by Dixon, TJ
“Next time it may be worse. Please reconsider.” The old lady says frowning before handing over the fifty coins. I port back to my tent and try to get some rest.
“What happened to you!?” Rin asks in a panic. I open my sleepy eyes and see her concerned face.
“Bug bite on my leg. I completed the job though.”
“Let me see your leg closer. No, no! You can’t just bandage it like that. You need healing.” She takes my hand and ports us somewhere unfamiliar. It smells musky but she seems at home here and grabbing a vial of something pours some on my leg through the bandage. The effect is instant as my leg is back to normal. “That’s one black coin, for the healing ointment.” Well I still made forty nine coins profit.
“Here you go.” I say handing her one. I then notice an old woman standing watching.
“How’d you get that wound?” She asks.
“From the bug I was bounty hunting. It was faster than I expected, but it went down in the end.”
“The Flying Ikiti on the bounty board at the Drake?”
“That sounds right.”
“Are you the new mage that fought alongside my daughter?” She asks and I realise her features are similar to Rin.
“Rin, yes.”
“I’d like to hire you. With a decent escort my daughter could collect rare materials, and I wouldn’t need to worry as much about her safety. How does it sound?”
“I get paid?”
“Of course. Otherwise it wouldn’t be hiring.”
“Enough to eat?”
“Of course. At the moment we’re not doing so well but with rare materials we could make enough eventually to pay you well.”
“Sure.” I say.
“Whatever happens though I expect Rin to come back alive and safe. Everything else, including your own safety is secondary. Oh, and Rin, give him back his coin. I don’t recall raising you to be so stingy.”
“But like you said we’re not doing too well.” Rin mutters embarrassed, before giving me my coin back.
“Are you both ready to head out right away?” She asks and Rin looks to me.
“My magic is completely drained.” I answer honestly.
“Rin, give him some of yours. It’s not like you can make good use of it yet.” She says, and Rin looks down ashamed.
“Rin is improving.” I say to which she raises an eyebrow.
“I guess I have something else to thank you for.”
“Do I really have to kiss him?” Rin asks.
“Would you rather I did?” The old woman says which makes me scared for a moment.
“No.” She says and kisses me. I forget for a moment to take her power but only for a moment. Her sharp face looks a little softer as she pulls away. Then she glares at me. “Don’t get used to it. I’ll be good enough to use my own power soon.”
“You’re lucky Rin.” The old woman says with a smirk. “Not many women can give their power freely to a man. Mostly it’s the other way round, and rarely freely.”
“He’s just a brat, not a man. Anyway what’s so good about giving your power to a guy? I’d rather just use it myself.”
“You’ll know one day. For now I’d like some Rin feathers.”
“But Rin doesn’t have feathers.” I say confused.
“How do you know my daughter doesn’t have feathers? Have you seen her naked already?”
“Mother! Of course he hasn’t, and he’s not going to. No man is. Ever.”
“I thought you said he was just a brat?”
“No brat is either!”
“You’ll change your mind one day.”
“Not happening.”
“Do you have feathers?” I ask Rin.
“No! I was named after a bird. Its feathers are what we need. That means going to Drake Mountain where they nest. They are fairly harmless but the lizards that live there are very dangerous. Worst case we could even encounter a Drake.”
“Have you been to Drake Mountain before?”
“Once with the school but never alone.”
“Then we can port there, get the feathers and port back.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“Hopefully it will be.”
“Good luck.” The old woman says and leaves the room. Taking a deep breath, Rin takes my hand and ports us.
We are at the top of the mountain and below I can see a lake and a forest. I can’t see the academy or the town so we must be a fair distance away, but if there were a mountain on the horizon at the academy I would hardly have missed it. The narrow path up the mountain is covered with small stones that make it a little dangerous walking as we get higher. Of course we could just fly if we fall but I’d rather not waste magic.
“The rin nest in small caves near the top. The lizards can be found in the same caves. We should avoid any larger caves though, because there could be drakes inside them.”
“Do the drakes not have any useful body parts?”
“Sure, but we wouldn’t stand a chance. It takes a team of professional mages to take them down. They’re also very resistant to wind based attacks. Pure magic attacks actually heal them and fire is completely ineffective. You really need an extremely powerful water or earth based attack to beat them.”
“Let’s avoid the drakes.” I say grimacing.
“The lizards are weak against wind based attacks, especially lightning, so you should be fine against them. Just don’t get bitten, because they are very poisonous. We aren’t here to kill the rin, only to get its feathers so when we find it please restrain it with magic whilst I pluck some feathers.”
“Sure.” I say and then the hunt begins. The first few caves are empty but the fourth contains a lizard. It jumps at me quicker than I expect but I strike it with lightning before it can reach me.
“We’ll take it with us. Its blood and scales are useful, even fried like this.” Rin says and picks it up by the tail. Rather her than me! She puts it in a bag that looks too small to fit it but easily does so.
