One parting Excerpt before I put it away

Halvar stood and wiped his nose. “I’m going for a walk.”

Zuriel sat up, “Halvar.” He looked with concern at his friend.

Halvar let out a heavy breath and turned back. “Come here.”

“What?”

“Get up, come here.” Halvar said. Zuriel obliged.

Havlar took him in a hug with one arm over Zuriel’s shoulder, the other under his arm. Zuriel hugged him back, feeling his composure begin to crack.

“I love you, Zuriel. You are my family. My brother.” He closed his eyes. I’ll keep her safe. On my life.

Zuriel closed his own eyes and nodded. Halvar pulled away, leaving a hand on Zuriel’s shoulder a moment before he turned away.

Aila watched him go, confused before turning back to Zuriel whose eyes were wet with tears.

“Zuriel? What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just having a brother moment.”

“I have never seen Halvar cry.” Aila said, looking at Zuriel with alarm and concern.

“Come here.” He opened his arms to her. She welcomed his embrace.

“You better not be saying goodbye. You’re going to beat him.” Aila said, feeling Zuriel trembling.

He pulled back, resting his forehead on hers. “I love you, Aila. With everything that I am.”

“Don’t.” She said, her voice shaking.

“If anything happens to me tomorrow,” he continued.

“Shut up, nothing is going to happen to you.”

“Let Halvar protect you. I’ve asked him to. Please don’t fight him, don’t argue. I need to know you’ll be safe.”

Aila squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking from them as she nodded.

He kissed her and held her close. “I love you.” He whispered again.

Belated weekly update

Bit late this week, sorry about that. Got sucked into Roshar (Stormlight Archive) for a few days then just busy.

Slower week this week, for the same reasons I am late posting this. I added 3,748 words bringing the total to 94,103. (its getting so long)

I honestly have been super knocked out of my head space for the story, though I have a whole ‘nother arch in the story that occurred to me today. Not sure I want to to it or not. Might just write it given that I can always cut it later.

At any rate, here is an excerpt from this week’s labors. Enjoy!

“What’s bothering you?” Aila sat down on the fallen tree beside Zuriel.

He shook his head, taking a bite of the dried meat he was snacking on. “Something is off. I can’t figure it out.”

“About this?” She gestured back toward the village.

“Why? Why just send seven sorcerers to say there would be no reinforcements?” He shook his head again and stared at his boots.

“Why fight for the village?”

Zuriel turned to look at her. “How many villages did we find destroyed? Burned to the ground? Littered with the dead? But not here. Here he just sent messengers.”

Aila sat staring at the ground a moment. “Maybe he didn’t have time?”

He looked at her almost sardonically. “It’s the last village. He literally could not have had more time.”

“Well, what do you think he is doing?”

“I don’t know! That’s what’s bothering me. It doesn’t make sense.”

“But you have accepted Tirich’s account.”

“I can’t accuse him of anything until I have a better idea of what is going on.” He glanced past Aila at the sound of approaching steps. “Fintan.” He called in greeting.

“Sir.” He said to Zuriel before nodding to Aila. “I apologize for intruding.”

“What’s on your mind?”

Fintan looked at Aila a moment, then back to Zuriel. “I don’t like it.”

Zuriel grinned. “I don’t either.”

“This isn’t Samael. Samael wouldn’t have left a village for us.”

“But the messengers were the ones who bound the counsel, they weren’t acting on Samael’s orders. Maybe that’s the disconnect.” Aila said.

“Seven sorcerers overthrowing a counsel?” Fintan said with amusement. “No. Wouldn’t happen. Kaskata would have been ruled by an egotistical counsel who would rather die than give up control. Even if what Tirich says is true, the counsel should be dead. Samael doesn’t keep prisoners unless they are some use to him.”

“But what about the messengers, they aren’t Samael. They know Samael is now fallen back completely from the North. They can’t count on his support.” Aila spoke quickly, eagerly.

“It doesn’t bother you?” Zuriel asked her.

She sighed, “I guess I prefer to think its over in the north. That we won cleanly. There have been more and more deserters, is it so outlandish that an entire village would defect from a defeated king?”

Zuriel looked to Fintan who only shrugged. Zuriel let out a deep breath and got to his feet. “We’ll just have to keep our eyes open.”

Weekly update. Week of May 11th

This week I wrote 6,959 words bringing the total count up to 90,355 words.

I am beginning to feel the structure of it a bit and I seem to be in the final part. All the planning and work that leads them to the final battle is underway.

Since I don’t wish to give too many spoilers, I am going to be a little more careful with the excerpts. They’ll have to be shorter. Not too good at hiding my cards just yet. I’ll have to rework a lot of it in the next draft to make the blatant bits more foreshadowy.

At any rate, here are some snippets:

Zuriel staggered out of Agur’s study on quivering legs. It had been a long discussion. The content of which had left him deeply shaken. He started slowly down the hall then stopped as his stomach pitched again. He had already lost his dinner in Agur’s study. He stood still with eyes closed, taking deep breaths until it passed. He reminded himself that it would not be tomorrow. It was soon, but it was not tomorrow, or the day after. He swallowed hard; he wasn’t ready.

He continued on slowly. Agur had been right about how badly he wanted to tell Aila. She had already suffered so much in her life, the idea of letting this hit her with no warning was loathsome to him. It also meant carrying the crushing weight that had just been laid on him alone. He held his hand out, it was shaking. He closed it into a fist and continued walking.

“I should go. Its late. You need to get to sleep.” She patted his arm, nestling against him affectionately.

“Stay.” He buried his face in her hair. He felt better with her here. If she stayed, he might actually get to sleep.

“Stay?” Aila pulled back. “Zuriel, I can’t stay. I shouldn’t be here this late as it is.”

“I’m not going to try anything. I really need to sleep. I just,” he paused. How much could he say without inviting questions he couldn’t answer? How much of the fear churning through him could he get away with showing her? “I’d feel better if you stayed. Keep my mind from working through the hours I just spent with Agur.”

Aila sighed, placing her hand on his face. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

He took a deep breath, resigning himself to the night ahead. “You’re right.” He forced a smile. “You usually are.”

Aila studied his face a moment. She could feel the fear radiating from him. He was trying to be brave for her. “We’ll talk tomorrow, okay? Maybe find me for lunch. You should probably sleep through breakfast.”

