Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (32 page)

“
Rosa, we have fire wizards using illusions to disguise themselves as servants and the Headmaster!”

“
I see the ones you’re talking about. Stall as long as you can.”

“
Of course, Headmaster.” I unsheathed my war hammer. It was similar to Winya in color, but was longer and didn’t radiate beauty.  Instead it had an aura of barely contained destructive fury. The Headmaster let out a whistle.

“
Very impressive! But tell me, what is it made of?”

“
I don’t know.” And that was really the truth, Dad still hasn’t told me.

“
Then where did you get it?”

“
My father gave it to me.”

“
Who is your father?” Yep, definitely not the real Headmaster, he had met my dad.

“
I don’t know.”

He was getting restless
. “How can you not know who your father is?” I smiled, but not at him. Behind him, Maya had shown up with a large group of guards and started arresting the fire wizards that Rosa was pointing out. And she was doing it all in a stunning party dress! I forced myself back to the situation at hand.

Extending the war hammer effortlessly, I grinned disarmingly
. “Does it really matter where it came from, Headmaster? Here, why don’t you test the heft of it yourself?”

He reached for the weapon greedily
, and I dropped it into his outstretched hands. Now to either Maya or me, it would have felt like a four- or five-pound weapon. The false Headmaster, however, had unexpectedly grabbed hold of something equaling three times his own body weight. The expression on his face was priceless as it drove him to the ground in an instant with zero resistance. I’m pretty sure from the snapping sounds that it easily broke most of the bones in his wrists and hands on impact, and it was currently pinning him to the gravel courtyard.

He fought back a scream and instead gritted out
, “What are you doing? I am the Headmaster!”

Darroth spoke up
. “No, you’re not. The real Headmaster doesn’t even know my name! And you should know that magic doesn’t work so well around enchanters.” He punctuated his words by dumping the remainder of his ale over the head of the now thrashing fire wizard. Two of Maya’s guards arrived and efficiently clamped irons on him so he couldn’t cast spells. Sputtering and swearing, the impostor was dragged off.

Maya hurried over to me
; she was in a purple silk dress with a low cut front showing off her neck and shoulders. It also had gold lace that crisscrossed on her back and what looked like a corset. She was very lovely tonight, and I caught her eyeing my outfit as well.

“
Well, look at you, handsome. Party hasn’t even started and you got into trouble already.”

“
What can I say, I attract dangerous types.”

She placed her arms around my neck
. “Well, lucky for you, I’m a dangerous girl.”

“
That you definitely are!” I agreed and nuzzled her hair.

Before anything else
could be said, one of her guards ran up to us. “Ma’am, we found vials of poison with the false servants, but it looks like they didn’t have time to use them. I called for a healer to check for poison anyway just to be sure. We will take them to lock up and start our investigation.”

Maya
snapped back into her stern personality. “Very good, corporal, carry on.”

“
With your permission, Ma’am, I’ll be leaving a few men here to watch over things. Don’t worry; they won’t interrupt unless they’re needed. Besides with you, Sir Alex, and especially the Combat Pixie here, I don’t think there’s anything you can’t handle.”

Her voice was stern
, “Thank you, you’re dismissed, corporal.”

“
Ma’am!” He saluted and rushed off to join the other guards.

Maya sighed as she turned back to me
. “I really wish they didn’t have to see me like this.”

“
Why not? You’re gorgeous tonight.”

She
smiled a little. “That’s the problem; I don’t want them to see the softer side of me.”

“
But that’s the part of you that I like best.”

She
smiled and teased me with quick kiss.

Rosa came over to
us; she was in a red version of Maya’s dress and actually looked really good out of white for a change. “Well, that’s one way to start a party.” We all laughed. The next ones out of the hall were Lin and Julia; they were wearing the same dresses from the First Day dance. Rosa about freaked out when they told her that they only owned the one dress each. Now Rosa was excited about all the new dresses she was going to make. The twins had on yellow dresses that were wide at the bottom, almost like a ball gown. They seemed happy and a little dazed just to be here, and as usual, didn’t seem to care much about what they wore.

Rosa cleared her
throat to get our attention. “Well, this wouldn’t be much of a party with just the nine of us, so I invited some more of our growing circle of friends!”

At that
, a servant waved his hand in the air dramatically and a bunch of people came around from the side of the hall. Right away, I could see Hons and Alera. Behind them were a bunch of Earth Tower wizards and healers. In the back, I could see Ranny and his sister as well. Everyone was dressed up and ready to party.

Rosa put her arms around Maya
and me. “I’ll leave you two alone now, so have fun. And just remember that I am proud of both of you.”

