He bowed to each in turn then clasped his hands behind his back and waited. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Mistress Ann has recommended you for the final examination,” the Master of the South said. “Do you feel you are ready?”
Damien faced the master. “Yes, sir.”
“Very well,” the Mistress of the East said, her voice almost as deep as the master’s. “You must demonstrate competence in four of the six primary skills. Where do you wish to begin?”
“Shielding.” Protection and attack were Damien’s strongest skills so he planned to start there and make a good first impression.
“Form your shield and we will attack. Resist as long as you can,” the Master of the South said.
Damien conjured a golden globe around himself, wasting neither time nor energy to make it invisible. He spent a quarter of his power on it and felt certain it would hold against anything but a full-power assault. Energy blasts from each master struck his shield in succession. Their attacks didn’t even cause it to flex. So far so good.
Next they attacked it together. Dents formed, but the shield held. Damien let out a breath. A moment later a golden giant appeared, a club in its hand. It swung down at him and an instant before it struck he reinforced the top of the sphere. The club skipped off without breaking through.
“Well done,” the Mistress of the North said. “You pass the first test.”
Damien reabsorbed the shield energy remaining and diverted some of the power from his personal shield to restoring his core. It wouldn’t take long for his power to replenish.
Damien passed attack easily, hitting multiple moving targets and shattering every shield they conjured. Detection was harder, but he found the poison in every sample they brought and neutralized it. He was almost through. Sweat stained his tunic and stuck it to his back.
“Next?” the Mistress of the North asked.
“Shaping.” Damien took a few deep breaths to steady himself and a chunk of stone floated down from somewhere in the darkened recesses above him. “What do you wish me to make?”
“Whatever you like,” the Mistress of the East said. “Impress us.”
Damien studied the stone, both with his eyes and his soul force. It was taller than it was wide and a couple of fissures ran through it. If he hit those wrong the rock would crumble and he’d fail the test. Luckily for him both flaws ran along the edge of the stone so he could use most of it. When he had the image of what he wanted firmly in mind he sent out streams of soul force and carved.
He had no sense of time as he worked, his focus on the task absolute. When he finally finished, a statue of a nude, winged female sat on the floor. The face was a little crude and the feathers on the wings could have used more texture, but overall it was a pretty good likeness of Lizzy.
Around him the masters applauded. “The finest example of shaping we’ve seen from a candidate in many years. That’s four passed out of six,” the Master of the South said. “Congratulations, you’ve passed your final test.”
The master looked at the three women and each nodded. He continued. “We remove all restrictions from you. You are now free to use your powers at your discretion. Finally, you’ll need to find an experienced sorcerer to mentor you for two years of field work before you’ll get missions of your own. Well done.”
The door behind him opened, he bowed to each of the masters, and left. Ann stood beside her chair, a worried frown on her face. Damien grinned and she smiled. “You passed?”
“Sure did. All credit to my teacher. How long was I in there?”
“Three hours. I was afraid they’d killed you for a little while.” They went back downstairs in her basket. As they descended Ann asked, “What will you do now?”
“I’m going home for a visit. Jen invited me for the Solstice festival and I’m eager to see her and Lizzy.”
She leered at him. “You’re not afraid your lover has moved on in three years?”
Damien had never told Ann Lizzy was a spirit bound in his father’s sword and he didn’t feel the need to now. “I don’t think so.”
“Well if she has, let me know. After today you’re not my student anymore so anything goes.”
Damien shook his head and the basket hit the second-floor landing. She never quit. “Thanks. Though I’d be too afraid of the other guys to try anything with the object of their affections.”
She laughed, hugged him again, and rose up to the sixth floor and her apartment. Damien sighed. When he got back from The Citadel he’d have to find an apartment in the upper levels. He was a sorcerer now, which meant he couldn’t stay in the students’ rooms anymore.
He made the familiar walk back to the room he shared with Eli and pushed the door open. His roommate lay on his bed, an arm over his eyes. When Damien entered he rolled on his side. “How’d you do?”
“Passed. Took damn near three hours. What happened to you?”
“My shield broke, I missed half the moving targets, and my construct lost its mock battle.”
Damien winced. He’d failed attack, shield, and conjuring, the three primary skills for a sorcerer, not good. “What about the rest?”
“I passed detection and shaping no problem and I could have passed healing, but I failed the other three first.”
“Sorry. Want some advice?”
Eli shrugged, sighed, and said, “Sure, what could it hurt?”
“Chose one of the three you failed and focus on it for the next six months. When the time comes you’ll have your skills ready to go.”
Eli got up and they shook hands. “Thanks, Damien, you’ve been a good roommate and friend. I suppose I’ll
