WarMage: Uncontrolled (The Never Ending War Book 3), page 26
“No hitting your opponent while they’re down. Right. She doesn’t look too hurt, though.”
“It’s the principle of it. I’m not a fan of that rule. Points deducted for unnecessary harm. The best mage should win hands-down anyway.”
Fighting back a laugh, Raven leaned toward her fellow mage and muttered, “Even if you don’t throw attacks when whoever you fight is down, you’ll still win. But be careful about where to draw the line.”
“I’m always careful,” the girl retorted but she sighed and shrugged. “It’s good to have a reminder, though. Thanks.”
She frowned as the students walked quickly to their places in the stands. “Those were fairly advanced spells I haven’t even heard of. Have you?”
Bella shook her head, but she smiled and leaned closer to speak in a low tone. “It doesn’t matter. These guys didn’t use the Magic Meld, so we have that on them.”
The girls shared a private smirk over that and waited for the next match to be called.
The announcer stepped into the middle of the arena with Azerad’s mage beside him, this time wearing an emerald-green dress as she pointed her wand at his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll take a slightly longer break before the second match of the day. It looks like we’re, um…relocating to a much larger arena to facilitate the next match between Marcel Kent with his vulture familiar Dolores and Raven Alby with her dragon familiar Leander.”
Bella smirked. “Told you.”
A shout of surprise and excitement rose, mostly from the citizens of Azerad who’d come to watch. The governor’s honored guests glanced at Raven but didn’t show much of a reaction.
She exhaled a quick breath. “Okay. It’s time to get that dragon.”
“I think you have more than enough time.” Bella nodded toward the announcer, who’d spun to face the gathered judges in the stands and looked a little upset. He waved his arms to gesture at some of the terraces that jutted from the castle walls above them.
“I guess they weren’t as prepared for me and Leander as they want everyone to think, huh?”
“They haven’t even said where we’re moving to.” Her companion shrugged.
“Miss Alby.” Alessandra beckoned the young mage with a curt wave.
She leaned toward Bella before she moved past her. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it. But good luck.”
As she followed Alessandra out of the stands and toward the walkway around the castle, she tried to ignore the whispers of surprise. A little nervously, she shook her hands out and steeled herself for her first real match as a war mage in training. And a dragon rider. That’s the best part.
When they reached the walkway, her trainer folded her arms and nodded toward the dragon terrace below them. “Go ahead and get him now. Once that bumbling announcer decides where to move the match to, someone will direct you.”
“Okay.” The young mage turned down the walkway.
“Miss Alby.”
“Yeah.”
A tiny smirk lifted on only one side of Alessandra’s mouth. “Give that boy and his buzzard hell.”
After a quick nod, Raven turned and raced along the path toward the closest staircase to the level below. She sprinted past the stablemaster when she reached the dragon terrace, shouting, “We’re up, Marcus! You don’t have to do anything. I got it.”
The man opened his mouth to tell her to slow as she ran down the avenue between the stables. He clamped his mouth shut again a second later and shook his head, then grumbled about energetic teenagers.
She skidded to a stop outside Leander’s stall and hooked her hand around the edge of the open frame to stop herself. Then, she thumped her forearms on the top of the half-door and grinned. “We’re—”
“Fighting next. Yes.”
“Let’s get you out of here, huh?”
He looked up from his curled position on the stall floor and said flatly, “I thought you’d never ask.”
“No, you didn’t. You knew this was coming.” Laughing, she unlatched the door and pulled it open.
The second the door moved, Leander pushed himself to his feet faster than she knew he could move and thundered out of the stall and into the wide avenue.
“Woah!” Raven ducked beneath the full span of his wings that unfurled from his back with a violent burst of air.
The huge red dragon stretched his neck toward the sky and uttered a piercing screech.
His mage clamped her hands over her ears and had to wait for the other dragons in the stables to quiet after their calls in reply. She stood and lowered her hands. “Wow. You were really cooped up in there, huh?”
“That was obvious.” He kept his wings spread wide as he turned to face the avenue leading toward the castle.
“You could’ve said something. Now I feel kinda bad—”
“Don’t feel bad, Raven Alby. I agreed to this. Be ready to fight.”
She grinned and stepped toward him. The dragon’s wings shuddered a little when she patted his shoulder. “We’re both ready.”
“So let’s go.”
“Uh…they had to move the tournament to a different arena—to accommodate a dragon and everything. We’re still waiting for someone to come tell us where we’re supposed to go.”
Leander’s wings clamped against his sides with another burst of air. He snorted and fixed her with one narrow yellow eye. “That’s a disappointment.”
Raven chuckled a little and forced the rest of it down. “Yeah, it would’ve been great to hop on and take off outta here, huh?”
The dragon lowered his head and stared down the avenue, watching intently for the sign of where they had to go. “At least I’m out of that box.”
“Right.” She turned to stare in the same direction and folded her arms. “We’re gonna blow them all away.”
They ended up waiting for half an hour to hear about where they’d hold their match. She spent the time talking Leander out of taking off and going for a ride until someone got the tournament organized again.
