The students were suddenly alone huddled together and Ross stood helping Rina to her feet.

“We need to hurry. I do not know how long I can keep that freak away with my barrier.” Appearing out of the mist itself a tall and dark clad woman with the same sun-bleached blond hair and sun-tanned skin like the twins spoke. “That man is stupidly powerful.” She spoke bitterly, her apple green eyes locked on to the spot where the tall man had stood.

“Issa, can you beat him?” Ross asked, looking between the mist and the woman named Issa.

“If I was alone, then in time yes...” She said bitterly and Ross swallowed hard.

“Where are the other delvers? Wasn't Aeron and the others supposed to protect us?” Mary-Ann said fearfully as she had only seen Kiala being dragged here by her hair.

“They will not be joining us.” Said an unwelcome voice that caused the group to stiffen.

Following the direction of the voice the group could see the large man appear out of the mist with a wide grin and eyes filled with the promise of violence.

“Could you not act like all other meatheads and stay put.” Issa said after clicking her tongue she drew two long daggers from her dark clothing and crouched into a low stance.

“What would be the fun in that?” He said laughing as he cracked his massive knuckles. “Besides, I’d bring great shame on my father’s blood if I could not get through a paltry barrier like this.” He chuckled.

“Paltry?” Issa said in a low and dangerous voice. “I doubt that your father would be very pleased with your banditry either.” She said in a condescending tone.

“Hardly.” He said with a snort as he started slowly walking towards Issa. “My father only cared about strength, if you are strong enough you can do whatever you please!” He smile and stared down at the far shorter Issa. “Otherwise one will never become a Giant slayer!” He said as he stopped a handful of paces away from Issa.

“You’re one on of Kazik Zuhl’s brood?” Issa said disdainfully.

“Indeed, I am one among my many siblings that inherited my father's powers.” He paused and smiled widely. “Thus unlike many of my kin I am very thankful to my father.” His smile turned truly vicious. “Because thanks to father I am able to enjoy breaking strong men and women like you!” He shouted as he charged.

To the students the large man blurred, almost moving too fast for them to follow with their eyes. His speed made them question their eyes as there was no way a man of such size should be able to move so quickly. Yet, the first blow did not land. His massive fist hit nothing but mist that was blown away by the impact of the strike. In that moment Issa attacked from behind the man aiming for his lower back and back of his right knee. It was an attack from humans’ natural blind spot but the sound that followed was nothing like what one might expect. In a lightning fast motion the man spun on his lead foot and with his left fist and right knee he met the steel of the long daggers resulting in a sound of metal striking metal.

“Not bad girl!” The man shouted happily as he put more force behind his limbs and forced Issa back.

Issa jumped back quite far and as she stopped she clicked her tongue and glared at the man as mist gathered around her. The man just crossed his arms and smirked as Issa slowly vanished straight in front of him.

“I will give you credit, girl.” He said with a condescending smile. “Had your opponent been anyone but Semus Zuhl you might have stood a chance!” He unfolded his arms and gestured at the fog to come with his hands.

“How overconfident.” The fog spat at him causing him to frown. “You think that you are special? Don’t make me laugh. I admit that you are strong but you do not reach the feet of those at the pinnacle!”

Semus' smile froze in place and the air around him changed as his eyes turned murderous.

“Are you perhaps under some kind of misconception perhaps? Do you think that this is the extent of my power?” He spoke in a low rumbling voice. “You think that…” His speech was interrupted as Issa came at him from the side.

Semus twisted his neck out of the way of one dagger and slapped the other way with his left hand as Issa erupted from the mist only to fade away before his right fist could land. Clicking his tongue he for the first time took a stance where he lowered his centre of gravity and put his hands in a low guard as he scanned the mist around him wearily.

What followed was an exchange of attacks that defied common sense. Time and time again Semus bare hands deflected the steel blades and with uncanny speed he would immediately chase after Issa who either dodged his attacks with the tiniest of margins or mysteriously faded into mist.

It was a fight that was both martially and magically on a far higher level than the students had ever seen outside the Imperial tournament. Reinforcing one’s body to become hard as steel was hardly an uncommon technique. But to still retrain the speed to not only block the attacks but even counter attack was breath-taking. Yet the way Issa was able to avoid all those lightning fast attacks with a combination of her pure martial skill and her magic was equally impressive.

