"Wait, Harken." The new wizard stood up; he didn't even bother brushing off his robes. As he rushed up to Harken. Wizards didn't fall into the elven Islee grouping once they started at the tower. They were expected to use their magic whenever it was needed. It never really worked out that way. The tower still grouped army wizards into Islee and elven units; they said it reduced strife within the unit if they didn't cross the two groups. It was a load and everyone knew it. It was true but everyone knew it wasn't the reason. Another thing the tower never admitted was that the army wizards were one and all considered lower class than the wizards that stayed in the tower. Since to get an apprentice and to study new things you had to stay in the tower.
The wizard which I must admit I was liking better than any the rest of my unit so far, except maybe the three empty slots, handed the letter Ravon had handed him over to Harken. Harken took it like it might be a trap, and read through it. Then flipped it over like the other wizard had done. He folded the letter to put the seal back together. Then opened it again and read it again. His reaction made me more curious than the other wizard's reaction had. I hated wizards on principle and I had never really gotten over that with Harken. Markus had stopped just before the hill would have taken him out of my view and looked back at Harken. "That is unprecedented." Harken looked up at me clearly thinking about what he had just learned. "I can understand the concern, but," Harken looked back at the wizard. "It is unfounded, I would trust Des with it." Harken had been very careful not to say what it was.
"Did you notice it doesn't say which one of us is addressed? I cannot understand what they are thinking."
"I am sure we are both on the bottom of the classes. Final try passes and only because they flexed the rules a bit. My first try was recorded as the lowest score in the history of the tower. Not that it matters either way. Get this verified, first, but I am sure it won't matter."
How long can two wizards talk without saying anything at all but make it sound scary important? My guess would be, until the sun doesn't set anymore. It was a dumb joke, it was a very true statement. "Why won't it matter?"
Harken looked over at Ravon, "Because Desdemona hates magic." The other wizard snorted and Harken looked back at him, "I know you would kill for half the power you feel while she is trying to suppress it, right. She is suppressing it and very well from what I have sensed on the battlefield. I would still love even half of what you can feel right now."
Markus sighed, "What is this about?" He walked back up the hill.
Harken smiled at him, I knew that smile he was about to flex the rules, "It is tower business, I cannot share it with you." He looked down at the letter and nodded, "Well I am done with this, funny that they didn't mark at all who it was addressed to, oh well." Harken shrugged and let the letter fall. He then threw an arm around the other wizard, stepping between Ravon and the falling letter. "You know they should be more careful if they want information to stay bound to the tower, us army types are always losing things."
Marcus caught the letter out of the air, before it touched the ground. Harken had been very careful not to give Markus the letter but the result had been the same. Markus lifted the letter to see it better. "What the hell are you thinking? If they find out."
"What will they do to us? Demote us? They cannot take our robes, not without causing way more problems than I think they want. Let me let you in on the benefits of being on the bottom. Even though she hates magic I did learn this, if they cannot take anything of value from you, you can do whatever you please."
Markus snorted as he read the letter.
"Are you going to share with the rest of the class?" Folding my legs under me I sat on the ground. The sunlight was fading already.
Markus looked up over the letter and snorted again, "I would yell at you for keeping secrets yourself at this point but I can understand the problem with that one." Markus folded the paper and looked up at Ravon, he was not being his disarmingly charming self. "What would make the tower take this crazy position? The Islee elders have made it clear associating with Des will be a quick end to anyone's plans. The tower has shown a pointed lack of interest until this."
"Why are you asking me?" Ravon looked dangerous in her uniform with her dragon marked short sword on her back. She had the more common gray eyes of the elves and her silver hair was braided back so that a long tail rested on her spine. That was an easy question from her expression.
"Because, even before this event, I already knew Des could keep a secret with the best of them. Because if anyone else performed like Des does they would be well on their way to captain, let alone Arch officer maybe even General, though she is a bit young for that rank, not stuck as some punching bag for a moron. She has the highest scores in every test even being graded as unfairly as the elders are doing it."
I snorted from where I sat in the mud, "If that was true the elven prince would be a captain." Captains were the commanders of the few veteran only groups in the army. General was the highest rank but there aren't any currently. When the army of the light was at max capacity there were 5 Generals right now there just wasn't enough people.
"He turned it down." Ravon paused like she was trying to decide if she should add something, my non reaction to the news seemed to make up her mind "Twice." Ravon then seemed puzzled and turned to face me, "That does bring up again how long he has known." It took willpower not to hit her, but Ravon seemed to be judging her words more carefully and Markus didn't pick up on what she was asking.
Everyone knew elves bonded with their mates. Most of their troubles with the Islee are from bonds with Islee who didn't agree to the bond. Strange thing is, the elves didn't hold grudges, the Islee did. Bad blood could last many generations when a feud broke out in the Islee camp. It made me wonder why Ravon was being cautious with that information when she hadn't been with the fact that I am a demon, well half breed. "You would have to ask him."
