Tom Sky walked away from the group and in to the open field. He started to gather water magic and prepared counter any attack the 2 wizards may use. They were still on guard for the David who they thought was perhaps hiding out in the woods and looking to ambush them again.

Mary used her wind magic to move in and Tom quickly followed. While Tom did his best to keep up he couldn't help but lag behind her speed. She'd improved her wind magic and speed a good deal in the last 2 months. There was still a difference between the way she and Lee moved but the gap had close a fair amount.

Amanda summoned another large fire spell with Derrick beside her giving directions. For now he encouraged her to hold the magic she had gathered until the time was right to use it.

Derrick knelt on the ground and put his palm against the earth. He slowly started to spread earth magic under the surface of the earth. It went out in a spider web like shape in all directions but mostly towards the area where the 2 wizards were standing.

Derrick had experimented to see if it was possible to make spikes or vine like objects pop up from under the ground and but it seemed either impossible or far too advanced for him. Even the old wizard had stated he wasn't sure if earth magic could be used in such a way. While such abilities may be forever out of his grasp he was determined to find a way to use it so that he would be able control the area under which his opponent stood.

He wanted to be sure even if he had to change locations in a hurry there would still be many spots were he could access the magic he was putting into the ground and manipulate it. It used a lot of mana but once done it would give him several options he could use to help his friends.

While this was happened Mary moved towards the wizards. She used wind magic to move to the left and then the right of them as well as back and sometimes forth. She also mixed in relatively slow movements with quicker ones to give her opponents more of a sense of randomness. She fired a few wind spells but they were easily blocked. The ones they fired at her were easily dodged.

Mary realized it was too hard to take them down together. She would have to get them away from each other. Gathering a large amount of wind magic that she spun faster and faster in her palm; it begun to take the shape of a small tornado. Even as it started to blow the dirt around her into the air Mary only built it up more. Only when it threatened to suck her in did she release it towards them.

She quickly used wind to back away as the spell grew even stronger now releasing the the extra magic she put inside it. She heard a shouted warning from behind and saw Amanda was getting ready to use the a fire spell Mary moved out of Amanda's line of attack. The fire came not like an overwhelming wall but like the pressured water out of a hose fire directly at the 2 wizards.

Derrick acted before they could due to his preparation. A large wall come out of the earth between them. The fire hit the tornado Mary built and pushed it forward quicker. The tornado caught aflame and the spinning funnel of fire burned the earth as it travels towards them leaving a trail of fire in its wake. With the earth wall between them the wizards couldn't retreat together. One escaped to the the left and the other to the right.

Amanda kept pumping in more and more fire into the tornado and pushed it all the way to the woods and back several hundred yards. Now there was a barrier of fire separating the two wizards that hopefully would stand for at least a few minutes.

Mary seeing what was about to happen as the had gone to the right side where one of the wizards would be forced to escape to. She was happy her prediction was correct, “I'll keep the one here occupied, you 3 deal with the other one!”

Derrick was about to protest but Amanda seeing that interrupted him before he could. “There's no changing her mind. Lets just finish this one up as fast as possible so we can help her.” Seeing there was no point in arguing, Derrick focused his attention on the wizard on the left side. He still kept an eye to the right just in case.

Tom realizing what was happening took the lead position and started to use his agility to close the distance between the other wizard and himself. Seeing it was 3 against 1 wizard became much more defensive in how he acted. Tom moved in quicker using water to try to make the wizard slip. He also mixed in mist to try to create misdirection. It accomplishing nothing as the wizard easily blocked and saw through his attacks.

Derrick put himself in his opponent's thought process. It seemed this one was fine to just wait them out as his partner had a 1 on 1 fight with Mary. No doubt he believed such a fight would go in his friends favor. He wasn't wrong. Derrick turned to see the fight between Mary and the wizard on that side. From his position he could easily view both fights. Mary was blocking and dodging all of her opponent's attacks but was being pushed back. She was struggle just to survive.

“Amanda, we don't have a choice. I need you to get close to Tom and help him out with that wizard. Don't worry about defense or blocking. I still have a lot of earth magic laid under the ground in that area. I promise if an attack comes at you, I'll block it. We need to act now while we still have them separated. Mary won't be able to hold out for long.”