This was however not an even fight, Semus could deflect Issa’s attacks with relative ease but due to the immense power of his counters Issa could not afford to take a single hit. Thus it did not take long before the fight started to shift in Semus favour as Issa’s attacks decreased in number over time as she inevitably grew tired. Despite the breath-taking speed of the exchange Semus did not seem to tire or slow down at all. Soon he was pressing the attack forcing Issa to back paddle, sweat poured off her as she avoided the attacks with fewer and fewer opportunities to strike back.

“Done already?” Semus said disappointed as he stopped following and glanced over at the unmoving student.

Issa sensing the danger to her charges, lunged forward at the opportunity Semus’ wandering focus should give. The grin that appeared on Semus lips sent a shiver down her spine and she immediately understood her mistake.

It happened in less than a heartbeat, Semus' hand struck like a viper and caught her right arm extended with her dagger to cut Semus’s throat. She did not even have time to feel the dread of having been caught. Semus looked at her with a victorious smile as he squeezed and twisted his left arm. Issa screamed, her arm was crushed and bent out of shape and her dagger dropped.

Blinking through the pain she stabbed as fast as she could with her left arm aiming for the bottom of Semus chin with her remaining dagger. Yet all that happened was that Semus struck her fingers holding the dagger with his own fist. Immense pain flared in her hand as her fingers and even the hilt of her dagger deformed.

Despite the overwhelming pain she twisted her body and tried to kick Semus in the head but his knee intercepted her leg long before it could reach its target. She could feel her thigh bone crack with the impact that felt like being stuck by a hammer.

- “Feisty one aren’t ya?” Semus said mockingly as he lifted Issa by her mangled arm causing her to scream through clenched teeth.

Semus eyes looked from Issa dangling from his raised arm to the utterly terrified students only to frown at the still present thick fog.

“Impressive.” He said as he looked around. “To think that you are able to keep you barrier up under such circumstances…” He nodded his head in respect. “Impressive indeed.”

He smiled down at Issa with sparkling eyes only for Issa to spit at him. His smile grew wider as he looked down on her and wiped away the spit with his free arm.

“I will enjoy thoroughly breaking you.” He said and smiled before turning to the students and sighing. “But I suppose that will have to wait, I do after all have a job to do.” Saying this, his head snapped down and connected with Issa’s face causing her nose to cave in and her consciousness to snap.

As the caster of the barrier lost consciousness the mist slowly receded giving way and revealing the snowy landscape and the confused looking bandits. Semus nodded to himself and smiled as he carelessly chucked the motionless Issa away to the side as he walked over to the students with a wide and terrifying grin.

The students could barely hold their weapons up towards the monster in front of them. They all knew they stood no chance and Ross and Rina were the most disturbed after seeing Issa, a true powerhouse among their family’s retainers, being utterly broken before them. As despair was about to overcome the five of them an unhappy and familiar voice spoke causing Semus to stop only a few paces from the five.

“This is not how you should treat a young lady.”

Semus turned around and saw a grey robed man with wispy white hair crouched by the unconscious form of Issa. His high-pitched voice sounded both old and childish as he spoke.

“If you are so much stronger, why not indulge them? This is hardly a productive way of getting closer to another person.” The man did not even look at Semus as he reached out a hand towards Issa. “Or maybe you don’t like women? Maybe your mother didn’t love you enough… or maybe she loved you too much.” His voice was loud enough to carry but it sounded more like he was talking to himself.

Semus growled at the insult and vanished completely, as if to say that the speed he moved with earlier was only a warmup. In what to the students felt like was the same moment Semus appeared behind the grey robed man and struck down with his fist with enough power to scatter the snowflakes around him.

The sound that followed was completely unlike the previous fight. It was like the sound of steel striking solid bedrock. The snow around the two exploded outwards and once it settled, the students saw the robed man reach out behind him with one thin arm as he gently touched Issa’s battered body with a bony hand that glowed with green light.

The massive hand of Semus had been stopped dead in its tracks by a single frail looking hand and Semus was frozen in place with eyes wide in utter disbelief.

“I am a bit busy child, wait your turn.” Spoke the angry voice of Aspartos Mudreth, Imperial Archmage. And as he spoke, Semus was struck by an invisible force that sent him tumbling backwards, snow spinning wildly into the air around him. After landing over fifty paces away Semus was quick to his feet and with his face red rage and eyes flaring with murderous hatred he glared at Aspartos.

