Bitter Wind (Death's Handmaiden Book 2)

by Niall Teasdale

  235/9/5.

  Homeroom. Back to the normal flow of lessons. The business of school, hopefully without terrorists or alien spirits to get in the way.

  Having had that thought, Mitsuko offered up a prayer to the winds of fate that they might ignore her temptation. It would be nice to get through a term without someone trying to kill her one way or another.

  ‘We have a new student,’ her homeroom teacher announced. ‘A transfer from Aquaria. Please stand up and introduce yourself.’

  Mitsuko turned in her seat as a young man of average height got up from his seat. ‘Uh, hi, I’m Dana Hillam Beyer. From Aquaria.’ He did not sound especially confident. Lightly tanned skin covered a face which seemed to have more bone than necessary. He was hardly ugly, even quite attractive, but there was a gaunt edge to his features. Green eyes seemed more deeply set than they might have been, but he did have quite sensuous, full lips. His hair was a tousled mass of blonde, closely cropped at the sides and back. He was not big, but there was a hint of a fit physique hidden under his uniform. ‘I consider myself lucky to have gained a transfer to SAS-squared and I’m looking forward to working with everyone.’

  Okay. New student on a late transfer. Maybe his parents had moved to Shinden over the summer. Mitsuko returned her attention to the teacher as Dana took his seat.

  ‘Dana Hillam is bound to need a little help adjusting to his new school,’ the teacher said. ‘Please assist him where he needs it.’

  Mitsuko gave an inner sigh. As student president, it was probably her job to welcome the new young adult. Well, at least she would have help.

  ~~~

  ‘This is Dana Hillam Beyer,’ Mitsuko said. ‘He just transferred into my class from Aquaria. I thought it would be good for him to meet a few more students, so I invited him to have lunch with us.’

  ‘H-hello, Dana Hillam,’ Melissa said. ‘I’m Melissa Connelly Avorn. You c-can call me Melissa, if you want.’ Melissa’s stammer was back in the face of someone she did not know but was expected to talk to.

  ‘Melissa is the student council’s secretary,’ Mitsuko provided.

  ‘Uh, pleased to meet you, Melissa,’ Dana said. ‘Call me Dana. Uh, all of you, please just use my first name. People from Aquaria aren’t big on formality.’

  ‘I don’t like it much myself,’ Rochester said. ‘I’m Rochester Hunt Leighton. You can call me Chess.’ Hands were shaken. Dana seemed a little like an enthusiastic puppy, eager to make new friends.

  ‘I’m afraid it w-won’t be a long lunch,’ Melissa said. ‘Mitsuko and I need to be in the council room in… twenty or so minutes.’

  ‘Then we should get moving,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Oh, Nava, you haven’t introduced yourself.’

  ‘Mm,’ Nava said. ‘I’m Nava Ward.’

  To his credit, Dana did not seem bothered by Nava’s clanless status. He smiled and nodded. ‘Nice to meet you. You three are on the support stream?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Melissa said.

  ‘They are,’ Mitsuko said, ‘but they hold the top spot in combat evaluation in their stream.’

  ‘We d-do?’

  ‘Yes,’ Nava said, ‘we do. Mathias Statham may hate me with a fiery passion, but he also can’t deny that our fireteam is the best in the stream currently. Haven’t you bothered to read the evaluation notices we get sent?’

  ‘Well… No. I suppose I’ll pay more attention when it gets to the end of the year. Combat evaluation isn’t as important to the end-of-year exams for support students anyway and I knew we couldn’t be too b-bad. How about you, Dana? You’re on the combat stream, so I assume you’re aiming at the ASF or something.’

  ‘I… really don’t know what I want to do,’ Dana said. ‘My parents suggested I go with the combat stream because “there’s always a market for warriors in the Clan Worlds.” Maybe I’ll end up in the ASF. Or Aquarian Security.’ He gave a self-deprecating sort of grin. ‘My best attack spell is rank two Slice, so I’m hardly a combat monster.’

  ‘You’re a first year,’ Mitsuko said. ‘You have five and a half years left to sort out what you want to do when you graduate.’

  ‘Very true, President. Uh, by the way, do any of you know Marie Royce Sonkei? I met her last month when she was on Aquaria and she said she was at school here.’

  ‘Marie is our treasurer. I’ll be seeing her in twenty minutes. Or less. Why is this line so slow? Anyway, I could mention your name, if you’d like. Let her know you’re here.’

  ‘Oh… No need. I’m sure she doesn’t remember me. If I see her along the way, I’ll say hello.’

