David Niemitz
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Guild Mage 113
🕑 Added 2025-02-25 12:00:08 +0000 UTCChapter 113: Two Tests
Celestria looked Liv up and down. “You are not the first person to ask me that,” she admitted, brushing a lock of her raven hair back over her ear. “All of the others were boys, however. And it was pretty clear what they were actually after. I’m not interested.”
Someday, Liv resolved, her cheeks would not burn every time she was embarrassed. If she had to master a spell just to make it happen, she would. “I’m not interested in you, either,” Liv said. “I’m done with that, at least while I’m here. Archmagus Loredan seemed to think that I could work to build up a sort of resistance over time.”
“Given how you were practically drooling during examinations, I’m not sure you have much hope of that,” Celestria remarked. “Then again, I’m not an archmage. What’s in it for me?”
Liv opened her mouth, then realized that she had no idea what she was going to say. Perhaps the reason House Ward had such a reputation for getting the better of negotiations was not entirely due to their word of power. “You’re going to have to begin practicing silent spells, sooner or later,” she said. “It’s one of the big things that Advanced Grammar and Spellcraft is focused on. I could get you a headstart.”
“You would be in that class, I suppose,” Celestria said, as much to herself as to Liv. “You’ll tutor me in it?”
“I will.” Liv nodded. “Actually, I think we can practice both things at the same time.”
“You’re going to need a chaperone,” Celestria demanded. “Non-negotiable. Honestly, I kind of want you tied to a chair or something.”
“I can see to that,” Wren broke in, wandering over from where she’d been waiting for Liv. “I’ve got ropes and everything.”
“...where did you get ropes?” Liv asked, then shook her head. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know. When can you meet?” She turned back to Celestria.
“Second Day evenings?” the other woman proposed. “After dinner.”
“Done,” Liv said. “Thank you.”
“Let’s see how it works, first,” Celestria told her. “If you’re tackling me every five minutes, I’m calling it off.” She turned to walk away, and Wren stabbed a blunted practice dagger at Liv’s stomach.
Without time to speak, Liv raised her arm to parry, and found a blade of ice held in her palm. The blunted dagger rebounded off her sword.
“That’s the first time that actually worked,” Wren observed. “Maybe you just need to be distracted by something pretty, so you’re not thinking about it.”
Liv just stared at the sword. “I’m not going to be able to do that again when I actually want to, am I?”
☙
The day after Genevieve Arundell arrived at Coral Bay, all classes were dismissed so that the students could attend Master Jurian’s test at the training grounds. Word must have gotten out to the citizens of the town, as well, for crowds of commoners packed the spaces in between the stands, and children perched on the shoulders of their parents.
Liv sat with Rose, Teph and Arjun, and Wren slipped into the row just behind them, where she could lean down over Liv’s shoulder. They’d gotten there early to claim seats on the front bench, bringing a basket packed with breakfast pasties, fruit, and a bottle of wine to pass around. The professors trickled in, one by one, taking their places in chairs that had been set up at the center of the packed earth field. Annora, Blackwood, Norris and Every were eventually joined by Genevieve Arundell, making a panel of five masters. When Jurian arrived, he was escorted by the archmagus, who surveyed the crowd for a long moment.
“If it’s just about fighting, he’s got this,” Wren commented. “He’s a tough old man.”
“Aren’t you older?” Liv whispered to her, but was only shushed in return.
“It isn’t just fighting,” Teph said. “In fact, it’s hardly like fighting at all, from what I understand.”
“Students,” Archmagus Loredan began, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd, “professors. Mistress Arundell, and people of Coral Bay. It is not often we are privileged to conduct such a test as you will see today. The requirements to be recognized as an archmage are stringent, set down by the first to hold that rank, Edythe Blackstone. The testing comes in two parts. In the first, Master Jurian is required to perform a spell that utilizes two words of power simultaneously. To be clear, this does not mean to cast two spells in close succession, or two simultaneously - but to actually merge two distinct types of magic into a singular result.”