“You bastard.” He growled and turned to the one of the bandits he barked. “My sword!” Only to frown.

The bandit he looked at was motionless and his eyes were staring off into empty space. Semus blinked and noticed the odd colour of the bandits skin and glanced over at his other companions, only now did he notice that they all had the same icy blue tint to their skin.

“They are frozen solid!” He exclaimed without meaning to.

“Yes.” Aspartos said as he nodded to himself with a smile. “That should do for now.” He sounded pleased as he stood and looked down at Issa with a smile.

As he turned however his dark eyes held none of his usual mirth or childishness and he looked at the dumbstruck Semus.

“I never did like you father.” His voice was cold enough that it almost didn’t sound human at all. “He was always a bit of a brute, yet I see that his whelp is even worse.” He sounded disgusted. “I suppose that since you so enjoy hurting those weaker than you I have no reason to go easy on you.”

As he finished Semus was the first to act however, and he lunged at Aspartos with unbelievable speed. His massive frame dwarfed Aspartos and his fist hurtling towards the Archmage’s head was almost as large as the old man’s face.

Aspartos hand intercepted the massive fist once more and the impossible happened, the strike backed by the charging Semus was stopped seemingly without effort by the frail looking Aspartos. Semus muscles bulged and the thick veins on his neck popped with the effort.

“I see that like your father, you are confident in your strength.” Aspartos nodded. “Yet you have a rather long way to go before reaching your father’s strength.”

Aspartos moved his hand back causing Semus to stumble forward due to the sudden lack of resistance. In that moment of unbalance Aspartos stepped in. His fist struck the massive man in the gut sending him gliding backward with a painful groan before falling to his knees retching. Aspartos moved over to the students with a grin.

“You children sure are unlucky.” He cackled. “Well I suppose that they do say ‘all that ends well’.” He laughed. “I have some disciplining to do so would you be so kind and make sure that the young lady doesn’t freeze?” He said with a wink as he gestured at Issa. The students just stood there thunderstruck by the ease of which Aspartos handled Semus, but as he stood there facing the students Semus suddenly appeared behind Aspartos.

Semus body was wrapped in a pale red mist and in his hands he gripped a greatsword as tall as Aspartos.

“Watch out!” Marith shouted as the first to see the massive man appear with his greatsword swinging.

His warning had no hope of reaching Aspartos and the students watched in horror as blade flashed through the Aspartos with enough speed to leave an afterimage. It was like time stopped as they looked at the grinning Archmage.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Semus was not done. He followed up with an overhead strike that had enough force behind it to completely clear the ground of the thick layer of snow. Yet as the massive plum of snow cleared Aspartos was not laying on the ground cloven in four. He was instead standing next to Semus with his hands on his checks with a pale and shocked expression on his face.

“Dear gods that looked terrifying!” He said with mock terror.

Semus unleashed an inhuman roar and swung his sword sideways as if the massive thing weighed nothing at all.

“Careful where you swing that thing!” Aspartos shouted as he jumped back effortlessly in a way that belied his frail appearance.

Semus growled frothing at the mouth, before launching into a frenzied series of attacks that stunned the students. It was so violent that snow was scattered around him and at times it even looked like the sword multiplied.

“Berserking ey?” Aspartos said with a hum startling the students.

The student stared wide eyed at Aspartos who stood next to them rubbing his chin. Then they looked over to Semus and Aspartos who was nimbly weaving through the storm of steel that Semus unleashed on him. Their jaws fell open as they looked between the two Aspartos’.

“Well I suppose that this is rather pointless to continue if he has given over his mind to battle madness.” He sighed and shrugged.

“M-ma… Master?” Mary-Ann said while being unable to believe her eyes.

“Yes child?” He said with a smile as he looked over at Mary-Ann and raised his finger to the storm of flesh and steel that was Semus.

“W-what… what is going on?” She asked as her eyes shifted between the two men that looked like her Master.

“Oh I lost contact with the spell that I placed upon you when we signed the apprentice contract.” He nodded, completely misunderstanding the question Mary-Ann was asking.

“You did what?... wait that is not…” She was interrupted by Aspartos.

“Lightning.” Aspartos said in a deep voice so completely unlike his normal tone that the students shuddered.

