Taking their seats in the tactics hall, the group greeted Egil when he came in.
“Aether’s Guard, I’m not surprised you are here first again,” Egil said.
“We’re looking forward to today’s game, sir,” Gregory said.
Egil gave Gregory a nod. “Even you?”
“Yes, sir. I have every faith in my clan and our friend.”
“Luckily, he won’t be facing his clan today,” Egil said. “They play once one of these games ends. I’ll explain when everyone arrives.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied as one.
They waited for a good while before the next group arrived. Hayworth led his group of Swift Wind apprentices into the room. Seeing them already there, Hayworth gave them a nod before taking a table a few feet away from them.
“Facing his group will be tough,” Yukiko said. “Spatial magi are nearly as good as shadow magi for assassinations.”
“It’ll be tough, but we’ll manage,” Jenn said.
The next group was Shining Light, led in by Klein Armit. Seeing the other two groups already there, he bowed his head to both, then took a seat that put him across from Hayworth’s group.
Just before sixth bell began to chime, the last group came striding in just behind the instructors. Jason glared at Gregory’s group, as did the others behind him.
“Petak is fire, Fureno is enchanting, and Jason is physical enhancement,” Gregory said. “I think the other two are crafters.”
“I don’t recall their names, but yes,” Jenn agreed.
Barlz shut the doors, as he was the last one to arrive. He joined the other instructors in the middle of the room.
“Now that we are all here, we can discuss today’s matches and what comes after,” Egil announced. “If you win today, you will be going to the tournament. The last set of clans will be playing after your matches. Once they finish, there will be one last round among the winners to determine which position you take overall. The group that wins gets their weapons training with me. The academy has also offered up prizes for the three places.”
The groups all sat up straighter, looking forward to the prizes. They didn’t know what they would be, but the academy didn’t skimp on rewards.
“Now, Elder Cho drew your matches. If you have any complaints, you can bring them to her attention,” Egil said, knowing none of them would. “Any questions?”
No one spoke up, so Egil motioned to the instructors, who dispersed to go to their rooms.
“Three of your groups are together and can occupy a single room for now. If one of you is away from your shared camp, there are two other rooms ready to host you.”
“What if we bring in a fourth?” Hayworth asked.
“They will join one of your commanders in a shared command space, having just reported in with their unit,” Egil replied.
“What if we need more than three rooms?” Klein asked.
“That will get tricky, but there are ways around it depending on who needs other rooms,” Egil said. “The choice is yours, but separating your forces that far might be unwise.”
“Thank you, sir,” Klein said.
“Now, Shining Light, second floor, the last three rooms,” Egil said.
Klein and two of his clan members stood up.
“Swift Wind, second floor, the first three rooms.”
Hayworth and two of his clan got up, watching Klein as they followed the others up the stairs.
Jason was wearing a hateful smile as he stared at Gregory’s group.
“Eternal Flame, third floor, the first three rooms,” Egil called out. “Aether’s Guard, third floor, the last three rooms.”
Yukiko stood with Jenn and Farin, and Jason had risen with Fureno and Petak. The two groups stared at each other for a moment before Yukiko spun and walked away.
“Who are my coordinators?” Egil asked.
Gregory wasn’t surprised that it was all clanless with him before Egil.
“Pettit, Shining Light,” Egil said.
Gregory bowed and headed away as Egil called the next person.
Klein’s group had taken the very last room as theirs. “Pettit,” Klein greeted him when Gregory entered the room.
“Armit,” Gregory said before turning to the instructor. “Magus Klim.”
“Pettit,” Klim replied, inclining her head. “Now that you are here, we may begin. Shining Light, you may place your units on the southern edge of the board.”
Klein looked at the board with a detached air. The board had a large forest between the two sides of the board, and a road that ran north to south in the middle of it. The forest itself was a mixture of heavy and light woods.
“The western corner?” Klein asked his clanmates.
Both of them nodded, agreeing that the thicket of heavy woods there was the best choice.
Gregory was surprised at the variety of troops the team placed down. They hadn’t focused on any one type of unit, and the sheer number of troops was also surprising. He had thought that Yukiko had stacked their team before the end of the last game, but Shining Light had a few more units than they did.
“Who did you face in the first round?” Gregory asked.
“Yamato Shipping,” Klein replied.
“Didn’t take them out quickly?”
“We let the last member of their team survive for nearly an entire day before we won,” Klein said. “We prepared for today and beyond.”
“You are well-prepared,” Gregory said as he started to take notes. “Give me a moment to get all of this marked down.”
Klein nodded absently, as he was still studying the board. “Hayworth isn’t stupid, he’ll have done much as we have. I believe his command unit will be here.”
Floxin stared at where Klein indicated, nodding slowly. “Yes. It’s the best part of that side of the board.”
“He might have set up here,” Gula countered, pointing to another section of woods. “It gives just slightly less cover and puts him in a prime spot to find a scout checking your guess.”
Klein nodded slowly. “Either of those spots is likely. Gula, we’ll use you here so you can recover for later.”