“
Thanks, Mom!” Maya grinned.

Rosa just laughed
. “Believe me; if I could, I would take both of you as my children, I would in a heartbeat. Come on, Nia, let’s go enjoy the party!”

Rosa left with Nia
, leaving me with Maya. Immediately, people started coming up to us and congratulating me. The women also kept telling Maya that she was lucky to have the tournament winner as a boyfriend, but I saw it the other way around. Some time went by and the people around us started to thin out. We were about to grab some food when one very formally dressed servant came up to us.

“
Master Alex, Mistress Maya, your table is ready.”

We looked at
each other in confusion. “Our table?” I asked.

“
That is correct. You are the guest of honor so, naturally, your Lady is as well. The pixie has also been given a place of honor this evening. So if you will please follow me.”

Not
really knowing what else to do, we followed him over a small bridge that crossed the temporary stream to an island. There a small round table was set for two at the center of the area. Temporary wood walls surrounded the table on three sides giving us a view of the dance area as well at the musicians. Plants and candles were arranged around us giving the feel of a romantic setting. He pulled a chair out for Maya and seated her and then did the same for me. With us both seated, he vanished around the wall and quickly came around the other side with two wine glasses and a bottle.

After wiping both glasses with a clean cloth
, he placed them in front of us. He popped the cork and poured the light red liquid into our glasses. “Tonight’s vintage is a sixty-three year old full-bodied wine to complement tonight’s wood grilled salmon with potatoes and lemon. Your food will be here shortly, please enjoy!” Then he bowed and quietly left.

Maya lifted her glass and smelled it before ta
king a sip. “This is really good. And this whole evening seems to be planned just for us; I can’t believe the transformation in the courtyard.”

“
Yes, I’m looking at the best transformation of them all!”

She
beamed, “It’s not every day you get a free romantic evening with your betrothed. I’m starting to like the sound of that.”

Our food arrived shortly
, along with more wine. The salmon was perfect and way better than anything I could cook. Maya and I just enjoyed our meal together; it was getting much harder these days for us to spend time alone. With our meal done and not being overfull, the servant cleared our table, wished us a wonderful evening, and escorted us back to the party.

I bowed to Maya
. “May I have this dance?”

She
smiled. “About time you asked. I thought I was going to have to find another knight in white shining armor!”

Laughing, I set my war hammer next to
a very sleepy-looking dwarf who tried to cuddle the heavy hammer like a teddy bear, and followed Maya.

We went out onto the floor and started to dance
. Looking around, I spotted Lin and Julia teaching the twins how to dance. Hons was with a girl from the Water Tower who I didn’t know. Ranny was with his sister and Alera was dancing with her nebulia. The song abruptly switched to a slow dance, and Maya happily pulled me closer so she could rest her head on my shoulder. “Tonight has been perfect. I couldn’t dream of a better evening.”

“
The night’s not over yet.” We danced in each other’s arms long into the night.

Alex

Almost two weeks passed and winter was almost here. Thankfully, Xarparion was in an area that had very mild winters compared to dreadful stormy winters in Foalshead. The party was still fresh in the students’ memories and everyone had a wonderful time. The morning after, we had been surprised to find a box outside our hall with a large sum of money. It turned out that Rosa had placed a bet that we would win and the odds were fifty to one, so the Enchanters Hall was going to be getting some new upgrades after all.

Today
, though, I wasn’t in the mood to work so I decided to make good on one of my other promises. I grabbed my normal leather training gear, as well as my hammer and shield, and set out for the training fields. As I got closer, I could already hear the sounds of armor clanking and swords clashing. Rounding the last corner, I could see Maya in her beat up breast plate barking orders at the men. There were about fifty guards, all in their full gear, training. Some were working on sword forms, others were sparring, and a few were running laps. No doubt they did something wrong to deserve that one.

I quietly
approached Maya from behind, knowing that sneaking up on a dark elf wasn’t going to succeed, but you never know.

“
Nice try, Alex, but that’s not going to work,” she intoned, without turning to look at me. “What are you doing here anyway?”

I
smiled and closed the rest of the distance so I was standing next to her. “I seem to remember making a promise that I would help you sometime, so here I am.”

He
r helmet blocked me from seeing her face, but even in her armor, I know how to read her, and she was taken aback. “I didn’t think you took that seriously. I honestly said that as a joke.”

“
Well, here I am. So you’re the boss, what do you need?”

She brushed of
f the rest of her surprise and stood up straight again. “Follow me.” I trailed after her. Off to one side, were six men sparring with swords and small shields. “These men are practicing trying to get around a shield.” She turned her anger toward the men. “And their ability to do so is appalling! You six now have a new goal, you have to get past Alex’s defenses, and I’m only giving you ten minutes or its fifteen laps for all of you.”

