by Dixon, TJ
“They’d still have lost, but it would have taken longer.” I say confidently. “Why did you lie and hurt Cherry like that?”
“She was the enemy. Of course I’d hurt her. I fought to win. You’d have done the same thing in my position.”
Would I? I’m not sure, but I can’t stand to see my friends get hurt like that. True I hurt two of Gillian’s friends, including one who had surrendered, but whether or not that is fair is unimportant. Gillian is just lucky it wasn’t more serious, because if Cherry had been killed I would have shown Gillian no mercy. “Why don’t your family like you?”
“I never said that.”
“But they don’t, do they?”
“I suppose not, but how did you know?”
“I’m the one asking the questions.”
“They can’t use magic. It cost a lot to put me here, and they’re disappointed that I’m not in the top classes. They think I’m just lazy, but I worked hard to stay in D class. This was my only chance to get promoted. Of course now I’ve lost everything.”
“You’re not dead.” I say. “I honestly don’t know what to do with you. You can provide me with power but other than that I’m not sure what you can do. I don’t like you, but I suppose I don’t hate you. Just be grateful that you didn’t hurt any of my friends worse than you did. If you had things would be a lot worse for you.”
“Because they’re so wonderful now?” She asks venomously.
“You should watch what you say. If you hadn’t been so rude I might have considered treating you the same way I did Marian. It’s too late for that now, but you’ll only make things worse for yourself if you continue to act like that.” I say and she looks down miserably. She’s unable to keep up the act any more. It takes everything she has to hold back her tears. “Have you eaten?”
She shakes her head and I give her a couple of biscuits I had taken from the feast. She nibbles on one and looks very small as she does so. She is actually taller than I am, but like this she seems far smaller.
“I’ll think of something you can do, but for now you’ll just have to wait.”
It is the next day and we arrive in 2C early but find the whole class seems to be here already. They are without exception reading books on magic. The few people who do look up seem hostile, other than Charlotte of course. We can only see three spare seats and there are four of us. I sit next to Charlotte and Yu Kii and Rin sit next to each other, but Hermes stands beside me until the teacher arrives. My fear is realised when she does arrive.
“There are only meant to be three students promoted today. I don’t seem to remembering seeing you in the battle yesterday. Who are you?”
“I’m Hermes. I’m Peter’s slave.” She says nervously.
“Well, you can sit on the floor then.” The teacher says. Hermes has no choice but to obey and there is nothing I can do to help her. Then the lesson starts. It is a water lesson so sitting next to Charlotte really helps. Not only is it her element but unlike a stranger I know I can count on her help. At lunch time Charlotte seems unsure.
“If you want to eat with us you are welcome to, but don’t feel you have to if you don’t want to.” I say.
“Thank you.” Charlotte says with a smile. “That would be great.”
We port to the lunch room but before we can get anything to eat a familiar group of girls approach us. They are the same girls we beat yesterday, except that it is only five of them. The girl I struck from behind yesterday seems to be their leader now.
“We want you to free Gillian. We aren’t rich, but we’ll do almost anything in return for her freedom.” She says sounding and looking embarrassed.
“Why?” I ask. She doesn’t seem to be expecting this.
“Why…? Well, she’s our friend. She’d do the same for us.”
“I’ll consider your request. Meet me tomorrow before the morning class, by the tall trees outside.” I say. It seems they expected to be flat out refused, because they are relieved that I am willing to at least consider it. They also seem apprehensive, presumably about what I might ask of them.
Charlotte is fun to talk to whilst we eat. We shouldn’t have waited until we were in the same class to eat lunch together, but I am glad we are now. I have an idea how to deal with Gillian and her friends so I ask Rin to write some contracts.
The afternoon class goes well. It is wind magic and I am able to help Charlotte this time. I just wish that the teacher treated Hermes like a student rather than having her sit on the floor. She is still learning but it can’t be very comfortable. Training goes well too.
It is morning and I am waiting for Gillian’s friends. I don’t imagine they’d not turn up but I am still slightly anxious about the possibility. Sure enough though they port in not long after I got here. They look much more nervous than me, and with good reason. I hand them one contract and their leader’s eyes go wide in shock.
“We have to become slaves for a year?” She asks in disbelief.
“And after that year your friend will be freed, however if you refuse she will be a slave her whole life.” I say and they now all realise their dilemma. “Do you want some time to think about it?”
She looks to her friends and then back to me and agrees much quicker than I expected. “No. We will do it.” She signs it and so does everyone else. Then she hands the contract back to me to sign. I then tear it up, much to their shock. I then take out a new contract and hand it to her.
“I think you’ll prefer this one.” I say and she reads it.
“Why didn’t you just give us this one in the first place?” She asks angry and confused.
“If you had abandoned your friend rather than being willing to make the sacrifice I wouldn’t want you in my club. I have no need of cowards or traitors. You proved yourselves though, so I am happy to exchange her freedom for your membership. Again the choice is yours, and it does require all of you to agree.”
“Of course we’ll agree.” She says and signs it. Then she passes it around and when I get it back everyone has signed it. I then add my signature and we can all tell the contract is now binding.
