The Silver Dwarf (Royal Institute of Magic, Book 4) (8 page)

Joshua fired. Ben hung on for dear life. Joshua turned, almost lazily, and came round for another go, at a slightly different angle. Ben only just managed
to adjust his position, to keep the tree trunk between himself and a direct attack, before Joshua fired again. The tree was peppered with spells, but Ben
managed to avoid them. Again and again Joshua fired, with the margin for error getting ever smaller. Each time, Ben was able to make only tiny inroads up
the tree, before scrambling back into a defensive position. The lack of pace was infuriating. Was Joshua simply toying with him? Had he guessed that Ben
was almost out of spells? More importantly, did he know what was going on at the other end of the battleground? Without having an owl, surely he was
clueless or else he would have finished Ben off by now.

“Ben!” Natalie came through as a frantic squeal. “Will is down! They’re climbing the tree! They’ll be here in less than a minute.”

Ben cursed. He was pinned down, and couldn’t move more than a few feet at a time. He glanced up. He still had a good twenty feet to go. He wasn’t going to
make it. It was time to change tactics. Ben drew his spellshooter out, and got into position – no longer cowering behind the tree, but with a full view to
track and shoot any oncoming target. He watched as Joshua came right at him, noting the slight frown as he clocked Ben’s change in position. Ben waited as
Joshua flew ever closer. To his surprise, Joshua didn’t open fire from a distance like normal – was he too running out of pellets? Ben waited until he
could see the green of the darzel’s eyes and the saliva trailing from his sharp, white teeth before pulling the trigger. Joshua fired at exactly the same
time. A flurry of spells crossed mid-air, some even colliding in an explosion of sparks. Joshua was almost upon the tree when Ben’s last remaining spell
clipped the darzel’s wing. The creature screeched and went into a nose dive. Joshua reacted instantly, and flung himself onto the tree, grabbing hold of a
branch, and grunting as he slammed into the trunk. For a split second, Ben had a clear shot. Joshua was busy rubbing his head, unaware of the danger. Ben
pointed his spellshooter and fired.

Nothing happened. He was out of spells.

Ben cursed. He almost threw the spellshooter down at Joshua, hoping to dislodge him, but remembered that might be against the rules. Instead, he started
climbing. As he approached the nest, Ben had to think about how to climb round the sides to get inside.

“Ben!” Natalie’s voice was a screech. “They’re here! They’re about to climb into the nest!”

Ben accelerated, all thought of self-preservation forgotten. He practically flew up to the nest, and grabbed hold of the base. Groaning with effort, he
managed to find a branch so he could keep climbing up and around the nest. Just one final spurt and he’d be inside.

A spell smashed into the nest, making the whole construction shake so violently that Ben almost lost his grip. He glanced down, and saw Joshua slowly
climbing up, spellshooter in hand, the tip glowing. Ben braced himself, as another spell collided into the nest, this one more violent than before.

Ben knew he had to move. He could practically envision Aaron climbing inside his team’s nest right now. The thought spurred him on and, with a cry of
defiance, he leapt up, and over the nest, falling into the small basket, head-first. He righted himself, and looked about frantically.

The blue flag stared innocently back at him, planted firmly into the basket. His heart almost exploded with exhalation and relief.

“Ben!” Natalie shouted. “It’s too late, they’re—”

Ben’s hand swept up the blue flag.

A loud horn sounded from somewhere far off.

Not one horn, but two, each a slightly different pitch, Ben realised.

“What’s that noise?” Ben asked, speaking into the spellshooter.

“Oh my goodness!” Natalie said. Her frantic, almost fever-pitch tone had gone, replaced with relief and unexpected joy. “You must have picked up the flag
at exactly the same time as Aaron. Both horns have gone off. It’s a draw!”

Ben wasn’t sure how long it took him and Charlie (who came back to life as the game ended) to stumble down the tree and make their way back to the centre
of the battleground. Neither felt in a hurry and both revelled in the fact that they could just walk without fear of being shot at. It was most liberating.

