Kin of Kings (The Kin of Kings Book 1) (14 page)

“Women? When did we start talking about women?”

“It’s always about women. That’s another thing you should learn.”

Basen grinned. “Are you sure that isn’t just an excuse for when you get into Group Two instead of Group One?” he teased.

“It’s a better excuse than coming here without knowing how to meditate,” Nick quipped in return.

A fearful realization set in. “Don’t tell me that’ll be tested.”

“No, because our instructors figure we all know how to do it already.” He flashed a friendly smile. “It’s humorous, isn’t it? You’re probably the best I’ve seen at manipulating bastial energy, yet you can’t do the first thing every mage learns.”

“Hilarious,” Basen said sarcastically.

“I tease, but you shouldn’t worry. I’ll find a way to teach you how to meditate before anyone finds out.”

“I appreciate that.”

When the time came to return to class, Basen realized he had at least one true friend here.

The second half of endurance day was even worse than the first. Each challenge pushed him to hold a spell as long as possible, and this only became more difficult as the afternoon dragged on.

Eventually, Penny announced that it was time for the final challenge of the day. Basen found the other first-years smiling like he was, but then he noticed Effie’s look of dread, matched by the other more advanced students.
It’s too soon to relax
.

They followed Penny out of the training area. Basen wondered what she would have them do away from the classroom and the training dummies. He shielded his eyes as he looked toward the sun. It was still a good height over the Academy’s western wall. Plenty of time before sunset. Either this day would end earlier than the last two, or the final challenge of endurance day would take hours.

“Where are we going?” Basen asked Effie.

“Warrior’s Field.”

“What in god’s world are we to do there?”

“God’s world?”

It had slipped out. “A Tenred saying, not to be taken literally.”

“You should speak more like me if you want to fit in, Tenred Boy.”

“All right. What in the bastial shit are we to do there?”

She chuckled tiredly. “Never in my life have I said that.”

“Bastial something. I can’t remember. Anyway, what are we doing on Warrior’s Field?”

“We’re to run.”

“Just run?”

“Just run,” she confirmed in a weary voice. “They save the worst for last.”

Glancing around, he saw more mages, all of them walking north like his evaluation group.

By the time they’d gone around Redfield at the center of campus, there were hundreds behind them. Penny led their group to the nearest corner of the enormous field of lush grass. She stopped to allow them to gather there. Every mage in the Academy clustered around the edge of Warrior’s Field with them, no one daring to actually set a foot on the grass.

“Wait quietly for Mage Master Trela,” Penny told them and gestured toward the center of the field.

Trela wore a blue robe that shimmered in the light breeze as she conferred with the headmaster. Past them, on the opposite corner of the field nearly a mile away, were the warriors, the most numerous of the four classes at the Academy. Somewhere among them was Sanya, Cleve, Effie’s man—Alex, and every other warrior in the Academy. Basen didn’t like how this looked.

Finally, Trela began the long walk from the center of the field toward the mage’s corner as Terren stayed in the center. Basen knew nothing of the mage master of the Academy. She seemed to be middle-aged unless her hair had gone gray early in her life. He wondered if she truly was a master, able to cast every spell with more finesse and power than the next mage, or if it was only a title. There were many in Tenred castle whose titles belied their talents, though something told him it probably wasn’t the same here at the Academy.

The hundreds of mages gathered around Basen fell completely silent as Trela came to stand before them. Basen wished he wasn’t so fatigued from spending the entire day pushing himself to his limit, but he supposed everyone else was just as tired.

“Instructors, get your evaluation group in position,” Trela announced.

Penny took them to the field’s edge and then made the turn around it to go north. She stayed a few yards from the grass as she walked, everyone mimicking her as if the grass were sacred.

“Form a line,” she told them. “If you think you’ll be running around this field faster than most, come to the front. If your pace will be slower, move to the back.”

Basen moved to the front. He wasn’t the fastest sprinter, but he’d always been able to run long distances better than any of his peers.

Soon their line was set. There was another young man in his evaluation group who wanted to be at the front, and Basen let him. He looked back to find Effie right behind him. Behind her was every other mage, as the other evaluation groups were put behind Penny’s. On the opposite corner, the warriors lined up in the same fashion.

“As a mage you will be required to keep up your physical stamina as well as your mental stamina,” Trela announced, practically screaming to be heard by the long line of mages wrapped around the corner of the field. “You will run when Terren raises his arm. Do not touch the grass. If you wish to pass someone, you will do so on their outside. Do not to touch others. Your instructor will judge you based on the speed at which you finish.”

“Trela, are you ready?” Terren yelled from the center of the field.

“Almost!” she yelled back.

This didn’t seem so bad. It was probably only two or three miles around the entire field.

“Make sure your instructor sees you each time you finish your lap,” Trela continued.

Each time?
Dread fell upon him. Even two laps would be difficult in his current state.
Please only be two.

“You are to complete
three
laps,” Trela announced. Basen winced, the news actually causing him physical pain. “Each lap is two and a half miles. If you cannot travel all seven and a half miles, then you don’t belong at the Academy. Walk if you must to finish.”

“Seven and a half miles? Isn’t that a bit excessive?” he asked Effie.

“Yes. I think the only reason they do it is to give this day infamy.”

“Well, their strategy most certainly works. I’m already dreading this day next year, and I haven’t even finished it yet.”

“Try not to let any of the warriors pass you,” she warned him. “I heard they trip male mages or push them onto the grass.”

