Aspect Of Winter Page 23

  When I turned around a minute later, Tyler was busy fastening some leather bracers onto his arms. He was wearing the same shirt and pants that I was, but he appeared to also have a layer of leather armor of some sort covering his form instead of a robe like mine. He had on leather armguards, shoulder pads, a fitted breastplate, and his hips and thighs and feet were all also encased in leather. I could see the same rune tracery woven into his clothes as mine where the armor wasn’t covering it. Tyler turned back to me, finishing buckling two sheaths to his belt. He grinned wickedly, and then drew his two swords with a flourish. I whistled. They looked almost exactly like the spatha I made for him with my magic, except they were made of metal instead.

  Tyler sheathed his new swords, and did a slow turn for me. I had to admit, he looked really good as a warrior. Judging by how Tyler took me in as well, I pulled off the robed mage look pretty well, too. I concentrated, and ice gathered in the air in front of my hand, forming itself into a long staff, curving into a crook at the tip. Its facets glittered in the light, and I took hold of it and struck a pose. It was utterly useless, of course, but it looked cool to me. Tyler seemed to agree, at least, judging by the impressed look he gave me, as well as the amused crinkling of his eyes.

  “We’re going to win. You know that, right?” Tyler said. “I know Aiden said we probably wouldn’t make it to first place, but I think he was wrong. I can feel it.”

  “Is that like an athlete’s instinct or something? Because all I feel is the draft caused by these robes.”

  Tyler smirked. “Maybe. But I think I’m on to something, all the same. It’s not the clothes, but it’s the reminder that you’re pretty damn strong.”

  I smacked him on the arm, blushing, and he backed off laughing, and then stepped back in to ruffle my hair. After that, we just stood, looking at each other and smiling dopily. Of course, that’s when Sam burst through the door, outfitted in her own armor, which looked like a combined version of mine and Tyler’s, with the leather fittings, but also a hooded cape. She had leather armor and buckles fitted to her calves, and then an extra skirt of chainmail hanging down around them, split down the middle for mobility. And with two long black gloves covering her hands, not a sliver of skin was visibly from below her neck. Two daggers were belted at her waist, and her long black hair was up in a no-nonsense ponytail, her brown eyes clear and sharp. If Tyler looked dangerous, Sam looked lethal. Her eyes flicked over both of us, assessing us quickly, and then she grinned.

  “I like it, you two. Let’s go out there and win.”

  Tyler looked at me triumphantly. I smiled a little, too. Maybe they had a point. Maybe we really could win this. The three of us went over what we had already covered yesterday for possible battle plans, and then we headed out for the Hall. It was empty, save for the glowing portal atop the dais where the Speaker usually stood.

  Sam stopped us, and then stuck her hand out in between the three of us, looking at Tyler and me seriously.

  “This is the last Trial. If we fail this, then the story’s over. We go back to being normal, more or less. But… I’m not worried about that. We’re going to win this. We’re a team, and this competition? It’s nothing compared to Samhain. It’s nothing at all that we haven’t already fought and defeated before. So we’re going to go out there, and we’re going to destroy everyone unlucky enough to fight us. Put your hand in, because we’re swearing to win, right here, right now. And then we’re going to make it happen.”

  It was a bit over the top, but I could sense Sam’s fervor in her words, and that was more than enough for me. I put my hand on top of hers, and Tyler did the same.

  “We swear to win,” Sam said, her eyes closed and face focused.

  “We swear to win.”

  Her eyes snapped open, and she smiled. “Great. Now, group hug and we go.” We all moved in. It was awkward, as a three person hug tends to be, but it was also comforting in a way. I was with my friends, even now. And they were going to be with me to the end.

  We stepped through the portal, one by one. I went last, and my world was overwhelmed by the kaleidoscope of light, disorienting me as I stepped out somewhere entirely different.

  The air was cool and crisp, and the sky above was steel-gray with clouds. I looked around, and discovered that we were in what looked like a version of the Coliseum of ancient Rome. The massive circular marble structure stretched its arches up to the sky, and rows and rows of seats moved down from the top down to by the edge of the large circle of flat earth in the center.

