Rise of the Retics

by T J Lantz

  “Definitely not your sneakiest move, Rigby. This was supposed to be a stealthy operation, not a frontal assault for a belly rub. You’re jeopardizing the whole plan!”

  “Sneaky? Why are you guys being sneaky? Are you stealing cookies again?”.”

  “Sorry, Tyr, can’t talk. We have big plans.”

  Tyranna scrunched her nose up in a questioning manner.

  “Plans that require you to be sneaky? What kind of plans are those? You’re not going to pull another prank on Sam are you? She’s getting sick of having to get new fur-brushes every week. Putting glue all over the last one was kinda mean anyway.”

  “No, no, nothing like that. This plan is much bigger than that. But I really can’t talk about it, so don’t ask.”

  “Jaxon, you’ve already had nine demerits this month. Anything else and Professor Tallhat is just going to lock you in your room and never let you out. You don’t want that do you?” Tyranna gave him a look that someone would give a three-year-old that they’re trying to teach right from wrong.

  “Tyr, I can guarantee you that in a few hours that will not be a problem at all. The only place they are going to want to lock me is out of this building!” Jaxon gave her his slyest smile as he spoke.

  “What are you talking about, Jaxon?” The tone of Tyranna’s voice changed to show that she was annoyed with his evasive answers.

  “Ok fine, fine I’ll tell you. I can trust you, I guess. We’re going to dye the lake to look like blood so the people think that the army of the Underworld is about to invade. Then, we take credit for it, tell everyone it was a big joke, and wait while the community clamors for our removal from Thales. In a few days there will be no more ridiculous classes, no more stupid students, and especially no more of Lord Malverne’s pathetic training. It will be wonderful.”

  “Jaxon Miniheart, that has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! First of all it’s only been a month, surely things can’t be that bad already? Besides, it’s dangerous to go out on the city streets alone at night, you know that. You could get hurt and no one would even know where you were.”

  She looked at him with compassionate eyes. It wasn’t a look Jaxon saw very often. He was impressed at himself for even noticing it. He couldn’t let it stop him though. If he was going to be able to defend himself, and her, he needed to be free from Malverne.

  “I need to go, Tyr. I’ll be fine. I’ve been out this late hundreds of times before. Just, whatever you do, please don’t tell anyone. My plan kind of relies on the surprise factor.” Jaxon tried to rationalize that he wasn’t actually lying. He had in fact been out hundreds of times at this hour, just never alone . . . or out of the house. Ok it was a complete lie anyway he looked at it.

  Lying to Tyranna gave him a strange feeling. Normally it was his greatest skill, something he could do with confidence, finesse, and poise. He loved to lie, as it challenged him to see what people would believe and how he could manipulate them, but lying to Tyranna wasn’t nearly as much fun. She stood up for him to Bull, ate meals with him, and helped him take Rigby for walks. She was his friend. Leaving Thales meant leaving her alone for as long as it took to teach himself magic.

  For a second he thought about not going ahead with his plan. Then he remembered the last words Lord Malverne had said to him that night—“I shall see you tomorrow.”

  Jaxon couldn’t let that happen.

  chapter 18

  Quiet as a mouse

  Tyranna

  Rosehaven: Thales Academy

  November 10, 1503

  Tyranna just didn’t understand why the stupid demon-boy could be so . . . so . . . stupid! She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She couldn’t remember ever being so worked up about something, but Jaxon had thoroughly infuriated her. He was about to throw his whole life away just because the first few weeks here had been a bit difficult! She had never wanted to punch someone as badly as she did at that moment.

  What was she supposed to do though? Nothing she had to say was going to stop him from doing what he wanted. That was just the way he was. Some days she couldn’t even tell if they were friends. One night they would sit and talk for hours and the next night he would put his head down and grumble as he went past.

  She knew Jaxon had endured a tough life, much harder than hers. Sure, they were both orphans, but she had been brought up in a loving, protected environment. He had been shipped from foster home to foster home in a community that despised him. His current foster parents, the Hoofstomps, might be decent people, but Tyranna figured the harm had been done long before that.