If he fell asleep at all. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.” He stood up with her. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

“I’ll be fine. Go to bed.” She said, turning to stop him from following her to the door.

“Good night.” He pressed her hand before she turned and walked quickly to the door leaving him standing alone in the dark room. He walked slowly to the door, turned to lean his back against it and allowed himself to slide to the floor.

“Hm.” He realized suddenly that he had been working out plans under the assumption that he would do as Agur asked. “I think I have.” He gave a tight smile. “No one knows yet.”

“Was I supposed to?”

“Of course. You are half the reason Agur felt it appropriate.” He tightened his grip on her hand slightly. “Do you agree?”

Aila drew in a deep breath. “It’s a lot. I never thought I would be this close to everything. Its not a power or responsibility I would have sought out, but I will face it with you.”

Zuriel stopped walking. Their linked hands caused Aila to stop and turn toward him. “I don’t want to drag you into this, or force this on you. I know this isn’t exactly what you signed up for when I asked you to marry me.”

She looked at him as he stood waiting her response. He looked somehow more open than she had ever seen him. Once again, willing to give her up should it be what was best for her; terrified it would be. Aila stepped toward him, taking his other hand. It was several seconds before she met his eye again.

Though the sorcerers were at first hesitant to engage Aila with any real effort, she quickly showed herself capable, bring more out of them as she laid them out in turn.

Fintan hit the ground for the third time with a grunt. “Ugh!”

“You gotta watch your feet when she links to the earth.” Zuriel teased the sorcerer. Of the four, Zuriel found him to be the most pleasant. He was eager and open to learn.

“She goes so fast.” He said, accepting Zuriel’s hand to regain his feet.

“Its been my job to keep sword men on their toes.” Aila said, rather pleased with herself.

“More like on our asses.” Sulien said with a laugh.

“Same thing.”

“Again.” Cyrus called, bringing them back to their stances.

Weekly progress update

I intentionally slowed down a bit this week. Writing that manically was beginning to have some mental health repercussions.

Even so, I did add 5,672 words this week bringing this draft up to 83,396. It is officially longer than the first draft of this part of the story. I am kind of getting close to starting the ending, but it will probably be over 100k.

I added a new character this week which I have been excitedly planning since I actually gave Zuriel a family.

Here are some highlights:

They found a clearing south of the village and brough the dragons down. In the flight over the place where the village should have been, they caught sight of charred buildings. They dismounted and turned toward Aarav in silence.

The smell reached them before they made their way out of the trees. The small of death; blood and fire. They paused, looking over the scene. Zuriel wondered briefly if they would have saved them had they not taken a month’s rest. He drew his sword and rested it against his shoulder. “Check for survivors.”

They spread out, each picking a building to search. Zuriel approached a small hut, the door of which lay on the ground before it. He stepped over it and into the small space that had been a home once. There was no one inside. He moved on to the next.

The third home he approached, heartsick from the scene in the second, was a long narrow dwelling. He made his way through, grateful that there were no bodies strewn through it. He made his way carefully to the far end and stood looking at an area where a child had obviously played. His throat grew tight as he looked on a doll which was made in the style of a green naima. A little naima had prized that toy once.

Someone coughed. Zuriel spun, looking around the narrow home. There was no one that he could see. “Hello?” He took a cautious step forward. He heard the cough once more. He frowned, it seemed to come from the dining table. He approached the table and stood still a moment. “I am with Agur, I don’t want to hurt you.”

He could hear a very slight movement and realized the long bench on the other side of the table must be empty. He pulled the table as far from the bench as he could and grabbed the edge to open it. Inside lay a nymph woman. Her entire body was slick with sweat, her eyes flickered open for only moments at a time.

Zuriel reached into the compartment and carefully lifted her. She was burning with fever, muttering something he couldn’t quite make out. He laid her on the table. He could see the problem once he laid her down. There was a deep and horribly infected wound on her outer thigh.

“Hey,” He smoothed her damp hair back from her face. “I’m going to try to help you, alright? What’s your name?”

She made a sort of groan but articulated nothing.

He turned his attention back to her wound and tried to think which spell would be most appropriate. He needed some garbi if he could get his hands on it. He glanced at the nymphs pale, contorted face and back at the hideous wound. With his hands just over it he focused himself and spoke “Maken Nadif.” He looked, there was no change in the wound. “Hang in there, alright, I’ll be right back. I’m getting help.”

They walked on in silence a moment. Zia turned and looked at her brother periodically. It was strange to see the striking resemblance to their father, especially given the hair. It was strange to see black hair above a nymph’s face.

“What?” Zuriel finally asked.

“Nothing. I am just pleased to have a brother I can be proud of in so many ways.” She squeezed his arm in hers. “Our parents would be so proud of you, Zuriel.”

Zuriel blinked and pressed his hand over hers. “Thank you. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am to have you here. To have family.”

“It must have been hard on Earth with just Halvar.” Zia looked at him with sympathy.

“Well, no. I got adopted by a great family. They are good people.” He paused. He missed them. “I had a sister there, too.”

“Really? What was her name?” Zia asked. She found she was deeply interested in anything she could learn about her brother.

“Trish. She was always really quiet, but when she did open her mouth, it was worth it.” He smiled.

“You miss them.”

Zuriel took a deep breath and nodded.

“I am glad you had family. I always wondered what had become of you. If you were afraid and alone. When rumors spread that the dueling had returned to Vale, I almost took the chance of heading to Halcyon, but there were too many sorcerers. I wouldn’t have made it.”

“How did they keep you safe for so long?”

Zia gave a short laugh. “That bench you found me in mostly. I didn’t go out except at night. I was only known to a few trusted families. Most of them probably could have been trusted, but if there was any doubt, they took the safe route.” She smiled sadly.

“I wish I could have met them. To thank them for taking care of you.”

Zia pressed her lips to a smile looking at her brother. “Same for your family. They raised a good man.” She looked ahead again as they came to the gate. “I can find my way from here. You should probably go find Aila.”

Zuriel nodded. “Yeah.”

Zia hugged her brother before passing through the gate. Zuriel stood a moment deciding if he should check her chambers of Api first. He made his way along the wall. If she was upset, she would be in the village.

When he entered the village, a glance down the path to the pond revealed Aila sitting on the edge of the water. He walked to her, earning a glance over her shoulder, but no move to uncurl from the position she sat in. Zuriel sat down beside her.

