Free White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10) by Donald Wigboldy Page B

hadn’t seemed that way in Hala.
    “He has beaten you, but do you count those wins as just a fluke?” the girl asked as she stopped short of her guardians’ tables. They would have had to use a spell to overhear from that distance, the girl thought with the other noise of talking in the air.
    Shaking his head, Magnus tried to look sincere as he replied, “Once might be a fluke, but it is obvious that your brother, and all battle mages I should add, are becoming a significant force. Sebastian proved that in close a wizard is unlikely to be a match for a mage. They are better trained there.
    “Fighting a wizard duel can go either way, but battle mages will have a better chance after your brother better trains them, though maybe his corps doesn’t care about that side of things. They train for war after all. A wizard duel is more for entertainment than practicality.”
    He shrugged as if the man truly didn’t know the answer to that. His eyes looked to the table of Darius and the other friends of Sebastian sent as her guardians. “Well, if we travel separately or not, I suppose our destination is the same. If I do not see you before White Hall, we can always discuss it more there.”
    Finishing with a nod of dismissal, the fire wizard returned to his table to inform the rest of his group that they would be waiting for the search team to bring more young wizards to join their trip to White Hall.
     
    Darius preferred sticking with his time table. Leaving earlier, they would still most likely stop in the same place as those following them. The high wizard simply preferred making sure that day light didn’t slip away on them.
    Katya noticed Piotr sitting in front of the inn waiting on his brother apparently. Playing with a dog, the boy glanced to the girl appraisingly. With a little time to wait for the horses to be brought around, Katya sat down beside him and asked, “Who is your friend?”
    “I don’t actually know his name,” the boy answered looking at the hound with its floppy ears and big brown eyes. A coat mostly of brown with black near the tip of its tail and highlights of the same on half of its paws and back, the dog was most likely a mutt of some sort. Piotr knew animals, but not the specifics of breeds and such. To him, it was just another creature in need of attention.
    “He seems to like you enough,” the girl replied keeping her hands on her legs rather than risking getting bitten. While the Trillon farm had many animals, it was her brothers and father that mainly worked with them. Her sister Beatrice tended to work around the house more as had their mother. Such duties fell to the youngest daughter as well, so other than feeding chickens or dealing with the stray cat that had adopted their family, Katya didn’t have a lot of contact with animals like the dog.
    “Dogs are pretty easy once they get to know you. Here, give me your hand,” Piotr said taking the closer hand, her left. Placing it low before the animal to let him sniff the girl’s hand a moment, she received a series of licks as the smell of breakfast likely lingered on her fingers.
    “Now if you really want to get in their good graces, you bring them a snack. He ate my whole muffin before you came,” Piotr chuckled as he looked at Katya. Her green eyes met his making the boy look away to the dog quickly.
    The girl felt a little disappointment in his shyness, but her mind was quick and she asked, “Does that work with people as well? Should I have brought a treat for you?”
    Her voice held humor and Piotr looked into those eyes once again.
    “I think we’re ok,” he answered with a smile, “but I don’t turn down a good snack either, if it comes up again.”
    Giggling at his sense of humor, Katya looked up seeing her horse being brought around by Ardost. The mage seemed to be the one in charge of getting her on the road this morning.
    “Well, hopefully I will see you tonight at the next inn, but if not we’ll both be in