The Princess Who Went to War

Chapter 15 - Magic Sparring

[Calysta] 

"Kalah, welcome. Please, take a seat with us." Atticus tells her as he gestures at the empty seat at his left. Kalah raises an eyebrow. 

"I, uh, would rather not." She replies, almost looking disgusted at the set up. Her eyes trail over every single person next to Atticus and finally lands on me. 

She smiles again, her eyes glowing a faint red one more time, looking like she recognizes me at first glance. But her eyes trail over to Gwen, standing beside me, still in defensive. 

"You are a sorceress?" She asks. I nod. 

"But you need protection?" She asks again, looking at Gwen. I don't answer, somehow embarrassed. 

"She is still a member of the Royal Family. It is the law that we get protection, sorceress or not." Atticus replies on my behalf. Kalah laughs, rather hysterically. 

"The law actually says that? Sorceress or not?" She asks, gripping her stomach as she laughed. 

"You lot had no idea a Prince would ever marry a Sorceress let alone that a Sorceress would actually be of Royal blood." She says. Atticus and I are silent, as this is true. 

After marrying our mother, the King had to start from square one in gaining the trust and respect of the people after he had married outside of the nobility; a sorceress, at that. 

"Well, don't let my arrival stop everyone from having dinner." Kalah says as she takes a seat at the closest spot to her. The soldiers on that table seeming completely uncomfortable.

"What? Your first time being seated with a powerful woman?" She asks, feeling the discomfort of the men around her. Atticus clears his throat. 

"Please, let us all eat." Atticus says, addressing everyone in the dining halls. Those who were standing reluctantly take their seats as Atticus and I take ours. 

The night goes on rather awkwardly. Atticus and I hardly talked, following the stunt he had pulled after finding out that I am not addressed by my title, and the rather awkward first meeting I had with Kalah. 

After dinner, Atticus and I meet Kalah right outside of the dining halls for a much proper introduction. 

"Calysta, Sorceress of the Weather." I introduce myself to her, completely leaving out my title. She smirks as she seems amused by this.

"What? I've introduced myself earlier." She suddenly says, and that's when I notice Atticus looking at her, as if urging her to reply. I nudge my brother to make him stop.

"Oh? Do I have to bow?" Kalah asks as she tries to bow, somehow mockingly. 

"Well, we shall go over the details of our missions tomorrow." I say, breaking the silence.

"Yes, I believe we have a meeting with Ser Remnand after breakfast." Atticus adds. 

"For now, Ser Rem will be escorting you to your quarters, Kalah." Atticus says. Ser Rem immediately gesture towards the quarters. 

Kalah smirks before turning to Atticus and I and says, "Well, have a good night." She then follows Ser Rem into the quarters. 

"I do not feel comfortable around her." Gwen says as Ser Rem and Kalah are completely out of sight.

"She's just.., different." I reply. Gwen has been around disciplined guards and nobles her whole life. A person like Kalah is sure to shock anyone not used to an attitude like hers. 

"Besides, we are not in the position to turn down her magic just because she acts differently." I add.

"If you have a separate table requested for breakfast tomorrow, I might just have to embarrass you and not eat at all." I warn Atticus before I turn to leave for the quarters and Gwen quickly follows. 

"Goodnight, Calysta!" Atticus shouts from behind us but I do not turn back. Surely, he has a lot to think of tonight before dictating what my friends can and cannot call me. 

The next morning, Gwen and I get up at our usual time to train. It is just before the sun is up, and I've changed into my gear.

When we get to the training grounds, I find Gabriel and the rest of his team already training. Randall and Ulysses are training their archery skills, while it looks like Gabriel is training Ulwid how to fight. 

He is quite slow and sloppy, but I figure since he is always with the team, he can't just be tracker but must also know how to defend himself.  

"I didn't expect you to be up this early." A voice from behind me says. I turn back to see Kalah behind me, wearing her own combat gear, which looks a bit ragged and old. 

"The Prince promised me new ones." She says, noticing how I am staring at her gear. 

"Well, he ought to do that much." I reply. She smiles at me. 

"How about an early morning spar?" She asks, her eyes faintly glowing red, showing her excitement. 

"Sure." I answer, but look back at the training grounds filled with people. 

"We'll need a bigger space." She says exactly what's on my mind. We know full well we might end up hurting people close by.

"You'll be sparring?" I hadn't noticed Gabriel walking towards us as he asks this question.

"Ah, the man with the sword closest to my neck." Kalah says as she recognizes Gabriel from last night. Gabriel only looks at her, not saying anything. 

"Men, clear out." Gabriel shouts out loud, causing all the training soldiers to stop sparring and immediately move aside with no questions asked. 

As people make space for us in the training grounds, Gabriel looks at Kalah and I and nod. I look back at Kalah to see her gesturing towards the clear space, and we both walk towards the center. 

