by B. T. Narro
“Because apparently I’m the only one who can trust her.” Basen went on to explain their brief encounters and her request to live with him. “I wouldn’t want to ask her to stay awake and watch me, though,” he concluded, then called for the healer and gave his answer. His hand would be wrapped and would take days to heal. That was still impressive. A burn like that in Tenred would result in weeks of treatment and a scar.
“I’ll take the caregelow for my ankle,” Alabell told the healer.
“After you adamantly encouraged me not to,” Basen noted.
“I need to walk as soon as possible, and Sanya will watch over me, won’t you?”
“Did you want me to encourage you when you began to take off your clothes, or…”
“Discourage.”
“What about when you try to dance? Should I sing and dance with you, or…”
“Don’t let me leave the bed!”
“All right. I’ll tie you to the bed.”
Alabell turned the other way to face the healer. “I changed my mind about the caregelow.”
“Fine,” Sanya said. “No more teasing.”
When the healer had done everything she could for them, Basen knelt down so Alabell could get onto his back. They headed to their neighboring campus houses.
Thoughts of war returned to mind, dampening Basen’s mood that had just begun to lighten. Judging by Alabell and Sanya’s silence, they must’ve shared his gloom.
Eventually Alabell began to sniffle, frequently taking her hand from Basen’s collar to wipe her tears. He wished he knew what to tell her, but no words could bring back the dead.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I can feel both of you wanting to say something. You don’t need to.”
“You can talk about it,” Basen encouraged.
“I just can’t stop thinking about Tauwin killing them. It’s hard to believe so much damage can come from a single person.”
Sanya lifted a finger to get their attention. “There’s no single force more detrimental than a man with ultimate power and no empathy.”
The following silence let Basen reflect on her words for a moment. “You’re not wrong, but let’s not forget about everyone following Tauwin’s volition. They’re just as much to blame as he is.”
“We might’ve had to blame ourselves as well if this night had gone differently,” Sanya said. “For a moment there, I thought we were going to let them inside.”
“Then I’d be dead.” Alabell spoke calmly and firmly. “And maybe the rest of you as well.”
When they came close to their houses, Sanya asked Basen if he wanted her to carry Alabell the rest of the way.
“No, I’m fine.”
“My bastial stars,” Alabell said, “how long can you carry me?”
“Hopefully we’ll never have to find out.”
Yellow light coming from windows around them proved students were still awake. Terren had announced after the battle that his previous directive at Redfield was still to be followed: battle training would begin tomorrow. Everyone must meet with their respective groups. The only difference was that the day wouldn’t start until lunch hours were over to give everyone enough time to rest.
Basen found it difficult to stay humble at the thought of training with mages below his skill level. He held no rancor toward anyone less skilled. He just wanted his potential reached, and he didn’t see that happening in a lesser group, where his training would be restricted to that of a novice mage.
He knew he should find a safe place to practice making portals, for the skill might be invaluable in this conflict—he refused to think of it as a war just yet. But the looming threat of death made him scared. It was likely that Nick’s murderer was someone at the Academy. Does he or she share goals with Tauwin, or are they separate from this conflict?
No one’s separate from this conflict, Basen realized. Except those in Tenred. How long would it take for news to reach them? Who would send this news given that Tauwin’s men guarded the Fjallejon Pathway between the territories?
Once inside the house, he set Alabell down on her new bed. This would be her only home from now on, just as Basen’s house was his. The lotion had already begun to work, soothing the terrible burn on the back of his left hand. It still felt as if his knuckles were on fire, but at least now the pain had lessened enough for him to sleep.
“If you need help with anything,” Basen told her, “I’ll be close.”
“Thank you.” Her hand shot out toward him. “Oh wait. Did you use the akorell stone?”
He removed it from his pocket to give it back to her, the stone still warm and producing no glow. “Yes, that’s why my hand—”
Sanya snatched it out of his grasp. “A true akorell stone! Where did you get it?” She squinted at the rock, testing its warmth with quick jabs of her finger.
“I brought it from the castle’s treasure vault,” Alabell said. “You keep it for now, Basen.”
Sanya gave it back to him. “That fireball…was you…with that?” Her finger shot back and forth between him and the akorell stone as she spoke.
Basen lifted his bandaged hand. “And the cause of this. How have you heard of akorell stones?”
“My father had one.”
“Sorry to stop this short,” Alabell interjected, “but I would like to take the caregelow potion now before it gets even later. Then I should try to sleep before the effects become too extreme and I find myself agreeing to Sanya’s encouragements for me to dance and take off my clothes.”
“Now you’re trying to tempt me into staying,” Basen quipped. He wished them a good night and left with the akorell stone in his pocket.
He came into his house quietly so as not to wake Annah if she was sleeping. He gave a quick look to Nick’s room, now her room, and found the door closed. It was comforting to know someone was in the house with him, even if it was a psychic he knew little about.
As he entered his room, the sight of Annah sitting on his bed surprised him.
