01 - The Price of Talent (40 page)

Chapter 23.

              The day before the exam passed quickly. Throughout the castle grounds there was a palpable air of nervousness and anxiety. The library was full of students cramming for written evaluations while the practice field was full of students running through weapons drills with a variety of weapons, though mostly the ones that were going to be used in the practical portion of the exam that I was to be involved in. My day was actually rather easy. Since I was not being evaluated, I got to sleep in for the first time in a very long time. Claudius had given me the day off since he was busy helping the other priests prepare evaluations and oversee the set-up of the castle for the grand melee that tomorrow was going to be.

              I woke up midmorning feeling truly rested for the first time in ages. I made my way over to the library and did a last review of the materials there for any useful information we could use on our journey. Unfortunately, I had done a pretty good job of this previously, and didn’t find any new or interesting information. So while improvising once we were on the road was not my preferred plan, it seemed like the only one available to us. At first I was worried my studies would be discovered and hint at our plans, but with all the initiates frantically studying all over the library, I could see my presence here would likely concern no one.

              After leaving the library I had a long lunch. Partially because I was hungry from sleeping through breakfast, but also because I was having a lot of fun watching the frantic initiates wolf down their food while reading books or discussing exam strategies. But after a while, even reveling in the fear of others became boring, so I made my way out to the practice yard.

              While the dummies, archery targets and other assorted practice gear were all still out there, there was also a great deal of activity going on towards the wall at the back of the practice field. It was here that bleachers were being set up for the priestly overseers of the exam. Also, they were setting up a dais that was clearly going to be the end point for the initiates who were, like me, acting as bait.

              Given the hubbub there, I decided it was a good idea to jog around the castle to see what else was going on. Also, this would be a good warm up for the workout I had planned. Nothing too strenuous of course, I didn’t want to harm my performance tomorrow, but enough to get the blood flowing and loosen up the body. Besides, it was a lovely day for a jog. There was a chill in the early winter air and the last of the fall leaves had fallen off the trees. Fortunately it was still warm enough that I did not need to worry about ice, at least not this afternoon anyway.

              My jog headed clockwise from the near back of the practice arena. It headed around the wing containing the teacher’s living quarters and into what was, until harvest anyway, the field where the castle’s grains, hops and barley were grown. The fields had been cleared already and prepared for winter, so my view was much less obstructed then it would have been earlier in the year.

              I continued around from the grain fields, passed the hospital wing, to the front of the castle near the gate. There was already quite a lot of people coming and going through the gate. Some were bringing materials for the stands in the practice fields, some were bringing in food, and many others had carts containing goods I couldn’t readily identify. The guards at the gate looked like they had a lot to do and were clearly not paying that much attention to individual merchants and delivery people. This was a good sign. Another good sign was that the stables were full of horses and carts, mostly untended and unguarded by the stable hands, who were busy helping the delivery drivers load and unload.

              My jog then had me rounding the classroom and library wing into the field used to grow fruits and vegetables. The rows of fruit trees, bushes and other assorted plants were being covered over and otherwise protected from the coming winter weather. This area also looked like it would provide halfway decent cover should the need arise tomorrow during the practical testing. The farmer in me approved of the staff’s efforts to prepare the fields for winter. Too many farmers just harvested their crops and left the fields open to the air. But if you got a good windstorm before the ground was frozen, you could lose a lot of topsoil and create dust storms. Though not common in the plains between the Eastern and Western mountains, because the farmers there mostly had good sense, it had been known to happen.

              Finally, I rounded the dorm wing and headed back to the practice field. There were even more initiates milling around, practicing with weapons, and also watching the construction of the bleachers. I did manage to find a spot for myself in front of a practice dummy away from the other students. It didn’t have as good a view of the action around the stands, nor was it all that close to the entrances to either the castle or the dormitories. But it was free for me to use, and that was what was important.

              I ran through my stretches first after my run. I did not want to cramp up while doing my sword drills. After stretching, I quietly summoned my sword, unsheathed it, and started running through all my basic sword blocks, parries and strikes. Then I ran through them all again, this time using the dummy to practice my aim. After this I ran through another set of stretches, this time for my arms. Lastly, I decided to practice my basic magical attacks. I threw fire at the dummy, then quickly put it out with a blast of wind created with telekinesis. Then I created a few icicles and sent them smashing into the dummy as well. Just a couple into the head and chest to make sure my aim was good. Then I started blasting it with mild bolts of electricity. This made the dummy begin to smolder again, so I quickly used a little water left from the icicles to put it out.

              After this, I wandered over to the archery range and again took the farthest target. As I walked over, I saw that more than a few students had been watching me and were muttering to each other. After all this time, they still hadn’t gotten over their distrust of me. Oh well, after tomorrow it wasn’t going to matter much anyway. I was leaving, they just didn’t know it yet. Deciding not to waste a good opportunity to show off a little, I began using my sword as a projectile. First I sent it point first through the target at 50 yards and then 100. I then repeated this process sending it flying like a circular saw, both vertically and horizontally, into the target. After each magically assisted throw, I just summoned it back into my hands. This, of course, produced more muttering. It’s not like they hadn’t seen me do this before, but then they knew tomorrow some of them would have to try and catch me. Intimidating people is rarely the wisest course of action, but the devil in me enjoyed seeing them squirm a bit.

