Haylan woke the next morning to the smell of something wonderful playing at his nose. Inhaling deeply, he could smell toast, bacon, eggs, sausage, tomatoes, fried bread, baked beans and what smelled suspiciously like cold smoked kippers. He tossed his head from side to side, shaking the sleep away. He looked over to his left, hoping that he had not disturbed Ash, who happened to not even be there. Dressing quickly, Haylan tore through the manor to reach the dining room. He noted that he moved much, much faster than he had even done before.
"Morning!" Ginny greeted around a mouthful of sausage.
"Good morning," Haylan said, sliding onto the bench across from Ash and beside Arik. "Sorry I'm late, had a bit of a lie in this morning."
"No worries," Arik said, smiling with beans in his teeth. "Those absurd kitchen hours are only in effect during the week. Weekends are free reign. Tuck in."
Not needing to be told twice, Haylan loaded his plate up with tomatoes, fried bread, a grapefruit half and the kippers he woke up drooling over. He had never been so hungry. Halfway through his plate, Haylan looked up to see everyone grinning at him.
"What?" he asked.
"We were told you didn't eat." Ryken said as he came into the room.
My word, does the man ever enter a room without already having listened at the doorway for like an hour? Haylan thought clinically. "Well... I really have never had much of an appetite I guess. I don't really know what the deal was last night or what is going on this morning."
"I'll tell you what it is," Ryken said, plopping heavily onto the stool at the head of the table. He speared a sausage on each of the claws on his left hand before continuing. "Tell me, back at the chapel, what sort of chores did you have?"
"Well," Haylan said thoughtfully, "I took care of the small animals and made sure the candles were all lit and such. Ayana did all of the cleaning while DenJer did most of the grunt work." He felt a sharp stab of guilt at the mention of the last name.
"Exactly," Ryken to the moment to swallow the sausage he'd popped into his mouth while Haylan spoke, "You've never exactly had to exert yourself to any extent."
"I--"
"Oh no lad, I don't mean any offense," said Ryken, "I mean you obviously weren't built to do heavy lifting or anything of the sort, and cleaning is looked at as being a woman's work, so of course you had minor tasks just so that you had something of your own. I'd imagine that channeling the ambient magic around you yesterday was the first real work you've had to do, so it naturally made you hungrier than usual."
"Who knew the old man could make sense?" teased Ginny.
"Oh shut it you," Ryken halfheartedly snarled at his apprentice and flicked the remaining sausage on his thumb at her. Gracefully, she caught it in her mouth and lolled her tongue out at her. "Speaking of your friends, the tailor will be by around noon to fit the two of you for both a set of robes and a formal outfit befitting your new apprentice status."
"I... I haven't any money for that," flushed Haylan.
"What? Oh. What have they been teaching in that ruddy school in these last few years?" questioned Ryken. "As my apprentice, you do not pay for anything. It is my responsibility, and pleasure, to take care of any financial dealings you may have. Just be sure to avoid the tavern and the gambling schtick once you to town. That Mirson is a smooth talking, silver tongued swindler if there ever was one."
"Wait... You said the tailor is coming? Do you think he'll bring Ayana with him?" asked Haylan.
"I don't see why he wouldn't, as it is tradition to allow new apprentices the first weekend to be free before hunkering down for the next ten to fifteen months." said Ryken. "If I'm right about your friend, she has already been to the tailor's shop to formally announce her intention to take up the craft. Even more so, if the look she gave you and the one she gave your other friend after her declaration means anything, then she's almost guaranteed to somehow get herself invited along for your fitting."
"I--"
"And don't worry," Ryken added, "whatever your reasons were for doing whatever upset him so much are your own. Neither Arik, Ginerva, nor myself will pry into your business. I only ask that you work at either achieving some sort of piece or resolving whatever it is that weighs so heavily on your mind before you begin your studies with me. I'll not have you blow someone through a wall, burn an innocent's eyebrows off, or freeze yourself to death because you aren't properly focus on the present and can't leave the past behind. Shit happens."
"Yeah," smirked Arik, "ask the idiots in the Scarlet Monastery. I still don't think they've figured out where the rain of poo comes from..."
"The tiny portals in the loo?" asked a slightly mollified Ash.
"That clever bit of magic happens to be courtesy of the young redheaded woman to your left." laughed Ryken.
"Oh... That's gross," frown Haylan, done with his breakfast before he could get to the baked beans.
Since he hadn't even gotten up until sometime close to ten, Haylan found the time between breakfast and the arrival of the tailor to go by remarkably fast. He spent the bulk of the time making several copies of the same letter, asking permission to study and learn fishing, bandaging, cooking, herb identifying and gathering and how to properly brew drinks, drafts, elixirs and everything else a potions master should be able to do. The knock at his door made him jump and fall out of the chair at his desk. He had a desk. Of his own. In his room. He decided he was far too tired the night before if he had not noticed the great oaken desk in the room.
