Everyone was taken aback from the unexpected phenomenon. My friends didn't expect the shield to fizzle out of nowhere. The mage didn't expect it either. Everyone was shocked and as a result, they stared dumbly at the place the shield was there a moment before. Almost everyone… except for me.
I realized what was happening before it happened. While I was not happy about it, I accepted the reality of it like I was taught to. While everyone was gawking at the place where the shield was supposed to be, I grabbed the nearest thing I could get my hands on and rushed towards the mage with as much speed I could dredge up.
The mage was the first to come out of the shock. By the time he realized what was happening, I was already rushing at him like a bull let out of its pen with the Royal Knight's shield in my hand. His face registered happiness for a moment before he realized I was rushing towards him. His face immediately became solemn and he prepared to cast another fireball at me. That was when I did the most unexpected thing.
"A shield can be very helpful to fighter, but there are times when it can become a burden. When that time comes, you should be ready to let it go. You should never hesitate to throw your shield away if the situation demands it. Just let it go, throw it. Preferably at your enemy,"
The old geezer's voice echoed in my mind and I did the exact thing he asked me to. I threw the shield at the mage. The old geezer made me run laps around the village with his old shield which was heavy like a mountain, in my humble opinion. After having been through that torture, it was a child's play to run with the shield for a few feet and throw it at my opponent.
Seeing the shield sailing towards him, the mage fired the fireball at the shield instead of me. The shield was blasted off into the trees when the fireball impacted it. But, I was right behind the shield and I rushed through the residual flames, which were minimal, at the unprepared mage. Before he could blink, I was under his protective zone.
The fatal flaws most mages have was their body. Most of the mages train their magic and prefer to fight long range. And hence, they neglect to train their bodies. Once you get close to them, then they pose no danger. It was getting near to them that was difficult. Even the mages know their weakness and hence they always tried very hard to not let someone close.
"Shit!" he bellowed with wide eyes as he saw me cock my fist back.
I delivered a vicious uppercut right to his jaw that lifted him off his feet. I didn't let up though. I followed the uppercut with a spinning elbow to his guts and knocked his breath out. Then I delivered a roundhouse kick to his upper body. As he stumbled back dazed, I finished him off with a vicious right hook that knocked him out.
I panted heavily as I watched him fall. I didn't let my guard down. A heavy silence filled the area as I panted heavily. I was tired. Bone-dead tired. I didn't expect to run into these kinds of problems. Above all, I missed my goddamn sword.
The silence was deafening. I tried to get my breathing back into control. I took deep breaths. It was fortunate that the mage had not trained his body. Otherwise, this would have gone very, very badly for me and my friends. I was right to stay away from her. That girl was nothing but trouble. I welcomed the silence with a warm heart after the cacophony of a fight.
Wait, silence? What happened to the two mages battling in the air?
I frantically turned around and saw another masked mage coming directly towards our location. He saw standing over his knocked out partner and let out a vicious snarl. He waved his hands angrily, causing a focused gust of air to originate from him and come towards me. I frantically conjured my shield and tried to hide behind it. But, this time it was of no use.
Me and my shield were blasted away with authority as I sailed through the air and hit a tree trunk with a deafening thud. My head bounced off the tree trunk. I could even feel the tree groan from the impact. The air was knocked out of my lungs and I gasped for breath. I fell down with a mighty thud causing yet another blow to my battered body. My shirt was torn to pieces and bruises began to form all over my body.
And I blissfully blacked out.
When I came back to consciousness, I abruptly sat up and was relieved to find that I was in a different location. My body protested my abrupt movement and it let me know its feelings in the form of pain shooting through my body. I gasped aloud.
"Take it easy there, you should not stress yourself," a girl told me and helped me to ease back in my bed.
"My friends…" I asked frantically.
"They are fine, they are fine. Elango had to heal off a cut, but no one else was injured." She reassured me.
I let out a groan and went back to rest. The evening had been surreal. The river ride we were supposed to take was nowhere in my mind. I vividly remembered the gust of wind blowing me away. After that, all I could remember was the pain. My body shuddered involuntarily.
"You had three broken ribs and severe bruising on your back. The head wound was minor, but you lost consciousness from it," the girl explained to me my condition with a gentle smile. "If you can rest the night, everything will be fine. What your body is feeling now is the physical trauma. All your injuries have been healed."
