The three apprentices were excited— Gin had told them they would have a surprise after their morning study period. Making it back to the clan hall after saying goodbye to the novices, they were giddy to find out what Gin had planned.
“Apprentices,” Gin greeted them, “follow me.”
Inda, Indara, Bishop, and Dia were all smiling as they fell into step behind Gin. The trio followed suit, wondering where they were going and what the surprise was going to be.
The walk across the academy grounds let them see a dozen or more novices rushing off to their classes. They also caught a glimpse of Ling and Clover heading to the archive.
As they approached the arenas, Gregory tried to figure out why they were here. They had trained in the front yard of the clan hall for the last few weeks, so why train at the arenas, instead? He traded looks with Yukiko and Jenn, who were also trying to figure out what was going on.
The green flags barely twitched against the poles that held them aloft. The others broke off from the group, heading for the stairs that would take them into the stands, while Gin kept walking. The separation caused the three to purse their lips. It was obvious that they weren’t going to be fighting the others today.
Once they were down in the ready room underneath the arena, Gin finally stopped and turned to them. “Today, and for the four days after this, you will come here after your morning study period. Understood?”
“Yes, Sensei,” they replied.
“Good. Leave your things, grab your weapons and helmets, and come onto the sands,” Gin told them before leaving the room.
“What do you think this is, besides fighting of some kind?” Gregory asked as he started to put his things into a cubby.
“Group training,” Yukiko said with certainty, “but with who is the question.”
“Why the arena?” Jenn asked.
“I think it centers around who our opponents will be,” Yukiko said. “This feels like a deal was made… professionals who can help train us. Gin is going to be the adjudicator, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Professionals,” Gregory said the word slowly. “Hardened Fist,” he said a second later.
Yukiko started to object, but then shut her mouth and nodded. “Yes, it makes sense now. The neutral ground, so it’s obviously a paid contract and not two clans cooperating.”
“This is going to mean aether,” Jenn said, grinning. “We’ll get to use everything.”
“Maybe,” Gregory cautioned her. “Until Gin says that is the case, I’m not going to get my hopes up.”
Jenn sighed. “That’s fair.”
With weapons and helmets in hand, the three of them started up the stairs and toward the arena proper. Someone was waiting at the exit of the tunnel, and Gregory felt a smile come to him.
“Adept Mindie, are you here to make sure we’re healthy?” Gregory asked.
Mindie, still wearing her healer kimono, turned to him and bowed her head. “Apprentices, it is good to see you all again. Yes, I have been contracted via the academy to help with the training you’re going to be doing.”
“Then we will be in good hands,” Yukiko said. “If not for you, we wouldn’t have gone as far as we did in either tournament.”
Mindie smiled at her. “Thank you for saying so.” Her eyes darted from Yukiko to Gregory, then back. “Was your wedding good?”
Yukiko nodded warmly. “It was. We should have invited you. I apologize for that oversight.”
“I wouldn’t have been allowed to attend,” Mindie replied. “I would have wanted to, but I had restrictions because of my circumstances. Congratulations to you two.”
“Thank you,” Yukiko bowed her head to Mindie, then looked at Jenn. “Jenn has also married.”
Mindie blinked. “Oh. Congratulations to you, as well. I’m sure he is a good man.”
“A very good man,” Jenn grinned. “Isn’t that right, dear one?” She nudged Gregory.
Gregory laughed awkwardly, and Mindie’s eyes went wide. “I would say I’m a very lucky man. Oh, Gin is looking at us. We should go. Thanks for helping with this, Mindie.” He quickly left the tunnel, leaving his wives giggling behind him.
“Both of you?” Mindie finally asked when Gregory had left. “That explains why I thought you and he were in a relationship,” Mindie said to Jenn.
“We weren’t then, but it was my deepest wish,” Jenn replied. “Yuki helped us see that it could work. Thank you for your help, Mindie.”
“Thank you,” Yukiko added with a mischievous smile as she and Jenn went after Gregory.
Gin gave the three of them a long look before shaking his head and turning to face the other tunnel. Nearly a minute went by before the sixth bell chimed. As soon as it did, four people left the tunnel, heading their way.
The three men and one woman were not smiling as they crossed to Gin. All four of them were wearing padded armor and carrying helmets. Each bore scars on their hands, and a couple had scars on their faces, attesting to the violence they’d endured.
