When they arrived at their tactics class, they each took their seats and got their things ready to take notes. Others began to arrive in small groups. Even the clanless apprentices grouped together, using their numbers to avoid problems with the other apprentices.
“Pettit, Bean, Warlin, how are you today?”
All three of them were surprised to be greeted by Hayworth, but Gregory was the one to reply, “As good as could be expected. And you?”
“Well, I just had a question— have you three done something to antagonize Magus Harrison?”
“Us? No. One of our seniors did,” Gregory replied. “He’s had problems with Magus Bishop in the past.”
“And he’s being harder on you because of it,” Hayworth nodded. “I see.”
A lot of voices came from the doorway, and Hayworth’s lips thinned when he saw the Eternal Flame entering the room. “Sorry for bothering you,” he told them. “I hope you have a good day.”
“Thanks. You, too,” Gregory replied.
Behind the Eternal Flame, Egil and the magus instructors entered and shut the doors behind them.
“That was different,” Jenn murmured. “He didn’t even get a little snarky.”
“Yes,” Yukiko murmured, thinking about the question posed by Hayworth.
Once Egil reached the middle of the room, he addressed everyone, “Apprentices, I can see that the book learning is not having enough of an impact. I’ve been given leave by the council to teach as I see fit, which means we will be changing how this class is going to be conducted.”
All of the assistants looked shocked, and certain clan groups looked uncertain. Elkit cleared his throat, “Armsmaster Egil, surely you aren’t going to completely overturn tradition.”
“Completely? No. Drastically? Yes. This class is mandated for every apprentice, and for good reason, yet it follows a rigid pattern, regardless of whether it’s effective or not. I have offered an alternative that they have agreed to let me try. The trade-off is that any of my assistants who can beat me two games out of three will take over the class. However,” Egil smiled wolfishly, “if the assistant loses, they will be removed.”
Elkit frowned, his eyes going to the apprentices in his clan for a moment. “Very well. How do you plan to take this class forward?”
“First, we will welcome the other assistants,” Egil said. “Apprentices, these men and women were all under my command at one point, so treat them with respect, even though they are not magi. Any disrespect to them is disrespect to me.”
Eight men and women entered the building, and Gregory smiled when he saw one of them. Gin didn’t look his way, but followed the others to the middle of the room.
“A dozen assistants?” Nick’s voice echoed in the room.
“Yes,” Egil grinned, “for a specific reason. Who can tell me what that is?”
Hayworth’s hand barely beat Gregory’s in rising, and Harrison was quick to call on Hayworth. “Sir, there are thirteen tables in this building. I surmise that instruction is going to be hands-on, with each table having an assistant to supervise it.”
“That is correct. Well done, Apprentice Hayworth,” Egil said before looking back at the room. “Now, we will be splitting the class into groups. Each group will be assigned a table as their home, and will have an instructor to oversee them. To make sure there are no favorites being played, I will be making sure that no clan group is placed with an assistant that might favor them. Also, two of our larger clan groups will be split in half. Eternal Flame and Swift Wind, I’ll give you a moment to split your groups.”
Elkit went over to his apprentices, and Harrison moved over to Hayworth’s group.
“As for the rest of you,” Egil went on, “if you have trouble with who your assistant is, just speak with me about it. I will be visiting all groups to check up and see how things are going. In time, we will have what I am calling the campaign tournament. I’ll go into that later, but the rewards for it include a week of weapons training with me during one of your weeks off. I know few clans will balk at the idea of you getting that as a reward.”
Harrison walked away from the Swift Wind clan, which had separated into a group of three and one of four. As he rejoined the others, Elkit stepped away from the Eternal Flame apprentices. Nick stood with Michelle, Gina, and Parks behind him. Jason stood in front of Fureno, Petak, and two others Gregory couldn’t remember the names of.
“Are you sure these are the groups you want to go with?” Egil asked.
“Since we aren’t being given a choice,” Elkit said stiffly, “yes.”
“Very well,” Egil replied. “Shun, your group is on the third floor, room six. Argon, second floor, room six. Magus Harrison, you will preside over Shun, and Ella, you will watch over Argon.”
“Let’s go,” Harrison said, looking straight at Nick.
Nick sniffed and started for the stairs. Jason’s group fell in behind them, clearly ready to go as well. Harrison and the woman Egil had called Ella followed the apprentices.
Egil turned back to class and paired off each group. Gregory bowed his head when they were told to report to the first room on the second floor. A smile touched his lips when he heard that Paul would be their instructor.
When they got into the room, Gregory grinned. It looked nearly identical to the war room they had at the clan hall, but with even more shelves and figurines. There were two large desks on each side of the room.
“Pick your side,” Paul said from behind them. “The other group will be here shortly.”
Yukiko moved first, selecting the right side of the room. The large window had the sun coming in and slanting to the left-hand side, indicating that the evening sun would be on the right-hand side. Paul’s lips twitched as he watched them take their seats.
“Sir, we’re here,” said a voice from behind him.
Paul stepped aside and let the three other apprentices enter the room before closing the door behind them. “Apprentices, I see that none of you have a clan.”