The reaction of the two teams to the result of the game was vastly different. The moment Ben and Charlie made it back, they were surrounded by their team. To a
man, they were grinning ear to ear, even Damien and Lydia. Ben was pleased to hear the crowd giving them a thunderous welcome, and delighted to see the
D’Gayle team looking sullenly on. The sour expression on Aaron’s face was priceless.

“I can’t believe you guys did it!” Natalie said, giving them both effusive hugs before the rest of the team could get in.

“It was Ben, mainly,” Charlie said, his face going red. “I just came along for the ride.”

“Complete rubbish,” Ben said. “How did you guys do?”

“We held them off as long as possible,” William said. “As expected, they were really well trained as an attacking group, and ran all sorts of different
strategies, many I’d not even seen before.”

“Will was incredible,” Lisa said. “We only held out that long because of him.”

The others nodded in approval, and Ben realised again how lucky he had been that Will had decided to join his team.

His thoughts were interrupted by footsteps, and he turned around to see Aaron approaching. The sour expression had gone, replaced with a gracious smile.

“I just came to congratulate you guys on a great game,” Aaron said, extending his hand.

A few of Ben’s team looked at Will, to see how he would respond. William didn’t hesitate in stepping forwards and accepting the handshake, leading the rest
of the team to do the same.

Aaron stepped back, hands on hips. “I don’t think I’ve ever played in a tie game before. It was definitely a surprise for both myself and the crowd. I
think they were expecting a winner.”

“It was a surprise,” William said. “Not that surprises are bad – quite the opposite actually, they often make a nice change.”

“I agree with you completely,” Aaron said. He gave an awkward smile and pointed a thumb back at his team. “I have to confess, my team were hoping for a
replay. A few of them even heard the crowd demanding one. They’re not used to seeing a draw, you see, and I think they’re a bit unsatisfied.”

“They look fine to me,” Ben said.

Aaron gave one of his great patronising smiles. “Of course, now that you’re here, they’re putting up a front. But underneath, it’s a different story. Trust
me.” Aaron extended his arms. “So what do you say, do we have a replay?”

The team looked to William, and William turned straight to Ben. His initial reaction was to say yes. With more training, he was certain now he could beat
the D’Gayle team. On top of which, it was fun as hell, and got the adrenaline going like all great games did. He looked at his team to see if he could read
their thoughts. It was fairly obvious that Lydia, Damien, Simon and Lisa were up for another game, and a chance to get one over on Aaron’s team. William’s
expression was completely neutral and impossible to read. Both Charlie and Natalie, however, were a different story. They both looked anxious. It took Ben
a moment to realise why.

Elizabeth’s Armour. Tracing down the meaning of the dark elf symbol. The second grade of the apprenticeship. These were the things that mattered, and he’d
put almost no attention on them while focusing on the spellstrike game. Another game would surely continue to distract him from what he should be doing. It
was a soul-crushing decision, but he knew what he had to do.

Ben looked Aaron right in the eye. “Thanks for the offer, but we’re going to have to pass.”

Aaron was caught by surprise, and Ben could see from the corner of his eye the surprise and disappointment from some of his team.

“Fair enough,” Aaron said, recovering quickly. “It’s your choice, of course. Some people aren’t going to be best pleased, but I’ll see what I can do to
handle them.”

“Why’d you say no?” Simon asked, as soon as Aaron was out of earshot. “We could take him down next time, I’m sure of it.”

A few of the others voiced similar thoughts, until William raised his hand.

“It’s Ben’s choice, and we have to respect that. Personally I’m sick of dealing with Aaron, so I’m happy with Ben’s decision. Let’s face it, none of us –
except Ben – thought we had a chance of winning, so let’s be satisfied with what we achieved, and move on.”

Ben smiled his thanks at William’s support. He felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders, knowing the spellstrike ordeal was finally over, and without
losing face against Aaron.

Now it was back to the simple matter of completing the second-grade apprenticeship and continuing their search for Elizabeth’s Armour before the dark elves
took over the world.

The following Monday, Ben arrived at the Institute raring to dive into the apprenticeship. What he wasn’t expecting was the mixed looks he got from fellow
apprentices. Many congratulated him on the spellstrike game, but others gave him disappointed, even annoyed stares.

