ã€ŠCandle burning in the darkã€‹


 Beginnings

    "Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Not necessarily in that order."

    -Tim Burton

    Her father Adam was a miner, her mother Evelyn the daughter of an apothecary. Their love was, at the time, an oft-told story in the small town of Firswending, Evelyn''s father, a well-off apothecary, was strictly against the relationship. And the poor miner, son of refugees from the north was also quite stubborn in his pursuit.

    Of their pairing came Alyssa a small and sickly child born early and in winter. She was named after three months of waiting, for the midwife predicted an early end and naming makes the parting more difficult, it is said. Perhaps this brush with the darkness left its mark, for her left hand was always a bit weak and withered looking, pale as freshly fallen snow.

    The first years of her life were like a pleasant dream, or those parts of a story more glossed over than told- Full of sunshine on white sheets, curtains blowing in the wind, candlelight at the dinner table, and the wife scolding the husband for tracking dust inside the house.

    Evelyn used to grow medicinal herbs and mix potions for various small ailments using lesser magics of the Fay-Folk. When Alyssa was older, she tried to teach her the elements of the craft. But plants would sicken under her touch. Potions would have unpredictable effects, most often stronger than wished for.

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    Firswending lay at the foot of the Erbor Mountains at the Banks of the River Tey. Ore and coal from mining camps and small villages found their way here. The town grew bigger and more wealthy with immigrant labor, both those driven by poverty and hope and those driven from their homes by the incessant wars. And there was always a need for implements of iron.

    Rumbling carts fully laden with a heavy cargo left deep ruts in the streets in which brackish water stagnated. Dust and smoke hung heavy in the air, which was thankfully windy in this mountainous region. The influx of people led to crowded conditions and poor hygiene. Such circumstance begat Illness and such turned to plague. The ringing of the western bell signaled the catastrophe.

    Coughing was the first symptom, followed by bloody marks on the chest. With passing time came fever and delirious dreams of drowning. Blood built up in the lungs, and the weak, the young, and the elderly did sleep and never woke again.

    Alyssa was never ill but always frail, life did not want to cling to her, but even miasma, which by scholars and mages is said to be alive, avoided her also.

    Her mother worked tirelessly and visited the many afflicted. The doctor was mostly seen in the viscount''s castle, a good way into the mountains, and rarely in the more well-appointed homes. The clergy prayed day and night, and sometimes there were miracles. But those were like fireflies, small and easily seen but not enough by any means.

    Overworked and tired as she was, the illness was quick and overwhelming, leaving only a freshly dug grave, with a wooden marker reading ''Evelyn Miner''. Adam buried his happiness along with his wife, and even when he provided for Alyssa, he did nothing more. The black year passed, but the darkness lingered. With time he took to drink.

    It had been five years since this day, and Alyssa belatedly realized her sixteenth birthday had passed her by. It was summer of the year 543 after the Founding (of Rivenlorn, the Confederacy of Equals).

 We are in the army now

    Laws are made to be broken.

    Paraphrased Douglas MacArthur (1880¨C1964)

    Mireille was sweating heavily in the late summer sun. She had been standing in line for nearly an hour without shade, and her hair was plastered to her neck and face. She had the sneaking suspicion it was a belated fitness test- whoever fell was taken away. Noone came back after that.

    At least she had been fed this morning. She had been hungry for a long time, and now she cursed herself for indulging and felt a bit queasy. The heat was not helping.

    The dusty expanse of the barracks training field was nearly empty save for the around forty young people waiting in line.

    The city of Saintscrossing was dimly visible behind the brick walls and the smoke of many chimneys. The administration and bunkhouses were made of the same ubiquitous red bricks. Flags showing their allegiance to Rivenlorn and the city hung limply in the absence of a breeze. It had been hot for days now, and the ground was dry and dusty.

    An area shaded by dirty grey sailcloth had been erected to the side. A wooden block with the surface of perhaps a square meter rested between the resting area and a pavilion made of faded dark blue fabric.

    Beneath the shade of said fabric rested a withered old man in an aged brocade robe sitting in a posture that radiated disinterest while absentmindedly stroking his grey beard. Several soldiers stood between him and the waiting applicants. A brazier burning without coal made of wrought iron and inscribed with twisting symbols sat beside the wooden block. A robed young man in the attire of an apprentice magus sweated in the sun, his dark hair pasted to his brows. He was standing in easy reach of the brazier and, after blotting a bit of sweat with a used-looking handkerchief, looked towards the old wizard.

    The first person in line was a big youth with ash-blond hair in the attire of a stablehand or perhaps a farmer. After a brusk nod from one of the soldiers, he knelt on the wooden block. Another soldier gave him a bit of knotted rope, motioning him to bite down on it.

    The apprentice looked toward his master for confirmation.

    The Magus was seated comfortably on an ornately carved, slightly scuffed wooden throne. Rheumy eyes, which nevertheless held a sharp glint, measured the blonde, and then he nodded. Liver-spotted hands deftly wove motes of witch-light into arcane symbols, which resonated with the runes on the darksteel brand glowing in the brazier.

    The apprentice grabbed the handle with thick gloves protecting his hands and then pressed the complicated rune, glowing a dark yellow, into the meaty right upper arm.

    This elicited a pained scream followed by quick gasps muffled by the rope. The brand was then put back into the brazier, taking along a healthy portion of smoking skin. The blonde promptly fainted. Two burly soldiers took him and dragged him to the side under the shade of the sailcloth. An older servant woman then put him on a blanket between what seemed to be around a dozen unconscious younger people. Some of whom were softly groaning in pain. The brand that had been glowing on his arm slowly dimmed.

    Mireille was increasingly coming to doubt her decision and thought back to what started all of this.

    <hr>

    "Be a branded caster and enjoy a privileged life defending your nation, your family, and friends from the northern fiends!" "Free meal and lodging! A grant of land if you extend your tour to twenty Years!" "Get your aptitude tested today!" "One gold signing bonus for the first hundred who qualify!"

    The young woman stood with a small crowd on the plaza in front of the town administration. The crier was garbed in the colors of Saintscrossing with a tabard designating his affiliation with the local baron.

    She was nearly faint from hunger and had some difficulties thinking about what she knew of the whole procedure. Not everyone had an aptitude for magic, the gift of Jaros, the god of mysteries and the watcher on the threshold to the distant dark. Most people were able to learn simple spells like lighting a fire or making a bit of water or earth float, learning a few potent words by rote if not understanding.

    But this was far from enough to endanger a trained fighter. Humans are more known to have some very proficient outliers regarding magicians than for a general aptitude, but then came Andreas Sonnenborn, fifth son of such and such (she forgot), who codified the technique of branding.

    By application of a magical brand, the magic inside a person was focused on one to three spells, then inscribed in flesh. Without much training, the branded could then focus on a few potent attack spells- or supportive ones, for that matter- but never again anything else. The brand substituting for whatever potential abilities the person would have otherwise had. The more complicated the brand, the more it took out of the branded. Some attributed his work to older forbidden research done by an exiled tribe of elves, but those were hardly credible.

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    With the advent of magical support troops, humanity became a full contender against the more powerful but less populous elder races and the more dangerous magical beasts.

    Making those brands was a well-kept secret; they were always in short supply and needed a trained mage. The war with the icy nation of Ulsolm north of the confederacy seemed to be gaining momentum. Horror stories were told about ice-witches and necromancy.

    It was something people loved to talk about. The presence of branded gave both hope and the feeling that they could be the next Asander Everbright and a hero to the masses.

    Boys- and girls, she added in her head- were often seen playing Signed and monsters. The Signed being the most prestigious or at least most well-known branded.

    "What about the young lady in the third row?! You look like you could use a good meal. How about it- get tested and have a bite to eat." Her thoughts interrupted, she looked at the crier and then tentatively pointed at herself. "Yes, you, come here, don''t be shy!" He got down from the platform and went to a table. And with a few uncertain steps, Mireille went towards the table and the smell of freshly baked bread. "What is your name, young lady?"

    ¡°Mireille Annirstochter.¡±

    <hr>

    "Next!" She heaved a sigh focusing on the present, and saw with a bit of surprise that while she was reminiscing, only three people remained between her and the block. Now she worried about what her parents would think. They often scolded her for being scrawny- she preferred petite- and useless for all sorts of manual labor- she liked delicate.

    ''Is it my damn fault they did not feed me like my brothers?'' Standing 1,6 m tall and being on the scrawny side of thin, she had fiery red hair, courtesy of her mother, and a myriad of freckles around light grey-green eyes.

    A burly woman in her early twenties in peasants garb knelt, and the Magus wove his magic. Mireille felt her teeth aching, and a taste like metal spread through her mouth, causing her to swallow involuntarily.

    The apprentice took one of the brands and forced it against her right biceps. The glow flowed into the scar and lit the flesh from within. But it did not stop there; steam curled out of her nostrils and ears while she helplessly grasped at her chest. Desperately thrashing about while her clothing began to smolder and flames burst into life. The sickly smell of burning hair and meat hung in the air while one soldier tried to extinguish the fire, and the other was retching while backing away.

    The Magus rose unsteadily from his seat and uttered a few harsh syllables. Blue-black glyphs flared around his hand and gave life to a flower of water. Streams of liquid twisted and rose around his right arm, extinguishing the flames with a loud hiss.

    The woman was lifeless by then, her eyes broken and yellowed like poached eggs. Smoke curled in the still air. "Hurry up, take her away. Her soul was flawed."

    The old man looked at the now shaken-looking apprentice. "The brand forms the necessary Sigils for the spell out of the soul of the branded one. If the soul is flawed, it can and will break. She would not have had a long life anyway. Tsk." He gave his pupil a slap against his lowered head. "It always happens at least a few times. Get used to it. Perhaps we should have a talk with the assessor." The last was said nearly too soft to hear.

    Gesturing to the rest of the guards, he called, "Keep an eye on our recruits, will you? We don''t want any getting lost now, would we."

    An older, lanky boy in his late teens with a weasely sort of face took a few hasty steps and then took off running towards the entrance. "That is not what I signed up for! I will not let you kill me!"

    "Desertion in times of war. Sergeant, take care of him."

    An older soldier in somewhat more comprehensive chain armor (most wore leather clothing sewn with some metal plates) nodded towards the Magus and then called. "Stop him and throw him into the stockade." Murmuring afterward, "He will get his wish, but he will not be thankful." Spitting derisively, he eyed the rest of the future branded darkly. "Are there any other cowards among you? The brands are only good for a certain number of Sigils; we don''t waste any. You are the only ones in this County who are talented enough. Don''t think for a moment that you will have an easier time as a common soldier."

    Four boys and three girls did not want anything to do with it. Mireille was sure the rest was sorely tempted. The sergeant and his soldiers seemed to appreciate this, and their demeanor became a tad more friendly. And then it was her turn.

    "Kneel on the block." Dubiously eyeing the two indentures where countless people left their mark on the cheap wood, she finally knelt down. The rope the soldier handed her with a slight grin was still damp from the girl before her. Keeping her disgust in check, she fit it between her teeth. The apprentice- she heard one soldier calling him Jeremiah- looked at the Magus, who showed marginally more interest in her. "You were the one with affinities for fire and wind magic, mmh." He mentioned towards one old rod of whitish metal. "Take this one for her. My responsibility." The slightly malicious grin marring his stern features did nothing to alleviate her worries. ''I got no choice, can as well be brave.'' Biting into the damp rope, she nevertheless looked at the white metal glowing with a searing white-yellow glow. The complicated symbol made up of three separate parts resonated strangely with something inside her, letting her feel as if she was simultaneously tingly and light.

    Then Jeremiah pushed the rod against her arm, and the pain made everything go white, pain like nothing she had experienced before, somehow going inside and through her, making her nearly lose consciousness. There was a twisting sensation as all she was and all she could be was formed into spirals and knots.

    Hyperventilating after a suppressed scream, she came to like a swimmer drifting in the deep, slowly gaining towards the surface of a deep lake. Lightning played between her teeth and on her hands, simultaneously scorching her and cramping her muscles. Then it was over. The soldiers hesitated for a moment and then grabbed her by the arms dragging her towards the resting area. In a daze, she saw the Magus giving her a half-smile in parting.

    Then the heavyset servant woman took over and helped her towards a free blanket.

    ''Seems like the turnout was less than expected'' with this inane thought, she succumbed to the dizziness and pain and knew no more.

 The lady of the night

    I''ve never seen anyone drink themselves smart, successful or happy. Most end up broke, bitter and alone.

    -unknown

    Alyssa took care to avoid the deeper puddles while navigating the side-roads of Firswending. The main road in the early evening was congested with traffic from farmers and workers returning to their homes. Yearning for the cheap company and even cheaper drink some streamed towards the entertainment quarter. ¡®The town did change a lot with the war and the never-ending need for iron¡¯ she thought.

    In the past, there were a few cheap taverns, but now there were additionally some brothels and drinking halls that spilled into the area beyond the wall sometimes through the wall. Paving the way were handsome bribes. And the city guard became more well-off and simultaneously less trustworthy.

    She tightened the grip on her quarterstaff and meandered around some deeper puddles of dubious content between the dangerously teetering tenements leaning against each other.

    Light spilled from a bigger house where some buildings had been fused together with some walkways and lanterns added for good measure. Laughter, raucous and jarring echoed through the alley getting louder as a drunk patron stumbled out of the front door to noisily relieve himself near the entrance to a small alley. From the upper floors came some shrieks and squealing which indicated a different sort of activity. Alyssa blushed in the shadow of her hooded cloak. The battered sign above the door proclaimed the ¡°Lady of the Night¡± or the Lady as the people around here called the building.

    A deep sigh forced its way out of her. Her father had his payday the day before and after working a lot of consecutive shifts had not come home. She hated coming here but after more than a day she was worried and also needed him for the impending tax review.

    The collector would not be amused were she unable to pay the city tax. She was also worried about him even as they were not close. After her mother died he became withdrawn and ill-tempered, choosing to spend his money and time drinking and whoring.

    At least it was only drinking at first. But then after a year or two came gambling and the women. He was a big man and skilled at his craft. He worked as an overseer in the mines having worked his way up from a common miner.

    The darkness inside him made him bitter and mean and even though he never raised his hand against her she was afraid of him. The change from grief to anger and hate was gradual and when it happened she did not realize it at first. He was often absent and worked a lot of extra shifts and she was still in mourning herself.

    Their family was never very religious but there used to be a small house-shrine to Irkonos the wooden idol, warder of seasons, the giver of nature''s bounty, and the god of her mother''s choice.

    Her father tore it down one day and made it into a shed to store his tools, never talking about it afterward.

    The main deity of Firswending was Motok the dreamer under the mountain, he who knows the ways of stone. A dwarfen god who was said to be accepting of other races. His commandments included a serious admonition against oathbreaking, being courageous, and working hard- best with stone or iron. He was also a lesser-known god of artistic inspiration- perhaps because of all the dreaming, he was said to do.

    Then there was Lightgiver Gesserach the lidless eye who once was said to have two eyes in the sky, until the goddess of night Nirileth the covetous one stole one for her collection of jewels, having it as the pride of her dark skies, the moon. He also had a church in town, which the people not directly working with and for the mines and workshops frequented. Unsurprisingly this temple''s creed decried theft and dishonesty the most they got along well with the priests of Motok.

    Her father used to go to the temples on week''s end. That too stopped.

    Meanwhile, she could no longer delay her arrival in front of the big door of the ¡®Lady¡¯. Steeling herself she pushed and had to use both arms, the staff in the crook of her elbow. Silently she cursed her small frame.

    And the door creaked open.

    Inside she was welcomed by smoke and a deafening din. The tavern floor was well packed, tables groaning with tankards of beer, miner and craftsmen talked and ate while sometimes trying and sometimes succeeding in catching one of the women for whom the ¡®Lady¡¯ was named. An older musician was playing his lute, his lacking sobriety making that more enthusiastic than artful. One of the more drunk women was dancing to his accompaniment on a nearby table.

    The air reeked of cheap perfume and old sweat mixed with the odor of beer and fried meat of uncertain provenance.

    Stairs went along the left wall towards an upper balcony the first floor having been partially removed. Those stairs continued from there to a second floor. Smoke curled lazily among the rafters.

    Behind the bar was the madam of the house, Carla Turosso, an aging matron, large in every sense of the word with her graying hair dyed a bright yellow. At the moment she was joking with a large guardsman who looked at her lecherously.

    Alyssa hastily vacated the door as two burly bouncers dragged a boy, perhaps a few years older than her, toward the exit. One of them grumbled, ¡°Don''t come if you don¡¯t have money to spend, you useless piece of shit.¡± One eye swelling shut the boy was in no shape to retort.

    She helplessly looked around and her heart sank further as she did not see Adam, her father.

    ¡°Alyssa! What in Nirileths name are you doing here?¡± A girlish voice sounded beside her ear making her jump in shock.

    ¡°Elsbeth, you nearly gave me a heart attack!¡± Pressing a hand to her chest she calmed her breathing.

    Elsbeth was a girl a few years older than Alyssa with brown hair and a slender figure, too slender if someone asked her. She had a harried-looking smile and was currently carrying a tray of empty tankards towards the kitchen in the back.

    She and Alyssa had grown up together in the same neighborhood, living a few houses down the road from her own home. She was always more healthy and thus more active making it so that they did not have much to do with each other, even so they were on friendly enough terms.

    After hearing that she started working here Alyssa was at first shocked but later heard from her ¡°I only work the kitchens, at least there I get paid which is a nice change to working at home!¡± Her brothers and family obviously taking her work for granted. Lately, she had not seen much of her, but she had heard that she lived in a small room at her workplace.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Have you seen my father?¡± Alyssa asked. ¡°Now that you mention it- he was here yesterday and then went on to gamble in the backroom. I am still not allowed there, they only use the maids having worked here the longest. Ah, they say that there is a lot of tips to be made! Lily once got a gold piece for being the ¡®Lady Luck¡¯ of some drunkard or other!¡± the brunette reminisced tapping her lips with her index finger.

    ¡°I need him to come home, there is a lot to talk about. The taxmen are coming tomorrow! The money I earn with the lab is not enough.¡±

    Elsbeth huffed and looked around. After spotting a plump woman giggling on the lap of a burly smith she mentioned Alyssa to wait. ¡°Hey Lily, got a moment?¡± the woman raised her head and shouted back with reddened cheeks ¡°Come here little sparrow, have a drink on my friend here. You don¡¯t mind the company, do you?¡± Giggling at her own joke she loosely hung her head. Three empty tankards and a glassy gaze indicated a well-advanced state of drunkenness.

    ¡°Do you know Adam Miner?¡± Elsbeth asked, looking apologetically at the smith.

    ¡°Should I?¡± the one called Lily returned her question.

    ¡°Big-boned bastard, black-haired with some coal dust lodged under the skin of his right temple.¡± She showed a circle with her fingers approximately the width of a copper. ¡°He is a mean one. Rarely tips.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that one. Yes, he was in the back. Had a streak of luck. Should have run dry just about now if you know what I mean. Idiot man.¡± She winked exaggeratedly then gave the smith a wet kiss on the nose. ¡°Not talking about you my gorgeous.¡±

    Elsbeth now looking a bit worried came back to Alyssa who successfully fended off a drunk weavers apprentice who persisted in asking her to sit on his lap.

    Looking flustered Alyssa gripped her staff tightly. An observant person would have seen wisps of dark mist curling around her left hand causing a bit of rime to appear slightly bleaching the aged wood. ¡°We have to ask the madam. I can''t go into the back and Lily, my most friendly colleague.¡± Followed by a dirty look at the subject of the talk ¡°Is in no shape to help.¡±

    Alyssa thanked her and then walked toward the bar. She was jostled by the crowd and ruefully thought ¡®that''s going to bruise by tomorrow¡¯.

    Then she was in front of a bored-looking barmaid who turned to her and said: ¡°What will it be, dearie.¡±

    Alyssa hesitated a bit ¡°I have to see the madam, it''s about my father Adam Miner.¡±

    The maid raised an eyebrow ¡°The brute has a daughter? Never would have guessed. Carla! Someone is asking for you.¡± She raised her voice above the racket and motioned towards Alysssa, smirking somewhat maliciously.

    The madam looked in her direction and after a questioning frown, a smile formed on her face. She patted the hand of the guardsman while motioning for another woman to refill his tankard. Then she made her way toward the pair.

    ¡°Ah, what can I do for you, my dear? Do away with the hood will you, it''s a waste to hide a beauty such as you.¡±

    Alyssa swallowed dryly and brushed back the hood of her cloak spilling her nearly white hair. As her hair reminded her of her mother, she could not bear to cut it other than to straighten it a bit, so it fell past her hips. And truth be told it was quite a hassle. She had fair skin and was a little on the smaller, skinnier side with eyes an odd shade of purple.

    Carla widened her eyes appreciatively and whistled ¡°So, my child, what brings you into my home?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to intrude, and thank you for your time.¡± Alyssa coughed nervously ¡°I am looking for my father, the names Adam Miner.¡±

    The madam''s eyes became calculating upon hearing this. ¡°Adam, you say. That is interesting, I did not know that he had a child. Come with me please, there is a small matter to be talked about.¡±

    Elsbeth who had looked from farther back covertly gave her an encouraging smile before vanishing through the door to the kitchen. Alyssa went with Carla towards a door behind the bar.

    The madam made a small but complex gesture and murmured a few words. The lock glowed for a short moment and indistinct glyphs could be seen inside the metal. ¡®A spelled lock. That¡¯s fancy.¡¯ ran through Alyssa''s head.

    The room behind the door was an office with a big desk behind which stood a cushioned chair that looked like it had come from a rich household or even a noble one but it was worn and the cushions threadbare. On the paneled walls hung some paintings which were probably locally produced and not especially noteworthy other than their subject matter, nudes of madam Carla in her younger days. If those were correct she would have been quite pretty though ample even back then. There were also all sorts of knick-knacks on cupboards gilded in brass. The floor was covered with an oft cleaned green carpet some stains had long since faded into the fabric.

    On the whole, it looked cheap and pretentious but it was serviceable for impressing the clientele which usually frequented this place.

    And it was probably intended that it was pretty unnerving and embarrassing for someone inexperienced like Alyssa. Madam Carla sat behind her desk and leaned back with a relieved grunt before she took a bottle from underneath and with practiced ease and placed two tumblers before them with her other hand.

    ¡°Drink?¡± Without waiting she poured two dollops of a syrupy beverage smelling of alcohol and cherries. ¡°Cheers.¡± She forced the other tumbler on the girl clanked the both of them together and swigged the concoction in one gulp. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s better. The evening was getting wearisome. Men are such bothersome creatures sometimes.¡± She winked at Alyssa. ¡°Drink up, this is the good stuff. Don¡¯t insult me, a daughter of Adam will know how to hold her drink, eh?¡± Alyssa being thoroughly embarrassed took a careful sip. ¡°Down the hatch!¡± called the madam suddenly. And before she knew it she had drunk it all. Grinning broadly the madam said, ¡°And? Did I promise too much?¡±.

    Alyssa felt heat spreading throughout her stomach and had to cough from the strong alcohol. But it was still very tasty and sweet. Getting more serious Carla leaned back into her seat and mused ¡°Adam is in a bit of trouble actually. He was winning handily last night and made quite a fortune.¡±

    She seemed amused unless one looked at her cold eyes.

    ¡°But luck is a fickle Lady¡± she grinned humorlessly ¡°and so he lost all that he won and somewhat more besides. He was always so proper and careful. Never wagering what he did not have. But last night he was on a roll. Could do no wrong, could he? But when the night ended so did his luck. And now he has to pay the piper." Leaning forward she grabbed Alyssa''s chin startling her before she let go and sighed, "He is in it too deep. Sadly I could not lend him any more.¡° She measured the slightly drunk and now very alarmed-looking Alyssa. The nearly white hair and purple eyes lend her a fey appearance further emphasized by her slight stature.

    ¡°Mh yes, that could work. You know he never even mentioned you. I was going to sell his debt to the Viscount''s men. They always need people for the deeper mines. It''s not much of a life I hear. If the creepy crawlies there don¡¯t get you the deep magic of crystals and ores will change and consume you. The longest someone managed was five years I heard.¡± She refilled both tumblers. Alyssa felt a hole opening up in her stomach and there was a rushing sound in her ears, while shadows flickered around her field of view.

    She clutched the table. ¡°That can''t be true, he was always so careful.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but next week is an anniversary isn¡¯t that so? When your mother died? I think he wanted to lose, wanted to lose himself perhaps?¡± She chuckled. ¡°So what can we do? Do you know Sigismund von Ludolf zu Firswending? Ever hear of him?¡±

    Alyssa thought hard and remembered that he was the son of the Viscount. Someone far outside her purview so a name and a blurry memory were all she could think of. ¡°A bit? He is the first-born son of the old viscount, isn''t he? Madam Carla, we still own the house. With a bit of work, we can make do with a rented apartment so we could sell that.¡±

    "That would not be enough I fear.¡± the matron shook her head in mock regret ¡°The son has some interesting proclivities for someone in my position. He likes them young and untouched. Prefers to pretend to be a strict and orderly person. His fathers'' friends seem to prefer it that way. But you have to let go sometimes don¡¯t you? As it so happens he is willing to pay quite a bit for discretion and fulfillment of his wishes. And you, you are perfect.¡±

    Alyssa realized even through her now light drunkenness what she was implying. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want any part of that. There must be another way.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± the Madam sighed. ¡°And you know what? Why don¡¯t you sleep for a bit until you are no longer so addle-minded? You will most certainly see it my way. I am sure.¡±

    She saw the madam holding a small wand which she aimed at her and then there were scintillating motes of colored light and then nothing more.

 We are in the army now part 2

    ¡°It is a long-cherished tradition among a certain type of military thinker that huge casualties are the main thing. If they are on the other side then this is a valuable bonus.¡±

    Terry Pratchett, Jingo

    Mireille was woken with the first light of dawn. She groaned as the light stabbed into her eyes and roused the headache she had nearly forgotten. ¡°Wake up, useless dipshits.¡± A soldier marched along the bunk beds while liberally kicking the beds and berating the occupants. ¡°We got a lot to do, and you won''t last half a day without food. So get to it!¡± The last was screamed in a parade ground voice, letting even the last stubborn sleeper wake up fully.

    They stumbled into the adjacent mess hall, still half asleep; a group of soldiers in training were already eating. A quick-moving line and a bit of waiting later, she found an empty table and took a look at the food she had gotten hold of. Bread, some cheese, and what looked like flavorless gruel.

    ¡®Not bad, at least it''s filling and plentiful.¡¯ she thought. Wincing at a tingling pain from her arm and on the whole feeling ill and sore, she began to shovel the food into her waiting mouth. ''Enough food cures most ills'' she thought.

    ¡°Can we sit here too?¡± a boy asked nervously, beside him stood two girls. She briefly remembered seeing him four persons behind her in the infamous line. The girls had been somewhere in this mess too she was sure. ¡®Was it actually just yesterday?¡¯ she reminisced and then hastily nodded while still chewing the bread she had wedged into her mouth.

    The boy introduced himself, then sat down. ¡°Nice to meet you, I am Allan. This here are Rhys and Challon.¡± He refrained from shaking her hand, for she had bread and cheese in both of them so he simply gave a friendly nod.

    The boy was stockily built with muscles from working in the field, sporting some dishwater blond hair. Beside him stood a dark-haired scrawny girl with a squint, probably indicating poor eyesight. And where would she get something to correct that? And the last person was a honey-blond relatively pretty, curvy girl, who seated herself with a smile.

    ¡°I am Challon. Glad to see you. You looked quite out of it. Do you feel better?¡±

    Mireille felt a headache coming on. ¡°Am pfine. Fank shu.¡± Trying to not neglect the most important task of eating she managed a somewhat intelligible reply.

    Rys had to giggle at that and her perceived sternness, mostly through her squinting, vanished and she looked quite nice actually. ¡°Do take your time. I heard we have nearly an hour. Something about our training being supervised by the magus.¡±

    ¡°And he seems to sleep a bit longer than us,¡± added Allan.

    After finishing her meal in companionable silence, Mireille stretched and looked at the others curiously. ¡°How are you feeling? I am still a bit sore from yesterday, and there is this tingly feeling in my hands and feet.¡±

    Rhys answered, ¡°I think that you got it somewhat worse than us.¡±

    She pulled her sleeve back a bit and showed an entwined sigil of two distinct parts. The redness around the fresh burn stood out, and there was crusted blood along the ridged edges, but it looked much less complicated than Mireille''s own. Allan and Challon also showed their marks, which were a single sigil and a triple one, respectively. Even though it consisted of three parts Challons was also very straightforward with coiling simple lines reminiscent of flowing water.

    Then Mireille showed her own brand, which nearly took the whole of her slender outer biceps, wincing a bit as the cloth caught on a scab. There still lingered a light blue glow with a slight pulsing like a heartbeat. ¡°Looks somewhat elven.¡± Mentioned Challon.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know¡± came nearly identical exclamations from Allan and Mireille who then looked at each other wryly.

    ¡°It''s still glowing,¡± said Rhys half-enviously. The girl raised her hand to her nose and not feeling anything made a dejected impression before lowering her hand again. ¡°I miss my glasses.¡±

    ¡°You had glasses?¡± Mireille was astounded. Was that not something that only the richer townspeople owned?

    ¡°Yes, I sort of ran away.¡± She looked uncomfortable. ¡°My family are well-off merchants, but my father only sees the profit in everything.¡± ¡°...or the lack thereof¡± she more quietly concluded the sentence after hesitating a bit. ¡°He wanted to tighten an alliance with another merchant family. And what better way than marriage. Yay.¡± She stabbed her fork into the cheese and brought it to her lips biting into it roughly. ¡°And I most assuredly did not want that.¡± she again tried to adjust her non-existent glasses.

    Looking a bit chagrined, she lowered her hand again. ¡°And here I am.¡± she smiled a bit.

    ¡°Good thing, too,¡± said Challon, looking at her with a teasing grin. ¡°I would not like for there to be more of an imbalance. We got enough boys as it is.¡±

    Without really meaning to, Mireille leaned forward and asked quietly, ¡°How many did not make it?¡±

    Rhys looked solemn for a moment ¡°From the fifty we lost nearly ten to fear and of the ones who made it to the block there were another ten who did not make it. Most went in the night I heard.¡± she shuddered. ¡°Please let us no longer talk about it. If I had known that it was that dangerous, I would never have enlisted!¡±

    ¡°I heard they made the requirements looser.¡± Allan, who had been quiet, said. ¡°My brother is a constable in our village and he hears things when the dispatches come through. The courier is an in-law of his.¡± he cleared his throat. ¡°So he told me that the war is heating up, and they desperately need more soldiers able to counter the more dangerous beasts and warriors.¡±

    ¡°I simply had nothing to eat for three days.¡± Mireille quietly admitted. ¡°So when they gave me bread for simply going to this test, I went along, then there was this gold piece. A whole gold piece. Not clipped or anything.¡± She briefly felt her smallclothes through her trousers and made a relieved expression.

    ¡°Where exactly did you hide that?¡± asked Challon looked morbidly interested.

    ¡°Where you won''t be looking!¡± retorted the now blushing redhead.

    ¡°Sure about that?¡± flirted Challon shamelessly, leaving the rest of the table chuckling. Allan was red as a tomato.

    ¡°What do we do today?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°We have scheduled training with the magus when the sun has well and truly risen. Mireille, you were still sleeping when it was announced, but the sergeant said we later had some schooling with a teacher from town. They don¡¯t want their more valuable troops to be completely ignorant.¡± this came from Challon.

    ¡°If you need any help, you can always ask me,¡± said Rhys. ¡°I had good schooling to help my future husband with accounts and such. And thank Gesserach that this is no longer my problem.¡± Mireille thought to herself that it was just as well her grandma ¨C as long as she had been alive- had insisted on schooling the children herself. She was a magical seamstress in her earlier years until some business mishaps had cost her her store.

    They talked a bit more while both waiting and trying to distract themselves from the day before and the horrible sights. Rhys was a proper and serious person most of the time, while Challon could be a bit impish. Allan was on the simpler side but seemed trustworthy enough, mused Mireille. She looked around the mess hall and saw small groups like her own talking with each other.

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    Some of those looked as if she would have changed directions if she had seen them coming- A brutal-looking young man with a long scar through his lower lip, which bulged a bit from that. Two seeming brothers with a simple look on their faces but a cruel tilt to their mouth, making fun of a thin boy who seemed threatened by their attention. She sighed. No trouble with people means no people like her grandmother always said.

    <hr>

    Then, it was time, and everyone went to the outer training court. The magus was already seated comfortably in his pavilion. The apprentice ¨C Jeremiah, she remembered- stood beside him and asked something, which the old man dismissively answered. The sergeant from yesterday was there, along with most of the soldiers she had come to know by sight.

    ¡°I am Sergeant Lucas Dornwright, and I have the distinct displeasure of running herd on you magical cats. Don''t think you are so special that we cannot properly discipline you.¡± He gripped his biceps and showed them a complicated brand of interlocking sigils. ¡°Attention to the front, please.¡± He motioned towards a row of targets made of stone blocks where someone had painted, with more enthusiasm than ability, the outlines of hunchbacked people with long fangs.

    Then he murmured quietly to himself, and a dark red glow emanated from the sigil, shooting towards his hand, which he then proceeded to point towards the targets. A dull roar sounded as a fist-sized sphere of roiling fire shot toward the stone, impacting with a deep rumble and an explosion of flames. The flames were short-lived but intense leaving the target cracked and blackened. Even from where the Marked stood they felt a wave of heat like opening an oven.

    Then, there was only the crackling sound of cooling stone.

    ¡°Welcome to His Majesty''s corps of magical support and attack troops, the Signed Men. Or simply the Signed.¡±

    ¡°..and women.¡± came a soft but distinct whisper from the direction of Challon. Mireille worked hard to keep her face still. A sharp look from the sergeant quelled any mirth that threatened to erupt.

    ¡°This one I will give you because it is an anachronism. Women have been a part of the magical troops since about seventy years ago. But you know tradition. No more talking. Whoever is next caught talking is going to be the target for those practicing support magic.¡±

    The apprentice first bade the sergeant to group the branded into smaller squads according to their magical abilities. The largest group was fire-based, then came earth and wind and last for whatever reasons water- ¡°..because using water offensively is more difficult and supporters are, by general opinion, the least needed.¡± said Rhys trying to adjust her nonexistent glasses again. Mireille as a user of lightning and wind was grouped with the latter and stood with Rhys at the moment. Allan and Challon were in fire and water respectively.

    The fire-aspected Signed were already training throwing fire-lances, spears and bolts, and even the occasional fireball. It seemed to be going well until one of the more idiotic among them joked around and set another boy on fire, leaving him screaming and flailing on the ground while his hair went with a lot of smoke. A splash of water from the bucket of a soldier and a blanket smothered the rest of the flames. After that, the still whimpering boy was brought over to the water group to practice healing magic. Mireille noted the buckets of sand and water next to some heavy blankets near the training area.

    Then it was the turn of the earth-aspected. They were similarly taught some keywords and then left, mostly, to their own devices. She saw armor of stone and earth, strengthening spells, and the use of stones and earth as spears or like a catapult.

    The apprentice looked a bit tired by now as he arrived at the wind-aspected group and addressed them ¡°So, you should already know the basics by listening in on the other groups but I will reiterate- You get keywords for the magic brands you possess. When you use said words you will feel the magic taking shape inside of you. For each of you, this will be slightly different and the better brands or even the strength of your inborn magic will allow you to modify this a bit, instill it with intent.¡° he took a deep breath.

    ¡°And that is where the training comes in. If it were simply point and shoot, he gestured towards a crossbow, we would be done by tomorrow. But there can be quite a difference between someone who knows what he is doing and someone who does not. We will try to give you this opportunity. Some of you will only get to be a bit more accurate, but some of you might even get secondary effects, like making a fireball that ignites like oil and keeps burning for a while or a windblade that can also be like a gust or small tornado. So come here and I will give you your keywords now.¡± He waved a scroll of parchment.

    Mireille stood to the right of Rhys and went over the arcane-sounding syllables she had to learn. It sounded good to only have to learn three, but in actuality, it was pretty difficult. ¡°Sialysalethusaabn, Sialysalll aaaaah.¡± She felt the knot in her tongue, at least she thought she did.

    ¡°Velusaries¡± came from her right and she saw a flirring ghost shoot from the hands of Rhys and impact the earth to the left of her target throwing dirt into the air with a tearing sound. ¡°Damn that was not even close¡±.

    ¡°At least you managed to get it to work for you¡± complained Mireille. Rhys gave her a slight grin.

    ¡°Don¡¯t complain, more words equal more versatility. You don¡¯t get to add more later. Be thankful.¡±

    ¡°Sialysalethussar¡± a feeling like pins and needles rose from her chest through her arms and culminated in white-blue lines of lightning snaking under her skin, following her veins, burning with suppressed power.

    She instinctively raised her right arm supporting him with her left and then the power got too much for her as a metallic taste spread in her mouth, while the air smelt of a nearing storm, an unbearable burning went from beneath her sternum to the tips of her right arm. The sigil gave off white smoke. With a crack followed by thunder, a bolt of lightning thick as an arm raced towards a target and smashed into the target, the stone erupted into several pieces. Mireille was thrown back and landed painfully on her rear. Sadly it was not the target she had been aiming for. A short moment of silence reigned. Then a slow clapping and a dry rasping sound were heard.

    Mireille took a moment to realize it was the old magus, laughing.

    The magus mostly observed his apprentice, correcting and even helping if rarely when necessary. Otherwise, he looked lost in thought, only Mireille could gain his attention.

    The soldiers never interacted with him. They learned that it was not necessary for the commands to be uttered out loud but subvocalization at least was needed. Mireille also had the power to hasten her speed and increase the range of her jumps by an order of magnitude. She could, for example, jump on top of the four-meter-high wall without any problems. She could ignite a lightning bolt from her arm but needed to brace for that to be effective and precise enough. And last, she could summon a shield of wind and lightning, which would possibly save her from some of the more deleterious magic effects.

    Allan could summon a lance of whitish fire. Challon had a spell to summon healing waters that could staunch bleeding and close wounds. She could also call upon water for a shield and summon a sphere of water nearly the size of a horse''s head. Rhys was blessed with a spell to increase her visual range, leading her to nearly curse aloud until she found that it also cured her nearsightedness, at least as long as she used it. And she was able to project wind blades that could cut through softer materials, which could probably be improved with training, and were useful for moving her and other objects and persons. Even if flying was still far out of her reach she had the possibility of getting there.

    ¡°Why do so many have a fire affinity?¡± Mireille asked equally tired-looking and sweaty Rhys during a short break.

    She answered, ¡°I don¡¯t think it''s that there are so many with an affinity exactly. Those fire-aspected brands seem more numerous and forgiving of flaws, perhaps they are even more easily and cheaply made. They certainly look cheaper with less exotic materials and simpler designs. I think everyone who is not a good fit for something else and has at least a basic affinity towards fire gets them.¡± Afterward, they looked at Alan with pitying eyes. The aforementioned suddenly got chills.

    When the training ended, they were ushered into a large room containing many seats and small tables. An older man with receding hair and blue limpid eyes began to teach them about geography and then basic knowledge about first aid and the weaknesses of commonly seen threats.

    The Rivenlorn Confederacy sat near the east coast of the continent of Naletar and had one port, bought for with a lot of blood, the Gate of Pareus. To the north lay the lands of Margrinar and Ulsolm. Where Margrinar was a nation of predominantly human descend and such without the more genocidal wars, Ulsolm consisted of a loose agglomeration of Warlords united under the rule of an Archliche.

    The undead was thankfully bound to the city of broken Ivory by a divine curse. The rest of the land was usually in a state of semi-permanent strife and war, which often spilled into the lands of Rivenlorn. And in the last few years, there had been a marked upswing in military raids deep into the lands of men. Raiding parties consisted of monstrous beasts, frost elves, and different and numerous undead so this was quite a serious problem. In the west were some smaller kingdoms and duchies, but also large tracts of wilderness with nomadic orc and gnoll tribes whom the teacher described as half-hyena people. Asked what a hyena was, he told them they were like big dogs. Those could also, in times of desperation or when they saw a good chance, invade into the soft heartlands of the confederacy.

    Further inland was a host of wondrous nations, some more organized than others. And large stretches of untamed wilderness home to many fantastic creatures and monsters. Humanity was a relatively recent entrant to these shores. Their forebears left their great island empire after having angered the gods with their hubris, for which the gods of sea and storm had sunk the offending piece of land. The survivors sailed for the shores of Naletar, where they bartered for the use of a stretch of coastline, today¡¯s Marina. And the rest, as they say, is history.

    And then there was the internecine strife between the sometimes not completely willing partners in the Rivenlorn Confederacy of Equals. Led and administered by the council of nine and the king of Rivenlorn, the largest and also founding nation of this Federation.

    Mireille''s head seemed to emit small clouds of smoke as she sunk onto her table.

    Why did she have to do this again? ¡°Mireille, come with us, we have to secure a seat for lunch!¡±- Ah, sure, that was the reason.

 In the dark of night

    He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

    Jim Elliot

    Slowly, the ceiling came back into focus. She felt heavy and tired. There was a bad taste in her mouth, and she felt chilly. Wait. Chilly? She looked down and saw that she only wore a negligee, which barely covered her; no wonder she was freezing. She tried to remember how she ended up in this situation. The room was somewhat nice, and there was some incense burning in the corner. The Bed was wide and soft. There was a mirror on the wall above a fireplace. What little light there was came from some candles lit on the side table. What was disconcerting were the iron bars before the window, which was partly hidden by heavy drapes. A low murmur came from outside, and steps slowly grew nearer.

    She felt fear creep up on her, and her breath hitched. She tried to get up and managed on the third try. She was still feeling wobbly. Then, there came memories of her seeking her father and talking to the madam. She had cast a sleep spell on her. If she was not drunk that never would have worked! There was no time to lose, and she concentrated on standing up and moving towards the door. But before she managed that, the door opened.

    There stood the madam leading a gangling youth of about twenty-some years of age with a sparse blonde beard and watery blue eyes. He looked excited and was in the process of loosening his neckerchief.

    Upon seeing Alyssa, he was at first a bit flustered, but after seeing that she was unsteady and weak on her feet, he grinned. ¡°Madam, you surpass yourself. If all is as you promised, you shall have your price. This here will do for starters.¡± And he took a small pouch clinking with coin, throwing it to the madam who weighed it expertly before letting it vanish in her voluminous skirts.

    Alyssa held fast to the doorknob and said haltingly, ¡°Let me go! I did not agree to this.¡± ¡°But I already paid, and the merchandise seems to be in order.¡± a sick grin stole over his face. He pushed her back into the room. ¡°Don''t tell me you didn¡¯t know that when you got the money, you have to pay the price.¡±

    She blacked out for a moment. After she regained her bearings, she felt the bed underneath her. ¡°So, now it is only us.¡± she more felt than saw his gaze. He grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him a sneer on his face grabbing her thigh. ¡°Come here.¡±

    Near physical revulsion made her feel nauseous, and his grip was bruising her. She felt a cold that was far more profound than any physical change of temperature. Her left hand so long thought weak and useless seemed drenched in arctic frost.

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    Inside of her, a portal opened to realms of endless darkness where even light was devoured, and nothing remained but emptiness and endless, suffocating cold. The bed groaned as blackness seeped from her fingertips.

    ¡°Don¡¯t come closer,¡± she whispered. ¡°Make me.¡± He laughed breathlessly.

    And then she reached with her left hand, and the shadows drew into and through him, shrouding him completely. ¡°An illusion? Come on.¡± A hint of fear crept into his arrogant tone. And then the cold shot into his eyes, his mouth, his ears, and he felt his life ebbing, his flesh shriveling from his bones.

    But there was not even enough left to scream, even when it was all he wanted to do in the end.

    A stream of molten unlife raged through her veins, and as it is with a flood, it carves away the banks of the river. She felt herself weakening further but also strangely strengthened. Her left hand was always withered, seeming to take on the hue of old polished bones but much fuller-looking. It even felt stronger even if the feeling of distance and alienation also increased. Was this even her Hand? She grabbed his cloak and pulled it around herself, taking care not to look too closely at the mummified corpse, which looked as if it had been drying for decades.

    Gagging she lurched towards the window. Blue wisps of energy crackling around her left hand anew. She grabbed the bar and waited for the iron to fully corrode. Which it did some few minutes later. Her breath came in labored gasps as she let the bar fall towards the bed. Then forcing herself through the gap she came upon a small awning protecting the balcony below her.

    Standing barefoot on the cold shingles adrenaline-pumping she was fully awake and alert now. Slowly sliding to the side she grabbed hold of the edge and dangled over the dark alleyway beneath the balcony. Letting go she balanced precariously on the railing of said platform.

    Then she looked carefully inside the room, seeing a sleeping well-fed man lying half-exposed in the bed positioned in the middle. His trousers and boots lying haphazardly about.

    Taking a deep but slow breath she shuddered and then took the clothes which were much too big for her together with his purse. Silently apologizing she then climbed as far down as possible only then letting herself drop the last meters.

    Landing heavily but thankfully only bruising further she unsteadily got up and then ran for home.

    Her left hand was now fully white. The rest of her arm was feeling stronger but looked dried out and thin. Underneath the skin motes of darkness could be seen floating through her veins and flesh. This grew lesser with time spent running and hobbling to her and her father''s house. Leaving her to slowly come to terms with what had happened.

    A realization sparked inside her. She had killed the viscount''s son with dark magic.

    She had to flee.

 Darkest before dawn

    If you don''t know where you are going, any road will get you there.

    Lewis Carroll

    She was out of breath and her feet hurt, the only thing not hurting was her left hand, and that felt dead and cold. She opened the door and stumbled inside.

    Taking several deep breaths while stabilizing herself with her hands on her legs she focused and then softly spoke some consonant heavy words. A small spark flowed from her fingertip towards a lantern igniting the wick. Ghostly runes flickering for a moment around the flame. After adjusting it she took the lantern and hurried towards her room at the back of the house.

    Her parents, now only her father, slept in the room in the attic, the first room one entered was the living room, where the dining table stood. Then there was the laboratory inside a refurbished shed to her right.

    Hitting the table leg with her shin while hurrying, she cursed and hobbled into the small bedroom. All her possessions rested in a small chest at the foot of the bed. The room itself was merely big enough to turn around and put on clothing without hurting oneself. Dim light filtered through the gaps in the shutters she had drawn before the ill-fated search for her father.

    She opened the chest and threw some clothes onto the bed, sorting them into some she wanted to wear right away and those to carry with her.

    A little pouch clinking with some money was unearthed from a loose floorboard. Sadly lacking in volume. She pulled on some trousers and a tunic over which she wore a long robe of forest green, with some stains from her work as an apothecary and herbalist she never got completely rid of.

    Breathing the familiar herbal fragrance calmed her down some. A belt with loops for potions and some pouches followed next. She was thankful that she did not wear it at the time. Nirileth knew where her clothes and quarterstaff had gone. Next came a backpack already mostly packed because she never took the time to completely empty out what she would not need in town. She secured the bedroll on top. Hastily scooping the clothes into the pack she tamped the loosely flying bits and ends into it with some force.

    Then she gathered the few pieces of jewelry she possessed, mostly copper and agate pieces, and added them to the mix. In the kitchen, she grabbed some bread and cheese. In the laboratory, she teared up after realizing she would have to leave most of it.

    Her mother''s workplace was left as she had last used it, Alyssa never having the heart to change it- besides it being this way as she learned to use it.

    A sack was filled with some books on alchemy and herbology, a primer for the magically inclined housewife was also added. Then came some potions which she added to her belt and the portable mortar and pestle besides a small iron stand for brewing with some glassware to make it possible.

    She grunted a bit while hefting the lot and then took some rope to bind it to her side. Then she went to the door looking back for the last time. Before going she grabbed a charred piece of parchment and wrote with a wrapped stick of coal ¡°Sorry father, forgive me.¡±

    Then the words left her, or she had too much. How many times had she sat at this table and looked at his back, his expressionless face. So many grey mornings just before sunrise where she would wordlessly give him his lunch the ''good morning'' like a leaden weight on her tongue unspoken. The nights when he did not come back or the nights where she heard him coming back late, sitting in the darkness while nursing cheap spirits.

    She never found the words then and she did not find them now. She only desperately hoped that he would be spared in that whole sorry incident. But remaining here would lead to her death or worse and she was not ready for that.

    Her whole body ached and she hastened towards the north gate in the direction of the mountains, having been there for gathering herbs with her mother and later alone since she was able to bear the walk.

    It was very late at night nearing dawn. ¡®The madam probably did not want to disturb the paying customer and did not yet realize his death.¡¯ she thought ¡®otherwise there would be guards and soldiers everywhere.¡¯

    When she reached the small plaza before said gate she saw two guardsmen talking in front of it illuminated by a flickering lantern. ¡°Mark my words, the walkway will collapse one of these days. When Mark Thimble last went, this stone broke loose.¡± he pointed towards a bit of fallen masonry nearly the size of a horse''s head. ¡°A real menace that is!¡± ¡°Calm down and keep your voice down. Thimble is stuffed like a prized sow at farmers fair, should have kept towards the wall!¡± ¡°And what do you say when you smash your head like a pumpkin? Oh, should have passed on that last pie?!¡± ¡°Who will tell the captain, you? Don¡¯t make me laugh! When he asks you always stutter and act all shy.¡± he guffawed.

    ¡°Excuse me! Can I please interrupt you for a moment?¡± Alyssa interrupted the two arguing completely oblivious towards her presence.

    The angry Guard first regained his cool ¡°Oy, what are you doing here at this hour. Honest citizens should stay at home ¡®til dawncall.¡± ¡°Sorry, I have an urgent request for a potion and there is not a twig of Helmseye in the whole town. If I don¡¯t start early I will not make it to the Fernwoods and back before nightfall. Could you please let me out!¡±

    ¡°You know that there are rules for this kind of thing, do you? The gate is shut for the night unless it''s a festival and even then it will close by midnight.¡± the other calmer guard interjected.

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    ¡°Could you please make an exception? I really have to do this, it''s nearly time for the collector to make his rounds and I need the additional revenue. I could spare a bit of silver for you to have a drink to my health and success?¡±

    ¡°Each?¡±

    After the night she had Alyssa looked pale and haggard and after she looked even paler when this was mentioned the first guard coughed embarrassedly and said ¡°Ok, ok, no need to get nervous, a silver is enough, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    He looked at his companion. ¡°Yes for fucks sake, open the damn door. I will stand watch¡± he grinned because of the obvious irony.

    The grumbling guard took her to a small portal set into the right-wing of the gate which he then proceeded to unlock and unbar. ¡°Here ye are missy.¡± Holding out his hand and receiving the coin a grin parted his unruly beard which was nearly the only feature next to his nose and eyes that were visible under his helmet in the dim light.

    Alyssa thought he looked like something to frighten children with, especially with his uneven and blackened teeth. ¡°Thanks a lot!¡± She felt a twinge of regret and guilt as she said this and hastened out of the door.

    The door clanged shut behind her and she heard the sliding of the bolts used to secure it. The road to the northern wilds stretched into the distance before her, the somewhat lawless lands between the heartlands of Rivenlorn and the principality of Ulsolm. There were some small towns and villages, but the farther one went the more sparse the population. At least of the more civilized kind.

    Once humanity had been pushing into the wildlands and there was talk of newly founded fiefs and towns springing up to make use of natural resources that were abundant in those regions.

    But time and the constant wars left dead ruins and fallow fields, old stones charred from fire and dyed in blood.

    If she tried to cross the mountains or went to the southeast to get to the coast she would then have the possibility of reaching Margrinar. In late summer it should still be possible for her to go for Thundersplit Pass which traversed the mountains a bit to the northeast of here. Lately, she had heard of bandits infesting this part of the County.

    But before the bandits could get to her, the viscount''s men would if she was not fast on her way. The first rays of dawn would probably be her signal to leave the road and forge on into or at least towards the Fernwood, a wooded area that contained extensive moors caused by streams out of the mountains. It was a dangerous area because of unpredictable, sometimes magical flora and fauna. Deeper inside, there were rumors of swamp hags and will¡¯o¡¯wisp even the drowned dead were sometimes seen. Rumors told of sleeping dragons and giants deeper in the range.

    On some of the barren hilltops were old stone rings of ill-repute, erected to elder gods and fey, not made by the hands of mortal men. It was a good area to forage for herbs, not least because it was very unpopular with herbalists and even hunters. She heaved another sigh and then set a fast pace towards the north, the stars slowly wheeling above her and the lost eye, as the white major moon was called, setting slowly in the west and the first grey fingers of dawn crept over the mountain range in the east casting their summits black against the slowly lightening sky.

    Thankfully she had a few hours to gain distance, leaving the outlying farms crowding around the city behind. Her legs were burning and the bruises she had accumulated hurt with each step. She felt the guilt gnawing at her for leaving her father. But what was she to do? If she stayed she would be killed, at least this way he had a chance didn¡¯t he? And he was the cause of this catastrophe.

    And then there was the face of the young noble arrogantly leering at her, the overpowering fear and loathing she had felt and then the dried-out husk she left behind. She had not wanted to kill but she never learned to use this power, always hiding it.

    She massaged her unnaturally cold left hand. She had known for some time of her ¡®talent¡¯ or curse as some would call it.

    Necromancy or the left-handed path, the thief of the last solace, the one standing beside the river, he who is forsaken by the light they called it. It was not talked about, much. And reliable information was not openly disseminated. The clergy warned to not stray and seek to subvert the so-called ¡®natural¡¯ order. Was she not part of this order? Did she do anything to acquire this power, this curse? Sometimes there were rumors of speakers for the dead, claiming coin for passing along a message to and from the dearly departed.

    She remembered back to a warm summer day. It was the first year of her mother''s passing. She had been shut in her room reading a book about a golden butterfly leading the protagonist of the story into a fairie mound where time stood still and everyone was happily dancing in an eternal feast with fey lords and ladies, circling through halls of crystal and pearl.

    Then she saw it, a butterfly dry and dead lying with wings extended in a patch of light, glowing golden in the late afternoon, and she wanted this butterfly to lead her to the mound where she and her family would be forever happy. She felt it then, the cold, dark might inside of her straining into this world through her small body into her hand stretched towards that patch and the whisps of dark shadow forming symbols and etchings of night, the butterfly beating its wings in the golden light of a dying day, her life-force ebbing into the stream of blackened frost curdling in her veins.

    And she realized then, that to surmount death while you are living you have to give of life.

    She had always loved magic, it was so wonderful and seemed made to escape from the drudgery of daily living. Her mother knew some small spells to call spirits of nature to hasten growth, to help a cure, and to see the root of an illness.

    Sadly Alyssa herself had few talents with this kind of thing, nature and life were opposites to the void in her core. But the elements and even magic itself, harsh and unfeeling as they were most of the time she could bend to her will. And she was talented, while largely self-taught.

    She did not really need to take the Primer for the magically inclined Housewife with her. She had it memorized already.

    The sun rose red and big over the peak of Icehand''s grasp, so-called for the eternal ice on its peak outlining a grasping hand. And she felt her time slowly running out. The town seemed much too near for it to be this late. She stumbled and nearly fell with exhaustion.

    So she went into the fields to her left towards the distant misty line of forest. Here the rapacious hunger of industry had felled all trees, leaving stumps and the debris of old lumber camps.

    She prayed to Nirileth and Jaros, to the three-eyed god of travels, old Varnis who was said to be always with those who went alone, giving company where there is none. And perhaps it was the prayers, perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was the cowardice of Madam Turosso she heard the death knells as the sun rose to its peak.

    The dark voice of the old Castignar Bell rolling over the fields and echoing back from the mountains, once for a death, twice for a son, thrice for the heir, and again for an unjust death.

    And then the dark dappled green of the forest swallowed her whole.

 Into the deep forest

    ¡°Real magic can never be made by offering someone else''s liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.¡±

    ¨D Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

    The ways of the near forest were old friends to her. She knew the stand of willows beside the small forest lake from afternoons spent with her parents, on rare days when both were free. Watching her father fish while her mother busied herself preparing the collected herbs.

    Farther in, she came upon a clearing she knew contained delicious mushrooms, but for that, she did not have the time. Then there was the brook with dark green waters drifting with leaves and bounded by moss, where she went in the summer to cool her toes after carving horse''s hoof fungus to use as tinder.

    She stumbled here and there, her stamina nearly spent, so she rested a bit beside the brook and ate a bite of bread, washing it down with water. Her fear soon drove her further and she endured until early afternoon when she simply could not go any further. She sought a sallow overhang and made a crude bed of leaves and some branches so she would not be immediately visible, then she went to sleep, and as soon as her head hit the bedroll, she was out cold.

    Two days passed while on the run and she thought to turn back towards the road and seek a village or town to replenish her dwindling supplies. The forest grew darker and less familiar as she bedded down beneath the roots of an ancient tree.

    A gasp and strangled scream woke her up, and she calmed her breathing after realizing it came from her own lips. Looking around it was night time and the woods were still and silent. The reddish light of the second moon Ioreth was dimly seen through the higher branches. She strained her hearing for anything that could have woken her.

    Far from here, she heard a horn and, on the night wind, the nearly unnoticeable baying of hounds. Grabbing her things she nevertheless took the time to be careful with arranging everything. Then, she was on her way again. A few whispered words let her conjure a small globe of witch light, which she thought was a better alternative to her stumbling and spraining something or worse. The spell did not give off much light and she held her cloak around the hand to further focus it.

    She tried to remember ways to elude her hunters and looked for well-traveled animal paths as well as stony ground or a small trickle of water to wash off the scent.

    If there was a hunter of Irkonos with them, then she would need any and all tricks to help her. She was tempted and finally tried to use nature magic once. The grass she tried to invigorate back into shape firmly resisted her call, but she could see that with some age came the possibility of perhaps making it work with practice.

    Then she came upon a sheer cliff facing an even deeper area of the forest. From here she could see the outlines of old ruins towards the mountain, she had once been here in the daylight and avoided them because of an ominous feeling.

    The ruins were elven in design and ancient beyond memory. Even the magically grown stone eroded with time and weather.

    This was the farthest she had gone, for camping alone in the deeper forest is for the foolhardy and those tired of being alive. She hesitated for a bit, then pulled together all her courage and spoke words sounding breathy and full of song. A breeze picked up and blew around her as she stepped over the edge and fell, not as fast as she should, but faster than she would have wanted, towards the ground.

    A tree branch smacked into her side and made her gasp in pain, and she stumbled and fell heavily upon reaching the thankfully soft forest floor. Giving the cliff rearing nearly twenty meters into the night sky another look, she dusted herself off and hurried further into the woods.

    ¡®I should not go near the ruins.¡¯ She thought. ¡®Nothing good will come of it. I don¡¯t even possess a weapon anymore. Excluding my gathering sickle, perhaps. But if I simply travel through the woods, I won¡¯t outpace those men.¡¯ She did not delude herself as being more fit than trained woodsmen and soldiers. The only thing saving her up til now was her head-start. Ok, and the cliff was helpful, too, in the end. ¡®Even if the bruise hurts like hell.¡¯

    The lost eye hung low over the horizon and it seemed she would get to see another dawn soon as she reached the outermost ruins. Steeling herself she set her foot on the uneven stones paving a nearly overgrown street deeper into the village? Town? She felt a tingling sensation as she went further in and saw old runes marking and defining the boundaries of the road, probably the only reason there was still a road to see.

    Elegant walls with arched entryways decorated with faded relief, framing empty rooms, most lacking in roof and furniture, alternated with completely destroyed jumbles of masonry, having succumbed to the ravages of time. It was completely still save for a light whisper of wind on leaves and rarely the distant baying of the hounds.

    Some buildings still stood and most of those were a type of very slender tower, barely containing enough for a very tightly wound circular stair. In the upper stories of said towers, where stone bars wound around each other, ghostly lights could be seen flickering.

    Mostly, they had gone dark decades, perhaps centuries before. Trees burst through failing walls while vines draped around the artfully arranged bridges between some of the buildings, like a skeleton grown through with weeds and bedecked with moss.

    There was a profound sense of loneliness, of loss seemingly having seeped into the stones.

    A few statues, marking gathering places perhaps, showed richly garbed elves in heroic poses, some scholarly, some showing a more martial aspect. Some were still mostly intact, probably due to ancient magics.

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    The ruins were far more extensive than she had thought as she went deeper and deeper. Here were the ruins of a civilization far greater than anything she had seen before.

    And then there was movement in the ruin to her right. Nearly imperceptible, but she saw the creeping mass of foliage, having remained still when last she looked, move in her direction.

    And as she backed away, showing she had realized the deception, it righted itself with a crackling of leaves and wood. A stick figure made of thorns, brambles, and wood bedecked with rust-red leaves, having claws of dripping thorns and now, as if having opened them, two eyes of lambent green, sickly and poisonous looking. For fleeting moments the hunched-over figure of an emaciated elf could be seen nearly transparent, superimposed over the wooden construct.

    As she turned to flee, she did not see another construct rearing up behind her, and with a swift swipe, it caught her left hip, the claws razor-sharp, drawing deep lines of liquid heat which soon dripped along her leg. She screamed, and the pain and adrenaline made her act without thought. Her left hand burned with unlight, dark flames bursting to life grabbing the tinder of the animating soul burning not only the wood but the spirit. The black flames flashed into the undergrowth, withering plants and killing any life it touched. Howling and wails coming from seemingly far off echoed into the still city.

    Leaving a trail of blood, the white, dead skin having gained a millimeter of her left wrist, she ran deeper along the road. It had been far easier that time, like forcing a door once opened and never fully closed.

    The wooden caricature of an elf followed her with a stilted gait reminiscent of an insect. She did gain a bit of distance, but soon after, another one appeared on her left, also starting to chase her. She got more careful, which allowed both pursuers to regain lost ground.

    Stumbling sometimes as a burning sensation burst forth from the bleeding wound. She had realized what it meant as soon as she saw the thorns. Poison.

    She already deeply regretted taking this seeming escape route.

    Frantically thinking of possible ways to defend herself, she stumbled upon a big plaza ringed with fallen buildings of formerly majestic proportions and design. Dried-out fountains would once have given this place a lively atmosphere but were now only cracked remnants of former beauty. Mosaics were mere hints underneath the grime and plant matter. More of the creatures had appeared and followed her, now more sedately with a menacing air of finality. A single building remained intact, looking like a church or temple perhaps.

    Delirious with poison and pain, the stars in the great vault above her wheeled with cold indifference, and the forest, having encroached this deeply into the ruins, rustled with a slowly intensifying wind.

    After she entered the building the surroundings went very quiet. The interior was clearly not spared the touch of times passing, and the once beautiful fresco was mostly worn away or grown over with moss and lichen. Some fragments of a roof remained, casting the whole in a lattice of moonlight. A single statue remained near the middle of the opposing wall depicting an ethereal seeming woman holding a harp. Her eyes seemed like distant stars twinkling with subdued light.

    If someone were to later ask her about her face, she would have only been able to describe the stars shining with an icy blue-white light and that the face was truly beautiful, even if somehow indescribable. Her head was hollow and light with the effects of poison and blood loss.

    The wind picked up and carried faint hints of night flowers in bloom. And amid the faint susurrus of this breeze were words. ¡°So, at last, you have come. Come to end an age. Come to us.¡± silence engulfed her. ¡°We began an age of wonder. Living on the corpses of titans who had come before. Lapping the blood flowing from their wounds. Building cities on their bones.¡± Sometimes it seemed that there were more voices than one speaking in a chorus or alternating between each other. Alyssa nervously looked around, hoping to see a glimpse of the speaker while slowly nearing the statue, having sensed the nearing wooden figures circling the temple. ¡°The old gods were awake then. They visited us and graced us with wisdom.¡± a sigh. ¡°The god of song and poetry once held court in these halls. Here he gave his heart to the princess of the icy stars. And as she faded from this world his heart was stolen.¡± a whisper ¡°stolen¡± and again and again. ¡°we want to make a bargain with you. Guttering candle in the night. Your life ebbs and the shadows draw near.¡± a chorus ¡°as we intended, as was foretold.¡±

    Alyssa had not been idle, in between bouts of dizziness and nausea she had drunk a potion and fixed a crude bandage over the wound. But it seemed to only delay the inevitable. She was too hurt and distracted to try a spell, though try it, without much effect, she did.

    ¡°There was once a woman, she feared the end more than she feared the lack of life. She stole the heart. And was cursed, we were cursed.¡± silence reigned.

    Her heart hammering, Alyssa dared to ask, ¡°What do you want from me.¡±

    ¡°Resolution. Absolution. The heart. The end.¡± whispers echoed in the vaulted hall. Then she felt someone draw near. A specter hovered before her in the suddenly still air. ¡°I will accompany you if you allow it. I will lead you and assist you if you promise to undertake this task.¡° other voices whispered, ¡°If you swear it.¡±

    ¡°You will gain by our association, but you will also dedicate yourself to this task. If you do not, we and you and all of this land will fall into decay and darkness. Yet you can choose still, choose to let go. This place will be your final rest.¡±

    ¡°NO, I will not die here. I will not give up! I will do it if you save me.¡±

    Dead eyes looked into hers. ¡°Accepted. My name in Life was Asandria, First Dancer to the Lady of Icy Stars. Come to her statue, take a bit of your blood and swear in her name that you accept our pact. That will be enough to make it work.¡±

    Alyssa forced herself towards the statue one step at a time; her left leg no longer felt like it belonged to her, making her stumble, and she nearly fell. Blood soaked through her clothes and ran down her hip, so she simply dipped her hand into the damp liquid and pressed her bloody hand against the lower leg of the statue while she desperately vowed, ¡°I swear on the name of the Lady of Icy Stars to accept the pact in exchange for my life.¡±

    Cold light pulsed out of the statue. She felt feathery hands on her shoulders, and the cold brought quick relief to the burning sensation, strengthening her failing heartbeat and giving back clarity of thought.

    ¡®What in the world was that?¡¯ thought Alyssa as she then saw the figure of the female elf looking as she probably did when alive, slightly transparent, and hovering a few centimeters over the ground. A whisper: ¡°I will be with you. We could only steer a bit, we are not the cause nor the reason for all of your distress. Simply talk to me and I will answer.¡± After that, she slowly grew more transparent until she vanished. The wind came to a stop, the statue no longer shimmered. Some of the thorn-men entered the temple but did not seem to see her.

    She could feel the cold presence of Asandria settle somewhere within her.

    ¡®I will need to learn something to defend myself. That was much too close for comfort.¡¯ Random thoughts shooting through her head, she edged away from her would-be assailants towards an unguarded breach in one of the walls. And thankfully, even her fatigue was gone.

    She had some hunters to evade.

 Making friends

    ¡°Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go¡±

    ¨C Oscar Wilde

    ¡°Do you really think this is a good idea?¡±

    ¡°It''s absolutely brilliant,¡± small pause. ¡°If they take it.¡±

    Rhys was looking skeptical while Mireille was looking smug.

    They were lying on top of the barracks building, having climbed through the skylight and looked at the dusty alley between the walls and the dingy bunkhouse. The twins, Alfred and Tom Carpenter were there holding the boy against the wall and patting his pockets. Alfred, looking triumphant, took something from him and grinned widely, showing a few missing teeth.

    Then Tom, without changing his smiling expression, hit the poor sod in the stomach, leaving him winded and gasping.

    Giving the poor boy a last shove, they turned and walked towards the training field. After they had gone, Isaac, the poor farmer''s boy being used as a punching bag, looked at Mireille accusingly, ¡°You never said they would hit me.¡±

    ¡°I did not exactly know they would do that.¡± She looked shifty saying that.

    "Liar." The boy looked defeated. ¡°Okay. At least if that works, I will have some peace.¡±

    Rhys, who usually did not talk much to anyone other than Mireille and Challon, said softly, ¡°Don¡¯t let it get you down. They thrive on others'' misery. Such people always do.¡± She tried to grab her nonexistent glasses.

    ¡°When will you realize you don¡¯t have them?¡± Mireille looked honestly interested.

    ¡°Probably when I get new ones.¡± sighed Rhys.

    <hr>

    Two days later.

    Sergeant Dornwright went along the group of Signed and looked each of them up and down. ¡°It has come to my attention, that there are people smuggling liquor out of the warehouse. If you come clean now, it will only mean latrine duty for a few weeks. The lock is spelled. You have to have a key. If I have to find it then you are fucked.¡± The last was spit into the face of the scarred man with the cruel eyes who was known creatively enough as Aldrick Splitlip.

    The sergeant then left and came back with a bemused-looking Jeremiah. ¡°Last chance,¡± Dornwright groused. ¡°Ok, young mage, your turn.¡± Giving him a bottle of clear liquid while getting an acknowledgment back, the soldier stood aside.

    The apprentice gestured with both hands and glyphs flickered to life before him before then fading again. Some words followed those gestures, sounding like a recitation in a foreign-sounding language. Then there was a glowing silver ball between his hands bulging and then forming a tendril grasping in the direction of the Trainees. After adjusting the manifestation and taking a few steps, Jeremiah pointed at Alfred. ¡°It''s in this one''s pocket.¡± grinning a bit, he added, ¡°the right one.¡±

    Dornwright made a few quick steps and, daring Alfred to make a move, rummaged in his pocket, getting a worn key. ¡°You two, come with me.¡± ordered the Sergeant, sounding satisfied. ¡°Good work,¡± he said with a nod in the direction of Jeremiah.

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    <hr>

    The Twins were seen carrying large sacks into and out of the warehouse and cleaning the latrines of the garrison. They were always exhausted, and Isaac was left alone. Mireille looked smug, while Rhys looked skeptical.

    Just another day in the corps.

    Challon looked disappointed. ¡°What''s got you down?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Slick won''t go out with me.¡±

    ¡°Who in their right mind would?¡±

    ¡°I am good-looking and sexy. It''s a privilege going out with me!¡±

    ¡°You take them for all they are worth, you are pretty conceited, and you never even hold hands. You don¡¯t want a boyfriend, you want a moving money bag. And you have done it twice before!¡±

    Challon looked conflicted. ¡°Would it be okay if I held hands sometimes?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the problem!¡±

    ¡°Would you two please quiet down? It''s lights out already.¡± the girl, having the misfortune of sleeping beneath Challon, groaned. Someone farther in snickered at that.

    Mireille looked at Challon, and both smiled as the light of a lantern from a passing sentry shining through the window passed over them.

    <hr>

    Some days later.

    Mireille nearly silently mouthed ¡°Eralasselyanthinar¡± deep within her abdomen lightning branched out of her core into her arms and legs her brand flared with actinic light. She felt weightless as a feather, and her thoughts were like quicksilver. She jumped onto the city wall some four meters in height and then began to climb the watchtower. Beneath the round roof for repelling arrows and rain, she jumped straight from the wall into the air for the edge, grabbing hold, and then vaulted over onto the shingles, her legs drawing a smooth circle into the reddish air of late summer dusk. Sparks flowed along her fingers and from her eyes, thrumming with suppressed power.

    She felt invincible.

    And as she stood there holding a pose. The spell came to an end. She felt a deep weakness and, gasping, had to grab the weathervane to stabilize herself.

    ¡°Ok, that was satisfactory for today. You managed nearly a third as long again as the last times.¡± the sergeant called. ¡°Come back down as soon as possible. The enemy won''t wait for you to catch your breath.¡±

    From up here, she saw Challon healing a gash in the leg of a sturdily built young woman. One of the Earthen Armor, Stonefist group, she thought. Rhys was balancing a full bucket of water on a squall of wind, losing control and drenching an unsuspecting air-user who cussed her out.

    Another day in the corps.

    <hr>

    Days, then weeks, and even months had gone by, and she was now firmly in the rut. Rise and wash, eat breakfast in the morning, then physical training, then training with magic, lunch, then schooling, then physical training again, and some sadly limited time before and after dinner, lights out, and sleep. Rinse and repeat.

    She lay thinking in her bunk bed a quarter-hour to light out very nearly sleeping when Rhys said ¡°are you still awake?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Clown.¡±

    ¡°Irritating blowfly!¡±

    ¡°What brought this on?¡±

    ¡°I simply don¡¯t like clowns.¡±

    ¡°Mh, I did not get to see too many?¡±

    ¡°You did not miss a thing. When my grandmother had her store still, I once went with her to the circus. And the clowns there were eating live rats! It was disgusting!¡±

    ¡°Eww!¡± Rhys looked down from the upper bunk. ¡°You are not making this up, are you?¡±

    ¡°No, I have seen something like this too. They ate cockroaches, not rats, but same disgusting difference,¡± said Challon from two beds over.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make a racket, you three, trying to sleep here,¡± said the girl from below Challon.

    ¡°I heard tomorrow we will be assigned,¡± Rhys said.

    ¡°Has it already been three months?¡± Mireille sounded surprised.

    ¡°I hope they will let us stay together,¡± came a soft murmur from above her.

    Mireille prayed again for the first time since two months ago when she hoped nobody would realize that she stole the cake from Sergeant Dornwright. He had been so furious that his nostrils flared to nearly double in size and reminded her of an angry bull.

    She thought, ¡®Please covetous one, hoarder of the night sky, let me stay with my friends!¡¯ She tried to make a habit of not asking for much so that she could justifiably (to herself at least) ask the goddess for some more outrageous things. Not that it often helped, but it at least seemed as if it helped when sorely needed. ¡®Thank you that the twins were caught with a whole roasted ham! That nicely diverted all the attention from me. I am very grateful!¡¯ she folded her hands demurely before her chest.

    And as the lost eye hung full and white before the small barracks window, she fell asleep.

 Blood on the meadow

    If you battle monsters, you don''t always become a monster. But you aren''t entirely human anymore, either.

    -Jonathan Maberry

    Alyssa woke with a start, feeling surprisingly good. After having those aches and pains for days now, their absence felt somehow strange, as if unearned.

    It had been a long time since she felt that good. Working to put food on the table, to help with cleaning and earning money she had always had some small injuries and cramped muscles from hanging over the lab table, headaches from reading blurred and water damaged script in old books. Following the prescriptions, her mother penned while still in her apprenticeship with Evelyn''s father. Before she was disowned and kicked out.

    Swaying branches scattered light over her blanket she had no recollection putting on the ground. The air was somewhat chill in the morning but there was a promise of a warm day already in the air. Ruins or hunters were nowhere in sight. ¡®It''s a miracle I am alive at this point.¡¯ Alyssa mused while eating the last of her now-stale and somewhat moldy bread along with some berries. Water was not a big problem in this part, clean water was a bit more difficult.

    She had a glass beaker before her filled with brackish water, taken from a forest pool. Alyssa gestured and glyphs flickered to life around the container. She recited a few arcane words and the beaker glowed white before the light dissipated revealing sparkling clean water. ¡°Lesson five, how to make goode and cleane drynking waters for ye household.¡± she cited with wry amusement.

    It often came in handy when the water had grown green with algae after standing too long, or when there was mold on the bucket again. Sadness grabbed her when she thought of her father. He had once been the one most proud of her small achievements with domestic magic and had gifted her a necklace of silver. Long since pawned in an especially poor winter before he had gotten a grip on his grief and money was very tight after spending on the medicines for her mother.

    Packing up and orienting herself, she wandered on towards the mountains, hoping to come upon a road or trail. She did not hear anymore pursuit but was sure that it was still ongoing. ¡®Hopefully, they will think me dead. It is nearly the truth anyway.¡¯ Her pack had grown a lot lighter, but that was more grounds for concern than joy.

    Her food supplies were nearly non-existent, so she took some time to collect some roots and berries. Even some small sour apples were taken. Then she heard a not that far-off commotion. People yelling and the roar of some bigger beast.

    ¡°This is the roar of a Wyvern.¡± a whisper reached her¡­ear?

    ¡°Asandria? Is that you?¡± now the sounds were even clearer and she heard a terrified scream that abruptly ended. Cautiously she went forward and then saw from behind some trees a clearing.

    On the clearing, a wounded reptile the size of a small barn stood with giant wings extended over a wagon. It was a muddy green with black spots along the flanks and a long whipping tail on the end of which was a stinger like those seen on a scorpion (there was a picture of one in a book her mother had owned). The head sported two backward-facing horns and dagger-like teeth. Standing on two powerful legs its wings sprouted claws at the first joint which it used to swipe at the annoying pests around it.

    It was somehow majestic and horrid at the same time.

    The carriage had once boasted two horses, one of which lay dead, the other running with torn reins along a muddy road. Some rough-looking men and women were fighting and one of them stabbed a spear into the flank of the beast which earned him its regard.

    The stinger slashed forwards faster than the naked eye could see and stabbed deep into the unlucky man''s abdomen, visibly contracting around its base as it pumped venom into the already fatal-looking wound.

    Two women were firing arrows into the wings and body of the dragonlike monster. The seeming leader of the group an axe-wielding fighter garbed in an assortment of plate and chain bellowed a challenge and went after the legs, hacking deeply into the surprisingly resilient scales. Green-black Blood dripped onto the forest floor hissing like acid. The man was nearly two meters tall and had a red beard streaked with gray, wild blue eyes, somewhat bloodshot, and sported a tabard depicting an axe cleaving a skull of monstrous proportions.

    The wyvern bit after the warrior and tangled with the shaft of the greataxe. All in all, it did not look too good. Four members of the band were strewn about the clearing, not moving ¨C sometimes still groaning- and in the case of the one with the missing head, very visibly dead.

    Beside the Axeman and the two archers, there were still five men fighting. Two of the men were garbed in light armor and wielding sword and shield, mace and shield respectively. They seemed young and a whole lot more cautious, trying to shield each other. Then there was another axe-wielder who stood behind the cart favoring an injured left leg hacking at the wings of the beast when there was an opportunity, wearing cheap-looking leather armor. He seemed the youngest of the group. Another slender man, with a black beard and black leather armor, held back from the fighting and threw some knives after the eyes of the beast with uncanny accuracy. Simultaneously guarding himself with his left arm swaddled in his cloak. She thought she saw some glyphs flashing as he aimed the last knife.

    Then there was a robed man wielding a staff who just finished an incantation firing a volley of searing red bolts of fire at the monster without causing much more than minor burns, but distracting the beast.

    Alyssa saw a girl a bit older than her bleeding copiously from a large gash in her back lying on her stomach a scant ten meters from her. Wheat-yellow hair veiling a pale face she heard and saw her gasping because of the pain.

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    Without conscious thought, she ran towards the fallen and grabbed some cloth cutting it with her sickle then applying pressure towards the large wound trying to first staunch the bleeding a bit. The young woman looked at her uncomprehending and whispered ¡°Please help me¡± her hands grabbing Alyssa''s leg.

    Calling upon the elemental power of water while brushing silver-white hair from her sweaty face Alyssa extended her right hand and sang the words of an old elvish healing spell her mother had once taught her. The presence of Asandria supplied new words singing a duet of this song of life. Glyphs of blue swam into being. A gentle spray of water like the tides breaking along rocky shores trickled over the wound washing away blood and ragged skin both, closing the tear growing new flesh, and staunching the flow of blood.

    The effect was much stronger than she had seen it before. The spirit gave her a connection to the more positive aspects of magic she had been sorely lacking. The irony of the dead being more in tune with life than her did not escape her.

    With a sigh of relief, the blonde girl closed her eyes and promptly fainted. Alyssa raised her eyes and saw the wyvern retreating towards the forest. The left foreleg wounded and bleeding, arrows piercing both wings and the body, and a knife sticking from its left eye- the battle had turned.

    The axe-wielding younger fighter lay unmoving. His throat a red ruin, black poison flowing in the blood pumping from the wound. The flow ebbing with each failing heartbeat. Broken eyes looking for answers in the gentle clouds of summer.

    ¡°Aaaarg.¡± The red-bearded axeman charged into the beast whirling his weapon in a great arc. It tried to dodge but the wounded leg failed the monster and the axe bit deep into the snakelike neck. Ripping it out again he sprayed the surroundings with black blood, liberally drenching his arms and chest. Where it struck smoke curled from the liquid, thankfully mostly eroding the tabard and armor.

    The Wyvern roared in pain but the group intensified their assault and with a final hiss the beast collapsed, and only the tail was still lashing spastically. The mace-wielding fighter had been hit with a wing and was knocked out cold with a nasty gash bleeding on the back of his head.

    Alyssa had by then moved on to a boy of perhaps seventeen years, with a straggly beard carrying a spear and a small wooden targe, wearing metal-studded leather too big for his still lanky form. He was also bleeding from numerous cuts and seemed as if he had some broken ribs. Perhaps the beast had bitten him?

    She, more confidently now, readied her hands over the biggest and most perilous looking wound on his abdomen and magic surged through her as she sang, manifesting as white-blue energy, then glyphs, then a gently swirling cloud of glowing water droplets drifting into the damaged skin, lighting it from inside and causing the torn edges of the wound to slowly and imperfectly knit together, forming a scar. She sang the words until fatigue pulled at her eyelids making her dizzy for a moment. Spectral Arms gently steadied her until she recovered.

    The field of battle had grown silent, save for the whimpering of a few wounded and cursing from the black-garbed knife-wielder. ¡°By the unwashed ball-sack of Gesserach, by the mouth stink of Motok. It is fucking summer, why does a Wyvern not simply steal some cattle. Why is the thrice damned lice on Cornacs ass here instead of wherever there is easy prey to eat!¡± The last was shouted.

    The man in the russet robes was kneeling next to one of the downed women. Now that she had a moment, she looked around. Besides her two patients, there was the woman the magic user was caring for. Then there was the spear wielder whose end she had seen first, one man without a head, ah there it was lying at the edge of the clearing, the younger axe-wielder lying still near the wagon. The former mace-wielding fighter was cared for by his friend who tried to bandage the copiously bleeding head wound.

    And then there was a woman cradling her ripped intestines lying dead against a tree stump and another man who looked like the wyvern had simply crushed his chest for it was staved in with blood pooling in the grass.

    The robed man looked towards her and called his voice cracking ¡°come over here, I can''t get her to stabilize. Whoever you are, please help.¡± She now saw that he was quite young, possibly only a year or two older than her. The robes were a bit ostentatious and looked too big on him.

    ¡°I am coming!¡± she called back. She hurried over. Kneeling beside a young woman wearing the symbol of Ielenia the dawn star, the white without stain, she who carries the guiding light.

    ¡®A priestess of Ielenia? Here?¡¯ the priestesses were mostly called to help with sickness and to guide young maidens in etiquette and the right kind of scholarship, teaching theology, philosophy, and mathematics besides flower arrangement and some such. But there was also a different kind of work they did. They were the witch-finders and were there was no, or not enough, purity they would endeavor to return it. With magical aid or force if necessary.

    The young woman was pale and a deep stab wound in her left thigh oozed blackened blood mixed with poison. She was brown-haired and fair of skin. Having a beautiful face with an ample figure while being of middling height. Her right hand hovered over the wound emitting a soft white glow. But the battle seemed to be going poorly as her slowly worsening complexion seemed to indicate.

    ¡°Make room!¡± Alyssa got on her knees and laid both hands over each other pointing at the wound ¡®Asandria, do you know any songs of cleansing? And please don¡¯t use any with pure life or nature magic!¡¯ Wordlessly she felt assurance. Then she began to sing the song of the waters of life again. Asandria interjected a second meaning here and there, strengthening the magical weave. Glyphs of aquamarine shone brightly and this time the spray of water was accompanied by a freezing mist, bringing a cleansing cold. The damage this time was much more difficult to heal than the simple flesh wounds and more exhausting. And as she faltered at last the young priestess spoke a prayer to Ielenia forcing the last of the poison out of her body leaving an ugly-looking wound even if it was no longer bleeding freely.

    Alyssa braced herself on her knees, breathing quickly. The young mage- or was he still an apprentice?- looked at her gratefully. ¡°Many thanks for your aid! I did not know what to do. Christina here was wounded, trying to help the fallen as the wyvern attacked. It all happened so quickly!¡± while he was nervously trying to convey his gratitude the Redbeard came over.

    ¡°What have we here?¡± his voice was deep and resonating. ¡°A little girl lost in the woods.¡± Laughing at his own joke until a soft well-spoken voice interjected ¡°I for my part am deeply thankful for your serendipitous arrival. The goddess must have led you here.¡± the Priestess called Christina struggled to sit up.

    ¡°Please take care, you are still wounded.¡± the apprentice said. ¡°Adrian, calm yourself. There are still injured people and I can help.¡± Christina retorted.

    ¡°I¡¯m Alyssa and was out here foraging for herbs when I heard the commotion. When I saw the fallen I could not idly stand by.¡±

    ¡°You look a bit ragged for simply foraging¡± the large warrior eyed her suspiciously. She went red, as she realized her tattered attire, the rips and tears, and all the blood that had soaked into her garments which were already grimy from days of travel, even though she had half-heartedly washed them in some forest brook and even used some simple cantrips to mend a tear or clean the fabric. ¡°But you did help my people!¡± grinning again the giant hit her on the shoulder forcing her a step back ¡°Thanks for that.¡± He looked thoughtful for a moment, ¡°alright, there is still a lot to do. If you want to make yourself useful and look after the injured. I will pay you two gold for your support. How¡¯s that sound. My name is Torvak the Red of the Skullbreakers¡± He grinned crookedly then turned and gave some orders to the ones still standing to make a camp to the side opposite where the corpse of the wyvern stunk to high heavens already.

    Alyssa tended to the wounded and helped make them more comfortable. Here a small cantrip to clean, there a whispered song to close a small but heavily bleeding head wound.

    The aftermath of the short but vicious battle was keeping her quite busy.

 Aftermath of a bloody battle

    Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold.

    Joseph Parry

    ¡°Thank you for saving me. I am Tira of Calliente,¡± the blonde she had saved first gave her a pained smile from the blanket she was lying on.

    ¡°Sh, don¡¯t talk. And gladly,¡± she mopped sweat from Tiras''s brow. She was lying in a line with the boy she had cured and another, probably the driver of the wagon, who had tried to flee and had gotten a broken leg for his troubles.

    The priestess, meanwhile, was praying, surrounded by a haze of white light. Adrian, the magic-user, was discussing something with Torvak. The two archers were busy erecting a tent. The roguish person ¨C Ikett, he was called ¨C standing watch beside the destroyed vehicle.

    Now that she had a moment, she wondered at the cargo and the reason for the arguably very heavy guard containing even two spell-casters. Between a lot of boxes, there was a rectangular shape draped with heavy cloth, looking for all the world like a big bird-cage.

    Drained by the constant work and use of magic, she then lay down beside Tira. ¡°Does anything still hurt?¡±

    ¡°It''s much better, but inside the wound, something still seems torn. It hurts whenever I try to move.¡±

    ¡°I am very sorry that I can''t do much for that. Perhaps you could ask Christina when she finishes?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will probably do that, but thank you again,¡± she mumbled exhaustedly.

    Somewhere on the other side of the wagon, one of the two archers was now butchering the dead horse. Tonalla, she remembered from the brief introductions. The other woodswoman was called Claire, and she was her cousin? Something like that. She simply wanted to remain lying down for as long as she could.

    <hr>

    Later, the camp was ready. To Alyssa''s surprise, Adrian had been on cooking duty. The food was perfectly serviceable stew, and hungry as she was, it was a very satisfying meal.

    ¡°Where were you headed when the monster attacked?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We are a group of Mercenaries out from Saintscrossing. Because of Torvak here, we are called the Skulls. Not my first choice of name, but he is the boss. We had been hired to escort the wagon.¡± answered Adrian, who had been friendly enough after she had saved Christina. He was a bit standoffish with the rest of the group, who were not exactly intellectual people and often seemed to rub him the wrong way.

    ¡°And where were you taking it? I would not mind accompanying you if it is in my direction. The wyvern drove home again how dangerous this stretch of land is.¡± Normally, there were patrols and even guard stations in between the settlements, but those grew more sparse the further north one traveled, focusing more on protecting the border. The mountains hosted a wide array of dangerous beasts, flying ones could come and go at their own discretion and no one would follow them into the craggy peaks without a lot of incentives.

    ¡°We wanted to take her, ahem the wagon, south to Firswending and from there to the capital. But with the wagon damaged and the horses fled or eaten¡­¡± he raised a fork with a bit of horseflesh steaming on top. ¡°I think we will have to backtrack to Sorringen. A village about half a day on foot to the northeast. You know of it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I get some cave mushrooms from them sometimes. They have a small clan of dwarves living nearby?¡± The elder races, or simply the Elders as they were sometimes called, held a deep feeling of superiority towards upstart humanity, but sometimes needs must. The dwarves were driven from their homeland farther to the west by a series of natural disasters and foreign aggression. Kobolds and an earthdragon or some such? And now they recuperated before taking back their ancestral home.

    At least they said they would, and were at it, the recuperating part, for the last twenty years. In the meantime, they sold their crafted goods and some mushrooms that they were able to grow in an empty mine.

    Adrian sighed ¡°they should be able to help with repairs and there were some farms selling all sorts of animals. Maybe we can buy another horse from there, or two if the other horse is not found soon.¡±

    There was a grunt and a light thud, and then Torvak, who moved very lightly for such a big man, sat down beside them. ¡°Good work with the wounded. Christina uses her magic only when absolutely necessary, so that alone saved us nearly a week of rest. I heard what you said, and yes we will go to Sorringen. You can accompany us if you wish.¡± his penetrating blue eyes mustered her again ¡°...if you don¡¯t need to return home in a hurry.¡± He grinned exposing a silvery false tooth substituting for his left upper canine. He gripped a skewer hung with roasted meat and bit into it, scattering droplets of fat. On his neck were several new angry-looking scars from the wyvern''s blood.

    "Ah, before I forget." He reached into his belt-pouch and handed two golden coins to Alyssa. "And thank you for your selfless help. I mean it."

    ''The beard probably saved his face'' Alyssa somewhat morbidly thought. ¡°Thank you, I will then be accompanying you. It seems I went astray focusing too much on my work. From Sorringen I will have a much easier time getting home.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    The mace-man and his sword-wielding friend, Olaf and Grossar respectively were sitting across the fire talking. Olaf with a bloodied bandage around his head. ¡®Needs to be changed sometimes soon, best before he goes to sleep.¡¯ Thought Alyssa.

    The roguish Ikett had his knives spread on a small blanket taking them one at a time and inspecting them for flaws against the firelight, then using oilcloth and a whetstone to repair nicks and burrs. He looked up as he felt her gaze and gave a lopsided grin, making a half-bow. Then getting another knife grimacing a bit and gesturing with his right hand, murmuring a spell to mend a deeper break in the cutting edge.

    ¡°A toast to the fallen,¡± called Torvak. ¡°May they hunt forevermore in the forests of Irkonos. May their sorrows be eased by the gentle voice of Ielenia.¡± The last was said with a faintly ironic nod towards Christina. The dim shapes of the raised earth where they were buried could be seen across the clearing. There lying beside each other were the axeman Lorac, the ranger Valys, the spear-carrying Hargard, and the scribe Tlakan (he had lost his head to surprise and the wyvern).

    The firelight played among the branches and threw flickering shadows over the wagon and in the darkness beyond loomed one of the wings of the wyvern. The smaller reddish moon Ioreth was ascendant and in his dim light everything took on softer edges.

    Torvak swallowed down an extra-large bite, finished his drinking horn, and stood ¡°get some rest. If the wounded are able we will try to get a bit of marching done.¡± He looked in the direction of Adrian who was just now reading in a worn book, the edges chased in a silvery-grey metal. ¡°Yes, yes, I will be ready. Do please have the crystal prepared.¡±

    Alyssa lay down on the blanket near Tira and tried to get some sleep. It was somewhat chilly for summer. But even summer near the mountains held a bit of harshness. In the night she woke as someone grabbed on to her. Disoriented she looked around and found Tira having sought more warmth pressed to her back.

    She was startled by the fact, that she did not mind. Sighing to herself and blushing but secretly glad for the added heat she tried to go back to sleep. Ignoring, mostly, the soft breath on her neck.

    <hr>

    The next morning dawned and dew covered her bedroll. It was surprisingly comfortable and warm as she realized she was still quite securely held by a certain blonde-haired spear wielder. ¡°Tira, could you let go. I have to get up.¡±

    ¡°Mmmh.¡±

    ¡°It''s really quite urgent. Wake up.¡±

    ¡°Mmmh.¡±

    Wriggling out of the bedroll she went and completed her morning ablutions. Then came back to the camp where the fire was slowly being fed back to life by the last night shift watch, Grossar, who miraculously had been through the whole ordeal without much more than some bruising. The dark-haired and bearded man in his twenties looked up ¡°Morning.¡± He said quietly. Throwing a sideglance at the tent. ¡°Slept well?¡± He did not seem to be a man of many words.

    ¡°Mh. Thank you for keeping watch.¡±

    ¡°My pleasure.¡±

    Silence reigned broken only by some bird cries and the creaking of wood in the wind. The fire crackled to life and he swung a pot filled with water and some oats over it. He slowly stirred the mixture.

    Alyssa sat near the flames thinking about the days that had passed. It might have been the first time she did not feel the urgency to flee as soon as she was awake. It felt nice. ¡°You are quite good for your age. Academy taught?¡± Grossar asked.

    ¡°No, my mother went for the two-year alchemy course. She taught me.¡±

    ¡°Did a good job. Here.¡± He gave her a tin cup filled with hot gruel.

    A figure rose from one of the tents in the back and slowly walked into the brightening light. Brown hair, immaculately white clothes. ¡°I bid you good morning. May the pristine light guide you to purity.¡± A slight shimmer went from her raised hand. Alyssa felt a painful twinge in her left hand but could effectively hide her wince behind the tin cup.

    ¡°Thank you and a good morning to you too,¡± Alyssa replied.

    ¡°Mornin¡¯¡± came from the direction of Grossar.

    Christina spread a small blanket and then sat with her legs folded neatly under her skirt. ¡°I was most positively surprised to find a practitioner of old elvish healing magic in these woods. The goddess provides for us in the most wondrous ways.¡±

    ¡°I am only glad that I arrived when I did and could be of help.¡± Alyssa averted her eyes from her intense dark eyes. She felt guilty and was sure, that if the priestess knew of her actions, she would be judged quite harshly indeed.

    ¡°You will be accompanying us to Sorringen I heard.¡± Christina continued. ¡°The roads are perilous so close to the heathen north. On our way we had to fend off several dire wolves and even an undead Draugr at the crossing of the river Alsweyr, a day to the north of Sorringen, near the town of Sorveltdt.¡± she looked serious. ¡°When I return to the temple I will have words about the state of the land. It cannot be born.¡±

    After everyone had been roused and fed, the camp was dismantled and the tents put on the wagon.

    <hr>

    Adrian breathed deeply and looked at a complicated-looking circle annotated with arcane symbolism strewn in white chalk on a flattened area of soil. In the middle was put a nearly fist-sized crystal containing a pulsing fire reminiscent of slowly burning fireworks. Sometimes flaring, sometimes dimming to nearly nothing. He opened the book she had seen him read yesterday, and then he began to read a complicated formula while making appropriate gestures with his right hand, holding the book with the left.

    The circle began to thrum with power and the chalk began to emit a dark grey light. Sometimes it seemed as if Adrian made a small error and sparks would fly, interspersed by small eruptions of energy at the edges of some of the symbols.

    Torvak looked on skeptically.

    Alyssa flinched as a crack appeared in the earth radiating towards a large oak a few feet away, emitting some flames and smoke. ¡®He probably did not think of the magical resonance with an old and therefore magically significant tree-root,¡¯ she mused.

    The circle glowing with a fresh influx of magical power seemed to float where it should have been interrupted by the earthen fissure. It was kept going with the momentum of the force flowing inside.

    And then the ritual came to an end. Dirt began to rise into the air forming a hunched over humanoid figure of perhaps two and a half meters height and massing more than double the weight of a horse. The crystal broke into swirling motes of light that were absorbed into the center of the forming mass. Three stumpy legs and one massively disproportional left arm completed the being. Four eyes opened asymmetrically in the chest leading into deep cavities. A rumbling sound made some leaves fall from the nearby trees.

    ¡°Ok. Impressive. I did not think you had it in you. Artamenes mentioned you were his best pupil.¡± Torvak hit Adrian on the back and made him cough. ¡°Now that we have a substitute for the horses we can be on our way.¡±

    After giving instructions in a haltingly spoken dialect of some arcane language, read from the metal-edged book. Adrian looked on with some pride as the earth-elemental grabbed the axle of the wagon and began to pull.

    Alyssa winced as the wagon was roughly pulled through some deep ruts, nearly breaking the wheels. ¡°Be careful!¡±

    Some of the wounded, the young man she had treated, and Tira sat at the back of the vehicle swaying with the movement.

    The sun had risen completely before they made for Sorringen.

 There she goes

    ¡°Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell.¡±

    -Emily Dickinson, The complete poems of Emily Dickinson

    ¡°You will be going where?!¡± Rhys screamed.

    ¡°The border to Ulsolm. And you?¡± Mireille casually answered.

    ¡°I heard you the first time. I am only surprised that you are so calm. I have been assigned with Challon to the border with Margrinar. There is a great fort where she will be in the support group, healing people. And I will probably be assigned in the commandery?¡±

    ¡°Rhys, don¡¯t leave me.¡± Mireille was heartbroken. ¡°How can that be? I prayed, and I sacrificed a penny.¡±

    ¡°Only a penny?¡±

    ¡°I planned to use the gold piece, but I could not bear the thought of it not working. I would have had to seek a new patron goddess! And I like her normally.¡±

    They stood together in the training field as many of their peers, having freshly graduated from the basic course, clustered in small groups scattered over the whole area. Many seemed sad to see friends go, some looked relieved. The training had been brutal, especially in the last few weeks.

    All of them sported the shield-emblem of the Signed, a raised fist facing the observer with an arcane symbol outlined in silver on grey on a black background. All of this would go on their uniforms in dark green and yellow colors.

    Rys adjusted her glasses. She had received an old pair with a battered copper wireframe as part of her official commission. They seemingly put more thought into the equipment of the Signed. Perhaps it had been the academics teacher putting in a good word, whom she had pleased time and again. Her dark hair was bound with a ribbon, and even though the glasses had some slight nicks on the outside, they made her seem more mature.

    She looked sad and wrinkled her brow. ¡°If you had worked a bit harder on your writing and geography. I am sure you would have been chosen for the command unit.¡±

    <hr>

    Two old soldiers stood on the roof of the administration building on a platform shielded by a parapet.

    Sergeant Dornwright looked on with a complicated expression. ¡°Do you think they will survive for long?¡±

    ¡°You tried your best to give them the tools. The rest is up to them,¡± an old soldier holding a pipe answered the sergeant standing right next to him. ¡°Any special troublemaker I should keep an eye on? They will be accompanying me north after all.¡±

    ¡°Yes, see the redhead with the two other girls over there? She stole my cake and got away. Never happened in twenty years. I would not have cottoned on if Jeremiah had not seen her eating it behind the kitchen. And he did tell me just now. Can''t very well punish her and let her miss all the fun. And those twins over there are bad news. They will fit right in with the army but woe to any civilian running afoul of them when there is no officer, or the wrong sort, near.¡±

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Ah, that sort,¡± the old soldier spat some tobacco.

    <hr>

    Mireille hugged Rhys and secretly wiped a tear from her eyes. She had some friends before, but never any she would really miss. Then Challon took it upon herself to hug both. ¡°Aaah, not so hard. You will break me.¡± Rhys struggled.

    ¡°Come here!¡± Challon kissed both of them on the cheek. ¡°The next time we meet, I get to kiss the other one!¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Mireille countered.

    ¡°I want to have something to look forward to,¡± grinned the blonde vixen. Allan stood aside, looking at the proceedings with a bemused grin. He also got his assignment, he too was assigned to the northern border.

    Grim rumors had made the rounds. There had been groups of skeletons and ghouls, most led by some higher undead like wights or accompanied by troops of frost elf archers or even a giant or two. Those groups were then sent into the countryside to pillage and destroy.

    Mostly, they were simply grabbing anything of value, killing and destroying what was not. The soldiers trying to catch them were always in the dilemma of whether they really wanted to face them in battle. Casualties had been mounting, the undead naturally not being affected by that too much.

    The North was burning.

    Mireille furrowed her brow looking like she had seen a ghost, there was a woman at the gate who looked quite familiar, could it be?

    She excused herself and went to the gate. The two soldiers on duty waved her through. ¡°Mireille, is that you?¡±

    ¡°Mother?!¡±

    ¡°I looked everywhere for you. What the hell happened to you? It was as if you were swallowed by the earth. We even looked in the prison and asked the executioners bureau.¡±

    Mireille looked embarrassed. "Why did you go there!?"

    "You really have to ask?" Her mother was also not a big person, but she had a much bigger presence.

    ¡°I was so hungry.¡±

    ¡°And therefore, you enlisted in the army? I feared worse. Tell me all that''s happened. Greetings from your brothers and your deadbeat father.¡±

    She nonetheless pulled her ear. It was long overdue. ¡°Ah, Mom, don¡¯t! I am a respectable adult now. You can''t pull my ear anymore!¡±

    The next hour was spent introducing Rhys, Challon, and Allan and telling all about her time here. Mireille was secretly glad that she had seen her one more time. Even though she was not that close to her family (other than her mother, perhaps), she did not want to cause them too much trouble. She was thankfully stopped trying to show off her lightning bolt.

    <hr>

    The next day saw Mireille, a group of normal soldiers, and a few of her fellow Signed leaving the fort. She waved towards the other group, leaving towards the east and the rising sun, while she left by the northern gate. Personally, she thought the uniform she wore looked quite good. It was a buttoned coat over trousers and shirt in the colors of the Rivenlorn Army, meaning dark green and yellow (should have been gold), with sturdy dark leather boots. If there were expectations of combat, she could fit a breastplate and some bracers under the coat, which was much too warm at the moment and remained unbuttoned. There was even a fetching helmet.

    In ranks three abreast, the soldiers marched behind the wagons carrying the provisions and supplies destined for the northern army. The wind picked up, and streams of dust spiraled behind the slowly vanishing company. The area around the city being mostly flat farmland, they took a while to get out of sight between some forested hills. Sergeant Dornwright stood on the watchtower and saluted silently with a flask of liquor.

    ¡°May you return as intact as you went,¡± and after taking a healthy swig, ¡°to absent friends.¡±

 The suspicious log

    ¡°Isn''t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?¡±

    -L.M. Montgomery

    The wagon groaned as it was pulled forcefully through a puddle.

    ¡®I think I understand why no one uses Elementals instead of horses.¡¯ Alyssa thought and wandered a safe, generous, distance behind the vehicle. Adrian and Christina were keeping her company.

    The two female Archers were a bit ahead and held a lookout for danger. Torvak had a grip on the wagon, righting it with his prodigious strength as soon as it was necessary. Passengers were Tira, the boy, who was called Manfred, and the driver with the broken leg, what was his name again? Inak? Christina was only present in body. She seemed deep in thought and ignored everything around her. Ikett was talking to Torvak.

    ¡°You understand the difference?¡± Adrian motioned and spoke a short crackling phrase as he had done a short while before and reddish glyphs sprang to life forming into a floating bolt of fire nearly a foot long.

    ¡°Yes, I think I am starting to get it. It''s like the firestarter everyone knows but with additional commands.¡± Alyssa was trying, and at the moment failing, to stabilize her version of the firebolt. She was a bit ashamed, looking at the misshapen and only lightly flaming mass before her. It was more of a fire orb or even a brick? ¡°I am certainly envious of you. I have learned what I could, but mostly simple household charms. The elven magic was something my mother knew. But she did not manage to teach me much before¡­¡± she stopped.

    They had been at it for a few hours already, the pace being even slower than walking, so it was not strenuous at least.

    She worked diligently and adjusted the position of her hand, she used her right one mostly. She still had a problem with the pronunciation of the hissing flame-tongue dialect of the arcane language used, a variation of the old language of the lost island kingdom of Allisair, named Allisarani.

    There were a lot of different ways of expressing a magical thought, the most basic and incomprehensible (for humans at least) being the ancient speech, traded down from the age of titans even before the elder races rose to prominence. It was so obscure that magical academies had awarded prestigious posts for even deciphering another meaning (of several possible) for one symbol.

    Then there were race and element specific tongues and even artificial languages designed for specific uses like enchanting or even necromancy. And a significant part of this arcane knowledge was hoarded, never to be shared.

    ¡°You have to pronounce CHTLEK with a bit more force on the K.¡± Said Adrian.

    ¡°Stooop!¡± Claire called from farther ahead.

    Crossing the road was a big greenish log nearly the circumference a big man''s arms could hold.

    ¡°Just see if there is a way around,¡± Torvak called.

    The log opened three eyes in the direction of the carriage and lazily contracted a bit, trees farther to the right quivered and rained some loose foliage on the ground.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Called Tira from the wagon trying to turn around, hampered by her wound. ¡°A big-ass snake is sunning on our road,¡± Ikett grumbled.

    ¡°There is not a lot of sunlight.¡± Alyssa began saying earnestly, stopping when she realized Iketts sardonic look.

    The roguish man grinned and continued,¡°Great leader, whatsoever shall we do?¡±

    Torvak looked at the being, ¡°a Niddhog probably. It seems sated.¡± He motioned towards a big lump farther down the snakelike reptile. ¡°We could try getting the wagon through the woods. Have to flatten some underbrush, but its doable.¡±

    Christina came to stand beside them. ¡°It is not impure, doing what its nature demands. If it is not necessary, I would opt for avoidance also.¡±

    Claire came to the group and said in a slightly hoarse sounding voice, perhaps unused to speaking much. ¡°This beast has fed on a stag. It will rest and not move if it can.¡± She held two fingers up after thinking ¡°Perhaps two days.¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°So, let''s have a look, we have no time to waste.¡± Torvak resolutely clapped his hands together.

    The giant lump of green-brown, scaled flesh heaved its head in their direction and a slit opened in its blunt head, nearly a meter and a half long, revealing double-rows of lamprey-like teeth, seeming small only in comparison to the beast. Each tooth perhaps as long as a hand. There was no clear distinction between a head or a neck. A long tongue flickered in their direction. Adrian said. ¡°I think it is agitated. Perhaps we can calm it down a bit? I heard they are susceptible to song and music. Anyone here able to hold a note?¡±

    Torvak looked a bit disappointed but said ¡°I don¡¯t want more wounded, and we cannot risk more casualties. Calming the thing would be best.¡± Claire and Tonalla looked at each other and without a word reaching an accord, nodded, and vanished into the woods.

    Adrian shrugged, Torvak grinned but shook his head, Ikett looked incredulous at this question and Tira and the rest of those on the wagon shook their heads.

    Christina raised a hand and tilted it from side to side. ¡°I learned to sing the hymns, but it was difficult. I am tone-deaf. It is a most unpleasant trial but I don¡¯t think the hymns would be best here, even if it were not slightly blasphemous, using them to calm a monster.¡±

    Everyone looked at the elfin figure of Alyssa who sighed. ¡°Yes, I think I could manage.¡±

    ¡°We leave it in your capable hands.¡± grinned Torvak.

    While everyone was either guarding the wagon or looking for a way through the wooded area possible for the wagon Alyssa began to sing

    ¡°There once was a river of waters deep blue,

    riven by an Island, cleft in two,

    there was a town on that Island of gold and stone

    a gate to the lost, in the sun it shone

    bought with blood and held with will

    walls made of secrets and whispers still

    but the secret once told no longer protects

    whispers were silenced

    and treason grew next

    there grew such poisonous flowers

    they felled the guard and blinded the towers¡±

    ...

    ¡°The Lay of Pareus. Mh.¡± Torvak nodded. The giant snake laid down with a thud, shaking the small road a bit, the tongue flickering in their direction. It seemed to listen, some beasts were near, or even more intelligent than a human. Her voice was calming and she sang the ballad with some proficiency. Asandria lurking in her mind seemingly lifted her head and a ghostly whisper reached her ear, ''Song can be magic, music can lend you insight. You have some of the old blood. I could teach you.''

    While Alyssa sang, the rest found and then prepared a short way through the forest. The elemental worked under the halting instructions of Adrian, who did not seem to completely understand what he was trying to say in the rumbling elemental speech. If an elemental could look confused this one did.

    And as the wagon was pulled through the forest, the wounded being helped along by the two younger fighters Olaf and Grossar, there was a sharp crack. Because there did not seem to be much wrong they did not tarry and the wagon reached the other side of the problem.

    After guiding the vehicle some few hundred meters the right aft-wheel came loose and rolled into the woods. ¡°Aaah, damn.¡± Ikett lamented, Olaf ran after the wheel.

    Alyssa had at this point caught up to them, the Niddhog looking after her with incomprehensible reptilian eyes, too lazy to chase them.

    ¡°Okay people, enough staring. Stop the elemental. We have to repair the wagon. Adrian, how long will it last?¡± Torvak took command.

    ¡°Should be good for another day at most. Then I cannot guarantee that it will not break loose. Even an earth elemental is not that patient.¡± "And I am still not good enough." He murmured.

    <hr>

    So they made camp.

    Alyssa practiced her new spell without making much progress. Adrian looked at the fiery shape and nodded ¡°Don¡¯t be disheartened, you got a lot of talent. I did not get that far in such a short time while having a true magister teaching me. Did you ever get tested for aptitude?¡± Alyssa shook her head. "There is an academy in Kronenburg the capital of Margrinar, they have scholarships for especially gifted people I hear."

    While they were talking Tira came over and sat down beside the two, wincing a bit. ¡°Agh, it''s still not okay. But it gets better all the time. How are you two?¡±

    ¡°Well, mostly.¡± Adrian looked her up and down.¡±You look better. Did Christina bless you?¡±

    ¡°No, she said it was well on its way and did not need the personal attention of her deity.¡± Tira looked a bit miffed at that.

    ¡°I could try again,¡± Alyssa spoke up. Flexing her hand to avoid it cramping after practicing the unfamiliar shapes of the firebolt spell.

    ¡°Yes please.¡± Tira smiled at her.

    ¡°Ok. Hold still.¡± Alyssa kneeled behind her and began gesturing, then crossing her hands while singing foreign-sounding words with a clear voice. A soft spray of glowing water soaked through into the damaged skin. Asandria softly sang along. Adrian furrowed his brows, was there an echo to the song, another voice?

    Tira relaxed and moved the shoulder. ¡°Much better. Thank you very much.¡± She hesitated for a moment then hugged Alyssa. ¡°Sorry if I overstep.¡± Alyssa blushed and did not mention her sleeping habits. They talked for a bit, the elemental standing as a big shadow just beyond the firelight, Ikett grinning and teasing Christina, Torvak looking on, silently chewing on leftover horseflesh. Grossar and Olaf drinking to the fallen. The boy Manfred sitting beside them with the wounded driver.

    And having decided on the order of watches it grew quiet and Alyssa drifted off to sleep.

 A play of shadows

    ¡°It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.¡±

    -Edgar Allan Poe

    She stood on a terrace bounded by intricately entwined stone railings watching the waterfall. A perpetual rainbow stood over terraced gardens containing exotic, blooming flowers, vines laden with fruit spilling over walls and walkways, and flitting birds like small jewels. They sported colors rivaling the rainbow shining overhead.

    The roaring of the falling waters was strangely muted. The birds were silent. There was no wind.

    Mountains surrounded the valley crowned with eternal ice and misty with distance and the late afternoon sun. The palace was built into the side of a lushly forested hillside.

    The waters were slightly tinged with pink, giving everything a warm hue.

    Walls, pillars, and buildings were fused seamlessly out of a shining white material. High arched gates and windows open to the surroundings made the buildings appear as if grown from the land itself. Sharply pointed, slender spires rose from large buildings replete with vaulted ceilings.

    The palace was simply breathtaking, and it was empty. She walked for what seemed to her like hours through light-swept courtyards and gigantic halls. Sometimes she saw out of the corner of her eyes, laughing specters of elves clad in courtly attire. Some reciting poetry, some singing or playing fascinatingly complex instruments, some debating. But whenever she went and looked there was only the play of birds and flowers in an eternal late afternoon.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Asandria? This is your dream, am I right?¡±

    A slow song accompanied by a sad singing voice flitting like the birds and lovely as a tear echoed just around the corner and Alyssa walked towards that sound. The notes, crisp and crystal clear, seemed to hang in the air for a moment before fading- there was no echo.

    She saw Asandria dancing in ice-blue veils and silk between the statues of a large plaza. Here she was not a spectral figure, she seemed so real but nevertheless looked ghostlike while defying gravity, whirling and twisting. She had long fuchsia hair intertwined with living flowers.

    ¡°Yes, you are right. It has been so very long since I could. Dream I mean.¡± Asandria''s voice came from beside her, and there stood the specter she was getting used to, looking at herself dancing.

    ¡°Where are we?¡±

    ¡°We are in the Orchid Palace. Formed of the bones of Vyarlis the feathered Snake, the firstborn son of thunder. The water is his blood, you see?¡± Alyssa remained silent, watching. Asandria spoke again her voice a sweet lilting sound very near an instrument itself. ¡°Here we courted the god of poetry and gentle dreams and here he fell to the allure of the elder fey, gifting her his crystal heart. She was the princess of icy stars, my mistress.¡± Asandria crossed her arms leaning on a stone railing.

    ¡°We knew the barest impressions of immortality yet for countless years we reigned.

    Ours were mighty warriors, knowledgeable sages, and cunning sorcerers.

    But everything came to an end.

    The spirit of Vyarlis corrupted an envoy with his riddles and whispers, a gifted Wizardess of some Island kingdom far to the east, a human. We had never seen one before.

    And she stole the heart and our court was cursed. Vyarlis vengeance, our curse. When he fell in the Age of Titans he foretold ¡®By the glittering heart will your sight leave you and the fleeting interest of a mayfly, dreaming of immortality, end you.¡¯ The end was neither quick nor sudden. The best of us tried to avert it. But all they could do was to doom her, who did the same to us. For even a pebble can make a warrior fall to his death.¡±

    The living, or seemingly alive, Asandria bowed towards an invisible audience, basking in the adoration with quickened breath while gracefully gesturing her thanks. She looked vibrant, like a ray of light given form.

    ¡°You are that doom, the promise of despair, and I will help you achieve it.¡±

    The last she saw and what few things she later remembered.

    The smile behind gossamer silk, sharp as broken glass and deadly as a night in winter.

 Once upon a road

    ¡°Roads were made for journeys, not destinations.¡±

    Confucius

    They had marched until the late afternoon and then, having an army camp to set up, they stopped. All around the area was bustling with activity. Mireille who was aimlessly wandering about did her best to stay out of it. ¡°Hey you, yes you. Come and grab this tentpole with me.¡± Having failed at her self-set task, she sighed and went towards the three soldiers wrestling with the pole.

    ¡°Have you heard the joke? How many Andrian Soldiers does it take to erect a tent-pole.¡± She ducked underneath a half-hearted swing in her direction. ¡°If you don¡¯t appreciate me, I will be going!¡±

    ¡°Don''t you dare.¡±

    Having set the pole they introduced themselves.

    ¡°Tirus¡±

    ¡°Alvarm¡±

    ¡°Joshua.¡±

    ¡°I am Mireille.¡±

    The three had the same darker skin and dark-brown hair as most people from the sunny south of Rivernlorn, the province Andria. Sometime in the past, should be around two hundred years, it was called the Andrian Republic of Free Men, having split in a great slave-rebellion from the greater realm of Sur Kesh still further south. There men had mingled with snake folk, a cold-blooded people trading mostly in living merchandise, because the land was largely part rocky desert or great disease-ridden swamps and marshes, save for the lifeline of the River Aravand-rud strung along which were the great towns of the region with the temple City of Ark Vendrad at the center.

    After disastrous clashes with the armies of the Sur Kesh, Andria joined the confederacy giving up a bit of freedom for the aid of the much stronger armies of Rivenlorn. Aiding them in turn with the rich bounty of their fertile fields. Nowadays there was an uneasy truce, the south needing the food now brought in trade, and the north having other things to do than quarrel over mere ethical reasons

    Populous as the region was, it gave its tithe of soldiers and more. ¡°You are a Signed arent you? What are you doing with us riff-raff.¡± joked the smaller-framed Alvarm.

    ¡°Just wanted to have a good laugh at your misfortune.¡±

    Joshua, a big man, looked a bit angry at that.

    ¡°Sorry, I was only joking. I wanted to avoid some unpleasant company back at the tents. We got all those the higher-ups wanted to get rid of.¡±

    ¡°Including you?¡± Joshua asked half-seriously.

    ¡°Most assuredly,¡± grinned Mireille. ¡°Do you know our planned route?¡± she asked Alvarm, who looked as if he was more familiar with gossip.

    ¡°Yes, it was mentioned that we will be going through Firswending, picking up a new share of soldiers and weapons, then probably the mountain road with Windkeep fortress as the final destination."

    Windkeep was the biggest and most geographically advanced fortress the Confederacy still held. Before Ulsolm turned its attentions towards the southern regions, the borders extended a lot farther north, and there were several big castles and a fortress town, now long since fallen to the enemy and most to ruin.

    ¡°We will also cross the river Tey there, the only bridge for days,¡± Alvarm concluded.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°You are light infantry?¡±

    ¡°Yes the third Riverwatch Irregulars, at your service. We had been escorting a Cleric of Cornac..¡±

    he paused and Tirus who had been silent until now continued ¡°..and then we were volunteered for this glorious adventure. As our Leutnant called it.¡± He looked disgruntled.

    ¡°Nice meeting you, but I fear I have to get back to my unit. I will be in enough trouble because of my wandering as it is.¡±

    ¡°Here have a piece of bread to tide you if they withhold your food. It would be predictable enough.¡± Alvarm smiled and handed her a bit of dry trail bread.

    ¡°Thanks for that! And have a nice evening.¡±

    <hr>

    As she got back, the old sergeant in charge of her squad cornered her. ¡°What were you thinking. This is the first day, and you are absent without leave on roll call. Are you trying to get in trouble?¡±

    ¡°I did not know it would be such a big deal, I simply wanted to have a look around the camp.¡±

    ¡°And you getting into trouble with Alfred, and Tom has got nothing to do with it?¡±

    ¡°They were harassing me and Clarissa.¡±

    ¡°Mostly her, I wager. Little hero.¡± He sighed. ¡°You will take last watch for the next week.¡±

    ¡°But!¡±

    ¡°No buts, ifs, or whens.¡±

    As she came to the camp of the Signed, marked by the lazily flapping banner on a long wooden pole. She felt the malicious stares of the Carpenter boys on her. Snorting, she went towards the women''s tent. She and three others were housed there. Most of the other female Signed having been sent to the Starnborough Citadel on the border to Margrinar.

    The corporal, Anjenne Locke looked up at her return and said ¡°what did he give you- let me guess, you were assigned to the night-watch?¡± Mireille nodded dejectedly. As she tried to enter the tent Anjenne shoved a bowl with some unidentifiable stew into her hands ¡°it''s still lukewarm, eat up.¡± And as she raised her head, much softer, ¡°thanks for looking out for her.¡±

    <hr>

    Earlier in the evening.

    Mireille had just helped set up the women''s tent and then looked to escape further ¨C in her opinion- unnecessary work as she stumbled upon three people a ways behind the mess tent. Clarissa was a mousy-looking brunette with short hair and an impressive figure ¨C at least to Mireille, who was a bit envious. She was at the moment cornered by the Carpenter brothers, Alfred held her arm while Tom tried to get her to drink from an earthen jug.

    ¡°Drink up; you are too uptight! That will help loosen you up.¡± He guffawed.

    ¡°Please, let me go. I don¡¯t want anything from you.¡±

    ¡°Just what I mean; come on, we are only trying to be friendly here.¡± Alfred tightened his grip, eliciting a wince.

    Mireille had had enough. ¡°If you have more stale pick-up lines, try them in a brothel. No self-respecting woman would listen to that drivel without being paid for it.¡± She looked at Alfred''s hand on Clarissa''s arm, ¡°by Nirileth. You even have to restrain her for her to listen. Morons.¡±

    Tom turned angrily. ¡°Keep out of it carrot-top. You will get yours when we are finished here.¡±

    ¡°That''s an all-time original, never heard that one before.¡± She slowly sauntered over. ¡°Big bad boy like you.¡± Her voice turned flirtatious, channeling her inner Challon. Alfred looked surprised and vaguely turned on. Mireille was quite pretty in a fox-like way if she wanted to.

    ¡°Eralasselyanthinar¡±

    ¡°What did you sayy¡­...urgh.¡± Lightning surging through her limbs Mireille gave a quick kick towards both boys'' vulnerable nether regions, and while they were groaning in pain grabbed Clarissa in a princess carry and ran away. ¡°What in the world¡­.¡± the grabbed girl gasped while blushing furiously. Rounding the mess tent, she set her down amidst the crowd, winked, and vanished, leaving the angry bellows of the two angry young men behind.

    Clarissa was a water user and only had an ability with healing and cleansing spells. It was truly unfair for those two stoneheads, as she called the earth-ability users in the privacy of her mind, to bully her. And she was a nice one, had even given her a cookie yesterday.

    So with the bribe fresh in her mind, how could she leave her in such a situation? Gasping from coming down from the lightning-induced high, she progressed to part B of her plan of work avoidance.

    <hr>

    Back to the present.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Clarissa shyly smiled at Mireille. The latter looked quite embarrassed. ¡°You gave me this delicious cookie. We are quits.¡± Another stocky, blond woman sharing the tent named Margaret interjected, ¡°you, my dear, are an idiot. But that was the right thing you did. Let''s try and stay together in the future. Then we can better protect each other.¡± She was a very proficient fire user in spite of her more ponderous temperament, having the use of a fire-wall, fire ball, and the ubiquitous fire bolt spell.

    And amidst such camaraderie, the night went very well, with Mireille receiving another cookie to her great delight but sadly ending early with the late watch. And while Mireille stood shivering in the grey light of dawn, she thought, ¡°still worth it.¡±

 A face in the darkness

    There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.

    -Robert Louis Stevenson

    After waking drenched in sweat and with a frantically beating heart, Alyssa did not go back to sleep. She sat beside the wagon and tried to remember what she had seen in that distant dream. Her life of late felt like running down the slope of a mountain, and for the longest time and whenever she thought of stopping, there loomed the very real possibility of falling and falling badly, so the only thing to do then was not to stop, to keep running, using the momentum to not fall.

    But now in this space of time, she thought of her father, of the specter- she saw Asandria standing before a tree playing with a falling leaf- and of the wyvern, the dead. She thought and she did not come to any conclusions save that she would keep running, would keep trying to survive. She thought of her mother and her endless optimism. She would have known what to do.

    She realized that she no longer clearly remembered her face. Had not been able to do so for some time now. She sat in the darkness crying silently, trying not to alert the sentry.

    <hr>

    Then as the sun slowly crested the mountain peaks she resumed her practice of the firebolt which more or less began to deserve the name.

    ¡°You are early, couldn¡¯t sleep?¡± Tira came over and sat down beside her leaning on the wagon.

    The half-formed firebolt evaporated into the morning mist with a subdued hiss.

    ¡°Yes, I had a disturbing dream. Not exactly bad, but I couldn¡¯t sleep anymore.¡± Replied Alyssa. Ghostly, tinkling laughter hung in the mist.

    ¡°Don''t let it get you down, I shudder when I think of the day before yesterday and all that death.¡± She closed her eyes. ¡°I did not know them well but we traveled for about a week before it happened. I was recruited to the company in Windkeep Castle, I was at loose ends there, having lost the steading I had grown up in. Was out hunting and when I got back, I saw a giant with two struggling cows under his arms stomping north and the longhouse in ruins. Everywhere only the dead and the undead.¡± She looked lost.

    Alyssa surprised by the outpouring from the normally cheerful Tira hesitated then placed an arm on her shoulder and squeezed once before letting go. ¡°I am sorry for your loss.¡±

    ¡°It happened three months ago, I am mostly okay now. As I saw the ghouls feasting¡­I ran. I could not have done anything but get myself killed, but I did not think, I could have perhaps helped someone, saved someone. The priests I spoke to when I got to Windkeep, the village is named Windkeep also, creative isn''t it?¡± She laughed a bit weakly. ¡°They told me to channel my sorrow and anger into something constructive. And then I went and became a mercenary. That''s constructive.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that this deserves such negativity.¡± Said Alyssa. ¡±Some people never would have recovered after that. And when your talents lie in that direction...you can''t always choose your path.¡± She looked contemplative.

    They sat silently and basked in the first rays of the sun slowly warming the mist settling in the upper branches of the surrounding trees. The light illuminated Alyssa''s pale hair.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Breakfasts ready, come get yours.¡± Adrian on cooking duty again called. When she had asked why he tolerated it, he said, ¡°at least then the food''s edible; never ever try Iketts cooking.¡±

    ¡°Today we will, barring anything unforeseen, reach Sorringen.¡± Torvak said as they sat eating. ¡°Alyssa, you were more than helpful, some of us collected a little gift for the road.¡± he winked and threw her a small pouch.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± She would normally argue that they had helped her too, but she could not be proud when she did not know how she was going to earn money in the future, and she was still on the run.

    ¡°I would hire you on the spot for your healing ability alone. But I fear that you would reject me regardless- am I right?¡± He looked at her with a knowing grin.

    She looked away, then turned back to him and nodded saying ¡°You are right. I can''t stay here. My road leads me further on.¡± Ghostly hair swaying Asandria nodded quietly alongside her, eyes dark spots in the flawless transparent face.

    Tira looked a bit disappointed. Christina seemed thoughtful. As the meal progressed and the first people were readying everything for the departure Adrian came over and said. ¡°I have written a letter of introduction for you. If you ever find yourself in Margrinar you can go to the professor for applied evocation and conjuration Escaldis Aldrnari. He is to be found in the Academy of the Arts in Kronenburg. I think you have what it takes." He looked a bit embarrassed coughed and continued. "Come show me how far you got with your firebolt.¡±

    She looked surprised and touched. ¡°Thank you, Adrian. You already did so much for me, teaching me- and of course, let me prepare.¡±

    They went to the side of the road facing the mountain. She began to gesture and a voice whispered on the wind ¡®try singing it¡¯. She found the words, was gifted the words, in the tongue of fire as old as sunken Allisair and she sang the firebolt into existence glowing a brilliant blue-white, crackling with the contained energies of a blast furnace singing the grass and everything around. Adrian''s eyes widened in surprise, Alyssa nearly lost control as she was also surprised and barely containing the power, the bolt flaring with heat, she loosed it at the earth some twenty paces before them. There was a dull thump and the earth sprayed into the sky while the grass, even dew-laden and wet as it was, burned to ash.

    ¡°What was that!?¡± Torvak looked surprised and came running over. ¡°Our prodigy cast a firebolt,¡± Adrian said dryly. He would have pulled off the calm and collected look had his hand not grasped the side of the wagon with a force that let his knuckles turn white. ¡°I am sorry, really sorry, I did not mean for it to do that.¡± Alyssa apologized.

    Tira laughed and the tension slowly diminished. ¡°Don''t do that without warning us first.¡±

    ¡°I would make you another offer if I did not know it was going to be refused. Such a pity.¡± Torvak clapped her on the shoulder and went to look for the rest of the crew.

    ¡°Good thing we don¡¯t have the horses anymore, they would have been spooked beyond recovery,¡± Olaf mentioned.

    As she turned around to help with dismantling the rest of the camp the wind or perhaps the commotion had lifted a bit of the cloth protecting the cage on the wagon and she saw a small, fragile, slightly inhuman hand grasping with long pale fingers at the bars of rune-covered iron. The hand of a child or a small woman. The bars gave off a slight white glow and the hand was quickly retracted.

    Startled Alyssa looked around but saw no one watching. Deeply troubled she thought for a bit and then went to look for Tira. ¡°Tira? Got a moment?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I was just ready.¡± Tira grabbed her backpack. ¡°What do you need.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°It might be a difficult question and I understand if you don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡± While Alyssa was talking Tira grew a bit concerned hearing that.

    ¡°Do you know what''s in that cage on the wagon? I saw a hand.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Tira looked conflicted. ¡°That''s something I should not talk about, but rest assured it''s not something you should be concerned about.¡± She leaned forward ¡°It''s not human, or even alive.¡±

    Alyssa looked startled ¡°An undead?¡± ¡°Pssst.¡± Tira pulled her aside. ¡°Don''t talk about it, we were sworn to secrecy, but you have seen it already, so please keep quiet about it.¡±

    While the others were getting underway Alyssa stood a way to the side and looked at the cage. A small face was visible for a short moment. It had a pointed chin beautifully formed like an arrowhead, all sharp angles, with blue-white hair, the eyes reflecting light like a cat, glowing a lambent blue-green.

    And she was pretty sure, that she or It had been looking at her.

    Her left hand was freezing and a strange resonance let her feel the being in the cage as if it were some cold fire radiating its energy, like standing before a glacier with eyes closed embracing the frost.

 Threads converging

    In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.

    -Herodotus

    The rest of the way was, unsurprisingly perhaps, relatively short. It took a mere three hours for Sorringen to come into view. They prayed for the wheels to remain attached and someone seemed to have listened for no mishaps happened. They exited the forest about an hour ago and now were walking between simple farming houses with fields surrounded by walls made of broken stone. There were also some goatherds with large shaggy dogs, tending to their flock.

    Alyssa was preoccupied with what she had seen, and the strange connection she felt and was mostly silent while walking with Adrian and Tira, Christina had joined Torvak at the front of the group.

    Sorringen was ringed by a low wall of uneven stone, crowned with an array of sharpened logs facing outward. The great wooden gates stood open and there was lively traffic of people on foot with some smaller wagons carrying mostly food and hay. Much farther along towards the mountains, another settlement could be seen sporting a much taller and more professionally made wall with guard towers on the corners. This should be the rumored dwarfen encampment.

    There was a significant presence of soldiers on the walls and as they were nearing the gate a mounted patrol, consisting of lightly armored outriders, rode into the village.

    ¡°Seems like there will be another offensive soon.¡± Said Torvak loudly enough that those behind the wagon, like Alyssa, heard him. He turned his head slightly and his false teeth flashed. ¡°Be careful when you leave us. They will on the one hand be wary of strangers on the other a trained or even semi-trained spell caster could be aggressively recruited¡± He said, gesturing at the end. Alyssa nodded wordlessly.

    Tira said ¡°Stay with us until we, or you, leave. I think none of us wants to get rid of you.¡± She smiled. ¡°Do think about coming with us will you?¡±

    ¡°I really cant.¡± Alyssa said with real regret ¡°I would if I could, but it would mean trouble for us all.¡±

    Adrian, who had been listening in said ¡°Thought so. You really helped us.¡± He looked at Christina. ¡°But to some of us, it was clear that you are a fugitive.¡± He held up his hand. ¡°I don¡¯t judge, I wrote you the letter with this in mind. I hope you clear your name or at least get away from here. Someone truly bad would have looted our corpses, not run into a battle to help. Just saying.¡±

    Nearing the gates they began to attract more and more attention because of their strange beast of burden.

    And as they reached the gates one of the guards came up to them and spoke ¡°Hello again. Did you not leave here some days ago? And what in Motok''s name is that thing.¡± He inspected the elemental cautiously.

    Torvak answered ¡°We ran afoul of a wyvern not more than a days travel to the south. It killed or drove off our horses and killed a lot of good people.¡± He grew a bit more somber then shook his head. ¡°Now we make do with this lump of dirt. It''s an earth elemental.¡±

    ¡°A wyvern? It must be a female with young uns¡¯. They don¡¯t usually hunt near the village, what with all the soldiers around. Keep the elemental on a tight leash will ya. We don¡¯t need any more trouble.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Raiding parties have been seen as far south as Ignaz Steading to the west. The outrider patrol you probably saw is just giving their report. I hope they defended themselves. Ok, you can come in.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Torvak gestured.

    Adrian, having grown in proficiency a bit, commanded the elemental, which pulled the wagon into the village. The other travelers, be they villagers, military, or refugees, kept a healthy distance while audibly talking about the ¡®freakish stonebeast¡¯.

    Tira looked amused, Adrian a bit disgruntled. Alyssa was curious, having never been farther than the outer edges of the Fernwood. But all in all, it was a relatively normal village. Asandria was faintly curious but tried to avoid the press of people, silently gliding overhead, only noticed by a few cats.

    ¡°Oy, take care where you are going, ya big lunk.¡± A voice called from the front. There stood a dwarf. Alyssa had seen one before from afar, but it was a rare sight in Firswending. The dwarf stood 1.3 meters tall and was nearly as wide, with arms bulging with muscle a roundish face with a prominent nose and slate-grey hair cut short but for the beard that fell to his ample stomach.

    Torvak grinned. ¡°Gromnar, good to see you. What drove you out of your cozy burrow.¡±

    ¡°Motok''s blessing. The village invoked the oath of defense.¡± The dwarf looked serious. ¡°We take no part in the general fighting, but if it spills into the lands that gave us shelter, we will help.¡±

    ¡°Here is to hoping it will only be temporary. Windkeep is still standing?¡±

    ¡°As far as we know, they are fighting back somewhat successfully.¡±

    ¡°Nothing new there. We will get this wagon and our lodging sorted, and then we have to acquire new draft animals. The elemental is a short-term solution only.¡±

    ¡°Ha. Good luck. Everyone who could sold them to the army or used them to get south.¡±

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    Torvak furrowed his brows. ¡°That''s unsurprising but still unpleasant. Have a drink to our health, we will be joining you later. The Lucky Nugget at sundown?¡±

    ¡°See you there. Greetings to you lot, too.¡± The dwarf nodded in the direction of the rest and then went on his way.

    ¡°He looks formidable. Never seen a dwarf up close.¡± Alyssa mentioned. ¡®They share a lot of similarities with a block of stone. Sturdy, hard to move, and just as boring.¡¯ Came the whisper of Asandria.

    Adrian smiled. ¡°They are not often found outside their communities or clans. The ones who made it in human-held lands are seen as perverts or at least aberrations by their kin. Making it even rarer. And worse, they are not even that wrong. For a dwarf to leave his home, he is either exiled, meaning he did some heinous wrong, or he left freely on his own, which happens very, very rarely. The latter is seen as a sign of madness by other dwarfs.¡±

    They followed the main street, which was clogged with ragged-looking people, most likely refugees. The inn at the marketplace was bursting at the seams. Torvak asked them to wait. ¡°I will see if there is still room. Otherwise, I might impose on the barracks, seeing as we are in the employ of the Bishop militant. Wait here.¡±

    Around them was a small space thankfully avoided by most passersby because of the elemental, which just now was stomping its three legs, looking, if that were possible, somewhat impatient. Adrian tried and succeeded for the moment to calm it down.

    Torvak left the inn and motioned. ¡°I rented us the back-room. We can sleep there, at least it''s got a roof. You are included.¡± The last was aimed at Alyssa.

    ¡°Thank you very much.¡±

    ¡°Don''t mention it. Let''s go grab a bite to eat.¡±

    And with that, the group went and stowed the wagon in the stables. Adrian sighed and gestured, and a complicated dark grey symbol shimmered into being. He made a dismissive gesture and the symbol was extinguished, with a groaning sound the dirt formerly comprising the elemental fell loosely on the ground. ¡°Here,¡± he threw the stablehand a coin. ¡°Please take care of the dirt for me.¡± the young man so addressed nodded.

    Torvak said, ¡°At the moment, we sadly will have to guard the wagon. I don¡¯t trust the honesty of the starving people on the street. Olaf, you go first.¡±

    After that exchange, they settled in the back-room, which was quite spacious even for all of them. The harried-looking innkeeper and some maids brought them bowls of stew and some bread with a few decanters of ale.

    After they had fully satisfied their appetite, most went outside to have a look around. Alyssa traded some of the potions she had with her for some sturdy traveler''s clothing from a peddler- It seemed there was a market for the healing salves and fever-reducing tonics. She then promptly changed in the mostly deserted back-room. Tira had been accompanying her and, seeing her half-clothed, teased, ¡°You are thin as a stick. You should eat more.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s somewhat farther down my list of worries. I only hope that I can get my clothes repaired, even with the generous gift from Torvak I don¡¯t have much to my name at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps ask here in the inn? They should often see such requests.¡±

    And she did just that. The wife of the proprietor was a seamstress and glad for the business, and Alyssa was quite satisfied even if it cost her some coin.

    <hr>

    So passed the afternoon.

    Later in the day, there was a big commotion. Alyssa and Tira went outside to have a look. Adrian came over. ¡°The resupply and reinforcement for the northern lines are here.¡± He had spent the day mostly in Christina''s company but left her when she went to the small shrine of Ielenia to pray. ¡°They are overdue. Let''s head over to the Lucky Nugget, which is the tavern Torvak always frequents when we get here. Let''s get some seats before the soldiers are free.¡±

    As they walked through the crowds, having collected Ikett from some stand selling grilled chestnuts, the sky darkened, and a chill wind gained in strength, bringing a light drizzle of rain. From farther inside the village, she could see, over the roof of the houses farther down the mountainside, the encampment being built and a flag unfurled, snapping in the wind, showing a fist facing the viewer- silver on grey on black with an arcane symbol on the back of the hand.

    Soldiers were working hard, looking small in the distance, to erect tents and makeshift walls made of earthen berms.

    Lightning flashed in the distance a rumbling of thunder echoed over the mountains. She still felt the frozen fire somewhat muted by distance in the stables of the inn. Her left hand burned with frost. Alongside her strode Asandria, dancing through the raindrops, distorting them with a smile on her vaguely seen features, long hair streaming about her irrespective of the wind.

    The tavern was only half-full, it being early evening, and most people were still working, the ones without work most often also not having the coin. Gromnar the dwarf sat at a corner table talking to Torvak, and the latter waved them over. ¡°Good that you are early.¡± Sweeping his gaze over them, he said. ¡°Christina is not with you?¡±

    ¡°No, she wanted to pray at the shrine,¡± Adrian replied.

    ¡°Nothing new here. Come order something to warm you up. But I can''t say that the colder climes are not more to my liking.¡±

    Alyssa simply sat with them and nursed a cup of mulled wine, something she was not sure she liked, but it was hot and warmed her nicely.

    Gromnar and Torvak were deep in discussion over the village and the situation farther north, with Adrian mostly listening only sometimes interjecting.

    The situation was mostly a stalemate leaning towards favoring the northern realm. It would have been a lot worse if there was actually someone directing the mayhem, but it was mostly smaller regions of Ulsolm controlled by warlords who thought to grab a piece of the richer south. What kind of warlord it was, dictated the goals of the raids and it was near unpredictable when and where they attacked.

    But there were rumors that the Archliche was starting to actively interfere in the war, lending magical aid and troops to some more or less obedient underlings. Why now was anyone''s guess.

    And as she was comfortably sipping from her cup of wine, there was a commotion outside the tavern, and amidst loud shouting, the door was wrenched open.

 Ancient duty

    ¡°Only the dead have seen the end of war.¡±

    - Plato

    He was a noble.

    He was one of the first off the ship on the continent, their new home.

    He was fleeing, fleeing the mountain falling on fair Allisair, tumbling through the air like a dandelion seed. The statues weeping blood and screaming their warnings while his mother refused to leave the ancestral hall. Fleeing his father, drinking the poison of the moon moth.

    He was standing in a valley and he did not know, never would know, how he had come to be here. His head full of holes.

    His sight was blinding white, like a mist illuminated by colorless flames.

    He was holding a young man, his son, in his arms, blood running from a deep wound in his throat, and he did not know his name, did not know his own.

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    His hand held the named sword, held a rusted ruin bathed in dark flame. He stood by her command, and the earth, death could not hold him. He would do his duty as he had in the past. Clods of grass clung to his decaying frame, mummified tendons creaked, frost flowed through him cold as the blade that had ended his life. Armor plates shifted ponderously. Previously darkened runes began to glow.

    Marching to the siren song of life''s pulse but forever denied its warmth, freezing without even the ability to shiver, to react, to do anything but follow her voice.

    ¡°When the archers attack, you will flank them from the south. Take care that they do not see you earlier than necessary. Kill everyone. Hunt survivors no more than half an hour, then return here.¡±

    The others around him heard him relay the commands, spoken not with a mortal voice. They lifted their weapons of ancient bronze, of rusted iron, of clawed bone.

    In the sight of his memories, he saw his men cheering him on as he strove to carve this land in his image and make it fit to live for his son, for humanity. His son was...

    He was a commander, a noble, and he would do his duty.

    The wight strode forth into the night-time woods, gripping an old bastard sword with unlight illuminating ancient runes. Following him were scores of skeletons and ghouls.

    The frost elf necromancer leaned heavily on her staff and calmly watched, as a few grey hairs drifted past her pale face, falling to the forest floor. Expressionless as the dead she commanded.

    For she had long since realized that to overcome death while still living, you have to pay with life.

 Thunderstruck

    ¡°Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.¡±

    -Sun Tzu, The Art of War

    The camp was set up, the watches allocated, and everyone who could was getting ready for a bit of drinking in the village.

    The surroundings were peaceful, a light drizzling rain began to fall, and far in the distance lightning could be seen over the mountains harshly illuminating the craggy peaks. The sentries grumbled and settled deeper into their cloaks, hoods drawn over helmets deep into the face, warming their hands on burning braziers.

    After having kept quiet for a few days and her troubles to a minimum, Mireille was free to accompany her friends into the village. They went to the big inn at the marketplace looking for somewhere to sit. Annjen, Clarissa, and Margaret accompanied her. The inn was packed but a bit of space at a table to the side sufficed for the four. And soon they were drinking and making merry trying to make up for the discomforts of the road. Mireille tried to sing leaving everyone gasping from laughter. Margaret grumbled jokingly "Please don''t try that again. That is seriously worse than camp duty!"

    Clarissa smiled, "at least it got you to smile a bit, grump!"

    <hr>

    Meanwhile at the camp.

    A mist had settled in the branches of the nighttime woods. Rain was falling softly, illuminated by the rare flashing lightning followed by thunder, the trees swaying in a brisk wind.

    A sentry, soaked in spite of his waxed cloak made a gesture alerting his watch-partner, ¡°wait I think there is something in the forest.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Yes, there are a few deer, perhaps even an owl or two.¡± He counted on his fingers while casting a ridiculing glance at his companion.

    ¡°I will go have a look.¡±

    He stepped down the slope of the berm and cursed under his breath for getting water into his boots and the mud clogging his soles, stepping towards the trees while straining to see something in the misty gloom. Holding his spear at the ready.

    It should have made a sound, been a great commotion there should have been some warning, anything, but the ritualistic spellwork faded like a whisper taking away a veil lying over the woods.

    And suddenly...

    Out of the fog, a gigantic shadow loomed, towering over the trees and dwarfing the soldier to insignificance. Sweeping a tall fir aside with the left arm, a leg rose, trailing mist, crashing into, shaking the ground. The monstrous figure was clad in dirty white furs and iron and wore a horned bone helmet. A giant, seemingly born from the benighted forest burst through trees and fog, dripping rain with momentum like an avalanche. His boot was near as big as a man. With his right hand, he swung a tree trunk banded with studded iron underhand, and hit the sentry, breaking bone. The reinforced wood was the last thing he ever saw.

    The other guard waiting at the wall, was speechless, seeing his companion sail through the air and impact a tent dozens of meters farther inside. When he regained his composure an arrow soared through the night hitting him in the left eye. Reflexively grabbing it while letting go of his spear, he voiced a strangled scream.

    The pale elven archer clothed like the giant in white furs nocked another arrow, only a slight tightening around mouth and eyes betraying his disappointment.

    Through the trees, out of mist, night, and rain skeletons ran. Most of them without weapons simply brandishing skeletal claws scuttling like insects, lit by the flashing lightning.

    ¡°Alarm, we are under attack, to arms!¡±

    The screams of the dying and the shouts of alarm were nearly overwhelmed by the sounds of the storm intensifying until someone finally managed to reach the horn. A long, drawn-out horn blow alerted the village and those caught sleeping.

    Pandemonium reigned.

    In between the tents, soldiers half-clothed with weapons hastily drawn desperately fought for their lives.

    The giant walked over the berm and swung his club with deadly abandon killing with every hit. Deep-set eyes burning with hatred. Frost-elven archers standing on tree branches as if on even ground loosed deadly accurate arrows at the most effective defenders, not caring if a skeleton was hit.

    From the direction of the southern road, undead, containing a host of ghouls beside the more numerous skeletons, followed a hulking figure in rusted plate mail.

    The steel showed mummified flesh where it had given way to time. It wielded a sword burning with black flames, lanternlike orbs of radiance burned fiercely in empty eye-sockets, the helmet bore a tarnished crown.

    The leader of the small detachment, lieutenant Curvos, stumbled out of the command tent having grabbed his sword and shield. He had thankfully been awake because of working late. His trusted sergeant was at his side. Taking a deep breath the lieutenant activated the brand, his skin turned to stone while his sword gained a shimmering edge looking like quicksilver.

    With competent strikes he shattered skeletal limbs and heads, clearing his vicinity of undead the sergeant guarding his back. The giant, upon seeing this, fell into a light trot shaking the earth with every step. The gigantic club fell from the sky and smashed the tent and several skeletons, the sergeant was hurled to the side by the shockwave. Two brothers in earthen spell-armor fought their way to Curvos side.

    The giant swung his club downwards again, the commander shouted another word and a shield of stone shaped like a star formed, hanging in the air, the resultant crash drowned out everything sparks flaring, moisture spraying to the sides. The shield gained cracks but held for the moment.

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    ¡°Retreat to the village! Retreat!¡±

    Flame lances shot into the fur armor of the giant leading to short-lived flames, extinguished by the rain. Several Signed had organized themselves near their small section, gathering mundane soldiers to them.

    Nearly half the camp was already overrun.

    The soldiers surviving until now fighting a losing battle, going down under the press of skeletons who fought without self-preservation.

    The necromancer stood in the shade of the trees, the ghost of an old man hovering beside her, features distorting in silent agony. Her harsh, ageless face was framed by straight dark blue hair. If not for the pain hidden in her features she could have been beautiful. Dark energies coruscated along the staff in her hand made of welded thighbones topped with a contorted sigil.

    ¡°The subject is inside the village and must be captured intact. Everything else is secondary. I have received and understood the command, my queen.¡±

    Inside the village men were bellowing orders and the bell in the watchtower was rung frantically. Some tried desperately to bring order, others were panicking trying to get to the village elder''s house and generally making the situation more chaotic.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile at the Lucky Nugget.

    The door was wrenched open and rain drifted inside with a gust of wind. Two townmilitia stood there and one shouted: ¡°Undead and a giant! They attack the army camp! All able fighters should arm themselves.¡±

    Alyssa, Torvak, Tira, Adrian, and Gromnar stood up and began to hurry towards the door as long as the rest of the tavern was still in shocked silence.

    ¡°What do you mean undead!?¡±

    The rest of the discussion faded into the sound of the rushing wind as they got outside. Far in the distance down the hillside, they saw a burning tent and the form of the giant a dark shade against a dark sky. He was fighting some people who, through magic or stubbornness, for the moment held their own.

    Flashes of fire shot from a retreating group of soldiers a fireball exploded with a dull thump. Then the group of undead coming from the road smashed into the side of those fleeing the camp, led by a huge undead warrior felling soldiers with sweeping strikes.

    Alyssa felt the dark energies keeping his soul in the here and now its radiance nearly burning her. Instinctively she raised her left hand and black flames flickered around her fingertips.

    ¡®Are you mad!¡¯ She felt a cold touch on her arm and someone was shaking her. ¡®You can''t use the energies of the void like this, it will kill you!¡¯ Asandria was the one talking, even touching her. She came back to her senses and lowered the hand again.

    Adrian looked concerned. ¡°Are you all right? Come, we have to get everyone together and collect our weapons.¡±

    Tira took her arm and pulled her along before she was able to object.

    The fight seemed to be going against the group facing the giant and after a shouted order, sadly inaudible over the storm, they separated trying to flee the giant, while one of them scored a hit on the giant''s leg causing him to stumble.

    The front gate was opened and militia alongside two dwarves came to the aid of the beleaguered group of soldiers facing the nightmarish undead warrior.

    The main street was clogged with panicking refugees and townsfolk so Gromnar and Torvak took the lead and forced a way through. At the inn, they grabbed what gear they needed and reunited with the rest of the party. There was a small group of soldiers having seemingly been on a drinking tour and now showed varying degrees of intoxication. Some of them wore the emblem of the Signed. A big woman wearing the sash of a corporal addressed the men.

    ¡°Soldiers, the rest of our comrades are out there dying! I will not stand by, even if I am not an officer I know what we have to do here. Come with us and help save as many as we can!¡± Looking up and seeing Torvaks group she said, ¡°I can only ask for your help, but when the rest of the soldiers fall, so do our chances of surviving this raid. Please come and lend us your strength!¡±

    A redheaded waifish young woman stood beside the one talking and added impatiently. ¡°Hang together or hang separately as my brother used to say! Come with us, you can''t hope to accomplish anything alone!¡±

    Alyssa nodded firmly and got a smile from the freckled hothead. Cautiously she returned the smile even though the intense regard made her a bit nervous.

    Mireille thought curiously ¡®purple eyes, nearly transparent white hair. What the heck, it''s the dark witch from the wanted poster. Looks nice though, pretty smile too! Something for after the battle.¡¯

    Torvak said ¡°I agree. Come, my friends, the dead should be made to stay that way.¡± Flashing his false tooth and with a bit of madness in his blue eyes, he motioned towards the gate.

    They took a sideroad to get to the gates, the main street being still full of people. As they got there they saw militia with spears desperately trying to hold off some ghouls, hunched humanoids in scraps of clothing, overlong arms with black claws dripping venom, massive jaws with teeth made for ripping, and eyes glimmering with a greenish radiance.

    The large, armored undead was fighting a well-equipped soldier of fortune as a cut with the bastard sword managed to wound him. And like a piece of paper being touched by flame, the flesh on his arm grew black and shriveled, drawing back from the muscle beneath, blood and black fluid dripping to the earth. The middle-aged fighter screamed in pain and let go of his main gauche, which he was wielding with the stricken arm. Letting go of the haft of his sword with one hand his adversary hit him with a mailed fist across the upper body, lifting him and sending him sprawling into the other fighters.

    Mireille concentrated and spoke ¡°Sialysalethussar.¡± The falling raindrops were suddenly illuminated by lightning dancing spiderlike over her right arm, an thick bolt of incandescent energy raced into the storm missing the undead ducking back by a finger. He did not escape unscathed though. Arcs of electricity webbed his entire figure causing him to shudder and stumble back, runes burning fiercely in the remains of his armor. The light of his eyes dimmed a bit.

    Arm still smoking, water hissing where the rain touched her, Mireille forced a smile breathing heavily. ¡°I will just catch my breath. Keep them away from me.¡± A red hot button from her coat-sleeve plinged on the flagstones.

    Torvak shouldered some militia aside and bellowed ¡°Form up on me, make a wedge!¡±

    And with him at the center, they drove into the ghouls and skeletons opening a way for the fleeing soldiers to unite with them. At the sides paralyzed by the ghoul''s venom, some of the defenders were dragged into the darkness, eyes pleading silently.

    Christina strode forward. ¡°IN THE NAME OF IELENIA!¡± she shouted. ¡°Let evil be cleansed by her light. The immaculate maiden grant me strength!¡± Pale, cold light burst into being driving through rain and men like they were not there, throwing no shadows, burning when it came in contact with the dead letting silvery flames spring to life.

    The darkness around the wight intensified for a moment, the lantern glow of his eyes surging, but he was nevertheless driven back. Another lightning bolt shot for him arcs of coruscating blue hitting some skeletons and blasting them to pieces, the earth glowing and steaming for a moment after its passing.

    Ancient runes, older than humanity''s presence on this world glowed with power having diverted the bolt at the last moment, sending it into some ghouls farther back, who fell and staggered back respectively. The head swung towards Mireille. Some of the old armor burst and showered the surroundings with heated metal shards. The hulking figure spread its arms and raised the sword into the sky an oval disc of blue force formed on the other hand sparking with eldritch glyphs in the heavy rain.

    Alyssa winced in pain as the white light surged into being, Asandria gave a sharp gasp and fled into her shadow. The darkness inside of her ebbed back like the low tide, but the darkness was endless and the light was finite. She tried to form a firebolt, and her efforts yielded a flaming projectile that severely damaged a skeleton, blasting his left arm to pieces. The words she had sung were still unfamiliar and without Asandria they would not easily come.

    A pale male figure, standing behind the slavering horde, sighed and fitted an arrow to the bow made of bone and sinew, inscribed with sigils. The arrow shot towards Christina hitting her in the side. The priestess hissed through clenched teeth. Some archers on the wall seeing the trajectory took aim and shot at him, causing him to retreat into the mostly deserted camp.

    Mireille leaned against the wooden gate cheek pressed against the wet wood, it never went well when she used the bolt too often.

    Naturally, they had tried to find her limits, which sadly were about three times in a few hours, it had gone up from two. Her other ¡®tricks¡¯ were similarly limited drawing from the same ¡®reserves¡¯. The lightning and the storm seemed to help recover her spent strength though.

    Alyssa seeing Christina driven back from the force of the hit ran forward even though the light was hurting her and caused her eyes to water. Reaching her side she grabbed a militia woman ¡°help me get the arrow out, otherwise, I can''t heal her!¡± Nodding her understanding Alyssa looked into Christina''s eyes for assent and getting a nod while the priestess gritted her teeth, they pulled the arrow. Blood arced after the arrow and Alyssa clamped her hands over the wound beginning the song of life while her left hand began to burn painfully. Blood gushing between her fingers slowed and stopped.

    Christina looked at her, the right hand raised with the symbol of the White without Stain glaringly brilliant. The expression in her dark eyes unreadable the glow of her light making her seem blurry and ill-defined.

    The rest of the soldiers coming from the camp formed up on the defenders and then retreated into the village. A lone figure stood beside the wounded giant and raised a staff made of twisted bones. Black lightning flowed and invigorated the faltering undead.

    The booming laughter of the giant followed them. After clearing the vicinity of the gate with several fireballs they managed to get the gates shut and barred.

    The ground outside was littered with broken bones and corpses of both men and ghouls. The armored undead had fallen back from the white glare of Ielenias blessing.

    Torvak, bleeding from several wounds grinned broadly. ¡°Good fight! But I fear that this night is far from over¡±

    Mireille having gotten cut by an arrow meant for her heart, thus feeling a bit lucky in spite of the pain, sat exhausted on a pile of boxes at the side of the main road. Alyssa was singing a soft elvish song over her wound.

    Christina looked at them from a position at the side, her intense scrutiny on the pale-haired healer. Gripping her holy symbol tightly.

 A beginning is always an end

    ¡°I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect.¡±

    -Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

    Ikett pressed himself against the tree trunk. It was quite the distance to the necromancer but doable. He stroked along the blade held in his hand and the metal became dark as pitch, no longer reflecting any light. Then he tensed and swung around the oak, throwing the knife with smooth practiced movements. Like a piece of the night sky, it was a mere shadow speeding towards the elf, who just at that moment turned a bit, perhaps alerted by a sound. The knife went cleanly into her torso, missing the neck.

    She whirled around and a bolt of dark energy ripped from her staff hitting the tree which began to fester and die. Bark peeling off and disintegrating into sludge.

    An elvish archer jumped from the tree he had hidden in and drew and loosed an arrow in swift succession. He hit Ikett while the latter was trying to run towards the village. A pained grunt was his only reward, the roguish fighter did not falter or stop- Safe for a bit of cursing perhaps ¡°Gesserach be dammed!¡±

    The Giant turned his head and began to move, the wight lifted the shield of magical force, the skeletons in his direct vicinity raised their heads.

    Everyone stormed for the village walls.

    Arrows and thrown spears welcomed them but it was very apparent, that it would not be enough.

    ¡°Get the civilians to the dwarves! We try to hold as long as we can then we flee through the village.¡± Torvak again took command. The confused and frightened villagers and the remaining soldiers obeyed.

    The necromancer raised her head and glared at the retreating Ikett. She murmured a spell and the knife disintegrated into fine black powder, the gushing blood was staunched with another word, turning it into ice, which caused her features to tauten in pain. No sound save for the spells escaped her light blue lips.

    Then she gestured and a group of ghouls separated and turned from the battle, the remaining undead not affected by the wight''s command began to move to support the ones already engaged in combat.

    The undead swarmed the walls made of broken field-stone, sadly the spikes did not significantly hinder their progress and they found many handholds in the uneven stones. The giant was running for the doors and raised his foot for a devastating kick. Margaret, the fire-branded spoke a word while sweat dripped from her face. A fireball streaked from her hand and exploded in bright orange flames amid the skeletons and the storming giant.

    To the side, Ikett grabbed a spike and, with a pained scream, swung himself up the wall while getting help from the militia. Giving another grunt of pain he reached the top.

    Adrian faced Alyssa and the still downed Mireille. ¡°Alyssa, go with Olaf and Tira. If you must, take her with you¡± he nodded towards Mireille ¡°the wagon must be saved, the cargo is of the highest importance.¡±

    Olaf and Tira nodded while Alyssa helped Mireille to her feet. The group then set out for the inn, the streets had emptied after the shouted orders and they quickly reached the stables.

    The giant stumbled and missed the center of the gates but even so planks burst and splinters showered the defenders. Pained screams rose into the night. The wight used the opportunity to force himself through the gap followed by skeletons. Some brave souls stood their ground against him and were struck down by his fell blade.

    Righting himself, the huge frost-giant swung his club clearing the battlements of defenders. The sound of stone bursting and soldiers screaming was deafening. Men were flung like dolls and stones rained from the damaged walls. The Signed fought bravely, earthen armor rose to protect some, others hurled bolts of flame or blades of wind.

    The necromancer was still holding her side and her gestures lacked the surety and confidence she had shown at the beginning of the battle. Her staff devoured the scant light around her, casting long shadows shaped like a star the sharp edges undulated like snakes. She spoke the words of a spell, her eyes the only thing shining in the darkness. Beside her, the ghost of the old man faded into nothingness his howls faintly audible without being heard exactly.

    Black light flowed into dead bodies, who began to twitch and move. Formerly dead comrades began to laboriously clamber to their feet.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile

    Alyssa and her companions reached the inn. The door to the stables had been broken open, and the horses were missing, probably stolen in the commotion.

    The stablehand lay there, bleeding from a head wound, before the destroyed door. The wagon was still inside. Chests had been opened and overturned, and the cage had been uncovered, a small figure huddled in the middle of the bars.

    It seemed to be a small girl clothed in rags, perhaps one and a half meters, with a slight build, blue-white hair, pale, flawless skin, a pointed chin with elfin features, and pointed ears, the eyes glowed slightly, and blood was smeared across her face.

    The effect was jarring, like a smudge on a fine painting.

    Her eyes locked onto Alyssa, who staggered. The connection she had felt flared to frigid life.

    Olaf pulled her aside and then went to the wagon. ¡°Damn. Nothing to pull this with. Ignore her. Captive of the church of Cornac. Throw everything on the ground and help me pull." He grabbed for the wagon, "Do not touch the cage!¡±

    After saying his piece, more than she had ever heard him say at once, he began to throw equipment from the wagon. Mireille looked curiously, then shrugged and went to help.

    The voice was like ice water flowing over smooth stone, melodic, beautiful, cold. The small caged girl spoke, ¡°The emissary of the false queen is here. Let me out. She will hunt me and leave you alone. If you don¡¯t, then everything will fall to her. You know I speak the truth, distant cousin.¡± She looked at Alyssa and said with urgency coloring her speech, "Don''t hesitate, there is no time!"

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    Olaf looked up. ¡°Shut your mouth, filthy undead." he turned to the others, "We have to hurry!¡±

    Alyssa hesitated, torn, then began to help sort out the wagon. Grabbing her few belongings stowed here. She tried not to look at the small being. As near as she was, she felt the cold energy and even something like an echo of her emotions. If that feeling was to be trusted, she meant what she said.

    Finally, the wagon was mostly empty, the boxes and equipment lying haphazardly on the dirty straw. They then pulled and maneuvered the vehicle out of the stable and through the small backyard of the inn. Screams and explosions were still heard from the walls, the giant a dark silhouette against the backdrop of the night sky.

    It was difficult moving the wagon without draft animals, but they somehow managed. The smaller gate to the back of the village was open, and they saw some villagers trying to flee with what they had grabbed in haste, sacks and some food, toddlers clutched to their breasts or thrown over the shoulder.

    As they neared the gate, they heard screams as a group of ghouls came out of the darkness and grabbed some of the nearest villagers ripping into them. Some even began to feed on the spot. Villagers tried to intervene armed with farming implements, some even had spears or clubs, but they were badly equipped and worse trained. A farmer desperately impaled one of the attackers with a pitchfork, and an old woman stabbed another with a spade. But the situation was deteriorating quickly. Blood ran over venomous talons, teeth bit into living flesh.

    ¡°Let me out, now! I will help with the ghouls and then draw them away. They will follow me!¡± The caged girl shouted."They need to capture me, and you can''t let them have this victory!"

    Asandria''s thoughts blended with hers. ''She is right. And I know what she says is true. Help her. The priestess will be against you regardless.''

    Olaf spat, then deliberated for a second, grabbed his weapon, and ran ahead. ¡°Help me with the ghouls. We cant draw the wagon through a skirmish!¡±

    Tira went with him, leaving Mireille and Alyssa standing beside the cage. ¡°It''s all going to hell in a handbasket.¡± Mireille summarized, looking behind her at the now fleeing defenders and directly ahead at the attacking ghouls. Wincing a bit while she held her still injured arm. The defenders at the front gates were falling back. The giant hurled one of the Signed into a burning building, causing more screams to arise.

    Alyssa came to a conclusion, ¡°I will let her go free. It is as she says if we don¡¯t, she will still be in this cage when the other undead get here.¡± She looked to Mireille for confirmation.

    ¡°Do it. I don¡¯t see what it can hurt- more, that is.¡±

    ¡°How do I get this open?¡± Alyssa searched for a way to remove the padlock holding the cage closed.

    Asandria pointed at the metal bars tapping on several carved sigils, ¡°You can scratch this rune here, then the vampire should be able to free herself.¡±

    ¡°Vampire!?¡± Alyssa had second thoughts.

    ¡°Do it, please!¡± The small vampire called.

    Alyssa grabbed her knife hanging from a sheath on her belt and began striking the rune indicated by her spirit. Sparks rained down, and small bolts of white energy grounded into the knife and the wagon hurting her.

    ¡°Don''t! You can''t let this creature go free!¡± some distance away, Christina was running towards them, holding her left arm, blood streaming from a cut on her forehead. She stumbled and raised her arm, a white glow beginning to form but then fading as she fell to one knee. Adrian and the two woodswomen of Torvaks group ran a few dozen meters behind her through the winding main street.

    A loud crack sounded, and the whole cage began to smoke while runes began to flicker and overload, the metal cracking around the engravings. The small girl grabbed the padlock and, with a crunching noise, broke the metal.

    Christina forced herself to stand and shouted, ¡°You will be judged for your transgressions, traitor!¡±

    The vampire sprang free, ¡°Find me after this, we have to talk!¡± Then she ran into the battle at the gate, jumping on the back of a ghoul, who was biting into the arm of a middle-aged man desperately trying to fend off the slavering jaws. As her fingernails lengthened into claws of black ice, she plunged her hand into the neck of the surprised beast. Ripping it out again with a goodly amount of blackish blood, she somersaulted backward and landed near a ghoul feasting on the body of an old woman. She tore into its spine crippling it. Taking care to spray blood and fluids away from her, staying strangely pristine. In one continuous movement, she grabbed the corpse of the woman with strength disproportionate to her height and vanished into the night.

    ¡°What have you done?! I will see you judged for this!¡± Christina completely lost her composure. The undead lifted their heads in unison as if listening to something, then they withdrew from combat and swarmed towards the mountains, where the vampire had vanished. The giant bellowed in a guttural language and, swinging his club through a nearby house, took a few steps backward. He was no longer in good condition, having suffered under the onslaught of the Signed. But the corpses littering the gate and street before him told a tale of bitter costs.

    ¡°I invoke the right of my rank. Arrest them!¡± Christina gestured, her face white with fury. Adrian took a few steps forward, looking conflicted. The woodswoman Tonalla shrugged, nocking an arrow.

    "Give yourself up, and we will talk about it," Tonalla shouted.

    ¡°They should be thankful. We would have been overrun in a minute!¡± Mireille cursed.

    ¡°Come with me if you want, but I can''t be captured.¡± Alyssa was regretting all of it, but even in hindsight did not see another way. She took a few steps and then began to run. An arrow shot in front of her, perhaps meant as a warning.

    ¡°Ah for Nirileths sake.¡± Mireille focused. ¡°Eralasselyanthinar¡± Grunting with pain at the overexertion, she grabbed hold of Alyssa, who gave off an undignified yelp. Lightning scoring the road around her she dashed off into the night, dodging a few arrows on the way.

    Mireille was thinking furiously while running. ¡®Why did I do that!? I could have talked myself out of it, wounded as I am. Ah, for gricks sake, spilled milk and all that. Could not very well leave her to face the music alone. She probably saved my life too.''

    And- ''This should not become a habit!¡¯

    Darting through the falling rain, nearly slipping on the wet ground, she slid between the still-fighting villagers. A dwarf looked at her incredulously as a ghoul he was fighting leaned forward to bite into his throat- and was kicked aside as Mireille jumped onto his head, kicking him to the ground with a satisfying crunch.

    The lightning raging in the sky and in her blood combined. She was floating, driven like the lightning that would never stop before hitting its target.

    Then she took another step, far from the combat behind her and it was like missing the step of a stair you were sure was there, and all that power fizzled out. Leaving her light-headed and gasping. She could only stumble and let Alyssa down on the ground before falling to her knees, blood dripping from her nose and eyes. The white-haired girl scrambled towards Mireille and frantically invoked the healing power of water. Asandria supported her. Her hands glowing aquamarine, the surrounding rain was pulled into the wound and her hurting head. Illuminating her, strengthening her from the inside.

    And the bleeding came to a stop.

    Huffing with exertion, Mireille got up and steadied herself on Alyssa''s shoulder. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°No, thank you. You probably saved my life.¡±

    ¡°That goes for you too.¡±

    ¡°What was your name again?¡±

    ¡°Mireille Annirstochter¡±

    ¡°Alyssa Miner¡±

    They looked at each other and were on the verge of simply laughing hysterically before Alyssa said. ¡°We have to continue. Now that the undead are leaving, the rest of them will try to capture us or the vampire girl.¡±

    ¡°I hope that we are not their priority!¡±

    Drenched from the still falling rain, they continued on into the night.

    Mireille leaned heavily on Alyssa as the two made their way deeper into the forested foothills. Water dripped from waterlogged branches, and they were both soaked by the time they came to a relatively empty hilltop. The village lay behind them, barely visible in the still-falling rain, and that only because of some houses still burning in spite of the water.

    The two of them stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

    ¡°Why!¡± Alyssa teared up. ¡°Why does this keep happening to me? I wanted to keep brewing potions and medicine. I never asked for this.¡±

    ¡°I was starving, and then I got into the army. I may be. No- I am a deserter right now. If only I had listened when they described what the punishment was. I think penal squadron for life?¡±

    ¡°Sounds horrible.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t think I will test that.¡± Mireille hesitated, then groaned. ¡°My friends. Damn it. I can''t see them again as long as they are in the army.¡±

    ¡°I hate to ask- do you perhaps want to come with me? I''m going to Margrinar. And not that you misunderstand- I only hate asking because I think you would risk and lose too much. I would love to have you with me.¡±

    ¡°I think I might take you up on that. The alternatives don¡¯t bear thinking about.¡±

    They looked at each other nodded, and went parallel to the mountains trying to gain a bit of distance.

 Flight from the dark

    ¡°My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.¡±

    -Anonymous

    Dawn found the two huddled under an old willow tree. The branches sagged towards a small pond, brushing the greenish waters. The thick foliage had kept the ground reasonably dry, so they had decided to camp here.

    Alyssa drew upon her few survival skills and got a small fire going.

    ¡°Magic sure helps with getting it lit.¡± Mireille unwittingly denigrated her fire-starting skills.

    ¡°Mpf. I would like to see you try. Everything is still wet.¡±

    ¡°Could I have some hot tea, please?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. I have seen some herbs that could make a good tea. Wait for me.¡±

    Groaning, Alyssa stood up. Then she went and searched the nearby woods. On the way here, there had been a cluster of lingonberries- Harvesting the berries and picking the leaves, she got back to a softly snoring Mireille.

    ¡°Ah, well. It''s not as if I were not also tired. Holding watches might sound good in theory, but I doubt we would be up for it. But first, let us have some hot tea.¡±

    While the leaves were brewing, she mashed the berries with a bit of sugar and put them on the hard bread she had heated at the edge of the fire.

    Rubbing her arms and blinking tiredly, she yawned. ¡®I''m too tired to be terrified. But when- no if!- they should get me, I will most likely be killed. If they don¡¯t do something terrible to me first. Now I am somewhat terrified.¡¯

    Trying to get her mind to think of other things, she mustered Mireille. The petite teenager looked far too small for the military uniform covering her sleeping form. If she had not seen her powerful lightning magic, she would have thought her being in the army a bad and tasteless joke. Her red hair draped messily over the tree trunk. ¡®It will be a pest to get rid of the tangles.¡¯ Freckles dotted her cheeks and nose. A small scar from some youthful misadventure marred her otherwise smooth left cheek.

    ¡°Mireille, wake up. I have made some tea and lingonberry bread.¡± She softly shook her companion.

    ¡°Mmh. Rhys, just a few more minutes. Sarge will get over it.¡± Pulling the coat tighter, she rolled from her position from leaning on, to beside the tree, which caused her to tumble to the root-riddled ground. ¡°Ouch!¡±

    ¡°Hey! Be careful.¡±

    ¡°Nhg. Now I''m awake.¡± Sorting herself, she asked hopefully. ¡±Food and tea, you say?¡±

    ¡°So something I said has penetrated your sleepiness?¡±

    Without further words, Mireille raised her arms aimlessly, groping in the direction of the beaker she used to brew the tea in.

    ¡°Here,¡± Alyssa gave her a cup of herb tea and a slice of trail bread.

    She herself used another glass-vial, protecting her hands with her cloak.

    <hr>

    They ate and drank a bit, silently watching the morning light dispel the drifting mists over the pond. They were in a small valley higher up in the foothills of the Erbor mountains. The trees around here were more or less coniferous, with a few exceptions like the willow. The pond was ringed by large bushes, some firs, and their willow tree.

    She thanked the god of travel, Varnis, for having bought the traveling clothes. They had stood up to the ravages of the flight far better than feared.

    ¡°We should sleep. If there are pursuers, they will most likely be trying to find the vampire girl.¡± Alyssa mused.

    ¡°Vampire!?¡± Mireille looked alarmed. ¡°But what did I expect? Are there any kinds of undead where you would be glad to know them?¡± She smiled a bit at that. ¡°And she did seem perhaps too normal for an undead monstrosity. If she were not so strange looking, I would not have thought about her twice.¡±

    ¡°I don''t think she is evil. But don¡¯t ask me how I know. And the business about being cousins. Strange.¡±

    ¡°Its cold.¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°You have such a nice warm coat. Don''t be greedy!¡± Alyssa retorted.

    ¡°Come here. There is enough of it to cover you too. But I get to be on the inside!¡±

    So they arranged themselves with what cloaks and coats they had and tried to sleep- Exhaustion helping them along.

    <hr>

    It seemed to be late afternoon when Alyssa woke. Mireille was still sleeping soundly.

    Carefully extricating herself, she went and washed up as well she could, using the small stream running down from the mountains into the pond.

    The water was very cold but refreshing, so she filled up her waterskin too.

    Afterward, she searched the woods for more edible roots and berries. While finding some mushrooms in the process, which were growing quickly because of the wet weather, she found a skeleton in a little clearing. It sported an elongated head with rows of needle-like teeth, a snakelike body, and three sets of legs ending in dark claws. It seemed to be the remains of a Basilisk. She shuddered to think what would have happened if the beast were still alive. The mountains around here got more and more dangerous the farther one went, with the unique magic of such places favoring earth and wind creatures. Some of the mountain range was volcanic in nature, so there was even the possibility of a dragon or an elemental.

    Basilisks were known for their petrifying stare, which actually did not turn people to stone, as her mother once explained. It simply paralyzed them for later consumption. The creatures not being fond of eating stones like most living beings.

    There were legends that the forefather of those creatures was able to turn everything living into crystal and stone. That would have been a sight to see. A whole forest of crystallized trees. This being might not have needed to eat, presumably.

    She eyed the claws and then broke off two of them, bringing them back with her otherwise fruitful haul.

    ¡°Wake up.¡± She shook Mireille.

    ¡°Noooo. Sleeeev moor.¡± Came the mumbled reply.

    ¡°We have to. Sorry. We should use the remaining daylight hours to get a bit more distance.¡± She winced a bit at the thought of her sore feet.

    Asandria hovered beside her and looked on, seemingly amused. ¡®When we have a peaceful moment, I should try to educate you a bit. You are sorely missing in basic magics. Something like weariness or small hurts should be no problem for one of your potential.¡¯

    ¡°As if I don¡¯t know.¡± Sighed Alyssa.

    ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± Mireille suspiciously grumbled.

    ¡°No one. Get up. I have some vegetables for a stew. Do you have some food left?¡±

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    ¡°No, did not expect to need it. I am glad to have packed my waterskin, at least. What I would not give for my backpack.¡± She looked a bit annoyed. "Rhys always said I would leave my head were it not attached."

    Murmuring crackling words of fire, Alyssa grew a small flame around her fingers. She waved, and the flame floated slowly onto the cold wood, and soon a brightly crackling fire warmed the roots and berries in the beaker.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a normal pot?¡± Mireille eyed the beaker a bit incredulously.

    ¡°When I left, I took what I could carry." She flexed her very modest biceps. "And why ask now? I used the thing yesterday too.¡±

    ¡°Was too tired and hungry, and then I was sleeping.¡±

    ¡°Here, have some vegetable stew.¡±

    They ate and washed their cups before packing their few belongings. Alyssa cleaned the dirty clothes a bit using a household cantrip.

    ¡°Before I forget. Here, I found a dead basilisk and got two of its talons. Do you want one? They should make more than decent daggers. Perhaps with time and a bit more knowledge, I could even enchant it for you. Let it be the start of me thanking you for coming along.¡± Alyssa was a bit red in the face as she said that.

    Mireille, grinning, took the proffered black claw. ¡°Aw. That''s sweet. Never have been gifted a monster part before.¡± Before her partner could retort, she continued. ¡°But honestly- That''s quite a nice gift. I look forward to you enchanting it. I have faith you will get there.¡±

    <hr>

    They walked for two days.

    The food was never plentiful, but autumn gave them enough plants, berries, and mushrooms to eat, so at least they did not go hungry. They were highly vigilant during their travels but never saw not hide nor hair of a pursuit.

    ¡°They most likely tried to help the destroyed village and perhaps chased the various undead. We must seem trivial in comparison.¡± Mentioned Mireille.

    ¡°Don''t underestimate a priestess of Ielenia. She has it out for me. Not that I can completely blame her." Alyssa sighed. "I have to mention. I am wanted for defending myself.¡± She hesitated. ¡°No, I must say it as it is, for killing in self-defense- and it is doubtful they will acknowledge that. A young noble, the son of the local viscount, was trying to...¡± She stopped.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to say.¡± Mireille put her hand on her shoulder. ¡°I have seen the wanted poster. You are the infamous dark witch of Firswending. Evil poisoner and concubine of demons. The last was gossip, not part of the wanted poster.¡±

    ¡°Why did you not say anything? I did not want to keep you in the dark, but there was never a good time, and I feared that you would leave me.¡± The last was whispered. ¡°I felt so guilty.¡±

    ¡°Mh. I forgot about it. It did not seem important. You saved a bunch of people and did not help the evil necromancer. When would you have done your evil villain spiel if not then? So you are not an evil villain. Probably. Also, you seemed nice.¡±

    ¡°How can you be so calm about that!¡±

    ¡°The world is strange enough. No sense making it stranger and worse.¡±

    ¡°That does not make sense. Thank you regardless.¡± Alyssa smiled.

    ¡°Is that a cave, I spy? Sleeping on dry ground would be welcome just about now.¡± Mireille seemed a bit embarrassed at the relieved smile on the face of her companion.

    And indeed, a bit farther up on the hill was a small brook, flowing from a large fissure in the rocky face of the mountain. Beside it, a traversable ledge led into the darkness.

    ¡°Could be. But we have to be careful. If it''s too comfortable, there is probably already someone or something living there.¡±

    Alyssa spoke and gestured, and a small ball of glowing light floated over her outstretched right hand.

    ¡°Nifty.¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°Mh. How does your brand work? I heard that your magic is sealed into the spells the sigil allows. Do you still have the ability for small magics?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. But it''s maybe worth a try. Before all this happened, I could barely get a fire started. But I was pretty good with wind gusts.¡± Mireille reminisced fondly.

    ¡°Perhaps if it''s something related to your spells?¡±

    ¡°You would have to ask Rhys for that.¡±

    ¡°Who is that?¡±

    ¡°A friend who is still in the army. She and another of my friends were assigned to a castle near the border of Margrinar. I forgot the name, actually. I wonder what happened to Alan. He was in the army encampment when it started.¡± She looked troubled.

    ¡°You mentioned her before. A good friend?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Let''s not talk about it. I will get depressed.¡± Mireille looked gloomy. "Correction, I am depressed."

    Walking along the water on the surprisingly spacious ledge, they saw some older scratch marks.

    ¡°Do we continue? It does not look like it happened yesterday, but those scratches look ominous. And are those bloodstains?¡±

    ¡°It seems to get warmer farther in. I would really like to look. There are some hot springs in this part of the mountains. Hot springs!¡±

    ¡°I have never been.¡± Said Alyssa.

    ¡°I went once with my grandma when she still had her business. It was fabulous. The water was so warm.¡± She shivered in remembered delight. "She always had the best clothes too. Like a real lady."

    ¡°Ok. Just be careful.¡±

    They walked into the depths, the arched ceiling high overhead, while the temperature kept rising. There was a faint smell of sulfur in the air. Abruptly the wall to their right drew farther and farther back, the ledge opening up into a large cave. Alyssa raised the glowing orb a bit and intensified the magic. The light threw long shadows.

    The cave was perhaps a few dozen meters deep and twenty wide. In the middle sat a small pool collecting the water dripping from stalactites in the ceiling. A small, steaming runoff made its way to the brook bubbling away to the left. The ceiling there was actually leveling off and nearly touched the floor at the far end, leaving only a small fissure through which the water flowed. The wet stone glittered in the magical light.

    Besides the small pool, in between stalagmites growing to touch their cousins on the ceiling, lay great dark-brown, green-speckled eggs, each nearly a yard across. Steam wafted from the water. Asandria drifted over and looked at the eggs curiously. In a corner lay a pile of bones, obviously gnawed upon, some sporting decaying pieces of flesh. Thankfully none seemed humanoid.

    ¡°What are those.¡± Mireille went towards them after having a cautious look around. ¡°Mh. Do you think they would make a good omelet?¡±

    Shaking her head Alyssa went toward the pool. ¡°Let''s have a look. We already made it this far, and it seems like nobody''s home.¡±

    ¡°Ah, what the heck.¡± She followed after her. ¡°Be careful! Grandma warned that there are hot springs that can cook you to well done in a minute!¡±

    Trying the water, they found it quite pleasant, perhaps because of the way it got there, flowing along the stalactites and then dripping into the pool.

    Alyssa was fascinated by the eggs. They went nearly to her hips.

    Asandria floated closer. ¡®They are still alive. Their mother was protecting them while getting back her energy after a difficult birth. Normally you don¡¯t see so many eggs in one clutch. Without the mother, they will all die, though.¡¯

    Alyssa frowned. ¡°Are you sure it was the same wyvern we fought?¡±

    ¡°You like to talk to yourself, or was that aimed at me, and I did not get most of it?¡± Mireille answered.

    Asandria''s smile was a bit bitter. ¡®I cannot talk to her without you using magic that, at the moment, you do not possess. And yes ¨C I am sure.¡¯

    ¡°Ahem. I was only thinking out loud. We fought a wyvern on the way here. Saying ¡®we¡¯ is perhaps putting it a bit strongly- I was in the forest and heard a commotion, then I helped an adventuring party- you met some of them at the wagon. Torvak was the leader. The Wyvern and some of his companions died.¡±

    ¡°You live an interesting life.¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°I could have passed on the more interesting bits.¡±

    ¡°Let''s go in. If the wyvern is as dead as you say and has lived here for a bit, there should not be any other beasties lairing here- right?¡± she then proceeded to disrobe and went into the pool.

    ¡°Aaah. That is fantastic. Take care not to remain too long; otherwise, you might faint.¡±

    Alyssa touched an egg and felt something moving within. A warm presence on the other side of the shell. In the light of her spell, she thought she might even see a shadowy form pressed against her hand. ¡°What are the odds that we come here and find her eggs?¡± She mused. ¡°But a big flying beast like a wyvern needed a big cave, which would then be more visible.¡± Perhaps the odds were not that bad. ¡°Sorry, little one. I would have liked for your mother to leave us alone and be still alive.¡±

    ¡°Come in. It might not get cold, but it''s annoying being the only one in here.¡± Mireille called.

    Alyssa was feeling a bit embarrassed but got into the pool too. ¡°Ah, that is indeed nice.¡±

    They remained in the water for so long that Mireille got light-headed. Pains and scrapes felt a lot better after they had a good soak.

    <hr>

    Asandria was hovering near the egg Alyssa had inspected. ¡®There is an old magical technique which it should be possible for you to learn. It lets you gain a familiar. It''s not normally encouraged because the gains are often far outweighed by the drawbacks.¡¯

    Alyssa whispered, ¡°Tell me more.¡±

    ¡®A familiar is a crutch for a lesser spell caster to augment his mana drawing ability and to have someone to spy or carry messages.'' Asandria looked a bit snobbish saying that, causing her partner to suppress a giggle. With a raised eyebrow, she continued. ''Some do it for the companionship as the ritual lengthens the lifespan of the shorter-lived partner. The problem is that if the partner dies, the other loses a lot of life force, subsequently shortening their life and harming them greatly. But a wyvern. It would once have been fit for royalty.¡¯ She gave a ghostly grin, some excitement visible in her bearing.

    ¡°I think I would like that. Even if the experience was horrible, the monster was dragon-like and somehow even beautiful.¡±

    ¡°What are you mumbling about?¡± Mireille, having finished drying herself off, came over.

    ¡°I think I could perhaps form a bond with one of the baby wyverns.¡±

    Mireille gave Alyssa a complicated look, ¡°You know, we are desperately fleeing imprisonment and death.¡±

    ¡°When you put it that way. I still want to.¡± Alyssa had a stubborn expression. Whispering to the side, ¡°Mireille can''t use the magic, can she?¡±

    ¡®Sadly, no. The butchering of her perfectly fine magical abilities precludes that.¡¯

    ¡°Then explain what I have to do.¡± She was a bit disappointed but not surprised. Branding being so prominent, there was a lot of talk about it, even if people understood only a little of what it meant.

    And Asandria told her.

 Dream of dragons

    ¡°Let me tell you: the only way to get rid of dragons is to have one of your own.¡±

    -Evgeny Shvarts

    There was fire, and there was darkness.

    The whole world was burning, smoke and soot blotting out the sun.

    The only voice his own- Roaring his hunger.

    Creatures born of pure elemental magic soared through the sky or strode over the cooling lava flows, swum in the deepest depths of the boiling seas.

    Little creatures tried to flee but were soon caught in his talons. The moon hung low and distant. Volcanoes spat fire, eruptions of the earth''s blood breaking the crust of the young planet he had come to claim.

    The warmth was soothing, and the blood of primordial creatures, magical and grandiose, flowed freely.

    His old world was dying.

    He had seen eons come and go, his descendants, even his whole race dying before him. He had been ready to perish with the fading of the sun.

    But then he dreamed, and in his dreams, he saw a new shining world, gods forming it from the blood and body of a slain elder being, more than and less than a god- and he did want to see it, wanted to fly in new skies, bring terror and majesty one last time.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    The ancients had worshipped him as the darkness that comes at noon when his wings eclipsed the sun. Their long-deserted ruins still dotted the mountains and deserts, home only to the wind and the dust.

    He had been alone for an age.

    So he had spread his wings for a last long flight, leaving behind the smoldering ember that had nourished his world for so long, and flew into the cold empty dark.

    He drifted among the stars, and final sleep was only a wingbeat behind. But he arrived, and for the last time, he ruled a new world.

    But as it must, his time ran out, and as he lay dying under a foreign sun, his blood and his magic brought forth his children.

    The tiny dragonling dreamed, as avaricious and grandiose as only those of his kind do.

    Then there was a voice whispering and singing, soothing his temper and causing him to yearn to see the creature who made that noise, spun that magic.

    He instinctively called for his mother, she who would baptize him with the blood of the prey, feed him so that he would grow strong and venomous.

    And he woke from his long dream of the past and the first of his kind, long since faded into myth.

    He forced his tooth through the tough leathery shell encasing him, and with the fluid bathing and nourishing him, he spilled out. It was graceless, and he was angry, his small tail lashing. Magic embraced him, glyphs surrounded him, and the song was louder, and he wanted it to never end. A soft hand touched his head, and blood flowed into his maw. Power arced between him and the songstress and wove a bond even death would not completely part.

    His first thought and his first words, if words they can be called, they were more properly described as complex emotions, were:

    ¡°I am hungry. Feed me!¡±

    Alyssa thought- Cats and dragons have a lot of similarities.

 A kind of magic

    ¡°I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us¡±

    -Frances Hodgson Burnett, The secret garden

    It took hours.

    It could have been worse. She had access to an old elven sorceress, or at least her spirit, who could give her insight she would otherwise struggle to gain.

    But it was nevertheless complicated magic and she had never done something like this before.

    A point in her favor- She did not need to understand what she was doing, simply copying it flawlessly would do.

    Asandria nonetheless tried. ¡®Your soul is your magic. So if you want to easily increase your potential, you could try to strengthen your soul. That is much easier said than done and most of the ways that work are, for good reason, seen as abhorrent to a sentient being.

    But there is a way that is neither an atrocity, too dangerous to contemplate, or needs the personal intervention of the divine: the bonding of a familiar.

    You anchor your souls together and can thus lighten any load the other might experience: be it attacks that target your immaterial self, curses for example, or spellcasting.¡¯

    She mimed drawing a breath. ¡®But most small creatures who are readily available don¡¯t have much in the way of a soul, at least magically speaking. So it is most useful to those not so well-endowed. And that my dear is the theory. Now for the ritual itself¡­¡± She looked happy to be talking about a subject she loved.

    Alyssa painstakingly inscribed the runes in the soft stone, using the basilisk''s claw because it scored even iron and steel. After doing that, she had to imbue the runes with magic using her blood and the surprisingly compatible sulfur-filled water. She managed all that after a few hours of hard work.

    Mireille looked on speechlessly. ¡°How do you know all this? This seems more complicated than even the branding. Don''t tell me, you are a dark witch and have been taught by demons! It''s all true.¡± She mock-shivered.

    Alyssa, sweating and tired, threw her a reproachful look. ¡°Please, this is hard work, could you perhaps do something useful, like say, gathering firewood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, firewood coming along.¡± Mireille got up and went outside to forage for mostly dry wood. She had been a bit bored, looking at her friend poring over scratches in the stone.

    After having inscribed, attuned, and filled the runes with magic, she had to memorize a song. Thankfully it was not needed that this be perfect.

    It was more the intent, and some resemblance to the old elven it was based on, that was needed. Asandria would do the rest, as she did with the healing spells Alyssa still struggled with alone.

    Then, after resting a bit, she began the working. She sang her wish for companionship and mutual protection, her hope for friendship. Asandria supported her without fail even if she looked a bit wry at her attempts to inject the notion of partnership, thinking it unnecessary.

    The runes first began to glow softly, then they began to shimmer. After a long time, at least it seemed so to her, they began to shine brightly, the light like the sun seen through turbulent water, always in motion.

    As she touched the egg, her right hand lit with an inner glow containing uncountable spell-glyphs. All the while her pale left hand seemed to swallow what light came near without said hand ever being obscured or darkened, like a pearl lying on black samite.

    With a crack, the leathery egg was pierced from within, yellowish water gushing from the hole and with it a small creature.

    It was thin and sinewy like a snake with a long tail holding a scorpionlike stinger at the end and a thicker body with two legs and two wet folded wings bearing claws at the end of the joint. The head was like a lizards with two horns (even if very small at the moment) curling backward. Two large eyes opened and regarded her intently, while she marveled at the bright green color of the slit irises.

    The sudden emergence seemed to have angered the little dragonling causing it to hiss and lash its tail. Even if wyverns are considered among the least of dragonkind, they still carry the blood legacy of the ancient god-dragon, if scholars are to be believed, and that carries with it a certain inborn arrogance.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Asandria hovered near her ear and whispered ¡®Now, feed it your blood as I taught you.¡¯

    Wincing, Alyssa made a shallow cut on her right hand and then stroked its head, blood dripping into the open maw. White light filled the blood and the runes flared once before going dark. There was a musical high note hanging in the air like the magic was singing, then silence. The cut healed on its own, leaving a silvery scar.

    A deep and stable bond formed between the small creature and Alyssa. She felt its thoughts and its hunger.

    It wanted something to eat.

    Asandria had told her that the first it should eat is the rest of its egg, even the leathery shell. She took the wyvern, a feeling of familiarity and safety radiating from it, then began to feed it the rest of the egg.

    Making soft noises the little beast then soon fell asleep.

    Mireille got back to a sleeping Alyssa with the dragonling wound about her neck a long forked tongue licking her cheek as it slept.

    ¡®Would be even cuter without the stinger and needle-like teeth.¡¯ Mireille surmised.

    Putting the wood she had gathered in a pile she approached. The small lizard opened one eye and hissed warningly. ¡°Hey you overgrown newt, that is my pillow you are lying on. I don¡¯t mind sharing but no stealing!¡± As if understanding her he sniffed in her direction and then laid back down curling tighter.

    Grumbling she laid her cloak near the pool but safely distant to the menacing stinger, and also went to sleep.

    <hr>

    The ground was quite hard so they woke up stiff and in a bit of pain.

    ¡°Ah. At least it was warm.¡± Mireille stretched with an audible crack. ¡°Ouch.¡±

    Alyssa stroked the little wyvern. ¡°What is your name little one?¡± She mused. The dragonling arched his sinuous neck into her touch, making rasping sounds reminiscent of purring.

    ¡°Spot.¡± Mireille was fast. ¡°Because he got those¡­¡±

    ¡°...spots. No.¡± Alyssa shot that down. She tapped her nose while contemplating. ¡°I think I will name him Cyrus after the draconic mount of the folk-hero Asander.¡±

    ¡°So you want to fly around and save damsels in distress. Mh. When I remember my stories right he had his way with the ladies. Should I be concerned?¡± Mireille wiggled her eyebrows.

    Alyssa hit her on the shoulder, causing the newly christened Cyrus to hiss.

    ¡°Stop it. Let''s talk about our route for a moment. I think we should go for Thundersplit pass. It shouldn¡¯t be too far and from there we can reach Margrinar, where hopefully we will not be persecuted.¡±

    ¡°All for it.¡± Mireille looked nonchalant and was trying to feed Cyrus with a bit of jerky.

    ¡°Where did you have that jerky? We could have used it in the stew.¡±

    ¡°Saved it for a bad day. Bribes are okay too.¡±

    Cyrus gobbled down the proffered food looking marginally more friendly.

    ¡°What did I say, it works.¡± Mireille looked smug.

    Alyssa shook her head in exasperation. ¡°Ok. Then you think of a way to make our next meal more palatable. I fear we have to incorporate some meat for little Cyrus anyway, so we should think about hunting. Does your lightning bolt leave something behind when it hits a bird?¡±

    ¡°Mh. No, I don¡¯t think so. But we could always try for a bear or something like that.¡±

    ¡°I would prefer something that did not have us on their menu. But whatever works I guess. I could try the firebolt perhaps.¡±

    And having a last wash in the pool they left the cave. Alyssa fed some of the leftover egg to her familiar who then slept on her shoulder.

    The early autumn began to color the surrounding woods in yellow and red, the conifers lending splotches of dark green to the palette. This land was never densely settled, even in the times of the expansion, when humanity had tried to lay claim to large swathes of the untouched wilderness.

    There had not been many who were tempted away from what civilization could be saved from sunken Allisair.

    Standing on the hilltop the forest extended as far as the eye could see, birds bursting forth from the foliage, startled by some unseen predator. The silvery gleam of a mountain stream broke the uniform mass along with some larger hills, and there were some small columns of smoke probably coming from a fishing village.

    This should be their next stop. Hopefully, the priorities were indeed not on their capture, a rider could have been there days ago.

    Rumors put some wood elf settlements in the deeper parts of this forest, called the Tensiellan or green parent in ancient elven. Farther to the west there were roaming orcish bands and goblin nests, and even sightings of a green dragon presumed to be living in an old elven castle, long since abandoned. All of this had been part of an empire that predated humanity on the continent but had fallen around the time Allisair had broken the covenant.

    Asandria floated nearby and sensing her gaze, turned, tilting her head quizzically.

    ¡°It''s nothing. I was only thinking of the stories about this place.¡±

    ¡®This here was the domain of the enclave of the shade a circle of druids who kept watch on the eastern borders, there was also the castle of the Mornriders, an order of knights riding pegasi. There were numerous smaller settlements and estates hidden in and grown from the forest. But all of this was already in decline when I met my end.¡¯

    ¡°You are doing it again. Are you talking to Cyrus? He is sleeping if it did escape your notice. Is there someone with us?¡±

    ¡°It might sound very strange but yes there is.¡± Alyssa braced herself. ¡°When I was fleeing through the Fernwood I encountered some old elven ruins and was very badly hurt.¡± She stopped to calm her breath. ¡°And in that ruin, there was a ghost. She, Asandria is her name, rescued me. She is with us right now, but for whatever reason only I can see and hear her. I wanted to tell you, but I did not think you would believe me.¡±

    ¡°Seeing and hearing what others cannot, is not often a good thing. But at least you won''t get lonely.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°A ghost! I always loved ghost stories. You have to get her to tell me one. A ghost story told by a ghost should be the pinnacle of ghost stories everywhere!¡±

    ¡°Could you be serious for once! But at least you are not angry.¡±

    ¡°To tell the truth, I have become sort of jaded? Is that the right word? Seeing those with me at the branding ceremony die, the undead attack, freeing a vampire girl, fleeing with a dark witch? I think meeting a ghost I can''t even see is not the worst that has happened. Hello, Asandria by the way.¡± She looked to Asandrias right while bowing. The so addressed laughed a bit. ¡®Greet her from me, will you? I will repay her open-mindedness sometimes. It''s a precious thing in your situation.¡¯

    After bickering and laughing a bit they set off again, trekking into the forest in search of the road.

    <hr>

    On a not-so-distant hilltop.

    Tonalla looked up and met Christina''s questioning gaze. ¡°I have not seen any sign of the undead. But this is a campfire that has burned maybe a day ago. It could be Alyssa and this Mireille.¡± ¡°Don''t mention their names, they are traitors and deserve no such consideration. At least we seem to be gaining ground. Maybe the undead they are consorting with is near. May Ielenia show us the path.¡±

 On a narrow road

    ¡°Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been.¡±

    - Kurt Vonnegut

    A road, finally! Alyssa stood gasping, hands on her knees slightly bowed, catching her breath.

    Mireille looked amused. ¡°You should have run around the training field with sergeant Dornwright breathing down your neck. Then you would not be tired from this little exertion.¡± When Alyssa was not looking she breathed deeply, also exhausted from that last climb over a rocky hillside. Going cross-country was something she never wanted to do again. It had been a snap decision to go for the foothills, as the gate was towards the dwarves and then the deeper mountains, and she was too afraid of possible pursuers to venture back towards the road.

    But without some supplies, they would have problems traveling farther and the small village on a small flat hill near the stream was perfect in her opinion. Large enough to be useful and small enough that it was possible they had not heard of them.

    She was a bit proud of herself for how well she had withstood the rigors of travel. Perhaps the sergeant had had the right of it after all. Thanking him in her heart she went over to Alyssa.

    ¡°Alyssa, here, take a drink. I have some springwater left.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Gulping down a large mouthful of water she smiled gratefully. ¡°It looks like this is the main road towards Windkeep Castle. Then a little bit farther along should be the bridge and before that the intersection towards the fishing village.¡±

    Mireille nodded, ¡°I think that''s most likely correct.¡±

    ¡°We can replenish our water there too. Perhaps we should do so before reaching the village, if they are unfriendly it could be good to have some fresh water at least.¡±

    Cyrus, the wyvern, flapped his wings and tried for a fierce roar, sounding more like a shriek, scattering a few birds, looking nevertheless satisfied with himself he then settled down.

    ¡°It''s no good trying to fly a day after hatching you know? Even I know that.¡± Alyssa admonished.

    Cyrus rubbed his head on her cheek.

    ¡°Yes, you are a good wyvern.¡±

    ¡°Alyssa! He does not let me pet him.¡±

    ¡°He does not try to sting you anymore, he simply wants to bite you. That''s progress.¡±

    <hr>

    Bickering and in a good mood having left the mountains, the two reached the village in the early afternoon. Some boats were lying on the banks of the river. A palisade of roughly cleansed poles surrounded and protected the small settlement.

    Nearing the open gate a bored guard called to them. ¡°Hello, strangers, what brings you to Swiftbrook?¡± Then he did a double-take. ¡°What''s that on your shoulder!¡±

    ¡°That''s Cyrus, my familiar. I am an apprentice mage. We need supplies. Had a bad run-in with raiders.¡± Alyssa answered.

    ¡°Raider you say? When and where was that!?¡± Hearing that the man no longer looked bored.

    ¡°It was near Sorringen.¡±

    ¡°Mh, that''s a lot farther south than we usually see. Go in, I will accompany you, you have to tell the elder. Might be a bit of lunch in it for you." He eyed Cyrus a bit nervously. "Is the little beast really tame?¡±

    ¡°I will come with you, and yes, Cyrus is quite docile, even if he does not look it. Is it ok if we split? I can answer your questions and Mireille here will start to buy what we need.¡±

    ¡°If you insist it makes no difference to me. Come then.¡±

    ¡°It''s best we be swiftly on our way. Your coat might arouse suspicion even if they have not heard of us.¡± Alyssa softly said to Mireille.

    ¡°Good thinking, I had forgotten about that.¡±

    Alyssa rolled her eyes. ¡°One of these days you will take something seriously.¡± Then waving towards her friend she went to the villager.

    He was a big, bearded man with a receding hairline and a potbelly. Wearing thick leather clothes that might be some protection in a fight, he wielded a long spear with a well-cared-for blade. It was probably meant for fighting boars rather than men. There were some muscles under the fat and he moved easily, so perhaps was more suited as a guard as it seemed.

    ¡°The names Miles.¡± He nodded in a friendly greeting. ¡°The elder is Mr. Longstone, once of Firswending. His father founded the village.¡±

    While he was telling this to Alyssa they moved through the village towards a bigger longhouse located centrally with two side buildings, the latter probably where the elder and family lived and the former where gatherings could be held.

    The ground was stamped earth and chickens ran around between small hovels. Some deerskin was left to dry on racks before the home of a hunter, featuring horns of different beasts displayed over the entrance. Some villagers on various errands stopped and began to talk pointing mostly at Cyrus but also commenting on Alyssas unusual hair- and eye color.

    Her mother had been well-regarded and known to most, and this then extended to her, so she never questioned her differences and was quite unused to hearing them discussed. She colored slightly. Cyrus picked up on her embarrassment and opened his wings a bit and arched his neck trying to look menacing. This elicited another bout of discussion.

    They entered the longhouse and the sudden darkness after the bright sun outside left her disoriented. An aged voice, sounding slightly hoarse, called out to them.

    ¡°Miles! What did you drag into my chambers? Is Marta no longer enough for you?¡± The speaker laughed at his own joke which faded to a hacking cough. ¡°Ah, damn rain. It''s always worse after the rain. Come in you two, I don¡¯t bite.¡±

    The two ventured deeper inside, rough-hewn logs made two benches with a table in between the wood polished through longtime use. Behind an open firepit placed underneath a hole in the ceiling, stood a separate table with some chairs.

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    An old man with a full beard and bald head sat there wearing embroidered, somewhat threadbare clothing while smoking a pipe.

    ¡°Greetings traveler. If Miles brought you here it seems you carry news most likely unwanted. The good ones are always much less urgent.¡± The last was said with a sigh.

    ¡°I mentioned our run-in with raiders near Sorringen. We very nearly did not make it. And that alarmed your guard which led to my being here.¡± Alyssa summarised.

    ¡°Stop! A bit before the part where you got here. What exactly happened in Sorringen, is it still standing?¡±

    She explained the nighttime raid in as much detail as she could remember. Telling them that she had not planned to stay and had seen the undead leave before she herself had left. The old man was shrewd and seemed to guess at some inconsistencies but left her alone after exhausting her with questions for the better part of an hour.

    Mr. Longstone was also interested in her wyvern and letting him feed the voracious little beast was very helpful in sparing her dwindling funds.

    And finally, she got to eat some leftover lunch.

    Meanwhile, Mireille was haggling with the only merchant, more like a fisherman with a hobby, and finally getting somewhere.

    ¡°So, that is a backpack, travel rations, some lamp oil, a rope¡­¡± She tallied the items while pointing at each. ¡°...mh, that should be it. What do I owe you?¡±

    ¡°Seven silver, eight copper, miss.¡± The old fisher grinned with blackened teeth, one eye lost to an old wound, hair grey and mostly missing. ¡°And it''s a bargain if ever there was one!¡±

    ¡°For you perhaps! How about four silver¡­¡± Haggling began.

    After leaving the smelly hut in the possession of used but usable goods she sat down and stretched her legs while waiting for Alyssa and letting the sunlight warm her.

    ¡°You are a Signed arent you?¡± A rough voice ripped her from her pleasant reverie.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing here alone and your uniform in such a state?¡±

    Mireille oriented herself and found herself staring at an aging man in his later years. He had brown hair flecked with grey and was missing his left arm up to the elbow having fitted a long hook there. His eyes, looking at her harshly, were dark. The clothing was that of a villager, save perhaps for the long knife, nearly a short-sword hanging at his belt.

    ¡°I was separated from my fellow soldiers in a raid. Now I am going for the next stop I know they will make, Windkeep.¡±

    ¡°A likely story, why not go back to where you left them." Answering his own question he spoke further: "Because you don¡¯t want to, am I right. Deserter.¡±

    ¡°Old man spare the theatrics, what do you really want?¡±

    ¡°Did you leave your comrades to their fate?¡±

    ¡°No, believe what you will, but I think what I, what we did saved a lot of soldiers and civilians alike.¡±

    The old soldier and that seemed to be who he was looked at her closely.

    ¡°You seem to believe what you are spouting, but why did you not stay if you are such a hero.¡±

    ¡°A priestess of Ielenia took offense at our methods, to be completely honest, and we did not want to stay and be burned at the stake.¡±

    ¡°Now that is an interesting remark to make. How do you know that I won''t be calling the whole village to punish your heresy?¡±

    ¡°My dad always said, that Ielenia and Irkonos don¡¯t often see eye to eye.¡± She nodded towards a small pendant hanging from his neck depicting a tree with a large eye in the crown.

    ¡°Ha. That''s something at least. Say is old sergeant Dornwright still with the army?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he was the one that trained me.¡±

    ¡°Ok. I will keep it to myself but you should realize that your coat is a dead giveaway. As warm and practical as it is you will be found and you will then be handed over to the mind-twisters. And a lifetime in the penal squad it is. So I recommend you do away with it the first chance you get. Old Gus should have a cloak or two, you can perhaps trade in the coat.¡±

    Mireille blinked in surprise. ¡°Thanks, I will do that.¡±

    ¡°I hope I am not wrong about you, but go in peace.¡±

    Alyssa came out of the longhouse with a bit of bread in hand together with a hunk of cheese.

    The old man nodded then turned to go. Alyssa looked at Mireille questioningly.

    Mireille coughed. ¡°He only wanted to give me some advice. Nice village isn''t it?¡±

    ¡°Mh. It certainly looked that way.¡± She eyed Mireille critically. ¡°Do you have all we need?¡±

    ¡°Most assuredly, there is only a small detail which I will take care of now.¡±

    ¡°Then please, make haste, I did not want to stop here.¡±

    And so the coat was exchanged to a rawhide cloak, at least properly sewn.

    ¡°Mireille, stop your grumbling, the nice old man was right. Your coat was very distinctive.¡±

    ¡°I know, and it was warm and comfy and I looked good in it!¡±

    <hr>

    They left the village and walked towards the bridge.

    The great Erbor bridge named for the mountain range spanned nearly fifty yards of a gorge with a rapidly flowing stream at the bottom. It was a work of great architecture, it was also an old elven remnant and a useful one at that.

    The road was ancient too, but much less well preserved, because at some point in the past someone had taken a hammer to the road-markers proclaiming elvish sovereignty standing to the sides of said road.

    They never realized until it was too late, that those stones channeled protective magics, and it was only a matter of time after their destruction before the road was more or less a fading memory, not having stood up to the harsh climate bordering the mountains.

    The bridge had thankfully survived the iconoclasts and stood the test of time, protected by the old runes. Stern elven faces looked over the waters toward the forest to the distant horizon, once their empire had owned what they surveyed.

    ¡°Gloomy-looking fellas,¡± said Mireille. ¡°No offense to you Asandria.¡± She grinned. Asandria shook her head helplessly.

    ¡°They probably wanted to appear dignified. No use making something that lets you look bad,¡± Alyssa mused.

    ¡®They look dignified.¡¯ Asandria looked a bit conflicted. ¡®But yes, they were dour in image as in life. That one was Periellin the Grace of Swords fighting was like an art form for him, he never strove to just win. That one over there was Nyarvellien the Questioner, no one could ever satisfy the deep curiosity he held and he never got the answer to all the questions that he had. He wrote a book of questions with the most important ones. I think there might have been even more than one. And the last face depicts actually a woman, Ilvenial the Fateweaver, a very respected diviner, her advice lifted an impoverished noble to be emperor, and brought low a mighty people, the snake folk of the south.

    They were born near here in Olarrin City farther east into the mountains and so were chosen to represent this choice piece of land.¡¯

    Cyrus held his head into the wind, flapping his wings his talons tightening. Thankfully his claws were not yet developed enough to pierce her cloak. She would have to get a leather shawl or something.

    <hr>

    The majestic mountains to the right, the dense forest to the left, they made good time on this well-used stretch of road, and when evening came, they had left bridge and village far behind them. In the fading light, they could make out the silhouette of a broken tower on one of the higher rocky hills. Some snakelike flying beasts flew in a small group around that tower. It was hard to gauge their size from afar but they seemed at least comparable to a donkey.

    They made camp in a small depression some small distance from the road towards the mountains.

    Sitting around the small fire they allowed themselves Mireille sighed. ¡°I miss my friends.¡± After thinking a bit she continued: ¡°but I would have missed them either way. Save for Alan, and he was always with his fellow male soldiers. They were farther and farther away in Starnborough Citadel- That was the name! Perhaps if I had had more time I could have befriended Clarissa.¡±

    ¡°I hope you won''t get lonely accompanying me.¡± Alyssa looked part joking, part worried.

    ¡°Nah. With your prettiness, a ghost, and a wyvern baby we are a regular old zoo. There won''t be any loneliness, never!¡± Mireille joked and gave Alyssa a one-armed hug, making Cyrus snap at her. ¡°Did you see those flying snakes? Always something strange the farther you get from the city.¡±

    Alyssa thought for a bit then said: ¡°Most likely they are chrysopelae. They possess some wind magics and are said to be quite poisonous. If they bite you, your blood turns to air and that is something said to be very painful if not fatal. Their blood can cure consumption.¡± Mireille looked at her as if she was a bit mad. ¡°What? I simply read a few books on the subject, they are a part of the fauna here.¡±

    ¡°The what?¡±

    ¡°The beasts of the region.¡±

    Mireille giggled ¡°I know. I wanted to make you mad. You sometimes speak like my grandma.¡±

    ¡°Stop being such a joker.¡± Alyssa smiled a bit.

    ¡°That''s impossible, what would be left!? No one would want the rest.¡±

    ¡°Hush, did you hear something?¡± Cyrus lifted his small head tasting the air with his tongue. Asandria floated a bit higher looking around.

    ¡®There are some people coming down the road. I would douse or cover the flame. They seem to be in a hurry!¡¯

    ¡°Quick, the fire.¡± Alyssa began to gather some earth putting it on the small flames, causing them to extinguish while still smoking a bit. Mireille after realizing her intent began to help.

    ¡®They have stopped at the road¡¯ Asandria called down to her, the voice a whisper on the wind.

    ¡°Get ready to depart or defend yourself.¡± Alyssa crouched beside Mireille.

    They gathered their belongings.

    Then there was the rushing of the wind through the trees on the other side of the road, the call of a nightbird. Then a crack and clatter as a rock came loose under a careless foot.

    A loud voice accompanied by a bright glow of white light sounded.

    ¡°Ielenia be with us today. Punish the sinner!¡±

 The continuation of diplomacy

    ¡°Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.¡±

    -Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose.

    Alyssa chanted a few syllables and a brightly glowing firebolt grew between her hands. Tonalla who crested the rim of the small depression with arrow nocked, let fly at that moment. The simultaneously loosed firebolt simply swallowed the arrow and nearly hit the archer who parried the flaming projectile with her bow, which promptly burst into short-lived flames. Tonalla let herself fall backward and beat out the few embers who had managed to ignite her home-spun tunic.

    She shouted, ¡°They are here!¡±

    Olaf, shield and mace held before him, advanced and attacked Mireille who met him with her short sword at the ready. The sound of metal meeting metal broke the silence of the night sparks flew from the clashing weapons.

    Christina followed by Grossar, wielding his longsword in a two-handed grip flanked them. The former raised her hand high, brown hair flying wildly around her head.

    ¡°Banish all darkness!¡± White light flooded the depression and Alyssas left arm began to smoke and hurt like it was being burned. Asandria flew higher into the sky escaping the radiance.

    Alyssa tried to flee but Grossar was faster, hitting her with the longsword and badly bruising her arm as he struck with the flat of the blade. Cyrus who had been agitated by the commotion stabbed him with his stinger hitting the lower leg just above his boots making him cry out in pain.

    ¡°Don''t kill them just yet. They must tell where the undead is hidden.¡±

    Alyssa stumbled backward. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hurt you, I simply tried to save the village.¡±

    ¡°Likely story. I was suspicious of you from the beginning. You carry the taint of darkness and now we know that you have killed with foul magic. You cannot outrun justice, the men hunting you found us in Sorringen. Surrender and confess so that your death may clean your soul.¡±

    Alyssa was growing angry trying to keep Grossar at bay with a branch she took from near the small fire. ¡°If you are going to kill me regardless, what have I got to lose!?¡±

    Raising her left hand she concentrated on opening the gate to the void and black mist billowed forth, her pale complexion growing even paler.

    ¡°Oh, Ielenia Saint of the repentant, cleanse this taint on your fair world!¡± The white light brightened yet again and forced back the darkness, for even though the void was endless, the wellspring was yet small and could not compete for power.

    Forced to her knees tears in her eyes Alyssa parried with the branch, her right arm was still hurting from the blow before.

    ¡°Eralasselyanthinar¡± Mireille spat the word and lightning flared. Olaf quickly retreated and concentrated on blocking her. She spun around as fast as the sparks that followed her and jumped towards Grossar hitting him on the back of the head with a resounding blow, felling him.

    She then ran towards Christina, who retreated a bit while throwing a powder from a pouch at her hip towards her. The powder scintillated in the white light from her holy symbol and as Mireille came into contact it, dispersing the lightning harmlessly into the air and the ground leaving her to stumble. With a visible effort, she advanced further but before reaching Christina her lightning-fueled haste ended and she thudded down on her knees, exhausted. ¡°Do you really think that no one ever thought about how to counter your Haste of the Storm?¡± Christina mocked. ¡°The faithful will always triumph over the heathen.¡±

    She gestured towards Olaf who hit Mireille on the head with the pommel of his mace which she was no longer agile enough to evade. She was out cold, blood running over her forehead seemingly black in the stark glow.

    Tonalla had drawn a long dirk and stood by Alyssa''s side holding the blade to her throat. ¡°Don''t make any sudden moves.¡± Olaf struck the angrily hissing Cyrus knocking him out.

    Christina breathing a bit more heavily but otherwise not showing exhaustion strode towards her. ¡°So. Now that we are alone you will tell me everything. When did you first conspire with the dark creature?¡±

    ¡°I did not!¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t speak the truth don¡¯t speak at all.¡± She hit her with her open hand across the face, blood seeped out of a tear in her upper lip. Alyssas hand involuntarily flew to the wound, which caused her captor to tighten her grip and a weeping cut appeared beneath the blade.

    Olaf and Tonalla looked uncomfortable at that. Tonalla said, ¡°Tell her everything, you can''t escape and you murdered a noble, at least here we can make it quick.¡±

    ¡°You would not be alive if not for me. I let her go because the undead wanted her, and they would have gotten her in spite of¡­¡±

    Christina, expressionless hit her again. Shaking her smarting hand she said. ¡°This seems pointless. The dark has a firm grip on your heart. So a final question: Where is the undead.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea!¡±

    ¡°Gag her, we are taking them both to Windkeep Castle where more able interrogators will get her confession, by force if necessary. We should not dirty our hands with them any more than we have to.¡±

    Alyssa and Mireille were bound and gagged.

    ¡°Should we destroy her brand?¡± Grossar asked resentfully after coming to as he rubbed his sore head.

    ¡°It''s more difficult than you think, only cutting off her arm would do that. And there are methods of making use of them which require the brand to be still intact.¡± Christina answered distractedly.

    ¡°Good thing we had those things of hers left in the tavern, we would have never caught them otherwise,¡± Tonalla said while tightening the bindings.

    <hr>

    Afterward, they made camp in that same depression. In the morning Mireille and Alyssa were dragged to the horses and rudely thrown over the saddle. And with those horses in tow, the group traveled towards Windkeep.

    Thirsty and in pain from the highly uncomfortable position and the beating Alyssa drifted in and out of consciousness. Mireille fared not much better, her hands had lost all sensation after being tightly bound, so that she feared to lose them should not the bindings be loosened soon. After some discussion, they bound Cyrus and threw him into a sack where he squirmed angrily before settling down.

    At midday, they were watered under the watchful eye of their captors, Tonalla helped them follow nature''s call. Red from embarrassment, Alyssa more than Mireille they were then thrown over the horses again and the journey continued. No one tried to talk to them. Asandria stroked a cool spectral hand over Alyssa''s hot face and whispered sadly ¡®I will see what I can do¡¯

    Never was the setting of the sun a more welcome sight, all muscles and joints hurting, nauseous from lying on her stomach, Alyssa felt thoroughly ill and was worried sick about Cyrus and concerned about Mireille who hang still and unmoving over the leading horse.

    The bindings were loosened a bit and they got more water, but no food. Asandria had vanished around the middle of the day. They even let Cyrus have a bit of water, Christina had identified him as her familiar and thought to use him to extract the confession at their arrival.

    They had a short discussion about forcing her through threats against the wyvern, but Christina was worried she would let them kill the beast for her to die too, not being quite sure how the bond truly worked.

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    Still bound they were thrown on the ground near the campfire and watched in turns. Alyssa succumbed to exhaustion and slept until¡­

    <hr>

    In the middle of the night.

    Grossar stood leaning against a young oak whittling a bit of wood into the shape of a flute. Holding it up into the firelight he regarded it critically while turning it this way and that.

    A light wind, never really absent so near the mountains, rustled leaves and shook the branches. Far out of sight an owl hooted thrice.

    Unseen by the sentry Asandria drifted into the small clearing her features grim and colder than usual.

    Grossar shivered put down the knife and wood piece and rubbed his arms.

    One moment there was only the silence of the woods, the next a small white figure, clothed in tattered rags appeared behind him, blue-white hair swaying without sound. The small girl stretched a bit and then gently, with something akin to gentleness in her demeanor, she slit his throat with claws of ice. Black lines shot from the deep cut outlining the veins of his face and the grimace of pain and fear that remained on his slowly slackening features.

    She took hold of the now bonelessly sagging body and laid him on the ground.

    Asandria floated beside her and whispered ¡®Thank you, my lady. The priestess is the most dangerous one, but also the most likely to notice your approach. She is lying over there.¡¯ She pointed.

    The glowing eyes regarded her for a moment, then she went towards Tonalla resting in a bedroll near the fire, turning restlessly. Weaving a spell while whispering softly, the words lost to the wind, sleep deepened into unconsciousness.

    Then towards Olaf she went, who also laid in his bedroll to the other side of Christina as if shielding her. The horses were agitated, stamping and snorting wildly. And as she whispered the same spell a bewildered-looking Christina woke with an involuntary groan. The spelled fighter went limp just as the priestess jumped from her bedroll brandishing her symbol.

    ¡°Foul fiend! Creature of darkness, flee the light of purity!¡±

    The small vampire retreated a bit into the shade of the trees and looked at Christina, waiting. A bit of smoke wafting from her still features.

    Then she spoke ¡°We have the same enemies. But I knew of your kind before there were humans worshipping the White without Stain and I don¡¯t think you will listen. Will you let me take my friends and go? I will leave you and those of you I could spare, alive. I don¡¯t want to deprive those fighting the Heartstealer of your abilities.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about, but I will not let them escape their just punishment!¡±

    ¡°I thought not. So be it.¡± The vampire vanished into the woods. After a short while, a stone thrown with considerable force impacted Christina on the back of her head forcing her to her knees. In short succession, more stones flew hitting her in various places.

    ¡°Show yourself and fight! Cowardly foe of light stand and receive the wrath of purity.¡±

    Another stone hit her in the temple and she wavered falling down unconscious.

    The small girl appeared out of the darkness of the forest and cut the bindings on Mireille and Alyssa loosening the sack containing Cyrus, freeing him too, and nearly got stung for her troubles. Cyrus hobbled and rushed to Alyssa screaming piteously and rubbed his small head against her chest. Waking groggily she stroked him softly sending calming thoughts through their bond. She winced at the pins and needles in her hands and feet.

    Mireille woke much less calm. ¡°Ungrateful bitch. Aaaah. I should have used my lightning bolt instead of the haste, then she would have something to complain about." Turning she cursed at the fallen priestess. "May Nirileth steal the last coin from your pockets and the luck from your life. When I get to a temple I am going to pray for your misfortune. If you die I will go and spit on your grave.¡± It was distracting her nicely from her pain and so she continued her tirade.

    ¡°I feel you don¡¯t mean half of that, and that is interesting, she would have had you tortured and killed you know?¡± a voice spoke from behind her.

    Startled Mireille turned and saw the small vampire girl. ¡°Ah, it''s you. I was wondering who managed to free us. You won''t, you know, eat us or something? We rescued you, that has to count for something, right?¡± She was a bit worried by the otherworldly being.

    ¡°No, I have enough to really drink my fill right here.¡± The vampire gestured towards the fallen priestess and her attendants. ¡°And even if not, I would ask before I take from those who are not enemies- emergencies aside.¡± She smiled, it looked a bit forced as if unused to such expressions. Her canines looked small, long, and very sharp.

    Alyssa hugged Cyrus kissing his head. ¡°Thank you, thank you so much for rescuing us. I was worried sick about Cyrus and Mireille, and me of course. Thank you Asandria- You brought her here, isn''t that right?¡± She looked towards the ghostly form. Nodding slightly the specter floated into her shadow and vanished. ¡®It cost me a lot of strength, let me sleep in your shadow.¡¯

    Feeling a chill travel through her she nevertheless retorted. ¡°Anytime.¡±

    Mireille, hearing only one side of the conversation, said. ¡°Thank you Asandria! And thank you, unknown vampire girl.¡±

    ¡°My name is Vanessa¡¯ellariel Erellathiel formerly a princess of the orchid palace.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that''s a mouthful. Got it. Vanessa, it is.¡± Mireille nodded.

    Somewhat exasperated but with a more genuine smile Vanessa nodded. ¡°That might be for the best. I would not like for you to butcher my name every time you called.¡±

    Drinking from flasks and eating rations they found while feeding strips of jerky to Cyrus, they began to regain a bit of their former vigor.

    ¡°What now?¡± Alyssa looked at her companions.

    ¡°We take what we need, especially the horses, then bind those three, loosely, so that we gain a bit more of a headstart?¡± Mireille proposed.

    ¡°And what about Vanessa are you going to accompany us? Why did you even free us? We can''t thank you enough, and you are very welcome to come with us. We would be dead or worse without you.¡±

    Vanessa pondered for a moment. ¡°I think I will travel with you. I can hardly accomplish anything here. I need resources and allies, and those are in short supply in this region. The Heartstealers influence lies thick on these lands so that is another point in favor of venturing farther away. And to your other question- You helped me. That is reason enough to free you, and my enemies tried to catch you because of me. I felt partly responsible.¡±

    ¡°You are nothing like the stories, or perhaps not wholly, you know the evil monster part at least.¡± Mireille stuttered.

    ¡°Yes, I know what you want to say. I was cursed, my whole land was cursed when the Heartstealer did her foul deed, and after that, I slept for a very long time. I had tried to alleviate the curse and had some success in keeping my sanity and morality mostly intact. So I won''t eat you in your sleep, you can rest assured,¡± Vanessa looked amused.

    ¡°That''s a relief.¡± Mireille looked serious saying that, then giggled a bit. ¡°It''s a somewhat surreal situation.¡± Sighing, she continued gesturing towards Christina and the rest. ¡°Come on let''s tie them up at least, I don¡¯t want to be stabbed or captured again. And then we should leave here. Can you accompany us in the day? There was talk of sunlight burning vampires. What''s with garlic, or was it onions, what about water? Not that I ever knew one or knew one who knew one, if you know what I mean?¡±

    Vanessa laughed once at that looking a bit surprised at herself. ¡°No, I will catch up to you once evening falls. I can''t stand the eye of Gesserach, but it will be no hardship, you will be much slower than me. We will talk more when night falls. You probably have many questions.¡±

    Alyssa used her healing spell on her face and neck, it was a strange sensation she had not often experienced, as if the water was washing into her skin carrying a hint of cold taking away pain, blood, and last the wound itself.

    Binding her erstwhile capturers they then took what they could use and threw the rest into a nearby ravine.

    ¡°That will keep them busy when they get loose.¡± Mireille gloated.

    Mounting two horses while leading the others behind them with a rope they then broke camp at dawn leaving three securely trussed adversaries behind and one stone cairn covering the remains of Grossar.

    Alyssa sadly looked at the last resting place of the warrior, what might have been if she had not been forced to kill the noble, what if they had met without her being touched by the void. She imagined an adventuring group of friends with her as a fledgling mage under Adrian''s tutelage. She rubbed at her eyes. Mireille looked questioningly.

    "The cold wind got into my eyes."

    The light of dawn painted the mountains in a rosy hue while clear skies proclaimed the start of a warm day.

    Vanessa vanished like the morning mist as the sky was still grey.

    ¡°Do you think this will be an epic journey and we will be heroes?¡± Asked Mireille out of the blue. She seemed none the worse for wear.

    Alyssa answered seriously: ¡°I don¡¯t think you set out to become a hero. Most who do, end up dead, at least that is what my father told me long ago. And my mother said you get to be a hero by doing heroic things, and a part of that is that you do them for the right reasons. Perhaps we will even get to be heroic. I would like that a lot, beats being a wanted criminal by far.¡±

    ¡°Or a deserter.¡±

    Cyrus hissed after an escaping rabbit.

    ¡°And you will be the hero''s trusty mount.¡± Mireille looked fondly on the little wyvern.