Chapter 15 (Peter)
Gillian is both shocked and relieved to hear that she is free. She tries to convince me to accept her in the club as well. I refuse at first, but after much persuasion tell her that I’ll consider it, but not to get her hopes up. She seems to accept that for now.
Most of the club is shocked by our new members. Of course most of the Year 2s already knew but the Year 3s had no idea. At the start of training I have everyone get to know each other. The new members introduce themselves first.
The small girl who has been acting as a leader says. “I am Felicity Pureheart. I am from a distant branch of the Purehearts and possess neither the talent, nor the wealth of the main family.” She is smaller than me and like their whole team she is a typical Contractian with blue eyes, short blonde hair and pale skin. “My element as you know from the battle is wind. I’m sure you don’t need us all to tell you that. I look forward to working with everyone.”
“My name is Hannah. I’m not from a noble family, and I was probably the weakest from our team, but I look forward to working with everyone.” Hannah is fairly tall but very thin. I get the impression she hasn’t been eating properly.
“My name is Ash. My family hoped I would be a fire mage like my mother, but it didn’t work out. My mother died in the war, and I plan to avenge her. I look forward to working with everyone.” Ash shows her feelings of anger and sadness without any attempt to hide them.
“My name is Galico. I’m the daughter of a soldier. My mother was also killed in the war. I just want to survive this war. Mages have a much better chance of survival than soldiers.” Galico has a hardened look and seems much stronger physically than anyone else in the club. I have no doubt that in a fight without magic she could easily beat any of us.
“I’m Harian. I’ve been an orphan my whole life, but I worked hard and managed to get into the academy. Oh
, and I look forward to working with you.”
“Oh, me too.” Galico says.
Then the rest of the club introduce themselves to the new members. We now have five new wind users, so the balance is even worse than before. I have Dairon help me assess the new wind users, whilst I have Emma lead the rest of the wind users. The new members are shocked to see an elf.
“So that’s how you did it!” Felicity says.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“That’s how you learnt to break the academy wall.”
“No. I hadn’t trained with Dairon at that point. There were circumstances to that though. I don’t normally go around breaking walls at the academy.” I say.
“So how did you do it?”
“I had a bit more power than normal.” I say without going into detail.
“Can you show us how to?”
“No. It just doesn’t work like that. There is plenty that Dairon will be able to teach you though.”
“I’m sure. If we’d known you had an elf, we’d have joined your club ages ago. You should spread the word if you want more members.”
“I can’t do that. I promised the Queen that he would remain a secret. I can reveal him to the members of my club, but not to the whole academy. You need to keep him secret too.”
“Just how do you know the Queen? Are you her son, or her brother maybe?”
“I’m not related to the Queen. I’ve done work for her before, and she’s helped me. That’s all.”
“That’s a lot more than most people can say.” Felicity says whilst laughing.
Dairon manages to help them all a lot. I am glad I don’t have to fight them after the training, because they are a lot stronger than they were before. One on one I am still confident, but I don’t think my previous group would have won as easily, if at all.
As the week progresses I have Dairon work with everyone, but especially with those who fought in the last battle. I am frustrated that Dairon seems unable to help me much. He is able to help everyone else other than Sherry and Jenny. I get some benefit when I work with him, but little more than when I just train on my own. It is much better for him to work with the others, but I fear I may be left behind. I think I can understand better now how Sherry must have felt.
On the final day before our next battle I announce that all of our non-wind users will remain unchanged for tomorrow’s battle, but that we will be holding an informal contest to see which wind users will be on the team. Although everyone is getting along ok, it is clear that Cherry, Tabi and Midori are going to be very competitive about this. In addition to the new wind users Mirai also enters the contest, because she has shown remarkable progress with just a short amount of time working with Dairon.
I keep the contest simple. Everyone will take turns to fly from where we are to a stream. They’re not allowed to go above the trees. When they get there they have to take a cup worth of water and get it back to the starting point. They can only use wind magic and don’t get the use of a cup. Of course at the same time they have to fly as fast as they can, so it is more difficult than it might sound. The three who do so quickest and without spilling any water or breaking any branches, will be on the team tomorrow. Rin will time everyone. Of course I have no doubt that Cherry will come first, but I am unsure who will take second and third.
I have Felicity go first. I follow her above the trees and she seems to have no trouble flying at full speed despite the many natural obstacles that the forest presents. I have to say that I am impressed. She reaches the stream in no time and takes the water easily. This is where it gets difficult. She just manages to get her flight magic started without spilling any but her return trip is much slower. She manages it though.
Next is Hannah, but she breaks a branch before she even reaches the stream. Ash follows her and manages it but is much slower than Felicity. Galico is almost as fast as Felicity but loses the water at the last moment. Harian manages it but is slightly slower even than Ash.
Mirai amazes me. She flies at full speed just like Felicity and Galico, but arrives at the stream probably twice as quickly as either of them. She wastes no time taking the water and returns at full speed with no difficulty. She is by far the fastest to complete the contest so far.
