Sorcery, Schemes and Skelt: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol II

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

  Sorcery, Schemes and Skelt

  The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol II

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2015 Rachel Ronning

  v3.0

  Cover Photo © 2015 thinkstockphotos.com. All rights reserved - used with permission.

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918610

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  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Chapter 1

  Lucy woke up in her room at the school. She was lying on a comfortable bed covered with a blue quilt. The sun was shining in her window and her aloe plant was thriving. Her bookcases were no longer empty. They were starting to fill with books and other small things. Maya liked to leave bunches of lavender tied with ribbons on the shelves for her. Apparently, Maya thought she needed a calming influence. Lucy sighed, sat up, enjoyed the feel of her shaggy blue rug on her bare feet, and started getting ready for the day. She opened her wardrobe and picked out beige leggings, a green tunic, and soft ankle boots. It was enjoyable to choose and put on properly clean clothes, as opposed to digging through her bag for the least offensive item and then using a spell to try to make it presentable. As she brushed out and braided her long brown hair, she pondered how odd it felt to be back at school. A few weeks running around in the land of Kinowenn searching for the Eye of Elicion leaves its marks on a person. Seeing new places and people was fun. Being attacked and killing people or things was not.

  Lucy hadn’t quite outgrown the school yet. She knew she had a lot to learn, but now there was a small part of her mind that recognized there were important things going on out there somewhere. Not only were events happening, but she had abilities that enabled her to be involved in positive outcomes. There was a world out there she belonged to now. A world she could be helpful in. She looked forward to their next quest on Kinowenn. Lucy sighed and tied off her braid. The best way to succeed at, or at least survive their next quest was to go to class. It was odd to have her day planned for her and meals already prepared. She didn’t even have to pack up all her possessions to begin the day.

  With that thought, she walked down to breakfast. She loaded her tray with fresh banana muffins, kiwis, and bacon. It was luxurious to have breakfast cooked and ready without having to gather firewood and dig through a pack. She walked over and sat down with Maya, her pretty, outgoing, green-eyed friend and quest companion whose blond hair looked different yet still amazing with its new short haircut.

  “Morning,” said Maya with a smile.

  “Good morning,” replied Lucy

  “Ready for class?”

  “I suppose. I’m ready to learn more, but I feel like I should be mounting a horse and traveling rather than sitting in the dining hall or a classroom. You?”

  “I don’t mind not getting on a horse” said Maya with a smile. Horseback riding with enjoyment and ease was not one of Maya’s many talents. In fact, she’d be happy if one of them learned Eric’s door trick and they simply walked through doorways to their destinations, skipping traveling on horseback completely. “I’m excited for my classes, especially after some real world application. They are letting me do an independent study in Potions so I can start brewing and bottling potions we might be able to use. There are all sorts of potions I want to try making that they don’t cover in class. Also, I’ve got some credits to spend on clothes so I’m looking forward to shopping. Want to come with me after class?”

  “I don’t need new clothes.”

  “First of all, it’s not always about need. It’s sometimes about want. Secondly, yes you do.”

  Lucy sighed, “Can we go another night? I want to see how my homework load is going to be before I make any commitments.”

  “We can go another night, but I’m still going tonight,” replied Maya with a smile.

  Maya enjoyed shopping. She was content to shop alone, but she loved giving Lucy opinions on what she should wear as well. Lucy wondered how long it would be before Maya simply started showing up at her door with bags of clothes. As convenient as that might be, it would mean Lucy wouldn’t get a say in anything. Maya’s tastes did run more provocative than Lucy’s. Lucy saw clothes as functional. Maya saw clothes as fun, pretty, and a potential weapon against the male race. If she could flash her dimples and show some skin to get her way, she was going to do it and woe to the man who underestimated her.

  During the conversation, Gavin sat down and methodically began to work his way through an enormous stack of French toast. His blond hair was also short. His physique was comprised of long, lean, strong muscles honed with years of weapons training. He wasn’t the largest student in the dining hall, but he was probably the deadliest. He ignored the clothes conversation. As long as he had something to wear that he could fight in, hot food and plenty of it was much more important at the moment.

  “What’s your first class?” Maya asked Gavin.

  “Battle Tactics. I think of myself as a fighter, not a planner or a leader, but I suppose if you do enough fighting and stay alive; you tend to become a leader of sorts. Anything I can learn will help me. I’m good at fighting by myself. I’m good at fighting with you guys. Learning how to lead a group, or fight with a randomly selected group, sounds like a good idea. I think, for part of the class, we have to lead beginners against each other. I’m used to fighting with people and taking classes with people who have similar abilities to myself.”

  “Gavin, no one has abilities similar to yourself. You are in a class all your own,” said Lucy.

  “Thank you,” replied Gavin, appreciating the compliment.

  “Besides,” added Lucy, “You helped train me, and other beginners before. How different will it be?”

