Niles

  Holding Birgit’s hand just made Niles feel uncomfortable as they walked across campus to the practice field where her Combat Casting class was held. First, there was the webbing between her fingers. That felt decidedly strange, though after two days of holding her hand almost constantly, he was getting used to that. Niles just wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of person. Sure, he didn’t mind holding a pretty girl’s hand if he thought it was going somewhere, but this obviously wasn’t. He didn’t think Birgit was repulsive. She had a nice enough figure, and now that he was getting used to her face, it had an exotic cuteness to it. She was closer to human-looking than Hilaria anyway, though not as close as Mona. Now, Mona was really quite pretty. She was in great shape and had a pretty face. It was kind of weird when she got worked up and her snake hair got all wiggly, though. He got along well with the gorgon, too, and thought she might even like him a little. But Birgit was obviously not into him at all. In fact, she seemed even more uncomfortable holding hands than he was, and downright embarrassed by it. So that made it even more awkward.

  The worst part of all about holding hands, though, was that it made Niles feel almost like he was being led around on a leash. They’d visited Professor Fenhopper’s office three times now, and the woman had yet to speak to Niles directly. She obviously saw him as some sort of pet, or maybe a lab rat. At least Birgit wasn’t that bad. And then there were Hilaria and Uma. It had been fun to flirt with them at first, but now they clearly only wanted him for his magic. At least Mona treated him like a person. Sparring with her had been the only bright spot in the last two days, but Birgit had kept the sessions short so she could get back to siphoning off his magic. At least she hadn’t taken Professor Fenhopper’s comment about sleeping with him seriously. Of course, then maybe he’d have gotten something out of this, but what would that make him? No, that would not be good. Right now, he just felt like he was being used.

  “Disgusting.” A voice dripping with scorn pulled Niles from his reverie.

  Birgit pulled her hand free from Niles’ and he turned to see Crochel Mudraker and her coterie of mean girls stalking up behind them. “I think it is just repulsive that you not only bring that brute with you everywhere, but that now the two of you are behaving in such a lude and unseemly manner.”

  “You know this is just an experiment that Professor Fenhopper assigned me,” Birgit shot back primly.

  “So you say,” Crochel said with a sneer. “But I am sure you could convince that old crone to assign you all manner of experiments. Next, you will tell us she assigned you to sleep with him.”

  Niles was not super happy with Brigit right now, but he hated bullies, and Crochel was also the most likely suspect to have switched Birgit’s crystals. So, she was probably responsible for Niles being in this situation.

  Stepping between the two kappas, Niles smiled, happy to have a target to vent his frustration on. “Aw, what’s the matter, cupcake? Are you jealous? I’ve got a free hand if you want to hold it. I won’t even make you get an assignment from Professor Fenhopper first.”

  “You…you beast,” Crochel gasped, her greenish-yellow skin flushing a mustard brown. “How dare you imply I have any interest in you at all?”

  Niles shrugged. “Hey, you’re the one who brought up sleeping with me.”

  “What… I… no… I would never,” the flustered kappa fumed.

  “Really?” Niles asked with mock innocence. “Then I guess all those rumors I’ve heard about you aren’t true, then.”

  Crochel sputtered in rage. “What… Who… You… Argh, I will have my guardian familiar burn you to cinders.”

  Niles gasped in mock shock. “Ouch, first lightning, and now fire. If I didn’t know about the secret crush you had on me, I might think you were trying to hurt me, or are you into the kinky stuff? Do you want to tie me up and do naughty things?”

  Crochel screamed in rage, unable to form words. Clearly, when it came to insults, she was only good at giving, not taking. Niles was also pretty sure this world hadn’t advanced trash-talking to the art form his world had. A crowd of students had formed around them by this point. Several were now openly laughing, which only further incited her rage.

  “Students,” the commanding voice of Professor Kahn cut across the practice field. “What is the meaning of this disturbance?”

  “Crochel threatened to kill Birgit’s familiar,” Hilaria answered from the crowd before the kappa could calm her rage.

  “What? No,” Crochel denied. “I did no such thing.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “You said you would have your familiar, ‘burn him to cinders’,” Uma quoted from beside Hilaria. “Those were your exact words. Everyone here heard you.” There were nods and mutters of agreement from the crowd.

  “I… I meant only that in a tournament match, my familiar would win,” Crochel hastily amended. “I did not mean that literally, of course.”

  “I don’t know.” Niles said innocently. “That lightning bolt you shot me with the other day felt pretty literal.”

  The professor looked first at Crochel and then at Birgit. “Well then, it appears I have two volunteers for a demonstration bout.”

  “So, how does this work?” Niles asked as he walked out onto the practice field with Birgit.

