Aether’s Apprentices: Chapter 22

Gregory felt refreshed when he woke up— it’d been a long three days for him. His four hours of rest a night had kept him going, along with the naps he snuck in during rounds. Jenn and Yukiko had it rougher, but they’d still done better than Nick’s group. Farin had managed to hold out until Yukiko and Jenn could get to him.

When he was told that they’d been able to meet up and form a single unit, he’d been thrilled until he was informed that Nick’s group had done the same. Nick, however, hadn’t even bothered with scouts to ‘find’ his teammates, leading to Farin being assaulted by three units until Jenn and Yukiko got there.

They hadn’t told him much, deciding to do a debrief during the novice class period on their day off, instead. He did know they had won and, by the end, they were in decent shape. They’d deliberately played longer to build themselves up before taking Parks off the board last.

Jenn stirred beside him, and he kissed the crown of her head. She always slept lower than he did, using him as her pillow instead of an actual pillow.

“Good morning,” Jenn murmured.

“Morning,” Yukiko yawned as she woke up.

“Good morning to you both,” Gregory added, kissing Yukiko’s brow. “I think it’s about our normal time.”

“We went to sleep early and I feel good,” Yukiko said. “I guess we can…” She trailed off as the third bell told them the hour.

“Time,” Jenn said, sliding out of bed. “Farin will be over at sixth bell so we can talk about the game.”

“I remember,” Gregory said as he followed her to the armoire. “Nick was pissed.”

Yukiko snickered as she recalled the yelling. “He was when we eliminated him. If Grandmaster Pan hadn’t been their coordinator, it might’ve been worse.”

“Clover and Ling said they could hear him,” Jenn smiled.

“I heard him on the second floor,” Gregory added, “and again when you finally won.”

“We’ll be able to bring at least Ling or Clover in right away next game,” Yukiko said, “but we’ll wait to explain it all.”

“They were well-rested, at least,” Gregory chuckled. “Egil just lectured on aspects of the game and let them have breaks.”

“I think they stayed up with the others when we went to bed,” Jenn said, “which is good.”

“Yes. It’s good to see them building bonds,” Yukiko said as she began to dress.

“It’ll be nice to just train,” Gregory said. “Did we want to try holding our aether today? We were going to wait until after the solstice, and it’s past that. Or, do we want to wait for the tournament to be over, just in case?”

“After the tournament,” Jenn said. “It’ll hurt a lot. Trust me.”

“I’m fine with waiting a little longer,” Yukiko said with an uncertain expression. “Maybe we should wait until we’re initiate tier?”

“Waiting is a good idea. Letting our channels develop more is the best idea to make sure we don’t hurt ourselves,” Gregory said.

“We also need to impress on our friends to not try this until they’ve reached the initiate tier, too,” Jenn said. “Maybe longer for Clover and Ling, since their channels will be even further behind.”

“I was thinking we could write out when we started things, give it to Nessa or Victoria, and let them shepherd Daciana,” Yukiko suggested.

“We should write it out for Ling and Clover, too,” Gregory nodded, “along with when it might be best for them to try it.”

“I’ll do it during studying today,” Yukiko said. “Now, let’s finish getting dressed and get going.”

~*~*~

Farin greeted them as he entered the war room, “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Yukiko replied. “Glad to see a night’s rest refreshed you.”

“I had an early dinner, then collapsed,” Farin admitted.

“We’ll all get another good night’s sleep tonight,” Jenn said.

“We’re the unlucky group to play in the next round,” Yukiko said. “Maybe they hope it will hinder us, but we’ll show them that we’re prepared for it.”

“We will,” Ling nodded.

“Let’s break down the last game and see what we can learn from it,” Jenn said.

“The pigeons helped us find each other quickly, yet not as quickly as the Eternal Flame did,” Farin said.

“Harrison was upset about them managing it as quickly as they had,” Yukiko said. “The Grandmaster agreed to let it happen, though.”

“Gave them an early advantage that nearly proved disastrous,” Jenn said, “which just made winning all the sweeter.”

“Would explain his rage,” Gregory said. “I know they met up and went for Farin first, but I don’t have any details.”

“Farin, why don’t you start this off?” Yukiko suggested.

“Sure. The game mostly took place on my map, so let’s set the board, first,” Farin nodded.

Farin walked them through the early game, showing them how he’d set up for defense and the awful realization when he saw the combined army coming for him. He also showed them how he’d used all the aether his magi had to reinforce his defenses. He laughed when he got to the part where Jenn and Yukiko came onto the map— that’d gotten the combined force of the Eternal Flame to back off, not wanting to get flanked.

