“Raise arms!”

  Magdala watched Dwayne’s arm go up. Was he breathing harder? Did he look pale? Or was he finally taking this seriously?

  Regardless, this would end quickly. Magdala raised her arm.

  “Esses!”

  Dwayne pointed. “Qesheffuf!”

  What was- oh!

  Magdala whirled around and shoved the dummy out of the way before the ground could swallow it.

  “Warning penalty to Dwayne.” Lady Pol looked amused. “No messing with the ground or air around the target.”

  Dwayne glared. “You didn’t say that before.”

  “You don’t know that. You weren’t listening.”

  Magdala wiped sweat from her forehead. That had been close. Her knowledge of the Earth Qe canon alone couldn’t have countered that. But, she grinned, this meant that Dwayne really was taking this seriously.

  Time to take back the initiative. “Qechinututem!”

  Her spell doused Dwayne in pond water, getting her a rare glare, before… “Qeierut!”

  Dwayne stamped his foot and shattered the ring. Then he selected one particularly heavy chunk of stone.

  What was he doing? It didn’t matter. Magdala only had to stop it. “Qechinututem!”

  Dwayne threw the rock, shouted “Qethumlidug!”, then braced himself against the watery onslaught. He missed the dummy, the rock passing high over its head.

  Hah, useless.

  Magdala spread her hands out. “My win.”

  Thump.

  “Point to Dwayne,” called out Lady Pol.

  “What? How?” Magdala whirled around. Somehow, Dwayne’s rock had struck the dummy in the back before falling to the ground.

  Qethumlidug. Of course, the weird spider spell.

  Magdala glared at Dwayne. “You said that spell was useless!”

  “I did.” Looking smug, Dwayne removed his soaked shirt and tossed it away. He’d filled out since Yumma. “Then I passed a practical with it.”

  “Young Gallus,” called out Lady Pol, “may I suggest not dismissing the strange things your opponent does? Switch sides.”

  “You know too many weird spells,” complained Magdala as she passed Dwayne.

  Dwayne’s smile was brilliant. “And whose fault is that?”

  Cups, she was going to have to wipe that grin off his face, wasn’t she? Magdala reached the attacker’s side of the ring.

  “Raise arms!”

  Magdala did so then her eyes caught on the way Dwayne’s muscles moved under his skin, how they pointed down to-

  “Esses!”

  “What? Qechinututem!”

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Oh, no. Pushing water now was a mistake. Dwayne could easily counter with-

  “Qesueke!”

  Sure her hasty spell had splashed against Dwayne’s waist-high ramparts, but maybe he didn’t have a counter for-

  “Qesheffuf.”

  Cups.

  Like Qethumlidug, Qesheffuf was supposed to be useless, but instead it looks like it was perfect for creating impromptu stone bunkers. That wasn’t even the worst part. Dwayne had finally noticed that guards could cast as many spells as they wanted, and breaking that much stone with only brute force was going to be nearly impossible, even with the Qe core raising her Qe casting’s power. Her only hope was to break through with three of the most powerful spells she knew, ones she’d hoped to save for her duel with Lady Pol, ones that had once caught the eye of a certain royal guard’s son.

  Unfortunately, she only had two moves left.

  She’d have to try anyway. “Qenutsesfaedraut!”

  Her magic pulled all the pond water up into a whirling sphere over Dwayne’s stone bunker.

  “Qeit.”

  All of the water rained down onto the bunker, doing no damage. Without the third spell to funnel it into a drill, there was no way her water would pierce his stone.

  “’em.” Lady Pol landed next to Dwayne’s bunker. She knocked. “Dwayne, you alive in there?”

  Dwayne’s reply was muffled. “Yes.”

  “No water?”

  “No water.”

  “Then point to you. Reset. ‘em.” Lady Pol then flew over to Magdala. She raised a blond eyebrow. “You get a little distracted there?”

  Magdala’s face flooded with heat. “No.”

  “You’ll have to learn how to work through… inconvenient moments.” Lady Pol patted Magdala’s shoulder. “Good luck.”

  Once Dwayne’s bunker had finished sinking into the ground, she took off and flew back to Mei.

  “What did you say to her?” Dwayne asked he as she pass.

  “Training stuff.” Lady Pol landed. “Don’t worry about it. Switch sides.”

  “She didn’t insult you or something, did she?” Dwayne asked Magdala as she passed.

  “No.” Magdala kept her eyes on the wall. “Nothing.” She would not lose because Dwayne smiled with his shirt off. “This is our last round. Stay focused.”

  She took up position in front of the dummy and caught the ghost of a wince on Dwayne’s face, which was odd. He’d only casted Qe a half dozen times, less than half the number he’d done when Huan and his cronies had attacked Sanford.

  Don’t focus on that. Just end this quickly. What did she have that he didn’t? Oh, right. That. She muttered a few syllables under her breath.

  “Raise arms!”

  Magdala raised her arm.

  “Esses!”

  “‘ut!” called out Magdala.

  Her magic pulled water in towards Dwayne, who was engulfed from upper lip to toe before he could think of casting. Panicking, Dwayne flailed, trying to swim out, but the water moved, keeping him trapped.

  He couldn’t cast. She’d won. Right?

  “Well?” Magdala turned to Lady Pol. “What happens now?”

  “I disqualify you for almost suffocating your opponent, but,” Lady Pol’s eyes twinkled, “point to Dwayne.”

  “What? How?” Magdala whirled to look at the dummy. It’s nose was smoking. One of Dwayne’s candle flames had set it alight.

  “That’s impossible! He didn’t even cast. Unless… Qeit.” Magdala ran over to the freshly freed and ever drenched Dwayne. “Since when could you silent cast?”

  “Umm, since the robbery?” There was more color in his face now. “Honestly it’s hard to not to sometimes.”

  The last time he’d said that… Suddenly Dwayne’s wince, his odd pallor, his reluctance to cast, all of it, made sense.

  “You almost got thaumaturgical deprivation again,” said Magdala. “How? You haven’t cast that much.”

  “Core,” said Mei.

  Magdala’s eyes dropped to the Qe core set into Dwayne’s bracer. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Dwayne’s hand closed over the core. “Because you gave this to me.”

  “That doesn’t matter! How’d you pass that ridiculous practical?”

  “With difficulty.” Dwayne accepted his wet shirt from Mei. “Ri’upo’tha.” It started to steam. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I only need practice.”

  “Practice won’t-”

  “Since you’ve passed Corn’s class,” Lady Pol’s hand landed on Dwayne’s shoulder, “you’ll now refrain from using the Qe core-”

  “But I need it for the examination,” protested Dwayne.

  “-until you and your little club figure out solutions to its inefficiencies. Go verify Huan’s claim.”

  Dwayne’s shoulder sank. “Yes, ma’am.” He started to walk away.

  Magdala moved to follow. “I’ll-”

  “No.” Lady Pol caught her. “You just lost to a Ri mage using a defective tool. You’re not going anywhere. Fifty laps while holding and casting your biggest spell.”

  “But…” But Lady Pol was right. Like Dwayne, she needed the practice. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Excellent.” Lady Pol plucked Magdala’s Qe core out of her bracer. “You won’t need this.”

  “Hey!”

  “Can’t have you reliant on crutches.”