I nodded in understanding and closed my eyes. I was lucky. We all were lucky. I didn't know what happened after I blacked out, but it should have been great luck on our part for us to come out of that fight with injuries as little as this. I was sure, the mage who appeared near the end wouldn't even need a minute to dispose of us. And I was right about her from the start.
What did she even do to make such powerful mages come after her in broad daylight? It was clearly not a vendetta against the Royal Family. Everyone knew that she was the estranged child of the Royal Family. She had little influence on court matters. Her uncle, the King, didn't even care about her. While people respected position as a person from the Royal Family, no one considered her to be important.
Everyone knew that. So, whoever had hunted her was hunting her for what she had done. And they were not going to stop either. After fighting with them, he knew at least that much. If the matter was not serious, they wouldn't have bothered to attack her in broad daylight. At the least, they would have left when the Royal Knight appeared. But, that was not the case. Clearly, she had stirred up the hornet's nest.
After realizing that, my determination to stay away from her only strengthened. I had enough troubles on my plate to deal with. I didn't want to be dragged into any more trouble she might be gallivanting with. That female was surely trouble.
"Ah! I heard from your friends how you defeated the first mage. Impressive. But I am curious as to why your shield fizzled out," the girl said to me in a calm manner.
My back immediately drenched in sweat hearing her statement.
"I mean, it is an anomaly, right. As a Red, you would have definitely had a large supply of mana. So, it shouldn't have been a problem for you to hold on to your magic. So, what happened?" the girl inquired eagerly.
I opened my eyes and looked at her. I could tell that she was genuinely curious.
"What makes you think I had any problems with my magic?" I asked her.
"Oh! Then you dropped the shield, huh?" she said with most of the curiosity gone.
"Yeah, I had to take a risk. But, hey, it paid off," I said with a smile.
"Oh! So there was nothing unusual," the girl muttered to herself and graced me with a beautiful smile.
I smiled back in reply not willing to continue the conversation. An awkward silence enveloped us. After realizing that I wasn't going to say anything more, she got up from her position after a few minutes.
I watched her get up and unsuccessfully try to busy herself for some moments. When that ultimately failed, she bid me a good night and walked out of the room. When she was gone, I let out the breath I was holding.
What happened there was my problem, and my problem alone. I didn't want anyone else to know about it. It may be silly, but that is what I wanted. I slowly drifted off to sleep with many questions about Thilothama and my problem with my magic raging in my mind.
I woke up the next day feeling rejuvenated. My body felt like it was back to normal. And a pleasant surprise was that, I had a newfound energy circulating in my body. I felt the urge to get up and do something. Before I could do anything, the girl who had been at my bedside last night dropped by. She performed some magic on me, to which I was apprehensive at first but she told me that she was simply checking up on my healing, and pronounced me fit to leave.
I talked with her bit and got to know that we were in the academy infirmary. I also learned that she had a hard time implementing the rule of having no visitors as my friends were unwilling to leave me. That warmed me up a lot.
She mockingly told that they were behaving like kids who wouldn't let go off their mother. I apologized to her for their behavior, which she waved it off with a smile. She was more curious as to the nature of the fight. She expressed her disbelief that someone would attack a Royal Personage in broad daylight and tried to wheedle some gossip out of me about Thilothama.
Thilothama had been apparently discharged earlier in the day. And the girl was little miffed that she had been unwilling to divulge anything. When she realized that I had nothing to offer, the conversation abruptly came to end and she ushered me out of the infirmary.
I walked out of the infirmary with new strength. I checked the hour and found that the first class of the day was already in progress. As I made my way through the academy, I felt numerous eyes on me. I could hear people whisper behind my back. Initially, it didn't bother me much. But as the stares and whispers piled on, I decided to skip the classes for the day and go have some quiet time in my dormitory.
As I walked towards the dormitory, I incidentally walked past the Central Gardens near the auditorium. On an impulse, I changed the directions and walked into the gardens. While I was little apprehensive about meeting the dragon, I knew for a fact that not many of the students dared to enter the Central Gardens. Even though it was not where the dragon lived, many knew that the Central Gardens was a place that the dragon frequented. Hoping my luck would hold, I tiptoed into the Central Gardens.
