White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10)

by Donald Wigboldy

  The cat chosen was closer to twenty pounds or less, unlike the larger lynx, Lyras.

  With the smaller mass, Niklaus found his smaller body was now trapped inside of his shirt and pants. The latter were kicked free and the golden tabby squirmed free of the base of the shirt. His mind was no less sharp, however, and the boy knew that he had just found a drawback to shape shifting.

  Zieran and Piotr turned as they heard Elijah laughing hysterically and the three watched the cat escape joining Nik's mentor in the laugh.

  Annoyed by the laughter at his expense, Niklaus growled at them in his new cat voice. He wasn’t trying to talk so much as voice his displeasure.

  “Ha!” Elijah laughed pointing at him. “He just disappeared into the clothes. I wasn’t sure if he’d ever find his way out.”

  Addressing the cat, the falcon added, “You should have seen yourself just writhing away in there looking helpless.”

  Tail lifting with his head, the cat looked away in disdain before darting towards the far door. He passed the bear, which looked enormous to his small form. Just strong enough to push through the flap at the base of the door, Niklaus disappeared outside bringing the other three and the bear after him.

  The cat looked around seeing the world with different eyes. It wasn’t just his height that had changed, but his ability to see the world. Colors and details were different from his human eyes and the courtyard which he had been in dozens of times looked like a completely new world.

  There were other novices and apprentices working in the courtyard. Working with the trees, grass and flowers that would normally be weeks from growing or blooming; the wizards could encourage the plants to come to life for them despite the weather and season. Nature wizards worked with earth and stone as well. Unlike earth wizards, they were less trapped within a certain element as those creating breezes or moving water with their magic proved as they nurtured their garden.

  Niklaus moved towards a pair of girls, who stood helping to bring green health to a new hedge grown from the earth in minutes. As a cat, he was unnoticed until he rubbed up against a brown haired apprentice. With a start; the girl looked down in surprise but quickly smiled at the animal. Before she could reach down to pet him he strode over her foot still rubbing against her leg, his head ducked to lift the hem of her skirt sliding under to rub against her bare skin.

  The girl wore only the simple slippers that many of them liked to wear. They were comfortable and protected their feet enough through a normal day. He looked up checking out the shape of her legs all the way up to where they joined provocatively above him. Niklaus would have laughed if Piotr had shown him something like this with his magic, but the cadet got to have the sensation of touching her as well as the view.

  Hands pulled the dress up enough to grab the cat and lifted him to her chest. As she petted him, Niklaus looked at what his view had to offer.

  The collar of her dress dipped low enough that he figured a paw placed properly might give him an interesting view inside of her top. Looking up at the girl’s face leaning in above him, Niklaus thought that she was quite attractive in that way as well. Her dark brown hair was pulled back revealing ears pierced by simple metal studs and her dark blue eyes looked down on the cat in her arms in amusement.

  “Niklaus, cut it out!” his feline ears heard Piotr call angrily.

  The apprentice looked at the approaching novice questioningly. Though it was not a large community within the school walls, only a month in White Hall was hardly enough time for every student to know each other and wizards would be unlikely to learn many of the battle mages’ names since they were separated for most of the time.

  Looking down at the cat, the girl suddenly appeared wary. While she probably didn’t know his name, he wasn’t the only one capable of using a cat like Piotr might with his magic. Fewer still could use magic to change their shape, but there were apprentices who certainly knew of the spells among the nature novices.

  Her eyes looked back to Piotr and suddenly widened seeing the big bear loping lazily after the boy. Releasing the cat in her surprise, the apprentice pointed behind him and cried out, “Bear!”

  Stopping in his tracks, the male novice turned and put out his hand to Bo. The bear responded just as quickly and even sat down cocking her head to the side to look at him curiously.

  “Good girl, Bo,” Piotr said with a nod as if he was merely walking one of the dogs on the farm.

