“We have the scrolls and tomes of those who have studied that style.” Flendreir interrupted her again, “We both know how to read those, and we can teach him from that.”
Anbethir looked at me again, “Do you think it will really help him?”
Flendreir nodded, “Yeah, I think it will. But I have a few ideas that I will wish to discuss with you later.”
Flendreir walked over to the longer two handed sword and lifted it and carried it to me.
“Given that you are a touch clumsy, but incredibly strong, the two-handed blade is probably best for you for now.” She informed me, trading me the blade for the smaller one in my hand.
The weapon was not a claymore, or anything like that. It was only edged on one side, and had a curve like all the other elven weapons did. The bluish-silver weapon was thick enough to be durable, but was still thinner than my fingers. It had a small ovular guard above the hilt and a metal cap at the end of the hilt. It had a nice taper to the bladed edge and a grove, or fuller, near the spine of the blade.
Flendreir knew enough to help me hold the blade properly, with my right hand right up under the guard and my left hand lower near the pummel, and she was able to get me started on basic drills. The long, curved blade cut deep into the dummy as opposed to the surface cuts the smaller blade had done.
After about an hour, I was sweating hard and Flendreir had to concede that she was at the end of her knowledge of the style of fighting with such a large weapon. The elves seemed mostly content, but I felt like a kid swinging around a pool noodle.
“I will study the records we have from those who have studied other races who do use such fighting styles.” Flendreir committed, “Tomorrow morning we will resume and, The Host willing, we’ll make more progress.”
I wiped my brow. “That sounds great.”
My body was starting to feel really covered in weapons. My sniper hung over my left shoulder, angling toward my right hip. My combat rifle hung behind my right hip. My dagger and handgun were strapped on my right hip, and that was where I’d been wearing my sword. I was informed that right hand dominant as I was, my blade should be on my left hip, and I traded my temporary blade for the much larger blade.
The new blade was just around five feet in length, with about a foot of that being hilt. That meant I had quite the length of blade trailing behind me as I walked, and I had to keep my hand on the hilt to keep it from swinging around as I walked.
I needed to figure out a better setup to hold my gear.
I sat down to catch my breath as most of the she-elves filtered down from the terrace.
“While I’m researching the records on this fighting style, there is a task I would have you do. Now, as you saw…” Flendreir spoke urgently to Anbethir as they walked down the steps from the terrace.
“It is almost… refreshing… to see you actually struggle with something.” Narusil mused.
“Indeed.” Tavorwen agreed. “Your ability to cut through the problems before has been almost unnerving.”
“You’re gonna find I have a lot of things that I’m no good at.” I admitted grumpily.
“Is that so?” Narusil laughed. “Glad to hear that even great heroes may have their weaknesses.”
I smiled at her, and my eyes wandered from her to the shadow elf maiden behind her.
I wondered how Ki’Amura would be if she had been raised in a more open society. I had already bet that I could find something she was gifted in, it had just felt right. I wondered if something similar to what had happened to Narusil had happened to her. Failed in a critical way and the unforgiving nature of war or her people had declared her worthless.
“Shall we have another lesson on magic?” Narusil suggested. “I believe we have time.”
I was sweaty and tired, but my mind was still good to go.
“Sure.” I accepted.
“Let’s go to the Academy, there is space there we should be able to use that should contain any magical effects should anything go ary.” Narusil suggested.
I perked up at the reference to a new location. I’d been enjoying seeing the variety of buildings around Ealphamir and how the elven society functioned.
The group that made the trek across Ealphamir was small, only myself, Narusil, Ki’Amura, Tavorwen and Creadean. The others all had tasks that needed seen too. I felt better with a smaller group. If things went strange, a smaller group would mean less people at risk.
The Academy was by far the largest of the tree-buildings I had seen. The enormous pine was located in the southern area of Ealphamir. There were layers of platforms around the pine with benches, chairs and other seating. There were easily around forty to fifty younger elves spread around the tree, enjoying the warm weather as they read their books or scrolls. Were these elves humans I would guess they were between the age of twelve and fourteen in age, which probably meant they were between sixty and eighty years old as elves.