Yukiko used her shadow magi to personally deliver their plans to Farin on the first turn they were all on the same board. After that, they used pigeons for the real messages and horse messengers for the decoy messages.

Using the false messages, they managed to trick Nick’s group into trying to cut off a supposed flanking maneuver, giving them the room to rush to join Farin in his bunkered position. That wouldn’t have worked if Nick had been using a master or grandmaster magi. Because he wasn’t, he couldn’t get his fire over the earthen walls Farin had erected.

From there, it was mostly a game of attrition until the second day. Yukiko led them as the commander on the field and directed them to attack not the army, but their supplies. They used the lightest, fastest units they could field, and were able to stress the other side into foraging and having their morale drop from lack of pay and comfort.

Michelle spread her men out in a direct line to protect the supply line and, in doing so, gave Yukiko the chance to get the first decisive advantage. With morale low, Michelle herself had to position her command unit along the line. Their light scouts got them just enough information to pinpoint Michelle. Using that information, Yukiko used her shadow magi to assassinate Michelle before fleeing back to the camp with the small amount of intel and pay she got her hands on.

“That was before they started holding their magi in reserve to stop me from doing the same to them,” Yukiko said.

“I remember Michelle storming past,” Gregory chuckled. “She was upset, but fortunately, she didn’t see me.”

Jenn took over telling them how the game had gone from that point. They knew archers were useless against Parks and Nick, as were any of the high-value units, since they could stymie or just burn them out. Instead, they went the other route.

“Massed light foot,” Gregory said with a smile. “And spread out to limit the effect of a fire magi. It made them vulnerable to cavalry, but they didn’t have those units or archers.”

“With the defensive emplacements, they needed heavy foot to get in close,” Farin said.

“We ended the second day ready to launch our attack,” Jenn said, looking at the board.

“Which is why we were surprised on day three when they attacked us,” Yukiko snickered. “It also let me get Nick.”

Yukiko explained the last part of the game. When they met up on the third day and were getting ready to spread out and attack, they found the Eternal Flame marching on them. Instead of attacking directly, they sent the light foot out to either side. Yukiko prepared to use her magi again, marking Nick’s location when he started decimating the light foot on his flank. Parks shielded his flank with his magi as their heavy foot rushed the defensive walls that Farin had erected.

“I know from the game how much a fire magi can do,” Yukiko said “which is why I prefaced our counter with, ‘If Nick uses his magi four times, I use mine to assassinate him.’” She smiled. “Harrison actually laughed and made a note, making sure that Mavic knew how the fight would go.”

“He did what Yuki thought he would,” Farin laughed. “He was so mad, so mad.”

“It nearly killed my commander, as well, but with him dead, that broke the morale of their combined army,” Yukiko said. “It forced Parks to break off and retreat.”

“Good thing, too, as the light foot had been nearly wiped off Nick’s flank, and the heavy foot on Park’s side butchered most of the men there,” Farin said.

“After that, we just built up some cavalry and used the superior movement to harass and eventually run Parks down,” Jenn said. She showed them the moves on the board so they could visualize the progress.

“Which also let us build up our supplies and pay,” Yukiko added. “Clover, Ling, which of you is coming in as soon as we start the next game?”

“Clover,” Ling said.

“Li—” Clover had started to say, but she just closed her mouth and nodded. “Okay.”

Yukiko smiled at them. “It’s good that you both want the other to be the one to join us, but you’ll both likely be in before we finish.”

“I figured as much,” Ling smiled. “It’ll let me be more flexible during the next match.”

“What about your commander, Yuki?” Gregory asked.

“Healed by the time we ended the game. We’re in the best shape we can be in.”

“I had a thought…” Farin said. “Do you think there will be a round after this one?”

“Oh!” Clover nodded. “Because the end of this round will give three winners.”

“Exactly,” Farin said.

“But he promised weapon instruction for the winners,” Ling said.

“True,” Gregory said. “He might base that on how the armies are at the end of the next round, though.”

“Hmm, that’s a good point,” Yukiko said. “We can ask him tomorrow.”

Eighth bell began to chime and they stretched. “Farin, see you in class tomorrow,” Gregory said, exchanging a handshake with him.

“I just hope we aren’t facing my clan,” Farin said.

“Oh, yes, I’d rather not,” Clover said.

Dia was coming toward them as they exited the room. “Ah, good, I thought I might have to get you.”

“We finished just before the bell,” Gregory said.

“Off to your training,” Dia said lightly. “Farin, let me walk you out.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Farin said, bowing to her.