“You haven’t moved into my room, have you?” Basen glanced around but thankfully found none of her belongings. He wasn’t about to go live in Nick’s room.
“No, forgive me for the surprise.” She smoothed out her nightgown, then stood and folded her arms as if chilled. “Can I stay with you?”
“We’ll be right across the hall from each other.” He placed the akorell bracelet in a desk drawer. Annah said nothing of it, probably not knowing what it was.
“Please.” She leaned forward and tightened the fold of her arms. “I won’t use psyche.”
Basen wouldn’t mind the company, but there was something else that worried him as his eyes roamed the subtle curves of her petite body. “Are you wearing anything under that?”
She shook her head, and Basen felt his pulse increasing.
He turned away from her. “I think this is a bad idea.”
“It’s not. It takes two people for something to happen, and I’m just here because I’m too frightened to fall asleep.”
“You’re safe in this house whether or not we sleep in the same room.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it, and Basen realized she was about to bring up that Nick hadn’t been safe. He quickly came up with something else to say.
“You will get to sleep, and you’ll feel better once you wake up.”
“Even if that were true, I’d still suffer until I fell asleep.” She let out a shiver. “Please, Basen.”
“All right. I’ve put more than enough effort into talking a woman out of my bed. I am but a man, after all.”
She laughed. “This is why I need your company tonight. I’m already feeling better.”
With his back to her, Basen removed his clothes save his undershorts as he heard her return to his bed. When he turned, her unblinking gaze explored his chest and stomach.
“Maybe this is a bad idea,” she said, her breath quickening.
He squeezed in beside her. “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”<
br />
“Somewhat.”
She’d brought in her pillow, he noticed, and as they fidgeted to find comfort, he asked, “Are you used to sharing your bed with someone?” He expected her to bring up a man.
“Not in many years. But I used to go to my older sister’s bed when I felt frightened. She would sleep on her back, like you are now. I would sleep like this.” She draped her arm over his stomach. “But she’s much softer than you.” She brushed her smooth hand over the ridges of his abdomen.
“Well you’re not as naked as my usual bedmates, but you don’t hear me complaining.”
She laughed.
With the break in conversation, Basen’s fears returned of his father being found and killed in Oakshen. How would he find out if Henry was still alive? Would he have to wait until the conflict was over? How long would that take?
“I don’t know how to be brave like you,” Annah said. The timing of her comment made him chuckle.
“I’m just as frightened as you are.”
“But you weren’t during the battle. You risked your life for Alabell Kerr, and I felt no fear from you when you returned to the wall to fight. Meanwhile, I was so terrified all I could think about was abandoning the Academy and running to Trentyre. My parents and sister live in a mansion there with many private guards.”
“Didn’t we agree when I let you live here that you wouldn’t use psyche on me?”
“That applies to outside the house as well?”
“It does now.”
“Fine, but won’t you tell me how you can fight without fear?”
“Combat has never frightened me, but this conflict does.” He put his hand on her arm. “I think you’re really asking me to tell you how you can fight without fear, and I don’t have that answer.”
“I wish I’d had the chance to fight before tonight. It would’ve given me more confidence that I could use my psyche during combat.”
“You’ll be trained well before the next one.”
“Yes, but the next one is likely to be much worse. I don’t see how we can come away from it without death or injuries like we did this time.”
Basen cleared his throat and held up his bandaged hand.
She laughed softly in his ear. “Injuries that we didn’t do to ourselves.”
“So you heard about that.”
“Word of the enormous fireball coming from your wand spread soon after the battle.” She grazed his wrist with the tips of her fingers. “Does it hurt? I’m trying to refrain from using psyche as promised.”
“It’s fine,” he lied.
She covered her mouth as she yawned. “I finally feel ready to fall asleep with some help from psyche. Would you like me to help you fall asleep first?”
“I don’t know. Do I? I’ve never had psyche used on me before.”
“You do.” She put her small hand on his forehead and a wave of drowsiness crashed over him, pushing away all of his concerns.
“Oh that’s nice,” he muttered sleepily, just before falling into a heavy slumber.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Basen thanked Annah in the morning. Without her, he would’ve been awakened by worries countless times throughout the night. Instead, he slept like a dog after a day out in the sun.
After lunch, he had to check the list posted at Redfield to see which group of mages Penny had put him in. The list had gone up the day after evaluation week, when Basen had gone to the capital. He’d come back later that day hoping to check the list but had met with Chemist Master Jack instead. It made him realize that the last two days felt more like a week.
The names were ordered alphabetically, and when he saw the group number next to his, he stood frozen with his finger pressed against the paper.
“Basen Hiller: Group One.”
He had to read it three more times before he believed it. How had this happened? It was unlike Penny to change her mind.
He checked Effie’s name just to be sure.
“Effie Elegin: Group One.”
