Lucy nodded, but felt overwhelmed. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. Okay, there was the fear again. She needed to acknowledge the fear and work past it. Think defensively and don’t lash out. Lucy took a deep breath. It was a good thing fireballs weren’t allowed. She never wanted to throw one again. She still couldn’t eat meat. Five students entered the paddock. She didn’t know them by name, but she had seen them around school. They were all huge, male, and heavily armed. They were the kind of people Gavin took most of his classes with. The tallest boy stepped ahead of the others.
“Hi,” he said with a smile. “Everyone calls me Mac. You and I will face off first. Then, we will add the others as we go. Thanks for doing this. It will give us work on fighting against someone with magic.”
“Thank me when you walk away from this in one piece,” Lucy smiled back.
Mac drew his sword, and sank into a crouch. He began to advance on Lucy. She wanted a weapon. Her hands felt very empty. She knew she had her magic, but she didn’t want to hurt him. She magically tripped him. He fell, rolled, and came up on his feet closer to her than where he had started. She took a step back. He used the trip to his advantage. That worried her. What else could he turn to his advantage? How could she use her power to hers? Wind? She raised her hand and blew him back to his original position. She held him there. He smiled and drew a throwing knife. Obviously, overcoming fear was not a problem he faced. Lucy swallowed. He threw it at her. She created a shield in front of her and the knife bounced off. She mentally berated herself for not having a shield in place before Mac even crouched to begin this. What would Eric say? Mac drew another knife. Lucy held him at a distance, but he was still a threat and he was only one. What happened if someone else attacked her from behind? Suddenly, someone did. Mac had been holding her attention with the throwing knives while another student snuck up behind her. That wasn’t fair. Lucy got angry and blew wind in the other direction too. Now, she was holding two students at bay, and she knew there were three others out there. Her anger grew. She paused. Getting angry and scared was usually when she started throwing fireballs. She took a deep breath. She was better than this. This is what Quinn wanted her to work on, so work on it. She couldn’t hold five students at bay with wind indefinably. Lucy concentrated, and put all five students to sleep.
“Good,” said Quinn. “Those are exactly the reactions we need to work on and retrain. You started to get angry, but you paused and thought it through. You didn’t just keep reacting. You need to be one step ahead, not one step behind. Also, you were thorough. You put all of them to sleep, not just the ones attacking you. We need to make reactions like that your first reactions. The wind was a good idea, but it wouldn’t have helped if someone had thrown a knife from behind. Let’s wake them up and try again.”
“What if I put my people to sleep too?”
“Then you can wake them up one at time if you have to. Better that everyone goes to sleep than some end up fried, right?”
Lucy nodded in agreement.
“Hopefully, by the time you leave here again, you will be able to control your power enough that you can be selective. After that, you can tie them up, disarm them, turn them in to local authorities, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Remember, you do not need to kill your enemy to neutralize him. Death is the ultimate neutralizer and sometimes permanent is called for. Perhaps think of ways that neutralize them permanently that are not death. Instead of blowing someone up, turn them into a tree, flower, cloud, or shrubbery. Find a method your conscious and your conscience can live with.”
“What about turning them into Garden Gnomes?” laughed Lucy thinking of Gavin’s reaction to that.
Quinn did not laugh.
“You may find the Garden Gnomes amusing, and to a point they are, but I would advise caution against any united group that thinks they are capable of binging about the Apocalypse. I certainly wouldn’t add to their number. They may be being manipulated by powerful individuals. They may be a diversion. Either way, think things through. That’s what we are working on here.”
Lucy nodded again and helped Quinn wake up the students. They were confused when awoken and Quinn explained what happened. Mac laughed.
“There’s not much I can do against that. Okay, let’s try again. All of us at the same time. Anything goes,” he crouched again, ready to fight, and sprang. The others followed his lead. Lucy let them take about a step before all five were on the ground asleep again.
“Perfect,” said Quinn. “Now pick a different method.”
They woke up the students again. The guys looked sheepish this time as they brushed themselves off. They attacked again. Lucy froze them.
Quinn nodded approval. “It will take some time for the spell to wear off and for them to unthaw. It will be enough time for you to get away. On the down side, you cannot disarm them and it would be difficult to tie them up. Also, you’ve dropped your shields. I like that your confidence is growing, but don’t get cocky. I could have an archery class rain arrows on you if you need that enforced. Again.”
Quinn and Lucy thawed out the guys and they attacked again. Instead of focusing on one fighter, Lucy focused on the group. She knew she was powerful enough for five. The self-confidence helped. She turned all their weapons into flowers. She made all their weapons too hot to hold. That sort of worked, but they were fully willing to attack her even though they were unarmed so she had to put them to sleep anyway. It was good training on being resourceful yet thorough. Then, she turned them all into maple trees.
“Well, that was interesting,” said Mac, after they had turned him back into a human. “I’ve never been turned into a tree before.”
“What was it like?”
