Clash (The Arinthian Line Book 4) (37 page)

“And be discrete!” Leera shouted after her.

Malaika stopped at the door, but did not turn around. “Door please.”

Leera rubbed her forehead. “Neither of them were paying attention. Unbelievable.”

Augum strode over. “Shyneo. Augustus Westwood,” and it opened for them. “You just have to place your hand on it and say your name, that’s all.”

“Right, thank you,” Malaika replied. She stared at him a moment. “Augum—” and tried to get near him but he stepped away, keeping his face impassive and eyes averted.

“I see. Good luck then,” she said in hurt tones, and disappeared down the hall with Charissa.

“The portal room—” Bridget suddenly said, striding for the door. “I have to show them how to work a portal, otherwise they’ll search for stairs,” and she ran after them.

Augum closed the door, turning to face Leera. She played with the cuff of her sleeve, refusing to meet his gaze.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “Yes, it’s crazy, but you know it’s the best chance we’ve got at saving Nana.” When she did not reply, he strode to her and embraced her in a gentle hug. Her arms wrapped around his waist.

“I’m … nervous.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

They held each other in dead silence until the door opened. They let go as Bridget strode into the room.

“Right. You two ready? Then get your hoods up, because we’re about to try for our 4th degree.”

* * *

Using the map and a portal room, they made it to the outside of Examination Room A, in some curving hallway in the depths of the castle. A scrawny elderly dark-skinned woman with a face brimming with piercings stood behind an iron-studded desk.

Augum spied a name plate etched with the words
Secretary Sanjipta. Examination Office
. “Uh, excuse me, Mrs. Sanjipta—”

“—
Secretary
Sanjipta,” the woman corrected without glancing up from her work.

“Right, Secretary Sanjipta—we’d like to inquire how much it costs to take a degree test.”

“Show me your stripes.”

Augum proudly flashed his three lightning rings. She finally deigned to briefly raise her eyes, but only momentarily.

“At ten per degree, testing for the 4th degree is forty gold,” she said, returning to her work.

“
Each?
” That was a fortune!

“Each.”

That made it 120 gold for all three of them, and they only had 100. “Is there maybe a group discount or something if we all took the test at the same time? Would you accept one hundred gold?”

Bridget leaned into his ear. “Aug, we can’t afford—”

“Are all three of you doing the same test?” Secretary Sanjipta asked in a monotonous voice.

“Yes,” he blurted, flashing his most endearing smile.

The way her eyes flicked over them told Augum she’d prefer nothing more than to see the backs of them. She sighed. “Very well then.”

“Great!” Augum blurted. It was all of their gold, but he’d worry about that later.

Bridget grabbed his arm. “Are you sure about this,
Augustus
?”

“Not doing it without you two by my side. Besides, you know we’re prepared.”

“Let’s do it, Bridge,” Leera said, gleaming. “I mean, err, Brie.”

The trio quickly glanced at the woman to see if she had noticed the mistake, but she was immersed in her paperwork.

Bridget sighed. “We should do one final practice round then. Can’t afford to fail.”

“No refunds once the gold is paid,” the woman said.

“Then where’s your Training Room?” Augum asked her.

“Do you have a map?”

“Yes.”

“Try using it.”

“Uh, right. Thanks.”

They strode off.

“Great, now we’ll be broke too,” Leera said.

“We’ll still have some coin left.” Augum turned to Bridget inquiringly.

“After the test, we’ll have forty-nine silver, fifty copper,” she said.

Leera made a quick motion for them to keep their heads low as they passed a gray-robed woman. “If everything here costs something, we’re not going to last.”

“We’ll beg if we have to,” he said. “And don’t forget to tuck your hair in, you two.”

The girls hurriedly tucked their long hair into their hoods.

They soon found their way to a pair of very large doors exquisitely carved with a dragon battling a gargoyle. There was a flowing inscription below:
Thou shalt suffer this day to reap ye fruits of tomorrow.

Bridget placed a hand on a well-worn spot on the door where there should have been a door handle. “Shyneo. Bridget—err, I mean Brie Sparrows.” The massive doors opened, flooding the hallway with the echoes of warlocks practicing their craft. There were dozens of them, nearly all wearing necrophyte robes.

