![]() The shout went up from near the gate, and soon it rang through the white towers of Rosalith Castle. Joshua was ten when Clive was his age, he’d been two years into training with the sword and working as his father’s page. Though he wasn’t exactly sure when that would be. “There’ll be time when you recover,” Clive said. Father wants me to learn about Rosaria but I never get to see it.” This time Clive was the one to wince if their mother found out Joshua was sneaking out to watch Clive train, Clive would be the one to pay. It was a little sound, but a painful one from deep in his little brother’s chest. “Mother doesn’t even want you out here.”Īs if to show exactly why, Joshua coughed. “Could I learn to do that, do you think?” Joshua asked eagerly. His and Joshua’s mother did not react well to torn clothes and she had a tendency to blame anyone who wasn’t Joshua. He caught Jill’s wince out of the corner of his eye. When the Lord Commander at last relinquished him from his training, Joshua ran up and climbed halfway up the fence, heedless of catching his fine scarlet velvets on any splinters. In no small part because he was working better with the flames. Even Torgal looked amused, as much as a wolf could look amused.Īfter three more rounds, Clive was at least back to more or less holding his own. It was good to be the morning’s entertainment, Clive thought. “You can do it, Clive!” Joshua himself called from the sidelines of the practice yard, where he and Jill and half the garrison - and even his puppy Torgal - were watching him get roundly thrashed. Hence the Lord Commander beating him into the dirt until he got a proper handle on new abilities and his hands and feet both. Now none of his limbs were where he expected them to be. He’d been more coordinated this time last year. It was not helped by Clive’s first real growth spurt. Sometimes yards from where he intended to be. More disconcertingly, when he tried to use the Blessing while sparring, the flames caught his movement and he’d find himself far from where he intended to be. Once the burning pain had faded, the Blessing of the Phoenix brought fire to his fingertips with hardly a thought. That all changed with the Blessing, Joshua’s gift of a spark for him to use. His father and Sir Rodney said he had potential, and Clive tried to listen to that instead. Rosaria needed them now more than ever, since the Archduke had banned conscription of Bearers in the army. That much was clear - and though nobody dared say it to his face, disappointing. Using magic with a crystal was slow and clumsy, like trying to move a large rock with long sticks on his arms instead of fingers. They’d had him attempt all the elements, one at a time, and he’d failed miserably with each and every one. His father said that knowing how to use magic to fill a waterskin or mend a cut was important for a soldier. Clive had used magic before, from time to time, channeling it through a crystal. He knew he was better than this.Īfter he’d won the tournament, though, and he’d been appointed Joshua’s First Shield, Joshua had given him the Blessing of the Phoenix. ![]() “Again, Clive!” he called merrily, while Clive was on his backside in the dirt.Ĭlive climbed back to his feet. Lord Commander Rodney Murdoch was merciless.
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