He looked up Sanya, Cleve, and Alex while he was there. All of them had made it as Group One warriors. He would’ve looked for Annah’s name, but he’d heard that psychics and chemists weren’t tested in the same way. There was no evaluation week for them. Instead, they were divided by the year they’d entered the school and would stick with randomly chosen students of their grade for the year. He wasn’t sure if it would remain this way for them during wartime, however.
It didn’t matter. He was in Group One. He let joy take him into a dance.
“You’re just checking the list now, Basen?” an unfamiliar voice asked from behind.
Embarrassed, he turned to find Mage Master Trela in her blue robes, the silver crown of Kyrro’s sigil sewn into her shoulder. She smiled at his blushing cheeks. “Are you surprised to be put in Group One?”
“Considering Penny said she wouldn’t put me in that group, I most certainly am.” He cursed himself. “I mean, she seemed worried my extreme talent with bastial energy might prove dangerous.”
Trela held an entertained smile. “Yes, she mentioned that. Because of that and your inability to meditate, you were in Group Six until just before the final list was made.”
“And…what changed it?”
“Someone came to plead your case.” She smiled and lifted her eyebrows as if enjoying the mystery of it all. “This person helped me see the full extent of your abilities, which couldn’t be seen through your scorecard for the week. Penny also withheld the fact that you destroyed the ribbon. She was reprimanded for this.”
Basen swallowed a lump in his throat at the thought of running into Penny now. “I see. Well, thank you, Mage Master Trela. Who came to plead my case?”
“No time for that,” she said coyly. “You don’t want to be late for battle training.” She gave him a small shove. “Best not give Penny any more reason for bitterness.”
“She’s the Group One instructor?”
Trela chuckled at his plight. “I thought you knew that. You may be extremely talented with bastial energy, as you’ve mentioned, but you still have a lot to learn—including meditation. Make sure you find someone to help you with that. Anyone will do. Now hurry to battle training.”
Basen would’ve sprinted there if his dread of seeing Penny hadn’t slowed him down to a jog. He clutched the akorell bracelet in his pocket, the stone barely warmer than it was last night. Probably going to take days to absorb as much energy as it had before I used it. Although he mostly trusted Annah, he didn’t like the thought of leaving it in their house.
He smiled when he sat beside Effie. She grinned back at him, looking as cute as a kitten.
“What a surprise it was to find Group One next to your name,” she said.
His smile widened. “Yes, thank you.”
She made a face as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. “With what?”
He shook his finger playfully. “I know it was you who convinced Trela to put me in Group One.”
She played innocent. “Um, I didn’t.”
“Stop feigning, Effie.”
“I really didn’t!”
What? She was being serious. “Well then who in god’s world did?”
She shrugged as Penny bustled into the room and slapped down a scroll on the podium at the front. The instructor glanced around until she found Basen, then stared at him hard enough to make him want to disappear.
“As the only first-year in here, Basen Hiller, you’d better pay attention and learn fast. Most of what needs to be covered today are battle strategies and formations, which is review for everyone else here. If you can’t keep up, then I have a valid reason to demote you to a more suitable group, and don’t think I won’t take it. You are also to learn meditation by the end of the week. If you don’t, or you do anything to endanger yourself or the rest of us, you will regret it!”
“I understand,” he muttered, sinking down in his chair as he tried to ignore everyone’s eyes on him.
&nb
sp; After a quick roll call, Penny began discussing battle strategy as promised. She used diagrams to supplement her lecture, quickly demonstrating that some groups of mages and warriors took different roles in battle. The Group One mages and warriors were supposed to be the most skilled, therefore they were given the more dangerous and difficult roles.
It didn’t take long for Basen to forget the animosity between him and Penny as he focused on her instructions. Group One was where he belonged, and he would prove it to her.
The lecture had started in the early afternoon, so they only had half the day. It took Penny two hours to explain the different formations, techniques, and orders they might hear, and then the time came to practice in the training area outside. It was difficult to remember everything as Penny yelled out different scenarios and gave specific orders to counter them. But eventually Basen realized that all of the strategies were intuitive. If he forgot one, his own counter to the problem was often correct.
They treated the training dummies as enemies, casting fireballs at the charred metal throughout the evening. It gave Basen pride to be training among these mages, who were certainly the best. All of them shared Effie’s skill that he’d seen during evaluation week. About two thirds were women, and the more time Basen had to observe everyone, the easier he could confirm they were all second- and third-years. They had clear knowledge about what they were doing that often was lacking in the expressions of first-years Basen had met in his evaluation group. All of these men and women had killed before and were ready to kill again, a sense of duty in their eyes. Basen wondered if he now had the same look after last night. He didn’t feel like he did.
Not a moment went by, that entire afternoon, without at least two mages pulling in bastial energy to the front of their wands to form fireballs. Basen began to wonder: With so much BE being pulled near the same location at the same time, why have no portals been created by accident? He started to realize that there must be more to it than just piling BE on top of itself until the world couldn’t contain the force of it. Something had to open a hole and decide where it led, and whatever it was must be the difference between a cluster of energy and a portal.
