by Tj Dixon
“Are you here to get us out of here?” I ask hopefully.
“I was told you were being treated as guests here. This room looks more like a prison cell than a guest room though.” Peter says with a frown.
“This is where they have me work during the day. The room where I sleep is luxurious, but I’d much rather not be here.” Dairon tells me.
“Well, as it happens I came here to ask the three of you to leave here.” Peter tells me, much to my relief.
“Thank you! So where will we be going? Back to the academy town?” I ask.
“For now, yes. I may soon ask you to help protect the Hoshi, but not until the tournament is over. Jenny and Jimmy are staying with Hinata so it will just be you, Yusa and Kai staying at Hermes old home. Oh, and the faeries of course. Elucia can stay with Rin’s mother again. I’m sure Rin will be happy to see her again.”
“I am sure Kai will be just as happy as I am to leave here, but Elucia has been treated like an honoured guest and is being trained by Lady Elena.”
“I spoke to Elucia first and she’s eager to go back, though she’s a bit nervous about seeing everyone again. Elena isn’t exactly happy to see all of you leave, but you’re guests, not prisoners.”
(Peter)
As I port in Asuna and Angelika are sitting at the table whilst Hermes is in bed asleep. Hermes’ aura looks almost as tired as Lucy’s. I wonder what she did during training to wear her out so much.
“Peter…” Asuna says both sounding and looking rather nervous. Angelika looks even more nervous than Asuna.
“Asuna?” I ask curiously.
“You woke up on the floor again today, right?” Asuna asks.
“Yes. Oh, Lucy did say she’d spoken to you. What was her idea then?”
“She quite rightly pointed out that we can’t just continue to let this happen. She suggested that you sleep on the large bed between Angelika and me so you can’t fall off.” Asuna tells me with a slight blush.
“No.” I say going bright red. A part of me really likes the idea, but… “How about I just try sleeping on the large bed and you take mine?”
“If that is your wish we could try it and see whether it works. As your slave though, it is unacceptable that I had to wait for Lucy to make this suggestion. I should certainly be punished for my selfish hesitance.” Asuna says looking down at the floor.
“Don’t be silly. I really would prefer to free you. Are you sure I can’t persuade you to accept your freedom?”
“It is my sworn duty to serve you as your slave.” Asuna tells me firmly. I look at Angelika but she shakes her head firmly.
“I deserve to be a slave for what I did. If you free me the only way I can atone for my actions is by taking my own life.” Angelika tells me.
“And if I free Hermes she becomes her aunt’s slave.” I sigh. “I was a slave myself and vowed to never own a slave. Now I own four. Two stubborn ones who refuse to live freely and two who I can’t free.”
“I’m sorry to trouble you like this.” Asuna tells me.
“But you won’t reconsider?”
“I’m sorry.” Asuna says, shaking her head.
“So how did your training go?” I ask.
“It went fine. I worked with Aventurine on water magic and Galico on wind and earth magic.” Asuna answers.
“What about you Angelika?”
“I worked with Gillian on wind and fire magic and Juliet on fire magic. Gillian was fine, but Juliet… Well, Juliet, is Juliet.” Angelika says with a wince.
“But how did it go?”
“Well… I didn’t die, but it was close.” Angelika tells me.
“I should get Kai to work with Juliet.”
“Kai?” Angelika asks blankly.
“She’s a half dwarf I met when I was away from the academy.” I tell her and Asuna nods.
“You told us about her when you returned. Of course Angelika wasn’t part of the club back then.” Asuna reminds me.
“Anyway, as a half dwarf Kai is very good at earth and fire magic.” I explain.
“I don’t think being good at fire magic is the problem.” Angelika says. “What Juliet needs is someone who can give her some common sense. Of course that is probably impossible. I wonder what made her decide to join the club in the first place. Maybe if we understood that it would help us understand her.”
“Perhaps Rin asked her that when she asked to join. I’ll speak to Rin about it tomorrow lunchtime. Anyway, don’t stay up too late. I’m going to bed now myself.” I tell them and soon we are all in bed. Asuna deactivates her light stone and I wonder whether the larger bed will be enough to stop me ending up on the floor in the morning. I hope so.
Chapter 28 (Multiple)
(General Karina)
With King Grunti on the throne my previous troubles have been replaced with new ones. He lets me do my job organising the defence and ensuring the domes are safe before the shapers go in to start rebuilding. We’ve secured all the domes now except the two we had to abandon. It would be easier to build two entirely new domes than try to secure and reshape those two.