    ¡°Aint it a bit early to say this?¡±

    ¡°Can''t be too early planning your heroics.¡± She lifted both her hands stretching while rocking with the movement of the horse.

    ¡°Onwards to glory, and far, far away from here!¡±

 Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold

    ¡°Confidence is ignorance. If you''re feeling cocky, it''s because there''s something you don''t know.¡±

    - Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl

    The day passed with frequent rests, they were in no shape for hard travels in spite of Mireille''s claims to the contrary. Even Cyrus was subdued after their experience. Alyssa was especially gloomy.

    ¡°What did you think would happen when they caught up? Christina is a follower of the most rigid goddess I know!¡± Mireille gesticulated and tried to get Alyssa''s attention.

    ¡°I...don''t know. It''s simply that killing people I am acquainted with...it''s a new low. Even if I did not do the deed, it happened because of me, because of us. And I can''t even be properly sad about it, I am actually glad to be alive and free, and isn''t that proof that I am what they accuse me of?¡±

    ¡°That you can even think about that is because he died. Perhaps he would have felt bad about it, but the interrogators would have tortured you until there was nothing left. I don¡¯t think we had a choice and I respect Vanessa for not killing them all. She is a good person- being? Whatever. Better than I would have been in any case.¡±

    She stopped and collected her thoughts. ¡°I normally go with the flow. No one wanted to pay for apprenticing me, so I did the odd jobs, and mostly went hungry. The sons were always more important than the jokester, good-for-nothing daughter. So perhaps I am more selfish because if I did not look out for myself, no one would. I know selfish, you are not selfish. Don''t punish yourself more. I think what you experienced the last weeks was more than enough of that.¡±

    "Don''t put yourself down so much, I wouldn''t know what to do without you." Alyssa looked at Mireille thankfully.

    Cyrus tried to fly again, ripping her cloak in the process, it was just as well they had some more.

    <hr>

    In the evening.

    The sun set far over the forest, drenching the swaying treetops in red colors, which looked like a vast sea. They had climbed into the mountains again, this time following a proper road. There was a small overhang, chiseled and smoothed for camping purposes.

    ¡°That''s a nice touch.¡± Mireille admired the even and smooth stone floor. ¡°But it says a lot, that I like an even stone floor that much. I will do my utmost to get accustomed to luxury when we get to Margrinar!¡±

    Alyssa yawned and rubbed her eyes. She had dark circles around them from lack of sleep. Being tightly bound was very uncomfortable and not conducive to a good night''s rest.

    ¡°Lucky that Cyrus got that flightless bird thing. That''s instincts for you. Otherwise, you would have to teach him.¡± Mireille joked.

    Cyrus had managed with a wing-assisted leap, to catch a bird ducking into a small ravine, the stinger had killed the poor thing with one blow. Afterward, the small wyvern had ripped it to shreds, eating everything including feathers and beak. Alyssa shuddered a bit in remembrance.

    ¡°Yes, lucky us.¡± She cheered weakly.

    They spread their blankets and prepared for the night. Alyssa used her fire spell under the instructions of Asandria to warm a big rock, who then radiated quite a bit of warmth.

    ¡°That''s very nice. I was wondering how we were going to cook. And it''s without a suspicious-looking light and no smoke.¡± Mireille seemed very pleased. Unconsciously she made a small gesture and spoke a word upon which a small gust of wind cleared away some dust before sitting.

    ¡°Look at this! I have not tried that in months, and it works. I was worried after they warned us in the training camp.¡±

    ¡®It should be fine if it incorporates wind or fire and she keeps it small. But she should never attempt water.¡¯ Asandria spoke, her transparent figure melding into the shadows.

    ¡°Asandria says to never try for a water spell. And to use cantrips only.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡±

    ¡°Please take it seriously!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes!¡±

    They ate some trail rations, warmed over the stone. Suddenly there was a gust of wind and Vanessa appeared out of the deepening dusk.

    ¡°Dhe suilon. I wish you a good evening.¡± Vanessa nodded towards the two.

    ¡°Hello to you too.¡± Mireille waved with a piece of jerky.

    ¡°Good evening.¡± Alyssa bowed.

    ¡°It seems as if our pursuers are no longer trying to catch you. They have begun to return towards Sorringen. I am later than I wished because I observed them for a short while.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask you some questions?¡± Alyssa spoke.

    ¡°Please do.¡±

    ¡°Who exactly are you and what happened for you to be captured?¡±

    The small girl walked quietly towards the wall of the shelter and sat down. Even clothed in rags, she had an arresting presence.

    ¡°I am Vanessa¡¯ellariel Erellathiel Princess of the Orchid Palace. I lived a long time ago- It was around the time you humans came to the continent.

    I tried to find a way to lift the curse that afflicted my country, but while doing so, I myself was cursed by the Heartstealer. She did so to preserve me for her own designs but I managed to escape.

    Afterward, I not only searched for something to help my people, but also for ways to retain my sanity. If I may say so I was successful with the second and failed miserably with the first. The magic I used to preserve my mind had the unintended side effect of a prolonged sleep, perhaps in conjunction with my changed nature.

    I am awake mere months now. Always only a bit ahead of the envoys of broken ivory.

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    I mistakenly assumed that I would be able to acquire allies and make a difference in fighting against the common foe. That led to my capture by the priesthood of Cornac, god of battles, the red harbinger. Those same people then gave me into the keeping of the adventuring group you met. I did not let myself be taken without a fight, and they did not have the resources anymore for escorting me themselves.

    The rest you should have experienced for yourself.

    Now I have given up on the lands around here and wanted to travel with you in the hopes of learning a bit more about the times I find myself in, and to repay the debt I feel towards both of you.

    I apologize for the lengthy introduction, but I wanted to lay the cards on the table so to say because I think we will have a longer association than simple need and coincidence might dictate.¡±

    The two living companions listened attentively Alyssa warming her hands on the heated stone. After Vanessa had said her piece silence reigned. A light rain began to fall and the wind picked up steadily.

    Mireille was silent for a moment then spoke up: ¡°That is¡­I don¡¯t have words. Is this really a coincidence? Asandria is also an elven undead, is she not? And that the two of you meet up in our company nonetheless, it boggles the mind. How do you even speak our language?¡±

    "It was not that difficult to learn, and we had some contact in the latter years of our empire. But the answer is mind magic, naturally." Vanessa looked at the two of them as if that was self-explanatory.

    Asandria spoke, ¡®it is no coincidence. It was a hard-won victory against the forces of the Heartstealer, the queen of the dead. The Fateweaver was the one who first proposed the plan to no longer search for salvation but for a way to harm her, who had destroyed us. With divination magics and careful manipulation, they set in motion events that should culminate in the most harmful of outcomes for our foe. What exactly that would be is something even our best could not predict. And here we are.¡¯ The empty, dark depressions in her face where her eyes should be turned to regard first Alyssa then Vanessa.

    ¡®Alyssa is a powerful if untrained necromancer in the making. Her talent with various magics, that are not life-aspected, is astounding. I think we pool our resources and set her on the way to becoming a formally trained wizard. Perhaps that is, what was intended. But this is only supposition.¡¯

    "Are you guys talking to the ghost? Sorry, Asandria. I can''t hear a thing!" Mireille complained.

    "I will tell you later." Alyssa placated her.

    Vanessa raised her little head and locked eyes with Alyssa and answered, ignoring the byplay. ¡°Yes, that could well be. And it is absolutely necessary that you learn at least a modicum of control.¡± She cupped her chin with her left hand. ¡°Necromancy, it might be ironic to say, is not my forte. I have a good understanding of the basics and also the most rudimentary grasp of elemental conjurations.

    I am an arcanist and my studies were more along the way of manipulating the weave of magic and the mind, with a minor focus on the arts of poison and Ice. But I most assuredly can do something for you, so that you don¡¯t commit slow suicide into a minor or even marginally powerful undead, which would be the outcome if you were left alone for a few years longer. Even faster if you were forced to use your abilities more freely.

    I propose to tutor you in some initiatory exercises of control, pulling life energy out of nearby plants and animals, perhaps even the elements to bolster and protect your own flagging vitality, something like that. Perhaps some lesser enchantments. I will put more thought into this.¡±

    Mireille leaned back and looked from one to the other. ¡°So much the better. Have fun learning!¡±

    ¡°And you. You have a lot of training to do before you can use your abilities as they are meant to be used. I have seen something like your brand in the past, it was a banned concept but the execution is sound. There is much more to it than simply three mid-class spells.¡±

    Mireille ducked her head smiling ruefully.

    Alyssa seemed both intimidated and very troubled. Asandria stroked through her hair and said soothingly ¡®I will try to explain the concepts you have problems with during the day. And we have time. There is no rush at the moment. It is better to reach the goal at all than to reach it in the least amount of time.¡¯

    ¡°I think it best we start now. If we are forcefully separated then at least you will have the tools to not make the damage worse.¡± Vanessa got up and sat down next to Alyssa.

    In the light of a glowing orb that, through some strangeness of illusion, did not illuminate more than a few paces, they sat over diagrams and glyphs formed of minor illusionary magic, with the vampire demonstrating and explaining the art of using and controlling the forces of the void.

    ¡°You both should sleep, I will talk with Asandria for a bit and keep watch over you. When dawn is near, I will leave to hide away for the day. A carriage would be a good thing, but the area does not seem very civilized so it might be difficult to acquire.¡±

    After bidding good night Mireille and Alyssa slept with their backs to each other to conserve a bit of heat, while Cyrus was kept securely in Alyssa''s bedroll.

    The next morning arrived much too early for the two sleeping girls, but after a hasty and cold breakfast, they broke camp. Vanessa had vanished after waking them as per usual.

    On the way, they met two small groups of travelers, a merchant with his guards who politely inquired as to the state of the road and asked if they had encountered any problems. From him, they bought some more rations. The others were some farmers returning after selling their produce in Windkeep.

    And then they were at the crossroads with the right way leading into the mountains towards Thundersplit pass, and to the front, on the edge of visibility, were the towers of Windkeep Castle with the smoke of the village hanging in the air.

    ¡°Do you think they are looking for us at the toll station in the pass?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Most likely. And I don¡¯t know a thing we could do to make us less memorable.¡±

    The platinum-haired girl with the purple eyes and the wyvern looked at the freckled redhead. Where Alyssa was beautiful, Mireille had a lively prettiness, they were both hard to overlook.

    Mireille grinned, ¡°other people would like to have some of our problems I think!¡±

    ¡°But not all of them. Of that I am sure.¡± Alyssa countered.

    ¡°Let''s travel until we see the outpost, then we can make plans while knowing the terrain.¡± Mireille proposed.

    And they traveled until late afternoon, the steeply rising road to the pass not quite as pleasant as they had hoped. The view was simply fantastic, letting them see Windkeep castle much more clearly and the forest spread out beneath then nearly to the horizon, only broken up by two larger rivers and in the distance a much smaller chain of rocky hills.

    As they crested the last incline they entered the pass proper and saw Corlach Fort, the border fortress built of local stone, which stood to the side of the pass. Farther into the mountains there were signs of an old quarry, probably the one that supplied the stone for the fortification.

    Alyssa thought for a moment, ¡°let''s camp somewhere around here. We can discuss everything with Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°Last night she only talked you through the scribbles on the ground. Do you think she will begin training me now?¡±

    ¡°We will see. There is a lot to memorize for me so that it might be more sensible if you got some attention too.¡±

    They found a fissure in the mountainside, and even if they did not all fit there, at least it would be more protected from the endless wind.

    Vanessa appeared as night had firmly settled on the mountains.

    ¡°You made good time I see. Now it will get more difficult. I don¡¯t think you can smuggle the horses past the outpost and the soldiers there will be alerted to look for you. It is your only saving grace that the soldiers here are from Margrinar and therefore not too invested in the search for foreign criminals. If one of you were a good talker, you could try to bribe them with the horses. But as it stands I think it would be best if I helped you pass them by in the night while leaving the horses. I can''t perform miracles.¡±

    ¡°Says the miraculous elven princess,¡± joked Mireille.

    ¡°You seem to have retained a lot of energy during your climb. Commendable. I will endeavor to use that leftover endurance wisely in the future. Today we should try to circumvent the fort. If you remain here, you will be detained and interrogated, possibly given over to the authorities of Windkeep. That is something we must avoid. So. No time like the present.¡±

    Mireille groaned. Alyssa silently nodded. Cyrus bit into another piece of jerky throwing it into the air and gulping it down as it fell.

    They ate and drank their fill, then freed the horses of tack and saddle, before taking what they could comfortably carry, Alyssa changed her hooded cloak against one of much better make that probably had belonged to Christina. Vanessa took some supplies and changed her rags to somewhat better clothing, even as it was too large by far.

    And then it was time.

    The clouds hung low driven by a brisk wind before the lost eye shining down from above, the surrounding mountain peaks intermittently lit and veiled in shadow.

    Vanessa took the lead, Asandria, unseen by most, flew overhead, Cyrus was securely held in a pouch Alyssa had bound before her chest.

    Mireille had taken a spear along with her trusty short-sword and a small hand-crossbow which came as a surprise because none of them had used such a weapon. Perhaps it belonged to Ikett?

    And thus they set out.

 A welcome reprieve

    ¡°The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.¡±

    - Daniel J. Boorstin

    The night was moonlit, but the broken cloud cover made it difficult to see much further than a few dozen yards.

    Vanessa went first, then Mireille, and last Alyssa with Cyrus.

    They kept to ridges and boulders, circumvented the open fields. On the wall of the fortress braziers burned against darkness and chill, some soldiers were seen moving but none were especially vigilant. They were not meant to guard against lone people on foot, what could they smuggle? A haversack full of goods perhaps?

    Nearing the fortress at the narrow part of the pass they could identify the heraldry: There were the towers of Margrinar, then there was a mountain with a crown reminiscent of sun rays, the county of the gilded summit. The walls were made with large blocks of chiseled stone, skillfully fitted to one another, most likely the work of dwarfen masons. Men did not often have the patience for perfectionism in such grand works. Sigils were worked into the parapet, Asandria appraised them for a long time, then flew on, shaking her head in derision.

    Then they were past the walls, and technically no longer in Rivenlorn. Alyssa had the feeling of some weight she did not realize she carried loosening.

    The vampire girl looked incongruous in the much too large clothing, arms with the sleeves rolled up but she glided like a ghost through the night.

    Alyssa always had had good night vision, perhaps because of that ¡®old blood¡¯ Asandria mentioned and so did not have any problems, Mireille had to stop and orient herself sometimes.

    They were sad to leave the horses even if the pain of riding for the first time was something she never wanted to experience again.

    The descent loomed before them in the darkness, the road winding between the lower peaks, clouds hanging on the branches of crippled-looking trees. The moon shone on them from above, the lost eye seemed overly large and clear.

    They began to climb down to gain some distance to the fort before the night ran out. Alyssa was stumbling with fatigue, completely tired, and sleep-deprived. Mireille was somewhat used to this after months of boot camp and so helped her along, keeping her right hand on her upper arm.

    Vanessa appeared before them, eyes reflecting the moonlight with a slight greenish sheen. ¡°We can camp here. There is a suitable location just ahead. I would have wished to gain a bit more distance, but becoming careless and falling down the mountain would be worse.¡± The last was said with the merest hint of a smile. ¡°You did well, all in all.¡±

    As they reached the turn in the road they laid down their bedrolls and cloaks, trying to preserve as much warmth as possible, and huddled together until sleep claimed them. The vampire girl sat at the edge of the cliff beside the road, legs dangling. Fir trees reached up from deep beneath her, the cliff falling some hundreds of yards to where the trees were carpeting the side of the mountain. The road was only dimly lit after the moon had set, a cold grey band winding between the craggy rocks.

    Mireille woke slowly to the sensation of a hand gently shaking her shoulder. ¡°Please let me sleep a bit longer.¡±

    ¡°Did that ever work?¡± The voice of Vanessa came from the encompassing darkness just before dawn, the cloud cover did not even allow for starlight.

    ¡°Let me think.¡± And with that Mireille was sufficiently awake. ¡°Ah damn. You have to go I gather?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we are on the east side of the mountains, dawn and it''s light will reach us a lot earlier.¡±

    ¡°Never thought about that.¡± Mireille rubbed her eyes. ¡°Take care and don¡¯t go too far, don¡¯t accept food from strangers.¡±

    Vanessa looked at her as if she had grown another head. ¡°What are you talking about exactly?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it''s nothing, don¡¯t take it to heart! If I don¡¯t make a joke when needed I might be seriously ill, near death actually. So take it as a good sign.¡±

    Sighing in exasperation Vanessa stood up dusted off her too-big clothes and vanished, just like that.

    ¡°I will never get used to that. Now I have the company of a ghost I can''t see or hear, a wyvern who would rather bite me and my companion should sleep as long as possible. And it''s still dark so I don¡¯t see a thing. Boooring.¡±

    She snuggled back into the bedroll, agitating the wyvern who nipped at her but at last got hold of Alyssa. Trying to stay awake was an uphill battle, which she only managed due to the wyvern who sometimes scratched her if she hugged Alyssa too close.

    In this way the first hint of grey appeared on the horizon, and being well-positioned, she could see the light climbing higher, the land that slowly revealed itself being mostly foothills and lesser mountains, densely forested and with few signs of habitation.

    Farther away on the outskirts of the mountains, the forest was broken up by farmland and small rivers alongside which could be seen some small towns and villages. Still not densely populated but much more in the way of civilization than the other side of the mountain range.

    <hr>

    As the sun was good and truly risen, Mireille had had enough. ¡°Alyssa. Hey sleepyhead. Wake up!¡±

    Mumbling in her sleep the subject in question hid deeper in the bedroll. ¡°Time for harsher measures.¡± And with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she began to tickle her unfortunate friend. ¡°Ah. Stop!¡± Alyssa still laughing, scrambled out of the covers, the wyvern hopping clear of the commotion with an angry shriek. ¡°What are you..!?"

    ¡°You did not want to wake, and it is morning already.¡± Mireille looked a tiny bit guilty as she said that. ¡°Let''s get a bite to eat and at least it''s downhill travel all the way.¡±

    Alyssa felt a headache coming on. ¡°Ok, let''s do that. But no tickling. Ever!¡±

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    They ate some bread and dry crumbly cheese before getting ready to leave.

    ¡°Did Vanessa say anything?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°No, she woke me up and then left, saying something about dawn being earlier on this side of the mountains.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense. Then let''s get going, at least moving will keep us warm.¡±

    The next hours were spent walking down the mountain road, near midday they came upon a small spring welling from the cliffside, flowing through a carved channel bridged with some rough-cut planks. There they took a short rest ate a bit and replenished their water supplies.

    ¡°Brr. The water here is cold enough that I am wondering why it is not frozen!¡± Mireille shuddered.

    ¡°I could warm it up for you?¡± Alyssa thought while looking at a small pot they had ¡®liberated¡¯ from Christina and company. ¡°Here have a drink of that.¡± She proffered a flask made of dull grey metal. ¡°I found it among their supplies. It is a potion made of healing herbs but more for strengthening purposes. It keeps illness away and gives more endurance.¡±

    ¡°Why did we not drink this yesterday? I was absolutely exhausted.¡±

    ¡°I had not managed to identify it in time and now that I have, it would only go to waste.¡± She sniffed at the open flask before taking a deep swallow. ¡°Looks like it has been brewed around the new year in mid-winter. High time to use it. Without magic to stabilize it, it will go bad within a month I think.¡±

    Mireille also drank a bit. ¡°Pft. That tastes as bad as it sounded healthy. But whatever.¡± Drinking water to cleanse her palate she then washed up and they set off again.

    In the afternoon they met a caravan of mules accompanied by some hardy looking men, some of which bore the livery of Margrinar and the Gilded Summit, the barony they found themselves in.

    ¡°Hello, travelers. How is the road ahead?¡± One of the soldiers, a jovial-looking older man with dark brown hair, called out to them as they pressed themselves to the rockface to make way.

    ¡°The road is free and without troubles. The weather left it a bit wet in places but that is all. I wish you safe travels!¡± Alyssa answered politely.

    The soldier let the mules pass him by and stood near the two of them. ¡°Might you be a magician? That''s some strange beastie you have with you, looks like a miniature wyvern if you ask me. No offense meant.¡±

    ¡°None taken, you are actually right, it is my familiar a very young wyvern.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that explains it. But hopefully, you know what you are doing, wyverns can be right vicious and without much provocation too. What brings you to this side of the mountain?¡±

    ¡°We are traveling for Kronenburg, hopefully, to enroll at the magical academy there. I have a letter of recommendation, and my sister here is keeping me company on the way.¡±

    Mireille''s look as she was declared a sibling promised mischief for later, but she willingly nodded. ¡°That''s right. My sister is a true-bred academic, if left alone in the wilderness she would starve to death underneath an apple tree.¡±

    Now it was Alyssa''s turn to throw a reproachful glance at her friend.

    The soldier laughed. ¡°You seem to get along well. That''s something to be cherished. I wish you well and safe travels. Take care to join a caravan or some such, the woods around here are not that safe anymore, rumors of bandits are making the rounds. Be well!¡±

    With those parting words, he waved while turning and hastened after the receding caravan.

    ¡°Did you learn any more offensive magic?¡± Mireille asked conversationally.

    ¡°I learned not to damage myself as much with my necromancy.¡± Answered Alyssa. ¡°It''s more difficult than I thought and much slower going, but it is the difference between wildly swinging a weapon and using it as intended. It''s rewarding in a way and much safer for me and everyone but my target. I always saw that side of myself as flawed or a curse. Learning to apply that in a useful way makes me happy.¡±

    ¡°Let me guess. This black mist thing you did was the equivalent of you swinging around a battle axe with eyes closed. I am glad that I did not know at the time!¡±

    ¡°It was not that bad!¡± Alyssa hit Mireille on the shoulder.

    ¡°Hey, I am going to get calluses on that shoulder severely damaging my beauty! Will you take responsibility for me when I can no longer get married?¡± She stuck out her tongue.

    ¡°There is no talking to you!¡±

    They bickered a bit but were soon too tired by the exhausting march and then walked on in silence. The mountain air did its own in sapping their strength so they took a rest as they arrived at a high plateau that was overlooking a narrow valley a mountain creek rushed down through the rocky cleft for the lowlands.

    ¡°Here have another swig of the potion. I think we would need to gain some more distance before we can rest safely. If those soldiers talk about us someone might realize that no one has seen us coming into the toll station.¡± Alyssa said, holding out the flask.

    ¡°Once more unto the breach!¡± Mireille grabbed the flask and drank a healthy amount. ¡°Blech. You are an apothecary, arent you? I challenge you to improve the recipe so that normal people can drink this without pain!¡±

    Smiling, Alyssa drank her share. Resting a bit they picked up the pace, having regained their stamina.

    And come evening they were in the foothills, having left the slope of the mountain behind.

    Luck was with them and they found a storm shelter. Probably built for the caravans supplying the fort. No one was in residence so that they could rest if not in comfort at least dry and reasonably warm. It was still early autumn and the weather was still mild, with some short-lived rain showers, but in the mountains, the temperature fell unpleasantly especially in the evening.

    <hr>

    And with the darkness¡­

    Vanessa appeared as if by magic, which to be honest, it probably was. Suddenly she stood near the bedrolls.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Mireille jumped a bit in fright. ¡°I will never get used to this.¡±

    ¡°Mae g¡¯ovannen. I hope the hour finds you well.¡± Vanessa nodded in greeting.

    ¡°It''s good to see you again.¡± Alyssa smiled in her direction.

    ¡°Yes, good evening,¡± Mireille said a bit gracelessly, sitting down.

    Vanessa sat down and gestured, glyphs and diagrams appeared on the open ground.

    ¡°That should keep you busy.¡± Nodding towards Alyssa she then turned to Mireille.

    ¡°So. The energetic one.¡± Sounding much too mature for her small stature and sounding like a girl too, it was somewhat incongruous. ¡°I will explain to you the intricacies of using a preformed soul formula, what you call a branding.¡±

    And she went on to explain in more detail.

    The brand was able to accept magical energy with more nuance than she and her trainer in the army had thought possible, it was, for example, possible to channel energy into her sigil of Stormhaste for a much longer time while not using it to the fullest, making it more useful for prolonged fights. The sergeant, back in another life it seemed, had explained that some could modify their spells, but this went a lot farther.

    A lightning bolt could be channeled into a weapon or even her fists giving a serious jolt when hitting an opponent, there was even the possibility of forming a weapon out of living lightning. It was also possible to train the mana capacity of the branded, making them able to last longer and use the spells to greater effect.

    And the combination of different abilities was specifically intended by the unknown creator of her brand so it was only limited by her ability.

    The shield that she had so far neglected was formed in a way that a reflexive activation seemed possible, incorporating it into a combat style was probably intended.

    But the reality of it was still far away.

    There seemed to be smoke coming out of her ears as Mireille sat slumped over.

    ¡°Please pay attention. Our time together is limited by your physical shortcomings and need to sleep!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am absolutely attentive. Could we perhaps do some live demonstration? I think I am better with physical things?¡±

    Vanessa mused and then concurred. The rest of the evening was punctuated by bursts of lightning and subdued cursing coming from Mireille. Thankfully they took the training outside.

    Later in the evening she was awoken by Asandria softly tousling her hair. ¡®Don''t sleep with your face in the diagram. I don¡¯t know if something could possibly activate them. The effect would most likely not be as intended.¡¯

    Mireille did last only a little longer and both of them slept without dreams, exhaustion stealing even that.

 What we are dealing with here, is a complete lack of respect for the law.

    ¡°It''s still magic even if you know how it''s done.¡±

    - Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

    The next morning Mireille was roused by Vanessa again, her teeth much too bright for the sleep-deprived girl even if her smile was a mere hint.

    Practicing her magic a bit before breakfast she spend the very early morning outside the cabin. It was still outside, the wind had ceased over the night. Small white clouds hung like bits of forgotten wool in the slowly brightening sky. The woods around here were relatively peaceful and only from afar did she spy a lumbering tree-being, she knew not what kind. The scent of pine and wet leaves accented the crisp mountain air.

    After she had washed up, she went inside to look for her friend. After waking Alyssa who had been sleeping deeply, the latter made breakfast, and then it was time to get back to their daily travels.

    <hr>

    The landscape gradually became less harsh, the temperature more pleasant.

    Even if the surroundings were still wilderness, there were at least some signs of human habitation. A roofed hunting post here, some signs of logging activity there. They continued through the day, the continuous travels being a good training they were not as tired by days end. The dreaded flask helped too, if not for that they would not have withstood the training and the journey both.

    The day passed.

    When evening came Vanessa appeared with a friendly ¡°Mae g¡¯ovannen.¡± Which she explained, when asked, simply meant ¡®well met¡¯ in elven.

    The training was harsh but fruitful even if the first large steps were followed by progressively smaller ones, the subject matter being complicated or difficult to grasp or both.

    The night was spent outside, no cabin or shelter being available. The morning found them wet with dew and Mireille was grumpy for quite a while until Alyssa found a wild pear tree still bearing sour fruit which they then shared.

    The first signs of a settlement were a logging camp, an active one this time. Several large men were dragging a tree trunk to a large wagon drawn by several oxen.

    ¡°Hey, there ladies!¡± One of the men spying the two called out. ¡°All alone out here?¡±

    Alyssa waved a bit shyly while Mireille looked at them critically and called. ¡°Hello! We come from the pass. How far to the village?¡±

    The same to greet them came over and said. ¡°It''s about an hour on foot. You could wait a moment and then come with us. What''s that!?" He looked at Cyrus who was eating a small hare at the side of the road.

    "Its my familiar, don''t be alarmed! And we thank you, but we are in a bit of a hurry and with the village nearby there shouldn¡¯t be too many problems ahead, am I wrong?¡± Mireille shot that down.

    ¡°Mh if you say so." He looked a bit unsure then shook his head. "No, you are right, the way to the village should be clear. But as young as you seem it would be best to have some company, no?¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the offer but the answer is still no.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourselves.¡±

    <hr>

    The village was nothing special, with wooden hovels clustered around a central house, most likely of the village elder. Near the gate was a shrine to Irkonos and a smaller one at the well for a local spirit. The village was bustling with activity. Many women and children worked on cleaning some felled trees of their foliage and bark, which seemed to be destined for transportation farther afield. Cyrus who was none too fond of groups of people took this as his cue to jump for the lower branches of a small tree and tuck his head under his left wing.

    "Lazy critter!" Mireille grinned.

    "Let him have his way. It makes things more convenient for us. We will get him when we come back."

    Then they went on into the village.

    Alyssa and Mireille garnered a lot of curious looks. A stout, older woman, grey hairs outnumbering the brown, was washing some cloth beside the well as she spoke to them. She had a broad friendly face aged by the hardships of country living.

    ¡°What brings you to our neck of the woods? And both of you young girls at that. It is mighty dangerous it is.¡±

    ¡°I am a wizard''s apprentice and Mireille here is quite good with that spear of hers. Thank you very much for being concerned about us. We aim to go to Kronenburg for my continued studies. I had heard good things about the academy of the arts there.¡±

    The woman seemed to like the studious Alyssa and with a concerned but friendly mien further elaborated: ¡°That I wouldn''t know anything about, but be careful! On the way to Kronenburg, at least as far as I know, you have to pass by Grunewald.¡±

    She looked a bit contemplative and then continued. ¡°It''s no secret but don¡¯t go blabbing around what I tell you now. As you leave our county, the Gilded Summit, you will find that the free city and the surrounding nobles have their petty feuds, and when the big ones fight, the small ones suffer. The elder has decreed that no one of us is to travel alone, and when the wood is ready a troop of our strongest men comes along for added security. The danger here is more beasts of the two-legged sort if you know what I mean.¡±

    Another younger woman carrying a load of clothing came over. Casting a warning look towards the one talking to Alyssa. ¡°Gerda, don¡¯t fill the young girl''s head with nonsense. Yes, there are problems on the road. But it''s not as if we knew the cause. If you want, you could wait a day or two, then the next delivery of lumber is probably ready. You could accompany the group.¡±

    ¡°We will think about it. Is there anywhere we could buy some supplies?¡±

    ¡°Yes, certainly. Go down this way, it''s the house with the big barn.¡±

    ¡°Thank you! Have a good day.¡±

    They walked down the small alley towards a larger house with the indicated barn. It was not exactly a tavern but close enough. In the barn could be seen some benches and a bar made by putting some planks over two barrels. They soon located a sleepy-looking rotund man who was only too happy to sell them some food. They ate a hot meal, delighting in the first properly cooked and seasoned food since Sorringen.

    ¡°What do you think? I say we don¡¯t wait and risk it.¡± Mireille voiced her somewhat predictable opinion.

    ¡°I concur, the risk of there being someone sent after us is not high for the soldiers here, but I would fear someone from the temple chasing us over the border. So, yes, I am for continuing on alone.¡±

    ¡°Then it''s decided.¡± Mireille drank down her watered-down beer making a bit of a face. ¡°I always heard that the big towns have the worst beer but this here is not far off from taking the cake.¡±

    ¡°Why did you get a beer at all?¡±

    ¡°My mom would not tolerate it, so I wanted it because I usually would not get it. Does that make sense?¡±

    ¡°Mostly. I am not a fan of alcohol, bad memories of my father overdoing it.¡± Alyssa had a bleak look on her face.

    Mireille rubbed her shoulder. ¡°I won''t do it again, anyway, it tastes like something indescribable and not the good kind!¡±

    <hr>

    They set out after eating, Alyssa waved at the woman now finished with washing who nevertheless was still gossiping with the others at the well.

    They collected the grumpy Cyrus who nipped at Alyssa''s hands before acceding to her entreaties.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The road was well-trodden and free of plant growth making the traveling very pleasant in comparison to the mountain roads. The temperature was agreeable and the weather dry.

    ¡°It is as if the land is saying: ¡°Come on in, make yourself at home!¡± Mireille joked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t question it, there was always a possibility of this journey becoming less of a catastrophe, even if I did not want to hold my breath.¡± Alyssa smiled. ¡°But don¡¯t jinx it!¡±

    While they were walking, Alyssa trained drawing small amounts of elemental energy and life force from the surroundings. She managed with difficulties, but there was progress. The marching they were doing did not help her concentration.

    Mireille was sometimes lit with sparks and lightning webbed her figure then she would dash to and fro, agitating poor Cyrus and nearly giving Alyssa a heart attack. Her practice was going smoothly in comparison. She had been training for a few months already and simply had to add the exercises Vanessa designed and explained to her.

    The lightning brand was not meant as a shortcut, the vampire girl had explained. Elves have time, so why would they need one?

    It was meant as a supplement for the more martially inclined, sacrificing versatility for instinctive and near reflexive use on the battlefield. A warrior would not have to chant and gesticulate, all of that was pre-formed in the brand, they would only need to release the magic and then the effect would occur. This unmatched speed and ease of use were what made it feasible to use in melee combat in the first place.

    And Mireille being an intuitive person who did not spend time questioning and investigating things was the perfect subject for this enhancement.

    <hr>

    Two days passed.

    They made camp, traveled, ate, refreshed their water supplies, met a hunter, bought some fresh meat for the suffering Cyrus who did not like jerky all that much.

    There were few hints as to dangerous beasts, some old scratches on a tree, much too high or too deep for even a large bear, there was once a large winged being far off in the distance. But the region was reasonably well patrolled what with the border fortress and the war on the other side.

    And it was on the third day, that they came to more well-traveled roads showing deep ruts from frequent vehicle traffic. An old signpost told them of the small town of Gildburg, the ¡®capital¡¯ of the county of the Gilded Summit. Straight ahead would be Grunewald then and to their left something called Graufurt, probably a town too.

    They, following the advice of the washerwoman, took the road straight ahead. And as the sun was beginning to set, they heard only a short way ahead, the clashing of steel on steel and a pained scream.

    The two looked at each other and wordlessly nodded. Mireille went before Alyssa as the two walked quickly but without running towards the commotion.

    A group of soldiers, looking like mercenaries dressed in a more flamboyant style, sleeves puffed out with broad-brimmed hats sporting long feathers, were defending a young man who stood near a downed horse holding his probably broken arm.

    Several rough-looking men were attacking them in melee, while some standing farther back shot their crossbows at them. The attackers were a motley group, desperate-looking younger men, with homespun tunics and some mail here and there, they wielded axes, maces, and short swords with some using shields. One for one they were no match for the professionals but the bandits outnumbered them four to one. Even with that advantage some of the attackers were already out of the fight. The defenders did not escape unscathed, nearly all were wounded and two of their number were lying on the ground bleeding from crossbow bolts sticking from their still forms.

    Mireille quietly voiced ¡°Sialysalethussar¡± and shortly after ¡°Eralasselyanthinar¡±

    Alyssa mouthed furiously ¡°are you mad!¡± Then stretched both hands before her in concentration, the light seemed to brighten around them before dimming again, some leaves fluttering to the floor, brown and dead, the grass withered around her in a widening circle.

    For a moment it seemed like a cloud had passed before the sun, then the darkness coalesced into a small sphere floating before her, she made a gesture with her left hand and the ball flew towards a crossbowman who was turning around after hearing something.

    Like an iron shaving towards a magnet the dark missile curved towards his body and hit him. All color bleached from his face, his lips went grey, the eyes lost their luster and he stumbled once, then fell, still breathing shallowly but clearly out of the fight.

    Mireille having activated both her spells, tightly gripped her spear, and with powerful strides, though slower than usual, she shortened the distance to another crossbow-wielder.

    This one had been too focused on the battle before him to keep any attention to his rear and thus was quite surprised when the spear erupted from his stomach driven completely through from his back. His scream was cut short as lightning flared around the steel tip arcing over the body even scoring and blackening the dirt road. While steam rose from his silently opening mouth the crossbow fell from nerveless fingers.

    Mireille was triumphant at this display and half-regretful that Vanessa was not here to witness her deed as she realized that the spear was well and truly stuck in the cauterized wound. Trying futilely to loosen it, even putting her foot to his back, she did not see another of the bandits turning towards her and with crossbow loaded already, he let the bolt fly hitting her in the upper left leg, the bolt driving in deeply from the short distance with a meaty thump. She cried out in pain and crumbled to the ground.

    ¡°Mireille!¡± Alyssa was furious and frightened. Gathering more power into her left hand, this time eschewing the slow gathering of life, she gasped in pain as the darkness once again formed, this time much more quickly and completely void of light. She pointed and the sphere shot forth flowing into the young bandit without harming his clothing or skin the eyes seemed to blacken for a moment as a wave of shadow undulated through the skin of the unfortunate man. The arms shriveled, the cheeks sunk and withered, a tooth broke loose and fell to the ground. And then the body hit the ground, lifeless.

    The drain on her vitality was nevertheless somewhat mitigated by the presence of Cyrus, who bolstered her magical abilities.

    Screams rang out as the nearer bandits saw the violent spectacle and the mercenaries, much more cool-headed, took full advantage laying into the distracted fighters and killing three in short measure blood soaked into the road.

    Cyrus raised his wings and readied his stinger but was thankfully not needed.

    Alyssa was in pain and light-headed from the overuse of her talents but managed to cast three firebolts in quick succession, holding two bandits at bay who tried to avenge the fallen.

    One burst into flame, hit mid-torso, the other was badly burned on his arm while trying to shield his face taking him out of the fight, and one firebolt sailed along the road hitting naught but dirt.

    She stumbled a bit then ran forwards falling to her knees, sliding towards Mireille not caring for the scrapes and damage to her skin and clothing.

    ¡°Mireille! Say something!¡± She removed the crossbow bolt with practiced hands, then pressed her right one to the wound singing the waters of life into being. Mireille muffled her pained scream with her sleeve, biting down on the leather cuff as blood spurted from the deep and ragged wound, the bolt had been meant for hunting with a broad tip.

    Asandria laid her arms around her neck and softly sang along, greatly assisting the effect.

    Glowing water gushed over and into the skin while staunching the bleeding and even removing the bruise that had formed.

    ¡°Idiot! Reckless maniac! What were you thinking? This is not training.¡± Tears fell as she hit the ground beside the fallen girl with her balled fist.

    ¡°Ouch.¡± Mireille opened one eye and then put her hand on Alyssas squeezing once. ¡°Sister dear, I will survive.¡±

    They were lucky that the remaining bandits had better things to do than care for the two unexpected reinforcements, the mercenaries had broken the ring around them and went on to subdue or kill one attacker after the other. The crossbowmen and some of the second line fled into the woods around the road.

    Alyssa hugged Mireille who complained. ¡°Ah, that hurts.¡±

    ¡°Be glad that it still hurts, it does not hurt nearly enough.¡±

    ¡°Ah, a sadist. I plead foul play. Help!¡±

    The mercenary leader was a man in his late thirties with black hair, showing some grey, wearing a goatee plumed hat, and ruffled puffed-up sleeves and hose.

    Having finished or driven away the last of the assailants, he strode over to them after having ascertained that his men were trussing the still living bandits.

    ¡°Well met, young ladies! Well met indeed. Could I trouble the healer, yes you, could you please help my men? I saw your impressive display and time is of the essence, I understand your worries, but I will guard your friend in your stead. Please?¡± He eyed Cyrus a bit apprehensively. The little wyvern was highly agitated and the stinger held over his head.

    Mireille gave Alyssa a weak shove and said: ¡°Go, as I said, I will survive, please go and help them.¡±

    Alyssa placated Cyrus and stood up with some difficulty, the mercenary grasped her hand and pulled her up. He nodded towards the fallen. ¡°Do what you can. I will be grateful for anything you can accomplish.¡±

    Alyssa went towards the gravely wounded near the fallen horse and began to invoke the lifegiving waters. Blue and white light played over the trees surrounding the road, a soft rushing like a great but distant stream could be heard under the rustling of the leaves and the groaning of the wounded.

    The young man with the broken arm sat near the other disabled, he was sweating and pale from the pain, the arm unnaturally twisted, the sleeve bloodied, hinting at an open break.

    He wore fine but understated clothes in blue and dark grey. It seemed like a uniform of sorts, and his left breast showed a coat of arms and an emblem, the first was a bridge over a rushing river with two towers to the sides silver on blue, the other was a round patch with a tower piercing a star with runes surrounding both. He had blonde hair, some beginnings of a beard, and blue eyes.

    She worked in silence, Asandria holding her shoulders as they both sang, sometimes the duet bled over into the real world leading to an otherworldly resonance. The wyvern strengthened her magic simply by being near.

    After she had treated the dying and managed to stabilize them, she gave one of the mercenaries, a huge man with a cut across his forehead, some of her potions with instructions for their use. Then she went to the young lord, as that was what he seemed to be. ¡°I will have to cut the sleeve, otherwise it will be much too painful.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I thought as much. Please, do as you must.¡±

    ¡°Take this piece of leather and bite down on it. Moving your arm will hurt, a lot.¡±

    Nodding he did as indicated.

    She cut the sleeve jostling his arm, which caused him to groan and nearly faint. After that, she called two mercenaries over to help steady him as she set the bone. This caused the poor boy to finally lose consciousness.

    She sang the spells of mending and life until she felt herself drifting off to sleep. She shook herself and lifted her hands, the wound was closed but still tender looking and the arm was bruised black and blue, if lighter than it had been, from shoulder to wrist.

    ¡°Thank you very much for your care, my lady.¡± The mercenary leader steadied her as she wavered. ¡°The names Lucien Caravar of Caravars Cavaliers, at your service. I can''t thank you enough for your spirited assistance. If not for your intervention and later your competent treatments we might no longer be worthy to be called a company, if we were still alive that is.¡±

    He bowed gallantly.

    ¡°We will make camp here so that we do not put more strain on the wounded. Would you care to join us?¡±

    ¡°I think we are in no position to refuse. Thank you, we will accept your offer.¡± Alyssa answered.

    They cleared a bit of ground to the side of the road and with practiced ease erected a small camp. After all, had been set up Mireille was half-carried by Alyssa into one of the tents made available for their use.

    Both of them were much too tired to have a proper conversation and after eating a bit of bread and cheese, postponing any further introductions, they went to sleep.

    ¡°What will Vanessa think of all that.¡± Was the last thought flitting through Mireille''s head.

 My dear sister

    ¡°Darkness doesn''t find us on its own, Theia. It is vain. It wants to be invited.¡±

    - Krassi Zourkova, Wildalone

    They woke in the morning, their sleep was deep and undisturbed.

    Mireille sat up and moved her leg gingerly, wincing as she rubbed the wounded area.

    Alyssa regarded her with a bit of worry. ¡°How are you, does your leg still hurt? I am still not the healer I should be, I have so much to learn.¡±

    ¡°It is far better than it has any right to be, but I am glad to take it easy for a short while, sister dear.¡±

    Alyssa grinned but then promptly scolded her: ¡°Keep it up and my compassion will vanish promptly!¡±

    Nodding at that, Alyssa softly questioned Asandria ¡°Good morning, did you see Vanessa? Was she here?¡±

    The ghost hung without movement in a shadowed corner of the tent, as she was addressed she lifted her head and answered: ¡®Yes she observed the debris of yesterday''s battle, then looked through the camp to ascertain your well-being. After she was satisfied, she gave me this message for you: ''Join the group for the moment, you need all the friends and allies you can get. I will contact you when it is feasible.¡¯

    Thus informed she told Mireille who smiled and said: ¡°I like her a lot, more because of her saving us repeatedly, but I can do without the training for a day or two. And the leg is only one reason.¡±

    They went outside and were greeted with a misty and overhung autumn morning. Bare branches were still in the minority but the woods around them had still shed a lot of leaves, coating the tents and ground liberally.

    ¡°Good morning my esteemed guests. Breakfast is ready!¡± Lucien announced as he saw them exit the tent looking much too cheerful to the still sleepy Mireille.

    ¡°Good morning Mr. Caravar. Thank you, we will come over.¡± Alyssa replied while helping Mireille stand up out of the low tent opening.

    Breakfast consisted of grilled bread and some soup. It was warm, filling, and relatively tasty.

    The young man was also present and looked pleased to finally introduce himself. He had dark hair cut to just above his shoulders, dark blue eyes, with a straight nose and thin lips. ¡°I am Maximilian Dermot von Graufurt. I thank you for my treatment. It feels much better than I had any hope it would." Gesturing at the others gathered around in various stages of injury he continued, "you are a gifted healer. But where are my manners how may I address you?¡±

    ¡°Alyssa Miner, this here is Cyrus my familiar. Pleased to make your acquaintance.¡±

    Cyrus regarded everything around him curiously while eating a bit of dried meat.

    ¡°Mireille Annirstochter, pleased to meet you!¡±

    ¡°You were very courageous rushing to our help, and it is with deep regret that I heard that you were wounded?¡± Maximilian looked at Mireille''s outstretched leg, bending it was still painful.

    Mireille smiled and answered. ¡°I was merely stupid, normally it should not have happened. But it all worked out in the end.¡±

    Alyssa gave her a sharp look at the flippant tone. ¡°I think healing wounds might lead to you disregarding them. Next time it''s stitches!¡±

    Mireille did her best to look sufficiently pitiful.

    The young man looked amused but went serious again while saying: ¡°It was a near thing, without you both it would have cost a lot more in lives and pain if we had fought them back at all.¡±

    Caravar, who had looked on in silence while savoring his soup spoke up. ¡°What fortune sent you to our aid, if I may ask?¡±

    Alyssa smiled a bit at the exaggerated courtesy. ¡°We are on our way to Grunewald and then on to Kronenburg. I wanted to study in the Academy of the Arts if possible.¡±

    ¡°That is a fine coincidence. I myself am enrolled there.¡± Maximilian gestured at the tower and star emblem on his tunic. ¡°I am a third-year which would make me your senior if you are accepted. Our meeting is not so strange as you might think. The winter semester begins in a week and I have just begun the journey to Kronenburg from my family''s estate. There will be more students on the road, I am sure.¡±

    ¡°Do you know a scholar named Escaldis Aldrnari? I have a letter of recommendation for him.¡±

    ¡°Yes I do know of him, he is one of the professors teaching applied elemental evocation and conjuration. I think he had a specialty in fire? But he is no teacher of mine so I cannot say for sure. The curriculum is so extensive that you cannot possibly take every class and live through it. Normally you have one or two of the elements, then a magical craft and naturally theoretical and historical uses of magic. There is even a whole wing of the academy which is reserved for mundane subjects like art, law, architecture, mathematics, and philosophy. I might have forgotten one or two.¡±

    Mireille nudged Alyssa. ¡°Seems like it would be fun. But am I wrong or are there no purely martial classes?¡±

    Maximilian answered. ¡°There are a few actually, the major weapon groups have smaller classes for those interested. It''s more like an afterschool club? Then there are military tactics and siegework. But soldiers are trained in the military quarter of Kronenburg. The academy is,¡± he coughed somewhat embarrassed, ¡°for academical studies mostly.¡±

    ¡°We will see when we get there. You are not purely martial either.¡± Alyssa looked at Mireille a bit worriedly.

    ¡°Mh. It makes sense to think about what you would study, but there are aptitude tests and such. No one wants to waste time and energy teaching, and learning, what does not fit or has no future. At least my teacher Miss Harrington thinks that way. And it echoes academy policy.¡±

    ¡°Would it be possible to accompany you on the way? It seems dangerous for us two alone, even if we are not helpless. And it seems we share the same route?¡± Alyssa inquired.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°It would be my pleasure. We will visit with my sister Alea in Grunewald and take her with us on the further journey. It will only be a small detour, and I would like to insist that you stay with us at the townhouse. I can assure you it''s much better than an inn or the forest floor.¡± He grinned. ¡°She is staying with relatives but needs to get to the academy for her enrollment as a first-year too.¡±

    The rest of the mercenaries were recuperating and guarding the captured bandits. Quickly counting them there were seven of them. With the benefit of magical healing, the group could, slowly, begin their travels late in the morning.

    Maximilian was a witty if somewhat reserved traveling companion, he joked that he had the dour disposition of his grandfather, which had passed his father by.

    Lucien was still grateful for the help and solicitous towards the two friends. Telling them of his travels on the Coast of Dreams, as the people in Margrinar poetically named the shores of the Sea of Origin, the waters around sunken Allisair.

    Pareus was the greatest trading port in human-controlled regions, Kronenburg being a river city with a port rivaling but most certainly not exceeding the former.

    Farther to the north were the lands of the Broken. The name stems from those who broke the swords gifted to them by the god-king of Allisair to signify the dissolution of their feudal obligations. As the boats loaded with refugees coming from the sunken isle landed on the continent of Naletar there was a lot of blame thrown around and the old noble families bore the brunt of it not altogether unwarranted as far as is known. Nonetheless, they had the most military and magical might, so the new nation Margrinar was essentially a continuation of Allissairs territory, customs, and nobility. The ones most dissatisfied with it went north after severing the magical ties, the south being a bit complicated because of relations with the Snake people.

    Lucien had had dealings with some of the larger ¡®kingdoms¡¯ of the Broken because they stood at the forefront of the battles with the indigenous people and monsters.

    He regaled them with probably a bit sanitized anecdotes for no one died and it was always somewhat heroic, humorous, or both.

    ¡°¡­and we drove through their midst, scattering the foul goblinoids as we raced towards freedom, the child-prince behind me on the saddle. The sorceress was as good as her word and with the charm around my neck, no arrow touched me or the young heir. We were hosted and feasted for a week after we got back. It was a good time.¡± Lucien sighed a bit exaggeratedly.

    ¡°Was it a good thing moneywise?¡± asked Mireille. ¡°The prince''s people were poor you said.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have a romantic bone in your body do you?¡± Lucien raised an eyebrow. ¡°They might not have had a lot of money, but being in the far wilderness gave them a lot of exotic pelts and resources. Lets not dwell on that too much but we made a tidy profit selling that in Kronenburg. And we got a blessing of Irkonos.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the story,¡± Alyssa smiled.

    As they traveled farther the forest became less dense and was soon succeeded by farmland. This land then slowly fell towards a river glittering in the afternoon sun. A city surrounded the river on both sides with two bridges spanning the water. A few sails bobbed with the current as riverboats used every means to gain a bit more speed.

    Then they came across outlying farmhouses and barns, but there were signs of arson, where patches of fields were burned, even two ruins blackened from an intense fire.

    They were soon hailed by a patrol of five soldiers in livery sporting a green tree on a yellow field carrying crossbows besides spears and shields. Lucien explained before they were in hearing range that those were the colors of Grunewald.

    ¡°Greetings travelers, we have to ask, who are you and what brings you into the territory of Grunewald?¡±

    ¡°We are Caravars Cavaliers escorting the young master von Graufurt. And these here are bandits we captured while trying to rob us.¡±

    ¡°Bandits, you say? It certainly seems that way, we will have to look into this in more detail but first, we will escort you to Grunewald and the house of justice. If you like you could tell me about it.¡± The last was addressed towards Maximilian.

    ¡°Yes, and I hope that Mr. Caravar is then sufficient for the testimony. The journey was longer and more unpleasant this time.¡± He indicated his arm, still hanging in a sling.

    ¡°Yes, I think that will be sufficient. With so many prisoners, one of them will always talk for some special consideration, isn''t that so?¡± The last was spoken towards the bound bandits who at the moment looked sullen, most of them sporting makeshift bandages.

    One of them looking hopeful spoke hastily. ¡°I had no choice! They forced me. It was this or a blade to the neck. Please! I will talk.¡±

    The one beside him gave him a hard kick to the side and the young man fell heavily, hands bound he could not arrest his fall. The mercenary supervising this part of the group gave a harsh slap to the back of the head of the culprit. ¡°Stop it. We don¡¯t have time for this nonsense.¡±

    The rider laughed, showing uneven teeth. ¡°Always one that talks. I will remember you boy. If you talk and make it good, I will put in a good word. Can''t guarantee it will be pretty, but you won''t be hanged at least.¡± He let his eyes roam over the rest of the disheveled captives, who avoided his gaze.

    Alyssa and Mireille kept in the background, the leader of the small squad eyed Cyrus curiously then obviously dismissing them he turned his horse and rode ahead, his men then taking escort positions.

    They told the guardsman a succinct summary of the ambush with Lucien fielding most questions, the young noble pleading exhaustion.

    ¡°I have to tell you, my sister can be a tad eccentric. So please take what you see and hear in stride.¡± Maximilian spoke up as they had nearly reached the gates.

    The city had progressively been constructed on both sides of the river, times of peace had let the houses spill beyond the great protective walls, most likely necessitating a new wall sometime in the future. Bustling with life, the narrow cobbled streets thronged with all sorts of peoples and carts drawn by horses and oxen. Alyssa and Mireille saw some dwarves going after their livelihood and even a snake folk merchant. Alyssa was astounded at the variety, having only seen Firswending, while Mireille was more used to it, Saintscrossing her former home also being a large city.

    The mercenaries efficiently helped by the patrol made way for the captives, the young master, and the two friends. At the central plaza where the large main road wound towards a large bridge, they separated. Lucien bowed and said: ¡°We will meet at the townhouse. I will take care of the formalities. May I mention your family name if necessary?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you may as long as it is needed and prudent,¡± Maximilian answered.

    A minor magician in vibrantly colored clothing entertained a group of townspeople with animals formed of colored smoke dancing over a small brazier. There were some musicians who played a cheerful melody, most of the plaza was given over to market stalls and shops.

    The merchants called from their booths trying to entice passersby with fish or fresh produce.

    Ignoring all that they went over the bridge, made of stone and large enough for two wagons to pass each other comfortably without endangering the foot traffic. A riverboat drifted underneath.

    On the other side of the river, they took a turn to the left and the houses became bigger, the walls higher and the surroundings more quiet.

    Ivy hung on old walls and the gardens, as far as could be seen between wrought iron bars of were elegant and well-tended.

    And then they stopped before a large house within sight of the river, a large brick wall surrounding the estate was topped with iron spikes. The coat of arms beside the gate fit for a carriage showed the Graufurt heraldry with the addition of three stars underneath.

    A servant opened the gate when called with a probably magically sounding bell after one of the mercenaries had rapped a knocker three times.

    ¡°Welcome Master von Graufurt.¡± Blinking the old servant realized that Maximilian carried his arm in a sling and was still looking somewhat ill and pale. ¡°Do you need a physician? I can have someone call the doctor. Please, first come inside. I will take care of your escort if you will.¡±

    ¡°Gerald, it is alright. I had the fortune that after running afoul of some villains on the road, this young lady here Mrs. Miner healed and treated my wounds. She and her¡­¡± he paused ¡°...sister?¡± There was a hint of a question in that last sentence as he realized that they had differing last names. But then he shook his head. ¡°They are to be treated as honored guests. With no small danger to their lives and even getting seriously wounded, they came to our aid and even helped with the injured afterward.¡±

    The old servant nodded respectfully and bade them enter. He was at least fifty years of age, dignified looking and his clothes were pressed and starched linen in the colors of silver, more a tone of grey really, and blue.

    As they came into the foyer they were greeted by a girl who was probably near Alyssa''s age, perhaps a bit younger, and of very pale complexion, emphasized by her ebony hair, looking like a doll. She stood straight while being of small built, around one and a half meters.

    She had a soft-looking, tightly wound, dark blue silk band covering her eyes stitched with runes. She wore a heavily frilled dark blue, black and silver dress. On her right shoulder sat a contraption of wires and copper with two faceted crystals instead of eyes, looking like a very big spider. With a nearly inaudible whirring sound, the head of the spider swiveled taking in the newcomers the legs, clicking, shifted to make that easier.

    Maximilian coughed into his fist. ¡°Ahem. May I introduce my sister Alea.¡±

 Home sweet home, even if it is not their own.

    ¡°Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.¡±

    - George Burns

    ¡°Max. Who are those people with you? What kind of reptile is that?¡± The young girl, Alea, seemed dissatisfied. She took the spider from her shoulder and held it before her, shifting it slightly. ¡°Are you injured?¡± Her forehead furrowed at that.

    ¡°Alea, this here are Mireille Annirstochter,¡± he nodded at the redheaded girl, then continued turned to Alyssa, ¡°and Alyssa Miner with the small winged lizard, a wyvern, being her familiar, the name''s Cyrus. They helped me immensely and may even have saved my life. So please be civil.¡±

    ¡°A pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡± Alyssa took the lead.

    ¡°Yes, pleased to meet you.¡± Mireille followed suit.

    ¡°Mh. I dislike surprises, but if you have saved my clumsy brother I am very thankful to you. Was it the horse? I always told you to take a carriage. And it is more efficient, you can read and travel.¡± She scrunched her nose a bit.

    ¡°Yes, Alea, it was the horse. But even a carriage would probably not have helped with an ambush by bandits.¡±

    ¡°Bandits. This seems a common theme at the moment. But please come inside. Do you require a bit of time to freshen up, or do you want something to eat and drink first?¡± Alea moved the spider or the little automaton moved its head, she herself stood stock still sometimes tilting her little head a bit.

    ¡°We would like to e¡­¡± Mireille was interrupted.

    ¡°It would be best to freshen up before eating.¡± With a serious look in her friend''s direction, Alyssa quelled any protests.

    The entrance foyer had a floor made of polished granite. There were columns worked into the walls, and between those hung and stood works of art like paintings and some statues. They were well made but not ostentatious. Then there were several large carved doors on both walls to the sides, straight ahead a large staircase wound in a zigzag pattern towards the upper floors.

    <hr>

    A maid who appeared when called brought them to their rooms, airy and large enough it seemed to fit the whole of Alyssa''s old home, at least without the lab. The walls were white-washed stone with tapestries depicting knights and ladies, a fireplace, cold at the moment, three chairs and a carved table, a wardrobe, and a very large bed, fit for perhaps three to four girls of her size. From the ceiling hung a glass globe with a floral pattern which, when spoken to in the arcane tongue of Allissair, glowed with a bright yellow light, flickering at first then growing more stable by the minute while the enchantment drew on ambient mana. A small room separated from the main one with a beaded curtain contained a large bathing tub with a cupboard containing different oils and soaps. A mirror hung upon the wall facing the entrance.

    After washing with a bowl of water standing on a little stone table beside the door, she spied a little wand carved from the bones of some unknown beast inscribed with runes for wind and some she did not know the meaning of. Taking and carefully experimenting with it, she heard from behind her: ¡®It''s a variation of a wand against vapors. Much weaker so don¡¯t expect it to protect you against gas exhalations by a hydra. But it should take away some of the more unpleasant effects of the road. I myself not having the capacity to smell am not in danger, but it should be necessary for you considering the dearth of opportunities to bathe.¡¯

    ¡°Asandria, that is a fancy way of saying I probably smell, right?¡± Laughing she activated the wand by granting it a bit of her magic, a fresh breeze circled around her, taking away the lingering odors of unwashed body and old sweat.

    ¡°Mh, I could get used to that.¡±

    ¡®Clever piece of artifice that.¡¯ Asandria mused. ¡®The power and elegance leave something to be desired but it is a clever and ingenious way to work around the lack of proper materials and it seems effective.¡¯

    ¡°High praise coming from you!¡± Alyssa grinned, laid the wand back where she found it, and opened the window shutters. Behind the floor-length windows, there was a small balcony that overlooked the gardens out back, surprisingly spacious with a small hedge maze and a fish pond. A pavilion stood partly in the waters on some sunken pillars. A woman clothed in black sat with a book but without reading as she regarded the fat golden fish swarming an offering of breadcrumbs. The small trees growing here were all of the fruit-bearing sort: peaches, cherry, and something which she did not recognize.

    A knock roused her from her reverie. ¡°Yes?¡±

    The door opened and Mireille strolled inside. ¡°Ah yours is gigantic also, have you seen the bathtub? We could get in together and have room for some more. And the bed! Never was anything softer, save perhaps the neighbor''s cat, and she would not let me use her for a pillow even once. Still have the scars of that adventure, thank you.¡±

    ¡°Whatever brought that on?¡±

    ¡°I am expecting great things from dinner, great things I say! And because of that I can''t be quiet.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes you can''t be quiet to save your life. Come here.¡± She went and got the wand. ¡°Stay still.¡±

    ¡°Yes, ma''am!¡±

    She used the wand on Mireille and saw the small breeze of slightly glittering air sweep around her person and clothing. Asandria looked closely at the wand, hovering over Alyssa''s shoulder. Cyrus had found the washing basin and was drinking the used water.

    "Cyrus, stop that!"

    ¡°Wow. What was that? Is that an enchanted tool? Can I look?¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Yes, it seems it is a wand to take away unpleasant odors.¡±

    ¡°And the first thing you do is use it on me. Should I be concerned?¡±

    ¡°I used it on me first. Don''t look so offended. We did bath a long time ago if you don¡¯t count simply washing in a brook in the forest.¡±

    ¡°That counts!¡±

    Alyssa sighed. ¡°Come with me, it should be time for dinner, and what do you make of Maximilian''s sister?¡±

    ¡°She is a bit strange, but my standards have been quite shaken up of late. Knowing Vanessa and yourself, she does seem outright normal.¡±

    <hr>

    Laughing they both went to the dining room a maid had shown them on the way to their rooms.

    They were quartered on the first floor with some of the more high-status servants, above them were the family quarters, below the ground floor with a library, study, kitchen, and the servants quarters which were in a separate, smaller building to the side. The corridors echoed with every step on the stone tiles. Portraits of long-dead relatives adorned the walls.

    In the dining room, they met with Maximilian and his sister who sat on opposite sides of a long table near the upper end. Glowing globes, like the one in Alyssa''s, and presumably Mireille''s, room hung from the ceiling and illuminated the chamber. There were several chairs of unique design at the head of the table probably meant for family, empty at the moment.

    ¡°Ah, have a seat.¡± The young man stood and gestured towards the chairs beside him and Alea.

    The clockwork spider moved and seemed to nod in their direction. ¡°Did you find everything to your satisfaction?¡±

    ¡°We are grateful and everything is perfect. I don¡¯t know if this marks me as a country girl but the wand was a very nice touch.¡± Alyssa blushed.

    ¡°The wand? Ah, it was left there when uncle Theoric was here. You got it to work and knew what it did? You are much too humble. Most guests of the nobility would not get much use out of it.¡± The first time since she had seen her there was a small smile on her face. The surprise on her brother''s face was a little comical to see.

    ¡°My brother told me of your good work. I had the physician come in regardless. He told me that if you were to remain in the city you would not be lacking for work. High praise I think. Dinner will be served momentarily." She adjusted the silken blindfold with her right hand.

    ¡°Have some of the bread and butter to tide you over. I know I will. Sister, you will excuse our ill manners will you?¡±

    Alea made a dismissive gesture, looking a bit strange as young as she seemed to be. ¡°You had a long and tiring journey and we are without the people to whom it would matter most. Grandma is still ill and will most likely take her meal in her chambers. Do greet her will you?¡± The last was addressed towards her brother.

    Mireille and Alyssa exchanged glances then sat down, the redhead grabbed some bread and butter eating happily. ¡°Do leave some space for dinner!¡± Alyssa admonished and then went red realizing where she was.

    ¡°Yes, mom!¡± Mireille smiled around a big bite of fluffy bread with salt and butter. ¡°But it''s delicious!¡±

    Maximilian grinned. ¡°Feel at home here; my sister might be very formal but she is not demanding or overly conscious of rank and station.¡±

    ¡°One of the advantages living with grandmother is a lack of meddling. Don''t you start!¡± Alea remained still while the spider became more agitated waving its forelegs. Cyrus eyed the little mechanical being curiously.

    Alyssa stroked along his snout and whispered. ¡°The spiderling is not for eating, you will have something later I am sure.¡± Then she looked between brother and sister. ¡°If it is not impertinent¡­¡±

    ¡°You lasted much longer than most. And while it is impertinent it does not bother me. Yes, the little mechanical creature effectively functions as my eyes. My natural ones sadly had an accident, we will leave it at that. The construct is my familiar for all purposes.¡±

    ¡°That seems complicated. I had not heard of such before,¡± Alyssa curiously remarked.

    ¡°It is not normally done even were it possible. It takes a lot of conscious effort to move it and me both. But my grandfather was a renowned mechanical and magical inventor. She is his last work.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry if that opened old wounds."

    ¡°By no means. It has been some years already. Ah, there is dinner.¡±

    "And you have not changed a bit." Maximilian looked on fondly.

    Dinner was served by some servants, male and female both, and the siblings and the two friends silently ate with much relish. After confirming their acceptance Cyrus was fed alongside them.

    ¡°Ah, that was very welcome.¡± Maximilian sighed. ¡°On the road, even though the mercenaries were much better cooks than feared, they were limited by conditions and ingredients.¡±

    Mireille looked half-dead after having eaten more than was healthy. ¡°I thought what they made was tasty, but my standards have risen sharply just now!¡± Then she slumped back while rubbing her stomach.

    ¡°Mireille.¡± Alyssa made a gesture.

    ¡°What? Do you need the salt?¡±

    Alyssa took the salt with an air of defeat. Maximilian smiled at that.

    Alea had an amused expression. ¡°Don''t take too much care conforming. As I said there is no one present who cares that much.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    They talked a bit about their travels, editing anything about the troubles they have had. Alea was very interested in the state of the war. Mireille could contribute a bit more to that.

    ¡°The bandit attacks are on the rise. It is good that you two will travel with us. More capable people mean less danger, and you have proven yourself trustworthy which is also greatly reassuring.¡± Maximilian told them. ¡°The so-called bandits are probably sent from a certain duchy to the north. Please don¡¯t quote me on this. This duchy and the smaller county to the east are resenting Grunewald as upstart peasants usurping the ancestral rights and perhaps worse in their eyes stealing ''their'' money. The king''s decision to grant the status of a free city has been controversial, but for the land and the people, it was certainly a godsend. And for the crown, it was certainly a bargain. Now with the hostilities, everything seems to regress to what it was before. It''s sad. My parents tried to stay out of it but of late...¡±

    Not wanting to talk about politics any longer they had a bit of tea before deciding to end the small after-dinner gathering.

    ¡°It was nice having guests for once." Alea sniffed, "even if it was a surprise.¡±

    ¡°Also you don¡¯t like them, there can be good ones, right?¡± Maximilian joked.

    When night fell Alyssa and Mireille sat in the former''s guest room talking. ¡°The first good meal, the first bath!¡± Alyssa sighed. ¡°In ages!¡±

    ¡°That''s normally my line.¡± Mireille was lying on the bed still much too full to safely move.

    ¡°Did you have to eat your body weight in food? Tomorrow is another opportunity for excellent dishes and if you make yourself sick you miss out on that.¡±

    ¡°Never thought about it that way. But I will take care to keep it in mind.¡± Mireille nodded seriously.

    ¡°I see you kept up with your exercises exactly one day after we parted.¡± Vanessa sat in an unused chair with armrests, near the bed looking at them reproachfully. Cyrus beat his wings and gave a startled hiss.

    ¡°Because you can show up without a sound does not mean you should, for Nirileth''s sake!¡± Mireille clutched at her frantically beating heart. ¡°I am wounded! I should be excused!¡±

    ¡°You seem to be better already. But jokes aside, I know. And it is better to have done as you did. It will help you further the plans for the academy. If Mireille can''t manage to study there then I will take it upon myself to train her further.¡±

    ¡°Everything but that!¡±

    ¡°What did you say?¡±

    ¡°Yes, thank you!¡±

    Asandria looked on in silent contemplation.

    The moon rose over the garden painting everything in shades of grey and silver as the two of them went to sleep, Mireille stated that she was much too tired to move and simply remained in Alyssa''s large bed. ¡°If you dare snore I will carry you, no, I will have someone carry you back to your room.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t snore.¡±

    Vanessa smiled, "Have an eye on the younger von Graufurt. There is something beyond her mechanical pet that bothers me."

    A sleepy chorus of assents did nothing to assure her of that.

    And they fell asleep.

 Good for the soul

    ¡°Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.¡±

    - Napoleon Bonaparte

    Waking up Alyssa was at first confused by the unfamiliar ceiling and surroundings and suffered a short moment of vertigo before everything came back to her. Asandria was softly humming an old elvish song while moving her arms as if playing the harp. Light shone through her leaving the faintest of shadow.

    ''Interesting'' Alyssa thought. Cyrus had his head tucked underneath his left wing and sat on the lower right bed-post. ''It is a bit dreamlike still, going from being hunted and on the road for weeks to living in the lap of luxury. But such is life I guess.'' Mireille slept soundly, face turned towards her, drooling a bit with terrible bed hair. ''That''s a sight to greet the new day.'' Alyssa thought fondly and tucked a few hairs away from her friend''s mouth so that she did not breathe them in, but woke Mireille in the process.

    "Is it morning already?" Mireille sleepily mumbled.

    "Yes, we have to get up or breakfast might be cold."

    "Oh, woe is me."

    "Desist with the theatrics," Alyssa said grinning.

    Breakfast was, to the two companions at least, a sumptuous affair continuing the trend set by yesterday''s dinner.

    ¡°You need not fear that the leftovers will spoil. It is common usage to let the master or mistress of a mansion eat first from an overfull table, and then distribute ¡®what is left¡¯ and probably too much to begin with, for the servant''s table.¡± Alea took it upon herself to explain as Mireille did her best to eat as much as possible, again.

    That stopped her because she did not want to take it from someone else''s table.

    ¡°Sorry, I did not know.¡±

    ¡°It''s no big deal. We can always have some more brought from the kitchen.¡±

    The small spider made calming gestures with its forelegs standing on the shoulder of the motionless, pale girl. The sun glittered on the copper and brass casing from the side you could see gears rapidly turning inside the small construct.

    ¡°How does this apparatus work exactly? If I may be so bold as to ask.¡± Mireille looked fascinated. ¡°It could help with my bond to Cyrus.¡±

    The one spoken about was ripping into a lightly grilled whole chicken whith apparent delight.

    ¡°That is possible. I can show you some of the theories involved if you like. It''s all in grandpa''s workshop.¡± Alea looked a bit shy.

    Maximilian smiled at that. ¡°We''ve got some time. Lucien is still with the watch. He sent me a note explaining that the city takes this more seriously because of the arson and raiding going on at the moment. So, if we don¡¯t want to rely on some other hired guards, which I find myself loath to do, we are stuck for the moment. But I think it''s a day, two at most until this has resolved itself.¡±

    Mireille stretched. ¡°I am happy to live the good life a day longer, nay make that a week, a month!¡±

    ¡°Don''t forget your exercises or Vanessa will be cross with you.¡±

    ¡°Urgs.¡± Mireille lowered her arms and looked a bit chagrined.

    ¡°Who is Vanessa?¡± Maximilian inquired.

    ¡°Ahem. She is a friend of ours, a sorceress of some ability. She taught Mireille and is teaching her still. She can be considered my mentor also.¡±

    ¡°I would certainly like to meet her then. Is she nearby?¡±

    ¡°We...separated a while ago. She will meet us on the road I am sure.¡±

    ¡°I will then accompany Alea to the workshop, Mireille you should do some of the exercises. If you don¡¯t, you know what will happen! Later I will do my part too, don¡¯t fear.¡±

    ¡°Then let us not tarry.¡± Alea raised the spider from its seat and carried it before her slightly moving it from side to side. Alyssa stood up and followed her.

    They moved down a side corridor and then came to a collonade open towards the garden and, on the other side, windows into what seemed storage rooms and some servant''s quarters.

    Arriving at a metal-bound oaken door, Alea placed the automaton back on her shoulder and then removed a large key hanging from a hook on her belt. With that and a spoken incantation, she unlocked and then opened the entrance to a small building sitting behind the servant''s quarters. Two chimneys grew from the shingled roof.

    Dust billowed out. ¡°I am sorry, I did not use the rooms much after grandpa''s death. And the servants are forbidden entry. It is too dangerous and the machines too sensitive for untrained hands. Your request was welcome; I wanted to come here for some time but never found a good enough reason to.¡±

    Inside the room, large workbenches and some arcane apparatus took up most of the opposite wall. Globes she had come to know from her room hung from adjustable chains fastened to the ceiling. Great vats containing oily liquids stood piled on top of each other to the far right corner, some bubbling with luminescent gases.

    The ground was made of great slabs of stone that were worryingly scored with acid or marked by intense fires some marked with faded glyphs outlined in chalk. To the left stood some shelves stuffed to bursting with paper and books near some chests and beside them leaned two automatons of more human proportions.

    Dull crystal lenses gazed lifelessly at the two observers. They wore clothes like a butler or servant would, underneath was leather stretched over metallic bones. The fingers were tipped with metal calipers and looked somewhat dangerous, the faces looked like theater masks made of porcelain. A great book stood on a lectern inscribed with glyphs, made of brass or some similar metal. A slight tingling in the air spoke of old residues of magical nature. Some of those slabs were big enough for a small ritual circle and most likely had served as such.

    Cyrus arched his long neck and looked around curiously, then he proceeded to nip on Alyssa''s ear, who shooed him off.

    ¡°This was the realm of my grandfather, Gallius Escerus von Gildburg. He was my grandparent from the maternal line. What do you think of his workshop?¡±

    ¡°Certainly impressive,¡± Alyssa said diplomatically. ¡°But it could use a bit more...order?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is most certainly the case. My grandfather, I loved him dearly, never was one for the more stately process of science. He charged ahead and damn the consequence. He would have found a kindred spirit in your Mireille perhaps? He was hailed a genius even as they threw him out of his tenure in the academy when he did one experiment with catastrophic consequences too many. He never forgave them for that. I would have gone to study there long before if he were not so dead set against it.¡±

    ¡°Are you not my age? I am sixteen as of two months ago.¡±

    ¡°I am fifteen, but it is customary for those with the ability to learn as soon as possible and to return as soon as able. It would have been somewhat early, that is true.¡±

    Asandria was floating here and there, and she looked especially fascinated by the humanlike machines her fingers trailing over the bald heads made of metal and the white pearlescent masks.

    ¡°Here let me show you.¡± Alea went to the large book. After grasping the lectern with both hands, for which she had to stretch, she intoned a lengthy formula. An etheric lock made of radiant coppery energy appeared above the tome and then unfolded like a flower, rotating and disengaging before it opened with a quiet ¡®click¡¯.

    ¡°Impressive.¡± Alyssa admired the handiwork.

    Alea meanwhile paged through diagrams and an exploded view of some sort of automaton before coming to a complicated rune array with some annotations made in a spidery crawling script. ¡°Ah. Here it is. This here,¡± she mentioned towards the depiction of a body behind which stood a more transparent looking mirrored image, ¡°is the body and soul, and this,¡± she elaborated¡­

    They talked for some hours until a servant called them to lunch.

    The work of the late Gallius was intricate and not altogether compatible with the elven magics Asandria had employed, but there were congruences. And it seemed she could learn to see through the eyes of Cyrus with a bit of training and the right spellwork. Alea assured her that it was all down to practice.

    The peculiar girl was still mostly expressionless unless something interested her greatly. Always moving the spider, or controlling it/her directly which made her appear spaced out or disinterested looking. After their talk, she had mellowed towards Alyssa a lot and seemed genuinely glad to have someone to talk to who shared her fascination with magic and to a lesser degree magical artificing. Asandria listened attentively as well, interjecting ideas that Alyssa then reiterated.

    The roots of the old kingdom''s magical tradition and the elven ones were far different in application and scope, what the one managed without even trying was nearly impossible for the other. That made it a lot harder to be competent in both, sadly.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Maximilian was absent during the meal since he was called to the house of justice to talk to a city official. It seemed one of the bandits had mentioned something interesting, concerning, or both.

    Mireille was training in the gardens as an aged voice called out to her. ¡°Young lady, would you come over for a moment?¡±

    She looked around and saw an old woman, wearing fine black clothing but without much in the way of adornments or jewelry. She was grey-haired with finely cut features without many of the usual signs of age. Piercing blue eyes still shone brightly, but fatigue and some illness had left them rimmed in red. There was an air of weary resignation around her.

    ¡°I heard that there were guests in the manor who helped my grandson. I wanted to make your acquaintance and greet you so that I can properly thank you. My name is Adelaide von Gildburg and you must be Mireille.¡± she smiled.

    Mireille bowed a bit awkwardly and wiping the sweat from her brow replied, ¡°thank you for your kind words, we were on the same road and being able to help, naturally we did.¡±

    ¡°That sounds reasonable but you know most would not. It was not your fight. And my son mentioned you did not even ask for recompense. Were you my grandchild I would be worried that someone would take advantage of you.¡± She smiled gently. ¡°so the least I can do is extend what hospitality we can. I will let the staff know that if you need something, some replacements for the clothes ruined during the ambush perhaps, or other necessities that you should be accommodated as much as possible.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I will take you up on that. I have to say, that your hospitality has been very generous and the food was absolutely great.¡± Mireille stuttered a bit, not knowing if what she said could be construed as impolite.

    The old madam smiled even more genuinely this time. ¡°You can stay as long as you want. But I fear that Maximilian and Alea will soon begin their travels towards Kronenburg and you will most probably accompany them?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that was the plan.¡±

    ¡°If I might make a request, it might do the girl some good to have some friends her age. Please take care of my grandchildren if you would. I would be in your debt.¡±

    Flustered, Mireille replied, ¡°Certainly, they seem like good people, I did not get to know Alea well but she seems to have hit it off with Alyssa.¡±

    ¡°That would make me glad. Since my husband''s death, she has not left this house more than a few times. I will no longer keep you. We will see each other during lunch I think.¡± She coughed a bit into a handkerchief embroidered with lilies, then turned to go.

    ¡°Until then!¡± Mireille waved and then went back to her exercises.

    <hr>

    Come lunchtime all were gathered in the dining room, Adelaide this time was also present and greeted and thanked Alyssa.

    Alyssa replied, ¡°I am glad that we could help. The way has been fraught with danger so far. Since I left home I was attacked by a wyvern, witnessed a raid by the northern forces, and last helped fight off the bandits. My natural reactions to that have changed a bit over time. But I also realized that I have so much to left to learn.¡±

    ¡°Then thank Gesserach and old Varnis that you are here hale and sound.¡± Adelaide looked somewhat disconcerted at the description of her travels.

    They ate and talked. Adelaide was curious even if she was tiring quickly and asked them about their homes and their lives more than their adventures.

    ¡°So you are sisters by choice?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is so madam,¡± Alyssa answered together with Mireille who simply nodded.

    Maximilian looked enlightened also. ¡°I was wondering about that.¡±

    Asandria looked from one to the other only Alyssa saw a small smile appearing at the exchange.

    Alea''s mechanical companion nodded too, ¡°So that is how it was. You did not seem to be very much alike.¡± The two Graufurt siblings had many similarities, from the nose to the shape of their eyebrows, the only major difference was her dark to his blond hair.

    Adelaide excused herself directly after eating, she looked pale with drops of sweat beading on her forehead. ¡°I talked to Gerald. He will contact a seamstress so that you might at least get new clothes to replace the ones damaged during the fight.¡± She coughed. ¡°It would please me if you would accept this small gesture. I will go rest a bit. If something comes up feel free to ask Gerald the head-servant.¡±

    ¡®She suffers from soul loss. This is no ordinary illness. She was once strong, stronger than most, but her soul is now a hollow broken thing.¡¯ Asandria mused while looking after the departing woman.

    Alyssa could not keep herself from looking surprised and concerned.

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡± Alea who had been regarding the wyvern noticed her concern.

    ¡°No, I think...no it''s nothing.¡±

    ¡°Will you accompany me to the workshop after the fitting? The seamstress is usually quite punctual.¡±

    ¡°I would like that.¡± Alyssa smiled more naturally now.

    Mireille eyed her suspiciously and mouthed when both siblings were distracted by some of Cyrus'' antics ¡®Asandria?¡¯ Alyssa nodded.

    <hr>

    After lunch, they were called to a well-lit and mostly empty room with great mirrors installed in the walls and a polished stone floor, on the ceiling was a painting of a hunting party cornering an elk-like beast with the hind legs of a lion. Alea, who was accompanying the two, told them, ¡°This was once a room to practice dancing or dueling in, the mirrors help immensely, but it is useful to see how clothes fit too.¡±

    The seamstress a woman in her late forties thin as her needles with a sharp nose and grey-brown hair greeted them in a businesslike manner. She seemed quite competent and assured them that they would have two sets of clothes each, one for leisure and one for traveling.

    ¡°Are you perchance able to enchant the clothes?¡± Mireille asked curiously. ¡°My grandmother also was a seamstress and had some ability in that direction.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? Could I have her name? The field of the gifted is not as large as one might think, I could well know her.¡±

    ¡°She was named Lucille Emerald.¡±

    ¡°That is indeed a name known to me. I was saddened to hear of the problems she had with the guild. Such nonsense would never have happened in Margrinar. I wrote her that she should consider coming over, but she pleaded age and ill-health, what could I say against that? Is she still with us?¡±

    ¡°No, she died five years ago.¡±

    ¡°My condolences, we all lost a creative and able artisan with her passing.¡± She looked truly sad at the news even if she did not let it get in the way of her work.

    Afterward, Mireille went outside to practice, vaulting over the hedges of the maze while utilizing her sigil.

    Alyssa and Alea went back to the workshop. Inside they tried to reactivate one of the humanlike constructs who once were entrusted the care of the room, but nothing they did worked.

    ¡°Let us look at the book once more, there has to be an insight as to why it will not work.¡± Alea groused.

    ¡°It could be something basic, like missing a power source perhaps?¡± asked Alyssa.

    ¡°That is impossible. They were made using a mana-crystal from Caveriums mines, they should last at least a century.

    Asandria turned and said softly ¡®I cannot sense any strong magical emanations from the constructs, it''s highly unlikely that they have enough magical energy left to move.¡¯

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Alyssa cleared her throat, ¡°do we have the ability to ascertain if the stones are still intact?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there should be appraiser goggles somewhere around here. It would be a good idea regardless to look a bit deeper into the mana flow. But where is it?¡± Alea began to search, which mostly consisted of her holding the little spider construct into chests and the odd cupboard.

    They found the battered item underneath one of the glass vats luckily still in one piece.

    ¡°What in the name of Saressa happened to it!? Could you do me the favor of cleaning it?¡± Alea gave the scratched and bent goggles over to Alyssa, who looked at the artifact doubtfully.

    Saressa was the goddess of the forge, flames, inspiration, and renewal. She was the one prayed to for inspiration by craftsmen and artists alike, she had many names: Saressa the ever-burning one, the phoenix who renews herself, holder of the secrets of metal, the origin of all fire.

    ¡°I will do my best.¡± Cleansing the contraption with some applied household magics she bent it back in shape with tongs made of a light-grey metal. ¡°Here you are. Hopefully, it still works.¡±

    Alea scrunched her nose. ¡°It''s not made with spiders in mind, could you¡­?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Sorry, I forgot!¡±

    Alea giggled a bit at that. ¡°I would think it a compliment, don¡¯t blame yourself.¡±

    Lifting the goggles to her nose she injected a bit of magic, the world shimmered and streamers of different colored lights, sparks, glowing particles floated everywhere.

    ¡°There is so much going on, I don¡¯t see a thing!¡±

    ¡°You can adjust it with the...missing gear. It should be at the right lens...but it isn''t.¡±

    Alysssa looked at the automatons and realized what Asandria had said, they were both magically inert with slight residues showing their use some years past.

    ¡°There is nothing left. They are magically empty.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Perhaps grandfather took them. We will have to buy new ones. But that takes too long. Let''s simply use the broom ourselves.¡±

    ¡°You mean, I will use the broom,¡± Alyssa said mock-reproachfully.

    ¡°Ahem. That might be correct, please pardon me. I would be thankful.¡± The smaller girl smiled a bit while the spider bowed towards Alyssa.

    <hr>

    They spent the afternoon tidying up, and later, after a thorough bath, met with the others in the dining room. Adelaide was absent again.

    ¡°My grandmother excuses herself, she does not cope well with stress anymore, and that means mostly my broken arm.¡± Maximilian forced a grin, masking his concern. ¡°But she has grown weaker since last I saw her.¡± The last was not exactly a question but Alea answered.

    ¡°Grandmother is stubborn and refused the physician more times than I can count. It would probably require more than mundane or even potion-assisted healing to help her.¡±

    ¡°What is wrong with her?¡± Mireille asked tactlessly.

    Alea took that in stride and answered ¡°After my grandfather''s sudden death of heart failure, she never recovered." she looked as though she wanted to continue, then thought better of it, and simply said: "Let us talk of other things.¡±

    The meal was excellent but the atmosphere remained subdued.

    <hr>

    Later in Alyssa''s room.

    ¡°What are you doing here again?¡± Alyssa inquired of Mireille who was lying down in her bed.

    ¡°It''s comfortable and I got used to sleeping together. I get cold quickly and if I fall ill who is going to save you?¡±

    ¡°Good grief.¡± Alyssa smiled. ¡°You can stay if you want. The room and the bed are big enough. But wasn''t there something on your mind?¡±

    ¡°Yes, what was that expression for at lunch? The one most likely caused by Asandria?¡±

    Asandria hovered on the other side of Mireille and looked on, expressionless.

    ¡°She mentioned that Adelaide has a damaged soul. Something or someone injured her gravely. Not in a physical sense, which means that the physician is not going to do her much good.¡±

    ¡°Oh. She is such a nice old lady, reminds me a bit of my grandmother and that is high praise, mind!¡±

    ¡°I know. Sadly I can''t think of what could be done for her. There might be some alchemy for this but I was and am at the level of an apprentice to a small-town alchemist. That does not cut it.¡±

    Asandria whispered ¡®There are some means of helping her, but it would take materials you probably have no access to. Immortal ice rose, the blood of a phoenix, the eye of an eternal serpent. No, not likely. There is the possibility of blood or even sacrificial magic, but I would not recommend that. You could try healing her with song-magic. It is not impossible, but it would take a very long time which she and you probably don¡¯t have. Might be that there is an artifact that speeds the healing of such wounds¡­¡¯ Her voice grew softer and soon was no longer intelligible.

    ¡°Asandria spoke just now of means and possibilities. But they were unrealistic in the extreme.¡±

    Vanessa sat in the same chair as last evening and smiled at Mireille''s shock. ¡°Oh get used to it. You are not the one who has to deal with people sleeping while you are awake. And even if it were the other way around I could not show this face to the public.¡± She gestured at her cold, inhuman features with the lambent glowing eyes.

    ¡°Ah! You scare the life out of me.¡± Mireille complained.

    ¡°Yes, I can say I was frightened too!¡± Alyssa concurred.

    Simply brushing over the protests Vanessa continued to talk. ¡°I have heard what you said and it is a fascinating problem. I could try to shore up her soul a bit, but that would mean revealing myself, and that is not something done lightly. It would make some things a lot easier.¡± she tapped her fingers on her lips, thinking. ¡°I leave it to you. I think Adelaide has some time left, and I can travel very fast. But if you tarry too long it will be too late.¡±

    They talked until late in the evening. Vanessa showed Alyssa some more exercises for her necromancy and corrected a spelling error in her firebolt spell.

    Soon they were so tired, that they had trouble keeping their eyes open.

    And they went to sleep.

 A happy family

    "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real."

    - Niels Bohr

    The next day passed in much the same way, Adelaide remained in her rooms, Lucien still had things to tidy up and Maximilian ended up helping him, grumbling sometimes that he was the victim in all of this. Mireille trained but kept it light. Alea and Alyssa had extracted one of the mana crystals from one of the automatons and found it cracked and dull but without a replacement, that they were probably not going to get, there were no more options for repair.

    ¡°You know the crystal is not really the power source.¡± Alea mused while the spider studied the cracked orb. Her body stood still while the spider moved and gestured. Alyssa was starting to get used to that.

    ¡°How is that?¡±

    ¡°Even in the best of cases such a crystal would last, what, a week? That''s hardly appropriate for the cost and effort. But, the crystal can gather mana from the surroundings if you have the proper layout, look here,¡± she pointed at intricate symbols inside the opened automaton, ¡°these here channel mana from outside into the crystal, and if you don¡¯t use the power continuously it recharges. Nearly the same as a human sleeping.¡± She gave a tiny smile and the spider seemed more energetic.

    <hr>

    In the evening Alea, Mireille and Alyssa ate alone, the rest of the family were either indisposed or absent.

    Vanessa appeared shortly after dusk giving them another set of instructions. Alyssa was lagging behind this time with Mireille having practiced a lot more, being bored was helpful for that.

    The night passed uneventfully.

    They woke in the early hours of the morning, even Mireille groggily opened her eyes as a commotion was heard from outside. Distant, agitated voices could be heard from downstairs, and from the tone, it was not a happy discussion even if details were unintelligible.

    ¡°Alyssa, can you make out what the hubbub is about?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t understand a thing, but it is not something good of that I am sure. Asandria could you have a look, please?¡±

    The ghost looked at her and something like a smile appeared on her face. ¡®Mh. And what will I get for doing this? Helping when you are about to be killed or furthering your magic is one thing, but running errands quite another.¡¯

    ¡°I don¡¯t know? What would you like?¡±

    ¡®Sing me a song, I will teach you, and if you are good enough with it, it can be considered my ¡®payment¡¯ Without waiting for a reply she drifted through the wall.

    ¡°What was that about, did she not want to look?¡±

    ¡°I think she was miffed about being bidden to do something menial. She was quite highly placed, I think, probably?¡± Alyssa looked uncertain.

    Shortly after, while they were still washing up, Asandria rose through the floor. ¡®There is a person named Mathilde von Nordmark in the entrance hall, she is a relative of Adelaide and as such distantly related to Maximilian and Alea, she seems to have ill intentions and forced the servants to let her in even though she had not notified anyone of her arrival and it was made clear to her that she was intruding.¡¯

    They quickly dressed after both had used the wand and then went outside. There beside the stair going down stood two maids listening intently. Mireille grinned. ¡°We can ask them later what we missed!¡± The two maids were startled by the sudden voice and one of them even gave a small shriek. ¡°Oh be quiet you two, we don¡¯t bite.¡±

    The two friends went down the stairs and saw Adelaide and Gerald beside two other servants and three maids standing before a middle-aged, elegant woman more handsome than pretty, with hair in a rich brown shade, probably dyed, she had applied makeup liberally and was clothed in fine and expensive-looking velvet, colored a deep maroon and stitched with golden thread. Her neck, arms, and fingers were adorned with jewelry. Her face looked like a pleasant mask but the eyes were cold.

    Behind her stood a pleasant-looking blond man of perhaps thirty years of middling height in the clothing of a butler alongside two maids, black and blond-haired respectively, who had their heads respectfully lowered. The butler, or whoever he was, looked at the scene with a slight smile. He wore a monocle over his left eye.

    Adelaide looked pale and ill, holding her head with one hand as if she had a headache coming on. ¡°Mathilde, I deeply regret that I cannot be as hospitable as I would wish, but I am not in the best of ways. But what''s done is done. Come in, and I can at least give you something to drink and a room if you need it. But it would please me greatly if you could be understanding of my servants; they have their orders from me and it is only natural that they obey mine before yours.¡±

    ¡°But Adelaide, dear, you misunderstand, as they mentioned that you were feeling ill I simply had to see you! We are family after all.¡± The last was said in a sweet tone that raised the hairs on Alyssa''s neck.

    ¡°Had an aunt who did that number once or twice a year as long as there was still something left to steal. She sometimes succeeded, even though everyone knew that she would be attempting something like this.¡± Mireille quietly whispered, ¡°So don¡¯t dismiss her because she seems so open about her attitude.¡±

    Gerald saw the two standing on the stairs first and leaned towards Adelaide motioning towards them. The latter nodded. The servant then ordered one of the maids who nodded and then climbed the stairs.

    As she arrived she gave a small bow and said ¡°I think it would be best if you took your meal with the young mistress in the dawn study, we will arrange everything. Madam von Gildburg is detained with family matters and thus the dining room is sadly occupied at the moment. I hope you can overlook this matter.¡± The maid looked apologetic. She was in her early twenties brown-haired and dark-eyed with a tan complexion, seemingly from the southern regions perhaps from Andria.

    ¡°Yes, we will be glad to do as you say. Hopefully, madam von Gildburg is also able to have a rest after all of this.¡± Alyssa answered. The maid looked grateful and then led them to a moderately sized room on the second floor overlooking the city in the direction of the rising sun.

    The sun shone brightly through the half-opened windows, a breeze ruffled the curtains. There was a smaller table, fit perhaps for six with upholstered comfortable chairs of that number standing nearby. The walls were painted with the scenes of a summer festival, people dancing, some enjoying wine or other beverages. In the middle of all was a depiction of the god Thiostos, lying in a vineyard and enjoying his leisure. He was pressing grapes still on the wine in both hands, squeezing them to form two brooks of wine which were then used by the merry festivalgoers to fill their goblets. He was the god of the feast, the merry drinker, the last friend of the sorrowful but also the god of forgetfulness and the thief of reason. Hidden in between the vines were frolicking nymphs and satyrs.

    ¡°That sets the tone for a merry day,¡± Mireille remarked while grinning.

    ¡°I think that is the reason for us normally eating downstairs, it simply does not fit with what we have seen of Adelaide so far,¡± Alyssa replied while moving towards the window and lifting the curtain for a better look. They could see the neighboring houses of the well-to-do and the carefully tended gardens autumn coloring the trees.

    ¡°You would be right. Good morning to you both.¡± Alea entered, followed by three servants bearing trays of food. Even though it was sometimes hard to say, with the blindfold she was wearing, she seemed distracted and agitated at the moment, the legs of her spider rippled with suppressed motion.

    The two friends kept their silence until the dishes had been arranged and tea served and as the servants exited the room Mireille asked: ¡°Who was that rude person? Can we help somehow?¡±

    Alea looked as if she had bitten into something sour, ¡°she is the niece of my grandmother which makes her my great-cousin of the maternal line. She is the wife of the son of the duke of Nordmark the duchy who is most interested in Grunewald at the moment. And yes there are no or not many such coincidences in life.¡±

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    ¡°Is your grandmother all right? I can perhaps make a potion for her? I hope that I don¡¯t overestimate my abilities but my mother at least was the best apothecary of Firswending.¡± ¡®And I know what''s wrong,¡¯ she added internally.

    ¡°Yes, that would be appreciated. As I mentioned, she has been reticent in using a physician. But she would probably accept a gift. You can use the laboratory in the basement of the workshop. I will assist you.¡± She looked a bit pleased with the prospect and bit into a piece of bread slathered with marmalade.

    The breakfast concluded without any disruptions. ¡°I would like to see this rumored workshop too.¡± Mireille looked at Alyssa and Alea.

    ¡°There is space enough, but please no touching anything in there, even I don¡¯t know what some of that is.¡± Alea scrunched her nose. ¡°My grandfather sometimes began a project and left it halfway only to come back years later and complete it. But sometimes he did not, or he no longer could. My memories of that time are unreliable but that I still know. So we have some half-finished works of magical and mechanical prototypes. You see what I mean?¡±

    The three went to the workshop together, the morning air was brisk and seemed to hold the first cold of the coming winter, rime coated the grass in shadowed corners of the old building and walls.

    ¡°Brr. I was just getting used to not freezing in the mountains!¡± Mireille complained.

    The door to the workshop opened with a loud creaking noise. ¡°That could use some oil.¡± Alea mused.

    ¡°What''s this?¡± Mireille went to the automatons, poking at the one they had opened up yesterday.

    ¡°Keep your fingers away from the strange knick-knacks. You could lose them both figuratively and in reality.¡± Alyssa pulled her away.

    ¡°Could one of you please lift those rolls of fabric?¡± Alea stood before an assortment of expensive but also old-looking roles of textiles. With a concerted effort and Alea mostly supervising they uncovered a hatch. Opening that, they saw a steep ladder made of sturdy-looking wood descend into the darkness.

    After shouting the word for ¡®light¡¯ in old Allisairian some glow-globes activated bathing the laboratory in a pale light.

    ¡°Does no one ever clean around here?¡± Mireille wondered as plumes of dust rose with every step while they went downwards.

    ¡°It''s been some years,¡± Alea answered.

    The laboratory was neither as elaborate nor as spacious as the workshop but it was leagues ahead of what Alyssa was used to. With a sparkle in her eyes, she went through alembic, assorted glassware, and boiler and last the magically activated fireplate and ventilation.

    ¡°This is a dream come true for every apothecary and even most alchemists! I would love to work here for a bit. But I fear the ingredients, other than the mineral ones, are somewhat past their prime.¡±

    Alea looked amused at that. ¡°Give me a list and I will send a servant to buy them for you. That is the least I can do as you are doing it for grandma.¡±

    Alyssa looked towards Asandria who was silently floating behind her left shoulder. ¡®Yes I know what you want, you need not spell it out. Get a bit of stationery and some parchment, I am no master alchemist though, so I can only make some suggestions based on my knowledge of the soul.¡¯

    Alyssa grabbed a stylus, some not completely dried out ink, and brittle parchment before writing down the suggestions coming from the elven specter.

    She thought about the ingredients and added a few of her own while striking two of Asandria''s suggestions because they were too outlandish.

    ¡°Here, this is a list of things that could be useful. It is highly likely to only have a bit of a strengthening effect so don¡¯t overdo it with expensive reagents, I don¡¯t know the prices if those here for example can be acquired.¡± She pointed at dragon blood and rose of eternal frost.

    Alea held her spider construct over the parchment moving it as she read. ¡°That should mostly be doable, dragon blood...not so much I fear. But it is not impossible to get, so it was not a bad idea to include it in the list. I will get a servant to try and buy the lot. It might take some hours for them though. Let us go back to the workshop. There was something I had been wanting to try.¡±

    Alea then gave the list to a maid tidying fallen leaves outside in the garden, who bowed and went to look for someone to acquire the ingredients.

    Mireille went for training after she was thrown out of the workshop because of repeated meddling with the automatons. The two scientifically inclined girls then began their experimenting with the broken crystal core.

    <hr>

    Lunch arrived but before that, they were called to their rooms, where the first of the clothes they had been measured for had arrived.

    Alyssa had a dress in dark blue and violet with ruffled sleeves and embroidered at the hem with blooming lilacs. Mireille got a dress in a pale orange color embroidered with orange blossoms. Both dresses were enchanted to repair small damage and in case that was no longer possible magic could be applied to a tastefully hidden copper disc inscribed with runes and dusted with powdered crystal to close larger tears.

    Alea who met them on the way to the dining room explained, ¡°We have to keep up appearances in front of my great-cousin. She will find fault with anything and try to annoy my poor grandma to death. I don¡¯t know what brought her here, but it can''t be anything good. Thankfully we had those clothes made, they are more than sufficiently genteel attire for a simple luncheon. And she had insisted to meet the saviors of her dear Maximilian. There was nothing my grandma could do.¡± She scrunched her nose and smoothed her dress in a nervous motion. The mechanical spider waved her forelegs. Cyrus hopped to her other shoulder and rubbed his head against her cheek, surprising both girls.

    ¡°Cyrus might be the first empathetic wyvern I have ever heard of.¡± Mireille dryly remarked.

    ¡°It''s the familiar bond. You both gain a bit of the personality of the other, mostly from master to familiar but there has been reputedly some bleed-through in the other direction. I am curious how that will manifest.¡± Alea looked a bit embarrassed but answered succinctly while stroking the wyvern.

    Mathilde von Nordmark was already sitting near the head of the table to the right of Adelaide and was talking animatedly as they entered.

    ¡°Ah, the rumored saviors of my dear Maximilian. I am glad to finally make your acquaintance. I am Mathilde von Nordmark.¡± She nodded in a friendly greeting.

    ¡°This here are Alyssa Miner and Mireille Annirstochter¡± Alea took it upon herself to introduce the two.

    ¡°Pleased to meet you,¡± Alyssa bowed awkwardly. Mathilde raised an eyebrow but smiled broadly.

    "What a delightful young country maid."

    "A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Mireille bowed too.

    Cyrus on a silently voiced command flew towards a table at the side where some thoughtful person had put some cold chicken slices.

    Adelaide looked fondly at Alea her pale complexion covered in subtly applied make-up, even if she was not better in fact at least she looked better.

    ¡°You must tell me all about your meeting. I could not sleep when I heard that there had been an ambush. The authorities around here are incompetent, simply dreadful! There is no security.¡± Mathilde drained her glass filled with red wine. A drop remained on her lower lip which she blotted daintily with a napkin. Looking at the red stain she continued. ¡°There could have been serious consequences. It does not bear thinking about.¡± Glittering eyes fixed on the two friends.

    Servants brought in the hot dishes.

    ¡°Oh what an adorable dress, is it one of Hadley''s creations? She makes the most beautiful embroidery. Seems quite new, I knew Adelaide would care for you properly, where did you say you came from? A small mining town, how quaint¡­¡±

    The meal was very tiring, the only saving grace was that Mathilde had less time to attack Adelaide, concerned as she was with ferreting out every detail of Alyssa''s and Mireille''s background. And she was good at that. Using needling and jabs interspersed with compliments. As the meal drew to a close everyone but madam von Nordmark heaved a sigh of relief.

    The group of girls tarried a bit until they were alone.

    ¡°What was that!?¡± Mireille exhaled heavily.

    ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± Alea raised, then tilted her head a bit, the blindfold made it difficult but she had a serious air about her.

    ¡°Yes, I think I, no we,¡± Alyssa looked at Mireille who nodded, ¡±would want to know.¡±

    ¡°Then come with me to my rooms, it is quiet and more private there.¡±

    They ascended two flights of stairs and then went down the left-hand corridor to the third door on the right. The rooms beyond were richly but somberly appointed in dark colors. Books lay haphazardly about, piles of them lay on the desk near the window.

    And Alea began to talk

    ¡°I have to preface what I am about to say. My memories of my grandfather, the accident, and my early youth are disjointed and incomplete. I think the trauma is to blame. Most of what I know, grandma told me. I was sick for a long time."

    She silently adjusted the spider on her shoulder. "Now, where was I? Grandfather was a Gildburg, the third son, my grandmother was a von Nordmark and my mother was Liane von Gildburg before she married my father the second son of the viscount of Graufurt. But that does not answer your question, does it?¡± Alea sighed, ¡°My father and mother have been dead since a few years ago, in the same ¡®accident¡¯ that took my eyes they lost their lives. My grandfather sought to help me, but there were complications. I don¡¯t know what happened but he also did not live long after the experiments that granted me little Cecily here.¡±

    ¡°Your spider is named Cecily?¡± Alyssa smiled softly, ¡°a beautiful name. You have a lot of sadness in your past.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alea was silent for a moment, ¡°thank you. But what I was long-windedly trying to explain was: As the viscount of Graufurt, my uncle, does not have children of his own, my brother and I stand to inherit the title, but should something happen...then it is complicated but possible to all end up with the Nordmarks. I dislike explaining all that.¡± she rubbed at her nose, ¡°but I find it all too possible that there will be problems related to that in our further travels, as both heirs of the viscounty will be on the same road, far from any guards or soldiers...Mathilde had tried some time ago to get the guardianship of both of us, the children need a family and all that, but thankfully my grandmother prevailed.¡± The spider moved her legs restlessly. ¡°If you want¡­¡± she paused, ¡°I would not hold it against you to travel separately.¡±

    ¡°We won''t.¡± Mireille was quick. ¡°I don¡¯t leave friends in the lurch and you and your brother, your grandma too, are really nice people.¡± She then proceeded to hug the shocked Alea.

    ¡°What are you¡­!¡±

    "You are even smaller than I am!"

    "That''s completely beside the point." Alea still very stiff went red in the face and pouted.

    Alyssa smiled. ¡°No, we will not leave you and because we now know something is coming we can prepare a bit. But what I don¡¯t understand, why are they here, now? That should alert you and your brother, shouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Alea was pensive and though she seemed happy to be hugged also very embarrassed as she began to extricate herself.

    Asandria smiled, but it was not a smile inspired by happiness. ¡®She is probably irritated by the failure- if it was her doing- and wanted to get a complete picture and perhaps bribe you, find some weaknesses, those sorts of things.¡¯ she scoffed, ¡®humans playing at intrigue.¡¯

    ¡°Was that Asandria?¡± Mireille preoccupied with Alea said.

    Silence reigned.

    ¡°Who is Asandria?¡± Alea looked confused.

 You want me to drink that?!

    "Well...letting the cat out of the bag is a lot easier than putting it in."

    -Charles Martin, Chasing Fireflies

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Silence. Alyssa looked at Mireille, who tried to look innocent while still hugging Alea. The latter was still looking confused but the expression slowly changed to one of curiosity.

    ¡°So. You two better talk to me, and I must say you two are about the worst at deceiving people I know about.¡± The spider shook her little head.

    ¡°Ah, it''s no big deal, tell her.¡± Mireille let go of Alea while rubbing the back of her own head with an apologetic and embarrassed grin.

    ¡°For you perhaps! Ok. It may sound a bit crazy but Asandria is a ghost.¡±

    ¡°You see dead people?¡±

    ¡°A dead elf, yes.¡±

    ¡°And this dead elf talks to you and Mireille does not see or hear her?¡±

    ¡°That about sums it up.¡±

    ¡°That is hard to believe. And as I said you are very bad liars, both of you. So I will believe you for now. Nice to meet you Asandria.¡± The spider turned around and nodded in greeting.

    The ghost raised her head, one arm sweeping through a vase. ¡®It should not matter much, but keep my existence a secret, if your enemies know about me you have one less tool to surprise them with. And the Heartstealer will do worse.¡¯

    ¡°She greets you back and bids you not to talk about her to someone else.¡± The last was not only meant for Alea.

    ¡°Good. I think that reasonable, I don¡¯t want to be called mad more than usual.¡±

    ¡°You are seen as mad?¡± Mireille asked with a curious expression.

    ¡°Yes, does that surprise you?¡± The spider turned and faced Mireille while the girl herself stood still, hardly breathing.

    ¡°Mh, when you put me on the spot like this. No.¡±

    ¡°You could have put that more diplomatically!¡± Alyssa scolded.

    ¡°That would have been apparent,¡± Alea seemed to smile as she said that. ¡°At least you have distracted me from my former morbid musings. And that is just as well. We have the ingredients that could be bought on such short notice, there were some the merchant assured us could be found with the expenditure of time and money, but I think that it would probably take too long. Not that I would not take a year if that saved grandma, but I guess it is not that certain or powerful a mixture?¡±

    ¡°You guess right. I will do my best, and if it works, it will by no means be exclusive to my person, other apothecaries or even alchemists could brew it for her without the need for our continued presence.¡±

    ¡°Then no time like the present. Let us try and finish at least one potion as a test run. You are certain that it will do no harm?¡±

    ¡°I will test it myself naturally.¡±

    ¡°Then there is nothing left to discuss. Mireille do you want to come with us?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think that would be good.¡±

    They walked the now familiar walkway as they met the blonde servant of the unwelcome guest. He nodded a friendly greeting standing aside to let them pass. The monocle shimmered in the light of the afternoon sun.

    The spider on Aleas shoulder tracked him while they walked by, otherwise, she did not acknowledge him. Mireille and Alyssa returned the greeting with a nod of their own.

    At the door to the workshop sat a small chest.

    ¡°That should be the ingredients. If someone could please carry the chest inside?¡± Alea looked at Mireille.

    ¡°Ah well, it''s the least I can do for you letting me hug you.¡± Mireille grinned while Alea puffed her cheeks. It was the most emotion they had seen from her since coming to the mansion.

    Alyssa looked fascinated ¡®how cute, but she will likely kill me if I squeeze her cheeks.¡¯

    The chest proved to be very light and it was no problem maneuvering it downwards to the laboratory. The afternoon was spent poring over the ingredients and the great works of alchemy which were all present on shelves in the basement. Today they did not manage to formulate a recipe but it seemed to be going well. Asandria had some very valuable suggestions she knew a lot about the intricacies of the soul.

    Dinner was a dismal affair with both Adelaide and Mathilde in attendance. Maximilian had managed to return only to be monopolized by his great-cousin. Everyone else tried to stay out of the battlefield.

    ¡°I always knew why I did not visit this part of my family often.¡± Maximilian was drinking a glass of wine with the three girls in the study on the second floor. ¡°It is worse than my memories would have suggested.¡±

    ¡°It is objectively worse. The thin veneer of civility is slowly coming off. But for those years of memories I lost in the accident I have a very good memory you know?¡± Alea righted her blindfold.

    ¡°Poetically spoken, sister dearest.¡±

    Mireille laughed at that. ¡°We will spend tomorrow concocting that potion of Alyssa''s, then we would be ready to depart. What about you?¡±

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    ¡°We can be ready by the day after tomorrow. We tarried enough as it is. I have rented a carriage for the journey, that should save us some time, the carriage is big enough that the girls can sleep inside, which further simplifies the need to set up additional tents.¡± Maximilian replied.

    ¡°Much appreciated.¡± Alyssa thought back to the miles traveled about the mountains.

    After that, they talked a bit about the academy, the, for Alyssa, near-mythical goal of her travels. And the two siblings had a lot of stories, passed down from their parents and grandparent to tell.

    As they went to bed, still in Alyssa''s room to her amused irritation, Vanessa greeted them.

    ¡°Mae g¡¯ovannen. I have read the proposed recipe and it is satisfactory. It will not do much more than keep the problem at bay but that will still be a massive improvement to the status now. Mireille. I will talk you through the exercises you absolutely should do tomorrow. I have a bad feeling about all of this.¡±

    ¡°Yes, teacher!¡±

    ¡°I find myself modifying the plans¡­¡±

    Sleep was deep and pleasant. Alyssa dreamed disjointed dreams of elvish feasts, griffins flying in the sky, carrying knights in gleaming mithril.

    ¡°Good morning!¡± Someone pounced on Alyssa who woke with a start.

    ¡°Ngh.¡± She tried to articulate her protests but could not find the breath for it. ¡°Mireille!¡± She struggled free whacking her friend with a pillow, this turned out to be the start of an energetic pillow fight. As the combat wound down Alyssa asked her assailant. ¡°How did you wake up before me?¡±

    ¡°Cyrus did. He needed to go outside and seemed not to want to wake you.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, really. And after that, I could no longer sleep.¡±

    "Considerate of him." Alyssa smiled and whacked Mireille one last time.

    "Hey!"

    "You started it I finish it."

    They washed and had breakfast. It turned out to be another tedious and formal affair whith Mathilde subtly criticizing them for their upbringing, intelligence, or both while keeping a front of praising them.

    ¡®Drained was the word¡¯ Alyssa mused as they dispiritedly walked towards the laboratory.

    They spent the day working.

    In the afternoon Alyssa took the distillate out of the alembic. White heavy smoke hung over a bluish-green, slimy liquid.

    ¡°So, to get this right, you have to breathe in the smoke, which should be a lot like drinking whipped egg whites and take care not to touch the slimy stuff.¡± Mireille summarized.

    ¡°Yes, that sounds about correct.¡±

    Asandria tilted her head. ¡®She is more intelligent than she tries to portray herself as.¡¯

    Alea looked at her reproachfully, ¡°you could take it all a bit more seriously.¡±

    ¡°She never does.¡± Sighed Alyssa, ¡°but that is not always a bad thing.¡±

    Alyssa tested the concoction on herself as promised, taking the merest breath of the smoky liquid, the strange sensation was indescribable but not unpleasant and, she thought, she had no illness to cure.

    "I think it is ready, lets go!" The rest concurred.

    The group found Adelaide''s chambers on the upper floor near the siblings¡¯.

    They knocked on the ornately carved wooden door. From inside the room, a weak voice called. ¡°Who is it? Please talk to Gerald I am not feeling well.¡±

    ¡°It''s me, grandma. It''s important.¡±

    After a short moment of silence, they heard halting steps nearing the door, which then opened halfway. Adelaide was wearing a house robe and looked much worse than remembered as she had removed the makeup and the full extent of her illness became apparent.

    ¡°Alea! You could have warned me, pardon my attire I was not expecting company. And what in Jaros name is that?¡± She looked at the beaker with the turbid smoke which behaved much as a liquid would.

    ¡°It is important, can we come in for a moment? I know this is highly irregular but this liquid could really help you.¡±

    Adelaide sighed deeply then opened the door fully. ¡°Come on in then.¡±

    They entered a richly appointed chamber with a double bed, dresser, and some wardrobes all painted and carved with depictions of fantastic beasts and legendary stories. The ceiling bore a painting showing the gods in council a soft and large carpet cushioned their steps. The windows were tightly closed and the curtains drawn.

    ¡°So, what is that liquid?¡± The old lady asked.

    ¡°It is a soul strengthening philter with inspirations taken from old elven to newer works of Ananse Berkop the younger.¡± Alea began to expound. As always she was near expressionless with the spider supplying the right gestures and animation.

    ¡°If I may?¡± Alyssa interjected as Alea drew breath.

    She deflated a bit and said, ¡°please grandma. I can''t lose you too.¡±

    Adelaide seemed to further age with that and sat down heavily in a cushioned seat.

    ¡°This should help shore up your strength and help with what ails your soul.¡±

    ¡°How do you know of that?¡± Adelaide''s eyes took on a sharp glint.

    ¡°I have some training in the magical arts and my familiars are not at all usual, but that is beside the point, this liquid can help you if drunk in the next ten to fifteen minutes. Later it will have dissolved back into the slime, and I would not recommend drinking that.¡±

    ¡°I was there and helped make it, trust us.¡± Alea pleaded.

    ¡°The only thing I''ve got to lose is time with you and your brother, dear child.¡± She stroked Aleas head. ¡°Give me the potion. But don¡¯t think I did not hear you use the plural for familiar. We might as well talk later.¡±

    After receiving it she breathed in deeply, the vapors coiling into her nose and mouth flooding into her as if they were alive.

    Asandria answered the unspoken thought. ¡®This vapor is in a sense, alive. It carries a bit of the life and soul of the earthdrake whose heart we used and the sap of the treant. One could say it is life and soul without agenda or intelligence. But before you think about it, it will never gell with a foreign soul completely and is thus ineffective for spellcasting.¡¯

    It was in the truest sense of the word, magical. The life and color returned to her skin and eyes, the back straightened and the posture became more assured.

    ¡°My, that is something indeed!¡± Adelaide breathed deeply, ¡°I have not felt that good in years. But something tells me this will not last?¡±

    ¡°Yes that is true, but life itself is fleeting, and it has no ill effects that I know of. It will simply be as if you had not taken it, but depending on how strenuous you plan to live it could last up to a year.¡± Alyssa mused.

    ¡°You are sixteen years of age? Truly?¡±

    ¡°We had some very concise notes.¡± Alyssa blushed.

    ¡®Good that you know.¡¯ Asandria smiled.

    ¡°I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Even if it lasts only a few months it would be more than I thought I had. It''s gotten worse the last year, much worse.¡± She shuddered.

    ¡°Perhaps the academy has something that will help you?¡± Alea tried hard to appear optimistic, which sadly failed.

    Adelaide smiled, ¡°I am so glad to see you be more outgoing, this as much as the potion helps to set my old heart at ease.¡±

    ¡°We will have to leave tomorrow, will you be alright?¡± Mireille asked without caring for etiquette.

    The old lady genuinely laughed at this. ¡°Who cares. The weaver spins the weave and the crone snaps the thread, we are only along for the ride. My only wish is for your safety and happiness my dear children. Though I must declare myself partial to my blood I like you both and hope that you will become good friends.¡±

    They parted at the door with Alea turning towards her room, the spider looked at them as they went down the corridor.

    Reaching her room Alyssa joked, "I hope they have rooms with two beds."

    "I hope the bed is big enough, otherwise that defeats the purpose!" Grumbled Mireille.

    Vanessa talked with them about the happenings of the day.

    "Well done. You will be a proper alchemist in time. And tomorrow you will leave this place?"

    "Yes, that is the plan," Alyssa answered.

    "Then we will see each other in the evening. Try to introduce me as an eccentric botanist or something, the story could be that I spend my days in the woods and am fast enough to catch you in the evening?"

    "Sounds a bit crazy but why not. It''s not as if someone will guess the truth." Mireille replied.

 A play of light

    ¡°The past can''t hurt you anymore, not unless you let it.¡±

    - Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

    The small child lay in a crib, sunlight shone through windows and curtains dappling the blanket in gold. A chubby hand reached for the light. Outside the crickets worshipped a late summer while a soft breeze blew the curtains into the room. It happened then as natural as breathing as soft as a feather that the child grasped the light but it was too hot to hold and the child let go, crying.

    ¡°Don''t run, Alea, you will fall!¡± The mother called exasperatedly chasing after the small three-year-old. The laughter faded into the distance as the girl ran out of the door into the garden. ¡°Present!¡± the girl stood in the shade of the garden hedge and held out a closed fist radiant light burst from between the fingers coloring her flesh in a reddish hue.

    They were at the old castle, mother told her the people there were family but it did not feel like family. The halls were large and cold, and colder were only those who lived here. Fear sat in the corners and grabbed when you were not looking. Spiderwebs of deceit ran deep in the walls and towers and even a child could understand, this was no one''s home.

    They chased her, laughing while she stumbled deeply afraid of the loud and brash boys, they were her cousins it was said but was that another word for unfriendly stranger? She ran and the heavy door fell shut behind her. There was the rasp of a latch being thrown then nothing. She cried and screamed, the door did not budge. She pleaded and sobbed and the day turned to dusk. When night fell she heard the things in the darkness and she was alone with the fear.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    As the first rat bit her she called to the light and then there was the sun, shining in the darkness burning away the filth and hate, and as rats died shrieking her eyes beheld the last thing they would ever see, this beautiful painful light.

    They found her then, the room still glows to this day and it was no one''s fault, the door closed on its own they said. Months passed in darkness, sometimes she called the light and it grew warm, but she could not see. Her parents tried to help her but were powerless in the end.

    The voice was warm and old and deep ¡°Hold the pliers and give me the essence of nightshade. Sleep my dear, you will see again I swear.¡± She drank the cup put in her hand and fell asleep. She was someone, something else, a tiny being and it could what she could not, see.

    She always was called a smart child and it should be true even her grandfather, the most intelligent person in the world said so, so it must be true. So she knew, that this was, what was called an assassination. Her mother told her to run, and she did. She ran as she never had and then in the small alley behind the houses she had known since she was young there was a scruffy-looking young man, he held a crossbow and spat in the dirt as he said. ¡°I hate this job.¡± And then he shot her. The bolt punched clear through her breast white-hot even on a day cold as this one with rime on the walls and windows. And while she fell, seeing this through the borrowed eyes of her spider she thought, ¡®will there be light on the other side.¡¯

    ¡°Her soul is still there. The construct holds. We can still do something.¡±

    ¡°What you are proposing is madness!¡±

    ¡°I lost my daughter, I lost my son, I will not lose her!¡±

    As she woke she was cold, so cold. She felt as the little spider did when she lost herself to the link. And as they told her, that her father, mother, and grandfather had died. She lay there without motion. She could think and knew she should feel something, anything, but there was only the all-pervading cold. Moving her body was strange and unfamiliar, the spider much more comfortable.

    Remembering was hard and got harder still but the memories were like sharp-edged ice and with them fading so did the pain they caused, the past was distant like a stone thrown in a green pond, fading swiftly. The last to go was her grandfather''s tired words, "Sleep. Sleep and forget, forget what I did to you."

    Learning to live again was hard. And it took years.

 Departure

    ¡°The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.¡±

    - St. Augustine

    Alyssa played with Cyrus while Mireille stumbled through her morning routine. She threw a crumpled handkerchief bound with twine which the wyvern snatched out of the air, he was already quite able to glide for short distances. The small piece of fabric was soon ripped and torn. Alyssa stroked the preening Cyrus while smiling gently, ¡°you will be a big, fierce hunter one day.¡± She spread the ripped fabric and spoke some words, fingers forming sigils and the threads wove back together. She turned, looked at Mireille, and called, ¡°I am getting better at that. The spell is much more versatile and powerful than my own household magic. Thank you for teaching me. Your grandmother must have wanted you to become a magical tailor too.¡±

    ¡°Mh. That may well be.¡± Mireille seemed a bit uncharacteristically taciturn. ¡°She never got the chance.¡± Throwing water in her face she forced a smile. ¡°Let''s go downstairs!¡±

    As they left the room, Alyssa with Cyrus on her shoulder stroked along Mireille''s back and looked a bit concerned. ¡°I hope I did not open old wounds.¡±

    ¡°Nothing you could really know. My grandmother favored me and practically raised me. But when I was seven years old she died. She never got over the collapse of her business, she paid every last debt but the guild harassed and slandered her and I think that killed her in the end. I neglected my magic then and only used it for petty things, knotting the shoestrings of my brothers together while they were running, things like that. My mother tried her best, but she had to feed and support my failure of a dad and my brothers, and I was normally taken care of by my grandma, so I got...forgotten I guess? I might not have been an easy child.¡± She sighed. ¡°But that is old history, and if we don¡¯t hurry we will be late for breakfast, perhaps we can even avoid the dreaded cousin!¡±

    Knowing when further questions were not appreciated was a useful skill in dealing with her father and now came in useful with Mireille. Alyssa smiled briefly then opened the door, ¡°Then let''s not keep the food waiting. But tell me, if you ever want to talk.¡± The last was spoken quietly as they descended the great stairway.

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    The seamstress had been as good as her word and they were attired in new traveling clothes, the colors remained similar, but the material was much more robust and the cloth-covered more skin to better shield against cold or wet weather and other dangers of the road.

    They were in luck. Madam von Nordmark was still busy with the preparation for her departure, she had decided at the last minute to accompany the siblings, at least as long as their direction of travel were the same.

    And that meant they had the breakfast table to themselves plus Alea and Maximilian.

    ¡°Ah, blessed silence!¡± Maximilian smiled as he took some soup.

    ¡°And there you go breaking it.¡± Alyssa joked.

    ¡°That was too obvious, I could not go for that one.¡± Mireille sniffed disdainfully.

    The spider on Alea¡¯s shoulder gave a curious sort of scratching noise which was oddly dismissive.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you sit the spider on your head, you could have a hat to make it work, with little railings made of felt.¡± Mireille grinned as she imagined that. ¡°It would look adorable, probably.¡±

    ¡°It would look silly. And it does, I tried. I know that the shoulder is not an optimal position.¡± Alea tapped her fingers on the table. ¡°I once thought to have the spider, or at least the eyes, made into jewelry, a diadem for example. But there were numerous problems with the magical weave. So a spider it is.¡±

    After they had eaten the group assembled in the foyer, Mathilde with her servants was also in attendance. ¡°My carriage is big enough for two more, won''t my dear niece and nephew accompany me?¡±

    The two looked at each other, Maximilian began to reply, ¡°I will take the hor¡­¡± as Alyssa whispered to him, ¡°then Alea will be alone in the carriage, I don¡¯t think we qualify for the honor.¡± the boy smoothly continued, ¡°...horse carriage, thank you very much.¡±

    For a fleeting moment, Alea had a tiny smile.

    ¡°I guess we ride then?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°We have provided horses and a carriage for the journey, you could choose one or the other.¡± Gerald helpfully interjected. ¡°Miss Alea was adamant that the carriage has adequate suspension, it should be as comfortable as possible.¡±

    ¡°We will take that!¡± Alyssa replied quickly. Mireille only nodded looking amused.

    Alea went over to Alyssa as they sorted their baggage and loaded it on the carriages, ¡°I have some very good books on the topic of spellcraft and some novels of a more frivolous nature packed in this bag here, I fear as long as we are with ¨C that- person we won''t get much reading done so you can have them for the moment.¡± The spider focused on Mireille next, ¡°and you would benefit from reading too.¡±

    Mireille yawned, ¡°I think I have to catch up on sleep first. This evening Vanessa will probably catch up with us. And then it''s training, training, and training with a side of¡­¡±

    ¡°We know.¡± Alea dryly interrupted. ¡°Make sure to read a bit, it''s quite relaxing.¡±

    Then she boarded the big carriage with the Nordmark coat of arms displayed prominently on the side showing a sword behind a shield with a river flowing underneath. The wood was lacquered dark blue and had golden ornaments worked into the corners. The coachman was an older man with a tricorn and coat, he helped with stowing the chests and bags on the roof.

    Their own carriage was a more modest affair drawn by four horses. It was varnished brown wood, probably oak. Curtains shielded the inside from casual inspection, their modest belongings and the more ample luggage of the siblings had already been loaded. An old man with a large beard, still looking very hale, was their coachman. He nodded a friendly greeting while chewing a bit of tobacco.

    Lucien Caravar and his men were already assembled behind the carriages, the former waved a friendly greeting as they passed, there was also a smaller carriage for the servants, a maid for Alea, the Andrian one they already knew if not by name, and a manservant for Maximilian.

    Inside the coach were two benches facing each other, upholstered with leather. A small iron stove behind the forward bench could be worked while traveling and would make colder weather more bearable. Magical runes warded the contraption against fire and kept the air fresh and without smoke.

    Mireille pulled Alyssa up into the carriage, Cyrus frantically flapped his wings to keep his place on her shoulder. Soon they were all seated and the coaches made their way down the streets of Grunewald. Adelaide looking much better saw them off.

    To the sound of hoof on cobblestone and the rumbling of the wheels they left the city behind, soon the sound changed to a more grinding note as gravel began to dominate the roads farther outside.

    For the moment it was just the two of them, Mireille looked at Alyssa who gave back a questioning look. ¡°I am still tired, would it annoy you if I slept a bit?¡±

    ¡°No. Why ask me? I can read a bit and practice. You sleeping will make that easier, just saying.¡± She smiled at the last part.

    Mireille grumbled a bit and then laid down on Alyssa''s lap. ¡°Hey what are you doing.¡±

    ¡°You said it''s ok!¡±

    ¡°Not to that.¡±

    ¡°Not listening, I am already sleeping!¡±

    Exasperated Alyssa looked down and could not bring herself to shove her off. And the coach really was too small to comfortably lie down, she could have used the front bench but that could have led to her falling if they hit a bump.

    Asandria was eying the whole production with amusement.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Cyrus seemed to think about biting Mireille until his mistress stroked his snout while sending calming thoughts.

    She arranged herself and then began to read.

    On the midday they stopped at a waystation, eating and stretching their legs, Alyssa was in quite a bit of pain as her legs had lost their circulation and she had to massage them before she could even get up.

    ¡°I could do it for you?¡± Mireille asked innocently.

    ¡°You will get me something to eat and have it at my seat on the table when I get there.¡± Alyssa was a bit grumpy.

    Sitting at the table, Alea seemed withdrawn and Maximilian looked pained. Mathilde was indifferent but her mere presence shut down any conversation they might have had. And there was nothing the two friends could do but keep clear of that battlefield for the moment. They consoled themselves that this arrangement would last only until tomorrow afternoon when they got to the intersection leading towards Nordmark and Kronenburg respectively.

    After the meal, they boarded the coach again and Alyssa put a cushion on her lap this time so that her legs would be spared the pain hopefully.

    ¡°Oh, that''s comfy. Thanks, Alyssa.¡±

    ¡°Mh. You owe me.¡±

    The afternoon went peacefully reading. The landscape was farmland interspersed with copses of trees and a small lake or two, and as night fell they found a fortified inn surrounded by forest, the Green Dragon. The innkeeper cheerfully explained, as he probably had done a thousand times, that the name came from an adventuring group that had started out in this same inn. It had been at the time of his grandfather and they were all since retired or dead but the seats they had usually taken still had little bronze plaques bearing their names. They became famous after rescuing a princess from pirates off the Coast of Dreams.

    Mireille laughingly recounted that when she was very young while playing with her siblings, she had been the pirate captain of the story more times than she could count. ¡°My middle brother was the princess, he had longer hair than me and was much more princessy.¡±

    ¡°Is that a word?¡± Alyssa inquired.

    ¡°It rhymes with prissy, and that fits him to a T.¡± Mireille grinned.

    Maximilian laughed at that ¡°How old were you then?¡±

    ¡°About five perhaps?¡± Mireille laughed. ¡°Otherwise how could he have played the princess willingly.¡±

    Mathilde had already retired for the night so the conversation had become much more uninhibited and natural.

    They went to bed after that. Mireille and Alyssa shared a double room and were still talking about the still absent Vanessa as a knock came from the door.

    ¡°Can I come in?¡± Alea''s soft voice was nearly inaudible through the closed door.

    ¡°Come in!¡± Mireille called before Alyssa had the chance to say anything.

    The door opened and the girl entered. Alyssa drew the blankets around her shoulder, Cyrus hopped to the top of her head which was somewhat uncomfortable but made for a funny image.

    ¡°Oh. I did not want to disturb you.¡± Alea hesitated.

    ¡°Come in, if you are alright with us being half-dressed then I can manage as well.¡± Alyssa smiled at the small girl.

    ¡°It is the first time I have left the mansion for a longer period of time. Oh I was out shopping and visited the town library with my grandma but we always quickly returned to the mansion and it was also not very often.¡±

    She drew a deeper breath, the spider on her shoulder seemed agitated even as her body remained still as ever. Nervously brushing back her dark hair she continued, ¡°And I wanted to ask if I could sleep here.¡± The last was spoken in a rushed tone. ¡°I understand if you don¡¯t want to¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course, you can have my bed.¡± Mireille stood up and went over to Alyssa.

    ¡°Don''t think about¡­¡± And then the redhead gently shoved the still protesting girl to the side and lay down; ¡°Good night.¡±

    Alyssa was speechless for a moment, but before she could begin to scold the shameless girl, Alea gave her a tiny smile and said, ¡°Thank you. I feel better already. I did not want to go to Maximilian, he is a boy for all that he is my brother.¡± She scrunched her nose.

    As they made themselves comfortable, Alyssa had accepted the sleeping arrangements, for the time being, there came another more forceful knock from the door.

    ¡°What is it this time?¡± Mireille grumbled a bit but seemed to be joking.

    Vanessa opened the door. ¡°My usual mode of entry seemed ill-advised seeing as you have some company.¡±

    She had bound her blue-white hair with a shawl and wore concealing clothing over the rest of her body. Nevertheless, her eyes and face were of clearly inhuman beauty and Alea looked surprised and startled.

    ¡°Len suilannon.¡± Vanesa made a half-bow her dark, linen clothes, who were too large for her small frame brushed the floor, ¡°Greetings Miss Alea von Graufurt. I know who you are from the communications I have shared with my pupils here. I am Vanessa¡¯ellariel Erellathiel and as you can see, an elf.¡±

    ¡°G...g...good evening.¡± Alea still seemed unbalanced and very surprised.

    ¡°I apologize for the late visit, but I had made a promise to meet my two friends here and this was the time we agreed upon.¡±

    ¡°That is perfectly alright, I will then leave first¡­¡±

    ¡°Please, stay.¡± Alyssa got up and took Alea by the shoulder. ¡°We wanted you to meet her too, it was not planned that it be today, but under the circumstances, it''s as good an opportunity as any.¡±

    ¡°I teach those two a bit of magical theory and in the case of Mireille practical application. I know that my kind is not welcome in these parts. The war to the west and the refugees have poisoned public opinion against elves in general, but I can assure you that I don¡¯t share the views and allegiance of my kin from Ulsolm.¡±

    ¡°Oh I don¡¯t have a strong opinion on that, I don¡¯t know any elves myself,¡± Alea assured her. ¡°And as I am an outsider myself it would be hypocritical to condemn you for that. To say that I am not surprised would be lying though. Can I perhaps listen in a bit if I don¡¯t have to leave?¡±

    The room was spacious enough, being one of the better and more costly ones and they started the evening routine.

    Alea was at first very withdrawn and only looked on as Alyssa debated some points of theory while Mireille could not do much at the moment, she simply trained the activation of her abilities and tried not to damage the room.

    As time passed she timidly crept a bit closer and at the close of the visit she sat beside Alyssa and looked attentively through her spider, she was still silent though.

    Vanessa looked outside the window and said, ¡°I will now take my leave. Tomorrow evening at the same time we will meet again.¡± It was not meant as a question. Mireille and Alyssa nodded synchronously.

    Alea looked bemused and said after some hesitation, ¡°Is it ok if I am there too?¡±

    ¡°It is just as well. Come if you will. I bid you all a good night. Sleep well.¡± The last had a touch of irony.

    ¡°Aaah it''s so late, I will not get enough sleep before we have to continue.¡±

    ¡°You slept nearly the whole day, I think that is more than enough.¡±

    Alea laughed softly, ¡°I think I will then try to sleep too. Good night and thank you for having me.¡±

    ¡°Good night Alea, sleep well. If there is something bothering you. Talk to us, I, no we, will always be ready to listen,¡± Alyssa said after exchanging a glance with Mireille.

    ¡°Thank you. I will.¡± She thought a bit and then said, "Thank you for the opportunity to learn with you, it was a nice change to study together instead of alone. That is exactly what I hope the academy will be. But I always feared that I would have troubles making friends there." She touched the spider on her shoulder.

    And they...tried to sleep. There was a commotion outside. And loud voices could be heard, then a scream.

    Mireille, strangely, was the first to get up, she grabbed her short sword, attired only in a loosely hanging tunic that went to the middle of her thighs it should have been ridiculous but it was not. The Sigil on her arm blazed with light, lightning illuminated her veins and sparked from her eyes, electricity arced between her teeth, and then she was out of the room.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Alyssa sprang up, ran to the door, and looked into the corridor while steadying herself on the doorframe. Alea got up too and spoke some words which sounded like ice floes grinding against each other and a thin glowing layer of ice spread over her body.

    Cyrus grabbed onto her shoulder, his claws drawing blood.

    ¡°We have to follow her.¡± The quietly said words of the little girl with the spider hung in the air for a short moment before they both stormed out into the dark hallway.

    A sizzling sound was followed by rolling thunder, light flashed and brilliantly illuminated the doorway to Alea''s former room in sharp relief. Glass splintered. A stuttering scream broke the ensuing silence. And as they entered they saw blood coating Alea''s bed and a dead body lying there, the window was thrown open, the window frame was smoking and damaged. Mireille was in the process of jumping outside.

    ¡°What is happening?¡± Alyssa screamed.

    ¡°He is escaping! I will get the bastard.¡± Mireille answered as she jumped out of the window a whirling wind cushioning her fall. Her tunic...good thing it was dark and mostly deserted.

    They ran to the window and saw a dark figure vanish into the woods behind the inn Mireille in hot pursuit, but Alyssa saw that the lightning was becoming faint and knew that the energy buoying her friend was running out.

    ¡°Alea I have to get to her, she is going to collapse soon¡­¡± out of breath she forced the words out and then ran for the stairs not waiting for an answer.

    As she reached the tap-room she saw the innkeeper who was just at the moment opening the front door.

    ¡°Excuse me!¡± She called as she shouldered him aside, possible only because he was so surprised. Then she was outside and the lightning flared and died, Mireille stumbled and fell. The dark figure turned, eyes glittering beneath a black cowl. He raised his hand and something glinted.

    Alyssa spoke words of emptiness, grass died, flowers withered the air grew cold, in her left hand a globe of shadow formed, too slow. Cyrus screeched, his soul carrying a bit of the strain.

    Out of a window on the first floor, a pale hand reached and a thin line of light flared into being, cutting the night and burning a red molten hole into the dagger, a blue shield of magical energy flashed into being dimming beneath the onslaught of the radiant energy.

    Reflected in the eyes of a clockwork spider.

    The assailant spat a curse and turned to run into the woods, the dagger was hastily dropped, smoke curled from where it came to rest.

    Alyssa threw the shadow-bolt after the fleeing assassin but she saw him casting a spell and with a leap of superhuman proportions he vanished between the trees, the bolt flowed into an old fir tree that cracked and withered, dropping its needles in a constant stream, looking and sounding like the sand in an hourglass.

 The Green Dragon

    ¡°Only a battle lost is sadder than a battle won.¡±

    - Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven

    Alyssa ran towards the gasping Mireille and checked, hands shaking, if she was alright. There seemed to be no obvious wounds even though her tunic had been splattered with blood, perhaps from the dead person in Alea''s room.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Mireille coughed, ¡°The lightning bolt, together with the haste, wiped me out. I still have a lot to learn.¡±

    ¡°Don''t! Simply don¡¯t run off without me.¡± Alyssa hugged her. She did not neglect to observe her surroundings and saw Alea jog out of the inn''s entrance, where the big Innkeeper stood with a rolling pin and meat cleaver in hand, trying to look intimidating but failing at that. Alyssa saw the men coming and pulled the hem of her friend''s tunic a bit lower. Mireille blushed a bit at that.

    Lucien Caravar and his three mercenaries came directly behind Alea and looked to be in various states of undress. The others were not fit for the journey after the altercation with the bandits.

    ¡°Is everything ok?¡± Lucien called while hefting his longsword. He only had a vest thrown over his bare upper body, his puffed-up pants, and a belt with some pouches. He was running while still barefoot. Mathilde came next. With her were her two maids. She looked towards Caravar and asked sharply, ¡°What happened here?¡±

    ¡°I only saw the fight through the window but Mireille chased a person in black by jumping out of the first-floor window, then, as this person tried to harm her, Alea and Alyssa intervened.

    ¡°Bothersome.¡± Mathilde seemed to be thinking about something.

    ¡°There is a dead person in Alea''s room upstairs,¡± Alyssa interjected. Her voice sounded a bit weak, and the adrenaline left her shaking.

    ¡°It''s Olea, my maid. Someone killed her.¡± Anger made Alea''s voice rough, and she sounded quite unlike her usual self.

    Maximilian came outside too, hopping while trying to get his boots on with only his right arm.

    ¡°And now that we are all assembled,¡± Mathilde slowly paced among the mercenaries and stood before Alea. ¡°Kill them.¡± Then she stabbed with a knife hidden in her sleeve, and Alea folded around the blade a tortured gasp, the only sound she could make.

    ¡°I thought as much.¡± Caravar looked apologetic while swinging his sword and advancing on the still kneeling Mireille, ¡°a mercenary''s business is a young man''s game, and we all don¡¯t get younger.¡± He swung downwards, Mireille caught the blade on her shortsword but was thrown back and thudded heavily on her back. ¡°Experience is no substitute for the pains and weakness, the slowing of reflexes that come with time. The money was real good too.¡± Alyssa jumped to her feet, Cyrus winged into the air. Suddenly a burst of light outlined Mathilde and a white light shone through her left shoulder burning into a tree farther back, smoke rose from cloth and skin as the former began to burn around the dark hole in her body, oozing blood. She shrieked and threw herself down to smother the flames. The dark-haired, thin mercenary beside her took his cloak and began to help her.

    Alea was visible behind her, blood dripping from her mouth as she pointed with her still glowing hand, the other was pressed firmly to the wound on her stomach.

    Maximilian fought against two mercenaries and was slowly driven back into the inn.

    Alyssa looked uncomprehending for a short moment and then spoke words not meant for a living tongue; death spread from her in a widening circle, grass withered, darkness spread around her left arm, if one looked carefully the porcelainlike skin grew farther along her forearm.

    In the woods hidden behind some bushes, a black-robed figure paused and looked around, the left arm was trembling, the scars from the lightning he had barely avoided were still hurting. He pulled back the mask covering his face and, now clearly identifiable as the ¡®butler¡¯ accompanying Mathilde, took a thin vial with his right hand, opening it with his teeth, then spat out the cork and quickly drank the liquid. The trembling stopped as wounds slowly began to close, and he turned around to hasten back to where sounds of combat could now be heard.

    A small person flew out from the tree above, claws of black ice flashed towards his throat as he threw himself back, parrying with a dagger that suddenly erupted from the bracer along his left forearm. Sparks flew, and the battle was joined, luminescent green eyes filled with bloodlust fixed on the assassin.

    Meanwhile, at the inn.

    Mireille vocalized the word of power and lightning shot through her again, this time her face paled and blood bubbled from her nose and mouth. A quick slash with the short sword opened a weeping wound along Lucien''s lower ribs, the blood dark in the uncertain light, causing him to curse and retreat a few steps.

    ¡°Damm, you girl, it''s not often that a Branded can so overdraw themselves.¡±

    Alyssa furiously swung her left hand, and the black sphere shot towards the mercenary, who frantically backpedaled while grabbing for a pouch at his hip. His left hand came up with a crystal plate inscribed with runes that flashed before the plate cracked into powder sifting through his fingers, a shimmering field of energy sprang to life catching the bolt of unlife before fading significantly.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Mireille slashed at him again, which he barely parried this time. A deep notch appeared on his blade as sparks and pieces of metal spun away from the lightning-charged impact.

    The young redhead looked frightening, with blood running along her lower jaw and dripping onto the packed earth, sizzling with energy, but this energy only sustained her for a short burst before beginning to flicker, she teetered. Lucien swung his sword against her, the short sword spun away after a clever flick of the experienced mercenaries wrist.

    A winged shadow swooped down from behind the triumphant man, and a stinger plunged into his neck. Lucien gasped and grabbed at his neck as his muscles seized, and he shook from the effects of the poison.

    A brilliant firebolt formed between Alyssa''s hands, lighting the yard and the surrounding houses and trees, then shot forth and impacted on the chest of the struggling man, burning through the thin membrane shielding him from magic- burning the flesh from his ribs until blackened bone could be seen.

    ¡°Treachery!¡± A deep voice bellowed and the old coachman ran from his place in the stables a long rod clutched in his hand. A mercenary turned towards him, he had been helping Mathilde extinguish the flames but a dull roar sounded accompanied by a dark red plume of flames gushing out of the rod and then the mercenary was lifted by a massive impact to his lower back a crater burned through his coat cracking his spine. He flew against the wall, impacting with a heavy thud, cracking plaster, and fell without control over his legs, arms scrabbling frantically.

    Throwing the spent widowmaker rod to the side, the old warrior charged with protecting the young scions of Graufurt drew a long and nasty-looking cutlass and rushed into the fray at the inn''s door. ¡°Raaaargh¡±. Bellowing madly, he drew the attention of the mercenary standing farther back as the first one tried to fight his way into the inn, which the innkeeper and Maximilian had so far successfully stalled.

    Madam von Nordmark stumbled to her feet and called to the two maids cowering to the side, ¡°Help me! If I get through this without you lifting a finger, I will sell you as slaves to the snakes!¡±

    Alea''s spider had fallen off as she fell and now climbed the wall of the inn. Orienting herself the small girl with the blindfold lifted her hands again, a blinding brilliance build up as she chanted arcane words, and then a blast of fiery radiance shot towards Mathilde burning her left arm that she had protectively thrown in front of her face, cloth burned and flesh sizzled as it blackened and shriveled. A tortured scream ripped from her throat as she beheld the ruin of her left forearm, stumbling she fell into the arms of the dark-haired maid and weakly ordered ¡°the coach, hurry!¡±

    Lucien pressed his hands on the grievous but not deadly wound on his chest before stumbling away toward the woods. Mireille fainted and sank to the ground. Alyssa desperately looked at the carnage and then force-fed a potion to her friend before running towards the pale, still form of Alea. She fell to her knees at her side and sang to the waters of life. Asandria quietly joined in the song and added her strength to hers. The spider saw all from her perch on the wall, the pain in her body of flesh had driven her into this metal shell, cold and calm and pleasant, but the tears in Alyssa''s eyes called her back and her body, no Alea, gasped as she felt the cleansing water close her wounds.

    The old coachman embraced the mercenary, a flaxen-haired man with a proud goatee, and rammed him against the wall with a loud crash as he viciously and repeatedly stabbed into his victim''s stomach, blood and other unnameable fluids dripped to the dimly lit ground, coloring it black. The screaming soon stopped. White teeth bared in a bushy white beard the old warrior turned to the last man fighting in the doorway. The mercenary was not unprepared he had frantically tried to finish this sooner, but the old Innkeeper had fought against him and the young von Graufurt brat was fighting with a blade formed from summoned metal, a technique which he probably had learned in Kronenburgs famous academy. Hearing his comrades dying scream he jumped back from the door and tried to get away but a snick and a hot pain lancing into his left leg took away that option. The coachman threw away his hand-crossbow and grinned savagely while waving the bloody cutlass. ¡°Scum like you, turning on your employer, gives honest mercenaries a bad name.¡±

    Alyssa cradled the painfully slim and light form of Alea as healing energies closed the most serious of wounds, and then she sighed in relief as the blind girl gasped once and then breathed again more easily. The blindfold was damp with tears. Carrying her back to where Mireille was lying Cyrus alighted on her shoulder making her stumble, the wyvern seemed proud as he cleaned his stinger with his teeth.

    The wind blew through the dark trees, bowing the branches and rustling the leaves as clouds raced before a full moon.

    The last mercenary still on-site was forced back by heavy blows from the coachman, who seemed to revel in the fear in the eyes of his prey. ¡°It''s been a long year since the last battle, but the lady paid well, now I can finally sate the thirst of my blade.¡± Laughing with dreadful mirth he swung the cutlass like a butcher the cleaver, hammering the other man into submission, finally, the sword snapped and the cutlass hammered into the forearm the backswing took the frantic mercenary in the throat who fell heavily, twitched once, and lay still.

    Behind them, they heard the sound of hooves as Mathilde and one of the maids rode two hastily saddled horses away from the fighting.

    Inside the woods¡­

    ¡°Halt! Vampire, we have a truce with your mistress!¡± The butler-turned-assassin scrambled back.

    Vanessa held still and looked at him, waiting.

    Licking his lips nervously, the man continued, ¡°We don¡¯t hinder her agents, and you don¡¯t attack us.¡±

    The vampire sniffed and scented the air, there was no direct falsehood, but she sensed a lie of omission. She grinned, showing her elongated canines. And as the butler relaxed for a fraction of a second she sprang forward. But the dark-robed man was not as unprepared as he had seemed and, with sparks flying, parried her by crossing his two wrist-daggers and, with a tremendous effort, pushed her away.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t belong to her then. Such luck.¡± The assassin grabbed a crystal slate and white lines of liquid light filled channels, formed symbols, and the small crystal burst into white glyphs that were sucked into his body. His movements sped up and he threw a potion at her which she avoided but just in that second, the potion flared with actinic light. Hissing she recoiled and shielded her sensitive eyes. The assassin sprang away from her and, with the assistance of the magical haste, vanished into the forest. She was not his target and his life was more precious than fleeting satisfaction.

    Vanessa frantically brushed the bloody tears away, but the man was already gone. She fought with her desire to simply chase him, the instincts of a hunter urging her on, but it would take some time, and the situation at the inn was not resolved. Cursing silently, she flew towards the inn.

 A life lived in vain

    ¡°How easy it is, treachery. You just slide into it.¡±

    - Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood

    Alyssa stood protectively over her fallen friends and looked around the yard, the mercenary who had been slammed into the wall by the brutal blast of the wand was no longer moving, the one at the door to the inn had been eviscerated and the last had just been killed by this bear of a coachman. She shuddered a bit. Maximilian ran towards them, in his right hand he carried a translucent blade of a metallic substance, glyphs glowed inside, barely visible, the edges were constantly disintegrating and growing anew, keeping it sharp. ¡°Alea!¡± He called hoarsely, ¡°Is she all right!?¡±

    The spider clambered down from its perch on the wall and scuttled towards the fallen girl. She turned her head towards her brother and weakly gasped, ¡°I will survive, Max.¡±

    The coachman shook his cutlass, bloody fluids splattered on the ground and dripped from his oiled coat his massive form dark before a darker forest. He grinned with a face streaked with drops of red. The innkeeper retched as he saw this tableau and stepped further back into the inn. The manservant -Luke was his name- that Maximilian had brought with him stumbled out of the inn, holding a poker with shaking hands. ¡°Is it over?¡± Came his plaintive voice.

    The second maid, who had a slim figure with white-blonde hair, had fainted during the battle and lay unmoving, but still breathing, on the ground nearby.

    Lucien was nowhere to be seen and Mathilde had vanished with her second maid, the dark-haired one. After taking stock of the situation Alyssa sighed deeply and to her consternation felt tears running down her cheeks. She knelt down and stroked Alea¡¯s hair while pulling Mireille closer to her with the other hand. Keeping herself calm by force of will she said, ¡°I will try to heal Mireille''s wounds, stay with me, I need to see that you are all right, Alea.¡± Then she began to sing and moved her hands over Mireille''s still form, who was still bleeding from the nose and mouth. Glowing water gushed from her right hand and arcane symbols shone briefly beneath her skin. Asandria danced about her singing the counterpoint.

    Maximilian stood beside Alea and gave her and the spider a relieved look. ¡°Ok, that is good, I feared the worst.¡± He gasped, still winded from the fierce combat at the door. ¡°I could not cast my spells with one arm still handicapped.¡± He looked apologetic. ¡°And I never would have guessed that Mathilde would go so far. I mean, I knew she had designs on the county but we¡­¡± he sought the right words, ¡°...are family?¡± His last words lacked conviction. ¡°She was annoying and even a bit evil, but trying to kill us?¡±

    Alea put her hand on Mireille''s lying beside her, ¡°We are still alive because of our friends and the forethought of grandma.¡± She nodded at the coachman.

    ¡°I am but a humble driver.¡± His teeth shimmered in the light of the moon. The spots and streaks in his beard and on his face creased as he smiled. His cutlass was still dripping. ¡°And I am glad to have been of service to the mistress. Sadly Mr. Caravar and the Madam von Nordmark escaped, a pity.¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile

    Lucien coughed and held his burning chest as he leaned against a tree shielding him from view. He uncorked another potion, there had been two more before this one, and drank it down in one gulp. Shuddering he spat black blood on the earth, the wyverns poison sizzling on the leaves.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡®This shitty little beast! What in the name of Garualon and his foul exhalations is this poison? I can''t seem to get rid of it.¡¯ Pain burned in his neck where the stinger had hit him, foul polluted blood ran down his back.

    ¡®I will survive, I survived the Kingdoms of the Broken, I will survive this.¡¯

    The memory of a pale-haired sorceress tearfully pleading with him to save a young prince rose in the shadows and kept pace with him as he fled deeper into the small forest.

    He coughed and spat some more black blood. At least the flesh on his torso had closed after he had imbibed two expensive healing potions. ¡®Never scrimp on what can save your ass.¡¯ He silently recited one of his favorite sayings.

    He grinned weakly. The apparition looked at him before it faded. Childish laughter echoed from his right, the hairs on his neck rose as he gritted his teeth. The child-prince was long dead. The usurper had killed him and then used his ork and goblin mercenaries to raze the clan hall and the small town surrounding it. ¡®What did happen to her in the end?¡¯ From the memories faces rose, dark and bitter. ¡®I never bothered to learn.¡¯ He stumbled and fell. A patch of moonlight before him revealed a stretch of road. Crawling forward he gripped a young tree and pulled himself to his feet.

    A small cloaked silhouette stood in the moonlight, the lost eye gazed impassively from far above, a soft wind rustled through the leaves, and an owl hooted deeper in the woods. ¡°Who are you?¡± He gripped a small wand in his pouch. His thoughts echoed around in his head like stones thrown down a well ¡®That will be expensive but worth a lot less than my life.''

    Long, pale hair fluttered in the wind luminescent green eyes reflected the light and gazed on him with pitiless hunger. ¡°My aid was no longer needed, so I thought to cut some loose threads for it makes for a tidy tapestry. I am Vanessa¡¯ellariel Erellathiel.¡± Her nails grew longer as she spoke, transforming into ten-inch claws of black ice, vapor rose from them, the night air condensing in the bitter cold. ¡°Do you know a curious thing? When...¡±

    ¡°Can we talk about this? I possess here a fine¡­¡± he slowly raised a jeweled wand while the other was held in a placating gesture before him.

    Vanessa vanished from where she stood and the wand spat a bolt of near-invisible force, the air seemed to ripple and then a tree burst into a shower of splinters, teetered for a moment, and then crashed to the ground, leaves, and branches fluttering and snapping.

    Lucien wildly turned, pointing the wand frantically at the surroundings. Silent as a falling leaf, Vanessa appeared again, this time behind the mercenary, a claw flashed and the wand tumbled into the bushes together with three fingers, spurting blood.

    ¡°Aaaah, my hand!¡±

    a whisper continued near his ear, ¡°...a person is near death, their thoughts become sharper and more vibrant and if you are skilled in the craft of the mind," she inhaled the rank scent of his fear, her pupils dilated, "you can make those thoughts...real.¡±

    She spoke arcane words in Elven, it seemed to be a poem or a song and it was a spell echoes whispered in the shadows. It sounded sad like an untended grave. Her hands carved the air before her with runes tinted a dark grey.

    The forest vanished, he stood before an old house, a house he knew very well and as the door opened he saw his mother''s corpse, flesh festering, much too thin, hunger marring her features, her lips pulled back from her teeth. She stumbled towards him, her left arm pulled the corpse of his young brother ¡°Why did you take everything, we could have survived if you had left us something, anything¡­¡±

    Snowflakes fell, or was it the ash of a burning steading? It was the cold winter morning when he had taken the supplies and money and left for the city, to make his way in the world, he had looked back, but only to make sure he was not spotted.

    The child prince stood in the shadows and his laughter hung in the air like bells, dark blood ran from his slit throat like a waterfall in black. Behind him, he saw the form of the sorceress he had seduced and cast aside and there were more, so many more.

    He screamed and never stopped as they came for him.

    Vanessa raised her bloody face from the neck of the dead mercenary stood up and gathered the spoils of her hunt. She mused ¡®I fear the time spent in slumber did not completely cure me of my vampiric nature. But even if I know it to be wrong it feels so delightful.¡¯

    Savoring the blood flavored with abject terror she licked her lips with a long slightly pointed tongue.

 Another interested party

    ¡°Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.¡±

    - Democritus

    Sheathing his cutlass the coachman bowed and said, ¡°The name¡¯s Adam, Adam Closter, Old Adam is sufficient. The mistress has done me a good turn in the past, so I simply had to take the contract, even though,¡± his teeth shone, ¡°I am technically retired. Would have been nice not to have to introduce myself like this.¡± His eyes roamed around the bloody ground.

    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Closter.¡± Alyssa kept a hold of her voice but in the end, it cracked a bit.

    ¡°Yes, thank you! And good foresight on my grandmother''s part.¡± Maximilian went to the downed mercenaries and looked for signs of life, the disintegration of the blade in his hand accelerated rapidly and after a few seconds, there were only drifting motes of metal which soon vanished.

    ¡°What kind of spell was that.¡± Alyssa could not contain her curiosity even though she was still shocked.

    ¡°This? It was the ¡®Blade of Erosion¡¯ second incantation. I do get the third incantation to work, but only in the testing grounds in the academy, outside I never seem to manage. But this is a good spell for emergencies like this.¡± He stubbed the mercenary near the wall. ¡°They are all dead.¡± He eyed the hulking form of Mr. Closter.

    Old Adam grinned, his voice friendly, ¡°In a situation as treacherous as this one, I could not take a chance. And the swamp-blade needed a bit of lubrication after all this time, it gets brittle otherwise, you know?¡±

    ¡°Let us adjourn to the inn then. I think Alea should sleep in your room?¡± The last was addressed to Alyssa.

    ¡°Yes, certainly.¡±

    ¡°We will have a look in the morning when the sun is up. At night, tired and wounded,¡± he looked at some slices in his coat that seemed to slowly repair themselves, ¡±we will not be very effective.¡±

    They took watches in shifts, Mireille and Alea were out of the running and slept in the room where they had begun this fateful night. Maximilian, the coachman, and the manservant were included in the watches. Alyssa had cared for the wounded and was currently inspecting Alea¡¯s room. The blonde maid was, still unconscious, put in the root cellar and a big chest with tubers put on the hatch.

    <hr>

    In the light of a lantern, she had brought from below she saw the blood on the bed and the surrounding floor. The maid had been killed while defending herself, a curious thing as the assassin had seemed quite able. She gripped a large dagger in her slim hands and the edge was nicked and used. A slash had wounded her arm and then it had probably been quick. Alyssa closed her eyes for a moment and composed herself. Ghostly hands, cold but strangely pleasant stroked her neck. ¡®Don''t close your eyes before a death, it is impolite to the departed.¡¯ Asandria murmured.

    ¡°It...it has been a bit much.¡± Alyssa answered, ¡°will I get used to it? Should I?¡±

    ¡®I was and am no warrior, so I cannot answer in full confidence, but I heard this question many times listening to the soldiers, and I think the correct reply is: yes, you will and it is best if you do. The battlefield is no temple where you can discuss morality. The decisions that make you kill someone should be made before they are forced on you. But all is well, you do what you need to do, there is no reason to feel so dejected. I am satisfied with your choices.¡¯ Cold darkness gazed from empty eye sockets, mere depressions in a white face glowing softly like starlight, the body transparent but otherwise perfect, a beautiful vision without any warmth.

    Alyssa swallowed then nodded. ¡°Ok. I think that helped.¡± She turned to inspect the corpse and found a letter cleverly sewn into the hem of the dress, addressed towards a Lilly-Anne von Dreikswacht, there were two pages, the first one was in plain speech, the second contained symbols, lines, dots, and triangles, it seemed to be in code. ''Wasn''t she named Olea?'' Alyssa remembered Alea''s outburst shortly before the treacherous attack.

    ¡®Dear Lilly, I enclose the fee in this letter but please let us know if there is something else you require. We are grateful that you volunteered for this mission, we believe that there is a certain amount of danger to be expected, so be circumspect and careful. You sisters in faith pray for your success, may Jaros shine his eye on you and keep your secrets safe.

    Yours, M.L.¡¯

    Near where the papers had been hidden she found two small gemstones, cut into a simple shape they were often used to more easily transport greater sums of money, she guessed that it might be around thirty, perhaps thirty-five gold pieces? Then there was a crystal slate approximately the length and width of her small palm, it seemed to have been used, or better, used up. There was no luster to the material and the runes were cracked. She inspected it but there were many she did not even know existed. Asandria floated near and said, ¡®Ah, a resonant life charm. It combines with a counterpart and is fed by a minuscule stream of life force, less than it would take to let a hair grow, but when life ends so does the charm, and voila you know that your agent has perished. Quite the standard setup- For spies and such that is.¡¯ Asandria smiled.

    ¡°Who was she really?¡± The face was relaxed in death, her darker skin seemed grey, in the unsteady light from the lantern she looked so very young.

    ¡°Sh...sh...she was an Andrian, Miss.¡± From outside the door, Luke the manservant answered her question. ¡°Pardon my intrusion.¡± Alyssa flinched a bit then turned. She had not become acquainted with him outside of seeing him serve Maximilian, he looked to be around thirty years of age and of middling height, brown hair was cut to just above his ears, brown eyes that seemed a bit timid, clean-shaven but with some stubble here and there.

    ¡°Did you know her better?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ah no, I did not.¡± He smiled briefly and looked a bit sad.¡±I would have liked to though, she was funny and seemed kind. She was recommended from Gildburg, she came with a letter from the viscount''s mansion. Family matters required her to be in Grunewald.¡± He creased his brow in thought. ¡°I think it was an...elderly...aunt?¡± He seemed unsure.

    ¡°Thank you, that helps a bit. We should leave her until tomorrow, then we can see what we can arrange in the way of a burial.¡± Alyssa gave a polite smile.

    A cold burning in her left hand alerted her to the presence of Vanessa, probably somewhere in the building.

    ¡°I think I will retire for the night.¡±

    ¡°Have a good rest.¡± Luke bowed.

    <hr>

    She went and opened the door to their room. Vanessa sat on the edge of Mireille''s bed and seemed deep in thought.

    ¡°Good to see you! Are you all right?¡± Alyssa went to the small, undead girl and hugged her.

    Vanessa froze and then slowly lifted her right arm and patted Alyssa on the back. Her face relaxed a bit and a bit of tension ebbed from her.

    ¡°There, there. I fought my own battles in the woods and could not directly come to your aid, but I was near and would have intervened if necessary, but you had things well in hand. By the way, the assassin was the ¡®butler¡¯ of Lady Mathilde."

    ¡°And? Did you get him?¡± Alyssa looked angry and let go of Vanessa.

    ¡°No, he escaped. I underestimated his resources. He blinded me and used a quickening spell similar to Mireille''s but with an arcane source. I think it might be from the school of time and space. Advanced spellcraft even for my people. I got our dear Mr. Caravar.¡± She pursed her mouth, ¡°He was a human being of the vilest sort and good at it. Even I did not suspect the depths of his selfishness.¡± After that declaration, she plunked a belt with several pouches on the table. ¡°Here, for our expenses. It should help to defray our costs.¡±

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Inside the pouches were some potions, a pot of salve, some letters, and a bag of gold. It contained, on a rough count, near a hundred pieces of gold. Not that much for a noble perhaps but Alyssa had rarely even held a gold coin, much less possessed one.

    ¡°This here is a Wand of Lancing Force. I thought to keep it, but you will most likely need it more. In my estimation, there are two uses left. The force lance is quite strong, it can demolish thin walls or stout doors, a body would be blown to bits. It was his last insurance policy.¡± She grinned mirthlessly. ¡°I will be going then, no use in waiting for the dawn to trap me here.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Vanessa. It all sort of happened along the way but I am really grateful for what you have done for us. Be safe!¡± Alyssa smiled at her then shivered a bit and rubbed her arms. ¡°I will soon sleep as well, I will have one last look at my patients.¡± She looked at Alea and Mireille.

    Vanessa was gone when she turned around.

    Sleep came quickly, fueled by exhaustion, but the blood and death followed her into her dreams.

    <hr>

    Alyssa slowly came back to wakefulness, her mouth was dry and cold sweat beaded on her brow. Groaning she struggled into a sitting position. Mireille was lying beside her sleeping peacefully, Alea sat on the edge of the bed wrapped in some blankets. Her blindfold was a bit skewed and there was the slightest glimpse of her eye socket, there seemed to be a faceted gem in there. The spider on her shoulder faced in her direction and a leg lifted and tugged the strip of cloth until the eyes were completely covered again.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Alea spoke softly not wanting to wake Mireille. ¡°Thank you. You probably saved my brother twice and me once.¡± She gave a tiny smile. ¡°I know it would not have been enough if not for Mr. Closter but he was doing his job, you both were implicated by us. My family has a small house in Kronenburg. We are not important enough to warrant more spacious accommodations but you are welcome to live with us, you both are, as long as you need. I would actually be glad if you would take me up on this offer.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, we would both like that, I am sure. And when we are able we will repay the favor.¡± She held up her hand. ¡°It will be nothing much I fear but tell us if an opportunity arises in the future.¡±

    Alea nodded. ¡°That''s fair, even when we are in your debt at the moment.¡±

    Mireille slept until noon and as she woke to a splitting headache. ¡°Why is it so bad?! I have done this and more at the battle of Sorringen.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you managed it more cleanly? I know that the effort my spells cost is highly dependent on my proficiency with them. If I make mistakes it is much more draining.¡±

    ¡°That must be it. I will train, truly, please stop the headache!¡± Mireille complained until they got to the tubs. ¡°A bath? That''s a fantastic idea, could have been mine.¡±

    They cleaned and relaxed until the water became cold and Alyssa did not want to spend the energy to reheat it. The three girls then went down to the taproom. The innkeeper was still pale and looked a bit shaken but he nevertheless gave a big smile and said ¡°I think you might want to directly proceed to lunch? Or is anyone still interested in having breakfast?¡±

    They sat down and Mireille called ¡°Lunch please!¡±

    Old Adam and Maximilian were already sitting at the table, and greeted them with a grunt and a friendly ¡°I hope you had a good rest?¡± respectively.

    ¡°What about the blonde maid? Did someone already talk to her?¡± Alyssa questioned.

    ¡°No, not yet, but this is something we could do after we have eaten. Perhaps she is innocent in all this, but perhaps it''s all part of some plan. If she can tell us something useful I think it might be best to cut her loose.¡± Maximilian mused.

    ¡°It would be dangerous to have her with us. We can''t be sure that this is not something Madam von Nordmark had planned.¡± Alea sighed. ¡°I could use a maid. But if it is necessary I can still hire one in Kronenburg.¡±

    Alyssa thought for a moment, ¡°I found a letter with Olea, more correctly Lilly-Anne. It seems she was working for someone else too. And used an alias.¡±

    Silence reigned.

    ¡°Another group? What for?¡± Maximilian seemed to lose a bit of his composure. ¡°How do you know this?¡±

    ¡°She had this letter with her.¡± Alyssa laid the two pages on the table. ¡°One is in code. I do not even know where to start to decipher this.¡±

    ¡°In the academy, there is a trend to encode your more private notes, because with all those young mages running around nothing would stay secret otherwise.¡± Maximilian stroked his chin, ¡°I think I know whom to ask. Let me see the text for a moment.¡± He read the letter then passed it on. ¡°Mh. There was interest in Alea when she was very little. It ceased when she¡­¡± He looked at Alea and hesitated.

    ¡°As I had my accident. I don¡¯t remember much from this time, so it does not hurt me. You can talk about it, big brother.¡± Even as she feigned indifference Alyssa could see her shoulders stiffen.

    ¡°Mh. If you say so. Those keeping an eye on her were from the church of Jaros. His title is the god of mysteries and the watcher on the threshold to the distant dark. As far as I know, the church indeed keeps watch against dark beings and her light aspected, strong magic was of much interest in the past.¡±

    ¡°Up until I lost my eyes, then I was no longer valuable enough.¡± Alea sounded a bit bitter as she said that.

    ¡°As you say. We will simply have to stay vigilant.¡± Maximilian smiled. ¡°And that is most easily accomplished if we stay together. I would very much like to have you stay with us in Kronenburg. When the semester starts we will probably be in the dormitory because commuting from the townhouse would take some time each day, it would be feasible nonetheless.¡±

    ¡°Max, I asked already, but I find it encouraging that you had the same idea.¡±

    They finished dinner and then brought the maid from the root cellar.

    <hr>

    She was pretty but not beautiful, blond-haired and very slim. She shivered and tears stained her face as Old Adam manhandled her into a seat at the table in the backroom they had requested from the innkeeper for this occasion.

    ¡°Your name please.¡± Maximilian took the lead.

    ¡°Lorelle, my lord.¡±

    ¡°Lorelle, you can call me young master or Maximilian but lord is a bit much.¡±

    ¡°Understood, young master. Please, I did not know what my Lady was planning! Let me go!¡±

    ¡°That is something which we will now ascertain. She took three servants, and her plan was from the beginning to kill my sister and me. And she would never take someone who would not be useful in such a setting. So, what are your abilities and what did she order you to do exactly?¡±

    ¡°Answer him, girl. Or it will get unpleasant.¡± Old Adam bared his teeth and the young woman flinched.

    Tears dripped from her eyes as she said ¡°I was sold to the Nordmark household by my family. We could no longer pay the lease of our lands, the winter was harsh the last two years and the summer short.¡±

    ¡°That explains your circumstances but not why she took you with her.¡±

    ¡°If I did anything she did not like, she would evict my family, perhaps sell my siblings into debt-slavery. I have some small ability with healing and plant magic. They say my mother was a witch, I have never learned a formal spell but plants listen when I tell them to. What will happen to me, to my family?¡± she cried into her hands, tears dripping down from her cheeks.

    ¡°I fear that when you return to her, she will have you killed. You were not as useful as probably hoped, and you know what happened here. Your best bet might be to feign your death.¡± Maximilian looked sympathetic.

    ¡°Asandria, what is your impression?¡± Alyssa whispered while cautiously holding a hand before her mouth.

    ¡®She is telling the truth. Her magic is wood and water with a bit of earth, she has the blessing of Irkonos and he would not bless someone who is deeply tainted.¡¯

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Turning to the others she said.¡±I believe her. She has wood and water magic and could be an asset if properly trained, and she has a blessing of Irkonos which would not be the case if she were a worse person than she seems.¡±

    Old Adam looked on then grinned. ¡°Good that you are so sure. But lass,¡± he turned to the former maid. ¡°If you so much as think to betray us, I will carve you up like an animal. Pardon my coarse words.¡± He nodded in the direction of the girls who looked somewhat taken aback.

    ¡°I concur, she seems to be honest enough. We will take you with us and once in Kronenburg, there are many ways to disguise you a bit. But if you want to return to your former Lady then you are welcome to it.¡± Maximilian delivered his verdict, Alea nodded, Mireille and Alyssa also signaled their assent.

    ¡°Then let us be off. Even as the inn here is well kept and pleasant I don¡¯t want to stay here longer than absolutely necessary.¡±

    Lorelle thanked them tearfully and then went and packed what little possessions she had.

    They dug a small grave at the foot of a tall oak a good hundred yards into the forest and buried Lilly-Anne. The others were simply disposed of, perhaps a wandering priest of Charys the drinker of tears would come and give them a more traditional burial. Stranger things did happen.

    "Rest in peace." Alyssa was the last to leave the mound of earth, the name of the deceased had been spelled into the tree trunk. Asandria hung in the shadows contemplating.

    And then they were off. The innkeeper wore a relieved smile as he saw the carriage vanish behind a bend in the road and then turned to go back into the inn.

    This was seen by a group of four leather-clad men on horseback who waited in a small clearing within sight of the inn. They had a darker complexion and seemed experienced, over the leather armor they wore waxed cloaks of a dark grey. The leader made a gesture and they, slowly and carefully, followed the group.

 All currents return to the cradle

    ¡°Not all those who wander are lost.¡±

    - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

    The carriage clattered on the ill-kept road. Deep ruts marred the surface where countless wagons had carved the graveled dirt. ¡®All roads lead to Kronenburg.¡¯ Who was it that said that? There was an old saying some sailors still use, it once referred to Allisair the center of the human sphere of influence. How did that go? ¡®All currents return to the cradle?¡¯ Something like that.

    Alyssa leaned on the wooden side of the carriage, her thoughts restless while she looked outside into the gathering dusk. The day had been spent gaining distance, it was all a chase again. ¡®Will we ever stop running from something?¡¯ Mireille had claimed her lap again, she did not really know what to make of that. She felt a deep affection for the small impulsive redhead and thought her the sister she never had, for Alea, she had begun to feel something similar, but more as an elder sister looking out for a younger sibling. Warmth filled her heart.

    Rocking with the motions of the carriage she regarded the sleeping girl opposite of her. She looked pale and stressed even while asleep. The small spider hung on her shoulder motionless, the blindfold was immaculately pressed and folded. She wore a dark blue-grey dress with a high collar and a long skirt. The small feet were clad in polished boots of soft leather. A girdle made of interlocking silver links accentuated her narrow waist.

    The memory of a multifaceted stone in an empty eye socket came unbidden. ¡®What happened to her that no healer could help her?¡¯ The surroundings were forested again, but the forest was young and clearly cultivated. There was nothing of the thick undergrowth that was the usual sight in the Fernwood. A pang of homesickness surprised her. ¡®Who would have thought that I would miss that sorry place?¡¯ But it was more nostalgia than homesickness, and the thought faded quickly. Hooves sounded from behind the carriage where Maximilian kept watch. Without the mercenaries, they had only themselves and the mysterious coachman, Adam, for protection. Luke did not really count. She silently apologized to the shy servant. One hand went to her belt and caressed the small jeweled wand.

    If even Vanessa thought it a danger, then it should be highly effective. The widowmaker rod- a contraption that used crude arcane might to focus a blast of elemental fire was spent and could only be recharged at an enchantment workshop, and they better have at least a journeyman enchanter for the potentially dangerous procedure. She sighed.

    Her hand moved nearly without conscious thought and stroked the red hair of her friend, who murmured contentedly in her sleep. ¡®That is so like her. Hair as soft as down and she does nothing with and for it. If people knew, they would be cursing her the region over. She is like a cat.¡¯ She grinned. A moment where she was not in acute danger and her friends were with her, she should not complain.

    A fire of ambition ignited in her chest. ¡®Kronenburg, Academy, watch out, I will be the best you ever saw!¡¯ Giving a self-deprecating grin, she vowed to herself to do her utmost and to use the many chances she had been given.

    The tone of the wheels clattering over cobblestones alerted her to a change in the surroundings. Pulling back the curtains again she saw that they were rolling into a small town, the walls old and in ill repair, but the houses looked prosperous, times of peace had brought neglect for the trappings of a more warlike age. ¡®I hope you never experience a need for that again. Meloris, bringer of order, Light of Civilization, Keeper of the past, keep your children safe.¡¯

    Woodframe houses lit with candlelight, one or two even sporting magical illumination glided past. The hooves and rolling wheels echoed through an empty gatehouse. Smoke rose from countless chimneys, and laughter and loud conversation could be heard from the neighborhood pub. The evening traffic was light, so they made good time and arrived before a fine-looking inn. A sign with a large cauldron hung from a metal rod on two chains. Above the cauldron, three frogs were holding onto a big stirring rod and looked to be deeply immersed in cooking. The name underneath read ¡®The three Frogs¡¯.

    ¡®Mh. What story might lurk behind that strange name.¡¯

    Asandria stood to her left and looked out the other window. The movement and the irregular bumps in the road did nothing to discommode her. As she sensed the regard, she turned. Black, lightless spaces, where eyes used to be, gazed into her own. ¡®Do you have a question?¡¯ the ethereal voice of her sometimes-mentor sounded amused.

    ¡°No, I have a request for you, but let''s wait until after we have settled for the night.¡±

    ¡®Then I will await your pleasure.¡¯ The murmur seemed to come from the shadows around her.

    Stiff and painful, she righted Mireille and then got up herself. The former gave a mighty yawn and rubbed her eyes. ¡°Are we there yet?¡± She grinned mischievously. ¡°As I slept through most of the boring parts of the journey I have to say it at least once. It''s tradition!¡±

    Alyssa smiled and leaned against her for a second. ¡°Keep being silly and see where it gets you. Next time, I will exchange the pillow for a wooden board.¡±

    Maximilian opened the door at this time and leaned inside ¡°We have arrived at the Three Frogs. It''s an old and storied establishment, so I hope for good accommodations and security. I will leave Adam with you and will try to hire some new guards.¡±

    ¡°Do you want company or support when doing that?¡±

    ¡°No, I will manage. I am your soon-to-be senior, after all.¡± He grinned, but exhaustion from the long days riding showed clearly in his countenance.

    ¡°At least take Adam. When we are sitting together in the inn''s taproom, I can''t imagine that they would be so brazen as to attack us there.¡±

    Maximilian hesitated. ¡°Ok, I will try to make it quick, though. But Old Adam is a household name, and it might be easier to get talent with him at my side. So take care with my sister and your friend. Lorelle will be with you too, though if that is reassuring or a risk remains to be seen.¡±

    Alea had been woken by the conversation and discreetly yawned behind a handkerchief she had drawn from a pocket. Cyrus, who had been sleeping on the small oven and seemed to have taken a liking to the charred iron, flapped his wings and settled on her right shoulder while trying to nip Mireille''s ear.

    ¡°Hey, you overgrown newt. Try that again and it''s lizard soup for tonight''s starter.¡± She grinned and stroked his snout while keeping clear of his -not-so-tiny anymore- teeth. Alyssa had begun to feel his weight in the past few days, or was it her imagination? But he did seem a bit bigger.

    Exiting the carriage, she stretched. People attired in dark clothes denoting the common fashion of well-to-do townsfolk strolled down the street, men in coats of brown or dark grey with boots that bore a silver buckle, if they could afford it, the women wore pale blue or red, pink if they were young enough, with lace sleeves and a lace decolletage. The hair was worn long to show that one did not need to scrimp on its care. Both genders wore hats, the more elaborate, the better, with veils and feathers, with small jewels, and even, for the highly affluent, magical decorations, lights, or even small illusionary flowers.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Alyssa felt out of place, even though her clothes were better than most, but she realized that she had never been in a ¡®real¡¯ city. Three women who were looking their way giggled behind a decorated fan and looked at her with ridicule. She could nearly hear their words, ¡®Look, a country bumpkin has wandered into our city and see how lost it seems, gawping at every commonplace sight. Seen enough? Then shoo, shoo back to your stables and muck.¡¯

    She straightened her spine and spoke some arcane words. A sphere of light ignited above her right hand and illuminated the surroundings shadowed by the looming buildings and the setting sun. Cyrus hissed, sensing her displeasure and unease. With her left hand, she helped first Mireille and then Alea to exit the carriage. The dark form of Adam gave a nod towards them and then drove the vehicle to the stables out back behind the inn while Luke did the same with the other one.

    With grim amusement, she took note of the newly cautious bearing of the three ¡®ladies¡¯ as they crossed to the other side of the street, having seen a highly interesting shop, it seemed.

    Entering the inn she was greeted by a smoky but fragrant atmosphere, some older townspeople were sitting around a round table, drinking and playing different board games.

    There were some travelers, clearly distinguished by clothing and mannerisms, sitting farther in the back. She saw three dwarves who were drinking a clear liquid out of big glasses clearly meant for a less potent beverage. There was an elf stringing a wooden instrument that looked like it could have come from her dream of the orchid palace, a cross of a harp, and a violin?

    Two snake-folk merchants sat alone in a corner with two slaves attending them, the one facing the door saw Cyrus and excitedly alerted his companion. She remembered with distaste that this was legal in Margrinar if not in Rivenlorn, a relic of the Andrian rebellion. This tolerance was a holdover from the first centuries on the mainland when humanity tried not to provoke the more numerous and powerful elder races. She remembered an old text in a history book of her mother, ¡®As a human, you cannot own another human, but if you are from a nation where such is permitted, you can own other people if you are not of human descent. If you want to become a citizen of this nation (Margrinar), you would have to forgo the possession and usage of slaves.¡¯ And even that was open to interpretation, debt-servitude was only one example like what the madam had threatened her with, and out in the wildlands might of arms or magic was the only law.

    Mireille had a bright smile and looked around curiously. ¡°The board game looks fun. Let''s go and ask if we can join!¡±

    ¡°No, let''s get something to eat, please. I am starving for good food. The trail bread we had left was not even remotely satisfying.¡± Alyssa protested, then she grinned. ¡°Isn''t that your part? Complaining about the food?¡±

    ¡°It''s a time-honored tradition for soldiers to complain about the food! Has to be done.¡± The redhead hooked her arm through her protesting friends¡¯.

    Alea looked on in tired amusement. ¡°If you are finished with the comedy skit, let''s go and get a seat and something to eat. Lorelle, if you would?¡± The last was addressed to the last person in the group, the white-blond maid.

    ¡°Yes, mistress. I will order food right away. Any requests?¡±

    Getting only noncommittal answers, she went over to the reception and bar to converse with a corpulent man with red fleshy cheeks, wearing an expensive-looking apron of purest white, who gestured towards a free table in the back. Barmaids busily filled tankards and brought plates of steaming food to the tables. It seemed to be a busy evening.

    Wooden columns held the high ceiling where smoke from the many pipes gathered and roiled among the usual glow globes. ¡®Should be quite the business producing those.¡¯ Alyssa mused.

    As they took their seats, Lorelle came back, ¡°I have ordered as you asked and secured lodgings for us. It was my understanding that you three girls preferred to sleep together?¡±

    Before anyone could say something to the contrary, Mireille interjected. ¡°Yep, that''s exactly right.¡±

    Alea seemed conflicted but nodded in the end. And for just a second, she had a relieved smile on her face.

    The food arrived shortly after, a buxom maid of twenty-something years brought two plates heaped with soup, bread, cheese, some stew, and sausages. This was accompanied by watered wine and beer. Alea scrunched her nose and asked for some milk, which Alyssa seconded.

    Mireille grabbed a glass and drank some of the watered wine, she then made a face ¡°Sour!¡±

    ¡°Watered wine is often a bit sour. But if you want, you can have some milk, too.¡± Her purple-eyed friend generously offered.

    ¡°As if! I will drink it and be that much more an adult. Come, children, drink your milk!¡± She laughed.

    Even Lorelle had to smile a bit at that. She was very nervous most of the time, which came hardly as a surprise, and they hoped it would fade in time.

    Eating the delicious and hearty food Alyssa nearly fell asleep. She was saved when Mireille pinched her in the side.

    ¡°Hey! What are you up to?¡±

    ¡°See those board games? They go back to the Innkeeper. I think you can have them lend you one?¡±

    ¡°Ok, that sounds a bit promising. Want to go ask?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will do that.¡±

    Mireille went and talked to one of the maids and shortly after returned with a board game.

    ¡°Do you know how to play that?¡±

    ¡°Can''t be difficult, have you seen the people who are playing two tables behind us?¡±

    ¡°You mean you don¡¯t know and did not ask?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡±

    ¡°Ok, and what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°We make up some rules and play!¡±

    They played for about an hour and were having a lot of fun when Maximilian came through the entrance in the company of three burly men armed with longswords and crossbows, armored in chain with metal-plate over the vital areas. The helms that completed the outfit were, at the moment, held under their left arms. Adam walked behind them, wearing his oiled coat and chain vest with his usual sardonic grin.

    The men had dark hair and seemed to be siblings with the light coloring of the Broken Kingdoms.

    ¡°I hope you left some food for me.¡± Maximilian joked, then proceeded to introduce the men. ¡°These are our new bodyguards, Titus, Samael, and Lyx of Kruogs Breach.¡±

    ¡°Pleased to make your acquaintance.¡± Alea nodded, Mireille and Alyssa echoed her.

    The three siblings nodded, and the one in the lead, interestingly looking like the youngest, spoke with a slight accent, ¡°I and my brothers greet you. We have received the blade-geld and are at your service until the next new moon.¡±

    ¡°They are from beyond the river Colphys out of Kruogs Breach, a town on the coast of dreams, a few weeks journey from here. Adam knew of them and thought them a good addition.¡±

    ¡°They are a trustworthy people, and those three I have heard of. They do good and reliable work.¡± Adams deep voice rumbled.

    ¡°Thank you for the kind words, Old Adam Bearkin.¡±

    ¡°That''s a name I have not heard in some time.¡± Adam grinned.

    ¡°So, I heard the lodgings are arranged?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I propose sleeping as soon as possible.¡±

    They went upstairs and then to their respective rooms. The room the three girls entered held a large double bed and one bed that had probably not been here originally. The walls were made of wood, and the ceiling was supported by thick beams of oak. It smelled a bit musty but was clean and warm.

    Mireille went to the double bed. ¡°Dibs!¡±

    Alyssa grinned and asked Alea. ¡°Where do you want to sleep?¡±

    The small girl fidgeted.

    ¡°Come here. There is enough room for four,¡± Mireille called.

    ¡°If you¡­I mean, if you need, want me to¡­¡± Alea seemed embarrassed.

    Mireille grabbed their hands and pulled them towards the double bed. ¡°Alyssa gets to be in the middle.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I need you so that I don¡¯t freeze. And you don¡¯t toss and turn.¡±

    Sleeping arrangements were thus organized; they washed and changed. After extinguishing the glow globe, moonlight fell through the slats of the shutter. Mireille hugged Alyssa and promptly fell asleep.

    Sighing but content with the comforting warmth, the white-haired girl prepared to sleep as a small form pressed against her and whispered. ¡°I always wanted to sleep like this. When I was very young, Max and I slept together, but when...that...happened, he no longer did. Can I?¡±

    Alyssa hugged her and whispered softly. ¡°Of course, you can.¡±

    Cyrus sat on the table and put his head under his left-wing. Before that, he had eyed his mistress with a bit of jealousy.

    Asandria looked at the three and whispered, ''Tomorrow then. I have all the time in this world and the next.''

    And they fell asleep to the sound of spectral laughter.

 Welcome to Kronenburg!

    ¡°Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.¡±

    - Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

    Mireille woke and stretched. No headache, check; No painful wounds, check.

    It promised to be a good day. Alyssa was, interestingly enough, still sleeping. Perhaps the day she had slept away in the carriage had carried over and led to this miraculous happenstance.

    Beside her friend, she spied the dark hair of Alea who was curled up protectively beneath the blankets like a small feline. She gave Alyssa a kiss on the fluffy head, her white hair always looked like spun sugar, and then got up.

    Opening the window, she saw houses and streets laid out in an orderly fashion, not at all like Saintscrossing and its haphazardly winding roads. Smoke rose from chimneys and the rising sun drew long shadows across the road. A young boy of perhaps ten years of age proclaimed to have important news, only one copper! He was holding aloft a bundle of crudely stitched papers. ''Mh, interesting.'' she had heard from a traveling merchant that they had some newfangled thing called new paper or some such. But if that was what it was, why did it look so old and dirty?

    She washed and put on her clothes, then left the room- She did not want to wake her friends. They had both seemed in need of more rest.

    Grabbing some bread and cheese from a friendly barmaid, she went outside and, still chewing, looked for the boy with the new paper. He stood on an old crate beside a general store and waved the yellowed, cheap-looking scraps, held together with string stitched through one edge. The scrawny, blonde boy did not have all his teeth and was clothed in an old shirt and pants, much too big for his small frame, the sleeves and legs rolled up, rags bound around his feet.

    ¡°Hey! Is that the new paper? Why does it look so old?¡±

    The boy laughed and nearly fell from his rickety post. ¡°You want new paper, you go to the mill. If you want News!¡± He emphasized the last word comically, ¡°Then I can help you. Its newspaper because it''s paper with the most important, fresh and interesting¡­¡± he drew a big breath, ¡°news!¡± His voice became more matter-of-fact ¡°Only one copper piece and that''s a bargain!¡±

    ¡°Have two, one for the paper and one for your performance!¡± She threw two glinting coins, which the boy deftly grabbed out of the air.

    An old woman standing to the side laughed and waited as Mireille received her bundle of cheaply inked paper, then bought one of her own.

    The streets were bustling in the early morning- hooves pattering, wheels clattering big wagons drove down the road while people did their best to avoid them. Here a man cursed and swung a fist, over on the other side a woman scolded her child, two men embraced and slapped each other on the back, a woman shook out a blanket from the windows on the second floor of a large apartment building. Doves took flight, their wings beating the smoke-laden air.

    ¡®What city was it?¡¯ Mireille was a bit embarrassed as she read in the newspaper ¡®Dornenfurt Herald¡¯ and guessed the city''s name might be Dornenfurt.

    ¡®Mayor Tormas makes speech, Dornenfurt to be the site of the new crystal dust manufactorum. Prosperous times ahead!¡¯

    ¡®Draft animals should not be allowed in the inner city limits, pollution, and accidents on the rise. Councilmember Theorek for a cleaner city.¡¯

    ¡®War to the west heating up, cold north not so cold anymore?¡¯

    ¡®Slavery is for the betterment of all. An essay by Ambassador Xiu Kar of Sur-Kesh. Testimonial of Slaves included.¡¯

    ¡®New academy founded near Tiefenforst in Nordmark. Competition breeds excellence, new academy head Irene Wellinghorst says.¡¯

    Mireille folded the paper. It seemed to mostly be interesting headlines with few actual nuggets of information. But it had been cheap, even if the paper was not¡­she grinned.

    Entering the Three Frogs again, she spied Adam and Luke beside the more rested-looking Maximilian, the left arm still in a sling. The three brothers sat at a table nearby and were eating bread and soup.

    ¡°Good morning!¡±

    ¡°Morning, lass.¡± Adam eyed the paper in her hands.¡±Finished with that?¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°Ah, not completely, but you can have it while I eat.¡±

    ¡°A fine morning to you too.¡± Maximilian greeted in a friendly tone.

    Luke nodded and, with a slight stutter, greeted her, too.

    Alyssa and Alea came down shortly after she had finished with breakfast, and all of them soon set out again.

    <hr>

    The three armed guards rode two in front and one in the back.

    Boarding the coach, Alyssa eyed Mireille. The girl had been uncommonly enthusiastic for an early morning. Alea smoothed her skirt, brought out a thin green book, and gave her a brief smile before she immersed herself in reading.

    Mireille looked outside and commented on the clothes and variety of the passersby.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem sleepy?¡±

    ¡°I am the personification of energy. Nirileth be my witness.¡±

    ¡°Normally, you would be sleeping by now.¡±

    "Yesterday, I slept a lot. I have a weekly contingent to fulfill, and my part is done. I won''t sleep for the rest of the week!¡± Mireille declared. ¡°Sadly the innkeeper did not want to part with a board game, that would have been a fun way to pass the time.¡±

    ¡°The dice would have gotten lost in here. I think we would spend more time searching than playing.¡±

    Bickering good-naturedly and annoying the quietly reading Alea, they passed the time. Cyrus wanted to exit the carriage a few times and was held back only just.

    "He now graduated from small and scrawny cat to weak and sickly puppy. Congratulations!" Mireille measured Cyrus with her hands. The wyvern bit her for her troubles. "Ouch!"

    "Could you please leave the poor thing alone, whenever he screeches my teeth hurt." Alea lowered the book in her hands and complained.

    "Yes, yes." Mireille sucked the small bite-mark, still smiling.

    "He has grown bigger, it is not only my imagination is it?" Alyssa looked at Cyrus speculatively.

    "Yes, he grew. Please be a bit quieter. It isn''t as if that was something surprising after all." Alea looked a bit cross.

    They crossed a river, farmland rolled on by, a forest, the wide stretches of a moor. Some small villages, people living their lives, golden wheat swayed in the wind. The weather was mostly clear but at midday, there was a short shower dampening the earth. Mireille went to sleep after eating which prompted Alyssa to make fun of her.

    She then quietly addressed Asandria, ¡°I had a question.¡±

    ¡®I gathered as much. Please ask, I will hear you out.¡¯

    ¡°I have seen the results of combat, and I have the means to alleviate some of those, but I lack methods to prevent them.¡±

    ¡®You want to learn defensive magics? A good choice, even though spreading your attention might make your foundation in those skills shaky. But that is a question of effort. Very well I will teach you a spell meant to protect. Regarding your affinities, I fear that void might be the best fit for you in the short term. Do be careful when using it. The spell''s name is Breaking the Second Seal. And last: Don''t forget you still owe me a song.¡¯

    She began to instruct her. The spell would, at the command of the caster, align this dimension to that of the void, the congruence like a bubble pressing up against the feeble restraints of reality. It would look like a black mirror and erode anything passing through, if it were living it would drain its life force. Alyssa listened attentively.

    They crested a low hill as they suddenly stopped. A few knocks sounded from the front, and the muffled voice of old Adam called, ¡°You should take a step outside. It''s worth a look.¡±

    The three warriors also stopped their horses and rested as they watched.

    They exited the coach, which had stopped at the top of the barren hill, and looked out towards the city of Kronenburg.

    Houses large and small sprawled along a glistening, massive river flowing in a lazy arc, crisscrossed by several bridges, a large harbor housed dozens of great ships, masts swaying in the current. The roofs were mostly red, but there was black, and some were plated with green-tinged copper gleaming in the sun. Further inland were great villas alongside plazas ringed with trees and statues. Towards the center there was a large palace, slender towers crowned in silver, surrounded by green gardens and parkland.

    Temples to many gods rose above the common buildings like whales breaching, white and golden, black and silver. The Covetous One, the One without Stain, Oathkeeper, Dreamer under the Mountain, Keeper of the past, Warder on the Threshold, Drinker of Tears. Walls circled the individual quarters, Alyssa counted three great rings.

    A massive, sprawling castle sat to the east with military encampments nearby, the city covered the earth as far as she could see, smoke hung in a great pall over the low-lying poorer quarters. The land rose around the stream, and the smog accumulated in the lower regions. Great halls, probably manufactorums and warehouses bordered the river with their own small quays, large, dirty windows glinting in the sun.

    Over a distant part of the city or perhaps beyond it, the sky was perfectly clear, and beneath sat white buildings arranged in near runic precision and arrangement.

    Great white oval balloons hung low over the merchant''s quarter, gondolas strapped beneath. Goods were carried up and down with pulleys and elevators on slender metal towers. One giant balloon made its stately way towards the east, winglike contraptions of wood and cloth beating like the wings of a gigantic bird.

    It was grand. It was intimidating. Alyssa felt small and ignorant. Mireille grabbed her shoulder, ¡°Is that the academy?¡± She pointed at the far-off white buildings, deceptively small looking, even though some of them must have towered several stories high.

    ¡°Yes, that is the academy. They have some mages cleansing the pollution, and it shows. The air in the lower city is barely breathable some days.¡± Maximilian endeavored to answer.

    The wind whipped over the hill and tugged at their hair and clothing, the cold nip in the air brought tears to the eyes. Only Adam seemed unaffected, sitting hunched over on the driver''s seat. He spat a bit of tobacco.

    ¡°Not all is gold that glitters. For every shiny, pretty stone, there is its underside, rife with bugs, worms, and dirt.¡± He grinned.

    ¡°Welcome to Kronenburg!¡±

 Ivory towers

    Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Light

    Or just another lost angel...City of Night

    - Jim Morrison, the Doors, L.A. Woman,

    It took two hours for them to get to the furthest outskirts. The city was more and more overwhelming the closer they came. Great barges brought food and supplies, wagons drawn by teams of large oxen labored to bring materials for the workshops- and food, sacks, and barrels of food. People, most of them clothed in poor and threadbare clothing lined the busy streets here in the lower city, beggars shouted their plea for alms. And then there was the stench hanging over all of it, with accents of smoke and soot to irritate the back of the throat. The main streets were kept clean and Alyssa saw patrols of mailed soldiers supplementing the more lightly armored city guard wearing the colors of Margrinar, yellow and blue. But a glimpse of the alleys revealed garbage and the destitute who had to live there. Great posts of stone held globes of a scratched crystalline material inscribed with runes.

    ¡°Seems like a bigger version of those glowy globes,¡± Mireille commented.

    ¡°That seems about right.¡± Alea shut her book and leaned towards the window where she pulled back the curtain to see what they were talking about.

    They left the poor quarters and crossed the river, the bridge was a marvel of architectural design rivaling or even exceeding the elven construction they had witnessed on the other side of the mountains. Bounded by two large towers and held aloft by another two standing side by side with the road in between, built on a probably artificial island in the midst of the river. The bridge was raised high enough that even sailing ships could pass underneath, this seemed to be impossible but for the use of magic.

    The warehouses, inns, and shops along the streets grew rarer as they turned and left the great throughway of the merchant quarter. A big gate in the second ring of walls loomed at the end of the street, nearly twenty yards high. It was crowned with fluttering pennants, an iron portcullis visible from beneath. The guards stationed here took a look at their coat of arms, the sergeant nodded towards the leading carriage and knocked twice. The horse''s hoofs and the wheels of the wagon echoed while they passed through.

    The roads here were clean and the pavement even and of high quality, they drove through winding quiet streets, lined with great mansions covered with ivy and wild vine before they arrived at a small townhouse with a narrow and modest garden protected by high walls topped with metal spikes. Beside the gate, a plaque showed the coat of arms of Graufurt.

    They drove through the gates and into a big carriage entrance leading into a courtyard with a stable and space to store the coaches. Two stablehands opened the way. Both coaches and the horses of Maximilian and the three brothers out of Kruog entered.

    Colonnaded walkways surrounded the yard and the marble face of a mythical river god spat water into a great white basin filled with water Lillies. Small flower beds were placed alongside the columns, wild wine climbed the walls and because of the season shone with a rich red color.

    Two servants greeted them as they exited the carriage.

    A woman of about forty years, black and grey hair bound back severely, her handsome face impassive, stepped forward and bowed, ¡°Greetings young master, young mistress. I am Viola Silversmith the head of this household''s servants, I hope your stay will be pleasant. If you need anything let us know. Rooms have been prepared.¡± She wore richly embroidered clothing in subdued colors, blue and grey. Her ears were a bit pointed hinting at mixed elven ancestry.

    A man stood behind her wearing the livery of a butler. He also bowed before them and introduced himself. ¡°I am Roland Brache. I am trained in personal defensive magics and was hired as butler and bodyguard for the young master''s stay in the academy, I wanted to make use of this opportunity to meet and welcome you all.¡±

    Maximilian smiled and nodded towards the two servants. ¡°It is good to be here again. The road has become dangerous of late.¡±

    Roland asked while raising an eyebrow. ¡°Do you require healing, a doctor?¡±

    ¡°No, everything that was needed has already been done. But thank you for the offer.¡±

    Mireille looked around admiringly, ¡°I could get used to this.¡± she whispered after nudging Alyssa.

    Alyssa smiled at her, ¡°Then we will have to do our best to deserve it.¡±

    Roland arranged rooms for the bodyguards who would leave them on the morrow.

    <hr>

    Mrs. Silversmith brought the girls to their rooms which were on the first floor. The house had a similar arrangement to the one in Grunewald with the first floor normally used for guests and the higher placed servants, the second floor was reserved for family and because this estate was built upwards, the third floor contained the rooms for the master of the house.

    Mireille stowed her belongings and stretched. The room was very comfortable with a large bed, chest, dresser, wardrobe, and a desk with some cupboards and a few chairs. The furniture was of high quality made of polished and varnished wood. Directly adjacent was a bathroom with running water. Sadly the water was pretty cold, normal for the season she supposed. The bathtub could be heated with a metal sphere inscribed with a complex runic array that was put into and out of the water with large metal tongs.

    The walls were made of polished stone and hung with tapestries depicting scenes of maritime splendor, ships running before a storm, exotic harbors and islands, even a huge sea monster, a Kraken. She rather approved of the last.

    Exiting the room Mireille went into Alyssa¡¯s bedroom, her friend seemed to be preparing a bath so she went and jumped onto the bed. ¡°Yay, it''s just as soft as mine.¡±

    Alyssa came out of the bathroom and laughed as she saw her lying spread-eagled on the bed. ¡°Let me guess, you want to sleep here too?¡±

    ¡°That''s the plan!¡± She turned around facing the ceiling.

    ¡°It''s ok, I don¡¯t hate it,¡± Alyssa mumbled a bit embarrassed. ¡°But what about Alea?¡±

    ¡°Mh. She will probably not come to us, so we have to go to her, either to get her to come here or we simply sleep in her room, it''s probably nicer anyway.¡± she turned again, ¡°not that it isn''t very nice where we are!¡±

    ¡°Let''s simply visit her first before we occupy her room!¡±

    ¡°But if she can choose she might choose wrong, for her own good she should have no choice.¡± Mireille was kicking her feet.

    ¡°You can be a bit childish at times.¡±

    ¡°Grandma said if you call a woman young you flatter her, thanks for the compliment!¡±

    ¡°But only when you reach the age of your grandma!¡±

    They left the room, Cyrus who had been drinking out of the water bowl flapped twice and landed on her shoulder, she gasped a bit at the sudden weight. ¡°I fear a diet will not make it better, mh?¡± And then she rubbed her cheek on his head.

    ¡°Did you know that wyvern have something like a purr?¡±

    Cyrus made rasping noises as he continued to rub his head on her neck.

    ¡°No, that is something not many people get to experience, I fear.¡± Mireille seemed amused. "They won''t know what they are missing! You will become the definitive expert on wyverns, just you wait!¡±

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Alyssa put the plans regarding the bath on hold and they went outside to look for Alea.

    Asandria floated behind them, visible only to Alyssa, a servant who hurried along the corridor came near her, shuddered, and then instinctively avoided her space. The near-transparent corners of her mouth formed a fleeting smile.

    They climbed the broad stairs and entered the second floor. ¡°Oh, they have golden ornaments.¡± Mireille eyed one especially gaudy picture frame speculatively.

    ¡°Don''t think about it.¡±

    ¡°Don''t read my thoughts! That is worse than thinking about ste...acquiring something creatively!¡±

    Alyssa hugged Mireille who looked surprised. ¡°I am so glad that you are with me. I would not know what to do otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Thank you?¡± Mireille looked a bit confused then returned the hug. ¡°Let''s see if we can find Alea before we are summoned for dinner.¡±

    Alea¡¯s room was painted in pastel colors, mostly blue and green. Tapestries and paintings decorated the walls showing forest scenes with a magnificent green dragon soaring above the trees, nymphs, and satyrs playing in a springtime grove, a procession of the night parade through a woodland at night.

    ¡°Who painted that? It''s wonderful!¡± Alyssa exclaimed upon seeing the procession of ghosts and demons dancing underneath a starry sky.

    ¡°I think that one is the work of my mother.¡± The tone did not reveal anything but the spider''s arms fell limp and her shoulders tensed.

    ¡°Oh, I am sorry to remind you.¡±

    ¡°No, I am glad to have something beautiful left of her, and I am also glad to share it with you. If it were someone I did not like, I would never show them, but I don''t mind with you two.¡±

    Books lined the walls, it was a bit less than Alea¡¯s room in Grunewald, but there were a lot of tomes discussing the workings of magic, especially the magic of light. One large tome was made out of a glass-like substance and exposing it to specific colors of light let you view different texts.

    ¡°You are rather heavily into light magic?¡± Mireille asked as she perused the titles.

    ¡°Yes. You could say that. But I try to keep a broad range of interests.¡± Alea scrunched her little nose.

    ¡°I..¡± Alyssa hesitated a bit. ¡°Is necromancy a normal course of study?¡±

    ¡°What?! Necromancy?¡± Alea seemed startled. ¡°Mh, Max mentioned you used void magic and you did something similar at the battle of the green dragon. That is a close cousin to the control and creation of undead.¡± She seemed a bit flustered, ¡°You practice the magic of the void?¡±

    ¡°I should have waited for a better opportunity but we have arrived in Kronenburg, and I have to know if I should take care when revealing this affinity of mine.¡± Alyssa grabbed her left hand, massaging it.

    ¡°Ok. The academy does not discriminate. That does not mean that people won¡¯t. And even the teachers are not above some petty behavior. My light magic will elevate me in many a student''s points of view, my relative blindness might offset that though. Void magic is not regarded positively, there are not many uses that are not destructive or evil or both. Nevertheless, I have come to regard you as a dear friend and I have some tomes about this subject matter. I will lend them to you, and I will not regard you less fondly because of some ability you have.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°If you should sometimes have misgivings about my magic, talk to me about it. I would never risk our friendship without doing what I possibly could to keep it.¡± Alyssa rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°So, on to the most important question,¡± Mireille announced from the bed. ¡°Where do we sleep tonight?¡±

    An old servant stopped as he heard laughter from the young miss¡¯ room and sighed, how long was it that he had seen her this relaxed and happy.

    <hr>

    At dinner the same day.

    Maximilian sat, with a mug of tea in hand, at the great dining table. The room was smaller than the one in Grunewald, but the decorations were beautifully done with wall paintings framed by plaster and a polished parquet floor. A chandelier with magical lights cast its warm light on the sumptuous dishes. He cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the three girls still eating their dinner. ¡°Tomorrow we will have an appointment with the department for identification and assaying of magical aptitude, in short, the Assay Department. There the three of you will be tested. Mireille, because of your brand only a very high aptitude would be enough to get you enrolled. But if it does not work out I will see what I can do. Alyssa, I saw you use void magic?¡±

    After she nodded shyly he continued. ¡°That can be a problem. The first god-king of Allissair was said to be a master of the void, he used it to breach the dimension between this world and our former home. No one will exclude you because of this, but, the magic of the void is often used to summon aberrations and undead, to corrupt and destroy the living. This is widely known and despised, so prepare yourself to be discriminated against. But power makes its own rules and I am very sure you will be among the more talented even in this academy. But if you should be targeted because of this please talk to us and we will help.¡± He looked at his sister who nodded firmly.

    ¡°Let me make something clear. I have spent some time thinking and I would like to present a deal to you two. You can live in this house and draw upon our resources if you need to. If there are costs associated with your studies we will take care of it within reason. After you graduate, you work for us. Reasonable employment conditions should be a given I think. What do you say? I would really like to recruit you before you are snatched up later.¡±

    Mireille and Alyssa looked at each other. Alyssa spoke first ¡°I think we will discuss this and give you the answer tomorrow, but I can say that I am highly tempted and will probably agree.¡±

    Mireille nodded. ¡°I agree. But one problem could be that I will not be accepted. And there is another...¡± She cleared her throat and looked again at her friend.

    ¡°We are both hunted in Rivenlorn. I think what we did save a lot of lives and if you see it from a more mercantile perspective I have saved a small village and a few dozens of soldiers so I could be more or less be regarded as having paid in full. But the army will most likely not see it that way. And there was this priestess of Ielenia, she was after our heads.¡±

    ¡°Troubling. But Margrinar sees itself as the only legitimate successor to Allissair and this arrogance makes it easy to dismiss charges brought to us from our neighboring nations. I think as long as you don¡¯t want to visit Rivenlorn you should be in the clear. Ielenia''s priesthood is more problematic, but they are rigid and unpleasant in their demands- This could help because the authorities will be less inclined to accommodate them. But I won''t say that it is solved. I would be glad if you could tell us in more detail, but this does not substantially change the facts. So, tomorrow at the ninth bell. I will instruct old Adam to take you. I will be busy with my own studies. Good luck.¡± He grinned boyishly.

    Dinner was fantastic as usual, and with some unpleasant facts finally brought out into the open the mood Mireille and Alyssa felt a lot better.

    <hr>

    They slept together in Alea¡¯s room.

    After using the bathtub to the fullest and eating a hearty breakfast they traveled to the academy. They wore the more formal clothes the seamstress in Grunewald had fashioned.

    The second coach was gone when they finally got underway, Maximilian had an early start and mentioned that he would move into the dormitory on campus to cut down on the commute.

    After nearly an hour of congested roads and painfully slow progress, they acknowledged the wisdom of his decision even when they would normally prefer the luxurious townhouse.

    ¡°Maybe we can travel back on the weekends?¡± Mireille mused wistfully. ¡°The cook had many more great dishes for me to taste and the bed was so soft!¡± She puffed her cheeks.

    Alyssa smiled at her antics. ¡°The main thing is that we get the same dormitory room, everything else is unimportant.¡±

    Alea hesitated then nodded and said quietly. ¡°I would like that very much. I normally don¡¯t do well with strangers.¡±

    They left the city at some point and the buildings grew sparse, large areas of parkland and man-made lakes alternated. The white buildings they had seen from the far-off hilltop grew into massive halls and towers rising into the crystal clear air.

    The main buildings were built around a central plaza decorated with statues of notable worthies of historical significance to the academy, most in traditional robes. The largest building, five stories high, boasted two unroofed flights of stairs that rose in an arc and met at a platform with rails of marble, before a great doorway situated to the front and midst. The off-white walls were carved and decorated with geometric shapes, most likely concealing the presence of magical runes. There was a sense of age and a certain pressure hung in the air. The road curved around the square, beside the main structure there were two flanking buildings, both only slightly less grand with a multitude of large latticed windows facing the awed visitor. They were connected with roofed walkways and then there were several large towers arranged like attendants behind the large central building which were connected by skywalks, there were no visible doors in the lower portions, nor were there many windows, there were nine towers in all.

    Alyssa remembered the view from the far-off hilltop and realized, that the arrangement of the large structures, the square, the towers, and the courtyards that were not visible from ground-level view, all was meant to work together as a magical whole. The rune that was thus formed might have been Esos the rune of might. If so, it was a grandiose and somewhat problematic statement when the time of their construction was taken into consideration, which was shortly after Allisair had been destroyed as punishment for the hubris of its inhabitants.

    No one had ever accused the old Allisandrians of being humble or, as Alyssa mused, as having learned their lesson.

    Then there were some smaller halls that lined the road, most likely dormitories, then there was a mensa and the quarters meant for the staff. The roofs were steeply slanted and plated with copper.

    Students hurried along the larger road and on smaller paths strewn with white gravel. Some servants carried sacks and barrels from a parked ox-wagon. Two older female magi employed water magic to care for the flower beds.

    The carriage drove along the road and stopped a the front of the square.

    Adam knocked on the roof of the carriage and called. ¡°We have arrived. I will see to it that the horses get some water and will come to get you in about an hour. If you need more time, I will wait.¡±

 Lets have a look, shall we?

    ¡°Ah college years, those were the days. Pure freedom ... leaving home for the first time¡­the parties¡­¡±

    "What about the tutorials, the lectures, the large building with all the books called the ¡®library¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Is that what those were?¡± Gerry blithely replied.

    ¨D E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly,

    The gigantic ornately decorated front door would be somewhat small for the frost-giant but no one else should have any problems. Mireille nodded, impressed.

    Alea took the lead having been here at least sometimes in the past when she was visiting her brother. Every step echoed in the gigantic arched hallways, the ceiling was many meters high. Students and some workers hurried along, some threw curious glances in their direction. Alyssa was glad to notice that she was not that special regarding her features and coloration, she saw a man with dark green hair, carrying a creature made of squirming roots in the crook of his left elbow. Then there was a trio of dwarves with black, metallic seeming hair. An elf woman with skin textured like bark followed a dark-haired, stocky human male of indeterminate age. Most were human though, and even if she was a bit biased, she was better looking than many.

    Then they arrived at a portal of polished marble, a plaque proclaimed this the Bureau of Identifying and Assaying Magical Abilities and Aptitude.

    Entering they saw a reception desk beneath a skylight bathed in sunlight, a great waterclock stood further behind the desk. A statue of Laveras the demi-god of hours was slowly raised on a wooden platform inside a wide glass basin by the slow and steady flow of water from a small spigot, his right arm pointed at a beautiful depiction of the hours.

    A man, approximately twenty years of age, was reading some sheaves of parchment and looked up as they entered. He had half-glasses and pulled them down before inspecting them. He wore grey robes with a blue-silver badge fixed to his left breast, his hair was very short and dark and he was clean-shaven. There was a waiting area with some upholstered benches placed around a small indoor pool containing flitting golden fish. The floor was polished stone. The walls were relatively bare of ornamentation only a few busts of famous magicians and some old scrolls hung framed to good effect. It was very quiet but for the soft gurgling of the water clock.

    ¡°Can I help you, ladies?¡± The man spoke with an educated but bored-sounding voice.

    Alea took the lead, her spider fixing her eyes on the man. ¡°We are here for our primary examination.¡±

    He took a board from the side and after speaking some arcane words stroked along the front. ¡°You are Alea von Graufurt, Mireille Annirstochter and Alyssa Miner? Is that correct?¡±

    They nodded their assent.

    ¡°Ok, then you are in luck. The last assay ended early, very early¡± the last was spoken very deliberately and he looked faintly irritated. He stroked his chin, ¡° We will continue with your assessment, I am Cordelius Ansum, and your senior, a fourth-year, pleased to meet you.¡± His greeting sounded perfunctory.

    ¡°Miss von Graufurt, please enter the door to the right¡± he pointed at one of the doorways. ¡°Miss Annirstochter, this one please.¡± He pointed then hesitated. ¡°Mh, you have a brand?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a lightning-based branding,¡± Mireille answered matter-of-factly.

    ¡°Nevertheless, a noble of our kingdom vouched for you, so we will endeavor to be thorough in our assessment.¡±

    ¡°Miss Miner,¡± he paused as he read something on the board, ¡°You are a peculiar group, aren''t you?¡± For the first time, he seemed mildly interested. ¡°Void affinity, possible personal gate? How are you still alive?¡± He lowered the half-glasses again and looked at her intently. He sighed. ¡°None of my business. Please proceed to the door on the left.¡± He gestured.

    Alyssa entered and closed the door behind her. The room was whitewashed stone with a high ceiling, a simple desk stood near the center a tall window behind it showed a view of an inner courtyard with a bubbling fountain and flowers growing on trellises. The floor was furnished with some rugs in darker colors. Beside the door she had entered through, the room boasted another to the far left.

    She paced a bit and examined the room before she sat down before the desk and waited. After about half an hour the other door opened. A tall human woman with ebony hair and a pale complexion entered briskly. She was not conventionally beautiful but had a commanding presence, her face was mostly sharp lines and angles, there was not much that was soft about her. She wore robes of dark grey gathered at the waist with a girdle of copper links, accented with blue topaz with a pouch hung at her right hip. A wand hung from a silk cord tied to her wrist. Her deep blue eyes regarded her for a moment before she nodded. ¡°My name is Carmen of Perrilen Heights. I will be your assessor." She calmly inspected Alyssa. "I have heard of you and requested to test you. Can you guess why I did that?¡±

    Alyssa inspected her and she shivered a bit as her left arm sensed the deep cold hidden beneath the superficially businesslike appearance. ¡°I think you have abilities like mine and are thus perfectly qualified to either test me or evaluate the risk I pose.¡± She raised her head facing the woman fully.

    Carmen nodded and smiled a bit. ¡°True.¡± She sat down. ¡°I am one of the assistant professors teaching the art of the void. We are a small and exclusive group here on campus. And I know firsthand the destruction this art can cause. So, testing will comprise a magical examination but also a written test evaluating your knowledge and even so mundane a thing as your writing and reading. It will probably take the whole day. I will be present for your magical testing, the rest will be overseen by some of our non-magical staff. Do you have any questions?¡±

    Alyssa shook her head.

    ¡°Good, then we will begin. Come with me. You can take the familiar with you but will have to leave him outside while the testing is going on.¡± They went through the door and down a narrow flight of stairs, the air got markedly colder as they descended, glow globes lit the way.

    At the foot of the stairs stood a large portal, several plates of steel were bolted to the outside, engraved with runic matrices. Carmen did not slow down and touched one of the plates. A ring on her right hand began to glow and the door unsealed with a hiss of escaping air.

    Behind the door, which opened rather easily, there was a large hall with an arched ceiling. Nine large obelisks made of a pale stone and inscribed with thousands of runes stood in a circle around a platform about five yards across, made of dull metal, also inscribed with a complicated arrangement of glyphs. The magical energy in the room was oppressive and Alyssa¡¯s ears popped as she entered.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    Carmen gestured towards the metal platform. Every step echoed in the great expanse of the room. Some light came from the walls where sconces with glowing orbs were placed every ten yards. The ceiling was barely visible in the dim lighting. "Please go and stand in the center, if you should be so lucky as to possess magical items or paraphernalia please lay them on this table here." She pointed at a simple stone table with a raised edge.

    Alyssa went red and walked towards the table, in lieu of taking everything out of her pouches she simply unclasped her belt and put it on the table. The professor raised an eyebrow. Cyrus was also put on the table and began to inspect the pouches for something edible.

    Smiling apologetically Alyssa went to the platform. Curiously the pressure ceased the moment she climbed on the dull metal surface, her steps and the voice of the professor sounded like they came from far away.

    ¡°So please keep near the center and don¡¯t leave before I tell you to. There will be magical discharges and yes, it might hurt a bit. But you knew that didn¡¯t you?¡± She smiled a bit. ¡°Nothing ventured, nothing gained.¡±

    Then she went to the first obelisk and incanted a lengthy formula. The stone began to glow a dull red and heat began to emit from the runes on its surface in waves, growing stronger by the second until it was a near painful burning sensation streams of red energy extended towards the girl.

    Alyssa turned a bit and presented her right side towards the stone and the pressure and burning eased. After that came Wind, then Water, then Earth. Each radiated concentrated elemental energies.

    Carmen made some notes on a slate she had grabbed from another table. Natural energies were tested next, she could tolerate them relatively well as long as she shielded her left side.

    Then came Light and Alyssa nearly fainted from the pain, it was much worse than what Christina did, seemingly an age ago. The void within her stirred and she clenched her teeth.

    The professor let her rest a bit before activating the next obelisk, the void pillar. Waves of darkness and absolute cold flowed into her left arm, the sensation was pleasant and there was only a slight numbing sensation that worried her a bit. The energies grew denser and more powerful as time progressed. The professor continued to monitor the situation and seemed a bit concerned as Alyssa stood calmly amid the deepening shadows and frost. Rime began to condense on the surface of the metal plate as she shook her head and stopped the procedure.

    ¡°Void, not conventionally measurable.¡± She murmured. Alyssa had a heightened awareness from her brush with the dark energies and heard her softly whispering to herself.

    After that, she was subjected to vertigo-inducing shifts in the dimensions of her surroundings, which she quickly learned to tolerate to the increasing interest of the assayer. Then there was time, which seemed ironically enough, to pass in a moment.

    Then it was over.

    ¡°Highly interesting. You have high affinities for water, wind, and fire. Earth and nature are middling but still good enough to warrant study. Light is, I am sorry to say, abysmal. You should not try to learn more than the light cantrip and even that would be better served by learning the requisite fire spell. Void is¡­¡± she stopped and rubbed her forehead. ¡°I had to cease testing because a normal person would have been already dead or undead at that point and I did not want to risk it for academic reasons only. You are without a doubt a catastrophe waiting to happen. We will try to put your talent to better use. If I have a say in this we will probably extend the offer of a scholarship."

    She sighed. "But nothing is set in stone. Then, as if that was not enough, you have quite a bit of talent for dimensional magics. To summarize, you have the highest affinity for void magic it has been my misfortune to witness in anyone other than myself and you don¡¯t lack for talent in summoning and distortion magic. That is a uniquely terrible combination if I may say so.¡±

    ¡°Time is not your forte. It would not be impossible for you to learn a few minor magics but that would be the extent of your talents.¡± She sighed again.¡±We do not know one another but you don¡¯t seem like a person who harbors ill intent. I will endorse your studying here because it does not bear thinking about what you could manage if left to your own devices.¡±

    Asandria who had been inside of her for the whole time radiated grim amusement. ¡®You are that doom, that promise of despair.¡¯ An endless, idyllic, empty palace flashed like a vision before her eyes and she grabbed the table to stabilize herself.

    She shook her head.

    ¡°Everything in order, student applicant?¡±

    ¡°Yes, everything is fine. Just a bit of dizziness.¡±

    ¡°So let us proceed. Magical aptitude testing has concluded for today, what is left is seeing what mundane knowledge found its way into your pretty head.¡± Camen smiled. ¡°Follow me.

    They went up the stairs again after the professor had locked the room and reactivated the magical mechanisms.

    Then it was off towards another smaller building. Within that building students busily went about their work. They looked predominantly human and quite normal for all that. They entered a classroom on the ground floor and there Alea and Mireille were already waiting together with six other students.

    ¡°Good day, I will be brief. Teacher Josef Turm will take over for now and see what remedial measures will have to be taken to bring you up to a tolerable academic level. My work for today is done. But we will see each other when you begin your magical studies. For now, farewell.¡± She nodded, her gaze lingering on Alyssa then she turned and left the room. A well-dressed man in formal, brown clothes around fifty years of age with thinning, grey-brown hair and the beginnings of a paunch entered after she had left.

    ¡°Greetings student applicants. You are here today to ascertain your more mundane knowledge. I will first ask a few questions, then it will be a written test followed by a verbal one. You will have a bit of time to eat after the written section. Any questions? No? Good, then let''s begin.¡±

    The written test was easy at first and got progressively more difficult the farther one progressed. At the end of the allotted time only Alea and one other girl, a studious looking, plump, sixteen-year-old wearing a pair of glasses were still making progress.

    Mr. Turm allowed them half an hour of rest where they ate some sandwiches which were provided by the academy.

    After that, they were questioned in turn by the teacher, who was always writing notes.

    And then in the evening, they were dismissed. Mireille looked half-dead. ¡°If I told my family I was trying to get into the Academy of the Arts in Kronenburg they¡­¡± She hesitated,¡± they would probably ask ¡®what¡¯s an academy?¡¯ But if they knew they would be laughing their asses off.¡±

    She laughed and then, wincing held her head. The studious girl looked at her with large curious eyes. ¡°How did you come to be here then? If I may ask.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I simply followed my sister of choice and ended up here.¡± She pointed at Alyssa.

    ¡°I''m Lucille.¡± The girl with the glasses told Mireille.

    ¡°Nice to meet you. I am Mireille. This here is Alyssa and this young lady with the cute spider is Alea. The wyvern is named Cyrus.¡±

    The spider on Aleas shoulder inspected the girl and then turned towards Alyssa. ¡°Come we have quite a ways before we are home.¡± She nodded a greeting towards Lucille. ¡°We will see you in class. A good evening to you.¡±

    ¡°I was terrible!¡± Mireille boasted, ¡°The magic simply pushed me around and as they tested the spacey magic I flew out of the testing circle, but the teacher said he had not seen such a perfect melding with a lightning rune since coming to the academy, so that is that. Sooo that means I don¡¯t need to learn anything and simply have to train my lightning to be faster and better. I am glad.¡±

    Alea nodded then took the spider and inspected her surroundings before she said in a soft tone. ¡°I have a perfect affinity for light magic. They could not correctly measure it. Fire was good, earth was good, time was ok and the rest was more or less middling. I was really bad with void and slightly bad with water.¡± They walked towards the entrance of the compound to collect old Adam and the carriage. ¡°That is very close to what my family determined I had. It was probably my grandfather''s work, testing me. But I can''t remember.¡± She looked troubled.

    Old Adam was waiting for them chewing his tobacco while sitting on the driver''s seat. He waved at them when they came near. ¡°Good evening, ladies. Have a seat and then we will be off.¡±

    And they crowded into the coach, relieved to have survived their first day at the academy.

 Perspectives

    ¡°When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, I kind of wanted to be a vampire.¡±

    - Angelina Jolie

    The Space Between, the Astral Plane, the Crystallinum Sphere, the Road of ashen Dreams. There were many names for the grey waste she found herself in. The wind howled deafeningly over dunes of grey ash and dull metal trees, twisted like dark wires, stabbed upwards from the dead ground. Light came from pinpricks far above in the sky. And it was not a nice metaphor for a star, these were holes in the fabric of this space leading into other worlds. Psychedelic light, that was not light, was in fact the echo of dying worlds and strange dimensional anomalies, bled into this reality, and looking at it too long would scar and injure the soul.

    Vanessa sat on the ash beneath such a tree. She scratched symbols inside a perfectly formed circle into the barren ground with a torn-off branch. With a sullen crackling sound walls of force encapsulated her and kept out the madness. If she still had needed to breathe she would have sighed. Her small hand rubbed her smarting head and green eyes glowed in the darkness of her own making.

    ¡®Another night, another jaunt on the Road of ashen Dreams.¡¯ She was forced to flee the merciless orb of Gesserachs only eye and this plane was ¨C for her ¨C well within her means to reach, and it led back to any imaginable location on the prime material plane.

    But it was eroding even her sanity. In the beginning, she thought herself very smart to have found this solution to her problems. She could follow the beacon she had cast on the two girls and at the same time escape the rigors of the sun. But the strain was building. Hopefully, Alyssa and Mireille would soon reach the city of Kronenburg. In such a large population even a vampire would vanish like the proverbial needle in a haystack, but to be that needle, she needed the stack.

    How long was it this time? Space twisted and time derailed in a world without its own sentient life to stabilize it. At least that was what the great philosopher wizards of old had postulated. But that there was no sentient life did not mean that it was completely lifeless. Not at all. Sadly. There were yards-long worms thin as threads burrowing through the ash, that ate the thoughts of intelligent beings, ephemeral moths drifted on the currents of the spiteful rifts, sucking the life force of those who were still alive. Houndlike entities that sensed emotions and tracked them unerringly hunted for sustenance. And sometimes there were visitors, who, before they dissolved into the ash, tried to prolong their suffering by eating other visitors, like her for example. Visitors were the primary source of food in this ecosystem of the damned.

    And those were only the more well-known threats.

    The moths at least she no longer had to fear. The hours passed, even the field of arcane force enclosing her like a black bubble became thin and thready after being exposed to the astral winds.

    She nodded. It was time to go back. She spoke arcane words and drew a runic array- she had learned from the best. With her claws of black ice, she carved space itself, opening a rift to a sky full of stars.

    Her sisters, her mother, even her distant father the Emperor, if only she could meet them again. She felt like a raft drifting in an endless ocean, unmoored and without harbor, the only home she had known dust and broken stone for hundreds of years now and her family with it.

    She told the girls that she had slept because she wanted to preserve herself and as far as it went that was correct, but she also did it because she wanted to forget, to not be the undead monstrosity that the Heartstealer crafted from her dead body and soul. Long ago on that obsidian altar underneath the city of broken ivory.

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    The faces of her sisters. How she longed to see them one last time.

    She stood up, dust and ash flowing from her too-big clothes, and strode through the rift, the walls of force were shredded by colors that had no name.

    She had aimed for an empty space near where the girls would rest for the night. The process of dimensional translation was not smooth. The city in which she found herself was riddled with wards and countermeasures, if she had not been careful, even her resilient physique would be torn asunder by the conflicting forces. The rift was shunted aside and for a moment she knew the sensation of vertigo long since absent from her undead ¡®life¡¯.

    The black vortex opened onto the roof of a tall building with a railed platform. The house seemed in disrepair and the yard was overgrown with weeds. It was a once-stately mansion but the windows were boarded shut or smashed, the roof sagged and was in places open to the elements, the wrought iron gates lay beside the entrance, bowed and twisted by some great force. The paved courtyard bore deep scars from some explosion or other. There were numerous signs of an old battle fought approximately decades ago. Residues of dark magic had seeped into the stones and even the gardens twisting what little plant life remained. It was no wonder that no one would want to live here, even if the estate was within sight of Kronenburg.

