by Aaron Oster
Morgan on the other hand, felt right at home. After all, this was no different than the alleys back in City Four.
After another minute of walking, Morgan suddenly stopped. Sarah, who had been clutching his arm, stopped right along with him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in a hushed voice, looking fearfully around.
“I know you’re there, come on out,” Morgan said, turning to the open mouth of an alley to their right.
“So, you spotted us,” a voice echoed out of the darkness. “Don’t think you’ll be getting away just because you did!”
As they watched the mouth of the alley, six figures materialized out of the darkness.
“I told you that it wasn’t over, you commoner piece of trash. I’m here to make good on my promise!” Grub said, as five of his cronies moved to surround them and Frush swaggered up next to him.
33
Morgan blinked in surprise.
He’d known someone was following them and had even been expecting a fight. Dark alleys like these seemed to attract those kinds of people; but he’d been expecting a cutpurse, not this moron.
Grub sneered down at the two of them, as his greasy relative Frush moved in front of him.
“I haven’t forgotten what you did to me either, gorgeous,” the greasy boy said, blowing Sarah a kiss.
“But I’m not mad,” he said, walking around until he was standing behind her. “All I want is an apology, and then I’ll be happy to give you the ride of your life!”
Sarah let go of Morgan’s arm and had begun to turn in Frush’s direction, when the boy’s arm dropped on her shoulder.
She tried to cry out, but her body completely locked up, leaving her unable to utter so much as a sound. Her anger began to turn to fear as she fought in vain to break whatever skill he was using to hold her in place.
“That’s a good girl. You can try to struggle, but it won’t work,” he giggled, a high pitched sound full of lust and a bit of madness.
Sarah had never been more afraid in her life. She was completely at his mercy as he pressed his back into hers and allowed his hands begin to glide down her shoulders.
Revulsion gripped her as Frush slid his hands down towards her breasts, stopping just a few inches away and giggling in her ear.
“Do you like my mage ability? I like it quite a bit,” he whispered, sticking his nose in her hair and inhaling very loudly. “It comes in very handy when girls need a little extra persuading.”
Sarah was practically shaking in rage and disgust at this point.
This sick piece of shit had done this before! He’d used his abilities, the one thing that made them special, to take advantage of others. Well, she wasn’t nearly as helpless as they were and she would make sure he paid for what he’d done.
Gritting her teeth and doing her best to ignore Frush’s fingers inching ever downward, she concentrated with all her might on moving her hand just a few inches.
Morgan felt Sarah let go of his arm, but didn’t think much of it, as his attention was focused on the idiot in front of him.
“Now I’ll have my revenge for the way you cheated me out of my rightful victory in the arena,” Grub snarled, cracking his knuckles and glaring at him.
“You lost, fair and square,” he answered with a shrug. “It isn’t my fault that you’re so stupid.”
Grub’s already angry expression morphed into one of rage.
“No! You cheated and I’m going to beat you senseless here and now to show you who’s really stronger!”
Morgan was about to reply, when the sound of something shattering next to him made him stop. He quickly turned and saw that Sarah had been captured by Frush and she wasn’t moving. His mind went into overdrive as he tried to process the situation before him and how best to handle it.
Sarah was more powerful than Frush, which meant that he must be using a skill to keep her from moving. But since she was stronger, she’d been able to get his attention by dropping that small block of ice lying near her feet.
He could also see that Frush was pressed up against her and was about to touch her in a way that he knew women didn’t like.
Morgan may have been completely ignorant of social norms, but this was something he was all too familiar with.
He didn’t know exactly what this was, but the guards back in City Four would do this all the time. The women would always scream and cry out for help, but who would dare fight against the city guards? Well, this wasn’t City Four and Sarah was his friend. No one would get away with touching her like that!
Morgan felt his blood begin to boil as his fists tightened.
He didn’t need to think twice about what he was going to do next.
Sarah grinned as her body unfroze a mere five seconds after the ice block had hit the ground. She heard a thump, and then screech of pain, and turned to see Frush, pinned to the ground face first, with Morgan’s foot planted on his back.
He’d pulled one of Frush’s arms up and was slowly pushing it farther and farther up as the boy under him screamed in agony.
Her friend might be dense, but he was as reliable as they came!
She felt a sick sense of pleasure to see the boy lying on the ground as his arm was slowly being bent the wrong way.
But that wasn’t enough. A sick bastard like this had to be stopped. Otherwise, he’d just do this to some other poor girl.
She took a step towards the two of them, heart pounding with adrenaline as an icicle spear began to form in her hand.
She didn’t like the idea of killing in cold blood, but this was a necessary evil.
“Get him! I want the bastard dead!” Grub yelled, his face livid with rage and hatred. He’d been standing there in shock ever since Morgan had acted, but now rage had broken him out of his stupor and he wanted revenge.
Sarah turned, just in time to see the others gearing up to rush them.
