The Magic of a Touch Ch. 04

Once Jeremy decided he was going to do his best at the tryouts, he knew he would have to do some serious studying. Not of the spells, he knew more than most as far as the mechanics, but of the rules. He didn't want to let Angel down by not getting in because he didn't know the rules. What spells were illegal? What tactics were used a lot? What did a flanker do, besides the obvious? He spent one evening with his nose in a Wizardball book when he was supposed to be studying for a test. It was in herbology and one he felt confident he would pass even without study since Grae was talking about only two things: herbology and Darcy agreeing to take him to the formal.

The two of them were so cute together. While Jeremy was sitting on the sidelines of their budding romance, he could see that Grae had been smitten from the moment they met. Darcy had made no secret of her attraction to him, but romance for a half succubus is generally not in the cards. When he had asked her, she immediately said yes.

Grae had come back to the room to find Jeremy doing some light reading of a simple plays. The biggest grin ever was on his face. "Rampaging and grinning again?" the sorcerer asked.

"Grinning yes. Darcy said yes." Watching the half giant do a little dance of joy was probably the most adorable thing in existence. One part Hustle and three parts lame. "I'm going to the formal, I'm going to the formal." They heard a giggle from outside their window and Jeremy's grin got bigger. Grae rushed to the window and unerringly looked across the way to Darcy's window where she stood. "Hello, beautiful."

Wow, Jeremy thought, putting the moves on. "You are such a liar. You're blind." There was nothing cruel in her tone, just a bit of teasing fondness.

"Not when I look at you." Jeremy chuckled and saw Grae blush a bit. "Even a blind man can see how stunning you are." The sorcerer got out of bed and went for a walk, Archie blinking to his shoulder.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." They, of course, ignored him.

While he was technically supposed to be in his dorm after a certain hour, he also had some leeway with it because he could, at any time, have a lesson with Haggath. Which was sanctioned by his master. Jeremy decided to take his walk out to the grounds around the school, making the rule book float in front of him so he could read while he foraged for spell components. He was foraging from a particularly nice specimen of Gorget Vine, which was great for potions to heal throats, when he felt something behind him trying to be sneaky. He knew it was not hostile because Archie was still on his shoulder and had not made any moves. When the blink cat meowed softly Jeremy smiled. "Angel, why are you off the grounds?"

"Arch, you gave me away." Jeremy smiled over at the cleric, who was dressed in rugged clothing, a rope over his shoulder, and a large sack. "I'm going hunting for cliff drake eggs."

"Really? Making a salve against dragons smelling you?"

Angel grinned. "You really do surprise me how much you know about everything from books. It can also be used in a poultice that draws out wyvern poisons." Jeremy filed away that tidbit and looked at Archie, who took the vine from him and vanished to put it in his room. "He has really changed, hasn't he?"

"Very much. Part of it was the attack, and part of it is he likes you and doesn't want you to think badly of him." Jeremy held out his hand and Angel smiled, taking it. "I know a bit of how he feels. Want company? The moss that grows near their nests should be about ready for harvesting."

The cleric nodded. "Reading up on the rules?"

"Yeah. I have never once seen a game of wizardball and honestly...I'm a bit lost."

Angel squinted at the book. "How can you read in this low light?"

Jeremy tilted Angel's face to him and kissed each eye lid, casting a small spell for night sight. The cleric smiled and blushed a bit. "Better?"

"Yes," Angel murmured. "So, there are five people on the team. Two Strikers, two Flankers and a Defender. Also four balls that you do your best to hit your opponents with. Hitting them and them not catching it means they are out of the game."

"Like dodgeball," said Jeremy and Angel looked confused. "Normal game, never mind."

"These balls can be enchanted to do various things like slow down the next person who touches the ball, or freeze them in place. Nothing that causes damage or is dangerous." Good to know that he would not necessarily get hurt during a game. "There are four zones in the game. Center front, center back, left and right flank. The Strikers occupy Center front, or CF, for most of the time, but they can go to any flank spot if the flanker has been hit and is out. Likewise a Flanker can go into CF if there is only one Striker there. CB is where the defender is. That's me. My role is to counter their hostile effects and deflect the balls from you if you're not looking. I can go to any zone I want and back to my own. Stepping over into the other team's zone while it is occupied means a forfeit for the team, but if it is unoccupied you can take control of it.