He bounded over to the door, relishing the distance he could cover and the speed he could amass in such short order in his worgen form. [i]Maybe the curse is more of a blessing in disguise,[/i] he mused. He pulled the door open, expecting it to be Ash, and when it wasn't his mouth fell open slightly, as it had been doing repeatedly in the last day or so.
"AYANA!"
"Haylan?" she asked, taken aback when she found herself on the receiving end of a hug.
"Don't sound so surprised," he quipped. "You had to know I had been placed under Master Ryken's tutelage.
"Well of course I knew that," she answered dismissively, pushing past her friend, "but what have they done to you? I've never heard your voice above a whisper or seen you so happy."
"Well I am happy, and I guess I was just excited to see you. It feels like it's been forever."
"We just walked to the schoolhouse together yesterday morning..."
"Well it feels like a lot longer. I got used to seeing your stupid face every morning."
"Wow. I need to sit down. This is too much," said Ayana. Haylan just beamed at her. After taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she looked critically at her friend, pulling a tape measure from the front pocket of her robe, along with a marking stick made of what Haylan presumed to be talc and a bit of cloth parchment. She motioned for him to raise his arms and began taking his measurements. "So... that was pretty bold of you to actually do what you wanted yesterday."
"Yeah..."
The two discussed what they had done and why. Haylan was surprised to find out that Ayana had never meant to become a druid seriously. She just kept her mouth shut since she was newly alone and did not want to be the outcast of the chapel's little band of orphans. She had always wanted to become a priestess, though she was unsure on how she would have gone about it if things had not transpired as they had. Ayana's parents, like Haylan's mother, had not survived the cure, though her grandmother had. When the earthquakes began, the house she lived in with her grandmother rumbled and fell to the ground like a pile of sticks, injuring the old woman. Ayana's grandmother never fully recovered. Six years ago, right after Ayana had turned eight years old, her life changed forever. She watched as helplessly as her grandmother stepped through the veil that separates the living from the dead. With her last breath, the old woman whispered something about a church in the next town over and that Ayana would do well to seek a particular priestess.
Unsure of why, once Ayana reached Brookhaven, she was surprised by the kindness of the woman she had been sent to find. She never did return to her hometown to properly eulogize her grandmother. She was unsure as to whether or not she could bear seeing the remains of the woman who had loved and cared for her so. Ayana was sure however that had she possessed even a fraction of the faith and power of the woman who had accepted her without question, she would have been able to save her grandmother. While she was different from Haylan and DenJer, not having been born in her worgen form, she still felt an intense kinship with the two. Admittedly though, she felt closer to the nearly silent Haylan. They had more in common. Where DenJer was quick to anger, bossy, and rather something like a bully, Haylan was more like her; cool, calm and collected. He never sought to fight people over unimportant slights made against his person. He used his actions to speak far louder than his voice ever could without actually causing harm to another person.
"Alright, well it looks like that's about it," Ayana said as she stuffed her measuring instruments back into her robe pockets.
"Wait, what about my human form? Don't you have to measure for that too?" asked Haylan.
"Nope," said Ayana, flicking her hand dismissively, "I know your human size. Before even being allowed to leave the shop, all apprentice tailors have to display an understanding in conversion and cloth manipulation. Basically, I had to show that I could not only figure out a customer's other form, but imbue the cloth with the Gift of Gilneas."
"The what?"
"The Gift of Gilneas. It's pretty much a charm to make your clothes adjust and fit you properly when you switch from one form to the other and back," explained Ayana.
"Oh okay. I wondered how Ginny and Arik didn't destroy their clothes when they shifted last night." said Haylan.
"Hey, let's make an agreement?"
"What kind of agreement?"
"Well, eventually I'll be opening my own shop," Ayana said with a glossed over look in her eyes, "but it's going to be expensive to start up, of course. I have a few bits of gold in vault somewhere from what my family left me, but still... I think it would be beneficial to both of us if we were to help each other out with discounted prices, you know?"
"Actually, I'll do you one better," said Haylan. "We've been friends since we were both like eight years old. Six years is a long time, especially considering we both lack families and we're living in the middle of a war. I'll just go ahead and send you whatever potions I'm able to make. I know you'll be able to put them to good use. At least a better use than they would achieve sitting in my vault for however long they may sit there. I'm bound to over-pick whatever number of posies I come across anyway."
"Well in that case, if you can donate to me any cloth you don't need or any junk you find and have no use for, I'll craft your clothes for free and see if I can't pull out the useful properties of whatever you find and reconstruct them into something with purpose."
