- 127 -
“Nine and a half Flamingoes!” The clerk declared and the surrounding spectators cheered.
Damien stepped down out of the large ceremonial wooden scales with a scowl in full bloom on his face.
What a circus.
Opposite him was a cage stuffed with ten irate Flamingoes. Two handlers had brought them up one at a time until Damien’s scale was lifted off its pedestal.
“Nine shots,” Damien grumbled. “I’ll need some of your healing magic after this Drew.”
“What’s this Flamingo game again?” Drew asked.
“Flamingo Nussen. A game I never liked, even in my youth,” Damien said.
Drew flew along behind Damien as he walked down from the wooden platform that held the Scales of Nussen.
They were down in the Middencity, the middle layer of the city. Even atop the platform Drew could not see over the high walls that kept out the lake.
A large crowd of spectators was gathered around them excited for the spectacle. Held back by city guards and official mages of the council.
The scales sat in a small courtyard over near the docks on the eastern side of the city.
Their procession from the court offices through the city to the docks had been swift, as swift as a winding circuitous maze like city would allow. With the way cleared by city guards they had made record time, and the crowd that followed them grew with every avenue they crossed.
Valoria’s docks were unlike any others Drew had seen. Simply due to the fact that the water level of the lake around the city was two stories above the streets at this level.
Each dock was a towering pier more akin to a siege tower than the dock he had learned to fish on back in Rotterdale. In Valoria, the docks were wooden towers with multiple switchbacks leading up the walls and the short battlements that leaned out over the water.
Damien started his climb up with a determined look on his face.
“What are the rules of this game?” Drew asked.
Damien grunted as he passed another landing and continued up the stairs of the dock.
And what happens if we lose?
Drew flew close to Damien, staying close by to restore him in case the steep climb gave him a debuff before the trial even started.
Damien did stop to lean against the frame on the next landing and catch his breath a moment.
“It’s one of the few traditional games the court employs for trials. I should do fine but it will be up to you and Lady Frostwind to bring home the win.”
Drew perched on the beam above Damien’s head. One more flight up and they would be even with the city walls. A light salty mist permeated the air, keeping the wood heavy with moisture and moss. Drew stared absently at the long line of pylons that crowned the wall. They went all the way around the city in pairs. During the day they were empty, but at night, when the fish in the lake were most aggressive, the fleet of boats was dry-docked on these pylons for safe keeping.
“Did the climb give you a debuff?” Drew asked. “I could heal you.”
“It’s only 28 more seconds. Go on ahead and get a sense for our opposition,” Damien said.
I still don’t know how this game is played, what’s boats got to do with anything, and the Flamingoes are just weird.
Drew’s curiosity got the better of him and he flew the last ten meters to the top of the city wall. The direct sun light nearly blinded him.
That’s what I get for looking directly at the sun.
He saw double, before realizing it was the reflection of the sun off of the lake. He made an awkward landing on the top of the stone wall of the city and shaded his eyes with his wing.
Drew watched as cranes reached out over the water and lowered small wooden rowboats to the surface of the lake.
Nine in total, same as the weight of Damien in Flamingoes.
Each boat was crewed by two people; one was a burly, rough shaven man at the oars, and in one case a brute of a woman in official court colors. And the other person aboard each boat was holding a long pole with a net on the end. Some of the nets were round, or square, or in the case with the boat with the woman rowing, a triangular net.
Drew watched as Seraphina stood tall in her dingy, she had frozen her feet to the wooden bench to hold herself in place. The man at the oars was complaining about the cold but she ignored him.
“Good, the lady is a capable mage and will be a help out on the water.” Damien said as the reached the top of the docks and spotted Seraphina.
“Can someone please explain the rules?”
“Oh it’s simple.” Damien said. “I launch a puck out across the lake and if they catch the puck three times then I fail the trial.”
The two animal tamers brought the cage of Flamingoes up the stairs behind Damien as he spoke.
Their clerk from the court office was waiting on a wooden platform that leaned out over the lake. The two tamers hefted their cage of birds over to her with great pride.
“Why are the Flamingoes here?” Drew asked.
And our clerk came along too. Atleast she seems to enjoy the sport.
Damien spotted the cage and birds and made his way over to the platform with Drew gliding along from pylon to pylon.
“Why that’s how many shots I get, one for each bird.” Damien said. “And it is also how many boats and catchers will be afield.”
