I had to admit it was helping, though I’d never be able to pinpoint the exact degree of success it warranted. I still struggled day to day in each and every activity in which I participated, but struggle had become a regular condition. If I weren’t struggling, if I weren’t keeled over in agony, if my muscles weren’t screaming at the end of a long day…then I wasn’t trying hard enough.
Master Narhari continued to test our breaking points. At first I had thought his methods cruel and unrelenting, but as the weeks wore on, I realized he was just a man who saw the sky as our limit. Narhari expected the world of his students because he expected the same of himself. He wanted us to succeed, even if his definition included shattering our magical boundaries on a daily basis. It didn’t mean I resented him any less for pushing. It was impossible to remain positive during continual rounds of mental and physical torment—but I did recognize what he was trying to do.
It was beginning to pay off.
One month ago I would have been thrilled to see my magic’s stamina outlast the previous week by a couple of minutes or an extra block during my jousts with Ella. Now my castings carried on a half-hour most of the time. My reserve wasn’t guaranteed, but even if it failed to increase right away, I was usually able to conjure more powerful castings in the weeks that followed.
First-years were beginning to slow down, or quit. By the end of the second month in Combat, eleven more had withdrawn from the Academy. They had left not because they ran out of drive, but because they hadn’t improved their castings in weeks.
All my life people had stressed the importance of “potential.” The amount of magical stamina one was capable of building. We all had a limit. You could have some magic, but did you have enough? Only time would tell which of us did.
The hype was beginning to make sense.
The Academy gave me a year. I hoped it would be enough. I’d seen Darren and his close-knit following. Each one of them had yet to falter. They remained at the top of each class and carried on long after the last of us fell.
Some of us were still improving, but we were all fearful how much longer our stamina-building would continue. Sure, I had magic, but eventually I would reach the end of its limits. As long as Darren and his friends were improving, there wasn’t much hope for the rest of us.
Fortunately, as the third month of Combat commenced, some of the prince’s friends began to falter, though I was loath to admit neither Priscilla nor the non-heir himself was a part of it.
The two burly brothers, Jake and William, had stopped gaining in stamina, and they were beginning to struggle in the increasingly difficult assignments Eloise and Isaac assigned. The only area those two still excelled in was Piers’s drills, but it was common knowledge that would not be enough. The brothers hadn’t left yet, but Ella and I had a wager going for how much longer they would remain. Neither of us had a fondness for the wealthy brutes.
A week later, our friend Jordan resigned, and a couple days after, one of the lowborn boys from Darren’s group of twelve. There was no shortage to the resignations taking place, and I wondered how many more would follow. Master Barclae had warned that half the class would leave by winter holiday. I had a nagging feeling he was going to be proven right.
On the third week of our fifth month at the Academy, I walked into my session with Master Narhari expecting nothing more than the same routine that had been drilled into us for the past two and a half months.
Instead I found Piers, whose session we had just came from, leaning against the edge of fencing that encompassed the boundary of our training field. Masters Barclae and Narhari stood beside him. The three of them looked particularly formidable.
I shivered and wrapped my arms around my chest, eyeing the masters with apprehension. The three of them together was not a good sign. Considering the last time Sir Piers had teamed up with a master, I feared for today’s outcome.
Glancing down the line, I saw Eve smile, albeit uneasily, and Priscilla and Darren exchange knowing looks. They knew something. The rest of the class seemed unsure, but it was clear that the prince had not been kept in the dark.
“Don’t they look just lovely?” Ella muttered.
“I feel like they put on those disturbing smiles just to mess with our heads,” Clayton whispered back.
I laughed. My friends and I could not be more alike.
Moments later the humor was gone when Master Narhari explained exactly why the visitors were present.
“They’ve come to check your progress,” he announced. “We will be staging a duel between each of you and another student in this class. This will be a chance to demonstrate what you have learned thus far. This is not a test. There are no winners and losers today, and this will in no way influence your trials at the end of the year.”
I breathed in a small sigh of relief and heard Ella at my right do the same.