior healer is a crucial role among successful questing groups and few are lucky enough to have good ones, let alone one with your level of spirit magic. That you don’t spend enough time learning how to be a proper warrior healer puts your team at jeopardy. If you’d gone longer before failing a class you would’ve learned all this, but now you must learn while questing. A far steeper learning curve, but one you must make for the safety of your friends.”
Jack leaned back in his chair. He’d never seen being a healer as a good thing, but now he had a whole new perspective on it. He wished he’d known his mother had been a warrior healer.
“I’m a warrior healer,” he muttered.
“Not yet. You don’t have the training or skills to take that title, but you can be.”
“I don’t have time to go to classes every day to learn, though.”
“Take books out. When you stop for a night, read. You also won’t be questing every day. Questers need breaks, they need time to recharge. Coming to classes on those days will be helpful. And you can arrange private time with teachers. They accommodate questers in a way they don’t regular students. Since you should be working specifically on healing, you’d be working with me. I also have older students who can help you train your healer abilities. But part of it will just come from experience, the more you use your magic as a healer the better you’ll get. Group healing is one of the spells you need to master. It is a simple spell, but your range and amount of healing you can do per second will be limited to start. Your teammates will need to fight close to you. You’ll need practice. Take your group to Instructor Brazee. He’s good at teaching tight formation fighting. Also, Chadwick Deeter will have plenty of recommendations for you once he knows you intend to become a warrior healer.”
“Thank you, Professor Cyr. You’ve been most helpful.”
“It is my job and pleasure. I want you to succeed. I wish I’d done a better job of explaining being a healer to you, perhaps you’d be further ahead now.”
“I did all my required work,” Jack said.
“Yes, you did all that was required to pass first-year healing, but you did it with no enthusiasm or intent. We both know that. I thought you’d have more time to grow to appreciate healing before you did anything like becoming a quester, so I am partly to blame. Now that you are one, I hope that you’ll tackle the task of learning to be a good healer with gusto. It can save the lives of you and your entire group.”
Jack nodded. He started to stand but then sat back down. “Did Colin lose his toes because I wasn’t a good healer?”
“No. He lost his toes because he made an amateur mistake. Your orc friend is obviously your melee fighter. He should’ve gone out first. The fact you didn’t have a healing spell working didn’t help the situation, but it wouldn’t have saved his toes. It would take a far more powerful healer than you to save those toes. Very few healers have that kind of ability.”
Jack nodded. He knew she was right, but it irked him just the same; maybe if he’d had better healing powers, things would’ve been different. He’d be making healing a priority in the future. “Thank you again, Professor Cyr.”
“Not a problem. Why don’t you come by and see me after dinner? I’ll show you a few spells that will be valuable to learn.”
“I’d like that,” Jack said.
30
When Jack got back to the apartment, he found Colin hard at work with a stack of books and several maps spread out over the table. He also had fresh parchment and ink. He was already progressing on a new map. There were several other changes in the room as well.
“How did your meeting with Professor Cyr go?”
“It went well,” Jack said. “She brought a few things to my attention that I need to work on.”
“Such as?”
“My healing skills aren’t what they need to be. For us to become a good questing team, I need to improve. She thinks I can become a warrior healer like my mother.”
Colin stopped what he was doing. “Your mother was a warrior healer?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. That is impressive. A warrior healer is a complete badass. I didn’t realize your mother was one. You really do need to improve your healing. If you have the potential to become a warrior healer that means we could send you guys far deeper into the Ancient Lands.”
“I need to just work on being a healer first. How’s the map coming?”
“Really good. I’ve kept it simple, but detailed. I found several ancient maps along with several newer ones. The one the bandits had was newer. It is rather good. I also found notes from questers about where they found loot. I’ve found a few patterns and I think I know where to send you guys to get better stuff. We got lucky finding that farm, it is just inside the area where I think few questers have been. You’ll definitely have to go back there. It would be a good place to spend a night if you can’t find any place to the west of it.” Colin showed him the half-finished map. “The area to the northwest of that farm hasn’t been explored nearly as much as other areas close to the Academy. Without going deep into the Ancient Lands, I think it will be our best bet.”
“Sounds good to me. Why is there a big circle in the middle of the apartment?”
“That is going to be our home portal. One day you and Talia are going to have enough mana to use portal magic. When that happens, you’ll need a safe place to teleport to. If we always keep that circle clear, nothing bad can happen.”
“Huh.”
Colin grinned. “Don’t worry, I think you’re a long way from being able to use portal magic, but Talia is much closer. If we can find her some powerful ancient artifacts with mana power, she’ll be able to do it. That would make trips into the Ancient Lands so much more efficient.”
Jack nodded. “Yes, it would. Right now, we’re pretty limited in how far we can travel unless we take long extended trips.”
