Shadow Magic

Chapter Fourteen

On Saturday morning Connor showed up at my house to drive us to the manor. I got into the car and saw he was wearing a warm winter coat and sweatpants, it suited him. He greeted me with a huge yawn and held out a warm cup of coffee for me.

"Oh coffee!" I said happily, taking it from his hand and taking a tentative sip hoping it was cool enough.

"Figured since it was so cold this morning this could keep us warm," he said.

"Thank you, that's very thoughtful," I replied, putting the coffee down and buckling in.

"Are you ready for some intense magic training?" Connor asked jokingly, while he started driving us towards the manor.

"Yes Coach," I teased, picking up the coffee again and taking another sip.

"Then let's do this," he replied.

I was excited to try some magical dueling and use the spells I had read about in my grimoire. While we were driving my mind wandered to different scenarios of me using attacking and defensive spells. I wondered how I would remember the different incantations during the actual moment of battle in a fight.

Connor parked in the manor's driveway and we walked together towards the training pitch. I finished my coffee as we got there and placed it down with my bag. When I turned back around I saw Connor was bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement in his eyes.

"Let's try sparring," Connor suggested.

"Like practice fighting?" I asked, my heart racing partly from coffee and partly in excitement.

"Exactly," he said, rubbing his hands together, little flames sparking between them from his Elemental Magic.

"I'm down, what do I do?" I asked.

"Okay, stand over there," he said, pointing to one end of the training area.

I followed where he pointed and then watched him take a spot across from me leaving about 20 feet between us. His hair was blowing in the wind and he crouched down into an attacking position. I couldn't help but admire his form and was momentarily distracted.

"Okay, first let's try putting up some defense," he said.

I nodded and reached into my magic. I had two defensive spells that I knew I could use, one shield spell and a light shield that came from my Elemental Magic.

I had practiced the shield spell more so I reached my two fingers out in front of me and drew an oval while saying the incantation under my breath, "Scutum et praesidio angustos contraria minas."

"Nice," Connor said once the shimmering shield was in front of me.

"Thanks," I replied, then braced my feet into the ground.

"I'm going to send a spell at you, keep that shield up and maintain your focus," he explained.

I nodded again and watched as he created a small set of magical darts and played with them in his hand before throwing them at me. I held up my shield and braced, ready for impact. The sound of them hitting was loud and startled me, but I held the spell in place and put my head down.

"Okay good, now this time keep your eyes open," he said, a small laugh escaping his lips. I glared at him from under my eyelashes. He smirked in response and sent the darts again. I braced and this time kept my eyes open seeing the impact of the darts exploding against my magical shield, blue sparks filling the air before fizzling into nothing.

Connor sent a few different spells and I practiced maintaining the shield and moving it in response. He also let me send a couple spells at him while he held his own magical shield up. We got faster in our attacks and reactions, Connor teaching me to pull up the shield faster with a spell coming my way. I was panting by the end of that exercise, my body a little tired from sparring.