“Not good enough,” Jack said as he dusted his backside off.
“Jack, how many times during that fight could you have blasted me with magic?”
Jack thought about the entire fight sequence and the number of times where he’d had a hand free and the time to launch a magic attack. He shrugged. “Probably three, maybe four.”
“That’s three or four times that you could’ve won that fight.”
“Yes, but you weren’t using magic either.”
Lana laughed. “You know exactly what kind of magic I use, what do you think I could’ve done during the fight differently?”
Frowning, Jack looked at Lana’s stats. Most of her magic was towards dexterity and speed and skills that made her a better archer. She didn’t have a secondary skill that could be used. “You weren’t going full speed. With your speed and dexterity bonuses you can move much faster than I can.”
“Right, I could’ve moved faster, but not much. I wasn’t really holding back, Jack. I could’ve used more speed but that is it. If you’d been fighting a real fight you would’ve won. Not to brag, but I’m better than most when it comes to swords. You didn’t get paired with me because I was bad, you got paired with me because you are much stronger than I am. My skills versus your natural strength. If you didn’t have magic I’d win, almost every time. But when you use magic, that balances things out.”
Jack hadn’t thought about it like that before. “How come Instructor Brazee didn’t teach me to fight with magic, then?”
Lana laughed. “You have to learn to walk before you run, besides, when you got here, did you have magic skills to use in a fight?”
Jack chuckled. “I didn’t have any skills, besides being able to sharpen a sword.”
“Exactly. The whole time you’ve been here you’ve been learning individual skills. You don’t have exceptionally high skills in anything—aside from your healing, which is really good. What you do have is the ability to combine those skills you have. You’ll never be as good at physical combat as Stann or I, but we’ll never be as good at magic. Even Talia, who is great at magic, can’t heal like you, and she’d be dead in a sword fight.”
“I suppose. But it’s hard to practice magic in a sword fight.”
“Is it? Why? I’m wearing armor, as long as you use your spells at partial strength you can’t hurt me. What spells would you use during a fight?”
Jack thought about it. “My energy shield and solar burst.” Solar burst was one of the spells that he’d gained from wearing the Chante amulet. It was more effective against undead like skellies and ghouls, but it certainly was a magic attack that he could use in battle against any opponent. It was one that he could cast with his hand and didn’t need a focal point like a sword.
“Let’s spar again. This time use whatever magic you want, just don’t hit me in the face,” Lana said with a smile. “I’ll go full speed. See if you can beat me.”
Jack gulped. He’d barely been able to stop her when she’d been holding back. But the ability to use his magic shield would help. “OK.” Before they started sparring, Jack did a healing-over-time spell on Lana just to make sure that he wouldn’t hurt her. Even at partial strength, his solar burst spell was dangerous.
Lana attacked.
Jack used his shield to block her attack. He tried to counter with a quick slashing attack with his sword, but Lana jumped sideways and he missed her completely. She kept moving and swung at him again. He pivoted and moved his shield to block the attack. Lana was like a blur, she kept moving side to side, sliding under his attacks, countering with her own slashes and thrusts that Jack was barely able to block, but between his sword and shield he did block the attacks.
When he finally saw an opening, Jack switched from his energy shield to solar burst. He fired at her, only a few feet from his hand to her exposed chest, but she still managed to duck under the attack with a well-timed shoulder roll. As she came up, Jack fired another solar burst, but she jumped and twisted in the air, managing to avoid the magic shot. As she landed, she slashed at Jack’s feet.
Jack jumped up and backwards. Her sword scraped the bottom of his boots. When he hit the ground, he took another two steps back, hoping to get out of range of her sword, but she pressed forward and he had to switch back to his energy shield.
After several attacks that Jack was able to block, Lana feinted another low attack. Jack jumped again, but this time, Lana charged forward with a high kick that sent him off balance. Again, Jack fell to the ground and landed on his backside.
