I came out of my memory place hot! From sitting in a chair at the beginning I found myself lying on the floor. It was always a bit jarring but never anything like this.

Instructor Falaise stood over me, hands on hips. “I’d help you up but wouldn’t be able to move your weight. Come on! We need to test some spells.!”

Groaning, I got to my feet. She beckoned on out into the hallway and I followed. Down the stairs and out to the parade ground. Jackson was doing something out there with several of the castle guard, along with Marko and Tomaz. I waved as we walked by.

Going out the main gate we turned opposite the village and came to the front lawn of the castle. The armsmaster was out there instructor the other dwarves in the crossbow. “Mike, so glad you could join us.”

“Sorry sir. I’m working on another priority at the moment.” I called back.

“Yes, he is!” Instructor Falaise piped up. “No poaching!” She pointed at him and the lean human laughed.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, madam.” Armsmaster Oryan bowed low. “We’ll just have to schedule him some time to catch up. Perhaps during his normal sleeping hours?” A salt and pepper eyebrow crooked.

Trying to ignore him I asked, “What do you want me to shoot at?”

“May we use one of your targets?” Instructor Falaise asked the armsmaster.

“As ever, I am your servant.” He told her, with a very faint curling of his lip under that glorious moustache to indicate he may be joking. The three dwarves were shooting their crossbows at two rows of targets. Bron picked up and moved to the side. I nodded thanks.

“I just need the close one. My spell doesn’t have the kind of range to need anything more distant than that.” I told the target shooters. El Tar had one eye closed as he tried to zero in on the middle ranged target, at about 50 feet. He loosed and the quarrel thudded into the ground. Hera hooted and he looked sad.

“I’m going to try Snowcone first.” I told Falaise. She nodded.

The winter grasses were grazed short, so there wouldn’t be any major barrier to the spell hitting. I took my initial stance and the instructor put a hand on my arm. “Discern Magic first, then watch yourself cast the spell. You might be able to learn something from watching the energies flow.”

“Good call.” I nodded. This one I hadn’t cast as much as the others, so the gestures and the chant felt a bit foreign. I got through it and my vision took on a slightly fuzzy quality. The armsmaster’s armor glowed a brilliant sapphire blue and his sword was a dull brown. Instructor Falaise had a glowing brooch that was a deep green with red splatters over it and belt of pure white. I stared at them and she snapped in front of my face.

Coming out of the trance I focused on her. “Pay attention to your spell. Discern Magic won’t last forever.”

She was right. I shook the cobwebs out of my head and went through the chant and litany of Snowcone.

Halfway through I stopped. Thankfully, it wasn’t into the spell enough to burn it out from memory. “I was casting Snowball.” I shook my head again.

“Concentrate Mike, you can do this.” Falaise said calmly.

“Let me practice the gestures first, then I’ll try to add in the chant.” I said. She nodded.

My fingers twisted through the gestures, bending unnaturally. I did that twice and then again. After that I tried the chant. It felt weird to do one without the other but was good that I got through it without apparent error. It took four tries but I did make it all the way through.

Finally, I was ready. I splashed some water onto my hand and palmed the spinneret. I started chanting and my fingers began twisting. The nonsense words poured from my mouth, rushing into your ear and out of the listener’s memory just as quickly.

I conjured a softball sized globe of ice. That made me grin. Winding up, I lifted the iceball to my chin, then stepped forward. Underhand, I tossed it towards the target.

Complete miss. The ball rumbled across the winter grass until it eventually dissipated in the distance.

“Gutter ball!” Hera cried.

“Strike one!” El Tar said. Bron just shook his head.

“Will y’all shut up? I’m trying to learn here.” I waved the peanut gallery away and went back to my runic sheet. I looked at my instructor, “Hey, I cast it.” I told her with a grin.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“That you did. Those weeds off in that corner have never been so menaced.” She told me with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes and studied the sheet again. “I’ll try Exploding Snowball next.” I said. My teacher shrugged.

Going over the gestures again until they felt right was weird. I was just standing there twisting my fingers. I did it though. Then the chant, one word and then the next until they could just slip from my tongue. Taking a deep breath, I was ready.

First, I poured water into my hand. Then my dripping fingers began the runic gestures and I chanted the words to the spell. It felt weird from the beginning. Much like when you’ve run to far, too fast, and are about to throw up. I rushed to finish the words to the spell.

Finishing the chant, I hit my knees. No vomit, but my stomach heaved. I gagged a couple of times and sour spit came up into my throat. My vision swam for a few minutes.

“I’m guessing that means there wasn’t enough mana to fill the construction.” Falaise told me. “What happens then is it tries to get the juice it needs from somewhere and pulls from your body. What you’re feeling is mana sickness.”

I got to one knee. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“Anytime. Now I’d go back to Snowcone.” She told me.

