Chapter 22: Ledas Runeward: Cavern

Baron Karian was striding, leading the new court mage through the castle. They passed the training grounds in a courtyard where an empty arena stood.

“Isn’t this the arena?” Ledas was keeping up with Karian’s quick steps.

“Yes, but I am not going to fight you here,” Karian spoke quietly as he turned his head towards the new hire. ”Do I really need to explain?”

“I would be grateful for that,” Ledas replied quietly. He had poor understanding of why they were speaking that way and moving down, towards the dungeons.

“Ugh… I think Wraith really wants me to babysit you…” it was almost impossible to hear what Karian said despite Ledas being next to him.

They moved through the dark castle dungeons until they reached a door leading to a wet cavern, that looked like a cistern. The air was heavy with moisture and the stone walls glistened. It looked like a water reservoir with a railing in the middle forming something of a similar shape to an arena. The place was cold and a light shaft from above illuminated the center of the circle, it felt eerie.

For some reason though, he was sure that he would be fine. Baron Karian didn’t make him uneasy, but it was clear to him, that he was about to lose in a mage’s duel. They walked towards the circle, and the echo of their footsteps was the only sound one could hear.

“Get into the circle Jester Runeward.” Baron was putting on gloves on his hands and stretching his neck. “You still don’t get it?”

Ledas obeyed and entered a poor low stance crossing his fingers into patterns. “No, Sir, I don’t”

“What do you think would have happened if we fought outside in the Arena?” As the two stood at the opposite sides of a 5-meter arena Baron was no longer whispering.

“We would have been in a place where people could see us I guess?” Ledas was unsure.

“Yeah, now defend yourself” Baron threw his palm, his glove which looked normal moments ago had a glowing red circuitry on it producing a small fire ball flying towards Ledas.

Ledas threw his hand forward forming a gallon of water between himself and fire, which in contact with fire quickly turned it into steam. But most importantly for him, the fire was quenched.

Karian was already in his flank, driving his fist into Ledas’ side from a very low stance, making him lose air, as the force made his ribs constrict, forcing him to bend sidewards. The fire spell was a distraction. Ledas quickly formed a spell in his other hand, trying to blast away the assailant.

Karian didn’t try to dodge, instead grabbing Ledas’ arm and pulling it to the side making the new court mage lose his balance

The air blast Ledas had been forming shot off to the side hitting the metal railing of the arena, bending it with a resounding clang, echoing in the cavern.

Karian drove his knee into the opponent's solar plexus making Ledas fall to the ground with a splash. His vision went dim as he was reaching for air lying in the shallow water.

“I brought you here, so others won’t see how weak you are. I didn’t even need to use spells to crush you. It's more than enough for General Wraith to see this. The Royal court should not be disgraced by weaklings like you.” He shifted his gaze from Ledas lying in the shallow water towards the entrance. Wraith was indeed standing there and watching.

“Thank you,” Ledas slowly regained his air while on the ground “for your consideration and gentleness.” He said slowly standing up. The punch was painful, but it was clear that his sparring partner was holding off.

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“Well, at least the kid could tell that you were nice to him.” Wraith chucked, already sitting on a railing of the improvised arena when Ledas caught his breath. “If you don’t like his battle prowess it's decided, you will train him, so he not bring…” he made a dramatic pause with a grin appearing on his face “...disgrace to our Royal Court. The decision is final unless he runs away today. You can show him the basics..”

“Yes Sir!” Baron gave a salute to General Wraith. His other hand grabbed Ledas by his collar lifting him up to his feet like a dog lifting his puppies.

Ledas copied the movements Baron did while saluting and stood still. Wraith left the cavern waving his hand as he passed the doorway. “Dismissed!”

Ledas relaxed and lowered his hand moving his fingers to apply some healing to his side.

“Hey, Court-mage.” Baron looked at Ledas with the corner of his lips slightly twitching, still holding him by the collar. “It looks like I fell for a trap, and now we are in this shit together. Time for round two!”

