The Lycanwolf

Training Begins

The next two days were hectic as several trains arrived carrying students from the packs, and word had spread to the Clans as well. Many Humans had not undergone formal training with the Knights, and there was not enough training programs to accommodate them all. The last train that had scheduled to arrive had done so, and Jane was glad to see it had a single car. Master Andrews had been vague about how many instructors he was sending, as Jane reported 3400 Wolves, and 4500 Humans had registered for this advanced training course that was being offered.

Jane was glad several of the packs had the foresight to send tents and other supplies for the wolves that would be attending, but it was a hard stretch on the Dragonian Pack to accommodate all the extra people that had arrived.

Brian opened the gates, and the train doors opened at the same time. Jane was just able to recognize her before she threw herself at Jane and wrapped her in a hug. Jane was absolutely shocked when she felt her body tingle with the mate call as her best friend and roommate from college hugged her.

Ashley Von Comp was here at her pack, and it was clear that she was expecting to see her. "Oh I can't wait to catch up." she squealed as she stepped back and stepped aside.

It was only now that Jane saw the Uniform she was wearing, and knew that she was here as an Instructor. "Seems we have a lot of that to do even though it has only been a few weeks."

Jane watched as the 13 instructors formed a half circle, the one directly in front of her the highest ranking.

"I am Master MacTavish, I have been sent by Master Andrews to conduct a training camp." he said as he extended his hand to her. "War Chief, it is an honor to meet you."

"The honor is mine Master MacTavish, I will be joining the Cadets for this training session." Jane said shaking his hand.

"Well than, that will take a very special spell to accomplish than. But I think I am up to it." MacTavish said smiling.

"Whatever you need Master, let me know and I will ensure it is up to your standards. By the end of the day we will have tents erected for each of you, and the Central Command Tent shall be for the instructors." she said.

"War Chief, we will actually need to perform an abilities assessment for each of the cadets first. It will be a group exercise to see which of the seven forms each student should begin focus on." MacTavish said as they walked to the training grounds.

They looked out over the grounds, and saw that there were multiple areas for each of the instructors to teach courses, as well as for casting to occur. They were surprised to see that there were multiple teams working to clear another large area to expand the space they had to work with.

They walked to the center of the training grounds and MacTavish smiled. "Ashley, launch the flare." he said.

She smiled as she widened her stance and started muttering to herself as she began casting the spell. It took her only seconds and she pointed her arms straight up and a large fireball erupted from her fingers as it launched into the sky. Once it raised to a few hundred feet it exploded, and the report could be heard for miles as well as the flash from it.

It had the exact effect she wanted as everyone of those here for the training came running to the grounds, and formed units around the instructors. It took them only a few minutes for all of the Cadets to be in formation around them.

"Welcome to the Dragonian Pack Mage Training, I am Master MacTavish of the Knights of the Round Table. Those standing with me will be your instructors for the next month, and it will be our job to train those of you who are of age to be warriors in that time.

"As our time is short, this will be the most circumspect training you will receive. When we are finished you will be no where near Master level, however you should have a fair understanding of the form of magic you will initially specialize in. As a way to discover this, we must discover what each of your specialties lies. We will be leading you through several kata to begin with. If you are approached you will follow the professor to that area, and will continue with the Kata that we will be performing.

"If you are not selected for any of the forms, do not fret. Sometimes it will take time for a student to develop a specialty, and the initial eruption of magic is a fear response. We will find where each of you belong, and you will all be trained through. Let us begin." MacTavish said as he led them on the first of the kata. He focused on the rarest form of lightning first, knowing that few if any of them would be able to cast in this specialty. He always selected the third form of each of them, that way the spells were not to powerful, as he was not casting the spells himself.

He led the kata, and felt the unmistakable current of electricity ignite as one of them was responding to the lightning element of magic. As soon as they reached the first spell casting he heard the crack of thunder as Janes hair was standing on end. Ashley approached her and took her to another area as MacTavish made a note to call the President.

Jane was the only one to achieve anything in the first kata, and she settled into a neutral stance as he began the psyionic spell forms. She slipped into the familiar kata easily, and was able to cast every spell in this category, and 15 others were moved into this group to perform the rest.

MacTavish knew the numbers would only increase as he moved into the healing arts, and he was honestly hoping that there would be a few hundred here. His wish was more than granted as more than 500 of them had cast separate blooms and they filled the training grounds with different types of wildflower, each unique as the person that cast it. Jane had a field of purple Lillie's surrounding her, and Ashley raised her eyebrows as she looked at Jane. "The other one?" she asked simply and Jane nodded.

The other four forms of Spell casting they were usually able to tell by the time the first spell was cast, and only a small handful of the Wolves or Humans were left standing in the center. Ashley had watched as Jane cast each spell easily, like she was an expert in them all.

