“The knights and chevalier guilds work similarly, don’t they?” Devol pointed out.
The commander shrugged. “As I said, all guilds foundations are based on ours, but there are important differences.” He glanced at him. “Including a mission we have been in charge of for centuries.”
“And what is that?” The boy leaned closer, wanting to hear more of this.
Wulfsun straightened and folded his large arms behind his head. “It’s something the Templars have to deal with for now. You needn’t worry about it.”
Devol frowned. It seemed both he and Vaust shared the habit of withholding information they didn’t think he should know.
“Now tell me something, boy,” the captain began, “what kind of training are you looking to get here?”
He leaned back as he considered it carefully. “I’m not entirely sure. Um…I guess focusing on my majestic would be the most important.”
“That would be wise but beyond that, I mean we can teach you weapon combat, Mana arts, all the usual things. But unless you have a goal, I don’t see why you would need to stay here to learn all that specifically,” the Templar replied.
“A goal?” He placed his hand on his side and touched the hilt of his blade. “I do know that I want to be a warrior like my father. I feel that if I do have something special about me, I should use it to help others, right?”
Wulfsun uttered a loud laugh but in merriment, not mockery. “That is the best way to use it, I think. Yours is better than some of the responses I’ve heard over the years.”
“I’m glad you think so.” His gaze drifted to the different Templars and absorbed a few more details. “This is beyond what I even imagined it would be. I…I think…” The words trailed off and he paused and wondered if he was merely caught up in the moment. He didn’t want to make a promise he couldn’t live up to or would regret.
The Templar sensed something weighing on the boy and assumed that Vaust had dropped hints to him that he should join them. He was somewhat guilty of it himself and he had only known him for about fifteen minutes. With a reassuring smile, he patted him gently on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about too much right now. You can get some rest and think about it. Feel free to stay with us and train, then see what you think.”
Devol nodded, closed his eyes, and drew a sharp breath. “Thank you, but I’m fine. I came here to train and if you’ll take me, I’m ready to start right now.” His speech was punctuated by a noticeable growl from his stomach and his eyes widened as he shook his head. “Well, maybe some food first.” He lifted the bag and began to undo the knot. “Do you want some? Mr. Lebatt bought so much.”
Wulfsun chuckled and nodded as he helped the boy open the large bag. He had spirit, without a doubt. That was something many lacked, so he already had a significant advantage.
Chapter Nine
Once he had shared much of the food bought by Vaust with Wulfson, Devol still had leftovers, which he gave to the other Templars in the battlegrounds nearby. The commander guided the determined boy deeper into the training grounds for him to begin his “tests.”
As they walked, he asked questions about the test and the man simply responded with some variation of, “Wait and see.” A little frustrated after each gentle rebuff, he turned his attention instead to the arenas and other Templars nearby to keep himself occupied. When they seemed to draw closer to the end of the path, he saw a rather simple arena, at least when compared to the others—a smaller square platform made of white marble.
Three figures occupied the combat ground. Two were older Templars from what he could see and he studied them with interest.
The man had wolf-like features—long, pointed ears, a pronounced nose, clawed hands, and tanned skin, with a long shaggy mane of curled brown hair. The other was a woman—or at least had the figure of a human woman—but had long blue arms with rows of feathers, a black pointed beak, and deep-set black eyes and a crown of blue and green feathers for hair.
They were both wildkin but two different varieties, the man belonging to the more human-appearing homina species and the woman of the verte species. Both had the more pronounced features of their animal counterparts.
The third figure—which the two older Templars were observing—was a young girl about his age from what he could see and was also a wildkin. She was a little shorter than him with long black-and-orange hair with white spots and similar sharp, pointed ears to the man. Her ears, however, were on the top of her head and almost blended in with her hair. She had fair skin and one eye was green while the other was blue.
Dressed in a simple baggy white shirt and pants, she practiced punches and sweeping strikes with her claws. He stopped and watched her draw back and noticed a pair of bracers or gauntlets on her arm, although he couldn’t make the details out. A yellow light flashed briefly before she leapt forward and slashed the air. Devol’s eyes widened as three large claw marks gouged the ground of the arena despite the fact that he could not see her touch it. She wouldn’t have that kind of reach anyway, which left him confused.
When he looked at her, she had focused her gaze on him and he nodded sheepishly as he jogged to the commander’s side. “Hey, Mr. Wulfsun.”
“I told ya, boy, just Wulfsun,” the Templar stated in a pointed tone, but the boy was reassured by the easy smile still on his face. “What do ya need?”
“I wanted to ask…are you a wildkin too?” the boy questioned, he didn’t have the more noticeable traits of either species, but the sharpened teeth, great height, and well, he might be a little presumptuous, but the name could have pointed to that.
His large companion laughed and shook his head. “Ah nah, boyo. I’m as human as you. I was raised and trained by one, though,” he revealed. “I was left on the Templar Order doorstep as a lad and my master was a wolf wildkin similar to Freki there.” He nodded at the man Devol had observed. “Baioh was the name I was left with in the letter—no family name obviously. I decided to exercise a little humor and named myself in tribute to my master, although he didn’t find it as amusing as I did. Still, I think he appreciated it.”
