The Archmage Read online

  The Archmage

  CHAPTER 1

  New Job

  Jonathan looked down at his new robes and gave himself a grim smile. Jonathan would be an instructor in the Tower of Magic, he along with his friend Red had become the first official commoner mages to ever instruct and stay past their second year. Jonathan’s mother and father had stayed for their third year but their situation was described away as being two people who needed additional help since neither one of them passed what was then the final exam. In reality, their instructors had seen something special in both of them and wanted to cultivate it for the kingdom. Jonathan’s mother and father both thought Jonathan was good enough to be held back for his third year at the Tower and they would have been proud. Jonathan was proud of himself but still wished they were around. Jonathan wiped away the tears that threatened to form and fixed his face into an unfeeling stare. It was the same face he gave everyone but his friends, it gave away none of his emotions. It was a mask that allowed him to unsettle even the biggest of loud mouths, Jonathan knew it was not long until he ran into another one.

  The senior class that would be coming back to the Tower would leave him alone. They had been present when Jonathan blew a hole into the side of a dragon and chased away another one. There were people who were angry that he chased the other dragon away, Prince Xalen, Lord Russell Golad, Lady Farrah Golad and Jonathan’s fellow instructor, Monica Manchin. That group wanted to kill their own dragon and thought Jonathan was a glory seeker who wanted to prevent them from doing so. While there were some people in the senior class who believed it, they could not downplay that a single mage had been able to chase a dragon away. The incoming class would be a different story, they would see a commoner instructor and instantly try to prove themselves, especially against Jonathan. The majority of noble mages thought Jonathan was overrated and were incensed that he had been named the Queen’s Champion. They would want to test him out, at least he would have company.

  Jonathan was part of a group known as the Big Four. The Big Four had gained notoriety as the strongest class of mages to ever come out of the Tower. Many people wanted to try their chances against them and one of them, Monica Manchin was also teaching at the Tower. Unlike many noble mages, Monica could only cast one spell at a time. Many of these new students would try her as well, they would instantly regret it. Monica was self-conscious that she could only cast one spell and would put people down harder than necessary.

  “What are you doing looking at yourself in the mirror?” Red asked. “Are you turning into some kind of Fancy Dan now that you have on those instructor robes?”

  “Sod off,” Jonathan replied. “I am just getting ready to deal with the new class coming in.”

  “Good luck with that,” Red laughed. “I am strictly dealing with commoners who have never had a decent education. I have spent all summer perfecting my reading, numbers and mage history. I think I may know those books by heart now. I won’t ever deal with the little brats so I doubt I would ever be picked out. You though, I know some idiot is going to try you. You figure out how you are going to deal with it? What the Tower Mage has you teaching is going to get a lot of fights going.”

  “Mage combat,” Jonathan said and sighed. “There are going to be many fights in there but I know why he is doing it.”

  “You do?” Red asked.

  “Now that I am gone, the midnight fights are bound to start back up,” Jonathan replied. The midnight fights were fights between mage students and often got out of hand. Red had been seriously hurt during the midnight fighting and Jonathan thought they were just a reason for noble mages to pound on their less talented commoner counter parts.

  “So by having you actually teach the class, that can cut down on students challenging each other,” Red said.

  “And if I see a problem it can be handled in front on me where I can stop it before it gets out of hand,” Jonathan replied.

  “Well just be happy it is just the first years and you only have to hear them every other day,” Red replied. “How much trouble can they be?”

  “A lot,” Jonathan replied. “We are the youngest official mages here, they are going to try me. Monica is teaching Magic against Mundanes, she is bound to have her share of problems as well.”

  “She is a noble,” Red replied.

  “She is a woman,” Jonathan said as Red finally got his point. “I just need to decide how I am going to take them down. I don’t really want to cast too much lightning magic, I know Russell and a lot of others have been trying to study it.”

  “Well you went off last year and destroyed the sparring area,” Red said. “Everyone has already scouted that move.”

  “Which is why I want to go with something else,” Jonathan said. “Maybe I will use the same technique I used against Monica’s father. I am quicker than anyone I have met and that is including Russell and Farrah. I can cast eight spells at a time so maybe a heavy helping of magebolt will catch some people by surprise.”

  “Why you even worried about them?” Red asked. “We both know none of them are nothing special. In any other class the Prince and that knobber Gerald would have far and away been the top graduates and you could wipe the floor with them. Go out there and be Jon Thunder and everything else will fall into place. If I were you, I know exactly how I would take them down.”

  “Well out with it then,” Jonathan said.

  “Cast a few magebolts followed by shatter followed by an assload more magebolts,” Red laughed. “The first few magebolts, if the mage is too slow will hit home, if it does then you can forget about shatter and put the muscle to em. If they block then tear down that shield with shatter and let your big spells blow them apart. Put them on their asses and make sure to give them the Morningstar treatment.”

  “You want me to be a sadist?” Jonathan asked.

  “Pit no,” Red said. “That would get me and you in trouble. I want you to do what you did to Morningstar. Make a big example out of any loud mouth you can find.”