“I’m sorry.” He said after a moment of silence.

“I didn’t even tell you, what made you think you could share it with someone else?” Her eyes stayed fixed on the pond before her.

Zuriel looked at her a moment, then dropped his eyes to study the tiny white flowers in the grass. “I didn’t mean to exactly. I was upset. He just kept going on about how you would have just adjusted and got used to him and be happy and I just kept thinking that you could have died.” He paused. “To be honest, I pushed the blame on him so much because I was happy to take it off of myself. I thought I had almost killed you by dancing.”

Aila looked sideways at him. “That was only part of it.” She sighed and unfolded her arms from her legs, letting them cross before her. “I am not really angry, I am embarrassed. I am ashamed that I was so weak.”

“You are a lot of things Aila, and weak isn’t one of them.”

“I ran recklessly into battle because I was upset about my promise. One that I made.” She shook her head. “Made my own bed and I couldn’t lay in it.”

“You didn’t have all the information when you made the bed.”

“I know what is worthy of despairing over. A husband to protect me is not one of them.” Aila began picking absently at the grass.

This week in The Shadow of Vale

I had another big writing week. added 13,089 words bringing the total word count to 77,724.

Writing this much every week makes it really difficult to select excerpts. Here are some highlights:

Zuriel stood before his mirror with a frown. He raised his arm, allowing the tail of his sleeve to dangle. “I feel like I’m in a color guard. What is with these sleeves? I look like Howl.”

“Vale wasn’t,” Halvar began.

“Always at war,” Zuriel finished. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Peace and fun. You guys love color too. Bright useless uniforms for the useless armies. No wonder Samael started a revolution.”

Halvar suppressed a snicker. “It wasn’t a revolution; it was a coup.”

“Right.” He looked over to Halvar. “For the record, the uniforms being awful does not justify the murder. He’s gonna die for it.”

“Heart through the nose, right?” Halvar smirked.

Zuriel smiled. “Heart through the nose.” He stood back. He seemed to have the silly looking jacket on properly at least. He turned to Halvar. “How do I look?”

“Like you are in a color guard. Which is exactly how you are supposed to look at these things.”

Zuriel took a deep breath, letting the air out nosily through his parted lips. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They arrived at the head of the stairs leading down into the hall where the ball was being held.

“Wow, I have never seen this many people in one place. Well, here anyway.” Zuriel said, looking over the crowd.

“Zuriel and Halvar correct?” A wizard asked as they started down the stairs.

“Yes. Dueilng and Guardian.” Halvar answered.

“Wait, he isn’t,” Zuriel started, but was drowned out by the clear carrying voice of the announcing wizard.

“The Dueling Zuriel and The Guardian Halvar.”

“Uh, they are all going to watch us walk down the stairs.” Zuriel mumbled, feeling rather mortified as the crowd below clapped and turned toward them.

“Dueilng, remember? You are going to be everyone’s business tonight.”

“You are enjoying this aren’t you?”

“A little. It’s fun to watch you squirm.” He shot a winning smile at Zuriel who only glared back at him. “Hey, watch your face, your people are watching.”

Zuriel sighed and set a more relaxed, happy expression on his face as they reached the foot of the stairs. They were greeted by a group through which they had to make their way before they could be seated at the head table. Zuriel was placed beside Michael with Halvar next to him. He was keenly aware of Alia sitting beside Elior at the far end.

Zuriel dismounted as Pyre landed in the courtyard where he typicaly dwelt, the nearest entrance to Aila’s chambers. As he made his way to the door, Elior rushed out, nearly crashing into him. He stood stunned a moment before who Zuriel was holding, registered.

“Aila!” Elior rushed forward, taking the unconscious nymph to himself. “What did you do?” His eyes burned with malice toward Zuriel.

Returning his gaze Zuriel replied, “I saved her. She ran out into the battle and spent herself. I was taking her to her room to heal her burns and let her rest.” He started to reach for her again, but stopped short as Elior turned away.

“I’ll take her to the healers.”

“The healers are going to be swamped with the wounded, most of which are going to be much closer to death than she is.” Zuriel spoke quickly as they reached the first flight of stairs. Elior turned abruptly.

“You call this far from death?” He motioned with his head Aila’s limp body.

“She’s done this before. She is exhausted more than wounded.”

Elior stood seething with rage. “How could you allow her to do this? You encourage this recklessness in her. You’ll get her killed.” He turned and started up the stairs once more. “Not on my watch.”

Zuriel hesitated, torn between a growing desire to punch the man and the need to heal her. The insolence of the man to accuse him of being any danger to her infuriated him. He forced himself to follow the nymphs.

Elior took her to her room and laid her on her bed. “If you insist on being here, you should send for one of the wizards.”

Zuriel approached Aila. “We don’t need one of the wizards.” Elior stepped aside with a frown as Zuriel began looking over her wounds in the light. There were more wounds than he had first thought. A cut on her arm that he had missed concerned him. “I need three blue oak leaves, some rosemary and some aloe.” He looked up to Elior after noting his lack of reaction. “Please?”

“I am not your servant.” Elior stood with his arms crossed.

Zuriel clinched his fists and pressed them into the bed. “Look, I can heal her, but I need a few things. If she means anything to you, you need to work with me.”

Elior uncrossed his arms, looking incredulously at the dueilng. “If she means anything to me?”

“Elior!” Zuriel shouted. Elior snapped his mouth shut, glaring at Zuriel. “Three blue oak leaves, some rosemary and aloe. Now.”

Zuriel could see Elior’s jaw clinch several times before he replied.

“I’ll do it for her. Not you.” He brought out coldly as he turned and marched out the door. Zuriel watched him go. Once he was gone, Zuriel went to her bathroom, gathering towels and water to begin cleaning her wounds. He tied one around her arm to slow the bleeding from the cut there. He glanced continually at her face for signs of consciousness; he saw none. Elior returned with his supplies as he finished preparing her wounds for healing.

Elior handed the basket of supplies to him without a word. Zuriel took them and continued his work. He placed the leaves over the largest wounds, speaking healing spells over them. He mixed the rosemary with some of the aloe, spreading it over her burns with another spoken spell before starting on a simple potion for pain easement.

“I didn’t realize how proficient you were at the healing magics.” Elior said. The anger now gone from his voice.