She turned a
nd marched off to the center of the training grounds. She didn’t have to speak to tell me what she wanted from me. I turned to my six opponents, unsheathed my hammer and readied my shield.

……………………………………………………………….

Maya

I could tell he knew what I was asking from him
; these days we don’t even need words to talk each other. I know having those men fight Alex would never work, but I hope they learn what I am trying to teach them from all this. Corporal Higs broke off from his group and jogged over to me.

“
Ma’am, is that really Alex?”

I turned and looked at how he was doing
. He was dancing effortlessly around the six of them like they weren’t even there. “Yes, it is.”

“
But why would you pair them up like that? You know they can’t win!”

“
I know they can’t win, even I wouldn’t be able to get past that damn shield of his. But that’s not what I am trying to teach them with this. Those six are the most arrogant and headstrong of all of you. They never back down and they never retreat.”

The
corporal was confused, “I’m not following.”

“
In an army, their attitude would be a good thing, making them fearless on the battlefield. But as guards, they need to know when to ask for help and when to retreat. Alex represents something that they can’t handle by themselves, and they know it. But they still throw themselves at him again and again without care for their lives. For them to pass this training duel, they need to realize that they need help.”

He thought
it over for a bit before nodding. “I see what you mean. But how would we beat him if we needed to?”

I
laughed. “Out of his armor you might have a slim chance with crossbows. But in his white armor, I don’t think anything you got will touch him.”

I would have loved to
watch Alex more, but I still had a job to do. A half hour passed before I could check on Alex and his group again. When I got over to him, I found five guards were sitting on the ground in rapt attention as Alex was demonstrating what they were doing wrong with the sixth. To my surprise, they actually seemed to be paying attention to what he was saying. One of the guards who was sitting noticed my approach and called the group to attention.

“
Well, Alex, how did they do?”

He
smiled. “Well, they didn’t do all that bad, but they still didn’t hit me.”

One of the
guards, Randez, stepped forward. “Ma’am, we were unable to get past his shield, but he explained to us that the real lesson was to know when to ask for help. We all now see that you have been riding us, not because you hate us, but because you don’t want us to get killed. We are truly sorry for fighting you at every turn these last few months.”

I was shocked and very
glad that I was wearing my helmet so they couldn’t see the wonderment on my face. These men have been a thorn in my side for months, and a half hour with Alex turned them into well-disciplined men who are willing to learn. Sometimes, I forget that that man can still surprise me every day.

I regained my
composure. “Glad to hear it, private, but you still owe me fifteen laps.”

“
Yes, Ma’am!” All of them fell into ranks and started their run with smiles on their faces. With them out of earshot, I turned back to Alex.

“
I can’t believe what I just heard; I should have brought you along months ago!”

He
laughed, “I’m free anytime.”

“
Well, time is almost up for today but the men have been working hard and we still have a half hour. So if you don’t mind, I would like to give them all a treat.”

“
What did you have in mind?”

“
Oh, I think a duel between two warriors who actually know how to fight would be entertaining.”

I had everyone gather around a ring for the start of the duel
. Alex had his shield and his new war hammer. I think this should be fun. He has reach and defense, but I have skill and Winya. “That stuff going to stand up to Winya?”

He
smiled. “Don’t worry; both repair themselves when they take damage so she can pound on it as much as she wants.”

We did just that, the duel was a lot of fun
, but I would have to say that Alex was probably going to win this one. That giant tower shield of his was almost impossible to get around. I would also have to say that his combat skills are as good as mine now, and I grew up as the most skilled swordswoman among my dark elf clan.

The guards around us were having a great
time; cheers and praise were being shouted at us. They loved that every time our weapons clashed, there was a flash of light and a spray of sparks. Our duel was cut short by someone calling the group to attention. Both Alex and I stopped to see what had happened. The guards parted as the Captain of the guard trotted up to us.

“
I am sorry, Mistress Maya, but I must cut your class short as you both need to return to your hall.”

What in the world is going on
? “What’s happened, Captain?”

He clenched his fist
. “Dammed portals opened right on our doorstep and undead are flooding through. I’d say we have two hours, three at most, before we’re surrounded and under siege.”

Corporal
Higs stepped up and saluted the captain. “Corporal Higs of the east gate, sir. Two hours isn’t enough time, sir. We still don’t have the gate fixed yet.”

The
captain was shocked. “What?! I have reports on my desk saying that it was done two weeks ago!”

The
corporal shook his head. “No, sir! We received orders from your office saying to hold off due to lack of funding.”

