A Darker Shade of Sorcery (Sample of now published novel.)

Chapter Thirty One

Evan stood hunched over, gasping for breath. His chest heaved and sweat poured down his hair to sting his eyes. The other Novices were in similar condition, one of them had nearly keeled over from exhaustion.

It had taken them two hours to run around the whole of Veneseron Fortress, climbing over steep hills and struggling through long grass. Apparently dwarves had far better endurance than humans and could run for days without stopping, Arnvar wasn't even out of breath.

"Humans your age should never be this unfit. Taking two hours..." Arnvar trailed off, grumbling.

It might've only been one lap, but one lap around Veneseron Fortress was no easy feat. Acres and acres of grassland surrounded the five castles, ending at the city on one side and the forest at the other.

"You're unfit to even think of the trials a Venator must face in the demon realms. You shall all repeat this lap daily until you can make it in one hour, then half an hour. Then you shall do two laps, and so on. Your endurance should be almost as good as mine before we put a weapon in your hands."

Evan moaned feebly, dreading the prospect of another lap tomorrow.

"That's half the training for today," said Arnvar.

Half, Evan was incredulous.

"Next will be a test of strength."

After designating each Novice a job in Veneseron that required strength, Arnvar addressed Evan last.

"Over there," Arnvar pointed to a gigantic black wall in the distance. "Help Jed, he'll tell you what to do."

Wondering what he'd done to deserve such punishment, Evan ambled over towards the huge wall. As he arrived, he saw a pile of rocks sitting atop a hill. Seconds later, Evan realised the rocks were actually dark-green pods filled with liquid.

"What the hell?"

Another pile, three times bigger, lay at the bottom of the hill. One boy was already there, grumbling under his breath. He smiled however when he noticed Evan.

"Hey dude, how's it going?"

"Umm, okay," Evan replied.

The boy scowled at the pods he had to shift, then back to Evan. "What did you do wrong then?"

"Nothing- I think."

The boy laughed merrily.

He looked about fifteen like Evan, but he was shorter and stockier.

He had blond hair, a small button nose and chubby cheeks, his jovial face accentuated by lime-green eyes. He spoke with a slight Australian accent and looked it too, with a golden tan.

Evan traipsed down the steep slope and the boy thrust out a dirty hand. "Name's Jed, Jed Jagger." He smiled warmly.

"I'm Evan. Arnvar said I was to help you."

Jed's face darkened. "The old dwarf's had me up since the crack of dawn lugging these things up the hill."

"Why?"

"No reason, except to build up my strength. Oh and maybe because I took a short-cut in the Fortress lap yesterday, he wasn't happy I can tell you," Jed smirked. "Man, why did we get stuck with that grumpy ass? I'd rather have the tribal woman, she's well hot. She could train me in everything physical."

Evan's smile quickly vanished as he glanced down at the many pods they had to carry. They looked too heavy to carry up the hill.

"What are these things?"

"Vessels from the Iserhian aliens," Jed grimaced, "full of Mavla. Arnvar said they've already been carried to this spot by other Novices, and when we've put them at the top of the hill they'll be picked up by the pixie peddlers and delivered to the city inns."

"Why go through all that?"

"Just so we can use the exercise to build our strength. It's Glarqing slave labour," said Jed, picking up a pod.

"Glarqing?" Evan asked.

"Goblin swear word, I've heard a few Mid-Realmers use it." Jed continued, "And it's way too hot. The weather here is messed up. This one dude told me the seasons are crazy long."

Evan stared up at the twin suns, undecided whether longer seasons was a good thing, he definitely wasn't looking forward to longer winters. Mind you, he reflected, I probably won't last that long.

"Oh awesome," Jed said, noticing Evan's sword.

"I picked this carnelian axe named Murga, crafted by trolls, obviously. Sucks that we can't use 'em yet though, it's driving me nuts."

Evan agreed as they got to work, picking the few smaller pods first, but even they took a titanic effort.

As they talked Evan revealed that he'd just arrived.

"Been here two months myself," Jed said, "but all they've made me do is physical training. They say I'm not very magical, that I'll learn in time. I keep telling them I can do it, but they want proof."

Evan was intrigued. After all, hadn't he himself performed magic last night?

"I was living in Australia when they found me. My dad's Australian and I'd been living with him in the outback. One day there was this great big tarantula in my room. As I stared at it, petrified, it just exploded," Jed chuckled.

"It had to be sorcery. Best thing is me dad knew already, took me straight here afterwards. Told me he was a Venator too, been on an undercover mission on Earth for years. It explained why he always worked away for months at a time. Can you believe it? I thought he was a flaming accountant. I can't do magic when the Masters ask me though, it just happens randomly, you know."

Evan understood perfectly. He explained to Jed how he'd used sorcery for the first time, but hadn't been able to do it again since.

Jed's mouth was hanging open by the end of his story. "Ushk. So you actually fought demons, and you've been to a demon realm? That's amazing."

Evan thought it was more terrifying than anything. "Ushk?"

"It means unicorn dung." Jed grinned. "So how did it feel, using magic?"

Evan thought back. "When the flames shot out of my palms, it was kinda' like a release of pressure. I took an archery class once and it felt similar, like shooting an arrow from a bow, only stronger."

"So cool," said Jed excitedly.

Evan soon learned that Jed was a troublemaker. Ever since coming to Veneseron he'd been shirking his responsibilities and had already landed himself in trouble several times.

"If it's one thing I hate the most," Jed proclaimed, lugging a particularly large pod up the slope, "it's hard work."

Evan found himself instantly liking the Australian.

After two hours of backbreaking work, as evening was blissfully beginning to descend, Arnvar returned. Evan and Jed sank to the ground, painted with sweat and dirt.

"You'll continue this every day after your run, until all the pods are up here," Arnvar commanded. "You may go now, but I expect you back first thing tomorrow."

"Bearded wombat," said Jed under his breath.

"What was that?" Arnvar asked.

"Nothing, nothing," said Jed, hiding his smirk.