Peter and the Heart of Alchemy (War of Contractia Book 5)

by Tj Dixon

  “Thanks…” I say a little lost for words and feeling the pressure of everyone’s stares.

  “Tabi was joking. She just wanted to see how we’d react.” Midori sighs.

  “Oh…” Peter says and Rin nods acceptingly, with an annoyed glance at Peter. Cherry still looks furiously at me though.

  “I’m sure everyone here wanted to compete, and you’re certainly not the only one who would have liked to kiss Peter.” Midori tells Cherry, who then looks rather embarrassed, as does Peter.

  “I suppose that’s true.” Cherry admits.

  “There’s a couple more things we need to cover.” Peter tells us, and we all turn our attention back on him. “You’re not allowed to wear jewellery so you’ll need to take off the queen’s gift. You need to wear the school uniform, but since you’re already wearing it that shouldn’t be a problem. Other than your uniform you can’t take anything into the arena.”

  “What about underwear?” Helski asks and I blush.

  “That’s part of the school uniform.” Tomo tells us, which is a relief. Then Peter continues.

  “Silmarion will use magic to make each contestant temporarily blind and deaf before you enter the arena. This is so you can only rely on your magical senses and can’t help each other.” Peter explains and that comes as a shock.

  “So why didn’t you just call Tabi, Helski and Cherry here?” Tomo asks Peter.

  “Everyone else is required to watch the match.” Peter answers, which is also a bit of a shock.

  “Why?” Tomo asks, sounding as confused as I am.

  “Silmarion said there are two reasons. So that nobody could cast doubt on the match if it is played fairly and if anyone cheats they will be punished by the spectators from the other side. Only Year 3s are allowed because our opponents are all Year 3s.” Peter explains.

  “So we’d better not cheat.” I laugh.

  “Yes, please don’t.” Peter tells me seriously.

  “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t cheat even if there wasn’t a punishment.” I tell him.

  “Neither would I.” Helski says. We look at Juliet who doesn’t say anything.

  “Juliet…?” Peter asks sounding a bit concerned.

  “Peter…?” Juliet asks sounding confused.

  “You’re not going to cheat, right?” Peter asks.

  “Do you want me to cheat?” Juliet asks.

  “No.” Peter says firmly shaking his head.

  “Then I won’t cheat.” Juliet says sounding like she is a million miles away.

  “You did hear the rules, right?” Peter asks.

  “Use fire magic on fire crystal. Use dimensional magic on dimensional crystal. Wear uniform. Underwear allowed. Gifts not allowed. Attacks not allowed.” Juliet says whimsically.

  “Juliet, can you give me the queen’s gift?” Peter asks.

  “Yes.” Juliet nods but then just stands there without taking the golden chain off from round her neck. I take mine off and so does Helski whilst Peter just waits for Juliet. “Do you want me to?”

  “Yes…” Peter says sounding like he is trying to be patient but struggling. Then Juliet’s golden chain appears round Peter’s wrist. She ported it there despite the fact she’s meant to be saving her power for the match. I suppose it doesn’t use much but it would have been easy to have taken it off normally.

  “I’ve taken it off.” Juliet says.

  “Thanks.” Peter sighs and then takes Helski’s chain and finally mine. “I’ll give you your mind stones back once you’ve won the match. There’s no point practising now. You know how to use your senses and magic even without your vision and hearing. We’ll walk over to the arena and wait for the match to begin.”

  It doesn’t take long to reach the academy and when we do we are met by Silmarion and our rivals. Silmarion looks as strange now as she did the other day. This time she seems scary too because I know she is going to take my vision and hearing away. Even if it isn’t for long that is a scary thought. Without my magical senses it would be outright terrifying.

  The six of us are standing just outside the arena but it is hidden with magic so we can’t see or sense inside it. It is rare that I stand next to Juliet and Helski. They are both a little intimidating at times. Helski is generally a bit arrogant, although she isn’t as bad as she was when she first joined the club. Juliet is truly scary though. Not to mention weird. She completely lacks common sense, which makes working with her a scary and dangerous experience. I hope she doesn’t do anything too dangerous today.

