The Last of the Sages (Sage Trilogy, Book 1) (14 page)

“How old does she have to be?”

“Twenty-one. It’s when the heir is of age and deemed able to properly dictate law.”

“That seems like a random number to me.”

Scarlet shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t write the laws.”

“So this Princess…I haven’t heard of her before, but she must be really beautiful, huh?”

“She is,” Scarlet winked and laughed whole-heartedly.

“Then I guess I know who my wife’s going to be,” James blurted out, causing such reactions in Scarlet and Catherine that they both almost fell down in the snow.

“WHAT?!” Scarlet spat. “Where’d you get an idea like that?”

“I’m going to be a great Sage someday,” James declared boldly. “And I think it’s only fitting that the Princess of Allay be my wife. I’ll protect her with everything that’s within me and I’ll cherish her until our dying day.”

“Romantic,” Catherine sighed in approval.

“Garbage,” Scarlet snapped. “What makes you think you’ll even like the Princess? What if she’s this horrible monster of a person? What? So you think she’s just this buxom beauty airhead goddess that will just fall head-over-heels in love with you? Serve you at your every whim? A trophy wife on your mantle to go with your Sage achievements? You haven’t even passed the test yet, High Hopes.”

“Well, of course I have to meet her and all, but I’m sure that she’ll be just as lovely as she’ll look.”

“Whatever you say, High Hopes.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Well, it’s what you are.”

“Shut up, Scarlet,” James snapped, forgetting his place on the hierarchy. Scarlet didn’t even bat an eye.

“I have a question for you, James,” Catherine said shyly. James calmed down and turned to look at his friend.

“What is it, Katie?”

“What if I was the Princess?”

James looked into her eyes to see if she was joking, but he couldn’t hold it in. He burst out laughing. His hesitation and laughter were all Catherine needed to get the message.

“I get it, James. I’m not pretty enough, is that it?”

“I didn’t say that,” James replied quickly, trying to salvage the situation. “You’re…pretty in your own way.”

“Wow,” Catherine said, casting her eyes to the ground. She cupped her hands together and bit her lip.

“I mean, if you washed your hair, or - ”

“ - I think that’s enough, High Hopes,” Scarlet cut James off and grabbed the back of his collar. “And for the record, you’re the last person to be giving a lecture on hygiene.”

James tried muttering a response, only to be shocked as Scarlet half-lifted, half-dragged him by his collar over to the eastern doors. He cried out in surprise as Scarlet pushed him out through the doors which were already slightly ajar, sending him sprawling into the dirt beyond. He tried to get up quickly and run back, but the throw had been so powerful, he had trouble gaining his footing.

“You can take the long way back,” Scarlet said firmly as she began closing the door. “Catherine’s staying here with me.” 

The last glimpse James saw were the hurt, teary eyes of his friend Catherine as the doors ushered a booming slam in his face, leaving him outside in the very place where his journey had begun.

Chapter 6 - Shattered Dreams

James didn’t feel like running, but he knew that he had to. He realized he had messed up and that the longer Catherine was able to dwell on what he had said, the longer it would take to repair the damage. Besides, she was supposed to tell him how to beat Dominic and the day was already getting late.

Unfortunately, he had no real clue on how to get to get back into the Academy, just a general direction. When he had left home, he had hardly paid any attention to the long road he and the driver had taken.

I seriously have to start paying attention
!
He thought angrily as he ran aimlessly through the village he had called home. He barely took in the sights and hardly thought of his friends as he instinctively ran through familiar passageways and shortcuts, jumping over the same potholes that were never fixed and the cobble ground that tore at his shoes. He didn’t pay any attention or mind to the people looking at him in shock, seeing James not only home from the Academy, but running for the first time.

He was running so fast that he barely saw the hand that reached out and grabbed his shirt in mid-air. James reached toward his vague destination, his adrenaline dying as he looked up to his own father keeping him at bay.

“What on earth are you running to, boy? And why aren’t you at the Academy?”

“I’m trying to get back, seriously,” James huffed as he tried squirming free. His father kept his vice on him and continued the interrogation.

“What happened? You get kicked out or something?”

“No, it’s not like that. I tried getting some fresh air. That’s all. Can you please let me go?”

“Fine,” he grunted, letting James go free. James tried making a break for it only to have his father grab his shirt tail and bring him back.

“Listen, you might as well spend some time with your old man since you’re already out here,” he stated flatly. “It’s been weird not seeing you for a few days. Already you look a little bigger. What have they been feeding you?”

