Chapter 24: Chapter 24:Winding down

“How are you feeling?” Azura had volunteered to go with Luna to the med bay, since Lily had gone for Cynthia.

“Like I just lost a fight with a bonfire.”

He laughed. “Yeah, no offense but you look it too.” He wished that was a joke, but she really did look terrible. She had bandages all over her body, she looked kind of like a mummy, but luckily the black poison gas mummies seemed to excrete was absent. “Although on the bright side you should see the other guy.”

“Is he ok?” He was a little annoyed that the bandages covered her entire face. Her voice was muffled by them, so he had no idea about tone and expression. Oh well guess he would take everything at face value for now. Luna struck him as an honest person if a bit scarce with details about some things.

“About as ok as you are. His shield wasn’t as prepared as yours, so he took some heavy damage at the end, but he also didn’t have any existing injuries he was aggravating.” He guessed by the slight movement of her bandaged head, she was flinching at his chastisement. “You know you don’t have to win to move on. You should have just surrendered, worse case you probably would have gotten a second fight to try and redeem the loss.”

She stayed quiet for a while. “... It just wouldn’t feel right. They said at the end of the last trial, that we would be betting our lives in all 3 of the remaining trials. I felt if nothing else I had to resolve myself to risk my life, or I might as well give up here.”

He understood where she was coming from, really he did. But it just seemed so pointless. “I understand, but betting your life doesn’t mean anything if you don’t accomplish your goal. We don’t really know what all they’re judging in this trial, and while I imagine you passed any resolve requirements they might have you just as likely failed the judgment qualifications.”

“Do you think I’ll make it through?” The stupid bandages made it hard to gauge how worried she really was.

He sighed. “I don’t know. Like I said before, your abilities lean really heavily towards scouting so I doubt they will fail you for a draw against an opponent with far greater resources, but your last stand was pointlessly dangerous. You endangered yourself and your opponent when you absolutely didn’t have to. I’m not sure how well that will be received.”

“My parents did always tell me I was too reckless.”

“Well it sounds like they know you well.” They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

“You can head back up, I’m sure you want to catch Roran’s and Katy’s fight.” He couldn’t quite be sure, but she sounded a little vulnerable. He did want to watch the fights, but since he couldn’t read her well like this he decided just to play it safe.

“There isn’t much point to watching Katy’s, it’s not like the audience will be able to see anything anyway, and I’m sure Roran would fight better knowing that someone was keeping you and Cynthia company.” He glanced at the bed on Luna’s left where Cynthia peacefully slept.

Luna stilled some. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m serious about Katy’s fight by the way, I’ll bet you anything Roran complains about not being able to see any of the magic used in that fight.” Katy would be an impossible opponent for pretty much anyone if they didn’t go into the fight knowing what her abilities were.

“Does she use magic to make her invisible?” He was impressed Luna was still casually chatting. She must have inhaled quite a bit of smoke during her fight, but she was soldiering on.

“Not exactly, but suffice it to say her fights won’t be visibly entertaining at the very least.” Frankly, he was glad he already knew what she could do. Although a fight with her probably wouldn’t end well for either of them, for vastly different reasons.

“You two seem really close, how long have you known each other?”

“Most of our lives, I think I was 5 when her mother was assigned as my caretaker. When her mother died, she took up the position. Honestly I was surprised my dad allowed it, but I suppose he probably didn’t care much.” Whoops he let out a hint of loathing there, but thankfully since he couldn’t see her he could just pretend he didn’t know she was probably waiting for an explanation. “Don’t tell her I said this, but if anything it was more like I was her caretaker, that girl is a walking disaster. Don’t ever eat anything she cooks… ever.” He had to suppress a shiver trying to run down his spine at the memories.

Luna laughed, but it descended into a coughing fit. “Sorry, I’m fine. Just some of the smoke leaving my system, that's all.”

“No worries, I’m no stranger to smoke inhalation. If you thought Lily’s flames were impressive, then I hope you never see my father’s. His power is even more monstrous than the rumors.” He was also more of a monster than rumors imply, but that wasn’t something he should talk about.

“Do you have any siblings?”

He blinked, that question came out of left field. He once again resigned himself to being unable to gauge her expression. “Yeah, I had a brother once, and I have my sister. She isn’t around much, which is good. Father is really… intense sometimes, and she is far too kind to handle him well.”

“It sounds like you struggle to handle your father well.” He frowned, this was getting far more personal than he had intended, he desperately needed a change of subject.

