by Dixon, TJ
“Do you want to take a closer look?” I ask.
“No. Whoever they are it’s not our business. Let’s fly on.” Hermes says so I lift us higher and continue along above the stream. After a while it gets dark and cold so we port back.
“I think we should sleep better for that.” I say with a grin and Hermes nods vigorously.
“Just don’t make that Rin jealous or there will be hell to pay.” Lucy says. “I’ll be going to class with you tomorrow so wake me if I’m not awake.”
“Oh. OK.” I say. Looking at the stars I can hear only silence. I get the impression they are sulking about something.
The next morning Lucy is already wide awake and has a scary grin on her face. She reminds me of a predator that has just seen its lunch walk in front of it. “Good morning.” She says in a scarily sweet voice.
“Good morning.” I say cautiously. “What are you planning?”
“Nothing.” She says but I am sure that is the one thing she is not planning. Oh well, I am sure she doesn’t intend to harm to us. If she is planning something that upsets the teacher I will just have to deal with it, and to be honest right now I don’t care about upsetting the teacher.
“Morning Hermes.” I say.
“Ugh. Already morning… Still sleepy….”
“You need to get up or you’ll be late.”
“Not like teacher cares…”
“Well I do. If you start being late for lessons you’ll fall behind. Even if you aren’t technically a student you are part of my team, and my future company.”
“Yes sir.” She says sleepily and a little sulky, but starts to sit up. Then a little more awake she says. “I’ll just be a minute so go on ahead.”
“I’ll see you in class then.” I tell her.
“Don’t forget to take me.” Lucy says cheerfully.
“I could hardly forget to take you.”
“I’d give you hell if you did.”
“I know.”
“Cheeky brat.”
“Come here.”
“Yes master.”
“Which is it? Cheeky brat or master?”
“Both.”
I shake my head and sigh but don’t bother arguing. It’s pointless to argue about anything with Lucy. I put a finger on her back and port us to class. I hear laughter and am sure it is directed my way. I look at the girls who laughed and they glare at me.
“How childish.” Lucy says and laughs back at them. Her laugh though is haughty and she looks at them disdainfully.
“You picking a fight you little fairy? You’re even lower than that slave, so don’t even try it.”
“If you can’t tell the difference between a mere fairy and a powerful mage under a powerful enchantment then you should consider a different job. You’ll never be any good as a mage.”
“Tell your stupid thing to shut it!” The girl shouts at me.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Anyway what part of what Lucy said was stupid?” I ask glaring back at her.
“Maybe you’re looking for a fight. How about it?”
“Sure, if you get permission I’ll gladly duel you.”
“I don’t mean a duel. I mean a real fight, with no teacher to help you.”
“Are you stupid? You think a duel isn’t a proper fight or that a teacher would help me in a duel?”
“You’re just too much of a coward to accept a real fight.” The girl sneers at me.
“My master has fought enemies that would make you piss your little panties.” Lucy tells her.
“Now you’re asking for it, you little piece of shit!” The girl shouts.
“Where and when do you want to fight?” I ask clenching my fists.
“The forest tonight… Come alone if you’re not too scared.” The girl tells me.
“Fine, beating you on my own should be easy.”
“That’s what you think.”
“What’s going on?” Hermes asks.
“Ah you’re here. Nothing.” I say looking back to the front. Hermes clearly doesn’t believe me but she doesn’t protest. A minute later Rin and Yu Kii arrive together. Finally the teacher arrives and starts the lesson. I am looking forwards to teaching that fool a lesson in the forest tonight and not even slightly worried. True she is probably at least as good as me at magic, but I get the impression she hasn’t a clue about combat.
“That’s wrong.” Lucy says loudly as the teacher finishes explaining how to control more than one element efficiently.
“And who, or what, are you?” The teacher asks glaring at Lucy.
“To think that the standard of teaching staff has fallen so low.” Lucy says and laughs her haughtiest laugh with a hand over her mouth. “To not recognise what I am.”
“Obviously you are a fairy, but what…”
“Wrong again.”
“You wretched creature, get out of my lesson.”
“Law of the Academy of Contractia, 671, each student may bring a pet and slave into each lesson. No teacher may oppose this as long as the criteria of pet set out in rule 251 is not violated.”
“Even if that rule really exists, how do you classify as a pet?”
“A pet is classified as a living being less than two feet by two feet by two feet that recognises itself as such and presents no threat to the safety of other students. Even a small human like me can be classified as a pet.”
“You’re not a human!”
“Check for enchantments you fool.”
“What is this…?” The teacher says in shock when she does just that.
“It’s called an enchantment.”
“I know that! To create this sort of enchantment though would require immense power. Just what did this to you?”
“He called himself the ‘King of Contractia’, but I don’t suppose a whelp like you would have heard of him. Anyway get on with the lesson. Oh, and correct the mistake you just made on efficient use of multiple elements.”
“I did not make a mistake.”
“You said the order didn’t matter. Clearly you’ll maximise the power strength without any additional power cost if you save embedding your own element until last.”