Narusil led me in and to stairs to the lower level with the confidence of someone who had spent many years in the structure. The swirling stairs lead us down three levels to a large hollow in the tree. Glowing blue, yellow and green runes covered the walls, ceiling and floor.
“Here we are.” Narusil breathed. “The practice chamber.”
Tavorwen and Creadean settled themselves by the door, with Ki’Amura finding a seat nearby.
“Now, your light spell was quite potent, so I didn’t want to experiment too much until we were in a more controlled environment.” Narusil reminded me.
“I get it.” I assured her. “The last thing I want is for something to go wrong and someone to get hurt because of my inexperience.”
“Yes, hurting someone by accident is an unfortunate result for any attempt at spellcasting.” Narusil agreed with a wince. “But here, if you stand inside this rune circle here, it should reign in the power of your spells and prevent any accidents. The line of runes there should keep any spell you cast from reaching those by the door, and this ring here will protect me.”
I noticed a number of rune circles on the floor and stood in the one that Narusil had indicated.
“Great. Here I am.” I declared.
“Alright, before we get set up, I should get us some targets. I want to teach you your first destructive magics… as a warrior, you should know at least one destructive spell, and it is my area of expertise.” Narusil explained.
She then turned to the wall furthest from the door and raised her arms, her hands open and close together. “Uruteriuva!”
First one, then another, and soon a dozen small wooden bullseyes floated from a pile in the corner and spread throughout the room, with wooden stands lifting from the other corner and floating to their matching target. Narusil made small adjustments with her hands as she guided the targets and stands to their positions. Finally content, she took a few deep breaths.
“Alright, now. The first spell I wish to teach you is known as ‘Ember Bolt’. It is simply a dart of flame to strike your target thus.” She explained, then she raised her hand, fingers close together and pointed her palm at the target. “Hafrivark!” She declared and a spark of flame formed in a flash just in front of her palm and then flew to leave a scorch mark on the center of the target she aimed at.
“Nice shot.” Creadean laughed. “But isn’t that a bit weak for Master Thomas to be using in battle?”
Narusil looked over her shoulder, “Yes, but the last time I gave him something little, I was shocked by the result. Or is the stone in your pouch no longer glowing?”
Creadean conceded the point, then out of curiosity, she pulled out a pouch and opened it, dumping out the pouch inside. Light could be seen leaking from the inner pouch.
I turned back to Narusil. “Is it that weird that it’s still glowing?”
“The spell normally lasts between a few minutes and a few hours, depending on the strength of the caster,” Narusil explained. “Yours has lasted days now.”
I swallowed nervously. A flashlight that lasted longer than anticipated was one thing, but now I was literally playing with fire.
“Now, hold out your hand like I did.” Narusil explained. “Aim your palm at one of the targets. Now, make sure you keep your fingers close together, to reinforce how your flames will stay close together. Imagine the flames in your core, the heat in your body. Let that flame flow down your arm to your hand, you will mix it with your will, like you did with the light, then visualize where you want it to hit and utter the word, ‘Hafrivark’, or ‘flame dart’ in the tongue of magic.”
I took a deep breath to calm myself. This was fire. This was dangerous. I wasn’t a lawyer, so I wasn’t sure if using a weapon like this on earth would be a war crime or not, but there was nothing here to say otherwise, so I guess you fight fire with fire.
I swallowed and raised my hand. I held it as Narusil had instructed. Then I imaged fire rising from the center of my chest and pushed it in my mind to the front of my hand, imaging my will like an infusion of pure oxygen mixing with the fire.
What is this going to do? The thought popped into my mind. What if it goes wrong? I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind and tried to force myself to ignore it.
I focused on one of the targets, trying to keep the image of the fires from my chest mixed with my will flowing out my palm.