by Aaron Thomas
“Thanks, Leroy. We will see you later.” Leroy gave a small wave in return and Kilen jogged out of the barracks, eager to start the training for the day. He wondered what Alexander could teach him with wind magic. He thought that the wind would probably be the weakest magic in offense. For a change it should be a pretty easy day.
Joahna spoke in the back of his mind, It was an attempt to reconcile myself but it was also something that all wielders should know. Kilen had almost forgot what he was talking about with Joahna before Leroy entered the room. He stopped and thought over what he remembered Joahna saying. It could save his life in an emergency. He bent and filled a pocket with sand from the training field. He had on his side a water skin for use while he was training. He would have to remember to fill it throughout the day. Kilen felt a warm glow inside the back of his mind, it was the emotional knot that was Joahna.
“It’s a start, Joahna.” It was all he could find the strength to say. Every time Joahna spoke or Max spoke of him he was reminded of Twilix’s face the day he had pushed her word to the limit. He had hurt a woman that had only ever tried to help, a woman that had shown him compassion at every turn. No, it wasn’t enough to reconcile what Joahna had done. He continued to the arena where he knew Gortus was waiting.
He was where he always was, kneeling in the middle of the circle of blood. Kilen joined him and freed his blade, laying it in the dirt in front of him. They prayed just like they always had then rose to start the day’s training. “In the middle boy, until you learn to stand against the world.” While Gortus retrieved the practice swords Kilen flexed and stretched his body. He felt strange whenever he was near Gortus. The lack of magic in his body seemed foreign. He looked down at his arms and for the first time realized that his body was changing. In the short time fighting with Gortus his body had thickened and grown. The skin had become tighter over muscles and veins. He knew that he was becoming a warrior. It was just what Gortus had promised. Kilen watched Gortus return and hand him a sword. The recognition of his body’s changes invigorated his confidence. He tightened his grip on the wooden handle, testing his strength. The infatuation with his improved body had caused him to miss Jace walking into the arena.
His face was red with anger, something that Kilen had never seen on his face before. Jace motioned Gortus to walk a small distance away. Kilen’s magic returned and his grip tightened enough to make the wood in his grip creak under the pressure. He loosened his grip, and adjusted his use of muscles to fit the magic inside him. Jace turned to face Gortus so that Kilen could see his angered face. Jace spoke in a whisper while looking over Gortus’s shoulder. Kilen could hear every word that was whispered. “You are not moving fast enough with the boy. The time has come when you must teach him to fight or he will lose this struggle. You must teach him quicker. Teach him as if this would be the last day you had with him before battle. Like the last day he might be on this earth. Teach him as if his entire existence depended on what you taught him today. Do it, Gortus. Show him how to kill.” Jace’s muscles were tight when he spoke. His knuckles were white with anger. Kilen had no idea why he was mad at Gortus, but did want know what would get him so upset. Gortus simply nodded his head and returned to the blood ring. Kilen almost lost the grip on his sword when he lost his magic again. Flexing his hands and arms he readied himself for a hard day. The clouds seemed to add to his feeling of the coming onslaught of sword strokes as they blocked out the sun and darkened the training yard.
Jace stomped out of the training yard, looking back twice with an angered red face. Gortus didn’t wait to start. Kilen’s head rang when he was struck on his temple. His feet weakened underneath him but he managed to remain standing. Raising his sword, he started to defend himself with a new found confidence. The two wooden swords rang out as Kilen defended himself from the set of attacks that Gortus put out. Overhead swings to underhand, left side, and then opposite. Thrusting and feigning, the attack did not seize. His defense did not either. He met most with strength and a few caught him off guard. Kilen had found his confidence and the emotions in his head were building on it. He began to attack back a small amount. Gortus was surprised but not dumb. Kilen’s attacks were feeble because his lack of experience. Gortus batted them away without much effort.
