Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (31 page)

Then he tried begging
for help from the Fire Tower Headmaster, who looked at him in disgust.

“
You are a disgrace to your robes and the Fire Tower if you lose to a mere bug!” he growled, turning his back on Naton.

Nia
, in the meantime, completed a wide lap around the arena. That got the crowd excited and on their feet. Then she pulled up in the middle of the ring, and still using the amplified voice effect, gestured at Naton. “Have you ever picked a dandelion puffball and held it up in the air? And then taken a really, really big breath?” she asked the arena crowd. They responded by going wild, jumping up, whistling and stomping their feet. The effect was deafening.

Naton was trying anything to tear a
hole in the bubble or find a seam. He looked remarkably like a trapped rat in a ball high above the ring. Finally he gave that up, and with my mage sight, I could see that it looked like he was going to try one last massive spell.

Nia spun around once for the crowd
, displaying a huge innocent smile.

“
Bye-bye pretty puffball!” she tinkled in her best fairytale pixie voice, and then her voice changed and took on a scary tone that even gave me shivers. “This is for all the children you have bullied!”

She pulled her swords out and unleashed a green vortex of air that twisted and swirled, then gained momentum and drove up toward the bubble like a striking viper
. At the same time, Naton’s spell triggered. Fierce fire lashed out from his finger tips as he grinned in triumph. The triumph was short-lived, however, as his spell failed to breach the bubble’s pixie magic shell. It swelled ominously, but all the fire stayed contained within the orb. The vortex struck and drove the ball high into the sky where it exploded with an enormous sonic boom that shook the buildings below and created a dazzling pyrotechnic display of burning flower petal designs. The crowd was instantly mesmerized by the sight and watched with a multitude of oohs and aahs. Few people noticed the smoldering, rag-covered wreck of a fire wizard that plummeted onto the roof of a stable across the street.

“
By now, everyone should know! Don’t mess with a pixie!” Nia boomed out over the crowd.

I was please
d to notice with my mage sight that she had sent a gust of air to cushion Naton’s fall just before he impacted.

Cheers
erupted from the stadium as Nia sheathed her swords. I stood up and walked over to where she was. She landed on her perch as we both waved to the crowds. I spoke up so at least Nia could hear me. “That was fantastic! I didn’t know you knew all those spells.”

“
Like I said, I’m not very good pixie.”

“
No, you’re an amazing pixie!”

She was beaming under her helmet
. I looked up at the headmasters and noticed that the Fire Primus had stormed away in disgust, and even the Headmaster was standing and clapping for us.

“
Well done enchanters, well done, indeed. As the Headmaster of Xarparion, I declare the Enchanters Hall the victor of this year’s tournament.” More cheers. “And as the victors, they win this year’s party for their hall, paid for by Xarparion. Enjoy the party, Alex, and umm…Combat Pixie, you earned it!”

A
horde of people flooded the arena around us. Soon we found ourselves trapped in a mob of people congratulating us, asking to touch our armor, and begging to come to our party. I looked around for anyone I knew, but I couldn’t see anyone, even with my massive height advantage. My attention was drawn to the stands where I spotted all the girls and Darroth cheering from the stands. It felt good to have their support for us. Things were starting to get a little crazy; some of the wizards in the mob were using spells to either move others or to get closer to me and Nia.

One of the girls closest to us tried to grab Nia off my
shoulder. I swatted her arm away and placed Nia on my left forearm so she was safely between me and my tower shield. Slowly, I forced my way through the crowds. Weighing in at over three tons helps a lot. I sent a mental message to Rosa to have everyone meet at the hall as the tent would be overrun by now.

Nia clung to my arm as I continued to gently force my way
through the mob. Reaching the edge, we finally had some room to move. I took this chance to look down at Nia. She had her visor up so she could see better and was sitting upright on my arm. “Hold on tight, I’m going to run the rest of the way.” She looked unconcerned for a second before realizing what I meant. With a hilarious look on her face, she wrapped her arms and legs around my wrist as best she could and held on for dear life.

I took of
f down the path; it felt good so let loose a bit, even if I still felt a bit weak. I haven’t really run at these speeds just for the joy of running before. Of course, at these speeds, you don’t get to run long before you reach where you’re going and I just did. Skidding to a halt in front of the hall, I relaxed; convinced we had some time before the others arrived. I sat down and leaned my back against a wall. I looked down again at Nia who was now shaking off the dizziness and effects of the run.

“
Nia, you can let go now, we stopped.”

“
Not for me, we haven’t.” She covered her mouth with her hands. “My head is still spinning and I feel like I’m going to blow chunks.”

I
laughed, “You’re going to be just fine. You did a great job on those guys by the way.”

“
Thank you, but to be honest, that was the first time my spells worked like I wanted. The swords you made me did all the real work. I never tried using a wand before, looks like that’s all I ever needed. All that time of being alone and all I needed was a wand!”

“
I’m so sorry, Nia.”

Her eye
s shot wide. “What? No! Alex, you guys are the best thing to ever happen to me. You and Maya are so nice to me, like the parents I never had. If I hadn’t been sent to you, I don’t think I would have survived the winter.”

“
You won’t ever have to be alone again.”

A small stream of
tears ran down her face. “I know, that’s what I’m so happy about.”

We sat in happy silence for a few minutes
before we heard the sound of horse hoofs rapidly approaching. Looking up, I could see that everyone was packed onto the backs of our horses. Maya, Rosa, Lin, and Julia were riding on hers, and Dawn, Dusk, and Darroth were on mine with Dawn at the reins. Darroth, alone, didn’t seem to be enjoying the ride. They slowed to a stop and everyone jumped off to join us.

