by T J Kelly
“Kory told me Oberon said he could have me first. He twisted the knife and liked it when I screamed.” My heart raced as I did my best to control my breathing. Chas’s cousin would love to get me alone so he could take his time hurting me. He had made that perfectly clear.
Armageddon swore under his breath, eyes narrowed. Wind rattled the windows and thunder boomed in the distance. Peony leaned over and placed her hand on my uncle’s leg. He looked at her, then nodded. The storm died down.
“That’s when Peter got there,” I finished. “I’m sure he’ll remember what happened next better than I can.”
That wasn’t precisely true. Some things happened that were seared into my mind forever, but I wasn’t going to talk about them to anyone. Like how I could have stopped Kory, but instead, chose not to. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to defeat my enemies if I couldn’t make myself hurt them. I didn’t want my aunt and uncle to doubt me. That would be unbearable.
“How did you end up outside the border?” Mort asked.
“I was racing my horse and saw the low stone wall. I wanted to jump it. I didn’t know it was the border. I didn’t even know we were that close to the edge of Uncle Ged’s land.”
My uncle looked at Mort. An understanding passed between the two of them. It made me uncomfortable even though their facial expressions remained impassive.
“Could have been an honest mistake,” Mort started, but I interrupted him.
“Of course it was an honest mistake. Chas and I didn’t head for the border on purpose.”
“Lia, this is the second time you’ve been in Chas’s company and crossed the border. Both instances led to an attack on your person.” Armageddon looked at me steadily, but his words still infuriated me.
“Here we go again! Chas rode his horse right in between us! He put himself in danger to save me. He wouldn’t have done that if he took me out there on purpose.”
“You don’t know that. It could have been for show in case the attack didn’t work. I’m not saying it was, but you must understand that it could have been. I know you like Chas, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of setting you up.”
My faith in Chas was frustrating my uncle, but that was too bad for him. I didn’t have to think it over to know that Chas hadn’t set me up. It was obvious to anyone who actually knew him.
I could have been with anyone, and those men still would have been waiting for me, ready to attack. The Taines were my enemies, regardless of whether I was dating Oberon’s youngest son. It pissed me off that Armageddon refused to admit that Chas could have died protecting me. He was a hero and deserved better.
“Just when I thought we could see eye to eye on something, you have to go and bash Chas again. What’s wrong with you?” I stood up, preparing to storm off.
Peter interrupted my hasty exit. “Chas could have died, Ged, and he would have if I didn’t get there in time. None of you knew I was coming home early. There was no way it was a setup.” He had been sitting mostly silent during my recitation of the night’s events, and I was glad he spoke up.
“See?” I stared down at Armageddon with my arms crossed on my chest. “You need to quit trying to make all of this Chas’s fault.”
My uncle heaved a deep sigh. “Fine. I will accept what you and Peter have to say about it. I’m only playing Devil’s Advocate. It isn’t likely that Chas planned this with his family. I think the Taines have been waiting for you to slip up. It’s a usual tactic for them. They’re particularly adept with a cloaking spell.”
“Come on Lia,” my aunt said. “Sit back down. Ged, call truce. There’s no reason to let your inquisitive nature ruin your relationship with your niece. And frankly, the rest of us think it’s annoying.”
Armageddon studied Peony for a moment and then nodded. “Sorry, everyone. Really. I’m trying to cover all our bases. Sometimes my brain won’t stop looking at things from all the angles.”
I relaxed, dropping my hands to my sides. I could accept his apology or keep the feud going. The truth was, I loved my uncle, and I didn’t want to fight anymore. As long as he played nicely, I could live with that.
I nodded my agreement. “It’s fine. We’re good. But instead of sitting back down, I need to go to bed before I pass out. I’ve got a date with Mort and his fireballs in the morning at an obscenely early hour.”
“All right, good night kiddo.” Armageddon smiled at me wanly.
I felt a tug in my heart. I couldn’t leave things like that. Armageddon was trying. I walked over to where he was sitting and gave him a tight hug. “Thanks, Uncle Ged. You’re doing just fine.”
I could hear Mort snort, apparently amused by my reassurance. But Armageddon simply returned my hug, squeezing me hard and after briefly resting his face against my hair, he let me go.
“Thanks,” he said.
I dragged myself up to bed, thoroughly done with the day.
NINETEEN
I Shatter Fire
When the alarm went off in the morning, I shocked myself by getting out of bed right away. I usually moaned and groaned and fought reality for a while, but I was about to learn to fight with fireballs, and that was exciting enough to wake me up immediately.
Mort had instructed me to avoid loose clothing, so I skipped my usual t-shirt and sweats or jeans and dressed in a long tank top and leggings. I pulled on my hoodie for comfort. I could always take it off before entering the space pod. I braided my hair tightly against my head to keep it out of the way and then headed downstairs.
Peter was there, just like he said he would be. I gave him a hug in greeting.
“I’m beginning to wonder if I ought to start a tracking sheet,” I said. “At the end of every month, we can tally up how many times you’ve saved my life. Then I’ll buy you a puppy or a cupcake or something as a thank you. For a bonus, every fifth life-save, you get a smiley-face sticker on your calendar.”
