by Tj Dixon
Chapter 7 (Multiple)
(Hermes)
“Fine, you can borrow it for a day, but if there’s so much as one scratch on my bag when you return it… I’ll port you straight to hell.” Sor tells Peter. She sounds serious too.
“I’ll make sure to return it undamaged then.” Peter says nervously.
“Make sure you do. You can fetch it from my room in the morning.” Sor tells him and then ports away.
“Hermes, how did training go?” Peter asks.
“Fine. Let’s port back to the room, before we freeze to death.” I tell Peter who grins.
“Is your uniform not keeping you warm?”
“It may be enchanted but the enchantment isn’t as good as the one on yours. So no, it’s not keeping me warm.”
“Fine.” Peter says and taking my hand, ports us back to our room. “To be honest the enchantment on mine is good, but in this weather it is still a bit chilly.”
“How’s the enchantment on tomorrow’s clothes?” I ask.
“I’ll find out tomorrow.” Peter smiles.
“It should be very good. I’ve never bought anything from that shop, but their clothes are supposed to be very well made. Especially the enchantments.” Asuna tells us.
“It definitely fits you, right?” I ask Peter.
“Of course. Asuna and Angelika both made sure of that.” Peter assures me.
“Well if it doesn’t fit, I’ll blame Asuna and Angelika then.” I laugh.
“It does fit!” Angelika protests.
“Anyway, I want to get an early night so I’m at my best tomorrow.” Peter tells us.
“Don’t worry. We’re not going to disturb you. In fact I think I’ll have an early night too. I’m pretty tired myself.” I admit.
“We may as well too.” Asuna says pointedly at Angelika who nods meekly.
We wish each other “good night” and are soon in bed. I find it hard to sleep despite my tiredness because I can’t stop thinking about Peter’s date tomorrow. I hope it goes well, but at the same time I hope it doesn’t go so well that Peter ends up with Cherry.
Why did Rin have to lay down this challenge to win Peter’s heart? Couldn’t we have let things remain how they were at least until we graduate? She grudgingly let me compete, but only after I’d confessed to Peter. To be honest I half expected her to punish me for confessing my feelings, but it felt right and I don’t want to lose without even trying.
I truly love Peter. To be given my freedom, but not to be free to love him… To not have that one freedom I want most… That would be too painful. I can’t lose without a fight, even if I do feel like the underdog.
Peter was free to do whatever he wanted with me and yet he still treated me as his friend and even gave me my freedom back as soon as he was able to. He saved me from the one who treated me so cruelly. He saved my life at the risk of his own. He is probably the only person I have ever loved. Perhaps he’ll be the only person I’ll ever love even if I lose him to Rin, or Cherry, or Midori.
I’m not sure when I fell asleep but I wake to the dawn. The window is visible so we can see the sun as it rises. Peter is up moments after the sun rises above the horizon. He blurs the air around him so I can’t see him dressing. He’s been doing that recently so I guess he must be much more self-conscious than he used to be.
He ports away without my seeing his new clothes so I must admit I am a bit disappointed. I guess I’ll see them when he gets back. I’ll find out how the date went too. So what to do with my day off? I don’t have many possessions so there’s no need to pack for tomorrow.
“Still sleeping?” Sor’s haughty voice asks mockingly. I look up.
“No. I may not have gotten up, but I wasn’t asleep.” I reply, as annoyed at her tone as much as her question.
“That’s unusual.” Asuna says from her bed on the other side of the room.
“Very unusual.” Angelika adds and I feel like hitting them. Not that I would of course.
“So when did Peter give you permission to port inside here?” I ask.
“Like I even need permission. The port barrier is broken. Well, it has a small hole in anyway. You should really get that fixed.” Sor tells us and I blink in shock.
“How do you even break a port barrier?” I ask.
