The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (20 page)

To her surprise, the mage didn't react to the fire or attack any of the other wizards. They were doing enough to distract each other as the dragon and fire wizard seemed intent on taking down the man in gray. While the gray wizard used air to fend off attacks of stone from the dragon, he used a strange black shield to absorb the fire.

"What magic is that? Is it legal?" she asked as the wizard got drawn up in the furious action between the three wizards.

"Night magic is considered part of nature," Darius stated. "I haven't seen it used like this in ages."

"You know of it?" Anna asked in surprise turning away from the fighting to look at her grandfather. Night magic wasn't something that she had heard of either.

"It isn't something that was used in our world. It came from the world with the Dark One, as they refer to him now. The darkness eats the elements, though it can be defeated," he answered with a slight frown for the magic.

"Why has it never been taught in our schools?"

"Like I said, it was from another world. Almost no one has seen it and I have never met someone who mastered the magic."

His answer made the girl frown. "How can it be defeated?"

"Usually by over loading the spell with greater power."

Again his answer didn't seem that helpful. If power was the only way through it, then she feared facing more like this wizard.

The sound of stone slapping the earth or crashing to earth was deafening and the roar of fire drowned out the cries of the dragon man who seemed to be working himself up into quite a fury. Annalicia watched as the fire wizard appeared ready to concede, but not before he attempted to save face by defeating someone.

He let up on the gray wizard letting the other two wear themselves out fighting; but before he could think to attack, the mage sent lightning out making it dance along the ground. It avoided the swirling fire as it struck a metal rod near the man's feet. She had missed the mage throwing the rod into the fire wizard's circle, but as it struck the fire wizard was thrown from the ring and was saved from electrocution by the four wizards in charge of protecting the man.

Sixteen wizards surrounded the four and it was a good thing as shards of stone and fire often exploded outward. The lightning was well placed, however, and only required protecting the fire wizard who was now the first one out.

The dragon amazingly created a tail throwing a second metal rod away from his battle circle to avoid a similar fate without taking his attention from the gray wizard. The mage had been sneaky enough to avoid her attention, but his opponent hadn't missed the second metal rod.

She watched the mage's power surge and the water in the central pool responded sending tidal waves towards the two wizards' defenses. The dragon suffered the most damage and retaliated by attacking with a wave of stone. Now pulled into their battle, Anna expected the mage to be destroyed. Instead the gray wizard assaulted the dragon. The combination of the two drove him to his knees and only a green shield surrounding him protected the dragon for the moment.

Laughing at the dragon, the gray wizard actually had the nerve to shout a "thank you" to the mage. The sounds of battle kept the crowd from hearing it, but she could read his lips well enough. Sebastian, the battle mage, responded to the wizard verbally giving the dragon a moment to recover. It was then that the gray wizard held a third metal rod in his hand taunting the mage with his power. He wouldn't be caught, or so he believed.

When the mage's power surged once more, Anna's eyes widened. Lightning blinded her and the thunder was deafening. As she blinked her eyes to remove the flash of lightning that had split between the two wizards in an instant traveling along the water spilled by the mage moments before, Annalicia realized that the weakest of them all had just won. Except that the final blow hadn't been weak at all.

"How did he do that?" she asked with her voice sounding thin and distant after the thunder.

Her grandfather chuckled and he answered, "He is full of surprises."

When Darius went down to congratulate the battle mage, Anna was surprised. The two moved away to speak confidentially, which not only added to the surprise, but made her a bit jealous. She had asked if he planned to watch her match. While Darius tried to ease her worry by promising to return before her match began, it still made the wizard in her wonder at the strangeness of this unusual mage who made immortal wizards come to him.

Her thoughts on Sebastian and her grandfather had to be set aside as the wizards quickly put the duel field back together. Once it was ready she joined three other wizards from various countries. Two were from the north, though only a fire wizard was from Southwall. A water wizard from the island nation of Marianis was to her right, while Annalicia faced the fire wizard.

The last wizard was a man called Timerrin Herrol. He was from Rhearden; but as the duel began, an unusual alliance formed. Unspoken from the start, Annalicia joined forces with the other two women to drive the unlucky, lone male from his ring.

He fought hard and Anna wondered if she could have actually bested him alone. Fire hammered him from the east, while air and water came from the other two women from the west and south. Once removed, the water wizard from Marianis joined her in washing the fire wizard out of her ring as well.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the fire wizard was quite furious to be ganged up on, even if she had just been part of the trio which had done the same to the man from Rhearden. As the woman walked away complaining, while looking like a drowned cat; Anna faced the water wizard, who quickly realized that she had made a tactical error.

The pond was emptied of water, her favored element. Annalicia controlled a small amount of water that she had trapped, but relied on the combination of air and water spells to defeat her. While the woman from Marianis had been jubilant after triumphing over a fire wizard a moment before, her joy had been short lived before a tornado and other attacks had driven her out of her circle as well.

Shouts from the stands surrounding the Colonnades arena were nearly as deafening as the thunder from the previous match. Annalicia curtsied and waved politely to the crowd before walking hurriedly to the tables of food set near the stands for the competitors. When her new fans rushed forward, the wizard quickly used her air shield in defense. It spun around her causing those closest to the woman to cry out in surprise. While she tried to be gentle, the numbers come to congratulate the girl were overwhelming and dangerous.

A voice cried out chastising the crowd to no avail and Anna didn't hear it as they threatened to crush her in their excitement. She held up her hands before her waiting for the weight of the mob to crush her, but as she did Anna watched her hands disappear before her eyes. A force lifted her from the center of the large crowd and over their heads. Though she could not see her body, the wizard could look down as she was pulled quickly to the safety of the stands and to the waiting arms of her grandfather.

