Connor sat with his back against a rock outcrop, jaw clenched hard enough that it ached.

  Blood trickled down his forearm in a thin, sticky line that was easier to ignore than the throbbing pain in his shoulder. It was amazing how much he had already come to expect out of the ANIP nanobots, but right now he just wished they would work a little faster.

  Emily was talking strategy with the others but Connor hardly listened. He was busy staring back down the hill at the clearing, trying to figure out where it had all gone so wrong.

  Pigs…

  First they almost lost to a fucking plant. Now they couldn’t get through a clearing of wild pigs. And no matter how many times he went over it, he couldn’t figure out what they were doing wrong.

  Obviously they needed to find another approach. There were just too many pigs down there for them to just walk in and kill everything. He snorted. Slaughtering a hundred pigs in a clearing, even if they could, would probably gain them more haters than fans. And he doubted they could. Whoever heard of pigs that big.

  So… they couldn’t just go and charge back down there. And the whole distraction and sneak and grab approach hadn’t worked. It really should have. He still couldn’t believe that the explosions only seemed to piss the big ones off.

  He slammed the hilt of his sword back into the rock behind him in frustration. Maddie looked over at him, but he pretended not to notice.

  At least they’d managed to pull together and make a clean break at the end. They had been able to get out cleanly enough to avoid more injuries than they had already taken. And no one had panicked during the battle. That was good.

  Connor tried to convince himself that these things mattered more than getting the flag, but couldn’t quite do it. They needed to figure out how to get that flag. They were just going to have to work better with each other. The team had potential, but there was clearly still something missing.

  The thought just made the tight, sour knot in his stomach worse.

  Below, the sounder had settled back into the clearing, still agitated, still very dangerous. Connor stared down at the churned ground, the broken brush. He replayed their last moments in the clearing in his head again—the boar charging, Emily with her back to it and down on one knee, the split second where he had known what would happen if he didn’t move.

  That part he didn’t regret.

  What came after though…

  “Connor,” Brandon said quietly. “Heads up.” He nodded and pointed down into the clearing.

  Connor followed his gaze but he couldn’t see anything. He pushed himself off the ground, ignoring the pain that flared in his shoulder, and walked over to stand near the rest of the group. He felt his stomach drop. There was movement in the trees at the back of the clearing.

  People.

  A Class.

  What were they doing? They looked like they were just standing there. Good luck with that, the pigs will smell you that close. It’s what had happened to them.

  Except the pigs seemed to be completely unaware of A Class.

  “They moved downwind.” Victor stood on the edge of the hill, looking down at the other class. “Wish we’d thought of that.”

  “Are you kidding me,” Connor muttered. Wind direction. It was obvious… once someone pointed it out.

  He surged towards the hill, eyes locked on the clearing below.

  Ethan glanced up. “Hey—don’t…”

  Connor ignored him and stopped right on the edge of the hill. They can’t get it he thought. They can’t.

  Not before me.

  He scanned the other team, trying to see what they were planning. Jay and Sarah stood near the treeline like they were just waiting for something. Danny was beside them, bow ready. Rae was off to one side and he couldn’t even see Mel. She was probably hiding further back in the trees.

  Mercer though… He stood right at the edge of the clearing, staff in hand, staring at the pigs.

  “What is he doing?” Connor demanded.

  Ethan followed his gaze. “Planning I suppose.”

  Connor rounded on him. “Do you think they can get it?”

  Ethan blinked once, then shrugged. “Don’t know. They're closer to the flag back there. That’s smart I guess. I don’t know what they can do that’ll be any different than what we tried.”

  Connor stared at him for a moment before turning back to watch. Ethan was right. What could they do but try the same thing. Starting closer to the flag wasn’t likely to help much. The bulk of the females had bunched up back there.

  “Maybe they have a different plan,” Ethan said calmly, scanning the clearing below. “We were focused on speed. Flag first. And just assumed we could punch through with a little shock and awe display.”

  “That should have worked,” Connor said, turning back toward the clearing, jaw tightening. Ethan just shrugged

  Punch through. Distraction first, and a quick run in to grab the flag. It had seemed like a good plan to get around a field full of wild animals. It hadn’t worked though.

