Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey Page B

Halleck’s chuckle as the Trainee’s Companion materialized
     out of nowhere and Halleck remounted at a run.
    :Sneaky is as sneaky does,:
Halleck mocked, and suddenly the scrum broke away from the fence and headed their
     way at a gallop.
    Mags saw the ball speeding straight for him. He didn’t even think. He stood right
     in its path with his stick in both hands, braced for impact. The ball hit him hard
     enough to drop him on his behind in the dirt, but the ball went up, and Dallen somehow
     managed to get under it, and with a mighty kick, sent it soaring.
    All eyes followed it. It seemed to hang in the air forever, a tiny speck you had to
     squint to see.
:Flag!:
he shouted into the minds of the Blue Foot, who split up and began using the tactics
     they had been taught as battlefield messengers to sprint from bit of cover to bit
     of cover, leaving him alone at the goal.
    But everyone else was after the ball.
    And for one mad moment, Mags thought the ploy just might work.
    But the one thing that no one had reckoned on was that the time ran out on the quarter,
     and just as the first of their Foot reached the White flag—in fact, as he got his
hand
on it—the whistle blew, signaling the end of the game.
    The end, and a dead tie.
    * * *
    The bathing room was noisy with good-natured complaints. Really, no one was unhappy
     with a tie. No one could claim that either side had given away anything. Both sides
     had proven themselves. Everyone agreed that both teams were made up of the best of
     the best. “The only ones who lost were the people making bets,” Corwin observed from
     somewhere in the steam.
    Mags had managed to lay claim to his favorite tub and was lying in the hot water with
     his eyes closed, soaking his sore muscles.
    “Well the more fools they,” snorted Lord Wess. “That maneuver with your Foot, Mags,
     was brilliant. Too bad the time ran out. Was that yours or Gennie’s?”
    “Gennie’s,” he replied, scooting down up to his chin in hot water, nursing his bruised
     chest and content knowing that Dallen was getting the expert attention for that tumble
     that he deserved. “But the kick was me an’ Dallen.”
    “Another good move. We should practice that.”
    :Not today,:
Dallen said firmly.
    “Without th’ standin’ there and blockin’ the ball,” he said, firmly.
    “Whatever demon suggested you just
stand
there and let the ball come at you like that?” Corwin asked.
    “Prolly the same one that told you to pull the stunt that got your arm broke,” Mags
     retorted. The hot water felt very good, but he didn’t think he would be trying that
     particular trick any time soon. When he’d taken his armor off, his chest had a most
     interesting black and blue bar right across it. Not much by the standards of his injuries
     at the hands of the Karsite agents, but enough to make breathing a bit achy.
    “I think we need to stop listening to demons,” Corwin muttered. The steam was as thick
     as a pea-soup fog. It was easing the cough in Mags’ chest and the scratchiness of
     his throat. But he had a notion he would be coughing up nasty dust for days.
    “I think you should listen to them more,” Halleck said cheerfully. “Those were brilliant
     moves. You just go right on listening to them, I’ll watch and applaud.”
    The sound of a sponge hitting someone in the head—probably Halleck—ended that particular
     line of thinking.
    Mags let the heat lull him into a pleasant stupor until the water began to cool, then
     reluctantly pulled himself out of the tub. Back in clean Grays, he gingerly made his
     way out of the Collegium.
:Need me, sir?:
he asked Nikolas, tentatively.
    :As a matter of fact, yes,:
came the reply. Mags stifled a moment of disappointment; he really would have liked
     to track down Amily and get some much deserved sympathy for his bruises
. :Would you come over to the south side of the rose garden, please, and let yourself
     be fussed over? Yes, for once I want you to