‘I felt someone broadcasting panic and it was coming towards us,’ Megan said with a shrug and carried on.
‘You left early,’ Alesha accused loudly enough to carry.
‘If you didn’t plan to be alone why did you leave the group?’ one of the men asked irritably. The rest of her petulant explanation wasn’t so audible, much to Megan’s relief.
Soon they arrived at the sandy outdoor training arena with its three tiered stands set on one side. Zacharias was given a place at the front where he could see, so Megan joined him there directly in front of the grizzled animus instructor.
‘Ah, Zacharias, it’s good to see you out and about again. You have been in the wars,’ Instructor Benjamin said sadly. ‘How are you doing now?’
‘I’m mending.’
‘I hear your leg was shattered?’
‘Yes it was. It’s been put back together now. It’ll be strong again given some time.’
‘You expect to regain full use of a leg that was shattered?’ Benjamin asked in disbelief.
‘Yes, but only because my lady took time to reassemble the pieces and magically fuse them together. Without her intervention I’d be permanently lame for sure.’
‘I’m very relieved to hear you’ll make a full recovery. These lads need the competition. So, you must be the legendary wizard warrior and healer, Lady Megan.’
‘I’m Megan, yes,’ she affirmed. ‘And you must be Instructor Benjamin,’ she said in the same tone, already disliking the way he’d spoken down to her.
‘It’s not often we get wizards down here in the arena. Are you here to see how fighting should be done?’ He glanced from the tall muscular animus warriors surrounding them to the slight pretty girl. The contrast couldn’t be more striking yet she stood straight and met his gaze directly. ‘Or are you game enough to actually join them for some real practice?’
‘She is not animus and this is not her class,’ Zacharias interjected. ‘She has not yet had any training handling weapons.’
‘Is she training to be a warrior or what?’ Benjamin asked in some exasperation. ‘You’re right Zacharias; your girl couldn’t possibly join this class and hold her own. Do you know anything little girl?’
‘I know people who are rude to wizards are fools,’ Megan told him coolly, ‘and you really should know better. Actually, as you pointed out I am trained as a healer and as such I probably know more ways to kill a man than you do. I have no need to run about a muddy field to destroy an enemy; I can do so from a distance. I can place a hand on you and stop your heart, or if I had a blade,’ and she glanced aside at the weapons stack and a knife flew into her hand. ‘I only need nick you in the right place and you’d bleed to death in moments,’ she said calmly, yet again remembering her mantra to show no fear to an animus or they would not respect her.
‘Could you indeed?’ Benjamin responded, surprised but impressed by her cool retort and obvious courage. Like Zacharias, there was more to her than initially met the eye. ‘And do you know less fatal ways of subduing an enemy or several of them?’
‘Some.’
‘Good; I’d rather not have any dead students on my practice field. You want to have a go? The boys could do with experiencing just how differently a wizard opponent operates.’
‘The rules?’ Megan asked, glancing at the crowd of tall animus, most of which eyed her with similar eagerness to leashed dogs seeing a rabbit.
‘You try to avoid being captured. Oh, and I don’t want to see any injuries.’
Great guidance and rules, she thought sourly but nodded acceptance. She ruffled Zacharias’s hair aware he was nervous and very unhappy about this, before walking into the fenced oval of the arena. She moved to the centre and glanced around her. The arena was surfaced in a deep layer of coarse sand which was regularly raked to provide an even cushioned surface. There were no natural obstacles to hide behind or shield one’s back. Sending her senses beyond the arena, she detected a stream and an idea blossomed. She had little time to plan however; five men were slowly approaching her. She studied them, none were Zach’s close friends, nor had any of these volunteered to guard him. Suddenly they charged her and her time for contemplation was over.
