Chapter Twenty-Seven
There was only the wind blowing in my ears. The tendrils of air, the sweet murmurs of nothingness, the air that people breathed, it cooed, and it lashed. It was the gentle breeze, and the whip that froze off limbs. It was the wind that called with its capricious nature, and it ruptured in hundreds of tiny seams. My wand stood in my hand even as blood poured copiously down from my split brow, my ears ringing with the hit of an air hammer so strong it made my teeth tremble, and knocked me back far harder than before.
I could see half a dozen of Wardes looming over me, his expression worried even as he had a flask of some foul potion in his hand and was already forcing it down my throat. I gagged and tried to spit it out, but Jean-Jacques held my head backwards so I had no choice but to drink or choke, and by the time I was done trying my hardest not to choke, there was a wet handkerchief wiping away at my face.
"Can...me?" Jean-Jacques said. "Hear me? Henry-can you hear me?" little pops announced that my eardrums weren't busted, only sore beyond belief.
"Jean...stop spinning," I gurgled out. "What hit me...a dragon?" I mumbled. "Did you get it?" I was slowly pulled up, Jean-Jacques holding me as he brought one of my hands over his shoulders.
"We can stop for today," Jean-Jacques said. "I might have hit you too hard."
"Nonsense," I blurted out. "I had the counter-"
"You didn't finish in time," Jean-Jacques said quite gently. "I thought you would, which is why I went along, but you misspelled the last word out of hurry, and so-"
I chuckled, "To think that far ahead while fighting-you're truly blessed with talents, Jean-Jacques," I grinned lopsidedly, "Keep it up. One day I'm sure you'll become...the captain of the royal guards, yeah-"
Jean-Jacques laughed, even as he helped me back up on my horse and took its reins, starting a light trot back to the academy. The day of the runic naming was upon us, and even though the sparring had intensified, I wasn't still any closer to becoming a Line mage than before. Perhaps it was because Wardes was pulling his punches, but even with this, I didn't have a better grasp of Wind's nature. If anything, I had come to enjoy the taste of the dirt, but at least it was good enough practice against a fellow mage -and it paid off, if nothing else because I managed to avoid one air hammer by the blink of an eye that one time, weeks before.
"About your signature spell," Jean-Jacques said, "have you already tested it out?"
"I have," I said with a nod. "There is a really unfortunate tree in the forest that is cursing my name, but I am sure it will work out fine. Though it is a long chant."
"You have all the time in the world," Jean-Jacques said, "Just as long as you properly follow through the instructions the teachers give you. You will be doing simple enough spells-if you had no troubles with them, then you'll do fine. Usually, they simply make you do a spell per element, and finish it off with your signature spell-" he turned thoughtful, "It's mostly the pressure that gets to you. Royalty will be present, so..."
I blinked, "What? Royalty will be present?"
"It's customary," Jean-Jacques said. "Like with the familiar show in second year, or the graduation ceremony in the third year," he added with a smile, to which I replied with a thoughtful humming.
"So...who decides the name? The king? The queen?"
"If you are lucky, your professors," Jean-Jacques said, "I have nothing but the utmost respect for their majesties, but while a professor's idea could be changed, a royal's one...could not." Jean-Jacques shook his head with a smile, and I chuckled in turn even as we returned to the academy.
The day of the Runic naming happened far too fast for my tastes. Of course, my chants were flawless in the Fire, Earth, Water and Wind department, even if Henriette boasted off a strong fire spell and Anthoine did something pretty much similar to it. André's water spell was the stuff of legends, which compared to my practical parts, I did the best in the Wind sector -as was expected of the son of the Heavy Wind was pretty much the only praise I heard carried by the wind.
In the end, the whole royal family had come. Queen Marianne looked quite sternly on, even if she did crack a light smile at the sight of her daughter standing as royal as possible in between her and her husband.
Still, in front of the King and the Queen, with the Princess watching, I had the honor of going first for what concerned my signature spell.
I had faced the oral exams of Calculus One and Two.
This was nothing.
"Rip," I whispered, "Skewer," I chanted. "Tear, and maim." I raised my swordwand, the rustling breezes coming to my call, "Austri and Vestri, Nordri and Sudri," twirling air gathered at the tip "Grip my foe with your gale, and split him apart with your gusts-" there were audible popping sounds in the air in front of me, "by the Founder's will, the heavens as judge, the sky as my witness, I summon you forth. Answer my call, and rebuke my enemy!" the popping sound suddenly clapped like that of thunder, the spiraling sphere of wind rushing forth from the tip of my swordwand hit the armored mannequin head on the chest, forming a small dent on its breastplate, ripping the metal apart.
There was silence for a brief instant, and then the grinding noise of iron shattering echoed as the mannequin twitched on itself, its limbs deforming and cracking asunder as if thrown into a whirlwind while it was being held at different angles, like a doll in the hands of a cruel child who wanted to see how much one had to twist before it broke apart at its seams.
The helmet flew off, the sawdust and straw exploded in all directions, and the armor was pretty much unusable from that point on.
I placed my wand back in my holster, and then bowed to the royalty present.
There was a polite and single clap from the king, and a slightly greater number of claps from Marianne and Henrietta. I took my place back among my peers while Anthoine went next, summoning a Valkyrie with four arms, and two bows, which precisely skewered his mannequin of choice. Again, there was quite the polite clapping.
Henriette's turn had the young woman do something simple, and yet surprisingly effective. She lifted her wand, made her chant, and then a geyser of flames burned to a crisp everything in the general proximity of where she had pointed her wand. Swift, brutal and effective -what was there not to love about this spell?
André brought out of the air a large, highly pressurized wave of water which hit the mannequin straight in the head and ripped it off, before coiling and coming back for another pass that smashed it on the ground.
By the time the showing of the signature spell of the whole class was done with, it was time for the naming ceremony to happen. The professors had been mumbling among themselves for quite a while before nearing the king with a parchment, presenting it to him. He nodded, before the Queen herself decided to have a look and furrow her brows. I did not like that. I really did not like that at all.
"Henry Philippe de la Blois de la Valliere, come forth," the king spoke, and his voice felt old to my ears. He wouldn't live for much longer, would he? Perhaps with his death, and the Queen's mourning, this event wouldn't go this way for Louise -otherwise, Marianne wouldn't allow her friend's daughter to be called The Zero, of that I was pretty much sure.
I walked forward and knelt, my eyes low. "From henceforth," the king spoke as he lifted his scepter to gently touch my right shoulder, "in the name of the Founder and his divine blessing, by the will of the Gods that watch over us, in my name as Henry the Fifth de Tristain, I name thee The Vicious Wind."
"I swear solemnly," I spoke in a firm voice, my fingers tightening around my knee as my eyes remained down, "with my name as proof of my oath to uphold the ideals of the Founder, the Gods, and the Kingdom of Tristain. I swear to be its shield and its sword, until my last breath brings me in front of the judgment of the Gods. Let my name be feared by my enemies, and let it be cherished by my allies."
It was rite. Was this something Louise would ever need to do? Would she have to bite back her tears as she said the same stuff, with The Zero as the nickname?
"Then rise, Lord Valliere," the king spoke, and I swiftly stood back up, bowed as deeply as I could, and then proceeded to walk back into the line with my heart drumming a hundred times faster than before.
I was alive.
Everything had gone well.
My mother was going to kill me through training alone.
Everything was going to be fine.
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