Stealing Sorcery by Andrew Rowe Page B

investigate? I’d ask my family, but of course, that wouldn’t quite work.”
    Lydia leaned her head against her hand, considering. Taelien is still in training – and he wouldn’t even know where to start looking. Landen and Velas are in the same position…but I suppose there is someone.
    “I have someone I can ask, but you’re not going to like it.”
    ***
    Hours later, Lydia pressed a letter against a mirror.
     
    Dear Jonan,
    I know you’ve been looking for a good opportunity to visit Velthryn. As it turns out, now would be a good time.
    -Lydia
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter VII – Velas III – Excessive Damage
    Velas sat in the stands of the Koranval Coliseum, overlooking the setup of the contest in the arena below. The stadium was the largest in the city and dedicated to Koranir, the God of Strength. During sporting events and war games, the Coliseum could seat nearly twenty thousand citizens. At the moment, it held a smaller but still intimidating number – more than a thousand full paladins, several hundred squires and priests, and nearly five hundred paladin applicants.
    Must be more than half of the paladins in the city here. This is going to be embarrassing if I mess it up.
    She noted a few boxes of private citizens in the stands as well – the majority of whom were probably close friends of high ranking paladins or nobles who donated significant amounts of money. She saw the banners of House Korvis, the owners of the coliseum itself, in one of the larger boxes – although not the largest. To the left of House Korvis she noted another box flying the banners of House Glaid, the house of the city’s current champion swordmaster, Dreas Glaid. She couldn’t quite see into the box from her angle – it was too high up – but she wondered if the swordmaster himself would be watching the contest below.
    “You’re thinking. That’s dangerous.” Landen poked a finger into her ribs and she playfully smacked his hand. He was dressed in full armor; a look she thought suited him. Freshly shaved and with his hair trimmed short, he was the very image of the perfect knight. In times like this, his persona glittered just as brightly as his mail and served just as well for deflecting threats. Velas knew how to exploit the weaknesses in both of his forms of armor, but she hoped she’d never have to make use of them.
    “Oh, you know, just looking for any actual competition since there isn’t any close by.”
    Landen raised a hand to his heart, fluttering his eyes. “I am wounded by your dismissal, my lady. Is that any way to treat a man with a higher estimated performance score than yours?”
    Velas folded her arms, which were just as well armored as Landen’s. She wasn’t wearing her full armor today – just a mail shirt with bracers and greaves – because they didn’t know the details of the test and she wanted a mix of protection and mobility. If their qualifying event was a footrace she suspected Landen was doomed. “Oh, you know those scores are bullshit. And you’re only six points higher than me anyway.”
    “If they’re bullshit, why do you remember our exact scores?”
    “Sometimes it’s important to quantify the exact values of bullshit. In this case, the delta between my test scores and reality is about thirty points.”
    “So, you’re saying they should have put you at a forty instead of a seventy. That’s very humble of you, I’ll make sure to let the testers—”
    She smacked his arm playfully, then raised her fists and shook them in the air in challenge.
    “Okay, okay, I surrender.” Landen held up his palms in a defensive gesture. “And I think they’re about to announce something.”
    “Finally. We’ve been waiting for hours and I’m starving.”
    On the opposite side of the coliseum, a portly man stood on a raised platform dressed in ostentatious robes trimmed with silver. He was flanked by a pair of paladins, but wore no indications of any affiliation with the paladins