Peter laughed. “Sorry, no can do. If I want to achieve superhero status, I can’t take any form of payment. Although the stickers are a great idea.”
“Well, in that case, I better go buy a roll of those bad-boys because goodness knows I’m in need of a lot of saving lately.”
We walked to the greenhouse where Peter held the door flap to the shiny silver dome aside for me. Mort was waiting inside, a serious look on his face.
“Let’s get the party started,” he said. “Peter, use a distance viewing spell if you want to watch because you’re outta here.” I waved at Peter, wishing he could stick around. Knowing my luck, I’d need some more life-saving a few times during the process.
“Okay,” Mort said once Peter was gone. “We’re going to handle this in two stages. The first will be me teaching you how to create, form, stabilize, utilize and defend a fireball. The second will, of course, be our epic battle to the death.”
“Awesome. Let’s do this thing.”
I was pretty sure Mort was kidding about the death part. It was hard to tell with him. He was on my side, so I shook off my momentary hesitation as we walked over to sit on one of the brick walls we created inside of the dome.
“There’s an art to forming a fireball,” Mort explained. “It’s more like a living creature than a sphere that you can control. It takes a lot of balance. It helps to think of it like you’re holding a kitten in your hand instead of a baseball.”
“Got it. Flaming kitten of death.”
Mort smirked. “You’ll be able to tell when it’s stabilized. The fireball will start out feeling like it’s attached to your hand, but it will eventually separate from you. That’s when you can throw it. It may take a few seconds to figure it out at first, but with a little practice, it’ll happen almost instantaneously. The less time between forming and throwing, the better.”
I kept picturing the fireballs Tanner threw at us the night before. He kept them coming one after another without hesitation and overwhelmed us immediately.
Mort showed me how to hold my hand, palm up and cupped, and th
en demonstrated a few different throwing techniques and angles.
“I work my magic quite differently than you do,” he said. “But here’s what I want you to do. Close your eyes. Imagine the fireball is white-hot. It’s roughly the size of a baseball, and the flames will move and swirl and radiate inside of an invisible shield that holds it together. At the center is the power source, a small piece of the pure element of Fire. You control Fire, so it knows you. It’s friendly to you, and it won’t burn you. Set that in your mind, concentrate, memorize it, and call it up over and over again when you need it.”
Holding my hand out in front of me, elbow slightly bent and arm mostly relaxed, I turned my hand palm side up and pictured exactly what Mort had described. Over the past weeks, I had studied images of the more common spells. I firmly set a picture of a fireball in my mind. Once I had the image fully developed, I released a tiny bit of magic from inside of myself to make it real.
I may make an occasional disastrous mess, but on my first try, I created the world’s best fireball. Just like Mort said, there was life and movement within the confines of the sphere. I felt the precise moment it stabilized and disconnected from me and my internal source of magic. The Fire element at its center was all the fuel and magic it needed to sustain it.
“Damn fine job, Lia! Now, try one of the throws I showed you. Try to hit that gray brick over there in the middle of the wall.”
I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the brick Mort pointed to, and then threw it like a wiggly fastball.
The wall exploded in a shower of sparks and flame. Pieces of brick and dust flew into the air pelting Mort and me with flying rubble. I touched my finger to my cheek where it was stinging. There was a drop of blood. I had cut myself.
“Perfect! You keep that fireball image in your mind forever my dear because that’s wicked.”
I grinned. It had been easy to make and fun to throw. Mort had me practice creating fireballs and then throwing them as quickly as I could. I formed them one after another until they almost created themselves without any hesitation or forethought on my part.
It took almost no time at all for me to feel like I had been doing this my whole life. And my aim wasn’t half bad. No wonder the Taines made fireballs a specialty of theirs. Quick and easy damage.
Mort led me to the side of the dome. “It’s important to remember your previous fighting lessons. Look at the terrain, try to search out any weak spots: shielded areas, danger points, potholes. Be as familiar with the layout as possible. Find a way to use it to your advantage.”
“I think I’m ready.” Since the dome was a replica of the stadium design, I was already intimately familiar with it. My constant studying gave me an advantage for when the trials started.
“Not so fast. You never, ever use a weapon unless you have the counterspell.”
I cringed. “Oh, yeah. That. Oops.” It was a pretty basic rule.
Mort chuckled. “At least you’re eager to learn. That’s a nice change from most apprentices. Now, you can counter every element with any other element or the corresponding spell crystal. You never know what you’re going to have available to you, so it’s important to know how to use both.”
Mort had me generate a shield to block the fireball with the soil. It was similar to what Chas and Peter had done the night before, and I tried unsuccessfully to mimic. However, this time I understood the concept and generated a shield almost instantaneously. It was thin and flimsy to the touch, but sufficient to stop a fireball. There were ways to strengthen and enhance Fire to make it tough enough to break through an Earth shield, but most magicians couldn’t do it. My fireballs were that powerful from the start.
