Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) by Daniel Schinhofen (motivational books to read txt) 📕

believe my apprentices felt the same,” Klim said, letting him go, “but they didn’t manage it.”

“They gave us good fights,” Gregory said. “They’re very close-knit, except for Farin. Considering he just joined them, though, that makes sense.”

“He shows promise,” Klim said.

“Agreed.” He gave Indara a thankful nod as she took the su yari and handed him a naginata. “Thank you, Indara.”

“Fight well,” Indara replied with a smile.

“Last match,” Master Chen said, looking to the stands where the apprentices, Paul, and Dia were sitting. “Naginata. When this fight ends, Armsmaster Gin will fight me in a best-of-three with the katana.”

That got a lot of attention from those watching.

Gregory nodded, understanding Gin’s early wording.

“And after that, something truly special,” Chen said, glancing at Gregory. “Combatants, face the crowd and bow.”

The sleet had thankfully stopped, but it had gotten colder and the arena was a muddy sludge pit. Gregory felt warm enough, having been moving for most of it, but the muddy clothing was slowly sapping his warmth.

Gregory bowed as instructed to the audience, Chen, and finally, Klim. When Chen called them to fight, he did the unexpected— he rushed Klim. With the helmets on, he couldn’t see Klim’s eyes, but her surprise was obvious as her muscles locked up before she shifted onto the defensive.

The sharp sound of training weapons echoed in the cold air. Gregory pushed hard, wanting to finish the match so he could go change out of his wet clothing. Klim was holding up, if barely, under the onslaught until her left foot slid an inch. That was all Gregory needed to capitalize.

The end came quickly— he struck her off-balance knee with the end of his naginata. Both of their weapons met in the middle as Klim tried to regain her balance, but with a shove off from their momentary lock up and a hard sweeping strike, she fell.

Gregory backed up even before Gin could call the match.

“Klim, out!” Gin called. “Healer!”

Mindie came rushing out to check on Klim, who was laying on the muddy ground. Gregory peeled his helmet off and worried he might have hit her too hard. Mindie exhaled and began to heal her.

“She’s fine,” Mindie said. “Two ribs cracked.”

“I lost...” Klim sighed. “My footing betrayed me.”

“As it can in battle,” Chen told her before turning to the crowd. “Let this lesson sink in: no matter how skilled you might be, bad footing can cost you in a blink of an eye. Truthfully, Pettit was going to win regardless. He was positioning her so she wouldn’t be able to keep backing away, but there was no need when she gave him an inch.”

“Then he gave me more than an inch in return,” Klim muttered under her breath as she sat up with help from Mindie. Seeing Mindie’s cheeks go red, Klim snickered softly. “He has two wives. I doubt he’d give me those inches.”

Mindie spoke softly, “True.”

“Thank you for the fight,” Gregory said, stepping over to offer her a hand up.

“I wish I had longer to test myself against you, but you finished me too fast,” Klim said, her eyes darting to Mindie, who was reddening more.

“Sorry, but frankly, I want out of these clothes,” Gregory said, not catching the underlying byplay between the women.

Mindie rose, turning away from them and walking quickly back to the tunnel under the arena. Klim was barely able to keep a straight face as she let Gregory help her up— he was watching Mindie, obviously not understanding.

“Pettit, just move back for a bit, but don’t change,” Chen told him. “You’d hate to dirty another set of clothing, I’m sure.”

Gregory bowed slightly and went to stand against a wall, clamping his jaw shut to stop his teeth from chattering. Klim went with him and put a hand on his shoulder when they reached the wall.

“Cold?” Klim asked.

“A bit,” Gregory admitted.

Klim nodded and sent healing to him. “Funny thing about healing magic... it can warm or chill a body if needed. Not a lot, but enough to help.”

Gregory exhaled when he felt himself grow warmer against the chill. “No wonder you weren’t shaking at all... but we said no using aether,” he said after a second of thought.

“I wasn’t using aether. It was more of a passive thing. All healers do it without thought for ourselves.”

Gregory looked toward the tunnel where Mindie was. “That would explain why she’s always been comfortable in this weather.”

“We should go join her so they have as much room as possible,” Klim said.

“Sure.”

Chapter Forty-eight

 

Gin and Chen’s fight was amazing to watch. Chen declared he’d only be using his sword with no aether, as he wanted a real test. The resulting best-of-three went all three rounds— Gin was gasping at the end of it, but won the last match, sealing his victory.

Mindie was quick to rush out to help him, and Gregory frowned. The entire time he’d been beside her and Klim, Mindie had seemed stiff and their conversations had been stilted, as if she was suddenly uncomfortable around him.

“I’ll be watching this next part with interest. Don’t let me down,” Klim said.

“What’re you talking about?” Gregory asked. “You know why I wasn’t supposed to change?”

“Yes. It was a concession for us to have our students go early today,” Klim grinned.

Mindie made it back to them, not looking Gregory’s way. “They want you back out there,” she told him.

“Yeah, okay... uh… did I upset you?” Gregory asked awkwardly.

Mindie blinked, finally looking at him. “Huh? No.” The relief on his face made Mindie smile.

“Okay, good. It just felt like I’d done something wrong. I’m glad I didn’t. Sorry to bring it up, Mindie.” Giving her an awkward smile, he headed toward Chen.

Mindie watched him go and touched her chest.

“So maybe a