by Daniel Ruth
“You said I could only maintain the pain thing for an hour.”
“If I induce the state as you go in, it should last almost an hour. You can do the second hour with your own strength. Problem solved. We’ll have you wresting Mei Ling by the end of the semester.”
Stella snorted skeptically.
“...and so it is my great honor to welcome you to the Royal Academy and Runic Glyph School. Although you are separate schools, know that you are brothers too. Although you will compete, you will drive each other to new heights of knowledge and power.”
“Although the rewards are breathtaking, the path you go down is not without risk. Look to your left and your right. Chances are that one of your neighbors will abandon this path and follow other less dangerous pursuits.”
I frowned at this point as the acting principal spouted his drivel. He was a dignified, thin man who looked middle age with curly brown hair with a resonating baritone voice. However, graduating from this school was not my real priority. I was here to start my journey on a new method of magic... and to investigate any clues the principal had left. Considering I was almost certain that this was the previous identity of the demon lord, it was already a dangerous path. I hadn’t a clue what the acting principal was talking about. How was this school dangerous.
“Look further. Of the eight around you, two of your companions may pass on this mortal coil.” My eyes widened at this. Was this a fight club? Didn’t they normally have priests to resurrect the dead? Perhaps I should send Beth back while I could. Then again, it was already too late. There was a hydra behind us and I was not sure what the school’s position was on playing hooky. It probably involved whipping.
Although I was looking at the acting principal, my mind was wandering over various scenarios and possible dangers. Honestly, I simply knew too little. Worst came to worst and I would take Beth and Stella and head to a safer town until the hydra was dealt with.
“Anyway, enough rambling. Welcome again to our school. Your housing managers are waiting. Your paperwork should have your group numbers. Please line up by the flagpoles and they will settle you into your apartments. Those of you who are in the Runic Glyph School will be taken, by carriage, to the dormitories set aside for you. Welcome!”
Chapter 22
There were over a hundred of us gathered around one haggard looking man as he desperately read off names from a notebook. The housing manager finally rattled off our apartment number and tossed us our keys as quickly as he could before going to the next group. Apparently, I wasn’t the only person to have a manservant or guard. It may also be that several of the children simply wanted to group together for one reason or another.
The building was rather large, taking up most of a block. While it was well maintained and pleasantly ornate, it wasn’t a magnificent mansion by any definition. Looking at our keys, I saw we were assigned 546. I eagerly walked inside. Although we weren’t here for the long term, I was hoping to get what I needed within a few months. That was long enough to be a home away from home.
The inside was well carpeted with a deep red shade. Paintings and tapestries lined the walls. The corridors were notably wide. Far more than I had seen back in Arc, with the exception of the Tower Plaza lobby. If I could actually regain my true form, I wouldn’t have much trouble moving through here as long as I didn’t meet another dragon headed the other way. I couldn’t do that but there was plenty of headroom if I wanted to try my hand at a giant form.
There were no elevators but the stairs were easily accessible. I popped my head into each floor and noted that each higher floor was a bit less well kept up than the one below. I could guess the seniors had the pick of the lower suites. Still, even when we reached the fifth floor, despite being a bit bland it still wasn’t too bad. No decorations on the walls, the floor a bit threadbare, but it was clean. I could deal with that.
“Hmph, hrfph.” The muffled sound of distress drifted through the level.
I paused in the corridor and peeked around the corner. Lying on the floor, limbs splayed out, were several students. Although their voices were stifled they seemed panicked.
Beth started to run forward, but I grabbed her shoulder as she went by. At that point, I heard several guttural words and felt active magic dance through the air. A massive gust of wind blew through the hallway from the rear. I borrowed a bit of my mass to increase my weight and prevented myself from falling forward. My grip on Beth prevented her from moving, but she lost her balance for a moment. Behind me, I heard Stella snort and the wind immediately died.
“Interesting game. The floor appears to have a binding on it. Excellent use of a low-level utility spell. Combined with a wind rush. I am not sure why, though.”
“I think it might be a joke,” said Stella thoughtfully.
“Is this hazing,” Beth asked. “That was outlawed over a century ago.”
“Along with everything else in your world,” I muttered to myself.
“Welcome, newbies,” shouted a well-dressed teenager, moving into the corridor from around the corner. “You seem to have escaped our little welcome. Here, have another.” He waved his hand and shouted another few throat wrenching words. His spell might have been a bit more surprising if he wasn’t actually mangling the dragon language.
I put a hint of energy into a barrier field directly in front of him and the torrent of mud heading towards us splashed back at our erstwhile tormenter. Then I dispelled the field and used a bit of telekinesis to push him off balance. He staggered forward a few feet, arms windmilling, before the toes of his shoes seemed to become anchored to the ground and he fell flat on his face.
“Yes, a good day to you too,” I replied dourly. Dragons really aren’t practical jokers, though I did enjoy a pun now and then.
“You can’t do this to me,” the teen cried plaintively. “I’m a senior. My floor will have our revenge.”
