Rising of a Mage (10 page)

“Thank you, sir. Will you be attending the tournament?”

Master Gabriel smiled. “Who do you think enchants the weapon covers to make sure no one gets severely hurt, and places the detection spell over the arena. For example, if you cast a spell during the match, the spell would tell me and you would be disqualified.”

“I would never cheat.”

“Oh I know you wouldn’t. It was just an example. Anwar, I have never known a man with more Integrity, and for the sake of the world I hope it stays that way.” Anwar returned to his room and bathed. Mariah was still not there. He sat on his bed. He was excited about this new book. His favorite topic was magical items. He wanted to begin studying it now, but, when he tried to read it, he just couldn’t focus. So he closed the book and lay down. He may have been asleep before his head even touched the pillow.

When he woke up, Mariah was lying in his bed and he was drooling on her shoulder. He wiped the drool away. With her in his arms, he decided he wanted to stay there for a while. His arm was numb though. When he tried to adjust it, she rolled her head over on his shoulder, her arms around him. They were holding each other. He looked down into her face. She was beautiful and he had the urge to kiss her but he resisted. Mariah knew that Anwar was very controlled and rarely showed emotion. Even when he smiled it was usually just to comfort someone or acknowledge a joke. When she turned into him, however, she found that there was one thing he could not control. She felt him swell against her and she smiled. Anwar saw her smile, and got up. He went to the bathing chamber and got dressed.

Today they were dedicating to their training. Tomorrow was the tournament. They spent the morning sparring with each other. After the midday meal they went to the city training grounds and spent the afternoon sparring in pairs. There were four pairs so they would spar with each other, switching pairs. After a while they stopped and watched the other pairs. There were quite a few pairs of guards that knew what they were doing. But from everything they had seen so far this was the last four teams. Before they left, Mariah told them all that they would join the raiding party. They all wished each other good luck for tomorrow, and went their separate ways. They went back to the guild; the evening meal was nearly over so they dropped their gear in their room, and went to eat without washing first. When they got back, Mariah washed first and then Anwar. He lay down when he was done bathing. She debated sleeping in her own bed, but decided against it, as it felt better sleeping in his. He was lying on his back and she laid her head on his chest and draped an arm over him. She could tell he was exhausted. He had recovered. At least he showed he had recovered but she could tell he wasn’t fully. She lay there while he slept. She was almost seventeen and he was only fifteen. No one would believe it who didn’t know him. He would grow a thick beard in a week if he didn’t shave every day. And by appearance and size he was at least twenty. She kissed his chest and whispered to his sleeping body. “I love you, Anwar.”

The next morning they were up early. The tournament was scheduled to begin just after sun up. As soon as there was enough light to see, they would begin the first matches. They went to the tent to check in. They found out when their first match was and who it was against. It was the two from the guild they had beaten before. Anwar had broken the teeth of one of them. They were decent; they could have made it past the first few rounds, if they had fought some of the other pairs first. Anwar and Mariah knew how to beat them though. When the match began they were on the attack. Anwar hooked the big one’s foot; he fell to the ground. Mariah closed with him. The smaller one saw that she was between him and Anwar this time and went for her exposed flank, but as she bent to make the would-be killing blow to the downed opponent, Anwar’s staff swung over her body taking the other in the side of the head. They were both down. The second would have had a concussion, at least, if it wasn’t for the enchanted covers protecting their weapons. They watched the other three teams in the duels, each winning in short time. They got the names of their next opponent. Captain Anthony nodded. “They’re good, but they know it.” Anwar nodded. As the match started, Anwar confirmed they were good; they moved fluidly, leaving few openings. But they were too comfortable. they saw two want-to-be warriors in front of them, instead of the threat they were. Anwar pretended to be struggling to keep up. Mariah acted as if she fought hard to try to protect him. And then he had his opening. His opponent swung hard for his face. He blocked with one end of his staff and, with unbelievable speed, shifted his weight and the other end of his staff was connecting with the man’s face. He hit the ground unconscious. Anwar turned on the man in front of Mariah. He risked a glance over at Anwar, but as he did a sword slid through his defences and was waiting at his throat. They had one and one of the priest came out to aid the one laying on the ground still unconscious. The others all won their matches quickly as well, except for Victor and Marcus. Fifteen minutes into it Marcus and his opponent took each other’s necks at the same time, making it a one-on-one fight between Victor and his opponent. He won by feinting a slash at his right leg. As the man went to block and shifted his weight to his left leg, Victor kicked his left leg hard, knocking it out from under him. As the man hit the ground, Victor’s sword was at his throat. They each fought a couple more matches without being challenged. At the end, they were the four teams left. Mariah and Anwar drew Captain Anthony and Jabaal. Victor and Marcus were to fight Ezekiel and Sampson. They all fought at the same time so they didn’t get to see each other’s duels. Mariah and Anwar met Captain Anthony and Jabaal in the circle; they all shook hands and wished each other luck. Captain Anthony was standing in front of Anwar, and Mariah was facing Jabaal. The whistle blew and before it ended there was a flurry of sword and staff. Captain Anthony was incredibly fast, But Anwar made up for it with the other end of his staff. Neither team was leaving any openings, and they struck, parried, blocked and struck back for nearly half an hour. They were all slowing with exhaustion. And then it happened. Jabaal let one of Mariah’s attacks through, accepting the score to his hip but taking her neck in the process. The whistle blew: she was out. Everything went silent at that sound, and no one could believe what they saw. As Anwar heard that whistle and knew it was two on one he went into a flurry, moving incredible fast and pushing forward. He took an extra-long stride forward, standing on Jabaal’s foot as he blocked; he was off balance and fell to the ground. Captain Anthony tried to save Jabaal, but Anwar knocked away the attack, slamming the butt end of his staff down hard on Jabaal’s chest which would have collapsed his lungs for sure. The enchanted sleeve just left him lying there with the wind knocked out of him and tears in his eyes. Anwar continued to press hard. Captain Anthony thrust at his gut; Anwar had to correct hard, knocking Captain Anthony into a spin. He went with it, accepting the momentum. Anwar tried to get his staff up to block but he was off-balance and he took all the momentum and force square on the head. The enchanted sleeve kept him from getting sliced in half, but his vision went blurry and his legs felt as if they wouldn’t hold his weight. He forced himself to focus, shook his head and faced Captain Anthony.