As she began to reappear a cloak was thrown over her making it hard for anyone to see who the bundled up figure was. Reynolvan and her guards were motioned over by Darius. Surrounding her, the men guided her away from the Colonnades to safety.

"Are you all right, my lady?" Ryan asked as he and Welden threw their arms around her using their bodies to block much of the view of the girl. Her platinum colored hair could give her away quickly, so the hood of the cloak remained on her head.

"Yes, I am fine, Ryan. You two don't have to keep covering me. I doubt that any of the fans have figured out which way I went. I'll wear the cloak, just in case; but you can ease up and give me some room to breathe," she finished with an uncomfortable laugh.

Reynolvan spoke up angrily, "My lady, it is too dangerous for you here. Let us keep you safe."

Frowning at the overprotective show of concern, Annalicia thought it odd to hear him change from a wizard speaking to another wizard to that of someone in the royal line. Most of the wizards knew her so well for her magic that they rarely treated her that way. Now Reynolvan was acting like he was protecting their queen rather than someone a dozen places away from the king's throne.

Letting out something between a sigh and a frustrated growl, Annalicia warned, "Reynolvan, don't be absurd. It is no more dangerous now than it was before today. The people were just excited after the match. Now that I am out of the initial storm, I am certain that we will be just fine. Stop treating me like your queen. You know that I am a wizard first and foremost.

"I don't even have a royal title and likely never will!"

She reasserted the power of her air shield forcing the men to release her. It was also necessary since it was still very cold this morning. Without the sun to help warm the day at all, the night's excessive cold remained in effect. Even her ability to resist the cold was being tested, she thought, until the wizard realized that she hadn't been able to eat anything after the duel.

Her stomach growled and she ordered the men around her, "Let's return to the inn, so that I can eat. I still want to see some of the other matches today. I need to know what I am up against in case the tournament officials figure out some other curve ball to throw at us tomorrow."

Glancing around, she noted an absence. "Where is Xerese?"

Reynolvan paled, but Ryan had been more observant than the worked up wizard. "Dillon and Toman pulled her away, though she wasn't being attacked by the crowd. Wizard Keith is with them too."

The last was a large fire wizard larger than most of their guards. He was trained in close combat skills as well, if they were needed. Knowing who protected her cousin, Anna relaxed. She also knew that the target of her fans affection was for her, not her cousin.

"Well, let's hurry back then. I'm starving."

Chapter 12- Miracles

The morning had dawned with gray clouds overhead once more and the cold of the north continued. For a tournament called Winter's Edge, Annalicia thought that it was still solidly held by winter. To hear Xerese complain, it was more like some dismal icy plane in hell; but Annalicia always fought from laughing at her more dramatic proclamations.

Her next match had been surprisingly easy. With her biggest worry being to have to fight one of the wizards from Gray Hall, Annalicia had been gifted an earth wizard representing Southwall.

The previous evening had brought the last sixteen competitors to a common hall the tournament committee had chosen as its base. This night looking around the large room, the remaining group seemed quite small.

Darterian, her cousin, remained standing beside her and a Tolmonan earth user as well. They were the last remaining three from beyond North Continent. A dragon, though they preferred to be called che'ther, and a gargoyle, which had a different racial name the girl hadn't bothered to remember because it was too long, stood out from the north contingent; but they were still from North.

Many of the competitors' eyes went to the three men in gray. Gray Hall had brought six wizards and three were now defeated, one of which had been in the loss to Sebastian, the battle mage. The remaining three were a menace to elemental users, which basically was what the tournament had brought together. Annalicia had caught a few of their matches and knew that these three were no joke.

When the morning matches started, the wizard from Malaiy was first. She alone remained from her country's entrants, but Anna had made it into the top sixteen. Anyone who lost now could still hold their head up high, though they all hoped to make the finals.

Her opponent was skilled with earth spells, but Annalicia overwhelmed him casting quicker magic. Her air and water combinations tore away his defenses early and had the man on the defensive almost from the start.

After her match was over, they shook hands; but Annalicia was reminded of a comment from the tournament judges presiding over a blind draw for positions. He had told them that there would be no more four way matches and that those who had possibly snuck through with easy rounds could no longer hide.

The battle mage had used his foursome well enough, though she didn't doubt his abilities either. If he had drawn her grandfather's notice, that alone should warn her that his apparent lack of power might be a ruse. She had felt his power ebb and flow. Strength reared up to smite his enemies one moment and the next he appeared a tenth of that same power.

She climbed the tower with Darius, her cousins and most of her fallen teammates. Ryan and Welden remained with her as always while Xerese, still complaining about the cold, followed.

Her attention was torn between the two matches going on in the Ponds and Royal Gardens arenas. These were the only two being used for rounds four and five, which would be all in the same day making the wizards' lives that much rougher in this tournament.

In the Royal Gardens, where she had finished earlier; one of the Gray Hall wizards fought against the gargoyle, which had been given the pass into the final sixteen. Watching the two trade powerful shots, Annalicia could see why they had brought the gargoyle back. Even with those strange darkness spells which drained the elements, the two seemed unwilling to give an inch.

The Ponds held a different sort of match entirely. Equally powerful in its way, the match featured a female nature wizard against the battle mage. To her eyes, the more significant spell attacks actually came from Sebastian. He countered the nature spells of a full wizard animating trees like golems and pulled massive amounts of water from the ponds setting her up as his defenses held up while hers failed.