Dueling Revisited

FALL TERM - DAY 20 (Continued) 

But anyway, today wasn't about Orendell. It was about the deal I'd struck with him. I didn't remember anything new exactly. That blank gap in my memory was no clearer, but I learned something. I learned that the wolf that came with my contract with Orendell has a mind of its own. 

I've been attending the Midnight Court for nearly a month now. I'd spent so much of this past weekend hunched over the single copy of the Vodalysa beginner's grimoire that I could feel it in my spine. I'd practiced one spell for so many hours straight I still had a cramp in my hand. At least, I knew that it worked. I nearly lost a finger casting it, barely avoiding its invisible blade. 

There were only a handful of combat spells in the beginner's grimoire, but I didn't really see the use of learning anything else. Sure invisibility could have its uses - I'd get to it eventually, but for now, there wasn't anything that could offer up a sense of security quite as well as a spell that was designed to hurt. 

Ianthe had visited twice more since the first dreamwalking incident. In both times since, she was weak, a figment in the back of my mind. She didn't stay long, but I knew well enough what she was doing. She wanted to keep me on edge, nervous. If I was nervous, I'd make mistakes. She'd be counting on that. 

For now though, I had to assume she didn't know I was in Mesym, or that I was at the Midnight Court, or about the deal with Orendell. My mother would have come up with a cover story for all of that, though what excuse she'd gone with I still didn't know. 

For today though, I was keeping up with Blackclaw's combat lessons. I wouldn't say I was the best mage in the class but I was far from the worst - that title still went to Aries. 

We were back to dueling practice. "Today will be about setting expectations," Blackclaw announced. "Before I have you duel against each other, I need to get a better sense of your ability levels, how much prior education you've come into this class with, and an idea of how much progress we can hope for in the coming weeks. 

"Though it's unlikely any of you are secretly master spellcasters, as an added precaution, you'll be dueling against me directly instead of one of my advanced class volunteers. So, I encourage you to show me what you've got. Don't hold back. We have a first aid supply fully stocked just in case." 

I was mostly just relieved not to be going first this time. One of the elves volunteered instead. 

"So… I didn't see you in the courtyard much this weekend," Aries said. "And that girl, your friend -"

"Her name is Aisling. You know that," I said. 

Aries huffed. "Right. Umm, Aisling. She said she didn't really see you around anywhere either. Were you in the Sanctum?" 

The elf at the front of the room was still preparing to begin. Noodle had volunteered to act as second and give the count down. 

I nodded silently, expecting this to be the end of our conversation, even as Aries carried on. "So you got to work with the grimoire. Did you learn anything good? Anything useful?" 

"Once you get shadow step down, you'll get a chance with it too. Besides, there's only one beginner's grimoire anyway. Better not to have all three of us fighting over it." I turned my head a little more to the side, away from Aries, hinting heavily that I was watching the duel. The elf, Llewelyn, was one of the stronger casters, from a family of mages in Erast, a coastal city just north of here. He'd grown up around magic and it showed. He cast a wide arc of fire out in front of him at Blackclaw who parried it with an air elemental spell. 

"Or we could share it?" Aries asked. 

"Huh? Why would we do that? You didn't even want me learning your little static shock spell. Don't think I forgot." 

"You learned it anyway," Aries groaned. "But it's not too late to return the favor. Tonight? After dinner? I could come to your room." 

"How about you figure out shadow step first?" I said. 

Llewelyn blocked Blackclaw's attack and managed to cast another dramatic fire spell, this time curling the flames into a ball between his hands before hurling it towards Blackclaw. This time, instead of another air spell, Blackclaw cast something new. He moved one hand like a blade out into the path of the flames and the fireball was swallowed up into nothingness. Immediately after, Blackclaw managed to hit Llewelyn with slow abruptly ending the duel. 

"Shadow step is hard." Aries edged closer. His arm crept up over my shoulder. "Come on, Zeph." He was pouting in a way that I think he'd intended to be cute but was really more of a turn off. 

I wasn't totally oblivious. I was aware that Aries liked me at least a little bit. According to Noodle, there were at least a dozen guys that had caught his eye. It wasn't a total stretch to guess that I might be one of them. 