    ¡®The magical residue guided me like a lighthouse to this place.¡¯ She jumped from the roof spread her arms and called to the wind, silvery symbols sprang to life on her hands and she glided softly to the ground. With a running leap, she crested the walls and ran, swift as the wind she had summoned, towards the city walls.

    Somewhere else.

    An obese human smacked his lips as he swirled a dark liquid in a large chalice and laughed while holding his ample paunch. ¡°What a fine vintage.¡± He drank another mouthful, slowly savoring the taste. ¡°Some age¡± a lick, ¡°medium body, some acidity.¡± a smack, ¡°Notes of chocolate and pear. Somewhat dry.¡± His clothes were opulently decorated with golden thread on dark blue it called to mind the uniform of a cavalry officer but much too gaudy for even the worst dandy to ever grace a saddle, big jewels hung from chains made from rose-gold and electrum. Fat fingers, crusted with rings, drummed on the stem of the chalice as he leaned forward in his cushioned chair. Dark, oiled ringlets fell into his broad face which showed a sparse beard. He laughed again.

    The room was dimly lit with iron braziers burning in the corners. The floor was strewn with expensive-looking rugs in the style of the south. Walls of rough-hewn stone blocks rose up to a ceiling veiled in darkness and before them hung large iron chains. A man with a mask of dark cloth and attired in dark red robes, forced a blonde, male elf into a kneeling position by twisting his right arm, with the other hand he had slit his throat, dark blood bubbled into the chalice which the fat man thrust under the gaping wound.

    Suddenly the laughter stilled. ¡°Poroskar, my dear. I sense another.¡±

    The man with the mask stiffened then relaxed and said. ¡°Another? Not of the brood of Whitecliff or the damned rats of Sur Kesh?¡±

    ¡°It is a strong presence I have not felt before. Please, take care of matters here. I will need to have this investigated.¡±

    Ignoring the dying elf, the corpulent man stood up easily, and much lighter on his feet than he had any right to be he strode from the room.

    ¡°It has been too long, I feared to use the dust without the right solvent, and now, and now¡± his voice rose into a giggle. ¡°There comes a little mouse into my kingdom.¡± He rubbed his hands together with glee. Small eyes sparkled with madness. ¡°And I am the fattest cat there is¡± Manic laughter echoed down the deserted corridor.

    Long canines elongated beneath fat, red lips.

    Somewhere else.

    On the road overlooking the city, four leather-clad riders paused. Their quarry had had competent guardians and thus they dared not stray too close. The leader an older man with heavily scarred hands looked at his companions. ¡°We might need to enlist the help of the old families. They got to Kronenburg and the academy before us, so it stands to reason that they will be well protected. We will bide our time and have her evaluated before we commit to further actions.¡±

    They continued their journey and as they say ¡®All roads lead to Kronenburg.¡¯

 Academic aspirations, Part I

    ¡°Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.¡±

    - Leonardo da Vinci

    The coach rolled through the evening rush as those who had been employed in the upper city returned to their homes somewhere in between the heights and the river. It took more than an hour for them to enter the quiet district called the Ivy Terrace for the predominance of the green creeping plant and the terraced nature of the quarter, which was set into the side of a rocky hillside granting a fantastic view mostly unobscured by other buildings. The only downside being, that the river and the low-lying sections of the city often languished beneath a cloud of dark smoke. The carriage drove through streets pleasantly free of the traffic impeding them everywhere else. Lights flickered on great metal poles as the runes measured the remaining sunlight and found it wanting.

    The Graufurt mansion came into view near the end of a cul-de-sac. The right side of the street was lined with homes, while the left overlooked a steep decline until you could see the next lower rung of houses, some smoke drifted from their chimneys but was quickly pulled away by the prevailing winds.

    As before, they drove through the carriage entry as servants opened the large gates for them. They left the vehicle and stretched. ¡°I am starved.¡± Mireille yawned, quickly hiding her teeth with her hands as she saw Alea¡¯s furrowed brow.

    ¡°Me too.¡± Alyssa smiled at her friends, ¡°Let''s go and see if dinner is ready.¡± The spider on Alea¡¯s shoulder nodded at that, moving her forelegs in anticipation.

    Dinner was a quiet affair as the girls were still exhausted from the day''s labors. Maximilian had excused himself but had left a note with Adam that he would be available tomorrow to help with enrollment and the choosing of courses and dormitory rooms.

    They slept peacefully and were woken by the servants come morning.

    "Do you think something happened to Vanessa?" Alyssa asked as they were still lying in bed.

    "I don''t think there is anything she could not run away from...but she has been captured once already, hasn''t she?" Mireille mused.

    Sounds of splashing water came from the adjacent bathroom where Alea was getting ready for the day. Sunlight filtered between the heavy drapes and it was cozy and warm.

    "I need a, what is the word? A vacation." Mireille stretched. "But Vanessa''s absence is concerning."

    Asandria turned and a ray of light filtered through her chest. ''She mentioned when last I saw her, that she would catch up to us when we reached Kronenburg. I would not be too concerned at the moment. When she was caught by the priesthood of Cornac they had the chance to ambush her. I hope this trusting behavior has been beaten out of her. It does not become the Erellathiel line, with such naivety she would have been eaten whole by the court. But the priesthood has had a reputation for honor and trustworthiness. This might have lowered her guard. Hopefully, her captivity has erased this impression.''

    Alyssa relayed that to her friend who nodded. "Nothing we could do about it in the short-term. Let''s get enrolled!" She raised her arms into a victory pose, still lying under the covers. Alyssa smiled.

    After breakfast, they set out again. Alea wore the dark blue dress with the silver-link girdle and a near-black blindfold with runes in silvery grey. Alyssa had the dress in dark blue and violet with ruffled sleeves and embroidered at the hem with blooming lilacs sharply contrasting her white hair and complimenting her purple eyes, she wore a black cloak around her shoulders protecting her and her clothes from the claws of her growing familiar. Mireille wore the dress in a pale orange color embroidered with orange blossoms. They looked like noble girls.

    Because they had an earlier start the traffic was not as bad as the last time. Despite that, it took three-quarters of an hour before they saw the academy again. Yesterday it had not sunk in, but today she would be meeting probable classmates. That was faintly terrifying. Alyssa looked at Mireille who seemed unfazed by it all and Alea who seemed a bit more nervous but only because she had come to better know the little dark-haired girl and saw through her calm facade.

    Adam knocked on the carriage roof and called out to them ¡°We have arrived my ladies. I will take care of the coach. May your day be as fine as the weather.¡± He laughed.

    The sun was apparent in its full glory bathing the academy grounds with light. This seemed especially noteworthy as a low lying smog-cloud concealed the harbor and adjacent workshops. From their elevated point of view, they could see the thick smoke coming from chimney stacks of industry and housing. Alea exited first this time and the spider looked around. The sunlight seemed to gather around her dark silhouette, making her hard to look at. Mireille jumped out next and gallantly helped Alyssa out of the vehicle swaying on its suspension.

    ¡°So, what now?¡± Mireille broke the silence. The wind whispered through bushes and flower beds, ruffling the last blossoms, leaves rained around the chestnut trees planted before the dormitories. It was some time before the start of the first classes and so the grounds were mostly deserted. Some students strolled through the crisp morning and were leisurely making their way towards the main buildings.

    ¡°We have to go to the administrative section and get our enrollment documented and the courses we want to take approved.¡± Alea crossed her arms. ¡°Max wanted to meet us here. Let''s wait a bit.¡±

    Cyrus played with a fallen chestnut picking it up and then tossing it towards Alyssa who caught his offering before throwing it further onto the lawn only for the wyvern to snatch it up and flip it back again with a sinuous twist of his long neck. One or two students stopped and stared.

    An older man with a long white beard and businesslike attire in darker earthen colors marched hurriedly towards the mensa nodding a greeting as he went by.

    The door to a nearby dormitory opened, it was a modestly sized affair of pale grey stone but richly ornamented, with glass windows facing the main square. Maximilian hurried outside struggling into the jacket of his school uniform. Alyssa realized with a start that his left arm was free of the sling, but he was still stiff in using it.

    Coming up to them he nodded, ¡°A most pleasant morning to you! Come with me. It is just as well that you are early we can get this done and have lunch in peace. Otherwise, it might take the whole day.¡± He motioned them to follow.

    They walked the now familiar way along the road towards the main building. The statues glistened with dew but the grass was already drying in the early morning light. Two male students came from the opposite direction chatting quietly. The two boys eyed the three friends and one of them even seemed to gather courage for an introduction while ogling Mireille when Maximilian smoothly stepped into his line of sight and greeted him with a reserved nod and they had passed them by. A disappointed sigh was the last they heard of them as they entered the central hall. Mireille grinned a bit and hooked Alyssa¡¯s left arm.

    The air was slightly musty and their steps echoed loudly. ¡°As I feared, the three of you should have a chaperone!¡± He looked mostly at his sister as he said that. ¡°and until thirty years ago that would have been the case. At least Alea will have Lorelle with her when she truly joins the academy. Mireille, please keep an eye on Alyssa.¡±

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    Alyssa wanted to protest but thought better of it, then looked at Mireille who grinned and pointed to her eyes and then towards her firmly nodding. She sighed but then smiled and walked further along the corridor.

    Entering a bureau they were met by an older woman in a starched grey dress showing the emblem of the academy, a tower piercing a star ringed by arcane symbols. The woman was businesslike but seemed friendly enough.

    ¡°So, what can I do for you. Mr. von Graufurt is helping you, I presume?¡± Getting nods of assent she continued ¡°Those are your enrollment papers, please fill in the blanks, afterward you will still need to see a professor, both of you young ladies are eligible for a scholarship. Ms. von Graufurt would probably be a candidate too, but I can¡¯t see you accepting the downsides- if you wanted to, I could arrange it.¡±

    ¡°No, your reasoning is quite correct.¡± Alea shook her head.

    Alyssa and Mireille looked at each other and then shrugged. The former said, ¡°I think we both would like to know about it because it could be very helpful.¡±

    ¡°That is the intention, even though our King in his wisdom does not grant such without recompense. But that is what the professor will discuss with you.¡±

    They gathered their papers and were shown to a small room furnished with a bench and low table, a window showed an inner courtyard, a different one this time. It was mostly covered in a neatly mown lawn with bushes growing along the walls. A group of students was trying to invoke wind magic it seemed. Dust-laden gusts of air blew across the empty yard. The teacher, an aging morbidly thin woman of indeterminate middle-age wove protective magic to keep the students from harming each other. Alyssa looked on fascinated. Mireille nudged her. ¡°Have you finished already?¡±

    ¡°Ah no, I got distracted. Did I mention that I simply love magic?¡±

    ¡°Once or twice.¡± She pushed her papers towards Alyssa.¡± Could you have a look? I am not as confident as you are with my reading and writing. Never had much use for it before I met you.¡±

    ¡°Certainly. Give me a minute to do mine, then I will see if there are any issues with yours.¡± She smiled warmly. ¡°I could help you with that you know?¡±

    ¡°I might just take you up on that. I fear my classes would be less than pleasant otherwise.¡±

    They finished and brought the assorted paperwork to the secretary. ¡°So, with that out of the way, I will bring you to see the professor. Mrs. von Graufurt choosing your courses will take place in the afternoon with everyone else when all have been enrolled. Until then you are welcome to familiarize yourself with your chosen dormitory and explore the campus. I bid you a good day.¡±

    Maximilian nodded while giving a friendly smile and said ¡°We will wait in the mensa, it should not take too long I think and there will be decisions you both will have to make. I think we can help with that.¡±

    Alyssa nodded gratefully. ¡°Yes, we will do that. I hope we will not make you wait too long.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that should not be a problem. I had not seen Alea in months before I met you both on the road, that is not nearly enough time to catch up, and there were those other distracting problems¡­¡± He shook his head ruefully. ¡°until then!¡±

    The secretary, her name was Awilda Glenspring led them deeper into the building. Murmurs behind closed doors indicated that classes were in session, the hallways were quiet. They passed a door and went through a long colonnaded walkway open to another courtyard before they stopped at an unassuming wooden door. Mrs. Glenspring knocked before she entered without so much as waiting for a by-your-leave.

    ¡°Hey, Mrs. Glenspring¡­¡± A younger man nearing thirty with three-day stubble and somewhat unkempt-looking hair sat behind a big desk strewn with paper. Behind him, a large window shaded by what seemed to be another overhanging roof lit the room with a bit of daylight. There were a few portraits on the wall, nearly hidden by the stacks of books heaped on overflowing shelves. A few weapons hid in the mess, a sword, a spear, and a two-handed maul. Dust hung in the air, motes of it gleaming in the rays of light from the window. The professor had been caught with his boots on the table and probably not for the first time if one took the stormy expression of the secretary into account.

    ¡°Magister Reneus Flammensiegel, as you were told in today''s notes you have four students who might wish to apply for a royal scholarship. I would wish that you represent this prestigious institution with the respect it deserves. Those here are the first two.¡± The professor was helplessly smiling at this point and made a poorly hidden pointing motion towards the two girls, wiggling an eyebrow. Mrs. Glenspring did not deign to respont to that. ¡°But it seems that my admonitions fall on deaf ears.¡± She sighed and turned towards Alyssa and Mireille. ¡°This is Alyssa Miner and Mireille Annirstochter. If there are any unanswered questions I will do my best to help you.¡± A fleeting smile graced her stern features and she nodded towards the now more respectably seated professor who was in the process of stacking the papers to open up a bit of space on the cluttered tabletop.

    Magister Reneus cleared his throat, stood up, and gave a somewhat forced grin. ¡°Pleased to meet you both, and thank you for bringing them to me, Mrs. Glenspring. Have a seat you two.¡±

    As he saw that the three chairs were all laden with books and scrolls he hastily emptied that onto the ground behind the desk. ¡°So. Now please be seated. Is this your familiar?¡± He regarded Cyrus with interest. "Please keep him away from my books, they are more fragile than I would like." He shook his head and motioned- They sat down.

    ¡°Did Mrs. Glenspring tell you about the rules of a royal scholarship?¡±

    Mireille shook her head. ¡°No, she only mentioned that his royal majesty would get his money''s worth.¡±

    Hearing those somewhat less than respectful words a grin flashed over his face before he coughed. ¡°Please, young lady, you should not put it quite that crudely. If I were a more hidebound individual I could have taken offense. You are not a native of Margrinar I presume?¡±

    They both shook their head.

    ¡°Then it is only natural that you might have less awe towards our illustrious ruler, but please, do yourself a favor and do not make light of them. So, where was I? Ah yes. The rules. Even if crudely put, what you said was nevertheless correct.

    The scholarship was put in place for three reasons. First, it allows people without a good background to learn and gives us the opportunity to have more excellent pupils. Second, the royal family earns loyalty, forced and freely given through this measure, and third,¡± he looked at Alyssa as he said the last ¡°there are certain affinities and talents who should be nurtured lest they be abused, intentional or not.¡±

    He continued. ¡°If you should accept the scholarship, your tuition and living expenses will be paid for by the crown. You in turn will swear a magically binding oath to never, and that is open-ended, harm the nation of Margrinar willingly and knowingly. And then you would have to work in the service of either the academy or the crown in whatever fashion they deem necessary while being paid in full for it. That could mean military service. After ten years you are ¨C mostly- free to do what you want. Most scholarship students are very glad for those generous terms and give their loyalty willingly, but they are nearly all from Margrinar. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°This sounds very fair to me.¡± Alyssa nodded when hearing the terms. ¡°I am very grateful for the extended offer. But I will discuss it with my friends first.¡±

    Mireille nodded at that, ¡°I think I will follow her lead. Thank you.¡±

    The professor eyed both of them and nodded. ¡°If you have another method of funding then this might be the better path to take. But the enforced employment also means that you would have said employment. Not that I doubt your abilities but some people would desperately wish for the opportunity and will never get it. So think carefully. Are there any more questions?¡± He looked just about ready to resume his reading as he subconsciously dusted the book he had been immersed in as he was interrupted.

    Alyssa smiled. ¡°No, that should be enough for us to get an idea. Thank you for your time.¡±

    ¡°My pleasure. My pleasure. If you need something simply knock. And when I am available I will help as I can.¡± He nodded. Then ushered them from the room.

    ¡°That was quick. Did they really need a professor to explain this?¡± Mireille seemed a bit irritated. ¡°All this production and then it took, what? Five minutes?¡±

    ¡°I think that the professor could have answered a lot more questions than he did. How much is the tuition? Is there any pocket money? Are there criteria for failure? And what is there in terms of jobs that could be forced upon us and will we be paid as a ¡®normal¡¯ employer or at reduced rates?¡±

    ¡°Hu. How do you come to think of all that?¡±

    ¡°I talked to Mrs. Silversmith and she was most helpful. But I never really intended to accept when I heard the enforced employment clause. And then there is Maximilian''s offer. And that sounded a lot better. No surprise there, we did help them out a lot.¡±

    ¡°Yes, let''s hear what he has to say. And then there was the possibility of having lunch¡­?¡±

    ¡°It''s still only ten o clock!?¡±

    ¡°You never know when and where the next meal is coming from!¡±

    ¡°You are no longer living on the street!¡±

    They returned the way they had come, joking all the while. And what Alyssa did not mention, was the most important reason for her to decline. She did not want to be parted from Mireille and to a lesser but growing extent Alea and even Vanessa.

    Having a new family was something she never thought possible as her old disintegrated before her helpless eyes but once found she would not let go.

 Academic aspirations, Part II

    ¡°...disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business....¡±

    - Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

    They searched for Alea and Maximilian and found them strolling the academy grounds.

    ¡°This is the dormitory for the ¡®normal¡¯ students. Four persons per room and one bathroom per floor. Mornings can be a bit hectic or you learn to use cleansing magic. A friend of mine wrote a small booklet about the necessary incantations and sells it for only two silver.¡± Maximilian grinned as he recounted that. ¡°All in all it''s not a bad deal though. You get what you pay for. Ah, Alyssa, Mireille, welcome back. Was the explanation educational?¡±

    ¡°We saw a professor Reneus, he was, how to put it best- Not that interested in conversing with us.¡± Alyssa smiled to show she meant it partly as a joke.

    ¡°Reneus Flammensiegel is a good guy. He is mostly here for the library strange as it sounds. Professors have far-reaching privileges to access even the more esoteric and dangerous books. Otherwise, he would most likely be at his country estate. He is a baron and the only one left of his family. The drowning plague killed them all. He is a very eligible bachelor.¡± He sighed. ¡°The big outbreak- was it ten years ago?¡± He took a turn just then and they passed a high hedge, behind that hedge were carefully tended fields of gravel marked with metal posts a wall, and the hedges shielded this area from view which measured approximately a hundred times a hundred yards.

    He did not see Alyssa tensing as he talked, Cyrus rubbed his head on her cheek.

    ¡°This here is the dueling fields. It''s an old tradition that probably predates humans on this world. If you have a dispute that can no longer be solved by talking, you fight. Fighting is normally done by magic, we are at an academy for that after all. But if you want you could designate a duel by weaponry. There are codices filled with rules and you can choose one of the more well-known as the basis for the procedure that best fits your intent and style. Ah, look over there- This should be a duel between two second years. Might even be a friendly bout. Let''s go over and see what they are up to.¡±

    A small crowd of uniformed boys and girls stood beside one of the demarcated fields. The graveled area was by and large twenty by twenty yards. The metal poles were inscribed with runes. Two boys who might be about seventeen years of age stood on opposite sides of the field. One was blond-haired and stocky with a blunt nose that looked to have been broken at least once before and inexpertly set, which gave him a thuggish air, the other was black-haired and slim with a pale, sallow complexion. The blonde looked enraged, while the dark-haired boy yawned in an affected manner, hooded eyes seemed to gauge the reaction of the other contestant.

    An older, dishwater-blonde boy, Maximilian''s age or older with a hooked nose, stood to the side and clapped once. The chatter of the other students subsided. ¡°I have to ask for formalities sake- You won''t stop this nonsense, kiss and make up like good Gesserach-abiding folk?¡± The last was spoken in a somewhat droll tone.

    ¡°Please take it a bit more seriously!¡± A dark-haired girl with a severe expression scolded.

    ¡°I might if it was not shortly before lunch. So, anyone? Peace and harmony- no?¡± Both antagonists shook their heads. The blond-haired boy was especially vehement about it. ¡°So that satisfies that.¡± The older boy scratched his head and looked at a book in his hands. ¡°Then, if your differences are irreconcilable you may now choose the means of combat. The challenged party has the right to choose.¡± He raised an eyebrow questioningly at the dark-haired boy.

    With a languid and bored sounding voice, the addressed answered ¡°I choose magic and no physical weapons, including the body of the contestants.¡±

    ¡°The challenger can declare the victory condition.¡± He turned towards the blonde.

    ¡°Until no longer able to fight, being unconscious or both.¡± Came the decisive answer in an angry tone.

    ¡°So be it. By the code duello of Carvenbright, the duel will begin when the cloth touches the ground.¡± He lifted a bright handkerchief and after a dramatic pause let go. The square cloth fluttered gently towards the ground.

    The spectating students loudly voiced their support for one or the other. Some bets were placed. The referee gave those activities a wistful look.

    Maximilian grinned. "He would like to bet himself, but as an official, he can''t."

    The blonde seemed to be a certain Sebastian, while the other was called Ludwig.

    The stocky, blonde student tensed and when the handkerchief touched the dusty ground he sprang into action. Incanting a spell he raised his right hand and a dust-devil rose from the ground, carrying dirt, dust, and gravel with it until it reached nearly three yards of height. With a cutting motion, he sent the winds whipping towards his opponent.

    ...who had been waiting for that and also started an incantation forming glyphs in the still air. Smoky, dark energy veiled his location. The dust devil crashed into the shadowed area drawing in the strange smokelike substance. With a distortion like heat over a copper roof in summer, the dark-haired youth appeared somewhere to the side. He gestured decisively and the dust devil stopped its advance and the accumulated debris rained onto the ground.

    Ludwig pressed his hands together and pulled them apart again while straining against an unseen resistance. This was the first time he looked somewhat serious, the stocky blonde cursed and made a throwing motion while shouting a formula, spears of gravel rose from the ground then shrank as they were compacted and sped towards the black-haired fighter.

    A thousandth of a second before the spears impacted the thusly attacked managed to spread his arms and a dark sphere began to rotate between his hands. One spear impacted the sphere cleanly and was swallowed by it, one carved a nasty-looking gash into his left biceps, the rest missed. A long whip-thin cord of darkness flashed from the orb and entangled the blonde who began to struggle furiously while shouting another spell.

    Mireille leaned towards Alyssa and whispered ¡°If that works anything like my magic he need not be so loud. Is he a former actor or does he think it cool?¡±

    The thread of darkness began to constrict and the features of Sebastian paled by the second. A fissure formed at his feet and raced towards the dark-haired Ludwig, who was completely absorbed in the control of his sphere. A spray of gravel and earth erupted from beneath and threw him in the air, tumbling head over heels while blood streaked his left cheek where a piece of gravel hat hit him at an angle, the sphere of darkness lost cohesion and fizzled out. Grunting with exertion he drew a few runes in the air and the vertigo-inducing motion stopped as he righted himself mid-air and came to stand again on solid ground.

    The other student looked a bit dazed and before anyone could do more than voice their surprise or support swayed and then fell to one knee before finally fainting.

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    Ludwig flicked back the hairs that had fallen into his face and assumed a bored-looking pose while looking at his fingernails. The posing would have been perfect but for the blood that ran from the cut on his cheek and the wound still freely bleeding on his left upper arm. Some girls waved excitedly at him, which he returned with a gallant bow.

    The referee nodded and called. ¡°Victory goes to Sir Ludwig of Hundredstreams. Congratulations.¡± He clapped while wearing a half-smile. ¡°And that concludes this sorry business.¡± Catcalls and booing interrupted his derogatory comment. ¡°Yes, yes. Please let that be a lesson to you and choose someone more responsible for your next duel. Have a nice day.¡± He turned and left. A girl ran towards Sebastian and light wreathed her hands as she began a healing incantation. The stern-looking girl that had scolded the referee went over to Ludwig, slowly, and then also began to heal him with a scowl. She seemed to silently berate him.

    Maximilian grinned. ¡°That''s Alberich for you. He is also a third-year like me and never one to accommodate others or mince words. We older students, three years and up, are required to oversee such duels if the younger students ask. And that can be a hassle. Sebastian over there is a second-year and a scholarship student, Ludwig is also his age and they have a complicated relationship. Let''s leave it at that.¡±

    They then walked back towards the mensa to eat.

    The dining room was a big hall with many tables ranging from smaller four to six-person affairs at the windows to big refectory tables that could seat more than two dozen. They were in luck and got to a table facing a large window only seating the four of them.

    Maximilian and Mireille went to acquire food while Alea and Alyssa remained at the table. The small girl with the spider looked especially doll-like today, her face was pale the high collar emphasized her small face and neck, and her ebony hair was pulled back with a silver band tiny pearls glistened like dewdrops in her ears.

    ¡°That looks nice on you.¡± Alyssa complimented her smiling.

    ¡°Lorelle fussed over me until I no longer resisted. I think she might really be innocent in all of this. Keeping her close might have been a good idea after all. And even if it isn''t. There is Maximilian''s bodyguard, Mr. Brache. He will keep an eye on her too. Did you come to a decision regarding the scholarship? It has its drawbacks but is really generous in principle.¡±

    ¡°Yes and no. We let the Magister lecture us but did not ask many questions. Unless you two change your mind and no longer want us, there is no chance of us not taking Maximilian up on his offer.¡±

    The brightest smile Alyssa had yet to see on her graced the small girl''s lips. ¡°I am glad.¡± Alea blushed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the future brings and we have not had much time together, but I feel comfortable around you both.¡±

    ¡°Are those seats taken?¡± A tall brown-haired boy of perhaps sixteen years called out to them.

    ¡°Yes, sorry. Our friends only left to get the food.¡±

    Disappointment showed on his face for a moment, then he smiled and said. ¡°I am Leonhard and if my eyes did not deceive me you are also first years like me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is the case.¡± Alyssa took it upon herself to answer.

    ¡°Then we will see each other again later. Bon appetit!¡± He inspected Alea curiously. The girl sat motionless while the clockwork spider, mechanisms whirring softly, waved her forelegs in a vaguely threatening manner. He seemed to come to his senses and nodded before walking over to another table where he was greeted by three other boys who seemed to scold him good-naturedly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t do well with strangers and boys are even worse. I hope you can stay with me.¡± Alea raised her head towards Alyssa and clasped her hands together knuckles whitening.

    Alyssa got up and sat down beside Alea then pulled her into a hug and murmured. ¡°Look outside, do you see the pear trees behind the dormitory over there. I wonder if those are free to pick.¡± The small girl relaxed a bit and then pushed her back gently.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She seemed embarrassed but grateful for the attempt at distraction.

    ¡°Sorry! That took longer than anticipated.¡± Mireille called cheerfully. ¡°But the food looks pretty good! Here you are.¡± She looked at them, ¡°Did something happen?¡±

    ¡°Not really, I will tell you later,¡± Alyssa said evasively.

    The food was of good quality and plentiful.

    Afterward, they returned to Mrs. Glenspring. As they entered the hallway they saw some students entering and leaving the study carrying rolls of parchment.

    ¡°Those should be your future classmates.¡± Maximilian nodded towards the waiting students. ¡°You will have some time to peruse the offered courses and then need to decide which to take. There is a minimum required for graduation and some time-slots will most assuredly clash, but there is really only a practical upper limit. It is encouraged to only choose what you can manage. When you advance to the later years you can always add to your workload.

    I would recommend you start with three elemental classes, the mandatory history, and theory of magic as well as one oriented towards a craft, something like alchemy or enchantment. Do not underestimate the importance of those. You simply cannot buy everything you could possibly need later on and having a convenient way to earn some money here and save some money there can be a life-saver. I myself took geomantic formations. Not the most immediately useful one, I know, but when I take control of Graufurt it will help a lot.¡±

    Alea nodded at her brother''s explanations. Alyssa and Mireille had to first assimilate this torrent of information. And then they got their scrolls.

    Mrs. Glenspring nodded towards the exit. ¡°Take your time but be here at six o¡¯clock at the latest. Next!¡±

    They sat together on a bench in the gardens and read through the parchment.

    ¡°What is ¡®Magical Fauna, uses and training¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I think that means things like taming or cooking a direwolf?¡± Alyssa guessed with a grin.

    ¡°And what about ¡®Planar Geometry, an introductory course?¡¯ Does it have something to do with making things flat?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know- Maximilian?¡±

    "The planes are the different dimensions which we know of. Sort of a catch-all for anything that is not this world. For example, the plane of elemental water or fire." Maximilian held back a laugh, "But no, planes are not- usually- flat or associated with making things flat. Some philosophers believe them to be endless. And the geometry is something you would need for summoning or magics that affect the connection between the planes."

    They browsed their way through the parchment.

    ¡°Oh, that sounds nice. ¡®Pyromancy, the art of energy-based warfare¡¯, or ¡®Modern uses of Alteration magic¡¯.¡±

    At last, they had a complete list.

    Alyssa reiterated. ¡°I have magical history and theory like all of us, then I will take ¡®Water the first building block of life¡¯, ¡®Spatial Manipulation and Dimensional Understanding¡¯, ¡®Void and Necromancy for beginners¡¯ and last ¡®Alchemical Arts of Healing¡¯. I would really like to take Pyromancy too, but I will heed Maximilian''s advice.¡±

    Mireille nodded and read from the parchment in her hands. ¡°The ¡®Art of the Storm, lightning-based spellforms¡¯, ¡®Air an introductory seminar¡¯, ¡®Sword One¡¯, couldn¡¯t they be as creative with that as they were with everything else? I feel discriminated against! And then there is the last one ¡®Magic of the gods an unbiased analysis, will have guest speakers¡¯.¡±

    Alea went last. ¡°I have ¡®Let there be light, creation and control of positive energy¡¯ then I took ¡®Never enough, the principles of Time-Magic¡¯, ¡®Earth, the ground we stand on¡¯. For my crafting course, I took ¡®Like clockwork, the magic of mechanisms¡¯.¡±

    ¡°That seems to be good choices for you all. Alyssa, Mireille- Have you thought about my offer?¡±

    ¡°We have. And the answer is yes. We will accept.¡± Alyssa answered while Mireille nodded.

    ¡°Then let''s see about the dormitory. I can probably finagle a two-bed room beside a single person one or even try to have a four-bed room restricted to three. Which would be your preference?¡±

    ¡°I think that the four-bed version would be best?¡± Mireille looked from one to the other.

    Alea nodded after a short moment of thought.

    ¡°I concur.¡± Alyssa nodded too.

    ¡°So it is decided. Welcome the service of Graufurt, may we all work to make it the best county in Margrinar.¡± Maximilian looked enthusiastic. "Details are for later discussion."

    A bit farther from where the four were talking stood a young girl with blonde ringlets falling to her shoulders, somewhat pretty but very thin, with a pointed nose. She looked at Alyssa with disdain in her blue eyes but the focus of her interest was Alea. She compared her to a small portrait in her left hand, it showed a much younger but still somewhat recognizable Alea with joyfully sparkling eyes standing beside, and holding hands with, a dignified older man with white hair and golden glasses, fastened around his wrist was an apparatus made of countless revolving gears and lenses, he wore the robes of a professor. The portrait was very life-like, nearly too perfect for a painting. Nodding she turned and left.

 From the depths to the heights

    ¡°What hath night to do with sleep?¡±

    - John Milton, Paradise Lost

    This part of the city was called the Crooks, there was a joke that went, that you became one if you lived there. The name was the result of the messy arrangement of streets that seemed as if they were planned by men who hated the concept of a straight line. The people who first settled here had found work in the shops and houses of the city proper but could not pay for a place to stay inside the walls. They took matters into their own hands so to say and build homes from flotsam, discarded trash, and the trees that happened to grow where they were building.

    And the city officials turned a blind eye, each of them had either a servant or the relative of one forced to seek his lodging there. The small agglomeration of houses spilled along the river like the stain of ale on a tavern floor. And so the Crooks were born. Some said that the quarter was the place everyone else, even the lowest of the low could look down on. And there was some truth to that.

    Clouds veiled the moon and the smoke hung thick over the dingy quarter, darkness reigned supreme. A thin man wearing leather gloves and a long oiled coat, shiny bald pate gleaming in the torchlight regarded a powerfully build dwarfen woman. She was wearing chain mail with a full helmet and carried a broad-bladed axe in her hands. They stood inside an alley only fit for foot traffic. Trash lined the walls and oily puddles squished underfoot. Rats scurried in the shadows.

    ¡°Garelline of the Axe, I need a better estimate than this. Where is my prey?¡± The thin man looked down his nose at her. Scars marred his pale features. He looked unhealthy but there was a burning, febrile energy in his gaze and in his jerky movements. He could not seem to keep still.

    ¡°Oswald.¡± A deep melodic contralto voice answered him. ¡°The deepstone he gave me leads to the nearest concentration of nether energies. It is by no means a foolproof method to find someone in this dump.¡±

    She tapped a cord hanging from her hip on which hung a dark crystal, big as a human fist, smaller than hers by a healthy margin.

    ¡°So we seek anew.¡± the one called Oswald nodded. ¡°This way?¡± He pointed, she nodded. ¡°Then let us be off.¡± They trudged away through the muddy alley.

    Vanessa regarded the two from the shadows. She had felt the attention she had garnered as soon as she entered the city. There had been several small shadelings, beings from another plane that were easily controlled and enticed to serve, they were quite weak and could not kill an aggressive rat, but they were hard to spot and somewhat intelligent, they made good spies.

    She had avoided them, not having wanted to give warning to their summoner, but with the passing of time, she wondered if she should have bothered. It seemed someone knew she was here. The deepstone was an unwelcome surprise, they were a condensation of void energies and resonated with other sources such as her unliving body. Graveyard keepers and witch hunters used them frequently. Sometimes they even accumulated in the bodies of greater undead or the users of void magic. She would bet that there were other sources of that in this big city, but if one mapped the known, the unknown could only be something interesting.

    She spoke an incantation and the wind picked her up again carrying her to the rooftops. It was a good thing she was so small. The roof seemed less than reliable, there were holes where shingles went missing and some were mushy with rot. Her older sister had always joked that she weighed less than a wet cat. Even if the cats in the elven lands had been a bit bigger than the scrawny strays she had seen so far prowling the alleys.

    Screams from the alley to her right drew her gaze and she saw three starved-looking boys kick a drunk dockworker. If he were sober it would have been another story but as it was he succumbed to the beating and was then robbed leaving only his underwear. The cries of a toddler rent the nights until angry bellows from someone in the house drowned out that noise. A woman cried. Smoke hung thick in the air, rank with pollution that oozed from crudely scratched gutters towards the glinting mass of the river.

    The heavy beating of wooden wings along with the scream of tortured metal gears rumbled over the quarter as a balloon passed overhead. Thankfully it did not happen often in the hours of darkness.

    Far off towards the upper parts of the city glow lamps lit the night, like stars struck from their perch in the sky and just as distant.

    Vanessa jumped from roof to roof, crossing streets and blocks in the blink of an eye. The arcane measures she had taken to make herself hard to find seemed to pay off. But who would take such pains? A shadeling hung in the shadow of a chimney, six spindly arms like waving reeds, they had suction cups instead of hands and feet. They were about as large as a medium-sized dog but much less in terms of volume.

    She slowly and stealthily neared her prey, then spoke a word to activate the spell she had prepared with the magic of time. A net of glinting fibers covered the small being, which began to violently but futilely struggle.

    ¡°Sh. I will take what I need and let you go, if you continue to struggle I will end you.¡± Vanessa said in an ancient dialect of the elemental speech. The shadelings one eye opened and looked at her. How something so grotesque could have such a beautiful eye never ceased to amaze her. The eye was like a pearl with a bluish light that served as its pupil.

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    She stretched out her small hand, the claws safely retracted, and touched the small head. A mewling sound came from the little creature. She felt it shiver.

    ¡°Yes, yes I know. You want to go home. I will let you, but first¡­¡± She spoke another more complicated spell and an image appeared before her mind''s eye. A summoning chamber, nothing else made sense, filled her vision. Dark slabs polished stone fitted with manacles lined the walls, crusted with old blood, the floor was a single great piece of granite, carved with a complicated warding circle. A fat man in a blue cavalry uniform, crusted with gems stared down on her, the shadeling, he had oiled dark hair, fashioned into ringlets which clung to his forehead. His broad face boasted an equally broad and flat nose with fleshy hanging jowls and thick red lips. Canines that spoke of a vampiric nature protruded past his upper lip, giving him a probably unintended grin. Energies wove around his hands as he deftly conjured another shadeling.

    His voice echoed strangely in the remembrance of the shadelings non-material sensory organs. ¡°Find the undead, find the vampire that entered this city this night.¡± The command settled like chains on the small creatures, who nodded their assent. The scene blurred and she lost control of the spell.

    ¡®So that is the way it is. Thankfully he knows neither my name nor my appearance. But I will have to be more careful still.¡¯ She tapped her lips with her fingertips, lost in thought. Then she looked again at the shadeling still caught in its net. ¡°Go little one, go home.¡± She cast another spell and with a sizzling sound, the being vanished and the net disintegrated into motes of silver, who vanished shortly after.

    She concentrated on the beacon and saw its light from far off on the hills beside the river. ¡®At least they managed better accommodations than me.¡¯ She thought back to the mansion she had arrived at. ¡®But with all the magical distortion in that place, it would be a viable hideout. I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea to keep using the astral plane. And with all the wards against spatial translocations, I can¡¯t simply gate to their location.¡¯ She shook her head and continued.

    Several times she had to evade a shadeling, but as she entered the better parts of the city she had to evade patrols and wards that were anchored on the larger shops and houses, protecting them from casual trespass.

    At last, she arrived at a smaller mansion on the slopes of a terraced, rocky hill. She jumped on the roof and silently disabled an alarm spell embedded in a gargoyle. Then she navigated the silent corridors before she concentrated and turned to mist, which seeped beneath the crack of the closed door. Inside the room were a lot of books and some interesting paintings. The three girls slept peacefully in the large bed towards the rear of the room.

    Cyrus opened one eye and looked at her before giving a rasping noise, probably meant as a greeting. The little wyvern, even if he was growing fast, became more intelligent by the day. ¡®It should be mostly the familiar bond. But I don¡¯t think anyone bothered to measure the intelligence of the average wyvern.¡¯

    She cleared her throat and as that got no reaction, shook first Mireille then Alyssa and Alea.

    Mireille yawned ¡°Mornin...I feel as if I had not slept at all. Can I say I fell ill and have to remain in bed for the day?¡±

    ¡°Vanessa!?¡± Alyssa saw the small girl with glowing green eyes and hugged her.

    Vanessa was always startled at that. She was an undead being, even if the stolen life of the blood she drank gave her the semblance of the living. Did that girl have no self-preservation instincts? Or perhaps the instincts were very well developed, she had no designs to harm her after all. Helplessly she patted her back. ¡°Yes, I had something that could not be delayed any longer, but now that I am here, I will endeavor to take a more active part in your life again. Please tell me what happened after the battle of the Green Dragon.¡±

    Asandria''s still form rose from the shadows of the curtains. ¡®Welcome back, mylady.¡¯

    The telling took some time during which Alea nearly fell asleep again.

    ¡°So you plan to take service with the Graufurts? I see no downsides to that. The threat of Ulsolm will grow in the years to come. We will have a lot of common ground. I am loath to risk entering the academy so I would ask that you make some time for my instructions on the weekends or even outside the grounds if you can manage. We will have to make appointments it seems.¡± She smiled. ¡°But the wards and guardians of the Academy of the Arts are not something which I can safely overcome.¡±

    Seeing them yawning and sleep-deprived Vanessa sighed. ¡°I will then take my leave. We will see each other on Saturday evening. Is that suitable?¡±

    Getting their assent she motioned for Asandria to accompany her. And as soon as she was on the roof again she said, ¡°did you have any problems remaining undetected in the academy?¡±

    ¡®I don¡¯t think they have found me out yet. But the contract is of divine origin and as such very difficult to measure, and there are often ghosts attached to people, be it family members or those bearing a grudge. As long as they seem harmless most would let them be.¡¯

    ¡°If you think that there is a problem don¡¯t hesitate to tell me. I could fashion something to further conceal your presence. But with the materials that requires and the workspace, I would not do so unnecessarily.¡±

    ¡±Thank you for the offer.¡¯

    ¡°Then I bid you a good night. Novaer<sup>1</sup>!¡±

    And then she was off.

    Asandria drifted back down through the roof to find the girls talking drowsily and soon they fell asleep.

    The two moons shone on the city, the reddish one Ioreth and the white light of the lost eye when Vanessa arrived at ¡®her¡¯ mansion. ¡®At least it has some style.¡¯ She thought and entered the partly collapsed cellars. She cast some spells before she laid down to rest. Glyphs shone as a snake formed from the dirty water slithered into the nooks and crannies over the empty doorway, just waiting to strangle anyone entering. A ring of runes activated, diverting attention magical and otherwise.

    And as dawn began to lighten the skies, she fell into the unnatural, deathlike slumber typical for the children of the night.

 First day in school

    ¡°Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.¡±

    - Albert Einstein

    They had returned to the townhouse for the night. Finalizing their acquisition of a dormitory room of sufficient size while restricting it to only the three of them took time.

    Maximilian was only the son of a noble from the country after all. And in the evening while in Alea''s room they had met up with Vanessa, or more correctly put- she had met up with them.

    The night seemed very short as they were woken by a friendly housemaid.

    Washing, eating breakfast went past in a daze. Lorelle accompanied them this time, for they were to remain in the academy and Alea could use the help.

    ¡°You look like something the cat dragged in.¡± Adam gave his honest observation. ¡°Come on in, you can rest a bit on the way. It''s market day in the merchant quarter so it will take a bit longer.¡±

    He flicked the reins and the horses, snorting unwillingly, pulled the coach through the quiet streets of the ivy terrace.

    As soon as they left that tranquil haven they were assaulted by a cacophony of sound. People cursing and cajoling. Masses of humanity and some few individuals of other races pressed along the crowded streets. Two contraptions that Mireille had seen before, but only from afar, made her sit up straight. ¡°Does that carriage not have horses?¡±

    Alea looked outside and nodded. ¡°That is a new invention by the guild of enchanters. It is powered with mana residue or crystal dust as it has become customary to call it.¡±

    The vehicle in question had a large box-like contraption fastened at the front made from brass and wood from which two large many-jointed mechanical arms sprang. Those arms were attached to points on solid metal plates fastened to the outside of the foremost wheels. They made pumping motions and so served to propel the coach. A liveried servant sat on top of the ¡®box¡¯ and manipulated the speed and direction with yard-long levers. It looked a bit impractical but was nevertheless speedy and even effective it seemed.

    ¡°Fascinating.¡± Mireille closed the curtain, reducing the clamor from outside a bit. ¡°It seems Margrinar is a lot more progressive than dear old Rivenlorn.¡±

    "It beats an earth elemental," Alyssa remarked dryly.

    Lorelle also looked on, fascinated, but remained silent.

    Answering Mireille, Alea nodded and said, ¡°That is naturally the case. All the best and brightest are taught at our academy, how could it be otherwise.¡± she looked at them and then smiled. ¡°The talent comes from everywhere though. And not all remain in Margrinar, despite the best efforts of our ruler.¡±

    They left the city, and the last stretch towards the academy was very pleasant in comparison, the traffic light. The air cleared and it became easier to breathe. There was no scratching sensation at the back of the throat anymore.

    Knocking from above roused the sleepy girls. ¡°We have arrived. I wish you a most productive day, ladies!¡± Adam called.

    ¡°Mistress let me get that.¡± Lorelle took Alea¡¯s bag. Blond hair held back by a frilled headpiece she was the very picture of a maid.

    As they exited the vehicle they saw that they were not alone in that. Many carriages and even some saddled riding horses stood beside chatting students. Most were still attired in regular clothes, some were in the company of their parents, many had servants with them.

    To their surprise, they saw professor Reneus walking towards them. Behind him calling to mind the picture of a sheepdog herding its charges came Mrs. Glenspring.

    ¡°Greetings! I welcome you all to the Academy of the Arts of Margrinar. I am Professor Reneus Flammensiegel and today I have the distinct pleasure...¡± He glanced at the impassive woman standing slightly behind and to the side of him. ¡°...to allocate your dorm rooms and give an introductory speech. But first things first. I have here a list which should contain all of the necessary information. I will call out your name and you will join me here.¡± He pointed to his right.¡±If you are not called we will have Mrs. Glenspring sort you out.¡±

    After that, he proceeded to call them one by one. There were probably about fifty first-years in this group. Some stood out from the rest, including Mireille, Alyssa, and Alea. The last two were even more conspicuous because of their familiars than the attention their appearance alone would garner them. Cyrus preened under the attention.

    There was a tall handsome boy with a hawkish nose and hair of a golden color. His bearing was regal and he came with two armed and armored retainers, two older men with the appearance of veteran soldiers or even knights. They wore mail underneath tabards bearing the towers of Margrinar, longswords swung at their hips. He did not grace most of the other students with his attention and simply kept to himself.

    Then there was a slim, pretty girl with the same distinctly golden-colored hair that stood near but not beside him with a muscular-looking woman attending her, also armed with a long, thin blade.

    The brown-haired Lucille who had introduced herself to the trio at the academic evaluation shyly waved at them her glasses glinting in the morning light.

    The boy who had tried to join them for lunch the last time nodded but did not come over to talk.

    There was a pair of siblings bearing features signifying the influence of elven blood. A brother and his sister it seemed. They had hair of an odd green with strands of white-blonde color, larger eyes and a more slender build. They stood a bit aside, the girl protectively in front of her sibling.

    A tanned and muscular young man with a ready smile rode up to them as the roll-call was still going on and joined them. He had wavy, red-golden hair and a clean-cut van-dyke beard. He bore a longsword at his hip. What caught their attention was that he greeted both of the golden-haired siblings. The girl gave a reserved smile, the boy simply shook his head and gestured him to stay away.

    Another girl attracted the attention of Mireille because she eyed Alyssa with distrust. She had blonde ringlets falling past her shoulder and a thin, pinched-looking face.

    She wore the school uniform, which, for the girls, was a robe that reached to the knees with wide sleeves, the fabric was a deep green with golden accents and seams, dark buttons closed the robe in the front. It accentuated the figure and was held together with a utilitarian belt from which hung several pouches. A half-cape also in dark green lined in black was thrown over the left shoulder and fastened with a brooch that signified the year of the student and presented the academy coat of arms.

    On some, she saw small bands around the upper arm in the colors, red, white, green, and blue. She leaned towards Alea and asked softly. ¡°Alea, do you know what those colored bands signify?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that are marks of affiliation. It all started with races. The differently colored teams led to them being called the ¡®Blues¡¯ for example. And with time it seems that this translated towards political leanings. But Max is the one to ask. I might get it wrong. They are not a thing in Grunewald.¡±

    Then it was their turn. ¡°Mireille Annirstochter, Alea von Graufurt and Alyssa Miner. Come here please, you are rooming together in the Wisteria Dormitory.¡±

    And then it was time for the speech. Reneus cleared his throat.

    ¡°Welcome to the Academy of the Arts.

    Did you know that this academy was not founded here in Margrinar? It is the continuation of the great Academis of Allisair and it is rumored that even that was only the successor of an academy from beyond this world. Look around you. Those halls were some of the first buildings we built as we settled here. The magicians were always one of the pillars of human rule and they needed a place to secure their foundation. And that is here. Place a human beside an elf, a dwarf, a giant, a dragon." He looked at the two elven-blooded siblings and continued. "You will find him or her wanting. We are not as strong, not as agile or tough but in the art of magic and the sciences we can hold our own. Not all of us though. Many will never amount to much, magically speaking, and talent like yours is rare. Become the pillar upon which humanity can stand firm.¡±

    He was passionate about some of what he told them. But he thankfully kept it short. Some students seemed introspective after his speech. Most seemed to look forward to lunch and stowing their luggage.

    ¡°And that concludes this speech. You are the continuation of hundreds of years of tradition. No one today knows how long. Be worthy of the title Student of the Arts.¡± He bowed his head and grinned. ¡°Until then.¡±

    The crowd dispersed. ¡°We should take our baggage and seek out the dormitory first.¡± Alyssa proposed.

    Maximilian was waiting nearby and came over. ¡°Hello, dear sister, my friends, Lorelle.¡± He nodded amiably. Mr. Brache followed behind him and as he gestured, took some of the baggage earning him a grateful nod from Lorelle.

    The Wisteria Dormitory was built farther back into a small dell which gave the illusion of a secluded valley, wisteria trees, the houses namesakes, stood beside a small man-made pond. The building was not large but was big enough to house maybe two dozen people.

    The housemother was an older matron with a warm smile. She had blond hair mixed with gray, red cheeks and nose. ¡°I am Madam Gosling. But you can call me Martha if you want.¡±

    She showed them to their room which was spacious with two bunk beds and four desks, two big wardrobes, and four chests. There was a small bathroom attached to the relief of all. Lorelle would sleep with the other servants in a separate room and would come over in the morning to help where needed.

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    The room was nice and airy with two glow globes fixed in the ceiling. Some rugs lay on the polished wooden floor and big wooden beams supported the ceiling. The room was illuminated lengthwise through two big latticed windows with heavy drapes and shutters that could be closed as needed. The walls were whitewashed stone.

    They quickly divvied up the bed and storage and then went outside again. Two girls were walking down the corridor which led to a small store-room at one end and to the dining room on the other with the door to the outside in between.

    One of the girls was Lucille. ¡°Oh hello, you are rooming here too? I would have thought that you would be more likely to be in Golden Bough or Rose Mansion.¡± Both the dormitories mentioned were single-occupant and meant for noble families.

    ¡°Hello to you too. Nice to see a familiar face.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°We wanted to room together, and this was the perfect place.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. This here is Hannelore, my roommate.¡± Her companion smiled and nodded. ¡°The other two aren''t here yet. They are from farther abroad and sent notice that they will not make it before the end of next week probably.¡±

    ¡°See you at dinner?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we will be there!¡±

    They went outside and together looked at the pond.

    Cyrus dived straight in and submerged with nary a ripple.

    ¡°Ah! Mireille, can you swim? Please save him!¡± Alyssa looked worried.

    Mireille nodded and jumped in with a great splash where she saw Cyrus come back to the surface with a big catfish in his small maw. The former was bleeding from many stab wounds. She laughed. ¡°I think he only wanted to fish.¡± Then she looked down at her dress and seeing the pond scum and algae sighed. ¡°You will help me with that Ms. Miner.¡±

    Alyssa went red in the face and helped her out of the water. Alea held her small hand protectively before her face and her shoulders were shaking suspiciously. ¡°Don''t you dare laugh at my heroics!¡± Mireille smiled at her.

    Drying her with some spells they proceeded to walk around the dormitory, behind the building was a stone circle with metal posts set at the corners. Cyrus was near comatose after eating half of the catfish.

    ¡°This looks exactly like the ones at the dueling place.¡± Alyssa inspected one of the poles.

    ¡°This is an older circle. Nowadays they use gravel, if it gets damaged then it''s simple to repair.¡± Alea said dryly.

    ¡°How does it work exactly? The poles I mean,¡± Alyssa questioned.

    ¡°They channel energies into a dome that protects the spectators and the surroundings. In the central dueling field there is also an earth elemental charged with preserving the life of the students. If they misjudge their or their opponent''s strength too badly it will take action. And then there is magical healing, so the most you get are scars probably. But that means that men, boys really, are much more prone to dueling.¡± Alea drew a deep breath.

    The wisteria trees usually bloomed twice a year and the last stubborn blossoms still hung from the branches. The ground was covered in violet petals.

    They spent the day exploring the grounds after they had finished unpacking and decorating their room.

    Come evening they ate dinner in the common dining room. Martha made a hearty stew accompanied by freshly baked bread. No one had any complaints. Other than the trio there were ten girls in residence. Two were still traveling and one room was without occupants at the moment.

    The atmosphere was lively but everyone was apprehensive of Cyrus and the clockwork spider. The coloration of Alyssa was also a topic when they thought that she was not listening.

    Getting rid of the plant matter and water stains on Mireille''s dress was thankfully easier than feared. The spells woven into the metal plate attached to her clothes allowed them to repair the damage simply by pouring in mana. Lorelle removed the dirt with a dustpan and broom.

    <hr>

    The night went uneventfully even though Mireille deplored the fact that they had to sleep separately, the bunk beds were simply too small for comfort. Their uniforms had arrived in the night. The measurements were correct, even if she did not remember them being taken.

    Together with the rest of the dormitory girls they ate breakfast and went to the main building for their first class.

    ¡°Good morning. I am Mr. Glames and will have the pleasure to be your teacher for history and theory of magic.¡±

    The room was rectangular and made of whitewashed stone like many in this academy. The windows faced the outside yard this time and gave a nice view of the flower beds, although there were not many flowers left so late in the year. Seats were simple wooden chairs beside a small desk. There was a raised area at one end on which stood a lectern and table with a blackboard supported by thick metal clamps on the wall.

    The teacher was a middle-aged man with a monocle over one of his blue eyes. He had dirty blond hair and wore a brown jacket with trousers and polished boots with buckles in the style they had already seen in the streets outside. His hat hung from a peg that seemed made for it beside the door.

    In the front sat the two golden siblings. In the back sat their armed attendants, waiting patiently. And as of a few minutes ago, Mireille heard that the nickname ''the golden siblings'' was semi-officially adopted. She snickered a bit at that.

    The buff red-gold boy was seated in the back and hung from his seat without seeming to care for the lecture. Sensing Mireille''s gaze he raised an eyebrow and gave a lazy wave with his left hand. She grinned, nodded, and let her gaze roam further.

    There was the pinched-looking girl that for whatever reasons did not seem to like her friend Alyssa. She was looking at Alea at the moment who had put the spider on her desk and held both hands to her face. She looked very still and disinterested, the spider was very active though and rotated the tiny head to get a good view of the board, showing to those who knew her that she was very engaged indeed.

    Alyssa was taking notes and looked a bit nervous. The people here were mostly nobles or well-off middle class, a far cry from her destitute household even if Mireille had her beat in that regard. She was feeling distinctly out of place.

    ¡°Everyone. We will spend the next years together so I would like to take the time for a short self-introduction. Please state your name, your place of birth, and your most prominent ability. If you want you can include a hobby but that is optional. We will start with his highness I think.¡± He pointed at the golden-haired youth. He seemed exasperated but nevertheless got up from his seat swept his eyes over the assembled students and said, ¡°My name is Carl Askander Josephus von Margrinar, I am the second-born son of King Vilander and my most potent ability is fire magic.¡± He quickly sat down again.

    ¡°Thank you. Now on to you.¡± Mr. Glames pointed at the golden-haired girl next.

    She had already prepared herself and stood up turning towards the calls. Her golden locks swept around her and gleamed in the sunlight. She seemed like a storybook princess, the only flaw and it made her probably even more adorable, was a slightly wide mouth. She firmed her blue eyes and said. ¡°I am Lieseleta Ophelia von Margrinar. I am the youngest daughter of King Vilander.¡± She looked at Carl as if she wanted to continue but he shot her a warning look and she simply gave a forced-looking smile and finished with the words, ¡°my most prominent ability is time magic. My most beloved hobby is botany.¡± She sat down relatively abruptly.

    Thus went the self-introductions. Mireille focused on the shrew, as she had dubbed the pinched-looking girl.

    ¡°My name is Alexandra von Stetting. I was born in Stetting on the southern coast. My most prominent ability is light-based magic. And my hobby is religion.¡± She nodded towards the rest of the class before sitting down a bit hastily.

    Then it was Alea''s turn. ¡°I am Alea von Graufurt.¡± the small girl took a deep breath and steadied herself on the table. ¡°I was born in Grau...in Grunewald, and my most potent ability is light-based Magic.¡± she seemed a bit lost and then concluded, ¡°my hobby is clockwork mechanics.¡± It had all been delivered in a bit of a monotone. The spider was agitatedly waving her forelegs and scuttled to and fro on the table. A girl in front of her pulled her table a bit farther away while producing a jarring, scraping sound. Alyssa reached over to her and squeezed her hand.

    ¡°My name is Alyssa Miner. I was born in Firswending. My most adept magic is void magic.¡± As she said void magic several students looked at her with widened eyes and one or two began to whisper to each other.

    ¡°Please be silent when another makes her introduction, you might remember your most basic courtesy!¡± Mr. Glames was not amused.

    Alyssa looked flustered and a bit of darkness gathered around her left hand. She grabbed her left hand with the right and squeezed while continuing. She felt the calming presence of Cyrus and Asandria. ¡®You are never completely alone.¡¯ the soft whisper of Asandria sounded inside her head bringing a pleasant cold with it.

    ¡°My hobby is singing.¡± She quickly sat down and let her hair fall into her face with her right hand still painfully squeezing the left.

    The murmurs ebbed slowly. ¡°I am Mireille Annirstochter, born in Saintscrossing. Nice to meet you all.¡± she smiled and put herself between Alyssa and the rest. ¡°My magic is purely lightning-based so it could be seen as my strongest talent. My hobby is sword fighting.¡± She gave an exaggerated courtly bow, then sat down. There was some laughter and the atmosphere lightened.

    The introductions continued. ¡°My name is Lucille of Dornenfurt. I was born there and my magic is primarily spatial divination. My hobby is reading.¡± She also quickly moved out of the limelight and sat down.

    The two green-haired siblings were next, the girl looked at her brother and nodded. "I am Vivienne of Kruog''s Breach. I was born there too. My most potent magic is air magic and my hobby is sailing." Her voice was soft and melodic.

    Her brother spoke next and his voice was even softer, Alyssa had to concentrate to understand him at all. "Valens of Kruoghs Breach, born there. My magic is mostly water-based. My hobby is sailing too." His speech quickened at the end and after he had finished he sat down, head lowered with his bangs hiding his expression. The sister put her hand on his shoulder and said something too quiet to hear.

    The teacher nodded. "Thank you. Next."

    The brown-haired, tall boy that had been making eyes at Alyssa introduced himself next. ¡°I am Leonhard Poroskar born here in Kronenburg. My most potent magic is earth magic. My hobby is riding.¡± He bowed and then sat down. Approving murmurs swept through the class. He had had a practiced manner and the introduction went smoothly.

    And last, the red and gold-haired boy was called to introduce himself. ¡°My name is Tervellin Gold, I was born in Deeplake in the Kingdom of Erksel. My most potent magic is fire. My hobby is hunting.¡± He grinned. ¡°And flirting.¡± The teacher looked disapproving, some girls blushed, some looked a bit interested.

    Some murmurs roused Mireille''s interest - ¡°...bastard son?¡­¡± ¡°...Gold is not a name¡­¡±

    ¡°Please remain within the bounds of good manners.¡± Mr. Glames shook his head. ¡°With that out of the way let''s start with a review of the ¡®Laws of the Arcane¡¯ by the second God King of Allisair. What was his name again? Mr. Gold if you would.¡± His eyes came to rest on Tervellin.

    ¡°His name was Askander Crius ¡®the Wavetamer¡¯,¡±

    ¡°That is correct. Mrs. Ilkenrath why was he called the Wavetamer?¡±

    The lesson continued.

    History of magic mostly meant- History of Allisair, which was quickly understood by both Mireille and Alyssa. They took notes on the paper that had been provided by Alea. Mireille was suffering and frequently shook her sore wrist.

    Then came magical theory.

    ¡°What is magical affinity? What is magic? Those questions were answered long ago but the implication of those answers is as important today as when the great gate was built. Magical affinity in short is the ability of your soul and to a lesser extent your body to affect and be affected by magical energies of a certain flavor. Let us say air magic. If you have an affinity with air magic, then your soul can grasp the flow of air-aspected mana, and spells that use this element are more effective and less draining, some even require a certain affinity to have a chance to work.

    To continue with another often-used example, it is as if you used a sieve to gather water from a river, if you used a bucket instead it would be more effective with less effort on your part. You could even injure yourself especially if you used the more volatile elements.

    Tolerance to certain magical and even mundane effects is also dependent on your ability. If you have for example a high affinity with fire, you will find, especially if you use fire magic often, you will suffer less from heat and will even be resistant to burns.

    There are many methods to train affinity, all have a downside in that they will most likely reduce your ability in the element that is classically seen as opposed. Nonetheless, this academy encourages specialization and it is, in our opinion, better to be a great fire-mage than a mediocre jack of all trades. So interested students can apply for affinity training with their respective elemental teachers.

    Magic is neither a liquid nor a gas, it is also not a solid even if it can be crystallized and there are applications that form liquid or gaseous manifestations of pure mana. It is a paradox that eludes our best minds but there are theories for the magical manipulation of all states of mana. You will simply have to separately memorize the effective methods for dealing with each.¡±

    Mireille looked a bit shell-shocked after the morning lessons were done.

 The Art of the Storm

    ¡°Be the necklace-fire of stars,

    The cauterizing lightning.

    Bewilder us with good.¡±

    ¨D Seamus Heaney, The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles'' Antigone

    After eating lunch in the mensa they compared their afternoon schedules. Alyssa¡¯s showed ¡®Void and Necromancy for beginners¡¯, tomorrow would be ¡®Water the first building block of life'', the day after that would be Saturday with time allotted for their homework. The next week would begin with ¡®Alchemical Arts of Healing¡¯ she looked forward to that.

    Mireille had ¡®Art of the Storm, lightning-based Spellforms¡¯, and every second evening there were lessons in sword fighting. She had one free afternoon because of that. She frowned a bit, that was no good deal in her opinion but whatever.

    Alea had her first lesson in ¡®Let there be Light, Creation and Manipulation of positive Energy¡¯.

    Alyssa hugged Alea before they left and had the girl promise to take Lorelle with her.

    <hr>

    They split up and Mireille wandered towards the leftmost academy building. It was a smaller affair than the main one but still very impressive. Ascending the front steps she spotted two bronze statues depicting eagles on pedestals beside the door. The eyes were made of different darker materials and seemed alive. She heard hasty steps behind her and the brother-sister pair of half-elves- She did not know if that was the correct term- hurried up to her as she opened one of the large door wings. She waited for them to reach her.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The sister bowed her head. ¡°We did not know where the course concerning lightning and storm magic would be held." The dark green robes were flattering in light of her green hair that went to the middle of her back.

    The brother mumbled, still a step behind the girl, ¡°...parchment was missing.¡±

    The large blue-green eyes of Vivienne ¨C Mireille remembered her name from the self-introductions- crinkled at the corners as she smiled at her brother. ¡°Yes. We had an incomplete schedule. But all¡¯s well that ends well. Wavemother protects.¡±

    She turned to Mireille. ¡°You are Mireille, correct? Let us go inside we should not block the front door. I would be grateful if we could accompany you to the lesson.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, come on in.¡± Mireille held the door. The boy, Valens was his name if she remembered correctly kept a bit of distance and hurried inside. Vivienne smiled and entered too.

    The three of them walked through the echoing corridors. The floor was polished granite in a checkerboard pattern, different in ornamentation to the main building. It seemed the motifs of the decorations were more oriented towards air and water. Ships sailed over deep waters crawling with sea monsters. Gigantic typhoons ripped trees out of the ground and half-seen warriors clad in lightning fought inside the stormclouds.

    Mireille paused to have a closer look but as she saw the siblings briskly walking further ahead she hurried after them.

    The courtyard, which was their destination, was marked on the small map that had come with her schedule. And as they finally found it, they were close to being late. The corridors and small inner courtyards that alternated without rhyme or reason had made it hard to find their way.

    The door to the yard was edged in copper runes and made of dark, polished wood. As Mireille touched the knob to open it, small discharges of lightning arced from her fingertips and the door opened on its own. Daylight shone into the corridor blindingly bright as their eyes adjusted.

    An aged voice called. ¡°Enter please.¡±

    The courtyard was on the smaller side between twenty and thirty yards lengthwise. There was a roofed walkway bordered in columns that went around the yard. The building was four stories high and the area would most likely be shaded for most of the day. As it was shortly after midday the sun shone from high above illuminating most of it. The ground was paved with enameled stone squares. Each was light blue with a rune in the center. The columns were decorated with reliefs of the gods of sea and air.

    There was Thyomena the Wavemother surrounded by dolphins and whales her hand gripped a glaive, the bladed tip a crescent moon surrounded by a field of stars. It represented the interconnected nature of the tides and the moon, the stars symbolized the astronomy necessary to find your way out on the ocean.

    There was Yrgos the Worldstrider, the fickle one, the bearer of the words of creation. He was depicted as a titan made of clouds running over mountains and seas, bearing a horn in one hand from which sprang wind and storm, and a chalice dripping rain in the other. In the legends, he was depicted as unreliable, even traitorous at times, and quick to change his mind but also disinterested in power and dominion. The absent demiurge who was said to have formed this world with his children, the gods, was said to have entrusted the words spoken at the dawn of creation to this powerful but distant son. Jaros was rumored to have employed Nirileth to steal some of those words which formed the basis of the magical languages and it is said that in the most fierce of storms where stone is sundered and mountains suffer there can still be heard an echo of those words.

    An old man stood in the middle of the yard, while sunlight shone on his balding pate. He had white hair that fell to his shoulders and a beard that went to his belt. Piercing, sky-blue eyes were deeply set in an emaciated-looking face. He wore robes of a light blue color, cinched at the waist with a copper cord from which hung several pouches. He leaned on a twisted root-staff with a fist-sized pearl set into the tip. The wood seemed to have grown around it. His hands were gnarled as the wood he held and thick veins coiled on their back.

    Several other students were already in attendance and looked up, roused from idle thoughts or a friendly chat.

    ¡°Now that we are all assembled, let me introduce myself. My name is Arkenbracht the Younger. Most call me Professor Ark and I am fine with it.¡± He smiled a bit. ¡°Time is a funny thing. If you are younger than someone else, you will never catch up. But you will not remain young all the same. So, yes, my brother is a few minutes older and we share the same name. It''s tradition. But you will most likely never meet him, so it won''t be an issue probably.¡±

    ¡°This yard was specifically crafted to contain the energies of air and lightning so that we can train here without worrying about the integrity of the building. There will be a written test to ascertain your level of competency in the more theoretical aspects of storm magic. But today I would like to see you use your magic to give me a glimpse of your potential and proficiency.¡±

    He clapped his hands, the staff held in the crook of his left arm. ¡°Let us see what the others can do. We start with¡­¡± he gestured and a piece of parchment rose from a bench in the walkway. ¡°...Monika Alston.¡± He looked around and a delicate-looking girl with short, blonde hair came to the front and bowed. ¡°Please gather around here.¡± He pointed to one side of the yard. Arranging everything to his liking he nodded.

    ¡°So, I would like for you to use a spell that you think you are proficient in. It can be everything, it need only be from the schools of lightning or air, water is acceptable also. We will learn about the magic that makes up a storm, lightning will be the focus but the other attendant elements will have their time to shine.¡±

    Expectant eyes turned on the pixy-like girl. She swallowed once and nodded before bracing herself. She intoned a spell formula, glyphs gathered around her gesturing hands, and with a rushing sound, the air around her rushed forth in a funnel. Steamers of mist wove from her hands and directed the turbulent winds, dust and grit struck an invisible barrier before it could do harm to the columns. The magic lasted only for a few seconds then she gasped and ended the spell while drawing deep breaths, hands braced on her knees.

    ¡°Well done. You could do with a bit more endurance training but all in all a respectable effort.¡± Professor Ark marked something on the still hovering piece of parchment. ¡°Next is¡­¡±

    She was the third to be called upon. ¡°Mireille Annirstochter. I heard that you are a special case. Please show us what you can do.¡±

    She thought for a moment then took the place of the boy before her and braced. ¡°Sialysalethussar¡± She had trained with Vanessa and with the passage of time, the lightning felt like a familiar friend, a caress rather than a violation.

    Deep within her chest -something- opened, a torrent of power rose. Lightning webbed her right arm, glowed in her eyes, light bridges flickered between her teeth, her fingers, her hairs blew back with small sparks springing from the tips. With a deafening crack of thunder that drowned out every other sound a bolt of incandescence, as thick as an arm, slammed into a barrier that had not been visible before.

    The crackling lance of energy seemed to undulate between her outstretched hand and the wall of magical force before it faded. Strained spellglyphs became clearly visible and energies that had been absorbed by whatever spell protected their surroundings flowed into the ground and the runes in the paving stones began to glow with a soft light.

    Mireille shook her head. Small sparks spat from her hand and grounded into the surrounding earth, webs of lightning still sizzled on her body a bit of smoke rose from the ground surrounding her. She stuck a finger in her right ear and grimaced. There was an unpleasant ringing tone that had not been there before. She felt a bit of fatigue but far less than she used to.

    Professor Ark nodded and clapped twice. ¡°Well done. I concur with the assessment of the administration. You will have a hard time fulfilling all the necessary criteria, but you have a chance. I did not think we would need it, but I will now heal the damage caused by the thunder and then I will erect an air barrier to protect the spectators.¡±

    The students were murmuring and chatting with each other, some even covertly pointed, and most seemed impressed. Vivienne smiled especially brightly at Mireille and nodded her encouragement. Her brother, Valens, also seemed intrigued and nodded towards her from behind his sister''s back.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    The old man spoke some words and gestured. The sky darkened and a soft rain began to fall, glowing with a soft blue light. Were the drops touched the skin they were absorbed and Mireille felt refreshed, the ringing sound ceased. ''Just like Alyssa''s song,'' she thought and smiled to herself.

    The spells that were shown were mostly of the more basic variety. The more spectacular ones came from students who had some background in the magical arts it seemed. Even so, no one wanted to lag too far behind and they put a lot of effort into showcasing their skill. Windblades rushed into the magical screen, a small dust-devil reminiscent of the one she had seen in the dueling grounds, a hand made of a cloud-like material perfectly imitated the gestures of a tall, black-haired girl.

    Vivienne came to the fore and nodded towards Professor Ark. She then put her hands together as if praying. Her lips parted and she began a spell chant. Without drawing breath, impossible without magical aid, she spoke words in a dialect of some magical language- Mireille was unsure- then from the ground and the air streamers of water condensed and lightning began to flash as an athletic feminine figure made of dark clouds and veined with flickering lightning formed before her. The eyes were pinpricks of fulgent light focused on the summoner, the hair was like cold mist rushing along a river''s surface. Vivienne gestured and the humanoid figure bowed before beginning to dance. Twisting and tumbling through the air the strange dancer flashed with lightning and left afterimages superimposed on her own movements so that it seemed like many dancers merging and dividing. Over the course of some minutes, the clouds began to lose cohesion and the creature faded into mist and then dispersed completely.

    Professor Ark clapped twice. ¡°Very well done. Good control of the medium. The use of a sylph is inspired. I can see you have the talent of your ancestors.¡± He nodded and stroked his beard as he made another annotation. ¡°Next.¡±

    Vivienne, winded after the effort, came to stand beside Mireille. Brushing back her green-tinged hair she unconsciously exposed an elongated ear. Her large blue-green eyes looked at her. ¡°What you did was amazing too. I would like to talk some more if you have time after classes?¡±

    ¡°Certainly. My sword lessons will start tomorrow.¡± Mireille smiled.

    It was her brother''s turn next. Valens cautiously went to the front, visibly uncomfortable with being in the spotlight. The professor nodded. ¡°Begin.¡±

    The young half-elf drew a deep breath and then began a complicated incantation. Moving his hands in supporting gestures mist began to stream from his body, water built into a big sphere, as large as a smaller barrel, and with a turning gesture using his whole body, the ball elongated and extended towards the sky, forming a waterspout nearly ten yards high.

    He controlled the roaring mass of water with precise gestures. Streamers of water still rose from his body and Mireille began to wonder where it all came from. After a few minutes, the water collapsed again washing over his boots and the floor nearly up to the first waiting students. True to his words the Professor had conjured a barrier made of transparent air which stopped the small flood at last.

    The old man clapped twice. ¡°Very good. I knew you had a personal gate but witnessing that is always a pleasure. Please have a rest.¡±

    Valens hesitated then went to his sister. When he thought Mireille was not looking he threw his sister an accusing glare which she returned with smiling indifference.

    The lesson continued until everyone had a turn.

    Before the end of class Professor Ark distributed a written test with the admonition to have it ready in time for the next lesson.

    ¡°I think I now have a notion of where you stand ability-wise. I would like to have some words with,¡± he looked at his list while furrowing his brow. ¡°Mireille Annirstochter, Vivienne and Valens of Kruogs Breach. That is all. Class dismissed.¡± He clapped once.

    He gave each of the three students left a friendly nod, stroked his beard, and said ¡°I only wanted to make you aware of an offer the school extends to more gifted students. You should have heard about affinity already?¡± as they all nodded he continued. ¡°And there was talk of methods to deepen said affinity but with a cost, am I right?¡± Again they answered in the affirmative. ¡°Ms. Annirstochter, your case being somewhat special I can foresee no downside to using the methods available. You would strengthen your grasp of lightning-based magics and lessen your non-existent abilities in water and earth-based spells. I would like to appoint a tutor to give you some supplementary lessons on Sunday, what say you?¡±

    Mireille was a bit torn at the prospect of limiting her free time, but on the other hand, she remembered the feeling of helplessness as she had faced Lucien and even the battle of Sorringen so she gave a firm nod. ¡°Yes, I would be grateful!¡±

    Giving her a satisfied smile Professor Ark nodded. ¡°So, with that concluded I could extend the same offer towards you two. You are both highly specialized already and I think it would not cost you too much, but take your time and make no snap decision, a damaged affinity is not easily repaired.¡±

    Both siblings gave thoughtful nods. ¡°Thank you for the offer, my brother and I will think about that.¡± Vivienne bowed gracefully.

    <hr>

    The sun hung low in the sky as they left the building.

    ¡°Where do you two want to go?¡± Mireille asked as she evaded a group of chatting students exiting the building with them.

    Vivienne smiled and answered, ¡°How about we go to our dorm for a cup of tea? After exerting myself I don¡¯t think I am up for an evening in the city. We could also just stroll around a bit but my legs crave a nice cushioned chair.¡±

    Valens was hanging behind his sister as usual. They both had fine even delicate features which suited Vivienne but let Valens look a bit more feminine than the latter was probably comfortable with. They moved with somewhat inhuman grace.

    The uniform for boys here was just a dark green tunic with golden accents and trousers, the same practical belt. The only affectation was the half cloak and brooch.

    ¡°I think a cup of tea sounds fine. Might there be cookies too?¡±

    ¡°But most assuredly.¡±

    They walked through the academy grounds. The dormitory they arrived at was one of the more fancy buildings, not as fine as Maximilians for example but it would not be out of place as lodgings for lesser nobles.

    They entered through the front door facing the street running around the central square. There were calls and chatter, the clattering of a wagon carrying supplies. All that was muffled as soon as the thick wooden door fell shut.

    ¡°Ah. That''s better. You would think with us both being air and water mages, that we would fewer problems with loud noises, but that only goes for injuries done by thunder for example.¡± Vivienne explained while she busied herself in the kitchen attached to the dining room. The arrangement of the rooms mirrored that of her own dormitory. Only the quality of the decorations and furnishings differed- and most probably the number of people that lived here was significantly lower.

    Having filled a cauldron with water flowing from a tap in the wall, she activated the runes in the iron stove with a word. Infused with crystal dust they began to emit a fierce heat and soon she poured the hot water into a teapot, prepared with fragrant leaves.

    Vivienne put the pot and some cups on a tray and they walked down the corridor. ¡°Val, could you open the door for me please?¡±

    Valens hurried to comply trying nonetheless not to touch Mireille in the process.

    The red-headed girl raised an eyebrow and looked at Vivienne who sighed. ¡°Nothing we can do.¡± She smiled. Her brother looked a bit confused.

    The room was nearly the same size as the one Mireille and her friends called their own, but there were two beds and two larger tables, two wardrobes and a seating arrangement in a corner, the last was missing in the other dormitory and Mireille made a mental note to ask if it could be added, it seemed mighty convenient and comfortable.

    ¡°So, please have a seat.¡± Vivienne balanced the tray as she shut the door, then went towards the small cushioned sofa in the corner. A low table stood nearby and there she placed down the tray. Yawning behind one daintily raised hand she sat down and sighed. ¡°Ah, that is heavenly.¡±

    Mireille sat down near her and Valens, who looked distinctly uncomfortable sat down on the other side. After each had received a cup of steaming tea and a cookie. Vivienne leaned back sipped her tea and said. ¡°I wanted to get to know you better. We of Kruogs Breach use air, lightning, and water magic the most. You have a personal gate don¡¯t you?¡±

    Mireille who had nodded along stopped. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Strange, I would have sworn¡­¡± Vivienne leaned forward and inspected her. Up close her eyes were more turquoise and seemed to glow with an inner light. ¡°...and I was right. You have a gate.¡± She leaned back and drank a bit of tea. ¡°You know the laws of magic?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat?¡± Mireille tried to look cute.

    Vivienne laughed. ¡°You can''t create, you can alter, you can pull and push, you can''t truly destroy. The gods created the energies we are using and there will not be an iota less or more when we have all long since gone into the sea.¡± She smiled. ¡°But there are other worlds, other planes, dimensions, realms whatever you call them. And a personal gate is a conduit, a smaller or larger point of access to such a realm. And with this, you can pull energy to you. Not normally matter, but earth and water magic might be able to.

    You did not think that the power of your lightning bolt would have been a tad abnormal if pulled from the calm air of the courtyard? That is the reason most people simply manipulate the air that is already present. My brother here has a water gate, I have some other circumstances that let me draw on the plane of air. ¡°

    She smiled. ¡°Tell me about yourself, you are not from around here are you?¡±

    ¡°I come from Saintscrossing out of Rivenlorn.¡± She gestured ¡°from the other side of the mountains. Fourth child. I love cookies.¡± She looked at the cookies on the low table.

    Vivienne laughed and handed her another cookie. ¡°We are from the broken Kingdom of Kruogs Breach, both a small free city and a small kingdom if you want to call it that. We are distantly related to the ruling, noble family. And that lent us the opportunity to study at this academy. Which is very important for us. In Kruogs Breach or the Breach, if you want, it is seen as a mark of high distinction if you can do sums, read and write. We have a bit of a reputation as a nation of mercenaries and seafaring folk. Not so much as scholars.¡±

    ¡°We had some brothers out of the Breach who guarded us on the way from Grunewald to Kronenburg, even if only on the last stretch. They did leave a very positive impression.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear it. What were their names?¡±

    Mireille had to think hard about that and was a bit shamefaced as she admitted ¡°I only remember two of them Titus and Samael. They were not the wordy type.¡±

    ¡°I know. I am an exception in that I enjoy a good conversation. Titus and Samael, brothers, I think I have heard of them. But the most well-known are those who remain in the Breach, so perhaps they left some time ago?¡±

    ¡°There was something about a river, Colphys?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it''s a massive stream that splits into hundreds of smaller ones as it goes through a peculiar rocky region. It¡¯s called Hundredstreams and is a part of Margrinar, our neighbor so to say. In actuality, there is a large stretch of no-mans-land between the Breach and this smaller county. Infested with monsters and home to some tribes of Wolfkin. So not close neighbors exactly.¡± She grinned.

    They chatted a bit and Mireille enjoyed Vivienne''s company quite a bit, which seemed to be mutual. Valens remained silent unless spoken to and even then he only said the bare minimum to satisfy courtesy.

    They said their farewells and Mireille went home for dinner.

    <hr>

    Back in the sibling''s room.

    Valens glared at his sister. His voice was an angry whisper. ¡°What brought that on. Please ask me for my opinion before you invite people into our room.¡±

    ¡°If I asked what would have been the answer, mh?¡± Vivienne brushed her hair after she had removed the hairpins holding it up. She was positioned elegantly in front of the mirror hanging over her desk.

    ¡°That is no reason not to ask! It''s my room too.¡±

    ¡°We could each have a separate one if that is your desire, the funds should be sufficient for that, it is also a bit improper for a boy and a girl¡­¡±

    ¡°Please, I did not mean it that way!¡± Valens shrunk back a bit.

    His sister eyed him, large eyes glinting, then relented. ¡°I was only joking. Mireille is special, she is good-looking, easygoing, and powerful even now just starting into the first year. We need every advantage we can get. I am a bit wary of her friends though.¡± She got up and went over to him hugged his head to her chest, put one hand on his head, and ruffled his hair. ¡°Little brother, big sis will do her best.¡±

    Valens struggled a bit and slapped the hand away with a half-hearted effort, blushing all the while.

 Black Sheep

    ¡°How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also if I am to be whole.¡±

    ¨D C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

    Alyssa walked away from her friends and orienting herself with the map attached to her schedule walked down a flight of stairs into the first lower level. The air became noticeably colder and she was glad for the warmth of her uniform.

    Endless corridors led into the darkness and as she walked, sconces inset in the walls would begin to glow with a pale faintly blueish light, which went out as soon as she left their range, an island of light in the darkness. She began to feel a bit worried. ¡®You don¡¯t have to fear the darkness, with time it will comfort you more than all the light in the world.¡¯ Asandria glided alongside her. ¡®Speak the words I say and let me have access to your magic.¡¯

    She voiced a short elvish chant. Alyssa tried several times and then, at last, managed to bring the spell to completion. Darkness spread to her eyes and the world lost its luster, everything seemed touched by decay. Stone showed cracks and dust marred the formerly clean floor. As she raised her hand she could see the bones underneath her skin as ghostly shadows. But her sight was no longer impeded by the darkness.

    ¡°Thank you, but I don¡¯t know that I would like to cast this spell often.¡± She turned her hand and then let it fall to her side. ¡°Why does it have this side effect?¡±

    Asandria looked faintly proud. ¡®I have good eyes for talent. Even with my help, you got it to work in minutes, not hours or days. The side effects you deplore are actually a good thing. The eyes of the void see the inherent entropy in all things. You should be able to assess weaknesses in creatures and objects. But that is for another time. You would have to correctly learn the spell for one.¡¯

    They arrived at the room indicated on the map. At least Alyssa hoped she was correct.

    The door opened at a touch. Inside was a large room, a bit of level ground ran along the circumference, farther towards the center steps descended to a sunken-floor area with some metal grates set into the corners. Dark stains led to them from large slabs of stone, four in number, that stood beneath the pitiless light shining from pale glowstones. Her left arm burned with a cold fire and she focused on what lay upon them. On the stone dais lay four figures shrouded in linen cloth. Alyssa felt, with her senses attuned to the void, an aura of frost surrounding them.

    Twelve students stood at the back. She was surprised as she recognized Ludwig, the dark-haired duelist from the fight she had witnessed two days ago, a faint bruise on his left cheek shone sickly green in the unnatural light.

    Carmen of Perrilen Heights stood at the side near a marble lectern with a great book on top. A chain of dark metal was hooked into the stone plinth. She looked up and nodded. She wore a black dress with a high collar decorated with a choker bearing a large opal. Her hands were clad in long dark gloves. Her ebony hair was pulled back with a band of silver exposing her pale face. The wand she had last seen when Professor Carmen had examined her still hung from the silken cord at her right wrist.

    ¡°I think that all are present who will be attending this lecture. So without further ado, let us begin.

    I am assistant professor Carmen of Perrilen Heights. And I will be the teacher for this first section of ¡®Void and Necromancy for beginners¡¯.¡± She smiled a bit at that. "We will have some second years attending this lecture because void is traditionally the smallest of the great schools which forces us to combine the lectures which profit most of you. First years will simply have to measure up to the higher expectations. I think it fosters talent in those who have it." She let her gaze linger on some students who shifted uneasily. Nodding to herself she began to pace towards the stone slabs while lecturing.

    "You had the first lesson in magical theory already but the implications of what you heard might not have been realized yet. Void is a problematic magic to master because it draws on entropy, death, the fading of structural integrity, and life. And if you want to control or manipulate that, it has to be present first. You might recall legends of witches who spoke powerful curses as they died, burning at the stake? They would have had a lot of void magic, their own death, to work with wouldn''t they?¡±

    She grinned mirthlessly and then walked down the steps and up to one of the slabs. ¡°Can anyone guess what we will be using?¡±

    Ludwig gave a half-smile and raised a hand.

    ¡°Sir Ludwig of Hundredstreams.¡±

    ¡°A corpse.¡± He lowered his hand.

    Carmen raised an eyebrow. ¡°That is correct. The decay of life and potential inherent in a sentient being is most suitable for necromancy and void magic. Without that, we could try a hospital ward for the terminally ill. I heard it said that a terminal illness of the caster would supply a great amount of power, though no one would probably go that far. There are some death cults in Sur Kesh who use poisons that only rarely kill the afflicted to get a similar effect."

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    She paced in front of the students. "And as if that were not enough, void magic is corrosive to living organisms- that most assuredly does not include the undead sadly."

    "To use it safely, you will have to protect yourself from it. Some use wands and enchanted items to channel the brunt of the charged mana. Some use the life force of the elements or plant-life, some use -and hopefully, I do not have to remind you that this is illegal ¨C blood sacrifice.¡± She pulled back the linen cloth and exposed a dead man of perhaps sixty years. He had been hanged or strangled and his face was contorted and swollen, the tongue grotesquely stuck out of the open mouth. Blood had pooled and formed dark blotches on his grey skin. Two girls gagged and one was noisily ill. Alyssa looked away and slowly tried to acclimatize herself to the horrific view.

    ¡°We use criminals who forfeited their rights to a humane burial. And now you know why void magic is not widely appreciated.¡± She chuckled.

    ¡°We will have to learn the proper techniques to insulate you from the magic before I can have you do a demonstration. Nearly all the other courses will have you perform some magic to gauge your talent and the extent of your proficiency. But this would harm you greatly without preparation.¡±

    She continued to explain what Alyssa already knew. She was surprised that it seemed a bit basic to her. But being taught by a vampire sorcerer was probably what you would call advanced training.

    Professor Carmen distributed notes containing the words of a spell, ¡°you will now proceed to memorize and then show what you have learned.¡±

    One after the other they spoke the words of the incantation and Alyssa felt their magic gathering in a cocoon which then would serve to insulate the caster from the magic of the void.

    As it was her turn, she hesitated then did as Vanessa had taught her. She pulled on the power of the earth and air in the room protecting her life, her soul as she went to grasp the void. Cyrus quietly lent his strength. Darkness rose mistlike from the bodies and gathered in her left hand, the cloth turned grey, rotting as it fell from the corpses, two of them twitched, dead eyes opened. Frost burned in her breast, the void shone through her eyes and she felt at peace.

    The professor looked alarmed and shouted, ¡°Stop. What the hell are you doing? Use the formula!" She calmed herself as Alyssa relaxed and let the magic disperse. "You are using an advanced technique I have not heard of, but with your lack of control you will do great harm to your body if you slip up even once.¡±

    The other students murmured and cast covert glances her way. Most seemed wary, some alarmed, very few- The dark-haired boy from Hundredstreams included- seemed a bit intrigued. Cyrus raised his stinger menacingly.

    Ludwig gave a sardonic smile. ¡°I once heard that the necromancers of Ulsolm use such a technique.¡±

    ¡°I was taught by...a friend. But I will of course obey.¡± Alyssa forced down her uneasiness and replied.

    She then spoke the words and a cocoon of magic spun from elemental air formed before her. After what she had learned on the road it seemed...easy.

    ¡°Very good. That is indeed the correct formula.¡± Carmen sighed. ¡°Please talk to me after class.¡± She then went and corrected the others. "Anyone who has problems with the air component can use water or earth. I have the requisite formulae here. You can have them if you need."

    ¡°Here is a test to ascertain your knowledge of the theory involved.¡± She pointed at a stack of papers beside the door. ¡°Each takes one. Class dismissed.¡±

    The room emptied as the students took a piece of paper and went out the door, some looked back and talked among themselves. Ludwig was the last, he nodded at Alyssa and walked out.

    ¡°Show me your left arm.¡± Carmen stretched out her hands.

    Alyssa raised her arm and the professor took her hand. She inspected the porcelain-like skin of her hand that continued to near the middle of her forearm. Alyssa felt the grip, but she did not really feel the warmth and there also was no sense of connection, as if she had touched the professor with something other than her skin.

    ¡°This technique. Does it have a name?¡±

    ¡°I would not know. My teacher only wanted for me to be more protected from the negative influence of the void. She was adamant that I practice it religiously...and it works best with plant-life or animals.¡±

    ¡°And she is right, but I think she was a bit too optimistic regarding your progress. I would like you to use my incantation at the moment. If there comes a time that I think that you are ready we can talk again, but at the moment I would have you be prudent.¡±

    Alyss hesitated, ¡°On the road, there were several dangerous situations, I do not think I could have survived if I had used such an incantation.¡±

    ¡°That may be true. But you are here to learn, and you will learn in as safe a way as I can possibly offer you. If your life is threatened I will not hold it against you if you disregard me, but otherwise, you will use this incantation. Do you know where the path you are walking leads?¡±

    ¡°I can guess.¡±

    ¡°You would become a wight mage. A soul caught in an undead body. Your arm is already infused with deepstone. Please be more careful.¡±

    She took a piece of paper under the watchful eyes of Carmen of Perrilen Heights. Hastening out of the door she heard her sigh.

    When she held the void it was always a feeling of stillness, a feeling of being complete. And as she walked briskly down the deserted corridors it seemed as if she fled the insecurity and unease hounding her thoughts. ¡®I am so glad that I have you, Mireille and Alea. I don¡¯t think I will find friends here.¡¯

    Asandria whispered in her mind, ¡®you don¡¯t need to. Power will always set you apart, estrange you. It is best you get used to it and see the world as it really is, they fear and covet what they do not have.'' She grabbed Alyssa''s face with both hands and glided in front of her. The cold on her skin felt strangely pleasant. "The Heartstealer will become aware of you before you are ready to face her- That much is certain, and not all weapons come with a metal blade some might wear a pretty face.¡¯

    Alyssa remembered a fragment of a dream, a smile blooming on a face too beautiful for mortal words to describe.

    Sharp as broken glass and deadly as a night in winter.

 A ray of light

    ¡°Ring the bells that still can ring

    Forget your perfect offering

    There is a crack in everything

    That''s how the light gets in.¡±

    - Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems 1956-1968

    ¡®Let there be Light, Creation and Manipulation of positive Energy¡¯ Alea saw through the eyes of her small spider Cecily and read the notation in her schedule again. When she was stressed she always saw the halo, caused by the slight imperfections at the corners of the lenses. Rainbow colors and distortions ringed her sight and she felt a headache coming on.

    She put the spider on her shoulder again and the view shifted with it. She had long since grown accustomed to it, but it was still vexing that when she turned her sight to the left, she only saw her neck and head. To have a better vantage point, she would often take the spider into both hands and move her accordingly. At the moment she was still tired from the barrage of sound and people, so she walked a step behind Lorelle who would protect her from the worst of it.

    She had come to like the meek, blonde-haired girl. She never would have associated her with a murderous plot targeting her life and with each passing day grew more sure of her innocence. But better safe than sorry.

    The spider turned and saw Mr. Brache, the bodyguard assigned to Max following at a distance. She nodded, reassured, and continued walking.

    She went up three flights of stairs and when she reached the third floor she was too winded to continue. She normally did not leave the house; ''...on good days,'' she added internally.

    Lorelle looked at her worriedly. ¡°Shall I ask if you can have a seat somewhere, do you need a drink? I have a bottle of water with me.¡±

    She waved the concern away and then nodded. ¡°I can''t be late for the first lesson. Please, let us continue.¡±

    ¡°It''s not that far if the map is to be believed.¡± Alea looked up and saw the blonde girl that had been eyeing her in class. The one with the ringlets- Alea thought it looked good on her.

    ¡°We have not met yet, I am Alexandra von Stetting. Pleased to make your acquaintance. ¡°

    ¡°My name is Alea von Graufurt.¡± Alea said reservedly. ¡°I would be grateful if you could show us the way.¡±

    Lorelle looked a bit hurt at that but kept her silence.

    The girl fidgeted a bit and then she could not contain herself and asked. ¡°My parents once talked to me about a prodigy of light magic. Was that you by any chance?¡±

    Alea rubbed her small forehead. ¡°I cannot think why that would have been talked about. I was nothing special. I have a bit of a headache, please let us get to the classroom first.¡±

    ¡°Sorry I did not realize.¡± Alexandra was silent afterward but looked a bit downcast.

    Alea began to feel guilty. She slowly raised her hand, hesitated, lowered it again. ¡°Sorry, the pain is making me ill-tempered. I thank you for your forbearance.¡±

    The blond girl seemed to regain her spirits and went ahead until they reached a door that she opened. Behind that door was a room open to the outside with the wall opposite to the entrance replaced by a row of columns and behind that a balcony. The sunlight bathing the open space was contrasted by the relative darkness of the corridor. They felt the wind blowing and the sun shone brightly.

    A small woman with beautiful features that seemed ageless, stood with her back to the balcony. The light made her hair shine like an angelic halo, it had the same golden tone as the two prominent siblings''. Her long fingers played with a strand of hair that put to shame the most exquisite golden thread. Her shadowed features nonetheless shone with an inner light and her eyes were pupilless, like molten gold. Her smile was sharp and without warmth, white, perfect teeth glinting. She wore clothes of white embroidered with golden flowers at the hem, sleeves, and neck. An old brocade sash in red and gold clasped her waist.

    She silently pointed where about a good dozen students were already standing or sitting and chatting quietly. There were benches pushed against the walls and the floor seemed to be made of thinly cut and polished rose quartz. Symbols and lines adorned this precious material.

    The walls showed murals depicting Gesserach and his court. There was also a portrait of the goddess Saressa, the Phoenix that renews itself, the Source of all Flames teaching the first men the secrets of the forge.

    The balcony was facing to the east and they could see over rolling hills and forests, villages and the great river, the other houses and buildings of the academy spread out before them.

    After waiting a bit three more students arrived. The golden siblings were two of those. A soft murmur went round the room. The teacher raised an eyebrow and nodded a greeting. The first one she had given since Alea got here.

    ¡°It is time.¡± The lady in white gestured and some runes glowed around the door before dimming again. ¡°We don¡¯t want to be disturbed by late-comers.¡±

    ¡°I am Heloise Yvaine of Margrinar, Professor of the tower of light. And it is my duty to educate you as to the uses and possibilities of the sphere of radiance.¡±

    She gestured and a ball of light gathered above her hand.

    ¡°Light magic is mostly benign to those not of the darkness, but there are some dangers I have to bring to your attention. Pure light is not meant for mortal eyes, and there is always the problem, even with healing magic, of losing your sight. I have here some protective goggles that will shield you until you are able to do this on your own." She gestured towards an open chest sitting on a low table, the glint of glass and metal could be seen inside.

    "You might have heard about affinities, and might wonder if you would become resilient to the effects but this is not the case with the higher elements. Some take umbrage at the use of that word, but time, spatial magic, and light, yes even the dark magic of void are simply more complex than earth for example. Time will make you age more slowly as if protecting you from its ravages but other effects will not be mitigated. Spatial magic shields from distortions such as a translocation spell gone wrong. Light protects against the dark and vice versa. They don¡¯t accustom the user to its more deleterious effects.¡± Her tone changed little as she went on to explain.

    ¡°I would first like you to demonstrate what you have learned outside the academy. Later, when you leave take one parchment from the table beside the door, it will contain a written test. Please return that the next time we meet.¡± She looked a bit bored saying that. ¡°Each of you- Take a pair of goggles and put it on, then we can start.¡±

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    The students took the contraptions consisting of a leather band with two lenses framed in metal. Alea abstained. It neither would have fit Cecily nor would it be necessary.

    ¡°My dear cousins, I think it best that you begin." She grinned. "Carl if you would.¡± She motioned the golden-haired youth who stepped forward. ¡°Begin when you are ready.¡±

    Arrogantly tossing back his hair, he spoke resonant words and with a sweeping gesture gathered the light from the balcony in his left hand pressed and drew a thin line of glowing force until he held a sword made of light in his right hand. Runes that were changing by the second flickered in the blade. He looked at Heloise, challenging her.

    ¡°A very passable sun blade.¡± She nodded. The boy looked angry at the dismissive tone, his dark eyes flashed. ¡°I look forward to your continued efforts. Lieseleta, how is your seal of light?¡±

    The younger girl furrowed her brows and took a step forward before incanting a complicated spell that build a wheel of glowing runes in front of her. As she neared completion she seemed to commit an error and the runes dissolved in discharges of blinding light. The lenses grew dark as the flashes intensified. The professor chuckled. ¡°Still the same I see. Next time a bit more effort on the Zyor and Clon runes.¡±

    Lieseleta hung her head and stepped to the back. The muscular woman that was her attendant looked like she had to keep her temper in check.

    Thus it continued. No one was good enough and the rare praise was lukewarm at best.

    Then it was Alea¡¯s turn. She put the spider up on her shoulder and began to gesture, her words and mannerism precise. The light that was always with her dripped from her hands and formed an eye made of countless runes. She gestured. A beam of light flashed and a screen of force activated to stop it from damaging the wall.

    ¡°Well done. Arun''s searing Eye, it lacks a bit of flair but makes up for it in reliability.¡±

    ¡°That was really good,¡± Alexandra whispered as she looked at her with glowing eyes. ¡°I never got farther than the precursor, Arun¡¯s searing light. You made it look so easy.¡± Alea saw with the eyes of her spider that Lieseleta and the Prince were also looking at her with interest.

    ¡°Ms. Stetting, you are next. Please keep your attention to the front.¡±

    The blonde girl went to the front and seemed to pray for a moment before she began to cast a spell. The syllables called light from the balcony and an arrow formed of golden light grew into being before it flashed from her hand and hit the same screen that had stopped Alea¡¯s spell.

    ¡°The Golden Arrow, how nice. The signature spell of my grandmother. I give full points for flattery and a passing grade for execution.¡± Yvaine nodded seemingly amused.

    Alexandra went red in the face and took a step back, arms folded protectively before her chest.

    After everyone had showcased some of their magic, many were unable to do more than creating a light of differing intensities, they each took a piece of parchment and were sent on their way.

    Throughout the testing professor Yvaine kept her ironic smile. This seemed to further infuriate Carl the second prince who left in an obviously bad mood.

    Lieseleta walked beside Alea as they left and said, ¡°I did not see you at court before but I know Demavar von Graufurt, is he your father?¡±

    ¡°No, that is my uncle, he did not have the blessing of children.¡± She chose her words carefully and hesitantly.

    ¡°Oh. My apologies for assuming. If you have some time in the coming days I would like to invite you to a small get-together with some other noble ladies. Alexandra, you are obviously invited too.¡± The last was spoken to Alexandra von Stetting who was walking on the other side of Alea. Lorelle followed with the attendant of the princess a few steps behind.

    Alea nearly blanched at that but replied softly, ¡°I would be most delighted.¡±

    Lieseleta smiled. ¡°I will let you know when I know the exact date.¡±

    Alexandra nodded, ¡°Thank you for your gracious invitation, I will be there.¡±

    The princess then quickened her steps and caught up to her brother. They spoke, with the prince becoming more curt and overbearing by the moment. The corridor was empty but for Alexandra, Alea, and the brother-sister pair with their respective attendants. Finally, the prince made a cutting motion with his right hand and spoke a few angry words before dismissing Lieseleta rudely. With a look of deep hurt on her face, that she took pains to hide, she hurried towards a side corridor. Her attendant followed her lead.

    Alea looked a bit conflicted, then turned towards Alexandra. ¡°I will take my leave. We will see each other tomorrow.¡±

    The blonde girl looked as if she might protest then thought better of it. ¡°I wish you a pleasant evening. Until tomorrow!¡±

    Alea then walked briskly into the side corridor that Lieseleta had taken. ¡®What am I even doing!?¡¯

    She nearly missed it, a door to her left stood slightly ajar. She heard soft voices one of which sounded hesitant and soft. Motioning for Lorelle to wait, she gathered all her courage and knocked. The voices fell silent. Heavy steps neared the door which then was pulled open.

    The dark-haired female warrior stood in the doorway, ¡°My lady is indisposed, I must ask that you leave.¡±

    ¡°Jera, who is it?¡± Came the voice of Lieseleta.

    ¡°It¡¯s Ms. von Graufurt, your highness.¡±

    The silence stretched on.

    ¡°Let her come in.¡±

    The room was a smaller classroom that had not seen use for some time. Chairs and desks were put to the side and the windows were closed with drapes. A spell formula was still visible only half-erased from the blackboard. It seemed to be a spell of the school of Air.

    Lieseleta sat on a chair she had pulled over and was leaning on a desk. She looked downcast.

    ¡°Alea. Why are you here?¡± There was a note of suspicion in her voice. ¡°Did Carl or Yvaine put you up to this?¡±

    Alea nervously stroked Cecily her spider. ¡°No one asked me to be here. I don¡¯t know what came over me¡­I will be going, excuse me.¡±

    ¡°Stay, please.¡± Lieseletas eyes softened she looked much older than her sixteen years. ¡°Even with your blindfold, you show too much of your emotions. Come here.¡± She gestured towards another chair. ¡°Jera, please close the door. We don¡¯t want any more visitors.¡± she grinned a bit.

    ¡°I...don¡¯t have the best opinion of people who don¡¯t treat their family as, well, family.¡± Alea hugged herself nervously.

    ¡°I understand. You have bad memories of similar situations. I am sorry you had to witness that. Carl and I, please keep that to yourself even though it is no secret, we were once close. But he was given as a hostage to the people of the south. For years he lived in Ark Vendrad, their capital city. He does not seem to appreciate me much anymore.¡± She laughed at that.

    ¡°And because of that, I lose all the decorum they beat into me with a golden stick. So that a near stranger,¡± she smiled apologetically, ¡°feels bound to come to my aid.¡±

    ¡°My brother and I are still close, so I can empathize,¡± Alea said softly. ¡°If he turned his back on me I would be devastated. I am so glad to have finally found some friends, but my grandmother and Max are all the family -all the close family- I have left.¡±

    ¡°It has been the duty of the second-born son, since ancient times, to serve as a hostage to the surrounding greater nations. Be it Sur Kesh or the nation of the Cyclops to the west, Nar-Holm. The snakes are seen as the lesser evil, giants are...very difficult to live with. Did you truly want to comfort me?¡± Lieseleta looked at Alea inquiringly.

    The small girl bit her lip and then slowly nodded. ¡°I really wanted to. You seem like a nice person even if I did not know if I could, help I mean. But my new friends have given me much to think about. Mireille is so courageous. She would never hesitate in such a situation, Alyssa would also help without question, and I wanted to be more of a person I could admire or like. If that makes sense.¡±

    ¡°I think that is a very good explanation and an admirable goal. I would also like to be someone whom I could be glad to know.¡± the princess smiled and seemed less depressed.

    ¡°I would like to be your friend if you want me to?" Alea nodded, using her own head this time. "But be careful of my brother...it is not only indifference, but he is also actively hostile and I don¡¯t know why!¡± The last brought some tears to her eyes which she furiously wiped away. ¡°Sorry. I think we should adjourn. But thank you for listening, and being there. I would not have thought that it would be you, my first school friend.¡±

    She smiled at Alea. ¡°But sometimes an opportunity is all such things need.¡±

 What are friends for

    Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.

    - Virginia Woolf

    Alyssa tried to keep walking at a sedate pace. It felt as if there were always people looking at her, some even seemed to talk about her as she passed. Internally she tried to quash such thoughts. ¡®This is paranoia talking.¡¯ Until she saw a group of students some of which she recognized from the void magic class. And there was no mistaking their poorly hidden attention. One girl did not see Alyssa until she was walking beside her, she blanched and took a few steps away. A red-haired boy snickered at that.

    Alyssa went red in the face and tried not to show her discomfort.

    She did not wait for the others to finish their classes but went directly towards their dormitory room. She could not associate it with ¡®home¡¯ yet.

    As she entered the dorm the house mother greeted her. ¡°Good evening. How was your first day? I hope everything went well?¡±

    Alyssa nodded and smiled noncommittally, ¡°Yes, everything was fine. I am just tired, it''s all still very much overwhelming.¡±

    Madam Gosling gave her a searching look then smiled. ¡°Dinner will be served in about an hour, a bit more actually, so take your time and rest. It will only get more hectic from here on out. The professors delight in making the first year''s initial experience a bit harsh so as to instill proper discipline. Don''t take it to heart young lady.¡±

    ¡®So she has sensed something.¡¯ Alyssa nearly sighed aloud. But she was thankful for the friendly woman¡¯s concerns. ¡°Thank you, I will do just that.¡±

    The moment she entered her room she fell onto her bed, her test paper and the parchment with the map and schedule fluttered to the ground. She groaned and tears pricked her eyes.

    ''I will not wallow in self-pity. I survived an undead attack, I escaped captivity which would have led to my torture and death, I am not some delicate maiden that cries when no one likes her.'' Her thoughts shied away from the memories of the ones she had killed. Cyrus made a cooing sound and stubbed her with his forehead. From the bond, she shared flowed a quiet strength.

    ¡°How are you the more mature one between the two of us, mh?¡± She scratched behind his horns and he gave short rasping noises of approval.

    Asandria hovered at the edge of her senses looking outside into the gardens.

    Alyssa''s thoughts circled round and round, ¡®The mad rush down the mountain that I likened my travels to has stopped and I am reeling from the sudden cessation of momentum. There is no immediate crisis and I have the time to be a nervous wreck. That''s all this is.¡¯

    ¡°Asandria?¡±

    ¡®Yes?¡¯

    ¡°I think I would like to study the song for our bargain.¡±

    ¡®That is a most excellent idea. Music is a balm for a wounded soul I always said.¡¯ Something like a smile grew on her transparent face. Then she sat beside her and began to sing. Melodious notes rolled through the quiet evening air and even as Alyssa did not understand most of what she sang, she realized the emotions behind the foreign words.

    It was a lament, not for a person, the song was a bit too grand for that, even though there might be someone for whom it could be fitting, it was a lament for an ideal, a dream, it was sadness for a past that never reached its future, a work of grandiose proportions that would never be finished. And as she listened she could not but weep for something other than herself.

    And as she began to become familiar she at first hummed along, then tried to accompany the refrain. Her left arm began to burn and the sensation became worse the longer and the better she sang until she stopped with a gasp. Vapor from condensed water rose from the ice that had built up on her left hand.

    Asandria became silent, then she kissed Alyssa¡¯s forehead. ¡®Not only people die. Memories fade, great works topple, nations crumble. But for today it is enough. I might even apologize for making the mood worse, but I simply can''t bring myself to do it.¡¯

    Alyssa put her burning left hand under her right arm, trying to warm the bitter cold she felt. ¡°It was beautiful and it certainly diverted my thoughts from the present, but why did that draw the void to me?¡±

    ¡®Why do we use speech to access magic? Don¡¯t answer- We use it to connect to the underlying harmony of the world to better grasp the mana. In the best case we draw upon the echoes of creation, all the magical languages have that in common. A song can be such a medium too¡­¡¯

    There was a knock at the door and Alea entered. She looked pensive but calm. Alyssa hastily scrubbed the tears from her face and tried to smile.

    Alea scrutinized her, ¡°What happened.¡± She walked over and after a questioning look, answered by a quick nod, she sat down beside Alyssa. Hesitantly, as if unsure she leaned against her shoulder. ¡°You look awful.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I did not want to worry you.¡±

    ¡°Please, tell me what caused this. This is unlike you.¡±

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°You saw their reaction when I revealed my void affinity?¡± Alea nodded as Alyssa continued. ¡°And I made the mistake to use Vanessa''s teachings in void class. It worked well, very well. I may be even stronger than I was as I¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°And now everyone looked at me as if I was a freak.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? Those people must have the void affinity too, they were in the class for void magic after all. So to avoid you because of that...seems a bit strange?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they are, not all of them at least, comfortable with what they have, what they are.¡±

    ¡°It seems you aren''t also?¡±

    Alyssa stopped and thought. ¡°Maybe. But I thought I was. And now I am unsure. We were in that basement, and there were corpses of criminals and I don¡¯t know what came over me. Did I want to brag? Did I want to stand out, be better than them? The magic the professor showed me was like a crutch for someone who could run- and had done so in the past- something slowing me, making me worse than I knew I could be. Am I arrogant because of that?¡±

    Alea thought about that seriously. ¡°Yes, I think that is arrogant. And you probably did want to show off. And you know what? Everyone in my class tried to do it too. They all showed off. Me¡­ I was a bit half-hearted. I could have done better. But I did not want the attention. I have only fragmented memories, for whatever reason, of my early life but I do remember the big celebration on my fifth birthday, a high priest of Jaros came and blessed me. My mother was so very proud, even if I can no longer remember her well, that is a memory that still remains.¡±

    Alea hugged her. ¡°You did nothing badly wrong. I fear that the stigma attached to your magic makes everyone more likely to shun you after that to better display them as being against the ¡®dark¡¯ aspects of magic and divert attention from them, even while they are learning to wield it themselves. Hypocrites.¡±

    Alyssa hugged her back and the warmth of that embrace dispelled the last of the cold in her still hurting left hand.

    ¡°Do you know where Mireille is? It is nearly time for dinner.¡± Alyssa tried to change the somewhat heavy topic.

    ¡°I don¡¯t. I was a bit late myself ¨C I had a talk with a classmate, a¡­¡± she stuttered a bit. ¡°...friend probably? Her name is Lieseleta, she is the¡­¡±

    ¡°...the princess?¡± Alyssa interrupted and then looked apologetic.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Talk about friends in high places.¡±

    ¡°That is exactly what I will not accept!¡± Alea pouted. ¡°I tried to help her with something. I will not take advantage of her.¡± She sounded firm and even tried to extricate herself from the embrace.

    Alyssa tightened her hug and pleaded, ¡°Please. I did not mean it as something other than a joke in probably poor taste.¡±

    ¡°As long as you know.¡± Alea seemed a bit mollified.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Alyssa said softly.

    Alea was silent for a bit. They heard some people going by and soft unintelligible sounds of conversation. ¡°Were you singing?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°It sounded like a dirge.¡±

    ¡°That is what it was.¡±

    ¡°You know that sitting alone in your dorm room singing an elvish dirge after your performance in void class ¨C at least what I can guess- will not do anything to lessen the reputation you are going to get? It was beautiful though, beautiful and sad. For whom was it?¡±

    ¡°A people. A fallen empire. An extinguished dream.¡±

    ¡°Was it Asandria?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she teaches me. It was a bargain we made some time ago, but I don¡¯t begrudge her, I want to learn and she is always helpful.¡±

    A shadowed figure smiled at that. Long fingers spun shadows into a cat''s cradle and played with the darkened strands.

    Hasty steps went along the corridor and halted briefly before their door before it was forcefully opened. ¡°Am I late for dinner? There was still someone cooking, so I can''t be that late can I?¡± Mireille entered the room looked at the two girls, and asked somewhat out of breath.

    ¡°No, you should be just in time,¡± Alyssa replied.

    ¡°It''s somewhat dark in here,¡± Mireille complained. ¡°Lux.¡± She loudly said the command word and the glow globes flickered to life. ¡°What happened? Why the sad faces? Why do you only hug Alea? I deserve to be hugged too. Preferably by both of you!¡±

    Alyssa held her hand before her tearing eyes to mitigate the ache she felt looking into the suddenly bright room. Alea did not have that problem and got up to give Mireille a quick hug. ¡°I will go first, I have something to do in the kitchen.¡±

    The redhead seemed confused for a moment and then really looked at Alyssa. ¡°Mh. I have had a really nice day. I think it is safe to say you...did not?¡±

    Alyssa smiled wearily and stood up. ¡°Nothing to be concerned about. Void magic is not popular, nothing new there.¡± She would be damned if she would continue where she left off with Alea, enough is enough.

    Mireille frowned. ¡°I think there is a bit more to it. You don¡¯t want to talk?¡±

    ¡°No I talked to Alea already and I don¡¯t want to rehash all of it. I don¡¯t want you to think me a nuisance.¡±

    ¡°No fear of that! If you ever think that way be proactive and simply bake some cookies.¡±

    "What''s with the big words?" Alyssa hugged her. ¡°Let''s not talk about it just now. Later perhaps. You can''t have a serious heart-to-heart talk in shifts.¡±

    Mireille rubbed her cheek on Alyssa¡¯s like a cat. ¡°If you feel apologetic about that you can let me sleep in your bunk tonight. I nearly froze!¡±

    ¡°How you reached your ripe young age I will never know. You would have been an icicle the first winter in Firswending.¡±

    The atmosphere thawed further as Cyrus was caught rummaging through Alea''s pouches, which she had carelessly left behind.

    Then they went for dinner. The girls were all already there and a few of them threw Alyssa concerned or slightly fearful glances. When the meal had concluded and everyone went to their respective rooms Lucille came over and asked. ¡°I hope I do not annoy you with my question but did you really raise the dead criminals in void class, made them dance, and shock even the professor?¡±

    Alyssa hesitated. ¡°I tried a technique a friend taught me and the corpses reacted to that. No, they were not raised. The professor did not think it was a good idea. And that is the extent of it.¡±

    ¡°As I thought, the reality is always a lot more boring than fiction.¡± Lucille adjusted her glasses and seeing their strange gazes asked, ¡°What? It would have been a feat to come into the academy as a first-year and already be an accomplished necromancer. I would have wanted to learn at your feet. Even if I have patently no talent for that kind of thing, sadly.¡±

    ¡°You would like to have talent in void magic? You must be the only one I know.¡± Alyssa looked curious.

    ¡°Yes, I always wanted to be more interesting...¡± Lucille blushed. ¡°I was a bit caught up in this, normally I am not so forward. I hope I did not annoy you?¡±

    ¡°No, it was refreshing actually. Thank you.¡± Alyssa smiled.

    They said their farewells, went to their room, and soon lay in bed. Mireille had made good of her ¡®threat¡¯ and was lying beside Alyssa. They were both small for their age so it was a tight fit but not completely unreasonable.

    ¡®Tomorrow is the class about water, I hope that works out better.¡¯ And with those thoughts in mind, she drifted off to sleep.

 The hunt must go on

    ¡°Pulvis et umbra sumus. (We are but dust and shadow.)¡±

    - Horace, The Odes of Horace

    The night was full of angry shouting, a fight had spilled out of a bar which was a really charitable description for the rundown hole in the wall that was the ¡®Sodden Guardsman¡¯.

    A big oarsman swung his right fist and clocked the temple of an older man with but two front teeth left. Blood spurted from his head as he went down. A young woman, hair dyed a garish red, most likely here for professional reasons, wearing a white and green striped dress, used a broken bottle to cut the arm of a fat thug. Gang tattoos marked him as a ¡®Gloomskull¡¯. Screeching like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he backpedaled and drenched the fallen old man with another helping of blood. A drunk-looking sailor pointed and laughed in between drinking from an unmarked bottle he held in his left hand.

    Two younger skinny boys punched the barkeeper while another of the Gloomskulls, a dark-skinned man in his late twenties held his arms from behind.

    Blood mingled with oil stains from a broken barrel sitting forgotten in a corner of the backyard. The houses that ringed the tiny island of free space were ramshackle agglomerations of wooden planks, animal skins, rags, and the odd metal plate. Two young boys sat on the roof of the smallest building and were drinking from a bottle they had stolen as the fight broke out. The first to drink coughed violently spewing the moonshine onto the fight below. ¡°Hey don¡¯t waste it! I got cut for that, you best ¡®preciate this!¡± Mumbling because of a nasty split and swollen lip the other boy fought for possession of the flask.

    Beside the bar leaning against the barrel sat a younger man in clothes that had seen better days and were clearly of quality once. With shaking hands, he gripped a small vial containing a small amount of glowing blue crystal dust before tilting his head snorting it into his nostrils. The finely ground crystal swirled into his nose and a wave of blue light flowed from his nose into his skull, lighting his bones, that visibly glowed through his skin for a short moment.

    Glowing bloody mucus drooled from his nose and mouth as he began to tremble and shake more violently his eyes rolled back in his head. Then a smile of pure bliss spread on his face and the shaking stopped.

    Inside the bar, a young woman in her late teens shoved the coins lying on the table into her pouch and stood. ¡®Idiots, all of them. Why make a ruckus. If you get cut in this flea-infested rat-hole it will be a miracle if the wound does not become infected and kills you.¡¯

    She wore practical boots, leather trousers, and an undyed linen blouse with a leather vest. Three daggers hang on her belt, two left one right. Her dark brown hairs were cut short, a pretty face that could have once been beautiful if not for the long scar going from her left temple to her chin, she was thin and had a boyish figure.

    ¡°Mellie, everything ok?¡± Her bodyguard, a fifteen-year-old ¡®Apprentice¡¯ as the applicants for the full membership in the Gloomskulls were called looked into the bar, his left cheek showed a nasty bruise.

    ¡°Yes, Jack, I got everything. Let''s leave this place.¡± As she ventured outside, stepping over the groaning casualties of the barfight a pouch on her right hip began to vibrate. ¡°Aah shit.¡±

    She checked and the pouch in question was already rimmed with frost. Checking to see if anyone had noticed she jumped back into the bar and gripped a small crystal slate stuffed into a vest-pocked and murmured a command word. The runes inscribed onto the slate lit up one after another as if liquid light ran through them. She felt a bit of fatigue coming on but soon enough the process came to a close and out of the falling crystal dust formed a small bird made of glittering runes. After another moment those runes shifted and a perfectly normal sparrow sat in her hand.

    ¡°Hunter, I am at the Sodden Guardsman. Deepstone reacted strongly. Am going to make myself scarce. Good luck!¡±

    Then she dusted herself off, the bird flew deeper into the building and then into and probably through the back wall. She hurried outside waved at her bodyguard and fled into the tangled streets of the Crooks.

    <hr>

    A dwarven woman and a bald man looked up as a bird fluttered from the smoky skies and hovered before the one called ¡®Hunter¡¯. A young woman''s voice, sounding harried, spoke the pre-recorded message.

    The man gave a half-smile. ¡°Close, let''s hurry. Garreline, take my hand.¡± The woman complied and gripped his hand with vicelike strength, the links of her chain gloves biting into his flesh. His grin never wavered. Gesturing with his right hand, he spoke a few consonant heavy words and the shadows enveloped them both. As their sight cleared they stood in a narrow alley, the buildings leaned against each other and formed a sort of man-made cavern, a bluestone addict sat against a wall, blood, snot, and a glowing blue liquid trickling from her nose.

    The dwarven woman felt the stone hanging at her side, ¡°It¡¯s that way.¡± Hefting her axe she then hurried down the alley. The hunter followed her at not quite a jog. He whistled and a dagger slid from a sheath on his back to hover beside his left arm.

    The walls shook from the downdraft of the departing balloon or Zeppelin as she had heard them being called. A pot shook free from its perch and fell noisily to the floor. The stench of death hung thick in the room. Blankets, most were simple rags laid on top of each other and stiff with grime, covered the floor of the small room that seemed to have served as a bedchamber. A dead woman lay on her side a slight shimmer from her open mouth told a tale of drugs and malnutrition. A small child clung to her legs and sobbed despite being so weakened from exhaustion and starvation that it could no longer cry continuously.

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    <hr>

    Vanessa did not know what to do, she had felt a strange emanation of void energies, and being a bit bored had followed on a whim. And now she was thoroughly disgusted with both humanity and herself for not simply going on her way.

    ''Humans.'' She thought. Poverty so desolate, that it hurt to even know it was there, luxury and power to cure all ills, satisfy every desire. But only for a relatively few. It was nothing new, but even in the wilds of Ulsolm even seeing her erstwhile kin, subservient to the one that brought about the end of their civilization, scrabbling in the dirt, living a harsh life. It had not have prepared her for what she saw in these slums.

    The woman seemed to have overdosed on what was commonly called Blue Crystal. It was ground mana crystal and some additives, meaning ground glass, meal, some put the blood of animals or even people into the mixture. It gave magicians a rush of power and heightened both their mana as well as the power of their spells, but it cost them long-term stability and damaged nerves, leading those stupid or desperate enough to use the more powerful blood crystal for even more of a rush.

    She leaned forward and sang a few words, white light glowed from her fingertips, and the small child, boy or girl was difficult to ascertain, sniffled once and then fell into a deep sleep.

    She felt a burning sensation traveling through her left arm as she felt a sizeable fragment of deepstone approaching. ¡®Not again.¡¯ She thought. The hunters had been persistent and even though she had managed to fool them again and again and thankfully there was no indication they had noticed her hideout, they came closer than she liked. ¡®The child will not live through another night of this. I must get it to a healer. And that means I can¡¯t take shortcuts through other planes, even though I would not want that regardless.¡¯

    She grabbed the child that was nearly a third of her own slight stature and then went for a flapping leather scrap that could charitably be called a curtain and pulled it aside. Behind her, she heard heavy steps. Then a crash as the door was forced. It was probably not necessary to hit the door a push would have done it.

    An axe crashed through the wall she was standing behind, splinters of wood and bits of an iron nail slashed into the husk of the dead drug addict, Vanessa ducked and wove a spellform with her left hand spitting a short syllable. The air around her solidified and hardened into a shield shaped like a faceted jewel. A tall, bald human whistled, and a streak of metal shot for her, which she prudently dodged. With a popping sound, a part of the wall disintegrated and the sooty night air blew through a hole as large as the fist of that damnable dwarfen woman.

    Crouching after her dodge she sprang back and backflipped onto the small window sill. The dwarf was nimble for her size and apparent mass and Vanessa had to lean back to avoid contact with the large glinting axe adorned with dwarfen runes which worried her a bit. She was not well versed in their use.

    ¡°Oswald, keep her from escaping! I will carve her out of that lovely shield of hers.¡±

    The one spoken too nodded and whistled again, the dagger, because that was the aforementioned streak shot at her again. Then he drew a crystal slate that activated with a hissing sound. Shining runes blew outward through the combatants and the walls seemingly without effect.

    Vanessa gritted her teeth as she felt her touch on other dimensions weakening. The axe clashed with her shield and runes lit up, the axe crackled with lightning. She gestured and mist seeped from her fingers. The air turned opaque. ¡°Don''t breathe it in!¡± Oswald jumped back and spoke a short spell wind surged from his right sleeve and pushed back the fog.

    Garreline barreled towards Vanessa and hacked at her, both hands deftly switching grips on the shaft of her axe. Mist flowed after each cut and the floor crunched and broke beneath the mighty blows. Shouts of alarm and panic sounded from beneath them.

    Vanessa looked apologetically at the small sleeping child then spoke a spell which caused the sleeping form to hover beside her, this cost her another blow to her shield, which was rapidly losing cohesion. Then she gestured and tendrils of fog, half-seen figures rose inside the mist and grabbed for her assailants.

    ¡°Fornicating scraps of trash-metal. Impure veins of corund.¡± Garreline shouted some curses. Where the tendrils and appendages touched her, her skin became pale and she was sweating. Coughing violently after breathing in the caustic mist she fell back. With a swirl of her dark cloak, Vanessa shot through the now completely breached wall and onto the roof of the adjacent building. Gaining momentum she raced away into the night, the child held in her arms.

    Coughing and cursing Oswald and Garreline withdrew to the alleys.

    ¡°That went well.¡± Oswald laconically remarked. He was still twitchy but a certain calm had entered his voice.

    ¡°Now we know what she is capable of, next time she will be ours for sure.¡± Garreline spat onto the dirt, a bit of blood mingled in the liquid. Looking annoyed she spoke a word in dwarven and the blood boiled into smoke.

    ¡°Then it''s back to searching again.¡± Oswald shrugged. He brushed back his coat to let the dagger sheath itself on his back.

    The chapel of Meloris the bringer of order was named, uncreatively enough, Light of Order. It stood inside a small yard situated behind some buildings. It was not normally a very popular destination in the small neighborhood where lived mostly workers from the docks or manufactories. It was reasonably well thought of, and you could find some comfort in the pristine lines of the building, the clean yard surrounding it, or talking to the priestess.

    A knock sounded. And it repeated again and again. ¡°Yes, yes! Leave the door in one piece will ya.¡± An old woman''s voice sounded as slow steps neared the large entrance door. Angels of order looked from reliefs to the side and the words ¡®Order within, order without¡¯ shone in brass letters on said door. Light gradually shone from beneath the portal as someone pulled back the locking bar.

    The door opened and an older priestess attired in her nightclothes stood there while beside her stood a young male acolyte with a lantern.

    Before the door stood a small being swathed in a too-large cloak, holding a child which seemed to be near death. A melodic voice spoke and a glint of green light escaped the cloak. ¡°I must apologize for the late intrusion. This child is dying and I cannot help him. I would ask that you take care of it.¡±

    A rattling breath that sounded like it might be the last sounded from the child and the priestess¡¯ eyes turned serious. ¡°Marthelm, take the child to the infirmary I will soon follow. Young lady, what is your name?¡±

    Vanessa handed the child to the young man, boy really, who seemed overwhelmed and very nervous about the situation. Then she dropped a small pouch and vanished into the night beyond the light of the lantern. A whisper reached her ear. ¡°It should be enough to ensure it has a life but I cannot tarry. Farewell.¡±

    The priestess took the pouch, saw that it was well filled with coin and turned to follow her acolyte. She could have sworn that as the small woman spoke she could see the reflecting eyes of a large cat inside the cloak where the face should have been. Shaking her head she turned to the much more difficult undertaking of saving the life of a sick young boy.

 Learning about water

    ¡°It is life, I think, to watch the water. A man can learn so many things.¡±

    ¨D Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

    The morning began in a very typical and ordinary way. For Alea that is.

    ¡°Mireille, your leg. Mpf.¡± How she had managed without waking Alyssa she would never know but Mireille had tangled the bed sheets and herself with Alyssa¡¯s arms and legs, not unlike a certain legendary knot.

    ¡°...m sleeping.¡±

    ¡°No, you...pfft.¡± Alyssa struggled and at last woke Mireille enough for her to let go. ¡°I will never understand how that was comfortable enough to sleep?¡± She had to admit to herself that it was warm and comfy though.

    Mireille smiled sleepily, ¡°Mornin''.¡±

    ¡°Let us get breakfast, if we don¡¯t hurry it will get cold.¡± Alyssa tried to get Mireille to hurry. An empty threat because Madam Gosling was well versed in the vagaries of providing for unruly students and could use minor magics to keep meals warm or reheat as necessary.

    Alea sat in her dark blue sleeping robe and looked at all of that and the spider shook her head in consternation. Her friends were weird.

    Breakfast was again a strained affair as some of the other girls were wary of Alyssa. One even suddenly ¡®remembered¡¯ an appointment and hastily left.

    But with the encouragement of her friend''s presence, she held her peace.

    The first classes were again magical theory and history. Mr. Glames was already there as they filed into the room. He nodded distractedly while he finished transcribing a runic alphabet from a thick tome onto the blackboard.

    Vivienne, her brother in tow, greeted Mireille and introduced herself to Alea and Alyssa. ¡°Hello, I don¡¯t think we have spoken directly, I am Vivienne of Kruoghs Breach and this is my brother Valens. Mireille, my brother, and I have ¡®Art of the Storm¡¯ together.¡± She smiled, there was only a very slight hesitation as she nodded towards Alyssa and the white-haired girl was unsure if she was imagining things.

    ¡°Nice to meet you too.¡± Alyssa gave a friendly smile.

    Students flocked into the classroom. Alea, Mireille, and Alyssa sat near each other as before, Vivienne changed her seat to one beside the red-head, her brother begrudgingly followed. Some of the students who had been sitting near the trio shuffled their seats.

    The princess entered with her attendant nodded towards Alea, seemed to think for a moment, and then went closer to take a seat directly in front of her. The girl who had been the former occupant sat half a room away chatting with some friends. She had been especially unnerved by Alea''s spider.

    ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± Lieseleta whispered with a mischievous smile and nodded towards Mireille and Alyssa. "Good to see you again." The last was said toward Alea.

    Alea seemed a bit embarrassed and a bit of red could be seen beneath her blindfold. ¡°Good to see you too. You know my friends, Alyssa and Mireille?¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± She nodded a greeting. ¡°Let''s keep quiet for now and talk at lunch.¡±

    ¡°What''s with the commotion. Simply take the same seats as yesterday. Anyone without a seat can come to sit here at the front, there are some perfectly fine ones where I can keep an eye on indecisive troublemakers.¡± Mr. Glames'' eyes had an angry glint- one could not be sure if it was only a trick of the light.

    After this announcement, it took only a few short moments for everyone to find their seat, and the whispered conversations tapered off.

    ¡°Good morning students. Welcome to your second day in the academy. Today I will outline the most common runes and their function both in enchantment and in spell-magic.¡±

    Alyssa was focused on the lesson, she never did have formal schooling even though her mother had tried her best while she had been alive. Alea was bored because her knowledge of glyphs and runes was far more advanced than what was presented up til now. The princess studied a book on intelligent magical beings. Mireille was fast asleep.

    Vivienne had a faintly amused expression while she seemed to listen to the teacher. Her right hand made a small gesture and glyphs flickered before fading quickly. Her brother was diligently taking notes.

    A soft breeze blew from behind her and barely intelligible whispers reached Alyssa. ¡°...we have to talk to Professor Nordstrom again.¡± ¡°...she...accepted¡­¡± ¡°...this can''t go on. Alyssa Miner¡­¡± She flinched, calmed herself, and then, trying to appear natural, looked behind her. There was a row of desks with some students from her void class. As she risked a quick look she met the eyes of two, a boy and a girl with dark blonde hair that seemed startled by the contact and guiltily lowered their gaze.

    A dark-haired boy gazed at her derisively and then said something to the two blondes who looked incredulous and then giggled.

    Alyssa turned around, brow furrowed.

    Mr. Glames finished transcribing all runes and turned to the class. ¡°Why do we use runes?¡± He looked at the students questioningly. ¡°Anyone?¡±

    ¡°To better focus our intent and give the magic a clear path and direction,¡± Lieseleta answered.

    ¡°Correct. You use language, gestures, and runes because you want to focus your intent. For basic magic.¡± He looked at the table before him and a paper began to float. ¡°You only need focus and intent. But in that case, I have to be absolutely focused and concentrate on my task. If I falter even for a moment the working will slip and the magic dissipates or worse. For small things, this does not matter much.¡±

    He relaxed, overdoing it for effect and the paper was ripped in two as the breeze that held it aloft turned violent for a second. ¡°The more you use ancillary means, by which I mean runes, words, and gestures, the more precise you can get and the less magic you have to use and the better, more exact, and even greater the effect. A great magician might get a fireball to work even without such help, but it is but a moment away from failing, while the correct usage of glyphs focuses the magic even when intent and focus slip."

    He drew breath and continued. "Rituals take that a bit further and at their best even allow more than one mage to pool their magic for the intent is inherent in the ritual and no longer needs the caster to do more than supply power. Not to mention that even knowing all the necessary variables affecting a large-scale ritual can be nearly impossible to manage for a human.¡±

    He paced back and forth gesturing. ¡°Enchantment is another form such magic can take. You can instill most or all the necessary preparations into an object to simply channel the magic or even use foreign substances such as crystal dust to power it.¡±

    He turned back to the students and put both hands on the table. ¡°Why are there so many different magical languages and runes? Ms. Vivienne.¡± He pointed.

    ¡°Because they specialize. And one is good for something another lacks.¡± Vivienne smiled gently while saying that drawing an approving nod from the teacher.

    ¡°That is also correct. You use the language most suited to the endeavor if you can. Old Allisairian is what we use most often and is suited for most applications, but there is Crafters Tongue, Penang¡¯s Speech, the elemental tongues, and regarding runes there is naturally the ancient speech or titans alphabet which is still ill-understood. If you talk to a sailor for example he will have much more specialized words, expressions, and sayings for nautic matters than any other dialect or language would naturally care to contain. But it is very useful that you can be more precise, more correct in your diction regarding those specific areas.¡±

    He spoke a word that sounded like a shower of sparks and a ball of fire appeared hovering over his right palm. ¡°Your power and precision would be much better working fire magic while using the elemental tongue of fire. To make a somewhat simplistic example.¡±

    The lesson was hard for those not already versed in runes and Alyssa managed only because of her mother''s and later Vanessa¡¯s tutoring. As it came to an end she was sweating and her hand and forearm cramped from notetaking.

    Softly so as to not aggravate the pain she spoke a few words and called the healing waters which eased the strain.

    ¡°Was that Elven?¡± Vivienne leaned a bit forward to look.

    Alyssa looked a bit startled and replied. ¡°Yes, it''s an old spell my mother taught me.¡±

    ¡°It looks quite efficient. If you have the time I would very much like to talk to you about that.¡±

    Mireille looked pleased that her friends seemed to get along well.

    Lieseleta looked intrigued but refrained from commenting.

    Lunch was more boisterous than the day before, the students had gotten more used to the environment and the awe many had felt at first, began to wear off.

    As they walked through the mensa two boys with a noble bearing walked towards them and stood in their path. The older one addressed Lieseleta. ¡°Princess, how very nice to see you again. I hope you remember me? Jaroslaw of Kamgrin Hall.¡± He bowed but made no attempts to move aside.

    The princess''s mouth firmed into a thinner line. ¡°It is much appreciated to see you again after all this time, but mayhaps it is not the time or the place for such a reunion. I will inform my servants that you should be included in the invitation in the event of a get-together which I am currently planning. But if you might excuse us for the moment, we still have to get lunch.¡±

    ¡°If it would please you, we would like to invite you to our table.¡± He motioned towards a table beside one of the large windows. A few students, seemingly all of noble birth were already sitting there and had their attention on their two representatives and Lieseleta.

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    Alea took a small step and whispered. ¡°I hope it is not impertinent of me to say, but if you need to go with them, please do not think yourself beholden to your promise to eat with us.¡±

    The golden-haired girl looked at her with a smile and then turned. ¡°I will have to decline for today, it is best if we don¡¯t decide on a moment''s notice. How about lunch on Monday?¡±

    The two looked disappointed and then pointedly looked at Alea, Mireille, and last Alyssa while ignoring the two half-elves. ¡°If you have a prior commitment we will have to accept of course.¡± The word commitment was said a bit derisively.

    ¡°Gentlemen, I bid you a good day.¡± Lieseleta did not take any pains to hide her displeasure. The two boys went back to their table.

    ¡°That was draining.¡± Alea sighed. ¡°Hopefully they took the hint. And they did not accept the appointment for Monday, you can sit with us then too.¡± She smiled a bit.

    One of the two boys seemed to become angry as if he had heard something and the girls fell silent. Vivienne had a half-smile as she pointed towards a free table. ¡°Let''s sit over there¡±. Her brother had a mien of long-suffering patience while still hiding behind her.

    They talked about the lessons and ate a delicious meal, then it was off again to their respective lessons. Mireille had ¡®The air we breathe¡¯; Alyssa was scheduled for ¡®Water, the first building block of life¡¯ and Alea had ¡®Never enough, principles of Time Magic¡¯.

    The two half-elven siblings went with Alyssa who was glad for the company of at least supposedly friendly students. ¡°Have you been in Kronenburg long?¡± Vivienne attempted a bit of conversation while her brother did his level best to fade into the background. A bit difficult with his features and coloration but he tried.

    ¡°No, we got here some few days before the enrollment.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Then might you be interested in seeing a bit of the city with me and my brother? I would like to invite your other friends too if they are interested.¡± Her brother seemed resigned.

    ¡°Oh, that sounds nice actually, other than driving through the merchant''s quarter I never did get to see much of the city.¡± Alyssa smiled. They walked along one of the many collonades facing an inner courtyard and the wind tousled her hair.

    Vivienne regarded her intently as Alyssa thought about the invitation. ¡®The girl will be an absolute beauty in a few years'' time.¡¯ and as she saw her white left hand, ¡®She should really wear a glove, the void affliction is very visible to those who know what to look for. And it''s progressed quite far for her age actually. But that''s a personal void gate for you, normal people don¡¯t have nearly the amount of void magic to damage themselves that much.¡¯

    Half-amused she continued the thought. ''You would have to have lived on a large battlefield to amass that much void mana, or have caused it at that.''

    Then they arrived at a large courtyard. It seemed many classes were held in the open, understandable if one looked at the possibly destructive magic involved.

    A middle-aged blue-eyed woman with white-blond hair and a stocky figure waited for them. She wore the robes of a professor, dark blue with green highlights and runes in a blue-metallic colored thread.

    There were a lot of people already assembled. It seemed the pure elemental classes were the most popular. Nearly thirty students were already sitting and chatting with each other. A pool occupied the centermost part the walls were carved with depictions of sea life, fish, whales, jellyfish. A representation of the Wavemother her moon-tipped glaive in hand sat on a throne made of sunken ships and watched in contemplation.

    ¡°Welcome to my class. My name is Heru Gera von Turswacht. I don¡¯t stem from Margrinar originally, yes Turswacht was one of the Kingdoms of the Broken and sadly is no more."

    She smiled indicating her indifference, "This class aims to teach the necessary language and control of water-based spells, primarily for healing and utility purposes. Damaging magic using water as the spell''s base is best done with ice in my opinion and that is outside of my curriculum. Any questions regarding that?¡± She looked around.

    A dark-haired youth Alyssa vaguely remembered from the introduction by professor Reneus raised a hand.

    ¡°Yes, what is your question?¡±

    ¡°Do we get to learn defensive arts? I heard water is especially suited for that.¡±

    ¡°Yes, there will be some protective magics, especially against fire-based attacks. Are there any other questions?¡±

    A blonde girl raised her hand.

    ¡°Yes, state your question please.¡±

    ¡°Do we learn something about liquid-based magic in general or primarily water?¡±

    ¡°Water will be the focus, but if you are asking if there are applications for Alchemy then the answer is yes. I will teach you some spells to control the flow of liquids and their behavior which should help with brewing and distilling. Is there a next question? If not I will continue the lesson.¡±

    She let her gaze roam over the students and they felt it would be a good idea to wait to ask their questions another time.

    ¡°I will begin by testing you for control and the extent of your knowledge. Because our students come from wildly differing backgrounds their starting point can be quite divergent, so I and most of my fellow teachers like to get to know where we stand before then formulating a plan to get everyone onto the same page. Please come forward in the order you are called and demonstrate the spell that is in your opinion your best or most powerful use of water magic.¡±

    Students would be called forward and then cast one or two spells. Most conjured simple globes of water, some formed sculptures out of the water in the pond.

    ¡°Alyssa Miner.¡± Murmurs went through the watching students. The professor gave a sharp look and the noise ceased.

    Vivienne''s gaze sharpened with interest while her brother was looking bored. She gave him a pointed look and whispered. ¡°Keep your eyes on her. You are my resident expert in water magic. Tell me what you see and evaluate her ability.¡± Reluctantly straightening his slouching pose he looked towards Alyssa who was walking quickly towards the pool.

    Asandria''s whispers sounded in Alyssa''s mind ¡®You could go for awe, but it might be best to go for humility and goodness. What do you think? I will support your magic and Cyrus will do so too.¡¯

    Alyssa whispered under her breath. ¡°What would awe include exactly? Yesterday I was depressed, today I would like to show them up.¡±

    ¡®I could inhabit a water golem and give all of you a performance.¡¯

    Alyssa could practically see her smile full of teeth and sighed. ¡°It might be best to stick to goodness and humility. The teacher does not look the flashy type.¡±

    ¡®You never know.¡¯

    Vivienne raised an eyebrow. Her playful winds drew the words from Alyssa¡¯s lips to her ears and she could not make sense of it. ¡®Does she talk to someone or to herself?¡¯

    Asandria demurred, ¡®we will shine in the years to come, what is a day of humility when set against that.¡¯

    ¡°Please begin.¡± Professor Turswacht announced.

    Alyssa drew a deep breath and then focused on the all-too-familiar cadence of healing waters. Drawing fully on her connection to Cyrus who perked up at that and listening to Asandria singing counterpoint she drew the spell glyphs into the air with her right hand and invoked the magic. A glowing mist formed and water began to softly rain onto the soil. The grass around became vibrant and even seemed to grow a few centimeters in an ever-spreading circle.

    As she sang, the noise of the whispering students ceased, it was an elemental song of flowing water, deepsea currents swirling about mountains in lightless depths, the spray of the ocean waves hitting the cliffs of the shore. And inside the one there was another voice echoing. A bright sapphire glow emanated from the coiling waters streaming from her hand. Vivienne smiled and clapped with real emotion this time. Other students followed.

    ¡°That was beautifully done, Ms. Miner. And the spell was also highly effective. That was always the elven way, to combine utility with the expression of art. Thank you, that will be all. Next is¡­¡±

    Alyssa blushed and gave a sort of half-bow then hastily returned towards her position.

    ¡°Well done,¡± Vivienne whispered. ¡°You simply will have to teach me that.¡±

    And Alyssa looked relieved while thinking. ¡°Maybe it was only a bad start, this does not seem to be so bad.¡±

    <hr>

    Somewhere else. Sometime before lunch.

    ¡°Magister, we have received some complaints.¡± The old man turned his head slightly, a puff of smoke escaped his pipe. A small gesture and the pipe floated before him.

    ¡°What is the matter this time? And do I have to remind you that you should not bring every little rumor to my doorstep?¡±

    The man was in his early sixties, and still very hale, even muscular. He stood before a large window overlooking the front yard of the academy. His robes were a deep red with copper accents and runes encircling his hem, collar, and sleeves. A big amulet of tarnished silver with an inset ruby big as a walnut drew attention to his immaculately braided, snow-white beard. The head was clean-shaven with bushy eyebrows and steel-gray eyes.

    The room had wooden paneling and an ebony parquet with thick dark red carpets underlying a massive desk of black wood facing the entrance. Shelves with books and scrolls, bottles and globes for astronomical, astrological, or cartographic use lined the walls.

    A thin woman with a pair of pince-nez glasses looked at him disapprovingly. ¡°I would not waste your or my time for no good reason. Drathur Illimen, do you remember the times I discussed the relative merits of letting commoners mingle with our finest noble mages? And the times I warned of the ill-effects that would most likely have?¡±

    She was clothed in robes of dark grey, her black hair pulled back into a tight bun was mingled with a lot of grays.

    The magister turned fully, the pipe still hovering and smoking. ¡°Yes, how could I not. And as before I can only point to the facts. Three of our best war mages come from common stock and the personal healer of the dowager, our esteemed queen mother is also a merchant''s daughter.¡± The tone was weary and without passion. ¡°Why the sudden temper tantrum? Did something happen?¡±

    ¡°The first years have a potential summoner with a high void affinity. And she demonstrated a disregard for the orders of the teacher in her very first lesson. She is a problem waiting to happen.¡±

    ¡°And? The first God-King on this sorry world was a summoner with a void affinity. Students disregarding the orders of a teacher would first and foremost be the responsibility of the teacher. Are you teaching void magic now, Jamila?¡±

    The bloodless lips of the woman turned at the corners into what could charitably be called a smile. ¡°That is not all. We received word from our border fortress in Thundersplit Pass. There has been a request for assistance with apprehending a fugitive murderess. And the description fits the girl.¡±

    ¡°Since when are we the lackeys of law enforcement of our neighboring kingdoms? Do you have the missive? How did this even reach the academy?¡± His brows furrowed in suspicion.

    ¡°Yes. Here it is.¡± The woman walked towards him and presented a rolled parchment with a broken seal.

    Drathur Illimen read the contents at a glance. ¡°She has to have really stirred the hornet''s nest. You know that she has the endorsement of the von Graufurts due to her and her friend saving them from bandits on the road?¡±

    ¡°I did not. But the von Graufurts are only¡­¡±

    ¡°One of the noble scions you claim to prefer. I will have this looked into. Until then I will tolerate no premature actions. You might think me disinterested, but I always read the assessment reports that are sent to my office and she could be a rare prodigy. It would be a shame if such talent would be lost due to prejudice.¡±

    ¡°There are already students fearing for their well-being. That is also a priority!¡±

    ¡°Do you know what does trouble me the most?¡±

    ¡°Not in this context as you seem disinterested in the arguments I presented.¡±

    ¡°When I have some very talented students, students that could go far, be very useful for the academy and even Margrinar as a whole. And when those same students withdraw to their families without using their abilities, not making the most of their talents. And most such students don¡¯t have any past to leverage.¡± He looked pensive as he said that. ¡±You will not take action without my explicit approval. Do I make myself clear?¡±

    The wizardess nodded once, anger firming the line of her mouth. Then she bowed perfunctorily and left.

    The magister went towards his shelves took down a book on heraldry and flipped through its pages. ¡°Gentlewoman and wizardess Jamila Esmeralda von Nordstrom. Fifth in line for the small barony by the same name. Third daughter of Ulstaff von Nordmark.¡± He snapped the book shut. ¡°The Nordmarks have been quite active of late. Wasn¡¯t the failed ambush on the Graufurt heir also a possible plot of Zygmund von Nordmark¡¯s brood? The old bastard no longer gets to do his own dirty work being the ancient relic he is. Sometimes I feel like he does not need a healer but rather a necromancer. Worth keeping an eye on, and with their pet academy project nonetheless.¡±

    He made a few gestures and spoke a short spell. A small bird made of runes that quickly shifted to form a more realistic-looking sparrow appeared on the back of his hand. He brought the bird towards his lips and whispered. ¡°Calvin, I have need of your services. Bring your apprentice I could use him too. It¡¯s urgent but no emergency. Illimen¡±

    With a fluttering of wings, the bird flew through the glass of the closed window and disappeared into the distance. Another gesture and the pipe that had patiently been hovering where he had left it flew into his waiting hand. He took a deep draft and looked outside at the students hurrying towards lunch.

    Contemplating.

 School-Life

    ¡°What greater gift than the love of a cat.¡±

    - Charles Dickens

    Impressions:

    A room with a floor in the shape of a sundial, the needle was a great column carved with the symbols of the unknown god of time sometimes called the watcher. A young-looking man explained to the students the intricacies of a schematic detailing a rune that should, if properly carved, measure time in a more objective manner than simply guessing. For, as he said, to manipulate something you have to first know what is there. Alea took notes and focused diligently.

    The top of a tower, parapets rising chest-high, pennants fluttering in the wind. A group of students tried to keep their belongings from flying off in the greedy paws of the stiff wind. Mireille looked as if she had a headache coming on. The teacher, a middle-aged woman thin as a stick, taught them the elemental tongue of air, Auram, and she did take no shortcuts. ¡®What have I done to deserve this!?¡¯ The red-head thought to herself while she at least tried to look attentive. ¡®If this decides my success and failure I should talk to Vanessa again.¡¯

    <hr>

    And then it was late in the afternoon.

    Mireille wandered aimlessly about the campus, she had some time left to kill before her ¡®Sword One¡¯ lessons began. She was still miffed at the title. ¡®How about: Swordcraft, from apprentice to master in four seasons; And it does cut it! Swords for everyone; Stick them with the pointy end...no that was not it.¡¯

    A small and piteous ¡®Meow¡¯ sounded and she looked around curiously. The corner of the academy she found herself in was nearly deserted. ¡®I should have grabbed something more substantial than bread and cheese if I am going to miss dinner.¡¯ She thought while still scanning her surroundings.

    ¡®Meow, mrrrrow. Meeeow.¡¯ She looked up. A tall tree leaned against a dormitory that looked to have seen better times. Plaster was cracked and some cracks even showed the brick beneath. The tree was a chestnut tree and the hard nuts littered the ground. A small blue-grey, fluffy cat with golden eyes sat on one of the highest branches and fluttered with its wings. ¡®Stop. Wings?!¡¯ The thought hit her.

    The cat had the wings of a kestrel hawk and there were some feathers mixed into its fur, she knew because a friend of her grandma had been a minor noble and often went hunting with one. The eyes seemed to be hawk-eyes also. ¡®Meow¡¯- it, she did not want to guess the gender, pawed at the bark, and some flaked off. ¡®Sharp claws. Mh.¡¯ The meowing got more piteous as it seemed to have realized she was contemplating rescuing it.

    She looked around but there was no one there. ¡°Why don¡¯t you fly down? You have got two perfect wings there!¡±

    ¡®Meowwrr.¡¯

    ¡°Mh. You don¡¯t know how?¡±

    ¡®Mrrrow.¡¯

    ¡®That is going nowhere fast. Nothing to it, can''t let it hang in there, this area is deserted and perhaps it would have to wait until the next morning. Poor thing.¡¯

    Grabbing a low-hanging branch she levered herself up and began to climb. Soon she reached branches that did not seem exactly stable anymore. ¡°Here kitty, kitty!¡±

    The hawk-winged cat regarded her suspiciously.

    ¡°Come here, I can''t get to where you are!¡± She tried to shimmy a bit closer, but the branch creaked alarmingly.

    ¡®Meow¡¯

    She stretched out a hand and the cat looked at that with its head tilted to the side. Then it pawed the hand, but thankfully not with claws extended.

    ¡°That. Is. Not. Helpful.¡± Mireille looked stern. The cat looked flustered.

    ¡®Meow¡¯

    She crept a bit closer, the branch made a snapping noise. ¡®Noooooo¡­Nirileth!¡¯

    And then it was a tumble of branch, cat, and Mireille. The cat spread its wings and glided to the ground. Mireille concentrated and spat the word ¡°Eralasselyanthinar¡±, the world slowed down and she turned, catlike, in the air before catching the force of the fall with her legs, knees bending with the impact. A ring of lightning accompanied by a gust of wind scattered and toasted a few of the chestnuts and crisped the grass. Letting go of the magic she looked around as the last sparks shot into the evening air.

    ¡®Meow¡¯

    The cat sat some few meters from her and was licking its paw. She felt her legs and ankles and finding nothing amiss she walked over and reached her hand towards the small creature which sniffed her cautiously. Then it began to purr and rubbed its head on her hand. ¡°You know, I should be pretty pissed at you? Why did you not fly down before? Are you afraid of heights?!¡±

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    The cat looked up at the last one and seemed insulted and flapped its wings. A golden round pendant hung on its neck, she turned the small metal plate and read- ¡®Semiramis, Owner: Reneus Flammensiegel.¡¯

    ¡°Ah, you are that man''s pet. That explains much.¡±

    ¡®Meeeeoow.¡¯

    ¡°You are a talkative one, aren''t you?¡±

    ¡®Purr.¡¯

    She tried lifting her, and the cat let her. ¡°Oh, you are so soft and fluffy!¡± Mireille rubbed and petted the fur. The small feathers in its coat were predominantly on the sides of its neck and extremities.

    ¡°Ah, there you are!¡± A voice sounded from the direction of the dormitory and the professor in question, Reneus, walked over briskly. He looked sleepy and there were bags beneath his eyes. ¡°Did you get caught on the tree again?¡±

    ¡®Meow!¡±

    ¡°Good evening professor!¡±

    ¡°You are...Mireille arent you? You had an appointment with me to discuss a potential scholarship. I remember. Did Semiramis give you any grief? She is a very nice young lady but she can''t seem to let go of the habits that come with her wings. And then it''s the instincts of a cat that does not let her use them.¡±

    ¡°Why does she have them in the first place?¡±

    ¡°It''s a sad story really, she is one of nearly two-dozen hybridized animals that were found in an unsanctioned laboratory catering to the more extreme tastes of people with more money than morals. The rest were mostly put out of their misery but Semiramis here is a special case. She has a bit of mana and can use some lesser air magic, which makes her patently unsuited for a ¡®normal¡¯ household. And as I was the senior magus on site she is now my charge.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for telling me, she is adorable.¡±

    ¡°If you want, come and play with her. I would be glad if someone expended some of her energy!¡±

    ¡°I will!¡±

    The cat waved its paw and a gust of wind scattered the chestnuts even further.

    ¡°Semiramis!¡± Reneus scolded the innocent-looking cat.

    Mireille said her farewell and went towards the training grounds set aside for her sword lesson.

    <hr>

    About twenty students from all the different school years stood around a large dueling ring and listened to a broad-shouldered woman with close-cut dark blonde hair as she explained the coming class. She wore quilted armor with metal bracers and thick gloves. Her face was plain but she had a charismatic aura, the voice schooled on many a battlefield reached everyone without effort.

    ¡°Listen up! I am Julia Parka von Ulms Wall. I am a knight of the order of the Crimson Vow and I will try to teach you the art of swordcraft. Some of you perhaps did think learning the sword to be a good idea to impress the ladies, some might have thought it could complement their magical abilities. If there is anyone not completely serious about learning I would ask he or she excuse themselves before I waste all our time.¡± She looked around. Mireille began to feel a bit excited and a small anticipatory grin stole on her face.

    ¡°No one? We will see.¡± She pointed towards a rack leaning against the wall of a larger storehouse the overhanging roof protected it from all but the most intense rain. There were all sorts of swords- Longswords, broadswords, arming swords, dueling blades, and many more. Even some greatswords hung beside the rack from iron hooks driven into the wood.

    ¡°Take one that best fits your style. I will then explain a few drills that anyone should be able to do and then it''s practice, practice, practice. If you do well I will find a sparring partner for you and then we will see if anyone might be suited to help with tutoring those that do not have a solid foundation already. Fear not, it will not be to his or her detriment as I will have more time for those more gifted and I will mark it down as academic merit. Any questions before we begin?¡±

    A young red-haired girl with a ponytail asked, ¡°Do we learn how to incorporate magic into the battle?¡±

    ¡°Not at this point. If everyone is a bit farther along learning the basics I might be inclined to teach some of you a bit of body-strengthening magic. It will be pretty necessary to even the field with those who already use it after all. Next!¡±

    ¡°Wouldnt it be more effective to teach us a single sword-type?¡± A slim boy with dark hair and glasses asked.

    ¡°It would, naturally. But this is not the army.¡± Mireille winced a bit at that. ¡°And everyone will soon find that there is no single sword that fits everyone. So I will train you as a noble will be trained, as a single fighter that needs to have the weapon best suited for you and your body type and your level of skill and diligence. If we have the time I might give a few lessons on group tactics. It multiplies your effectiveness if you could better work together. But don¡¯t hold your breath, getting to basic proficiency levels as I see it will take you most of the semester. Anyone else?¡±

    No one lifted a hand.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s begin!¡±

    Mireille chose a long, thin-bladed weapon which Julia told her was named a ¡®Degen¡¯ it did have a broader blade than a rapier and was thus a bit more robust but also heavier. ¡°For it to be effective against armor I would recommend a piercing enchantment or for the material to be at least on the level of mana-tempered steel.¡± The professor told her while inspecting the wooden practice weapon.

    Then it was drills, drills, and drills. As she was highly dissatisfied with the fitness of some of the warriors-to-be she sent them running around the yard for the rest of the two and a half hours of their time.

    <hr>

    Mireille went straight to Wisteria Dorm afterward and took a long shower in the bathtub. Feeling a bit better she put on some new clothes. Alyssa sat at her desk and was reading some text about Aquam, the language of water. Alea was mending a tear in her cloak with the cantrip Mireille had shown her.

    A scratching sound came from the window. Everyone turned to look and Cyrus became agitated. ¡®It¡¯s a strange chimera.¡¯ Asandria raised an eyebrow.

    Mireille, having her suspicions went and opened the window. On the sill sat a somewhat bedraggled-looking Semiramis and held a dead mouse in her teeth. With a ¡®plop¡¯ she let the gored rodent fall onto Mireille''s hand. ¡°Aah, gross.¡± The so gifted shook her hand and the mouse flew towards Alyssa, Cyrus flapped his wings and pressed the small white-haired girl onto the table before he snatched the still warm prey out of the air. He landed, still flapping his wings for stability, and eyed the cat with a more favorable expression.

    ¡®Meow.¡¯

    ¡°What in all the world is that?¡± Alea asked.

    ¡°Oh, look at those feathers, she looks so cute.¡± Alyssa looked delighted as she had straightened herself.

    ¡°This is Semiramis, I think she did want to thank me?¡± Mireille looked at the cat questioningly.

    ¡°Meow.¡±

    ¡°You should work on the range of your vocabulary.¡±

    ¡°Mrrrow.¡±

    ¡°Exactly."

 Market-Day Part I

    ¡°What strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need do is stroll about with our eyes open. Life swarms with innocent monsters.¡±

    - Charles Baudelaire

    Semiramis got on well with Cyrus to everyone''s surprise and they played with both until it was time for dinner. Mireille''s stomach was already grumbling from the lack of attention.

    So it was that the evening found them together in the dorm''s dining room. Madam Gosling smiled as she ladled a thick soup into the waiting bowls. A savory aroma drifted through the brightly lit room.

    Some of the girls were talking, the trio ate in silence, mostly because Mireille was starving and Alea was tinkering with a leg of her spider, the tip of her tongue between her teeth. Alyssa thought it quite cute and truthfully did not want to either disturb or anger the small girl by pointing it out.

    A group of girls sitting on the other end of the rectangular table were discussing something which piqued Alyssa¡¯s attention. ¡°Did you hear? Professor Glames has spoken with the assessor for our mundane studies and he is not satisfied with our standard. This means we will have some hours shifted from magical theory to mundane subjects!¡± A black-haired girl spoke with anger in her voice.

    ¡°Oh no, I did not escape my houses tutors to run into more arithmetic!¡± A blonde, her face pretty but slathered in make-up complained.

    ¡°It is probably the lower-born students pulling everyone down. If they had at least tried to prepare themselves¡­¡± The muttering became more difficult to understand as the speaker, the dark-haired girl that set the topic, lowered her voice.

    Alyssa concentrated on eating. ¡®If everyone had the leisure to learn as they want, I would most assuredly not lag behind!¡¯ She was getting a bit angry but reminded herself that the opportunity to be here that had landed in her lap was worth all this and much more.

    Asandria hummed the fragment of a beautiful song and managed to dispel her gloomy thoughts. ¡®Don¡¯t forget, tomorrow is Saturday and you would have some time in the evening to learn from Vanessa.¡¯

    ¡°In the daytime, we have the shopping date with Vivienne and her brother.¡± She murmured while hoping that no one would find it strange.

    Alea looked up. ¡°Lieseleta has invited herself too. I did not get around to mentioning it, so there it is.¡±

    ¡°At least we will be well-protected.¡± Alyssa smiled.

    The small spider moved the dented leg experimentally and then marched along Alea¡¯s right arm to her shoulder. Lucille grinned at that, the dark-haired girl stopped talking and looked at the spider, faint disgust visible in her eyes.

    <hr>

    The night came and went.

    ¡°Ah, why do we have to get up so early!¡± Mireille was complaining all the while Alyssa and Alea were washing up and arranging their clothes.

    ¡°Hurry up sleepyhead!¡± Alyssa teased Mireille still attired in the tunic she wore at night. ¡°We will go sightseeing and shopping. It sounds like fun.¡± The last was said in the patently obvious attempt to make herself believe it too.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like crowds. But at least you, the princess, and Vivienne are nice.¡± Alea gave her honest opinion. ¡°I think it will be bearable.¡± She made a brave face.

    ¡°That sounds like a ringing endorsement if ever I heard one.¡± Mireille turned and held the pillow over her head. This led to Cyrus attempting to steal it, which ended with the pillow needing magical emergency repair.

    ¡°You are too big for tug-o-war with pillows.¡± Alyssa admonished while Mireille cast the necessary magic. She felt the reluctance of her soul to conform to something other than lightning keenly, it had gotten worse in her opinion, but perhaps it was the ease of use regarding her power-words that had spoiled her. Sometimes she felt as if they were no longer really necessary and she just could use the lightning like any other muscle. A strange thought.

    After finally all getting ready they met up before the dorm. The coach, driven by Adam who nodded and tipped his hat at them, held before the doors and waited for them to board.

    Lieseleta was waiting on the main road from the academy, the green-haired siblings had relayed that message and then asked to be taken along in Alea¡¯s carriage. It was a tight fit.

    Then they were off.

    <hr>

    Valens was visibly discomfited by the tight confines of the four-person coach but a look from his sister quelled any protests he might have made.

    Vivienne was rather lively and joked with Mireille and Alyssa. Alea was a bit reticent too and tried to hide beside the slightly larger Alyssa.

    They arrived at an inn Lieseleta had recommended. They were warmly welcomed by the proprietor and the plan was for the vehicles and horses to be stabled there while the girls went to the great market plaza.

    Outside the academy grounds, the effects of the air purification wards were sorely missed, even as the smoke blew along the river there was still a pervasive itching in the back of the throat and Alea especially but all of them to some degree or another had runny noses and irritated eyes.

    Lieseleta grimaced and looked beseechingly at Jera her attendant and bodyguard. She nodded spread her hands and gestured while speaking a spell. A fresh breeze began to circulate around them. A few beads of sweat were visible on Jeras face.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Lieseleta smiled brightly and motioned for the others, ¡°Stay near, the effect does not extend far especially when we are moving. Let''s go and see the market.¡± She seemed to be in a very good mood and smiled at Alea who looked a bit overwhelmed by the noise and mass of people on the streets. Carriages rattled over the paving stones, men and women crossed the streets to reach the shops lining it. Many hastened along and spared no time for window shopping. The shops were quite interesting Mireille and Alyssa had not often seen so many quality goods. There was a carpenter presenting varnished hardwood chairs ornamented and upholstered with silk, there was a bookshop and Alyssa looked on with widened eyes at the mass of precious books held in its shelves and chests.

    Jera, and there seemed to be some guards in civilian clothing, were highly effective in keeping them safe and from bodily harm. That was no mean feat because early Saturday was quite a busy time.

    ¡°Mireille, look.¡± Vivienne held a small necklace made of silver the links went from smaller than a fingernail to nearly as big as a large coin at the front. There were symbols imprinted on the links and a lightning-shaped rune at the center. ¡°What do you think? Would you like to wear something like it?¡±

    Mireille tried it on and everyone concurred that it fit her well.

    ¡°It''s a gift. Don''t worry about it.¡± Vivienne laughed and threw the vendor some coin.

    ¡°It''s a bit much?¡± Mireille tried to protest but it was a bit half-hearted. ¡°If I make lots of money in the future I will return the favor!¡±

    Alyssa nudged her. ¡°We do have some money¡­¡± They were actually quite well-off by anyone''s standards after the windfall that a certain Lucien had left them, she reminded herself to look through the potions again. There were some she still had not identified.

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    ¡°Don''t mention it.¡± Vivienne brushed back her unruly hair and grinned.

    Lieseleta shook her head and thought, ¡®That one is a tease and used to manipulating people. Let''s keep an eye on her.¡¯

    Alea abruptly stopped, the spider swiveled her head and looked into a side street. ¡°What is it?¡± The princess asked.

    ¡°There is a shop I would be interested in,¡± Alea answered softly while pointing at the sign swinging in front of a building showing gears and a clock.

    ¡°Then we should have a look. Alyssa, Vivienne, Mireille. Let''s make a short detour.¡± She called in a somewhat louder voice.

    Somewhere music played and a woman was singing. Some people swerved to avoid the girls and hurried along at the edge of the street. A coachman cursed the delay caused by the heavy traffic. Somewhere in a backyard, a housewife hit a rug hung from a line with a carpet beater. Some doves were cooing on a windowsill above them. Cyrus eyed them hungrily.

    They saw some of those horseless carriages and began a guessing game about how the box might propel the vehicle.

    Alyssa had had the least problems with the crowd- other than the well-protected princess perhaps- because most took a look at the large reptile with the big and dangerous-looking stinger and went out of their way to avoid her.

    They went down the quiet side street and arrived at the shop. ¡®Willibald¡¯s Clocks and Clockwork¡¯ read the sign above in polished brass letters.

    A man walking in their direction sneezed and the cloth he used to keep the smoky air from irritating his lungs lifted showing bluish teeth and light blue-colored lips before he fastened the cloth again.

    ¡°Is he ill?¡± Alyssa inquired of Lieseleta who stood near her and seemed knowledgeable about the city.

    ¡°Who? The man just now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the one with the blue lips.¡±

    ¡°He is a bluestone or blue crystal addict. You should take care to avoid them.¡± the golden-haired girl looked sad. ¡°They do something with the ground mana crystals and whatever it makes them quite addictive. I heard that it''s especially bad for mages as it increases the power and capacity of your mana but at the cost of damaging your nerves and even your magic if used long enough. And thus it''s a big temptation if there is something important on the line. It began with some military research that looked for ways to increase the power of warmages. But let¡¯s leave that for another day, mh?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that seems best.¡± Alyssa shuddered. ¡°In Firswending we had a mana vein deep underground. It did things to people working there, they were never the same afterward.¡±

    ¡°You have a vein? I did not know about that.¡±

    ¡°It''s not particularly well known. People don¡¯t like to talk about it because of the horrible side effects of mining it.¡±

    ¡°I can well imagine. We use a lot of technology and magic to keep the ones mining the mana alive, but it is never quite enough. But let''s stop here. It''s such a beautiful day.¡±

    They entered the shop and found it to be both cramped and clean. The walls were hidden by shelves upon shelves that reached the high ceiling. Ladders and stepping stools stood to the side for no one, not even Jera would be able to reach the highest rungs unaided.

    A ¡®man¡¯ of uncertain age with white-blond hair pulled into a ponytail sat behind the counter, smoking while reading a newspaper. Alyssa was unsure if the person was human because he was so very small a bit over a meter in height. But the proportions were very humanlike if compared to say a dwarf.

    ¡°Never seen a gnome, have you?¡± The small person asked without looking up from the paper he was reading. He wore glasses fitted with some sort of mechanism that seemed to make them adjustable for...different conditions?

    ¡°Ah, no.¡± Alyssa stuttered, blushing and embarrassed.

    The gnome looked up and smiled while taking off the glasses. ¡°Willibald Mexemir Glassbright of the deep Glassbrights. A pleasant day to you all. Sorry, for that, I could not resist. It is not at all strange that you have not seen another of my kind, there are three in this city I know of. And mayhaps a few thousand left in our homeland.¡± He made air parenthesis with his hands as he said- homeland. ¡°But please. What brings you to my humble establishment.¡± The word humble could not have sounded less humble if he tried.

    Alea looked up from where she was standing and pointed. ¡°Is that an Ayrton converter?¡±

    ¡°Yes, indeed. But if you are looking for power then I could perhaps interest you in this fine piece. Miss¡­?¡± He let the words peter out.

    ¡°Alea von Graufurt.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Von Graufurt, von Graufurt- there was something. Do you perhaps know someone called Gallius Escerus von Turmhoh?¡±

    Alea¡¯s posture stiffened. ¡°Did you know my grandfather?¡±

    ¡°Did I know him!? He was a good friend and colleague in the art of magical engineering! He was a true scientist, gave everything for the cause!¡±

    Alea looked a bit taken aback. ¡°This can''t be a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°It''s not that unrealistic. There are about two handfuls of magical engineers with a bit of experience and ability in the whole of Kronenburg. Your grandfather was among them. And this shop here.¡± He spread his arms.¡±It draws the eye, does it not? At least for those with an interest in the matter. There are not many that are my competitors. Most of what I sell I craft myself. And much of that is unique, if I may say so.¡±

    ¡°I would very much like to talk to you about my grandfather if you ever have the time,¡± Alea spoke softly.

    ¡°It''s the least I can do. He helped me establish myself and if not for him, I would probably have fallen prey to the prejudice, no insult to present personages intended, in the guild hierarchy.¡±

    He got up and promptly vanished as he was a bit smaller than the counter was high. A small sliding door opened at the side and he sauntered out towards them.

    ¡°Well, well. The granddaughter of Gallius. Will wonders never cease. If you are interested in the Ayrton then I can let you have it at cost. What do you say?¡±

    ¡°What exactly is ¡®cost¡¯ to you?¡± Alea¡¯s spider turned her head.

    ¡°Is that one of Gallius¡¯? It certainly looks like a creation of his. Even years after his death it¡¯s still cutting edge. A damn shame. And the cost is in this case 23 gold pieces. Payable either in cash or promissory notes from the Bank of Margrinar. I don''t take the stuff the snakes use. So please don''t ask.¡±

    ¡°I will write a note. Have it sent to the Wisteria Dorms, please.¡±

    ¡°Will do. Pleasure doing business with you.¡±

    Lieseleta meanwhile had studied some of the smaller clocks and finally bought one too. Vivienne looked around, disinterested in the mechanisms but very much taken with the information she had heard.

    Mireille eyed the newspaper, remembering that morning in Dornenfurt, and smiled to herself. She would have to get one on the way back.

    Promising to keep in touch, they said their farewells and left the shop for the great market.

    Alea seemed in a pensive mood as she tended to be when she thought about those days she only hazily remembered. Would that ever come back? Should she want it too? Mayhap Vanessa could help, she described herself as an arcanist and mind mage, did she not?

    There were even more people on the streets even though that seemed physically impossible. The guards had a lot to do to keep the small group from getting swept away and Alyssa thought she saw Jera grit her teeth at one point. Cyrus seemed agitated too, the masses of humans made him feel anxious for her safety.

    And then they crested a last small hill and looked down on the great market plaza. It was formed like a large octagon with eight streets leading through the middle of each side towards the great circular road in the center. The area around the center was by old tradition reserved for temporary stalls, even though many such ¡®stalls¡¯ rivaled the better-situated shops in scope and materials involved. There were a lot of shops too, built into small housing blocks beside the eight great roads. There were statues and small plazas where only showmen and entertainers performed their acts, magicians conjured small illusions and delighted the passerby. There were a lot of water fountains freshening the air and lending a bit of elegance.

    The better shops used enchantments to cleanse the air and it was sometimes a surreal vista when the air in front of a jeweler seemed like a small bubble keeping the dust and smoke outside.

    Here there were a lot of nonhumans too. At least a lot in comparison to everywhere else. There was a troupe of jugglers who seemed to have fox-like features. A few elves could be seen here and there, visible primarily through their exotic hair coloration. A few dwarves hawked metalwork. It was a great and barely constrained chaos.

    Groups of city-guard stood at certain points, waiting for anything to catch their attention while smaller groups of three wended their way through the crowds. Once alerted to a crime they used shrill whistles to call for reinforcement which was incrementally given. Never was a post stripped completely clean.

    ¡°That looks far grander from up close. Traveling in the coach it looked smaller somehow.¡± Alyssa observed.

    ¡°It can be overwhelming. I really like coming here with people who are new to it. Their wonder brings all of it into perspective for me and it seems as if I could also see it once more with fresh eyes.¡± Lieseleta mused smiling.

    Vivienne looked around her with great interest, her brother hid beside and behind her, suffering in silence.

    Alea was practically glued to Alyssa and Mireille bought a newspaper. ¡°Three copper pieces! In Dornenfurt it was one, one!¡±

    ¡°This here is the Kronenburg Bugler, you won''t find a more informative and well-written piece anywhere else. Quality has its cost!¡± The young man- no disheveled boy here, oh no- answered indignantly.

    ¡°Keep an eye out for pickpockets. We have Jera and such but be careful.¡± Vivienne admonished.

    ¡°What are those fox people?¡± Mireille asked curiously.

    ¡°They are foxkin, one of the beast-races. There are a lot of different ones. The legend goes they were once the animal whose features they still bear and Irkonos raised them to sentience because he, as a major god, did not have any one species that worshipped only him. Lot of good it did him in the end. The beast races worship a plethora of gods even if they still prefer him.¡± Alea answered.

    And then they were in the market proper and the crowds swallowed their group.

 Market-Day Part II

    ¡°The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.¡±

    - Erma Bombeck

    Drifting along with the other visitors to the market they reached the outskirts and the first shops. An apothecary stood beside a purveyor of leather crafts, a tailor near some shop selling pottery.

    ¡°Only one of the eight sections is specialized towards a certain product and that would be the Arcaneum. There you can buy enchanted gear and books, ingredients, and components for sorcery. Here you might find a bit of enchanted cloth like the ones you are wearing, but that is the extent of it.¡± Lieseleta as the only one native to the city began to explain. ¡°We will visit that last I think- If no one has any objections?¡±

    The girls shook their heads.

    Mireille asked, ¡°and why would you recommend that- It seems to be the most interesting part of the market.¡±

    ¡°The rest is not lesser in either quality or diversity and it would be a shame if we spend all our time in the Arcaneum without going anywhere else.¡± The princess answered.

    ¡°And you spent the last weekend there already.¡± Murmured Jera under her breath a faint grin on her face.

    Lieseleta boxed her on the shoulder which probably hurt her more than it did her stoic guardian. Jera bowed her head and said, ¡°I must ask my ladies forgiveness.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you!¡±

    The group went past a few shops selling glassworks of surpassing beauty, tinted in a variety of colors and sometimes even lifelike.

    ¡°How do they get the cat to be this cute!¡± Alyssa, having been tempted by Semiramis, admired a small figurine.

    ¡°Only six silver pieces!¡± The shops attendant, a buxom brunette in her late forties smiled as she sorted some new ones onto the display table. ¡°They are selling very well today.¡±

    ¡°You have a great selection.¡±

    ¡°Why thank you, my dear. If it is for you, I could go as low as five silver.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will buy the cat.¡± Alyssa struggled with herself but in the end, decided to be a bit spendthrift. ¡®Only for today, we don¡¯t have any income I know of.¡¯

    Wrapping the cat in some soft papers the attendant made a bow out of colored string and smiled. ¡°Here, all yours.¡±

    Smiling they went on their way. A delicious smell tickled their noses and Mireille gestured for them to follow, which they bemusedly did.

    A young man probably in his late teens stood at a distance and observed them closely. He wore a coat of dark green with the symbol of the academy emblazoned on his left breast. He had frazzled blonde hair and watery blue eyes, a beard that seemed as if it had come about by neglect rather than design, and a sapphire earring in a silver fitting. Alyssa, out of the corner of her eye, saw him leave and thought. ''The market seems to be popular with academy students. I think I have not seen him before.'' And lost her train of thought as she spied Mireille focusing on a specific direction.

    There was a shop selling all manner of spices. ¡°Do you think we could buy some of this here?¡± Mireille pointed towards a large bin filled with a red fruit approximately the size of a cherry. ¡°I don¡¯t know what they are called, but you can glaze them with sugar and they are the most awesome treat.¡±

    ¡°They are called lo-berries and they are from Sur Kesh,¡± Lieseleta interjected.

    ¡°They are as fresh as they can be with great pains taken to ship them as soon as they are picked.¡± A gentle voice spoke, there was the slightest hiss in the consonants.

    They looked and a young woman arranged a basket with a hard-looking red fruit. She was of middling height, ca. 1,7 meters, and wore loose bright green clothing that showed a lot of skin. Her skin was also a light green color and seemed to have scales at the elbows, neck, and cheeks while her hair was straight, black, and fell to the middle of her back. The eyes were yellow and slit, like a snake. The tongue flickering intermittently from her mouth was split. The lips were mostly soft-looking but with small indentations reminiscent of a reptiles. She was at once exotic, pretty, and disturbing ¨C at least to those who might not like snakes or reptiles.

    Alyssa stared openly before she got ahold of herself, Mireille was even worse as she went over and looked at her from up close. Tilting her head and smiling a bemusedly the snake-woman continued. ¡°I welcome you to this fine shop. If anything catches your fancy feel free to ask me anything. My name is Iseret Sekesh.¡±

    A collar formed from iron links enclosed her throat, it was nearly invisible unless looked for or from very close.

    Mireille grinned and said, ¡°how much for the lo-berries?¡±

    ¡°They are 8 silvers a pound.¡±

    The red-head was a bit surprised to hear that and old habits let her discard the idea to buy them immediately as Alea spoke. ¡°We will take four pounds, please. Can you have that sent to the academy, Wisteria Dorms?¡±

    ¡°Of course, that will be another silver for the messenger if you please.¡±

    Alea paid and they browsed through the other wares.

    Vivienne looked at Iseret and smiled, ¡°How long have you been here in Kronenburg?¡±

    ¡°Since about two years ago.¡± With the inhuman features and reptilian eyes, Iseret was difficult to read.

    ¡°She looks much more human than the snake-people I have seen before,¡± Alyssa whispered to Alea.

    ¡°That is because she is a so-called pure-blood. They are the least important caste in Sur Kesh. The more snake-like they are the higher their standing. And probably a slave by the collar she wears.¡± Alea answered softly. ¡°It should say something about their views of humanity that the ones looking the most like us are regarded as somehow lesser.¡±

    ¡°Pure sounds as if it should be better?¡± Alyssa argued.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to me about that. I did not make those distinctions. But I would think that a mostly human-looking but still exotic salesperson is a rather better choice than a walking snake at least in a human city.¡± Alea mused.

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    They explored more of the market and were a bit exhausted as they finally reached the Arcaneum. It was not a single building, rather it was an agglomeration of several buildings joined together by roofed walkways and freestanding skybridges that should have been impossible but for the use of magic. The walls were made of polished stone like granite or even marble. The ubiquitous red or grey bricks used for most other constructions were conspicuously absent here. The impression was one of wealth and class.

    ¡°Is there anything you are interested in?¡± Lieseleta asked.

    ¡°Books mostly,¡± Alyssa answered. ¡°I don¡¯t think they would have void paraphernalia?¡±

    ¡°Those should be in short supply but also in low demand. You could get lucky I suppose.¡±

    Vivienne hummed to herself as she looked through assorted staffs lying on display tables outside a shop with the name ¡®Staffs and Wands for your daily needs¡¯

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Alyssa asked one of the attendants an older man. ¡°Do you carry void aspected wands or staffs?¡±

    ¡°Void? Mh. I would have to ask.¡± He bade them wait and went into the back of the shop. After a short delay, he came back with a younger blonde woman in her twenties wearing a dark grey dress.

    ¡°I am Miss Avery and you are?¡±

    ¡°Alyssa Miner, first-year in the Academy of the Arts.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes. Then it should be fine. Princess?¡± She looked surprised to see Lieseleta standing nearby talking to Alea.

    ¡°We came together and she recommended this shop to me.¡± Swallowing some of her pride she tried to gain a bit of goodwill. ¡®A few people recommended enchanted foci to lessen the burden on my soul. I need to make progress.¡¯

    Ms. Avery scrutinized her. ¡°Yes, we do have a few foci for void magicians. I will show you. Follow me.¡± She turned to go after making sure Alyssa was following.

    They went through the main salesroom towards the back. There were a lot of shelves and racks showcasing the merchandise. After reaching a large ironbound door Avery made a few gestures and held a pendant before a round plate of dark metal. Like a flower blooming glyphs swam into being and rotated into different configurations before finally fading, the door opened with a loud clacking sound.

    ¡°Just wait a moment. I will be right back.¡± Ms. Avery went inside, for a short moment great chests decorated with runes were visible behind the open door. The walls were sheathed in lead.

    Meanwhile, at the shop''s entrance, Mireille studied the assorted wands. ¡°How do you use one of those and is there really a market for that many?¡±

    Vivienne grinned and answered. ¡°These wands allow someone without much training to use some simple spells. That is quite a boon for those not learning to become a wizard or branded. The spells are usually not as potent as they would be for a branded for example and the wands have to recharge after a few uses- at least that is how it usually goes. There are exceptions, wands that draw upon ambient magic to recharge. But that is expensive and difficult and probably not worth it to most people. I would use them as a sort of backup weapon or to compensate for a lack on my part.¡± She eyed her speculatively. ¡°You could probably use a lower-end healing wand. It would not do much for deep wounds but it could keep you from bleeding out until say Alyssa heals you up.¡±

    ¡°Are we going to fight? I was under the impression this was mostly an academic sort of academy?¡±

    ¡°There are some tests especially later that can focus on your combat capabilities, at least if you took some classes that were in that direction.¡±

    ¡°So ¡®Sword One¡¯ for example. Huh?¡±

    ¡°That is an excellent example, yes.¡± Vivienne did not hide her laughter.

    ¡°It''s no big deal. I have some experience in fighting!¡± Mireille proudly pushed out her chest.

    In the back of the shop.

    ¡°These are the ones available at the moment. Sorry that there are not that many.¡± Ms. Avery spread four items on a felt-covered table. ¡°This here is a wand of Graves Touch, sorry for the name.¡± She looked a bit miffed. ¡°This here is an orb of void attunement. Might be what you are looking for. Then we have a dagger of flesh-rot. Again with the names. Sorry. And last we have a locket of remembrance.¡±

    Alyssa looked at the orb which was made of a smoky, dark-grey crystal banded with runed silver about the width of a large human fist. The orb was slightly irregular as if it had been melted and left to solidify. The dagger was made of bone, probably enchanted otherwise it would be a short acquaintance as soon as battle with metal weapons was joined. The locket was small and made of copper that looked to have seen better days, dented and pitted with age it showed some verdigris at the joints. It was engraved with the picture of a woman in side-profile and a deep sadness seemed to emanate from the simple lines of her beautiful face.

    ¡°I would like to know more about the amulet and the orb.¡±

    ¡°The amulet is used to gain insight into the identity and possibly the death of a deceased human. It has not been ascertained if it would be usable for nonhuman sentients.¡± She looked at the orb and continued, ¡°The orb channels void energies and makes them more suitable for use by...ahem¡­the living. The orb is 42 gold pieces, the locket is 12 gold pieces.¡±

    ¡°I will have to ask my friend. She has something to say about our funds too.¡± Alyssa was tempted but it was not only her money.

    She went and looked for her friend and after explaining the general gist of it she asked, ¡°Mireille what do you think? It¡¯s your money too. The orb would be helpful, probably.¡±

    Mireille seemed a bit hesitant over the price and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk to Vanessa first?¡±

    ¡°Mh. That seems to be a good idea. Though it is a shame.¡±

    ¡°It is unlikely that the orb will be bought in the next few days and tonight we will be at the townhouse and Vanessa will be there too if everything goes as planned.¡± Mireille consoled her.

    Lieseleta looked on and nodded. ¡°The prices reflect the rarity and value, they do not seem inflated to me. I will ask the shopkeeper to reserve the orb for at least a week if you want.¡±

    ¡°You have shown us around and without Jera we would not have had such a good time. We cannot possibly impose on you more.¡± Alyssa shook her head. ¡°I will ask if she can hold it for us for a few days but you need not become involved.¡± Alea looked at her and gave a small nod. Alyssa nodded back. ''Alea directly told me she did not want to use her friends to her advantage. She does not have many of those.''

    The young man with the sapphire earring strayed close and seemed deep in thought.

    Alyssa wondered, ''Mh, he seems like a fourth-year from the academy, today I have seen him more than once already, coincidence?''

    They looked around the bookshops, there were several large establishments, and Alyssa found a book on foundational void magic. It seemed used and probably did not contain as in-depth a look at the subject as Vanessa had taught her already but it was useful for looking up facts and glyphs she had forgotten without having to wait for her mentor to be available again.

    Mireille found a degen and a boiled-leather breastplate that fit her style in a shop featuring lower-class magical arms and armor.

    ¡°It was quite cheap too at only¡­¡± she coughed, ¡°mmmh gold.¡±

    ¡°What was that? I did not get that last part.¡± Alyssa looked confused.

    Mireille mumbled a bit.

    ¡°Speak up or we will be at it until we have to leave.¡± Alyssa was getting a bit irritated.

    ¡°It was 23 gold.¡±

    ¡°That sounds good for what you bought but what about asking Vanessa, or me?¡± She teased.

    ¡°Sorry I got carried away. The sword was sooo well balanced and sharp and the metal will take a lightning-based enchantment if we ever get to enchant it further, at the moment it is simply mana-tempered and has an endurance rune inscribed, same as the armor.¡±

    ¡°It is necessary for you to have something to defend yourself with, I have my magic with and without a focus. And I bought the book.¡± She looked wistful. ¡°Perhaps Vanessa will endorse buying the orb, we still have some jewels from the dead maid-spy. I did not think I would ever say something like ''spy'' in a normal sentence and mean it.¡± Alyssa looked incredulous.

    And then it was time to return to the inn for lunch. The princess was especially animated and in a good mood, even Valens thawed a bit and spoke to Mireille and Alyssa. Alea was a bit taciturn as was her wont but her new golden-haired friend forced her into the conversation nonetheless.

    As they finally reached the inn they were all famished and fatigued but in a good mood.

    A young blonde man with a sapphire earring walked into a quiet corner behind some street stalls and spoke the words of a spell. A sparrow made of runes materialized. It took some time and the result was not comparable to a ''real'' bird but it cocked its head and the man spoke, "They went shopping, did not buy anything of import unless you count a bunch of jewelry and some lesser arms and armor. Waste of my time. Will remain on station until they return to the academy or other lodgings. Will report in more detail when I return. Master Calvin, Jeremiah out."

 Nightfall in Kronenburg

    ¡°Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.¡±

    - Allen Saunders

    Magister Illimen regarded his long-term friend and colleague Calvin Ambrose. The younger man was nearly bald with a fringe of brown hair sprinkled with gray, he was not a large man and had a scholarly build devoid of the muscles that define even wizards who pursue the art of war. But his eyes were a deep, piercing blue and held a sharp intelligence that had first attracted the Magister¡¯s attention. From a gifted protege, he had matured into a professor in his own right. His face now was more lined than in his days learning at the academy, now he rarely smiled in public and he had a reputation as being harsh but fair.

    They had known each other near on twenty years now and there was no one Illimen trusted more.

    Calvin cleared his throat. ¡°We have a formal call to council. I would bet my first edition Eremeus that it is the work of Grenzwald and his cronies. What do you think they intend?¡±

    Drathur Illimen, magister of the Academy of the Arts and chairman of its council, stroked his beard and answered, ¡°I think they will try to harm either my reputation or my personage or both. The vector this time and the last as you might remember are the students themselves. And this time it vexes me greatly because they have some arguments on their side which I can¡¯t ¨C yet- refute.¡±

    He stood up. They had both sat at the massive desk in Illimens study, the shelves full of scrolls and paraphernalia. Even in the daytime, the dark wood gave everything an aura of aged refinement but also darkened the room. Grabbing his half-filled tumbler with an amber-colored liquid he went to stand before the great window. ¡°I have sent some inquiries by Shadeling. The rune-sparrow would not suffice for such a distance. Alyssa and her friend are from beyond the Erbor peaks, one from Firswending and the other Saintscrossing.¡± He pointed to a map that was held open with a bottle of whiskey and a piece of dark bread.

    He sipped from the whiskey and continued, ¡°What I could gather is that Alyssa killed the scion of the local potentate, a viscount, who may or may not have been in a brothel as he met his end. Her father is a notorious drunk even though he is said to be a capable foreman and was, at this time, visiting said establishment. Several possibilities suggest themselves. But the death of the young man was without a doubt caused by void energies. We have a report by the church of Ielenia and for all the self-righteousness they suffer from, they do not normally lie about such things. It would not be...pure.¡±

    He sighed. ¡°And that my dear friend is the problem. I think that after what we know she did since coming to Margrinar she most likely defended herself. It makes the most sense. So, in the best case, we have a case of self-defense with lethal results by an untrained user of void magic. I think they will try to curry favor with the church of Ielenia, damage me, eliminate a so-called ¡®low-born¡¯ and raise their own standing.¡±

    Calvin smiled. ¡°And you will not do what is expedient and rational.¡±

    ¡°You make it sound as if I was unreasonable.¡± Drathur laughed.

    ¡°Hardly, but stubborn and vengeful does characterize you well. No, don¡¯t argue.¡± The other mage interrupted the magister as soon as the latter drew breath.

    ¡°Guilty as charged. They killed Zephyra, you know they did. She was a gifted summoner, a prodigy you see only once in a generation. She was low-born and she showed some of those noble scions up on the dueling field, she did not accede to demands and threats to become a mistress or servant and even as we protected her in the academy, once she set foot outside the walls she was killed in a ¡®robbery gone wrong¡¯. As if a graduate of this academy would not at least manage to protect her own life against a common burglar. Laughable. They did not even try to hide it!¡±

    ¡°I think we would be well served to stack the cards a little.¡± Calvin looked pensive. ¡°You will continue to investigate her past. And I will...I think it is time for another Exhibition of the Arcane. If she is as gifted as you claim her to be she can showcase her talents and if that is not enough¡­We could hold a tournament. Magical might is still seen as one of the greatest assets a noble of Margrinar should have, going all the way back to our sunken magocratic fatherland. So, your facts and my attempts at swaying public opinion, and everything should take place before they get to hold a council. Good thing that two of our councilors are at the court of the Lord of Nar-Holm, the realm of Cyclopes, it will take them some time to get back. What do you say?¡±

    ¡°Accepted. Pour me another one will you.¡±

    Standing with his back to his friend, one arm folded behind his back the other presenting the tumbler for a refill Drathur Illimen looked out onto the courtyard and remembered another young girl with straw blond hair and a stubborn personality.

    ¡®I have become a teacher to mold the best and brightest magicians, not to let politics and classism devour them.¡¯

    ¡°As always, it is a pleasure to hold discourse with you, Calvin.¡±

    A sparrow flew through the glass of the window and alighted on the forearm of Mr. Ambrose.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile at the inn near the grand market plaza.

    ¡°Could you pass me the water please?¡± Lieseleta smiled at Alyssa.

    They sat together in the private room of the inn they had left their coaches at. The room was airy and brightly colored, a large window led to the small garden behind the main building and showed ivy-hung masonry, a dry water fountain, and a small vegetable patch.

    In the center of the room was a large table fit to seat at least a dozen people. The girls had congregated on one end with the princess and Alea in the middle, much to the latter''s chagrin.

    ¡°Here you are. Thank you for coming with us and showing us around. No one of us is familiar with the city yet and I think we would have wasted a lot of time or worse but for you.¡±

    ¡°I concur. The Breach is much smaller and even though we get a lot of people for our fall festival it cannot begin to compare.¡± Vivienne gave a half-smile.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Alyssa, is Cyrus truly your familiar?¡± Lieseleta asked. ¡°I don¡¯t doubt it, but isn''t that rather complicated magic for a self-taught first year? I don¡¯t mean anything by it, I am simply curious.¡±

    ¡°Yes we had a turbulent journey to come here, and on the way, I had the misfortune to witness an attack by a full-grown wyvern and later, in the company of Mireille, stumbled on the cave she had used to lay her eggs. I don¡¯t know how that happened. And I have some very specialized knowledge of old elven spells. One of them fit the situation perfectly.¡±

    ¡°That is quite something. I was warned severely against making the first cute cat to catch my fancy my familiar. It is a temptation, they live quite a bit longer afterward and even gain a semblance of sentience while also stabilizing your soul and helping with magic.¡± The princess looked troubled. ¡°A cousin did just that, and someone, I guess we will never know poisoned her familiar, a cat, she suffers to this day and her magic never was the same again.¡±

    She looked apologetic. ¡°Sorry, I am really in a good mood today and even so, something comes up and I think about such things! Please don¡¯t let me ruin your lunch!¡±

    Alyssa hugged Cyrus. ¡°I think he might be a bit more resilient than a cat, but I understand your concern. I was warned as you have been, but it is a bit different with him I think.¡±

    ¡°In the Breach, it is not unheard of to bind a shark or even a killer whale. It prohibits you from ever leaving the shores of the sea, but some don¡¯t want that to begin with.¡± Vivienne mentioned.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can manage the spells?¡± Mireille asked. ¡°Or is there one that is nearly all lightning?¡±

    ¡°No, you shouldn¡¯t attempt that. I don¡¯t think anyone ever has.¡± Alea looked a bit concerned. ¡°If you ever feel the inclination come and see me that I might dissuade you!¡±

    The food was plentiful and contained spices the two girls from Rivenlorn had never eaten before.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Mireille looked to be in heaven as she bit into a piece of cake with brown frosting.

    ¡°It''s cinnamon. It grows in hot and slightly humid regions. There is a chain of large islands in the southern Sea of Origin that is mostly inhabited by a mix of human refugees, even if you should no longer call them that after the centuries it''s been and some lizardman tribes.¡± Lieseleta smiled as she recalled the facts. ¡°It is described as a very beautiful region but difficult to reach. The people there have pacts with all sorts of deep-sea creatures helping with the navigation of the ocean. Sometimes they turn to piracy though the council that rules them disavows their actions.¡±

    Alea took a dainty bite and a smile showed her enjoyment. The spider turned towards the princess and the girl said, ¡°Do you want to accompany us to the townhouse of my family in Ivy Terraces?¡±

    ¡°Sadly I won''t have the opportunity. There is an event hosted at the palace and my presence is mandatory even though I will not get to do much. It''s something I have resigned myself to. But thank you for inviting me, I would like to postpone that, how about the next weekend?¡±

    ¡°That should be fine.¡± Alea smiled a bit bashfully. ¡°You would naturally be invited too.¡± Remembering the other occupants of the table she hastened to add.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet, but I will get back to you on Monday. Is that sufficient?¡± Vivienne was pensive for a moment. Valens simply looked to his sister for guidance and then nodded along.

    The meal came to a close and everyone said their goodbye. The half-elf siblings would accompany them to the townhouse where the trio of girls would disembark and Adam would then drive them back to the academy.

    Ivy Terraces was quiet as usual and there were only a few servants going about their business. They got off the coach and waved to the departing vehicle before turning and going inside.

    Mireille looked anticipatory. ¡°Vanessa wanted to come again tonight, did I have that right?¡±

    ¡°She said as much. I am looking forward to it too. I have some questions.¡± Alyssa grinned at her friend.

    Alea shook her head. ¡°Do you think she knows something other than void and necromancy?¡±

    ¡°She mentioned that it was not even her focus of study, she was a...what was it? Arcanist? And she did say, that she dabbled or had some proficiency in ice and poison spells.¡± Alyssa tried to remember.

    ¡°That sounds like it could be interesting. Arcane magic is something that is most useful in large-scale magics or altering existing enchantments. Much was lost in the destruction of our homeland. It was simply seen as less important for short-term survival.¡±

    ¡°Puh, my feet hurt. Is there an enchantment for preventing blisters?¡± After they had reached Alea¡¯s room Mireille took off her boots and rubbed the smarting soles while sitting on an upholstered chair.

    ¡°There should be. But the expense would probably preclude its use other than for a very affluent person.¡± Alea looked a bit amused at the question.

    Alyssa had occupied the small couch near the window and stretched like a cat. Cyrus lay down on her lap to sleep. He was nearly too large for her shoulder now, some weeks or months later and she would have a problem. And sadly her own body grew at a snail''s pace. ¡®Perhaps with the good food around here I will get my desired growth spurt.¡¯ The white-haired girl wistfully imagined.

    After eating dinner they soon retired to Alea¡¯s room again. Her quarters were larger than the other two guest rooms and the furniture was much more suited for the smaller girls than the standard fittings the other rooms contained.

    A cloud of mist obscured the entryway and out of the haze strode Vanessa. She wore the much-too-large cloak and a dress that was more her size in dark blue and grey. Her blue-white hair hung loosely to her hips and the eyes, which reflected light like a cat¡¯s, glowed in a blue-green tone. ¡°D? vaer. Good evening.¡±

    ¡°Vanessa! Good to see you. I hope everything is well.¡± Alyssa smiled brightly at her.

    ¡°Yes it''s been mostly uneventful, but I must caution you. There are people in this city who both know of me and my kind and are actively hunting me. I don¡¯t think that I am in much danger at the moment, and thankfully it is not a religious institution who could draw upon specialized support.¡±

    They had much to catch up on.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile.

    The cavalry uniform had been immaculate but for the three drops of crimson soaking darkly into its collar. ¡°Ah, a damn shame, it is so hard to get the last bit of stain out of the fabric.¡± The obese human cleaned his mouth with the back of his right hand streaking his cheek with red. A dead male human in his twenties lay before him on the stony ground blood seeped out of his torn throat. It was nighttime and the uniformed man was standing behind a large house probably a brothel from the sounds coming from the upper floors and the commotion coming from the taproom. It seemed to be a busy night.

    The man called ¡®Hunter¡¯ stood beside and behind the vampire, his companion the female dwarf was not with him today. A man with a mask made of stiff cloth and red robes reaching to his ankles looked down on the dead figure with disdain visible in his posture if not his hidden face.

    ¡°He tried to deceive you, my lord. And I had thought him to be above such stupidity. A shame.¡± The robed man spat on the corpse.

    ¡°Now, now. He has suffered for his crime. The slate is now clean. Please relay my best wishes to his widow and children. They will have his blood money for all the years he did serve me well. Poroskar. Do we have a lead?¡± There was impatience and a desperate eagerness in his voice, well hidden, but present nonetheless.

    ¡°Hunter?¡±

    ¡°We nearly got to her, the night before last, but she escaped. We think she might have had some business at the von Graufurt manor. But she has not been there for days now.¡±

    ¡°Von Graufurt? I remember Poroskar you mentioned something about some girl affiliated or from that family going to the academy with your nephew?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord, that is indeed the case. I gave you an overview because you always look for new customers that could be made pliable to your will.¡±

    ¡°Please ask your nephew to get close to them. I want to know more about them. Do they have a connection to this vampire girl? And do take out the trash.¡± The last was said while gesturing toward the deceased.

    Silence reigned into which the noise from the inn intruded, shutters poorly latched in the upper stories rattled with a breeze, and underneath it all the splashing of water coming from the wharves along the river.

    It was all in all a typical night in Kronenburg.

 Reflections

    ¡°I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.¡±

    - Helen Keller

    Vanessa sighed. ¡°You want to buy a channelers orb with a void affinity?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Then do so. I know money is something you two have struggled with in the past. And I might not be the best person to talk to about saving money.¡± She coughed. ¡°I might¡¯ve been a bit spoiled in my long-forgotten youth. But that is an amount we could earn if necessary. I know some fine enchantments that you two¡­¡± Mireille looked interested. ¡°That Alyssa could forge.¡±

    ¡°Why did you change the sentence! I would like to enchant something.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want that? It is boring and exhausting work.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, because you don¡¯t seem to believe I can do that?¡±

    ¡°Quit the childishness.¡±

    ¡°Technically we are, most of us, still children in the eyes of the law.¡± Alea seemed to smile while saying that. ¡°And you would most probably be taken for a child too.¡±

    ¡°Why do I keep coming back here to argue with you all?¡± Vanessa held her head.

    ¡°Because we really like you?¡± Mireille ventured.

    ¡°Why do you ask that as a question?!¡± Vanessa put down her hands. ¡°Anyway, please buy the orb. It would be possible to forge one yourself, with my help of course, but tools and the necessary trial and error leading to the loss of ingredients would probably run you a lot more than forty-something gold.¡±

    ¡°Ah, tomorrow is Sunday. I would so like to go and buy it right now.¡± Alyssa lamented.

    Mireille stroked her armor and sorted her blade to the side a possessive gleam in her eyes.

    ¡°Yes, you did well choosing that. Armor is something that you should have and a weapon...goes without saying.¡± Vanessa nodded. ¡°Then let us begin to teach you something you really need to know.¡±

    They sat together around the table and Vanessa stood on her chair while weaving illusions and explaining glyphs, runes, and methods of spellcasting.

    Alea was very interested in that but held her peace until Alyssa was stumped with a rune.

    ¡°That is Graz the rune of times passing, is it not?¡± Alea mentioned.

    ¡°Yes, you have a good eye. I just wanted to explain that.¡± Vanessa smiled at her, pleased.

    ¡°I heard you are an arcanist?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that was my primary area of schooling. I learned the rest for self-defense and because I had to.¡± The last was spoken a bit hesitantly.

    ¡°My primary magic is light, but because light is such a good wellspring of energy it is often used, along with fire, to power greater workings. So a minor focus on the arcane manipulation of magic would be very helpful. At least I think so!¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°I will see what I can do. We only have the evening and on weekends that is. But I will do my best and I would be lying if I said it did not interest me to see what humanity came up with in the years since our fall.¡± Vanessa seemed pensive. ¡°Curiosity was what kept me going after my transformation. I would hope for knowledge for something grand or beautiful to validate my clinging to what life I have left.¡± Internally she added. ¡®That and vengeance. Charys drinker of tears, when I stand before you and you taste of mine I hope you find them to be very sweet indeed.¡¯

    The teaching continued.

    ¡°Sing the spellsong once again.¡± Vanessa looked critical.

    Alyssa focused, inhaled, and began to sing, gesturing with her left hand she smoothly drew an oval. And it was like seeing something coming up to the surface of still and deep waters, wavering slightly at the edges reality seemed to bow, space to distort and bitter cold flooded the room. Rime spread over the table and each breath misted before their faces. A black oval hung in the air nearly two meters from top to bottom and up to one meter in breadth.

    ¡°Breaking the second seal. Stop!¡± Vanessa said wonderingly. ¡°How did Asandria manage to teach it to you in so short a time. The first seal is Sight, by breaking it you can see into the dimension of the void in a location closest to you. It can be adapted for all the planes aligned to the negative axis."

    She scribbled some illusionary notations to an already convoluted diagram. "The second seal is Touch and by breaking it you bring the planes closer together. The third seal is Being you can bring something out of the plane of void, a summoning, or simply some substance to use as you see fit. The fourth seal is Motion and you can align the two planes even closer often it is sufficient to bridge the gap fully, the last seal that I know of is Time. With it, you can align the planes that they become one for as long as you can keep the spell going.¡±

    The oval slowly, oh so slowly drifted back wherever it had come from.

    ¡°A potent spell but it needs direction and is not as quick as one would want in a defensive measure. I will try and find the time to teach you shadestep which I think would be more general purpose.¡± Vanessa sighed again. ¡°In the copious amount of time, we get to spend together.¡±

    ¡®I will keep teaching her. If you have something you want me to prioritize tell me.¡¯ Asandria hovered nearby and interjected.

    ¡°I will keep that in mind. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°It is bad manners to talk to invisible and inaudible ghosts!¡± Mireille complained.

    The evening concluded in this manner and Vanessa renewed her spells against detection and tracking and left them to go to sleep.

    The door closed with a click and the dark corridor surrounded her, the night grew colder around this time of year and Mireille pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders.

    She went for a walk while the two other girls were still discussing spellcraft. Wending through the deserted corridors and the silent courtyard to the marble face spitting water she thought. ¡®I am lost without you, grandmother. You were the one who believed I could become something more than a nuisance.¡¯

    In the shifting waters, she seemed to glimpse an old woman, back straight and unbowed with pure white hair drifting around a face mostly unmarked by age, the blue eyes were smiling at her as they had often done in the past.

    ¡®And now you have been dead all those years and I am in a strange land and my friends work towards their goals, driven and full of passion, and I while away the days and nights simply playing around. Learning academic magic I will never be able to use.¡¯

    She knew that this was not completely true but after her grandmother''s death she had realized that no one had wanted or needed her for anything. She had stolen, she had let her spell practice slide and her family had only been too happy to ignore her. Now that she had people who depended on her who wanted her she felt as if she would let them down. What even was her goal? At the moment succeeding in the academy, but did she have the drive to learn everything she lacked?

    She thought of Rhys and Challon her friends in the army, even Alan. What were they doing? Rhys always serious, Challon anything but, Alan always helpful. Even the army had been a slip, a moment of hunger and a ''what of it?'' moment. Her whole life decided on the growling of an empty stomach and lack of perspective.

    She folded her hands to pray. ¡®Nirileth daughter of the old dark, Covetous One, you teach that what one wants one must take. And I learned that lesson well in the past, please help me find my way.¡¯ And she threw the golden coin she got as a bonus for enlisting all those months ago and it soared into the night sky, never to fall down again.

 Become the lightning

    ¡°All the world''s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.¡±

    - Se¨¢n O''Casey

    Sunday dawned in golden autumn colors, the girls slept in luxuriating in the freedom to do so which they had not had the rest of the week.

    Then they did the tests that were generously handed to them and cursed the devious teacher who came up with those questions.

    And soon it was time for lunch and Mireille groaned as she remembered, she had tutoring with an unknown elder student appointed by professor Arkenbracht the younger or Ark as he had wanted to be called. Saying her goodbye she let Adam take her to the academy using the coach. It was by far the most sensible mode of transportation available. Walking would have taken much too long and not been as safe.

    So the early afternoon found her standing in front of professor Arks study. She hesitated got a grip on herself and knocked.

    ¡°Yes, come in please.¡± A muffled voice sounded.

    The door opened easily on well-oiled hinges. Inside was a spacious study with bookshelves lining the walls.

    ¡°Ah, it''s you." He raised his head straining to look behind her. "The siblings did not take my offer it seems?"

    He nodded and continued, "It is a difficult decision for a more rounded magus to specialize and forsake a part of his abilities. It is nearly tailor-made for you my dear. So, I requested an upperclassman by the name of Aldrick Connor to be your tutor. He should be available from four and a half to six bells in the afternoon every Sunday until you can manage on your own. He will be found in the Arts of the Storm classroom because that is the safest and most elementally charged area open to the public for this endeavor. He should be there already, I wish you well in your studies child.¡± He waved her off.

    ¡°Thank you, professor Ark! I will be going then.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Make the most of this opportunity!¡±

    The door clicked shut and Mireille hurried along the mostly deserted corridors. Arriving at her destination, she raised her hand to the knob, and as was the case last time sparks shot from her hand and the door opened.

    A lone figure paced back and forth in the courtyard then stopped and turned to her, ¡°There you are! I was getting tired of waiting.¡±

    ¡°Well, professor Ark did not mention an exact time! So I simply came by in the afternoon.¡±

    ¡°That is so like him.¡± The person speaking was a young man, still a boy really of perhaps seventeen with tousled brown hair, a hawkish nose, and eyes of light grey. He wore the dark green school uniform with belt pouches and half cloak but also a staff.

    He rubbed his forehead and sighed, ¡°I am Aldrick Connor, pleased to meet you. You should be Mireille is that right?¡±

    ¡°Yes Mireille Annirstochter, Mireille is ok though.¡±

    ¡°So, Mireille, you know my classmate Maximilian don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we met while beating back bandits. A true bonding experience that.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°It seems that is the story of my life, I even met my best friend Alyssa while fighting for my life.¡±

    The student raised an eyebrow. ¡°A lightning attunement will serve you well there. Ok. You are here to learn about raising your affinity with lightning, which is mostly an elemental conglomerate of air and fire. You will be damaging your affinity with everything else, so please be sure you want that before we begin.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is perfectly alright, I will never use anything other than lightning in a meaningful way so go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Why is that? I have an affliction that makes it desirable for me to damage my water and earth affinity but that would not be the case with you too?¡±

    ¡°No, I simply mean what I said, I come highly specialized. If you really must know, I am a Branded.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that explains it. We did not have someone like you in the academy before. So color me impressed you managed to interest them enough to allow you to study here.¡±

    Mireille nodded with a half-smile. ¡°So, how to begin?¡±

    ¡°Do you have a source of lightning?¡±

    ¡°Someone said I have a gate-thing inside of me, so that should not be a problem. I always seem to have enough lighting, my strength and endurance is another matter though.¡±

    ¡°Then you need to focus while I explain the technique. You will force lightning energy into your body and try to alter it to better work with instead of against it, then when this is satisfactorily concluded you will work on your soul. This is a combination of spellwork, visualizing techniques, meditation, and perseverance.¡±

    He began to explain the concept in depth. Mireille listened and to her own surprise found it relatively easy to follow.

    After that began the practical application of what she had learned. Opening the gate inside of her was not a science but an art and at first, she did not manage for more than a few seconds, but as soon as she got it to work for her the necessary infusion of lightning into her veins was very familiar from the way her haste and even the lightning bolt felt. Then she began the visualizing and meditation exercises and that is where she hit her first big snag.

    ¡°Try to feel the rune as you build it in your mind, it should respond to your intent and you should feel the lightning energy react. If it does that you are on the right path.¡±

    She nearly had it!

    ¡°So, we have to stop for today. We will see each other in a week, please make sure to practice.¡± Aldrick nodded and waved over his shoulder.

    Mireille still reeling from the meditation and the changes forced on her body waved back until she realized he could not see her and she called after him. ¡°Thanks! Until next Sunday.¡±

    She looked at her fingers and saw her veins and arteries outlined in a slight electric glow shining through her skin. She decided to continue her training for the moment and it was surprisingly comfortable to simply let the energies of the tempest surge through her, changing her bit by bit.

    If she could have seen herself in a mirror she would have seen the brand on her shoulder glowing brightly even through her thick uniform.

    <hr>

    It was late in the evening when she returned to the dorm, grabbing some leftover bread from a basket near the kitchen she pondered what she had learned. She plodded along the corridor and opened the door to their room. It had been some time since last she had a room all to herself she mused.

    The silence was unfamiliar, even in the army, especially in the army there had always been some noise, someone snoring or chatting quietly before going to sleep. She tossed and turned and fell into an uneasy sleep.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Alea and Alyssa ate in the townhouse and went directly to their morning lesson, Mireille did the same at the dorms.

    <hr>

    Mr. Glames nodded as they entered. ¡°Ah, the second week. You all look as if you had a good rest. Good. I had a talk last week with my colleague Josef Turm who administered the academic portion of your entrance examination. Good thing we choose because of magic criteria, some of you would not be sitting here today if it were otherwise.¡± He let his gaze roam and Mireille had the distinct impression it lingered on her for a second longer, but there were several others for whom that was true too.

    Clearing his throat he continued. ¡°It would be deplorable when our newly minted magicians would not even know how to multiply, much less our history or Meloris forbid lack proficiency in reading comprehension and writing.¡± He looked disappointed and gestured at them. ¡°We will have remedial classes at the end of the week, each week on Friday, and for those who are especially challenged it might even be necessary to open up some hours on Saturday. Don''t make me do that. We will have another test at the end of the month which will decide that matter.¡±

    He went to his lectern and gestured. A piece of chalk levitated and began to write on the blackboard. ¡°Now to something more pleasant. We did not have one for the last three years but our leadership decided that it was time for another Arcane Exhibition. This will take place in two months. Even you first-years will have something to show by then I am sure. An Arcane Exhibition was the most important event of the year in old Allisair. Here it was decided who would gain or lose patronage and the best of each year had the chance to be acknowledged by the God-King himself and possibly bestowed a title or some other boon.¡±

    He sighed. ¡°As with everything not related to our struggles on this continent, it has much diminished in importance and it is not even held every year. I heard from some sources that we can expect royal attendance this time.¡± He looked at Lieseleta and Carl her brother as he said that.

    ¡°But now without further ado, we will continue with the runic alphabet of Allisair. Who can tell me the meaning of Keruz. Anyone?¡±

    They hurriedly ate at the mensa. Mr. Glames had run his lesson later than usual and there wasn''t much time. Then they split up for their afternoon lessons.

    ¡®Alchemical Arts of Healing¡¯ Alyssa looked at the words on her schedule and the map. She should be in the right place. It was in the building to the left of the main structure. The door was reinforced and some old runes circled the border. They seemed to be burned into the wood. Opening the door she found herself in a large circular room with a stone platform in the middle on which a deep firepit glowed with heat, above the pit hung several cauldrons on chains and pulleys beside the pit were several workbenches stacked with glassware. The walls were lined with shelves on which ingredients both mineral and plant-based were stored in an orderly fashion. The ceiling boasted some dark holes probably for ventilation purposes. A fresh breeze kept the air breathable in spite of the flames, most likely magically induced.

    A young woman in her early thirties stood beside one of the workbenches and sorted some ingredients. She looked up as Alyssa entered and revealed dark green eyes with black hair and a tanned complexion. She wore dark brown robes with the academy symbol and a belt made of copper links. She wore some copper jewelry adorned with agate and tigers eye.

    ¡°Come in, you are the first to get here.¡± She smiled.

    Alyssa bowed and went towards her. ¡°Thank you. I hurried because we had less time for lunch, morning lessons took longer.¡±

    ¡°If you want I can explain the workstation to you while we wait for the rest to arrive.¡±

    ¡°That would be great. Thank you again.¡±

    ¡°So, let¡¯s see, you are familiar with the instruments?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my mother was an apothecary.¡±

    ¡°Then let me explain the setup. The fire pit you see outputs a constant heat so you need to adjust the temperature in the cauldron with the pulleys here. The farther to the center the hotter the fire.¡± She began to demonstrate and explain the function. She had a slightly scratchy voice, probably because of the fumes that even the magical breeze did not completely dispel but seemed enthusiastic and Alyssa began to look forward to the course.

    The rest of the students arrived in small groups and soon the room was mostly filled. There were about a dozen students including Valens who nodded towards Alyssa but otherwise avoided interacting with anyone else, his sister being notably absent.

    A taller brown-haired boy entered with some friends and looked towards Alyssa before excusing himself and walking up to her. "Alyssa nice to see you again. How are things." He smiled brightly.

    Alyssa did not have a strong impression of him and tried to remember his name, something with an ''L''. "Leonhard?" She nearly surprised herself by speaking her conclusion out loud.

    "Yes, Leonhard Poroskar at your service." He made a bow. "I knew you would remember me."

    A clapping sound interrupted them.

    ¡°It seems that all students are present." The teacher smiled at the gathered students. "My name is Valeria Jangres and I will be your teacher. I am an apothecary and own a small shop in town maybe you already know of it? The ''Natural Remedies'' in the market quarter?" Some students nodded at that and some seemed appreciative. "I was asked to provide guidance and insight towards alchemical means of healing.¡±

    She gave a friendly smile. ¡°I will explain the instruments and the heating arrangement. Then I will go over the most useful and common plants and compounds that we will be using and then if time permits we will try our luck at a healing salve. It would be best if you team up with another student.¡±

    Leonhard leaned towards her. "I think we should team up." His voice became a bit boastful, "I can help you, my uncle is an alchemist and taught me a lot." As Alyssa hesitated he added. "There would not be many who still want to, you know, work with someone who harbors so much void in a healing class."

    He grinned, "Luckily I would be okay on my own, simply keep away from the more delicate reagents and I will do the rest, what do you say." He raised his hand to grab her shoulder intending to pull her towards one of the benches but she evaded him with a twist of her torso.

    Cyrus hissed at him sensing his mistress suppressed anger. "I will be fine on my own too. But I have seen a friend who is without a partner. If you will excuse me."

    Without waiting for a reply Alyssa hurried over to where Valens was standing who seemed a bit distressed at the prospect of teamwork. She whispered. ¡°Should we team up? I am hesitant to team up with someone I don''t know. And this Leonhard person was very pushy. Please?¡±

    Valens sighed and nodded. ¡°Yes. Let''s.¡±

    Leonhard had been taken by surprise as he had not thought her to be so decisive, she had seemed shy and easily led. "Hey wait!" But she was already standing beside the half-elf. Shaking his head in disgust he went towards one of the friends with whom he had come to the classroom. "Conceited bitch. She should be thankful someone still wants to associate with her." He mumbled. "Uncle won''t be pleased, but I have some time still. And when she needs my wares I will put her in her place."

    The teacher explained, as she had indicated, the different instruments for preparing the ingredients and told them about the fire pit.

    ¡°We seem to have some time left so I would like each of you to take one recipe and try to follow the instructions. If there are questions please ask.¡± Valeria distributed a paper with written instructions.

    Alyssa knew a similar salve and had even worked on such before so she was pretty confident and began to work alongside the taciturn Valens. The salve was prepared and cooked to an even green color.

    Valens scraped it out of the cauldron into a waiting wooden bowl. ¡°Looks good.¡± He nodded.

    Valeria came up to them and inspected the salve and nodded. ¡°Yes, it looks fine, you said you had some background and it shows.¡±

    As she went and inspected the other products Alyssa sighed in relief. It had been difficult to only use her right hand and keep the void in her body in check. ¡®If I slip up it will be as it was in Firswending with my mother, unpredictable effects and most likely not beneficial to the one using my potions. But I will not give up on this.¡¯

    Asandria looked at this and shook her head. ¡®You could have taken another class, fire for example. And a bit more added mayhem would not go amiss. But you want to learn something which runs contrary to your nature, so be it. I will assist you.¡¯

    She exited the class in the company of Valens who did not talk much but neither was he as uncomfortable in her presence anymore. Leonhard eyed her with irritation.

    The trio met up at dinner in the dorms, Madam Gosling''s cooking was delicious as always and soon they were back in their room. Lucille had given them a friendly greeting, the rest of the girls were still hesitant even a bit unfriendly.

    ¡°It was strange not being with you two. But the tutoring was sort of fun.¡± Mireille was lying on the bed and stretching her legs.

    ¡°I missed you too. Strange how you get used to something like this. In Firswending I had no close acquaintances and now I miss having you around if you are gone for not even a day.¡± Alyssa mused. "I would like it if we had more classes together. There are some unpleasant people around. Remember the boy that accosted us in the mensa on our day of enrollment" She looked at Alea.

    "Yes, he had brown hair and was somewhat tall?" Alea scrunched her nose. "I do not think I would like to deepen my acquaintance with him."

    "He tried to get me to work with him in alchemy class, but he made it seem as if he was doing me some great favor and I would have to be thankful to him. Thoroughly unpleasant fellow." Alyssa grew angry while remembering this.

    ¡°Let''s try to stay together for as long and as often as we can. You are members of my household already I foresee no difficulties there.¡± Alea smiled. The spider moved from her shoulder to the tabletop.

    They worked together on their homework and then went to bed.

 Different forms of Darkness

    ¡°Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.¡±

    - Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

    The days passed.

    And then it was ¡®Void and Necromancy for Beginners¡¯ again.

    Alyssa stood before the reinforced door in the dank corridor leading up to it. She took a deep breath, then another. She still had not opened the door. Asandria regarded her with exasperation, ¡®You are better than them. Even if they strive and work their utmost they cannot match your advantages in that regard. They were jealous. Go on in.¡¯

    She took another breath and opened the door. Professor Carmen was already waiting. Some students were sitting on a bench talking. Ludwig looked at her with a half-smile and nodded.

    The professor nodded wryly and gestured for her to take a seat.

    Time passed and the seats were filling up. Today the slabs were empty, the dry cold air had a subtle chemical reek and Alyssa had to stifle a sneeze.

    ¡°We are all assembled I think and it is time to begin the lesson. Welcome students to ¡®Void and Necromancy¡¯¡± She began to pace. ¡°You might ask- Why is it called necromancy when everything I could think of doing with a corpse is prohibited by law? That is because we will not be using a dead person, animals are not included in the prohibitions neither is the use of necromancy for sensing or even augmentation. It is at the end of the day only a form of energy, of power that can be harnessed to do its wielder''s bidding. The corpses present at our last meeting were meant for providing power only. Which made the display...¡± she looked at Alyssa as she said that "...a bit problematic. But they had forfeited their rights and there was no permanent creation of undeath, so that is that."

    She walked towards the students. ¡°Today I will explore the different possibilities and then we will learn about the glyphs and theorems making up the brunt of void and darkness manipulation.¡±

    The students became busy taking notes.

    Alyssa peeked at the others while trying to keep up with the flow of the lecture. Some of the others were keeping their distance and some even seemed nervous or afraid of her but some did not look all too bothered.

    Ludwig grinned as he caught her gaze and then continued to write.

    ¡®Perhaps it will blow over when nothing strange happens with me in the next week or so.¡¯ Trying to keep her optimism, reinforced from a weekend spent with her friends, she focused on professor Carmen.

    ¡°We will now go into the finer details regarding void transmission into recently dead flesh and the ways to still preserve it for the function intended.¡± The professor explained as a student raised his hand. She raised her eyebrow but nodded at him, ¡°You have a question?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The student seemed nervous. ¡°Void energies damage flesh as you mentioned. What about the presence of someone who uses void magic and cannot control it well?¡± A side-glance at Alyssa made his line of inquiry clear.

    Professor Camen sighed, ¡°That could lead to bodily harm. But you forget something essential when asking this question.¡± The student looked uncomprehending. ¡°You, all of you first-years are still mostly new to magic, the somewhat rare home-schooled scion of a wizard''s family aside. And all of you don¡¯t have full control of your power. Light mages could blind you, fire could burn you, severely I might add, earth mages can summon some pretty nasty metal blades. If you ever get hit with a Blade of Erosion talk to me about your experience sometimes.¡±

    She clasped her hands behind her back. ¡°That does not mean that void is not among the more damaging and potentially one of the most hazardous elements and users should be trained for safety and control first. But! You should not needlessly stir up fear and resentment you are in the same situation and none of you are here because you lack a facility with void.¡±

    A snicker from Ludwig caused the student to turn red in the face and take a step back to better vanish into the group.

    The rest of the lesson proceeded smoothly. The homework was distributed and they left the room.

    Three students including the one who had asked the question hurried after the departing Alyssa. ¡°Wait!¡±

    Alyssa stopped and turned with a wary expression. ¡°Yes?¡±

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    ¡°Did you really kill a person with void-magic?¡± A girl with close-cropped dark-brown hair and a hooked nose asked her suddenly.

    ¡°Why do you ask something like that?¡±

    ¡°I heard some rumors. Seems like there is some truth to it.¡± The boy who was humiliated in the lesson looked triumphant.

    ¡°Yes, I killed some bandits who tried to harm us. And not only with void magic, but I also used fire.¡±

    Cyrus flapped his wings and arched his neck, his eyes gleamed in the light of the glow stones and the three took a step back.

    ¡°So you killed people and are actually proud of it!?¡±

    ¡°They tried to kill me! Should I have let them? Would you? And what of it, if the town guard slays a bandit they get feted and praised, when I do it, it is unconscionable?¡± Alyssa became angry. ¡°And if you really thought I were such a threat, why corner me in a dark corridor without anyone nearby? Wouldnt that put you in danger?¡±

    The girl pointed at her and smiling victoriously said, ¡°There was talk you killed someone in your hometown. Was it a bandit too?¡±

    Alyssa felt her heart beating rapidly. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you have heard. The only thing I ever did was defend myself when attacked. I never attacked someone first in my life. And I don¡¯t have time to chat with you, I have to be going now.¡± Saying that she turned and hurried away, she felt like she was fleeing and it did not sit well with her but she could not simply stand in the corridor trading barbs with those people.

    Exiting the basement corridors she breathed deeply of the crisp autumn air and basked in the sunshine that even late in the day warmed her nicely. Calming her heartbeat she walked towards the dorm and hopefully Alea. Mireille should still be in ¡®Sword One¡¯. A smile stole on her face as she remembered the freckled red-heads indignation about that boring title.

    <hr>

    A bit further away stood Leonhard and a big student with a thick neck and massively muscled arms and legs with dirty blond hair and a nose that had been broken and not healed well. ¡°You get the dust¡± Leonhard looked around shiftily, ¡°when you call her out to duel even if you should lose... " The big student scoffed. "...in the improbable event that you lose. And you will get the gratitude of the others as well. Perhaps I can even persuade Melissa to reward such an upstanding student as yourself with a date.¡±

    The big student grunted his assent. ¡°Ok. The dust and the date and it''s a deal.¡±

    ¡°Otto my friend you will not regret this.¡± He sneered and looked at the white-haired, waifish girl with the maddeningly beautiful face walking briskly down the sideroad to Wisteria Dorm. His palms itched and that always spelled trouble, for whom was the only question. ¡®That will teach you and wipe the smile from your face. When I offer my help again you better take me up on it. Or else...¡¯

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in a castle far to the northwest.

    The room was stiflingly hot and the flames roaring in the old fireplace heated the metal grating to a dull red glow. Eyes glowing with a feverish light shone out of deeply sunken sockets. The body was emaciated and the veins prominently visible on the hands clasped before the shrunken breast as if in prayer. The hairs on the liver-spotted pate were whispy and of a nearly translucent white. The teeth were astoundingly healthy-looking even if the gums had retreated and made them seem overly large, the lips were thin and pulled back.

    Brocade covers swaddled the body gold and silver stitching outlined every edge in ornate embroidery. The window was tightly shut and hung with heavy curtains.

    The walls were dark and ancient stonework hung with Gobelins depicting scenes of warfare against human and monstrous foes. Giants ripped heads still screaming and spraying blood from bodies tumbling onto heaps of corpses. Warriors torched a city full of men and women pleading on their knees. A snake swallowed praying monks while a knight in platemail raised a greatsword to the heavens where a dark king brooded in clouds rife with lightning.

    And even though the body seemed near death, rasping breaths left no doubt as to him being still alive.