Zuriel raised his eyes to look at him but said nothing. He finished the potion and lifted her head to pour a few drops into her mouth. Elior jumped up to help. With the potion given, Zuriel began cleaning up the mess he had made.

“Please excuse me for my harsh response. I didn’t realize you could be so advanced in healing magics given how well you use sorcerer magic.”

“I work extremely hard on my magics.” He walked around the bed toward the bathroom. “They matter to me.”

Elior took one of Aila’s hands in his, gazing at her pale face. “It disturbs me that you seem okay with her fighting.”

Zuriel pressed his lips and took a deep breath, pushing back against the anger rising in him again. He turned to the nymph. “She usually doesn’t fight because I asked her not to. I want her safe here as much as you do.”

“Then why send her into battle?”

“She’ll be asleep for a few days probably. I’ll be by the check on her later.” Zuriel said, ignoring the accusation that he had anything to do with her being out there.

“It’s a pity someone in such a prominent position doesn’t understand their own influence.” Elior said, shaking his head.

Zuriel turned and left the room.

Another big week

I ended last week having added 14,119 words bringing the total up to 64,635.

This week’s writing was extremely fun. I think I was able to fix a lot of the issues the first draft of the story had. I have a few ideas for what the next portion needs. Requiring a new character, had no idea I would need so many more.

Excerpt from this week:

Zuriel lay on his couch enjoying the brief pause he had been given. With the campaigns put backseat to training the new recruits and rebuilding roads between the liberated cities and the capital, he found he had more free time. He was reading one of the books Chiron had brought him, a charming adventure story about a naim called Cedric.

When a knock came at the door, Zuriel called for them to enter thinking Halvar would be dropping by as he typically did in the evenings.

“Hi.”

The sound of her voice felt like cold water being thrown on him. He sat up abruptly, setting the book aside. “Aila, hey.”

“I hope I am not disturbing you. I just wanted to talk with you about something.” She stood off away from the seating as she spoke. Ready to leave should he wish it.

“No, no it’s fine. Sit.” The initial shock began to wear off.

“I have been sparring with Halvar. If you talk with Elior, please don’t tell him. He really doesn’t like the idea of me building up my magic like that.”

Zuriel nodded. It crossed his mind to tell her what a poor start to a relationship it was to hide something like that, but thought better of it.

“Anyway, I actually beat him today.”

“Really? Halvar is…wait, you’ve never beat him before? You can totally beat him.”

Aila smiled. “Well, yeah with a sword, but I’m focusing on using my magic as a weapon.”

Zuriel nodded again. It was nice to talk with her. He had forgotten how pleasant it was to be in her company.

“But I, uh, realized something today. I acted kind of foolishly. Remember when you assumed that I was bad with a sword?”

Zuriel playfully hid his face. “Ugh, I know, I’m a jerk.”

Aila chuckled. “Well, I kinda did that when you said you didn’t want me to fight. I thought you didn’t think I could handle myself out there, but I don’t know how I could have thought that. You’ve trusted your life to me before. I get it. You weren’t able to protect me and that freaked all of you out. Luckily, you have Elior on your side so.” She dropped her eyes. Zuriel felt a tinge seeing the sadness in them.

“I know you want to be out there. We just can’t risk something happening to you.”

Aila nodded, her eyes on her hands. After a moment she looked up with a reluctant smile. “I know I kinda let you have it so I wanted to make sure we are still okay.”

Zuriel smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”

Aila got to her feet and opened her arms toward him.

He looked at her a moment before nodding and folding her in his arms. He wondered briefly if it was worse to never touch her or deal with the longing that filled him now.

Pulling back Aila smiled. “Alright, I’ll let you go. I just wanted to tell you that.”

Zuriel wished her good night and watched her leave. When the door closed, he sat on the couch with the heels of his hands on his forehead. He wanted to scream.

He got up abruptly and stood at the end of the couch. She didn’t like Elior. He not only had to watch her marry someone else, she had to marry someone she didn’t even respect. He formed a small sphere of ice and threw it against the stone floor where it shattered, throwing shards of ice around the room that glittered with the light of the fire. He sat on the arm of the couch, sobbing.

“Hey, did Chiron bring…what happened here?” Halvar stopped a few steps in the room as the pieces of melting ice caught his eye.

Zuriel rose and turned away, rubbing his face. “Uh, I just had a moment.”

Halvar took another step forward. “Okay…why?”

He took a deep breath that shook with the emotions that were only just beginning to ebb. “Aila just left.”

Halvar’s shoulders dropped. “Shit, that was my fault. She just looked upset about it and I thought it would help. I’m sorry.”

Zuriel waved his hand as he turned back to the couches and took a seat. “No, its alright. I wanted her to know, I just couldn’t tell her.” He sat back. “That isn’t what the ice is about though.”

Halvar took a seat across from him. “What’s the ice about then.”

“She doesn’t love him. She doesn’t respect him. She is hiding what she wants from him because he refuses to accept that she wants it.” He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands.

“Its not really as bad as that. He cares about her in his own way. They just met.”

Zuriel dropped his hands laughing humorlessly. “This is Samael’s fault. I cannot wait to kill him.”

“Oh, come on. Even if there were more nymphs, she is still the first-born daughter of a royal line.”

“But if there were more nymphs, she would have a better option than someone like that. You keep acting like I think I can marry her; I know that isn’t happening. There is no circumstance where that happens. I get it.”

Big week

Since I have been on a staycation, I have been busy, busy writing. I wrote 11,104 words this week. This brings the total up to 50,516.

I had a lot of fun writing this week. Lots I would like to share from my various sessions this week.

Here’s some snippets:

Zuriel cautiously pushed open the door of one of the huts. He could see the form of a child laying on the floor. His throat tighten as he knelt near the door. He bowed his head a moment, in part to pay respects and also to recompose himself. As he moved to stand, he was stuck suddenly in the shoulder, throwing him off balance. He fell on his back, pain radiating from the wound.

“Zuriel!” Aila cried out, rushing to his side.

Confused, Zuriel looked at his shoulder, trying to understand why a shard of ice was sticking out of it.

“We’re under attack!” Michael cried, drawing his sword as the sorcerers began pouring out from the trees.

“We’re surrounded.” Cyrus said as he rushed toward the tree line to support Michael and the naims being overwhelmed.