  The portal had let us out at the top of one of the stairs. Looking around, it was clear that this structure was built for a much larger audience. A few of the other applicants were already seated down by the base, dressed similarly to us, but they were the only people in the Arena. Most of them I recognized vaguely from the attack.

  I spotted Aria dressed in a similar getup to Sam’s, but with two large slits cut in the back for her wings. I thought I saw Septimus over in the corner, too, wearing a hooded robe like me, except it was black in color. His horns pushed the hood back ever so slightly, and his eerie red eyes seemed to be observing the other applicants. Sitting next to him was a boy I’d never seen before, tall and skinny with short red hair and freckles. He was wearing leather armor and robes both, clutching a staff in his hands. He looked terrified. Probably Septimus’ partner for the Trial. Looking over, it seemed like the girl who had failed the Practical, Kaede, was with Aria. Beast-girl team, I guessed. They weren’t going to make for an easy fight, that was for sure.

  Aria caught sight of us and stood up and waved, beaming. I don’t think she was troubled by the whole competition nerves thing at all. She definitely wasn’t treating us like the enemy, as everyone else seemed to be doing. We walked down to her, and she smiled at all of us.

  “Aren’t you excited? I’m really nervous, but I’m also excited. Everyone else seems really serious, though. I think they’re taking this too seriously. If you lose, then you lose, but that’s fair, right? There’s no need to get all grouchy about it. Just do the best you can, and no hard feelings in the end, you know? Oh, but I’m still hoping to do well. I really want to go here. I’m confident that I can make it, though. Kaede and I will make a good team, I just know it! But you three look really strong too. We might lose to you. But not without a fight, that’s for sure. Hopefully we won’t be pitted against each other until the end, you know? That’d be great.”

  Sam nodded all throughout Aria’s flood of words, while Tyler and I just tried to not get lost. When Aria paused to take a breath, Sam jumped in.

  “You’re absolutely right, Aria. There’s no reason to get all melodramatic about what’s just another test. Though for what it’s worth,” she added, her eyes glinting, “I hope we don’t face off against you too early either. I’d hate to see you not make it in because of us.”

  “Shots fired,” Tyler muttered, nudging me with his hip. I snickered.

  Aria’s face reddened a bit, and then she grinned back at Sam, though the smile had a bit of challenge in it. She held out her hand, and Sam shook it firmly. She did the same for me and Tyler, and the matter was settled. We watched as more and more students began to appear, filling a small section of the seats.

  At noon exactly, Speaker Sekhmene materialized in the center of the arena’s base. Her voice carried effortlessly throughout the coliseum.

  “Welcome, Applicants, to the final Trial. All of you are wearing your assigned gear, chosen to best suit your specific capabilities. You must never take this gear off in combat, as it is the means by which the Trial is safe for you. The runes many of you have no doubt noticed stitched into your clothing are runes of protection, the strongest Janus University can offer. As long as you stand in the Arena battlefield wearing them while the Trial is active, no attack of any sort can kill you. Instead, the runes will nullify the lethal damage and record it, registering as a red glow from that area.”

  The Speaker waved her hand, and the air behind her shi
mmered, briefly showing the image of two shadowy combatants fighting, fading when red light burst out of one of the combatant’s necks.

  “When that happens,” the Speaker continued, “you have lost the match. Nonlethal blows are recorded as blue glows, though they still hurt, and once a certain amount of such blows have been accumulated, you will also lose the match. The rules of the Trial of Competition are simple. You have been paired with another student based on either compatibility, or in some cases, availability. If we do not consider the pairing to be beneficial, that will be taken into consideration when scoring your performance. The two of you will be pitted against two other students in battle. Whichever team loses both members first loses. Any and all forms of attack are permitted.” She paused for emphasis. “As with previous years, you will pass the Trial by one of two ways. If by the time of your loss your individual performance is judged to be above the norm, you will be accepted. Otherwise, making it into the top fourth will result in your team being accepted. It should be noted that there is incentive to continue winning past this point, however, as rewards have been prepared for the top three teams.”