    There was a knocking at the door and the eyes rotated towards the door before a cough wracked the sticklike figure, ¡°Enter.¡±

    The door opened and Mathilde von Nordstrom entered, her left arm was swathed in bandages and there were inflamed reddish spots on her left cheek. ¡°My lord I have news.¡±

    ¡°Speak¡±

    ¡°The children are at the academy, the ones that thwarted your plans are sworn to their house and also enrolled as students. Our ally professor Jamila von Nordstorm has begun to get the council to remove them and perhaps even oust Magister Illimen in the process. If it becomes known that he has let his judgment slip so as to let a criminal and murderess attend the school against his better knowledge that might give us the leverage needed. There are royals in attendance after all.¡±

    ¡°Satisfactory. Need the children...here.¡±

    Mathilde nodded and continued, ¡°Yes, when we have Demavar removed they will be vulnerable¡­¡±

    The patriarch coughed and gestured.

    Mathilde grabbed a goblet from the table beside the ornate canopy bed and opened a vial before emptying it into the goblet, then she added some wine from a decanter and stirred with a glass spoon. There was a hastily suppressed look of revulsion on her face as she supported his upper body with her right arm and held the goblet to his lips with her left. Gulping the contents rivulets of dark red nearly black liquid dripped from his chin. Bloodred energy flowed through his throat and lit his flesh from within.

    ¡°Better.¡± The old man suddenly much more vigorous arranged his blankets, patted Mathilde''s hand, and continued. ¡°I have made arrangements with the nobles council and the regent. We will have our land.¡± His eyes turned towards the woman ¡°But we don¡¯t have much time. If you don¡¯t arrange for the two Graufurt siblings to be here before the beginning of winter then you will have to give me Henrik.¡±

    Mathilde flinched as if struck. A thin arm snaked from the covers and caught her wounded left arm and thin corded muscles bunched as the grip tightened painfully. Before she could control herself she gave a stifled groan. ¡°Do remember whom you serve.¡±

    Pale, with sweat beading on her brow she nodded.

    ¡°Good.¡± The word was drawn and breathy like wind blowing through a fleshless skull.

 Perspectives II

    ¡°Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;

    I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.¡± ????????? - Sarah Williams

    The same day at nightfall at a small temple in the suburbs.

    ¡°Marthelm!¡±

    ¡°Yes, mother superior?¡±

    ¡°How is the child?¡±

    ¡°He is resting and should recover in a few days if nothing goes wrong. The malnutrition and the...parasites harmed him greatly.¡±

    A small figure sat on a wall nearby and listened with magically sharpened senses. Vanessa looked at the small building and the light that came from its windows. The life that she had saved on a whim seemed to have been preserved by the grace of Meloris.

    She looked at her hands and black ice grew rapidly encasing her fingertips in jagged claws. The bitter cold misted the air around them, the sky was dark with smoke and soot no stars were visible.

    ¡®They live such short, brutal lives. Once my father would have pitied them and then probably ignored them after giving them some scraps. Now the remnants of my people scrabble in the wastes of what was once the heartland between the ruins of our past glory serving her who doomed us. Undead reign where laughter and song once did.¡¯

    She looked through the open window and saw the priestess stroke the forehead of the child and a tentative smile stole on his small face marked by pain and exhaustion.

    ¡®If you can''t move the boulder then carry a twig. If you don¡¯t begin you will never finish.¡¯ Proverbs and sayings by philosopher wizards long dead and forgotten came to mind. ¡®Perhaps even those claws of mine can make this world a bit better.¡¯ Feeling strangely satisfied as she sat there watching, unheeding of cold and wind, the priestess rose and went, candle in hand, to close the window seeing for a moment her light reflected in lambent green eyes that vanished in the darkness.

    The shutters closed and a latch was thrown wind hummed around the corners of the old temple.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in the Wisteria Dorms.

    A scratching sound could be heard from the window and Cyrus perked his head.

    Mireille yawned unashamedly and stretched her arms while pushing out her chest.

    Alea''s spider looked on and seemed faintly displeased at this lack of manners. How a brass construct was capable of displaying such emotions was a mystery for the ages. She was tinkering with the Ayrton Converter. The brass, copper, and steel sphere was opened, and inside could be seen densely packed runes and a mechanism made of small rods and gears that took up most of the available space.

    Lorelle was sorting clothes into the wardrobe.

    Alyssa went and opened the window wearing her nightrobe.

    ¡°Meow!¡±

    ¡°Semiramis, how nice of you to come by. Cyrus missed you already!¡±

    Flapping her wings the fluffy grey-blue cat with the hawk-wings glided into the room. Her mouth was stuffed with a small hare which she unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

    ¡°Oh no! That will be difficult to get out of the wood!¡± Alyssa looked on helplessly.

    Mireille snickered ¡°Mira! Miramis!¡±

    The cat studiously ignored her and went towards the much more interesting Alea.

    A green shadow darkened the ceiling lights and Cyrus pounced on the bloody offering holding the body of the hare with his hind claws and then ripping chunks of fur and flesh from the carcass before swallowing the bloody pieces whole.

    Alyssa put her hands over her face and sighed. ¡°Yes great and fierce predator, please, please don¡¯t spread the blood to the whole room.¡± She looked imploringly at Lorelle who nodded and went to get some cleaning gear.

    ¡°Meow. Mrrow.¡± Semiramis looked curiously at the opened converter and then pawed a gear lying near the edge of the table.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Alea''s voice would have frozen a hot spring in summer.

    ¡°Mreeow.¡± A gust of wind swirled dust from the tabletop and the gear spun into the air the cat leaping after it. Instinctively she beat her wings and soared around the ceiling.

    ¡°Mireille! Help!¡± Alea grabbed for the recalcitrant feline and missed.

    Mireille looked incredulous then, laughing, tried to grab Semiramis.

    ¡°Not the cat! My gear!¡±

    After a short scuffle, the growling cat was separated from her prize by the promise of food. Mireille had saved some bacon to nibble on before sleeping and that was sacrificed to preserve the peace.

    ¡°How can a cat use wind magic?¡± Alyssa was perplexed.

    ¡°I think it is mostly instinct?¡± Alea answered. ¡°I have heard that there are some species of salamander that use fire magic. I would think that a more hazardous proposition.¡±

    Mireille fluffed Semiramis who purred on her lap. Cyrus had brought her a ribbon from Alea''s collection and was dangling it from his mouth trying to interest her in playing with him.

    Alyssa came over and sat beside Mireille wanting to stroke the silky cat too.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Mireille looked at Alea. ¡°Say, what is this converter converting actually?¡±

    Alea turned her head. ¡°It converts Mana dust into motive and magical power. It will be the new heart of the automaton I have already sent for. It will be my project for ¡®Like Clockwork¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that explains it. Is this dust not probably dangerous? I heard people snort or eat it or something which leads to them dying from it?¡± Mireille buried her face in the purring felines thick pelt.

    Semiramis was lazily batting at the ribbon and Cyrus always pulled it back just before she could snag it.

    ¡°That is somewhat true. The dust is necessary for so many magical machines that it is impossible to completely regulate it. And the necessary alchemical alterations to make it ¡®usable¡¯ as a drug are not difficult to perform for even a lay alchemist. It seems to be quite the problem. But please! Never try it out and never, and I mean it, try to do something like this with unaltered dust. That is like drinking white spirits and thinking it alcohol!¡±

    ¡°What happens when I do that?¡±

    ¡°You go blind and dumb.¡±

    <hr>

    In another dorm.

    Lieseleta sat in her room before a vanity pushed to the wall underneath an ornate mirror. Jera smoothed her hair with a brush, the golden locks gleaming in the light of the glowstone. She wore a loose pink robe cinched about her waist with a pastel blue sash, roses were embroidered in silver thread reaching from the lower hem to the middle of her chest.

    The room was spacious and the walls and ceiling were ornamented with stucco. The floor was polished and varnished wood gleamed in the light of the stones. The windows were latticed glass, the shutters closed for the night. A large canopy bed stood farther to the back.

    A knock sounded from the door.

    Jera looked up, she wore a simple tunic-trouser combination in earthy colors, brown and green with leather sewn onto the joints. A pendant in the form of a shield with crossed sword and mace hung from her neck.

    ¡°I will get that milady.¡±

    ¡°You need not be so formal with me when we are alone.¡± Lieseleta pouted playfully.

    Jera gave a half-smile and went to open the door.

    In the dark corridor stood a liveried servant holding a scroll in one hand and a lantern in the other. After a short exchange of words and some copper coins, she took the scroll towards the princess.

    As the girl reached for the parchment Jera shook her head. ¡°Please let me check first.¡±

    She produced an ornate wand made of pieces of green and white jade framed in runed silver. As she spoke the command word stars began to glimmer inside the stone and a ray of vibrant light shone onto the scroll. Runes became visible on the parchment and the seal glowed with green light.

    ¡°Everything checks out. Nothing beside anti-tampering measures and the usual self-immolation glyph.¡±

    ¡°Then can I open it now? That was Timus, he should have checked it too?¡±

    ¡°You can''t be too trusting your highness. Your brother tried to poison you once already.¡±

    ¡°You can''t know it was him.¡± Her stiff shoulders betrayed her fraying composure.

    ¡°I beg your forgiveness for this presumption.¡± Jera bowed.

    Lieseleta gave a deep sigh. ¡°Sorry. I know, please stop.¡± Jera righted herself and then opened the scroll.

    The girl began to read and raised an eyebrow. ¡°It is from Tervellin Gold. He warns me to be alert towards a certain Leonhard Poroskar and mentions Jamila von Nordstrom. I will have to have a talk with him.¡±

    She remembered the red-gold-haired insolent youth and his self-introduction. ¡®His hobby is flirting.¡¯ She smirked.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be seen in public with the king¡¯s bastard.¡± Jera admonished.

    ¡°Then it will not be in public? We have a visit to the town planned for this weekend, do we not?¡±

    ¡°That is true. I will try to find some more trustworthy guards.¡±

    ¡°I leave that in your capable hands.¡± The princess smiled mischievously.

    Sighing under her breath Jera continued brushing the golden locks that gleamed metallically in the light of the globes.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in the second-floor corridors of the academy main building.

    ¡°Calvin, a moment of your time.¡±

    ¡°Mrs. Jamila. What can I do for you.¡±

    ¡°Could we talk for a moment?¡± Jamila stood in the corridor wearing her dark grey robes and looked at him, head tilted to the side. Pince-nez glasses gleamed in the dim light of the sparse glow globes illuminating this lesser-used part of the academy.

    ¡°If you must.¡± Calvin nodded wearily. Once he had loved her low contralto voice and how she laughed at his jokes. And once he had thought her to be a friend. Scars both visible and invisible had resulted from this misconception.

    ¡°My study is just down the corridor, or would you like to go to yours?¡±

    ¡°If it makes no difference I would like you to accompany me to mine.¡± Calvin subtly drew some glyphs and summoned his power. Walls of shadow enclosed his mind. A whispered word activated a ring on his left hand a current of magic connected to his core.

    They walked in silence. The swish of her robes, the muffled sounds of their sandals. A distant sigh of wind. Somewhere a door was opened and closed, footsteps faded, silence again.

    Once he had found it comfortable because he thought he knew her mind, now he held destructive magics in time-spelled constructs at his fingertips. ¡®Not only flesh decays¡¯ the corner of his mouth turned up at this morbid thought.

    ¡°Something amusing you?¡± She did not look but somehow knew. It was like it had been and completely different. They had not talked in years other than when it was truly necessary.

    ¡°This situation naturally. You know that you could never persuade me and nonetheless, they sent you. Why did you accede to this? I remember you being a cautious player never committing unless sure of the result.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps even I like to have a sense of closure.¡± Her voice echoed down the hall.

    They arrived at his study and after disarming the wards and unlocking entered.

    ¡°Wine, spirits, tea?¡± He went towards a small cabinet and opening the glass door took a decanter holding it with a questioning gaze.

    The room was much smaller than Illimens, stuffed to the brim with old books the lone window struggled to supply fresh air and it smelled of mold, dusty parchment with a note of tobacco. A large desk with a leather upholstered chair stood before the window, some other chairs were buried beneath books and scrolls.

    ¡°Messy as always.¡± She tapped her fingers against her lips. ¡°Wine.¡±

    He took two glass goblets, different ones, and put them on the table. There did not seem to be a complete set. ¡°Please serve yourself while I clean a chair.¡± He did just that as she murmured and green light played around the decanter.

    ¡°I would not presume to poison you. That would be the novice trying to fool the master. I would simply try to send you to hell.¡± His smile was bereft of joy.

    ¡°Please try to keep civil will you. It will not take long.¡± She swirled the wine and sniffed. ¡°A Gildburg.¡± She sipped. ¡°You know your wine.¡± She seemed a bit surprised.

    ¡°Everything changes, given enough time. What do you want.¡± He took his own goblet a pulse of green flowed from his ring and then he drank a large swallow.

    ¡°You know that Illimen never intends for you to be a tower master. You are much too useful as an unbound tool.¡±

    Calvin raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Our offer- The Tower of the Arcane, your choice of apprentice, access to the restricted records, and as much money as you would need for the project.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°That is more than I would have thought you would offer.¡±

    ¡°I have not the time to dicker. I have not the inclination to slowly increase the price. I know you.¡± She brushed back her hair, he realized that she had loosened her hair a little. A few strands fell softly around her face.

    ¡°You KNEW me.¡± He folded his hands. ¡°What makes you think that I would entertain such an offer?¡±

    ¡°If you would but keep out of it.¡± She sighed. ¡°I could not give all of what I offered but might make a personal offer.¡±

    A flash of pain in his eyes was the only reaction. ¡°Why tear at old scars. That is in the past. Thank you for the offer, I would like to delay and say that I am considering it. I am not. For old times sakes don¡¯t ask me again.¡±

    She nodded, eyes hidden behind her glasses. ¡°Good night Calvin.¡±

    ¡°Good night Jamila, old friend.¡±

 Schoolyard squabbles

    ¡°Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.¡±

    - Mahatma Gandhi

    In a mansion beyond the walls of Kronenburg.

    A scratching noise could be heard echoing along the corridors dripping with water and caked with mold. Picture frames contained water-damaged oil paintings cracked and split dimly visible figures of ancient nobles looked into the distance disapproval in their eyes.

    Wall carpets showed patches of dirty stone where mice had eaten the once rich fabric. A human would have felt the wrongness that had saturated the stones, a chill on the back of the neck, the feeling of being watched.

    Old statues stood in shadowed alcoves and some of them did not keep their postures but slowly, oh so slowly, moved.

    Vanessa stood in the cellar she had made her lair and inspected her handiwork. A flat piece of polished marble that had once been the seat of a bench was carved with intricate symbols daubed in reddish-brown. Dead rats lying in a heap attested to the source of this coloration.

    ¡®Seems sufficient, but better not make a mistake or I would probably have to vacate the premises.¡¯

    After an hour of careful inspection Vanessa was finally satisfied and the blood fully dry.

    She gestured and energy began to crackle between her hands, she began to intone a resonating chant. Darkness began to flow from the walls and ceiling into the runic script. Outside the mansion, a passing vagrant felt his heart missing a beat and cold sweat ran from his brow, an existential fear drove him to run for his life far from the building he had thought to make his shelter for the night.

    The darkness formed symbols and glyphs guided by gestures and chant. Vanessa was glad she had begun the ritual as early as possible as she had not done this often after all. And then the world seemed to shudder, the runes on the marble bled fresh blood and with a final tearing sound, something was pulled into this world.

    A hunched and stooped figure nearly three meters when fully erect with arms too long and claws nearly half a meter in length, a head that was an oblong with lighter colored indentations where the eyes would be in a human or elf rose from the marble and inspected its surroundings, insectlike abrupt movements further betraying its inhuman nature. The skin was black so pure, that it seemed without depth.

    Vanessa looked at the summoned being and exerted her will. With a screech, it turned and raised its claws to strike but a gesture from her let the runes brighten for a moment and invisible chains tautened around its extremities pulling them back.

    ¡°I know your name, GHHERALXYAIR, and I command your obedience. You will have blood on the full moon as payment for guarding this abode and its grounds, anyone not specified by me entering is not protected by this agreement and free for you to dispose of. No one may enter the building itself on pain of death if not allowed by me.¡±

    Concepts rather than spoken words formed in her mind. Hunger and greed, acceptance with an undercurrent of patience. She knew it would test her and if ever she was found wanting it would attack, it was not dissatisfied by what was offered but concepts such as loyalty or even peaceful coexistence without the threat of harm were unknown to this being.

    Her will closed on the mind of the creature like a vice and the thin but tall shape folded into a deep bow, arms clasped before its breast.

    ''Better than a minor water elemental at least.'' Vanessa sighed.

    <hr>

    The following morning in the academy grounds.

    Alea, Alyssa, and Mireille walked together towards the main building the morning air was noticeably colder than a few days ago, winters bite could be felt in the brisk breeze carrying a few colored leaves with it.

    ¡°Ah summer, where have you gone.¡± Mireille lamented. ¡°Soon I will die of frostbite in the night. I can already feel it.¡± She shuddered theatrically.

    Alyssa laughed.

    ¡°We could simply get some extra blankets,¡± Alea spoke seriously causing Alyssa to cough.

    ¡°That is absolutely insufficient!¡± declared Mireille gesturing expansively.

    Vivienne regarded the three while walking with her brother she leaned towards him and whispered. ¡°Today you have ¡®Water¡¯ together with Alyssa.¡± It was not a question, Valens listened attentively. ¡°Please keep an eye out. I have something I''ve got to do preventing me from attending and I have a feeling some things will be set in motion which we will have to steer into a more productive direction.¡± Valens nodded.

    Today was remedial class and the teacher was Josef Turm, who had administered the academic portion of the entrance exam. Alyssa and Mireille were busy writing and learning the former more so than the latter. Alea was quite bored.

    Then it was time for lunch.

    On the way to the mensa, they saw Maximilian chatting with Alberich, who had stood in as referee in the duel on the day they first looked around the school. He gave a friendly nod in their direction and smiled at Alea who gave a small wave.

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    A large student with impressive muscles walked up to them before they could enter the building and pointed at Alyssa with an ugly sneer and proclaimed. ¡°Murderers and criminals are unwelcome here. Get back where you came from!¡±

    Put on the spot like this with the massive youth bearing down on her Alyssa felt her heart beat faster and her throat go dry. Students looked at them and whispered, some pointed. A group standing behind the student loudly voiced their approval.

    ¡°Criminals are not welcome.¡±

    ¡°Low-born scum.¡±

    ¡°Gives the academy a bad reputation.¡±

    ¡°How can I feel secure when something like that is attending here.¡±

    Maximilian gestured for Alberich to accompany him and walked briskly towards the altercation.

    Mireille looked furious. ¡°You ugly, overgrown dimwit, is it custom around here to simply spew your bullshit without even introducing yourself? Who are you? Top clown of the schoolyard? A spare for when they don¡¯t have enough donkeys to pull the manure cart? You seem big and dumb enough for that.¡±

    The big student seemed woefully unprepared for being verbally attacked by the small red-haired girl, whose head did reach to about his lower chest region. ¡°Yapping nuisance, out of my way.¡± He raised his hand to shove her away but missed as she leaned back, ducking out of the way.

    ¡°Halt! What is this nonsense.¡± Maximilian walked between the groups. ¡°How on earth do you come to the conclusion that this is acceptable behavior for an academy student.¡± He turned towards the big aggressive student whose green tunic strained around massive muscles.

    ¡°My name is Otto von Landesend and this criminal here is¡­¡±

    ¡°My retainer.¡± Maximilian looked singularly unimpressed. ¡°And if you continue with this slander I will call you to duel.¡±

    ¡°It''s the truth!¡± Otto stubbornly set his shoulders.

    ¡°Yes, we heard it too!¡± the group standing behind him gave their support.

    ¡°I Otto von Landesend, call you Alyssa Miner to duel. Your presence here shames us all.¡± The sentence sounded rehearsed and was spoken stiffly.

    Alyssa looked at Maximilian for guidance who shook his head in exasperation. ¡°Ok. That is your prerogative, what you are aiming to achieve with that is a mystery to me but so be it. Alberich, you have some experience in that regard¡­¡±

    The youth who had stood nearby and seemed faintly amused by the commotion shook himself and looked at Maximilian. ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°I can''t very well do this for my own retainer, it sets a bad precedent and I could well be accused of favoritism.¡± Maximilian patiently explained.

    The lanky dishwater-blonde shook his head, ¡°I should have gone ahead! That is the punishment for being considerate. I refuse.¡±

    ¡°I will give you the sixteen-year-old pear schnapps.¡±

    ¡°Max my friend, I will of course help you with this. No problem at all.¡± Alberich looked like the incarnation of helpfulness.

    Maximilian rubbed his forehead. ¡°But not now. You called for a duel you can decide the victory condition but Alyssa can choose the means and the time. You will have to agree on the dueling code though.¡±

    Mireille was fuming. ¡°Can he simply walk up to us and we have to fight him?¡±

    ¡°Yes. A few decades ago everyone here was a noble and dueling was not only allowed but encouraged as a means of fostering combat ability and mitigating quarrels to not include the fiefs and armed retainers in their disputes.¡± Maximilian patiently explained while all around them students were chatting and discussing what they had witnessed.

    ¡°I say we fight until you are unconscious. The dueling code¡­¡± Otto floundered.

    From behind him came a loud whisper in a female voice ¡°...the code duello Carvenbright.¡± A pretty brunette leaned back into the crowd as some tried to see who had spoken.

    Otto continued after saying ¡°..thanks Melissa¡­¡± under his breath. ¡°The code duello of Carvenbright.¡±

    ¡°A traditional choice.¡± Alberich gave a nod and seemed, if not enthusiastic, at peace with the proceedings.

    ¡°Then let us say¡­¡± Maximilian looked at the girls and Alea leaned towards him saying something. ¡°...Wednesday afternoon after classes. Everyone in accord?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Otto gave a short nod.

    Alyssa looked to Maximilian who nodded towards her. ¡°...yes.¡± Alyssa sounded uncertain.

    ¡°Then it is decided. Weapons can still be decided at a later date but it should give the participants enough time to acquire a weapon should it be needed.¡±

    Mireille called out to the brunette girl ¡°take your ugly mutt and teach him some manners. I can''t understand how you can be seen in public with him and not be embarrassed to death.¡±

    Otto took another swing towards her which she dodged again.

    ¡°Mireille.¡± Maximilian looked at her. ¡°If you want to duel him please wait for the first one to conclude. Please don¡¯t insult him further.¡± She threw him a reproachful look. The blonde, blue-eyed young man sighed. ¡°I know he had it coming.¡±

    ¡°When I have beaten your friend to a pulp you will be next.¡± Otto retorted before turning to go.

    The girl called Melissa looked uncomfortable and walked briskly ahead of him with the large student trying to catch up. Students slowly dispersed towards the mensa as the main attraction had finished.

    Alyssa pressed her lips together and hunched her shoulders trying to suppress tears of anger as she felt Mireille hugging her. Relaxing into the embrace she whispered. ¡°What a stupid idiot. Thank you.¡±

    Alea put her hand on her right arm and squeezed. ¡°We are with you. My brother and Alberich will keep an eye on this duel.¡±

    Alyssa nodded. Cyrus spread his wings and looked ready to take off and stab someone to death.

    Asandria looked at them. ¡®It is not that surprising you know? You will succeed, you have me and the added strength of Cyrus even though he would not be allowed to use his stinger. But I am quite unsure what they want with that kind of display. The muscles are nice to look at but nearly useless in a duel of magic, and you have the choice of weapons. It seems as if it is more a measure of swaying public opinion than dueling for its own sake.¡¯

    Alyssa looked pensive at that.

    ¡°We have to go inside otherwise we will not get any food.¡± Mireille sounded a bit plaintive.

    Hugging her tightly for a short moment, Alyssa released her embrace and breathed deeply. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    <hr>

    Vivienne looked at them entering the mensa. ¡®Interesting. The girl is coerced. The crowd at least partially bought. Let''s see if we can have some fun.¡¯ She spoke a short spell and gestured towards the departing Otto who was still hurrying after the girl Melissa. ¡°Yrgos Worldstrider let him follow his whims, act without thought as the wind carries him.¡±

    Otto closed the distance to Melissa and put his arm around her shoulder saying something. She flinched and tried to shake him off which the big young man hardly noticed.

    Another gesture and whispers from the surrounding students reached the struggling girl. ¡°...Melissa and Otto...surprising.¡± ¡°...she always was an easy girl...last week...another boy¡­¡± ¡° ...oh my what a trollop¡­¡±

    With a hard gleam in her eyes, Vivienne observed her handiwork then turned and walked towards her next class while eating a bit of bread she had stuffed into one of her belt pouches. It was somewhat surprising even after all this time what simply hearing the words, that one had to know were spoken, did to some people.

    Melissa extricated herself and with wet eyes ran towards the dorms. Otto looked surprised and insulted.

    And then it was time for the afternoon classes.

 Reminiscing and preparing

    ¡°The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.¡±

    - Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss

    Valens looked after his departing sister and sighed deeply. She was his savior and he loved her dearly, there was not a more important person in his life but she had sworn herself to the vagaries of the fickle wind and the only thing constant about her was her regard for him.

    She had had friends, even more than that, but if the wind took her she could be callous, ruthless even.

    He walked towards the next class keeping an eye on Alyssa as his sister had requested.

    A ¡®request¡¯. That took him back¡­

    The sea breeze ruffled the hairs of the green-haired boy for a moment he was disoriented then the aches and pains of the bruises that were all over his small body made him groan with pain. He was lying behind some large boulders on the pebbled beach ten minutes walk to the north of town.

    ¡°You are awake.¡± a girl''s childish voice sounded beside his ear. Looking up he saw his sister¡¯s blue-green eyes, rough-cut, green hair hanging into her face.

    ¡°It is hidden behind the white boulder.¡±

    ¡°You did not tell them.¡± It was not a question. She brushed her recalcitrant bangs out of her eyes.

    The surf crashed against the rocky shore, seagulls screamed overhead. In the distance the town of Kruogh¡¯s Breach was visible, wooden houses with dragons and sea monsters carved into the lintels lining the large fjord. Smoke rose from hundreds of chimneys. Longboats creaked in the stiff breeze.

    Valens looked up at her, the sun blinding him momentarily, and forced himself to say, ¡°So when the son of the mayor cannot produce his promise-band at the engagement ceremony¡­¡±

    ¡°They will ask some pointed questions. He will rue the day he touched you.¡± Vivienne looked into the distance. Grey clouds hung low over a stormy sea. ¡°There will be hints, there will be indications, and they will find the band with his sweetheart, and not with his fiancee to be. Perhaps they will be expelled, but I think they will simply punish them. But that is only the beginning.¡± The look in her eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

    Of the Kingdoms of the Broken, the Breach was mostly this town, large as it was, and the fleet of ships manned with warriors. They were mercenaries first and raiders second when honest work was scarce.

    Wind and wave were what made or broke this town. Tiomena Wavemother was an obvious choice and she had a large temple overlooking the harbor. But Yrgos¡­had his temple too, he was too important to be slighted. His worship was more appeasement really and his priests were chosen by the elder council. He was a jealous and uncaring deity and those who were sworn to his service were shunned. Who would want a priest of the god of tricksters and traitors as a friend?

    He was a deity of contrasts, storms that could uproot large trees, lightning, and thunder, but also the playful breeze, the soft caress of air on a hot summer''s day.

    His sister spread her arms and the shabby clothes she wore fluttered baring her lower back, the beginnings of an off-white and dark grey tattoo were visible reaching for her shoulderblades were, as he well knew, Yrgos eyes were staring from storm clouds that covered all of her torso. Each spot of dye paid for in pain.

    They had been outcasts since birth, their mother a prize won in an old feud. She had died in childbirth, twins were very rare in elven society apparently and their human blood had not helped. They were brought up as near-slaves and it was no surprise that his sister was chosen to be Yrgos¡¯ own.

    She had always had an eye out for her brother. Being sickly and smaller than her, he had been bullied relentlessly. By making her a priestess they sought to spare their own children but sometimes Valens thought they should have thought it through some more.

    For the children and adults who had tormented them two had been lost at sea as their boat had floundered. One was killed by his wife who had discovered his infidelity. Two were crippled as they ate the corn poisoned by the dark spots. One was disgraced as he was drunk and asleep on watch when the raiders came. He was a drunkard and vagrant now. One was hit by a horse''s hoof and struck dumb and deaf, now he often drooled staring vacantly in a corner. No one was left unscathed.

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    A cold hand stroked his brow while eyes shining like mirrors in a small, pale face regarded him, showing nothing beside his own reflection. ¡°Sleep some more. Big sis will keep the bad dreams away. And when you wake it will hurt no more.¡± And as she hummed a lullaby the breeze dancing among the dry yellowed grass moved to accompany her song.

    They neared the classroom and he shook himself free from his recollections. ''And then they sent us south to study. More like they wanted to get rid of us and she could be useful to the elders for once''.

    ¡°Penny for your thoughts.¡± Alyssa looked at him. She seemed a bit recovered from the encounter with Otto but was still pale.

    ¡°Nothing I would like to talk about.¡± Valens shrunk back a bit, a habit that was hard to break having been ingrained with frequent beatings until he awoke to his water affinity and could reasonably well defend himself.

    ¡°Sorry, you just looked so pensive. I was afraid you would walk into a wall.¡± Alyssa tried to joke. Her smile looked a bit forced.

    He managed a nod and a half-smile and the conversation died again.

    <hr>

    In the courtyard of the academy, the lesson began.

    The blonde, thickly set woman with blue eyes clapped her hands twice. ¡°I will have silence.¡± Heru Gera von Turswacht was her name and she was the professor teaching ¡®Water, the first building block of life¡¯. She gestured, ¡°Leave the tests on the table near the entrance.¡±

    The tall building surrounding the secluded courtyard kept all but a thin slice of lawn in shadow. The sun''s rays illuminated a part of the frescos ornamenting the columns of the colonnaded walkway running the length and width of the yard. The pool in the center rippled with a soft breeze. From a window in the upper floors fragments of music drifted down to them.

    Valens stood behind and to the side of Alyssa making her somewhat nervous, but asking him to come forward to stand beside her had been an exercise in futility.

    ¡°After getting an overview of your respective talents it seems there are many who still need the basics. So today we will be continuing with the language of water and the most common sigils you all should know.¡±

    And during class Valens saw a fine unnatural looking mist drifting towards Alyssa who was focused on the lecture. With an unwilling gesture, the boy dispersed the mist before it could reach his charge. Giving an internal sigh he thought. ¡®My sister is truly on the ball again¡¯. He looked around but could not identify a culprit.

    The class ended without something more happening- that he was aware of. He walked with Alyssa until they reached the front yard where he bade her goodbye. His sister fell in step with him as he walked back to their dorm. He wasn¡¯t even surprised by her timing anymore.

    ¡°I did not find what I was looking for. What could they have planned?¡± Vivienne looked dissatisfied. Her brother simply listened and walked with her.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in Wisteria Dorms.

    Alea was writing a list comparing it to some books lying open before her. Alyssa yawned and held a cup of tea while studying a large tome balanced precariously on her knees. Mireille played with Semiramis who had invaded their room just minutes prior.

    ¡°Tomorrow we will go to the market again, won''t we?¡± Mireille opened the conversation.

    ¡°I want to buy the orb. Otherwise, I have no plans.¡± Alyssa looked up from the diagram she was trying to memorize.

    ¡°Lieseleta mentioned our planned visit to the market again today, so nothing changed I think,¡± Alea spoke while moving her spider over to some better vantage position.

    ¡°Do you think about the duel?¡± Mireille asked while hugging Semiramis.

    ¡°Naturally. But I can only prepare myself as best I can. Does anyone know of this Otto?¡±

    ¡°The Landesend are a small noble family they hold the hereditary title of knight. It is the lowest of the hereditary titles only a bit better than those that are awarded for life.¡± Alea explained.

    ¡°That means?¡± Mireille looked a bit interested.

    ¡°Knights are normally retainers and as such the title is low nobility but ends when the holder dies. It is not hereditary. A landed knight with an inherited title can give that title to his eldest son. But they are still pretty unimportant. Probably trying to please more powerful nobles.¡±

    ¡°Suck-ups.¡± was Mireille¡¯s laconic comment.

    They fell into their respective beds, tired from the day''s encounters and studying.

    Semiramis and Cyrus had claimed the empty bunk above Alea for their own use and with their wings stretched fully there was hardly any space left.

    And then they went to sleep.

    The market was as full as the last time they were there. Men and women, some dwarves, one elf they could see shoved and hurried to their respective destinations. The sun shone and the weather was dry.

    Lieseleta, Jera, and some guards accompanied them. Vivienne had pleaded the need to study and Valens, needless to say, had joined her.

    ¡°Let us buy some more fruits from the snake-woman.¡± Mireille gestured. ¡°Those were pretty tasty.¡±

    ¡°Her name was Iseret.¡± Alea corrected her.

    ¡°I thought about getting an enchantment for the basilisk claws. I did not use mine much after the wyvern cave, but it would be a shame to simply let it gather dust somewhere.¡± Alyssa joined the conversation.

    They bought the lo berries again. Iseret Sekesh, the pureblood, was manning the shop again and smiled as she recognized them.

    And then they left the market proper and entered the Arcaneum.

 A mage and his orb, a brother meets a sister

    The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.

    - Leo Tolstoy

    ¡®What is this?¡¯ Mireille touched her pocket. They were just entering the great building as she felt the edge of something in her pocket poke her side. She took it out and it was a folded note with a green wax sigil depicting a hooded cobra and some strange symbols that did not seem to be spell-glyphs, though she did not think herself an expert. ¡®Mh. Best not to open it here, I will discuss it with the others when we get back¡¯.

    The building housed shops on different levels with stairs connecting the walkways. There were even some glass skylights that let in natural sunlight augmenting the magical illumination. Their steps echoed on the polished stone floor.

    They entered ¡®Staffs and Wands for your daily Needs¡¯. ¡°Welcome back your Highness, good to see you again so soon.¡± The attendant from last time saw Lieseleta and greeted her with a bow.

    ¡°Thank you, today we mostly visited because you had an orb capable of strengthening void magic.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I remember.¡± The older man with the dark-brown hair nodded. ¡°Mrs. Avery told me about it. We do not usually carry such gear so it was somewhat surprising for me.¡±

    ¡°Is it so difficult to get? Is there no demand?¡± Alyssa inquired curiously.

    ¡°We mostly carry useful wands for either the more well-off to serve their specialized needs or for people who simply need some utility to ease their lives. Our shop is named ¡®Staffs and Wands for your daily Needs¡¯ after all. And pardon my saying it, void tools are not usually a daily need.¡± The attendant spoke the last in a somewhat dry tone.

    Alyssa had to grin a bit at that. ¡°Makes sense¡±

    Mrs. Avery who had been called walked up to them. ¡°Greetings. Your Highness. Esteemed customers.¡± She nodded towards them in turn.

    ¡°I wanted to buy the channelers orb and¡­the locket. If I bought both, would fifty gold be enough?¡±

    Mrs. Avery cupped her chin and thought a moment. ¡°That is satisfactory. We have not had much call for both and to simply let them take up space in the vault is not good business practice.¡± She smiled. ¡°I will get them for you along with the necessary documentation accrediting their origin.¡±

    Alyssa received a bag holding two small wooden chests. Asandria inspected both and nodded at her companion.

    ¡°A pleasure doing business with you.¡± Mrs. Avery radiated good cheer as she received the agreed-upon payment and then bade them goodbye.

    ¡°What now?¡± Mireille looked around curiously. ¡°I think I am getting hungry.¡± As if on cue her stomach growled.

    Alyssa laughed, Lieseleta grinned, Jera was stoic as always and Alea shook her head.

    ¡°What? If we had eaten at the skewer stall I would not be hungry at all!¡± They had denied her this simple pleasure after all citing their planned lunch at the Inn. ''As if I could not eat more after one small skewer...or two.''

    Laughing they went back towards the Inn they had stabled their horses and carriages.

    Lieseleta leaned towards Alyssa and Alea who were walking side by side. ¡°I will have to make a small detour. Two of my guards will accompany you to the inn and I will soon follow.¡±

    Alyssa looked a bit confused but nodded. ¡°I will tell Mireille. I hope you will still be in time for lunch? Should we wait for you?¡±

    ¡°I might have eaten already, I am not sure- Please don¡¯t wait for me before eating. But I hope you will wait in the inn until I get back.¡±

    ¡°Certainly. Thank you for coming with us again. It makes for a much more pleasant experience.¡± Alyssa looked at the bubble of clean air surrounding them courtesy of Jera and the space around them that was kept free of passerby through the efforts of their guards.

    ¡°Most days I take it for granted. I will make sure to thank Jera properly when we get back.¡± There was this mischievous glint in the golden-haired princesses'' eyes again. Jera looked suitably skeptical.

    Alyssa walked up to her red-haired and freckled friend. ¡°Mireille, what are you looking at?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it''s you.¡± Mireille was looking at some embroidered scarves. ¡°Those here are done with a complicated chain stitch. I was learning it when I was a lot younger and sometimes even got it right.¡± She smiled nostalgically.

    Alyssa smiled and leaned forward. ¡°How much for the scarf?¡± She pointed at the one Mireille was admiring, a lime green and pale rose-red creation made of soft-looking linen or something very much like it.

    ¡°Ah, a true connoisseur of beautiful things.¡± The dark-haired and tanned young man manning the stall came over to them and looked at Mireille as he said that. ¡°Only two gold pieces!¡±

    ¡°One!¡±

    ¡°One and a half. And I will throw in this handkerchief.¡± He smiled while pointing at a bright red handkerchief with embroidered edges.

    ¡°Deal.¡± Alyssa counted the necessary coins into her hand and then let them fall into the waiting hands of the merchant.

    ¡°May Meloris keep you safe! Have a nice day.¡±

    Mireille looked a bit bashful. ¡°Thank you. I did not know when or if there was an occasion to wear it so I was hesitant to buy it outright...thank you. I think it makes me happy having something like it.¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Alyssa hugged her. ¡°What are friends for.¡±

    Lieseleta looked at them and grinned while nudging Alea. ¡°Anything you would like around here?¡±

    Alea turned her spider to the golden-haired girl. ¡°I would really like another look at ¡®Willibalds Clocks and Clockwork¡¯ but did not want to prolong our trip too much.¡±

    The other girl gave her a reproachful look. ¡°You are here with us to enjoy yourself, we should have gone there too.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for being so considerate. Perhaps we can come again in some week''s time.¡± Alea smiled and the edges of her blindfold creased a bit.

    ¡°Certainly. I like having excuses to shield myself against other more onerous invitations.¡± Lieseleta laughed. ¡°And now I feel a bit bad asking you, but you already did agree.¡± She drew a deep breath. ¡°Do you have some time tomorrow evening? I don¡¯t know if our two friends over there would be best served by accompanying us. It''s a nobles gathering, a noble girls gathering ¨C mostly first and second years.¡±

    Alea looked a lot paler suddenly and her breath hitched. ¡°So soon?¡±

    ¡°If you would like to be excused I could arrange it, but it''s like with a bandage, removing it quickly is most likely the less painful option.¡± She grinned.

    ¡°Are you the host?¡±

    ¡°No, thankfully not. This time it is one of the Turswachts. Nicoletta? Yes Nicoletta von Turswacht. She is the niece of our water teacher.¡±

    ¡°Would you accompany me?¡± Alea probed and then softly added. ¡°If I would be alone among a group of strangers I don¡¯t think I would manage.¡±

    Lieseleta looked at her a bit wonderingly then put an arm around her shoulder. ¡°Please be careful who you admit that to. Even some so-called friends would probably use that against you someday. I will make sure to not leave you alone.¡±

    Soon they reached the road leading to the inn.

    ¡°Here we must part ways for a short while.¡± Lieseleta waved at them. ¡°I will hurry, don¡¯t eat everything. Leave at least one piece of cake. Strawberry if they have it.¡± And then she was lost among the crowd with Jera following close behind.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Mireille asked the others.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we should talk about it. It is most likely not something she wants others to know.¡± Alea mused.

    Alyssa nodded.

    The inn was crowded and a harried-looking server was just about to formulate an apology as one of the guards, an older man with black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee clad in leather and chain, armed with a longsword slung across his back walked up to him and said some words the others could not understand over the din of the common room.

    The server looked relieved and gestured for them to follow. They soon arrived in the private room they had been in the last time.

    Mireille plopped down into her seat and then threw a folded note on the table.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Alyssa looked at it more closely.

    ¡°A note I found in my pocket as we were walking away from buying the Io-berries.¡±

    ¡°Iseret Sekesh¡¯s shop?¡± Alea questioned.

    ¡°Where we bought the red berries that are good with sugar, yes that was her name- probably.¡± Mireille rubbed her forehead. ¡°Can¡¯t think well on an empty stomach¡± She looked longingly at the door.

    ¡°Some bread and butter should get here soon.¡± Alyssa comforted her. ¡°Should we open the note?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we should wait until we are at home?¡± Alea proposed.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in an alley leading away from the main street.

    ¡°Princess, I still think you are being reckless.¡± Jera looked at her charge who was preceded by two of their guards. ¡°If something were to happen we would not get to even call for reinforcements. You should wear the tracking bracelet at all times!¡±

    ¡°Not when I have a clandestine meeting, I don¡¯t.¡± Lieseleta had a stubborn set to her shoulders.

    ¡°If something happens I will delay them, you go with Horas.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know. But if you die I will get you back even if I have to wait for Alyssa to become a proficient necromancer.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about that!¡±

    Tervellin was leaning against an old well-house and looked up as they came near. ¡°Sister dear, good to see you.¡± He went towards her and motioned for a hug.

    ¡°Half-sister.¡± She took a step back. ¡°And I think we should first get to know each other a bit better.¡±

    ¡°Aw. And here I was hoping for a heartfelt reunion. We have not seen each other properly for years.¡±

    ¡°I...I don¡¯t think we met before the academy?¡±

    ¡°You were a lot smaller but do you really not remember? You and your father were visiting Deeplake and I played in the hedge maze with you.¡±

    A memory from long ago. A bright summer sun shining down on an intricately designed garden with a maze made of brambles and spellcraft. Illusions cloaking secluded bowers were dark fey played with their mortal morsels.

    ¡°I am unsure if that is a recommendation.¡± She furrowed her forehead.

    ¡°Ah, see? You remember something. That is good.¡± As if it were natural he linked arms with her and pointed at an unassuming building. ¡°Let us talk there¡± And before she could protest he drew her with him.

    Jera looked at her, a question in her eyes but she shook her head and let him pull her along.

    Inside was a spacious room with comfortable chairs around a table. There was neither an entranceway nor the normal trappings of a lived-in house.

    Tervellin pulled out a chair for her and as she was seated asked. ¡°Wine?¡±

    ¡°Water please.¡±

    ¡°Tsk. Worrywart.¡± He grinned and took a decanter pouring some water into a crystal goblet before doing the same with another goblet and some wine from an unmarked clay flask.

    ¡°Cheers.¡± He clinked the glass with hers.

    ¡°Cheers.¡± She reciprocated. ¡°What did you wish to talk about?¡±

    ¡°So direct. You spoke about getting to know each other first.¡± His eyes seemed to shift and the color turned towards a deep reddish gold.

    ¡°You are part fay.¡±

    ¡°That is one truth.¡±

    ¡°Did you want me to know?¡±

    ¡°Naturally. Leonhard Poroskar deals with Bluestone and has some connection to Jamila von Nordstrom. What that connection is I cannot say.¡±

    ¡°Why tell me this?¡±

    ¡°I hate those crude, destructive drugs.¡± Tervellin leaned back his shirt grew tight, displaying his muscled chest. ¡°And I do like Illimen.¡±

    ¡°What has he got to do with this?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Lieseleta don¡¯t play me for a fool. You should know better than me that a council and a vote are coming up. Jamila is opposed to Illimen and the connection to this Poroskar idiot is a potential weakness. Illimen was always open-minded and even let me attend the academy." He emphasized the ''me'', "even though it is clear as day that I am trouble.¡± He laughed in a deep baritone that brought goosebumps to her arms.

    ¡°And that is what you wanted me to know?¡±

    ¡°Yes. You should be able to take this thread and unravel it from the fabric, take it to its source and it will be helpful I am certain.¡± He leaned towards her again and presented the flask. ¡°Some wine and relaxation after the dry facts?¡± His eyes were still red-gold.

    With a dry mouth, she quickly drank a bit of water. ¡°No, thank you- To both.¡±

    ¡°I had heard of the prudish ways of the south. But until you turned me down I did not lack for company...it has been quite the ride indeed.¡± He lifted one eyebrow.

    ¡°Do tell. I will take my leave and thank you¡­¡±

    ¡°Just not in a way that would please us both¡­¡± He looked deeply disappointed.

    ¡°...if you need something perhaps I can arrange it for you. Call on me if there is need. Goodbye.¡± The slightly flustered princess stood up, smoothed her dress, and strode to the door.

    ¡°Until our paths cross again in candle-light or in rain, be safe my sister sweet, a secret and a warning for when next we meet.¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile at the Inn.

    ¡°The snakes want to meet Vanessa?¡± Mireille looked flustered looking at the open note.

 Reaching a Decision

    ¡°I play to win and if it looks like I''ve lost, it''s only because it''s not over yet.¡±

    - Kiera Dellacroix, Engravings of Wraith

    As they had sat together and waited for Lieseleta- Mireille had opened the note.

    ¡°Did we not agree to do that after we got to the townhouse?¡± Alea asked exasperatedly.

    ¡°But it was so mysterious and interesting. I couldn¡¯t well wait on that could I?¡± Mireille protested.

    ¡°How do they know about Vanessa?¡± asked Alyssa concernedly.

    ¡°They write that they used a diviner.¡± Mireille read a passage again.

    ¡°Give that to me please.¡± Alyssa stretched out her hand.

    ¡®To the household of the von Graufurts residing in Kronenburg.

    We know this might be presumptuous and we apologize if anything this letter contains gives offense but it came to our attention that there is possible common ground with an acquaintance of yours. Our diviners found her name to be Vanessa as you know her. She is in conflict with certain elements of crime in this fair city and we would be able and willing to assist. Our wish is for a fruitful partnership. The person leading said elements in question, a Vadislav Orpen has been a thorn in our side and hindered our peaceful expansion into the market of Kronenburg. So if you consider this to be of relevance for your future plans we would be happy to arrange a meeting. Simply contact Iseret Sekesh and she will do the rest.

    In the hopes of a beneficial association, we remain,

    Kadira of Sur-Kesh¡¯

    After Alea had finished reading the letter aloud she looked at her friends. ¡°We have to talk to Vanessa before everything else.¡±

    ¡°Good thing we are set to meet her this evening.¡± Alyssa nodded.

    ¡°They have a lot of information. Is Vanessa that big a deal for a city of that size?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Don''t underestimate her. I have had dealings with some sorcerers and she is knowledgeable and powerful.¡± Alea cautioned. ¡°Her undead nature makes her resilient far beyond a mere human. You might believe her to be weaker than she is.¡±

    ¡°And you are an expert on vampires, why?¡± Mireille looked at Alea questioningly.

    ¡°I looked it up of course. Have you not been to the library already?¡±

    ¡°What library?¡±

    ¡°I will show you when we are back at the academy.¡± Alea sighed. ¡°Vampires are classified as a threat needing military intervention and at least warmage support.¡±

    ¡°There is a classification like that?¡± Alyssa asked interested.

    ¡°Yes, we are an organized country.¡± Alea nodded.

    They ate from the food that had been brought up to their room and talked. After nearly an hour Lieseleta entered. She looked out of breath.

    ¡°I hope you already ate and did not wait for me?¡±

    ¡°Thank you for warning us, and no we did not wait!¡± Mireille exclaimed cheerfully.

    The princess grinned at that.

    ¡°Did you get to eat? Otherwise, they could make some more or heat the soup. Wait.¡± Alea looked at her friend and brought her hands together before gesturing and incanting a short spell. A red glow shone inside the liquid and then the soup began to emit fresh steam and some bubbles rose to the surface. ¡°Try it now. It should not be too hot!¡± A tiny smile spread on her lips.

    Lieseleta laughed. ¡°I can trust you to cheer me up when I get too depressed!¡± Then she reached for the soup.

    ¡°Your Highness, please let me.¡± Jera intervened and looked faintly exasperated. She spoke a short spell and a wave of sigils and greenish light radiated from her open palm. ¡°No poison that I can detect. It should be safe to eat.¡± She stood back after that.

    The princess¡¯ mood dampened at that but then she shook herself and regained a bit of her cheer as she began to eat. ¡°Mh. That is the reason I come here as often as I can. The chef was originally employed in the palace but this and that lead to him no longer being welcome there. But his ability was certainly not the cause.¡±

    ¡°What was the reason if I may ask?¡± Alyssa looked curious.

    ¡°He did not serve lemon custard for the birthday celebration of the first prince. And yes that was the primary reason, that and he had made an enemy of the head steward. Palace politics.¡± She pursed her mouth in distaste.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Jera looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

    Lieseleta pretended not to see anything which caused her bodyguard to sigh.

    ¡°And? Did everything go okay?¡± Alea asked.

    ¡°Mostly. I think. I will have to investigate some things.¡± Lieseleta looked pensive.

    ¡°I¡­¡± she looked around, ¡°...we would help when there is need.¡±

    Mireille and Alyssa nodded encouragingly.

    ¡°I will ask when necessary. Thank you.¡±

    Asandria tilted her head from side to side. ¡°On the one hand it is good to make friends in high places, on the other, the princess is the least powerful royal and has her brother as an enemy. We don¡¯t know enough about the king and the first prince. Be careful.¡¯

    <hr>

    After eating dessert the group split up, with the princess and her guards going back to the academy and the trio of Alea, Alyssa, and Mireille driving back to the townhouse with Adam.

    As they entered the inner courtyard and exited the carriage Adam spoke up. ¡°Someone tried to bribe me. I tried to play along but I fear my days of acting on the big stage are over. He saw through my attempt to seem interested and left.¡±

    ¡°He?¡± Alea questioned.

    ¡°It was a young man in his early twenties with brown hair tied in a ponytail. Tanned. Looked like a worker. Wore reasonable clothes for visiting an expensive inn but I don¡¯t think they were his.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for telling us.¡±

    ¡°Naturally. The madam saved my hide and I am quite attached to it.¡± He laughed coarsely then he flicked the reins and the horses pulled the carriage towards the stable.

    ¡°Mh. The plot thickens.¡± Mireille stretched. ¡°This whole thing comes across like a play enacted on market day.¡±

    ¡°Those actors have to have got their inspiration from somewhere.¡± Alyssa shrugged. ¡°Thankfully Adam is not easily moved to betray your grandmother.¡±

    ¡°I never knew she had such interesting acquaintances.¡± Alea looked a bit troubled.

    ¡°I could do with a nap.¡± Mireille looked cheerful.

    ¡°We''ve still got homework,¡± Alyssa countered and Mireille''s face fell. Seeing that, the white-haired girl hugged her spontaneously and continued. ¡°Don''t be sad, I will help you and we will probably get some cookies and tea from the kitchen if we ask nicely.¡±

    Alea nodded and adjusted her blindfold.

    <hr>

    A few hours later.

    ¡°I never would have thought that I would welcome Vanessa¡¯s training! I will never learn that thing with the numbers and the bar!¡±

    ¡°You mean fractional calculation.¡± Alea corrected her.

    ¡°Aaaah.¡±

    ¡°Did I come at an inconvenient time?¡± Vanessa stood behind them and looked at the formula. ¡°Mathematics is something where you probably have equal or even more advanced knowledge compared to the old empire.¡±

    ¡°You will give me a heart attack one of these days. Did you wait for a good cue for your entrance or was that a coincidence. Be honest!¡± Mireille held her chest.

    Vanessa smiled and exposed elongated canines. Her triangular face was otherwise impassive. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°Good to see you are well.¡± Alyssa smiled at the vampire.

    Asandria gave an elegant bow and smiled. Cyrus clicked his teeth and gave a low screech.

    ¡°Good evening. I would offer food or drink but...you know. Please pretend I did that.¡± Alea put the spider on the table next to her calculations.

    ¡°You have always been more than hospitable. If all humans I have known had your manners my evaluation of humanity would be quite positive indeed.¡±

    ¡°We got some strange letter in the market.¡± Mireille searched her pockets and then put a slightly crumpled note on the table.

    ¡°The sigil seems Keshian.¡± Vanessa inspected the letter and cast a spell then nodded. ¡°There was a simple spell anchored in the seal that would have destroyed the letter had not you, Alea or Alyssa opened it. It is interesting how they could attune it so well, but that is something for later. Let''s have a look.¡± She read the letter.

    ¡°Mh. The folk of Sur-Kesh are known to me since my years as a princess in the orchid palace. They are cold-blooded not only in a physiological sense and their practice of slavery...I always found it a bit repulsive even as I was not engaged enough to do something about it or even protest their conduct. But...I think that is a highly interesting offer.¡±

    ¡°Do you think they mean it? And how did they even find out that we are in contact with you? That could lead to problems down the line.¡± Alyssa worriedly questioned.

    ¡°You are not wrong. I think that is one part of their plan. They offer cooperation and in the same breath subtly threaten with their knowledge of our affairs. That fits with what I know, or knew of them.¡± The small girl with blue-white hair paced along the table. ¡°I am inclined to accept their invitation. Knowing more is always better than knowing less.¡±

    She straightened and regarded Alyssa and Mireille. ¡°Would you please relay my wish to have that meeting? You two can decide if you want to be present- I think I should go alone, but as it concerns us all I leave the final decision up to you. Alea should not attend, that makes our connection a bit more ambiguous.¡±

    ¡°I would like to see them.¡± Mireille spread her arms. ¡°A clandestine meeting with snake-people. Wouldnt want to miss that! Nirileth would forsake me if I did not at least attempt to be there.¡±

    Vanessa looked at Alyssa who said. ¡°Do you think I am ready for something like that? I don¡¯t want to let Mireille go alone. I don¡¯t worry quite as much about you, sorry.¡± She blushed.

    Vanessa chuckled. ¡°I would be offended if you did.¡±

    ¡°That does not mean I don¡¯t worry at all!¡±

    ¡°I know. So you two will come with me. Then let me teach you and hopefully, some of my words will stick.¡± She looked at Mireille as she said that.

    ¡°I am all ears¡± Mireille had an earnest expression.

    "First I would like Alyssa to train with the orb she has bought. You did buy it, didn''t you?"

    "Yes, I have it right here." Alyssa opened the chest and retrieved the cloudy crystal orb.

    "It will work like a reservoir that takes the void energies you produce and then lets you manipulate that energy outside your body which will protect you from its negative effects. But it will take some getting used to and you would need to fill this orb with power before it can be used. That power dissipates relatively quickly, so no storing it beforehand. Thankfully it seems to be a decent piece of craftsmanship and should enhance your control."

    Vanessa showed her the essentials of Shadestep - a spell that shifted the user''s location to a nearby shadow, with practice even a shadow that was selected and not a random one. It should enable the caster to dodge with much greater facility.

    Mireille was drilled in the use of her haste spell and the beginnings of Lightning Arsenal a variation of the Lightning Bolt that would enable her to use weapons made of elemental energy, at the moment all she could do was charge a weapon she already possessed.

    Sometime after the middle of the night, they finally fell into the large bed, completely exhausted.

    Vanessa looked at them, pale face shining in the light of the lost eye. Then there was a slowly expanding cloud of mist, then nothing.

 Bitter memories

    ¡°Telling an introvert to go to a party is like telling a saint to go to Hell.¡±

    - Criss Jami, Killosophy

    The next day was Sunday and after sleeping in, they had a leisurely breakfast and finished their homework. In the afternoon Mireille had to go back to the academy for more tutoring in lightning attunement.

    In the evening Vanessa came back to the townhouse and gave another lesson to the overworked Alyssa.

    Alea was being dressed by three maids and had, perhaps for the third time in her life makeup applied to her face.

    After everything was finished her ebony hair was adorned with a silver net studded with small sapphires glinting coldly in the light of the globes. Her blindfold was made of silk and stitched with arcane sigils easing her access to the spider. She wore an evening gown of dark-blue samite ornamented with leaves and flowers in an even darker tone of black but made of reflective fabric so that those accents were visible when hit with light at a certain angle. She wore black lace gloves reaching to her upper arms, while her shoulders were bare. A corset tried to give her some curves that were not naturally apparent.

    She was miserable.

    The spider was polished until every brass rivet was gleaming and one enterprising maid had even bound a yellow ribbon on its back.

    ¡°I look as if I am about to be sold and the clothes are the packaging.¡± She stretched and grudgingly said. ¡°But the fabric is beautiful and the gloves even feel nice. If those were acid-resistant I could wear them in the laboratory.¡± The last was said while inspecting the gloves in contemplation.

    The maids looked at each other and suppressed a giggle.

    Viola Silversmith, the head of the household¡¯s servants inspected her critically. ¡°It will do. My lady, your carriage, courtesy of the princess, has arrived. I would urge you to make haste.¡±

    Alea sighed deeply and then raised the hem of her gown with hands on both sides and walked towards the courtyard. She had decided to leave Lorelle behind on the off-chance that there would be someone at the party who recognized her as the missing maid of Mathilde von Nordmark.

    The coach was an ornate affair, dark wooden paneling polished and varnished to a mirror sheen. The edges were worked with silverplated steel carved with runes and as she entered, the noise from the outside faded to a mere whisper. The air was fresh and a light floral scent pervaded the spacious interior. A maid sat with her hands folded demurely in front of her. She had strawberry blond hair and freckles like her friend Mireille. She seemed to be in her late twenties with a slim figure.

    ¡°And who might you be?¡± Alea asked after she had arranged her skirt and sat down.

    ¡°My name is Magritte and I will be your attendant for the party. My lady the princess Lieseleta von Margrinar has given the order that you are to be served as if you were she. So please feel free to make use of me as you wish.¡±

    ¡°Then I will be in your care. Do you know where the party is taking place and who arranged for it?¡±

    The maid looked at her curiously. ¡°Did my lady not tell you? The party is hosted by the von Dornenfurt in their villa. In this case the young lady Theresia von Dornenfurt. They are of high nobility and Theresia¡¯s father is the duke of Dornenfurt, Pheresias.¡±

    Alea remembered the heraldry book she had been forced to study and nodded in understanding. ¡°Because Dornenfurt is so close to the capital it has been a privileged house.¡±

    ¡°That is the case.¡±

    Ruminating about why she of all people was attending this party, the rest of the way was spent in silence save for the whirring gears of Cecily her spider.

    Exiting the coach they stood in front of a large mansion lit from within and without by magical lighting. The graveled road they were on went in a circle around a big water fountain in front of the great double doors leading into the entrance hall. Magritte smiled at her, ¡°We should head inside, your dress does not seem to be warm enough for a prolonged stay outside.¡±

    Wind bowed creaking branches and trees farther back in the large carefully tended garden.

    Alea nodded and mounted the stairs leading to the doors. A liveried servant opened the door and bowed. Her dress swished over the polished marble floor, large columns dominated the atmosphere while large chandeliers lit the room nearly as bright as daylight. The walls were ornamented with stucko and painted in white and pale gold. Some girls stood there talking in small groups while it seemed most of them were already in the dining room.

    She spied Lucille chatting with another girl she had seen in the dormitory, Margot should be her name, and nodded toward them in greeting which was returned. Then there was Alexandra von Stetting who looked surprised but delighted to see her. Melissa von Eulentor the ill-fated, probable girlfriend - she was unsure- of the insufferable lout Otto von Landesend stood to the side holding a thin stemmed crystal glass with a sparkling beverage trying to stay out of the limelight.

    And while she could completely empathize with that, she was not going to waste her pity on enemies of her friends.

    Magritte cleared her throat. ¡°The princess would probably like to meet you before dinner. It seems as if her wishes to be seated next to you were not heeded. But she will be with you after the meal ends.¡±

    Alea hunched her shoulders and calmed her breathing. She had feared that she would be alone in such a gathering. She was still not used to such and after years of living with her grandmother, she was only slowly acclimatizing to having friends and a social life.

    ¡°Please follow me.¡± Magritte walked briskly down a side corridor while periodically looking back to ascertain that she had not gotten lost.

    ¡®I must have made the impression of being unreliable and pretty naive.¡¯ Alea thought bitterly.

    Then the maid opened a room and gestured for her to enter.

    ¡°Alea!¡± Lieseleta looked up from a chessboard where she was playing Jera. The princess was clothed in golden-colored fabrics with amber and topaz glittering in geometric ornamentation probably hiding defensive magics. Her golden hair was held back by a diadem featuring a large yellow topaz in which reflections of light formed a seven-pointed star.

    And then she hugged the little girl who was at least a head shorter than her. It looked like a big sister holding her smaller sibling.

    Jera stood up and bowed politely. ¡°Good evening Ms. von Graufurt.¡±

    ¡°I am quite cross with Theresia, I mentioned that I would be arriving in the company of a good friend and she thought I meant Minette. As if.¡± She rolled her large blue eyes and looked angry. ¡°But after the formal part of the evening is finished I will not leave your side.¡±

    Alea who was a bit stiff during the sudden embrace relaxed and returned the hug. ¡°I really don¡¯t know why you are so nice to me. But I am grateful.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know how likable you are. What do you think of my new perfume? I extracted the oil from flowers I grew myself.¡± She looked expectant.

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    A scent somehow sweet and refreshing at the same time hung in the air.

    ¡°It smells like water lilies.¡±

    ¡°You have a very good sense of smell, that is exactly what I used. Normally their scent is too weak so I helped with some magic. Botany is my hobby you know.¡±

    ¡°I like it,¡± Alea said firmly.

    ¡°I will gift you some when next we meet.¡± Lieseleta looked satisfied.

    ¡°Your Highness, Ms. von Graufurt, we need to get to the dining room, they cannot start without us.¡± Jera admonished.

    ¡°Yes, you are right, Jera. Let us go.¡±

    The dining room was built with large windows facing the garden. Dimly visible behind the reflections thrown by the brightly glowing lights.

    Candles were lit on the long table and porcelain dishes and silver cutlery were placed alongside stitched napkins. The whole affair was gleaming to a nearly unpleasant degree. At least a score of noble girls in gowns in all possible colors but with distinct leanings toward more muted autumn colors were already seated and talking to each other. As Lieseleta and Alea entered there was a brief lull in the conversation as everyone turned to look.

    ¡°Welcome princess, I am overjoyed that you accepted my invitation. And who is your friend?¡± A tall girl with curly auburn hair and a curvy figure walked towards them. She wore a pastel green dress with silver accents and silver jewelry with dark red garnets.

    ¡°Theresia, good to see you too. How could I not come to one of your gatherings? This here is Alea von Graufurt. She has not had much exposure to the usual gatherings as she resided mostly in Grunewald. I regard her as an important friend.¡±

    Theresias eyes lit with curiosity. ¡°I heard of a blind student with some clockwork mechanism. So that is you? Good evening, my name is Theresia von Dornenfurt. I am delighted to make your acquaintance.¡±

    Alea curtsied a bit out of practice and said, ¡°the pleasure is all mine. Thank you for extending your invitation.¡±

    ¡°Don''t mention it.¡± Her gaze traveled between the two of them and she seemed to reach a conclusion before she nodded. ¡°Then please be seated. Alea your seat is here.¡± She pointed towards a vacant seat in the lower half of the table.¡±

    For a very short moment, distress flickered across her features before she became expressionless again.

    Lieseleta and probably Theresia too caught it nonetheless. Lieseleta squeezed her shoulder leaned in towards her and whispered apologetically. ¡°See you later.¡±

    Theresia led her towards the head of the table where she was seated to her right. On the other side of Lieseleta sat a smaller girl with gorgeous blonde hair that fell down her back in carefully tended waves. She had a pretty face, light-blue eyes, with a subbed nose, and smiled brilliantly at the princess who seemed much less enthused.

    Alea sat down and looked around her. The girl to her right was a prim-looking girl in a soft grey dress with elaborately styled curly brown hair. The girl to her left was thickly set and tanned. Dark hair and dark eyes held a lively spark.

    ¡°Good to meet you, my name is Paula of Andria.¡± The tanned girl greeted her.

    ¡°Vela von Gildburg. You should be my cousin once removed. Pleased to make your acquaintance.¡± Her dry tone suggested that she was anything but.

    ¡°Likewise.¡± Alea forced herself to answer. Sweat dotted her brow. The spider moved towards her neck and the gears sped up.

    ¡°That is a highly interesting automaton. It moves just like a living thing.¡± Paula looked intrigued.

    Grateful for a topic she could talk about Alea began to answer as Vela interrupted. ¡°Please. No talk about work and study. That''s all my father ever does. Can we talk about the fall''s end festival instead?¡±

    Alea hung her head and shrunk back into her seat. Paula looked a bit irritated but began to talk to Vela about the impending festival. It was the anniversary of the founding of Margrinar and the harvest festival rolled into one and as such the most important day of the year. This time the festival would culminate with the Exhibition of the Arcane as was custom once upon a time. It should be about two months hence by Alea¡¯s reckoning.

    In the privacy of her mind, she visualized the formulae that she had seen Vanessa draw in the air. ¡®Such facility with the arcane, it is so elegant and straightforward. An error is an error and a success easily measurable. Not like this gathering where it all depends on subjective opinion. Please let it end.¡¯ Her right hand unconsciously drew runes in the air and she felt an answering tingle from somewhere to her left. Her eyes were drawn to a servant who lifted the lid of a covered dish.

    Inside was a black orb approximately the size of a large fist. She felt the energies rising inside the dark glass and though she only got a glimpse her body moved nearly without thought as she jumped on the table voicing a command word then she gestured and incanted a spell. Inside the spider gears long-unused began to rotate and energies burst from hidden reservoirs time seemed to slow down.

    The server turned dead eyes toward her and the orb began to flash as blood burst from the wrists of the hapless man, the cuts showing runic precision, before flowing into and through the sphere of dark crystal.

    Another flash, accompanied by a shattering noise and an eruption of black energy.

    Shards of razor-sharp glass interwoven with boiling blood hung in the air before they were loosely shaped into a rotating oval sphere which shot towards Lieseleta and the others sitting at the head of the table. Vases and flowers were shredded by the speeding missile, petals rose into the air mixed with droplets of blood.

    In the air before Alea glyphs spun in a dizzying array forming an eye the size of her chest. The eye opened and pure light spilled into the world, light more potent, more real than that of the sun at noon burst into being and flashed towards the missile made of blood and glass.

    A sharp sizzling and cracking sound drowned out any other noise as if a forge were doused in water, the moment positive and negative energy met. Alea spread her arms and then forced them back together tightening the beam. Inside her chest, a torrent of energy streamed from the plane of radiance, glowing steam wafted from her hands as her gloves unraveled.

    Cries of surprise and pain echoed as the girls covered their eyes. ¡®I have it focused, they should not lose their sight.¡¯ A forgotten memory flashed through her mind, rats looking up at her, bloody teeth bared, their eyes boiling, their fur bursting into flame before everything became white. She did not realize the tears falling from her sightless eyes.

    The servant tottered as blood dripped from his forearms, ripped and cut from invisible blades. The light hit him in the left torso and began to burn through his chest while his jacket burst into flames.

    A gesture and the beam stopped before another shot towards the rotating mass of glass and blood. Everything happened in fractions of a second but the action seemed to occur in slow-motion. The brass spider began to smoke and sparks shot from strained gears. The time magic contained in the automaton wound to a close with a rattle and the world sped up again.

    The shards of glass mixed with blood were much reduced at this point and some were even buried in the wood of the massive table. Jera raised her hand and with a sharp crack the amulet she always wore splintered and expanded to form a sphere before Lieseleta. The boiling liquid ate into the glowing green shield while the rotating glass shards steadily bored deeper but before they could penetrate the barrier the ray of light flashed once again and glass became liquid and some of the blood evaporated.

    Alea stumbled and fell to her knees. The shield shattered and shards of bloody glass bore down on the princess who raised her arms defensively before her face. Theresia shouted a command word and streams of water formed a convex shield before them which stopped the last shards from reaching them, they tinkled as they fell onto the ground.

    Screaming some of the girls leaped up and began to run from the room. Some, very few, spoke and gestured barriers into being around themselves- walls of water, air, and force. Alea shivered, her sight jumped and sometimes lost cohesion, darkening and brightening at random. The spider was still smoking, the yellow ribbon singed.

    With trembling hands, she gathered the small automaton into her arms. ¡®After the assassination I have been drilled in emergency defense again and again. But I never used the time compression that my grandfather installed. Please don¡¯t be broken.¡¯ The last she repeated like a mantra in her mind again and again.

    The servant looked at his ruined arms nodded as if to himself and then fell to the ground as if he were a marionette whose strings had been cut. Blood began to spread in a steadily widening circle around him gleaming in the candlelight while smoke rose from his still burning clothes.

    Jera grabbed Lieseleta and pulled her from the room. Alea saw her resisting but the bodyguard was much stronger than her.

    Struggling to get off the tabletop she laboriously lowered her legs from the edge and let herself fall the last centimeters. A metallic taste spread in her mouth and a ringing sound filled her ears. The gate blazed in her chest and tears dampened her blindfold as she pressed the small spider to her breast. A small rasp could be heard where two gears were misaligned it sounded grating to her trained ears.

    ¡°Ayteresh Iokar mistrum. Tesephis nielat.¡± Spell formulae were safe. They would help her. She stumbled towards the fallen servant and looked at the broken eyes staring uncomprehendingly into the distance.

    His face overlapped with another.

    A young man stood in an alley and spat into the dirt. ¡°I hate this job.¡± And he shot her, had shot her. Burning pain blazed in her breast and for a moment it seemed as if the gears were not only in the small spider but also clicking and whirring in her chest, where her heart should have been.

    An old, tired face looked down on her. ¡°I love you Alea, little princess. Sleep, sleep and forget, forget what I did to you.¡±

    Tick, tick, tick went the gears of the puppet that was a small girl that was a puppet. Light blazed between her clenched fingers as she screamed.

 Palace politics

    ¡°You people with hearts,'' he said once, ''have something to guide you, and need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful.¡±

    - L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    The door to Alea¡¯s room was thrown open and Viola Silversmith stood in the doorframe, hairs disheveled as she called to Alyssa. ¡°You must come at once, something happened at the party, and Alea is injured.¡± She looked distraught.

    Alyssa jumped up from the chair she had been sitting in, ¡°What can I do, where is she?¡±

    ¡°Come with me. Adam is readying the coach. We must make haste.¡±

    They hurried down the stairs and arrived in the yard. The cold made her breath mist and she shuddered.

    ¡°Here take my cloak. I will not be coming with you. Adam has instructions and you are not without means. I will try to contact Maximilian. Hurry.¡±

    Alyssa nodded and took the steps leading into the coach, her slight weight nearly without effect on the suspension.

    Adam flicked the reins and the coach drove quickly and surely out of the courtyard into the quiet streets. It was sometime in the evening around the ninth hour of the second half of the day.

    Alyssa rubbed her hands and looked to Asandria. Cyrus was fidgety because of his mistress''s distress.

    Asandria tilted her head. ¡®I am very sure she is still alive. Other than that I cannot say. It is a pity that Vanessa left before the call came. She had wanted to investigate the Keshians.¡¯

    ¡°Please help me if Alea needs healing. I think they should have someone better than me but just in case.¡±

    ¡®Don¡¯t put yourself down so much. With my support, you are the equal of a common healer, even a magically gifted one. Though you should acquire more experience and it would be important to learn some more about the functions of the body.¡¯

    The clacking of horses'' hoofs on the pavement was the only sound for the rest of the way.

    And then they arrived at the Dornenfurt Mansion. Alyssa hastily exited the vehicle even before the carriage had completely stopped and stumbled a bit as she came to stand on the gravel. Soldiers stood before the house led by a man in plate armor. Behind the four common guards in the livery of the palace, green and gold, there stood a woman in dark grey robes with a mask made of silver a crescent moon imprinted on her brows, dark brown hair flecked with grey fell to her shoulders. She held a staff with a blue crystal set in the top.

    ¡°State your name and intention, Ms.?¡± The knight looked at her but did not neglect to keep an eye on Adam as well.

    ¡°My name is Alyssa Miner, I am a fr¡­¡± she thought a moment ¡°...member of the household of Graufurt. My lady Alea has been injured. Please lead me to her side.¡±

    ¡°Alea von Graufurt? Yes, she is inside. There was talk of you probably coming here. Sellem here will accompany you. Don''t stray from him. We are on high alert at the moment and I cannot otherwise guarantee your continued good health. And don¡¯t let your familiar out of sight.¡± It did not seem like a threat and as such was a lot more effective.

    A guardsman separated from the rest saluted the knight and motioned her to follow. He wore a breastplate and halberd, a shortsword dangled at his left hip. Beneath the steel, he wore padded and quilted cloth.

    He seemed very young for a guard with only the beginnings of a beard. Perhaps a year or two older than Alyssa herself.

    Inside the mansion, guardsmen bustled to and fro. From an open door to her right, she heard the sound of a young woman or girl crying. Hushed voices echoed in the large entrance hall. A harried-looking butler guided the soldiers on their errands.

    They were stopped two times by sentries and they took note of her channeler''s orb and the force wand that Vanessa had bequeathed her, but they did not disarm her after her guide told them of her allegiance.

    Then they entered a side corridor separated from the rest of the house by large doors it seemed as if this part was reserved for living quarters of family and perhaps some trusted servants. One door was guarded by two soldiers who studied them before one of them nodded. ¡°Sellem, who is your charge?¡±

    ¡°She is Alyssa of the house of Graufurt. She requested to see the lady Alea.¡±

    ¡°She is inside but I don¡¯t know if it would be a good idea to enter at this time. She was hit hard by the bloodshed it seems. Margravine Heloise is with her at the moment to heal her wounds.¡±

    ¡°I have to see her. Before her brother is here I might be able to comfort her. We are close.¡± Alyssa desperately interjected.

    The soldier inspected her. ¡°Oh well. It can''t hurt I think. Wait a second I will ask.¡± Then he turned and opened the door a crack and called in a low voice. ¡°Your Highness, there is an Alyssa of Graufurt Manor. She would like to come in.¡±

    ¡°Let her enter.¡± The voice was melodic but with an undercurrent of fatigue.

    Alyssa hesitated for a second then entered the room. It was a typical guest room even if a lavish one with heavy curtains drawn and an occupied canopy bed in the back with a dresser, side table and a large mirror directly beside it.

    Alea was lying on the bed ebony hair spread around her small face, the blindfold was removed and she saw the eye sockets which were occupied by multifaceted jewels, probably some form of mana crystal. Around the eyes were old, faded burn scars radiating like small rays from a stylized sun. The spider was sitting beside her head a bit of smoke showing that not all was as it should be. Alea''s chest was uncovered and the person that had spoken stood beside her and dabbed her forehead with an embroidered handkerchief.

    Standing beside the bed was a small woman of indeterminate age but youthful countenance. Her most striking feature besides the golden hair were her eyes which seemed made of liquid gold glowing with a soft but cold light. She wore white robes embroidered with gold thread.

    ¡°You are Alyssa Miner?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That is me. You know of me?¡± Alyssa could not contain herself any longer and hurried to Alea''s side. Then she took her right hand and asked. ¡°What happened, why is she unconscious, what happened to Cecily?¡±

    ¡°Cecily?¡±

    ¡°Her spider.¡±

    ¡°The automaton was as she is now when I arrived. Alea is another matter. It seems she is not in primarily physical distress. There was a complicated enchantment laid on her to make her forget certain matters of the past. And that enchantment was broken by the combat and perhaps the scene was a bit similar to what she should not remember. And then there is that." She gestured to Alea¡¯s bare chest. There was a large scar where her heart would be and beside that were dark grey metal runes that had been somehow implanted beneath her skin.

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    ¡°What you see is not nearly all there is. Someone, I can guess who, exchanged her heart for a clockwork mechanism. And as if that were not enough her life and this heart are both bound to the plane of light with threads of soul. I don¡¯t know how, and I cannot guess at the moment, why that was necessary, but it is fascinating.¡± She tapped her fingers against her lips and then smiled.

    ¡°As she is no longer in acute danger and I have some matters to attend to, can I leave her in your care?¡±

    ¡°M...my...care?¡± Alyssa was startled. ¡°I thought she needed more help?¡±

    Cyrus flapped his wings and glided towards the bed coming to a stop beside the prone girl.

    ¡°That is true, but I am not the best at comforting teenagers.¡± Her smile was intimidating. ¡°So please do what you can. I put my trust in you.¡± She patted Alyssa on the shoulder, who was a bit surprised that she was ¨C for once- not smaller than the one doing the patting.

    ¡°Goodbye. Perhaps we will see each other in the academy. If she wakes tell her that I am impressed by her command of Aruns searing eye. I will give her a bit of academic merit for that.¡± And then she was gone.

    ¡°Alea, please wake up!¡± Alyssa sat beside the shallowly breathing girl and tentatively raised her hand to touch her arm. ¡°Ah, damn it.¡± The curse seemed to shock her a bit but she pulled the clothes together. ¡°Why did she leave her half-clothed! That is so inconsiderate.¡± Alyssa began to get angry then stroked Alea¡¯s face where she felt the residue of drying tears around her eyes. The smaller girl moved restlessly in her sleep.

    She kissed the girl on the forehead then got on the bed and pulled Alea onto her lap which seemed to calm her. ¡°Please be well. Asandria, is there anything we can do?¡±

    ¡®We could try to use the healing waters. They are quite universal in application by simply giving the body the energy to heal.¡¯

    Sitting with her back to the headboard she sang to the waters of life and streams of glowing water entered Alea¡¯s head and chest but she did not wake. And exhausted from spells and worry Alyssa finally fell asleep. Cyrus rubbed his head on her shoulder.

    Asandria watched them in silence. ¡®What a novel way to torture yourself and your loved ones. But to what lengths he went to preserve her life. He used his own soul to stitch her life and the light together so that the heart will never cease to labor inside this silent chest.¡¯

    A red-blonde maid entered and looked around and cursed under her breath, ¡®Tsk. She already left? Heartless bitch.¡¯ She then went to the two sleeping girls and arranged the blanket to cover them both. ¡®You will have quite the sore back in the morning.¡¯ She fluffed a pillow and softly, carefully put it behind Alyssa¡¯s back.

    Then she poured a glass of water putting it on the side table beside the still half-full decanter and left, silent as she had come.

    Asandria looked after the departing maid. ¡®She would have made a great servant of the Throne of Seasons.¡¯

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in another room of the same building.

    ¡°Why can''t I see her? She saved my life, she saved the life of Theresia and Minette too!¡±

    ¡°You will remain here until the knights arrive to escort you to the palace. We- I cant risk you getting injured. And please forgive me for saying it but Alea is not my charge, you are.¡±

    ¡°How can you say that? She saved you by saving me. And it is unclear if some of the blood and glass would not have hit you too.¡±

    ¡°I know all that. And personally, I am very grateful. But please don¡¯t make it more difficult than it is. You know my priorities have to be that way.¡± Jera sighed and rubbed her forehead. ¡°The shield insignia is shattered. Before I get a new one, we have only your gown''s magic and my personal skills. That is too lacking in protection to risk.¡±

    They were in a large guest-chamber overlooking the plaza in front of the mansion. Lieseleta was pacing while Jera stood beside the door and alertly watched their surroundings.

    ¡°I have sent Magritte to look after her and last I heard they had called for Heloise to heal her.¡±

    ¡°That is good news. Even as I cannot really stand her she is competent.¡± The princess plopped down on the edge of the bed rumpling her dress.

    A knock sounded from the door. Jera raised her hand and called. ¡°Password.¡±

    ¡°Stars of the old kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Come in.¡± She nevertheless drew her shortsword as a guard entered in the company of a knight. Behind them stood Theresia.

    ¡°Theresia! Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did not get so much as a scratch, thanks to your small friend. It was astounding, how she damaged the Bloodbolt and how fast she constructed that light-spell!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think that was a time magic compression.¡± Jera nodded. ¡°The power that would take is completely beyond what I could do. It was an artifact probably.¡±

    Lieseleta looked at her and nodded to herself. ¡°True. But how is she?¡±

    ¡°She is still sleeping, I have spoken to your aunt and there are...complications. She was under the influence of mind magic. Did you know?¡±

    ¡°Mind magic?! What was modified and by whom?¡±

    ¡°Her grandfather probably did it. She was denied access to some of her memories. Heloise told me and allowed me to tell you, but with the admonition that we should not talk about it.¡±

    ¡°I would never. And why did he do it?¡±

    ¡°That is something I do not know. But perhaps it was to protect her from traumatic memories. Were her parents not killed in an assassination?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that is the case.¡± Lieseleta looked tired.

    Metallic footsteps sounded from the corridor, halted before the door, and then it knocked again. ¡°Palace guard for the princess. Stars of the old Kingdom may they never set.¡±

    Lieseleta hugged Theresia and whispered as she was near ¡°Please take care of her for me.¡±

    Theresia closed her eyes. ¡°Dont worry, even had you said nothing I take my debts seriously. What about Minette?¡±

    They separated and the princess lowered her gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t think there is much that needs be said.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you forgive her?¡±

    ¡°Maybe with time. But that time is not now. Goodbye!¡±

    ¡°Wait!¡± But the princess had already left. Theresia looked down at the letter in her hand. It was an invitation to the engagement of Carl Askander Josephus von Margrinar, Lieseleta¡¯s brother. ¡®They are in the same year and I have to give her the invitation. What happened to them?¡¯ And there was also the matter of the fiance...it was to be Minette Elaine of Saltkeep to the south.

    Theresia pinched the bridge of her nose. ¡®They were best friends until a year ago. I don¡¯t know what happened. The four of us played together all the time when we were children. I don¡¯t understand anymore.¡¯

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in a mansion in the Ivy Terrace.

    Alexandra von Stetting bowed down. A man with iron-grey hair regarded her solemnly. ¡°So she protected the princess at great personal cost?¡±

    ¡°It looked that way. She screamed as she saw the assassin and fainted. She seemed to be in pain.¡±

    ¡°Jaros protects. You did well my child. Please keep an eye on her. We will reach out as soon as she is able to receive visitors again. We can''t wait anymore. We sought to protect against the darkness, shield this kingdom, but the darkness is already here.¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in a castle to the northwest.

    Thunder rumbled as lightning flashed. Trees swayed in the stormy wind. Rain fell and rivulets of water obscured the windows.

    Zygmund of Nordmark turned and his burning eyes focused on the trembling maid. ¡°Escort my guest...¡± His words lingered on the term. ¡°...to my quarters, I have some questions. Take care to accompany him, you will be needed.¡±

    The young black-haired woman flinched and bowed deeply before exiting the chamber.

    When she came back it was in the company of a powerfully built, blonde man of advanced middle-age. His craggy face was lined with a well groomed beard. Ice-blue eyes looked cynically at the trembling maid. His complexion was very pale, even a bit translucent.

    ¡°Is she to be my evening''s repast?¡±

    The maid looked at him fearfully.

    ¡°Yes, you may partake as you wish. She won''t be missed.¡±

    ¡°Don''t mind if I do.¡± The man grabbed the now sobbing woman and large canines elongated in his upper jaw before he bit deeply into her neck.

    Zygmund turned toward the window and looked at the storm while the whimpering behind him grew silent.

    ¡°Most excellent, I thank you for your hospitality.¡± The large man cleaned his mouth with a napkin he took from a nearby table. The dead maid was lying on the floor a small bloodstain seeped into the carpet.

    ¡°Please. Next time put them on the stone floor. It is such a hassle to remove the blood without damaging the fabric of those old carpets.¡± The old duke sat down in his chair behind the large desk. ¡°I feel much better thanks to your potions. So if there is something you desire please let me know. How goes your infiltration of the capital?¡±

    ¡°We have tried to remove some loose ends but the princess still lives. Her older brother has also been lucky so far but there is some indication of a war brewing in the criminal underworld. If that were to happen we could likely sneak someone into the palace.¡±

    ¡°If I can aid that endeavor please talk to me. I would prefer the second prince myself.¡±

    ¡°But not for the reasons we are doing it I presume?¡± The large man stroked his beard.

    ¡°No. He is young, brash, and ambitious and would most likely be amenable to a somewhat unfavorable deal. All the while thinking he would not ever be in a position where he would actually be forced to pay. And that is very much to my liking.¡±

    ¡°That is not at odds with our plans. We could work something out.¡±

    Thunder rattled the glass in the window as they both laughed.

 Picking up the pieces- Life must go on

    ¡°Pain comes strangely, but is never a stranger.¡±

    - Anthony Liccione

    Maximilian sat at his desk writing. The glowcrystal illuminated his features in a pale light. With a look of concentration he finished, capped, and put away his stylus after cleaning it in a small basin of water. A knock sounded again.

    ¡°Please excuse the interruption, Master Maximilian, something happened to your sister!¡±

    Maximilian stood up hastily and hurried to the door ripping it open. Mr. Brache stood in the darkened corridor. ¡°Please we must make haste. I already sent someone for Ms. Annirstochter.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me what happened?¡± The young man asked as he pulled on his coat and grabbed his sword.

    ¡°There was an attempt on the life of either the princess or the lady Theresia von Dornenfurt.¡±

    ¡°Is Alea hurt?!¡±

    ¡°No, as far as I know, she thwarted the attempt with an impressive display of light magic but something is wrong with her. She is still unconscious.¡±

    ¡°Is the carriage ready or do we take the horses?¡±

    ¡°The carriage is ready. Ah there is Ms. Annirstochter.¡±

    They exited the building and saw a red-haired girl running towards them while struggling into her academy robes followed by a maid who seemed out of breath.

    ¡°What has happened, is Alea...¡±

    ¡°Mireille! Let us talk in the coach.¡± Maximilian firmly cut off the questions bubbling from her.

    Inside the coach, Mireille could not sit still and half stood, half leaned out of the window.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t kill yourself before we arrive. It will not make the road any shorter. I don¡¯t know much. A courier of the royal knights brought the news just a quarter of an hour ago. Alea is hurt but stable and it seems to be an attempted murder or assassination probably targeting the princess.¡±

    ¡°If they hurt Alea I will make them suffer. She is such a shy, sweet girl. If I could choose my relatives she would have a spot. I would trade her for my brothers any day.¡±

    Maximilian looked like he would like to laugh and cry at the same time.

    Arriving at the Dornenfurt mansion they exited and Mr. Brache spoke to the knight still guarding the door then they were let in and guided to the room where Alea was resting.

    Opening the door they saw Cyrus sitting on the small chandelier barbed tail at the ready. Alyssa was in a half-sitting position while fast asleep and had pulled the unconscious Alea onto her lap, hugging her.

    Maximilian hurried towards his sister and took her hand while looking anxiously at her pale face. ¡°Alea, sister. Do you hear me?¡±

    Mireille was tempted to use lightning on herself to get there first but thankfully refrained. She sat down beside Alyssa and softly shook her awake.

    ¡°Mh, what is it?¡± Alyssa mumbled still half-asleep then opened her eyes with a start shouting ¡°Alea!¡± while frantically looking for her friend. As she saw that she was still breathing and did not seem to be in pain she relaxed a bit. ¡°Maximilian, Mireille. I am so glad you are here.¡±

    ¡°Has she been like this the whole time?¡± Maximilian asked.

    ¡°Yes. She was even worse off when I came even though Margravine Heloise already healed her. I tried my best and I think she is calmer somehow.¡± Alyssa recounted.

    Mireille looked at Alea and brushed loose hair from her face. ¡°Nothing for it. Let us get her out of here. And I would really like to know what happened.¡±

    ¡°She could remain here with us girls. I don¡¯t know if we should move her. If she gets worse while we are in the carriage¡­¡± Alyssa worried.

    Maximilian nodded. ¡°I think that might be for the best. I will inform the academy that you two might be excused¡­?¡± He trailed off and looked at them questioningly.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Mireille looked faintly affronted. ¡°We cannot leave her alone in such a state.¡±

    ¡°I think the same.¡± Alyssa nodded.

    As they sat together there was a knock on the door and they heard the voice or Mr. Brache, ¡°My lord, Theresia von Dornenfurt.¡±

    ¡°Please, enter,¡± Maximilian answered.

    Theresia von Dornenfurt entered the chamber inspected them and gave a small curtesy, ¡°I regret that I have to greet you under such inauspicious circumstances.¡± She righted herself brushing back her auburn hair. ¡°I had to say my farewells to princess Lieseleta who wanted me to extend her deepest regrets that she could not be here at the moment. She was probably the target of attempted murder and Alea helped her immensely.¡±

    She drew a deep breath. ¡°But because of the still uncertain situation, the orders from the palace were for her to return posthaste. And thus it falls to me to apologize for her absence.¡±

    ¡°What exactly happened?¡± Maximilian asked with a hint of sharpness to his tone.

    Smiling wryly she answered. ¡°There was a servant, probably controlled by some means, who used an artifact to cast a spell intended to kill. Alea stopped some of it, the rest was deflected by Jera and me. You know her attendant?¡± as they all nodded she continued. ¡°We contacted the academy too and Mrs. Heloise von Margrinar was thankfully near and able to help. I would like to extend an offer of hospitality for Alea and should you wish it anyone else interested.¡±

    Maximilian shook his head. ¡°I have to be in the academy tomorrow but I would like for Alyssa and Mireille to remain with my sister. The bed seems large enough. But if necessary perhaps some temporary sleeping arrangement could be found?¡±

    Mireille nodded, ¡°That is fine with me.¡±

    Alyssa nodded too.

    ¡°Then it is settled. I will have a servant bring you anything you might need. He knows how to contact me too. You would be able to call him with this bell.¡± Theresia put a small silver bell on the side table. ¡°Are there any other questions?¡±

    ¡°How exactly did my sister come to be unconscious? You said she stopped or mitigated an attack, was that the cause? She does not seem injured.¡±

    ¡°As far as we know there was something else. I think that is best spoken of privately?¡± She looked at Alyssa and Mireille.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think there is anything you would need to keep from them, please talk.¡±

    ¡°Your sister was the target of mind magic suppressing some memories, probably traumatic ones.¡±

    ¡°I can guess. It was strange that she did not remember much of her early life before her parents died but I was young then too and did not realize. Probably Gallius doing.¡± Maximilian sighed again. ¡°Is there anything we should do?¡±

    ¡°Not that I know of. If it gets bad we can appeal to a temple, Meloris or Jaros would be an option I think.¡± Theresia nodded she looked exhausted. ¡°If there is nothing else I will leave you to it. And as I mentioned use the bell for anything you need.¡±

    ¡°I will take my leave also, I have to get back to the academy and there is some work that needs to be done.¡± Maximilian stood up. ¡°You two, please remain with my sister. Don''t leave her side. I will contact you tomorrow. I will also message Adelaide, her grandmother, and my uncle Demavar. There have to be consequences.¡±

    Theresia gave an apologetic nod and bade them goodbye, Maximilian left shortly afterward.

    Mireille looked at Alea then Alyssa and sighed. ¡°We can''t leave her for a minute. Lieseleta has some explaining to do.¡±

    ¡°She was the target, if we want to be friends with her it is near certain that something like this will happen again, I think,¡± Alyssa said sleepily. ¡°I am glad that you are here. I will scoot over, let¡¯s put Alea between us.¡±

    ¡°Nothing to it. Let¡¯s try to sleep.¡± Mireille raised her torso and looked over the prone Alea at her friend but saw that she was already asleep. ¡°Good night Asandria, Cyrus.¡± She pulled the blankets around herself and closed her eyes but sleep was something that was slow in coming for her. The carriage ride and the worry, the adrenaline kept her awake and she tossed and turned until she finally fell into a fitful sleep, half-glimpsed nightmares kept her company.

    The next day dawned and rain splattered against the shutters a steady dripping sound came from outside together with the rushing noise of the wind.

    Alyssa opened her eyes and after a disorienting few seconds remembered where she was and why she was here. She turned and looked at Alea, to her surprise the little girl''s eyes were open. She held Cecily and stroked her carapace. Not wanting to wake Mireille, Alyssa whispered, ¡°Thank the gods, Alea are you alright? How is Cecily?¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Alea turned, and her eyes teared up, ¡°I don¡¯t know. There are so many memories, it''s all jumbled. I don¡¯t know if I should be thankful for that. There is a memory of me...of me dying and my grandfather he¡­¡± her breath hitched.

    ¡°Shh. Don''t think about that. The important thing is that you are alive. Does anything hurt?¡± Alyssa softly hugged her.

    ¡°No, yes, a bit. I think I stubbed my toe somewhere between jumping on the table and trying to get down again. Don''t you think that is ridiculous? My chest hurts but I think that is not real. There is a memory of my grandfather¡­¡± her voice left her again.

    ¡°Don''t think about it. What about Cecily?¡±

    Alea brightened. ¡°I know what''s wrong. She was so hot to the touch and the brass most likely heated and cooled too fast, I will have to change some gears but then everything should be okay.¡±

    ¡°Your brother was here and a Theresia von Dornenfurt. Lieseleta was forced to return to the palace. She left you a message saying she regretted deeply that she could not tell you herself.¡±

    ¡°She was not hurt, at least I don¡¯t think so. I have to get Cecily repaired. We could drive to Willibald¡¯s, he should have the components I need. And wasn''t there talk of making an appointment with the snake-people?¡±

    ¡°Do you really want to do that now after all of that?¡± Alyssa looked apprehensive while stroking Cyrus.

    ¡°Because of all that I would like to do something instead of brooding about it.¡± Alea rubbed her eyes. ¡°If I get time to really think about what happened, what I remember, it will be worse. Grandfather seemed to think that he had to conceal a lot from me. But some things I don¡¯t think are so bad. That he wanted to save me so badly, that he cared so much about me. I miss him so much more now. Before yesterday I did not really know him, I had forgotten so much. I think this is better, don¡¯t you think so too?¡±

    ¡°I think I would have wanted to remember too. If you have no memories how can they form your perspective, your self. Without them, it is as if you had not lived that time. But there are memories that harm you, make you worse than you could have been.¡± Her mind shied away from the events in the Lady of the Night.

    They fell silent and the rain rattled the shutters and wind hummed around the corners.

    ¡°Let''s try to get up and do as you suggested. I don¡¯t know what we could do other than lie around in bed all day.¡±

    ¡°That seems a splendid idea, could¡¯ve been mine.¡± pale, slender arms stretched into the air and a tousled head of red hair emerged from a heap of blankets.

    ¡°That is the reason I was freezing! You stole my blankets!¡± Alyssa looked mock-outraged.

    ¡°I love you too. Thanks for sharing.¡± Then she hugged Alea. ¡°Good to see that you are awake and mostly alright. Let''s go see the snakes and repair your spider.¡±

    Alea looked a bit happy to be coddled by both of them.

    Alyssa called for the servant and they were fitted with new clothes that had been brought from the Graufurt townhouse.

    Afterward, they ate a quick breakfast. They were informed that Lady Theresia had been called to the palace. There had been talk of bringing Alea but it was decided that she needed calm and quiet more than a consultation with the royal physicians. Heloise had a very good reputation as a healer after all.

    They then left by carriage and went directly to Willibald¡¯s shop. The rain had slowed and only a light drizzle fell from a slate-grey sky. Clouds laden with smoke and soot hung low over the city. Cyrus folded his wings and screeched unhappily.

    It was still morning when they exited the Ivy Terrace where the great townhouses were located and they made good time to the market. The wheels of their carriage sprayed water and the coat of their horses gleamed wetly.

    The shop was as they had first seen it in a sidestreet without much in the way of ornamentation, simple, large apartment houses with shops built into the lower floors. A jingling sound from bells affixed to the door alerted the gnome to his visitors.

    ¡°Ah, Alea good to see...what happened to you!?¡± Willibald jumped from his seat and walked up to them. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be outside in your condition, whatever it is. Please wipe your boots!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Cecily, she is damaged and¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°I can''t see very well at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Come here. Let''s have a look. I can''t condone your recklessness but I understand where you are coming from. A clockwork familiar is an impossibility in and of itself. So.¡± He grabbed his glasses and adjusted a few screws then fit the lenses over his eyes. ¡°Mh, I see. What did you do?¡±

    ¡°I used the time compression mechanism. It was an emergency!¡±

    ¡°It has not been used in years probably. There was a build-up of other magics. Most likely earth or water. That would have damaged the more sensitive gears.¡± He mumbled. ¡°Come to my workstation.¡±

    Mireille and Alyssa looked at each other then Mireille said. ¡°Should I turn the sign?¡±

    ¡°Yes please.¡±

    The sign reading ¡®open¡¯ was turned into ¡®closed¡¯.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get many customers on Monday morning. I won''t ask why you are not doing something more productive with your time.¡± He loosened the screws and removed a bit of plating. ¡°Mh. That here is the culprit.¡± He pointed with his screwdriver at some discolorations on a few gears. ¡°We will have to exchange them and I cannot get the mechanism to completely stop. But I will manage. Are you proficient in time magic?¡±

    ¡°Not yet. I had my first two classes just now.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Then take this wand and when I say it speak the command word- Horas.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°Ready?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then please on three¡­¡± He counted down. ¡°Now!¡±

    ¡°Horas.¡±

    The wand flashed with color and then the whirring lessened as the white glow of temporal magic encased the spider.

    ¡°Now I have some time.¡± He grinned at his joke and went to work.

    Half an hour later the glow diminished and then faded completely. ¡°All done. How do you feel?¡±

    Alea was holding her head. ¡°Nauseous, headache.¡± Her tone was clipped.

    Alyssa sang and gestured and streams of glowing water converged on her neck and head.

    ¡°Ah. Much better. Thank you so much. And I can see again!¡± Alea sagged.

    Mireille took her arm. ¡°Steady. If you need to, you can sit down.¡±

    ¡°No. I am better already. Many thanks, master Willibald!¡±

    ¡°Wait until you see my bill!¡± He laughed. ¡°Glad to have a challenge and a good outcome. Those are the best! Give me something for the gears and we call it quits. The wand will recharge on it''s own in a few days.¡±

    Alea fumbled a few gold coins onto the table. ¡°Please drink to my health and the remembrance of my grandfather.¡±

    ¡°No need to tell me, lass. If you feel better come by whenever you want. I live in the apartment above the shop so simply ring there if I am not in the workshop.¡±

    ¡°Thank you and goodbye!¡±

    ¡°Be well!¡±

    They left and walked back to the road.

    ¡°Please wait in the carriage with Mireille. I will organize the meeting.¡± Alyssa looked worried at Alea¡¯s pale complexion. ¡°If Maximilian hears that we dragged you through half the city after your ordeal yesterday he might well kill us.¡±

    ¡°I needed to. If I had not repaired my spider I would be effectively blind, and who knows if it would have gotten worse!¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Alyssa nodded.

    She left Mireille and Alea at the inn and began to walk towards the market.

    Asandria gave a hiss and Alyssa turned seeing a young thin man in shabby clothes reach for her belt pouch. She slapped his hand away with her left and he hissed in pain as a dark red rash formed where she had touched him with void in her agitation.

    Cursing he stumbled back and was lost in the crowd.

    Asandria hovered beside her ¡®I will keep an eye out. Without Jera and the guards you look like easy prey.¡¯

    But the rest of the way, perhaps because of the display she had given, was uneventful.

    ¡®You still react instinctively but you should really use some technique. That was a few days of your life you squandered. Approximately.¡¯

    Alyssa looked a bit pale and whispered back. ¡°I will practice more. But I couldn¡¯t help it.¡±

    And then they were at the shop selling exotic wares where they had met Iseret Sekesh.

    The woman with the reptilian features looked up and met Alyssa¡¯s eyes then deliberately nodded and gestured inside the shop.

    As she entered the strong odor of spices and sweet wine permeated the air. A long counter sat beside a door leading further into the building the windows were and every available surface was covered by shelves, only a little light fell through small cracks between the merchandise. From the ceiling hung a large glowglobe that emitted a soft, dim light.

    Iseret walked to the back leaned through the doorway and asked something in a hissing voice.

    A bald, olive-complexioned man of perhaps thirty years with a slaves collar exited and bowed to Alyssa and Iseret both before taking his place behind the counter.

    ¡°Come here, it is good you came so quickly.¡± The snake-woman gestured.

    The room behind the salesfloor was mostly a storeroom with a table and some chairs set to the side. A steep ladder ascended to the next floor while a hatch probably led to the basement.

    Iseret looked at her and then gestured towards the chairs. ¡°Please excuse the lack of accommodations. Have a seat. Can I interest you in some wine?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I should.¡±

    Iseret settled herself opposite Alyssa and poured herself a glass of dark red wine. Her movements were elegant and fluid.

    Alyssa looked at Iseret and then spoke quickly, ¡°We would like to arrange a meeting.¡±

    ¡°That is our intention also. Where and when?¡± Iseret looked at her searchingly.

    ¡°Do you have any preferences?¡±

    ¡°It would be best if it were somewhere out of the way. I would recommend the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Then the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯ it is. When?¡±

    ¡°I think the weekend should be best? Saturday, the tenth hour?¡±

    ¡°Then it is settled.¡± Alyssa felt exposed and uncomfortable even though Iseret was courteous and had a friendly smile.

    ¡°Please take some Io-berries. Compliments of the owner.¡± She pushed a bag of rough linen into Alyssa¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Then I will take my leave. Thank you for your time.¡±

    ¡°No, thank you for acceding to our wishes. If all goes well we will be allies.¡± Iseret looked at her with slit yellow eyes.

    The man behind the counter nodded at them as they left. And soon she was on the way back to the inn.

    Asandria tilted her head and smiled. ¡®There was a very large, black snake underneath the boards of the floor. Nearly as large as two grown men.¡¯

    ¡°As much as I appreciate you telling me, I don¡¯t really appreciate it right now.¡±

    Asandria laughed while rain drifted through her ephemeral figure. Passerby shivered and instinctively avoided her, frost formed in her footsteps.

    As they reunited at the inn Mireille asked. ¡°Where do we go from here? We still have to be at the academy but I don¡¯t know if it is too early for Alea.¡±

    Alea looked up and adjusted her blindfold while stroking Cecily. ¡°I would say we go to the dorms. Even as I would like to go to my room and not come out again Alyssa has the duel in two days and we all have to go to class. I am very confused and my memories are all over the place but that will have to wait for the weekend.¡± She laughed sounding a bit forced. ¡°How does the saying go- Time and the tides wait for no one?¡±

    And the carriage clattered over the pavement towards the academy while Alea remembered.

    Her grandfather raising her up in the air laughing, she was laughing too.

    Her parents at her fourth birthday, smiling faces, candles, a cake.

    Her friends playing hide and seek with her.

    Tinkering with a broken clock, her grandfather''s warm hand on her shoulder.

    So many memories. If you lose them are you still you? Without memories did your life happen or is it as a forgotten dream on waking?

    <hr>

    Somewhere in the academy.

    Vivienne looked down from the terraced roof she was standing on. Melissa stood with her back to the dorm building and hugged her chest, face contorted with pain. She spoke a short spell and the air towards the sides began to waver like the heat-haze over a furnace. She fumbled a small pouch from her hip and opening it withdrew a small flask. The pouch fell to the ground, unheeded.

    A thin trickle of bluish powder fell into her cupped hand and she desperately drew it into her nostrils. Blue energy crackled from within her flesh lighting her bones as a look of ecstasy came and went on her face. Looking around her fearfully, she gathered the pouch and smoothed her dress before walking quickly towards the front of the building.

    Vivienne smiled a smile tinged with cruelty, eyes hidden behind her green tresses whipping in the wind.

 Back in the Academy again.

    ¡°I think that the world should be full of cats and full of rain, that''s all,

    just cats and rain, rain and cats, very nice, good night.¡±

    - Charles Bukowski, Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories

    They arrived back in school in time for the afternoon lessons. For Alyssa, it was ¡®Alchemical Arts of Healing¡¯.

    Alea excused herself to rest in the dorms. Lorelle kept her company and was diligently caring for her.

    Mireille had ¡®Magic of the Gods¡¯ she had been quite interested in that because of her worship for Nirileth. But she understood very quickly that the academy preferred the more ¡®wholesome¡¯ gods and not the goddess of thievery and the night. Nonetheless, she was more active and interested in that class than the one about air. She could not use complex spells dammit, why should she learn them then? And what about that was ¡®introductory¡¯!?

    As Alyssa walked down the corridor she was met with curious looks and many of the younger students were openly discussing her upcoming duel. The older students did not care so much but even for them, it was a novelty to have a duel after only a few weeks of school.

    Valens and Vivienne, who did not go missing this time, accompanied her.

    Vivienne asked with concern in her voice, ¡°How is Alea? I heard she was injured. There are lots of rumors going around.¡±

    ¡°She was at the wrong place at the wrong time. I have not been asked to keep silent about it but I would prefer you not tell anyone, perhaps it was an oversight on their part.¡± Alyssa shrugged and continued, ¡°there was an assassination attempt on Lieseleta or Theresia von Dornenfurt or a Minette of Saltkeep. It is unclear. She was instrumental in foiling that attack and was injured because of that. The little hero, something she shares with Mireille. Thankfully she is better already.¡±

    Vivienne nodded appreciatively. ¡°Thanks for clearing that up. I have another question for you- Do you want to have the duel?¡±

    ¡°Why do you ask? I can''t very well pull back after committing so publicly.¡±

    ¡°And if the one calling for the duel would ask for it?¡±

    Alyssa studied her friend, which she considered the green-haired girl to be. Her mouth drew into a line. ¡°I think I would like to show them. I am sick and tired of being looked at as a freak or criminal but if I can''t have their camaraderie I will take their respect.¡± She sighed after that declaration spoiling her image a bit.

    ¡°I think that is the right way to do this. Forget I asked you. But if you need someone to train with or some pointers for fighting, I and my brother will help. Even if the other students do not, I respect your attitude.¡± Vivienne smiled at her.

    Valens looked on from behind and nodded to himself.

    The alchemy class with the young alchemist Valeria Jangres was interesting and with Asandria¡¯s help and in a team with Valens, the practical part was no problem. Vivienne had requested for him to work with Alyssa while she simply grabbed some other student to team up with her.

    It was astounding how many people she knew and she was fearless in talking to any and all of them. Something Alyssa admired.

    After classes, she asked Vivienne and her brother if they would like to see Alea. Both agreed, Vivienne enthusiastically, Valens after waiting to see what his sister would choose.

    As they entered the dorm room they saw a large crate parked in the middle of the room. Alea sat on a chair and looked sweaty and tired.

    ¡°What did you do? And what is that crate doing here?¡± Alyssa walked up to her and felt her temperature before hugging her.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Alea huffed a bit, still strained from whatever she had been doing. ¡°I did not manage to open the crate.¡±

    Alyssa saw a discarded crowbar lying on the floor and pieced together what might have happened here. ¡°You are still not fully healed. You should not stress yourself!¡±

    Vivienne looked amused but asked seriously. ¡°Did we come at an inconvenient time?¡±

    ¡°No, yes, perhaps a bit.¡± Alea was still breathing more quickly but managed to calm her breathing enough to answer. ¡°I will go have a shower. Please make yourself at home. Then we can perhaps try to open the crate together?¡± She looked hopeful.

    ¡°Good to see you are more or less alright.¡± Vivienne inspected her. ¡°Naturally Valens will be glad to open the crate for you. Isn''t that right my dear brother?¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Valens simply nodded and went to get the crowbar.

    Alyssa looked at him pityingly. ¡°I can help too, and if all else fails we have Maximilian as a last resort.¡±

    Alea walked towards the bathroom and a short while later the sound of rushing water could be heard.

    ¡°She seems much better than I feared.¡± Vivienne probed.

    ¡°It looks better than it is probably. She was quite out of it yesterday evening and still has not come to terms with what happened.¡± Alyssa put her chin on her folded hands.

    A scratching sound could be heard from the window.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Vivienne looked curiously.

    ¡°Oh, that should be Semiramis. Wait a second.¡± Alyssa went and opened the window and a somewhat bedraggled-looking hawk-cat entered. She shook herself drenching the area in rainwater before throwing a fat, dead rat onto the ground. Cyrus coed appreciatively and dived towards the still bloody rodent.

    ¡°Oh please don¡¯t!¡± Alyssa looked exasperated. ¡°I don¡¯t want to clean that up again. Could you do this outside please?!¡±

    Semiramis looked very proud and licked her paw.

    Vivienne laughed until tears came to her eyes and held her stomach. Valens looked at her and a small smile stole onto his lips.

    Having cleaned up the worst of the mess. Semiramis played with Cyrus and exasperated the scaly familiar by hiding under the bunk beds where he had problems fitting because of his wings and growing girth.

    Alea came back, hairs still damp a new blindfold over her jeweled eyes. Cecily sat on her shoulder and the gears whirred and clicked in perfect harmony.

    Valens nodded and stood up before forcing the crowbar in between the wooden planks and levering them apart. Inside the crate stood the stooped figure of an automaton with a porcelain mask showing an eerily smiling face. The body was dressed in the clothing a butler might wear.

    ¡°Ah, very good. It seems everything is still intact.¡± Alea inspected the construct critically.

    ¡°What in the world is that?¡± Vivienne asked.

    ¡°An automaton.¡± Valens answered to her surprise, the boy blushed and looked away seemingly embarrassed. ¡°I saw some in the city and looked it up in the library.¡±

    Vivienne looked at him and raised an eyebrow. ¡°The more you know.¡±

    ¡°It is a humanoid construct that I wanted to use in my ¡®Clockwork¡¯ class.¡± Alea seemed oblivious to the byplay.

    ¡°Anyone wants some tea?¡± Alyssa asked to dispel the awkwardness.

    Later Mireille joined them after her lesson was finished. The siblings left them when it was time for dinner.

    Alyssa spent the last hours of the day practicing her Shadestep and the Second Seal while incorporating the orb. Asandria taught her the basics of the third seal while warning her of the potential problems such as the drain on her life energies it would incur. It was more or less a continuation of the spell a logical next step.

    Mireille was very solicitous towards Alea and had a sort of competition with Lorelle who could pamper her the most.

    Alea opened the chest of the construct and measured the space before working on her converter.

    Semiramis claimed the upper bunk together with Cyrus.

    And as the lights were finally extinguished the sound of the rain hitting the windows and the soft breathing of the girls was all that could be heard. Vanessa suddenly appeared in the room and looked around. Before gazing at Asandria who was silently staring at the falling rain.

    ¡°How is Alea?¡±

    ¡®She had a rough day and night but she seems to cope well with her new old memories.¡¯

    Vanessa made her way towards Alea''s bed and spoke a short spell, glyphs formed in her eyes and lit them with a white glow.

    ¡®You should not tarry. The security here is quite good. We have an appointment with the snakes. Saturday, the tenth hour, the Sturdy Mast- a tavern in the docks.¡¯

    Vanessa nodded. ¡°There seems to be nothing seriously wrong at the moment. And there is nothing I could or should do in haste. I will take my leave.¡±

    Mist formed and vanished. Outside she sprinted for the outer walls. Out of the rain and night, a large figure loomed a gigantic paw lashed at her. She spoke a short word and vanished, appearing behind the figure inside its darker shadow. Two mages standing further away on the lawn began to incant spells. A golem made of iron and stone strode forward to protect them.

    Vanessa spoke a spell of her own and time began to dilate as she hurried to protect and quicken herself.

    The fist of the gigantic earth elemental smashed the flower bed where she had stood a fraction of a second ago. Glowing white glyphs flashed and a lance made of light shot into her hastily raised shield of arcane energies.

    She jumped dozens of meters towards the wall. A projectile made of ice crystals shattered against her back throwing her much farther than she had planned. Crashing into the muddy ground, plowing a furrow, she gave a muffled curse and sprinted towards the outside.

    She heard them calling out behind her but she did not give any heed and spoke some elven words before she vanished again, reappearing in the shadows of the wall. She jumped, glyphs guiding her flight. Chains of blue energy tried to snare her. A counterspell disintegrated them into motes of light. Another spear of ice hit her in the right arm spinning her around before she gracelessly tumbled into the ground again.

    Then she was in the field surrounding the academy and disappeared into the night.

    The two mages stood on the large hands of the earth elemental looking out over the soggy fields. ¡°Do you think we got him?¡±

    ¡°I think it was a ¡®her¡¯. And no, I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Figures. But at least she or he did not get what they were after, probably.¡±

    ¡°That is my opinion too. But that was some pretty crazy stuff. Shadow magic and arcane spells. Interesting combination. What was that short-range teleportation? I don¡¯t know of anything like that.¡±

    ¡°We should ask Professor Carmen. She should know.¡±

    ¡°Let us go inside. I am getting quite wet out here. The golem and the elemental will be sufficient to deter unwelcome guests I think. But it is troubling. First the assassination attempt then this. Do you think it had anything to do with each other?¡±

    ¡°There are no coincidences. And don¡¯t think that our card game is finished because of a small altercation. I was winning!¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡±

 Meeting on the field of honor

    ¡°But need alone is not enough to set power free: there must be knowledge.¡±

    - Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

    The next days passed as a blur. Alea kept mostly to her room, Mireille and Alyssa got on with the classes and training. Alyssa relied on Asandria for instructions and the use of her orb.

    <hr>

    And then it was Wednesday.

    The sky was gray and the clouds hung low, but it was not raining, not yet at least. It was quite windy too and Alyssa and Mireille had to brace against the sudden gusts while navigating their way to the main building.

    ¡°I hope it gets better for your duel.¡± Mireille lowered her head and looked into Alyssa¡¯s face from beneath.

    ¡°Stop that. I am okay.¡±

    ¡°Just checking.¡±

    ¡°Good morning.¡± Vivienne and Valens hurried up to them as they entered the building.

    ¡°Mornin¡¯¡± Mireille yawned. ¡°It''s still too early. There was a girl that told me that you learn best when properly rested. I would like to explore that!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare! If you fail your courses and are expelled, Alea and I will be very sad indeed.¡±

    Mireille looked a bit smug at that.

    ¡°And there might be another person forced on us in the dorm.¡±

    Mireille smiled wryly.

    Vivienne giggled.

    Alyssa held her stomach which was hurting since yesterday. Hopefully, all will be well. Do I use all I have? If I use all and hurt him badly will that be another strike against me? Thoughts circled in her head until Mireille pulled her over and hugged her.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it, there is nothing more you can do!¡±

    Yesterday Alberich had confirmed with them the choice of weapons. ¡®Magic and magical tools like wands and staves...or orbs...and nothing else.¡¯

    Vivienne looked at them with an unreadable expression on her face. Her brother raised his hand and then let it fall again. As sociable as she was, she did not like to be touched, doing the touching was something else of course.

    It was always about control. He sighed.

    Mr. Glames was busily preparing for the lesson as they entered. As all were seated he clapped his hands. ¡°Welcome to Theory and History of Magic. I only wanted to announce the date for the first test, it will be the start of the week after next. Please be prepared. There will be around six tests this semester, and if you fail more than half it will probably mean expulsion. Scoring low will be grounds for remedial lessons which will occur on Saturday. If more people fail at the academics section, which was added last week, it will take all of Saturday- So please work hard!¡±

    The rest of the lesson passed more or less the same as always, more people seemed attentive though.

    Alyssa did not have an appetite and forced herself to eat some bread.

    After finishing the afternoon lessons she hurried towards the dueling field.

    There were a lot of students already assembled. She even spotted Reneus Flammensiegel. Alberich and Maximilian were talking beside a large graveled patch that would be the location for the duel.

    She nearly would have overlooked Alea as the small girl was partially hidden behind her brother. Mireille was tapping her foot and keeping a lookout, she waved as she saw Alyssa jogging onto the field.

    Her opponent was already waiting, a smug grin on his face. Melissa stood beside him, head lowered. Leonhard Poroskar stood a small distance away, arms folded over his breast. Vivienne and her brother were near Alea, shielding her from the crowd.

    Carl von Margrinar and Tervellin Gold stood near each other the former looked uncomfortable while the latter did not seem to have a single care in this world.

    Alberich called out to her ¡°There you are, come over here. I will now explain and then we should start. Dinner is not going to eat itself!¡±

    Some students groaned at that.

    Maximilian cuffed him on the shoulder and said something that was drowned out by the chatter of the spectators.

    The ring of gravel looked to be very large and the atmosphere was stifling. Alyssa hugged herself and tried to regulate her breathing. Her stomach ached incessantly and sweat beaded on her brow and dampened the back of her shirt.

    Asandria stroked her hair, ¡®Don''t let it get to you. Being nervous is good for it can sharpen the senses, but being too nervous might make you freeze. Calm down.¡¯

    Alberich spoke a word and a loud crack could be heard. The chatter ceased. ¡°Do I have everyone''s attention? Yes? Thank you! So, this is a duel until incapacitation. Weapons are magic and magical tools, no other weapons or aid allowed. We follow the code duello Carvenbright.¡±

    He looked towards the two contestants. ¡°I don¡¯t think you might have thought this through some more and come to the conclusion that love and friendship should prevail? No?¡±

    A bit of laughter followed that declaration.

    Alyssa shook her head.

    Otto called out, ¡°No, she has to be put in her place!¡±

    ¡°Then please enter the circle. Professor Flammensiegel?¡±

    Reneus nodded as he was called and went to the steel poles set in certain intervals around the circle and incanted a spell that caused the runes in those posts to glow.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    After he had completed his round he nodded. ¡°We can start when everyone is ready.¡±

    ¡°Professor Reneus?¡± A young male student approached. ¡°There is a problem in the arboretum. Could you please come with me?¡±

    Reneus looked conflicted then nodded towards Alberich who had paused to wait for him. ¡°I will be back soon. The wards and the elemental are active you can resume.¡± He then accompanied the student back to the academy.

    ¡°So without further ado...kchh.¡± He sneezed. A student to his right lent him a handkerchief. He used it noisily.

    ¡°Could you please, please, be more serious!¡± A girl standing near looked at him reproachfully.

    ¡°So. When the handkerchief- I got a clean one, no problems!- touches the ground we begin.¡± He raised his hand and let go. The scrap of fabric tumbled with the wind and then it touched the ground. A sudden gust swept it up again, dust swirled over the circle.

    Otto shouted a spell and dark grey stone rose from the ground encasing his figure like a second skin. Eyes opened in a face made of granite and lit with a dark brown light.

    Alyssa incanted the Second Seal. Asandria with a smile on her face joined her. Cyrus who was with Mireille lent his strength. Energies blazed into the orb held in her left hand while darkness rose from a place of unfathomable distance, an oval of night pressed against the fabric of reality and mist formed, the ground froze, gravel cracked. A grinding sound more felt than heard groaned out of the black.

    She then raised her hands and chanted the words for the void missile.

    Meanwhile, Otto had not been idle, he was taken aback by the dark shield forming between them but soon recovered and stomped towards her. Again he shouted an incantation and splinters of rock the length of his forearm separated from his carapace and shot towards her.

    Gravel sprayed from his heavy steps as he gained momentum.

    Alyssa looked nervous and raised the orb, silver runes glinted over smoky quartz.

    The bolt formed as a dark sphere of black misty energy. It shot forth and curved into the body of the rushing boy. Stone decayed and crumbled. The shards reached the black shield and passed it without problems but afterward, they disintegrated and only dust reached Alyssa.

    She spoke a harsh sounding word and vanished appearing in the shadow of a steel pole whose shadow lengthened with the setting sun.

    Growling with anger Otto turned and looked for her crashing his fists together and with a boom the earth split, shards of stone and gravel erupted in a jagged line towards her. With a whisper, the shadowed oval appeared before her. The shards raced for her, passed the shield underneath even as some were sheared off, and hit her left leg ripping into and bloodying it.

    Hissing with pain she wove another spell and sang, Asandria sang in counterpoint. The quartz in her hand blazed with black light, frost formed on her uniform while an expression of pain marred her features. A bolt of darkness shot forth and impacted Otto halting his advance.

    Flesh rotted beneath the splitting stone. A student gagged.

    Sparks of blue could be seen coming from his teeth, his jaw, as he bellowed in pain.

    Alyssa gestured and another bolt and then another shot forth and destroyed his stone skin further.

    A gesture and a shout from Otto split further stone from his mantle.

    The wind whipped streams of dust into the air, some students were coughing.

    The dark oval swallowed all. Faces could be seen when one looked carefully swimming to the surface of the darkened oblong as if pressed against a dark fabric, straining it. They mouthed words and the eyes opened into darkness.

    With another spell gravel exploded with a dull thump from her side avoiding the shield and hit Alyssa, painting lines of blood on her arm and face. Blood leaked from her flank where sharp pieces of stone had embedded themselves in her flesh.

    As she was reeling a dark form blocked out the light and Otto crashed into the ground were she had stood, only a quick backstep had saved her from being crushed. Gravel sprayed and the blow grazed her leg causing her to scream.

    The white-haired girl stumbled. Wind scattered her dripping blood on the field. Her hearing grew dim and dark shadows encroached her vision as the pain made her go into shock.

    She would not lose, not to him, not to her father, not to Christina and her church, not to this boy, not to herself.

    Alyssa knew she shouldn''t, she had not completely grasped the technique, but she needed to, wanted to WIN.

    She concentrated, the gate in her chest opened and she forced her left hand into the oval as she chanted words that hurt the ear. Her arm emerged on the other side coated in lightless black. Asandria''s mouth firmed into a smooth line, disapproval written into her expression while white skin crept onto Alyssa''s elbow.

    Darkness lashed from the seal, lamprey mouths opened on whip-thin tentacles and students all around gasped, some girls screamed.

    The appendages latched onto Otto and his face visible beneath the cracked stone paled while he screamed in pain. The flashes of blue intensified. He ripped his arm free.

    Again he gathered stone and gravel with a gesture and hurled it like an explosive blast at the still concentrating Alyssa. The darkness swallowed all without a ripple, the faces began to laugh and a dimly visible figure seemed to walk towards the viewer, large or small was irrelevant in a realm of pure black the hands reached for the world. Steel poles activated and a barrier made of light surged into the sky. Some began to glow with heat.

    Otto screamed, his left arm was mangled by the devouring mouths. The figure in the darkness raised its head and a single eye gleamed like a fading star. Alyssa fell to her knees, Asandria supported her and whispered something. The tentacles vanished but a last bolt of void energies impacted Otto¡¯s breast and the youth fell heavily, his armor crumbling to dust.

    Blood flowed from his mouth and he lay deathly still.

    The figure in the darkness looked at Alyssa, at the scene and grim amusement could be felt before the darkness slowly receded. The strain on the poles diminished and the force field dimmed.

    Alyssa panted and a sense of vicious triumph helped deaden the pain.¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡®A void elemental being, probably a High One, be glad it could not cross over.¡¯ Asandria answered. ¡®What is with our boy here. He seems to be¡­Alyssa help him!¡¯

    Alysssa forced herself to her knees and then stumbled getting up. Blood ran from the gashes in her leg, arm and face.

    Otto convulsed and blood-tinged with blue leaked from his ears and mouth.

    With great effort, she walked towards him. Alberich was saying something, but it was lost in the crackling energies of the force-shield.

    The clouds broke and rain began to drench the grounds. Students cursed only barely visible in the downpour.

    From afar she heard Alberich call out. "The duel is ended. Alyssa has won. We need a healer!"

    The force field shut down.

    Alyssa¡¯s hair was plastered to her skull as she reached him. Blood flowed between the pieces of gravel swirling away. Asandria''s cold hand on her neck prevented her from thinking further. She sang to the waters of life and they reluctantly answered. Void energies crackled in her orb and through the skin of her left arm.

    She lowered her right hand and the rain was lit with sapphire light from within, the drops entered his flesh and began to slowly mend his injuries. She was too busy to ask but in her mind, the question echoed- What had he done?! ....what had she caused?

    Otto''s eyes opened and they were a pure blue, like a summer sky over a cloudless ocean.

    ¡°STOP!¡± a hand fell heavily on her arm. ¡°The duel is over.¡±

    ¡°I am trying to help him!¡± Alyssa tried to shrug free but was held fast. An angry student slugged her in the face. She stumbled back, blood running from a split lip.

    She tried but could not form an understandable sentence having bitten her tongue.

    A small fist wreathed in lightning hit the large boy in the chin and he flipped over crashing to the ground. Mireille looked enraged.

    A mage of the academy spread his arms and a bubble of light enlarged rapidly shoving back students and shutting out wind and rain. A woman stood beside him and hastened towards Otto.

    She began to cast a healing spell using the light element. Dark hair flecked with gray, pince-nez spectacles despite the hurried motion impeccably placed. A hostile look met Alyssa''s questioning gaze.

    The mage went over to Alyssa and began to cast a healing spell on her which stopped the bleeding.

    "Calvin, help me- the boy is heavily injured."

    "You should be more than enough for that, I have to help this poor girl here. Her injuries are not light either."

    Out of the rain, a figure walked into the bubble. Magister Illimen brushed rainwater from his robes.

    "What happened here?"

 Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable

    ¡°You can try to keep the apprentice out of trouble, but you can¡¯t keep the trouble out of the apprentice.¡±

    ¨D Ian Gregoire, The Apprentice in the Master''s Shadow

    The rain streamed along the glowing shield distorting the outside into wavering shadows. Mireille stood beside Alyssa and looked anxiously at the mage healing her. The student that had hit Alyssa sat beside Otto rubbing his chin in a daze while he looked in confusion at the small girl that had felled him.

    All in all, he had been lucky as Cyrus forced his way inside the bubble and settled on Alyssa¡¯s shoulder, stinger raised.

    Magister Illimen looked at the two students then at Calvin and Jamila. ¡°How lucky that two accomplished healers were nearby, what startling coincidence.¡± The last word was drawn out. ¡°And? How are they?¡±

    Calvin looked at Jamila who pressed her lips into a firm line, sighed then answered first. ¡°Alyssa had blunt trauma and cuts to the side of her torso and the bone of her lower leg was cracked. I have fixed most issues, she should nevertheless get a good night''s sleep. Blood loss should not be too severe.¡±

    Jamila stood and addressed the Magister formally, ¡°The student, Otto I think is his name, was severely harmed and is still not stable. He has superficial wounds but also tissue degradation by void exposure. I don¡¯t know as to his mental state, he is still unconscious. I must protest the use of lethal force in a duel.¡±

    ¡°And what kind of force should a void mage use in a duel? Her fists? When magic was the method of choice? When she was the one called out by him?¡± Calvin drew his brows together and looked at her sternly.

    ¡°The elemental did not intervene, it deemed the damage to be not life-threatening.¡± Illimen slowly and deliberately interjected. ¡°What concerns me more and is the reason for my being here. What caused the shielding poles to nearly overload? They react to threats and the intensity of the shield is reflected by that.¡±

    ¡°I think some skill of Alyssa¡¯s triggered that. The oval I saw briefly when coming over was probably a dimensional manipulation. That might explain it as the plane of void is absolutely hostile to all living beings.¡±

    ¡°And another strike against her. What was she thinking? Did she even learn that in our academy or was it more hedge-wizardry? Half trained but fully dangerous. That is the reason I advocate against students from the lower classes. They have this crippling lack of knowledge that lets them do such things without understanding the risks!¡± Jamila argued.

    ¡°And noble scions never had that problem?¡± Calvin''s voice was dangerously reasonable and soft.

    ¡°With them, it is a lack of judgment, with those who did not have the knowledge to begin with, it is not even possible for them to form a correct opinion. That is something altogether different!¡±

    Illimen looked at both of them. ¡°The code duello Carvenbright.¡±

    Both sighed.

    ¡°Yes, I know that it is unpopular but the last ruling is not from that long ago. If there are no restrictions placed on the contestants every method within the allowed means is to be accepted. That means Alyssa did nothing wrong. Otto should not be wounded so severely if he had simply stopped and conceded.¡±

    ¡°The duel was until incapacitation, Magister.¡± Alberich moved into the shield.

    ¡°How moronic.¡± Magister Illimen shook his head.

    ¡°It was his wish. Otto was the one calling her out and as such the conditions for a win were his to decide.¡±

    Calvin looked at Jamila. ¡°We should transfer Otto to the infirmary.¡±

    ¡°That would be best.¡± Jamila nodded.

    The magister looked at Otto and spoke a short spell. Light shone from his pupils then winked out. He nodded. ¡°I concur. Alberich, would you and the young lady over here,¡± he motioned towards Mireille who was crouching beside Alyssa and stroking her head,¡±bring Alyssa to her dorm room?¡±

    Mireille looked up, ¡°Of course!¡±

    Alberich nodded.

    Jamila gestured for the tall student Mireille had knocked out to carry Otto. With a groan, he and another of his friends took hold of the arms and legs of the prone student and began to carry him as directed. As they made a production out of it she pocketed a small flask gleaming with a blue glimmer.

    Alyssa was still unsteady and everything hurt. Mireille was half supporting, half carrying her. Maximilian and Alea approached and breached the shield, with the rain soaking their clothes Alea in particular looked as if she were a ghost.

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Alea hurried over and looked up at her bruised face. Even though Calvin had helped her quite a bit he did not care to remove the last traces of the beating she had endured. The smaller girl lifted her hand and hesitated. ¡°Does it still hurt?¡±

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°A bit.¡± Alyssa winced as she spoke and tore at her freshly healed lip.

    ¡°That was something,¡± Alberich commented. ¡°You might overshadow Ludwig...you probably already did.¡±

    ¡°You mean in notoriety?¡± Maximilian asked wryly.

    Calvin and Illimen were quietly talking at the back of the shielded area and Jamila, after a long look in their direction followed after Otto.

    The rain did not let up before they got to the dorm and all of them were completely soaked to their underwear. Alberich and Maximilian took their leave.

    Mireille filled the tub and then proceeded to get Alyssa into it. Hissing with pain as fresh bruises came into contact with hot water she eased herself into the tub. Alea was toweling her hair, trying to get it to dry.

    ¡°Do you mind?¡± Mireille was shivering after being doused with rainwater and looked enviously at the steaming bathing tub.

    ¡°No¡­?¡± Alyssa was just acclimatizing to the heat as with a splash Mireille jumped into the water.

    ¡°Aaaah. Thank goodness. Warm again.¡±

    Alea looked a bit forlorn.

    ¡°That will be a tight fit?¡± Alyssa looked conflicted.

    ¡°Come in!¡± Mireille gestured.

    Interestingly enough the runes that had been visible on Alea¡¯s chest after the assassination were nowhere to be seen.

    Alea put Cecily on a shelf holding different soaps and then carefully entered the water too.

    Alyssa looked at her hands, the left one white, perfect, lifeless. The right- ruddy in the warmth of the water, slightly wrinkled, a nick on her palm. She felt the tension slowly leave her and she nearly fainted. Mireille laid her head on her shoulder, ¡°It looked bad from outside. Real bad. The blood, the hate. Most have never seen something like that. It was more like the fight with the bandits than what I thought a duel would be like.¡±

    Alea took the soap and began to apply it liberally, first on herself then Alyssa.

    Mireille continued after a pause, ¡°The darkness, there were faces in it. I think I saw, how did you call him? Grossar was it? Who died to Vanessa¡¯s claws, as she was saving us when she rescued us from Christina. The tentacles and the teeth. If there is anyone left who wants to challenge you I don¡¯t know what they are smoking but there will be many who will detest you, fear you.¡±

    ¡°That might be the whole reason for this fight.¡± Alea calmly said as she began scrubbing the dirt from Alyssa with a sponge.

    ¡°I would like to remain here and learn. There is so much Vanessa can teach but also a lot that she does not know or care enough about to teach. The basics, the language.¡± Alyssa spoke somewhat thickly before she shrugged and began to sing the waters of life.

    Asandria was a quiet shadow, this time she did not sing along. ¡®That was reckless and unnecessary. If you had but waited a second I would have given you the means to defeat him. It was completely idiotic to use untried magic of this caliber and without bolstering your soul and flesh.¡¯ Her words were cutting. ¡®I will think about what to teach you in the future if you can¡¯t make rational decisions. I will see what there is to teach about fire.¡¯

    Alyssa flinched. ¡°I know. But I could not let him win. Let him be right.¡± She drew a deep breath. ¡°Please don¡¯t be mad. I didn¡¯t want to let all of you down but in the end, it was for me, I simply could not accept me being worse than him.¡±

    Asandria lowered her head and looked her directly in the eyes. ¡®It would not be so bad if you had lost, but now,¡¯ she gestured towards her left arm, ¡®you have accumulated enough deep stone and soul-damage that I would recommend you refrain from using the higher void magics at all. Perhaps a bolt or a shadestep is tolerable but you should try to learn some elemental magic, if you don¡¯t I don¡¯t see you surviving until the end of your time in the academy.¡¯

    Mireille softly said, ¡°Asandria is scolding you, isn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Alea and I should do it too, but I simply can¡¯t bring myself to do it. Am I a bad friend because of that? I did not have many of those so I might not be in practice.¡± Mireille joked smiling feebly.

    Alea shook her head. ¡°What¡¯s done is done. No use in fighting over it. It should be clear that you should learn to control yourself better and branch out into more ¡®accepted¡¯ and possibly safer areas of elemental magic. Don¡¯t you have that water class with Vivienne? Perhaps you could ask Max if he knows someone to tutor you in basic fire magic? Did you not have that introductory letter for a fire teacher?¡±

    Mireille hugged the despondent-looking Alyssa. ¡°But after all is said, you won. I think that you stood your ground and were very cool. Don¡¯t kill yourself to win but winning is nothing you should be ashamed about.¡±

    Asandria shrugged at that. ¡®I like to be on the winning side as much as the next person. But think long-term. Failing at first to go on and succeed in the end is better than succeeding once to fail when it counts.¡¯

    Alea sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what could be the motive behind all that.¡± She counted on her fingers. ¡°There could simply be the wish to have you expelled. There will be complaints and such. Then they might have hoped to injure you severely enough that you gave up on your own. Perhaps they only wanted to push you down so that they then could swoop in to provide ¡®help¡¯ putting you in their debt. Perhaps it was as much about Otto as it was about you. Holding him up as a paragon of school virtues and a leader-figure might be attractive to some people. And maybe they only wanted to see what you would, and could, do. It did not cost them much after all whoever they are. And, even if it is improbable, it could be Otto working alone and being stupid.¡±

    Mireille looked at Alea with raised eyebrows. ¡°That is a bit devious? How come you can think of all that?¡±

    ¡°I am after all a noble and there were teachers for those sorts of things.¡± Alea looked uncomfortable. ¡°My teacher was a former maid from the palace, she died a year ago. She was already very old.¡±

    ¡°Maids are fearsome.¡± Mireille mock-shuddered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make light of the palace servants. From the stories I heard it is pretty cutthroat out there.¡±

    Alyssa raised her head and her eyes were rimmed with red. ¡°I am so glad to have you all. Thank you. And sorry.¡± The last was meant for Asandria mostly who huffed but nodded.

    ¡®I simply hate the idea of someone with your potential, and someone I am bound to at that, squandering their opportunities for fleeting gain. But I accept your apology. It is not as if I never did something similar in my past.¡¯ She turned and floated out of the bathroom.

    Cyrus had used the time productively and eaten a whole leg of ham. He was not the small wyvernling he had been in the beginning, from the size of a smallish housecat he now was more like a medium-sized dog. Mostly due to his wings which made it still possible to sit on Alyssa¡¯s shoulder but it began to hurt if done for longer stretches of time.

    After the bath, they gathered in their room eating dinner in silence. Alyssa yawned continuously and nearly fell into her soup once.

    And then they went to sleep.

 Invitation for dinner

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel guilty for a crime you have not committed ¨C commit it and be guilt free¡±

    - Amit Abraham

    The next morning Alyssa nearly remained in bed. Her leg hurt like it was still broken and she was painfully stiff while being bruised all over. ¡°Ngh. That hurts.¡±

    Mireille was helping her stretch. Alea looked on critically while feeding some jerky to Cyrus. ¡°Do you think it would be better to try another healing spell?¡±

    ¡°That might make some sense. Shortly after the duel, the lingering void magic made it hard to really get results.¡± Alyssa shook her arm trying to loosen up a bit. She looked at Mireille, ¡°Thank you for hitting that student. I did not even know him and he punched me while I was trying to help!¡±

    ¡°He had the look of an idiot and he did idiotic things. It is safe to say he was a big moron.¡± Mireille smiled. ¡°Can you come with us? Or would you prefer to take the day off?¡±

    ¡°I think I can manage and if the one thing I get from this is a bit of respect I can¡¯t show weakness.¡±

    As they entered the dining room the other girls looked at them strangely. Lucille greeted them with ¡°Good morning!¡± but the others were silent or simply gave a short nod.

    The rest of the day followed that pattern. Where before she had been the obvious focus of at times malicious gossip, now most students tried to avoid her. There was still the odd whisper and furtive look accompanied by pointing, but this time around from quite a bit more distance.

    Eating in the mensa was better because the second years and up did not seem to be as interested in a mere first-years business. Vivienne and her brother kept them company with the green-haired girl being highly amused by the whole mess.

    Sword One was interesting at least because some students tried to sound out Mireille for information regarding Alyssa making her strangely popular until the teacher put a stop to it.

    Otto was not seen nor heard from this day. Lieseleta was also still absent.

    Alea suffered from nightmares and would wake drenched in sweat, sometimes even screaming. Asked if she wanted to talk she declined for the time being. She threw herself into tinkering with her automaton and made great strides in resizing the Ayrton converter.

    The next day was more of the same even as the students began to settle down a bit.

    <hr>

    And then it was the weekend.

    ¡®Has it been nearly a month since we began to study here? It seems like a lifetime.¡¯ Alyssa was lying in her bunk-bed, Mireille had snuck in sometime during the night which she did not mind. She had not been able to sleep well since the duel, sometimes her left arm was burning, probably because some source of void energy or other was near, sometimes it was a nightmare about her captivity with Christina, the noble she had killed, or the duel she had fought.

    Poor Alea, she had a similar problem since the last weekend but at the moment she slept peacefully.

    The grey light of dawn filtered through the shutters and outside the first stirrings of activity could be heard as servants greeted each other and footsteps sounded from the corridor.

    Cyrus drew his sinuous neck from where he had kept it between his wings. Eyes of a deep forest green looked at her and she felt the affection the small wyvern held for her. He greeted her with a rasping hiss and then began to groom the claws of his feet.

    Cecile the clockwork spider was also moving about, which Alyssa thought was strange as Alea was still sleeping.

    ¡®Fire. Mh.¡¯ She opened and closed her right hand. She had practiced the firebolt a lot while traveling, only to neglect it as she had been taught to utilize the more powerful void magic by Vanessa. ¡®Fire for offense, Water for defense.¡¯ She smiled. It would make sense to intensify her studies in that direction until she had better control of the harmful energies of the void. But wouldn¡¯t that mean that she would take longer for that?

    Today was the day they had made the appointment with the Keshians. Vanessa would have scouted the Sturdy Mast already. Should they really accompany her? It would be an adventure. She smiled.

    The room brightened as the unseen sun crested the horizon and instead of a feeble grey, the light grew to become a bright red.

    She was never a very religious person. She had sometimes prayed to Meloris for who would not like the god of civilization while living in a city. Outside with her mother, it had been Irkonos the wild-warden, protector of nature for whom she had left offerings of pretty flowers and the odd herb. Gesserach Oathkeeper was never to her liking, too strict. Ielenia the White without Stain was appealing as long as one was ¡®pure¡¯ and she was, in the eyes of the goddess, a stained and unclean person. Voris the god of journeys and travel was liked by most but not worshipped as such other than perhaps by traveling folk.

    Charis¡­her thoughts ran to a gaunt female figure holding aloft a chalice dripping with the tears of the dead. Strangely the thought of praying to the goddess of death, remembrance, loss and vengeance was not as unappealing as she had thought in the past.

    Nirileth the night-thief, patron of her dear friend Mireille. No, not for her. She simply did not have the need for material things that was nearly mandatory for a worshipper of this mischievous deity.

    Saressa the Phoenix, Origin of all Flame, the Spark of Inspiration, and the Holder of the Secrets of the Forge. She liked her and what she stood for, but she was neither a metalsmith nor an artisan.

    She extricated herself carefully to not wake her friend and went to the bathroom. ¡®I am curious what this day will bring.¡¯

    After breakfast, the trio took the coach to the townhouse and spent their time catching up with their homework.

    In the afternoon they discussed the plans for the evening.

    ¡°I wanted to go. Mireille you did want to go too?¡± Alyssa regarded her friend who was putting on her armor.

    Mireille looked up and nodded. ¡°Of course!¡±

    Alea looked between the two. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I would be helpful. I am still very weak physically. Alyssa are you really okay?¡± She looked at the white-haired girl critically.

    ¡°Yes, I am mostly recovered, a tad stiff I must admit but otherwise fine. I do think you would be very helpful. Miss I-thwarted-an-assassination.¡±

    Alea smiled a bit at that.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go all together. Vanessa will be there too and they only want to talk and they want something from us. It shouldn¡¯t be that dangerous.¡± Mireille tried to cheer them up.

    ¡°Now you jinxed it!¡± Alyssa protested.

    ¡°How do we get there? We can hardly take the coach into the docks.¡± Alea was furrowing her forehead.

    ¡°Let¡¯s ask Adam?¡± Mireille shrugged. ¡°Otherwise we could take a public coach.¡±

    ¡°They are extra careful with me after the problems last weekend.¡±

    ¡°Are you truly alright? With the duel and my injuries, I feel as if we neglected you. The memories must hurt a lot.¡± Alyssa looked concernedly at Alea.

    ¡°They do.¡± She sighed. ¡°But it is no use fussing over me and it would do me no good if I were to brood all the time. The memories are disjointed and they come and go seemingly at random. Sometimes I think they are most clear when asleep.¡± She subconsciously rubbed her chest. ¡°But there is a lot of good memories in between the bad. I think on the whole I am thankful that it came to this. Working on the automaton has been good for me. It brings back happy memories.¡±

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Then let us ask Adam first.¡± Mireille tried to change the subject.

    Adam was quickly found tending to the horses. He looked up, his craggy, square face unreadable. ¡°Hello my lady. Girls. What can I do for you lot?¡±

    ¡°We would like to meet someone this evening and the location might be a bit iffy.¡± Mireille took the initiative.

    ¡°Iffy? That is an interesting word. How iffy?¡±

    ¡°The ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯.¡±

    He looked at them incredulously then laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t think they cater to girls? The last I heard they had a pretty good selection of whores but no boys. Wouldn¡¯t recommend them nonetheless. They might be mostly clean but¡­¡±

    Alea was beet red and Alyssa was not far behind. Mireille giggled. ¡°You misunderstand. We are set to meet some people and they recommended this location because of privacy?¡±

    ¡°Mh. That makes a lot more sense even though I have to ask- Are you sure about that? The privacy you speak of is guaranteed by less than savory people. And they could well use that to eliminate you ¨C in privacy.¡±

    ¡°We are sure and we won¡¯t be alone. A good friend of ours Vanessa will accompany us.¡±

    ¡°Was that the one who helped at the Green Dragon? I never saw her but I found part of her handiwork. Nice job that. Ah, so what, might as well do it. We have a more subdued carriage in the back. I will make it ready for departure by this evening. When will you be expected?¡±

    ¡°Ten o¡¯clock.¡±

    ¡°Then we should be on our way at nine, nine-fifteen on the latest.¡±

    ¡°We will come back then.¡±

    Adam stretched and a loud crackling sound came from his spine. The girls winced. Laughing he went into the stable.

    The dusk painted the walls in shades of red and grey the wind had picked up again. Autumn winds plucked the last leaves from the trees around the Ivy Terrace.

    An unmarked coach made of sturdy wood drove from the carriage entrance. Mireille looked critically at the interior. ¡°I said I would get used to luxury and I did! This is no longer okay!¡± There were only hard wooden benches, worn smooth by countless people but hard nonetheless.

    Alyssa had to laugh at that. ¡°We will meet Vanessa at the destination?¡±

    ¡®That is what she told me.¡¯ Asandria answered.

    ¡°What if I have to fight? I am nowhere good enough to defend myself with water.¡±

    ¡®Then do what you must, but please utilize life-energy and the orb before you do that. Vanessa did not spend her time teaching for you to forget everything.¡¯

    The surroundings were bright at first but the walls darkened with soot, the clothes became less flamboyant, less colorful, even the sky so vibrant in the beginning was choked with soot. Rumbling from great machines could be heard from great manufactoria. A zeppelin hung in the air casting a vast shadow. Goods were sent up by pulley and platforms drawn by rattling machinery. Men caked with ash and black from smoke, coughing loading the elevators. Children grabbing coals and feeding the fires.

    Beggars sat to the side, missing limbs, destroyed faces. Poverty. Meloris bringer of civilization saw the whole and discarded the individual. He was the hand that turns the world, he who would lift up the city but under each wheel, there were crushed weeds and bugs and people.

    The coach drove on.

    The river lay before them dark masses of water churning with foam where they met the long quays, ships swayed in the current.

    The streets were full at night and taverns, inns and brothels did a brisk business. Laughter and angry shouts, music good and bad. The night was alive with frantic energy. Here and there were signs of bluestone abuse but also the poison of the dream-flower the sap of heart-trees. Many ways were open to those who sought to destroy themselves.

    What was nearly absent were patrols of the guard, there were some guard towers manned by Kronenbug¡¯s defenders but they kept to themselves. If there were fights men in leather and thick cloth would break it up using fists and clubs. They wore gang signs on their arms, some on their forehead.

    The carriage turned a corner and entered a street lined with large houses of a better make. Women in scanty clothing posed for passerby some leaned from windows and blew the passing vehicle a kiss.

    Alea blushed, as one of the ¡®ladies¡¯ drew down her bodice to give her a glimpse of full breasts.

    The house they finally stopped at was not the largest nor the smallest it was well made of quarried stone, not the cheap bricks everyone else used. A large mast probably once belonging to a military vessel decorated the front yard. A sign proclaimed the establishment the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯.

    And as they exited the carriage helped by Adam for this one did not have the convenient folding stairs they saw a small figure in beautiful blue cloak waiting to the side.

    ¡°Vanessa?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me.¡± Vanessa walked up to them. Her eyes gleamed blue-green beneath her cloak¡¯s hood.

    ¡°Did you wait long? Did you have any problems?¡± Mireille looked her up and down.

    ¡°No one came to kidnap me.¡± The words were very dry. ¡°I might have to intensify your training if you underestimate me like that.¡±

    ¡°I will park the coach. Should I keep watch there or accompany you?¡± Adam nodded at Vanessa. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°I would recommend you care for the horses. We will manage. And good evening to you too.¡±

    Adam nodded and drove away.

    ¡°Let us go inside, they are probably waiting for us already.¡±

    The group gathered behind Vanessa and all of them entered the building.

    The entrance was a reception where one could leave cloaks, weapons, and everything deemed unnecessary. A young man with a blonde ponytail wearing a vest, white shirt, and trousers welcomed them while looking concerned and amused at the same time. They were young girls and well-dressed ones at that.

    ¡°Girls, welcome to the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯ it would be mighty strange if you did not know, but this place here is for getting companionship. Of the female kind.¡±

    Mireille laughed at that. Alyssa looked pained. Alea was a bit mortified.

    ¡°And what''s up with that lizard thing. Is that a pet? You should leave it at home it looks dangerous!¡±

    ¡°He is my familiar. I am a mage and can¡¯t and won¡¯t leave him. He is much more intelligent than a normal pet, so please bear with it. We have an appointment here with Kadira of Sur-Kesh.¡±

    The young man paled a bit and bowed. ¡°Please forgive my thoughtless words. You can of course enter. I will call a servant to show you around. If there is anything you need let me or one of the girls know!¡±

    Vanessa raised an eyebrow beneath her hood.

    Shortly a woman in a low-cut dress entered, she might have been a bit older than the four friends, her makeup made it hard to be sure. She had bleached blonde hair and a full figure. ¡°I am Lucy and will be taking care of you for the evening. There was a room reserved for you please come with me.¡± She had a nice voice but seemed nervous.

    Inside it was all glittering gold and silver paint, some mirrors, glow-globe chandeliers, and a maze of rooms. Men and women milled about and drank and chatted with each other. There were several bars with an assortment of wine and spirits. The air reeked of perfume and alcohol.

    Alea pulled Cecily close and wrinkled her nose.

    The young woman led them through the press expertly dodging the attentions of a drunk man or other as one of them grabbed at Mireille¡¯s butt, but as soon as he drew near a spark of lightning shocked him and he fell heavily onto his bottom. ¡°Hey, wench! If I want to have a feel you smile and stand still!¡±

    ¡°Esteemed customer, she is not an employee. Please, there are others who would be grateful for your attention.¡±

    ¡°Mpf. She should at least apologize. How am I to know. What sort of girl is a customer here!?¡±

    Mireille shook her arm where little bolts of lightning were still arcing. ¡°Let''s continue. I don¡¯t want to be here longer than I have to.¡±

    Lucy opened a door after unlocking it with a large key and ushered them inside. ¡°If you have not eaten I can have the kitchen make something for you. Otherwise a few snacks? Wine?¡±

    She seemed eager to please and let them forget about the incident.

    The room''s color scheme was a dark green, the floor was covered by a thick carpet. Noises from outside ceased as the door closed. Windows opened onto pine forest at night, clearly an illusion but so well made it would be difficult to identify as such.

    A table and six chairs stood in the center of the room. The walls were hung with tapestries depicting flowers and plant life.

    ¡°Now it seems we wait.¡± Vanessa looked around attentively. ¡°There are runes in the stones.¡± She pointed a the four corners. ¡°See those somewhat larger stone bricks? Those are the ones. Sound dampening, fire suppression, and some strengthening.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°How can you see that?¡± Alyssa was curious.

    ¡°She is using a spell.¡± Alea sounded certain.

    ¡°That is true. Arcane magic is very useful when interacting with other magic or the mind.¡±

    Time passed and they ate a bit from the snacks presented.

    There was a knock on the door which opened shortly afterward.

    Iseret Sekesh entered and then stood to the side head lowered respectfully. She wore tightfitting leather armor and khopesh at her side beside some throwing knives. Her black hair was bound with copper wire.

    A tall woman with a dark, near-black complexion entered after her. She wore a hood and moved sinuously, snakelike. Small scales were visible where skin was exposed. Behind her in the corridor stood two armored men with humanlike features visible for a moment before the door was shut again.

    The woman then removed her hood and a reptilian face was exposed with black scales, dark yellow, slit eyes. A forked tongue. Behind her head and along her neck a large hood like that of a gigantic cobra unfolded. When she smiled long sharp canines were visible. Her hands were long-fingered with black claws at the end. She wore a dark cloak with the symbol of Sur Kesh prominently displayed on the back. Otherwise, she wore dark leather bands inscribed with runes that criss-crossed her lean body leaving not much to the imagination. She had a striking aura that seemed to fill the room.

    ¡°I thank you for your coming. I am Kadira of Sur Kesh. Hem-Netjer of the Many-as-One. You must be Vanessa.¡± She looked at the small vampire. ¡°May your second life be fruitful and your regrets few. Alea von Graufurt, Alyssa Miner and Mireille Annirstochter. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.¡±

    ¡°The pleasure is mine daughter of the First.¡± Vanessa looked at Kadira with wariness in her eyes.

    ¡°We thank you for the invitation.¡± Alea collected herself first.

    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± Mireille was not nearly as proper.

    ¡°I thank you for your invitation.¡± Alyssa nodded.

    ¡°Let us have a seat. I see you have already begun to eat. If you want I can have a suitable beverage brought for you¡­?¡± She looked at Vanessa.

    ¡°No, thank you. I have already eaten.¡± Vanessa did not bat an eye.

    Kadira seated herself while Iseret took position beside the door. ¡°I would like to establish some things first if possible?¡±

    ¡°By all means.¡± Vanessa looked calm.

    ¡°You are in opposition and conflict with the vampiric overlord of Kronenburgs underworld. Vadislav Orpen.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then we have much to discuss.¡± A smile graced thin scaled lips.

 The enemy of my enemy

    ¡°He will never have true friends who is afraid of making enemies.¡±

    - William Hazlitt, Selected Essays 1778-1830

    ¡°We are a part of a...society. You can call us the Reborn. And we have ties to this city that transcend centuries. Among the first merchants that did business with displaced fugitives washed up on these shores were the Reborn. We trade in anything you might need or want. Sometimes both.¡± She smiled. ¡°And now there is this thorn in the side of the city drawing out its life-blood Vadislav Orpen. He deals mostly in Bluestone but has his hands in most criminal enterprises. We want to bring an end to that.¡±

    Vanessa nodded. ¡°Clear and concise. I remember your people being this way. There is always room for mutual gain. So we make a pact, form an alliance? What would that entail?¡±

    ¡°We know he is hunting you. We know why he is hunting you.¡± Kadira¡¯s smile grew. ¡°For the same reason, he is now such a powerful part of the underworld. He uses the blood of other vampires to concoct an elixir using his own personal blood-cult. That makes him more potent than he has any right to be. But there were not many of those, and now he is suffering from withdrawal and that weakens him but also makes him unstable.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. But such gains should really be short-term. How did he get more powerful from that?¡± Vanessa furrowed her brow in thought.

    ¡°Sadly, we don''t know." Kadira looked at her thoughtfully. "I must admit you got me very curious how a high-elf ended up as a vampire in Kronenburg. You are not one of those frost-elven tribesmen, are you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really want to talk about that and it has no bearing on the situation. To get back to planning, I am a sorceress first and a vampire second. We should each make our goals clear and what each of us gets out of the other. Then we should create a method for us to get into contact. We could use rune-sparrows that might be best for the short term. But I am not very enthused making me trackable. That will ultimately only benefit our adversary. And if I keep the non-detection spells running the sparrow won¡¯t find me.¡±

    ¡°We have a lot of persons in the city that know how to get into contact with me or my associates. Iseret for example. You could simply send her a message, but there are more. We would like to launch a decisive strike against Vadislav. You could be part of an assault, perhaps even bait. I hope you are not insulted by that. I like to discuss all possibilities and my people are not that big on sensibilities.¡± Kadira¡¯s smile turned predatory at that.

    ¡°I want to walk the streets without his hunters coming after me. Other than that I think it is a good idea to remove someone like him. Bait...I don¡¯t trust you enough for that. Coming with you as you assault some of his men I can do. If that goes well we can talk about the bait idea again.¡±

    ¡°You brought some associates. Are they a part of the equation or simply witnesses?¡± Kadira asked.

    ¡°They are friends you contacted to get in touch with me. I thought it prudent to have them with me for this discussion as it pertains to them too, or can you guarantee that Vadislav will not target them too? They might help in some instances but I will decide where and how.¡±

    ¡°That is acceptable. I was just curious.¡± Kadira leaned back and shrugged.

    ¡°With that out of the way. Are we to be allies? Until when?¡±

    ¡°I would suggest that we call it an alliance. We will supply information and manpower, you will supply expertise and fighting prowess. When the vampire is defeated we either continue or dissolve our partnership without any hard feelings.¡±

    ¡°I concur. Do we need an oath or a contract?¡±

    ¡°Not this time if you don¡¯t need it. Your word would be enough.¡±

    ¡°Then we are allies until the time Vadislav Orpen has fallen.¡±

    ¡°Allies.¡± Kadira nodded and licked her lips. ¡°If you want I could lend you Iseret. She could remain with you, help protect your friends and be available as a point of contact.¡±

    Vanessa looked at the three friends.

    Alyssa and Mireille looked at Alea who nodded. ¡°I would be fine with that. It makes contacting you a lot easier I think.¡±

    ¡°After all of that might I be permitted to inspect this fine wyvern?¡± Kadira looked curiously at Cyrus who preened under the attention.

    Alyssa nodded, ¡°Feel free.¡± And put Cyrus on the table.

    Kadira proceeded to pet him on the head after ascertaining that he would not sting her.

    ¡°A beautiful creature. We don¡¯t have wyvern in the south. They need more wildlife and water than we usually get. And near the great river, the land is too flat for their liking. And they are not usually amenable to be kept as pets.¡± She shrugged again. ¡°Iseret will have a compilation of our knowledge of the enemy. I would like to start as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°I will contact you the day after tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°That is more than sufficient.¡±

    Kadira¡¯s movements were boneless but infused with power, her yellow eyes were absolutely inhuman but they glittered like jewels. Alyssa was fascinated. The eyes regarding Cyrus'' antics moved over to her and the snake-woman tilted her head. ¡°It is unusual that none of you seem to have any problems with us. Rather gratifying, that.¡± She raised her arm and brushed back the cloak so that the scaled back of her forearms was exposed. ¡°Would you like to touch? They are softer than they look.¡± Venomous teeth folded back to her gums and ignoring the scaled cobra¡¯s hood...she was beautiful. Alyssa put her hand on the proffered arm. Dry, soft scales with only a hint of a raised edge could be felt, cold and smooth beneath her fingertips.

    ¡°We share some aspects of the great serpent, my blood is colder than yours and we adore the sun in spite of all the naysayers wanting to see us as dark-spawn. I would love to talk more but there are some issues calling for my attention. One of the reasons I made the offer.¡± She moved her arm and with a slight twist held Alyssa¡¯s hand instead. Her claws felt more like metal than horn and then the arm was gone and Kadira stood back up.

    ¡°It has been a pleasure. Hopefully, we can keep being allies even after the fall of our adversary. You are a very interesting group. If you want, eat and drink your fill. It¡¯s already been paid for. The least I can do after inviting you here. Iseret can field most questions so feel free to ask.¡± She raised the cloak and draped it carefully over her head. Giving an elegant bow and, Alyssa was certain that it was intentional, her cloak gave a very theatrical billow before she vanished into the corridor, Iseret having opened the door for her.

    ¡°That was something.¡± Mireille nodded impressed. ¡°And very straightforward.¡±

    ¡°Making deals with the people of the south has always been pleasant, paying for those deals...let¡¯s say that is something else entirely.¡± Vanessa looked thoughtful. ¡°But fighting on his home ground without being willing to go all out? Not a good proposition.¡±

    ¡°Would you like to sit with us?¡± Alyssa looked at Iseret.

    ¡°Thank you, I will.¡± Iseret moved over to them and took a seat beside the one Kadira had used.

    Alea, who had been silent looked up and inspected her. ¡°I would like for you to behave like a guest rather than a servant. It would make it easier for us to interact back at the mansion.¡±

    ¡°I will do my best and I can conceal¡­¡± she put her hand on the collar ¡°...this.¡± And with a look of concentration, the collar became transparent before fading from visibility.

    ¡°That is helpful.¡± Alea nodded.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°The city is so big. Everything is larger but it¡¯s not only the buildings and the wealth. The beggars, the smoke. All the bad seems to be much worse the same as the great is so much greater.¡± Mireille struggled to put those thoughts into words.

    ¡°I know.¡± Alea quietly agreed. ¡°It is one reason I was not here often. My grandmother did not like the bustle of the masses and the pollution.¡±

    ¡°Is it really impossible to have the good without the bad?¡± Mireille questioned. ¡°I mean, what do I know. But if there is so much wealth...could not a bit of it be used to prevent the worst of what we have seen?¡±

    ¡°In the past, there was the lord. The Lord took from his people but he also gave back. At least he should. It was all his. He was responsible. Now there is no lord, there is an owner and he is only responsible for that which is his. The people are working for him but they are not his people. There is no obligation, not even custom. And because the scale is so big and new and people are people it comes to this. Gallius, my grandfather likened it to alchemical refuse. A bit is no problem. It will disperse. But a lot will interact with each other and no one knows what will happen. Most likely something violent.¡± Alea drew a big breath after her lecture. "Not my words, my grandfather''s. And I only remembered them now. So take it as you will."

    ¡°That is nearly the most I have heard you say.¡± Mireille looked impressed. ¡°So that is a no?¡±

    ¡°That is most likely a no, yes.¡± Alea gave a pained smile at the unintentional pun.

    Alyssa sighed. ¡°Vanessa?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I have a problem.¡± And she drew back her sleeve.

    ¡°Mh. Not unexpected but faster than I feared. I will think about it. But you should also talk to your void magic teacher. They should have methods to mitigate the problem. Use my teachings and the orb in the meantime.¡± She moved her eyes to Iseret in a very obvious gesture.

    ¡°Naturally. I was only concerned.¡± Alyssa pulled her sleeve back down.

    Iseret looked thoughtful. ¡°You have deepstone running through your flesh.¡± It was not a question. ¡°Priests of the Many-as-One whose coils embrace the world often face a similar problem. The gifts of the desert are often associated with devouring and darkness. There is a rite that could protect you. But you would then be a member of the temple. A lesser Hem-Netjer, a servant of the gods.¡±

    ¡°That is interesting but I must decline at the moment. I have a prior obligation.¡± Alyssa looked fondly at Alea who nodded in return.

    ¡°I understand.¡± Iseret nodded. ¡°But perhaps, if all goes well, there might be the possibility of receiving a blessing. That would help, I think¡±

    They talked some more of the happenings in the academy and ate of the food that had gotten a bit cold.

    Then they left the room in the company of Iseret Sekesh. It was still very busy outside. Men and women, the latter not always fully clothed and the former predominantly inebriated left Alyssa and Alea redfaced. Mireille looked a bit irritated by it all but seemed mostly unaffected. Vanessa raised an eyebrow at the sight of three people going at it in a side corridor before quickening her steps and pushing her friends past that, in her eyes, unsightly scene.

    Iseret was watchful, her hand rested on the khopesh at her side. ¡°How did you get your sword past the garderobe?¡± Mireille looked envious. ¡°The one time I may carry my degen with me and it got taken away for safe-keeping.¡±

    ¡°You should have told them you were friends of Kadira.¡± Iseret looked at her with a smile.

    ¡°That might have been a bit hasty. We had not met even met her after all!¡±

    ¡°True.¡± The smile did not leave her face. ¡°Though Kadira would not have minded.¡±

    ¡°Her skin reminds me of Cyrus¡¯ when he was very young. Nowadays his scales are much harder.¡± Alyssa lamented.

    Mireille lightly punched her shoulder. ¡°What are you even saying there?¡±

    ¡°I prefer the metal plates of an automaton¡± Alea interjected unbidden. ¡°Nothing beats the smooth metal with the crisp bite of magic runes underlying the surface.¡±

    Mireille looked as if she had a headache coming on. ¡°I cannot think of anything to say to that.¡±

    Vanessa shook her head, ¡°When I feel as if I am the normal one something is distinctly wrong!¡±

    ¡°I think to be extraordinary you can not be ¡®normal¡¯. It would be a contradiction in terms.¡± Iseret turned her head and inspected every door and opening vigilantly.

    ¡°There might be something to this kind of thinking.¡± Mireille nodded as if in understanding.

    Outside the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯ a stiff wind let their cloaks billow and mussed their hair. The air carried a hint of frost and the damp ground glittered in the light of colored glow lamps.

    Vanessa looked around. ¡°Stay together. Don¡¯t let anyone leave the group.¡± She gestured with practiced motions and light coalesced between her hands forming a sparrow made of runes. She leaned forward and whispered. ¡°Adam. Bring the carriage to the front and be careful.¡±

    The sparrow took flight vanishing behind the building.

    ¡°That was extravagant. But I feel a bit of unease too.¡± Iseret commented.

    A bolt flashed from the roof of the building opposite the brothel they had just exited. A flash and sparks flew from Iseret¡¯s khopesh as she deflected the bolt from it¡¯s trajectory aiming for Alea.

    Mireille spat command words and a bolt of lightning shot into the night sky, illuminating the street in actinic light. A crouching figure was illuminated brightly and even though it was only a glancing blow the person shuddered as arcing energies coursed through their body before losing their hold and tumbling backward out of sight. Thunder rattled the windows in the surrounding buildings and passerby together with the working ladies screamed before scrambling away.

    Smoke rose from her outstretched right hand and some sparks lingered in her eyes and between her fingers. Shaking off the last of them Mireille put her hand under her left arm while gritting her teeth. ¡°Ow! I might have singed my nails a bit.¡±

    ¡°Good reactions!¡± Vanessa praised. ¡°Iseret? Any associates who could finish that for us? I don¡¯t want any of us to walk into a trap or be alone and open for another attempt.¡±

    ¡°I already gave the order.¡± Iseret nodded. ¡°And I concur.¡±

    Adam rounded the corner with the carriage. ¡°Quick. Get in. I assume the lady is coming with?¡± He gestured with his chin towards Iseret.

    Alea nodded and began to clamber into the interior while being helped by Alyssa. Vanessa vanished and reappeared inside the coach pulling them up without any sign of strain.

    Mireille pulled Alyssa to her side and soon they were seated and underway.

    ¡°It seems safe to say that our mutual enemy might know of our budding alliance?¡± Vanessa looked at Iseret inquiringly.

    The snake-woman nodded. The carriage rumbled over the cobbled stone of the lower cities streets more worn and uneven than their counterparts in the upper levels.

    They drove on through the deepening night. The great manufactoria did not sleep. With a restless groaning, clanking and the rattle of chains great machines toiled in the darkness. Human shapes were dimly visible in the glow. Fires feeding into steam, mana dust lighting up runes.

    In a broken down alley to their right Alyssa glimpsed a pair of youth who, having pried a glowstone from its socket, proceeded to scrape residual mana dust from the grooves of magical runes to then snort it through straws.

    And then they were back in Ivy Terrace and the night was quiet and clear.

    Exiting in the coach in the courtyard they were greeted by Mr. Brache. ¡°Oh, is Max here?¡± Alea asked, surprised.

    ¡°Yes, the young master waits for you in the study. Bring your friends and Ms?¡° He looked between Iseret and Vanessa.

    ¡°Ms. Iseret, Iseret Sekesh. At your service.¡± Iseret gave a polite bow.

    ¡°Vanessa¡¯ellariel Erellathiel.¡±

    ¡°...Ms. Sekesh. Ms¡­I am sorry but¡­¡±

    ¡°Call her Vanessa! We all do.¡± Mireille cheerfully interrupted.

    ¡°Ms. Vanessa. Is that alright?¡±

    Vanessa nodded.

    ¡°Please come with me.¡± The older man nodded a friendly greeting towards Adam and then led them into the house. Arriving at the study he knocked.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    Entering they saw Maximilian sitting behind the great desk strewn with paperwork. ¡°Good to see you sister dear. Good evening Alyssa, Mireille.¡± He looked at Iseret and Vanessa. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have made your acquaintance yet¡­?¡±

    ¡°Iseret Sekesh.¡±

    ¡°We have not been properly introduced yet. My name is Vanessa¡¯ellariel Erellathiel.¡± After a short pause, she sighed. ¡°Call me Vanessa. They all do.¡±

    ¡°You keep eclectic company, Alea.¡±

    Alea nervously shuffled her feet.

    Maximilian put down his pen and rubbed his forehead. ¡°Imagine my surprise as I came home and heard from the servants that you had taken the old carriage to the harbor. To a brothel. At night. What. Were. You. Thinking.¡±

    The trio looked at each other. Alea was shamefaced, Alyssa was flustered. Mireille broke down laughing. Iseret looked at all of that strangely. Vanessa sighed deeply.

    Alea grabbed Cecily and began to stroke her carapace. ¡°I only wanted to help Vanessa. Who helped us all. I...might have been caught up in all that.¡±

    Maximilian looked at them. ¡°So please tell me all of it. Leave nothing out.¡±

    ¡°So to summarize- Vanessa is an elven vampire and is aiding you? Iseret is part of the merchant cartel the Reborn and you are all allied to take down the top dog of the local underworld because he made problems for Vanessa.¡± He grabbed his forehead and sighed. "It''s not as if I had not heard of you on the road but I had hoped for a less dramatic introduction." He raised his head and looked her in the eye. "And the worst that happened has always been the result of politics, not you. But that does not mean I will condone her getting hurt. So please take care."

    Vanessa looked at him sourly. ¡°I will most likely be the only one fighting.¡±

    ¡°That is as it should be. My sister is fifteen for Gesserachs sake.¡± Maximilian sighed. ¡°Undead are illegal without government dispensation.¡±

    "We have a lot of enemies. With Mathilde trying for our lives. Vanessa helped with that too." Alea said quietly.

    "I will have to think about that some more. But you have a point." Maximilian stretched. "Let us adjourn for the evening." He lifted the curtain and looked outside. "...for the night. I hope you will sleep well. Ms. Sekesh I extend our hospitality. Ms. Vanessa..."

    "I will be busy tonight and I have my own accommodations. But thank you for the thought."

    Wind whipped through the quiet streets of the Ivy Terrace and with a whisper snowflakes began to fall.

 The smell of test-paper in the morning

    ¡°Friends must always be treated as if one day they might be enemies.¡±

    - Napol¨¦on Bonaparte

    Back in Alea¡¯s room.

    ¡°That was unexpected.¡± Mireille looked guilty.

    ¡°I was not forced, it was my decision.¡± Alea tried to comfort her. ¡°And I did not think about confiding in him. I simply went along because it was logical. I hope Max can forgive me.¡±

    Alyssa nodded. ¡°We all simply went along. But Vanessa is our savior. Mireille and I would not be here without her. How could we neglect to help!¡±

    Vanessa waved her off. ¡°And I would possibly be destroyed already if not for your intervention in Sorringen.¡±

    They looked at each other and smiled.

    ¡°The last time I was in danger was at a party.¡± Alea clenched her small fists. ¡°So we will simply stay in the academy and only come out to help Vanessa?¡±

    ¡°That seems a sensible precaution.¡± Alyssa nodded. ¡°But what about Iseret and how do we contact Vanessa?¡±

    ¡°We could have Adam contact us when necessary. And we still have an open bed in our room. We could say she is another servant? We would be allowed one each wouldn¡¯t we?¡± Mireille shrugged.

    Alea nodded. ¡°That could work. And our reputation is such that even employing a Keshian should not damage it further.¡± She looked a bit guilty at that. ¡°Not that Iseret is not a nice person but others will not see it that way.¡±

    ¡°I hate to say it, but she is a slave with exceptional sword skills working for a probably criminal enterprise. We should be a bit wary of her. And yes she is easy to get along with.¡± Alyssa admonished. ¡°I wonder how they can control such a capable person.¡±

    ¡°Slavery seems to be at once nuanced and on the other hand integrated into all strata of society in Sur Kesh.¡± Vanessa explained. ¡°If you look at it in a certain way even Kadira is a slave of the gods.¡±

    ¡°I would not want to live there.¡± Mireille shook her body like a wet cat. ¡°A collar, being beholden to someone without a choice.¡±

    Alea looked at her and seemed pensive.

    Vanessa sighed heavily. ¡°No one is truly free. But that is another and primarily fruitless, philosophic discussion. If I could still drink alcohol it would be something you do when you are completely drunk and absolutely sure of your genius.¡± She gave a crooked smile. ¡°Never experienced it myself but my brother would tell me about it.¡±

    ¡°Let us try and learn something before we go to sleep. Tomorrow we should try to study for the test that Maximilian mentioned. Not that I could forget that if I tried.¡± Alyssa grimaced.

    Vanessa intensified Alyssa¡¯s training regarding using void safely. Then she assigned some exercises using arcane magic for Alea and gave instructions for Mireille. Their time together was much too short and they continued until well after midnight.

    Asandria helped Alyssa and tirelessly corrected each fault.

    As Alea fell asleep while reading. Vanessa stopped them. ¡°If we continue like this it is highly likely that you might memorize something wrong and have to unlearn it or even worse it might not come up until you really need it. So we stop for today. I wish you all a good night. For what it¡¯s worth I admire you for coming with me to talk with the Keshians.¡±

    ¡°Night¡± Mireille yawned.

    ¡°Good night.¡± Alyssa gave a small wave.

    And then she was gone.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to sleep. I will take care of Alea. You can use the bathroom first.¡± Alyssa tried to wake the unresponsive girl.

    Mireille yawned again. ¡°Okay.¡±

    And soon everyone was lying in bed and trying to sleep.

    ¡°Are you still awake?¡± Mireille looked at the pale oval of her friend''s face. Because of the cloud cover, it was near-total darkness.

    ¡°Mmmh.¡± Alyssa mumbled.

    ¡°Do you like snakes?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°Is that a yes or no?¡±

    ¡°Cats¡­...and snakes. Cyrus.¡± It was unclear if she was talking in her sleep or sleepily talking.

    ¡°Let''s sleep.¡±

    Her only answer was soft, regular breathing.

    The next day came much too early.

    ¡°I could have slept another hour or two,¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°I normally would have scolded you but today¡­ I raise you another hour. I feel like I have not slept at all. I had this strange dream where there were a lot of cats and snakes.¡± Alyssa rubbed her eyes.

    Alea was already clothed and sitting at her desk working through her notes.

    ¡°Are you not tired at all?¡± Alyssa asked incredulously.

    ¡°After I got back my memories I have slept a lot less and been fine. Even as I have nightmares constantly. I don¡¯t know why.¡±

    ¡°That seems as if it should not work.¡± Alyssa looked at the small girl worriedly. ¡°How do you feel?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Not that bad actually. I wish I could get rid of the nightmares but you two being with me helps immensely. And not needing that much sleep? It¡¯s something I would have wished for given the chance. There is so much to learn, to do and so little time.¡±

    Mireille did a sommersault.

    Alyssa took a hasty step backward, ¡°Be careful with that. Your foot was a handsbreadth from the chandelier.¡±

    ¡°Did I grow some? Would be awesome if that was the case. I wanted a bigger sword and the teacher wouldn¡¯t let me because of balance and some such nonsense!¡± Mireille looked fired up. ¡°The small ones are mostly decorative. I was lucky to find one that mostly fit me in the Arcaneum.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. It¡¯s too big actually?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡±

    Alyssa put both hands to her face.

    Alea gave a smile.

    There was a knock at the door and a maidservant called. ¡°The young lord bids you to come to have breakfast with him.¡±

    ¡°We will make haste, but it will take us some minutes,¡± Alea called back.

    <hr>

    Breakfast came and went and then it was the afternoon and Mireille had to return to the academy for the lightning attunement tutoring. The rest of the girls decided to accompany her this time, taking Iseret with them.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The snake woman had been fitted with a maid uniform which made her look adorable in the opinion of the trio.

    She carried a large bag containing her armor and the khopesh.

    ¡°And? Does it work?¡± Alyssa looked curious.

    ¡°Yes. I get better all the time when I am training. Which means I should probably train some more.¡± Mireille¡¯s look was a bit complicated. ¡°Yes, you got me. I was so absorbed trying to learn Auram the language of air and getting my academics to a reasonable level that I might have neglected my affinity training a bit even though it made a big impact. I¡¯m not made for studying.¡± She hung her head.

    ¡°You are amazing. You reacted instantly when we were attacked and that lightning bolt was very impressive.¡± Alyssa tried to comfort her.

    ¡°I¡¯m too stupid for that Auram language!¡± Mireille looked despondent. ¡°And why do I have to learn spells I can¡¯t use!¡±

    ¡°That is indeed nonsense. Auram might be useful to you someday. And lesser magic should be accessible to you still but it is no use learning higher magic when not able to use it.¡± Alea looked thoughtful.

    ¡°Could you talk to someone for me?¡± Mireille looked hopeful.

    Alea looked troubled. ¡°Alyssa?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will do it. Reneus might be amenable to persuasion.¡±

    Iseret looked at the byplay with interest.

    Soon they arrived at the academy. A fine dusting of snow covered the grounds already turning to mush and mud where students and staff walked most often.

    ¡°Brrrr.¡± Mireille was shivering.

    Alyssa looked at her worriedly and then took her own cloak and draped it around her shoulders.

    ¡°But you will freeze.¡± Mireille tried to protest.

    ¡°I am good with cold. Don¡¯t worry. And we will soon be inside the dorms. You will have to go to your tutoring session so you need it more.¡± She hugged her affectionately. ¡°Do your best!¡±

    They introduced Iseret to Lorelle who was wary of hybrid woman.

    <hr>

    ¡°That was good. You have some talent for this after all.¡± Aldrick, her tutor looked only half-serious as he said that but she would take what she could get.

    ¡°Thanks. Being a genius is hard but your kind words make it all better!¡± Mireille bowed while sitting and nearly overdid it and had to stabilize herself by grabbing for a nearby column.

    Laughing Aldrick swept a bit of snow from his shoulders. ¡°Ok. That should do it. You have the basics down pat. But you have to keep at it or your gains might go up in smoke. The body and your soul do not like to be altered and there is a certain...inertia that comes into play. It could even be a form of healing. After all, if someone tried to curse you and anchor some nasty shit on your soul it would try to revert too. But enough of this. With today''s lesson, you should be able to continue on your own. I will tell Professor Ark.¡±

    Mireille looked a bit conflicted but smiled in the end.¡±That¡¯s good, I think. If I have problems, can I ask you to help sometimes?¡±

    ¡°Naturally. But Professor Ark is probably the better person to ask, and he, unlike me, is even getting paid for this. Not that I complain about academic merit and all that.¡± He raised his hands in defense. ¡°Have a nice evening.¡± He tipped his nonexistent hat and walked away.

    ¡°Bye!¡±

    The courtyard of Air was silent. Snowflakes drifted lazily towards the ground. It was still late autumn, but with the mountains and being further north than Rivenlorn, the area got to experience the first cold days much earlier than Mireille was used to.

    ¡®Lightning. Neither air nor fire.¡¯ A spark shot from her hand. Lately, she had found that such small expressions of elemental energy were possible for her even without speaking a command. ¡®Neat.¡¯ She pointed at a large snowflake, and with a hiss, a spark leaped and liquefied it.

    ¡®I should try and get some more meditation done today. But the test¡­¡¯ She groaned and stood up, patting the snow from her two cloaks. ¡®I must remember to do something nice for Alyssa. That was a life-saver.¡¯

    Walking back through the still, mostly empty halls lit by a modest amount of glow-globes, she came to the main yard in front of the academy. Two students were involved in a snowball fight and seemed to have a lot of fun.

    ¡®If I have to take classes on the weekend I will most assuredly die of prolonged boredom.¡¯ She firmed her resolve and walked towards the dorm when a snowball impacted her shoulder. ¡°Just you wait! It¡¯s on!¡±

    An hour or so later she arrived in the dorms, shivering and covered in snow.

    ¡°Mireille! What happened?¡± Alyssa took her cloak and gave it to a waiting Iseret, after a short moment of hesitation.

    ¡°S.s.s..snowball f.f.fight.¡± Mireilles teeth were chattering.

    ¡°You big idiot! And we have the test tomorrow. First, you take a hot bath and put on some new clothes. I will see if there is still soup to be had and warm it up for you.¡± Alyssa took charge. Iseret¡¯s features were expressionless but seemed to radiate amusement nonetheless.

    Later in the evening Mireille was bundled in some blankets and tried to keep up with Alea¡¯s and Alyssa¡¯s tutoring while sipping a cup of hot soup.

    <hr>

    The next day dawned on stormy but clear weather. Clouds raced each other before a turquoise sky.

    Mr. Glames looked at the students filing into the room.

    ¡°Attention, please. Good morning. Today we will be having our first test. You will get used to it soon, so don¡¯t worry. Some rules before we begin: No one uses magic. There might be one or two that could augment memory or something like that already but we want to see your academic prowess not your facility in mind magic. No copying. It should not be necessary to say that but here it is. When you are finished you can leave but do not disturb the others. No loud talking in the corridor nearby. And without prolonging your suffering we will start by giving out the test papers. Remain at your seat and please put away anything but your stationery.¡±

    The test consisted of a hundred questions written in order of difficulty. Groans and looks of despair could be seen on some students, Mireille included.

    ¡°Silence. Answer the questions to the best of your ability. I don¡¯t expect anyone to get a perfect score today but it is possible. Heloise of Marginar was the last to achieve this. Let¡¯s start!¡±

    Scribbling noises and soft noises of distress were the only sounds for the rest of the test-taking. The time allotted was two hours after which the students had some free time until lunch.

    Lieseleta was still confined to the palace. Alea had sent a letter asking about her situation and health but had not received an answer yet.

    <hr>

    The three friends gathered in an unused classroom after finally giving back the test papers.

    ¡°AAAAAAH!¡± Mireille sat on a desk and held her head while trying not to scream too loudly and draw attention to their hideout.

    ¡°Mireille.¡± Alea looked at her reproachfully.

    Alyssa held back a giggle and then stroked the red-heads back. ¡°Shh. It¡¯s not so bad. Even if you have remedial lessons on Saturday it will help with future tests, no?¡±

    Cyrus hopped on the desk too and butted Mireille with his head, hitting her on the arm causing her to nearly fall off. ¡°Hey! You don¡¯t know how much you have grown! Nooo my Saturday! They will begin at eight. I will not be able to sleep in.¡± She had a despondent look.

    ¡°Don¡¯t count your chickens before they are hatched.¡± Alyssa wisely admonished. ¡°It might be the other way round this time but the saying is still true. You might by some miracle¡­¡± she got a hurt look for that, ¡°...ahem, by some effort still manage.¡±

    ¡°Did you see Otto?¡± Alyssa tried to change the subject.

    ¡°Yes, he was silent the whole time. Do you think he learned his lesson?¡± Mireille rubbed her eyes and answered.

    Alea adjusted her blindfold and stroked Cecily. ¡°I don¡¯t trust him to be sensible. There will be something else. He will not give up so easily.¡±

    <hr>

    A fist hit him in the gut. Hard. Groaning with pain he staggered back. He spat some bile flecked with blood.

    ¡°You did not manage to do a thing I asked of you and that was after all the money and resources I gave you.¡± The mask of red cloth stretched over gaunt features. There were no openings for eye or mouth but the voice was not muffled nor did he seem to have problems seeing. Small runes were stitched into the blood-red, stiff cloth. A hooded robe made of a similar material draped his form.

    Leonhard Poroskar gritted his teeth, trying to conceal the hatred in his eyes. ¡°It is not finished yet, I have some more I can try. She did best him but she is isolated and feared. Give me a bit more time and I will win her over.¡±

    ¡°You were asked to harm her, expose her for the void-witch she is. Then it would have been easy to gain her service for the lord. You could not do this single thing I wanted. All the time you had my resources and my product to set yourself up and what do you have to show for it? A few lackeys that a bit of coin would have been sufficient to buy anytime, any day.¡±

    ¡°They are completely dependent on me. If I want they would commit murder for me. That is not as simple as you make it out to be!¡±

    The mask drew close and a musty, metallic smell filled Leonhard''s nose.

    The room was in a small inn half an hour''s ride from the academy. They had used it several times for their little ¡®talks¡¯ but up ¡®til now it had been much more pleasant. Leonhard was starting to regret getting into business with his mad uncle. The rest of the family, notably his father, had warned him in no uncertain terms after all.

    ¡°I can''t babysit your every move. Grow up.¡± He made a dismissive gesture. ¡°This is your final chance. I have some urgent work that demands my attention so I will give you more product and this.¡± He pulled a metal vial from a pouch at his side. ¡°She has to drink all of it. How you do so is not my concern, capture her and pour it down her throat for all I care. It will make her do what you say for a quarter of an hour afterward. Use that wisely, make her into a villain, hurt her. I don¡¯t care. But she should no longer be able to continue at the academy. Best if she does something unforgivable. But her ending up a cripple would be fine too. Don¡¯t expose yourself!¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡±

    ¡°See that you do.¡± The robed figure turned and left through the door. Light filtered through windows of scraped parchment. The cheap furniture, the slightly dirty linen covering the bed. The threadbare carpet. Everything served to infuriate Leonhard at the moment. He furiously kicked the chair and grinned as he heard a cracking sound as a leg broke off. ¡®Bastard. We are family and he treats me like this! In the beginning, it was ¨C Oh, Leonhard, that was well done. You will go far. Have some more product, it¡¯s on the house. Call it an allowance.¡¯ He kicked the chair again. ¡®And now I am his lackey, and with everything I do, nothing is good enough. But you will see. You will all see.¡¯

    No, he would do some of what his uncle wanted, but it was high time he did something for himself. Grinning, he wiped the bile from his mouth with the back of his hand.

    Yes, he should have been more selfish from the beginning.

 Gang Wars and Academics

    The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.

    - Leo Tolstoy

    In the evening Iseret stood on a tall building in the merchant quarter. Wind whipped around her tousling her hair and cloak. She wore her armor and the khopesh. A charm on her hip supplied badly needed warmth. ¡®The cold is troubling. Without magic, we could not properly function in the colder climes.¡¯

    A sparrow shot from the whirling snow and light rain. Lights distorted by the weather shone from below her, painting the sky in a canvas of cloudy grey.

    ¡°Meet me at the ¡®Golden Cockerel¡¯ as soon as you are able.¡± The message was repeated once and then the sparrow tilted its head while runes began to appear on its feathers glowing and then fading away as the construct lost cohesion.

    Iseret nodded to herself. A good choice. The cockerel was doing brisk business with mercenaries, they would not stand out too much.

    She spread her arms and summoned the breath of the wind to carry her from the roof. And as light as a falling flake, she danced among the snow falling towards her destination. Safe in the embrace of the great goddess.

    The Golden Cockerel was a large Tavern in combination with stables and an inn. It catered to mercenary companies, adventurers, and merchants. As always the atmosphere was rowdy. Vanessa sat at a table and inspected the food she had ordered. At first, there were some ¡®concerned¡¯ people trying to prevent her entry which she dissuaded with judicious application of a bit of mind magic. She always forgot that she looked like a teenager and not an older one at that.

    Iseret entered and looked around. Vanessa was very easy to find. Many looked at her from time to time and chatted. Some laughed. At least her face was concealed by an illusion and looked like a normal elf as if that was not a contradiction in terms. If one did not count those that hid their more obvious features there might be a handful in the most populated regions on any given day.

    Vanessa looked up as Iseret slid into the seat in front of her. ¡°You made good time I see.¡±

    ¡°Greetings.¡± Iseret nodded a greeting. ¡°You wanted to talk?¡±

    ¡°Not here, I reserved a room, let¡¯s go.¡± She stood up, righted her cloak, and gestured towards the stairs in the back.

    The room they entered was small and the reek of old smoke had long since seeped into the rafters. A single shuttered window did little to improve the ventilation. Seating themselves at the singular table Vanessa threw a sheaf of parchment on the table and sighed. ¡°A right mess this is. He has his grubby paws in very many illegal operations. But there are some who stand out from the lot, either in importance or in the influence it gives him.¡± She separated two pages and pointed.¡±This guard captain is firmly in his pocket and could be worth ¡®replacing¡¯, and then there is this gambling hall. It makes a lot of profit. If we shut it down he will be hurting. And best of all, If we do some or all of that he will have to react and we can thin his troops a bit.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bloodthirsty one?¡± Iseret looked faintly amused. ¡°I concur. The captain would be easy but could bring attention from the upper quarters even as it is unsure where that attention would fall. It could even be to our benefit. The casino is a safe bet.¡± She grinned. ¡°It would hurt them and rile them up.¡±

    ¡°So the casino?¡± Vanessa looked thoughtful.

    ¡°I would recommend the captain,¡± Iseret said with a smile.

    ¡°Are you just being contrary or does this serve some purpose?¡± Large green eyes flickered with annoyance.

    ¡°We would get used to each other and without much risk. Call it a trial run.¡±

    ¡°That is...actually not a bad thought.¡± The small vampire nodded. ¡°Now?¡±

    ¡°If we don¡¯t need more time it would be a waste not to act.¡±

    Both nodded and stood up.

    <hr>

    Sometime later near the docks in the district of Northbank.

    The man was in his late forties still well-muscled but with the beginnings of a paunch. Saggy jowls with an uneven beard and a steadily receding hairline framed eyes that had seen too much and been left jaded. He raised the smoking bundle of paper-wrapped herbs and drew a deep breath. His armor was scratched and well-used. Some rivets were missing. The cloak proclaimed him one of the dockyard guards in service to his majesty King Vilander.

    Meaty thuds came from the alley in his back but the sound and the whimpers that accompanied them merely brought a smile to his lips.

    In the alley, two guards held down a large man in the attire of a merchant or shop owner. He seemed to be close to unconscious blood ran from gashes on his face and head and his eyes were swollen and puffy. A third took a step back and wound up a strike with the truncheon he held in his hand before landing it with a crack on the upper leg of the merchant.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be daft, you will kill him if you continue like this. Where is the fun in that? You have to do it carefully.¡± One of the guards holding the man scolded.

    ¡°My hand hurts from hitting him and my throat is dry. It¡¯s not funny if they don¡¯t scream anymore.¡±

    ¡°You are one sick bastard.¡± The guard that had been silent until now said half-admiringly. ¡°But I also think he learned something tonight. What use is the money he kept for himself now? It won¡¯t pay for new teeth.¡± He snickered.

    A small figure walked down the road and the captain looked up before throwing the rest of the burning mess in his hand to the ground where it sizzled in a puddle before going out. ¡°What are you doing here so late at night? It¡¯s well past curfew already.¡±

    The figure raised its head and an inhumanely beautiful face looked up at him, cold blue-green eyes regarded him silently.

    ¡°An elf? Probably an Ulsolm sympathizer or spy. I think we will have to be extra careful and take you back to the tower.¡± He grinned before taking a step forward while calling back over his shoulder, ¡°Krager. Come over here.¡±

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    As he turned back the figure was standing directly before him and before he could say anything a cold sensation lanced through his chest. And while he was trying to understand what was happening the cold began to spread and darkness closed in from the sides of his vision as his hearing grew faint. The last thing he saw was a hand with claws of black ice dripping with a dark fluid. A thin tongue lapped at the fluid between small canines, very white in the pale illumination of the glow lamps.

    From the alley, she heard a surprised exclamation, then the sound of something tearing, a thud, then silence again.

    Iseret walked out of the alley shaking her khopesh free of the blood clinging to it.

    The shopkeeper was out cold. ¡°Mh. That is not according to plan. I hoped he could be a witness and point Orpen''s Gang in our direction.¡± Vanessa looked dissatisfied.

    ¡°I think it went better than expected. Not only did we remove the captain, but we also lanced a boil festering in the side of this city.¡±

    ¡°Strange sentiments for someone in your position.¡±

    ¡°When my heart is weighed against the feather I might be glad for all such moments where I did not only do wrong.¡± Iseret¡¯s eyes were unreadable.

    ¡°I think we will leave it at that for tonight. Tomorrow, same room, Golden Cockerel?¡±

    Nodding her assent Iseret sheathed her sword and looked after Vanessa¡¯s departing form, before hurrying away through the night. As she left the docks she heard the alarm bell ringing from the Northbank Tower. ¡®That was quick.¡¯ A fleeting smile curved her lips.

    <hr>

    Maximilian held his head. A dull pounding made him grit his teeth. He and Alea had not been close for years. He was learning in Graufurt how to be the heir or he was in the Academy studying there was not much time left for leisure or family. Yes, he had sent a present for birthdays and the major holidays but other than that? It was all for her benefit too he reasoned.

    He visited about once a year and he loved her. At least that was what he told himself. But he had so much to do and his sister was...an invalid. Someone to be protected. Once she had been THE prodigy of the family and everyone had fawned over her. He had been jealous, why shouldn¡¯t he be. But that had turned to pity as she lost her sight and more so after the death of her parents. She was strange and withdrawn after that even as he had tried to reach out to her.

    He had been very glad to leave her to Elaide and he had been even more thankful for all the distractions afforded him through his work.

    Alyssa and Mireille were a godsend. Both were talented in their own way and with proper schooling, they would be truly powerful assets. But most of all they kept his sister company and alleviated his guilt.

    She had gone to a brothel. He could not wrap his head around it. And then the small vampire girl. He had a vague impression of what that meant. Once he had been in the company of a teacher and together with some soldiers they had cleaned out a corrupted graveyard. There had been a wight mage. So he had thought, ¡®What about it?¡¯ The wight had fallen quickly to the light magic wielded by the military mages. The book lying before him was titled ¡®Creatures of Myth and Legend and their Impact on Modern Margrinar¡¯ The content of that book was enough to let him lose sleep.

    ¡°Mr. Brache?¡±

    ¡°Yes, young master?¡±

    ¡°Please acquire the services of some mercenaries, the three brothers we last employed should be good if still available. And I want you to keep an eye on Alea as long as she is at the academy.¡±

    ¡°I will make the necessary preparation. Please excuse me.¡±

    Did he do the right thing? As long as she is in the academy nothing much could happen, of that he was relatively sure. Graufurt went through difficult times at the moment and he would be damned if he did not see the opportunities presented him by the association with the Reborn and Vanessa. So he did what he always did in regard to his sister. He waited.

    <hr>

    The next morning.

    Mr. Glames looked them over. ¡°I hope you are recovered from yesterday¡¯s test because today we will be going over the different tenses in Allisairian. And after that, we will study the hundred-year war with the mer-folk. And before I forget. The results of the test will be posted on the noticeboard at the mensa for lunch. Look forward to it!¡±

    Soft whispers and chatter filled the air as students discussed the announcement.

    ¡°I will have silence. You can talk at lunch to your heart''s content but not during my classes.¡±

    Mireille looked a bit green around the nose.

    Alyssa leaned towards her and whispered, ¡°Do you feel unwell? Should I take you to the infirmary?¡±

    ¡°Ms. Miner. Please come forward and write down all tenses for ¡®To be rewarded with wisdom¡¯ and ¡®To act with caution¡¯.¡± He clapped twice. ¡°Don¡¯t tarry, we don¡¯t have all day. There is a lot of content to cover for today!¡±

    Alyssa got up and with the look of a sacrifice walking to the blood-stained altar went to write on the blackboard. Mireille gave her an encouraging smile which only looked slightly forced.

    At lunch, there was a big group of students blocking the board before the mensa.

    Mireille and Alyssa, Alea was left to guard their table, fought through the throng, and looked at the results.

    ¡°Thirty-three. Not good but not that bad either.¡± Alyssa looked dissatisfied. ¡°I will have to study more for the next test.¡±

    ¡°Forty-eight.¡± Mireille tonelessly announced.

    Some students looked at her and snickered, some laughed openly.

    ¡°That is...bad.¡± Alyssa did not know how to sugarcoat the result.

    ¡°And it means I have remedial lessons on Saturday. As if I did not know that would be coming.¡± Mireille looked despondent.

    ¡°Did you spot Alea¡¯s result?¡± Alyssa was still looking over the parchment.

    ¡°You are not looking in the right spot.¡± Mireille pointed at the upper part of the list.

    ¡°Sixth?! Really?¡± Alyssa looked surprised.

    ¡°She is always studying or reading and she had a tutor and she did listen to that tutor. And she is really intelligent.¡± Mireille began to list her points.

    ¡°Stop that.¡± Alyssa smiled and swatted Mireille''s hand. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to her.¡±

    As they got back they saw Alea sitting uncomfortably while a few students were trying to talk to her.

    ¡°Nice going Alea!¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°You are sixth in class!¡±

    Alea looked up and relief was written on her features. The students that were just talking to her looked at the two girls coming near and excused themselves. The looks they threw Alyssa, in particular, left no doubt as to why they wanted to leave so quickly.

    ¡°I am very glad that you are here at last. What took you so long? How were your results?¡±

    ¡°I got thirty-three, Mireille got¡­¡±

    ¡°Forty-eight.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like to repeat that.¡± Mireille sat down heavily and stabbed her fork into some noodles.

    ¡°Forty-eight.¡± Alyssa supplied.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like if anyone repeats that.¡± Mireille tried for a stern expression but failed and had to smile.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem much affected?¡± Alea questioned.

    ¡°I had a lot of time to prepare myself for something like that. It¡¯s not as if I was not aware of my lacking academics.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you study more then?¡± Alea asked seriously.

    ¡°I can¡¯t. I simply cannot focus for so long. Yes, I probably could do better. Other than grandma who insisted I learn to read and write there was no one who gave a flying f...ahem.¡± She coughed embarrassedly. ¡°So I have some catching up to do.¡±

    Alyssa looked approvingly and stroked her back. ¡°Don¡¯t put strange words into Alea¡¯s head. And I can and do sympathize. My mother taught me a lot and the books were mine to read after her death but that is not nearly enough to do well here.¡±

    ¡°I know very well what you nearly said. It is not as if we did not have servants.¡± Alea snorted. ¡°We should study together, perhaps Lucille is interested in a study group. Her being in our dorm would make things a lot easier.¡±

    ¡°Do you think Vanessa is okay?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Mireille leaned back. ¡°Can¡¯t think of a thing that would really hurt her in the city.¡±

    ¡°That is a bit naive. There are a lot of powerful people here.¡± Alea answered.

    ¡°What about Maximilian? Has he said something?¡± Alyssa tried to steer the conversation into safer waters.

    ¡°If it is like before he will hire some more guards and perhaps even assign his bodyguard to watch me. I¡¯m not worried. But we should refrain from going into the city until this is resolved.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense even as I find that thought stifling.¡± Alyssa sighed.

    And then they were off to their afternoon classes.

 A night drenched in blood

    ¡°Enemies are like furniture, aren''t they? Better chosen for oneself than inherited.¡±

    - Joe Abercrombie, The Trouble with Peace

    Alyssa walked down the now familiar corridors, steps echoing in the empty space. From ahead and to the side voices blended into each other, laughter, some indignant remonstrations.

    Sadly the next lesson would separate her from her friends. ¡®Spatial Manipulation and Dimensional Understanding¡¯ She had the class with several second and even third years. It was most often taken as supplementary to the basic elemental lessons and only rarely as a main course of study. Many students who found themselves with a bit of time on their hands for whatever reason tried to gain understanding in this esoteric discipline.

    She knocked at an old oaken door, dark with age and inlaid with runes. After a short moment, she heard steps from inside and the door was opened by a thin figure clothed in blue strips of cloth that were wound abound the ¡®person¡¯ similar to a spool of thread.

    Large dark blue eyes, hair that moved on its own and looked like little tentacles, skin a pale grey. It was a strange elemental being that Master Blake had summoned and then bound as his familiar. He called the being Laredal.

    Blake himself was among the youngest of the professors and was in his early thirties. A quite ordinary-looking, brown-haired man with his reddish eyes the only outstanding feature. He had a pleasant voice and was normally soft-spoken without much of a temper. But he was also not quite ¡®there¡¯. Sometimes he would murmur to himself or space out while staring into the distance. Laredal was the one that brought him back should that happen. The elemental would never speak to someone other than Blake but it could make itself understood with gestures.

    They learned mostly mathematics up until now. Blake was adamant that they have a firm grounding in dimensional and spatial mechanics. When they finally learned their first spatial spell it was a detection spell to find spatial or dimensional anomalies. Hardly exciting. Alyssa was very good at intuiting the necessary steps for the spell but less so for the mathematical side of things. She worked diligently and was no longer as lost as she had been in the beginning but it was hard.

    Professor Blake was scribbling formulae on the blackboard as she entered. Laredal, who had opened the door for her, gestured for her to sit down. Six other students were already in attendance which meant that only a few were missing. Most looked at her and continued what they were doing. A slight girl with dark brown hair saw where she was going to sit and got up to take a seat further away. Alyssa frowned subconsciously but then shrugged and sat down.

    ¡°Today we will learn a new spell.¡± Mr. Blake began to talk without turning around or waiting for the still missing students. ¡°This one is a staple of experienced wizards anywhere.¡±

    Alyssa suspected this to be a tad optimistic but listened intently nonetheless.

    ¡°The spell is called spatial inversion and will allow the user to either enlarge a defined space or do the opposite. ¡®Why would you do the last?¡¯ I can nearly hear some of you thinking but think it through. If you were tired of walking a stair why not shorten it a bit? If you wanted to keep someone from using a doorway you could make it smaller. You could potentially use it to make an object smaller and store it more easily but that would necessitate a change in the spell structure. I can¡¯t recommend that at your present level of knowledge.¡±

    He turned and looked a bit apologetic. ¡°Sorry for the last example that is another form of spatial manipulation that I will not teach today. So, we begin ¨C as always- with the formula.¡±

    Day turned to dusk and dusk to night.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in the Golden Cockerel.

    ¡°The casino?¡± Vanessa looked up from the parchment.

    Iseret''s eyes gleamed in the light of the glow globe. ¡°I think we should. There is a gang hideout we could raid. They are called the Gloomskulls.¡±

    ¡°And your recommendation?¡± Vanessa rested her chin in her hand.

    ¡°I think we should go for the casino and the Gloomskulls. Not necessarily in that order. The casino normally operates until three in the morning. I would prefer not to involve the gamblers. And so we could make a detour, spend some time productively before we get there. If we are injured or too exhausted we can always do it tomorrow.¡± Iseret''s eyes shifted to the parchment and she pulled the notes regarding the hideout of the Gloomskulls to the side.

    Vanessa looked at her and remembered the Keshian ambassador she had known several human lifetimes ago. He had been much more calculating. Charming, yes, but also cold. She had always had the impression that he did not really understand emotions. It had seemed at the time as if he had learned to imitate and act on them by rote memorization. Iseret was different, Kadira seemed different. It was very interesting to see.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go. We don¡¯t have any time to waste.¡± Vanessa got up and incanted several different spells. Glyphs and runes glowed on her cloak, her flesh. A tiara made of burning symbols flashed for a moment before sinking into her forehead. She gathered the notes and nodding at Iseret she opened the window and both of them leaped into the night.

    <hr>

    Gloomskull Hideout, the Crooks.

    Mellie leaned back in her seat and regarded the other players cautiously. Stroking her scar in contemplation she grinned. She had been cheating from the start of the game but was pretty sure no one had noticed anything. ¡®Two more and I have enough money for the journey to Southmarsh.¡¯ Kronenburg had been her dream as she was younger, then her parents had traveled to the great city from their failing farm and her father had gotten employed in the factory. He was the first to die. Crushed by the gigantic gears of the grinder who pulverized the mana crystal. Her mother got five silver for his last month''s work and snide remarks from the foreman. Then her mother died. She had been steadfast until her last day and tried to get by washing and mending clothes. A small cut on her finger festered and went gangrenous.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    The Gloomskulls had been recruiting and after starving a few days it was no longer a question if she wanted to join, rather an opportunity she could not miss.

    Years later she was no longer an apprentice but a snitch. Funny word that, was it really an upgrade? She was a scout, a spy. ¡°I raise.¡± She slapped some coins on the table.

    Groans and curses followed her declaration causing a small smile to curve her lip. After the other players folded she gathered her winnings and grinned. ¡®Only once more.'' Perhaps not today, she did want to live after all. And Ceske was looking at her with suspicion. He was the smartest of the numbskulls sitting at the table and seemed to have his own thoughts on her continued wins.

    They were sitting in an abandoned warehouse. One of the trade factors in the city had the grand idea to situate it here after the prices in the city went through the roof. But that had been a dumb decision. The Gloomskulls had slowly driven the company out of the Crooks and appropriated the building for their own use.

    The high ceiling was shrouded in darkness, rafters were only dimly visible in the light of the broken down glow lamps that had been salvaged and jury-rigged to a barely functional level. The chairs and tables were old or self-made. The men sitting around drinking and talking were mostly still in their teens. They were rough-looking, coarse, and cruel folk. There were few women like her and with good reason. She had fought hard for a place as a member and not as a hanger-on with few prospects other than to be a plaything for the more powerful thugs.

    She walked through the back entrance and took a careful look around. The sky was dark as usual. Far in the distance, a dog barked furiously.

    A dark lump lay before her and as she looked down she saw that it was the guard, her eyes drifted to his face contorted in pain and terror, the throat was torn as if by a beast. She made a split-second decision while her heart beat furiously. She remembered the Hunter ¡®When the deepstone reacts you contact me and run. You don¡¯t stay and you don¡¯t fight. You stand no chance against her, you would be food.¡¯ Her legs moved on their own and she ran into the night. There was no loyalty left after all she had seen and all they had done to her. It was just a shame that it happened now when she only needed another big win but...she would find a way. She always had after all.

    Vanessa gathered streams of mana out of the atmosphere and wove a complex circle of glyphs and runes before incanting a spell formula. She stood on the roof of the warehouse Iseret was guarding the front. The guardian in the back had given her much-needed life energy. She felt more than that she saw a single person running away. ¡®It¡¯s of no consequence, we only need to get most of them. If there are any leftovers they will probably be absorbed by whatever organization replaces them after the Reborn are done.¡¯

    Finishing her spell the runes flared before dimming again. A dark mist billowed from her hands and drifted through the wooden roof and spread into the warehouse. Confused shouts answered the phenomenon. Concentrating she vanished into the mist and reappeared inside the warehouse materializing behind a stumbling gang member. Jumping onto his back claws of black ice cut into his throat and blood sprayed with his desperate attempts to breathe while she somersaulted backward into the darkness.

    Vanessa raced through the partitioned areas and killed as she went.

    Claws of dark ice shattered ribs and sliced into the lung and heart.

    White teeth ripped into a bared throat.

    Green eyes shone in between swirls of mist, claws pierced into the back of a burly man wielding a large mace, the claw tips emerged from his chest and he died screaming.

    Another whirled around as he heard him fall, his arm was severed at the elbow.

    A claw caught a woman''s chin and pierced through to her brain, blood sprayed.

    Dark liquid drenched the ground. As the men could not see her it was a slaughter. The blood the death, some of them were crying as she finally got to them. Her face curled up in disgust bloody tears ran down her face. And she could not but drink of the blood flowing from her claws and covering her arms.

    And while the blood dissolved on her tongue and life returned to her dead flesh she felt sick and thought of better times.

    A small abused child looked at the priestess and smiled.

    The red-head finally did something right and the lightning burned like fireworks in the night.

    Alyssa smiled as she solved an equation.

    Alea asked shyly for her to explain an arcane formula.

    She heard steps behind her and whirled around brandishing her claws. Iseret stood before her and inspected her, head tilted to the side. ¡°We can stop for the night if it is too much.¡±

    Furious for showing weakness Vanessa harshly spoke a spell and water swirled over her face and took away the blood and her tears and she was clean once more. They were enemies and she did only as she must. But this was not a fight, it was butchery.

    Killing so many and so brutally nearly frayed her control. She had to be careful. Logic dictated that what she did was only a step on the way to her enemy but she had perhaps underestimated her own scruples.

    ¡°The next time you should not use me to simply guard an entrance. I could do my part.¡± Iseret continued while appearing not to notice Vanessa¡¯s state for which the latter was quietly thankful.

    Vanessa pulled down the hood of her robe casting her face in shadows. ¡°The illusionary mist made the whole fight trivial and allowing for an exception is exceedingly difficult.¡±

    ¡°I can see as snakes do. A gift of the great goddess. And it was not blocked by the mist.¡±

    ¡°I will factor that into my plans for the next engagement. Thank you for trusting me with that knowledge.¡±

    Iseret quietly smiled. She turned and regarded the twisted corpses raising her hand while forming an eyelike symbol. ¡°May the silent gardens of the green night embrace the souls of those that have lost their way.¡±

    ¡°Are you a priestess?¡±

    ¡°No, I am only a Hem. But I have been blessed by the many as one that is spoken for by the goddess which showed me her favor.¡±

    <hr>

    The sodden Guardsman a short time later.

    A sparrow shot through the window and landed on the proffered arm of the Hunter. Garreline looked up and scoffed while drinking deep of the ale she gripped with her left hand, the right hand rested on her axe.

    ¡°Gloomskulls in the warehouse have been eliminated. We have a war on our hands. You two back to the dockyard casino. We need everyone to defend our most vulnerable positions. I will not repeat myself, go to the dockyard casino.¡±

    The sparrow disintegrated into motes of light.

    ¡°They don¡¯t pay me nearly enough, the Kjollsun.¡± An expression meaning nothing good as evidenced by the Hunter who breathed in some watered down ale and was coughing violently.

    The dwarf raised an eyebrow. ¡°What? They are worse than that. Stingy motherfuckers.¡±

    After he had got his coughing under control he wiped his bald pate with a handkerchief and scolded. ¡°Don¡¯t talk bad about our employer. We did not deliver what was expected so we have to make do with this kind of busywork.¡±

    ¡°Next time I make the deal and you keep yer gob shut.¡± Garreline did not seem to be in the best of moods.

    ¡°Spend your temper with your axe, not your mouth. Get a move on.¡± The Hunter got up and gestured.

    ¡°The Gloomskull hideout has been taken out?¡± The barkeeper who stood near them asked in a hushed tone.

    ¡°Yes, apparently.¡± Garreline looked up at him, still sitting while her companion gestured again for her to hurry up.

    ¡°Mh. Good thing they did not yet collect for this month.¡± The barkeeper grinned showing missing and blackened teeth.

    Throwing him some coin the two marched outside and began to jog in a measured tempo towards the city. Snow and light rain made the streets into a muddy swamp.

    The night was far from over.

 Going all in

    ¡°Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o''clock is a scoundrel.¡±

    - Samuel Johnson

    Laughter, chatter, smoke swirled by a slowly turning fan powered by wind magic, smiling faces, deep despair, the clatter of coin- the atmosphere was full of tension and most seemed to have a good time.

    The casino was making a killing as always. In the front hall, there were cheap card games where even the workers could let loose. The bar made a tidy profit selling spirits and beer to winner and loser alike.

    In the side rooms were private card games catering to the more affluent, foremen, shop-owner and the occasional barge captain. And then there was the hall in the back where the captains of the big ships and the managers of the manufactoria went to gain and lose their profits.

    Fleetfoot Jim was sitting behind his table and watched through the one-way glass the crowd below. He still marveled at his good fortune. His superior had been skimming profits for years and been very skillful at it. His hand caressed the polished mahogany wood as he leaned back into the soft leather upholstered chair, sighing in contentment. Expensive wood-paneling hid the brick stone walls and a thick carpet covered the floor. Oil paintings gave an air of faded elegance to the room.

    But he had realized that something was amiss. He was always good with numbers and then he had compiled evidence and given it to the boss. And one good deed begat a promotion, for the former supervisor had probably found his way into the potions of that Poroskar fellow. His good mood soured a bit. He had inherited the position and all the perks that came with it. His grin grew more pronounced as he thought of Silver the pale blonde pit boss of the high rollers hall. Maybe he would see if she was as friendly to him as she had been to the former chief.

    A knock sounded.

    Annoyed by the interruption of his fantasies he answered, ¡°Yes? What is it? I am busy!¡±

    ¡°Sorry for the interruption but we got an urgent missive.¡± A large man with hands like shovels and a greenish tinge to his leathery skin entered. Muscles strained the cheap suit he wore. A large tooth jutted from his lower jaw which the man tried to conceal by having his black hair hanging over the left side of his face. His name was Cracks and he was from the north where the, mostly unwanted, union between orcs and men begat such creatures. Jim looked at his subordinate with barely concealed distaste. If he and his brethren were not such naturally born fighters he would send the lot of them back where they came from.

    ¡°Give it here.¡± He raised his hand imperiously, reveling in the fact that even a big man like Cracks had to bow to him now. ¡®He deserved this and more.¡¯

    The half-orc walked up to the table and put a piece of parchment before him.

    He quickly skimmed the text and with a start looked at Cracks, whose face was mostly hidden in shadow. ¡°An attack? And we might be targeted? Get every fighter to the casino. If someone is at home or off call them back.¡±

    ¡°I will do so at once.¡± Cracks answered in his gravelly voice and with purposeful strides left the room.

    Sweat beaded on Jim¡¯s forehead. His palms tingled, which was always a bad sign. He got his nickname ¡®Fleetfoot¡¯ not because of his valor, just the opposite. ¡®They will not get to where I am without a fight and I can still flee then.¡¯ He opened a drawer and withdrew an ornate wand. Breathing deeply he stuck it in his waistband letting his expensive vest cover it. ¡®Just breathe, in, out.¡¯ He looked through the one-way window and saw Cracks talking to Silver. The pretty blonde with waist-long hair looked up to where he was sitting. She turned back to the half-orc and gestured. Cracks nodded and went on his way.

    ¡®Did she just smile at the half-orc? At this uncivilized beast? He would have to remember that for when there was dangerous fighting to be done.¡¯ He muttered angrily.

    Hours passed. The tension that had been present in the beginning began to wane. Jim yawned and tiredly rubbed his eyes. Normally he would have been at home some hours ago. He was never one to work late if he could help it.

    Was it always so dark in here? He looked at the glow globe and saw a faint smoky mist settling in the corners. What was going on? He stood and opened another drawer taking the gold bars secreted behind a false back. After stuffing his pockets he drew the wand and nervously looked around. The floor was nearly deserted only a drunk captain sat at the blackjack table and was arguing with the croupier. The cleaning staff was already wiping the unused tables.

    He had a bad feeling about this. He hurried to the door and looked outside. His secretary, Grinning Balder sat behind his desk and was writing a summary. He looked up at the noise of the door opening.

    ¡°Call for Cracks and Bill. I have need of them.¡± Jim called. The mist thickened.

    Balder stood up, he was a small man with a scar pulling at the edge of his mouth. He began to answer as a snake burst from the wall paneling and bit into his neck. Foamy blood bubbled from his open mouth, wide eyes slowly grew dark.

    Screaming incoherently Jim raised his wand and fired into the corpse and the snake. Bolts of condensed force shattered bone and ripped into flesh, the snake was bisected with the head still pumping poison into the wound.

    Hastily taking a step back from the writhing carcass of the snake he turned and fled towards the casino floor.

    When he got there he saw Cracks, sword in hand standing before Silver who brandished a long dagger. The cleaning woman was hugging her broom and hiding behind the bar. Two thugs he had hired some weeks prior, Ben and Luke, stood before the door leading to the back.

    With a bang, the front door was smashed and someone flew right through the splintering mess. The bald man with the trenchcoat stood up and threw a vial back the way he came from. A flash and the sound of splintering glass followed by angry hissing was the reaction. An axe sheared through the wall some meters to the left blood bubbled through the rent.

    Jim hurried behind Silver and nervously gulped down his saliva. Through the shattered remnants of the door tilting on bent hinges, he saw a wild melee in the front hall. Garreline the dwarf woman that always accompanied the Hunter was battling a four-armed abomination of scaled dark flesh and gaping maws, at least three he could see from where he was standing. Each with its own neck, not all with eyes that he could see.

    A small girl was fighting a burly bouncer that had some magic boosting his speed and strength and sad to say it was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment much less letting him win. The girl was faster than his eyes could follow slashing with black glittering claws that already dripped with blood.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    A snake-woman with a curved sword battled another of his elite fighters a dark-skinned woman that had been well recommended in the local mercenaries guild.

    He lined up a shot and activated the wand that spat a bluish ripple of force that hit the large snake monster and blasted a tunnel nearly arm-thick through its torso. With a hiss like a kettle boiling over the thing reared until it nearly hit the ceiling some four meters overhead, coils of muscle and sinew contracted as the gigantic hydralike many-headed snake beast unfolded its length. The blood gushing from the terrible wound slowed to a trickle. A swipe of one of its arms that unfolded from the thick torso like a spindly spider''s limb hit Garreline and threw her into the shelves behind the bar, glass rained onto the combatants.

    ¡°Go and help them, Cracks!¡± He ordered. The half-orc gave him an unreadable glance then sighed and trotted towards the melee.

    ¡°Come with me.¡± He ordered Silver who hesitated before following. He ran towards a storeroom to the side of the bar and slammed the door shut behind him.

    Orienting himself he quickly marched to a section of wall in the back and said, ¡°Luck, Profit, Persistence.¡± And cursed inwardly at the motto left by his forbear.

    With a grinding noise, the wall folded back to reveal a chute leading into the darkness. ¡°After you.¡± He pushed Silver before him.

    ¡°Where does it lead? Is it really hopeless?¡± The young woman looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°Hurry up or I leave you to find out.¡± He began to regret taking her, but it was by no means certain that their flight would be uneventful so she was at least a form of security.

    She sheathed the dagger and lowered herself into the chute.

    ¡°It¡¯s safe. Be quick about it.¡±

    After she sat down she promptly vanished from sight.

    He jumped after her, not caring to look. He had inspected the escape measures thoroughly as soon as he became aware of them. It had always been his policy to have several exit strategies.

    The glide was short but fast and as he maybe had intended all along he crashed into Silver as she was getting up from the mattresses put at the end of the ride to cushion their fall. The room they found themselves in was dimly lit and save for the cushioning, empty. A doorway led farther into a corridor.

    Cursing under her breath Silver extricated herself from beneath Jim who merely grinned and got up himself.

    A rumbling from above and the sound of crashing masonry gave ominous testament to the fighting still going on.

    ¡°We hide in the room beyond. And if the situation clears we can have a look. Otherwise, we scram.¡± Jim declared as he walked into the tunnel.

    Silver remained silent, favoring her left leg as she walked which did not escape the man''s attention. ¡®I will have to leave her behind when I run. But as they say, you don¡¯t have to be faster than the lion, only faster than the slowest.¡¯

    Another rumble shook the building and stone dust rained from the ceiling.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile up in the front room.

    The Hunter charged back into the fray followed by the lumbering half-orc. The gigantic snake bleeding from wounds that would have killed three normal men was locked in combat with Garreline. Vanessa surged forward and was met with a hasty parry, metal frayed under the onslaught of magical ice, and where the metal ground on each other sparks were born.

    The burly bouncer was bleeding out on the floor. Iseret was trading blows with Cracks and his compatriots. The female mercenary had tried to assist the soon-to-be deceased bouncer on the floor and was now in a desperate fight with the small girl.

    Leaning back to avoid a kick the vampire lashed out with her other hand and caught the foot before the woman she was fighting could pull her leg back. With a pained scream, the boot and part of the foot were slashed in two.

    The mercenary hobbled backward leaving bloody footsteps and desperately looked for a way out.

    A gesture and a short spoken spell and from the Hunters hands blossomed several fiery orbs that circled his left wrist like an oversized bracelet of flaming pearls the size of a grown man''s fist. Gesturing with his right hand he directed the balls of roiling flames at Vanessa. Who dodged several of them before being hit twice.

    Pain for the undead is normally a thing of the past or even wholly of the past, as memories of life now unattainable would hurt more than any wound- Vampires and some other intelligent undead were notable exceptions. Hissing with pain Vanessa threw herself to the side trying to extinguish the flames clinging to her leg and sid. The cloth she had spelled against cuts and magic was not able to completely stem the magical fire, flesh blackened and bone showed through.

    The mercenary took that as a sign and tottered through the door where she was met by two men with snakelike eyes that clubbed the weakened woman into unconsciousness.

    Iseret interposed her khopesh between Vanessa and the fireballs raining forth from the Hunter. The blade shimmered with enchantment and even though the metal began to glow with heat she managed to divert or intercept the next attacks. Vanessa spoke a spell of her own and the dark mist that hung in the corners of the room coalesced and batlike beings of shadow shot towards the bald man ripping into his clothes and drawing blood.

    With a curse, Hunter made a gesture and the fire snuffed out while a shield of blue force took the attack. The shadowy beasts whirled towards the ceiling circling him. With an earthshaking roar the giant snake monster hurled itself and Garreline through the wall separating the front from the backroom. Groaning rafters shifted and dust rained from the ceiling, fissures appeared in the plaster. Beserk with pain the heads snapped after the hastily retreating dwarf and poison dripped from teeth and claw.

    Vanessa gathered herself, the side burned and raw, the leg still smoldering. But as a little time went by the edges of the horrific wound began to grow inwards, covering the exposed and blackened bone. Cracks and the two thugs that had been guarding the backroom looked at each other and began to carefully retreat. There already were several members of the dockyard casino lying on the dirty floor, some dead, some merely unconscious. Some of the snake-eyed fighters having finished outside cautiously walked into the room gathering behind Vanessa.

    Hunter gave a crooked smile. ¡°Can we talk about this?¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in the tunnel below.

    Jim hurried along the corridor and looked critically at the spreading cracks in the ceiling. Even if they were to be successful in repelling this attack the old house would need a lot of repairs. He groaned as he thought of all the profits that would be lost that way.

    ¡°Why are we stopping?¡± Silver looked around her carefully and asked. She had drawn the dagger again. She wore a practical dress in pale red and brown but during the flight, the skirt had ripped in places so she had simply removed it exposing leather pants underneath. Her signature pale blond hair was stuffed into the back of her shirt.

    ¡°Just thinking.¡± Jim tried to project some confidence but as she gave him a highly skeptical look probably failed.

    A hissing sound came from further ahead. The man raised his wand and saw with dread several large snakes crawling towards them. ¡°I hate snakes!¡± He activated the wand and bolts of force reduced the snakes to steaming offal.

    The wand grew hot and steam curled from the tip as some of the gold ornamentations became soft and deformed. Jim looked at that with worry and waved the wand through the air to cool it a bit.

    His companion was silent.

    Down the corridor they went, side chambers showed empty boxes, old rusty chains set into the walls, some old dried blood on the floor, cracked plaster or bare brick walls.

    A voice sounded from around the corner before them. ¡°I would ask you to surrender. You don¡¯t seem like a captain who goes down with his boat. Am I wrong?¡± The voice was sibilant and the ¡®s¡¯ had a slight hiss to it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t come near. We are armed and I will kill anyone standing in our way!¡± Jim blustered while trying to edge behind Silver.

    ¡°I guarantee you will not be killed. I cannot absolutely guarantee your health but if you cooperate everything will be a lot better.¡±

    ¡°Stay and guard here, I will try to find another exit. When I find it I call and you follow.¡± Jim whispered.

    Silver''s blue eyes were unreadable.

    He turned and grinned when he was sure she would not see, as he began to hurry back. ¡®It¡¯s a shame about her but the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯ has women that are much more agreeable, so what?¡¯

    Suddenly there was a sharp pain on the back of his head and everything around him began to dim, the ground rushed towards him, and with fading senses, he heard Silver shouting behind him. ¡°I surrender! Please don¡¯t hurt me!¡±

 Fullfilling a Wish

    "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."

    - Oscar Wilde

    The dockyard casino¡­

    ¡°We will withdraw and leave the city¡­¡± Oswald, called the ¡®Hunter¡¯, was saying.

    As he was interrupted by Garreline. ¡°What are you saying? Our reputation would be damaged beyond recognition!¡±

    ¡°Now you are talking about that!?¡± Oswald looked incredulous.

    ¡°Could you cease your lover¡¯s spat?¡± Vanessa put her hands on her hips, not before retracting her claws of course.

    ¡°We are not lovers!¡± chorused the two. Oswald was a bit red in the face and Garreline looked a bit amused.

    ¡°We would be amenable to that.¡± Iseret interjected.

    The unconscious thugs meanwhile were bound with ropes and chain. The snake-eyed fighters worked efficiently, covering each other while two of their number worked on securing the room. The gigantic many headed snake abomination had, at a signal from Iseret, coiled itself in a corner, the horrific wounds closing slowly. Baleful eyes fixed on Garreline.

    Laughter sounded from behind Oswald, Garreline and Cracks. As they looked behind them there stood a smaller snake-woman with living snakes on her head instead of hair following a young woman who carried an unconscious weasely looking man in fine clothing, blood dripped from the back of his head.

    ¡°Silver, that is far enough.¡± the smaller snake-woman ordered.

    ¡°We accept!¡± Oswald called out. Garreline looked as if she wanted to protest, drew breath and then defeatedly closed her mouth.

    ¡°Many thanks Vanessa. We will take it from here.¡± The medusa winked at her. ¡°Contact Iseret when you have the time. She will be at the Cockerel every other day around the ninth hour.¡±

    Iseret repressed a sigh then smiled. ¡°Naturally.¡±

    Vanessa looked at the blood all around her then with a visible effort shook her head and dismissed the dark mist with a gesture. ¡°I will be going then. ?dh mae.*¡± (*Good night)

    And with a flourish of her- partially ripped and bloodied- cape she was gone.

    ¡°Where did you find someone like her?¡± Oswald shook his head.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know?¡± Iseret retortet, her smile containing a bit of warning.

    Oswald raised his hands placatingly. ¡°We know when we are neither needed nor wanted, ey Garreline?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± The dwarfen woman looked at the snakelike monstrosity and with a wary expression accompanied her friend outside.

    The small medusa looked at Iseret. ¡°Do you think that was a good idea, letting them leave like that?¡±

    ¡°They will not find a warm welcome with our enemy after deserting like that and why should we risk fighting to the death with all that means when a few words should suffice.¡±

    ¡°You are soft my dear.¡± As she drew near the smaller woman was fully illuminated by the remaining undamaged globes. She wore a dress made of dark yellow silk highlighting her ample curves, her lightly scaled skin was a light greenish color with darker highlights on her cheekbones and where the eyebrows would be in someone that grew hair, which she definitely did not. Her hands were small and delicate with long fingers and expertly manicured fingernails. The snakes making up her hair were independently active but at the moment only coiled slowly around each other in a sensuous dance. Her large eyes were a dark yellow-green with golden highlights.

