Aether’s Apprentices (Aether’s Revival Book 4)

They were the first apprentices into the building, but not the first people. Egil and his non-magi helpers were all standing by the sunken table. Seeing them, Gregory and the others paused and bowed to them formally.

“Sensei, good morning,” Gregory said.

“Aether’s Guard, I’m not surprised you’re the first ones to class,” Egil said. “Well done on your game.”

They looked at Ben, who bowed his head to them.

“Thank you, Sensei,” Yukiko replied.

Egil kept his eyes on Gregory. “Are you upset that we keep you out of it?”

“No, sir. I understand that any win I had would’ve caused questions and disputes,” Gregory said. “I’ll be glad to do what I can to assist.”

“If only more felt that way…” Ben muttered.

“Take your seats,” Egil said.

“Yes, sir,” they replied, going over to one of the far tables so they wouldn’t have their backs to the door.

Mavic came in with a group of other clanless and gave the group a nod in greeting.

“Take a table, but your other classmates will be joining you, so choose wisely.”

The clanless broke up, and Mavic took a table to Gregory’s left. As she went to sit, she mouthed a “thank you” to him.

“A potential ally,” Yukiko murmured.

As everyone showed up, Egil directed them to sit with their classmates. Farin joined them when the Iron Hand, including Paul and Klim, arrived. The Eternal Flame were the last ones to arrive, just as the bell chimed the sixth hour, led by Magus Elkit.

Egil’s back was to him, but Gregory saw the subtle shift in the man’s stance and knew he was annoyed. “Take your seats, by class,” Egil said in a flat manner. “We have things to discuss this morning.”

While everyone was getting settled, Harrison cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir. Apprentice Smitty is missing.”

Egil turned to look at Nick’s group and stared at them for a moment. “Hmm… I’ll reprimand him later.” Turning back to the class as a whole, he looked over each group, making sure no one else was missing. “Since almost everyone is here, I’ll explain what you’ve all likely been waiting for— the campaign tournament.”

Gregory’s entire table, including Farin, had paper, ink, and pens poised to take notes. Gregory noticed that Hayworth’s group, sitting at the table to his right, were also ready to do so, but very few others were.

“The tournament will run from the day after the solstice until it is completed. If you are playing, you will be forced to stay in the room to command your troops. You may take a break, but then your men must be given orders to follow. They will follow those simple orders until you return and, on the following turn, you can reassume command. The morale of your men will dictate how well they follow those orders. Breakdowns of command might occur, and panic may ensue if they are attacked without you to command them.”

A few people in the room shifted, and Gregory assumed they’d experienced that during the last games they’d played.

“You will be given a four-hour break for food and possibly sleep. During that time, the game will be suspended. Some of you put that reprieve to good use during your last game, and others of you failed to capitalize on it.”

Someone raised a hand, and Gin called on them. “Sir, why only four hours?”

Egil pinned the apprentice with a steely gaze. “Because no one is in perfect condition in the field. You will rarely be as well-rested, comfortable, and ready as you are today. If you end up in conflict, you will understand what operating at less-than-peak efficiency is. We are trying to give you the smallest taste of that now so you can survive later.”

“Yes, sir,” the apprentice said meekly.

“Now, those rules you knew,” Egil went on. “You also know that messages between allied commanders require a message to be sent or a command space to be shared. That holds true for this tournament, as well. Moreover, only allied units in the same command space will be in the same room. I was informed about how many people stressed the line of communication when away from their allies in the trial game. That means that communication becomes even more vital and the games will be slower and longer. There is a plus to this— if you’re not playing, you will not be here. Your clan will be in charge of you during your off days, giving you more time to train for the next tournament or devise plans for this one.”

That news caused a mixed reaction— some of the students looked excited, the others worried.

“We have twelve rooms, which means, at most, only six games will be playing at once,” Egil smiled darkly. “Now, the real fun… If your unit is defeated, you end up on the bench. At the end of any match, your current units will be recorded, and your next game will begin with the same men in the same condition.”

The implication slowly sank in, and worry began to show on some faces.

“Each class will designate three players,” Egil went on. “These three will represent your class, unless you can bring an extra commander into play. If you do, then one of the waiting players will be allowed into the tournament with their new command and allowed to stay in the tournament until they’re defeated. If any commander is removed from play, they’re removed from the tournament, unless brought back into play again. That does still leave one of your classmates out of play for the entire tournament, they are the coordinators.”

Nick’s hand went up, and Elkit was quick to call on him. “Sir, why? Why aren’t we placed as a group like in the last game?”

“Because to join forces, you have to defeat your first foe,” Egil replied. “Now, once your first opposition is defeated and your units are copied, you will be able to select another of your class and join them if they survived their first game. Your next game will pit you against another group or a single player, if they were unlucky enough to have no other ally survive.”

Hayworth raised his hand and Klim called on him. “Sir, this is to teach us that each battle might just be part of a larger war, correct?”

