While this boxing match went on, another eight of the faux knights advanced on the headmaster. His knight stood at its full height and raised both arms. His enemies stopped in place and began floating in air. The headmaster launched more explosive magic, obliterating them. It wasn’t very flashy, but it was done with such ease and precision that Anna could only wonder what he was like at full power.
Anna looked over at her brother, and she saw him locked in a fierce battle. The last eight faux knights were surrounding him, using their whips from a distance. They were ineffective against him, as even with eight of the spiked weapons lashing out at him, he easily dodged or blocked them. In the blink of an eye, though, Romulus was up next to his enemies. His sword was accurate in its strikes, cutting the weapon-holding hands right from the arms. They attacked with their other limbs, but to no avail.
It was as if his sword were in two places at once. On closer inspection, Anna saw that it was in multiple positions. When he blocked an attack in the front, a sword appeared behind him to stop a hit from another enemy. It looked like an afterimage of his sword was moving independently of the real thing. Powerful magic, and a great deal of skill was going on in this fight. Soon, the faux knights were cut to ribbons, and the battle was over.
“What just happened?” Bart asked, having had a great view of the fighting.
“Crap just happened, squirt. Crap just happened,” Anna’s knight said, never once having drawn his weapons.
Chapter 16
Her brother ordered for the area to be cleaned up. Then he told the headmaster to tighten security. The older man responded by saying he should go back home where it was safe. Romulus scoffed at this and said he would not be run off by such a weak show of strength. Anna and her friends were sent home as the sun was beginning to set. The guards were too busy with the aftermath of the fight, so Anna and the others only had their knights with them. While Anna got ready for bed, a thought crossed her mind.
“Why didn’t you get ready for a fight?” she asked her knight.
“I’m always ready for a fight.”
“You kept your weapons away,” she said, crawling under the blankets.
“I don’t need them to win a fight.”
“You’re an arrogant fool, and it will get you killed.” She blew out the candle and watched her knight in the moonlight, who was staring out the window.
“You’re a bratty princess, and it will get you a smack in the bum.”
“I’m not a child you can put over your knee.”
“I’ll leave disciplining you to your future husband,” he said, checking to make sure all ways in were locked up tight.
“You really think someone would want me? Let alone the many men I’ll have to sleep with if I become queen.”
“Men will want you, for various reasons—Phillip, for example.”
“So, you’re finally going to bring it up.”
Anna’s knight remained silent. She wasn’t going to let this go, however. It had been in the back of both of their minds. Anna threw off her blankets and got out of bed. He was standing by the window, looking out at the stars. Spring it may have been, but winter still had its grip on the city. She immediately regretted getting out of bed, as her servants had dressed her in a lighter nightgown.
He sighed and pulled of his cloak, saying, “You’re going to catch a cold.”
She let him drape it over her shoulders and said, “You’re dodging the question.”
Pulling the hood over her head, he said, “I suppose I am.”
“That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be funny.”
She stood on the cloak to keep her feet warm and said, “I don’t understand you.”
“I’m a complicated guy.”
“You’re just…just so…I don’t know.”
“I don’t need people to like me.”
“What?”
He finally looked at her and said, “I don’t need people to like me or give me their approval. I’ll do what I want regardless.”
“And what is it you want exactly?”
“Who knows?”
“Can you at least apologize?”
“No.”
Anna sighed, but was interrupted by him saying, “If I tried to apologize, I’d just sound like a jerk, mostly because I am one.”
“Yes, you are.” Anna wasn’t satisfied with this weak excuse but didn’t know how to press him for the real reason.
“I’m not going to change.”
“I know that, but still, it would be nice if we could get along.”
“We’re going to be together all the time, and we’ll probably grow on one another eventually,” he said, picking her up like a baby.
After he had tucked her back into bed, and taken back his cloak, she said to him, “It’ll be hard learning to like you, and forget about being friends. But I know your heart is in the right place, sometimes at least.”
“I don’t think we could ever be friends. Besides, you deserve better. You always deserved better than me.”
She yawned and turned over in bed, saying, “Starting tomorrow, let’s promise to both try being better people to each other.”
“Sure thing. One more thing before you go to bed, though.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re definitely not getting with Phillip until you’re older, at least eighteen.”
“Mmm, whatever you say.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
Anna slept soundly that night, despite knowing that her brother and sister were intent on killing her and their siblings. She might never get along with her knight, but somehow she knew he’d always protect her. Obviously no spell or authority held sway over him, yet he stayed by her side. She hated to admit it, but both of them had been acting like jerks. If Anna had been in his position, she would have left a long time ago.
Morning came, and the singing of the kingfishers roused her from slumber. She quickly got on her school uniform and went down to breakfast. A four-cheese omelet awaited her, along with a cool glass of milk. She nibbled on the meal, hoping to save room for the food stalls and cafés. After downing her milk, Anna got Bill to drive her to the school. She invited him to join her, but he said no because servants weren’t welcomed there.