  The field was a little smaller than a football field and covered in sand, except for two stone circles. The circles stuck up a couple of inches above the sand. They were each about two yards in diameter and spaced about thirty yards apart. Birgit led Niles to one circle, while Crochel went to the other. The other kappa had summoned her guardian familiar before stepping out onto the field. It looked something like an eight-foot-long Gila monster, with smoke wafting out of its nostrils.

  “We will have five minutes to prepare our defenses,” Birgit said, stopping just short of the circle. “Once the battle begins, Crochel and I have to stay on our circles. Familiars may move anywhere, though, so Crochel will most likely have her familiar rush in to attack us. The match goes on until one of us is forced off our circle, or Professor Kahn calls the match.”

  “Do you want me to go out and fight her familiar, then?” Niles asked. He only had his club with him, so he was not excited about the prospect.

  “No,” Birgit answered and lowered her voice. “Her familiar is a fire elemental spirit of considerable power. In tournaments, familiars return to their home plane when injured, but you cannot do that. I can make a shield to protect us from fire and other spells, but I will need you with me to keep it empowered.”

  “Students,” Professor Kahn shouted from the sideline. “Step onto your circles and begin your preparation.”

  “Stand in the middle of the circle,” Birgit ordered, stepping up onto it herself.

  Niles stepped up onto the circle and walked to the middle, while Birgit pulled out a piece of chalk and began quickly drawing symbols around the circumference of the circle. Niles just watched as the professor counted down the minutes. Crochel was in her circle, drawing as well, but her familiar waited beside her circle rather than on it.

  When the professor informed them that only half a minute remained, Birgit stood up and moved beside Niles. “Put your hand on the back of my neck and keep it there.”

  Niles did as directed, and Birgit began pulling on his magic. After two days of having Birgit pull on his magic, Niles recognized what type of magic she was pulling, and she was not just drawing on a single type. He felt water, air, earth, ice, lightning, force, space, time, and void magic all being drawn, and he saw all of their colors shooting out of Birgit’s fingers and weaving into her diagram, causing it to glow. In the other circle, he saw Crochel casting as well, but she was only using a single element at a time.

  “Begin,” Professor Kahn roared.

  Crochel’s familiar charged at them with an odd, waddling gait. At the same time, Crochel pulled out a wand, and lightning shot across the field at them. Hitting a barrier at the edge of Birgit’s diagram, the lightning stopped dead.

  “Ha,” Birgit snarled as she continued to weave her magic. “Let her burn her parents’ money using her pre-cast items”

  The big lizard stopped about ten feet from their circle and opened its jaws. A torrent of flames spewed out, but, like the lightning, it failed to pass Birgit’s barrier. Crochel used a second wand to send a fireball at them, only to have it stopped by the barrier as well. What looked like a big rock came next, but it just bounced off. Meanwhile, Niles felt an increase in the ice magic being drawn from him, and he saw a clear, crystalline spike form in front of Birgit. It grew to three feet before shooting away from the kappa and straight down the throat of the fire elemental spirit, which was still spewing out a torrent of flame. Steam abruptly replaced the flames, accompanied by a hissing scream that sounded like a dozen tea kettles all going off at once. Then, the creature promptly vanished.

  Another lightning bolt grounded out on Birgit’s shield, and she turned her attention to Crochel, who dropped the latest wand she’d used and finally started trying to cast a spell of her own. Birgit was faster, and a bolt of lightning shot toward her rival. Crochel’s defenses stopped the bolt, but the kappa looked worried as she returned a much feebler spike of ice than the one Brigit cast earlier. It shattered harmlessly on Birgit’s barrier, and Niles sensed Birgit pulling void and force magic for her next spell. He watched as a stream of force magic, wrapped in void magic, crashed through Crochel’s barrier, knocking the kappa off her feet and clear off her stone circle, to land on her back in the sand.

  “Hold,” Professor Kahn shouted. “The match is over. Lady Birgit wins. Miss Trudy, please go assist Miss Crochel.”

  Niles was glad Birgit won, but he felt bad that he had done nothing but just stand there. He followed Birgit off the field to join the rest of her class, where several of the other students congratulated her.

  A few minutes later, a somewhat dazed Crochel joined the rest of the class as Professor Kahn addressed them. “Lady Birgit, that was a truly excellent match. As always, your casting skill was impressive, and it seems the rumors of your familiars ability to empower you were, if anything, quite understated. I look forward to you doing well in next week’s practice tournament and the end-of-semester tournament as well. If this match was any indication, I expect there will be a bit of a shakeup in the class rankings. For the rest of you, just a reminder: while you are free to use pre-cast spells, these are only practice matches. I think it would behoove you to use the opportunity provided by the practice tournament to exercise your spellcraft, not your money pouches.” He studiously did not look at Crochel, but the rest of the class did.