01 - The Price of Talent

by Peter Whittlesey

  After practice and dinner, I decided it would be nice to spend the evening in my room working on my flying. I began like I had in the past, floating between my bed and the floor. I was doing quite well now with the dual focus needed to both float off the ground and move in a particular direction. Stopping gently was still a challenge though as it required switching my second magic focus to the opposite direction in which I was traveling with slightly less power so that I slowed down to a gentle stop. Too little power and I wouldn’t stop in time, too much and I stopped too soon. This is why I picked my bed as a stopping point, so if I messed up, I had a softer landing. Also, thanks to all my practice, the amount of time I could sustain my flight had increased too. It still took a lot of effort to do, but now was no longer exhausting to fly short distances, even with repeated flights across my room.

  All this required quite a lot of concentration. As my practice continued, I did make some improvements in my control. I was starting from a cross legged seated position on the floor and moving onto the bed. I did this while maintaining my cross legged seated position for two important reasons. One, it gave me a larger surface area to push off the floor with; and second, it meant I did not have to pay attention to where my legs were while floating across my room. I’m not sure how long I had spent doing this when I was interrupted by Meredith.

  “I see you’re still bound and determined to knock yourself out again,” she said, surprising me midflight.

  “Ghaaah!” I believe I said, startled.

  With that brilliant rejoinder, I fell down onto my bed a little sooner than I had intended. Fortunately, Meredith had waited till I was safely over my mattress before breaking my concentration.

  “How long have you been doing this?” Meredith asked.

  “Well, you saw my earlier attempts,” I replied.

  “No, I mean tonight,” she replied.

  “Oh, I don’t know, since after dinner I suppose,” I said. “Why, how late is it?”

  “Late enough that I’m back from the hospital,” she said.

  “Huh, I guess time flies when you’re having fun,” I said.

  “Does it?” she asked. “Fly I mean.”

  “Well, it passed quickly while I was flying anyway,” I replied.

  “Looked more like floating to me,” she said. “Especially compared to birds. You weren’t doing much flapping or riding air currents.”

  “Yeah, it’s mostly me creating all the currents,” I said.

  “Impressive though, and that’s saying something, considering I’ve seen you trying to fly before,” she said. “You’ve clearly been busy.”

  “If we’re going to get out of here, I’m going to need all the skill I can muster,” I said. “They’ve hunted me down now on multiple occasions, and with bad outcomes both times. I don’t want something bad to happen to you, I mean us, because I was not diligent enough in my studies.”

  I caught my slip of the tongue almost immediately, but I was worried I had perhaps revealed too much. I hoped that she had missed it, I didn’t want feelings to interfere with our plans.

  “Thanks Tyr, for what it’s worth, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you or us either,” she said with an arched eyebrow and a smile.

  Well, she hadn’t missed it. Either that or I read too much into her response, but I hoped she meant that she cared about me too, and that she wasn’t going to let it complicate our escape any either. Time enough for awkwardness when we didn’t have a job to do. At least it indicated that our kiss wasn’t entirely to avoid detection. I had been worried, since she had not mentioned it since then.

  “Well, uh, thanks,” I said awkwardly. “Are we all set on the plan for escape?”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to run through it once more,” she said.

  “Ok,” I replied. “From where we left it last time, I’m going to be squirrelled away in the castle, supposedly heading out to the practice ground. Instead, I’m going to make my way to the stables and wait for you there.”

  “Yes,” she said. “While you’re doing that, I’m going to be skipping out of the hospital early, making my way to the storerooms in the castle, charming the guards, and getting the winter gear we need from the storerooms. Then I’m going to sneak out, and make my way to the stables as well.”

  “And from there,” I said. “We’re going to steal a cart and dress as merchants leaving after making a delivery. There should be quite a few of these, given it was exam time. Then we leave the castle while the inquisitors are still looking for me, and before anyone notices you’re gone.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “And if either of us gets caught heading to the stables, you’re going to make it seem like you’re avoiding detection by the inquisitor initiates who are looking for you as their exam, and I’m just getting supplies for the hospital.”

  “Once we’re on the cart, that will be harder to explain,” I said.

  “At that point, we may need to rely on plan B,” she said.

  “Which is?” I asked, not having heard of a plan B before.

  “Improvise!” She replied with a smile.

  “Okay….” I said, not being entirely comfortable with this idea.

  “And from there we head north, pretending to be merchants,” she said.

  “Have we come up with a way to procure some vegetables or something to pretend to sell once we get to Nordshire?” I asked.

  “I thought we could pick some up on the way north,” she replied. “There’s bound to be a few small villages along the way that will have things for sale.”

  “What about money?” I asked.

  “I think we’re going to need to improvise there too,” she said. “Because neither of us have any.”

