“You need to realize,” said Elandra, “that by no stretch of the imagination am I a combat Mage. All I can do is show you some of the basics. You must receive further training at one of the Academies.”

  “You mentioned these before,” I said. “What are they?”

  “They train Mages, Blades and Pairs. Each school has its strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the Academy of Magic in Vandoran specializes in applied combat sorcery. The Academy of Blades, in Darthan, focuses more on formal military studies. The Elven Academy in Sha’Na’Lyona lies outside any city and teaches healing and scrying. That was where I studied.”

  “Should Cormac and I attend the same institution?”

  She tapped her lip in thought. “I am not sure. Given your connection, you certainly could not pair with each other. There is too much risk that the transfer would reverse.”

  “How long before we can spend any time together?”

  “At least a year or two. Perhaps never. With your abilities, you will know when the connection is broken. So, if you do go to an academy together, we will have to accompany you.”

  “To ensure continued intimacy?”

  “Ah, yes. For your safety, of course.” She could not meet my gaze.

  I grinned. “No complaints from me. On a more serious note, Elandra—” I cleared my throat, embarrassed in my turn, “—my libido is almost out of control.”

  She thought for a minute, “As you know, Hecate is also the Goddess of Love. In fact, this is something of a misnomer. A more accurate description would be the Goddess of Lust.”

  “Oh.” I stared at her. “Then why are you not likewise affected?”

  “My relationship with Hecate is one of veneration. I am one of her worshipers. You are different.” She pointed at my chest. “You are her daughter.”

  “Wait. Literally?”

  “Where do think your body came from?”

  “There are five aspects of combat sorcery,” said Elandra. “Attack, defence, concealment, warding, and scrying. Clearly there are overlaps between these features. Each Mage will have areas of strengths and weaknesses. Your task in a battle is to determine how best to leverage your advantages and the opponent’s flaws. Your obvious strength is attack, judging from our experience this morning with your fireball. So let us explore some of the other techniques you can employ.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I suppose defence is the next step,” I said.

  “Quite.” She raised a spell that flared out to form a hexagonal blue shield. It was about a meter from side to side. I reached out and pushed against the surface; it felt like a tense sheet of rubber, with a slight sense of give.

  “Can you explain the shape to me?” she asked.

  “It’s the most efficient geometry to form a shield wall,” I said.

  She looked startled. “Did Rory tell you that?”

  “No,” I said, “most of our communication has been non-verbal. Remember that before you called me to Nah’Nua, I was a mathematician.”

  “Yes?” She frowned. “What do numbers have to do with shapes?”

  “Not numbers as such. But you can describe space symbolically—” I looked at her expression. “—never mind. I’m good with patterns.”

  She nodded. “Well, you are correct. Often a group of Mages will set up a defence together by locking shields. But we digress; go ahead and see if you can cast one. Don’t worry about the ah…geometry for now.”

  I pulled up a one-meter hexagon in a single motion. I examined it critically. It seemed a bit fragile to me, so I fed in more mana. Rather than thicken the shield, I chose to harden it. When I was satisfied, I looked over at Elandra.

  “Is there any reason that it needs to be so small?” I asked. “If I’m trying to cover both myself and my Blade, it would make sense to increase the diameter.”

  Elandra sat down slowly on a nearby stone wall. “Of course,” she said, “silly of me not to think of that.”

  “Was that sarcasm?” I turned my attention to the hexagon and fed it some more mana. This time I allowed the width to expand to three or four meters, and the height to above my head. The base sat firmly on the ground. I glanced at the sides and bent them in at a thirty-degree angle for the last half meter. I let go of the shield and gave it a push. It rocked a bit, and I frowned. I focused on the bottom and extended a series of spikes into the soil. Now when I pushed the top it was rock steady.

  “Shall we test it?” I said.

  Elandra was sitting with her mouth agape. She turned her gaze to me.

  “That is not possible.” she said.

  “You say that a lot.” I walked away from the construct and looked back to see her unmoving. I beckoned to her and she came over, staring over her shoulder as she came.

  “It’s still there,” she said.

  “Why shouldn’t it be?”

  “You must maintain contact with a shield in order to keep it up.”

  “I don’t see why,” I said. “You certainly don’t have contact with a fireball.”

  “Yes, but—”

  I formed a fireball and threw it at the shield. I was careful to stand at a slight angle to the hexagonal surface in case the sphere rebounded; but it simply impacted the shield, flared, and faded. I shrugged and formed another fireball. This time I pumped more mana into it during the flight. The shield shimmered slightly but held.

  “Let’s step back,” I said. “I want to hit it hard next time.”

  “Goddess!” said Elandra. “How are you doing that?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She threw her arms up. “You are holding two spells at once! Each at a distance! Repeatedly!” She shook her head. “And you do it so casually. An Archmage would struggle to cast half of these spells.” She took a deep breath in and looked at me with shining eyes. “You are the daughter of my Goddess.”

  Cormac and Rory came around the side of the building. The rays of the yellow sun caught Rory’s hair, bringing out red highlights. He saw me looking at him and smiled. My legs trembled slightly with desire.

  “And that’s why I’m so damn horny all the time.” I muttered to myself.

  Cormac looked at the shield. “Impressive,” he said.

  I waved them over to Elandra and cooked up a seriously hot fireball. It struck the barrier with an impact that hurt my ears. There was a burst of pyrotechnics, and then the surface stabilized once more.

  “How do you take this thing out?” I asked in frustration.