Gregory met Jenn’s eyes before thrusting his piece forward. Jenn’s eyes widened slightly, and a smirk came to her lips. “Oh? Is that all you have?”
Gregory snorted as he flipped over the three cards he’d been waiting to play. “Nope.”
Ling moved her own piece forward at that point, flipping one of her cards. “Combined charge,” she said with a grin.
Clover frowned at them. “But I intercepted the three messengers you sent last. How did you know to go now?”
Paul cleared his throat and held out the message that Gregory had sent to Ling at the very start of the game. “His first message was to invest in pigeons and use them exclusively for combat orders. The true messages would carry the correct color scale following the rainbow. He added that they needed to send false messages after that one on the ground, but would release pigeons with the right ones at the same time.”
“So the plans we thought we’d taken from them are false?” Jenn asked.
Paul shrugged. “You’ll have to decide that for yourself. Did you have a counter to the combined charge on your lines?”
“Clover?” Jenn asked.
“Turtle,” Clover said, giving her a guilty look as she flipped the card.
Jenn exhaled slowly and put one of her cards faceup. “Hasty retreat. I’m going to lose half of my men.”
“Glory for the empire,” Gregory said. “My commander whipped them into a frenzy before sending them off.”
“Most of my men will be lost,” Jenn sighed. “I’ll leave the field once the damage is done. You’re on your own, Clover.”
“I was hoping you’d be able to hold something back to keep them honest,” Clover told her. “If you quit the field, I won’t last another two rounds.”
“I’m not playing Krogga,” Jenn said. “I’m pretty sure that they’re going to leave me with less than a tenth of my men.”
“Anything else in play?” Paul asked.
“My archers will rain on the turtle to make sure they stay in place,” Ling said, flipping an archer shower card. “I’ll deduct the expenditure from my stores.”
“Since they’re in place and my magi has to go past them, he’ll use his aether for the day,” Gregory said. “Muddy the ground under them and possibly ruin their food supply.” Gregory turned his magi sideways to show he was exhausted.
Paul blinked, but nodded. “A two-prong attack with a full combined charge?”
Gregory looked at Ling, then handed Paul their last pigeon message.
Paul took it, read the small slip of paper, and shook his head. “I asked you not to use foresight.”
“I haven’t, sir. You have my word on that.”
“May I?” Jenn asked.
Paul looked at Gregory, who nodded. Paul passed the paper to Jenn, and Clover read it over her shoulder.
“That’s Ling’s writing,” Clover said. “She thought one of us would turtle and asked him to use rain to keep the turtle in place. But what if Jenn had turtled instead of me?”
Ling smiled and tapped her other facedown card. “Give up?”
Clover looked at the units charging at Jenn’s men— who would be in full retreat— and did some quick mental math. “Yes. Surrender and ask for good terms for my men.”
“Let’s see how many men Jenn loses, then we will end the game,” Paul said. “Ling, go ahead.”
Ling flipped the card she’d tapped. “Switch targets,” she smiled. “And since we’re a combined charge, he would’ve come with me. We wouldn’t break on the shell.”
“If we had both turtled?” Jenn asked.
Ling flipped her last card. “Probing charge. That means we’d pull back at a minor loss and can go again next turn.”
Jenn exhaled. “You put everything on the cavalry? I was going to have my pikemen in another turn.”
“Two for me,” Clover said.
“Figured you’d be building to stop us,” Gregory smiled. “Now, my light cavalry can do a decent amount of damage to the fleeing footmen…”
~*~*~
It took some time to total everything up and figure out the loss for Jenn and Clover. Farin turned to Yukiko and asked her about how pigeon-carried messages would work.
Once they had totaled everything and Paul officially declared the winners, he cleared his throat. “That was a good job, but I have news. You’re off for the next week. The week after that, everyone is off before the tournament starts so clans can do any last-minute training they want with you.”
“That means we won’t be here for three weeks?” Farin asked.
