The Black Mage: Apprentice (16 page)

"Stay out of this, brother. That red-headed
one tried to attack me and the boy was no better-"

"I don't care what she did!" Darren yelled.
"Let her go! Let both of them go
now
!"

"This is none of your concern."

"LET THEM GO NOW OR I SWEAR BY THE GODS-"

Blayne made a face and with the wave of his
hand the guards were called off. "I was doing you a favor, Darren.
They should be imprisoned for defying me."

"You think the Council will see it that way
if you imprison two of their future mages over a petty
disagreement?"

"The Council does not control me."

The two continued their heated argument as
Ian and I attempted to stand. The marble below me was slick with
blood – from Ian or me, I wasn't too sure. I pulled myself to my
knees and started to slide. Ian reached out and caught me.

"Thanks," I whispered, staring up at his
split lip and the bruise that was already forming across his right
eye.

The third-year brushed back a strand of my
hair that was stuck to some blood on my face. His green eyes were
filled with concern as he gently lifted my chin, checking for
injury.

"Well, brother dear, it appears I was wrong
after all." Blayne's cold voice cut through the air like a knife. I
immediately jumped and Ian steadied me.

"Look at them."

Darren's eyes shot to Ian and I. He froze as
he took in Ian's arms around my waist, but his expression quickly
shifted to indifference as he faced his brother again. "I am done
with your mind games, Blayne. Let them be."

The crown prince just laughed loudly. He
continued to cackle as he strolled out of the hall, a malicious
smile on his lips.

For a moment there was only silence.
Then:

"Thanks for stopping your brother, Darren,"
Ian told the non-heir gravely. "All this time I spent wondering
what kind of man you were… I feel silly for questioning you
now."

"There is no need to thank me." Darren's tone
was oddly vacant. My head shot up and I stared at the prince. His
eyes were fathomless. For a moment I was sure I saw pain, but it
was gone so fast I was sure I'd imagined it.

Ian released me and held his hand out to
Darren. "I meant what I said: I am truly grateful. I don't know
what I would have done if Blayne had hurt Ryiah here."

Darren's gaze never waivered from my face.
"Anything I can do to help."

"Does anyone have a problem with their role
in the strategy I just outlined?"

I glanced around the field to see if anyone
did, but, as I suspected, not one person - even Jayson or Tyra,
minded. Darren had proven himself last year in Ishir. There had
been no other nominations for a leader in the day's mock
battle.

"Good. Now… we have one hour left. That
should be enough time for everyone to get to their appropriate
station along the bluff outlooks. You already have your teams. I
expect you to gather as much loose boulder as possible during your
off time until one of the others gives the signal fire. When they
do, leave your station immediately and come to their aid at once.
We will need all the manpower and castings we have to sink the
mentee's barge… I don't expect us to lose – we have the advantage,
we are mentors after all - but…" The prince's eyes rested on mine,
for just a moment, before flitting to the rest of our circle. "But
I don't want us to be taken for fools either."

"Is it just me or does the prince seem extra
irritable this morning?" My twin followed me off the docks with a
shy fifth-year Alchemy apprentice named Barrett trailing silently
behind. The three of us were partners for today's mock battle.

"I wouldn't know." Darren and I had barely
spoken in months, and every time we had he'd been unusually
curt.

"I thought you two were friends."

"We… I think his brother said something to
him."

"Blayne?" My brother's tone was full of
unadulterated hatred. Ella had finally disclosed to him why she had
left court with her parents so many years before. "Why would he
involve himself in something that regards you?"

Because he thinks I'm a threat
. But I
didn't say that aloud. "Because a prince shouldn't associate with
lowborns like me."

"Well Darren is obviously not worth your time
if he believes that."

I was of the same mind. Though it had still
taken me some time to accept Darren's newfound coldness. Our first
week in Port Langli I had tried to talk to him about that night in
the palace.

"What did Blayne say to you? Why are you
acting this way?"

