Chapter 13 Izzy
IZZY
Vyns and Koar found us as we marched across campus to the main administration building. Vyns fell into step beside me, a brilliant grin on his face, his spirit warm as it brushed mine. Koar dressed quickly then kept pace behind me, my stalwart guard.
Lhorine hadn’t come with us, neither had Safir, nor Svokol.
They’d thought it best not to reveal their presence.
Lhorine would find somewhere near campus and use her earth magic to create a place for us to live and train in secret…
assuming I won this match. Grandma Oli had already taken Tala’s form, so I had my full team with me, plus Koar.
Saldrea was there, in the atrium of the building, when we arrived.
She blinked, seeming surprised I’d shown up.
When she saw Vyns and Koar, she twitched, her beautiful facade faltering to show her fury — for only an instant — before a cat-like grin spread on her face.
I may have stolen her guards, but the odds were in her favor.
Behind her was a massive man, even bigger than Koar, taller by a head, well over seven feet and built like a brick wall.
His skin was well tanned, bronzed, and he was bald, with dark eyes under a heavy brow.
In contradiction to his massiveness, his face was a bit…
soft and smooth, with round cheeks, a baby-faced giant of a man.
Was this a titan? I had to believe it was. Tala had said they were the only beings larger than dragons.
“I’m here to turn myself in and accept the princess’s challenge to a dominion match.” I looked Saldrea straight in the eye, defiant. It infuriated her.
“When do we play?” I asked.
“I’m not without mercy,” Saldrea said, acting benevolent for the group who’d gathered to witness this event.
“We will have the match tomorrow at sixteen o’clock.
That gives you some time to train with your team.
Aren’t I gracious?” She preened and presented a pleasant smile.
Many of those assembled clapped and cheered her generosity.
“Then I’ll see you after lunch tomorrow,” I said and turned to go. I’d wondered if maybe she’d try to stop me from leaving, keep me detained somewhere.
“I will, of course, be sending a couple guards to keep an eye on you,” Saldrea said, voice light. “Just to ensure you don’t try to flee overnight. You are a fugitive after all.”
And there it was.
I turned back and nodded, accepting this, though I had no clue how we’d evade our minders to train. We could train in public, but not if I wanted any lessons from Lhorine before the match, which I did.
Saldrea motioned and two more massive figures stepped out to escort us. Both titans, or so I guessed, one man, one woman. The two flanked my group as we left and quietly walked with us as I made my way…
…where?
I couldn’t go to the shifter residence, which was where I’d been hoping to meet up with Myel and Safir and find out where Lhorine’s secret hideout was.
My room was still a blasted-out hole.
Vyns didn’t have a room.
Koar… I had no clue if he had any place to stay.
Which meant: Rook’s room it was. Not that he seemed happy about it.
The five of us returned to the lesser residence and crowded into the room. Luckily, our minders remained outside, one next to the main door in the hall, the other guarding the door from the adjoining bathroom into my old room. We were trapped in here, no other way out…
Or so it would have been, if Myel hadn’t showed up in a puff of shadow smoke, finger to lips to indicate silence.
Grandma was surprised, then seemed to understand who this newcomer was when he and I instantly embraced passionately in front of everyone, our bond stretched thin.
With my legs wrapped around him and our bodies clutched desperately close, I got a teensy little orgasm as I ground my core against the bulge in his pants.
We were both fully clothed, but the bond didn’t much care.
I released him, a bit breathless, and righted myself.
Grandma, ever quick on the uptake, whispered to us.
“Let me touch each of you.” She did, memorizing our features through touch and having us all talk a little to collect our voices.
She would remain behind and impersonate each of us, talking quietly to herself, to assure the guards we were all in the room.
The rest of us were then shadow-stepped out by Myel, before sneaking across campus. Safir met us outside the shifter residence and from there we crept through the trees at the edge of campus to the well concealed entrance of Lhorine’s new training compound.
It was amazing what a powerful elf could do in a few hours. The hidden entrance was under a bush. Safir knew where it was, but otherwise none of us would have found it. When the bottom branches of the bush were pulled up, a rectangle of earth lifted away. Otherwise, it looked like normal ground.
Stairs, perfectly carved from stone, led down to a spare, open space.
Lhorine couldn’t make furniture, other than stone benches along the walls, so there was nothing in the large room, but it would be a great place to train in secret.
Two of the walls had open archways, leading to side halls.
From one came the sound of running water.
I went to look. Off the main room was a long hall which ran parallel to the room.
There were three open archways off this hall, the farthest to the right led to a small room where Lhorine must have found an underground stream.
It gushed out from the wall and fell into the room, the floor of which was sunken, making this room into a shower and bath.
Any overflow of the bath then flowed out through a hole in the wall into the next room.
The next two rooms had a stream running along a trough in the floor on the far side of the room.
These must be washrooms. We could do our business in the stream and it would get washed away by the running water.
The other hall off the main area held six small rooms. I assumed these were individual sleeping areas, but since they had no furniture, just four bare walls and a floor, I couldn’t quite tell.
This place was all function and no luxury, but it would do.
I found Tala in one of the bedrooms.
“I guess I’ll be living here for a while,” she said. I could tell the grin she gave me was forced, trying to make the best of this and failing.
“Thanks for putting up with this,” I said and hugged her again.
“Just… beat Saldrea, okay? Don’t get yourself killed.”
“That’s the goal,” I said, but if I wanted to do that, then it was time to start training.
I went back to the large main area and met up with the others.
First, we talked strategy.
Our opponents would have two strong earth magic wielders, as well as a strong water practitioner, and a strong air magic user. All those elements were good for pushing people around, which was the main focus of dominion.
