Runic Apprentice, page 16
part #1 of The Rune Mystic Series
The competition gong sounded, and the three of the rushed out the door. He felt a moment of relief, as usual they’d left the field alone.
Absolutely everyone avoided the empty field, since there were no buildings or trees to hide behind. The three of them moved toward it with a deliberately relaxed walk, which mean the life mages were already long gone as they crossed in front of their tower entrance and walked out into the field.
He opened up his backpack, and he pulled out a blanket.
Sam snickered, as he helped him pull the blanket out and lower it onto the grass. Then the three of them sat on the blanket.
He pulled out some fruit, and a bottle of wine, along with a few glasses. He didn’t think Sam would actually join them, but he’d grabbed three just in case. Then he poured them all a glass, and he ate a grape and took a sip.
They could all hear the usual spells and sounds of battle in the trees, and by the mock town.
Lia said, “This is insane.”
He laughed, “No one has even noticed us yet, I don’t think. Besides, you like picnics, don’t you?”
She glared, and he wasn’t really sure if it was a mock one or not, until the corners of her lips started to twitch. Still, he decided on the course of prudence, no more teasing Lia about the plan.
Sam pointed, and Olin turned and saw a fire mage standing at the edge of the trees, looking their way in shock and disbelief, then he melted back into the trees.
Sam noted, “It won’t be long now.”
And it wasn’t. Less than thirty seconds later ten fire mages rushed out of the woods with spells blazing. His magic surged as his protections came up, and at the same time he rolled to his feet and pulled his sword.
Not so incidentally, all the fireballs missed, they’d shot from too far away, giving them plenty of time to dodge.
He scowled, and yelled, “You owe me a blanket!”
Sam pointed out, “They’re free, remember,” as he activated a water spell. A hail of ice spears shot from Sam and toward the fire mages.
He was a bit jealous, it’d be a few months before he’d be able to power a spell that strong. Regardless, he let out a battle cry, “For the blanket!” as he rushed the fire mages and channeled his magic to a rune that coated his sword in water magic. It was relatively cheap magic wise, and it would make his physical sword strikes against a fire shield even more effective.
The rest of his magic, he left for the shields, he’d need it there, because in the end his plan was truly insane, because there was no plan. The plan had been to have a picnic, and to respond defensively to any attacks.
Of course, Lia was one of the most powerful mages in the towers, she had gotten an extra helping of magic, and was on the rare end of things in that way, even early on in her career as a mage. The ten fire mages tried to dodge the hail of ice, but they’d been running too close together. None of the mages were taken out, but several of the ice arrows imbued with magic hit them and were deflected, at least weakening their shields.
At the same time Sam’s spell struck, he felt a much larger surge of magic leave Lia, as she powered an advanced water and air spell. The air enhancing the water, by agitating and making the shards of ice fly faster. The wind itself full of air magic would also drain their shields.
He was enhanced with speed and strength, so her spell had barely gotten done battering the fire mages around when he closed in melee range, and he swung his sword as he passed the first fire mage who looked a little dazed from Lia’s and Sam’s spells.
The mage’s shield collapsed from the mighty blow of the flat of his sword charged with water magic.
The other nine fire mages started to cast another spell at that point. He dove to the ground and rolled, and only two fireballs managed to hit him. Three went over his body as he’d hoped they all would, but his shields were more than up for the task of defending against two quick and dirty simple fireball spells.
The other four went toward the blanket, the mages were still too far away, and while Lia and Sam weren’t sword fighters, they did enhance their bodies. Speed and perception mattered.
He was spelled for speed, so he’d ran at least four times the length of the mages, they were still much closer to the trees than they were to the burning blanket.
He came out of his roll and leapt to his feet, now behind the nine mages.
The fire mages were clearly torn, they couldn’t close the distance to the blanket to fight the true threat of two full rune mages, not without leaving an insane apprentice with a sword at their backs.
In short, they hesitated, their ambush hadn’t worked the way they’d planned. It was part of his plan, in truth. No one ever went into the field, so it was a completely new experience, and the fire mages didn’t have a plan ready for it, past what they must’ve quickly come up with before attacking, and they clearly hadn’t taken the time to form a backup plan.
Regardless, speculation or not, it seemed right to him, and it also gave him a frozen moment to take his second swing. His sword roared through the air with his enhanced strength and speed, and the second fire mage’s shield dropped, and he heard the sound of cracking ribs as the mage was surrounded in a red light as he fell to the ground.
Less magic or not, fire shields were terrible for stopping physical damage, and were weakest magically speaking against water magic. His sword was both in that moment, and he could hit very hard.
That broke them out of their shock, and they turned as one to him and started to cast, only to take Lia’s and Sam’s next spells in the back. They were using mass area spells, to overcome the distance problem.
Sam had sent another hail of ice, a few even hit him, but he had earth and water shields and his friend’s spell took much less of a toll on him than it did on the fire mages.