  Below them, something huge materialized in the clearing.

  Connor frowned as he shifted positions to see what it was through the trees.

  When he did his breath caught.

  Brandon squinted. “The hell is that?”

  “It looks like a boar, but it’s not moving,” Ethan said, one hand held to his brow to shield his eyes from a shaft of light cutting through the canopy above.

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  “A boar? It literally just appeared…”

  The other animals around the clearing saw it too and immediately started posturing, stomping the ground and tossing their heads around wildly. Connor could hear the squealing from where he stood high above them. It didn’t take long before they moved to surround the new intruder. And then, finally, one of the larger males charged.

  “Whoa! What is that? The boar just passed right through,” Brandon said, eyes wide.

  “Can they do illusions?” Maddie asked. “It went a little blurry for a moment.”

  Connor froze. She was right.

  Another boar charged and the shape tore apart into fog again, then reformed.

  “What the hell,” he whispered.

  The boars charged again.

  Same result.

  And again.

  Confusion rippled through the sounder, aggression losing focus, momentum breaking apart into scattered movements. They squealed and circled the intruder but stopped charging for now.

  Connor felt something cold slide down his spine.

  Illusion. It had to be Alex.

  “What’s their plan though?” Emily asked. “I don’t see them doing anything else.”

  “Look, there’s Jay over there, circling around. I think someone’s behind him.”

  Before anyone could say anything else, Mel’s music carried up the hill. Emily exchanged a look with Maddie.

  “I don’t get it…” Brandon said.

  But it didn’t take long to see. Something started to change in the animals' behaviour within moments.

  Even from this distance, it was clear they were starting to calm down. They slowed, and then just stood there, shifting around back and forth, but not moving any further than that. A lot of them were turned towards the treeline, but a few had started rooting around the clearing again.

  Connor’s fists clenched.

  He didn’t know what they were doing but they were having an impact. And they were making it look effortless.

  All the sudden the flag raised up in the air and spun around.

  Watching over the field of animals, Connor almost missed it. He pointed, but couldn’t find any words.

  “The flag!” Emily smiled widely. She was enjoying this. “What are they doing? How did they get it like that?”

  Ethan squinted towards the clearing and said, “It’s got to be Rae. She must have a cloak like Kades in the Iron Fangs. You can kind of see the distortion if you look closely.”

  He was right. There was a blur. A slight ripple to the background if you looked at the right spot below the flag.

  Connor tracked her with mounting disbelief as she crossed open ground, moving steadily towards the trees. He swore. Part of him wanted the pigs to notice the flag moving. Not to hurt Rae… just to see A Class have to work harder for this.

  “She just walked straight in,” he said through several rough breaths.

  “Looks like it. She’s going to walk straight out too, unless something goes wrong in the next few seconds,” Ethan said, shaking his head in admiration.

  Connor wanted to throw something at them. They were supposed to be down there getting the flag for themselves, not forming an A Class fan club up on the hill.

  Their HUDs chimed faintly.

  >> OBJECTIVE SECURED

  A moment later and he couldn’t see any of A Class. They had done it and then just melted back into the forest. They had done it without fighting, without injuries. Without effort.

  The illusion of the boar collapsed and disappeared. A few breaths later the music faded, then stopped. The boars milled, confused but calm.

  Connor stood there, staring at the empty clearing, chest tight, throat burning.

  Effortless.

  That was the word that lodged itself in his head, sharp and ugly.

  They made it look completely effortless.

  Emily turned slowly, wincing, and walked over to stand beside him. She followed his gaze, then sighed.

  “Well,” she said quietly. “Guess we lost.”

  Connor didn’t respond.

  “No point in waiting here. We might as well catch up and join them for the walk back out of the forest.”

  Connor’s jaw worked, grinding his teeth.

  Join them.

  Walk out together.

  Fuck.

  He looked once more at the clearing, then turned away sharply.

  “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  The image stayed with him as he turned though. The illusionary boar shattering and reforming, the music, Rae walking unseen. Everyone else, just standing calmly around the edge of the clearing.

