Aether’s Apprentices: Chapter 23

During magic training, Gregory spent each day with two people. He’d been rotating who he watched and tried to emulate each time. At the moment, he was seated on the roof of the clan hall, watching Nessa learn from Master Samuel Eagleeye.

“Now form the wind— compress, harden, and sharpen it,” Samuel said. “Not into the overly large windblade they taught you, but into a small, sharp point.”

“An arrow?” Gregory muttered.

“Exactly,” Samuel said, nodding his way. “Arrowheads of wind.” He motioned to the target a dozen feet from Nessa. “Hit him.”

Gregory saw the air shimmer before Nessa as it was molded to her will. The shimmer was the same size and shape of an arrowhead. A moment later, it zipped away, slamming into the training dummy that had been brought up to the roof.

“It was faster,” Nessa said.

“Yes, but can you tell me why?” Samuel asked.

“It was small, less mass, which meant it could be moved faster for less energy,” Nessa said.

“Correct.”

“Because it was faster, it would be harder to dodge,” Gregory said.

“That is true, but since it’s a single small attack, it’s also easier to deflect or block,” Samuel replied.

“What if…?” Nessa hesitated. “What if I had a few of them?”

“That might be harder than you think,” Samuel said. “It normally takes a mind path to be able to split their concentration past two arrows. If you wish to try it, though, go ahead.”

After a few seconds, a few shimmering missiles streaked into the wooden dummy, making it wobble in place.

Nessa exhaled slowly. “That is harder than I thought it would be, but it gives me more chances to injure my opponent.”

Samuel was silent for a moment as he looked at the target. “I… am honestly surprised. I couldn’t manage that until my apprentice year.” He gave Nessa a long, searching look. “I had thought you were on the combined path the clan was following.”

“I am,” Nessa said. “Three missiles was doable. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to manage four.”

“Hmm…” Samuel said. “I had thought there were four.”

“I saw three,” Gregory said, though he had seen four.

“Very well,” Samuel said after a moment. “You saw how wind blades could be deflected or dodged during the last tournament. Because they are larger, they become easier to see. The smaller one is harder to see.”

“I thought so, too,” Nessa said. “I wasn’t positive, but it also felt easier to send the smaller ones than to push the bigger one out… But it was the same volume of air, so why is that?”

“Think about it,” Samuel said.

Gregory thought he knew, but he waited for Nessa to answer.

“Mass to acceleration?” Nessa asked. “The smaller ones have less mass each, so getting them to go takes less energy to accelerate them?”

“Yes,” Samuel smiled. “Now continue that thought.”

“If it’s energy used to accelerate, the small ones could move much faster if I created a single windblade and used the energy of a larger one to push it,” Nessa said, her eyes going wide. “It’d be nearly impossible to dodge it.”

“Good, but if you miss, you just used all that energy for nothing,” Samuel said, “which is why I favored more small constructs over a single one.”

“Do you have to make them in front of you?” Gregory asked. “Every earth mage I’ve seen can make and throw their creations from any direction. Can’t wind magi do the same?”

Samuel laughed. “Oh, if only you’d been a wind magi. The trick there is that, for most wind magi, it’s harder to sense and shape the air farther away from themselves. We’re working with nebulous gas, not the physical materials of earth.”

“But it can be done,” Nessa said slowly. She stared at the target, and a point of air above it slowly formed into an arrowhead.

Samuel whirled back to Nessa, his smile growing wider. “Finish it.”

The single point began to shimmer, then slammed down faster than the previous ones had flown. The dummy fell over after being hit directly from above.

“You just killed him,” Samuel said, going over to the dummy and standing it back up. “Come see.”

Gregory stood up, following Nessa over. The top of the dummy had fractures running across it. A small, inch-deep chip of wood was missing from the point of impact. Gregory blinked as he thought about what that would’ve done to a person.

Nessa exhaled slowly. “I don’t want to kill anyone during the tournament.”

“Then send it slower,” Samuel said. “Later, during weapon training, we will be using your aether to help you do the improbable with your arrows.”

Talk of weapon training jogged a memory for Gregory. “Thank you for having me, Master. I think I’m going to head down now.”

“Of course,” Samuel said. “Your insights were helpful today.”

Gregory bowed to them formally before he headed down into the clan hall. He paused in his room for a few minutes, then went farther down.

Gregory stopped walking when he stepped outside, watching Bishop and Jenn fighting. Flashes of blue aether marked their limbs for very brief moments. Shaking his head, he went toward the rock garden.

Magus William Rockcrusher was seated on a bench as he lectured Daciana, who was sitting on the ground in front of him. “True. During the tournament, you don’t want to kill your opponents, but after the academy, you need to be ready to do it. That is why earth spears are the staple of most earth magi during these years, and for many even beyond their time here.”

“Most can only manage a single earth spear at a time,” Daciana said.

“But what else have you seen from them?” William pressed.

“Softening the ground to make it harder to move, a pit that took an apprentice out of the tournament,” Daciana said. “They could have crushed him, right?”