Lana stood over him with the tip of her sword at his neck. He looked up. “Yield.”
“Well done, Lana,” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack looked up and Instructor Brazee, along with his entire class, was watching them. “Hello, Instructor Brazee,” Jack said from his backside.
“Jack,” Instructor Brazee said as Jack got up.
“We weren’t expecting an audience,” Lana said.
“Normally I’d say first-year students aren’t worthy of an audience, but we noticed your first sparring session and I had my students stop and watch. It was a good lesson in the difference between normal first-year students and those who’ve benefitted from becoming questers.” Instructor Brazee paused for a second. “I can’t say that Jack was the worst student I’ve ever seen, but without a doubt he was the least experienced. By the end of the first semester he’d done a good job and worked his way up to average. And Lana, well, Lana was always good. So here we are, two first-year students, who wants to spar with them?”
All of the students raised their hands.
Instructor Brazee smiled. “There you have it. Jack, Lana, you want to see where you are against more experienced students?”
Lana nodded. “On one condition.”
Instructor Brazee raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“Make sure they’re your best.”
“Done,” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack turned to Lana. “Are you crazy?”
“Maybe,” Lana said with a wink. “Come on, it will be fun.”
Jack wasn’t sure “fun” was the word for it.
“Full magic use allowed, no headshots, first team to three clean blows wins,” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack cast health and mana spells on Lana and then raised his sword, his left hand open and ready to cast either solar burst or his shield. He and Lana had done team sparring before, but that was during the first term. He barely had magic then, and certainly hadn’t been able to use it during sparring. He would’ve been more of a danger to himself than anyone else back then, if he’d gotten it to work at all. “What do you want to do?” he asked Lana. They’d had a good system back then, but again, that was without magic.
“Same as before,” Lana said. “I’ll be working from your left. Don’t worry about me, I’ll work around you.”
Jack nodded. Lana had more experience that he did, and she was faster. If they were going to win it would be because of her.
“Klonna, Hector.”
Two students stepped up. Klonna was a dark-skinned human girl. She was tall, muscular and used a staff. Hector was an orc with a large broadsword that was taller than Jack.
Jack gulped as he watched the two walk forward. They stood side by side and took up a fighting stance.
“Begin,” Instructor Brazee said.
Hector rushed towards them but then stopped, dropping to one knee. Behind him Klonna was also running. When Hector stopped and dropped, she jumped and used Hector’s back as platform to launch herself.
Jack raised his shield above his head. Klonna smashed it with her staff as she flew overhead. Jack felt Lana’s hand on his back as she took a position behind him. Jack turned his attention to Hector, who’d come up and was using a wicked two-handed attack.
Bracing himself, Jack deflected Hector’s attack. He slashed at the larger fighter, but Hector stepped back out of range of Jack’s shorter reach.
Hector pushed forward
with rapid attacks with his broadsword. Jack held his ground, using his shield and sword to block the blows. Behind him, Jack could hear the sounds of Lana’s blade clashing with Klonna’s staff.
Suddenly, Jack felt himself being spun around. He heard Lana saying “attack.” As he was being swung around, Jack switched from shield to solar burst. When his head was far enough around, he saw that Klonna was a few feet back and had her staff above her head. She was swinging it down like a sword towards his head and shoulders.
Jack fired a solar burst at her chest as he raised his sword to try and deflect her blow. Jack felt his sword come down and hit him on top of the head. He could feel a small cut being opened, and blood running out.
“Point, Jack. Point, Klonna,” Instructor Brazee said over the murmurs of the crowd of students.
Jack ignored the talk, he was too busy trying to prevent Klonna from landing another blow. She was using both ends of her staff, whipping it back and forth to attack from his left and right. Jack quickly had to switch back to using his shield. There simply wasn’t time to get a magic attack off.
“Point, Lana,” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack would’ve smiled if he’d had time. Obviously, his partner had scored a blow against the orc, Hector.