“No, sir,” the woman with short, tawny hair and cat ears said as she bowed her head to Paul. “All three of us are clanless.”
“Take the other side of the table,” Paul said.
Gregory gave the trio of clanless a smile. Beside the part-lioness eurtik, one of the other two was a woman with orangey-red hair, a bushy tail, and solid black eyes. The last of the three was a sullen-looking man. Gregory tried to recall the names of the women, having been in polearms class with them.
“We’ll start with introductions,” Paul said. “You all know me, but might not know or remember the names of each other. Pettit, you first.”
“Yes, sir,” Gregory said, rising to his feet.
Once Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn had introduced themselves, Paul turned to the other three. “I’m sure you knew their names, considering the tournaments, but just in case, you should remember them now. Lao, introduce yourself.”
The part-lioness eurtik rose to her feet and bowed her head to them. “I’m Ling Lao, clanless, and a magi of enchanting.”
When Ling sat, the other woman stood up. “I’m Clover Clougdah. Clanless. Alchemy magic,” she said quickly. Her fast speech pattern clicked her heritage into place for Gregory— she was part-squirrel.
The last of the three stood up, his lips twisted in anger. “Chucky Smitty, clanless, earth,” he said sullenly before sitting abruptly. “Sir, why did we get grouped together and placed against them? We would have been better served to face the other clanless.”
Paul’s lips thinned. “Are you questioning the wisdom of Armsmaster Magi-killer?”
Chucky looked away. “No, sir.”
“Good. There’s an obvious reason. Can any of you three tell me what it might be?”
Clover’s hand jerked upward.
“Go ahead, Clougdah,” Paul said, a hint of amusement in his tone.
“They know the game, sir. They said so earlier. We don’t. You do and were the one most helpful to Magi-killer. So, we are here to learn from people who know more.”
Paul nodded. “That’s correct. You three clanless are here because the Aether’s Guard apprentices have been learning about Empire’s Gambit for some time. To better serve the empire as a whole, Egil has matched those who know the least against those who know the most. This is your chance to learn, but you have to be focused and ready to learn.”
“We’re just sacrifices to them…” Chucky muttered under his breath.
Paul was suddenly looming over the sullen apprentice. “You will be a sacrifice if you don’t start trying to learn— if not here and now, then when you get posted with troops. Fatalities among adepts who have not passed this course satisfactorily are well over three-quarters. Now, are you going to try, or are you a lost cause, Apprentice?”
Chucky shrank back from Paul. “I’ll learn, sir…” The three words were nearly a squeak, and for good reason.
The bloodlust that’d been radiating off Paul was suddenly gone. “See that you do.” Stepping back, he gave everyone a look. “Today, you will observe a game between two of you. Since three of you have little to no experience, we will watch Yukiko and Gregory. We will start off simple— Yukiko will be using a fire magi, and Gregory will use a wind magi. The setting is inside the empire’s borders. Yukiko, Gregory, begin setting the board. If any of you have any questions, ask. We will pause the game to explain.”
“Sir?” Ling asked, raising her hand.
“Yes?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if we played a game with them assisting us?”
Paul gave her a long look before his lips bent upward. “Yes, yes it would. And you will, just not the first game. This first one will be slow. I’ll be going over each piece as they bring it into play.”
“So we can have a better grasp of what is what. For those of us who haven’t played before, the lectures weren’t making a lot of sense, since we had nothing to attach the words to,” Clover said excitedly.
“That’s correct,” Paul nodded, “and well-reasoned.”
Clover beamed and bounced a little in place.
“Sir, we have the basic board set up,” Yukiko said.
Paul turned to them. “Okay, let’s go over each piece.”
~*~*~
It was late afternoon when Paul dismissed them for the day, after reminding them all to be back in the room by sixth bell the next morning.
“I like that better than the lectures,” Jenn said.
“So do I,” Yukiko smiled.
“So did Clover and Ling,” Gregory chuckled before it faded. “Chucky is a lost cause, though.”
“He appears to hate everything and everyone,” Jenn said. “I caught sight of his medallion. It’s only on the sixth novice ring. He might be bitter because of that.”
“Clover and Ling were only on the eighth each,” Yukiko said, “yet they’re desperate to learn.”
“Neither was sought after because they were far behind the others, and…” Jenn trailed off.
“Eurtiks,” Yukiko finished.
“Idiocy,” Gregory said tightly.
“We should watch them,” Yukiko said. “If they can learn, we can mention them to Dia.”
“That would put a target on them,” Gregory said. “Not sure that’s a good thing.”
“We could wait, until after the first tournament,” Jenn suggested. “The clan could use an alchemist and enchanter. If we wait until then, they would only have half a year to deal with.”
“Could Lightshield even have troops ready for them in time?” Gregory asked.
“I think he could,” Yukiko said. “Besides, it’s just a thought for now. If they can’t or won’t learn, like Chucky, then it’s moot.”
Gregory nodded. “That’s a good point.” Looking at the sun, he frowned. “Come on. We have to hurry if we don’t want to rush our training.”
