Despite the occasional damage to the courtyard, it was Carinus' favorite place to relax. Rhun was flush with energy after the meal and had a focused goal for the second half of the duel. She greeted him with enthusiasm, “I am ready, master. I hope you are too.” She clashed her fists together in excitement and a loud crack echoed off the stone walls.
He nodded, raising his left hand in front of his body, ready to conjure his defensive shield. He could knock her down with his most powerful spells at will. Rhun knew he would let her get in the first blows. She closed the distance, while wrapping fire around her hands. She warmed up with a quick firebolt towards him and he blocked it easily as expected.
For her second move, she began channeling the energy for a firebolt as before. Instead of conjuring it into her hand, she let it built up in her body, more and more. Her muscles twitched from the build-up of power. She had read about the techniques of a master spell countless times, and she kept them in her mind as she let the power expand. Her muscles screamed out in pain from the effort, her sweat poured down, and she unleashed the pent-up energy forward from both her hands.
A thick black cloud of smoke rolled forward instead of a fireball. Her core muscles cramped from the effort, doubling her over. Her sweat mixed with her blood, poured down like a river.
It was the most pain she had ever experienced, and she was dull to pain already. A migraine pounded in her head. She could barely hear Carinus’ response to her collapse. She raised her right hand, a luminescent greenish-white energy field flowed closely around her skin, scattered around her whole body. The pain that was wracking her body, lessened and finally stopped.
“You nearly killed yourself just now. It’s time to give this up.” he said with his disappointment clear. “That kind of failed spell has killed many a rookie mage. It leads to bleeding from the inside out and a slow painful death. Your impressive healing magic has saved you, but what if you try it again and are knocked out?”
“I’ll try harder!” she protested, forcing herself upright. “I’ll study more, train more.”
He shook his head, “It’s not a matter of training.” he said coldly, “you orcs are a godless people, and magic is granted by the gods. What you just attempted was a spell that required the full blessing of Inferno, and he denied it to you."
“Then how can I cast magic at all?” she demanded.
He raised his hands, and his voice, “How should I know? Perhaps one of them hates you enough to try, but not enough to master it. Knowing that temper of yours it is likely the god Inferno who can't stay away fully, but he will not take you as an acolyte.
We’ve been through this. I’ve introduced you to the gods of every temple. No god has accepted you. None would even bother speaking to you or appear in the flesh. I believe you were earnest when you offered your supplication to them. I must admit earnestness is one of your strongest traits.” he said, in a rare compliment.
“But it has been five years of this and the novice stage should take two. I’m tired of wasting my energy on it. Your training is finished.” he stated.
“So because I’ve gotten stuck, you’ll just throw me away?” Tears were forming in her eyes, but her chest was tightening in fury even faster as she clenched her fists.
Carinus, to his credit, tried to bring her back down, calming his voice. “You were an obedient, useful servant before all this. You can be one again.”
Her anger rose higher still. She could feel it in her throat now, “No! I was a good slave! And I was rewarded for it by constant beatings from your former bodyguard!”
She gritted her teeth. “After five years of struggle. After packing in the knowledge of ten years studying on my own. I know more magical theory than many graduating mages. I’ve broken bones practicing and made myself sick trying to make it happen.”
“And now that’s over,” Carinus said. “You don’t have to punish yourself anymore.”
Rhun forced herself to be silent for a long moment, knowing her next decision was not one she could take back. She rolled back her anger, trying to think straight again. “If you won’t train me, then I’ll do it myself”, she said, with a challenge in her voice. “I won’t go from doing miracles to the menial tasks of a house slave.”
“Where would you go?” Carinus demanded, fixing her with an intimidating glare. “You’re fully mature. You should be nearly seven feet tall and double the strength of a man. You think your kind would accept you? Only six feet tall and thin as a rail? You’d never survive the life of the orcs.”
Rhun clenched her fists. “Magic has made me weak physically, but I don’t regret it. I’m leaving, master. And I won’t call you that again. Today is my last day as your slave.” She turned, facing the door.
The shouting had drawn Gilbert and Avise, who stood inside the courtyard, off to the side. Both looked shaken and fearful.
“You do not have permission to leave. Slave,” Carinus said.
Rhunal glared back with a sideways glance from one eye, seeing wind magic whipping around Carinus’ tightly clenched fist. His only other weapon was the iron cane he carried on his hip. She knew exactly what he would do if she took another step towards the door.
They had dueled many times in the past. Being an orc, she was prone to get out of control in those fights. Carinus’ favorite method of stopping her rampage was a cyclone of wind and a solid wall. It seemed cruel, but her orcish bones had become iron-strong with maturity. Healing was her strongest magic, and she could rebuild an injury in moments with it. But it wouldn’t prevent her from getting knocked out.
Gilbert stepped forward, fear in his face, fear on her behalf. “I know this is hard to accept Rhun, but you’ve been tearing yourself apart trying to learn magic. You’re killing yourself. You aren’t young enough to shrug it off anymore. You have a good life here, and a safe one. Despite what he says, Sir Carinus will not treat you like a common slave. You’ll be just like me and Avise, like a paid servant. I’ll even talk him into allowing you more trips into town, even an allowance! You’d agree to that, wouldn’t you sir?”
“I would consider it,” Carinus admitted, but his eyes remained narrowed, focused on Rhunal.
Avise seemed angry, and her voice cracked, “It might seem boring to learn to cook and clean and other household work. But it’s a life most of us have to live with. It’s a fine life compared to the unfortunate souls on the frontier. Do you think you will find anything out there with your people? They don’t know you, and they only respect strength. You've got your head in the clouds, but you've got your blood on the ground. It’s time to grow up!”
Rhun had been so elevated by her own anger, that she didn't realize how horrific she looked. She looked down at herself. Her purple shirt was drenched, and her skin had streams of blood-tinted sweat running down it. Her muscles still ached and twitched from her attempt at the master spell.
“We like you Rhunal, even Carinus does, he’s just too prickly to admit it. You’ve been the best apprentice he ever had.” Gilbert said, as Avise nodded in agreement.
Rhunal nodded to the pair with regret in her heart. But she forced that emotion down, her decision plain on her face. “You’ve always been kind to me. I will miss you both. But I can’t give up learning how to do magic. I’ll die first!”
She looked back to Carinus, fixed him with a fierce glare, and dashed towards the door.
She ignored the panicked shrieks from her friends and heard the predictable wave of wind Carinus pushed across the courtyard, but her actual goal was not escape. She leaped onto the wall as the wind hurled her forward and kicked off against it, launching herself backwards towards Carinus. She caught him in her vision as she spun off the wall, clenching her fist next to her ear to strike him down.
But something about the look in his eyes was wrong. This was not a move she had done before, but he stared back at her with confidence and widened his stance as she hurtled towards him. She reeled back for her punch, but his arm and iron staff flicked out in a blur of motion; a stunning blow rocked her head. She tumbled headlong into the grass, pain shooting through her head.
She realized that in five years of practice duels, that was the first time she had forced him to use the weapon. A second blow struck the back of her head as she tried to rise, and she crumpled for good.
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