  “I’m not entirely sure how the class will go. Training one person and focusing on one person is different than training a team of people or fighting with them. Trying to coordinate and lead more than one group of people is more difficult than just rushing ahead and taking out everything in my way.”

  It was time to go so they rose and went to class. Lucy looked around, realizing that Justin hadn’t been to breakfast. Justin. Lucy still wasn’t sure what to do about that. She wasn’t totally oblivious to the fact that he liked her, but until he pushed it, there was no reason to worry about it. Learning was the priority, not Justin. Then, he kissed her. She liked it. Simple, right? Wrong. Now what? Now, she had to think about it. How awkward would a relationship make things, and did she even want one in the first place? Half the school already treated them like a couple...maybe it wouldn’t be too weird. No, it was already weird. She wasn’t even sure how to treat him next time she saw him. Not to mention, what was she going to say? How long would he let something like that go without a response or reaction of some type? Eventually, she would have to respond.

  Chapter 2

 
; Lucy arrived at her first class, Combat Life-saving, and sat down. It’s one thing to know how to heal a fever with fennel tea and stitch small cuts. It’s another thing entirely to know what to do with arrow wounds, collapsed lungs, severe weapon wounds, or sudden loss of limb. This was the class to teach you how to do it with magic, without magic, and on yourself provided you were conscious. You couldn’t count on having the energy to do it magically all the time. You also couldn’t count on someone else being able to stop fighting long enough to help you. Some say knowledge is power. Often, knowledge is survival. Today’s lesson was on tourniquets.

  “Tourniquets,” stated Clause, the professor. He was a tiny, elderly man, though still spry with wispy hair and glasses. Physically he reminded Lucy of Ted. Clause also had a similar intensity about him, only with more focus and less blinking. “One of the many useful things you should know how to do. You might lose a limb,” he said a little too matter-of-factly for Lucy’s taste, “But it could save your life. It might give you time to get out of the heat of the battle and to a first aid tent. You should always carry a strip of canvas with you that can be used. It won’t take up much space in your pack or pocket. The canvas should be 1-2 inches wide. If it’s too wide, you can’t get enough pressure. If it is too narrow, you risk damaging the tissue. Even with magic, it can be difficult to repair tissue. Never make a healer’s job more difficult. Always tie a tourniquet 2 inches above or below the closest joint. “

  Clause walked them through the steps, ways of tightening, and securing the snug knot. Then, he had them practice on each other. Not tight enough to hurt each other of course, but to practice precision and speed. Lucy did okay with the exercise, but only if she didn’t think about the reasons for it. She wasn’t sure how she would do with blood spurting, missing limbs, or battle sounds around her. Battle theory was one thing; battle reality was altogether another.

  “Never untie a tourniquet! Ever. None of you know enough to deal with that. Get them to a healer who knows what they are doing, or the closest equivalent. At that point, you can assist and learn, but never untie a tourniquet. Tonight’s reading on pages 5-11 will cover the signs, symptoms, reactions, and treatment methods for shock. This is possibly the most important information you will learn. I will periodically quiz you on this information to make sure it doesn’t leak out of your head,” said Clause.

  For homework, they were also assigned to learn about bones and muscles by reading pages 23-46 of Battles, Bones, Breaks, and Blood. Lucy wasn’t looking forward to finding out what that book discussed or detailed. She acknowledged the practicality of knowing that it was harder to tie a tourniquet tight enough around two bones rather than one. Thus, it was good to know there were 2 bones between the wrist and elbow.

  Lucy’s next class was Magical Battle Tactics. This class didn’t deal with terrain, troop movements, where to position archers, or when to bring in cavalry. It dealt with the best ways to use magic to kill large numbers of the opposition without hurting your own troops. The class wasn’t very large. The number of people at the school who could successfully do magic of that magnitude was limited. Most people learned how to throw a few fireballs and called it good enough.

  There were five people in the class. Petra, a girl with long dark hair and the biggest eyes Lucy had ever seen. Petra had an air of self-confidence about her. Lucy supposed a certain amount of self-confidence should be expected of all of them due to their level of power. Lucy also suspected Petra used those large eyes like Maya used her dimples with equal success. Nate was a very tall, skinny guy who looked like a good strong wind would blow him over. Nate had short brown hair, a long skinny nose, and a tendency to tilt his head to the side when he listened. Brent walked into the room with an air of trouble about him. He was tall and extremely good looking. He embodied the kind of guy women fell for and came off worse for it, especially those who thought they could get him to change. Lucy wondered how she hadn’t noticed him in the dining hall. He must attract attention. He gave both Lucy and Petra appraising looks. Lucy wondered if he was sizing up their magical abilities or their physical attributes. Brent gave her a lazy, self-assured smile that implied both. Walking in at the last minute was, of course, Justin. He smiled, quirked an eyebrow at Lucy, sat down next to her, and brushed his unruly red hair out of his brown eyes. He leaned back in his chair, arms comfortably crossed over his chest, and stretched out his legs in front of him, nonchalantly ready for class. They didn’t have a chance to talk, which suited Lucy just fine. She wasn’t sure what to say after, “hi”.