“Do you still have room for the feathers?” I ask.
“What are you talking about? There’s room for a dragon in here if we could kill it. That’s not a suggestion by the way.”
“How would you fit a dragon in that tiny bag?”
“It’s a dimensional bag. They’re really rare but my father made it for me when things were still going well. My mother is great with potions and my father at enchantments, but he… well, he can’t do this anymore.”
“Is it his health?”
“Yes, and no.”
“What does that mean?”
“Let’s find the next cave.” Rin says rushing out and I am quick to follow. Can’t have her getting poisoned on my first escort duty! Obviously she doesn’t want to talk about it so I leave the matter alone and focus on the job.
“Here’s one.” I say seeing a fairly large cave.
“Too big, best leave it alone. There’s one over here.” Rin says and starts to enter but I pull her back.
“I’ll enter first.” I say and do so. Rin looks a bit annoyed but doesn’t complain. It is empty but the next one isn’t. With two fried lizards and no feathers we continue looking. It eventually starts to get dark and we now have lots of fried lizards but still haven’t found any rin.
“We should give up soon. The drakes come out at night so we need to leave before it is too dark.” Rin says disappointedly.
“Let’s try this cave at least.” I say and not waiting for an answer, enter it. I stop in a hurry and Rin walks into me.
“What did you stop for!?” Rin says annoyed but I throw up a wind shield just in time as the flames from the drake almost roast us. Even with the shield some get through and it lunges at us. I grab Rin’s hand and port us back to her home. I am a little singed but otherwise neither of us are hurt.
“I thought they only lived in large caves…” I say.
“It must have dug its cave into the smaller one. Two caves connected.” Says Rin who is short of breat
h. “Good job you were quick with that shield though, or we’d both be dead.”
“Sounds like you were a good choice.” The old woman says and only then do I realise we are not alone. “Did you get any rin feathers?” I look down and shake my head a little embarrassed. “Well as long as you are both safe it’s fine.”
“We got lots of lizards.” Rin says cheerfully emptying her bag into a box. “We can try for the feathers again next week but for now you should be able to use these for something.”
“They look well fried. You must be good at lightning.” The old woman says sounding genuinely impressed. “Stay for dinner. We’re having lizard meat stew tonight.”
“Aren’t they poisonous?”
“Not when the blood is drained and they’re cooked properly.” She says and using magic carries the box into the next room. I follow and it looks like a cross between a kitchen and a lab. She has already started cutting up the lizards with an array of twenty to thirty animated knives. The scales and eyes go into small boxes, whilst the rest goes into a pot. I am amazed at how quickly it is all done and without touching anything. A small magical fire is lit under the pot, and in seconds it is cooked. The liquid is drained and placed into a bottle. Water is added and it is cooked for a few more seconds. Three dishes are filled and the rest remains in the pot.
“It’s just the three of us?” I ask awkwardly.
“Of course. Nobody else lives here.” Rin’s mother says.
“Oh.” I say and glance at Rin.
“You haven’t told him. He’ll find out sooner or later so I’d suggest you make sure that you are the one to tell him.” She tells Rin sternly, but then her expression softens. “For now though, let’s eat.”
I look at the unappetizing meal but it’s free and I have gone without too often to refuse. It actually tastes quite nice. It has a sort of charred flavour combined with an unexpected sweetness. I even have seconds.
We port back to the academy full and ready to get some sleep. It is well and truly dark now and the stars are so inviting. It’s nice sleeping on the ground despite its hardness, but I do wonder what it will be like in winter. If I can earn enough I can probably rent a room at the Drake or somewhere in town. I didn’t get paid today for the escort duty. I totally forgot to ask about that. I have the money from the other job though and I can ask next week.
Chapter 4 (Peter)
The week passes quickly with plenty of free time again and Rin is making great progress. She can now fly without any trouble and can use wind magic well enough to beat a weak mage easily. It really doesn’t seem to be her element though and it is no good just controlling one element so I start training her to use water, which she seems to be better suited to. My own mastery is fairly limited but I do my best to guide her. We have been working on my reading and writing too. My reading is now fairly reasonable for basic words and sentences but I still find writing very unnatural.
On our day off we search for the rin again and this time we find one. Its feathers look rather plain to me but apparently they can be used to make valuable potions. Once one has sold I’ll be paid my first escort fee. I still have enough money that I can wait that long without any trouble. As long as it doesn’t take too long to sell. We have lizard stew again and I am starting to really get the taste for it. It is still light when we port back. Rin looking unusually serious asks to come into my tent. I am a bit confused but agree.
“About my father…” She starts and I can see tears in her eyes.
“If it’s too hard to talk about I won’t ask.”
“I’d rather tell you than have someone else do so.” She says but her voice is breaking up as if she is about to burst into tears. “It’s that… He… He…”
And then a familiar face pokes just into the tent. It’s Kelliet. “He’s a traitor who was rightfully executed. Perhaps she is too.” She says taking great joy in her words and Rin really does burst into tears.