James wiped the dust off of his shirt and sighed, coming to terms that he’d just have to talk to Catherine that night. She was sure to be there…and hopefully in a forgiving mood. Although James knew she was a girl and therefore was a lot more sensitive than a guy, she did have a pretty tough hide. Surely she would forgive him.

Her parents must have been tough
,
he thought.

James mused over what they could have possibly been like. Probably the stereotypical old married couple that bickered a lot, forcing her to mature and look at the brighter side of things, realizing that there was more to a person’s comment than the surface value. Surely she realized he didn’t mean what he said. Not really.

Most of the time he just played around, searching for a smile or a read of her reactions. It wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy it either. The excessive banter. She definitely had her fair share of quips and jabs to his ego that left a numbing sting in his chest. Yet he laughed and admired her wit, waiting for the right moment in the conversation to pop up in which he could throw in his own clever mix of insult and play. A battle of words that didn’t seem to have a clear end in sight.

He thought of the look on her face as Scarlet closed the doors in his face, and he realized he didn’t want to make her feel like that ever again. He had been wrong to say there was no way Catherine could be a princess. She was after all, despite her unladylike manner, one of the coolest girls he had ever met, even cooler than Leidy, who yelled a lot and got on his nerves occasionally. Catherine had a sweetness about her that drew him in, but she was still able to hold her own when the situation arose. And he liked that. 

Who cared what she looked like? If Catherine was a queen, she at least would be fun to hang around with. He didn’t remember the king much due to his age, but he heard that he knew his subjects well. That had to count for something. Catherine would probably be the same way, knocking down the castle walls to invite everyone to a party or masquerade. That’s who she was.

James made up his mind that when he would see Catherine next, he’d tell her that she would make a great princess. He would just leave out the whole, “not looking like it” part.

“Are you done?” his father asked, trying to decide whether to slap him or not. Apparently, he had been yelling at his son for quite some time, drawing a considerably sized crowd to them.

“Oh, you were talking. I’m sorry,” James said seriously, patting his dad on the shoulder.

His father looked at him like he had just placed a spider there.

“What is wrong with you, James? I swear you get weirder and weirder.”

“Maybe I’ll get so weird, I’ll burst and go right back to being normal, huh, dad?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Dad, I would love to chat and all, but seriously, what do I have to do to get back to the Academy? If they discover I snuck out, I could get in trouble.”

“It would serve you right. What are you doing out here anyways, and don’t give me that ‘breath of fresh air’ stuff.”

“Fine. I was with a girl, if you must know. She wanted to see the village.”

“Oh yeah? So someone finally took a liking to you, huh? I wonder what it is she sees in you.”

James sighed. When would his father ever respect him?

“Dad, the academy…”

“Alright, well, if you just go back through those doors,” he said, pointing from where James came from. “And keep following the exterior, eventually you’ll come to the south gate where the Academy is.”

“Are you serious? I have to go back?”

“That’s how it always is. If you mess up something the first time, you always have to go back to the beginning.”

“Thanks for the info,” James trailed off, ready to begin running again. His father stared at him as if he was a raccoon that decided to announce himself in the daylight.

James didn’t give leaving his father another thought. It was almost dusk, and he not only had to travel somehow all the way back to the Academy, but also find a way to beat Dominic.

When he arrived at the doors of the eastern entrance, Scarlet was waiting for him, in the same unwavering pose she had when he first saw her. James slowed his pace, trying to read if she was really calm and approached her with all the grace of a child trying to catch a bird. Scarlet noticed him right away but let him get close. She turned to him and then back into space, nodding her head over to the left where a stage coach awaited for him.

“Catherine asked me to bring you one. Said you’d never make it back in time for a decent night’s rest, and tomorrow is your third day.”

“How…is she? Did she say anything?”

“About how you pretty much laughed in her face and told her she was ugly? No, failed to mention it audibly, but her tense shoulders and abundance of tears seemed to tell me that she might be an itty bitty upset.”

“Where is she now?”

“She’s on her way back to the Academy.”

“I’m sorry I said those things.”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry. I’m not the one crying.”

“Well, I’m apologizing to both of you. I know that wasn’t right for me to say in front of you either.”

“I don’t really care about me, only how you treat Catherine. She’s the only family I have left, and just because she’s found someone she can talk to doesn’t mean I’m going to let you walk all over her.”

“Doesn’t she have you to talk with?”

“Catherine is very sensitive to those she loves. Not so much in the way of what they say to her, but what they do. She can’t take it when one of them is tainted. She sees them differently. In her case, that’s a good thing. A precaution, from trusting the wrong people. Most people only show their best behavior in the beginning and slowly show their true nature over time. In my opinion, you’re on that same track. Maybe what happened today is for the best.”

