“How’d you do it?”Kilvic turned to Ariadne and did his best not to frown. Most of the expressions he’d trained most of his life were slowly becoming habits. He could school them, but there were occasions such as this when they surfaced of their own accord. He’d lost count of how many times she’d asked. She at least had the decency to ask it in subtlety. First she’d gone about it as if out of combat curiosity. Then she’d moved on to the curiosity of the defeated. She’d tried other methods too. Not anymore.“Do what, Ariadne?” he asked.“That last spell.”“It was a simple wind spell.”“I didn’t hear you cast.” Ariadne frowned. “No. You didn’t chant, did you?”Kilvic turned his attention away from his project. In his hand was a single staff, on the other was a knife. The winter hall fest consisted of a variety of challe

Kilvic staggered backwards, his body held incline into a fall. His feet were the only things that kept him up. Counting away in multiple minute steps, they kept him up, kept him from the fall as he pushed away, increasing the distance. The deadman’s walk came easier to him now. Of all the moves they were taught, it came the easiest, the simplest. Perhaps it was his favorite now. Perhaps not. It definitely kept him away from the pain. After three breaths he staggered into position, returned into a defensive form.Naralayn had done much to remain his sparring partner, but ever since Stratin had proved more sufficient it had become harder for the young noble to choose him for a partner. Naralayn did not cease in his attempts though, until their instructor determined having Naralayn as a sparring partner was not good for the young noble’s development. So, today, Kilvic found Sharmin as his sparring partner. And Sharmin was an easier opponent to survive agains

Wind magic has always been considered the easiest of them. Why? Because no place existed void of air. And air, unlike most other elements, is flexible, bendable to one’s will. Not much mental strength is required to manipulate it. It is, in theory, the best element to start a mage off with. But not the way Naesir made it seem.Kilvic jumped back with a speed that would have made a peregrine proud. A wind lance struck the sand covered ground where his feet had been a mere breath ago and dissipated almost immediately. He wondered at the verity of the training he was undergoing. His intention had been to learn the basics of wind magic from someone who was proving attuned to it by each growing day. He ducked and rolled almost immediately, his mind not given the time to contemplate the failure of his choice as another wind lance skewered the air where he should’ve been. Each wind lance was condensed enough to almost be mistaken for a true lance. Battle against a wind e

Moss said nothing for a moment, and Kilvic continued to stare out at the arena, at their hall mates training. Lacra remained powerful, her attacks brutal. But Gyra remained standing, bracing against her charges, casting aside spells where he would, evading where he would. The boy was powerful for one his age.When Moss spoke he sounded more confused than irate. “It’s how you say these things with a straight face that’s creepy. I don’t know if you are angry, bored or worried. Which is it?”Kilvic thought about it briefly. It was a logical question. Why had he said it when he hadn’t needed to? Moss had given him a piece of advice, and he’d given one in return. Was it the reference to the magi that had spurred him to speak. Yes, the magi were what mages were called in the older times when they had engaged in combat from a distance. They were mages who had failed once their opponents engaged them in the melee, something very simila