Gortus then took a step back and threw his black cloak out of the arena. “If you wish to fight, let us be on with it child. You may move, if you think you are ready to walk. I will not be easy on you.” Kilen moved to the arena’s edge and freed himself of sword and sheath, they would do him no good in this battle. The Kapal smiled a vicious smile with pointed teeth as Kilen returned to the arena. Then the rain started to fall. The blood that splattered the ground would not stain the sand this day. Gortus moved with a deathly grace, swaying back and forth. Finding each weak spot he attacked and Kilen did his best to defend. Twice Kilen fell backward into the sand and received strikes to his back as he tried to recover.
The two men exchanged blows with wooden swords that clacked loudly in the storm. Lighting strikes lit up the field and showed cloaked recruits running from building to building about their day. Everyone trained indoors instead of being victim to the storm. Gortus and Kilen, drenched, fought on and ignored those around them running in the rain. Thunder claps hid the sound of their wooden swords clashing in the training fields. The addition of feet movement to the fight caused Kilen to go on the defense again. His confidence wavered only for a small moment but was re-bolstered when he realized he was holding his own. Kilen made a few attempts to attack or to push Gortus back. He felt as though Gortus wasn’t pushing as hard as he could have been. Kilen didn’t land any attacks but he didn’t receive any strikes either.
Once Kilen placed a foot outside of the rock ring lining the blood ring, and received a series of strikes to his upper body. He knew then that Goruts was toying with him but he knew it was to push him to attack. By the time Kilen realized what Gortus was doing the struggle was over. Gortus simply turned and walked out of the arena. “Our time is done for the day. We have pushed on too late.” Kilen couldn’t see the sun to judge the time of day so he trusted whatever instincts Gortus had. “You had best hurry to the kitchen and find something to eat before you are late for your training with Alexander. Once again, it wouldn’t do to be late on your first day training with a wizard.” Gortus restacked the wooden swords that were about the training yard and re-cloaked himself as if it would keep him dry. Kilen did the same and shivered as he realized just how wet he was.
Gortus stepped far enough away that magic returned to Kilen’s body. He slipped on the wet ground when the sudden increase in strength made his foot push against it too hard. He picked himself up and started to brush off the mud and sand. Kilen was going to try and shelter himself from the rain, as he had seen Twilix do before, and latched onto the water vision. The information he received was overwhelming to the senses. He closed his eyes and took in every particle of water. It soaked into the earth, his clothes, and permeated the air. His vision could be pushed out farther than he had ever been able to see before. He enjoyed the moment in the water and wondered if this was what it was like to be pure elemental. Hold on to your thoughts, Kilen. You are letting the water magic take over, Max warned him. Kilen opened his eyes at the command and reigned in the vision. Gortus was still a void where his vision could not touch. He wanted to make sure he had his head about him and pushed the water out and away from his clothing, drying himself almost instantaneously. He made a shelter by cautiously pushing the water away. He made his way to the kitchen tents with what seemed like a bubble cut in half hanging above him.
When he arrived, he found trainers lounging about the tents and noticed three wearing hats almost identical to the ones that Bowie wore. They sat alone and seemed to be in a very deep discussion so Kilen didn’t bother to ask them where they got their hats. Leroy promptly showed up and gave Kilen a bowl of stew which Kilen dug into without much thought. “Wish I could keep dry like that. Those ovens you made us
work well except I have to stand in this downpour to use them.” He smiled and Kilen smiled back.
“Well it didn’t seem to hinder your cooking ability,” he said between bites. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he tasted the stew.
“I heard what you said and did to Master Harvel. He hasn’t said anything or been near me all day. I hope that it stays that way.”
“I am afraid that I was a little harsh on him. I now know that he was just carrying out orders. I should have known better than to trust someone other than you to prepare my food. It’s my fault really.” Kilen looked down to notice an empty bowl. The stew had done little to satisfy his appetite. It reminded him of the day in Basham when he had almost died from lack of strength. He had eaten three full plates of food without stuffing himself. He knew then that he had pushed himself too hard already that day. Leroy simply nodded his head with a funny look on his face.
