Chapter 32
Angeline lets out a long sigh from her seated position on a grassy knoll looking out over the Aegis training grounds. Same drills day after day. Practice in a wide variety of blades. Thrusts, sweeps, dodges, counters. All of the candidates lined up in neat little rows, following the motions of Sten the high-pitched Weapons-master. No sparring. No duels. No agility drills that would become so essential to their survival. So boring to watch. And yet she had to scout these kids. Had to prepare for her Bond…
It had been nearly two months since Master Quang had taken Samuel up on the western mountain… which had been aptly named ‘The Peaks of Hell’. Very little natural vegetation grew on the shale slopes, save for a smattering of thin-rooted trees and moss. Long, long ago, the first mages of the Order had blasted a wide tunnel through the solid rock at the base, only because they’d gotten tired of flying over it. Of course, the Knights that came along a short while later were very thankful not to be forced to carry their supplies over the treacherous cliffs, too… un-expected foresight could be a good thing at times…
The golden-haired caster issues a thin groan of annoyance as the candidates start yet another thrusting drill, and throws her hands up in frustration as she flops back against the grass to stare at the thick grey clouds overhead. All of the mage-trainees went up on The Peaks of Hell for two weeks every year, past the age of fourteen. There they practiced fire-based spells in low-oxygen environs, as well as basic survival skills that everyone needed to know like the backs of their hands. Thankfully, their camping trips were always in the middle of summer, so there were no bone-chilling nights to contend with…
But Samuel had gone up near the end of the hot season. And already, the evenings and overnights up on the Peaks would drop below freezing… even from her current vantage-point, she could see snow covering the top-most third of the mountain. N-not… that she cared what happened to him, damnit. Just… just that she felt bad for Master Quang. Hell, the Buddhist Order’s High Magus was nearly as old as Jonas Warren… even if the Asian man didn’t even look a third of it. She’d made the mistake once of asking Master Xing what his secret was… to which he’d told her that ‘Deflowering virgin ev’ry night’ kept him youthful. Bloody old pervert…
The blue-eyed woman lets out another long sigh as she slowly pulls herself back up to stare down at the candidates below. Damnit… why she’d ever suggested to her own High Magus that Samuel might benefit from a visit from Master Warren’s Eastern counter-part was something of a mystery now. Granted… it was to ensure that Sammy was at his prime, and could learn all that he needed to excel in slaying Daemons… but that had been back during his second day in the Hall of Runes… when… when she had thought that he’d be glad to see her…
Yet that had all gone down-hill extremely fast. Learning his true feelings about his abandonment in Serenity Valley… then getting into a huge row with him the next day… there probably wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell that he’d even want to talk with her again… which… which hurt. But she could at least understand her mistakes. Of which they were numerous. And she wasn’t about to try and deflect any blame for them… all the responsibilities rested on her shoulders…
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Aegis and Order: First Light
Fantasy"It’s shoulders were wide and powerful. At four metres in height, it was almost as large across as it was tall. The arms of the hulking beast hung nearly all the way to the ground, and were thick with rope-like muscles that bulged with even the sl...