Jack was starting to feel comfortable that he understood all of Klonna’s attacks when she tricked him. She attacked his shield side, which Jack blocked. But instead of lifting her staff to attack again, she let it slide to the side, and then she used the end to hook Jack’s shield and push it forward. She then spun around, landing a kick to Jack’s exposed side.
The kick nearly buckled Jack.
“Point, Klonna,” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack grunted and pulled his shield tighter to his body. He’d made a mistake and she’d made him pay for it. Klonna grinned and started to spin her staff.
Jack wasn’t sure what kind of attack was coming, but he knew it wasn’t good. Instead of trying to waiting for the attack to come. Jack surged forward, using his magic shield to bash Klonna. He almost caught her off guard. At the last second, she spun around and avoided his bash. Her staff whipped down and caught his foot. He was flipped back and crashed to the ground.
“Point, Klonna,” Instructor Brazee said. “Klonna and Hector win.”
Klonna and Hector stopped and stood together in front of Jack and Lana. They both gave deep bows of respect that Jack and Lana returned. Then the four of them turned and bowed to Instructor Brazee.
Jack sighed and turned to Lana. “Sorry, partner.”
Lana laughed. “Are you kidding? That was awesome. We did great. Right, Instructor Brazee?”
Instructor Brazee nodded. “A most spirited and even sparring session. You performed admirably.”
Jack frowned. “But we have better gear and we still lost.”
“And they are far more experienced,” Instructor Brazee reminded him. “You demonstrated good teamwork and individual skills.”
“It was a good fight,” Klonna said. “You almost won it with that bash attempt.”
“Lana, your skills are impressive,” Hector said. “You two work well together.”
“Alright, class. Hopefully you’ve learned something today. The person with the best equipment doesn’t always win, but having the most experience and fighting skills doesn’t guarantee a win either. Questing is a dangerous business, and as you can see it has given Lana and Jack an edge. Every fight they have out there is real and can lead to death. That kind of fighting is valuable in a way normal training can never replicate. They’ve also benefitted from having better gear, but as you can see, they earned it. I know several of you are considering becoming questers next year. Take note of how well a warrior like Lana was able to work with Jack, a warrior mage in training. Do not discount the value of magic in a close fight. Now, fun’s over. Go run five laps.”
As the rest of the students left to start their run, Klonna and Hector stayed for a moment.
“Good fight,” Hector said.
“Thanks,” Lana said.
“As Instructor Brazee said, some of us are considering questing next year. You think you could give us some tips sometime?” Klonna said.
Jack looked at Lana. He couldn’t believe two of the top warriors in the school were asking for their help.
“Sure. Come by the quester dorms sometime,” Lana said.
Klonna grinned. “Thanks.” She and Hector then took off on their run.
“Did that just happen?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Lana said. “I think it did.”
Instructor Brazee looked amused. “Take it as a compliment. It isn’t often that elite students will look to first-year students for anything, but now that they’ve sparred with you, they have a respect for you that they wouldn’t have for other students. As they think about forming their questing team for next year, they’ll feel comfortable coming to you for advice. Ancient Lands experience is something you have that they don’t.”
Lana looked at Instructor Brazee. She narrowed her eyes. “You planned for that to happen, didn’t you?”
“I knew they were looking for advice on the Ancient Lands. I just took the opportunity of you two showing up to spar to make an introduction. I wasn’t sure you’d show enough skills for them to respect, but you more than held your own.”
“Huh,” Jack said. He wasn’t sure if he was more impressed by Instructor Brazee’s ability to manipulate the situation or the fact that he’d just complimented them.
“I hear you two are hosting a dinner tonight,” Instructor Brazee said.
“Yes. We killed a dargow. Chef Ramsey is cooking some of it tonight.”
“Ah, in that case, I may have to change my plans for the evening. Dargow is a meal I cannot miss. You killed it on your own?”
“We had help. We met a mage,” Lana said. “Mage Nowak, you know him?”
