The Divine Gambit Ch. 06

I was having no more luck than Sam, and in fact, my progress was probably worse. I had no issue gathering the energy as Marcus described, but my first attempt to inscribe any words on a test piece of metal incinerated the spot where I had made contact and scorched the entire sheet. My subsequent attempts showed a glacial amount of progress -- I was no longer destroying the whole sheet after half an hour, merely burning large swathes near where I was trying to form my connection without leaving anything resembling writing. What a mess.

After a while of instructing two struggling novices, Marcus relented and gave the two of us some space to continue without pressuring us. I sat back and relaxed and watched Sam as she chewed on her lower lip and furrowed her brow in intense focus. After a moment of struggle, she swore under her breath and sank back into her chair, a minute extension to the curve of the S added onto the metal sheet that would've been easy to miss if I hadn't been intently observing her.

"Fucking hell, J. This is so embarrassing. I'm supposed to help you understand magic; all I've done today is show just how incompetent and limited I am."

I laughed softly and pointed out my own failings. "Sam, you have half a letter perfectly inscribed, and I have a pile of ashes. I think Marcus left us alone so that he could write up an invoice for all of the supplies I'm destroying."

She laughed politely at my self-deprecating joke and said, "Do you think there's something we're missing? Is there a secret we were supposed to figure out for ourselves?"

I thought about it for a moment and had a brilliant fragment of inspiration. The dragon in my mind was disappointed that it had taken me so long but understood that I was led away from the obvious solution.

I answered Sam confidently, "I don't think so. Marcus reminds me of an adjunct professor, scared that any poor review could tank his entire career before he gets a full-time position. If this were some kind of puzzle, he would've shared the answer by now simply in an attempt to placate me."

I paused, and Sam nodded in agreement. "However, I think there is an obvious solution to our struggles here. Let me gather and hold all of the energy, and then you take the tiny amounts you need to write both of our names from me directly. Can we do that?"

Sam's eyes shot open, and she asked the most Sam-esque question I could've imagined, "Yeah, that's possible. Wouldn't that be cheating, though? Aren't we supposed to finish this ourselves to learn about the enchanting process?"

I suspected that Antonin designed this activity to teach me an entirely different lesson, but I didn't want to share my musings with Sam just yet.

"I don't think so. Marcus just told us to get our names onto the metal, right? He didn't say we couldn't work together or that we had to complete it ourselves. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? They aren't going to throw us out of school for plagiarism or anything like that."

After a moment of turmoil clearly written on her face, she acquiesced. "Alright, James. Just, be really careful, alright? I'll take what I need. If you try to push into me, you could seriously hurt me. Collect it, and hold it firmly. Please be conservative with how much you give me. This could be bad if something goes wrong."

"Sam, I would never try to hurt you. I promise to only gather the energy and open myself to you and nothing more. You can take what you need."

Sam slid right next to me and tenderly grasped my hand. She looked nervous, and I could smell her anxiety, but I was unsure if it was because we were breaking the assignment rules or because of the potential risk of what we were doing. I closed my eyes and breathed in, reaching out to collect the arcane energy surrounding us.

When I had collected what I could gather comfortably, I reached out mentally and found Sam's reflection. She petitioned for permission to access my reserves, and I gladly gave her what she wanted. I opened the gate to my metaphorical pasture just a crack, and Sam gasped in her seat next to me, a momentary flash of absolute horror passing through her. I heard her inhale sharply, and her hand clamped down brutally on mine. It faded quickly, replaced by awe and disbelief, a shiver passing over her body.

She whispered, "Holy fuck," before I felt the tiniest amount of energy depart. It felt like she had taken a spoonful of cement away from the concrete jungle of a metropolis. If I hadn't been intensely monitoring the transfer to observe what she was attempting, I probably wouldn't have even recognized that she was borrowing from me. At the rate she drew from me, it would take her years to use an amount I had collected with an absentminded deep breath.

