by Eric Vall
“Who was behind the attack?” Arwyn asked. “Who hired him?”
“That rotten old wretch with a wad up her ass,” I replied with a sneer.
“Miriam,” Nia growled. “That bitch.”
“What about Sleet?” Gawain asked.
There was a moment of silence that was too thick for my liking, and I started to fear the worst. I felt my stomach drop and my skin start to pale.
“He’s alive,” Erin replied quietly as she finished healing up a wound on Cyra’s chest. She had probably borrowed the magic from Arwyn.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Marangur Sleet would live to see another day.
For now, that was victory enough for me.
Chapter 14
“Where do we go from here?” Orenn asked.
We had all gathered outside of the infirmary while Meriden and Arwyn did a full examination of Sleet’s condition so they could treat him properly. Thankfully, the halls were empty, likely because the rest of the staff and soldiers were busy handling the carnage of the bounty hunters. There were the other students to worry about as well, and I was sure they were being taken care of and accounted for. I hoped there weren’t any other injuries, not because we were trying to keep what happened to Sleet hushed up or anything, but it probably wouldn’t have done well for others to know his condition right now and cause even more chaos.
We couldn’t be too careful, though, and we kept our voices low and our group huddled tight so our words wouldn’t carry too far. I would have preferred to have this little pow-wow elsewhere, but we were worried about the Headmaster. It felt wrong not to talk about our next move, and even worse to leave him without knowing what kind of condition he was in.
So, here we were.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head and looked to Almasy. “How does appointing a temporary person in charge work around here?”
“Usually, it’s the second in command,” Almasy answered as he swiped a hand through his slicked back hair. “In a normal circumstance, someone in mine or Arwyn’s position would be put in charge. With the attack on Hartmire putting the council in all kinds of disarray, however, the one head who survived the attack having a bounty on our heads doesn’t bode well for us.”
“They’ll put my father in charge,” Nia chimed in with a bit of a huff. “They think he still serves them, and Miriam will need someone with strong military tactics and a driving hand to see that things are done as she sees fit.”
“That actually works in our favor then,” Orenn said. “We know Sleet and General Kenefick were on good terms.”
“Bold of you to assume General Kenefick will be granted the position,” Gawain scoffed. “My father is also a high-ranking military officer.”
“Yes,” Varleth sneered, “but unlike Nia’s father, yours is a gullible dunce.”
“Watch your mouth, gypsy,” Gawain growled.
“Can we not do this right now?” I stepped between the two of them, and they both ceased their pissing contest. “What we need to first figure out is where the hell the other ciphers are.”
“I scoured that office from ceiling to floor,” Layla offered as she shook her head. “Wherever he has them, they aren’t there.”
“Great,” I groaned.
“Actually, I might be a bit of help there,” Erin piped up. From the small pouch at her side, she produced another smaller bag, only this one had one of those extendable charms on it. Erin dove her hand into the bag’s depths, and then a moment later, she pulled up one of the ciphers.
“How did you get that?” I asked, immediately defensive.
“The Headmaster wanted them to be safe,” she explained. “The council had no reason to think we were associated outside of the Bathi mission and our round in the Magicae Nito. He trusted them to me shortly after his return to Varle earlier this month.”
“You have all of them?” Layla asked excitedly.
“All but the one Gryff has,” Erin replied happily, “oh, and the one in the volcano that you all still need.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Almasy asked skeptically. “You could have saved us a world of trouble.”
“Well, for one, I didn’t think it was appropriate to blurt it out while we were sprinting through the hallways in case one of the bounty hunters overheard us,” Erin replied tersely, “and secondly, we were all going to check up on Sleet anyway, and it was a good thing we did or he’d be dead.”
I turned to Almasy, and we shared a look of consideration before he shrugged. I guess he was good with that answer because he didn’t say anything else.
“Besides,” Erin continued, “I swore to Sleet before you all returned that I wouldn’t say anything, and you know when it comes to serious things like that, I can keep my mouth shut.”
“Just not when it comes to kissing everyone?” Almasy smirked, and I wondered if they knew each other somehow. I couldn’t recall them having interacted before.
Then I remembered they would have met in their aviation training. Both of them were extraordinary pilots. It was easy to forget that fact with Erin because she was so versatile in her skills. I wondered if there was anything she couldn’t do, other than use banisher magic. I’d heard the horror stories of mimics trying to use it before, and it never ended well.
“Can it,” Erin snorted and laughed it off like it was no big deal. “The point is, we need to get to the last cipher before Miriam does, right? I’m willing to throw an old lady if I have to, but you know, I’d rather not have to.”
Everyone got a bit of a laugh from that, which I was thankful for. It was a much needed release from the tension that had quickly built in the air.
“Who knows if we’re still being watched, though?” Varleth commented. “If that witch is after the ciphers, then she probably still has eyes and ears all over the place.
He was right. If we were going to sneak out of here and get the last cipher, then we were going to have to do it right, otherwise we would run the risk of leading Miriam right to it.
“We need to throw them off our scent, confuse them,” I said.