  ~~~

  ‘Hello, class, my name is Hoshi Horne Sonkei and I’ll be your metaphysics teacher for the rest of this year.’

  Nava regarded the woman standing at the front of the class and was not entirely sure what to make of her. In some ways, she was a blonde version of Melissa. About the same height and possessed of a substantial bust spectacularly displayed by her uniform dress – though Hoshi’s dress was red instead of blue. Blue eyes instead of green, and Hoshi’s eyes were narrower, but they both had round sorts of faces. The biggest difference was their hair: Melissa had short ginger hair while Hoshi’s was a blonde, layered mass that fell to the upper slopes of her breasts. Standing there in front of the class, Hoshi looked almost as timid as Melissa too.

  ‘As you should all know,’ Hoshi went on, ‘Lambert Stenger has taken a sabbatical after… an unfortunate incident earlier this year. I was his lab assistant. I have a thorough knowledge of metaphysics and I have a favourable teaching evaluation. I also have all of Lambert’s lesson plans for the remainder of the year, so you should find little difference in your learning experience.’

  Who was she trying to convince? Well, as Darius had implied, they could not know if Hoshi’s teaching would be up to standard until they had experienced it. Rochester had met her a few times and he seemed to think she was good enough. Actually, his reports had been quite glowing. Time, Nava figured, would tell.

  ~~~

  ‘That went on a little longer than expected,’ Mitsuko said as she walked up to Nava and Rochester, waiting outside their favourite refectory. The council was busy and they had been meeting after classes as well as after lunch.

  ‘Couldn’t be helped,’ Melissa said. ‘We had to go through the accounting report on the summer ball,’ she added. ‘It was tedious. Even Marie looked bored.’

  ‘She might be our treasurer, and she does have a good head for figures, but that doesn’t mean she finds accounting exciting.’

  ‘True. Let’s eat.’

  ‘No Dana this time?’ Nava asked Mitsuko as they headed for the food counters.

  ‘I just invited him to lunch out of a sense of obligation,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘I’m the president and he’s a new student in my class.’ She paused. ‘You didn’t say much at lunch. You don’t like him?’

  ‘I don’t trust him. He lies.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘Just about everything. I’m not saying he’s pathological. I don’t think we asked any questions he could answer honestly. His body language was… off. Try to avoid him as much as possible.’

  ‘He’s in my class,’ Mitsuko responded. ‘I can’t avoid him entirely.’

  ‘I’m aware of that. I also think you should warn Marie Royce that he’s here.’

  ‘Marie? I didn’t say anything in the meeting because… Actually, Dana had completely slipped my mind by that point. Do you think he could be a problem to her?’

  ‘I have no idea. I just know he was lying when he talked about her. I think he’s more interested in Marie Royce than he let on.’

  ~~~

  The council meeting had been boring, but then a lot of what Marie did for the council fell into the category of ‘tedious stuff we have to put up with.’ Marie had always had a talent for numbers; her family were salesmen and merchants and they had more or less expected her to go that way herself. Marie had other ideas. She wanted to study metaphysics and advance
the science behind magic. And the ready supply of young men one found on a campus like SAS2 had nothing to do with that decision. It was a fringe benefit, however.

  No one had ever diagnosed Marie as having a sex addiction, but she did admit to herself once in a while that maybe she was just a little too into that form of physical pleasure. Right now, for example, she was considering having her evening meal in a nearby refectory where she was sure she would be able to pick up more than just a plate of reasonably good pasta. This was why she was heading to her apartment before going for food; she wanted to change into something a little more casual than her uniform. She was so busy contemplating her plans, in fact, that she failed to notice the man standing near the entrance to her building until there was no avoiding him.

  ‘Hello, Marie.’

  Marie took a second to register who had spoken. She could see him, but actually believing he was standing there in an SAS2 uniform was another matter. ‘Dana? What are you doing here?’

  He grinned. ‘I’d have thought that was obvious. I’m a student here now. I’m in the same class as your friend Mitsuko.’

