A Taste of Magic (3)

The next few days, our schedule changed to training in the morning and gem practice in the afternoon. I learned that the best way for me to use the gems was to let my mind wander. However, this meant I had little to no control over my use of gem. Every week or so, Azor would give us a chance to practice using the "mock gems" (as he sometimes called the gem he made) in preparation for the gems. I would frequently drift off thinking about my time back home only to come back to reality and realize I had shouted something from my memory and done something crazy with a mock gem. A series of unsuccessful half-hearted attempts and shouts of random words would follow, before I would give up and go run the training courses again. I eventually discovered that these were actually to improve our stamina, which in turn made us less tired from using the mock gems. After I explained this to the others over dinner, they began to put more effort into their training.

About two weeks later, Azor introduced a brand-new concept.

"Up until now, you have been training to move quickly, strongly, and to use a gem."

We were lined up in a curious circular space of grass surrounded by boulders.

"Up until now, you have been training in a safe environment." He smiled at us, giving me a queasy feeling in my stomach.

"I will continue training you in a safe environment until I believe you have a chance at succeeding. However, that does not mean you will not be learning to use your skills in a fight."

Here, he waved his hand and gestured towards the boulders.

"I have spent a long time experimenting on turning a normal boulder, which there is no lack of, into a creature that can fight."

At a snap of his fingers, a white glow connected some of the boulders. The boulders got out of the ground. They looked very much like giant rocks with rocky limbs and spherical hands and feet that could move.

"They can use simple magic spells, but only one at a time. You will be learning to fight them."

He gave us a few moments to inspect the creatures.

"I don't want you to get hurt fighting. This is why I will be implementing a certain protection spell." He gestured and one of the boulders stepped forwards, Azor waved his hand and a dim, translucent blue sheen slid smoothly over it.

"This protection spell can only survive a certain number of hits. Stronger ones can survive more hits. The stronger the protection is, the brighter they will glow."

Here, Azor stuck out his hand and a small tongue of black fire appeared. He gently tossed it on the boulder, where it stuck. The spell slowly dimmed while it blazed.

"These creatures are indestructible and will turn back into boulders when their protection spell disappears."

At that moment, the spell grew so dim that it was almost gone, and then with a noise like shattering glass (something which we had gotten accustomed to in Azor's house, especially with our inexperience with windows), disappeared. The white glow faded as the creature collapsed back into boulders.

"You will also have these spells on you. The creatures will only attack you if you have a protection spell. If your spell is broken, you will have to exit the fight."

Here, he waves his hands. We were enveloped in a wide ball of black that I could dimly see out of. The landscape shifted around us. The ball faded. We were suddenly in another part of the valley.

"I will set out boundaries to determine the area in which you will be fighting. While fighting, you cannot exit the area. When your protection spell is gone, simply exit and come to me. You will be on a team together and will fight a varying number of creatures."

Here, he smiled warmly at us.

"If I am in a good mood, you will be able to pick a mock gem to use in the battles. Otherwise, you will have to get creative."

Here, he looked at me meaningfully. He continued talking, explaining various rules and scenarios which we would face, and introducing the first fight we would be encountering in a moment; just one creature versus one of us. I slowly spaced out while he was talking. I had been doing this more and more since we started working with the mock gems. I just couldn't help it; walking through my mind and remembering all the good times back at Qade Valley made both for a great distraction and good fuel for the spells we used with our mock gems.

I looked at myself. How was I supposed to fight? I had short stubby legs, was smaller than a bush, and had no natural weapons. Riselus was huge and strong and had claws. Qassot was a dragon; she was practically built for this. Dracoa was a wyvern and had experience. What was I supposed to do? My gaze slowly drifted.

You will have to get creative.

I remembered the torpedoes from the pool. Azor would still occasionally let us down there when he wanted to assess our progress. I remembered throwing the torpedoes around, trying to make them hit the center of the targets, and then remembered that I was surprisingly good at throwing javelins. I snapped up. I knew what I needed. In my mind's eye, I saw a bundle of long, straight poles standing in the corner of a shed outside the castle. I saw a part of the beach with numerous rock shards scattered in the sand from when I panicked while practicing and lightning-bolted the cliffside three times in a row on accident. I saw myself carving notches into the poles and sticking the rock shards on them.

As soon as Azor finished speaking, I rushed to the shed to grab the wooden poles and then clumsily made my way to the beach with the heavy package. I dumped the poles on the ground and grabbed a conveniently sized rock shard. I flew up and dropped it on a boulder. It broke. I picked a sharp shard and used it to carve a notch into the pole. I then wedged the shard in. I picked it up. It somewhat resembled the sharp stick javelins that we used back at the Qade Valley competitions, except the sharp end was heavier. Maybe it would be easier to throw this way? Time to test it out, then. I flew up into the air carrying the javelin. Similarly to my difficult flight to the beach with the bundle of poles, I had a hard time adjusting to the extra weight I was carrying tightly in my six legs. I eventually steadied myself and picked a target. A tree near the edge of the beach. I flew high, did a small loop (which almost threw me to the ground), and dove towards it. When I judged a good distance away, I released the javelin and curved away at the same time. The javelin shot out of my grip and buried itself in the tree, a small distance from the knot I was aiming for. The pole fell off, leaving the point stuck deep in the wood. I landed and looked at it.