Anna went back to Shel’s and Bart’s stall. It was early morning, and there was dew on the grass still. She almost slipped a couple of times, but her knight was there to catch her. Her friends were in the middle of their usual spiel—Shel had gotten Bart more dog biscuits, and the boy was making crude jokes despite his situation.
“You two are so cute together, if a bit disturbing,” Anna said as she went inside the stall.
“Yes, I suppose the mutt is rather adorable when he’s licking my shoe,” Shel said, stuffing the treat in Bart’s mouth.
“I’d say you were cute, but with your body, I’d get labeled as a pedophile.” Bart pushed the words through his overfilled mouth.
Shel gave a tight little smile and said, “I added a poison to your biscuits.”
Bart began vomiting, hopefully getting all the poison out. Anna watched, hoping Bart wasn’t going to die. Shel would never do that, though. Who would she abuse if her favorite mutt was gone? Finally, Bart calmed down and composed himself. Yet somehow he kept that goofy grin on his face. Shel just frowned and turned back to Anna.
“What are we to do today?” Shel asked.
“Why ask me?” Anna replied.
“Who else would I ask?”
Anna sighed and said, “I guess that’s true. Suppose we go to a café, get some tea?”
“I really can’t taste anything at the moment, but that sounds pleasant,” Bart said to his friends.
“All right then, there’s supposed to be a good one that has teas fro
m the east,” Anna said as she headed toward the shop.
Anna and the others made their way to the third floor of the castle. It was here that various cafés had set up shop. The businesses may have been stationed in the city, but they imported much of their product from outside the kingdom. The place Anna was going to had the distinction of having not only the finest tea brought in from the Spiral Isles, but it was also run by an actual exchange student from there.
There was quite the line for the café, but being the princess did have its perks. Anna was allowed into the room, and she was amazed at what she saw. In the corner was a sand garden, neatly combed in swirling patterns. A waterfall poured down rocks and flowed through the sand. Along the outside of the room were paper walls, painted with the beautiful scenery of the east. Anna had never been outside the city, but seeing the soaring mountains and lush forests made her wish she could visit the place.
The friends sat at a table next to the sand garden. While Bart and Shel looked at the menu, Anna searched for the exchange student. His name was Ko, and he was a bit different. Long ago, the people of the Spiral Isles had practiced great summoning magic. They could call forth the most beautiful of angels or the vilest demons. The people had tried to summon a demon army, one that could take over the world. However, something went wrong, and disaster befell them.
“Hello, Princess Anna.” Ko said, coming up to her through the crowd.
The demons had gotten loose, and they wiped out every living soul on the Spiral Isles. For some reason though, they were quite civil with the rest of humanity. Within a few decades, the demons had taken the place of the people they’d destroyed. However, they did have tempers that got them into a number of fights. Other than that, they remained largely peaceful.
“Hello, Prince Ko, I love what you’ve done with the place,” Anna replied, giving him a look over.
He was big, though the layer of pudgy fat hid dense muscles. He wasn’t much taller than your average human, but still he loomed over those around him. His skin was a deep blood red, and it matched his serpentine yellow eyes. On his head were two cone-like horns, both nicked and scratched but very well taken care of. His long, unruly hair was pitch-black, and at the moment was pulled back in a ponytail. His teeth were normal enough, except his canines—they were protruding from his mouth, but they still looked clean.
“Thank you. I’ve tried to bring a touch of my homeland to this event,” he said in a baritone voice.
“Well, I really like your changshan. That black really goes with your hair.”
“Yes, it took some convincing of the headmaster, but I finally got him to let me wear this instead of my uniform.”
“Being top of the second years must give you some leeway.”
He broke into a wide smile and said, “I don’t like to brag, but you aren’t wrong. Now, why don’t I get you and your friends something to drink?”
Anna gave the menu a look. There were so many different varieties of tea—black and white, oolong and herbal. She didn’t want to go too crazy, but something different than her usual caramel tea would be nice. If she had to choose, something sweet might be tasty. However, she had no idea what was what, having only had her kingdom’s version of all these teas. These were grown, packaged, and shipped straight from the Spiral Isles.
“I think I’ll have the…Bai Mudan.”
“Excellent choice, and for your friends?”
“The same, please,” Shel said, putting down her menu.
“I’ll have the Ruan Zhi, gunpowder style, if you will. Also we’ll have some dim sum, if you have any,” Bart said.
“A man of culture, I see,” Ko said with a beaming smile. “We have a couple of egg tarts being made right now. I’ll be sure you get the best ones.”
As the demon left to get their order, Shel, absolutely flabbergasted, said, “What was that?”
