by Ren Ryder
Bell butt in, saying, “Pfft, my Kal is a king there, bow down you filthy mortal!”
I narrowed my eyes at my sylph companion. “Don’t mind Bell, she gets things mixed up sometimes. Right Bell?”
“King! He’s a king among men, that’s what he is~” Bell sidestepped her earlier blunder.
Tess read the room, coughed delicately, and moved beyond the talk of kings. “Why don’t we get back to the project. Would you be willing to part with a piece for me to study if I can melt the rest down and make a ring for you?”
I nodded agreeably. “Sure, that seems fair, but I’m not sure what its melting point is, or if it even can be. What do you think?”
Tess examined the magic stone shards under different microscopes as we talked. “Some gemstones can be melted under pressure without losing their original properties, and others can’t. I won’t know with this one until I test it. Do you mind leaving these with me for now?”
“No, go right ahead,” I said, stuffing the rest of my things back inside my pockets while leaving the remains of the magic stone on the tabletop.
“Imagine the applications if I can duplicate it!” Tess squealed. She seemed to go off into her own world, her inventor’s mind taking her for a ride.
So much so that Tess seemed to have forgotten we were there. My curiosity had already paid dividends, so I didn’t mind being dismissed. I slipped out of the workshop with Bell, leaving the genius inventor to her work. I felt bad about not asking permission, but I also swiped the etching rod and stuffed it inside my cloak.
I tiptoed past Neil’s office and then picked up speed again, trying to make it to the moving boxcart without drawing attention to myself. When I passed through the main hub, I found the majority of the staff occupied by some sort of meeting.
I heard a snippet of the intelligence briefing as I walked into the room. “… a serial killer that targets magic users, codename Red. They’ve struck across the magic district and all over the New London over the past two years, no pattern to the killings…” I walked out of hearing range as I slipped through to cabin cart.
Keeping my head low but wanting to know her thoughts, I asked Bell, “What do you think about all this?”
“Fighting Ouroboros on our own you mean?” Bell clarified.
I nodded as we closed in on the boxcart. I didn't relish riding it back up to the surface, but the thought of seeing the sky again was enough to spur me onwards.
Bell scrunched up her face in thought. “You know what they say… doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result? That’s the definition of insanity.”
I guffawed. “Great, thanks, so I’m insane.”
Bell shrugged and smiled cutely. “Well, welcome to the world. We all have to be a little insane, to live in it.”
I recalled the words Lord Eurius, Herald of Storms, and Lord of the East said to me on leaving the Otherworld. “You know, your father gave us his blessing, although he did say he’d kill me if anything happened to you. I think that’s a move in the right direction, all things considered.”
Bell squealed in delight. “I can’t believe Daddy gave you his blessing! Do you know what this means?!”
I winced at the noise. “I don’t think I do?” I whispered back.
Bell kissed me on the cheek. “Nothing can stop us now, our union has been officially recognized by my father! This is wonderful~”
I made a face. “Gross.”
Pushing the button, I stepped into the rickety machine as soon as the doors slid open, breathing a sigh of relief when the doors closed behind me. Now that I could move freely through the Royal Quarter without being molested by the imperial guard, it was time to find Rex.
Chapter Eight
I was stopped three times on my way from the enforcers HQ to the Royal Academy of New London. Each time by a different set of roving imperial guards incensed over my open-carried sword belted to my waist. I was able to run them off by flashing my enforcer liaison badge. They took one look at my credentials and scurried off without giving me any more trouble.
The Royal Quarter really was beautiful. Unlike the packed-in Middle and Lower Quarters, the expansive properties and wide streets gave the whole place extra breathing room. There were parks all over, some of which I found myself detouring through just to enjoy the scenery. Well-manicured gardens, conservatories, green houses, and wildlife preserves dotted the affluent area.
