Peter and the Heart of Alchemy (War of Contractia Book 5)

by Tj Dixon

  “Thank you! I promise I won’t!” Hermes tells me with a voice full of emotions. She wipes her eyes as if she had been crying but I pretend not to notice.

  I lie back down and start to fade into sleep. I am brought back to my senses as I notice something odd. My skin on my upper waist seems colder and harder than normal. Oh well, no point worrying about it. Wide awake again it takes a while to get to sleep this time.

  I wake to the dawn but lie in bed for a while before getting up. Asuna gets up first and gets washed and dressed before waking Hermes and Angelika. I port to class with Asuna, who looks as nervous as can be. We take our seats. We don’t talk because Asuna’s seat is the furthest from me out of my friends. It isn’t long before everyone has ported in and the lesson begins.

  “We’re practising shielding so work in pairs. We’ll be working in the arena today. You can take as much power as you need from the academy slaves as long as you don’t kill them.” Professor Schwarz tells us.

  “Let’s work together.” I tell Angelika and then port to the arena.

  “Please go easy on me.” Angelika asks a little pleadingly as she ports in.

  I look over at the academy slaves sitting on the inner circle of arena seats. They’re all girls or women and are wearing rags just like the other slaves I’ve seen here. They also all have typical Contractian features. The sight of so many slaves is a bit disturbing, but I already knew there were slaves here.

  I have my own too, but it is a bit different. The life Asuna, Angelika and Dairon are living is very different to the harsh life these slaves seem to be experiencing. I can see scars on the arms and legs of many of these poor slaves. They mostly look to be whip marks. One slave also has scars across both her cheeks that look to be from a knife.

  I wish Contractia could be like Nirvali where slavery doesn’t exist. I wonder whether there are other places like Nirvali where slavery is banned. I hope there are.

  “I’m feeling a bit frustrated after what happened yesterday, so that might be difficult.” I joke. Angelika looks nervous but that’s fine. I wouldn’t actually hurt her, but making her nervous is a nice pay back for yesterday. “Raise your shield.”

  “It’s up.” She says after quickly raising it.

  “Then here we go.” I grin and begin to blast her with lightning bolts from both hands. I am actually very careful to avoid breaking her shield, despite my earlier words.

  “Stop!” Angelika eventually calls out. “I’m almost out of power.”

  “I’m getting low too. Make sure you’re careful when you take power though.” I say and walk over to the nearest slaves. I approach a girl who looks to be about my own age. “I need to kiss you to take power, but there’s no need to be afraid. I’m not going to harm you.”

  She stands nervously and doesn’t say a word but she seems ready. I kiss her and take power carefully but fairly quickly. I then pull away from her.

  “Thank you.” I tell her. She smiles for a moment before staring down at the ground. I glance down and see the same scars on her legs that are on so many of the other slaves. I wince and quickly turn away to see that Angelika has also taken power from a slave.

  “Let’s continue.” I tell Angelika who nods a little solemnly. We walk back to continue our practise but before we get there Angelika turns to face me as if she wants to say something. I turn to face her too and ask. “What’s wrong?”

  “You know how to take power without kissing, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I suppose maybe I should have used it just now.”

  “Is it difficult?”

  “It’s just a bit slower.”

  “Can you show me how to do it?”

  “I’ve not been able to teach anyone.” I answer, apologetically.

  “Sorry.” Angelika tells me.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “About yesterday.” Angelika tells me and I frown.

  “I suppose there’s no point worrying about it now, but make sure you don’t do anything like that again.” I tell her firmly but calmly.

  “I promise!” Angelika tells me.

  “Now for some more shielding practise. Blasting you with lightning is very good for relieving my stress, so raise your shield.” I grin and she gulps, but raises her shield. I then form more lightning from both my hands and the lesson continues.

  “I’m almost out of power again.” Angelika tells me after a while of my blasting her.

  “Fine. We’ll get more power and then swap roles.” I tell her and we head over to the slaves again. The girls we took power from earlier are on the second row now but there are plenty of slaves sitting on the front row still. Angelika is a little ahead of me and the slave she approaches quickly stands up.