“I think two- or three-day trips are good enough for now,” Colin said. “Oh, we put the tub in the sixth room. It has the cleaning solution in it. Lana is in there now, cleaning up the weapons and tools. You should probably get to sharpening them.”
Jack went to his room and grabbed Ramy’s whetstone. Lord Scratches was sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the campus grounds.
Lord Scratches turned and looked at Jack.
“We aren’t going anywhere today. We’re working on cleaning weapons and then maybe some training, and I have a healing lesson this evening. If you want, today would be a good day to hang out at the dragon castle.”
Lord Scratches cocked his head sideways, Jack had grown to know this look meant the little dragon was contemplating his words. He then jumped off the windowsill and flew away.
Jack shook his head. He often wondered what was going on in the mind of his familiar. He turned and went to the sixth room. He opened the door and found Lana dropping a sword into a large tub. The tub was huge, even bigger than a bathing tub. It had to be six and a half feet long, three feet wide and three feet deep. “That is a big tub.”
“I know, right? Apparently, Chadwick says this is the biggest he has. It cost us a pretty penny, but I think it will be worth it. I’ve been doing the weapons one at a time, was that necessary? It sure would be nice to dump the whole batch in at once.”
&nbs
p; “We can do that; we would just need to increase the amount of hollinger leaf used.”
“How much more? I used the same ratios we used last time.”
Jack looked at the tub and the pile of weapons she had left. “Double will do it. If you’re doing a big load of weapons, triple it.”
Lana grabbed her bag of hollinger leaf and added six pinches. She stirred it and then threw in all the remaining weapons and tools. “That is so much better,” she said with a grin.
“Where are Talia and Stann?”
“After they delivered the tub, they went into town to talk to some of the ancient artifact dealers. If we know what kind of prices they’re offering, we’ll know which stuff to give to the Academy and what to sell in town.”
Jack nodded. “That’s a good idea.”
As the bubbles started to subside, Lana started pulling weapons out of the cleaning bath, wiping them down and handing them to Jack. “Get sharpening, tinker boy,” she said with a wink.
After a couple hours, Jack and Lana had all the weapons and tools cleaned and sharpened. They had a good haul.
Stann and Talia returned from their mission and reported in. “We found a couple buyers for the corn and the seed, along with any of the farm tools. Chadwick said we’d get far better prices from them on that stuff and he was right. We could also haggle a bit with Ersom Caggle, he’s the top ancient weapons dealer in Ansby. But Stann and I agree we’re better off using the weapons to pay our academy dues,” Talia said.
Jack put all the farm tools into the satchel with the seeds and handed both satchels to Stann and Talia. “Sell all of this and then buy any supplies you think we’ll need, and we’ll all take a one-fifth share of whatever is left over.”
“We could use health and mana potions,” Talia said. “But I don’t know if it is better to get them from Chadwick or the dealers in town.”
“In that case, just sell everything and meet us back here. Lana and I are going to take what we have left here to Chadwick and see what he thinks. It might mean an extra trip or two to town, but I don’t want to waste our money if we don’t have to,” Jack said.
“Makes sense. I don’t mind going to the markets, I enjoy shopping.”
Stann shook his head. “Stann no like shopping.”
Talia glared at him. “Pardon me?”
Stann blushed and shook his head. “Nothing.”
As they walked out of the apartment, Lana grinned at Jack. “I sense a budding romance.”
Jack’s brow furrowed as he contemplated the idea of Stann and Talia together. Talia was abrupt, with a sharp wit and a sarcastic sense of humor. Stann was shy, unsure of himself around women, but smart in his own way, and confident in his abilities as a warrior. Maybe Talia would be good for him. “You think?”
Lana nodded. “Either one of them could have taken the satchels by themselves. It isn’t like they weigh anything, and yet they both wanted to go together. I think Stann’s comment about not liking shopping was him pretending not to be excited about spending more time with her.”
“Talia’s glare didn’t exactly look romantic.”
“Talia is a strong independent woman. If she wasn’t interested in Stann, she wouldn’t have taken him with her. I think her bark is worse than her bite.”
Jack hadn’t noticed how the two had been interacting until Lana had brought it up. “How come you’re so good at reading that situation?”
Lana smiled. “I’m used to being around clueless boys.”
Not sure if the comment referred just to Stann or not, Jack changed the subject. “Let’s take this stuff to Chadwick and see what he says.”
…
“Jack, Lana, good to see you again,” Chadwick said as they entered the repository. “Stannerios and Talia were here earlier, they told me about your eventful first day questing.”
“Hey, Chadwick. Good to see you too. Yes, it was quite the day,” Jack said.
“And what did you learn?” Chadwick said as he cleared a table for them to place their gear on.
“That we have a lot to learn, and mistakes are costly,” Jack said.
Chadwick nodded solemnly. “Yes. Absolutely true. But you survived. Not all questers complete a full day in the Ancient Lands, and you had two skirmishes, so you obviously did some things right.”
“I suppose,” Jack said.