  The novice looked down at the cat who eyed him back from the side of the girl. “Niklaus, get back inside before you get in trouble,” he ordered his brother.

  Standing up from his seated position, the cat stretched a moment letting his tail flick to the back of the girl’s leg. With a subtle flick of his head, Niklaus managed to get his question across to his twin.

  With a sigh, Piotr asked, “By the way, what’s your name?”

  “Eva,” she replied looking from the boy to the cat and back glancing at the perfectly behaved bear behind him. “You can control Bo even though you are just a novice?”

  “Big or small, I haven’t found an animal that is too hard to work with so far. I’m sorry the... cat bothered you while you were working,” he added gesturing for Niklaus to return to the zoo area. Since Piotr had seen the transformation, he knew it was best for his twin to get back inside to change back before he wound up bare ass in front of all the students and teachers in the courtyard. This was the nature wizards’ study and practice area, so there were quite a few who would become spectators should his spell end early.

  “Oh, he’s no bother. Did he escape one of the cages? I think I’ve seen this one before, though I could have sworn we only have female cats in the zoo right now,” the girl replied with a friendly smile.

  “He did escape out here, that is true,” Piotr stated managing to avoid lying without telling the exact truth of the matter. He pointed for Niklaus to return to the zoo area again and the cat responded by slowly walking towards his brother.

  As he neared, the novice squatted to say in a quiet voice, “Get back inside before I decide to have Bo eat you, you little jerk.”

  Eyeing the bear, Niklaus began to move more quickly though he refused to run at full speed. His brother was preoccupied with guiding the bear back towards the zoo. Zieran and Elijah were also outside and watching as he scampered past and through the flap set at the base of the door.

  As he entered, Niklaus released the cat body returning to himself and quickly thought to try a second shape.

  “Mind to mind, mouse,” he ordered swiftly taking the shape of a brown mouse.

  The world felt even larger, but the spell was just as easy as the rest. Quickly releasing the smaller form, Niklaus began to pull on his clothes as the door opened admitting Elijah, his mentor. The falcon shook his head admonishingly, but couldn’t hide a slight smile.

  “You looked up that poor girl’s skirt without her even realizing it, didn’t you?” the falcon questioned rhetorically. He had gotten to know Niklaus enough to realize that he did like girls and pranks nearly as much. Being able to escape notice as the boy he was might work well in the future as a spy, but in the school it was just giving him the power to get into even more mischief.

  “Now why would I do such a thing? The cat might have peeked, but that is hardly my fault... Eva is kind of cute though, huh?” the cadet replied with a chuckle. She would definitely be one to keep an eye out for after supper. Maybe he could get a dance with her, if Xara and Uliya weren’t too possessive tonight. The two young women were friends, but he could tell that they were interested in him as more than just that status. There were times where he could tell that they had run off other potential dancing partners, yet Niklaus also didn’t necessarily mind the attention or devotion from the pair of attractive girls either.

  “You had better be careful what you do with this power, Niklaus, or you could get into trouble or worse,” the falcon stated more seriously. “Around the school there are wizards with enough power to burn yo
u away with their magic. Not everyone has an easy going temperament here, you know? Some of these wizards get pretty touchy especially.

  “Then there’s the fact that you are dealing with teenage girls which is a whole other kind of mine field in itself. You hurt the wrong girl’s feelings or humiliate her; you could very well wind up dead around here.”

  Niklaus finished pulling on his shirt leaving just his boots to replace and asked, “This from experience, sir?”

  Frowning back at the boy’s flippant attitude, the falcon replied, “Indirectly maybe, but I’ve certainly skirted a few with issues. A few of the pranks from boys here over the past few years also put new precautions in place like guards at the bath houses. When they found out who pulled the prank he got into serious trouble, though I believe he did live through it; but I wouldn’t push it, Nik.”