With my eyes closed, I could feel her begin perfectly engraving our names into the metal plate. Over the next few minutes, she carefully and precisely imbued each letter, returning to me several times for another raindrop of energy from my veritable ocean. The experience was surprisingly intimate with how connected we were, and I could smell Sam growing aroused as a result.

When Sam had almost completed both of our names, I allowed the gate to creep open a little more to sate my growing curiosity. She exhaled violently and gripped my hand fiercely but quaked in her seat instead of finishing the enchanting. She whimpered achingly; I would've been certain she was in immense pain if I couldn't smell her emotions. Moments later, she shuddered and let out a gasp, breathing rigorously.

She slowly relaxed her death grip on my hand and wrapped up composing our names on the metal. She withdrew her connection to my energy stores a moment later, and I opened my eyes.

Before me was the most impressively pristine piece of scrap metal I had ever seen. Written in an impeccably beautiful script, "Samantha + James" adorned the sheet of metal, ensconced inside a heart. When I looked at Sam to congratulate her on how well we had collaborated, she blushed furiously and refused to meet my eyes.

"Sorry, I just got caught up in the moment. Just how intense our connection was. I'm sorry. It was really presumptuous of me to do it like that. It's not fair to --"

I cut her off before she continued apologizing by hugging her powerfully. "Sam, it's perfect. I couldn't have done it better myself. I think we should bring it home with us."

She met my eyes and quietly asked, "You don't think Beth will take it the wrong way?"

"I think Beth will take it perfectly." Beth wanted Sam to become romantically involved after all.

Sam nodded and surprised me by returning her hand to mine. Her grip was compassionate and gentle this time, and I could smell the fulfillment and pride emanating from Sam as we sat quietly, reveling in our accomplishments. After reviewing her handiwork, she turned in the seat to lean her back against me and pulled the hand I was holding around her side. She closed her eyes and relaxed, softly exhaling in contentment.

I did feel slightly guilty at the moment, as while I was aware that Beth had intended for Sam and me to bond over my magical lessons, I wasn't sure anyone would have been able to predict just how much we had. My only assurance was that Beth had insisted upon it, and I found myself hoping that she would never come to regret encouraging Sam and me to reconnect.

We waited patiently for several minutes, content to rest with our assigned task completed. Antonin indelicately returned to the library, allowing the door to slam behind him with his hands full of papers. Hearing this disturbance, Marcus scrambled to come to check on us and was astounded to find that we had actually completed the assignment. Evidently, our early struggles convinced him that it would be an unproductive lesson. Or, perhaps...

Antonin gracelessly joined us at the table and observed the single plate with a combined inscription. He looked at me with a level of surprise and pride and said, "So, Drakeling. You managed to complete the task. Tell me how you did this."

He watched me closely as I described sharing the arcane resources with Sam and allowing her to do the actual enchanting.

"That is clever drakeling. Incredibly arrogant and reckless, placing your companion in extreme danger, but clever nonetheless. I had intended to have you fail this entirely. It isn't important if you know how to enchant at all. I think you understand this as well. What do you think the real lesson of today was?"

I swallowed hard, feeling appropriately rebuked for my unsafe behavior, and answered, "I think you wanted to remind me that I have limitations and weaknesses. Everyone else is deferential and terrified of offending me, but as my teacher, you need to keep me grounded enough so that I can assess my abilities accurately."

"Well put, drakeling. Precisely. I wanted you to struggle today, and you did. You learned that there are things you cannot do, at least not alone. I hope your eventual success doesn't diminish this for you. Thank you, Marcus, for your instruction today." With the dismissal, the nervous man bowed slightly, thanked Antonin for the opportunity, and exited the library. He seemed content to be excused, not even displaying annoyance at having to teach an impossible lesson unknowingly.

As the door shut, Antonin shifted two papers across the table to me. One had a printed QR code and a list of things, with my name hastily written in pen at the top. The other was a formal invitation to the Eastern American Magical Society, requesting an official appearance at Aisling's open court. Both sheets had tomorrow's date. My previously vacant day seemingly now included a public appearance and some other engagement.

I looked over the list on the first piece of paper and eventually pieced together that it was a list of recommended exercise equipment. After giving me a moment to look at the documents, Antonin spoke and explained.

