Tales of Vyscher Book 1

Chapter 4

Vic lay on her back in the dirt, staring at the sky through half lidded eyes. Every part of her body ached after the exercise, even her brain. The mage trainees had been projecting dome-like shields to stop arrows and crossbow bolts from hitting the practice dummy, and over time the strain had become immense. After a while, holding the spell against all the projectiles took more strength and concentration than she could muster, and like Luce and Lornk before her, she had finally collapsed in exhaustion.

The ground trembled a bit as Lornk strode over to her. Bending down he offered her a hand, which she gratefully took to help get up.

"Thanks." She mumbled as she staggered up.

"Oh, no problem, I know how I felt after the exercise and assumed you'd feel just as lousy.

Vic smiled in response. For such a large and intimidating man, Lornk was very mild mannered. His voice was also noticeably light, and not the deep baritone one might expect. Leaning on his arm for support, she walked on shaking legs over to the bench on the edge of the training yard where she collapsed next to Luce who was already sitting with her eyes closed and her head back against the wall.

"Hey!" Luce croaked.

"Well, that was fun," Vic sighed, taking a long drink of water from her canteen.

"We're going to have to do this every day aren't we?" Luce whined.

"Until we're better at it, yes, I'm sure," Lornk assured them. "We have to get much better at this before we go out on real missions. The fighters will thank us."

"That is for sure!" Vic said. "No doubt they're having more fun than we are in their training."

"I doubt it, Drem is constantly coming back to the barracks with bruises all over him. That doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me."

"My mind is feeling a bit bruised at the moment!" Vic complained.

"I still can't see straight," Luce groaned.

Master Kucey ambled over to the trio, a smile on his face. "Looks like you've all been through the wringer today. How about you take a break, and we'll pick this back up tomorrow. But be prepared, we're going to be doing this exercise twice a day going forward. Once in the morning and once after lunch, okay?"

The three of them just groaned.

"All right, get going and rest, you'll need it!" Kucey commanded.

It took a while, but they were able to make it back to the barracks. Vic followed Luce into the room she was sharing with Fehrys. "Is your head feeling any better?" she asked.

"A little. Being out of the sun should help and drinking more water," Luce poured some into a pair of classes from a pitcher on a bedside table, and handed one to Vic. They both took long drinks, then sat down on the bed.

"This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be," admitted Vic.

"What did you think it would be like?" Luce asked.

"When we were growing up, Aichen would come to the occasional dinner, and I would always ask him for stories. He would tell me about a bunch of the missions he had been on, most of which would probably make my parents upset, but they made me want to be a Bishop. I just never thought about how much work it would be to get to that point."

"Ahh, I see. I don't think anyone could have prepared us for the work. The relationship part is something I hadn't thought about either."

"Oh, I know! I was always so caught up in the stories that Aichen was telling that I never even understood the bond he had with his partner."