“Ignore them,” Natalie said. “Aaron has been at it again, explaining that the reason we’re not getting the replay is because you didn’t want one. There is
even a silly rumour going round that you were too scared for it.”

“Morons,” Charlie muttered.

“I really don’t care,” Ben said with a shrug. “I’m done with Aaron’s games. I just want to get on with the apprenticeship and forget about him.”

They lined up for morning muster and were early for once. Ben watched as the apprentices wandered in, and the room slowly filled up.

Dagmar, Master of Apprentices, walked in, with one minute to spare. Not for the first time, she reminded Ben of a miniature army general, with her
impossibly straight back, crisp clothing and baton held behind her back. The effect was ruined slightly by her comically large shoes and her long eyelashes
that softened her otherwise rock-hard face.

“Good morning, apprentices,” Dagmar said, after she had rattled off muster. “I have a couple of announcements to make – the first applies to everyone; the
second to a select few.”

Like everyone else, Ben’s interest was piqued. Dagmar didn’t often make announcements, but when she did, they were usually interesting.

“The first announcement concerns the dark elves. I have made it known to all the directors that I want as little disruption as possible, but Draven, the
Head Warden, is in desperate need of resources in the War Room, so don’t be surprised if you are requisitioned at some point. There are various duties the
other directors have requested, but I will attempt to tie them in with your apprenticeship, so you are not wasting time. Is that clear?”

Simon’s hand shot up. “What is this War Room? It sounds awesome.”

“You will find out, should you be called to work there. Any other, less ridiculous questions? No? Good. My next announcement is only for Ben, Charlie, Amy,
Georgia, Frederick and Aaron. The rest of you are dismissed.”

The apprentices filed out, many of them giving Ben and those remaining a curious stare. Ben noticed they were all second-graders, by the two stars floating
above their right shoulders. He didn’t know Amy, Georgia or Frederick that well, but they had hung out a bit recently and he found he enjoyed their
company. When they were alone, Dagmar called them forwards, and they lined up behind her desk.

“You six are here because I have booked you in for the second-grade exam in exactly four weeks from today,” Dagmar said.

Ben saw the colour drain from his fellow apprentices’ faces – except for Aaron, who looked perfectly calm.

“Needless to say, you all have work to do to catch up in various departments. Now that the spellstrike game is over, I expect your full commitment and
attention to finishing the handbook checklist and readying yourself for the second-grade exam. I don’t need to remind you that failure constitutes
elimination from the apprenticeship. Any questions?”

None were raised – partly, Ben suspected, because nearly everyone was in shock.

“I will attempt to exempt you from dark elf duties for as long as possible, but I suspect, as all of you are competent apprentices, that you will be drawn
in sooner rather than later. However, they have assured me it will not occupy more than an hour per day, until you have finished your exam. I have managed
to temporarily excuse you from Barrington School, so you can come straight here in the morning. Any further questions? No? Good. Dismissed.”

Ben and Charlie headed straight to their lockers, pulled out their handbooks, and went to the common room.

“Over here, guys!” Natalie said, waving. She had saved them a nice table in the corner, surrounded by low, squishy chairs. They plonked themselves down,
and opened their textbooks on their laps.

“Exam in four weeks,” Charlie said, meeting Natalie’s enquiring stare.

“Oh my goodness,” Natalie said. “You guys are going to be swamped.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I guess that means we won’t be able to research
that dark elf symbol we found in the dwarf hall. I’m really curious as to what it might be.”

“So am I,” Ben said, his head buried in his checklist. “But as much as I hate to say it, it’s going to have to wait. As usual, I’m behind in Diplomacy and
Scholar. I’m just about on target in Trade, and I’m ahead in the Warden and Spellsword departments.”

“Basically the opposite to me, then,” Charlie replied. “I’m well ahead in Scholar and Diplomacy. I’m a little behind in Trade, and well behind in Warden
and Spellsword.”

Ben glanced up at Natalie, and made sure nobody was watching them. “I really can’t see Charlie or myself getting even a minute free for the next four
weeks. If you get any time, could you do some research into the dark elf symbol?”

“I’m sure I can,” Natalie said. “I’ve already got a few ideas of where to look. How about we meet up at Cherzo’s for dinner at six o’clock each night for a
catch up?”