“Final four, all three of us!” Daciana was beaming as she reached their table. “And tomorrow, I’ll face Ness in the finals.”
“Or I will,” Victoria told her.
Daciana grinned. “True, if I lose, but I’m not gonna.”
“I doubt Gregory thought he’d lose to Jenn during the last tournament, either,” Victoria said, “but he did.”
“They’ve been like this since last night,” Nessa said, taking her seat. “At least my fight today is straightforward, if a little threatening.”
“It’ll be tough,” Gregory said. “Do you have a plan?”
“I have some ideas, but nothing that makes me hopeful enough to be as confident as Daciana.”
“You can do it, Ness,” Daciana said. “I want to see you in the finals.”
“Much better than seeing Frederica,” Victoria said. “If you go all out, you’ll be fine.”
Nessa gave them both a smile. “I’ll be doing my best, but if she gets ahold of me, it’ll be the end.”
“You still have some of your barrier charge left?” Gregory asked.
“Yes. I’m not sure it’ll do me much good when it’ll only last for a few seconds.”
“I broke my leg on a barrier,” Jenn said, remembering her first fight with Gregory. “Greg positioned it so my kick ended short, but I had all my strength behind it. He kept attacking it to stop me from healing, and stayed on that side as I couldn’t put enough weight on it to move.”
Gregory grimaced, thinking back to the fight. “I wasn’t proud of it, but you had too much aether. I think you paid me back for that, though.”
“Yes, yes I did,” Jenn said, “and I went too far doing that. I was so worried at the end.”
“We have studying to do,” Yukiko said, breaking the conversation. “Nessa, if you came up with a plan, I’m sure it is a good one. Don’t over-doubt yourself. A little doubt is fine and normal, but if you let it keep building, you’ll break yourself before the fight even starts.”
Exhaling slowly, Nessa nodded. “I’m good. I’ll be seeing one of them in the finals.”
“Me!” Daciana and Victoria said in echo.
Gregory snickered. “Okay, ladies. Study now, fight later, and, no matter who wins, no hard feelings. We push each other to excel, but we don’t let a loss to one another pull us down and linger.”
All three novices nodded, pulling materials from their bags to start on Magi Squares.
“When are you fighting today?” Victoria asked.
“Lightshield wasn’t at breakfast, so we’ll have to check the board to find out,” Jenn said.
“It’s only the main arena being used today, right?” Daciana asked.
“For the fights, yes. The other arenas have displays and challenges going on,” Yukiko replied, passing her Magi Squares to Gregory. “We’ll be there to cheer for you three, just as we know you’ll be cheering for us.”
The novices smiled and got to work.
~*~*~
They came around a curve in the path to find a scene playing out before them— Hayworth and Nick were barely a foot apart, both glaring at the other. Their clan members were spread out behind each apprentice, as if waiting for the fight to start. The air was tight with tension. The only thing stopping them from coming to blows were the five men in uniform watching from a dozen feet away, their hands on their weapons.
“If you two are done, stand down,” Sergeant Willof said firmly. “The fights will be posted shortly. You might get to settle this today, or you might have to wait until tomorrow.”
“His clan would melt before us,” Nick sneered.
Hayworth snorted and stepped back. “Sergeant, Swift Wind apologizes for causing your men distress. Unlike other clans, we understand that we all serve the empire.”
“Yeah, of course,” Nick laughed.
“Is there a problem here?” The voice was conversational, but a sudden pressure touched all of them.
“No, Grandmaster,” Nick said, backing up. “Just a discussion while we wait.”
“Hmm. Sergeant?” Grandmaster Pan asked Willof.
“Swift Wind and Eternal Flame were having an argument over who would win in a fight, sir,” Willof replied. “They didn’t come to blows, but that was only because we were here, I believe.”
“Then we are fortunate that you were,” Pan nodded. “I have come to post the fights for today.” Pan went over to the bulletin board. “Sixteen clans will fight in single-elimination fights. These are the brackets and will continue on through tomorrow, so you’ll have a good idea who you will face both days, if you make it past today.”
“We’ll make it past today,” Nick said.
“The Eternal Flame is known for being in the final four,” Pan said evenly. “I should also note that the guards will be out in force today and tomorrow. The council will not tolerate any ‘accidents’ this year.”
Nick’s jaw tightened. He started to speak, but Jason clamped a hand on his shoulder, so Nick stayed silent.
Jason cleared his throat. “We appreciate that, Grandmaster. Some of the other clans might try to thin our numbers to have a chance otherwise.”
“Of course. I’m sure they were just lining up to try.” The sarcasm was thick in Pan’s voice. “Now, I’ll post these and you can be on your way to prepare.”
The instant the papers were on the board, the seventh bell began to chime and Grandmaster Pan was gone— a gust of wind was born and died in the same instant. Some of the smaller clans were close to the bulletin board, so they checked first.
One by one, the groups dispersed after seeing if they were in or out. As the crowd thinned, Nick moved to the front before laughing and leading his group away, sneering at Gregory the entire time.
“Well, that means either you face him today or you’ll see him only in the finals,” Hayworth said. “I wonder which it’ll be.”
“Find out after you,” Gregory said, motioning to the board.
“Very well.” Hayworth led his clan to the board to check. “You’ll see him in the finals, if you make it there.”
“That good?” Gregory asked, moving forward.
“You’ll see us tomorrow, as well,” Hayworth said.
Getting up to the board, he looked over the brackets and sighed. “That’s almost as rigged as it could be.”
“Indeed,” Hayworth said. “I wonder how much it cost them?”
“It’s stupid,” Gregory said, “but hard paths make the best magi.”
Hayworth laughed. “Well then, we must be the best clans in the academy this year. Good luck.”
“You, too. See you tomorrow.”