“It’s against the rules,” she muttered for the twentieth time.
“Which neither of us cares anything about.” He paced restlessly behind her and stared at the walkway attached to the edge of the dragon terrace.
“You said we need to make a statement. I agree. Breaking the rules in a city we don’t know, especially at the Tournament of Mages, is most definitely the wrong statement.”
The dragon snorted and raked steel-like talons across the stone floor of the terrace, raking huge chunks of it away in his agitation. Sparks flew.
Raven glanced at his forepaw and fixed him with a firm look. “That might be the only thing you can get away with right now.”
“Not if we forget about statements.”
“Raven Alby!” A guard moved quickly toward them between the stables and raised his hand to catch her attention. “They’re ready for you.”
Leander turned quickly to step protectively beside her, and she nudged him with her elbow. “This is it.”
The young mage stepped forward to meet the guard, who caught his breath and nodded. “I’ll take you to the new arena.”
“Where is it?”
He turned and pointed much higher and farther past the original arena terrace. “Two more levels up from the last one. It’s the overflow landing for incoming dragons, the only place they could find that wasn’t already in use for—”
“Thanks!”
Without even thinking about what she did, Raven spun away from the guard and raced toward the edge of the dragon terrace. At the same time, Leander launched into the air and wheeled in a tight circle above the stabled dragons.
“Wait! What are you—” The guard stumbled forward to reach her as the stables erupted with excited shrieks and growls from the other dragons, all of whom watched a private show.
Raven Alby had already leapt off the edge of the terrace.
Her dragon dove and swooped cleanly beneath her and the young mage landed in a low crouch on the glistening ridges of his back.
“Yeah!” Dragon and rider shared shrieks of victory as he climbed higher toward the new arena terrace for their match. “Boy, am I glad you got the hint on that one!”
He beat his wings a few more times. “I knew you would do that before you did.”
“And you timed it perfectly.”
A low rumble followed before he swiveled his head to glance briefly at her through one eye, then raised his forepaw and pinched his talons together swiftly. “Plan B was to catch you with these.”
A laugh burst out of her, and she steadied herself on his back as they rose higher. “Maybe don’t talk about the fact that you even had a plan B unless I’m sitting down or we’re about to land.”
A few sharp hisses escaped him and he looked forward again to glide left around the outside of the governor’s estate toward the new arena.
He knew exactly what he was doing. It looks like I did too.
“I think it’s that one above us. Right there.”
Leander turned away from the castle and made another wide loop to circle again.
“Okay, what are you—” An idea that didn’t feel like her own popped into her head and she blinked. “Were you just thinking about—”
“Yes, Raven.”
“It’s perfect.” She steadied herself on her dragon’s back and when the dragon caught a draft to soar toward the castle walls, she stuck one boot behind her and rose slowly to her feet. Her arms raised out at her sides for stability, the young mage grinned. This is gonna be good.
He slowed as they approached the underside of the new arena terrace and flapped his wings in slow, heavy beats to lift them directly beside the edge of the massive platform that projected from the castle. Her head came into view over the edge first, and her grin widened as she and her dragon rose steadily beside the arena.
“Hey, look!” Terry shouted and pointed at the dragon rider with bright red hair standing on the back of her red dragon.
A collective exclamation of surprise and awe rose from the other students and especially from the crowd. The dignitaries all turned in their seats to watch the promising first-year student break more than a few records with her newest stunt.
“She doesn’t have a saddle!” someone shouted, and everyone went silent while there was still a chance for the worst to happen.
Leander rose a few yards higher than the tallest rows of last-minute seating around the terrace, then swooped gently toward the center of the arena to land. Raven’s boots settled on the thin layer of dirt as his feet touched down. She straightened and looked at the spectators with wide eyes.
The crowd exploded at once in cheers, claps, screams, and whistles, all of them twice as loudly as they had for any of the impressive performances already given by the other competing students. A little laugh escaped the young mage, and she turned in a slow circle as Leander folded his wings and circled behind her, watching where she watched. This is as satisfying as I thought it would be.
She found the students from Fowler in the stands beside Alessandra, all of them staring at her in various stages of surprise. Cooper and Daniel pumped their fists in the air while Anika stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled. With her arms folded, Alessandra gave Raven a closed-lipped smile that lasted longer than one second and inclined her head. Even Bella was smiling and shaking her head. Raven spread her arms with a little shrug as she met the gaze of her fellow war mage in training. The girl rolled her eyes, took a deep breath, and cupped her hands around her mouth to shout, “Raven and Leander!”
Both Daniel and Cooper stopped cheering and leaned forward to shoot Bella matching baffled looks.
She turned toward them and her smile faded when she raised one shoulder in a careless shrug. “What? That was awesome.”
“Ladies and gentlemen!” The announcer and his attending mage stepped into the center of the arena toward Raven and her dragon. He grinned from ear to ear with his arms spread wide. “I’ve seen many entrances, young dragon rider. That one most definitely hits the top five.”