“Seriously? Isn’t it a bit pathetic to be whining about having done to you exactly what you were going to do us,” I said shaking my head. I held out my hand and the fellow's cloak flew to me. It caught briefly at the clasps but since it wasn’t armor, it easily tore. I ripped it into strips and guided them to lay a path in front of us. We gingerly walked on it to bypass the binding on the floor. Although the spell is surprisingly useful, it’s still static and the binding surface won’t move from where it was laid.
“It’s like superglue,” observed Beth.
“Yes, it’s a nice spell,” I nodded in agreement. “A bit wasted as a prank, but decent.”
“I’ll get you for this,” shouted from his place on the ground. I made a point to step on his head as we walked by, driving his face into the spelled floor. After that, all we heard was his muffled screams that merged into the shouts of the other trapped student.
When we passed the corner, we saw a stocky dwarf leaning against the wall. He was dressed in leather armor that almost sparkled when I stared at it. Obviously magical. He growled irritably at us but pretty much ignored Beth and I. “Rules are bodyguards are to let the little ones play as much as they want, as long as they don’t do anything permanent. Remember it, elf.”
“I am not an elf,” Stella’s voice gradually rose in elevation. I moaned to myself. Why couldn’t Mei have come instead? “I am álfar!”
“You don’t look like a Heifer to me,” the dwarf grunted concomitantly. “You look like an elf.”
“I am álfar,” shouted Stella, waving her hand. I grabbed Beth and moved us both to the side as far as I could. A turbulent dust devil immediately engulphed the dwarf, lifting him up in the air and spinning him around the corner. I heard a thud and a groan.
“Damn touchy elf.”
Our room wasn’t far down from the hapless children. I quickly opened the door and let us inside. The first room looked like a living room. It had a fireplace, two overstuffed chairs, couch and a tiny bar. The chairs were a tad bit dilapidated but still looked like somewhere you could curl up and read a book. Several
light globes hung in the corners. It wasn’t a lot of light, just enough to read or study by.
Four other doorways led out of the room. A little exploration showed them to be a bathroom and three small bedrooms. Cozy, but sufficient.
“Are they going to be alright?”
I turned to Beth. “Who?”
“The students outside,” she replied in exasperation.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
“Won’t that guy suffocate trapped in the mud like that?”
I snorted in amusement. “Spells like that stop functioning if you will it. Or die. I’m sure he’ll remember it before he passes out.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
I shrugged. It sounded like suicide if they kill themselves on their own spells. “From what Clarence said, they have some mages that can still resurrect people. In fact, I should set up a regeneration circle in the corner there. But first things first.”
I walked over the to the fireplace and jabbed my finger into the brick flooring in front of it. Surprisingly my attempt the make a hole was rebuffed. “Enchanted fireplace? Really?”
Don’t you care that they may die,” Beth asked, sounding upset. I paused at what I was doing to look at her. She seemed upset. Ah, right. You have to do what you need to keep your people happy.
“Of course I do. Sorry, I was just distracted,” I smiled at her. “Stella, could you check up on the kids? Make sure they are okay.” Okay, duty was done. I turned back to the fireplace.
Magic. I examined it a moment and determined that waving your hand in front of the recess ignited it. Tapping the bricks of the floor I found where the enchantment stopped and jabbed my finger in. Blowing the stone dust from the crushed brick I examined the hole again. Nodding in satisfaction I brought my anchor stone from my pouch and tapped it into place until it was seated firmly. With a little effort, it even appeared to be a decorative tile on the floor. Ugly, but decorative.
I heard an explosion from outside in the hall. A moment later a grouchy Stella stomped in. “Damn stubborn dwarves. No wonder the elves hate them.”
“Okay, now that we’re all settled in...” I started, deliberately ignoring Stella.
“Wait a minute! I haven’t unpacked,” Beth interjected.
“Unpack what,” I asked, a bit perplexed. “Stella is the only one that has anything.”
“I had her carry some clothes for me. Now we’re here I can put them away in my room.”
“When did that happen?” I asked confused.
“While you were scribbling and cursing we went out a few times to get some necessities.”
“Oh. I see. Go ahead,” I waved at her, vaguely wondering how that had happened. “I’ll do my thing.”
Stella and Beth stepped into their rooms to unpack. I settled in front of the fire and fiddled with my wrist terminal. It had been a while since I had used it to call anyone, but since Beth said we had a satellite connection it should still work. I decided to call Jeremy first. I had his address recorded, so it only took a moment.
“Hey Jeremy, how’s it going,” I said cheerfully at the tiny image of him hovering above the terminal. He looked terrible. Bags were under his eyes, his hair was unkempt and it looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. I definitely should have checked his health before I left. The damn hospitals obviously couldn’t keep my humans in decent shape.
“You damn monster,” Jeremy exploded in rage. “Where’d you take her?”
“Um. What?”
“Where’s Beth? Bring her back, right now!”
As I was trying to digest what he was saying I heard scrambling from the room and Beth burst in with a panicked expression on her face. “No! No! No! You weren’t supposed to call him!”
“Beth you’re okay,” Jeremy exclaimed with relief on his face as he saw his sister in the doorway.