  A small stone pedestal rose slowly out of the ground next to her, with a small piece of furled up paper resting atop it. The Speaker picked it up, and slowly unrolled it.

  “Would the team of Septimus Blackhorn and Jacob Flynn step into the Arena, please.”

  The small scroll burned up immediately, and another one appeared on the pedestal. The Speaker picked it up as well.

  “Would the team of Astrid and Britt Eriksson step into the Arena, please.”

  We watched as two girls, both tall and blonde, both wearing sturdy iron and leather armor, with massive axes strapped to their backs, walked onto the dirt from our left. The air around the Arena sparked blue for a moment as they passed through, and ripples spread out from their entrance, revealing a barrier around the entire base. Probably to keep us spectators from being harmed. To our right, Septimus stood up slowly, a slash of darkness across the white marble. He stepped confidently through the barrier, and the other kid, Jacob, followed him nervously. Once both teams were inside the Arena, the Speaker clapped her hands together, and two glowing circles became visible on either side of it. She motioned for both teams to step into them. When they were in place, the pedestal sank back into the ground and the Speaker dissolved into silver light.

  The Eriksson girls looked entirely unafraid, and had drawn their greataxes, glaring at Septimus and Jacob as they planted the tips of their axes into the grounds. Septimus merely sneered back and raised his hands, bloodred fire crackling around them. Jacob held his staff out in front of him, trembling, looking desperately like he’d rather be anywhere except here. Sparks of magic began to fly off the circles they stood in, the glow intensifying.

  The Speaker’s voice filled the air, and the circles suddenly disappeared.

  “May the battle be glorious, and your fortunes golden all the same!”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  The two Eriksson girls didn’t waste any time. Both of them began to utter rapid-fire enchantments, white light bending and warping around their forms until both of them were encased in it, only their weapons visible. Howling filled the air as two massive white-furred wolves stepped out of thin air next to them and bared their teeth at Septimus and Jacob. Without waiting a second longer, the girls and their wolves charged straight for the other team, axes raised and ready.

  Septimus growled out an incantation, and slammed his hand into the dirt. The ground rumbled and quaked as it split open, spitting out two human shaped creatures made entirely of the same red fire that continued to circle his hands. Septimus took several steps back, and gestured at the fire elementals he summoned. They began to advance on the wolves, and my eyes caught a flicker of… something, on Septimus’ shoulder, but only for a moment.

  Jacob meanwhile was trembling violently, his eyes wide as he backed away from the advancing girls. He barely managed to get the words of his spell out, and I watched as three globes of water formed in front of him, and then shot through the air at the sister on the left (I think it was Astrid, but I have no idea). She didn’t break stride for a second, and charged through the water orbs as they splashed harmlessly against her armor of light.

  The fire elementals were only about ten feet away from the wolves when the wolves’ eyes began to glow blue. They each took a half-step backwards, and then roared, a shockwave of ice roaring through the air in front of them. The icy blasts impacted with the elementals, and a massive cloud of steam went up, momentarily blocking our vision. When it cleared, there was no trace of the elementals left, and one of the wolves had a nasty burn on its left flank, its white fur charred and flaking off. The sisters had also reached Jacob, and he was actually showing a fair degree of ability with his staff in deflecting the massive swings of their greataxes.

  “The Eriksson twins are combat specialists,” Aria whispered to me. “They cast incredibly strong defensive spells, and then wade in to fight up front. I’m not sure what Jacob’s good at, though.”

  Jacob roared all of a sudden, and a pillar of water seemed to erupt all around him, picking the sisters up off their feet and pushing them back clear to the other side of the Arena. The two wolves stepped nimbly to the side of the pillar of water, which was writhing like a living thing as Jacob dropped his staff to make a series of complicated gestures.