His words were followed by what felt like the very world around them taking a deep breath. The silence that followed felt unnatural enough that it made the hairs on their arms raise. It did not last for very long however as in a heartbeat the world was filled with light and a sound similar to the cry of a thousand birds as an immense lightning bolt spilt the air itself.

The students had to close their eyes and cover their ears to protect them from blinding light and deafening sound.

As the ringing sound began to fade Mary-Ann blinked her tear-filled eyes and the blurry image that slowly came into focus made her jaw drop. Someone cursed under their breath but it was unclear who, as the sentiment was shared among the students.

Stretching from Aspartos as far as they were able to see, a perfectly straight furrow had been carved in the snow, even scorching the earth beneath it. Some twenty paces away lay the still smoking form Semus completely still. Even from where they were, they could smell the sickly sweet stench of charred human flesh. Rina gagged and covered her mouth and the others were not doing much better.

“Well, that about does it I’d say.” Aspartos said in an unconcerned voice as he dusted off his hands. “But now that I think about it…” He trailed off and scratched his cheek. “No one expected me to bring him back alive right?” He asked no one in particular before answering his own question. “No, no of course not.” He said and nodded, apparently having convinced himself. “No one could reasonably expect frail old me to capture such a brute alive,”

““HOW ARE YOU FRAIL?!”” The students practically screamed internally.

“Well I’ll just make a report to the enforcers when we get back and they can deal with it.” He said, sounding pleased by the solution. “Well the young lady needs some proper medical attention, so I suppose we should not dally.” He turned to the students. “Let’s head back shall we?” He smiled broadly.

It took a bit of time for those words to sink in and the group ended up looking at one another for quite some time. They were rather shook up by all that had happened. Ross and Rina felt especially bad as they had known that Aeron had something planned, yet had not warned the others. They had been confident that they, along with whatever bodyguard their father had sent to the Academy would be enough for any threat, they had been proven sorely mistaken. They had not only put themselves in danger but their friends as well and more importantly their actions had put Issa in harm’s way and she had been terribly hurt. They had not even managed to make it to Delver town not to mention getting the herb they were after. So they just stood there feeling torn as they looked around themselves in stunned disbelief.

“Well?” Aspartos said, looking confused at the students.

“W-we…” Rina said a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. “We haven’t gotten the herb…” She said in a small voice that was very unlike her.

“Why not just pick it after midwinter when you have your survival exam?” Aspartos frowned.

“But… but what about Morgan?” Mary-Ann said, biting her lip.

“What about him?” Aspartos said, blinking.

“What if he doesn’t make it?!”Rina shouted suddenly, angry enough at herself and Aspartos that tears came unbidden to her eyes.

“What are you talking about? Morgan awoke this morning.” Aspartos gave Rina a puzzled look.

““W-WHAT?!”” The all shout practically at the same time.

Aspartos took a step back and covered his ears and frowned.

“Why are you yelling?” He gave them a sour look while rubbing his ear unhappily. “He started regaining his mana before you even left the Academy, was it not you lot that noticed that first?” Aspartos said, confused. “With that his recovery was only a matter of time...”

“Why didn’t you tell us about that Master?!” Mary-Ann shouted angrily.

“I-I um thought you knew… also you were so intent on going on an adventure that I didn’t want to spoil your fun…” He looked at the exasperated and angry expressions on the students and frowned. “What? You couldn’t possibly imagine that you would be able to make a working elixir of the four seasons, right?” His expression turned curious.

When they thought about it the expressions of the student shifted from anger to indignation and finally landed on embarrassment. Well on four of them at least.

“Why would we not?!” Marith said firmly, embarrassing the others further.

“That’s the spirit!” Surprising them all, Aspartos spoke with a wide smile. “Experiencing the world first-hand and questioning the established truth! That is the only way forward and the first step to new discoveries!” He said gesticulating happily as he turned and walked over to Issa. “Always question the known and seek the unknown!” He shouted happily as he easily scooped up Issa, who was both taller and more muscular than Aspartos into his arms with ease. “If you feel that strongly, I will argue no further!” He strode back to them smiling.

Only now did they notice that he was walking on top of the thick snow like it was the most natural thing in the world. Aspartos noticed their wide eyed looks and smirked.

“You better study hard if you want to be able to walk on snow like I do!” He spoke almost tauntingly as his feet danced on top of the snow.

The group looked at one another and saw haggard expressions that mirrored what they all felt. The absurd sight of a truly ancient man merrily dancing on top of snow with a wounded and unconscious woman in his arms was enough to break any excitement and resolve they had to see this through.