This still doesn’t make much sense.
“Bad day to be on the lake.”
Damien and Drew startled at the creaky voice. A salty, blanket-wrapped Ressian nearly blended into the wooden struts of the dock.
“Apologies, old woman,” Drew said awkwardly “but we have a trial of urgency today.”
“Man.” Croaked the heavily bundled Ressian.
Drew looked again and he could see they were sitting on an old three legged stool, and had a fishing tackle box beside them. The stool had visibly worn dozens of distinct divots in the dock.
He must have fished here everyday for a hundred years.
“And I am not that old.” He coughed roughly and cleared his throat, he spat something indescribable into the lake and his voice became much clearer. “I just turned 48 last season.”
“Damien Thornbrush! The trial of urgency is ready!” The clerk called loudly. “We await the Watcher of the Waves!”
“Thats me.” The man, the Watcher of the Waves grunted.
He stood, blanket creaking and shedding water grass, barnacles, and flakes of salt like old skin off of a snake.
He took a serious look at the lake, the light clouds, and brisk wind and he shook his head.
“The lake will be harsh and fickle today!” He called out clearly to those folks on the boats. “Those of you that brave the lake’s shady embrace should be wary of our friends of the depths.”
As the Watcher spoke, Drew flew up above everyone to get a look at the waves and Damien took his place on the platform.
Is this a saltwater lake? I’ve heard of the, back on earth, but never seen one so big?
His mind went again to map making, but was pulled away by his first eye full of the monsters of the lake.
A school of deep blue fish, each as large as a Garnt. They moved together, quickly slipping between the bright spots on the lake’s surface in agile chevron formations.
They stay in the shadows cast by the clouds. Maybe the light is too bright for them? Is that why they come out at night?
Several boats cast off from the dock and Drew watched them spread out in a rough cone, pointed at Damien on the dock.
“Enchanter!” Seraphina called out from her boat. “Put on a good show, we will have lots of attention after this is done.”
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“Yes, yes.” Damien said and waved her off. “Now if you could go entertain our opposition, and keep them away from my pucks.”
With a curt nod, Seraphina gave the Ressian at the oars the signal to take them out on to the lake.
Drew landed on a post beside Damien.
“There’s schools of fish out there,” Drew said. “They are keeping to the shadows for now.”
“The Skippers. Yes, they do tend to avoid the sunlight,” Damien said.
Damien held a flamingo loosely in the crook of his arm, with his other arm he struggled to knock the bird’s knees, which didn’t seem to hurt the Flamingo, in-fact it seemed to tickle.
Now that is strange. It’s like he’s wrestling with an umbrella. Glad I wasn’t born as a flamingo. Despite everything, being a Skurr isn’t so bad. I wouldn’t mind have a human body again tho.
Damien finally managed to get both of the bird’s knees locked and the animal went completely stiff, with its neck fully extended.
“There!” Damien grunted and dusted his hands off before moving to the next Flamingo in the cage.
The clouds moved slowly high up in the sky and the patches of light on the lake gave way to shady spots. The boats all slid along, doing their best to stay away from the shade and the prowling schools of fish.
Drew startled as a couple of the fish broke through the surface of the water near the dock.
“I doubt my old fishing rod could bring in one of those beasts.”
“Oh you are an angler yeah?” The Watcher of the Waves said.
Drew and Damien had forgotten the man was there after he’d sat back down on his stool and wrapped himself up in his salty blanket.
“Come back at dusk with your rod and I’ll give you a few pointers,” He said. “You may be surprised what an old rod and some mana reinforcement can do.”
Damien straightened out his last Flamingo and walked to the end of the dock. A smooth circular area was etched into the wood, about 4 meters across. On opposite sides of the circle were small wooden braces.
“I am ready to begin.” Damien said without fanfare.
“Contestants!” The clerk bellowed enthusiastically. “The trial of urgency shall begin. The winter court has nine shots. If they score five times they pass! If they are caught out three times, they have failed! If they fail to throw the puck cleanly five times they fail!”
She placed a puck on the right hand brace and stepped out of the way before calling out once more.
“Begin!”
The cheering crowd quieted as Damien centered his body to the puck.
Damien lifted the first Flamingo by the feet and took a square stance, leaning his shoulders over his feet and bending at his knees. The flamingo’s long body reached to the very edge of the circle.
The boats shifted in anticipation of the shot and Damien ignored them.