Mort then showed me how to form a shield out of Water. There was usually a source of Water around, like humidity in the air or flowing deep in the ground, no matter where you were.
Next was a swirl of thick, hurricane-force Air the size of a basketball, used to surround and extinguish the flames like putting a lid on a jar candle.
“If we stopped here, you would have plenty of tools at your disposal,” Mort said. “However, Armageddon asked me to teach you how to use the other elements, too.”
I nodded. Learning to utilize every element was a wise plan. “How do I use Light to stop a fireball?”
“Not stop it, absorb it.”
“Oh! That makes perfect sense.” I called up a small sheet of Light, paper thin, and absorbed every fireball Mort threw at me. One of the ground rules in magic was to use the minimal amount of power required to perform a spell. It helped save energy in case a massive outlay was needed later in the battle.
“As for Dark, use it to infiltrate and shatter the fireball from within. Like it’s made out of glass and Dark is your hammer.”
I viewed Dark differently by the time I was done. It finally felt like the cause of all the darkness inside of me was made to work in a productive way, and I was relieved. Until that moment, Dark had been nothing but a problem.
I shattered several fireballs in a row before Mort called for me to stop. We walked back over to the brick wall that we had used as a bench. I unzipped my hoodie and set it aside, more than warm enough after my efforts and proximity to the fireballs.
“That was fun.”
I was glad Mort didn’t jump all over me for saying that. Some of my teachers in school were pretty hardcore and thought having fun meant you weren’t working hard enough or taking the subject seriously enough.
“Yeah, I’ve always liked working with fireballs, too. That’s a good thing. The more you like something, the more likely you’ll be to practice it, become an expert, and utilize it in the field. Then you’ll love it because it’ll help you vanquish your enemies. Have a few more sips of water and then we’ll get serious about the real work.”
My stomach clenched into a knot. I was glad Mort told me to skip breakfast. Nerves always made me nauseous. I set my water aside and stood up, stretching.
Working out a little stiffness that lingered in my left shoulder, I said, “I’m ready. I think.”
“All right, here’s how we’re going to play it. I’m going to extinguish the light. Pick a place where you want to start. Try to hear my movements and identify where I end up. If you can’t, as soon as the light comes on, search me out immediately. You can’t protect yourself with a shield if you don’t know where your enemies are. Next, we’ll go through a battle sequence. I’ll blunt my fireballs in case they get through your shields, but you keep yours at max. I’m wearing extra protection that’s illegal for your rivals to wear, but that will give you the chance to use your full strength.”
“Got it.” I was relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting Mort. That would have held me back.
I glanced around. I picked out a ditch near a small pond because there were fewer obstacles in my way. I didn’t want to trip on anything in the dark and end up on the ground without cover because I fell. Hiding near Water seemed too obvious to me. Maybe Mort would think so, too, and not look there right away because of it.
As soon as the lights went out, I ran along the path I had set in my mind. I couldn’t hear Mort moving at all, so already I was at a disadvantage.
The lights came back up, and I frantically looked around from behind the scrubby bushes that surrounded my little ditch. I still couldn’t see Mort, but a fireball slammed into the ground by my head.
Wow. He was fast.
I had a vague idea from where it originated. Obviously, Mort knew where I was, so I jumped to the side and immediately took off running. I headed towards the wall I initially wanted to hide behind but didn’t because too many piles of rubble and ditches were in the way. I didn’t worry about him being able to see me do it because my position was already exposed.
I extended my awareness to see if I could feel his fireballs coming towards me without looking. It worked, and I dodged them several times.
I still couldn’t see Mort, but I had a lock on where the attacks originated. I created a fireball and
threw it at the spot, following immediately with another, then another, throwing with both my right and left hands.
Finally, I saw an explosion and Mort let down his cloaking spell. A direct hit. He held up his hands, and I stopped throwing.
“Nice shot. I didn’t know you could throw with both hands.”
“Yeah, I’m ambidextrous.”
Mort looked impressed. “You write with your right hand and throw your knives and spell crystals the same way. I had no idea you could use your left hand for magic as well. That’s a huge advantage. Your rivals will have no idea.”
“I learned to do those things with my right hand, but I practiced throwing with both hands equally. I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything. I just learn better that way.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when we work up our strategies. If an enemy notices a pattern to your movements, they’ll adapt. When you can switch hands, it will force them to start all over. I also want you prepared for several scenarios in case you’re injured.”
Good old Mort, always thinking about the big picture.
“No problem. I can use all the help I can get.”
“All right, let’s go again. This time, try to use more of your defensive magic. Cloaking and shields, or whatever else comes to mind.”
I nodded. We went through the concealment exercise in total darkness again. I spent more than half an hour dodging Mort’s attacks, chasing and being chased before I was finally winning more often than losing. That made me want to burst with pride. Mort was skilled, and he never let anyone win. Victory had to be earned.
The next time the lights came back on, there were probably twenty men and five women in the practice dome with us. He had called in some of the Irregulars and Armageddon’s household guards.
Mort surprised me with a practice session that reflected the actual odds in the trials. I really should have expected it. But I was taken aback by how slanted the competition really was.
