Chapter 9

The glow of power faded from Riulan’s vision as she finally released the her hold on the spell. It took her a moment before her vision cleared enough to look around the room and she realized that the rest must have stopped channeling some time ago for only she and the stranger, Erimbril, still sat in the training room.

“Ahh you have finally exhausted your power. I’m quite impressed. The rest lasted no more than an hour holding that shielding spell going. And they’ve been gone to eat and rest up for 4 hours now.” Erimbril looked at Riulan with a bit of an amused grin, “If I had realized how long you were going to hold that I would have suggested merely showing you how it was done and using those four hours more constructively.”

“Four hours?” Riulan looked about her in surprise, “But, I’m not even hungry!” Though even as she stated that her stomach gave the lie to the statement, surprising her with the sudden rumble.

“Come, we will talk along the way. Considering you have never had any training I’m quite impressed, and your own reserves of power are impressive, but depleted now. You’ll have to rest anyway before we can continue your training. Though if you are willing I’d like to start teaching some of the more advanced spells for healing and combat.”

Riulan stood and joined Erimbril as the two walked out the door, a look of stubbornness upon her face, “I won’t use such spells against men. That would make us no different from the sorcerers. So any which won’t be of use against the sorcerers or their demons don’t bother wasting my time with. I would rather heal and protect than kill.”

Erimbril looked at her wryly, “So be it. A mage who does not want to succeed finds it difficult to mold the power to their wishes. It is one of the reasons why forcing a mage is so difficult. Their own desires control the flow of power as much as the spell itself. And from what I’ve seen of your power so far, you will be a strong healer. And there is always need of such.”

The two entered into the dining hall and sat at a table, the room was mostly empty, “I wish I had more of the students who had your talents in truth and I wouldn’t begrudge them a lack of enthusiasm for the spells of destruction. In truth my own inclinations are to avoid such spells when possible. Unfortunately only you and two others show any skill with the spells of healing and only you show any skill with the protective barriers we will need. I am maintaining a barrier around the castle now, but I will have to ask you to take over maintaining it soon so I can begin to concentrate my energy towards the coming battle. The dozen of the students.” He shrugged slightly, “These sorcerers seem to only teach the apprentices spells of summoning for demons, not the greater magic weaves themselves. At least at first. If the books I’ve studied are any indication this is to prevent the apprentices from being a threat until later, when the masters have tied the apprentices in other ways.”

As Erimbril spoke a young woman came by, bringing cups of water as well as two bowls of stew and a loaf of bread to go with it. Riulan, truly hungry by this time, began eating immediately listening to Erimbril. “Why is it that I have so much more power than these others, yet the sorcerer never even tried to kill me or apprentice me?” She asked in the silence as Erimbril stopped for a moment to eat some of the stew.

Erimbril set aside the spoon and shrugged, “If I hadn’t seen you in the flesh and taken the time to look over everybody in the castle I wouldn’t have been able to pull out those that I did. Unless you are specifically looking for it the strength of those without training is impossible to see. Any kind of training will change that but simply walking past somebody, you won’t know if they have the potential for strength or not.”

Riulan looked at the Fae lord and asked, hope trembling in the question,“Do we have a real chance Lord Erimbril?”

The look of surprise on Erimbril’s face was a change from his normal demeanor but the sudden grin that followed it reassured Riulan, “Oh yes.. I think so. We know a few tricks that I doubt anybody here has ever seen before. And our little group of mages is coming along nicely. By the time that army gets here I think you’ll all be capable of countering any demonic magic. And I plan to have a few surprises for our Sorcerer friend.”

The look Riulan returned was fierce, “Good. Then let’s get started on teaching me some more. I may not be rested enough to cast them but teach me the basics.”

Ohh yes, Erimbril thought as the two stood and walked back to the training room, that Sorcerer is in for a surprise. The power of this one alone will be enough to equal a demon prince if we have enough time to teach her fully.