“Did you see the look on the king’s face? She just cost the Academy thousands with that stunt!”
Slowly, I became aware of the voices surrounding me, and I opened my eyes to find Ella, Alex, and the rest of my family standing next to my bedside in what appeared to be the healing ward. Two mages in the red robes of Restoration were frowning. I was immediately filled with a hundred questions.
I tried to sit up, only to gasp and clutch my ribs as the immediate pain sent me doubling over in agony.
“She’s awake!” Derrick cried, and suddenly all eyes turned to me.
I tried to shift more comfortably and groaned. There was an almost unbearable throbbing in my shoulder. Every muscle ached. My left arm stung as if someone had hammered it repeatedly with a red-hot mallet.
“W-what happened?” I croaked. My mouth was like sand.
My mother handed me a glass brimming with water and motioned for me to drink.
“Ryiah, dear, when you impaled yourself on that boy’s sword, your casting collapsed the entire structure you two were struggling beneath.”
Derrick bounced from one foot to the next. “You destroyed the armory!”
“You sent the entire building crumbling when you lunged at Ray, Ryiah. The whole structure fell, toppling both of you,” Ella told me.
“You almost killed yourself!” Alex interrupted, eyes flashing dangerously. “All so that you could take Ray down with you!”
“Barclae is beside himself.” Ella paused. “So is everyone else. That area was off limits, but you knew that, didn’t you?”
I bit my lip, avoiding everyone’s furious gaze. “I was going to lose,” I said softly. “I had no stamina left…I-I knew pain was an unpredictable way to call on magic, but I thought maybe its casting would be enough to disarm him. I didn’t realize it would bring down the entire armory.”
“I don’t know whether you are a genius or the biggest fool I’ve ever known.” That was Alex.
I started to laugh, and then quickly stopped as my ribs shook painfully. “At least I won,” I choked.
Silence.
And then: “But you didn’t.”
I glanced up at my friend, but Ella refused to meet my eyes.
“Ryiah, you lost,” my mother said, brushing a strand of hair from my face.
My heart stopped. “How?” I rasped.
“The entire building fell. All of us thought you were dead.” Ella swallowed. “But right as the judges and Master Barclae reached the scene, Ray appeared, dragging you out of the rubble.” She swallowed, “He managed to survive your attack using some sort of defensive sphere. He saved you too... if it weren’t for Ray, Ryiah, I don’t think you would be alive right now. Even Restoration has its limits.”
And that was it.
My world came crashing down around me as I realized what my friend was saying. Not only had I broken the tourney rules and destroyed a valuable building, I had almost killed the both of us. The pain had made my magic spiral out of control. If I had succeeded, the two of us would have died from its impact. But, my opponent, my noble opponent, had saved the both of us.
Ray had won.
I had lost.
And I had managed to do so in such appalling fashion that nobility would be talking about it for years to come. The Colored Robes and Master Barclae would remember me. That was for certain. Not as an apprentice, a girl of much talent, but as a first-year that almost killed herself and her opponent in the world’s most foolhardy attempt. Why couldn’t I have just lost with dignity?
Ray had given me an out. I should have taken it.
While a lost match wasn’t ground for disqualification, the last first-year to secure an apprenticeship with one had attended the school more than a decade ago. And in my case, with the stunts that I had pulled, it was pretty clear what my outcome would be.
Later that same evening, after the rest of my family had retired, Ella told me the results for the rest of the Combat trials. Ray and I had lasted the longest—fifty minutes while everyone else had barely used up a half-hour. Priscilla had won her match with the same strategy she’d used to beat me in the mid-year duels, and Clayton had lost tragically to Darren within the first fifteen minutes. “Clay didn’t have a chance,” she noted dryly, “and when Darren won…Well, let’s just say that the judges themselves took to a standing ovation.”
A sinking feeling formed in the pit of my stomach as I picked at the food Ella had brought in from the dining hall. I was on orders to spend the entire night in the infirmary, and while I wasn’t happy, there wasn’t much I could do about it. The one time I had tried to stand, I had spent the next hour puking into a bucket. I was not ready to repeat the experience.
I had only myself to thank for the pain I was in right now.
“Master Barclae announced the order of the second trials,” Ella began. I continued to push peas around my plate, listening. “Ryiah…you and Clayton and half the others will be going tomorrow.”