“You okay brother.” El Tar asked as he stood back from Hera firing her crossbow.

“Yeah.” I paused and stood, wavering a little. “I’m good.” Bron looked me up and down, then grunted.

“Concentrate on your bow work.” Oryan told the dwarves. They grumbled but went back to shooting. Each one was doing evolutions, loosing quarrels from the prone position, from one knee and from standing. They all got more accurate the closer they were to the ground.

Finally standing steadily, I thought through what I needed for Snowcone. I took a deep breath and poured water on my fingers. They twisted through the runes as I chanted. Faster and faster, pouring forth from me as if through a cataract.

The ball of ice appeared in my hand. I grinned, my quartz teeth shining in the wan sun of the winter day. I held the ice ball up, just under my chin, braced by my left hand. Taking a couple of steps forward I threw my right arm backward to get the momentum the spell needed.

“CHOKE!” Hera yelled.

“Miss it! Miss it! Miss it!” El Tar screamed. Bron just grunted.

I looked over at them in surprise and the ball flew out of my hand at an angle. It went clear away from the target to sploosh against a particularly thick pile of roots. “What the hell guys?” I rolled my eyes at them.

“That’s 100% what we’d do at a bowling alley.” Hera grinned. “It seemed appropriate.”

Falaise was chuckling at the antics of my fellow dwarves. “Its good to learn with distractions. There will be plenty of them on the battlefield.” She told me. “That’s two. You have two more memorized, correct?”

“Yes ma’am. That means I need to get this one.” I answered.

Breathing in and out a few times to center myself, I poured the water on my hands. My fingers again twisted through the runic shapes and I said the cant. Palming the spinnerets I finished the motions for the spell and an ice ball appeared in my hands.

I held the large crystalline mass up, just under my chin, and braced it with my left hand. I cut a glance over at the dwarves on crossbow and none of them were paying me any attention. Walking forward I let the ice ball drop, forcing my right hand to swing back.

“LOOK OVER THERE!” Hera screamed at the top of her lungs.

El Tar did a weird fish impression that involved pooching his lips out as far as they would go and holding his hands against his cheek while bugging out his eyes. It was incredibly weird looking.

I didn’t let them bother me though. My right hand swept forward and released the ball at the perfect spot on the arc. The ball rumbled forward over the dead winter grass. It hit the base of the target’s tripod and a spiderweb of ice formed for just a moment in a cone shape. The diamond-like structure gleamed in the sun.

“STRIKE!” I did a touchdown dance involving a lot of hip thrusts and overhand fist pumping towards the other dwarves. “In Your face! And YOUR face!” I pointed to both Hera and El Tar. “Who’s the man? Let me hear ya?” I put my hand to my ear.

They both waved me off, grinning. The armsmaster chortled, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a dwarf move like that.”

“I do have some moves now.” I pumped my arm and walked back over to Instructor Falaise.

“Are you quite done?” She asked me.

My smile was huge, “I think so, but I might be overcome later and have to dance battle them one more time.”

“Dancing?” She raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you call it?”

“That has an ancient and honored tradition among my people. It is known as a touchdown dance.” I did another hip thrust towards El Tar, who made a sour face and looked back at his crossbow.

“What did your Discern Magic tell you about the effect?” Instructor Falaise asked.

“Uh, that it’s a Shifting spell?” I scratched my head.

She laughed. “Do you mind if I memorize it? I want you to see this.” I gave permission. She quickly studied the parchment. I could see her mouthing the words and her fingers miming the somatic component.

Falaise poured the water on her fingers and began to chant. I quickly cast Discern Magic. Power flowed from her core into her arm, coalescing around her fingers. The fist sized snowball appeared. She did an overhand toss at the target. It struck and a cone of ice spiderweb erupted.

“Did you see the power flow through the ball of ice?” She asked me.

“I saw the energy run down your arm and gather in your fingers. I didn’t notice any in the ice ball itself.” I shook my head.

“I’ll cast it again.” She said, and did. Again, I watched the energy shoot down her arm and gather in her fingers. I really concentrated on the ball of ice as she held it up.

“Wait, I think I can see something. What is that?” I asked.

“That’s the trigger.” Falaise told me. “Its important to know, the energy gathers and forms the ice into a trigger. Then it goes off when I reaches the target.”

“Okay.” I answered, drawn out waiting for comprehension to dawn.

“You don’t get what I mean, do you?” She asked.

“No, I do not.” I scrubbed a hand through my wiry hair.

“The trigger is located in the snowball. It isn’t activated once you’ve thrown it. How can you use that?” She asked.

I thought for a long time, finally I got it! “What, so it isn’t inherent to the throwing motion? I could use that as a land mine, or a booby trap or whatever.” I told her excitedly.

“Now you’re thinking!” Falaise grinned.