On my way to the academy I walked through the little shopping district that served the most privileged class of New London. There were flashy boutiques selling clothing and accessories, markets that sold fresh produce and food items, and a butcher that sold all kinds of fresh meats by the pound. Ritzy restaurants catering to the elite were a dime a dozen on the little downtown row.
Bell salivated over the tantalizing aromas flowing through the air, leaning into the wind. “Do you smell that Kal? Yeah, we need to move here."
I’d never felt so out of place with my ruined trousers and flashy fortune-tellers cloak rippling in the wind. “I’m not sure we fit the profile,” I chuckled.
Bell puffed out her chest. “We’re visiting royalty! Of course we fit the profile!”
“I’m not sure the human world is going to recognize our status as royalty, or that we should broadcast the fact…”
“But, but Kal— how are we going to reap the rewards of our noble heritage if we don’t own up to it?!”
I shrugged. “That’s the thing, I wasn’t planning on owning up to anything.”
“But then how will people know to bow down to us?” Bell whined.
I sidestepped a group of nobles dressed to the gills chatting about the newest, most happening place on the boulevard. “I don’t think I like the idea of anyone bowing down to me.”
“And I’m not sure you’re thinking at all! People respect power, and titles are the signifier of status! Think of all the places we can go, the things we can do~”
Bell and I reached the end of the market district as we argued back and forth about our stances on whether we should announce our status to garner reputation and respect. After walking through a small residential area and passing through a garden filled to bursting with different varieties of flowering plants and trees, we reached our goal.
The Royal Academy of New London was a sprawling campus that had its own track & field, sports arena, massive gymnasium, jousting field, library, condominiums and housing, and even an outdoor swimming pool and recreation area. Paved paths and cobbled walkways wove throughout the campus, making it feel like a walker’s wonderland.
In addition to its many amenities, the academy sported multi-story granite-faced lesson buildings with wide segmented windows on all sides. The school buildings were peppered throughout the campus, but there was a big cluster of them surrounding the library and study hall.
“This place is… wow,” Bell said, at a loss for words for once.
“How are we supposed to find Rex amongst all this?” I waved my hand at the huge campus.
“Ask those kids for directions?” Bell suggested.
I panned over to find a small group of students approaching us. They were all well-dressed and well-bred, wearing fresh-pressed school uniforms in black and white, suits and ties for the boys and skirts and blazers with ties for the girls. Each uniform sported a gold “RA” with silver embroidery. They all laughed at something the boy out front said.
I furrowed my brows. “Why don’t you ask?”
“They can’t see me dummy, duh~”
“Oh, right,” I said, steeled myself, then raised my voice to ask, “Hello! I’m Kal, and I’m a bit lost, this campus is huge. Is there any way you can point me in the direction of, uh, Professorial Row?”
“Get a load of this commoner, looks like he just crawled out of a dumpster,” the lead boy snickered.
A young girl swatted him on the shoulder. “Gage, be nice, he can hear you.”
Gage was a tall, muscular teen with a handsome
face ruined by a smug cast to his features that was revealed when he smirked. With his curly blond hair and ice-blue eyes, I could see why he was well-liked based off appearances alone— I certainly didn’t care for his personality. He was the epitome of a noble child, full of pride and lacking basic empathy.
“I can hear my eyes screaming having to look at that atrocious get-up,” Gage fired back, making a show of covering his eyes. “He’s clearly out of place. You think we should call campus security on the lech?”
I heated up at the boy’s comments and thought about flashing my badge, but held tight to my frustration and bore the shallow revulsion of teenagers. “If you could just point me in the right direction, I can leave you all to your… activities.”
“We’re missing out on the weekend, c’mon, give the guy what he wants so we can go,” another boy said.
“Fine,” Gage scoffed at his buddy, then turned to pour out his frustrations on me. “See that steeple over there? That’s the academy cathedral. Past that on the other side of the apple orchard is Professorial Row. If you’re happy now, beat it. You’re ruining the aesthetic of our fine university, and you stink,” Gage said, holding his nose and waving his hand below it to make his point.
