Mark of the Fool

Chapter 81: Fire and Midterms

Baelins magic returned the class to the stadium and Alex spotted Shiani, Malcolm, and Rhea. He took a deep breath and was heading toward them when a hand touched his shoulder.

You have an injury, I see, Isolde said, her sharp blue eyes focused on him.

Alex glanced at the bright-spitter bite.

Tis but a scratch. He shrugged.

Well, done, then. She paused. How do you do it, exactly, Alex? I an edge entered her voice. struggled today. And yet somehow you did not. How do you do it?

Uh, what do you mean? he asked distractedly.

The class had begun to gather their supplies and get ready to leave the stadium, and he didnt want Shiani to go without asking her for advice. She might say no, but he had to try.

Youre a first year student. Isolde watched him closely. You know no combat spells and yet youre performing incredibly well here. I am taking second year mana manipulation and potions courses, yet word has been spreading about your performance even in them. And it is not often that one does so well that professors talk about them to upper year classes.

Alex snorted, still watching Shiani. Tell that to my force magic prof. He barely talks to me, let alone about me.

Still, Isolde said. I pride myself on performance as I did in the first year levels for those subjects but-

Shiani started to move.

Isolde, could you hold that thought, Alex said quickly.

She paused and a shadow passed across her face. ...sure.

Ill be right back. He glanced at his other friends. Ill be back. I have to talk to Shiani for a minute.

He jogged across the stadium. Excuse me! Excuse me! He waved at the three second years.

They slowly turned as he approached. Shiani, right? he asked, his eyes locking on the young, dark-haired woman. Her seashell necklace rattled against Baelins charm-necklace as she moved. Can I ask you something?

She froze up for a moment. Um, yes?

Malcolm grinned beside her and gave a knowing laugh, elbowing her in the side. Rhea chuckled, and Shiani shot both of them a quick glare.

Listen, can I ask you about fire? he asked.

Malcolm and Rhea froze; their amusement quickly faded into disappointment, while Shiani looked relieved. Pardon? Fire?

Yeah, look I know we hardly know each other, and this is kind of a strange thing to ask but he paused, trying to find his words. Ive seen you use fire spells in class a lotas much as Rheabut like Again, he stopped trying to find the right words. youve been gentle in class andokay, look. Its my sister.

He launched into an explanationonly quickly touching on the darker parts of the situationand then moved onto explaining how his sister had received a fire affinity. Shianis eyes grew wider as his story continued.

...so yeah, he said. I know its a long shot, but I thought Id ask. Like, I dont think fire has to be a bad thing, but I dont know how to really talk about that with herbut like, youre kind and you use it. Maybe if I could tell her about you, or you could give me some ideas on what to say, or something. I know, this is very, very random.

Shiani paused when his torrent of words finally stopped. IIm not sure what to say. She frowned. That poor girl. My people actually worship fire, like they do in the Rhinean Empireas they also do with the other elements. but, we actually do have some that fear it. Our priests usually talk to them: would a priest of your god be able to speak with her, I meanI could tell you what I think, but Im not sure if it will help

He fought to keep his face neutral when she mentioned talking to his own priests. Uh, our god Uldar really doesnt have much to do with fireand the priests arent wizards. So, they could give like general help, but I was thinkinglook if this is too much pressure, I understand: I kind of did just ambush you with this. I gotta admit, Im a bit desperate.

Hmmmm, she thought carefully. Ifif you bring her to class one day, I could talk to her a little bit about she paused. How would you call it in this language The Fire that Nurtures. Its what we call the divine we find in flame. Or I could tell you about it, and then tell her.

He let out a sigh of relief. Anything can help. Id like to hear about it from you, and if I can get her to come one day, maybe you could talk to her? I wont take too much of your time.

She paused. Alright, but I cant promise anything.

Anything works. He smiled brightly. And seriously. Thank you for this. If theres anything I can do for you, just ask.

Shiani gave him a nod and quick smile, and then they parted ways.

He turned and jogged back to where his friends were waiting for him.

Well, most of them.