"Deal," Haylan said, sticking his arm out to seal it with a handshake. "Wait... what about DenJer?"
"Well... I spoke with him already. They druids who he is apprenticing under are staying at the chapel, oddly enough. He and I agreed, after he yelled at me for the better part of an hour, to a similar affiliation. I'll enchant his gear, and provide him with scraps of cloth should he need them, but at a small cost," she smiled. "Oh don't be so surprised. I never really was as close to him as you are."
"I.. did he say anything about me?"
"Oh just that he thinks we had been scheming and planning behind his back when he just wanted to protect us since it is his duty as our alpha." The smile fade from her face as she added, "I'm sure you two will be able to work out whatever he's still acting so butt hurt over."
"I... you don't know him like I do. He may pretend like everything is fine and worked out, but it won't be. DenJer holds grudges. He never lets go of anything."
*
The rest of the day proved to be unfruitful. Haylan's thoughts lingered on his betrayal of DenJer for the rest of the day and well into the evening. After the sun had called it quits and allowed the moon to take over, Haylan found himself sitting out in the field, resting beneath a spindly tree. The sun's retreat allowed the true master of fall, a harsh, chill wind, to take over. Haylan watched a small whirlwind of leaves and debris swirl a few paces away. Being in his worgen form, he found the world to be a little different. It was not that his senses had sharpened, for they had never been dull. The word Haylan would have used to describe the sensations he was experiencing was "deeper." He had always had acceptable eyesight, but his eyes seemed to see more than what was before him. Dark and light had greater contrast than they once had. His sense of smell was stronger. As one would expect, he could smell things which had long since been gone. And his hearing! At first, Haylan had been overwhelmed by just how much more he could hear. Even sitting out, alone in the fields found his ears besieged by unseen noise makers. To his front, the whirlwind crackled as the leaves tumbled over each other. Crickets chirped in the tall grass just outside of his reach and frogs croaked in the knotholes of the tree he had decided to lean against. There was a soft thumping noise from somewhere behind him, perhaps a little to the left, that sounded like it was coming closer.
Haylan sat up a little straighter, straining his ears. His first thought was that it was a wayward cow or sheep, but that was impossible. He had made sure to see that every bit of livestock had made its way to the appropriate pen, coop, or barn. Besides that, he could definitely only hear the footfall of one pair of feet. Who or whatever it was that had made to sneak up on him was bipedal and definitely trying to be stealthy. Haylan stood and contemplated his options. The least hysterical choice would be to stand there, call out to what or whoever it was while the most hysterical would be to bolt through the field, screaming at the top of his lungs while praying he would make it to the house without being murdered before he got there. Haylan, being who he was, went with what seemed to be the best plan available.
"Hello?" he called out in the softer, duller voice he had used before coming to learn from Master Ryken and his more advanced students.
No answer of any sort. The footsteps even stopped for a moment.
Then they came back, slightly louder and faster than they had been before.
"HELLO!?" Haylan's voice was louder, if a bit shaky. He looked around and grabbed the staff he had been presented with at supper. "When all else fails and you've exhausted your mana, bludgeon the sucker to death." Arik's words came flooding back to the forefront of Haylan's mind.
A fat lot of good this will do me since I don't even know how to USE my mana aside from making the pretty sparkles for that stupid salute. I'm going to be murdered while saluting my murderer!
Haylan shook the thoughts from his head and bit his lip. He'd taken a deep breath to call out again, but his words caught in his throat. A telltale branch snapped in the darkness to his left, on the other side of the tree he had been leaning up against. As luck would have it, a cloud lolled by at that moment, muting the already dim lighting the moon had been providing. Haylan could hear his stalker coming closer in the darkness.
He froze, rooted to the spot he stood in.
The cloud moved along faster then Haylan had expected, but so had the branch snapper. In the full glow of the moon, Haylan could see the creature which had certainly planned to bring about his demise.
Moving faster than it should have been able to, a great, grizzled bear was breathing on on top of Haylan's head. It growled softly, foaming all the while. A tendril of saliva landed on his nose and his insides turned to mush. The basic fear pumping through his veins forced Haylan to take a step back to at least make an attempt in earnest to flee. The bear reached out to capture Haylan.
Instinctively, Haylan ducked the claw raking toward him, took the staff he had been holding, fixed it with a grip on the smaller end, and swung with all of his might.
