The Skyhome Academy

At Rose’s direction, her pegasus touched down atop the southeast tower along the academy’s outer wall. Mage Fulbert Musard waited nearby with arms crossed, his griffon by his side. He was nearly seven feet tall and had a powerful build. And unfortunately, one very long eyebrow instead of the usual two. Couldn’t he trim that thing?

“Mage Fulbert,” Rose greeted him. He responded with only a dour nod, but this did not dampen her spirits. She only got to fly twice a month for her aerial combat class, and she intended to savor every moment in the saddle.

It was a warm spring day, and the view was breathtaking. Rose admired it as Mei drifted alongside her. The telepath was astride her dragon, which had grown to her full fourteen foot length.

“Sir,” Mei said to Mage Fulbert. Once more he gave no verbal acknowledgment.

“Hey, Qing,” Rose said to the great blue lizard. She then looked to Mei. “Do you think I can pet her yet?”

“She seems comfortable with you.” Rose ran a hand along the beast’s side, and she did not react but to glance in the direction of the aspiring mage.

“I don’t think I’ve introduced you to my pegasus yet. It’s a fine day in March to meet April, Mei.” Rose grinned.

The telepath looked to her questioningly. “Oh. My name also sounds like one of your months. Very amusing, My Lady.”

Mei’s sarcasm aside, Rose hoped her lame joke might better endear her to the other girl. Emma had her heart set on everyone in their study group being friends.

The girls’ conversation was interrupted by new arrivals. Prince Robert atop his griffon and Margas with his phoenix touched down on the tower. Their bodyguards hovered on their own mounts nearby. Rose had not spoken with the royal since their trip to the capital—and she had no intention of doing so now. The high nobles greeted Mage Fulbert.

“Standard aerial contest rules,” the professor barked without preamble. “I’m initiating the mind link.” He silently cast his spell, and Rose allowed it to pass through her arcane shield. She could now send and receive telepathic messages to all those gathered with her, either individually or as a group. Mage Fulbert could hear any messages sent, as they would all pass through his mind.

He looked to the high noble cadets. “I’ll be sorely disappointed if you two lose to a couple girls! Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir!” Margas cried. Rose suppressed her irritation—she was used to Mage Fulbert’s backwards attitude.

“Does this really need to be about gender?” Robert muttered. Margas narrowed his eyes at the prince.

“I asked if you understood, Cadet Fairfax!”

“Yes, Sir,” he answered evenly.

“Follow me,” Mage Fulbert sent to the cadets as he mounted his griffon.

“Yes, Sir,” they replied.

Soon the fliers reached an altitude far above the castle but still below the cloud cover. Their instructor initiated the contest, and the four cadets flew at each other and attacked. Everyone used minimum strength attacks—the goal was to score hits rather than enervate the opposition. As they fought, the bodyguards circled the area.

The battle soon divided into two separate dogfights—Rose against Robert, and Mei against Margas. The noble girl and the prince exchanged arcane bolts as they fought for positional advantage. They were evenly matched as fliers, and traded the attacker’s position several times in the following minutes. Rose was surprised that her opponent was fighting with a wand—it was unusual to need one this late in the school year.

As busy as she was fighting, Rose did not have much time to observe the other combatants. But they looked to be using their usual tactics. Margas flew aggressively and attacked with his acid bolts. Mei tried to make up for her dragon’s slower speed with the animal’s advantage in maneuverability. She favored ice magic, though at minimum strength she was basically hurling pebbles. Both their mounts were capable of breathing fire, but such attacks were too dangerous for a practice contest.

Rose was pursuing Robert when he turned into a long dive straight down. She was about to take advantage of this poor maneuver when she heard his voice in her head. “My mount is unresponsive.” She sensed his unease and pushed aside her own apprehension.

“If you can’t regain control then ditch,” Mage Fulbert sent to the group. “Spellshield, get clear.”

Even before he gave the order, Rose was directing her mount away so that she would not collide with Robert’s parachute. However, she still maintained a downward trajectory. The prince undid his saddle restraint and deployed the parachute—but it proved hopelessly tangled. All the other fliers accelerated toward him, but Rose realized that she was the only one who might be close enough to rescue the royal from a lethal collision with the ground far below.

“Lose the parachute and drop your shield,” Rose sent urgently to Robert as she pushed April to close the distance between them. “When I reach you get on my pegasus, take the reins, and pull up!”

“Right.” To his credit, the prince still managed to sound somewhat calm in her head. He was soon free of the useless parachute and tossed it away.

The rapidly falling cadets shot past the floating castle. Rose unbuckled her restraints and slid back in her saddle as she directed April to pull alongside the prince and his unmoving mount. She also stopped casting her shield, which caused the rushing air to buffet her. Robert climbed onto the pegasus, and she grabbed on to him tightly. He pulled on the reins as the earth rushed up towards them.

With only yards to spare before they would have struck the ground, April leveled out. Rose was grateful not to see the end of the griffon’s fall behind her.

The pegasus flew out over the Skyhome’s plaza. The place was empty, as it was on any day when the castle did not descend to the ground. April decelerated, and the prince soon directed her to land. As the winged horse came to a stop, Rose belatedly realized how tightly she was pressing her body against Robert’s. Trying to ignore her sudden embarrassment, she climbed down to the ground. The royal followed her.

She petted her pegasus, who was slightly unsettled after so narrowly averting disaster. “Good girl.”

“You saved me,” Robert said in amazement. “Thank you.”

“What, did you think I’d let you become a royal pancake? I’m not that angry at you, My Lord.”

He laughed slightly. “I just meant that you were incredibly brave.”

“Thanks. …⁠I appreciate you keeping a level head. If you’d panicked, we both would’ve been killed.”

Robert nodded. Mei, Margas, Mage Fulbert, and the bodyguards all came in for a landing not far from the two cadets.

“It was kind of suspicious to have your flier and parachute both fail,” Rose said quietly to the prince as they waited for the others to dismount and approach.

“I agree.”

“My Lord, are you alright?” Robert’s mage bodyguard asked him once everyone had assembled.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“…⁠That was some decent flying, Cadet Spellshield,” Mage Fulbert begrudgingly admitted.

“Thank you, Sir.”

Rose realized that Margas was glaring at her. Did he resent her for saving the prince when he could not? …⁠Or could it be that he was angry over Prince Robert surviving at all?