Messenger of the Dark Prophet (The Bowl of Souls: Book Two) (25 page)

“Yes,” Justan said.
“Though I can't say as I understand why.”

“You see, Justan. Usually students sign an unequivocal contract with us. When they enter the school, they don't leave until we are finished teaching them. To leave the school early, you have to submit to having the magic ability ripped from you. You are the only student I have heard of that was being allowed to leave without at least rising to the rank of mage.”

“So why were they willing to make an exception in my case?” Justan asked. Perhaps Professor Beehn would be willing to share something that would shed some light on his situation. “What makes me so different from everyone else?”

Beehn shrugged apologetically. “To tell you the truth, I wasn't privy to the conversations that led to your arriving here. In fact, most of the wizards here have no idea why your situation is different. I suspect that only Valtrek and Master Latva know the real reason. But your time here so far has been nothing but good for the school so I have no complaints.” He smiled. “It also doesn't hurt that you are progressing in your studies at a rapid pace. In fact, there is an apprenticeship ceremony coming up soon, but we are still waiting for something before we decide.”

“What is that?” Justan asked.

“Let's just say that enough of the wizards on the council are resisting this move that we are waiting for a little more proof that you are truly ready,” he explained. He saw Justan’s worried look and added, “Don’t worry about it, Justan. Just relax. Continue to be yourself and you can't help but give us what we are looking for.”

Justan wasn’t so sure it would be that easy.

Later that day Justan headed to the Elements Tournament. It was a beautiful evening. The sun had nearly sunk behind the wall of the school and cool breeze filled Justan’s nostrils with the smells of the trees and grass. He closed his eyes and breathed the air in. He felt so content that he didn’t notice the person sneaking up behind him.

“Good evening, Justan. Are you ready for defeat, tonight?”

Justan's stifled his surprise before the elf noticed. “Good evening, Qyxal. You smell of horses.”

The elf chuckled. “Yes, well I have been helping Jeffrey for the last two hours and I haven't had time to clean up. Just think of the smell as a distraction while I trounce you mercilessly!”

Justan grinned. He never seemed to find any time to spend with Qyxal anymore. Actually, he hardly ever spent time with any of his friends. Riveren was too busy with his new position as guard leader and Zambon was acting distant again, as he had when Justan first met him. As for Vannya . . . well they had both been avoiding each other.

“You know, Qyxal. It’s a true shame that the only time I see you anymore is when you are making bold and empty threats,” Justan quipped.

The elf clutched at his chest. “Oh, I am wounded! My friend doubts me! Don’t you remember that I won the tournament last week?”

“It was a stroke of luck,” Justan replied.

“So you say, but elves are notoriously lucky, you know. Besides, I have looked at the numbers and if I am correct, Arcon and I are gaining on you. Perhaps tonight will be the night you are knocked off of the pedestal.”

“We shall see.”

For a long time it had looked like there would be no contest. Justan had been far in the lead and it didn’t seem as if anyone could catch him. But in the last month, Justan had been knocked out of the tournament in the early rounds and Qyxal and Arcon were catching up. 

Qyxal wasn’t the only one who had noticed how close the numbers were. The grounds were busy that night as students flocked to the Hall of Elements for the tournament. The end of the year was but a few months away and the Grand Trophy hung in the balance. Everyone knew that it would go to one of the three leaders and every student in the school was interested in finding out who the winner would be. There hadn’t been a trophy race this close in many years.

Justan knew that if he wanted the Grand Trophy, he would have to win consistently for the rest of the year. But lately he had been concerned with more important things and though he still found the game enjoyable to play, in the large picture it seemed like a silly thing to get worked up about. He found that his passion for it was diminishing.

In all reality, the main reason that he kept at it was that he knew that there was a hidden meaning to the game that was important. Each time he played, he searched his mind for the answer to the riddle of the game of Elements. He wasn’t close to figuring it out yet.

As Justan and Qyxal entered the hall, they saw that the place was packed. The noise from all the voices was almost deafening and the chaotic swirl of the multicolored robes worn by the students combined with the hall’s regular colors was enough to make Justan’s eyes hurt.

This evening, besides the people playing, there were students of every level that were there just to see the results of tonight’s tournament. There were even quite a few wizards watching. Evidently, the posting of the year-to-date point scores had made even more of an impact than Justan expected.

Justan and Qyxal were assigned their respective tables and after a few minutes, Master Latva entered from a door in the back of the hall decked out in his splendid elemental robe. He wasted no time and raised his intricately carved staff into the air. At that moment the room grew silent. All eyes were on the master. The bent and aged wizard’s eyes were bright tonight and his voice sounded out with even more youth and vigor than usual.

“Let the tournament begin!” he shouted and with a flourish of his wrist, a flash of light exploded from his staff.

For the first game, Justan was seated in the air section of the hall. Wind whistled by constantly, whipping his hair and robe about. Luckily, the magic of the golden table with its intricate blue edging kept the cards from being blown away. Justan was quite used to it by now.

Justan started out the game knowing exactly what he could do with the cards in his hand, but the other players were a mystery. Three of them were students that he had played with before and he knew their levels of skill, but the other two were unfamiliar to him which made things interesting. Justan started the game out slow, but within a couple of hands he knew the styles of the other players well enough to make accurate bids.