"There are three rounds that are played. Eliminating the opponent team ends the round. First to win two rounds wins the game. Any questions so far?"

"So...what spells are legal? How are the rules enforced?"

"Spells that do not harm. Slow spells, stop spells, confusion, things like that. Directing where the balls is supposed to go is also legal, although most people don't bother with it as those spells are easily countered. The rules are enforced by two referees, one on each side of the field, and one head ref who sits above the field and has final say if the others disagree on a call." Jeremy nodded.

Angel was going over everything he could think of as they walked on. The terrain got more and more rough as they went higher towards the cliffs. "So I could put someone to sleep and then hit them with a ball?"

"That's pretty standard and the other Defender would be watching for something that rudimentary."

"So I can't hurt them...transmutation?"

"Shape changing takes too long to cast, but it's not illegal." Jeremy was slowly coming up with some strategies while they climbed.

"How about curses? Are they allowed?"

"Depends on the curse. I have a list of illegal spells back in my room. We can get it when we get back. It's pretty long." Angel pulled himself over the edge and then pulled Jeremy up. From this height they could see all the way to the school and even the swamps beyond. The moon was just coming over the rim of the valley and it was huge. Nearly full, it showed the entire valley in stark shadows. The stars were twinkling and a soft breeze played games with the upper branches of the trees below.

"When was the last time you were up this high?" Jeremy asked, still holding his hand.

"About a year ago. It is rather splendid to be away from all the stress of school." He looked up at Jeremy whose eyes still shown from the night vision spell. "Why is it that you like me?"

"I don't know. I mean I should really dislike you for the crap you helped with over the years. But honestly, you were never that much of a git. You studied hard and passed exams. You tried your best and got back up if you failed. It's nice to see someone who genuinely tries to be the best that he can be. Then the fight happened and all the stuff afterward I mean you healed Archie and he hates to be healed." Angel smiled. "I really don't know, except I do like you. A lot more than I should with our past and so short a time as friends."

"At least..."

"This is new," came a voice that had them both slightly peeved to annoyed.

"Go away, Ivan. You really know how to ruin things." Jeremy was only slightly annoyed to see his brother.

"It's a gift. So this is your cleric boyfriend, huh?" Ivan came over to look at Angel. The clerics face was a bit flushed. "Yeah, I can see it. He likes you a lot, Germ." The geomancer walked away. "Oh, and he likes you back, cleric. See you at the tryouts." Ivan walked into the mountainside, molding with the rocks and then was gone.

"That was the arena builder."

"That was my brother." Angel looked at him. "Not as much of an ass as he used to be, but still annoying."

"You told him I was your boyfriend?"

"Not in so many words. Just asked him to make traps for non-Clerics. The rest..." Angel squeezed his hand and grinned. "Come on, lets get those eggs. Sooner done, the sooner we can come back here and relax." The sorcerer pulled him into his arms and they began to levitate off the ground and up the mountainside.

"You really have grown in power, haven't you? Weeks ago you couldn't do much at all, but now your floating us up the cliffs."Angel looked at the glowing swirls of purple energy beneath their feet. It looked like small galaxies or fireflies in a purple wisp cloud. When he looked back he saw Jeremy smiling down at him. Their lips met softly as they rose into the sky and towards the nests of the peaceful drakes.

Peaceful until someone seemed to have pissed them off. The cry of the male drake came from all about and Angel incanted a shield that made the drake bounce off. The small dragonlings were not happy right now"I'm going to toss you up there, Angel. Can't keep them off while holding you." He nodded and then was flung. Jeremy was a lot stronger than he looked and Angel easily cleared the edge to land next to the nest.

Angel began casting more of his own shields to ward away the drakes, and if they bypassed those, he had shields to block incoming attacks. Each of them was just a wizardball to the cleric and he knew how to handle them. Auras of blue and white energy surrounded Jeremy and himself. Then he landed on the ledge and began to assess what he could use here for spells. When his eyes fell upon the bones of the dead he grinned and his arm were encased in black energy as the bones began to move to the necromantic whim of the cleric.