  “Could we pick up any from your Dad’s house in Forsburg?” I asked.

  “Unlikely,” she replied. “Whoever the Church put in charge of the town in my father’s absence likely is living there now. Still, if we did drop by under cover of darkness, we could pilfer a few things to trade.”

  “All right, improvise it is then,” I said.

  “I should probably run, Tyr,” she said. “I have a long day ahead tomorrow.”

  “I thought all classes were done, and tomorrow is supposed to be spent studying?” I said.

  “It is, but I’m not involved in the testing, and with that many initiates sparring there’s bound to be accidents,” she replied. “So I’m scheduled to spend all day at the hospital.”

  “Oh,” I said, not realizing that this was the last I was going to see her before we made our escape attempt.

  “Don’t worry, Tyr,” she said. “They won’t see this coming. Also, I’m not sure when Claudius is going to collect you tomorrow evening, to prepare you for the exam, but I should probably not be around when he does.”

  “Good point,” I said. “The less suspicious we act the better.”

  “Yup!” She said. “So, till I see you at the stables…”

  And just then, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. I was a little surprised, but not displeased.

  “Don’t be late…” She said, before heading for the door and leaving.

  “Yeah, I’ll try not to…” I said, likely with a stupid bewildered expression on my face.

  OOOooohhh! Look who has a girlfriend! I hope I’m invited on this honeymoon you have planned.

  As if I could ever get rid of you. Besides, if anyone catches up with us, I will have need of your… uh… professional services.

  Oh, you mean besides destroying practice dummies and being a decoration in the corner of your dorm room?

  Yes, the kind that involves real fighting.

  Well, it’s about time. There’s only so much entertainment one can derive from breaking inanimate objects and watching you float around like a leaf caught in an up draft.

  I thought you might be entertained watching me bump around trying to stop in the right place.

  Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy watching your bumbling attempts to mimic a can
ary, but you’ve gotten good enough at it that there is hardly anything worth mocking you about.

  Well thanks, I think.

  You’re taking that as a compliment?

  A lack of scorn is always appreciated, and from you means I really am getting better.

  I’ll have to work harder to find things to make fun of you about. Fortunately, your dumb expression after getting kissed should keep me giggling for a while.

  You can giggle?

  I can be amused, and for me that’s good enough.

  Aside from mocking me, do you have any last minute insights into our escape plans?

  To call them plans is a little generous. Basically, she’s stealing you gear, you’re escaping an exam, then you both steal a cart and ride off in disguise. It’s not the most ingenious of plans.

  True, but if it was too complicated, it would be too easy for something to go wrong and fail.

  Even in an uncomplicated plan things can go wrong. You have been especially good at failing to escape from the grasp of the church.

  Well, third time’s the charm. Or so we hope.

  You’re relying on old expressions and luck to escape? I might as well just stay here in the corner, you’ll be back soon enough.

  Do you really think we’re going to fail?

  Ok, just this once, here’s my honest opinion: I give you even odds at failing.

  Oh, why is that?

  Well, one, because you aren’t exactly a master thief or spy. Two, because on the day you will be escaping you will have an entire castle of initiates trying to capture you so they can get a good grade on their exam. And three, because I think Claudius has plans for you and he’s smart enough to keep an eye on you.

  Well, then here’s hoping he’s distracted.

  Chapter 23.

  The day before the exam passed quickly. Throughout the castle grounds there was a palpable air of nervousness and anxiety. The library was full of students cramming for written evaluations while the practice field was full of students running through weapons drills with a variety of weapons, though mostly the ones that were going to be used in the practical portion of the exam that I was to be involved in. My day was actually rather easy. Since I was not being evaluated, I got to sleep in for the first time in a very long time. Claudius had given me the day off since he was busy helping the other priests prepare evaluations and oversee the set-up of the castle for the grand melee that tomorrow was going to be.

  I woke up midmorning feeling truly rested for the first time in ages. I made my way over to the library and did a last review of the materials there for any useful information we could use on our journey. Unfortunately, I had done a pretty good job of this previously, and didn’t find any new or interesting information. So while improvising once we were on the road was not my preferred plan, it seemed like the only one available to us. At first I was worried my studies would be discovered and hint at our plans, but with all the initiates frantically studying all over the library, I could see my presence here would likely concern no one.

  After leaving the library I had a long lunch. Partially because I was hungry from sleeping through breakfast, but also because I was having a lot of fun watching the frantic initiates wolf down their food while reading books or discussing exam strategies. But after a while, even reveling in the fear of others became boring, so I made my way out to the practice yard.

  While the dummies, archery targets and other assorted practice gear were all still out there, there was also a great deal of activity going on towards the wall at the back of the practice field. It was here that bleachers were being set up for the priestly overseers of the exam. Also, they were setting up a dais that was clearly going to be the end point for the initiates who were, like me, acting as bait.