  Standing opposite us and looking rather nervous are three girls I don’t know. They look like they are barely twelve years old. They don’t have Contractian looks either. They are all red haired and have green eyes. They also have freckles. I wonder what their elements are.

  “It isn’t time but everyone is here so I see no reason to delay. Is everyone ready?” Silmarion asks emotionlessly as always. The other team all nod nervously and so do I. Helski nods confidently.

  “What for?” Juliet asks. Silmarion looks at Juliet with that eyeless stare but Juliet doesn’t seem intimidated at all.

  “To start the competition.” Silmarion says still not showing any emotion.

  “I am.” Juliet says calmly.

  “I’m going to take your vision and hearing, but you’ll still hear my voice in your mind. I’ll let you know when each crystal has been won. I’ll also let you know when you can start and when the match is over. I’m taking your vision now, and taking your hearing now.” Silmarion says and as she says it everything goes dark and then silent. Then Silmarion’s voice continues to speak but it is talking directly to my mind without passing through my ears. “I’m porting you into the arena now. The match will begin in three, two, one, now.”

  I open my wind senses and search for the wind crystal. It has only been a moment when I hear Silmarion’s voice in my mind again. It says very quickly. “Fire won. Dimension won. Wind won. Water won.”

  Just earth left… What the…? I change to my earth senses but Helski is our only real hope there. Only moments pass before Silmarion tells us. “Earth won and match won by Raven’s Blood.”

  We lost and I missed the wind one. That’s not going to go down well…

  Chapter 15 (Multiple)

  (Peter)

  “I found it, but they got it before I could use earth magic on it.” Helski says dejectedly as she reaches us. Tabi is behind her looking seriously depressed and her aura shows she is even more depressed than she looks.

  “We may have lost, but it was very close and everyone tried their best.” I tell them encouragingly. I then look at Juliet standing there calmly, truly impressed by how quickly she found the dimensional and fire crystals. “Great work Juliet. You found the first two so quickly.”

  “The crystals were easy to find.” Juliet says to which Helski and Tabi wince. I notice Cherry smirk at Tabi, which seems out of character for her. I guess Cherry must still be angry at not getting chosen. Her aura certainly shows anger and frustration, but having just lost the match everyone’s does.

  “Well done.” I tell our rivals. They send a nervous glance my way, but then return their attention to the short black girl approaching us. Her black hair is braided unlike the last time I saw her. Her head still just about reaches my chest. Her pale brown eyes glare at me fiercely.

  “You lose, but we already knew the outcome. There’s no way you’d find the crystals quicker than my team, even if we were using our worst club members. I suppose you’ll say yours are your worst members too though.” The short black girl tells me but I shake my head.

  “Everyone in my club has their own unique skills and talent. There’s no such thing as best or worst.” I tell her and she tilts her head as she looks at me oddly. Then she laughs.

  “So what’s your excuse for losing?” She asks.

  “Why do we need an excuse? We lost so you can continue to use the arena. That’s all there is to it.” I tell her with a shrug.

  “Well,
I hope you think twice before challenging Raven’s Blood to another match.” She tells me.

  “I see no reason why we would be worried about challenging you again. Raven’s Blood though… That’s a nice name.” I say honestly.

  “A nice name? Are you mocking us?” She asks angrily.

  “No. Why would I be?” I ask puzzled.

  “Don’t you know what the name means?” She asks angrily.

  “Ravens are birds aren’t they? I don’t really get the blood part, but to be able to fly freely in the sky is nice, so the name seems nice to me. What does it mean to you?”

  “Ravens are used as blood sacrifices. They are also black.” She tells me with a glare.

  “Hmm… I can see why you don’t like it, but then why did you choose it?” I ask.

  “I didn’t. Mayor Perry did.” She tells me.

  “Why do you follow her?” I ask.