I didn't think of myself as particularly attractive. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder and all that, but I had a collection of features that vaguely came together to resemble a certain popular archetype that some people were really into. Brooding and mysterious, Aisling had said the other day. Made me sound kind of charming. Ianthe only said I made sulking look like an art. In a room full of vampires, most of whom were expressly made into vampires for their otherworldly beauty, I really didn't stand out. At the Midnight Court though, I guess it just comes down to taste. 

Aries seemed like the kind of guy that still hadn't made up his mind on whether he wanted to hit me or kiss me, or maybe he had and just wanted to do both. I'd be worried about it if he were bigger, but from him, it's kinda funny. He's a few inches shorter than me. His shoulders are a little broader than mine, but we're pretty much the same size. So what if he hit me? At least it gave me a reason to hit him back.

At the front of the room, Noodle was dueling against Blackclaw. He got two spells in before he stumbled casting shield and got hit with slow. 

"If you don't teach me shadow step, you'll be the one stuck taking me to and from the Sanctum next week for the meeting on the full moon." A new heat had crept into his voice as though he'd meant it as a threat. 

I snickered. "Yeah, because Noodle doesn't want you fainting on him again." 

"Oh, fuck off." Aries shoved off of me in a huff. 

When he glanced back at me next, I stuck my tongue out at him. It was maybe a little childish, but I like him better when he's angry. 

Aries only rolled his eyes. 

"Ashbourne, you're up," Blackclaw called out. 

Another duel against Blackclaw had already wrapped up since Noodle's. Clarissa Spectre. She was one of the more talented mages in the class. Must have messed up casting shield almost immediately. Happens to the best of us. She was still getting to her feet after slow had knocked her off balance.

"Let's see what you've got, Zeph." A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Aries's mouth, even if he was still bitter about how I'd brushed him off. Yeah, he definitely likes me.

I stepped up to the cleared space across from Blackclaw. Took a deep breath. The last duel hadn't gone great, but this time around, he'd said it didn't matter what spells we used. I could redeem myself. 

"Okay, Mr. Ashbourne. No restrictions on spells. Do your worst." Blackclaw held out his hands, palms out in full view. If he sounded cocky, it's because he was. He wanted to get under my skin a little. And I can admit, it worked. 

Noodle counted us off. "Three. Two. One." 

I immediately fired off Aries's little zapping spell. It was such a quick gesture it almost caught Blackclaw off guard. He yelped, ducking down behind his shield. A narrow miss. But I wasn't going to wait for him to cast something else. Quickly as I could, I readied my next spell, frostbite. 

It probably wasn't the best choice for the next spell, but it'd been the one I'd spent half the night practicing. The gesture was still fresh in my head. This too worked in my favor. I think Blackclaw had expected another more showy spell. The sudden swell of deep cold was a lot less easy to block. His side of the room went cold. Ice crystals vined their way across the far window. Pale fog rose up around us where the cold spell hit the warm room air. 

I saw Blackclaw shiver. It made him laugh, his breath a thick plume of white. 

I prepared to cast shield next. I'd given Blackclaw an opening, but he didn't take it. There was an awkward beat of dead time. He waved me to go on, but the moment I started casting shrouded blade, he nearly blasted me with a wave of something - I suspected slow. 

I dropped shrouded blade and conjured shield to avoid it. He did this twice more before I realized he was toying with me.

I knew there wasn't a world where I won this duel, but in the heat of the moment, I wanted to, if only to wipe that smug look off Blackclaw's face. He'd already seen me attempt shrouded blade three times, but the gesture took too long. He would hit me with slow before I'd gotten it off, so I switched tactics. When I lowered shield, I whipped through to zap him again with the shock spell. He blocked it, of course, but at least this time, he was distracted while I cast shrouded blade. The spell hit him dead on - or it should have at least. An invisible magic knife to the gut should hurt. But Blackclaw only blinked. 

"Now I admit that was a good shot," he said. Only his voice hadn't come from his mouth. 