“Really?” The teacher says sounding surprised.
“And you call yourself a teacher!” Lucy exclaims with a laugh.
“Why you little imp…”
“Like I said I’m a human you memory deficient little girl.”
“Keep your pet under control Peter!” The teacher shouts at me.
The lesson goes on but is constantly interrupted by witty remarks and criticism. I hide my laughter but this is so much better than just listening to insults from the teacher. It is soon lunchtime but unsurprisingly the teacher says, “Peter and Peter’s pet stay behind. Everyone else leave.” I then have to listen to a few minutes of the teacher’s complaints but I don’t pay any attention. “Are you even listening to me?”
“He’ll listen if you have anything important to say. Now I have a suggestion. Stop interfering with Peter and his friends, slaves or not, and I’ll stop interfering with your lessons. In fact I would quite gladly skip them as you have nothing interesting in them.”
“You little imp! Fine… Just never show your face in my class again.”
“Little girl, if you keep your end of the deal I will gladly keep mine.”
“I’ll see you in lesson after lunch boy, without the pet.” The teacher tells me.
As I leave the class to talk to Lucy before porting I breathe a sigh of relief, and then look down the corridor to check we’re alone. I gasp at what I see. Hermes is floating upside down with her feet on the ceiling, hands stretched outwards and her white underwear showing as her skirt flaps downwards. Rin and Yu Kii are on the floor unmoving. Four girls that I don’t recognise are looking up at Hermes and laughing at her.
I clench my fist and without warning send a slice of air knocking them all off their feet. Hermes drops but I catch and steady her with a gentle wind. The girls quickly get up and one
send flames my way but I extinguish them and with a fist of air punch her in the stomach. She rolls on the floor in pain and the others look down at her. A fist of marble from the floor shoots up at me but I dodge and shatter it. Weak icicles form and strike at me but I easily throw them aside. The lightning that strikes at me is laughable. I then form a fist of wind for each of them and they are all on the floor doubled over. I then rush over to Rin and to my relief she is breathing, as is Yu Kii next to her.
“Heal them please.” I say urgently to Lucy.
“Fine.” Lucy says and the green light flows over them. The injuries were minor so Lucy is only out of breath after doing so.
“What happened?!” I ask Hermes as Rin and Yu Kii start to wake.
“They ambushed us. They attacked without warning and we were caught completely off guard.” Hermes says wiping tears from her eyes.
“Who are they?”
“They’re from 3F. Don’t you recognise them?”
“No. I’ve been in so many classes now and I never talked to most of the students in any of them. Should we report them?”
“No. If we do you’ll get in trouble.”
“I guess we need to be more careful from now on. What cowards…” I say and consider hurting them more for what they did but decide against it. “They’re not worth it. Rin, Yu Kii, are you okay?”
“Yes.” Rin says groggily and Yu Kii nods.
“Why didn’t you just port to lunch?”
“Oh…” Rin says and they all look like they are hiding something.
“Well whatever. Let’s just port there now.” I say and so we do.
The afternoon lesson is peaceful without Lucy interrupting every five minutes and without insults from the teacher flying my way. When the lesson is over Rin and Yu Kii come over to my desk to agree on our training location.
“I’m sorry but I can’t make today’s training.” I say.
“But that’s two days in a row and we have tests coming up.”
“Sorry but I have something to take care of. Please just port back to your rooms for tonight. I have a good idea for tomorrow’s training.” I tell them.
“What do you need to take care of?” Rin asks obviously suspicious.
“Nothing to worry about.” I say.
“That just makes me worry more.” Rin says annoyed.
“I didn’t ask what you were up to earlier.” I remind her at which she goes red.
“Fine, but only this once. It really had better be nothing to worry about.”
Chapter 12 (Multiple)
(Alumia)
On Emily’s orders I am searching for the source of the goblins that started appearing in this forest. So far I have killed a few goblins but I am no closer to finding their source. After the rebellion, with Gold gone, they naturally rebelled again but this time against us. Whilst Emily inherited Gold’s power she lacks his skills and so they managed to evade detection. I still remember when they held me hostage at Gold’s command and it feels me with disgust.
Now what I fear most is detection and hasty execution by the inquisition. Emily naturally withdrew the order to execute me but I still bear the mark of the Fallen Angels that Gold burnt into my body. That alone carries a death sentence, with no need to consult the queen. Fortunately it is not somewhere someone would normally see, but I still recall the humiliation of having it exposed in class by the inquisitor.
What is that? A group of humans in the forest this late? They feel like students judging on their apparent lack of power. If goblins come across them it could be a problem. I’d better send them back to their rooms, or at least the academy. I fly through the forest with my eyes closed to dodge the trees more easily. Opening my eyes I see them and evade a clumsy ball of fire.
“Stop in the name of the Queen!” I shout but have to dodge a deadly hail of icicles. The first attack was a typical student’s attack but this seems more like a professional’s attack. Worse, having missed, the icicles retarget me. Cursing I dodge again and send a slice of air at the icicles but they dodge my attack and continue at me. I should really melt them but despite my strength with air I am still unable to use fire. Thinking back to the times I was burnt for this inability I shiver and am almost too distracted to dodge again.