The place was as peaceful as ever. It had a quiet ambiance which was what I was searching for. While my body was filled with energy, my mind was weighed down with countless stray thoughts. The foremost thoughts were mostly focused on Thilothama.
Though I had decided to stay away from her, knowing my luck, it wouldn't last long. Also, I was a little curious as to what she had done to make such powerful mages come after her.
I knew whatever she was involved with would not be simple. The nobles rarely involved in simpler matters. They always had the penchant for butting their noses in complex things. I just hoped that she hadn't bitten off more than she could chew.
The other important thing that was bothering me was my magic. I knew I was incredibly lucky to come out of that encounter alive. While I had been in life or death situations quite a few times, I haven't been in one as tricky as this one. I had been taking magic for granted until now, especially mine.
My magic failing me at the wrong time had only accentuated the fact. The last mage had defeated me easily with a flick of his hands. It was surreal. It made all my efforts to master the sword seem meaningless.
Even though I realized that it would not be the case every time, I can't help but feel a shudder run through me every time I thought about that hand waving. If it hadn't been for the second mage's weaker magic, none of us would have been alive. There was a chasm of a divide between the first and the second mage. That made me see the magic in a new light.
Magic was similar to the Sword, in a fashion. It was just a weapon; one's excellence in it depended on their talent and hard work. If I had been left to my own devices, I wouldn't have considered magic as important as swords. Coming here, facing mages in a fight, it had opened my eyes a bit. In the end, after much contemplation, I decided to use this opportunity Granny had given me to learn as much as possible about magic.
Lost in these thoughts, I sat in the gardens till the time for lunch rolled around. The dragon was nowhere to be seen and I was happy with that. With the state my mind's in, another encounter with that gigantic creature would not be a good one for me.
I slowly made my way towards lunch, where I saw my friends. They were enthusiastic about my recovery. Apparently, they had rushed to the infirmary after the first class. But, they were then informed that I had left already. They had expected to meet me in the second class, but as I had decided to take the day off, that didn't happen either.
During lunch, they filled me on what had happened after I had blacked out. Apparently, the first mage had seen me knock out the second mage and had come to his aid. He had retreated from the duel with the other mage to check up on his friend who was knocked out by me.
After sending me blasting to the foliage, he had checked on his colleague and had turned his attention on my friends. But, before he could do anything to them, the mage he had been fighting with had arrived along with the city guards. The first mage had then hightailed with his friend.
The mage who arrived with city guards helped the Royal Knight and had personally escorted all of us to the infirmary at the academy. The Royal Knight had been patched up quickly. The cut Elango had was minor as things went. The ray had just grazed him by. It had been taken care of without much effort.
Thilothama's injuries were superficial and she had been patched up easily too. But, the medics had refused to allow her to leave. From the look of things, it looked like that I was the only one who needed extensive treatment. Most of my injuries had been internal which had required some extensive medical care.
My friends had been booted out of the infirmary after I was treated and placed to rest. While they were unhappy about it, they didn't complain much knowing that they will see me the next day. The day had drained them of their energies and they had quickly gone to sleep soon after that.
I bid goodbye to them after lunch and went straight to the dormitory. The dormitory was empty as expected. I relaxed on the couch near the fireplace and dozed off in a few minutes. I woke right before dinner and joined my friends for dinner. They filled me in on what I had missed during the class.
Apparently, the story of us getting into an altercation with two mages had been spread like a wildfire. While no one dared to question Thilothama, they didn't have such considerations towards the four commoners. I had luckily escaped from that intensive questioning due to being hospitalized. My friends hadn't been that lucky.
They had been thoroughly interrogated by a minimum of representatives of ten factions among the Great Nobles. Some of the Lesser Nobles had personally talked to them about the altercation. In the end, they were all fishing for the same thing. Dirt on Thilothama. From what my friends said to me, it looked as if they were all eager to know the reason behind the altercation. No one was bothered by the altercation itself.
When all was said and done, they had realized that me and my friends knew nothing about the reason for altercation. Pretty soon, the interest in us has fizzled out. The nobles didn't have time to bother with the commoners like us. Strangely enough, the person who was getting the most out of our altercation was someone who was not even involved in it.
