“Clear,” Altair said, coming up to stand next to Christine, flashing her a little smile before focusing his attention entirely on Master Pinton.
Christine tried to do the same, but Jessie’s elbow dug into her side. She turned her head slightly to see her friend bounce her eyebrows several times.
No, she mouthed to her friend before staring straight ahead, ignoring any further reaction.
She did not like Altair.
He was cute.
Nothing more.
Chapter Eight
Altair
IT WASN’T LONG AFTER he arrived that they broke the group up to begin running simulations.
“What’s going on?” he asked as the first group of six witches stepped forward.
“It’s time to start learning to work as a team,” Christine explained. “It’s best to do that by going up against enemies and defeating them. The more we work together, the more we practice, the better we get as a team. Learning everyone’s strengths, weaknesses, and how to best compliment them.”
“Right. Okay. I get that,” he said, feeling stupid and uncomfortable. “But how are they going to do that? We’re deep in a mountain. Shouldn’t we be outside, trying to find some creatures to fight or something?”
“We go up against simulations of the enemies,” she said, as if that explained everything.
Suddenly, the room darkened. Altair watched in astonishment as landscape grew up around them, appearing out of nowhere.
“What the—” he growled, taking a step backward as snowy mountains arose out of nowhere and the air grew colder.
“Relax,” Christine said, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on his arm. “It’s fine. It’s just fake. Made from magic.”
“I didn’t know you could do such things,” he said calmly. “Wow. Magic is cool.”
The witch giggled. “You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone look at magic with such wide-eyed wonder. It’s...really a nice reminder that yeah, it’s cool.”
The first group of witches disappeared into the scene that had arisen in front of them. Christine and her friend, along with Altair, were in the next group to go.
“So, the enemies are out there?” he asked as sounds of fighting came from somewhere in front of them. He could hear witches shouting, some sort of creature howled before the whistle of the wind robbed them of all sound from the fight.
“Yeah. Fake ones, magical constructs. That’s what this whole place is for,” Christine explained. “There are spells placed on it that make creating this easier to do, so that witches can run it again and again.”
“Very good.”
Master Pinton appeared. “Next group. You’re up.”
Altair moved forward with his group, though he wasn’t sure what to do. He kept glancing at Christine, watching her, trying to understand what was expected of him. There had been no instruction, no orders. Just ‘work as a team, defeat the enemy’.
He didn’t even know what they were up against.
At one point, Christine looked at him. Their eyes met and he fought back the urge to smile at her. She was quite pleasant to look at. He’d noticed that when she’d tracked him down in the hallway, but now that he knew her, knew more about her, he found himself drawn to her again.
Something roared to his left. His head whipped around just in time to see a three-headed dog the size of a dragon burst from a snowdrift and come charging at them.
The witches all leapt into action, while Altair stood there and did nothing, simply watching Christine as she barked orders at her group. He didn’t know what to do. Striking it with lightning would do nothing, it was just made of magic and—
One of the heads snatched at him, picked him up from the ground and flung him twenty feet through the air where he hit the cliff face and slid to the ground, landing in a snowbank that cushioned his fall.
Behind him, the witches shouted and magic lashed out at the creature. Chains of blue magic shot up and over the massive thing, driving deep into the ground on the far side, while the witches themselves anchored the other end.
The beast howled. Altair groaned, getting to his feet. For something magic, it hit hard. That spiked anger in him, and he lashed out with it, striking the creature with lightning.
One of the heads exploded where it struck.
“Stop it!” Christine shouted, while Altair stared in horror.
Where the one head had been, two more were quickly growing back. With a roar, the new heads jerked hard, and two of the witches were hauled from the ground, freeing the beast. It growled in freedom, pawing at the ground.
Altair ran forward, not wanting to cause more damage. “What can I do?” he shouted as Christine struggled to haul another line down over the beast. “What hurts it?”
Another witch stepped forward then, her spell finished. Altair reared back as heat bloomed and a giant ball of flame enveloped the creature. It roared and tried to shake free, but the witches held it in place as it burned.
Eventually, the struggles on the line slackened, and the witches were able to relax. It was dead.
“You have to burn it all at once,” Christine said as the team regrouped. “Otherwise, it just keeps regrowing faster than we can fight it.” She stomped over to help one of the other witches up. He followed.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Next time, just keep your eyes open and focus on our surroundings, okay? You were on the left flank. You should have seen it coming, given us another second or two warning. That’s your job, Altair.”
“I’m here to kill the demon lord,” he countered.
“Not today you aren’t. We wouldn’t stand a chance against him. We need to work as a team,” she said. “Now are you up for it or not?”
“I’ll do my part,” he said. “Just let me know what you need me to do as it happens.”
“I will.”
The team regrouped, and they continued out into the wintery maze, searching out the next bad guy.
It came from the left. Again. This time Altair was