“The name is familiar. I believe we may have been in a battle or two together, although if I remember correctly, we weren’t on the same side. At least not in both battles.”
Jack glanced sideways at Lana. Was Mage Nowak an enemy of the Academy? Or were there some political battles that they didn’t know about? It would be interesting to find out.
“Well, we’ll be glad to see you tonight. We’re just going to spar until dinner time,” Lana said.
“You’ve already picked out your outfits for the evening?” Instructor Brazee said.
Jack frowned. “Outfits?”
Instructor Brazee laughed. “I thought not. Chef Ramsey is a remarkable chef, but sometimes the little details slip by him. The invitation that he sent the Academy staff was for a formal dinner. The Academy staff, certain guests from the city and your fellow questers will all be wearing formal wear.”
Jack looked over at Lana, who shrugged and made a face that told Jack she knew as much about the situation as he did, which meant she knew nothing. “If you’ll excuse us, it seems that we may need to leave a little earlier than anticipated.”
“Better get moving, can’t be late for your own dinner.”
Jack and Lana started running.
“Whose bright idea was it to throw a stupid dinner anyways?” Jack said as they ran.
“Yours,” Lana said.
“Oh, ya,” Jack said. “Well, I didn’t know about having to dress up. That certainly wasn’t my idea.”
They got back to the questers building and went to find Chef Ramsey. They found him amongst a whole group of chefs and kitchen staff. He was barking orders, and the place was buzzing like a beehive. “Jack, Lana. What can I do for you? I’m a little busy at the moment.”
“Just one tiny thing,” Jack said. “We were just with Instructor Brazee and he insinuated this was a formal dinner?”
“Of course it is. We can’t have the head of the Academy and his guests attending a regular old questers dinner. That would be ridiculous. I informed you of the venue and attire required, did I not?”
Jack shook his head vigorously.
/>
“Well that is unfortunate. It is your dinner, after all—you should know what to wear and where to go.” Chef Ramsey snapped his fingers and one of his staff ran over.
“Tony, get Jack one of the invitations please.”
Tony ran away and returned moments later with an invitation printed on thick white paper with sparkling gold lettering. He read out the invitation. “The Menacing Misfits invite you to an evening of fantastic food and song. Seven o’clock in the questing wing grand room. Formal attire.”
“There. Now you know everything necessary,” Chef Ramsey said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of preparations to make. If you have any more questions, Tony will assist you.”
Tony smiled. “I’m Tony.”
“Tony, where is the grand room?” Lana asked.
“Just go to the main lobby and Gretchen will see you in.”
Jack nodded. “OK. Now where do we find formal wear on short notice?”
Tony’s eyes bulged. “You don’t have formal wear?”
“No!” Jack said.
“Oh dear. You better get moving. You can see Master Horton or go to one of the markets in town.”
Lana grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him away. “Thanks, Tony.” She started running towards the rooms.
“Where are you going? We need to go see Master Horton,” Jack said.
“The others?” Lana said. “What do you think will happen if we don’t tell Talia?”
Jack shuddered. Talia would probably roast him alive. “Right, let’s go get the others.”
They arrived at the apartment, and thankfully all three of them were there.
“You’re in a hurry,” Colin said as they crashed into the room. “What’s up?”
“Tonight, we are hosting a dinner. I told Chef Ramsey to invite all of the questers and the Academy staff.”
“Wait, you told him to invite the staff? Jack! That means it is a formal dinner,” Talia said.
“I just found that out. I thought it would be a nice gesture, I had no idea it would be a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. A really big deal,” Talia said.
Colin nodded in agreement. “Yes. The Academy always has a handful of important allies or customers visiting at a time. All of them will be invited, as well as local dignitaries. They will expect us to be acting as hosts. That means formal wear, a speech and glad-handing all of the guests.”
Menacing Misfits: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Darkthorn Academy Book 1) Page 36
