“Arkin, what is happening?” There was fear in Legon’s voice; more than he knew he was feeling.
“I want to tell you, but I don’t. It’s a great and terrible thing. Please, I have made many vows to keep this secret. Don’t break them for me. Not yet, not now.”
“We won’t.” It was Sasha who spoke. “But please tell us what you can.”
“Sit down and I will relight the fire.”
They sat in a circle around the pit and Arkin placed a trembling hand over the pit and muttered, “Flamma.” A merry fire instantly began to crackle in the pit.
“Magic is an amazing thing. With it you can control the elements, make things grow, heal wounds, and so much more.” He paused. “You see, magic is like a muscle. You can train it and make it stronger, but like a muscle it can become worn out. You can cast a spell and feel no tiring effect on your body, but if that spell is too strong for you, then energy is pulled from your body.”
“So can you die from a spell then?” Legon asked.
Arkin looked relieved to hear the question. “No, you can’t. You can pass out but you can’t die. Once your mind loses consciousness it can’t sustain the spell. However, it can take some time to recover. Once again, think of this as a muscle. Now, there are what are called ‘classes’ to Venefica, Sara, do you know them?”
“Yes, my owner is Iumenta and a Venefica, so I learned a lot just being around him. There are eight classes. A class refers to the amount of power a Venefica has, regardless of skill.”
“Meaning what?” Keither asked.
“Meaning your class has nothing to do with your ability. You can be a class five and not know what magic is,” continued Sara. “Classes one and two humans can attain, usually just one. Next, Iumenta and Elves can reach up to class five, and I know dragons are higher, but that’s it.”
Arkin looked pleased. “Very good. To ‘Ascend’ is to become a dragon. Only a class five can do this, and even then only a rare few. When someone ‘Ascends’ they will be classes six through eight. Now, the difference in each class is large. There is a gap between them as far as power goes; meaning that if you are a strong class two you are still relatively weak to a class three. The same is more so for Ascending. The difference between classes five and six is like comparing a mountain lion to a kitten. Class sevens are extremely strong and class sixes are closer to them, relatively speaking, but class eight…” Arkin shook his head.
“What?” Kovos said.
“It’s like there should be a class or two in between seven and eight, but there are no eights left from my understanding,” Arkin answered.
“Why not?” Sara asked.
“That is another lesson,” Arkin answered with a warm smile. This was starting to get on Legon’s nerves. There was one secret after another. What possible threat could he be? Hadn’t they proved that they were no friend of the empire? Also, what was going on with this new ability to sense emotions?
“What class are you?” he asked.
“I’m a class two.” He was a two? Well, maybe if Legon was a three or four he could overpower Arkin if need be. He was out-classed in skill so he still might lose, but still this was a small comfort.
“Ok, so what all can magic do?” Legon asked.
“A lot of things, and there is still more and more being learned about it. Basically, magic is the lynch pin in the war between the queen and the free lands.”
“You mean the resistance?” Keither asked.
“They’re hardly that.”
“What do you mean? They fight the Queen, don’t they?” asked Keither.
Arkin responded. “Just because they fight the Queen doesn’t mean that they are a group of rebels. In fact, they’re the opposite. The Elves are their own nation, and for that matter the humans are too. You see, when the Queen took over she just took control of an existing nation.”
“Yeah, but there was a war with the Elves and free humans, right?” Keither asked.
“Yes, the Elves defended their territory and the humans fought for independence, and that’s what they got, for the most part. The war has never really ended,” Arkin responded.
“Ok, but what about magic?” Legon said, not wanting them to go off on a tangent.
“Sorry. Yes, magic. Well, like I said, it works much like a muscle, but it can do things that your muscles never could. For example, you can use magic to alter the physical attributes of those around you.”
“Like how?” Legon asked.
“Here, I will show you. Kovos, will you be so kind as to show us the progress you’ve made teaching Sasha to fight?”
Kovos looked confused. “I thought you were going to show us how magic affected stuff?”
“I am.”
Now Sasha looked confused but, to his surprise, she stood and walked to her tent for her stave.
“No, not with the sticks. You will use real swords tonight. Sasha, you will use mine,” Arkin instructed.
They both paused and Sasha began to fidget with her hands. Legon knew what she was thinking. Sasha was learning how to fight, but it wasn’t her thing. She could shoot a bow, but she was having issues with the blade. She walked to Arkin, who stood and presented his blade out of the sheath. He placed a guard on it. Kovos pulled his blade out and they stood apart from each other. Sara had an amused look on her face. What did she think was funny? She and Sasha were friends. Did she want to see her lose?
Kovos nodded his head at Sasha. ”Remember what I’ve taught you.”
With that he lunged forward, swinging at her side. Sasha barely parried the blow as she stepped back. As she blocked hit after hit, Legon noticed that with every blow her blade moved closer to her body; she didn’t have the strength to stop it. In fact, the only thing keeping her from getting hit with her own weapon was that Kovos was not hitting full force. She tried a thrust, but Kovos flicked the blade away almost lazily. Arkin started to talk.
“You see how this is going? It’s not just that Kovos knows what he’s doing, but that he is faster and stronger then Sasha. Now let’s see what can happen with magic.”
Kovos again slashed at her side, and to everyone’s surprise Sasha’s blade flashed up to block his in the blink of an eye. Kovos’ sword stopped dead on hers and both looked open-mouthed at the point where they touched.
“Woo! Yeah, Sasha! Kick his butt!” Sara yelled with a wide, knowing smile.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Kovos said. He brought his sword above his head and down. This time Sasha side-stepped in a flash and swung. There was a loud clang of metal on metal as Kovos blocked her blow. He stumbled back a bit.
“How on earth…?”
Sasha smiled. “I’m winning, Legon. Do you see this? I’m winning.”
Kovos gave a loud laugh. “Oh, heck no!”
No one took sides but everyone cheered them on as the fight progressed. Sasha was still a sloppy fighter, but she was moving so fast and with so much power that Kovos was having a hard time getting to her. Even though she was going to walk away with more than a few welts, she was still doing great. Arkin looked pleased, and Legon noticed a bead of sweat forming at his brow.
“Are you all right?”
“Ok, that will do,” Arkin said.
Kovos and Sasha separated and both sat back down around the fire. Sara put her arm around Sasha. “I knew you could do it.”
“Yeah but how did she do that? I’ve never had anyone fight like that.” Kovos asked
“That is because I used magic to make Sasha faster and stronger. This is one of the many applications for magic in combat.”
After that, Arkin spent the next few hours talking about how magic could be used to make things better. It was late by the time they were ready for bed.
“Sash, what tent is ours again?” Legon asked.
“Oh, it’s the one over there, but I was going to stay with Sara if that’s ok?”