Wheres Isolde? Alex asked.

Baelin was teleporting the injured to the infirmary, Khalik said. She went with him.

Ah, okay, Alex said, wondering what shed wanted to say to him.

He had another thought.

Baelin.

Maybe he could talk to the chancellor about Selina. He must have seen so much in his long life that hed likely seen something like this happen before. He might also be able to offer some advice, if he wasnt too busy.

That was another avenue to consider. In the meantime, hed just have to do what he could to support his little sister. At the same time, hed need to do some experimentation with The Mark.

Life would continue ticking on. As it always did.

Life had continued ticking on surprisingly quickly. The next few days passed by in a blink and the deadline to apply to Shales Workshop was approaching.

Selinas mood was improving over time, andsince he hadnt talked to Shiani or Baelin yet, both had been very busyhed simply resolved to spend as much time with her as he could.

He didnt push or insistin some misguided attempt to help herthat she talk about it. He still had no idea what wisdom he could use to help her through what she was going through.

He did, however, know what had helped both of them after their parents died: time with people they cared about, showing them that they were loved. And he did just that. She was still clearly very sad, but she cried less as the days went on and she made less comments about disliking herself.

Whether that meant her opinion about herself was changing, or if she was simply not voicing it to make sure he wasnt upset, he didnt know.

He did know that hed be there for her when she needed him.

In the meantime, hed progressed in other areas.

His mastery of Wizards Hand had started to grow at a pleasing rate, considering how much trouble it had given him before. He was starting to get fairly adept at modifying spell arrays, especially as he gained more experience with them, even in spite of The Mark interfering.

Studying Wizards Hand was even giving him greater insight into forcedisk and forceball, and hed been modifying them to make them even stronger. Using the two spells to support part of his weight while hed climbed the crevice wall had inspired him to try and take that a step further.

Hed seen forcedisksor spells similar to forcediskthat were able to carry someones full weight, and so he made having them be able to do that one of his next goals.

Another goal had been starting on the next spell in FORC-1550s curriculum: force shield.

That had proved to be

not all that challenging. The structure of its spell array was much less complex than Wizards Hands andafter struggling with Wizards Hand for so longhed found it fairly easy by comparison.

Hed managed to conjure a crimson force shielda concave force construct that floated around him and swung automatically to block incoming threatsin the dark of his room.

He had actually woken up his apartment mates with his loud triumphant cheering in the dead of the night.

It was his first truly defensive spell, and one that would keep him far safer in The Barrens, or when he had to deal with threats in the future.

His lab work for Professor Jules was progressing well too. The grad students foundto their surprisethat he often had the proper tools ready to hand them for the next step of the brewing process before they even asked.

Professor Jules was involving him more and more in the direct processes as well, and had finally handed him his letter of reference for Shales workshop.

And that left mana manipulation.

Hed devoured the textbook back to front and front to back several times, and had learned how to activate all the glyphs on three boxes at once while maintaining Force Shield, Wizards Hand, andperforming the mana regeneration technique on himself.

He knew he was getting ahead of himselfhe was still a first year student with only a handful of spells under his belt after allbut he was feeling more powerful. Especially physically.

At the gymnasium hed begun to add exercises to train himself in climbing and sharpen his agility on his feet. There was an obstacle courseusually used by The Watchers of Roalthat hed been using to teach himself how to move past obstacles and rough terrain at speed. To train strength and balanceand, he had to admit ego boost a littlehed begun doing handstand pushups using a wall for support.

He and Khalik would compete, and while the prince could perform more repetitions, he lost balance more often than Alex, who continued to use The Mark to correct his form. Thundar was content to simply watch them competing.

Listen, my people are like bulls, not squirrels, he snorted. Flip around and do all that fancy stuff without me.

Of course, he never admitted that his reluctance might have had something to do with the fact that hed tried it once, lost balance and nearly broke a horn by tumbling onto his head.

Alex wasnt stupid enough to suggest to him that this might have been the real reason.

