Gunther nodded.
“Ready?” he said to Michael.
Michael nodded.
“Fight.”
Michael attacked, strikes of water magic hammering at Gunther’s shield. Gunther parried the first strike, and the second. As Michael began another attack, Gunther slammed a blade of air through Michael’s defences, so fast that Michael had no time to raise a shield of his own. I had just a glimpse of the razor-edged shard before it vanished in a flash of light, the conversion field disintegrating it an instant before it cut into Michael’s flesh. It wouldn’t have been fatal, but it would have hurt.
“Point, right,” the arbitrator announced. “One-zero. Places.”
Gunther and Michael returned to the starting lines. The first round had taken less than three seconds.
“Fight.”
The duel continued and it quickly became obvious that Gunther was both swifter and more skilled than his opponent. By the end the score was 3–0 and Gunther shook hands with a surly-looking Michael. I glanced down to see that Luna looked nervous.
“Victor Kraft and Oscar Poulson,” Crystal announced.
Both apprentices were using focus weapons this time. Victor wielded a longsword, which was sharp and dangerous-looking even without the trail of frost it left in his wake. Oscar held something more like a fencing epee. The epee was fast and so was Oscar, but not fast enough.
“Fay Wilder and Barbara Cartwright.”
Barbara was a plain-faced stocky girl. She carried no weapon but relied instead on touch spells. Fay had curly hair and a ready smile, and she was an illusionist. Barbara’s touch spells hit only phantoms of light and shadow, while Fay’s small dagger found its mark reliably.
“Anne and Variam are here,” I commented as Fay walked off the piste to be congratulated by a smiling man in expensive-looking clothes.
“How am I supposed to beat these guys?” Luna asked. She was biting her lip. “Did you see what she just did?”
“Relax.”
“I couldn’t even see where she was. How can-?”
“Relax,” I said. “Focus on the one you will be fighting.”
Crystal was still on the podium and her gaze was resting on Fay Wilder, just as she’d watched every other apprentice who’d stepped onto the piste. I narrowed my eyes. Why are you watching them so closely?
Crystal turned away and raised her voice. “Natasha Babel. .” Her eyes came to rest on us. “And Luna Mancuso.”
I felt Luna go stiff. “Go for it,” I said.
“It’s-”
“I know who it is. Kick her ass.”
Natasha was already walking onto the piste. Luna stepped out a moment later. She’d tied her hair back in a ponytail instead of her usual bunches, and as she took her place to the right end she looked quick and agile, standing balanced on the balls of her feet. The conversion field flared up around the piste and bubble shields appeared around Luna and Natasha. “Ready?” the arbitrator asked Luna.
Luna nodded. She was keeping the handle of her whip hidden and I nodded approvingly to myself. As I watched, the silver mist of her curse spread and unfurled around her, tendrils snaking out to a distance of two or three yards and causing faint flickers as they brushed the edge of the piste. Luna’s learnt over the past year to hold her curse in, but it’s more powerful when she doesn’t.
“Ready?” the arbitrator asked Natasha.
Natasha said something under her breath, not quite loud enough for me to hear. Luna frowned and Natasha gave her a thin smile. Just as in their first duel, Natasha carried no weapon. With her water magic she didn’t need one.
“Are you ready?” the arbitrator repeated to Natasha, more loudly.
“Ready,” Natasha said without taking her eyes off Luna.
“Fi-”
Natasha struck before the arbitrator had finished speaking, a lance of blue light stabbing at Luna’s chest. Water mages can’t manipulate the water in a human body-that’s the domain of life magic-and they can’t create water out of nowhere. But they can use the water vapour in the air to do pretty much anything water can do in much larger amounts, including hitting someone with the impact of a fire hose.
But Luna had started moving at the same time, and whether through foresight or the luck of her curse her sidestep took her far enough out of the way for the water lance to streak past. As she dodged, her right arm came up in an underarm swing and the whip came to life, its silvery length slashing upwards and straight into Natasha. The strand dissipated as it struck the bubble of Natasha’s conversion field, becoming a flash of brilliant light that made me shut my eyes.
“Point, right,” the arbitrator said. He was frowning, but neither Natasha nor Luna had quite jumped the gun.
“What was that?” Natasha demanded. “That’s not fair!”
“Point, right,” the arbitrator repeated more loudly. “One-zero.” Luna brought the whip back, the strand of silver mist curling around her feet. I’d expected it to go for the spectators, but it didn’t; it was pointed towards Natasha, coiled and ready. For Natasha’s part, she looked taken aback. This obviously wasn’t going the way she’d expected.
“Ready?” the arbitrator asked once everything was settled. I could hear murmurs from the crowd, people whispering in undertones. Luna’s curse is very difficult to see; my mage’s sight is better than most and even I can only spot it because I know exactly what to look for. To most of the mages here, it would have looked like Luna hit Natasha without doing anything.
“Fight!”
A spherical shield of flickering blue light sprang up around Natasha, the water magic combining magical energy and pressure to repel attacks. Luna’s whip sprang out eagerly and the silver mist bit into the sphere, but the shield held. Luna pulled back and struck again, stepping forward as Natasha stepped back. Light sparked from Natasha’s shield at the points of impact, silver-blue instead of the white flash of the conversion field. The whip was fast and responsive and it gathered itself for a new strike more quickly than any normal whip could do, but there was still a slight delay between each attack. Natasha timed it carefully, then as Luna was pulling back for another stroke she dropped her shield and sent a full-strength blast of water magic streaming down the piste. Luna was off-balance and didn’t manage to dodge. The azimuth shield took the brunt of the attack with a brilliant flash, but it couldn’t stop all the kinetic energy of the impact. Luna flew five feet before hitting the floor and slid and rolled for another ten.
“Point, left,” the arbitrator said as another murmur went up around the hall. “One-all. Is right able to continue?”
Luna got to one knee, steadying herself and locking gazes with Natasha. There was a small cut on her lip. “Oh, I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Natasha said, her eyes wide.
“You wish,” Luna said.
“Places,” the arbitrator said loudly.
Luna rose and walked to the starting lines. Her curse lashed and twisted around her, and it looked pissed off. Over the crowd I caught a glimpse of Anne and Variam watching closely. Anne looked worried. Variam just looked like he was enjoying the show.
“Ready?” the arbitrator said. “Fight!”
Both Luna and Natasha started more cautiously this time, neither wanting to risk an attack that might leave them open. Luna attacked first, her whip flicking out to glance off Natasha’s shield. Natasha struck back but this time Luna’s whip met the attack head on, slashing into the lance of water and erasing it in a flash of light before it could reach her. Natasha pulled away.