Chapter 9

“Just to clarify,” Scolffice spoke up as some around the room murmured in slight confusion, “while each of you had to graduate from your respectful training compounds, not all standards are completely equal, so we will be doing a group reevaluation… also for those that arrived here today by a more… unorthodox route.” He clearly glanced at both the girl just in front and me that time.

As if on cue, three mages in blue cloaks walked into the room in a line, Bradey leading them. He stopped at the front while the pair following him split, heading toward the opposite back corners of the classroom. “These men will assist in your escort,” he announced, visibly stifling a yawn.

I shifted in my seat, watching one of them as he pulled out a ring of keys from his pocket and walked to the back corner. The boy he approached, who seemed about a year older than me, was sitting there, looking unenthused, one of the few still sitting while most of our peers rose. I wondered briefly if it was simply a lack of interest or due to his shackled wrists being attached to the metal loops on the side of the desk, preventing him from standing without hunching over.

I had to do a double take, my eyes darting back to the restraints that held the otherwise seemingly placid boy captive. He grimaced as the mage came up and removed the manacles after some words that I couldn’t hear were exchanged. He raised a hand, but only to brush the sandy hair out of his bangs. He looked a year older than me

She had to be my age, her voice sounding with a maturity that was reflected on her body. My wandering eyes flicked back up to her face, grinning with an energy that unnerved me.

“I take it you’ll come along willingly?” Bradey asked, hovering over me. His shadow stretched over my desk and he leaned onto it, his fingernail lightly tapping on the no longer mysterious metal ring on the side.

I nodded, standing and lining up with the other new recruits as they milled around the door, Scolffice in the way so that no one stepped out yet. I kept my head turned to the sandy-haired boy as he brought up the rear then turned to face the same wild tangle of hair I had just spent the better part of an hour staring at.

“Hi there!” The girl grinned as she turned around. Her canines poked between her lips and her eyes looked stuck wide open as if she was constantly drinking in the world around her. “I’m Sarah. Who are you?”

“Ren,” I answered, trying to keep my voice as we were getting a bit huddled together.

“Oh, and who are you?” she asked again, this time staring at my chest.

I froze, unsure what to answer. “Um, uh…”

“Hey, you don’t ask that, weirdo,” a boy spoke up, slapping her in the shoulder. He turned to me. “Ignore her.”

Sarah pouted, cheeks puffing out slightly as she somehow glared at the new boy without narrowing her eyes. “I was just curious, Lucian,” she mumbled. “Sorry, Renren.”

“Oh, it’s just Ren.”

“Hmm… kinda boring, just Ren,” she said with a shrug.

Excuse me? I tilted my head a bit as I stared at her incredulously. “Well—”

“Alright, come along!” Scolffice called out, silencing us as he proceeded out of the room. We shuffled out after him, filtering through the doorway one or two at a time until we made it into the hall. The walk seemed casual until I noticed Bradey on one side of us, while a second of the blue robes paced us on the other side. I glanced back and the third was following behind, pushing along a slower student with shorter legs than the rest of us. We were clearly boxed in, escorted more than guided.

It took a few moments for us to be herded to the courtyard, where tall walls surrounded us on all sides. The sun hung high directly above, indicating the middle of the day. A few trees decorated the grassy area, each surrounded by a circle of carved stones, lending a cultivated garden feeling to the flowerless enclosure. In the middle stood two poles with white rings on them, one at head height, the other a good ten metres off of the ground, and on each a wooden ring painted white.

“The goal of this magic evaluation is simple: hit the target. You will pass simply by hitting the lower target, but you can strike the higher one for a better score” Scolffice explained in a dry voice that was nearly swallowed by the light breeze. He turned to the ground target and held a hand palm up. Slowly, a flame spun over the centre of his hand, growing until it reached the size of his fist. His wrist suddenly twisted, palm to the target, and the fireball was projected at the ring. It went right through, not touching the edges, barely fitting with only a couple centimetres to spare. “Like so. First is…” he pulled out a paper from his robe, “Lucian Arnoult.”