“That is correct. We won’t reconvene until after the tournament. Your tournament starts on the fourth day, after the final eight have been chosen. When I checked, there were only twenty groups registered with the academy to fight. For you three,” he looked at Ling, Clover, and Farin, “you have the option of joining a clan before it starts, or you can offer your services to a clan without joining it.”
“Mercenaries?” Gregory asked.
“Yes. The Hardened Fist clan, for instance, isn’t fielding a group. Their apprentices are going to be with the groups that bid for them.”
“That’s allowed?” Jenn asked.
“Yes,” Paul said with distaste. “It’s been allowed for decades now, which is a pity. I’d love for them to face our apprentices as units.”
“Sir,” Farin spoke up, “is your clan willing to accept others?”
Paul stared at him for a second. “I will ask for you, Farin. Did you just want to fight beside us?”
“Would you accept me into the clan?” Farin asked hopefully.
“You are improving,” Paul said. “I’ll approach Master Chen and ask him. If not, I do hope you find a worthy clan. You will be a solid magi if you’re allowed to grow.”
“Thank you, sir,” Farin said, bowing formally.
“Will it be the same as last year, sir? Multiple fights on the first day, whittling down to four on the second, and then having the semifinals and finals on the last day?” Ling asked.
“As it has always been,” Paul said. “I keep hoping that they’ll give the apprentices a full tournament of their own. Maybe one day, they will… Any questions before you are dismissed until the tournament ends?”
When no one spoke up, Paul nodded. “You are dismissed.”
As they gathered their things, Paul went over to Gregory. “I had a question given to me— would you be willing to spar with Magus Klim again?”
“I think I would need the approval of my clan, sir.”
“As it should be, but are you willing?”
Gregory paused for a moment. “Magus Klim has always been fair with me, as have you, and your entire clan, sir. I would be honored. I will speak with my clan and find out if they are okay with it.”
“If they’re willing, please have them send word to her at our clan hall.”
“I will, sir.”
“Good. May your training pave the way for a good tournament for you.”
“Thank you, sir,” the three of them said, bowing to him.
Paul turned on his heel and headed for the door. When he reached it, he paused and looked back at Farin. “Farin, fall in. We’ll go find out right now.”
“Yes, sir,” Farin said, moving quickly to get behind Paul.
Clover smiled as they left. “Good. He deserves a clan.”
“So do we,” Ling said softly. “Maybe we should see if any clan will take us for the tournament, at least. If we can prove ourselves useful there, maybe they’ll accept us fully.”
Clover frowned and looked down. “But then…” She trailed off.
“Then we might not be in the same clan,” Ling finished for her, touching her shoulder. “Yes. It’ll be hard to push without you there to encourage me, Clover, but we need to do all we can to grow.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t wanna,” Clover pouted. “I’d rather stay learning with you until the year ends.”
“We could always inquire with our clan,” Yukiko offered.
Both women looked surprised. Their eyes were wide as they turned toward Yukiko, clearly not having been expecting what she’d said.
“It doesn’t mean it will happen, but we can ask,” Jenn smiled. “Friends who push each other to learn and grow should stay together as long as they can.”
Clover practically leapt the length of the room as she scrambled to hug Jenn. “Thank you!”
Ling was more dignified, but she bowed much lower than equals should to each other. “We are honored you’d ask for us. We are nowhere near you in terms of power or training, but we’ll give everything we can.”
“Just one question, and it’s an important one that Magus Dia will ask you,” Gregory said. “Do you believe Aether will be reborn? That’s what our clan believes in— that he will return and that we will be his guard.”
Clover let go of Jenn and faced Gregory, her usually happy face serious. “I wish Aether would come back. Maybe he would…” She trailed off, stopping herself from expressing things that shouldn’t be voiced in the empire.
Ling exhaled, glad that Clover had stopped. “I agree with Clover. We’ve talked about just that before, mostly because of you being in class with us. We looked into your clan and have found nothing that we disagree with.”
