An unexpected consequence of waking up so late and spending all day in the city was how they continually missed seeing their classmates. No one was avoiding their class, but all four of them were glad to have some time off before they got mobbed by curious friends. Everyone was always gone by the time they got up, even though they were waking earlier each day.
They were enjoying a peaceful breakfast in the almost deserted food hall when another messenger came up to them.
“Message for Yaric Miller,” she stated, holding out two different envelopes.
The first envelope was richly embroidered and carried the Academy’s crest, the other was plain paper and simply had Yaric’s name scrawled across the front in familiar handwriting.
Yaric opened Lloyd’s note first.
“Don’t panic,” Yaric read aloud, looking up as he did.
“Pshh, because that’s how you stop someone from panicking.”
“This is standard procedure,” Yaric continued. “You don’t have to prepare anything at all, you just need to debrief us on everything that happened during the appeal and answer some questions. We’ll probably have feedback for you afterward. Expect this to happen anytime someone gets badly injured. Again, it’s standard procedure.”
“Then the other message is about the appeal?” Lauren asked.
“It’s addressed to all of us,” Yaric confirmed.
It was also far less informative, with nothing more than a time and location for an official debrief. The instructions gave no context or reason, likely assuming that the recipient would already know what it was about. And their debriefing would be later that same day.
“That cancels our plans for today,” Sven noted.
“We can still go tomorrow,” Li Na said.
“Of course.”
“It’s a good thing we all proofread the reports now,” Lauren added. “All four of us know exactly what went into that report.”
“Part of a debriefing is to find out things that wouldn’t go into a report,” Sven said. Everyone looked at him with various degrees of confusion. “Reports are official documents, with clinical and impartial information. A debriefing is also for us to add things like frame of mind, how we felt in a particular moment, or even what motivated us to make a particular choice. It gives a lot more context to the debriefers. Which is why we have to give our own accounts of what happened before they give us an assessment.”
Li Na looked particularly concerned, and guilty. It didn’t matter how illogical her concerns were, she still felt responsible for Lei’s attack even though he was already inside the camp when she was stationed as a lookout. Repeated discussions had made her more relaxed and comfortable, but the underlying guilt remained. Yaric had been sure to raise his personal concerns on the issue with Faruk when they met, hoping that would help when Faruk and Li Na had their appointments.
“What do we do in the meantime then?” Yaric asked. “There’s no time to go into the city and do anything worthwhile. But there’s a few hours left before this debriefing.”
“Practice?” Lauren offered. “We haven’t done much for so long now, it feels weird.”
“So long?” Yaric laughed, nudging her gently. It’s been four days.”
“But we also weren’t training as hard when we came back,” she protested.
“Then we practice.”
“Maybe we should go to a range?” Li Na suggested.
“There’s two near the smith stations. They use them for testing weapons,” Sven said. “Ranged and melee.”
All four of them found they were actually quite eager to stretch their legs and get back into their training regime, though the complete stop left them all feeling a little lost on where exactly they should start.
The melee range was surprisingly busy, with both weapons and armor being tested. A few of the tests were obviously designed to stress enchantments, as one Smith tried to strike plate armor with a pick and got shoved away while they watched.
A barrier sealed off the location for ranged weapons and spells. It wasn’t nearly as busy, but being duel use it had the interesting addition of an on-duty attendant.
Yaric generally used the dedicated archery range when using his bow, and the same range his class used when practicing his spells. No one had any reason to enter the class range, and they were all barred from doing so, but the archery range had its own rules and magical system. Archery was allowed in fixed periods, with shorter periods between them for arrows to be collected. More than that, every time someone entered the range, a single marker fell from a runed counter, and it only rose again when someone exited. And dropped markers at all meant not shooting, no matter the time.
The testing range was different. People needed to move onto the range regularly, so the attendant held absolute authority over when people could use the range and when they had to pause.
They worked their way up, starting with their earliest spells before slowly advancing the complexity. After just two hours of practice Sven was drilling white hot steel into wooden poles, Li Na was sending shards of ice into barrels and watching them explode inside, shredding the whole barrel with shrapnel, while Lauren’s fireballs inundated her targets in incendiary fluids, immolating them in intense flames.