“
You were outstanding, Nia!” shouted Julia as she scooped up the pixie into a hug.

“
Too tight! Too tight!”

“
Oops, sorry!”

Nia gasped for air when she was released
and flew to safety on my shoulder.

The other
s gathered around us. “You guys are the best. Everybody’s talking about you, and we’re practically celebrities just for knowing you!” Lin gushed.

“
Yes, truly a heroic feat,” said Dawn.

“
I knew they would win,” Dusk chimed in, not to be upstaged by her twin.

“
I can’t believe you armored a pixie! Really, have any of you ever heard of putting armor on a pixie?” Maya was obviously looking over Nia’s armor as she spoke.

“
I’m not surprised. If you think her armor is good, then you have no idea what he is capable of creating. Compared to his current project, Nia’s armor is a candle to a forest fire.” Everyone stared at Darroth as I made a frantic hand signal to get him to stop. “Um, never mind, I never said anything…do I smell ale?” he mumbled and wandered off.

“
Well, anyway, you both were great and may have saved Xarparion from a very bad situation.” Rosa gave us both a hug. “So, right now, you go inside and get out of that armor. Servants will be here any minute to set things up. By the time you’re back, the party will be starting.”

Reluctantly
, Nia and I went to our room to get changed. When I got there, I found a formal outfit, similar to the one I wore for the dance, on my bed. Nia also had a new dress laid out on her bed too.

“
Rosa has been busy.”

Nia landed on the window sill and
started to hold up the clothes. It was a lovely purple summer silk dress, complete with a sash for a belt. “Yeah, just look at this dress, it’s so cute!”

My outfit was
the same design as for the First Day dance, but the shirt had a splash of red and gold mixed in as if it was marble. Nia went behind the divider that I had installed so she could change with some privacy and I could do the same. I used one of the secret new features that I added to the hall. My closet opens to a lift that raises an armor stand up to my room for my armor. Once everything was on it, I can lower my armor and gear down into my secret armory under the lab. I have a feeling that Rosa may know there is a room down there, but I don’t think she knows what’s in it. The Hall’s enchanted walls had to work extra hard on that one.

With both of us dressed
, I decided that my war hammer would be a wise precaution, and go great with the outfit, so I slung it across my back. We headed downstairs and back outside. We were surprised to find that the entire area around the hall was a buzz of activity. There must have been over a hundred servants running all over the place setting things up. There were rows upon rows of tables with food on them, tons of candles on stands, and magical light orbs hung from lines stretched between the hall and nearby buildings. Potted plants and dividers were scattered around to define areas. They even got a water wizard to conjure up a spring and create a small burbling brook to wind through our gravel courtyard making it into the most elegant garden I could ever imagine.

The only person I could see that I knew was Darroth si
tting at a table getting a head start on the drinking. With Nia on my shoulder gawking at all the shiny interesting things around her, I headed over to him.

“
Quite the sight, isn’t it? And they even have real dwarven ale!” He held out a tankard to me, but I passed, and Nia wanted nothing to do with alcohol ever again.

“
Where is everyone?”

He snorted
and lifted the ale. “They’re women, were do you think? They all went inside to put on dresses and brush their hair. I’m actually surprised Nia isn’t still with them.”

“
I’m small and don’t have that much hair to brush,” she said quietly, still intimidated by all the commotion.

I looked around again as more table
s were set up and a new group of servants in formal attire showed up. Leading the group was the Headmaster himself outfitted in the most ornate of his official robes. He stopped and barked a few orders before spotting us and heading in our direction. When he got to us, I extended my hand and he took it. “Congratulations, Alex. I knew you were special, but I never would have thought that an enchanter would win the tournament. And to make it better, it’s your first year still.”

“
Thank you, Headmaster.”

“
But I must ask where you got that armor of yours? It truly is a wonder.”

Darroth slammed down his
empty tankard on the table. “The kid made that armor.”

The headmaster was skeptical
. “Truly you don’t think that, Darroth?”

“
Don’t need to think it, I know it. I watched him forge that armor with my own two eyes. Nia’s armor as well.” The dwarf belched and squinted up at the Headmaster belligerently.

He still didn
’t seem to be buying it. “Well, I do have that report of a sword you made killing a man just for touching it. I suppose if you could make something that could do that, then you could make a suit of armor. But do tell me what enchantments you placed on it.”

I didn
’t really like the tone of where this was going, so I decided not to give him much. “Well, it’s nothing too exciting, just some defensive ones to protect me from spells and the like.”

He looked me
over and spotted the hammer on my back. “I see you are carrying your war hammer with you now, why is that?”

“
Well, as you know us enchanters can’t cast spells like you can, so I need to rely on a weapon for protection seeing that there have been assassins on the campus and all.”

His expression
darkened and he paused as if to retort to that comment, but then went back to digging for information on the hammer.

“
May I see it?”

I was
hesitant to show him anything; he was acting strangely, and I still didn’t know what he was trying to do. Something was definitely wrong. I turned on my sight and normally, it isn’t able to penetrate illusions, but standing right next to me at zero range, I could perceive the faint flow of magic working to disguise the man. On a whim, I allowed my other senses to venture out, and my nose picked up the faint scent of smoke, the same smoke that Naton and his crew reeked of! The man before me was not the real Headmaster, but a fire wizard, as must be the servers who came here with him!