“Good match, sir, it was an honor.”

It was the best match any one could remember and the only one anyone was talking about that night. Captain Anthony and Jabaal had actually finished Victor and Marcus fairly quickly. Marcus being the weaker of the two, Captain Anthony had spun Jabaal around the same way Anwar had done. Changing partners, Jabaal was able to defend against Victor but Captain Anthony to Marcus and then him and Jabaal closed on Victor. But, if you asked anyone in the city, the one they were talking about was theirs.

Chapter Eight

Mariah’s Birthday

M
ariah and Anwar had returned from the match and Mariah bathed first as always. When she came out she saw that he was asleep on his bed, all his clothes and his boots still on. She tried to wake him, but he was fast asleep. She took his boots off and then his clothes, leaving him on his bed in his small clothes. She pulled his blanket over him. She decided she would leave him to his bed tonight. A couple of hours later, Anwar woke. He did not remember undressing, so Mariah must have undressed him. Next to his bed his clothes were neatly folded, so he was sure she had undressed him. Anwar never understood the reason for folding dirty clothes. He got up, washed himself put on clean small clothes, and then climbed under her blankets with her and wrapped one arm around her waist. She took his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers and then she was asleep.

The next morning he went to Master Gabrielle’s study. He studied the book he had been given. After his midday meal Master Gabrielle brought out the coat. They placed it on a wooden stand and shot steel-tipped arrows at it. They swung a sword at it and then inspected it. There was no mark on the coat or the wooden stand holding it. After this, Anwar put the coat on. It was beginning to get cold and Anwar instantly felt his body temperature change to perfectly comfortable, and the coat fit him perfectly, even though it should have been much too small for him. The second spell. He asked Master Gabrielle to shoot him with some minor magic spells.

“Anwar are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Master Gabrielle fired a magic bolt and a minor fire blast. Neither penetrated the coat. Anwar didn’t even feel the heat of the attack.

“I think that is sufficient. Hopefully, this coat is never tested past what it has been here. If it is, I pray that it is passes those test.”

“I believe that is a wise decision. I cannot think of a greater gift that could be given.”

Anwar put the coat back on the hanger and hung it in the closet.

“Anwar, next month I would like you to begin teaching classes. It will be one day a month, three classes a day. I don’t want you to teach until you can reveal the items you have created.”

“I will begin working on a lesson plan, sir.” It was still nearly a month until Mariah’s birthday but he would be able to start training again in less than two weeks; until then he studied. He studied the book about magical items and was becoming more familiar with his staff. He believed it would be a great aid to him in the future. If he had used it when creating Mariah’s coat it would have preserved him, but he also wouldn’t have forced his body to be so adept at magic. He studied the spells in his book on combat often; the magic bolt he had mastered and the basic shield. Next he would master a fire bolt and a shield that would rebound basic attacks. He also studied the fire ball and lightning bolt. He had found in another book a shield that would absorb any magical attack against you and when released return all the attacks at once on their user. He was not ready for that yet. It was much more difficult, so he would master all the attacks in this book but he would not forget that shield and when he had mastered everything in this book he was going to work on that shield.

Two weeks later he stood in one of the training grounds with Master Gabriel. They warmed up with Anwar making light and fire, and moving objects with magic. It was the first time he had used magic in nearly a month but already he could tell these minor magics were barely pulling at all. Then he stood across from Master Gabriel. They both brought up shields and they began firing magic bolts at each other. After a few minutes Anwar changed his shield. Master Gabrielle’s bolt rebounded back toward him and was followed by a fire bolt. Master Gabriel’s shield was destroyed, and he hurried to bring up another but no attack followed.

“That was impressive Anwar. I am going to bring up a stronger shield. I want you to throw the strongest magic bolt you can at it.”

“Sir. Are you sure?” Gabrielle just smiled and nodded. Anwar shot a basic magic bolt at Master Gabrielle, but, right before it impacted, it became two and slammed into his shield. The shield winked out and Master Gabrielle flew ten paces, and landed on his back. Anwar ran to him, but he was already standing up, brushing himself off.

“How many of those bolts do you think you could make?”

“I don’t know. That was easy. A lot I think.”

“How many different targets could your hit accurately then?”

“I wouldn’t know, unless I tried, but I believe my answer should be the same.”

“Anwar, the shield you just destroyed with a basic magical attack should have held against a very powerful fireball. I have never seen anything like it. Would you like to see how much control you really have?” Anwar just smiled. “I thought so.”

They left the guild and went into a field full of rocks. Master Gabrielle went out and painted five random boulders black. “See if you can hit each of those with one attack.” Anwar held up his hand and this time five separate magic bolts flew forth, shattering the large rocks into small pieces. Master Gabrielle went out again, and this time he painted fifteen separate boulders. Five bolts shot forward splitting into fifteen bolts and all the boulders were destroyed. Anwar took the paint and painted twenty boulders black and twenty others with an X.