  Still, despite his anger and arrogance, Tyranna felt like there was more there that she couldn’t see. Tiny blips of kindness would sometimes leak out of him and make her believe that deep down, beneath the layers upon layers of horrible child, a decent creature dwelled. If it was one thing that she had learned from the brothers of the monastery it was that there was both evil and good in all creatures, but it’s how they choose to use them that define who they are. Tyranna was sure that Jaxon had plenty of good in him. He just needed to use it a bit more.

  If she could just get a chance to talk to him, just for another moment, maybe she could get through to him and convince him to come back before he did anything irreversible.

  Except that there was no way to get out of the building. Curfew was just about to start, so anyone seen walking around the halls would get a demerit, which she definitely did not want. Plus, Flehm would be at the door, as he always was at this time. There was no possible way out that she knew about.

  Or was there?

  Tyranna paced back and forth around the room wondering what to do. With curfew looming, Sam and Gnipper were due back at any moment, and she didn’t want to involve them. They wouldn’t understand anyway, and they would just try to convince her she was making a bad decision.

  Taking a deep breath, Tyranna decided to go ahead with it. She felt like it was the right thing to do, and she, more than anyone, had the appropriate skills to accomplish her goals without anyone noticing. It was time to embrace her talent.

  She began to concentrate and take deep, slow breaths. She felt a strong combination of excitement, anxiety, and fear. She had never broken the rules like this before, and the emotion was overwhelming. She needed to push it down, to control her feelings so that they couldn’t control her.

  It was proving much more difficult than at training with Coach Yogee. Her body brimmed with nervousness at what she was about to do, making it far more difficult to keep her mind clear. She kept at it, working her way repeatedly through the breathing exercises that she had been practicing each day.

  With one final slow breath, the world began to change around her. All of a sudden she could see things around the room with a newfound clarity. A small bug moved in the corner of the room and Tyranna felt like she was inches away staring directly at it, able to see the slightest twitch it made.

  Her sight was not the only thing improved, as she could now clearly hear two sets of footprints approaching the door, as well as a small, high-pitched little gnome rambling on about the time she almost killed her father with the plague.

  They’re back.

  Tyranna knew she needed to act fast. She gave her wings a slight shake, trying to quickly understand the workings of her new muscular structure. She may have had the body of a hawk, but she certainly didn’t have the instincts and experience. Flying was a brand new skill, and she had only practiced a few times. None of those practices had gone particularly well.

  She quickly shuffled over to the large window opening in the stone wall at the back of the room. With a few quick swishes of her powerful black wings and a slight hop from her small legs she managed to propel herself onto the ledge.

  They were only on the second floor, and in her normal form, it didn’t seem like that big a drop. Now, as a three pound hawk, it looked far more like a chasm of impending doom than just a simple drop out of a window.

  Its ok, she repe
ated to herself over and over again. I did this in the courtyard with Coach, at least a little bit No reason I can’t do it now. Of course, she had practiced flying two feet off the ground, not twenty-five, a fact that kept seeping unwantedly back into her thoughts.

  But the thought didn’t last long, as her roommates opened the door, which sent a small rush of air pouring under her tail feathers. The tiny gust of wind added to the fear that she might be caught by Sam and Gnipper. Together they gave her the confidence she needed to leap from the window.

  At least that’s how Tyranna planned on telling the story. A more accurate version may have been that she got scared, lost her balance, and fell awkwardly out into the night, barely figuring out how to glide before crashing painfully into the ground. The one nice thing about sneaking out on your own was that you got to decide what the story was going to sound like later.

  Ugh, thought Tyranna, one month I’m friends with a demon, and already I’m becoming a liar. What’s happening to me?