He turned to Jurian, who waited, staff planted on the ground, in the center of the training yard. “What two words of power do you intend to work with, Master Jurian?”
“Aluth,” Jurian answered, “the word of raw magic; and Cei, the word of sleep and dreams.”
“That’s to be expected,” Liv commented, keeping her voice low so as to not interrupt. “Those are the two words the guild is legally allowed to practice, and he recovered one of them. But they’re a strange combination.”
“Do you require any preparations to demonstrate the spell you have crafted?” the archmagus asked.
“I need a volunteer, and the assistance of Master Annora,” Jurian said. “I’ve already spoken to her, and she is prepared.”
Loredan nodded his head, then swept his gaze out over the crowd. “Do I have a volunteer? I have been assured there will be no danger to you.”
Liv started to raise her hand, but Wren grabbed her by the forearm and held her down. “Bodyguard decision,” the huntress told her. “I can’t stop you from doing most of your ridiculous ideas, but here’s one risk I can prevent. Just watch.”
“Fine,” Liv grumbled. “It’s probably easier to tell what the spell does if I’m not out there, anyway.”
In the end, Hubert Carver, who Liv had so thoroughly thrashed during their examinations, volunteered. He was given a pillow, made to lie down in the dirt of the training ground, and given a sleeping tonic by Professor Annora.
“In order for the spell to function,” Jurian explained, for the crowd as well as the masters who would judge him, “the subject must be asleep and dreaming. We’re going to give Hubert a moment to drift off. Gamel, bring out a few targets.”
Journeyman Gamel, and a few of the others who taught basic and remedial classes, hauled out straw archery targets, and arranged them at one end of the training ground. Once Jurian was satisfied, the journeymen left the field again. When he turned back to Hubert Carver and Professor Annora, the steely-haired woman nodded.
“He’s asleep,” she said. “Will be for the next few hours, at least. Your journeyman can carry him off and put him to bed after you’re done with him.”
Behind Liv, Wren gave a shudder. “Are you alright?” Liv asked, turning back to get a look at her.
“I’ve had about enough enchanted sleep as I ever want,” Wren said. “If I’d known this was the sort of spell he’d come up with, I might have gone off and taken care of other business.”
“I’m just impressed she can calculate how much of a sleeping draught is needed off the top of her head,” Arjun said. “Too little and he wouldn’t go under; too much and he might never wake. I suppose she gets a lot of practice, though.”
All of them turned back to the practice field when Jurian planted his staff next to the boy’s head. Liv leaned forward to try to catch his words, but the professor was speaking softly, and the noise of the crowd made it so that she couldn’t parse the incantation.
Next to the two men - Professor Annora had now taken her empty seat, while the archmagus had withdrawn to one side - wisps of blue and gold poured out of Jurian’s staff. The swirling cloud of mana whirled above Hubert, then began to take on a shape. Liv squinted - an animal of some kind?
All at once, the mana snapped into shape. A ghostly boar, enormous, staggered next to Hubert and Jurian. It looked half butchered, but still alive, with great cuts still leaking golden blood, and a massive cleaver sunk into its shoulder. The boar tossed its tusks as if in pain, shook its head, and then charged the middle target.
It appeared nearly insubstantial, so Liv was surprised when the magical boar caught the straw target on its tusks, lifted the entire thing off the ground, and then threw it. As it rounded on the next target, the crowd gasped and drew back in horror. Jurian’s staff was extended now, following the passage of the mystical creature - or perhaps guiding its movements. When the third and last target had been destroyed, Jurian lowered his staff, and the boar dissipated.
“The spell draws forth the nightmares or dreams of the subject,” Jurian explained, “and then uses mana to create a construct from those images, under the control of the caster. I actually originally considered it as a means of showing a person’s memories, but it turns out that nightmares make for good soldiers on a battlefield.”
Archmagus Loredan turned to the five masters who sat in judgement.
“The spell uses two words,” Professor Blackwood said. “We’re not here to evaluate how powerful or useful it is. He’s done what he needs to do.”