“I was planning to do that anyway without you asking me. I can hit a large attack up close and it takes too much time to build them. Instead I’ll use constant small scale attacks and see if I can force him into a corner.” She stole one last look at Mary, beginning to see the desperation build on her face and she ran towards the other wizard.

Using the stamina she had built up she began to fire a steady amount of small fire attacks at the wizard. She made sure to land some behind him and to the sides to try to limit his movement. It seemed like an impossible task as he simply summoned water to block the most troublesome ones that she launched.

Tom seeing Mary join the fight realized the situation must have turned desperate. He hadn't used much earth and fire magic recently but got an idea that might help turn the tides quickly. He moved closer to the wizard easily dodging his spells as he did so. With Amanda using a large amount of fire spells against him it was easier to get into range for his plan as now he was only receiving half of the wizards attention.

*****

David felt sweat dripping down his back as he carried Lee to the old man's house. He'd gotten much stronger these past months but this was the heaviest thing he'd ever carried and what felt like a short distance before now felt much longer. At least the weight was on his legs and not on his arms as he carried Lee over his shoulders with his elbows hooked around Lee's leg and arm.

Finally after what seemed to take forever he saw the old man's house. He ran inside careful not to hit Lee's head on the door frane. As he passed the old man he saw the effort on his face as he continued to keep Peter's mana system from being destroyed. Between deep labored breaths the old wizard got out the words. “How is he?”

“He's hurt pretty bad and lost a lot of blood. He isn't in danger of dying this second though. Lee did good. He managed to stay alive till we got there and got the Black Rose.” David set Lee down on a nearby chair and quickly checked him. After seeing his breathing was fairly steady and the bandages he put on his wounds were still holding he took the pouch and went to the old man.

“What do you want me to do with the black rose?”

“You'll need take off the petals and mix them in a small bowl of water. Grind them inside until the water turns black. Once it does slowly pour it into Peter's mouth.” It was all the old wizard could get out before he started to tip over. He caught himself and focused back on Peter. This was even more draining than he thought. His stamina isn't what it once was.

David grabbed a small bowl. He poured in water and then took off the petals of a black rose and placed them inside. He started to grind them up using a small wooden tool.

*****

Tom noticed Amanda was starting to tire out. She had already used 2 very large spells and now had continuously fired a number of small ones. If he had done the same he would have already been passed out on the ground. But now he was finally ready to put his plan into action having secured what he needed subtly and gotten close enough.

He, along with Amanda, had started to use only fire magic against the wizard. The wizard in response blocked their spells with water. The wizard started to feel fairly tired himself forced to block all of their magic and so was using the minimum amount of magic needed to block their attacks. Tom build up a small, weak and feeble fire spell in his hand and launched it towards the wizard's head from a close distance.

The wizard seeing this imagined it meant the boy must have started to tire out if he was using such a weak spell. It seemed these kids knew nothing about pacing themselves and were being reckless with their use of magic. He created a small water spell and set it on a course to meet the spell the boy sent. He needed to focus on the bigger and more dangerous magic the girl had.

As tom knew would happen, his spell was put out by a very small amount of water magic. But the small amount of water used the put out the fire did nothing to slow down the rock Tom had hidden inside the spell. It hit the wizard's head, he fell to one knee grabbing the side of his skull which was bleeding from the impact.

Not wasting the chance created Amanda shot a ball of fire at the wizard. He only realized it was coming when it was too late. His legs where the spell hit him burst into flames. He flopped around and tried to use water magic to put out the burning. As he did this Tom get behind him and gathered heavy earth magic into his hand. He launched it towards the wizard's head and neck. He heard the neck break and saw the wizard fall to the ground lifeless. His bottom half still on fire.

Derrick seeing the enemy down now focused all of his attention on Mary's fight. Her situation had only gotten worse since the fight started and she was now in a full retreat. He kept moving in and throwing out lethal attacks. Each was just barely blocked or dodged. Derrick saw that he was about to launch the attack. The one he planned to finish her with. He put his hand on the ground and watched closely.

When wizard's put all their effort and concentration on an attack like this one was about to they would also be defenseless. Mary knocked off balance and saw the spell her opponent planned to kill her with. Derrick activated the earth magic that was underground and forced up a clomp of dirt in front of wizard's foot as he stepped into to deliver the attack. He tripped over it and landed face down. The spell uselessly hit the ground.