I marked the tall steeple. It was near a kilometer off from where I stood as the crow flies. If I squinted I could just make out the apple orchard Gage had mentioned. Assuming he wasn’t leading me astray, I’d find Rex beyond that.
I started walking in that direction, passing the group of students without making eye contact. Then I stopped to say, “You’re telling me the truth then? I don’t fancy you’ll look as pretty if I have to come back and ask you again,” I told the smug noble boy, letting him get a rise out of me despite myself.
“Ohhhh, did he just say what I think he said?”
“I dare you to try me,” Gage said with a giant smirk. “Don’t think I won’t speak to my father about you, trash. He’ll have you as food for the pigs before the night is through, believe me.”
I left Gage with a parting remark spoke over my shoulder. “I didn’t think you would rely on your daddy to fight your battles for you, but I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a child.”
Gage flew into a rage and ran up at me from behind. Without looking, I sidestepped his tackle and pushed down on his back with one hand, driving him against the cobbled pathway. I left him there on the ground, crying about his bloody nose while I kept on moving towards my goal.
“That was a bit much, don’t you think?” Bell flew along beside me, but was looking back at the problem I’d left in my wake.
“People like him make me mad, but yeah, you’re right, I let him get under my skin and overreacted. My bad.”
“But you’d do the same thing over again, wouldn’t you?”
I smiled. “Yeah, probably.”
“So you don’t regret it,” Bell clarified.
“I guess not,” I admitted. “Anyways, what’s the harm? What’re the chances I’m ever going to see the guy again, right?”
Bell smiled wide. “Jinx~”
“Oh great, thanks for cursing future me with his presence.”
Bell showed her teeth in a predatory grin. “Happy to help!”
I bit the inside of my lip. “You have a funny way of helping, you know that?”
“Thanks, I’m always the best helper, aren’t I?” Bell glowed as if I’d given her a real compliment.
We reached the base of the cathedral, its grand gothic architecture loomed over the campus with its tall spires, pointed arches, and flying buttresses. All its windows were made of stained glass that poured colored light into the interior.
“Humans can do some incredible things when they put their minds to it,” Bell said, her eyes huge. “You wanna take a peek inside?”
I shook my head side-to-side and kept on walking past the cathedral steps towards the apple orchard. “Let’s keep on, shall we? We’ve put this off long enough, and I want to see what good impact, if any, my actions have had on the lives of those kids.”
“You have such a one-track mind Kal. You gotta enjoy the little things whenever they crop up around you, or you’ll miss out on happy moments!” Bell said, nodding her head to herself.
“Said the girl with the attention span of a fly,” I joked.
“Hey, rude! Butt-face! You just wouldn’t know how to find fun in the commonplace if it poked you in the eye.” Bell poked me in the right eye with a clawed finger.
I bent over double and held my eye closed as it teared up and overflowed with salty water. Blinking through the tears, I had to keep my right eye squinted shut for awhile.
I took the first cobbled path I could find into the apple orchard, walking between the fruit-laden trees and taking uncharacteristic joy in the simple, sweet smell of flowering life. Stretching out my hand, I picked a ripe red apple and brushed it off on my shirt, then took a big bite out of the sweet, juicy flesh.
“Mmm, tasty. See, I can enjoy the little things,” I told myself.
Bell gave me some side-eye. I don't think she was over my comment yet.
I pinched two of my fingers together to grab Bell by the hand. “I’m sorry Bell, I shouldn’t have made fun of you. Forgive me?”
“Awh, cuz you asked so nice, fine, I forgive you!” Bell returned to her usual cheery self and dove into her resting spot in my shirtfront pocket.
I scarfed down the apple I’d picked down to the rind, then lobbed its remains into the fertile soil of the apple orchard to decompose.
The wind took a sudden turn and alarm bells went off in my head as the scent of cold iron and death filled my nostrils. Blood magic seethed in the air, pressing against my skin like a cold caress, making me feel sick. Intense, radiating bloodthirst struck me like a hammer-blow.
