A Mage's Power (Journey to Chaos) (12 page)

Basilard smacked
the back of his head. “You're still not thinking big enough. Since we have the
Knee-Jerk Shield we don't have to bother with those awful broomstick things
Ceiha invented.”

Eric rubbed the
spot. “ You mean 'guns'?”

“Oh yeah, that's
what they're called . . .They make Ceiha a completely different society in
terms of its martial culture. Magecraft and Martial Arts require discipline to
become strong and even hand-held weapons require close combat; a gun allows
someone to kill at a distance instantly. It also makes substantial changes in
military logistics.”

“How so?” Eric
asked.

“Those things are
so expensive, reliant on ammo, breakable, and worthless in bad weather, they're
not at all practical. In the time it would take me to build a single gun, I
could train a dozen of you to shoot mana bolts and create battle barriers. This
way, I get soldiers that can attack at close range and midrange, ward off minor
damage, and all I have to do is pay their wages. Money that would be spent on
weapons instead goes into food, transport, etc.”

“You sure know
your stuff.”

“Of course,” the veteran
said with pride. “I was a legion commander in the Crisis War between Latrot and
Mithra eight years ago. I picked teaching magecraft over anything else, every
time.”

“And now you only
have me.” Eric said wryly.

“Ahh . . .Speaking
of which.”

Basilard reached
into his pouch and pulled out a book. It was brand new without a dent in its
page ends or a crease in its spine. The old mage handed it to his student with
the reference reserved for diplomas. Eric took it in his hands and read the
title aloud.

“
Introduction
to Magecraft
by Dengel Tymh.”

“Your Proof of
Skill won't include anything in there, but I recommend reading it anyway.”
Basilard stood up. “Now back to training.”

Two months after
his arrival, Eric awoke to see the sun in his eyes.
The Sun's already up?
He
shot up in bed-
The Sun's already—ow!
and hit his head the bottom of
Aio's bed. Ignoring the pain, he rushed to get dressed, only to trip on his pants,
and fall flat on his face.

Aio glanced over
from the desk chair and said, “Morning, Roomy.”

“Why didn't you
wake me up?” Eric asked as he struggled with his pants.

“Hey, I tried!”
Aio protested. “When I shook you, you ignored me. When I grabbed the blankets,
you held them with an iron grip. When I tried to yank you off the bed, you
grabbed the frame. When I splash you, the water dripped off a barrier.” He
crossed his arms. “So don't blame me.”

“Basilard is
going to be furious!” Eric shouted as he pulled his tunic over his head.

“Actually he came
by just before I dropped the fire ants and told me to let you sleep.”

Eric paused and
stared. “You're kidding, right?”

“Yeah I am.” Eric
gasped. “About the fire ants, not about your teacher.”

“He really said I
had the morning off?”

“Yeah. Oh! There
was also a letter.” Aio dug into his pocket and pulled it out. At the top was a
dragon standing in a cave and below was a message:

“
'Eric, your
entrance exam is today. I hope I haven't been wasting my time training you. In
order to prevent cramming and to assess your skills in a real setting, you will
not be told when or where the test will be. You should be grateful. If I had my
way, you wouldn't get any warning at all, but Leader says . . .'
And other
stuff about being prepared and good luck
.
Signed, Basilard Bladi.
”

“That sounds
serious, Roomy, think you're ready?”

Eric folded the
letter and put it in his pocket. His hands were shaking, so he put them in his
pockets, too. “I don't know. I guess I'll find out.”

“I've heard
mercenary tests are dangerous. Can I have your meal card if you die?”

“AIO!”

“I'm kidding,
Roomy, I'm kidding.” Aio patted Eric on the back. “I'm sure you'll do fine. You
might even keep all your fingers.” Eric froze. “Kidding!”

His fear didn't
lift and his friends were quick to pick up on it. Then again, it had been
obvious that he was unusually jumpy. None of them could think of any other
reason why Eric would put a student into a headlock for tapping him on the
shoulder.

“Eric, are you okay?”
Annala asked on their way to class.

“I'm fine.” Eric
walked into the classroom.

“Your body heat
isss rissing,” Oito said, his tongue slithering in and out. “You cannot lie to
me.”

Eric said nothing
and took his seat. To emphasize his determination to ignore them, he took out a
book and started reading. A pair of claws pulled it away.