“Kelliet. Get out.” I say quietly looking Kelliet in the eye. She smirks but I throw her out with a fierce wind that almost brings the tent down.
“Whatever your father did or didn’t do, whether he was a traitor or not, even if you were, I wouldn’t think any less of you. I was a slave in the arena. I started a rebellion when the capital was attacked. I never owed the old Contractia anything, but most people would consider me a traitor.”
“He didn’t betray Contractia. Contractia betrayed him. Most believe he is a traitor but he is the only man I ever trusted. I guess I may trust you a little too. Maybe. Just a little.”
“If you say he wasn’t a traitor then he wasn’t a traitor.”
“He was set up by a man who wanted to buy favour with a mage. That mage hated that my father was a better alchemist than she was. The man who set my father up didn’t live to regret it though. That mage was the mother of Sor, and a friend of Emi’s mother.”
“Sor and Emi?”
“The winners of the tournament.”
“Oh… That scary pair. Do you want to get revenge on them?”
“No. It wasn’t their doing. I would like to beat them, but not for revenge.”
“We’ll have to figure out what their secret is.”
“Do you really think we stand a chance?”
“As we are now? No. In a year’s time though, if we work hard and figure out their secret, then we might.”
“I’ll work as hard as it takes.”
“Then we have a year to train.” I say and then notice the air has changed. I look quickly at the entrance to the tent and see an unfamiliar wrinkled face.
“I heard that you are in an unhealthy relationship.” She says glaring at me. “It seems it was true.”
“What do you mean by an unhealthy relationship and who are you?”
“I am the disciplinary officer and you know very well what I mean.”
“He’s just a kid.” Rin says raising her eyebrows at the old woman. “Whatever Kelliet told you I assure you that there is nothing unhealthy about our relationship. He probably doesn’t even know what sex is, and if you think I’d do that sort of thing with him you’re crazy.”
“How do you know it was Kelliet who told me about you? She must have seen something that implicates you.”
“We just had an argument, about my father.”
“The traitor.” The woman says with a snort and Rin is clearly uncomfortable but unable to argue. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but if I ever catch you in the act you will regret it.”
“The act of what?” I ask completely baffled. The woman blushes.
“Do not ask me to spell it out.”
“Oh, it’s a spell.” I say to which Rin laughs.
“No it is not a spell! If he is not acting you had better explain it to him Rin.” The old woman says and leaves.
“I’m not explaining.” Rin says quite red before I even ask.
“That’s fine, but it’s not something I can do accidentally is it?”
“No. Not even the slightest chance of that. In fact not even something you could do intentionally either.” She says with a huff.
“Good.”
“You don’t need to be that pleased.” Rin says with a sigh. “Anyway I’m going, but thank you for believing me. I’ll see you at class in the morning for your writing lesson.”
It is morning and we are in class. I am trying some more complicated words when the teacher enters class much earlier than normal. She walks up to us and stares at me with those soulless black eyes.
“You’re in the wrong class.” She says and I am confused.
“But this is our classroom.” I say.
“No. You are in the wrong class. Both of you are now in 3G. Get out of here now. Never return. Never let me lay eyes on either of you again. Not even for a moment. Go!” So we leave the room and head to the next classroom. 3G. We got promoted, even if our old teacher was rather rude about it.
“So what do you think 3G is going to be like?” I ask.
“It’s one step closer to our goal and the teacher can’t be any worse. Not like I’m going to miss Kelliet either!” Rin laughs.
The teacher arrives after a while. She has white robes and hair. She smiles when she sees us and points to a different desk. “Sorry but that desk is yours. The one you’re at is taken.” We move desk without complaint. “Welcome to 3G. I hear you probably won’t be here long but I hope you enjoy your time here until you move to 3F. I am Professor Lily and will be your teacher for a while.”
“Thank you. I’m Rin.”
“I’m Peter.”
“I have some work to do so I hope you will excuse me.” She says and goes back to the front desk where she is immediately engrossed in a book.
The first student arrives a while later. She is a tall girl and I recognise her but can’t place her. She obviously recognises us but chooses to ignore us.
“That’s the girl that gave us trouble during your first lunch here.” Rin whispers to me.
“Oh. I thought I recognised her.”
Then another girl arrives and then a couple more. Each girl ignores us until the room is full. The teacher looks up. “We welcome two new students today. Rin and Peter. Please make them welcome.” She says but the students laugh and she sighs. “Well at least don’t cause them any trouble while they are still in this class.”
“You make it sound like you think they’re going to get promoted again.” The tall girl says at which most of the class laughs.
“They will long before you do. Enough talk. Let’s get started.”
I hardly notice the difference between this class and the previous in terms of content but at least the teacher seems motivated if somewhat ineffective. She clearly knows the subject but has no idea how to explain it so a student can understand. It is way too technical with words that I don’t understand in most sentences. Rin seems to understand the theory better but not how to apply it.