  Tyranna didn’t know the answer to her question, but there was one thing that she was sure about, though, and that was that she really did enjoy flying.

  chapter 19

  midnight rendevous

  Jaxon

  Rosehaven

  November 10, 1503

  Jaxon couldn’t believe how easy it was to get out. Making friends with Flehm was easily the smartest thing he had ever done, and he had done a lot of smart things in his life. The doorman had taken his break at exactly the time they agreed on. All Jaxon had to do was promise to have dinner with him tomorrow night and regale him with some stories of mischief and mayhem. Jaxon figured that it was a great deal, since chances were pretty good that he’d be kicked out of Thales by then and would never have to worry about making good on it.

  The air was cold for Rosehaven[24], and Jaxon shivered a little as he and Rigby turned south on the cobbled road toward the tower. The moon was very dim, and Jaxon could hardly see more than a few feet in front of him.

  “Perfect mischief weather, eh Rigs?”

  Rigby let out a soft growl to remind Jaxon to be quiet, followed by a quick sniff of the air to make sure there were no surprises approaching. She seemed content that the streets were empty in front of them and picked up her pace a little bit. Jaxon matched her speed, eager to get the plan over and done with so he could get back to his normal life. He hoped the Hoofstomps hadn’t done anything different with his room.

  He didn’t expect to see anyone out at such a late hour, especially since he knew from his repeated visits to the sheriff’s office that the majority of the patrolmen wouldn’t be anywhere near the tower this late at night. They concentrated their limited resources farther to the south, primarily on market row or over by the Scarlett Day Inn. If anyone still happened to be awake at this hour, that was likely where they would be spending their time.

  Suddenly, Rigby stopped dead in her tracks and began to swing her head back and forth. She slowly but vigorously began sniffing the air, obviously perturbed by a smell in the wind.

  “What is it girl? Is someone coming?” Jaxon tried to look around in the direction she was sniffing, but the darkness made it hard to see more than a few feet away.

  Damn eyes, he thought angrily. If it wasn’t for my stupid wench of a mother, I could see everything I needed to right now. His eyes had always been his least favorite trait. Not only did they look so human, rounded and blue, but they functioned to match. If he had inherited more demonic eyes, his sight would pierce through the darkness like it was nothing. They were like cats in that way. Evil, angry, killer cats with bad tempers and no respect for anyone other than themselves. Ok, they were exactly like cats in every way.

  Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Rigby’s hair stood on end from the back of her neck to the tip of the white stripe that ran down her tail. Her glowing white teeth pierced through the darkness as a warning to anyone stupid enough to try to cause her or her master trouble.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like two dirty mutts out for a stroll.”

  Jaxon’s heart sank as he recognized the small, high pitched voice. He had found the kind of stupid he had hoped to avoid.

  “What can I do for you, Mirabella? Beautiful night we’re having isn’t it?” Jaxon clenched his teeth to avoid having the wrong words come out.

  “Not so nice for you, Half-breed. Aren’t you a little too young to be out all alone at this hour? Don’t you know it’s dangerous out here?” She spoke as if she were patronizing an infant.

  Squinting into the darkness, Jaxon could see she had not come alone. Rigby began to growl a little bit louder as the tiny flying form of the faerie became visible.

  Like most faeries, Mirabella was a shining example of beauty— luscious black hair tossed across her shoulders, bright green eyes that shone like emeralds, bronzed skin tainted only by a few faint scars on her cheeks that Jaxon could only assume had come from a knife fight. Her wings were a bright orange that glowed in the dark like a firefly. If Jaxon wasn’t pretty sure she was about to kill him, he might not have minded running into her.

  Her companions, both stout and sturdy dwarves, represented the opposite end of the attractiveness scale. They each had blotchy, red skin with scrapes and scars lining their faces from forehead to double chin. Both looked like they had been attacked by an angry bird.

  “Can we kills em, boss? I hates half-breeds! They look funny.” The words came from the dwarf to Mirabella’s left. He was the one who Jaxon had decided was, in fact, the uglier of the two. It was his hair that did it. It was so thin and wispy that it looked like dry straw blowing around the stable. Why he would leave it that way, and not shave his head. It just seemed like such a poor decision.