“Is he here?” the boy asked. He wanted to meet the man who had trained such a confident warrior.
Wulfsun shook his head again. “Nah, he left on a mission over a year ago and won’t be back for quite some time.”
“You didn’t want to go with him?” he asked as the two passed under a large open gate into another room with dark-brown walls. Orange orbs hung from the walls to illuminate the area and Devol noted several weapons and pieces of armor beside them.
“Of course I did!” the captain admitted and frowned at the thought. “But that’s how I came to have this command. He said someone needed to watch over the training since he would be gone for so long. I didn’t like to think about it at the time, but he was right. There were others who could have taken the mantle, but if I wanted to consider myself his kin, I should also be prepared for the responsibility.”
The young Magi nodded. “That’s very admirable.”
The two stopped at a pair of metal doors and Wulfsun folded his arms and released a bellowed laugh. “I thought so too. I mostly got called sentimental and such at the time, but I eventually got the hang of it. I’m starting to see why he did this for so long—you get attached to the young buggers when you watch them grow and go after their ambitions, although we don’t have many youngsters to speak of right now. It’s heartwarming. I guess I am a little sentimental.” He scratched his beard, briefly lost in thought or memories before he nodded to his companion and flicked his thumb toward the doors. “Well then, if you are ready, we are here.”
Devol turned to examine the doors. They looked heavy—dark metal with a bronze Templar insignia spread across them both. “The test takes place in there?”
“This is the first test!” the commander corrected and smacked one with a large hand. It clanged noisily and the boy resisted the temptation to cover his ears. “This is a test of mettle. I’m not sure
how much attention you’ve paid, but I should tell you right now that Templars are in a constant state of training, even during off-hours. Every door in this castle weighs anywhere between a couple of hundred pounds to seven hundred, although one or two are a little heavier.”
“All of them?” He gasped and recalled the loud thuds along the way every time the man had opened one.
“Aye. It helps with potential thievery as well.” Wulfsun chuckled. “It’s hard to be sneaky when every door slams with the subtlety of a dragon’s fat ass pounding into a town broadside, although Vaust and a few others have found a way.” He frowned slightly but gestured with his hand. “Anyway, this door is one of the heaviest in the castle. Each side is one thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds, totaling three thousand five hundred pounds.”
“By the Astrals, what?” Devol gawked and studied them more closely. “So my test is…”
“To make it through,” the Templar declared and held three fingers up. “You seem hesitant so I’ll give you a hint. Only a handful of the strongest men in the world such as yours truly can open these doors naturally, so don’t think about it like that. There are three ways you can accomplish your task. The test is to get through, and I’ll leave the rest to you.” He folded his arms again. “Still wanna start right now? As I said, you can have a few days to think it over.”
Devol responded by removing his pack. He stared at the man for a moment with determination in his eyes before he stepped closer to the doors and studied them. He had options, he thought cautiously and assumed that pushing them was the simplest, which meant using Vis. That triggered an idea and he paused to consider it.
There were three ways to open them and three uses of Mana in the trinity. If he was right, there was not only a way to accomplish it Vis but with Vita and Vello as well. He examined the metal more closely. How was that possible? His gaze settled on a large keyhole between each door just before the Templar insignia. He traced it with his fingers and discerned the faint presence of Mana.
Wulfsun had not said anything about a key so maybe he could open it with his Mana? That would be using Vello so it was an option, but Vita? He stepped back again, took a deep breath, and summoned his Anima around him before he focused on his eyes.
The Templar noticed this with great interest. Vaust had mentioned that the boy had only learned Anima the night before. It seemed the young Magi had a knack for it as he barely felt it flare. He almost chuckled at the irony. The boy approached this cautiously, but if he was already familiar with Anima, he was making this harder than it needed to be.
Devol stared at the door and studied the inverted eye of the Templar insignia, which seemed to look directly at him. Some type of rune or ward was traced in Mana above the eye and it latched onto him somehow, but he felt no malicious intent.
If he had to guess, it was a tracking rune of some kind and perhaps measured his Mana. That would be a measure of Vita if he was right. So to even start the tests properly, he concluded, he had to show that he had learned the basics. He began to realize that Vaust’s prodding and coaching might have been to determine if he could get past this point. A little ruefully, he acknowledged that he should have been more thankful when he had the time with him.
He let his Anima subside and exhaled slowly as the silver-and-white light faded around him. How should he approach this? Should he perhaps simply use Vis and test his theory? He was not sure he could open it with Vis alone, however. Maybe part of the way, but he had yet to see how strong he was with the aid of Anima, so it was potentially possible.
The boy straightened with his arms at his sides and let his Mana flow through him. As it built, he closed his eyes to focus better. If he intended to try Vis, he needed to harness as much Mana as he had available.
His concentration was broken, however, when he heard the shriek of metal. He opened his eyes and narrowed them on the eye of the Templar insignia. It glowed and the doors began to move apart.