He rolled his eyes. “That rivalry is idiotic and completely one-sided. How common is it for the warriors to pass the mages?”

“Very.”

“Lovely. What about mages passing warriors?”

“None last year.”

Terren raised his hand, and everyone began to run. For a while, anger at the warriors’ attitude filled his thoughts. Then his mind began to clear as he found his rhythm.

Halfway down the first side of the field, Basen realized the pace set by the man in front of him was too slow for his liking, and he passed by to take the place as the first mage.

“Good luck keeping that up,” the man called after Basen snidely.

He ignored him, too determined to catch up to the thick-skulled warriors. It might not be during the first lap or the second, but he would pass at least one of them before he finished the third. It seemed absurd to him that no mages had done so last year. There wasn’t that much of a difference in physical endurance between the classes, was there?

He shot a few glances back and forth between the mages behind him and the warriors across the field. The warriors were larger, but they were also much faster. It wasn’t that they were fast in general, though. The mages just seemed slow. He began to think about the mages and warriors he’d met at Tenred for comparison and realized that the warriors there were all in better physical shape than the mages because their training required it.

I suppose it’s not that strange for it to be the same here.

By the time he came to the end of the first lap, there was an enormous gap behind and in front of him—none of the mages had any hope of catching up, but the warriors were still a good mile ahead. He had to pick up his pace.

“Slow down,” Penny called to him from the grass. “Or you’ll regret it by the last lap.”

Again she doubted his ability. He wanted to convince her that he knew his own body’s capabilities better than anyone.
This test is as good a chance as any.

A deep burn began in his chest halfway through the second lap, but he was gaining on the tail end of the warriors. His legs ached as he refused to decrease his speed.

Disappointment set in as he came close to the end of his second lap. Still a half-mile ahead of him was the tail end of the warriors, and they were now in the process of passing the slowest mages. One of them was male, and the warriors bumped into him. He stumbled and then fell into a roll as they backed away and pretended not to be the cause.

If I don’t pick up my pace, I’m only going to pass my fellow mages,
Basen sadly realized. He pushed himself harder, the pain in his whole body increasing. It would be unbearable by the time he finished.

He ran around five walking mages, then ten, then fifteen before he came to another gap between students. He was just starting his third lap by then, and at the corner ahead of him seemed to be a cluster of both warriors and mages as all fought for space around the tight turn.

Basen saw a blond warrior clearly shove a male mage, sending him tumbling onto the grass. The mage quickly jumped off it, bumping into a female mage and causing them both to fall. Other mages and warriors had to jump to the side to avoid them as more pushing ensued.

Basen came to the corner just as the last of the warriors finished the turn. He let himself go wide, ensuring he would not be tripped by any of the mages he passed.

With his body sweating and burning, Basen increased his pace even more. His determination kept him going as his eyes found the blond warrior who had caused the mess at the last corner.

Basen passed more of his fellow mages. His chest heaved as he fought to draw air into his lungs.

Then he passed his first warrior.

He was pushing himself too hard to feel any pride, knowing it would come later. Instead, the accomplishment just drove him to go faster, to pass more of them.

He came up behind the blond warrior and formed a quick plan. He didn’t want to risk instructors seeing him push anyone, so he passed around the warrior properly and then came back to the edge of the grass, putting himself in the warrior’s way. The warrior cursed and picked up speed as Basen had hoped. He came around Basen’s outside shoulder and went for a shove. Basen slowed and extended his foot.

The blond warrior tripped over it, his eyes flashing in shock before he crashed down onto the grass.

Basen jumped over the warrior’s legs as he rolled. Then Basen licked his dry lips as he saw ten more warriors just ahead of him. His quick pace took him around them as his heart slammed against his chest. A couple of the huffing men tried to increase the speed of their jog to keep up with Basen, but their exhaustion quickly squelched their pride as he passed them.

But one, unfortunately, did manage to shout a warning to the other warriors, “Don’t let the mage around you.”

A dozen warriors ahead of Basen flashed a look behind them. A few made an effort to get in his way, but he was just too fast for them to do anything besides blatantly tripping, and even they weren’t stupid enough for that.

Relief came over him as he spotted Penny only a quarter-mile away. Wanting to pass as many warriors as possible in the short distance remaining, and telling himself he could collapse as soon as he finished, he pushed himself to his utmost limit.

He passed by two warriors, then three mages, then five more warriors, and then nearly tripped as he made it to Penny.

He was done. He hadn’t counted how many warriors he’d passed, but it was more than enough to be proud of, especially considering the blond instigator was one of them.

Basen changed his mind about collapsing at Penny’s feet as he’d intended. He didn’t want the warriors to think he’d given up after just two laps. No, he would make sure they knew they were lapped by a mage. The blond warrior especially.

Basen tried to stand straight and hide the shaking of his legs. He put his hands on his hips and leaned back, closing his eyes as he sucked in painful breaths. It was the only pose he could manage that didn’t involve hunching over.

“Simply finishing as the first mage would’ve proven the same thing,” Penny told him, sounding disappointed at how well he’d done.

Perhaps I’ve underestimated what my “dangerous” spell did to her thoughts of me, and now she’s actively hoping for my failure.

He wanted to explain that he had complete control with that spell just as he did choosing his pace in this challenge, but it was taking all of his fortitude just to remain standing.

However, he did regain enough stamina to at least point at the blond warrior when he came around.