Page 3 of The Tribes of Magic
I hesitated.
“Don’t worry. I promise it’s not a trick.” Conner’s face was as relaxed as Kato’s was serious. “This will befun.”
Kato folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t think?—”
“Good. No more thinking for you,” Conner told him breezily, then shifted his gaze to me. “Magic isn’t about outlines and charts and checklists, Red. It’s not about thinking at all. It’s aboutfeeling.”
Kato made a dissenting noise deep in his throat.
Conner ignored him. “So here’s what we’re going to do, Red. We’re going to turn this training session into a fun game.” He whistled, longer and deeper this time. Three mounds of snow rose from the ground. “This is a three-way battle, and those are our bases.” Another short whistle. A pile of snowballs formed behind each of the three forts. “And that’s our ammunition. Use your snowballs to attack your opponents, and use your agility to defend yourself against your opponents. Got it?”
I nodded.
“Then let’s get this party started!”
“I can’t believe a snowball fight is your brilliant idea of how to train an Apprentice,” Kato grumbled as we all headed to our respective forts.
Conner shot him a crooked smile. “You’re only bitter because you know you’re going to lose.”
“That’ll be the day.” Kato ground his teeth together like he was chewing on gravel.
Conner snickered, then swung around to the backside of his fort. “Everyone ready?”
I gave him a thumbs up. And Kato gave him an eye-roll. But we all grabbed a snowball in each hand.
“Go!” Conner hurled a snowball at Kato.
Kato ducked to the side, simultaneously catapulting a snowball at me. This time, I was fast enough. That and the fort took the hit for me. I peeked over the top just long enough to launch another snowball at Kato. Of course he evaded it. He was too quick.
“Ha! You missed!” Kato called across the snowy battlefield. He really seemed to be getting into this.
I threw another snowball. It swished past him.
“When this is over, we really need to work on your aim?—”
Kato’s rebuke was cut short when my snowball collided with the tree branch looming over him, causing it to shed its heavy, snowy load. He burst out of the snow pile that had buried him, spitting and spluttering.
“Don’t talk during battle, Kato. It divides your attention,” I told him with a sly smile.
“Good one, Red!” Conner howled with laughter.
That laughter turned into coughing when my snowball slammed into his face.
Kato snickered.
With a dark smile, Conner lifted his hands in the air, using his magic to send a few dozen snowballs at Kato. Kato did the same, and the two of them went to war, me and my training completely forgotten. They continued fighting long after they’d run out of snowballs. They drew runes and threw potions. They cast illusions and summoned forcefields. They even cast lightning and dropped huge tree branches out of the sky. It was a pretty spectacular display of magic, and I would have been impressed—if they weren’t trying their best to hurt each other.
“Stop!” I shouted at them.
They didn’t listen to me. I even tried hitting two sticks together—loudly and repeatedly, making a lot of noise—but I wasn’t sure they could even hear it. So much for focusing your mind and leaving your emotions at the door. Neither of them was breathing evenly either.
“You guys really need to cool off,” I muttered, focusing on the snowy forest behind them.
I mimicked the low, long whistling noise Conner had made earlier to create the big forts. If I could grab control over all the snow in the forest, I could build a high wall between the boys.
That was the plan anyway. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan. Instead of a wall, I created an avalanche that poured across the field like an angry river, burying all three of us.
CHAPTER 2