“Agreed,” Gula said, looking at his magi. “Three turns, I’ll be out. Wind, scout the first location.”
As Gregory was making notes, he was remembering how they played, as his friends might face them in the next round. “Which path are you scrying?” Gregory asked.
“I’ll barely make it to that location,” Gula said, “but let’s go this way.” He pointed to the path his magi would ride the wind, as he might spot scouts or others on the way.
Gregory noted the path using the map provided to him. “Is that it for this turn?”
“No, we’ll be bringing in another,” Klein said. “I’m thinking Nilum.”
“He’s the best choice,” Floxin said. “We’d been considering adding him to the clan. Let this be his test.”
“Dunn would approve of that,” Gula agreed.
“We spend the vela to bring Nilum onto the field,” Klein told Gregory.
“Okay. I’ll go let Magi-killer know,” Gregory said, making a note. “I believe he arrives at the start of the next upkeep. Right, Klim?”
“Two upkeeps,” Klim replied. “You go meet with the other coordinator, and I’ll go inform Nilum and Magi-killer.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gregory said.
Gregory stood waiting for a few minutes in the hall. When the other apprentice came out of the far room, they met halfway between them. “Did you want to start?” Gregory asked.
“No, I will go second,” the clanless apprentice said.
“I’m sorry,” Gregory said. “I don’t recall your name. I’m—”
“We all know who you are, Pettit,” the man said with a put-upon expression. “Hard not to know the champion of our year. You, Warlin, and Bean are known to everyone.”
Gregory bowed his head. “Fair enough. I was trying to be civil.”
The man hesitated, then bowed his head back. “I’m sorry. I’ve just seen too many use their names to lord it over us.”
“Yeah, they exist,” Gregory sighed. “Is Jason doing that?”
“All of them are.” The apprentice looked away from Gregory. “Being clanless is difficult.”
“It can be, from what I’ve heard,” Gregory agreed. “Maybe one of them will take you in after the tournament.”
The apprentice nodded slowly. “Yeah. Umm… your clan… is it accepting more members?”
“You’d need to approach Magus Dia and ask her,” Gregory said. “Truthfully, it takes a lot of faith.”
“Faith?” The apprentice looked up quizzically.
“That Aether will return,” Gregory said simply. “If you don’t believe that in your soul, then you wouldn’t enjoy it in the clan.”
“Oh, I see.”
“We should compare notes,” Gregory said suddenly.
“Right. Uh, I’m James Tocks.”
“Nice to meet you, James. Call me Greg,” Gregory said. “Okay, not a lot for me to go over with you. They’re scouting using this path…”
~*~*~
Hours passed with no real movement from either side. Scouts had gone out from Hayworth’s side, finding the rough outline of Klein’s camp.
Gula had again used his magi to scout Hayworth’s side— letting them catch and butcher the last set of scouts— before they changed their camp location. With that done, Klein’s group set out pickets to catch and kill any other scouts coming in.
“Okay, now we begin the slow shift,” Klein said. “The army will move slowly to decrease our chance of being seen. The outliers will keep doing their jobs to catch and kill the scouts. Nilum will join our forward unit with his men. Remember, two spaces only. That way, we can move to assist if you end up in conflict.”
“I remember,” Nilum said levelly, his weasel eurtik features muted, but still obvious. “I’ll have the pigeons ready to send if the attacking force is more than a scout.”
“At the end of this turn, you’ll need to occupy the next room,” Klim told Nilum.
“Understood.”
“Is there anything else to note?” Gregory asked as he wrote.
“No. This is where we’ll pause for the turn,” Klein said. “I’m surprised you’ve been so quiet, Pettit. Do you not have any comments about our strategy?”
“It isn’t my place,” Gregory said. “I’m just here to coordinate the game.”
“He is correct,” Klim said.
“But he’s going to know what we’ve done. He’ll take this knowledge to his clan and, if they survive this round, they’ll have an idea of what we have and can do,” Klein said in his normal drab tone, clearly holding to his meditation.
“Hmm… I’ll raise the point with Magi-killer,” Klim said. “He’ll likely say that rumor always precedes an army. Besides, there’s nothing stopping you from using an entirely different strategy if you fight them.”
Klein bowed his head. “I accept that.”
“Nilum, to the next room, as your unit is moving this turn,” Klim said. “Gregory, go meet the other coordinator.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the two men said in echo.
Gregory paused in the middle of the hall, waiting for James, when he heard a faint, angry yell from above him. A smile touched his lips as the scream had been masculine, making it unlikely to be any of his friends that were upset.
“That sounded bad,” James said as he approached Gregory.
“Probably the Eternal Flame being thwarted,” Gregory grinned. “The downside to being part of the clan is that the Eternal Flame really hates us.”
James shuddered. “That’s a good point.”
“Did you wish to start this turn?” Gregory asked to push them back on topic.
“Sure. I think another scout is going to get butchered again,” James said. “They’re traveling this line…”