“It takes a lot of skill and no small amount of power, but in theory it isn’t much different to porting through a port block. Not many people can put it into practise of course. Especially without completely breaking the port barrier. More importantly though, I’m going to keep tabs on Peter. To make sure my bag is safe. Anyone want to come along?” Sor asks mischievously.
“Spying on Peter’s date is wrong.” I protest.
“What he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.” Sor shrugs.
“Why invite us along, anyway?” I ask suspiciously.
“Emi’s been going on about how I should try to socialise a little with the rest of the club. Making friends and all that rubbish. So are you in or out?” Sor asks with a shrug.
“In.” Asuna says sounding very guilty.
“Asuna?!” I protest.
“Don’t you want to know, too?” Asuna asks.
“Of course I want to know. He may not be my master anymore, but Peter is still the guy I love.” I answer.
“Talking is pointless.” Sor sighs and all of a sudden I am no longer in bed but sitting on the floor beside my bed. “Get dressed and be in my room in the next five minutes if you’re coming.”
“Ok.” Asuna says, getting up from the floor where she was ported moments ago. Angelika gets up from the floor quickly too and so do I. Sor has ported away already but the three of us get washed, dressed and port over to Sor’s room in less than two minutes.
“So you’re all joining us. Even goody two shoes Hermes.” Sor laughs.
“Be nice to them, please.” Emi asks Sor pleadingly.
“I am. I’m letting them tag along, aren’t I?” Sor reminds Emi.
“I know, but…”
“How nice do you want me to be?” Sor sighs in exasperation.
“Not insulting them would be a good start.” Emi answers.
“You’re asking a lot.” Sor sighs. “Fine, I’ll compromise. I’ll only insult them when they say or do something stupid. Or annoy me.”
“I guess that’s the best I can expect.” Emi sighs. “So you are all interested to see how your master’s date goes?”
“Peter isn’t my master anymore, but we are certainly interested to see how it goes. I’m not sure we should be doing this though.” I answer.
“I know, but it’s too interesting to pass up the chance. From what I hear Peter is deciding his future bride on these dates.” Emi smiles.
“Who told you that?” I ask in shock.
“Now that would be telling.” Emi grins.
“It must have been Sherry.” Asuna frowns.
“It wasn’t.”
“Midori?” I ask.
“Wrong again and no more guesses.” Emi grins.
“Now who’s not being nice?” Sor asks in exasperation.
“I’ve no idea.” Emi says sounding way too innocent.
“We should get going.” Sor sighs and suddenly we are no longer in her room. Instead we are standing by a fast flowing river with a small flock of tamed river birds sitting nearby. There is also a wooden hut with a small queue of people.
“It’s a pity there are too many of us to fit on a river bird.” Emi frowns.
“You have to hire them anyway, don’t you?” Sor asks.
“Yes, I know, but it would have been fun.”
“We’re here because you wanted to spy on Peter. Not to play around on the rides.” Sor reminds Emi.
“Wasn’t it because of your bag?” Asuna asks.
“Yes, that’s why Emi wanted to spy on Peter. Her mother made it, so it’s very special to her.” Sor answers.
“And because it’s fun.” Emi grins.
“This is the opposite end of the p
ark to the entrance so it should be a while before Peter reaches here.” Sor tells us, pointedly ignoring Emi’s last remark.
“So you’re going to hide us, right?” I ask Sor.
“Yes, but it’ll take a bit of time to get the spell working. That’s why I brought us here.” Sor tells us.
“Peter’s date isn’t due to start for a while so we have plenty of time.” I tell Sor.
“That’s good, because I need plenty of time.” Sor answers. “Now don’t distract me.”
“You’d really better not talk to her.” Emi warns us.
(Cherry)
Back at the river bank and our time up we jump off of the river bird and into the air. The queue is a bit longer now but it is still moving. Obviously we don’t need to queue to leave though. Flying through the air hand in hand I lead the way to our next destination. The wind tunnel.