  “There’s no need to be afraid. I’m a slave too.” Angelika says.

  “Not like me though. You’re not the same.” The slave answers bitterly. She obviously has a bit more spirit than the girl that I took power from earlier.

  “Sorry. I suppose it is a bit different.” Angelika says stepping back in shock. The slave quietly laughs and shakes her head without even trying to hide her bitterness.

  “Take your power. You can kill me if you want. I don’t care anymore.” The slave says quietly and Angelika looks at her uncomfortably. The other slaves are looking at them with a mixture of interest and fear.

  “I’ll take power from you.” I tell the slave, because Angelika seems too disturbed to do so. I place a hand on the face of the slave who appears a little startled. I then drain most of her power.

  “If you can do it without kissing…?” The slave starts to ask in shock but then shakes her head and shrugs. “Mages…”

  “You still need to take power from someone.” I remind Angelika who looks at a different slave. The slave stands up quickly. Both Angelika and the slave look very nervous, but Angelika approaches her and stands just inches away for a few moments.

  “Only Peter can do this without kissing. So I’m sorry, but I’ve got to kiss you.” Angelika tells the slave who nods nervously. Then Angelika kisses her.

  (Sor)

  “I’m sorry. I’m out of power.” Emi says for the seventh time. So annoying… Her power is only that of an average mage so it is to be expected, but this training is so pointless. As if I’d ever stand around in a real fight and just let someone beat their magic against my shield. Any mage who did would deserve to be skinned, thrown in boiling water and feed to a demon.

  “Get more then.” I tell her with an annoyed glare.

  “Thank you!” Emi says and dashes off to drain another slave.

  Fortunately I shouldn’t need to replenish my power. I’ve only been shielding so far and Emi’s attacks are weak. I’ll be holding my own power back when we swap to avoid using too much and more importantly to avoid overwhelming Emi’s shield.

  “Let’s swap.” Emi suggests as she returns from kissing her seventh slave.

  “That’s pointless. We’ll swap halfway through the lesson. Carry on your attacks.” I tell Emi who nods reluctantly and begins to form her first fireball. I don’t bother raising my shield until she throws it at me. Once up though it is easier to keep it up rather than constantly dropping and raising it.

  The lesson just drags by as I use a tiny fraction of my concentration to shield and try to keep myself from dying of boredom. I glare at Peter’s back. If he’d come back just a little later at least he wouldn’t have seen us looking like that. I bet it reminded him of that time in the forest of the Kuroneko when I used the hot spring with Emi. Our skin was brightly coloured then too, though that was spirits rather than an enchantment.

  I lent him something precious so he should have forgiven us for trying to relieve our boredom by following his little play date with Cherry. He can’t really be serious about that dim little girl, can he? Or is he attracted to stupidity? Sure she can fly ok, but that’s all she has going for her. At least Rin and Midori have some sense.

  I suppose the worst would be Hermes though.
I just don’t understand why Peter freed her. As an obedient slave she had some use, but to actually consider her as a possible partner? The best choice from the club would be Aventurine, because of her family. They would make powerful allies and marriage is a good way to forge strong and lasting alliances. She probably has a lot of potential, given her blood, but she isn’t too powerful so her family would most likely agree to make her the lesser partner of a marriage.

  Of course some people are blinded by the illusion called love, but Peter doesn’t seem to be in love with anyone. I’m not even sure he knows what it is. So why not marry for power? Power is the key to survival in war, so it would make the most sense. It would help ensure everyone in the company survives.

  I’m not too worried about myself anymore, but if Emi got killed because of Peter’s stupidity I’d be annoyed. Actually who am I fooling? I’d be a lot more than annoyed. I may not be in love with Emi, like she is with me, but she is a lot more than a friend.

  “Sorry, I’m out of power again.” Emi tells me.

  “Then hurry up and get some more.” I snap at her.

  “Sorry!” Emi apologises and then dashes off for the eighth time.