“Damn it all!” she snarled, turning to face the oncoming threat.
She held her arms up and six icicle spears formed in the air before her. Grub’s minions, who’d been expecting an easy fight, froze in place as the icy spears hovered before them.
“I’m not in a very good mood, since that toad tried to have his way with me and all of you were just going to watch,” Sarah said with a wicked grin.
“So I’ll give you an ultimatum. Either you leave by the time I’ve counted to five, or die. Your choice.”
The cronies hesitated for a moment, looking between her and Grub. They’d seen what she’d done to Frush back in the arena and were not eager to receive the same treatment. But at the same time, Grub was from a powerful family and going against him could mean future trouble.
“One!” Sarah said loudly, and that was all it took.
Screaming in terror, the group of boys took off, abandoning their leader and his cousin to their fate. They might get in trouble later, but right now, they were more afraid of her than they were of them.
“Bunch of cowards,” Sarah muttered, allowing her icicle spears to vanish and turning back to Morgan. He had already broken Frush’s arm and had now moved onto the fingers, snapping them one by one. She winced at the loud cracking sound, followed by the wail of pain, every time one of them snapped.
She’d known he was ruthless in a fight, but this was something else. Did he really care about her that much? Maybe there was hope for her yet.
Then she spotted something shifting in the shadows behind him and felt her heart skip a beat.
“Morgan, behind you!” she yelled, arms already coming up in preparation to use icicle spear.
Morgan turned just in time to see a stone clad fist flying at his face. Only his high agility, and Sarah’s timely warning, saved him from what would have undoubtedly been a very unpleasant experience.
Morgan jerked his head to the side, causing the fist to just barely brush his cheek as it flew by.
Grub, who’d been expecting to hit him, stumbled forward, completely off balance. Morgan took the
opportunity to use heavy handed and slammed an open palm into the center of his chest.
It wasn’t a very powerful blow, as he didn’t have much room to maneuver, but the attack had the intended effect. Grub stumbled back, giving him more room to move and Morgan spun on the spot, letting go of Frush’s arm and lashing out in a sideways kick.
The kick impacted with such force that it completely shattered the larger boy’s armor, snapped several ribs underneath, and sent him flying back to crash into the opposite wall of the alley, where he lay groaning and barely conscious.
He then turned back to see that Frush had gotten to his feet as was trying to slink away. He ran after the boy and caught him by his broken arm. He screamed once more as Morgan threw him to the ground then stomped down hard on the back of his knee. There was a loud snap, and Frush’s screams doubled in volume as he writhed on the ground.
That should keep him from running away.
Morgan turned back to see Sarah relaxing her posture. All of the others were gone, presumably chased off by her, and he was grateful for that.
He didn’t really think that the others had any real issue with him. They were just weak and followed Grub, either out of fear or hopes of greater power. Not that he really knew what Grub could offer.
“Are you alright?” Morgan asked, as Sarah walked up to him. “He didn’t…?” Morgan trailed off here, not sure exactly how to phrase the question.
Frush had clearly touched her, so asking her that wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter.
Thankfully, Sarah knew what he meant and gave him a smile.
“No, you stopped him before he could do anything.”
Morgan nodded, glad she understood what he’d meant to ask.
For some reason she was red again, likely still angry about what happened.
They heard a loud whimpering sound, and both turned to see Frush, leaning up against the alley wall and clutching at his broken limbs with trembling fingers.
“Sarah, what are you doing?” Morgan asked.
As soon as she’d laid eyes on him, her expression had darkened and a spear of ice had formed in the air before her.
“You might have stopped him this time, but this sick piece of crap has done this before. I need to kill him so he won’t be able to do it ever again!”
Frush’s eyes widened when he heard this and he let out a whimper of fear as Sarah stopped just a few inches from him.
“You can’t,” Morgan said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“And why not?” she asked, whirling to him. “Since when have you cared about sparing the lives of your enemies!?”
“I don’t,” Morgan said, keeping his expression calm. “But use your head for a moment. Even if we kill these two, there are still six others who witnessed this attack. In the best case, we’ll be expelled and in the worst, executed.”
Sarah seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sighed in resignation.
“Then what would you have me do?”
Morgan shrugged.
“Send a message. I’ve already sent mine,” he said, and gestured to the boy’s broken limbs and then to Grub’s unconscious form.
Sarah thought on that for a moment, then a truly evil smile lit up her face.
“Thank you Morgan. That is an excellent idea!”
Frush, who’d been watching along the entire time, sagged in relief as he heard his life would be spared. Sarah gestured then, and the spear thunked into the ground between his legs. Then he screamed; but this scream was unlike any he’d previously uttered.
“Oh, quit your whining,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure the healers can reattach it if you go quickly enough.”
“Was that really necessary?” Morgan asked with a pained look on his face. “It seems overly excessive.”
It wasn’t that he felt sorry for the boy, but any man who saw that would feel a twinge of sympathetic pain.