  Was A Class better than they were? Or did they just have better toys?

  Connor started walking back towards the path, fists clenched.

  Making their way off the hill, they wound their way through the trees that grew thicker the further they walked away from the clearing and their failed challenge.

  They reached the path just as Jay, Sarah and Danny came around the bottom of the hill.

  “Congratulations guys!” Emily called, smiling down at the group.

  Jay was smiling but Connor couldn’t see why. It’s not like he actually did anything for the win.

  Sarah, looking a little surprised at their appearance, asked if everyone was okay and then the two groups devolved into excited conversations about their experiences with the boars.

  Connor rolled his eyes and moved up the path a little. He had no interest in telling the other class how awesome it was that they beat him.

  After a few minutes, Connor heard the rest of A Class coming up the path and turned towards them. Fuck if Alex didn’t have the smuggest look on his face. Connor felt his anger rise. Felt the sharp, acerbic bite in his throat.

  He took a deep breath and tried to push it down. Fighting wasn’t going to make this any better. His team had tried and they had lost. He had lost. They had fought hard and made a good showing, but it hadn’t been enough.

  And then Alex waltzed in with his team, some music and a stupid illusion and just walked away with the flag without any fight at all. Fuck.

  Connor looked up at Alex. “Nice trick,” he said. And it had been. It may have been a cheap win, but they had pulled a neat trick to get that flag so easily.

  Alex stopped dead in the center of the path. Rae had to sidestep quickly so she didn’t run into him.

  Connor watched Alex, unsure of what was going on. Apparently he couldn’t even take a compliment when one came his way. They stared at each other for a few breaths and then Alex scowled and started walking towards him.

  He was going to start a fight and Connor smiled despite himself. Fine. Let’s go. It didn’t end well for you last time Mercer.

  But then Alex did something odd. Still fifteen feet away he pulled back his arm and punched the air in front of him.

  Connor barely had time to register the odd move and none at all to consider it before he was flying through the air. He felt like he’d stepped in front of a truck. He had been struck by a solid wall of momentum. Blood sprayed from his nose as he hit the ground hard, rolling end over end a couple of times before hitting his head and just scraping backwards through the loose leaf litter on the edge of the path.

  He lay there for a moment, confused. He had no idea what just happened. Pain flared in his shoulder but absolutely everything hurt now. His HUD was flashing in the corner of his vision with some apparently urgent message, but he just stared up at a spot of blue sky he could see through the canopy far above.

  Damn it.

  Connor didn’t think. It didn’t matter what happened and it didn’t matter why Mercer had done it. He wasn’t going to lie on the ground and let him win again. He got his arms under him and pushed himself to his feet. He could taste blood.

  Damn Alex.

  He grabbed the hilt of his sword to draw it out and took a step forward, but the world twisted and slid sideways. He stumbled. Then Kieran was there, grabbing him under one arm. His stomach lurched and he thought he might throw up.

  Damn Alex… what had he just done?

  He heard yelling from someone, but barely registered it as he shook his head gently to try and clear his thoughts.

  Kieran started walking, pulling him along and he didn’t fight it. As he came to his senses again he realized that he and his team were being herded down the path.

  They hadn’t gone very far though when a ferocious roar ripped through the trees.

  ***

  Spellmages hold the envious position of being some of the most sought after mages in the Unified Kingdoms. If you look, you can find plenty of Spellmages who washed out of the higher circles of their order, but you will never find a poor Spellmage.

  The reason lies in their flexibility. Most of the other collegiums focus heavily on a specific type of magic. But the Spellmages of Valcross developed a different kind of practice. Instead of leading their students down a path of how to USE magic, they developed the path of how to INTERACT with magic.

  The result is an incredible versatility in power and ability. And while it can appear, to the uninitiated, that no two Spellmages wield the same powerset, it is actually possible to see the influences of a master in his students. This passing on of style enables one to trace a line from any new Spellmage right back through history to the master who originated their style.

  Annotations on the Western Arcana

  Arch-Lecturer Iseval Thorne

  Enchanters’ Collegium, Third Circle