Ravon shrugged, so I asked the next question that was bothering me. "What brings you out so fast anyway? I would think you had estates to get together, and a wild man to keep busy."
Ravon blushed, "What makes you think that being here isn't a step towards securing my estates? As for the wild man, he needed a break already. What can I say fighting sebac just isn't as strengthening as fighting shadow spawn." Ravon raised an eyebrow when one of the elves giggled. "Besides we have our orders from the queen."
"Why would the queen of the elves care about an Islee?" I could tell Markus was thinking at a lightning pace trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. There were still two elves between me and him. I stood up brushing off my pants. Something must have come over me, because I normally avoid touching people unless I was in an active fight with them, but for some reason I put my hand on the closest elf's arm to ask them to step aside. I think I got out, "Could you" before my mind flashed to something else.
"You have got to be kidding me, which one?" I pulled my hand back like it had been burned as the elf jumped almost a foot into the air. She landed facing me with a face that looked like she had been in the sun for days. I noticed that of the four elves on the field only one was male. Female elves in the army were actually more common than male elves. They believed the men should run the home and if you weren't home you couldn't run it. That was the same reason human's used to keep their woman at home. I figured the truth was human men had more muscles and were expendable. Elves had a hard time having children so the men were no more expendable than the women. Elves put more value on flexibility and accuracy then raw strength and the women were better at those qualities on average.
That was mostly what I thought about to distract myself while the younger woman seemed to be frozen on what to do. The other elves picked up on the girl's embarrassment, not that that was surprising, I was getting a little worried she would pass out from the blood rush. Ravon snorted, "You are going to end up with a reputation, master Des, if you keep this up."
"It isn't my fault. Will you calm down? It isn't your fault either." She didn't seem any calmer. I remembered that there were still three Islee standing on this hill with us. "I am going to ask you again later."
"See and I was hoping that on my veteran command I might actually get to do some commanding." Markus snorted, and Ravon raised an eyebrow at him.
"You will have plenty of time to command. In battle, when she has vanished from the field, again. Leaving you to wonder if you will see her after the battle or if she got herself killed this time. Should you wait for her at rendezvous or take your team back to the city? How long should you wait until you try looking for her if she isn't in the city? What can you do to her that will show her that is a bad idea?" Markus took in a breath and sighed, "At least until all the shadow spawn drop dead and you are then more worried about keeping the unit from being seen."
"Ah, but she won't have a reason to do that." Markus wavered like he wasn't so sure of Ravon assessment. Markus knew me better.
"Do you know the consequences if I lose control?" I felt my key go cold against my skin. I was tapping my power, I wasn't really meaning to but since I was aware of it I folded the power into my key. It warmed it slightly but it was still very cold.
The wizards shifted, Harken seemed surprised. The other one looked worried. Harken answered, "I would imagine a lot like any other wizard that pushed themselves too hard and lost control. Blood, death, madness. I heard a story in my last year at the tower of a wizard that pulled off his own ears because he claimed to be hearing the darkness wherever he went. He would have to remove all shadows from his room before he would sleep."
"Right, that is what you fight every time you caste even a ball of light, the whispering voices that you try not to hear. You only have to focus when you start using magic, I have to focus every moment. It is that focus that I use to fight and train. I can run the simulations, ranking with some of the famous masters. In real battle, I cannot, I end up fighting myself more then the enemy when allies are around. No, knowing what I am will not help you if I slip into my other form. Battle is also the only place where I can relax for even a brief moment, because the only thing to hurt is shadow spawn but not if I stay with the unit."
I took a breath and let it out slowly. Using magic could make me angry at nothing. Right now I had a few reasons to be angry but no good outlet. "I have to focus as much not to use magic as you have to to use it. That is why I started control training so much younger but it still took pass the age of most children to be declared safe, and if you actually read the requirements, it doesn't say you have to have the type of control the tower insists on now. Which is why the form for my entry to the academy is actually the old one. One that is really only supposed to be used for a fully trained battle wizard. Which makes me angry as well because that is like saying the army has fallen to the point where a 15 year old is the equivalent of a battle mage. I don't care how strong you are as a magic user, there is no way I was the equivalent of what the wizards had meant when they made that form."
I took a step back and looked down at the grass. I was losing control now, letting my emotions get away from me could do that. Pushing myself for too hard and too long during the day could do that as well but I should be fine. I had just eaten last night, it should take days before I start to lose control again. Nothing the ass had made me do was all that challenging. Of course I really should have some blood every day.