  Several thoughts flashed through Marie’s mind at the same time and none of them were good. The one that screamed the loudest, however, was that if Dana was in Mitsuko’s class, he could not be older than sixteen. Marie’s birthday was in February, which made her old for her year. She had turned seventeen this year and was considered an adult. And Dana… was not.

  ‘Y-you were working behind a bar,’ Marie said. ‘Alliance law. You can’t sell alcohol if you’re–’

  Dana waved a hand dismissively. ‘That kind of thing doesn’t really get enforced on Aquaria. I’m here now. We can pick up where we left off. I’ve really missed you.’

  ‘This isn’t Aquaria! We can’t pick up… Damn it! I thought you were… It’s illegal, Dana.’

  ‘What does it matter when we’re in love?’

  ‘It matters. We can’t see each other. We can’t, Dana. Do you understand?’

  The young man frowned and then smiled. ‘Of course. I understand perfectly. I’m sure we’ll see each other around school.’

  ‘Yes. I’m sure we will. If you’ll excuse me…’ Marie walked past him to the door of her building. Her heart was racing and she was sure she was whiter than usual. But… But he seemed to understand what a problem he was for her. As long as no one found out…

  235/9/10.

  When Nava had said she was going to the shooting range on Saturday afternoon, Mitsuko and Melissa had decided to tag along. They had nothing better to do and if Nava was making a special trip to a range, there had to be something interesting happening. Nava did not consider it that exciting, but she had agreed to let them spectate while she tried out the spell Fawn had sent her during the week.

  ‘I figured Chess would want to come,’ Nava said as the trio used their ketcoms to access the longest range on the campus. ‘New spell. He usually gets excited about that sort of thing.’

  ‘He’s working with Hoshi Horne,’ Melissa said. ‘On that paper.’

  The tone of Melissa’s voice was a little troubled, and a little troubling. Nava decided not to say anything. If Melissa wanted help or advice, she would ask. Hopefully. ‘Well, the spell schema Fawn sent me is for something called Magic Bullet. It’s–’

  ‘That’s a military spell,’ Mitsuko said. ‘It’s a long-range sniping spell. Laser Strike for experts.’

  ‘I asked for something precise and ranged. My Magic Burst is a little too prone to collateral damage. Magic Bullet has poor penetration, but it’ll only hurt the person I aim it at.’

  ‘Doesn’t Slice fit that bill though?’ Melissa asked. ‘That’s what you used at the symposium, right?’

  ‘Slice has good penetration, but it has lousy range. As a cantrip, Slice is only really effective at less than ten metres. It’s really a duelling spell. At the range duels are generally fought at, Slice will wound even through fairly thick clothing, but it’s unlikely to kill unless someone has it at a high rank and intends to murder their opponent. Magic Bullet is good to a thousand metres.’ Nava set the box with her twin SAH-301s in it at one of the firing stations. ‘Double that with one of these. Plus, according to the schema, it has another feature which could be useful under the right circumstances.’ Opening the case, she took out one of the weapons and slotted a magazine. Then she tapped at the control station. A target popped up thirty metres away down the range.

  ‘What’s its complexity?’ Mitsuko asked.

  ‘Rank one is twenty-four Tammys.’

  Mitsuko let out a chuckle. ‘And that’s a cantrip for you.’

  ‘That’s close to my limit.’ Nava flicked the thumb switch at the back of her pistol up one notch and pushed quintessence to the device. Almost immediately, targeting data was displayed in her vision field using mental illusion magic; she was the only one who could see it. Taking aim down the range, she confirmed the distance with the SAH’s laser rangefinder. ‘Here goes…’ She pulled the trigger.

  There was a sound somewhere between a pop and a crack. The target had a human silhouette pattern marked on it and a hole appeared in the paper, right in the middle of the head section. On the control console, a line of text popped up indicating a ten-point hit.

  ‘That hole looks… big,’ Melissa said. ‘Bigger than usual.’

  ‘Magic Bullet mimics a hollow point round,’ Nava said. ‘Hence the low penetration. When it hits something with sufficient resistance, like armour or skin, it expands to create a large wound track. If it hits armour, that means it doesn’t go through as easily as a smaller penetrator would. If it hits flesh…’

  ‘It makes a mess,’ Mitsuko said. ‘If you hit something vital, you’re pretty assured of a fatal wound, even with a relatively low-powered spell.’

