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

“We might want to skip this tomorrow,” Jenn said, thinking back to the people who attacked them during the second tournament. “We never learned what they found out about the attack on us.”

“The poisoned crossbows?” Gregory asked, getting a nod from Jenn. “I’m not surprised that we weren’t told, but they should have told Dia.”

“Must have been something we couldn’t do anything about,” Yukiko said. “Dia would have mentioned something if there was.”

“True,” Jenn agreed. “Out the back today, and we’ll skip tomorrow. We could just train at the clan hall tomorrow, then head down here?”

“Yes, I think that’ll work out,” Gregory said, picking his bag up and slinging it over his shoulder. “Let’s go see who our opponents will be.”

~*~*~

The circling took them a little longer than they thought it would, so the seventh bell was chiming by the time they reached the posting board. Being at the back of the pack, they could clearly see the different clans. Each clan had an arm’s length of space between them and the other clans, but there was a much larger space around Swift Wind, the Han Merchant Exchange, and the Eternal Flame.

As they waited, it slowly struck Gregory that he was one of the tallest in their class. All of the other apprentices that matched him in height were twice as broad, built more like his father. Jenn was the smallest in height and build in the entire class, too. Side-by-side, they stood out easily. With Yukiko’s white-blonde hair added in, he knew they would be hard-pressed to blend in.

“It’s too bad we won’t be fighting you today, Pettit,” Nick sneered. “If you somehow manage to make it to tomorrow, maybe we’ll end your suffering there.”

“I doubt your clan wants to lose even more face,” Gregory replied simply. “If we both advance to tomorrow, I would expect your clan to keep you as far away from us as they can.”

“Cocky Pettit, but we’ll see how you feel when we meet,” Jason said, his hand on Nick’s shoulder.

“Keeping your boyfriend in line, Jason?” Jenn asked with a smirk. “Did his antics damage the clan name that much?”

“You little—!” Michelle started.

“Enough!” Jason snapped. “Save it for when we fight them, if they can even do well enough with just three of them.”

Nick shrugged Jason’s hand off. “Eternal Flame, we’re leaving.”

The group of nine magi moved off, following Nick. Gregory met the gazes of Petak, Fureno, and Parks as they glared at him. Jenn and Yukiko gave Michelle and Gina smiles when the two women gave them sneers.

“They do hate you, which only makes me like you three more,” Hayworth started conversationally, then laughed. “We’ll likely see you tomorrow, and we’ll be watching your matches with interest.”

“Main arena?” Gregory asked, turning toward Hayworth.

“Us, them, and you, but none of us fight each other,” Hayworth replied. “If we do end up fighting, I look forward to how well your foresight can do against so many of us.”

Gregory looked at the six people behind Hayworth. “I hope to not find out until the last day.”

“I can honestly say I hope for the same,” Hayworth said. “Good luck to you three today.”

“Luck to your clan, as well,” Gregory said. “Will all seven of you be taking the field?”

“Wait and see,” Hayworth laughed, “though we know you’ll all be fighting every match, barring injury.”

“Barring injury,” Gregory agreed.

Hayworth walked away, and the other six fell into step behind him.

“To your left,” Jenn said.

Gregory looked left and gave Farin a nod as the Iron Hand group marched by. Farin dipped his head respectfully as he stayed in step with the other members of his clan.

The other clans were already dispersing, so they went up to the board to see who their opponents were. As Lightshield had told them, they had the first, tenth, and twelfth fights. Their first match was against the Shining Light, and Gregory exhaled slowly, thinking about the trouble he had with Klein. Their second fight was against the White Eagle clan, and their third was against the Saito clan.

“Hoping on bad blood, I see,” Yukiko said. “We turned both of them down. I wonder if they took that badly?”

“Possibly, but it’s our first fight that concerns me the most,” Gregory said. “I’m sure I can overcome Klein’s spirit path, but it’ll push me hard right at the start.”

“Use your ring,” Jenn said. “The other two fights won’t be as bad, hopefully. If needed, you can run back to the clan hall to replenish it from the medallion.”

“She’s got a good point,” Yukiko said.

“We’ll find out shortly,” Gregory said.

As they got closer to the arenas, he noticed something odd. “I don’t remember there being guards here last year.”

“Neither do I,” Jenn said.

“There weren’t,” Yukiko said. “Maybe they’re hoping to stop any of the occurrences of last year from repeating?”

“That’s good and bad,” Gregory said as they got closer to the main arena. “It means they don’t want it to happen again, but it begs the question of if they ever caught the culprits to begin with.”

Chapter Sixty-six

 

Gregory, Jenn, and Yukiko stood in the tunnel, waiting for their match to begin. They were happy to see that the healer in the arena for the day was Mindie.

“We know we’ll be in good hands,” Yukiko smiled.

“And I’ll have an idea of what to be prepared for, having been there for all of your training,” Mindie smiled back. “I do hope you all have a good match.”

“Is it just you here?” Jenn asked after they thanked her.

“Magus Klim is in the other tunnel.”

“Then we are in very good hands, indeed. The two of you are always exceptional,” Gregory said.

Mindie looked down. She smiled and her cheeks lightly flushed. “Thank you. I just want