The door creaked open.

  “Oh, so you’re a wizard now?” Sarah called out, slightly out of breath as she carried a small bowl and the paper she had run off with. “I’ll assume you managed to do whatever you were trying to do?”

  Alaric chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that. With some valuable insights from Arthur here. Where did you run off to?”

  “I had an idea.” She grinned and placed the bowl on the desk. “This spell here – you wrote that it creates a solid layer of air in front of it that blocks things from passing through. You wanted to put this to the cave we found the herbs, right?”

  Alaric looked at the paper, then nodded. “Yes. It’s easier to create because we already have all the ingredients…” his voice faded as he noticed the paste-like substance in the bowl. “And you prepared them. What’s your idea?

  Sarah tapped on the paper again. “How does it work, exactly?”

  “It’s not a layer of air… more like it just makes it impossible for anything or anyone to pass through. I assume it uses the mana poured into it. How you draw it decides where the barrier of sorts will be. But I can’t use this in a fight, it’ll block me too.”

  “Not if I’m right. Draw it on this,” she pointed at the arm guard.

  Alaric raised his eyebrows. “I need a flat surface to draw it.” He picked the arm guard up and inspected it. There was barely enough space to draw the sigil. “Besides, If it does work like a shield, it’ll just transfer the force of the hit to my arm. Not much changes – for a duel at least.”

  Sarah nodded. “I’m not so sure. Humour me, please?”

  He shrugged. “Sure, I could use the practice anyways.” He pricked his finger with a knife, let a few drops of his blood mix with the mixture before taking some of it with his fingers and drawing in on the arm guard.

  “What’s with the blood?” Sarah narrowed her eyes.

  “It’s supposed to make the spell just a bit stronger and make it easier for me to activate it.” He absentmindedly explained. “Apparently the larger my mana pool is, the bigger the sigils potential becomes.”

  “Amazing!” Arthur exclaimed. Sarah chuckled, then pointed at the window. “Look, the sun’s setting.”

  Even more excited than before, the kid hopped down the chair, then climbed on the stool in front of the window to watch the sunset.

  “He’s a good kid.” Alaric said with a low voice.

  “He is.” Sarah nodded with a bitter smile. “He’s doing so much better now that we’re in the castle.”

  “We are all better for it.” He wiped his fingers, then showed the finished sigil to Sarah. “Now what?”

  “Put it on and activate it.” Her smirk made him worry a bit. What was it that she was thinking would happen? With a shrug, he did what she asked.

  The sigil activated with surprising ease as soon as he imagined it. The back of his hand burned hot, though he felt no pain. The sigil let out a faint, blue glow.

  “That was fast,” Sarah said with a smirk as she stood up. “Ok, get up. Time to try. Raise your arm like this,” she raised her arm in front of her face, as if she was guarding against a punch.

  Hesitant, he did the same. “Are you going to-“

  She clenched her fist and threw a punch as hard as she could. Her fist stopped just before it hit his arm. He felt a slight push, but the force of the punch never fully reached his arm.

  “Huh.” Sarah’s smirk widened. “I can throw a good punch, and your arm didn’t even shake…” her voice faded as she noticed his wide eyes. “Are you ok?”

  “It didn’t work like I thought it would…” he looked at her wide eyed, then at the arm guard. “Sarah, you’re a genius.” He rummaged through the papers until he found the small knife he used to prick his finger with. “Try to stab my arm.”

  “Are you sure?” She hesitantly took the knife.

  “Better test it against a knife rather than a huge sword during the duel, right?” He forced a smile. His heart was racing. He had a chance. He hadn’t even thought of using the sigils like this. He probably would never have, because every single book he read always gave examples on solid surfaces. Even the Bloodrose Witch hadn’t thought of this.

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  Or she didn’t use it for a reason. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Now wasn’t the time to allow such doubts.

  “Ready?” Sarah asked.

  He nodded and raised his arm, bracing himself. She reeled back, then slashed at the arm guard. The knife slowed a split second before it touched the leather arm guard. He felt a light pressure on his arm. Stronger than the punch, but not enough to break his posture.

  “I’d say we’ve got a working idea.” She smiled and put the knife back down.

  Alaric scowled. “Why did the Witch not use it then?” He asked, looking at the woman as if she had all the answers. “She wrote in her notebook that the knights were immune to her spells. Maybe this won’t work against them.” He removed the arm guard and put it on the table.