When he was ready, and had a hazy patch of water in mind, he swung the flamingo’s head back slowly, turning his chest at the waist. As he brought the Flamingo’s head back around he kept it higher than the brace and spun around completely once to build up speed. The Flamingo reacted and went quick as a whip, arcing back to connect with the puck beak first.
A great hit!
The shot sailed higher than Damien intended and flew up and over the lake.
“Great shot!” Drew cawed.
Nets missed by meters and as the puck began to arch down, Seraphina directed her boat towards the puck and used her net to swat another contestant’s net out of the way.
“Excellent.” Damien said as the puck plunked into the water.
A moment later their boats collided and Seraphina easily kept upright. The other boat rocked and drifted farther into the darker water.
The crowd’s polite clapping turned to excitement as the monsters darted towards the unlucky boat.
The other oarsman worked hard, pumping the oars to return to the sunlight. Just as their stern crossed out of the shadows their port side oar was ripped from its socket.
Did a fish nab it? How will they row without both oars?
“Well done Lady Frostwind!” Damien called.
He had swapped out his first flamingo for the next and the tamers were folding it up and storing it securely in the cage.
“First point to the winter court!” The clerk proclaimed and the crowd cheered.
Damien lined up his next shot, wound up and spun and whipped the flamingo around into the second puck. This time he topped the puck and it skimmed low over the lake.
It flew past the first two boats before anyone could react. It skipped twice more, passing through the shadow of a cloud before jiving off a wave coming across from the side.
Did he hit it low on purpose? Seraphina isn’t close enough to intercept it!
Two nets swung down and clacked off each other, but a man in the colors of the spring court roared triumphantly and held his net aloft with the puck inside.
The crowd cheered again, louder this time.
Damien stayed focused and his next two shots went high and landed close bough that Seraphina interrupted their competition’s nets both times.
As Damien set up and swung his fourth Flamingo it turned at the last second, sending the shot skimming low again.
“Damn it all!” Damien swore as the woman in the boat right in front of him easily scooped the puck up with her net.
“Are we tied up?” Drew asked.
“No it’s 3 to 2 in our favor, and yet I have four more shots,” Damien said. “I need two more shots, and our competition needs one more catch.”
“You should aim for the dark water, the Skimmers are prowling there and the boats are going to stay away from the fish.”
“Easily said, yet hard to accomplish when the waves glint and glisten in my eyes.” Damien grouched.
Drew hopped up to the next post on the dock.
“I could fly out there, from above I can see where the fish are,” Drew said.
“You are aware that your familiar is allowed to participate, aren’t you?” The watcher of the waves said.
“I’m a fool,” Damien said after a moment.
“I’ll go out there and snatch the pucks out of the air with my mage hand.” Drew said excitedly.
“You cannot.” The watcher of waves said quickly. “You can only catch the puck with a net. And the rules specifically state you cannot use magic to catch the puck or prevent an opponent from catching the puck.“
“Then using a wall of water is right out.” Drew said. “What about the clouds? Couldn’t I move them to reduce the glare?”
“It’s not been done before…” the man said and a smile crept onto his face.
“If you succeed, they will certainly make a new rule.” Damien said.
“First warning!” The clerk called out. “Any further delay will cost you a point!”
“Go Drew!” Damien urged. “Show me where to aim and work on those clouds for the final shot.”
Drew pumped his wings hard and flew into the wind as quickly as he could go.
There! A group of the Skippers is right there in front!
“Damien!” Drew cried and dropped a stone from his inventory into the waves. It struck a Skimmer without leaving a mark on its thick blue scales.
Drew circled above and pulled his water wand from its sling.
Cumulus, low pressure systems, condensation.
MP: 91%
Thunderstorms, gusts of wind, cold fronts, Stradivarius! Isn’t that a cloud?
Drew struggled with the spell. The charge drained out of the water wand but the clouds seemed heavy and hesitant to move together or grow at all.
MP: 78%
He could not influence clouds with his water wand alone.
Damien’s next shot went off cleanly and it landed near enough to where Drew had dropped the stone. None of the contestants could reach the spot in time to catch it.
“Bullseye!” Drew shouted triumphantly.
An argument broke out on one boat, the man with the net was berating his comrade at the oars for being a coward, but he wouldn’t row an inch beyond the shadow’s border.
None of the other boats dared get close. A few did move to the front of the shady area and raised their nets high.
That’s 4 to 2! We are almost there!