“I think it could be quite useful,” Annora said. “Think about patients who are unconscious, and cannot wake. It’s the closest thing to the ability to communicate with them that I’ve yet seen. Imagine if we could give a dying person one last chance to speak with their gathered family, even if they were unable to wake.”
“I vote no,” Genevieve Arundell said, her voice flat.
“On what grounds?” Blackwood asked.
“I am not required to justify my decision,” the court mage to the royal family said. “It is his obligation to convince me that he deserves this title. He has not done so. I do not find this spell sufficient.”
“It may not be a written requirement,” Professor Every said, “but it is the custom, and expected. I would like to hear your reasoning.”
“The spell is not a true combined effect,” Arundell responded. “First he accesses the dream, and then he creates a construct of mana.”
“I could hear the incantation,” Professor Norris said. “The effect was simultaneous. Perhaps the noise of the crowd prevented Magia Arundell from hearing clearly. I am satisfied.”
“As am I,” Every said.
“Four in favor, and one against,” Archmagus Loredan counted. “The first test is passed.”
“This part was never really in doubt, was it?” Rose asked. “ I mean, if he didn’t have a proper spell ready, he’d never have made the challenge in the first place. I figure the next part is where we really see what he’s made of.”
Once the journeyman had carried off the snoring Hubert Carver on a stretcher, to sleep Professor Annora’s potion off in the infirmary, the test proceeded. “Four the second trial,” the archmagus explained, “Master Jurian must demonstrate absolute control over the mana within five feet of his body, as tested by no less than three masters. Professors, Magia Arundell, might I have volunteers?”
To Liv’s utter lack of surprise, Genevieve was the first on her feet. She strode out onto the packed earth of the yard, leaving her empty chair behind, and set her staff on the ground, facing Jurian as if she intended to duel him alone. After a moment, Professor Blackwood rose and joined her, and then Professor Every.
“Do you think they’re all going to use the same word?” Tephania asked. “Aluth?”
Liv shook her head. “I doubt it. Maybe one of them, but I’m almost certain Arundell’s from a noble family, at the very least.”
“If Sidonie was here, she’d know the word,” Rosamund remarked.
“Master Jurian, are you prepared?” Archmagus Loredan asked. Jurian simply nodded. The archmage backed away, and then called out, “Begin!”
Professor Blackstone started with a spell familiar to every student at the college, even if they couldn’t cast it themselves yet: half a dozen blades of shining blue mana flew from his outstretched hand, straight at Jurian’s torso. Rather than create a shield to block them, Jurian simply closed his eyes and exhaled. The mana-blades dissolved, just as Liv had watched him overcome the attacks thrown at him by the other students in her class.
Professor Every raised her right hand, as if to grab something in front of her, and squeezed. “Sevētis!” She shouted, and even Liv felt an unseen, crushing pressure reach out for Jurian.
“What did she say?” Teph asked.
“I hold you,” Liv translated. “I’ve never seen anyone use that word before.” Nevertheless, Jurian remained unmoved, unaffected, simply standing in place and taking slow, deep breaths before exhaling again.
A sudden bright light drew Liv’s gaze to Genevieve Arundell. Arms spread wide, staff held in her left hand, the court mage was surrounded by a coruscating array of golden light. It was Aluth, Liv recognized, but for some reason the court mage’s mana-constructs were nearly entirely gold, with only thin veins of blue - while most people’s use of the word displayed the exact opposite colors. Her eyes shone, as well, matching the color of her magic, and her graying hair lit up, as if the sun was just behind it. In that moment, Liv understood how Master Jurian could have fallen in love with the woman. She was, quite simply, magnificent.
Swords, spears, axes, polearms and hammers, at least a dozen weapons all coalesced in an arc that hung above and behind Genevieve. With a wave of her hand, the weapons shot forward, falling on Professor Jurian in succession, as rapid as drops of rain during a storm.
Liv wondered whether one of her walls of ice could stop such an assault: if she was being honest, she doubted it. Three or four of the weapons, perhaps, or even the entire volley, if it came at a slower pace. But the assault was simply unrelenting.
