I dash over to Gareth with two long steps.

He is pale.

No.

I bite back tears as I bend at the knees, and place a hand on his chest. I feel the strong thump of his heart beating against his rib cage. I lower my ear to his lips and hear his steady breath. Healthy.

I breathe a sigh of relief and feel the tension from my shoulders unfurl.

At that moment a hand rests on my shoulder and pulls me out of the way. It is one of two medics.

After a few diagnostic checks, one of them cast a quick spell with a dancing of the fingers and a flicker of sky blue.

Gareth's flesh knits itself together. The flow of blood is stemmed and healed.

The other medics buries the blood beneath the arena joining stone with Gareth's blood as a tear of mine drops into the mix. Our blood, sweat and tears mix with the very arena.

It will be worth it when we win. Another year at the academy, steady work and time aplenty with friends. Our dreams from the trenches of war come true. Only, I'm sorry, my friend. That they hurt you so; that we have to keep on fighting.

They take Gareth away on a stretcher. "He will be up and ready by the next bout. No worries." Says one of them with a smile.

I choke on the words at first, but manage to say, "Thank you."

The medic nods and they gently move him onto the stretcher and carry him away.

The loud echo of Professor Tenance interrupts the moment, "One more bout then it is the lunch break. Be sure to come back to witness the finale of block C. Goblin Tooth rest up and we will see you after the lunch break."

Rina and Borei come over and we walk out of the arena and back to our preparation room.

Rina is quiet as I praise Borei. "Well done, you won us the bout."

Her ears blush a faint red, "I did my task."

"Aye and we won because you did. Well done." I say again.

Rina scowls, "Yes, yes. We won this one. That doesn’t mean we will win the next one." Her cheeks flushing red with frustration.

"You're right." Replies Borei downcast.

"It does mean we won the second bout," I answer.

Rina's glare causes me to take a step back. She walks a little ahead and enters the room first.

Plates of food are already set out with tankards filled with water. We tuck into the food almost straight away and eat in relative silence. Each of us caught up in our thoughts.

Though we are twice victorious, I feel gnawing doubt about the fight ahead. I cannot prove this sinking sense of dread, but it is too immense to discard. I sit tense as drawn bowstring: ready to fight or snap at a moment's notice.

Gareth joins us midway through our meal. He is still pale. My heart sinks further from a weighty sense of guilt. I pull out a chair for him to sit on by my side.

He takes it and says, "Thanks."

"No, thank you. Your quick actions helped us win the bout. We could not have done it without you." I reply.

Gareth winks, "Thanks. Your golem was awesome by the way. That show-off Jerrick couldn’t stop it." Gareth laughs, "Even with all his tricks."

"I know you got him good. Revenge for last time." Adds Borei.

"Indeed, though you failed to get Tam." Rina says, a deep set frown across her face and her arms crossed around her stomach.

I shrug, "True."

"You couldn’t have done better." Gareth retorts to Rina. A vein pops at his temple.

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Rina doesn’t reply at first, she looks to the floor, her grimace deepening, "Second year's losses aren’t graduates. It is a failure. We made it through last year by an inch." she argues, her nostrils flaring and glare deepening.

Gareth sighs like all his happiness is escaping with that one breath, "We know Rina. But we won our first and second bout. One more and we are top of the block and another year of listening to Professor Trew in destruction class."

He speaks in soothing tones. He reaches over to comfort her and gently rubs her arm from shoulder to elbow.

"I know. I want to stay another year. Second years don’t get jobs. We get married and do spellwork for our piss poor spouses. That is not going to be my life."

"It won’t be. Whatever happens, we got you, Rina. You can rely on us. Okay?"

"I know." She replies but her eyes remain downcast staring at the ground.

"Hey. It is going to be alright." He speaks trying to meet her eye.

Rina catches his looks and smiles. "Of course. We have got this, one more bout right?"

"One more bout." Gareth and I say.

"One more." Adds Borei.

How Gareth can go from challenging Rina to calming her will always be beyond my meagre social skills.