“Odd. I felt stretched for one thing, elongated. Also, there was lack of a sense of self, but definitely a sense of peace and oneness with the earth. I prefer being a human. However, it was better than being frozen.”
“How so?”
“I was still myself when I was frozen. I could see you and knew what was going on, but I couldn’t move or hear. It was very frustrating and slightly scary. As a tree, the affairs of mortals are unimportant. An enlightening experience,” explained Mac.
“Was this really for a class?” asked Lucy.
“Sure,” said Mac. “Today’s lesson was that a wizard is as dead as anyone else if you stick a sword through them. However, first you have to stick a sword through them and that’s not as easy as you might think. The other part of the lesson was that there are some magical attacks and defenses you can’t win against. Yesterday, we worked with a beginner class. Their spells did not hold long and they were not as thorough or as creative. I was frozen by a beginner yesterday and was able to move again in a matter of seconds. You and Quinn had to unfreeze us. Yesterday gave us confidence. Today was a lesson in humility.”
Lucy laughed, “It’s funny you should say that because today was a lesson in self-confidence for me. Thank you.”
Mac racked his weapons and walked with her to lunch.
“Did I do anything that hurt?” she wondered.
“Nah, we’re tough stuff,” Mac smiled. “I admit I was worried when I saw you. I remembered you from the school competition and I’m also friends with Gavin. I knew you would be a challenge. I think I need to look into talismans against magic if I intend to come up against wizards often.”
“Good luck with that,” replied Lucy.
“I’d be willing to wager though that most wizards aren’t as powerful as you are.”
“I’m not that powerful,” said Lucy.
“I thought you were supposed to be working on self-confidence, not modesty.”
“Apparently I need more work.”
They both laughed and entered the dining hall. Lucy grabbed some food and sat down with Justin. Mac joined Gavin and some of their other friends. She didn’t see Maya.
“Enjoyable morning?” asked Justin cocking an eyebrow.
“I don’t know about enjoyable, but
certainly educational. I’m learning. You?”
“My stuff is officially moved into your room and my green leaf name tag placed under your blue rose.”
“Good.”
“I made one or two alterations to the room so our stuff would fit better.”
“Sounds acceptable.”
“I can change whatever you don’t like.”
“I’m not worried. We can deal with it tonight,” said Lucy with a shrug.
Justin still seemed unsure about something. She didn’t like seeing him this way. Usually he was brimming with confidence. Who cares what his parents are? If it was something else troubling him, Lucy didn’t want to know. Instead, she told him about her morning. They had an enjoyable lunch. Afterwards, Lucy went back to the paddock to work with Quinn. Justin went to find animals in need of healing.
“Did you find a bigger class to attack me this afternoon?” Lucy asked Quinn with a smile.
“No,” she smiled back. “I think in the mornings we will work with physical control. In the afternoons we will work with emotions. Emotions can be weapons too. A good wizard uses everything in their arsenal of tricks. Tomorrow you can use emotions against your attackers if you wish. Today, I will use them against you.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun,” said Lucy.
“It isn’t. It’s not fun and it’s very hard. Remember we still have memories and emotions to work through that I’ve walled off. I don’t think facing them right away would be safe or productive. First, we will be dealing with raw emotion, but not any reason for it. Once you learn that, you should be able to face emotions related to events.”
“That does make sense in a weird way. I’m willing to try anything. Even I know I can’t continue on as I have been,” responded Lucy.
Quinn nodded, “We will start off simple. No attacking yet. I want you to close your eyes. Rest, relax, find your center, and meditate. This feeling of calm is what you need to achieve. Face the emotion, accept the emotion, let go of the emotion, and return to calm.”
Lucy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was not good at meditating. Her mind was always too busy. She would think of all the things she needed to be doing and then remember she was supposed to be thinking of calm. Today was no different. She sighed. She needed to find a way to think of meditation as anything other than boring. She started counting her breaths. After about half an hour of quietly trying to find her center, whatever that was, Quinn spoke again.
“I see you have trouble with this. Don’t worry. It will come to you with time and practice. I will work on sending you emotions now. You work on returning to, well, at this point, bored controlled breathing,” Quinn smiled.
Lucy smiled in return. She was glad Quinn seemed to have a sense of humor. Lucy closed her eyes, continued breathing, and waited for the first emotion. She didn’t have to wait long. Sitting on green grass in the safety of school she suddenly felt very afraid; unreasonably afraid. She had faced fear this morning and survived. She knew she could do this. Besides, she knew there was nothing to be afraid of. She took a deep breath and focused on that. Lucy calmed herself down.
“Good job. You know there is nothing to be afraid of here. What you need to remember is that there is nothing to be afraid of anywhere. There might be reasons to act or react, but not reasons to fear. Have confidence that your power can beat anything. If it can’t, fear won’t help any. Relax and get ready for the next emotion.”