“Come on, Eric!
Spill!” Revas urged. With the cat demon in front of him and, and Annala and
Oito to either side, he was trapped.

“All right . . .I
have a test later today to determine if I can join the Dragon's Lair, but I
don't know when it'll be or if I'll pass.”

“If you're
nervous, we'll go with you.”

“Yessss. What are
friendsss for?”

“We're with you,
Eric,” Annala said with concern. “Remember?”

Eric smiled. “Yeah,
I remember. I'm going to the park after school to practice.”

Annala smiled
back. “We'll go with you.”

School seemed to
drag on forever that day. Revas and Oito claimed the teachers cast a time-extension
spell on the building to drag out their suffering. Annala was quick to say this
was absurd; tempacraft was far too dangerous for such a mundane purpose. Eric
twiddled away the time looking for his teacher. Eventually, the school day did
end and all the students poured out.

Annala kept his
mind off the test with a history pop quiz. It was the only class Eric needed to
study for: 2+2=4 regardless of the world. From the quiz, they moved into a
discussion about mana and then mana mutation. Oito commented on their “nerd
mating dance” and laughed at their protests.

The gates of the
park were open, but what they found wasn't the young and old having fun in the
great outdoors. It was something much scarier.

“Hello again,
Otherworlder,” the orc said. “Where did we leave off ?” He pulled his ax off
his back and held it lightly in his hands. “Ah yes, I was about to kill you.”
Annala formed a ball of light in her hands and threw it at the orc. When he
batted it away, it exploded with light.

“We've got to get
out of here!” Annala shouted as she grabbed Eric's hand. “We don't stand a chance
of beating him!”

The earth
trembled and knocked them off their feet. A cliffs rose out of the earth in
four directions. Ten feet and higher, it rose into a cage of dirt and stone.
The park was now a prison.

“You stand even
less chance of escaping.”

The mountain of
muscle struck the earth with his ax, shooting a beam of light at the children.
Annala leaped to create a barrier and Eric joined her with his own. Basilard
tested his barrier with punches, but nothing could have prepared him for the
impact. It was about to crumble when he remembered the vow he swore at the
shooting gallery. The twin barriers held firm.

A frightening
grin formed on the orc's lips. “It seems I need a different tactic.”

He raised his
palm and Eric's friends flew backwards into the rock wall. An invisible hand
crushed them against it with such force their bodies made imprints in the
stone. Eric stared in shock as his friends screamed in pain.

“I'll kill em'
right now and be done with it.”

“No you won't!”
Eric shouted, his palms already crossed and a large bolt formed. “Get away from
my friends!”

“And if I don't?”
The orc pressed harder and his victims screamed louder. Eric yelled and fired.
It collided with the orc's stomach and he yawned. “I'm still waiting, boy.”

Eric frowned and
made another. More mana went into it and he put more willpower behind it.
I've got to protect my friends!
He fired the mana sphere without needing to
yell. The orc scratched his belly. Eric mustered every drop of mana in his soul
and fired with all the power in his spirit. A bolt the size of a watermelon
erupted out of his arms and crashed into the orc. The impact broke his
concentration and made him stumble, but before Eric could celebrate, the orc
recovered.

 With his ax over
his shoulder and a wicked snarl on his face, he marched to the lone human.

I might as
well have been shooting spitballs!
That last bolt did more damage to him
than his enemy: his body felt weak and his mind sluggish, but the orc remained
unscathed
. If only I could do what I did  . . .that didn't work either . . .abyss
take it!
He pulled up jelly arms and forced one more bolt through them, but
it fizzled out immediately. The orc grabbed his waist and pinned him to the
ground.

Eric stared back.
He refused to freeze like last time and the time before. While battling his
fear, he searched for a technique that could save him. All he accomplished was
making the orc's grin wider.

“Any last words?”
the orc asked as he raised his blade above Eric's neck. The human's heart
pounded and fear filled his mind like never before. He closed his eyes and
looked away.
I've failed them. I've failed my friends.
“No? Then I have
something to say.”
Great . . . now he's going to taunt me about how he's
going to eat my friends. WHY AREN'T I STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT HIM!?

The blue aura
appeared and surged against the orc. It bounced off a larger and darker one
radiating off the orc's body, and faded pitifully.