  “Wait a second!” cried Jaxon as he threw his hands up in front of him. “Kill me? Why would you kill me? I have no argument with you fine folk. We’re just out for a little stroll tonight, trying to enjoy the nice weather while we have it. You know how fickle temperatures can be this time of year.” Jaxon flashed her a big smile as he shivered. He knew that he should have come up with a better lie.

  He also knew full well that friendliness wasn’t going to accomplish anything in this situation, but he needed some time to think. Rigby might be able to take on one of the repulsive rascals but not two. Not to mention, Mirabella herself was a problem. One might not think that a two foot tall faerie would be able to do much against a nearly full grown demon-blooded sorcerer in training, but Jaxon wasn’t in the mood to find out. She had a reputation for being as quick with her knives as she was with her temper.

  “Oh that’s ok, Half-breed. We’re not gonna kill you. At least not yet. That would be way too easy. If I remember correctly, Miniheart, you’re fostered by a Roune-Knight aren’t ya’? The satyr, I do believe.”

  Jaxon couldn’t decide if she actually wanted an answer to the question so he opted to stay quiet.

  “Now if I’m correct, and I usually am, this means that you have some pretty important people in this city that don’t want to see you get hurt. I willing to bet that they would pay a lot of coin to get you back unharmed.”

  Mirabella leaned in close to Jaxon’s ear and whispered the rest.

  “Actually though, in my line of work I’ve found that the unharmed part of the deal is the least important. If people like you enough, they’ll pay more if they know I’m harming you. It’s called incentive. Now the mutt you have with you, that thing’s a different story. No one’s gonna pay anything for her. That’s why I left her out in the alley to die in the first place, cause mutts ain’t worth nothin’.”

  Mirabella pulled back away from Jaxon and looked at her associates. “Ralph, Jensen . . . grab the mixed-blood… and kill the dog.”

  Snap. The sound of Mirra’s tiny fingers echoed through the night like it was made by a giant, signaling her two companions to go. Each grabbed for one side of Jaxon, catching him before he could react. He struggled but could barely move in their grip.

  Fortunately for
him, Rigby never let her guard down. The motley mutt pounced toward one attacker, her bared teeth opening wide to snap at the not-quite-as-ugly-as-the-other-dwarf dwarf.

  “OWWWWWWWW! Get it off me!” he screamed as he released Jaxon and tried with all his strength to pry Rigby’s muzzle off his arm. Her jaw only clenched tighter as bright, watery blood began to pour from his arm and down her mouth.

  Jaxon tried to take the moment to pull out of the grasp of the uglier dwarf, but he couldn’t believe how strong the attacker’s hands were as they locked around his upper arm.

  Realizing that his attempts to pull away from Rigby proved fruitless, the dwarf tried a different tactic, swinging his left arm down as hard as he could onto the back of the dog’s head. Rigby let out a whelp of pain through her clenched teeth, but she didn’t break her hold.

  Seeing his companion attacked, anger quickly replaced the fear in Jaxon’s mind. He spun quickly and kicked his own assailant with all his might. William had always taught him never to aim where he did, as it was ungentlemanly, but Jaxon didn’t think that wrestling etiquette applied to an attempted kidnapping.

  His foot landed squarely where Jaxon had wanted it to go, and the dwarf immediately dropped his arm as he bent over in pain. His mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out except for a soft, high-pitched whistle. Jaxon wasn’t sure if his target was going to vomit or cry, but he figured either was a positive from where he was standing.

  Rigby had let go of the dwarf’s arm to avoid the blows raining down upon the back of her head. She was very wobbly on her feet as she slowly circled her prey, eyeing him up and down to find the best place to attack. She needed a distraction to work with.

  “AHHHHHHHH,” screamed Jaxon as he ran straight at the back of the dwarf’s knee, crumbling him to the ground. Rigby took immediate advantage of the moment and lunged for his neck, ready to strike the killing blow.