“Aether willing,” Hayworth nodded. As he started to lead his clan away, Hayworth paused next to Willof. “Sergeant, thank you for being here. I was a hair away from putting that imbecile in his place, which would have started a conflict that should be kept to the arenas.”
Willof drew himself up straighter. “Just doing our job, sir.”
“I will inform my clan head,” Hayworth nodded.
Gregory was again surprised at Hayworth’s attitude. He’s so different from how I first thought of him. With him caring so much for the empire, I’m shocked he isn’t in the Iron Hand.
“They really did stack this deck,” Jenn snorted once she’d seen match-ups. “Han first, and then the Iron Hand or Winter Steel just to reach tomorrow.”
“While Hayworth gets Eternal Blossoms and either Yamato Shipping or Cherry Blossoms,” Yukiko said. “This entire bracket has all the major clans, minus the Eternal Flame.”
“Hard paths,” Gregory said. “It never feels as hard as it should, though.” He gave his wives soft smiles. “Maybe it’s because of those around me?”
“You are sweet, dear one,” Yukiko smiled back. “Let’s go win so we can dismantle Nick tomorrow.”
“‘Dismantle’ is the least we should do,” Jenn snorted.
Gregory gave Willof a nod as they passed him. The sergeant bowed his head in return.
As they left, Willof looked at his men. “Back to patrol, men. You have your orders.”
“Yes, sir,” they replied, saluting him and going off in different directions.
Willof walked down the path to the main arena. Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn were just in view as he followed them.
~*~*~
Gregory looked at the four apprentices from the Han clan as they approached from the far tunnel. He knew two of them were crafters— they’d been in the polearm group. The other two he only knew from seeing them fight, remembering that one was a physical enhancement magi and the other a wind magi. None of them showed signs of any wounds from their fight with the Eternal Flame the day before. The wind magi was standing at the forefront of the group, his face grim.
“Pettit, we’d hoped you were going to join our clan,” the wind magi said when they got into speaking distance. “If you had, we would have won this tournament easily, as we’re sure Warlin would have joined with you, at the very least.”
“The Han clan was in our top three,” Gregory told him, “but the freedom offered by our clan was the tipping point.”
“We’d like our crafters to not get maimed,” the apprentice continued. “They’ll just be using weapons. We ask you to keep that in mind, please.”
“Enough,” Yunlo said sternly. “The rules remain the same. Bow to the boxes.”
Gregory glanced at Yukiko and adjusted his grip on the practice naginata. She nodded in response, so he looked at Jenn. “Nessa,” was all he said, and Jenn nodded.
Yunlo gave them a curious look as he raised his hand, but didn’t rebuke them.
“We’ll treat them kindly,” Gregory said.
“Thank you,” the magi replied tightly, his brow furrowed as he stared at Gregory.
Gregory was able to trigger foresight just before Yunlo’s arm came down and commanded them to fight. Inhaling sharply, Gregory pivoted and shifted. To the crowd, it looked like he burst into a spontaneous dance. The only hint that it wasn’t a dance were the trails of sand being kicked up by the wind blades flying at him from all directions.
While the wind magi tried to hit him, Jenn rushed at the wind magi, but was intercepted by the physical enhancement magi. The clash between them was cheered by the crowd, happy that the first match today was exciting.
With the other two occupied, Yukiko stepped back into the shadows next to the wall and vanished. The two crafters were back-to-back against the far wall, trying to stop her from getting to them and watching their clanmates so they could shout a warning if needed. They found Yukiko right on top of them as she came up between them and the wall, forcing her way into the space. With a startled cry, they spun to stab her with their spears, but she wasn’t there anymore. They both spun around again and lashed out behind them, only hitting air, as Yukiko had merely folded into the shadow for a moment before stepping back out. Her wakizashi lashed out twice in rapid succession, catching one in the back of their neck and the other in the throat when he pivoted back toward her.
Gregory was closing the distance to the wind magi even as he backpedaled, eyes wide as he threw more and more wind blades. Panicking, he looked behind him to see Yukiko standing over his two allies, and looking to the side, he saw Jenn driving his last ally back. Taking a deep breath, he spun away from Gregory and flung wind blades at Jenn.
“Jenn, back!” Gregory shouted a second before the wind magi started throwing them at her.
Jenn didn’t hesitate and immediately threw herself backward. A barrage of wind blades flew through the space where she’d just been, almost catching her opponent who’d turned to chase her.
Yukiko was already stepping into the shadows, having seen the panic on the man’s face. She came up behind the wind magi as he spun back to Gregory and used her blade to make a line across his neck. “Dead,” she said softly.
Gregory pivoted and rushed for the last magi, having seen Yukiko go to kill the wind magi. Jenn also reversed course, rushing back to help.
Seeing Gregory and Jenn both coming for him, the man hissed and raised his arm. “Out!”
“Break!” Yunlo shouted.
Gregory and Jenn slowed, then headed toward the middle of the arena.
Klim was right near the two crafters, allowing her to check them quickly. She found neither of them were injured besides light bruising. Mindie came jogging out of the far tunnel and went to check on the wind magi, but he waved her off. She shrugged and went back inside the tunnel.
“Light bruises only,” Yukiko told the wind magi. “You asked us to be nice to your crafters, but you tried to seriously injure my husband.”
“For all the good it did…” the man said tightly. “If I had done less, how much quicker would we have lost?”
“That’s a fair point,” Yukiko said.
“You did the best you could,” Gregory said, extending a hand to him. “That was taxing. A single misstep, and I would be bleeding.”
Exhaling, the wind magi shook hands with him. “Your foresight is ridiculous… Good luck with the rest of your fights.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said.
The three of them formed up and bowed to the fallen, the adjudicator, and finally, the boxes. With that done, they walked off the arena floor.