    ¡°Yes Matane that I am.¡± Iseret gave a small bow.

    Behind them Cracks stood near Silver and looked her over concernedly as they were disarmed and bound.

    ¡°Have no fear. Our quarrel is mostly with your employer and we need experienced personnel at the moment.¡± Iseret flashed a disarming smile which nonetheless failed to reassure the captives.

    <hr>

    The next day in the academy.

    ¡°We need a study group.¡± Alea adjusted her blindfold.

    Mireille looked a bit hesitant. The spider on Alea¡¯s shoulder turned in her direction.

    Alea continued, ¡°Yes mostly for you. I can¡¯t condone a retainer of fief Graufurt failing her exams. And I mean that seriously. I already asked Lucille and we will reserve Sunday evening for that. We will simply have to get back a day earlier.¡±

    Mireille hung her head. ¡°And now that I no longer need to have tutoring! We could have stayed longer! I really love the room, the bed, the food¡­¡± She trailed off.

    Alyssa laughed while trying to hide behind the palms of her hands.

    They were sitting in their dorm room while the setting sun painted the walls a dark rose red. The remaining snow, dirty and trampled as it was lay heaped beside the road and smaller paths. Ice blooms covered the corners of the window panes. An unseasonal early frost had let the temperature plummet.

    A knock came from the door and the trio looked at each other in surprise. It was shortly after dinner and there was usually no one that would come over for idle conversation. The test had rudely awakened the students to the possibility of failure and most had taken to studying a lot more seriously. Not to mention there was a test for academic subjects at the end of the week.

    ¡°Come in!¡± Mireille used the distraction to get herself out of the embarrassment she was feeling.

    The door opened and Vivienne and her brother Valens entered. ¡°Good evening!¡± The green-haired girl twirled one of her whitish locks that were sprinkled through her green mane and looked to be enthusiastic about something.

    ¡°Excuse the mess.¡± Alea looked at the notes and books lying around, some stacked on the floor. ¡°Sit where you want.¡±

    Alyssa got up and sat down on the bunk bed beside Mireille gesturing towards her chair. ¡°Have a seat. Do you want tea?¡±

    ¡°No thank you, we don¡¯t have much time!¡± Vivienne nearly burst from giddiness. ¡°You know that Poroskar fellow, Leonhard?¡±

    ¡°Yes? He was persistent and somewhat annoying.¡± Alyssa looked at her with scant comprehension.

    ¡°He was the one that incited Otto.¡± Vivienne dropped her news and the girls were silent for a moment.

    ¡°Really? That means it¡¯s bigger than we thought.¡± Alyssa still looked a bit confused.

    ¡°There might be someone propping him up, even a teacher or professor perhaps, but there is more.¡± Vivienne sported a grin that would put a grown wyvern to shame. Cyrus looked on curiously.

    ¡°Leonhard is peddling Bluestone and uses that to influence people. But thankfully he is stupid and greedy about it.¡± After dropping another bombshell she continued before anyone could say something. ¡°And I heard from a reliable source that he plans to steal something from the deep archives.¡±

    The deep archives were a collection of mostly dangerous artifacts and texts, not all of them powerful or even usable but all of them were, in the wrong hands, lethal to user or the person it was used upon.

    ¡°How he thinks to manage that is a mystery to me but he plans to do it soon, possibly today.¡±

    ¡°And your ¡®reliable source¡¯ knows all that and tells only you?¡± Alyssa looked sceptical. ¡°Not that I doubt you but are you sure you are not the target of a malicious prank? But more importantly, is Bluestone not a very dangerous drug?¡±

    ¡°Quite sure. My ¡®source¡¯ knows what is good for...it.¡± She grinned. Alyssa thought she saw Valens shudder at that but that was certainly her imagination.

    ¡°And yes, the Bluestone peddling is a big problem we should put an end to, but without evidence and hard evidence at that it will likely be seen as an attempt at slandering an opponent. He would most likely point to a friendship with Otto or some such rubbish.¡± Vivienne who still had not taken a seat paced before them while Valens waited like a guard or servant near the door.

    ¡°And what do you propose?¡± Alea tilted her head while the spider focused on Vivienne.

    ¡°I think we should try to see what he is up to. I can be pretty sneaky when I want to be and most of you should visit the library anyway.¡± She smiled evilly at Mireille.

    ¡°No, no, no! I learn a lot when someone teaches me, not reading thick books written by boring people, dead boring people. Most likely dead of boredom. No! Definitely not!¡± Mireille shook her head and sent her strawberry locks flying.

    Alyssa grinned. ¡°I think we should do as she suggests. Fair warning: I am biased by the way, anything that has something to do with the duel and me being ostracized is something I won¡¯t take lightly.¡±

    ¡°If you put it that way¡­¡± Mireille grumbled. ¡°But you will let me sleep with you tonight. It¡¯s cold!¡±

    Shaking her head in exasperation Alyssa grinned, ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Then let us go.¡± Vivienne smiled.

    The girls grabbed their coats and headed outside. They had received them with the uniforms but had not thought that the time to wear them would be so soon.

    The air was crisp but cold. Only frazzled wisps of cloudy matter hung in the vastness of the sky turned red by the sunset.

    The trees had shed their leaves and even the late-blooming wisteria at the banks of the pool were brown and bare.

    Crunching over freezing sludge they trod towards the distant library. Vivienne seemed to have boundless energy and led them along the sideroad.

    Mireille eyed the partly thawed and then refrozen snow at the roadside. ¡°Aw, it¡¯s a shame we could have built snowmen and have a snowball fight! But not with those dregs.¡±

    ¡°It will most assuredly become very snowy in the next weeks. I spoke to a third year majoring in divination.¡± Alea calmly retorted.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Really?¡± Mireille perked up only to deflate a bit shortly afterward. ¡°But then it¡¯s getting even colder is it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± was Alea¡¯s laconic answer.

    Alyssa stumbled as Cyrus pushed himself from her shoulder into the air beating his wings while slowly gaining altitude. She looked around and spotted Semiramis scratching at what would probably be a mole burrow. The hawk-eyed cat meowed a greeting to her scaly friend and continued to wait in ambush, spoiling her stealth with impatient swipes of her claws into the burrow whenever the boredom became too much.

    The library was an imposing barrel-shaped tower with a diameter of no less than thirty yards approximately. Despite its height being around six stories tall it made the whole building look stout and a bit inelegant even.

    A big bronze plaque with an inscription labeled the building the ¡®Library of the reborn Academis¡¯

    Alea lifted her head, ¡°I asked. The Academis was the institute of royal learning of Allisair but perished along with the island. The first mages to settle here wanted to revive the tradition but some of them were not so enthused by letting some of the culprits for the fall and destruction of their homeland carry on with their titles and privileges. So it was finally decided to make a new institution, the Academy of the Arts.¡±

    Alea walked in silence for a minute or two and then continued after thinking it through some more, ¡°But someone, probably one of the librarians of the old Academis found fault with that and named the library as the reborn Library of the Academis. As he had some clout and personal power the name stood for as long as he lived. Which was considerably longer than thought and afterward it was tradition and some nostalgia may have also played a role. Even though the mages did not want the old guard to continue their meddling ways they did not hold the old institution in the same contempt. And here we are.¡±

    Vivienne clapped. ¡°Very good. I knew some but not all of it. Nice going, little lady.¡±

    Alea scoffed a bit at that but had to smile nonetheless.

    They entered the silent Library. It was late and it was cold and the tests ¨C the magical ones- were done for a few weeks at least, so the building was deserted.

    Entering and scuffing the snow from their feet on the entrance mat they looked around. They stood in a sort of overlarge entryway with the large double door behind them and an arching ceiling above with two doors leading to the sides. Ahead of them, the arched ceiling opened up into the main room of the library. Tiered walkways surrounded a large central pillar towards which free-hanging ramps, stairs, and walkways extended. The walls were covered with shelves reaching several stories high. There was a ceiling that cut off about a third of the building but the remaining colossal room was awe-inspiring. There should be thousands of books.

    Rows of desks covered the lower floor with attendant chairs, most of which were already put upside down to ease the cleaning. Two large reception areas would probably be staffed by librarians or their helpers to receive or hand out books for study. Strangely there was no one to be seen. A steaming set of tea stood on one of the desks indicating that the absence of personnel was recent in nature.

    Vivienne became serious of a sudden. ¡°Be silent, there is something wrong.¡± After looking around she hastened towards the reception desk. Even though she did not seem to be especially careful no sound could be heard from her footfalls. As she looked behind the desk her expression turned dark and she frantically waved them to come over.

    Hurrying they nevertheless tried to be stealthy, no one managed especially well other than Valens perhaps. Vivienne winced at their scuffing and shuffling but held her peace.

    When they arrived at the desk they saw an older woman with greying brown hair lying behind the desk a shattered tea cup beside her. She looked pale and was barely breathing but seemed otherwise unharmed.

    ¡°What is happening here?¡± Alyssa whispered.

    ¡°There should be two librarians. Where is the other one? It should probably be the junior helper of the one lying here.¡± Alea answered quietly. ¡°I have been here and stayed until closing time, there were always two of them.¡±

    ¡°The deep archives?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°We are a bit late it seems. Let us make haste.¡± Vivienne gestured.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we tell someone?¡± Alea looked questioningly.

    ¡°Because we don¡¯t have much time, the tea is already nearly cold, Leonhard and whomever he has with him could be long gone if we first look for someone,¡± Vivienne argued.

    ¡°Mh, you are right.¡± Alyssa nodded.

    ¡°I will come with you!¡± Mireille looked at the door leading outside and shuddered. Looking for a teacher would mean trudging through the cold.

    ¡°We should make haste.¡± Alea had a complicated expression but nodded in the end.

    Valens did not even nod but his acceptance was not in doubt.

    ¡°Cyrus is still outside, should we get him?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°No time.¡± Vivienne shook her head and then walked towards a side door.

    As they neared they could see that the door stood slightly open.

    Opening the door they saw a stair descending to the left and ascending to the right, following the rounded outer walls. A shuttered window leaked cold air into the stairwell. Glow-globes shone with their pale light.

    Walking down the steps it grew steadily colder. At the first platform, they reached the door was firmly shut and the sign beside it proclaimed the ¡®Restoration Workshop¡¯.

    ¡°Someone has to repair old and damaged manuscripts and books.¡± Alea shrugged.

    Down they went. There were quarters, an upper archive, a middle archive, and last the deep archives. There was a large door banded with iron and heavily inscribed with runes.

    The door stood open.

    ¡°That looks bad.¡± Alyssa looked conflicted. ¡°Should we really enter?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Vivienne spoke firmly. ¡°We have to see what he is risking all that for. And we can¡¯t let him succeed.¡±

    The rest nodded at that. Mireille looked at Alyssa apologetically.

    Entering they came upon another open door. Behind that were rows upon rows of shelves. Most contained damaged vases, machines, weapons. If one did not know better it could be summarized as old trash.

    In the back of this hall which was perhaps twenty times twenty meters light shone.

    Walking deeper into the room they came upon a younger woman in her late twenties lying face down on the ground. Her clothing was ripped and torn and she had blood matting the hair of her head.

    ¡°Valens? Can you look after her?¡± Vivienne looked at the woman with anger in her eyes. Her brother gave a silent nod and shook his hands free of his sleeves before beginning to quietly cast healing magics.

    ¡°We have to hurry!¡± Vivienne pointed at an open doorway.

    Hastening their steps they entered another room, the door was heavy and made completely of bronze, a complex-looking key was inserted into a lock on the right.

    Inside the room were chests and glass pedestals on which lay much more ornate items. The room was half the size of the one before and the walls instead of bricks were seamless stone. Two guardian statues stood to the sides. Leonhard was in the middle of the room intently studying a necklace with a large onyx set into a silver plate the size of a small dish. As he heard something from behind him he grabbed the necklace and turned around.

    Looking very surprised he stuttered. ¡°What are you doing here!?¡± And after realizing the nonsensical nature of the question he firmed his mouth. ¡°You followed me and found the girl. Shit.¡±

    Alyssa looked at him coldly while Vivienne put her hands on her hips and shouted. ¡°Put that down!¡±

    Gauging his chances Leonhard put on a greasy-looking smile. ¡°Can we talk about that?¡± He looked at the necklace and simply pulled it over his head.

    ¡°What in the nine hells are you doing?¡± Alyssa readied herself for violence.

    Asandria was suddenly floating by her side. ¡®There is a lot of interesting things here. Finish him and then let me guide you.¡¯ Her tone turned serious as she gazed at the boy before them. ¡®I cannot tell you what this talisman does, but it has a serious amount of magical power. Time aspected. Might not be too bad after all.¡¯

    ¡°Put that thing down and surrender.¡± Alyssa gestured and chanted a spell and a sphere made of roiling flames grew before her.

    ¡°You are just as guilty of trespassing as me. Get out and leave me alone. Why is what I do any of your business!¡± Leonhard narrowed his eyes and shouted.

    ¡°You hurt the librarian- Even if you were not working against me all the time that would be something intolerable.¡± Alyssa countered.

    ¡°You are doing this for the bitch outside? She was gossiping about you and calling you all sorts of names. We had a good laugh at your expense. And now she is your buddy or what?¡± His eyes looked shifty as he said that.

    ¡°Why would you try to hurt me?¡± Alyssa questioned calmly.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lie! I tried to help you and you turned me down and were rude to me.¡± His eyes drifted to Vivienne who looked on with an amused smile. He pointed at her. ¡°She poisoned you against me! She is playing games with all of us!¡±

    ¡°If you spray enough spittle some will stick?¡± Vivienne looked at him disdainfully. ¡°I could say much but will keep it short- You have proven yourself a scumbag, nothing else is needed for a normal person to stay away from you!¡±

    ¡°So it is like that?¡± Leonhard looked at them and found no sympathy in their faces. He concentrated and spoke a command word. With a crackle, his hand that had held the amulet began to glow with pale light and as he pulled the hand back another figure solidified before him, looking like a somewhat older Leonhard. He looked around thirty years and wore a coat over mail armor emblazoned with the insignia of the royal legion.

    The original Leonhard looked at that and grinned. ¡°Awesome. Make them suffer!¡± The second ¡®Leonhard¡¯ grimaced as if in pain and tried to say something which sounded like the howling of a distant wind, then seemingly giving up turned and drew a longsword before running at them.

    The girls stunned at the display caught themselves and the firebolt Alyssa had been forming flew at the charging man hitting his blade before dispersing into many smaller fires which began to burn on his arms and chest. A windblade from Vivienne finished him off, stumbling and falling on his back he vanished.

    Leonhard, the original looked at the situation and laughed before mouthing the command word a second time. The pale light bloomed again and he pulled another ¡®him¡¯ from the amulet which began to emit a glow growing brighter by the second. The third Leonhard was a haggard man in his late forties, receding hairline, splotched nose, and cheeks, his left hand was partially amputated, an older wound it seemed. He looked around in confusion.

    ¡°At them! Don¡¯t kill them. I have other plans for them.¡± He laughed.

    The older man struggled for a moment then ran at them with nothing more than his fists. The original looked startled at that. ¡°Use your damn magic!¡±

    But the older ¡®Leonhard¡¯ did not seem to hear as he barrelled towards Mireille.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will play that game with you.¡± Mireille looked irritated and voiced her command words, hasting herself and covering her fist in lightning. And then she stormed towards the older Leonhard before jumping and flipping over him while hitting his head with the lightning-covered fist. With a flicker, the person began to grow transparent and fade away.

    ¡°Don¡¯t come near me!¡± Leonhard pulled several ¡®persons¡¯ from the amulet.

    The group before Mireille had a sort of haziness to it. Only the original looked solid. There was another soldier, an officer this time, a few merchants, an alchemist by the look of his apron, no one used anything other than mundane weaponry.

    Mireille snorted and accelerated rapidly crashing into the first ¡®line¡¯ of Leonhards. Flickering with a pale glow several of them vanished after taking severe hits. But more were always appearing. A cut from the side hit her armor another sliced across her arm and she felt hot wetness flowing into her bracer. Suppressing the pain with clenched teeth she fought ahead.

    Meanwhile, Alyssa summoned firebolt after firebolt. If she fully hit her target they would vanish, more often they simply began to burn. The room began to smell like smoke.

    Vivienne and her brother had summoned a Sylph that inhabited a roiling column of air and water.

    Alea had called upon her eye of Arun and lanced glowing bolts of radiance into the fray.

    The throng of Leonhards grew even thicker and a shelf was thrown to the ground. Alea was hit by a staggering soldier in tattered armor with ripped-off epaulets, most likely a deserter. Blood flowed from a split lip and the small girl crumbled with a cry.

    Vivienne jumped into the air and remained at the apex of her unnaturally high jump for a full minute sending a gust of wind blasting into the crowd.

    They clambered over shelves, crashed into each other, the stream of ¡®Leonhards¡¯ was endless. Mireille stumbled and fell. Alyssa ceased her efforts with fire and began to intone the Second Seal as¡­

    A pale light flooded the room and the specters of possible futures began to flicker and fade. Leonhard Poroskar stood in the middle shouting a word over and over while pushing his hand against the talisman and then his hand slipped into the onyx and he began to scream. It lasted no longer than it would take to draw a deep breath and perhaps exhale that breath gently before he got his hand back but the young man, boy really, staggered with pure horror in his eyes. Looking like a man that had seen everything worthy in his life go up in smoke, all hope burned to ash.

    Asandria looked on dispassionately. ¡®That necklace should be destroyed. It reeks of infernal fate magics. I think he just burned every avenue of his potential save the worst. He will never have any luck in his life, every venture will turn against him, all allies forsake him and love pass him by. And worst of all, he knows it. When the girl that held all the ills of the world opened her box and let fly plague and death, age, and misfortune there was said to be one last boon inside that would make everything else bearable. Hope. And he will never know it again.¡¯

    It was the first time that Alyssa heard something like pity in Asandria¡¯s voice. ¡®It should be possible for a very powerful time-mage to fix that. But good luck finding someone like that who would sacrifice his time and effort helping the likes of him.¡¯

    Alyssa was not listening anymore as she screamed ¡°Vivienne please help Alea! I will go and help Mireille!¡±

    Vivienne nodded and descended rapidly before being joined by her brother. But thankfully the damage was minor and soon Alea staggered to her feet.

    The elemental danced and whirled in place once, then vanished.

    Mireille was battered and bleeding but very much alive to Alyssa¡¯s profound relief. Singing the waters of life she began to mend tears and scrapes before she tried to alleviate the pain of deep bruising.

    Mireille groaned. ¡°Ah, that feels good, please continue!¡±

    Leonhard was on his knees looking at his hands with a blank despairing gaze.

    Vivienne looked at Valens. ¡°Look after the Librarian. Distract her. We need some more time I think.¡± She looked around curiously.

    With Alea, the only student she could not predict in this setting, still disoriented and no teacher or adult present, and one vault already opened there was no way she would not try to get something out of this. A predatory smile lifted the corners of her mouth.

 Finders Keepers

    "There is a fine line between consideration and hesitation, the former is wisdom, the latter is fear."

    - Izaro, Path of Exile

    Her blue-green eyes flashed mischievously as Vivienne dashed between the shelves. Valens shook his head and ventured outside. The healing magic had closed the tear in Alea¡¯s lip and lessened the bruising. The small girl held Cecily, her spider, in her arms and was breathing heavily. The battle had been short but vicious and none of them- save perhaps for Vivienne- had escaped unscathed.

    Alyssa kneeled beside Mireille and stroked her head. ¡°Better?¡±

    Mireille sighed and answered, ¡°very much so! Why did there need to be so many and even though I managed the lightning manifestation perfectly!¡±

    ¡°I saw it and was very impressed.¡± The white-haired girl consoled her friend. ¡°I think I will have a look. Are you going to be okay?¡±

    ¡°Most assuredly. I only need a bit of sleep.¡± Mireille yawned.

    Alyssa looked at Asandria who gestured and floated towards the back of the room. Careful to not step into anything after the mess the ¡®Leonhards¡¯ had made she made slow but steady progress and finally arrived at a showcase broken open by a fallen shelf. Within the shattered glass, she spied an elongated crystal. ¡®Pick that up. You don¡¯t have to be careful- The crystal is inert without the necessary spells.¡¯

    ¡°What is it?¡± Alyssa inspected the crystal that looked more like a somewhat jagged-looking teardrop made of pale grey crystal. It would seem utterly mundane save for the slow movement of the cloudy matter contained in the oblong. As she concentrated she saw a bit of movement and filaments made of slightly darker matter could be seen caressing the inside of the crystal. Alyssa nearly let go as she saw that the tendrils seemed to reach for her only stopped by the crystal.

    ¡°That does not look like it would be healthy?¡±

    ¡®It will help you stay healthy.¡¯ Grim amusement colored Asandrias tone.

    Alyssa pocketed the crystal and made her way back not a moment too soon.

    ¡°What in Gesserachs name has happened here!¡± A lanky man of indeterminate middle-age with a mop of brown, unruly hair clothed in academy robes looked at the scene in horror especially as he saw the blood still dyeing the student''s clothes.

    Two guardsmen in the livery of the academy crowded into the room behind him and voices indicated others in the antechamber.

    Vivienne looked at the rest and sighed. If you wanted something done well, do it yourself. She had been rummaging through some jewelry and a ring and some bracelets vanished into her pockets before she turned and pointed at Leonhard. ¡°This fool here forced a librarian to open the archive. We saw the unconscious one up above and then noticed signs of forced entry from the door to the stairwell, following that we arrived here just in time to stop the culprit.¡±

    She put one foot on an overturned shelf while subtly posing. A bottle filled with a dark blue liquid rolled out and clinked against a fallen mechanism. Small lightning bolts flashed through the liquid before subsiding again. The robed man winced. ¡°Please be careful! Even though much here is pretty near worthless most of it is dangerous. Get down from the shelf and come over here. We will sort it out.¡±

    Mireille, Alyssa, and Alea gathered around Vivienne who had become sort of a spokeswoman for them while Leonhard was apprehended by two guardsmen. The librarian was finally returned to consciousness after an older mage helped her with a combination of detoxifying and mind magic spells.

    ¡°So, you concur that Poroskar here drugged you and then forced you to open the archive with the badge from your colleague Leonora?¡± The brown-haired man who had introduced himself as Alexander asked the still bedraggled looking woman. Now seen in better light and not lying half-dead on the floor she was a pretty twenty-year-old with a ripped and torn robe that barely covered her adequately. She had soft brown eyes and longer honey-blond hair. Her name was Ilisa.

    Ilisa nodded. ¡°Yes. And when we got here I think he tried to knock me unconscious? He hurt me, and I could do nothing but stand there and endure it. It was the worst.¡±

    Alexander looked disgusted. ¡°Throw him in the cells. No need to be gentle.¡±

    Two guards that were already waiting near the still dazed-looking boy grabbed his arms and then proceeded to drag him from the room.

    ¡°Now to you, my dear students.¡± Alexander looked at the rest of them. ¡°What possessed you to run after a criminal like him without alerting anyone and leaving Leonora lying on the ground in the library? If something had happened to you no one would have known and the poor senior librarian would probably not have been found until morning.¡±

    ¡°Sorry! We did not know what had happened and wanted to help if there was a chance and were perhaps a bit hasty.¡± Vivienne put on her best contrite smile.

    Alyssa looked at her and began to imitate her which resulted in a glower from Alexander who continued. ¡°Okay. I see where this is going. Being curious and adventurous is not a bad thing but please do it in moderation. I hope you see that what you have done is hardly praiseworthy if not for the result. So learn from that. I will not reprimand you but neither will I praise you. When the magister has been informed about today''s happenings there might be further consequences until then please get back to your dorm. Is anyone still hurt?¡±

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The girls shook their heads.

    Getting back to the dorms while being escorted by another guard they saw the senior librarian sitting in the library above and nursing her head with a wet towel. She looked at them critically and shook her head before wincing at the movement.

    It had begun to snow again and Cyrus jumped on Alyssa¡¯s shoulder the moment they exited the library. Cooing softly he butted her cheek with his head prompting a grin from the girl who seemed lost in thought.

    Mireille hooked her arm through Alyssa¡¯s and whispered. ¡°Everything okay with you?¡±

    Alyssa answered just as softly. ¡°Asandria has some plans and I am a bit concerned. Later.¡±

    Mireille nodded and hummed to herself as they made their way through the snowy courtyard. Before they got to the dorms the siblings bade them farewell and walked towards their own accommodations.

    Back in their room, after the guard had left them to their own devices, they gathered around the table.

    Alea looked at them. ¡°What happened in there?¡±

    ¡°I think the best person to ask is Vivienne. But she was right on the mark with the attempted theft. Why he would want such a dangerous artifact is anyone''s question but it could have been pretty powerful if he had learned to properly use it and if it was not cursed.¡± Alyssa answered.

    Mireille shrugged. ¡°Good riddance. He will be punished severely maybe even expelled for such a stunt. And if he was really responsible for that Otto fiasco I think he had it coming. And then there is this peddling Bluestone business. In Saintscrossing we had Angels Lyre a flower that when dried and ingested made one feel pretty grand. But afterward, you crashed hard. But this Bluestone seems to be even worse? So good riddance to that too. We should be on the lookout for people who suffer from withdrawal. I don¡¯t fancy them going to a supplier in the city. That never ends well.¡± She looked somber as she advised that.

    ¡°Bad memories?¡± Alyssa asked concernedly.

    ¡°Mh. Let¡¯s leave it at that.¡± Mireille sighed.

    Cyrus was busy tearing into a strip of jerky that Mireille had liberated from the kitchen.

    Mireille looked up and focused on Alyssa. ¡°What was that about Asandria?¡±

    ¡°I had hoped you wouldn¡¯t ask.¡± Alyssa grinned. ¡°She has led me to a bit of crystal that would be helpful with my magic.¡± She fished the crystal out of her pocket and put it on the table. In the light of the glow lamps, it seemed to absorb the light and after a moment the filaments began caressing the crystal from the inside following the movement of her fingers as she brushed them along the outside.

    ¡°Ew! That looks gross. What the hell is that?¡± Mireille looked faintly disgusted.

    Alea put the spider on the table. ¡°I think I read about that. But if I remember right the book I saw it in mentioned that it was a malicious thing that when awoken would devour a person''s magic and life.¡±

    Asandria put her arms around Alyssa''s neck from behind and whispered in her ear. ¡®It will do that, but in return, it will grant your body pathways that could be used to channel pure void. As reckless as you have been it will hardly cost a thing.¡¯

    Alyssa shuddered and hugged herself protectively. ¡°No, I will think about it. But I have to know more!¡±

    ¡°Asandria?¡± Mireille looked around searchingly.

    ¡°Yes. Alea is sort of right. It seems to be both a boon and a curse.¡±

    ¡°As most everything was in that vault.¡± Alea shrugged. ¡°I will support you but please don¡¯t do anything rash.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s sleep on it.¡± Mireille yawned.

    And they went to bed. Ice flowers bloomed on the window while Alea shuddered at the cold and looked at Alyssa and Mireille enviously. The magical heater in the fireplace blew warm air into the room that soon chilled. ¡®I will have to see about something portable that I can put under the blankets. Or arrange for a bigger bed.¡¯ Alea wrapped herself in both spare blankets and looked disgruntled.

    And so they went to sleep.

    <hr>

    The next day after classes in the afternoon.

    Asandria drifted through a heap of dirty grey snow that had been pushed to the side of the road. ¡®Humans. There is nothing more pristine and beautiful than freshly fallen snow, why not leave it as is and learn to walk on it without damaging it. There are lots of spells that even an imbecile could learn.¡¯

    ¡°I think your standards might be more than most people would manage.¡± Alyssa grinned at the petulant tone of her spectral companion. ¡°So what exactly is the deal with this crystal?¡±

    ¡®I once saw the effort that a certain clan put into making that crystal. At the time it was regarded as a waste of resources and effort. But with the turning of the years now it becomes an important factor as it was always intended to be. The old empire was proficient with most magics but void and necromancy had a certain...stigma. Similar to today and perhaps even a bit worse. A nearly endless life does not give rise to the same hunger for continuation that would make necromancy more palatable and the same reason applies to shortening or even ending your life by overuse of void.¡¯

    Asandria trailed her hand over some frozen bushes. ¡®It is a semi-sentient construct of void and metal that was forged to integrate with an elf. It would build paths throughout your flesh, forge a vessel to contain the void, and amplify and control it. But it would take its pound of flesh.¡¯

    ¡°Let me think about it.¡± Alyssa looked ill at ease. A passing student looked at her strangely while she gave an embarrassed smile.

    <hr>

    Days passed and it was Friday.

    Josef Turm the academics teacher cleared his throat looking at the students before him. ¡°So today concludes the testing week. The specialized afternoon classes have their own curriculum determined by your teacher and therefore are outside my purview. The academics section of the Academy of the Arts was always meant to supplement your more magical pursuits but as this season has shown there are a lot of you lacking in that regard. So we will have a formal test for that today and depending on the overall results there will be remedial lessons on Saturday possibly in conjunction with the other remedial classes. I hope you will spare us the effort.¡± His eyes seemed to linger on Mireille as he said that. The red-head ducked behind her book. ¡°So without further ado, we will distribute the paper. Please remove everything but the bare necessities from your desks.¡±

    Alyssa smiled encouragingly at Alea and Mireille before getting ready for the test. Alea did not look worried while Mireille was tearing at her hair.

    And then it was over. The attendants gathered the paper and brought it back to the front desk where it was sorted alphabetically.

    ¡°That concludes today''s testing. I wish all of you a nice weekend!¡±

 A circle within a circle

    ¡°A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.¡±

    ¨D Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

    The girls departed the classroom amid the chatter from the others leaving with them. Vivienne performed a mock bow and quickly caught up to them dragging her brother along. ¡°How was it for you?¡±

    Alea shrugged. ¡°As expected I suppose.¡±

    Alyssa smiled.

    Mireille was pensive. ¡°Is it a bad sign that I¡¯m not completely pessimistic?¡±

    ¡°Were you not very pessimistic on Monday? So take it as a good omen.¡± Alyssa tried to cheer her up.

    As the group of friends walked down the corridor other students chatted around them, some overtaking them because Alea was not a very fast walker. Light from outside painted their shadows on the walls.

    Many students kept their distance because of Alyssa and her fairly bad reputation. One of the more brash girls discussing Alyssa¡¯s demerits in earshot got a warning look from Vivienne, closed her mouth, and found she had an urgent need to be somewhere else.

    Mireille gazed at the scene in interest. ¡°Could you look at me like you did that girl? It is fascinating that you can scare someone with your cute face. Is there a trick to it?¡±

    Vivienne snorted and shook her head. ¡°The ones that are so obvious are not the ones you should be concerned about. Going with the flow, doing what others do only louder and more visible is not the mark of a courageous person. Bullies of opportunity. If there is the slightest resistance they will look for softer targets.¡±

    Valens subconsciously nodded along with that before stopping and taking a step behind his sister.

    Alyssa grabbed Mireille and hooked her arm through hers. ¡°Don¡¯t dwell on it.¡± As she saw her skeptical look she added a bit embarrassedly, ¡°I will try to heed my own advice.¡±

    The weather had cleared for the moment and the snow was slowly melting, leaving only shaded spots on the meadow with a sprinkling of ice.

    ¡°So much for it remaining snowy!¡± Mireille complained.

    ¡°Divination is an inexact art and more useful for broader predictions. Who can say what the next days will bring.¡± Alea took it all in stride.

    ¡°We will not be going to the townhouse this weekend?¡± Alyssa asked to confirm their planning.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think going there would be a good idea.¡± Alea shook her head.

    After they had entered the mensa the sky slowly became dark again and snowflakes began to drift from above.

    <hr>

    After sundown in the Golden Cockerel

    The barkeeper grinned as he saw the small figure enter the taproom. Snowflakes fell from the cloak covering the girl and left small dark spots on the wooden planks as they melted. The crowd was more subdued and it was less busy than usual and only some of the older men looked at Vanessa in disapproval. The cold weather and the snow made travel less attractive and most of the patrons nursed their ale while keeping to their own business.

    He gave the towel he was using to dry the recently washed mug a twist and then set it down again. Green eyes flashed in his direction before the small girl sat down at her usual table. Shortly afterward a tall woman with snake-folk features and one of their exotic curved swords at the hip entered and decisively walked to the table seating the cloaked elf girl.

    ¡°Clarisse, can you man the bar alone for a moment? I have to use the restroom.¡±

    A pretty brunette with a slim build nodded amicably. ¡°It¡¯s slow going today. No problem, take your time.¡± She flashed him a smile.

    Nodding his thanks he walked into the back putting the towel on a shelf and exited through the backdoor into the yard. A cold wind blew snowflakes across the recently frozen muck. A horse whinnied from the stables.

    After looking around carefully he stood in a shadowed corner and pulled a small crystal tablet from his belt pouch. After injecting a bit of magic into the runes that glowed with liquid silver fire a small sparrow coalesced.

    ¡°Gerald here, I have seen a small elf girl in the company of a snake-woman. Seems to fit the description. They are in the common room at the moment. If they do it like the usual they will head to a private room and probably leave shortly afterward.¡±

    The sparrow sped away and was soon lost in the gloom and snow.

    <hr>

    In a room in the upper story of the inn.

    Iseret looked at Vanessa and both gave a nod. The rapport between them was a beautiful thing to behold even though the vampire girl was very cautious about trusting fully.

    Without another word they got up and left by the window, the lazily drifting snow obscuring their departing forms. Shortly after they left the door was silently opened and a serving girl bearing a tray of food and drink entered before gasping with a bit of exaggeration and saying ¡°Oh, false room! I am sooo sorry.¡± But her acting went to waste as only the open window and a slowly swinging windowpane showed that there had been anyone here before.

    Running over the rooftops Vanessa had to slow down for Iseret to keep up but the difference was not as great as it should have been as gusts of wind propelled her forward with unnatural speed.

    They stopped on the copper-plated roof of a mansion while waiting for a particularly alert patrol to pass.

    ¡°Are you alright? This weather should be a problem with cold-blooded people.¡± Vanessa looked at Iseret with a bit of worry.

    ¡°I have made preparations but I would be lying if I say it is nothing much.¡± Iseret rubbed her arms and pulled the cloak tighter around her figure. Her breath steamed in the cold wind. ¡°This weather seems a bit unnatural, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Vanessa rubbed her pointed chin and sighed. ¡°It has been so many years, why does SHE have to become so active all of a sudden.¡±

    ¡°I can guess whom you mean and must concur. The city of broken ivory has slumbered and only the most perfunctory attempts at ruling have made Ulsolm a nation rather than a stretch of wilderness.¡±

    Vanessa nodded and spoke a short spell, both of them became shrouded in a fine haze of mist. It would not do much if seen from nearby but from a distance, it would obscure their shape and whereabouts.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Iseret said politely. ¡°Shall we continue? We should not keep them waiting.¡± A smile flashed across her lips.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    And then they were off again.

    Shortly afterward, they entered the northern dockyard district and made their way towards a dilapidated and aged part of the quarter, more so than usual, that is. Smoke mingled with the falling snow, the rumble of machinery strangely muted. They went past great windows of dirtied glass behind which glow lamps shone like fading fires, feeble and distorted. ''This unseasonal frost will kill a lot of people. I will look to the temple of Meloris when I am free.'' Vanessa thought.

    The area they were entering had slowly fallen to ruin after the drowning plague. It was rumored that the most serious outbreak had originated here, in this formerly prosperous plaza. And it was not only superstition that kept the wealth from reinvigorating the fallen businesses. Nothing but illness and despair seemed to flourish here. A great statue of Ielenia stood in the center, arms, as well as a pair of wings, spread wide while icicles hung from her lowered head as if her tears had frozen.

    The goal that Vanessa and Iseret had set for themselves this evening was seemingly a backyard laboratory very important in the supply chain for the Bluestone but they had been planning to exploit the opportunity for more.

    ¡°There they are. You take the right, I take the left? Do we have a second for an illusion?¡± Vanessa¡¯s whispered voice reached Iseret over the humming of the wind.

    ¡°I would prefer quickness over finesse in this situation. Yes, I will go right.¡±

    The entrance was set into the side of an old burned-out building, leading into a cellar. Beside the entrance sat an old man playing with some knucklebones. Farther down the sideroad and well hidden in the shadows to both sides were groups of thugs, waiting for them. Directly before the entrance was a small plaza with a shattered fountain.

    One of the thugs manning his post in one of the alleys leading away from the laboratory leaned around the mound of broken masonry covered by snow he was hiding behind before another of his brethren pulled him back sharply while whispering, ¡°You will give us away. Wait for the old geezer to croak, and then we will attack. He even has the signal charm.¡±

    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s cold and boring. Hiding, my ass! All of us together is overkill anyway.¡± As he got no response, he turned around and asked, ¡°Right?¡±

    The one that he had been talking to was in the process of slowly sliding down the wall to the side, a big red stain spreading on his breast.

    From the other side of the plaza, a cry of pain could be heard, followed by vigorous cursing and loud shouting. ¡°We have been discovered! Attack!¡±

    Vanessa sprang back as the now alerted thug hacked at her with a heavy cleaving knife. In the background, an older woman with sooty dirt caking her features spoke a short spell, and blistering flames shot from her fingerless gloves, spiraling towards the vampire. Her cloak flared and showed simple but sturdy leather armor.

    The alley was perhaps two and a half meters across and largely blocked by fallen masonry and trash. The thugs stationed here consisted of Gloomskulls and some mercenaries swaddled in dark cloaks against detection and the cold. Gleaming implements of mayhem sprouted from many hands as a group consisting of around a dozen members went on the attack. Three of them had perished in the first seconds of combat.

    On the other side, Iseret danced among the other group of surprised malcontents drawing arcs of red with each slash of her khopesh. But being only mortal, not all of the red fluid staining the ground was from her enemies. A deep gash in her side, thankfully mitigated by her armor, bled freely while two hedge witches tried their best to kill her using conjured blasts of sharp rocks and a whip made of wind respectively.

    The fire sorceress on Vanessa¡¯s side spoke commanding words and several orbs of fire formed above her shoulders and began to morph into a birdlike form akin to a hawk. The small girl jumped forward evading a slash from a saber wielded by a one-eyed brute grinning with gold-capped teeth. She opened her small mouth wider than seemed possible biting into the neck of a Gloomskull wielding knife-studded knuckle-dusters. With a sickening crunch, her teeth crushed his windpipe and blood spurted into the night air steaming in the cold. Drops of the precious fluid carved abstract designs into the dirty snow.

    ¡°NOW!¡±

    Chanting filled the air as several figures robed in dark red suddenly raised themselves from their hiding spots around the alleys and the laboratory. Dark red fluid danced between their hands and rose from barrels placed strategically around the location. Runes flickered and stabilized as walls of magical force enclosed the area.

    Hawks formed of blazing fire shot forth and Vanessa dodged between the stone enclosing the alley jumping from one wall to the other higher and higher while the flames adjusted their course with beating wings.

    Cackling with pyromaniac delight the sorceress directed the birds of prey with sweeping gestures before a knife coated with some dark substance flew from Vanessa¡¯s hand into her throat. Gagging and stumbling the fire-hawks began to explode in a parody of celebratory fireworks.

    Dark forms rose from the barrels and for a moment a complex latticework of bloody runes shimmered around the area rising high into the sooty air.

    Iseret prayed, ¡°Many-as-one, great goddess hear my plea- fill this vessel with your divine gift. Let the night flow through my teeth and coat my arms that it may anoint your foes in deserved pain.¡±

    Dark poison gushed from Iserets venom teeth that grew in size to resemble those of Kadira and her khopesh began to drip with black syrupy fluid.

    Nicked by her blade the thug she hit began to scream as the flesh dissolved from where it had been cut.

    The door to the laboratory was violently thrown open and several men and women wearing tattered robes of once expensive design dashed outside. Their eyes were glowing with an eerie dark-red light and lips were drawn back from elongated and pointed teeth. What humanity they once had lost in maddened bloodlust and strange mutation.

    ¡®They have realized our intent to bait and then overwhelm an ambush. That looks...bad.¡¯ Vanessa stood above the cautiously defending mercenaries and saw one of the ghoulish figures fresh to the fight clamber up the wall to her right with the speed and jerky movements of a spider. It''s fingers ended in dark bony claws.

    With a gesture and a spell, a lance of ice shot forth from Vanessa¡¯s hand and impaled the creature. Screeching -once upon a time it had been male ¨C it scrabbled with both claws to extract the icicle which it finally managed. Meanwhile, the other seven creatures began to hunt for Iseret ignoring Vanessa for the time being.

    ¡°Keep them busy, I will summon aid.¡± Vanessa gestured and a whisper of thought reached Iseret who raised an eyebrow but nodded. Fighting for her life against the remaining thugs and mercenaries while the creatures in tattered robes circled she shrugged and intensified her efforts. Sparks flew where steel clashed with steel as the snake-woman spun and danced with supernatural grace. She spat some poisonous saliva at an inattentive mercenary that had tried to get behind her and stabbed another one as her erstwhile target screamed while parts of his face sloughed off.

    Vanessa entered the building behind her and spoke dark, consonant-heavy words while she scratched and cut a runed circle into the still intact plaster of the wall ahead. Mildew-covered wooden boards creaked beneath her slight weight and it was the one time she thanked her small build. From outside howling and encouraging shouts could be heard. ¡°Kill them, he who brings the head to Orpen will be rewarded beyond your imagination. Gold, power, slaves. Kill them!¡±

    Vanessa''s spell reached its climax and she spoke, ¡°GHHERALXYAIR come, by the covenant and by my command, come. Feast on my enemies, rend their souls.¡±

    The darkness thickened and for a moment it was all-encompassing. Even the eyes of a vampire failed to penetrate to gloom as a part of the black void shifted elongated and took on the form of a hunched creature near two dimensional in its absolute absorption of light. And then it flowed towards the window and vanished before a scream of tortured agony rent the night.

    The ¡®fiends¡¯ as Iseret had dubbed the mutated, robed creatures were able to feel pain, but it seemed to only make them mad. And they shrugged off wounds that would have killed a man thrice over. Her poison was slow-acting on them and their flesh was oddly woodlike or perhaps as a corpse in rigor mortis inexact as the comparison to the scuttling beings was.

    Deep wounds marred her upper legs and arms, some slashes had cut through her armor and blood flowed down her sides. If Vanessa did not come back quickly it would be all over for her. ¡®Call me to the fields of reed and rushing water where the sun forever sets in endless dusk and the stars are gilded in red and gold.¡¯ The Prayer for the Judged whispered through her clenched teeth as she whirled and cut another Gloomskull who screamed as the poison began to corrode his veins.

    The shadow of the earth witch elongated and a hulking figure gently pulled his head off. Blood fountained into the night air and for a moment shock stilled the furious combat.

    Then, as if the world had released a bated breath, the fight continued and Vanessa jumping from the first floor crashed into a group of mercenaries who had tried to keep in the background. Flashing claws of black ice scored metal plate and chain mail rings sprayed from the impact of her strikes.

    ¡°Ohohoho. Marvelous.¡± A clapping sound could be heard and an obese man in a cavalry officer''s uniform slowly walked up the stairs leading into the laboratory below. His hands were adorned with all manner of rings and jewelry and each ¡®clap¡¯ jingled and clashed. Behind him, a gaunt figure with an eyeless cloth mask silently followed. Vadislav Orpen grinned broadly. ¡°Men, each of you that lives gets ten gold pieces as a bonus. You have been such good sports. Then let us conclude this chapter in the ¡®Rise of the glorious Orpen¡¯ why won¡¯t we?¡± And he laughed. The runes around the area flashed brightly and some began to distort and glow.

    Vanessa looked startled and alarmed at that but shortly after furrowed her brows.

    Vadislav looked surprised for a moment then fury distorted his features. ¡°You will not steal what is mine, her blood, her soul, all is mine¡± Spittle sprayed with each word his canines protruded over his upper lips.

    The runes shattered and floating in the sky hung three dark figures in the armored robes of the palace guard of Margrinar. Down below several knights followed by crossbowmen advanced in formation.

 Too smart for their own good.

    ¡°The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle''s own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.¡±

    ¨D Aesop

    ¡°In the name of King Vilander von Margrinar, we command you to lay down your arms and surrender. Fail to comply and we will use any force necessary.¡± A dignified voice amplified many times by a spell or artifact echoed between the dismal ruins. The snowfall intensified.

    In the distance running steps could be heard as some of the neighbors tried to flee while the fighting lessened for a moment- the blood-crazed ¡®fiends¡¯ were naturally not inclined to listen.

    Vadislav looked apoplectic at that announcement and quivering with rage he turned towards the advancing group of knights. The five elite soldiers of Margrinar wore plate mail with runic enhancements and carried weapons forged of crystal tempered steel. Their cloaks billowed behind them as they strode towards the melee. Behind them stood an equal number of crossbow-wielding guardsmen.

    The robed and masked Poroskar standing behind Orpen shook his shoulders and loosened his arms before turning around, magic crackling at his fingertips. A volley of crossbow bolts answered his obvious rejection of the offered terms. Raising his arm with the quickness of thought a shield of glowing blood gushed forth and swallowed the incoming bolts. The knights quickened their charge and the two in the middle voiced their command words before being engulfed in earthen armor.

    Vanessa thrust both her claws straight ahead and then forcefully spread her arms ripping into the fighting mercenaries and throwing them to the side. Iseret was bleeding from many wounds dark poison dripped from her lips and hands coating her khopesh and the dagger she had drawn, she looked near death.

    The vampire shot forward and gripped her companion before gathering power into her legs like a coiling spring and then jumped towards the upper floors of the house to her left. A sword cut into her side and a hammer thudded into her arm before she gained enough height to be out of reach. Hissing with pain she twisted in midair and entered an empty window rolling with the force of her landing while protecting her charge.

    Iseret gave a pained moan as she hit the sagging floor. Cracking sounds could be heard and for a moment it seemed as if the moldy planks might give way before everything stabilized.

    Outside a hulking shadow leaned over in a seemingly soft movement before biting with enormous black fangs into the back of the mercenary with the gold-capped teeth. Straightening, a copious amount of flesh, blood, and bone was ripped in a geyser of gore from the unlucky fighter.

    One of the floating mages narrowed his eyes and began an incantation while lightning gathered between his outstretched hands.

    The other two began their own spells and shields of force and ice flashed into being.

    The crossbowmen reloaded.

    Vadislav jumped towards the leading knight and punched him in the chest with his fist glowing with magical rings and trinkets. An explosion sounded and the knight was thrown back with his stone armor flaking off in great chunks before finally coming to a stop on his knees losing the shield in the tumble. The knights began to attack the vampire ganglord as his protective amulets began to flare and sizzle. Another backhand dented a shield and forced another knight to stagger backward. ¡°Poroskar, let them loose unchain the hounds let¡¯s kill them all. None shall live when I don¡¯t get what I neeeeeeeed!¡± A sword flaring with sigils and icy magic cut into his abdomen. The vampire grabbed the offending extremity and teeth elongating bit into the armored arm crushing mail and puncturing steel. Blood flowed freely and slurping sounds could be heard as the knight staggered while his companions hacked into the vampire.

    The robed Poroskar spat a command word and three bolts of a bloody liquid shot from his hand impacting the shield of one of the knights fighting his lord. Out of the blood, wriggling leeches coalesced and began to flow around the kite shield. Cursing the elite tried to get rid of it paling rapidly as they began to gorge on his blood.

    Lightning crackled and thunder boomed, mercenaries, fiends, and Gloomskulls were thrown to the ground by the impact in their midst. Another mage cast several whirling missiles of force at the retreating Poroskar who let himself fall into the still open door to the basement. The bolts of energy impacted the ground leaving spiderweb cracks in the stone-paving accompanied by low cracking sounds.

    Two of the fiends clambered after Vanessa, the others raised their heads as if listening and swarmed towards the fighting around Orpen.

    The mercenaries and Gloomskulls had had enough, more than enough, and began to flee without direction before crashing into the still flickering barrier of bloody sigils that still enclosed parts of the area. From the shadows at their feet the hulking giant made of dark nothingness rose and tore into them with razor-sharp claws.

    In a dark and damp room, Iseret looked curiously into Vanessa¡¯s eyes. ¡°I have no regrets. Leave me.¡± She gave a half-smile and before the vampire girl could act she lifted her arms and gently cupped Vanessa¡¯s cheeks before kissing her with lips dripping blood and poison, tasting strangely sweet.

    In all her centuries of life that was a first. She was dazed and felt as if her lips had caught fire a heart that was no longer beating clenched painfully.

    She stumbled back and heavily sat on the floor shaking her head. ¡°Don¡¯t talk...don¡¯t do...what was¡­?¡± She got a grip on her emotions. ¡°We will talk later and there will be a later you hear!¡±

    A fiend surged through the window, this one had been female once upon a time. Black ice surged from Vanessa¡¯s fingertips and reformed her claws. She jumped in front of Iseret and cleaved into the sinewy creature ripping cloth and flesh alike. Black brackish blood spurted and the air was filled with a sickly stench. The other fiend clambered through the window coming from above and like a spider it scuttled along the ceiling.

    Forced to remain stationary while protecting Iseret she stood and endured the ghoulish creature falling from above slashing with blighted bone spurs and biting with elongated teeth resembling a moray eel. Weeping bloody tears while suppressing the pain Vanessa punched one of them in the throat her claws piercing into the spine before she ripped the head off with a violent wrenching movement.

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    The other one ripped chunks of flesh and armor from her shoulder.

    With a movement quick as lightning the vampire turned her head and spat a word of power and an explosion of force and sound threw the vile being through one of the feeble walls into the night. The exertion left her stumbling and dazed. Such words were not meant for mortal kind and even a vampire''s prodigious toughness would not keep the effects at bay.

    Hunching over, Vanessa concentrated and felt the flesh of her upper arm slowly grow back. Pale strands of tissue flowed over the bared bone.

    Iseret gasped and tried to sit up while drinking a potion grabbed from her belt. She held on tight to Vanessa for added stability.

    ¡°You. Will. Not. Die.¡± Vanessa forced the words through clenched teeth. Then she carefully grabbed her friend and asked. ¡°Can you hold fast to my neck?¡±

    ¡°I will try.¡± It looked somewhat incongruous as Iseret tried to hug Vanessa from behind, her legs firmly grasped by the short girl.

    Flames burst into being and illuminated the outside shortly after followed by another bolt of lightning. Thunder rumbled and the shockwave of the explosion blew out the shutters of the adjacent room.

    The fighting outside was heating up and it was only the perseverance of the berserking Orpen against an elite force that served to gain them a bit of breathing room.

    Outside three of the knights were dead or severely injured the crossbowmen had fled after some of them were devoured by the leeches. The magicians incinerated the mercenaries and Gloomskulls but found the fiends and the shadow demon to be very difficult foes indeed.

    An old man in courtly attire waited on the roof of a building a hundred yards away. Seeing the chaos he shook his head in disbelief before conjuring a message sparrow and sending it forth with the urgent request for reinforcements.

    Vanessa ran toward the hole made by the explosion and subsequently ejected fiend but before she could reach it the wall behind her was shattered and Vadislav Orpen forced the stone apart with his hands grinning with a face splattered with gore his uniform hanging in tatters, deep wounds crisscrossing his body while half his cheek and the left ear was sheared cleanly from the bone. ¡°You will not get away deary. I will crush your¡­¡±

    Before he could finish his diatribe Vanessa spat some blood and screamed, ¡°GHHERALXYAIR kill him!¡±

    The darkness birthed a hulking form, much diminished after the fighting, that latched onto Orpen¡¯s arm. ¡°Nooooooo!¡± The vampire furiously punched into the mass of shadows his amulets and rings glowing.

    A fireball exploded behind him and flared about his form before the flames engulfed the room stopping just before Vanessa. Hot air evaporated the falling snow singing the stonework while the cavalry uniform began to burn. In between the falling snow, a mage could be seen floating over the roof of the neighboring building. The once dignified-looking man was much worse for wear as he began the incantation for another while flames began to compress before him.

    Vanessa did not wait any longer and jumped out of the building into the labyrinthine streets seeking to escape the vicinity. Thankfully the fighting and some misdirected spells had ripped great holes into the still glowing barrier spell. She did not want to think about what kind of sacrifice had been necessary to do this.

    Snow swirled about them as another lance of force shattered the roof of the building they had landed upon before the magician pursuing them turned and focused his attention on the still fighting Vadislav.

    ¡°You should...have...left me.¡± Iseret gasped as they sailed through the air just barely missing the flickering wall of magic.

    ¡°Shh. I have to concentrate.¡± The small vampire called upon the winds turned and shifted her grip so that her back skidded along the roof of another building they could not completely avoid. Protective spells unraveled as they crashed to the street as runes gleamed and sparks flew when they impacted the ground. Vanessa coughed some blood and spoke another spell and a wave of white light flowed along the path they had taken erasing- for the moment- the signs of their passing. Far behind them, an explosion could be heard and red light briefly lit the sky.

    ¡°We did want to be oh so clever.¡± Iseret smiled with bloody lips and a very pale face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk.¡± Vanessa limped towards the building they had landed before and inspected the door. She spoke a short spell and pressed her hand against the lock which opened with a crackling sound. Metal sand drifted from the keyhole as the small girl looked a bit apologetic at the questioning look of her companion. Inside was a dark corridor with a stair leading up and another one underneath leading down. There was also a cold fireplace and some closed doors.

    Half-carrying, half dragging Iseret. Vanessa made her way into what should be the living room. Thankfully it seemed that the house was otherwise deserted or at least the occupants should be still asleep.

    Putting her wounded companion on a cushioned bench she began to cast spells to stop the bleeding and lessen the pain. Vanessa softly cursed to herself that her nature prohibited her from using most nature and light spells. Even the healing waters Alyssa preferred were unreliable at best in the hands of the unliving.

    Distant thunder spoke of continuing hostilities. The windows were shuttered and only small slivers of light fell into the room to illuminate an ornate fireplace with a shelf made of marble but cracked and dusty with disuse. A large table with several chairs stood on a carpeted wooden floor. The air was stale and reeked of mildew. A corner showed extensive water damage in the peeling cloth wallpaper.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in the palace.

    Thomas Ardelius von Margrinar looked up from the book he was reading. He was a heavy-set, dark-haired young man in his late twenties. He was wearing a dressing gown over his nightclothes as he was wont to do when the day''s labors had come to an end.

    A glass of wine kept him company and he was very strict in enforcing the one peaceful hour in the day before he had to go to sleep. He narrowed his sapphire eyes and got up from the ornately upholstered chair. The study was directly adjacent to his bedroom and he had heard a noise from there. ¡°Paulette? Is that you?¡±

    He had been engaging in a dalliance with a lady in waiting assigned to the queen dowager. It was such a waste for a young and beautiful girl to always be serving the near-dead former queen. His mouth twisted in distaste as he thought of the engagement his father had forced on him. He should marry the second daughter of the priest-king of Sur Kesh. She might be pretty in her own way but snakes¡­he was no perverted reptile-lover!

    Walking towards the door separating the two rooms he was startled as the door opened and someone stepped through. If he were later to be asked he could not have described the person. There was a sense of light and golden hair flowing garments and some jewels flashing in the light. He would not even be able to tell the gender. And as he looked in astonishment a long pale arm snaked around his neck while the other put the long-forgotten glass of wine to his lips. And a voice whispered, ¡°Drink up my dear.¡±

    And as the wine flowed into his suddenly parched mouth he reflexively drank it down. Eyes of indeterminate color looked at him dispassionately as his breath hitched and he began to suffocate. Grasping at his throat with eyes begging the person before him for help he slowly sank to the ground.

    The creature lowered him gently while the life left the crown prince of Margrinar. Grinning a smile containing many, many teeth the being mused ¡®Thank you Vadislav for the magnificent distraction!¡¯

    Outside the room, the palace was in an uproar. A request made by the second prince had sent the palace guard to a disturbance in the dock area. The normal city guard had only been in an auxiliary function. But instead of quelling the disruption the battle had intensified and knights had died, reinforcements had been dispatched.

    The second prince, Carl Askander von Margrinar, stood on the walls of the inner palace and turned his hand this way and that as he inspected his nails, raising his eyes he looked out over the city. A sudden cry of alarm sounded from the royal quarters and without turning a smile spread on his formerly impassive features.

    Somewhere far over the city, actinic light flared and thunder rumbled. From afar it could almost be taken for a celebration.

 In hot pursuit

    Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,

    Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,

    I have lived o''er my lives without number,

    I have sounded all things with my sight;

    And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright.

    H.P. Lovecraft, Nemesis (Excerpt)

    Meanwhile inside an empty house somewhere in the northern dock area.

    Iseret was breathing shallowly as blood still dripped from her clothes. The wounds on her body had mostly been bound or stabilized by magic. Vanessa had found some quilts that looked serviceable and tried to make her more comfortable.

    Finally, they had a moment''s peace. Outside some distant explosions could be heard that attested to the still ongoing battle.

    ¡°Tenacious bastard.¡± Vanessa remarked dryly and then addressed the still form of Iseret, shadows obscured most of her features, and the dim light from outside painted soft streaks of grey over everything, ¡°What did you mean by this?¡±

    ¡°This?¡±

    Vanessa sat up and propped her chin on the back of her hand, ¡°Don¡¯t play coy with me.¡±

    ¡°I did not think I would survive to reach shelter so I was selfish. Forgive me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no real answer you know?¡±

    ¡°I...wanted to see what it was like I suppose. And I do find you fascinating.¡± She was silent for a moment. ¡°I have only a quarter of the old blood, just enough to be a warrior protecting the faith. So I can still feel. The pure ones don¡¯t understand those soft emotions anymore. Oh, they have loyalty, fear, hate but even those are muted. The cold blood does not lend itself to ¡®hot¡¯ passions.¡±

    Vanessa looked away embarrassedly, ¡°We will have to leave in about an hour, the spell I cast to obscure our tracks will lose effectiveness by then. We can only thank the snowy weather that no one has found us yet.¡±

    ¡°And now you are changing the subject.¡± Iseret coughed weakly and blood-spattered the quilt.

    ¡°Do you have any potions left?¡±

    ¡°No, sadly I have used them all.¡±

    ¡°Then we will have to leave sooner.¡±

    ¡°...and we will be caught. Don¡¯t think they will let us live after blowing that matter sky high. You a vampire and I a foreign slave.¡± She chuckled before being interrupted by another coughing fit.

    ¡°I could open a portal to another plane. But it would be highly dangerous for you.¡±

    ¡°Could it be worse than dying in this squalid living room or out in the streets?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Do you have to ask? But it is not as certain as remaining here so¡­¡±

    ¡°Do it. I am not in the habit of giving in without a fight.¡± Iseret¡¯s slit eyes captured Vanessa¡¯s.

    Getting up she shoved the furniture against the wall and smoothed the floor with a gesture and some spoken words. Wood shavings disintegrated into fine dust. Then she began to carve sigils and runes with her claws.

    The fighting outside seemed to have stopped and for a time all was quiet. Then she heard a commotion from farther up the street as a door was violently forced open and shouting commenced that was then succeeded by pained screams. A voice bellowed, ¡°City guard! Open your door or face the consequences.¡± A hammering of gauntleted fist against wooden door followed.

    ¡°Come here. Can you sit up?¡± Vanessa whispered.

    Iseret gave a nod and then forced herself upright, face twisted in pain while suppressing a groan.

    The smaller girl helped her stagger into the middle of the runic circle. ¡°Take the quilt with you, it¡¯s cold where we are going.¡±

    ¡°Do I want to know?¡± Iseret lifted an eyebrow.

    ¡°Probably not. It¡¯s the astral plane. But we will only stay until I regain my strength to open the gate back to my domicile.¡±

    Iseret gave a worried frown but nodded. ¡°What little I have heard of that place was nothing good. But I trust you know what you are doing.¡±

    Weeping and shouting could be heard as several people were dragged outside the house diagonally opposite the one they were occupying.

    Vanessa spoke a short spell and silence descended as all sound was cut off. Then she began a lengthy incantation. The words were hurtful to the ear and would probably damage a living throat.

    The door to the living room was opened and a guardsman stood there illuminated by a lantern his other hand held a flanged mace. He seemed to be shouting something but no sound reached their ears. Iseret huddled inside the circle the quilt covering her features.

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    The guard slowly entered the room still shouting something. Two others entered behind him one of them armed with a crossbow. They seemed to be debating something and as they reached an accord the one with the ranged weapon nodded and aimed before losing the quarrel. Iseret tensed hissing with pain as she prepared to either receive or block the bolt.

    The world was bathed in grey light as reality fractured and they were sucked into a darkling void.

    <hr>

    Inside the palace.

    Vilander Andrealphus Constantin von Margrinar protector of humanity, successor of fallen Allisair, holder of the one blade looked deathly tired. He stood before the bier upon which his son was placed after it was apparent that he could not be saved. Carl Askander and the eldest daughter Nimeria stood to one side while Lieseleta remained on the other. Her sister Keralia was married to Count Grandherst and no longer present in the palace. The memorial hall featured paintings and statues depicting the kings and queens of old. Gesserach presided in all his golden glory over the resting dead. Beside him stood Meloris keeper of the past and Charys the drinker of tears.

    The cold was suffocating, window slits open to the outside let a breeze laden with frost flow through the cavernous hall. Old banners flapped in the breeze. Oldfashioned braziers held glowing embers flaring with the gusts.

    The building was situated on the rocky slopes of the highest hill bordering the river it was not technically a part of the palace or the city anymore. The king felt the old wards thrumming underneath the polished granite stones forming patterns and pictures of mythical heroes and ancient stories.

    The king raised his head and looked each of his children in the eye. Nimeria held his gaze before looking down. Carl was defiant as always but was there a flash of guilt? Lieseleta looked pale and drawn herself. Her gaze mirrored his grief.

    ¡°For those of you who do not, for whatever reason, know. Thomas was killed by poison. All our efforts and security measures were not enough.¡± He sighed deeply. ¡°Regarding the succession, I will confer with my advisors.¡± He gave a warning glance at Carl who had opened his mouth to interrupt. ¡°And if it is found that one of you had a hand in Thomas''s death.¡± He let his words trail off before continuing. ¡°Let us hope it does not come to that.¡±

    The wind howled and snowflakes drifted into the hall. But the frost outside was no match for the cold desolation within.

    <hr>

    The study of the third minister of the high chamber.

    A letter lay on the desk of a forgotten study written within the desire for an engagement of the third daughter of Mithras Nordmark to Carl Askander von Margrinar.

    <hr>

    A room in the lower city, southside docks.

    A cold haughty face looked at the window, craggy features shifted as a cold smile lifted the corners of a thin-lipped mouth. Tharus Iram von den Zwei Br¨¹cken put down the pen he was holding and folded his hands as if in prayer. The old vampire looked to the northwest where like a blaze of unending cold his mistress reigned. As it had been for countless years and nights she was his guiding light. She was called the Heartstealer by enemy and ally alike a name that held both pride and shame. He had been very busy as of late. No longer did he wait in the frozen halls and gazed at the art of a vanished people as the seasons passed him by. He did not know what had roused the Lich Queen but he was doing her bidding. Flitting here and there beguiling and killing he had brought the house of Nordmark to her cause and now they stood to gain from the investment.

    He should have personally handled the von Graufurt matter. It was a small stain on his impeccable achievements but a stain nonetheless. He would just have to wait and see. After tonight he needed to keep a lower profile and take care, it would not do to expose a pawn too early.

    As the windowpane rattled with a gust of wind the condensation formed agonized faces screaming for relief.

    Tharus Iram von den Zwei Br¨¹cken smiled and with a gesture the faces dissolved into flowers of ice.

    <hr>

    The astral plane, Road of Ashen Dreams.

    With a sound like ripping flesh, a tear opened and spilled two people into the dark grey dust. Rolling down the side of a dune they came to rest against a metallic tree, bare branches stark against the scintillating stars of dimensional breaches high up in the sky.

    Iseret tried to breathe and her labored gasps turned more frantic as the dusty, dead air gave her no succor. Vanessa looked at her and panicked realization flashed in her eyes. She chanted a quick spell and gestured glyphs into being. Then she grabbed her friend and pressed their mouths together breathing fresh air infused with a bloody scent into tortured lungs. Her eyes tried to convey her intention to the snake-woman who nodded without letting go.

    Breathing deeply Iseret furrowed her brows in pain and Vanessa quickly smoothed an area before beginning the laborious task of inscribing several magical circles. She stopped every few minutes to give her companion fresh air. As time passed Iseret swayed and held her mouth with both hands before sagging in a faint.

    Vanessa activated the runes with a few crystals and chanted spells. Wind began to blow in dancing devils made of dust. She grabbed the limp form of her friend and dragged her into the whirling clouds of air. And as she began to despair Iseret gasped and breathed again.

    With a final gesture, a dome of force sprang into being and enclosed the meticulously designed spells.

    ¡°Did you¡­¡± Iseret coughed violently, ¡°...forget I had to breathe?¡± She looked at Vanessa incredulously.

    ¡°I never had that problem! When I was alive it was the furthest thing from my mind to venture into the planes! I...am sorry.¡±

    ¡°If you seek excuses to kiss me then simply ask next time.¡± Mischief glinted in Iseret¡¯s eyes as she sank back to rest on the ground.

    Vanessa turned away and held her right hand before her eyes massaging her forehead. ¡°Thank you for trying to cheer me up.¡±

    ¡°You did everything you could. I am astonishingly still alive.¡±

    They sat in the darkness of the force globe and if it were not for the glowing eyes of Vanessa there would be no light at all.

    ¡°It¡¯s cold.¡± Iseret shuddered. After nearly suffocating in the dry dusty air she felt like the cold was crawling deep into her body.

    ¡°I am sorry.¡± Vanessa took the quilt they had brought and covered Iseret with it, then she said in a rush, ¡°I cannot help properly as I lack body warmth. And I am very bad with fire magic.¡± If she could still blush she would have at that moment.

    ¡°Sh. Let¡¯s pretend that were not the case.¡± Iseret sat down behind Vanessa and leaned against her back. ¡°It¡¯s much more comfortable that way.¡±

    And they sat for a long time while the mortal woman fell into a fitful sleep. Vanessa laid her on her knees and looked at the sleeping figure. ¡®What do I think, what do I want? Can I want something?¡¯ Hunger for the spilled blood of her friend stabbed into her throat and stomach like a serrated knife but she endured.

    Her magic regenerated quickly in the mana-rich surroundings and she softly put Iseret back down on the dusty ground before beginning the painstaking work of inscribing another circle. This time to bring them back.

 Dark clouds gather

    "Wisdom is the offspring of suffering and time."

    - Izaro, Path of Exile

    It was Saturday and the sun broke over the horizon as the bells began to toll. Travellers Voice the gigantic bronze bell cast from the prow of the last ship to sail on another world''s ocean sounded above all others- once for a death, twice for a son, thrice for the heir, and again for an unjust death.

    Commotion reigned in the corridor as the rest of the dorm began to talk and tried to find out what was happening.

    Heavy knocking roused the sleeping Alyssa and Mireille. Alea had been sitting before the window her spider sitting opposite while she brushed her hair. She could easily look at herself, a small benefit of her otherwise vexing condition.

    Alea looked at the confused duo and got up grabbed Cecily on the go and cracked open the door. As she saw Mr. Brache she got serious. Motioning for him to wait she closed the door and sternly spoke to the laggard girls, ¡°Quick, put some clothes on. There is something happening outside.¡± After a short pause, she continued. ¡°And the house of Graufurt has to be ready to act.¡±

    They got ready in record time and let the older man enter.

    ¡°Ms. von Graufurt. Your brother bids me get you and your friends. The crown prince has been murdered and we have to be ready to act as necessary. The classes have been suspended for today. It is expected that there will be an official day of mourning in the next days.¡±

    Alyssa paled. ¡°Alea- what about Lieseleta? Did you hear from her the past days?¡±

    Alea shook her head. ¡°I sent her a letter but she did not answer yet. It was only the day before yesterday though and I only wanted to know if she was well.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about any harm to the princess.¡± Mr. Brache interjected.

    ¡°One assassination attempt and one success.¡± Mireille mused darkly. ¡°Seems like being high-born is a hazard nowadays.¡±

    Alea lowered her head.

    ¡°No! I did not want to joke about that. Sorry, Alea!¡± Mireille looked flustered.

    The smaller girl shook her head. ¡°No, it is not what you said. It brings back memories I had forgotten. But today is not the day to reopen old wounds.¡±

    Mr. Brache cleared his throat. ¡°Please. We have to hurry.¡±

    Exiting the room they saw Lorelle waiting anxiously. ¡°Ms. Alea, I have your breakfast right here. In case you can¡¯t come back soon. And some sandwiches for you too.¡± She gave each of them a cloth bundle.

    Outside the air was clear for once and only scattered clouds could be seen high up in the sky. Guards stood at all entrances and two magicians walked down the road nodding to the students.

    From afar they saw the black smoke hanging over the lower city while griffin riders took flight from the military encampment down the river.

    ¡°If this atrocity originates from outside our country, that may mean war.¡± Mr. Brache looked serious. ¡°Your uncle and madam Adelaide have arrived at the townhouse. The timing might be bad or serendipitous I don¡¯t know.¡±

    The atmosphere was subdued and the students they saw were quiet and hurried toward their respective destinations.

    Gravel crunched beneath their boots as they finally neared the dormitory Maximilian called his home. The dorm mistress was directing a spelled broom to clean the stairs as they arrived and looked up worriedly calming a bit at the sight of Mr. Brache.

    A distant horn signal hung in the air.

    Mr. Brache led them through the corridors to the study used by the dorm officials. Inside stood Maximilian his back to the door talking to a stout older man with receding greying dark brown hair and the beginnings of a paunch. He sported a mustache and was otherwise cleanshaven. Thick bags hung under his eyes and he looked tired. Adelaide sat beside the desk with primly folded hands resting in her lap. She too looked worse than last they had seen her. Then there was an old man in his sixties with the well-muscled physique of a warrior and crisscrossing scars marring the back of his hand signifying a swordsman. He wore the tabard of a cleric of Jaros.

    The room despite being larger than a typical four-person dorm room seemed cramped.

    ¡°Good, you are here at last!¡± The man Maximilian was talking to exclaimed. ¡°I am Demavar von Graufurt.¡± He nodded toward Alyssa and Mireille. ¡°Good to see you, my niece.¡± He smiled at Alea- the smile was a bit wan but reached his eyes.

    Adelaide inclined her head, ¡°Good to see you well my children. I truly have to thank you for your help that time.¡±

    Maximilian waited as they greeted the newcomers then spoke, ¡°As we are all gathered here let¡¯s get to the point quickly. This here is Prior Bertram of the holy church of Jaros.¡±

    ¡°Greetings.¡± The man inclined his head. ¡°I am very glad to finally meet you. We were and are very interested in you young Alea.¡±

    The group was settled with chairs that had been brought in before they had arrived.

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    Maximilian looked at his uncle and received a nod. ¡°We have gathered because of this unprecedented string of attempted assassinations. Grandmother and uncle are here because the first attack harmed Alea and made the precarious political situation apparent. Prior Bertram assured us of his good intentions and his precursor in office blessed Alea when she was still young.¡±

    ¡°I see that the light of my lord is still with you. I would very much like to exchange a few words before you go but at the moment I think you will have some things to talk about that even a friend of the family like me should not be privy to.¡± Bertram gave an amiable smile. For a moment he looked like he wanted to stroke Alea¡¯s hair but then he simply nodded at the rest of them and continued. ¡°I will wait in the mensa and have some breakfast if you need me you can find me there.¡± Then he exited the room.

    Adelaide stood up and embraced Alea kissing her forehead. ¡°It lightens my heart to see you without harm. As I heard of the attack at the party it was as if my heart would stop. As I cannot sufficiently protect you without keeping you in Grunewald I have asked Prior Bertram to come and imagine my surprise that he was already here and aware of your situation.¡± She tightened the embrace before reluctantly letting go.

    ¡°Thank you, grandmother.¡± Alea grabbed her hand rubbing it on her cheek. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the church thinks about me but if you are less worried then this is a good thing.¡±

    Demavar nodded, ¡°I think so too. I have asked Maximilian to accompany me back to Graufurt. The waters are muddy this time and we will need everything we have to come out of this bid for the crown in one piece. Alea you have made friends with the third princess so it seems we are at odds with the probable successor, Carl Askander. Naturally, you did very well. Our house is not so distinguished that we would normally get close to royalty at all but the timing could not be worse. The Nordmarks have made it known that they consider you their charge by merit of your grandmother being from this damnable house. As long as she is alive we have good reason to refuse but¡­¡±

    He trailed off as he looked at Adelaide. ¡°I have heard from informed sources that the Nordmarks have made an offer of marriage to bind their house to the second prince.¡±

    Maximilian sighed. ¡°We will have to shore up our defenses and gather allies. Gildburg for example. You two be very careful.¡± He looked at Mireille and Alyssa. ¡°I called you here because as a part of our house you will be entangled in the fighting. And probably some of what happened was also because of that.¡±

    Asandria hovered near Alyssa¡¯s ear and sighed. ¡°It¡¯s like the winter court in the orchid palace. All intrigue and hidden knives only on a smaller scale.¡±

    The talk lasted for an hour. A great commotion could be heard from outside the sound of hooves and shouts as well as exclamations. Gathering the curtains to the side they looked outside and saw a large carriage accompanied by some knights and regular palace guards. Jera exited the vehicle and helped Lieseleta down the steps. As her dress swished elegantly behind her it seemed as if her eyes met the crystal lenses of Cecily and Alea smiled before the princess turned and entered the main building.

    The sun rose higher and bathed the courtyard in brilliant light but to the north dark towering clouds were gathering.

    <hr>

    In a dilapidated mansion half a city away.

    Space distorted, fractured and a rent formed bathing the cellar in nameless colors. Two people spilled forth and Iseret banged her head on the fallen masonry.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± She squinted her eyes and held her smarting forehead while she looked around.

    Only a very faint light came from a broken glowstone. The floor was mostly covered in broken stone. A long winding stairway led up to a moldy wooden door. Runes and sigils covered a part of the stone paving.

    She felt a soft touch on her back and turned to see Vanessa smile at her while saying, ¡°I nearly forgot to give you my seal. If the shadow demon is still around he would otherwise try to harm you. Now it should be safe.¡±

    ¡°Anything else you forgot? Maybe the cellar floods with water in a minute and I will drown?¡± Iseret teased with a smile before becoming serious and bowing deeply. ¡°Thank you for saving this servant''s life. I incurred a debt today and will bid my masters to have the grace to repay.¡±

    Vanessa looked at her with a raised eyebrow. ¡°I lack so much context with you and your culture. The old ambassador would only try to get benefits. He was not one to needlessly give others knowledge about him or his people.¡±

    ¡°That is the way of things. Giving your opponent the weapons to better hurt you was never a winning strategy.¡± Iseret¡¯s mischievous smile was back in place.

    ¡°You look like you are enjoying yourself.¡± Vanessa was a bit confused.

    ¡°Maybe. Don¡¯t think too much about it. Far more important- What will we do now?¡±

    ¡°Gesserachs Eye is still in the sky and I feel it draining my strength even through the stones overhead. If it is not a problem I would like to wait for nightfall before going out. I would like to rest a bit but you should take care of your needs before that. Should we meet up at the Cockerel or the Sturdy Mast?¡±

    ¡°The Sturdy Mast would most likely be safer. I don¡¯t know if Orpen still lives.¡± Iseret rubbed her chin.

    <hr>

    In the office of Magister Illimen.

    Magister Illimen looked at Lieseleta who was sitting in his office. ¡°My condolences for the death of your brother.¡± He inclined his head.

    ¡°Thank you for the sentiment. I would like to continue my studies after my unplanned absence but I will have to be accompanied by two knights at all times in addition to Jera.¡±

    ¡°That should not be a problem, I will inform the teaching staff.¡± The Magister shrugged. ¡°Anything else we can do for you and your family?¡±

    ¡°No that should be all. I thought it prudent to inform you of those matters as I return at an inauspicious time and will most likely cause you problems.¡± Lieseleta looked apologetic.

    Illimen smiled wryly. ¡°I will manage. Thank you for your consideration. By the way, did you hear about Leonhard Poroskar and Otto von Landesend?¡±

    ¡°No, there was not much time for me to listen to matters other than the assassination. What happened?¡± Lieseleta looked interested.

    ¡°The young Poroskar has been found to peddle Bluestone and was even found to have broken into the deep archives. Otto von Landesend seems to have received some benefits from him to force the duel with Alyssa. Sadly it will not be enough to cool the rumors and gossip floating around the school but it will prevent that group of malcontents from finding trouble with Alyssa and her friends. I thought it would perhaps ease your mind a bit to know.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I can¡¯t say that the knowledge that it was all deliberate and that there is criminal enterprise behind all of it makes me happy. Having it resolved is very welcome indeed.¡±

    ¡°I did think that might be the case and let us be candid. As long as the students here have the authority of their families at their fingertips there will always be some who will circumvent the rules or even break them- Though mostly it is not that brazen.¡±

    ¡°Could I trouble you with one last question?¡±

    The Magister nodded, ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°How is Alea von Graufurt? Do you know anything?¡±

    ¡°She is well I hear. She recuperated at her household and came back soon. She seems to be mostly recovered.¡±

    ¡°That is good to hear. Thank you for your time, I will take my leave now.¡± Lieseleta stood and nodded receiving a slight bow in return before exiting the study.

 If you cannot do anything else- study

    ¡°We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.¡±

    - Plato

    The Mensa ¨C Academy of the Arts

    Bertram looked at the students hurrying by outside. Because of the cancellation of classes today the mensa was much busier even now in the middle of the morning.

    He sipped at his tea. He was relieved to see his predictions come true. Alea still carried the blessing of the light. It would be needed in the future, he was very sure. He would have to firmly tie her to the church and the current situation with her family would be just the opportunity he needed. Standing with the last princess against her brother who would be the only reasonable candidate for crown prince would require the Graufurts to gather what allies they could. They could not refuse.

    Alea would be a living saint and her magic would be desperately needed to fend off the spreading darkness.

    Bertram smiled. It was all just in time.

    <hr>

    The Wisteria Dorm, Alyssa, Alea, and Mireille¡¯s room

    Lucille sat down and arranged her notes. ¡°I also think it is a good thing to begin to study today. With what is going on outside even the remedial classes are canceled. So let¡¯s begin with our first study group session!¡± She looked enthusiastic and cleaned her glasses thoroughly with a linen handkerchief. ¡°Even though what happened is simply terrible. I hope Princess Lieseleta will be alright.¡±

    All of them were silent for a moment at that.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be gloomy.¡± Alea smiled softly. ¡°We can only do our part. It¡¯s no use sitting here worrying and accomplishing nothing, might as well study. Before I forget- Vivienne and her brother have excused themselves for today. I don¡¯t know what they are doing really but as today was not planned it was perhaps to be expected that not everyone would have the time.¡±

    Alyssa nodded and smiled at Mireille who seemed distraught. ¡°It¡¯s sooooo long until the next test. Why do we have to start now!¡±

    Alyssa''s smile broadened a bit. ¡°Because of a certain someone failing the last one. Come eat some cookies, then let¡¯s get started.¡±

    Alea nodded and put Cecily on her head. ¡°Please excuse the silliness but it is a good position to overlook the table.¡± The small girl sounded a bit embarrassed.

    Lorelle arranged some dishes with cookies, some cake, and candy.

    ¡°Where did the angel with the cookies come from!¡± Mireille''s eyes glittered as she snatched a cookie.

    Lorelle blushed and retreated to get the tea.

    Soon scritching from their respective styli could be heard interspersed with some questions. Mireille studied seriously but had trouble keeping her focus.

    ¡°Is there something we can do to increase concentration?¡± Alyssa saw that there was a problem and asked.

    ¡°Yes, actually there is. But it is mind magic and a bit advanced mind magic at that. If you have made it this far as an arcanist you normally don¡¯t need it. Or at least the benefit is no longer as great.¡± Lucille answered.

    ¡°You looked it up?¡± Alea asked curiously.

    ¡°Yes, I thought it quite an obvious means of increasing the effectiveness of my studies. Thankfully I aimed for arcanist from the beginning so it will not detract from my chosen subjects at all.¡±

    A knock sounded on the door.

    The girls looked at each other.

    ¡°Lorelle- Could you get the door for me?¡± Alea asked.

    The maid opened the door and they saw Lieseleta standing inside the doorway.

    ¡°Lieseleta!¡± Alea stood up hurriedly. ¡°Come in!¡±

    The golden-haired girl smiled and entered swiftly before embracing the smaller girl with the clockwork spider.

    ¡°Thank you so much. I was so furious that I could not see you while you were ill. You helped me in such a great way and I could not even be at your bedside. Can you forgive me?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I was not really hurt. There were other problems.¡± Alea fell silent.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about that later- if you want to.¡± The princess smiled again warmly and tightened her hug. ¡°I am only glad that you are better.¡±

    Alea smiled and returned the hug.

    Then it was Alyssa and Mireille that greeted the princess while Lucille was very embarrassed and shy.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°You are having a study group?¡± Lieseleta asked.

    ¡°First let me give you my condolences and yes we did not want to go out and classes have been canceled.¡± Alyssa looked at the princess with a complicated expression.

    ¡°You did not know him, how could you mourn him.¡± Lieseleta sighed heavily. ¡°Even I cannot always be sad. There are times when I remember some good times with him or a small kindness he did me, even a joke he told well and then I grieve for him anew. But I cannot rest and sort it out at the moment. So please don¡¯t take extra care with me, be as you always were.¡±

    Mireille nodded, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for your loss.¡± She scratched at her cheek looked around and gathered a sleeping Semiramis from inside the blankets of the bed on the upper right and thrust the sleepy feline at the princess. ¡°Here, she always cheers me up. There are few things this amount of soft fluffy fur does not cure!¡± She looked proud of her idea.

    Lieseleta looked confused for a moment then gave a short laugh and accepted the hawk-cat into her arms where the lazy creature turned and found a good sleeping position.¡±Thank you.¡± She looked at them. ¡°Can I join you? I was absent for more than a week and even though I tried to study and learn a bit it was not always- or even mostly- successful."

    Another chair was soon brought in and Jera stood beside the door while the other two knights stood outside before the windows.

    Time passed in relative peace.

    <hr>

    Somewhere outside the city

    Vanessa sat with her back to the wall condensation soaked into her cloak and the glow of her blue-green eyes shone beneath half-lowered lids.

    Iseret stood up and looked at her before she winced as the many wounds covering her body were strained. Hugging herself she calmed her breathing and smiled sadly. ¡°Vanessa, I have to go report. And have my wounds seen to.¡±

    A small nod and an increase in the glow of her eyes was the only response. It was near midday and it was a testament to Vanessa¡¯s power that she was awake at all.

    ¡°I will try to hurry back as soon as I am able.¡± With those words, she walked out of the cellar room. A snake made of water curled in some deep cracks beside the door but did nothing more than coil endlessly.

    She ascended a stair made of skillfully cut stone slick with water and algae. Old drapery hung on the walls and as she came to the house proper the devastation was more visible in the pitiless light of day. ¡®Gesserach has always been honest to the detriment of everything else.¡¯

    It was strangely fitting that Nirileth¡¯s night would be more merciful in concealing the faults. Soon she reached the courtyard. Strange energies which she identified as residual death and void-magic tore at her injuries. Even grass was withered and the trees were dead and bare. Old, dirty snow covered the shadowed corners, and everywhere else was half-frozen mud. The sun seemed feeble inside this cursed mansion as if the warmth was blocked by the miasma of old wrongs. For a moment she was annoyed that Vanessa had to live in such squalid surroundings. Shaking her head to dispel such needless thoughts she began the journey back to the city.

    <hr>

    A few hours later inside the cellar of the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯

    Kadira looked at Iseret and her dark eyes seemed to hold countless calculations. ¡°So she saved you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my master.¡±

    ¡°That is interesting. You have my leave to accompany her and pay back your debt. I am loath to lose your capabilities at this juncture but sometimes there are more opportunities than hands to grasp them.¡± She smiled exposing her venom fangs. ¡°And this is not to be missed.¡± A hint of avarice gleamed in her slitted eyes. ¡°Do whatever¡­¡± she emphasized the last word, ¡°is necessary. But first, you will have to heal. Matane will see you now.¡±

    They were in a lavishly appointed bedroom with silky curtains enclosing a canopied bed, thick lush carpets, and tapestries with depictions both lewd and innocent covering the walls. The ceiling was a mosaic made of differently colored wood and showed a sprawling woodland orgy with satyrs and nymphs featuring prominently.

    The medusa was sitting on a cushion beside a low table and sipped on a hot beverage, probably tea.

    ¡°Come here and let me have a look.¡± Matane raised her shoulders and yawned delicately while holding a fan before her face. ¡°How is she?¡±

    Iseret, who was in the process of removing her dirty and tattered clothes raised an eyebrow. ¡°Can we do something about my injuries first?¡±

    ¡°You, my dear, are boring.¡±

    That brought a pained smile to Iseret¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t I know it.¡± She acceded good-naturedly.

    ¡°It¡¯s even more boring when you don¡¯t even fight.¡± The medusa looked at her with an annoyed look the snakes covering her head hissed softly. ¡°I could not come with you to help and then it¡¯s all over and I will have to do accounting. Me. Accounting. Can we not simply hire some idiot to do that?¡±

    ¡°We have been through that argument before.¡± Kadira patiently explained but a soft undertone accompanied the words and the snakes covering Matane¡¯s head became still and docile.

    ¡°Yes, my lady. I understand.¡±

    ¡°You have both done well. And if you use this chance to become closer to the vampire girl that much the better. Ask if you need anything. Regard yourself as being on detached duty. Call me for instruction only if you really need to. For everything else, I trust your discretion. We cannot be sure that Orpen is truly vanquished but we know he is no longer in the city. And I think that means he is dead. His underling unleashed the results of his blood cults experiments so we will have to be careful. The guard is out in force so we will lie low until this storm has passed.¡± Kadira got to her feet with boneless grace and left.

    ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± A soft chorus came from both the medusa and Iseret.

    <hr>

    Evening at the Wisteria Dorm.

    ¡°Asandria?¡± Alyssa stood beneath the barren wisteria before the small pool

    ¡°Do you need something?¡± Asandria''s ghostly voice contained hints of amusement.

    ¡°What should I do about the crystal?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow is a Sunday, isn¡¯t it? You could seek out a remote location and make it yours.¡±

    ¡°What will happen?¡±

    ¡°The crystal seed will burrow into your flesh and claim the deepstone to forge runes and pathways to better channel the void.¡± She was quiet for a moment. ¡°I am of two minds about telling you but I think it is better to be truthful- You will suffer as you have never suffered before. The seed will devour your flesh and carve your bones. The deepstone will be inlaid into your deepest self and a part of your life will be used to fuel that transformation. Your life expectancy can be fixed. There are alchemical means of which I am aware so don¡¯t worry.¡± The smile was like the slash of a knife in this perfect translucent flesh.

    ¡°Do I really need to?¡±

    ¡°If you continue as before- Yes. If you are cautious and only use it in a safe and controlled manner- Maybe. I cannot be sure if the advanced spells of the void will still harm you even with all the preparation you can and should do. So considering all that- Do it.¡±

    Alyssa pulled out the crystal with the tendrils roaming inside. ¡°What is that thing?¡±

    ¡°It is an abomination. A conglomerate of a crystalline life-form, golemwork, and the energies of the void. We should wait for Vanessa. Without her, your chances are much diminished.¡± Asandria looked pensive. ¡°And you still owe me the rest of that song.¡± She grinned.

 The dust settles

    ¡°Curiosity killed the cat,¡± Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable.

    Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? ¡°People always forget the rest of the saying,¡± she complained. ¡°¡®And satisfaction brought it back.¡±

    - Tamora Pierce , Trickster''s Choice

    Sunday came and went, they had another study group, and this time Vivienne and Valens were also in attendance. Together with Lieseleta, they occupied the common room because the dorm room was too small. There were some envious looks because of the august presence of the princess but no one was courageous enough to either join or scold them.

    <hr>

    Monday.

    Mr. Glames looked up at the students slowly settling down in their seats. ¡°I hope you had a good weekend because we will now study advanced usage of arcane languages. The Arcane Exhibition is nearing and I will not have my students embarrass themselves and me. The results of the academics test are out and can be seen on the blackboard. I must say that you did not let me down this time. There will be no remedial classes for the academic subjects- for now! If your results don¡¯t match our expectations in the future, we might think about that again. But at the moment I am glad to say that it is not necessary to extend the classes. So with that out of the way let¡¯s get back to arcane languages and their advantages for specific applications.¡±

    And with that formula and annotations filled the board while Mireille groaned. ¡°Could we not be rewarded for getting a good result? Why does he have to punish us.¡± She helplessly laid her head on the desk.

    Alyssa pinched her beneath the table causing her to sit up quickly. The white-haired girl whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t cause a commotion and draw attention. You don¡¯t really want to be punished do you?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille rubbed her eyes.

    Carl Askander von Margrinar straightened his cuffs and looked back at them. The light reflected from his eyes made them seem like marbles. Lieseleta stiffened at that. And if someone had been looking at her at that moment Jera was taut as the string of a bow.

    ¡®I don¡¯t think you have the luxury of choosing your battles anymore.¡¯ Asandria stood in the middle of the classroom, floating a few inches from the ground. Her diaphanous dress swept through some desks beside her.

    The crystal with the entity burned a hole in her pocket. Alyssa did not dare leave it in the dormitory because who knew when one of her detractors would look to steal something of hers.

    <hr>

    Later after lunch.

    Mireille had a lot of time today. The studying marathon for the tests was finished and the study group meant that she had done more than she would normally manage. ¡®Sword one¡¯ was suspended because the teacher was busy helping the school with security measures. It had begun to snow again. Thick white flakes drifted from a lead grey sky swaying with the wind coming in gusts. She leaned on the column beside the academy''s main building''s entrance.

    There was a restlessness that she had not known for a long time. After joining the army, fleeing for her life, learning magic, and attending a prestigious school she was never able to catch her breath. Now, today, the snowflakes had more momentum than her.

    She tried to catch the drifting flakes with her tongue not caring about the incredulous look of an upperclassman leaving the academy at the same time. Laughing to herself she set off as the senior shook his head in amusement. Walking swiftly she arrived at the academy gates and looked towards the smoke and light of the city.

    She had been hungry for as long as she knew. Not only for food, sometimes for attention, sometimes for success. She was never as desperate as some and her ambition was sometimes soft but it was always there. ¡°Nirileth guide my feet.¡± The invisible moon pulled her along as she walked towards the distant city. This craving, this want, was her drive. Always wanting a bit more.

    The empty fields were covered in snow and before she knew it she arrived at the gates. Without the carriage and its coat of arms, she was questioned by a cold-looking guardsman but with her uniform and an explanation, she soon was let into the winding streets of Kronenburg.

    Plunging into the alleys and byways of the craftsman quarter she passed houses and shops. People hurried about swaddled in thick winter clothes hoods and scarves pulled about their heads. The windows were blind with frost. Carried along by the surging wind she arrived at a small plaza. The houses rose high into the dark skies. The heavens were obscured by endless falling snow. A woman stood before a disfigured statue of a figure in long robes holding an orb in her left hand. The right hand and the face were broken stone. The cold was penetrating through her uniform coat and Mireille raised her hands to her face to blow some warmth into her stiff fingers.

    The bustle and noise of the city receded and only the wind remained. The sky tore open and a large moon hung overhead. ¡°Nirileth, the one seeking beyond the horizon, covetous one. Give me strength. Let me be who I need to be.¡±

    And as she prayed she felt cold lips brush her forehead and a voice spoke in her ear, ¡°When you lose, when you give, when your desire is greatest. I will help.¡±

    And when she came to she was alone. The statue was still there and the snow was falling but the moon was nowhere to be seen. She blinked and thought- ¡®Did I fall asleep and dream it up?¡¯ But there was this inexplicable feeling of warmth on her skin and the voice was still clear in her memory it did not seem to fade at all. Taking a few steps she reached the plinth the statue stood on. A faded, illegible inscription did not help her any further. Taking another of her precious coins she placed it at the base of the statue. ¡°Thank you, my goddess. You never let me down.¡± She smiled and thought of the day she was separated from Rhys and Challon, but she did not sacrifice the golden coin then so she did not have anything to be angry about.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    She turned around and walked back the way she came laughing at the antics of a group of children building a snowman. She amused the children by drawing arcs of lightning between her hands. With the exercises and her growing familiarity, she could feel the gate inside of her with greater facility than ever before for such small tricks no words were needed anymore. The lightning hummed and danced for her and the children laughed.

    <hr>

    Magister¡¯s office in the academy.

    Magister Illimen directed a magical quill with some gestures while pacing before the large window. His dark robes brushed over the polished stone floor. The air carried the faint hint of tobacco smoke. A knock came from the door and with an irritable voice, the old magister called, ¡°Yes? Who is it?¡±

    The door opened and Calvin entered. ¡°It¡¯s me. Remember? We agreed to meet after lunch. Am I right in assuming you did not have any?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± An unfriendly grunt was all the response he got.

    ¡°We have to talk.¡± Calvin looked serious. ¡°The bluestone peddling, breaking into the deep archives, assassinations. And worst of all.¡± He paused. ¡°The extant councilors will be returning early because of this mess. Thankfully we will get a reprieve until after the exhibition but our methods will be restricted and I think they will do their level best to undermine our intentions.

    ¡°That is a given.¡± Illimen grabbed his pipe hanging forgotten in the air in a shadowed corner. With a whispered word a small flame glowed briefly and the pipe was lit again. Smoking contentedly he sighed. ¡°When tobacco is the best thing you have left something is seriously going wrong.¡±

    ¡°At least it¡¯s not spirits,¡± Calvin smirked.

    ¡°Want some?¡± Illimen grinned back. ¡°Just joking. I will do everything but dull my senses at the moment. The day is short enough as it is. We have to increase the security for the two royal scions. After all one of them is very likely to become the next ruler.¡±

    ¡°Correct me but is Lieseleta not the last princess? Is not her sister still ahead of her?¡±

    ¡°There exist marriage arrangements for her that make that decision difficult. Additionally, the elder princess is, how to put it, somewhat unfit for the position. She is neither as intelligent nor as magically gifted. The ducal houses would not accept her. Lieseleta has both. If she has the ambition to match is the question. At the moment everything seems to favor her brother but the king is dissatisfied with him and suspects him of having a hand in the murder of the crown prince. If there were no other candidate he would swallow his rage and accept him for the good of the country but with Lieseleta there is an alternative even if it would be going against tradition.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Calvin nodded. ¡°It is mostly as I thought but I did not have much contact with the elder princess so I did not know her specific circumstances. So we will have to adapt.¡±

    A national day of mourning was announced on the next day and set for the end of the week. Until then prayers would be said in all major temples.

    In the Wisteria Dorm Alea fiddled with the Ayrton converter and blindly groped with her hand nearly punting a large glass vessel to the floor. Alyssa grabbed the teetering vessel and heaved a relieved sigh. ¡°Alea! Please be more careful I think that could have been a major catastrophe!¡±

    The large glassy container was half-filled with a blue crystal dust sparkling even when not exposed to a light source. A large parchment note read ¡®Mana Crystal, finely ground. Origin: Leports Manufactorium, Kronenburg. Handle with care.¡¯

    Alea turned around and gave an apologetic smile. ¡°The flask is spelled, it should not be damaged by a fall of fewer than ten meters.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no reason to be careless. After all the fuss about this dust, I would not take any chances!¡±

    Alea took the flask and opened it before pouring the blue sparkling dust into the converter.

    Alyssa looked ready to intervene but nothing went wrong. The automaton with the porcelain mask had been opened up and a modified chest aperture stood ready to receive the bronze core. First came a metallic clanking sound then a rising hum before several rings of copper began to rotate freely, held by sparking power. Runes began to glow with an inner light. Alea smiled and grabbed the converter with a large tong and inserted it slowly before it ratcheted into a recess and was slowly pulled into the construct.

    Gears that had long lain dormant began to whir everything was oiled and polished so there was no unnecessary grinding. The head jerked, the calipers on the fingers withdrew and were extended out again. The chest closed and the automaton righted itself before bowing deeply. A voice made of modulated static spoke ¡°Smiling Butler One greets the mistress.¡±

    Cyrus hissed at the metal man and regarded him suspiciously.

    ¡°I remember Butler One from the days of my grandfather. He made it and tinkered with it when he was dismissed back to Grunewald.¡± Alea rubbed her forehead. ¡°I had forgotten. And still, there are many details and memories missing. How do I know that something should be there but isn¡¯t? Don¡¯t ask, I don¡¯t know. Butler One was the most advanced of my grandfather''s works. I don¡¯t know how it measures up to today''s standards but I am confident in his skills.¡±

    With the slightest clanking and ratcheting sound, the automaton stood and went towards a corner where it folded its arms before the chest and then stopped.

    ¡°He was once designed to help me defend myself. Sadly he was not ready in time. The crystal core had just been acquired and now the core never really was used. I don¡¯t know what happened to it.¡±

    Alyssa listened and looked at Alea compassionately before hugging the smaller girl. ¡°That you can repair him is really astounding you should be proud. And it is good to have another means of protection.¡±

    Sunlight glinted on the porcelain mask.

    <hr>

    Iseret returned to her duties in the dorms the next day and did not mention anything other than that she would remain with them for the time being.

    <hr>

    A rash of brutal murders shook the lower city and the guard, as well as the forces of the great churches, tried to investigate. Strange creatures were sighted in the dark alleys and sewers.

    <hr>

    Vanessa recuperated and called her Shadowdemon who miraculously had still been in this plane of existence.

    <hr>

    The Reborn under Kadira were lying low but their hands extended in the darkness and consolidated their grip on the underworld piece by piece.

    <hr>

    Somewhere in the academy.

    Vivienne stood against the school building and the cold wind blew her green-white tresses into a tangle. Before her stood Melissa, the ill-fated girlfriend to be of the failed duelist Otto.

    ¡°Please help me. I don¡¯t know anyone else who could. If I ask the academy my parents will find out and I will be expelled.¡± Melissa¡¯s voice tapered off.

    ¡°Nothing is free and power least of all.¡± Vivienne looked at her contemptuously. ¡°If you continue you will damage your magic then your mind and finally it will cost your life. Why should I invest in a damaged tool?¡±

    ¡°Can you help me get rid of the addiction?¡±

    ¡°That is a good question. I probably could but why should you follow me then?¡±

    Melissa was tempted to reply with something like ¡®Gratitude and promises or oaths¡¯ but wisely kept silent.

    ¡°I think fear might be the best bet.¡± Vivienne looked at her again. ¡°I will help you, you will serve me. If you don¡¯t do what I want you to you will find out that my means are sometimes cruel.¡±

    Melissa shuddered. ¡°I swear it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ever forget.¡± And she handed Melissa a small velvet pouch that shifted with the nearly inaudible sound of shifting sand¡­or dust.

    The wind pulled at Vivienne''s hair and only her smiling mouth could be seen, white teeth glinting in the late afternoon sun.

 One conflict ends another begins

    ¡°No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.¡±

    - L. Frank Baum, The Lost Princess of Oz

    Assistant Professor Carmen raised a dark eyebrow. ¡°So we have three students who are late again. I fear my patience is very limited.¡±

    The class had convened on time in the basement of the academy. The stone biers were empty this time too. The air was chilly and faintly musty.

    Ludwig sneered and asked, ¡°Shall I close the door?¡±

    ¡°You may. Then we will begin.¡±

    Alyssa stood together with the rest of the students. They had an uneasy truce that in class they would simply ignore each other. But that was not a perfect solution by any means.

    ¡°Today you will form pairs and inspect each other''s spell forms. You should be strict and thereby learn something yourself. Switch the role every quarter of an hour. I will assist where needed.¡±

    Whispers accompanied the choosing.

    ¡°Come on. We did it together in the water class, why not here too?¡±

    ¡°Chrissy, come over! Don¡¯t you dare choose Ludwig!¡±

    Alyssa hoped for an uneven number of students so she did not have to choose someone but unfortunately, there were exactly twelve students in attendance.

    Ludwig grinned at her. ¡°Shall we?¡±

    A small wrinkle showed between her brows as Alyssa nodded. ¡°Might as well. Thank you for taking the initiative.¡±

    The rest of the lesson was mostly practical in nature and they cast the protective spell formula before slowly drawing on the force of the void. Ludwig was highly skilled at this and was more interested in observing Alyssa¡¯s progress.

    ¡°That does not look half-bad.¡± He inspected the whirling glyph cage that contained the void seed Alyssa had constructed. ¡°Now you could use this energy relatively free of harm. But I would tighten up the Xan glyph here.¡± He pointed.

    Alyssa felt as If she was trying to immerse herself in water but there was a thick membrane covering her. There was no coolness no feeling of cold ecstasy. It was highly dissatisfying. Like eating without tasting. And it was slow and powerless in comparison to Vanessa¡¯s teachings. It was probably an illusion but she could feel the crystal warmed by her bodyheat and the tendrils brushing the inside of the cage.

    After the class had ended the students hastily departed towards the mensa. Ludwig looked at the petite white-haired girl and asked, "Do you want to get lunch together?"

    Alyssa looked up and seemed taken aback, "Nn...no thank you. I promised my friends I would meet them. Thanks for the offer." Then she quickly left the room. Ludwig grabbed his bag and nodded at the teacher before he leisurely exited too. Assistant Professor Carmen raised an eyebrow and shook her head in exasperation.

    <hr>

    The mensa.

    During and after lunch, an outside observer looking from overhead into the mensa would have seen a situation like two magnets thrown into shavings of iron. Some oriented towards the one, some towards the other. Few were unaffected and the attraction and repulsion was strong.

    On the one side was Carl Askander the ¡®soon to be crown prince¡¯ if you could believe his followers, on the other Lieseleta Ophelia von Margrinar, the last princess. The prince got about two-thirds of those that were decisive.

    Cliques and groups with differing intentions formed inside those factions and some were amenable to changing sides, for a price.

    Melissa stood beside the group belonging to Askander and had a fawning expression on her face while internally she would have liked to be anywhere but here. Vivienne had left her precise instructions. She was to become a member of the inner group around the prince and report as needed. She was highly doubtful that after all was said and done she would still be alive.

    <hr>

    In the training yard during ¡®Sword One¡¯ Lessons

    Julia Parka von Ulms Wall, the teacher in attendance, rapped the smaller girl on the head with her wooden practice sword. ¡°And you are dead. Again. And you were sloppy with your defense...again. I think it is too early for you to be sparring, you should still be practicing your standard movements.¡± She sighed irritably.

    The rest of the class passed with most students engaged in sparring practice. Julia wandered in between and sometimes corrected and criticized errors with her sword. A rap here, a subtle jab there. In spite of the low temperatures, the students were sweating as they were finally let go. The sky was a cloudy blue and there was a steady wind.

    The smaller girl was still practicing her forms a look of grim determination on her face. She had dark brown hair bound to a single braid draped across her shoulders and hanging to the middle of her back. She was probably of Andrian descent and had a darker complexion.

    Mireille wiped the sweat from her brow and walked up to the stubborn girl silently regarding her efforts. After a short while she said, ¡°You are Paula, am I right?¡±

    The smaller girl stumbled and coughed before stabbing the longsword into the frozen ground and catching her breath while leaning on the impromptu cane. ¡°Yes.¡± She gasped. ¡°That¡¯s me. Paula Assernaidis. Do you need something?¡±

    ¡°No, I only think that you are not as bad when you are practicing as when you are sparring.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I guess?¡± Paula looked a bit confused. ¡°And¡­?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that it helps you much to be only doing solo practice. Want some help?¡±

    The brown-haired girl tossed her braid back over her shoulder and looked at Mireille critically. ¡°Out of the goodness of your heart? Or does it cost me something?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so suspicious. I profit from training as much as the next person.¡±

    ¡°If you are sure¡­?¡± Paula drew out the question.

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    ¡°Come on. If I don¡¯t move around I will freeze.¡±

    That settled it for the still doubtful Andrian and they began to seriously spar together. Because of the cold weather, the ground was half-frozen and slushy, dirty snow lingered in the corners and on the grassy areas. Their breath steamed before their faces. The crack of wood hitting on wood sounded rhythmically.

    When the sun touched the horizon they stopped. ¡°Puh. That went well. Thank you!¡± Paula grinned while shaking out her cramped arms. ¡°That helped a lot!¡± She rummaged in her pocket and unearthed some candy wrapped in oiled parchment. ¡°Here, have some as a reward.¡±

    Mireille laughed and took a few pieces. A small light bridge flared between her fingers and tore the cord wrapping the candy before she peeled and threw it into her mouth.

    ¡°How did you do this?¡± Paula looked envious.

    ¡°Practice.¡± Mireille looked smug.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be it. I am very practiced with fire magic and cannot do it so easily!¡±

    ¡°I have a gate.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Paula looked at her. ¡°Were you born with it?¡±

    ¡°No, I was branded in Rivenlorn and that somehow gave me a gate and it''s sort of instinctual now.¡± She admitted.

    ¡°Branded? How come you are here in the academy and not in the army?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a long story and it is getting late. Meet again tomorrow after class?¡±

    ¡°Gladly. I will bring some more candy. Thanks again for your help!¡± Paula smiled and waved at her before they parted ways.

    Several students greeted Mireille as she went back to the dorms putting a smile on the energetic girl''s face.

    <hr>

    Lieseleta smiled and waved at the departing classmates and as they closed the door she deflated and let her head fall on the table in her luxurious dorm room. Alea, who was still sitting beside her, raised an eyebrow. ¡°Tired?¡± Butler One stood behind her slightly to the side and in the shadows. The mask lifted and painted eyes followed the movements of the persons in the room. Jera stood beside the entrance.

    ¡°Not so much tired as mentally exhausted. I could probably walk a mile but if I have to persuade another person of the validity of my claim and hint at potential benefits I can and will scream. And then I will possibly faint.¡± the princess grimaced.

    She turned her head and then raised herself up. ¡°If the alternative wouldn¡¯t be to leave Margrinar in the hands of a potential kinslayer and after the coronation of said person I would most likely be sold to the cyclops. Or the merfolk. Whatever is worse and brings the most benefit. Perhaps even Ulsolm could be made to pay for me. And that would be the most uncomfortable yet. I am lucky that aunt Heloise and the prime minister are so good in shoring up my faction.¡±

    ¡°My uncle and my grandmother do what they can. Even Max is trying to help you.¡± Alea patted the despondent princess on the upper arm comfortingly.

    Lieseleta rubbed her forehead tiredly and then hugged Alea, ¡°Thank you.¡± Her eyes were a bit red and she looked to the side. ¡°I cannot fathom what happened to him in Sur Kesh. Carl was always a bit cold but we were the youngest siblings and got along well. He was funny in a dry sort of way. He could always make me laugh. And now I don¡¯t know if the attempt on my life and my brothers¡¯ was his doing. I could never have even imagined saying such a sentence. My father is livid. Carl got that coldness from him and the king will deliberate thoroughly before deciding anything but I think he genuinely loved his son, my brother. When there is evidence there will be a reckoning.¡±

    Alea listened attentively. ¡°The murder of my parents, the death of my grandfather...was probably instigated by my family. I cannot say it in public but you should know. The Nordmarks covet the lands near the mountains hoping for taxes when the Thundersplit Pass becomes more usable and riches in the form of ores and coal from the earth. When you say it like this it is far from unbelievable that your brother has changed.¡±

    Outside a group of students passed and they heard their chatter and muted laughter through the closed windows.

    ¡°We should think about integrating sound dampening runes into the windows.¡± Alea mused. ¡°We would not want to be overheard discussing sensitive matters.¡±

    Lieseleta gave a tired smile. ¡°Might be worth the effort. Jera?¡±

    ¡°I will inquire with the school, my princess.¡± Jera bowed her head.

    ¡°I could do it?¡± Alea raised her head dark hair swaying. ¡°The necessary runes are not difficult. I would need engraving tools and sorcerer''s ink. And some mana dust to prime the runes.¡±

    Lieseleta looked surprised, ¡°You can? I thought applied runic lore would be a subject for third years?¡±

    ¡°That may be true but I studied first with my grandfather and later on my own. There was not much else for me to do and I quite like runes and mechanisms.¡± Her small hand rubbed her chest where a clockwork heart whirred endlessly.

    Later as she left the princess and walked back to the dorm she thought about it. Was she even alive? She had memories now. Memories of dying to the quarrel sent by the young man in that alley on that day. Her grandfather did something. He held her soul in the small clockwork spider while he repaired her body. Her grandfather was not a healer he was a scientist, a magician, a tinkerer and so he removed the defective piece and installed a new one. But for that to work... Her thoughts wandered about how he could create a mechanism that would run for years without being charged, without being maintained. There were other memories still but they were hazy and she had an impression of a knife¡¯s blade hidden in mist and velvet. And she feared to grasp blindly because the cut would be deep and she had been hurt once already.

    Butler One followed her, his steps merely soft thuds on the paved ground. His movements were nearly natural with just the slightest hitch when changing action patterns.

    Other students regarded the two warily but one or two looked envious. Personal automatons were not unknown after all but because of large shortcomings were seldom used and expensive besides.

    <hr>

    After dark beyond the city walls in a certain cursed mansion.

    Vanessa looked up from her work. She had been crafting runes in a somewhat cleaner room in the basement and was now charging them with power. She had forgone the use of mana dust and that was always much more difficult and time-consuming than the alternative.

    Iseret leaned against the empty doorframe and looked at her with a slight smile on her face. The room had probably been a wine cellar once upon a time and four columns stood in a square connected by stone arches, empty stone shelves lined the walls. The small vampire was squatting in the middle and cut magical symbols into the stone with a claw of blackened ice.

    Vanessa stood up and stretched like a cat. She seemed a bit irritated that she had to look up at the taller snake-girl.

    ¡°Do you really get back pain?¡± Iseret asked curiously.

    ¡°No. Not anymore. But before you ask- It is a pleasant sensation to stretch so I do it. What brings you into my humble cellar.¡±

    ¡°This cellar is humble indeed. Why don¡¯t you move into the city? Orpen has not been seen in a while and divinations say he is either no longer in the city or even this world.¡±

    Vanessa wiped some moisture from her cloak and answered, ¡°I have grown fond of the mana-distortions around here. Scrying me is next to impossible and it also is quite defensible. And the void residues won''t harm me.¡±

    ¡°I wanted to ask you if you needed anything and the girls would very much like to see you if you are free this weekend.¡±

    ¡°My very active social life thankfully has some vacancies this weekend. I will come to the townhouse- Don¡¯t ask me to come to the academy other than in an emergency.¡± Vanessa raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I was not going to. The academy staff I talked to had a pretty interesting story about a small person, probably a woman, breaking into the grounds at night shortly after the first assassination attempt. The mage I got the information from bragged he nearly killed you.¡± She grinned.

    ¡°Yes, yes. I was sloppy and had gotten caught.¡± Vanessa¡¯s tone got softer. ¡°I was worried about Alea.¡±

    Iseret walked up to her and looked into her glowing eyes. ¡°That¡¯s adorable.¡±

    ¡°Stop that! Why are you even still here! You have given the message, and I will come. Shoo!¡± She gestured strongly.

    ¡°Do you really want me to leave so soon?¡±

    Vanessa looked at the slit-yellow eyes and counted the fine scales framing them like the most delicate of inscriptions and became a bit flustered.

    ¡°Do what you want but I still have work to do in contrast to a certain very idle person.¡±

    The smile on Iserets lips widened and she radiated silent amusement as she went to stand in a corner. ¡°If you need me to do anything just ask.¡±

    ¡°This is difficult work. I have to align the gathering array with the ley lines beneath the house.¡±

    ¡°You know line-work?¡± Iseret looked impressed.

    Vanessa straightened with subconscious pride, ¡°Yes, I was tutored by the finest line-sculptors in the empire. My father, sadly, was always too busy to teach me but my mother sometimes had the time.¡±

    She extended a claw of dark ice and cut another curving symbol into the stone. The ground had been smoothed and the stone blocks had been fused into a single great slab. On that space had been drawn a half-finished circle of magical runes. After the rune was finished a shimmer ran through the completed net of sigils and the room was illuminated with silver fire for a moment.

    Iseret regarded the smaller girl and admired the play of light on her delicate features. Crossing her arms in front of her chest she leaned into the corner and the hood of her cloak shadowed her features as she settled in to wait.

 Preparations

    ¡°It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.¡±

    - Philip K. Dick, VALIS

    The man pursed his lips and spoke a short spell and flickering light bathed the room while everything took on an unreal shimmery appearance like being underwater bathed in the sunlight filtering down from far above. He wore a white robe edged by silver embroidery. His hair was wispy and his pale white flesh shone through. The features were gaunt to the point of illness but his dark eyes held a near feverish vitality.

    Gesturing he raised a large opal inscribed with runes and with a shattering crack the jewel burst into pieces which were absorbed into the air forming two indistinct figures who got more defined by the second. One of them was the crown prince while the other¡­

    A being made of sinewy tentacles leaned languidly on the doorframe while looking at the fallen man. The writhing vine-like appendages were arranged into a humanoid figure with voluptuous curves, the head was androgynous with rows of sharp triangular teeth. There was a certain lithe beauty to the creature- if you could stand the tentacles and all.

    ¡°A Lyru Daemon and a high one at that. It would not have come cheap, neither in the effort to summon nor in the means to compel.¡± The man rubbed his chin. ¡°But sadly that does not tell us who conjured it. We could have a look at the aetherial disturbances of the last month or two. The Order of the hidden Eye should have a map.¡±

    An older man in the rich clothing of a royal steward nodded. ¡°I will inform his excellency. Spare no expense the culprit must be found.¡±

    The master of the tower of time gave an acknowledging nod.

    <hr>

    In the south of Margrinar inside a prosperous mansion.

    Jamila Esmeralda von Nordstrom smoothed her troubled expression and knocked.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    The room was lavishly appointed with paintings framed in gilded wood, walls of gleaming white, a polished marble floor, and a white heavy desk. The person behind that desk was nearly two meters tall with a flowing blonde mane glittering in the morning light. White robes with blue highlights and gold embroidery completed the picture. His hair was held by a golden diadem. A short beard framed his dimpled chin.

    High windows looked out over a carefully maintained garden barren because of the weather.

    ¡°Good to see you, Jamila. I hope the journey was uneventful and the tidings good?¡±

    ¡°Greetings Mr. Grenzwald.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so stiff. In private you can call me Taberus.¡±

    ¡°I think I should not get in the habit of calling the honorary councilmember of the academy and heir to the Grenzwald fiefdom and their manufactoria by their first name.¡±

    ¡°Still as stubborn as ever. But be that as it may, I heard a lot of the happenings of the last months and am very curious about your take on things and how we are positioned for further actions.¡±

    ¡°There were complications. Alyssa Miner is still somewhat liked because of her strong bond with the last princess via Alea von Graufurt. I would not have thought the timid girl to have such deep plotting skills. The duel went as expected but Otto von Landesend and Leonhard Poroskar were sanctioned for severe misdemeanors. Otto at least is still at school if lying low at the moment while Poroskar was expelled. Calvin is sadly not amenable to making a deal even when I put nearly all of our offer on the table.¡±

    ¡°Tsk, tsk. Miss von Nordstrom, I expected your charms to tilt the balance at least enough for us to ensure his neutrality. Are you sure you did everything you could?¡± He emphasized ¡®everything¡¯ and his pale eyes bored into her.

    It took some doing to refrain from fidgeting but Jamila managed. ¡°Yes. I think there is nothing to be gained from making a fool out of us and trying to woo him further. The bluestone dealings have damaged the school''s reputation even though it is expected that some of that takes place anywhere there are a lot of the magically gifted. We should use that.¡±

    Taberus took a decanter and filled a crystal glass with an amber liquid. ¡°Peach liquor from Pareus. Care for a drink?¡±

    ¡°No, thank you.¡±

    The older man looked Jamila up and down not hiding his scrutiny. ¡°By the way, my offer still stands. If you would accompany me for a week or two I could make the tomes available for your perusal.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but no need.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself.¡± He took a deep draft. ¡°So. We should get back to business. In the next weeks, the other councilors will return and after the Arcane Exhibition, we will have the vote of confidence. When Illimen is ousted I will be in position to take over and you will be made a full professor. And after a few years have passed to make it more palatable for the hidebound traditionalists you will be appointed Master of the Tower of Air. Sounds good, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

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    Jamila forced a smile. ¡°Yes, that is certainly what I wished for.¡±

    ¡°How can we make life more difficult for Illimen and his supporters?¡± Taberus mused.

    ¡°We could arrange for an accident. Perhaps one that could be taken for another assassination attempt. We could implicate another teacher in the bluestone scandal.¡±

    ¡°Good ideas. I think we should go for...both.¡± The blonde man grinned widely.

    Jamila nodded, ¡°I will arrange it. But this time I might need some help.¡±

    ¡°And you shall have it. I will arrange for some men to be made available to you as well as some of my more deniable resources. But do bring me results this time, Mh? I so hate to be disappointed.¡±

    The smile on his face became cold before turning brilliant again. ¡°I insist you stay for supper at least. So feel free to refresh yourself in the meantime. I will send a servant to get you when it is time.¡±

    The woman bowed, turned, and left the room. As the door closed with a metallic click the eyes of the older man turned colder still and he gripped a small bell shaking it without a sound.

    Shortly after a servant entered. ¡°Driamar. Please arrange for a shadow to be attached to Miss von Nordstrom. I fear that she has gotten a bit too independent for my tastes.¡±

    The servant gave an affirmative nod waited for a second and Taberus gestured for him to leave. He refilled his glass and savored the smell drifting from the syrupy liquid while looking out of the windows thinking deeply.

    <hr>

    Inside the Crooks outside of Kronenburg

    Iseret drew her khopesh and twirled it lazily before leaning beside the door. Vanessa arranged her cloak. As always she looked a bit too small for the heavy cloth. They were in the middle of the Crooks and it was nighttime. The lost eye had set already and darkness reigned. A dog barked in the distance and a woman scolded someone, probably her husband. Somewhere nearby in one of the wooden houses adjacent to this muddy alley, someone mumbled incoherently.

    Without much of a signal the smaller girl slashed the door with her claws, wood splintered and burst as she jumped inside, Iseret followed suit.

    Inside was a scene straight from a charnel house. The occupants, two older men, had been torn to pieces and a monstrosity formed like a centipede made of ribs and bone held together with sinew and muscle covered in a thin layer of gleaming mucus feasted on their entrails. Sickle-like appendages like the mandibles of an antlion cut into the dead bodies and slurping sounds could be heard. The other end featured an elongated stinger.

    Vanessa spoke a short spell and a lance of ice steaming with frost shot into the tail and nailed the creature to the floor. Whipping around like a taut wire suddenly cut it tried to skewer her but was yanked back by the barest measure. The mouth part opened and multiple tendrils with hooklike teeth undulated like seaweed. A gust of fetid breath blew in her direction causing her to wrinkle her nose in disgust. Then there was the sound of metal meeting bone and the head drooped, held only by a thin string of sinew and a bit of bone.

    Iseret raised her khopesh and finished it with another blow. Even the disciplined snake woman was affected by the sight and drew back her head as liquids gushed from the separated parts which were still twitching.

    ¡°So this makes three. The double monstrosity in the group housing counts as one I think.¡± Iseret gave a half-smile and then cleaned her sword with a short incantation. Water ran over the blade taking slimy dark blood with it.

    ¡°Yes, I think so too. Those two here are beyond help. Let¡¯s finish for the night.¡± Vanessa still had a faintly disgusted expression and pulled Iseret out of the door.

    Seeing her so comfortably grabbing her the snake woman smiled.

    ¡°What? We need to leave before someone comes and associates us with this mess.¡±

    ¡°Naturally.¡± She had a slight smile as she said that.

    ¡°Hmpf.¡± Vanessa felt her dignity slipping away and let go as they were outside again. The air stank of soot and the leavings of humanity but everything was better than the sweet rotting stink of the beast.

    ¡°Are you okay heading back to the academy at this hour? Will it affect you tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°I will be fine. I¡¯ve had worse.¡± Iseret put one hand to her chest and bowed. ¡°It is important work we do here. The poor aren¡¯t even protected by the watch and I fear that some of those monsters are able to propagate. I am glad that you took this responsibility upon yourself.¡±

    ¡°Go before you swell my ego any further. Thanks for tonight and safe travels.¡± Vanessa hugged herself and nearly vanished inside her cloak.

    Iseret smiled at the bundle of cloth, spoke a prayer, and jumped up to the roof of the small cottage to her right before jumping with great, wind magic assisted leaps towards the distant city wall.

    Vanessa looked after her departing companion. Despite the horrifying scene, she was somewhat satisfied to have gotten another of Poroskar''s creations. What in the nine hells had he been doing and for what purpose?

    This damned city was much more dangerous than she had expected. The girls were constantly in trouble and now there were assassinations and rivalry for the throne. She would have to be prepared. Mentally she went over the possible means she had to further strengthen herself and her friends.

    And she did not even care for anything but her friends and eventual vengeance on the Heart-Stealer.

    She heaved a deep sigh and spoke a spell greatly lessening her weight and jumped for the nearest rooftop before swiftly venturing towards her adopted home.

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorms

    Cyrus jumped on the table and the cup of tea shook so much that some of the hot beverage spilled. Alyssa looked at her companion and thought again that it would have been more practical for him to remain a bit smaller. He had hit a growth spurt lately and was now half as big as she herself. It had been sad to see him so disheartened as he tried to jump on her shoulder and nearly bowled her over. She could still carry him because his body was still lean and most of his height came from the long neck but sitting on her shoulder was...inconvenient.

    Butler One gently took the cup calipers extending with a soft ''snick'' and blotted the spill with a bit of cloth.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alyssa absentmindedly said.

    ¡°My pleasure.¡± The buzzing words gave the girl goosebumps and she looked a bit suspiciously at the lifelike automaton. Did it have a mind of its own?

    The wyvern bumped his head against her shoulder and mentally complained about the lack of attention. Grinning wearily she fed him some scraps of dried meat she always carried with her. Like some people with horses who always had an apple or two at hand. She had been exposed to Maximilian who liked to ride when he was free and had spotted this habit of his.

    Today they would return to the townhouse in the ivy terrace and tomorrow she would accept the crystal being into her body. She shuddered and pulled Cyrus close. But she would not give up on being able to use void magic. It had been a part of her since birth and for all that it had harmed her, it was her most potent gift. She was special because of it and it gave her the power to determine her own fate.

    And if she was completely honest, the rush it gave her when the gate in her chest opened and the power tinged with pain flowed from her fingertips...there was not much she would miss more.

    Asandria felt the direction of her thoughts and smiled.

 Sowing a Seed

    ''As you know, madness is like gravity...all it takes is a little push.''

    - Heath Ledger, The Joker

    Vanessa listened to Asandria. ¡°So it is like this. Did you really find a crystal seed? Isn¡¯t that too coincidental?¡±

    ¡®It was found in the deep archives of the greatest institution of magical learning in Margrinar a land that overlaps with the fallen empire. If one were to ask where such a thing could still be acquired it would be there, wouldn¡¯t it?¡¯

    ¡°True. So she will attempt a fusion?¡±

    ¡®That is the plan.¡¯

    ¡°I will assist of course but does she know the dangers?¡±

    ¡®I explained it to her. We should nonetheless make a rejuvenation elixir for her after the act.¡¯

    ¡°Mh. Of course, for an elf a few decades is not that much but for a human¡­¡±

    ¡®It will be a little bit less than that. It is in part proportional after all and humans don¡¯t have that much longevity.¡¯

    They stood together on the roof of the townhouse. There was a small balcony in front of the windows to an attic room which was quite suitable for their talk.

    <hr>

    Down in Alea¡¯s room, the three friends and Iseret were sitting on whatever was available, the bed, some chairs, Mireille was sitting on the table.

    Mireille was playing with her lightning forming a cat''s cradle and then elongating the arc to become a circle. Cyrus tilted his head and hissed.

    Alea looked at Alyssa worriedly. ¡°You are no elf do you really think that will work?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know too much about it but I trust Asandria. She never steered me wrong. And there are problems that have to be addressed.¡± Alyssa looked down and then added somewhat defensively, ¡°Well, it¡¯s true isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Mireille laid back on the table and swung her feet. ¡°I think it will work out. I got branded, didn¡¯t I? And I think this will be a bit similar but worse? But instead of having a disinterested old geezer do the deed and standing in a line in a training yard, you will have several sorcerers to care for and protect you. It will work out you will see!¡±

    There was a knock and after Alea called for them to enter Iseret and Vanessa walked in.

    Mireille looked interested. Did the little vampire enter a room through a door for the first time? She thought back and it should be the case. She grinned.

    Vanessa looked at the grinning fox on the table and had an incipient headache. ¡°Where do we go for the ritual. It would be best to prepare a bit. We don¡¯t want to be caught lacking.¡±

    Alea rubbed her chin and said, ¡°We could go into the study or the basement. The study is much nicer and even if the floor is damaged it would not be a big deal but there is furniture that would have to be moved. There is an empty cellar with all the lacking amenities you would expect.¡±

    ¡°I think we should take the cellar. I would feel guilty for damaging a perfectly good room.¡± Alyssa mentioned.

    ¡°Then the cellar it is. I would like to start preparing. If someone could show me the way? When I am ready I will call for you.¡± Vanessa nodded decisively.

    Alea rang a bell and one of the servant girls entered and bowed. ¡°You called?¡±

    ¡°Please guide her to the unused cellar. We have to do some magical practice and that seems to be the best location. Make sure that she gets what she needs but is otherwise undisturbed.¡±

    The black-haired girl in the frilly uniform nodded and there was only a fleeting expression of confusion as she heard about leading someone into the cellar. ¡°I will do so immediately my lady. Please follow me.¡± She politely gestured for the little vampire to follow.

    Iseret nodded, ¡°I will come along too. I can be an intermediary for materials or other necessities.¡±

    Vanessa seemed deep in thought and simply nodded along.

    <hr>

    Down in the cellar.

    Iseret did what she seemed to be doing a lot in recent times, she lurked in a corner.

    Vanessa meanwhile was painstakingly carving symbols into the smoothed stone.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Slit-yellow eyes followed the careful cuts and admiration could briefly be seen in her gaze before returning to the prior cool regard.

    After she inscribed the runes and checked their alignment she took out several batches of mana dust and some impure mana jewels. Without looking up Vanessa said softly, ¡°Those were the best I could get on short notice without resorting to darker methods.¡±

    Iseret thought for a bit and answered, ¡°It looks like it should be enough. You could ask Alea though, she recently had some project where she was rebuilding an older automaton. Perhaps there is some dust left over?¡±

    As it turned out there was.

    Completing every preparation all assembled down below. The frigid air of the cellar crept into their bones only Vanessa was unaffected though Iseret proficiently pretended to be indifferent.

    ¡®It is simple. The seed was made with the intention of being used without much additional effort. But you are no elf and the seed is old. It will take more from you than from a member of my kindred. It will work out have no fear. Make a slight incision on your left arm and simply place the crystal on the wound, the rest will happen on its own.¡¯

    Vanessa looked a bit uncertain and after Alyssa walked away from them toward the circle engraved in stone she asked, ¡°Asandria, are you sure?¡±

    ¡®There will be no problems and we are running on borrowed time. An investment like her will not come again.¡¯

    The words were spoken softly, like the wind blowing through an ancient ruin at night without a moon. And she looked at Alyssa with a possessive gleam in the dark hollow of her eyes.

    Alea and Mireille stood near the entrance and Mireille began to be a bit nervous about the whole thing and leaned over to her smaller friend, ¡°Should we do something? I think we could ask the school if there are other methods. I heard that they have ways of helping with most common problems. And that void is damaging to living things is something even I know.¡±

    Alea shifted her clockwork spider to her other shoulder and looked a bit uncomfortable. ¡°The academy uses tried and true methods, that is correct, but I don¡¯t think they fit Alyssa. Do you want her to stop?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know enough and don¡¯t want to hurt her by keeping her from a great opportunity but I fear that this will get ugly. Just a feeling.¡±

    Asandria floated closer to Alyssa, ¡®It is time. Vanessa has to charge the warding circle and then you should activate the seed.¡¯ Expectation colored her voice.

    Alyssa swallowed dryly and took the crystal seed into her hand. Vanessa nodded and activated the runes. The circle burst into brilliant life the crystallized mana infusing each and every line. A low hum hung in the air and there was the reek of ozone. Some of the more prominent runes in the central circle began to heat up and the stone began to shimmer in a dull red. A prepared razor cut a long thin line along her arm while the white-haired girl hissed with the sudden sharp sensation. The tendrils waved agitatedly and she did not hesitate any longer and pressed the crystal against the wound.

    There was a faint cracking sound and the formerly stiff crystalline object shifted in her hand before she felt a soft touch like fine hair brushing over her flesh.

    Then there was the disgusting sensation of something burrowing into her arm as pain spread from the point of entry and the whole arm throbbed with unhealthy warmth.

    The tendrils shot into her with the speed of a striking snake boring into her bone, her muscles, and along her sinews.

    Pain.

    Pain that flayed her mind with hooks of jagged ice. Hot and cold at once. And then there was the feeling of something burning, shriveling in her breast. Faintly she sensed the runes in the circle flaring with actinic brilliance wreathing all in light and shadow.

    So much pain that there was no pain only a white-hot emptiness. And then the gate inside of her opened wide, wider than she ever thought it could, or should, go.

    The agony flared anew and she saw herself as if standing beside a mirror, her arm was covered by bloody rents dripping fluid, black tendrils dove into and out of her body weaving runes and symbols into the very fabric of her existence. Another sharp flash of rending pain and her left eye slowly filled with inky black while the left half of her face was traced with fine runes just under the surface. A sort of hollow ringing sound filled her awareness and someone- or something?- said something to her in elvish.

    The void completely escaped her control. The gate opened wide and she was unsure if she could ever close it again. Something that had been there at the duel looked at her and a hand grasped at her soul. A formless hulk of lightless matter, it sucked in light and life its presence like the first knowledge of mortality. The border between the worlds crumbled.

    Asandria looked at the being that crossed the threshold from the dimension of void and spoke a short sentence. The elemental froze and the glowing eye shrank back containing a hint of fear as it retreated cautiously in the presence of a predator greater than itself.

    Alyssa gratefully embraced unconsciousness.

    The stone around the runes glowed a sullen orange and cracks appeared. Mana jewels grew dim, dust flashed into grey falling to the uncaring ground as inert dirt.

    Mireille jumped forward sparks flying and hugged the falling Alyssa. The arm was streaked in vivid red, runes marked every inch, the nails had become blackened and the color was greyish white. On the inside of her lower arm was an elongated crystal with a shining reflex in the center. The left half of her face was lit by darkly glowing runes from within, the eye was completely black. While she watched the blood began to burn with colorless flame and flaked off. Rubbing her teary eyes on her shoulder while holding her friend she ground out, ¡°I knew that was a bad idea. Why! Asandria what were you thinking!¡± She felt a cold that went beyond the physical radiate from the marked hand.

    Alea was only a short distance behind her and concentrated on a healing spell, glyphs spun and warm light shone from her palms. Alyssa¡¯s back bowed as she violently seized and black smoke wafted from her left side which blackened beneath the benevolent rays of positive energy. She hastily stopped and clumsily applied a potion she got from her belt.

    Vanessa looked tired and faintly displeased. Iseret leaned towards her and raised an eyebrow questioningly while whispering, ¡°I take it this was not as it was discussed?¡±

    ¡°No. But what did we expect? I only heard about the seeds when they banished the clan. The Keralis Erh, the Soulweaver Clan. They were the first to be banished since the end of the age of titans. That should have told me something. But on the other hand, it seems to have done as needed, in addition to all the...improvements.¡±

    Iseret raised her hand and hesitated before placing it on Vanessa¡¯s shoulder. ¡°And you feel responsible for them.¡±

    ¡°I taught them and tried to help them. They are among the few who don¡¯t meet me with weapons drawn. Yes, I feel uneasy when I see that happening before me. But I don¡¯t want to steer or lead, I only want to help. So I can¡¯t complain about their choices.¡± She sighed, ¡°And before you ask. The runes give me a lot of information about her health. She is not in danger at the moment but I fear her vitality is severely drained. We will have to get access to a real laboratory. The one in Grunewald would be good but I don¡¯t think they will want to travel.¡±

 Waking up

    ¡°If you¡¯re different you always know it, and you can¡¯t fix it even if you want to. What do you do when you find out your heart is the wrong kind? You take what you¡¯re given, and be the hero you can be. Hero to your own cold, inverted heart.¡±

    ¨D Austin Grossman, Soon I Will Be Invincible

    Waking up.

    Sunlight filters through the curtains.

    She blinks her eyes and there is a slight blurring.

    She opens them fully and watches the rays creep along the walls.

    On the right, there is life and light.

    On the left, there is a grey patina staining everything with a tinge of dust and decay. The curtains show flaws, little rents, a thread that has been washed one time too many. The stones show cracks, and there is the beginning of rust on the flat head of an ornamental nail. Entropy is the light by which this eye sees and there is no darkness, for there is decay everywhere.

    She lifts her hands and the left one feels free of anything resembling effort or pain. There is power there thrumming beneath the cold white flesh. There are runes to guide it, and a simple sentience lurks in the small crystal reflecting sunlight- like the pupil of an eye. Meticulously made.

    Void gushes from her fingers and it is effortless, there is no pain. A torch that devours instead of giving.

    Pain is an illusion, when it¡¯s gone you have no evidence that it was ever there.

    But there is a memory of agony beyond measure. She feels a frailty, a lack, inside of her, as if the power had hollowed her out to make room for more. And she is unsure if it is something she would have wanted or something to be feared.

    Light creeps over the quilts covering her form.

    And she closes her left eye which hurts from the brightness.

    <hr>

    A spectral hand brushed aside her hair and Asandria smiled at her, eyes and upper head transparent before the window, ¡®All will be well, you will see.¡¯

    Cyrus roused from where he had been sleeping shook his head unwillingly before pouncing on his mistress butting her nose painfully with his horned head.

    ¡°Ouch!¡±

    ¡°You are awake!?¡± Mireille came into view, sleep-deprived and with deep rings under her eyes, she looked worse than the last time they had parted. ¡°How are you? Do you feel any pain?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± An unwilling moan was her answer, then Alyssa whispered hoarsely, she had hurt her throat while screaming, even as she no longer remembered that part too clearly, ¡°Water!¡± she coughed. ¡°Please.¡±

    A glass of lukewarm water was placed on her lips and she sipped before coughing again.

    ¡°Thank you. My throat¡­¡± she gestured helplessly at her neck.

    ¡°I understand. Please take it easy. I will ask the kitchen to send some soup?¡±

    Alyssa nodded.

    ¡°You look more an undead than Vanessa.¡± Mireille looked at her critically.

    Her friend furrowed her brow and looked at the red-headed troublemaker. ¡°Why?¡± She croaked.

    ¡°You did know what would happen, at least approximately?¡±

    For a moment Alyssa wanted to deny it but then nodded shallowly. ¡°Mostly.¡±

    ¡°So you deserve to be punished. Do you know how much you worried Alea and me? Even Vanessa was very taciturn. I hope it was at least worth it.¡± Putting the glass back on the side table Mireille stretches sitting on her chair. ¡°We have delayed the return to the academy. Today is Tuesday already. You slept for more than two days.¡±

    Alyssa winced.

    A maid came in after knocking and put a serving tray with some covered dishes on the bed. Mireille nodded and began to carefully feed some soup to a very embarrassed Alyssa. The left eye was onyx-like in appearance and the incongruence of feeding this ethereal-looking girl let a half-grin appear on the red-heads face.

    ¡°So rest some more, tomorrow we will go back.¡± Mireille gave a complicated look and added more softly, ¡°I can -finally -go and rest. You can ring for someone to help you when you need it. I pray to Nirileth that Vanessa comes through with her promised thingy.¡± Noticing Alyssa¡¯s questioning gaze she smiled, ¡°an artifact containing an illusion of your prior appearance. Trust me. You don¡¯t want to run around looking as you do now.¡±

    And with that, she smoothed the quilts and turned to go. As she reached the door she hesitated and looked back, ¡°Was it truly necessary?¡±

    Alyssa looked in her direction and shadowed runes rippled beneath her skin, one eye a brilliant purple the other pitch black.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    <hr>

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Somewhere in the northern dockyards during nighttime

    Vanessa clicked her tongue in irritation while Iseret looked on with faint amusement. They stood together in an old cobbled alley. On the left side there were warehouses and some shops, on the right rose shabby apartment buildings.

    They had searched the neighborhood for signs of infestation by the strange bone and blood creatures and found...nothing much. There had been a violent altercation between a dockworker and the close ¡®friend¡¯ of his wife. That nearly cost the latter his life but such was a normal occurrence in the docks.

    ¡°Do you think the other forces and we two have managed to contain the problem?¡± Iseret mused while she adjusted the cloak of her compatriot.

    Vanessa shifted her posture so that Iseret could more easily help her then irritated by her own complacent action shook herself like a wet cat and answered, ¡°No, I think we simply got the simple ones. Those more inclined to feed than hunt and those least able to conceal themselves.¡±

    The slit yellow eyes of her companion looked at her without blinking, ¡°That is sadly the most probable cause. So what do we do now?¡±

    ¡°What does Kadira say?¡±

    ¡°She is pleased with the direction you have taken. She was a bit worried that you could have developed an appetite for ruling a territory after seeing Orpen in action.¡±

    ¡°How did she arrive at that conclusion? I never had an interest in trying to herd sheep or in this case rats.¡±

    Iseret looked at the few passersby that still frequented the alley at this time of night and saw dirty clothing, threadbare coats, thin and malnourished faces. Some of the more prosperous persons looked at them with naked avarice or lust until they realized that the snake-woman was armed and armored and Vanessa¡¯s eyes dispelled any other untoward thoughts. ¡°Stray cats?¡± She smiled, ¡°Some of them at least.¡±

    ¡°You know what?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°I will use Shadelings. It has been some time since Orpen used them to hunt me but they were quite effective other than me having the means to evade them. They are not a big danger to society as other summoned beings and they excel in hiding and searching- perfect.¡±

    ¡°That does sound quite useful. Do you need anything? I can probably requisition it as necessary expenses to secure the city.¡±

    ¡°I will let you know.¡± Vanessa smiled at her companion and Iseret smiled back.

    <hr>

    The next day in the morning at the Ivy Terraces.

    Alyssa staggered as she stood up from the bed. All the muscles in her legs were sore and her throat still hurt, her voice was a bit hoarse. She stood before the large mirror set on the wall beside the bathroom. She had not used this guestroom she had been assigned in the beginning and everything was a bit unfamiliar.

    Disheveled white hair spilled towards her hips, her face was more sharply cut than she remembered, flesh had burned away as readily as everything else. For a moment she saw the fine network of runes covering the left half of her face, her left shoulder and arm. Her eye was an orb of inky black. Even the color of her skin was that of a wax statue perhaps, pale whitish gray.

    She lifted her hands and stretched yawning. At least it did no longer hurt even as there was still the feeling of emptiness in her breast, a hollow feeling. The gate never completely closed, she had tried. But it did not seem to harm her any so she let it be. She traced the outline of her eye in the mirror with her left hand and saw wisps of darkness follow her fingertips. When she closed her left eye those motes of magic vanished.

    A knock sounded on the door.

    ¡°Wait a second! I will quickly put on some clothes. ¡° She grabbed some robes and cinched the cloth belt around her hips before calling out. ¡°You can come in!¡±

    The door opened and the dark-haired maid that had guided Vanessa before entered. ¡°Good morning.¡± The girl stopped for a moment still a bit shocked at her appearance even though she should have seen her while caring for her. ¡°Mylady Vanessa left some things for you, there is also a note.¡±

    She set down a package wrapped in simple cloth.

    ¡°I was asked to relay that it would be best if you could come down soon, breakfast is ready and the young mistress is anxious to return to the academy.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± And as she saw the maid still waiting she added, ¡°I will be fine.¡±

    The door closes with a ¡®snick¡¯ and Alyssa unwrapped Vanessa¡¯s gift.

    A note fluttered onto the table.

    ''Don''t remove the amulet after wearing it or it will have to be attuned anew. The gloves block a bit of your void magic, so I recommend using them. They will probably last for about a month or so. I will look into a more permanent solution.

    Be safe.

    V.''

    Two gloves long enough to cover her lower arms to the elbow and a simple necklace made of an alloy of orichalcum and silver were inside. She grabbed the amulet and pulled it over her head. She felt something like a tiny prick as the runes began to gather magic from her body and as she turned her head her outline shifted slightly and her dark eye became purple once more, her flesh returned to its formerly pale but somewhat healthy color.

    Breathing a sigh of relief she did her morning ablutions and put on the academy uniform and the gloves before going downstairs to eat.

    They gathered in the courtyard after the meal and Adam looked them up and down. ¡°Ladies.¡± He nodded, ¡°Everything ready?¡± After receiving nods in return he grinned and gestured, ¡°Then come in we will leave at once.¡±

    Alyssa smiled. A bit of normality was highly welcome.

    <hr>

    Somewhere else.

    The face was unnaturally beautiful and perfectly symmetrical, the eyes were like pools of summer sky, the hair was like the finest silk blowing in the wind. The woman leaned against a balcony of pale white stone her lithe but curvy form only barely covered by a gossamer gown. The sky was a great vortex of clouds leading up into a vast darkness. She raised her delicate white hand and¡­

    the bones of her hand clacked against each other, tendrils of magic guiding were flesh and sinew once did, blindingly white¡­

    the head turned and supple skin stretched in a yawn her hand held coquettishly before the dainty mouth, full cheeks showed slight dimples¡­

    spots of light in empty eye sockets shone like dying stars, glared with pale blue light- everywhere her gaze touched, the legions of undead paused and lifted their heads, skeletons, wights, spirits, monstrosities of fused iron and soul¡­

    lips lifted in a quiet smile and¡­

    the mask shifted and there was a skeleton with the remnants of flesh clothed in the garments of lost life. Inside the ribs, a crystal heart was beating with the lifeblood of the world reducing her rich robes to transparency. The seeming of days gone by flickered and she was revealed in all her eldritch glory.

    She was like a beacon flaring with power drawing everything in, nothing could escape the pull of her being. There was nothing here that was true, nothing that was real ¨C beside her.

    The city was like the ribcage of a gigantic beast all white spires and broken roofs and it had slumbered for hundreds of years drowned in snow and ice as its mistress had despaired.

    She had become more active of late and then, just now, there was a hint of power to the east a familiar power she had not tasted since her imprisonment.

    Her thoughts quickened and she opened her mouth to laugh. Even miles away the feeble creatures of this ruined land crouched low and hid in their burrows as mortal fear burned through their tiny minds. The clouds shifted and a bitter wind blew. As if the city were breathing.

    Skeletal fingers pierced the thin skin of space and a long rod of blackened stone scored with runes and topped with a blade of smoky glass appeared and was firmly grasped.

    Groups of undead gathered and silently left towards the south, she would have what she wanted, she would have the key and she would have her freedom.

    The heart of Ulsolm slowly began to beat again.

 Concerns

    ¡°Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.¡±

    ¨D Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose

    During ¡®Void and Necromancy for Beginners¡¯

    ¡°Please stay after class. I have to talk to you.¡± After saying this to Alyssa, assistant-professor Carmen sorted her notes and began the class as usual.

    Whispers came from the students and she turned while raising an eyebrow. ¡°Does anyone need more homework? I can accommodate each and every such request so please feel free.¡±

    The whispers stopped. Ludwig furrowed his brow and looked at Alyssa he seemed to want to ask something but refrained after a quick look towards the tall woman in front.

    The lesson passed and the basement room emptied.

    Carmen gazed at her intently. Then she took her hands feeling the fabric of the gloves. ¡°Netherspider silk. Expensive and for most people unpleasant to the touch but quite resistant to void energies. Alyssa Miner. What did you do?¡±

    Alyssa lowered her eyes guiltily. ¡°I found some ways to help me wield the void.¡±

    ¡°What drives you? You have a noble family that pays your bills and waits at the end of your stay here to give you paid employment. No, it is even better than that, you are even friends with your employers. You should be without much care and enjoy your time here. Why?¡±

    ¡°I...cannot really tell you. You would not believe me and declare me mad.¡±

    ¡°So you won''t even try? If we analyze your affinity again, will we find any large changes? I wonder.¡±

    Alyssa raised her head some alarm in her eyes. She hesitated again and hugged herself before she spat out, ¡°I have to defeat the lich queen of Ulsolm.¡±

    ¡°Come again!?¡± After waiting for a short while Carmen sighed. ¡°You really believe that? Who put you up to this? It should not be the Graufurts they are much too sensible for such nonsense. The princess? It would be a coup if you managed it at her instigation but there is absolutely no question that you won¡¯t. Not in this life or the next. So, not her. Who?¡±

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I manage?¡±

    ¡°Did you ever think about what your magic represents? Void magic is among the worst to combat the undead. Yes, you can. Especially spirits. But if you had that ambition why not simply use light magic the natural antithesis or even better a priest wielding light magic amplified by his or her god. Like, say, Alea von Graufurt?¡±

    Asandria smiled and whispered, ¡®Naturally, I have some ideas on that. Don¡¯t worry I have it all planned out.¡¯

    ¡°What distracts you?¡± Carmen spoke a spell and her eyes widened. ¡°Gods. Child, what did you do to yourself?¡±

    ¡°I can wield void without danger now!¡±

    ¡°That is like saying the cornfield is safe because you personally burned it to the ground!¡±

    ¡°Everything can be healed and the runes help me channel the void more safely and efficiently. That is what our past lessons were all about, wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°I truthfully don¡¯t know what to say. I would have to know what exactly you did. Your ¡®modification¡¯ looks elven in nature. I will have to ask the Magister for this, this is more than I can determine on my own.¡±

    ¡®We surmised that you could not hide it from the teachers. It¡¯s all within expectation.¡¯ Asandria laid a calming hand on her back.

    ¡°I understand. But isn¡¯t it customary for some families to engrave certain spells into the flesh and bones of their scions? Why is it different with me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask that. With those ¡®scions¡¯ we know what we are getting. With you? Not so much. So bear with it.¡± Carmen had calmed herself and shook her head ruefully. ¡°I knew you were trouble the moment I saw your affinities. So don¡¯t do anything strange and I will talk to Magister Illimen. He will decide how to progress further.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, professor.¡± Alyssa bowed gratefully.

    ¡°Assistant Professor if you please.¡± She rubbed the bridge of her nose. ¡°I am interested in knowing what that is. I would not do it myself- probably. But it could be a solution for other firebrands like you." Her eyes softened a bit, "Whatsoever shall I do with you.¡±

    The last was spoken with some affection and she leaned towards the girl before stroking her head. ¡°When I was a student here I would have been tempted by the promise of power. I am still tempted, but I also fear more. And that is a...good thing I suppose. This fear. If you had but quietly studied and learned. We have ways here in the academy. Rituals. To temper soul and flesh. It¡¯s useless now, but please do remember. We are here for our students and I won¡¯t kill you for asking something relevant. But you have to ask.¡±

    She smiled a bid sadly. ¡°You are dismissed. You can expect the summons in the next days.¡±

    Alyssa left in a daze. Other students were still talking in the corridor leading away from the stairs. Some eyed her and whispered. She was used to this but now...she saw the imperfections in their flesh. The slow decay radiating from the leather of their boots. Every blemish was amplified and there was no beauty anymore.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Helplessly she closed her left eye holding her head. And the right saw the sun slowly dipping toward the horizon. The fresh snow. The young students full of life.

    Feeling the power flowing through her deadened left arm she sighed. ¡°It¡¯s all worth it. Only one step on the way.¡±

    ¡°Is everything all right?¡± A young girl with a single braid who sometimes talked with Mireille- Paula?- stood beside her and asked.

    ¡°Yes. Only a bit dizzy. I should have eaten more at lunch but I was not hungry then.¡± She gave a strained smile.

    ¡°Here, have a candy. I usually keep some with me.¡± Paula smiled and handed her a candy wrapped in cloth and fastened with a colored string.

    Without thinking about it the void cut into the string and the cloth fell open.

    ¡°How do you two do that!?¡± Paula looked highly dissatisfied. ¡°Mireille does it with lightning and you with...mh...spatial magic?¡±

    ¡°Void actually.¡± Alyssa looked curiously at the energetic girl. Did they not all know of her?

    ¡°Oh. So that¡¯s what it was. Neat.¡±

    Alyssa grinned. ¡°I can see why Mireille spars with you often. If you like come to our dorm room sometime. We have good teas and cake.¡±

    ¡°I am usually quite busy but I will try. Thank you!¡±

    ¡°No- thank you for the candy.¡±

    And perhaps it was her delusion but even with her left eye, the girl looked quite well indeed.

    <hr>

    Some days passed- Inside the study of Magister Illimen.

    Calvin looked at his friend. ¡°I seem to remember you told me about an appointment just about now?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. That is indeed the case.¡± Illimen smoked as usual and looked distracted. ¡°Assistant-Professor Carmen bade me look at a special case.¡± He sighed. ¡°And it is the student we tried to get through the Arcane Exhibition. Alyssa Miner. She is involved with a lot of problematic happenings lately.¡±

    ¡°I heard some of it and was there for the duel. So yes, I know.¡± Calvin nodded. ¡°I had my apprentice Jeremiah keep an eye and an ear open for gossip and problems. He told me she was distracted in class lately.¡±

    ¡°Something happened to her. Carmen, who I greatly respect, told me that she made some extreme modifications to her body to facilitate void use.¡±

    ¡°That sounds...not good.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to be there for the interview? I would be grateful for an additional unbiased point of view.¡±

    ¡°I have the time. I will stay.¡±

    A knock came from the door.

    ¡°Please enter.¡± A gesture gently opened the door showing Alyssa.

    In Drathur Illimen''s eyes there was an overlap of a carefully constructed illusion and the girl''s real appearance. He could appreciate the workmanship and for a moment lost himself to the question which enchanter would have the ability and delicate touch for such a work.

    ¡°Magister? Good day to you, I come as summoned.¡± Alyssa nodded in greeting and fidgeted slightly while still standing at the door.

    The Magister shook himself and nodded, ¡°Good to see you, Alyssa. This here is Calvin Ambrose a friend of mine. I asked him to be here. You might remember him from the day of your duel?¡±

    ¡°Greetings.¡± Alyssa nodded once again. "And yes, I do."

    ¡°So with that out of the way. Tea? Some shortbread?¡±

    The girl was at first a bit startled then smiled and answered, ¡°If it is not too much- both?¡±

    ¡°Good choice.¡± Illimen rose but was preempted by Calvin who placed a tray with some shortbread and a tea set on the table.

    ¡°Have a seat both of you. Thank you.¡± The last was addressed towards Ambrose.

    ¡°So, it has come to my attention that you have made magical modifications to yourself using means of uncertain provenance. What can you tell me about that?¡±

    ¡®You can tell them that it was an item from the Keralis Erh. A friend knew about your plight and helped you.¡¯ Asandria whispered.

    Illimen and Ambrose exchanged a look.

    Alyssa spoke, ¡°I used an item that came from the Soulweaver Clan of Elves. A friend of mine knew what it was and did.¡±

    Illimen nodded. ¡°I would like to cast some spells on you. Please remain seated.¡±

    He stood up, gestured and the old staff leaning beside the table flew into his outstretched hand before he began to incant a spell in earnest.

    Calvin leaned back. ¡°That will take a bit of time. Feel free to eat some cake or would you like some tea?¡±

    Alyssa looked highly uncomfortable. ¡°What do you intend to do?¡±

    ¡°That depends on the nature of your changes. If it is not harmful to the school or other students then we will simply keep you under observation as such things are never completely safe. So please be calm. Wouldn¡¯t you rather want your teachers to be concerned about such things than simply ignore them? If it were some other student and he or she harmed you or your friends because of our inaction would that not be a problem?¡± Calvins calm words reassured her and Alyssa took a piece of shortbread and dipped it in the tea.

    Illimens chant came to an end and an array of glyphs and symbols surrounded the small girl before winking out. The older man looked pensive and as he became aware of Amboses¡¯ questioning look he said, ¡°Bad, but not as bad as feared. There is at least no arrangement for mind control or something like it. It is in short a very advanced form of brand. Not a surprise regarding its origin. How you got it to work and survive that process is another question entirely. You have much-diminished potential for earth and nature. Light...I would not even think about it. And your vitality is very low. All in all not a healthy proposition.¡±

    He put the staff back beside the table and sat down again. ¡°You have less control over your void magic than before so you will have to work hard to gain that back. Wear the gloves at all times other than when you are under supervision by a teacher and said teacher allows you to remove them. This comes at a bad time with the Arcane Exhibition only a few short weeks away. Work hard, if you cannot get a decent result things will be difficult for you. I cannot explain at this moment but the Exhibition is more important for you than simply another exam. Keep that in mind. I will ask Carmen to give you some additional lessons on Saturday.¡±

    Calvin gave him an amused glance at that. Illimen shrugged uncomfortably.

    Alyssa nodded, ¡°Thank you for your consideration.¡± She was still confused at what all of that meant. The goodwill shown by her teachers made her embarrassed but also happy. ¡°I will work hard to get back the control I lost and will comply with your wishes.¡±

    Illimen smoothed his eyebrows with his index finger and took a long draft of tea setting the cup down again he said. ¡°You should guard against too great an ambition. Even a great work will fail if the foundation is lacking and there are no shortcuts to true excellence. Those might sound like platitudes to you but there is a lot of truth to it. Being unfamiliar with your own magical capabilities is a recipe for disaster especially as they get stronger. Who was that friend of yours?¡±

    Asandria laughed softly, ''Tell him. It makes no difference- just...gloss over my condition will you?''

    "She is called Asandria and is an elven sorceress."

    "Asandria, mh. The name does not ring any bells. Would she be willing to come to the academy for a discussion of her methods?"

    "I will ask."

    Afterward, they talked about her studies and her home situation and finally, she said her goodbyes and left.

    ¡°There already was an anchor on her aura.¡± Illimen caressed his chin while gesturing for his floating pipe to come to him. ¡°I put my own besides that.¡± He grinned.

    ¡°Can you guess who put it there?¡±

    ¡°It was of an unfamiliar make, elegant and somewhat elusive. If I were to be put on the spot it¡¯s most likely elvish in origin.¡±

    ¡°As is the greater work that has been done to her.¡± Calvin nodded. ¡°The same ¡®friend¡¯ she mentioned?¡±

    ¡°Possibly. There is a complex artifact embedded in her left arm that allows her to move said arm freely even though it is nearly dead from most perspectives. Said artifact did most of the work so it would not have needed an elven practitioner.¡±

    ¡°All of that for a poor runaway from Rivenlorn. There is something more behind all of that. Shall I have Jeremiah look after her again?¡±

    ¡°That would be helpful. Yes.¡±

 Questions

    ¡°We can never be gods after all- but we can become something less than human with frightening ease.¡±

    - N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

    ¡°STOP¡± Julia Parka von Ulms Wall gestured sharply and Mireille stepped back. Her sparring partner was breathing heavily and favored his right leg as his left was developing a colorful bruise from the hit he had just taken.

    ¡°Gerald go put some ice on that. Liriel should be able to spell you some.¡±

    Then the large woman grabbed Mireille by the neck like a recalcitrant cat and pulled her to the side. ¡°What is eating you? Normally I have to remind you to take the sparring more seriously what happened?¡±

    Mireille looked rebellious for a moment then sighed. ¡°It¡¯s a friend of mine. She has some...problems.¡±

    ¡°At the moment we have still half an hour of lessons left so I cannot spare the time now but do you want to talk afterward?¡±

    ¡°I...don¡¯t know. It¡¯s personal and I don¡¯t want to betray a trust.¡±

    ¡°I understand and can commend that thinking but do take care that you don¡¯t hurt yourself or your friend by inaction. I will listen if you want to talk about it. Take your time. But until you are more stable I will assign you some exercises that don¡¯t risk other students'' legs.¡± She gave a half-smile and slapped Mireille on the back causing her to cough. ¡°Do ¡®Serpent strikes the Deer¡¯ at least fifty times.¡±

    Mireille groaned but nodded.

    ¡°33, 34, 35, 36¡­¡±

    ¡°That looks as if you have calmed down some.¡± Julia looked at her critically.

    The cold wind swept over the mostly deserted training field. The hedges were evergreens that still boasted thick foliage but the rest was mostly wilted brown grass and gravel, some dirty snow. The sky was light grey with a thin cloud cover.

    ¡°Come here, let me spar with you for a moment.¡± The tall woman shrugged her neck and rotated the wooden longsword in her hand. Mireille stopped what she was doing and readied herself.

    Parrying an overhead chop by sliding the blade along the guard of her sword Mireille jumped back before swiping the tip of her degen towards Julia¡¯s legs. ¡°You like to set your target low, mh?¡± Jumping the large woman nimbly closed the distance and hit the blade of the smaller girl''s sword where it joined the grip and with a soft crack, the wood broke.

    ¡°Mh. Drat. Those ironwood swords are expensive.¡± Julia cursed.

    Mireille¡¯s fighting spirit was roused and after discarding the useless grip she concentrated and a blade made of lightning rose from her hand.

    ¡°Oh, so the kitten has grown some claws.¡± Julia grinned and focused before her blade began to shimmer with a metallic sheen.

    Solidified lightning crashed against wood reinforced with metal. Mireille became faster as she began to subconsciously draw on her gate, shooting from place to place with sparks flowing along her feet. Tendrils of energy shot through the metal and wood blade and grounded into the towering woman who gave a fierce smile. ¡°Good! Come on I can take it.¡±

    The flat of her blade hit Mireille in the stomach and she somersaulted backward while rolling with the blow. Flipping back to her feet her left hand began to spark and a spear emerged. Parrying with the haft she cut with her sword and scored a hit on Julia¡¯s left upper arm. Turning and cutting with the backhand she was -just ¨C blocked by a metallic fist.

    Lightning arced while thunder rolled. Dismissing her weapons she spun back putting her hands against each other and pulled another large sword from in between.

    Mireille relished the fight, the unthinking physical action, and Julia seemed to do the same.

    The ground was blackened by energy discharges and both were covered with blue and black hematoma as the fight finally ended.

    Julia shrugged her shoulders and jabbed her sword into the frozen ground. Then she spoke a spell and light flared from her hands. One she put on her own breast with the other she grabbed the neck of her student. ¡°Hold still.¡±

    Life-giving sunlight flooded into their bodies and the bruises lessened and the pain smoothed out a lot.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Mireille panted after the exertion, still drenched in sweat but at least no longer hurting.

    ¡°You are welcome. It¡¯s rare that I get that good a workout.¡± The larger woman laughed. ¡°So thank you for that. But you know what that means do you?¡±

    Mireille looked at her with a bit of apprehension.

    ¡°You will have to work a lot harder in the future as I now know you can.¡± Julia laughed harder still then calmed herself. ¡°Still not going to talk?¡±

    The girl looked at her with a conflicted look. ¡°What would you think of someone who gave up a part of themselves, an arm say, for being better at magic. To gain more power. And I fear she might hurt herself further.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not so strange a question as you think. I could have exchanged a hand or an arm with a metal one possibly enchanted. I could even use them better with my magic. Probably. But- I would ask: What for? There might be a lot of legitimate or even admirable reasons. But there are a lot of bad ones too. So decide if the reason they have is a good one. And if not...you are her friend are you not?¡±

    Mireille looked at her and pursed her lips before nodding.

    ¡°I think I get the gist of it. This friend of yours, she sacrificed something, her arm? Her health? It¡¯s quite common really. Mostly it''s some sort of fay pact or other. The broken kingdoms have some of those. I recommend strongly to think before you jump. Those pacts don¡¯t favor the ones asking for them, at all. I would talk to her about it and try to find out what she is wanting all that power for. And then try to get her back on track. There is a lot that can be gained in magic and life without sacrificing something more precious than your time and work. If you need my help you can ask. Does that help?¡±

    Mireille nodded.

    ¡°I have to go and get some rest. Tomorrow will be another busy day. Be careful with exerting yourself for today. I am not very proficient in light magic and the healing might unravel when tested. If anything hurts go to the infirmary.¡± Julia squeezed Mireille¡¯s shoulder and then turned to go.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Mireille was stunned for a moment and then called after her, ¡°Thank you!¡±

    Without turning the muscular woman waved over her shoulder, ¡°You are welcome. Treat me to another spar some time!¡±

    The red-head winced. ¡°Sure thing.¡± Then she also went back to the dorms. If she hurried she would still be in time for dinner.

    <hr>

    In the Wisteria Dorms.

    Alea looked at Butler One. ¡°Commence dialogue function.¡±

    ¡°Enabling dialogue, shutting down arms.¡± The buzzing words slowly grew more distinct before sounding nearly human at the end of the sentence.

    ¡°I am worried about Alyssa.¡±

    Butler One tilted his head as if in contemplation. ¡°Did something happen?¡±

    ¡°She always was driven in regards to her void magic. I cannot really understand, is it not something that will come with studying on its own? Why sacrifice parts of your body, your life?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t understand an equation either your intellect is lacking or you are missing some parameters. My master and I used to hold your mind in high regard so I think it is the latter. If you don¡¯t know something look it up or ask someone who knows. In this case that would be the subject itself. The correct designation was ¡®friend¡¯ was it not? That is slightly lower than family which has the highest access level other than the creator himself. So she should answer you.¡±

    ¡°I should simply ask her?¡± Alea looked troubled. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°This automaton is a facsimile of a normal person. It was made by transferring knowledge and patterns of thought from voluntary subjects. So I cannot be sure how close I am to a ¡®normal¡¯ person. But in my estimation what I said should be correct. Simply ask. You will gain in knowledge either way.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°If she declines to answer I recommend the lowering of her designation to ¡®close acquaintance¡¯ because it seems like this question carries a lot of importance to you. Either way, you benefit.¡±

    Alea frowned, ¡°That is not exactly how I would put it.¡±

    ¡°Why? Please clarify.¡± Butler One swiveled his head towards Cecily her spider.

    ¡°A lowering of her designation would hurt me, I don¡¯t have many friends.¡±

    ¡°This was noted. I then recommend putting her in a position where it would be problematic for her to refuse. You could also hire persons to force her to divulge the answer. So you could avoid the lowering of her designation. You would gain the knowledge required. It seems a satisfactory conclusion.¡±

    ¡°Butler One. End dialogue function.¡±

    ¡°Ending dialogue.¡±

    Alea got up and the automaton followed her at a respectful distance. They had been in the dormitory, Alea had gotten back a bit earlier and used the quiet moment to have this chat with the construct. At least she had gotten back the memories pertaining to its commands. There was more but that was for potentially dangerous situations. She was glad that she had refueled Cecily at least. She did not want to have to do it with Butler One so soon.

    Putting on her coat she exited the building. A light snow had set in about an hour ago and the streets were dusted with a light layer of white. Like powdered sugar. The small girl hugged herself and quickly walked towards the noble housings. Something Butler One had said about being friends had resonated with her and she wanted to talk to Lieseleta.

    A boy glanced at her and took a step toward Alea. Butler One quickened his steps and came to stand between the two.

    The boy looked embarrassed. ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    Alea looked at him uncomprehendingly, ¡°Yes? Do you need something?¡± She was very glad for the presence of her automaton at this moment. Strangers made her uncomfortable.

    ¡°I have Light-Magic together with you and was impressed by your Eye of Arun. Do you have some time in the evening? I would love to talk to you about that.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I have something I must do and am quite busy besides. Might I suggest Alexandra von Stetten? I discussed the spell with her and she should be knowledgeable about it.¡± Silently she added ¡®I hope she is not bothered by my unasked for recommendation.¡¯

    The boy''s face fell a bit. ¡°Then could we perhaps get lunch together sometime?¡±

    Alea got more confused by the second. Would he want to be tutored about light magic during lunch? ¡°Sorry. I will think about it and get back to you. It''s very cold and I have to get inside soon to warm up again.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry to keep you. Until next time.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye.¡±

    And as she hurried along she heard him calling behind her. ¡°I¡¯m Robert, Robert Marksman of the Lambrecht Marksman!¡±

    She quickened her steps and lowered her head. What did those people want from her?

    Arriving at the noble dorms she knocked on Lieseleta¡¯s door. Jera answered her call and ushered her inside. ¡°Her highness is still with some potential supporters. So if you want I could bring you into the kitchen to warm up. It would be best if we don¡¯t interrupt. The negotiations are delicate this time and we would not want to frighten them off.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Do you know how long it will be approximately? If it gets too late I should simply come again another time.¡±

    ¡°Not that is perfectly alright. The princess planned for a late dinner, you are cordially invited of course. And did not plan for the guests to stay for that. So...perhaps three-quarters of an hour?¡±

    Alea nodded and adjusted both her spider and the blindfold before she followed into the kitchen. Butler One positioned himself in a corner

    ¡°That is some mighty fine automaton you have there.¡± Jera looked admiringly. ¡°What does it do?¡±

    ¡°It is a butler first and foremost. It can do most household functions though cooking is sometimes a bit rough. It is primarily for self-defense.¡±

    ¡°Defense?¡± Jera looked the construct up and down. ¡°It looks a bit unwieldy and frail for that.¡±

    ¡°That is misleading. It was made using the latest magics used for war golems and it was then customized personally by my grandfather. There is only this one. There were some prototypes but they lack many of the functions this one has.¡±

    Butler One lifted its porcelain mask and the painted eyes seemed to regard Jera. The eternal smile on its mask was eerie in the dim light at the corner.

    ¡°The only problem is that it was planned to be powered by a mana jewel with a gathering array. The jewel was damaged when I reactivated it so I could only replace it with a dust generator. That is far from satisfactory.¡±

    Jera¡¯s eyes glazed over and she nodded along.

    After approximately half an hour the door to the living room opened and they heard voices in the corridor leading to the entrance.

    ¡°...very nice...thank you.¡±

    ¡°..high time. Good night!¡±

    ¡°¡­.care.¡±

    Then the front door closed with a thud and steps neared the kitchen before the door was opened with a bit of force and a drained-looking Lieseleta entered. ¡°Jera! I need some wine.¡±

    ¡°Your highness, you have a guest.¡±

    The princess coughed and cleared her throat. ¡°Ahem. Alea!?¡±

    The smaller girl smiled. ¡°Good to see you Lieseleta, do you have some time? Or is it inconvenient? I can go if that is the case.¡±

    ¡°No, no you are not inconvenient. But I really need a drink. Is that ok with you?¡±

    ¡°Do take care not to get drunk. Tomorrow is a normal workday after all but no, I don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Lieseleta sat down smoothed her long dress and took the proffered glass filled with white wine. She wore a pale gold dress with flowers embroidered in off-white. She took a deep draft and shook her head while tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. ¡°Ah, that was necessary.¡±

    ¡°Is everything alright?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡±

    ¡°What happened.¡±

    ¡°I am still far behind my brother. And he is not working hard at it. I twist myself into a knot to simply keep the supporters I have and he gains them by simply being him. It¡¯s more than a little unfair.¡± She swirled the wine in her glass.

    Jera meanwhile got some cold dishes and arranged them on the table before she warmed up some soup to go with it.

    ¡°Butler One, please help Jera.¡±

    The automaton swiftly and surely grabbed the bowls of soup and distributed them on the table. The movements were smooth with only a slight jerkiness.

    Jera nodded. ¡°Smooth. Perhaps there is something to what you said.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here Alea? Not that I am complaining, but you normally don¡¯t like to leave the dorms after dark.¡± The princess looked at Alea curiously.

    ¡°I had something I would like to talk about with you.¡±

    ¡°Please, distract me. I am all ears.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about Alyssa. Please keep what I say in strict confidence.¡± She got a nod in return and then continued. ¡°She used an old elven artifact and it fused with her. She hopes for it to alleviate the damage using her void magic does to her. But her left arm looks like it¡¯s dead, I heard that she has expended vitality and life expectancy and her left eye is like a marble made of onyx. I cannot fathom this.¡±

    ¡°Sounds pretty special when you say it like this. Did it work?¡±

    ¡°She seemed...satisfied by the result?¡±

    ¡°I did not get to know her very well but she seemed like a quiet serious kind of girl.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I would recommend talking to her. There must be a good reason. But even if there are, there are most likely less invasive solutions to her problems. If it is something I can help you with, please ask.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alea felt a bit better. ¡°I tried to talk to Butler One and he advised the same.¡±

    ¡°Your construct?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should feel insulted?¡±

    ¡°It''s a very advanced construct?¡±

 Consequences

    ¡°There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.¡±

    ¨D Sun Tzu, The Art of War

    Saturday evening after sundown in the Ivy Terraces Townhouse.

    Vanessa stood on the roof with her back to the slope gazing outwards over the river. The globe of smog and ash was driven by the wind and looked like a river of roiling clouds. Her mood was somber and the cloak swaddling her small body blew with the wind. The lost eye gleamed through high scattered clouds, the air was cold, snow covered the city. Iseret crouched beside her a silent shadow, a scarf wound tightly around her face.

    A gigantic zeppelin hung over the merchant''s quarter turning with the wind.

    ¡°Should I go back?¡± Iseret broke the silence first.

    ¡°I think that might be best. I don''t know how long it will take but it shouldn''t be longer than a bit after midnight. They have their study group tomorrow after all.¡±

    ¡°I will wait for you at the ¡®Sturdy Mast¡¯.¡±

    Iseret saw the smile beneath the hood of Vanessa¡¯s cloak and stood up flexing her stiff arms before she incanted a spell and a prayer to She-Who-is-Many-as-One. Wings of wind carried her towards the lower city only limited by her desire for a bit of secrecy.

    Vanessa concentrated and the stolen blood in her veins supplied the power while her flesh turned to mist.

    Inside Alea¡¯s room, the three friends sat around the lone table while Butler One tidied up their used dishes after a pleasant dinner.

    Mireille and Alea, ¡°We have to¡­¡±

    Both looked at each other and then continued as if on cue, ¡°...talk.¡±

    Alyssa looked uncomfortable but nodded, ¡°I understand.¡±

    Vanessa formed out of wisps of mist and sat down on the last chair at the table. ¡°As long as you do.¡±

    ¡°Hello, Vanessa.¡± Mireille tried to be cheerful but fell short.

    The spider on Alea¡¯s shoulder waved her legs in the little vampire''s direction. ¡°Greetings.¡±

    Vanessa sighed. ¡°I fear that it falls to me to do this so- Alyssa do you know what we want to discuss tonight?¡±

    ¡°The crystal seed?¡±

    ¡°That''s part of it. More important is the reason for all of this and your plans for the future. We are all here your friends and what you are doing is hurting you. I know one of your goals, a very important one which I can wholeheartedly agree to. I spoke to Asandria at length. But your promise is an extended one and you should still have a lot of time. What drives you so?¡±

    Mireille nodded and Alea followed. All three looked at her expectantly. Asandria gave a ghostly sigh.

    Alyssa blushed and looked flustered. ¡°First I thank you for the concern. I...I don¡¯t know what to say. Is it okay to say that I still feel very unsure of all of this?¡± She made an expansive gesture. ¡°I know I have it good now and there should not be that much pressure but I still feel it. The bandits, Christina and now the students, Otto. And I have a goal that is more than a normal ambition." She took a deep breath and looked at all of them, "I have to defeat the lich queen of Ulsolm, the Heartstealer.¡±

    ¡°Really now?¡± Mireille looked astonished. ¡°That is some ambition. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to be Asander Brightblade the shining hero?¡±

    Alea frowned and said, ¡°Why? Did she do something to you?¡±

    Alyssa shook her head. ¡°No. I promised Asandria. I even swore a blood-oath. She saved me as I was dying and this was her price. But if I am completely honest.¡±

    She thought a moment. ¡°I really like feeling this power. The power to change, to destroy. I had to be so careful all the time. My father never hurt me but he could have. And the threat of it was always there. The people in town looked at me as if I was a freak- Even though they respected my mother. Then the flight from Firswending. The long road where I was powerless to save myself. Asandria, Mireille, and you Vanessa did the saving. Now I have something that feels so right, that gives me what I lack and I am ready to sacrifice something for it. Is that wrong?¡±

    Vanessa nodded, ¡°It isn''t as if I did not understand. Even I have need of power and be it only to keep my life. But please don¡¯t be so reckless- you barrel into this situation as if there were no choice. I know even Asandria cautioned you. She only lost her calm when she saw that damned crystal seed. It will accelerate your growth in magic exponentially but at what cost. You are no longer able to live normally. You need special artifacts to even go outside. If you touch someone as you are now without gloves you will slowly kill them. Is that what was needed at the moment?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Alyssa¡¯s voice was small. Cyrus cooed at her and tried to climb her lap when she grabbed and hugged him.

    ¡°So talk to us about that! If you really need some help there are many ways to accomplish things. You have the academy and the teachers, you have Alea, Mireille, me and Asandria.¡± She gave the last person a long penetrating gaze.

    ¡°That is true.¡± Alea nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to hurt yourself. It might be selfish of me to deny your wishes but if you find yourself with a decision like the last one please think about it longer and talk to us honestly. Butler One is of the same opinion.¡± She paused. ¡°And Lieseleta too.¡±

    Mireille had to grin at her deadpan delivery of that sentence then became serious again. ¡°I second that.¡± She raised her hand.

    Asandria lowered her head and then shrugged. ¡®You will not find something similar to the seed for a long time. It does no harm to promise this. And being conscientious in using your magic is only common sense.¡¯

    Alyssa rubbed her left eye. ¡°Very well. I promise to talk with you before another such decision and to be more careful. But I have to get my control up to standards before the Exhibition. Otherwise, there will be bigger problems, at least according to Magister Illimen.¡±

    ¡°You saw the Magister?¡± Mireille looked interested. ¡°He always looks so dignified. It¡¯s really impressive. Even if he runs through the rain he is still neat. My grandmother would have liked him.¡± She looked a bit melancholic at that.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°So we have an accord.¡± Vanessa looked at all of them and then at Asandria.

    Everyone even the spirit nodded.

    ¡°When I have to do something like this I really feel old.¡± the vampire girl complained. ¡°And now to another serious matter. Asandria told you about the side effects?¡±

    Alyssa nodded.

    ¡°Details?¡±

    Alyssa shook her head.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know that you have approximately five to ten years of life left? Your eye and arm will never be the same. You cannot separate from the seed anymore than Mireille could undo her brand. It¡¯s final.¡±

    Alyssa looked startled then resigned. ¡°I had feared something like that.¡±

    ¡°So we have to get access to an alchemical laboratory. Anyone who has ideas about that?¡± Vanessa asked.

    Alea raised her small hand. ¡°We could use my grandfathers¡¯ in Grunewald.

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit far. We could nonetheless do it during the holidays.¡± Vanessa caressed her chin thinking.

    Mireille looked at them. ¡°You said we should ask the academy when we have problems. Why not come to them with that?¡±

    ¡°Because they would lose their mind when they realize what I am. And who would brew the potion otherwise, you?¡± Vanessa shook her head.

    Alyssa cleared her throat and said, ¡°We have a nice teacher Valeria Jangres she has a shop- Natural Remedies in the market ward. Perhaps she would be amenable to persuasion at least of the monetary kind.¡±

    ¡°Possibly.¡± Vanessa nodded. ¡°So you ask this teacher of yours and please be careful with your magic. Don''t let us find one day that you have gone too far. Let¡¯s hope the good intentions hold up to reality. I still have something to do tonight so I will leave you to it but tomorrow I should have some free time in the evening. I know you have your study group but if you are not too busy simply come back to the townhouse for the evening and I will tutor you. The morning after you can go back to the academy again.¡±

    The evening concluded on this high note and the three girls soon fell asleep.

    Asandria looked at the sleeping Alyssa and smiled. ¡®Everything is well on the way. When the time comes there will be no choice. The glass has been tipped and the sand will flow. You have the possibility of being a deciding factor in a game played on the corpse of an empire even if that makes it shorter your life will matter in the end.¡¯

    And she stroked over Alyssa¡¯s brow smoothing the wrinkles brought on by a restless dream.

    <hr>

    Windkeep Castle to the north of Rivenlorn

    The seasons had turned quickly and the winter they had expected in a month or two at the earliest was upon them quick as the blink of an eye.

    Snow was falling and its gentleness held the illusion of beauty but it brought hardship, frozen toes, failing harvests. It was white, white without color, without life.

    The guardians patrolled the high walls and the turrets sported engines of war. Onager, ballistae, and the pride of the keep an arcane lance. A gigantic metal rod festooned with runes that held several impure manacrystals that were its ammunition.

    The lord of the keep Count Georm Septimus of Windkeep inspected the granary and sighed worriedly. It would last them for a few months but it had been planned for a much shorter winter. He would have to send for relief and that always sat wrongly with him as if he were a beggar crawling on his knees to gain a scrap of bread.

    He wore thick winter clothes and a cloak lined with wolf fur.

    And then there was the clear note of the horn and while he hoped that it would only be a short warning the horn continued to sound and others joined into a chorus warning of an impending attack. Hastily he ran for the keep proper giving orders to his aides. ¡°Close the gates but get as many of the townsfolk into the enclosure as we can hold the rest should hunker down in the advanced keep. Arm the engines. Alert the warmages¡± And as he looked up at the slowly driting snow he thought. ¡®I can feel it in my bones, this will be a bad one.¡¯

    And out of the snow and ice trudged the undead, skeletons, fleshfiends, ghouls, undead giants. And behind them came wight mages and spectral undead like banshees forming out of the drifting snow as if born from the cold of winter itself.

    The attack had begun. Undead needed no sleep, no food, no shelter. They had crossed the mountains in ways that were impossible for a living army and thus bypassed every warning post they had set up. Windkeep nevertheless was under a war footing, the men were veterans, the walls blessed and spelled. Onagers threw globes of blessed water. Scorpions shot projectiles laden with curses and flame.

    Ulrich Rickard was a soldier. He had been assigned to Windkeep some three years prior coming from Saintscrossing via the long mountain road.

    It was a late summer''s eve when he had first spied the keep overlooking the town. The high walls, the men streaming into the great gatehouse. An eagle drew lazy circles overhead where clouds swathed the mountain peaks and their eternal snow. Beneath all of that stretched the glory of the endless forest in all the different shades of green. It was then that he fell in love with a place, as he never had before when a tavern maid took his fancy. And he had certainly not felt this way when he had enlisted to escape the engagement his parents had negotiated for an additional piece of farmland.

    He had stood on these walls that were nearly seamlessly growing out of the granite outcropping with the stone bridge crossing the deep chasm and he felt that Windkeep was inviolable.

    He saw the endless rows of the dead walking from the white wall of snow. He saw the ghosts drift upwards to his post and his breath caught in his throat and the fear he never knew before gripped his heart. Dark mages chanted spells and darkness shrouded the advancing force, shields of ice rose into the air and deflected the defender''s fire. Arrows simply sunk into frozen flesh or were diverted by magically reinforced bone. The walls were insurmountable but only for a living force. Like spiders, the skeletons gripped the stone and climbed. The ghosts drifted higher and undead giants bellowed as they threw boulders at the fortress gates.

    He lifted his shield and a bolt of dark magic engulfed his arm leeching warmth and life before an incantation from a priestess near him showered him in borrowed warmth.

    Glyphs and runes set into the walls glowed with bluish light as smoke rose from the heat of their magic, undead burst into flames, and slowly disintegrated into dust driven along with the snow.

    He hacked at the skeletal warrior missing a chin clothed in ancient rotten armor, more rust than metal, and armed with a blade that drank the light. With an effort he shoved with his round shield and the creature was swallowed by the swirling snow as two others took its place. His brown hairs were drenched with sweat and big drops froze on his fur-lined cloak.

    The wind carried bitter cold from the mountains and specters assailed the defenders gliding silently into their midst. A low rumbling shook the fortress gates as great boulders smashed into reinforced wood.

    The specter of an elven child grasped his cheeks and leaned in to steal his life. Desperately he hacked into the transparent form and found no purchase. With a prayer to Ielenia, the priestess banished the ghost wreathing the spirit in white flame as it screamed without a voice.

    The snow and the clouds broke for a moment and he saw the town crawling with the dead. The last defenders were withdrawing to the forward keep and flames burst from balls of fire. A distant thunder of explosions.

    He turned and fought.

    The priestess set her lips into a thin line and spoke another prayer raising her symbol aloft. He remembered her name as Christina.

    <hr>

    Saintscrossing Military Encampment.

    The captain leaned over the table and read the letters he had received.

    ¡°To Captain Chester Tannmen Mor, Saintscrossing.

    Heavy snowfall cut short the harvest season, granary reserves are low. We need more food and provisions for the coming winter. Please make sure to send additional guards the mountain road has been under attack of late. Attached you will find my steward''s estimates of our requirements.

    I hate to ask but the need is great.

    Count Georm Septimus of Windkeep¡±

    ...and another...

    ¡°To Captain Chester Tannmen Mor, Saintscrossing.

    We are under heavy attack. In our best estimate, a legion of undead supported by cadres of dark mages has begun to attack Windkeep. The town has fallen. Many civilian casualties.

    We need reinforcements urgently.

    We expect to last for another fortnight as it were, perhaps longer.

    Count Georm Septimus of Windkeep.

    P.S. Chester old friend this is the worst attack that I have witnessed in all my years here. Please be prepared for the worst.¡±

    And as the officers deliberated a steward took the attached list of the dead and checked it against a board in his hand.

    ¡­Istvan Mendev.........Thomas Loren.........Danislav Tengen...

    ...Ulrich Rickard

 To be Reborn

    ¡°Long sleeps the summer in the seed.

    Verse CIV¡±

    - Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam

    Somewhere in Sur Kesh years ago.

    The mudbrick hovel housed her and her family. It was always either too hot or too cold and the cramped quarters reeked of sweat and unwashed bodies. She was the eleventh child of the family but the fifth to be alive. The rest had made their last way to the field of reeds due to illness, malnutrition or violence. Theirs was not an uncommon household and many such hovels stood together in the shadow of the great monument to the goddess and at the banks of the great river of life. The father worked as a fisherman but had lost the boat that had once been his father¡¯s and was not able to build his own so times were lean and work was hard.

    The Trusted came as always in the summer when the great flaming chariot of the sky lashed down on their backs with whips of heat and sickness hung in the air. Beyond the banks of the river was only the desert, the sea of hunger, thirst, and dust.

    The father looked at the veiled woman and saw her scaled and clawed arms, the symbol of her blessing, and threw himself to the ground groveling.

    ¡°Hem Netjer.¡± He said and ¡°Great Lady.¡±

    The wife was more withdrawn. She was brown and tough as river grass, long inured to hardship but she bowed behind her husband looking at him with a bit of scorn in her slit-yellow eyes which were her small blessing.

    The woman looked them up and down she was clothed in dark green robes, lose enough to hide her figure. She seemed slight of build but very tall and hairless, her movements fluid like a snake. A hint of yellow eyes stared through the veil, unblinking.

    ¡°The blessing of her-that-is-many-and-one upon you. I come to seek for those who might be reborn in the goddess grace.¡±

    The man secretly rejoiced for he hoped to gain some coin and lose some useless mouth he had to feed. The eyes of his wife showed a deep sadness and she lowered her head further to the ground to hide her thoughts.

    The children were kneeling behind the parents on the cracked dusty earth before the hut, the eldest son was still in his late teens with shaggy hair, a crooked nose, and an uneven musculature that made him seem awkward. There were the girls, hungry-looking, emaciated little things with overlarge eyes. Some had a few scales, some a claw instead of a finger but there was one girl who had the eyes and the scales and she was fine-featured.

    The eyes behind the veil lingered on her and the woman beckoned her closer. The guards at her side leaned on their spears.

    The little girl, perhaps five years of age, crept closer and looked up at the Trusted.

    ¡°She is chosen.¡± The woman nodded. ¡°Give them the death-prize.¡± One of the guards nodded without a flicker of emotion and grabbed a small pouch and threw it before the parents. There was a faint jingle of coin. The sun burned down on them, no wind brought relief.

    The man grinned and thanked them profusely, the woman sighed and looked furtively at her youngest whom she had labored to bring into this world. The small child looked at her uncomprehendingly as the mother gave a tired smile and nodded to reassure her. And she mouthed ¡®Iseret my little treasure snake.¡¯

    The guards grabbed the child who began to cry. Silently as she had been violently taught by the man. And then they were off.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    <hr>

    A gigantic temple at night.

    The lost eye shone through a large opening set into the ceiling and an altar was lit by its pale glow.

    Dark rectangular patches in the otherwise lightly colored sandstone surrounded the stone block inscribed with symbols depicting snakes and humanoids in different forms of fusion.

    A priestess with scaled skin and with the head of a viper stood behind the altar and dripped the poison of a snake as thick as a leg and longer than three grown men into a chalice. Chanting a prayer she surveyed the children that kneeled before the holy stone.

    One by one they were called and made to drink from the golden vessel and as they shook and frothed from the poison they were lowered into the small deep shafts that dotted the floor. Inside those recesses were snakes, hundreds and hundreds of them, and as the small shaking bodies were lowered inside they were swallowed by the teeming multitude. Finally, the shafts were closed with large stones inscribed with prayer runes. And all was silent but for the soft scraping of scaled skin on skin.

    The snakes bit them and in the grip of the poison their flesh grew cold and their minds broke.

    The darkness swallowed them and their life ended only to be Reborn.

    <hr>

    Iseret stood among her fellow slaves and looked at the temple warrior. A great man with scales and claws, he sported two large fangs that jutted over his lower lip forever marring his speech with a lisp...but no one laughed.

    Before him lay a girl perhaps seven years old and the blood pumping from the slash in her torso slowly ceased.

    ¡°She was weak as you are weak but she also lacked in faith. I will tear you apart and build you anew and you will serve until your death whenever she needs it.¡± He spat on the cooling corpse. ¡°And be it only as an example. You will be useful.¡±

    The training was ceaseless and began with the first faint grey on the horizon and lasted until the stars rose into the canopy of the night.

    Prayer, religion, academics, poisons, assassination, combat both armed and unarmed.

    Of the hundred that were lowered into the embrace of the snakes there lived one out of every three.

    Of the perhaps thirty that were given into the care of the great temple in the dry mountains there lived but ten.

    But there would always be more. The great river of life surged with frothing muddy water and gave the earth that birthed the crops that nourished the holy kingdom of her that-is-many-and-one.

    The process was by no means perfect and there were always failures, mistakes that would be rectified and the buzzards feasted on those that were caught but...

    The girl sat in a corner and was determined not to cry. Her right arm was a bloody mess and ribbons of flesh had been cut with brutal precision. She heard soft footsteps and looked up to see a small shadow stealthily coming near.

    ¡°Shhhh.¡± A voice whispered to her. ¡°Hold still.¡± Cool ointment was spread on her arm and the painful burning sensation lessened as the strong magic slowly mended the most serious wounds.

    ¡°Iseret is that¡­¡± the girl looked up eyes blinded by tears.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk.¡± And then she was gone.

    Another morning on the training field.

    The warrior gripped the haft of the long whip and slashed towards the kneeling aspirant drawing lines of red on her thin back. But then there was a crack and the haft broke, the whipcord flew off into the distance and the warrior clenched his teeth in fury while searching for the servants assigned for maintenance. But there had been an emergency and he was called away.

    Deft fingers manipulated the tally and wrote orders anew.

    Iseret blinked her slit-yellow eyes she had inherited from her mother and a small smile stole onto her stoic face before she slunk into the shadows and away.

    ...sometimes, those mistakes lived nonetheless. Perhaps it was the wish of the goddess after all.

    The day of her ascension to the ranks of the Reborn was a hot day in autumn and the palm trees swayed in the slight breeze. The monument to her that is life, Many-as-One stood behind the priestess, the same snake-headed matron that had poisoned her in the temple all those years gone by.

    And then it was over and she was still not free.

    The dark-scaled woman with the cobra hood and the humanoid features looked at her and whispered. ¡°I know what you have done.¡± And with a smile, she continued. ¡°And I mostly approve, but your actions here would sooner or later get you and your friends killed. Come with me and I will show you other lands, other ways of life. The goddess is not as rigid as it is proclaimed here. Come and assist me, it will not be to your detriment.¡±

    And she followed Kadira the Cobra as she was sent to the north, for infractions and sins too small for death and too big for life in the heartland.

    She looked back once as she boarded the ship and that was the last of Sur Kesh she ever saw.

 Renting a lab, Ancient blood

    ¡°Don''t trust the heart, it wants your blood.¡±

    - Stanis?aw Jerzy Lec

    In the Academy after ''Alchemical Arts of Healing''

    ¡°Mrs. Jangres?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Alyssa?¡± The woman turned from where she was tidying up her lab table.

    ¡°Could I talk to you for a moment or is it inconvenient just now?¡±

    ¡°No, I have some time. Traveling back to my shop is always a bit variable so I usually don¡¯t schedule anything important for after lessons.¡±

    The room slowly emptied and only Valens and Vivienne briefly lingered before the latter pulled her brother with her, not without giving Alyssa a wink.

    ¡°What did you have for me.¡± the alchemist smiled.

    While the smile was a bit businesslike Alyssa took heart and asked, ¡°I have need of a laboratory outside the academy because it is not for any sort of school project. It is mostly for personal reasons¡­¡± she trailed off.

    ¡°Mh.¡± Valeria Jangres hummed noncommittally and arranged a few unused flasks. ¡°I would have to know more specifics. That seems uncomfortably vague and I know that the academy is not averse to letting students have the laboratory here if it''s for a good reason. You should practice after all. So, why would you want my lab?¡± Her eyes turned sharp.

    ¡°I would not work alone. A friend of mine would do most of the work and she is not a member of the academy. We wanted to brew a rejuvenation potion for a person who had her vitality damaged by void.¡±

    ¡°This person is not perchance yourself?¡± Valeria raised an eyebrow. ¡°You look healthy enough." She squinted. ¡°But there is something.¡± She tapped a finger on her lips then shook her head. ¡°I have no problem with that but my laboratory is my lifeblood so I would for one take coin for you using it and would have to insist on collateral.¡±

    ¡°We should be able to work something out?¡±

    ¡°I am sure.¡± Mrs. Jangres smiled.

    It was painful but bearable. Alyssa exchanged some of the jewels from the maid spy assassinated in the Green Dragon and thought ruefully about her lacking skills in negotiation.

    The alchemist grinned a more natural smile and said, ¡°One is for my services and one is my education fee.¡± She laughed. ¡°So when will you be gracing my humble establishment? I must warn you, I use the laboratory on weekends mostly. During the week there is too much to do. And what would you need in terms of ingredients? If you don¡¯t know, tell me sometime in the next few days and I will make you a good price.¡± Seeing the alarm in Alyssa¡¯s eyes she added, ¡°Truly this time!¡± She put two fingers above her heart. ¡°Merchants honor.¡±

    ¡°You are a lot more mischievous than I thought.¡± Alyssa covered her mouth as the sentence simply slipped out and Valeria laughed again.

    ¡°It should be a serious matter for you to need rejuvenation but you seem hale to me...just¡­¡± She looked at her again. ¡°There is¡­mh.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your help! I will confer with my companion. I think it will be on Friday evening next week for we might have to procure the ingredients first.¡±

    ¡°As I said- tell me what you need and I will see. Even if I don¡¯t have it ready I am relatively sure I would know where and how to get it. I do this for a living after all.¡± There was a bit of pride in her voice.

    ¡°I will remember! Thank you for your time. I will give you notice when we know more details.¡±

    <hr>

    Evening, the training ground of the academy

    Mireille stood beside the training field after finishing another bout with Paula. She had declined the ¡®offer¡¯ of her teacher Julia for another spar. ¡®I¡¯m mighty popular at the moment¡¯ she thought not without humor. The sky was overcast and the sun had already set, the sky began to grow from a faint pink to a bluish dark grey.

    She spread her hand and deep in her chest the gate irised open. Lightning shot through her palm forming a sword made of crackling energy, twisting like an eel caught out of the water. With an effort, she straightened the blade and made some experimental swipes. It was natural as breathing and without much effort too. Only keeping the shape forced her to spend a tiny bit of concentration. She felt the brand in her arm heat up a bit and light shone through her clothing. Spinning with the sword extended she fed a bit of the abundant energy into her legs and began to practice in earnest. Tumbling slicing and thrusting changing she lost herself to the dance.

    Jumping three meters into the air she somersaulted backward while her feet drew arcs of flashing light before she twirled around covering her body with an intricate pattern of slashes the afterimages made it seem as if she was caught in a cage. The electricity sparked between her hands, in her hair, her eyes glowed with flickering blue light.

    Some of those cuts drove into the ground as she fell down again and gravel sprayed, some of the stone still glowed from the heat.

    And then she came to rest with both feet firmly planted on the gravel breathing heavily with a smile on her face spreading her arms in a Y shape.

    Clapping came from nearby and as she turned she saw Vivienne standing in the shadow of a hedge slowly stepping out of the dimly lit area.

    With a sizzle and a snap, the lightning ceased and the sword vanished. Mireille bowed exaggeratedly toward the other girl and nearly lost her balance after getting light-headed with the sudden loss of power.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°Hey, be careful. You don¡¯t want to spoil your splendid image.¡± Vivienne grinned eyes hidden by her long green hair.

    ¡°Pft, my image. For that and a couple of coppers I could perhaps buy a piece of bread.¡± Mireille laughed. ¡°Where did I put my degen.¡± She looked around.

    ¡°It¡¯s on the bench over there together with your practice sword.¡± Vivienne helpfully pointed out.

    ¡°Oh, yes I remember.¡± Walking over she grabbed a towel and began to dry her hair.

    She cleaned the wooden practice blade and took up her unused mana-metal sword putting it over her shoulder. She thought herself very cool as she did that and glanced at Vivienne secretly.

    And froze as she met the dark eyes of the half-elven girl holding a faint smile.

    Clearing her throat to alleviate her awkwardness Mireille shrugged and said, ¡°What brings you? We could have met up in the dorm and had some cookies to boot?¡±

    ¡°I was interested in seeing you sparring. There were rumors about you developing elemental weapons and they were right.¡±

    Mireille¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Yes! That is the absolute greatest. I worked sooo hard at that and could shoot some sparks and such but then one day it simply clicked. This brand might be my favorite thing yet. I can nearly forgive it hurting like hell back then.¡± She grinned, ¡°Just kidding, I have nearly forgotten that. But my sewing spells are a much more serious matter.¡±

    Vivienne blinked at the enthusiasm. ¡°How did that come about?¡±

    ¡°That click? It really should have been that dream. I was dreaming of flying and there were wings, so many of them and they were beating the clouds away and everywhere there was the lightning. Those wings should have been as big as the academy towers.¡± She made a gesture to indicate, hastily adjusting her posture to prevent her sword from slipping.

    ¡°Wings you say? Where they blue in the center and like pearls on the outside?¡±

    ¡°Yes, exactly. I thought about how to describe the color- it fits. And after I had that dream I no longer needed the words so much as if they were within me you know? It still helps a lot and the lightning bolt does not work without the command but this..¡± she pulled her hands apart and formed another blade of crackling energy before snuffing it again. ¡°...works very well.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    They left the yard joking and chatting with each other and light snow set in, the heavy clouds hung low and only a shimmer showed the position of Gesserachs wayward eye.

    <hr>

    Later in the dorm room, the siblings shared, Valens extinguished the glow globes. Shifting fabrics and slowly deepening breaths were the only sound. A group of students, late from whatever endeavors kept them, shone the light of their lantern through the mostly covered window landing on the page of a book titled ¡®Forgotten Myths¡¯ an old picture gorgeously painted with white, blue, and mother of pearl showed a feathered serpent coiling through towering clouds sporting many pairs of large wings in the colors of blue and pearl.

    And as the light faded and the students walked on, a richly illustrated inscription glittered with gold leaf, ¡®Vyarlis, Titan, Firstborn Son of the deity of Storms, Yrgos Worldstrider¡¯

    <hr>

    In the Wisteria Dorm

    Alyssa looked at Butler One and then shook her head focusing on Iseret. ¡°Iseret?¡±

    ¡°Yes, milady?¡± The stoic snake woman gave a shallow bow.

    ¡°Could you contact Vanessa? We should have an opportunity to use a laboratory but I would like to know what we need in terms of reagents for the potion. And when we are at it how about brewing another one for Adelaide, Alea¡¯s grandma?¡±

    ¡°I will relay your question. Do you still have need of me tonight?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so and even if there is something we have Lorelle and our own two hands and feet.¡± Alyssa smiled. ¡°Thank you for helping us. I would have thought that after the whole thing was settled you would leave?¡±

    ¡°I have some debts to repay to Lady Vanessa and accompany her some nights for different errands, she finds my connection to you useful, so I try to be here as often as possible.¡±

    Alea nodded from where she was fluffing Semiramis. ¡°Thank you for your help. And thank you for thinking of grandmother, she seemed weakened.¡±

    Alyssa fidgeted, ¡°As we brewed the first potion you did not know about Vanessa and she said that it would only be temporary unless we found some pretty rare ingredients. We could not be so open with that at the time and later I forgot to tell you.¡± she looked guilty, then added hastily, ¡°but it should still be good for half a year or so, so don¡¯t worry too much we will find a way!¡±

    The hand stroking Semiramis stopped for a moment and Alea¡¯s breath hitched for a second. ¡°There was a lot that has happened and I understand.¡± She sighed.

    Alyssa looked more guilty still, ¡°Please ask about a potion for Adelaide, Iseret.¡±

    Iseret nodded and gave a slight smile. ¡°I think all will be well. Vanessa is a fantastic sorceress and I can assist with alchemical endeavors. If there is a need for something rare I could even ask Kadira she looks at all of you very favorably.¡±

    ¡°Thanks a lot.¡± Alyssa nodded and smiled. ¡°Please ask Vanessa first then we will see what we need.¡±

    Iseret nodded, bowed, and left.

    The silence deepened a bit before Alyssa walked to Alea and hesitantly and carefully hugged the smaller girl. ¡°Sorry. We so wanted to help but there were all those secrets between us and we did not know that it would turn out this way.¡±

    Alea nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think ¡®I forgive you¡¯ is the best way to say it for you helped a lot when you had no need other than perhaps for a good impression but you are my dearest friends so please say it if you can¡¯t tell me. Don¡¯t hide such things from me.¡±

    ¡°I honestly forgot with the academy and our journey, the assassination in the Green Dragon. We normally planned to present Vanessa there as a wandering alchemist but that fell through for obvious reasons.¡±

    ¡°Truly, I am not mad. But it hurt for a moment. My grandmother was the one who practically raised me. I had no real memories of my parents, those are back now even if still hazy but back then she was my whole family, together with Max.¡±

    Mireille came in at that moment and looked at them while Butler One turned in her direction and asked, ¡°Ms. Annirstochter you seem to have missed lunch, may I bring you something?¡±

    Mireille was a bit confused and said, ¡°Yes please¡­what are you two doing, did something happen?¡±

    They separated and sat down but the air was a bit heavy. Alyssa shrugged, ¡°Do you remember when we brewed the potion for Adelaide?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­?¡±

    ¡°We used Vanessas¡¯s and Asandria¡¯s expertise for that and because we could not very well be truthful about everything we glossed a bit over the effect and the reason for Adelaide''s illness. And we never did tell why we knew. It was Asandria who told us and the potion''s effect is only temporary after all.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I think I remember something. But I did not understand it so I forgot.¡± Mireille scratched her nose and looked at Alea searchingly, ¡°We simply brew another one?¡±

    ¡°That will probably be the direction we will be taking. But it dawned on me that we were still keeping secrets- Unintentionally!¡±

    ¡°Better for it to be out in the open. How bad is it by the way?¡± Alea looked up.

    Asandria spoke, ¡®It has gotten worse. The effect we wanted of shoring up her damaged soul has led to it becoming dependent. If you cease supplying this potion or something similar it will get worse faster. But that is not a problem, she would not survive this winter without help anyway.¡¯ The specter gave a helpless shrug. ¡®Manipulating souls is something only very few people are proficient in. Perhaps you should ask some colleagues of her grandfathers''. I feel after all I heard and saw that he should have some very advanced knowledge in that regard.¡¯ She gave a thin smile.

    ¡°Asandria says that perhaps some documents or colleagues of your grandfathers might help. She said there were indications that he knew a lot about souls?¡±

    ¡°I never heard that.¡± Alea was silent then buried her face in Semiramis''s thick coat.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to talk about it just now. Let¡¯s go to sleep, tomorrow is going to be another busy day!¡± Alyssa looked at her friends and tried for a bit of cheer.

    ¡°Yes, that should be best.¡± Mireille shrugged out of her used pieces of training clothing and vanished into the bathroom. Butler One brought a bowl of soup and some bread which she ate after washing up.

    And then they went to sleep.

 Kronenburgs Finest

    It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.

    - Thomas Hobbes

    A certain cursed mansion outside Kronenburg.

    Vanessa looked at the spreading blood like a red mirror beneath the thug lying on the floor in the entrance hall. ¡°It should make me happy that I did not have to search for the blood sacrifice this time but somehow it doesn¡¯t.¡±

    Iseret leaned against a column and shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s efficient at least. And I am glad that you did not forget to give me your seal so that does not happen to me.¡±

    The shadows bulged and moved and the shadow demon looked at Vanessa, the height difference made it seem like a giant leaning over a small girl but this time the small girl held the reins.

    ¡°You can go about your business I foresee no need for you this night.¡± She made a dismissive motion and the towering shade vanished into the darkness. ¡°I¡¯m only glad that I remembered the name from the forbidden books I read, much to the chagrin of my mother. But when it is not allowed I had to read it, it was the principle of the thing. Today I no longer yearn as much for such knowledge, any knowledge really. It has lost most of its flavor to me. Perhaps the hunger might come back when my revenge is accomplished. A somewhat happy thought for an impossibility.¡±

    ¡°I located many of the ingredients you mentioned. Only the teal grass and the flesh of the sand eel are missing. The latter I can get with the help of Kadira. They are native to the great desert, the first one I think can be gotten from the little alchemist.¡±

    ¡°Thank you! I would not have thought that you would get so much done in so short a time. You truly are a treasure.¡±

    Iseret gave a little flinch at that.

    ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡± Vanessa¡¯s perceptive eye did not miss her friends discomfort.

    ¡°No, just some old memories.¡±

    ¡°Then let us send notice to Mrs. Jangres and the girls so that we can get this done. Putting it off does us no favors.¡±

    Iseret nodded, yellow eyes unreadable, and turned to go.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Vanessa sounded unsure and raised a hand, ¡°I don¡¯t want to let you leave while looking like that.¡±

    The snake woman looked at her and then life returned to her eyes. ¡°I am sorry. You did nothing wrong. It¡¯s old things, forgotten things in my past. I will never be completely free of them I think.¡± then she lowered her head and her hair cascaded past her slightly pointed ears while a fang peeked past her upper lip. ¡°If you are truly repentant give me a kiss.¡± There was a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

    Vanessa looked at her and the cold in her dead veins froze her breath. ¡°You know that I am dead? That cannot will not...work?¡±

    ¡°They call those like me Reborn. And for that to happen...¡± She slunk closer hugging Vanessa tightly, ¡°...you have to die.¡±

    And there was no jest in her yellow-green eyes.

    <hr>

    Friday evening after sundown inside ¡®Natural Remedies¡¯ located in the market ward.

    Alyssa and Alea were already there when Vanessa appeared. The sun had already set at the time. Mireille was still in the academy trying to cram some knowledge into her smarting brain under the tender ministrations of Vivienne, Valens, and Lucille.

    Valeria opened the door for them and inspected Vanessa with a raised eyebrow. ¡°You must be the mysterious brewmistress. You seem a bit young if I may be so bold. Welcome to my shop ¡®Natural Remedies¡¯. I¡¯m Valeria Jangres.¡±

    ¡°Pleasure to meet you, my name is Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°You are an elf aren¡¯t you. Not many of those around here anymore.¡± She grinned to take the sting out of the remark and Vanessa shrugged to show she did not care.

    Without much further talk they were shown into the shop.

    There were rows of shelves made of expensive-looking smooth dark wood and a counter with a polished stone top. The lighting was partly accomplished through big glass windows, shuttered for the night, and glow globes that lit everything with a warm yellow light. The interior was decorated mostly with the products sold in the shop, colorful liquids bottled in fanciful glass vials, pots, and little stoppered earthen vessels. Everything smelled of herbs and some lightly perfumed candles.

    ¡°Your shop looks very nice.¡± Alyssa looked around in appreciation. ¡°When my mother was still alive she tried for something like this. But this is exactly as she would have wanted.¡±

    ¡°Why thank you!¡± Valeria grinned and pushed back some stray hairs behind her ears. ¡°It took some time to get here I can tell you. My family has done this since my great-grandfather''s time and we moved from Dornenfurt to here just about a generation ago. I might be the first Jangres to make it to the big leagues.¡± She smiled. ¡°and because of that, I teach in the Academy. Competition is fierce in the city.¡±

    Going further they went through a door behind the counter, a short corridor, and into the lab proper.

    ¡°I had this built behind the house in the small garden lot. The house was formerly a cafe you see and they had this nice little walled garden. A shame really but I had to have this built to specification. If I simply integrate it into¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°Not so interesting is it? Here it is.¡± She gestured around the small room with some large windows and several elaborate chimneys over workbenches and some fireplaces. ¡°I have put what you said you would need on the counter over there. If you use anything else please tell me so we can have an accounting. The only things you should leave alone are locked in so feel free.¡± She grinned. ¡°I will make you a good price.¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Don¡¯t believe her.¡± Alyssa softly interjected earning a withering look from her teacher.

    Vanessa sorted the ingredients she had acquired by using Iserets and her own connections lacking as the latter were at the moment.

    They began to measure the reagents and arrange the equipment and everyone was focused on the task at hand. Valeria nodded after seeing their competency and said ¡°I will clean up the salesroom. It¡¯s been some time since someone looked through the stacks. I will be back in an hour or so.¡± And as she turned to go there was someone hammering on the front door.

    ¡°Open up in the name of the guard!¡± The door shook under the impact of an armored fist.

    Vanessa was highly irritated and exchanged a look with Iseret. ¡°I grab the reagents, will you safely get out on your own? We will later have to see after Alyssa and Alea.¡± She got a quick nod and then grabbed the ingredients before dissolving into mist.

    Iseret looked at the chimneys and then spoke a short prayer before she grabbed the edges of a fireplace wriggling a bit and then nearly bonelessly vanished into the interior.

    Alyssa sighed, Alea looked annoyed and worried.

    Outside in the salesroom, a bang sounded as the door was opened forcefully. ¡°Get back from the door and towards the wall. Hands were I can see them, no spells or we will use force.¡±

    ¡°What is the meaning of this? I pay my taxes, I am a citizen of Margrinar in good standing I demand an explanation.¡±

    Alyssa took Alea by the shoulder and both went slowly back to the front. Cyrus sat in the crook of her right arm his long neck coiled around her own. The touch of his cold scales calmed her.

    Indistinct murmurs and some shuffling from more people entering came from the main room.

    ¡°I have students and their friends in the laboratory in the back. So keep your hands off your weapons, whatever possessed you to barge in here I will give written complaint to your superior and the academy.¡± Valeria sounded furious- a clanking sounded and she scolded, ¡°Be careful with that!¡±

    The door to the corridor was ripped open and a big man in the uniform of the city guard stood there with a truncheon in his left hand, a badge on his breast glowed with magic light. He sported a full, blonde mustache. ¡°There are two more brats back here!¡± He called over his shoulder then turned back to them, ¡°Don¡¯t make any sudden movements ya hear! Come over.¡± He stood back and motioned impatiently for them to come closer. ¡°What is that beast? Keep it under leash or else¡­¡±

    Cyrus sensing the tension hissed and his tail whipped around restlessly.

    ¡°Shh. Be calm my dear.¡± Alyssa hugged him closer. ¡°He is my familiar. He is protected under the law as if part of my body. This here is Alea von Graufurt a noble. So be more polite!¡±

    The man''s face showed an expression of distaste. ¡°Bah. We will see what you are saying when you are judged. It''s always the same with you nobles, you think you are so much better than the law.¡±

    ¡°Erkson no chatting! Get them out of the shop so we can properly search the premises.¡±

    Inside the shop they saw Valeria dragged outside by two burly guardsmen, a sergeant stood in the center and directed three more towards the back as a female guard searched through the shelves.

    ¡°I am sergeant Thouma. Go outside with Erkson and don¡¯t talk. We will be taking you to the guard station soon.¡±

    ¡°Can we know why?¡± Alyssa stood protectively before Alea and looked around vigilantly.

    ¡°There has been a serious accusation and we will ascertain the truth of it. That¡¯s all you need to know for now. Hurry up there should still be two more in the back?¡± He raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°They simply brought a few reagents and have already left.¡± Alyssa prevaricated.

    ¡°Is that so¡­¡± The sergeant nodded to himself. ¡°We will see.¡±

    The mustachioed guard called Erkson shoved them towards the exit causing Cyrus to hiss at him.

    ¡°Damn beast. If it makes another move I will¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a familiar. Simply guard them.¡± Thouma looked irritated and cuffed the guard on the back of the head.

    ¡°What¡¯s that for Sarge?!¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t got all night. Outside with you.¡±

    When they got outside they saw some open windows and people leaned out to look at the spectacle. Several guards clothed in mail and armed with maces and crossbows stood before the shop a female magician among them. The latter was garbed in dark blue robes and held an ornate wand in one hand. She was an older woman with a pinched-looking face and deep crow''s feet around her dark eyes that seemed to be perpetually frowning at the world. The public glow lamps shed a dim and uncertain light on the scene. Some snowflakes lazily drifted from high above.

    Valeria was led to a carriage with small barred windows, the interior sported two benches affixed opposite each other and she was shoved inside while still protesting.

    Alea gripped Alyssa¡¯s arm tightly enough to bruise.

    The female mage looked them up and down. She spoke a spell and furrowed her brow. ¡°You there.¡± She pointed at Alyssa. ¡°Cease any and all spellcraft. Lay down wands or weapons before we have to take them. You will be searched.¡±

    ¡°I have been disfigured by magic and use a small illusion to cover that up. You should see it is only a minor thing, right?¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. No active spells. That¡¯s the rule.¡±

    Alyssa pressed her lips together then gripped the amulet and slowly pulled it over her head. A slight resistance and some bluish sparks signaled the breach of the attunement. ¡®There goes Vanessa¡¯s hard work. But it should be repairable¡­I hope.¡¯

    Darkness filled her left eye and runes flickered for a moment beneath her skin. Due to the dim lighting outside, her change of skin color for the left arm and parts of her face were not as obvious. ¡°I hope you have a really good reason for your actions tonight.¡± Alyssa¡¯s voice contained repressed anger.

    Several guardsmen were taken aback at the transformation. Some cursed.

    The female magician frowned. ¡°Necromancer? Psha.¡± She spat. ¡°That gets better and better. Search them. There is no other active magic. The construct though...¡± She looked at Cecily.

    ¡°Is my familiar.¡± Alea desperately interjected.

    ¡°A clockwork familiar? Never heard of that. Take it and box it.¡±

    ¡°If you do that, I will make sure that I will tell Lieseleta Ophelia von Margrinar the exact circumstances where you broke the law of the sanctity of the familiar.¡± Alea forced out trembling all the while.

    ¡°The princess?¡± Knuckles whitening over her wand she spat, ¡°Search them, leave the damn spider. If anything happens with it though...smash it.¡± She viciously ground out.

    The guards took care not to get too close to the fuming mage and searched the girls taking some potions, her void-orb, and the wand of force she still had with her from Lucien¡¯s, the dead mercenaries, things.

    Then they were led to the carriage and two guards entered with them shutting the reinforced doors.

    Alea whispered, ¡°What is happening? Are you all right Mrs. Jangres?¡±

    ¡°No, most assuredly not. But we will get to the bottom of this I swear.¡± Valeria was no longer furious but she still seemed in a cold rage. ¡°If that is the idea of some of my competitors I will...¡± She softly cursed.

    ¡°No talking!¡± One of the guards looked at them sternly.

    Alyssa hugged Alea and Cyrus close. The wyvern was highly agitated and his stinger bled small drops of black poison.

    Inside the shop.

    Thouma looked up at a shout in the back and hurried over.

    One of his guards had pulled a package from a ventilation shaft only a few centimeters wide and tall. Putting it on the table they first inspected it for any signs of magic ¨C a wand was used- and then spread the cloth. There were about a dozen small glass containers filled with blue crystal dust and five that held a reddish crystalline powder.

    ¡°Damnation, there is even Blood Crystal. Just as we were told.¡± The guard who had found the stash exclaimed.

    ¡°Gather everything up and then seal the premises. Get some of the Mage-Guard to set a few wards. That¡¯s the break we have been waiting for. Do you know how bad it got when the bluestone dealings were exposed in the Academy? And us none the wiser?¡±

    Thouma looked excited. ¡°We will show those paper pushers always criticizing what the guard can do.¡±

 Good Intentions

    Never do an enemy a small injury. Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.

    - Niccolo Machiavelli

    The carriage shook as it navigated its way through the streets. The guards swayed with the motion long inured to the bumps that the lacking suspension directly transmitted to the occupants.

    Then they had reached their goal and were hauled outside. Blinking at the brightness of several large glow globes they stood in an enclosed yard in the back of a fortresslike construction sporting four stories and several squat towers at the corners. Small slit-like windows gave an unwelcoming air to the grey stone edifice. A cold wind blew snowflakes over the cobbled ground.

    ¡°Get inside before you freeze your asses off.¡± A guard stood in an open doorway darkly outlined by light shining from within.

    ¡°Separate them and then we will commence the interrogation. Has it been found yet?¡± A busy-looking man in civilian clothes but with the badge of the guard on his left breast asked as they entered a rectangular room with a stone counter on one side and a long bench on the other. He had grey receding hair but seemed to be still in his late thirties.

    Alea grabbed Alyssa¡¯s arm again and pressed her face against her taller friend''s side.

    One of the guards, a large man with massive muscles, that had brought them cleared his throat and said, ¡°Are you sure? Those two are still children, at least let them stay with each other.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we have clear orders for this case. Separate them.¡± The man gave an artificial-looking smile. ¡°Orders are orders, I¡¯m sure you understand?¡±

    After that Valeria, Alyssa and Alea were forcefully separated and brought inside single windowless cells with heavy doors blocking any sounds from outside.

    <hr>

    Alea hugged Cecily and hyperventilated before she got control of herself. ¡®I have been through so much since that time. I will not give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry.¡¯ She sniffled and thought of her friends and regained some of her calm.

    <hr>

    Alyssa paced back and forth, Cyrus screeched and stabbed at the door causing smoke to rise from the reinforced wood as the drops of corrosive poison on his stinger came into contact.

    ¡°Shh. Be calm.¡± She crouched and gathered the agitated wyvern into her arms before she gently hugged him and began to hum a lullaby.

    Asandria floated beside her. ¡®Don¡¯t talk to me or answer when I say something. I am pretty sure they monitor us in some way.¡¯

    Alyssa began to nod and then turned it into rubbing her face against Cyrus''s side eliciting a purring sound from him.

    Time passed and she began to feel drowsy.

    Alyssa guessed the time to be around midnight now as the door was suddenly opened and three male guards, one of them in the robes of a mage-guard waited outside.

    ¡°Come with us.¡± The robed magician waved with a thick runed rod in his hand.

    Alyssa carefully stepped near and was then led down a corridor. ¡°Where are we going, what is happening?¡±

    ¡°You will see soon enough.¡± The mage curtly answered. He was a younger man with pale blond hair and nearly invisible eyebrows making his face look bare and youthful.

    They passed some doors and side corridors and Alyssa lost her sense of direction before they finally halted in front of an iron-bound door inscribed with runes which the mage opened.

    ¡°Get in.¡± He gestured for her to precede him, inside was a largely empty room with a desk, some chairs, and a big throne-like seat with shackles affixed to the arms and legs. Old sweat stains or something worse colored the dark wood. The room reeked of old fear. A glow lamp hung from the ceiling bathing everything in a pale glow.

    The mage shoved her as she halted for a second and pushed her further in. She took a few extra steps to gain a bit of distance and turned looking at the men warily. ¡°What is the meaning of this. I have done nothing wrong.¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°That is for us to find out. And if there truly is nothing then you have nothing to fear.¡± The mage gave an insincere grin. ¡°You sit here.¡± He pointed at the ¡®throne¡¯.

    ¡°No. I won¡¯t. I want to talk to Alea von Graufurt or Maximilian von Graufurt, if that is not possible contact...Magister Illimen.¡± She finally said.

    ¡°My, my. That are some illustrious names. You are a wanted fugitive and we have here a letter beseeching us to aid in your apprehension.¡± The mage gestured with a rolled piece of parchment. ¡°So we can only do our duty and help our brothers in Rivenlorn. So either you sit down ¨C now- or we have to force you.¡±

    Alyssa weighed her chances and slowly moved over to the wooden contraption and hesitated before sitting down on the hard wooden seat. She was much too small and looked like a child sitting in a chair meant for an adult.

    ¡°Put your arms in the cuffs.¡± The mage ordered.

    ¡°Why? Are you that scared of me? As I said, I did nothing wrong, I went along with what you wanted, why do you want to shackle me?¡±

    ¡°That is standard procedure. You will comply or it will be another criminal act done by you in the presence of the guard.¡±

    Alyssa sweated and looked from one guard to the other. The smallest among them, still with nearly 1,7 meters not small looked a bit uncomfortable but they still remained silent.

    The mage gestured at the taller guard. ¡°Ulf, help her.¡±

    The taller of the two, a burly black-haired guard grabbed her arms and snapped the cuffs shut before turning a bolt affixing them. Drops of sweat ran down the small girl''s neck and it took all her willpower not to turn Cyrus lose on them.

    The mage grinned. ¡°And now to the main reason, we brought you here.¡± He searched through the pouch at his side and removed a package that he put on the table before opening the cloth covering unveiling a small container holding a reddish powder. ¡°Only the best for you.¡± He snickered.

    ¡°What in the nine hells are you doing?¡± Alyssa looked alarmed.

    ¡°Oh, I see you are so tense so I wanted to help you relax.¡± He opened the container and put some of the powder inside a small glass cylinder before turning to her.

    ¡°That is something like Bluestone, isn¡¯t it? You want me to be drugged so you can pin that on Mrs. Jangres and me at the same time.¡± Alyssa grew calm as she came to a decision.

    ¡°Clever of you. She said you might realize it, but what can you do? Deny it?¡± He laughed. ¡°You should as well enjoy it. This Blooddust is really pure, you will not find it on the streets, only the organizations have access. Don¡¯t struggle or it might hurt. Or do, I might like that.¡± He grinned.

    Asandria spoke up, ¡®You cannot allow them to feed that to you. With your damaged vitality you might not survive. I will help you.¡¯

    Alyssa looked at them imploringly, ¡°Don¡¯t do that. You are guards, sworn to protect the people. Not hurt them, not be criminals yourself.¡±

    The smaller guard looked ashamed but tightened the grip on his truncheon and turned his face away. The others merely grinned. ¡°Want to beg a bit? If you would like to I could spare some time.¡± The mage chuckled.

    She thought of a room, the young noble laughing at her, the helplessness and rage.

    ¡°Then...I am sorry.¡± Her right eye shed a single tear crawling down her white cheek.

    The gate opened.

    More power than she had ever felt flowed through her body, filling the hollow in her chest. She was drunk on unlight, she was full of emptiness and the paradox felt delicious. Her left eye swallowed all light. There was no longer fear just a distant kind of pain and...

    The lighting grew dim, a distant rumbling could be heard, dust rained from the ceiling as a sudden pressure built cracks snaked from her position along the ground. Like great unseen wings beating the air became heavy and everything lost its color, became shades of grey, sounds grew muted, the shackle around her left arm rusted and the wood decayed. She stripped the metal from her right with a simple gesture. Mouths opened in the shape of an O.

    Whispers sounded in the air as the outlines of faces pressed against and deformed the walls, the stone began to bleed black liquid.

    Alyssa stood up, rusty scrap fell to the ground, Cyrus spread his wings and screeched.

    She raised her hand speaking words not meant for a human throat and the black disc of the broken seal formed as the void grew near. Blood ran from the corner of Alyssa¡¯s mouth. The mage raised his rod and bolts of bluish force impacted around her shredding stone and splintering the wood of the chair causing bloody cuts to appear on her skin. The black oval swallowed all without a ripple.

    A hulking humanoid rose from within the void, raised its bulk and stepped forward while regarding the interesting small girl with a single glaring eye.

    Asandria sang with her in otherworldly harmony the sound bled through into reality.

    Tentacles of lightless void shot from the mirror as she inserted her left hand grasping the three guardsmen. More and more tendrils shot forth.

    Frost coated the floor and the table.

    Lamprey mouths opened and bit into succulent, warm flesh. Blood ran in rivers and was lapped at with countless tongues from the faces that swarmed every surface. It was over in minutes, it took years- time had no meaning.

    The girl shuddered and pulled back as if from a deep morass and with great effort the void slowed to a trickle.

    The light left their eyes and broken bodies fell to the floor bereft of life. One of them, the smaller guard, stared sightlessly tears streaming from his wide-open eyes while saliva bubbled from his mouth- he alone was still alive.

    Alyssa sat down again and folded her hands on her lap, white hair covering her face while voices murmured and whispered. Blood dripped from her wounds and a thick ruby-colored drop hung from her chin as she sat without movement.

    A distant alarm sounded. Stone dust ceased to fall as the pressure receded.

 Rescue?

    ¡°Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.¡±

    - Dr. Seuss

    Vanessa stood before Kronenburg''s Norngrad Fortress. This time she simply wore close-fitting leather armor. Her eyes shone like lanterns illuminating the drifting snow. Her vantage point was a street away and she was hiding behind a chimney. The densely build townscape made it easy to sneak close but her spell-augmented eyes could see the wards enclosing the building and making it impossible to simply use the astral plane to get inside or even just entering where it was not wanted.

    Iseret pulled her own heavy cloak tighter. Her features showed hints of fatigue, she had been up and about since the grey of dawn and not slept a wink since then in spite of being quite active. She said softly barely audible over the humming of the wind. ¡°I have contacted Kadira. She is still in the act of consolidating her resources but she has found a bit of blackmail material for several guards, we could try it this way?¡±

    Vanessa spoke another spell without reacting.

    ¡°You are not to blame.¡± The wind took the words as soon as they left the snake-woman''s mouth.

    ¡°I was so focused on getting the potions done. If I had been a bit more attentive I could have gotten them out.¡±

    ¡°And then Valeria would have been even more confused and the whole scene would really begin to resemble a crime. More than it already does.¡±

    ¡°I fear that the ploy with the stashed drugs is only a means to an end and that we have not seen what they really intend. We could simply brush it off at the moment with the backers we have.¡±

    Iseret was silent. ¡°I would really like to refute you but must concur. It is likely that they have planned for more. And when they have the clout to move the guard they might have even more means of playing with them inside the fortress.¡±

    ¡°I sent a rune sparrow to Maximilian. He should already be on his way. Sadly the princess is not as well known to me. This and the academy defenses would destabilize the construct sufficiently for it to be useless.¡±

    Iseret squeezed Vanessa¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We could infiltrate the fortress but without any knowledge about the conditions or even the whereabouts of Alyssa and Alea we are very likely to trigger an alarm and even if we could we should not fight the guard in one of their headquarters, there can be no good result.¡±

    ¡°So we do nothing?¡± Vanessa¡¯s voice shook a bit either with rage or another emotion.