With a gesture she called up a fierce gust of wind which blasted them sideways off their feet. A couple were even sent rolling helplessly along the ground. All were furthermore blinded by the swirling sand, unable to see to attack. One leapt up as soon as the wind allowed him and charged her again. Suddenly he found himself running against something that pushed back at him. He was running on the spot. As soon as he slowed he was pushed backwards. Only his fastest pace kept him stationary. A second man rushed her, hoping she was distracted. Without warning, his running friend changed direction and slammed into him, both of them going flying. But before they could get up the larger man sat astride the other, involuntarily immobilising him and unable to do anything about it. The one pinned looked for the other three members of their team and realised each lay on his back completely and unnaturally spread-eagled. It was clear they too had been pinned down.
Megan glanced up; ten men were now entering the arena. She closed her eyes, concentrating, and then spun around in a circle. She released the first five; they’d been beaten and as she only had so much strength, she needed to ration her spell-casting. From the weapons pile she summoned two wooden practice spears. Neither had metal points so they were not truly weapons, besides which, that was not how she planned to use them. The men flinched as the spears flew past them, doubtless realising she could have skewered them if she’d wished. Instead, she dropped them end to end about five feet to her right. She felt the emotions of one lad directly before her and knew that seeing her simply standing there waiting for them so calmly and unafraid unnerved them. She might be small, comparatively weak and of the gentler sex but she was also a wizard fully aware and prepared to do battle.
‘Split up,’ Rufus called knowing it was their best chance of success. She was only one against ten adversaries; her attention would have to be divided.
‘Charge!’ Suddenly, where there had been bright sunshine and their quarry standing in clear sight, thick fog now hung. With the way ahead curtained and obscured so thickly they could hardly see each other let alone her, they immediately slowed.
Megan watched their pulsing auras approaching, waiting for the timing to be right. Two men were headed directly for her from her right. She cast a quick spell that set the spears on fire creating an eerie glowing wall of flame. One man continued approaching, thinking it too was an illusion, but luckily felt the heat before he set his clothes on fire. Then there was a cry in another direction and she smiled; someone had triggered her quicksand. And as others rushed to his cries, they too became victims. Now it was time. She re-created the shield she’d invented to enter the Scritcher den. With her scent sealed inside and the walls of her shield turned opaque, she became virtually invisible in the fog and slipped between her pursuers. She got all the way back to Zacharias undetected before letting her shield vanish.
‘What the..’ Benjamin exclaimed as she seemed to materialise right beside him. She waved a hand and the fog disappeared to reveal the men still hunting her. Now however they could all see there were two sticks lying on the ground burning and that four men stood ankle deep in sand as though trapped. The men looked about them, clearly disoriented that they were still standing in the middle of the arena. They pulled their feet free easily now and shook their heads at how easily and completely they’d been taken in. They were also shocked to realise she’d slipped past them completely and now stood outside of the arena with Zacharias.
‘Having fun down here Megan?’
Megan jumped at the voice behind her and only now realised that her teacher Wizard Alistair was standing not far off at the fence and behind him stood all her classmates. Most of them had broad grins of approval.
‘Yes sir. Instructor Benjamin asked why we did not come down here more often to see how real fighting is done. Of c
ourse I enjoy muddying my feet as much as the next girl, but I was game to accept his challenge to practice on his class.’
‘I see. And it didn’t occur to you that this might be a dangerous thing to be doing unsupervised?’ Alistair enquired.
‘Dangerous for whom? If they’d known what they were doing then yes, I might have had some difficulty,’ she said with a shrug. ‘Was today’s class on physical combat?’ she asked, abruptly wondering why they were all down here.’
‘The class you were meant to be in and missed yet again,’ Alistair reproved.
‘That’d be my fault,’ Zacharias interjected. ‘Sorry.’
‘It usually is,’ Alistair acknowledged but without rancour. ‘No, we thought you were safely in sickbay but then felt you casting multiple spells. Of course I had to find out what was going on.’
‘Oh. Sorry sir, that was thoughtless,’ Megan acknowledged quickly, not having given any thought to how other teachers might react to feeling her spell-casting out of class, after the last time.