Lia’s spell was far more devastating. She missed him on purpose, taking out three fire mages on the edges with a whirlwind filled with small but very sharp pieces of ice. The three mages’ shields failed, and as cuts started to appear on their faces the safeties of the arena kicked in before they could be cut to ribbons, snuffed her spell, and marked them as dead.
That still left five of them, even if slightly weakened, and in the second it took them to cast he faked left, then jumped, straight up. Two of them fell for the feint, and their fireballs didn’t even come close. The other three hit his shields, and he felt the powerful surge of magic go through him to maintain his shield’s integrity.
Still, he’d been growing for over four months, and his shields were far more effective against them than theirs were against him. It also helped, that outside of enchanting his weapon with water magic, he wasn’t using any magic on offense.
Plus, Lia and Sam had them worn down for his sword to finish them off. It was his first time fighting as a team, and he found he liked it.
He lunged forward as soon as he landed, tagging another one out of the competition with a harsh uppercut of his sword that would have disemboweled if it’d been a sharp sword. As it was, the man’s breath was knocked out of him, and he was out.
They started to cast again, but he seamlessly moved into another sword form as he spun, and he heard the crack of bone as he hit another mage’s arm, breaking it. Both preventing the spell from finishing, and not so incidentally knocking him out of the competition.
The last four ran at that point, but they didn’t get far.
He pulled out a dagger, cast the water rune again, and then filled with magic threw it at one of the remaining mage’s back.
Two more were cut down by Lia’s next spell, and the last by Sam’s.
They all looked pissed off, as they headed for the stands, three of them limping in pain.
He retrieved his dagger and headed back to the blanket, which was burned but no longer on fire. He assumed Lia or Sam had put out the fire.
Sam sniggered, “I haven’t had this much fun in a competition in a long time.”
Lia chuckled, “I have to admit, so far it’s worked better than I expected. When their ambush faltered, they had no idea what to do stuck in the middle of a field and just as exposed as we were.”
He sighed as he sat, and he grabbed a few grapes to snack on. Sitting was a bad idea though, the rush of adrenaline in his body from the skirmish made him shake, and he got back up and started to walk it off.
“Glad you’re having fun.”
She smirked, “I never said it wouldn’t be fun, I just said it was suicidal. How’s your magic?”
“More than half left, we got this.”
Lia looked at him disbelievingly, then shook her head in exasperation when she caught his smile.
He didn’t really think they’d win, after all.
Sam said, “At the distance, they should’ve used a mass area spell.”
Lia ate a couple of grapes too, and she took a sip from her wine.
He had the suspicion she’d never even put the glass down.
They managed to take out two more attacking groups, three life mages and sword masters almost got them, using the same dodging tactics they had against the fire mages. He also knew from class that he wasn’t nearly good enough to face them in battle without tricks.
He did manage to hold one back long enough for Sam to take out though, and Lia took out the other two with an earth spell.
The third group were death mages. Their spells were harder to dodge, because they weren’t visible and he had to depend on detect magic to know when to dodge. Still, his shields held but he was all but exhausted of magic by the time they took the three mages down.
They’d stayed in the trees, right on the edge, which made it harder to retaliate.
It was their fourth opponent that took them down. Just one master earth mage, of advanced years and insanely powerful magic. Earth shields were very effective against his sword, and embarrassingly enough he’d gotten hit by a spell which ate his shields, ripped his own sword out of his hands, and killed him with his own weapon.
Lia was in the upper tiers of rare power, but not the only one, and she was still relatively young, just eighteen years old. She might be his equal in thirty years, but her being caught out in a field with nothing to hide behind ensured that she and Sam were taken down by earth spells right after he was.
Honestly, it was a little intimidating. Rune mages had an advantage in combat, using six spheres, but power, age, and deep experience was hard to beat. They might’ve had a shot at it from cover, but out in the field they became the victims.
Still, both he and Sam had a huge smile on their faces, as they moved to the stands. Even Lia looked slightly amused. They’d lasted for close to an hour, they’d even had time between skirmishes to finish the bottle of wine and the grapes, and he was pretty satisfied with that.
Though, they’d never do that again.
Cassandra gave them all a funny look when they joined the stands, but she didn’t comment.
Chapter Twenty-One
Tower Mage Tanner looked like a storm cloud as he approached their section of the stands when the competition finally came to an end. To say he looked unhappy would be an understatement. The fire mage scowled at them, then turned on Cassandra with a penetrating look.
Cassandra asked calmly, “Can I help you, Master Tanner?”
Tanner practically goggled, “A picnic? I demand you publicly censure, perhaps even punish these three for that mockery of our sacred traditions and customs.”
He frowned, and suspected that Tanner was far more upset that they’d completely embarrassed a team of ten fire mages, who hadn’t even managed to take out one of them.
Cassandra asked coolly, “You would make demands, of my tower?”
Tanner flushed with anger, “A poor choice of words perhaps, but I will put it to a vote, if you do not.”