When Elango grumbled that Santhanu was using our altercation to cultivate friendship with many of the Lesser Nobles, I was indeed surprised. Considering his disapproval of us, it was indeed weird to see him using us as a tool to cultivate a relationship with Lesser Nobles.
Being the only one with close ties to at least one of us, he had used this opportunity to widen his friend circle and charm a few people. While all of us understood that it was pretty brilliant usage of the situation, but none of us magnanimous about it.
Our musings came to end as a shadow fell across our table. I looked up to find it was the senior who had been handling my registration during the Novice Initiation ceremony.
"My, my, my. Aren't you a little famous now?" he said as I turned to face him. "In fact, if I had been hearing things correctly, you are the talk of the academy today."
"Can I help you?" I asked politely.
"Tut, manners novice. Address me as senior," he said in a patronizing tone which caused me to raise an eyebrow.
"Can I help you senior?" I asked again.
"Hmm, no you can't novice. In fact, you will need someone's help sooner than you think," he said mysteriously.
"I don't understand you senior," I replied in a confused tone.
"You don't or you don't want to?" he challenged me.
I thought about it for a while before remembering the duel that I had to participate in to earn the forbidden name. Honestly, with all this excitement, I had completely forgotten about it.
"Oh! That?" I asked as my confusion cleared.
"Ya, That," he mocked me for a moment before turning serious. "You really want to go through with this?"
I nodded my head in reply, causing him to let out a huge sigh. By now, the conversations around me had stopped and everyone was listening to the conversation we were having. Most of them had confused looks on their face. But Elango, Sekar, and Prasad had already figured about the matter and were having solemn expressions. I saw Santhanu excitedly whispering to some finely dressed students standing beside him from the corner of my eyes.
"Well, your funeral novice," the senior in front of me said in a sympathetic tone.
"You will be facing the representative of Knight Academy on the last Sunday of next month in an honorary duel for the right to have the name Truesword as your last name."
He announced causing excited whisperings to spread through the crowd. He paused a bit for the crowd to cool down. The whispers continued for a few moments and when people realized that the announcement wasn't done, they immediately silenced themselves to hear more of the story.
"No magic will be allowed during the honorary duel. Adamantine cuffs will be placed on the legs of both competitors to prevent any sort of body enhancement or any type of magic to be employed during the duel. The representative of Knight Academy will be announced during the first weekend of next month. If you want to withdraw from the duel, you have one week time to do so. Any requests for withdrawal will not be entertained after the time limit. That will be it." he said and retreated to the crowd without waiting for a reply.
The moment the announcement ended, the whisperings began anew. The crowd surrounding our table started talking excitedly about what they had heard.
"Did he say honorary duel?"
"Is he stupid?"
"The last person got his arm cut off…."
"How dare he…."
Conversations assaulted me from everywhere. I looked at my half-finished dinner morosely. My appetite was gone
"Guys, this is bad. Let's head to our dormitory now," Elango urged us.
I looked at my half-finished dinner once again before letting out a huge sigh. This was not my day at all. I absently nodded with my eyes still fixed on my plate. Seeing me nod, Elango and the others got up hastily and the four of us left the dining hall in a hurry. Several eyes watched us leave and it kind of made me feel uncomfortable.
Outside the dining hall, I could still hear the sound of the excited buzz we had left behind. None of us spoke for a while. I was in a daze, to be honest. While I had expected the announcement to come at some point, I hadn't expected it this soon. In the excitement of the events that happened during the weekend, I had completely forgotten about the issue with my last name. And as a result, I was caught completely off-guard.
As we were half-way to our dormitory, Elango broke the silence.
"Kathir, I know you want to do this, but, but, can you reconsider?"
I looked at him in surprise. While I had expected one of my friends to say this, I hadn't expected Elango to be the one. Sekar and Prasad seemed like the kind to talk about cautiousness. I simply shook my head to indicate that I was not going to back out.
"I figured so," Elango said dejectedly. "Anyway, since you are not going to back out, you should know a few things."
I saw Sekar nod in acknowledgment and Prasad looking a bit curious.
"Every few years, some commoner with training in weapons had always wanted to take on that name. Do you know why none of them had managed to take that name?" Elango asked me as we all came to a stop.
I shook my head in reply.
"It is because of the rules," Sekar said in exasperation.
��Rules?" Me and Prasad echoed in confusion.