“Indeed, Hayworth, hence why this is called a campaign tournament.”

“Which is nothing like this class has done in the past,” Elkit said. “This has gone on long enough. Egil, I challenge you for the right to teach this subject.”

“Hmm, very well,” Egil said with a calm expression. “We’ll do it right, then. As was discussed between all of the instructors earlier this year, who are you using as your allies?”

Elkit motioned to Jason, who got up and went to the doors. A moment later, Jason returned with two magi Gregory had seen before. The two magus-tiered magi went to stand on either side of Elkit.

“Magus Ashon and Magus Barlz,” Elkit said, “members of my clan.”

“I see,” Egil nodded sagely. “I will have Armsmaster Watashi and Magus Erichson join me in opposition, if they agree.”

“It’s been a long time since we fought together on the board,” Gin said, moving to stand beside Egil. “I’ll do my best.”

“It will be my honor, Armsmaster,” Paul said.

“Since our teams are assembled, do you want to set the board or choose sides?” Egil asked Elkit.

Elkit looked excited that Egil had picked Gin and Paul, and his smile was wide. “We’ll set the board,” Elkit said.

“Which leaves us with sides to choose,” Egil nodded. “Very well. Set the board. I will wait to veto your choice.”

“The open desert of Limaz,” Elkit smirked.

Egil laughed. “With you having wind and fire magi on your team?”

“Do you veto it?” Elkit asked.

“Of course.”

“Then we shall choose grasslands,” Elkit said.

“Hmm… open, no hills?” Gin asked.

“No,” Elkit said.

“I use the minor veto, so there are at least three distinct terrain features,” Egil said.

“Accepted,” Elkit smirked. “Ashon, Barlz, set the board.”

The magi went past Elkit and started to set up the board.

“I’m surprised you picked them as your seconds,” Elkit said. “Only one magi, and he’s only a physical enhancement magus. You lack a lot of utility.”

Egil gave him a wintery smile. “You believe so?”

“I do.”

“We will see,” Egil replied as he waited.

Once the board was set, Egil and his two helpers stepped forward to give it a good view. The board was flat, open grassland except for three features: a hill to the north, a light wood in the exact middle of the board, and a heavy wood to the south. The trio conferred as they came to an agreement on which side they would prefer to have.

Gregory looked at the board, thinking over what he would want. The heavy wood would let them station people inside it and would require a scout getting nearly on top of them to find them. The hill would give them a good defensive position if not for Ashon… you can hide a unit behind the hill, but scouts to either side can see them farther back than the wood.

“We’ll choose this side,” Egil said, tapping the west.

Elkit blinked, then laughed. “Fine.”

“And since we chose sides, we get to set where the board represents,” Egil went on. “This is Krogga, and we’ll be playing as Krogga.”

Elkit stopped laughing instantly. “What?”

“Neither Watashi nor I are magi, so we’ll be playing as Krogga. Erichson will be joining us as a non-magi Kroggian commander. If you’d chosen sides instead, you could have picked the empire and that would have left us in a worse position.” Egil looked at the class. “Remember this important lesson: if you control the important choices, you can start with an edge.”

Elkit’s eyelid twitched and he glared at Egil. “We’ll still be playing magi of the empire.”

“Very well,” Egil said. “We will reconvene tomorrow at sixth bell to see the start of this game. There will be no breaks until it ends. Dismissed.”

“I wasn’t expecting him to pick Krogga,” Ling said as they walked back to the clan hall, “but he was right in why he’d want to do so. I doubt Elkit would’ve let him pick a magi commander.”

“Elkit wouldn’t have,” Yukiko said.

“Why did he offer to let them choose between building the board or picking sides?” Clover asked. “If the one who didn’t build the board got to choose where the setting was and he wanted Krogga, why risk it?”

“Because as you saw, the side that didn’t pick the board had limited override options,” Gregory said. “Elkit wanted a flat and open map, which works well when you have wind and fire magi. He needed to build the board to keep it as flat as possible. It also gave the illusion that Egil was caught unprepared for this.”

“He wasn’t?” Ling asked.

“No,” Jenn said. “I think he’s been waiting since the start of the year. Remember when he mentioned that any of the instructors could challenge him for the class? I don’t doubt that was put in so Elkit could do just this. It would let Elkit dictate how the class was taught and let him favor his clan.”

“Why did Elkit wait, then?” Clover asked slowly, clearly considering her own question.

“Maybe he’d hoped for the class to prove disastrous, giving him the chance to step in without needing to do anything,” Jenn suggested.

“That would fit for their clan,” Yukiko agreed.

“Tomorrow will be interesting,” Gregory chuckled. “I don’t think Elkit has any idea what he’ll be facing.”

“We’ll have plenty of time for learning today,” Clover grinned. “I can’t wait to learn more from Rhea and hear more about foresight.”

The others agreed that it would be nice to have a full day of training.