Blackclaw, standing opposite me, suddenly vanished, fading like vapor into the fog. His voice had come from just behind me. He was a dark shape hovering in my peripherals, there at the corner of my eye.

He hit me with slow before I could even turn to face him. 

And that should have been that. 

I say should have been, because it wasn't. I know I was angry, stuck in the viscous ether of his spell. It hadn't been a fair duel, because it had never been a fair duel. It was why I was there to learn. But knowing that and feeling that are different things and the sudden heat of my rage was boiling up. 

I felt the brand of Orendell on my arm sting as though to spur on my fury. And the second slow dropped away, I was on my feet and casting again. My hands were moving through the motions for shrouded blade and this time I wanted him to feel it. 

Whatever Blackclaw cast next, it was faster than slow and about a dozen times stronger than the little zapping spell. 

An electric surge spread through my body. I couldn't tell you where he'd hit. It was everywhere, like white hot fire burning through me, every nerve ablaze. My vision went black. I could taste iron. 

I couldn't tell you if the spell had lasted for a second or ten minutes. But when the initial pain subsided, my whole body ached. I was lying on the floor. I couldn't have gotten up if I wanted to.

And I wanted to. 

I heard myself growl through gritted teeth. It was me, but wasn't me. I suddenly understood that this rage wasn't completely my own. The wolf in my mind's eye was growling out loud. 

Blackclaw walked over to me. His worn leather boots stopped inches from my face. When I heard him above me, he was talking loud enough I knew he had to be addressing the whole class and not just me. 

"When the duel is over, the duel is over. No exceptions. You're learning dueling as a safety measure and part of practicing combat safely is obeying my rules to the letter. Those who break the rules will get spelled just as I have our own Mr. Ashbourne here." There was the slightest lilt of a laugh in his voice that made my insides scream. The wolf was howling. 

"And for those of you still tempted to experience it yourselves, know that I've seen this spell drop a full-grown ogre mid-stride. It isn't for the faint of heart. You can ask Mr. Ashbourne to tell you all about it next class."

Blackclaw crouched down beside me. His knees cracked. "Had I known your little secret earlier, I would have gone about this differently," he whispered. He had to have been referring to Orendell, the wolf, the deal. But I still didn't know why any of it would have mattered. 

He took me by the arm and hauled me up. I still couldn't stand. My muscles jittered and my legs fell out from under me the moment I tried to hold my own weight. 

"Relax already," Blackclaw snapped. "If I was still trying to hurt you, you'd know." I was already hurting. I'm not sure I believed a word of that. 

"Alright, moving on. Is there someone from his coven here? He's going to need some help getting back to his coven leader. They can patch him up." 

Aries rose from his seat before Blackclaw had even finished asking. "I can take him," he said. 

"Sit down, Mr. de la Fel. You haven't dueled yet." 

"Like you don't already know I'm a shit spellcaster," Aries shot back. 

Blackclaw laughed. "Have it your way then. Come and get him!" 

Aries rushed forward and took the arm Blackclaw had slung over his shoulder and heaved it onto his own. I heard him grunt under my weight, but I was only just beginning to feel sensation come back into my legs. 

"You got him?" I heard Noodle's voice from somewhere out of my line of sight. 

Aries sighed. "Yeah, don't worry about it." 

 Aries helped shuffle me out of the classroom. He was strong enough that he was carrying most of my body weight, but even then, I was heavy and knew there wasn't a chance he could do it for long. As it was, my cheek was pressed up against the side of his head. His short blond hair tickled my nose. I was more than a little loopy, more focused on the softness of his hair than my own two feet. 

"I know Blackclaw can be a dick and all, but you have to admit that was stupid," Aries said once we were far enough out of earshot. "But us sons of Caburh have got to stick together, don't we?" 

We didn't quite make it as far as Marblebrook's office. Aries helped me down onto a stone bench a few hallways away, too worn to haul me any further. It didn't really matter though. I was starting to at least feel a bit more like myself again mentally, even as my body refused to cooperate. 

"I don't really know why I did that," I muttered. 