‘Oh well, now we’re here, we could do some practical work,’ Alistair said. ‘You’ve just put on a nice demonstration Megan. I’m sure your classmates wouldn’t mind a go. First, let’s analyse the spells you chose and your reasons for them. It was a nice touch in your illusion of danger to create an actual fire and actual barrier. What was your reasoning?’
Megan glanced round; not only her classmates, but all the animus class had gathered closer to listen. She also realised Schubert and Brendon were there, although when they’d arrived she didn’t know. Zacharias bolstered her courage through their link and she ignored the onlookers to concentrate on her teacher and his question.
‘I was severely outnumbered. My opponents were all animus and limiting their senses tends to confuse them. Fire causes smoke, which also masks scent. It also makes a good defensive barrier to protect one flank.’
‘Good thinking. Now you appeared to have trapped a few of them, what exactly did you do?’
‘I set a trap to be triggered by feet. The illusion was of a pit of quicksand. The more they struggled the tighter the grip and deeper they felt themselves sink. Thus, if they stopped struggling it wasn’t necessary to use power to hold them. The reality was that they only sank to ankle depth but would feel suction and compression.’
‘That was horrible,’ one lad dared to speak up. ‘I thought no-one would notice we were in trouble because of the fog and we’d sink without trace.’
‘So,’ Alistair said regaining control of everyone’s attention, ‘that spell was fully visualised enough for believable detail. Impressive. How long did you have to prepare?’
‘Long enough. They were cautious approaching me after I’d flattened the first five.’
Alistair raised a brow, so she’d bested fifteen animus opponents today. He had no doubt about this because he’d felt short bursts of intense energy being used prior to his arrival, which was what had alerted him in the first place. ‘Tell us about your reasons for the fog.’
‘I needed to slow down their approach and distract them while I went invisible. With so many, they would eventually have found me if they’d worked together. It was best to slip away before they could tighten their cordon.’
‘You made yourself invisible? How?’ Alistair asked and watched her demonstrate it. ‘Ah, you wrap a shield around you. But you aren’t entirely invisible,’ he remarked, viewing it objectively.
‘No, that’s far more difficult. Distraction and fog is easier to do. I think I’ve managed to seal my scent in too, which is the other essential trick to evading animus.’
‘You thought this spell up just now?’ Alistair asked, aware it was a complicated and probably tiring spell to maintain for long.
‘No, but this is the simpler version. I’ve also made this fly too.’
‘Fly?’ She went all blurry and opaque again, but then her feet left the ground and she rose, floating upwards slowly, which was very unusual. She didn’t go high, only about three feet off the ground but it was a hell of an achievement. ‘Well, that’s a surprising spell. I don’t imagine you can maintain that for long. Come down.’ He noticed that as soon as her feet touched down she dissolved the spell. Despite his curiosity to know what crisis she’d designed that spell for, it was more than time for the other students to have some practice creating illusions as she had done; as imaginative and believable as possible.
Megan was very glad when the focussed attention shifted off her. The battle of wits had been brief in duration but intense. She’d done a lot in a short period of time and it was now making itself felt. She leaned on the fence and watched her classmates experimenting. With Alistair’s guidance they all learned a great deal and it was very entertaining. The whole animus class watched avidly too. There were almost as many failures as successes and Alistair had to be quick to counteract spells that got out of control. When the bell rang signalling the end of classes for the day there was some disappointment at ending the entertainments. Alistair took the wizard students off immediately, still advising his students on what they had achieved or could do to improve their skills while they walked back.
‘Stay with us Schubert,’ Megan said quietly, since he was pushing Zach’s chair for her. ‘This class travels as one unit now.’
Schubert frowned at the underlying reasons for this change and stopped trying to fall back with Zach. They’d just have to wait to talk later.
‘Wizard Megan,’ Rufus said coming alongside. ‘You mentioned that you were worried earlier in the arena. Can you explain? I got the impression you thought we were doing something wrong, but no-one’s given us any guidance. I want to be better prepared for the next time we come up against a wizard.’