  ‘Precisely.’ Nava fired off two more ‘rounds’ from her pistol, each one scoring a ten-point hit on the target. ‘Okay…’ Reaching out, she tapped the control panel and the target dropped into the ground. More tapping and then she lifted her pistol to sight down the range.

  ‘I don’t see the target,’ Melissa said.

  ‘You’re not looking far enough,’ Mitsuko said. ‘If you look way out there, you can see a white shape in the distance. How far is that, Nava?’

  ‘Eight hundred metres. It’s as far as I can get on this range.’

  ‘Don’t you need a sniper rifle for that?’ Melissa asked.

  ‘Normally. The SAH three oh one has a times four magnification feature, so that helps. The spell is supposed to make it even easier.’

  Nava squeezed the trigger. If you watched really closely, you could almost see the projectile of pure kinetic force as it left the front of her pistol, even though that was more of a trick of perception; the spell came from Nava, not the weapon. The SAH-301 appeared to have a barrel, but that was actually the housing for the optics. To Nava, the experience was far from what she usually felt when launching a projectile spell. It was not that her senses seemed to follow the ‘bullet’ out toward the target, but part of her awareness was certainly along for the ride, guiding her spell toward its target. It took four seconds to cover the distance, and then Nava was back, fully aware of her surroundings.

  ‘Another ten-point hit,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Using a pistol, at eight hundred metres, you made a head shot.’

  ‘Yes. And I see why this is considered a sniper’s spell. It’s guided. It’s not like I was completely unaware of what was happening here, but a lot of my attention was out there, steering the bullet to its target. So, range doesn’t matter, so long as I can see where my target is, but for several seconds, I’m vulnerable while I guide the bullet. Snipers normally work with an assistant because they have to focus on their target while they shoot. If I were seriously using this at long range, I’d need the same.’

  ‘That’s still pretty amazing,’ Melissa said. ‘I mean, never use it where I can see the results. I feel like fainting just thinking about what it would do to someone. But it’s
really amazing.’

  There was another pop-crack, four seconds of silence, and the arrival of a ten-point hit indicator on the console. ‘Yeah,’ Nava said. ‘I guess it is.’

  ~~~

  Saturday night meant that the nightclubs were open on campus. That meant Marie was on the prowl. Meeting Dana on Monday had slowed her down and she had not even tried to pick anyone up all week, but now…

  Now, decked out in her shortest dress which came with in-built support to add an extra cup size, Marie was heading for the senior nightclub, determined to return with someone she could say goodbye to in the morning. Marie was far from unattractive but, faced with a populace who rarely allowed themselves to be ugly, she had to work a little bit to catch her prey. She was a fit girl, not overly muscled, and slim. Her face was a little long, her nose particularly so, and her eyes were brown, which she felt did her no special favours. Then again, she could have dyed her hair, darkening its brown colour, or adding in a hint of red, but she stuck with what she had. Her results were certainly good enough for her needs, though she was, perhaps, still too young to realise that males her age were likely to respond to any female who seemed likely to put out. Education had come a long way in eliminating the ‘she’s asking for it’ culture of earlier centuries, but boys will be boys. Anyway, Marie was asking for it, so to speak.

  The guys on the door knew her by sight and let her through without comment. The club had no real name; it was ‘the senior nightclub,’ and the one for young adults was ‘the junior club.’ Inside, you had to be seventeen or older. There was no risk of her picking up someone here that she should not be touching. The thought passed through her mind, darkening her mood, and she forcefully pushed it aside. It was time to find a new beau, even if it was a short-lived one.

  235/9/11.

  His name was Brian and he was a fifth year on the combat stream. You could not hold his choice of educational path against him. Not everyone was cut out for the rigours of the academic stream.

  Marie actually liked her men a little stupider than she was. It was not usually a problem since, while you needed to be bright to get into SAS2, Marie was on the higher end of the ability curve when it came to brains. Brian was on the lower end, but he specialised in close combat and had a body to match. Muscles filled out his jeans and showed on his bare arms. She was betting he had stamina too. She was hoping he had stamina because it had been over a week…