After them teaming up in The Barrens, Alex had extended an invite to Grimloch to join their group workouts, and though the shark man didnt always come along, he pretty much obliterated themand everyone elseeach time he did.

Theres no accounting for natural talent, Alex had thought. Or being a shark man thats nearly ten feet tall.

Still, despite the successes hed been enjoying, a spectre of terror loomed over all of them. One that threatened to steal the courage from even the mightiest heart.

Midterms.

You know, Thundar grumbled. I think maybe choking the life out of my professor would be easier than studying from his lectures.

Snap.

He closed his notebook for battle magic with a loud clack.

Alex and Khalik startled.

Shhhhh! a student hissed from nearby, pointing to the Be Quiet sign close by.

Sorry, Thundar muttered, looking around to see every students bloodshot eyes in the room glaring at him.

They had come to the first level of the school library and had been lucky enough to grab a table before the entire floor had become packed to the brim. First years filled every seatmost of them looking like theyd hardly slept in daysand their clothes absolutely reeked of tea, coffee and stress.

Ach, I shouldve taken potions instead, Thundar whispered.

Khalik glanced at him. Do you even have any interest in potions? Ive heard its quite difficult.

Yeah, but at least Id have big-brain over here to teach me. He nodded to Alex.

Alex extended his hand toward the minotaur and tapped his empty palm. You want the material conveyed? Then I got to be paid.

We went through life and death together. Thundar held up his charm-necklace. That makes us bonded.

We are bonded. Alex smiled. But bonds can be strengthened for the low, low price of-

Youre a terrible friend.

But Id be a rich friend.

He snorted. Hey, maybe that Shiani or her friends could teach me. They're in second year, so theyd know more. Come on, Alex put in a word for me.

Alex tapped his palm again. Want a message to be conveyed? Then I got to be-

Im gonna kill you.

Oooo, did you hear that, Khalik? Alex drew away as though horrified. He threatened my life. Hes an evilwizard: you must help me, oh mighty hero, or he might turn me into a newt.

I swear I would have gotten more studying done outside of the library, Khalik grumbled.

But then youd be abandoning your good, good friends. Alex smirked. Hey, speaking of the library.

Alex jerked his head toward the sign near the front entrancethe one warning students not to bring open flame into the library. Whats with that sign anyway? Whod be dumb enough to bring fire into a place full of books, especially when theres magic to light the place?

Khalik glanced at the sign. From the way my brother told it, when he was here, some nasty senior duped a naive first year into bringing a candle into the library as part of a cruel joke.

Alex blinked in surprise. That seemed to be sojuvenile for a school of wizardry. Then, again, hed witnessed a student nearly kill himself by drinking quicksilver on a dare. All kinds, including bullies, were in all places he supposed.

After all, bullies werent only named McHarris.

Oooo. Thundar winced. What happened? Senior get in trouble?

Well, Khalik said, placing his book down. The senior was nobility in his kingdomthe same kingdom that the junior was fromso he assumed no one would reprimand him. But Generasithough it respects those of rulership, does not bow to foreign kings. Threats were made, of course, but in the end, both students were placed on academic probation and fined by the registrar.

Alex gulped. The last person he would ever want to owe money to was a literal devil.

Then again, in his unique situation, a devil would be more healthy for him to be around than priests or gods.

Alex! He heard someone whisper loudly from the front of the library.

Alex froze. He knew that voice.

Like a rusty gate creaking, he turned toward the voice and saw the short, bouncy form of Carey London waving a hand at him enthusiastically while the other clutched a sheaf of papers.

And beside heralso carrying sheafs of paperswith a friendly, open smile was

His eyes widened.

Derek?

He could only stare as the unlikely duo approached his table.

I was hoping Id find a friendly face here, its so good to see you, she whispered, though some students outright glared at her. Here.

She handed him a sheet of paper. Try and make it out, we could really use the support.

Support? he asked, his eyes darting back and forth between her and Derek. Support for-

His eyes fell on the paper. ...Oh.

There, at the top of the sheet, in big bold letters:

Campus for Uldar Rally: Ending the Ban on Priests from Campus!