The boy that had interrupted Sarah earlier stepped up with a smug grin, stopped where Scolffice indicated, a good ten metres from the target. “Of course, sir.” He copied Scolffice’s stance; hand out, palm up. This time water swirled in the space fire previously had glowed, and then shaped into a point. It looked like it was frozen in that position until I realized it had become ice. Lucian did the same wrist flick and the red cloaked mage, and the pointed bolt of ice soared. It sped through the air, wobbling as it went, and just hit the side of the target ring.

“Very good,” Scolffice called in a tone that really just said ‘decent enough’. “Next is… Lucy Baker.”

The evaluation continued in the same way, each of us stepping up and attempting to hit the target. There was no limit on the number of attempts, though no one took more than three to hit it, and only two of us at that. Some used fire, or ice, or water, or something else; one child used air to lift and push the lower ring off the pole while another spent at least five minutes meditating on the spot before closing his fists and imploding both rings into a shower of splinters and sawdust. Fortunately, extra rings were produced as replacements, and Bradey floated up to reset the high pole while one of the other blue cloaked mages took care of the lower one.

Eventually, only myself, Sarah, and the sandy haired boy that was chained to his desk were left, standing where everyone started but the others had shifted over and were chatting quietly amongst themselves.

“Next,” Scolffice droned as he finished noting the details of the last student, “Sarah Argyle.”

The chattering to the side stopped. “Argyle?” “Did he say that?” I heard the whispers as all eyes were on her. If she noticed, she didn’t let on, instead just hunching over slightly, hands on her knees. I realized now that she had no shoes on, just standing barefoot. I hadn’t noticed either way if she had been wearing any earlier, but none could be seen around our little area. “Alright, guys!” she giggled right before light burst from her backside. It curved down and around, almost brushing the ground before coming back up and blooming into a squirrel’s tail. Her ears appeared to almost lengthen with the same solid light constructs and wisps of light danced from her face like whiskers. Her finger tips sparkled and her toes curved and glowed.

She shook her head and charged at the ground target, throwing herself at it. At the last second, her tail spun around and her body twisted, her foot swinging into the wooden target, shattering it. Splinters rained around her as she landed but she didn’t stop, cannonballing for the high target. She leapt again, hitting the pole, and dug her fingers and toes in. She scurried vertically up the pole like a forest critter. As soon as she reached the top, she grabbed onto the target, wrestling it out with her hands and teeth. As soon as it came free she fell backwards, and kicked off of the top of the pole. My eyes widened and I took a nervous step forward as she free-falled in a chaotic spin. She tumbled in the air as she plummeted toward the earth until her tail puffed out, righting and slowing her just enough that she landed dexterously on all fours, the ring held between her teeth. She jumped up and the light constructs on her body evaporated.

“THANK! YOU! PISACHIO!” she shouted as she waved the target over her head, a trophy that she suddenly hurled like a frisbee. It soared up and over the wall, possibly never to be seen any time soon.

“Thank you, Miss Argyle,” Scolffice said with a bit of a groan as the girl happily trotted back, coming to our group rather than where the other students that had completed their assessment stood. I just blinked as she grinned at me and the other boy, an inhuman energy behind her snaggle toothed smile. “Bradey, if you could,” Scolffice requested, and the sleepy mage flew up with a new target, driving it into place. “Next is… Christopher Mage.”

The sandy haired boy, Christopher, stepped up from just behind me, reaching the area we were all starting from. He just stared at the targets before turning to one of the mages, the one that had removed his manacles attached to the desk, and beckoning him over. I leaned forward a bit and tried to listen as he whispered to the mage but couldn’t make out what was spoken. The mage looked at Bradey who just nodded, and then nodded back and produced a dagger and handed it to Christopher before quickly stepping back.

Christopher took the dagger in hand and I wondered if he was going to throw it. Instead, he did toss the dagger, but upwards. It went up, and then came back down, pointed to the earth. I stepped back, knowing how dangerous it could be. The dagger never hit the ground. Instead it swung like on a pendulum before spinning around the boy, getting faster. I took two more steps backwards as Sarah took one forward, but was unnecessary as the dagger flew towards the high target. It went through the hole once, then twice, flying around it, before it took a nose dive and planted itself in the rim of the lower target where it stayed to rest.

“Alright, very good.” Scolffice noted down something on his page. “And last…” he checked his paper, “Ren Gardener.”