We stand a few good feet away from each other, getting ready. 

"Do you know how magic sparring works?" She asks. I nod. I have been taught by the few other Sorceress I've met. 

We both send out elements of magic into the air, and let it free fall. Once they touch the ground, the spar is immediately to start.

Her eyes faintly glow as she sends out a ball of fire into the sky, and I send out a ball of wind at the same time. 

I get ready as I watch the two slowly fall down, ready to immediately take the offensive as I lift both my hands up, shoulder level with my hands facing Kalah. Once our elements touch the ground and immediately dissipate, I will for the wind, only to be taken by surprise by a fast moving fire coming right towards me. 

I instead use the wind I was channeling to direct the fire elsewhere, as I immediately roll away when I notice another fall of fire coming my way. 

Kalah is fast. 

In panic as I find another ball of fire coming at me with top speed, I channel the strongest of rain I can. Huge drops fall on us in a split second, soaking everyone and effectively stopping Kalah from sending out any more fire balls. 

"Well, this is unfair!" She shouts through the loud rain, smiling. Knowing that I can't channel any other element while this rain goes on, I try to think of a new tactic fast, before Kalah beats me to it. 

She struggles to produce fire as the rain kept pouring down on her, quickly extinguishing anything she wills out of her hands. 

In between her tries, I quickly stop the rain as I channel wind as fast as I can, lifting her up the ground and smash her back down. 

She only smiles as she jumps to get back up. 

"I must admit, my magic is at a disadvantage." She tells me as she continues to smile. 

"But I can still beat you." She adds as another ball of fire comes directly at me. I barely manage to dodge as the fire burns about an inch of my hair that I've thrown into a braid. 

I immediately lift both hands in the sky, willing for a thick fog and quickly bring them down and sidewards, bringing down a thick fog around us. 

This way, she can't see me and I can move around freely in the fog that I am in control of. 

I try my best to move around without making a sound as I make my way to her. I circled around so that I can attack from behind, only to find myself quickly stepping back as her smiling face greets me and her handful of fire is swinging near me. 

"A good Sorceress can sense magic quite good." She tells me as she keeps on attacking me, causing me to keep on taking steps backwards. 

Finally, I let go control of the fog as I channel the wind and push her away from me. The wind pushes her backwards, but she manages to stay on both feet. 

I immediately take this chance to batter her more with winds to try and knock her off her feet, only for her to dodge each one perfectly. 

She sends another fireball my way, but instead of dodging it, I run full speed towards it, splitting and redirecting it with my winds. 

This clearly takes her by surprise as she moves back, sending another fireball towards me very quickly. Again, I redirect it with my winds while still running towards her, unsheathing Talassia from its scabbard. 

She throws another fireball right at my direction, a bigger one this time, and I have to physically duck and roll just to avoid it. 

As I get on my feet, I summon for lightning as it travels through my hand and wraps around my sword. Still running towards her to get as close I possibly can, I point the sword towards her, trying to get my lightning to hit the ground just beside her, trying to get close enough to get a win without hitting her. 

Instead, I quickly panic as I see another ball of fire coming towards me, and I release the lightning directly at her as I cross my arms across my face to protect myself, sending out any wind I possibly can to dissipate the ball of fire coming right at me. 

I feel strong heat on my forearms and my face as I feel the fire go around me, being redirected by my winds. I quickly look to check if I've hit Kalah, only to see her lying on the ground, panting and smiling. 

A few inches away from her, there is a block spot from where my lightning hit the ground. It looks like she barely managed to dodge.

Around us, the soldiers watching erupt in cheers as they witness our sparring end. It is most likely the first time most of them have seen a magic spar. 

"Your Highness!" I turn as Gwen comes running towards me, "Your forearms!" She exclaims. 

I quickly check my forearms, which I used to protect my face to see the fabric of my sleeves burnt off, exposing reddened skin caused by the heat. 

"You almost badly injured the Princess!" Gwen shouts at Kalah, who's still on the ground. 

She scoffs, "She almost killed me." 

"I'm sorry, I meant for it to hit the ground beside you. I was taken by surprise." I explain as I walk towards her to offer my hand and help her stand. 

She stares directly into my eyes before taking my hand and standing up. 

"You do not have to apologize for the magic you hold." She tells me, her hand still gripping mine. 

"You are better than I've expected, especially for a Sorceress who has not had formal training." She tells me, looking very much interested. 

Just then, the breakfast bells ring, signaling that it is time for breakfast.

"Well, I'll see you at the meeting, Sorceress of the Weather." She tells me as she smiles, walking towards the dining halls. 

"Sure would be nice to have a sword like that." She says as she rotates and massages her right shoulder. 

I look down, to see that I am still holding Talassia in my right hand, and immediately sheath it back on its scabbard, before finally walking towards the dining halls to have breakfast.