The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (18 page)

Sitting back once more, Darius suddenly smiled and clapped his hands in a single strike as if clearing the air. "Well enough of ancient history. Let's talk of happier things. How are your parents and siblings doing?"

Returning his smile with only a slight reservation, Annalicia was willing to do as he asked. The conversation was mostly about a history unlikely to be part of the current brotherhood's motivations. Dwelling on ancient wars and evil immortals wasn't the way any of them hoped to spend their reunion.

"Father and mother are doing well. Alexander seems happy with his wife also, though we miss him since he lives far enough away to make visits less frequent than we might wish." Her smile brightened as she added, "Alicia would be well, but she is dealing with potential suitors. It is the price we must pay for the king to award us land and a title, I guess."

She laughed at the thought of her sister's inconvenience. At least Alicia wasn't as annoyed with the process as Xerese who had run all the way to Southwall just to get a break from her suitors, she thought in amusement.

Soon the conversation flipped to Darius and her cousins. Family which she had never met were discussed letting the girl learn more about those her grandfather saw more often. Her father's journey to find her mother meant thousands of miles separated her from all but those closest to her in relation.

It was good to hear of family that might be called on if times ever became too rough as well, she supposed.

Chapter 10- Battle for the Heights

It wasn't until registration that Annalicia truly understood the immense field of wizards that had been gathered into one place for the tournament of all tournaments. In countries like Tseult arena fighting was quite common and popular, but it was rare to see champions come from beyond a country's borders to join in a tournament. The king of Southwall had sent invitations far and wide gathering dozens of countries from nearly every continent on Alus. Most had responded with at least a token representation of their wizard community.

Two hundred thirty four wizards signed up to fight in ten initial fields of combat. Again the scope of the tournament defied anything anyone had seen. To have ten arenas of wizards going at one time all day was insane to Annalicia.

They had been asked a few questions as they registered including country of origin and field of magic preference. For Annalicia, wind and water were her strengths and areas of comfort. Twenty four total wizards would fight on the upper walls of the king's castle while two more groups fought in two more arenas below. Over sixty wizards would fight in the shadow of the Grimnal, the castle's given name.

Her match had been set as the first of the afternoon. Six other pairings had already finished with six winners. Though Annalicia had watched a few duels, as the tournament officials had described the order of the tournament, she was unlikely to have to face any of them soon. The winner of her match would fight the winner of the one to follow.

Most of the battles on the Heights, as her arena was named, had been between air or fire users. Reynolvan a water user competed on a circle of rock literally in an arena in the North Sea. She guessed that other arenas were tailored to suit the wizards by their stated element of choice. For air and fire, the twenty foot wide wall running from the side of the castle to the outer wall which looked out over the cliff onto the sea would be fair to either element. If anyone had a slight advantage, it would be air users; but on the ground or on a wall mattered little to her use of magic.

She had been paired with a wizard from Southwall. His aura was strong, possibly the equal of hers. That should have made her feel better, but Annalicia had already witnessed a battle on her field that should have been impossible.

A battle mage, a lesser wizard from what she had seen, had fought a full wizard whose power dwarfed the other man. The mage was young, possibly even younger than her, but he had walked into the ring without fear and destroyed the wizard quickly. To add to the defeated man's indignity, he had thrown a fit and attempted to attack the mage from behind only to be tossed by a spell cast too swiftly to be countered. A gust of wind had sent the wizard from Alcazar tumbling over the side of the wall.

The wizards guarding the competitors from death blows saved the wizard, but the mage hadn't even looked back to see if he had survived.

If a man with a tenth of the power of a full wizard could defeat him so easily, what other surprises did Southwall have in store for their guests? Had the rest of the world just been invited so that they could fail? Maybe Southwall only wanted to lord the skills of their wizards over the rest of them.

It was a daunting thought and Annalicia had to push her doubts to the back of her mind as she lined up across from her opponent. She had brought six buckets of water to her side of the field. Set behind her circle, Anna hoped her secondary line of magic might turn the battle in her favor. It was in the rules that they could bring certain allowed equipment to the ring. Though technically this was an air and fire field, there was nothing that said a wizard couldn't bring an amount of other elements with her.

The mage had used wood staves and bound his opponent by the end of the duel using what they referred to as nature magic. Many other battles involved other gear, though sometimes they were never used at all.

A voiced boomed across her arena so that the various crowds could hear without interference from the wind and sea below. "Our first match of the afternoon pits Wizard Rieltos of New Harbor against Lady Annalicia from Malaiy!"

Her title had caused murmurs in the crowd and she thought that many looked at her even closer. Trying to put those stares out of her mind, Annalicia looked at the man across from her. He was taller than her, which wasn't unusual being petite in size, with light brown hair and brown eyes. His looks were more common in the north, but certainly not among the population of Malaiy.

She could feel his strong aura, and doubted that he was bothering to mask it in any way. When he smiled to her, Annalicia smiled politely back though her look was tight and cool even so. Her game face on, when the booming voice told them to prepare their defenses in fifteen seconds, she was ready.

The man in his light blue uniform began to move his hands and fingers before using a larger sweep of his arms drawing the power of air around him. An air wizard's defense, the movement of air was hard to see for the crowd, but to Annalicia it was something that she both felt and saw as lines of magic.

Using a couple steps that were fluid as a dancer's mixed with the movement of her hands and arms; the girl countered with a similar wall of wind. Air began whipping around the edge of the twenty foot circle etched into the stone wall and Anna was finished with her defense with a single spell.