The bulbous end of the staff connected with the jaw and temple region and the creature staggered backwards. Haylan, being no one's fool, took off running faster than he had ever run before. A roar erupted somewhere behind him, but that was all the more to fuel Haylan. He tucked his staff into his belt so he could use both his arms and legs to run even faster. The neophytic magus could hear the beast crashing and thundering somewhere behind him. Thankfully, before the creature could catch up, Haylan literally leapt through the portal which would drop him in the foyer. Unlike the portal he had used the other day, this one was warm, borderline hot. Reflecting on it later, Haylan would describe that particular portal as swimming through a hot spring. Landing on the other side, Haylan grabbed the rune Arik had explained powered portals and rubbed the markings until they smudged, effectively snuffing out the portal he had just used. There was no way he was going to let the beast follow him into the manor where it could rend all sorts of unknown havoc upon the unsuspecting inhabitants.
"Haylan? Are you okay?"
Still on edge, Haylan jumped and held his staff the way he had just moments ago before realizing he was looking at Arik. Arik gently pried both the staff from Haylan's intense grip and the story from him. Some fifteen minutes passed before he could get the story from the boy and locate Ginny so they could go and inspect the grounds. Haylan had been ordered to go to his room and stay put until the matter could be sorted out.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, jumping every time it, the wood of the floors, or the plaster of the walls groaned, creaked or crackled, Haylan let the encounter play through his head over and over.
Knock-Knock-Knock
The door creaked open before Haylan could act. Ash quickly and silently stepped into the room, kicking the door shut with the heel of his foot. He held a vial of a bright green liquid up to Haylan's face.
"Drink this."
"What is it?"
"A variant of a mild Dreamless Sleep combined with a calming draught."
"Did they find... whatever it was?"
"No, but they found traces of it. Whatever it was, it's gone now, but it left the anti-intrusion wards screaming. Somehow, whatever it was befuddled them to get onto the grounds and what's even stranger is that the alarm wards linked to the main house never even went off."
"Wait, how would we know that they never went off? Wouldn't they alert Master Ryken as this is his home?"
"No, no. Since he left on his expedition to aid the Alliance in keeping our foothold in Outland, he redirected them to Ginny and Arik."
"Oh."
"Don't worry about that right now though. Drink up. Since they can't figure out what happened, we start training in the morning."
"What!? I thought they said they didn't have any plans for us just yet."
"Yeah, well the whole issue with someone sneaking onto the grounds has them a little concerned to say the least. They don't want it to happen again and one of us be caught unawares."
Haylan nodded grimly at his new friend and threw his head back, letting the grassy colored potion slide down his throat. The effects were almost immediate. A warm wave of peacefulness spread from his belly, urging his muscles to just relax. Blinking slowly, cocking his head to the side, Haylan slipped into his human form, For some reason, it just felt right to him at the moment. He was sure that even if it felt wrong, he would have had difficulty swapping back to his worgen form.
"Shdoojoothinkaahlgitintrurble?"
"What?" asked Ash, smiling slightly in amusement. He had not realized the potion would work so quickly.
"Do you think I'll get in trouble?" said Haylan, carefully enunciating each word. "I mean for being human?"
"Oh nah." answered Ash. "I bet they expected that to happen. Dreamless Sleep, even in this exponentially diminished version is seriously strong stuff. Given that, the fact that it was mixed with a calming draught, and how small you are, I would be offended on your behalf if they expected you to be able to maintain your worgen form."
Haylan smirked at that comment. He thought Ash would have the same control over his transformations he possessed himself. Maybe Ash was born before the curse had affected his mother while she was pregnant with him. That made no sense to him though. Maybe it was because he was suspected to have been conceived while his parents were lost in a frenzy and he had grown in his mother as a worgen the whole time. He would ponder those ideas at some later time. At present, he just wanted to sleep. Just as he started give in to the potion, an animal, somewhere nearby, though relatively far away roared into the night.
"Stay with me?" asked a nearly sleeping Haylan.
"Certainly."
*
Haylan awoke to hearing a faint chiming. He blinked his eyes open and listened for a moment. He was certain the noise did not exist in reality. Or rather it existed but was coming from his own ears. Haylan's second observation and those that immediately followed made him smile. A caramel colored arm had been draped across his face. Slowly extracting himself and it's owner, Haylan turned in his bed to see Ash snoring softly, drooling ever so slightly on his pillow. He's a good friend, thought Haylan. He stayed the night with me to make sure I didn't freak out or anything. I'll have to do something nice for him. With that mental note logged away in his mind, Haylan shook his friend away and the two were down at breakfast less than fifteen minutes later.
"Ah! Good morning boys," greeted Ginny. She looked a little worse for wear this morning, even in her worgen form. "Good to see the alarm charm I set on your rooms were strong enough to wake you up after all. I thought I may have cast them a little on the weak side."
"Yes, well," Arik said in a matter-of-fact tone, clearly worn out, "We'll begin with a few warm up exercises right after breakfast."
