lake. He hovered six feet above the surface and tried to bring it to him using magic.
I magnified the scene around the key. Dirt swirled, caught in the magic Estan used and the key rose up about an inch before settling back on the mud. Magical forces slid through it as though it wasn’t there. The key looked very much like the one in the Chancellor’s hand, except that the aura around it was red and not purple.
A quick check of the key buried a couple of feet underground below where Lana hovered confirmed my suspicion.
“The keys are fakes.”
Jeram gave me a sharp look and nodded. “Intriguing, isn’t it?”
It happened so fast my eyes had trouble registering it. A creature that looked like the front end of a shark and the back three quarters of a crocodile leapt out of the water below where Estan hovered. The boy had magic shields in place, but the creature sailed through them as though they didn’t exist. One moment the boy was standing in the air. The next he was up to his chest in crocoshark with razor sharp teeth closed in around him.
Then he was gone. The crocoshark’s teeth crashed against each other in frustration as it continued to rise through the air.
“Look.”
Jeram pointed up and I saw Estan’s body falling through the sky. He had hopped high into the air but it looked as though the crocoshark had injured him.
“See you later,” I said to Jeram. Hopping into the air, I matched velocity with Estan and brought us to a halt in mid-air. The kid was unconscious and a small amount of blood was seeping through his shirt. He didn’t seem to be injured enough to have been knocked out.
I sent my magical senses into him to start the healing process. The wounds around his chest were superficial. He had a cloth wrapped around him and that had protected him, or should I say her . Estan was a girl with the cloth used to flatten her breasts. I probed her bloodstream and found poison flowing through it. Not enough to kill, but more than enough to paralyze.
It took me some time to get most of it out of her. She started to groan and opened her eyes discovering that she was in my arms. I let her go and she slipped gently down to sit on the surface I’d created in the air. Stepping back, I extended the force field into a cup shape that she wouldn’t fall out of. Then I looked around to see how the other applicants were doing.
It looked like Lana and Bob had been busy. Amazon girl looked down on the writing body of a massive snake. It had lost its head and her sword was bloody. She appeared to be breathing hard, but was otherwise unhurt.
Bob had fought some kind of lion come wolf beast. It was difficult to tell exactly what it had been because it had been sliced neatly in two, starting at the head. That sword of his must be incredibly sharp, given that I was certain none of these creatures could be harmed using magic.
The crowd was silent. I glanced at their faces and saw disgust mixed with contempt. Apparently the Balmack Accord didn’t hold with violence even though their trial encouraged it. As far as I was concerned, I would avoid killing any of their animals unless it was them or me. I had a strong interest in me.
I needed to get a closer look at one of the fake keys and the one Estan had been after was the easiest target. It took a few seconds to freeze a twelve foot diameter cylinder of lake all the way down to the key. I used the heat I’d removed from the ice to warm the water round the iceberg driving the crocoshark away without hurting it.
Landing on top end of the ice cylinder, I cut a plug of ice down to the mud and raised it slowly. The key came with it, neatly frozen to the bottom of the plug. With the plug hovering a few feet in the air, I pulled the key free and let the plug slide back into its hole. A solitary person in the audience clapped loud enough for me to hear.
The key was warm to the touch and was a dark silvery color, not at all like the gold key the Chancellor had held
I magnified the scene around the key. Dirt swirled, caught in the magic Estan used and the key rose up about an inch before settling back on the mud. Magical forces slid through it as though it wasn’t there. The key looked very much like the one in the Chancellor’s hand, except that the aura around it was red and not purple.
A quick check of the key buried a couple of feet underground below where Lana hovered confirmed my suspicion.
“The keys are fakes.”
Jeram gave me a sharp look and nodded. “Intriguing, isn’t it?”
It happened so fast my eyes had trouble registering it. A creature that looked like the front end of a shark and the back three quarters of a crocodile leapt out of the water below where Estan hovered. The boy had magic shields in place, but the creature sailed through them as though they didn’t exist. One moment the boy was standing in the air. The next he was up to his chest in crocoshark with razor sharp teeth closed in around him.
Then he was gone. The crocoshark’s teeth crashed against each other in frustration as it continued to rise through the air.
“Look.”
Jeram pointed up and I saw Estan’s body falling through the sky. He had hopped high into the air but it looked as though the crocoshark had injured him.
“See you later,” I said to Jeram. Hopping into the air, I matched velocity with Estan and brought us to a halt in mid-air. The kid was unconscious and a small amount of blood was seeping through his shirt. He didn’t seem to be injured enough to have been knocked out.
I sent my magical senses into him to start the healing process. The wounds around his chest were superficial. He had a cloth wrapped around him and that had protected him, or should I say her . Estan was a girl with the cloth used to flatten her breasts. I probed her bloodstream and found poison flowing through it. Not enough to kill, but more than enough to paralyze.
It took me some time to get most of it out of her. She started to groan and opened her eyes discovering that she was in my arms. I let her go and she slipped gently down to sit on the surface I’d created in the air. Stepping back, I extended the force field into a cup shape that she wouldn’t fall out of. Then I looked around to see how the other applicants were doing.
It looked like Lana and Bob had been busy. Amazon girl looked down on the writing body of a massive snake. It had lost its head and her sword was bloody. She appeared to be breathing hard, but was otherwise unhurt.
Bob had fought some kind of lion come wolf beast. It was difficult to tell exactly what it had been because it had been sliced neatly in two, starting at the head. That sword of his must be incredibly sharp, given that I was certain none of these creatures could be harmed using magic.
The crowd was silent. I glanced at their faces and saw disgust mixed with contempt. Apparently the Balmack Accord didn’t hold with violence even though their trial encouraged it. As far as I was concerned, I would avoid killing any of their animals unless it was them or me. I had a strong interest in me.
I needed to get a closer look at one of the fake keys and the one Estan had been after was the easiest target. It took a few seconds to freeze a twelve foot diameter cylinder of lake all the way down to the key. I used the heat I’d removed from the ice to warm the water round the iceberg driving the crocoshark away without hurting it.
Landing on top end of the ice cylinder, I cut a plug of ice down to the mud and raised it slowly. The key came with it, neatly frozen to the bottom of the plug. With the plug hovering a few feet in the air, I pulled the key free and let the plug slide back into its hole. A solitary person in the audience clapped loud enough for me to hear.
The key was warm to the touch and was a dark silvery color, not at all like the gold key the Chancellor had held
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