He chuckled, and was proud at the fact it didn’t give off even a hint of the bitterness he felt. “As well as can be expected really. I wish I could say he wasn’t the same after mom died, but if he was better before she left I don’t remember it.” What a twisted person he was, that his mom’s death was a safer topic than anything related to his father.

***

“I feel cheated!” Roran complained loudly. “That shouldn’t even count, the only magic you did was to make it too dark to see!” He didn’t even get to see what her opponent did. It was just dark and then after a few minutes it wasn’t, but her opponent was unconscious. “How are the judges supposed to measure your performance if they couldn’t even see it!”

Katy gave him a sly look as she chuckled. “I’m a stealth type fighter, I should be judged by the fact they don’t know how well I did. The less they know, the better I am.”

He pouted. “That’s no fun. You could have at least told me, I was so hyped for that fight.” Azura had always talked like Katy was roughly even with him in terms of combat skill. After that Roran believed it, but he had really been looking forward to seeing her match. “Oh well, at least it’s impossible for me to get the most boring match now.”

She gave him a mildly offended look. “You better hope that match isn’t against me, because I promise it’s a lot less boring for the person inside the darkness.”

He didn’t doubt it. He was confident he would win though. At least in a life or death scenario, his magic wasn’t great for friendly matches. One slip up in his or his opponents magic control meant instant death when his more powerful spells came into play. “Alas if you’re correct about how they will judge your performance, you won’t have a second match.”

She smirked confidently. “Perhaps a friendly spar afterwards then?”

He laughed. “Sure, but keep in mind I won’t be able to use my more… how should I say.. Destructive spells.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She rolled her eyes. “Sure sure, make your excuses.” Her tone made it clear she was kidding around. No doubt Azura had already filled her in about the spells he had seen Roran use.

“Ladies ladies you're both pretty, now shut up. The next match is starting.” Lily was rolling her eyes at them. Him and Katy rolled their eyes good naturedly, and turned back to the arena. He wondered how much longer he would have to wait for his turn. It was still objective early, maybe 30 matches in, maybe a few more. But all of his friends had already gotten to go up.

He winced as one of the fighters took a nasty gash across their torso. “Ouch, he’s going to feel that tomorrow.”

***

Cynthia’s everything hurt. A quick pulse of her telepathy revealed Luna and Azura to be in the room with her, but she could already tell opening her eyes would make her headache much worse than it already was.

“Did I win?” She shared her thoughts with both of them. She immediately regretted it, she hadn’t quite realized how low her mana reserves were. Saying she was scraping the bottom of the barrel was being generous

She heard Azura chuckle over the haze of pain using her magic had brought her. “Not technically, but you almost did. Which will probably suffice for a healer, and communications specialist.”

She had mixed feelings about that. She had been so close, she only needed to finish her spell and she would have won, but ultimately he was right. Combat wasn’t really her specialty so she should be proud of how close to victory she had come against someone who actually did specialize in combat.

“Oh and you probably shouldn't be talking… thinking..” He paused for a second. “Sharing your thoughts… yeah that works best I guess. You shouldn’t be sharing your thoughts with us right now, you have a mild case of mana exhaustion. Luckily you didn’t strain your pathways like I did before, but it could still get pretty bad if you're not careful."

She pouted. She knew he was right, but she didn’t have any non magic means of communication. It seemed her thoughts were clear even without her sharing them, because Azura walked away for a minute before coming back with a pen and some paper. She beamed at him, noticing for the first time the person in the bed next to her. They were covered in bandages from head to toe.

She quickly wrote on the first piece of paper before revealing it to Azura. “Who’s the mummy?”

He chuckled. “That’s Luna.. She got pretty banged up in her fight and is sleeping it off now.”

She furiously began writing again. “Oh no, is she ok?” She really hoped Luna wasn’t too hurt, but those bandages made it hard to believe.

“She will be. Most of her injuries were fairly superficial. The medics said the salve they put on the wounds before applying the bandages would leave her good as new in a few hours.”

She sighed in relief. That was good, if the medics were to be believed then Luna would probably recover before she did. Mana exhaustion wasn’t a cut you could just heal up though, so it wasn’t really a good comparison. “Have any of our other friends had their matches?”

“My match was before Luna’s, but after hers I came down to keep you guys company so I don’t know if anyone else has gone. Lily was with you originally, but she went back up when they told her it would be a while before you woke up.”

Awww she had missed Luna’s and Azura’s matches, she was really looking forward to those. They both were on opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of combat style, but Roran had gushed enough about both of them that she knew they were strong. “Well at least it looks like you came out of your match ok, unlike us two.”