"Yeah, better eat up," suggested Ginny, seeing Haylan reach for nothing but a grapefruit. "I know it sounds harsh, but we won't be breaking at all until you two get the spell down."
Taking Ginny up on her advise, Haylan grabbed a bowl and filled it with the hearty porridge resting in the large pot in the center of the table. He found it surprisingly good after adding just a bit of sugar and cream. Back at the chapel the porridge served was more akin to gruel than what he was eating at the moment. This porridge was filled with bits of fried dough, eggs, little bits of salty pork, and a leafy vegetable he was unable to identify. Breakfast was over sooner than Haylan would have liked, but he consented to following his two mentors to one of the sealed rooms he and Ash had found on their first day.
The inside was nothing like he had expected. It was just cold. That was all. There was no furniture, no decoration, no nothing. It was just a bare, obscenely chilly room.
"This room, though reminiscent of the dead of winter, is one of the most important in the entire house." said Ginny.
"Why is it so cold in here?" asked Ash, clearly uncomfortable.
"Great that you asked," said Arik. "If you'll remember what you've learned so far, the adept magus is capable of drawing on the powers of the arcane, frost and flame. The scary ones can wield all three simultaneously. That sort of magus though tends to be nearly a fossil though thanks to the amount of time one would have to spend studying and learning each branch of magic in depth. Back to your question though, this room is designed to, hopefully, force you to pull on two branches of magic at the same time, or at least back to back.
"Given the events of last night, Ginny and I find it prudent to go ahead and get you two started with your training instead of allowing you another day to explore and check out the manor. The problem though, is that we disagree on how to go about ensuring your safety. I believe the best defense is an indomitable offense."
"I, on the other hand," interrupted Ginny, "feel it wiser to have an understanding of defense to launch said offense."
"Uh.. So why is this room so cold?" Haylan asked, repeating Ash's question.
"Cheeky monkey," chided Arik, "it's cold in here for two reasons. Reason One: You will learn to draw upon the coolness of the room and tie it to yourself."
"Reason A: If you aren't already, you should find yourself to be so cold that you want to light a fire. Or bring one to you." said Ginny.
"You went from 'number one' to 'letter a' on purpose?" asked Ash.
"We would hate to have subliminally influenced you when it comes time for you to choose a specialization." Ginny answered with a smirk. "Alright, Lesson A: focus on the cold around you the same way you did when you were listening to the room first arrived here. Think about how you can see your breath in front of you. Bring your arms up chest level and take a deep breath. Now, imagine a roaring, crackling fire to warm your body up and exhale, blowing into your hands. WHOA!"
Haylan jumped! He looked down to his hands and his trailing breath. Nothing had happened. He was confused. He looked over to see if Ash had pinpointed the cause of Ginny's surprise. He had.
Flames twirled around Ash's arms and all the way up to his shoulders.
"Excellent, Ash!" praised Ginny. "now, try to focus and pull it all into the space between your hands." Ash managed the feat easily, smiling the whole time.
Several hours later, a discouraged Haylan plopped down at the lunch table. He had only just managed to sustain a tiny spark between his fingers, all the while Ash had learned to juggle the small orbs of fire he easily conjured. Haylan had suggested the others continue with the other spell while he focused on the one he was working on, but they assured him they could and would wait for him. There was no reason for them to really rush. Ginny even went so far as to assure him that it could take awhile.
"It took me a fortnight before I could conjure a flame, even longer before I could guide and direct it." she had said, failing in her attempt to make Haylan feel better about his lack of progress.
When he had finally managed to get the small air between his numbed fingers to ignite, he nearly collapsed from exultation and exhaustion simultaneously. It was only due to his sheer determination to maintain the tiny flame that he stayed on his feet.
Lunch was a relatively light affair compared to the meals provided the two days before. Today lunch was pile of rolls, thinly sliced meats and cheeses, and an assortment of sliced fruits and vegetables. After washing it all down with a swig of unknown-origin juice, they were back to business in the cold room.
"Okay, recall your flames," instructed Ginny.
Haylan grimaced, grunted and strained to pull his own personal ball of fire back into being. Arik was right, it was far easier to recall than it had been to initially conjure. Thinking of him, Haylan looked over to the far side of the room where Arik had wandered off to. At the wave of his hand, a shield shaped out of fire flashed momentarily in the air between him and the others.
"Now, throw it at Arik. This is what we call a fireball."
"What!?" said Haylan.
"Don't worry," called Arik. "That flash you just saw was a fire ward. You shouldn't actually be able to hit me."
"Alright, I find it easiest to cast my fireballs like this," Ginny said, demonstrating a very fluid motion, sending a crackling fireball swooping through the air at Arik. It exploded spectacularly against the fire ward which reappeared a few feet in front of Arik once Ginny's fireball closed in.