The small clouds had all blown away. The only one that remained was the one sizable cloud. The remaining boats had caught on to their strategy and were all guarding it’s shadow.
Damien switched to his seventh flamingo and watched for the signal from Drew.
There aren’t any other large shadowy areas to use the same trick again!
Desperate, Drew focused back on the clouds in the sky.
If my water wand isn’t enough, how about wind and water together? Clouds are air and water right? It’s already up there! I just need to make it bigger!
Drew pulled out both wands and focused on the large cloud.
A charge from each wand drained out and his mana plummeted quickly.
MP: 67%
MP: 55%
A foggy London day, storm clouds, evaporation, condensation, Nimbus! Cumulus, oh come on!
MP: 42%
The cloud shuddered and rippled as the splashing waves reached higher and threw their molecules high into the sky.
MP: 25%
Grow damn you!
Drew dug deep and just when he thought he would bottom out his mana pool the cloud responded.
A gasp passed through the spectators as the cloud loomed closer to the lake like a Spanish galleon with its sails unfurled.
The crests of the waves leapt from the lake evaporating into droplets too small to see. The cloud sucked the droplets up greedily. As it took on more water it spread out like an avalanche.
Drew dropped his spells and swiped away a notification to watch the cloud flatten out.
The Cloud’s shadow grew until it covered all of the boats. The men, and the one woman, rowed frantically to avoid the surging fish and get back into the light.
Seraphina shot bolt after bolt of ice into the monster fish as her man rowed for their lives.
I’ve got to go and save them! But my mana is so low!
Before Drew could come up with a plan the boats were out of danger.
Amongst the scramble, Damien took his final swing and shot the puck cleanly up and into the lake.
A trial of urgency between Damien Thornbrush, and the Council of Courts is complete. Damien Thornbrush is victorious five shots against two.
MP: 6%
MP +1
New Trait: Wind Affinity Level 1.
- Interlude -
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution knelt before the altar in his chambers. His voice resounded around the vaulted room like a bell as he prayed.
“-and may the Light guide us all through the dark to a brighter future.” He intoned.
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution began his seventh benediction without pausing. He knew better than most, the darkness that resided in all people.
His constitution was high enough that he could kneel in prayer all day, as he was known to do every seventh day.
The sunlight bathing him on the stone of his chambers dimmed once, then dimmed again, and finally went dusky dark.
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution had a moment where he thought he had been praying all day again before his aide, Acolyte DuPont burst through the door.
There were three flights of stairs in the manse the Grand Archpriest was given. It was not as large as his Chateau in the capital, not nearly by half.
It was remarkable that the Acolyte was out of breath.
DuPont had been patrolling the west quarter of the middencity. He had ran across the rooftops from the port on the wall to their residence in the arcane spire in a matter of minutes.
“Grand Archpriest Venn!” Acolyte Dupont gasped.
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution raised a single finger. He completed the last verse of the order’s benediction.
“May we have the strength to face our darkness, bear it, and overcome it. I pray thusly, and may the Light guide us all through the dark to a brighter future.” He intoned.
He turned a placid smile towards the young Acolyte attending him. It was one of his professional smiles he reserved for eulogies or unexpected interruptions.
“Speak now, Acolyte DuPont.”
“A mage has cast powerful weather magic above the western wall.”
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution remained silent. Acolytes often needed time to collect their thoughts in his presence.
“An enchanter has contested the council’s decision to belay and completed the trial of exception.” The acolyte quickly continued. “He has claimed the second seat in the winter court.”
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“And a noble Elf, a mage of the Winter court, she has come forward to contest your seat. They are making a play for the seat on the council.”
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution quickly came up with a plan.
“Notify the king of the Court’s return.” He said simply.
“It will be done, Grand Archpriest Venn!” Acolyte Dupont said and bowed out of the room.
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution refocused his attention on the executioner bound to the alter with chains of black mana.
The man was blindfolded and face down on his stomach. His skin was flayed open across his back in the order’s holy symbol.
“My child, has your devotion to the light increased?”
The man hissed through the ceremonial mouthpiece.
“Do not worry my child, we shall continue.”
Grand Archpriest Mallor Venn, Hand of Pious Resolution began his next benediction. He lifted the golden cup filled with the divine alchemical solution. He poured it into the executioner’s wounds and he prayed as the man’s flesh bubbled and sizzled.