“They might have,” William said. “The fact they contained him even for a few seconds was shocking. Trying to trap a physical enhancement magi that way fails a lot.”

“Because they can use their magic to break free, unlike other magi,” Gregory said as he came closer to take a seat beside Daciana.

“Correct,” William nodded. “Now, during the tournament, you fashioned dozens of earth balls, then had them wait for you. Even the apprentice magi didn’t use that tactic. Why?”

“Because dirt balls aren’t as useful as a spear,” Daciana conceded. “But what if I’d shaped them?”

“Into?” William asked.

“Spikes?”

“Show me.”

Daciana looked at the sand around the nearby boulders, and a hand-sized spike of hardened sand formed. She looked at William, who motioned to the target dummy. With a force of will, she made it shoot out, slamming into the dummy’s chest.

“That would be easier to dodge if it came from the front,” Gregory said.

Daciana frowned before two more spikes slammed into the dummy from behind.

“Better,” William nodded. “You can do as you did before, making them and leaving them until you need them. It’s an advantage our magic has over the others. Being able to direct them during combat is difficult, but if you work at it, it becomes easier. We’ll work on that now. Gregory, attack her. Daciana, defend yourself, but make and send spikes at the dummy.”

Gregory rolled over backward, rising to his feet. He gave Daciana a chance to get up before he rushed her.

~*~*~

Physical conditioning and unarmed training were over, and they started to split apart for weapons training.

“Nessa,” Gregory called out to her.

She paused, looking back at him. “Yes?”

“I have something for you,” he said. “I don’t have a real use for it, but you will.” He pulled the bow and arrows from his ring. “Here.”

Nessa hesitated as she looked at the items. “What?”

“Gregory helped make the bow during our time away from the academy,” Yukiko explained. “Since you’re going to be using a bow, he must have felt that you should have a good one.”

“He made it?” Victoria asked, having paused to see what was going on.

“Just the last steps of it,” Gregory said. “It’s a good composite bow, but honestly, I doubt I’d get a lot of use out of it. But I think you will.”

Daciana moved up next to Nessa and nudged her. “Well?”

Nessa blinked, then took the bow and quiver from him. “Thank you, Greg,” she stammered as she pulled the items to her chest. “I’ll put them to good use.”

“It was a good idea,” Jenn said. “We better get moving, though.” She looked at the instructors watching them.

“Yes,” Yukiko said as she walked away.

The rest of the group broke up, going to train with their individual weapons. As they did, Nessa glanced back and saw the smile on Gregory’s face as he turned to face Gin.

“Sorry, Sensei,” Gregory said. “I didn’t mean to cause them all to pause.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. We will spar as we have been, with no aether to be used. Do you realize you’re winning over half of our matches now?”

“I knew I was winning more, but not how often, Sensei.”

“Still, working on your form is good, so let’s hone your edge as best we can,” Gin said. “I was thinking of having you work with the bo-staff, as well.”

“If that’s what you think best,” Gregory said as he set his feet, taking the first stance.

“In the future, not today. Today, we fight,” Gin said as he took a defensive posture. “Now come. Let’s see how you do.”

~*~*~

The group retired to Gregory’s room for the last hour of the night after dinner.

“Did you miss going to see the kids?” Victoria asked them.

“Yes, but we need to be ready for tomorrow,” Gregory sighed. “How about you?”

“Yes,” Daciana said, “but if we have the chance to train with all of you, we’d like to do that. It was nice of the instructors to train us today when they’re normally off.”

“I think they’re being well-compensated,” Yukiko said. “Let’s focus on why we’re here now. Whose turn is it?”

“Me!” Clover said quickly, getting chuckles from the others.

“Okay,” Yukiko smiled. “Tell us about alchemy.”

“Everything in the world has some aether in it,” Clover began, “but once it’s broken apart, the aether starts to fade. For an alchemist, the trick is to take that aether and contain it before transmuting it. The components used dictate what might come of the project.”

“So fire weed is useful for some things, but not others?” Victoria knew this was the case, but wanted to make sure.

“Exactly. There is one component that can be used in any project, though.”

“Bane cores,” Gregory said.

“Yes,” Clover grinned. “Bane cores are a common material. At least the weakest ones from the bane beast farmers are.”

“Bane beast farmers?” Jenn asked.

“Where else would we get enough bane meat for all the magi?” Yukiko asked.

“I never thought about it before,” Jenn admitted. “It makes sense when I think about it.”

“They only raise the least of bane beasts,” Nessa explained. “Fowl, boar, cow, and fish. There is some variety among those, but it’s just those four general categories for the empire. I’ve heard that other countries have a few other options, though.”

“This is taking us off topic,” Gregory chuckled, “but I also had never considered it before. I think I know what my next topic of study will be.”

“It’s a big topic,” Clover said. “Since I work with them, I’ve already been reading about it.”

“Ah, those used in our current supplements?” Jenn asked.

“Yes! They are the base,” Clover grinned. “First, we take a core and grind it…”