  I lower my shield and turn my gaze on Yu Kii and Rin. Yu Kii is attacking with stone shards. Her attack isn’t bad. It is actually very efficient. She isn’t the most powerful of mages but even with her level of mana I suspect she probably gets through it about four times slower than Emi. It is also just as effective against a shield as Emi’s attack.

  Rin seems irritated, but that’s not exactly unusual. Right now she’s glaring at Hermes, though she seems to be mostly focusing on her shield. It will fall soon. Just about, now… Yu Kii stops her attack just as Rin’s shield falls and Rin turns to smile at Yu Kii. Rin must have complete trust in Yu Kii to actually wait until the shield has fallen and even then to simply trust Yu Kii to realise and stop.

  “Ready?” Emi asks me.

  “No need to ask if I’m ready. I’m always ready. I’ll punish you tonight if you don’t force me to replenish my power by the time we swap.” I tell Emi, who blushes and launches another fireball at me. I raise my shield just before it hits me. It is followed by a desperate chain of fireballs.

  Of course there is no chance of Emi forcing me to replenish my power. So I simply pass the time thinking of interesting ways to punish her for the inevitable failure. I can’t quite keep the smirk from my face as I come up with some of the more unique punishments. The time actually passes fairly quickly and I only realise that the lesson is past the halfway point when it ends.

  “Emi… I said we would swap at the halfway point… Your punishment just doubled.” I glare at Emi who nods with embarrassment.

  “Will we have lunch in our room, like usual?” Emi asks.

  “Where else would we eat it?” I ask her with a mocking laugh.

  “With everyone else.” Emi suggests.

  “Don’t be stupid.” I tell her and then port us back to our room. “I’m not going to be eating today.”

  “You haven’t eaten anything for a week.” Emi says with obvious concern in her voice.

  “It’s pointless telling me what I already know. You should know I hate pointless things.”

  “I know, but you need to eat.”

  “Actually I don’t, and you know that.” I remind her with a glare.

  “If you want to remain…” Emi starts to say but stops as she sees my right hand clench into a fist. “Sorry.”

  “What would you do if one of those pesky fairies was around?” I ask Emi.

  “But you said they were all gone.”

  “I didn’t say they were gone forever. Anyway Emi, eat your lunch before I get really annoyed.”

  “Ok.” Emi says not daring to talk back this time. She eats three sandwiches. I don’t bother checking what’s in them. At least she’s eating. Just because I’m not eating, doesn’t mean she should stop. She’s still human, so she has to eat.

  Chapter 11 (Midori)

  “Everyone, make sure to practise your port barriers tonight for tomorrow’s test. There’s another promotion and demotion at stake in this test.” Professor Kale tells us and I grin at Mirai who grins back. Thanks to our training we were both able to use port barriers before they were even covered in lessons.

  There are some people in class I’d hate to sit next to so I am grateful Mirai chose to sit next to me when we got promoted. We’re both in the club and we get on well. It’s also thanks to Tabi, Tomo and Mirai that I was able to skip the bounty hunt yesterday without anyone else noticing.

  I’m sure Tomo and Tabi will get promoted this test. That way we’ll be together again. Unless Mirai and I get promoted again. Although there’s a promotion at stake, someone in 3B has to mess up to get promoted and I doubt that will happen.

  “I’ll see you there.” Mirai says and ports a moment before I do.

  The training grounds are cold even with the enchantment on my uniform. I’d hate to be out here without enchanted clothing. Of course I’d still be here even if my clothing wasn’t enchanted. Discomfort like the cold weather is trivial compared to spending time with Peter. Or at least watching Peter.

  I had to be very careful not to be spotted yesterday at Heaven’s Park. Of course I paid to go in, but even having paid to get in I wasn’t able to hide my presence completely. I hid it as much as I could without triggering the security enchantment. The rest I had to do by blending into the crowds. It meant I missed some of Peter’s first date, but I saw enough to make it more than worth the ten silver I paid to get in. Actually I’d have paid a lot more than that to watch Peter’s first date.