We fly past a few people on the way but there is no queue at the wind tunnel yet. There will be later, especially close to lunch time. The wind tunnel starts near where the water tunnel ends and ends near where the water tunnel starts.
Like the water tunnel there are steps but we land near the top so we don’t need to climb them. Unlike the water tunnel you can’t really see the wind tunnel, though you can hear it. It howls ferociously, scaring any flying animals away. To be honest it sounds a bit intimidating even to me and I know what it is.
“Hold on tightly.” I tell Peter and this time it isn’t just his hand I am holding onto. We’d be pulled apart for sure, so instead I put my arms tightly around Peter. It’s a bit embarrassing, but also one of the advantages of using the wind tunnel.
I blush slightly and Peter is also blushing but he puts his arms around me too. I hear the attendant snicker but she must be used to this, because I can’t be the only person to enter the wind tunnel holding onto their partner. It does make us seem like lovers, but perhaps we will be one day. I find myself even more determined to win Peter’s heart.
I use flight magic and we enter the wind tunnel at the same time. We find ourselves hurtling through the air completely at the mercy of the wind. There’s no way I could use flight magic in this tunnel of brutal and almighty wind. I briefly wonder whether Peter could but I doubt it. Because we are so close together the wind magic doesn’t even try to pull us apart, but if we let go it would pull one of us forwards and the other back to carry us to the exit separately. So I hold on as tightly as I can to stop that happening.
I can’t see outside the tunnel because we are spinning and moving so quickly that everything is a blur. I feel Peter’s body pressed against mine. I feel his warmth. I feel his back pressed against my arms. It is embarrassing, but feels really good to be touching so closely like this.
I feel guilty though, for having him do this with me. Perhaps we should have gone in one after the other. But then I would have missed out on this wonderful feeling. So yes, I feel guilty and perhaps rightly so, but I’m glad I had the courage to embrace and hold onto Peter like this. I can live with my guilt. I just hope Peter doesn’t think worse of me for it.
We shoot out the other end of the tunnel even quicker than I’d expected and I knew it would be quick. Like when we shot out of the water tunnel we slowly float down towards the ground, but this time it untangles us from each other. As a result we land elegantly hand in hand, rather than ending up an undignified mess on the ground.
“The wind tunnel was interesting.” Peter says as we are hurried out of the landing spot before anyone else happens to come through the wind tunnel. I pick us up with flight magic and we continue on to our destination. As we fly Peter looks at me thoughtfully. “It took me a few moments to work out how they did that, but it really is an ingenious enchantment. Or more precisely an ingenious set of enchantments. Plus an invocation. I think there are one or two things I could refine a little though.”
“You understood how they put together the wind tunnel?” I ask in shock. I was too busy enjoying the sensation of holding onto each other to even give it a thought. Not that it would have made any difference but I’m torn between being impressed and upset. Didn’t being so close mean anything to Peter?
“Yes, but I can’t put it into words. Let me share my thoughts.” Peter says and puts his forehead against mine so suddenly that I drop the flight magic and we end up in a mess on the muddy path. If we had at least been over the grass to either side of us we would have gotten much less muddy. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I know.” I sigh, getting up and looking at just how bad my clothes are. Peter’s are just as bad. “We’re a mess now though.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll wash the mud off.” Peter tells me and I feel the gentle sensation of water cleansing my body and my clothes. Then it is gone and I am both clean and dry. I look at Peter and the mud is being washed off him. It only takes a moment and he is clean. We both are.
I feel confused. Peter seems to have no problem with using water magic over my entire body or pressing his forehead against mine without warning. He does at least feel something about embracing because he blushed too when I embraced him, but he was able to focus on the magic and ignore me totally as we were flown through the wind tunnel. I must admit I am a bit upset now.
“What’s wrong?” Peter asks, finally sensing something is wrong. There’s no point blaming him though. It must be because he’s so young. Boys mature slower than girls and I am either the same age or possibly slightly older than him despite being in Year 3. I think he’s about thirteen too, but I’m not sure and my birthday is coming up so I’ll be fourteen soon.