“You need a medic.” Halvar said calmly as he knelt beside Zuriel opposite Aila.

Zuriel shook his head, trying to sit up. “I’m alright.”

“Stay down, you can’t fight like this.” Halvar said firmly. He looked around alertly, the sorcerers hadn’t drawn close to them yet.

“That is true.” Zuriel said with a grimace. The pain was unlike anything he had felt before. It reminded him of the first battle where he had been unlocked, but that pain had been over in a flash. This was lingering, throbbing, burning pain that overwhelmed his mind. He felt in his pouch for some of the bleeding power Rafael had had him prepare for the campaigns. He laid the pouch on his stomach and took several deep breaths to steady himself.

“What are you doing?” Aila asked, concerned.

“I can’t just lay here.” He reached across with his right hand and took hold of the shard, pulling it out with a cry.

“What are you doing? You’ll bleed out!” Halvar scolded him, catching him just too late to stop him.

After a momentary panic that he would pass out, Zuriel found the pouch and poured enough to cover the freely bleeding wound. He laid back with his eyes closed a moment, giving the powder time to stop the bleeding.

Opening his eyes, he saw a sorcerer sneaking up behind Halvar, whose attention had turned to Zuriel. He was able to block the first blow, giving Halvar a chance to turn and run the sorcerer through before he was able to throw the spear he was forming.

“Thanks.”

“Help me up.” Zuriel said, reaching for Halvar’s hand. He took it and helped him to his feet, despite his fears that Zuriel was in no state to attempt to battle.

Now that they were all standing, Aila drew her sword. Zuriel put his hand on the hilt of his own, but shook his head, realizing he couldn’t hold it one handed. Instead he focused his attention on blocking and throwing chain lighting through the seemingly endless ranks of sorcerers.

“Dragon!”

Zuriel looked to the naim who had called out, following his gaze up, he saw a red dragon circling. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Someone link it!”

“It’s Egan. Samael’s dragon. The one he controls.” Tovi called from across the street where he was looking at the dragon a moment before the next sorcerer rushed him.

That night, Zuriel lay in his bed. His arm was feeling significantly better, though it was still sore and healing. He glanced toward the window where he had noticed the soft glow that indicated Aila was out in the ruins of the Api Village. He wasn’t sure he could still call them ruins as she had done so much work there.

He closed his eyes, saw the figure of the child that had brought him to his knees before the attack began. With a sigh, he threw the blankets aside and with some effort and a good deal of pain, he got himself dressed and headed out to see if Aila felt as badly about Fenny as he did.

He came to the end of the trail, glancing toward the path that led to the pond Aila had started in memorial to Kyra. He didn’t see her there. “Aila?” He called, standing still listening for her reply.

After a moment she emerged from the far end of the village, her eyes red. “Hey.”

“I saw the light. You okay?”

She shook her head and quickly crossed to him, burying her face against him. He wrapped his arms around her, both wishing she wouldn’t be so close and soaking in the feeling of her warmth against him. She pulled back, drying her eyes. “I passed through Fenny when I first came to Halcyon. I was with Akil and his men. Cyrus was one of them.” He began to walked slowly toward the nearest tree. “They were good people. They were kind and happy. They barely even carried water for the king, they were just kind. They liked everyone.” She paused. “And he just killed them.”

Zuriel said nothing, he stayed where he was, watching her.

She turned back toward him. “You know why I work out here?”

“Uh, because it shouldn’t be dead.” He fumbled. He was sure it was deeper than that, but he didn’t have words for it.

“Come here.” She waved her hand for him to follow her as she walked resolutely to the edge of the gathering. He followed her as she came to one of the first dead trees and planted her hands on it. A glow slowly spread across the bark, flowing down to the roots and up to the branches until they quivered and groaned. As if spring had come, the branches budded and leaves opened across the branches with only one falling away, disconnected and unable to be restored. Aila opened her eyes and stumbled back from the tree, Zuriel hurried to steady her with his good arm.

“I’m alright,” she said turning back to face him. “This is why I come out here, to remind myself that death and darkness aren’t things.” She looked back to the newly alive tree. “See how quickly death gives way to life; darkness to light. Because darkness is just the place where light isn’t. Light is, and darkness isn’t. Death is just where life is absent because life is and death isn’t. I need to be reminded of that sometimes.”

Zuriel looked at her with a sort of wonder. The last remnants of the lie he clung to, telling himself that it was a crush, that it was lust, fell away. No, it was deeper than that. It was more than the fact that she was beautiful, even linked to the earth. It was more than her humor or their pleasant conversations. She was the embodiment of light. Proof that good was a real thing. She stood before him with tear stained eyes, boldly hoping despite the darkness she had endured. And he loved her.

And she could never know. She would never know that if he managed to defeat Samael, that it was her that gave him the strength and will to do it. His reward for this would be to watch her marry another and pray she never loved him the way he loved her. Hoping the one she married would be worthy of her. Try to forget, to let go.

“Anyway, I feel better now.” She gave a small smile. “Walk me back?”

“Yeah,” he said absently, offering her his good arm which she was already reaching for. She collected the orbs of light she had strewn about and held it in a single orb to light their way.

He laid his hand on hers and glanced down the path to the pond as they passed it. In his heart he thanked her for keeping Aila going when the dark threatened to win.

Excerpts

Because I am off of work this week, I am writing 1,500 + words a day which is going to leave a massive weekly update if I don’t off load some of the bits I would like to share, so here are a few high lights from this week so far:

Zuriel watched her as she turned back to the trees where she had come. There was a small path that hadn’t been there before. After a brief hesitation, he followed her.

“Are you alright?” He asked as he joined her in the clearing the path led to. It was familiar somehow, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Aila turned, her eyes moist. “Today was her birthday.”

Nydia. She was rebuilding the pond in Nydia. His heart dropped. He went to her, taking her in a hug as she allowed herself to fall apart.

When she got her composure back, she drew away drying her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for Aila.” He rubbed her back before dropping his arm back to his side.

“She would be half way through her fifth decade.” Aila looked sadly at the beginnings of the pond. “At least she made it longer than our sisters.” Her lips trembled with a new wave of emotion. “I know I shouldn’t indulge in this misery, but I feel so guilty. I don’t see why I should still be here when everyone else is gone. It seems wrong to just go on.”