  “Duly warned, sir,” the boy made a mock salute like he had seen from the cadets among the soldiers training to become officers. Though he did hear the warning, Niklaus thought that he still might be willing to try a few pranks. What good was having magic if you couldn’t have fun with it?

  Katya stood with the other novices in the courtyard known as the Courtyard of Wind. It wasn’t a very original title, the girl thought, but accurate enough as it was reserved for those who studied air spells. While it was the only official court, the closest two towers on the outer wall were also reserved for them as well. In fact, some of the teachers actually had their offices there along with two classrooms at the top of the tower for the more advanced apprentices.

  Though she wasn’t likely to ever specialize in the magic, the girl had no problem using it. From what Ylena told her, and from what other wizards from the diplomatic school had said, her guild was one that preached diversification of skills. Like Cheleya’s training in Mar’kal, she was expected to learn what she could of the other schools of magic as she continued to learn more about her own.

  It was funny that much of what she read about in the diplomacy magic books had less to do with spells than controlling situations and people. Katya had always been able to read people to a degree as if she was what the books called empathic. Her feel for people’s emotions and ability to read some of what crossed their faces could be as powerful as any magic spell, or so the books said.

  Words were power and not just those from the strange language that the spells were written in, which was another question in her mind as she studied. What language was it and where did it come from? No one seemed to have a good answer for the question, so the girl let it go; though she hoped to stumble across the answer some day.

  Concentrating on the spell the instructor wished to hammer into them this hour; Katya mimed the movements of her hands as she spoke the nonsensical words. Suddenly a wavering shaft of air appeared in her hands. As instructed the girl shoved the wind lance, as it was sometimes called, into a dummy made of straw as if it was an enemy.

  A hole formed as the wind remained hard as a staff and Katya did it three more times as well. She had seen this spell at the wizards’ tournament in Hala, and had watched her brother make his own version of it as a battle mage.

  “Good job, Katya,” Wizard Fala said to her with a warm smile. A girl slightly shorter than her wearing an apprentice’s dress with light blue banding on the hem and collar nodded looking equally happy with her achievement. The wizard wore a light wizard’s cloak over her shoulders in the light blue color trimmed with silver. She was the main instructor for air today.

  “Yup, I couldn’t have done better myself,” the apprentice, called Lodia, said with a grin. Her violet eyes seemed to twinkle under her brunette hair as the girl, slightly shorter than Katya herself, followed her mentor.

  Fala’s brown eyes rolled at her apprentice’s extra praise before returning to Katya. “I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised though, your brother is quite the clever one as well.”

  “You know my brother as well or are you just familiar with his accomplishments?” the novice asked curiously. Now that the girl had been at White Hall for a few weeks, apprentices and cadets who had discovered her relationship to her brother Sebastian were beginning to introduce themselves to her quite often. As if speaking with her somehow was like talking to him, the students would often ask her what he was like and if she had seen his magic.

  Since Katya had not only watched Sebastian training with his team at their family farm, but had been there for the tournament as well; the girl often found herself at the center of a circle having to regale them with stories of what she had seen. Though at first Katya had thought it both strange and a bit of a bother; Ylena had discovered a silver lining to the attention. Being a diplomacy wizard one day meant being able to capture others' attention with such stories, so it was good training as well.

  Fala took a breath and sighed with a slight smile on her lips and said, “Who do you think he learned his first air spells off of? In fact, this was the first air wizard spell that I believe he learned, though mages can cast things like gust as well.”

  The younger girl beside her said, “I met him in Windmeer a couple months ago, and even managed to catch one of his first duels there. He was very impressive.”

  Rolling her eyes again, Wizard Fala added, “Lodia is a big fan of your brother’s.”

  Blushing and looking towards the ground, the apprentice mumbled, “I just respect what he has done as a battle mage, that’s all. He saved you and all those other wizards last year and then helped save Windmeer also. He’s also kind of good looking, don’t you think, mistress?”