“Nothing. Let’s go.” I tell him, suppressing a sigh and instead smiling. He must see through it but I pick us up with flight magic again before he can say anything.
“Did you want to know how the wind tunnel works?” Peter asks.
“Later. When we’re in the queue.” I tell Peter, but it turns out that there is no queue. There are three stables and each has an attendant standing there in green mage robes, but there is nobody queueing for any of them. I look at the stable doors and then back at Peter. I don’t want to be distracted so I guess we’d better do this now. “Ok, share your thoughts then.”
Peter frowns but then places his forehead against mine. His thoughts rush into my mind and I vaguely understand how the wind tunnel works, but it is too complicated for me to really understand even with Peter’s help. I’m impressed he can understand something so complex though. He pulls away.
“Sorry.” Peter tells me.
“It’s not your fault I don’t get it.” I tell him. “It doesn’t matter anyway. The point is to enjoy things here, not to understand them.”
“I’m just watching this next one, right?” Peter asks, but he already knows the answer.
“Yes. Just watch as I show you how it’s done. You’ll need to float up a bit to see though.” I smile confidently. This is my chance to impress Peter. I’ve been messing around with animals and birds all my life. That and playing pranks. Playing pranks around lizard birds is not a good idea though. I walk up to the stable gates and the attendant by the door, in her green mage robes, looks at me with a frown.
“You’re a bit young for this.” She tells me, sounding obviously concerned.
“I’ve plenty of experience.” I assure her.
“I’ll be ready in case you can’t handle it. I wouldn’t want our valued customers getting eaten.” She tells me worriedly.
“Don’t worry, that’s not going to happen. Can I go in now, or do you need to throw a pig in first?” I ask calmly.
“I see you do know a certain amount. It’s been fed, so you can go straight in. Good luck.”
“Thanks.” I say and open the stable door. It closes behind me on its own. The stable pen is about fifty feet square so there is enough room to ride the bird. That is good, because there’s no way they’d let it out of here.
The lizard bird standing here is a big one. It is almost five feet tall, though half of that is of course the neck.
Lizard birds are a bit like traxia, but less brutal. Traxia can be more or less tamed, but they are much harder to tame than lizard birds. Not that even lizard birds can be completely tamed.
This bird has bright red scales where a traxia would have feathers. It has three long muscly red legs like a traxia, but much shorter and its body is bigger. Wider and longer at about two foot wide and six foot long. It can breathe fire too of course, but not whilst it’s digesting food.
It looks at me coldly with its icy blue eyes. They are of course literally ice. It points its beak at me in challenge. I smile and advance towards it without showing fear. That is the most important part. If it senses fear from me, it will attack mercilessly. It has been trained to fear humans though, so if I show only confidence it will submit to me and obey my will. I prefer gentler animals and birds that I can befriend rather than dominate, but right now I just want to impress Peter.
As I reach the bird I place my hand on its scaly red neck and it lowers its head. Without removing my hand I jump up onto the bird’s body. Now I am mounted the rest is easy. I send magic through my hand and the bird walks slowly towards the door. I have it stop as it reaches the door.
I wave to Peter. He doesn’t seem that impressed, but he waves back politely. I suppose this would only impress him if he knew how dangerous these birds really are. Of course with my magic the danger is much reduced and with the attendant present there is virtually no danger.
I order the bird to turn but I feel my magic flicker. Instead of the bird turning its whole body, it only turns its head. Seeing its icy eyes staring at me from so close up is scary. Really scary. The bird opens its large red beak and lunges towards my neck.
I’m too stunned to react but I feel flight magic pick me up and throw me away from the bird to the other side of the stable pen. Angry the bird launches itself towards me but this time I have time to react. I throw up a wind barrier that easily repels the bird. Then I port out of the stable pen. I should have done that first.
“Are you alright?” Peter asks me urgently.