“Do you think it’s really a good idea to split up right now?” Orenn asked in concern. “The world is falling apart, Gryff. We need to band together and show solidarity.”
“Look, under normal circumstances, I’d agree with you,” I replied quietly, “but if Miriam Sharpay gets even one of those ciphers, then we’re shit out of luck. The more we can hold over her head, the better off we are.”
“Which is what makes this so dangerous,” Almasy chimed in. “Miriam is the soul survivor of the council heads until new leaders can be elected, and Maker only knows how long that’s going to take. They’re still recovering bodies and trying to make sense of the destruction of the Hartmire Enclave. Everyone is looking to her and watching her every move. She’s in a better position than ever to have us hung for treason, especially if we end up with all of the ciphers.”
I growled low in my throat. Almasy had a point, but I couldn’t help but feel in my gut that having the last cipher would open up so many more possibilities.
“But you want to know what it all means, right?” Erin butted in with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. “You guys have gone through all of this work to collect them only to keep them hidden away again? That seems, well, stupid.”
Layla snorted. “She has a point.”
I watched as Orenn and Almasy considered Erin’s plea, and then both of them sighed simultaneously.
“Do you have a plan?” Almasy asked as he put a hand on his hip and wiped his nose with the back of his glove.
“Probably not,” Gawain teased.
“I do, actually.” I grinned and gave Gawain the finger without turning to look at him. “We’ll do what we did before when Sleet sent us on our original missions. Miriam won’t know who to track, or who will be where, so she’ll send all of her best men to find us.”
“So, who is going where?” Cyra asked, and I smirked as I glanced at her. She was det
ermined to be a part of this, and I was grateful for that. As much as I had urged her to get an education so she could better harness and grow her summoning powers, her knowledge of the Wilds would be invaluable on this mission.
“You and Almasy here are gonna head to the swampland of Garvesh,” I told her, and I saw Almasy’s eyes brighten. Garvesh was his hometown, and to my knowledge, he hadn’t been there in quite a few months.
“Alright,” the pilot said with a broad grin.
“Gawain and Layla will go to the mountains past Tietra and lead them to the trade towns opposite of Wildren,” I ordered next.
“Got it.” Gawain nodded. We both knew he could navigate the area well after we’d been through the thicket and fought the ice giant.
“Orenn, Nia, and Braden will go to Bathi,” I said finally. “We know there’s been weird rift activity there in the past, so you’ll need to be on your best game. I don’t think anything will happen while you’re out there, but be prepared just in case.”
The trio nodded confidently, and I felt good about my orders. These were solid teams that would be able to work well together. Well, maybe not Layla and Gawain, but I thought she might be the least likely to murder him in cold blood.
“What about you, and the rest of us?” Varleth asked with his arms crossed.
“You, Erin, and I are going to the actual location of the cipher, of course,” I replied with a cheeky grin. “But before we get there we have to find As--”
“You’ll want to pick up Ashla, then,” Arwyn interjected breathlessly as she stepped out from the infirmary. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead and dripped down her brow from exerting her mana. Almasy was quick to steady her when she wobbled, and I grabbed a chair from the front waiting area for her to sit.
Nia took the handkerchief Almasy offered her and knelt before Arwyn. She tenderly dabbed the sweat from her face and held Arwyn’s hand as she caught her breath.
“How is he?” Nia asked with a soft, understanding smile.
“Stable,” Arwyn answered after a moment. “He’ll make it through, although whatever Antoine did to knock him out originally is strong.”
“A curse?” Almasy asked, and concern was etched into the frown lines on his handsome face.
“Most likely, though I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Arwyn admitted. “Even Meriden couldn’t pinpoint a direct spell.”
I nodded and followed along quietly. A curse? That could be bad, but I had faith in Meriden and Arwyn, and I believed their magic was enough to lift whatever it was.
“And physically?” Orenn butted in.
“It’s uncertain for now,” Arwyn sighed and sagged in the chair. “We did everything we could, but it might not be enough to return him to the way he was before the explosion.”
At that, I made a face and ran my hands through my hair. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Sleet would have been caught in the explosion, too, and that he would have sustained similar damage to Antoine’s. I’d seen that up close, and it wasn’t a lovely sight at all. I could only imagine how Sleet must look.
“You said something about Ashla?” Erin pressed. She must have known time was of the essence, and it was. The more we stood around worried about Sleet, the more time we gave Miriam Sharpay the chance to regroup and go back to collecting the ciphers.
Arwyn nodded. “The cipher is located within a volcano. There was no way I could get near it without burning alive.”
“And if I tried to maneuver it out with my earth elemental magic, I ran the risk of making it erupt,” Almasy added.
“So, we need ice magic,” I said.
“And that’s where Ashla comes in,” Varleth said as he seemed to finally get my plan.
“That is correct.” Arwyn smiled a little. “Ashla is an ice mage, after all. She’ll be able to freeze the lava for you to get in, and should something happen, she’ll be excellent at damage control. Erin would be a good addition too, with her mimic powers.”
“So, my plan isn’t terrible, Ms. Hamner?” I smirked a little to myself. I was planning on bringing Erin along with us anyway so I could keep my eye on the rest of the ciphers.