Cassandra hesitated for a moment, but then grimaced, “They are of my tower, and my responsibility. I will determine their intentions in their actions today, and I’ll do what is appropriate. I will not brook your interference in my decision. Thank you for your counsel, but this is not an instance for the guilds to vote on.”
Tanner disagreed, “Their actions reflected on all of us, and the competition and rules are very much a matter for all towers.”
Cassandra frowned, but before she could reply she was interrupted by a third voice, which made everyone freeze.
Queen Delphine said coldly, “What seems to be the problem here.”
Even Tanner, in his anger, looked mortified by the queen getting involved in the matter. Apparently, no one had seen her coming, but there she was, Vida and four hulking royal guards at her side.
Her word of course, would be the end of it, essentially taking it out of Tanner’s hands, to his obvious discomfort.
It also made him very nervous, he hadn’t intended mockery, not in the least.
Tanner said, “This issue can be handled by us your majesty and is beneath you.”
Queen Delphine’s voice grew even colder, if possible.
“I will be the one to decide that, not you. Any subject that has two of my tower masters bickering in public like unruly children, is indeed a concern of the crown.”
Tanner flushed with embarrassment, then glared at Olin, Lia, and Sam, as if it were there fault for him acting like a jackass in public?
Tanner deflated, but he had no illusions he would ever be in the man’s good graces.
“Of course, your majesty. The competition as you know, is quite important, and a very serious thing. I believe these three have mocked our traditions, by having a…” his face twisted, “picnic.”
He tried not to laugh, and was successful, but only because the queen intimidated him still.
The queen looked thoughtful for a moment, as if not even considering that possibility before, something she had in common with Olin.
Delphine turned to the three of them, “What was your intention in having a picnic during a most serious test and evaluation of your skills?”
Lia and Sam totally threw him under the carriage wheels, and both stared at him.
He said, “It was my plan your majesty, and there was no intent to mock anything, or anyone. I came up with it yesterday, after two days before that I spoke with Mistress Cassandra about the competition, and my tactics.
“It was explained to me that although winning was encouraged with rewarding missions and accolades, to foster competition, that the true purpose of the competition is to gain experience in fighting against enemy mages of the various magical disciplines. She also indicated that at no time would I be slinking around like an assassin. That in the real world, it would be us that were attacked, not the reverse, and that the spirit of the competition was to prepare us for that. My old tactics, though my best chance at ranking high in the competition, went against that spirit.”
Tanner growled, “Get to the point.”
The queen gave Tanner a warning look, but she didn’t reprimand him.
He said carefully, “Master Tanner, to understand my intentions are not mocking, you need to hear my motivations for the devised plan and what led up to it. The plan itself does not indicate motive, either way. Regardless, on further reflection after that meeting, I realized attacking anything that moved in the open, instead of from the shadows, didn’t match the spirit of intent either, though admittedly, it comes far closer to approximating the circumstances of being attacked by an enemy mage.
“That’s when I came up with the idea to make it truly realistic. We wouldn’t attack anyone. Just defend ourselves, as is the spirit of our mage guilds and kingdom. So, I came up with the plan to use the empty field, which no one uses during the competitions, and only fight those that attacked us. The picnic was merely to act as a distraction, against ourselves. Sure, we knew an attack was coming, but we wanted to make it as realistic as possible.
“Obviously, we won’t be doing it again. Also, on the good side, every single mage in every single tower will give a lot of thought into the tactics of fighting in an open field because of what we did today, just in case it happens in real life. It was clear from those first three groups, they didn’t have layered tactics at all, and were just making it up as they were going along.
“Which… means we might have just saved someone’s life, down the line, if they’re ever ambushed without cover nearby. My point is, we not only didn’t mock the competition or our traditions, I believe we’ve upheld them and even exposed a lack of training simply because everyone always avoids the empty field. In real life, we don’t always get to choose our battlefield, so in this competition I chose the worst possible place to make a defensive stand I could think of, then worked up some tactics that gave us the best chance, in the worst situation.”
Delphine nodded, “And you two agree?”
Lia said, “The plan was flawed tactically, but yes, I agree it was more real to life, and matches the true spirit of the purpose of the competition, even if it doomed our chances to win. As he said, the picnic was to hamper us, give us a distraction, to measure our true chances in an ambush, not to mock the competition. Even the wine, to slightly dull our reflexes, was to make it truer to the real world.”
Delphine’s lips twitched.
He was glad someone found it amusing. Although he was rather tickled that Lia agreed with everything he’d said except that his tactics were the best possible.
Sam replied, “Your majesty, I agree with both of them.”
The queen said, “It seems you’ve jumped to conclusions, Master Tanner. I find no fault in those explanations, or their intentions. There will be no censuring, and further I find their actions laudable.”
Tanner didn’t look convinced, perhaps the master fire mage thought they were lying to cover their asses, but he kept his mouth shut.
He wasn’t lying of course, it was exactly why he’d done it.
