The Stone

Panthera

The mages hall is a large circular building with seating on balconies above a circular arena or "ring" as we call it. It's large enough to fit over one five hundred men and still have room. There are five mages here, my queen, and myself, I've leaned back on a pillar in the mages hall waiting for Brianna to finally show up. It's been a half hour since we called for her "where the hell could she be?" I could myself growing more annoyed as the time goes by. suddenly the doors open.

Brianna walks in with Theodore and her book in hand.

"I apologize for our tardiness, lady Brianna had to stop at almost every magical item and examine it thoroughly before proceeding onwards." He scowls at her. Of course she had to, she wasn't one to be pushed around, she will get there when she gets there. It's what I like about her. I chuckle to myself.

"Brianna I have gathered our strongest mages of the first order. This is, lady Tess, lady Natalia, lady Jean, lady Tine, and lady Jewel. They will be testing your abilities today." Queen Evelyn waves her hand across them and she speaks. "We usually don't have knights here when training unpledged mages until they are ready, but Roan has "insisted" he be here no matter what." She glares at me. "Please ready yourself in the ring . The middle is fine."

Brianna moves into the middle of the room And the five mages form a line in front of her.

"I will call your first opponent. Jewel? Take your lead." The queen says.

"Wouldn't it be wise to start with a mage closer to her Umm...skillset?" I protest.

"No it would be wise for you to keep your mouth quiet through this." She snaps.

I know my mother well and there was no arguing with that tone. My hands were tied, I can't help Brianna defend herself against this merciless mage.

She steps forwards giggling at Brianna.

"This is going to be fun! We will see who is the better mage for Roans pledge." She says.

She summons an orb and begins her chants not giving Brianna any chance of even opening her book. Her orb fueled with mana unleashes a fireball into the air. Brianna leaps to the side barely dodging it. Jewel laughs.

"Damn." Brianna whispers.

"Come on Brianna! Where is your defense? Do you not know what you are doing?" She laughs.

I can see Brianna start to think. She holds up her book and yells barrier spell. Another molten ball comes her way, she dodges again. Then reads from the book, I can feel her drawing mana from the source but she's not being quick enough.

"Brianna don't stop the draw keep it even and consistent!" I yell at her and jewel glares at me. My help has seemed to fuel her jealousy, and she begins to throw multiple balls of flame and ice at her, giving Brianna barely enough time to move out of the way. This kept up for twenty minutes until Brianna was hit with a bolt of ice slamming her into the wall. She cries in pain lying on her side on the floor. It is forbidden to intervene in the mage's ring but my need to protect her is overpowering me and before I can even think about my actions, I run to her as another ball of fire comes barreling in. I block it with my sword and some lightning and everyone stops.

"WHAT are you doing Roan!!" The queen yells.

"This is madness! This is not training this is pure torture!" I protest.

"Don't be so soft Roan! She needs to learn to use her gift, if she even has one! And what better way than to use it then to save her own life." Jewel says.

I kneel down beside Brianna and try to help her up but she pushes me away in anger.
"Leave me! I can do this." Her eyes were glowing a bright green and anger flares in them. I stand up and back away letting her have her way. She looks towards her opponent and starts to whisper something in a language I've never heard clutching the stone around her neck. Her voice gets louder as she repeats it over and over.