              Once I was done showing off, I headed back to my room in the dorm. I wanted to practice flying one last time before tomorrow. Besides, I still had some time before dinner anyway. The dorms were quiet compared to the activity going on outside. Most of the students had cleared out and the ones left were busy studying intently in their rooms. When I got to my room, I put my sword back into its resting place in the back corner of the room and settled in to my spot in the middle of the floor. I sat cross legged as always, quickly found my center and drew in a serious amount of power, enough to make the whole room colder. Then I slowly let it out in a sufficient quantity to levitate a few feet off the ground, just enough to be able to clear my bed. Then I gave myself a gentle push and proceeded to float over to my bed. With a corresponding, but slightly weaker push against my momentum, I came to a stop above my bed, then sunk onto the bed by slowly reducing the amount of energy I was expending keeping myself in the air. Even though I had managed this without incident quite a few other times, I was still quite pleased with myself.

              I spent the next few hours going back and forth between the bed and the floor. I even tried carrying some things while doing it. This added some difficulty because I had to adjust the amount of force I used. Still, I managed to get the hang of this after a few bumps and scrapes. I found it really helped if I managed to keep the weight centered on me, instead of hanging off to one side. Tipping to one side midair can be quite disconcerting.

              As dinner time approached, I decided I had enough practice for today. I had nearly exhausted myself and most of my power flying all over my room. Also, I had now broken a sweat for a second time. I figured, it was likely time to get a bath. Fortunately, the first floor of the dormitories provided for student needs in this regard, since a large group of stinky students was in no one’s interest. I got a room to myself, and filled a bath tub from the well. I slowly heated the water using what was left of my drawn magical powers. Then I settled in for a nice relaxing bath.

              I must have been more tired than I realized because I dozed off in the tub. I awoke to a knocking at the door to the room I was having my bath in.

“Tyr, are you in there?” A voice called from the other side.

“Uh, yes, sorry…” I replied. “I must have lost track of time while bathing.”

“Yeah… right,” said the voice. “Claudius is looking for you, so best hurry up and meet him. I believe he’s in your room right now.”

              And with the fading noise of the footsteps of whichever initiate that was, I got out of the bath, put on the clean robes I had brought with me, and headed back to my room. Claudius was indeed waiting for me inside.

“Ah, Tyr, I was worried you had run off,” he said.

“Uh, no,” I said, feeling nervous at his turn of phrase. “I just was taking a bath after my afternoon workout.”

“So, you haven’t had dinner then?” he asked. “No matter, I’ll have it sent to you.”

“Sent to me, sir?” I asked.

“Yes, if you will follow me, I’m going to take you to where you will start tomorrow’s little test.”

“When will tomorrow’s test begin, sir?” I asked.

“For you, it will begin close to midday,” he said. “But in order to not give away where we are hiding you ahead of time, we want people in their starting places before students have gone to their morning exam.”

“So then you’re taking me there now?” I asked.

“Precisely,” he replied. “Though I would appreciate if you didn’t make too much noise on that subject, students tend to try and find themselves advantages wherever they can.”

              So, taking his hint, I followed him in silence out of the dorm. He lead me down to the first floor of the dorms, and then through the hallway that connected to the main castle. Once inside we proceeded down into the bowels of the castle. After some time, the area started looking familiar to me. It had less fancy, more utilitarian, stone work. As he had told me previously, he was taking me down into the dungeons. Fortunately, we did not go all the way to the cold room. Instead, he took me to a side room, which was out of the way near some disused storage rooms.

              Once inside, he showed me the room I was presumably spending the night and part of tomorrow morning in. It was a serviceable room, it had an old bed and a sitting area that was separated by a tapestry. Also inside there was a pile of books and candles.

“I’m sorry the accommodations aren’t more luxurious,” said Claudius. “But if we had spent more time hauling in furniture and too many things for your amusement, more people would have gotten wind of where you were being hidden. Fortunately, we were able to get you some books and candles so that you have something to do between now and when your part in the examination begins.”

“How will I know when it’s time to leave here and make my way to the dais on the practice field?” I asked.

“I’ll have your guard let you know,” said Claudius. “Also, he will be stationed near your door, so if you need anything, you should let him know. He will also be bringing you your dinner, hopefully in short order.”

“So, just for clarity sake, what am I allowed to do to avoid capture tomorrow?” I asked. “I don’t want to break the rules after all.”

“A good question,” said Claudius. “Your job, as you already mentioned, is to get to the dais in the back of the practice field without being caught. Any student or group of students who is able to catch you will get good marks on their exam. In order to avoid capture and make things difficult for our would-be Inquisitors, we want you to use your magic to avoid capture. You are also permitted to use improvised weaponry. Regardless of what means you use, we require that your efforts be non-lethal and non-crippling. So, no lighting people on fire, no spearing them with icicles, no smashing their skulls in with blunt instruments. But, you can use electricity enough to stun them and leave them a twitching mess on the ground. You can use fire on their weapons to disarm them or distract them, and you can use ice balls to knock them unconscious or otherwise temporarily disable them. Use your imagination. After all, the purpose here is to simulate actually capturing a live rogue mage who has some use of their powers.”