The old king always let the Council of Elders make the decisions, and they always got in the way of my work. If they had let me do my job properly perhaps we wouldn’t have lost as many dwarves in the attack, but then again perhaps that is just wishful thinking. King Grunti doesn’t trust the council so he makes the decisions himself and he trusts my judgement, so he rarely overrules me on important matters.
Now that the urgent work has been done though, he has given me new work. In fairness I don’t have to do it myself, but he is driving my subordinates crazy with his requests. Right now for example I have a whole company escorting a team of dwarven miners. The miners are happy to be working again, but their guards are busy fighting all sorts of monsters that I have never heard of before. At least they are fighting though.
It is the other company he has working on his personal whims that is truly unhappy. He has them handing out his latest picture book to every dwarf in Nirvali. It seems he wants to convince everyone that picture books are not evil. He quickly got rid of the old king’s ban of picture books. His book isn’t bad, but to use the army to hand it out seems a bit excessive.
The other ban he got rid of was the ban on natural reproduction. Just getting rid of the ban doesn’t mean that there is going to be a sudden rush to reproduce naturally though. Everyone is so used to creating children the proper way. Some younger male dwarves seem interested, but most young female dwarves naturally shun the idea. This has caused a lot of extra work for my mages as they now have to deal with more arguments between young dwarves each day than they had to every ten years before.
At least everyone now has somewhere to live, even if some of the homes are only temporary. This of course means we have all our barracks back, which is a welcome relief. Now I am in charge of the Royal Guard as well as the army, so I am living in the palace as are two of my original companies. Anyone who attacked the palace now would have to deal with three full companies, including the Royal Guard. Having seen the sheer power of the enemy though, I can’t be sure that would be enough. I can’t spare any more though.
I am also training ten new companies. Not me personally of course, but my subordinates. Six of those companies are male, because we just don’t have enough female dwarves anymore. The male dwarves aren’t as strong as the female ones, but they at least seem eager. It is the first time since the original empire that male dwarves have been trained to fight.
“General Karina!” Lupine calls out to me. I sigh. King Grunti just doesn’t seem to think twice about sending his guards around the palace as messengers. If Lupine is calling me it can only mean more trouble.
“Lupine?” I ask looking up as she runs through the corridor in her flimsy swim wear.
“The elf girl is missing!”
“Again?” I ask unable to suppress my frustration. She may be an innocent little girl, but she is almost as much trouble as King
Grunti.
“I’m sorry, general.” Lupine says and bows deeply. Pointless since it isn’t her fault. Her job is to guard the king, not the troublesome little elf girl.
“I’ll have some of my mages search for her. You’d better return to the king.” I sigh.
“Thank you, general!” Lupine says bowing once more and then dashes off again.
“Captain Lela…” I call out on the mental link.
“Yes, general.” Lela answers.
“Have your company search for the elf girl. She’s missing, again.”
“Yes… general.” Lela answers a little less enthusiastically now. Then she cuts the link, but I know she’ll do her job even if she doesn’t like it.
“General Karina!” Captain Glorin calls out on the mental link.
“Yes captain?”
“We’re getting that strange mana pattern again.”
“Where?”
“Same place as last time.” Captain Glorin tells me and I port straight to the storeroom we eventually tracked it down to last time. Unlike last time the culprit hasn’t had time to leave before I get there.
“King Grunti?” I ask in shock.
“What are you doing here, Karina?” King Grunti asks, just as shocked to see me as I am to see him.
“We’re getting a strange mana pattern, your majesty, and it’s originating from this room.” I tell him politely despite my shock.
“Oh, that will be my dimensional tunnel.” King Grunti nods. “Was there anything else?”
“The mana pattern is strong enough that it could reveal Nirvali to our enemies.” I tell King Grunti.
“Oh…” King Grunti says.
“Would it be possible to stop?” I ask him politely.
“Five more minutes?” He asks.
“Now would be safer.” I tell him pointedly.