For a moment, the trio could only gape. Before them was a vast cavern-like room with all kinds of scenery—there was a towering jungle in one corner with vines and ropes and bamboo ladders leading to bamboo platforms, on top of which dueled two warlocks, one blocking a wind attack with his shield. There was a trio of small mountains in another corner, with great boulders two warlocks hid behind, obviously fighting on the same side in some kind of war game. Springy platforms were embedded into another wall, with warlocks jumping from one to another, a wide rope safety net below. There was a stone maze with what looked like traps sticking out of it, and nearby, a giant pool, on top of which floated huge and squishy pond leaves. A young female warlock in a necrophyte robe stood too long on one and sank with a sploosh. To the left stood an obstacle field of straw dummies and statues of beasts and men that fought back, reminding Augum of the Leyan log and stick figure his great-grandfather animated. There was a giant rickety-looking house with all kinds of exterior perches, as if for owls or something, but bigger. There was a massive tree, except the trunk was hollow with open holes for windows. A warlock practiced by himself somewhere in its thick canopy, for they could see palm-light flashing now and then.

“There’s a castle even,” Leera said, pointing giddily at a miniature multi-story castle complete with arched stained glass windows, a moat, and a drawbridge.

“And look up there,” Bridget said, neck craning.

They glanced skyward to see a cloud near the rock ceiling, lit orange by braziers. Rope bridges crisscrossed rickety-looking platforms.

“You should see the secret dungeons,” said an amused voice from their left. They turned to see a gray-robed middle-aged man standing amongst a stall brimming with wooden practice swords, staves, body padding, and all sort of other training equipment. “If you’re looking for a fright, that is, but we’re not supposed to talk about it.” He was bald with dark amber skin and an infectious smile.

“Never been here before,” Leera said in wondrous tones.

“I gathered. You know those supposedly secret academy trainers? Imagine putting them all in one room. That’s what you have here.”

“Wow.”

The man’s smile never wavered. “Three souls? Three will buy the day.”

“
Three gold
?” Augum asked.

The man chuckled. “Let’s go with three silver. It’s tradition—toll to pass.”

Bridget rooted around her pouch and handed over the coins.

“Looks like a fun job,” Augum said.

“Best in the world. Especially in these times.” The man nodded at the door. “I could be out there. Instead, sometimes, when the place is empty—like it will be soon when they all disappear to see the opening ceremonies—I go on and frolic amongst the obstacles. Still a kid inside.”

“Are you a warlock?”

“Hit the ceiling at the 7th.” He rubbed his bald head. “Started late, but proud of what I accomplished. What outfit are you three from?”

“Blackhaven,” Augum blurted a little too quickly. “Uh, what’s the neatest obstacle course here?”

The man gave them a quizzical look but nodded nonetheless. “Do you know your First Offensive?” The crow’s feet around his eyes crinkled.

Augum nodded.

“Then for pure fun, I’d do the waterslide. There’s a bunch of targets you’ll be shooting at that shoot back, so you’ll need to be good with your shield. You can also try the Mayhem course, which is basically just random spells thrown at you while you navigate holes that appear in the floor.” He chuckled. “But I don’t recommend that one until you see about six stripes on your arm. There’s all kinds of fun to be had here, depending on your skill level. However, if you want more of a classical training experience, try the obstacle field, just behind. It’s designed to test you on all of your spells, standard
and
elemental.”

“We’ll start with the obstacle field first, thank you,” Bridget said, giving Leera a staying look just as she was about to protest.

“And don’t be too ambitious. Some of those obstacles are old and can be downright dangerous, like the Memory Wiper, for example.”

“Right, thank you.”

“And feel free to borrow any of the equipment, it’s included in the fee.”

Augum glanced behind the man at the wide assortment of worn padding equipment. “Thank you, we should be fine.”

“Good luck!”

