The Currents of Magic

Chapter Eighteen

"Around my neck," said Meyer who had taken to wearing it at all times. He was about to ask why he needed his Talisman, when they turned a corner around the main warehouse and a mass of Nahd and Delphi tempests came into view, running around shooting balls of colored light from their hand.

Meyer stopped mid stride. One group of tempests was shooting blue balls, while the other was shooting red, and as Meyer watched, he noticed a Delphi girl running from two pursuers who were shooting blue balls every few seconds from outstretched arms. Their spells flew haywire, and it looked like the fleeing girl would escape when suddenly one of the pursuers stopped running, and steadying his arm, shot a projectile of blue light. A moment later it collided with the fleeing Delphi, and the girl began to radiate blue light. She stopped running and the pursuers jogged over and escorted her to the corner of the field. Already the blue light around her had disappeared.

"Meyer, come on!" called Damian. He was several yards ahead, edging along the border of the field.

Meyer jogged to catch up with him. "So this is magical capture the flag?" he said.

Damian gave Meyer a puzzled look. "Yes, it involves magic... We just call it capture the flag."

"Where I'm from capture the flag is a game similar to this," said Meyer. "But with no magic. "

"Oh really," said Damian. "I didn't know they played capture the flag outside of the Dale. I thought it was something the tempests had invented."

Meyer shook his head. "If we have it in the Outlands, it probably exists everywhere, but man, this magical version looks amazing."

"Oh, wait till you see the Ajah versus Sarren game" said Damian. "We have freeze charms, and speed charms, and wall enchantments. It brings the game to a new level."

Meyer tried not to appear disappointed. "I guess it'll be a week or two before I can play, seeing as there are a whole bunch of spells I'll have to learn first."

"What do you mean," said Damian. "No one knows all the spells, or at least, if they do, they don't use them all in one game. There are specific positions for each player: two enchanters, two charmers, one spy, one healer, and one general. Everyone else is just a troopie. Usually you play with between eight and twenty troopies, and all they have to do is shoot those tagger spells that you saw the Nahd and Delphi using."

"So all I'll have to do is shoot those weird balls of light?" said Meyer.

"Yeah. It's really easy. The incantation to shoot a red tagger is Farzuras and to shoot a blue tagger its Tarzuras. You've mastered the basic light charm and the motion charm for moving a pebble, right?"

"More or less," said Meyer. "I still can't move the pebble exactly where I want, but I'm good with the light charm."

"Then you'll be fine. I've never seen anyone who can do a light charm and a basic motion charm have difficulty with a tagging spell. Besides, even if you have trouble aiming, you can always just run up to someone and cast the tagger point blank—can't miss that way."

They arrived at the other end of the Great Meadow where most of the Ajah aged boys were gathered along with a smattering of Ajah girls. Next to them was a large group of Sarren tempests. Everyone was dressed in light clothes instead of their usual more formal attire, and it took Meyer several moments before he spotted Ander and Cade. As he and Damian approached, Meyer saw that there was already light perspiration on both of his friends' brows, though Ander was a wearing a red bandana around his head that had absorbed some of the sweat.

"Glad you made it," said Ander. "I convinced Cade to come down to the fields with me after breakfast, and we've been warming up since then."

"Convinced," said Cade. "You practically forced me down here, and Meyer's the one who's going to need the warming up." He turned to Meyer. "Have you got the Farzuras charm down yet?"