While the others practiced more rapid-fire spells, Yaric practiced his lightning spell. Searing bolts lanced out to strike his target, the flash and crack that signaled his spell taking on an almost rhythmic feel as they struck with predictable timing.
Tearing up a target range was almost cathartic after spending so much time doing nothing or simply taking it easy, and there was no better place to do it than right in the crafting section where the replacement targets would be made.
They still had to pause frequently, most often for one particular smith who had developed some sort of throwing axe that was capable of accelerating itself just before impact. It also seemed to ensure that the axe head always struck at the best angle, as the smith throwing it didn’t seem to care for anything other than her aim.
“Check my casting?” Lauren asked, beginning slowly and working her way back up to speed while the others watched. Everyone took turns to work through their spells while the others kept an eye out for mistakes or issues. There were always small little problems that cropped up, usually so minor that their impact was barely noticeable, but all four of them had committed to working out any kinks in the casting, no matter how small they might seem.
Yaric found out he was shifting his weight forward slightly whenever he layered space magic over any other spell and cast it. Not only did that marginally affect his aim, but it also served as a rather obvious tell once you knew what to look for. It was also particularly difficult to stop doing, since the movement was involuntary and had to do with how he visualized the spatial magic jumping between locations.
“We should start working on ideas for anchoring spells to other spells,” Yaric said. “Like how fireballs thrown at my feet were depositing full shields right in front of me.”
“No time,” Lauren replied wistfully. “We have to head back and get ready for our debriefing.”
Lauren was right, and they were already cutting things close, so the four of them ran back to claw some extra time. Even lunch was a rushed affair, but they needed enough time to be sure they could find the place, as well as be early. Arriving early couldn’t hurt.
The setup felt much the same as Yaric’s final assessment after winning the Competition. Very much the same. Lloyd was already seated behind a small table in the otherwise empty room, with Hiawatha and Ivan in attendance. It almost felt like the selection had been made specifically for Yaric, but he had to remind himself that they were also highly qualified in their fields, and both applied to the situations he and his friends had found themselves in.
Two others were present as well, though Yaric couldn’t tell if they were Council Members or not. One of the unknown men did break off his conversation to make a comment to Lloyd, making Lloyd laugh, which seemed like a good sign. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any politics involved this time.
Yaric had expected some kind of tribunal type hearing, not five people behind a table. Six people.
“You four are early, I see,” Jerrold said, smiling at Lauren when they turned around to greet him. “No need to mill around so far from the door, come, I’ll announce your presence.”
Jerrold entered the room with the students right behind him, causing the others to pause and look up. “It seems everyone is here,” Jerrold said, “perhaps we can get started early for once.”
The others took it as their cue and moved to chairs behind the table, with the two unknown men taking the two in the center. Yaric and the others looked to Sven, who hung back, only moving to sit when invited.
“Good afternoon, I am Council Member Keifer, and this is Council Member Denys. We’re conducting this debrief today. Battle Mage Trokhym and Mage Fletcher are here as technical advisors who also happen to be familiar with your training, and as you four are all still Novices, the Sponsors who chose to attend are here as well, High Wizard Chen and High Wizard Jerrold. High Mage Faulkner is currently on duty and Council Head Ivers felt her position might project undue influence.
“So let us begin. In your own words, please describe the events following your receipts of the appeal, through to your return to campus.”
Sven took over, beginning with their planning and preparations, their almost entirely uneventful travel, and finally their arrival at the southern end of Fools Forest. Then he began working through their initial scouting forays along the outskirts of the forest, looking for caches of stolen goods, and finally their discovery of a recent robbery just hours ahead of them.
Cold water was brought in just as Yaric continued from where Sven left off, describing how they located the scene and began to track the group through the forest. He explained their decision-making process when deciding to push on in the dark, the ambush they experienced, and their reactions.
The decision to spend some time in one place for Sven to recover was a little uncomfortable to describe, particularly when he’d got hurt in a nighttime ambush after they had decided that they couldn’t risk waiting and letting the bandits get away, but he justified it by comparing waiting to taking on the risks of infection or worsening the injury while remaining permanently hindered, which made waiting considerably more attractive.