Still dodging I turn my attacks on the group. There are about twelve of them and they all look like students from year one. It reminds me of another time I fought in these woods but this time I am not trying to kidnap anyone. My first slice of air is effortlessly repelled by a wind user. Perhaps they are students but some at least are in 1A to be on this level.
I dodge a hammer of air but suddenly the trees reach out for me. Cursing I use wind to break the branches and I soar above the trees. Simple attacks are useless and against this many elite students even with Gold’s training I would be hard pressed to beat them. I can’t get help from the academy who I betrayed on Gold’s orders, so I will have to request aid from Emily. I take out the stone and am about to contact Emily when I notice someone approaching the forest. I fly closer hiding myself in the wind.
Whoever it is they notice me despite my precaution and fly hastily into the forest. I fly after them but they are hiding themselves with magic and I am unable to find them. I pull out the stone again and contact Emily. She ports to join me. Of course she stands no chance of detecting the girl who hid herself but I’d like to see that group of students try to take on Emily. They’ll be flattened like a rabbit that tries to stop a dragon!
I port us in front of them and Emily uses her weakest air hammer. The trees are literally up rooted and thrown in the air along with the shocked students. Flames roar at us as a student keeps her calm despite the huge attack. I extinguish them and as she hits the floor she loses consciousness. The queen lifts their unconscious bodies into the air with magic and carries them back to the academy. I watch from a distance as a teacher comes out to collect them. I have no idea what is said but I can’t imagine the teacher would be anything less than shocked to be woken by the queen and given twelve unconscious students to deal with.
Suddenly I sense something above me. Way above me. I focus on it and it is definitely a mage. They are not even attempting to hide their presence but they are flying too high and fast for me to tell whether they are a student or not. If they are capable of this level of flight magic then why are they not hiding their presence? Perhaps they are doing nothing wrong?
I decide to follow them anyway and in an instant they are no longer above me but in the forest. I easily follow them above the forest but if I were down there then I would not be able to keep up whilst dodging the trees. Whilst flying I chant a quick spell to enhance my vision. I look through the leaves and branches and see only a blur despite my enhanced vision. Suddenly the mage stops and I overshoot her before flying back.
Looking down I gasp. It is Peter. Is he really capable of such flight magic? In front of him is a goblin so I ready myself to help him, but then I realise he is talking to it. He must be using translation magic. I enhance my hearing as well and focus on what he is saying. Even with translation magic I am unable to understand him. I had no trouble understanding what the goblins said before. This goblin though is talking in the same language he is using and I haven’t a clue what it is saying either. If he was simply using translation magic I should still be able to understand him, and the goblin.
Whatever the goblin just said he is angry and a moment later the goblin’s head is flying through the air, and then hitting a tree it rolls to the floor. The body is spurting blood and a moment later hits the floor as well. I guess I needn’t have worried about his ability to handle himself but I am now more worried about what his connection to these goblins is. Is he responsible for bringing them here?
He is off again and I follow. Moments later he stops but this time I don’t overshoot. Another goblin. He grunts at it. It grunts back. Its head is flying and he doesn’t even wait for it to hit the floor before shooting off again. A few goblins later I am still comple
tely baffled as to his motives. If he brought them here why is he killing them? If he didn’t bring them here why is he able to talk to them, or more to the point why can I not understand what he is saying to them and what they are saying to him?
The next stop is different. There is a large group of goblins around a small fire. Above the fire is a girl, presumably a student. She is just wearing her underwear and a shirt, which are protected by enchantments, and her hands are tied to one end of a branch whilst her feet are tied to the other end. Her other clothes have been shredded and burnt. She has cuts all over but they are shallow as goblins prefer their meat not only lightly cooked, but still alive. At the moment she is holding herself above the fire, but I am unsure how long she’ll be able to do so. Her mouth is gagged and her power has been completely drained. A goblin standing close to her is talking to the other goblins. I have no more idea what it is saying than what the other goblins said.
Peter may need my help this time. I can sense at least twenty goblin magic users and the one speaking is a powerful mage with a passive magical shield that even I will have trouble breaking. There are also at least a hundred other goblins here. Suddenly the goblin who was speaking is dead. I blink. What happened? There is no sign of injury other than the fact that it is dead.
All hell breaks loose. Most of the goblins charge at Peter whilst the magic users control the earth and trees to attack Peter. He just laughs and flies upwards effortlessly. Trees are sliced in two and at least twenty goblins fall to his first attack. In a few seconds the goblins are all dead.
Peter flies down to the girl and this time I can understand exactly what he says. “Do you still want to fight?” She shakes her head vehemently. “Do you want me to leave you here?” Again her head shakes vigorously. “Why shouldn’t I leave you here though?” He asks. Is he serious?! She can’t answer of course but her eyes are wide with fright. “Oh you can’t talk with that there can you?” He says cruelly. After a few seconds watching her fear he removes her gag. “So why shouldn’t I leave you here?”