Jake held a devious smile as he lodged another at my friend. This time Ella wasn’t quite so fast, and part of her tunic caught fire as she scrambled to get out of the way. She barely managed to put out the flames when Jake sent a third fire careening her way.
Ella threw out a blast so strong it knocked the flames aside. She sent the fire spiraling back, and without hesitation, Ella cast out a storm of blades, launching them with all her might.
Jake only just managed to throw up his shield. A second later and he would have been mauled.
The two had been exchanging crippling blows for the past thirty minutes. With every second I was growing more and more anxious. Any of my own anxiety had been displaced in the onslaught of my friend’s duel.
It was exhilarating to see all that Ella had learned in a year. At the mid-year tourney Ella had not used half the castings she was using now. She was faring well, and even though she was quickly reaching the end of her stamina, she was still putting up a fight that Jake was struggling to put out.
BOOM! A blast of Ella’s magic split open the ground beneath the boy, effectively doing to Jake what he and William had done to that poor boy during hazing. Jake fell.
There was a sickening crunch, and then I saw my friend run forward, holding a bow and arrow in hand as she circled the hole, ready to shoot should Jake try anything at her approach.
But he didn’t. With a broken leg and no magic left, Ella had effectively expended the boy’s limits and left him with no defense.
The look Jake shot her was worse than any Priscilla or Darren had ever given me.
“I yield.”
The crowd went hysterical. And above the madness of it all, I could hear Alex screaming her name louder than anyone else.
“ELLA! ELLA! ELLA!” She had won.
Next up were Eve and William. The match wasn’t even a fair fight. Within twenty minutes Eve had exhausted her rival’s stamina and become the second champion of the day.
The crowd was even more hysterical than before. Eve’s victory had been astoundingly quick.
As the pale, seemingly fragile first-year and her bulky opponent exited the field, I saw Darren catch Eve’s arm and congratulate her on the match. William’s eyes flashed dangerously, but the prince didn’t seem to care.
Before the match had even begun, it had been obvious who would win. Anyone who had ever paid attention in practice would know that Eve was second only to Darren in casting.
William hadn’t stood a chance.
“Ryiah.”
I turned to see Master Narhari waiting for me. Ray was already walking onto the field in anticipation of our match. My stomach sank.
It was time.
I followed my training master, trailing behind Ray until I was in my starting position, two hundred yards across from my opponent.
The sun was bright in the sky, not a cloud to help ease my vision as I squinted at Ray across the way.
I had never had any qualms with the boy standing before me. One year my junior, he had fast become a member of Darren’s following early on because of his potential. Ray had come into this place like me: a lowborn, untrained, uneducated first-year with a dream and ten months to prove it. Ray had never taken part in the hazing, never tried to act as though he was better than me. He was just a tall boy with olive skin, dark wavy curls, and serious amber eyes.
And right now, he was the only person standing between me and an apprenticeship.
“Annnnnnnd begin!” Master Barclae roared.
All I saw was red.
Before I even knew I was doing it, I had cast two tunneling trails of flame. I watched as the twin fires bit across the landscape. In moments they had reached my opponent and cut him off from escape at either side. He was trapped.
As Ray attempted to quench the fires with an outpouring of sand, I threw all the force I could muster at Ray’s feet, willing the earth to crack open just as it had done for Ella. The ground moaned loudly and collapsed, but I was too slow. Ray was gone.
Suddenly, I couldn’t see anything. A thick cloud of smoke had appeared out of nowhere, and now I was surrounded by thick, gray fog anywhere that I turned.
Coughing, I tried to summon enough wind to rid me of the heavy vapor, but before I could blow it far enough away, the sharp “zzzzzing” of metal slicing through the air alerted me seconds before Ray’s sword came slashing through the haze.
I had the barest instant to throw up a shield to block the overhead blow, and then Ray’s sword slammed my defense. My arms buckled and quaked, but I held on. As soon as Ray withdrew his blade to try a different cut, I blindly slammed my shield into his chest. I threw myself into the blow, effectively cutting off my opponent’s windpipe as the impact knocked the both of us backward and out of the blinding smoke.
The two of us fell expertly. Both had spent months practicing how to land correctly. I tucked in my chin and knees, letting the impact hit my bottom, rolling until the impact faded. Then I pulled myself up at the same time as Ray.
We faced each other warily.