“Did Catherine say anything else about me?”

“James, you have to go,” Scarlet said firmly, fighting back words that James was sure to regret hearing.

“Okay,” he said in acceptance.

James climbed into the stagecoach, glancing momentarily at Scarlet’s statue like composure and decide to not think much more of her words, seeing he had more important business to take care of. James placed his head in his hands and leaned over the seat. By the time he would get back, and explain to Catherine his folly, there would be little time to prepare for the next day. It was like cramming for an exam in one night, and he hadn’t even been to class once. Catherine had the notes, but still, it wouldn’t help him much. Just the thought of seeing the tranquility in Dominic’s eyes sent goose bumps down his arm. How was he going to even get close to Dominic after he pulled out his eidolon? When he could sense changes in the air and see which muscles are ready to move before he’s barely aware himself? Catherine had said that Kyran almost made it by giving it is all, but let’s face it; Kyran was far more talented.

Besides, even if he had Kyran’s skill, there was still the matter of Dominic being able to sense every little thing he did. Any lunge or punch was sure to miss, and with Dominic already on guard from his little escapade, the upperclassman was probably going to knock him out the moment the test began and that would be his last chance. From what he figured, the only way to take out Dominic would be to outsmart him somehow. He had played on his ego yesterday, but that wasn’t going to work twice. He needed a surefire plan that he could emit quickly, preferably in a few seconds, before Dominic shattered his dreams. But how?

James thought of the giant gymnasium where the test continued to take place. There wasn’t much to use. Benches, a banner, a clock, walls. It was bare, probably designed that way so someone like James had to rely on skill and not something as mundane as knocking his opponent upside the head with a dumbbell. Although that wouldn’t work either. Any physical interaction, whether he had a sword or not was suicide.

Here were the facts. The test would begin. Dominic was sure to rush at him and successfully cut him with the eidolon, rendering him unconscious. And he couldn’t just fake it either. Dominic would be sure to sense if he was and trying to weather any pain that would follow was stupid as well. He couldn’t dodge the attack obviously…but there just had to be a way to win. It wouldn’t be test if there wasn’t a way to pass…

He could try blocking the eidolon with his sword…if only he could see Dominic’s movements…maybe if the eidolon broke on the sword. That could work, but it was probably very durable and…

James sat up in revelation as he shot his head to a random corner of the stage coach. Was that the only way to beat Dominic? Was that the only way to continue on in the Sage classes?

To unleash his own eidolon?

How could he have been so stupid as to not think of it before?

James shuddered in anxiety and fear. It seemed unfathomable. Almost impossible. As if coming up with a clever strategy, even with little hope of executing it successfully, seemed easier than the idea of him wielding an eidolon. Was it possible? To dig deep down and bring forth a part of his very soul, and in only the little time he had left? Surely an eidolon’s manifestation must take a long time to do. Dominic probably spent long and arduous hours working at it.

Still, an eidolon was one’s soul. Technically, the eidolon was already within him, he just had to bring it out, but how was he going to manage that? So many recruits had to have come to the same conclusion and so many had failed. He wanted to believe he was different, that he would go beyond others’ failures, but nothing so far had showed him he was special at all. Arimus and Kyran had both failed, and they were the pinnacle of valor in his mind. Could he surpass them in a few short hours? There was no time to lose if it was going to happen. The moment he’d get off the stage coach he had to talk to some of the other recruits, feelings hurt or not. He had to find out what they tried to do to release the eidolon, and go beyond. He didn’t even know how one could do such a thing. Arimus would probably have the answer for that.

He could ask Dominic how he did it, but the upperclassman would probably just laugh in his face. Unfortunately, the more he thought about it, the more it looked like the apologies to Catherine would have to wait. He didn’t have an hour to discuss his feelings, what he meant, what she thought and all that other stuff. Catherine did say she knew how he might defeat Dominic but in hindsight, it was probably the same conclusion he had arrived at. After all, why make him spend the day with her if it was so simple? If she knew exactly how to pull out an eidolon, not only would she have passed the tests, but she also would have told him earlier, giving him time to practice or train or whatever it required.

The more James thought about the wasted day, the angrier he got, in disbelief that Catherine had took up so much of his time.

She probably thinks I’m going to fail and decided to let me have some fun before the big disappointment.

James grunted in response, and turned his thoughts back to the task at hand. Placing his fist on his left shoulder as Dominic had done, he meditated, trying to mentally will his soul out of his body. Suddenly afraid, he pulled his hand away. Better to get more information before he just started pulling spirit from flesh. There had to be rules…