"What are we doing here?"
Davion and Amalek stood in a clearing a dozen yards across. Davion looked up at Amalek. The dragon’s avatar appeared.
"You need practice," said Amalek.
"Practice?" asked Davion.
"You’re a mage," said Amalek. "You’ve demonstrated that you can control the forces and energies of the physical world. But… you don’t know how to fight."
"Fight?"
"We have three mages on our side: myself, the cyclops Helios, and you. We’re going to need every one of them. If you’ve killed two dragons in these woods, I expect them to send an entire wing next time."
"How many is that?" asked Davion.
"Too many," said Amalek. "That’s why you need to practice. You need to learn control; to harness your powers in a life-and-death situation."
"I’m not sure how well I can do that," said Davion. "I’m not Zebulun. I don’t think I was much help against that dragon we killed out west."
"Zebulun says different," said Amalek, "but it matters not. I can make you better."
"How?"
"Simple," said Amalek. "I’m going to throw spells at you, and you try to deflect them."
"It’s not going to kill me or set the forest on fire, is it?" asked Davion.
"No," said Amalek. "I’ll use minimum intensity. Once you’ve mastered deflection, we’ll try dispelling. Then we’ll work on your offense."
Davion took a deep breath. "Okay. Let’s practice."
Amalek’s avatar vanished. A thin spark of lightning shot from the dragon’s left eye into Davion’s right shoulder. Davion gasped in pain.
"Ouch!" he said. "That hurt!"
It has to, whispered Amalek into his mind. Giving you real motivation to succeed will speed the learning process. It will also help you learn not to flinch when attacked.
"What?" asked Davion.
On guard! said Amalek.
Another bolt shot forth. Davion managed to deflect this one in time. It hit the ground next to him, causing the grass to sizzle.
Good, said Amalek. Again!
Amalek threw spell after spell at Davion. Davion focused all his will on deflecting them. He succeeded half the time and gasped in pain the other half. After ten minutes, he sat down on the grass, exhausted, and held up his hand.
"Truce," said Davion. "You’ve already taken a lot out of me."
Amalek’s avatar reappeared. "You did better than I expected. You must be excellent at mathematics."
Davion breathed heavy and looked up at him. "I’m always been good with numbers."
"We’ll practice more tomorrow — and every day until the day comes. In the meantime, let’s try something else: I’ll throw a spell into the air, and you try to dispel it. See if you can cancel another’s control."
"Alright," said Davion, catching his breath. He stood up. "Ready."
Amalek focused his will. A bright light appeared. It looked like a small sun.
Davion focused his mind on the light. He could feel to ebb and flow of energy all around them. He felt the source of energy for the light and tried to invert it. The light blinked out.
"Well done!" said Amalek. "I’ll give you a greater challenge."
A pillar of fire appeared. It began a few feet above the dewy grass and stretched up to the sky.
"Wow," said Davion. "Okay. Let me try."
Davion focused his will on the flame. He did the necessary calculations in his head, channeled the energy, and let it loose. The pillar remained.
"Ugh," said Davion. "Sorry. The power is too high."
"It’s fine," said Amalek. "I would have been surprised if you could have dispelled that one. I’m doing a binary search, testing you at the lowest and highest levels until I find your level. We’ll get there in time, and then we’ll raise it."
Davion nodded. "Thank you, Amalek. I do want to help Sarah and the forest folk."
"You will," said Amalek. "We’ll practice more after dinner."