Chalice of Life: Chapter 4

Silenus tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the associate he was supposed to meet. The alley was almost completely dark if not for a single lamp that illuminated the entrance. There was also somewhat of a foul smell in the air that tickled Silenus’ nose. Silenus soon heard the sounds of footsteps walking towards his direction, he looked up to see a man in dark black robes heading towards him hastily.

“What do you want?” asked the robbed figure who turned out to be a young man with neatly parted black hair. He spoke with distaste in his voice towards Silenus, cutting off Silenus before he could speak. 

“Our master has an assignment for you, Alrick,” answered Silenus flatly.

“Your master is not my master. I do not answer to him,” conveyed Alrick, with the sound of contempt clearly in his voice.

“I beg to differ,” replied Silenus, “your father made a blood oath with the master. Swearing his fealty and that of his entire household to the cause. That means you are one of us- bound to serve our master until your last day.”

“What if I refuse, Silenus?” questioned Alrick as his light blue eyes narrowed, reflecting a flash of vindictiveness in them. 

“Well we don’t want anything untoward happening to your dear mother, or your younger sister and brother, do we?” remarked Silenus with a sinister smile on his face, not even trying to hide his threat behind a veil.

“If you hurt them or lay a finger on them...”

“We won’t hurt them,” interjected Silenus, “if you carry out the master’s wishes.”

It was one thing for the master and what few fanatical followers had left to go after him for disobeying the master’s orders. He knew he could protect himself against them, but it was another thing to go after his mother and siblings, people who would not be able to stand up against the master’s followers. “What do I need to do?” asked Alrick with the sound of defeat in his voice.

A sinister grin grew on Silenus. “The master will be very pleased with your decision, Alrick, very pleased.”

*******************************************

Sherlock walked into the duelling practice hall which was filled with all the first year students that were enrolled at Cambroxzen. The noise level in the hall was deafening. Many if not all the students were talking to each other. Some students, were voicing their excitement and could not wait for the tutorial to start, while there were others who were relaying their fear and nervousness about dueling to friends who were scared and nervous as well, and of course there were some students who just waited quietly for the tutorial to begin. Sherlock had to weave through groups of students to reach where his friend and former mentor Charles Warrington was standing. Sherlock smiled as he greeted some students who had said hello to him as he made his way to where Charles was standing, which was on a large elevated rectangular arena which was located at the centre of the duelling room.

The dueling practice hall was spacious and was located on the third floor of Cambroxzen castle. Perhaps the most noticeable fixture of the room was the large rectangular dueling arena located in the middle of the room. The room had thin windows that almost touched the ceiling on the right side of the hall, which let in the light during the day. During the night and on dark gloomy days two large beautiful and ornately decorated wooden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling as well ornate lamps mounted on the walls illuminated the hall. . Beautifully framed portraits of former Cambroxzen dueling champions as well as students who had gone on to be famous duelist hung on both sides of room’s walls.To serve as an inspiration for young duelist. There were a couple of long wooden stools facing the arena that students could sit on it they so wanted, but none of them were being used tonight. 

“Sherlock, right on time,” said Charles with a smile on his face as Sherlock walked up to the arena.

“Sorry for being a tad bit late, Charles,” apologized Sherlock as took his place beside Charles on the area.

“Nonsense, you’re right on time. Plus it’s not even 8.30 yet” said Charles to Sherlock, who was his former student. Charles scanned the room, counting the number of students that were present. Charles clasped his two hands together as he finished counting the number of students that were present. “Well then, shall we start the tutorial?” Sherlock nodded, supporting Charles’ suggestion to start the tutorial. Charles took out his wand from his black leather jacket’s inner pocket. It was a beautifully made wand, the colour of its wood resembled that of ivory from an African gajaleph. Charles placed his wand a few inches from his mouth before he spoke to it.

“Good evening students,” wished Charles to his first year students, his warm and friendly voice echoing thorough out the high ceiling room due to the voice amplification charm he was using. “Welcome to your first duelling tutorial class, the first of many duelling tutorials that you will have to undergo during your time at Cambroxzen. Today you will be taught the proper combative stance you have to take while duelling, as well as the formal salute you have to give your opponent prior. Mister Tan and I will first demonstrate to you all the formal salute and the proper combative stance with a demonstration. Mister Tan, are you ready? ”

Sherlock nodded, his chestnut wand already in his hand, ready for the dueling match against Charles.

“Very well, take your position Mister Tan,” said Charles before walking to one end of the rectangular arena. Sherlock did the same, walking to the other end of the arena. All the student’s eyes were looking at the arena, waiting in anticipation to see the duel between two of the teachers. Sherlock and Charles brought up their wands vertically, placing their respective wands only inches away from their face before bowing in respect to one another, both duellist then took their formal combative stance. Charles nodded to Sherlock, in which Sherlock nodded in return.