Our team would have one strong water magic user, but my grandmother would have to temper her abilities a bit so it wouldn’t seem too odd that Tala had suddenly gotten so much stronger.
I had no illusions about my abilities. I was still a beginner in water magic, and I’d only know as much earth magic as Lhorine could teach me in a day.
But… we also had a moderately strong fire wielder, and a decent light wielder.
They’d be our wild cards. Fire could push, but mostly as a byproduct.
People didn’t want to get burned and moved out of the way, which might move them back.
We decided to have Rook focus his fire on Neyalim, the undine. Her water could protect her, but if Rook managed to blast her with enough fire all at once, he might be able to force her back, potentially off the pitch entirely.
We decided Grandma, as Tala, would focus on Hana. Water would be the best element to force her back, since she could fly to avoid earth and spin wind to snuff our fire.
Vyns would use his light to blind them. There was also no rule in the game prohibiting violent uses of magic, which was wild, but which worked in our favor. Both Vyns and Rook could blast away at the others with their elements and harm them, perhaps forcing them back.
That left me to take on Saldrea and Golana, both strong earth magic users.
Yikes!
Once we knew our parts, we separated. Rook and Vyns went to opposite corners — still not fond of each other — to work on their fighting styles.
I stayed with Lhorine to learn earth magic.
I didn’t have Grandma here to teach me water magic, which was a loss, but I did know some of that already, so I focused on earth magic for now.
Lhorine suggested we all head back to Rook’s room a bit early, so Olinara could instruct me a little on water magic before the bout.
Luckily, dominion didn’t require much finesse with one’s element, just big, forceful effects or defensive magic. And since — according to Lhorine — I had a lot of potential and raw strength in earth magic, simple effects should be easy enough to learn.
Still, I was starting from scratch, so most of that afternoon and evening I spent learning the basics.
Even before attempting earth magic, Lhorine walked me through anima control.
It seemed like such a basic thing, knowing how much anima to use, but I had no clue.
Once I had a better handle on that, we moved on to beginner earth magic exercises.
Lhorine got me to stand on the stone floor barefoot.
“Eventually, you can do this through your footwear, but don’t worry about that for now… feel down into the earth with your feet. Don’t try to feel anything other than the coldness, the hardness, the basic sensations. Focus on them.”
I did, it was easy, my feet were freezing in this underground dungeon of a training room. The cold stone was seemingly all I could feel.
After a while she whispered, “Now, imagine the stone beneath your feet softening enough that your foot sinks, till the entirety of your sole, even your arch is contoured by the stone. As you do… release your anima, just a little, a sliver of a stream.”
I released the power within me. To help control it, Lhorine had suggested I imagine a funnel, limiting the flow of this magical essence to a narrow stream.
The stone beneath my foot softened and shifted. It was the oddest sensation as I sank, not even an inch, so that the stone floor cradled my foot.
I lifted one foot and saw the perfect footprint in solid stone.
It was such a little thing, but I couldn’t help marveling at it. You shouldn’t be able to leave a footprint in stone.
“Good,” Lhorine praised. “Now return your foot and concentrate. We have a long way to go.”
By the time we broke for a meal, I’d learned the absolute basics of earth magic, namely, how to feel down into the earth and sense the soil and stone around me.
I could only sense to the edges of this room, perhaps fifty feet in all directions.
I thought that was pretty good, until Lhorine told me she could feel for miles. Yeah… I had a lot to learn.
Safir and Myel — with Zora helping them from time to time — had been working while the rest of us had trained.
They’d brought down some basic furniture.
I had no idea where they’d gotten it from, but three of the small bedrooms now had mattresses and the rest at least had thick blankets.
They’d also brought down a small table with four chairs as well as food and water.
Rook didn’t say a word as we ate.
Vyns and I chatted a little. He seemed… different from before he’d gone home. When I asked him about it, he smiled.
“My family wouldn’t listen to what I had to say.
I honestly didn’t think they would, but I had to try, had to tell them the truth.
They wouldn’t hear it, and it only affirmed to me that they aren’t worthy of my time and attention.
I walked out on them and won’t look back.
” He reached over and laid his hand on mine.
“You’re my family now. I… hope that’s not too forward. ”
Hell yeah, it was! Still, I smiled.
I didn’t have any family. Well, that had been true a week ago. Now I suddenly had a grandmother, though she didn’t act like one. Still, I’d always wanted that feeling of belonging somewhere. Now I had a place: with Vyns.
A week ago, that would have freaked me out.
I’d not wanted any sort of attachment or long-lasting relationship, but right now, with everything else going on, it felt good.
Perhaps it was only because I might not live past tomorrow and I really needed someone to lean on, but still…
Vyns’ devotion gave me a soft, safe place to land.
After dinner we all went back to work and trained late into the night.
Progress was so very slow, though Lhorine kept telling me I was moving far faster than most young elves.
Since I wouldn’t need to use earth-sense for any great distance tomorrow, we left off with that and focused on actual manipulation and movement of earth after dinner.
I learned how to push up stone to create a basic wall to defend myself from attacks.
We worked on that for a bit, making it sturdier, stronger, thicker.
Then came a simple attack, using earth like a wave, rolling beneath people to topple them and push them back.
Lhorine could make a tall wave, which leaned forward, literally sweeping people away. I only managed a low roll of earth, but that was still apparently very good for my very first day working with earth magic.
Lastly, Lhorine taught me how to soften earth and sink down into it.
This served several purposes. First, I wouldn’t have to make my earth shield as tall.
Second, it would help me stay in place and resist most attempts to push me back.
Third, if someone tried to trap me in earth, I could soften it and get out.
After that… I was exhausted. It was well past midnight, and I hadn’t slept much that morning.
I wanted nothing more than to collapse on a mattress and sleep… my bond with Myel, however, demanded attention.