"This will work," I said happily. "Looks like I'm still the best javelin thrower in Qade Valley."

I pulled the sharp rock out with my teeth and put it back on the javelin. I went back to the poles to make more.

-

Azor had given us until lunch to prepare for our first fight. Riselus and Dracoa didn't do anything; they just went to the arena and explored it. Qassot was busy yanking thorny hedges out of the ground and tossing them around for some reason.

I looked confusedly at her, and then decided that she was probably just messing around to pass the time. Why would a dragon need to prepare for a fight? I mean, come on. Claws, teeth and wings? She's going to be a natural at fighting. Especially since she picked up casting spells with those gems so quickly. She doesn't even need to shout a word anymore, and it's only been a few weeks. I continued pushing a large bundle of javelins over to the arena. When I reached the arena rimmed with black fog, I followed the edge around to where Azor demonstrated the boulder creature. I stopped at a large, flat rock that the Dringochs had set lunch out on. I ate hungrily and was soon joined by the others.

"NO, YOU MAY NOT PUT THOSE INTO THE ARENA BEFORE YOU START!" Azor yelled. We heard a faint complaint from Qassot.

"YOU HAVE TO BRING YOUR WEAPONS IN WITH YOU!"

"What's that about?" Dracoa asked.

"I EXPLAINED THIS IN THE RULES! WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING?"

"Qassot was using bushes as weapons," Riselus grunted.

"WHY DID YOU FORGET?"

We continued eating. Qassot eventually came over.

"Where are the bushes?" I asked, half joking.

"I left them by the pile of spears," she said.

"Those are javelins."

"They look like spears to me."

"They're javelins."

"Spears."

"Just eat," Dracoa said, pushing a rock slab of food (the Dringochs had broken one too many wooden plates trying to get over here) over to Qassot. She dug in and quickly finished. Azor walked over.

"Are you all ready?" he asked.

"Of course," Dracoa said immediately.

Qassot was frantically shaking her head.

"Just use your claws and teeth or something," I whispered to her, "you've got so many natural weapons!"

"I can't use them well, though," Qassot argued quietly, "I didn't pay attention to the fighting lessons back at the Krie Clan."

"Who wants to go first?" Azor asked.

"Let's just get this over with," Riselus said, moving away from the table.

Azor led him into the arena. One of the boulders stood up. Azor cast the protection spell, covering both the boulder and Riselus with a blue sheen. Azor left the arena.

"Go!" he yelled.

The boulder pointed an arm at Riselus and a small rock shot out at him. Riselus barreled through it and tackled the magical creature before it could react. There was a shattering sound.

"That was quick," I said.

Riselus didn't respond.

Dracoa was next. She moved swiftly and gracefully, almost in a dance, weaving around the rock spikes that jutted out of the ground suddenly. She was suddenly behind the creature and swinging her tail. The creature tumbled forwards a few steps and collapsed into a boulder instantly. I didn't even hear the shattering sound. Her strike had cloven the boulder cleanly in half.

She was smiling when she came back.

"It's been a while since I've been able to let loose like that," she said.

"You seem in a better mood than you usually are," I said.

"What are you talking about?"

"How did you split the boulder in half with just your tail?" Qassot asked in disbelief.

"It was quite satisfying."

I shuddered. Dracoa clearly had many years of fighting experience.

"Qassot! Your turn!" Azor yelled.

Qassot ran off to grab her bushes. Before Azor could say go, she was flinging them and running close behind. The boulder creature couldn't see Qassot and didn't know what to do, before the bushes hit it in the face and Qassot tripped over the now boulder-ified creature. She then paused, momentarily appalled at her act of violence, before running back over with an embarrassed look on her face.

On my turn, I picked up a javelin. I looked at it. Was it going to be enough? I looked indecisively back and forth between it and the pile of javelins.

"Hurry up!" Azor said, "You're going to fight six at once with the other three in a moment!"

"We're going to WHAT?" Qassot yelled in disbelief.

"Time to get more bushes," Dracoa chuckled.

"Coming!" I called. I quickly grabbed another javelin and flew into the arena. Azor nodded approvingly; javelins were clearly a smart decision to make for me.

The boulder stood up. Azor called to start. A rock shot out at me. I pulled up in surprise. I barely had time to check my momentum and fly up over the rock as it wooshed past me. I looked at the boulder. It shot another rock. I curved to the right, in a wide arc down towards the boulder. I pulled inwards as quickly as I could, trying to get a good angle. Another rock whizzed past me. I held my breath and released a javelin. I blinked in surprise. I had accidentally released them both.

The javelins shot out at a surprisingly high speed and shattered against the boulder. One of its arms fell off. Then the creature turned back into a boulder. I let out a long sigh of relief and closed my eyes.

I suddenly realized I was still airborne and smashed into Qassot's head in surprise.

We both ended up sitting out the group battle.