“Debilito,” said Charles thrust his wand hand forward, starting the duel between him and Sherlock. A blue bolt of magical energy shot out from Charles’ beautiful ivory coloured wand and sped towards Sherlock.

Sherlock moved his wand hand downwards in a slashing motion hastily as he uttered the word Perisius, producing a shield spell that protected him from Charles’ spell just moments before it hit him. A bright blueish white light was produced as soon as Charles’ spell impacted the protective charm that shielded Sherlock. Almost immediately after that, Sherlock trained his wand directly at Charles before saying the word Auferoarmia. A white bolt of energy surged out of Sherlock’s wand and sped towards Charles.

Sherlock’s spell impacted against an invisible protective barrier that Charles had cast without uttering a single word. Like Sherlock’s protective barrier, Charles’ protective barrier let out a bright blueish white light when Sherlock’s spell made contact with it. Charles instead of firing another spell towards Sherlock nodded to him, in which Sherlock responded with a nod as well. Both wizards then proceeded to place their wand vertically in front of their faces before bowing to one another, ending the duel. Both Charles and Sherlock walked to the centre of the arena from their respective duelling positions to address their captive audience.

“And that, my students is how a formal duel would normally begin and take place. That being said, most duels you will have to engage in will not start like the way Mister Tan and I have demonstrated in front of you. In fact, most duels you might have to engage in your life will forgo the formalities,” remarked Charles to all his first year students who were all eager to listen to what Charles had to say. “Since we have covered the basics of duelling, let’s start with a few practice duels. Now when Mister Tan calls your name, please come up to the arena. Now I know some or many of you are afraid, don’t be, Madame Wade is standing ready to treat any injuries you might get, and Mister Tan and I will end any fight if it starts to get out of hand. Mister Tan, you have the floor now.”

“Thank you Mister Warrington. Now when I call out your name, please come up to the arena,” instructed Sherlock with a friendly tone in his voice as he took out a piece of parchment from his pants pocket. All the students waited to see whose name would be called up first by Sherlock. “First up is Mia Alana Tan from Owllaria and Malana Jay from Battaroz.”

Both students made their way through their fellow classmates and walked up to the arena. They were both around the same height, but there is where the similarities end. Mia had straight shoulder length dark brown hair with rosy cheeks while Malana had long and curly and rather wild black hair that was tied up into a ponytail. As the two students walked up to the arena and took their positions at opposite end of the area, both Sherlock and Charles walked down from the arena. Both students had their respective wands drawn, ready for their practice duel. Of the two girls, Malana was clearly more excited, and was enjoying the attention she was getting. Mia on the other hand was more quiet and reserved.

“Alright, begin with saluting one another,” instructed Charles from the sidelines to the two girls who were on the arena. Both Mia and Malana followed Charles’ instruction and saluted one another. “Excellent, now let the duel begin. The winner is whoever manages to disarm the other,” said Charles to the two girls on the arena.

Both girls were unsure of what to do after saluting one another. They just stood there with their wands drawn, one waiting for the other to initiate the duel. The first year students in the hall waited in anticipation for one of them to make the first move, some of the students were cheering either Mia or Malana on.

It was Malana who made the first move. “Adcopias,” said Malana loudly before a maroon bolt of energy sped out of her wand and made its way to Mia. Mia side-stepped to the left, Malana's spell missing her by only a half of an inch.

Mia after barely dodging Malana’s spell, composed herself and pointed her wand towards Malana. “Garriendo,” yelled Mia before an indigo bolt of energy sped towards the direction of Malana. Malana was not as lucky as Mia, and Mia’s spell hit her in the chest before she could dodge it. Malana fell down to the ground, grabbing her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably. Malana tried to get up to her feet, but she could not because of the intense tickling sensation her stomach was feeling.

Garriendo, most impressive, mused Sherlock from the sideline, when I was her age I could not even cast a spell like that.

Charles walked up to the arena and made his way towards Malana who was still gripping her stomach as she continued to laugh uncontrollably, now with a look of discomfort on her face. He knelt down before taking out his wand and tapping in on Malana’s forehead. Almost instantly, Malana stopped laughing uncontrollably, but she was still gripping her stomach. Mia just stood on the other end of the arena, unsure as to what to do.

Charles helped Malana up who was still clutching her stomach before looking towards Mia, “The winner of the practice duel is Mia,” announced Charles to the rest of the first year students.

Mia walked over to Charles and Malana. “Are you alright?” asked Mia to Malana with concern in his voice.

“It still hurts a bit,” groaned Malana who was still clutching her stomach.