“Armsmaster Watashi, we are here as the contract states,” the woman said. Her voice was surprisingly pleasant, a contrast with her harsh features.
“I recognize the contract has begun,” Gin replied. “Magus, these are your opponents. You have heard of them, I am sure.”
The woman turned her attention to the three apprentices. “Gregory Pettit, champion of the first tournament, and user of foresight magic. Jenn Bean, champion of the second tournament, and user of physical enhancement. Yukiko Warlin, final eight competitor in both tournaments, and second place in the first one, accomplished user of shadow magic. Yes, I’ve heard of them.”
“Apprentices,” Gin said, turning to them, “your opponents for the week are going to be members of the Hardened Fist. It will be group combat, using aether. We have a healer on hand to make sure that things are safer. Your opponents will be limiting themselves to apprentice-level magic and will only use as much aether as a high tier apprentice could. Questions?”
“Will they change every day, Sensei?” Gregory asked.
“My subordinates will,” the woman said. “I will be here for every match. I am Magus Vemril, and I am a physical enhancement magi. I look forward to seeing what a foresight magi can do.”
“What are the rules of the engagements?” Jenn asked.
“Tournaments rules,” Gin replied. “If I call on you to stop, you do so. If you wish to remove yourself from the combat, just raise an arm and walk away. Otherwise, combat will continue until one side is rendered unable to go on.”
“This is every day from sixth bell until when?” Gregory asked.
“Seventeenth,” Gin replied. “We will have breaks between each match where you can ask questions or for pointers.”
“Won’t this give away our capabilities to their clan for the tournament?” Yukiko asked.
“The contract states that we will not divulge anything we learn here to anyone who has not participated in the matches,” Vemril replied. “The fine is quite steep. The clan would have me flayed if it is broken.”
When none of them spoke up again, Gin nodded. “Very well. Back away so there’s room between you. I will give you a few moments to discuss strategy with your groups before we begin.”
They backed away, and Gregory whispered to his wives, “We should hold back the very edge of what we’re training and use only what we’ve shown so far. I know what she said, but if they’re offered enough to offset the cost, they might talk.”
“No. They always hold to the letter of their contracts,” Yukiko told him. “We should hold back today, but if it was Gin or Dia who set this up, I’m sure the contract will be solid.”
“I think Yuki is right,” Jenn agreed.
Gregory nodded. “Okay, so how are we going to tackle this?”
“We don’t know what their magic is,” Jenn said, “besides Vemril’s. This first match will be the toughest because of that.”
“They know what we were able to do in the tournaments,” Yukiko said. “They won’t be surprised by shadow leap or entanglement. Do we go all out here, or do we just use this match for recon?”
“Recon, but try to win,” Gregory said. “Vemril will come for me, and I should be able to hold her off. The other three might try to tie you both up. If they do, Yuki, leap behind Vemril and take her down. That’ll leave you alone, Jenn, but if you go for speed, you can probably handle them until we can get back to you.”
“Why do you think she’ll go for you and not us?” Jenn asked.
“Because of the look in her eyes when she spoke of foresight,” Gregory said.
“She’s focused on him right now,” Yukiko agreed.
“Are you ready?” Gin asked both groups.
Sharing a look, they nodded and turned back to face Gin and their opponents. “We are,” Yukiko said.
“We are,” Vemril said.
“Very well. Bow to the audience,” Gin commanded.
All seven combatants moved in near unison to face the small crowd and bowed. Once they had, they faced Gin and bowed, then bowed to each other. Gin backed well up before he called on them to fight.
Gregory was already using foresight when the fight began, and called out to the other two, “Back left is fire, back right is wind!” That was all he managed to get out before he had to bring the naginata around defensively, as Vemril was nearly on him.
Yukiko dodged to the left and Jenn to the right, both of them just being missed by the fire and wind magics thrown by two of the opposing four. The fourth opponent merely stood still, watching the fight.
The clack-clack of the wooden training weapons came fast as Gregory and Vemril clashed. She had greater strength and speed because of her magic and level of body path cultivating, but Gregory managed to keep up with her. He was entirely focused on Vemril, needing everything he had to deflect and push her attacks away, as a solid connection might snap his naginata.
Yukiko called out to Jenn, “I need two seconds, Jenn!”
“Okay!” Jenn called back, her legs becoming engulfed in blue flames. Her body blurred as she streaked toward the three not fighting Gregory.