Somehow, each and every piece of magical weaponry dissolved into mere wisps of mana before ever hitting Master Jurian. At the count of six, Liv shook her head; at nine, she couldn’t help but grin. “He’s amazing, isn’t he?” she asked her friends.
After the final spear dissipated, Archmagus Loredan stepped forward. “The second test,” he began, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.
“I’m not finished!” Genevieve Arundell shouted. A blade of yellow mana extended from the end of her staff, slightly curved but no less wicked for all that. “Veftō!” she shouted, and streaked forward faster than the eye could follow, just as Anson Fane had when he faced Liv during examinations.
“She has at least three words,” Liv realized. A flare of blue and gold erupted from the field, and she saw that Master Jurian’s staff now ended in his own blade of shining blue mana, straight where Arundell’s was curved, and that he’d caught her attack in a bind. For a moment, the two of them wound their weapons around each other, first week, then strong, seeking an opening.
“Why are you doing this, Jen?” Jurian cried out.
“Because it’s my duty to the guild!” the woman shouted back. They broke apart, and began to circle, spinning their staves, now turned into polearms, through a succession of guards, each looking for a weakness. “You’re reckless and arrogant. It’s bad enough they let you teach these students, but I refuse to see you have any more power.”
“Let it go!” Jurian begged her, forced to parry a sudden, vicious attack. Liv realized that Genevieve had launched the strike at full speed, and aimed for his heart. This was no longer a sparring match, or a test, if it ever truly had been. Now, it was a fight that was deadly serious.
“Let Daniel go?” Genevieve roared, spinning into a follow up strike. “Let Lora go? Like you let them die?”
“It was a lifetime ago!” Jurian growled, moving from parry to riposte. Unlike the woman he was fighting, Liv could tell that he was seeking only to disarm, or to wound.
“He’s holding back,” Wren said. “She’s trying to kill him, and he’s still holding back.” Behind Liv, the huntress stood from her seat.
“What are you doing?” Liv asked her.
“We should just let her kill him?” Wren protested.
“You can’t go in there - you don’t even have any magic!” Liv told her.
A crack sounded, echoing across the training ground, and Liv turned back to see that Genevieve had caught Jurian across the mouth with the butt of her staff. He was on his knees, the blade extinguished from his own weapon, one hand to his mouth, covered in blood. There was something on the ground that might have been a tooth, but Liv was too far away to be certain.
“Enough!” Archmagus Loredan shouted, striding onto the field. Above the college, dark clouds gathered, and thunder rumbled. “The test is complete. You will step back, Magia Arundell, and you will lower your weapon.”
“Or what?” the woman asked, her eyes still blazing gold.
“Or you will face me,” Caspian Loredan said. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking his staff, and remaining there. It was as if the archmage held pure light given form, crackling in his hand, restrained only by the strength of his will.
For a long moment, Liv wondered whether the woman was angry enough to do it. She had no doubt that if Genevieve Arundell did not back down, the archmage would strike her down where she stood, leaving nothing but a scorched and blackened patch of dirt in her place. What would Prince Benedict do, when he found out?
The golden light around Genevieve flickered and died. “Fine,” she said. “But remember this moment, Caspian. Everything that happens after this is on your head.” She turned around, stormed off the field, and the crowd parted to let her pass.
Comments
Piras
"For a moment, the two of them wound their weapons around each other, first week, then strong, seeking an opening." I think you meant to write weak instead of week here.
Tarrim
We got that at the conclave imo and it's been hinted at since freeport. When the teams were sent Genevieve and her faction threw a fit.
dimi1010
Hmm, that can work in an internal split situation. There would need to be a large enough reason for a faction to form and split. Jurian's ascension to archmage isn't large enough to fit IMO. Genevieve is holding a personal grudge and not a guild wide issue. I could see disgruntlement over the guild charter rules (the mentioned rules on culling response) be used as Lucania's political climate is going isolationist, but we haven't really seen the wide political sentiment of the guild members so far, just some students.