Chadwick looked at the weapons on the table, but he mentioned the bottles first. “Ancient glass is good. You could probably get a little more money for it in the markets, but I’m willing to trade it for ancient glass vials, which are better for carrying healing and mana potions. I’ll give you three vials for every bottle.”
Jack looked over at Lana to see if she thought it was a good deal. She nodded.
“Done,” Jack said.
Chadwick turned his attention to the weapons. “It is so nice to deal with first-year questers who actually take the time to clean and sharpen the weapons they bring to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take weapons that haven’t been cleaned, but the prices will reflect that. And I don’t advertise that fact to questers, so don’t go sharing that nugget of info with every Tom, Dick and Sally Quester.” He examined each item with care. “Not bad, mostly Ancient Ronam, which makes sense. It was the empire that covered this territory before the Westdrift Empire was formed. The magic in these blades is standard for Ancient Ronam blades. It strengthens the blades and takes extra health from the target. The gauntlets are good, they are superior to the ones you have, Jack. They give the wearer more dexterity and focus and a slight increase in strength if I’m not mistaken. They are too small for you, your forearms are too thick. But for one of the ladies in your party…”
Jack turned to Lana. “Try them on.”
Lana slipped on the gauntlets. They fit perfectly. She smiled at Jack, but then frowned. “But what about the money they’re worth?”
“We all agreed, remember. We’re going to need the best gear we can get if we’re going to be successful. Upgrading our armor is worth it.”
“I agree with Jack,” Chadwick said. “The nice thing about being new questers is that almost all the gear you find is an upgrade over what you start with. Finding a good pair of gauntlets suitable for an archer like yourself is an excellent thing, and worth more than what you could get for them.”
Lana’s smile returned. “In that case, they’re perfect.”
“Now, Jack, I don’t know if you noticed or not, but that cape is dwarven.”
Jack looked at the cape. It was a dark, deep red, and looked soft, almost too soft to be used outside. “What does it do?”
“Aside from keeping rain off your back, blocking the wind and making you harder to see at night? It is warded. If you look closely at the neck clasp, there are runes on it. The cape acts as armor, particularly against projectiles and elemental magic. Could come in handy when an enemy archer or mage hits you in the back. Try it on.”
Jack tried on the cape. It was just a hair shorter than perfect for him, but that made sense. He was taller than most dwarves.
“Looks good,” Lana said.
Jack smiled. How it looked shouldn’t have mattered, but he liked hearing that Lana thought it looked good on him.
“OK,” Chadwick said, getting back to business. “The three magical swords are worth five hundred gold a piece, three hundred and fifty for the two magical daggers, and two hundred gold each for the ancient weapons that contain no magic. That comes to thirty-six hundred gold pieces. A solid amount for your first day questing.”
Thirty-six hundred gold. It seemed a massive amount to Jack.
“Do you want it all put toward your academy dues, or do you want some in cash?” Chadwick asked.
“Do we have to decide now?” Lana asked.
“No. The amount goes into your account. You may draw upon it at any time. And anything you spend here with me or with Master Horton will come from that account. At the current moment I believe you are at a balance of negative three hundred and six. Ob
viously, you’ll cancel that out as soon as this transaction is complete.”
“Leave it all in the account,” Jack said. They had more money coming from the grain, seeds and farming tools that Stann and Talia were selling at the markets.
“A wise decision,” Chadwick said. “Not every trip into the Ancient Lands will be as fruitful as this one was, and the academy dues are not unsubstantial. 10,000 gold for each of your party.”
50,000 gold. That is what they owed the Academy. The profits from their first venture into the Ancient Lands had gotten them almost enough to pay for half of one student’s dues, but there were five of them. They had a long way to go before they paid off the dues. “Where is the best place to buy health and mana potions?”
“Master Horton. The potions made by upper-class students are good. As good as or better than most you’ll find in the markets for less. Bring him the empty vials and he’ll fill them for you.”
“Any other suggestions?” Jack asked.
“I think you are on the right track. Experience and improving your gear are your two main ways of improving, aside from the classes and training you can still get at the Academy. I believe you need to find the right balance and then just get out there and do it.”
“Thank you, Chadwick. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon,” Jack said.
“Let me grab you your vials and you can get on your way,” Chadwick said.
He left to another area of the repository and returned a few minutes later. He handed Jack two bandoleers and three belts; each had several vials in them. “A little bonus, on the house. The bandoleers are for you magic users. You tend to use a lot of mana potions when things get crazy. Lana and Stannerios need more health potions than mana, so they’ll be fine with just a belt.”
“And the fifth belt?” Lana asked.
“Take it from me, it is hard getting wounded in battle and not being able to help the way you’d like to. Giving Colin a belt will make him feel like he’s still part of the team. He may never use the belt, but the gesture will be appreciated.”
Menacing Misfits: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Darkthorn Academy Book 1) Page 25