  It was good for Fala that Lodia was still looking down, since Katya noticed a hint of a blush at the question from her apprentice. Apparently, even though Katya was pretty sure the wizard was quite a few years older than her brother; he had also made quite an impression on the older woman as well.

  Clearing her throat, the wizard looked away from the girls and replied, “I only looked at him as a talented battle mage. He is entirely too young for me to see him as much more than a boy.”

  It was about that point that the wizard and her apprentice looked up in surprise to the high wizard’s tower nearly sixty feet above them. There was a scream and as Katya looked up with the rest, she watched as an air wizard in his light blue uniform fell from the height pursued by a massive mar’goyn’lya. Long before the man could strike the ground, the gargoyle’s wings lifted the two up into the air after sweeping across the air wizard’s courtyard.

  Katya, along with most of the wizards in their courts; watched as Kel’lor lifted the man high in the air in the test that Cheleya had done with her a few days beforehand. Unlike the young girl, the man squirmed and flailed until he could frantically turn and wrap his arms and legs around the gargoyle’s large upper torso in a death grip.

  She could almost see the disappointment on Kel'lor's face knowing that this man had certainly not passed the test. He was only the first to try at least. While the test had been made secret for the first class, eventually no one would be surprised; but even prepared it was hard to face a fear of heights, Katya thought. There were those she knew who couldn’t stand on a ladder without turning pale or passing out.

  “That was rather unusual,” Wizard Fala muttered in surprise.

  Katya nodded and replied, “Cheleya said, if you can’t handle dropping towards the ground or seeing the world from the heights while flying, you can’t become a dragon mage. The main ability of the magic is the ability to fly, so any fears make the rest pretty useless.”

  Noting her insight, the older woman nodded as she seemed to contemplate the idea.

  “Were you going to try the new magic?” Lodia asked addressing her mentor. “I think I might like to try,” the girl added with a slight smile as Kel’lor returned to the school roof.

  While they had started from the height of the tower, she guessed that Kel’lor had decided those unworthy of the magic could simply walk down from the lower height after failing. If those who failed didn't return through the tower, the
other applicants would be unable to learn what had happened and it might introduce more anxiety for the test besides, Katya thought with a little bit of humor at the idea. Moments later the mar’goyn’lya rose to the height of the tower to disappear behind the battlements as he went to meet the next candidate.

  “Well, returning without the man might cause a little extra worry for the next wizard,” Fala commented curiously. “No, I think I shall refrain from learning this new magic for now. I can feel the heights and fly on the winds with my mind. There is no need to actually fly with my body. Besides, the wind riding spell is better for scouting. The enemy can’t see us riding the winds.”

  Lodia frowned and asked, “But wasn’t there that incident last year where one of the warlocks captured air wizards’ minds while riding the air?”

  Katya noted a strange look cross Fala’s face. Anger, fear, and a wish to conceal such knowledge, the girl thought even as Fala replied, “It was an anomaly, I am sure. There has never been an incident before or after that.”

  “Wasn’t Falcon Sebastian the one who saved you too?” Lodia asked looking to her mentor almost in idol worship of the young man mentioned.

  While Fala looked like she would rather not speak of it, the woman was a teacher and warning students of the dangers of air magic was also part of her job. “He was with me when I went to search for our missing air wizards' minds. They had been gone too long on the winds and seemed to be in comas.

  “Sebastian was a close friend by then. He saved the lives of myself and a squad sent out on a simple scouting mission north of the wall only weeks before with his new healing magic. When he asked to ride the winds with me when the others seemed lost, I wanted to refuse; but I couldn’t argue with his uncanny instincts.

  “To his senses, Sebastian said a dark cloud came towards us as I towed him on the winds. I couldn’t see it and turned when I felt him pull back, but it was too late. The dark magic rendered me unconscious so I can only go by what Sebastian said afterwards, that he used his magic to create a powerful light to drive the dark cloud away.