Ash mimicked the motion without prompting, sending a huge fireball of his own careening toward Arik.
Haylan looked down at his own pitiful manifestation of a fireball. What could he possibly do with such a tiny flame? He doubted he would even be able to light the wick of a candle. He looked back up, Ginny was looking at him expectantly. He stepped up to where Ash and she had stood when they threw their own fireballs and inhaled deeply. He was nervous.
Letting go of the breath he had held long enough to get a heady feeling, Haylan allowed his body to flow the same way Ginny had demonstrated and let his fireball fly.
It managed to travel about a meter or so before it puttered out. Haylan wiped his face with his hands in frustration. Why can't I do it?! How is it that Ash has such better control over fire than I do? He couldn't have gotten extra preparation, could he? As if she could read his thoughts, Ginny patted Haylan on the shoulder.
"It's okay, Haylan," she said. "You literally just pulled fire out of nothingness and managed to throw it a bit. It takes time to gain the control-"
"Can we just move on to the other lesson for me to fail at?" asked Haylan. He kept his head down as he whispered his desperate plea.
"Yeah," she said. "If I'm right about you, you'll find this next exercise to be much easier than the Fireball spell."
"You don't have to do that," he said, voice still quiet.
"Do what?" she asked.
"Try to make me feel better," Haylan answered. " I suck at this."
Ginny smiled kindly at Haylan, patting him on the shoulder again. Arik had made his way back over by then.
"Okay, time for Lesson A," he said with a smile.
"Those two things weren't separate?" asked Ash.
"You wish you could be so lucky. This next exercise is the polar opposite of the the Fireball technique. Starting again, focus on the cold in the room, but instead of trying to counteract it, accept it. Accept the cold. Accept the way it makes your fur stand on end. Accept the way you can see your breath in front of you when you breath out." said Arik.
Haylan had a much easier time with this. The cold, when he thought about it rather than just allowed his body to feel it was not nearly as unbearable as it had been. It was more like jumping into a cool lake on a hot summer day. He felt more refreshed than he did cold.
"Now, pull it to you. Pull the chilly, icy air close to you and layer it over you and your clothing."
Haylan heard a small chiming, crackling sound. His eyes flew open immediately. The air above his head solidified for a split second before vanishing.
"Very nice, Haylan," said Arik, "that's what we call Frost Armor. Drawing it out will make you a bit tougher. Should anything strike you, assuming your assailant is hitting you with either their hands or something they are holding, they will more than likely be lashed out at by your Frost Armor and chilled to the point that it takes them a moment to push past the cold to strike again. I'd advise you to have moved before they can whack you again."
This time, it was Ash's turn to struggle a bit. It took him the better part of the day to figure out how to pull the cold around him and drape it around his body. Haylan, on the other hand, started playing around with maintaining his Frost Armor for extended periods of time while practicing his Fireball. With more personalized guidance from Ginny, by supper time, Haylan had the proper stance for all basic projectile conjuring down pat. His Fireballs flew the standard distance by the time they adjourned for dinner, even if they were a little weak.
"See!" Ginny said, swallowing a hunk of bread. "I was right about you!"
"Right about what?" asked Haylan.
"You were having trouble with the Fireball at first compared to Ash over there, but it wasn't your fault. Ash has a natural affinity to fire."
"He's going to be a hell of a Fire Mage if that's the route he chooses to go," added Arik, talking around the brim of his mug.
"You, on the other hand," Ginny continued, "you're just like me. You have an affinity for frost magic."
"Like you?" Haylan frowned as he said those words.
"Yeah, like me." she said. "I specialized in the frost tree of our available specializations."
"But... your hair is so red," stammered Haylan.
"Uh... it runs in my family?" laughed Ginny.
"Well, if you're a Frost Mage, why were you teaching us how to summon and throw the Fireball?" asked Ash.
"We figured it would be easier that way." said Arik. "I'm a Fire Mage, so I wouldn't be a very good teacher for the initial conjuring of fire for a pupil who doesn't share that affinity with me."
"And vice versa," said Ginny. "The basics are much easier to learn if you receive instruction from someone who isn't so wrapped up in the specialization that they can't properly explain the simpler things. Get it?"
"Actually... that makes sense," Haylan said, nodding at his friends.
*
Time flew for Haylan, what with the combined, doubled up alchemy and herbalism lessons, the constant, yet obnoxious manipulation of linen into bandages, cooking, fishing, and of course working on his Fireball, Frost Armor, and Arcane Intellect spells. As a result of his hard work, he could make a small array of potions, he could make a bandage from a scrap of linen cloth in just under two seconds, the fish he caught could be used for something aside from bait, and the food he cooked no longer tasted like charred coals left in the sun four summers ago. A full fortnight had passed before he started feeling the telltale itching on the back of his neck.