“Not at all,” Arwyn agreed. “I saw the way the three of you worked together in the Magicae Nito, and your teamwork is remarkable.”
I properly blushed and scratched the back of my head sheepishly.
“What are you going to do, Arwyn?” Erin asked.
Arwyn pursed her lips as she seemed to consider her options and thrummed her fingertips on her chin.
“I think it’s best for me to stay here and oversee the damage control,” she said finally, “and Meriden will need help looking after all of the students and professors who might have been injured during the bounty hunter invasion.”
“That’s not bad thinking,” I commented, “but you’ll need to be careful in case Miriam decides to show that ugly face of hers around here.”
Arwyn smirked. “Don’t worry about me. I can hold my own against Miriam Sharpay if the time calls for it.”
“What do we do once you get the cipher?” Layla cut in. “Should we set up a rendezvous point?”
That was something to consider. If we were supposed to be throwing Miriam off our scent, then coming back here once we left wasn’t the smartest idea, and we needed to be away long enough to be convincing.
“Whatever we do, we need to do it somewhere out of the way, somewhere she won’t think to look for us on her own unless we’re being tailed,” Orenn suggested, and he was right.
“Ralor’s Stead,” I blurted out without thinking. “That’s where Sleet found me. It’s a small farm town well out of the way but close enough that we could sneak around without raising too much suspicion.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, though I doubted anyone really knew where it was. That was what maps were for, though.
“So, when do we execute this plan?” Braden asked quietly. It was the first thing he’d said the whole time, and I’d almost forgotten he was here.
“I think we should stagger when we leave,” Gawain suggested. “Otherwise, it’s a little conspicuous that we all leave immediately after the Academy is invaded.”
“That’s a good idea,” I agreed. “I don’t think it matters which group leaves first, as long as we’re all prepared. We don’t know what we’re walking into, if anything at all, but I’d rather not take any chances.”
“Take a few potions from Meriden before you all leave,” Arwyn told us. “Just remember to save some for any wounded who might come through here.”
“There are extra supplies in the store room,” Almasy added. “See me before you head out, and I’ll get you set up with any gear you need. We might not have our focus on fighting monsters and rifts this time, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still out there.”
The eleven of us gathered together, and Arwyn stood from her chair. It felt nice to have almost everyone in one spot, our own little family, even if some of us hated each other.
“We can do this,” I encouraged them with a fierce amount of determination. “We meet in Ralor’s Stead one week from today, so plan your routes accordingly.”
“Anything else we need to cover?” Nia asked, and I noted the proud smile she wore that made the tips of my ears burn.
“I think that about covers it,” Arwyn commented and looked to me as well.
I was glad she wasn’t upset or offended that I had taken charge of the situation despite her rank being far higher than my own. If anything, she looked relieved to not be in a decision making position so she could focus on research and studying. There would be plenty of that once we had found the last cipher.
“Alright, then, let’s go!” I grinned, and everyone else cheered.
Gawain and Layla left shortly after we dispersed for the night, since they decided it would be best if they left by the cover of night while they still had time. Nia, Braden, and Orenn would leave later that night, and Almasy and Cyra the day after. All I could do at this point
was focus on my part of the mission and have faith they knew what they were doing out there.
I didn’t want anyone else dead because of this stupid war. Petyr was enough.
Sleep was hard to come by, but I managed to get a couple of hours of shut eye before Varleth, Erin, and I made preparations for our trip and set our course to Balvaan at dawn.
The airship we took was small, and we put it under Maelor’s name, just so we had a little extra cushion that didn’t raise suspicion. No one was looking for Maelor, at least no one we were aware of. For a small ship, though, it had some serious speed behind it. We made the trip from Varle to Balvaan within a couple of hours, much faster than when we came from Ortych Sands a couple of weeks ago.
When we disembarked in Balvaan, we were immediately greeted by the familiar faces of Doc and Drew, the alchemist of the Wild Reds and Ashla’s right hand man.
“You look like a goblin dragged your ass in,” Drew laughed good-naturedly as he shook my hand and gave me a one armed hug.
“Well, you smell like old piss, so I’ll take my goblin beaten looks over that,” I replied with a chuckle myself.
“How’ve you been?” Drew asked as he stepped back and clapped my shoulder. “Heard you were on the run for a little bit there.”
“It’s been wild, I can tell you that.” I nodded as I gave Doc the same friendly hug.
“Your friends?” Doc asked, and I looked over my shoulder as Varleth and Erin came down the ramp and settled their boots into the sands of the beach just to the west of Balvaan.
“Erin Lindblum, expert pilot and mimic,” I pointed to Erin, who waved enthusiastically with a bright grin, “and Varleth Prost, banisher.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Doc smiled kindly.
“Likewise.” Varleth nodded in appreciation.
“What brings you back here?” Doc asked as he turned his attention back to me.
“Hopefully to help with the Balvaan restoration,” Drew added. “It’s not going as smoothly as we would like it to.”
“Actually, we came to talk to Ashla,” I answered a little sheepishly. “We know the location of the last cipher, and we could use her ice magic expertise in retrieving it.”