Describing how they had been caught by the bandits was significantly worse, particularly as the bandits were obviously attempting to escape and had merely wanted the horses and weapons. Most of the bandits had laughed at the suggestion that the students might be the ones who were tracking them. Small things like swift glances or quick notes seemed almost judgmental, even though they were in a debriefing.
As awkward as that description was, Lloyd made the debriefing easier. He discreetly pulled a face any time Yaric began hesitating.
Things got easier when Yaric described their escape and capture of the first three bandits, as well as the return to chase down the rest.
Their last assault had to be told individually, however, as many things happened, and all four of them had different views and perspectives of the events. Each retelling was markedly different, even after Lei’s appearance.
Yaric’s more or less ended when he hit the ground, but Lauren’s continued with the rush to the nearby town and the finding of a surgeon. Li Na told of her journey with the captured bandits, while Sven described rescuing the missing merchants and assisting with Yaric’s surgery.
Details were far sparser after that. There simply wasn’t much to say about sitting around Yaric’s bed, or leaving after a moderately skilled healer happened by, nor about riding slowly along the easiest routes back.
Then Keifer and Denys began going through the report from the beginning, asking questions as they went.
Did they estimate the time it would take to continue searching for caches? How did they decide on the width of the search area when searching the fringes? What supplies did they have with them when they chased the bandits into the forest? Did they set up any system to alert them if robberies occurred after they had passed by? What was the plan if they found a cache?
Some questions were far more personal and specific.
Do any of you know spells that would have incapacitated the crossbows on the other side of the road? Could you not disarm your attacker? Was there nothing suspicious about the tangled-up wagons? Did knowing how many bandits to expect influence their assumptions of the five supposed merchants?
Then they were dismissed, rather abruptly, and asked to wait outside while reports on their psychological condition were discussed together with the information provided.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Yaric only realized just how long everything had taken after he stood and stretched his legs. The others seemed the same way. The weather outside was still cold, but the weak sunlight finally seemed to have some effect, even if it was only in Yaric’s mind.
“Did they seem unhappy to you?” Li Na asked, looking around at everyone.
“There’s no happy or unhappy, Lina. This is just so they can get a better idea of what happened. Partly so they can reduce the risks of it happening again in the future.”
Li Na looked skeptical, but she didn’t argue with Sven. Still, it was a fairly tense wait, particularly as they had never gone through a debriefing before. Lloyd put them out of their misery after only ten minutes of waiting.
“Alright,” Council Member Denys began. “Starting from the beginning, your planning wasn’t bad. Given what’s available to your rank and our rough estimates of the spells you know, there really isn’t much more you could have done. The same goes for your journey and your reassessment of your plan along the way.
“Our first question is about your first day of searching, when you were hoping to find a cache of stolen goods. Your assumption is sound, and it does give you a starting point, but did anyone estimate the amount of time it would take to make a complete circuit?”
Yaric looked at the others, and they all shook their heads.
“Mage Fletcher estimates anything from three to four weeks. For a single circuit. Now your own estimates for moving items from a hidden campsite near the center was around four or five days if the bandits were to clear everything out for selling. Let’s upgrade that to a full week. They could start in the north at the same time as you started in the south, and they would be gone a week before you arrived. Or, they could start in the south while you were at the western edge, just a week after you went past, and they would finish and leave two weeks before you come around again.
“Do you see the problem here?”
Everyone nodded but remained silent.
Ivan spoke up just then. “Ideally you would want to identify choke points, small areas that could not be avoided, places you can be certain your quarry will pass through. If that’s not an option, and I expect that is the case here, then you need to cover as much ground as possible and as quickly as possible.
“Remember, if you search a location and don’t find anyone, it just means that there is no one there at that moment. You’re searching for a mobile group; they’re going to be moving around. Covering ground quickly allows you to search as much of that forest as you can before they can move between search areas.
“That’s also why the center is more important than the periphery. The terrain might not make it a choke point, but geometry does. Even traveling from south to west puts you fairly close to the center, and it’s an area you can easily patrol after you reach it.”
Denys nodded in thanks, then continued by himself. “You also could have used your authority to set up runners. Messengers who would notify you should there be a robbery at a location you have already passed. It would be the only way you’re likely to hear of anything behind you. We’re aware you heard of a robbery in a tavern, but that was only because they had been coming the other way.