"Come on in!" Arik called after breakfast one morning when the boys knocked on the door of the cold room. Ash winced as he chewed his eggs while Haylan groused around a mouthful of grapefruit and rolled his shoulders. Arik assumed the boys both had issues with identifying the true nature of their discomfort as they had only dealt with it once, so he took care to make sure their weekends were clear for the lessons he had planned. With it being the first morning of the weekend, Arik had announced an impromptu mage training session.
The boys walked in, fur jumping to attention at the crisp air.
"What's up?" asked Ash.
"You two are ready for the next stage of training." Arik answered simply, "if I'm right, that is. You both looked relatively uncomfortable at breakfast so instead of your usual independent study, I'm going to teach you something new."
"I thought that might be what the problem was, but I wasn't sure," said Ash.
"No Ginny?" asked Haylan.
"Not for a few days, she's out gather a few things for a future session with the two of you." said Arik. "But today, I'll be teaching you two spells. The first I'll be showing you, is how to cast a Frostbolt. Go ahead and get into your proper stance before we continue. It's the same one you use for Fireballs."
Haylan spread his feet to a shoulder length distance apart and raised his arms into the now familiar stance. He smiled to himself as he mentally commented about how he looked like a "W" from the way his arms and head were positioned.
"Now, remember the way you call upon Frost Armor, and all you have to do is focus the chill and channel it just like you do the Fireball."
Haylan opened his eyes and tossed his Frostbolt over to where Arik had moved to during his explanation. The spell flashed through the air like an earthbound comet and smashed against the almost invisible blue tinge of power curved in front of him. Arik smiled at Haylan and motioned for him to try again. Haylan threw Frostbolt after Frostbolt at his instructor, giddy on the rush he was feeling at being a natural at an offensive spell. He could instinctively feel the subtle distance between Frostbolt and Fireball, but he was fine with them. While a Fireball may have more of an initial impact on it, it tired him far more than a Frostbolt, which he could cast faster. Just like the Frost Armor he had easily mastered, Haylan was sure that had Arik not been so much stronger than he was, the Frostbolts he had been flinging through the air would most likely chill his targets to the point where they would be too cold to move at their normal speed.
After a quick lunch (Ash caught on to the Frostbolt spell in about the same time as Haylan had Fireball) the trio was back at it.
"Alright, this spell is someone iconic of our class," said Arik. " It's actually a little trickier than one would think, but once you've got it, it's going to be like second nature."
Haylan raised his eyebrows, silently urging Arik on.
"After dabbling lightly into the frost and fire schools of magic, this one comes from the arcane. Before we get into this though, I have a question for you two. How do you feel after casting repeatedly?"
"Exhausted," said Haylan," I can definitely feel the difference between casting Fireballs versus Frostbolts."
"Yeah," Ash added, "I think casting a Fireball is way more... Exerting... I think that's the word I want, than casting a Frostbolt."
"Well, that's because it's a proven fact that until you have been trained into a specific branch, Frostbolt is less mana intensive than Fireball," explained Arik. "It's interesting that even at this early stage of your training that you are both so attuned to that fact. Personally, I was aware of it, but not at a conscious level like you two are. I was just struggling so hard with the Frostbolt that I couldn't realize that it was less draining overall than the Fireball due to my affinity."
"I thought-" started Ash.
"Oh, that's not to say that your affinities are less than mine is, it's just an interesting point to me." Arik said with a smile. "Anyway, this spell is going to help replenish you mana. You're going to learn to Conjure Water."
"Oh! Like you did with the table on our first night?" Haylan asked excitedly.
"Yes, but to a lesser extent," said Arik. "You have to learn to crawl before you can walk, as they say."
"This is going to be the best thing ever!" exclaimed Haylan, "It's like those energy tonics they sell in the tavern!"
"Pretty much," laughed Arik.
Nearly a month later, Haylan had mastered the basic linen bandage and was working on making a Heavy Linen Bandage in a second or under, he could make another two potions, pick herbs as tricky, delicate and complex as briarthorn, cast an even stronger Fireball, had learned a new spell called Fire Blast which caused fire to more or less erupt in the target's face and even better, he could conjure muffins to eat if he decided to skive off of getting up for breakfast, which also made his body in general feel better. Things were going well.
Early one morning, while Haylan had been out picking herbs for inclusion in a round of healing and mana potions he planned to send to the front lines. That was when he came across a dead man. The body had a long knife with a skull ornament on its hilt protruding from the ribs. Frantic and in a mild inner panic, Haylan looked around. Off the coastline, he spotted a pair of savage-looking warships docked at the shore.