As he tried to get up Mary quickly delivered an attack that went through his chest. The wizard now lay soundless on the ground. The 4 walked towards each other. The fire wall died down. Tom used water magic to try to put out the fire in the woods. Derrick mixed earth into the air around the fire to try to suffocate it. Eventually they got it under control and put it out.

Mary took stock of her injuries. They were a little annoying but nothing serious. The rest though tired from mana use where mostly unhurt. They started to head back to the old man's house.

*****

David poured the mixture into Peter's mouth. It was a slow process but he'd managed to get him to swallow nearly all of it. The old wizard couldn't help him as the he was still busy keeping Peter's mana system from being destroyed. One last pour and all of it was gone.

David turned towards Lee to check on him. His condition had not improved but at least it had not gotten any worse. With nothing left he could help with and he got up and went to the door to get back to his friends who may still be fighting. Before he could open it himself the door opened before him. Mary, Amanda, Tom and Derrick walked though. All of them looked worn out but the not hurt too bad.

Each side quickly gave the other an update. While they all wanted to stay it was decided one of them should go to Lee's parents and the other to town to get Alura and bring a doctor if they could. It was decided Tom and David were the fastest and so they where picked to go. Mary, Tom and Derrick did what they could to help. Mostly cleaning Lee's wounds and giving the old wizard a sip of water every now and then.

Before long the old man removed his hands from Peter and spoke the the students. “I've done all I can. I believe his mana system will be fine. The black rose seems to have worked is keeping his mana system in the shape I put it. I have no mana left in either case. All we can do now for him is wait and hope. You kids did a great job. Thank you for saving my Lee.”

Before they cold ask him any more questions he slumped over passed out. He'd used every bit of mana he could. As usual in such a situation, the wizard passes out with.

They took him to his room and laid him on his bed. David and Tom came back with Lee's parents who rushed to his side. Alura and a doctor came over as well. They had only ever see her at calm, mischievous or in David's case, a brutal disciplinarian. For the first time they saw her look like a young, scared, unsure girl as she sat by Lee's side.

After examining the old wizard and the Peter and not knowing what to make of it besides saying they seemed stable the doctor focused on Lee's wounds. Though they were serious, he told the group that with time to recover Lee should be fine.

Mary looked at the doctor “how much time?”

“He will probably get his energy and have his wounds healed in a few weeks. But his bones won't heal for months of course.

Mary couldn't use healing magic and neither could any of the others. The only 3 people who could were Peter, the old wizard and Lee. None of them were in any position to do it and it was unknown when any would wake up.

Mary turned to the group. “What do we do?”

Tom crossed him arms. “We have no choice but to go back. We can't wait around for them to wake up.”

David was furious. “You just want to leave them all here like this?”

“It's the only option and it's what they'd want us to do. If we aren't there to fight it's the same as a forfeit.” Amanda rubbed the back of her neck.

“We'll take what we need for the trip and leave enough money here so Lee can travel back quickly if he wakes up in time. If he can't we'll just need to fight ourselves.” Derrick was straight into the point.

After more talk it was decided there was no other option. Mary took 4 gold coins and left the last 10 for Lee. She told his parents anything he didn't need they could keep. They started to refuse and it seemed impossible to accept such a large sum of money from a young girl. Mary in a tone she had used since she was young told them there would be no discussion on the matter and they could think of it an an apology for not being able to help Lee sooner.

They students their things and after a last check on Peter, Lee and the old wizard went off to town to get a carriage. Mary was the last one standing in the door looking at Alura sitting over Lee, changing the wash cloth on his forehead. “You can be with him for now, but don't you think for a minute this means I'm letting you win.” It was whispered and couldn't be heard by anyone else. She turned and left the doorway.

Mary put her hand on the center of her chest as she walked behind her friends. For the first time today she allowed herself to let loose her feelings, now that all the needed task at hand were done. She silently cried, in her mind seeing the condition Lee was in and being forced to leave him like that. The pain in her chest only built as tears fell silently down her cheeks without her letting out a single sound.

She got hurt worse than she realized today, she thought. Even if the bruise wasn't on her body.