Next is Tabi. She is about the same speed as Galico but breaks a branch as she leaves the forest on the way back. It is a careless mistake that she could have prevented if she hadn’t relaxed at the last moment. She knows it too.
Midori’s turn now. She reaches the stream probably slightly quicker than Felicity but takes longer to get back. She is third and must be anxious to see how Cherry does. I feel sorry for Midori but if her only hope is for Cherry to make a mistake, then she has no chance.
Cherry is really nervous but manages to get to the stream about as quickly as Mirai. It is clear on her return that she is aiming for the top spot. To my shock though she loses focus and the water drops to the ground. I had been sure she would come first but it seems that I was mistaken.
Perhaps I should have just held the contest for two of the spots, but I felt that would seem unfair and never imagined Cherry losing. I hate to take Cherry’s place in the contest away from her because I think she is still the best wind mage, but I have to stick to the rules I gave everyone. I am not the only one who is shocked by Cherry’s loss. I think everyone was expecting her to either come top, or at least in the top three.
“Can I try again?” Cherry asks me.
“I’m sorry, but that wouldn’t be fair. You’ll get another chance next week.” I say.
“But this contest doesn’t really prove who’s better suited to be in the competition.”
“It’s a little late to be saying that.” I say. “I really am sorry. I was sure you’d at least be in the top three. I was sure you were going to win actually.”
“Me too.” Cherry says with a sigh. “Well done though Mirai, Felicity and Midori.”
“Sorry.” Midori says. “I was kind of hoping you’d mess up, but I didn’t really expect it.”
“I suppose I would have too if I’d been you.” Cherry says. “Well done though.”
“Ok everyone.” I say. “I will be training with Mirai, Felicity and Midori today. Rin will lead the training for the rest of tomorrow’s team. If you’re not on the team then you have the rest of today off. If you want to train you can, but you’ll need to do it somewhere else.”
It is a very different team to what I expected and I want to be sure that everybody will work together as a team. So my focus is not on magic, but on teamwork. To my surprise though, everyone seems to work really well together.
It is morning and time for the next battle. When I arrive everyone seems a little nervous but I am confident we will win without anybody getting too badly hurt. We go down to the arena stage and wait for the other team. The crowd seems a little different today, but I can’t work out what is different. The other team arrive not long after we do and soon we are all ported.
The environment is about as far from the last one as it could be short of being underground. We are in a desert and the top barrier is so low that if we were a little taller some of us would brush it with their heads just by standing up straight. I can’t sense the enemy. Yusa knows by now to put a port block up without my needing to ask.
“They’re under the sand, and moving towards us really fast.” Yu Kii says sounding very concerned.
“Can you move some of this sand so we have room to fly?” I ask.
“It would use all my power just to move the sand under us. If they don’t come to us it would be wasted too.” Yu Kii answers worried.
“I can do it.” Aventurine says brightly. “I’d need to drain the water afterwards if you want to fly though.”
“Water works too. Helski, can you create a floating disc like last time, but to float in water this time?” I ask.
“If there’s enough room. Aventurine will need to clear some of the sand first though.” Helski answers.
“You’d better hurry.” Yu Kii says and Aventurine gets started right away. Soon the sand below us is gone and in its place is water. We however can simply stand on Helski’s floating disk. There isn’t any more air above us, but rather than draining the water I’d rather keep it between them and us.
“How much of your power did that use?” I ask Aventurine.
“Some. Not too much, but I wouldn’t want to have to do that to the whole battlefield.” Aventurine answers.
“They must be in the water.” Yu Kii says.
“They are.” Aventurine says. “They seem to be good water users too.”
“Got one.” Rin says and suddenly a girl rises out of the water skewered by ice. She leaves the battlefield and is ported away. “I had hoped to get them all. Aventurine is right, they are good.”
“They’re back in the sand.” Yu Kii says. “They’re on the edge.”
Suddenly the whole water is frozen and then shattered. Helski manages to keep the disk floating in the air and thankfully the shards of ice don’t fall onto us or go through it. Now there is air between us and the enemy. Not waiting for their next move I fly into the gap, followed by Mirai, Felicity and Midori. We use lightning to strike at them whilst dodging metal and ice shards that they send our way.
Next they use sand and it flies towards us, but sensing danger I blow it back at them. It is good I did because it turns into millions of grains of metal covering the air. Using earth magic the metal sand flies against the wind back at us, but the air is my domain and even though the shards themselves are metal I don’t allow them to reach us. I am unable to make them hit their senders though.
I’m not sure if it is Rin, Yusa or Aventurine but a flow of water shoots at the enemy. They easily deflect it and it digs into the sand a fair way from them. Next, flames rise near them, but sand covers the flames and the flames go out. I am having trouble keeping the metal sand from us and have no time to attack, but wind strikes from my friends are plain to see. Lightning of course would be ineffective and perhaps even dangerous for us, given all the metal that is flying around. The enemy start piling sand with earth magic to bridge the gap between us and them. As they get closer their control of the metal sand gets greater and I have a harder time stopping it.