Zuriel took a cautious step closer, considered laying a hand on her shoulder, but decided against it. “I don’t think they would want you to be stuck. I think they would want you to go on.”

Aila nodded, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. “She was so excited to have found you.” She smiled at him through her tears. “She wanted to come back home.” She turned back to stare into the water. “I am almost glad she didn’t have to come back and see how much Vale has changed since we left. She was strong, but there are memories here that have nearly gutted me.” She shook her head. “They might have destroyed her.”

Zuriel looked at her as she stood with her arms folded across her stomach as if she were cold. A thousand things crossed his mind to say. That she was strong. That he would fix it. He wanted to tell her how much of his strength he drew from her. How she had begun to color everything he saw. He felt as if his heart throbbed with her pain.

He opened his mouth to speak several times, but found nothing that came to mind truly appropriate. The idea of telling her he would do anything to make it better ran through his mind. But that wasn’t the right thing to say. Not to her.

Aila straightened, drawing her shoulders back. “I guess I have no say in the matter though. I still have the command Zelena gave me. I am light. I don’t get to give up.” She turned around, a shaky smile on her lips. Her eyes sparkling with tears. Not thinking to hide his emotions, she read them plainly on his face. “Thank you for coming out to check on me. You’re a good friend.”

“Yeah. No problem.” He dropped his eyes and did his best to set aside the emotions that raged through him. Her composure gave him room to be angry with himself for feeling them at all.

Aila looked back over the pond she had started. She remembered how Kyra had sleep the first week. She had built the pond and started a field around it before she awoke. Trying to put as much beauty into their new home as she could. Knowing it would be little relief to the darkness in Kyra’s mind after Zelena’s death. But she had to try. All of Vale was shrouded in darkness now. Though she felt her light was dim and useless in the expansive black, she still had to try.

“Zuriel, come on! You can do better that this.” Aila said as she dropped the tip of her sword in dirt.

“I know, I know. I just…” He shrugged.

“You just what?” Aila looked at him a moment. “You don’t want to hit me. That’s the problem isn’t it?”

“Of course, I don’t want to hit you. I don’t relish the idea of hitting a woman.”

“You asked me to do this.”

“I know, I know, and it’s helping. It’s nice to just focus on the moves without worrying about Cyrus tripping me or throwing in some new move he has never showed me.”

Aila shook her head, annoyed at his behavior. “You keep saying that you don’t think I’m helpless, and then you freak out about dropping me or hitting me with a sword that can’t hurt me.”

“Cyrus hits me all the time, I know it can hurt.” Zuriel feebly tried to defend himself. The obvious discrepancy between what he said and how he acted felt out of his control.

“Zuriel.”

“Look, I wouldn’t put my all into a sparing match with Halvar either. Or Michael. Or anyone I respect.”

“You do it with Cyrus.” She planted her free hand on her hip.

“That’s because he makes a point of pissing me off so I will fight him.”

Aila looked at him with furrowed brow a moment, “What?”

“He makes me mad. Pissing someone off is an earth expression.”

Aila nodded. “Well, I don’t want to make you mad, but I can’t help you if you are holding back.”

“You aren’t supposed to be a difficult opponent anyway.” He argued, realizing immediately that it was not the right tact.

“Oh? Well, you can fight a post then.” She thrust her sword into the dirt and turned away.

“Aila, wait.” He sheathed his sword and jogged after her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you are a push over, or anything. I just need someone below my level so I can focus on muscle memory. Please.”

Aila huffed, searching his face a moment. “You can’t train your muscles to hold back.”

“Fair.”

“Are you going to stop holding back?”

“I am going to try.”

Aila thought a moment, a grin emerging on her lips. “You said Cyrus trips you right?”

Zuriel paused, not sure he was liking where this was going. “Yes.” He said finally.

Linking to the tera, Aila took on the fearsome appearance of it, gaining two inches of height. “Alright, every time you hold back, I am going to move earth at your feet. Hold back, you go down.”

“And when I learn to not hold back, you leave my foot work alone?”

“Yes.”

Zuriel put his hand out which she took with a smile and a firm shake.

Aila returned to her sword, drawing it from the dirt and they returned to their matches. Though it was still sometime before Zuriel could push himself past the urge to hold back from her, he eventually managed to push farther with each match.

“Ah, you found a new teacher I see.” Cyrus said after watching their match unnoticed for a moment.

Aila jumped, turning to Cyrus, eagerly seeking to meet his eye.

“She’s helping me build up my muscle memory.” Zuriel said with a smile sheathing his sword.

“Oh, she could probably,” Cyrus began but stopped when Aila finally caught his eye and shook her head slightly so as not to be noticed by Zuriel. Cyrus looked at her confused a moment. “Aila could be quite helpful.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate your methods, having someone I don’t have to worry about surprising me helps.”

“Someone who won’t surprise you?” Cyrus looked at Aila with a smile. Aila shook her head again. “Right.”

“I mean if I keep practicing, I could get to his level.” Aila said calmly, still holding Cyrus’ eye.

Cyrus stifled a laugh, stroking his beard to hide his smile while he recomposed himself. He finally turned and winked at Aila who looked relieved. “Well, I am very glad he has found someone on his level, but its my turn now.”

“Thanks, Aila.” Zuriel said as she started away.

“Yeah. I’ll see you later.” She smiled and continued on, her heart still racing from the exertion as well as the nerves of nearly being outed.

“You are warmed up then?” Cyrus said with a gleam in his eyes that Zuriel didn’t like.

“Oh no.” He said, reaching for his sword as Cyrus started in on him. He deflected the strikes, keeping focused on Cyrus’ movements to anticipate his next attack. He was deeply irritated when his heel struck a block throwing him on his back.

“Cyrus! I can’t see what isn’t there!”

“The block is there.” Cyrus said calmly.

“I know, but I can’t see it even if I was looking for it,” He stopped, taking a breath.

“I have to make this difficult, Zuriel. When you are out on the field, the people you are fighting will actually be trying to kill you. You need to watch where you are going while anticipating the moves. And it won’t be just one, there will be tens attacking you at once. Now get up and reset.”

“At least when Aila did it I could see the obstacle.” Zuriel said in a low voice, dusting himself off.

Cyrus perked up. “Aila put obstacles for you?”

“Yeah, I was holding back, so she started pulling up the earth at my feet if I held back.”