“Well at least the storm is breaking. You should be able to train some today.”
Kilen laughed as a drenched Gortus walked through the tent, “I’ve trained harder today than I ever have. I just used magic to dry myself. You are right on one account, I had better get to my next bit of training.” Kilen crossed the field but by the time he reached the far side the rain had stopped, leaving the ground wet with puddles.
Kilen didn’t see a single person walking around on the wizard training grounds. He didn’t know if everyone was avoiding the weather or if there was a lack of new wizards to be trained. Before he could fully finish his thoughts two figures dropped out of the sky. He recognized one as the wind wizard, Alexander. The second man was in his mid twenties, with light brown hair that hung down to his shoulders. They were both dry and the young man seemed a bit tired or sick, Kilen wasn’t sure which.
“Good afternoon, Kilen. We saw you coming so we thought we would come down. This is Mica. He has been training for about a half a year. Wind wizards are becoming rare in this world. We don’t quite know why, but the voices have an idea, I think. They just won’t tell me”
Joahna snapped back, Could be ’cause you are all crazy as loons. The two wizards were wearing gray and Kilen looked over their clothes from where he stood.
“Good afternoon to you also, Alexander. I am pleased to meet you, Mica.” Kilen held out a hand for a proper greeting and Mica took him up on it. When he stretched out his hand, layers of clothing fell out around his arm. He promptly tied them back with a sash before completing the grasp of Kilen’s hand.
“Obviously you are wondering about our clothing. For someone that hasn’t had dealings with many wizards it is normal. We use the flaps of clothing to catch the wind we create. It lifts us in the air and allows us to float. We also have specialized weapons that catch the wind to aid us. Although, mostly we are used as messengers between nations. It is a rather wondrous task, getting to float over the realms wilderness. A lonely job, but a wondrous one.” Mica cleared his throat and snapped Alexander back to the task at hand. “Excuse me, where is my mind today? Did you enjoy the showers? I love spring rains.”
“It was very nice. I was training with Gortus in the sword arena so I didn’t get to really enjoy it much, though.”
“Well Mica did very well at keeping it in one area for so long. He’s a bit tired from the effort so I will be training with you instead of him, like I had planned.”
“Uhm, Mica created it? I thought that only water wizards could make it rain,” Kilen said and earned a clicking of the tongue from the wind wizard.
“You underestimate the power of each element Kilen. They all work together to make this world work. For instance, there is water in the air right now. The only way it stays in the air is because it is warmer than the water on the ground. We call it evaporation. As we cool the air so does the water in it. Soon the water particles in the air will cling to each other and become too heavy to stay suspended in the air. Then the water particles begin to fall in droplets called rain. So you can see, all we have to do is cool the air and cause the water particles to come together. Unfortunately, that takes a lot of wind and creating a lot of movement in the wind creates lightning. When lightning crackles around you it can be a bit maddening,” Alexander chuckled at his own joke. Kilen wasn’t sure the wizard wasn’t driven mad before he came in contact with lighting. Mica left to sit down on one of the boulders that littered the training field. “Yes, yes let us begin Kilen. I have seen you fight Twilix, Mary, and I have seen what you can do with earth magic so we will not be using any flames today. Use every other magic available to you, and remember how the elements work together in the natural world.” Alexander gave Kilen one nod and moved to make some distance between them. Kilen readied himself for a new type of magic.
Brace yourself Kilen! Max shouted in his mind. Before he could do so wind caked with sand passed Alexander and hit Kilen head on. The dirt and sand scrapped at Kilen’s face and hit his eyes. Blind from the first attack, he opened himself to the water vision and found Alexander leisurely moving around him. Water was everywhere and Kilen needed Alexander to stop moving so that he could attack him or close the distance. Kilen began to push water from the puddles where Alexander was standing, and gathered it around his boots. He then froze the water to the ground. Alexander turned the wind to attack the ice which was building at his feet. The wind scratched away the ice, moving sand at incredible speeds in the wind.