Gwyrtha popped curiously into his mind several times during the course of the game wanting to know what he was doing. Each time she did so, he asked her to go away. There were times during the day that he allowed her to see what he was seeing, but during the tournaments he refused to, knowing that images of what was going on in the hall would just confuse her.

Normally her interruptions during the game were quite distracting, but tonight he wasn’t willing to put up with her intrusions. He pushed her thoughts down until he could barely hear her. He could sense that her feelings were hurt, but he needed every spare thought tonight. He would try to make it up to her later. Perhaps tonight would be the night he snuck out of the school to go and see her. With Gwyrtha out of his mind, Justan was back to his old form and he won the first game fairly easily.

Half of the players were knocked out each round. Usually most of them left and that quieted the room down a bit, but tonight no one left the hall. All were too eager to see the results.

During the second game of the night, Justan played in the Fire section. His chair sat partly in the air section so that his left arm and leg were in the cool air while the rest of his body was oppressively hot. Despite the oddness of the sensation, he knew everyone that he was playing against in this game and he was well aware of their strengths and weaknesses, giving him a distinct advantage.

Justan had found out over time that most of the students in the
Mage
School
played using a similar strategy. They tried to be crafty and play their weak cards first, saving their strong cards for the end. The problem with this tactic was that sometimes they would get burned early in the hand by taking a trick that they did not intend to. Then, later in the hand, they would be stuck with high cards when they didn’t want to take a trick. He figured that this came from the philosophies and teachings of magic; conserve your energy so that when the right time comes you will have the strength you need.

On the other hand, Justan had taught Riveren and Zambon how to play the game and they tended to play their strongest cards first and take the amount of tricks that they had bid. Then later they would both have weak cards and sometimes one of them would end up taking another trick with a small card that he did not expect to. This was also an extension of the strategy they used in their fighting styles.

 Justan himself tried to look at the big picture. His strategy differed a bit each time as he adapted to the playing styles of his opponents.

He received the second highest point score in the second game of the night and moved on to the third game. He had three fierce opponents in this game, one of which was Arcon. This game was played in the water section.

Justan found playing in the water section to be the most fun. Faldon had taught him how to swim as a child, but he never had much opportunity to be by a lake or river and he enjoyed the illusion of being underwater. The only problem was that he sometimes lost focus on the game while in this section because of the tranquility of it all.

The game was pretty intense, with just about everyone bidding incorrectly each hand. Throughout the game Justan and Arcon were battling between third and fourth place. When the final hand of eight cards was dealt, Justan had moved into third place but he was only ahead of Arcon by one point.

The two students in the lead were far enough ahead that no matter what happened
,
either Justan or Arcon was going to be knocked out of the tournament. All eyes were on Justan’s table because if Justan lost here, either Arcon or Qyxal would undoubtedly overtake him in the overall point standings for the year.

Justan’s cards were lousy. He had a mix of medium and low strength cards without any high ones, which was always a little difficult. Also, the power element in this hand was black and Justan only had one, which was a ‘Double Bug’, the lowest card in that element.

Justan was the dealer this time, so he would have to bid last. This gave him the advantage of having everyone else bid first, but it also had its disadvantages because the rule was that the total bid count could not be the same as the amount of the cards dealt. This forced someone to lose during each hand. Unfortunately, the loser was often the dealer that couldn’t bid what he wanted to.

As the others bid, Justan took in the clues they gave off about their hands, especially Arcon who stared at him with intensity. Sure enough, none of the other players bid very high, including Arcon, who only bid one. That made a total of seven points bid which meant that Justan couldn’t bid one.

Justan now had two choices. He could bid two, which from his cards he felt he wasn't likely to get, or he could bid zero, which would possibly tie him with Arcon. Justan had never been in that situation before. He wasn’t sure who would pass on to the next game if two people tied for third. Justan finally made the only decision that he was confident in. He bid zero. Somehow, he would have to make sure that he did not take any tricks while doing his best to keep Arcon from getting his bid.

The hand progressed and Justan got rid of most of his large cards right away, letting the other players take the tricks, while Arcon also threw his cards away. Justan had a feeling that Arcon had one large card and he was saving it for one of the last tricks. He was right. With two cards left,
Blue
was the element led and Arcon laid down the blue ‘AA’, which was the highest card in that element.

Justan looked at his hand. It was his turn but he didn’t have any blue cards left. He only had a low Red card and his Black ‘Double Bug’. He didn’t have any Blue cards left, so he could play whichever element he wanted to.

Since Black was the power element in this hand, if he played his ‘Double Bug’, it would override Arcon’s high blue card and Justan would take the trick. But if he did that, then he wouldn’t make his bid and he would lose the hand. Depending on Arcon’s last card, he could end up in fourth place, which would drop him out of the tournament.

If he played the Red card, Arcon would take the trick. They would most likely both get their bid and he and Justan would end up in a tie. Justan needed to know what would happen before he made his decision.

 
“Scorekeeper?”
Justan said and raised his hand. Despite the underwater magic of the Blue section of the hall, Justan’s voice was not distorted. The scorekeeper nodded, his hair waving lazily in the air.