  “I cannot do that,” Jonathan replied. “I am not just some angry boy anymore.”

  “I keep forgetting my best mate is the Queen’s Champion,” Red said. “But you can still put their ass down like I said then leave them be. I will make sure there is no sneak attacks or anything else. How long do we have until they get here?”

  “Less than a day,” Jonathan replied. “Some of them should be coming by tonight. Tomorrow morning is when everything happens. The second years belong to Mage Tabitha, Alissa, and Monica. Me, you and Lehman have the first years.”

  “I hear that there aren’t any girls in this class,” Red replied. “Absolute pity.”

  “You still going on about Poppy?” Jonathan asked.

  “Easy for you to say, you don’t have to see Farrah at all,” Red replied. “But she does have to be around a little, the Queen wants her Big Four to meet the newcomers and see them again in Vashing for the midterm.”

  “When did you hear this?” Jonathan asked.

  “I heard it from Monica,” Red replied.

  “Well there is one girl in the new class,” Jonathan replied. “She is a noble who was expected to be here next year. I don’t know much more than that. You shouldn’t be worried about that anyway. There are going to be more than enough girls here. The old set up is going down, from what I hear a select few mundane nobles are getting the opportunity to train in the Tower.”

  “Mundanes?” Red said surprised.

  “Is that you Lord Russell?” Jonathan teased. Russell Golad had little use for mundanes no matter their bloodline.

  “You and Lord Russell can kiss my freckled ass,” Red snapped. “I just didn’t think they would have mundanes in the Tower. What would they do here?”

  “They wo
uld marry a mage,” Jonathan replied. “Our new class is going to be fourteen strong, four of them are going to be commoners like us. You have never really met Prince Jeffrey, trust me when I say that knobber is against commoner mages marrying other commoners. He is against female commoner mages marrying anyone other than a noble mage. I bet the people who are coming are going to be mostly girls from rich families.”

  “But what the pit are they going to study?” Red asked.

  “All about mages and what we can do for the kingdom,” Jonathan replied. “I am just guessing of course. Pit, I don’t even know who is going to teach them. Maybe special instructors have to be called in to teach them. I just know that somehow they are going to be with us.”

  “Is that what that monstrosity is they are building next to the commoner barracks?” Red asked. “I thought they looked a little too nice, I thought they were finally moving the commoners into somewhere where they could have their own rooms.”

  “Not even,” Jonathan laughed. “Those are for the mundane nobles coming to study. Notice that they are right up against the commoner mage barracks.”

  “One of those fools is going to try and dip their wick and wind up married,” Red said. “No noble is going to be happy with his little girl getting defiled without making the bloke pay for it.”

  “Like Poppy?” Jonathan teased.

  “That flower was already wilted long before I got there,” Red said. “And I would have married that one, she wanted to be with that damn Prince. Good thing this instructing business came along, now I don’t have to suck up to her.”

  “You could have ran off with Bill,” Jonathan said. “I am sure there were plenty of girls willing to give you money for a little sausage.”

  “Probably,” Red said. “Anyways these birds are bound to be rolling in dough. I bet they do not even know why they are here.”

  “Yeah they do,” Jonathan replied. “They were given the opportunity to study their education far away from their parents. They can let their hair down and meet a bunch of mages.”

  “Talk about a letdown,” Red laughed. “They are going to think they are just like our noble mages because they come from money.”

  “They will get some looks,” Jonathan replied. “Not all noble mages can marry other mages. Many of the males here will be lucky to have one of them.”

  “We both know they are only going for them once the mages turn them down,” Red replied.

  “There are only two females in the senior class, did you forget?” Jonathan asked. “We both know Poppy is off limits which leaves that witch Cara.”

  “She is a smart one,” Red replied. “Still, I wouldn’t fuck her with your cock. I guess you are right, if those girls want a mage then they are walking into a perfect setup for one.”

  “Enough of that,” Jonathan said. “We are getting kicked out of the tower.”

  “What do you mean we are getting kicked out of the Tower?” Red asked. “I just made it in here.”

  “The Tower Mage thinks it would be better if we had a room in the mundane barracks,” Jonathan replied. “It would stop any nobles calling people out if my class doesn’t work.”

  “I don’t want to sleep with them,” Red said.

  “There are two big rooms that were built inside of there,” Jonathan informed. “The rooms are way bigger than what we have and the stuff inside is nice. I wanted it to be a surprise, they just finished it so we are going to have to move in there.”

  “How much bigger are we talking about?” Red asked.

  “Big enough that the only rooms that are bigger belong to the Archmage himself,” Jonathan replied. “Now let’s move our things before the rest start pouring in.”