"You need to make an official appearance so that unbidden rumors of your arrival do not spread. Aisling won't be publicizing that you are a dragon but will instead provide an invitation as if you are a foreign dignitary of some importance. It will keep those casually interacting with you from accidentally spreading unwieldy information. If they see what they expect, just another diplomat, you will have more time to carve your own path.

"The second is a code to allow you into our security forces exercise facility. It's on Walnut, between 15th and 16th streets. Tomorrow, you will appear at the court and, afterward, meet with one of our security officers to begin your physical development and acclimation. Those were the requested supplies from Sergeant Lyon. You don't need them for tomorrow, but you probably will by Thursday.

"We will meet again Wednesday. I would encourage you to bring Samantha to our lessons. I imagine she will be suitable and conducive to your instructions. A better fit than the shielded girl, certainly."

I nodded, agreeing that Sam was better suited for his lecture environment than Beth would ever be. Sensing that our time was drawing close, I probed the elder for answers to Beth's curiosity.

"Antonin, do you know anything more about the non-lethal bite I have? Beth was intrigued at the potential, but I wouldn't want to permanently inflict something like that upon her."

His stern grey eyes focused on my face briefly before he shook his head. "I've told you all I know, drakeling, and much of it was hearsay. If you desire it, I am confident we could locate many volunteers willing to undertake the risk for a chance at the experience. Assuming you'd follow through with the rest."

I felt my stomach turn at the thought of damning someone to a lifetime of purgatory simply to understand my body more. I must have cringed because Antonin nodded in agreement with my reaction.

"Indeed, drakeling, the potential for unpleasantries is significant. You may need to come to terms with that rather quickly. I appreciate your benign naivete, but there will be many distasteful events in your future. It is wonderful that you confound your forebearers and insist on cautious benevolence, but there are times when... What is it the humans say? You will need to break the eggs to make the omelet. Should you pursue this on your own and discover something reliable, I request that you share it with me, but I have little in regard to specifics for you."

I collected the papers in my free hand and nodded my understanding to Antonin. Sam grasped the piece of metal with our names on it and clutched it to her chest.

"Then be off with you, Drakeling. You performed satisfactorily today. I need to clean up your struggles and discuss things with Marcus."

With our presence no longer required, Sam and I walked out of the library and out of the courthouse. Back on the street and out of hearing of anyone from the courthouse, Sam leaned into me as she had when she finished engraving. She spoke softly, trying to diffuse her criticism with her gentle demeanor, while she fiddled with her phone and ordered us a ride.

"I think he's a good teacher and will help you immensely." She paused, trying to find an eloquent way to continue what she wanted to say. "I don't like him. He was quite rude to me, and Marcus was terrified of him."

I nodded, understanding where she was coming from. "I can see why you feel that way."

She sharpened her eyes onto mine and challenged me, "You don't agree with me."

I sighed, "Not exactly. I don't disagree with you, but more important things were at play. Antonin intentionally antagonized you to see how I would react. I believe he was trying to decipher our relationship and if I would need guidance on handling insults directed at my friends. As an advisor to Aisling, Antonin needs to evaluate me in every way possible, so he needed to know if I would be liable to experience an emotional outburst the first time someone insulted you or Beth or Cynthia in public. He was blunt and terse yesterday, but not provocative like that, so I can only imagine there was a reason. Given the circumstances, it makes sense to prod me via you to see how I will react. It wouldn't do well if I burned the city down tomorrow because someone said Beth dressed like a slut.

"I also don't know if Marcus was terrified of Antonin, or if he was terrified of me, or if he was terrified at the ramifications of having to teach two largely incompetent students how to do something at the behest of the greatest scholarly influence in town. How would it look if you were given the greatest job in your field and immediately tasked with something impossible to accomplish? Probably nervous and incredibly stressed, I would imagine. Even if he wasn't told up front that we would fail, he knew what he was doing. One look at our first attempts, and it would be plain to him. The prospect of failing to teach something so basic to someone as important as I'm lauded to be would've hung like a guillotine over his head. But, I think Antonin knew that and actually expected him to fail to teach us. Given that enchanting is his natural gift and would've been the gift of any of his prior students, he probably wasn't used to having people struggle as much as we did. The beginning stages will have come easy to him and his students in the past. Antonin wanted me to experience failure, so he gave me a teacher that wouldn't have experienced teaching anything but the first step on the checklist, never having needed any other lesson materials before."