“Jenn, right!” Gregory screamed when his foresight told him what was about to happen.
Jenn did as he commanded, more on reflex to his tone than anything else. As she pivoted away from her line of attack, she still caught the edge of the force wall that’d sprung up and was sent sprawling. She went into a roll to regain her footing, and both the fire and wind magi turned to focus on her. Yukiko took that second to let the shadows swallow her.
Jenn figured she had at least one attack coming her way so, as she rolled, she planted a flame-covered hand and used it to spring her up into a twisting flight. She watched the fire and wind connect and become a small firestorm where she would’ve been.
“Behind!” the force magi yelled to Vemril. Thinking Yukiko was going to come up behind her, he put up a shield there to block an attack. He grunted when a wooden blade hit him in the back of the neck.
“Yes, behind,” Yukiko said as she let the shadows swallow her again.
“Out,” Gin said calmly, watching his students.
The magi Yukiko had attacked raised his hand and started for the far tunnel.
Vemril, hearing the call, grimaced. “That was not what I expected.”
Gregory didn’t reply as he looked for a way to beat Vemril. He was technically better with a weapon, but she was burning her aether fast to compensate. I guess I can just outlast her?
Yukiko had gone from behind the force magi to all the way behind Gin. She was glad she had— all of the other magi lashed out behind them, and even Vemril gave a kick backward. That moment of uncertainty and distraction allowed Jenn to close in on the wind magi.
That instant opened Yukiko’s and Jenn’s eyes. As the fire magi threw a ball of fire at the wind magi’s back, Jenn saw it coming and grabbed the wind magi, intent on using him as a shield. The wind magi smiled as he held her firm. The fireball split around him, engulfing Jenn.
Jenn smiled back, as the fire had only lightly singed her. She snapped her head forward and plastered the wind magi’s nose to his cheek. The wind magi let go of her as his eyes watered and his knees wobbled. Jenn used that to slam the man over her hip and to the ground before tapping his head with the training blade.
“Out!” Gin called.
The fire magi was shocked that his spell had done nothing to Jenn. He had dampened it down to mid-apprentice level, but it should have at least covered her with light burns. His shock over Jenn being mostly unaffected was trumped a moment later when Yukiko tapped his neck.
“Out,” Gin called with a hint of pride in his voice.
Vemril’s eyes went wide as she heard her helpers called out in rapid succession. “Out!” she called.
“Very well,” Gin agreed. “Match to Aether’s Guard.”
Yukiko let go of the shadows holding Vemril and hurried over to where Jenn was.
Vemril turned to her men, finding one of them down on his knees, holding his bleeding nose, and the other two not meeting her eyes. “What in Aether’s name happened?”
Mindie was rushing out to heal those who’d been injured.
“I’ll recount the fight, and we can pause to answer any questions as they come up,” Gin said, coming over to join them.
“I got caught up thinking they would take you out first, because taking a leader can demoralize a unit,” the force magi said. “I won’t be blindsided like that again.”
“She survived my flames…” the fire magi said, looking at Jenn. “How? I know they were weak, but you should at least have burns.”
Jenn nodded and let him see the small blisters that she had here and there. “I am burned, just not as badly as it could have been. This training will be expensive if I have to use my enchanted items, though.”
Gin nodded slowly. “Hmm… Yes, there is that. Are your four equipped?” he asked Vemril.
“A ring and necklace each,” Vemril said. “That is what most of the apprentices might have, outside of the merchant clans and the Eternal Flame.”
“I’ll have to ask Dia about your enchantments,” Gin told Jenn.
The fire magi looked sour about her not quite clear answer. “Well, her survival let her smash him,” he motioned to the wind magi, who was getting back on his feet thanks to Mindie.
“And distracted you long enough for me to get you,” Yukiko said.
“That is what happened,” Gin nodded.
“Hmm…” Vemril nodded slowly. “We didn’t take into account enchantments, and we weren’t expecting a fight that vigorous from fresh apprentices. This is my fault.” She looked toward Yukiko. “Enchantment is what let you hold me in place?”
Yukiko tapped her ear. “Aether storage. I can’t do that too often.”
“It was well done,” Vemril said. “We’ll be ready to go again in a few moments.”
“Very well,” Gin said before he moved to the three students and handed them each a piece of jerky. “Replenish your aether. It’s going to be a long day.”
Gregory blinked at the taste, and his lips ticked up. Koi jerky? Thanks, Brown.