  CHAPTER 2

  New Initiates

  Jonathan slipped on his instructor robes and decided to keep his Champion robes hanging up. Jonathan knew he would stick out anyway by being an instructor, instructors were the only mages authorized to wear light orange robes. Jonathan’s robe would have the thick white stripe accenting his hood and sleeves which would make it obvious to anyone that he was a commoner. Jonathan would meet all of his students today, he knew they would be there a little after sunrise and would need to hurry up and get settled. Jonathan walked out of his room and knocked on Red’s door, to his surprise his friend was already gone, probably to eat. Jonathan walked out of the commoner barracks and was surprised to see the mundane noble barracks were already bustling. Servants were hauling in big trunks of things and the sight made Jonathan smile. Those poor rich people are going to be angry when their servants get kicked out. The more Jonathan thought about it, the more he thought these nobles should already know that. Jonathan surmised that was the reason the servants were working before the sun came up.

  Jonathan crossed the field and was about to walk into the Tower when he heard a voice call out from behind him. Jonathan turned around to see a girl around his age, she had her head held high and walked over towards him like a mother about to scold a child. Jonathan thought she was an okay looking woman, she had on a light blue dress and it was obvious that someone had done something to her hair. Jonathan let her approach but stayed calm, whoever this woman was probably was going to leave the conversation disappointed.

  “You there, who are you?” the girl said as she got right up on Jonathan. Jonathan was tall for a man and was able to look down on the girl. She had short brown hair that barely hung to her shoulders in bouncy curls. Her eyebrows were thick and brown and Jonathan thought the faint dark circles around her eyes helped pull off the look. Of course Jonathan was looking at her by the faint light of the dawn sky so he figured she could have been uglier than he thought.

  “Jonathan,” Jonathan replied. “How may I help you?”

  “Are you one of those commoner mages?” the girl said. “I just cannot be this close to commoners and I demand to be placed in the Tower.”

  “I am a commoner,” Jonathan replied. “And you will stay where you were put. If you have any issues, then take it up with the Tower Mage.”

  “Just who do you think you are talking...” the girl began before Jonathan cut her off.

  “I am talking to you,” Jonathan snapped. “You are the only idiot out here.”

  “Do you know who I am?” the girl said seething.

  “No one important or particularly bright,” Jonathan replied. “If you were then you wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and dress down the Queen’s Champion. Find out what happened to the last noble who challenged me, ask him if having powerful family members helped him out in the end.”

  Jonathan left the girl and turned into the Tower. Jonathan figured that she probably had never been dressed down that way by a commoner and didn’t know what to do from there. She should probably get used to it Jonathan thought, he couldn’t imagine Red taking it either. Both of them had saw their share of friends get killed fighting the dragons, the entire senior class only had one commoner mage returning and he had married a noble during the summer. Life was too short to be talked down to by that girl, perhaps she would have better luck yelling at the new arrivals whenever they got there. Jonathan went to the dining hall and hurriedly ate, the place was filled with instructors trying to get some food into their bellies before everything began.

  “Jonathan Thunder,” Monica Manchin said from the across the dining hall. “You think you are really something don’t you? Just because you became an instructor.”

  “I know I am something,” Jonathan replied. “Your little friends are not here anymore, come off it and act like you have some sense.”

  “You aren’t even teaching the upper class,” Monica said. “You or your little hound.”

  “Does it matter?” Jonathan replied. “I am making the same coin you are and so is he. Now if you are done, I have food to get to. Things were much nicer when you were gone, me and Red had this place practically to ourselves and now you are here.”

  “And I am going to stay here,” Monica snapped.

  “Because
Russell didn’t want your ass!” Jonathan laughed.

  “And Farrah, I don’t see her here either,” Monica said.

  “Well both of them will about today and tomorrow,” Jonathan said. “Good luck to you, I think you and Russell deserve each other.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Monica asked suspiciously.

  “He means that you are a colossal twat and so is His Lordship,” Red said joining the conversation.

  “Where have you been?” Jonathan asked.

  “Getting ready for today,” Red replied. “Some of those little misses are going to tutor some of the dumber blokes we get. I didn’t even know how to read when I first came here.”

  “And you only can read a little better now,” Monica said.

  “Well we can leave this shrew right here,” Red said. “You wanna spy some of the new students? I think some of them are coming in now.”

  “I wish,” Jonathan said. “I have to get with the Tower Mage and introduce myself along with the rest of the Big Four. We are supposed to talk about how scary it was to fight the Raelinians and how mind bending it was to fight a dragon while still a student inside of the Tower.”

  “I was there too,” Red replied. “True I hid like a scared dog when the dragon came, but I killed my share of those Raelinian bastards and even help put down a rogue mage.”

  “Who wants to hear a story from a mage as weak as you?” Monica snapped. “They want to hear from the Big Four.”

  “Remind me, who is the fourth member?” Jonathan asked.

  “And you are barely third,” Monica said. “At the end of everything you were not the top mage in our class and you barely beat me by less than a full point. You only know how to fight, that doesn’t make you all powerful.”

  “Give yourself whatever excuse you want,” Jonathan said. “Now why are we hating each other? Is it because Russell and Farrah are coming or is this genuine?”

  “I don’t have time for this,” Monica said as she stood up and started walking away.