Kilen tried to rub the sand from his eyes with no improvement to his vision. It hurt him to open his eyes so he knew he would have to finish the fight with the water vision. He stood and made a large shield out of ice to hide behind from the wind and sand. Sand did not hit Kilen but wind did. He moved towards Alexander as wind pushed against his shield. He lowered his body to dig his feet into the dirt. The shield he had made was too large. The wind hitting it drove him backwards and away from Alexander. Kilen tried to freeze his own feet to the ground but suddenly the wind changed directions, pulling Kilen forward and throwing him on his face. He slammed into the ground hard and saw that Alexander had freed himself from the ground and was now flying away. Kilen tried to stand but the wind attacked from different directions, hitting Kilen from all sides until he ended up with the shield on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He tried to push the shield up, but when he tried. The wind lifted him and threw him around on the ground, using the shield and Kilen like a kite with no string.
Kilen struggled to keep himself upright and out of the wind’s harm, but finally he had to let his shield go. Kilen gathered the water near himself to make a weapon that would pierce the wall of wind and immediately thought of an arrow, sleek and slim. He formed an arrow of ice with little to no trouble only to be robbed of it by the speeding wind. It flew around Alexander’s body and then returned, landing at his own feet. Alexander had robbed him of his weapon and could have used it against him. “Think Kilen, you can do this. The element’s work together to form this world. You must use them to together to attack or you will be beaten every time.”
The wind was now a tornado with Kilen trapped in the middle. He had to escape the wind in order to close the distance to attack Alexander physically, or had to use magic to attack him. Kilen tried to gather water to himself to make a weapon or protection against the wind, but every time he started to gather some together the wind swept it into the tornado. The tornado was ever growing in size and now added bits of ice and water to its mass as Kilen provided them. He switched tactics and shifted the earth under Alexander to make a crack in the earth, but was surprised when Alexander freed the cloth on his body and used the wind to lift himself into the air. He now floated around Kilen, cackling. Kilen was running out of options but knew that he must not give up and must keep going so as not to disappoint his trainers.
He started gathering water outside the tornado, hoping to weigh down Alexander by clinging ice to his clothing, but again the water and ice was added to the cyclone. The vortex was swirling with shards of ice that meant sure death to any that entered it. With it gro
wing with every attempt Kilen made to thwart Alexander’s attacks, he decided it would probably be better to just attack the tornado itself. Kilen gathered some water to his eyes and opened them as far as he could. The water splashed the sand from them so that he could see. With renewed, pain free vision Kilen squinted in case of another attack on his eyes.
He focused on the water already gathered inside the vortex as it maintained its place around him. He latched on to each particle or shard that he could with his mind and began spinning them in the same direction as the wind. Soon all the water in the vortex was under his control again and was increasing its speed. He needed to slow the rotation or stop it altogether. Kilen focused his will and reversed the direction of all the particles of water. It took a few moments but the water started to slow then stop within the wind. Kilen’s brow was beading with sweat from the effort he was putting forth. Then the water started to move in the opposite direction as the wind and dirt. The particles collided and smashed against the sand, but still moved in the opposite direction.
The two vortexes struggled for control of movement and slowed at each other’s efforts. Kilen noticed that Alexander had landed on the ground and was now focusing on the magic he put forth. The hair on Kilen’s arms and neck started to rise. Then a single flash of light broke Kilen’s concentration. Thunder clapped and he realized that a bolt of lightning had freed itself from the struggle in the vortexes. The concussion was different than the one’s in his head. It lingered in his chest as he struggled to get a grasp on what happened. It must have shaken Alexander also, for the wind now ceased. Then he looked up at Kilen as he started to stand. A blast of wind struck Kilen from the top, forcing him to kneel. His magic enhanced strength should have helped but he had used most of his energy in the struggle to maintain control. While kneeling, a second blast struck him in the chest as it came up from the ground. It sent Kilen flipping head over heels into the air until he landed on his back. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs. He coughed and sputtered, trying to recuperate.