Sarah quirked a brow at him, ignoring the howling boy by her feet.
“This, coming from the person who broke his arm, leg and all the fingers on one hand?”
She placed her hands on her hips as her face hardened.
“This was my message and hopefully it’ll stick with him. Now let’s get going, we still need to tell Gold what happened here.”
Morgan nodded in agreement, taking one last look at the howling Frush; before shuddering and turning away. He scooped Sarah up in his arms and used fly, moving as fast as he could to escape the cries of pain, from the now member-less Frush.
34
Morgan was twirling the ice-bristle wolf core between his fingers once more; admiring the way the red and blue colors swirled around inside.
They had knocked on Gold’s door once they’d gotten back the previous night and had told him everything. Once they were done with their story, he’d told them to go to bed and that he would talk with them the following day. He’d then rushed out of the house, leaving the two of them alone.
Sarah had thanked Morgan then, for saving her from Frush and for stopping her from killing him. She had then done something completely unexpected. She’d leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, then her face had gone completely red and she ran back to her room.
Morgan dropped the core onto his stomach and sighed.
He still wasn’t sure how he felt about that. No one had ever kissed him before, so how was he supposed to feel after getting one? He’d seen people kissing back in City Four, though he wasn’t really sure why they did it.
He couldn’t decide either way, so he instead opened up his status and viewed the core in his hands once more.
He’d already seen it several times and it troubled him to no end.
Name: Ice-bristle wolf core
Rank - 9
Total available energy - 2,154/2,154
This core was taken from an ice-bristle wolf and has no special properties.
He sighed once again and dropped the core on his dresser.
What bothered him wasn’t the fact that it had so little energy compared to the bear; what bothered him was the fact that he’d nearly died while fighting a beast just two ranks higher than he.
He’d fought and killed people that we’re four, or even five, ranks above him. He’d even killed the bear while taking minimal injuries; but this rank 9 wolf had nearly done him in.
He needed to unlock his supermage ability and reach rank 9. That was the only way for him to gain that sort of power. If the difference between rank 8 and 9 was really so huge, then he needed to reach it.
Gold should be coming back within the next hour or so, but until then, he could work on combing his mana and chi.
So, closing his eyes, he did just that.
∞
There was a knock at his door sometime later and Morgan slowly opened his eyes.
He’d made good progress on growing his reiki and had now channeled over half his mana and chi into it. The purple orb was now larger than both the red and blue. Now all he needed to do was continue working on it and reach his next rank.
He slowly unfolded his cramped legs and went to open the door.
Sarah stood there, looking quite chipper; which he though was odd considering what’d happened the previous night.
“Gold is waiting for us in the main room and he asked me to come get you.”
Morgan nodded, closing his door behind him, and followed her out of their living room and into the kitchen.
Gold was seated by the table and looked up from his bowl of porridge when they entered, motioning them to take a seat.
The two of them sat and waited for him to finish eating before he began to speak.
“You made a real mess of things,” he said, placing his spoon down and looking at the two of them. His tone was deadly serious and not even a glint of his usual humor shone through.
“The boys who attacked you last night were taken into the infirmary and thankfully, they were all treated in time. That includes the boy you took the liberty of… dis-me
mbering.”
He said this last bit to Sarah, who just snickered at the bad pun.
“In light of what happened, the academy has decided that they will not expel you for the way you acted, but they will be keeping a closer eye on you.”
“Wait, what?!” Sarah exploded. “They attacked us! Why are we the ones who are being scrutinized over this?”
She was on her feet now, hands clenched at her sides in indignation.
“The only reason you’re still here, and not in prison, is because they attacked you first. The way you handled it, on the other hand, is why you’re under scrutiny. If you had just beaten them up and left it at that, they would most likely be out of the academy.
“Since you decided to take it a step further and send some sort of message, the academy has decided to let both parties off with a warning. If either of you steps out of line again, you will be thrown out.”
Morgan winced when he heard that and shot Sarah an apologetic look.
It had, after all, been his idea to send a message.
Sarah just ignored him though and continued yelling.
“So what you’re telling me, is that after what those pieces of shit tried to do; they’re just going to be let off?”
“What I’m saying, is that the next time something like this happens, you make sure to finish the job!”
Sarah was so shocked by Gold’s sudden outburst that she jumped. The normally calm man had such an expression of anger on his face that she was actually afraid.
“To be perfectly clear, I am not okay with what happened to you! To either of you! I wanted that boy strung up by his scrawny throat and the rest of them expelled. But someone is blocking me from seeing the board about this. Someone with real influence and power.”
He leaned forward, eyes blazing as he looked at the two of them.
“Do you understand?”
They both nodded; his message very clear. Frush and Grub were from a very wealthy family and had likely bribed more than a few people to look the other way. And although Sarah was from a noble family, she would have to keep quiet, unless she wanted to blow her cover.