    Suddenly Iseret pulled her into the cloak with her. ¡°We will get them out. Kadira is speaking to the ambassador as we sit here. Lieseleta is a princess- we are probably the worse option at the moment.¡±

    The vampire tensed for a moment then relaxed into the slight warmth. ¡°Just wait and see?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Shadows burst from a part of the building unfurling like a flower blooming as unnatural darkness swallowed a tower and parts of the western wing. Wards flared. Alarm bells rang. Shouts came from the building. The wind pulled the words apart ¡°¡­.the interrogation chambers...Mage-Guards!¡­.wards failing...¡±

    Vanessa spoke some words and a hulking form appeared behind her tilting its head in a jerky movement, like a praying mantis. ¡°Enter my shadow and hold for my orders.¡± The towering shade struggled and runes flashed as it finally contracted and vanished into the small girl''s shadow. Then she took a few steps and jumped over to the fortress wall a web of runes broke as she cut it with her claws.

    Iseret gritted her teeth and looked about- her whole face brightened as she saw a coach arriving at reckless speed and a person jumping out of the still rolling vehicle. Even from a distance she recognized Maximilian and with a quick prayer lightened her body to jump down from the building hastening to his side. Mr. Brache followed his departing lord and both of them entered the courtyard of the fortress as Iseret smoothly joined them. Maximilian took one look at her and sighed while half-jogging towards the entrance. ¡°You could have worn a less conspicuous outfit. Please report.¡±

    Iseret was clothed in leather bands edged in metal crisscrossing her lithe form leaving few things to the imagination. Each band seemed to be magically flexible, adhering to but in no way hampering her. At her side, she had the khopesh and some daggers as well as several filled potion slots in the leather belt.

    She bowed her head in apology and drew her grey cloak closer. ¡°Milord. Alyssa and Alea were taken from the alchemist teacher¡¯s shop ¡®Natural Remedies¡¯. It was a setup. The guard found contraband probably Bluestone on the premises. The action was swift and preplanned. They waited for exactly the right moment to catch the girls in their sweep. They took them about two hours ago. The guard is compromised. What happened just now- I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°I was in the midst of a discussion when the sparrow arrived. I informed the princess, tried to get a message to the magister, and then left as soon as I could. It still took so long.¡± He gritted his teeth. ¡°But I did not think that they would dare harm them inside the guard-fortress!¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Iseret looked a bit confused.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°The influence needed to get the guard to cooperate¡­¡±

    ¡°You only need a few well-placed pawns.¡±

    During their talk, they had reached the doors and entered. Inside pandaemonium reigned. Orders were shouted and guardsmen assembled. Some looked to be still half-asleep. A group led by a sergeant sporting a balding head with a fringe of dark grey-brown hair and an oft broken badly healed nose stood in their way.

    ¡°Who are you? Halt and identify yourself.¡± The large sergeant according to his insignia raised his shortsword and intercepted them as they entered. A mage with a bushy unkempt beard and disheveled hair raised his hands threateningly.

    ¡°Maximilian von Graufurt heir to the county of Graufurt. You unlawfully hold my sister Alea von Graufurt and my retainer Alyssa Miner.¡±

    ¡°The alarm has sounded we have no time to indulge your lordship. Leave and come back when we have this sorted out in the morning.¡±

    ¡°What is your name. I will have a need for it when I complain to the commander of the guard. He served with my uncle Demavar in the pacification action against the Wolfkin.¡±

    The greying and slightly flabby sergeant gritted his teeth. ¡°For your own safety, please leave.¡±

    ¡°Not without my sister!¡±

    Iseret and Mr. Brache readied themselves subtly.

    ¡°Get the captain.¡± The sergeant had had enough.

    ¡°But¡­!¡± The guardsman looked conflicted.

    A cuff from the leather gauntlet of his superior cut off his complaint. Looking rebellious he walked quickly deeper into the building.

    <hr>

    A group of guards accompanied the small mage-guard, she looked like she had freshly graduated and was still in her early twenties. Chestnut brown hair a pert nose and warm brown eyes made her the favorite of any patrol.

    ¡°Mage Claire. We should be cautious, it seemed to come from this direction.¡± A tall older guard said softly. The corridor was in the less used section of the fortress. Once thought necessary the interrogation rooms had fallen out of favor as the other guard stations expanded and it became normal to investigate the criminals on the spot. The glow lamps here had been extinguished through some means or other and everything was shadowed but for the glowing insignias and a single storm lamp that cast a narrow beam of light by means of several reflecting mirrors and bullseye glass.

    The young woman held her wand with whitened knuckles but otherwise did not betray her anxiety. ¡°We are the first and that means we have to continue. What if someone is hurt?¡±

    The taller guard sported a full beard and still lush hairs on the top of his head making him seem more youthful than he was. Grimacing internally he cursed the other laggards that made him and the small miss the first to enter the potentially dangerous area. If someone were here at this time of night he heartily wished them to reap the results of their idiocy and not to drag down Claire too!

    He forced a smile. ¡°When we get injured too that does not help anyone and they would have to care for us too!¡±

    Claire pursed her full lips and nodded, ¡°That makes sense. Please be careful.¡± The last was addressed to the whole squad.

    There was no noise other than a slight cracking from settling stone. Somewhere ahead a faint sobbing could be heard. It seemed to come from a reinforced door broken and twisted out of form from a great force and still held by some locking mechanism or other.

    Dust fell from the ceiling and the sobbing continued. The guardsmen looked at each other and even the mage was apprehensive.

    The taller guard cleared his throat. ¡°Should we wait for reinforcements?¡±

    ¡°No. There is someone in need of help. We go in.¡± The woman swallowed nervously.

    The group crept closer and reached the door.

    Vanessa hung on the ceiling and regarded them gritting her teeth. ¡°If they do anything to hurt Alyssa they will die.¡±

    Asandria hung near her ¡®We don¡¯t want all our work to vanish only because our enemies managed to capture her. She has only defended herself. We just have to make sure the Blood-Dust does not vanish somehow. It is her best defense.¡¯

    Vanessa whispered, ¡°Can you protect her?¡±

    ¡®It will cost us if I do. So I would prefer not to.¡¯

    ¡°I understand. I will try to get Maximilian.¡± Vanessa clenched her small fists then fell silent and added, ¡°Is she hurt?¡±

    ¡®Yes. But she will live. It¡¯s nothing serious this time. The damage is mostly to the mind.¡¯ Asandria looked a the twisted door and sighed, ¡®At least I could protect the evidence from Alyssa¡¯s rampage.¡¯

    Vanessa nodded and vanished into the shadows.

    The guardsman kicked the door and after a few heavy hits, the whole damaged section bowed and broke. He pried loose the part containing the lock and opened the other. An old interrogation room was revealed to their gazes. A guard in blood-streaked clothes sat against the wall his legs and arms pressed against his body as he slowly rocked back and forth, tears, blood, and snot dripped from his face as he whimpered.

    Two bodies were lying about haphazardly arms and legs and necks twisted into unnatural positions, white bone protruding from unnaturally pale, bloodless skin. Flesh had been bitten out of the bared arms and chest which looked like there had been something boring into the tissue. The faces were contorted in fear and agony. And they were quite dead.

    The desk, the chairs, the glow globe everything was cracked and broken. The interrogation chair on the wall held a small white-haired girl. The shackles and parts of the wood were gone and the rest looked ancient and rotted. Blood streaked her beautiful face and cuts marred the visible portions of her skin. She sat without motion and did not even lift her head as the guardsmen entered the room. She looked like a ghost. A winged reptile the size of a larger dog sat on the back of the chair and regarded them warily deadly-looking stinger at the ready.

    On the ground some ways to the side there was a small container containing bloodred crystal dust blinking in the light of the lantern and their insignia a glass cylinder was lying beside the vessel and some dust seemed to still be contained within.

    Claire looked at all of that and paled. ¡°Get the guardsman to the healers! I will look after the girl. Don¡¯t touch the rest. This¡­¡± she faltered and forced bile back down her throat. Then took heart and stepped near. ¡°Who are you? What happened here?¡± The last was nearly a plea. She kept a careful watch on the draconic-looking lizard.

    The girl raised her head and the rest of her delicate face was revealed, dark runes shone just beneath her skin and her left eye was a lightless hole.

    Gasping the mage took a step backward.

    ¡°Do you want to kill me too?¡± Alyssa¡¯s voice was raspy.

    ¡°No!¡± Claire shook her head still appalled at the girl''s visage before adding, ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill anyone. I am a mage-guard. Claire Trester is my name, what is yours?¡±

    ¡°A¡­¡± she coughed and began to shiver. ¡°Alyssa Miner.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you were that girl they pulled in this evening. It was all over the fortress. They said you were at a bluestone¡­¡± she hesitated and then looked, really looked at the container with the red dust before her eyes widened. ¡°Is this Blood-Dust?¡±

    ¡°I assume that is the case- some variant of Bluestone at least.¡± Alyssa looked at the other woman. ¡°They wanted to force me to use it. It would have killed me.¡±

    ¡°So this¡­¡± Claire looked around. ¡°...that was¡­" she swallowed, "...you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

 The long night ends

    ¡°I love mankind", he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.¡±

    - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

    The spider raised its small head and the view shifted with it. Distortions from the imperfections of the crystalline lenses caused rainbow reflections on the border of her vision. Alea sighed again. She was cold. They had given her water and some bread half an hour ago but did not answer a single question. She wiped at a tear her treacherous jeweled eyes were still able to shed. How about Alyssa. She had seen the gazes she drew after the amulet had been removed and feared the worst.

    She had been sheltered, at least after her ¡®death¡¯ but even she had been educated in the underhanded methods of the nobility. And after recovering her memories the breadth of her knowledge only grew.

    She gestured, aligned the glyphs, and light blossomed from her palm bringing with it a palpable warmth. ¡®It¡¯s not fire but close to the next best thing for heat.¡¯ Some runes glowed over the doorway.

    She heard hurried steps coming to her door and then said door was opened. ¡°What are you doing?! No spellwork!¡± A harried-looking female guard shouted angrily.

    Alea shrunk back then forced her back straight again and lifted her head. ¡°You drag me all over the city. You don¡¯t tell me what you are accusing me of. The room is cold and there is no blanket. I simply try to preserve my life. This is disgraceful!¡± She was astounded by her courage but it seemed as if she was finally pushed too far.

    The guard looked torn between being apologetic and furious and then settled for a conciliatory shrug. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be too long now. Please bear with it. I could perhaps bring you some tea?¡±

    ¡°Yes please.¡± Alea cursed her soft voice at the moment.

    The guard nodded, ¡°Could you please extinguish that?¡±

    ¡°When I get the tea.¡±

    Making an unpleasant face the guard closed the door.

    ¡°Being a noble has its perks.¡± Alea intensified the light, the crystal lenses of Cecily had no problems with that. Another rune began to glow and the small girl showed a slight smile as she heard muted cursing from outside.

    There was a slight tremor and her light dimmed a bit before surging back to its former strength. ¡°Oh no, Alyssa!¡± Alea suddenly had that thought and jumped up. ¡°Please open the door!¡± She hammered her small fists against the door but the noise was drowned by clanging alarm bells and shouted orders.

    Some time went by and the commotion seemed to gain some semblance of order.

    The door was opened and Maximilian stood inside the doorframe before hugging Alea tightly. ¡°Gesserach be praised! Does anything hurt, did they harm you?¡±

    Alea weakly pressed against his arm and as he lessened the pressure gasped once for air and then answered, ¡°I am only a bit tired, cold, and hungry. But Alyssa! They took her and it was all too suspicious. They did not tell us what they even held us for!¡±

    Maximilian''s eyes darkened. ¡°They will rue this day. I have already informed the princess and uncle. Let us see about Alyssa.¡±

    Behind her brother stood Mr. Brache, stoic as always, and two guardsmen who looked highly uncomfortable.

    Exiting the cell they walked down the corridors that seemed purpose-made to confuse visitors.

    Maximilian knocked at a door and then opened it without waiting for an acknowledgment. One of the guards raised a hand then let it drop again radiating dissatisfaction.

    ¡°Where is Alyssa.¡± Maximilian addressed the man sitting behind the desk.

    A sergeant stood between them and directed a questioning look at the elderly captain. ¡°Captain?¡±

    ¡°At ease sergeant." Turning to the newcomers he wearily continued, "We still have no news. She was no longer in her cell and there was no notice that she was transferred. This is highly irregular and does not speak well for our fortress but please wait we have men and women searching for her and the origin of the disturbance¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been nearly half an hour, how can someone vanish inside the guard fortress!?¡± Maximilian looked livid.

    Running steps neared the office and a breathless guard looked inside. ¡°Captain! Alyssa Miner has been found. Claire¡¯s patrol was it that did it.¡±

    ¡°Claire, mh?¡± The captain looked thoughtful. ¡°That is a lucky break. Have her brought here.¡±

    ¡°She was described as wounded so they took her to the infirmary, there were¡­¡± the guard swallowed, ¡°...casualties.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Trevor Petersen and Ulf Brucker.¡±

    The captain looked as if he had a headache.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Is she badly wounded? I can help!¡± Alea looked at the guard, hands clenched against her sides.

    ¡°I heard it was mostly scrapes, but there were other...things. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°That does nothing to reassure us.¡± Maximilian looked stern.

    The captain stood up. ¡°I will come with you to the infirmary. That will speed our progress and I must have a closer look at that mess.¡±

    They walked briskly through the still busy corridors and soon arrived at the infirmary. The ward was bustling with nurses and some mages there also stood some additional guards.

    ¡°Claire, good to see you! What happened can you give me a preliminary report?¡±

    Claire looked at him with relief. ¡°Found Alyssa Miner and three guards in an unused interrogation room in the western wing. Two guards are dead of void exposure and...bite wounds. One of them was a mage guard. The third is still not able to talk but is no longer in immediate danger. I don¡¯t have the names, sorry! The prisoner is in the infirmary being treated.¡±

    ¡°How did they die and was it this Ms. Miner?¡±

    ¡°She told me so personally. She was apparently defending herself- her words- when the trio tried to force her to imbibe Blood-Dust. Which we secured- it was lying on the ground with a filled applicator. It¡¯s in this evidence box.¡± She pointed at a small metal chest.

    ¡°Blood Dust.¡± The captain''s brows drew together and his expression turned darker still. ¡°That is bad. We had some missing from the secure rooms and there are hints that it could be Petersen¡¯s doing it was still inconclusive but there was some evidence. We will have to investigate thoroughly. This reeks to high heaven.¡±

    He took a short moment to think over his decision. Both girls and Mrs. Jangres were detained on probably fabricated evidence and compounding that Alyssa was hurt and everything pointed toward self-defense even if she had killed. The political ramifications alone made him shed cold sweat. He turned towards Maximilian. ¡°I will release Alyssa Miner into your care she is required to not leave the academy until further notice. Once we have a clear picture of what has happened we will contact you.¡± He ground his teeth. ¡°May Gesserach burn them with his holy light and Meloris deny them shelter. If I find the culprits for this disaster I will not be lenient. And just when we got back on our feet.¡±

    The group entered a room with two beds, one occupied. Alyssa was lying there her right eye was closed the left looked like a cutout to some dark space swallowing all light.

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Alea ran towards her friend and hugged her close.

    Maximilian sighed ¡°I regret that I did not bring Mireille but there was not much time to lose and I hoped that speed would help us more in the short term.¡±

    Alyssa stirred and opened her right eye and then she hugged Alea while tears streamed down her face.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Alea rubbed her face against Alyssa¡¯s cheek.

    ¡°They tried to drug me. They wanted to blame me, Mrs. Jangres, all of us for the Bluestone scandal and to further cement their ¡®truth¡¯.¡± She coughed and her voice was still hoarse. ¡°I did not want to fight and then I was trapped and the only thing I could do was to use everything at my disposal. I called the third seal and I had no control.¡± She shuddered.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk anymore. I think we can imagine the rest having seen your duel.¡± Maximilian pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°We will take you to the Wisteria Dorm. You are not to leave the academy grounds. That is the parole we agreed upon.¡±

    Alyssa nodded weakly. ¡°Then let¡¯s leave. I don¡¯t want to remain here another moment.¡±

    The captain looked at them with a complicated expression as the group filed out of the infirmary. Turning towards a healer he said, ¡°If the last one wakes up notify me immediately.¡± He thought for a moment, ¡°And set two guards. There might be interest in silencing him.¡± Getting a nod in return he left for his office it was going to be a sleepless night.

    <hr>

    In a room in the palace.

    Carl Askander, the second prince, grimaced golden hair fell into his face and was swept away with one hand. It had only been a small bit of influence he had exerted but for it to be so...useless. He tipped the pawn he had been playing with over and let it slowly roll in a circle near the center of the board. To unravel a fabric one best took a loose thread and to present one to an enemy was...unwise. He pondered and then rang a bell near the small table. The first light of dawn filtered through richly embroidered golden curtains into the study. And as the door opened and a servant bowed deeply he gave his order.

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorm

    Alea walked in and was nearly bowled over when Mireille jumped clear from her seat on the edge of her bed to where she was standing. Sparks of lightning clearly showed the means used for that feat.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Alea gave an undignified scream and hung onto the culprit for dear life.

    ¡°Alea, Alyssa! What happened to you?!¡±

    Alyssa who was leaning on Iseret took a step away from her and softly hugged both with her right arm, the left she held carefully away from them. The left eye had regained a bit of its normal contours and was no longer just a black space.

    Seeing no answers forthcoming Mireille grabbed both and hugged them close.

    Maximilian stood behind Iseret and looked at all of that with a complicated expression before turning to Lorelle. ¡°If they need something tell me, I have to report to my uncle and grandmother.¡±

    ¡°It will be as you wish.¡± Lorelle bowed.

    The door closed softly and the room fell into silence. On the horizon, the first rays of light traced along the outlines of high flying clouds. The wind shook the glass in the window frames.

    Maximilian exited the dorm and sighed before adjusting his coat. His breath misted in the low temperature. Mr. Brache patiently waited behind him. A group of royal guards led by Jera accompanied Lieseleta as she walked up to them. Without any attempt at courtesies, the princess shook her golden curls and looked sharply at the young man. ¡°Are they alright?¡±

    ¡°It seemed that way though Alyssa¡­I am not completely sure.¡±

    Lieseleta sighed in relief.

    Maximilian continued. ¡°They just arrived and are most likely still very tired. I would recommend you see them when they had some time to sleep. I would be grateful for a guard or two though.¡±

    ¡°That can be arranged.¡± The princess nodded. ¡°I will return by midday. Today is not a school day so we have time.¡±

    Jera gave a grudging nod at a look from her charge carrying an unspoken command. She motioned for two guards and swiftly gave some orders before both went towards the dorm.

    Lieseleta and Maximilian walked together in the direction of the main building before the girl said quietly, ¡°This can¡¯t go on, something has to give. The master of the tower of time has been ordered by my father to investigate the crown prince''s murder. I think I see the same touch on tonight''s happenings and the assassination attempt on me.¡±

    ¡°You might be correct but I don¡¯t think that HE would be stupid enough to do it on his own he will use a deniable cat¡¯s paw. And we did not even find that.¡±

    ¡°He did not have as much time to arrange the situation this time. He had to react. That is always more difficult to coordinate. We should not lose any time. I will speak with my father. If he still sees me as his daughter he has to help me.¡±

    ¡°I will mobilize my uncle''s friends and hopefully the commandant remembers him fondly.¡±

    The dawn broke and brilliant reds and golds lit the sky.

    They say that the most beautiful colors denote the worst storms to come.

 The Exhibition draws near

    ¡°To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.¡±

    - Oscar Wilde

    The guarded infirmary cell was silent in the first hours of the morning and the man lying on the cot finally slept, sedated by the strong potion he had been fed.

    The window was merely two hands-breadth in height and width but that was sufficient for the man crawling inside. It looked grotesque as he contorted his figure to fit around the center bar more liquid than solid, more bestial than human.

    Raising himself up from the floor little crackles could be heard as his bones shifted back into position and even the face regained its fullness. There stood a black-clothed man with only a small patch of skin visible around the eyes. Everything else was covered in black leather and fabric. Unhurried he drew a small slender vial then stepped closer to the bed, the mask on his face crinkling where his mouth should be, hinting at a smile.

    Vanessa forced her tired body to dissolve and resolve again behind the man. A precise strike caught him on the back of his head and the assassin stumbled before forcing himself to turn only to be hit again causing him to fall unconscious. She drew strength from the demon in her shadow and felt the rising resentment of the creature.

    Feeling for any hidden means of ending his life she removed a false tooth with a painful sounding crack. The man gave an involuntary groan at that. Finally, she bound him with some flexible rope she had on her person. Stumbling with the weight of the distant sun on her shoulder she staggered for the door and knocked from the inside before once more forcing herself to dissolve into mist.

    The guards outside looked at each other uncomprehendingly and then one of them opened the door before looking inside.

    ¡°Alarm!¡±

    Inside a storeroom in the basement, long fallen into disuse Vanessa scrawled some runes containing a warding spell on the door and then fell to the ground completely exhausted before drifting off into a deathlike sleep.

    <hr>

    Study of the King inside the Palace

    King Vilander von Margrinar looked up from the documents arrayed before him. ¡°Lieseleta, my dear, what brings you to me this fine day.¡±

    ¡°Father, forgive the interruption but I come to request justice for me and my friends.¡±

    The large room was dominated by a heavy desk. Beside it stood a few shelves holding books and scrolls, the windows were shrouded with curtains and most of the light came from glow globes. Offset columns set into the walls at regular intervals framed pictures showing ancient kings and queens.

    ¡°I have heard there was a problem at the Norngrad Fortress. I have dispatched a knight inquisitor to look into it. Do you require more?¡±

    ¡°It was clearly an attack aimed at my supporters. The whole situation was a setup and they even tried to drug my friend, Alyssa- with Blood-Crystal nonetheless. It could have killed her and implicated the school, me.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any evidence?¡±

    ¡°That is the reason I am here. If I had that why would I need to ask.¡± She looked fierce for a moment and her father raised an eyebrow then laughed.

    ¡°Good. That is what is needed. Don¡¯t beg. Demand. You are a princess and my daughter. If you were still meekly clinging to my trousers I could not well accept your candidacy for the throne.¡±

    He stood up and brushed a hand over his beard. ¡°I am willing to entertain your wishes but I would need to have something, somewhere to begin the investigation. Yes the guard, but that is too wide a field for quick results.¡±

    A knock sounded on the door.

    ¡°Yes? I asked not to be disturbed, what is it?¡± Irritation colored his voice.

    The door opened and an older servant bowed deeply. ¡°My deepest apologies but you wished to be notified if something new came to light regarding the guard. There was an attempt on the unconscious guardsman. The Assassin was caught.¡±

    The sunlight threw a line of brightness across the king''s lower face and as his mouth widened in a cruel smile, sharp white teeth gleamed.

    ¡°Finally.¡±

    <hr>

    Somewhere in the Crooks

    The bald man in the white golden robes stood before the hovel in the Crooks. Behind him stood a squad of royal knights. On the ground lay some thugs bleeding but still alive. Well- Most of them.

    He spread his arms and spoke words precise and cold. Pale light gathered between his hands and flowed over the ground adhering to the dirty hut. He clenched his hand and a scream sounded unearthly and distinctly non-human. Another gesture and the wood and mud broke and ran like molten tallow. Inside the building was a complicated circle wrought on a metal plate and inside that circle stood a being made of sinewy tentacles, lithe and androgynous bound by pale light, like a fly caught in amber.

    ¡°Towermaster, what do you wish of us.¡± One of the knights tacitly asked.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    <hr>

    Nordmark Keep in the Northeast of Margrinar

    Zygmund von Nordmark stood straight and felt the power coursing through his veins. He had never felt better. So what if he could no longer tolerate the sun. And what of the blood he now needed. That was nothing against the cost of the medicine in the past that had not helped a fraction of what this did now. Peasants were only useful when they served him. And if that was as a vessel for the blood he craved? Perfectly acceptable.

    Lately, he had begun to feel a great presence to the northwest. When he slept he saw her beautiful face. She was radiance personified, a deity fallen to earth. And he heard her Whispers promising regency when Margrinar accepted her rule.

    He could hardly wait.

    <hr>

    A Townhouse in Kronenburg

    Tharus Iram von den Zwei Br¨¹cken elder vampire in the service of the Heartstealer grinned and then laughed. Helping someone take power was only reasonable when the power that was granted could also be taken away. He had no illusions as to the trustworthiness of his highness Carl Askander von Margrinar. He killed his elder brother and tried to frame and kill his younger sister. Trust? He would have lived his long life in vain.

    He held the note gotten from the dead-drop before he crumbled the piece of paper and let it be devoured by a pinprick of void. Slowly the scrap turned in on itself and dwindled before finally becoming dust.

    So the princeling needed his help. What subterfuge and guile did not yield force should supply.

    For a moment his features grew pensive. A lot of relatively sure ways to gain an advantage had turned out disastrously. Harming instead of helping their cause. There were several highly competent antagonists working against the prince. He did only know of some. Perhaps it would be time to withdraw. He pondered- Fold or raise, the ages-old question.

    He had the Nordmarks firmly in his control due to turning their patriarch. Men were always greedy and life itself was the grandest prize. But if he withdrew there would be no good opportunity for another decapitating blow. It would probably be a protracted affair and with the elder races looking on they could never be sure if not one or more of them would find offense with the undead empire they were building.

    And so he came to a decision.

    <hr>

    The arcane exhibition drew near and the preparations that were suspended due to the death of the prince resumed.

    <hr>

    Sideroom near the King''s study, the Palace

    ¡°Towermaster.¡± King Vilander nodded cordially. ¡°Kestrel.¡± He gave a half-smile at the woman sitting on the other side of the long table opposite the magician with him sitting at the head. ¡°Please report your findings.¡±

    ¡°If there is no complaint I will go first, I have much to do and less time,¡± The youthful-looking mage appeared to smile, ¡°than I would wish. The Lyru Demon was summoned by a vampire. The one in question had the reek of the Heartstealer, at least according to the demonic creature so take that with a grain of salt. The name of the vampire is Tharus further monikers unknown. The demon had the express permission to kill the princess too if it were possible. The subject is sadly no longer available for questioning. The ritual circle and general circumstances of the summoning will be studied further. There will be another report. I will be going, have a good night your highness.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I wish you fruitful endeavors.¡± Vilander¡¯s face was dark and pensive as he gestured for him to leave and turned towards the woman. ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°The assassin is a member of the Dragons Teeth. They really like the old myths and are an old-fashioned and even older organization. They don¡¯t work for money mostly its favors and big ones at that. The contact that relayed the order mentioned a highly placed sponsor in the palace. But that is all. He was required to kill the guard. What follows is supposition. That they used such an expensive means is most likely because they have an arrangement that lets them use ¡®assets¡¯ as needed for a certain goal. Otherwise, it would be inconceivable for such a lowly pawn to be graced by their attentions.¡±

    ¡°Concise, vague in the details but not unexpectedly so. We have to be ready.¡±

    ¡°I think they will make their move during the Arcane Exhibition.¡±

    ¡°I think so too.¡±

    ¡°Should I¡­¡±

    ¡°No. I want to see who else is disloyal enough. I will take precautions.¡± The smile was devoid of warmth. ¡°And then we will prune the great tree of our nation and cut away some deadwood.¡±

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorm

    Alyssa woke with a scream, panting heavily. She sighed in relief as she saw the reassuring bottom of the bunk overhead. A warm arm snaked around her and pulled her towards Mireille who had insisted despite her protests- What would happen if her left arm touched her unprotected flesh- to join her. Secretly she was very glad that her friend was close.

    She pulled the glove off with her teeth and looked at her left hand, then closed her right eye. Dark shadows swam beneath the surface of her flesh, black flames danced on her fingertips. She remembered the moment when she had simply let the void flow through her. She had been one with the cold, one with the darkness, she had felt complete.

    She looked on as the void ate into the fabric of the quilt and a thread slowly rotted through. She did no longer feel the smaller streams of void energy it was the same as her blood pumping restlessly, you did not feel its flow- did you?

    She felt light and somehow detached, the mere cold of weather and wind, even the warmth just now everything was distant. What did she want with all that? She drew an oval of darkly flickering flame only she could clearly see into the air. She listened to the girl breathing behind her and saw the light shining through the window slowly brightening.

    <hr>

    Alea woke sometime before noon. Getting up and getting ready she looked at Mireille and Alyssa, the latter seemed to be awake and lazily played with her grey-white hand. Darkness flickered above her fingers. ¡°I will go get some breakfast. Should I bring you some too?¡± She planned to enlist Lorelle if it came to that.

    ¡°I¡¯m not hungry. But bring some for Mireille, please.¡± Alyssa answered.

    ¡°I will get enough for you both. You have to eat.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    Outside she wandered down the corridor and greeted some of the other girls. Inside the dining room sat Prior Bertram and looked up from the tea he was sharing with Madam Gosling, the dorm mother. ¡°Ah, Alea. Just the person I wanted to see.¡±

    ¡°Good morning.¡± Alea nodded a greeting toward both.

    ¡°Alea, dear. Did you come for breakfast? I could warm up some soup.¡±

    ¡°I would be grateful. And could you please add some for my friends?¡±

    ¡°But of course.¡± The matron stood up and walked towards the kitchen. The room became still but for the noises from outside a slight crackling from the fireplace as a coal burst.

    ¡°I would like to extend an offer. You can think about it when you are able. Times being what they are we might not get the chance for a formal audience so here it is- Alea von Graufurt I would like to anoint you as the saint of Jaros, god of mysteries and the watcher on the threshold to the distant dark. You are uniquely suited and there is no one else. The darkness gains in power. Windkeep is sorely besieged. Undead troops are roaming the northern reaches of Rivenlorn and even here the hand of the Heartstealer is felt. Think about it, but don¡¯t take too much time.¡± The older man stood up nodded toward Alea and knocked on the doorframe leading to the kitchen, ¡°Thank you for the tea. It was delicious! May Jaros be with you.¡± And following an indistinct reply from Madam Gosling he left.

    Alea looked after him and was too stunned to answer. She had heard a similar offer long ago. Then it had only been a possibility and now? She looked back toward the room and thought of the look in Alyssa''s eyes. Not everything could be solved by strength but many things were eased by it.

    "Your breakfast, young lady." And with a smile, the older woman came back with a serving tray full of food.

 The light in the bottle

    ¡°When he shall die,

    Take him and cut him out in little stars,

    And he will make the face of heaven so fine

    That all the world will be in love with night

    And pay no worship to the garish sun.¡±

    - William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

    ¡°I thought you would be contacting me.¡± Valeria Jangres looked sleep-deprived but collected with deep dark rings around her eyes.

    Alyssa stood before her.

    ¡°What the heck happened to you?¡± The teacher looked her up and down. ¡°Did the guard¡­? No, that was an illusion I sensed, wasn¡¯t it? You were covering those up.¡± She motioned toward the black eye and the runes.

    The girl nodded, ¡°Teacher, I still need to use your laboratory. It is more urgent than ever.¡±

    ¡°Tell that to the damn guard. They ransacked my store broke my locks and...I don¡¯t even know if something is still missing in some evidence chest somewhere. I have only begun to tidy up and the damage to my reputation...¡± She sighed. ¡°Could you ask the princess for an endorsement? Pretty please?¡±

    ¡°Why did you return to the academy?¡± Alyssa looked curious.

    ¡°I had something to talk about with the magister and he with me.¡± She sighed, again. ¡°So, you need the laboratory? Does it have something to do with you looking like the living dead? Just kidding, misery loves company they say. Give me a day, I will draft a note for you to skip school and free up my Tuesday. Does that work for you?¡°

    Alyssa was stunned. ¡°Thank you! Why are you doing this?¡±

    ¡°Looking the gift horse in the mouth?¡± She smirked, ¡°It¡¯s mostly that your friends rescued me too and if they try this shit with my students and me, I get angry and want to do the exact opposite of what I think they want. I was well known as a contrary bitch in the academy.¡± Seeing Alyssa a bit shocked she snickered, ¡°and at the moment I can¡¯t give a damn for decorum. So, you don¡¯t tell my students I am a human being and I ready the lab for you. Deal?¡±

    The white-haired girl gave a lop-sided smile and nodded, ¡°Deal.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear it. Say, they did something to you didn¡¯t they? You are much more withdrawn even more so than the times when the other students spread some gossip again. If you want to talk sometimes or need some help, tell me. I might be a teacher for the free advertisement and connections but this does not mean I am no teacher.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Alyssa hesitated. ¡°...lost a lot of my vitality using the void and I truly need the potion. Before I have that I am unsure that I could even talk about anything of worth. Everything is so meaningless right now. I only know intellectually that I have to do something about that.¡±

    ¡°Do your friends know how bad it is?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Mh. I will bring you to the dorms and until we get that damn potion made you don¡¯t leave the sight of one of your friends.¡±

    Alyssa nodded, ¡°Ah, I forget to mention, it will only be my friend Vanessa and perhaps Iseret or Alea. I cannot leave the academy grounds because of the incidents at the Norngrad Fortress.¡±

    ¡°That should be ok. But I truly wanted to ask you. Where and how did they vanish. My laboratory has no other exit for security reasons. It''s really strange.¡± She eyed Alyssa critically. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t hold it against you. Who was implicated by whom is a good and relatively pointless question and I can think of some reasons to harm my humble self so perhaps you were the innocent bystanders caught in the action...and perhaps it was two for the price of one. As long as nothing worse happens I count it as even. Iseret was the snake, pardon, the Keshian?¡±

    ¡°Yes. She is a maid¡­¡±

    Valeria laughed heartily. ¡°Yes, of course. And I am a butler. Don¡¯t worry I will have the lab ready by Tuesday. But then you won''t need to be excused so please diligently attend the lessons.¡± She grinned.

    The alchemist escorted Alyssa back to the dorm and left her in Alea¡¯s hands who was alarmed by the young woman¡¯s warning. ¡°Don¡¯t let Alyssa leave your sight for long. She is unstable after whatever happened in the Fortress. Please be careful.¡±

    <hr>

    Somewhere on the Academy Grounds

    ¡°Meow.¡±

    ¡°Up to your old tricks again, huh?¡± Mireille looked up at the tree with the feathered cat in the upper branches.

    ¡°Meeeeooooow¡± Semiramis mewled pitifully and looked helpless.

    ¡°You can fly, I have seen it you know?¡±

    ¡°Mrrrow.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t get you down but it will not be as entertaining as the last time.

    The cat looked at her curiously and batted her paw in her direction.

    Concentrating on the lightning in her body Mireille jumped and easily reached a thick branch in the middle of the tree.

    ¡°Meow.¡±

    ¡°Just you wait. I will fluff you until you purr.¡± Mireille vowed then jumped a bit higher.

    Semiramis swished her tail excitedly and paced back and forth.

    Calculating the distance Mireille jumped again and grabbed the feline from her perch. ¡°Meeeeooow!¡±

    Both plummeted back towards the earth but lightning coursed along her limbs and slowed her fall. She hit the ground with some left-over momentum causing her to kneel. Lightning arced away to the sides and burnt the ground in a circular pattern. The cat licked her hand and looked satisfied.

    ¡°Did you do this only to have me jump you around? You can fly Gesserach be damned.¡±

    ¡°Meow.¡±

    ¡°Why are you talking to the cat? Is that the one Professor Flammensiegel has adopted?¡± Paula waited with two practice weapons carried over her shoulder.

    ¡°Yes, this is Semiramis. Semiramis, this is Paula.¡± Mireille conscientiously introduced them to each other.

    ¡°Charmed.¡± Paula laughed, ¡°Do you think we might hurry over to Sword One? I don¡¯t like to be chewed out by Mrs. Julia.¡±

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s. Sorry kitten.¡± Mireille hugged the cat and then set her down gently.

    The feline brushed along her legs with tail held high and then ran behind the next building.

    ¡°Good to see you can still smile. I did not expect you of all people to be so gloomy.¡± Paula kicked her feet as they were walking.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°It''s my friend, Alyssa. She had some bad times and she worries me. I worry so much I don¡¯t even have an appetite. Normally I can cheer her up whatever happens but the last weeks were bad, really bad.¡± She frowned.

    ¡°I hope she gets better. I did not know her but it seems I met her before class a few days ago. She was a bit sad looking and I gave her a candy. That made her feel better at least it looked that way. Later some of my friends warned me to be careful about her and other students were saying even worse things. No wonder she feels bad.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for that.¡± Mireille smiled then hesitated. ¡°You might not happen to have some spare candy left?¡±

    ¡°You! What was that about having no appetite!?¡± Paula hit her on the upper arm and then laughed before scrounging a candy wrapped in cloth.

    ¡°Thanks!¡±

    <hr>

    Norngrad Fortress, a Study.

    The captain of Norngrad fortress frowned at the report. ¡°We have two instances of unauthorized access recorded by divination wards. And one of them was the third story? How sure are you that those results are true and not only that way because we don¡¯t usually activate the runes?¡±

    ¡°Very sure. But I cannot explain it, I¡¯m stumped. The expenditure of keeping those runes active is costing too much, I recommend we report it but end the heightened state of alert.¡±

    ¡°Might as well.¡± The captain turned and looked outside at the deepening dusk. It was becoming a common occurrence to witness the sun only from inside the fortress.

    The mage-guard hesitated and then asked, ¡°Why was the heightened alert implemented at this time? I did not see anything explaining that.¡±

    The captain sighed. ¡°It came down from the palace. There was a communication from a royal knight warning us of possible security risks. What with the bluestone scandal and all we thought it prudent. Now I am not so sure¡­¡±

    ¡°What was the name of the knight?¡±

    The captain raised an eyebrow in alarm. ¡°Don¡¯t think of getting me further into that mess. I was burned once already.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a hunch. If there are more problems in the future it would be good to have some more information.¡±

    ¡°Mh. It cannot hurt. It was the knight Halvar von Landesend.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I will then be going.¡±

    ¡°Yes, hopefully, I can leave before the ninth bell.¡± The captain''s frown deepened as he waved the mage-guard off.

    Outside the smaller man in the robes of the magical corps sought out an empty office, no great feat at that time of day, and formed a rune sparrow. ¡°Kestrel, I have news¡­¡±

    After finishing the report the sparrow shot forth toward the palace and into the hands of a certain spy mistress working for the king.

    <hr>

    Market Ward after nightfall

    The moon hung full and close in a rare clear sky. Stars were dim and distant obscured by the light of the city. Vanessa breathed deeply and felt the tang of rust and coal at the back of her throat. Iseret looked at her and smiled hidden beneath a scarf wound protectively about her lower face. The nighttime streets were mostly deserted. Windows lit from within glowed softly. Smoke curled from chimneys before being dispersed by a stiff wind.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Vanessa looked at her companion having noticed her regard.

    ¡°Just looking at the most beautiful stars.¡±

    Vanessa¡¯s lambent blue eyes widened a bit then she turned her head in embarrassment. ¡°How can you say that with a straight face?¡±

    ¡°I thought I could try being more honest with you.¡± Iseret calmly replied. ¡°My life at least is too short for me to waste it carelessly.¡±

    ¡°And you want to say because I live longer I waste it more?¡±

    ¡°That is one interpretation.¡± Yellow eyes contained a silent smile.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that now.¡± Vanessa fidgeted. ¡°I have to concentrate for the potion to be of use. It is not every day that I brew such a potent elixir.¡±

    They walked the rest of the way in silence. A carriage driven by an automaton clattered by clockwork rattling. An older man shivering in his heavy coat walked hastily down the street and passed them by. Distant music sounded from a tavern as one of the guests opened the door before fading again with its closing, the patron leaned against a nearby wall to relieve himself.

    Vanessa wrinkled her nose and hastened her steps pulling Iseret with her. With a casual sort of normalcy, the taller woman linked her fingers with the vampire girls. Only when they reached the ¡®Natural Remedies¡¯ did Vanessa realize her predicament and quickly let go of the warm hand that fit so naturally in her own.

    Valeria opened up after only two knocks and gestured them inside. ¡°Good evening ladies.¡±

    ¡°Suilad.¡± (Greetings), Iseret nodded in greeting.

    A man in his late thirties attired in chain and armed with both a wand and a short sword sat on a chair near the entrance.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be alarmed, that is Markus. I employ him from time to time when I worry about ¡®interruptions¡¯. Do regard him as part of the furniture, he will not be coming with us into the laboratory.¡±

    ¡°Ladies.¡± The man lowered his head without letting them out of his sight then he turned toward Mrs. Jangres and shook his head. ¡°Tsk. As bad-tempered as always. I don¡¯t know why I put up with you.¡±

    ¡°Because of my winning personality and good looks of course.¡±

    The mercenary chuckled and leaned back signaling his disinterest in further conversation.

    The alchemist led them into the back room and pointed at a table. ¡°That is all of my left-over ingredients. Ingredients that I had collected were missing. Did you take some with you when you fled?¡±

    Vanessa nodded. ¡°There was no time to sort it so I took it all. I would have compensated you regardless have no fear.¡±

    ¡°Oh that is not what I was talking about. Ms. Miner paid for that in full. If you need something more let me know. Do you need assistance with the process?¡±

    ¡°That would actually be appreciated. I had thought to enlist Alyssa¡¯s or Alea¡¯s help but both are otherwise detained.¡±

    Speaking about the technicalities of the undertaking Iseret sat down in a corner and kept an eye out for trouble while taking the time to admire Vanessa¡¯s focus and professionalism.

    After hours of careful work extracting, boiling, and distilling- the finalized potion dripped from a pipe cooled by water and accumulated in a thick-walled glass vial. Each drop sizzled when hitting the surface and thick, heavy vapor swum on the surface of the slightly orange liquid. There was a glow inside caused by short-lived sparks that came and went over the course of a few seconds like fireflies winking in the woods at dusk.

    They filled two vials with the concoction before the distillation vessel ran dry caked with a reddish crust.

    ¡°That is all we will get. And those were some exotic ingredients.¡± Valeria wiped the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief. ¡°Do you think it will be enough?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. I fear we will have to acquire more reagents and then create another batch. But for the moment it must suffice.¡± Vanessa looked regretful. ¡°Before the Fortress, I would have been more positive but I was perhaps too naive.¡±

    ¡°I welcome your patronage but tell me in advance I have a business to run.¡± Valeria grinned to take the sting out of the comment.

    ¡°Noted. I thank you for the help. If there is anything I can do for you in the future please ask.¡±

    ¡°It was my pleasure. As I mentioned to Alyssa I hate being made a fool of. It will bring me satisfaction to hurt whatever or whoever planned that. Take that as my payment.¡±

    ¡°If you change your mind contact me. Thank you again and goodbye.¡±

    ¡°I will bring this to Alyssa. I think it would be best to take it as soon as possible?¡± Iseret looked at Vanessa questioningly.

    ¡°Yes, that would be best. Save the other vial for later or for Alea¡¯s grandmother. Whoever needs it more urgently- I trust your judgment.¡±

    Iseret smiled softly leaned down and kissed Vanessa¡¯s cheek. Her smile turned more mischievous as she waved and left.

    Vanessa looked conflicted touched her cheek and was lost in thought as a guardsman looked at her concernedly. ¡°Miss? Are you alright?¡±

    She came to and answered automatically. ¡°Yes, everything¡¯s fine. I was just thinking. Thank you!¡±

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorms

    Back in the Wisteria Dorm Iseret softly shook Alyssa awake. Startled and with a strangled scream the sleeping girl woke up. Mireille blinked owlishly at the sudden intrusion and mumbled something still half-asleep.

    Iseret carefully but insistently pulled Alyssa to a sitting position. ¡°Vanessa and Mrs. Jangres brewed the potion for you. I have it with me and recommend you take it immediately. I worry that something might happen to delay or even prevent you from taking it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. And when you see Vanessa thank her from me too.¡±

    Alyssa took the offered potion looked at the gleaming liquid and then shrugged before opening the vial and drinking it down.

    ¡°That looks healthy.¡± Mireille yawned then pursed her mouth skeptically.

    Warmth streamed into nearly frozen veins and lit her whole body from within. Parts of her, namely her left arm and face, began to hurt with pins and needles as if waking up after being deprived of blood for too long. Tears involuntarily fell from her right eye as she shuddered with the overwhelming sensations suddenly battering her. But it was merely a small fire burning in an arctic winter, hardly enough to know what you were missing.

    Mireille hugged her from the side. ¡°Everything ok with you?¡± She asked worriedly.

    After the first surge had subsided Alyssa took a deep breath and gave a tentative smile. ¡°That was really nice. I had feared the worst- But now I know that I was far from normal and am not nearly ¡®cured¡¯. I fear that I have to ask Vanessa to help me make another potion as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°We foresaw that already. Preparation for that has begun.¡±

    ¡°Thank Meloris.¡±

    ¡°No, thank Nirileth!¡± Mireille grinned, teeth glowing in the dim light.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Alyssa laughed.

    ¡°You are not even a bit religious and I really like my goddess. So she would have helped a lot more!¡±

    Alyssa¡¯s tears fell again as she hugged Mireille back. ¡°Thank you all. I think this is the first time in days that I¡¯m optimistic for the future again.¡±

    Iseret drew back and smiled before silently opening the door and exiting the dorm.

    Kadira was waiting for her report.

 Dreams of light and darkness

    ¡°Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders.¡±

    - L. Frank Baum, Rinkitink in Oz

    The delegation was delayed. The clans had been restless, the lessons learned centuries ago were no longer fresh anymore and more than one elder had argued against following the summons. But then the decision had been made by the slimmest of margins. The frost-elves as they called themselves, the children of frozen sorrow walked single-file after the dark shadow of the armored wraith. This time the Heartstealer had requested two out of every three magicians and sorceresses the elves could muster.

    The rocky hills with their twisted barren trees covered in snow and ice surrounded the travelers. The earth was cracked and lifeless the frost had seeped deep into the ground.

    Nearly a hundred mages and witches had gathered. The old ways were dead and the knowledge of the ancients had faded with the last survivors of the fallen empire. Their students and apprentices, taught one on one or left to their own devices, were much diminished in power.

    Silverrestra Terrimel sighed as she struggled through the heavy snow. She had been back in the village for only a short while recuperating from the wounds caused while assaulting Sorringen, this tiny backwater hamlet. She snorted- as if her own was any better. The wound on her torso still twinged and her use of ice to stem her bleeding had worsened the damage later on.

    The snow falling from above worried her. The seasons were turning faster than ever and there had not been as much time to build a food stockpile. There would be hungry kin this winter.

    The snow ripped apart and ceased for a moment as a heavy wind laden with unearthly cold blasted her face. Holding her arm protectively before her vulnerable eyes she squinted and saw the high spires of the city of broken ivory before her. A gigantic vortex of clouds flickering with greenish lightning rose above the fallen provincial capital. Once lauded for the beauty of its architecture and the wise scholars and wizards roaming the ancient institutes of learning now it was home only to the dead or better- the undead.

    The slender skeleton clothed in robes of burgundy and gold, adorned with onyx and ruby surveyed the work of her minions. A crown of blackened gold sat atop the nearly fleshless head. She gestured with the blackstone staff and lightning flashed. Dozens of runic circles were carved into the ancient stones of the city.

    As the elven delegation drew near they saw the being reigning over all of Ulsolm. The Heartstealer was a presence that felt heavy, like a piece of glass in a bleeding gash, a wound upon the world.

    The shining beacon of her eyes seared the soul, the twisting glyphs of her staff made the sane descend into madness.

    The elves fell to their knees.

    A voice wormed into their minds and burned words into their thoughts.

    ¡°Twenty, I need twenty of yours. The rest I will spare for now. Scurrying ants profiting from my being caged you will join my army and fight my war so that your kin may live. I will let you remember the defeat I brought your empire- forever.¡±

    They chose the eldest, those that were ill. They saw as the life was burned out of their tortured husks when their screams rent the heavens and lightning scoured the earth.

    Giants brought their dead on biers of stone while weeping tears of blood and hate.

    Wretched men, cast out of even the last places in the broken kingdoms plundered old cemeteries and sold the dead for crystals brought to the surface by dead hands.

    <hr>

    Far to the West

    Far to the west, a great eye opened and the courtiers stiffened. According to custom, he upon whom fell that baleful eye had to give of his blood to water the Speaking Tree. And as the screaming eunuch was dragged from the court the lord of the cyclops of Nar-Holm the giant spoke, ¡°I have seen. The world will split and the beginning will meet the end devouring it and all will be as if it never was. This I have seen and it will be cycles until it is true.¡± He stood up from the throne of basalt and roared, ¡°But I will not stand for this desecration of the graves of my fathers and the roots of the tree. Send the Unrepentant to the east. There they shall decide how best to serve the living land.¡±

    The hall was gigantic as were those who stood and kneeled inside. The stones that held the roof made from the trunks of redwood trees were larger than some houses in the villages humans called home, the floor was polished granite an unbroken expanse carved with great leering faces and the image of a gigantic tree. The cyclops wore loincloths and precious metal torques that reached their lower chest. The guards were encased in bronze armor that seemed to be welded to their muscular forms carrying great polearms. The silent warriors were nearly as wide as they were tall, which for most was around five meters, symbols of brutal might. Colorful flowering vines were woven into great tapestries depicting laboring cyclops and gigantic cities burned by falling stars- only those kneeling beneath a bloody tree were spared.

    Later with the sun on their backs, hundreds of giants wearing blackened bronze armor marched east accompanied by hulking trollkin beating on hollow tree trunks bound to their chests.

    <hr>

    Outside the Academy

    Alyssa breathed deeply. She stood far from the academy buildings in the hilly fields that were technically still within the grounds but most often used for somewhat more clandestine meetings. With the snow and cold weather, the popularity had waned sharply and now here she stood. She had drunk the second potion and then made a difficult decision.

    Lifting her head she looked up at the clear grey-blue sky. She had lost control. She had wanted to hurt them and the possibility of killing them had not been something which she had really rejected but¡­

    She had not planned to and it had happened. She desperately needed to reaffirm her control. And with the Arcane Exhibition only two weeks away she had to step up her efforts. And here she stood.

    She could not leave the grounds and Vanessa could not enter them. That left¡­

    Vivienne, Valens, and Alea stood a short distance away and Vivienne waved at her as she saw her turn her head.

    Gathering her courage she focused on opening the gate.

    A dark flame four to five meters long gushed from her left hand and the light faded around her before the ground cracked and the brown grass withered to dust.

    Asandria looked critical, ¡®Don¡¯t let yourself be overwhelmed. You are in control it is simply a matter of adjusting to your new power.¡¯

    Alyssa bit her lips and it felt unnatural like twisting a joint in the wrong direction like stopping to drink when parched but at last, she managed to reign in the void.

    After practicing for nearly an hour she felt she had a better understanding of the problems facing her. She was excellent with void magic before but now it was as if it was a magnitude...better? Worse? She could not say.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Her surroundings were a barren waste. The earth looked as if it had been taken from an inhospitable desert, even the snow had lost its luster.

    ¡°Stop! It¡¯s enough for today, you should not strain yourself so much after what happened.¡± Alea trotted up to her as she saw that her friend had briefly stopped to rest.

    ¡°But I don¡¯t have the time! I cannot endanger my teammates when we fight in the exhibition.¡± With a sigh, she shrugged. ¡°I can continue tomorrow.¡±

    Alea nodded and took her right hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Those runes should be doing something more than simply channeling the power. And don¡¯t forget your focus. It amplifies your control too. You should have gotten it back already?¡±

    ¡°I thought I had to do it this way? If I relearn everything with the focus wouldn¡¯t I be dependent on it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you are wrong exactly. But maybe you try it without after the Exhibition?¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Alyssa scratched her nose embarrassedly.

    She felt reasonably well and the drain on her vitality was not great. If she did not overdo it, it would simply weaken her but mostly she would heal on her own. IF nothing big happened.

    After dinner, Alyssa excused herself and walked outside to clear her head. Reaching the area she had trained in she saw two guards looking at the barren waste nearly thirty meters in diameter and decided to walk in another direction.

    She reached a small copse of trees and took a last look around before her fingers formed the familiar glyphs and words spoken without duress but still hurting she brought the mirror.

    The distance that was formerly as vast as all the world was now only a thin membrane. She stared into the darkness and the darkness opened its sole eye.

    Hastily she let go and the mirror collapsed. Shivering she stood as the first stars rose into the frigid sky.

    As she entered the dorm again everyone was sleeping and she softly laid down not wanting to disturb her friends.

    Sleep claimed her and her dreams were disjointed hazy things, full of darkness and broken bodies.

    She stood in the old elven ruins on a wide-open courtyard paved with old, cracked stone tiles, the statue in the middle was the same as she remembered. Starlight fell from above the stone eyes held eternal frost. Rustling thornmen slunk in the shadows far from the puddles of illumination.

    ¡°Why did you choose me? I will never be enough to battle a lich. I would not be enough for something like the host that attacked in Sorringen, why? Why me?¡±

    No answers came and she felt dizzy and the night ended with her waking up with a headache.

    Days passed. She trained and she grew weaker even as her control recovered bit by bit.

    Her friends cautioned her and Vanessa brewed another batch of potions. This time one was sent to Adelaide.

    She dreamed.

    The darkness was empty this time, there were no thornmen, no statue, no stars- Only a great eye that looked at her.

    Something shifted in the lightless void and came near. And then it was before her. She raised her arm to- what?- touch?- defend?

    Another arm rose toward her blacker than the night and there stood a girl clothed in shadows and regarded her with a single glowing eye.

    ¡°Who¡­¡± voices mingled and one was hers the other?

    ¡°...are you¡­¡± the two voices formed a chorus and for a mad moment, she wanted to sing just to see what it would sound like.

    The black girl raised a single finger towards her lip and shook her head.

    Alyssa ceased her questioning and nodded gaining a smile in return.

    The girl was a perfect copy, a mirror of herself and she felt familiar somehow. Her left eye was glowing with light, her right was dark as onyx.

    And she woke up.

    <hr>

    Sometime in the palace

    ¡°Carl! Wait for me.¡± The girl with the pink dress ran after the boy and reached him just as he wanted to enter the palace library.

    ¡°Liese, what are you doing? Shouldn¡¯t you be with Mistress Theint?¡±

    ¡°I escaped!¡± The girl looked proud of herself, the cheeks were dyed red from the exertion.

    The boy laughed and tousled her hair. ¡°That is not good, she will scold you, and perhaps you will have to go to bed without supper. Be good and run back before she notices.¡±

    Lieseleta puffed her cheeks and stomped her little foot. ¡°Don¡¯t wanna!¡±

    ¡°Then I will hide you in the library. You can read a bit and when she is distracted we will go back. Perhaps she will be lenient if I tell her I wanted to tutor you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, brother!¡±

    He always was a bit cold to people. People other than her that is. When they were young they were often together. They were the children of different wives. Lieseletas was the latest and for the time being last. Carl¡¯s mother had been ill for a long time and after his birth, she never recovered and died shortly after. Without a mother and their father the distant and busy person he was he only had her- the other children being older and not interested in their younger half-siblings.

    ¡°Carl?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I was thinking, what was it you were asking?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to come with me to the birthday celebration of Minette?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been a while. I might as well.¡±

    Colorful flowers, hedge mazes, and whispered play.

    And it all went as a wilting flower¡¯s petals in the wind.

    Lieseleta woke up. When did it all go so wrong? When her mother used guile and intrigue to send Carl to the south instead of her? When his father sold him for benefits? Or when she, ashamed of her mothers doing did not even say goodbye?

    Some things, once lost, are never found again.

    She rose and prepared for a new day.

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorms

    Alea woke up and looked around, it was still deep in the night. There had been a knock on the door but Alyssa and Mireille were still sleeping. Groggily she walked to the door and cracked it open. Outside stood Lorelle and whispered, ¡°Prior Bertram is here. He says it is time.¡±

    Alea froze then frowned a bit and finally nodded. ¡°I will get ready.¡±

    <hr>

    It was the time before dawn. The great temple plaza was empty. The large building for the worship of Jaros rose into the black sky on many columns engraved with the depiction of a sentinel guarding with a shield in one hand and a book in the other. Eyes on a distant horizon. The fountains were still and cold having been drained for the winter.

    Alea shivered and looked at the statues. A dancing bard. A dignified king. And those silent sentinels.

    Prior Bertram laid his hand on her shoulder. ¡°Everything alright?¡±

    Alea nodded, shivering a bit.

    The priest lowered his head and mouthed a prayer, golden light suffused Alea¡¯s clothes and warmth returned to her chilled arms. Smiling he led her towards the entrance.

    Two armored Golems, double the height of a man, stood before the closed portal and began to slowly, ponderously pull open the massive doors. Fingers of gray grasped at the dark skies a first inkling of the coming dawn.

    Snow drifted with them as they entered the vast hall, nearly a hundred meters in length, and to the sides stood the rows of pews and further back the columns supporting the arched roof. Shrines to saints and heroes lined the walls, eternal fires flickering like dying embers in a gigantic forge.

    Men and women clothed in dark grey robes stood to the sides and chanted a low hymn. At the end of the path stood the statue of Jaros, God of Mysteries, the Watcher. He was depicted as an old, muscular man holding aloft one hand palm facing outward with a large eye in the center. Legend knew it as the eye of an abomination of the outer dark. The other arm held a book to his chest. The face is grim and drawn with fatigue. At his feet lie demons, twisted and dead, claws reaching for his legs.

    Two great braziers with a diameter like a grown man lying down flickered with soft flames, only a handsbreadth high.

    The girl walked forward accompanied by the prior, each step echoing from the vaulted ceiling lost in the darkness.

    ¡°We welcome you, child of light.¡±

    ¡°In the darkest hours of this time, we once more plead for intercession. God of mysteries, Watcher on the Threshold.¡±

    ¡°We gather to anoint the vessel of your might.¡±

    ¡°We gather to give thanks for your guard.¡±

    ¡°As you watch without so we watch within. Give us the wisdom to know your will and the ability to enact it.¡±

    Walking forward the words of the prayers washed over Alea. She felt so small and foreign here. She had never been particularly religious. There had been pride, she remembered it a bit. When her parents were so glad for her and praised her as the delegation had found her suitable to receive the first blessing. But she did not understand at the time and she would have been just as pleased for a tutor to have praised her calligraphy.

    She stood before the altar and looked up at the face of the statue. There seemed to be untold ages of suffering in the lines of this old face. The spider shifted and gripped her shoulder tightly.

    The chanting ceased.

    ¡°In the hours before the morning, after a long, dark night. We welcome you Watcher.¡±

    ¡°We welcome you.¡±

    ¡°In the hour where sleep and dreams weigh on our souls and the enemy is ascendant, we pray to you.¡±

    ¡°We pray to you, oh God of Mysteries.¡±

    ¡°We bring you this woman, Alea von Graufurt. Once blessed. Today as the dawn comes after the darkness, kindle anew the touch of light so that we might be blessed with your protection.¡±

    Voices rose and fell, thin threads of smoke wound from censers, and the smell of incense spread around her.

    She was tired for lack of sleep, she felt like she was floating. The words were unimportant and far away. Outside the sky began to burn with red as the sun crept over the horizon and a ray lanced through the large window and hit the statue.

    Somewhere far outside, farther than the moon, he stood between the small precious world he had helped to craft and the entities in the empty darkness between the stars. His sight grazed the green-blue globe and light glinted in his eye.

    And light washed through the cathedral touching everything and everyone like the sun at noon and the light at dusk. Illuminating, warming, protecting. There were no more shadows, there was no uncertainty or doubt.

    Everything was the light.

 Souls and Solutions

    ¡°All things truly wicked start from innocence.¡±

    - Ernest Hemingway

    Alyssa looked at her friend and quickly put on some clothes. ¡°Do you know where Alea went?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡± Mireille¡¯s hairs were sticking out in every direction and she seemed to be still half-asleep yawning widely. The effect was heightened by an equally sleepy Semiramis nestling in her pajamas.

    Cyrus looked on disdainfully.

    ¡°Butler One?¡±

    ¡°Yes, mistress?¡± The porcelain mask turned in her direction.

    ¡°Do you know where Alea has gone?¡±

    ¡°She was called by Lorelle approximately two hours before dawn.¡±

    Mireille wrinkled her nose. ¡°Brr. That¡¯s much too early.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what bothers you?¡± Alyssa looked as if she had a headache. ¡°But if it''s Lorelle it should have something to do with her family?¡±

    ¡°Probably. Let¡¯s see if she turns up for breakfast and ask Maximilian, Vivienne, or Lieseleta if she doesn¡¯t.¡±

    <hr>

    A room in the temple of Jaros

    ¡°How are you feeling, Lightbringer?¡±

    Alea woke and saw through Cecily that she was in a small chamber with heavy drapes before the single window. A woman sat beside the small bed wearing the dark grey robes of Jaros faithful. She was in her early twenties and had the white-blond hair of the northern kingdoms with a thin nose and serious eyes.

    Realizing she had spoken to her Alea answered, ¡°I feel¡­¡± and then there was the feeling of power, of warmth that emanated from her chest, her hands. Everything seemed to glow for a moment with an inner radiance, the figure beside the bed was especially luminous. ¡°...I don¡¯t know. I see light everywhere, is that normal?¡± She coughed.

    ¡°Yes. The scripture tells us that Jaros can give many blessings large and small. The one you received is the Lightbringer.¡±

    ¡°Meaning?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to drink something? Are you hungry? Any discomfort?¡±

    ¡°A glass of water would be welcome.¡± Alea felt embarrassed by the situation realizing she had been seen sleeping by a woman she did not even know the name of. ¡°What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Zoe. I am a novice of the temple.¡±

    ¡°I was perhaps a bit hasty but it seemed a natural choice with what Bertram said.¡±

    Zoe only listened attentively.

    ¡°And I had the first blessing since I was small. I always thought¡­¡± ¡®when I could remember it¡¯ she added internally, ¡°...that it would be normal to join the temple in some fashion.¡±

    The young woman in the grey robes raised her eyes and looked at her face, because of Cecilie''s point of view it looked as if she was gazing past her.

    ¡°Do I have any responsibilities?¡± Alea blushed furiously as she thought how dumb she must seem.

    ¡°Yes. But they are not what you might fear. You are not a regular part of the temple hierarchy because the greatest blessing is bestowed on those that can carry them and not according to rank or even affiliation with the temple. Jaros does not have such petty concerns for him it is always the whole and not the part. He sees who can do the most good and helps them achieve it. Only we, his faithful, dabble in the necessities of politics and the trade of favors.¡± She smiled a bit self-deprecatingly. ¡°You should use what you are given to protect humanity and combat darkness and evil. We cannot and will not force you but that is the purpose of the Lightbringer.¡±

    Alea nodded. That had been the purpose of her accepting after all.

    ¡°But others might not be of the same opinion and give you a choice. Enemies of the church and of the light will target you...so looking back on those who came before you. It seems like a good idea to surround yourself with allies and we would help you if you would have us.¡± Zoe looked apologetic.

    Alea sighed and nodded again. ¡°I understand. I must tell my family and my friends.¡±

    ¡°Prior Bertram informed your uncle, grandmother, and brother. He wanted to leave others to you.¡±

    Getting up from the bed Zoe grabbed her arm and stabilized her as she became dizzy.

    Zoe smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t be too hasty. There is still time. When you are ready you should eat and then return to the academy. Prior Bertram will be there and available for any questions.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°ALEA!¡± Mireille shouted as soon as she saw the small girl exit the coach. Running forward she hugged her tightly.

    They were standing at the plaza in front of the main building. Adam had stopped the carriage expertly and had just opened the door and helped Alea to exit the vehicle.

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    The skies were clear and a cold wind blew. Students looked up as Mireille barrelled past them shaking their heads in amusement.

    Alyssa trotted after her friend and apologized to a teacher with a disapprovingly raised eyebrow.

    ¡°How are you, where were you?¡± Mireille looked her friend up and down. ¡°Maximilian told us you were in the cathedral of Jaros. Are you a priest now? A nun?¡±

    Alea gasped and pulled at the enthusiastic redhead''s arms. Mireille ducked her head in embarrassment and loosened her grip.

    ¡°I will tell you when we are in the dorms?¡± Alea coughed and the statement sounded like a question.

    ¡°That will be fine.¡± Alyssa patted Mireille on the shoulder. ¡°Let us first go to the dorm. Aren¡¯t you always complaining about the cold?¡±

    Mireille looked back, shrugged, and grinned. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s do that.¡± Then she pounced on Alyssa and hugged her. ¡°It¡¯s cold! You just reminded me. Let¡¯s hurry back!¡±

    Alea grinned at their antics and Cecily restlessly moved around her shoulder. Everything was bathed in halos of light. Sometimes it all blurred together. She shook her head. The burning golden feeling coming from her breast warmed her from within giving her a sense of security.

    <hr>

    Days passed.

    Alea worked with Bertram and learned about the blessing and its effects.

    Alyssa worked hard to refine her abilities.

    Mireille played with Semiramis and sparred with Paula.

    <hr>

    The dream began with the workshop behind the house in Grunewald. She was still very small and could not look above the tabletop. ¡°Grandfather! Grandfather, help me up!¡± She hopped beside the table and tried to pull herself to the top.

    The man with the dignified white beard and close-cropped hair looked at her affectionately and laughed. ¡°Soon you will not need my help anymore. Look how tall you have gotten.¡± And he gripped her beneath the arms and placed her gently on the edge of the table.

    She looked at the gears and crystals, the wires and tools nearly blinded by the intricate gleaming metal.

    ¡°Do you like what you see?¡±

    Alea nodded earnestly.

    ¡°One day you will learn to do this too. You are a smart girl.¡± He rubbed her little head and smiled broadly. The dark leather coat he was wearing bedecked with strange machines flapped open and she saw the wands and runed tools stuck in his belt.

    He deftly assembled a delicate piece of clockwork using pliers and oil a magnifying lens clamped to his eye while she laughed delightedly.

    The light shifted and more and more light fell from the windows blinding her.

    ¡°Remember that the Ayrton converter can only supply so much power. The Bluestone will not be enough when you use Butler One in the more energy-draining configurations. You should really use a Mana Jewel.¡±

    The smile on his face blurred by the light falling from the window she looked up in confusion the laughter faded.

    ¡°I missed talking to you so very much.¡±

    And she woke up.

    <hr>

    ¡°You want to go to the tinker''s shop?¡± Alyssa asked raising her head from the book she had been studying.

    ¡°Yes, I have to ask him something.¡±

    ¡°Take Butler One with you let Adam come with you too. I worry with all the problems we had of late.¡±

    In the market ward in a side street the bronze sign proclaiming ¡®Willibald¡¯s Clocks and Clockwork¡¯ the door opened and let some of the warmth escape a jingling bell alerted the dozing proprietor. With an unwilling groan, he sat up and removed the newspaper he had put over his eyes to get a bit more sleep throwing it to the side.

    ¡°Willibald¡¯s excellently magnificent clocks and clockwork, what can I do for the esteemed customer.¡± The sarcasm was thinly veiled.

    ¡°Do I come at an inconvenient time?¡± Alea asked softly while Butler One closed the door behind Adam who was also accompanying her today.

    ¡°Young Miss von Graufurt? Sorry!¡± Willibald brushed his wrinkled clothes. ¡°This time of day and with the cold and all I don¡¯t get so many customers.¡± He had the grace to look embarrassed. ¡°And so I was a bit sleepy. But now I am awake and eager to help! What do you need?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to talk to you about my grandfather.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± He got up stretched and cracked his neck before putting a ¡®closed¡¯ sign in the window and locking the door. ¡°It¡¯s truly a waste of my time opening the store in the morning on a weekday at the moment. Come with me I will make some tea. Or do you prefer something else?¡± The last was addressed towards Adam.

    ¡°¡¯ am fine,¡± Adam mumbled around a piece of tobacco he was chewing contentedly. Butler One followed silently.

    ¡°Did you buy the Ayrton for this automaton? This is also Gallius¡¯ work, isn¡¯t it? It''s unmistakable.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I had to refurbish it. The former Mana Jewel was broken.¡±

    ¡°Broken you say? Unusual.¡± Willibald raised an eyebrow then shrugged. ¡°Nothing to be done, you need a new one. The Ayrton would be perfect for a simple household construct, but this here¡­¡± He looked Butler One up and down. ¡°No. That won¡¯t do at all.¡±

    He busied himself with a teakettle and put it on a metal plate inscribed with runes. The room was cozy and small, large enough for a gnome, Alea supposed. The walls were simple wood with a lot of shelves holding everything from cups and plates to gears and metal ingots. A small window for ventilation, and a glow globe for illumination in the middle stood a sturdy table with a height appropriate for a gnome, approximately two-thirds of a meter.

    Putting the cups filled with fragrant tea before Alea and himself Willibald scratched his head and asked, ¡°So. What did you want to know?¡±

    Alea sipped the tea. She had gotten a lot more experienced with talking to people but there was always the old anxiety gnawing at her stomach. She breathed deeply the spider lifted her lenses and looked at the gnome. ¡°I know that my grandfather dabbled in soul magic. I want to know what he was researching. I need to know.¡±

    The gnome blotted his sweaty forehead and sighed. ¡°Must you? I suppose you must." He was silent for a time and seemed to be struggling with something. Vapor rose from the tea into the still air, and rays of light illuminated floating motes of dust. He continued. "It was hidden at the time because of his achievements as a professor. He dabbled in the old techniques of soul manipulation to fuel or control constructs. The methods...were questionable.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too late. I can¡¯t be ignorant any longer. Veiling my memories, coddling me by withholding knowledge, will only do harm in the end.¡± Alea clenched her hands beneath the table, knuckles whitening.

    ¡°So be it. He was a brilliant arcanist and enchanter. His constructs were refined and he neared the mastery of old Allissair. But later he found the limits of runic commands, of glyphbound elemental spirits. There were always faults.¡± The gnome drank down the tea before getting up and pacing nervously. ¡°When he was praised for his innovations he was full of dissatisfaction, when his genius was extolled his only thought was- How come when I¡¯m so smart I can¡¯t overcome this problem?¡±

    ¡°Decades passed and he found a solution. The laws of magic state, that a soul can¡¯t be created. But you can take it, cut it, manipulate it. And who understood that better than the Keralis Erh, the Soulweavers.¡± A quick guilty look flickered in Butler One''s direction nearly too brief to notice.

    ¡°I have his notes. His research. I think he wanted for it to pass into obscurity. It¡¯s not that no one thought to do what he did. But they did not succeed. He did. He could transplant a living soul into steel, stone, crystal. He could power automatons with the energies drawn through soul circuits. Forever. There were some who came knocking at my doors after his death. I feigned ignorance and did nothing with it. And with the years those who looked for me became fewer and fewer. I always thought knowledge cannot be evil, it can only be. Knowing something is not a crime. Imprisoning a soul in a crystal until the crystal turns to dust. I don¡¯t know anymore.¡±

    Alea left with a thick bundle of notes and books.

    Wilibald took the whiskey and discarded the cup for the bottle. ¡°Gallius, wherever you are, be at peace, my friend.¡±

 Arcane Exhibition Part I

    ¡°If we walk far enough," says Dorothy, "we shall sometime come to someplace.¡±

    - L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    The day of the Exhibition dawned like any other. The weather was still cold as it had been in the prior weeks the frosty temperatures were further exacerbated by a steady wind. A squadron of griffon riders circled overhead. The academy staff had been busy since a week before building the necessary arena out of conjured stone.

    Short-lived runic arrays had been painstakingly carved to protect the audience and to warm the seats. The temperatures were still unseasonably cold.

    Students were chatting excitedly and some pointed at the glamorous knights circling above. First would be the speech of the king then the exhibitions of the senior students followed by those juniors chosen to represent the first and second years and when the day came to a close the team battles were what would be the crowning moment.

    There were all sorts of events planned for the next days but the first day was most important for the academy- as the host, they could start the festivities.

    The stadium was placed between two small hills on whose softly slanted sides were built terraced seats and awnings covering all from overhead. Globes of light hovered over cleverly placed runes holding them aloft. When someone passed beneath they would bob and float and there would be the feeling of a stiff breeze swirling around the passerby. Columns holding the awnings were carved with large fire runes radiating comfortable warmth.

    In the middle of the seats was the area for noble or wealthy guests and above them all resided the royal family and the upper crust of the nobility. The opposite side held the lower classes, peasants, and citizens of Kronenburg chosen by chance or some lesser amount of money or favors.

    Around the stadium proper had been set up stalls for food and sport and those attracted the first customers as soon as they were open.

    Magister Illimen sighed and clapped Calvin on the shoulders. ¡°We did what we could. It will probably be a disaster anyway if the divinations are anything to go by.¡±

    They stood on the highest platform overlooking the field.

    ¡°Why not simply delay the Exhibition until we have found all possible traitors?¡± Calvin said exasperatedly.

    ¡°Pride.¡±

    ¡°I know, I only wanted to curse a bit. It''s not good for your health to swallow all of your anger.¡±

    ¡°I am too tired to get upset right now. I only hope the preparations shielding the students and innocent citizens are sufficient. I feel cold thinking about it.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps they won¡¯t try? It is folly to make an attempt now.¡±

    ¡°Suicide attacks are always an option. And with whom we are facing it is even highly likely. There is no diplomatic incident if you are already at war after all.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you two gloomy.¡± Carmen of Perrilen Heights joined them.

    ¡°Good day to you Carmen.¡± Calvin nodded at her while Illimen simply smiled and made an inviting gesture.

    ¡°Instead of standing here shouldn¡¯t we look for problems?¡± Carmen looked at both of them challengingly.

    Calvin gave a short laugh, ¡°Might as well.¡±

    Illimen waved them off, ¡°I will stay here for a time and think, you go on ahead.¡±

    Guards watched over the proceedings and some royal knights were on patrol grouped together with palace guards.

    The atmosphere was festive and more and more people arrived crowding the surroundings with the academy buildings a few hundred meters further back. The wind was brisk and carried with it a numbing cold but spirits, mulled wine and hot soup were in plentiful supply.

    The sunlight fell on the banners and tents the sky was a steely blue with only a smattering of small clouds.

    Alyssa, Mireille, and Alea were already dressed and ready when the fields around the arena were opened to the public. Iseret was following them discreetly wearing armor beneath her servant''s clothing. Butler One was also attending them.

    Mireille walked straight towards a stall selling meat skewers.

    ¡°Halt! We had breakfast twenty minutes ago!¡± Alyssa shook her head in exasperation.

    Vanessa had sent her another pendant and she was cloaked in a well-crafted illusion hiding her peculiarities.

    Alea¡¯s complexion was paler than usual as she had used the evenings and nights to look through the notes of her grandfather. Only Mireille and perhaps Cyrus were perfectly fine.

    Walking a bit behind the trio with their attendants Vivienne seemed to have a headache. Valens looked at her concernedly. She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s alright don¡¯t worry too much.¡±

    ¡°Here you are young lady, that will be three coppers.¡± The round-bellied man with the rosy cheeks laughed and presented the skewer dipped in heavy brown sauce to Mireille who took it gingerly blowing to dissipate the heat.

    ¡°Don¡¯t we feed you enough?¡± Alyssa grinned.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk so much, you and Alea will help me eat it after all.¡± Mireille smiled as she bit into the first piece of meat- it should have been pork- and then hastily breathed through her mouth to cool her scalded tongue.

    ¡°Here.¡± Alea passed her a water flask.

    There were jugglers and street magicians entertaining the crowd with small magics and sleight of hand.

    Vivienne squinted her eyes and felt the pressure weighing her down- the winds were restless.

    After losing a few rounds of throwing darts at a spinning target and failing to get more than a small wooden figure they drifted towards the side seats reserved for students and those chosen to participate. All of them had been selected for one reason or another.

    The celebration was slowly quieting down as more and more people filled the seats of the stadium.

    The crowds still outside became silent suddenly as a single fanfare announced the arrival of the royal family. First came a squad of royal knights garbed in green and gold over plate mail burnished to a mirror sheen. Then followed dignified mages floating a few feet off the ground hands clasped in their sleeves dark green hoods drawn deeply into their faces, men and women both.

    Then followed three open-top carriages drawn by mechano-magical clockwork horses more smooth and slick than ornate. The king stood in the first and waved at the crowd his last wife Irene stood with him smiling brilliantly in a gown of dark blue samite with gossamer draping her arms.

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    Lieseleta and Carl were in the second carriage together with Keralia showing outward unity.

    Then the last carriage held the prime minister and his wife as well as the ministers of state, the diplomatic advisor, and the first general.

    The crowds became active again and shouts of adulation echoed as well as clapping and some parents held their children so that they could better see the splendid procession.

    Then the king and his family ascended to the uppermost platform and took their seats. Magister Illimen himself spelled the lens made of air that would focus on the distant field so that the distinguished guests should not have any difficulty seeing the proceedings.

    The tower-lords and the elder magi took their seats with the high nobility and the peasantry crowded into the seats opposite. With another fanfare, the king addressed the gathered guests.

    ¡°Welcome my friends, citizens of Margrinar and visitors from other lands. The Arcane Exhibition is our most revered tradition passed down from fallen Allisair and possibly beyond. It has fallen into disuse in the last years as exams and recommendations have taken the place of displays of magical might and cunning. Today we revive this venerable practice and look forward to a fair display showcasing that Margrinar still raises the greatest mages and scholars of humanity.¡±

    Applause drowned the last words and the king graciously raised his hand acknowledging the adulation. He continued in this vein and spoke of great mages past and present. Mireille yawned covertly behind a raised hand earning an amused look from Alyssa. Alea was looking at Lieseleta and seemed a bit anxious.

    Vivienne noticed and leaned forward whispering in the blind girl''s ear, ¡°What worries you? He won¡¯t do anything to his sister while being near the center of attention.¡±

    ¡°I know, but he tried to hurt her, kill her. Being rational is difficult.¡± Alea whispered back.

    ¡°How is your great blessing?¡± Alea focused on Lieseleta and did not see the strange look in Vivienne''s eyes as she asked.

    ¡°I still see the light that people cast, that living things emit. And sometimes it''s overwhelming. Strangely I think it helps a lot that I see through Cecily, she cannot be blinded and it does never hurt.¡± She hugged herself subconsciously as she said the last sentence. ¡°I need to sleep less and my magic is more smooth and powerful than ever.¡±

    Vivienne looked at her enviously and remembered a day on the coast swept by storms, drenched by rain. She felt his presence and his indifference, his amusement, and his fickle pride. Yrgos Worldstrider laughed as he blessed her, as he stripped her of agency and let her be one with the winds that had never once left her since. Even in the still hours of the night in the market plaza at noon there was the wind and sometimes his echoing laughter.

    She lowered her eyes and hid the darkness they contained.

    The first round of exhibitions began.

    A student with a mop of dark unruly hair walked to the middle of the grounds some dozens of meters in every direction shaped like an oval. Runes worked into low walls kept spells from being dangerous for the spectators. Bowing towards the stands the young man smiled and flourished his hands chanting and gesticulating. Smoke rose from a spot before him before the heat began to distort the air and successively flames erupted turning into a column six meters in height. Gasping the student let go of the spell and nearly fell before stabilizing himself and bowing again to generous applause.

    After him came two female students who manipulated a large sphere of water forming sculptures and buildings out of the floating liquid.

    They were followed by progressively more challenging displays, complicated spellwork, the summoning of elementals.

    Maximilian breathed deeply as he went to the middle of the stage made of solidified earth. Scuff marks, burns, and some slight wetness were the only things still showing the magic that had been wrought before. He shook his arms and bowed gracefully towards the royal platform a quick smile to his sister and he stood straight once more. Intoning a complicated spell armbands on his wrists shimmered and began to transform into a metallic liquid coating him from head to toe. Encased in suffocating darkness he controlled his rising panic and forced the metal into the shape he envisioned. His sight -and sweet sweet air ¨C returned as a helm shaped like a mask depicting a dignified older man took form around his head. Long blades grew from his hands the edges constantly renewing themselves. Proudly he turned and bowed again.

    Polite applause rang from the commoner''s ranks while the academy staff and students were more appreciative. A column of flame might look good but was actually not that difficult to invoke if you had the time and could rest afterward, the range was also pitiful. But it was much more spectacular. The control needed to form two blades of ruin and a living metal armor was very much superior.

    Ludwig of Hundredstreams smirked as he bowed before royalty while acknowledging his noble peers.

    Straightening he concentrated and spoke a short spell, three imperfect mana crystals rose into the air. He continued with another spell and darkness gathered around the jewels until a low ringing sound signaled the completion and three identical copies made of shadow stood beside him. He gestured and one of them stood protectively before him wielding a round shield made of glyphs, the other two held staves formed of dark whirling mist and with a final command, they unleashed a volley of void-bolts. Paling at the effort Ludwig managed to keep smiling throughout but soon canceled the spell letting the crystals fall to the ground dimmer than they had been.

    Carmen gave a disapproving look and earned a questioning glance from Calvin to which she replied, ¡°He drew on his vitality for a display. I can¡¯t really condone such frivolousness.¡±

    ¡°He should go all out, the others will too.¡± Calvin mused.

    Back at the student area fellow third years welcomed the exhausted-looking Ludwig who seemed relieved and in good spirits for once.

    Alyssa looked around and her entropic sight showed her the many small flaws and illnesses the dissolution of order and life. Her gaze came to rest on a nondescript female student with dishwater-blonde hair. Dark light seemed to spill from her and illuminated the surroundings in sickly grey. Squinting and blinking a few times the phenomenon did not go away.

    ¡°Do you see the girl over there?¡± Alyssa pointed and nudged Mireille.

    ¡°The one with the food-stains?¡± Mireille focused on a somewhat rotund girl that was trying to clean a few spots of sauce from her robes.

    ¡°No, behind her, near the column.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think...ah that one?¡± Mireille looked toward Alyssa and the student vanished behind a group of chatting workers.

    On the field, someone was trying to summon an earth elemental. An errant thought shot through Alyssa''s head ''Adrian had been more proficient''. Some snowflakes fell from above.

    An older man in the uniform of a townguard walked towards the back. Alyssa blinked repeatedly. This person was emitting the same ¡®light¡¯ of entropy as the girl before. And where was she? Getting up she silently urged Mireille to accompany her.

    Making a bit of a face the red-head got up and both went to the back apologizing to those they disturbed. Alea wanted to come too but Alyssa signaled for her to stay. With the problems of her sight she had difficulties maneuvering through a larger crowd and would surely slow them down significantly.

    Walking briskly Mireille caught up to her friend and grabbed her robe. ¡°What is the matter? Do you need to go to the bathroom?¡±

    Alyssa gave her a wry glance, ¡°Shh. There is someone suspicious going back there.¡± She pointed.

    The stadium was formed like an oval between two gently sloping hills, the seats were simply terraced stone going up, further back there were platforms with better seating, especially on the right side where the nobles and the royal family were sitting. The ground was compressed earth that was renewed after each magical feat. Low walls inscribed with runes protected the spectators. Columns held awnings made of some -probably magically created ¨C clothlike substance. Those towering stone fingers were also inscribed with runes and when you looked at all of it from above a complicated pattern would be revealed.

    The whole was a geomantic formation to ward against evil and misfortune.

    The crowds were more sparse the farther they walked with exclamations of surprise and applause sounding behind them.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Mireille looked at her friend with dissatisfaction, ¡°The next exhibition is Marta from Sword One. I would have really liked to cheer her on. She would do some air tricks obviously swordwork is something that would not be fit for the Exhibition.¡± She grumbled.

    ¡°Shhh.¡± Alyssa concentrated and saw the tell-tale glare of entropic energies from further ahead behind some walls. She was unsure what kind of area they were going to actually.

    Rounding those walls, they stumbled over two fallen academy guards bleeding from deep cuts in the neck and chest area.

    Mireille instinctively raised her hand and used the lightning shield she had practiced for the first time. Her veins lit with energy and a scorched smell reeking of ozone spread as tendrils of lightning surged and combined into a shield-like lattice in blinding blue-white.

    Several small items impacted against the barrier and fell to the earth sizzling and smoking. The hot throwing knifes melted the snow as they impacted the ground.

    A black-haired woman wearing the clothes of a royal guard stood before them, her beautiful face contorted into a foul grimace and she cursed quietly. The walls were double the height of a person and there was a complicated-looking magic circle on the ground inlaid into a smooth stone platform. Several mana crystals were placed at nodes inside the pattern glowing with spent energy. A mage was lying on the ground clothes slashed apart, his breast gouged and ribs spread apart. The ¡®royal guard¡¯ had been in the process of removing his heart.

    ¡°That is the last mistake you will ever make.¡±

    The person spoke with a scratchy male voice and grinned.

 Arcane Exhibition Part II

    ¡°Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.¡±

    - Oscar Wilde

    The woman tensed before suddenly throwing a powder with a quick flick of her wrist distracting them before tumbling to the side. The whole person shriveled like a piece of grass in a fire, the skin became grey and taut, everything was wrapped in dark leather and grey cloth, only a few strands of scraggly hair poked from in between the bandages.

    And there was no hint anymore as to the possible gender of the creature.

    Alyssa intoned a short chant and flickered before reappearing on the opposite side of the enclosure. Raising the hand with her focus she spoke the words for a void bolt.

    Mireille turned her hand and the lightning condensed into a blade. ¡°Who...what are you!?¡±

    With a hiss, the being grew two additional arms beneath the original ones and with a movement reminiscent of a four-legged predator rushed forward only to be intercepted by a quick slice of Mireille¡¯s blade a few fingers fell to the ground still flaring with actinic light. A small knife thrown by the grey being sliced into her leg.

    Mireille hissed in pain. ¡°Why am I the only¡­¡± she grunted with exertion as she parried another blow, ¡°...one¡­¡± she jumped backwards onto the wall using it as a platform for another jump, ¡°...who gets hurt...all the time!¡± She sliced from above but the creature was too nimble and dodged before throwing a fan of small sharp knives after the two of them. A void bolt impacted its torso and cloth, leather and flesh rotted and fell apart causing the being to screech in pain.

    Alyssa focused and the smoky crystal in her hand filled with darkness before she finished her chant and a flurry of bolts erupted flying rapidly and accurately at the dark-clad assailant.

    Mireille spread her arms and conjured another shield between them catching another shower of sharp-edged pieces of metal.

    The bolts impacted one after the other the creature summoned an arcane shield with a crystal tablet and alleviated some of it but bolt after bolt eroded its body. Mireille jumped forward and stabbed deep into the upper chest light flared from the cuts and the mouth of the assassin. Coughing blood he swiped with his right appendages and cut her on the arm. Mireille hissed and stumbled back. A flare of dark flames burst from Alyssa''s hand as she simply channeled the void. Flesh blackened and curled in on itself before the creature neatly folded in half, the midsection completely severed. Twitching once it fell still.

    ¡°Uh. Warn me next time.¡± Mireille gagged at the smell.

    Cyrus had been at the entrance and looked highly agitated. Alyssa had ordered him to stay back, fearing for his life against the unknown threat.

    ¡°We have to warn the guard!¡± Alyssa ran outside while shouting.

    ¡°Wait don¡¯t warn the enemy!¡± Mireille got up and nervously looked around. ¡°Find a guard...better a knight and tell them. I will look for the academy staff.¡±

    They hurried outside and were greeted by the applause of the crowd. A whirlwind carried a girl aloft and tossed her to and fro it seemed to be the classmate mentioned by Mireille.

    <hr>

    Inside the enclosure, the flesh of the separated torso burst, and a creature emerged, elongated and scurrying on dozens of legs it was a black centipede nearly the length of an arm. The beast crawled for the circle and crossed the glowing lines, magic sparked and burned the chitin but it was not to be deterred finally reaching a crystal and injecting something, for a moment the array flickered and then began to glow again. Perhaps a bit more subdued. The insectoid creature twitched and died, disintegrating into fine sand.

    <hr>

    Mireille clenched her teeth and lightning scorched shut the bleeding cuts and played along her veins cleansing her without her knowledge. She felt dizzy and worried that she had been poisoned. Stumbling she ran for the area where most of the academy staff were sitting. A bald stocky teacher in his forties with sparse grey-brown hair looked at her in alarm. ¡°By Jaros girl. What happened?! Come here, Sarah. She needs healing.¡±

    ¡°We stumbled upon an assassin who killed some guards back at that enclosure over there.¡± Mireille gestured. ¡°My friend went to look for a knight patrol.¡±

    The teacher nodded and grabbed another colleague listening nearby. ¡°Tell Magister Illimen!¡± The eavesdropper turned and ran up towards the royal platform. All of that was drowned in the noise from the crowd. The student that had summoned the windstorm bowed and fell to her knees before some attendants helped her to her feet.

    ¡°No stamina those young ones.¡± An older teacher complained near Mireille who grinned and nodded.

    Grenzwald looked up at the commotion in the academy ranks and saw a red-haired girl being treated by one of the water mages. ¡°Who is that?¡±

    ¡°That? One of the first years. Ah I know it¡¯s the Branded. The one who deserted from the army of Rivenlorn. Disgusting isn¡¯t it? Not even a magician in her own right, a commoner to boot, and still enrolled at the academy. If you need to know what is going wrong you need look no further.¡± The woman he had been wooing to support his candidacy confided in Taberus who smiled in appreciation. ¡°It seems we think alike, I will do my utmost to preserve the knowledge of our ancestors for those worthy of it. Can I count on your support?¡±

    The grey-haired thin sorceress nodded. Pulling unconsciously on her long black silken gloves.

    The councilor leaned to the side and whispered harshly to his servant, ¡°Get down there and find out what is happening.¡±

    <hr>

    Alyssa, followed by Cyrus, ran up to a knight while two of the palace guard following her turned and stood between the girl and the stern-looking woman. ¡°Wait, please! I need to talk to you!¡±

    ¡°Let her come closer.¡± The woman was in her late twenties and armed with flamberge slung over her back. Plate mail gleaming, green golden cloak flowing behind her she cut a dashing picture. The helmet with the open visor was clasped beneath her right arm. ¡°What is the matter?¡±

    ¡°There was an attack. There are several guards and a magician dead in that enclosure over there.¡±

    The indifferent face became serious in a heartbeat pointing at two of her guards she said, ¡°You, go and alert the commander. You, alert the patrols. I will ascertain the situation- send some magicians.¡± She turned to Alyssa. ¡°If that is a prank¡­¡± Seeing the earnest eyes she nodded. ¡°Lead the way. Cute beast you have there.¡± She grinned at Cyrus whom Alyssa scooped into her arms to prevent him getting into trouble in the crowd.

    She pushed Alyssa and gave a hand-sign for two palace guards to precede them. Some civilians looked on curiously but were soon diverted by a quartet of magicians opening a scrying window to the southern isles showing endless blue sea and white sand beaches.

    They soon reached the enclosure and the knight''s lips flattened into a thin line as she saw the carnage. ¡°You did that?¡± She lifted an eyebrow and looked at Alyssa with a bit more respect.

    ¡°I am a void mage, but I had the help of my friend Mireille.¡±

    ¡°You cut him in half.¡± The knight snorted in amusement before she began to inspect the area. ¡°What for Gesserach''s sake was this creature doing here.¡± She inspected the desecrated magician.

    ¡°I think it wanted him to be some sort of sacrifice perhaps?¡±

    ¡°That was a rhetoric question but you could well be right. You did well not calling attention to this. The king puts the greatest importance on this Exhibition. If it has to be canceled because of an alarm he would be furious.¡±

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    <hr>

    The royal platform

    Magister Illimen looked at the sweating magician and sighed before gesturing for him to wait and taking a few steps to the side of the throne. ¡°Your majesty?¡± He respectfully waited as the king looked at him.

    Vilander nodded for him to speak.

    ¡°There has been an attack, some guards and a mage are dead. It happened in an enclosure for the geomantic formation.¡±

    ¡°Figures. But this could be a distraction. Keep being vigilant, are the guards informed?¡±

    Illimen nodded, ¡°They should already be there.¡±

    ¡°Then lets not bother with such small things. There are bigger problems ahead I¡¯m sure.¡± The king leaned back and took another sip from the goblet in his hand before holding it out to be refilled.

    The magister suppressed a grimace and nodded. ¡°As you wish your majesty.¡±

    Lieseleta looked at the magister talking to her father and a cold sweat dampened her back. She felt highly uncomfortable with all that was happening. Her brother sat an arms length to her right. Alyssa, Alea and her friends were down in the crowd and it was near certain that something bad was happening right now and she did not know anything. Jera squeezed her shoulder before stepping back again. The princess gave her a quick grateful smile. Her gaze could not but fall on her brother.

    Carl raised his head and looked at her, the coldness in his eyes was no surprise but there was also regret but it might have been only her delusion as he turned his head looking over the Exhibition field.

    <hr>

    Back with the knight and Alyssa

    ¡°Lady Kettra. Of the six circles, there are three where the guards have been slain.¡±

    The lady knight hit the wall with a thud, dust fell where her metal-clad gauntlet crushed the stone. ¡°How could that happen. There are patrols everywhere, wards!¡± she visibly struggled for control before she calmed down and asked, ¡°What are our orders?¡±

    ¡°Keep patrolling. There will be mages assisting with strengthening the wards.¡± The guardsman with a great white mustache answered respectfully.

    ¡°How did you realize that he was suspicious?¡± The knight, Kettra, asked Alyssa.

    ¡°I can see void energies. He emitted some sort of dark light.¡±

    ¡°Could you find others like him?¡±

    ¡°Probably?¡±

    ¡°Congratulations, student, you have been deputized to the royal knights. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Alyssa Miner.¡±

    ¡°And your friend, where is she and can she do something similar?¡±

    ¡°Mireille Annirstochter. She is very good with lightning magic but I don¡¯t think she could detect something like that. ¡°

    ¡°She has fought them and came away alive which is more than can be said for the poor souls that perished already. So tell me where she went and you two will accompany me. I like my head attached to my neck and fulfilling my duty. You will help with both.¡± She smiled and grabbed Alyssa with a heavy hand pulling her along.

    Mireille felt dizzy. ¡°Do you really think there was nothing on those knives? They looked like the bad guys in the street plays you know? Those who cackle madly and paste green apple juice on their wooden daggers? What if they didn¡¯t use apples this time?¡±

    Sarah the healer, a rotund woman of nearly fifty years could not completely stop herself from laughing. ¡°I am pretty sure. I cleansed the wounds and you used lightning which is good at dispersing dark energies.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the first I heard of that.¡±

    ¡°Lightning is fire and wind but there is also a lot of energy in it. There is a lot of light magic in lightning.¡± She grinned.

    ¡°I usually don¡¯t listen when it''s something I don¡¯t need for a test.¡± Mireille honestly remarked.

    ¡°I¡¯m a teacher too. Don¡¯t talk such nonsense around me.¡±

    ¡°Bah. You are nice and more important I don¡¯t have a class with you.¡± Mireille breathed deeply and the dizzyness got less severe.

    Sarah inspected her pale complexion worriedly rubbed her chin and then said, ¡°Perhaps it was simply the adrenaline and blood loss?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡±

    A group of palace guards five persons strong accompanied a female knight who dragged a flustered-looking Alyssa.

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Mireille got up and hugged her friend.

    ¡°That¡¯s my part. Are you alright?¡± Alyssa looked her up and down before sighing in relief. ¡°After we separated I worried that you might be poisoned and I sent you off alone. Thank the gods that did not happen.¡±

    ¡°You are Mireille?¡± The knight asked her skeptically.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me.¡± Mireille looked at her.

    ¡°You are a hell of a lot smaller than I thought. I wonder if I should rather let you stay where it¡¯s safer.¡±

    ¡°I go with Alyssa. And if there are other monsters like the creature before I can help with that.¡±

    ¡°We will see.¡± Kettra gestured. ¡°Come with me then, stay back if there is fighting to be done defend yourself and Alyssa first.¡±

    <hr>

    The spectator stands. Student''s area.

    Alea looked increasingly worried as her friends did not come back. ¡°Iseret?¡±

    ¡°I know. I will go look, rely on Butler One and please stay with Vivienne and Valens too.¡±

    Vivienne looked at them and nodded.

    The snake woman frowned slightly. If only it were night-time already then Vanessa could be here too. With all the visitors checking each and every one thoroughly was impossible. But that went for the opposition too. ¡®Why did they not cancel the Exhibition. There would have been time after the threat of Ulsolm had been mitigated.¡¯

    Iseret wove through the crowds and finally spotted Alyssa and Mireille walking with a knight patrol. ¡°Excuse me!¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s Iseret our...maid.¡± Alyssa coughed.

    Kettra looked at her snake eyes. ¡°Open-minded of you.¡± She raised an eyebrow, ¡±Mh. Armor?¡± She took a step forward and tapped Iseret on the shoulder.

    ¡°There have been attempts on milady''s life lately. I am the maidservant of Alea von Graufurt, she sent me to make sure everything was alright.¡±

    ¡°We ran into some trouble and are now accompanying the lady knight Kettra.¡± Alyssa stumbled a bit over her lack of knowledge regarding the knight''s surname.

    Kettra grinned. ¡°Kettra of Saltmarsh.¡±

    ¡°Pleased to make your acquaintance. I will tell my lady, she might insist on me following you, would that be permitted?¡±

    ¡°Certainly. The more the merrier.¡± Kettra nodded generously.

    ¡°We will have our parts in the afternoon.¡± Mireille reminded them while Alyssa gave Iseret a short outline of their encounter.

    ¡°That¡¯s still some hours hence. So let''s get to work.¡± The knight clapped her hands and they were off.

    Iseret leaned towards Alea and spoke softly, ¡°They apprehended an assassin, killed him, and are mostly well. No serious injuries as far as I know.¡±

    Alea stiffened and then nodded. ¡°What do you think¡± she whispered back, ¡°Is it better for you to accompany them or stay with me?¡±

    ¡°They are quite capable but also still very young. I would nevertheless remain with you if possible. I think you are most likely to be targeted separately as a supporter of Lieseleta.¡±

    Alea nodded, ¡°Thank you. I know you are only with me to help Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it.¡± Iseret kept her eyes on her surroundings as she talked. ¡°She wants to protect you too.¡±

    The smaller girl smiled gratefully, ¡°Then I can only thank her when I see her, and you too.¡±

    The Exhibition continued. The magic circles were inspected but despite some misgivings there seemed to be nothing wrong.

    Alyssa rubbed her neck and looked around. There had not been anything noteworthy- except for the feats presented in the Exhibition of course. That made her nervous. Mireille was chatting with the knight and both seemed to have a lot of common hobbies, sword-fighting for example.

    Alyssa felt like a third wheel.

    Glimpsing something to her left she searched the crowd for what had caught her attention. There! Another flash of entropic power. Asandria had been quiet because of the heightened scrutiny but now she hissed, ¡°You can use the spell I taught you to sharpen your senses.¡±

    After speaking the spell for the Eyes of Entropy a fine shadow coalesced on her pupils before she exhaled sharply. ¡°That man over there.¡± She motioned to get the attention of Kettra and the rest. ¡°He is bathed in void-magic!¡± Privately she thought ''there was something cloaking him from more casual observation.''

    ¡°Then let''s take him in for questioning.¡± Kettra looked pleasantly surprised. ¡°I feared that you were simply lucky the first time. Men, with me.¡± She strode towards the man who was biting into a ham sandwich. He was dark-haired and slight of build with a bookish appearance and a hooked nose. Teary blue eyes saw them coming and widened before he jumped up and ran.

    ¡°After him!¡± The knight called and drew a wand which she pointed at the fleeing man. She losed two bolts of greenish energy. The man panicked and threw a serving platter and more by lucky chance intercepted both of them, the tray was soon covered in thick spider webbing and made a dull clanking sound falling to the ground. Kettra ran after the palace guards that had already overtaken her.

    Mireille looked from one to the other shrugged and activated her lightning magic. Dashing forward at great speed she soon reached the fleeing suspect and simply kicked him in the knee from behind causing him to fall heavily. Screams sounded all around as spectators tried to gain some distance.

    Kettra arrived shortly after the guards and they quickly shackled the man before one of them produced a wand and began to inspect him for hidden magic.

    Mireille proudly puffed out her chest, ¡°Am I still too small?¡± She grinned.

    ¡°No, that was well done. You can be as small as you like when you can fight like this. You are branded, am I right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Strange choice to go to the academy then, but it''s none of my business.¡± She pointed at the bound and shivering man, ¡°What¡¯s the matter with him. Is he the one you saw?¡± She questioned Alyssa.

    ¡°Yes. He still emits this aura. There is something seriously wrong with him.¡±

    ¡°Get him to the mages.¡± Turning to the surrounding people she called, ¡°Everything under control, you can return to your seats. Have a nice day.¡±

    Some of the onlookers nodded gratefully while others smiled and applauded as Mireille waved at them.

    Continuing with their patrol it soon became noon and they were hungry. Kettra distributed some rations and shrugged. ¡°Not the tastiest but it will fill you up.¡± Grinning she bit into the packed bread with herbs and some strips of dried meat. ¡°The trick is to break off a smaller piece and soften it up before chewing, otherwise you might lose a tooth. Don¡¯t say I didn''t warn you.¡±

    ¡°Do we know something new about the man we caught?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°No. It''s got nothing to do with us anymore. They will do what is necessary.¡± Kettra unconcernedly replied.

    ¡°Mh. He did not seem like a criminal. He was so timid when we caught him.¡± The white-haired girl frowned.

 Arcane Exhibition Part III

    ¡°Flirting with madness was one thing; when madness started flirting back, it was time to call the whole thing off.¡±

    ¨D Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

    Their journey had been delayed and the count had been furious. Why then did he himself tarry long into the night while in Dornenfurt? They could have been here yesterday or even earlier. The steward of the Nordmark family was at his wit''s end.

    The men had been walking straight through the early hours of the night and had entered Kronenburg just before noon. The roads were said to be unsafe so there was a battalion of men-at-arms divided into a van- and rearguard respectively adding to his logistic troubles. He was a chamberlain not a quartermaster for Meloris''s sake!

    Rumbling over the cobbled stones of Kronenbrug the coach was heavily draped in cloth and the only occupant Zygmund von Nordmark was covered by another layer of heavy linens sleeping like the dead.

    <hr>

    ¡°Why are we only patrolling the northwest?¡± Alyssa asked innocently.

    Kettra looked at her, ¡°The answer should be obvious, we are not the only team working here, and it''s better to divide the responsibility otherwise with how chaotic it gets here there will be neglected areas.¡±

    Still chewing on the rock-hard trailbread they walked their section.

    <hr>

    ¡°Halt! Stand by for inspection.¡± The guardsman called out to the heavyset merchant pushing along the large hand wagon containing a stove and a hanging board for cooking utensils.

    The man gave a servile smile and rubbed his hands, ¡°Naturally! Please, I have nothing to hide.¡± He chuckled trying for amiability but only sounded greasy. He was balding and had a paunch but did not seem to have any problems pushing the heavy cart.

    The guard walked around the cart and lifted the edge of the cloth covering the shelving beneath the stove. He was an older man in his fifties with grey hair and while still hale had a face lined by fatigue and old pain.

    The merchant walked closer and ignoring the expression of faint disgust on the guard''s face said softly, ¡°May the sun rise from the south.¡±

    The guard froze and then gave the contents a cursory glance ignoring a tightly wrapped bundle in the back. ¡°All seems to be in order.¡± He tore a piece of parchment and scribbled something before using a small metal stamp that glowed with heat for a second and burned a seal into the scrap.

    ¡°Thank you, good sirs, lady.¡± The man bowed and the so-called ¡®lady¡¯ a muscular woman in her forties who looked like she could have been at home on a sailing ship, tattoos and all gave him a disgusted look. He pushed the cart further into the stadium.

    The female guard sighed, ¡°Could have bet he would have something illegal. Grilling and selling rat meat would be right up his alley I think.¡±

    The older guard looked uncomfortable spat on the ground and said, ¡°Can¡¯t go by appearance alone.¡±

    ¡°Too true.¡± The broad-shouldered woman grinned with blackened teeth.

    <hr>

    Grenzwald was in a bad mood. ¡°That is going far too smoothly. I took some pains to dissociate myself from the Exhibition but if that continues it will only backfire. Thomas, you know what to do.¡± He had been sitting on pins and needles all morning. Illimen had done a really good job and even the small altercation he had witnessed had been expertly suppressed. He had really hoped for more. If fate and others don¡¯t play along you have to nudge them along a bit. His preparations should have been perfect so be it.

    The servant, a man in his early thirties with curly brown hair, a thin nose, and a hunched posture patted his buttoned coat made of dark brown wool and left in the direction of the student''s seating area.

    Melissa wondered how it had all come to this. She had been co-opted by Vivienne to play spy in return for help with her addiction fostered by those she had tried to lean on to get away from her controlling and poor family. Her talents were not bad, why could she not simply learn in this academy and leave the troubles at the door?

    The servant looked at her somewhat coldly. ¡°Otto von Landesend recommended you. He said you were reliable. You only have to give this box to the Crow girl. Don¡¯t open it. You know her?¡±

    The girl nodded silently and stretched out her hand. The servant looked a bit more friendly at that and quickly gave her the small wooden box folding her hand closed and pushing it back to her chest. ¡°Take care. If all goes well your contribution, small as it is, will not be forgotten.¡±

    Melissa brushed back her shoulder-long dark hair and sighed. Damned if you do, damned if you don¡¯t. Remembering the look in Vivienne''s eyes she looked up to see the object of her thoughts looking in her direction. The blue-green eyes gazed at her indifferently and she shivered.

    <hr>

    The junior student''s exhibition started in the early afternoon.

    <hr>

    Reneus Flammensiegel was presiding over the proceedings and smiled contentedly as he watched the students display the fruit of their efforts. Clapping he commented to Valeria who stood beside him, ¡°The fireball was well done, don¡¯t you think? When I was a first-year I had trouble controlling the cohesion of the flames.¡±

    ¡°Yes, fire does not like to be caged.¡± Valeria smiled sipping on a flask of magically heated tea.

    ¡°Alyssa Miner.¡±

    Alyssa looked nervous. Looking from outside the field had not seemed so big, now that she was walking in the middle of it there were eyes and people all around and she felt small and insignificant.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    She bowed before royalty Cyrus preened under the attention he was getting. Asandria hid wherever it was she went when she wanted to avoid notice.

    She had thought a lot on this matter. Perhaps it would be better to go for a safe option and simply cast one of her enhanced firebolts with Asandria''s help? But how did the saying go better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not?

    She spread her arms concentrated and relaxed her hold on the gate. She did not need to open it anymore, it was like a door without a lock and the storm wanted to rip the handle from her hands. Cyrus coiled around her neck and lent his strength.

    Darkness billowed between her hands as she incanted the third seal the sun seemed to dim, sound to cease. The mirror pressed against reality and reality...broke. Void spilled forth and formed a sea of blackness around her. She concentrated and shapes rose from the spilled matter. Persons, objects, trees. Everything she could think of she could form from this primordial matter. It reacted to her thoughts, mostly negative ones like fear and regret.

    The stream of void energies rushed through her arm and the crystal embedded within throbbed with shadow. She build a palace out of void energies, ephemeral like ice in the sun. Letting go was more difficult than beginning the spell and she felt faint but much better than feared.

    The crowd was silent, there was scattered applause and some shouts. The spectators were unsure how to react to this.

    Gasping from the exertion Alyssa bowed again with a bit of grim satisfaction as she saw pale faces among the students and the general crowd. The dark building she had conjured was soon pierced by the rays of the sun and melted away.

    Soon after the other students had their time to shine.

    Mireille stood before the crowd. Countless people looked at her and she was taken aback before she remembered to bow before the royal platform. The king graciously waved for her to continue. It hit her how far away from home she was. The light glinted on the falling snowflakes, the stands were packed and the citizens merry. Heat wafted from the formation circles making the temperature bearable. She felt cold nonetheless.

    She had requested a target for her demonstration after she had seen it used by some of her fellows. A stone statue stood in the middle of the field depicting an armored knight.

    ¡°Sialysalethussar¡± It seemed that it had been ages since she first spoke this word that had become a part of her as much as her arm or her leg. Lightning gathered inside of her, the gate to the elemental planes opened and wind whipped around her small figure like a miniature tornado. She raised her right arm, stabilizing it with her left. Her eyes glowed and each breath spat sparks into the air. With a crack of thunder deafening all in a wide radius and a bolt of lightning thick as an arm hit the statue more than double the height of a man and smashed it into pieces. The bolt continued before being caught by the defensive wards. Glyphs shone brightly under the strain. And in the burning energy there twisted a reflection of a gigantic many-winged serpent.

    Trying to control the raging energies she shook her arm carving great smoking gashes into the ground before she forced the gate shut again.

    After everyone had recovered their senses, with some still having a ringing sound in their ears applause burst forth and many people whistled and shouted.

    One minister leaned toward the king and asked, ¡°This child! We should acquire her for the royal guard.¡± The king quietly nodded.

    Bowing smugly toward the stands Mireille stood up and went back to her friends, a bit shaky but satisfied. Two mages smoothed the ground and disposed of the pieces of smoking stone that had once been a statue.

    A tall girl that she had seen sometime before in the morning courses walked past her giving her an acknowledging nod. She seemed the serious sort and somewhat pretty with dark brown hair and pale skin.

    After she was back in the stands she was embraced by Alyssa who whispered ¡°Well done!¡±

    Many of the other students looked at her with envy in their eyes. Even if Mireille had been a bit distracted they had not missed the interest in the eyes of the nobles watching the Exhibition.

    While she was preoccupied a rushing sound and the roaring of flames sounded behind her and screams came from the spectators. Turning around she saw the female student flailing while dark flames burst from her form. Several mages rushed forward but before they could act there was another explosion and the girl was violently thrown to the side.

    ¡°Alea!¡± Alyssa grabbed the smaller girl and together they ran for the field.

    Huffing with the exertion Alea took several tries to call to her overeager friend, ¡°Won¡¯t we get in the way?¡±

    ¡°We will see.¡± Alyssa did not want to waste much time explaining. But she was very sure that the twice-blessed Alea and herself were not inferior to most other healers at least when brute force was counted and from what her left eye was seeing the girl was near death.

    Sarah the motherly healer ran from the side accompanied by a skinny, pale-skinned man with dark blonde hair both began to invoke spells to close wounds and stop bleeding.

    The girl was heavily burned and blood seeped from split skin, there seemed to have been something in a pouch on her hip that exploded, the pouch was in tatters and the burns radiated in a starlike pattern from there.

    Alyssa looked at Alea with worry in her eyes, ¡°Can you do something for her? My waters of life cannot do more than they...¡± she gestured at Sarah and her helper, ¡°...are already doing.¡±

    Alea nodded and concentrated on a spell forming glyphs with her hands while the gate inside of her cycled open. Warm light burst from her form and Alyssa took several steps away, her left arm and face were burning. The light shone on the wounded student and flesh knitted back together while life was forcefully returned to her cooling flesh. Nodding gratefully Sarah focused more on delicate repairs.

    Grenzwald hit the table before him with his cup splashing tea everywhere and scalding his hand. Cursing he blotted the hot tea with a handkerchief and spoke a short spell cooling and healing his burns. He looked around seeking his servant. The poor man ducked instinctively as he saw the murderous look pointed in his direction. Whispering furiously Taberus asked, ¡°Did I not make myself understood? How could you blunder like this! This is the young daughter of the Saltmarsh house! If they find we did this there will be hell to pay!¡±

    Melissa retched and hugged herself before sinking to her knees. Why!? She had not known what she was putting into the pouch but it was clearly something malicious. Should she have denied Vivienne?

    A voice whispered in her ears seemingly born on the wind, ¡°Your debt is paid.¡±

    <hr>

    In the eastern section

    Halvar von Landesend looked at his men and ordered, ¡°Wait here and keep a lookout, I seem to have seen something in the enclosure over there. I will be back shortly.¡±

    The sergeant assigned to his unit nodded and ordered his men to spread out to better survey the surroundings. ¡®Good subordinates are very valuable¡¯ Halvar mused.

    Entering the arch leading into the walled area he looked around and saw some guards that alertly inspected him. ¡°Everything alright here?¡± He called.

    ¡°Nothing to report, sir.¡± One of the younger guards took the initiative.

    ¡°I will have a quick look to see if anything has been disturbed. This will not take long.¡±

    ¡°Sir, the mages already checked this one.¡±

    ¡°Better to be sure.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± The men shrugged and took position again while Halvar inspected the circle.

    He was really bad at magical theory and should have someone looked at him at this moment he would have found the ¡®intellectual¡¯ look of an illiterate posing with an upside-down book. He gripped a small crystal tablet and activated it quietly, an illusion covered him and his surroundings simply fixing the last image in a sphere a few meters in diameter.

    Then he pulled a small vial from a pouch and emptied the contents on a mana crystal after making sure he got the right one by comparing the positions with a small schematic. ¡®Prince, I hope you will remember my family when it is time.¡¯ He patted the crystal dust from his hands, pocketed the empty vial, and turned to go as the illusion flickered and died.

 Arcane Exhibition Part IV

    ¡°I''m not afraid of death; I just don''t want to be there when it happens.¡±

    - Woody Allen

    ¡°Illimen.¡± The tone was light, the meaning was not. The king looked at him quietly furious.¡°How did this slip through?¡±

    ¡°I will find out. But if I can bother your majesty to remember- I asked for more time to properly prepare and give the guard enough time to follow up on the last series of attacks.¡±

    ¡°Excuses. This here is important.¡± He gritted his teeth and spat out, ¡°We will continue.¡±

    Magister Illimen bowed and walked quickly toward the stairs leading down. The king leaned to the side and beckoned a steward. ¡°Who was that girl that got hurt. I feel as if I should know her.¡±

    ¡°She is the younger sister of Minette of Saltmarsh. Wella of Saltmarsh. She was considered together with her sister as a possible fiancee for your son Carl...before¡­¡± The older man whispered.

    The king coughed and cut him off. ¡°I remember now. This was a deliberate attack but who would dare?¡± He looked at Lieseleta then shook his head. Minette had been a good friend to both his younger children until the young von Saltmarsh had positioned herself and her family firmly behind Carl cutting ties with Lieseleta in the process.

    There could only be one king, one ruler. And other than those who completely disavowed their rights of succession everyone was in this game to the end. Silently he cheered for his daughter but Carl was the more suitable heir at the end of the day so he did not expose him even as the hints and evidence became more and more compelling. That did not mean that he did not hate him for killing his eldest son. He would not make it easy for this murderous kid.

    Some well-dressed nobles entered the high noble''s seating area and nodded at their peers. Among them Mathilda von Nordmark and Jamila von Nordstrom.

    <hr>

    The sky was slowly darkening. The helpers carried the motionless student from the yard. Mireille had joined her friends and looked after the stretcher, ¡°Will she live?¡±

    ¡°Not only that, she won¡¯t even have many scars. But what happened was deliberate. Check your pockets and be careful of strangers approaching you for no good reason.¡± Alyssa admonished. She shook her head, ¡°If there were not so many experienced healers present she could well have died.¡±

    The crowd was restless and murmurs and concerned glances were all around, some people left, especially those with children.

    A man in the uniform of a steward went forward and called out, his voice amplified by magic, ¡°Citizens of Margrinar, your king bids you remain calm. This incident will be carefully inspected for foul play but no one was seriously hurt so please don¡¯t let such taint your enjoyment. We will continue with the Exhibition forthwith.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t have said it better myself.¡± Calvin looked disgruntled. ¡°Even after such an act, we continue. What are his motives?¡±

    ¡°He wants to stir the hornet''s nest and smoke them once and for all I think,¡± Illimen replied.

    <hr>

    The Exhibition resumed, more subdued and with less cheer but with the passing of time, the mood recovered a bit.

    <hr>

    The sun passed the horizon and blood-red tinted the sky. Far over the city the mighty rotors of a flying ship disturbed the evening air. Bells sounded from some churches and temples calling the faithful to prayer.

    Carl looked intently at the field and gestured the air-lens to focus on a different part of the spectacle.

    In an enclosure, darkness erupted and blazed along the lines of the meticulously designed formation inverting its meaning.

    Valens looked at his sister and repressed a sigh. Her eyes were wrong. The last few months she had found friends thawed somewhat and he had been hopeful. He gestured and a vortex of water and air formed in front of him and a playful elemental danced around him to the awed whispers of the populace.

    Two of the griffin knights, their beasts colored a burnished rose-gold in the fading sunlight rose higher and flew in the direction of the city while the others continued to silently circle overhead.

    Valens bowed toward the royal platform and the audience and for a moment embraced the enthusiastic shouting and acclaim. He had worked hard to be here so he wanted to enjoy this moment.

    The clapping grew even louder and his smile that had been a bit timid at first became more real.

    The sound was still increasing.

    A distant horn blow sounded.

    And the noise kept increasing.

    A dark mass shrouded the sky and a searing beam of blue light shot from emplacements dotting the wood and metal gondola hanging beneath the massive zeppelin. The griffin knights ascended rapidly.

    Guards shouted in alarm, and the crowd panicked. With a roar, black flames raced through the network of glyphs, and pain assaulted the assembled mages. A dark smile marred Carl''s features as he stood up and looked at Vilander, his father. On the king''s face warred the satisfaction of being right with the rage of the betrayed.

    Jamila looked at her family members and abruptly threw aside the cloak covering her. Light armor was exposed with the blue rose of the second prince pinned to her chest. Outside the academy, a battalion of hardened veterans in the colors of the Nordmark''s raised their swords. ¡°For the prince and Nordmark!¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Lieseleta activated a ring on her left hand and shivering flows of air covered her body. Jera pulled the princess behind her.

    <hr>

    As the sun died a fiery death a massive armored man bearing a two-handed axe on his back marched at the head of a group of silent pall-bearers carrying coffins on their shoulders covered in heavy cloth. The procession, three dozen strong, came from the hills beside the academy walking down a grassy knoll they had been hidden by a small copse of trees. Silently they marched, each step perfectly in sync. Ratty dark-grey fabric covered them from head to toe, the feet were bound with rags.

    Distracted by the fighting the guards were late in spotting the newcomers. Tharus Iram von den Zwei Br¨¹cken elder vampire in the service of the great mistress opened his glowing blue eyes no longer bothering to hide his inhumanity. ¡°Out of the way mortal insects!¡± His voice was laden with power and some of the guards stumbled, several of them fled.

    With a disgusted gesture, he motioned for his silent companions. The caskets were stood upright on the ground some cracked from the force. One courageous guard shouted, ¡°Together men, for the king and Margrinar!¡± And raised his sword high. The wooden coffins opened and abominations of blood and bone streamed forth. A cloaked and hooded figure with a red mask pointed ahead and the last disfigured and broken creature shambled forward a ripped cavalry uniform draped over broken bones, one arm was missing, the head bore the signs of crushing trauma a bleeding mouth opened exposing shattered teeth.

    The desecrated remains of Vadislav Orpen walked one last time.

    The creatures were inhumanly quick and there were many. Some of the branded held them back for a while, flames flared and stone rose to form walls and armor, and then there was only the laughter of the giant in the blackened armor.

    <hr>

    The knight stood in the stirrups while the wind rushed past his visor, the enchanted helmet providing him with safe air and warmth. The beak of his mount opened releasing a deafening cry. Raising his arm he readied the spear and threw it with all his might. Glyphs burned along the dark wooden shaft and the bladed metal tip burst into flames before the weapon shot forward and exploded against the side of the gondola. Wooden splinters the length of an arm impaled several of the undead creatures clambering along the deck. But not all of them cared. Two sailors were thrown back blood spewed from horrific wounds painting arcs of red into the dusk. The undead though...continued to load the ballistae. Two frost elves readied spells and bolts of ice and void raced towards the griffins banked and twisted to avoid the storm of projectiles. Another flaming spear hit amidships and blasted a big hole into the construction some armored skeletons tumbled from the densely packed interior. A lance of eldritch fire blasted from a crystal set into a tripod of black steel on a platform fixed to the side missing a diving royal knight.

    The gas-filled balloon had taken some hits too and the whole contraption tilted sharply downward before slowly righting itself and turning in circles to shed some speed.

    The captain a thin man with messy grey-brown hair and an old leather coat gripped the steering wheel and cursed to his heart''s content. Why did he take this job? He had been down on his luck, blacklisted because of his dispute with the procurement officer and the money had been really good. Too good. And now he was guiding the rapid descent of this ship of his filled with undead and mad elves. Screaming with part terror, part adrenaline he hung onto the wheel for dear life as the view through the windows shifted and the world tilted crazily.

    <hr>

    Magister Illimen felt calm and at peace. Now everything stood revealed. He quickly and competently readied spell after spell shielding and protecting himself before he slowly rose into the air. He had once used such an air galleon and been impressed by its size, but having it bear down on oneself while burning and shedding broken planks and metal? Another experience entirely.

    ¡°Calvin, protect the civilians!¡± His last shout reached his protege who nodded even as his friend did no longer face him.

    Ascending to the sky he felt a freedom he had not known for years, buried in reports and meetings, even the teaching he had loved was farther and farther away drowned in the minutiae of management. Pain shot into his limbs as he tried to channel more mana, the source of his power was tainted and as his gaze roamed the stadium he soon found the cause. Through his enhanced sight, he found the void-aspected energies surging through the geomantic formation. He grasped a mana crystal and tapped into its potential but he knew- This fight suddenly got much more difficult.

    <hr>

    Halvar von Landesend gaped at the sight of the undead smashing into the seats in front of him. What was that!? He was patrolling and then there was a fight outside and the airship was burning overhead. He could not wrap his mind around it. He shouted, ¡°Death to the invaders, for the second prince!¡±

    The group of Nordmark men-at-arms heard him and some looked a bit confused- Comrades in arms or a ruse?

    <hr>

    Alyssa grabbed Alea and pulled her behind herself. Mireille summoned a spear of lightning and stabbed a fallen and nearly destroyed skeletal fighter. The fleshless skull with the glowing pinpoints of light in the empty sockets exploded as the crackling speartip pierced the cranium.

    Alea spoke a spell and an eye made of light manifested shooting rays of intense radiance at the Nordmark troops and falling skeletons. She gasped as the corrupted mana in the surroundings made itself felt but simply drew more on her inner gate.

    Town guards drove civilians back into the shelter of the awnings and formed a defensive cordon around them.

    <hr>

    The carriage door was ripped from its hinges and Zygmund von Nordmark strode out of the wreckage. He breathed deeply of the night air and laughed. He had not felt that good in decades. Grabbing the heavy zweih?nder he followed the troops he already sent ahead.

    <hr>

    Vilander von Margrinar took stock. Some fighters with the coat of arms of Nordmark attacked patrols of royal knights and the guard in the west towards the city, the airship was slowly falling deeper and magical discharges and spells kept the griffin knights at bay but the contraption was seriously damaged already.

    The mana in the area was contaminated and he had difficulties powering the spells he normally used. How much worse would it be for the less trained army mages?

    A group of ravening monsters led by an armored undead came from the east assisted by what seemed to be blood magic.

    ¡°Call for reinforcements!¡± He grabbed the minister that had frozen in shock at his side and pushed him towards the other nobles. Lieseleta had tried to cast a protection spell and was currently hugging herself to alleviate the nausea that the void mana had left her in.

    <hr>

    Silverrestra the frost elf necromancer coughed, thick black smoke rose from one of the four rotors that drove the ship, they were affixed to the gondola by metal shafts jutting from the sides. She grimaced viciously the pain in her side making her angry beyond reason she spoke some words and darkness formed several bolts that shot for the knight that had landed his mount on the forward deck decimating the fleshless undead with great swipes of his mounts claws, assisting with a lance were needed. The black missiles nearly reached him when a shield of azure blue rose from a bracelet on his arm and intercepted them neatly. Laughing the bearded knight impaled a wight overseeing this part of the ship. Roaring with exertion he levered the struggling undead over the side laughing again as he fell.

    The fight was not going as well as hoped. The knights were truly the elite of the kingdom.

    Behind her, in the cockpit, the pressganged captain was still screaming madly as the cargo hatch exploded outward and the husk of a once female elf rose through the storm of splinters. Dead eyes fixed on the knight and with a tearing gesture the void erupted in a circular patch underneath the griffin tentacles latched onto the beast and dragged the struggling monster down into a lightless abyss.

 Arcane Exhibition Part V

    ¡°One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.¡±

    ¨D Antonio Porchia

    Twisting in the air like a marionette on a single string the corpse hovered over the deck. Abruptly the head tilted to the side an arm jerked up and a lance of dark flame shot forth- missing a banking griffin knight by a hairsbreadth some feathers withered at the tips.

    ¡°Fantastic, now we have dancing undead maidens. For fucks sake why am I not drunk!¡± The captain threw a loop of rope over the grip of the wheel and tightened the knot. Pushing levers and smashing a small crystal tablet the sound of the rotors rose to a pitched screech. ¡°Damn piece of junk. If they had not impounded my Betsy!¡± He kicked a metal box several times until a rattling sound seemed to satisfy him. A fleshfiend with dried-out skin, staring white eyes, and rotting sinew visible through gaping holes stumbled from the darkened cabin behind him.

    ¡°AAAAAAH!¡± He grabbed a wand from his belt before he saw that the undead had no interest in him.

    ¡°Why!¡± The scream echoed from the cockpit.

    <hr>

    Alyssa was conflicted. She was not completely sure that her void magic would not harm innocent bystanders. So she simply readied a firebolt as a familiar feeling washed through her body with refreshing coolness. Startled she realized that the mana in the surrounding area was contaminated by void energies- which did not bother her at all.

    She hesitated again as she saw a group of armed soldiers attack a knight patrol but as one of the royal guards stumbled back with a bleeding cut on his throat she no longer worried about hurting people and loosed a streak of fire that burnt the face of the assailant some dozens of meters away. Screaming while trying to put out his burning hair the Nordmark fighter stumbled back his sword falling to the ground.

    The seats became splattered with blood as Kettra joined the fray swinging her flamberge with abandon. A hit on her plate mail showed the reason for her lack of care as the blade simply bounced off with a ringing sound.

    The fighting intensified as the civilians were evacuated toward the rear and the royal forces could make their strength felt.

    An archer took aim and loosed his arrow at Alyssa. By luck or chance, the missile was deflected by the sword of another combatant and only grazed her cheek. Blood dripped from the thankfully superficial cut. Mireille looked furious and turned before summoning a bolt of lightning simply obliterating the soldier. The flash illuminated the area in sharp detail. A cold wind whipped between the columns and over the terraced stone seating which made fighting here treacherous. Mireille winced and shook her tingling hand. No time for regret, the next arrow could have hit.

    No longer holding back Alyssa began the incantation for the third seal. Her face prickled where the light from Alea¡¯s magic fell on her skin.

    Darkness and light rose beside each other and on the edge of the line stood Mireille looking about vigilantly for any threat coming closer.

    Two soldiers approached from the back Cyrus raised his long neck slit green-yellow eyes fixated on his prey as he jumped up and glided toward them. A cut was fended off with a swipe from his left wing, caught on the claws that sprouted from the first joint. Quick as a viper, his tail shot forward and punctured his foe''s abdomen pumping poison into the wound. Twitching while frothing with black blood the man fell heavily and his companion retreated cautiously.

    Iseret had drawn two long dirks and was guarding the three girls against anyone that came too near.

    <hr>

    The elven corpse floated above the gondola sometimes there was a flash and dark lightning burst from her raised hand, the movements were jerky and stiff and she seldom hit, but what was touched by the energies of the void withered and died. A majestic griffin tumbled from the sky its chest bearing a deep wound as the rider screamed with fury and great translucent wings unfolded from a complicated magic circle on his backplate letting him drift after his falling mount.

    Magister Illimen concentrated and opened his gate, flames billowed from his eyes and mouth, his hair turned red and smoke rose from his body. Making a throwing motion a mass of twisting flames shot forth and burst over the deck, sailors and undead burned like torches, tumbling about, some falling over the railing.

    A flicker warned him before the lance of void energies shot in his direction. With his left hand he diverted the roiling darkness into the sky before returning the favor with several meteor-like balls of flame that ripped into the deck and the floating figure. Where he had parried flesh withered and blood dripped from his palm. With a dull roar, the flames ripped into dead flesh and a leg tumbled from the expanding ball of fire. But despite a missing leg and burning all over the undead puppet still fought.

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    <hr>

    Somewhere far to the west

    A voice drowned the world in sound. ¡°YOU VIOLATE THE DECREE OF THE FALLEN SON.¡±

    The Heartstealer turned and her hands that gripped a simulacrum of shadow showing a twisting corpse missing a leg tightened unconsciously. ¡°I have not left the city. You don¡¯t have the right to chastise me!¡± Her voice was like the crackling of ice breaking, hurtful and cold.

    For a moment there was silence. The presence pondered.

    ¡°DON¡¯T LIE.¡± Malice seemed to infuse the words, ¡°BUT THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD FIT THE DEED.¡±

    She felt a deep abiding pain as her conduit was shut and the piece of her soul that let her reach across near a thousand miles was lost.

    Her scream of pain shattered the eardrums of the few living beings that called the city of broken ivory their temporary home. Ice sleeted from a broken sky. Winds tore into the scraggly vegetation and leveled trees to the ground. Full of agony that transcended the mere physical the lich screamed her pain and hate at the uncaring lesser god.

    ¡°JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE. REMEMBER AND REPENT.¡± The presence faded.

    <hr>

    The corpse suddenly lost its tension and simply fell to the burning deck bouncing a few times before coming to rest against the side of the cockpit. With a flash, the flames devoured the dead flesh- unnaturally fast- and a specter made of darkness and flames rose from the wreckage. Cackling madly it dove over the side for the crowds of people fleeing towards the city.

    The magister frowned torn between attacking the airship swiftly nearing the ground or following the specter. He cursed and followed the specter.

    <hr>

    The vampire reveled in the carnage as he ripped the head of his bloody axe from the cooling corpse of the stone-branded he had been fighting. All around him the blood and bone creatures ravaged the fallen. He was well aware of his role as a terror weapon in this conflict and content to play his part. A thing made of dozens of gaping mouths in a barrel-shaped torso lifted from the ground by six legs tore into something behind a turned-over cart.

    <hr>

    The greasy merchant hastened behind the soldiers guarding the noble¡¯s seating wringing his hands in a display of abject gratitude the young guardsman impatiently pushed him further along not noticing the dark glint in the heavyset man¡¯s eyes.

    A wrapped package hung from his belt unnoticed in the commotion.

    <hr>

    Carl looked at his father and said calmly, ¡°We should put our grievances aside for the moment. We need to stand united against the foes of humanity.¡±

    Vilander looked at his sincere eyes and wavered for a moment. ¡°Prove yourself and we will see.¡± Unconsciously he relaxed his vigilance a bit and gestured to the knight at his side to go help with the fighting. Mostly there were scattered undead, some spirits, a group of unholy monsters, and the Nordmark veterans. He rubbed his brow to alleviate his mounting headache.

    Carl still looked as if he wanted to say something so he asked him harshly, ¡°What do you want? Was there anything unclear? Go and fight or don¡¯t but you should know what is the right thing to do.¡±

    There was a whining sound and suddenly a storm of glasslike shards erupted behind him, several rings and jewels on his person activated and energies discharged harmlessly into the ground. A heavy force smashed into him and he nearly fell holding himself upright by grasping the seat beside him. A nondescript man in merchant''s clothing stood some way down the hill holding a crystal and metal apparatus that was partially melted and still smoking. Several guardsmen aimed for the assassin as he felt a biting cold on his back, turning around he saw his son looking at him with an indifferent expression. There was a bit of blood on his fingers and there was screaming but why was it so far away?

    Vilander Andrealphus Constantin von Margrinar protector of humanity, successor of fallen Allisair, holder of the one blade tried to grasp whatever pained him but could not reach, and then he lost the strength in his limbs and the ground suddenly rushed up to meet him and the cold and weakness were all-encompassing as he fell into darkness.

    The airship chose this moment to crash into the ground plowing a deep furrow into the earth as clods of grass and twigs flew everywhere. The sound was deafening and the balloon was ripped free at last to sail into the heavens while two of the rotors spat meter-long sparks of lightning before beginning to burn. The madly laughing captain jumped from the ship and tried to flee.

    The sides of the gondola, already damaged spat out scores of undead warriors as well as several frost elf mages that supported them.

    From the city came reinforcements in the way of cavalry followed by several wagons drawn by automatons.

    <hr>

    Alyssa finished the incantation and a lightless oval rose before her. With another spell she slowly inserted her left hand and like the petals of a horrible flower unfolding tentacles of void-matter shot forth and entangled the enemy soldiers. Alea directed the eye of Arun and flashes of short-lived intense radiance lanced into the bodies of the undead, leaving smoking craters behind.

    <hr>

    Lieseleta screamed as she saw her father fall. There was a shortsword sticking from his back piercing his heart from behind. Carl turned and gazed at her and for a moment he looked as he had when she was still a child running to hide in the library to escape the etiquette lessons.

    Then the moment was gone and Jera pulled her back as several knights protectively flanked the prince who called, ¡°The king has been wounded. Repel the attackers!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Lieseleta tried to run forward but was gripped tightly and could not tear loose.

    Jera hissed, ¡°We have to get to safety first- if you run over you will be killed!¡±

    ¡°Father!¡± Her sight blurred and with some surprise, she found that she was weeping. She had never thought much about death, her own or her families until the assassination attempts and the death of her brother. But even then her father had always been immortal in her mind. Perhaps it was the distance he had between himself and his children, perhaps it was the resolute overbearing demeanor he sometimes had but she could not believe that he would be gone. Perhaps he could still be saved?

    Dragging the princess Jera directed the other members of her small squad to cover her.

    Snowflakes fell silently into the blood spreading beneath the king dissolving without a trace.

 Arcane Exhibition Part VI

    Traitors are hated even by those whom they prefer.

    - Tacitus

    Jera held a shield made of magical force in one hand and a slim blade in the other. Her loyal guards were armed and armored less conspicuously wielding short swords and the armor consisted of delicate chain mail worn beneath a surcoat. The knights that stood beside Carl were armored in heavy chain or mail and wielded swords or even halberds. The light snowfall whirled around the scene and the nobles had divided into several factions seeking to either help the prince or escape as not many of them knew the exact situation.

    The awnings protecting the ranks were torn from falling debris and the airship lay beside the stadium while undead troops debarked. Flames and lightning flashed from branded and mages but the spells were few and far between, the whole area was saturated with void magic which bolstered the undead and the few void mages but harmed everyone else.

    Screams, shouts, and the clash of weapons the roar of an enraged wight echoing with unearthly resonance the scene was pure chaos. The reinforcements from the city should arrive any minute now.

    ¡°Princess, hurry! We have to get you to safety.¡± Jera urged the dazed Lieseleta who visibly fought to contain herself.

    They saw the prince make a gesture and the minister who had been near the king was forced to the ground and shackles closed around his hands as he shouted impotently. Several courtiers that had taken shelter on the royal platform threw each other discrete glances and then ostentatiously praised the second prince for his decisive actions.

    <hr>

    ¡°Pathetic.¡± Tharus Iram looked at the defending guardsmen that stood in their way, ¡°But this is the end of the fight for me.¡± He knew he was monologing but what of it? The years in the company of mindless undead in the city of broken ivory had left their mark. He shoved the broken thing that had once been Vadislav and grinned mirthlessly. ¡°Do try to die a good death will you?¡± He half-turned and looked at the robed and masked Poroskar. ¡°You will accompany me. I am sure that my mistress will have further use for you. Ah, what a pity.¡± He licked the blood from his mailed fists while he looked at the human troops with longing. Grimacing with displeasure he then spoke a spell and a cloud of darkness shrouded them from view and with its passing the vampire and the blood mage were gone.

    <hr>

    Magister Illimen plunged down toward the fleeing civilians pursuing the specter made of darkness and flames. Wind and snow whipped past and the earth tilted crazily as he strove to keep up with the incorporeal being. Tapping an amulet around his neck he flung a net made of silvery energy toward his foe. The net entangled the spirit and bright white flames flared where the strings touched the roiling void energies.

    The specter turned and black empty sockets, surrounded by dark flames, gazed back at him before its claws tore into the delicate web ripping it apart. Drathur smiled grimly. It had been worth a try but capturing the thing directly, while tempting, had never been his primary intention. Keeping it away from the fleeing men and women was much more important. He gestured and golden flames formed like an arrow shot from his hand impacting the struggling creature. The gold overwhelmed the darkness for a moment and a gaping wound opened in its spectral torso but soon void gushed forth and closed the injury.

    The female corpse still faintly visible in the flames turned around and shot toward the Magister as she drew near she opened her fanged jaw and billowing darkness spilled forth accompanied by a groaning like boulders grinding together.

    Under the onslaught of void energies, Illimen paled and gestured opening a time-sealed spell that covered his form in a bubble of golden flames. Drawing a sigil in the air he shouted ¡°Come forth Abrigar.¡± Flames with eyes of gold shaped like a large salamander erupted from the seal and directly assaulted the spirit. Claws of flame met darkly flickering energies and the two tumbled rapidly toward the ground.

    With trembling hands and a pale complexion that made him seem aged beyond his years, the Magister pulled a flask from his hip and drank quickly grimacing at the taste before new strength flooded his body.

    His elemental fared badly against the wraith and soon the formerly brilliant flames became dull and spotty.

    Returning to his side with a flick of its tail Abrigar the fire elemental cowered behind Magister Illimen who had recovered some of his strength. Hovering dozens of meters in the air he surveyed the burning wreck of the airship and the battling undead. He raised his gaze at the spirit that floated before him and noticed that it too was heavily damaged by the fighting so far.

    Gathering power from the gate to the elemental plane of fire heat burst from his form in a wave melting the snow on the ground far below. The specter did not wait for him to finish and shot forward to assault him directly a skull blazed whitely in the dark flames and sharp teeth strove to rend his neck. His elemental coiled around the foe and dragged her back before a cut from long claws dispersed its form and banished it back to its plane of origin.

    However, the time was well spent as Illimen had formed a splinter of true fire blazing like a piece of the sun. The heat was enough to melt steel and several protective runes on his robes flared with actinic light. Gesturing, the splinter shot forth and impaled the undead creature before it softly began to burn with golden light slowly disintegrating. Screams that made the ears of the soldiers and civilians below bleed echoed over the battlefield.

    The violence of the fight over their heads distracted some people but the undead pouring out of the wreck were not deterred by such matters. Supported by spells woven by the necromancers accompanying them they were a force to be reckoned with and dozens of guards and some knights had already paid the final price.

    <hr>

    Mireille flashed forward and executed a tight whirl with a blade made of lightning and severed the head of the wight that had fought its way to their position before she jumped back again. The skeleton draped in a thin layer of mummified flesh fell as its necrotic energies discharged like a fountain from the fatal wound.

    Alyssa gestured and a tentacle of void energy entangled a Nordmark soldier rapidly draining his life as his struggles weakened.

    Alea spoke another spell and warm light streamed from her hand bathing a squad of soldiers led by Kettra giving them renewed energy and closing small wounds.

    Mireille gasped and felt for the cut across her stomach and was reassured that it was only long and not deep. Blood had long soaked her clothes, some her own, most from the ones she had fought.

    ¡°The king is wounded!¡± A cry came from behind them and they saw the second prince standing on the royal platform giving orders.

    ¡°Lieseleta!¡± Alea realized the problem immediately her face was unsteadily lit by some burning cloth lying behind them. ¡°We have to rescue her before Carl does something to her!¡±

    ¡°We cannot leave here! The students are pressed desperately and the guards are already faltering. At least wait until the reinforcements arrive.¡± Alyssa looked conflicted as she said that.

    ¡°Iseret! Can you help her?¡± Alea turned to the snake-woman and pleaded.

    ¡°I will do my best. Rest assured.¡± The woman smiled gently and shook some blood from her dirks. Turning around she quickly ascended the terraced ranks. The heating formations had been broken here and there and the cold assaulted her body. Shivering she quickened her pace and soon she saw Jera and Lieseleta with their escorts surrounded by several guards and knights.

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    <hr>

    ¡°Halt! You are suspected of having harmed the king. The crown prince demands your surrender.¡±

    ¡°The crown prince is dead. There is no one who can rightfully command you to detain me. The children are equal until there is a verified heir!¡± Lieseleta sounded hoarse and tired and her eyes were red and puffy but she held herself with dignity as she retorted.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t come willingly we will use force. This is your last warning!¡± Some of his underlings looked conflicted at that.

    ¡°We stand besieged by undead and you play petty palace politics! The one who harmed my father is none other than Carl Askander. I saw it, my guards saw it, you probably saw it. The prime minister was there! How can you stand it!¡± Lieseleta lost her composure and tears ran down her cheeks, golden hair dusted with snow.

    ¡°Grab them, the princess must not die, the rest are irrelevant!¡± The knight commanding the group shouted.

    ¡°That will get ugly.¡± Iseret softly muttered and then began to pray, ¡°You who are many and one, great mother grant me your blessing, wake the divine poison in my veins, let me be the instrument of your wrath!¡± Darkness spread along her blood vessels and as she coughed black blood flowed from her teeth and lips. She licked along her dirks covering them in venom before silently stalking near.

    Vanessa sighed with relief she was just in time. Why would this blockhead try to do everything on her own?

    Jera spoke a short spell and metallic skin formed over her arms she brandished the slim blade she had been allowed as the knight assigned to the princess. A burly man in chain armor wearing a simple helm with a nose guard black beard bristling slammed a mace at her shield trying to overwhelm her with brute might. A low hum and a small shockwave threw him back as the magical shield simply reflected a part of the power. Snow flew up in a small circle and the female knight smiled grimly, she had a few surprises left but it was probably the end of the line for them.

    Lieseleta concentrated and formed glyphs around her right wrist before raising her arm, the glyphs lighted up one by one as each accumulated power from the surroundings, she gasped as she felt the corruption of void energies ravage her vitality but held on grimly. Activating the glyphs in turn she loosed bolts of golden light that burned and blinded the attackers.

    Iseret jumped forward slashing and stabbing into the backs of the soldiers. Crying out in pain the ranks became disordered and the beleaguered protective detail regained a bit of momentum. Those injured by her blades began to tremble and shake before frothing at the mouth and fainting.

    ¡°Kryos, Toma get her! The rest, capture the princess!¡± The knight commanding the group shouted. He was a well-muscled man in his late thirties with an ornamented half-plate crusted with gems. He did not take part in the fighting and held himself well behind the lines accompanied by two guards that seemed to be privately hired their well-used armor seemed to be without insignia.

    A knight and a guard turned to confront Iseret, the knight swung a battleaxe and used his free hand to either get a two-handed grip or use his brand. Flames gushed forth and burned along the snake woman''s left side as she dodged barely getting clear. Grinning the bearded man stroked his left hand along the double-bladed axhead lighting it on fire. With a whooshing sound, he twirled the weapon menacingly. The guard was an older woman that tried to keep Iseret occupied and off-balance, the two worked well together and the snake woman had neither the reach of her khopesh and the cold weather was also working to her disadvantage making her more sluggish and slowing her down.

    Lieseleta bit into her lower lip and blood ran down her chin as she again cast another spell showering her guardians in warmth and light. Jera sighed in relief as a deep cut underneath her eye stopped bleeding.

    The commanding knight facing them hit one of his guards on the shoulder, ¡°We don¡¯t have much time. Kill the snake and then help the others.¡±

    Some instinct made him turn around but at that moment he felt something brush against his side and looking down he saw a delicate and beautiful elven face with softly glowing blue-green eyes. Startled and dazed he was lost in those catlike orbs before a cold pain woke him fully- but then it was too late as blood gushed from the deep cut across his throat. Stumbling back he tried to staunch the bleeding his breath rasping as he tried to call for help.

    The mercenary that had stayed whirled around and only saw a small figure rushing at him. He tried to impale her on his sword but claws of dark ice batted his blade aside as a sudden billow of mist covered them. Seeing nothing he nervously slashed into the white empty air then teeth bit deep into his throat. Warmth rushed from him and his limbs became weaker and weaker. His desperate struggle to remove the vampire from his neck became uncoordinated and soon stopped.

    Iseret feinted her dirk at the guardswoman and suddenly spat a stream of poison which her victim barely dodged cursing as some droplets burned into her skin, meanwhile a poisoned dirk grazed her unprotected calf. The knight screamed a battle cry and slashed at Iseret both hands gripping the haft of his axe. Bending back she nearly touched the ground with her flowing hair. Iseret grimaced as she felt a burn on her left biceps as the flames flashed across her skin. Hissing she flicked her wrist throwing one of her dirks lefthanded. The blade sunk deep into the knight''s stomach causing him to grunt in pain. While he stumbled back she quickly grasped the handle and retrieved her weapon. Both of her foes stumbled and the guard fell heavily to her knees before toppling over. The man tore a potion vial from his belt and having pulled the cork with his teeth quickly gulped down the concoction. But this distracted him long enough for two additional cuts on his left wrist. Cursing feebly he fell and did not rise again.

    ¡°Vanessa!¡± Iseret¡¯s eyes lit up as she saw her friend.

    Several of the royal guards drew back from the fighting and a burly man with greying dark hair shouted, ¡°Withdraw! Casualties like this serve no one at the moment. Let us clear out the insurgents and undead first.¡± The guards looked at each other in tacit understanding.

    The knights that were now in a steadily worsening position stopped fighting and fell back. Jera was severely wounded and two of her men were dead. Lieseleta looked wan and pale after the ordeal of channeling void tainted mana. Even Iseret had some cuts on her tunic and upper arms. A large man with a mace and chain spat and cursed. ¡°The king will hear of this! As soon as he takes the throne you will get what''s coming to you!¡±

    ¡°The king? So he has survived?¡± A female voice melodious but somewhat cold sounded behind them. Heloise von Margrinar walked up to them and even as her poise was still perfect deep fatigue and some burns on her clothes showed the fighting she had been through.

    ¡°Aunt Heloise! He killed him. Carl killed father!¡± Lieseleta burst into tears.

    Golden eyes looked at her niece and sadness flashed briefly before her cold demeanor returned. ¡°I know. Is everyone here a rebel?¡± She calmly asked the assembled knights and guards. ¡°Anyone in doubt about serving a kingslayer?¡± Put so bluntly even the burly knight that had just been cursing was taken aback.

    ¡°No! I serve the kingdom and the law!¡± A knight in the colors of Saltmarsh took a step to the side separating from the rest.

    ¡°Is it true?!¡± A soft voice asked. A young royal guard looked at Heloise his face anguished.

    ¡°It is true. He sent me a message before his death.¡± Heloise seemed calm but her hands gripped the rod she wielded until the knuckles turned white.

    Flames rose to the sky as a fireball from the reinforcing cavalry impacted the undead troops. Smoke rose in large plumes from the burning sky-ship. The blood creatures ravaged the guards that stood against them while the Nordmark troops began to assemble a defensive perimeter.

    ¡°Sweet Yrgos what a mess. He should be laughing his ass off just about now.¡± An older royal guard spat and walked over where the Saltmarsh knight was standing. Cold winds whipped around them.

    Another knight also came to a conclusion nodded and joined the two. More and more of them left until only two knights and one royal guard remained where they had originally been standing.

    Heloise looked at the royal platform and saw a group of knights and royal guards reinforced by the nobles from the Nordmark faction and the second prince''s supporters. ¡°We have to gather some men and then take this further. If we let them consolidate their power it will be all but impossible for justice to be done.¡± She raised her hand and spoke a complicated spell, glyphs wove a cage around a shining mass of light energy and soon all of them were bathed in pure energy lifting their fatigue and closing wounds. ¡°You.¡± She looked at the last holdouts. ¡°Make yourself scarce. If you are intelligent you will simply leave, if you are the idiots you seem to be please go up there and join them.¡±

    The two knights shouldered their weapons gave them a venomous look and hurried up the steps. The royal guard turned and walked away.

    Heloise turned her golden eyes on the group and lingered on Vanessa before facing Iseret and saying, "You are the maid of Alea am I right?" Without waiting for a reply she continued, "Get your mistress and her friends and any mages that can be gathered quickly then return."

    Iserete looked at Vanessa who nodded and both vanished into the deepening gloom as the last rays of the sun vanished.

 Confrontation

    ¡°Kings are the slaves of history.¡±

    - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

    Alyssa stood bowed over with hands pressed on her knees. She gasped while trying to catch her breath. She had been fighting while going all out and had a new appreciation for soldiers and other professional fighters. Mireille was dripping with sweat and did not look much better than her. They all had small cuts and bruises but with Alea¡¯s help, there were no serious injuries.

    Alea calmly faced the darkness broken by flickering flames. Cecily turned and tried to keep everything in her sight while a multifaceted construct made of glyphs hung in the air and shed dim light. Frowning as she saw them so exhausted Alea asked ¡°Mireille, Alyssa, are you injured?¡±

    Mireille shook her head, Alyssa coughed and said, ¡°Only tired. But I really hope that was it. I can endure the void much better than before but that does not mean it is healthy.¡± She shook herself and stood up straight while supporting her back with one hand grimacing.

    <hr>

    The Nordmark veterans had withdrawn to a safe distance and the surviving knights and royal guards kept a watchful eye on them.

    <hr>

    The gondola beneath the giant zeppelin had been full of the restless dead and what had reached the ground intact fought despite sometimes horrific damage but there were no reinforcements and even as the necromancers raised the fallen on both sides aided by the influx of the void the final ending was clear.

    The two frost elves looked at each other with two score undead led by five wights between them and the cavalry bearing down on them. ¡°Do we still have time?¡± Silverrestra looked at her companion a thin man with feminine white hands, and pale hair bundled in a ponytail.

    He grinned as blood dripped from his chin. ¡°I will not survive the crossing. Better to die here than be eaten by the worms and moths. I will buy you time.¡± He began to gather mana and shape another spell. The female elf nodded and began the ritual to breach the spheres. Sometimes she thought if she simply vanished into the planes. Would it be so bad?

    <hr>

    The bloodfiends were still wreaking havoc but their habit of feeding on the casualties had strung them out and some were surrounded and killed by concerted efforts of knights and guard.

    <hr>

    The students had mostly fled, only a few remained behind. Maximilian looked at his friend Alberich who returned the gaze with an irritated, ¡°What?¡± The perpetually easygoing man was missing the tip of his left ear and the clothes looked burned and drenched in water and darker fluids.

    ¡°You are not bleeding anywhere are you?¡± Maximilian looked at him critically, ¡°It¡¯s hard to see with you being covered in it.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for reminding me. My optimistic good cheer is all out for today.¡± He sneezed, ¡°And I might get a cold on top of all that.¡±

    Both sighed and their forced smiles fell. Maximilian frowned, ¡°I need to look for my sister. Do you want to come with me?¡±

    Nodding Alberich followed his friend as he walked quickly towards the other side of the stadium. They had been talking to a teacher when the incident happened and were separated by the fighting Maximilian was very concerned but also a bit hopeful, Mireille and Alyssa were among the best combatants of the younger students after all.

    Seeing the gentle light of Alea¡¯s construct Maximilian breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Alea! Sister!¡±

    ¡°Max!¡± Alea turned and smiled with relief. Grabbing Cecily she turned and regarded her brother and his friend before she furrowed her brow. ¡°You are injured!¡± Channeling light energy into the construct pure light bathed the two and wounds closed and a bit of color returned to pale cheeks.

    Iseret jumped down the last steps and ran over. ¡°Vanessa is here and...we have to talk.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± Alyssa saw her serious face and asked cautiously.

    ¡°The king is severely wounded, probably dead and Carl was the one that did it.¡± Iseret bluntly stated. Vanessa appeared behind her coalescing from the shadows and nodded.

    Mireille shook her head in disbelief, ¡°His son killed him? After he -probably- killed his brother? How?¡±

    ¡°There was an assassin who failed but this distracted the king and his guards and that led to the successful murder. I wasn¡¯t there and can¡¯t say how exactly it happened.¡± Iseret shrugged helplessly.

    Vanessa spoke, ¡°We have to decide. Heloise has collected some people and plans to confront Carl Askander we should grab some additional magicians from the academy staff. Hopefully not compromised. What do you think? If you decline to help Lieseleta I would argue that you should head for Pareus or the kingdoms of the broken for staying would probably mean death.¡±

    Maximilian clenched his fist and said, ¡°Damn! While we fought the traitor killed his father.¡± He hit a column and cursed. ¡°We cannot stand by. Alea. The von Graufurts will stand with Lieseleta, that had been the decision reached by grandmother and uncle.¡±

    Alea nodded.

    Alyssa and Mireille shared a look then nodded before Alyssa spoke, ¡°We will help.¡±

    Alberich sighed and nodded his assent.

    Vanessa stood on tiptoe and softly said to Iseret, ¡°I will alert the magicians, you accompany and protect Alyssa and the rest.¡±

    ¡°Will they listen to you?¡±

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    ¡°I will grab a seal from Alea and do it in her name.¡±

    ¡°That might work. Take care.¡±

    <hr>

    Silverrestra finished the spell and reality shook and fractured as she was hurled into the astral plane.

    The male frost elf raised one corner of his mouth. ¡°So, novaer* realms of light.¡± (*farewell)

    Raising his arms he pooled the void between his hands and spoke the words of a spell soon tendrils spread to the undead near him invigorating them. The few wights that had survived seemed somehow more solid and their blades burst into dark flames. Gasping with the effort the elf laughed madly as several crossbow bolts pierced his magical shielding ending his life.

    <hr>

    Magister Illimen slowly sank toward Heloise while rubbing his temples. Setting down with a thud he walked briskly to where she was standing. ¡°Heloise, please summarize for me the most relevant problems. I just fought the echo of the Heartstealer so keep it brief.¡±

    ¡°King Vilander is dead, Carl did it. I will not let him get away with killing my brother. Even if he was sometimes a moron and arrogant to boot, he did not deserve this.¡±

    ¡°So it has already happened. The king thought he would make an attempt, how on earth did he manage it despite that!?¡±

    ¡°His knights were compromised and an assassin lent a distraction and disrupted his shielding artifacts.¡±

    ¡°That could do it. I argued for him to stop this.¡± He gestured expansively. ¡°At least the civilians mostly escaped.¡±

    Calvin and Valeria Jangres the alchemist followed by Reneus Flammensiegel joined them.

    Reneus asked nervously, ¡°How do we know who will side with the prince when the going gets tough? Do we really force a confrontation now?¡±

    Magister Illimen said, ¡°If we wait Carl will consolidate his power. He is the only ¨C legitimate- offspring still available other than Lieseleta and she is younger and a girl.¡±

    ¡°What of Tervellin Gold?¡± Reneus asked, Heloise suppressed a laugh.

    ¡°He does not seem to be ambitious. In that regard I mean.¡± Calvin interjected.

    Lieseleta stood behind her guards and Jera just finished bandaging a deep cut that the healing magic had not fully closed.

    The princess looked uncomprehendingly and fished a potion from a pouch sewn into her dress. ¡°Jera. You are still injured, drink this potion please.¡±

    ¡°No, your highness, we don¡¯t know what the night will bring and the area is still contaminated with void, healing magic is not as effective as it could be and most healers are severely handicapped.¡± Then she lowered her voice, ¡°Do you think you could make a speech? If you rally them to you then after the dust has settled you will be in position to take the throne.¡± She tapered off.

    ¡°If that would only bring my family back.¡± Lieseleta smiled without warmth. ¡°Is my mother still alive?¡±

    ¡°I remember seeing her when we fled,¡± Jera said cautiously.

    ¡°So probably a hostage now.¡±

    Jera looked guilty at that. ¡°Don¡¯t blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done. I did not see her and looking for her would have given Carl time to arrange our arrest.¡±

    Cold wind stoked the flames and the burning cloth covered some of the columns turning them into giant torches. Snowflakes drifted and whirled around the platform the sky was covered in smoke.

    Heloise walked up to her, ¡°Niece, we have to go. There is not much time until the army gets itself sorted and then they will probably fall in line behind the eldest. So we must make haste.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Lieseleta stood up straight. ¡°Let us go and see my brother.¡±

    Alea saw Heloise talking to the princess and hurried over. Jera saw her coming and whispered in Lieseleta¡¯s ear who looked up and greeted the three friends. Cyrus seemed uncomfortable with the colder weather and was nestled in Alyssa¡¯s arms.

    Vanessa and Iseret followed but kept a bit of distance between them

    ¡°Lieseleta!¡± Alea hesitated but the princess smiled and hugged her.

    ¡°My friends. Thank you for coming.¡± Her smile was full of sadness and her golden hair gleamed in the firelight.

    ¡°We will help you as best we can,¡± Alyssa spoke up while the other girls both nodded.

    Heloise nodded towards them. ¡°We have to go, Liese. There is no more time.¡± She hefted the rod in her hand and walked back to the waiting nobles.

    Iseret neared Lieseleta and bowed under Jera¡¯s suspicious gaze. ¡°Your highness.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to relay a missive that might be helpful.¡±

    ¡°Speak.¡±

    ¡°If you acknowledge the Reborn as a minor noble house and give us some consideration about some troubles with the mercantile law- a lesser title would do- we would join your cause.¡±

    Lieseleta looked at Jera who nodded decisively and whispered. ¡°If we survive I will tell you the story of the thief and the king.¡±

    The princess looked skeptical but then turned to Iseret. ¡°I accept.¡±

    As they talked a group of soldiers broke from the ranks of the approaching army and marched in their direction. They were probably only about half a kilometer away.

    Iseret broke a small crystal tablet and soon the form of a sparrow shot into the darkness.

    Lieseleta walked up a few steps and turned while her guards covered her from all sides before calling out, ¡°I thank all of you for coming to help me in this desperate time. Over decades we prospered and the rule of law was firm. Over decades and decades, the royal family kept to the rule of succession and we knew not the strife of kin versus kin.¡± She sounded calm but her hands were shaking.

    ¡°My brother has done the unthinkable. He killed my brother Thomas the crown prince and he killed his father. Of the first I am convinced, the second I saw with my own eyes. And even as I wished for my father to rule to a ripe old age we now face the responsibility of not letting a murderer claim the throne. Rob a legacy that stood for a thousand years and smear it with the blood of his family.¡± A tear ran from her eye.

    ¡°We cannot wait for justice to be sought, we have to make it with our own hands or it will not come to pass.¡± She paused. ¡°Are you with me!?¡± Her shout was not loud, she had not the lungs for it but the answering calls from the assembled nobles, mages, and knights were loud enough to be heard from the royal platform and Carl''s lips turned white as he pressed them together angrily.

    They assembled in groups and Helois and Drathur Illimen took the lead. Kettra the knight winked at Mireille as they walked ahead.

    Soon they reached the platform and the ranks of men at arms supported by heavily armored knights parted as Carl Askander walked to the front. ¡°Come to raise your arms against the rightful successor? Or is it all a misunderstanding and you want to be the first to bow your heads?¡± His sarcastic voice rang out.

    A tall man armored in black plate mail and armed with a massive two-handed axe stood a bit behind him. Icy blue eyes seemingly aglow. An emblem on his chest showed a river crossed by two bridges. His presence cast a pall over his surroundings and just looking at his eyes was like being immersed in freezing water.

    Vanessa cursed softly. ¡°That is Tharus, a vampire in the service of the Lich Queen.¡±

    Alyssa looked incredulous, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t he hide it?¡±

    Mireille pondered, ¡°Perhaps it''s a good sign, meaning that he takes us seriously?¡±

    Alyssa turned toward Vanessa, ¡°If it comes to a fight can you contend with him?¡±

    ¡°Probably not. Despite being older than him I lack combat experience and I was never one to cross blades if it were not urgently needed. Even my spells are more suited for research.¡± Vanessa shrugged.

    Lieseleta did no longer delay and looked up at her brother. ¡°Carl, I do not know what drove you to commit those deeds but I cannot let you continue. I say you are a kingslayer and traitor and have no right to the crown!¡±

 Confrontation Part II

    ¡°Come,'' he said, ''come, we must see and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same.¡±

    ¨D Bram Stoker, Dracula

    ¡°So slander it is.¡± The Prince surveyed the gathered forces and made a cutting gesture shouting more forcefully, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you find some more believable lie. Or has grief made you lose your senses?¡± Carl became calm again and looked down at Lieseleta contemptuously. ¡°Because of the tense situation, I will be merciful. Anyone who steps away and leaves now will not face my retribution. But if you stay I will not hold back.¡± His face was shadowed by the fires and only his teeth and hair shone in the dim light.

    Lieseleta looked at him searchingly then gazed to the side and saw the army battalion marching towards their position. ¡°So there is no other solution. I will say it too. Walk away and don¡¯t look back or come with me- then and only then will I not harm you. But if you chose to side with a kinslayer you will be judged the same.¡±

    Heloise took a step forward, ¡°Carl. Give up and accept exile. That¡¯s the most I can do. Vilander and me we did not see eye to eye that often and I once argued against the appeasement policy regarding the south but what you have done makes everything else inconsequential. Give up or I will stand against you.¡± Her gaze brushed over the assembled nobles on the other side. ¡°I second my niece''s words. Stand aside, stand with us or never stand tall again.¡±

    Alberich sighed to Maximilian who stood beside him, his sodden clothes dripping with moisture, ¡°Shall I let fly a handkerchief and shout something about the code? I seem to be in such situations a lot in the last weeks.¡±

    And as an uneasy silence descended on the platform only broken by the cries and rumbling explosions from the battle below- a bright flash dazzled eyes accustomed to the darkness and one of the knights beside Lieseleta raised his shield instinctively catching a blast of force which crumbled the metal and broke his arm. Nonetheless, the force was spent and the knight was thrown back like a toy while rotating with the momentum. A heavy-set noble standing behind the prince''s lines looked half-horrified, half-elated as the widowmaker rod in his hands dropped smoking into the snow hissing as it melted a hole. Cries of anger and one or two voices of reason were drowned in the noise as the first spells were cast.

    Alyssa thought she was prepared but when the battle started she froze. Those were people she knew and even if she did not like Carl and even despised him there was always the thin layer of disbelief that he really did do the things they suspected.

    Mireille saw her friend hesitating and decisively jumped in front of her before pulling deep on her gate. The exercises she had been learning had made the lightning more of an instinct, just another muscle to be moved and she raised her hands and formed a shield of interlocking bolts of energy coruscating in blue and white, blindingly bright. A lance of ice, and several bolts of force thrown by wands impacted the scintillating barrier but did not break through.

    Alea was panicked, she wanted to fight but not hurt her own, and the chaos and her rigid point of view were not conducive to this situation. She silently prayed to Jaros, she never had the habit but why not try? And spoke a complicated spell forming an octaeder made of glyphs shining with light and directed the healing energies as best she could.

    Tharus the vampire spoke a short spell and the necrotic energies infusing his long-dead form intensified and supplemented his already prodigious strength grinning he lashed out with the great axe and clove into a hapless guardsman that hilariously tried to block with his sword. The strength of the blow brushed away any resistance and the axehead cut deeply into the guard''s sternum before he ripped it free in a shower of blood. With the backhand, he whirled the heavy weapon like others would twirl a stick slashing into the side of a knight who blocked with a forearm wrought with spell-runes. Sparking like fireworks the runes burned out and the bracer bent with the force but held- barely- tossing back the hapless fighter.

    Laughing he forged into the press trying to reach the princess and end this whole mess.

    Heloise was calm and spoke a short spell releasing several time-sealed spells on her body. She had been apprenticed to the master of the tower of time when she first came to the academy but then her gate had opened and every other avenue but light was closed to her. Shields of force, a spell speeding up her perception, several spells to shield her mind, glyphs lit the air around her. She raised her hand and spoke another incantation forming a thin beam of bright light that cut into a noble that arrogantly shot missiles of force from several wands tucked into his belt. With a dumbfounded look, the old man looked at the smoking hole in his ruffled shirt and as the blood fountained from the wound he stumbled and fell to the ground.

    Maximilian looked through the visor of his self-formed metallic armor, the spell that he had used in the Exhibition was put to good use. A blade of vibrating and endlessly rebuilding metal cut into the shield of the knight facing him. Some scion of the house of Bowers Edge a small fiefdom on the coast, south of Landesend. The young man was sweating profusely as he shook off the now uselessly dangling metal and let the ruined shield drop to the ground. Gripping the longsword he was wielding in a two-handed grip he slashed at Maximilian and the latter simply blocked. A look of incomprehension formed on the young knight''s face as blood began to well from his lips dripping in thick rivulets on his breastplate.

    Alberich took a step to the side and a thin reddish blade was withdrawn from the armpit of the knight. A raised eyebrow and the formerly frivolous student took a step back before his form blurred and illusion cloaked him once again. Maximilian nodded and quickly gasped his thanks.

    Magister Illimen looked at the melee and the flames that had been reflected by his pupils seemed to catch and his eyes began to burn with a reddish flame he gestured and oval missiles shaped from living fire burst into being around him. A wave pushed the projectiles into the melee and with a deft hand, he avoided hurting his allies while badly burning an assortment of foes. Limiting himself to not cause collateral damage he cursed softly under his breath. Then he saw a figure in white behind the second prince and for a moment he was dazed.

    The master of the tower of time did not change his expression. He was always a logical person, or so he secretly thought of himself, and as he was more and more dissatisfied with the king in recent years he saw potential in his ambitious son. He looked at magister Illimen and shrugged his shoulders. Was it his fault when his colleague could not distinguish the good from the bad? The little girl he was fighting for would never be more than a figurehead and what few decisions she made would surely be emotional and thoughtless. He would be on the winning side and there were a few privileges that the magi of old had once enjoyed he would not mind coming back to him. Forcing gravity to do his bidding he rose swiftly into the air and raised an eyebrow mockingly at Illimen who did the same.

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    Drathur Illimen rarely lost his composure but now he shouted angrily while a vein on his temple rose prominently, ¡°Gerferak Lordrum! This is no game for funds and pleasure, people are dying and you, especially you, should know what kind of person Carl Askander is. Help end this madness and do not prolong it yourself!¡±

    ¡°I have all the time in the world.¡± The towermaster could not help but retort which made the magister wince. ¡°The young Lieseleta should be married and bring prosperity to the kingdom and the prince at least understands politics and has firm ambition. Go back to your books and lectern old teacher.¡±

    A slight movement of his hands shifted his form and suddenly there were several white-robed mages facing Illimen. Fractures in space and time served as mirrors that not only reflected his form but his being and the spells the projections formed were quite real.

    Illimen activated his last pre-prepared defensive spells and concentrated on forming the first of several interlocking spell forms while his golden flames resisted the barrage of force and spatial magic.

    Tharus grabbed the throat of the young guardsman before him, throwing him to the side and down the steps as if he weighed little more than a sack of feathers. Laughing harshly he endured several bolts of force thrown from the wand in Jera¡¯s hand who stood between him and Lieseleta. He had swiftly overwhelmed the defenders and thrown the ranks into disorder. With a powerful swing, he cleared the space around him as a sword was shoved into his side. He felt the cold sting of the metal but his reinforced dead flesh was tougher than wood and the damage minimal.

    He tackled Jera and with a roar lifted her from her feet to then whirl the axe one-handed with his left trying for a quick kill. Metallic reflexes shimmered in the air as the honed blade completed its deadly arc but then there was a massive clanking sound as metal hit metal and the unstoppable force met the immovable object. Vanessa stood before him holding a small sword on which runes shone brightly sparks sprayed from the point of impact. Vibrations from the massive strike nearly let him drop the axe and Tharus was forced back. His momentum broken several knights began to attack him while a bright flash of light burned into his right pauldron. Cursing in old Andorian he spoke a spell and bloody light framed his form redirecting the attacks.

    Vanessa subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. She had tried to get the mortal habits under control but stress brought them out again. Her spellwork had anchored her blade to the stone steps beneath otherwise she would have flown clear to the midst of the stadium with her negligible weight.

    Jera gave her a look laden with suspicion but with how the battle was going they would not reject the help.

    The large vampire spat a command word and dark flames engulfed his weapon. The large draw on his reserves filled him with urgency and as another bolt of force impacted the blood sanctuary shielding his body he attacked Vanessa in a frenzy raining blow after blow on her. The small vampire girl jerked backward and then jumped on the great axeblade using its upward momentum to somersault over his head, the small blade in her hand slashing into his visor seeking his eyes. And as he was using his right arm to shield his head Iseret appeared from the shadows and stabbed both daggers into his midriff. Black poison flowed unnaturally into his wound and even dead flesh began to rot causing him to bellow in pain and anger.

    To the side and up the hill there was a flash of dark lightning and reality inverted before several persons came stumbling through the portal to the astral plane. Snow plumed from their unsteady steps. Kadira tasted the air with her forked tongue and with quick gestures ordered several half-snake fighters to assist the princess¡¯ forces. Three mages accompanying them slumped to the ground completely exhausted. They wore hastily assembled tabards depicting a white lily and a princess crown. The Reborn under Kadira enjoyed a reputation for thorough planning and it was well deserved.

    Matane the gorgon directed dark energies at some of the Nordmark nobles heroically guarding the up-to-now relatively peaceful flanks and caught them off guard leading to screams from slowly petrifying men and women.

    Alyssa shook off her momentary apprehension and began the chant for the second seal both Cyrus and Asandria supported her. The ease with which the dimensions parted made her afraid for a moment but the sheer rush of power soon swept that away. Frost beyond the mere physical shrouded her and the oval of utter darkness pressed against the thin skin of the world. All the death, all the tainted magic that filled this space roiled in that darkness, and the white-haired girl decisively inserted her hand grasping for that power.

    As a new star seemed to come into existence far overhead and the downdraft of heat vaporized the falling snowflakes the third seal was broken and with a wail partially destroyed spirits and forms from the fierce fighting laden with death broke from the black gate. Alyssa used every ounce of skill and willpower to keep the torrent of void energies under control focusing on the enemies ahead. The knights, nobles, and royal guards supporting the prince pressed the princess'' followers sorely and Alyssa shouted, "Out of my way!" Her own allies stumbled to the side, barely avoiding the roiling darkness. Flesh was stripped from bone and sinew rotting away like fat caught on a hot grill. A faint sound reached her ears and she realized it was Mireille shouting at her. Then there was a sharp pain in her left ear as Cyrus bit her to wake her up.

    A face like her own gazed at her from the darkness immense and small at once she felt a light tug and regained control.

    Stopping the deluge was probably the most strenuous thing she had ever done and the seconds she had held the spell seemed like ages to her in hindsight. Stumbling as the dark fire guttered she fell to her knees but the damage to the enemy had been done and a big hole gaped in the defensive line of the prince''s forces.

    Kettra shouted, ¡°For the princess and the fallen king!¡±

    Tharus roared unwillingly his armor was damaged and broken in many places and the ground around him was littered with corpses, the guardsmen stood back in fear only Jera and Vanessa stood between him and his goal as a voice shouted, ¡°Close your eyes! Vanessa- back!¡±

    Alea drew upon the gate and light filled her soul, sightless eyes blazed through her blindfold, and with a gesture streams of brilliant energy shot for the vampire. The light grew ever brighter and with gasps of pain, the fighters held their hurting eyes. The large vampire stumbled back and ashes drifted from where his skin burned from the light. Vanessa hurled herself to the side seeking shelter behind the combatants but her left arm was only bones held together with some blood and sinew.

    And then there was Carl. He had waited in the back and seen the battle turn. The master of time was sorely pressed, the snakes dismantled his flank, and the trump card, his vampire, was stymied by the determined defense of several potent mages. His face grew determined and he cast some spells before he then surged forward past his retainers and his blade sought for Lieseleta¡¯s throat.

    The princess raised her arms in defense and hidden artifacts on her body activated diverting the blade at the last second and a shallow cut scored her shoulder bleeding red onto white skin and on her cream-colored dress. The blade was so sharp that the pain just hit her after Carl had drawn back for another strike. Too shocked to scream she stood as the tip of the sword approached her chest. Her blue eyes were opened wide and she looked at her brother whom she did not understand anymore. Face contorted into a grimace he jabbed the sword towards her heart. ¡°Little teacher, don¡¯t.¡± Without meaning to, she called the term of endearment she had not used for years. When he was helping her learn and hid her from the stern tutors she praised him so.

    The prince staggered as if hit. And Jera used this chance to grab Lieseleta pulling her to the side. Carl looked at her in a daze and opened his mouth to say something as a searing beam of light impacted the side of his head. Burning into flesh and bone the flaring spear of light shone into the night sky. Heloise turned her head away lowering her still glowing hand.

    The light that so brilliantly lit the darkness dimmed the spark in his eyes and with a final step, the young man fell heavily blood leaking from the smoking hole.

 Nightfall

    ¡°All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.¡±

    ¨D Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

    Voices accompanied most of his nightmares.

    ¡°Your mother is a disgrace.¡±

    ¡°You are lucky that she died before she could drag you down further.¡±

    ¡°She is a foreigner what can you expect. There is snake blood in their line.¡±

    "I wonder if he is really the son of the king, if not for the hair signifying his lineage I would have serious doubts. It''s surprising that she is capable of giving birth at all."

    <hr>

    The five-year-old Carl pushed the large book into the middle of the floor and laboriously opened it. The bright illustrations made with gold leaf and brilliant colors shone in the dim light falling through shuttered windows as if illuminated from within. Motes of dust danced in the rays of the late afternoon sun. Asander Brightblade and his trusty dragon mount Cyrus fought the giant of Gorms Klamm. His fingers traced the flaming blade and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

    ¡°This is the start of the journey, did you know that Asander was the son of a poor fisherman from Pareus?¡± His mother looked at him gently. ¡°He was poor and weak and not very intelligent but he had a good heart. When he found Tyrmalion the son of Gesserach who had tried to spy on Thyomena the Wavemother he saved the golden fish from the net and was blessed with divine luck.¡±

    When he thought of his mother he always thought of her pale, gentle face. She had been sickly from birth and all the magics and alchemy had not done much in this regard. She used to say that for having such a good boy and being so beautiful she had to pay some price. Her hair was the color of freshly cut wheat but her days lived in dark rooms drinking the potions made by the royal alchemist had made her thin and her complexion sallow. She was the third daughter of the king of Rivenlorn and it had been a purely political move to pull the nations closer together with an arranged marriage.

    Vilander missed his first wife and never warmed to her. After giving her a son he never visited her again.

    When the rumors about the king''s mistress began to circulate Carl heard his mother cry for the first time. She sent him to the coast with his nanny to learn to swim and visit his distant relatives the von Saltmarsh where he met Minette.

    Blow came after blow- news of another illegitimate child after the ill-fated affair in the north resulting in one Tervellin Gold sapped her of will as well as strength and she died in the winter of the same year.

    <hr>

    The great mourning hall in the mountain was icy in December and the flames flaring in the braziers with the gusts of wind coming from the high window slits did nothing to alleviate this. Carl kneeled with his siblings before the sarcophagus and looked at the broad back of his father.

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    ¡°I am sorry.¡± Vilander looked at the stone carving depicting his late wife''s face. ¡°I told you that I would not be faithful.¡± He shook his head and left. The wind that followed his passing seemed to be exceptionally cold.

    <hr>

    The young Carl traced the flaming blade and looked up as someone shifted the door with great effort. A small face looked at him golden curls hung to her shoulders and a cute button nose wrinkled as the dust made her sneeze.

    ¡°Caaaarl!¡± The little girl squeezed through the small gap she had opened and ran up to him stumbling a bit. ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat carrots!¡±

    She was only a bit younger than him and he should have hated her as she had hurt his mother, but she was so innocent, lovely, and cute- and he was not a vengeful child.

    Not yet.

    <hr>

    There were rumors that the von Saltmarsh wanted to betroth their eldest daughter Minette to the second prince.

    Irene former mistress and now queen of Margrinar brushed the curtains aside and looked at a boy training in the yard with a wooden sword. The corner of her mouth lifted in a sarcastic smile. ¡°Diligent little beast. Can¡¯t have Theresa¡¯s child marry into the richest family in the south.¡±

    A whisper here, a word there, and such thoughts were buried in small considerations.

    <hr>

    The siblings were much older than him and had not much use for the serious boy. Lieseleta played with him and kept him company but as they grew, they grew apart.

    <hr>

    He knew all the voices in his dreams, he had heard them so often.

    ¡°Did you hear? King Vilander missed Carl Askanders birthday- again.¡±

    ¡°What do you expect? Did you see his mother? She looked like a ghost.¡±

    "He looks a lot like her. Perhaps he feels a bit guilty?"

    The laughter was like the tinkling of nails on glass.

    <hr>

    Vilander looked at Carl and cleared his throat. He sat on the throne in the small audience hall and regarded his son critically. ¡°Mh. You will do. The keshian ambassador reminded us that we still have to honor the pact made by my father. The last time they asked I refused as Thomas was my only heir. Now I don¡¯t have the same excuse.¡± He rubbed his chin. Carl lowered his gaze so that his ¡®father¡¯ did not see the anger in his eyes.

    ¡°Father, was not Lieseleta chosen for this duty?¡±

    ¡°You think you know better?¡± The king seemed amused. ¡°You will pack your things and be on your way as soon as the spring storms cease. Take some guards and your tutor. I expect your stay to be about two to three years so plan accordingly. You can go.¡±

    Irene kissed the cheek of her king who watched the boy go and whispered, "It''s better for him to broaden his horizons he is always holed up in the library. It will do him good you will see."

    Vilander looked at her and shook his head as he grinned wryly, "Sometimes I don''t know if you are not some sort of viper too."

    The beautiful woman pouted prettily licked his cheek and said, "The most poisonous reptiles are always the most stunning."

    <hr>

    The tears of Minette, his childhood friend, accompanied his departure. As he left, there were already whispers telling of plans regarding another engagement for her.

    Not two months into his stay his tutor who his mother had once selected died of a poison that was probably not even meant for him or his entourage. The old man that had accompanied him nearly since birth was hastily buried in a cemetery specializing in foreigners.

    The cold reptilian eyes, the intrigues, and the lies, the humiliation and the pain, hissing laughter. All gilded and jeweled soft and sharp.

    The light that killed him reminded him of the pitiless sun that hung over the endless desert and the night that claimed him brought with it a hint of relief.

 An end to servitude

    ¡°For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.¡±

    ¨D Noam Chomsky, Imperial Ambitions

    The blood slowly spread like a black mirror and the snowflakes sank into it and dissolved.

    ¡°The prince is dead!¡±

    ¡°Cease fighting!¡±

    Matane the gorgon licked her lips and lowered her head a hint of displeasure in her eyes- She so rarely got to play to the fullest. Ducking as the knight facing her slashed in her direction, more perfunctory than determined, she straightened again and withdrew the power of her gaze.

    All around her the fighting began to trickle off and an uneasy silence spread only broken by the moans and crying of the wounded. Down in the stadium, the fighting with the undead went on but seemed remote not only with the physical distance separating them.

    The wounded Tharus, horribly burned by the light stumbled back and withdrew behind the other knights and nobles who quickly made way for the burned and bloody hulk.

    ¡°You have lost.¡± Heloise looked at the assembled nobles before her.

    ¡°You...you killed him!¡± The heavyset noble that had started the whole messy fight stuttered.

    ¡°Yes- and?¡± Heloise was not in the mood to quibble.

    ¡°But...he was the crown prince!¡±

    She ignored him and turned to Lieseleta saying softly, ¡°You should say something or the fighting might well resume.¡± After seeing her pale shocked face she squeezed her arm and injected a bit of light mana into her niece.

    Lieseleta gazed at her fallen brother and the cold seemed to spread into her chest, ¡°Cease fighting and surrender yourself.¡± Hearing the shouted orders from below her lips formed a joyless smile and added, ¡°When the army reaches us it will be too late to hope for any leniency.¡±

    The eyes of many nobles contained calculation as they heard her speech and one or two decisively threw down their weapons followed by more and more. The knights and royal guard were even more at a loss and grinding their teeth followed hesitantly.

    In the air magister Illimen breathed hard and clenched his fists. His antagonist the master of the tower showed deep burns and his robes were nearly gone. Face contorted in pain he panted.

    Illimen shouted, ¡°Give up, Lordrum. Spare us both the pain.¡±

    The wind whispered around them and drove the snowflakes into their faces. The temperatures were still abnormal so early in winter.

    The towermaster spat some curdled blood and lifted his head. ¡°Mh. And what if I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Then we continue. I cannot let this go unanswered. You knew. And you decided to side with the criminal. That is something I cannot accept.¡±

    ¡°As if you never bet on the losing side.¡±

    ¡°And there is the difference. I don¡¯t think winning or losing makes what happened right.¡± He sighed, ¡°But you do.¡± He gestured and flames rose from his form illuminating the falling snow in brilliant red and orange. ¡°Last chance.¡±

    The simulacrum before him began to stutter and fade.

    ¡°Shit.¡± Illimen looked around vigilantly muttering under his breath, ¡°What I wouldn¡¯t give for a good smoke. Curses.¡±

    The towermaster hastily dispelled the wards securing his quarters and entered. How did this little princeling go so wrong? He had a great many allies and he himself had to charge into the fray. If he had known his stupidity ahead of time he would have kept out of it. Activating a construct in the form of a liveried servant he began to pack his things. The one thing he knew for sure- Illimen was not going to let this go. But there was a new academy in the northwest, perhaps with a bit of magic, he could make a new life there.

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    Iseret grabbed Vanessa and pulled her back- a few concerned faces flashed by as she quickly reached the position taken by the Reborn. Kadira looked satisfied like a cat that got and ate the cream. Nodding she grabbed one of her underlings and whispered something. The man raised his emotionless slit yellow eyes and gave a quick nod. The rank and file of the Reborn all bore signs of snakeblood, eyes, claws, and scales. Their forms were hidden by tightly wound stips of black cloth and leather, faces hidden but for a bit of flesh around the eyes.

    Vanessa winced as she saw the skinless muscle of her left arm bared to the night air. ¡°I do understand the need for quick action- but could she have cast that spell a second later. Tharus would not have had the time to dodge one way or another.¡±

    Iseret thanked a masked thug as he put a drinking horn sloshing with dark liquid into her hand mist rose from it suggesting a slowly fading heat. ¡°Drink.¡± The snake woman lifted the horn and put it to her friend''s lips tilting it slowly. A look of regret paired with greed was quickly suppressed by the small vampire who gulped down the life-giving blood. A thin rivulet ran down her chin and Iseret quickly lifted her thumb to brush it away.

    ¡°Could you please take a look at the time and place?¡± Matane showed a mock-reproachful face while her eyes seemed to light up with mischief. She seemed to be in excellent spirits.

    As new skin slowly formed and strength returned to her limb Vanessa experimentally made a few grasping gestures before turning to look at the gorgon with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Aren¡¯t you quite idle? I think the situation still warrants caution.¡±

    ¡°Everything¡¯s settled but for the spoils.¡± Matane languidly licked her lips with a long forked tongue. A new drinking vessel filled with the blood of another fallen enemy was pressed into Vanessa¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Has anyone finished the vampire warrior?¡± Iseret made no move to depart but her whole posture radiated readiness.

    ¡°I think this problem is being solved as we speak.¡± Matane looked into the distance and grinned.

    Meanwhile, Tharus shoved another hapless noble to the side as he stumbled down the steps. Behind him more and more of Carl¡¯s supporters put down their weapons, some even began to loudly proclaim their innocence.

    Alea hurried after the fleeing armored form accompanied by Mireille and Alyssa.

    Alyssa saw the night illuminated by the entropic energies all around her. The dead and the dying were as if lit from within and the wounds and the flowing blood burned with void. Closing her left eye she nearly stumbled as the world suddenly became darkly lit by the sporadic fires. Asandria floated near her and whispered, ¡®Don¡¯t let him escape. The enemy does not have many that are fit to plot and command.¡¯

    Tharus sensed someone approaching from behind and his burned and poisoned flesh could not support a quick getaway so he turned to meet them. Sooty flesh flaked from blackened bone and revealed teeth and the jawbone. Forgetting himself he tried to form words and only succeeded in spitting out a piece of decomposed flesh. Nodding he firmly gripped the axe and took a fighting stance.

    Alea¡¯s hands lit from within, the light colored by her flesh took on a rosy hue.

    Mireille inspected the vampire cautiously. ¡°Should we perhaps have left him for the guard, the army?¡±

    Alyssa shook her head and summoned wisps of dark flame to her fingertips.

    The old vampire tried to lift his lips in a smile. The girls before him were nervous...and powerful. He had felt the searing light the smaller one wielded and he knew them as the ones he had tried to manipulate. Everything came in circles. Even retribution.

    Void energies sluggishly coated the blade of his axe and the shadows around him seemed to deepen. He regretted not being able to at least converse with his enemies but there was nothing to it. His tongue was gone until he could heal and that did not seem to be on the table.

    Tensing his muscles he jumped forward ignoring the weight of his armor and the axe slashed toward the small blindfolded girl. Light flared from her hands and formed beautiful sigils that shone like the sun. The white-haired girl took a step to the side averting her face while raising her hand shrouded in darkness to shield herself. Smiling internally Tharus noted her discomfort.

    Then there was a brilliant flash and the redheaded girl slashed a sword made of lightning into the way of his blade which crashed together in a shower of sparks. The discharge or energies blackened both the axe-head as well as his hands.

    With a contemptuous flick he hurled the girl to the side she simply lacked the mass and muscle to compete with him. But this had been enough time for the dark-haired light mage to complete her spell. A cage made of interlocking runes and bars of light shone around him and the last he heard was, ¡°Jaros, Lord of Mysteries, Warder on the Threshold. Guard us against the night!¡±

    A pillar, blindingly bright like the sun at noon shot into the air and illuminated the whole stadium. Within that light stood the slowly disintegrating silhouette of a large armored warrior arms spread, head thrown back.

    The light flared once, then twice and with a clatter the empty armor fell to the ground, the axe embedded itself in the stone-paving with a crack.

    Far to the west a jeweled bracelet circling a bony wrist shone with complex runes for a moment then the diamond dominating the piece became milky and blind before a large crack shot through the middle and even the metal began to look faded and without luster.

    With a displeased hiss the Heartstealer ripped the useless piece of ornamentation from her forearm breaking it into pieces. Old, white columns rose all around her, the ground was littered with the dead half encased in ice.

    Glowing light filled the empty eye sockets that gazed toward the east, filled with depthless malevolence.

 Sunrise

    ¡°Not all the water in the rough rude sea

    Can wash the balm from an anointed King;¡±

    ¨D William Shakespeare, Richard II

    Lieseleta walked slowly towards the corpse of her father, her mother was lying on a bench nearby while an army medic was tending to her. The snow had fallen continuously and there was a dusting of white on his hair and back. What a mere hour ago had been a vibrant living person was now a cold object. The eyes had been frozen over and looked milky and indistinct.

    ¡°I recommend we disperse the people. The undead have been accounted for and there are a lot of wounded and casualties. Make a list. It will come in handy to have something like this to hold over their heads. They have proven themselves to be unreliable so we need every leverage we can get.¡± Heloise dispassionately recommended. The intensifying wind let the banners snap and her cloak was pressed tightly to her body.

    ¡°Do it.¡± The princess sounded lifeless.

    ¡°Do you need a drink? You cannot break down now. They will never let you live it down. If you can¡¯t I will get an illusionist to cover you.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Lieseleta felt cold all over and her feet were like distant foreign objects.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that is going to work.¡± Heloise sighed. Frowning she focused and spoke a short spell infusing another dose of light into her niece. ¡°We should go. Jera and perhaps Kettra -she distinguished herself today -can take care of the clean-up.¡±

    The princess gritted her teeth and brushed back her long golden locks matted with melting snow and raised her voice, ¡°I will now retire. Before you go- talk to either knight Kettra or Jera my personal attendant. They will take notice and it will be very important for the oncoming deliberations, maybe even a trial. So it is in your best interest to cooperate. Those found to have fled will be treated most harshly.¡± She turned and gave a slight bow towards her allies who were, for the most part, still catching their breath or caring for the wounded, ¡°I thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart. As an old philosopher once said ¡®You will find your friends in hardship and not in the times of gold¡¯. Everyone can follow along when the way is full of ease, but not many would accompany another when it meant personal sacrifice. I will not forget you! Please talk to my attendants before you go.¡±

    She stumbled a bit after she finished a ragged cheer rose from her tired supporters, and even some of the former enemies- for whatever reason- chose to join in.

    ¡°Well done. Let¡¯s go.¡± Heloise grabbed her upper arm and pulled her along.

    <hr>

    Alyssa, Alea, and Mireille were escorted back to Wisteria dorms by several royal guards who looked at them respectfully. Especially Alea received her share of astonished and admiring looks.

    The blindfolded girl took Cecily into her hands and tried to focus only on the ground ahead. Alyssa hooked her arm and whispered, ¡°If you are uncomfortable I could say something?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s alright. The dorm is not far.¡±

    Mireille still had a lot of energy and skipped along beside them sometimes she drew arcs of lightning between her hands.

    Alyssa looked at that with a bit of amusement, ¡°Won¡¯t you ever get tired of that?¡±

    ¡°Probably not for some years yet. Why?¡±

    ¡°There might come a time when others do not share your enthusiasm.¡±

    ¡°Spoilsport.¡±

    Despite the lighthearted attempts at banter all of them still saw the faces of the dead and when there was a loud noise nearby they flinched. When they reached their room Mireille directly jumped into Alyssa¡¯s bed and hid under the blanket.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t¡­¡± Her friend had completely forgotten that she was still splattered with all manner of unidentifiable substances. ¡°Let us simply use your bed for a change.¡±

    Mireille raised her head and looked at her without comprehension seemingly half-asleep.

    ¡°Never mind.¡±

    Butler One had remained behind as it had been a bit unconventional for a student to have three attendants, one of them a construct. Later on, she really regretted not having the combative automaton on hand. Much would have been easier. Alea directed it to ready their room and the bath.

    And then they went to sleep.

    <hr>

    Outside the city a short while later

    Iseret looked at Vanessa sitting on the broken stone chair in the basement of ¡®her¡¯ mansion just beyond the city limits. The vampire girl was massaging her recently regenerated arm and seemed a bit uncomfortable. As she looked up and saw the slit-yellow eyes inspecting her, she nodded wearily and said, ¡°Thank you for helping me get here.¡±

    ¡°I could return that if you had not stood before Lieseleta and held off the enemy vampire we would not have gotten the baronetcy. And personally speaking- Further cementing your position in Kadira¡¯s good graces helps us both.¡±

    ¡°That is fine. I must invest in more protection from light energy. It did not seem to be so urgent before but after tonight I cannot ignore the problem any longer. Next time it might not only be an arm.¡±

    ¡°None but you can be so blas¨¦ about that.¡± Iseret leaned back and took up her khopesh inspecting the edge critically. Somewhere behind them water dripped slowly along the damp stone wall. A small magical brazier heated the vaulted cellar. The debris had mostly been removed and the floor was clean at least. ¡°At least it''s no longer freezing in here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a bit decadent to heat with crystal dust but what can you do. I have tapped the ley line but each and every link has to be worked into the whole. I couldn''t be bothered for something like that.¡± Vanessa sighed.

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    ¡°It would nevertheless be highly appreciated.¡± A drop of freezing moisture dripped onto Iseret¡¯s cloak as she said that emphasizing her point. Shaking the water from her hood she adjusted her seat and continued, ¡°What do you think of Lieseleta?¡±

    ¡°Too young. I cannot understand how you humans are so mature at such a young age but she is too young to be a proper queen by any reckoning. I think her aunt might accept a regency until she has at least finished the academy.¡±

    ¡°I seem to remember that males have precedence in this culture?¡±

    ¡°Mh. You are asking the wrong person here. But I think it mostly has to do with connections and personal power. I cannot even remember if the king had any brothers.¡± Vanessa clenched and unclenched her left hand and absentmindedly said, ¡°Everything seems to be fine. What are your plans for the foreseeable future?¡±

    ¡°I think that we should have a look where that blood mage went and if any of his creations are left. I would very much hope for your assistance in this matter.¡±

    ¡°That is something I would do as a matter of course. Do you want to foist some achievements on my narrow shoulders?¡±

    ¡°I think it can only be a good thing if you are firmly allied with us.¡± Iseret blinked her eyes.

    ¡°I have to keep an eye on the girls too but with the most serious detractors dead or disgraced it should be a lot easier. The actions of HER in the west are worrying me. I hope the people here are finally taking her more seriously.¡±

    ¡°We will have to see. But there was news that Windkeep, the border fortress of Rivenlorn was sorely besieged, maybe it has already fallen?¡±

    ¡°That would be very bad. A necromancer, even a lich, needs raw materials- bodies- to work with. Spirits are all well and good but they are difficult to muster in large numbers and cost a lot of energy to control.¡±

    ¡°There I have to take your word for it.¡±

    ¡°So her having access to a lot of the dead will make the situation much worse. And then there are the Nordmarks. I can see them swindling their way into any amnesty that the royals might plan to offer...¡±

    Iseret continued ¡°¡­and then they could again foment discord, finance assassinations or even work together with the Heartstealer.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Vanessa looked at the wooden chest she had been sleeping in for the last few days. ¡°It¡¯s late already. Will you be going back?¡±

    ¡°Might as well. Wish you pleasant dreams.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Vanessa looked disgruntled as she watched her friend leave by way of the stairs behind an arched doorway- sans door.

    Iseret walked through the dark corridors lit only by the weak light filtering through cracks and half-closed doors. Her eyes were still spelled and everything seemed to her as bright as day. A cold presence loomed from behind a doorway and the darkness filling that empty chamber was impenetrable even to her sight. She quickened her steps a bit and felt the seal put on her shoulder emit a faint cold reacting to the presence of the shadow demon.

    <hr>

    Morning in the market ward

    ¡°Hear ye, hear ye!¡± The herald shouted from atop the platform in the market plaza, his shouts merging with those of his fellows that did the same at nearly every corner. ¡°Our valiant monarch, king Vilander Andrealphus Constantin von Margrinar protector of humanity, successor of fallen Allisair, holder of the one blade, count of Kronenburg is dead. He fell in mighty battle against the treacherous attack by the undead of Ulsolm defending his citizens to the last.¡±

    Gasps and exclamations followed his words and low whispers and chatter filled the morning air.

    ¡°And that is not all, his son Carl Askander Josephus von Margrinar fell in the same battle. May Charys have mercy on their souls and Gesserach uphold justice for their deeds.¡±

    The commotion grew until he could no longer speak. Grey mustache quivering the man in uniform bedecked with golden ornamental cords in the colors of green and gold nodded towards the guard accompanying him.

    ¡°Silence!¡± The burly sergeant that stood to the side gave a mighty shout and the whispers subsided.

    The herald nodded in satisfaction and continued, ¡°Tomorrow will be a day of mourning for the fallen and when the date for the funeral is set there will be a national holiday to properly say goodbye to our beloved ruler. Heloise Yvaine of Margrinar has acceded to the request made by the royal council to hold the throne in trust for her niece, Lieseleta Ophelia von Margrinar who will be crowned queen of Margrinar when coming of age.¡±

    The sunlight glinted on the statues lining the plaza and some doves broke into flight as new people crowded around the speaker''s platform and the herald began to shout his proclamation anew.

    <hr>

    Norngrad Fortress, Kronenburg

    ¡°Lieseleta?¡± Heloise rubbed her forehead and squinted her eyes painfully. She was a smallish woman with completely golden eyes, like drops of molten metal given form and life. Her hair was a slightly darker color and fell around her delicate features. The morning had seen her conducting several interrogations of captured nobles and knights. Only those deemed most important or diplomatically sensitive had been left to her but that had been trying nonetheless. Her niece had accompanied her for most of them but the facade she had cultivated before was crumbling.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Lieseleta rubbed her red eyes.

    The room they were sitting in had a large desk behind which stood two high-backed, lavishly upholstered, wooden chairs facing the door made of ironbound oak. The small windows set high in the wall were closed and metal bars gleamed through the wavy glass. The banner of Margrinar hung from the walls to the side and at the far end of the room. Otherwise, there were only the sheaves of parchment an inkpot, and a magical quill hovering beside it.

    ¡°I think you should get some more rest. I have asked the maid to prepare a chamber nearby.¡±

    ¡°I think I should be here and take an active part.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can.¡± Heloise retorted bluntly. ¡°As much as I applaud your sense of duty you are still young and no one expects you to shoulder everything from the start.¡±

    ¡°If I don¡¯t do it now they will dismiss me and any opinions I might have.¡±

    ¡°Some won¡¯t. But most will do so even if you were the perfect reincarnation of the first queen so you could as well be prudent and rest while you still can. The next days will be hectic.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Lieseleta¡¯s voice was soft.

    Heloise regarded her niece with a hint of fondness, ¡°I never did well with children and you were no exception.¡± She sighed, ¡°but you are my family. I will do as I must and help you secure your rule. But you better be ready in four years. When your twentieth birthday has passed, you will relieve me of this burden.¡± She tapped the small regent''s diadem she wore.

    The princess nodded and made to hug the older woman but a fierce glare from her made her dismiss this notion. ¡°Thank you again. I will then take my leave.¡± She stood and rang a bell via a cord hanging on the wall. ¡°Wake me if there is anything I can do.¡± The last was said a bit self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will.¡± Heloise made a dismissive gesture adding ironically, ¡°my liege.¡±

    <hr>

    A few days'' travels to the northwest, there stood a large fortress-like building. Seemingly grown from the rocky outcropping beneath, the sheer, windowless walls rose four stories high with squat towers rising above the corners. Damp, freezing mist hung over the moors surrounding the jutting stone spar on which the structure was looming like a weight on a giant scale.

    A man in an ornate red-silver robe stood before the massive double doors. Runes were set in the mithril bands reinforcing the stout oaken planks. Several large glyphs proclaimed it as the Academy of Arcane Learning of Tiefenforst. He had heard good things about Irene Wellinghorst the new dean of this academy. She should be more interested in getting ahead and closing the distance to the Academy of the Arts in Kronenburg than such small things as his dispute with Illimen. It should not be worth mentioning.

    Gerferak Lordrum the former master of the tower of time shrugged philosophically. You win some and you lose some.

 No rest for the wicked

    ¡°When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.¡±

    - Herophilus

    Alea woke up and felt the sunlight on her skin. After the blessing, it had been calling to her, and even blind as she was she somehow felt the natural light- be it the moon or the sun. Taking Cecily into her arms, mechanical legs scrabbling instinctively, she sat up and regarded her sleeping friends. The wood smell of the parquet floor, the slight herbal scent of the freshly washed linen, nothing hinted as to the catastrophe of yesterday''s Exhibition.

    The vampire had looked at her and he had known that his life was done. Accepting the cleansing light and the intention of her blessing. Lightbringer. Where there is so much light there cannot be darkness. One dies when the other is ascendant. What about Vanessa? She worried that she had seriously hurt her. The last she had seen was Iseret pulling her limp body towards the Reborn. Seeing her light flaying the skin of a friend made her nauseous just remembering. Yesterday she had simply been too exhausted to really think about it.

    A knock sounded from the door and Butler One whirred to life and took several deliberate steps forward before looking at her for approval.

    ¡°Please ask who it is,¡± Alea said.

    Obeying he leaned outside and exchanged a few words with Lorelle before shutting the door again and walking up to her bed, ¡°Mylady, your maidservant had a message from princess Lieseleta.¡±

    Alea perked up and jumped down from her bed stumbling a bit before righting herself. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°She just wanted to invite you for tea tomorrow in the afternoon. She also wanted to let you know that classes have been suspended for at least the rest of the week.¡±

    ¡°Not unexpected.¡± Alea sighed and looked at Mireille and Alyssa who were still sleeping deeply. She shivered as some more of the scenes she witnessed just the night before flashed before her eyes. They had been very lucky to escape without serious injury, or at least not wounds she couldn¡¯t heal. The trembling got worse and she had to sit on the floor shaking with suppressed emotions until she finally got a hold of herself.

    ¡®Yesterday it wasn¡¯t that bad.¡¯ She thought.

    When the light magic flowed through her and all was immersed in warmth and brilliance there was simply no place for fear and nervousness. She had heard that most of the more powerful wizards became less emotional the longer they practiced. Perhaps that was the reason?

    Then there was another knock on the door.

    Alea flinched and looked at Butler One who nodded and went to open the door.

    ¡°Are the young ladies awake?¡± The voice of the dorm mother drifted through the open doorway.

    ¡°They are at the moment still indisposed. May I ask what brings you here.¡± The slightly buzzing voice of the construct inquired.

    ¡°I have been asked to look for anyone who has some healing magic. There are still injured students and the healing staff are exhausted.¡± The redoubtable matron¡¯s voice shook as she said that. ¡°And the city has its own problems...¡±

    Grabbing a table leg near her, Alea stood up and went to stand behind her automaton. ¡°Madam Gosling. Alyssa has some water magic and I have light magic. Would that help?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what they are looking for. They mentioned you were quite talented in that regard. I will bring you some breakfast. Please get ready as soon as you can.¡±

    The sound of footsteps faded.

    A scratching sound from the window made her raise Cecily for a look. Semiramis pressed against the windowpane and scrabbled with her claws. Groaning she went and let the feline into the room. A gust of cold wind made her shut the window quickly afterward.

    Meowing a greeting the hawk-cat jumped onto Mireille and began to rub her wings into the sleeping girls face causing her to splutter from the feathers.

    <hr>

    Northern Dockyards

    ¡°And as soon as the prince began to organize the defense after killing the assassin that felled his father the ungrateful girl began a struggle for the succession! As her people were dying she was only interested in power!¡± The old soldier wiped the spittle from his mouth and then continued his diatribe. A group of workers and dockhands stood around the small stone plinth that in earlier years had been used to tie oxen and now was mostly...in the way. It stood before a large building that with the expansion of the docks now served mostly administrative functions.

    ¡°My husband lost his hand! Now we face poverty and starvation!¡± A stout woman in her thirties yelled and tears ran from her eyes. Angry murmurs followed that declaration.

    The soldier pointed at her and shouted, ¡°There you have it. Down with the bloodsuckers! We need a governing council. No spoiled princess should decide over our lives! If everything went right she should have been married off years ago!¡±

    An older dockworker furrowed his brow at that and murmured, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have my daughter marry so young.¡± Several of the people around him nodded subconsciously.

    After spitting his poisoned words the soldier walked away into an alley and then shook his head. His features blurred and became quite a bit younger as his military clothes- without insignia signifying his retired status- became ordinary merchant''s robes. With a dissatisfied look at his attire, he quickened his steps. ¡®Strike the iron while it is hot but do we really have to be so hasty?¡¯ Musing over his employer''s orders he vanished into the cramped alleys of the Northern Dockyards.

    <hr>

    The captain sat in the tavern and waved at the barmaid. ¡°Another!¡± His frizzy, greying hair was singed, and there was the distinct aroma of burnt wood around him. The nearly empty tavern floor was sparsely lit and the tired-looking older ¡®maid¡¯ grunted as she heaved another beer stein on his table. ¡°That will be three coppers, sar.¡± Her crooked teeth shone as she smiled at him. As he put a silver piece on the table, the smile became a tad more real, and she lasciviously put the shining coin into her bodice, winking at him. Her henna-colored hair swayed with her hips as she walked away from him.

    Half-drunk and so soon after having been scared out of his wits, he could not say he wasn¡¯t half interested. Sighing, he looked after her and drank down the sour-tasting, nearly flat beverage. Grimacing, he thought, ¡®If that was not the only tavern open so early in the morning, I wouldn''t be caught dead in it!¡¯ He leaned back and lifted the curtain behind him, looking into the street of the no-mans-land between the docks and the market ward, which mostly contained workers'' houses. The streets were still relatively empty. Many citizens remained at home after they heard of the terrible happenings at the Exhibition. Criers were going around trying to make their own narrative.

    ¡®All lies.¡¯ He thought and wiped the sparse foam from his beard.

    Still, he had his payment with him, and by a miracle, no one had killed him yet. Things were looking up.

    He patted the bag leaning on the side of the chair containing his prized navigational instruments as well as the maps he had painstakingly drawn over the years. The city was a powder keg. People were frightened, and he had seen several agitators trying to fish in muddied waters. He was nearly impressed that they did it so soon. The king was dead, and the crown prince and the second prince were gone. The eldest princess could be a figurehead for some of the disgruntled losers of this failed putsch. But what did he know? He was a captain without a ship, and the money was enough to live the high life for a month or a frugal one for a few years but not enough to retire.

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    He sighed. He had his life and his money that was most important for now.

    <hr>

    Back in the Wisteria Dorms

    Alyssa was woken by a purring form that neatly sat its butt on her face. Frightened she tried to grab the furry menace and only managed a solid hit on Mireille¡¯s leg who grabbed the offending appendage and held on tight. Opening her eyes she saw the hawk-eyes of Semiramis before the cat rubbed her flank against her nose. Sitting up she looked around disorientedly and saw Alea pulling on her school robes. ¡°What¡­.?¡± She shook her head.

    Alea nodded towards her and fastened the ribbon on her chest. ¡°Good morning. Breakfast will be ready soon. Could you wake Mireille?¡±

    Looking to the side she saw her red-headed friend fighting to remain asleep against the assault by the feathered cat. Cyrus had retreated to the side and was snacking on a bit of jerky he had liberated from her backpack. Intelligent familiars were a bane!

    ¡°Mireille?¡± She softly shook her friend''s shoulder. ¡°Wake up, it''s morning.¡±

    ¡°Mpf. That''s the problem!¡± Mireille grumbled and dug deeper into the blankets.

    Alea waited a second then interjected, ¡°Madam Gosling said they urgently need more healers.¡±

    Realization dawned on Alyssa¡¯s and Mireille¡¯s faces as they remembered the night before. ¡°Oh. Certainly! Is it bad?¡± Alyssa hastily climbed down from the bunk bed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can only surmise that it is more in the line of need than must otherwise we would not have had the leisure to sleep as we did.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Makes sense.¡± Alyssa yawned and walked into the bath.

    Mireille grabbed Semiramis and hugged the protesting cat. Sitting up she looked at Alea and asked, ¡°I simply fell asleep last night. Is everything alright with you? Is there still danger?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. I will send out Butler One to have a look if you need me to?¡±

    ¡°Mh don''t bother we will be outside soon enough ourselves." Rubbing her face with the left hand and holding Semiramis pressed to her chest with her right arm she jumped from the bed. Faint sparks flew around her feet as she lightly stepped on the floor. Yawning she put the protesting cat on the table and grabbed a brush before trying to smooth her recalcitrant locks. Seeing Semiramis¡¯ interested gaze she alternated between brushing the cat and herself.

    Alea couldn¡¯t stand to see that and walked over while grabbing her own comb. ¡°Stop that!¡± She pushed away Mireille''s hand and began to smooth her friend''s hair.

    ¡°Oh. That works too.¡± Mireille lazily reclined on the chair continuing to brush the cat''s lustrous coat while Alea combed her friend''s hair.

    A short while later they had eaten, washed, and clothed themselves and were led by a younger student with deep dark rings around the eyes toward the academy infirmary. The morning light filtered through a light cloud cover and it was a cold and windy day. The fellow student was a second year by the name of Brian. He had a thin, pale face topped by dark-brown hair and blue eyes. When nervous he tended to stutter. ¡°It..tt.t.s..not far.¡± He clamped his mouth shut and then walked ahead and stared fixedly towards the front. Having come face to face with the beautiful Alyssa and the pretty Mireille his tolerance for feminine companionship seemed very low.

    Alea raised Cecily and tried to see the area where the Exhibition had taken place. There were still columns of smoke rising into the air before being blown apart by the wind. At least they were no longer as dark and oppressive as the night before.

    Soldiers and some royal guards were patrolling the grounds and they were inspected twice before they reached the western wing where the infirmary was located. Seeing that Alea seemed to be cold Alyssa concentrated and murmured a small spell reddish light glowed around her hands and warmth infused the cloak thrown around the dark-haired girl''s small shoulders. Cyrus looked jealous.

    Alea smiled at her gratefully, ¡°When did you learn to do that?¡±

    Alyssa hesitated then said, ¡°Back when I had the problems with void magic¡­¡± Alea nodded attentively while listening to her, ¡°...I tried some other magics to compensate. Seems that fire magic could be good but without a lot of training I will probably only manage smaller utility spells.¡±

    ¡°I remember your firebolt spell. That one is really good.¡± Mireille chewed on a piece of bread before hastily swallowing.

    ¡°Asandria helped with that. But I was hesitant to ask her for assistance with a warmth spell.¡±

    Asandria turned and empty eyes looked at her wordlessly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look. I did not want to waste your tutelage on such small things.¡±

    Mireille leaned over and whispered in her ear. ¡°Are you talking to the ghost again? Be careful- the boy does not have much presence but he is just ahead of us.¡±

    Soon they stepped into the entranceway brushing frozen snow from their boots. The empty corridor seemed gloomy in contrast to the morning sunlight outside.

    With their steps echoing around them they hurried towards the medical section. Charts and pictures showing the relationship between different sorts of mana and the corresponding organs hung on the walls.

    ¡°Why is there no light or void mana in those pictures?¡± Mireille looked at the charts interestedly. ¡°Look! Air is associated with the brain- I knew it!¡± She grinned proudly.

    Alea answered, ¡°Both are not exactly natural. They are necessary and present in every tissue in a delicate balance. Disturbing that balance leads to undeath on the one side and to unchecked growth and illness on the other.¡±

    ¡°Illness through light magic?¡± Alyssa asked hesitantly.

    The boy that had been near invisible up to now cleared his throat and said, ¡°Not an illness exactly its more like a- mutation? Injecting too much light magic into tissue not ready for it can cause growth and change. Semiramis- you know professor Reneus cat?¡± As they nodded he continued. ¡°Hybridization is a sub-school of light magic. Even as it borrows from many others as well. But for light magic to be harmful, you would need a whole lot and even then it would probably only lead to a more youthful appearance.¡±

    The corridor became busier the further they went and nurses came and went between the rooms. There were some make-shift beds put on the ground and less-injured soldiers too weak to stand the temperatures outside were resting there. Groans and cries of pain came from the doors lining the walls.

    A woman turned and looked at them as they reached the central area and they recognized Sarah, the healer they had spoken to during the Exhibition. Frowning with exhaustion the mage looked them up and down before her face brightened, ¡°Alyssa? And your friends- mh- Alea and...Mireille was it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am Alyssa, this is Alea and this here is Mireille.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for coming. Using mana over such a long time is very tiring and I could use a short break. If you are ready please come with me.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡± Alyssa looked at her friends who nodded too. Mireille seemed a bit daunted by the pained cries and stuck close to Alyssa in contrast to her normally cheerful and optimistic demeanor. Alea swallowed nervously before they went into a large room housing a dozen beds, some of them clearly temporary constructions. Brian turned around, a hand clasped to his mouth and his shoulders heaving quickly walked back into the corridor.

    Bloody bandages, lost limbs necrotic flesh. The room, despite wind magic continuously renewing the air, smelled of illness. Sarah turned and gestured towards a young student who was heavily bandaged around the stomach area. ¡°Please see what you can do. If you need help call me or one of the nurses. They know what they are doing. This room holds the most serious cases where we have hope of recovery. If you are finished simply find me, I will be outside resting.¡± She seemed to be dead on her feet and walked outside before collapsing into a chair beside a table overflowing with parchment.

    Alea clenched her hands and gritted her teeth before she tapped Alyssa¡¯s shoulder.

    The white-haired girl turned around, ¡°Do you need something?¡±

    ¡°Let me try something but it would be better if you and Asandria left the room.¡±

    Understanding flashed in her eyes and Alyssa grabbed Cyrus before saying to Mireille, ¡°Please keep an eye on Alea. I will be outside helping the less injured.¡±

    Mireille nodded and tried to look dependable.

    Alea breathed deeply before raising her hands and gesturing. Glyphs sprang into being shining with light. Praying internally she murmured, ¡°Jaros Warder on the Threshold. Help me grant them life.¡±

    The gate inside of her opened and she had the impression of clockwork whirring as a vortex of radiance blossomed on her chest. Infusing the power into her glyphs an octaeder made of light floated towards the ceiling and began to bathe the whole room in brilliance. Flesh grew back together, pale faces regained a bit of color. There were some that screamed in pain as inflamed or corrupted flesh burst into pale flames evaporating into nothingness. But even as blood gushed from reopened wounds the intense healing light began to fuse skin back together.

    Mireille shouted, ¡±Close your eyes!¡±

    As the light further grew in strength everything became white.

    Alyssa saw the glow radiating around the edges of the door and underneath with alarm. She ran over to the resting wizardess and shook her shoulder.

    Sarah turned unwillingly, ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°My friend Alea has a light gate and a blessing. I think she might still be unfamiliar with it. Please have a look.¡±

    Irritated, she turned and saw the wall opposite the door bathed in illumination seeping through cracks in the wood. Exclamations of awe, wonder, and pain came from behind the closed doorway.

    Mireille grabbed the smaller girl and shook her. She had her eyes tightly closed and still the light hurt her. ¡°Alea! You can stop now! Alea!¡±

    Coming to her senses Alea stopped the flow of power and the glyphs dimmed to a more normal level of illumination. The walls were devoid of dirt. Blood had evaporated under the blinding glare. Several patients wonderingly looked at their newly healed injuries. Even the nurse looked as if she had just woken from a restful sleep.

    ¡°Praise Gesserach!¡± One of the male students shouted.

    ¡°Ielenia.¡± A brunette girl clasped her hands in prayer.

    Alea swayed and leaned against Mireille who murmured, ¡°Please be more careful. I am the reckless one, not you!¡±

    Alea shook her head and somewhat angrily but shyly whispered, ¡°It was Jaros, not the other ones.¡±

    Mireille grinned and stroked her head. ¡°Yes, I know.¡±

    Sarah burst into the room and took a look around raising her eyebrows in astonishment. ¡°Well, well. That does look promising.¡±

    Alea smiled shyly before fainting.

 Uneasy is the head that wears a crown

    ¡°Who would choose uneasy dreams to don a crown when all the kingly sway can be enjoyed without?¡±

    - Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

    The day after the attack in the study of Magister Illimen.

    Magister Illimen leaned on his desk with both arms, his grey hair fell past his tired face. ¡°Calvin?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Did you get Jamila at least?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°For lack of trying?¡±

    ¡°No. I did not have the time. She was with the Nordmarks and I had to keep the undead in check. There were some pretty competent necromancers on the enemy side.¡±

    ¡°And that is a perfectly valid excuse.¡± Illimen sighed. ¡°I really would have liked to have this problem solved and buried at least. Now it''s highly likely that she will avail herself of the coming amnesty and we will have this viper still buried in our fine academy.¡±

    Calvin at least had the grace to look aside.

    ¡°No matter. How are the students? Did we have casualties?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sadly there were several students caught in the fighting who probably thought themselves better prepared than they were. We have seven dead and more than three-score wounded.¡±

    ¡°And the teachers?¡±

    ¡°Better. There haven¡¯t been any casualties but we have several wounded staff.¡±

    ¡°I will make time in the afternoon to visit the infirmary. How is the situation with the void mana corruption?¡±

    ¡°Difficult. Because of all the death and void-magic use the contamination became a whole lot worse. We had to set up cleansing rituals around the infirmary to make healing the wounded safe.¡±

    ¡°How long until it disperses?¡±

    ¡°I spoke to Carmen just an hour ago and she said it might take one or two months.¡±

    Illimen tilted his head and looked incredulous. ¡°You did not misspeak? Months?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what she said. I asked twice to be sure.¡± He coughed, ¡°She was quite irritated with me.¡±

    ¡°That is a problem. The situation is unstable as it is. If we have any void-related accidents in the Academy we will face serious opposition from disgruntled nobles. And the princess and her aunt don¡¯t need more problems.¡±

    Calvin coughed into his hand.

    ¡°What is it? Out with it!¡±

    Calvin looked conflicted, ¡°As you know we have not had field training in months¡­¡±

    ¡°Field training? Now?¡±

    ¡°Let me finish.¡± Calvin spoke firmly, ¡°The annual field training is normally done in autumn but because of the bad weather we postponed it. We could simply say we planned to do it after the Exhibition- to keep the students in good shape for the public displays. And now that the Exhibition will be prematurely ended we simply carry on with business as usual.¡±

    ¡°And avoid the whole void contamination.¡± Illimen tapped his fingers against his chin. ¡°But the weather has turned worse and the usual areas are in the north near Hundred-Streams.¡±

    ¡°It can count as one of the hazards we are training for. And secondly, the winter weather will cause rarely seen magical monstrosities to appear.¡± His eyes brightened at this prospect.

    Magister Illimen looked a bit taken aback at that, ¡°And that is a reason- for- going?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°I can see your point. Normally the weather would have warmed by now and the only places where you get to see frost wraiths or cold-adapted magical beasts are far to the north.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°If you answer in monosyllables one more time I will make you part of the clean-up detail.¡±

    Calvin coughed, ¡°Please don¡¯t. My earth and water magic are quite far beneath the required standard.¡±

    ¡°So we plan this excursion as soon as the less injured students have been discharged from the infirmary?¡±

    ¡°I think that would be best.¡± Calvin nodded.

    ¡°What will you be doing?¡±

    ¡°I will apply for leave. I will have a look at the Nordmark lands. This whole fiasco would not have been possible without their help and they would never simply hand power to the prince without some safeguards. I would really like to know what cards they still have up their sleeves.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Take care. They might be busy reducing the damage they suffered but that does not mean they won¡¯t be vigilant.¡±

    ¡°I know. I have some experience in that regard. So don¡¯t worry.¡± He grinned at Illimen.

    <hr>

    The next day in the palace.

    Lieseleta looked at the small hand mirror and then decisively turned it face-down on the table. Her eyes were still slightly red and puffy, even with healing magic and the pallor of her skin was thinly disguised with expensive make-up. She sat beside Heloise in the small audience hall and waited for the next noble to enter. They had decided to enforce the swearing-in of the nobles who had been present for the aborted rebellion as part of the amnesty.

    She was still not officially crowned but there was precedent- On the battlefield at least. Lieseleta could not suppress a wry smile. And as some of the nobles that had stood on Carl¡¯s side had quietly slipped away towards their holdings time was of the essence. Now she had the option to enforce an oath they would take pains to avoid in better times.

    Heloise patted her hand and raised an eyebrow. Lieseleta understood and composed herself.

    ¡°Baron Elbrian von Zugbr¨¹ck-Rucktal.¡± The herald slammed the reinforced haft of his staff on the specially prepared tile- no one wanted to exchange expensive marble tiles once per audience.

    ¡°Enter please.¡± Lieseleta gestured for the older man to come forward. He sported a small paunch but had clearly once been a warrior and still maintained a well-muscled physique. His hair was cropped short and he wore a large grey-blond mustache.

    ¡°Your highness.¡± The man bowed according to his rank and Lieseleta gave him a small smile. Some of his peers had tried to express subtle disrespect by not giving her ¨C just- what was customary.

    Heloise spoke at this moment, ¡°Elbrian. I think we can dispense with unneeded ceremony seeing that it''s you. Swear to Lieseleta and the crown.¡±

    Grey eyes fixed on her golden ones before the man nodded and got on one knee clasping both hands over his chest.

    ¡°I swear before the good gods, led by Gesserach in his just wisdom¡­¡±

    The oath was long and thorough and as he finished he waited still kneeling.

    Lieseleta rose and spoke the answering oath, ¡°As your liege in the eyes of the pantheon I swear to honor you as my vassal. To protect and nurture you in times of surplus and in need¡­¡±

    And then the ceremony was finished and Lieseleta said, ¡°Rise mine vassal and bring prosperity to Margrinar and us both.¡±

    Heloise looked at the baron as he rose from his kneeling position and saw the small wince as he put weight on his left knee. ¡°Elbrian?¡±

    ¡°Yes, regent?¡±

    ¡°Heloise- when we are not in public. How come you were on the side of the Nordmarks.¡±

    ¡°I did not choose a side. My fiefdom is, as you know, the furthest to the northwest and near the springs feeding into Hundred-Streams. I had petitioned the court repeatedly for military aid- Without results. The raids by the tribes living in the mountains have intensified. They are displaced by the growing might of Ulsolm and seek food and shelter. Which I understand but cannot condone at the expense of my people. So I found another ally.¡±

    ¡°The Nordmarks.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°Why did you not ask me for help?¡±

    ¡°I did not want to presume.¡±

    ¡°Do you have to leave for your lands soon?¡±

    ¡°I can make some time, but no more than a week. If the weather gets worse I cannot return to my hall and that would be disgraceful with things as they are.¡±

    ¡°So it is. Please await my summons.¡± Heloise leaned back and waved in dismissal.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    ¡°Your Highness.¡± He bowed towards Lieseleta who had remained silent throughout the exchange, ¡°Regent.¡± He bowed towards Heloise who smiled wryly and then left the hall.

    The curtains shifted with his passing and some light played over Heloise¡¯s face reflecting from her metallic eyes.

    ¡°What was that about, aunt?¡±

    ¡°He was a friend from my academy days.¡± She grinned. ¡°Sometimes I think the Academy is more about forging connections like this than studying.¡±

    ¡°A good friend?¡±

    ¡°Why ask?¡±

    ¡°Only a whim.¡±

    Heloise closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, ¡°He might have wanted more at the time but I was never interested. Satisfied?¡±

    Lieseleta blushed and looked down.

    Her aunt shrugged helplessly, ¡°You cannot be that innocent, can you? Let us continue. In the afternoon you will have a short while to rest and recuperate. You invited Alea von Graufurt? A good choice. Her display of light-magic as well as her pedigree- not too high and not too low- are simply perfect. Perhaps when she finishes the academy she can be one of your court magicians.¡±

    The princess nodded with a complicated expression.

    Heloise gestured towards the herald to continue.

    ¡°Viscount Ottokar von Hundredstreams¡­¡±

    <hr>

    In a coach on the way to the palace

    After having helped the day before the girls had gone to bed early and slept late the coming day. The afternoon arrived swiftly and Alea and her two friends had come to the palace driven by Adam who had bitterly regretted remaining in the townhouse on that fateful day. He had wanted to be available for the use of Adelaide, Alea¡¯s grandmother.

    Before the palace crowds of people had assembled and the atmosphere was tense and unfriendly. Rumors abounded in the city about the unchecked threat to the northwest. Undead roaming the streets at night and a government headed by those only driven by self-interest. The noble prince, a hero, killed by his sister while trying to save the people.

    There were voices of reason too but the lurid portrayals of treachery appealed to the masses still frightened by the attacks. So the rumors flourished even as the official heralds decried the lies told by the agitators and the patrols rounded up the worst offenders.

    ¡°Did you hear the drivel they are spouting?¡± Mireille looked disgusted. ¡°They paint black as white and sell it as a holy revelation.¡±

    Alyssa looked at her and hugged her arm. ¡°Don¡¯t get angry over it. Lieseleta will put a stop to that and she has Heloise to help her.¡±

    ¡°Mh, yes.¡± Mireille shivered. ¡°That woman frightens me. She always looks like she would bite my head off.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps because you are always goofing off when she is looking.¡± Alyssa admonished.

    Adam exchanged a few words with a royal guard and showed them some papers. A female blonde guard walked up to the coach and looked inside comparing their appearance with the writ of passage. She then knocked on the side of the cabin and called, ¡°Everything seems to be in order you can enter. There will be a more thorough inspection when you reach the palace proper.¡±

    The coach rocked a bit as the horses began to pull forward again and soon they reached the royal stables with a side door used for less important guests...or if you wanted to avoid the limelight.

    Alyssa helped Alea out of the coach as Adam looked after the horses. Mireille rubbed her arms and walked back and forth briskly. ¡°Brr. Coooold. Let''s go inside, please!¡±

    ¡°Wait a second. There was another inspection coming?¡± Alyssa looked around and saw Kettra walking toward them.

    Alyssa waved at the knight and grinned who returned the greeting with a lazy wave of her own.

    ¡°What are you standing around here for? Come inside or you will freeze fast.¡±

    ¡°My thoughts exactly!¡± Mireille enthusiastically agreed.

    Entering the palace through the side entrance they saw a large barren corridor with utilitarian stone paving and a perfunctory attempt at ornamentation on the walls. The ceiling was nearly four meters high and it was still cold if no longer freezing. Cyrus- too big for her shoulder- was accompanying them by walking- some hopping and gliding were also involved- and was quite quick about it.