  Interestingly enough, it was the only course that Eric taught. Usually, he was too busy overseeing students to do much teaching. However, he was one of the few teachers at the school who was powerful enough to teach the class and had the required experience. Eric was an Elf. As such, he was tall, slender, and naturally graceful. His pointed ears were apparent with his long black hair tied back. His piercing, blue eyes were observant below slanted eyebrows. Eric greeted the class solemnly.

  “Before we actually start class, I have one point to make. You are here because you are all powerful. Don’t let it go to your head. An arrow or a dagger in the back can kill you as easily as anyone else. Probably easier because magic users tend to wear less armor than well-trained soldiers. Always be aware of your surroundings. Don’t forget to use your eyes, ears, or brains because you can use magic. Keep your shields up whenever you can.”

  Eric looked around the class, hoping his words sunk in. Having the power to remake the world did not make you immune to a boy with a sling shot and a well-aimed rock. Walking around like you owned the world made you a target. Provoking people for fun tended to make you dead. Eric was always saddened when reports reached him of talented students dying due to preventable stupidity.

  “My goal here is not to teach you how to inflict mass amounts of devastation. However, if you do end up in a battle situation, I prefer my students to possess sufficient knowledge to be on the winning side. First lesson: Why is blasting the earth out from beneath your opponents a bad idea?”

  Justin raised his hand and Eric nodded at him to answer.

  “Provided you’re on the winning side, you most likely plan to move your troops forward. If the ground is impassable, you’ve made life harder on the troops who have to detour around to gain forward ground. If the ground is passable, but rough, you’ve set up a possible area for an enemy to pick off your troops with arrows while they struggle over terrain. On a post battle note, you may have ruined good farming or grazing land. It is hard to feed people without food and hard to grow food without arable land.”

  “Correct. Anything you do in a battle that makes it harder for your own troops is self-defeating. Of course, there are times for acts of desperation, but that’s what this class is trying to teach you to avoid. I would also recommend against using the weather for similar reasons. Weather is very hard to control and can have devastating long range consequences. In a large battle, hail can hurt troops on both sides. Remember, everyone can slip in the mud. Weather battle is not always worth the immense energy it takes. This class is to make you think so you can avoid the excuse, ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’.”

  The class was very interesting and full of things that seemed like common sense when you thought them through, but at the same time they were things that sounded like a good idea previous to the class. For homework, they had to read pages 1-40 of Battle Mages: How to be Effective Without Committing Acts of Gross Stupidity. Lucy hoped the author had a sense of humor. She was acquiring a lot of reading for the evening. At least it promised to be interesting, if perhaps a little gory. It was weird to go from a class on treating major battle injuries to a class on how to inflict them on a massive scale.

  “Walk you to lunch?” asked Justin when the class was over.

  “Of course,” replied Lucy, falling into step beside him. “It’s odd, having Eric as a teacher,” commented Lucy.

  “Yeah, I suppose we’ll get used to it aft
er a couple of weeks.”

  “I’m interested in finding out some good battle ideas. Having a plan on what to do or not do should help make any battle easier. I’d hate to fight a battle using what Eric would call ‘last resorts’ and feel like a complete idiot when it was done and I had time to think. Also, odds are, any battle we end up in will probably be interrupting a quest of some sort. Which means, we will have to report it to Eric at some point.”

  “Very true,” agreed Justin.

  “I’ve had a very battle centered morning. I’m not sure I’m hungry,” Lucy said, more to keep the conversation on safe topics than out of any real conviction.

  Justin let it go and asked her about her morning. Despite her momentary reservations, Lucy ate a decent lunch. It helped that Gavin and Maya were there to keep up conversation. Even though everything felt normal and comfortable, Lucy couldn’t help but be hyperaware of Justin who seemed his usual amused self. He didn’t offer to walk her to her next class. Lucy was somewhat saddened by this, but she supposed Justin had things to do too. She sat through an advanced class on Kinowenn Common Language. After traveling there, she was much more comfortable with the language, but she hadn’t spent a lot of time conversing with the locals, so she still found the class useful. She was assigned more reading and was beginning to wonder if she would have time for everything. Oh well, a lot of reading would serve two purposes. It would give her a valid excuse to avoid shopping with Maya, and it would keep her mind off Justin. Three purposes if you included learning the information.

  Her last class of the day was People and Places of Kinowenn. She was glad she was taking this class. When they had been traveling, she always felt like someone was explaining everything to her all the time. It had helped pass the traveling time, but she hated feeling so unintelligent. No one wants to be the person things always have to be explained to.