The Nine Bishops

The next few weeks of training went very much like Mika’s first day. But she quickly learned she would never be able to meet Master Beng “on time.” On the second day, she showed up thirty minutes early, only to find Master Beng already there, waiting for her.

He retorted that she was too early, and that this had the same consequence as being too late: more repetitions. Mika realized she would be in training indefinitely until she learned to fall without injury.

The problem was, she still could not seem to control her magic. She tried to focus on precisely what she wanted to do, but her mind and magic remained out of sync, as least during the day.

At night, in her dreamland bouts with her father, Mika was improving immensely. She never survived in the dream, yet each night she was fighting harder and better.

Much as she wanted to replicate her dream progress in her training at the lighthouse, there were many differences.

First, she didn’t get fatigued in her dreams. After scaling thousands of flights of stairs, Mika’s conditioning had improved immensely, but she still got tired.

Second, she did not feel pain in her dreams. After being stabbed, sliced, and even impaled, the only sensation she experienced was coldness. The pain from falling from the lighthouse and breaking her limbs each day, on the other hand, unsettled her. Additionally, any time she mustered any magic, she felt a jolt through her head, as she had that first time on the Low Road. Though brief, it was torturous, and there were many times that Mika wanted to break down and cry. She was determined never to quit, though. There was too much at stake. If she wanted to be ready for the tournament, she would have to drive through her fears.

The third and most important difference was that Mika could not take her conscious mind out of the equation. In her dreams, she simply did what was needed. Her body and mind worked in perfect unity. But every time she thought about her magic in the real world, Mika experienced pain in her head. There seemed to be some barrier between her mind and her magic that was preventing her from improving.

However, it was hard not to think about it when she knew her bones were about to break if she didn’t do something. After weeks of failure, Mika still hadn’t figured out how to be, in her conscious life, the girl she was in her dreams. She remembered Master Beng asking her whether she dreamed about death. Was it coincidence? Or did he know something that might help her? There were moments when she wanted to tell him about her dreams, but she was afraid to cross that line. She was sure there was some significance to her dreams related to being an Arcane. She just didn’t know what, exactly. And she didn’t trust anyone with that information, not even Nik. For now, it seemed best to hold on to her secret.

When Mika wasn’t training, she spent time with Tink or Zaya, with whom she was building strong friendships. When Mika finished the day’s training she checked in on Zaya on her way back to the guild. They’d spend time catching up on their days and gossip about events in Monsoon.

Since the start of the Selection of Sixteen, two more Bishop nominees had dropped their medallions. The central square of Monsoon was now completely barred off with a magical Incantation that prevented anyone without a medallion from entering. The stars that hung in the sky continued to shine brightly at night, reminding everyone who looked up which tokens and medallions had been dropped into the water.

Two days after the initial selection ceremony, another Bishop’s emblem had appeared in the sky. Someone had secretly dropped a medallion: Bishop Soot’s nominee, indicated by his emblem, a hazy cloud with eyes peering out. After that, there were dozens of people spending their nights watching to see who would be next. There were even some fourth-class contracts produced, offering to pay mages to watch who might be the next person to drop in a medallion.

Two weeks later, there was another: Bishop Tempest’s nominee, signified by a tornado in the sky. Though there were hundreds of people watching that night, no one could verify the identity of the person who had dropped the medallion.

Mika and Zaya speculated on how that was possible. Zaya thought the contestant had special evasion skills that enabled him or her to drop the medallion discreetly. Mika’s theory was that the barrier’s Incantation prevented anyone from seeing inside. The debate came to no conclusion, since neither of them actually knew the answer.

In all, there were three more Bishops’ medallions unaccounted for, not including Mika’s and Lancel’s.

Mika wondered if the identities of any of the other mages would be revealed. Since no one knew their identity so far, gave Mika some reassurance that she would be able to conceal herself. Though she was training to enter the tournament, she had made the decision not to drop her medallion until she felt ready. If she had any doubts, she would not enter. There was too much at stake to arrogantly join a tournament she had no chance of winning. Mika might not have known anything about the contestants before the Selection, but she certainly was going to learn everything about them before it was over.