Tarrim
You make some fair points. I do think the word issue is potentially solvable. They could license a word by I find that unlikely. What I think more likely is they would be forced to share the words. While the barons would definitely be leery of it I think they could make a ruling of shared ownership is specific to this case due to the nature of it being a guild rather then a family with clear succession. If a split happens it would have to come partially from the inside. Then the split agreement might contain something like agreeing both sides have the same access to one or both of the words.
dimi1010
I don't think splitting the guild is easily feasible. Even setting up a competing academy is going to require some heavy investment. A core thing that makes the Mages' Guild work is their ownership of the word Aluth and Cei. The guild has ownership over those words, not licensed use. Ownership. It gives them a degree of independence because they have their own words. The king can't really strip them from it as it sets a precedent none of the baron's will like. Setting up a competing academy would require the royals work to either license theirs or a subject's word, or grant ownership over a word they already own. Licensing a word to the new academy would be better for him long term, as he doesn't give up anything outright and can keep the academy on a leash via terms and conditions. The issues with that depend on what word he licenses. Either he licenses a royal word, which makes it be more common and thus countermeasures can be made easier, or he has a subject license his word, at which point he isn't really the one holding the leash. There is also the outside perspective. In the abovementioned two guilds setup, the guild owning their words are inherently more stable for their members as there won't be an outside force suddenly deciding to revoke the license. And ultimately those are the people that form the core of the guild power. The nobility students that won't join the guild are a secondary priority to the guild. Useful to form connections and a money source, but not a core strength.
Tarrim
It's a full mage as per 97 which requires you to help cull a rift outside of the college's guidance. I think there may be something about masters from the conclave, but I don't think the author had figured out the guilds structure when he wrote that bit.
Gopard
Thanks for the chapter!
Gopard
Huh do I misremember? Wasn't literally EVERY "Court Mage" forced to first "archieve Master rank"?? Or was it Journeyman and finished a set number of rifts to become a court mage?
Dave N
thank you!
Tarrim
Its like what he did to the duchies where he turned 2 powerful entities into 3 weaker entities.
Tarrim
Sure you might get some rebel factions but better small groups rebel then one largely united group deciding to rebel together. Benedict wouldn't straight up break the guild he'd offer a charter to the new guild in exchange for some concessions. He'd probably try make himself appear the peacemaker in the situation. The guilds are the one group that aren't already his enemies I would expect to really throw a fit. That out of a fear that would happen to them as well. Maybe some nobles would protest it as well but I think it wouldn't be a deal breaker for them. He might even use the great council to accomplish his ends here since most of the nobles will already be in the capital in a few months.
Grayson
Breaking up makes harder to control mages, might get rebel mage factions...Pisses off nobles...Angers guilds...Dumb move...
Tarrim
If you look at it from the perspective of a ruler, the mage's guild is essentially a group of special forces with more advanced technology then anyone else. They have their own goals and desires and are semi independent. Imagine how such a group would make you feel as a leader looking to ensure your continued unopposed rule.
Tarrim
They are capable of it. If the mage guild ever largely sided against the royal family the royal family would almost certainly lose a civil war. But if they had a rival it would mean they couldn't dictate the results.
lenkite
Yep, a Royal Charter setup by a past King is very hard to dissolve. The Barons and Guilds will rebel since the King would be setting a dangerous precedent. It is easier to setup an alternative Royal Mage Academy under tight control of the royal family. But such an act can be an opportunity for the Mages Guild too - they can invite Eld and have casus belli to become independent of the Kingdom and become a Global Institution. Not sure whether Benedict will bow to Ractia - he likes his personal power too much and doesn't like anyone interfering.
Grayson
Why?? Guild doesn't threaten Benedict. Other guilds now on council would oppose break up.
P enyuk
Master Jurian is providing Wren with private lessons, isn't he? They're practicing prone combat and various wrestling styles.