“Well done,
Apprentice Eric,” the orc said.
Huh!?
The orc set him down and clapped
his back. “I should say 'Novice Eric' now.” The orc looked over his shoulder. “Shouldn't
I, Basilard?”

Basilard Bladi
slowly applauded from a shadowy corner. “You should, Laharg.”

Eric looked from
his supposed enemy, to his mentor, to his fallen friends and back. Voice ripe
with confusion, he asked, “Daylra . . .what's going on?”

“Novice Eric,
allow me to introduce Squad One Senior Laharg,” Basilard said and clasped hands
with the orc. “Thanks for doing this, buddy.”

Laharg the orc
put his ax away. “Anytime.”

“You mean all
this time I've been fighting someone from the Dragon's Lair?”

“Eric, let me be
blunt. You looked so pathetic that the Dragon's Lair wasn't sure you had what
it takes to be a mercenary, so Laharg was sent to see if you did.”

“What!? Are you
saying that by using a technique I didn't know, I passed some kind of prelim?”

Laharg chuckled.
The boy looked more like a warrior already. “You passed with flying colors. All
we were hoping for was a tackle or a punch or something. Even running away
would be good if it was to distract me from your friends. Videlicet Mens was
far beyond our expectations.”

“So they sent me to
polish your skills,” Basilard said, “Then Laharg to test them.”

“Test!” Eric
shrieked. “Look what he did to my friends! That's not okay!”

Basilard turned to
Laharg. “He's right, you know. You didn't have to be so rough on them.”

“Any less rough
would have been out of character for an 'Evil Orc Thug,'” Laharg protested. “They're
not seriously hurt and it motivated him. A good night's sleep and they'll be
fine.”

Eric looked from
one to the other, still confused. “Um, Daylra, if this was Proof of Skill, how
come I passed? I lost.”

“Of course you
lost!” Laharg said. “I'm an orc! Even the weakest of my species has muscles
that are better than most human armor and could crush your bones like eggs.”

The image made
Eric shudder.

“The purpose of
the test was not to win, but to demonstrate your skills and you have. Tomorrow,
you will officially join the Dragon's Lair. Congratulations!”

This should have
elated Eric; all day he had worried about the test and what he would do if he
failed. Passing like this didn't instill him with confidence. Red light flashed
from Basilard's sword.

Laharg pulled
Eric's friends out of the rock wall and waved to someone on top of them. A little
girl with wings glided down to Laharg and landed on his head. She snapped her
fingers and the walls slowly eased back into the ground.

Eric smiled when
Annala opened her eyes. “The opposite of last time, right?”

“Yeah . . .” she said
dreamily. With a shock, she sat up. “The orc!”

“He's not going
to hurt us,” Eric said quickly. “His name's Laharg and he's the proctor for my
entrance exam. We weren't actually in danger; he just wanted me to think I was.”

“Normally, those
who sign up for a warrior's guild are ready for battle. They don't freeze.”
Basilard explained. “Eric is one of the few who do so we adjusted the test.
'The Guild must conform to its members, not the other way around.' Another
quote from the Mother Dragon.”

“You like quoting
her.” Eric said.

“Well, she was a
first class leader: wise, caring, strong—”

Revas' claws
poked out. “I'd hate to interrupt your hero-worship, but who are you?”

Basilard didn't
care. “Oh, yes, I haven't introduced myself: I am Basilard Bladi, Eric's
mentor.”

“So you're the
reason Eric's been so busy,” Annala said. “We haven't seen him lately.”

“Well, please
forgive me,” Basilard replied with good humor. “Novice Eric, you have the next
four days off; after that Proof of Skill, you deserve it. Catch up with your
friends, have some fun. You're going to be busy.” He bowed to Annala, nodded to
the demons, and then took his leave.

“He seems nice,”
Annala said.

“You should see
him during training,” Eric muttered.

True to his word,
Basilard didn't show up at the dorms the next day, but Eric still felt the urge
to practice. He told himself it was force of habit, but a certain pointy-eared
face showed up every time he wanted to quit early. After he confronted an orc,
Revas and Oito realized their friend wasn't as fragile as they thought and
wrestled with him. This led to heated arguments because Oito kept using his
tail, so Annala offered to teach him archery. Sometimes they would just talk or
play basketball.