Free Gatewright by J. M. Blaisus Page B

fight?  I tried not to growl too loudly
with frustration.  Too many things we didn’t know.
    “We’re
going to watch three matches today.  The first is a teacher testing a
young student, the most common use of this arena.  In order to unlock
potential, the young often need the security of the pillars to let loose and
understand their capability.  Since Emor is a long journey for many fey,
they usually will duel daily for a week or more.  This is the student’s
third day practicing here.
    “The
second match is between a pair of local mages who have secured the space to
practice with each other in good faith.  These mages want to join the
ranks of the adail for the honor of their clans.  The third match
will be between two feuding members of clan Becot, a contest that requires ten
mages protecting the audience.” I noticed she didn’t mention protecting the
duelists themselves as she scanned the field for signs of activity. 
“Looks like we’re about five minutes out from the first match, so I encourage
everyone to get comfortable.”
    I
dubiously eyeballed the stone benches.  Comfort was not going to happen,
but I took a seat anyway next to Isabel.  From our perch in the second
tier, I could see the few scattered audience members in the first level. 
Our guides were obviously keeping us from having too close an encounter
with magic.
    “Once
we’re done here,” Hazel continued, “We’ll have a chance for those with fey
blood to try out some magic.”
    I’d
never seen Erikah so excited.  She practically bounced.  The “cool
girl” vibe evaporated like water on a hot day.  I sighed with irritation,
once again reminded of my deficiency.
    No
loudspeaker system announced the matches, so I was caught by surprise when I
saw two figures, as small as my hand from this far away, stride onto the field,
bow briefly, and then… magic happened.  One of them wobbled against
a strong breeze, then the other fell down for no reason I could see. 
Hazel narrated for us.  “As you can see, the student is a wind mage, a kawoli, and his teacher is elohi .  Aside from its myriad practical uses,
such as creating roads, earth magic is ideal for quickly constructing
fortifications and destabilizing the enemy.”
    Their
match was sadly unimpressive.  The teacher wobbled, trying to stand up to
winds and gusts, and the student fell down.  A lot.  Riven’s demo had
been better, and I almost told him so before I caught myself.
    For
the next match, a pair of fey placed a large trough in the middle of the arena,
and an amayi with blue hair spent ten minutes coaxing water up from the
earth before the match even started.  She (or he, I wasn’t entirely sure)
fought another elohi , but this one bent the earth to their will much
more efficiently, so much that it cracked the ground here and there.  The amayi manipulated water like a whip; their fellow mage winced and tried to shield
themselves by building a wall in front of them.  From the pure amount of
water being thrown around, the ground slowly turned into a mud pit, and the elohi took advantage, making the amayi fight for each step.  In
retaliation, the amayi threw icicles and froze the ground until they had
immobilized each other.  As the elohi started to create another
wall of protection from the flying ice shards, the amayi threw her hands
out, a whip once again appearing.  It reached over the wall, wrapping
itself around the elohi ’s neck and dragging them out from behind
it.  The elohi clawed at the water, but their fingers simply passed
through it.  I shuddered a little, glad when the horn blew, signaling the
match was over.
    We
broke for lunch, and I was relieved to have a reason to move around…the stone
was decidedly painful on my tailbone. We trudged down all those steps to find a
buffet of fresh food laid out for us, including an absolutely delicious raisin
bread. Afterward we climbed back up, some of us slower and straggling behind.
    A
larger