Darren regarded me coolly. "What way?"

"You've barely spoken to me since we arrived.
You seem irritated anytime I try to approach you. Even now, Darren,
you won't look at me!"

"Did it ever occur to you that I am simply
tired of your incessant chatter?"

I put my hands on my hips. "You are lying!
Why are you lying, Darren?"

"So what if I am?" he snapped. "I don't need
to explain myself to a lowborn like you!"

And that had been the end of the
conversation. Darren hadn't apologized, and I had refused to ignore
his callous remark. I knew there was more he wasn't telling me –
but until he was ready I wasn't going to go out of my way to be
insulted.

"This is it?" We had reached our assigned
lookout, almost two full miles out from the township center.

"It's the last tower west." I pointed to low
granite steps that led to a small platform along the port's natural
bluff wall. As the most prominent trading post in Jerar the Crown
had made sure Port Langli was well fortified against pirates.
Luckily that had been a relatively easy feat: the port was a
mile-wide cove surrounded by steep bluffs on either side. It hadn't
taken much to build a couple of watchtowers along its rim, each
armed with a heavy three-man catapult in case it was needed. Any
ship approaching would be spotted before it could enter the
bay.

Which was exactly what Darren was relying on
for today's battle.

"I can barely see the cove!" Barrett
complained. "Why did the prince post us here? The mentees would
never sail this far out! The western bluffs are much too steep to
climb and there's no beach for them to moor!"

"We'll be the last to see action," Alex
agreed.

I didn't reply. I had a feeling Darren had
stationed us as far away as possible so he wouldn't have to run
into me. The non-heir, Eve, Jayson, and Tyra were all positioned in
the towers along the eastern bluff where there were more
approachable shores for a warship to breach our harbor. Priscilla
and Ray had posts in the port itself along the front of the beach
in case the mentees tried to enter directly… Ella, two other
fourth-years, and I were stuck on the western bluff: the side
hindered by steep cliff walls and a foreboding surf.

My partners weren't happy - and they weren't
even a part of Combat.
Thanks Darren
, I thought sourly,
your message is loud and clear.

"Well, we will make sure to run fast if
someone lights their tower's beacon fire," was all I could say. It
was cold and windy in our station. The mid-August air was unusually
chilly and it had made the bluffs a terrible place to be,
especially with the icy chainmail brushing against our skin. No
amount of over-layers could shield us from that.

"I'll take the first watch," Barrett offered.
He didn't look very eager to gather the local rock for our
catapult. I couldn't blame him for wanting to avoid the task. I
wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the whole day gathering
ammunition until the mentees decided to make their move.

"Can't you just cast the rocks here?" Alex
grumbled.

"If the mentees take the war barge Darren
thinks they are using, we'll need to cast as much magic as possible
to sink it," I replied. "My magic will be needed to make the rocks
fly further. I can't waste it on something we can gather
locally."

My twin made a face. "I bet his highness is
making his partners do all the work."

I wasn't sure that was true but I was in no
mood to defend the prince. I elbowed my brother instead. "Come here
and help me with this rock, Alex. You wouldn't want to do less than
your ladylove. I'll be sure to tell Ella if you spend the whole
time complaining while I do all the labor."

My brother's eyes twinkled at the mention of
her name. "She really is wonderful, isn't she?"

I rolled my eyes, but secretly I was pleased.
Since Ella had given him a second chance last winter Alex had kept
to his word. He hadn't so much as looked at another apprentice, and
he had kept his flirtatious charm for her and her alone. The two
were happy. I could see it in Ella's eyes: she loved my brother,
and he her - even more, if it was possible.

It was the way Ian had started to look at
me.

It wasn't the way I looked at him.

"You and Ian are a great couple." Alex was
studying my face. "It's what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes." I took a shaky breath and reminded
myself that wanting anyone else was a farce. I just needed more
time. "Yes, it is."