  Given the hubbub there, I decided it was a good idea to jog around the castle to see what else was going on. Also, this would be a good warm up for the workout I had planned. Nothing too strenuous of course, I didn’t want to harm my performance tomorrow, but enough to get the blood flowing and loosen up the body. Besides, it was a lovely day for a jog. There was a chill in the early winter air and the last of the fall leaves had fallen off the trees. Fortunately it was still warm enough that I did not need to worry about ice, at least not this afternoon anyway.

  My jog headed clockwise from the near back of the practice arena. It headed around the wing containing the teacher’s living quarters and into what was, until harvest anyway, the field where the castle’s grains, hops and barley were grown. The fields had been cleared already and prepared for winter, so my view was much less obstructed then it would have been earlier in the year.

  I continued around from the grain fields, passed the hospital wing, to the front of the castle near the gate. There was already quite a lot of people coming and going through the gate. Some were bringing materials for the stands in the practice fields, some were bringing in food, and many others had carts containing goods I couldn’t readily identify. The guards at the gate looked like they had a lot to do and were clearly not paying that much attention to individual merchants and delivery people. This was a good sign. Another good sign was that the stables were full of horses and carts, mostly untended and unguarded by the stable hands, who were busy helping the delivery drivers load and unload.

  My jog then had me rounding the classroom and library wing into the field used to grow fruits and vegetables. The rows of fruit trees, bushes and other assorted plants were being covered over and otherwise protected from the coming winter weather. This area also looked like it would provide halfway decent cover should the need arise tomorrow during the practical testing. The farmer in me approved of the staff’s efforts to prepare the fields for winter. Too many farmers just harvested their crops and left the fields open to the air. But if you got a good windstorm before the ground was frozen, you could lose a lot of topsoil and create dust storms. Though not common in the plains between the Eastern and Western mountains, because the farmers there mostly had good sense, it had been known to happen.

  Finally, I rounded the dorm wing and headed back to the practice field. There were even more initiates milling around, practicing with weapons, and also watching the construction of the bleachers. I did manage to find a spot for myself in front of a practice dummy away from the other students. It didn’t have as good a view of the action around the stands, nor was it all that close to the entrances to either the castle or the dormitories. But it was free for me to use, and that was what was important.

  I ran through my stretches first after my run. I did not want to cramp up while doing my sword drills. After stretching, I quietly summoned my sword, unsheathed it, and started running through all my basic sword blocks, parries and strikes. Then I ran through them all again, this time using the dummy to practice my aim. After this I ran through another set of stretches, this time for my arms. Lastly, I decided to practice my basic magical attacks. I threw fire at the dummy, then quickly put it out with a blast of wind created with telekinesis. Then I created a few icicles and sent them smashing into the dummy as well. Just a couple into the head and chest to make sure my aim was good. Then I started blasting it with mild bolts of electricity. This made the dummy begin to smolder again, so I quickly used a little water left from the icicles to put it out.

  After this, I wandered over to the archery range and again took the farthest target. As I walked over, I saw that more than a few students had been watching me and were muttering to each other. After all this time, they still hadn’t gotten over their distrust of me. Oh well, after tomorrow it wasn’t going to matter much anyway. I was leaving, they just didn’t know it yet. Deciding not to waste a good opportunity to show off a little, I began using my sword as a projectile. First I sent it point first through the target at 50 yards and then 100. I then repeated this process sending it flying like a circular saw, both vertically and horizontally, into the target. After each magically assisted throw, I just summoned it back into my hands. This, of course, produced mor
e muttering. It’s not like they hadn’t seen me do this before, but then they knew tomorrow some of them would have to try and catch me. Intimidating people is rarely the wisest course of action, but the devil in me enjoyed seeing them squirm a bit.

  Once I was done showing off, I headed back to my room in the dorm. I wanted to practice flying one last time before tomorrow. Besides, I still had some time before dinner anyway. The dorms were quiet compared to the activity going on outside. Most of the students had cleared out and the ones left were busy studying intently in their rooms. When I got to my room, I put my sword back into its resting place in the back corner of the room and settled in to my spot in the middle of the floor. I sat cross legged as always, quickly found my center and drew in a serious amount of power, enough to make the whole room colder. Then I slowly let it out in a sufficient quantity to levitate a few feet off the ground, just enough to be able to clear my bed. Then I gave myself a gentle push and proceeded to float over to my bed. With a corresponding, but slightly weaker push against my momentum, I came to a stop above my bed, then sunk onto the bed by slowly reducing the amount of energy I was expending keeping myself in the air. Even though I had managed this without incident quite a few other times, I was still quite pleased with myself.