Sam let my words settle in her mind and ultimately concluded, "I stand by my feelings. He's a good teacher, but I don't like him. It wasn't right to attack me like that, even if it had a purpose."

I wasn't interested in arguing with her about it. Ultimately, I was unsure if I liked him or not as well. I shrugged, "It wasn't pleasant, but he got his information quickly and efficiently. Enough of that, though; let's talk about how great you were at enchanting. I can't believe how regal our names look on a scrap piece of sheet metal."

Sam blushed immensely, and she responded, "J, my god. I knew you had a lot of energy in you. You kept me up for all of Friday night by illuminating the entire city with your warding of Beth. You charged my crystals by casually holding onto them for half an hour." She turned to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck, stretching onto her toes to look fervently into my eyes. "But holy shit. Being linked with you like that puts it into perspective. You could've flooded and destroyed me like a billion times over, and that was the amount of energy you grasped in a moment to lend to me. I might be the weakest mage in the city, but if you averaged the two of us, we'd still be top 10 in the country."

She paused momentarily, and the gleam in her eyes shifted to borderline fanatical adoration. "James, you're practically a god compared to the rest of us. You collected an amount of energy beyond anything I've ever conceived of and held it unflinchingly for at least fifteen minutes. There's no wonder you burned your plates -- holding onto one of them and exhaling would have overloaded them. I was terrified when you first opened yourself to me. I thought I was dead, that you had fucked up and overloaded me, and I was about to melt down in the middle of the library. When I didn't die, I realized it was you, holding a planet-sized amount of mana at bay for me to come and take. Terrifying and awesome."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her against my chest. I felt her whimper and shiver again and inclined my head so that I could whisper into her ear. "Sam, I told you I would be meticulous and wouldn't hurt you. I'm not inclined to break my promises, particularly those to beautiful women and especially those to my closest friends. I will need you to tone back your hero worship a bit; You sound like a giddy schoolgirl who just saw her favorite pop star in concert for the first time. I'm still just the James you grew up with, the guy you went to school with."

She shook her head into my chest, "Nope. I was already a fan of the boy I went to school with, and I just found out he's the most powerful man in the world."

She slowly disentangled from my hug, and we waited quietly for the next minute until the ride she had requested arrived. We remained quiet on our way back to the apartment, with the only words spoken thanking the driver for his services.

Opening the door to the apartment, the enticing smell of something cooking immediately greeted me. Cynthia and Beth chatted over a wok on the stove while Evgenia sat at the dining table. The peanut aroma and visible noodles let me guess what they had been making.

Beth flew like a shot out of a rifle over to us before Sam was even through the doorway, hugging me and then hugging Sam. Cynthia gracefully took over the final cooking duties, allowing her protegee to leave. Unfortunately, Evgenia stiffened again in reaction to my presence. Her obvious discomfort made me feel guilty. Would releasing her be the right thing to do? How was I even supposed to find out? Every question I asked would come with the asterisk of implied authority, as if I was a police interrogator looking to catch her in a lie.

Sam accepted Beth's hug and then went to join her mother. Beth pulled me further into the apartment to our bedroom. The inside was covered in a dozen bags from various shopping outlets. My initial reaction was to cringe in apprehension at how much this had cost. Eventually, my mind caught up to reality, and I remembered that, for some insane reason, everyone was fawning over me in a rush to offer tribute. This had cost me personally nothing. The dragon soul encouraged me to think further than that -- these were offerings to a king, but a morsel of a glorious tithe that was owed to me. I shuddered at the sour taste that was left in my mouth, especially at how soon it had come from my interaction with Ev.