  “I was a slave. My parents still are. If I can prove myself then I can earn their freedom. Most of my club are former slaves. You may have been a slave once, but most of the people who follow you know nothing about the harsh realities of slavery. Even for this match you insisted on, the college slaves had to put out all those fake crystals. They’ll have to work twice as hard to catch up with their own work, or pay the price of failure.” She tells me and her words chill me.

  “What’s your name?” I ask her.

  “Grace, and yes I know it was a bloody joke.” She tells me with a glare.

  “Was it Mayor Perry who named you?” I ask, unsure why Grace would be a bad name.

  “Don’t be stupid. Like a noble would bother naming a slave. It was the supervisor of the slave farm that I was born on. She always enjoyed giving stupid names to us.”

  “You were born on a slave farm?” I ask, remembering the horrific sight of the only slave farms I have had the misfortune of seeing.

  “Yes and my parents are still living there like pigs so I, unlike you, have real motivation to succeed. So do most of my club.” Grace tells me.

  “We have our own motivation.” I tell her but she just laughs.

  “You three, return to your practise.” She tells her club members and then ports back into the arena where her club seem to be practising again already. The three girls standing here port away at the same time as Grace.

  “I wonder what their names were.” I say shaking my head in frustration. “Oh well, we’ll just have to continue our practise in our own rooms.”

  “It’s a pity we couldn’t find the wind or earth crystals.” Sherry sighs.

  “I did find them.” Juliet says and I blink. I look at her and so does everyone else.

  “After they had been found by the other team?” I ask.

  “No. At the start.” Juliet says and I hear more than a few angry and stunned mutterings from behind me.

  “Why didn’t you use magic on them?” I ask in shock.

  “You only said to use magic on the fire and dimensional ones.” Juliet says. I don’t know what to say and before I can think of something to say Rin has walked right up to Juliet, placed her hands on Juliet’s shoulders and started talking with quiet fury.

  “You idiot. You could have won the match for us. Were you not listening when Peter explained the rules?” Rin asks her furiously.

  “Use fire magic on fire crystal. Use dimensional magic on dimensional crystal. Attacks not allowed. Gifts not allowed. Wear uniform. Wear underwear.” Juliet says nervously.

  “I don’t care whether you wear your bloody underwear, I care about you losing us the match!” Rin yells at Juliet who looks like she is about to burst into tears.

  “That’s enough Rin. Juliet found the two crystals we asked her to. There’s nothing we can do now.”

  “It’s a pity we don’t have a decent earth mage in Year 3, but we have so many wind mages… I’m amazed we lost the wind crystal.” Rin says with a glare at both Helski and Tabi. They take a step backwards under her glare.

  “Rin…” I say angrily. She backs off from Juliet but her glare at the three girls doesn’t disappear or even fade. Both Rin and Cherry seem to have been a bit out of character today. I look at both their auras and notice something odd. Just a small speck of black mixed in with their aura. I look at Tabi and Helski’s auras too but theirs seem fine. I look at Juliet’s and it seems normal too.

  “So what now?” Rin asks.

  “First I give these back.” I say and take out the three black mind stones on the golden chains. I give Juliet’s back first. Then Tabi’s and finally Helski’s. “Cherry and Rin come to my room. Everyone else practise in your room.”

  “Why Cherry?” Rin asks suspiciously.

  “It doesn’t matter.” I say and then port back to my room. Asuna and Angelika ported back just before me and Rin does so just after me. Then there is a knock on the door. I open it with magic and Cherry is standing there. She walks in nervously and closes the door behind her.

  I wish Lucy was around and am more than a little concerned for her. Since we can’t leave the academy and she presumably can’t enter it I doubt we’ll see her again until after the curse has been dealt with.

  “So why Cherry?” Rin asks again.

  “Both your auras are a little odd at the moment. Are either of you feeling unwell?” I ask them.

  “No.” Rin answers and Cherry shakes her head.

  “Has anything odd happened to either of you?” I ask and Rin laughs.

  “Odd? Like losing that match just now? Or Midori being cursed, or…” Rin starts to say but I interrupt her.

  “Cursed… I want to have Silmarion take a look at both of you.”

  “I’m fine though!” Rin complains.