    ¡°Good to see you.¡± Kettra smiled good-naturedly. ¡°Jera bade me get you. If the queen-to-be wants to see you it would be a disgrace if you ended up waiting a few hours while everyone checked you thoroughly. There were some words about possible problematic augmentations? Her gaze brushed over Alyssa¡¯s arm and face as she said that.¡±

    Self-consciously Alyssa pulled the sleeve of her shirt to better cover the crystal embedded in her forearm and looked a bit nervous.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret about it. Many of the more prosperous or successful knights have some ¡®edge¡¯ be it alchemical, magical or even part construct.¡± Kettra shrugged. ¡°You fought on and for the right side. Lieseleta and Jera trust you. So I do too.¡± She grinned.

    They reached more richly appointed areas and soon the spartan d¨¦cor gave way to columns adorned with leaf of gold and colorful paintings. Vases and statues stood in tastefully arranged nooks and crannies. Servants in expensive uniforms and maids in frilled dresses walked by with a brisk purpose.

    Finally, they came to a corridor ending in a wooden door before which stood two royal guards. Jera nodded a greeting and then knocked. After receiving an acknowledgment she opened the door and gestured for the girls- and one wyvern- to go inside. ¡°I have my duties so sadly it''s goodbye for now. Until we meet again.¡± She smiled and closed the door behind them.

    Pale wintery light fell through two big windows facing a secluded garden covered in snow. Statues stood between hedges and evergreen bushes. A covered walkway surrounded the central area.

    The floor was covered by a thick carpet that was soft enough that their feet sank to the middle of their shoes. A table dominated the middle portion with several upholstered chairs. Paintings showing pastoral scenes of shepherds and small farming villages gave the chamber a gentle air.

    A steaming pot of tea with several cups besides cookies and some cake completed the picture.

    Lieseleta was leaning her face on her left hand while clasping a cup of tea with the other and looked outside as they entered. Alerted by Jera who had let them in she stood up in a hurry and a bright if a bit tired smile lit up her features. ¡°Alea!¡± She walked quickly around the table and then, while bending down, hugged the petite girl.

    Alea was a bit flustered but with the training in such matters that Alyssa and Mireille especially had put her through returned the hug and softly patted Liseleta¡¯s back. The older girl seemed exhausted and in poor spirits.

    ¡°Lieseleta, good to see you safe,¡± Alea whispered.

    ¡°Hello! I am so glad to see you have all your limbs intact.¡± Mireille grinned.

    Both Alea and Lieseleta flinched a bit at that.

    ¡°Sorry for that!¡± Alyssa grabbed Mireille and pulled her to her side. ¡°We thank you for the invitation.¡±

    Jera looked on wryly and said, ¡°I remember that her highness allowed you to call her by her first name but she is the uncrowned queen and as such please be careful how you address her in the future. Especially in public, I might add.¡±

    ¡°Jera!¡± Lieseleta pouted, ¡°Please don¡¯t spoil this for me. We can be as formal as you want in public but this here isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I know your highness but they might not realize that a younger princess and the queen of the nation are a completely different matter. I apologize if I overstepped.¡±

    ¡°We can talk about that later.¡± She hugged Alea tightly before letting go. ¡°Do you want some tea? Some apple juice? Cider? There are also cake and cookies.¡± Her smile looked wan but heartfelt.

    ¡°Yes please.¡± Mireille looked at the cake and cookies eliciting a laugh from Alyssa and a grin from the more sedate Alea.

    ¡°Sit down, all of you.¡± Lieseleta gestured before walking to her seat and sitting down herself.

    The room was pleasantly warm, courtesy of a small roundish copper contraption that emitted waves of heat and was festooned with dials and levers.

    Alea looked at the machine with interest.

    ¡°Oh, you like the elemental heater? It¡¯s not a new thing but you cannot only use it for heating it also cools in the summer too. Quite a practical appliance.¡± The princess answered the unspoken question. ¡°If you like I can send one to you as a gift.¡±

    ¡°That would be too much.¡± Alea shook her head.

    ¡°Nonsense, if I can¡¯t enrich my friends- at least a little- what am I the queen for? I insist!¡±

    ¡°Mh. Then I will thank you.¡±

    ¡°Is it rude to eat a cookie before the princess eats one?¡± Mireille pondered a serious question.

    ¡°No, please eat. I have already had my fill and quite enjoy my tea.¡± Lieseleta grinned. ¡°It¡¯s not been that long that I could talk to you all as often as I wanted and now I am kept like an exotic kind of bird. Not uncommon- I know- but the Academy was a veritable paradise of freedom in comparison.¡±

    Jera cleared her throat. ¡°And you were nearly killed.¡±

    ¡°At a birthday party, I would have attended even as a queen.¡±

    ¡°...with much better security.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t always try to have the last word.¡± Lieseleta pouted in an overdone manner eliciting a grin from her taciturn guardian.

    ¡°No your highness, I will endeavor to leave at least some last words to you.¡±

    ¡°You did it again!¡±

    Silence returned to the room as the girls poured tea and took some cake, cookies- or both- to eat on their plates.

    Alea hesitated, looked closely at her friend, and then asked.¡°How are you...really?¡±

    The princess-turned-queen looked at her. ¡°You cannot be sad all the time. That I have learned from all of this. Mostly I immerse myself in work and all is well but then I walk down a corridor and see a painting of my brother, I sit at the dining table and forgetting myself want to ask about my father¡¯s day and troubles. And then I cry for no reason, no reason at all.¡± Tears gathered in her blue eyes and with a hasty gesture, she dabbed at them with a handkerchief. ¡°Please excuse me.¡± She looked to the side and a few tears dripped from her chin, her eyes hidden behind her golden curls.

    Alea stood up walked around the table and put her hand on her shoulder squeezing softly.

    Jera repressed a sigh.

    Cyrus arched his long neck and looked at all of them before waddling over to the princess and lying his head on her lap.

    Alyssa looked at Mireille who had a whole cookie stuffed in her cheeks making her look like a hamster. The redhead shrugged helplessly and hastily chewed and swallowed.

    ¡°I really looked forward to seeing you all today.¡± Lieseleta turned to them again stroking Cyrus and giving Alea a grateful look. ¡°I will be even busier in the coming days so I can only see you about once a week for an hour or so. I hope not to trouble you with this.¡± She looked uncertain.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so polite with us.¡± Mireille gave a smile marred by a piece of chocolate stuck to her cheek. ¡°You are our friend and if all you want from us is to talk and listen we will damn well do that!¡±

    Jera choked a bit at the expletive.

    Lieseleta grinned. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Do you need anything else from us?¡± Alyssa took the initiative to ask.

    ¡°You have to be careful. It is probably well known who was more closely acquainted with me so it stands to reason that some would try to benefit from your closeness with the queen-to-be and some could try to harm me by harming you. So I reiterate- Be careful and don¡¯t believe too quickly if someone has a sudden change of heart. On the other hand, if you have an easier time fitting in because of our friendship I would not care too much to dispel such notions.¡± The last was said while looking at Alyssa.

    Alea looked at the princess worriedly, ¡°Do you get enough to eat? You look thinner than the last time I saw you.¡±

    ¡°I assure you the palace kitchen tries to make me fat to the best of their ability. I simply lack an appetite at the moment. It will come back in time I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°Should I come live in the palace with you?¡±

    Lieseleta looked a bit conflicted for a moment as she heard that. ¡°As much as I would love to have you, you should try to finish your education. I will have some tutors do the same for me, but I will have to drop out, and that does not mean you should do the same.¡±

    ¡°You will leave the Academy?¡± Mireille looked surprised by that.

    ¡°I have to. It''s too dangerous. The academy cannot allow the same security measures that the palace employs to guarantee my safety so it is highly inadvisable to try.¡± She sighed again.

    ¡°Mh. Isn¡¯t your regent responsible for the ruling and administration?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°But one day I have to do it too, so it''s best to learn as much as possible until the day I have to stand on my own two feet. Our roles were much different in the past and my brothers were more heavily schooled in warfare and politics. I had the leisure to look at the fine arts, logic, and philosophy. And this deficit will have to be resolved.¡±

    ¡°You have it bad.¡± Mireille looked at her with pity in her eyes. ¡°It was such a good day when I no longer had to study spells I couldn¡¯t use! Learning useless and boring things is useless and boring I say!¡±

    Lieseleta laughed at that. ¡°I fear that there is a use in the boring things I have to learn so they are merely boringly useful things.¡± She smiled.

    The hour passed quickly and Lieseleta seemed to regain a bit of energy and cheer.

    ¡°I hope to see you again soon but it might be next week before I can make that happen.¡° She looked regretful.

    ¡°That¡¯s really too bad the cake was fantastic.¡± Mireille looked at the empty plate longingly.

    ¡°Other than the food it was good seeing and talking to you. Perhaps we can play some games the next time?¡± Alyssa tried to move on embarrassed by her friend''s gluttonous comments.

    Alea smiled and took the initiative to hug Lieseleta. ¡°We will come back when you have time. We have more of that than you do at the moment. Be well and if you need something don¡¯t hesitate to contact us!¡±

    Leaving the palace the sky had taken a reddish hue and the sun stood close to the horizon. The days were growing shorter and as the carriage clattered over the cobbled stones a flight of griffin knights rose from the castle their wings shone red as if dipped in blood.

 The call of adventure

    ¡°Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.¡±

    ¨D J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, and the Half-Blood Prince

    Carmen of Perrilen Heights tried to smooth the perpetual wrinkle between her brows and sighed deeply. The room before her was the deepest chamber underneath the academy''s main hall and the security was tight. The room was perfectly circular with a diameter of fifteen meters and a height of nearly twenty. Six crystals larger than the head of a full-grown ogre adorned the walls and represented a significant fraction of the wealth contained in the Academy as a whole, flawless mana jewels that they were.

    She wore her customary black dress with a high collar decorated with a choker bearing a large opal, hands clad in long dark gloves. Her ebony hair was pulled back with a band of silver exposing her pale face flickering in the unsteady light.

    Beams of coruscating power flashed between the poles and crossed in the middle over an array of intricately carved magical circles. Even a mundane untrained person fresh off the streets would have tasted the magic in the air and possibly been able to wield some instinctive magics but that was neither the cause for her growing dissatisfaction nor the reason she was here.

    Black tendrils flashed in the bright energy and gave the light a sickly-grey touch.

    ¡°Can we do something to speed the decay of this void contamination?¡± An older man with his long grey hair tied in a long knotted braid leaned on a stone balcony overlooking the room and frowned in concern.

    ¡°Use less magic. If you use the more common elements you deplete them, not significantly, mind. But it might be enough to respectively strengthen the void corruption. Void use could possibly help but with the dark energies gathered at the site of the Exhibition we could be unlucky and draw on it like a lamp with a wick draws on the oil. And it disperses more quickly in the wild under the light of the sun than back here in the ley-line network. Each time you draw on ambient mana not channeled by a gate you also risk infusing your body with void.¡±

    ¡°The cleansing wards around the infirmary are working well at least.¡±

    ¡°Small blessing that that is.¡± Carmen coughed and shook her head weakly.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I will be. Missed sleep and even more work will do that to you.¡±

    A low thrumming sound hung in the air and a distinct reek of ozone tickled their nostrils.

    ¡°Let us depart, we will gain nothing more by observing the phenomenon.¡±

    ¡°Who would have thought that the geomantic formation of fortune and prosperity could lead to such terrible results.¡±

    <hr>

    Mireille knocked on the simple wooden door. She had become so accustomed to the relatively high-class Wisteria Dorm that she was sort of surprised to see such a common house nestled a ways from the Academy in a small dell.

    ¡®Mh, is it snobbery to think that or am I becoming used to luxury as I always intended? Maybe both?¡¯ Mireille grinned a bit at that and entered the room without waiting for an invitation.

    The room was relatively tidy and clean containing two beds as well as one desk and chair. At the moment only one bed was in use and a small head wreathed by dark brown hair that framed a pale face still tanned from all the hours spent practicing outside. Her head sported a bandage as well as her shoulder and hand. Without her energetic personality, she seemed somehow smaller lying here like that.

    ¡°Paula! Wake up, I got some cake fresh from the kitchen!¡±

    Paula nearly fell off the bed as she was startled from sleep and had to calm her breathing after seeing Mireille present her with a largish piece of cake.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°Bringing you cake!¡± After seeing the incomprehension in the still sleepy girl''s eyes Mireille continued, ¡°And I wanted to see if all was well. I heard you were wounded.¡±

    ¡°You had some pretty serious cuts too. I was not nearby but I saw how you finished that wight.¡± Paula became more energetic and then winced in pain as she made a wrong move.

    ¡°Sorry for startling you but getting cake at this time was a lot more difficult than you might think.¡±

    Paula laughed before this caused some of her bandages to shift and she flinched. ¡°I¡¯m mostly okay. The hand is what worries me the most. Could you ask Alea to have a look?" she looked a bit uncomfortable asking that before she continued more energetically, "She has become quite famous after her stunts with light magic. What happened to her by the way. The light pillar and then healing the sick, is she a saint or what?¡±

    ¡°Mh. How did you know?¡± Mireille looked honestly interested.

    ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°She has been blessed in a big church. Was some god of mystery. There are so many I cannot be bothered to remember them all. Only Nirileth is worthy of my time.¡± She looked pious.

    ¡°Jaros.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±

    ¡°That explains it. You don¡¯t have any normal friends do you?¡± She smiled and then became glum all of a sudden, ¡°Beside me I suppose.¡±

    ¡°You are not ordinary in the least. You like sparring with me and give me a real workout every time. That¡¯s no mean feat especially with my lightning magic becoming better and better.¡±

    Paula struggled into an upright sitting position and looked at her friend. Mireille was clothed in the normal first-year student¡¯s robes carrying her degen belted at the hip, the red hair fell nearly to the middle of her back and her freckled face was no longer as youthful as it had seemed at the start of the semester. Her cheeks were somehow thinner giving her a more adult look. And did she have a growth spurt lately? Her sleeves seemed too short as well as the hem of her robes. Her light grey-green eyes seemed to hold a spark of lightning as of a few weeks back. She rarely noticed this consciously but the energy seemed more prominent since the last time she had really looked.

    ¡°You look like a young warrior maiden.¡± Paula praised.

    Mireille pushed out her chest, one arm behind her back looking proudly down her nose at her friend. ¡°Good that you know!¡± Laughing she quit her posing and grabbed a knife cutting the cake in two. ¡°Here- have at it.¡±

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that my cake?!¡± Paula looked alarmed as the sizable piece was reduced to barely acceptable levels.

    ¡°Couriers fee! You are well enough that you have no need of a full cake.¡± With a mischievous grin, Mireille bit into and swallowed half her piece.

    Paula, not to be outdone, hastily began to eat too and had to fend off the hungry Mireille as she grabbed for the last crumbs. ¡°Hey! That¡¯s mine! I¡¯m still injured and need the food to heal! Rascal away with your hand.¡±

    They joked and talked until Paula became sleepy again and soon a light snore signaled that she had drifted off to sleep.

    Mireille tiptoed out of the room shutting the door quietly behind her. Grinning she flipped a coin through the air and whispered, ¡°Thank you night-thief for the excellent opportunity to grab some cake. I will make it worth your while.¡±

    The snow crunched underfoot as she walked back to the Wisteria Dorm, whistling all the way.

    <hr>

    The palace, a study

    ¡°Jera what is it?¡± Lieseleta closed the thick ledger lying before her and turned toward her faithful guardian.

    ¡°I have some of the information you requested about the girl that checked the armored undead fighting alongside Carl.¡±

    The princess nodded, ¡°Well, what did you get?¡±

    ¡°She was seen with Alea, Alyssa, and Mireille. She has been with them at least when visiting the alchemy store of Valeria Jangres, a patrol saw her and the guardsman remembered her beauty and that she was an elf. There have been unsubstantiated rumors that as the Reborn made their attempt to oust the old crime lord Vadislav Orpen, she was fighting him. Our royal knights saw a person whose description fits the girl at the scene of the battle in the lower city. Later there have been rumors of two women, one relatively small fighting the blood creatures in the city. And then there was the incident where Alyssa used unusual magics to draw upon the void. She mentioned that a friendly sorceress taught her- Said person was never presented or found.¡±

    ¡°Your conclusion?¡±

    ¡°They are your friends, and she has been on the ¡®right¡¯ side when fighting at least for all we know. In addition, she arguably saved your life, the warrior tossed me aside like a sack of flour. She is probably an ally- if one you cannot openly acknowledge.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that should never become public, we depend on the goodwill of the great churches and if there is one thing they cannot accept it is an intelligent, powerful undead.¡± Lieseleta sighed, ¡°But I don¡¯t want to make an enemy of someone who helped me so much. Should I ask Alea or her friends?¡±

    ¡°Depends on your long-term goals, your highness.¡±

    ¡°Lieseleta or Liese please.¡± The princess looked displeased.

    ¡°As I said you could gain political capital with some of the larger churches, but it would not be as beneficial in a larger sense as you might think. They would find it a matter of course and it would certainly cement your image as a ¡®good¡¯ queen but only that. The more important consideration would be that when you were found to be cooperating with an undead then you would lose a lot of trust. I would recommend turning a blind eye without entangling yourself further.¡±

    ¡°An undead saved me.¡± Lieseleta looked distressed. ¡°The world is stranger than a fairy tale sometimes.¡±

    ¡°On that note when will the funeral and the coronation be?¡±

    ¡°Next week on Gesserach¡¯s day. I will hold the vigil for father and Carl the day before.¡±

    ¡°I think you would do well to honor the commitment made to the Reborn, they can be useful for their connections to the darker side of Kronenburg.¡±

    ¡°I think so too. The coronation should be after the mourning period of one month. Then when I have the crown I will bestow the baronetcy on Kadira. That will cause an uproar I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°Nothing to it, those that will condemn you the most are part of the opposing faction anyway.¡±

    <hr>

    A cursed mansion outside the city proper

    Iseret was playing with her daggers throwing them high into the air and catching them as they fell down, with her reflexes it was relaxing and in no way dangerous. The room they were sitting in was once a salon on the ground floor of the mansion. In the middle stood an old stone table surrounded by rickety chairs that were covered with clean blankets. The table itself was carved with runic formations and on the parts that were not spelled, tools fit for enchanting were meticulously organized.

    Vanessa was busy dribbling mana-crystal dust into the receptacles feeding the runic circuits which began to glow with a soft blue light. A monocle inscribed with spell-glyphs sat over her right eye. As she gazed at her half-reptilian friend she frowned.

    ¡°Say, you really use unenchanted steel?¡± Vanessa looked at her questioningly. ¡°Is it for religious reasons?¡±

    ¡°No, I never had the funds on hand, and getting an enchanter to put dangerous spells on weapons used by a ¡®snake¡¯ is not as easy as you think. Orpen had a stranglehold on the ones operating beyond the law.¡±

    ¡°And the Reborn don¡¯t have something like this?¡±

    ¡°We do actually, but the person involved is more useful for formations or enchantments protecting your privacy like anti-teleportation charms and such.¡±

    ¡°That would not be helpful in that regard.¡±

    ¡°Are you offering?¡± Iseret smiled and caught both daggers at the same time sheathing them with a flourish.

    ¡°Might as well. You buy the ingredients. I can¡¯t be bothered to acquire funds at the moment.¡±

    ¡°There could be some money in it if you were not averse to enchanting some knick-knacks for my colleagues¡­?¡±

    ¡°Let us not be hasty, yours first.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Iseret winked at her.

    ¡°Any news about Alyssa, Mireille, and Alea?¡±

    ¡°They are well. Alea did some mass-healing in the Academy and rumors are making the rounds about her blessing. Some people in the city are petitioning the temple for an introduction.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°Lieseleta has some troubles. The nobles that have been opposing the royal faction have taken the death of the king as a signal to increase their activities and there are persons outside the peerage that would use this opportunity to lobby for more rights of representation for the common people. They are citing the free city of Pareus as a role model.¡±

    ¡°That could get ugly. I¡¯m not well-versed in human politics but power is seldom relinquished voluntarily and taking it is a bloody business. I would have hoped that the threat of Ulsolm might serve as a catalyst bringing the factions together.¡±

    ¡°Sadly the fact that the attack failed has made some people complacent, they believe that Ulsolm will have its hands full with Rivenlorn and that the mountains will shield us adequately.¡±

    ¡°They should listen to the reports from Rivenlorn about the undead crossing the unpassable heights.¡± Vanessa frowned.

    ¡°Who reads a report they don¡¯t want to hear.¡±

    ¡°Give me your khopesh.¡±

    ¡°What will you do with it?¡±

    ¡°Make it sharper, let it cut deeper, have it carve through magical shields.¡±

    ¡°You know how to make a lady blush.¡± Iseret looked at Vanessa coyly causing the elf to look away in embarrassment.

    ¡°Stop that!¡±

    Even the vampire''s sharp hearing did not notice Iseret¡¯s light steps and suddenly there was a smiling voice whispering directly in her ear, ¡°But you are so adorable when you are embarrassed.¡±

    If she were still living she would have had goosebumps from the warm air blown past her sensitive ears but as it stood her fangs involuntarily lengthened and she hunched her shoulders before turning into mist, reappearing on the other side of the table. ¡°Don¡¯t do that! One of these days I will bite you out of reflex!¡±

    Iseret put on a contrite face and dropped the khopesh on the table. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± She said unconvincingly.

    Vanessa sighed, ¡°Bring me more mana dust and some ground meteorite. I will have it done by the weekend. The enchantment will not be permanent unless you find some really good mana-jewels or the heart of a magical being. You would have to regularly charge it with the dust.¡±

    ¡°That seems to be acceptable, I will see what I can do.¡±

    <hr>

    Calvin adjusted the half-mask made of leather and a crystalline lens covering the right half of his face. Some lurid scars radiated from underneath giving him a dangerous and somewhat rakish look- expertly made they looked quite real. He wore a leather coat and a vest and dark green trousers. A long warstaff held in a holster at the side of his horse completed the picture of a mercenary sorcerer.

    A fading unit insignia that seemed to have been some sort of horned beast adorned the saddle. Snorting the horse bowed his head and stamped its hooves impatiently.

    ¡°Whoa, Petal. Calm down.¡± He patted the lustrous brown flank and the animal quieted down. Jumping into the saddle he gripped the reins steering his mount into the open street and into the foot traffic. Some hour later he left Kronenburg by the west gate and rode along the road bordering the great river. Even as he knew that this could be quite dangerous a grin flashed across his face playing at politics had never been his passion, adventuring, however¡­he urged his mount into a gallop leaving behind the academy, the royal court, and a whole lot of paperwork.

 Field-Trip announcement

    ¡°I don''t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.¡±

    - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

    Lieseleta gave a shiver and then felt guilty. She looked to the side and saw her Sisters kneeling beside her. Nimeria, Theresa von Margrinar, the eldest, was a thin woman with a sharp nose and chin, her pale green eyes blinked in the cold draft. She was in her late twenties and her normally haughty demeanor was replaced by uncertainty and discomfort. She was clothed in a thick furlined dress, probably enchanted, and looked at the grave- long prepared in advance- with the visage of her father hewn from granite mined in the Perrilen Heights at the northern coast.

    Her other sister Keralia, whom she had not had the opportunity to really meet in years, probably thought her a small child still. She was married to count Grandherst and other than in his company she did not visit the capital. Her two children, a boy, and a girl should be two and three years old respectively. All of them had the traditional golden hair of the royal family, it had once been postulated that it was a magical trait, otherwise, she had a pretty but unremarkable face and she was the smallest of the royal children. Her temper though was well known.

    The guilt stemmed from the fact that this was the first she had been near her sisters since her father''s death. She had actively sought to avoid them as she did not want the discussions over the succession so shortly after the harrowing experiences she had been put through. And now she was kneeling beside them after nary a word and the guilt made her self-conscious.

    ¡°Stop staring.¡± Keralia quietly hissed at her. Her dark eyes flickered in her direction. ¡°If you really want we can talk later.¡± She continued under her breath.

    A venomous look from Nimeria shut them both down.

    Snow that had accumulated in the slit windows high up in the walls of the old hall was blown into the room''s expanse by fitful gusts of wind howling around the edges of the ancient structure. The braziers blazed with heat, but none was felt where they were kneeling.

    The enchantments woven into her clothes made her comfortable enough she supposed, but why was the hall designed that way? Statues depicted the rulers of old as well as their spouses and children arranged as satellites orbiting the ruling monarch- or queen. Margrinar had always been more about ability and power than gender but to say that it did not play any part in the selection would have been a patent lie. Only the most exceptional or those without viable alternatives were women and the rest of the country, to say nothing of the neighboring Rivenlorn were still quite conservative in this regard but times were slowly changing.

    The days had been hectic and full of work, and she was very grateful to Heloise. The acerbic woman was the main reason she would be crowned queen in a few days, not that she was sure she wanted it that badly, but the alternatives did not bear thinking about.

    Somewhere far off death knells rang and were soon joined by the far-off city. The echoes drifted over the rocky hills lining the river and were soon swallowed by the stormy winds.

    ¡°So, that means we can go?¡± Nimeria murmured looking expectantly at the entrance to the hall and as if her words had summoned them two royal guards ponderously opened the great bronze-clad portal. Accompanied by swirling snow Heloise, a priestess of Charys drinker of tears and several guards entered the mourning hall. The remains would later be put in the royal mausoleum but for this last farewell, they were displayed in this hall that later would have artwork commemorating the deceased.

    ¡°I pray to the lady in grey that she will drink your sorrow and ease your pain so that the soul can be at peace.¡± The priestess intoned making the gesture of the chalice.

    ¡°We thank her for her gift.¡± The three sisters got up from the cushions placed under their knees, Nimeria winced and stretched her back.

    Heloise looked them over and then sent a complex look toward the sarcophagus before gesturing to the portal. ¡°Come with me, yes all three of you.¡± Then she turned to the priestess and nodded, ¡°Thank you. We will still need to go over the ceremony later in the afternoon. Come after the fifth hour if that is convenient.¡±

    The priestess nodded she was robed in a luxurious grey robe, her dark hair adorned with pearls that glimmered like freshly shed tears. Her dark blue eyes set in a thin pale face followed the royal children as they left the hall and murmured, ¡°If you are the cause of many tears in life you will not receive as many tears in death.¡± She made the symbol of the chalice and began to pray. Her words were drowned out by the howling winds.

    <hr>

    Somewhere near the river in Kronenburg

    ¡°You know what to do?¡± A gruff-looking older man with the lean muscles of a day-laborer looked at his compatriots.

    ¡°You told us six times already. What do you take us for? And who died and made you king?¡± The weasely man standing behind some other rough-looking men ¨C and two women- all of them seemingly unskilled workers rubbed his four-day stubble and mocked in a high-pitched voice. After making his joke he guffawed, more amused by it himself than probably anyone else present.

    Some of the others grinned and one or two chuckled.

    ¡°Tom, if you are still joking when this here is done then I will eat my words- but you empty-headed fool, son of a brain-dead carp will do as we have decided or you will stay at home and not bother me. Is that clear?¡±

    The small group numbering around a dozen members stood among crates and barrels in an old warehouse. The musty air made their breath steam with cold and most of them would rather be somewhere warmer than here but a certain determination shone in their eyes, even the jokester secretly gritted his teeth and then nodded, still wearing his smile.

    ¡°Too long have we been the plaything of the so-called nobles. Too long have they ignored us, even made fun of our plight, used us! The girl is still young and inexperienced and the aunt is academy-taught, a lily-handed scholar! We will not get a better chance to make our grievances heard!¡±

    ¡°Hear, hear!¡± Several of the men stamped their feet and raised their voices.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Say, where is Miro?¡±

    Behind some crates stood a figure wearing dark, form-fitting clothing blending into the shadows with a bit more than mundane expertise. ¡®So it seems I¡¯m not needed. So much the better. There are three more groups that could possibly need my encouragement.¡¯ A smile flitted across the otherwise impassive face before the figure turned murmured some words and vanished into the dusky evening.

    <hr>

    The palace in the early afternoon

    ¡°Liese, how have you been?¡± Keralia looked at her and squinted her eyes as if trying to see the girl she had briefly seen three years ago.

    ¡°Well enough I suppose.¡± The sisters sat in a small reception room high up in the palace overlooking the sprawling gardens enclosed by the wings extending behind the main building. Dry, snowed-in fountains and hedge mazes as well as gazebos and small artfully placed lakes gave the meticulously crafted appearance of neglect that had been all the rage some years prior. A bay window lent an unparalleled view.

    Nimeria took a sip from the elegant tea cup made of bone china. An expensive import from the southern isles.

    Keralia sighed, ¡°Dare I ask what both of you think of the planned coronation?¡±

    The words dropped like stones into a pond full of silence.

    Nimeria coughed as some of the tea went the wrong way. Coughing still, she grabbed a handkerchief, hiding her slowly reddening face.

    ¡°I see.¡± Keralia nodded.

    ¡°No, we did not have the opportunity until now.¡± Lieseleta looked highly uncomfortable.

    ¡°And?¡± Her sister looked at both of them intently. ¡°I¡¯m out of the running. The other counts would strip us to the bones before they would let me reign. So, what are your thoughts, dear sisters?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it like always?¡± Nimeria pressed her lips firmly together. ¡°The untalented, stupid girl should not get in the way?¡±

    ¡°I never said that!¡± Lieseleta looked alarmed.

    ¡°But you did not say anything when your mother disrespected me!¡± Her face twisted with anger. ¡°And father always laughed as if at a joke.¡± She gripped the handkerchief until it was crumpled in a ball.

    Keralia¡¯s face showed the hint of a smile. ¡°So you don¡¯t object to Liese becoming queen?¡±

    Nimeria¡¯s jaw muscles bunched as she ground her teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone will care for my opinion as usual.¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Lieseleta quietly said.

    Her eldest sister raised an eyebrow and gave her a highly skeptical look before she snorted and looked away.

    ¡°Tsk, tsk. Manners.¡± Keralia did not smile exactly but a hint of it played around the corners of her mouth.

    ¡°I just remembered that my steward asked me to prepare for a visit by academy councilor Grenzwald. I am so sorry but I cannot stay any longer. It was very nice seeing you two again.¡± Nimeria looked at them coldly before she got up, and smoothed her dress. With an arrogant toss of her head she threw her golden hair behind her shoulder and walked briskly toward the door.

    ¡°But¡­!¡± Lieseleta half-rose before a hand on her upper arm stopped her.

    ¡°Let her go.¡± Keralia shook her head.

    The door slammed shut behind the departing princess.

    <hr>

    The Academy of the Arts a few hours prior.

    The main auditorium was full of students and the whispers and low voices filled the cavernous room with a susurrus of noise.

    Alyssa sat down beside Mireille who had eagerly waved at her as soon as she entered the hall. Alea was already seated beside Vivienne who seemed to have come through the battle with only minor injuries, the same as her brother Valens. In between sat the still bandaged Paula that Alyssa had once met in the corridors- She nodded at her in recognition getting a smile in return.

    The lectern on the podium at the front of the hall with its slowly rising floor giving everyone an unobstructed view of the proceedings was illuminated by a focused beam of light by a large glow-lamp situated in the ceiling above. Large, latticed windows overlooked the academy gardens rising from just above the floor to nearly the ceiling two stories above. A balcony with more seats arranged against a stone railing overlooked the hall from up high.

    As they waited the noise slowly rose in volume as the students became impatient.

    ¡°Silence please.¡± A voice sounded from behind and a group of teachers led by Magister Illimen and Reneus Flammensiegel walked down the central aisle.

    Climbing the podium the Magister let his gaze roam over the assembled students.

    ¡°Welcome. I think it surprises no one when I say that we had to have this assembly after the happenings of the Arcane Exhibition and you are probably impatient to know what I have to say, so I will keep it brief and will allow some questions after I have made some announcements.¡±

    A wave of murmurs was stopped by a raised hand from the old wizard.

    ¡°So, first I have to say I was impressed by your courage and fortitude. Many of you fought without being asked when you saw civilians and guardsmen attacked by the undead forces. Those of you who made contributions be assured that we know your names and efforts. They will not be forgotten. Those of you who did not fight, don¡¯t worry. Not everyone is suited for battle and not every branch of magic offers the same abilities to make a difference in a fight. Students are not required to so if you fled with the civilians this will not be held against you.¡±

    "And, I am very sad to say, some did not live to see this day. Despite our best efforts we, I, failed to keep them safe. This act of war will not go unanswered and we will properly grieve for our fallen at a later time when we will have a separate funeral ceremony." Illimen looked tired after saying this. "Let us remember them in silence." He looked down and everyone in the hall did the same. A heavy air seemed to weigh on those present only marred by the noise of some students shifting in their seats.

    Nodding, Magister Illimen cleared his throat. ¡°Now on to the void corruption. We had notices put on the board and all the dorm mothers were informed of it but I will reiterate. Don¡¯t use magic if not truly necessary. The void contamination has reached the academy proper and it might impact you negatively if you disregard this advice. You have been warned.¡±

    A wave of whispers rose anew and Illimen snapped his fingers and a roiling ball of fire exploded from his hand vanishing with a bang. The hall was silent once again.

    ¡°There will be time for questions later! So, where was I? Yes- This announcement might surprise you but we planned the annual field-testing for after the Exhibition.¡±

    Suprised whispers and a few exclamations began anew.

    Illimen turned toward an unremarkable older woman wearing white robes. ¡°Ethel, if you would?¡± The woman nodded and spoke a spell and the room was soon completely silent, some students still wanted to talk but though their mouths moved, no sound came out.

    ¡°Sorry for that but I don¡¯t have the time to calm you down every few seconds personally.¡± Illimen sighed and continued, ¡°The annual field training is a fine tradition that has stood us in good stead for decades. And even if the weather is a bit inclement at the moment we, the faculty, think it would be good for you to train in adverse conditions while also avoiding damage to your health because of the ongoing void contamination. So we will stay for the royal funeral and the ceremony affirming the regent and the conditional coronation of the queen. After this, we will journey to the border with the untamed regions near Hundred Streams and remain there for approximately one month. There will be a test!¡± He grinned a bid wanly.

    Looking to the side he gestured and the woman in white released the spellwork and noise returned as students agitatedly whispered to each other.

    ¡°Brr. That will be horrible! I hate the cold!¡± Mireille hugged herself and looked at Alyssa with a devastated expression.

    ¡°There, there.¡± Alyssa patted her shoulder. ¡°Let us get some more heating enchantments and we will be set.¡±

    ¡°?hem.¡± Illimen cleared his throat again. ¡°Any questions? Please, only those acknowledged will talk.¡±

    Hands rose into the air.

    Illimen sighed, it was not as if he had not expected this.

 Funeral

    ¡°Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.¡±

    - Aristotle

    The day of the funeral dawned with a low cloud cover driven from the sea by constant winds. Indirect light filtered through the grey sky and seemed to leech the colors from buildings, roads, and people leaving behind a depressing lack of life.

    The ceremony would be held in the cathedral of the guiding light, consecrated to the god of justice and leadership, Gesserach the one-eyed, the upright judge.

    A procession wound through the streets. The first carriage was drawn by six black horses whose hooves struck the cobblestones with uncanny might causing sparks to fly, this and strange flickers of light coruscating on their glossy coat and heavy manes showed them to be some kind of fey-breed. The coffin was placed on the back wreathed with black roses, grown with nature magics and giving off a numbing fragrance even in this freezing weather.

    The second carriage was a more humble affair of black lacquered wood. Carl Askander¡¯s coffin was unornamented and covered with purple hyacinth flowers.

    Following were the coaches of the royal children and the dowager queen. Accompanied were they by royal knights garbed in somber mourning colors.

    Citizens stood at the side carrying lamps and candles with flickering flames. Symbolically lighting the way for their deceased ruler.

    And as the procession reached the market ward from which they would soon reach the temple square, colloquially known as the prayer roost, there was a sudden commotion. Many people from the spectating masses suddenly ran forward and brandished bottles or small flasks. Guardsmen reacted quickly and tried to intercept the runners but mostly failed. Around the leading carriages shields of scintillating force snapped into being the energies made the stone beneath crack and the force pushed some of the people standing in the first ranks back into the crowds.

    Screams rose and panic spread.

    Then the first of the flasks hit the stones and the barriers and red liquid, sometimes steaming in the cold air spread over the stones.

    Several among the bottle-throwing agitators shouted slogans, ¡°Bloodsuckers! Your hands are not clean! Leave us and our children alone. Power to the people! Freedom!¡±

    ¡°For council and government not the delusions of a single family!¡±

    ¡°We demand representation!¡±

    Several mages among the accompanying royal guards loosed spells at the protesters, webs and arcing lightning immobilized some of them, others countered with spells of their own before vanishing into the panicking masses.

    Lieseleta half stood in her carriage leaning against the window and looked horrified. ¡°What in the world do they think to accomplish with that!?¡±

    Heloise clenched her fists and began to answer when Irene, Nica von Margrinar zu Themsfeld the mother of Lieseleta answered, ¡°They are paid or manipulated fools that carry out your enemies'' designs. Even if their foolishness stems from idealistic musings it''s simply regurgitated drivel fed to them by the likes of the Cragscoasts or even the von Saltmarsh.¡± She was a beautiful woman and used magic to keep herself looking as if in her late twenties when she would be celebrating her fortieth birthday next year.

    Frowning she pulled Lieseleta back onto her seat and snapped the curtain shut. ¡°Don¡¯t think about them. I will have the royal spymistress find the backers and then we snip their claws. Until then every iota of emotion invested in this farce is only playing into their hands.¡±

    ¡°But this discontent does not seem to be recent?¡± Lieseleta looked at her aunt and mother.

    Heloise shook her head. ¡°As much as I tend to disagree with your mother- she does have a point. This here is an attack aimed at you while you are still weak. It is not intended to do anyone anything good but to harm you. An attack is best answered in kind so I will have this looked into as soon as possible. Keep your calm. If you really must you can deplore the poor misguided souls when you hold the speech commemorating your father. That might make a good impression.¡±

    The panic got more serious as some of the blood- for that was the liquid- splattered on the crowds as some bottles were thrown from windows surrounding the avenue. Shards of earthenware and glass erupted with showers of red.

    The fay horses regarded the whole commotion silently, motes of fire flickered in black, fathomless eyes.

    The reaction this time was less restrained and a bolt of crimson fire impacted a thrower leaning from the window illuminating him with a halo of flame as his hair burst into flame and his face charred. With a strangled scream he toppled over and the flaming carcass dropped into the citizenry- in their haste to get away some were trampled underneath.

    ¡°We have to do something!¡± Lieseleta turned and looked at the others helplessly.

    Heloise frowned fiercely and tapped an amulet hidden beneath her dress and then exited the carriage and before she shut the door again turned and said, ¡°Remain inside, whatever happens, this could well be an assassination attempt on top of all this.¡±

    Then she launched several spells in quick succession bolts of brilliant light that dazzled and confused. Several healers forced their way toward the fallen.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    The black roses, unnatural in their perfection framed the coffin- far away, not only in distance, from what was happening.

    The situation was soon brought back under control but the assembled crowd had thinned considerably and without the intervention of the town-guard there would probably only be a few of the most ardent supporters of the crown left.

    ¡°What a headache.¡± Heloise re-entered the coach and sat down. ¡°We will make the best of it.¡±

    Reaching the cathedral, church knights of Gesserach stood in double rows to both sides while hymns to the god of justice sang out of the open portal. The normally brilliantly shining armor seemed subdued under the leaden skies.

    Gigantic censers hanging from the ceiling wreathed the interior in slowly drifting layers of smoky incense. Flames symbolizing the purifying aspect of enforcing the law flared from big fire bowls. Shadows flickered giving movement to silent frescoes telling tales of greed and punishment.

    The coffins were placed before the statue and the priest ascended behind the altar.

    If she were asked what the sermon had been about she would not have been able to answer. Lieseleta stood in the small area set aside and separated for use by royalty and her eyes focused on the polished coffins holding her father and brother.

    The remains would stay in the temple for one night and then be buried in the royal mausoleum in the morning.

    When they exited the temple the cold, clean air- for once the manufactoria were still and the perpetual east wind blew the smoke and dust along the river- hit them like a sharp spike of ice, and the assembled people of Margrinar along with many nobles filled a good part of the temple square. An expectant hush fell over the assembly only broken by the whining of the wind.

    Taking a few steps Lieseleta stood before the crowd and from behind heard one of the royal magicians cast the spell for sound transference.

    ¡°Citizens, fellow people of Margrinar. I stand before you in this dark hour mourning the death of my father and brother. Shortly after the tragedy that befell my eldest brother Thomas, I stand here again. Would that we could use those cold and snowy months to gather around the hearths warming our homes and think of the spring to come, but for some of us, for my father and brothers this spring will never arrive. Old enemies stir, and misguided souls try to disrupt even the most sacred of moments. The world seems bleak.¡± She gestured towards the low-hanging clouds. ¡°But we are the descendants of Allisair whose people sailed the oceans of another world and even as our ancestors had to build anew we will rise above the hardship and adversity. With the help of the good gods, we will rebuild what is fallen and forge ahead towards a new spring.¡±

    Scattered applause and cheers rang from the largely silent masses.

    Nodding toward the side Heloise directed several magicians and priests to step forward and together they spoke a long ritual prayer assisted by the infusion of light magic. Raising her arm Heloise gestured and a gigantic beam of light pierced the cloud cover in the direction of the noonday sun forcing aside the clouds.

    Rays of sunlight moved with the roiling clouds and strafed over the assembled people who were beginning to cheer more earnestly now.

    Lieseleta stood for a few moments and then backed away. Somewhere in the crowd, several people began to sing the national anthem.

    ¡°I hope it was enough,¡± Lieseleta whispered toward Heloise under her breath. Irene looked at the newfound closeness between aunt and niece and frowned, a bit of jealousy flashed behind her eyes.

    Soon, much too soon, the clouds cut off the sun again but the people were still singing as Lieseleta and her entourage left as they had come.

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorms

    Alyssa, Alea, and Mireille stood before a large amount of luggage.

    ¡°Whose is that?¡± Mireille pointed at several chests, ¡°And where were they before, not in this room- that is for sure.¡±

    Alea¡¯s cheeks were burning.

    ¡°Yours?¡± Alyssa grinned and nodded toward her diminutive friend.

    ¡°I have to be able to recharge and repair Cecily and Butler One.¡± She fidgeted.

    ¡°And you decided to take a workshop with you?¡± Mireille laughed.

    ¡°Only the most necessary tools and some supplies.¡± Alea defended herself.

    Butler One turned to look at his mistress, ¡°Everything assembled as ordered, with the storage available on the vehicles it is estimated that it will not fit both you and your companions and the luggage.¡±

    Semiramis tried to open a bag at the side swiping her claws at a rope binding it together.

    Cyrus walked over and hissed at her which she answered by meowing stridently.

    Mireille jumped on the largest coffer and leaned back while letting her legs dangle down the sides. ¡°This could be comfortable enough.¡± She declared, ¡°It only needs a cushion!¡±

    ¡°If we had some spare mana-dust I could try enchant a spatial enlargement on some of the chests?¡± Alyssa mused. ¡°I have been getting better at it recently. The math was holding me back- They never taught such things in Firswending.¡± A pang of guilt hit her as she realized how long it had been since she had thought of her father. She had ¨C for fear of gaining a foe''s attention ¨C not even tried to get information regarding the situation back home.

    ¡°Perhaps Vanessa could help? What¡¯s up with her anyway? Is she still injured? Iseret has been making herself scarce lately too.¡± Mireille kicked her legs while still lying on her back, rocking the coffer.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t do that, you will fall.¡± Alea looked at the whole display uncomfortably.

    ¡°I think that Iseret has a lot on her plate regarding the coming elevation of the Reborn. She was only with us as a ruse trying to help Vanessa after all. When Orpen was- killed? Do we know if he is still around, fled, or deceased?¡± Alyssa began to answer and then got sidetracked.

    ¡°He should be dead.¡± Alea nodded firmly, ¡°Iseret said something about that when she left me to care for Vanessa after the Exhibition.¡±

    ¡°If she is with our resident v¡­ahem. Person. Blood-challenged person? Anyway, if they are together she would tell us if anything was wrong.¡± Mireille stumbled over the ''v''-word. They had quietly decided to be more careful. Standing in the limelight several times had taught them a bit of caution.

    ¡°And what about Lorelle?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°She will be with me of course.¡± The spider on Alea¡¯s shoulder turned to look at the white-haired girl.

    ¡°So, do we try to fit more in less or leave something behind?¡± Mireille linked her hands and stretched them toward the ceiling palms facing outward.

    ¡°I would take this as a challenge. I have not had as much success with my spatial affinity as with the others.¡± Alyssa smiled. ¡°As they say practice makes perfect.¡±

    ¡°Should I be elsewhere when you practice? Spatial magic and practice make for a scary combination.¡± Mireille stopped kicking her feet and sat up.

    ¡°Have the clothes arrived?¡± Alyssa changed the subject.

    ¡°No, but they should be here soon.¡± Alea nodded to herself, ¡°Tomorrow at the latest. The field excursion is planned for next week, we still have nearly six days.¡±

    ¡°Why do you pack so early?¡± Mireille looked confused. ¡°Would it not be better to do it the day before like normal people?¡±

    ¡°I had a hunch it would be bit much.¡± Alea shuffled her feet.

    Laughter echoed from the windows floating over the snowed-in meadow before the dorm.

 Snowballfight

    ¡°I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.¡±

    - Helen Keller

    Wisteria Dorms

    Alyssa carved another rune compared it to the open book lying on the table and cursed under her breath.

    Asandria hovered near her shoulder and a sigh like the wind brushing over dead leaves accompanied her disapproval. ¡®Perhaps you should leave the carving to someone with more artistic talents in that regard?¡¯

    ¡°My ¡®artistic¡¯ talents lie more in song and music. Thank you very much.¡±

    Putting away the failed wooden board she stretched and looked outside. The snow had not been disturbed much in recent times as the cold and the generally depressed mood after the death of seven students made venturing outside a chore.

    It made for some clean, white snow though.

    She looked at the runes and frowned. They did not ¨C look- complicated. But the devil was in the details, there were almost no straight lines, all had a little curve or twist to them, and getting it just right- or right enough for her purposes- was not as easy as the author of the book ¡®Runic considerations of Space¡¯ made it seem.

    Grabbing another board, that would go into the side of the coffer she was aiming to enlarge, she grabbed the magical stylus and began to scratch the runes anew.

    Semiramis was sleeping further along the table, legs splayed over the edge in a decidedly uncomfortable-looking pose, her wings were tightly folded at least. Sometimes her claws extended and she made little implied slashing motions probably dreaming of prey.

    Cyrus had claimed her bed and filled it too. The wyvern had had a growth spurt to rival her friend Mireille and was much too large to sit on her shoulders anymore, with a bit of effort she could lift him still but the time neared when even that would be impossible.

    In a more sedate moment some weeks back she had read about forest wyvern and some of them were between fifteen and twenty meters from snout to tailspike with a wingspan of about ten. Some grew even larger and she was not inclined to take bets as to which length he might reach in time.

    Grinning at the thought of flying on his back which did not seem that far away anymore, she scratched another rune. Breathing a sigh of relief as she saw that the error this time was well within the tolerances she had set herself she put aside the second board she had finished in as many days. Two more and she would have enough for a rudimentary spatial enchantment. She would have to use a lesser mana jewel because only using dust wouldn¡¯t be enough to reliably last the journey and she had read about the results of failing space enchantments- it could even lead to a small explosion when space no longer sufficed for the items it contained.

    Whistling she pulled at the nether spider silk gloves covering her left arm. Learning not to use void when she wanted to use magic had been difficult but she thought she had gotten the hang of it. Infusing spatial magic while cutting the runes was much easier than getting the runes right- at least for her.

    She stretched again and a kink in her neck straightened with a pop. ¡®I¡¯m an old woman now! I must never let Mireille see me like this!¡¯

    The door to the room opened with a bang as a roundish ball of snow and furs burst through the opening. ¡°Alyssa, come quickly! There are snow spirits near the pond!¡±

    Mireille had a fur-lined cap with ear flaps pulled deeply into her face her cheeks were quite red from the cold and her hairs were tangled everywhere. The coat she had put over a jacket, that she had pulled over her winter uniform made her movements stiff but lightning magic helped with that.

    ¡°I am working here, Mireille! I saw them this morning when you were still sleeping.¡± She smiled to take the sting from her words.

    ¡°But you should go outside sometimes.¡± Mireille looked at her imploringly. ¡°Alea is with her family and even Lorelle is gone. Please!¡±

    Looking outside Alyssa saw the first tinge of red in the snow from the sun nearing the horizon. She shrugged, ¡°Ok. But only for a few minutes. I have to finish at least one enchantment otherwise I would be too embarrassed to look Alea in the face. Why did you not ask Paula?¡±

    ¡°That spoilsport is in the city with some friends of hers. She had asked me but I had forgotten and when I went to get her they were already gone.¡± Mireille frowned in dissatisfaction.

    ¡®Getting some exercise might improve your concentration. That last rune was nearly a failure.¡¯ Asandria admonished.

    Grabbing her coat she spoke a quick fire spell and warmth infused her garments.

    ¡°Ah, nice trick. Do you think I could use it too? Fire should be okay don¡¯t you think?¡± Mireille mused while walking beside her friend. She took a disproportionate amount of satisfaction¨C at least in Alyssa¡¯s opinion- from the fact that she could now look down on the smaller white-haired girl.

    Venturing outside the biting cold soon put a blush on Alyssa¡¯s face, thankfully her quick spellwork held- for now.

    ¡°I can lend you the almanac if you want to. It¡¯s properly titled ¡®Primer for the magically inclined Housewife¡¯. It was my mom''s. ¡± She smiled a bit sadly. She breathed deeply of the crisp air and continued, "It''s simple enough and- more important- close to your affinities that it should be manageable even with your brand.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Thanks in advance.¡± Mireille skipped through the snow and kicked plumes of the stuff into the air.

    Near the small pond under the wisteria trees which gave the dorm its name small funnels of snow moved in unnatural patterns, some contained sparkling lights, and some even seemed to form a small humanoid figure.

    ¡°Look, there seem to be more.¡±

    ¡°The time of dusk is a time of passage and so it is easier for elemental forces to influence the world.¡±

    A snowball impacted the side of her torso and the now loose snow fell to the ground leaving her dusted with white.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Alyssa turned and frowned in mock fury before she also grabbed some snow and after packing it into a more or less even sphere hurled it back at her attacker.

    After a fierce battle, both of the girls were covered in a thick layer of half-frozen snow and the minor spell had long since ceased to work. After cooling down from the exertion Alyssa was shivering, her teeth chattering from the cold. ¡°L...le..ts...brr...go in...in¡­¡±

    Mireille grabbed her friend and hauled her towards the dorm. Madam Gosling stood in the doorway and shook her head in exasperation a carpet beater in hand. ¡°Come here you two. You won¡¯t get inside with all that snow so let me quickly pat it off you.¡±

    Doing as much as she had said she removed the worst of it before letting them go inside, not before she gathered the outer layers for drying near the kitchen''s hearth fire.

    Both of them looked a bit sleepy after the exertion with Mireille being clearly less winded. Realizing this she looked at Alyssa with a superior smirk, ¡°You should train more, if Julia- my teacher from Sword One- saw your performance she would whip you around the training field for a whole afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be difficult if I were as bad at it as you think?¡± Alyssa retorted.

    Smiling, both of them took a quick bath, heated water in winter being a gift from the gods themselves.

    As they sat on the bed and dried their hair there was a knock on the door. Both of them looked at each other and shrugged before Mireille called out, ¡°Who is it?¡±

    A soft girlish voice answered, ¡°It¡¯s me, Vivienne. Valens is with me too. Do we come at a bad time?¡±

    ¡°Come in, the door¡¯s open,¡± Mireille called back.

    Soon the four of them sat around the table and Vivienne inspected Alyssa¡¯s handiwork. ¡°I have not had much exposure to spatial runes but your rune-carving seems to have progressed nicely. She looked at a broken board lying against the wall and grinned at the crudely carved sigils adorning it.

    ¡°Damn. I thought I had given it away as firewood for the kitchen!¡± Alyssa cursed.

    Valens clenched his fists and said with some effort, ¡°No one can do that without first learning it.¡± His eyes implored his sister to be gentle.

    Both half-elves were in simple leather and fur clothing with a foreign cut and some ornamental stitching reminiscent of fish.

    ¡°Is that from Kruoghs Breach?¡± Mireille looked at the leatherwork with interest.

    ¡°Yes, it''s from the north.¡± Vivienne gave up on further teasing and put her chin on her folded hands, elbows propped on the table.

    Valens sighed, he never won against his sister and now she punished him by making him carry the conversation further, ¡°How are you two? And where is Alea?¡± Relieved at having gotten this far he looked at Alyssa.

    ¡°We are well enough I suppose. The wounds were quickly dealt with but the fight was something else.¡± She sighed. ¡°Alea is with her family. Her grandmother is in bad health at the moment and cannot leave the townhouse. Demavar, her uncle plans to return to Graufurt after the coronation and this is one of the last occasions where she can easily meet with him and talk.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Valens nodded.

    ¡°Do you have any family?¡± Mireille looked at him guilelessly.

    Valens swallowed an angry retort, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Oh, ok. Sorry, I did not want to remind you.¡± Mireille lowered her eyes.

    Vivienne gazed at all of them and then gave Valens a considering look that seemed to say, ¡®You are off the hook- for now.¡¯ Before she interjected, ¡°It''s been a long time now. But it''s still not something we are comfortable talking about. Where is Iseret? She did make a really good showing at the Exhibition. And the smaller girl with her was truly gifted with her ice-claws.¡±

    ¡°Iseret is back in town at the moment, I don¡¯t know where Vanes¡­¡± Mireille began to answer as Alyssa kicked her against the shin. ¡°I don¡¯t know where the girl went.¡±

    ¡°Was she an elf?¡± Vivienne looked at both of them intently.

    Alyssa looked at Mireille consideringly and then asked, ¡°Why do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°She looked a bit like our mother,¡± Valens answered to everyone''s surprise.

    ¡°That is true.¡± Vivienne nodded. ¡°And we would very much like to talk to her if possible.¡±

    ¡°We will ask, but she is normally very withdrawn and does not often meet new people.¡± Alyssa prevaricated.

    Vivienne¡¯s eyes held even more interest now but she no longer asked.

    ¡°Should we play a game? I can ask Madam Gosling if she has some bread and cheese if you haven¡¯t eaten already?¡±

    ¡°That would be much appreciated.¡± Vivienne grinned.

    They played a few card games before the two siblings left just before the dorm mother would have locked the door.

    ¡°Do you want to go to bed now or could you show me the fire spell?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit sleepy but the spell is easy enough. Come here I will show you.¡± Alyssa grabbed the well-thumbed ¡®Primer¡¯. The edges were nearly bare of ink, she had not been the first owner, that had been probably her mother, but the book was perhaps even older. Countless hands had turned the pages so that the outermost words were sometimes blurred.

    ¡°Here look at this diagram, you have to align those three glyphs and the spell is¡­¡± Alyssa patiently explained the spell to her friend. ¡°And now you try.¡±

    Mireille licked her lips nervously and gestured, glyphs sprang into being, small and barely glowing they did not look like much. Channeling energy and speaking the spell a small rush of warmth left her hands and settled into her clothing. ¡°Alyssa! I did it!¡±

    Her friend smiled, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have any difficulty with that. It does not last long but with a bit of practice and familiarity, you can extend the time quite a bit. If that does not work out for you I can look into adding a few qualifier glyphs.¡±

    ¡°No thank you. If it gets too complicated it will be like work and irritating instead of nice. It''s perfectly fine as it is!¡± Mireille hastily deflected those thoughts.

    Alyssa laughed.

    ¡°You seem better.¡± Mireille looked at her friend.

    ¡°I am better. I want to be honest- The potions did a lot for me and I have to thank Vanessa when I see her. Without that, I would be a wreck probably. I still see decay everywhere but if it is important I can simply close my left eye. The void magic I unconsciously release from my left hand is a problem but with the gloves, it is not insurmountable. I got a lot of control back through Vanessa¡¯s exercises. If we are not killed by assassins or undead, or mad nobles things should be looking up.¡±

    Mireille hugged her suddenly, ¡°I am glad.¡±

    Patting her on the back Alyssa smiled and was glad that she was facing the wall so Mireille could not see her teary eyes. ¡°Me too. And thank you.¡±

 Stoking the flames

    ¡°Playing with fire will eventually turn bitter.¡±

    ¡ª Welsh Proverb

    A street on the outskirts of Dornenfurt

    A carriage rumbled over an uneven street swaying with the occasional pothole while a score of armored soldiers rode escort.

    The surrounding daub and wattle houses interspersed with the rare whole wood structure were mostly silent in the evening. The transport was late and the driver wanted to make it to the depot before nightfall stranded them in the countryside. Columns of smoke curled into the cold evening air. Frozen puddles made the footing treacherous and a few light spells flared from the hands of some of the escorts while large glow lamps shone ahead fixed to the side of the driver''s bench.

    Suddenly several shutters flew open and a flurry of bolts shot at the tired and inattentive soldiers. Screams rent the night as they thudded home in flesh and armor. Blood splattered across the dirty snow. Some horses were hit and rose on their hindlegs throwing their riders more often than not. Several masked assailants sprang from hiding places between the houses and attacked in melee. Only some of the soldiers were ¡®lucky¡¯ enough to wound or kill an attacker before they succumbed to the superior numbers.

    ¡°Stop the carriage or die!¡± A single masked robber stood in the middle of the street with a thick rod clasped in his hand.

    The driver ducked and whispered a spell, causing air to intensify into a swirling shield before him.

    Cursing as the horses bore down on him the lone highwayman jumped to the side and activated the wand with a command word. With a crack and a dull bone-shaking thump, the forcebolt hit shield and driver shattering the first and then bursting the coachman''s chest in a geyser of broken bones and blood.

    With an agile leap, the robber jumped onto the transport and began to pull at the reins getting the horses to slow down and then stop. Broken ice sprayed from the horse''s hooves.

    Behind him, the sound of metal piercing flesh indicated the fate of the fallen soldiers.

    Several of his accomplices worked to secure the goods.

    ¡°We got it Lucce!¡± A masked woman shouted.

    A word and a gesture conjured another magelight and the robber manning the reins jumped onto the loading platform and inspected their price.

    "This is it." One of them pulled a cloth revealing a chest between the crates holding ingots, food and mana dust. With a whispered command a force wand spat a blue bolt shearing away the lock.

    The leader reached inside and pulled out a dull red metal rod as long as a forearm with a complicated glyph made of three distinct parts flatly affixed to one end and a sort of grip on the other. The indistinct light shone on the opened chest revealing several oblong shapes swaddled in protective linen.

    ¡°Well, well. The information seems to pan out, lets''s give little Olivia a bonus next time. This¡­¡± He drew the word out with relish, ¡°...will go a long way.¡± A grin spread the cloth covering his mouth.

    <hr>

    The eye opens and The-Leaf-that-fell looked at the army encampment. Everywhere he looked his fellow Unrepentant were busy packing tents and supplies on the great Zhun-beasts that followed the battle group. Large, shaggy, four-legged behemoths with four horns and vicious red eyes deeply set above blunt snouts full of curved teeth. They were as large as a house two stories tall and their stout legs were bent backward like those of a large bird making for an ungainly appearance. The fur was dark and easily tangled, the noble beasts that served the great bloodlines were kept pristine but those here, not so much. They looked like a cross between a gigantic auroch and a feline but their temper most easily resembled that of a bull with a toothache. But they could not be choosy, smaller creatures would not be of much use to the cyclops and they were still thankful for the prophecy that had gained them their service some few hundred years back.

    Rising from where he had sat in a lotus position Leaf-that-fell unhooked the large horn from his belt and blew a series of notes. The giants hurried their labor and soon they were ready to march again. His bond-troll looked up and bowed subserviently. ¡°The drums?¡± Came a scratchy voice, much too high for the large green-skinned humanoid. Eyes the color of pus fresh from an infected wound stared into his single eye, teeth that looked as if they had been buried in loam for years, black and brown with hints of green jutting from a severe overbite ground back and forth. A black, filthy mane swept the scarred back of the slave clothed in a loincloth made of bear hide.

    ¡°Yes. We have to make haste. Marching drums it is.¡± A deep, measured voice answered.

    The troll adjusted the hollow tree trunk and began to drum a quick cadence. Heavy feet thudded into the earth, ropes used to secure supplies groaned as the Zhun-beasts rose and began to walk.

    Birds and other wildlife fled from the marching army bursting into the sky and field all around.

    ¡®As it should be.¡¯ Thought the Leaf-that-fell. Unrepentant were never used for subtlety and a tool should always follow its function. Hammering his dark breastplate he bellowed the oath to the blood tree and the others followed. War drums sounded, the sun shone in his face cresting the hills ahead, and his single eye gleamed in anticipation.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    <hr>

    The noble grabbed the goblet and frowned, why was it empty again. ¡°More wine!¡±

    A servant hurried to fill the silver vessel anew and the man gulped down a large swallow of dark-red Andoran wine. ¡°Mh. Acceptable.¡±

    The steward waiting beside him cleared his throat. The room they were sitting and standing in was a small salon in a townhouse overlooking a snowed-in plaza. It was very early still so only a few servants were seen going about their errands fording new paths through the fresh snow cover. ¡°May I suggest you make ready for the meeting my lord. The time will be tight otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Mpf.¡± The young man turned and glared at the older man. ¡°Just because father bade you keep an eye on me does not mean I have to listen to you.¡±

    ¡°That is correct, young master.¡±

    ¡°Remember it well.¡± Grinning smugly the young man turned back to look intently at a young, pretty serving maid hurrying through the cold outside while carrying a basket containing bread, most likely freshly baked by the steam that rose from the cloth protecting the food.

    The old steward sighed covertly, why did the count leave such important matters to his frivolous son, did he want the matter to fail?

    A knock from the door interrupted his thoughts. ¡°Yes?¡± The young noble looked up with irritation on his face while casting a last lingering look on the maid that vanished into a neighboring building.

    A servant''s voice came through the door, ¡°Your guests have arrived, and apologize for being early.¡±

    ¡°Much good it will do me.¡± The young man grumbled. ¡°Guide them to the reception ro...I mean the dining room should be large enough- Go there.¡±

    Several nobles were seated in the dining room as he finally arrived. His cravat, a new fancy straight from Pareus, pinned with a diamond-studded needle blinked in the light of the glow lamps. ¡°Welcome friends!¡± He grinned.

    A woman scowled. ¡°You kept us waiting, where is your apology?¡±

    ¡°You were early.¡± The young noble pouted petulantly.

    ¡°Now, now. We have some things to decide.¡± A more mature man with blonde hair and a goatee interrupted.

    ¡°Yes. We do.¡± A thin man with glasses, dark hair swept to the side, leaned back on his chair, and tapped his fingers impatiently. ¡°The work proceeds apace, the rebels have been funded and our people move to support those with flagging morals. The death at the procession was...unfortunate...and has cooled the ardor a bit, but some of the rabble have been even more active because of that so I think it more than evens out.¡±

    ¡°What is our next step?¡±

    ¡°You all know that our parents want to distance themselves in case anything goes wrong so we have to be careful.¡± A smaller woman spoke with an arrogant sneer firmly fixed in place marring her otherwise good-looking face.

    ¡°Yes. But it is also our chance to shine and perhaps even surpass our siblings. Is it not?¡±

    ¡°So we do...what?¡±

    ¡°Spend some more money and try to give the crown something to think about.¡±

    The thin man adjusted his glasses, pushing it back up the bridge of his nose. ¡°I think we should gift them some more martyrs. That seems to bring out the best and worst in them.¡±

    ¡°Mh. You might be right and how will we do that?¡± The woman leaned forward and a cruel look flashed through her eyes.

    ¡°I think I may have an idea.¡±

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorm

    ¡°Now I have a mana jewel. An expensive one at that.¡± Alea inspected the glittering blue crystal. It was the color of glacier ice and about the size of her fist. She clenched her fist a bit tighter and frowned. Perhaps that is a bit small?

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± A voice startled her from her reverie as Mireille leaned over her shoulder.

    ¡°Oh, pretty! Can I touch it?¡± And before she could stop her Mireille tapped the jewel with her fingertip a spark flared from inside the crystal and singed her skin. ¡°Ouch!¡±

    ¡°Will you let me answer before simply doing it?¡± Alea scolded her.

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille hummed while sucking on her smarting finger. ¡°Mhhmhhm!¡±

    ¡°It is a mana crystal and contains a charge. If you really empty it there is the possibility of causing micro-fractures so you normally don¡¯t do that. Hopefully, you did not drain it too far.¡± Alea grabbed her appraiser''s goggles and blew a bit of dust from the lenses- she had nearly forgotten them after taking them from the lab in Grunewald- before holding them in front of Cecily.

    ¡°Really?¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°Really.¡± Alea sounded less than amused.

    ¡°Sorry, couldn¡¯t resist. So- what exactly are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I want to replicate the original arrangement with the jewel for Butler One. Taking him with me for the field training and then not having enough mana-dust to keep him in working condition would be embarrassing. And as I have a construct-related class I am allowed one to accompany me.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that unfair for those who cannot afford one?¡± Mireille questioned innocently.

    ¡°I think that is somewhat the point.¡±

    ¡°There speaks the voice of calm experience.¡± Mireille grinned mischievously.

    ¡°Humpf.¡±

    ¡°Can you stop teasing Alea? I for my part would be glad to have Butler One with us and in good condition.¡± Alyssa interjected from her bed where she was reading a grimoire. ¡°But as you are disturbed already- Do you know something about Lieseleta?¡±

    ¡°No, I wrote her a letter two days ago and did not get an answer- I think we will have to ask her in person the day after tomorrow. You do remember that we had an invitation for afternoon tea?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do actually. I¡¯m worried about her. Did you read the Kronenburg Bugler?¡±

    ¡°No- I did not have the time or inclination- What is it?¡±

    ¡°More attacks by some people calling themselves ¡®Republicans¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Is that a word?¡± Mireille reached for the crystal again and got a whack with a screwdriver for her troubles. ¡°Ouch! That was my injured finger.¡± She looked at Alea who was still holding the screwdriver with an aggrieved expression.

    ¡°Yes, I think it means ¡®Matters concerning the public¡¯ or something like that.¡± Alyssa closed her book and turned her full attention to her friends.

    ¡°And why is that the name of some rebels?¡± Mireille looked confused.

    ¡°I think they see themselves as doing all of that for the public- Meaning everyone, not only the nobles. And the word originates from Allisair.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t everything?¡± Mireille yawned.

    ¡°It was a philosophical dispute if nobles are inherently superior and as such should always be leading the masses or if there are people in said masses that could also do in a pinch,¡± Alea explained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna.¡± Mireille shook her head. ¡°Please don¡¯t make me herd people around. I would rather herd cats, at least I can pet cats and they are fluffy.¡±

    ¡°You could pet people I suppose.¡± Alyssa laughed.

    ¡°Are you volunteering?¡± Mireille made a claw with her fingers.

    ¡°Stop that nonsense! I have to carve some connective runes, remove the converter, and install the jewel.¡±

    Classes were still suspended but life began to return to a semblance of normalcy as the wounded recovered and returned to their dorms.

 Prepared

    ¡°Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.¡±

    - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

    The man cut the small string binding the printed rag and unfolded it on the table bearing indelible stains from many a spilled supper. An oil lamp flickered in the middle and shed an uncertain illumination while black smoke rose to the sooty spot on the ceiling left after many such evenings.

    ¡®The passing of a great person! King Vilander Andrealphus Constantin von Margrinar- an obituary.¡¯

    ¡®Attack on the Surnfeldt Manufactorium. Workers escaped unharmed, building burnt to the ground. Republicans declare responsibility.¡¯

    ¡®Exhibition Fiasco! Famous Magister Drathur Illimen of the Academy of the Arts ready for retirement? Councilor Grenzwald accuses Magister of negligence.¡¯

    ¡®Famous Witches of the Past. Drawings by renowned artist Victor Pullwinkel inside.¡¯

    ¡®The terrors of our time. An essay by political philosopher Uther Banbridge about the underlying causes of the Republican Phenomenon.¡¯

    ¡®Mystery around the god of mystery! Is the new Lightbringer a student? Conjecture and guesses inside!¡¯

    The man stroked his mustache and slicked back the few hairs still left on his mostly bald pate. Licking his lips he searched for the pictures by his favorite artist and just as he revealed the drawing of a voluptuous woman wearing scandalously scanty clothes and holding a wand with a sinister smile, a heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

    ¡°You are not looking at them dirty pictures again- are you, Fred?!¡± The voice of his wife of nearly twenty years brought a cold sweat to his forehead.

    Folding the incriminating evidence under the philosophical dissertation he answered. ¡°No, dear, I was just reading this fascinating article about the Republicans.¡±

    ¡°Ah, those sods. But what they did with the ¡®factorum was a right good idea, mind. My brother lost his leg there and they did not even pay his last wage, simply kicked him out. Would have been even better if master Surnfeldt had been inside when it burnt!¡±

    ¡°Tilly, be careful. They have arrested Jim from down the road for seditious talk. I don¡¯t want to visit you in prison.¡±

    ¡°If I go to prison you will damn well visit me.¡± Tilly grabbed his ear and twisted.

    ¡°Aaaaaah! I¡­didn¡¯t...aaaaah.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Certainly, dear.¡±

    <hr>

    The Palace

    Lieseleta walked down the great hall garbed in all the finery of state. Heloise was a half step behind and in front of them stood the high priest of Gesserach, High-Father Klaus von Zettloh.

    Around them arrayed in ordered ranks were the nobles that had been available and willing to be present for the formal investment of the designated heir and the announcement of the regency.

    An amulet lying against her chest, enchanted with strength and endurance, helped immensely because as had been common of late the princess had slept badly interrupted by nightmares of Carl¡¯s death or him killing her and his father.

    Unfriendly, calculating, or demonstratively gentle eyes weighed on her. ¡®No one here can be fully trusted.¡¯ Perhaps with a bit of time, she could further ascertain the position of Alea¡¯s family who seemed quietly supportive which earned them her abiding gratefulness.

    The prime minister had been a friend of the royal family since his time in the Academy of the Arts when Vilander had also been staying there. They had met and befriended each other in the fire magic class of all things. He would support her for this alone.

    ¡°We are gathered here in the light of Gesserach¡¯s grace¡­¡±

    After everything was settled she bestowed honors upon those that had stood by her side. Mostly it was some small honor or even a gift of gold or precious jewelry. But there were exceptions- Kadira looked completely out of place as she walked up to her with sinuous movements, cobra hood slightly flared gold-scaled clothes, silk probably, swishing around her lithe form.

    Whispers surrounded her and she saw discomfort or outright hostility on many faces.

    But debts have to be paid and to gain the admiration and loyalty of people who had none to give or reward someone who had already done their best to keep their end of the deal- she would pay her debts and take the good with the bad.

    <hr>

    Wisteria Dorm

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Alyssa lowered the impure mana jewel into the makeshift receptacle and closed the screws holding it in place. The tip of her tongue was caught between her teeth which escaped her notice but amused Mireille who was playing with Cyrus nearby.

    The coffer she was working on had four boards affixed to the interior sides carved with runes and covered with a metallic looking paint. Several rods made of a coppery alloy led to a copper ¡®egg¡¯ in the lower right corner that still showed a bit of the muddy blue mana crystal fixed in place with several screws. The rods were not yet attached.

    Righting herself she grinned nervously. ¡°Nothing to it, I hope everything goes well.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you should perhaps- you know- do it outside? We only have this one dorm room.¡± Mireille said half-jokingly looking a bit worried.

    ¡°No, there is not much that could go wrong.¡±

    Mireille winced at the choice of words.

    ...Alyssa continued blithely, ¡°So without further ado.¡± She spoke a spell and connected the rods to the copper receptacle. A humming noise sounded and intensified until it began to hurt the ears. Space twisted and the interior of the coffer seemed to swim into and out of focus while the runes lit up with a pale grey light. The wood creaked alarmingly and the copper alloy rattled. Then the painful tone began to subside and only a background whisper remained as the formation stabilized. The interior of the coffer seemed strangely big as if looked at from a distance even while seen up close. The contradiction made for a headache-inducing spectacle.

    Alyssa looked up and saw Mireille holding her ears with a pained grimace while Alea stood beside her with an intrigued look on her face.

    Mireille mouthed, ¡®Is it over?¡¯ Without letting go of her ears to which Alea nodded.

    ¡°Puh! That was awful!¡±

    Alea nodded appreciatively, ¡°This looks good. The jewel will last for up to two months, probably. So it should be enough time for our field training. I will be able to fit a lot of my workshop materials in there. Thank you.¡± She smiled.

    Alyssa brushed the sweat from her forehead and looked at a rune that seemed to flicker a bit. ¡®Next time it will be even better!¡¯ But her plans to enchant her backpack would have to be put on hold for the moment. The delicate spellwork that required would possibly need Vanessa¡¯s expertise. She couldn¡¯t for the life of her imagine how she would accomplish it on her own- for now at least.

    <hr>

    A certain cursed mansion

    Vanessa raised her head from the khopesh and looked at Iseret. ¡°Did you say something?¡±

    ¡°No, but I can as well ask- Is it finished?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I was only just checking to see if the metal would be up to the task. Conducting mana that is not metal in nature does tend to weaken a blade. But I think I have minimized that risk and I put a strengthening rune in the hilt." Looking a bit embarrassed she glanced in her friend''s direction. "I wanted to make sure.¡±

    Iseret unfolded from where she had been sitting legs crossed and for a moment her shadow seemed to be that of a large snake swaying with the shadows thrown by the elemental brazier that the vampire girl had linked to the leyline- under protest.

    The curved sword was inscribed with small runes running around the edge and blunt backside and vanished beneath the wrappings around the hilt.

    ¡°Because I found it time-consuming to sprinkle the mana dust on all of those runes and get it to stick evenly I made an alteration. You can simply use a mana dust solution and immerse the top third of the blade in it. The runes will draw out and distribute the power.¡±

    ¡°Mh, convenient. And what about the effect?¡±

    ¡°I will show you.¡± Vanessa took the blade and pushed it into a glass beaker filled with a bluish liquid, some crystal swirled in the murky depths flickering with pale blue light. As soon as the tip was immersed in water, the blade began to shine and the runes lit up one after another while the water lost its light and color becoming a cloudy grey.

    Raising the blade Vanessa turned it this way and that looking for flaws then spoke a spell and nodded. ¡°Everything seems to be functioning correctly. Give it a try.¡± She pointed at a bucket propped on a heap of rubble in the corner.

    ¡°I would like to say that this should be taken care of but first- Thank you!¡± Iseret eyed the fallen masonry and the uncertain state of the ceiling where water dripped along an alagae-covered part of the wall to gather in a puddle on the floor that drained to somewhere the gods alone knew.

    The sword was light in her hand and she looked to Vanessa for approval as she assumed a fighting stance. The elf with the blue-white hair nodded and spoke a short spell encasing the bucket with a glowing barrier.

    The khopesh slashed downward only pausing for a fraction of a breath before the shield shattered and the blade carved through the bucket into the stones beneath. Ripping the blade out of the stone it had lodged in Iseret grinned. ¡°That feels very satisfying. I can only reiterate- Thank you very much.¡± Inspecting the sword she nodded. ¡°No damage to the edge. Marvelous work and I have seen some good enchantments. If you ever lack funds you could well make a living selling those.¡±

    ¡°Mh. I think it''s sad that after hundreds of years my craft is still worthy of praise. Shouldn¡¯t there be progress, invention? Should not someone say- Oh, that old technique is obsolete?¡± Vanessa frowned.

    ¡°Mh. I have been schooled in history but cannot confidently answer that. I think it might have something to do with the drowning of Allisair and the loss of many great mages and the books and workshops that were not easily transported. The first years on the continent would have been hard I suppose and clever enchanting designs were less important than functional, cheap, and easy runework. In addition, Elves have a reputation as the premier magicians of the bygone age.¡±

    ¡°Mh. We were blessed by Jaros and Yrgos with knowledge- the better to fulfill our obligations.¡±

    ¡°What obligations?¡±

    ¡°Another time perhaps.¡± Vanessa looked pensive.

    ¡°You make me curious.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a pleasant topic and if my conjectures are correct it is a problem to this day.¡±

    ¡°Even more curious now.¡±

    ¡°No. Not today.¡±

    Iseret nodded, and ¡®accidentally¡¯ brushed along Vanessa¡¯s arm while sheathing her sword. Rubbing her arms to get a bit of circulation going- the cellar was still very cold- she sat near the brazier. ¡°Spring cannot come soon enough. Why did I have to go into the frigid north! There are perfectly acceptable southern archipelagos with a very pleasant climate.¡±

    ¡°This weather is unnatural. The Heartstealer is up to something and her power is causing all of this. I simply know it.¡± She gritted her teeth. ¡°I¡¯m worried about the acts of rebellion I hear talk about. It is not the time to spend on internal bickering. There is a great foe that will not grant us reprieve if we are not ready when she really focuses on us and for Rivenlorn it might be too late by then.¡±

    ¡°The Reborn are debating what to do, or even if we want to meddle at all. It will probably depend on further benefits.¡±

    ¡°Mh. I suppose that is to be expected. But take care, if you delay until the undead win then there will be nothing left worth fighting over in the end.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t I know it.¡±

 Going North

    ¡°Winter changes into stone the water of heaven and the heart of man.¡±

    - Victor Hugo

    ¡°What is Magister Illimen thinking,¡± Lieseleta grumbled. ¡°I could have used your help.¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be much longer than a month or two at most?¡± Alyssa tactfully tried to calm the waves.

    They were sitting in the salon overlooking the snowed-in garden, the warmth of the elemental heater suffusing the room.

    ¡°Though it could take longer with the weather being this bad and unexpected monsters,¡± Alea interjected unhelpfully.

    ¡°Why go into the wilderness at all at this time of year?!¡± Mireille complained while drinking down a cup of probably highly expensive tea from the south. ¡°Mh, that¡¯s a good tea!¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Lieseleta brightened a bit. ¡°It is my mother''s favorite but with me being the heir I can get some for my own use.¡±

    ¡°I would hope that you could get some tea!¡± Mireille laughed.

    ¡°Mh. I think you underestimate what it takes to get ¡®this¡¯ tea.¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡± Mireille amiably agreed.

    ¡°Would we really be of help to you?¡± Alea asked somewhat shyly.

    ¡°Yes, of course. Even if it''s not in a professional capacity as budding magicians I could really use your opinions and thoughts. Heloise does what she can but you have met her, didn¡¯t you? She can be blunt and abrasive and above all, she has to force herself to be accommodating.¡±

    Talking about their school life consumed the rest of the allotted time and finally, they said their goodbyes under the strict eyes of the royal steward.

    ¡°I will simply wait for you to come back.¡± Lieseleta saw them off and smiled with a hint of bitterness.

    <hr>

    The day of departure dawned with bright cloudless skies. The wind had picked up in the night and gusts blew loose snow over the frozen ground in glittering streams.

    ¡°Brr. I feel cold just looking!¡± Mireille complained while pulling on her new winter coat. Enchantments woven into the waist lit up as they detected the presence of a living being and soon the warmth emanating from the copper fibers spread through the fabric brought a light sweat to her face. ¡°Hu! How do I cool it down?¡±

    ¡°It should settle on its own?¡± Alea turned Cecily in her direction and pursed her mouth in thought. ¡°It would be too complicated to make it adjustable. Though it might be possible¡­¡± She frowned while considering.

    ¡°Let us go. Everyone else is getting ready to board.¡±

    Walking outside the three friends were accompanied by Butler One, Iseret, and Lorelle while carrying luggage and a big coffer containing most of Alea¡¯s workshop.

    On the road leading to and from the Academy stood coaches and carriages. Students were boarding the vehicles or loading chests and bags.

    Adam Bearkin, the coachman, stood beside their carriage and gestured for them to get inside. Mireille did not need to be asked twice. Even as her new coat warmed her body, her ears, hands, and feet were being frozen stiff.

    The coach they had requisitioned was big enough for six people and Butler One would help Adam with driving.

    Vanessa would be following them as soon as they arrived at their destination.

    Then it was time to set off and the coach shook as the horses slowly began to trot down the street toward the city.

    Mireille stretched her legs, careful not to bump Lorelle sitting opposite her, and asked, ¡°Will we go the whole way by coach? It seems a bit cold for the horses.¡±

    Meanwhile, the coach passed the city gates, and shadows passed over the windows.

    Lorelle hesitated before answering as everyone else was still thinking about it, ¡°I think so? The horses we have are northern breeds but we should take care to reach an inn every night.¡±

    ¡°I have no opinion on horses.¡± Alea shrugged while Alyssa also shook her head.

    ¡°I thought we might get one of those automaton-driven carriages.¡± Mireille looked a bit envious at the thought.

    ¡°I would have liked that too but the expense and the high probability of a malfunction on longer treks do not make it very feasible.¡± Alea sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not as well developed as it seems. At the moment you would still want to have a golem-driven carriage from a professional summoner.¡±

    ¡°No, please don¡¯t.¡± Alyssa shook her head. ¡°When a friend summoned an earth elemental to pull a wagon, the wheels had to be repaired three? No, four times on a journey lasting half a day. This is not a good thing.¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in Nordmark

    Calvin drove his tired mount along the village road. The ground was frozen mud partly submerged in snow. No one seemed to be taking care of it and snowdrifts had accumulated at the walls of the low houses. Some smoke curled from the chimneys and the surrounding fields leading into a dense and dark forest were silent after dusk had fallen. There was an air of desolation- a ruined house- burned down from the look of it- several broken tools and wheelbarrows stacked against the side of a larger building in the middle probably meant for repair but never finished.

    The only guesting house in this village of a few hundred souls lay dark and silent even as it was still early in the evening.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Calvin frowned and rode closer dismounting skillfully he grabbed his warstaff. Runes inlaid with enchanted steel but darkened from years of disuse gleamed as he spelled a globe of light over his left hand. He knocked with the tip of his staff, the hollow sound fading quickly into the night.

    After several minutes footsteps sounded from inside and a small shutter opened at the side. ¡°Who is it?¡± An aged male voice called.

    ¡°A traveler in search of a place for his horse and a warm place by the fire.¡±

    ¡°At this time? Costs you a silver for the horse and three for the room.¡±

    ¡°Do you take me for an idiot? Take two silver and give me a meal and call it my generosity on this cold night.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Fine.¡± After a moment of shuffling the ratcheting of a bolt sounded and the door opened. An old man with an unkempt head full of grey hair and perhaps three lonely teeth garbed in peasants clothing looked him up and down. He looked as if he had lost weight recently and the clothes were bundled with some rope made of twine.

    ¡°Come in. My boy will take the horse.¡± He put two fingers in his mouth and a shrill whistle caused a teenager with a large black bruise coloring his left cheek to come running. ¡°Care for this sires horse will ya?¡± Nodding dutifully the boy looked at Calvin curiously and then ran outside grabbing the horse before leading it into the small courtyard. The old man eyed his eyepatch and the warstaff. ¡°Mercenary?¡± Getting a nod in return he walked inside gesturing for Calvin to follow. ¡°Branded?¡± His guest shook his head with a bit of amusement. ¡°Thought so.¡± Muttered the old man.

    ¡°My name is Sattler, Paul Sattler. And this here is the Jolly Farmer.¡± He made a sweeping gesture around the room. Walking to the back he ignited a sliver of wood with the still glowing coals in the large hearth dominating the room and lit an oil lamp standing on a counter in the back. ¡°So. Two silver for room and board. Aye." Calvin put two silver coins on a nearby table and pushed them forward. Having received his money, the old man pointed at a stair rising along one wall, "The room is the first door on the left when you go up the stairs here.¡±

    The floor was packed mud strewn with slightly moldy straw. There were several tables made of roughly polished wooden planks and Calvin suspected that the polish was more from the guests than any kind of carpenter. The low-hanging wooden ceiling was blackened with soot and some bundles of herbs hung in the corners long since having lost their scent.

    ¡°Sit down while I get you some food.¡± The old man walked to the back and returned with some bread and what seemed to be a cold bean stew. ¡°Should I heat it for you?¡±

    ¡°Make me some hot drink and I will eat it as is.¡± Calvin eyed the offered food and shrugged.

    The old man filled a tankard with beer and then inserted the poker lying in the hearth causing the beer to boil.

    ¡°Here." He put the dubious beverage on the table. "What brings you here at this time of year? I thought every sellsword was wintering somewhere?¡±

    ¡°If there is coin to be made the season makes no difference.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± The old man looked a bit less friendly. ¡°Have your bloody coin then. G¡¯night.¡± He turned and walked up the stairs then stopped and said without turning. ¡°If you need something I will be in my room at the end of the corridor. Or if you need my boy he will be sleeping in the kitchen.¡±

    Calvin took a long draft from the flat, heated beer he had been given and grimaced at the taste. Casting a quick spell the murky liquid became clear as springwater. Tasting it he nodded quietly. The sound of the door closing interrupted his thoughts.

    ¡°Are you a wizard?¡±

    Calvin turned and looked at the boy who was rubbing his arms while shivering. ¡°Yes. Formerly of Desmond¡¯s Own.¡± He sighed at the blue tinge of the boy¡¯s lips and gestured- flames rose along the warstaff and warmth spread in the room. ¡°Come over and warm up a bit, you look ill enough already.¡±

    ¡°Thank you! The taxes were hard this year and the harvest time was short- what with the cold and all.¡± The teenager looked at him suspiciously but his discomfort won out and he huddled near the burning staff lank, blonde hair hung on a thin face with a few wisps of beard around the chin.

    ¡°Any problems around here? Bandits, Monsters?¡±

    ¡°Bandits mostly. The army patrols keep them beasties away but I hear tell that the town of Riversbend has some trouble with drowners and then there is talk of moving trees in the deeper forest. They eat the dead.¡± He blinked at Calvin in a conspirative fashion getting more comfortable as the room heated up.

    ¡°I seek employ with the local lord, where should I ask?¡± Calvin suddenly had a copper coin in his hand and played with it, letting it spin and dance across his knuckles.

    ¡°Ah, that.¡± The boy looked frightened all of a sudden. Calvin gave him a friendly grin and flicked the coin at his chest where it bounced and hit the floor rolling in a circle before the boy snatched it. A complicated expression crossed his immature face and he leaned forward before hastily whispering. ¡°Don¡¯t! It''s not safe. Theric the third son of the smith, went to the old fort across the Sleepy Green¡­¡± seeing Calvin''s incomprehension, he added, ¡°...that¡¯s the small river a few hours to the west.¡± He coughed. ¡°Theric, he went to the fort and he was accepted and everyone was jealous and the wife of Jon, the smith, was so arrogant. But he came back one night and he had grey hair when he was not twenty summers, and then he died.¡± He looked frightened. ¡°And then there are people missing every month.¡± He stood up and bowed. ¡°Please...forget what I said, I am stupid, everyone says so.¡± He laughed hollowly. ¡°Good night, sar!¡± He quickly retreated into the kitchen.

    Calvin retracted his left hand where it had been resting on a large medallion inscribed with runes and his fingers drew small sparks as he removed them from the polished silver. He felt a bit guilty but inducing trust magically was among the most gentle ways of gathering information he knew.

    He tapped the warstaff and the flames guttered before fading away. Shouldering the saddle bags that the stable boy had brought and grabbing his staff he ascended the rickety stair. He would need his wits about him in the coming days, no use in wasting sleep on it.

    <hr>

    The roads grew worse the farther they came from the capital. At first, it was quiet, snowed in hamlets and farms but after the second day the scenery became more rugged and forests and rocky hills took the place of fields and industry. But even here mines and small villages dotted the landscape. Smoke rose from smelters and large swathes of the old forest had been cut down for wood, leaving stumps and scattered bushes.

    ¡°If it continues like this, the forest here will be gone in ten to twenty years,¡± Alea commented musingly as she looked out of the frosted window.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean fewer monsters? Isn¡¯t that a good thing?¡± Mireille looked questioningly.

    ¡°Yes, but without the living vegetation, there will be less mana. There have been treatises about more magically talented people being born in the countryside and some postulate that it has to do with mana density.¡± Alea replied.

    ¡°Kronenburg should be fine then. With the academy and the mana crystals being burned everywhere.¡± Alyssa shrugged.

    Swaying with occasional potholes the coach crunched over the snowy road.

    ¡°There is such a thing as too much mana¡­¡± Alea did not finish her sentence as she was distracted by Mireille.

    ¡°Are we there yet!?¡± the redhead pouted and tapped the window.

    Iseret regarded them with a soft smile.

    ¡°Are you bored with us already?¡± Alyssa scratched Cyrus, who slept in the space between the girls.

    ¡°No. But you don¡¯t do anything but talk, and I would really like to...explore that ruin over there!¡± Mireille looked outside at a broken-down watchtower.

    ¡°Ah, that is one of the sentinel towers. In the early days, there was a system of them looking out for larger monsters so that the army could move quickly to protect the freshly established villages. But now there are no longer any large beasts so deep inside the kingdom, so the towers fell into disuse.¡± Alea smiled. She was no longer as shy among her friends as she had been in the beginning.

    Time passed, and the snow outside began to glow orange with the setting sun.

    Alea held Cecily to look outside and frowned. A stone marker standing beside a crossroad showed a weathered coat of arms.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that what that Mathilde person was wearing?¡± Mireille looked outside and pursed her mouth.

    ¡°Yes, that is the Nordmark Crest. Their lands are quite extensive,¡± Alea answered shortly.

    ¡°Should we be concerned?¡± Alyssa looked at her smaller friend.

    ¡°Yes, I fear we should.¡±

 Fort Wolfsbane

    ¡°Fire lives in the death of earth, air lives in the death of fire, water lives in the death of air, and earth in the death of water.¡±

    - Heraclitus

    Zygmund von Nordmark looked up from the tome he was perusing. Around him stood several wights painstakingly raised from the family crypts. His own lacking talents in necromancy were barely enough to control and raise the simpler undead, skeletons, and corpsefiends and even those were, to put it bluntly, lacking.

    ¡°You have to concentrate.¡± An accent-laden voice sounded from his right. Turning his balefully glowing eyes he saw the frost elven necromancer, a young elf with scars marring his otherwise pretty features and hands marked by frostbite.

    ¡°Ivyander, you begin to seriously annoy me. Don¡¯t test my patience!¡± His voice sounded dry like sandpaper and he laboriously cleared his throat. Grabbing the goblet containing blood from some dissident or other he began to drink and then realized it had coagulated and was no longer palatable. ¡°Bah.¡± He spat. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you warn me?¡± His eyes flared.

    ¡°Did you or did you not want me to talk? I was trying to get your attention for the last minutes!¡± Ivyander the frost-elven necromancer scolded back.

    The wights in the old armor of the Nordmark house, rusted but still intact because of fading magics slowly shifted their weight and looked at their quarreling masters. Dead eyes gazed at them with unfathomable intention. The cavernous cellar they were standing in had once been a torture chamber with adjoining cells, very useful for keeping experimental subjects as the duke of Nordmark had found.

    Old blood crusted the ground and a rough altar made of fieldstone dominated the middle. The runes and glyphs carved into the sides looked crude but functional as the young elf was nowhere near the facility of a trained magician. He had talent and he had power and what he had most was desperation. That and fear. But he was good at controlling his features so he did not show his unease and covered up the shaking of his hands with scolding.

    ¡°Bah. You, a mere mortal wants to teach me? I learn more in my dreams from watching the goddess!¡±

    ¡°That might be the case but a little bit of foundational knowledge will go a long way.¡± Sighing he changed the subject, ¡°What about your relatives? Is there anyone you would think suitable for training?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Mathilde might be loyal enough. Ernest...no¡­.Jamila- With some insurance...perhaps.¡± The vampire mused. ¡°Yes, you are right, my family should share in the glory. Let¡¯s call them back to bind or turn them. Yes, I think that might be best.¡±

    He exerted his will and formed symbols with his right hand gathering necrotic power that had long seeped into the stones of this place of pain and suffering. A skeleton meticulously prepared by the young elf twitched and darkness flowed over the white bones before a faint green light lit in the empty sockets and the whole cadaver rose on shaky legs held by the memory of tendons and dark magic. Grinning, Zygmund turned to the necromancer for approval who swallowed the words of scolding he really wanted to say, ¡°Yes, very good.¡±

    ¡®Wasteful, slow, if there were no abundance of void mana he would not even get a skeleton to walk.¡¯ The young elf was highly frustrated. If he could only be free of the oaths and obligations put on his kind!

    <hr>

    The coach was slowing down and Mireille leaned toward the window stretching her legs and arms carefully. She had mostly been sleeping and the small elemental heater that Lieseleta had gifted Alea had played a large part in making the journey more comfortable. Outside a light snow fell and was mostly captured by the barren branches of the great trees lining the road. But soon the light changed as the trees withdrew on both sides making way for a large clearing leading to a shallow hill on top of which stood a large, blocky building. Old partly damaged walls circled the base.

    The old structure seemed empty and silence reigned as the students finally reached their destination. It was square rising up to three stories. The roof was slanted to the outside but with all the snow it was hard to make out details like color. It seemed to be made of black slate which could be found in the nearby hills. The walls were cut stone with woodwork in the upper two stories. Shutters made from local oak protected windows that began on the second story, the ground floor only sported some arrow slits.

    ¡°This looks more like a fort than a building for school training?¡± Mireille rubbed at the misted inside of the window inset in the coach''s door.

    ¡°That might be because it was one.¡± Alyssa grinned.

    ¡°How do you know?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been told to us in the last preparatory class...but you were less than attentive if I remember right.¡± Alyssa grinned.

    Iseret nodded, ¡°It¡¯s been a border fort against the depredations of the wolf-tribe. But after the treaty of 539 and the marriage of the baron of Nordstrom with one of the tribe''s holy daughters it has been mostly monsters that troubled this part of Margrinar.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like it was quite the story?¡± Mireille¡¯s eyes lit up.

    ¡°I read about it while preparing for this journey.¡± Iseret defended herself holding up both hands. ¡°Perhaps when there is some time after we have settled in.¡±

    ¡°Mpf. We had days! Days! Why tell me about it now?¡±

    ¡°I did not think that it was that interesting?¡±

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t until you mentioned holy daughters and wolf tribes.¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°What¡¯s so interesting about that?¡± Alea inquired.

    ¡°It sounds like a fairy tale!¡±

    Alea raised a solitary eyebrow, half hidden beneath her blindfold which made the whole action much less impressive.

    The carriage slowed down and came to a stop. Shortly afterward they picked up speed again entering a narrow entranceway into an inner courtyard. There was barely enough room to fit all the coaches, and the horses were quickly brought into the stable. Exiting they were very glad for the warm clothes as their breath steamed in the frosty air and ears and noses became tinged in red.

    Reneus Flammensiegel stood before them, his slender form was swaddled in a seemingly overlarge dark green coat, his hands nearly vanished into his sleeves and he still had his three-day stubble and shoulder-length dark blonde hair. He showed a resigned expression as he clapped thrice. The murmuring and low chatter slowly ceased. ¡°We are at Fort Wolfsbane and here we will stay for the next weeks. You will be separated into different groups and then with the aid of a teacher and a scout of the army you will first learn about the wilderness and the dangers it holds. After two weeks of this, there will be a test. Today you will have time to settle in while tomorrow will be the assignment of groups. So, with that said follow the servants they know where you will be lodging. Questions can better be answered at dinner so bear with me until then.¡±

    Walking briskly several students followed their servants to the steps leading up to a large portal with a wolf''s head carved into the stones above. Their voices echoed in the dark corridor behind the doors. Empty scones lined the walls but soon enough one or two of the students showed their expertise and light spells flared bobbing along with the flow of people.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get inside.¡± Mireille urged her friends while rubbing her hands before jamming them beneath her armpit while stamping her feet. ¡°Coooold!¡±

    ¡°Your coat should take care of that, lets''s have a look around while everyone else crowds the corridors.¡± Alyssa looked at the surrounding walls and courtyard. A statue loomed over a stone basin filled with ice and snow. It seemed to be a woman with a crown bent over and cradling an eagle surrounded by flames.

    ¡°That¡¯s the phoenix queen.¡± Alea smiled. ¡°She was one of my favorites when I learned the history of Allisair.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t she one of two women to hold the crown? If Lieseleta manages she would be the third.¡± Alyssa remarked and inspected the statue with interest. ¡°If I remember right she married into the royal family and after the death of the king became queen until her son came of age. She did a good job as far as I know.¡± Alyssa brushed some snow from the statue''s face but weather and time had long since worn away most distinguishing features.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. And the Nordmark''s were the branch of her family that survived the drowning of Allisair.¡±

    ¡°And now they are scumbags.¡± Mireille kicked a stone into the basin.

    ¡°Maximilian and I are also descended from them,¡± Alea remarked dryly.

    ¡°Sorry!¡± Mireille did not look very remorseful as she said that but quickly continued asking, ¡°Why is she called Phoenix Queen?¡±

    ¡°She was blessed by Saressa, goddess of fire and inspiration, also called the phoenix that renews itself and was the premiere firemage of the age of exploration. She invented and refined several spells that are still in use today.¡± Alea lectured.

    Iseret looked interested but did not interrupt.

    Lorelle stood patiently beside the luggage while Adam was still unloading the vehicle with the help of Butler One.

    The large doors leading into the stables shed golden light on the snow and the girls heard the sound of voices and horses snorting. The stream of students became a trickle as they explored the utilitarian yard and then entered the house themselves.

    Their rooms were small four-person affairs with two bunk beds each. Small open windows without the luxury of glass panes let cold air into the chambers and only iron plates inset into chimneys built into the walls gave off some warmth.

    ¡°We should do something about those windows otherwise I might freeze to death in the night.¡± Mireille eyed the construction dubiously.

    ¡°I will see what I can do.¡± Alea nodded while she inspected the windowsill.

    Lorelle, Iseret, and Butler One would be guesting in a nearby chamber while Adam would live in the stables.

    Cyrus stretched his wings and hit the walls on both sides. Mireille grinned, ¡°Good thing we have an extra bed or one of us would be crushed beneath our small dragon every night.¡±

    Cyrus preened at the word ¡®dragon¡¯ and arched his neck.

    ¡°Yes, you are a beautiful dragon.¡± Mireille petted his head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t spoil him too much, we all have to live with him you know?¡± Alyssa jokingly scolded then gestured toward the door, ¡°I will have a look around until dinner- Is anyone interested in joining me?¡±

    Alea sat on the bed with a book on enchantments opened beside her Cecily looked down at it from her shoulder. Mireille yawned while waving her hand in negation, ¡°No, I¡¯d rather sort my baggage and have a bit of a rest. The coach is awesome and all, but not that comfy.¡±

    Alyssa nodded and went outside. The cold did not bother her much as of late and so she walked along the silent corridors listening to the distant chatter of students settling into their rooms. Soon she reached a circular stairway leading up into one of the corner towers. Ascending the worn and steeply slanted steps she reached a hatch and opening that, reached the roofed top of the tower. Icy winds blasted across the small platform bordered by a stone parapet reaching to the middle of her chest. All around she could see the expanse of the forest mostly barren deciduous trees but also stands of conifer and pine.

    Rocky hills rose from the snow-covered woods. On some of them ruins of old buildings, probably watchtowers of one sort or another rose like broken teeth. Looking north the land flattened and began to drop towards a distant river barely visible between the trees. A swarm of crows burst from the shaking treetops as something massive moved between them. Snow fell in great clumps under the scolding of the blackbirds. The sun was slowly setting to the west and Asandria hovered silently beside her and whispered, ¡®Just a week''s travel and you probably could see the city of broken ivory.¡¯

    A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold moved along Alyssa¡¯s back. ¡°I still have time. It¡¯s still too early for me to confront her.¡± Her voice sounded thin in her own ears.

    ¡®Yes. It¡¯s still some time until then.¡¯ Dark gaps where eyes should be, a pale translucent face- Asandria regarded her quietly. ¡®But you have come a long way from the girl fleeing into the ruins near Firswending. I¡­¡¯ She hesitated and did not finish the sentence before she turned again toward the slowly reddening sun.

    Together they watched as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon growing into a red ball of fire before then fading away. The wind was a constant murmur sometimes whistling along the corners of the building. The cold now began to bother her more deeply and Alyssa murmured the words for her spell of warmth and sighed in relief as her frozen right hand began to thaw, prickling painfully all the way. ¡°Let us go back. It must be dinnertime already.¡± Alyssa turned and looked at Asandria.

    ¡®Sometimes I would like you to sing for me again.¡¯ the ghost said musingly.

    ¡°And I still owe you. So simply tell me about it.¡± Alyssa walked back toward the hatch before opening it and descending the stairs once again.

    Asandria looked at the still rosy clouds and then floated along behind her charge.

 Group Selection

    ¡°Knowing what''s right doesn''t mean much unless you do what''s right.¡±

    - Theodore Roosevelt

    The dining hall was an elongated affair running along one of the sides of the building with benches and tables made of polished wood. Pots with smoking stew were distributed by servants that had followed them from the academy and soon everyone was quietly eating the calm atmosphere only disturbed by some chatter and laughter. It was a harmonious scene. Alyssa sat down with her friends and reached for the ladle as one girl opposite her grabbed it just as she closed her hand hot stew splashed onto her hand and arm drenching the nethersilk gloves.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sooo sorry.¡± The dark-haired girl apologized half-heartedly while looking at her with malice in her eyes.

    Hissing through the pain Alyssa concentrated and spoke a spell, water swirled around her arm and cleansed the residues of the stew from her glove and skin. Red welts grew where the hot liquid had touched her. Mireille clenched her teeth in anger, stood up, and shoved the girl roughly while she was still unprepared and gazing at Alyssa which caused her to fall from the bench. Her head hit the ground with a dull thud. The girl screamed in pain.

    ¡°Melloris preserve what is this commotion about?!¡± An elder wizardess stood up and walked closer. Seeing that the fallen girl was bleeding she shouted, ¡°Sarah! We need a healer!¡±

    The stout middle-aged healer hurried over and then nodded. ¡°Only a shallow wound. No reason to be concerned- Please continue eating.¡± Speaking a spell green-golden light flared from her fingertips and the wound closed.

    Alea cleared her throat gathering her courage she said softly, ¡°Alyssa was injured by this girl and has burns on her arm.¡±

    Mireille who looked guilty and angry at once nodded decisively.

    ¡°Ah, let me see.¡± Sarah came over and looked, ¡°Oh, that looks painful. Wait a second.¡± She spoke another spell and Alyssa saw the waters of life she herself liked to use wash over the burns. Glowing waters poured into her injured flesh and lit it from within. The cold and pleasantly refreshing sensation ended soon and there was nothing of the original damage visible anymore.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Alyssa smiled.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± The older woman that had seen the incident first asked.

    ¡°She.¡± Mireille turned her head toward the dark-haired girl. ¡°Burned my friend- Intentionally! And then I pushed her away before she could do more damage. Is it my fault she is not only vicious but also clumsy? She should be happy Cyrus didn¡¯t stab her!¡±

    Sarah wrinkled her brows and looked at them. The older wizardess frowned and said, ¡°Anyone else saw what happened?¡±

    Several of the students sitting near them gave their own version which was pretty contradictory.

    ¡°So. She hurt Alyssa- intentional or not- and then Mireille hurt her, probably intentional.¡± She summarized. ¡°A demerit for each of you. You can work it off with chores in the future so it should not affect you too much. But better be careful- If you accumulate too much of them you can be expelled.¡±

    Sarah nodded, ¡°That sounds fair. It''s difficult to determine who was wrong. But because everything started with her I propose Alyssa may help Mireille which should make it easier.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alyssa nodded at the motherly healer.

    Taking one last critical look at the subdued dark-haired girl Sarah turned and left together with the wizardess.

    ¡°And here we go again.¡± Mireille frowned at her stew before giving the other girl an unfriendly eye. ¡°It isn¡¯t as if there were beasties and freezing temperature, rebels and undead troubling us. We have to make problems for us completely on our own. What, if anything, did you think you were doing?¡± Her voice rose on the last syllables.

    The dark-haired girl shrank back under Mireille¡¯s scolding and had some tears in her eyes.

    A boy that sat beside her snorted. ¡°As if you were a saint yourself. Bad in academics, a troublemaker, and a simple branded to boot. And then there is this common-born black witch I hope they soon realize that you shouldn¡¯t be in the Academy at all.¡± He put an arm around the girl and looked at them with a mixture of caution and disgust.

    Alea pursed her lips and seemed to be struggling to say something.

    Alyssa raised her eyes and looked at the students that were giving her unfriendly looks. ¡°I would be very, very careful. If I am such a bad person I could think of a few ways to make you miserable. Does anyone remember the duel? Has it been so long that everyone has forgotten it?¡± Darkness flared in her left eye nearly breaking the illusion and spidery symbols blossomed beneath her skin. The nethersilk gloves rustled as they absorbed the influx of void energies.

    ¡°If this keeps on happening I might tell my family.¡± Alea finally got out. ¡°And they will not be shy to inquire with our friends.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t mean you! Everyone knows you are too noble to discriminate and would rather suffer in silence.¡± The girl said slightly panicked.

    Alea looked truly confused at that.

    Iseret who had silently neared the altercation interjected, ¡°There have been rumors that you were forced to live with Alyssa. Even as everyone can see that this lacks any substance.¡± As she explained she mopped the spill from the table.

    Some of the students who were listening whispered to each other. The word ¡®snake¡¯ featured in some of those murmurs and the snake-woman garnered many an unfriendly stare.

    Vivienne who had been halfway to Alyssa¡¯s table turned and nearly collided with her brother.

    Valens frowned slightly, ¡°Why don¡¯t we go and help them?¡±

    ¡°All in good time.¡± Vivienne smiled at him looked back over her shoulder and then shrugged. ¡°They seem to do well enough at the moment.¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Valens sighed and stood aside. ¡°Then after you, sister.¡±

    As they returned to their quarters Mireille was still fuming. ¡°Is it all for nothing? Didn¡¯t we fight Lieseleta¡¯s murderous brother and hordes of undead? How can they still be like that?¡±

    ¡°Some of them I know. They are the children of nobles belonging to Carl Askander¡¯s faction. Or to put it more accurately: Former faction.¡± Alea said softly. ¡°I had Mrs. Silverstone- the head of the townhouse in Kronenburg tell me about them. Knowledge about my peers is something I was sorely lacking as I had not socialized much before.¡±

    Iseret smiled but her words were cold, ¡°Self-interest, greed, and hate are the driving forces for most people. That¡¯s nothing new and often it is paired with a severe lack of understanding or intelligence.¡±

    Lorelle cleared her throat, ¡°Mistress? I asked Magister Flammensiegel and he acquiesced to your request.¡±

    ¡°That is good.¡± Alea nodded.

    ¡°What did you ask?¡± Mireille asked curiously.

    ¡°I wanted one of the empty rooms for my workshop of course.¡± Alea shrugged as if that was natural. ¡°Butler One will help me tomorrow.¡±

    Laughing and somewhat cheered they entered their room after saying good night to Iseret and Lorelle. Mireille threw herself on the upper right bed the wood creaking as she turned and looked at the ceiling. ¡°How can there still be such idiots?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not been that long that Alyssa was the target of Leonhard and Otto. They were somewhat popular and their ¡®nobles against commoners¡¯ agenda even more. Don¡¯t expect people to change so quickly.¡± Alea said quietly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so reasonable while they are unreasonable that makes me want to be even angrier.¡± Mireille pouted.

    Alyssa laughed. ¡°In the beginning, it bothered me a lot. But after everything that has happened, I¡¯m only glad to have you on my side. The only sad thing is that Lieseleta and Maximilian are not with us.¡± Alyssa began to put on her night clothes.

    ¡°And Semiramis.¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°Yes, and we lack a cat.¡± Alyssa smiled back. They had left the feathered feline with Reneus'' secretary Mrs. Glenspring.

    Cyrus was cleaning the claws growing from his wing joint with his teeth as they discussed the next day and the group selection.

    ¡°How many are in a group?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°I think it should be around ten people? It would be difficult to come up with competent wizards to teach us otherwise wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Alea mused.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound too good. What if the students other than us are the same sort as that girl just now at dinner?¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°We will be much too busy for that kind of thing...I hope.¡± Alyssa finished her reply on a hesitant note.

    ¡°Did you manage the barrier thingy, what with the cold and all?¡± Mireille looked at the shutters that were rattling with every gust of wind. ¡°The latch could use a bit of tightening too.¡±

    Ice coated the window frame and where rime met the warmth emanating from the metal plate inset in the chimney thawing water ran down the inside of the fortress wall.

    ¡°We really need to do something about that, it''s barely habitable as it is.¡± Mireille murmured sleepily.

    ¡°I¡¯m working on it,¡± Alea replied shortly.

    Only the rustle of cloth and the endless sighing of the wind remained.

    ¡°Alyssaaaa¡­¡±

    ¡°Mh. I know, come here if you want to.¡± As Mireille clambered down and quickly dove under the covers of Alyssa¡¯s bed Cyrus looked at the both of them and some calculation was visible in his reptilian eyes. ¡°No. You are not allowed to come into my bed, we will be crushed if you do!¡± Disappointed the wyvern blinked his green-yellow eyes. ¡°No, even if you look like that. No!¡± Turning his head to the wall one wing rose and covered his nose, the tail flicked aggrievedly.

    Alea giggled softly. ¡°Good night.¡±

    ¡°Good night!¡± came a chorus from both her friends.

    <hr>

    The next day found them shortly after sunrise assembled in the courtyard. Mireille stamped her feet and looked half-awake while yawning. The still low-hanging sun cast shadows over the yard while the sky was a pale blue-grey with some scattered clouds.

    In front of the students stood the teachers, led by Reneus, and behind them stood several unfamiliar men and women in military uniform, some of which carried the implements of a warmage, staves, and wands while others wore the more practical attire of a scout.

    ¡°Attention please!¡± Reneus Flammensiegel looked a bit unwilling but resigned. ¡°As Magister Illimen had to stay in the academy I have the...ahem...pleasure of supervising this training camp. So we will now be dividing you into groups of ten. Each of you will either get a military mage or a teacher and one army scout. At this point, I have to thank the northern border battalion for their generosity in helping us as is traditional. The friendship between the academy and our protectors in the north has been a constant since over a hundred years ago.¡± He clapped and the students followed suit. The men and women in military garb returned the gesture with a friendly nod.

    ¡°So, I will read out the groups and you will assemble behind the teacher calling out that number. So I will now begin.¡± He began to call out names in order and the teacher representing the group would also take a step to the side.

    Soon a sizable part of the students had been sorted.

    Alyssa looked at Mireille and Alea, careful to hide her nervousness.

    Metallic legs clicking Cecilie walked from Alea¡¯s right shoulder to her left carefully circling her neck.

    ¡®So she is nervous too.¡¯ Alyssa smiled slightly.

    Mireille looked like the only thing keeping her from sleeping while still standing was the cold. Cyrus rummaged behind some frozen bushes and removed a long, bleached bone, deer probably. The thing seemed to have been there since autumn and looked highly unhygienic but before Alyssa could do anything the wyvern bit the bone in two and began to chew on the shards. Shaking his head he spat it out again. Alyssa winced and covered her eyes with her hands.

    ¡°¡­.Alyssa Miner.¡±

    ¡°Which group?¡± Alyssa whispered desperately.

    ¡°Thirteen!¡± Mireille whispered back.

    ¡°...Mireille Annirstochter, Alea von Graufurt¡­¡±

    ¡°Thank Jaros.¡± Alea sighed in relief.

    As they walked over to where several others were already standing Alyssa grinned and said, ¡°You did not really think that Illimen or even Reneus would separate us. That would¡¯ve been cruel.¡±

    ¡°You never know.¡± Mireille seemed to be more awake and in better spirits too.

    An older military mage with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair sporting a well-groomed van dyke beard greeted them with an acknowledging nod and gestured for them to get behind him. A younger woman in scouts attire with a blonde ponytail and piercing grey eyes gave them a disinterested half-smile before returning to polish her short bow with an oiled rag.

    Shortly after they arrived two slender students with green hair streaked with strands of white walked up to them- ¡°Vivienne, Valens, are you in group thirteen too?!¡± Mireille exclaimed and grinned brightly.

    Vivienne smiled at her and replied, ¡°There was an opportunity to change groups. Two students wanted to be in group eight and so we traded them for it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Mireille replied enthusiastically.

    The older mage gave them a reproachful look and interrupted them, saying ¡°The selection is not over. No talking until then!¡±

    ¡°Mh, understood.¡± Mireille nodded and reluctantly held her peace.

    Alyssa rubbed her back comfortingly. Soon the energetic redhead was back in her usual cheerful mood.

    Alea stood at their side and remained silent.

    In the background, Lorelle, Iseret, and Butler One waited for the selection to end as Adam joined them. Grumbling he patted some snow from his ample stomach and remarked, ¡°Good to see that the young miss is with her friends. I have a bad feeling with the cold and the rumors I hear.¡±

    Iseret turned her slit-yellow eyes on him and suppressed a shiver from the cold, her more or less cold-blooded constitution making the freezing temperatures more than just an annoyance. ¡°What did you hear?¡±

    ¡°Mrrrm.¡± The old coachman spat in the snow. ¡°The wolf-tribes are moving, prey is scarce. Elementals have been spotted all over the place and creatures from the heights have come down to forage. The Nordmarks are suspiciously well behaved. They even sent patrols to ¡®help¡¯ the army.¡±

    Lorelle looked between the two. ¡°That sounds...pretty dangerous?¡± She asked hesitantly.

    Iseret nodded thoughtfully. ¡®I hope Vanessa comes soon or I will have my hands well and truly full.¡¯

 Animosities

    Vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires ... How avant-garde!

    - Anne Rice

    Space rippled and twisted before Vanessa once again stood on the plane of ashen dreams. Looking around carefully she did see some moths large as a grown man gliding high up in the sky bathing in the streamers of energy erupting from rents and portals leading into other worlds, broken spaces, or even the elemental planes.

    Her pale skin shone in the psychedelic light and she hastened to construct the barrier before some worms or waste-hounds could get her scent.

    ¡®I hope Iseret and the others are alright.¡¯ As the thought crossed her mind she frowned. ¡®When did Iseret become the first person she thought of and how?¡¯

    She was still unsure if the keshian woman was really interested in her or if it was a passing whim or worse an order from her superiors. She had realized their interest soon enough but for some reason or other, she believed in the lithe temple assassin.

    Sighing she finished the last rune and injected some mana- with a crackling hum the magical shield erupted in a hemisphere cutting off the strange light that penetrated flesh and bone so that it was never truly dark even when you closed your eyes.

    Beginning to inscribe the circle for breaching the dimensional barrier she mused about her existence. What did she truly want? She was killed when she had just reached her thirtieth year just shy of true adulthood. Her training had went very well and she was hailed as an arcane prodigy. Her insatiable curiosity had been one factor but her aptitude had really been high- all flattery befitting a royal aside. At that time she had wanted nothing more than to claim a tower and work to better her understanding of the magical arts. While researching deeper mysteries she had found the forbidden section in the library and perused tomes on summoning, necromancy, soul manipulation, mind magic and poison arts. Those were hardly appropriate for one of the orchid court but as long as no one knew¡­

    Now she had slept away the centuries and waking up she had at first been consumed by thoughts of revenge. But with time came distance and even the grief over the death of her family, herself, could no longer push her forward as before. Betrayal by the priests of the wargod had shattered her hopes of allying with the nation of Rivenlorn and now she was in Margrinar getting deeper into the messy internal politics of that very human realm.

    Her feelings of obligation after her rescue by Alyssa and her friend Mireille had turned into a complicated sense of belonging and attachment. Especially as the end goal of Asandria, the enigmatic specter and therefore Alyssa¡¯s was similar to her own.

    And now there was Iseret Sekesh.

    Did she really need to know her motivation? There were probably only a handful of people who truly knew what she was, what she could do, that would still try to get close to her.

    She pressed her palm to the gathering rune and spoke the words of the spell of transfer. All of that could wait for a more peaceful time- she smiled bitterly at her own cowardice. Grey light blossomed from the runes and the circle lit with energy before space tore with a ringing sound and flung the small vampire into the emptiness between.

    Snow flurries obscured her vision as she exited the rift beneath some ancient oak trees. Gesserach¡¯s eye was still high up in the sky and leaden exhaustion spread through her limbs as the feeble light filtering between the branches burned on her skin and smoke rose from slowly blackening patches.

    Hissing she huddled beneath her cloak before she burrowed beneath a snowdrift cursing all the while.

    Calculating the time difference and the approximate location of emergence was quite difficult and she had been shamefully distracted. If she still had physiological responses she would probably have blushed furiously. ¡®I am a princess of the orchid court, a vampire, and an elf. How can I let myself be distracted like that!¡¯ The makeshift cave shifted and great clumps of snow rained on her back. The only small blessing was that no one was near at the moment- It was all so undignified!

    <hr>

    Meanwhile Alyssa, Alea, and Mireille stood beside their half-elven friends and waited for the selection to end.

    ¡°I am Lieutenant Philias von Drauer¡¯s End and my colleague here is scout corporal Zhira Julius. We will be your teachers for the next two weeks. While you are assigned to my group you will listen to what I or Ms. Julius have to say and follow any and all orders we have for you or you will be sent back and discharged from the field-training. The wilderness at this time of year with the weather and temperature as it is now are quite dangerous and I must stress the importance of working with us to prevent injury or even death. I have some minor accomplishments with healing magic and I heard that some of you students are well versed in such matters but we must not become complacent. As this is a training exercise no servants are permitted.¡±

    Some of the students groaned at that.

    The lieutenant''s eyes fell on two male students attired in expensive clothes and, eyes softening a bit, he continued, ¡°If you can get your fellow students to help you out that is permitted and I heard that there was one or two of you that might benefit from taking chores to reduce demerits.¡± He looked at Mireille as he said that who sighed and nodded. ¡°Fine. So with that out of the way, today you can still get your gear in order. If anything is missing you may inquire with us or one of the teaching staff. Tomorrow we will begin the training at dawn. Be punctual. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°What do we need to bring?¡± A girl in her late teens with a heart-shaped face and brown locks asked tentatively.

    ¡°I have a list of things that might be needed and you can compare to what you have. Not all of that is truly necessary and some of the more magically gifted can supplement their equipment with spellwork so...here you are.¡± He took a folded piece of parchment and put it in her hand. ¡°Please share as needed. Anything else?¡±

    The students looked at each other and as there were no immediate questions the wizard nodded, ¡°Then you are dismissed. I would not idle the day away if I were in your shoes- try to prepare thoroughly.¡± With those words, he nodded at them, turned, and walked away.

    Zhira the scout looked them up and down seemingly unimpressed and then shrugged, put away her shortbow, and left the same way.

    ¡°Friendly sort.¡± Mireille glanced after her and then turned to the other group members.

    ¡°I think she might have tribe-blood.¡± Vivienne mused.

    They were ten students to the group with the three friends and two siblings taking half. Then there were two boys in expensive-looking tailored clothes and three girls. The boys looked at them, one was a stout fellow with slicked back white-blonde hair. His fleshy lips were pursed in disapproval. The other boy ¨C his friend it seemed- was muscular and tall with dark, curly hair. He had a more disinterested expression. The first girl was a petite brunette with a stubby nose and a heart shaped, pretty face she was the one that had first spoken up. She smiled shyly, her clothing seemed not to fit her especially well, perhaps handed down from a relative. The other two seemed to be sisters and had long black hair and dark eyes. They looked at Alea with excited expressions but seemed decidedly less enthusiastic about Alyssa and Mireille.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°My name is Alyssa Miner¡±, Alyssa tried to put her best foot forward.

    ¡°Mh. I know.¡± The stout boy snorted, ¡°Just my luck to be put in the same group as you. I am Jeremy of Storm Cove.¡± He seemed to struggle with a polite ¡®nice to meet you¡¯ but finally settled for silence.

    Mireille eyed him coldly but was pulled back by Alyssa who shook her head.

    ¡°My name is Talbert von Zumbusch. Pleased to make your acquaintance.¡± Even as the taller boy greeted them more formally he still looked disdainful.

    ¡°Annabeth Smith.¡± The petite brunette girl clasped both hands before her breast and bowed.

    Jeremy laughed at that and murmured, ¡°Just what I needed, another peasant.¡±

    Alea frowned at that and said, ¡°Pleased to meet you.¡± She paled at the attention that garnered but forced a smile before continuing, ¡°I am Alea von Graufurt. Nice to meet you.¡± Stepping back she breathed deeply.

    ¡°My name is Roberta and this is my sister Georgina.¡± One of the black-haired girls nodded at them. ¡°We are from the Surnfeldt family.¡± Both of them looked as though that should be all the explanation needed.

    The two boys nodded thoughtfully at that and the taller one gave them a friendly smile. ¡°I have dined with your father at the last midsummer banquet in the palace. Please extend my regards.¡±

    Roberta nodded graciously at that.

    The two half-elves made a more or less perfunctory introduction. Mireille and Alyssa looked at each other and both sighed at the same time.

    ¡°I¡¯m Mireille. I think you know me already, I had that religious class with you two.¡± She looked at the two black-haired girls who shook their heads at the informal address.

    An uncomfortable silence reigned.

    The stout boy smiled sarcastically. ¡°So- Who wants to earn some money? I could use someone to help me set up my tent and do the chores.¡±

    The students gazed at each other quietly before Annabeth sighed. ¡°What did you have in mind?¡±

    Alyssa looked uncomfortable and said, ¡°Let us organize our supplies first.¡± Turning to the rest of the group she continued, ¡°We will be going then. See you tomorrow!¡±

    The friends including Vivienne and Valens set off and the discussions behind them faded into the background.

    ¡°We should¡¯ve had a look at that list,¡± Mireille mentioned.

    ¡°I did not want to be in their company a second longer than needed, sorry.¡± Alyssa apologized.

    ¡°It¡¯s not as if there weren¡¯t other options.¡± Alea comforted them. ¡°I think that girl over there, Paula? You did bring her over for tea sometimes- Couldn¡¯t she lend us her group''s list for a look?¡±

    ¡°Good idea.¡± Mireille smiled and ran over. The others saw her discussing something before Paula went and got a folded piece of parchment. Together they came back to the group.

    ¡°Hello! I heard you need this list?¡± Paula gave them a friendly smile.

    ¡°Yes, thank you!¡± Alyssa took the parchment and unrolled it.

    Alea came over and raised Cecily, ¡°Can I have a look?¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡±

    Alea inspected the document and then nodded. ¡°I understand- Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Done already?¡± Paula asked.

    ¡°Yes, I should remember it well enough and it¡¯s not that difficult. I hope your group does not encounter any difficulties.¡± Alea said politely.

    ¡°That would be too much to ask I think, but thanks for the thought!¡± Paula grabbed back the parchment looked at the others questioningly and after getting some shrugs in return nodded and ran back.

    ¡°So with that out of the way- Let¡¯s prepare!¡± Mireille rubbed her hands.

    <hr>

    ¡°What about Butler One? You made such an effort to get it working again and now we don¡¯t get to have servants!¡± Mireille complained to Alea.

    ¡°He is part of my project for ¡®Like Clockwork¡¯ the class on enchanting and constructs so there should be no hindrance to him accompanying us.¡±

    ¡°That sounds good. I did not enjoy the camp preparation when I was in the army.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention that so casually- With your age you cannot have been discharged honorably.¡± Vivienne admonished. ¡°I heard rumors but it seems to be not that widespread. No sense in helping our enemies.¡±

    The group of friends was in a storeroom hewn into the rock beneath the fort looking for some tents and other supplies. Alea had a large magelight hanging over her head, illuminating the large room with perfect clarity.

    ¡°Your light is something else,¡± Alyssa said with a pained smile and spoke a short spell shrouding herself with a thin layer of misty shadow.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Mireille looked interested.

    ¡°I had some troubles functioning at the Exhibition with all the light magic flying around and then inquired with Asandria. Vanessa uses this mist spell regularly I hear and it is quite useful to obscure and protect even as it does not do much against physical attacks.¡±

    ¡°You look a bit creepy but perhaps that can be useful too.¡± Mireille nodded.

    ¡°Don¡¯t flatter me too much.¡± Alyssa pouted.

    <hr>

    Iseret was folding some of the freshly washed clothes and arranged them in the small cupboard in the servant''s room as mist billowed under the closed shutters and Vanessa stood before her.

    Smiling brightly she put away the clothes in her hands. ¡°Good to see you¡¯re here. I hope the passage was not problematic?¡±

    ¡°Nothing too troublesome.¡± Vanessa brushed some snow from her cloak. ¡°How was the journey by coach?¡±

    ¡°Uneventful. There were too many coaches and obvious magics to attract bandits. Those that would have done something in such a situation have long since perished.¡±

    They fell silent after that exchange.

    ¡°Come sit with me.¡± Iseret sat down and patted the bed beside her.

    Vanessa smiled in amusement and then took the proffered seat. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Did you miss me?¡± Iseret turned to look at her smaller friend with a smile in her eyes.

    If Vanessa were a cat she would have raised her hair all over her body, ¡°What kind of question is that!¡±

    ¡°Did you at least think about me?¡±

    ¡°If you continue with this I will leave!¡± Vanessa bristled.

    ¡°Because I did.¡± Iseret ignored her protest and softly hugged the elf who stiffened at her touch.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this is a good idea.¡± Vanessa¡¯s voice was barely audible.

    ¡°Many things aren¡¯t good ideas but logic alone rarely leads to happiness.¡±

    A mostly comfortable silence enveloped the room. The wind outside seemed to have picked up again and somewhere in the kitchen the banging of metal on metal- probably a pot being emptied- could be heard. Several students tramped past the small servants'' quarters chatting loudly. Then it was only the wind again.

    ¡°The groups have been formed and they are with the half elf siblings. The other members could be problematic. For some reason or other a military mage is leading them which worries me." Iseret frowned, "They should¡¯ve been with an academy teacher.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Vanessa seemed distracted.

    ¡°Hungry?¡±

    ¡°How can you ask a vampire that question? While hugging me nonetheless! And without my permission!¡± Vanessa grumbled.

    Iseret pulled back Vanessa¡¯s right sleeve and several burned patches of skin came to light.

    ¡°You got into the sunlight? I thought I smelled something.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t smell!¡± Vanessa struggled without much force.

    ¡°You could have some of my blood if the poison does not pose a problem?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say such things!¡± Vanessa seemed a bit subdued. ¡°I have some proficiency with poisons and my constitution deals with it much better than when I was...alive.¡±

    ¡°So there is no real obstacle and you are in need.¡±

    ¡°I could look for some animals¡­¡±

    ¡°They mostly don¡¯t have much mana in their blood do they?¡±

    Iseret pulled at her collar exposing her long and graceful neck.

    Vanessa looked up as if in a trance while her upper canines grew into fangs. Flinging her arms around her friend''s neck she fully opened her small mouth.

    Students urgently streamed into the dining hall as their next dinner might well be in the wilds consisting of dried jerky and boiled snow. A loose shutter banged against the outer wall and somewhere within those sounds was a light sigh.

 Frosty Interactions

    ¡°Any fool can make a rule

    And any fool will mind it.¡±

    - Henry David Thoreau, Journal #14

    Later at night Alyssa, Alea and Mireille were just getting ready to sleep when a knock sounded on the door.

    ¡°Who is it?¡± Mireille called out.

    Without an answer, the door opened and Iseret entered followed by Vanessa.

    ¡°Vanessa! Good to see you!¡± Alyssa smiled relievedly. ¡°I had worried you might not manage to come in time.¡±

    ¡°There was never any danger of that happening. Mae g¡¯ovannen.¡± (*Well met)

    Alea pushed herself upright and sat on the edge of her bed before she too nodded in greeting. ¡°Good to see you.¡±

    Mireille inspected Iseret more closely, who looked fatigued and pale but then she shrugged, it was probably the cold.

    ¡°I only wanted to let you know that I will follow you and try to protect you if possible. I can only do so at night so be extra careful during the day.¡±

    For a moment Alyssa imagined her elvish friend as a worried mother sending her child on a long journey. Blushing in embarrassment and shaking her head to dismiss those thoughts she answered. ¡°We will be careful...and many thanks!¡±

    ¡°Take this.¡± Vanessa gave Alyssa a small inscribed disc of a matte-grey metal. ¡°It will allow me to more easily find you. I don¡¯t want to have to resort to planar travel to catch up.¡±

    ¡°That would seem a bit overkill.¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°So, with that out of the way, I will leave you to your rest. Pleasant dreams.¡± Vanessa turned and grabbed Iseret pulling her along. The snake-woman gave her an amused grin.

    When they had left Mireille turned to Alyssa. ¡°Did you think those two were a bit strange?¡±

    ¡°No, I think you are imagining things.¡± Alyssa shook her head and then laid down with a sigh. ¡°Let¡¯s sleep as quickly as possible. Tomorrow will be a busy day.¡±

    ¡°Good night!¡±

    <hr>

    They stood together in the courtyard and waited for the teacher''s arrival. Alyssa shifted the weight of her backpack and grimaced. They had used the list as a reference and with the food and warm clothes, blanket, tent...there seemed to be no end to what should be taken into the wilderness and that was first and foremost...heavy!

    Alea stood calmly in front of a fully-laden Butler One while she herself carried a small bag and garnered envious glances.

    ¡°How come she gets to have a servant and we don¡¯t?¡± Jeremy¡¯s voice was full of dissatisfaction.

    ¡°It does not count,¡± Talberg answered shortly.

    ¡°That is so¡­¡± The white-blonde boy swallowed his further complaints as the teacher came into view walking briskly from the main entrance followed by Ms. Julius.

    ¡°Good. No one¡¯s missing I see. I will take that as a positive sign. We leave at once, follow me.¡± Without any further courtesies, he gestured for them to follow and walked toward the entranceway. The scout fell in behind the group and sighed as they milled about before settling into single-file. Her gaze rested on Butler One and Cyrus with curiosity for a moment before she shrugged and resumed her indifferent expression.

    Several other groups were standing about going through an inspection of their equipment while others were discussing questions. Two other military mages led their charges toward the exit, it seemed like they were less inclined to coddle the students. If simply inspecting equipment and allowing questions could be called such.

    Together they marched outside and down the hill. For the first few minutes, it was even sort of fun, on the carriage ride to the fort they had exited only in the evening and sometimes to have lunch at a waystation and since arriving here they mostly ran around inside the building. Now that they were walking toward the forest Alyssa breathed deeply of the crisp cold air and looked up at the bright white clouds hanging scattered in the sky like scraps of wool.

    Then the cold slowly began to settle and the backpack seemed to gain in weight. Thankfully they had invested in the warmth enchantment which heated the fabric to a more comfortable temperature.

    Annabeth was struggling under more than her share as the blonde boy joked with his friend Talbert and sometimes threw flirtatious glances at the two black-haired girls who preened under the attention.

    Alyssa noticed that the military mage did not pay much attention to this, which surprised her until she recalled his doting demeanor toward the more high-born among them. She sighed and adjusted the weight for the umpteenth time.

    Mireille seemed to have no problems at the moment and excitedly looked at the snowy forest.

    Alea took care to follow her construct that nicely flattened a path through the pristine snow.

    Ms. Julius had a disinterested expression but her eyes scanned the surroundings alertly.

    And then they were inside the forest, the whistling of the wind grew more distant, and other than the snow crunching underfoot and their breathing there were few noises.

    This continued for over an hour until the lieutenant called for a halt.

    ¡°We will rest here for a moment and I will consult with corporal Julius about our further direction.¡± He motioned for her to join him as he unfolded a map made of fine cloth. They began to talk in a low voice while Alyssa greedily drank from her waterskin.

    Alea did not look that winded and Mireille was also perfectly fine. Vivienne looked a bit exhausted and Valens was in a similar state as Alyssa.

    ¡°Puh. Walking through the snow is tiring.¡± Valens wiped the sweat from his brows.

    Vivienne chuckled at that ¡°It¡¯s still been only about an hour, we will have to go much further until we get to our first destination if I¡¯m not wrong.¡±

    Her brother gave her a look but quickly dropped his gaze as she returned it with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°I hope that someday we understand each other just as well.¡± Mireille looked at them and smiled.

    ¡°But I hope we never have such an uneven relationship.¡± Muttered Alyssa under her breath.

    ¡°So, if all goes as expected we will be reaching our first campsite well before nightfall but that means some more travel. Our next rest will be at noon.¡± Lieutenant Philias frowned a bit as he saw Valens, Alyssa, and the black-haired girls breathing hard. Annabeth was still relatively well off despite her slim stature but she did seem a bit winded too. ¡°We had planned for some delays but I hope you pull yourself together. In the army, an effort like that is just the beginning of training.¡± His gaze came to rest on the two nobles, Jeremy and Talbert. ¡°Good job so far.¡± He did not bother with Alea, only giving Butler One an irritated look.

    They continued their travels shortly afterward and ventured further into the woods. Now Zhira was in the lead and the Lieutenant was at the rear and it was a good thing too as the woods became denser and the undergrowth, even in winter, was hindering their progress.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    As they slowly made their way through a patch of frozen brambles careful not to rip their clothes Zhira suddenly raised her hand and gestured for them to wait before grabbing her short bow and quickly attaching the sinew.

    Scanning the tree canopy and the way ahead she grabbed an arrow and slowly made her way forward vanishing quickly from their sight.

    For a change, the forest was silent the snow swallowed what little sounds remained- even the wind had ceased.

    Philias, the military mage, readied a wand with his left and raised his right hand letting his sleeve fall back for more ease of movement.

    An ethereal whisper rose among the brambles and Alyssa widened her eyes as she saw frost form on top of the branches, not much but just enough for her to see it glinting in the noonday sun. The frost began to spread toward them forming a path that was just barely visible.

    ¡°There is something under the brambles!¡± Alyssa shouted and then wove the energies for a firebolt spitting words in the language of flame.

    The military mage nodded and called out, ¡°You are free to defend yourself.¡± He then took a few steps back observing the students.

    ¡°Where is it?!¡± Roberta shouted and looked around frantically.

    Alea gestured and Butler One smoothly laid down her luggage before his arms unfolded like a flower opening. Long jointed metal appendages with blades fused to their ends wove before his raised arms looking like part whip, part reptilian claw.

    ¡°There is another one!¡± Talbert shouted and activated a wand he held in his right hand causing a brilliant flare of fire to billow outward in a cone evaporating snow and burning the brambles, dark smoke rose as he fired another blast that did not quite reach the newest patch of frost.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fire blindly.¡± Philias couldn¡¯t remain silent anymore and reprimanded the overeager teenager.

    Valens summoned a water spirit that danced around the two siblings while Vivienne readied a wind blade.

    Suddenly a form made of frost, mist, and ice crystals rose from the dead branches. It looked like something seen in a dense mist, a mirage that only happened because the eye connected the vague form with something it had seen before. There was a head, a torso and some appendages rising out of and merging with the center mass that could¡¯ve been arms or legs with a hint of fingers¡­and claws. With a groan, a sort of mouth opened showing whirling snow instead of a throat, and tried to bite Annabeth.

    The same happened near the two boys.

    Alyssa loosed the firebolt and with a flash and crackling roar the flames engulfed the striking monster causing it to hiss and contort. Annabeth stumbled back and conjured a wavering disc of force between herself and the attacking creature then she fell on her back with a shriek pulled by her overburdened backpack.

    With a click and a whirring sound, Butler One shot forward and both arms along with the metallic blade-tipped ¡®fingers¡¯ stabbed deep into the mist and frost eliciting another howl like a strong wind through a glacier. The front of the automaton was soon covered in a finger-thick layer of ice.

    ¡°Alyssa, behind you!¡± Mireille jumped forward lightning shrouding her form and stabbed a spear made of twisting energy at another frost-wraith rising behind her friend.

    Alyssa shielded her head with her left arm and spit out a spell covering herself in dark shifting mist.

    Claws made of mist and frost slashed at her arm and she felt a cold sensation brush over and through her flesh but no pain.

    The wraith rose from the brambles, towering over the girls with a height of nearly three meters. Several armlike appendages cut at both of them while the eyeless face hinged open and revealed a tunnel of whirling frost.

    They could not focus on anyone else but from the front came the whoosh of gushing flames and some sounds that could¡¯ve been windblades and forcebolts. Lieutenant Philias cursed graphically.

    Mireille grimaced at a shallow wound on her right forearm dripping with blood, which steamed in the cold air, before slamming her spear into the midsection of the wraith causing lightning bolts to coruscate inside the creature.

    Twisting away from her the slashes aimed at both girls went wide. Cyrus circled from behind stabbing his tail into the probable center of the snowy mass.

    Alyssa stabilized herself and as she moved her left arm thick layers of ice and frost cracked and fell from her unmarred skin. ¡®Seems like I can stand a lot of cold.¡¯ The thought flashed through her head before she concentrated and formed another bolt of fire. ¡®I really have to learn some new fire spells. I don¡¯t think void is going to be too effective against something elemental like that.¡¯

    Mireille jumped against a pine tree bending her knees and then catapulted herself above the head of the frost-wraith cutting downward with a glaive-like weapon made out of living lightning. With a rumble like distant thunder, the blade connected and the ¡®head¡¯ vanished in a spray of snow. The tree she had sprung from swayed and the bark had burn marks from her lightning. With a somersault, she landed in the brambles and cursed trying to free her trouser legs.

    Alyssa drew upon her connection to Cyrus, Asandria sang in support and the flames turned bluish white before impacting the torso. With a last howl, the being crumbled and only a thicker dusting of blue-grey snow remained.

    Turning they witnessed Alea shoot several beams of brilliant light into a wraith that hung impaled upon the blades of Butler One while buffeted by windblades conjured by Vivienne. Annabeth meanwhile was scrambling backward on the ground but had been caught in the brambles and was bleeding from many small scratches.

    The boys in front and the two sisters together with the military mage had subdued the wraith attacking them and with a fading wail the one that Alea had been targeting fell into a small pile of ice.

    Panting they tried to regain their breath as Zhira emerged from the bushes. ¡°Looks like you had some problems too.¡± She commented laconically. ¡°There are more ahead. I tried not to alert them but it seems some have found you regardless. Lieutenant?¡± She looked toward Philias.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I would recommend we make a small detour to avoid them. It seems there is a mana-dense zone ahead.¡±

    ¡°Mh. That would delay us and then we might be forced to camp outside.¡±

    ¡°Your decision, sir, but I would not recommend it. I saw at least five that I¡¯m sure of.¡±

    ¡°So many?¡± Philias looked unpleasantly surprised for a moment before he schooled his features. ¡°Then we will make the detour. That means we will have to move quicker than before. Anyone wounded?¡±

    Jeremy, Roberta, and Georgina raised their hands. Annabeth huffed from the exertion and untangled her backpack from the brambles before raising her hand too.

    Alea meanwhile covered the wound on Mireille¡¯s arm with her hands and a golden light flooded the trees around her as she healed the slash.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Mireille quickly hugged the smaller girl and then tried to appear prim and proper.

    ¡°I would¡¯ve liked to be notified of any wounds before they are treated when we are not in a threatening situation.¡± Philias lifted his eyebrow looking annoyed. ¡°But I did not say it before so I will let it pass for now. I want to see what kind of wounds you acquire to grade your performance.¡± With that, he inspected the other students.

    ¡°Could Alea heal Annabeth?¡± Alyssa looked at the painful-looking scratches marring the brunette''s skin.

    ¡°I won¡¯t repeat what I said, Ms. Miner.¡± Gesturing the magician called a green fluctuating light into being that shone around his hand which he then focused on the wounds left by the ice-wraith''s claws. Wounds scabbed over and began to heal.

    Alyssa raised an eyebrow but kept any comments to herself. Alea was miles better than him and even her waters of life could be more effective in some situations but remembering his sharp tone she held back.

    Annabeth scrambled to her feet and grimaced at the pain caused by the frozen thorns.

    Alyssa decisively walked forward and whispered, ¡°I will only mend your clothes, okay?¡±

    The girl nodded gratefully.

    Casting the spell of mending learned from Mireille, small cuts and tears began to slowly close under her ministrations.

    ¡°What did I say!¡± The lieutenant''s angry voice broke the silence. ¡°Pack your things and go back, I have no time for idiots that cannot remember an order for less than a minute.¡±

    Alyssa shrunk back before she straightened her spine and answered, ¡°You did not prohibit me from mending her clothes! I was not healing her!¡±

    The mage pushed Mireille aside and stomped up to them looking Annabeth and Alyssa over. ¡°That is why commoners should not be included in the Academy.¡± He cursed. ¡°I see you did not violate my order but you did disrespect me by not asking for permission before using your magic. If you do it again you will earn a demerit even if I did not expressly forbid it, it should be clear how I wanted things done.¡±

    Vivienne threw him a cold look.

    Zhira looked at Alyssa and a gleam appeared in her eyes before she slowly winked at her and then returned to her former disinterested expression.

    Philias snorted, ¡°Those are only scratches, there is no need for healing.¡± Turning around he gestured, ¡°Form up, we are leaving.¡±

    Alea tried to say something but did not manage, looking frustrated she looked at Mireille with her eyes calling for help.

    ¡°Jeeze.¡± Mireille brushed the snow from her clothes that she had acquired when she was pushed into the bushes. ¡°Mr. Drauer, could Alea heal her? We will be slower otherwise.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s von Drauer¡¯s End or Sir to you. Yes, if it doesn¡¯t slow us down.¡± He looked at Zhira, ¡°What are you waiting for, get going.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The scout nodded impassively.

    Alea quickly cast a spell and a rotating construct appeared and began to bathe Annabeth in light. Alyssa quickly summoned her dark mist again and breathed a sigh of relief while blinking her left eye.

    Jeremy laughed as he saw them struggling and said something to his taller friend who chuckled. The black-haired girls were looking a bit disheveled but within a short amount of time, the tears in their clothes mended on their own, probably enchanted. Roberta regarded the light-construct appreciatively.

    Annabeth looked in wonder at the scratches disappearing under the warm golden light. ¡°Thank you!¡± Her eyes looked at Alea full of gratitude.

    ¡°She says: You are welcome.¡± Mireille couldn¡¯t wait for Alea to form a response earning her an irritated look from her smaller friend. ¡°What? We have to hurry, big bossman said so!¡± As she said that with a mischievous smile she nevertheless lowered her voice so that the military mage did not fully hear her words. Philias threw her a suspicious glance nonetheless.

    And then they were off.

 The woes of the common bandit

    ¡°No one heals himself by wounding another.¡±

    ¨D St. Ambrose

    The scout led them through the winter woods and nearly all of them- other than the boys, the magus, and Mireille- were panting by the time they reached a clearing, and Lieutenant Philias declared a rest.

    Falling backward into the snow Alyssa gasped and then laboriously sat up letting the straps of her backpack slide from her shoulders. Alea gestured and Butler One cleaned the surface of a small fallen tree before laying a blanket on top, the smaller girl then sat down with a contented sigh.

    Mireille laughed at that and then sat down directly beside her on a bit of spare blanket while ignoring Alea¡¯s indignant gaze.

    Cyrus was off in the bushes to the side foraging around and suddenly there was a shrill shriek and the horned head was thrown back with something small and wriggling held securely by fangs the length of a finger. Throwing whatever small rodent he had managed to catch into the air he snapped and then swallowed the little creature whole.

    Annabeth swallowed nervously at the sight and then went to prepare a small campsite for the two boys and the black-haired sisters.

    Alyssa brushed some snow from the tree her other friends were already sitting on and then lowered herself onto her seat yawning sleepily.

    The two half-elves walked over and Valens put down his blanket for the two to sit opposite the three friends.

    The clearing had been created by the fall of a giant oak tree that still lay half-sunken in the earth and snow. Flurries of snow fell from above, the cloud cover had thickened considerably since the morning but thankfully it was a bit warmer if still freezing.

    ¡°What do you think of our group so far?¡± Vivienne quietly asked while chewing on a bit of jerky.

    ¡°Mh. I don¡¯t care for his mightiness and the boys are somewhat unpleasant.¡± Mireille answered bluntly. ¡°But what rubs me wrong is how they treat Annabeth. She seems to be a really nice person.¡±

    ¡°She is a commoner in a school made for nobles or the very rich,¡± Alea said softly. ¡°And from my experiences, limited as they are, it is seen as normal to employ commoners to serve the nobles. They don¡¯t see it as anything problematic probably.¡±

    ¡°I hope they pay her well at least.¡± Alyssa looked at the other group and met the eyes of the Lieutenant who gave her a disapproving glare.

    Mireille followed her gaze and murmured, ¡°Arrogant prick.¡±

    ¡°He is our superior for this outing so please be careful not to antagonize him without reason.¡± Alyssa turned back to her friends. ¡°It isn¡¯t that I did not have an inkling he would take my mending her clothes the wrong way. I ¨C was- a bit rebellious.¡± She played with a strap from her coat and sighed, ¡°but his disregard for her pain and the way he had tolerated the boy''s attitude really rubbed me the wrong way.¡±

    Vivienne looked at her with interest. ¡°You should probably choose your battles so that they favor you more, just saying.¡±

    Valens glanced at his sister in amusement.

    Cyrus came back out of the bushes and put his bloody snout squarely on Alyssa¡¯s lap while turning his head to look at her cutely.

    ¡°Aaah! Not with all the blood on you!¡± Alyssa struggled as Mireille giggled.

    Alea smiled a bit and spoke a short spell cleaning both the wyvern and her friend. Putting a finger forward she touched Alyssa¡¯s left forearm and a thin layer of ice cracked and fell. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that feel cold to you?¡±

    Alyssa shrunk her neck and looked awkward. ¡°I don¡¯t feel the cold with my left arm. That wasn¡¯t a problem until now and it seems to do nothing bad even when my arm freezes."

    ¡°That is a bit strange.¡± Mireille poked her too and another pane of ice flaked off. ¡°You should have a lot to talk about with Iseret, doesn¡¯t she also get cold and has problems getting warm by herself?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a reptile¡± Alyssa pouted and then hastily added, ¡°Nothing against Iseret, she is a lovely person.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t have put it quite that way,¡± Mireille murmured as she remembered the black poison dripping from the Reborn''s khopesh stabbing into the armored vampire.

    ¡°More eating less talking.¡± Vivienne was chewing on her second piece of jerky.

    The group ate in silence only occasionally chatting- They were still exhausted from the first leg of their day¡¯s journey.

    Zhira walked along the forest''s edge and inspected several trees more closely before coming back and sitting down near Alyssa and her friends while not taking part in their discussion.

    Clapping to gain their attention Philias called to them, ¡°We are getting underway in five minutes finish everything by then we will not be waiting for stragglers. He looked pointedly at Annabeth who was struggling to gather the remnants of the camp she had erected for the nobles.

    Mireille grimaced and then went over to help her. Together they made short work of the few blankets they had laid out and the small table. ¡®A table?¡¯ Mireille looked nonplussed.

    ¡°Give it here.¡± Jeremy gestured and Annabeth passed him the folded wooden contraption. Grabbing it he simply pushed the whole thing into a large bag hung at his side where it vanished.

    ¡°Is that a bag of holding?¡± Mireille asked curiously.

    ¡°Yes, never seen one have you?¡± Jeremy grinned proudly then tilted the opening showing a mindbending scene of several sacks, a tent, and said table lying around beside some weapons. It all looked to be near and far at the same time.

    Wincing Mireille pulled back and looked at a nearby tree to steady herself while Jeremy was laughing. ¡°What a funny reaction, gets me every time.¡± He clapped on Talbert¡¯s shoulder who shrugged with a grin of his own.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°That was five minutes, form up we are breaking camp.¡± The lieutenant called.

    Annabeth smiled at Mireille and whispered, ¡°Thank you very much but I get paid for this so you needn¡¯t help me. Really, I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Mireille grinned and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. If you were too slow and got caught by our fearless leader we would all have to suffer through a lecture so it was purely in self-defense.¡±

    The brunette giggled at that but shook her head. ¡°I will simply have to do my best.¡±

    Walking deeper into the woods they arrived on a ridge overlooking the land slowly declining toward the distant river. A cold breeze rustled the branches of the trees above and some clumped snow fell from a tree leaning over the edge disintegrating in the wind before hitting the top of the trees below.

    In between some trees they saw a logging camp that sported some sharpened stakes angled outwards and a crude log hut spilling a stream of smoke from a chimney hole.

    ¡°That is our destination for this day. There are valuable mana-infused trees in this region and that is how this camp came to be.¡± Philias explained before waving for them to continue walking.

    The sky was already deepening into a golden color and they would have to really make haste to reach the camp before nightfall.

    Zhira looked at the camp with an unreadable expression but Mireille thought she saw some anger in her gaze before she took the lead leading them along a natural ramp that led down the incline.

    ¡°If they transport wood from here, where are the roads? And why don¡¯t we use a road if there is one?¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°I think they use some other means to export the logs, an airship or the river perhaps? It would be very troublesome otherwise.¡± Alea gasped in between the words.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Alyssa was in no better shape and stumbled before grabbing hold of the earthen hillside to her right.

    ¡°I would recommend focusing on the road.¡± Vivienne curtly reminded them.

    Cyrus looked at them, looked at the road, and then simply jumped over the edge spread his wings, and glided on the wind toward the end of the ramp.

    ¡°Cheater.¡± Mireille smiled wryly.

    <hr>

    Somewhere in the Nordmark Lands

    Calvin woke from a night of uneasy sleep and quickly washed using spells more than the slightly dirty water sloshing in a prepared basin. Rubbing his tired eyes he grabbed his gear and went down the stairs.

    ¡°Ah, Mr. Sattler, good morning!¡±

    ¡°Morning to you too lad.¡± The old innkeeper seemed a bit more cheerful in the morning. ¡°Here ya go.¡± He put a pitcher of water and some bread alongside a slice of ham and a wedge of cheese before the wizard.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± He bit into the bread and winced at the solid crust.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± The innkeeper seemed to be anything but, ¡°The baker doesn¡¯t have enough flour to bake so often, the next time should be in two or three days.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s...fine...I guess.¡± Calvin sighed and dipped the bread into the water to soften it before taking another bite.

    ¡°Will you be leaving us today or do we have the pleasure of another day of your company?¡±

    ¡°Polite aren¡¯t we?¡± Calvin grinned while Mr. Sattler guffawed, ¡°I will be leaving today. No sense in wasting daylight.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true even as I don¡¯t see where you would get mercenary work in winter.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you would be surprised.¡± Calvin finished his meal and then got up shouldering his saddlebags. ¡°Where is your boy?¡±

    ¡°He should be outside caring for your horse. Have a pleasant journey.¡± At the word pleasant and while looking outside he had to cough.

    ¡°I guess I will at that.¡± Calvin went outside and walked up to the stables seeing his horse and an old nag that probably had once been used to plow as well as three pigs and some chickens. ¡°Where were the eggs today.¡± He grumbled a bit.

    ¡°They don¡¯t lay as much, we don¡¯t have enough feed for them.¡± The teenager seemed worried and apologetic at once.

    ¡°Mh. To an early spring.¡± Calvin nodded flicked him a copper coin, slid the warstaff into its holster, and mounted the horse. ¡°Until next time.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye, sir!¡±

    Riding through the village in the daytime was worse than during the night. All the little things were plainly visible such as a sagging roof, a broken door poorly repaired with some woven straw. People who worked outside at this time were few and far between and those he saw were even more destitute looking than the innkeeper and his stableboy.

    The villagers eyed him suspiciously as he rode down the main road and soon he had left the small hamlet behind.

    Soon he was on the forest road which seemed to be in about as good a condition as the village. Potholes and deep ruts marred the surface and if it weren¡¯t for the cold that had frozen the puddles it would probably have been even worse.

    ¡®Roads are the most important lifelines of trade, how can they get so bad?¡¯ He concentrated on guiding his horse around the worst of it and was somewhat distracted so that he spied them too late.

    ¡°Halt!¡±

    ¡®Oh dammit.¡¯ He inwardly cursed then took a look around. In front of him stood a big man with a fur vest over leather armor hefting a large woodsman¡¯s axe. Beside the man were three others attired in peasant''s clothing with one of them having bound the lid of a large pot of all things before his bulging belly. In the woods to the sides, he more sensed than saw several bowmen. All of this had not been visible until he rounded a bend in the road going around a large boulder at the side of a small earthen hill. And yes, up on that rock stood another two women with bows.

    The big man grinned with blackened teeth and began to talk. ¡°Welcome to our wood. And because it''s ours¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh please shut up.¡± Calvin grabbed his warstaff and speaking a short spell winds rose around him ripping him upwards toward the top of the rock while his horse panicked and ran back the way he had come. ¡®That¡¯s gonna be a pain to catch later¡¯ And then he was in the air above the two female bandits and saw that they were near children.

    Cursing under his breath he grabbed a wand from his belt and forcibly injected mana. Two arrows shot at him and hit his coat ricocheting in a shower of sparks as protective runes ignited.

    The wand spat a large ball of webbing that unfolded underneath him and slowly sank to cover the two archers even as they tried to get out from under it. They did not seem to want to simply jump the near five meters to the ground below and the descent to the hillside looked treacherous.

    Coming down with too much speed he bowed his knees and then tried to tumble forward which led to him entangling himself in the side of the web and getting stabbed by one of the girls for good measure but nothing penetrated his protective spellwork- for now.

    Stumbling to his feet he grimaced as his right knee send him twinges of pain. ¡®I¡¯m not getting any younger that¡¯s for sure!¡¯ Inane thoughts flashed past as he sheathed the wand and activated the warstaff gathering fire energy out of the mana jewels inset under the wrapping in the middle.

    ¡°Get ¡®m boys!¡± The heavy man with the axe shouted furiously. ¡°You! Catch the damn horse! Archers fire!¡±

    Grinning with dark glee Calvin loosed a ball of fire nearly a forearm in diameter and then stomped decisively on the hand of one of the girls still trying to knife him a shrill scream and some curses answered him before the fireball hit and a plume of flame exploded outward and up engulfing the six bandits on the road in roaring flames. Screams of anger turned to desperate shrieks as hair and clothing caught on fire and after the flames and smoke cleared there were only two men still standing beating at the smoldering flames.

    Concentrating Calvin gathered air and water magic and then focused with the help of the staff to generate several lances of ice that he then shot at the archers in the woods who still tried to hit him- up to now with no success.

    Screams from the forested area told of the effectiveness of his magic and the few bandits that were left fled into the cover of the trees.

    Turning he looked at the two struggling teenagers under his webbing.

    ¡°Cease that racket or I will burn you to kingdom come.¡± Calvin looked disgruntled and his horse had already vanished from view.

    The first of his captives ceased to struggle and began to plead. ¡°Good sir, please spare us we only wanted somethin¡¯ to eat!¡±

    ¡°Traitor, we could still get him!¡± The other was still struggling.

    ¡°Did you see the fireball I threw?¡± Calvin looked incredulous.

    ¡°You are¡­¡± she struggled, ¡°just a streetmage! They do illushuns all the time! They are not real!¡±

    ¡°Mh. Of all the times to have an original idea.¡± The wizard laughed. ¡°Is my web also an illusion?¡± He asked politely.

    Her struggles slowed. ¡°...no?¡±

    ¡°I still have a use for you so don¡¯t fear that I will kill you.¡±

    The first to stop her escape looked at him warily.

    ¡°I need information! Nothing else!¡±

 Good deeds and black designs

    "Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like your good deeds."

    - Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Christo

    "I hope you take my proposal seriously. Of course, my family and I will support you to the utmost, but I have a responsibility to my fief and dependants! Alas¡­" He looked to be seriously pained at his inability to help.

    The man looked at Heloise, but he was really talking to Lieseleta.

    Gripping the silken fabric of her gown with whitened knuckles, Lieseleta tried to calm down.

    "We will consider your words, Margrave Compton. I hope to see you at the ball next week." Heloise''s words were a clear dismissal, and the Margrave bowed, wearing a satisfied smile. He was a man in his late fifties, still fit-looking, with dark hair that had given way to silver and grey. He bowed deeply and then left the audience room.

    Fighting to keep her calm, Lieseleta breathed deeply.

    "You couldn''t find it in yourself to consider him?" Heloise gazed at her questioningly, then sighed. "Thought not. But with the riots in the port towns and the burning of the manufactorium we have nobles, burgermeisters, and rich merchants clamoring for aid, satisfaction, and money. He could have helped a lot."

    "He is fifty-six years old!"

    "Mh, I know I cannot complain unmarried as I am, but you should put some thought to allying through matrimony."

    The queen-to-be lowered her head in frustration how she wished that Carl or Thomas could''ve born this burden, but then she would have probably been married off even swifter.

    "What can I do to delay that? There is no suitable- or unsuitable for that matter- person that I fancy at the moment, and I don''t think having a spouse trying to enrich their family at the kingdom''s expense is that much of an advantage!"

    "If Margrinar was more stable, we could take several delaying actions, but as it stands, even your supporters wish for you to choose someone."

    "I...will think about it."

    "You could do something else...but I don''t recommend it." Heloise looked highly uncomfortable, a seldom-seen sight that did not ease Lieseleta''s apprehension. "You read the book I gave you? The one that only those in authority may know of?"

    The girl''s face paled, "It isn''t time yet! We still have three years."

    "You know that the lands of Margrinar were not only conquered but bought, and the lease is about to come due. If we paid a bit more and early at that, it might be possible to gain an adviser from the underdeep."

    "Are they that powerful?"

    "Our ancestors sure thought so."

    <hr>

    To the west

    The-Leaf-that-fell overlooked the flat plain before him. Formerly green lands made up of rolling meadows, and small groves were grey and dead. Trees that looked rotted or burned stretched their empty branches at a sky roiling with dark clouds that formed a vortex above a large ruined city. Even here, the air smelled of decay. In between the city, still about a day''s march from here, and the army he commanded were rows upon rows of the dead, some were already snowed in, and snowdrifts had accumulated at the legs of the undead giants.

    "What a hateful sight. The circle of life is broken, and we will have to mend it with force. The speaking tree wills, and we obey." The cyclops mused to himself as he inspected the tableau.

    Tomorrow they would sacrifice the beasts they had caught and gain the blessing of the earth, and with the weight of nature''s anger, they would destroy the sickness that plagued the land.

    He raised his single eye, shading it with a gigantic hand, and looked up into the endless sky.

    For the speaking tree and all of life!

    <hr>

    The Nordmark lands

    "What do you want to know." The older girl, still some summers shy of her sixteenth year, rubbed her arms and looked at him cautiously. She had shoulder-length black hair tangled and knotted from lack of care, her chin sported a dark bruise, and she wore an ill-fitting sack-cloth tunic bound with some rope. Her feet were wrapped in rags. Underneath all the dirt and grime were two blue eyes that looked hard as pebbles.

    The other girl was smaller but looked healthier with blonde hair and sturdy stature. There were old bruises slowly turning green and yellow on her face and arms. She wore a filthy linen skirt that had been crudely cut to size.

    They were sitting under an overhang as the sky darkened to dusk. The horse had fortunately been caught relatively quickly and was chomping on a bit of hay. Now with a fire crackling before them and three hares impaled on sticks slowly gaining a bit of color, Calvin could finally relax and began to question his two captives.

    "What do you know about the fort on the other side of the Sleepy Green?"

    "It''s where the soldiers of the lord gather." The older girls said, taking care to speak clearly.

    "That is what everyone knows. What do you know?"

    "Will you let us go if we tell you?" The younger girl asked, and the older winced, giving her an angry look.

    "So you know something more. We can talk about where and how I will let you go after you have told me everything." Calvin tried to look stern, but the pitiful appearance of the two did not make it easy for him. Seeing the bruises on the girl''s skin alleviated some of the guilt he felt for throwing a fireball at the bandits.

    "The fort wasn''t always in use. Father said it was perhaps four years ago that he slept there when he was out hunting as it stood empty back then." The younger girl looked at her older companion, gauging if she had said something wrong.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    "Now, there is a black mage there." The older girl sighed. "A few years ago, the soldiers began to repair the fort and recruit in the nearby villages. At first, that went well with the bad harvests, the taxes and all, but then there was them rumors."

    The younger girl listened intently, seemingly not knowing that part.

    "And what were those rumors?" Calvin patiently asked.

    "There were a lot. That those that signed had to make a pact with a devil, that they had to drink blood and became like monsters." She shivered a bit. "And those that died did not remain in the earth. They came back and went about them business as if they were not- well- dead. The mage was it that did it. Some fled and told the rumors, but they were often caught and then never seen again. So it got less and less that folks wanted to enlist, but then they were pressed and taken instead of paid. Now it''s the old, the weak, and the very young with few exceptions that try to make do in the villages, and you can guess how well that goes."

    "And the graves, tell him about the graves." The younger girl had been caught up in the telling. The fire popped, and sparks drifted with the smoke toward the overhang.

    "What about those?" Calvin prompted.

    "People are going around digging up the graves. It''s recent, and not many can or want to stop that. A priest of Charys went and protested, and he was later found half-eaten in the woods."

    "They say they want to protect us from the dead walking again. I think they are the ones that do it, that make ''em walk." The younger girl looked angry.

    "And what''s with those bandits then?"

    "They were from outside- came because t''was said we were easy pickings."

    "Hillsbridge, the fat Tom said it was called."

    "Gina here is from the family of a smallholder growing apples some aways west of here. The soldiers burned him and his house and took the people with them; she escaped. I, the names Kira, by the way, was from over there," she pointed to the north, "my father was a hunter, and he never did come back last winter. The bandits took us in." Her eyes shifted.

    "I don''t judge, but I don''t like bandits preying on honest folks, or me for that matter, and I was surprised, which made me angry." Calvin "I might have overdone things a bit."

    The older girl looked at him in surprise before lowering her head and hiding her face behind her tangled locks.

    "What do you want to do now? I can give you some money I found on the bandits, and you can try your luck further south. I don''t recommend going back to live with the bandits."

    "No, I don''t want that either." The younger girl spoke decisively. "There was not much of a choice before. The villagers don''t do charity and have even less work for girls like us." She looked suspicious, "You will give us money? What for?"

    "Perhaps it''s my paying back Melloris for helping me in the past."

    "Yes, and now you are religious. Pfft." The younger and more energetic girl laughed.

    "Here, grab one each." He took one of the hares, pointing at the other two. Life-sight in conjunction with an ice-bolt was a godsend for a would-be hunter.

    Grabbing a stick each, both girls cursed and juggled the hot wood wrapping bits of cloth around their hands helped, and the dirt did nothing much to the stained fabric.

    Grimacing as she burned her tongue, Gina huffed to cool herself.

    "We have time; no need to rush." Calvin admonished while grinning and promptly burned his lips when he tried a piece he had deemed cool enough already. "Dammit!"

    Even the black-haired girl gave a short laugh at that.

    "So. I will carve a protective circle around me, and I only want to say this- If you try to kill me in my sleep and I survive, you will not. Understood?"

    Both girls nodded hastily.

    "If you are still around tomorrow, we will talk about what you want to do and if there is anything you forgot to tell me. Might be something in it for you if it''s interesting. Just saying."

    Sighing, he rubbed his tired eyes and then carved a protective circle with some warning glyphs. Searching his saddlebag, he grabbed a vial with mana dust and infused some key runes before clapping the dirt from his hands.

    As he saw the girls shivering beside the fire, he grabbed another blanket and threw it to the two of them. The last thing he did was spell some wood that he then put inside the fire where it began to burn- very slowly.

    "'' night" He yawned widely and then settled down to sleep, shifting a few times on the hard ground his brimmed had pulled into his face.

    The light from the rising sun woke him just after dawn. Remembering the happenings from yesterday, he looked around alertly and even found his horse. He was glad it was not necessary to chase some girlish horse thieves if they had somehow managed to get it away from him.

    The two girls slept huddled under the blanket beside the fire that was still burning. Mentally he patted himself on the shoulder for his glyph-work.

    "Whatsoever shall I do with you." He rubbed his chin and sighed. He could simply go with his first thought and give them some money from the dead bandits. They did not have much, but it would be enough for a month or two of frugal living. But then? Two girls with no family and no skills or perhaps no chance to display them...it would be bad.

    He went over to the saddlebag and grabbed some flour and eggs. Then he set to forming some trail bread that he heated on a flat stone beside the fire, getting some cheese to go with it.

    When it was well along, he cleaned himself with a water spell and shook the girls awake. "Hey, it''s morning already. Rise and shine!" He winced internally at his choice of words.

    The black-haired girl quickly scrambled backward, a knife in her hand, while the blonde just withdrew deeper into the blanket and blinked at him owlishly.

    "No need to panic, breakfast should be ready in a few minutes, and then we need to talk, or at least I would recommend we do."

    "Good morning." The blonde, Gina was her name he remembered, rolled out of the blankets and then sat down opposite him behind the fire.

    He stabbed one flatbread with a sharpened stick and gave it to Gina.

    Kira, the black-haired girl, then came over warily and sat beside her friend.

    "I have another one for you if you don''t stab me? Or you could get it yourself." He motioned at another flattened piece of dough, slowly browning into some bread-like substance. Seeing her careful expression, he grabbed one himself and, after blowing on it, bit of a piece chewing while swallowing some water to prevent another burn. "See? Edible, I would say."

    "Sorry. Could I have one?" Her blue eyes still showed suspicion and reluctance.

    "Here you go." He stabbed another bread and put it into her hand.

    After that, they ate silently, with the girls hungrily devouring every scrap he had cooked up.

    "So, with that out of the way. Are there any living relatives? It''s not important if they are in Andria or Pareus. I only want to know if there is the possibility of someone taking you in."

    Now Kira looked really puzzled, "Why do you want to know? They couldn''t well pay any sort of ransom if there were any."

    Gina looked between the two and, still chewing, interjected, "There is an aunt. She married a smith in Grunewald. But I don''t remember her name." She looked ashamed. "The other relatives were from Sweetmeadow, the village next to our stead. But when I was fleeing from the soldiers and finally reached it, there were just a handful of people left! My older brother''s house was burned down, and when I asked, they said that my family was all gone." She sobbed before getting ahold of herself.

    "That does not sound promising," Calvin murmured.

    Kira swallowed nervously. "I don''t have any relatives that I know. There was talk of an uncle in the army, a certain Bernd, but I don''t have anything more to go with that, and when I asked a guardsman, he simply beat me for being a vagabond."

    "I''m going to regret this deeply." Calvin rubbed his temples.

    Two sets of eyes looked at him intently.

    "I will cut my stay here short and take you back to Kronenburg. But I still have to have a look at the fort. It could well have the clues I need anyway." He continued in his thoughts, ''And when we are in Kronenburg, I will get scolded by Illimen to Sur-Kesh and back.''

    "We can help!" Gina excitedly interrupted his meandering.

    "Mh. We well could. I have been a hunters apprentice with my father since I was old enough to string a bow."

    Remembering their accuracy as they shot at him, he nodded thoughtfully.

    "I would rather not put you in more danger, but without me, it would be even worse, I presume."

    "If you don''t do anything to us, I have to agree." Kira seemed still very cautious and looked at Gina protectively.

    "Then there is nothing more to say. Get ready to leave."

 A death in the forest

    "Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am out walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins."

    ¨D Gustave Flaubert, November

    The group descended the ramp without significant mishaps. The frozen ground was treacherous, though, and at one time, Alyssa had to grab Mireille to keep from sliding off the side and down the hillside. Alea managed well enough with the help of Butler One. The two sisters had the worst time of it and Roberta fell shortly before reaching the end scraping her right arm and bruising her knee.

    The sun was already setting behind the far off mountains to the west only seen as hazy blue outlines when they finally reached the logging camp. Several burly men were butchering a deerlike creature with large crystalline antlers and bluish blood.

    "Is that edible?" Mireille looked doubtful.

    Just behind the log house was an expanse of cleared forest where several hulking metal forms rose from the underbrush, challenging to make out in the deepening gloom beside a truly gigantic tree lying horizontally on the ground.

    One of the men saw them coming and alerted the others. A big man with broad, heavily muscled shoulders and a red-brown beard falling to the middle of his chest patted his hands and walked over to a mobile barricade closing the gap in the sharpened wooden spikes.

    "Greeting Lieutenant, I did think you might not make it today, which would''ve been a shame." He laughed, "Tomorrow, all the best meat will be gone."

    Lieutenant Philias nodded at him, "Morten. Anything of note since the last time a patrol passed through?"

    "Nothing much." The man strained his biceps and lifted the spiked barricade while grunting with exertion and shifted it enough for them to pass. "Only the tribe is making trouble as usual. Jess spiked a few of the bastards when they tried to damage the equipment but no harm done no problem, ey?" He laughed.

    "I don''t see the joke in that." Philias looked at the brutish man with disdain.

    "Aw. Don''t be that way. The winter nights get mighty boring when there is no action here and then." His eyes strayed to the female students, and Mireille''s neck hair rose at the unwanted attention; unconsciously, she moved in front of Alyssa, shielding her from sight.

    Filing into the yard, the other men greeted them with a simple nod or, in one case, a grunt. There were about twenty people all in all.

    "Come in; food should be ready in an hour or so." The man called Morten pulled off large fur-lined mitts and then grabbed a nailed-together wooden ''door'' and hefted it to the side. "Sorry, did not get hinges this time too. Might as well make our own if there is still nothing when the next ship comes through." He said a bit apologetically. His eyes were dark and sat deep in a weathered face. The inside of the loghouse was a simple one-room affair with partitions made by hanging tanned furs from poles set into the ceiling dividing the sleeping spaces. A large fire pit sat beneath a hole in the roof and thick smoke hung in the air together with an indescribable fragrance of unwashed bodies.

    Gagging, Roberta and Georgina stumbled back outside as Morten laughed, "Lieutenant, what kind of sissies did you bring us this time? If it is not to the ladyships standards, there is the whole forest outside for you to sleep in if you don''t mind freezing or being eaten?" His laughter intensified.

    Philias raised an eyebrow, not disguising his contempt for the workers and their foreman. "That needn''t concern you and some cleanliness wouldn''t go amiss."

    Alea seemed pale around the nose, and Mireille also struggled. Vivienne spoke a short melodic sounding spell and the air around the siblings cleared with a speed visible to the naked eye swirling eddies of smoke denoting the boundaries of her spell.

    Walking over to the two Alyssa sighed in relief and coughed until her irritated throat settled down. The smell of old grease and days-old unwashed linen hung even here beneath Vivienne''s spellwork, having long seeped into the walls.

    They were then led to their sleeping spot, a free space at the end of the house farthest from the fire but, thankfully, relatively clean.

    "Where is our scout?" Alyssa looked around, trying to see where Zhira had gone, but she was nowhere to be seen.

    "No idea. She was with us when we got to the camp." Mireille shrugged.

    Talbert ordered Annabeth to prepare their bedding, and the girl nodded wearily before she went to work.

    Soon the men piled inside, laden with bloody cuts of meat. The antlers were wrapped in untanned skin and thrown on a pile of similar trophies to the side; a stench of meat gone bad wafted from the insufficiently cleaned claws, fangs, and other bestial remains.

    The fire was fed with a mixture of wood and coal, and then large metal skewers laden with meat were put to roast.

    Alyssa lowered her head and looked at Butler One laying out their sleeping bags. She felt highly uncomfortable with the big men gazing at her intently.

    The Lieutenant was discussing something with the foreman Morten.

    "I would have rather slept in the woods with some magical support," Alyssa murmured.

    "Don''t underestimate how cold it gets here. This is still no natural winter." Vivienne gave her a sardonic smile.

    Valens nodded, "No one has a fire gate, I think?" He looked around uncertainly, "And that makes warmth spells draining over time."

    "Butler One will keep watch over us," Alea interjected quietly. "So, don''t worry."

    The sisters were complaining to Jeremy and Talbert while Roberta winced, stretching her bandaged leg.

    Kept awake for a time by raucous laughter and loud chatter from the loggers, they fell asleep due to exhaustion soon enough.

    The next day saw them awake sometime before dawn as the camp became lively, and they were passed some soup and bread. Outside, the wind had picked up again, and the woods rustled with its passing.

    In the light of day, they saw the rusty contraptions that had stood beside the fallen tree. There were three of them, and they comprised a cylindrical cage of latticed iron or perhaps steel with boxy machinery welded to the back from which rose several metallic ''arms'' sporting claws and saws as well as four stumpy leglike appendages underneath. It looked utilitarian, ugly, and in ill repair. The cage had a sort of bar stool on which the operator could probably lean while manipulating several levers hanging from above.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "What in the world is that?" Mireille inspected one of the iron monstrosities.

    "They look barely functional but are probably intended for cutting down trees?" Alea''s voice sounded disdainful.

    "When they work, they do pretty well." One of the loggers had walked up to them unnoticed and now spoke to them, startling the girls. "But they often don''t." He laughed. "And they guzzle mana dust like a drunkard his ale."

    "Where is this gigantic tree coming from? Shouldn''t we have seen it from the ridge?" Alyssa asked curiously.

    "This tree comes from a grove that is somewhere over there." He pointed north and slightly east. "And believe it or not, those trees are hidden. You see them only when you get really close to them. Damn witchy things. But they should be worth a lot. Ships or airships made of that timber are tougher, bigger, better. Or something like that."

    "Will we get to see the grove?" Mireille asked.

    "You might. There has been trouble lately, and the army should take a look, and you are with the army...so." He shrugged and stroked his dark brown beard. "Name''s Berak, by the way."

    "Alyssa."

    ¡°Mireille, and this here is Alea.¡± The girls introduced themselves.

    Jeremy ran up to them and called, sounding a bit breathless, "We are leaving you dolts! What are you doing running around the camp like that? The next time I simply say I didn''t find you!" He looked at them angrily then huffed and turned to go back.

    "Nice talking to you." The dark-bearded man laughed. "Take care not to get eaten" His laughter intensified.

    Alyssa threw him an uncertain look, then shook her head and left with her friends in tow.

    The Lieutenant and Zhira waited before the log house, and Philias started talking as soon as they were in hearing range. "Today, we go and visit the grove those men here are harvesting. There could be some trouble, so I want you to be alert every moment. Demerits for inattention. Let''s go." Impatiently he gestured and then let Zhira retake the lead.

    The sunlight filtered through the high branches and drew light patterns across the packed snow beneath. Here and there, effects of elemental magic could be seen as ice reacted with wind or earth and short-lived twinkling vinelike crystal grew along the living trees. Little glowing motes danced on the wind and soared along the treetops like dandelion seeds made of light.

    Alyssa seemed spellbound by the spectacle and Mireille had to pull her along repeatedly. "What are you staring at? There is another one just over there. Don''t stand around- it''s cold!" She shivered.

    "I can see its beauty even with my left eye." She smiled in delight. "It seems to be apart from the decay I see everywhere!"

    Mireille raised her eyebrow, "If you simply want something lasting, you should just collect jewelry then." Ducking under the half-hearted swing of her friend she laughed.

    "Quiet! The next time I see you playing around, you ¨Cwill ¨C get a demerit. I will not repeat it." The Lieutenant called out, looking annoyed.

    They walked on in silence while the trees subtly changed, there was a bit of foliage here and there, and the air felt warmer.

    <hr>

    Nordmark Lands, the central Keep

    "The Magister did what? A winter field training?" Zygmund von Nordmark focused on his retainer a man in his early thirties

    "Noble sons and daughters just on my doorstep. It''s nearly time anyway. Mobilize my troops and then capture them all."

    "Is it time to reveal our hand so openly?" Ivyander, the frost elf, stood near the wall beside a column shrouded in shadow.

    "They will think the same as you. It''s too early; How can they openly rebel; They cannot possibly be ready to act like that." He grinned mirthlessly, his wrinkled features backlit by the sole candle highlighting the deep crevices left by time''s passing before he stepped outside of mortality. "And the best thing is- They are right. We are not ready, and normally I wouldn''t do such a stupid thing, but they don''t know that our reinforcements will arrive any day now, and with so many hostages, the noble families will hesitate to openly defy me if it looks like there is any hope at all."

    "It''s risky. If that attempt fails, the undying queen loses her biggest foothold on this side of the mountains."

    "Then we shall take care not to disappoint, will we?"

    <hr>

    Back in the forest

    The forest grew denser, and the air warmed even more, the enchantments warming their clothes shut down one by one. Alyssa looked at Mireille with a raised eyebrow, "What is this? Why is it so warm around here?"

    "I don''t rightly know." Mireille shrugged.

    Signs of logging and transport were all over the place. Only broken stumps remained where large trees once stood and deep ruts in the ground and broken undergrowth lined the path. The trees had become green again, and leaves and foliage blocked the feeble rays of the winter sun, but somehow a greenish light permeated the air and brought a warmth that seemed to pass clothes and directly reach the skin.

    Vivienne looked around, "It''s one of the old druidic groves. There should be a small node of power somewhere. Similar but smaller than the one under the Academy." She seemed uncomfortable. "They did not even care for the lesser trees and simply felled some of the old giants. It looks like they do not expect to have much time with this, which worries me. And even I am disgusted at the senseless destruction. The trees won''t come back for hundreds of years, and this is obviously only grabbing some money. Other materials could serve, if not as well, at least adequately. I hope there aren''t any dryads they would never have tolerated this."

    "Dryads?" Mireille looked interested, "Those tree women?"

    "They are nature spirits that appear in mana-rich areas and grow together with a tree. They are part elemental, part spirit, and partly fey. At least the books I read classify them as such." Alea softly said, looking at the Lieutenant, who seemed to be absorbed in inspecting their surroundings.

    A few minutes of walking brought them to a large open space beneath a truly massive oak tree. The crown was nearly a hundred meters in diameter, and a dozen grown men could not surround the trunk. Underneath, the ground was covered with a delicate veil of mist, and grasses and flowers grew beside soggy ground and shallow pools filled with colorful fish. At the edge of this clearing, several large trees had already been felled and as Alyssa looked around she saw many patches of entropic light shining from the billowing fog. As the vapors moved, there was a moment when she saw the source of the death energies more clearly, and there were small brown hands clasped to a badly mangled throat.

    Zhira walked ahead and looked at another diminutive figure lying contorted beside a shattered smaller tree that had been left to rot after one of the old giants had broken it in its fall.

    Annabeth looked stricken at the death surrounding them.

    "Corporal, scout the perimeter and report anything suspicious. No dawdling!" Philias walked to the front and called to the silent scout.

    Magic flowed through the air, and all of them felt it prickling along their skin. Fatigue lessened as each breath drew air filled with vitality into their tired lungs.

    "Is no one around here a follower of Irkonos?" Alyssa frowned. "This is obviously a sacred place!"

    Walking a bit closer they saw that the oak tree dominating the clearing grew over a large stone face sculpted out of granite and weathered by countless millennia it was worn away in places but still showed a general outline of an inhumanly elongated face with slanted eyes. Moss and lichen grew in the cracks leading up from where the roots had tightly grasped the edges.

    "What is that?" Mireille nudged Alea.

    "It seems to be one of the elder races, perhaps elven or fay?"

    A sense of timeless antiquity pervaded the area and the wisps of mist slowly flowed across the swampy ground while light shone through the leaves tinged in green and gold. Further into the forest, away from the clearing, some lonely patches of snow still shone, but here the temperature was nearly comfortable. If you didn''t know better, one could think it the first days of spring.

    "So, it seems that everything is still in order." The Lieutenant spoke to their scout and then called them over. "We will go back for now. Fall in behind me, this time the corporal will take the rear."

    Alyssa stood beside one of the fallen figures and saw a small female figure formed of polished-looking wood with a fine and even grain with eyes of solid green, a beautiful face with hair the color of fresh grass, dulled and wilted in death, and the remnants of clothing made of vines and leaves. Several deep slashes into the neck and side had bled sap-like reddish ''blood'' which long since hardened and gleamed in the sun like jewels. The dryad had tried to stop the bleeding, and the hands were still pressed to the gaping wounds.

    "Come, don''t stop, or we will get into trouble again. Let''s talk later." Mireille dragged her friend with her while softly hissing, "I don''t like it too."

    "My mother told me stories of nymphs and dryads; she was a faithful of Irkonos." Alyssa quietly replied while her eyes remained on the dead littering the clearing.

    <hr>

    A small figure crouched a the edge of the clearing and looked at the group leaving. When they had entirely left her field of view, a girl with the large furry ears of a wolf and eyes the color of honey grabbed a folded note with delicately clawed hands where it was stashed underneath a small stone. The parchment vanished inside the tanned furs clinging to her form, and with a bounding leap, she disappeared back into the forest without rustling a single leaf.

 In the light of the moon

    ¡°All human wisdom is contained in these two words - Wait and Hope¡±

    - Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

    The small stream meandered between the forested hilltops flanking its banks. The cold had frozen the whole surface save for a small gap where the rushing blue-grey waters frothing with foam glinted in the early morning sun.

    ¡°Mh. Looks like the Sleepy Green is not so sleepy this time of year.¡± Calvin mused.

    ¡°It¡¯s mostly in the summer that he deserves that name.¡± The dark-haired girl- Kira, he reminded himself- spoke softly.

    ¡°And how do we get on the other side when we are avoiding the bridge?¡± Gina groused.

    ¡°Mh. My ice magic is somewhat unstable, but it''s only a short hop, so¡­.¡±

    ¡°I know a ford just upstream of here. Even with the ice breaking, it would only be knee-deep.¡± Kira¡¯s eyes looked at Calvin cautiously.

    ¡°That seems like it would be a good idea. Let¡¯s do it.¡± Calvin stood up decisively from where he had been kneeling.

    The branches above were rustling in a sudden breeze, and just on the other side of the river, they could see the foundations of the old fort rising along the side of a rocky hill. As Calvin had learned, the main road curled around the sloping hill and reached the fort from the northern side opposite from the river, probably to avoid flooding. The sole bridge was guarded by a watchtower, thus not very suitable for a covert approach. Better not to arouse suspicion.

    Traveling upstream, they soon reached an area where the stream spread across a giant slab of stone becoming broad and shallow in the process before falling in a series of waterfalls to then combine into the rapidly flowing waters they had seen at the fort.

    Icicles hung thickly from the frozen granite, and Gina grinned in appreciation. ¡°Now, that should be perfect for bathing in summer.¡±

    ¡°Shhh!¡± Kira hushed her with another look at Calvin.

    ¡°Oh, spoilsport¡­¡± Another look at her friend shut up the blonde troublemaker.

    ¡°I won¡¯t rip your heads off just for talking.¡± Calvin sighed. ¡°But I don¡¯t blame you for being cautious. If you still have misgivings- And I would! Then you can go back to the last village, and I will even give you a few silvers for your discretion.¡±

    ¡°Dis...What¡¯s that? Is it something dirty?¡± Gina asked suspiciously.

    ¡°Pff.¡± Calvin suppressed a laugh.

    Kira sighed, ¡°We won¡¯t go. At least not now.¡±

    The rushing waters filled the silence.

    Ascending to the upper banks, they looked across the broken ice with gurgling water flowing between and beneath.

    Calvin concentrated and spoke a complicated spell. Ice and snowflakes swirled up from the ground and formed into a silhouette of a small humanoid just two hand-spans high and perhaps a quarter that across. Never ceasing their dance, there was nevertheless the impression of a question.

    ¡°Form a path from here to the other side. Make it rough, please I don¡¯t want to fall.¡± A second passed, two...then three. ¡°Well, I know.¡± Calvin grabbed some bluish dust from a pouch at his side and sprinkled it liberally onto the creature. ¡°There, satisfied?¡±

    The figure vanished, and a line of light blossomed from their position to the opposite bank freezing everything in between.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go; it will not hold forever.¡± Calvin nodded in thanks to the swirl of wind and snow before gingerly walking across, sliding once or twice.

    ¡°I wanna be a wizard when I get older.¡± Gina quietly confided to her friend. Kira seemed primarily apprehensive.

    The crossing was uneventful, and they soon came to a neighboring hill overlooking the fort; crunching through the frozen snow, they ascended to the summit by a small game trail that Kira showed them.

    ¡°You are already proving to be an excellent addition. Thanks.¡± Calvin looked down on the fort and absentmindedly complimented the dark-haired girl.

    The fort was shaped like a sharply pointed triangle with three large blockish towers rising above the walls made of broken rock. Many of the ramparts showed signs of recent repairs, and dark spots moved industriously between the remains of a large barracks and a building Calvin assumed had been a mess hall. There were dark lines imprinted on the ground in the area before the central building marking runes and spell circles. He squinted and strained his eyes, but the details were lost to distance.

    ¡°Mh. That looks like a summoning, perhaps?¡± Calvin mused. ¡°Bad news if it is, but whatever for?¡±

    ¡°Like the snowflake you called?¡± Gina asked quietly.

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    ¡°I will have to get closer and really take a look, but that will have to wait for nightfall. I recommend you two stay back, and we will meet back where we left the horse.¡±

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Kira nodded, and shortly afterward, Gina sighed and shrugged.

    <hr>

    The trek back to the logger''s camp was silent. The Lieutenant was focused on the trail while their scout walked behind the group, sometimes completely lost in the shadows of the trees.

    Alyssa gritted her teeth and walked with a lowered head thinking about what she had seen.

    Asandria whispered, her hazy silhouette occasionally lit with a passing ray of light, ¡®Three score trees and lives, hundreds of years of knowledge and magic snuffed out for a faster ship. Dryads are not sentient when they come into being. They coalesce out of the world''s mana and then bond with a tree. After decades of growth, they awaken. It¡¯s their fey nature that allows that or forces it- take your pick. They are curious beings without much malice, mischievous perhaps. Everything a humanoid does is interesting to them. They only know animals and trees for most of their existence. They become fully aware after a century or two, and if they grow old, they become wise and kind. Knowing no hardship and wanting nothing but new experiences or knowledge, they do not need to be greedy. They fight to defend their bonded trees, but they are not good at it. They manage well enough with their magics against common folk, but they have nothing but secrecy to protect them from a nation.¡¯

    ¡°Are there any left?¡± Alyssa asked softly.

    ¡®Yes. Out of those here in this wood, there will only be the one who came first. She who grew on the ley line node when there were no humans in this world. Her tree is still standing, but she must have fought and lost for her kin to die, so it is only a question of time until she too is killed.¡¯

    Talbert and Jeremy joked with the two sisters while Annabeth was silent and pensive. Mireille was silently fuming until Alea softly patted her arm.

    Stepping through the last trees at the edge of the clearing, the logger''s camp came into view. The foreman was arguing with two of his men near the strange cutting machines.

    Alyssa looked at Butler One, who strode through the snow with fluid mechanical precision, and then her gaze drifted back to the rusted monstrosities. No comparison at all.

    Lieutenant Philias hailed the foreman, Morten, and the two exchanged a few words as the students waited. Mireille stamped her feet and rubbed her hands, standing still in the open while the cold winds robbed her of warmth. She looked at Cyrus and then asked Alyssa, ¡°How come Cyrus doesn¡¯t freeze? He is thin and a reptile.¡±

    ¡°The book says it¡¯s his blood; there is some fire magic in it even if he¡¯s not a ¡®true¡¯ dragon.¡± The last was said with an apologetic look at her familiar.

    Three of the men climbed the rungs welded to the side of the constructs and opened hatches at the side of the ¡®cages¡¯ before clambering inside. Arcs of arcane energy erupted from rents and tears in the bulky machinery accompanied by the grinding of gears, and after a few minutes of adjustment, the machines began to shuffle forward on their crablike appendages.

    <hr>

    Calvin secured his gear and took a last look at the departing girl¡¯s backs. ¡°I hope I don¡¯t have to chase the horse again.¡± Muttering under his breath, he gauged the amount of daylight left, nodded, and began to carefully descend toward the fort. They had rested for a while, and now the sun began its descent towards the distant horizon, hazy blue peaks only just visible began to shimmer in a pinkish hue.

    When he reached the small ridge between the two hills, he walked parallel to the curving road making good use of the cover afforded by the scraggly trees and underbrush growing on the rocky terrain until he reached the walls of the fort.

    Overhead a soldier shone his lantern into the deepening gloom and cursed before spitting ¨C and just missing Calvin- over the side of the parapet.

    A deep male voice grumbled, ¡°Colder than a witch''s arse.¡±

    Another answered, ¡°You would know.¡±

    Coarse laughter sounded until it was interrupted by a hacking cough.

    ¡°Careful, it¡¯s cold enough. The wind will cut your throat.¡±

    ¡°At least them corpses don¡¯t stink as much. Remember last summer?¡±

    ¡°Bah, don¡¯t make me remember. When Josef was drunk and fell on the pile, they were all mushy-like.¡±

    A retching sound was followed by another sentence, ¡°And then he caught the corpse plague and joined them.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°Still have some liquor left?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s all gone. We should¡¯ve killed that merchant. He had some more, I¡¯m sure of it!¡±

    ¡°Even when you cut his son? Do you think he still held out?¡±

    Another glob of phlegm flew over the side of the wall. ¡°¡¯am sure of it. But the sergeant didn¡¯t want to kill another one. Got into trouble over the others we done in. But now we don¡¯t have any liquor left!¡±

    ¡°Shit times, shit times.¡± Commiserating with his partner, the light and the footsteps receded along the wall toward the next large tower.

    Making sure that no one was near, Calvin whispered an incantation and rapidly ascended the wall before swiftly descending on the other side.

    Dark shapes stacked like firewood in the corners of the courtyard rose above chest height. Some were covered with planks; most were snowed in. The stars and Ioreth the reddish moon shone from above, and the light glinted in frozen eyes, fell on hands and feet. Corpses new and old, mostly the latter, were piled on top of each other in several large mounds.

    Grimacing, Calvin pressed a hand to his mouth to keep from vomiting. He was quietly thankful for the cold and the snow.

    Several shambling figures walked out of an empty doorway. Behind them, he could just glimpse a passage sloping sharply downward.

    The figures, five of them, grabbed corpses from the pile and began to drag them back the way they came.

    The scraping and sliding sounds of the small procession faded away, and the night was silent again. A nightbird called in the distance, and a sudden wind rustled the forest''s branches.

    Calvin silently walked up to the massive runic circles spread over the center of the courtyard and began to inspect the writing. Cursing inside at his lack of knowledge regarding void and necromancy, he scratched his head.

    ¡°Taking a piss?¡± A voice sounded from the side, and Calvin tensed violently before taking a careful look. Two men stood beside the corpse pile, and then a soft hissing of liquid striking the wall accompanied by a bit of mist revealed their purpose.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t sleep with all the coughing going on.¡±

    ¡°Worst winter for dozens of years! The last time it¡¯s said, a frost giant sorcerer made a great spell to punish a thief.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I should¡¯ve followed Jim to the big city.¡±

    ¡°You would only have ended in them factories, and the machines would¡¯ve eaten you.¡±

    ¡°Bah, nonsense. It would¡¯ve at least been warm.¡±

    ¡°Who couldn¡¯t be bothered to cut some wood for the fire? Mh?¡±

    Calvin¡¯s rapidly beating heart became calm again, and he watched the two men enter the main building via a side door nearly hidden by drifts of snow.

    Clouds drifted, and the moon shone more brightly, illuminating the inscriptions.

    Tracing the runes and mumbling to himself, Calvin suddenly rose and looked at the ramp, ¡®Call those who cannot sleep, call those whose hatred lies too deep, with blood and flesh and bone and grief, let them vent their rage to find relief.¡¯

    Cold sweat chilled his back, and his mouth became dry. There was no part of those circles that spoke of control.

 Alliances

    "The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them."

    ¨D J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

    "They are going to kill the last tree?" Mireille whispered furiously and looked at the departing machines.

    "I¡­" Alyssa was lost for words.

    Alea lowered her head and clenched her hands.

    "Why are you still standing here? We have to continue our route. The main camp is about a day''s march to the northwest." The Lieutenant called back irritably as he adjusted the straps of his backpack, trying for a more comfortable position. "If we dawdle, we will be caught in the open, and I, for my part, won''t enjoy that."

    Mireille sought eye-contact with Alyssa, her whole person seemingly asking for an answer.

    "We can''t simply go and attack the loggers or something like that. I hate it more than I can say, but what would we do then? Emigrate to the Kingdoms of the Broken?" Alyssa whispered.

    Alea had listened quietly and now interjected softly, "We could ask Vanessa to sabotage them. If Iseret is with her, it''s even better. I would like to take action myself, but until we get the chance to talk to Lieseleta or my family, we have no power to make demands."

    "But if they have killed the last one too because we hesitated?" Mireille whispered back.

    "I don''t think it will be that easy. The squad that killed the dryads should still be nearby. That we have not seen it might be because it wasn''t quite that easy; perhaps there are wounded. We should try to ask." Alyssa mused.

    The group sorted itself, and with Philias, the Lieutenant, in the lead, they marched into the snow-covered forest.

    Alea hugged herself and leaned over to Alyssa, saying, "I feel a bit bad pushing all of that on Vanessa and especially Iseret; she has nothing to do with all of that."

    "She should have her considerations. Asandria is quite furious, and Vanessa should be the same. I feel that elves might like dryads quite a bit." Alyssa replied.

    "And what if it works for a few days, and they call in more people?" Mireille frowned as she said this.

    "We have to get a message to Lieseleta. She would help if she knew." Alea looked uncomfortable.

    Vivienne followed their conversation with interest, but as she heard the last sentence, she snorted. "I do think she has quite enough on her platter to be concerned about the army and the dealings of big trading houses. I fear our best bet is to make it costly and so no longer interesting. They do it because there is profit to be had. If that goes away, they will cease. Proud merchants are poor merchants, as they say back in Kruoghs reach."

    "Easier said than done."

    Meanwhile, the group was trudging through the snow until they reached the forest''s edge, where a small path led into the twilight between the trees.

    "Shouldn''t we simply knock them out and then go and help the dryad?" Mireille said half-jokingly.

    "Don''t you dare," Alea grumbled.

    Valens softly cleared his throat. "They have lived so long they will endure for a day longer."

    "The others didn''t." Alyssa lowered her head. Her void magic seemed to be sensing her emotions, or probably her control became lacking the more distracted she became; in the sight of her left eye, she saw wisps of dark flame brush across trees and underbrush, wilting leaves, and rotting bark. Gritting her teeth, she grasped her left arm and pressed it to her chest.

    <hr>

    Morten squinted and shielded his eyes with his right hand. The sunlight shining through the gaps left by the fallen forest giants was unexpectedly fierce.

    One of his men walked up to him and gestured with his head toward the massive oak tree dominating the center. "We finally fell her? What about the wood-women the last time we had to get the army, and Bjorn was injured for a week."

    "Don''t worry, the squad we got last time will go in first."

    "Is it really worth it? I know we get paid for extra danger, but it''s not that much more than we could make near a stream down south, and there are fewer beasties to bite our heads off."

    "There are lots of desperate people that will work for a hot meal. Gotta stay competitive." Morten''s grin uncovered several blackened teeth.

    They stood in silence and observed the flowers and green leaves growing in the middle of a snowed-in forest.

    "Gets you every time. Eh?" Borek chewed on some jerky.

    "It''s unnatural and not that useful. If you could plant some corn ''round here, that would be another thing, but I hear that farmland kills the magic or something like that."

    After about an hour of waiting, there came the sound of metal on metal and tramping feet, and a group of soldiers, breastplates padded with wool hefting shields and spears, as well as some armed with crossbows, marched into view.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    A man of about forty years with silvered hair and a four-day stubble nodded a greeting. "Morten. Need our help again?"

    "I think it would be best to be sure. It was costly the last time we thought that our machines and axes would be sufficient."

    "No one died, or did that southerner bite the dust in the end?"

    "No, Bjorn survived, but one of our constructs was damaged beyond field-repair, and most of us were wounded. Don''t know what you think we are hired for." Morten frowned in dissatisfaction.

    The older man gave a short laugh. "Well. Here we are. I need one of yours to take his axe to the big tree, then they should show themselves, and we can get to work."

    "Istvan. You could simply hack the tree yourself; no one of my men would have to take the risk!"

    "Get to it, no discussion."

    Grumbling, Morten grabbed one of the loggers, "Get an axe and hack that tree over there. No need to be fancy; several strong swings should do it. If anything changes or happens, you get out of there, understand?"

    "Ah, yes, will do." The man scratched his head, and light blue eyes looked dully at the ground before he grabbed a sizeable woodsman''s axe and, after testing the heft, turned to go.

    ¡°So, keep him alive will ya?¡± Morten glared at Istvan.

    "Not going yourself? Tsk." Istvan gestured his men, and the crossbowmen fanned out and took position beside some of the bigger tree stumps while the spearmen advanced.

    The logger called back, "This one? Morten, sir?"

    "Yes! Hurry up; we don''t got all day!"

    The axe glinted in the sunlight as large muscles strained the fabric of the woolen shirt covering his upper arms. Then the blade arced toward the oak tree.

    With a surprised look on his face, the logger turned around. The axe dragged through the flowers blooming on the ground; a slender arrow lodged in his left eye, and with an absentminded gesture, he grabbed for it before pitching forward, falling heavily to the ground.

    "We are under attack!"

    Between the trees, a figure rose, and another arrow flew before embedding deeply into a hastily raised shield.

    "Damn it all!" Morten cursed and ordered his men to fall back toward the constructs. "Seek cover!"

    Bolts shot from the crossbow-wielding soldiers before several arrows severely wounded three of them.

    "Back!" Istvan gestured, and then concentrated metallic light shone from his upper arm and several shards of razor-sharp steel shot from his palm, cutting into and through the foliage and small branches, eliciting a suppressed scream.

    "Forward!"

    The soldiers hefted their shields and began to advance when several hulking forms burst from the woods covered in furs and wielding axes or warhammers they charged the line of the kingdom''s troops. Snow flew from low hanging branches and yellow or dark orange eyes, great canines, and wolf ears clearly showed them to be wolf-tribe.

    The tribesmen- and women- were on average larger and more massively built, but the one leading the charge was another head taller than even the biggest of his men. Swinging the warhammer with one hand and striking with the claws of the other, he assaulted Istvan, who conjured a floating shield of metal while backpedaling toward the relative safety of the shield line. The massive hammerhead shaped like a snarling wolf crunched into the magic metal and ripped a hole in the center with the tortured scream of rending steel.

    Several crossbow bolts shot forth and claimed their red due among the tribal warriors before those crashed into their opponents. One of those bolts struck the oak tree in the center, and for a moment, the light seemed to intensify, becoming gold-green as snowflakes vanished into mist or a light drizzle and warmth permeated the air.

    Everything seemed to slow and then speed up again as a willowy woman stepped out of the tree. Her hair the color of autumn leaves, her body clad in woven vines and flowers, she wielded a rod of white birch sprouting fresh leaves along its length. Her eyes were deep forest pools of black and green hinting at unseen depths.

    She looked around and saw her fallen sisters; clear saplike tears fell from her eyes as a perfectly formed mouth tried to frame a question.

    Istvan looked at the forces arrayed before him and violently spread his arms shooting slivers of metal in a cone before him, peppering the attacking force and causing them to hesitate. "Retreat!"

    Two other branded among the army troops covered their retreat with waterbolts and flaming missiles. The loggers had long since activated the constructs and retreated with the soldiers.

    The tribesmen held their position several of the injured were dragged toward the dryad, who called green energies from the ground to heal their wounds.

    The hulking warrior leading the group paced impatiently, watching his departing enemies.

    "Why not kill some more?" A deep voice sounded from his right.

    He gave an answering growl and looked at his mate, a woman wielding a two-handed axe, hair woven into a long braid dancing on her back ornamented with bones, "We are but scouts who were already near. The Lord is coming with the host, and our blood is his to shed. We are not young pups fresh out for blood forgetting the purpose of the hunt."

    Even as he scolded her, the words were spoken without rancor.

    "One or two dead rustmen would have cost us nothing."

    "True. But I did not want to risk a fight near Sirviel. She is not in a good state with her sisters dead."

    The trek back to the logger''s camp was a silent affair. The one water-branded used his powers to staunch the bleeding of several deep wounds and had to be carried the rest of the way on the steel arms of one of the constructs.

    Istvan''s face was grim, and as soon as they reached the clearing, he gave a series of orders, and his men began to gather logs and branches to fortify the loghouse.

    Grabbing a crystal tablet, he injected some mana with a murmured word of command, and soon a sparrow made of grey dust sat on the back of his hand. "Tribesmen have attacked us. A group of perhaps twenty all in all, but they had the support of one or more of their windsingers. I request urgent reinforcements."

    <hr>

    Some ways to the northwest, a wooden palisade enclosed a small army camp sitting on top of a gently sloping hill overlooking one of the hundred streams giving the lands to the north their name.

    The commander looked at the messenger sparrow as it disintegrated into motes of magelight and then looked at the man sitting opposite his desk. The young blonde noble wearing the colors of the house of Nordstrom grinned, having heard some of the message.

    The older man frowned, "Did you already know this would be happening? If that is the case and you did not warn us I will¡­"

    "No, you misunderstand." The commander''s face turned dark at the interruption, but the young noble seemingly did not notice, "I was only glad that our help is going to be needed so soon. I would have preferred to sit out the winter before my hearth fire in my wife''s company, but as the patriarch would have it, I''m here. It''s much better to be useful and needed than to only freeze my toes off for no gain at all. Am I right?" He took another sip of the mulled wine in his earthenware goblet.

    The commander schooled his features and stood extending his hand, which the noble grasped after standing hurriedly. "I, by the power invested in my office, accept the generously offered help of the duchy of Nordmark. The men will be added as auxiliaries. I trust you will have no problems following my orders Sir Lars von Nordstrom?"

    "No, I look forward to working together."

 A tacit understanding

    ¡°True heroics must be carefully planned - and strenuously avoided.¡±

    - Steven Brust

    The students and their two teachers walked through the quiet woods. Once they saw a deer that quickly fled deeper into the forest shaking snow from low-hanging branches. Annabeth grinned at Mireille and pointed, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen one so close!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen any before leaving my hometown.¡± Mireille smiled, but her thoughts were still on the dead dryads.

    Sensing her distraction, the brunette girl lowered her head and kicked a bit of snow, ¡°Sorry. I was just surprised.¡±

    ¡°Getting all down over it will not help them or us. But it''s hard to feel cheerful at the moment.¡± Mireille shrugged. ¡°Where are you from? If I may ask?¡±

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t you? I come from the southern dockyards of Kronenburg. My parents are a ropemaker and a seamstress. They usually outfit or repair the rigging of the ships. It¡¯s hard work but they seem to like it and we never went hungry. I have been learning from my mom since I was able to hold a needle.¡± She looked up between the barren branches for a glimpse of the sky before looking at Mireille again. ¡°Anything in particular that interests you?¡±

    ¡°Do you like sewing?¡±

    ¡°Mostly? I hated it sometimes but I¡¯m pretty good at it and so I cannot hate it for long. My magic manifested itself one evening when I saved a ship''s captain from a falling crate. I saw the accident happening and tried to reach him but couldn¡¯t get to him in time so my magic caused gusts of wind that blew the captain back, and he was grateful enough to sponsor me for an examination.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that free for everyone?¡±

    Annabeth laughed, ¡°No. If there is someone of noble birth then yes, the testing is free. If you are a mere commoner the testing can be free if there are signs of strong ability or if someone important speaks for you. You can also pay a sum of money. The captain asked an acquaintance to recommend me and I tested high for air and a bit for water getting me a sponsorship.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. Seems we had a lot of luck.¡± Mireille mused.

    ¡°You were the talk of the academy, coming in as you did and with several professors taking an interest. Then you befriended the princess! I did not dare. A word from prince Carl and I would have been expelled.¡± She shuddered.

    ¡°Sorry for taking a bit of the limelight.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for fighting as you did at the exhibition. I was with the other noncombatants and saw you and your friends driving back the undead and the traitor-troops. Many people were very grateful for what you did.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice to hear.¡± Mireille smiled a bit more genuinely, then leaned over, ¡°If the work gets too much, tell us we can help.¡±

    Annabeth nodded but then said, ¡°No, I get the money I have to be the one to do the work.¡±

    ¡°I can respect that.¡±

    They stopped for a short while at noon, eating half-frozen jerky heated by magic, and then continued on into the slowly deepening dusk.

    ¡°We won¡¯t make it.¡± The Lieutenant looked highly dissatisfied.

    ¡°Maybe we should¡¯ve left after breakfast and not helped those loggers with their sordid business,¡± Alyssa said softly under her breath.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Philias looked at Alyssa sharply.

    ¡°Nothing, sir.¡±

    Finding nothing suspicious he returned his attention to the surrounding woods and called, ¡°Corporal, find us a place to stay we should immediately begin preparing the campsite. Annabeth and...Mireille was it? You still have demerits so please make yourself useful.¡±

    Patting the snow from a fallen log he sat down and stretched his legs while Jeremy and Talbert helped the two sisters before sitting down themselves.

    Alyssa looked at the ghostly form of Asandria and met her empty eyes seemingly gazing through her. Raising an eyebrow the specter said, ¡®Something on your mind?¡¯

    ¡°Could you keep a lookout for Vanessa? I don¡¯t know how good Zhira is, but I fear she might be an obstacle to a nightly visit.¡±

    ¡®I can do as you ask it¡¯s in my own interest anyway. I knew some of them you know.¡¯ Sighing softly she turned and let her gaze wander over the gloomy woods.

    ¡°Who did you know?¡±

    ¡®The dryads. I visited them once back in my time.¡¯

    Alea poked her side, ¡°You look strange talking to yourself. It¡¯s the ghost you are talking to isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I asked Asandria to keep a lookout for Vanessa. I wouldn¡¯t want an incident at night.¡±

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± Gesturing, she sent Butler One to help Annabeth and Mireille.

    A small fire crackled and gave the illusion of warmth even as a mere meter away there was only a faint hint of heat brushing across their face.

    The fire seemed to deepen the darkness beyond. Zhira turned away from the fire, keeping a careful lookout on the darkened forest, avoiding the flames.

    ¡°Zhira, you will take the early morning watch, the rest of you come up with a plan. If I don¡¯t have a clear watch order when I finish my meal you will go double and everyone will have a part of the duty.¡± Taking a stick from beside the fire with a piece of toasted bread he blew on it before biting off a healthy chunk looking quite comfortable.

    Alyssa sighed before suppressing her displeasure and looked at her friends, ¡°Should we ask the others to share the watches?¡±

    ¡°It would only be fair. If they don¡¯t do it today, then the next time we are outside.¡± Mireille crossed her arms before her chest, looking a bit rebellious.

    ¡°Butler One can be my stand-in he will not get sleepy, and I have the utmost confidence in the craftsmanship of my grandfather regarding his eyes and what goes for his ears.¡± Alea quietly interjected.

    Mireille frowned and gave her an accusing look.

    ¡°You want your blind classmate, who is also two years younger than you, to stand guard in the middle of a winter night in the forest?¡± Vivienne blinked her eyes while grinning like a fox.

    Shortly afterward, they had allocated the respective watches, the nobles and the two sisters had paid for the privilege of uninterrupted sleep, and everyone was ¨C mostly- satisfied.

    <hr>

    The wind strengthened during the night and when half of it had passed Alyssa was looking at the surrounding scenery using the ¡®Duskeyes¡¯ spell to gain perfect night vision.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    A small cloaked figure appeared beside a large oak tree and waved at her. Asandria floated beside her.

    Alyssa quickly looked around, making sure that no one was awake and watching, and then hurried toward Vanessa then hesitated a moment before giving her a one-armed hug.

    Vanessa gazed at her amusement in her eyes and whispered, ¡°Iseret is back this way¡± She pointed into the darkness, ¡°I did not think it prudent for her to be outside in this cold for too long. Anything we should know?¡±

    ¡°Vanessa! Good to see you, and yes, there is a lot. The army is working together with some merchants to cut down a dryad grove, they killed most of them already. We dared not interfere, but it was horrible.¡±

    Vanessa frowned, ¡°Dryads? Oh, one of the old groves of the hundred-streams. They really killed them?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there were bodies lying all over the clearing, perhaps two or three dozen.¡±

    ¡°That is grave news. We have our hand''s full being on the lookout for servants of the Heartstealer and can ill afford a new distraction, but this is not something I can overlook. I will go together with Iseret. Will you be alright until I return?¡±

    ¡°During the day, we are on our own, be that as it may. So it shouldn¡¯t be a big deal for you to be away for a few days. I will make sure to mention this to the others so that they are more careful than usual.¡±

    ¡°What possesses them to kill the gentle forest sisters? They would not harm anyone. Very young ones might cause some unintended mischief. They are usually kind and reclusive.¡± Vanessa rubbed her forehead. ¡°I assume that you are coming from there, and the way back is along your tracks?¡±

    ¡°Should be. We did not make any detours as far as I know.¡±

    Vanessa suddenly turned her head and looked at a darker patch of underbrush before pouncing with a fluid, silent movement. A short struggle ensued, and Alyssa quickly jogged over, seeing Zhira lying on her back with icy claws at her throat.

    Zhira whispered furiously, ¡°If I feel you cutting me, I will scream if it is the last thing I do.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t we brave.¡± Vanessa did not take her eyes off her opponent and softly asked, ¡°Who is that?¡±

    ¡°Corporal Zhira Julius, our scout.¡±

    ¡°That is unfortunate.¡± Vanessa seemingly weighed her options.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill her.¡± Alyssa hastily raised her hand. ¡°She did not do anything wrong.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning to.¡± Vanessa frowned disapprovingly. ¡°But I can¡¯t cast complex spellwork with only one hand and claws to boot. So I would have to transfer her to your custody for a moment.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Zhira interrupted their musings with a question.

    ¡°I only keep an eye on my charges here. And now I will have to take a look at the atrocity I heard about. Why? Is there enough wolf blood in your veins to make a difference?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± The scout looked at them vigilantly.

    ¡°I have been...away...for some time and not seen any of yours lately, but the eyes are unmistakably wolfen.¡± Vanessa shrugged. ¡°Are you really fine with what I¡¯m hearing? The wolf tribes always had a very good relationship with the keepers of the holy groves. The old dryads all bear the blessing of Irkonos.¡±

    Shuddering Zhira drew a long breath. ¡°It¡¯s too sudden. My mother is wolf-tribe but left my father long ago. I am loyal to my fellow soldiers, but I bear my mother¡¯s blood and cannot ignore it when the kingdom breaks the treaty. I...have contacted the tribe when they slaughtered the tree sisters. I couldn¡¯t take action myself, but they will protect what is left. I know that is treason, but it should not be necessary for me to make such a decision in the first place.¡± Fierce amber eyes looked at the glowing blue orbs of Vanessa.

    Moving back and righting herself, moving in defiance of gravity, the vampire¡¯s claws vanished, and she brushed snow from her knees. ¡°Then there is no reason for me to threaten you any longer. Do you think the tribe will be in time to save them?¡±

    ¡°Her, there is only one left as far as I know.¡± Zhira carefully stood up and looked at the two of them. ¡°And yes, they were already nearby, and they should have enough of a force to stop further desecration.¡±

    ¡°I will have a look in spite of that. I want to see if I know the one still alive. It would be nice to see a familiar face from before¡­.¡± She looked at Alyssa. ¡°Can I leave you to it? I think she is truthful and should not talk about our nightly outing?¡±

    High branches swayed with a sudden gust creaking softly.

    Alyssa looked at Zhira, ¡°More importantly- Do you believe us? Vanessa can be a bit scary, but she is a good person and will absolutely help the dryads.¡±

    The scout looked a bit conflicted, ¡°Trust is something earned, but I think you letting me go is enough to give you the benefit of the doubt. I will keep my mouth shut, and you can ask me if there is anything you need help with.¡±

    Vanessa awkwardly patted Alyssa on the arm, ¡°I will be going, the night is short, and I have to cover a bit of ground before I reach the grove. Take care.¡±

    Alyssa smiled before hugging her, ¡°Be safe.¡±

    With an embarrassed look on her face, the vampire extricated herself and vanished into the trees.

    Zhira looked at Alyssa cautiously, ¡°An elf? No, there is something else. No matter. I will be back at the camp if you need me.¡±

    The woman raised the hood of her dark grey cloak, and with a last probing look in Vanessa¡¯s direction, she quickly strode back toward the campsite.

    Alyssa breathed deeply of the clear cold air and, with her resistance to cold, found it quite pleasant. Gauging the time by the slowly setting reddish moon Ioreth, it should be at least another hour until she could rest. With a sigh, she settled in to wait.

    <hr>

    Calvin waited for the undead to return for another batch of corpses and then slowly and carefully turned to follow. The ramp led downward at a gentle slant, turning as it went. Soon he came by empty rooms, probably meant as storerooms. Broken crates and rotted barrels were scattered in the corners. The lighting was dim and unsteady, coming from down and far ahead. Some of the enchantments adorning his mask let him see more clearly, but it was not useful in complete darkness.

    Murmurs from ahead slowly grew louder until he could make out some words over the scraping sound of bodies being dragged along the ground. With disgust, he saw a few fingers that had been broken off by the rough handling.

    ¡°¡­.time¡­?¡±

    ¡°...invasion...best gone.¡±

    Reaching an intersection, he saw a light further ahead casting strange flashes of brilliance in his magic-enhanced sight. Concentrating, he grasped the half-mask and adjusted the sensitivity.

    A female voice sounded, ¡°That should be the last one for today. Preparing most of the corpses for possession is quite the undertaking. Good thing the shades will do most of the work.¡±

    An aged male voice answered with the remnants of a deep baritone, ¡°It¡¯s good practice. We so rarely get to work with such an amount of relatively intact corpses. Unblessed ones at that.¡±

    ¡°Could be that they have been desecrated. I hear they get them from some of the older cemeteries or even the mass graves from the last drowning plaque incident.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Might be, might be.¡±

    ¡°Could you pass me the nightshade?¡±

    ¡°Here you are, my dear.¡±

    ¡°Mpf. That one has gone dry, I will need at least double the amount.¡±

    ¡°Other than magic, how did you expect to get fresh ones in winter?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s early winter still!¡±

    ¡°And colder than midwinter the year before.¡±

    Low laughter sounded.

    Calvin crept closer to the doorway, opening into a large vaulted storeroom. Some columns held the ceiling, and the ground was strewn with a layer of sand. An intricate circle of cast metal ¨C probably lead by the dull shine- took up a large part of the center. The corpses were tossed in the middle, more or less side by side, and a woman in a ratty grey robe with stringy grey-brown hair inscribed runes with a large carving knife into the forehead of the cadavers.

    An ancient-looking man that appeared more like one of the undead than some of the fleshfiends with white hair hanging to his waist and a deeply lined face and sunken blue-grey eyes was perusing a large leatherbound tome with metal sheaths protecting the corners and a large open lock set into the cover. Dark energies arced from his fingertips whenever they touched the yellowed pages.

    ¡°Ready?¡± The old man looked at the middle-aged woman.

    ¡°Nearly; just let me finish this one here.¡± She carved with practiced strokes until she finished a convoluted sigil bleeding brackish fluid on the forehead of a man clothed in a burial shroud. Taking a few steps back, she left the magic circle. ¡°So. You can start whenever.¡±

    Giving her an indulgent smile that made goosebumps rise from Calvin¡¯s neck and arms, the old man turned and then began an incantation. Darkness poured from his left hand while his right firmly grasped the book still on its lectern. The ground seemed to vanish into a bottomless black abyss, and wisps of black energy seeped into the corpses, making them twitch in a mockery of life. After a few minutes, the darkness began to recede, and the old man blotted some sweat from his forehead with trembling hands. The runes cut into the skulls of the deceased burned with black flame.

    ¡°Well done.¡± The woman praised. ¡°That should do it for now. We need not prepare every single one. It is sufficient to have some more powerful and intelligent ones to keep the horde together. Singly they are not much of a threat.¡±

    Grinning and exposing two lone teeth, the old man nodded. ¡°I think we did a good job today. I would like to continue for a few days. Our money is well earned by then, and I feel that I¡¯m on the cusp of understanding something more.¡± He stared sightlessly into the middle of the circle. ¡°Perhaps it is enough.¡± He murmured.

    ¡°Father, I understand. Mother would be proud.¡±

    Calvin turned and hurried as stealthily as possible toward the exit. He would have to seek out the nearest army encampment they should have a mounted courier to get the warning to Magister Illimen.

    Sighing with relief, he exited the ramp. A light suddenly shone into his face, and a voice asked incredulously, ¡°Who the fuck are you? And what are you doing here?!¡±

 Interruptions and nightly visits

    ¡°They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of the grief is finite.¡±

    - Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

    "Alarm!"

    Behind the light from the bullseye lantern, three figures were dimly visible. Grimacing, he squinted his eyes, his vision blurry by the sudden illumination. Calvin could barely make out a crossbow, two spears, and probably brigandine armor.

    Truly they looked like bandits; they talked like bandits; they acted like bandits even the tabard with the Nordmark crest could not help matters.

    "Slowly raise your hands!"

    "a...a..and drop the staff!" The smallest of the three nervously shouted and whispered to his companions, "That''s a wizard staff! Saw it in a play!"

    "Idiot!" The bulky man beside him cuffed him on the head and the crossbow discharged with a loud ''twang'' narrowly missing Calvin and then skidded along the wall sparking as the iron bolt hit some flint-stone.

    Embarrassed silence reigned until someone somewhere took up the alarm call, and clattering from several running persons, as well as a sharp crack from a door, slammed into a wall, spoke of some belated reaction to the shouting.

    Grabbing a wand from his hip, he leveled the crystalline tip at the burly leader of the small group and injected some mana. With a rushing sound like a sail snapping in the wind, an azure bolt impacted the metal plates protecting the chest area with a loud crack shrapnel cut across the ground and the other two thugs while blood sprayed.

    "Aaaah, get¡­" violent coughing interrupted whatever he wanted to say, and with only a second of hesitation, his two compatriots attacked. In the scuffle, the lantern fell to the ground and shattered, spreading a pool of burning oil that illuminated the scene with unsteady, flickering light.

    A spear slashed from the side caught Calvin on the hip, and a burning numbness spread from the superficial cut where the coat had failed to catch the point. Hissing with the pain, he shot another bolt and hit the smaller brigand in the upper left leg.

    "I''m hit!" Screaming hysterically, the weasely man backpedaled, stabbing frantically at Calvin.

    Shouts from the main house sounded a lot closer this time, and a cloud drifted from the moon, and the whole scenery was bathed in soft white light so that he could clearly see the undead emerging from the ramp in a shuffling sort of run. Greenish light flickered in dead pupils, decayed flesh stretched across dry bones, ripping where the jaws opened wider than nature intended.

    Cursing under his breath, the wizard jumped back, sheathed the wand, and incanted a short air spell.

    "Father! There is the intruder!" The middle-aged, robed woman from the cellar lifted a humanoid thighbone, and a missile formed from dark energies shot forward. Hastily summoned flames shielded Calvin, but he felt the drain on his magic. What he wouldn''t give for a gate!

    In the underground cellar, he had not had the best vantage point and only seen her from behind, so he was surprised to see a sharply cut but still pretty face ravaged by void use and paler than the moon. The woman raised the rod she was holding for another blast, and he put strength into his leg muscles. Jumping with the assistance of his wind magic, he rose above the top of the wall.

    "No, you don''t!" The woman spat another formula, and the darkness beneath him birthed writhing tentacles of black shadowy matter grasping for his legs. Desperately he pointed his warstaff and gathered fire energies before shooting a ball of roiling flames at the ground rapidly coming up.

    Orb and tentacles vanished in an explosion of heat and light; he curled in on himself, shielding his face and arms with the enchanted coat, but his legs were not so lucky, and he suppressed a scream as the flames cooked exposed skin and the leather trousers grew hot enough to hurt.

    Several crossbow bolts sailed past as he unceremoniously impacted the walkway, skidding to a stop against the raised parapet. Groaning, he took stock of his injuries and, feeling pain but no further impaired movement, he quickly thanked Meloris before gingerly raising his head to look back over the side. He quickly pressed his head down again as a new series of bolts impacted around his lying position. Hearing some of the soldiers running up the stairs of the tower nearby, he made up his mind and, with the wind spell still reducing his weight, simply threw himself over the parapet rattling down the outside of the wall toward the ground below.

    "Don''t let him escape! Who gets me his head with or without the rest gets ten gold pieces!"

    Struggling to his feet, Calvin made good use of his still active spellwork and, jumping over the scraggly growth of pines and underbrush, soon reached the neighboring hill. Focusing anew, he formed another spell, then swallowing nervously, he jumped from the steeply slanted side of the hill toward the Sleepy Green below. The moonlight glittered on the ice-free central part, and with a sharp jerk, the winds grabbed his body, letting him glide toward the other side.

    Shouts from below and behind signaled that he had been seen. ''Nothing for it. I need some time to care for my wounds.''

    Rushing downward faster than he was comfortable, he anxiously adjusted his posture and, with a final exertion, slowed his fall to tolerable levels before crashing into the densely wooded river bank and through the undergrowth before finally coming to rest beneath a large birch tree.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Grimacing away the new pain of scratches and bruising, he grabbed a small flask from his hip, and seeing that it had broken and was leaking some syrupy fluid, he shrugged and applied the viscous potion to his smarting ankles. Soon the soothing magic contained in the brew began to alleviate his pain, and the cracked and bleeding skin slowly closed. Even in the moonlight, he thought he could see the receding redness. ''When I get back, I have to thank Ms. Jangres for her expertise.''

    Grabbing his staff and using it as a walking aid, he hobbled deeper into the forest before he lost sight of the river he could barely make out several torches on the distant bridge.

    Reaching the clearing where he had left horse and companions, he braced himself for possible disappointment.

    <hr>

    The moon was setting over the hills, and the stars shone coldly in the dry clear air when Vanessa and Iseret finally reached the sacred grove.

    Iseret, who had been trailing her friend, gave a quiet gasp when the scenery hidden by ancient enchantment was finally revealed. Amid the snow and cold bloomed a garden, not man-made but overgrown bushes and weeds scattered around some boulders covered in lichen and moss, flowers disregarding the seasons hung from their boughs and a small spring gurgled between roots thicker than a grown man''s legs. A soft mist hung in the air, and an ethereal light golden and green in equal parts glowed softly from an unknown source without disturbing the imagery of a nighttime forest.

    "Beautiful." Iseret softly whispered in Vanessa''s ear.

    The small elf grinned a bit smugly, "That is only to be expected of one the holy groves of Irkonos." Her face soon fell as she saw the fresh graves dotting the clearing. "I would not have thought it possible." She sighed.

    "Why? Never seen a priceless work of art melted for its worth in metal? Never seen a jilted lover disfigure his unwilling object of affection?" Iseret whispered with some bitterness.

    "Perhaps I was too naive," Vanessa answered uncharacteristically subdued.

    Iseret saw her friend''s depressed mood and stroked her back with a quick and soft gesture.

    While they were overlooking the quiet grove, a large form rose from the side of the giant oak tree in the center. The silhouette had large animalistic ears and raised its head, sniffing the air.

    "Wolf-Tribe." Vanessa quietly remarked. "Good."

    "Are we needed then?" Iseret leaned toward and whispered in Vanessa''s ear, causing her to shrink her neck shyly.

    "Not necessarily, but I would nevertheless like to ask. Coming all this way and going before the danger has passed would be ironic and useless, wouldn''t it?"

    "I will wait here then and back you up as needed. At least it''s warmer here."

    Vanessa nodded and dissolved into mist before her form solidified again near the oak tree.

    "I come in peace to inquire about Sirviel." The voice of the elf cut through the silence like a silver knife.

    Suddenly the clearing became lively again, and four large men with axes ready surrounded the smaller girl as if by magic, surging from behind boulders and out of the dense undergrowth.

    "Who are you?" A deep rumbling voice came from the one resting beside the tree, raising himself to an impressive height of perhaps two and a half meters.

    "My name is Vanessa''ellariel Erellathiel. I know Sirviel. Feel free to ask her if you''d like to confirm."

    "An elf. How interesting. I am Mordrak Redfang, a trailrunner of the Evenshade Tribe. You smell of old blood and death, and I cannot hear your heart. What are you truly?"