Leander snorted and lowered his head to her ear to mutter, “Number one.”
“We can let him have his moment.” When the announcer approached close enough to hear her in return, she nodded at him. “Thank you.”
“It’s well deserved, young dragon rider. Well deserved.” The man turned distractedly to address the spectators again, his voice cracking across the massive new arena three times the size of the last and understandably without the same obstacle course. “Marcel and Dolores. Come take your places for our second match of the day and we’ll begin.”
The pale, lanky boy from the Ziel Institute rose in one swift, fluid motion and made his way down the stands. His vulture took flight behind him and made the spectators in the lower rows duck their heads and brush windblown hair out of their faces. Finally, the next two competing mages faced each other in the center of the huge arena, and the announcer stepped back.
“Now, for the purposes of this match, I’ve been asked to apply an extra rule. There’s no real precedence for a competing mage and a dragon familiar, but we have to start somewhere.” He chuckled, joined by the dignitaries’ soft, slightly amused laughter. “No setting your familiars on your opponent for physical attacks. I believe that goes without saying for a dragon, but that vulture’s talons don’t look particularly harmless, either. Raven and Leander, while flight is not strictly prohibited, neither of you may fly beyond the reach of Marcel’s spells. And no dragon fire, of course. Ha, ha.”
While the man and the governor’s honored guests laughed again, the citizens and other students glanced at each other and a few nervous chuckles suggested anxiety rather than amusement.
Marcel stared at her and didn’t react at all to the mention of fire.
He knows we’ll follow the rules. Or he has a great poker face.
“Is that understood?”
Both young mages turned toward the announcer and nodded.
“Excellent. On my count, you may begin.” The gray-haired man stepped quickly toward the edge of the arena and counted down.
The second the last word left the man’s mouth, Marcel lunged and shouted, “Morsus!”
A glittering yellow light darted toward Raven and ballooned into a massive attack.
“Deflecto nocere!” She deflected the first assault and the yellow magic hurtled vertically into the sky. I finally got to use that one. It’s a good thing it worked.
Leander uttered a low growl, and the vulture landed a few yards away from her mage. Raven and Marcel circled one another and put more distance between them in the arena. Bella was right. He’s waiting for me to be sloppy. Good luck, Marcel.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
In the assembly hall of Fowler Academy’s main building, the professors and students who’d come to watch the Tournament of Mages through the Periview cheered Raven on as if they sat in the stands in Azerad themselves.
“Unbelievable!” Henry shouted and pumped his fist in the air. “Did you see that freaking magical net she tossed at him? I didn’t even know there was a spell like that.”
Beside him, Murphy laughed and leaned forward to get a better view.
The image in the shimmering light projected like a window in mid-air above the empty stage panned wide to show Raven and Leander, who raced side by side away from the boy from the Ziel Institute. He’d cast a dozen projected copies of his vulture familiar, and all of them flew in pursuit of the mage and her dragon as Marcel fired a few more attacks after them.
“These other students have so many cool spells under their belt,” Murphy added. “I don’t even know how—”
“Woah!”
“Look at that!”
“Go, Raven!”
The girl had leapt atop Leander’s back with a boost from his head, and the dragon took off a few yards into the air, veered away from Marcel’s attacks at the last second, and wheeled in a steep turn to return to their opponent. The copies of the vulture vanished and the real familiar settled on the ground to watch the dragon and his rider.
“Man, they’re getting good with taking off in action,” Henry said, dropped into his seat in the front row, and held his head with both hands.
“Yeah, Derks. It’s like they practiced or something.”
“You know what, Percy?” He turned in his chair and made a face at his friend. “I came here to watch Raven and Leander compete, and you should be paying attention to that—”
“Woah.”
“Hey, what happened?”
“Uh, Headmaster?”
Henry spun as the magically projected image flickered and sputtered with a bright light above the stage. It flared with a brilliant flash and vanished.
“What’d you do, Derks?”
Henry looked at his finger with wide eyes. “I only pointed, I swear.”
Headmaster Flynn stood from his seat at the far end of the front row and walked to the stage. He looked back once to shoot Worley a knowing look, and the familiar-training professor stood as well.
“Get it back on.”
“Raven was about to cast another spell.”
Flynn raised his hands toward the much smaller group of students than when school was in session and gestured for them to quiet. “Mr. Derks is entirely innocent in this scenario, I assure you.”
“See?” Henry turned and jerked his thumb toward his chest. “Innocent.”
Murphy rolled her eyes with a little smile.
“Now, if you’ll all be so kind as to wait patiently while Professor Worley and I leave to assess the situation, we’ll have the images up in no time. And I do mean patiently. Thank you.”
The headmaster hurried to the other side of the stage and stooped to mutter something in Professor Gilliam’s ear. She nodded and leaned back in her seat as Flynn and Worley left the assembly hall quickly.
“Great.” Henry folded his arms. “By the time they have their fancy spell fixed, Raven’s match will already be over. That’s the only one I cared about.”
“Way to show some school spirit, Henry.”