Ledas slowly stood up after losing consciousness in round two. His hair was electrified and stood vertically. His head and the whole body hurt, as if needles pierced through everywhere, but Ledas felt excited. This round Baron Karian was deliberately slower, telegraphing his movements and not entering close quarters. Ledas had tried to block an electrical blast with a water grid, but Karian blew the grid on Ledas with a wind spell, making the weakened lightning spell more painful on the impact than expected.

It was a brand new world of magic usage he had never seen before.

“You are fighting like you were trained by a hundred-year-old textbook, Runeward. Ones written for formal mage’s duels, and even in them you are suck!.” Karian was helping his new student to stand up. “Still want to join the court?”

“If that means having such a great tutor like you, yes.” There wasn’t a single note of sarcasm in Ledas’ voice.

“And there I thought you were at least smart! I don’t know what Wraith wants from you, but he told me to teach you basics or scare you away. So don’t simply blast air left and right like an idiot”

“Thank you again.” Ledas fixed his hair. “You could have removed me from here without an issue if we sparred upstairs. As almost no one knew I accepted the job, it wouldn’t have been a disgrace to the court, to you, or to the General. I guess I owe you a favor?”

“Oh, so you have noticed. Maybe you are not so hopeless after all.” Karian entered a firm stance. “Try to copy my movements, we will go through stances, if you can’t move properly in at least three stances, you can’t be called a battlemage!”

Ledas was glad that his magic was able to heal bruises, but despite all the healing after an hour of training his body felt broken and every move produced a phantom pain from all the strikes and spells that he had taken. His clothes were wet and beyond repair after the third round, and he had ten. Each round was no longer than half a minute, but still quite taxing on Ledas despite Karian being careful with his spells and strikes.

Still, it was the first time in three years that he properly crossed spells or discussed magic with someone. It was already three years that he got separated from his father and up to a few weeks ago he followed his father’s instructions to never use magic in public.

He was excited. Yes, it was painful and he lost his consciousness two more times for a few seconds, but he never knew that fighting with magic could be so… fun and fulfilling. He stood no chance in the fight, and if that was a real one he would have been dead within at most three seconds.

This wasn’t a real fight though it was sparring with a gentle teacher who controlled his output like a true master. Even if he would use all the tricks and a trump card which would make him lose his life he would still lose within ten seconds.

The only hit he landed on the Baron was a trap Ledas eagerly jumped in, only to find himself on the ground as a result. It was probably a lesson to teach him to avoid rushing in with attacks. The time almost stopped as he felt the agitation more and more with each time.

“Hey, kid. I think it's enough beating for you. You look like you are about to kick the bucket.” Karian removed his gloves.

“Huh, no, I am fine, what do you mean? Can I try to counter that strike one more time?”

“Kid, your face is pale as hell, you are probably out of energy, both magic and body. Don’t overexert yourself.” Karian didn’t wait for a response and moved towards the exit.

Ledas’ eyes bulged out. He was not out of magic, he had a lot of it left. It was chilling cold here, and in all this time he didn’t notice. He looked at his hands, they were almost white. His heart raced so fast he could hear his heartbeat drumming in his ears. A lump formed in his throat, as he lowered his face. He froze.

“How bad is it?” was the only question that ran in his mind. He waited until his new teacher left stepped into the light and opened his locket with a mirror.

It was fine. He indeed looked pale, but his eyes and hair still had normal colors and veins were not protruding. From experience, he probably had another half an hour in a cold place like this for his features to turn disturbing.

His heartbeat slowly returned to normal. Still, it was a close call.

He moved out of the dungeon towards the closest latrine trying to avoid people on his way. The first such place had a proper toilet and a sink: two of the best things otherworlders have brought with them after penicillin.

He washed his face until no grime was seen on it in the metal mirror hanging on the wall. He conjured the flame and forced his fingers into it while his face in the metal mirror on the wall quickly turned lively again. Doing that third time today wasn’t the best experience, but during winter he needed to do that up to six, so it wasn't that bad.