“It was a close thing. I have a lot more enchanted stuff on me than you guys do, so just because I wasn’t hospitalized doesn’t mean I didn’t take a beating.”

Oh right she was thankful for the reminder. “Speaking of, thank you so much for enchanting my boots. I would have been completely overwhelmed without that speed boost.”

He smiled warmly at her. “It wasn’t much of a boost, but I’m glad it was able to help even if it was only a little.”

He sure was odd, he could go from humble, to arrogant and back so quickly. It was hard to get a good grip on what he was really like, but she at least knew his kindness was genuine.

He frowned. “Honestly I’ll probably have to take some time to enchant more of everyone’s things. Luna’s opponent was brutal. His family must be a special kind of rich, even father would have balked at how much money he spent on that one singular fight. For context, my father spent almost 400 gold on a huge amplification crystal just to make a ridiculously impressive display at a kings ball.”

400 gold? That was nuts. Her family was well off, there was no doubt about that, but she couldn’t imagine her parents spending 400 gold on one thing. That was insane. “Was it worth it?”

He laughed after reading her question. “I mean credit where it’s due, it was awesome. I am easily that man’s biggest critic, but even I have to say it was easily the coolest thing I have ever seen.”

“You just saw an adult true dragon?”

“Statement stands.”

***

“How have I still not been called! Azura and Luna are supposed to be the unlucky ones, why am I the one stuck waiting?!” Lily laughed at Roran’s whining. She wondered if the curse was part of why he was still so childish or if that was just part of his personality.

“I don’t think luck really comes into play here. They are actually choosing who fights who, it’s not randomized.” Katy seemed a lot less tense after she had finished her own ‘fight’ if you could even call it that.

“Still, can’t they cut an old man some slack? My heart is going to burst from anticipation.”

“Do you count as an old man? I feel like being an old man isn’t just about age, you have to be aging for that moniker to take effect I think. She threw in her own two cents in their little joke argument.

“I mean I’m still 68, I feel like that makes me old.” He sounded surprisingly contemplative. She hadn’t really expected him to take that seriously.

“I think Lily has a point though you don’t really call vampires old like that.” She snorted. Even Katy was laying a stake in this, she may have just accidentally set up a new debate for their little friend group. She softened a bit just thinking it. She hadn’t ever really had friends before.

“I mean yeah, but that’s different. They are a long lived species like dragons. I’m just cursed.”

“Vampirism is kind of like a curse… Not all of them were born vampires.”

“Still, I’m still human, I just don’t age so I’m old for a human. Once they turn into vampires they aren’t human anymore so they’re judged by vampire age standards.” She chuckled at their back and forth.

“Still, I feel like there are really only two types of old men. The frail ones, and then the ones that look frail but are actually extremely powerful.” She hadn’t met any of the extremely powerful ones herself, but she had heard stories of them.

“That’s fair I guess. You really don’t want to meet Cynthia's grandfather, that guys a real monster. He could probably take all of us on with his hands behind his back,” She winced, but even though the interaction was brief, meeting Cynthia’s mother made that very easy to believe.

Their conversation stilled when Roran was finally called up. “Hey, that's the guy I fought. I bet you can’t beat him as fast as I did.”

Roran smiled at Katy’s challenge. “You are so on, how much you want to bet.”

Katy laughed. “I don’t actually have much, so maybe 5 copper.”

He began vibrating in place, barely staying long enough to say “You're on!” before he rushed down the stairs to get to the arena entrances.

“You know he’s going to win quickly and then immediately regret that he didn’t try to milk out all his opponents' abilities right?

Katy just gave a mischievous smile.

***

Roran realized almost immediately that he had made a mistake, and now he had to decide whether to see what his opponent could do which meant losing the bet, ore winning the bet, and not getting to enjoy his fight at all. “Ugh he was right, I really do need to learn to think before I speak.”

Oh well, he would just have to spar with her later to make up for it. He shrugged and walked into the arena. His opponent looked nervous. Which was understandable after such a one sided defeat. He felt a bit bad that he was about to hand him another one.

So he stood looking at his opponent as the bell rang to signal the start of his match, and just as quickly as it started it was over. The ground reached up and swallowed his opponent in an instant leaving only his head above the dirt. “Sorry, I normally wouldn’t do something like this, but I had a bet to win.” He glanced up in the stands where he could just barely make out Lily and Katy. He couldn’t really see, but he knew Katy was rolling her eyes anyway.

Battle over, he casually left the arena.