We.. we're being invaded? I... I have to tell someone! I should run back to the manor! he thought. No... That's too far away, who knows what would happen before I get there. I have to go to the mayor! I have to get to Gwen Armstead as soon as possible.
Things had been going well. Haylan blinked as he realized the world as he had known it was about to be blown to smithereens.
*
"Forsaken!? Well don't dawdle, boy! We must be quick! We must mount a defensive immediately!" exclaimed Gwen Armstead, the mayor of Duskhaven. "The reefs have always protected us from coastal attack. The earthquakes from the last few years must've opened a passage for the Forsaken ships.
"Quick. Slow down the attackers while I get the rest of the militia ready."
A loud, albeit distant explosion rang through the air. The mayor looked more frazzled than every, and tugged at his mane nervously.
"That must be the Prince and some of our men engaging the Forsaken even as we speak. Find Liam and see if you can't be of some use."
Haylan blinked stupidly. As a part of all lower classes, the students were taught that those in official positions were effectively their military leaders should any sort of direct attack occur. Well, the attack had come, but Haylan was severely untrained. What use would he be against the Forsaken!? What, with their sheer numbers, not to mention the monstrosities commonly referred to as abominations, Haylan immediately felt overwhelmed. Coming out of his stupor, he found himself being pushed out the door by one of the mayor's assistants, with said mayor calling out after him.
"Do make sure he doesn't get himself killed. I'm afraid he might be a little... reckless, all things considered."
Haylan's first thought was to go straight to the manor to gather Ash, Ginny, and Arik, but he decided against it. What would he do if he was discovered to have taken a detour? Most would assume he was running from combat, that he had disobeyed a direct order. Given the current situation, he would likely be executed immediately and thought a traitor to the kingdom. That certainly wouldn't do.
Before he knew it, Haylan found himself at a small outpost near the beach, but still somewhat hidden from the Forsaken warships.
"HAYLAN!" an oddly familiar voice called out. "You ARE Alive!"
Haylan blinked dimly, yet again. He felt that he somewhat recognized the man standing before him, but it was hard to tell since the other had been in his worgen form.
"I thought I was having dreams of the old days when I heard your voice asking for me."
Haylan blinked again. He recognized the voice, though it had been an eternity since he had heard it, but the man before him was still covered in fur and Haylan was unsure as to how he knew him. Then his mind clicked.
"Preston?" he asked.
"Yes, though when I am not running around marauding as a traveling altar boy, I am usually known as Prince Liam of Gilneas."
Haylan stared with his mouth slightly open. He knew it, but he was in shock. First, he had been sent down to assist the Prince with fighting off the Forsaken who seemed bent upon invading the kingdom. Secondly, the boy who he had befriended the previous summer was in fact the crown prince. What? That was when Haylan realized that though he had stopped talking, Liam had not.
"What?" he asked.
"That's right, get out there and help quell a batch of these motherless Forsaken. Once you have killed a fair dozen or so, return to me and I will have a better assignment for you."
Haylan stepped quietly into the muddy sand.
I really wish Ash or Ginny or Arik were here, he whined in his head. They would know what to do they would know where to go and how to go about this... this horrible task.
Haylan brought the chill of the mist swirling about him close to form his Frost Shield, immediately followed by mentally buffing up his mind with a quick cast of Arcane Intellect. Since he had been out in the fields, picking herbs to work on his alchemy, Haylan dug into his pack, pulling out a small, stoppered vial of aqua colored liquid. He downed it quickly and burped. He had learned to sweeten the potion so the taste wouldn't be so terrible, but it was called Troll's Blood for a reason, no matter how weak it was.
Nearly half an hour later, Haylan had conquered his fear and stepped out into the foray with the Forsaken. He, along with a good number of others had formed a loosely organized strike force. Together, they downed a decent number of the invaders. Having had his fill and being relatively exhausted, Haylan made his way back to Prince Liam.
"Nicely done," said the Prince, "but we're far from finished. See the great fat ones? Abominations, they're called – they don't go down so easy, but we HAVE to take them out before they get too far up the coast. I want you to back up team 121 with whatever you can do to help them."
"Team 121?" asked Haylan.
"Yeah... Us."
Haylan's heart stalled as if it had been pelted with a Frostbolt. He turned slowly, already knowing who had appeared behind him.
"DenJer..."
It turned out that the team had been a lucky break for Haylan. Though he and DenJer had been grouped together, the group also, mercifully, included Ash, Ayana, and a rogue who had apparently teamed up with Ayana on the way to the small outpost. Ayana used her knowledge to keep Winry, the rogue, up and energized while she ducked and dodged and bobbed and weaved in and out of the shadows, taking down the invaders one by one.