“Of course she’s okay,” I said, attempting to figure out what was going on. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“Bring her back right now,” Jeremy said, glaring at me again. “How dare you take her!”
“But... but you told me to,” I lamely defended myself. Stella stood behind a very guilty looking Beth, shaking her head.
“I did no such thing!” Jeremy was gradually growing calmer, as it became clear that his sister was safe.
“Wait a minute,” I said as I tried the figure out what was going on. I turned to Beth. “You weren’t practicing your forcefield, you were invisible!”
“You taught her invisibility?” Jeremy shouted.
“Of course not,” I retorted. “My priorities were keeping her alive first. The force field was the first thing. Although, I think I did demonstrate it once.” I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She was far more talented than I thought.
“It was that ‘not my problem’ field, not invisibility. It was rough to keep that up for Conrad and the force field. Otherwise, you would have noticed all the energy being projected,” Beth reluctantly admitted.
“So that’s why Conrad was looking at me like that when I talked to you.” I nodded to myself. That was pretty neat. Completely fooled me. “But why did Jeremy allow you to come... oh no.”
“I did not allow Beth to go anywhere with you!” Jeremy was back to being upset.
“Yes, you did,” I objected. Then I looked over at Beth. “So Jeremy seemed kind of out of it during the whole trip. He also gave in kind of easily when you wanted to come to France. Then the constant headaches, the vagueness in his eyes, the weird references to the zoo. You hypnotized him!”
“She what?” Jeremy exclaimed. “How could you teach an eight-year-old your mind fu...er... hypnotizing thing?” He paused for a moment, then an expression of understanding came over him. “So that’s why I had that weird dream, where you took Beth to the zoo and rode the dinosaurs.”
“I didn’t,” I shouted gleefully before I noticed Jeremy looking at me in disdain. I schooled my expression, however inside I was overjoyed. “Um, bad Beth.” I stealthily gave Beth another thumbs up behind my back.
“I am still furious,” Jeremy said, manfully keeping his temper. “However, as long as you bring Beth back immediately, I suppose no harms done.”
“Well, actually using that kind of enforced suggestions repeatedly isn’t very healthy,” I paused as I noticed Jeremy glaring at me. “Right. No harm.”
“What about the hydra,” Stella whispered. She was whispering from the doorway, so I am not sure who she thought she was fooling.
“Ah. The Hydra.” I looked at Jeremy and then awkwardly at the floor. “There may be a slight problem getting back with Beth. We met with a little hydra issue and although no one was hurt there is still a three-headed dragon in the forest between us and the portal.”
“Hydra?” Jeremy exclaimed. “What the hell is a hydra doing roaming the woods?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Eating people, I guess. Anyway, it’s really not safe until the army kills it,” I paused in thought. “Or more likely shoos it off. But it’s okay.”
“No, it is not okay! It’s not okay at all!”
“Beth is perfectly safe here at the Royal Academy. She’s going to be taking classes with people her age and learn all about magical cultures!”
“It’s like a cultural exchange program,” Beth chimed in.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Jeremy growled at her. “I was furious when I thought Derek kidnapped you. Now I know you totally duped him, I’m furious at you.”
“Hey,” I weakly defended myself. “Dupe is such a strong word. It was a natural series of errors...”
The conversation petered out at that point. Jeremy was still pissed off and as much as he was happy to Beth was okay... well she was the person he was now pissed off at. This actually made me much happier, due to him not actually be raving mad at me. So Beth went to pout in her room and Stella went out to do something. Maybe she felt the need to expound to the dwarf how she was really an elf.
I, however, still had few phone cal
ls to make. “Hello, is Conrad in?”
“Officer McHally is in France at the moment,” the receptionist said blandly. This was odd, I could have sworn Mei gave me Conrad’s direct line.
“Who?” I looked blankly at the transparent image of the woman.
“Conrad. It’s his last name.”
“Hmm, who knew? Well, let him know I called.”
“I will,” she sighed as she disconnected the call.
Okay, next one. Let’s see, I didn’t have Vivian’s number but the people’s directory did have Mr. Vincent Fiero’s contact information listed. Considering Vincent was in the basement of Tower Plaza with a stake through his heart, hopefully, his number was being forwarded. Placing the call, I waited. After a minute of watching the Clan Fiero crest rotate above my wrist terminal, I was getting anxious. I was just about to give up on the call when the image flickered and a pixilated blur appeared.
It seemed to be a slender female but it was moving so jerkily that the holo would dissolve into glowing dots before reforming.
“Vivian?” I asked hesitantly. “Is that you?”
“Professor? Did you find something?” I heard screams of pain and rage in the background and the picture settled down. The vampire council member no longer wore her dress gown. Instead, she had a well-worn black leather jacket and form-fitting pants. To be honest, she looked very nice. I would give her a second look if I could get over her being a corpse.
“Well, I have an idea where to go,” I started, then paused as I saw several bodies in the background. All with wooden stakes in them. In fact, the lovely council member wore a bandolier over her shoulder and a belt over her hips. Each of these was full of very sharp wooden stakes. At least the belt was. The bandolier was half empty. “You seem... busy.”