We finish off our meals. Warmed by Gareth's words, I wonder, perhaps we can win this?

There is a knock on the door and Professor Trew enters.

"Last bout." He says.

"Yes, sir." Answer Rina for the group.

"Good luck. You have all of you done well and yourself proud. Sometimes it is okay to fail when the challenge is not fair. The good thing about schools is that even when they screw you over it doesn’t cost your life. You have a long life ahead. The results of this contest don’t define you. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." We all say, sharing glances of confusion and worry.

My muscles tense again.

My feelings of hope are dashed by the vague cautioning from the Professor.

It is a short walk and when I see the team that we will be facing, I already know we will lose. I know why we got the speech from Professor Trew.

My face is a picture of calm masking the dread lingering in my thoughts. The judges and spectators protected by wards, which glow a transparent white, know we will lose. My team and I are parallel to our opponents.

The best of the second-year students.

"Dragon’s Wing." Says Gareth with a gasp.

"No, no, no," whispers Rina.

Boeri goes stark pale

After we enter the area, I sit down legs crossed.

The cold, stone floor is unwelcoming but if I must endure this then I am at least going to be in a relaxing position.

As that old geezer once said, always do the unexpected. Then again, he died in a skirmish not more than an hour later.

A huge number of students now occupy the arena to about half capacity. The crowd of admirers come from all years drawn by the popularity of Dragon’s Wing. Hundreds of students now sit in the arena circling us in their stone seats, some of them eating food from the dining halls.

Professor Tenance looks around and I can tell he is taking it all in. The noise animates the room with a new charge there is a sense of excitement in their loud voices and smiling faces.

I feel little joy as a deadening weight of dread sinks at the bottom of my stomach.

I first look at Marcus the transfer student an Elf cis man his thin body draped in grey robes. His long blond hair partially covers his distinctive long ears and his fringe drops over his blue eyes. In a few months, he could most likely match the leader.

Dracos Stormeye. A draconian cis man. Standing head and shoulder above everyone else golden painted steel armour-clad over his red scales and tail similar to a Scaled One but for the wings and capacity to breathe fire. He stands there in the centre his unfazed golden eyes shining like a burning star, a bored expression plastered on his handsome face. The Archmage’s son himself.

To the left of Gilga is Cloudy Blackheart. She has long brown hair that covers most of her face and reaches to her shoulder blades, she wears a dull red suit with a black tie. She has black paint under her blue eyes and on her lips.

To her left is Alex Chazillo, a trans, human man wearing a vibrant purple suit with a wolf skinned half cape down the right side of his back. His blue eyes and careful grooming of his healthy skin exude charm.

Then there is Alessia by the side of Gilga and Marcus.

Beautiful Alessia. Why you?

Alessia is a human cis woman, she is wearing long blue robes the shade of the sea with silver trim. Her long, lush auburn hair frames her eyes, the shade of syrup above her button nose and pretty smile.

I take in for an elongated moment her gorgeous, curvaceous body.

I realise with a flush that I am staring. I let the ardour fade and remember that she left.

I focus on the first spell that I am going to cast. Nostalgic memories of years gone past creep into my thoughts.

I look away focusing on Marcus, the new team member of Dragon’s wing.

‘Students and teachers of the academy I hope you are ready to see the best. Dragon’s Wing finest students of their year led by the Archmagi’s son. The opponent's Goblin Tooth with two experienced war veterans in their team has blown through the competition so far with a dramatic showdown in their last bout. This is the final bout! As of now, you have ten seconds of preparation.” booms the voice of Professor Tenace with thunderous enthusiasm.

During the ten seconds, most of the participants from both teams shroud themselves in transparent blue from their barrier spells fully formed wards encasing around our skin.

I sit down and forgo the usual barrier for a more strategic useful spell.

“What are you doing? We are here to fight, not to lay around!” Rina shouts her brown eyes wide with shock then narrows into cold fury as she notices my unexpected decision.

Her hair sways as she turns to look at me, the subject of her frustration.