  I wish it could have been me with Peter, but there are advantages to not being first. Last would be best, because it would be freshest in Peter’s mind when he chooses one of us. Rin gets that privilege though and, with Hermes getting a date too now, mine will be second of four. That is the worst, because it isn’t his first date but out of his other dates it will be least fresh in his mind.

  I just have to make sure it is memorable and fun for Peter. Cherry seemed more interested in having a good time herself, rather than in winning Peter’s heart. He still seemed to enjoy the date, other than when people were trying to kill him. I did my best to track down whoever it was that was after Peter, but despite sensing them a couple of times for a moment they evaded me all day.

  I wish I knew how they hid their presence completely despite the security enchantment. Since the park is in the Divine Flame land could they have been working for the Divine Flames? Their attempts were too serious to simply be an attempt to disrupt Peter’s date though, and I know that Aventurine is trying to win Peter’s heart too. She has her mother’s support too so I don’t think the Divine Flames would want Peter dead.

  A lesser noble within the Divine Flame family might though. Perhaps they hate Aventurine and want to see her love killed? Or they don’t want to see a Divine Flame marry Peter? But wouldn’t it be easier to let someone else like Cherry win his heart? Sure he’d still be alive but wouldn’t that be enough even if they hated Aventurine? It certainly would be if they just wanted to prevent a marriage.

  “Rin.” Sor says, just a few feet away, and I come to my senses.

  “My blanket. Thank you Sor.” Rin says and I turn to see Sor has returned the flying blanket that Peter had borrowed yesterday. Then Sor takes out a box. It is the box that Cherry’s new costume was in. The one her old clothes went into. Why does Sor have that? Did Peter forget to take it out before he returned Sor’s bag?

  Sor grins and I wince as I realise what is coming. This will embarrass Peter as well as Cherry. It could help me, but I don’t want Peter to suffer. Where is he anyway? I quickly try to think of something I can do to help but it is too late. Sor has already ported in front of Cherry and Sherry with the box. It was only ten feet or so. Hardly worth a port.

  “Cherry.” Sor smirks.

  “Sor?” The girl on the left, presumably Cherry, asks. Then she sees the b
ox and her face goes bright red.

  “Wet yourself?” Sor asks with a laugh as she hands the box to Cherry.

  “No! That’s juice.” Cherry protests.

  “You might want to consider wearing something a bit nicer if you ever go on another date. Even without wetting yourself, a faded brown skirt like this is a bit…” Sor tells Cherry before ending with a snicker.

  “It was enchanted! It didn’t look like this!” Cherry complains and then seeing everyone looking at her she quickly ports away before porting back without the box. Just as Cherry ports back in, Peter and Angelika port in.

  “What’s going on?” Peter asks, noticing everyone looking at Cherry.

  “Why didn’t you take them out, before you gave the bag back to Sor?!” Cherry asks in a panic.

  “Them? Oh!” Peter gasps realising what she means.

  “Yes, ‘oh’…” Sherry says furiously and Peter winces.

  “I’m sorry. I sort of forgot.”

  “Now everyone thinks I wet myself!” Cherry complains.

  “But it was juice.” Peter protests.

  “I could tell it was juice.” I quickly add in and everyone turns towards me. I’m not used to everyone looking at me. I don’t normally get a lot of attention. I think quickly. “I could tell using my water and earth senses. Juice is more attuned to the earth element than, umm… You must have been able to tell too Helski.”

  “Um, yes of course I could tell.” Helski bluffs as everyone turns to face her. I’m sure she couldn’t any more than I could, but she’d never admit it in front of everyone.

  “Thank you Midori and Helski.” Cherry says quietly.

  “It’s nothing.” Helski shrugs. I nod in agreement and smile weakly.

  “Yes, thank you.” Peter says and he seems to be mostly saying it to me. My smile grows as he acknowledges my help.

  “You’re welcome.” Helski says. Before I can say anything Sor interrupts.

  “I’m sure Lilian could tell too.” Sor says and all eyes turn to Lilian.

  “I didn’t think to check.” Lilian shrugs.