“Is… Is Morgan really alright?” Mary-Ann said hesitantly.

“He is still rather, no. Very weak, but I’d say he is out of the woods, so to speak.” He nodded sagely. “He will probably be up and about in a week or two. With luck he might even be able to join the survival training.” Aspartos looked rather pleased with himself as he said this.

“We… we’ll go back…” Rina said while glancing tiredly at the others who did not object.

“Good then gather around!” Aspartos said excitedly.

His words set off warning bells for the group but they did as they were told. Before Rina could ask what Aspartos was planning as a terrifying amount of mana flooded out of the Archmage. It was enough mana that even untrained as they were, they were clearly able to see it as it sank into the snow melting it before forming a complex magic circle on the frozen ground. Alarmed Louie was about to ask what was going on but Aspartos' voice cut him off.

“Return” His voice echoed as the circle flared.

What happened next felt like falling. It was as if a giant hand had flipped the very earth so that they were suddenly falling towards the sky. The sensation was terrifying and nauseating but it did not last very long as they were blinded by the light of the circle and in the next moment the hand flipped the world back once more.

The students fell unceremoniously to the unfamiliar floor in disorganized heaps as their minds tried to both make sense of what happened and attempted to orient themselves. This unnatural experience was enough to have them all lose their lunches and Aspartos groaned unhappily.

“I’m not cleaning after you.” He said firmly, avoiding the ‘splash zone’ and he walked off and opened a door leading to a room utterly cluttered with books, scrolls and parchment. “Sorry about the mess by the way, my apprentice was supposed to clean my office but as you know stuff happened.” He shrugged and turned back to the group.

“My office?” They thought collectively as realization dawned on them.

“Teleportation magic!” Louie said as he wiped his mouth and got up on unsteady legs. Louie looked down and saw that a magical circle similar to the one they had just seen was carved into the marble floor. It was filled with some blue molten gemstone and was about six meters wide with a far more intricate design than the one from before. He looked up with a mixture of awe and disbelief at Aspartos who simply tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

“Of course?” Aspartos sounded mystified. “Mastery of spatial magic is one of the requirements to become an Archmage.” He said it in a tone that made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I was taught it was a lost art.” Louie said in a wondrous voice as he studied the pattern on the floor.

“What do they even teach you nowadays?” Aspartos clicked his tongue annoyed. “Just because it takes a bit of studying and a bit more mana than most spells, that hardly makes it one of the lost arts.” He snorted.

Louie felt a bit dubious about the ‘a bit more mana’ part considering the overwhelming amount of mana the Archmage had used on the spell that had transported them. Yet he felt very excited by the fact that teleportation magic was indeed real. He was about to ask more questions when Rina shouted.

“Wait a damn minute!” She stood on unsteady legs and glared at Aspartos. “What are you going to do about the people we just left behind?” Aspartos just blinked at her angry voice not understanding. “What about the three delvers that betrayed us? What about the bandits, and what about Kiala who tried to help us!” She shouted, still pale and unsteady.

- “Well, um…” Aspartos' face twitched as he stood there laughing nervously with Issa still in his arms.

“And what about the coach driver?! You just left him in the middle of nowhere without a word!” She was growing angrier by the second,

“Well, t-the bandits froze to death so you don’t have to worry about them.” He said with an awkward cough.

“Froze to death?” Rina narrowed her eyes dangerously and Aspartos nodded with a sudden smile. “What of Kiala?” She asked in a low voice. “She was dragged over to where we were by the bandits, don’t tell me she…” She was interrupted.

“No, no. If you mean that dark-skinned woman she was fine, she was just pretending to be unconscious and I obviously wouldn’t attack a victim of bandits!” Aspartos said while puffing out his chest in pride.

“But the bandits dragged her over by the hair.” Rina’s tone was freezing at this point. This gave Aspartos a pause and he looked away mumbling to himself for a bit. Rina was feeling utterly infuriated with the Archmage’s lackadaisical actions and was about to give him an earful.

“Well hair grows back.” Aspartos said with a shrug.

Rina was about to snap when the door to the cluttered office was flung open and a winded Grandmaster Hypocra hurried into the room, almost toppling over a poorly placed stack of books.

“What’s the emergency?!” The Grandmaster shouted as he tried to catch his balance and steady his breathing.