“Wait here.” Cyrus put his sword away and hurried out of the courtyard, leaving the rather confused Zuriel to wait, working through a few thrusts until Cyrus returned with Aila.

“Alright, you want to see the obstacles, you can see the obstacles.” Cyrus gave Aila a look as she linked to the earth and took a seat on the bench.

Zuriel glanced at Aila then back and Cyrus. “So, she’s just going to put obstacles at my feet to watch for?”

Cyrus smiled and drew his sword.

After several matches, Cyrus was pleased to find Aila not only got him to watch where he was stepping, but had the added effect of keeping his outbursts to a minimum. By the end of the hour, Zuriel managed to force a draw.

“Okay,” he sat up, reminding himself it was his duty as a friend. “I have been watching you and Aila.” He looked at Zuriel who nodded, beginning to understand. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that she isn’t available.”

“She has to marry a nymph. I know that.”

“Oh,” Halvar said, visibly relieved. “So, you aren’t trying to pursue her or anything?”

“Halvar, I have so many things to worry about right now, the last thing I need is a girlfriend.” Zuriel forced a smile and reminded himself that Halvar would not read his mind even though he could.

Halvar nodded. “Yeah, it’s just, I do know you really well and I can tell when you like someone.”

“I mean, of course I like her. She’s pretty, she’s fun, she had been a friend through a really weird time in my life, I think it would be weird to not have a bit of a crush?” Zuriel hoped Halvar would buy his down play. He hadn’t been able to convince himself of it for days now.

“That’s fair.” Halvar nodded, taking a drink of water. “I just wanted to make sure you knew. You’re a lot younger than you realize, you know? You’ve got like, hundreds of years to settle down.”

Zuriel smiled. “Yeah, I think I’m just going to worry about the whole going to war thing for now.”

“Yeah,” Halvar said with a grin. “That’s wise.”

Productive writing this week

Happy Easter!

I managed to add 5,898 words to The Shadow of Vale this week. The word count now sits at 39,412.

The writing this week mostly focused on Zuriel’s training which shows how some of the magic works and introduces a few interesting more minor characters.

Here are some excerpts from this week:

Normal sounded good. Perhaps after a few snacks and a nap he would feel more prepared to face Agur. As the hour drew closer, he found that he dreaded facing the wizard before whom he had behaved so rudely the day before.

He took a few of what looked like white grapes and sat down. “What branch of wizard magic do you focus on?”

Chiron’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Blocking mostly. I dabble in healing, its hard to avoid when you live in the castle. Most of the wizards here are healers. But blocking is what I am best at, what I most enjoy. Never been much for blood and burns.” He frowned in a way that was nearly comical in it’s extreme.

“Agur said I will focus on imbuing and healing.” It crossed his mind that he had said it was because it would be most helpful to him and his men. “I wonder if I might enjoy some of the other’s more.” He shook his head. “Guess it doesn’t matter.”

“I could show you some blocking magic if you would like. It might be a bit much to add to your tasks, but if you enjoy it perhaps it would be good to work on a magic you enjoy.”

Zuriel smiled. “I appreciate that, but I truly do have more to do than I have time for as it is. Tell me about it though. It would be nice to know something about the other five I won’t be learning.” He finally threw one of the grapes into his mouth. They tasted like grapefruit. He swallowed them with a grimace.

“Those are particularly helpful if it makes the taste any better.” Chiron said with a smile before shifting over to discussing blocking magic. “Blocking magic is complex, which is what I enjoy about it. It blends the magic of ores with spoken spells. There are similarities between casting a block and imbuing and item. If you think about it, casting a block is really imbuing an item, typically a stone totem, with a block spell.”

“So, you put the magic in like a stone and it blocks magic around it? Agur had me do a block when he was testing to see if I had all of the wizard magic.” Zuriel leaned forward, picking one of the last items on the plate.

“Basically, though it does relate to the magic of the stone used. Sometimes you have to craft the stone which gets complicated. I have to do it more often these days. Many of our ore came from the Tala nymphs and they have been gone many years now.” Chiron looked sadly at the floor a moment before returning to his typical joviality. “What sort of magic did you block?”

“Wizard.”

Chiron looked with surprise at Zuriel. “Did it work?”

Zuriel nodded as he bit into the last pastry. He had braced himself and was pleasantly surprised to find it reminded him of coffee.

“You blocked wizard magic.” Chiron sat dumbly for a moment. “How did you even know how to do that? What stone to use and the spell to cast?”

“Agur had everything ready for me, he told me what to do and say and it worked.”

“Wizard magic block. That is difficult. It was an entire year of knowing the spell before I could extend it beyond a foot of the stone.” Chiron looked at Zuriel with a strange sort of wonder that made him uncomfortable. It was off putting to have people look at him like that; like he was a god.

—

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Cyrus said as he helped Zuriel back on his feet. “Run the course.”

Zuriel sighed and leaned his sword against the bench before obediently running off to the course Cyrus has set up to help him build up his strength and endurance. After three runs through it, he returned to Cyrus who was running through a few moves with his sword while he waited.

“You didn’t even watch.” Zuriel said breathless.

“You are out of breath, that means it’s working. There isn’t a technique for getting stronger beyond, do the course. I don’t need to watch you.” Cyrus sheathed his sword. “One more match.”

“What? You said we were done.”

“Now we see if you can do what I showed you when you are tired.”

“I can’t do them when I’m not tired!”

Cyrus only smiled and pointed to the sword resting against the bench. Zuriel stared at Cyrus a moment who only gestured once more.

“Fine.” Zuriel said and went to grab his sword. Without giving him a chance to set up, Cyrus set in on him. Zuriel held his own a moment, blocking the first two blows. Beyond that he was unable to keep Cyrus’ strikes from landing, nor could he land any of his own. He collapsed onto the bench, out of breath. Annoyed at this new tactic.

“That was better than I expected.” Cyrus said.

“Great to know you have faith in me Cyrus.”

“I do have faith in you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be out here.” Cyrus took a seat beside his pupal.

—

[For context, the previous scene had Halvar telling Zuriel he would need to learn dances for an annual ball they hold in Halcyon. They also moved up their training to make room for his imbuing lessons.]

The next morning Zuriel begun the day with an extra cranky Halvar who only just managed to keep his composure as Zuriel dropped him from his hold, repeatedly.