“Illuminate the path as you travel, but leave torches burning as you pass to keep everything illuminated, otherwise you’re completely in the dark about everywhere you have already passed.”
Lloyd leaned forward as well at that point. “There aren’t many communities who would be upset when asked to run after arcanists in situations like this. They would far rather be required to send a messenger after you than try to deal with the situation on their own.”
“We tend to find that the more rural communities also tend to have less professional security,” Denys added, agreeing with Lloyd. “They are usually eager to pass off the responsibility whenever they can.”
“We understand,” Sven said.
“The next point we wanted to make was after you chased the bandits into the forest. It started to get dark, and you were afraid you might miss your chance. Why? You could track them just as well the next day, likely even better, since you would be able to see better. We don’t see any reason for your apprehension besides this being your first time tracking down other people in a real situation. That pressured you to make your first real mistake, chasing bandits in the dark.”
Ivan took over the discussion once again. “Chasing someone down in the dark is dangerous. Even if everything goes well, you’re going to need to fight in the dark. But when you also believe that this group has twice your own numbers? That was not your best decision. There was no urgency to the situation that made such a risk necessary. You could have easily pulled back slightly, gone off the trail, and bedded down until sunrise. The risk you took was simply not worth it. Most or all of you could have even been killed in the initial volley if the bandits had any experience setting up nighttime ambushes. I know they’re all experienced hunters, but they clearly didn’t have much experience in that situation. You got lucky.
“Always remember, you and your team come first. Don’t risk your lives to save a few hours. Even if there is a real risk of losing the trail permanently, falling back is still your better option. Rather wait for another opportunity than chase a larger group in the dark while hoping for the best.”
Yaric felt particularly bad about that one, as it had been his decision. Everyone else had looked to him to make the call as well. Worse, he’d hoped for exactly that scenario. Catching the bandits at night. He felt comfortable in the dark, where he was as hidden as anyone else, and he felt it gave them the greater advantage. Sleeping targets should have also been easier to capture. Obviously he’d felt too comfortable, as it had backfired spectacularly.
“As you may have guessed from Mage Fletcher's assessment,” Denys continued, “falling back and taking the time to recover was a good decision. The four of you against eight experienced hunters was always going to be tough, choosing to go in with one of you injured would not have been the best idea. I don’t care if you’re Novices, four people can only attack or defend against so many people at once, particularly if they’re spread out and surrounded by cover like those trees.
“No one will fault you with deciding to leave a bit early so you could protect a foreign merchant, and your assistance to a foreign citizen has been noted. It has some minor diplomatic consequences as well, which we will be sure to take advantage of.
“Now, when it comes to helping some people untangle a bunch of wagons on the side of the road, this is more difficult, as hindsight can make obscure things seem obvious, but we do all agree that you could have shown more caution. There is absolutely no reason to think that five apparent merchants were actually part of the bandit gang, and they had never traveled with vehicles before, but there are a couple of issues.
“The first was your positioning. You four prioritized efficiency when getting the merchants back on the road. Your job was to capture the bandits, and that should have remained your priority. By all means, help someone back onto the road. But don’t position yourselves such that you are all cut off from each other, and with no plan to respond should the bandits appear. From what we can make out in this report, none of you could come to the assistance of another, and it would take a few seconds to get into position if you had to defend yourselves from a sudden attack. In future you will need to be more careful.
“The other problem is that while we all acknowledge that very few people would even think of the possibility that these wagon-driving merchants were somehow part of the group of bandits, you four did. You yourselves speculated that they had to get their stolen goods out of the forest if they wanted to convert anything into coin, and that they would already need to steal wagons to transport the volume of items they were known to have taken. And you had recently had a run-in with them, marking the first time anyone had caught up with the bandits. Coming across drivers who seemed incompetent should have raised your suspicions at least somewhat.
“You did keep your cool when they revealed themselves, however. You didn’t show any signs of being arcanists, and they never figured out that you were their pursuers. It would have been easy to try to intimidate them with a display of magic, or even by launching a sudden attack, but that would almost certainly have led to casualties. You simply weren’t in a position to defend yourselves at that moment.