Dave N
I’ll hit all the corrections when we get back tonight - we took our son to the natural history museum in NYC today, so I’m mostly afk :) Glad to see people enjoyed it, and speculating on the politics
Tarrim
“Aluth,” Jurian answered, “the word raw magic; and Cei, the word of sleep and dreams.” > Word of To be clear, this does not mean to cast two spells in close succession, or to simultaneously - but to actually merge two distinct types of magic into a singular result.” > Two simultaneously Edit* A crack sounded, echoing across the training ground, and Liv turned back to see that Genevieve’s had caught Jurian across the mouth with the butt of her staff. Genevieve's>Genevieve
Femboy
Sheesh she’s not a happy camper
Tarrim
I don't think master is that rare sure it would take more time and be more difficult but for such a prestiges test it shouldn't be that hard to assemble 5.
John Koor
This may be all of the surviving master still capable of travel. It might be a really small group. If it isn't, there may be a mechanic to allow any volunteer to test him in order to avoid a master having a few friends fake the results.
Alexander Johnson
Specifically, it was very cool to see another example of Luc in use - a lightning spear! Would be interesting to see how else the royal family has utilized it - perhaps Liv could eventually channel it into a useful invention like she did with her "icepack"
Alexander Johnson
Very cool magic used in this chapter! Super excited for our Liv to get to these heights of strength 😤
Arkzs
Interesting plot turning point. The fact we can view time in the decades instead of weeks makes for a unique reading experience.
Tarrim
Either that or he thinks he can control her and hopes to put her on top. Also if he's going to try to break the guild up he may think it will give him more control if the kingdom get pulled into the war.
Alexander Johnson
Lol, you're absolutely right. This was the height of unprofessionalism and bias. She literally only came to teach him a lesson and get in his way - surely there has to be other wandering masters still alive out there? Did we ever get rough estimates of the size of this kingdom?
Tarrim
I think Benedict is going to try to use this to break up the guild into 2 or more entities. A new one under Genevieve and the old one under Caspian. I could definitely see him viewing the guild as a threat to his power and multiple magic guilds are much less a threat than one. Of course dividing the group that will be critical to protect the kingdom from Ractia is going to leave him vulnerable. But I'm not certain what he believes about her return or maybe he thinks the eld can handle it.
Tarrim
I don't get the impression he's that petty but more he's a cold hearted schemer. I think more likely he wants to break the mage's guild. I think he recognizes it's utility but it's a potential threat to him. Multiple disjointed groups are much less a threat and there are splits in the guild he could potentially exploit.
Larc
Certainly the correct take if we follow the logical hierarchy, but it was more of a vibe I got from the tone of the last two chapters—a new king with, perhaps a radical one at that, with an incensed long-term advisor hellbent on causing a reckoning with the institution as she finds it unacceptable for Jurian to become archmagus. It's why I was wondering whether Benedict has more than just this lne reason to go after the guild. (Can we assume he wouldn't be petty enough to pursue the Jurian issue just because he's associated with Liv and thus, Julianne?)
Tarrim
I don't think he can crush the mage's guild. He could cause them problems certainly but I think the guild is too popular amongst the nobles for him to destroy. Combined with the fact that they are the most dangerous group of spellcasters in the kingdom makes it difficult for him to do anything by force.
dimi1010
Hmm, I didn't get the impression that the Benedict himself was against Jurian. It looked more like Genevieve holding a grudge. Also, she is still part of the guild, even if employed by the king. In this instance, as the tests are a guild internal affair and does not present a conflict of interests against the kingdom, archmage Loredan, as the guild head, is in the right for demanding her submit to his judgement and decisions.
SleepyKitten
I haveto admit the lightning staff was pretty cool. Dam she really hates him,poor Julian. Ty for chapter.
Larc
Time for King Benedict to crush the Mage's Guild, I suppose. I wonder if the hatred for Jurian extends beyond just the dead comrades...
Tarrim
They really should set an impartial judge requirement for this trial. Honestly they should have brought in 5 masters he has almost no connection to. Even the professors shouldn't have been allowed.
Gut
"“Four the second trial,” the archmagus explained" Minor correction needed here