****

Several hours had passed and I was forced to
remove my chainmail, no longer cold but pouring with sweat and heat
from an endless cycle of carrying large rocks from one side of the
bluff to our post.
This is useless
, I grumbled
, the rocks
are only good if the mentees actually attack our post… If they
attack someone else's
we are going to have to leave them
behind! And that will be four hours of wasted effort.

What was Darren thinking?

A slow fog had started to roll into the cove.
I could barely make out the houses lining its shore, let alone the
waters below us.

I called to my brother. "Can you see
anything?" Alex was currently stationed as guard while Barrett and
I collected the rock. At first I hadn't thought anything of the
damp air, but now I was starting to feel drowsy...

I was beginning to suspect the Combat mentees
had cast their first weather assault laced with some sort of
sleeping draft that the Alchemy apprentices might have brewed
up.

My brother yawned. "No there isn't any –
wait! Ryiah, Barrett, one of the others just lit their signal!"

I dropped what I was holding and rushed over
to the cliff's ledge. Just as Alex had said, there was a blaze of
orange and red in one of the eastern towers. It was harder to see
in the fog but it was definitely a fire.

"They must have spotted the mentees'
warship!"

The three of us took off for the beacon,
sprinting down the winding trail as fast as our legs could carry
us. We had almost five miles before we would reach the fire's
location. Most of the others would already be done casting by the
time we arrived.

About twenty minutes into our run I saw Ella,
waving frantically for us to stop. She was one station away from
the beach and two more from the fire's lookout.

"We have to keep going!" Barrett panted.
"We'll have to leave her behind!"

"You go right on ahead," Alex told the two of
us, "I'm going to see what she needs-"

"Ryiah!" Ella shouted. "I need Ryiah!"

"Go!" I told my twin. I didn't want to think
about what Darren would do if he found out I was defying orders,
but I told myself it would only take a minute to find out what was
wrong. Had Ella seen the fire? She must have, or at least guessed
it when she saw us.

I caught up to my friend. "Ella, what's
wrong? We saw the beacon down by the beach!"

Her eyes were wide. "I saw it too but then I
saw something else. My partners wouldn't listen but it doesn't
matter, I need someone from Combat…" She grabbed my arm and pulled
me to her tower's lookout, pointing to something below in the
waters. It was too hard to discern with the fog, just a cluster of
darkness in the shadow below.

"I think the mentees are using a longboat,"
she whispered. "It's fast. It's small. It could easily approach the
shore without anyone realizing!"

"But the others lit the signal fire," I
protested. "Why would they light it…?" I stared down at the eastern
waters. I could see a large barge approaching the shores. "See,
Ella, there's the mentees' warship."

"It could be a trap."

"Ella, that's just a shadow – we have
to-"

"Why would this fog be laced with a casting
for sleep?" She threw her hands up in the air. "Why is it only
extending as far as this side of the coast? Why would the mentees
try to shield the shore from sight?"

She had a point – and she'd assumed the same
as I about the casting. The fog was tainted.

"What should we do? Should we light another
fire? It would only confuse everyone. No one is going to come here
when there is a barge on the other side of the bluffs."

Ella studied the ledge. "We do this on our
own, Ryiah. I don't want Darren blaming us if we are wrong and
there really are mentees on that barge."

"So how do we get down there to the
longboat?"

"Do you remember Priscilla and your mentee
Merrick bragging about all the secret caverns along the coast?"

How could I forget? Priscilla and her vile
cousin Merrick, who had just joined the apprentice ranks this
summer, had done nothing but praise their family's township since
they arrived. Port Langli, or as I liked to call it, Port of the
Langli Cousins: each more loathsome than the last.

"Well, I am pretty sure I spotted a vertical
opening to one of those sea caves while I was gathering rock for
the catapult," she said. "It doesn't look like you can climb down…
but it was an opening and the bottom was filled with water. We
could jump in, find the exit, and then surprise the mentees from
behind while they are attempting to scale the beach."