When she wasn’t enjoying time with Zaya, Mika was spending it with Tink. She asked him to get her any information he could about the nominees from the first night of the Selection of Sixteen. Tink did so without probing too much for her reasons, and found her an abundance of news articles, biographies, and stories about those already selected. Mika quickly learned that she had an advantage in the fact that her identity and powers would be a mystery to the others.

The mages already selected had, for the most part, a record of significant accomplishments. Through these resources Mika would learn everything there was to know about their magic.

She also spent time studying under Doc. After one of their training days, Mika approached him and asked if he would be willing to provide her with academic materials. She explained that she had spent a lot of time in academia before she came to the guild, but she wanted more direction, now that she was a member of the War Eagles. Surprisingly, Doc was delighted and promised to help her when he had time.

To get her started, Doc provided her with a wide variety of textbooks and academic materials, as well as a study plan. He told Mika he was very busy when they were not training, but he could still tutor her at times.

For the most part, the other guild members were visibly busy. They were absent for days at a time, constantly taking contracts that required them to leave Monsoon to accomplish. It was their only source of revenue. Tink received a small percentage of each contract, which gave him the funds to feed the guild members and keep up the guild house. Whatever he did not spend was his own salary.

Tink took pride in his work. He wasn’t frugal when it came to the guild. He bought quality food, which fortunately he did not need to buy a lot of, thanks to Pudge’s duplicating abilities. Tink kept things organized in the guild house and ran errands for the guild members, such as collecting information for Mika. Every week, Master Beng tasked Tink to make a list of the drink specials across Monsoon, which took him most of the day.

Mika and Tink were soon fast friends, though after that initial conversation both kept silent about their past. Mika figured they would talk about their secrets when the time was right. Aware that he’d had a troubled youth like her own, she did wonder how Tink had come so far, since joining the guild was something she had always dreamed of with Sam.

Weeks passed. While Mika was quick to absorb new knowledge through her studies and improved in her nightly bouts with her father, she continued to fail during her daily training. She had failed so much, one day she finally swallowed her pride and asked Master Beng for help.

She arrived at the lighthouse earlier than normal. Master Beng, of course, was already there before her, as if he knew what Mika was planning. She had been thinking of all the questions she might ask for a long time. Since that first day, she had never engaged him in conversation at the lighthouse, and Master Beng never said a word other than, “See you tomorrow.”

This time, she asked a simple question, one that she hoped would elicit a simple answer: “Master, I’ve been doing this training for over a month now, with hardly any progress. What am I doing wrong?”

He smiled and said, “Everything.”

And with that, Master Beng climbed to the top of the tower, leaving Mika more confused than ever.

Doc arrived shortly after. “Maybe today is the day, eh?” he said, cheerfully. Doc was always encouraging Mika, even when she had awful luck.

Mika gave him a rueful smile and nodded. As she climbed the stairs she reflected on that word, everything. If that was the answer to Mika’s problems, it was too vague to help her. She found Master Beng deep in meditation, as always, but she looked at him more attentively this time. He said nothing to her.

Lingering at the top, she wasted too much time and was swept off her feet by Master Beng’s magic, then off the parapet. She lay on the ground in the customary pain until Doc came up to heal her. It was in that moment that Mika realized what she had been doing wrong. Everything.

When she got to her feet she rushed to the top of the lighthouse in excitement. For the first time since her training started, she smiled at the top. “Master, can you meet me at the bottom of the lighthouse, please? I figured it out.”

Having never said anything to him before, she wondered what his reaction would be.

“Certainly,” Master Beng said, opening his eyes, and headed down the stairs without protest.

Mika was alone at the top of the lighthouse. She waited until she could see Master Beng’s tiny figure below. After months of failing, she was ready to finish this phase of training. It had taken her so long to figure it out only because she was stubborn.

Mika approached the edge of the lighthouse cautiously, now that Master Beng was not with her. She peered off the edge, closed her eyes, and fell voluntarily to her death.