She knew if she was, not even Master Andrews would stand a chance against her. Merlin was the last true Master, and his line had died with his one and only daughter as far as the Humans knew. They didn't know Emma had survived with Dartanion and passed the magic through her line, passing from mother to daughter through the ages.

"Master, we have a unicorn." Ashley announced as soon as the Cadets had been classified.

"We do, and who would this unique individual be?" MacTavish asked as he had not been able to watch her the entire time as he led the exercises.

"Cadet Esvolt, please step forward." Instructor Von Comp ordered.

Jane stepped forward next to her as his eyes went wide.

"Reporting as ordered." she said to him.

"Cadet, I understand there is evidence that you specialize in all 7 forms of magic. Would you care to explore this possibility?" MacTavish asked her.

"Yes sir." she answered.

"Excellent, now assume a neutral form and follow me. If you know the kata feel free to work through it at your own speed." MacTavish said as he settled in front of her and Ashley stepped away from the two of them. The only form that kept him from the Table was he could not cast lightning spells.

He began with the simplest of the forms, Fire Magic, and started with the third form. She followed for a few seconds as she recognized it and switched to the fifth form Master level. He stopped as soon as she switched and watched as she cast every spell in it with absolute perfection. When she finished a few minutes later he began clapping.

"Well done Master of Fire, let's move to water." he said as he settled into the first stance of the third form.

She surprised him when she began the fifth form Kata without him making a move. It took her a few minutes to complete the kata, and had frozen a circle around her without noticing it. She opened her eyes as most of the cadets clapped as she had again performed every spell within the kata.

"Earth." was all MacTavish said as he began the fifth form and she followed with every move as this was his specialty. He was amazed as she moved as fast as he did, and her spells were the most powerful he had ever encountered.

He moved right into the next several forms with her, each of them one of her Master level forms of Martial Arts, and she was easily able to cast all of the spells in them.

"Normally at this point you would be labeled a Master, however there is one more form that you must pass in order to achieve that. I however do not posses the required proficiency in the field of Magic to pass judgement. Therefore as you have demonstrated the necessary ability to instruct others and we ask that you train the Mages under our care." MacTavish said indicating she join them.

She stepped behind them and joined the others, standing next to Ashley who grabbed her hand and she felt the tingling of the mate bond. Jane knew Ashley wouldn't be able to feel the pull as a Human, and Jane was extremely confused about it as she had never experienced it with her before.

"We now have a starting point for all of you, and it will take some time for us to best decide how we will be splitting the classes to best match your needs. From this day forth your schedules shall match that of any Human Cadet in the Mare Schools for the Knights.

"0430: Lights on and Morning preparation.

"0500 - 0530 Breakfast

"0530 - 0800 Physical Training

"0800 - 0830 Snacks

"0830 - 1200 Magical Theory

"1200 - 1300 Lunch

"1300 - 1500 Physical Training

"1500 - 1530 Snacks

"1530 - 1800 Magical Practice

"1800 - 1930 Dinner

"1930 - 2200 Free Time

"2200 - 0500 Lights Out

"No matter your rank as a warrior, or Alpha, you will be expected to follow this schedule beginning tomorrow. For the moment the Alphas will act as Cadet Captains, and will begin Physical Training with you. After lunch we will have your Instructor assignments and we will begin with an introduction to magic." MacTavish ordered as he signaled all of the Instructors to gather in the Command Tent.

It only took them a few moments to get to the command tent and Gretchen tssked as she entered.

"This will not work for us at all." she said as she began casting an illusion spell on the tent. It took her less than a minute and the tent was several times larger on the inside than it was on the outside. "Much better." she said walking over to the new bar that was in here.

"How will we be splitting the classes? We have 6000 students in 4 specialties." Gretchen said seriously.

"With 15 instructors we will have to split them as evenly as we can. Jane, you won't be able to train as we need you to teach. Magical theory will be a lecture you attend..." MacTavish said trailing off. "I will lead all of the students in Fire with Ashley and Stacy. Gretchen you will handle the Illusions class. Harry, Meghan and Stephanie will handle Earth. Xander, Adam and Rhonda will handle Ice."

"I will handle air." Miranda said.

That leaves Nathan, Jason and Jane to handle healing." MacTavish said.

At lunch the Instructors had set all of the recruits to their respective class. Jane would help with Spell Casting classes, and would join the Cadets for the lectures that would be held. The Cadets had been informed of the assignments, and where their instruction would take place.

The rest of the day was spent beginning the Martial Arts forms that would teach them all the moves they would eventually need to cast the spells they would specialize in at first.

They used the Physical Training time as well, and the students were beginning to learn that it was not just martial arts but spell casting, they put more focus into the moves.

By the end of the first day all of the recruits we're exhausted as they were not used to this level of activity. Even the warriors had not trained so much in a day.