“Instead, you waited until there were only three bandits, and all three were in one place, while each of you was able to cover for at least one other person. The kind of situation you should have ensured from the beginning. Minus the cuffs and rope, of course.”
Hiawatha chose to speak just then. “You also attacked first, and freed yourselves second. I know many people would have cut their ropes after deflecting the initial shots, giving the bandits a chance to get clear or reload, and forcing a fight without the element of surprise. You four hit them quickly enough that they couldn’t respond to the sudden appearance of magic. Only once it was safe did you free yourselves.”
“That won’t be true in every situation,” Denys continued. “But being able to tell the difference is a good sign. It also shows some confidence in your magical abilities, or you wouldn’t have been as comfortable with being tied up.”
“And your confidence that hamsters always attack,” Lloyd said, earning him some confused looks, though the way they shook their heads also made it seem like they were used to it. “You can’t even feed them to snakes, or the snake will get injured.”
“Moving on,” Denys said, clearing his throat as he did, “you procured medical attention for your prisoners, as required, and then went right back out after the remaining bandits. It was when you caught up to them again that things went wrong.”
Hiawatha took over the assessment once again. “You made two mistakes right from the start. There were only four of you, so you had to capture those inside the camp and secure them as prisoners first, but after that, you began to interrogate the prisoners and search through the contents of the wagons. Your very first action should have been to set up a watch and to search the camp for hidden dangers. You never do anything else until the camp is secured. It doesn't matter if you believe others to be far away, or even if you're sure you have everyone, always secure a camp before doing anything else.
“There was no need for cuffs when you are each more than capable of setting someone on fire. A lookout could have been posted in less than ten seconds, and two more could have searched the wagons in two minutes. After which you would have been able to interrogate or search through items as you please, in safety. Instead, you left a hidden threat right at your backs, and no one set up any security until it was already too late. There’s no point in closing the gate when the wolf is already inside. You four should already know better.”
Yaric did feel foolish in hindsight. One missing bandit just hadn’t felt like much of a threat after they had so quickly captured the others, not when the numbers had switched to four vs one. He’d also been anxious to find out where they had found the extra wagons and where the true owners were. Their fate could have rested on how quickly Yaric could get the answer. Still, security had been more of an afterthought, and he’d paid the price. It was just lucky that it hadn’t been someone else paying for his bad call that time.
“If there’s one real mistake you made, it was that one,” Lloyd added. “Continuing your chase after dark was more accurately just bad judgment, but not securing the campsite you had just captured was genuinely an error. It should have been your very first priority, your questions about the missing bandit and those missing merchants, they could have waited. Nothing was going to happen to them in the two minutes it would have taken to secure the area.”
“You did do well after that though,” Denys said. "Your response was to direct overwhelming force onto the threat while securing the injured, preventing further casualties. No one suggested abandoning any of your key priorities. Novice Silver got Novice Miller to a surgeon for medical attention, Novice Jakobson delivered the captured bandits to the nearest town, and Novice McDavids rescued the missing merchants and delivered them safely to their belongings, which I see they refused to abandon again.
“From that moment your appeal was completed, the rest is outside my purview. What I can say is that the Academy will be covering the costs of repairing your damaged equipment, and you will otherwise be rewarded as you usually would. I do hope you learn from this, and continue to speak with someone should you need to.”
“Thank you,” Sven said, followed quickly by the other three.
“If that is all, I would like a word with my student and his friends,” Lloyd said, looking directly at Denys and Keifer.
“That is all,” Keifer said, already standing. “The room was booked for the afternoon, so use it as you see fit.”
Everyone said goodbye to the Council Members, but Jerrold, Ivan, and Hiawatha all stayed behind as well. A moment of silence fell over the room after Denys closed the door behind them.
“We’ve been looking at your lesson plans and class schedule, and you four have a problem,” Lloyd said.
“With our choices?” Yaric asked.
“No, with your time. Your report suggested that you take lessons on emergency medical care. Well, you really don’t have much time available, and this isn’t a subject you can just start up at any time. You would need to start at the beginning of the year, and that has just passed. Catching up now would be too difficult, which means waiting until after the next Winter Solstice Tournament.”
