The rest of the non-heir’s group consisted of the two burly-looking brothers and a young girl whose skin was so pale it seemed translucent.
The girl was so tiny and fragile, I wondered how she had made it into their little following. She didn’t talk much, and she seemed more interested in something on the ground than her companions.
“Alright children, let’s gather round!” Sir Piers barked.
We all came together slowly, regretfully acknowledging the end of our break.
“Well, well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
None of us dared to contradict him.
Sir Piers chuckled at his own joke, knowing very well what our silence really meant. “Well, you always have tomorrow. I will go ahead and leave you in Master Cedric’s capable hands.” With that, Sir Piers left the field, and we found ourselves waiting anxiously for Master Cedric to begin his own introduction.
Master Cedric nodded to his audience and spoke with a much softer inflection to his tone. “Well then, for the next two hours I am going to be leading some basic exercises that are conducive to all factions.”
I glanced at Alex and Ella excitedly. Finally, actual magic.
“This first month will be spent emphasizing magic’s most important foundation: focus. Without the proper application, you will not be successful in your chosen practice.”
My enthusiasm died. Focus. So we wouldn’t be learning how to heal a dying knight or cast a lightning storm. Not today. I had to say I’d had enough “meditation” practice during my time on the road. Two hours of coarse physical activity might actually beat the boredom induced from focusing on a blade of grass for the same length of time.
I heard someone groan to my right.
“You might have great potential,” Cedric interjected loudly over his disgruntled audience, an incredible feat for such a timid-looking man. “But if you can’t concentrate long enough to will the magic you wish to enact, you will never find yourself beyond the basics. The more advanced castings require a greater dedication that cannot come from acts of whimsy.
“Mages die quickly on the battlefield when they can’t summon proper focus. As Sir Piers said, you will not be hidden away in a tower. You will be immersed in an atmosphere full of distractions waiting to tear your concentration apart.
“You will also not be performing simple steps. If you go into Restoration, you will be expected to understand the anatomy of an individual when you are caring for a deep flesh wound. Collapsing a tower in Combat would require you to understand its structure and materials. It’s important to know where to make your magic touch count. You could blindly devote your magic to the entire attack you want to enact, or you could learn to focus your magic on specific components so that your castings are precise and don’t exert any needless energy.
“Now, let’s not waste any more time and begin your first exercise.”
I grudgingly joined the rest of the class in forming a giant sitting circle that spread out across the grass at Master Cedric’s instruction. From this angle we could see not only the master and his four assisting mages, but everyone else in our group as well.
At least I’ll finally stand out, I told myself. I may not have had practice fighting with staffs or learning the names of Jerar’s eastern seaports, but at least meditation was something I was good at. Years of failed magical attempts could attest to that.
The next two hours seemed set aside to prove me wrong. I wasn’t horrible, but I was at best a little better than the norm.
Master Cedric and his assistants walked around our giant group, each carrying a heavy satchel filled with small, white pebbles that they distributed each time one of us failed the exercise.
For the first half hour we had simply been instructed to close our eyes and keep still. We were to maintain an “air of calm” and to focus on a moment of peace and tranquility. That was easy enough.
But then I realized the role the instructor and his assistants were playing in our meditation—pouring hail one second, thousands of angry bird cries the next. I tried not to flinch when I felt the slimy, wiggling body of a snake against my skin, but I could not suppress the tiny whimper that escaped my lips when I felt thousands of tiny, bug-like wings on my face. I opened my eyes just in time to see one of the assistants set two stones by my feet.
Luckily, most students had a small pile forming next to them as well. Unfortunately, there were still those without a white rock to bear.
For the second part of our exercise Master Cedric had the class keep their eyes open while continuing to practice the same meditative state. Of course, sight only made our practice harder.
It was not easy to remain calm when you realized a hoard of angry rodents was headed in your direction.