Megan noticed every eye had turned her way again, but he had a valid point and surely this kind of knowledge was what they’d enrolled to learn?
‘Your greatest assets as an animus are your physical capabilities,’ she told him. ‘You have a speed and strength advantage over every wizard. But you didn’t use that today. You didn’t work as a team either, which is another thing easily improved. You also gave me no surprises. You let me see you coming, have ample time to think up my defence and then let me slip between you. An animus has superior senses of smell and hearing; use them. I was shielding my scent, but you should have been able to hear my breathing and footsteps. Your problem is that all wizards know typical animus characteristics. Therefore, if they know you’re on your way, they’ll plan accordingly. You need to learn tactics and use stealth and surprise when dealing with wizards, or as you saw today, you’re unlikely to prevail. The other thing you didn’t do was mount a prolonged attack. Using magic tires a wizard fast. We learn to ration what we do, because believe me; I’ve passed out over-extending myself. Just ask them,’ she added glancing at Zacharias and Schubert.
‘Other wizards are not so selfless or so determined to save non-wizard lives,’ Schubert said.
‘Do you have any tips for us?’ Rufus asked the big warrior.
‘What she has told you is sound advice. The first thing you should always do is gain intelligence or knowledge of what type of foe you face along with their numbers and positions. Only then can an attack be designed to be most effective with their particular strengths and weaknesses in mind. Ask Tarquin for tactics lessons involving different species; they should be part of your curriculum anyway and are a necessary skill to becoming effective warriors.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ Rufus said formally and they parted ways having reached Zach and Megan’s private quarters.
‘May I have a word?’ Brendon asked from the doorway.’
‘Of course Brendon,’ Zacharias said as Schubert wheeled him into the room. Brendon closed the door behind him and leaned on it.’
‘When you leave tomorrow, may I come with you? I know it’s a big thing to ask, but I’ve got nothing here. I’ve also been warned that my name has been mentioned by those wizard parents. To be frank, I doubt I’d be safe remaining here, even a
fter you’ve all gone. I came with my own horse, so I won’t slow you down.’
‘You’ll be cutting short your education, bailing out now,’ Zacharias pointed out. ‘We have no choice, but you do.’
‘Furthering my education isn’t going to do me much good if I’m murdered in my bed a week from now. Besides, as today proved, I can learn all I need to know from all of you as we go along, if you’re willing. Please, I’ll do all the camp chores. I’ll be useful.’
‘Brendon you have proved yourself over and over,’ Megan assured him. ‘It’s more a matter that we don’t yet know where we’re headed or what danger we’re going to come across. Since Zacharias and I first met we’ve been under attack again and again. Our enemy isn’t going to stop until one of us is dead.’
‘I’m a good fighter.’
‘No-one doubts your courage. However, we’d feel horrible if you got hurt in the crossfire again.’
‘Thank you for being honest in your warning,’ Brendon told her seriously. ‘Now I am forewarned I can take the necessary precautions. All travel has its share of hazards,’ he added with a shrug. ‘All you can ever do is continue looking forward and handle one thing at a time as it comes along.’
‘Schubert?’ Zacharias asked, having already gathered Megan’s agreement.
‘Welcome aboard,’ Schubert said warmly. ‘So, all we’ve got to decide is when we want to leave, and how much notice to give Tarquin of our plans. The wagon’s ready, we just need to collect it from the wheelwrights in the morning.’
‘Excellent. Let’s get some supplies organised and we’ll be good to go after breakfast,’ Zacharias said decisively and there were nods all round.
***
While Schubert wheeled Zach to a table, Megan went over to the head table where Master Tarquin and Wizard Alistair were just sitting down with the rest of the teaching staff.
‘Wizard Megan,’ Alistair greeted. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Good morning sir,’ she said nodding respectfully to her teacher and then Tarquin. ‘Might I have a word after breakfast?’ she asked Tarquin and also added Alistair in her glance to include him.
Surviving Prophesy: The Immortals Page 26