  Sarah folded her arms. “I doubt it. Remember when Victoria tried to stop the knight from hitting you with that whip? She couldn’t stop him, because she tried to make the plants hold him in place. I bet the Witch tried something like that too.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “She wanted thralls. She had the Mark of Command. What better servant than a huge knight that can control something as powerful as Wyrdflame?”

  “You do realise that it’s my life on the line, right?” he asked with a grimace. “I’d rather rely on more than just guesses.”

  “It’s not like you can test it.” Sarah shrugged. “Unless you want to pre-emptively throw your life away.”

  Disgruntled, he had to accept that. He had no way of safely testing any of this. “Fair.”

  “Well, try and figure out other things that can be useful like this,” Sarah tapped on the arm guard. “Victoria, Clara, Elizabeth and I will look for whatever ingredients you need, so just let us know.” She glanced out the window and scowled. “It’s getting late though. I’m off to sleep.” She approached her son, who continued watching the night sky. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

  “Already?” His shoulders hung. “I wanted the wizard to do more magic!” The disappointment in his voice was palpable.

  Sarah glanced at the wooden plaque on the table, then turned at Alaric with a pleading expression. With a chuckle, he nodded. Visible relief washed over her as she snatched the plaque. “The wizard said you can have this, so you always have some light.”

  Arthur’s face lit up. “Really?” He shouted, turning his sparkling eyes to Alaric. “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome,” Alaric tried to hold in his laughter. “Don’t keep your mum waiting, alright?” The kid nodded and followed Sarah downstairs. His excited chatter echoed in the staircase for a while. Once silence settled in once more, Alaric sat back down and fiddled with the arm guard.

  It was a great idea in theory. But in practice, it wasn’t as useful. Sure, it gave him the option to block as if he had a shield, but it did little to help him actually win. Even with the sword they took from the dead knight, he didn’t think he could cut through that thick plate armour.

  He needed to strike whatever weak points there were. Regretting not dragging the knight’s corpse along when they killed it, he rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know…” he whispered.

  With every passing day, he became slightly better at activating sigils, but normal spells like lighting a candle still took hours of effort. He couldn’t even imagine how many years it would take him to control many plants like Victoria was able to instinctively.

  After about a week, he completely gave up on all other forms of spellcasting and turned his focus solely on the sigils. With Sarah and the others’ help, collecting the materials for various sigils became a simple job. Drawing them on pieces of equipment was a bit more challenging, however. They were designed to be drawn on large, flat surfaces, so it was almost torturous to try and fit a large sigil of burning into the palm of his glove.

  “What if you accidentally activate it?” Clara asked wide eyed as he explained Sarah’s idea to the group.

  “It’s my left hand. I don’t always have to wear it.” To demonstrate, he removed the glove and put it into his pocket. “See?”

  His sister didn’t quite seem convinced. “… well, you know where to find me if you do burn yourself.”

  “Alright,” Jason breathed out. “You’ve got some defensive and offensive stuff. But a bit of fire won’t kill a Profaned Knight.”

  “I need to get through that armour somehow.” Alaric nodded. “Which brings us to a new problem that I’ve noticed. Mana. I have a big mana pool, sure,” he touched the back of his hand, revealing the crimson dominated mana pool. “Luna, Sol, and Cinder take three quarters of my mana. And I need mana to cast these spells, even through sigils. As of now… I can maybe block four attacks, maybe use the fire sigil twice, then I’m out.”

  Charles sat back on his chair. “That’s… not really enough, is it?”

  Alaric shook his head. Obviously it wasn’t. “Ava’s been keeping track of every time Castle Dorwan flashed that weird light. I’d like to go and take a look there.”

  “You won’t make it back on foot before nightfall, and you’re not riding there alone.” Charles retorted.

  “No, I want to take the cart. I’ve been using sigils to strengthen it. It should be able to survive the journey. There’s something going on in that castle – either you guys didn’t find everything, or there are some new residents we should meet.”

  Silence settled as people pondered. He waited, giving them time to think.

  “Alright.” Jason said a few short moments later. “I’m in. Even if there’s nothing new, you’ll get to test the sigils in real combat… against blind skeletons.” His words drew out some chuckles.

  “Do you think you’ll find something useful in there?”

  His gaze met with Charles’. “I hope I do. I need to try, Charles. Even with these sigils, I won’t be able to beat a Profaned Knight. Not in a fair fight. Not when actual swordsmanship enters the equation. I can’t compete with however many years… hell, probably decades of experience and knowledge like this.”

  “Fair. Alright. Leave at dawn, return before dusk. And make sure everyone comes back alive, alright?” He turned his gaze to Clara. “Go with your brother.”