"It's called anger. We all do stupid shit when we're mad. It's what happens," Aries said. His arms had given up, but sitting on the bench beside my head, he ran his fingers up through my hair. It felt nice and I knew if I said anything about it, he'd probably stop. 

"If I leave you here a minute to get Marblebrook, you'll be alright, won't you?" he asked. 

"I'll be fine. I don't think I really need to get Marblebrook involved anyway. I'm already feeling better." It wasn't a lie exactly. Better was a relative term. More than anything, it had started to dawn on me that this was kind of embarrassing. I didn't want to tell Marblebrook I'd attacked a professor. That was bad. 

"Don't be ridiculous, Zeph. You can hardly move -" 

Aries was interrupted by a loud gasp. "Aren't you a sorry sight!" Kelyn Marblebrook was probably the next best person we could have found anyway. Honestly, I might have preferred her to her wife at the moment. "Boys, what happened?"

Aries did most of the talking. He helped me to sit up on the bench, slowly easing me off my back. Until his hand grazed the mark of Orendell on my bicep. I hissed. A new wave of pain gripped me. 

"What was that?" Aries asked. 

My whole body shook. 

"Let's get a look at that arm," said Kelyn. 

Aries pulled my blazer off me, then my vest. The fabric brushing the mark alone was even too much. I might not have liked being stripped out of my shirt in the hallway, but I don't exactly blame either of them for it. 

"Orendell," I'd said. "It's Orendell." I'd known on some level I was meant to keep this a secret, but I didn't see a way to do that just then. 

Kelyn twisted my arm to get a better look at the mark. Aries too looked on with interest. Kelyn sighed. "Now, I see." She pushed her thumb into the searing heart of the mark. 

I screamed. The wolf in my mind's eye laughed. 

The wolf's laugh faded into Kelyn's laugh. I hadn't pegged her for a sadist. 

"Oh, you've really done it, haven't you?" she teased. "I can bet Elandria knows all about this already. Nothing gets past her. But still, all the better you found me today. She'd have been fine to let you suffer." 

Kelyn set a hand on my shoulder. I only half realized Aries was still there, still watching. He too looked horrified. Kelyn turned to him, "Aries, be a dear, would you? There's a bottle in the top drawer of my desk down the hall. Just the one. Go fetch it for me." 

Aries bolted for the office. I saw him glance back once as he went. 

Kelyn waited until he was gone to say, "Orendell's the kind of patron that doesn't mind pain. I'll give you something for it, but you're going to have to learn when not to use it. The full moon's a whole week away and he's already got you all riled up."

"What's that got to do with anything?" I asked. I had suspicions, but I wanted to hear it. 

Aries was already running back, bottle in hand. 

Kelyn's eyes narrowed on me. "You're smarter than that, Zephyr. You know."

Aries held out the bottle to Kelyn, but she only ordered me to drink it. She was busy instead pulling items from her coat pocket- an old ticket stub, a fountain pen. She set the ticket stub on the bench beside me and took a few notes on it. 

"That brand is going to keep hurting. Treat it with aloe and wolfsbane. Mash them up, make a poultice. Wrap it up with a hot compress and that should take away the worst of it," she said. "And that potion should undo the work of whatever Blackclaw hit you with." 

I was already drinking it down. The potion tasted terrible, but I could already feel strength returning to my limbs and the worst of the muscle aches subsiding. It was more than worth it. 

"See? Already much better and I won't tell Elandria if you don't," Kelyn said. "Hexing a professor. Oh, she'd be furious. But let's just blame it on the moon. Alright?" 

After Kelyn left, Aries still hovered near me on the bench in the hall. I was buttoning up my shirt. Aries had been a little overzealous in getting it off. A few of the buttons were missing. I hadn't expected it when he asked, "Zeph, are you a werewolf?" 

If I shuddered, would you blame me? I'd been thinking it already. Yet, Aries was the first to actually put it to words. "Wolfsbane, the moon… it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots." 

"No. I'm not." I focused on trying to roll my shirt sleeve, avoiding eye contact. 

"There wouldn't be anything wrong if you were though. You know that, right?" 

"Aries, please just drop it."