Her opponent's defense appeared equally complete with a similar use of wind magic. He smiled coolly at her as if the man had somehow assessed her ability with just that one use of magic. Unlike Anna, the wizard had no other components ready to use against her. Unless he chose to combine fire with his air magic, she guessed that Rieltos would be confined to just that. It didn't mean the wizard didn't have options however. Air magic was just as full of combat spells as any other element and hard to defend against for many wizards using only the other five elements.

"Begin!" the voice seemed to shout through her thanks to the magic augmenting the spokesman's words.

It was the push that both wizards seemed to need.

Rieltos used his tight movements to push the wind towards her defensive whirlwind, while Anna again moved with her whole body like a dancer. Her style wasn't typical of the wizards of Malaiy. It was a style unique to the girl who had been taught dance from an early age, since royal women attended celebrations and balls regularly. She had loved to dance and it had crept into her casting in spite of numerous rebukes from her mentors.

Swirling columns of air met cutting blades turning his attacks. Horizontal tornadoes picked up dirt as the Southwall wizard attempted to power his way through her columns. Their two attacks worked against each other as Rieltos had hoped, but the woman was already ahead of him on successful spells.

Still in her magical dance, water was drawn from the buckets. It swirled with her defensive whirlwind until the countering tornadoes died with her columns. Turning to ice in the cold air and use of her magic; spikes of ice shot at the air wizard.

Rieltos' eyes widened slightly with surprise, but the wizard worked to counter once more. The ice was driven low. Some struck his whirling defenses, but most landed at the base of the tornado. She could see a relieved look in his eyes before they turned smug. Believing he had bested her attack, Annalicia ignored his looks intoning the spell the ice was meant to set up for her.

Seeming to shift like water, the ice suddenly lifted in a solid arch forcing the wind to ride over it. Two spikes drove through the opening and would have skewered the man if not for the protective magic of the wizards guarding the arena and the combatants as well.

Rieltos looked crestfallen even before the voice rang out again. "The winner is Lady Annalicia of Malaiy by killing blow!"

To her surprise, the crowd sitting on the outer wall and above her in the castle cheered loudly. Though she had defeated one of their wizards, the crowd could appreciate a solid victory. This tournament was meant to bring everyone together. Though they might root for their own wizards, Hala would encourage the winners; at least for now. It was still an early round after all and too early to have formed favorites as of yet.

After giving a graceful curtsey to the crowd, Annalicia walked forward towards the tower behind Rieltos where food would help resupply the wizards to refuel them. The man stood waiting for her to approach before extending his hand in a show of good sportsmanship. Though Annalicia was a royal woman, she was also a wizard and didn't avoid the touch of someone who might not be from a prestigious family. Some nobles looked down on anyone with the wrong bloodline, but this tournament was meant to bridge all gaps between men, women, rich and poor.

"Well played, Lady Annalicia," Rieltos stated with a nod approximating a shortened bow.

"Thank you. You fought well," she replied politely before both turned to walk the remainder of the distance to the tower.

Reynolvan and Ivanor witnessed the act apparently. When Annalicia passed through the doorway, the men frowned at the wizard from New Harbor; but Rieltos missed it as he went to the table of food. Though the match hadn't been that long, a lot of energy had been used on powerful spells.

Managing to restrain their tongues, Reynolvan met her saying, "Congratulations, my lady."

His greeting was more formal than the wizards typically used for her in private, but she assumed that Reynolvan wanted to make sure that Rieltos and those serving the wizards remembered that she was a royal lady of Malaiy.

"Thank you, Reynolvan," Annalicia replied simply. "He fought well, but my use of water worked out as I had hoped. Not everyone has thought to bring a second element to the battles."

Xerese rushed past the two wizards grinning at her cousin from ear to ear. "You were great, Anna! I can't believe how beautiful you made it all look, though some of the attacks I could really only hear. The wind was loud, but not the easiest to see," the girl said in a quick rush of excitement.

Nodding to the dark haired woman, Anna agreed. "That is perhaps the worst part of an air wizard battle for someone without magical senses. Unless we pull in enough dirt, the whirlwinds and cutting air strikes are hard for others to see. It isn't as flashy as the fire wizards or powerful looking like an earth wizard or water."

Hugging her cousin gleefully, Xerese went on, "Oh, well as long as you won, who cares? I think the crowd still liked the fight, though maybe it was all your dancing. It was so pretty to watch you work."

Her eyes strayed to the defeated wizard and added, "He wasn't as interesting to watch, but there was still enough to enjoy the duel."

Rieltos turned hearing the conversation and said to her, "The lady's style is a bit unusual and I would guess a bit tiring. Sadly not all of us can move like a talented dancer."

Smiling at the wizard, Xerese replied, "Not everyone is as beautiful as my cousin either. If this tournament would go to the prettiest wizard, few would have a chance against her."

Wanting to roll her eyes at her cousin, Annalicia interrupted, "The world rarely works that way and pretty, ugly or somewhere in between, the wizards gathered here should all be a challenge. Even that battle mage was a surprise," she finished commenting on perhaps the biggest upset of the competition they had heard so far.

Rieltos looked a bit taken aback by the last part and said, "He was a surprise to us all. I wouldn't have thought a mere battle mage would have the ability to best any wizard, though I don't know if his opponent was a true test."

"He was skilled enough and much more powerful," the woman assured the wizard. His attitude seemed both apologetic that the mage was in the match and a little disgusted by the idea as well. "Your battle mages aren't considered worthy to be in the tournament?"

"Their spells should be as limited as their power, but he apparently used several spells that I had never heard of a mage using before also. Perhaps there is one talented one among them, but I would hazard that it was just a fluke.