Jeremy didn't want to hurt the drakes. They were only protecting their nest and he could understand their point of view. That point of view intended to hurt him, so he had to get his point of view across. With a strong wave of both arms a massive wind whipped up and the drakes were flung aside for a moment and it was moment enough for Jeremy to join Angel on the cliff. Even with the winds howling he could hear Angel incanting necromantic spells and he saw the multitudes of bones around. Jeremy knew what he was doing, but Jeremy could not use cleric magic. Yet, he had studied cleric verbal spells and knew how to adjust for some basic spells. So he listened while he made the winds so wild the drakes could not compensate and could not come in for an attack.

Bone drakes leaped into being and began to chase the drakes around the sky. Jeremy was in awe of how many Angel could control at one time and how varied they were in their movements. The bones drakes didn't actually hurt the drakes but they were kept busy as Jeremy dropped the wind and concentrated on a completely different targets. He let out a very high pitched tweet beyond the range of human hearing and he saw the cave bats come flying towards him by the dozens. When they were in range Jeremy stunned them and then laid them out on the cliff side. "Angel, grab the eggs." Angel saw the bats and nodded. The bones drakes instantly broke up and fell like the lifeless things they were. "Drakes, whatever we did to rouse your ire please accept these bats as token of apology. There are many for you to consume if you hurry."

The drakes hissed and growled at them as they landed. Angel had grabbed two eggs, the most he could take from any colony, but he seemed to take ones that seemed discolored. They backed away from the nests, Jeremy snagging the moss from the rock wall, and then began to climb down. The drakes did not bother them again.

Once on more level ground Jeremy looked over at Angel. "You really are a powerful necromancer. One would think your family would not want to make you upset."

"Thanks. My father does not even acknowledge necromancy as a source of magic given to clerics as everyone knows necromancy is for wizards and being likes hags and troll shaman." He was of course being sarcastic. Hags couldn't use necromancy like Angel had used and trolls could never control more than two skeletons.

"I'd like to learn more about it. Sorcerers don't use necromancy much as we don't use verbal spells often enough."

"Can you cast adapted spells?" Jeremy nodded and cast a small ball of light.

"Not much but it's a start. I took the class in conversions thinking I might be able to get better that way. Still didn't have the energy. Is necromancy illegal in the game?" Angel shook his head and then looked right at him with a grin. "We have one week. Could you get special permission from your master to get out late every night?" Angel thought and then nodded. "Good. Since you want me on the team, lets make them want me on the team."

The duo spent every second they could together going over spells that could and could not be cast. Jeremy knew he could unleash his sex appeal and even the straightest guy would notice, but that would be countered very quickly. Still, Jeremy was not without resources for nasty spells. One evening he dragged Angel along to one of his lessons with Haggath. "A swamp hag?" he asked incredulously.

"She's not that bad. Just remember to insult her and pay no attention if she insults you back." He nodded, but to insult someone and they accept it? Angel smiled to himself. It was like being at home.

Fred was not at home as UCLA was in session. When Haggath saw Angel her eyes narrowed but they opened even wider after that. "Bringing a guest without telling me?" she shrieked.

"What of it?" Jeremy replied and Haggath laughed.

"You are such a nuisance," was her response and Jeremy nodded and gave her a hug. "Who is this, now?"

"This is Angel Dragonfist. Cleric and powerful necromancer. I've come for my lesson, he's come to watch, and we've both come to learn a few more things about the undead that the college won't teach."

Haggath just cackled. "I love when you come to me for illicit spells. If I had a heart it would be so proud."

"You do have one, Haggath. It's in a jar on the mantle." Jeremy grinned at her even more loud cackle.

Angel sat and watched as Jeremy went through a series of exercises to keep his energy in check and with it his sex appeal. His power was more difficult to control because he had so little experience controlling the urge to go have sex. She would throw spell after spell at him and he had to keep his energy from flaring. A slow burn is what she called it. Angel realized as he watched just how strange it must be to be Jeremy. His only real friends are outcasts. Graeboe, Darcy, Haggath, Fred...himself. Yet, those bonds were strong. Even his friends were becoming Angel's friends...and his friends were becoming former friends.