“But we need to be ready long before then,” Lauren protested.
“We’re aware,” Jerrold replied, smiling.
“You have one other option,” Lloyd said, smirking and leaning back in his chair as he did. “Each of you has some stupid amount of credit available that I no longer bother to keep track of, and it’s time you used it. We can arrange for some special lessons with just you four, tailored to your individual needs. That means that even healing magic could be on the table. It really just depends on what you want and how advanced you are, since these would be private lessons.”
“Would we learn how to treat someone who was shot in the chest?” Lauren asked.
“You would,” Jerrold chuckled.
“And broken bones, bad burns, stab wounds, anything you can think of,” Lloyd added.
“One person would teach us both magical and mundane methods?” Yaric asked.
“Yes. There are plenty of qualified people for that. My only recommendation is that you focus on, uh… battlefield injuries. At least for now. Spending time on curing a cough won’t help if someone gets stabbed, and let’s face it, that’s far more likely right now. There are even spells you can precast to help with a concussion. I don’t remember how advanced you need to -.”
“It’s too advanced,” Ivan said, cutting Lloyd off. “Let them learn the basics before you start them on precast spells that they can’t precast.”
“Fine, fine. But other than the medical lessons, we also want to start integrating your lessons more. Emil keeps finding himself pulled back into his teaching post, Ivan still teaches both archery and scouting to Yaric and Lauren, while Hiawatha teaches different combat styles for each of you.
“We think you should be using your spatial magic when sparring, and shadow spells during your scouting lessons, as an example,” Lloyd said, looking at Yaric. “There are similar suggestioins for everyone. So these two are going to coordinate a little with Emil, and make sure you’re all sufficiently challenged. Your biggest challenge now is time, there’s just too little left, so we’re going to make sure you get more from each lesson.”
“That sounds…” Yaric hesitated for a moment, looking for the right word.
“That sounds like we will learn a lot,” Lauren said, nudging Yaric gently.
“Good! You will! We will start by incorporating augmentation spells into all of your equipment during each lesson, and then finally adding shaping spells.”
“You were due to start using more magic during your scouting lessons anyway,” Ivan said. “There are several ways each of you could use your affinities in particular, so we will focus on that. When you start learning to filter those affinities in a couple of years you will realize you have a whole host of spells ready to be enhanced.”
“You forgot to mention the tactics training,” Hiawatha complained.
“Oh, right,” Lloyd said, leaning forward again and dropping the front legs of his chair with a thud. “Similar thing as with those medical lessons, Hiawatha has suggested you receive private tutoring on battlefield tactics. Since they start out with small unit tactics it should be very impactful right from the beginning.”
“Battlefield tactics?” Yaric asked. “We’re not in a war.”
“And you won’t be learning about war!” Hiawatha declared. “You’d learn critical things, like how to respond to an ambush, or when to secure a camp.”
Yaric fell silent.
“Of course, it’s all up to you,” Lloyd said.
Sven looked interested, though he already had something similar. From what Yaric could tell, however, it actually took the opposite approach, as it started large scale and discussed things like logistics, and then gradually worked down to supplying smaller units.
Lauren looked happy with the suggestion, and even Li Na looked interested. “What about really small unit tactics, like one person?” she asked. “Being more efficient on patrol, or when you’re on lookout duty.”
“It would certainly cover standard procedures,” Hiawatha acknowledged. “But they would be private lessons, so small things like that could be added if you wanted?”
“Yeah.”
Everyone but Yaric had all but agreed already.
“I’m still worried about time,” Yaric eventually said. “We’re stretched as it is. I don’t see how we could fit these in.”
“They’re tailored to each of you, and practically one on one,” Lloyd replied. “So they are each only one lesson a week, and two hours each. It still takes a decent chunk out of your free time, but they’re all things you only need to learn once. Well, maybe not the medical stuff, I never really did that well there. But they aren’t lessons you need to continue year after year. You just need to reach a point where you are happy with your abilities, and then you stop. And it’s better to give up the time now instead of later.”
Yaric glanced at Sven and his almost impassive stare, and Li Na with a pleading look in her eyes. And then Lauren, and her knowing smile.
“Ugh, fine. We’ll add the lessons.”