“What do you mean?” Bart replied with a shrug.
“Why do you know all that?”
A little sheepish, Bart said, “Oh, you know, I just happened to have visited the Spiral Isles.”
“You’re an idiot, though!”
Bart gave his same goofy smile and said, “Yeah, I really am, aren’t I? I just remember it from when me and my little brother were over there. We were given lessons on their etiquette, and I must have picked something up.”
“Really?”
“Don’t get me wrong. This is about all I remember, and that’s only because I needed to know it. If I got the etiquette wrong, the demons would lose their temper and rip my head off.”
“Well, I suppose even a dog can do something amazing if its life is in danger,” Shel said, satisfied with her own logic.
Ko came back with a platter of delights and said, “Here are all your teas and egg tarts. Please, enjoy and tell your friends about this place.”
Bart tapped his fingers on the table, which Ko seemed pleased with. The three friends drank their tea and enjoyed some light conversation. They passed the time until about noon, which was when the contest would resume. They excused themselves from the teahouse, and then went to their spot from yesterday. Today, there would be a show of elemental magic, but unfortunately, they weren’t going to watch it.
“Princess Anna,” her brother Romulus said, appearing out of nowhere.
“What are you doing here, brother? Aren’t you supposed to judge the contest?”
“As you know, our father owned a great many things, and when he passed much of it was left to his children.”
“What did she get?” Anna’s knight asked.
“Well, knight, she got the usual, gold, land, but other than those formalities—”
“What did she get that matters?”
“Hmm, his diary.”
“That’s it?”
Ignoring her knight, Romulus handed her a small book. It was leather bound, with yellowing pages. It was kept shut by a rusty lock. Anna tried her best to open it, but made no progress. She handed it to her knight, but he couldn’t get it open either.
“He gave me a diary I can’t open?”
“Yes. I hope you enjoy it,” Anna’s brother said before walking away.
Anna took the diary back and tried opening it herself again. The others gave up on her succeeding and went back to watching the show. Several of the fifth years who had taken the elemental magic elective were making an appearance tonight. There were four of them, each representing one of the elements. There were fire, water, earth, and air.
They all did pretty much the same thing. Throw around some of their magic and summon an elemental was what happened. Anna wasn’t paying attention, though. She was too concerned with what her father was trying to tell her with his diary. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
Chapter 17
The third day of the festival ended up being just like the previous one. The stalls and shops operated as they should. The students in their uniforms were fine examples of nobility. The patrons spent an exorbitant amount of money as usual. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in sight. The whole thing was just so…
“Boring!” Anna shouted, fed up with watching her friends’ stall.
“Someone’s cranky,” her knight said.
“Come on. We’ve done nothing worthwhile all day.”
“The contest is starting soon,” Bart said, trying to be helpful.
Anna glared at him and said, “I don’t want to watch the contest. I want to be in it.”
“Well, Princess Suicide,” Shel said from in back, “when you learn not to blow yourself up, maybe people will want to be around you then.”
“Whatever. There’s nothing fun to do.”
“Tomorrow, why don’t you bring a book?” her knight asked.
“I guess.”
Bart hopped onto the counter and asked, “When did you become so adventurous? I tho
ught you were the perfect little princess.”
“Humph, I’ll have you know I was quite the troublemaker before I met you all.”
Shel scoffed at this and said, “You’re a straight A student with a squeaky-clean record. You’ve never once been known to cause a fuss at parties. Your clothes are always prim and proper. What has gotten into you that you’re suddenly for this nonsense?”
“I don’t know.”
Anna did in fact know why she had become so rash as of late. For her whole life, she had been accompanied by her servant. When it was just the two of them, Anna had tried to push the boundaries of her situation. Stealing sweets from the kitchen, jumping on her bed until late in the evening, even sneaking about the castle at night looking for ghosts. The only reason she did those things, though, was because her servant had been with her. Of course, he didn’t say anything to indicate it, but she felt like he always supported her endeavors.
“Well, I know something that might make you feel better,” her knight said, coming over to her.
“And what would that be?”
Leaning in close, he said, “Rumor has it that operating out of a fourth-floor broom closet there is a group of delinquent students who got a wine-and-spirits shop working for them.”
Anna didn’t say anything, but her smile spoke volumes nonetheless. She and the others left the attendant to take care of the place. Then they headed to the fourth floor. This part of the castle had been mostly set aside for clothing stores. However, the broom-closet booze shop was more than rumor.
The three friends knocked on the closet door. An acne-ridden fifth year opened the door and looked them over. Making sure no adults or snitches were about, he let them in. Anna was amazed at the selection. There were so many brands of wine, red and white, sweet or sour, it was like a dream come true. The young nobles were each given a large crystal glass, and after payment was made, a bottle of strawberry red wine, aged a short fifty years.
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