“If you can repeat that to Dia, it’s possible,” Gregory said. “Either way, learning with you here is a blessing. You for your focused intensity, Ling, and Clover for her uplifting spirit.”
Both women smiled at him before glancing at Yukiko and Jenn, then quickly away. “Thank you… all of you,” Ling said, echoed swiftly by Clover.
“You go to the archive when you study, right?” Yukiko asked.
“Yes. We’ll be there every day we’re off,” Clover replied.
“We’ll send word one way or the other.”
Both of the clanless apprentices bowed to them, again expressing their gratitude.
~*~*~
“They won’t be fighters, but an alchemist and an enchanter who are dedicated to the clan will be boons,” Yukiko said. “And Darkness thinks they will be loyal, or else she wouldn’t be helping them like she is.”
“That’s true,” Jenn agreed. “Clover will help raise our spirits, too.”
“She does do that,” Gregory chuckled, “even if she did let your army get slaughtered.”
“I don’t blame Clover for that. She did what she thought might let her hold the field until she could do more, but we both know that once you trapped her men in the mud, you would have turned on her the next round.”
“That was our plan.”
“I never thought you’d use carrier pigeons,” Jenn sighed. “When did you think that up, anyway?”
“A week ago,” Gregory said. “I was wondering if my father had made it home safely, and had been thinking about sending Gunnar and him letters after the tournament. It led me to think I should use them for short messages when on campaign.”
“What did Paul make you pay for upkeep?” Yukiko asked.
“Same as the other messengers,” Gregory snorted. “It was a little over my projected cost, but worth it, as it turned out.”
“Something for us to keep in mind for later,” Yukiko said with a grin. “What’s good for the gander is just as good for the goose.”
Gregory winced. “Other way around, dear. ‘What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.’”
“Normally, but you did it first, so I think my twist stands.”
“I approve,” Jenn laughed.
Reaching the archive, Gregory just shook his head. “Let’s greet our friends, get our studying in, then head home.”
Simon welcomed them as they entered. “Apprentices, it is good to see you. Did you need new reading material?”
“I was wondering if the second floor had anything on combining the spirit and mind paths,” Gregory said.
Simon’s lips pursed and he looked into the distance for a moment. “Maybe. I will have to look into it. If we do, I should have it by the time you get up to the second floor.”
“Thank you,” Gregory bowed.
“I had the same question, but about mind and body,” Jenn said.
“Ah, yes, that does make sense for you,” Simon smiled. “I, again, will have to check.”
“I’m fine with mine,” Yukiko said. “Thank you, though.”
“Very well,” Simon smiled. “May your study time be enlightening.”
They had barely started working on the Magi Squares blanks when Daciana was at the table. “Good morning,” she said, taking her seat beside Jenn. “How did the game go?”
“Gregory and Ling won,” Jenn said. “He used a tactic I hadn’t considered to gain the upper hand.”
“What was that?” Nessa asked, having heard the conversation as she approached.
Jenn took a minute to explain what Gregory and Ling had done while the novices listened intently. When she finished, she shrugged. “They deserved it.”
“Pigeons?” Nessa mused. “Interesting.”
“Falcons would be a problem,” Victoria said. “Any hunting bird actually, but if on campaign, falcons.”
“That was my thought,” Yukiko smiled at her. “If you’re going to use pigeons, you might want to bring falcons to hinder your foe, as well.”
“You’ve been looking into Empire’s Gambit?” Gregory asked.
“We’ve been reading a little about it around other topics,” Nessa said. “Considering it’s the major class next year, it seemed prudent to get started early.”
“It’s fascinating,” Daciana said. “I can’t wait to try it.”
“I’m not as enthusiastic, but I will give it my full attention,” Victoria said.
“Two weeks until the tournament!” Daciana said, completely shifting the topic to what had her excited.
“She’s nearly counting the hours,” Nessa giggled.
“Three hundred and forty-one,” Daciana said. Everyone blinked at her, and she grinned widely. “I knew she’d say that, so I counted on the way here.”
Muted laughter came from the table at her announcement.