They strode off toward the obstacle field, Leera complaining how they never got to have any fun, and if there was one place where fun was to be had, it was here, and if only Bridget would lighten—

“We’re here to train, not play,” Bridget finally said to her as they arrived. A fit older woman in a black robe happened to finish with the course just then. She strode past, not even giving them a second look, forehead beaded with sweat. Augum noticed a Legion flaming sword crest on her chest and was glad she had not made eye contact.

“We’ll need to find disguises as soon as possible,” Bridget said, watching the back of her.

Leera pinched her raised hood. “What do you call these?”

“Inadequate. And you know what I mean.”

“Not really,” Leera muttered, but let it go.

The course was set amongst a wheat field, with braziers burning all around, giving the place a nighttime feel. All the objects were well worn and dirty. They started on the first one, which was a bunch of different-shaped objects that had to be telekinetically moved through matching holes. The objects teleported back to their starting locations once they were successfully matched. Augum found it surprisingly fun but challenging. He could see how the obstacle taught precision though, and he wondered if they could build something like this back in Milham.

They spent a good deal of time training on it. Some of the objects had to be fitted so precisely, and so high off the ground, that it was obvious they were meant for higher degree warlocks. One of the hardest ones was threading a needle through a series of pinprick holes over fifty feet above ground.

The next obstacle was an array of broken objects they had to repair. Each object broke itself immediately after being repaired, a sign that the spell had been performed successfully. There was a satisfaction in hearing the bursting of a glass bottle, or the crack of a rock.

Leera pumped her fist after successfully repairing a delicate porcelain statue, only to see it shatter anew. “We need to get us some of these training toys back home.”

Augum placed his hands over the remains of a crystal globe. “Apreyo.” It reformed, then shattered. “Think we can purchase some of them in town?”

Leera scoffed. “Yeah, with what gold? And you know how expensive stuff like this is?”

Bridget finished repairing an iron gargoyle sculpture that then burst apart, nearly cutting her. “Maybe we
can
build our own obstacle course …”

“I doubt it’ll put itself back together like this,” Leera grumbled.

“That’s true, this could be ancient arcanery.”

“But if we save Nana—”

“Aug, she’s not going to have time to make us practice toys,” Bridget said, eyeing a necrophyte strolling by not too far away. “Besides, we have to get the you-know-what first.”

They continued on along the course. Some obstacles were quite physical, like the Shield one, which required them to run through a bunch of statues that attacked them with blunted weapons; or the Disarm one, which required them to disarm a series of animated wooden opponents with painted scowling faces. Others were trickier, like the Mind Armor obstacle. There were a series of statues with a button that, once pressed, released a mind attack on the subject, with each statue clearly marked as to what kind of spell it was going to attack with. There was even a switch to set it to a degree—up to 10th. Leera braved setting the Confusion attack dummy to the 7th degree, which she promptly failed. Luckily, she stumbled out of its defined space, marked by a square on the ground, which immediately nullified the effects of the spell.

The trio challenged themselves with Fear, Mute, Deafness, Blind, Sleep, and Paralyze, the latter few much more difficult to defend against since they had so little training against them (and none against Paralyze). They spent an hour on this obstacle alone, until all three had to sit down and rest from the arcane side effects.

“I can see how someone could get really good just by training here,” Augum said, massaging his temples.

Leera grunted in agreement. She sat with her head and arms on her knees, hood drawn.

Bridget kept a careful watch on who strolled by. “The course reminds me of the one at the Academy.” She gave a wistful sigh.

After resting, they resumed training, moving on to a series of dummies that they attacked with their own mind-offensive spells. Leera always got a kick out of seeing a Fear-stricken wooden dummy pretend to be scared by moaning with a hollow sound. Augum, meanwhile, kept cranking the degree of his dummy up until his spells failed. His attacks almost always failed against 6th degree dummies, though on particularly strong castings he managed to best a dummy set to a defensive 7th degree. He wondered how the dummies worked, and just what kind of arcanery was involved. There was so much of the arcane world he did not know or understand, so much to explore. If only this stupid war wasn’t going on, if only he was with Bridget and Leera at the Academy of Arcane Arts, quietly apprenticing under his great-grandmother, and attending these amazing tournaments every year …