“Mia, take Malana to see Madame Wade,” instructed Charles to the young Owllarian student. Mia nodded before walking down the arena with Malana, who was still clutching her stomach. 

The rest of the practice duels for the night ended in either two ways, with one dueler beating the other, or both duellers incapacitating one another. The match immediately after Mia and Malana’s was between a boy from Staggeron named Benjamin and a merboy from Foxzaria, which ended in a draw when both of them knocked each other out. The match after that ended in a win for another boy from Staggeron named Taufik over a boy from Owllaria. Madame Wade had a relatively busy night, taking care of the students that were suffering from minor scrapes and bruises, healing them and giving them sweets afterwards, but it was nothing the caring and jovial experienced matron could not handle.

Charles and Sherlock decided to end the tutorial class for the night after the most recent match ended in a draw. Charles and Sherlock helped the two most recent combatants get down from the arena and to Madame Wade who was waiting to receive them with a warm smile at the base of the arena’s step, she had two stretches levitating beside her for the two students, if they needed it. 

Charles after making sure the two were safely in the care of the jovial and rather plus-sized black matron, addressed the students. “I am very impressed by some of the performances I saw tonight. Very impressed indeed,” praised Charles who was standing on the arena. “Now remember, there will be a dueling tutorial once every month from now on. In the next meeting, Mister Tan and I will be teaching you all how to properly disarm an opponent using the disarming spell, which is one of the most important spells you would ever learn when it comes to dueling.” With that last announcement, Charles dismissed all his students and released them to the care of their respective house prefects to lead them back to their respective dormitories. The students exited the hall, house by house in rows of two.

“Well I think today went mighty well, don’t you?” expressed Charles with a smile on his face to Sherlock who was standing next to him, who were watching the students leaving the hall.

“I’m actually quite impressed by some of the spells that were used here tonight,” commented Sherlock. “When I was their age, I could not cast spells like Garriendo, Lidahligans and Scirtoallegra. Students these days are getting smarter, well some of them anyways.”

“I could not agree with you more,” agreed Charles. “So have any plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m going to the Enchanted Forrest for a hike,” answered Sherlock, not wanting to divulge the entirety of his plan. “How about you Charles?”

“I’m going to be catching the Crickboft match between the Scarlet Devils and the Azure Lion in Manchester,” answered Charles as he rubbed his two hands together.

After the last student had left the hall, Charles and Sherlock also proceeded to make their way out of the hall and back to their respective rooms in Cambroxzen’s huge medieval castle to turn in for the night.

******************************************

Alrick hastily made his way through the Enchanted Forest, each step faster than the last. Although it was the night of a full moon, the moon’s glow was blocked out by the clouds, necessitating Alrick to use a wand lighting spell to light his way. Alrick finally reached his destination, a small open clearing in the middle of the forest. The forest was quite, and not a sound could be heard.

Alrick pointed his plain and slightly curved hawthorn wand downwards towards the ground of the open clearing before uttering an incantation. Almost immediately after Alrick finished the incantation, a grey glowing circle with runic inscriptions appeared on dirt ground before fading as quickly as it had appeared. A cold breeze washed over Alrick and the area before the ground started to glow grey like it did only moments ago. Four bright green flashes of light appeared almost simultaneously, followed by four walls of thick green smoke that smelled like ash. The thick smoke obscured Alrick’s vision, preventing him from seeing who had just actually teleported onto the island where Cambroxzen was located on. Someone finally stepped out from behind the thick wall of smoke, it was Silenus, followed by three other Dread Bringers.

“Good job Alrick, good job. I knew you would not let the master down,” said Silenus with a wide smile on his rat like face. The three other Dread Bringers that had followed him stood behind him quietly.

Alrick felt a wave of disgust wash over him as he heard Silenus’ words of praise. “I’ve done your master’s bidding, now you stay away from my family” demanded Alrick to Silenus who was standing in front of him.

“Our master, Alrick. Our master,” corrected Silenus. “And we’ll leave your family alone once we are done with our mission here.” With that Silenus signaled the other Dread Bringers to follow him, deeper into the enchanted forest.

“That was not part of the agreement,” voiced Alrick with discontent as he pointed his wand towards Silenus. The three other Dread Bringers drew their respective wands and pointed it at him in response to Alrick’s action.

Silenus chuckled. “I’ve changed the deal.” remarked Silenus with an evil grin on his face. “And you are in no position to make any demands Alrick. Remember, your family’s life is on the line.”

With that, Alrick dropped his wand to his side in defeat, no longer pointing it towards Silenus. Silenus laughed as he walked away from Alrick with his fellow Dread Bringers following him closely behind, deeper into the enchanted forest. Alrick did not move, he just stood there, staring at the ground in defeat