“Fine… I was sure I was going to get him into her bed this time though.” King Grunti says and I blink. “I’ve got a remote control on the human boy’s arms that I made. I was trying to thank him for his help by getting him into bed with one of his slaves, but through the dimensional tunnel it’s a pain. I’ve closed the tunnel so the mana should dissipate, in about, now.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” I answer. I wonder briefly what a slave is, but given what the king was trying to do it sounds like the human equivalent of a girlfriend. The more I work with the new king, the more I am amazed at his lack of common sense. In some ways he has an extraordinary amount of sense and talent, but in other ways…
(Peter)
I wake at the edge of my bed, but I am still on the bed this time. I feel guilty for taking Asuna’s bed from her, but mostly I am relieved, since I don’t have to entertain the idea of sleeping in the same bed as Asuna and Angelika. I suppose a part of me is also disappointed to lose the excuse to do so. That part of me secretly hopes that I end up on the floor again tomorrow morning. Mostly though, I am simply relieved.
“Good morning.” I call out cheerfully to everyone. I seem less tired this morning too. Sleeping on the floor must have affected me more than I realised. Odd given that I was sleeping on the floor in Nirvali, though I suppose the floor I slept on in Nirvali was more comfortable.
“Good morning, Peter.” Asuna says sleepily.
“Mornnning.” Hermes yawns.
“Good morning.” Angelika tells me, sounding a bit more awake than Hermes and Asuna, though she still looks a little sleepy. I check the time and realise it is still early. I get out of bed anyway, wash and then port to class. To my surprise Rin is already here, though nobody else is here yet.
“Good morning, Rin.” I greet her.
“Good morning, Peter. How were Elucia and Dairon?” Rin asks and I realise why she is here so early. Of course it is Elucia she is really interested in.
“They’re fine, and Kai is too. Elucia is staying with your mother again for now. Dairon and Kai are with Yusa at Hermes’ old home.”
“Do you mind running the training today? I want to see Elucia again.” Rin tells me.
“Everyone’s pretty much independent now anyway, but Elucia, Kai and Dairon are going to be joining our training, so there’s no point skipping it.”
“Oh… Ok. I’ll run it like normal, but I’m working with Elucia today. I want to catch up with her, and I still find it hard to believe she managed to get her powers under control.”
“You’ll be even more amazed when you see her demonstrate those powers.” I tell her.
“I hope so, but mostly I’m just looking forward to seeing Elucia again.”
“I can understand that.” I admit. We chat a while longer and then the rest of the class start porting in. When Professor Schwarz ports in the lesson begins.
“We will be studying how to port through a port block today.” Professor Schwarz tells us and Sor laughs. “Well, I suppose this is pretty basic for Sor, but it is important that everyone else knows how to do so too. It is a useful skill that may one day save your life. You will work in pairs, with one of you putting up a port block and the other trying to port through it. This is a skill that is not easily described, so I will be coming round and sharing the knowledge directly with each of you.”
It is a while before it is my turn so I pass the time chatting with Angelika about not a great deal. Eventually though it is my turn. Professor Schwarz places her forehead against mine and shares her thoughts. I understand immediately how to port through a port block, but I sense more than just that. It isn’t intentional, but I sense dark emotions and the shadow of bad memories.
“That’s enough.” Professor Schwarz says pulling sharply away and looking warily at me. Then she shares her thoughts with Angelika, before moving onto Gabriel.
“Did you understand?” Angelika asks me cautiously.
“Yes, did you?”
“Not exactly, but I think it will make sense when I try to do it.”
“You try first then.” I suggest and put up a small port block around her. She closes her eyes a moment before reopening them and trying to port. I instantly realise what she’s doing wrong. “You need to attune your power to the port block.”
“That’s what I was trying to do.” Angelika says a little frustrated. “You try.”
“Ok.” I say and wait for the port block to form around me. Once it is up I try, but it is harder than Professor Schwarz’s thoughts made it seem. “This is rather difficult.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Angelika sighs.
“Well, we’ll just have to keep trying. We’ll get there in the end.” I tell her, but it turns out that in the end may not be as soon as I thought, because by the end of the lesson we are no closer to being able to port through the port block. We could probably overpower it with brute force, since it isn’t very strong, but that’s not the point of the lesson.
(Dairon)
It feels like it has been a while since I was last here, but in elven terms it has only been a blink of an eye. There are even more girls in the club than before. I am grateful to be training them here in the forest, rather than training Lady Elena’s mages in that tiny stone room. Being in the forest is itself much better, but children are generally less set in their ways than adults. That makes them much easier to teach.
“So, you’re Dairon?” Misty asks me. She looks slightly older than most of the club, though she isn’t overly tall. She has the same short blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin that most Contractians seem to have.