Lucy spent a few minutes relaxing before she was suddenly terribly sad. She had never been this sad about anything in her life. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She started to sob deep gut wrenching sobs. It didn’t even make sense. There was nothing to be sad about. That didn’t seem to matter. She worked on controlling the sobbing and breathing. She accepted that she was sad and worked on achieving calm. Finally, she managed it. They spent the rest of the afternoon working on emotion after emotion. Lucy was forced to experience exceptional amounts of anger, panic, laziness, giddiness, envy, and guilt.
It was hard work. Lucy couldn’t remember the last time she was so tired. She didn’t even want to go to the dining hall. Being around other people and communicating with them seemed like way too much effort. She dragged herself to her room. She opened the door, intending to walk to her bed, and stopped in the doorway. This was not her room. She was too tired for this. Where her bed was supposed to be was a couch and to her left was a small table with two chairs. Another door was across the room. She went to it, opened it, and found a bed. She fell on top of it, kicked off her boots, and went to sleep.
Chapter 21
Lucy woke up a couple of hours later and wondered what time it was. She felt better after a nap and was hungry now. She looked around the room she hadn’t bothered to study earlier. She remembered Justin telling her he had made some alterations. The bed was double wide with a blue green comforter. There were two wardrobes against the wall instead of one. She opened one, found her stuff, grabbed her hairbrush and brushed out her hair. Only one wall had bookshelves and they were filled. Justin had a lot more books than she did. She finished brushing her hair, felt a little better, and went to look at the other room.
Justin greeted her with a smile, a hug, and a plate of food. She sat down to eat.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Quinn told me what you were working on. What do you think?” he asked, motioning to the room. “It’s a little different. I hope you don’t mind the changes.”
“I like it. It makes more sense if we are both going to be here. This table is beautiful. I love the carved leaves around the edges.”
“Taran’s work. He guessed we’d be moving in together sooner or later and thought we might need a table. He built this for us.”
“I love it,” Lucy said again as she traced the leaves. “Remind me to thank him next time we see him”
“I’m sure you’ll remember. How are you doing with everything?”
“Making progress. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier.”
Justin thought it would be best to talk about something different.
“I’ve never gotten you a gift before. What kinds of things do you like?”
“I like the table.”
“That’s from Taran. What can I get you?”
“I have everything I need,” replied Lucy. “What would I do with more things? Besides, I’ve never gotten you a gift before. What kinds of things do you like?”
Justin waved off her question. “Do you like jewelry? You don’t wear any. Do you have some? Would you wear it if I bought it for you?”
“I’m not a fan of jewelry,” Lucy said with a shudder. “It doesn’t fit with my lifestyle.”
“Clothes? Weapons? Flowers? Ornate trinket boxes? Perfume? Tapestry wall hangings? Bottles of fancy wine?”
Lucy started to laugh, “Those suggestions all seem silly in this type of environment.”
“I can tell you think so, but I assure you there are many women here who like those kinds of suggestions.”
“If it’s that important to you, move in with one of them.”
“It is more important to me to find out what is important to you,” said Justin.
“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.”
“Good,” said Justin. “So, back to the original question. What kinds of things do you like? I won’t get you anything immediately. It’s so I know what kinds of things to keep an eye out for.”
Lucy could tell Justin was serious. She tried really hard to think about what kinds of things she liked and what kinds of things she would be okay receiving from him. Jewelry was out, of course. How impractical. She did like flowers. The only problem was they died too quickly.
“I guess, anything unusual. Something I’ve never seen before. Something I would have to ask what it is,” replied Lucy.
“Wow,” said Justin. “That’s a tall order. Are you sure you don’t want jewelry?”
Suddenly Lucy’s eyes brightened. “I know what I want!” she said excit
edly.
“Tell me. I’ll look a long time for an idea that makes you this excited.”
“Can I have a puppy?”
“Can you have a puppy? What are you going to do with a puppy?”
“Cuddle it,” suggested Lucy hopefully.
“What are we going to do with it while we are on quests?”
“Nerek? Ted? Taran, if he’s not coming with us? I’m sure Eric would love a puppy.”
They both laughed at that thought. Lucy was sure Eric would not love a puppy.
“I hate to be the responsible one,” said Justin, “But, what about when it pees on the floor, chews up your favorite boots, or eats one of your books?”
“Isn’t that what magic’s for?” teased Lucy. “Vanishing puppy poo and repairing drooled on books?”
“What about getting it exercise? What do we do with it while we are in class?”
“Take it with us?” suggested Lucy. “We could get a Bassett Hound. They don’t look like they need much exercise.”
“I have no idea if the school even allows pets.”
“Oh,” said Lucy, and her face fell.
Justin didn’t like watching her face fall like that. He loved her because she wasn’t like every other girl he had ever met. This once though, why couldn’t she be like every other girl? He’d love to watch her face light up over a pretty necklace. He sighed. Apparently, he was going to find out what kind of pets the school did allow. If she wanted something furry to cuddle, he was sure he could find something the school approved. They spent the rest of the evening talking about unimportant things. Then, they got ready for bed and cuddled up in the middle.
Sorcery, Schemes and Skelt: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol II Page 15
