“Now let me tell you a little trick my mom does. I can only do it if I’m concentrating really hard. Not really something I can do in battle yet because I’m not good enough at water magic.”
“And you think I am?”
“No, but you have teammates. Six of them. Unless something seriously went weird, at least one should be a water mage. Or an experienced non-fire mage capable of using water magic.”
“Three of them are demons. I don’t know about the other two, but I’m pretty sure that Saija doesn’t know any thaumaturgy.”
Juliana frowned, but held up a few fingers. “That still leaves three others.”
“I think Henry is a water mage, but he hates everyone else on the team. Including me.”
Narrowing her eyes, Juliana turned and glanced around the room. It didn’t take her long to spot Henry—he was off in a corner all on his own, avoiding everyone’s gaze as he looked through that notebook of his.
“Well, I’ll tell you anyway. If he wants to play as a team, you can get him to help you out.”
As she spoke, Juliana pulled out her wand. Which Irene found strange. Juliana tended to use her rings even during class. In fact, Irene hadn’t even known that she still carried a wand.
Irene must have had a strange look on her face because Juliana shrugged. “I’m not very good at water magic. Wands are easier than rings.”
Juliana swished her wand and gave it a little flick with her wrist. At first nothing happened. Then Irene noticed dark patches spreading across the surface of the rock-like dirt castle. Some patches even began sweating.
“Any earth mage worth their salt will be able to wave their wand and collapse anything you build. You can fight against it, but then it comes down to a battle of willpower. And you have to concentrate. Not really the best thing if you’re being attacked by several people.”
Once the castle was thoroughly soaked, Juliana snapped her wrist again. Small hexagons of ice started spreading over various points on the castle. The hexagons grew, connecting with each other. The entire surface of the castle had iced over after a few seconds.
“But if you or another water mage infuses the building with water and then carefully freezes it, it will hold its shape even while under attack. Not forever, of course. But it should work long enough for you to fight whoever is attacking you.”
Testing the strength, Irene kicked at the walls of the castle again. This time, not even little chunks of dirt fell off the sides.
“Huh. Neat.”
“The water part has to be done carefully. If you put too much water into it, the whole thing will wash away. Too little and the structure will become brittle. Freeze it too fast and everything will crack and break.”
“Sounds complicated. And not really worth it unless you’ve practiced.”
Irene glanced over Juliana’s shoulder to where Henry sat. He had actually looked up from his book to watch what Juliana had been doing, but made no move to actually come closer. As soon as Irene met his eyes, he shook his head and buried his nose in his notebook.
“And I doubt Henry has practiced much.”
“Probably. There is also a thing you can do with fire magic, but it requires making clay and then firing it like in a kiln. Takes a while. Probably not useful for tonight’s event.”
Irene shrugged. The water thing didn’t sound all that useful either. Still, she got a few tips for both quick constructions and sturdy constructions. Both should help out.
“Fifteen minutes remaining,” a voice said, echoing over the intercom system in the dueling hall. “Contestants should prepare to move to the starting area. Repeat, fifteen minutes remaining for the preparation period.”
“Well, guess that’s my cue,” Juliana said. “Maybe you can get Henry to practice with you for the last few minutes.”
“Yeah,” Irene said as she glanced over Juliana’s shoulder again, voice flat. “Maybe.”
“Everyone else is already at my mom’s house to watch the show on her big-screen.”
“Thanks for staying and giving me tips.”
“No problem,” Juliana said with a wave of her hand as she turned to leave. “Give ’em hell.”
“Oh, we’ll give them Hell alright.” Saija fluttered in from nowhere, landing just to Irene’s side.
It actually made her jump a little.
Juliana just chuckled as she walked off.
Saija offered a casual wave before she spun around and stared at Irene with the intensity of a thousand suns.
“So, I was just talking with Neuro. I wanted to be the first one to go wreak havoc on our enemies’ bases but then he called me a fool! Can you believe that? Anyway, I said I should go because I could fly and cover more ground, scout out the enemy, and return with good information all before the second group can leave. You know what he did?” She put her hands on her hips and stared.
Irene wasn’t sure if she should answer or just wait for her to continue her diatribe.
Waiting turned out to be the right answer.