“I’m sorry. This is really hard.” Zuriel hurried to where Halvar lay on the grass.

Halvar pushed him away as he got to his feet. “I swear if you drop me one more time, I will teach you fake dances.”

“Here, use me.” Aila suggested, sensing Halvar’s deep annoyance.

“Oh, I don’t want to drop you.”

“But dropping me is fine?” Halvar sniped.

“Did you eat? I think you’re hangry.”

“I’m not hangry, I’m tired of getting dropped by your amateur ass.” Halvar said, roughly swiping the dirt from his clothes.

“I ate. I’m fine. I think you got most of your dropping out of your system. I’m lighter too.” Aila pressed.

Halvar put his hands up and walked toward the bench.

“Come on, Halvar! Don’t be sore.”

“I wouldn’t be if you would stop dropping me.” He called over his shoulder as he continued across the courtyard.

“Come on. You have to be in your next lesson soon.” Aila said, trying to draw his attention back.

Zuriel sighed. “I don’t want to drop you.”

“Then don’t. Come on. You can do this.”

Zuriel stared at her a moment, trying to find away out of it.

“If you don’t pick me up, I am going to pick you up.” Aila said as she crossed her arms, looking at him defiantly.

“I have no idea what that means, but fine.” Zuriel gave in and readied himself. He managed to get the hold around her without closing it too tight. His first attempt to lift her didn’t work as he held her too loosely. She was smaller than Halvar whom he had just got used to lifting. Finally, he managed to lift her briefly. He set her down quickly to avoid the hold slipping.

Aila smiled as she touched back on the ground. “See, you didn’t drop me. Try again.”

Weekly greetings!

This week was pretty productive. I realized a while back that Zuriel basically only existed in my mind in the context of Aila, so I have been working on exploring his past and his character so that you can actually root for him instead of wondering why you would care at all what this piece of paper does. It has been a different kind of fun. As a side benefit, a lot of the more minor characters have taken on more color and dimension because they can’t reveal anything about Zuriel if they are also pieces of paper.

As far as actual numbers I wrote 4,558 words this week bringing the total up to 33,524. Because I am filling out a lot of the details I just kinda skipped over in the first draft, I am not approaching the same part of the actual story as I was in this part of the first draft. Which is fine.

For my excerpt this week I have a scene with Michael’s first session training Zuriel in his sorcerer magic. Enjoy.

“Sorcerer magic doesn’t quite work the way naim magic does. A sorcerer’s magic fills their body, not just their mind. It’s a bit of a difficult concept, but you have to pull from your entire body.”

“My entire body?” Zuriel thought a moment. Trying to think of his toes and chest at the same time. He remembered when he had accidentally set the block on fire, he hadn’t done that from his whole body. “I think I did it with just my mind before.”

Michael crossed his arms, looking with interest at Zuriel. “Really? What do you mean? When?”

“Uh, I was training with Halvar, putting a block up and I lit it on fire.”

A slow smile spread on Michael’s face. “Perhaps you are uniquely capable of accessing it through two channels.” He stepped back. “Show me.”

Zuriel hesitated. To do it on purpose and doing it by accident were different things. He thought of the levels Michael had explained and tried water. He took a deep breath and much the same way he formed blocks, he tried to summon water. He succeeded in forming a small orb of water, holding it above his hand. He lifted his eyes past the water to Michael who was frowning. “What?”

“Is that all?”

Zuriel dropped the water which splashed onto the grass at his feet. “Well, I have never done this before, cut me some slack.”

Michael laughed, “No, I mean I have seen young sorcerers summon much more on their first attempts. The naim magic must not be designed to accommodate the elemental magics. Try pulling it from your whole being. See what you can do.”

“Alright.” Zuriel nodded and shook his hands out at his sides. He closed his eyes to focus, imagining the water flowing from his chest out through his limbs. He held his hands out before him from which a stream of water shot.

Michael dodged it, stepping aside with a laugh. “There we go.”

Zuriel stopped the summon abruptly, surprised at the difference between his first attempt and the second. He laughed awkwardly and smiled at Michael.

“Again.”

With less need of preparation, Zuriel repeated the jet of water. He did this several times, each proceeded with Michael’s order to do it again.

“Try to focus it. Aim it at something. Try to feel the level of power, control it.”

He struggled a bit to change the amount of power he fed into it. It was something like driving a car you are unfamiliar with. You want to slow so you push the brake, but it’s more sensitive than you think and it stops abruptly, throwing you forward in the seat. It was all or nothing for the first few attempts. Then he could do a small orb or a powerful stream that touched the far wall. Gradually, he determined how to control the power and could approximate different levels of power.

“There you go.” Michael smiled approvingly. He had trained many sorcerers when he first joined the forces. Few had made such progress on their first day. Agur had explained to him, that Zuriel had the fully formed channels, he only lacked the knowledge. He didn’t have to build up the capability over time like the others he had trained before. He had all of it, he only needed to know how to access it and control it.

Zuriel grinned, he was enjoying this magic more than any of the others. While he did enjoy the naim magic, especially the fact that he actually got to do it rather than learning the basics of it through books or lectures like the others, it was more satisfying to see what he was doing rather than fumbling through like a blind man dealing with a magic he could not see.

“Alright, now I want you to see the max of it.” Michael turned and pointed at the far wall. “I want you to hit that wall, full force. Soak it.”

“Alright.” Zuriel nodded and shook himself out again. He wasn’t sure it had any effect, but it had quickly become part of his process. He raised his hands and unleashed all of the power he could find in himself. He focused it forward, unleashing a jet of water that was not only extremely powerful, more than squarely impacting the far wall, but was rather wide. The water hit the stones hard enough to make the wall tremble, though it was too far away for either Michael or Zuriel to see.

Suddenly aware that he was feeding forward power from a reserve that now held nothing he dropped his hands, cutting off the stream of water. His head spun and he stumbled backward. Michael rushed forward to steady him and led him over to the bench.

“That was good. Sorry, I forgot that you haven’t built up your power yet. That should come in short order. The more you max, the more you will build up.” Michael explained as Zuriel held his head in his hands, trying not to puke.

“Magic Cardio.” He mumbled, a smirk on his face. While he felt like absolute garbage, he was still extremely pleased with sorcerer magic.

Michael laughed. “Yeah, magic cardio.” He watched Zuriel a moment before letting him know that they were done for the day.