“Bell.”
Bell turned serious “I know, we’re being followed,” She said, then flew up into the air to get a better vantage point.
I looked at the sinking sun on the horizon, seeing it was only a handspan from disappearing below the edge of the world. Monsters roamed New London at dark, but it wasn’t dark yet. So who was tailing us?
Hot anger flooded my stomach and filled my body with warmth. “I’m not leading them to Rex. We’ll make a stand here, where we’re nice and isolated.”
Bell cocked her head to the side, then said, “They’re not getting any closer. Think they’re waiting for the sun to go down?”
I clenched my fists. ”Maybe. Doesn’t matter.”
Twenty-four runes flashed through my mind’s eye in an instant, filling me with their possibilities. I flipped through them like a catalogue in my head, discarding one after the other until an image of fire filled my vision while inspecting a particular rune. Its name came to me without conscious thought: Fehu.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “If they’re going to make us wait, I’ll cook up a surprise for them.”
Bell clapped. “Ooh, a surprise! I love surprises~”
I reached into my cloak and took out the etching rod I’d pilfered from Tess’s workshop. Drawing from my source to fill myself with power, I cast my eyes about my intended battleground and picked out a half-dozen locations. Burning with energy, I fed the power through my mana channels out my fingers, into the silver-alloy etching rod clasped in my hands.
Moving from one trunk to the next in a clockwise fashion, I carefully etched my chosen rune into the apple trees, leaving six glowing runes in my wake. Then I moved to the center of my runic working and settled down on a small boulder to wait.
I didn’t bother to take out my sword, that would come later, but I took another draught of power off my source and filled my skin to bursting with power. Little gusts of wind picked up around me as I filled Bell’s sigil on my chest with silvery power.
I wasn’t the same person I’d been when fighting Ouroboros my first go-round. I wouldn’t be shackled and made to fight for the Duke’s amusement. Whatever monsters or technological warfare they had to use against me, I
would prove them worthless.
The sun dipped below the horizon, and the last rays of light illuminating the apple orchard shrank and shrank as dusk fell on the city of New London. I watched its progress with a calm eye, assured in my preparations and my own strength.
“They’re coming,” Bell warned.
I rose from my sitting position and rested my right hand on the pommel of my sword, but didn’t draw it yet.
Near a score of battle-tested, teardrop-tatted toughs filtered into eyesight. They appeared in ones and twos from behind cover in a coordinated manner to surround me on all sides.
They were Ouroboros hunters, the gutter equivalent of the imperial guard, all sporting a prominently displayed tattoo of a red-and-black serpent eating its own tail.
The hunters were decked out in painted black leather armor and wielded swords and spears matted with the blood of the supernatural. I noted half the group were equipped with a few pistols each to a man. The ranged unit stayed on the back lines while their brothers and sisters took a more forward position.
They all settled into the confines of my trap, oblivious.
Blood magic tainted the air, filling my mouth with the taste of sickly-sweet death.
A heavy-set, heavily scarred bald man limped to the forefront to address me. “Well well well, what do we have ‘ere. Look what the cat dragged in. Ya shoulda stayed dead Specter, now I gotta kill ya,” lieutenant Graf laughed.
I waved casually to the man I’d hobbled during our first meeting all those years ago. “Graf. Fancy meeting you here. You need help killing another wyrm?”
Graf spat a thick globule of phlegm to the side. “Got a mouth on ya, innit? We came to put the myth of New London’s Specter to rest. You alone boy? I gotta figure how many graves to dig.”
My blood boiled.
Wendy, a female hunter I recognized, said, “That’ll tell ‘im! Ya got him shaking in his boots, boss.”
I was shaking with rage. Being in such close proximity to them, I couldn’t help my mind wandering to Rex and the kids. Now that Fin had defected, I wouldn’t stand for anyone else being dragged into my fight against Ouroboros.