"Ya, the damn rules. Think about it. The rules of the duel are not fair for a mage. We are not physically capable like a Knight Academy student. Our strength lies in our magic. In a fair duel or a one on one fight, we would have a good chance to win. But, the rules negate the usage of magic completely" Elango explained impatiently.
I nodded in understanding. It was true that when a mage and a knight fought; the advantage was easily with the mage due to our magic. The Knight has to close the distance in order to remove that advantage. And frankly, no mage would be fool enough to let a Knight get close to him in a duel. They will try to blast him away or at least bog him down with long-range magic. Thus, a Knight was at a disadvantage in a one on one situation. But, with the magic negated, the playing field was now heavily tilted in their favor.
"And guess what? The Knights, with all their speeches about honor," Sekar said angrily. "They don't fight fair when it comes to this issue."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"In this situation, the fair thing would have been to let you face a trainee who had just joined the academy. But, they don't do that. Why do you think they take so much time to announce their representative? Where do you think they are going to host the duel? I will tell you. They are going to host the duel in front of a huge crowd. They usually make a festival of it. And the worst part is they are going to hold a bloody tournament to determine who gets to beat you up and humiliate you in front of the entire city. Vindictive bastards…." Elango said angrily.
"Oh, oh, oh," Prasad exclaimed in disbelief.
"We have seen this happen a few times. They want to humiliate the mages more than anything. And they are going to use this opportunity to do so. By humiliating you, they are going to let the public know how weak and frail we mages are." Sekar said morosely.
"And guess what mate, the mages are not happy about it. But, they can't do anything about it. After all, if no mage applies for the name, there is no humiliation, right?" Elango said to me with a serious face.
I immediately understood the implications of what he said. Not only I was going to face opposition from the Knights, but the mages will also be not happy with me and my decision. Oh, bother!
This day was turning worse and worse as every minute dragged on. I just wanted to go lie down. I didn't reply to Elango's statement. I just started walking silently to our dormitory. I heard them follow me after a moment of hesitation.
As we walked on, I could hear Sekar explaining to Prasad what it actually meant to apply for that name. Elango walked beside me silently, occasionally stealing glances at me. He had a complex look on his face.
Any other time, I would have asked what that look was about. But now, I was totally callous on both inside and outside. I didn't even care about what was going on in his mind. I just walked like a puppet towards the dormitory.
As I neared the dormitory, I stopped short and groaned inwardly. The day was getting better and better in irritating me. Standing in front of our dormitory was none other than Thilothama.
I cursed the heavens for sending that woman into my life. If not for her, the weekend wouldn't have been jeopardized. If not for her, I would have not been in the infirmary. If not for her, I wouldn't have had this much attention on me. In fact, if I think about it, if not for the incident involving her, the senior might have given me the announcement when I was alone or just with my friends.
Irritation and anger bubbled in me as I saw her standing gracefully before our dormitory. The others had different reactions compared to me though. In fact, Sekar and Prasad were so elated that they rushed past me to enquire about her health. Elango was the only one who had noticed that I had stopped dead in my tracks. And, of course, her.
I saw her face become confused for a second before it reverted to its original calm, indifferent look. That look just railed me up further. I struggled with my emotions for a bit to get them under control. She doesn't know. She doesn't know. I reminded myself repeatedly. While it managed to get my emotions under control, it didn't help with the remaining anger in me.
I stomped my way to our dormitory. Elango followed me close. I could feel that he was preparing himself to stop me if I did something stupid. As we neared her, I could hear her expressing her gratitude to Sekar and Prasad and assuring them that she wouldn't forget their services. For some reason, it just made me angrier.
I just marched past her without saying or doing anything. I couldn't bring myself to even nod at her. I acted as if I didn't see her at all. Her eyes flashed. Her face had an angry shade of red for a single moment before it was gone. Elango stopped by her confused as to what to do in that situation. I could feel Sekar and Prasad staring at me in confusion as I opened the dormitory door and walked in.
"Excuse him, Your Highness, he has had a bad…"
The rest of Elango's sentence was cut off as I slammed the door shut and made my way to my bed. I didn't bother with changing my two-day-old clothes or tidying up myself. I jumped on my bed and closed my eyes hard. I started imagining carving up something with my sword to let off some steam.