"Wholly crap, if you did that without even meaning to, I would say you are the equivalent of 90% of the current battle mages. Even if that was all you could do but you are still actively suppressing your magic aren't you? Even with just that you could take all the current battle mages on at once. Hell I don't know what scares me more that you might have not meant to do that or just that you don't seem any more tired from having done that." The wizard looked at Harken, "Has she done that before."
Everyone else looked confused. I didn't see where I had done anything, and from how the elves were looking around they didn't see anything either. "Yes, quite a few times, it is more visually impressive when she has her weapons on her. It seems to happen most when she hasn't done any magic in much too long of a time, and she gets a strong emotion. She isn't out of control of it at all." The other wizard was staring at Harken. "You would know all that if you had read anything I had ever written about her, but who cares about the thoughts of a low end battle mage. He must be exasperating or doesn't know what he is seeing." Harken shrugged, "At least I know for sure she didn't kill the last commander."
The wizard looked confused, then his eyebrows pulled together in concern. "I didn't kill him."
Harken smiled, "No the tower did, because if you had a fraction of a fraction of the knowledge you should have, you would have been able to save him. Actually, Shevren, that little outburst is nothing compared to when I found her after she had vanquished her first wraith."
I thought back to that battle, it was one of the first times I had been separated from my unit since the commander had died. We had seen combat a few more times that week and hadn't managed to make it back to the city to report the commander's death. I had convinced Markus that he needed to take up command as the veteran in our group. Oddly most of our group looked to me, but I knew what would happen when we got back if I led them back. Harken had been terrified whenever I was around him so I kept my space. I didn't like wizards anyway, so it wasn't inconvenient, much. I remembered the fight with the wraith. Harken had been the first person to find me afterwards. His attitude had changed after that, I had worried at first that he had seen me in my other form. It wasn't right for that though, he seemed to have more respect for me and my wanting to be left alone, which helped to force Markus to step up. We didn't lose anyone else in our group after that. Which was part of the reason there had been an inquiry when we got back. I put that thought out of my head remembering that incident wouldn't help me calm down.
"Have I said lately that I don't like wizards?" Shevren frowned harder at Harken when I said that.
"Oh that isn't my fault. Actually after that I tried to find any excuse to do spells near you in hopes you would pick a few up, on accident of course, because letting the knowledge of the tower out is strongly frowned upon. Not forbidden just frowned on, traditionally after all."
"If the masters found out you would lose your robe."
"Yeah I looked into that, I was trying to figure out why the tower seemed to act so oddly when it came to Des. That note isn't the only odd thing after all." Harken ran his hair through his hair and sighed, "I found that no one ever has been removed for teaching someone not a part of the tower. It is always a different charge. So I started talking to some greys since they know all the laws in all the lands. Hypothetically of course, and not one told me straight out it was illegal. So I can believe that letter, but I would still want it confirmed."
Markus snorted and folded the letter up and handed it to Shevren, "Here I think this still belongs to you. Doesn't explain the elves though."
"As far as I still know it explains nothing. Any way you want to learn more about the knife ears, Markus, ask Cryon here to the swan." Markus opened his mouth to say something smart no doubt but I kept talking, "Don't ask questions when you don't actually want the answer."
Markus didn't listen, like normal, "You haven't met Cryon before and no one said her name. From the reaction that is her name. So you can read minds."
I sighed, shook my head, not in answer to his not a question, just that he was so him. "That thinking is what keeps getting you in trouble with the crystal counsel."
"Yes, well believe it or not I like this company better." Markus bit the inside of his mouth then nodded, "You are going to stay in this field all night aren't you."
"That is the general plan." The elves all turned to look at me like I was crazy. I didn't blame them but Markus really had spent too much time with me to pick that up already.
"She wasn't dismissed, and she wouldn't listen to me if I told her to go home." Markus shrugged, "So, Cryon, would you like to see the swan?"
Cryon blushed and looked down at the grass, she was shy. That would be an odd balance because Markus was anything but shy. Ravon rolled her eyes at Markus. "Cryon, you might as well go. Be back before sunrise." Cryon opened her mouth clearly to argue. "Hardly take five elves to stand in a field next to the desert. Of course I don't intend to stand the whole night."
"Why would you be out here all night anyway?"
"Well if your commander hadn't run off before reading the letter you would know."
That was 'army' for, 'I am not going to tell you'. Which was also 'army' for, 'information can get you killed too' and in my case it wasn't always the enemy that wanted to kill me. Ravon sat down on the grass and the other two elves moved out. I noticed neither one of them had put away their bows. Shevren shook his head and walked off toward the crystal city. Most likely he was going to the tower. Markus and Harken followed a bit behind him and Cryon hesitated before jogging to catch up with them after Ravon gave her an odd look.
Once we were alone Ravon leaned back and said "You really will get a reputation if you keep this up."