  “Me too.” Cherry tells me firmly.

  “I’m not so sure. You were both acting…” I start to say but this time Rin interrupts me.

  “Acting what?” Rin asks pointedly.

  “Acting odd.” I tell her bluntly.

  “So do you expect me to be happy that we lost? Or that Juliet didn’t even bother to get the other crystals?” Rin asks furiously.

  “No, but blaming…” I start to say and this time it is Cherry who interrupts.

  “How can we not blame them? If she knew where the stupid crystals were Juliet could have won the match! Instead she let the other team win. I’ve always thought she was a bit weird, but this is just beyond belief.” Cherry complains.

  “I’m annoyed at her too, but she obviously thought she wasn’t allowed to do the other crystals. I should have been clearer.” I tell Cherry and this time Rin replies.

  “Yes you should have.” Rin glares at me.

  “She should have asked.” Cherry glares at Rin.

  “Both of you wait here.” I sigh and port to Silmarion’s class. To my relief she is here. There are about eight students practising in her classroom. Silmarion appears to be reading a book. No matter how many times I see it I am always amazed that she can read without eyes.

  “Peter?” She asks emotionlessly without looking up.

  “I need your help again.” I tell her.

  “You lost the match. It was a fair loss.” She tells me warningly.

  “I know. It’s not about that. A couple of my friends have something strange in their aura. I’m concerned they might be cursed.” I tell Silmarion who closes the book and looks up.

  “Interesting and worrying.” Silmarion says and she sounds genuinely worried.

  “Could you take a look at them?” I ask.

  “Of course. Where are they?” Silmarion asks.

  “My room.” I tell her and she ports us outside my room. I open the door with magic and lead her inside.

  “Which two?” Silmarion asks but Rin and Cherry’s glares are answer enough. Silmarion walks up to Cherry who is nearer and places one hand on her forehead. “She’s not cursed.”

  “Of course I’m not bloody well cursed.” Cherry glares at her. Silmarion approaches Rin who glares threateningly at Silmarion, but it doesn’t bother Silma
rion. She just places a hand on Rin’s forehead and then nods.

  “They’re not cursed.” Silmarion tells me.

  “Well that’s good, but their auras are still odd.” I tell Silmarion, unable to hide my concern.

  “Perhaps it’s just strong emotions from the loss.” Silmarion tells me.

  “That doesn’t normally look like this.” I tell Silmarion.

  “Are either of you feeling ill or different to normal?” Silmarion asks Rin and Cherry but they both shake their heads.

  “I feel just fine, other than losing the bloody match.” Rin tells her.

  “Me too.” Cherry says.

  “It’s probably nothing to worry about then.” Silmarion tells me and then ports away. Both Rin and Cherry glare at me.

  “I suppose she’s probably right. Return to your rooms to practise.” I tell them.

  “Of course she’s bloody well right.” Rin tells me and ports away. Cherry ports away without even saying anything.

  “That went well.” I sigh and Angelika laughs. Asuna looks like she’s trying hard not to.

  “So do the three of us practise together?” Asuna asks sounding hopeful.

  “You both practise together. I want to check on Juliet, Tabi and Helski to make sure they’re ok.” I tell her.

  “It might be better not to.” Angelika warns me. I look at her questioningly. “Right now they probably just need time. If you show up now it may make things worse for them.”

  “I suppose you may be right.” I sigh and sit on my bed. “You both practise. I really don’t feel like it right now.”

  “I suspect a few of our friends may feel the same way.” Asuna tells me and I know she’s right.

  “Fine. I’ll practise.” I say and force myself up. Then I laugh and say. “I thought you were meant to do what I told you to?”

  “Sorry!” Asuna apologises.

  “Just joking.” I laugh.

  “How long until you need to meet the Kuroneko?” Angelika asks me.

  “Tomorrow. I hope that we’ll be allowed to leave the academy by then but I seriously doubt it. I can only pray that the Kuroneko doesn’t take offence at my absence.” I tell Angelika without even trying to hide my frustration. Who the hell cursed the entire forest, and why?