Wulfsun clapped loudly behind him. “There you go, boy! You found the solution in no time at all.”
“Wait. I had only begun to build my Mana up—” Devol protested but stopped himself. He had used Vita to do it and had somehow summoned enough Mana to empower the door to open. It had been successful, even if not as planned.
“Ready for the next part, then?” the commander asked and waited for him to step through, but he caught the man’s arm to hold him back. The Templar looked curiously at him.
“If you don’t mind,” he said with a glance at the doors, “I want to see if I can open them the other two ways.”
Surprised, the giant raised an eyebrow. He had not heard the request before and most were satisfied to have simply opened the doors. But if the boy wanted to make the attempt, why stop him? He grasped the handles of the large doors and closed them easily. He ran a hand over the eye to deactivate the ward and stepped back. “I like to see spirit like that. Try to your heart’s content.”
Devol nodded and approached the keyhole. If he had enough Mana to get through with Vita, then Vis would probably work with no issues. Vello was his weakest discipline in the trinity, so that would be the next one he would try. He peered inside the keyhole and noticed small, glowing blue spikes in the darkness—cobalt? So was he supposed to use his Mana to activate those?
It seemed like a more complicated way to display his flow of Mana, and he had already done that. He straightened with a frown. There must be something more, but he couldn’t even begin to guess and would simply have to try and see if it worked. He extended his hand with his fingers spread apart and let small trails of Mana flow out and into the keyhole to attach to the cobalt spikes within. He allowed more to trickle in and when he neither saw nor heard any change, he decided that flooding the spikes with Mana wouldn’t achieve the desired result.
It was a keyhole, so perhaps he should treat his Mana as if it were the key. That made sense when he thought about it and he held his open hand with the other, closed his eyes to focus, and used the Mana attached to the spikes to try to turn the lock. He regretted it almost immediately as he could feel his fingers bending with it.
The Mana strands were too thin. He probably had the right idea but needed to strengthen the bond. Pushing his impatience aside, he focused on building the Mana trails to strengthen the connection between him and the lock. The process relieved his fingers somewhat when he tried to manipulate the lock again, but when he had turned it almost a quarter of the way, the resistance returned. He frowned and tried using his other hand to create a second set of Mana strands to help relieve the stress of the bond and unlatch the door.
Wulfsun observed the boy’s struggle, a little surprised that he still had to use Vello in that manner. In the same way he knew from watching him use Anima that he could open the doors, he knew from this display that it wouldn’t work. Most Magi who were advanced in Vello did not use it as an extended limb or digit. This type of action was accomplished purely through mind and spirit. It was not necessarily bad that he used Vello in this manner for simple things like moving objects and the like, but he would not get through the lock like that.
Eventually, Devol released his hold, backed away from the door, and shook his fingers. He stopped after only a few steps and sighed in frustration before he shook his head, returned to the door, and placed his palms on it. His face a picture of concentration, he let both his Mana and Anima flare and stared at the Templar eye as he gritted his teeth and pushed. With an angry yell, he took a step forward and thrust the doors apart.
This earned an approving whistle from Wulfsun, who placed a hand on his shoulder. “Two out of three. Well done, lad,” he complimented him. “Most are happy to get through the first time. You have certainly shown some fire.”
The boy nodded and checked his fingers. “I guess I still have more to work on,” he admitted, picked his pack up, and slid it over his shoulders. “What’s next, Mist—Wulfsun?”
The Templar let that slide and pointed into the dark hall behind t
he doors. “Now we get to the part that makes things fun,” he stated with a toothy grin. “We’ll learn about that pretty sword of yours, brother.”
Chapter Ten
They proceeded deeper into the darkened space and moved toward a light that indicated a second chamber.
“This is one of the spires in the center of the castle,” Wulfsun explained and pointed to the opening ahead. “We refer to it as the treasury and it’s where we keep most of the valuables we’ve procured through missions, negotiations, that kind of thing.”
“And it’s where you keep the majestics?” Devol asked.
“Not all, boyo,” the Templar corrected. “We have some in there but majestics are unique and we can’t simply pass them around like we would a work mule. This is where we keep artifacts, exotics, trinkets, curios, those types of things. Rivets as well.”
“Rivets?” He frowned as he searched his memories. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of those.”
The commander chuckled. “It’s something of a local term around here. But more importantly than those, this is where a friend of mine is usually hiding. He’ll help you get everything in order for the next part of the test.”
So he would meet another Templar. He wondered if he was a commander too and where he hailed from. Was he another human or perhaps a realmer he had yet to see? He’d had so many new experiences today and yet he was thrilled about another. It was probably a habit he should work on before he went into another haunted forest in the future.
When they walked into the chamber, Devol paused to study the high white-and-silver walls contrasted by dark marbled floors. Several large bookcases were filled with tomes and a few banners displayed the familiar Templar insignia. A massive fireplace provided a calm, flickering fire and in one of the corners of the chamber, the foot of a spiraling staircase leading farther up the tower was visible.
A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) Page 8