Angel came to when Jeremy snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Lost in thought?" Angel could see Jeremy was lathered in sweat. He must have really been working hard. How tough was hag magic?

"Just thinking about friendships. That Haggath is a nasty bit of work and she loves you dearly." There was a snort from inside.

"Yeah, she's a cranky old bat, but she's one of my best friends. So, lets go see what bits of nasty we can pick up from her."

The guys went inside to find her setting out a set of old bones. Not human either. Goblin by the look of the head. Angel could feel the powerful magic in the bones and it was only getting stronger with each bone laid out. "Old Scratch here was a bokor for his tribe. Powerful juju in these bones."

Angel looked closer. Goblin bokor used a type of magic that humans called juju. Some sort of mystic power over the elements humans could only touch on, but their best known magic was over the undead. "Haggath, do you know something about juju?"

"More than humans, less than Scratch."

When the last bone was set and eerie feeling whirled around the room. It came with a moan and a rattling that settled into the bones. They twitched and then shook and then stood up on their own. The eyes glowed an otherworldly purple as darker smoke plumed out from its mouth like putrid breath. "You call me again, old hag? Do you have payment?"

Jeremy spoke up. "I have the payment." What payment, Angel thought. He hadn't known anything about payment.

The skeleton looked at Jeremy. "I know your blood, sorcerer. It has mighty juju. Payment is met." Angel gasped as he saw blood pool on Jeremy's skin and the goblin bokor seemed to suck it in and it groaned in ecstasy "Good juju. You have question! I have answers." The boys grinned.

The tryouts were the next day and the following weekend was the Formal, after the first game of the season: JV versus Varsity in a warm up game for the upcoming year. It was more of a destruction to JV, really, but it also was a way to see the new talent that would replace the ones leaving. Much to the utter shock of the rest of the Varsity team Jeremy came in dressed in Flanker gear that was not new but was still in good shape. Handed down from Ivan who was a bit happy to see his youngest brother at least trying out.

"You'll do fine, Germ. Just no making the team run at you for sexy times in the middle of the match." Jeremy was, of course, not amused.

The room was packed with students as tryouts were a public event and why not see if they can handle the pressure of public ridicule from the start? "Just great. Why are you even here, freak?" asked Erich.

"To try out for the team. Now that I can cast spells, you may want to pay attention and learn a few things." Jeremy got right up next to him and his eyes went the blackest they ever had been. "If I find out you were connected to Archie being hurt, the school will not be able to protect you." His voice was cold and Erich felt a moment of actual dread. He felt compelled to tell the truth.

"I didn't attack you familiar, Jeremy. I don't care much for you but I would never stoop to that."

Jeremy's eyes returned to their normal color. He was shocked. Erich had never used his name. He took a step back, no one having seen the exchange. "Thank you for being honest. Do you happen to know who did?"

"No one I hang out with. We're not the best at runes and my familiar is a salamander." A fire breathing lizard that would maybe get two feet long. Not an animal that attacked Archie. "So you're serious about trying out? Then we'll try you on all positions. Except Defender." That was always a cleric and they had a defender.

"Good enough." They parted and Jeremy went to sit with the other hopefuls. The first people to go up were the JV players. Since they already knew the rules they would show the noobs what they should and should not do.

Jeremy watched as the first and second string of Varsity were divided up and the empty spot taken by a hopeful on each side. "The match begins as the balls drop," said the ref. The four balls were held aloft above the center of the arena which was sectioned off into two sides. "Remember, nothing lethal or harmful."The balls dropped. Jeremy watched avidly as the games progressed and realized that Angel had been coaching him on the team's maneuvers the entire time. He saw the plays he had been practicing in his head and saw how he would fit into them in all four other places. He saw that the teams were not going all out, this was tryouts, but they weren't going easy on them. This was probably their drilling speed.

When it was Jeremy's turn the crowd got silent. It was odd for him, the school pariah, to try out for this team when his rival was the captain. "Who wants Jeremy?" asked Erich. No one raised their hand. "Fine. You're with me, Left Flank." Erich didn't seem too happy, but this was Wizardball, not school politics.