The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(15)

“Now, find an empty space in the room and listen to what I say. If you listen and you work, you will find this easy. If you don’t, you will not,” Renmark warned. The class dispersed, each student finding an empty space on the floor, in between the desks.

Standing at the front of the room, his black robes swamping his meager frame, Renmark began to instruct them on a series of patterns and movements that would enable them to use the same spell he had just inflicted upon Billy. A spell to incapacitate one’s enemies, making their bodies convulse and spasm, rendering them defenseless. It involved both intense focus and complex hand gestures. Alex bent his wrist around with the rest of them until he thought it might snap, even though he knew he could not conjure up the spell Renmark desired. Jari bristled with energy as he created a thin filament of magic between his fingers, and looked to Renmark. The professor seemed impressed, asking Jari to send the spell toward him. Jari obeyed, flicking the thin stream of magic toward Renmark, who snatched it from the air and held the conjuration in front of him, inspecting it closely before clapping it between his hands, the golden wire of energy dissipating into the air.

“A good first attempt,” Renmark commented. “Now do better.” He turned to prowl around the room, inspecting the other students’ work.

As Renmark neared Alex, Alex looked over to Natalie with mounting concern. She stood far enough away from the professor, whose back was now turned. Alex watched as she moved her hands delicately, the twist of her wrists a natural one, unlike Alex’s haphazard attempts to copy the movements. Before his hands, she conjured a stream of magic, thin and wire-like, just as Renmark reached Alex’s position in the classroom. It was all Alex could do to keep his anti-magic from manifesting as the professor bent to inspect the conjuration. He pursed his lips in confusion, looking from the manifestation to Alex and back again.

“Not bad. Not good, but not bad,” Renmark said, finally, as he stood to his full height, his eyes narrowing in suspicion before he turned sharply away. The spell disappeared as soon as Natalie stopped her wrist movements, and Alex breathed out in relief.

The lesson seemed to go on forever, the spells getting gradually harder as Renmark challenged them more and more. After the incapacitation spell, he taught them how to freeze an enemy, followed by instructions on how to create a magical spear that would cause intense pain to the inflicted, and, finally, a method for laying a weak curse within somebody—a temporary one, intended only to affect the cursed for a day or two.

Prowling around the room, his eyes ever watching, Renmark observed sourly as the students attempted to follow his instructions, to varying degrees of success. Whenever he passed Alex, Natalie would hurry to create the spell again in front of Alex’s hands, but it proved more difficult than either of them had suspected; the spells were complex and took a great deal of energy to conjure. Each time Natalie stepped in to help Alex, the task grew harder. The shimmering golden glow of Alex’s apparent magic emerged, a faded, feeble echo of Natalie’s original conjuration. It seemed that creating such an advanced spell, even at that short a distance, was a tricky thing to execute. Renmark grew less and less impressed by Alex with each lap around the classroom as Alex’s ‘magic’ dimmed. Natalie cast a worried glance at Alex, mouthing an apology, after Renmark moved away for the fourth time, tutting under his breath at Alex’s clear lack of talent.

With each spell, Renmark would bring a student up to the front of the class to fire a newly acquired conjuration at him, only to fling it away with ease, a smirk lifting the corners of his grim-set mouth. It was clear to everyone that Renmark was a truly remarkable wizard. Even under Natalie and Jari’s artillery of strengthened power and self-taught spells, Renmark brushed off every attack as if it were little more than a fly.

It was only when Renmark retaliated that things became interesting. It was obvious to Alex that the professor liked to duel with his students, that he relished exerting his power over them. Ellabell had managed to dodge a series of magical spears, out of sheer luck rather than any attempt to defend herself. Even with her talent for shielding, there hadn’t been time to utilize shields in the face of Renmark’s swift, savage delivery. She was only given a second to panic before she had to slide one way, then the other, ducking and weaving between the glinting shafts of the thrown spears.

Jari hadn’t fared much better, only narrowly missing the thin stream of magic intended to make his body seize up into convulsions. When Renmark sent another, Jari had thrown up a frantic shield, the dome crackling, and made from a weaker veil of magic than usual, barely able to keep the slender bolt at bay. The two stood at an impasse, the sliver of magic trembling in the air. The tip of Renmark’s bolt buzzed and sparked against Jari’s hastily made shield, unable to get fully through as Jari strained against his opponent’s strength. Only when Renmark flicked his wrist, removing the stream of magic, did Jari breathe a sigh of relief, bringing down the shield around him.

Natalie put up a good fight, deflecting the first two attacks without much trouble. Renmark used some spells none of the students had seen before. Alex saw sweat beading on Natalie’s forehead, her brow corrugated under the pressure as she raised shields and twisted her hands. Her fingers danced delicately in the air as she sent Renmark’s barrage of spells crashing into the walls as she cast them aside. One spell slipped through, and she lost control of her powers. The spell hit her square in the shoulder, and Alex nearly stood from his chair. Natalie winced on impact, letting out a gasp of pain. A burn mark had appeared in the black material of her top, singeing the skin beneath.