“Why is everyone shouting today?” Aspartos muttered annoyed. “Well good timing Hypocra.” Aspartos walked over to the Grandmaster without tripping over any of the many obstacles. “This young lady needs a splint for her arm and leg and more importantly she needs her left hand set and healed properly.” Saying this he simply handed over the unconscious Issa to the flustered Hypocra. “Now I have to go talk to the enforcers, so I leave the rest to you.” Saying this he nodded sagely and bolted out of the office.

Left behind the Hypocra looked over wide eyed at the students who were mostly still laying on the now dirty magical circle.

“He ran away…” Ross said as he forced himself to stand despite the nausea.

Suddenly Mary-Ann began laughing and crying as she sagged on the ground careful to avoid the puke. Louie walked over and sat down against the closest wall resting his head in his hands. Ross stumbled over to Rina and the twins hugged each other in relief. Marith for his part hurled some more and Hypocra just stared in utter shock at the scene before him.

“What happened?” Hypocra asked, looking between the unconscious Issa in his arms and the students that had left the Academy not even two days prior.

It took quite some time for the students to collect themselves and after Hypocra made sure that Issa was stable he gently placed her on a bench that he cleared of clutter. After this he walked over and examined the students who were all unhurt, much to his relief. The students haltingly explained what happened as Hypocra looked them over.

“You were attacked by the lawbreaker?!” He exclaimed, startled. “There should be a limit to how unlucky you could be…” He trailed off, shaking his head at the students’ misfortune.

“That Semus guy was famous?” Marith, who had been the one telling most of the story, asked.

“Far more infamous than famous, but yes. He is one of the many children of Kazik Zuhl and among the handful of them that inherited some of his father’s strength. Unlike his father and siblings however, Semus the Lawbreaker has no concept of loyalty to the empire and has been causing all manner of problems up north.” He took a deep breath as he lamented. “It was recently announced that the empire had placed a five hundred gold bounty on his head.” He exhaled tiredly. “I suppose his luck at avoiding the law finally ran out.” He laughed humourlessly.

There were a few moments of silence as the group absorbed this and the first to speak was Marith.

“That sounds like a rather large amount of gold.” He thought back and shuddered as he remembered the terrifying power of Semus. “Then again maybe not. Considering the risks.”

The others just nodded and when Hypocra said that he was going to call one of the cleaners to clean the mess they had made they thanked him and followed the Grandmaster to the healer’s wing. On the way over, Rina, who was reluctant to take the Archmage’s word for granted, asked Hypocra about Morgan’s condition.

“He is doing surprisingly well.” Hypocra answered with a deep frown. “His tenacity and will to live is almost terrifying to be perfectly honest with you.” He chuckled. Then he bid the students farewell and headed to a treatment room with Issa.

After parting with Hypocra the group came to the room Morgan was using. When they opened the door a skinny figure with shoulder length silver streaked brown hair was standing with his back to them.

“Morgan!” Rina shouted and rushed into the room.

Morgan turned surprised as Rina rushed over and hugged him. In his utter shock his mouth was incapable of uttering anything but incoherent stuttering. The first to speak was therefore Marith who entered with the others.

“Why is it so damned cold in here?!” He shouted as he hugged himself.

The others noticed this as well and soon saw that the windows were opened and there was frost on the windowsills. They all looked perplexed at Morgan who much to their surprise now had pale silvery blue eyes. The surprisingly cold colour did little to conceal the warmth in Morgan’s eyes.

“O-oh, um well…” Morgan sputtered as Rina released him and closed the windows.

“I am so glad you are alright Morgan.” Rina spoke in a warm voice that was very unlike her normal self.

“Umm… yeah, sorry for worrying you.” Morgan said with a smile fighting the blush he had gotten after he finally realized that Rina had been hugging him. “Thanks.” He said as he turned to everyone in turn and bowed.

This was a rather happy moment but Marith had simply had enough for the day and thus walked over and unceremoniously picked up Morgan over his shoulder.

“I refuse to spend another second in this damnable cold!” He growled and carried Morgan off with the other trailing behind while laughing.

Standing alone in the cold room, Rina wore a half-smile that was both incredibly alluring and at the same time terrifying as she spoke to herself.

“Well I did warn him about making me worry.” Her smile widened and she followed the others.

End of book one of The Archmage’s Apprentices.