The
captain was furious. “I gave no such order!”

Alex
stepped up. “Captain, if I may. We believe that there is a traitor in Xarparion who has the ability to falsify orders.”

“
And who might that be?”

“
We believe the Fire Tower Primus is allied with, or at least funded by, Duke Pharmon!”

He thought that over for a minute
. “That would make sense. It would take a Primus or higher to open a portal like that. But, damn, I can’t be in two places at once. The main body of the undead is already positioning to hit the main gate the hardest, but I can’t leave the east gate without a commander.”

Nor could I
. The east gate is where these men are from, and they’re my responsibility. “Captain, I will lead the men at the east gate. Most of these men are from there and I trained them all. I know them best and they know me.”

“
Maya, I can’t ask you to do that.”

“
That’s why I’m asking you.”

“
I don’t know…”

Then
Alex did something I never expected. “Sir, the Enchanters Hall will hold that gate for you.”

He eyed Alex sharply
. “You’re going with her?”

Alex
nodded.

“
Fine, but you’re keeping all the men from here and the ones at the gate. Corporal Higs, you’re her second-in-command.” He raised his voice so everyone could hear. “I expect every one of you to follow Maya’s orders to the letter. In fact, if any of the Enchanters who are supporting you tell you to do something, then you damn well better do it. Do I make myself clear?”

“
Yes sir!” shouted each and every guard. The captain saluted us and hurried off in the direction of the main gate.

I turned to the
corporal. “Get everything ready and get the men to the gate. I want oil, fire arrows and the ballista prepped and ready in one hour. And do what you can to set up a barricade where the gate should be.”

“
Yes, Ma’am!” He started barking orders to the men and got them into formation. Then Alex scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder. “Alex, what the hell are you doing? Put me down, I have a command to oversee!”

He ignored me
. “Corporal, we will be back in an hour, so get everything ready.”

The stupid man even saluted him
! “Yes sir!”

Then
Alex started running away from the gate, were the hell were we going? “If you think for one minute that you are going to keep me from fighting, then you’ve got another think coming!”

“
Wouldn’t even dream of it, sweetheart. But I won’t let you face down an army of undead with only a banged up breastplate.”

“
Then why am I up here?”

“
It’s faster this way.” Looking down, we were moving at an incredible speed. Within a minute, we were back at the Enchanters Hall. He quickly put me down and dragged me inside where the others were franticly running about.

“
Nia, find Darroth and tell him to prep for battle, then get back here,” Alex barked. She nodded and flew out the door. “Dawn, Dusk, go to your room, open your closet, and put on what you see. You too, Rosa.”

“
No time for me…too much to do.” Rosa disappeared up the stairs with an armful of things.

Alex
grabbed my hand and dragged me down the stairs to the lab. On the far wall, was a lever that he pulled to open up the wall to another set of stairs that I didn’t know about. As we went down, torches on the walls burst into flames, lighting the dark passageway below. At the bottom of the stairs, the hall opened into a huge well-lit room. Looking around, I could feel my mouth hanging open. There were row upon row of armor and weapons stands. There were so many weapon stands that I don’t think every sword and dagger in Xarparion could fill all of them.

“
What is this place?”

“
Welcome to my armory. As you can see, it’s a bit larger than I really need. I only have enough weapons to fill one stand, yet I have over thirty stands.” He paused as if deep in thought. “I might have overdone it a bit.” He walked over to an armor stand that had a leather suit on it. He removed the leather and handed it to me. “Time is short, so please go into the side room over there and put this on.”

I took the leather and
went into the side room as directed. This room turned out to be a storage room, but I didn’t really care. Not having an under suit with me, I was forced to strip down my underwear, but it turned out that this leather was very soft and felt good. Now suited up, I went back out into the main area to find that Alex was already in his and had half his main armor on. Seeing that I was done, he quickened his pace. Outfitted completely except for his helm, he came over to me.

“
Maya, yours is in there.” He pointed to the only closed cabinet in the room. Nervously, I walked over to it and opened the doors. Inside was an armor stand with the most beautiful armor on it that I had ever seen. It was white and silver like Alex’s, but it wasn’t near as bulky. Instead, plates were only used on the larger areas that weren’t required to move much. The chest, thighs, calves, forearms, and upper arms were the only areas with large amounts of armor. The joints were either chainmail or had very small plates that didn’t overlap sitting on the silver chainmail. The helmet was also a masterpiece; it was sleeked back and appeared to have room built in for my ears so I wouldn’t have to bend them like I do in my old helmet. There were also feathers along the back of the helmet giving it the look of a bird of prey. It was beautiful.