  I blinked. That was unexpected. Jacob was actually pretty good. Then the wolves howled again, and ice began to coat the water. I smiled. I liked these wolves. Seconds later, the entire pillar was frozen solid, and the sisters leapt on top of it, soaring at least a dozen feet through the air.

  I glanced at Sam, who had gone into full-on fangirl mode after seeing that. I could practically see her mind working to figure out how she could do that too.

  The sisters meanwhile, were running down towards Jacob, whose face had paled at the sight of the ice. One of the girls was blasted off the ice path by a gout of red fire from Septimus, who had rejoined the fray, immersed in a massive circle of fire. He was pulling up tendrils of flame, coiling them, and then hurling them with unerring accuracy at the two sisters, driving them back away from Jacob for the moment. That was when the wolves reached Jacob, however. He went down screaming under them, and a flare of red light shimmered into existence from his neck. A second later, Jacob reappeared outside the Arena, gasping for breath as he clutched at his neck frantically. Back inside, the sisters and their wolves advanced on Septimus, still ensconced in his corner of fire. He didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

  “Good,” he sneered, “you got rid of the deadweight. Now it’s my turn.”

  He spat out a word that made me wince just hearing it. I was pretty sure I would have destroyed my throat trying to pronounce it. A pulse of darkness dimmed his fire for a moment, and then swept outwards, sending up sparks when it hit the sisters. Their armor of light shattered, revealing their shocked faces, and their wolves yelped as they were banished back out of existence. Septimus fell to his knees, panting harshly from the effort.

  Astrid and Britt only stayed shocked for a moment, however, and then they began to advance on the fallen Septimus. They chanted harsh words aloud, this time encasing their axes in harsh white-blue light. When they reached the edge of the fire, they began to swing their blades, and the flames were smothered by sudden gusts of icy wind, forcing open a path for them. Septimus was pinned to a corner, and it looked like whatever he tried to do just took too much out of him in the end. Astrid raised her axe to point at his neck, and swung.

  Midway through her strike, Astrid’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed paralyzed on the ground as a small flare of red appeared on the back of her neck.

  “What did you do?” Britt snarled, now holding her axe up to Septimus’ neck.

  “The same thing I’ve already done to you as well,” Septimus replied, baring his teeth in an expression that was nothing like a grin.

  He made a pu
shing gesture with his hands, and Britt backpedaled furiously, swinging her axe like a scythe to sever the wall of fire suddenly assaulting her. It passed harmlessly to each side of her, but then she too fell on the ground, a red pulse appearing on her neck.

  All at once, Septimus and the girls were teleported outside the ring, and the Speaker reappeared in the center.

  “The winners of the match are Septimus Blackhorn and Jacob Flynn!”

  A few people halfheartedly clapped, but most of us were too busy trying to figure out what exactly Septimus had done. I spotted another rustling motion on his shoulder, and for a second it looked like a pair of leathery black wings were folding themselves around a doll-sized body, before whatever it was just seemed to disappear. I made a note to ask Sam and Aria about it later.

  I glanced over at Tyler to see what he thought of the fight, and he looked ill. His face was pale, and his limbs were quaking a bit.

  “Tyler? What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.

  He glanced at me shamefacedly. “This is really different from a lacrosse match. I’m just a… little off balance right now. It’s one thing to see magical creatures, but to watch people who could pass as normal fight each other like that is another thing entirely.”

  I didn’t really have a response to that. He was right, after all. The only reason I wasn’t the same way was because I’m used to magic, and I’d fought Aiden before this. As for Sam, well, it was probably just because she enjoys danger.

  I caught Sam’s eye, and she hastily started up a different conversation with Aria, turning her back towards me. I looked back at Tyler.

  “You’re right. It’s not exactly normal, even by magical standards. It makes sense in a twisted way as a Trial, but it’s still awful to pit kids against each other. And in your case, you’re a normal human who’s not going to the University anyway. You’re here because of me, and I still find it hard to believe that you’d do that for me, even now.”