    "I am what I said, but you could say I was cursed by her who drove my kin to ruin. I heard that dryads had been slain, and because of my friendship with Sirviel and the old bonds of my kindred and the forest sisters, I came to see what I could do to help."

    "Mh." Mordrak tilted his head to the side and, with a languid gesture, touched the tree beside him. "Sirviel, I ask that you show yourself. There is a question I would like you to answer."

    The clearing was silent and still again and even the brisk breeze blowing for most of the night seemed to subside a bit.

    Gold-green light blossomed and a woman strode out of the side of the tree. Dark eyes came to rest on Vanessa, and the dryad lowered herself to better see her face.

    Vanessa slowly, so as to not alarm the warriors surrounding her, brushed back the hood of her cloak, and pale hair fell in waves around her shoulders. Blue-white light glimmered in her large eyes.

    "Is that you, princess? I thought you long lost to the sunlit dream." A voice like the spring gurgling among the roots caressed her ears.

    "Yes, Sirviel. It is me. Or at least, what''s left." Vanessa sighed self-deprecatingly.

    The dryad strode closer, birch-staff in hand, and the wolf-tribe guardians slowly made way.

    "You are much changed from the green sapling I once knew. Growth has gone and become stagnation, and life is changed to stillness. Where once you were a part, now you are the whole, and no roots are left." Sadness lingered in every word.

    "At least you still live." Vanessa smiled bleakly.

    "My sisters have left and gone back where it all began. Only I remain here. Perhaps that is something we share." Dark eyes glittering in the ambient light focused on Vanessa''s glowing orbs.

    "So you do know her?" The patiently waiting Mordrak asked.

    "Yes, she played among my branches when we were much younger. Hundreds of seasons past." Sirviel stroked the staff in her hand, and new leaves sprouted along her caress.

    "So she is a friend?"

    "She is a friend, though much changed and unfamiliar after all this time."

    "Good enough. Welcome to the grounds of the Evenshade tribe."

    <hr>

    Calvin frantically looked around the small dell they had hidden the horse in, gasping for breath. And sighed in relief when he spotted the silhouette of his trusty mount, even more so as he saw that it was ready to leave at any time, saddlebags and harness secured.

    "We heard some shouting from the fort. Is everything alright?" Kira, the quiet dark-haired hunter''s daughter, asked concernedly.

    Gina, the diminutive blonde, looked around nervously.

    "I was discovered and could flee. They cannot follow the way I took but will come here soon enough. We should leave!"

    "Are you injured?" Gina asked.

    "Just some scrapes." Calvin smiled at her, grateful for her concern. "Kira? Can you lead the way? Going upstream away from the road and the fort would be best."

    "That could be difficult with the horse¡­." She trailed off.

    "We will have to manage somehow." The wizard patted the horse''s rump and frowned unhappily at the surrounding forest.

    Gauging the direction, the small river probably originated in Hundred-Streams to the north.

    Distant calls drifted on the wind, and Calvin clenched his teeth, focusing on the next steps. "Let''s go. It will not get better by waiting."

    Kira did not wait for him to say anything else and decisively walked up to the forest''s edge before vanishing between the trees.

    Following they soon left the small dell.

 Dead and buried

    ¡°A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough.

    [Alexander''s tombstone epitaph]¡±

    - Alexander the Great

    The dawn greeted them with bright colors as the sun rose over the canopy of the silent trees bathing everything in gold and red. Vivienne who had the last watch stretched uncomfortably and hissed as a scab tore on her wrist where a branch had scratched her. Give her a ship, or the empty coast but not those overgrown woods! Her eyes roamed over the campsite and she saw a flash of amber eyes as Zhira vanished between the trees. Tapping her lips thoughtfully she gave a mental shrug and leaned against a tree rubbing her frozen hands together.

    The tents had been erected in the shadow of great chestnut trees, trunks overgrown with moss, standing at the edge of a small clearing. In the middle, a depression housed a frozen pool blinking in the early sunlight like a puddle of diluted blood. The corner of Vivienne¡¯s mouth rose slightly at the thought. Playing with a light breeze she carved pictures into the snow erasing them again with a gesture. Yrgos was capricious, jealous, and moody. He was also powerful and his servants were few but able. Whispering a short prayer she resumed her vigil.

    Shifting cloth and a low, pained moan grabbed her attention. Walking up to a tent, she lowered herself and looked within. Alyssa was tossing in the grip of a nightmare; dark energies played beneath her skin, outlining faint runes. The illusion that had been crafted around her frayed and her left eye seemed like a lightless hole leading deep into some unnamed dimension.

    Fascinated, the half-elf tilted her head. The young human''s hands clenched the bedroll desperately, knuckles whitening. ¡°...don¡¯t! I won''t take it...dust¡­kill me...¡±

    Tiring of the scene Vivienne softly shook her friend awake. ¡°Wake up! It¡¯s only a nightmare.¡±

    Amethyst eyes full of tears opened and for a moment stared sightlessly at the sagging tent-cloth overhead before Alyssa drew a shuddering breath and looked at the face of the green-haired girl. The light from behind made it difficult to make out the expression but the tone was warm. ¡°It¡¯s nearly time, and you were having a bad dream. I thought you could maybe help me with breakfast?¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The quilts rustled as Alyssa extricated herself. The cold hit her right arm, and she shivered.

    After she had cleaned herself with a cantrip she gathered the frozen logs they had tried to dry the day before and lit them with another application of household magic. Her thoughts flashed to a different time when her mother was holding her on her lap while pointing at the magic primer. Shaking her head she pushed the logs closer, hoping to get them warm enough to use.

    Down by the pool stood the ethereal form of Asandria staring at the frozen water. Patting the snow from her knees Alyssa stood up and walked up to the sorceress. ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    ¡®In the far north the winter is endless and the ice eternal. There are pools like this one polished by the hands of snow-fay containing the light of dead stars preserving the splendor even as those that once cast that light have already guttered out in the farthest reaches of the outer dark.¡¯

    ¡°A somewhat morbid musing for such a bright day?¡± Alyssa smiled feebly. ¡°But it fits the dreams I had.¡±

    ¡®Keep yourself busy. Idle thoughts often turn to old regrets.¡¯

    The camp came alive as the sisters woke and complained to Annabeth, who quickly began to make tea.

    After finishing breakfast, they gathered their gear and set off again. Soon they reached a mostly frozen stream leading north and followed that for a few hours.

    Wood creaked as a branch was pushed to the side and amid falling snow, several armed figures strode from between the trees to face them. A sturdily built brown-haired man in the colors of Nordmark looked them up and down and called, ¡°Well met; I take it you are one of the student groups? The names Cal Mieran. The army requested the aid of the duchies forces, and here we are.¡± He grinned disarmingly and rubbed his oft-broken nose.

    ¡°First I hear of that.¡± Philias looked at him suspiciously. ¡°Do you have written orders?¡±

    ¡°That I do.¡± Cal pushed his hand into his vest and rummaged for a bit before producing a wrinkled piece of parchment. ¡°Who wants to have a look?¡±

    The lieutenant strode forward and grabbed the document before unfolding and skimming it. ¡°Mh. That seems to be in order. Do you know why the commandant requested aid? When we left there was no news of any significant troubles.¡±

    ¡°I hear the tribes are moving, and there is talk of war. But I am only a small sergeant. What would I know?¡± He raised his hands helplessly. ¡°But because of that, we made a camp a bit further ahead to gather the students, away from any possible fighting. Wouldn¡¯t want them to be hurt wouldn¡¯t we?¡±

    Alyssa frowned. Nordmark and safety were not words she would usually associate. Gritting her teeth, she leaned toward Mireille and whispered, ¡°That will not end well. We must be on our toes.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille nodded and looked at Alea to her right. Alyssa took pains not to walk with her left side toward people if she could help it when a careless brush could injure.

    Alea stood motionless, only the clockwork spider rotated its body to better survey the scene before them. She took a step behind Mireille and nodded.

    Cal looked them over, and his gaze lingered nearly imperceptibly on Alea and her friends before he gestured. ¡°Good that we have found you early otherwise you would have wasted a lot of time only to have to go back. Follow me.¡±

    Leaving the stream, they entered the forest again, and after another hour, they stopped for a short rest and ate a bit of trailbread.

    ¡°This stretch of land does not have the best of reputations.¡± When Zhira had come back, no one had noticed, but she had quietly joined the group during the journey and sat with Alyssa, Alea, Mireille, and the half-elf siblings.

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Mireille broke off a piece of bread and frowned when her teeth stopped on the crust despite her best efforts.

    ¡°When Margrinar expanded its influence in the early years of the Settling, they came to Hundred-Streams and wanted to take it for their king. The tribes who did not have such a clear definition of land ownership at first ignored the rust-men from the south. But when they grew more and more greedy, Ajnar Splitclaw of the Moonrise tribe united several of the scattered clans and resisted. Because the kingdom at first underestimated the ¡®Savages¡¯, they suffered severe losses, but with better organization and planning as well as powerful magic, they drove the tribes back. In low-lying moors and wetlands, the more mobile wolf-kin regrouped and finally fought Margrinar to a standstill. With the marriage of a Windrunner daughter to one of the first nobles given land here, an uneasy peace was established. But the kingdom and the tribes always thought differently about where exactly the border was.¡±

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°Thanks for telling us. But why is the land not good around here?¡± Mireille mumbled around the still stubbornly resisting piece of bread.

    ¡°The war and its first great battles were around here, and many men and wolf-kin died and bled on this ground. There are unblessed and unburied dead all around, and some of that death still remains.¡±

    As they walked further, Alyssa saw old void residues and the outlines of corpses shimmering darkly beneath the soil. A skull gleamed whitely beneath some barren bushes. To her eyes, the old bones were burning, radiating cold instead of light and heat. Interestingly enough, Roberta shuddered as she passed an old buried corpse. Perhaps there was a bit of sensitivity to void in her blood.

    Alyssa racked her brains as they got closer to wherever the Nordmark soldiers were taking them. Simply flee as soon as no one was looking? But would they really escape or simply suffer for a bit in the winter woods before being caught back? And the suspicion that would garner would make every other action they wanted to take more difficult. But should they really play their game without knowing the rules?

    ¡­.

    Lars von Nordstrom looked up at the light cloud cover and shrugged philosophically. Winter, what can you do? The commander, Franz von Ehrenbrecht was his name, tapped impatiently on his sword''s hilt belted at his left side. They both stood on the platform of the southern sentry tower guarding the fort. ¡°Summer was much too short this time around. What a stupid idea to wage war in winter.¡±

    The younger noble grinned and grabbed a flask from inside his coat offering it to the older man at his side. ¡°Here, best mead this side of Kronenburg.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not saying much, is it?¡± The commander raised an eyebrow but grabbed the flask, twisted open the cap, and drank deep. ¡°Ah. That hit the spot.¡± Coughing, his grin became wider, ¡°Where did you get that? I fear it will put hair on my chest!¡± Patting his chest and coughing twice, he laughed.

    ¡°It''s an old recipe from the Nordstrom holdings. Keep it.¡± Lars von Nordstrom pushed back the hand that wanted to return the flask. ¡°I got more where that came from.¡±

    Down below, in front of the fort, the men were assembling on an expanse of trampled snow long since cleared of bushes and trees.

    ¡°Mh. Good thing we were available. Did you always have so few men guarding the north?¡±

    ¡°No. A few weeks back, with the death of the king, some of my troops were recalled to pacify the coastal cities. And with good reason, sadly. No one knew we would get into trouble here when it''s been generations since the last real skirmish, much less a war.¡±

    ¡°Let''s wait for what the tribes have to say. Possibly we can come to an understanding.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes you have to make an example so that the lesson sticks. I¡¯m not optimistic about the chance for a peaceful resolution.¡± The old commander took another swig of the flask.

    The thick syrupy liquid rolled down his throat, and then he felt warmth igniting in his stomach, making all the aches and cold go away.

    Behind him, the young noble nodded in satisfaction.

    Everything was going smoothly.

    <hr>

    ¡°Halt!¡±

    Calvin rubbed the back of his head and squinted against the bright snow before he saw the men standing at the edge of the forest looking down at the bank of the Sleepy Green he and the girls were following.

    Wary and annoyed that he had not seen them earlier, the wizard subtly readied his staff and called back, ¡°Good sirs, we are looking for shelter for the night. Do any of you know where we might find it?¡±

    A lean blonde man walked a few steps in his direction, a bow, and arrow in his hand, while his companions stood in the shade of the trees, most of them armed similarly. A badge denoting his status as a scout in the king''s army shone on his left breast. ¡°Who are you, and what are you doing in these woods?¡±

    ¡°We are but travelers and hunters. We sought a shortcut but got lost along the way. Is this forest forbidden for ordinary folk?¡±

    ¡°You look anything but ordinary, and your companions too.¡± The man snorted. ¡°We will take you with us, and then you can explain to the captain what you were doing here.¡± He gazed at the staff vigilantly. ¡°And no tricks!¡±

    After gesturing with his head, two of his men took position behind the group of three, and the other four led the way.

    ¡°Mh. What¡¯s the army got to do with us?¡± Gina asked while Kira was silent.

    ¡°I think we will be told if we want to or not.¡± Calvin looked alert but somewhat pleased. ¡®They should have a messenger ready to go, and then Magister Illimen will have to deal with this mess.¡¯ At the thought of this, the corner of his mouth ticked up.

    ¡°Pleasant thoughts?¡± The leader turned a questioning gaze on the wizard.

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m only grateful that you found us and thought of the possibility of finally having some hot food. A man can dream, can¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°Strange fellow.¡± One of the soldiers muttered behind him, just loud enough for him to hear.

    ¡°Who would walk the woods in winter but for a strange fellow?¡± Calvin retorted, crossed his hands behind his head, and looked at the pale blue sky overhead.

    <hr>

    The rocky depression between three hills was nearly bare of plant growth. One part might be the stones and the sparse earth, but another was most certainly the bustling camp that used every scrap of wood as fuel for the campfires. As they walked down toward the tents, they saw a troop carrying logs of different sizes, some with branches still attached toward a storage area.

    From afar, they could see an area of the camp sporting the academy colors.

    A Nordmark soldier pointed, ¡°Over there is the camp for your sort. I hear there are some teachers or something organizing everything. If I were you, I would see to it you get home quickly. I hear it''s going to be unpleasant around here soon.¡±

    Cal looked at him with a displeased expression. ¡°Keep your thoughts to yourself. The decision, what will happen to the fine young lords and ladies, is with the officers and not with our rank and file scum. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Sergeant.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    They walked on in silence only broken by the unceasing wind and crunching snow.

    The peaks of the nearby hills contrasted sharply with the clear white-blue sky making the snow especially brilliant.

    Soon they reached the first sentries, who greeted the returning soldiers with weary disinterest.

    ¡°Seems like we are by far not the first to come here.¡± Vivienne looked around.

    Valens nodded thoughtfully.

    Cyrus turned his sinuous neck and flicked his barbed tail nervously. He was at an awkward stage where flight was still laborious and walking even more so. Sometimes Alyssa would hug him and carry him for a while, but his increasing weight and size made that impractical at best.

    Snapping pennons flew over rows of tents showing their allegiance to the different noble houses comprising the Nordmark duchy.

    Alyssa stumbled, put her left hand to her eye, and rubbed her smarting forehead. All around, buried in the rocky ground, gleamed bones and rusted armor.

    Zhira frowned; she had joined the group around Alea as was her wont for the last day or two and muttered softly. ¡°Here it was that the first attack of the tribes happened, and here they slaughtered the invading troops nearly eight in ten. I would not camp here if it were my choice.¡±

    Dark fires leaped from the crevices and burned in ancient eyesockets nearly indistinguishable from the pale stones and buried in the snow. Alyssa felt the void caressing her arm, and the jewel embedded in her forearm shone with energy.

    Then she felt an arm circling her shoulders and looked up to see Mireille looking at her concernedly. ¡°Everything alright?¡±

    Her friend had grown lean muscles over the months with all the ¡®Sword One¡¯ training and her penchant for physical activities; sometimes, she didn¡¯t realize how much they all had changed since she met them.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s only a small headache.¡±

    As she answered, her steps passed a twisted corpse, mouth wide open, screaming an endless scream just beneath the snow.

 Trapped

    ¡°A trap is only a trap if you don''t know about it. If you know about it, it''s a challenge.¡±

    ¨D China Mi¨¦ville, King Rat

    The encampment for the students and their teachers was at the eastern edge toward a steep rocky cliffside where some hardy trees clung to outcroppings and hung over a field of loose stone covered in ice and snow.

    When they neared, several students that were aimlessly walking between the rows of tents spotted them, and three came over.

    A girl in a thick-furred jacket with tousled dark hair grinned at Talbert, ¡°Hey Tal! Good to see you. And in one piece too.¡±

    ¡°Jerica.¡± Talbert gave a half-smile. ¡°How are things?¡±

    The Lieutenant raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. ¡°Get settled in. There should be a teacher who could give you directions. I will have to inquire with the command here. If we don¡¯t see each other again, be assured that I will send a written report to the academy.¡± The words were accompanied by a long look at Alyssa, who raised her head defiantly. ¡°I wish you a safe return.¡± He tapped the brim of his cloak hood and turned toward the center of the camp.

    Jerica grinned and waited a bit until Philias was some distance away before whispering, ¡°Nice fellow! I don¡¯t envy you tramping through the forest with his like.¡±

    Jeremy shrugged, ¡°He was nice enough. Knows where his bread is buttered too. Always a good thing.¡±

    Roberta and Georgina giggled.

    Mireille sighed deeply and looked at Alea, who was holding on to Butler One while catching her breath. The trek had been quite strenuous for the small girl even though she did not have to carry much.

    Vivienne was gazing around the camp vigilantly and whispered something to her brother, who nodded in return.

    A rotund man in the robes of a teacher with red hair and long sideburns walked in their direction.

    ¡°Newcomers? I¡¯m Villier Gorms, in charge of registering and assigning new arrivals. That wasn¡¯t how we hoped the Field Training would go, right?¡± He blotted some sweat from his forehead and looked at each of them, counting silently. ¡°Mh. You four...ah five.¡± He nodded at Alea, ¡°...are nobles. That complicates matters.¡±

    Alea clenched and unclenched her hands and spoke up, ¡°I would like to add that I would like a tent together with Alyssa and Mireille here.¡±

    Vivienne gave her a mock-hurt look which the black-haired girl ignored.

    ¡°That would be fine, actually.¡± The teacher nodded, ¡°Jerica. Good that you are here; bring those four to the upper section and see that they have a place. Marta should know if you are unsure. I will bring the others to the lower camp.¡±

    ¡°Fiiine.¡± Jerica heaved a deep sigh but grinned when Villier turned his head and waved for them to follow.

    Soon they vanished between the tents.

    Annabeth raised her head and said embarrassedly, ¡°Do you have any objections to sharing a tent with me?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Mireille smiled, ¡°The more the warmer.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say, and you even have the enchanted clothes!¡± Alyssa shook her head. ¡°We need to get out of here. Let us try to get in touch with one of the teachers we know, like Reneus or Carmen.¡±

    The teacher escorted them to a six-person tent situated at the beginning of the rock slide and took down their names, comparing them with a list, he nodded. ¡°Nearly all of you are here. Soon we can leave this sorry place. Until then, make yourself at home.¡±

    And then with hasty steps receding between another row of tents, he was gone.

    Annabeth looked around and raised her head toward the hillside. ¡°At least it looks like the cliff will give us a bit of shelter.¡±

    ¡°We have to get out of here as soon as possible. And keep on your guard. They could have simply sent us back. Why gather us so near to possible fighting?¡± Vivienne rubbed her fingers together and seemed restless.

    ¡°Let us see who else we know is here.¡± Mireille stood on tiptoes and tried to see above the low tents.

    <hr>

    Wind battered the round tent, and the oil lamp hung from a hook overhead swung lazily casting dancing shadows over some maps strewn on a portable table set on some carpets thrown over the wet earth. Several men and one woman sat around the table some pondering seriously, some half-asleep. Two men conversed quietly while most of the others listened.

    ¡°Do we have enough magicians to overwhelm potential resistance?¡±

    ¡°The teachers in the academy are notoriously experienced and powerful, but they are not usually accustomed to combat. I think we can attack at night and get most of them before they are really awake.¡±

    ¡°Some are already suspicious maybe we should have let them communicate with the academy. What would have been the harm?¡±

    ¡°And risk someone like Illimen coming here? Do you value your life?¡±

    ¡°When do we begin?¡±

    ¡°I hear the negotiations with the Wolf-Tribes are planned to start tomorrow. I think it would be a good opportunity to start the play.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

    <hr>

    The coast around this time was riven by storms, and the great sea-gates of the harbor were closed. Timber groaned as ships moored at the piers were battered by the winds coming in from the sea.

    The militia commandant looked at the hooded form sitting opposite him in a small guardroom. The shutters were clattering with every gust of wind, and the candles flickered as the poor insulation let the wind blow coldly through the small chamber sitting high in a tower of the small castle guarding the harbor.

    The commandant turned over the pouch and hefted it experimentally.

    ¡°Feels good, doesn¡¯t it? Enough for you to retire in the south. Your arthritis should thank you for that, as would your wife.¡± A young, male voice sounded. Settling deeper into the shadowed corner, a white toothy smile showed beneath the hood covering his head. ¡°Ah, I forgot. You lack the funds to treat her, so she might not survive the journey. But with a bit extra money perhaps a famous healer might be found.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Drawing a shuddering breath, the commandant drank deeply from a small flask he pulled from his jacket. He was an older, fit man with grey hair and beard, once reddish blonde.

    ¡°Deal.¡±

    He reached into his shirt and pulled out a pendant inscribed with runes. Muttering a series of words, he pricked his finger and dropped blood on a ruby inset in the tip of the silver amulet hanging from the chain. A glimmer of green light flashed, and then the amulet turned dull.

    ¡°Drip your blood on the stone and recite the oath to Allisair in the old speech. That will do the trick.¡± He gulped down more of the spirits in the flask, staggered to his feet, and spat guiltily. ¡°Do what you want with it.¡±

    Lucce lifted his hood and gazed at the amulet before dripping a bit of blood on the ruby. Concentrating, he recalled the oath of Allisair and recited it flawlessly. Grinning mirthlessly, he recalled his dismissal from the academy, his enemy joking with his friends, the bribed professor, the humiliation. He tightly gripped the silver chain and walked toward the guardian''s room, where all the castle''s magical defenses were anchored.

    Later in the city of Saltmouth on the coast of Margrinar.

    Screams rent the night as flashes of brilliant energy illuminated the plaza in front of the castle. Soldiers were turned into short-lived torches as the large runed mirrors hung from the upper levels of the guard towers spat bolts of fire and lightning.

    Soon the roar of a large crowd drowned out the commotion, and men and women armed with stones, cudgels, anything that might hurt when swung, stormed the citadel, and amid the fighting, several individuals among the mob unleashed spells of some sort or other drawing upon brands still fresh from their application.

    The morning found Saltmouth firmly in the hand of the Republicans.

    The next day Regent Heloise of Margrinar gave the order to gather the troops and mobilize the army.

    <hr>

    Wandering through the camp, Mireille and Alyssa were greeted by some of their fellow students, They mostly greeted Mireille and ignored Alyssa. She tried to remember and felt that it had always been that way. Even in Firswending, the people were mostly glad to have her help, but when that was not needed, she was not needed. Was she that unfriendly a person?

    ¡°Mireille?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°Am I a particularly unlikable person?¡±

    Mireille spat a bit of the water she was drinking at the moment and turned toward her friend, looking incredulous, ¡°What are you talking about? I like you well enough, and Alea and Vanessa do too.¡±

    ¡°What about Vivienne and Valens?¡±

    ¡°They like you too. Can I ask what brought this on?¡±

    Alyssa looked at several students that stood in one of the alleys between tents. They had been walking in their direction but stopped and began to turn as they saw the two friends.

    ¡°Mh. I must admit that I did not think too much about it, but it should still be the void-thing. It got better after the Arcane Exhibition, but you are not really low-key when using it, you know? And there is that cold feeling around you sometimes, and when you talk to Asandria, it can be a bit spooky. Even I found it peculiar when I did not know about her.¡±

    ¡°Is that really all? Even back in my hometown, I did not have any real friends. More like acquaintances.¡±

    ¡°Lucky me, I had a whole family that ignored me mostly. Thank Nirileth, my patron goddess, was always there for me. Have to really steal something for her one of these days.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Just kidding...mostly. She is not only the goddess of thievery. She also likes curiosity and self-reliance.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Thievery seems to be the more active trait.¡±

    Far in the distance, a patrol of scouts exited the forest and walked down into the dell. Alyssa focused on them and saw a man with an eyepatch carrying a large staff and wearing a trenchcoat made of leather accompanied by two younger girls.

    ¡°Look.¡± Alyssa pointed.

    ¡°Seems like a father with his two daughters. What are they doing bringing them here?¡±

    ¡°We should search for a teacher. We need to be gone from here sooner rather than later.¡±

    After walking for a bit, they reached a tent that was a bit bigger and looked more elaborate. Lowering herself to look into the tent-flap, Mireille called, ¡°Hello? Is there someone?¡±

    ¡°Yes? Who is there? Best come in before you let all the heat out.¡± An aged female voice answered.

    The inside of the tent was lit by several light globes, and a floating ball of fire shed both light and heat. An older woman sat on a carpet covering the earthen floor and was eating an apple.

    ¡°Sarah!¡±

    ¡°Ah, Mireille and¡­Alyssa was it? Good to see you made it.¡±

    The older healer smiled kindly at them.

    ¡°Madam, do you know if Reneus or assistant professor Carmen are around here somewhere?¡±

    ¡°As far as I know, they were still at the fortress. Carmen was still needed in the Academy, and Reneus is organizing the whole effort.¡±

    ¡°Why are we being kept here near possible hostilities?¡± Alyssa questioned.

    ¡°They say that being on the move would be more dangerous, the Wolf-Tribe know those woods best and all, but I have my doubts too. They did not even let us send a message, always saying they would take it with them on the next regular message run.¡±

    ¡°That sounds suspicious.¡± Mireille frowned.

    ¡°At the moment, it''s only suspicious, but the reasons sound as if they could be true.¡± Sarah shifted her seat and gestured, ¡°Do you want an apple too? It¡¯s unhealthy to only eat dried bread and meat.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡± Mireille grabbed and bit into an apple.

    Alyssa smiled and took another, polishing it on her robe, then became serious again, ¡°Sarah, they killed the dryads of one of the groves of Irkonos.¡±

    ¡°What?! How come I did not hear about that? How could they? The wolf-kin will not let that go and as they will want the perpetrators punished I don¡¯t really see how that can end peacefully.¡±

    ¡°With punished, you mean¡­?¡±

    ¡°Killed, yes. The Tribe believes in equal punishment, and excuses are not something they usually admit. Gold is not worth a life to them perhaps if there is some great deed to be done or a common danger to overcome but other than that- Nothing comes to mind.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t trust the Nordmarks; they fought against Lieseleta and seemed pretty chummy with the undead if you ask me.¡± Mireille put down the hand with the apple long enough to say.

    ¡°There were a lot of people fighting for Carl that day. If all of them were still under suspicion because of that, more than half the kingdom would be a problem.¡± Sarah shook her head. ¡°When the other teachers gather for the night, I will tell them your worries and the most unwelcome news of the murders.¡±

    ¡°It seems not everyone sees taking the life of a dryad as a crime.¡±

    Sarah sighed, ¡°That is an old argument. We kill magical creatures as a matter of course, most of the time it¡¯s eat or be eaten, but there are notable exceptions- Dryads being among them. As far as I know, they never harmed anyone intentionally, and several kings of Margrinar made killing them a crime, if not on the same level as killing a human. But with time and distance, there has evolved the custom that what happens in some far corner of some woodland or other will not usually lead to punishment even with something like that. And the custom has become so ingrained that some would be amazed that there even is such a law.¡±

    ¡°It gives me a bit of hope that at least someone thought to make one. But that makes the killing no less atrocious.¡± Alyssa seemed to have lost her appetite and simply held the apple.

    ¡°I will talk about that with the others, and then we will plan what to do. If we combine our magic, we should be able to reach Reneus at minimum, perhaps even the academy and Illimen, and then we have to leave here. Some fighting will be nearly impossible to avoid now. You should go and rest. Eat something, and tomorrow I will know more.¡±

    Alyssa nodded, ¡°Thank you!¡± Grabbing the still-eating Mireille, she raised the apple. ¡°And thanks for the food! Until tomorrow then.¡±

    ¡°Have a good night, children.¡±

    <hr>

    In a fort beside the Sleepy Green inside a dark underground chamber.

    The woman looked at the old man. ¡°Are you sure that you can keep us safe?¡±

    ¡°It should not take much effort, the newly formed walking dead will be disoriented, and with a hand of glory shrouding us, they will not realize our presence.¡± The old man patted a waxed human hand hanging from his belt.

    ¡°Then we shouldn¡¯t waste any more time.¡±

    Nodding at each other, they left the vaulted cellar that had been their home for the last weeks. Walking up the ramp toward the courtyard, a cold wind blew down into their faces and their breath misted before their faces.

    Reaching the yard, the old man stretched and promptly coughed.

    ¡°Father!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± heavy coughing interrupted his words, ¡°...don¡¯t worry about me. I still have enough time for this.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say such things.¡± The woman patted his back worriedly. ¡°Do you need another infusion of life essence?¡±

    ¡°The last prisoner died yesterday of the Blue Cough. I don¡¯t think harvesting one of the soldiers would be a good idea. We will simply have to make do until we reach a village.¡± The old man smiled at his daughter benevolently.

    ¡°If you are sure?¡±

    ¡°I am.¡±

    Turning toward the large magic circles, they began to prepare for nightfall. The old man looked up at the clouded sky and smiled.

 When it rains it pours

    ¡°Name the different kinds of people,¡¯ said Miss Lupescu. ¡®Now.¡¯

    Bod thought for a moment. ¡®The living,¡¯ he said. ¡®Er. The dead.¡¯ He stopped. Then, ¡®... Cats?¡¯ he offered, uncertainly.¡±

    ¨D Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

    In the Nordmark Camp with Alyssa, Mireille, and her friends.

    After having been situated, the girls made the best of the remaining daylight.

    Mireille located Paula, and both of them talked about their travels, with the former telling of the slaughter they found in the grove and both complaining about the snow. Alyssa did not calm down, and her anxiety rose with every passing hour as she whispered with Asandria. Alea tinkered with Butler One and infused new mana dust into freshly polished runes. The jewel core crackled with suppressed power.

    Night fell, and Annabeth lounged on the low field cot, smiling at the other girls, ¡°One night without cleaning, cooking, and setting up camp. Pure luxury.¡±

    Alyssa gave a weak smile while Mireille joked around with Cyrus throwing pieces of jerky in ever more impractical trajectories laughing when he scrambled to catch them.

    Everyone looked up as the tent flap was opened, and Vivienne and Valens ducked through.

    Vivienne looked at her friends and sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t like to ask for favors but does anyone object to Valens sleeping here with us? I worry that something will happen, and he would be alone.¡±

    Alyssa looked at the timid brother hiding behind his sister and remembered when she first saw the two, and it had been nearly the same but with one important difference- As she looked at him, he gave back a shy smile.

    ¡°We slept beside each other out in the forest. This is no different, and I can understand Vivienne¡¯s worry.¡± Alyssa spoke up, rubbing her forehead to smooth the wrinkles her anxiety had brought her.

    ¡°No problem with me.¡± Mireille shrugged.

    Alea looked a bit uncomfortable, as did Annabeth, but they nodded in the end.

    ¡°Thank you. If I can reciprocate the favor, tell me.¡±

    ¡°If something happens, we will be glad to be together. Don¡¯t be so polite!¡± Mireille gestured uncomfortably.

    ¡°Should we make a watch rotation?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°I think it would be prudent,¡± Vivienne answered.

    Shortly after, the lights were dimmed, and everyone not on duty crawled underneath the blankets.

    Valens rubbed his hands and looked gratefully at his friends before leaning back against the central tent-pole, settling in for his watch.

    <hr>

    As the lost eye set behind the hills and the small red moon had not yet risen with only starlight illuminating the camp, there came the sound of boots scraping over the packed snow and low voices. Dark figures walked stealthily between the rows of tents.

    ¡°Quick, take the right with first squad. If someone moves¡­¡± A slashing gesture over his neck made clear his intent.

    Taking their cue, the men following him divided, and a group each surrounded a larger and more solid seeming tent before the men took a quick look to see that they were all in position before another silent gesture made them take action.

    Slitting the tent plane, they quickly entered, and the teachers resting inside were rudely awakened by swords pressed to their throats. Muffled exclamations sounded, and were soon silenced.

    Glaring angrily, a stocky teacher was held to the ground while two soldiers gagged and bound him. A thin line of blood ran from where the sword had cut his flesh.

    Beside another tent deeper in the noble''s section.

    Several soldiers hefted their blades, and one of them silently counted with his hand before they slit the cloth and ducked inside. A dull thump and flash spilled from the interior as wards reacted, and the tent-plane blew into tatters. An enraged older woman stood in the middle, focus rod drawn, and screamed, ¡°Alarm! We are under attack!¡±

    Several hundred yards distant, an officer cursed, ¡°Only a question of time until something like that happens. Quickly mobilize the rest of the squads. Stealth is out of the question now. But when we have the teachers secure, the students won¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    Vivienne, who was awake, hastily shook the rest of them awake, ¡°Quickly, dress and ready yourself. I heard screaming outside. I don¡¯t know who or what caused the commotion but hurry!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s try to get to Sarah.¡± Alyssa had quickly thrown on her robes. ¡°And do take your backpacks. We don¡¯t want to be without our equipment if we have to flee!¡±

    Mireille lifted the tent-flap with her degen and surreptitiously looked outside. ¡°It¡¯s still clear. There is fighting near the noble encampment. I cannot see who is fighting, though.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go and try to stay together.¡± Vivienne nudged Valens to go forward.

    More and more students huddled between the tents, and flashes of lightning or an explosion accompanied by a shortlived flame bloomed toward the starry sky.

    ¡°What the hell!?¡± Mireille looked at the fighting. ¡°That¡¯s too blatant, isn¡¯t it? Those are soldiers.¡±

    ¡°They really dare.¡± Alea looked angry. ¡°How could they? Simply attacking in the night. There will be injuries, deaths¡­¡±

    ¡°Halt!¡± The dark shapes of soldiers in the colors of the Nordmarks ran down the makeshift trail to their right and two leveled crossbows at them. ¡°Leave everything on the ground. We will escort you to a safer place.¡± The soldier tried for a reassuring grin.

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    ¡°Do you really believe we are blind?¡± Alyssa asked incredulously while Mireille readied her hands for a shield.

    The helmet cast a dark shadow over the eyes of the man, but they could see the mouth harden into a white line. ¡°Don¡¯t make trouble you can¡¯t afford, girlie.¡±

    With a quick look to the side, Mireille activated a coruscating web of lightning, the sides burning into the tents and snow flashing into steam with heated water bubbling in between the suddenly uncovered stones. Startled, the two crossbow-wielding fighters released their bolts which impacted the web with a sizzle like hot metal meeting water. The wooden shaft was instantly burned to fine coal dust, and the tip fell to the ground, still glowing white-hot sizzling as it rolled into the snow. As quickly as it had come, the shield flickered out, and Mireille cursed before covering her degen in coruscating lightning.

    ¡°Kill them! They are commoners anyway.¡±

    Two of the men behind the foremost trio activated brands, and one of them hurled a series of stone shards at the group of students while the other summoned fire, coating his blade and right arm.

    Alyssa reflexively summoned void and incanted the short spell for a missile throwing an unformed globe of darkness that quickly honed in on the speaker touching his chestplate and rusting the metal while rotting the fabric beneath, and then the man began screaming while tearing at the straps of his breastplate.

    One of the shards nearly hit Alea, but Butler One swiftly interposed itself, and with a ¡®clang'', the stone ricocheted into the night.

    One of the crossbow-wielding soldiers drew his sword after throwing the discharged weapon to the side and took a slice at Alyssa. A whiplike shadow burst from the darkness, and with a pained scream, the man fell back, dropping the sword while clasping his injured arm to his chest. Dark fluid bubbled from a long deep cut as Cyrus withdrew his stinger.

    Annabeth stood behind them, shivering and pale in the scant light, and spoke a short spell summoning a globe of light which she pitched behind the soldiers backlighting them.

    Another cluster of dark orbs catapulted from Alyssa¡¯s hand where she held the void focus; the smoky crystal seemed to contain a piece of night. The orbs impacted in a line from the upper left leg to the right shoulder and the man who had just now threatened them simply folded around the disintegrating holes left by the missiles before silently falling to the ground where flesh bubbled with corruption and the whole corpse slowly sunk into the ground.

    The two branded discharged flames and shards of stone while retreating as quickly as safely possible.

    Some of the tents further away had caught on fire, and the flames and Annabeth''s glowing light cast sharp shadows. A lance of light interrupted the incessant shards of stone, eliciting a pained gasp as it burned and cauterized a hole into the burly branded¡¯s hand. Turning, the man stumbled and ran through the tents beside him, collapsing one and causing a surprised exclamation from someone still hiding inside before the soldier vanished into the night. The other branded with the flaming sword looked around desperately and then, too, turned to run.

    <hr>

    The Commandant and the army detachment arrived at the flat hilltop where tall and silent monolithic stones formed a circle like the teeth of a great worm erupting from the earth to eat the moon. Wasn¡¯t there a story like that?

    Franz von Ehrenbrecht was nearing his fiftieth year in this world, and sometimes it felt like each of them had left some mark, some hidden pain that made him old before his time. Not that fifty wasn¡¯t old; he scolded himself.

    Looking around, he saw the group of scouts return he had sent to canvas the region before moving the troops. Not that the Wolf-Tribe wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid them should they so choose- At least smaller groups of them.

    Lars von Nordstrom walked up to him, silently observing his interactions with the scouts. A heavy fur coat with a golden clasp holding it together protected him from the biting cold. Looking up, the stars shone coldly, and only a few wispy clouds hung before the lost eye.

    Franz von Ehrenbrecht drank deep from the small flask he had begun to carry with him and then lowered his hand with a frown of dissatisfaction. ¡°Damn. Empty again.¡± Turning toward Lars, he continued, ¡°The Tribe has sent their emissaries. They are waiting beside the circle. I don¡¯t think that will go well, so be prepared to withdraw.¡± Sighing, he straightened his back which gave an alarming crack. ¡°Nothing to it; we can as well get going.¡±

    Walking up to the standing stones, they saw a group of large humanoids gathered around a stooped figure. All of them sported animalistic features like furred wolf ears, amber eyes, and sharply pointed overlarge canines.

    The person standing in the middle was an old woman nearing the end of her life with white furlike hair and piercing yellow eyes.

    ¡°I am Navastrash, and I am here to talk.¡± A scratchy, tired voice sounded, and the old woman took a step in their direction.

    ¡°Franz von Ehrenbrecht, and the one beside me is Lars von Nordstrom. You have violated the old border agreements. What have you got to say in your defense.¡±

    A sneer exposed yellowed fangs as the woman scoffed, ¡°Border agreements. As if that ever stopped you. You knew our needs. The rivers change course every few seasons. To say that the river is in the north this time does not make this land yours. The groves were explicitly exempt!¡±

    ¡°The agreement said everything beyond the first river is yours. The river¡­¡± He paused, pointing, ¡°...is this way. We are well within our rights. And you killed our people.¡±

    ¡°I will not argue what is clear as day. Only eyes clouded by greed and avarice could somehow construe your actions as right. Withdraw from the holy groves and deliver those that killed the tree sisters to us for judgment. If you do that, this matter will be closed, but your people will no longer be welcome in the Hundred Streams. That is the best I can do. If you don¡¯t accept, we will be at war come the new moon.¡±

    Lars looked at both sides and sighed before silently counting.

    The commandant hiccuped and frowned before waving air into his face. ¡°Excuse me.¡± He pulled at his collar as sweat began to drip from his brows.

    ¡°What are you doing.¡± The old woman asked warily.

    ¡°Seems something I ate did not agree with me.¡± Blinking as if concentrating on something difficult black blood frothed before his mouth, and he fell backward with a deflated-sounding sigh.

    ¡°Treachery! Men, to arms!¡± Lars completed the spell he had been holding and jumped backward, driven by a fierce gust of wind crashing into and sliding over the snow before coming to rest before the startled soldiers. The Tribesmen were also surprised but withdrew quickly under a shower of bolts and magic from the army detachment.

    ¡°As the highest-ranking officer present, I take command!¡± Lars shouted over the din of exploding fireballs and lightning bolts. ¡°Kill them! Don¡¯t let them get away!¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Father?¡±

    ¡°Just about now.¡± The old man looked fixedly at the sky, and Ioreth, the reddish moon, slowly rose over a hilltop to the northwest.

    Together they chanted and formed complicated glyphs. The men of the fort stood around them, guarding to the sides. The runes inside the prepared spell circles lit with a deep thrum, and a shiver ran through the loose snow on the ground making small pebbles jump down the steps of the old construction.

    The chant continued until the moon had reached its peak, and with a final flourish, darkness spilled from the ground and crept across the floor toward the surrounding heaps of corpses. Staggering, the old man grimaced and lit the hand of glory with a gesture, and flickering greenish flames illuminated both of them.

    ¡°Daughter. It is time for me. I cannot outrun the wraiths; take the hand and go. You are the one to finish what we started.¡± With a harsh gesture, he stilled her protest. ¡°Hurry. I cannot hold for long now!¡±

    ¡°Father, don¡¯t do this to me.¡± Tears dripped from her eyes as she looked at the old man imploringly.

    ¡°Go.¡±

    The darkness reached the mounds of cadavers, and with a grating wail, shapes flashed through the air coming from the deepening shadows cast by the red moon. The soldiers grew restless, and one of them turned and started to call before blinking rapidly, looking around in confusion. ¡°Hey! Them creepy wizards are gone!¡± He grabbed the shoulder of the one next to him and shook.

    ¡°Cease your racket.¡± Turning, the older man widened his eyes. ¡°Damnation! Gesserach protect! Run!¡±

    And as the soldiers desperately and without any thought for order tried to run away, the entangled corpses shook with unnatural life, empty eyes began to shine with greenish light as they singlemindedly crawled, walked, and hopped in search of the living.

 Bloodmoon

    ¡°Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.¡±

    ¨D William Shakespeare, Macbeth

    A flock of crows rose into the sky, cawing in alarm. The screams inside the fortress and the faint sounds of battle slowly ceased. The robed woman stumbled out of the open gates, the burning corpse-hand clasped firmly in her own and behind her came the dead. Frozen, half-rotted, some still entangled with ribcages interlocked. The stumbling feet and scrabbling bony hands carried the shambling horde outside and into the wilderness. Shadows seemed to float among them helplessly, trying to enter a body- but without success.

    A guard with only a few pieces of armor shoddily fastened over a nightrobe that ill-concealed his scrawny legs stood in a side corridor, and gasped. With jerky movements and full of panic, he turned this way and that. Wide-eyed and flinching at every sound, he held his sword before him. The arched ceiling made of broken stone glinted in the light of a torch that had rolled beside his fallen companion.

    ¡°Gerald? Psst. Are you...are you¡­?¡± The guardsman, unkempt beard bristling from his face, stabbed his unmoving colleague experimentally, but nothing twitched. ¡°Ah damn.¡±

    Just at that moment, flickering darkness seemed to envelop the fallen man, and soon after, the formerly still hands scrabbled for purchase.

    ¡°Gerald?! God bless, you are still alive. I was just going to bandage you.¡± He cleared his throat and took a step forward. And when he lowered himself for a closer look, the former corpse violently rose from the ground, jaws opening wider than humanly possible before he bit deeply into the throat of the still living man. Gurgling screams echoed outside as the woman stumbled further from the fortress.

    ¡°Father! Why? Even if I can help mother, without you, what should I do?¡± Mumbling to herself, the wizardess hastily walked toward a guard tower where they had stashed horses and provisions earlier.

    The dead spilled from the fortress in a black tide while shadows flitted along overhead. A sense of deep wrongness preceded them like a premonition, like a curse.

    <hr>

    Fires from the burning tents lit the side of the hill, and only looking at the frozen cliff glinting with reflected light, it seemed cheery, festive even.

    But for the screams and sounds of battle.

    Alyssa gestured, ¡°We have to get to Sarah. We cannot leave her here!¡±

    With a deep sigh, Mireille turned and jogged ahead deeper into the camp. The rest hesitated and then followed. Valens conjured some slight mist dispersing it to their rear and sides.

    Suddenly Mireille stopped and bent down, reaching forward before then quietly retracting her hand. As they caught up, they saw several students lying on the ground with blood pooling beneath their bodies caused by deep cuts. The blood was no longer flowing, and only a faint bit of steam was still rising to show the fading warmth.

    Gagging, Alyssa turned her head to the side. It would not have been so bad if she did not know some of them. The dark-haired posh girl from the dormitory. Her addled brain did not want to give her the name. The one that had always made the disparaging remarks, now she wouldn¡¯t, not anymore.

    ¡°What are we waiting for? Anyone still alive?¡± Vivienne asked impatiently. ¡°If they are dead, we should hurry, not stand around dawdling.¡± Her face showed a seemingly uncharacteristic coldness.

    The wind blew smoke and some distant screams over to them, and Ioreth, the red moon, had nearly reached the highest point shedding red-tinged moonlight on the scene below. Too much adrenaline made their hands shake with nervous energy and blunted the icy wind''s sting. Nevertheless- standing around and seeing the bodies of their dead classmates, Alea began to shudder, drawing her cloak closer to her body.

    ¡°We have to go. Callous or not.¡± Annabeth had her hands clasped before her chest and shifted her weight uncomfortably.

    Nodding jerkily, Mireille softly walked between the corpses taking care not to step on a hand or arm. Three soldiers had been thrown into a nearby tent by some impact or other. Looking at the wounds as they passed, it should have been caused by something sharply pointed- Stone or ice shards, perhaps?

    One of them was still alive and feebly pressed bloody hands to a wound on his collarbone, which still seeped blood through the makeshift bandage made by pressing the cloak of another dead man to the incision.

    Lightning flickering over her sword- it consumed much less energy for the enchanted mana steel to carry the magic than simply form a sword out of thin air- Mireille hesitated before then walking by. The soldier shrunk back and seemed relieved even as his face was paler than the snow.

    As the group walked on, Vivienne turned blue-green eyes on the prone figure and let Valens pass her by before quietly intoning a prayer. Wind laden with frost tore at the tent canvas, letting it flap and shudder before beginning to circle the soldier, slowly leeching him of warmth.

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    The half-elf turned and hastened her steps catching up to the group. Her brother only looked at her questioningly, getting a shrug in return.

    The blood ceased to flow; the breath stilled, eyes lost their luster, and frost began covering the tents beside the three corpses.

    Shouting caught their attention, and as they drew near, they saw a score of soldiers surrounding several military mages in their customary uniforms beside an officer of some sort confronting several robed mages who stood before a group of students huddling behind them.

    The officer was a man in his early thirties with a well-groomed black beard and a small gold hoop adorning his right ear. He looked a bit rakish, but tension marred his sharply cut features, and he held a runed rod in his hand pointed at the wizards opposing him.

    ¡°Lay down your weapons. We will take you into custody, and there need be no bloodshed!¡± The officer roared at the portly man with the red hair that had welcomed them into the camp. Sarah stood beside the students and was patching an ugly-looking gash across the face of an unconscious girl.

    ¡°We would be patent fools to believe in a traitor''s words. If only for the student''s sake, withdraw and let us claim our charges, and we will simply go. Otherwise, we fight!¡± The heavyset man''s jowls were quivering with rage, but it did not look humorous at all.

    A thin male teacher nearly a head taller than his companion brushed his hand across his forehead in a tired gesture. Flames licked around his cloak, and sigils faded into being before dimming again as the fire rose and fell. Gripping the red-headed teacher''s shoulder- he had introduced himself as Villier Gorms, Alyssa remembered- the thin man spoke up, ¡°We will fight if we must, but protecting the students must be our primary focus. I suggest you leave before I burn you like the dogs you are.¡±

    ¡°Who said he wanted to avoid a fight.¡± Mr. Gorms muttered.

    ¡°That we cannot do.¡± The officer readied a blunt rod and pointed it at the two mages, and the soldiers readied themselves.

    ¡°Should we intervene?¡± Alea quietly asked.

    A soldier pointed at them, and soon several crossbows were raised in their direction.

    ¡°Quickly come over here!¡± Sarah called to them.

    The officer''s eyes flickered for a moment before he mouthed a word and the rod blazed with brilliance; a ripple of glowing force shot at the firemage snow exploded to the sides as the massive discharge carved a furrow into the frozen ground. ¡°Kill the mages! Capture the students!¡±

    Several runes flared before shattering into small fiery explosions as the force missile impacted the thin man''s warding spells. The widowmaker rod steamed, and sparks shot from the discharged runes as the officer let it fall to the ground while drawing his sword.

    The fire-wizard was caught in the chest and thrown several meters back into a large tent, smoke curling from the tattered hole in his robes.

    Crossbows discharged with a harsh metallic sound, and bolts shot at Alyssa¡¯s group, Mister Gorms, and Sarah.

    Mireille crossed her wrists and shouted something before a web of lightning flashed into being and intercepted the hail of missiles, wooden shafts bursting into flames.

    The stout mage protecting the students hastily incanted a spell, and the distance between him and the crossbow-wielding soldiers suddenly seemed to ripple and extend to nearly ten times the former range. And then it was no longer difficult to dodge or block the suddenly parabolic trajectories. But as quickly as the space had distorted, it returned to its natural state even faster, leaving Mr. Gorms breathing heavily.

    Sarah conjured a shield of water, but one or two of the bolts fell among the students, and even as some began to cast their own protective magic, a smaller girl clutched a bolt piercing her neck and fell heavily to the side, blood pooling beneath her body.

    Alyssa saw all of these nearly in slow motion, her anxiety making everything seem like it took ages.

    The moon Ioreth reached its peak, and a shudder ran through the air.

    Butler One shook his lower arms, and blades extended from housings inside the limbs. Alea incanted, and an eye made of light formed above her head while Cecily took her bearings, small metallic legs clicking.

    Valens spoke words of power flowing like liquid as a Sylph began to form between his hands. The water spirit''s hollow eyes exuded a faint menace.

    Cyrus raised his head, and his tail lashed dangerously.

    Switching from the lightning shield, Mireille held both hands before her, one still holding her degen, and incanted ¡°Sialysalethussar¡±; lightning rose from her center, and with all the attunement sessions she had done, it flowed naturally down her arm, small arcs lighting up between her fingers her eyes glowed like an eldritch sun before an armthick bolt of energy blasted outward toward the soldiers.

    A hastily raised barrier by the army mages did nothing but slightly divert the bolt of heavenly fury. The lightning hit several soldiers in the act of reloading; eyes burst as liquid bubbled into steam, clothing ignited, and bones shattered. The men were thrown to the side like dolls from the hand of a giant.

    Screaming an order no one could hear over the still reverberating thunder, the officer raised another wand from his belt, and several bolts of force streamed toward Mireille.

    Alyssa had been in the process of raising the dark mists to protect herself and saw the missiles impacting her friend. Mireille was thrown back, and several deep gashes tore along her upper arms and chest, blood spattering the trampled snow.

    And then a ripple reached her from somewhere to the south; unadulterated void magic coursed through her veins. She saw her friend fall, the blood pooling around the girl-student, and her veins were bursting with power. The gem in her forearm began to sing with dark energy.

    Beneath the snow, beneath the frost, the dead stirred. She suddenly felt their presence, specks of cold far beyond the mere frost of this world, and it was the easiest thing in the world to direct that power, and there were runes already formed, spellwork ready for her to use.

    Asandria carefully guided her as she raised her left hand, and a black star blazed from her wrist.

    With explosive force, the ground tore open and skeletal warriors still wearing the rusted remains of old arms and armor rose from their shallow graves. Darkness itself completed what was missing, gave the swords their edge, and formed bones and hands where they were missing.

    And as the bloody moon looked down, hundreds of corpses walked again.

    Somewhere on the outskirts of the camp, a man rose from where he had been checking on the fallen soldier he had spelled to sleep, and Calvin furrowed his brows with worry. "I know the scent of this magic."

 Dreams of drowning

    ¡°There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath...¡±

    - Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, the Whale

    The jewel burned with purpose; the runes inside were made for this. Oh, they stabilized the flow of void, they did that and more, but it was never their only purpose. To carry the weight of the dead, to command and summon them back from the void, what a still living person should never be able to bear, they made possible by stepping halfway into their realm.

    Minds like shattered glass- cold, broken, and sharp. Alyssa felt as if it were the first time to channel the void. Cold and painful but also silent, peaceful. Like the deep dark beneath the waves of a timeless ocean. With a nudge, a suggestion really, she gave the command and the dead fell on the living the hatred held over hundreds of years made coercion unnecessary.

    Stone and snow rained from the dead bodies as they moved jerkily, still unaccustomed to their newfound mobility.

    Just in front of the stumbling Mireille, a hulking skeleton wielding a halberd made of shadow clove a Nordmark soldier in two. The men and women of the ducal army were caught completely by surprise. Pandaemonium reigned as some began to fight back others fled, and many simply died beneath the void-touched weapons of the living dead.

    The undead directly before her was hit by several spells, one she distantly noted came from the portly magician, Gorms. She was like a bystander immersed in the cold and dark. Noise receded, and her feet did not feel the ground anymore. It was as if she was floating.

    Crackling dark energies flashed from the jewel, and Alyssa¡¯s eyes both radiated darkness as she slowly began to float.

    Mireille gasped, and her probing hand came away stained with red. Hot pain burned from her wounds but it did not seem as if she was in danger of dying just yet- but who was she to know? ¡®There should really be a course on basic medicine.¡¯ She inanely mused. The skeleton before her was completely focused on killing the Nordmark soldiers even as it was blasted by several spells. She pushed herself back from the fighting and struggled to stand.

    Vivienne¡¯s eyes widened as she saw the arcs of unlight emanating from her fellow student and the undead bursting from the ground.

    Pushing her brother behind her she shouted, ¡°Keep together! She won¡¯t hurt us save by chance. Keep your distance from the fighting!¡± She also tried to reach the teachers who had begun attacking the skeletons, but it did not seem to be effective.

    Alea looked at the rising form of her friend and desperately raised a hand, ¡°We have to stop her! She can¡¯t, she shouldn¡¯t¡­¡±

    Cyrus hopped forward and, with a flap of his wings, lifted into the air winging toward his master. His soul lent her strength.

    Between the students that had shrunk back from the downed girl''s corpse an undead burst from the ground and eyes filled with blazing malice turned for a moment, an axe made of shadow swung over to them as it stopped to inspect them. But then it stepped over the body that seemed to have escaped the ravages of the spell before throwing back its head to release an unearthly scream full of longing, hate, and rage as it charged into the fray, cutting a crossbow in two before burying the blade in the chest of a retreating soldier. Flesh decayed and withered as the life was sucked from him.

    ¡°It is not yet time. I still enjoy watching you. If you come to make me whole we will sink, and we will drown in the darkness until our mind is scoured clean. It is not yet time.¡±

    Something tickled at the back of her head. Flames leaped from the hands of a branded army sorceress burning raised warriors to ash. The woman turned, and she saw her mouth moving, but there was no longer any sound as the waves of the dark ocean lifted her, caressed her.

    Behind her stood the girl from the dream, the mirror image of herself.

    A whisper reached her again, ¡°Don¡¯t go yet. I dreamed of you, of your light, of your life. Everything dies. Don¡¯t rush.¡±

    The power was so vast that she did not feel anything anymore but the rushing of the void through her veins.

    No one seemed to see her, this girl standing beside her. Even Asandria looked at the battle with a complicated expression but without realizing her presence.

    She was like an old friend, like the first step into the house of your youth, familiar, very much so, but also separate. Something lost, something outside that she needed to have back.

    ¡°You can end this. If you don¡¯t...¡± The girl sighed, and ice spread from where she stood, forming patterns on the ground. ¡°We will both cease to be.¡±

    ¡°How come you can talk to me like this? Before, you only echoed my words.¡± Alyssa was surprised to realize she could still talk.

    ¡°Is that truly important right now?¡±

    ¡°I suppose it isn¡¯t.¡±

    She saw Mireille bleeding from many wounds, looking up at her, shouting. There was no sound.

    Alea gestured and completed rune sequences building up to a spell of light.

    Vivienne made a saluting gesture with a half-smile. Annabeth hugged Valens her eyes tightly closed.

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    The connection to the jewel was clear as the crystal it was made from, and with an effort like lifting a feather but also like breaking something infinitely precious, she felt the spell fading, and tears fell from her eyes as she lost the connection.

    ¡°Ah. That was unexpected- We will see each other again.¡± The girl turned toward her with an expressionless face, but she understood a faint happiness in those words as with a sibling that needed no words to express such thoughts.

    The power she had so abundantly drawn upon faltered, and with a hacking cough and spitting blood, Alyssa fell to the ground. The connection with the undead grew tenuous, but she could still exert her will through whatever bond was left. She knew, where from she could not say, that the working she had forced upon the world would last for a few hours more. What would happen then, she could not hope to guess.

    <hr>

    Somewhere else, in the Nordmark camp.

    Calvin grabbed Gina and pulled her behind him. ¡°Stop, there is one of those undead around those tents ahead!¡± He whispered fiercely. ¡°I can maybe destroy it, but I don¡¯t want to draw more attention.¡±

    Frantic screams interspersed with explosions from several fire spells came from somewhere to the left.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to worry about that?¡± Kira said somewhat questioningly.

    ¡°You may be right.¡± Calvin thanked all the gods they had not been stripped of their belongings and hefted his trusty staff. The thing had gathered dust for decades. He mentally corrected himself, it had been fourteen years after the bad breakup with Jamila. The last one, that is. And then, he had the brilliant idea of becoming a tragic hero. Adventurer, more probably. He had all the gear and even the enchantments...but Illimen had his own thoughts on that matter, and the rest they say¡­.

    ¡°Why are we in the middle of this camp and not fleeing for the woods?¡± Gina asked reasonably.

    ¡°We need to find my friends, they are somewhere in this camp. I know it!¡± Calvin grimaced as a skeletal warrior shoved a halberd into the back of a fleeing Nordmark soldier and twisted savagely.

    ¡°Why do those undead look like they have a grudge?¡± The mage grumbled and then pointed with his staff to a trampled tent. ¡°Let¡¯s go there. I think over there is the camp of the ¡®guests¡¯ the soldiers were talking about.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡± Kira gripped the grip of her bow tightly, knuckles whitening. ¡°But please hurry.¡±

    ¡°Will do.¡±

    Together they crept across the battlefield, for that was what the encampment had become. The undead were strangely disinterested in the trio, and they made good time. Finally, they reached a small, clear area. Probably meant for cooking or something, as cold firepits dotted the ground. In the back, near the stony field leading up to the hillside, stood a group of students along with several teachers. They seemed to be discussing something heatedly.

    ¡°She is a necromancer! So close to Ulsolm, and you want to tell me honestly she is not one of them? Kill her and be done with it.¡±

    ¡°The undead have not harmed a single one of us. The same cannot be said for the soldiers. Are you perhaps bought off by the Nordmarks?¡±

    ¡°Children! Don¡¯t fight! We cannot have this at this time.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    ¡°We are surrounded by undead and enemy rebel soldiers, and you argue about a third party that might not even be here! We can always have a formal investigation when we are not in danger of being violently killed!¡±

    Several voices argued and shouted at each other.

    ¡°Do you really want to go there?¡± Gina asked.

    ¡°I am not sure myself.¡± Calvin rubbed his chin with his left hand. ¡°But I fear there is nothing to it; I recognize some of those morons.¡±

    <hr>

    In the woods a ways from the hilltop with the standing stones.

    ¡°After them!¡± Lars von Nordstrom grinned savagely as he commanded the army detachment, his army, he corrected himself mentally. Wielding his sword, he rushed ahead to see the vanguard intercept the tribal delegation. They had been slowed by the old diplomat they had been escorting; even so it had been quite a chase.

    Hulking wolf-tribe warriors fought in a berserker fury, hacking at his troops with great axes and hammers. But they were warriors first and soldiers a distant second. Each fought on his own with considerable prowess, and men fell wherever he looked, but for each that died to their blows, they got cut in return and spells further evened the field. He saw a stone-branded with his skin completely covered by uneven granite grapple with one of the tribesmen, and even as his head was just reaching the big warrior''s chest region he could hold his own.

    Laughing, he gestured, ¡°Capture the old one; leave none of the others alive! For the commandant, avenge his death!¡±

    Cheers and angry shouts rose from the fighting soldiers.

    <hr>

    Sirviels grove.

    ¡°I got a message by wind-whisper. Treachery.¡± Mordrak Redfang bared his teeth in a silent snarl. ¡°They seem to be in dire straits. As this was deemed most important, they had the elder with them and his years weigh heavily on his back and knees.¡±

    ¡°Why not carry him in pinch?¡± Iseret wondered. She had been introduced and tacitly accepted as her friend even as the warriors kept a close eye on them both.

    Growls from some of the tribesmen made Vanessa tense before Mordrak held up his hand. ¡°They do not know better, but we do. We are wolves. We run. If we can¡¯t, we die. It¡¯s as simple as that. Only the babes or the wounded might be carried in an emergency, and as long as it is at all possible, they would us not want to.¡±

    ¡°Understood.¡± Iseret gave a small nod.

    Vanessa¡¯s eyes widened as a wall of darkness rushed over them, and her dead body throbbed with power. ¡°What!?¡± She turned and looked to the south.

    Sirviel shivered and clasped her chest with both arms bowing as if against a strong wind.

    Mordrak frowned, ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°Someone botched a summoning, most probably.¡± Vanessa shook her head. ¡°But even that does not explain the power of the phenomenon.¡±

    ¡°Ill winds blow,¡± Sirviel whispered. ¡°Someone broke the sky. Tell your wind-speakers to be careful. Drawing upon the source of the world will also give you of its end.¡±

    ¡°There is void magic tainting the area. It will not hurt Iseret or me but could harm your people.¡± Vanessa tried to explain.

    ¡°I think I understand.¡± The big warrior silently conversed with one of his men, and the one he spoke to soon left.

    ¡°I cannot leave my post. And if I did, it would not be timely enough in any case.¡± Several of his men were restlessly gripping their weapons or shifting their weight. Hearing his quietly uttered words, they stilled again.

    Vanessa looked to Sirviel. ¡°What do you think we should do?¡±

    ¡°I fear for your friends. This night brings much grief. But for the sake of the lands here, you should see what has been done for yourself. Seek the source, and you will know its get.¡±

    Iseret stepped closer, looking at her without urgency.

    Sighing, Vanessa said. ¡°Iseret? Would you remain here to support the defense of the grove and, if necessary, be a witness to what happens here? I am faster if I travel alone.¡±

    A bit of hurt flashed in her slit-yellow eyes. ¡°I understand. Take care.¡±

    Vanessa raised a hand and swallowed before then hesitantly hugging her friend. Letting go quickly after that, she vanished in a slowly spreading cloud of mist.

    Sirviel tilted her head and smiled for the first time. ¡°The romance of a dry leaf and a snake. There is something new in every day.¡±

 Interlude: From past to present

    ¡°Reason, and not Feeling, is my guide; my ambition is unlimited; my desire to rise higher, to do more than others, insatiable.¡±

    - Charlotte Bront?, Jane Eyre

    Somewhere else in Kronenburg, a long time ago.

    ¡°This is the last time.¡± Illimen focused on the man sitting on the opposite side of the large wooden desk. With the window and the setting sun behind him, his reddish hair streaked with white shone like the fire he was able to wield. ¡°What were you thinking? Such experiments have been banned since the Alterca incident two hundred years ago.¡±

    The man straightened in his seat and frowned angrily, ¡°Centuries ago, someone thought it unethical and impossible. Centuries! Fossilized ideas keep us down in the mud where we are. The only thing we have going for us are the wonders of our illustrious past! We are living in a time of change, and the problems facing us cannot be overcome with simple measures. I had everything under control!¡±

    ¡°You will abide by the council''s ruling.¡± Illimen sighed wearily. ¡°I can understand where you are coming from, but this goes against rules and regulations that have stood us in good stead. Tinkering with souls...even the elves were wary of it. I have seen your souled apparati and to be clear- they frighten me. Are you sure they retain no sentience, no feeling?¡±

    ¡°But they only exiled the Keralis Erh and did not sanction them further. I think they simply wanted to put their research far from prying eyes.¡±

    ¡°That is your interpretation. Take some time off. Come to your senses, and we will talk again when the whole affair has settled down a bit.¡±

    Clenching his jaws, the younger man stood stiffly and nodded before he turned and shoved the chair roughly to the side, then left the study. Illimen braced for the slamming of the heavy oaken door of his study, but with careful control, the man closed it quietly behind him.

    Outside, the man brushed back his unruly dark hair and breathed deeply. His eyes were a deep blue, his face sharply cut with a bit of stubble shadowing his chin. The robes of a teacher fell around his shoulders. He seemed to be in his thirties, but the drive burning in his eyes made him seem younger.

    Walking quickly, he descended one flight of stairs before entering a series of corridors.

    ¡°Good morning, magus Gallius Escerus.¡± A student that had been helping him set up class from time to time called out to him as he went by.

    ¡°Good morning.¡± Came the absentminded reply before the man halted and turned his head, ¡°Did you see Willibald?¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± The student looked taken aback, then stopped in realization, ¡°The gnome?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and?¡±

    ¡°He should be in the lab. Does he ever leave?¡±

    Nodding to himself, Gallius waved him off and continued down the hallway before ascending a spiraling staircase.

    Entering a large, round room with great windows facing the cardinal directions, he smiled in grim satisfaction at the desks overflowing with notes, books, scrolls, and alchemistical instruments. A gnome with tousled, lightly colored hair and a frizzy beard was looking at a stack of notes. A woman was leaning against the wall and grinned tiredly. She wore dark robes made of cheap fabric, a badge denoting a second-year student pinned to her breast. Dark eyes, blond hair a somewhat harsh but still pretty face were the first impression; the second was an abiding weariness suffusing her whole being.

    ¡°Willibald, Amber. Good that you are both here. We have to speed up our research. Someone.¡± He grimaced, ¡°Told Illimen, and he just called me to his study. We are officially forbidden to go further in our research.¡± He slammed his hand against the wall. ¡°We are so close! I have perfected the transfer of personality and memory. We can stabilize your connection with the void, Amber, and with that proof in hand, we can demand our research be recognized! Forming stable gates has been a dream for ages!¡±

    In a free space between two desks stood a hunched figure made of bronze and leather with a theatrical porcelain mask fastened before only barely visible gears turning in the head encased in a protective metal sheathing.

    ¡°Butler One. Grab the materials- we are finishing today! You two, get some rest before tonight. The setup will take a few hours, and you will only be in the way.¡± Gesturing arrogantly, the man focused on grabbing beakers with differently colored fluids stuffing all of that into the waiting arms of the automaton.

    <hr>

    The woman called Amber walked between the houses of the city and looked up at the precariously leaning stone buildings. The noise of the city was muted here. Voices from the buildings echoed between the eaves, dirty water ran down the middle of the road, and no direct light reached the ground.

    Entering through a small doorway by stepping on a small staircase made of loosely stacked bricks, she turned a corner and knocked perfunctorily before stepping in and removing her dirty shoes while still in the entrance. The small apartment was dimly lit through scraped leather panes fitted into ramshackle window frames. Old chairs and a table stood in the center with shelves stacking cracked ceramic and tin dishes and cups. A young man looked up from where he had been sitting and feeding a young girl some mashed apples.

    ¡°Ah, you are back! Anything new?¡±

    Without saying anything, she simply smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, looking fondly at her daughter. The man wore the robes of a first-year student with a kindly face, fluffy brown hair, and eyes of a greyish color.

    ¡°Did she sleep?¡±

    ¡°There were no problems. Thank Meloris, for our kind neighbor. I wouldn¡¯t know how to care for her with the academy and all.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    As her hand came near her daughter, darkness bled into her eyes, and flickering flames of unlight brushed over her hands, rotting the hem of her sleeves. She snatched her hand back with a suppressed curse, cradling it against her chest. She lowered her head as tears welled in her eyes.

    The man grabbed the child and jumped back while the chair fell to the ground, with the backrest breaking into pieces with a crash.

    ¡°Amber!¡±

    Turning around with a sob, she rushed through the front door running outside. The outline of her hand clearly visible where the wood of the doorway had warped and rotted at her touch.

    The child began to cry.

    <hr>

    The ritual circle was prepared meticulously. Braziers emitting dark smoke stood at the edges of the heptagram. The polished ground was inscribed with whorling symbols and glyphs. Large apparati channeled crystallized mana into complex spellforms.

    Gallius stood at the altar, not any religious artifact but the nexus of the magical working, grasping a chalice and a long thin dagger.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    The woman nodded decisively. ¡°I want to hold my daughter, my husband, without fearing for their life!¡±

    The gnome was busy in the background checking another set of symbols warding the tower chamber from prying eyes.

    ¡°Then we begin.¡±

    <hr>

    People in Kronenburg slept uneasily this night as nightmares hounded their dreams. Days and weeks later, suicides rose sharply, with men and women succumbing to the darkness within.

    <hr>

    The infirmary was relatively empty at this time of day, and the young woman was lying in the outermost chamber, seemingly asleep.

    ¡°Why won¡¯t she wake up? Everything was fine!¡± The student was desperately holding back tears as he asked the man in healer''s robes.

    Blonde hairs spread across the pillow like a wave of gold.

    ¡°I am but the healer on duty! This is far beyond my abilities! Whatever happened to her, she is directly connected to the plane of the void. Her soul is neither here nor there. She should be dead! And there is no sign of decay. I don¡¯t know anymore.¡± The older man shook his head in disbelief. "I have the order to keep her here as long as necessary, so don''t fret. I''m sure one of my colleagues will find something to help her!"

    <hr>

    ¡°She has an unstable connection to the void. To call it a gate would be charitable. It''s more of a hole, really. And she was aware of the risks. She gave her consent. The ritual should have stabilized her abilities, given her control!¡±

    ¡°Should.¡± Illimen sounded tired.

    ¡°I only need more time to¡­¡±

    ¡°No. You had more than one chance, more than two. I cannot even count the times you flaunted this academy''s rules and conventions. But a genius must be unfettered, no? I have shielded you time and again, but I can no longer shield you now.¡±

    ¡°But Illimen, Drathur¡­!¡± Gaius raised his hand toward his mentor.

    The other councilors murmured quietly to each other, and one of them loudly cleared his throat. ¡°You are before the council, this is not some get-together with your teacher, and I must say that nothing of this surprises me in the least. The magister was always going on about the advances you made to the integration of the material and the immaterial, but I only saw mad ambition. The same ambition that sank our homeland!¡±

    Affirmative grumbling sounded from several other councilors.

    The large round chamber held thirteen seats arranged in a half-circle facing toward a slightly lowered platform in the middle surrounded by complex runes and lit from above by a skylight that nonetheless was magically amplified to yield a proper amount of light. The rest of the room was shadowed in comparison.

    Illimen leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. ¡°Gaius Escerus von Gildburg, you are hereby dismissed from your position as master of the tower of constructs. You shall leave the academy forthwith, taking only that which directly belongs to you. Everything else will remain the property of the academy. No appeal is warranted or allowed.¡±

    ¡°That is too lenient!¡± The councilor that had spoken before angrily exclaimed.

    ¡°Why? Because your protege is bound for the tower of constructs, and you would like more of Gaius machines to remain behind? Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know of- your- ambition! I can explain in more depth if that is required.¡±

    The councilor choked and clenched his hands before throwing some papers onto his desk. ¡°Fine, have it your way. I support the decision of the magister.¡±

    ¡°Ay.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°You want to change your courses? Why? You made good progress in earth and water magic. And now you want to study void? What for?¡± The professor lowered his glasses to have a better look at the man before him. The student looked haggard and ill, with pale features and dark bags beneath his eyes.

    ¡°Personal reasons.¡±

    ¡°Mh. You have that right. I must admonish you though you will not be exempted from the tests, and the coursework might be difficult to catch up with so late in the year¡­¡±

    ¡°That is of no consequence to me.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Tiberius, what have you got to say for yourself?¡± The young man was a bit older as he stood before the council of thirteen, facing Magister Illimen and the others, even as six of them were absent.

    ¡°I have nothing to say in my defense. I knew I had no right to take the books. But I plead for leniency as I have a small daughter to support, and the mother is still comatose after the incident two years ago.¡±

    ¡°Mh. That was your wife? My condolences.¡± A portly councilor rubbed his glasses'' crystal lens with the hem of his sleeves. ¡°I say we simply dismiss him. No harm done, eh?¡±

    ¡°Curiosity is all well and good, but the works you were studying are only left in the library to combat the evils of necromancy, and they are not taught for very good reason.¡± A thin woman primly folded her hand before her chest and stared at the youth before her.

    ¡°Dismissal from the academy it is?¡± Illimen sighed and looked left, then right.

    ¡°Ay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in accord.¡±

    ¡°Supported.¡±

    <hr>

    The road leading away from Kronenburg was nearly empty as it was autumn, and the conditions were not favorable. The young man drove a small wagon with tent plane shielding the interior.

    A sweet voice sounded from the shelter, ¡°Papa?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my dear?¡±

    ¡°Are we there yet?¡±

    ¡°No. Not yet.¡±

    Lightning broke the heavens above Kronenburg, and rain fell heavily, obscuring the metropolis vanishing behind the small wagon.

    ¡°My love, you will see your daughter again even if I have to enter the void to retrieve your soul myself.¡±

    <hr>

    Gaius opened the door to the townhouse in Grunewald and shook his coat before handing it to the valet.

    His wife Adelaide, once a Nordmark, now a Gildburg, was holding their daughter, Liane. ¡°You are late, dear. I will ask the cook to warm up some food for you. It¡¯s cold this time of year.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, but I will take it with me to the workshop; I still have some things to do.¡±

    His wife''s face fell at that, ¡°You do what you have to.¡±

    Later in the workshop, with Magelight glinting on burnished copper and polished bronze, the young noble grimaced before straightening. ¡°I will find a way to anchor a complete soul even beyond death. I will show them reckless, I will show them all.¡±

    A porcelain mask glinted, the empty eyes, a soulless smile, while gears whirred and clicked.

    <hr>

    The once young man looked after his departing daughter, the undead he had called laying waste to the living. The fort was bathed in a reddish light as Ioreth climbed across his zenith. The ravages of time and deprivation, of void magic, had marked him, and the kindness that once had shone on his face was only seen when he talked to his daughter...or of his wife.

    Still sleeping, forever young.

 No good deed goes unpunished

    ¡°Unbeing dead isn''t being alive.¡±

    - E. E. Cummings

    Distant voices intruded into her blurry consciousness. Somewhere she still felt the cold, hate-filled psyche of the undead she had called. Frigid and wet snowflakes fell on her face and melted.

    ¡°¡­who are¡­¡±

    ¡°...do you take me for¡­¡±

    ¡°...we will all be killed!¡±

    The last shook her from the darkness, and she blinked her eyes.

    The first thing she saw was Mireille holding her protectively close with degen drawn and readied. The redhead was kneeling with Alyssa¡¯s upper body propped against her own. Butler One was standing before them with Alea and the two half-elf siblings behind and to the sides. Annabeth was looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here while still hovering near Valens.

    The portly teacher was arguing with the thin fire wizard who wore a crude bandage around his chest and looked much worse for wear. There were also two other older magicians she thought she had seen once or twice in school.

    It was all too much, and a pounding headache made her regret waking up.

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Mireille realized that her eyes had opened, and she excitedly shook her friend.

    Coughing, Alyssa spat some blood onto the trampled snow before weakly trying to stem Mireille¡¯s enthusiasm. ¡°Please...headache.¡±

    ¡°She is awake!¡± Some voices from those facing them brought her fully back to consciousness.

    Groaning she tried to raise her head only to have it fall weakly back onto Mireille¡¯s lap.

    ¡°So, with all due respect, I am a tower-warden, and matters of internal security are my purview. I will see to it that the matter gets the attention it deserves. Anyone hurt by the undead? No? Good. Then we will discuss this again back at the academy where hopefully no one is trying to kill us all!¡± The last was shouted at the still angry-looking mage standing opposite Alyssa and whom Mireille seemed to be guarding against. That voice...it seemed familiar...she had heard it before.

    ¡°Calvin Ambrose, don¡¯t think nepotism on Illimen¡¯s part will help you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t.¡±

    Focusing Alyssa turned her head and looked around. Sarah stood at the side caring for an injured student the portly mage that had stood up to the soldiers was holding his injured- and bandaged- side. The thin fire wizard seemed to be the leader of those arguing for action against her and behind her...She strained her neck...stood the man that had helped with her duel; she remembered he had been called Calvin back then. Two younger girls were awkwardly standing beside him looking very out of place in their dirty and homespun clothes.

    Asandria gave the impression of a smile as she lowered herself obscuring her vision for a moment everything hazy and grey-tinged when seen through her slightly transparent form.

    ¡®So, you are back again. Impressive.¡¯ Gauging her reaction she nodded, ¡®I would have thought that it would take you much longer. Your tolerance for void magic is increasing. I would recommend you focus on the jewel and draw upon the ambient void. If you don¡¯t, it will take you too long to be able to influence this discussion, and then your decisions will be made for or even about you. I suggest you do something about that and quickly.¡¯

    A salty metallic taste spread through her mouth and blood dripped from her nose. Mireille was still bleeding even though someone had done some healing, probably Alea, and Alyssa was alarmed to see the pallor on her friend''s face even when seen from behind.

    Forcing herself to concentrate, she pulled on the stream of energy coming from the jewel, and with a nearly imperceptible deepening of the darkness swirling in the gem, the magic running through her began to fluctuate and rise.

    A cold sensation spread and banished the aches she had been feeling while strength returned to her limbs. Struggling she raised herself and rested her hand on Mireille''s back for a moment before standing up.

    Two of the magicians facing her took a step back looking at her worriedly. The fire mage narrowed his eyes, and she saw his right hand hovering over an ornament in his belt, probably a magical device of some sort.

    In the sight offered by her left eye, she saw the wound on his chest bleeding entropic light guiding her to his weaknesses. Shaking her head slightly, she dismissed the thought and grimaced. ¡°Who are you, and what are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Escaldis Aldrnari.¡± Came the curt response from the thin magician. ¡°And we were talking about your crime of using necromancy to disturb the souls of the deceased.¡±

    Alyssa¡¯s vision swam for a moment as the frozen rage of the undead she was still connected to intruded into her thoughts. ¡°They don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean they don¡¯t mind?! Are you still out of it? You ripped them from the beyond and forced them to do your bidding.¡±

    ¡°I did it to help you! There were so many dead already. If you had been able to, you would have burned them. I called those who were willing and let them aid us. Dead is dead.¡± She blinked away a falling snowflake, and melting snow and perhaps other liquids ran over her cheeks.

    ¡°Necromancy IS a crime, you know.¡± Calvin, who had been watching them argue, interjected. ¡°I do think there are lots of grey areas that are somewhat accepted but full-on raising the dead is not allowed save under orders of the king, ahem, queen in this case.¡±

    ¡°So we get Lieseleta to say she wanted it, and all is okay?¡± Mireille perked up at this point.

    The fire wizard looked livid at that. ¡°How can you so casually discuss the misuse of royal authority!¡±

    ¡°I think that nothing should be decided in the heat of the moment, much less by us right here,¡± Calvin said calmly.

    ¡°That is the only thing we can agree on, I think.¡± Escaldis harrumphed.

    ¡°If I may.¡± A female voice sounded, and everyone turned toward the speaker. Zhira, the scout stood between the still-smoldering ruins of some tents while whirling snow fell from above. She had been nearly invisible until she stepped into the firelight. ¡°The surviving soldiers have withdrawn into the woods and are fighting a running battle with the undead pursuing them. If I would want to guess, it¡¯s about half the force they had at the beginning of this evening.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my dear,¡± Sarah spoke up and stepped forward, not without taking a last critical look at the student she had been treating. ¡°So we have the opportunity to withdraw without a fight! I recommend we don¡¯t dither. The deed is done, and there is not much we can do about it. Let us grab what supplies we can and get out of here! We should try to return to the fort!¡±

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°I agree.¡± Calvin raised his hand.

    Hesitating, the ones standing beside the fire wizard looked at each other.

    ¡°Oh, for Gesserachs sake! Make your decision but hurry up!¡± Sarah frowned at them.

    A brunette mage who had been looking more uncomfortable as the discussion drew on who had been standing behind Escaldis raised her hand. ¡°I agree.¡±

    ¡°This is not a democracy! The law is not decided by the majority!¡± Escaldis Aldrnari fumed.

    ¡°Neither is it decided by you or your friends. And the law is clear on that there are those empowered to judge, neither of which are we at this time.¡±

    No one spoke, and the groups looked at each other while the female magician swallowed and took a step aside, breaking the stalemate.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Escaldis spat. ¡°Let''s grab what we can and then depart. But you will regret what you did here. Necromancy on this scale can only mean collusion with Ulsolm and the deathless queen.¡±

    ¡®Ironic isn¡¯t it?¡¯ Asandria mused. ¡®They try to stay out of it and ignore the matter because a fluke of geography makes them the less likely target, and while the soldiers of their southern neighbor are dying, they bicker about law and responsibility. Hopefully, they are more decisive when it comes to their own wellbeing.¡¯

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Mireille¡¯s face was suddenly very close as she looked her up and down.

    ¡°Not really, if I¡¯m honest.¡± Alyssa stood by force of will and the still-flowing void magic.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look alright so¡­¡± She sheathed her sword, not without a last look at the other mages, and then unceremoniously grabbed her friend hoisting her up and hugging her to her chest.

    ¡°What!¡± Alyssa gave an unladylike squeak and lost her concentration for a moment, causing the accumulated fatigue to come crashing down, making her black out for a moment.

    Sounds were muted and distant, like hearing them from the end of an echoing tunnel.

    A small hand fell on her forehead, and Alea stood before her while Cecily focused her lenses on her face. ¡°I dare not use light magic; I fear I would only injure her!¡±

    ¡°Let me, child,¡± Sarah murmured a spell, and a blue glow grew around her right hand before water manifested in her open palm, dripping on Alyssa¡¯s face. A soothing sensation dimmed the still-pounding headache, and she began to hear clearly again.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± she gasped, her face heated as she became aware of her position.

    Meanwhile, with palpable relief at the delayed hostilities, the group split into several parties that searched the camp for still usable supplies.

    Some of the students were quietly grieving for their fallen friends, and Sarah organized everyone not able to help to leave the camp in the opposite direction where the Nordmark soldiers had chosen to flee.

    The scout, Zhira, remained with the group around Alyssa. Calvin and the two strange girls were accompanying them.

    And as the moon Ioreth slowly sank beneath the hilltop, everything became calm and quiet as even the fire was softly smothered by the endlessly falling snow.

    <hr>

    In the forest to the southeast

    Vanessa used her wind magic to the fullest and, taking some quick strides, jumped along the branches of the upper treetops hurrying south. The pulse of dark magic still echoed through her undead body, strengthening her and making everything seem trivial.

    ¡®No wonder I did not want to leave the cursed house. It¡¯s filled with residues of void magic.¡¯ Grumbling to herself as much as to distract herself from worrying about her friends and thinking about the matter seriously, she increased her speed further.

    Taking the most direct way and speeding as she was, she soon- after half an hour or so- saw the silhouette of an old toll fortress rising from the top of a small hill beside the silver ribbon of a rapidly flowing river. Feeling the magic emanating from the structure, she did not doubt that the magic she had felt had its origin within those walls. Taking a careful look around, she saw movement along the banks of the river and inside the forest.

    Perching on a high branch inside a great pine tree, she silently observed the undead streaming out of the fortress. Taken on their own, they looked damaged, uncoordinated, and feeble. With the dark spirits floating in and out of the seething mass, it became something else entirely.

    ¡®I have never seen something like this before. It is as if they are still connected to the void, somehow gaining in strength and not losing it.¡¯ Working several spells, she inspected the undead stumbling by underneath her tree. ¡®I see no residual tethers. Is there really no one controlling them? Or is it simply hidden too well?¡¯

    Focusing, she tensed her legs and leaped for the next tree jumping quickly in succession until she reached the fort''s parapet, her form cloaked in drifting mist she had pulled from the air. Several great circles were burned into the stony pavement and still flared with black flames. Above the center, a tear in space shed streamers of void energy visible to the naked eye. An old man was kneeling underneath, grasping something in his hands while his flesh withered and wilted underneath the radiation of the portal.

    He was the last living thing, the last thing, period, inside the fortress.

    Vanessa looked around cautiously before jumping from the wall and striding up to the guttering flames, if this black energy could be called such. Snow had fallen as she traveled and dusted the shoulders of his robes. She inspected him both with her eyes and her still magically attuned senses. There was not much life left, and the magic he used seemed to blend the arcane and necromancy.

    ¡°What did you hope to accomplish with that, that you were even willing to sacrifice your life and possibly more?¡± Vanessa broke the silence.

    With great effort, the old man turned his head, and rheumy eyes marred by cataracts tried but failed to focus in her direction. Lines deep like canyons furrowed his ancient-looking face, ¡°Who¡­¡± violent coughing interrupted him, ¡°...who is there?¡±

    With a gesture and a spell, she broke apart the flaring energies before her and then walked up to him. A look above at the still pulsating tear hanging several meters above her head, she sighed. Void magic infused her being, and she felt stronger than ever.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­you can call me Vanessa.¡± She grimaced. ¡°I was near when you- it was you wasn¡¯t it?- completed this...mess. What in the heavens were you trying to do!¡±

    ¡°I only wanted her¡­¡± he coughed, ¡°to wake up.¡±

    ¡°Now, that does not mean anything to me. Can you end this spell?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still not finished. I will sadly not be able to afterward, could you perhaps do me that favor?¡±

    ¡°Why should I let you wreak havoc on this region for even a second longer?¡±

    ¡°If you kill me, it will be that much harder to close the portal.¡± He gave a hacking cough. ¡°But I can no longer talk to you. Otherwise, all of this will go to waste.¡± He made a feeble gesture with his head, still clasping an object in his hands.

    Concentrating, he no longer paid her any attention as he spoke a series of spells drawing strength from who knows where.

    Vanessa inspected the working and determined that it was simply a very specific summoning spell without much power. She believed whatever he was calling wouldn¡¯t be too troublesome.

    Then he concluded his last spell, and with a tingling sound, shards of some glass or other fell between his fingers as...something...brushed between them and was gone.

    ¡°Thank you for not interrupting me.¡± The old man''s voice was hoarse and weak. ¡°So I will return the favor, you must know¡­¡± A stream of grey energy sprang into being and connected the back of the old man with a tower rising above the central barracks building. The energy flared and then vanished, and the flesh of the kneeling man slowly began to decay into dust. A figure in a cowled robe slowly raised his hand, and unseen eyes inspected Vanessa as she tensed, ready to invoke a getaway or a defense.

    A clatter reminiscent of dry sticks indicated the fate of the old man, but she did not waver in her attention as the figure hesitated and then gestured before vanishing with a flare of blue energy.

    ¡®He must be nearby. That was nowhere near enough for real teleportation.¡¯ Shot through her head, ¡®Not that anyone would risk that without very thorough preparation.¡¯ She frowned and jumped up on the roof of the barracks. No sense in getting cocky and running into a trap. But when she finally reached the top of the tower, she saw fading lines of magical force burned into the slowly accumulating snow and no sign of the magician that had caused it.

    ¡®Damn. Too slow. Perhaps I should have been more reckless after all.¡¯

    Turning around without relaxing her vigilance, she rubbed her forehead with a pained expression. As much as she did not want to admit it, necromancy had not been the focus of her studies. Oh, she had studied all the forbidden arts when she was still doing it as a sort of antagonistic hobby and because it genuinely fascinated her, but even as it became vitally important for her, she could only experiment on her own or try to remember old books read years and years before.

    And that had not been going too well.

    From what she was seeing, the gash in the night sky attracted unquiet spirits nearly shorn of personality from the deeper regions of the void and simply let them...do whatever they wanted. And they still yearned for life and light, not realizing that they themselves snuffed out the flame they so wished for. Not that it would not give them a few moments of satisfaction...and power.

    How in Charys name was she supposed to close that rift!?

 Dreams of a life once lifed

    ¡°There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.¡±

    ¨D Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

    Somewhere else, centuries ago.

    Noise from the waterfall drowned the voice of the birds but the soft notes of the bards pierced through even this and found her sitting on the edge of the platform overlooking the bridge crossing the frothing river. Legs dangling she raised a stylus turning it this way and that, one eye closed before she grinned in satisfaction and swiftly drew on the parchment held by tiny sprites. An expensive affectation for the small elementals were bought with crystallized mana and only for the day.

    It was good to be a princess. And even better to be an unimportant younger one. For this family at least it meant one thing...freedom.

    ¡°There you are!¡± A disgruntled voice came from behind her and as she turned she saw her older brother Velessemiran, Vel for his friends.

    ¡°You are quite slow today I will have you know.¡± Vanessa playfully let her head fall back and looked at the dignified high elf who looked comical seen upside down.

    ¡°And you, are still a child that should not be let outside without adult supervision! How can you skip the service- again!? Mother was really angry this time.¡±

    ¡°And father did not care...right?¡± Still grinning and tossing her feet she looked at the picture taking form before her. The brilliant rainbow drifting through the mists above the great waterfall and the Bridge of Fading Sighs crossing just in front with its marvelous carvings and bordered on both sides by white stone buildings ethereal and slender like a sculpture made of foam and vines merging with the endless forest as if a part of it.

    She really wanted to paint it now. And then enchant it naturally.

    A hand grabbed her neck and like a bedraggled kitten, she was hoisted in the air and then sat on the ground safely away from the edge with the long drop beneath.

    ¡°Hey! What do you think you are doing?!¡±

    ¡°Looking after your continued good health. No thanks to you. Come with me. If you placate her a bit and promise to be better she might go easy on you. At least don¡¯t ditch your guardian!¡±

    ¡°Where IS Rel¡¯Phain? I have seen her last this morning.¡± Blinking innocently the small elf with the white blue hair and the nearly black eyes- they were a very dark blue actually- looked at her brother curiously.

    ¡°Back with mother taking the scolding meant for you. As usual. Come.¡± Gesturing impatiently the young elven man stretched out his hand to help her up. Wrinkling her nose she gestured and the parchment was neatly rolled and put in her left hand before she took the offered hand with her other and stood.

    ¡°Spoilsport.¡±

    ¡°Be glad none of your tutors or your other siblings is here to hear you speaking like that.¡± Sighing he held a hand to his forehead. A diadem encrusted with emeralds as well as gold-lined white silk clothes framed his athletic form. His somewhat harsh features softened as she smiled at him.

    ¡°I know you can bear it. You are an adult after all!¡± Hugging his arm she let herself be dragged along before getting a playful swat to the back of her head after which she let go and followed her brother into the echoing hallways of the orchid palace.

    <hr>

    ¡°Since when did you have that book!?¡± The voice of her mother sounded incredulous.

    Looking up Vanessa saw her mother who was spoken of as the famous empress of foam and shadow. Her complexion was tinged in a pale white with highlights of blue. Her eyes were amethyst her hair the color of darkened silver. Her every movement was made with a grace befitting the movements of a great feline.

    Her majesty Jun¡¯Arviel Vilessa sun Errelathiel.

    And at that moment her eyes were full of anger and confusion.

    The book that had been snatched from the lectern was bound in the chitin of the great nether-spider, void-touched monstrosities that resided in areas steeped in death and the title was- ¡®The Art of Silent Death, Poisons, Toxins and Venoms for the discerning user of the Arcane¡¯

    Because of the intricate and at times playful, if it could be called that, use of powerful poison magic in the book it had long been a favorite of hers and she had nearly memorized its content. Sadly she was not as gifted with the application as with her arcane magic but¡­

    ¡°How could you read something like this?¡±

    ¡°It is really interesting, mother!¡± The small elf girl smiled brilliantly as she surreptitiously tried to get the book back.

    The room was high in a tower overlooking the imperial hunting grounds, open windows only protected by subtle wards let in the summer breeze that played between swaying, flowering vines hanging down from the ceiling. A small golem moved a fan to alleviate even the least of heat. The wooden floor was grown by magic and still lived in a fashion giving off a warm feeling. The grain of the wood was formed into flights of birds by the subtle magic of the druids.

    Sighing the older elf pursed her mouth and then tossed the book back on the lectern made of marble and wood. ¡°We will talk with your father about that. It is irresponsible to let you learn every dark magic that takes your fancy. Poison magic might simply be distasteful but there are spells that simply knowing could harm your spirit, and your mind. Runes that were forged by the Mindeater for use by his minions and more. What can I even say to let you cease your reckless behavior?¡±

    ¡°Mother¡­.!¡±

    ¡°I just wanted to see my daughter but it seems that it was a bad idea.¡±

    ¡°No...I will be more careful.¡±

    ¡°Meaning you will continue with this?¡±

    Silence was her answer. The golem wrought of intricately carved wood continued to move his fan.

    <hr>

    Speaking a series of spells she cocked her head to listen before slowly edging around the corner of the corridor. ¡®Down the hall and to the right.¡¯ At the described destination seemed to only be an old water basin set into the wall and to see the cobwebs lining the dry hollow it seemed to have last been in use well before her birth.

    Focusing, she sensed the mana flowing beneath the stone and with deft gestures, she managed to activate...something. With a groan, a face coalesced from the featureless stone eyeless, with the barest hint of a nose but with a round mouth full of small hooked teeth.

    ¡°Ew.¡± Vanessa frowned and scrunched her nose. A long tongue licked nonexistent lips, and the face turned blindly in her direction. ¡®I fear I know where this is going.¡¯

    Grabbing a small knife she kept for the mundane scraps of parchment where she could use it to correct a written mistake she pricked her thumb and grimaced as three drops of blood fell into the eagerly widened mouth. Smacking its gums the face withdrew and the whole wall began to shimmer and fade.

    ¡®What extravagant misuse of mana.¡¯ She thought, still disgruntled by the sting from her injured hand.

    Walking inside she came upon a library hewn from the granite of the mountain, shelves rose to ten times her modest height with the ceiling far above shrouded in darkness. As she pondered lights began to blossom and formed the constellation of Jaros, god of mysteries above her lighting her way. ¡®A nice symbolism at least.¡¯ She thought approvingly.

    Tomes bound in leather from beasts scaled and furred some wrought of metals, sheathed in iron, copper, silver, or even mithril alloy. Most of the volumes seemed old and ill-cared for. With a determined expression and after checking for magical traps as well she could, she grabbed a thick book bound in brass and dark-scaled leather. ¡®Zymenos¡¯ tales of the lightless Realm¡¯ Pursing her lips curiously she put it on a thick stone table lined with benches made of the same polished marble. Soon ¡®Musings on Mortality, the great cycle and how to step outside the river,¡¯ ¡®The ice that burns. Harm-Songs of the Frost-Fae¡¯ joined the first one on the table. ¡®That should last me for a while.¡¯ Taking a bottle with oblong pills large as hazelnuts and made of a shimmering opalescent substance she shook one of them into her hand before dry-swallowing it. Sighing, she stretched and began to read.

    With her body kept well by the artifice of the best imperial alchemists, she read for days on end, losing herself in the wondrous darkness of the astral plane and beyond, read of claws made of black frost drawn from the darkest reaches of the faylands and...made notes and annotations as she learned spells and songs as best she could.

    ¡®The true name of a shadow demon? Not that I would ever call such a beast.¡¯ She snickered but before she could persuade herself otherwise she was quick to memorize it using magic to anchor every syllable.

    <hr>

    Years passed.

    Her siblings became mages, warriors, diplomats. She was...a sage perhaps? Her mother scolded her; her father spoiled her. And the seasons turned. The great betrayal was a thing that had happened in her youth, but the effects were felt more and more. Misfortune plagued the empire. Traitors cropped up and their deeds were self-destructive and senseless. Births became rare, and good harvests had to be fought for with magic. The gods were silent as one of their own had cast the curse and so the people that had been abandoned turned from those they had once worshipped. Not all of them, but enough.

    Even the silent support of the good deities waned at that, and the decay hastened. The hairs on the head of her father turned from gold to silver and last to iron as even that luster faded. Catastrophes shook the realm, and the far provinces fell, one by one. The Heart-Stealer stood in the center of the realm having taken the city of sorcerers in the north before she committed the ultimate sacrilege that saw her imprisoned there by the will of the divine.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The phylactery of a lich was the crystal heart of a dead god.

    <hr>

    ¡°Father!¡± The papers she had stacked haphazardly in her arms fell fluttering to the ground before she ran to the desk facing the great window overlooking the waterfall far below. Her father was lying beside the desk, blood pooling beneath his head, still flowing from his mouth. Eyes wide open and staring at nothing.

    She fell heavily beside his body and began to shake his shoulder. ¡°Father! Wake up! Look at me!¡± The analytical, rational part of her was shattered like frail glass. With her heart beating violently in her chest she felt darkness close in from the edges of her vision while tears dripped from her eyes.

    It had been a magical poison transmitted by the kiss of his wife, who also died the same day. The pair had become estranged over the many worries and problems the realm had been facing, and there were whispers that it had been the empress that had willingly died to kill her husband.

    Evidence was scarce, but tensions were high. Swords and spells spoke where reason failed. And the heartland burned. In this time of strife, the sleeping city of broken ivory woke to dark eldritch life, and hordes of undead streamed forth to kill and destroy.

    The end had been long in coming.

    <hr>

    In a hall hewn from the deepest depths of the mountain gathered the last of the great wizards of the empire. Called by the Fateweaver herself they used a great ritual to reweave the tapestry of fate itself cursing the Elfbane, the Heart-Stealer, the Lich Queen with misfortune and ruin.

    The focus of this ritual was the elven imperial family and the arcane might of their bloodline. At the time of the ritual there was only one last heir left.

    A certain princess.

    <hr>

    Gasping in pain, Vanessa looked at the deep wound in her left thigh, which was bleeding copiously. The grey walls of the cyclopean outpost around her radiated cold disregard for her pitifully small existence. The walls rose to a height of ten meters, and if a flagstone was a bit misaligned, she had to carefully climb to move forward. The outpost had long been abandoned, since even before the last great war. After they had fallen under the sway of the Speaking Tree, the expansionist tendencies of the giants had nearly ceased, and they had become insular, xenophobic, and ruthlessly protective of what they considered their new way of life.

    The word new had no place here; it had been old for her father. She stifled a sob at the thought of his pale face streaked in blood.

    So it had come to this. She sighed and spoke a short spell. Light flared between her hands, and the bleeding slowed to a trickle. Her mana reserves low, she rummaged through the bag she had been able to grab as she was forced to flee this morning as the harriers of the Lich had finally found her once more.

    Cursing she eyed a purple herb that had strange bulbs and protrusions making it look twisted and unhealthy before she breathed deeply, closed her eyes, and swallowed it in one go.

    Feeling the slimy thing wriggle as it slid down her throat, she nearly vomited it back up again but shortly after, a burst of energy renewed her mana and brought fresh vigor. It was all borrowed and had to be paid back with interest, but for now it would have to do.

    Running down the hall and climbing where she had to, she finally reached the exit.

    Sunlight burned her tired eyes, and she reflexively lifted her left arm to shield her face. A thin blade touched her throat, and a cold burning sensation brushed across her skin as the razor-sharp metal cut a shallow gash.

    Flinching back, she felt a slender hand grasping her shoulder, stopping her retreat.

    ¡°Your Highness. We finally meet again.¡±

    Turning, she saw into the face of her childhood friend and once protector. The other elf was a slender woman with a deathly pale complexion. Her once dark and lustrous hair was cut short and merely reached her chin. Scars marred her neck and the visible portions of her arms. A collar of ebony pressed painfully into the flesh of her throat. The eyes were devoid of emotion and colored the stormy blue-grey of an autumn tempest.

    ¡°Rel¡¯Phain, let me go.¡±

    ¡°The empire no longer exists, your Highness, and I no longer serve you.¡±

    ¡°What did they do to you?¡± Vanessa glanced at the scars, some runic in configuration.

    ¡°It is not necessary for you to know.¡±

    ¡°You serve the Elf-Bane now?¡±

    ¡°As do many of those that still live. By swearing allegiance, the curse no longer affects us. She bears the brunt of it all.¡± The grey eyes bore into her own.

    While they had been talking, halting steps sounded from all around, and skeletal warriors stepped out of the woods. With a crackling roar, a bone horror in the shape of a small dragon broke free of the trees, shattering branches and smaller trunks, well, small perhaps in comparison with a real one, it nevertheless reached the dimensions of a small barn.

    ¡°You will come with me, your highness.¡± Vanessa felt the cut begin to burn, and a leaden lethargy suffused her limbs.

    Her last conscious thoughts as her vision grew dark were, ¡®Why did it have to be you, my friend.¡¯

    She remembered playing in the great gardens while listening to the birds of paradise spelled to recreate the music of the famous bards of old. Laughing with her friend, she had not known then that she was simply a close protector gifted by the second house of the imperial line.

    Running through bushes that twisted out of the way and trying to catch little fairies in the glow of thousands of fireflies.

    Standing before a griffin, watching it grooming its young under the watchful eyes of the Beastspeaker, she had so wanted to hold the little one but even freshly born, their claws and beak were sharp and the mother vigilant.

    Growing up together, she had realized their difference, and their friendship had suffered. She had resented the unwanted protection. How she would have wished for that just now.

    Then it was dark.

    <hr>

    A beautiful woman looked at her and laughed. She did not understand where she was and what was happening. The woman was attired in a dark velvet dress, fit for a ball but highly impractical for the dilapidated surroundings they were finding themselves in.

    The ceiling was missing, mostly. The hall had probably once been a place of worship the gigantic columns showed reliefs depicting ancient saints and miracles but now most of it was damaged and decayed. Plaster was missing in patches and the ground was covered in rime. It was nighttime. Ragged stumps of walls and arched windows rose into the sky toward the distant icy stars like teeth or broken bones.

    ¡°So we finally meet.¡± The voice was as beautiful as the appearance of the speaker, but there was something wrong with it like a shard of glass hidden in a sumptuous feast. It caressed the ear, but with shock, Vanessa felt a warm trickle flow over her cheek, and as she touched it, she felt a sticky warmth.

    ¡°My, you are fragile, but that will all change. As you are, you are of no use to me.¡± The human woman laughed and the flesh of her ample bosom pressed against the constraints of the corset. Red lips curved in a smile.

    The white bones of her jaw gleamed in the light of the stars.

    A dainty hand caressed the gorgeous dress¡­

    Clawed fleshless hands tore the old rotted fabric and exposed the denuded hip-bone beneath.

    Some flesh still remained, and dry sinews moved, imbued with power that could be felt even from where she was lying.

    Eyes like madness made manifest, like stars slowly guttering, dying focused on her own.

    ¡°Oh, we will have so much time together. What you have lived ¡®til now will seem like the most insignificant of dreams soon forgotten after waking.¡±

    The flow of blood from her ear canals intensified, and she felt a sense of deep wrongness as her hearbeat began to stutter.

    ¡°But you are too frail now to hold a conversation of note. We will see each other when you have...become better.¡±

    Turning, she walked away. Bony hands gripped her arms and pulled her up where she saw her friend, or what was left of it. The other elf seemed even more haggard and lifeless but seemed to be breathing still. Without a word, she gestured, and the two skeletons pulled her along while pain wracked her mistreated body.

    ¡°Where..are you taking me?¡± She had to start the question twice because she was shivering violently and her teeth chattering made talking difficult.

    ¡°You are better off if you do not know.¡±

    ¡°I never thought that.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    <hr>

    And down in the caverns below the city of broken ivory on an altar made of a seamless block of obsidian, her life was taken and unlife was given.

    Using forbidden knowledge and perhaps the least bit of remaining sympathy from her jailers, she managed to escape. But the changes being undead brought made her fear for her sanity, and the loss of everything that had once meant something to her made her regret being sane enough to realize it.

    Fleeing, she found one of the old hidden laboratories of the Keralis Erh mentioned in one of the forbidden books she had read where she crafted the ritual that would anchor her consciousness, her will, and self.

    <hr>

    Hundreds of years passed.

    Once more active, she emerged into a world that had changed beyond recognition. Humanity was a power now occupying large swathes of former elven lands. Ulsolm, what a joke, a realm of disjointed tribes of criminals, raiders, and the remnants of her people forced together by fear and hate.

    She thought ¨C The enemy of my enemy might be a potential ally, and approached the clerics of the war god Cornac.

    She was betrayed again and imprisoned, again.

    <hr>

    The mercenaries laughed and talked together, and Vanessa gritted her teeth in anger. Cold and tired and hungry as she was, she looked at the dead hare with disgust. They fed her, if you could call it that, by throwing still-living game into her cage. And she was too hungry and desperate to care. The taste was...not that bad, actually. But it was hardly filling fare.

    A gust of wind brushed the plane, covering her cage to the side, and she saw the clearing they had used to make camp in the early morning light.

    A scholarly-looking young man was gesturing and talking about something with a white-haired, unusually so for a human, teenage girl of rare beauty. Frowning, Vanessa focused and could see the dim outline of a ghost hovering beside the female human. Gathering power, fire energy by the looks of it, they both sang together in elvish fire cant the resulting incandescent projectile obliterated a piece of the forest floor. ¡®Well done, especially for a short-lived.¡¯ She had heard the voice of the teenager the night before, crying, suffering from a nightmare perhaps. Each had her own burdens to bear.

    Then the young girl turned and desperately tried to play down what had happened as several of the adventurers came running to see what the explosion had been about.

    And as the commotion quieted down, their eyes met.

    Amethyst eyes. Just like her dead mother. Vanessa gazed at the young human quietly and felt the stirrings of a sort of connection, a faint bond. There was a lot of untapped void energy in that frail person''s body. ¡®They should not have any sophisticated techniques to deal with that. She will not live to see the end of her twenties, I think.¡¯ Somehow that thought made her sad.

    The fabric fell back down, blocking her vision again, and soon the wagon was rocking unsteadily over the neglected forest road.

    <hr>

    Still in the past (In the first month of arriving at the academy in Kronenburg)

    And then the attack on Sorringen happened. Vanessa looked at her pupils from the window she was crouching in.

    Reminiscing was an unhealthy habit she had been indulging in more and more often.

    She had come to the townhouse in the Ivy Terrace to have another look after the problems at school she had been hearing of. Alyssa seemed depressed. And without knowing that she was being watched, her expressions were much more honest. Smiling wryly, she turned to Asandria. ¡°Who were you really? I would have remembered the first dancer to the Princess of Icy Stars. Wasn¡¯t that some High Elf from Ystria?¡±

    ¡®I think I was earlier than that. As an undead, I no longer qualified for the position, you know?¡¯ Asandria whispered back but did not look at her, still watching her charge.

    ¡°Why did you choose her?¡±

    ¡®Do you think there are so many talented void mages with a gate, no less wandering into a situation where they are forced to make a one-sided pact like ours?¡¯ Asandria now did turn to look at her with dark hollows where her eyes used to be. If she concentrated, Vanessa could see the ivy snaking up the window frame through the transparent form of her- mh what exactly was the sorceress to her, a companion perhaps? A fellow traveler in the same direction?

    ¡°I think I see your point. But was that truly the only reason?¡± Vanessa turned and looked at the white-haired girl tidying up her desk. Mireille used that moment to sneak into the room and neared on tip-toes. Cyrus raised his neck to look at her, tilting it¡¯s head questioningly. With a finger pressed to her lips, she gave an exaggerated wink before sneaking closer and then pouncing on Alyssa, who shrieked in surprise.

    The scene degenerated into tickling and hitting each other with pillows.

    ¡®Childish waste of time.¡¯ Asandria looked a bit disgruntled but much less than her words might suggest.

    ¡°Leave her a bit of childishness, as she actually is one still.¡± Vanessa sighed again.

    ¡®When will you come in to do some serious work?¡¯

    ¡°You know, with the underworld still looking for me in the city, I could well use some time to search for the culprit behind the orders for my apprehension. They could use a break.¡± Vanessa indicated the two girls still playing inside the room with a tilt of her chin.

    ¡®One evening will not make much of a difference, but no more. We don¡¯t have much time.¡¯ The ghost fixed her again in her gaze. ¡®As you know.¡¯

    Soon there was only a drifting cloud of mist.

    And then that too was gone.

 Battle for the grove, Awakening

    ¡°Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.¡±

    ¨D Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

    Iseret looked up and saw one of the tribesmen deliberately make some noise as he approached her. ¡®The courtesy of the proficient.¡¯ She smiled and raised herself from where she had been sitting with a fluid coiling movement. ¡°Well met. Is there any news?¡±

    The brutish-looking man with copious body hair and a long dark mane falling past wolfish ears seemed embarrassed as he looked at the ¨C in comparison- fragile-looking snake-woman. ¡°Hrrrm. Mordrak bids me tell you that we have heard that the ancient has been captured and there are several groups of soldiers entering our lands. It is very possible that they will come here misunderstanding the importance of Sirviel for us. He says it is probable that they want to force us to expend strength protecting her.¡± The man laughed grimly, a deep rumble that came from his massive chest. ¡°She is Sirviel of the Oak the first dryad. Have they not learned from the first time they attacked the grove?¡± He looked insulted.

    Iseret nodded calmly. ¡°I will be ready, but my place is not the line of battle; I will do as your hunters do and strike from the woods where it will hurt the most.¡±

    Glancing at her thin arms the wolf-tribe warrior nodded energetically. ¡°That is fine. We thank you for fighting with us when not friends or allies. Actually, Mordrak said- ¡®If you fight with us that means you have been a friend all along.¡¯ So the saying will not be wrong after all.¡± He gave a short laugh. ¡°May you sink your fangs into the neck of the prey and leave no suffering.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. You too.¡± Iseret did not know what to return to that and left it at that. The warrior turned and joined the group of his kin that began to prepare. Windspeaker shamans applied ground herbs in swirling paint on the face and arms of the fighters and she felt subtle, natural magic woven into the act though the actual pictures mostly seemed to be that- pictures.

    The wind picked up again, and snow whirled through the barren treetops. Here near the center of the grove, flowers still bloomed, and only a light drizzle reached the loamy earth. Branches were creaking and swaying as the gusts became more fierce, and far out in the forest, a wolf howled.

    Time passed.

    Iseret concentrated and called magic to her fingertips casting glyphs and speaking the words of the spell Vanessa had taught her, warmth infused her clothes. Grimacing at the small but noticeable drain on her reserves she shrugged.

    Another howl, closer this time.

    The snake woman drew her khopesh freshly infused with crystallized mana and prayed. ¡°Many-as-One hear your servant; wake the gift of your children, anoint me with your divine venom that I might better serve your purpose, remove the veil of night and grant me sight, strengthen my arms that this blade may find the heart of the enemy and let it be weighed on your impartial scale.¡±

    The poison burning in her veins flared as the gaze of the goddess fell on her and her eyes glowed with greenish light, before darkening again, as her blood vessels blackened. She felt her venom-teeth itch and unfold from the roof of her mouth. Black blood dripped from her lips as she licked the edge of her blade, coating it generously in the flowing black liquid that unnaturally adhered to the metal.

    A short incantation and the wind silently supported her, making her feel light as a feather.

    ¡°You come uninvited and unwanted to bring blades and fire into the holy grove. Leave, and we will not pursue. Enter with malign intent and suffer before you die. Such is my promise as a son of the tribes.¡± Mordraks deep voice rang with barely suppressed violence.

    Distant torchlight signaled the coming of the kingdom''s soldiers and as they drew near it did seem to be a small company in strength. After the red moon Ioreth had finally set, the nighttime forest was pitch black but for the dim light of the stars. With her goddess¡¯ blessing, Iseret saw as clear as day and quickly realized that a group of human scouts tried to flank them, light grey cloaks camouflaging their forms.

    ¡°Treacherous hounds! We will kick you back into that muddy sinkhole you call a country. For the commandant, for Margrinar!¡± A strong voice bellowed back.

    Incantations from several army wizards came from behind burly soldiers carrying large pavise shields while others raised crossbows or halberds ready to fend off or initiate an attack.

    ¡®They wait for the surprise strike from the woods, most likely. How they think they can evade wolf-tribe in the forest is another question entirely, though.¡¯ Iseret wrinkled her brows and softly jumped into the treetops to then creep closer to the rapidly nearing group of rangers.

    There were already three tribal warriors hiding in the undergrowth, so she was probably not needed.

    Balancing on the branch high above their heads, she waited.

    As shields and supportive magics blossomed around the army magicians Mordrak threw back his head and howled before gripping his warhammer and rushing forward alongside his men. Arrows from the scouts hidden in the woods to the sides peppered the kingdom''s soldiers.

    The group of scouts creeping closer took that cue to abandon their efforts at stealth and began to unload their crossbows into the charging wolf-tribe. The three warriors hiding near them began their attack, but one of the scouts spoke a command, brand flaring, and thorny vines whipped forth and entangled them. Several of the men had been waiting for just such a moment and attacked with perfect timing.

    Screams of pain and the roar of the angry tribal warriors destroyed the quiet of the forest.

    One of the fighters entangled by the vines tried to rip free but was riddled with several bolts; soon, his struggles weakened, and he slumped over, lifeless. Another was desperately fighting off the blades of two army rangers wielding short swords. The last one managed to down two soldiers before he, too, was overwhelmed.

    As the branded readied himself for another spell, Iseret simply dropped down from above, her khopesh cleaved through magical wards showering sparks everywhere, and hacked deeply into his neck, ripping it free, she whirled and cut the scouts around her before jumping backward into the darkness between the trees. Blood sprayed in a black arc, hissing as it met and dissolved the snow.

    As the men turned to follow, the ones she had cut began to shake, froth bubbled from their mouths as the poison did its work.

    Two rangers in their grey cloaks surged forward and attacked from both sides, with her twisting between the trees to keep them from coordinating effectively. Metal sparked on metal, and flashes of eldritch light flashed as the enchantment on the khopesh kept the edge sharp and flawless.

    A bolt shot at her as one of the poisoned army scouts rallied and got his shaking arms under control long enough to use his crossbow. A line of fire burned along her chest as she twisted out of the way, parrying with one hand and using a gust of wind to stagger the other assailant long enough to keep him from capitalizing on her distraction. Hissing, she gestured, and the black blood flowing from the wound turned into the form of a serpent striking forth with quicksilver speed and latching onto the hand of the man she had pushed back with her wind magic.

    Crying out in pain and fear, the man hacked at the snake, but the blade simply passed through the black liquid, causing nary a ripple. The other scout was shaken by the sight and the screams, and his inattention was costly as the curved blade found his throat ending his struggles. With quick and quiet steps, Iseret vanished in the shadows of the trees. The black serpent lost its cohesion and turned into black blood that spattered on the ground, but the damage had already been done. The bitten hand turned black, and the fingers curled in on themselves as dark streaks shot through his veins with a gurgle, the ranger fell, shivered, and was still.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Meanwhile, the main fight was still ongoing, and Mordrak, together with his warriors, had hit the line near the center carving into the pressed soldiers with great swings of his hammer, bashing in skulls and cracking breastplates.

    Not without taking some hits in return; but his great physique, together with the magical paint adorning his body, seemed quite resilient and even bathed in blood- his and that of his enemies- he did not seem much worse for wear.

    <hr>

    A tent in the forest, near the border to Hundredstreams

    A soldier with a tabard bearing the crest of the Nordmarks stormed into the tent earning an irritated growl from Lars von Nordstrom who was studying some maps strewn haphazardly over an unfolded camp-table.

    ¡°Lord Nordstrom!¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°The academy hostages¡­¡±

    ¡°Out with it!¡±

    ¡°...have summoned hordes of undead and killed or routed many of our men!¡±

    ¡°WHAT?!¡±

    <hr>

    Alyssa winced as the connection was lost, and her thoughts were now wholly her own. What sounded pleasant at first did not mention the fact that this left her feeling hollow and alone, and her headache was actually intensifying.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Alea turned to her and leaned closer, looking worried.

    They had requisitioned several horses and used the trail the soldiers had been using to maneuver a small but sturdy cart on which they had piled the wounded. Cushioned with blankets as best they could. Sarah and Alea walked beside the cart and remained alert for anyone getting worse.

    Mireille had stubbornly refused as she saw who and how many would have to be transported that way. And now she was cursing as she trudged through the snow and her injuries were still painful even after the healing she had received. There was always a residue, an echo of the deeper wounds, even when they faded without a scar. And that was with the attention of a competent healer. If you did not understand what you were doing when applying healing energies, you would simply overload the body with magic causing only the most superficial injuries to close.

    Around them, the other students that had been able to walk on their own forced their way through the snow.

    ¡°I¡¯m worried what the undead will do now that I lost control,¡± Alyssa whispered.

    ¡°That worries me too.¡± Mireille frowned. ¡°But we can do nothing about that, can we?¡±

    Alyssa shook her head.

    Calvin strode up to them, the two young girls he had been traveling with following him. ¡°Is it better?¡±

    ¡°Not really.¡± The white-haired girl winced and rubbed her temples.

    Calvin sighed. ¡°What a situation. The south is crawling with those strange undead. In the north, the tribes and the renegade Nordmarks do nothing but cause trouble. I hope we get to Fort Wolfsbane in one piece.¡±

    ¡°The tribes are not to blame,¡± Alea spoke up. ¡°The army...they killed the dryads.¡±

    ¡°I know. We have no reliable news about the army and what is happening there. It cannot be in the kingdom''s interest to wage war with the wolf-tribe as we are still reeling from the death of the king, and Ulsolm is more active than in hundreds of years.¡±

    ¡°In whose interest is it then?¡± Vivienne''s nearly turquoise eyes shone coldly.

    ¡°The Nordmarks probably.¡± Alea sounded subdued. ¡°They are just a hairsbreadth away from being stripped of their title, which would probably lead to civil war. They have the troops to at least put up a fight- But they would lose in the end. Embroiling the kingdom in a senseless war would make it impossible to persecute them effectively while time passes, and going after them for what they did at the Exhibition will be more and more difficult.¡±

    ¡°Accurate as far as I know. So they are the most likely culprit.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go a bit further. We know there was a strong vampire at the fight working for or at least supporting Carl. Then there was the very convenient attack by the undead in that exact same moment.¡± Alyssa roused herself to a sitting position grabbing onto the sidewall of the cart to stabilize herself.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t know that,¡± Calvin grumbled. ¡°But if we accuse them, we shove them firmly to their side. With things as they are, we hoped that the crown would simply¡­solve...the issue.¡±

    ¡°Should you tell us that?¡± Vivienne asked curiously.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. The ritual in that god-forsaken fort showed clearly where allegiances lie. No ducal power can simply ¡®lose¡¯ a fort for months and the men to go with it. No, they damn well knew what was happening there and endorsed it. And I fear the hesitation in bringing them to heel will cost us dearly. First, the king let Carl get away with all sorts of crimes, and now they do the same with the Nordmarks.

    Silence reigned, broken only by alarming creaks made by the cart''s stressed wheels and the horses'' huffing.

    ¡°So, what can we do?¡± Alea swallowed nervously.

    ¡°Not very much as we are now. When we return to Fort Wolfsbane we can regroup and send our findings back. Then it is a matter of what the regent wants to do.¡± Calvin scratched at the fake scars on his face and gripped the half-mask before pulling it off. ¡°Damn thing was starting to irritate me.¡±

    The mood was subdued, and the moans of the wounded did not make it any more bearable. Only Cyrus seemed to be in good spirits, darting in and out of the underbrush shaking the snow from his scales before snacking on a snow-hare he had caught.

    Alyssa looked at him as he gulped down the steaming offal ruby drops of blood glinting on his dark green snout.

    <hr>

    Vanessa sat crosslegged in a chamber probably meant for supplies. Meaning it had no window, which was always welcome. Yawning, she fought against the leaden fatigue that the sun brought with it. Gesserachs lonely eye hurt her even through the thick stone, but the still prevalent void corruption offset this to a degree. Scratching equations into the dust and wiping them away again in frustration, the elf gritted her teeth and persevered. ¡®I must think of something. There must be something I can do to close the rift. How did they even get it to stabilize!¡¯

    And then she thought about the last spell cast by an old man and the flitting insubstantial ¡®something¡¯ that flew into the night.

    <hr>

    ¡°Mother!¡± A voice called to her, and she felt pain all over her body. The voice sounded distant and distinctly not like a child.

    ¡°Mother, please wake up! We have to help father!¡± Something wet fell on her face, and her right hand twitched as she instinctively strove to wipe the liquid away. Some of it spilled into her mouth.

    It tasted salty.

    Light passed over her eyes, and somewhere the sun rose. She felt its rays warm her body and somehow that gave her the strength to crack open her eyelids. Just a bit.

    A ceiling made of dirty, cobwebbed rafters vanished to the sides in deepening gloom. An arrow-slit let in a meager amount of light. Dustmotes danced in the pale winter sunlight, and the air was cold. With a monumental effort, she turned her head and looked to the side. A woman sat there, sleeping. Her countenance showed her to be in her forties, perhaps? Lines forged by deprivation and hardship lined her eyes and mouth, but she still retained a certain appeal. Like a beautiful flower, aged and roughly handled.

    She tried to speak but only got a bit of dust into her throat. Coughing violently, she spat a bit of blood.

    ¡°Mother!¡± The older woman roused herself and looked at her with surprised delight. ¡°Here, have some water.¡± A hand grasped her frail upper body, and the woman fed a bit of water into her desert-dry mouth.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Gazing at the woman, the one that had been lying in the bed frowned quizzically. ¡°Have we...have we met?¡±

    The delight faded, and the older woman looked stricken. ¡°You don¡¯t recognize me. How stupid of me.¡± Muttering, she brushed some tears from her eyes.

    Something about the woman seemed familiar to the former sleeper, but she could not place her. ¡°No. Sorry. But I thank you for the care.¡± Something scratched at her memories, and she felt she was missing something important. A picture of a young lanky student formed before her mind''s eye, and without intending to, she muttered, ¡°...Tiberius¡­¡±

    The woman who had been observing her looked pained. ¡°Father, he remained in the fort and is probably in danger.¡±

    The world did not make sense. Her body still pained her, and she had the strange feeling of being untethered from her body like a stiff breeze would blow her consciousness away on darkened tides.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I am your daughter. Lily.¡±

    Pictures flashed through her mind like bursts of lightning. A young man charmingly clumsy in his affections. Books and scripture, scrolls and glyphs.

    Laughter

    A mistake, but it seemed so happy at that time.

    A child.

    A girl.

    She looked at the lined face of the woman before her, and there was something familiar but faint.

    Raising her hand, she looked a the unblemished young skin of a twenty-year-old. The room began to spin crows cawed from outside. The musty air pressed in, and she could not breathe.

    Flashes. The ritual. The enormous power of the void-maelstrom that pulled her under. Deepest black and endless quiet.

    There were only silence and dreams.

    And then she fell back and into darkness.

 A song of spring

    ¡°The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways, I to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better only God knows.¡±

    ¨D Socrates

    Zygmund von Nordmark was in a good mood. All seemed to go well, and he managed to raise his first wight. He was a genius! How long would it take a peasant to learn what he had accomplished in mere months! Shrugging his shoulders he raised himself from the altar he had been leaning on. Giving the frost elf necromancer a smug look, he focused and ordered the wight to kneel. With ponderous might, the armored skeleton lowered itself on one knee.

    ¡°So, what were you saying?¡±

    The young elven necromancer clenched his jaws. ¡°Fine work, my lord.¡± The words were like pulling teeth. ¡°We seem to have some problems.¡± He had prepared the raising meticulously and carved runes and circles. While the vampire had arcane power to spare, it was still clumsy and unrefined. The gods knew what would happen if he were left to his own devices. Perhaps he would level the castle but creating a higher undead? No chance.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Is Lars being grandiose again?¡± The old man wrinkled his brows.

    ¡°As far as we know, the ritual worked perfectly. Now, when the kingdom intercedes, they have to contend with self-multiplying undead, which will slow them or even keep them away completely. The tribes are reacting as predicted, and attacks have been reported along the whole border. When we sacrifice the old diplomat, all hell will break loose.¡± Ivyander could not contain a frown of disgust that was gone too quickly to be noted by the vampire.

    ¡°But the academy hostages broke loose and, curiously enough, by using large-scale necromancy. How they got the ritual underway without anyone noticing.¡± The elf shook his head incredulously. ¡°I don¡¯t know how they have done it, but the restless dead killed and dispersed our men stationed there.¡±

    ¡°So that is the big setback? They still have to pass through the undead-infested areas- so they will die then? And even as we hoped to use hostages, killing the lot will cause chaos as successions fail and families are suddenly without an heir. That will serve us well.¡±

    ¡°¡¯If¡¯ they die. My lord, they have shown a peculiar proficiency with necromantic rituals, so I would be careful in tempering my expectations.¡±

    A sudden movement, nearly too quick to see, and the elf was ripped from the ground, feet dangling. Zygmund had grabbed his clothes at the neck, bunching the shirt in his hand. He did not seem to be straining at all. ¡°Little worm. What I would or would not expect is not something for you to think about. You are useful for your knowledge, but you are a slave. So don¡¯t think and act above your station. I can see right through your little ironies and sarcasm, and if you want to live to see your kin ever again, better keep that in mind or else¡­¡± The vampire leaned closer, and canines crusted with old blood nearly touched the elf''s slender neck, and the reek of decay was overpowering. ¡°Is that clear?¡±

    Scrabbling with his hands, the elf struggled to draw breath and after seeing him turn an alarming shade of blue Zygmund threw him against a nearby table, shattering some alembics and causing caustic liquids to spray some scrolls and notes which began to dissolve with a hiss. Coughing and grimacing from the pain, Ivyander nodded, and still rubbing his smarting neck, he said, ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    <hr>

    Sirviel''s Grove

    Iseret pressed a piece of linen cloth torn from a downed soldier to the cut on her chest. The fight was still ongoing, but the forest had been quiet after the detachment of scouts had been defeated. Quickly she ripped free a belt and fit it around the wadded piece of fabric to put some pressure on it. Breathing experimentally, she grimaced at the pain. Sadly her goddess did not often grant the ability to heal. And if she did, it was mostly in the form of hibernation or healing sleep.

    The ground of the clearing was littered with the dead and dying. Several of the tribesmen were still fighting, Mordrak among them. The army group had brought the numbers and the mages, which had begun to count. There were still too many enemies for the Reborn to feel comfortable.

    The air seemed to quiver as a pulse of energy rippled from the giant oak tree, and the figure of Sirviel the dryad walked out. Raising her head, long green hair drifting about her ankles, and eyes glimmering with unshed tears, she spread her arms. A bolt, shot from one of the soldiers, thudded into her side. Grimacing and stumbling, she ignored the pain and began to sing.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Iseret sprinted forward and, stretching desperately, she cut the next bolt out of the air tucking her arms around the blade so as not to be cut she somersaulted to shed momentum and speed. Crashing into the bushes, she was scratched by broken branches, and her hair entangled in the undergrowth. Ripping free, she snarled, and black poison dripped from her lips.

    The song built in momentum, and golden-green light suffused the misty air as the snow on the edges of the grove began to melt in unseasonal warmth. There were no words, it was like the singing of a flute or the melodious rippling of a stream. The music told of growth and renewal, of the sap flowing after a long winter, leaves, and branches stretching toward the sun breaking through ice and snow finally shedding the lethargy of winter.

    Several small spheres of fire shot from the outstretched hand of a sorceress and blasted toward Sirviel. Gritting her teeth, Iseret looked around and saw a dead dryad lying among the grass. Grabbing her she hoisted the body into the path of the missiles, which impacted with bruising force exploding soon after. Hissing with pain from her burned arms, she let fall the mutilated corpse with a silent apology.

    The light grew even more intense, and her wounds began to tingle and itch. Where the golden light fell, injuries faded, bleeding stopped. But as it touched the kingdom''s soldiers, movement became ponderous and several stilled completely. With a gargled scream, an officer frantically shook his arm as he saw his fingers busting into fresh green leaves. ¡°Retreat!¡±

    Stumbling and not without getting a few swings from the tribesmen that were still standing, the soldiers withdrew, leaving a group of their own behind. A mouth opened in a silent scream as a branch shot forth as if sound had become wood and leaf, turning the head into mere whorls on the trunk of a willow.

    And as the mists shone with gold, branches that once were limbs lifted toward an uncaring winter sky as Sirviel sang of spring.

    <hr>

    Amber sat before the old tower and looked over the quiet valley. Her daughter. She could not wrap her mind around that. The woman that professed to be Lily, her Lily. Seemed to be over double the age she had been when she was pulled into the void. Moving was still awkward, and her hands did not quite feel like her own. And there was the tugging from an invisible string leading somewhere to the south. But otherwise¡­ She breathed deeply of the cold air and had to cough a bit. But the fresh and unpolluted breeze caressing her face brought her a kind of joy that seemed to have been lost for a long time.

    ¡°Mother. You shouldn¡¯t stay here for so long. You will catch a cold.¡±

    ¡°Let me stay at least until the sun has passed. As long as it shines on me, it isn¡¯t that cold.¡±

    ¡°Then drink some tea.¡± The older woman reached forward and offered a steaming cup.

    Turning, Amber regarded her and tried to find the baby she had once nursed in the features worn by time and hardship. Blushing under the scrutiny, the woman turned. ¡°I will see if there is something to make soup with.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡±

    The word made the robed sorceress stop, and she turned her head as if expecting a scolding.

    ¡°Stay with me. I cannot say that this is an easy thing to accept. But even as I have slept away my¡­and your life there is still time. Let us get to know each other.¡± Sighing, she continued, ¡°I cannot go and find Tiberius, and you don¡¯t seem optimistic either. I would pray he is in good health, but from what you told me, that is most likely not the case. So we use the time we have and not squander it. Who knows how long that will be.¡±

    <hr>

    The group of students and teachers left the treeline and faced an open field. Relief was written on many faces as the sun lifted the gloom of the forest and the past day. Glittering ice stretched before them what was essentially the gently sloping side of a rocky hill. The forest path had led them here and joined a more robust road made of gravel and cracked stone. An old marker rested in the shade of a massive cedar, and elvish symbols surrounded a bounding deer just barely visible on the weatherbeaten surface.

    Just as the fire wizard Escaldis cleared his throat and gestured for them to be quiet, a low scream came from farther downhill.

    Gazing downward, they saw several dark figures stagger from the woods.

    A student exclaimed. ¡°What are they?¡±

    Calvin took a look and grumbled, ¡°Undead by the looks of it.¡±

    Sunlight shone dazzlingly on the snow, and he squinted his eyes, shading them with his hand. ¡°I fear that will get troublesome. We should take care of them from here and be observant the farther we go. If they catch us in the forest, we will have problems."

    The fire wizard gave an annoyed grunt and, without another word, began to intone a spell gathering motes of fire into a spinning sphere, first glowing a dull red and, with time becoming white, then blue. Heat exploded in waves from the fiery ball when he finally sent it hurtling toward the small group of revenants. Impacting between them, there was a bone-shaking thump and roar as snow flashed into steam and flesh and bone were shattered and scorched and began to burn.

    The corpses twitched and tried to get up for a few moments until another teacher finished a spell of his own, and lightning burst from the sky, raining down until nothing moved anymore. The corpulent red-haired wizard that had welcomed them into the camp patted his hands and grinned. ¡°This, dear students, is why you never give a wizard time to leisurely cast a spell. It might surprise you what is possible with a bit of preparation.¡±

    Both teachers seemed heavily winded after the exertion, and with only a short discussion, they decided to continue until dusk.

 Trails and Trials

    ¡°The night hides a world, but reveals a universe.¡±

    -

    They pressed on until dusk.

    ¡°Would that it was still summer we could have reached the main road with another hour or two of daylight.¡± The corpulent wizard, Villier Gorms, sighed.

    ¡°Everything would be better in summer.¡± Calvin shook frozen mud and slush from his feet tapping his boot against a treestump.

    Zhira, the scout materialized out of the gloom between the trees and raised an eyebrow. ¡°Please try to not make such a racket. I heard you two vales over. There are undead in the forest. I killed some but there will be more.¡±

    Alyssa gave a small smile while watching the interplay and raised herself laboriously from the cart. Everything was aching, and her headache was killing her. All around, the students and teachers began to erect tents and ignite a fire. If tapping your feet against a tree was enough to irritate Zhira the woman would not have a good time of it. Turning the white-haired teenager stood up shakily before she was grabbed by Mireille, who had been hovering nearby.

    ¡°How are you?¡± The redhead asked quietly and kept an eye on the fire mage Escaldis who eyed them from a distance.

    ¡°Well enough. The headache is slowly getting better but being bumped around in the cart was nearly worse.¡± Alyssa rubbed her back.

    ¡°Would that I could simply heal you.¡± Alea frowned.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know since when that has been a bad idea, but I fear I have to do it myself- but thanks for the thought.¡± Alyssa smiled at the smaller girl. Butler One stood behind her, the shadows fell across the porcelain mask, and only the slight whirring of cogs and gears showed that he was still active.

    ¡°We should try to get a tent of our own. I would prefer not to be separated.¡± Vivienne interjected.

    ¡°That seems prudent.¡± Annabeth agreed, missing the complicated look that the half-elf shot in her direction. The brunette stood close to Valens, who, despite his usual demeanor, seemed relatively comfortable with her presence.

    All in all, the students that had been rescued were fifty to sixty in number, which spoke to either horrific casualties, or, more likely that some had not been at the camp. There were ten teachers including Calvin if he was counted as such. Military personnel was far fewer having been sent away by the Nordmarks before the attempted hostage-taking. There were merely six. The Lieutenant Philias von Drauer¡¯s End was not among them. Alyssa was unsure if that was a good or bad thing, as he had seemed a bit competent.

    The general mood was subdued as some of them had lost friends in the conflict. Those that had been wounded most severely were still in recovery.

    Sarah had taken charge of distributing the supplies they had liberated and there was already a queue running up to a steaming cauldron holding a stew which was ladled into waiting cups in lieu of other tableware.

    Mireille blushed as her stomach grumbled, and Alyssa gave a small laugh. ¡°Let us go and try to get a least a cup of hot soup.¡± absentmindedly, she brushed over her left hand, which felt icy to the touch, but there was no discomfort- other than the cramps and aches from the uncomfortable ride.

    Soon they were standing together, waiting for their turn. The sun sank slowly behind the distant mountains and bathed the sky in red. The wind rustled between the branches of the fir trees lining the clearing beside the muddy road. Breath steamed, and the cold air was like small needles pricking their throat and lungs.

    ¡°Does this thing still work?¡± Mireille patted her coat where the heat-generating runes were located. ¡°It¡¯s cold!¡± She shivered and looked grumpy.

    ¡°I do think you should refresh them. Alea, do you have some crystal dust left?¡±

    Cecily, the spider, turned, and crystal lenses focused on Alyssa. ¡°Yes, I packed, expecting the field training to take much longer.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not over yet.¡± Vivienne gave a half-grin.

    ¡°Are you cold?¡± Annabeth asked Valens and fished a scarf from her backpack. She was already tightly wrapped in a similar one herself- it seemed to be a spare.

    Offered the knitted band of cloth, the half-elf blinked embarrassedly but then took the warm fabric throwing it around his neck. ¡°Th...thank you.¡± He said quietly. The red from the sunset seemed a bit more prominent on his cheeks.

    Smiling, Annabeth patted some snow from his shoulders. ¡°I was only carrying it around anyway. Glad that it sees some use.¡±

    Vivienne gritted her teeth. That was not exactly the first time her good-looking brother found someone to care for him- which he needed, regarding this she had no illusions. But the care should come from her and not some unreliable person that got close to him on a whim. She would wait and see where that went.

    <hr>

    Vanessa looked at the spindly appendages waving like fronds in a deep lake and rubbed her forehead in annoyance. ¡°Do you understand me?¡±

    A single eye opened and looked at her, blue light gathering in the middle. As always, it was the only thing of beauty on this shadowy being.

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    She had deliberated and then summoned several Shadelings. Those small creatures served well in the role of scout or spy and, if sufficiently motivated, should make finding...mh.

    And there was the problem.

    Did she want to find the last person to walk away from the ritual site? Or perhaps the one that had appeared on that tower and killed that old man? And what about the flitting ¡®something¡¯ she had observed?

    Vanessa grimaced. And for a second there flashed before her inner eye the countenance of a certain snake-woman. Worriedly she thought- How was she faring? Did the army attack? Was the defense of the tribes sufficient? She had the utmost confidence in Sirviel, but the dryad was not exactly ¡®normal¡¯ and how she would react to an attack was...uncertain.

    She balled her fist and, with an angry snarl, hit a tree cracking the wood and shaking loose copious amounts of snow that drenched her from head to toe. The one eye of the shadeling inspected her seriously, and the small creature seemed to be thinking deeply, leaning slightly forward. Several other glowing blue eyes stared at her from the surrounding shadows.

    If Vanessa could have blushed, she would have at that point.

    ¡°Hunt after the person who last left the ritual site.¡± She pointed at soft indentations in the snow she had tracked to this small path into the woods. Suppressing her embarrassment, she brushed snow from her face and made an impatient gesture. ¡°Hurry up!¡±

    The little ball of limbs and suckers arrayed around a shadowy lean form shrunk back from her shout and together with perhaps a half-dozen others vanished into the darkness between the trees.

    Patting the rest of the snow from her clothes, she took a whiff from her sleeve and sighed. It had been some time since Kronenburg. Gesturing, she focused and called glyphs into being, arranging them just so. After incanting a complicated spell dirt and water streamed from her hands into a ball hanging before her. Gesturing, she sent it splashing under a fir tree. A delicate fragrance floated around her, frayed threads and cuts fused back together, and the fabric regained its luster.

    She wore a thickly woven woolen coat with an upturned collar around an embroidered hood dyed a deep black. Buttons made of horn kept it together over her leather-reinforced tunic and pants. Inscribed bracers made of leather and mithril peeked from beneath her sleeves and a broad leather belt festooned with pouches encircled her tiny waist. Steel shod boots completed her attire. A satchel hung behind her back. She had taken the time to anchor a spatial inversion inside of it and so had more than enough room for all her necessities. Sadly the gentle flowery scent was wholly illusory in nature. She would not have someone track her, aided by her vanity.

    At least she had good clothing again. She would have to thank Iseret for the recommendation when she saw her again.

    Lightening herself with magic she began to chase after the departing Shadelings, a fleeting shadow among the swaying trees.

    <hr>

    Calvin twisted his neck and felt his vertebrae popping. Tramping through the woods in winter, what was he thinking? Leaning back against the tree he had chosen for the relatively snow-free ground around it, he shifted his seat to a more comfortable and less prickly position. The fir tree had rained a lot of needles, but his leather trousers coped reasonably well.

    The students and teachers were organizing the camp, and he had done his part. But now he really needed a bit of peace and quiet.

    ¡°Calvin? What is happening here?¡± Kira, the older girl, had her dark hair braided into a thick strand hanging down her back and looked a lot better than when he had picked her up with her friend. Clothes from the camp made her seem much more like a traveler rather than a vagabond.

    ¡°Mh. That is difficult to explain. You know that I was looking for something around the Nordmark fief?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and you were only pretending,¡± Gina interjected helpfully.

    ¡°And what I found wasn¡¯t good, so I tried to get the news to someone who could do more with it than I.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°And then there were the Nordmark soldiers trying to take everyone hostage.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°And then Alyssa summoned hordes of undead which, while helpful, was problematic, to say the least.¡±

    ¡°Alyssa is the strange white-haired girl? That was pretty scary.¡± Gina shuddered.

    ¡°So. Now we try to reach Fort Wolfsbane.¡± Uncomprehending eyes looked at him. ¡°A fort to the southeast. And when we get there, we will probably make for Kronenburg.¡± ¡®I hope.¡¯ He added internally.

    The students sat in small groups beneath the trees and drank the soup Sarah, and her helpers had cooked up. Smoke rose lazily into the slowly darkening sky. Stars multiplied in number as the sun''s light no longer obscured them. He recognized the Leviathan, the constellation of Thyomena the Wavemother, and the Chalice, dedicated to Charys the Drinker of Tears. Making a small respectful gesture, he hoped the deity of endings and sorrow would keep an eye on the unwanted revenants infesting these woods.

    The air was bitter cold, and Calvin regretted not having grabbed a cup. But he had his travel rations and did not want to impose. ¡°Did you get something to eat?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Kira nodded and blew on her cup of soup before taking another large swallow. She grimaced and breathed rapidly, fanning her mouth as the scaldingly hot beverage slid down her throat. Coughing and with tears in her eyes, she looked angrily at her stocky friend as Gina giggled at the sight.

    Calvin gave a short laugh and passed her his waterskin.

    A crackle from a breaking branch alerted him, and he jumped to his feet before turning toward the woods. Between the trees, a shambling figure passed a gap in the foliage, and starlight fell on a nearly bare skull; scraps of decayed flesh clung to the temples, and the jaw hung open, exposing battered teeth. Grimly Calvin raised his staff, and with a short incantation, flames raced along the runes and inscriptions before a lance of searing energy shot at the undead stumbling near. Impacting the chest region, the whole skeleton was illuminated brilliantly before a fiery explosion burst the ribcage and shattered the spine. Spinning bone fragments impacted the surrounding trees, and screams of alarm came from the surrounding camp.

    ¡°Undead in the woods! Keep to the clearing! No one hares off into the dark!¡± Calvin shouted before pushing the two girls in the direction of the campfires. ¡°You too! Go!¡±

    Gina nodded and pulled the still coughing Kira with her throwing a worried glance at Calvin.

    Flitting shadows surrounding the fallen undead crept over the snow-covered ground before one of them dove down into the earth, and soon enough, with an explosion of frozen dirt and slush, the skeletal form of a small animal, a badger perhaps, rose from its apparently not-final rest. Rotten, frozen flesh barely covered the small bones, and dried eyeballs stared sightlessly yellowed teeth snapped in silent rage.

    Concentrating again, he gestured, and a force bolt shattered the newly risen undead.

    All around, similar scenes repeated themselves as mages and students shot magical energies at the encroaching undead.

    With the warning and the overwhelming firepower of a group full of aspiring mages, there was no contest. But Calvin shuddered to think what a family of peasants would do in the same situation. Die horribly, most likely.

    Alea conjured a floating eye made of glyphs shining with brilliant light that emitted flashes of deadly radiance that nearly melted the undead hit by it. The automaton accompanying her silently dispatched a small undead bird hopping toward her.

    And then it was quiet again.

    ¡°What the hell was that!?¡± Calvin stormed back toward the center of the camp.

 Debts

    ¡°We are born in the shadow of fading memories and fallen dreams, living our days within the decaying bones of an age long gone.¡±

    - Darran M. Handshaw, The Engineer

    The evening sun shone through large windows. The desktop was strewn with documents; the surroundings were luxurious, with a thick embroidered carpet and a painting spanning the ceiling showing fauns and nymphs at play. But somehow, there was a cold breeze, having found a gap in a window, and the queen turned uneasily, shivering in her sleep while half-lying on the table.

    Exhaustion marred her face, and if Alyssa, Alea, or Mireille had seen her, they would have thought her thinner than remembered. Wearing green and gold, shifting uneasily.

    A piece of parchment lay open just before her fingertips, curling slowly back toward the form of a scroll.

    ¡®¡­..seek urgent aid. The fortress of Windkeep has fallen, and the army is fighting a delaying action. It would help greatly if refugees were permitted to cross Thundersplit Pass. Undead are everywhere, and with the unrest in Andria¡­.¡¯

    The parchment turned in on itself and rolled to a stop against a pale cheek.

    The papers seemed like white faces imploring her for aid, for answers.

    Turning restlessly in a nightmare, she had none.

    <hr>

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    The words resonated in his head as he looked at the envoy. The old baron von Hofstedt was a respected elder in aristocratic circles. His fiefdom was neither populous nor wealthy, but his lineage was impeccable, and he could trace it back to the world gate and another plane of existence.

    The old man was humming as he filled his pipe with tobacco and tamped it down before looking around for a lighter.

    The room was not fit for one of his station but the situation being as it were, they had nothing better to offer. The inn was situated some miles before the coast, nearer to Kronenburg than the rebels, the ¡®Republicans¡¯ he reminded himself, strongholds.

    Heloise, the acting regent, had sent the baron with a strong personal guard to secretly talk to the rebel leaders trying for a less bloody solution.

    And that would not do.

    The man was in no doubt what the rebels would want and what the crown would not hesitate to give. The first steps toward self-determination and rule by council. For domestic matters concerning the *then* free cities, at least. And for the noble families that had drawn heavily on the populace''s wealth and manpower, that would be a disaster.

    Noble families, like his own.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± The words tumbled around in his head, spoken by the old steward as he last left the castle.

    Wearing the nondescript clothes of a servant, he entered and smiled at the baron. ¡°Mylord, would you care for a bit of refreshment?¡± A plate holding cut fruit and cheese, along with a decanter of wine, was presented with a flourish.

    The old man with kindly features and a sly look in his eyes rubbed his bushy, white mustache, slightly stained by nicotine, and grinned. ¡°Put it over there, my lad. I will first partake of this fine tobacco. My father always said- Have one vice and one vice only. If more, you are an undisciplined lout, and if less...not human.¡± He laughed heartily. ¡°And when my wife complains, I always tell her to choose another one for me- wine, women, gambling. For unknown reasons, she does not want that.¡± He chuckled and reached for his pipe. ¡°Ah, that reminds me. Do you have a lighter for me?¡±

    The young man put down the plate and walked up to him, one hand firmly grasping the dagger in his pocket.

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    And then he stabbed the old man in the throat.

    The movement was quick and precise, and gurgling frantically, the baron grabbed at his throat, looking at the man uncomprehendingly. Stepping back, he saw the flecks of blood seeping into his tunic, and the man cursed under his breath and, with shaking hands, pulled on a coat that hung from a rack to the side. Blood spread beneath the cooling body as the ¡®servant¡¯ quickly left the room.

    Outside, the corpses of two guards lay side by side.

    <hr>

    And so talks for peace turned into a call to war.

    <hr>

    A line of men and women stood before a cushion haphazardly thrown on the ground. An old woman in the attire of a traveling wizard sat near a burning brazier. Grey coat with practical pouches sewn into the front, a wide-brimmed hat with a carved jade plaque depicting a heron- the last a personal vanity.

    The room was the council chamber of Storms Cove, a small town at the northeastern edge of the sea of origins.

    Inside the rune-inscribed dark metal brazier, several brands were heating up, and as soon as they reached a usable temperature, the woman gestured. ¡°Get on with it. I don¡¯t want to be here longer than necessary.¡±

    A young man nodded hastily and grabbed one of the brands with thick gloves shielding his hands.

    The wizardess intoned a complex formula, and the brand began to emit a slowly brightening glow.

    The first in line kneeled and gritted his teeth. Pressing it against the biceps, the brand shed its glow amid a subdued howl of pain as the kneeling man bit into his sleeve to stop himself from screaming. The one holding the brand hurriedly stepped back and promptly ripped off a scorched piece of flesh, causing blood to drip down in rivulets. ¡°Sorry! Oh, I¡¯m so¡­¡±

    ¡°Silence! Get yourself back here and grab the next one.¡± The wizardess frowned. Two burly men grabbed the newly branded and dragged him to the side, where several blankets were spread on the ground.

    ¡°I said- NEXT!¡± With a shout, the wizardess urged her hesitant helper, who hurried to the brazier, grabbing the next glowing piece of metal.

    ¡°For the Republicans! For freedom!¡± The next man bellowed before kneeling.

    ¡°Oh, for fucks sake. I hate politics.¡± The woman grumbled, then patted the pouch at her side. ¡°But it pays the bills.¡±

    <hr>

    Heloise nodded at Lieseleta, ¡°It is time.¡±

    Swallowing nervously, the queen nodded. They stood before a gigantic portal hewn from dark rock and carved with runes. Each rune was crude and primal, nearly the size of a grown man, and the portal itself could have accommodated two horse-drawn carts side by side with more than three times that in height. The air was stiflingly hot, and moisture wept in great drops from the rough-hewn walls.

    Behind them stood a score of golems fashioned of dark steel holding great staves topped with magelights. A winding tunnel double the size of the portal vanished into the darkness behind them. Between the ancient steel constructs, a line of people walked forward.

    Step by step.

    ¡°We are protected by the covenant, but you must never show weakness.¡± Heloise¡¯s golden eyes bore into Lieseleta¡¯s own.

    The queen closed her eyes before steeling herself to look at the offerings. Even the worst of the worst were still her subjects and she had never hated her responsibilities so much as of this moment.

    With a deep reverberating groan and dull grinding noise, the two wings of the portal ponderously opened and revealed a cavern with an endless chasm leading into the earth.

    ¡°We are pleassssed.¡± A voice came from the darkness, and a person slowly coalesced out of the faint mist hanging in the air. Attired in a cowled robe, pale flesh drawn over a craggy jaw. The thin lips tried to form a smile but failed. Gesturing, he pointed at the chasm. ¡°Your offering is welcome and timely. Would that your forebears had been so conscientious every time.¡± A hint of cold laughter seemed to resonate with those words.

    Pale, pupilless eyes fixated on Lieseleta. ¡°We don¡¯t know you. Are you the next contractor? Or the heir, perhaps? We can never tell.¡±

    The men and women chained to each other walked forward step by step, eyes devoid of intelligence; the line vanished behind them into the tunnels, into the darkness.

    ¡°Y..yes. I am the next queen of Margrinar and come to honor the covenant.¡±

    The creature, in the guise of a man, nodded. ¡°Then we have to taste you.¡± Seeing her alarm, there was another attempt at a smile. ¡°Your blood, I mean. It wouldn¡¯t do to mistake you for someone else. You all look the same, after all. Your souls, though.¡± He drew a deep breath through clenched teeth.

    Walking forward hesitantly with a last questioning look at Heloise Lieseleta neared the being. Forcing herself closer step by step, she felt a strange prickling sensation, and her nose began to bleed. Suddenly the creature stood beside her, its hand beneath her face gazing raptly at a dark drop of blood which slowly sank into the white parchmentlike skin.

    Lieseleta stumbled back before gritting her teeth and facing the being head-on.

    ¡°Ah. You do have some spine, after all. I worried.¡± It laughed before withdrawing into the mist. As it walked back, she saw great shadowy tentacles vanish beneath the robes like the strings of a marionette extending from the dark chasm, and the last she saw were the white eyes staring sightlessly into her soul.

    ¡°You gave more than owed, and we are in debt. Lovely golden-eyed soul, your request will be granted.¡±

 Debts II

    ¡°The unwelcome November rain had perversely stolen the day''s last hour and pawned it with that ancient fence, the night.¡±

    - F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

    Lieseleta threw the door closed and pressed against the old wood while hugging herself. Outside she heard Jera step closer and more sensed, then felt her lay her hand on the other side of the door. ¡°Prin...Queen! Please open the door! I have not had time to check the room!¡± Her voice sounded urgent.

    ¡°Knight Jera, step aside.¡± Another voice sounded- Heloise. ¡°Open the door, niece.¡±

    A shudder went through her body as she recalled the line of people descending into the darkness, the strange being held by shadowy tendrils watching over them. The blind eyes. The immense presence she had sensed just out of sight, each of its movements like the shifting of a mountain.

    ¡°Open the door, Liese.¡±

    She drew a shuddering breath and, with a sob, turned and pulled back the heavy bolt holding the reinforced door closed.

    With quiet steps, Heloise entered the tower room. Flickering fires illuminated a high ceiling made of old oaken beams darkened by age and smoke from the large open fireplace, shining on a floor made of closely fitted planks covered by an old but ornate carpet in the colors of Margrinar, green, and gold. The windows were closed and fitted with bubbly panes of glass just clear enough to get a sense of height and impressions of a forest.

    A bed, table, and several chairs stood to one side, a harp on a pedestal with a cushioned stool on the other. Several old tomes gathered dust on a stone shelf above the bed.

    ¡°We have to talk.¡± Golden eyes fixed on her own, and she blinked rapidly before nodding once. ¡°I am sorry.¡± Heloise sighed and looked uncomfortable. ¡°I did not think it would affect you like this.¡±

    Lieseleta shook her head and clenched her hands in her shirt. ¡°We sacrificed three score men and women to a¡­I don¡¯t even know what it is that took them. And then it drank my blood. And I felt its regard, and it was like drowning in ice.¡±

    Heloise gazed at her quietly and grabbed a decanter holding some red wine. ¡°Drink, and I will answer any question you might have.¡± As the queen hesitated, a cup was pressed into her hand, and golden eyes narrowed, ¡°Drink.¡±

    Lieseleta gripped the goblet with whitened knuckles and raised her head. ¡°Why?¡±

    Heloise calmly strode across the room, looking outside into the fading light. ¡°Margrinar was founded shortly after the cataclysm. The first king drew deep upon the ley lines and erected the castle, and founded the academy. They shifted the veins of the planet and borrowed earthblood to power their workings. And one of those old, nearly-divine beings woke. There was a demonstration of might and then a long negotiation. The old one was rational in his demands, and the old kings ruthless. The pact was made and sealed in the blood of the royal family.¡±

    Heloise looked a bit uncomfortable, and her fingers touched the glass of a window drawing a line in the condensation. ¡°We cannot break the pact, and it is not as if we had not reaped the benefits over the centuries. We can freely use the massive power of the ley lines to empower our magicians, and more children are born with the gift than we had any right to expect. If the pact is broken...the nation will suffer. When we first woke the Puppeteer, as it has been called, it extinguished the will of a thousand. They walked willingly into the depth, and no one could stop them. Those who tried had to join. It is unknown if our greatest could have done something, made a difference. They did not try.¡± She swallowed dryly and lowered her head.

    ¡°What did you trade for in addition to this.¡± Lieseleta drank the wine putting the glass on the table with a slight tremor in her hand.

    ¡°Aid and protection for you. You are much too inexperienced, and you don¡¯t have the necessary connections or personal power. I can only do so much. If you are assassinated, the crown would fall to your sister, and that would be disastrous in the present circumstances.¡±

    ¡°Why not make you the queen? You seem to manage well enough.¡± A faint bitterness accompanied the words.

    ¡°For one there are documents proclaiming the late king''s will. And I am not a part of the succession he envisioned. Second, my power, the power of life, renders me barren. Ironically enough, it is too much to bear for a child. It has been known for a long time that those blessed with the golden eyes can only give life to others and have no ability to bring forth life themselves. Queens are a relatively new phenomenon, and much is without precedent, but the stigma of the golden eye is enough to preclude my right to rule. One reason perhaps I am still alive. My brother was jealous of his right to rule and did not suffer others with pretensions to ¡®his¡¯ seat.¡± She sighed, ¡°But perhaps I¡¯m wrong about that. My little brother''s death was deemed an accidental void-poisoning when a ritual went horribly wrong. I always wondered¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°Does that answer some of your questions?¡±

    ¡°It does, and it does not. I know we are not as desperate as those who made the pact, and even then, I cannot think it but a travesty. We sell our own to a monster for power.¡±

    ¡°And that is why you were not considered a suitable choice besides your gender. Your brother- your brothers would not have hesitated. No one forced those men and women to commit horrible crimes that got them condemned to the Hall of Penance. Those were murderers, rapists, arsonists, and poisoners. People that had denied the rights of others, many others to a peaceful and productive life. They pay for their sins, and everyone profits.¡±

    ¡°I simply cannot see it this way. But I will not do anything reckless. Breaking the pact at this point would be beyond foolish. How long till the next tribute is due?¡±

    ¡°Ten years to the day. It accepts delays but enforces punishment. You don¡¯t want that to happen. Madness, plaque, and misfortune are its favorite tools.¡±

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    ¡°The drowning plaque!¡±

    ¡°That is one example, yes.¡±

    ¡°My father did not pay?¡± Lieseleta looked incredulous.

    ¡°He did. But he wanted more and was unwilling to pay the full price. They do not only request people. Whatever they wanted, he did not accept. What happened between them is unknown to me, but the being punished humanity for it.¡±

    ¡°I hear Rivenlorn was hit hard.¡±

    ¡°Yes. It does not distinguish between nations; borders mean nothing to it.¡±

    ¡°So they paid for my father''s wish.¡±

    ¡°You can see it that way.¡±

    ¡°Ten years. Make sure you are ready. The debt. It will be paid, one way or another.¡±

    The wall on the right of Lieseleta began to distort, and with a tearing sound as if flesh was being ripped asunder, a jagged portal opened. Dank and stale air blasted into the room, making the flames in the hearth dance wildly.

    The queen jumped to her feet and then struggled to stand firmly, the alcohol she had hastily drunk making her reflexes dull and her legs unsteady.

    A pale white hand steadied her, and a face with skin like parchment tightly drawn over an emaciated-looking frame tried for a smile.

    ¡°My queen. This one is sent to serve.¡±

    And dark shadowy tentacles reached out of the portal, vanishing beneath the hooded robes, visible for but a moment before portal and tendrils faded into nothingness.

    The robe undulated with an unseen breeze...or the touch of countless tendrils.

    <hr>

    Back with Alyssa and her friends

    Calvin scanned the darkness beyond the firelight. The woods at night were pitch black even with starlight helping a bit he could not be sure of anything.

    ¡°How are the students?¡± Calvin asked without turning.

    ¡°Not good. Several were wounded, some by their own. They don¡¯t have much combat experience, but some of them are quite proficient in lethal magic a problematic combination. And then there are the missing or dead friends, undead all around, bad weather¡­¡± A balding, middle-aged man listed quietly.

    ¡°Sebastian. Not good is very relative- Do we have to do anything about it? Something we could do?¡±

    The middle-aged man called Sebastian shrugged, ¡°They will have to adapt. Can¡¯t say I¡¯m too thrilled about it too. What worries me are those strange undead. Raising anything dead in their surroundings is horrifying if you think about it. I hope it won¡¯t get as bad as I think it will.¡±

    ¡°Keep an eye out. I will make my rounds and see if someone needs help.¡±

    Sebastian looked faintly relieved. ¡°Good idea. I will keep watch.¡±

    Calvin grimaced. His fellow teacher had never been able to deal with people. If it were some obscure alchemical formula or magical theorem...but students?

    Strolling through the camp, he saw subdued students making conversation or tending to their wounds. Some greeted him, but most were preparing to sleep or absentmindedly ignored his presence. At the edge of the camping ground sat Alyssa and Mireille, the two troublemakers. Calvin sighed, remembering his discussions with Illimen.

    It seemed the old grouch had been right as far as it went, but he was uneasy about the extensive changes to the frail-looking white-haired void mage. She was not yet twenty years of age but would probably be some kind of undead or other before too long. He was not a religious person, and Jaros was the only god he wholeheartedly accepted, but this was a bit much even for him.

    The fiery redhead was another problem. They did not usually take branded into the academy, and with good reason. They would not be able to accomplish and learn much. Perhaps a military or even a mundane academic institution would be better for her development, but because of her high affinities and the unusual brand, she carried, it was decided to keep her- for observation. Meaning it was not for her but for the academy¡¯s benefit. That irked him as a teacher. But she seemed to have fit in better than could reasonably be hoped for.

    Mireille was playing with Cyrus, the small wyvern familiar, even though truth be told, the dracoling was no longer ¡®small¡¯ actually. Alyssa was poking the dying fire and fed some more wood into the blaze while Vivienne- another troublemaker- was talking to her. He had his eye on her since learning of her affiliation. Yrgos was bad news.

    His steps took him past the watchfires and back to his tent. Gina and Kira sat together, talking to a tall student, with the latter being cautious and the former flirting openly. He shook his head in amusement.

    Raising his head, he gauged the time by the rising of the lost eye. It was some time until the end of his watch. Grinning wryly, he continued on his way.

    <hr>

    Vanessa followed the skittering shadows and blessed her preternatural vision granted by spell and species. Lightly skipping beneath the snowed-in trees she hardly touched the ground for dozens of meters, slightly adjusting her journey with a touch on a tree or branch here and there. Going over the treetops would have been her preference, but she was tracking someone and so had to take the road they took.

    Soon she came upon a feasting trio of undead ripping into the body of a large boar. Blood and flesh dripped through skeletal jaws and fell to the ground, but her arcane vision saw the fading natural energies being absorbed into the creatures.

    Gritting her teeth in irritation she hesitated, then gestured, and the shadelings sprung into the trees blue glowing pupils fixating on her. Calling the familiar black ice claws, she sprung forward and cut the nearest undead from behind, splintering neck and spine before ripping the right shoulder from the torso. The other two turned, snarling silently for lack of vocal cords, but two hands found two heads and, with a bit of effort, managed to decapitate them, skulls whirling into the night.

    ¡°Not very strong. Are you?¡± She shook a bit of decayed flesh from her claws, then stilled. As she looked closer, she could see the two she had merely ¡®damaged¡¯ were still active with necrotic energy. If she had not known, she would have left them, and they could perhaps reassemble in a few day''s time. Troublesome. She hacked a few times into the lifeless bodies before the energies dissipated enough for her to be sure of their final demise. And then the boar began to twitch.

    ¡°For Charis sake.¡± She grimaced and plunged both hands into the carcass before ripping to both sides, splitting flesh and bone. Focusing, she saw the blossoming darkness dissipate.

    ¡®How in the hells. I must make haste.¡¯ She gestured, and with a light chitter, the shadelings resumed their hunt.

    Traveling through the forest, she gazed up at the heavens and saw it to be after midnight. Soon she would have to care about a shelter for the day. Pushing forward, she found a logger''s cabin, thankfully still relatively intact, and entered only to be met with the sour smell of old sweat. But that was the only memento those loggers had left as they traveled to their homes for the winter. Wrinkling her nose, she incanted several spells, whitish glyphs shining in the air before several dust devils blew dust and dirt out of the cabin.

    The roof shook, and several planks groaned alarmingly. She stopped the spell and inspected her handiwork. It would have to do.

    Sleeping beneath the ruins of an old table, she heard the chitter of her shadelings through the long white hours of the day. When evening fell, she cleaned herself with magic even as it was no longer as necessary as when she had been alive. Vanessa shrugged, looked at a particularly adventurous shadeling, and grinned, exposing lengthened canines. The small creature ducked and skittered backward still lowered to the ground.

    Laughing, she gestured the shadelings, and soon the hunt resumed.

 Convictions

    ¡°Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.¡±

    - Stephen King

    Amber enjoyed the light, the sun.

    Even as the rays full of light-energy warred with the void inside, the pain it brought was much more REAL than the numb, cold swaying in an ocean of darkness.

    She turned her hand and saw wisps of smoke rise and dissipate with the wind.

    ¡°Mother, you shouldn¡¯t¡­¡±

    Turning, she focused on her ¡®daughter¡¯. She could still not reconcile the baby she had suckled with the woman she would have called an aunt if pressed for a family designation. Cheeks reddening with embarrassment, Lily lowered her gaze.

    ¡°I know. I won¡¯t overdo it. It is just so...freeing. Being able to feel the sun and the breeze. It seems those are sensations I have forgotten. They feel so new.¡± Her voice was scratchy and hoarse from disuse, but she would get better. She was sure of it.

    ¡°But father said it would damage your void channels. He crafted them over the years, using only the finest of netherspider yarn.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± That explained some of it. She moved her arm, and there was a slight hitch- a bit of silk not long enough to reach? Some of it stuck to a ligament? She did not feel much pain anymore. Her old body, as she had come to think of it, was not exactly as she had left it. Alchemical procedures, magic, and the introduction of foreign materials made her more of a construct than a human. ¡°I understand.¡±

    The valley was beautiful and empty. It was in the midst of a patch of high rocky hills with nothing much going for them beyond the vista, so it was not that strange. It was still free of human habitation. There was the tower and an abandoned wooden fort. Fort was a very generous term indeed for the accumulation of a few ruined buildings surrounded by a decayed and grown-over palisade, but it had once been home to one of the more notorious bandit lords. Amber had listened to Lily retelling his story. The black dog of the hills. His men had worn masks made in the shape of hound muzzles, teeth dripping blood, literally baying as they chased down their prey.

    But Asander Brightblade had ended him. At least as far as stories went. If all the legendary Asander did was travel, he would be twice the age of the oldest human known before he could have visited all the places told of in his stories.

    Lily smiled at her and pointed at a snowed-in bush, telling her of its flowers shining red in spring.

    Nodding, she walked along and did not heed the ground blackening underneath her feet, the yellowed grass withering further under her tread. Touching a tree, its bark split before she reigned in the darkness, still growing inside of her.

    In the night, she had heard a whisper on the wind telling of an eternity together with her family, her daughter. And if her daughter''s aged form no longer suited, she could be made into a child again. It would not be difficult. All it needed was a bit of this, a bit of that. Oh, and a child naturally couldn¡¯t miss that.

    And she knew the owner of this voice to be so far beyond human that a sea breeze would have more empathy for suffering or pain than the coldly amused being recounting the glories of an unending nightmare.

    But it promised her life.

    Of sorts.

    Amber drifted through the woods, and her treads wove the void into the world, and she was not sure what she wanted anymore. Tiberius, her love, was most assuredly dead. She felt that in her bones in the still active connection leading to the south.

    But there was Lily and all the days, all the sunlight, all the joy she had never tasted.

    And she was not tired in the least. Her body contained boundless energy, and the pain was not so bad. White flames danced over her pale skin, scarring it briefly before it regrew again. She lifted a finger, and a drop of blood shimmered as it shriveled in the light, burning from within.

    Was that what Tiberius had in mind?

    She would never know.

    She strode through the woods, and the void seeped into earth and air.

    <hr>

    Alyssa gathered her things and was irritated to see her supplies dwindle. ¡®It was so heavy at first!¡¯ Rummaging in her backpack, she found a bottle and, pulling it to the light, found it empty but neatly plugged with a cork. Grabbing the next one found it was the same. Perhaps her frugality should be reconsidered, but if she had to brew something...when was the last time she had done that? Most likely, while still in the academy during the lessons from Valeria Jangres, who probably was mighty glad to have stayed in Kronenburg.

    The next bottle yielded a glowing golden liquid, and with shaking hands, she opened the wax seal, unplugged it, and hastily gulped down the syrupy potion.

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    Sunlight warmed her from the inside out, and a tingling sensation spread to every part of her body, strengthening her stretched self in ways she did not completely understand.

    Sighing in relief, she felt feeling return to her still living flesh. Her emotions became stronger, and she blinked to find tears running down her cheeks. Embarrassed, she grabbed a spare shirt and pressed it to her face before someone saw her in such a state.

    ¡°Alyssa.¡± Mireille¡¯s voice made her shrink her shoulders. ¡°What are you¡­¡± Then she felt a strong arm embrace her. ¡°Did you just drink the potion? And now you are more normal again? Don¡¯t hold back. The shit that happened? It¡¯s absolutely worth crying over.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It was only a moment.¡± Alyssa shook her head, too comfortable being hugged to push her friend away. Putting down the shirt, she sighed. Another one for the ¡®not so good¡¯ pile. ¡°Let¡¯s pack and be away from here.¡±

    ¡°You said it. I¡¯m already finished packing. Is there anything I can help you with?¡± Mireille seemed comfortable with changing the subject too.

    Together they had their share of the tent packed and ready for transport and were glad for the horses and the cart.

    ¡°Asandria?¡±

    ¡®Yes?¡¯ The ghost hovered into view, somehow looking distracted.

    ¡°Is everything alright?¡±

    ¡®Hardly. The void is ruptured and dark energy is spilling into the world. I thought it was only a distraction, but I fear it is a lot more than that. We have the choice to close the rift sooner rather than later...or to confront the source.¡¯

    ¡°I¡¯m not ready! Nowhere near ready!¡± Alyssa looked highly alarmed.

    ¡®It¡¯s not a question of being ready or not. You will be forced into this confrontation if you want to or not.¡¯ Seeing her shaking her head in denial, Asandria frowned impatiently. ¡®Fine. I won¡¯t talk about it. For now.¡¯

    Mireille looked at her with a raised eyebrow. ¡°The ghost pestering you? You don¡¯t look happy. What¡¯d she say?¡±

    ¡°To hurry up and close the void rift.¡±

    ¡°What void rift?¡±

    ¡°There is a big magical problem south of us, and if it is not solved, it will get even worse.¡±

    ¡°Okay, sounds reasonable. Why are you so angry then?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know what kind of problem it is?¡±

    ¡°It should have something to do with the undead? Am I right? So I will help you, and you can tell me on the way.¡± Mireille did not look very interested in explanations, and Alyssa snorted in exasperation.

    ¡°Asandria is pushing me, and that was what made me unhappy.¡± Alyssa glanced toward the specter and found her standing in the shade of a large conifer with her arms crossed before her chest.

    ¡°I hate it when someone pushes me, my mother always wanted for me to become a baker or a laundrywoman. As if!¡±

    Alyssa looked at her friend, attired in leather armor worn beneath the enchanted coat and the sword hanging at her hip, and laughed. ¡°It would not have suited you anyway.¡±

    Smirking, Mireille threw out her chest and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you know it.¡±

    And then, the group started the day¡¯s journey tramping through the silent winter woods and along the rocky hills. Sometimes they had to cross shallow creeks covered in thin ice. Other times they had to circumvent snow from a small avalanche. The region was far from developed.

    And come evening, they saw the ridge that Alyssa, Mireille, and the group around the Lieutenant had crossed to reach the loggers'' camp.

    In Alyssa¡¯s opinion, the camp should be just inside the forest and not far from where they were standing, coming from the north as they did.

    <hr>

    Vanessa hurried her steps, and the trees shot by as she pressed on deeper into the forested hills. The shadelings skittered before her, and here and there, one of them made an unwilling mewling noise. A pointed stare by the vampire girl rectified the rebellious creature, but it seemed as if this kind of speed would not be sustainable for too long.

    And then the forest ended at a steep cliffside, falling away toward a series of rockfalls and deep ravines. The whole area was sheer rockfaces and deep chasms with tenacious trees clinging to ridges and ledges. Farther ahead, an old tower missing the upper third of its height pierced into the sky like a broken tooth. Further downhill from the ruins of some buildings, old and partially fallen palisades rotted beneath bushes and trees.

    She had a premonition that this could be where her quarry had gone to ground. Or perhaps simply stopped to rest. It was not as if anyone would predict her following with supernatural aid. Without the shadelings, it would have been nearly impossible to chase the sorceress here. Clearly, she had used magic much as she had done to get here.

    Feeling the shadow demon hiding in her shadow, she was as prepared as she could be, so she turned, walked back a few dozen meters and took a running leap assisted by her lightening magic, and flew over the craggy landscape before she landed near the tower at the foot of the hill. Staggering as some stones shifted under her feet, she incanted a short spell, and violent winds sprung up, stabilizing her.

    Shaking herself, she looked at the treacherous footing with disgust before she raised her head and looked up at the tower.

    <hr>

    Amber raised her head and frowned. Just now, she had felt a strong concentration of void energy at the foot of the hill. And now it was gone...there it was again.

    She stood.

    ¡°What is it, mother? Do you want some tea?¡±

    ¡°Psst.¡± Tilting her head, Amber concentrated, but there was nothing. ¡°There is someone. I cannot think they mean us well.¡±

    The woman with the corpse-like countenance had a complicated look in her eyes. If she understood what had happened, it was that she was the problem. Together with the insidious nightly whispers, she could guess that her revival was accompanied by many problems. Lily had been a bit reticent talking about it, but she and Tiberius had summoned her from deep inside the void-dimension and the portal seemed to be still open. Her mind boggled at the thought. Normally it would be a feat to have something like that for a few minutes; it had been days now.

    And it would be perfectly natural for someone to come looking and perhaps solve the problem.

    Solve her.

    Frowning deeply, she flexed her fingers, and black flames flared from her fingertips. She knew a few void magics but nothing to write home about. She had been a student still, and necromancy or void manipulation was first and foremost to make her safer in its use and then, only then, teach her offensive applications. But it seemed that was not necessary anymore. Gesturing, a ball of pitch-black energy erupted from her palm and impacted the wall, stone decayed into dust, and several bricks were severely damaged, cracking in places. A bowl-shaped depression with cracks radiating outward remained. Dust and broken stones softly rained down.

    Lily gasped, ¡°Please be careful! If the tower falls¡­¡±

    ¡°Just trying something. Sorry.¡± Amber opened the door and walked outside, scanning the surroundings carefully. With a touch of effort, her eyes became black holes, and the night was no longer dark but shades of grey.

    There.

    A small person stood in the shadow of some trees, nearly covered by the scraggly undergrowth.

    ¡°Who are you, and what do you want from me?¡± Amber called, just loud enough to be heard clearly.

 Failure

    ¡°From childhood''s hour I have not been. As others were, I have not seen. As others saw, I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone. And all I loved, I loved alone.¡±

    - Edgar Allan Poe

    Vanessa clicked her tongue in disgust and walked out of the shadows. Focusing on the woman before her she saw a thin twenty-year-old with eyes too old for the young complexion. Something she often saw when looking at herself in a mirror. Energy coursed just beneath the deathly pale skin. The woman looked more like a vampire than she herself.

    ¡°My name is...call me Vanessa.¡± Vanessa gave a wry half-smile.

    ¡°And you are here¡­?¡±

    ¡°You know why. You are at the center of a massive catastrophe. Someone opened a portal to the void and it seems all of it was to summon you back. And who are you exactly?¡±

    ¡°My name is Amber.¡± It seemed as if she wanted to continue but then stopped herself.

    ¡°Amber. Good. You know that your continued existence ¨C as is- will lead to massive devastation and countless deaths?¡±

    ¡°I...had an inkling.¡± Amber frowned. ¡°Why are we talking if that is the case?¡±

    The night wind swept over the plateau surrounding the tower, and loose snow blew in shallow streamers past their feet. The only one who shivered was Lily standing behind Amber in the doorway.

    ¡°When I came here I wanted to kill you and be done with it. Closing the portal will take much work- even after sending you back. And time is of the essence. Every minute people die and the damage grows worse. But murder does not sit well with me. Even as you could argue that killing the undead isn¡¯t the same.¡± She smiled self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°And what do you propose instead?¡± Amber looked at the elf curiously then her eyes lit with understanding. ¡°You are undead too. Aren¡¯t you? Is it pity?¡± She laughed.

    ¡°Maybe. Can you sever the connection with the portal? If that is possible, all else will be the same. I don¡¯t need to send you back. I only want to close the portal and stop the chaos.¡±

    ¡°Sadly that won¡¯t work. The void energy is essentially my lifeblood and when it is absent this body will cease to function...and I don¡¯t feel my gate.¡±

    ¡°You had one?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I couldn¡¯t control it, and that was dangerous to everyone around me.¡± Old pain was briefly visible in her eyes. ¡°And it grew worse over time. Especially after giving birth.¡± She sighed.

    ¡°Mh. That is a dilemma.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t hurt her.¡± Lily stepped outside and clenched her hands nervously. As before she was clothed in ratty brown robes, hood turned up.

    ¡°There is a bit of void in even these surroundings and if you were to live in the fort currently housing the portal the residual magic should last you some time.¡± Vanessa thought quickly.

    ¡°Imprisoned in some abandoned fort on the edge of nowhere? Slowly dying without having any power, even to defend myself?¡± Amber frowned.

    ¡°But without being the cause of untold death and destruction.¡± Vanessa spread her arms and hands helplessly.

    Amber looked conflicted. Her strangely youthful features nearly white in the dim light of the stars. Dark clouds seemed to be flowing just beneath her skin, and the ground cracked as everything living began to wither and die.

    ¡®That is what could happen with Alyssa. I hope she has enough potions.¡¯ Vanessa waited in tense silence.

    Lily looked nervously at her mother, ¡°You can¡¯t be thinking of allowing that? Father worked so hard to get you back!¡±

    ¡°No. I won¡¯t sacrifice myself!¡± Amber shouted and raised her arm as a lance of darkness shot forth missing Vanessa by a hairsbreadth as she dodged to the side. The streak of black nothing carved through a tree, the wood decaying rapidly as needles browned and began to fall like the sand of an hourglass.

    Vanessa clenched her teeth, and claws of black ice formed around her fingers as she launched herself over another bolt of black unlight.

    Lily chanted, and wind began to whirl around her obscuring her figure.

    Trying for a quick resolution Vanessa narrowed her profile and dived toward Amber but before she got into range darkness exploded from the slim woman roaring into the sky in an imperfect circle. Spitting out a word of power Vanessa called a gust of wind angling around the surging energies. She hit the wall of the tower heavily, bending her knees to lessen the impact, and then jumped again this time chanting a spell. Spears of ice formed in front of her before accelerating quickly at Amber who threw another void-bolt that barely missed.

    The ice spears impacted the gushing void flares and disintegrated. Only small shards peppered the void-mage causing insignificant cuts.

    Lily too, incanted a spell, and several wind blades scythed toward the vampire as Vanessa strove to maintain her momentum casting another volley of ice spears. Feeling her energies draining she mentally commanded the shadow demon to attack, regret filling her for a moment. One of the wind blades clipped her shoulder cutting into the fabric of her coat. A lattice of blue energy was briefly visible as a protective spell activated turning away the razor-sharp disc of air.

    With nary a whisper, the demon rose from the darkness behind Amber, and elongated claws reached forth to sever her neck. Lily reacted quickly throwing herself forward through the circle of void energies hands sparking with lightning. Interposing herself between the demon and its target she barely got her hands in position. Sparks flew as claws met her spelled hands.

    Amber whirled around, and her eyes widened, ¡°Lily!¡±

    Vanessa winced and gripped a potion filled with crystallized mana throwing it into the air before cutting it open with her claws. Glittering crystals filled the air as she drew symbols while chanting another more complicated spell. Grasping a runed tablet, she pressed it into the middle of the formation.

    Lily staggered, and blood spilled from cuts on her hands and arms. Her skin began to wither, and her hair grew white, falling to the ground as the negative energy she had crossed began to wreak havoc on her living form. She tilted to the side, crumbling bonelessly as the demon simply slit her throat.

    Massive amounts of void burst from eyes and mouth as Amber screamed incoherently and a wave of black mist frothed over the shadow demon, who was pressed back against the tower wall before slowly disintegrating. With a tilt of its featureless head toward Vanessa, it vanished.

    Flames coalesced before the small vampire building into a white-hot ball of fire, the tablet a shadow in its depths. With a gesture, the missile flew forward, passing the void circle while only losing a bit of energy, disrupted as Amber¡¯s concentration was at the moment, before impacting the still screaming woman. Flames gouted into the night sky and turned the area before the tower into a flaming inferno.

    Vanessa grimaced as blood dripped from her lips, and uncontrolled mana surged through her veins. Her lacking affinity made it all the more painful. Hopefully, that would be enough. She did not have much energy left, and physically assaulting the void mage would not be a winning proposition. At least not without the element of surprise. She felt sorry for the two, but she could not allow the void portal to remain open. The death toll this would cause was incalculable, and the Heartstealer had too many cards on the table, as it were.

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    Black energy surged, and the flames were violently dispersed before a tattered and severely wounded Amber strode through the fires, still burning on the ground. Gesturing, she threw void lance after void lance at Vanessa, who hastily dodged before another missile clipped her leg. With a final burst of blue light, the protection spell she had cast unraveled and burst into motes of flickering radiance.

    Exhausted and seeing Amber still going strong, Vanessa cursed and quickly ran for the edge of the hill before jumping down toward the forest growing on its flank. Streaking void energies Nearly hit her hair, fluttering behind her, her hood thrown back during the fighting.

    ¡°I will get you. I will kill you. I will end all of you. I hate this world, I hate it all!¡± Black lightning danced around the void mage as she indiscriminately drew on her connection to the portal. Trees withered and stone cracked.

    Vanessa vanished between the trees and winced as she put weight on her damaged leg. Back to the others with the bad news and new information and hopefully to find a solution.

    This could hardly have gone worse.

    <hr>

    The new trees were scattered on what had been the dirt path the constructs had bulldozed through the forest. Iseret put one hand on the rough bark feeling for something special, something different.

    Finding nothing.

    ¡°They are asleep.¡± Sirviel stepped closer, exhaustion marring her features. ¡°It is not easy being awake. It is not in the nature of plants and is usually not needed. There are those of us who quicken in the floes of mana, and some become as the short-lived, vying for dominance for food. Some like me want a different kind of existence.¡±

    Iseret turned her head. ¡°Are they still in there? Is there anything left?¡±

    ¡°No. I fear with the change, their old life has ended. Perhaps if they awaken to a dryad, she will have vivid dreams of a life long past. I wouldn¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Was this the first time you did something like this?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I would not carelessly change the nature of a thinking creature. It is not right. But they would have brought more death, more injuries, and they, themselves, would not have grown from it. It was ugly and unnecessary. And selfishly, I did not want to end.¡± Emerald eyes focused on slit-yellow ones.

    Sirviel walked with unearthly grace, and it was readily apparent that she had neither muscles nor bones. She was like a stunning facsimile of a humanoid with few flaws. Leaves covered her breasts and lower body. Other than that she was naked- If that was the correct word for it. Iseret nearly blushed as she caught herself staring.

    ¡°Mh. Thank you, Eldest, for your care.¡± Mordrak walked up to them, limping from a deep cut in his upper left leg and covered in shallow wounds and scratches.

    ¡°Would that I could only care and not worry. Giving life to flesh and thoughts is my joy.¡±

    ¡°I never spoke to a dryad before. Are you a typical example of your kind?¡± Iseret asked.

    ¡°The others...¡± Sirviel¡¯s features contorted in quiet pain. ¡°They were all unique. And I miss them all. I slept too deeply and did not hear them coming. The men with their iron. And when I woke to my sister''s dying screams, I simply drove them off. Now in the days and hours of silence, I sometimes think that was too soft. Much less than they should have been punished. Perhaps that was what drove me to this point.¡± She looked at the transformed soldiers.

    ¡°I would have killed them for what they did if that were my siblings lying on the ground.¡± Iseret looked at the corpses of the fallen dryads. ¡°So don¡¯t expect judgment from me. The better question is- What now?¡±

    ¡°The tribes have been called. It is only a matter of time. A week? Two? Then we will cleanse this forest of its despoilers. Make them think twice about trying that again.¡± Mordrak growled in a deep voice. ¡°And we hold and keep the Eldest safe in the meantime.¡± He nodded at Sirviel.

    Iseret repressed a sigh. ¡®Where was Vanessa? It was high time to look after the other children.¡¯

    <hr>

    Evening at a campsite. Back with Alyssa, Mireille, and their friends.

    Alea gave the screwdriver a final decisive twist. Looking at her from the side, Cecily tried to keep the focus on the screw and mostly succeeded. Wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead, the dark-haired girl stood and inspected her handiwork. Butler One had suffered a bit of damage in the fighting back in the Nordmark¡¯s camp, which was now mostly fixed. Pulling the leather cover back in place, she nodded. Proper repairs would have to wait until they were back in Fort Wolfsbane at least.

    The dark-green coat she was wearing was reinforced with metallic alloy spelled to weigh next to nothing and a heating enchantment as was common for such winter wear. Her fingers were covered in slim, formfitting leather gloves. The blindfold she was wearing was fur lined and especially warm and comfortable. Her family had not spared any expense while her grandma had still been in Kronenburg. She should be back in Grunewald already, and her uncle Demavar back in Graufurt. She hoped everything was going alright for them, at least. The murmurs about sedition and rebellion were alarming, to say the least, but at the time of their departure, it had been just that- Rumors and whispers.

    ¡®There will not be a chance for conventional mail until we reach the fort, and the distance is too great for a rune-sparrow.¡¯ Shaking her legs which had gone stiff as she worked, she walked back toward the campsite. The wind whispered through the surrounding trees the sky still showed hints of grey as the sun had barely set. Butler One followed at a respectful distance.

    Last night she had that dream again, with her grandfather working in the workshop together with her. That had sadly never happened exactly like that in real life, as he died much too soon for her to be ready for such fine work. Her small hands and stature had precluded proper tinkering even as she studied earnestly. ¡®I would have loved for grandfather to be here.¡¯ Her parents had loved her. She knew that. But after the accident that cost her eyesight, guilt and her own withdrawn self had driven them apart.

    Her grandfather had worked tirelessly to bring back her sight, and when she was killed, he brought her back from death. She had felt very close to him, and his death would have devastated her.

    If she could have remembered.

    Some days she hated the loss of her past, but she knew even that had been calculated for her benefit. And it was coming back to her, bit by bit. Cold and caring- that had characterized his attitude toward his favorite granddaughter. His only granddaughter.

    The spider on her shoulder followed her unconscious desire and turned to look at Butler One. Having no vision to the front, she stopped and licked her lips in embarrassment. The automaton tilted its head, porcelain mask glinting in the firelight.

    ¡°Please arrange my bedding and then patrol along the camp''s edge for undead.¡±

    ¡°Very well, Miss von Graufurt.¡± Acknowledging her order, the construct quickly went to the tent the group of friends had claimed and began to arrange her bedroll.

    Looking after the departing mechanical figure, she frowned. ¡®Had he become more intelligent? Was that really only a set of preset commands?¡¯ With her ¨C admittedly- not complete knowledge of golemcraft it should not be possible for the construct to act like this.

    ¡°Alea! There you are. You missed dinner. I grabbed some flatbread and soup for you.¡± Alyssa trotted up to her and smiled while pressing a bowl of steaming soup into her hands. ¡°Come sit down and eat something.¡± Grabbing a seat at the edge of the fire on some blankets spread on the snow, Alea began to eat cautiously of the hot soup. ¡°How are you? It isn¡¯t too strenuous to walk all the time, is it?¡±

    ¡°No. Butler One carries my backpack, and walking in the middle, the snow is already flattened. I can¡¯t complain.¡± Blowing on her soup to disperse the heat, Alea gave a half-smile. ¡°That¡¯s not to say that I¡¯m not tired. I hope we reach the fort sooner rather than later, and the undead attacks are not making it better either.¡±

    ¡°Do you think the church of Jaros will come?¡± Alyssa asked curiously.

    ¡°Why do you think I know? I have a title but not much else.¡± Alea smiled self-deprecatingly and slowly ate from the soup while savoring its warmth.

    ¡°I just thought that you would have a guess.¡±

    ¡°I think when they hear how things are around here, they will send someone,¡± Alea said after some thinking. ¡°Not for the Nordmark rebellion or the tribes. But the undead are concerning enough.¡±

    ¡°We could sure use them.¡±

    ¡°Where is Mireille?¡±

    ¡°She wanted to get a bit of exercise and joined a patrol. The teachers and some of the older students have organized those to clear the area of undead animals and such.¡±

    ¡°That sure sounds like her.¡± Alea nodded and continued to eat in silence while Alyssa gazed into the campfire flames. Cyrus was rummaging through some of the leftovers from the cooking. He had dug up some rabbit intestines and was eating them noisily.

    ¡°Do you think he might get sick from that?¡±

    ¡°Hardly. He is a lot more poisonous than mere spoiled food.¡±

    Alea raised her left hand and turned Cecily away from the sight before she continued eating.

    They had reached the logging camp but found it deserted. The loggers and most of their machines were gone, and if the tracks were any indication, they had moved to the northwest. They had only missed them by a half-day or so. The log cabin was not large enough for all of them, so the wounded and those without magical heating methods were given priority placement for sleeping indoors.

    ¡°I wonder how Iseret and Vanessa are faring.¡± Alyssa mused quietly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you have to worry. What they cannot fight, they can outrun.¡±

    ¡°I hope you are right about that.¡±

 Tending to the aftermath

    ¡°I don''t care about my enemies because my enemies care more about me¡±

    - Anuj Jasani

    ¡®I did not even get to present any kind of argument!¡¯ Vanessa fumed silently as she shot through the silent trees. ¡®I did plan to kill her.¡¯ The next step was especially forceful and snow sprayed behind her, ¡®But she seemed approachable and I risked talking. Much good it did me in the end. This Lily character was no innocent flower. Anyone participating in the ritual at the fort was prepared to spend a lot of lives.¡¯

    She had released control of the shadelings and most would simply fade back into their home dimension after the supporting magic failed. A few might reach a location saturated with magic and if particularly lucky manage to stay for a few years.

    Nothing to worry about.

    She was really worried about Iseret, Alyssa and her friends. Alea would be the most natural choice to combat a void magic user.

    She sighed.

    And she was also the youngest and most vulnerable among them.

    <hr>

    The loggers camp at night

    ¡°Good to see you all.¡± Iseret grinned as Mireille jumped involuntarily from fright and reflexively lifted her hands. ¡°It¡¯s only me. Vanessa is still south, looking for the source of the undead.¡±

    ¡°Puuh. You nearly gave me a heart attack! Are we really so inattentive?¡± Mireille huffed.

    ¡°No. The sentries seem reasonably alert but don¡¯t forget that this is what I was trained for.¡± The snake-woman gave a half-smile. ¡°After sneaking into the camp to look for you, I did not want to go back and argue with your guardians about my reason for being here.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Makes sense. How are things with the dryads...dryad?¡± Mireille corrected herself with a slight stutter.

    ¡°We had an attempt by a group of soldiers from the northern army on Sirviel and her protectors. Of which I was a part this time. We had some problems but with the help of her magic managed to rout them. It seems they deemed it wiser to leave the area?¡±

    ¡°We did not see hide nor hair of them. There is still one of those machines behind the log cabin. It seems defective, maybe used for parts.¡±

    ¡°Good to know. And you and the others are on your way to the fortress?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°Iseret!¡± Alyssa walked up to them with energetic strides.

    ¡°Alyssa.¡± Iseret frowned as she inspected her. ¡°Is it the light or...you look really pale and thinner than I remember from a few days ago?¡±

    Alyssa fidgeted and then shrugged, ¡°We had a most unpleasant time of it. When we were traveling, we were apprehended by Nordmark soldiers which then brought us to an encampment. There we soon realized that they wanted us as prisoners, hostages, or something else. And when push came to shove, I used a lot of void magic.¡± Scratching lines into the snow with the tip of her boot, she continued, ¡°But I still have two potions left- And it''s not that bad, really!¡±

    ¡°Tell that to Vanessa when she comes back. But if it was necessary, it was necessary. I can¡¯t begrudge you defending yourself and your friends. Do try not to kill yourself. In the worst case, it might not stick.¡±

    ¡°Who is that? Do I know you?¡± A male student with a stocky build and dark brown hair, well in need of a thorough cleaning, addressed them. He wore the usual heavy winter coat, sloppily buttoned.

    ¡°That is Alea¡¯s maid Iseret Sekesh.¡±

    ¡°She had a maid!¡± The young man looked highly indignant, and his face grew red. ¡°And for a mere scion of a viscount. I, as the heir of a major barony, did not have even a single servant. The indignity!¡±

    Alyssa had to stifle a laugh at that.

    ¡°Greetings, my lord. I was not present for the training. But rumors made it seem like my presence would be needed. So I came from Fort Wolfsbane and met friends of my mistress. Just now, I was asking for her whereabouts.¡± Iseret skillfully positioned herself so that the khopesh was not as visible.

    ¡°Mh. Then¡­¡± Under the scrutiny of slit-yellow eyes and looking at the handsome and exotic woman before him, the student began to stutter. ¡°...that is probably alright. Good night.¡± Not prolonging the awkwardness, he hurriedly walked back to the tents.

    ¡°That was Viktor Turmalin von Tiefenmoor. A barony some days travels to the south. I think they are known for their beer?¡± Alyssa pondered.

    ¡°Mh. Worse things you could be known for, really.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°Even when I don¡¯t think I get the taste.¡±

    As the young man walked out of sight, Iseret continued, ¡°I was sent by the tribesmen protecting Sirviel to scout the situation. They had too many wounded, and as they will not leave even in the face of a superior foe, I was asked.¡±

    ¡°Do you mean to stay?¡± Mireille shook her head, ¡°dumb question. You still have to tell them what you found, but...after that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. You seem well-protected, and I would like to wait for Vanessa before deciding what to do. Depending on what she found, there could be something we have to do quickly.¡±

    ¡°Most likely.¡± Alyssa nodded and looked at Asandria, hanging unobtrusively in the air behind her. ¡°Do you feel anything different?¡±

    ¡®No. The void is no longer getting stronger. But it is far from getting weaker either.¡¯ She looked faintly displeased. ¡®You and I should profit from that, but everyone else might suffer in the longer term. Especially if using magic.¡¯

    ¡°Like warmth and cleaning spells.¡±

    ¡®Like that.¡¯

    ¡°Mireille.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°If you see someone using magic- not items- tell them to be careful. There is a lot of void magic in the air.¡±

    ¡°Good that I can not use much else but my lightning.¡± Mireille nodded affirmatively. ¡°I will.¡±

    Alyssa escorted Iseret past a young teacher and a female second-year student standing sentry. The young man frowned at the snake-woman but otherwise did not hinder them while muttering, ¡°There was a snake-folk but wasn¡¯t she left at the fort?¡±

    Iseret turned and looked at Alyssa. Her left eye flickered with darkness, the illusion magic not sufficient to fool her acute senses. The skin was white as the surrounding snow, and the breathing was so shallow it might as well not be there. It reminded her a lot of Vanessa, which made her repress a frown. Hopefully, everything went well. She was beginning to miss her. She nodded at the girl and, with a quick wave, turned around and strode into the quiet woods.

    Alyssa looked after her until even her enhanced night vision lost the departing figure between the trees.

    Mireille meanwhile walked back to their tent, rubbing her hands in a redundant effort- the enchantment still held- to gain a bit more warmth.

    Inside the tent was Alea lying on her bedroll with her arm resting over her blindfolded eyes while letting Cecily read a complicated spell-scroll.

    ¡®A special way to read, to be sure.¡¯ Mireille thought and grinned to herself.

    Annabeth was talking animatedly to Valens while keeping her voice down.

    Vivienne was napping inside her bedroll, seemingly exhausted by the trek through the wilderness.

    Cyrus was grooming himself and fiercely gnawing on his talons.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Butler One stood beside the tent flap and acknowledged her entry with a slight turn of its porcelain mask.

    The next day saw them trudging up the narrow ledge going up the ridge the group around Alyssa had descended just a few days ago.

    ¡®That was a whole lot sooner than I had hoped. It will be good to get back to civilization.¡¯ Laughing at herself because of her inflated expectations. Alyssa walked carefully behind Mireille. ¡®If I slip, she will get to me faster than I can hit the ground- probably.¡¯

    Looking at the back of her friend, covered in a thick coat with red hair sticking this way, she looked more like a ranger than Zhira. Cyrus had taken a seat on the wagon, and because most students were fit to walk again, no one had objected too strenuously. He would have to learn to fly sooner rather than later. With two strong legs and his clawed wings, he could ¡®walk¡¯ relatively quickly, but it did not only look a bit clumsy, but it was also relatively slow and tiring. As long as he could perch on her shoulder, that was not a problem but even carrying him in her arms was no longer really feasible for longer distances.

    <hr>

    The town of Mannsbruck some days to the east (from Sirviels grove)

    Sitting inside a large carriage with thick curtains fixed to the wood with nails Zygmund von Nordmark swayed with the rocking motion of the wheels rumbling over the uneven road. ¡°When was the last time I invested in the roads? The year before last? I will have whoever pocketed my money for such shoddy work whipped within an inch of his life.¡± Cursing, he strained against the drowsiness. It was well past noon, and the worst had passed, but the eye of Gesserach punished him even through the heavy oak paneling shielding him from the sunlight.

    The younger frost elf sat opposite and kept a watchful eye on the cranky vampire.

    ¡°It should get better soon. We are also nearing the epicenter of the ritual. That should supply you with void and block some of the light energy of the sun.¡± Against his better judgment, the elf tried to lighten the gloomy atmosphere.

    At the mention of the ritual, the old noble grimaced. ¡°Sacrificing what is mine is never pleasant. Even when it is the dregs of the peasantry, spilling their blood in wars is one thing, but pulling the roots and salting the ground, as it were, will be costly. Villages, maybe even a town, will fall, and nothing will remain but the dead.¡± He looked as if he were grieving, and as the frost-elf looked at him in surprise, the older man continued, ¡°They are mine! I spill their blood. I spend their lives. Killing them off, even for my goddess, is hard to swallow.¡±

    Ivyander, the elf, shrugged internally. He had rarely seen someone so fixated on his own wants and needs. But perhaps he simply had not been in contact with enough nobles. He was too young to have experienced the elven empire and what came after were village elders and councils. Those were no longer the magnificent elven nobles of the past. They had mostly perished anyway. Would that the imperial family had survived, then there could have been a rallying point, something to build around, build anew.

    But the surviving old ones with the most ability and wisdom were cautious, fearful, and plain cowardly. Only the young who knew no better clung to the hope for a better future rather than pine for a lost past that would never come again.

    Silence returned, broken only by shifting cloth and the grinding of teeth as the vampire resisted the call to sleep.

    An interminable amount of time later, the swaying stopped, and the coach arrived at their first destination.

    The door was opened after a short knock, and they saw the head of the guard detail a grim-looking older man with snow-white hair but still impressive muscles straining against his sleeves. ¡°We have arrived, my lord. Lodgings have been prepared, and we have several eyewitnesses about the disaster at the prisoner''s camp. News from the north is more favorable, I have been told.¡±

    ¡°Then let us not waste time. Ivyander, with me.¡± Zygmund von Nordmark alighted from the carriage and gazed at the muddy ground in distaste. He wore a fur-lined expensive-looking woolen coat in dark grey stitched with geometric designs, as well as polished black boots with silver buckles. A cloak clasped before his chest with a silver chain, and on his left breast, the coat of arms of Nordmark. A slim sword hung at his left hip. Some heavy gold rings, including his signet ring, as well as a heavy chain of office, were his only ornamentation.

    Undead agreed with him, and his wrinkled skin was much smoother but still ancient looking. Deep-set dark eyes glinted in the dim light, and his mouth and demeanor exuded casual cruelty.

    The coach had stopped before an inn in a small town. The residents were quickly dispersing as they saw their lord. Fear shone in many eyes, and mothers dragged the few children with them.

    Dim red streaks shone on the clouds far above as it was still shortly after dusk. The inn meanwhile was emptied by the guardsmen who, just at this moment, shoved an older, portly merchant into the streets.

    ¡°I was still eating! And I paid already for the night. My luggage!¡± A cuff to the back of the head cut off the protests.

    ¡°You can rest in the prison if you so much as breathe loudly.¡± A middle-aged soldier grinned maliciously.

    ¡°Where is my¡­¡± Another cuff and the merchant tumbled into the frozen slush of the street, darkened by unidentifiable substances. Spluttering, he tried to get up but was kicked down again.

    ¡°Have you finally learned to hold your tongue?¡±

    Nodding fearfully, the merchant laboriously stood up again. Several other guests were leaving, some wearing just ordinary house clothes while shivering in the cold.

    ¡°My daughter¡­¡± The old merchant tried a final time, but as he saw the guard balling a fist, he gave a whimper and quickly limped after the other guests.

    ¡°The inn has been prepared as per your orders, your grace.¡± The captain nodded at the younger soldier, who returned the nod and went into the inn.

    Zygmund gave a brief acknowledgment and entered together with Ivyander.

    The innkeeper and several maids stood to the side, bowing deeply as he entered. Several soldiers kept a close eye on them.

    A large fireplace cast flickering shadows on the dimly lit taproom. A large wagon wheel was hoisted near the ceiling with chains, and several candles were burning shedding a soft light. The floor was made of wooden planks closely fitted and clean, even as some dark spots had soaked into the wood, never to be removed. A hint of tobacco smoke still curled in the air.

    ¡°W...w...welcome, your lordship!¡± The corpulent innkeeper managed a greeting.

    Zygmund frowned and then said dismissively, ¡°Ensure my men are fed and given lodging. I need your taproom for a confidential meeting. You and the barmaids can wait in the kitchen. If I want something, I will call. You will not enter without being bidden. If you do, it will be the last thing you ever do. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± The innkeeper hurriedly walked into the kitchen, not before giving some orders to the maids.

    ¡°Lars, my boy.¡± The vampire smiled at a man descending the stairs in the back.

    ¡°My Lord!¡± Lars von Nordstrom bowed his head. ¡°Good to see you well.¡±

    ¡°Never better. Never better.¡± Zygmund sat at the largest table back to the fireplace, features cast in shadow. ¡°Tell me about your assignment.¡±

    ¡°It worked just as planned! After the commandant died, the army wanted vengeance. The old diplomat from the tribes has been captured, and all over the border, skirmishes have broken out.¡± Lars smiled before looking around and grabbing a flask of ale. ¡°May I? It¡¯s been thirsty work.¡±

    ¡°Drink! You have earned it. If you need something more, I can have the maids bring it. This inn should be the best in town, so don¡¯t hold back. But isn¡¯t there a bit more you have not told yet?¡±

    Lars, who had been in a good mood, began to sweat a bit, loosening his collar. He wore a frilled, white shirt beneath a dark-blue samite vest with black cloth pants. ¡°The soldiers sent to capture the academy group failed. Through some sorcery or other, they woke large amounts of undead and killed or dispersed the surviving troops.¡± He breathed in deeply and sighed. ¡°I was at the front at this time and had no idea things were going so badly. But a lot of the students and their teachers were killed, so...there is that I suppose.¡± He fell silent, drinking another large swallow of ale.

    ¡°And you did not think to lead with that? Many soldiers in which I invested considerable resources dead, the academy group is now firmly opposed to us, and no hostages. I would term it an unmitigated disaster. Choosing the right subordinates to succeed where one cannot be present in person is also a vital skill.¡± Dark eyes bored into the younger nobleman. ¡°But thankfully, all is not lost. I contacted ¡®our¡¯ academy, and the dean Irene Wellinghorst has dispatched a group of mages and promising students to support our soldiers.¡±

    ¡°Irene Wellinghorst? Wasn¡¯t there some discord not so long ago?¡±

    ¡°Nonsense. We are of one mind in this matter. The academy of the arts is no longer as it was. Teaching useless commoners and diluting the attention and resources, the school should rightly focus on those of noble blood. In addition, there is their squeamishness regarding useful applications of necromancy, summoning, and other magics that are not as well regarded by the ¡®common¡¯ folk. And there it is again. Appeasement of our lessers. Beat them down, I say.¡± Zygmund licked a protruding canine and looked around, a hungry glint in his eyes. Lars saw and gestured toward another flask of ale. The old noble waved dismissively. ¡°I will later have a ¡®meal¡¯ brought to my chambers. Now is the time for planning.¡± Turning to the captain waiting nearby, he said. ¡°Bring in the eyewitnesses. I want to hear it for myself. Lars, you should stay and listen too.¡±

    Two men and one woman, the men, still bandaged and with an unhealthy complexion, entered accompanied by soldiers.

    ¡°The first thing I saw was the earth bursting open and a skeleton clambering out. It had a black shadow in its hands, and then it killed Lemuel...and then¡­¡±

    ¡°...the officers had been running at this point, so I did what they did. There were those skeletons everywhere...¡±

    The woman wore the robes of a magician without the insignia of the kingdom''s army, making her an adjunct to the Nordmark¡¯s household troops. She was in her early thirties with a plain face and dishwater blond hair bound in a loose ponytail.

    ¡°Just about when the red moon had risen to its zenith, there was a massive surge of something. In retrospect, I think it must have been void magic. The area was saturated the day after. And someone or a few someones must have known what was to come and used it. I cannot explain how such a large-scale ritual was in place at exactly that moment. And it raised every dead body in an area at least a quarter mile across.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I ran after getting my squad extricated. Not proud of it, your grace, but there was nothing I could do but die if I had remained. The majority of the troops were already running at that point.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Zygmund rubbed his chin. ¡°You two have disappointed me gravely.¡± He looked at the two soldiers. ¡°But I lost enough of you. So extensions of 10 years to your duty and no leave for the next year.¡± He grinned mirthlessly at their relief. ¡°You.¡± He looked at the woman. ¡°Did good. Tell your superior that you have been promoted. Dismissed.¡± He carelessly waved for them to go. The woman bowed and smiled gratefully before hurrying outside, following the wounded soldiers that had departed before her.

    ¡°Ivyander. What do you think of that?¡±

    ¡°Without knowing exactly when the void would be released, no ritual to harness it would have been prepared. So either they knew, or it was no ritual. If it was no ritual, it would have been a single caster or a very close-knit pair, perhaps.¡± He pondered, ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that''s possible. Even with my closest associates, it would be impossible without the bounds of a rite.¡±

    He gathered his thoughts and continued. ¡°So...it should have been a single caster. And that is impossible. The only being I know which could spontaneously raise hundreds of undead, even with the help of the free mana, is the queen herself.¡±

 Black tides rising

    ¡°Whilst some people inspire, others conspire!¡±

    - Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

    It was still night-time. Or was it night again?

    Amber stumbled over a buried skeletal branch, spraying snow and nearly falling. She shifted her grip and clutched Lily- no- only her corpse, tightly to her breast. Gritting her teeth, she drew upon the cold void and easily hefted the weight.

    Before her spread the farmland bordering the hills, she had been at it all night, and sometimes she drifted off into reverie, her body going through the motions without the strain that usually would entail. Lifting her gaze from the body in her arms, she looked at the walls of a small city. The place seemed small and squalid in comparison to Kronenburg. Barely a step up from a village. The amenities she was used to seeing in the streets, such as lights and transportation, were absent and the most advanced vehicle standing beside a farmhouse was a cart. Smoke rose from many chimneys rising over drab and small houses.

    ¡®Wasn¡¯t it decades since I was cast into the void? Where is the progress, the advancement of society the professor for humanities always extolled? The busy engineers working to erect the manufactoria, the skyships.

    A whisper wove into her being. ¡®Go into the town. Don¡¯t waste time with the guards. Tell them Zygmund von Nordmark is waiting for you. He should have left instructions. Soon your daughter will be with you again, just as you remembered. Just as you want her to be.¡¯

    With the last of her sanity, she shook her head. She remembered the small bundle smiling at her. Her expectations for a future that never happened. The little girl she hoped she would grow into. Her Lily.

    Dark flames blasted out of her scouring the dead woman in her hands whose flesh decayed rapidly. Gathering herself, she walked to the gates closed for the night.

    ¡°Halt!¡± Two guardsmen stood beside a third that held a bullseye lantern whose thin cone of light lit up her surroundings in unsteadily wobbling illumination. ¡°Who goes there?¡±

    Amber drew a deep unnecessary breath. ¡°I seek Zygmund von Nordmark. He is expecting me.¡±

    ¡°And who might you be?¡± The guard was a bit wary after that proclamation.

    ¡°My name is Amber. But there should be only one person he is expecting so bring me to him. Hurry!¡±

    The guards talked to each other in lowered voices, and the one speaking up ¡®til now called, ¡°Wait while we open the side door. I will send a runner ahead.¡±

    Grinding her teeth, Amber tightened her grip and hissed at a crackling as the corpse shifted, an arm broke. ¡°Shhh. It will not hurt. You will be fine!¡±

    The door opened, and an old guardsman looked at her with bleary eyes. He reeked of cheap beer, and the tabard he wore was stained and worn, the chainmail underneath rusted through in patches staining the underclothing in brown. ¡°Should I call a healer?¡± He squinted myopically at Lily. ¡°She does not look so well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your concern. Let me in.¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye.¡± Shoving the metal banded door open, he stood aside and let her in through a corridor crossing the thick wall leading into the city proper.

    Amber was thankful for the cold as she saw the nightsoil littering the street. Come spring and a thaw, the scenery should be quite indescribable. ¡°Where do I go from here?¡±

    ¡°Just down the road and then, when you reach the marketplace, the large red house on the right. It should still have some lanterns out. Can¡¯t miss it. It¡¯s called the Candle.¡±

    The streets are empty, the snow shoveled to the side, and big drifts of it grew around the narrow windows that had been kept free. The marketplace was silent and still. The mayor''s house directly opposite was cloaked in darkness. To her right, an inn was illuminated by two great lanterns, probably using magelights. A copper sign showed an artistic rendition of a burning candle.

    ¡°There you are.¡± A shadow detached itself from the wall to her side, and an old man garbed in an expensive-looking fur-lined coat stared at her from deep-set eyes. There was a terrible vitality radiating from his lined features. His gnarled hands grasped a cane. ¡°Took you long enough.¡± Eyes full of derision roamed across her body. ¡°And why are you carrying a rotten corpse around? If you lack such, I can arrange some for you.¡± He chuckled.

    ¡°You must be Zygmund then.¡± Amber pulled more void into her body. There was a bit of nervousness interacting with a noble. As a commoner in the academy, she had kept her head down and not made any waves. It had seemed smartest at the time and probably had been, after all.

    ¡°Duke Zygmund von Nordmark.¡± He spat at her. ¡°My lord would also be acceptable. Don¡¯t test me. Even though you have her favor, you are but a useful tool. Don¡¯t overestimate your worth.¡±

    ¡°You made that amply clear.¡±

    An elf garbed in a dark robe walked into the light, his whitish hair painted gold by the lanterns. ¡°Ivyander. Another servant of her who is eternal. As we all are.¡± He looked at the noble with some caution.

    ¡°Let us get inside. And drop that corpse somewhere. I will have a servant dispose of it.¡±

    ¡°No, she stays with me.¡± Amber¡¯s fierce retort startled even the vampire a bit. Dark flames flickered in her breath.

    ¡°Have it your way. It¡¯s not as if I had an appetite it could spoil.¡± Laughing to himself, the noble entered the inn. As the door began to close, his words drifted outside. ¡°We have much to talk about.¡±

    <hr>

    A small forest road in Nordmark

    ¡°What is that over there?¡± Annabeth asked Valens and raised herself on tiptoes to look over a snowdrift to the side.

    Valens squinted his eyes and whispered a spell, then blinked and focused again. ¡°It seems there is a village.¡±

    ¡°We are not taking the same route we took to get here the first time,¡± Alyssa observed.

    ¡°The way through the middle of the forest would be bothersome with so many people,¡± Alea remarked.

    ¡°That¡¯s putting it mildly." Vivienne shook her boot and tried to remove the clumped snow from her soles. "Without magic we would have lost some to the cold."

    The whole group had struck out along a narrow forester''s path that the loggers had probably used to bring the supplies and machinery to their camp.

    Teachers walked in the front and back, the students in the middle, with Calvin keeping a lookout to the sides. At least three undead animals had to be put down in the first two hours of the trek alone. It seemed to be getting worse.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Mireille had seen Talbert, Jeremy, and the two sisters in the middle of the group, and they seemed miserable. Supplies were getting low, and the undead and the pervading cold sapped the spirits of all the students.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to sleep under a proper roof and eat good food for once?¡± A girl that seemed to be a third-year lamented, walking a few meters behind them.

    ¡°Mh. I can only agree.¡± Came another voice. "My change of clothes is frozen through."

    Mireille injected a bit of lightning into her legs and flitted just above the crumbling surface of the snow before coming to rest in front of Calvin. ¡°Mr. Ambrose?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Yes, what is it?¡±

    ¡°Do we stop at the village?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking about the same thing. I agree we should take a look. What¡¯s the worst that could happen? And we get a bit more information about what is happening everywhere.¡±

    ¡°Can we come with you?¡±

    ¡°I did not say I would be going! What if it''s Escaldis. HE wouldn¡¯t agree to your company, that¡¯s for certain.¡±

    ¡°And? Will you go?¡±

    ¡°Mh. I will speak to Sarah. Wait here.¡± Walking back toward the group, he sought out the matronly healer. After a short conversation, he returned. ¡°Get your friends. We will have a look.¡±

    <hr>

    A village in Nordmark.

    ¡°Matt! Push! You have to push!¡± The two children heaved, and the table finally fell where it should. The redhead and the blonde child gave each other a quick smile. They had spent a lot of energy moving the table toward the stairs. Then there was a thump from outside and a scrabbling noise, and the smiles were gone in the blink of an eye, replaced by fear.

    The walls were made of wood and led from the landing of the stairs into a cramped corridor with doors to both sides and a small dirty window at the end. A whispered voice from below sounded. ¡°What are you doing? Come down at once, and for Gesserach¡¯s sake, be silent!¡±

    The two walked around the table and quickly descended the stairs. The middle-aged woman standing below wore an old off-white apron over a brown dress, and her dark hair, streaked with grey, was pulled into a severe bun. ¡°What were you thinking? We can¡¯t afford to rile them up!¡± She hissed the last.

    ¡°Yes, mom.¡± The redhead answered. Even inside the house their breath was steaming because of the cold. Ice-roses grew on the inside of the few paneled windows. The inn was the most prosperous and most well-made building in the village.

    The common room of the tavern was thrown into disarray. All around were broken tables and chairs, as well as bloodstains. The front door was blocked by a heap of broken furniture. A man with a pale and drawn complexion sat behind the bar nursing a glass of spirits. A fringe of formerly blonde hair, now more of a dirty grey with a bushy beard, framed his head. Eyes sunken and bruised-looking, he wore bloody bandages on his left arm. ¡°Matt.¡± He grinned and then nodded to the blonde child. ¡°Chris. Please be quiet. The others are still sleeping and not in good shape.¡±

    A look into the open door leading back into the kitchen showed other wounded townsfolk lying on blankets spread on the ground. A large man hugged an axe while leaning against the stove, eyes staring at nothing.

    Matt and Chris sat down near the wall hugging their legs and talking quietly. The middle-aged woman looked at the man with concern written on her face. ¡°How are you holding up?¡±

    ¡°Well enough. At least I don¡¯t have a fever or something like that. Glad to see that old healing salve still had something to it.¡±

    ¡°There won¡¯t be any more of it.¡± The woman swallowed. ¡°Or do you think Joyce survived?¡±

    ¡°That old bat? Never. Too proud and stubborn to live in the village.¡± He grunted. ¡°I need my peace and quiet.¡± He imitated a scratchy older voice.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk ill of the dead!¡±

    As they were talking, the blonde boy cocked his head and listened. A scrabbling sound came from the wall behind him then there was a shrill squeak from some rodent or other. Then silence. Then more scrabbling. Something cold brushed over his back, and he shivered.

    Pushing the boy beside him, he motioned to get away from the wall. Both cautiously rose and stepped away. The scrabbling became louder, and a bloody head pushed out of a crack in the wood paneling. With a snap, the edge broke, and the rat broke through, followed by others. Looked at closely, they were heavily wounded with entrails looping behind them, blood dripping from fatal wounds, some were mere skeletons animated by dark wisps of magic. The small eyes held sparks of greenish fire.

    Screaming, the boys ran, followed by the undead vermin. The woman grabbed a poker from the fireplace while the man took up a heavy mace kept underneath the bar. Stabbing and smashing, they drove between the rats and the children. The older man that had been resting burst from the kitchen carrying his axe. ¡°What is going on here!?¡±

    A rat sprang forward, evading the poker, and bit into the thigh of the woman who screamed in pain. A smash from the mace turned it into bloody scraps of flesh and bone, the eyes dimmed, and the jaw loosened. Stripping the teeth from her flesh, the woman whimpered.

    ¡°Mildred!¡± The man with the mace dropped his weapon and stroked her back before leaning down for a look. He himself was bleeding from many small bites and grimaced against the pain. The remains of the rats, a dozen of them in all, were strewn around on the wooden floor cracked by the weighty swings of the mace. The boys were huddling near the door, and the redhead was crying.

    From outside, thunder blasted into the tavern, accompanied by an intense flash of light. The panes rattled in the wooden frames. Objects only dimly visible through the dirty, uneven glass of the windows flew by and impacted the walls.

    The blonde boy pressed his eye against the one glass bubble that was straight and easy to see through.

    A girl in a green coat and shawl with her red hair blown back from a strong wind raised her arms, and lightning crackled over her flesh, illuminating her eyes from within with a sharp actinic glow.

    She mouthed something, and then there was another bout of thunder as a bolt of lightning thick as the boy''s leg blasted from her hands, impacting what seemed to be one of the walking dead people.

    Excited to see more, he ran to the cracked window that Lutz, the tavern keeper, never got around to repairing. Pushing he dislodged some snow and could see more of the street. A white-haired teenager stood to the side, a bolt of fire forming between her hands. Near her, a blindfolded smaller girl with hair black as raven feathers raised her arms, lifting a multifaceted construct made of pure light into the air. Flashes of radiance stabbed from the sides, hitting dead but moving things and burning them to a crisp.

    ¡°Matt! There are wizzes out there, and they are burning things!¡±

    The crying redhead raised his head and stared before pushing him to the side to get a closer look.

    ¡°Hey! I wanted to look too!¡±

    ¡°Get away from the windows!¡± Mildred, the middle-aged woman, shouted.

    The redhead, Matt, did not listen and pressed closer, trying to see more of the street. The girl with hair the color of winter carrots slashed at several shambling corpses. Her thin blade wreathed in lightning. His mouth gaped open as he saw her spring backward, pushed by another explosion of energy from her feet. Rolling in midair, she landed in a crouched position before jumping up, sending a small blast of lightning at a still-moving corpse.

    On the other side, several undead were straining against something invisible, their mouths contorting as the white-haired girl with brilliant amethyst eyes held out her hand from which tendrils of dark energy reached for the heaving mass of bodies. The boy swallowed as he saw the smith and the miller among the group, as well as several farmers he knew all too well.

    Light washed over the scrabbling not-so-dead villagers, and steam rose into the air as flesh shriveled under the harsh glare. The blindfolded dark-haired teenager was pushing with her hands as if against a heavy weight, and the polygon hanging over her had blinded him for a moment. Her coat was flaring around her, and a construct in the shape of a spider sat on her shoulder, gripping tightly.

    Tears streaming from his eyes, he saw the white-haired girl stumble to the side, surrounded by a flickering dark mist.

    A man made of metal with a porcelain mask slashed long knives affixed to his forearm like a hand made of blades into a walking corpse, bisecting it and spilling foul blood everywhere.

    The girl wielding the light stumbled away as her face contorted in disgust.

    A hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the crack. ¡°But mommy!¡±

    A cuff to the back of his head silenced his protests as he was pulled toward the back where the other villagers that had survived were huddling together.

    Sounds from the street became rarer, and then it was quiet but for the whistling of the wind.

    A knock sounded on the door, and a soft female voice asked. ¡°Is there anyone? Hello?¡±

    ¡°Who¡­¡± Lutz, the wounded tavern keeper with the mace, cleared his throat. ¡°Who is there?¡±

    ¡°We are students¡­¡± Some words were exchanged too muffled to understand. ¡°Ahem. We were nearby and saw the undead. Do you need help?¡±

    ¡°Are there any of the corpses left- The walking ones?¡± The woman, Mildred, asked with a quaver in her voice.

    ¡°No. Don¡¯t see any still moving.¡±

    ¡°You would have to go through the window. The door is blocked.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡±

    Mildred walked up to one of the windows and tried to open it, but with the frost, she did not get it to budge. Lutz sighed and grabbed the frame shaking it before laboriously prying it open.

    ¡°Get away from the window!¡± The voice from before called out to them, and as they stood back, a blur lined by lightning flew into the room, carrying with it a smattering of snow.

    The two boys stared open-mouthed at the freckled red-headed teenager as she posed in the middle of the room, lightning flickering around her legs.

 Taking a stand

    ¡°Men have to have heroes, but no man can ever be as big as the need, and so a legend grows around a grain of truth, like a pearl.¡±

    - Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

    Before arriving in the village

    Calvin looked at the houses spread along the narrow valley. The rocky hillsides were difficult to climb at the best of times, and with palisades cutting off both ends, it seemed highly defensible.

    He frowned, ¡®If the enemy had not risen inside the village itself.¡¯

    Humanoid creatures shambled along the streets as soon as something startled them; however, they were quite quick, if a bit uncoordinated. If all those outside at the moment were undead, that meant that there was only a slim possibility of there being living humans left.

    ¡°Wait.¡± He looked closer. There was a fine column of smoke coming from one of the larger buildings. It seemed to be the inn. ¡°Mh. That complicates things.¡±

    Sarah, the healer that had slowly become the de facto leader of most of the group, walked up to him, crouching instinctively. Her soft features well kept by the magic she wielded, shifted into a frown. ¡°As much as I hate it, I cannot condone us getting lost trying to solve the many issues that line our way. We have to bring our charges to safety and then consult with the academy leadership, perhaps the crown, before we do anything else.¡±

    ¡°Technically, I¡¯m on a prolonged vacation.¡± Calvin began as Sarah raised her hand, silencing him.

    ¡°If it were mere formality, I would concur. But bringing students into a fight with rebelling troops and undead is absolutely irresponsible. And you are an important and able member of the faculty and one of the few with enough combat experience. I cannot let you roam the country righting wrongs when all of them are still in danger.¡± She motioned at the rest of the group walking along the forest road, barely visible behind bushes and trees.

    ¡°...but¡­!¡± Before Calvin had the opportunity to plead his case, he felt her hand on his shoulder.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go there. It¡¯s difficult enough for me as it is.¡±

    ¡°So you would leave them to die?¡± Stepping from behind a large conifer, Mireille looked at them sadly.

    Sarah swallowed and looked away, then nodded. ¡°Yes. I am responsible for everyone here. And who is to say that only flesh-fiends are present? What if there is a wight, a specter, a wraith?¡± She shook her head again for emphasis. ¡°I cannot and will not risk it. Charys have mercy on their souls.¡±

    ¡°And if. Only if mind. There were some students who got...lost...and had to defend themselves¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare, young lady!¡±

    Calvin cleared his throat. ¡°They have the most powerful light-user of this generation with them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like saying because I have an excellent weapon, I can straight up go to battle. Without experience, without training, and much more growth, Alea will never get to use her full potential. At the moment, she has mostly that. And she is among the youngest! You cannot suggest she take part in this?¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we ask her?¡± Mireille clenched her fists.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s not her decision to make.¡± Sarah flatly interjected.

    Separating from the group, Alyssa, Alea, and Vivienne walked up to them.

    ¡°I heard my name?¡± Alea asked quietly while trying in vain to keep her coat-tails from brushing through the deeper snow beside the path. Wind shook the trees, and some snow rained from above.

    ¡°There are still people alive down there!¡± Mireille turned and pointed at the thin column of smoke dispersing in the intensifying breeze. ¡°We have to help them!¡±

    Alea looked troubled. ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°Students. Go back to the group we have a long way ahead and will not reach the fortress for two days at least. This decision is not yours to make.¡± Sarah looked at them unhappily as she said that.

    Some of the humanoids converged on a hut near one of the hillsides and began to tear apart the flimsy construction. Faint screams reached up to them from someone still inside.

    Mireille looked at her friends. ¡°I will go.¡±

    Sarah groaned. ¡°No. And that is final.¡±

    Alyssa gazed at her friends. ¡°I will not let you go alone.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alea nodded and gripped the sleeve of Alyssa¡¯s coat with her hand. Cyrus hissed from the branches of the conifer.

    ¡°Sarah¡­¡± Calvin grinned helplessly. ¡°...I will supervise them?¡±

    ¡°And what of your other charges?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this...let us go!¡± Mireille hurried down the slope.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Alyssa looked torn but then her eyes came to rest on Butler One. ¡°Can you take Alea? I fear she would have problems descending the hill otherwise?¡± The construct nodded, and after a short deliberation, Alea nodded. Butler One grabbed her and began to follow Mireille while Alea held onto its neck.

    ¡°You can¡¯t simply ignore¡­¡± Sarah began.

    ¡°I¡¯ll allow it,¡± Calvin said.

    ¡°Why...you aren¡¯t¡­!¡± The healer turned and looked at him incredulously.

    ¡°¡­we sent them into the fucking northern wilds. Fighting is par for the course¡­¡± The voices of the two teachers vanished behind them as the group rapidly descended into the valley. Alyssa quietly incanted the featherfall cantrip, trying not to twist or hurt her ankles as she glided across the deep snow.

    Amid flurries of snow, the three girls landed before the palisades. One wing of the gates was partly closed. The other stood wide open.

    Alyssa focused and saw several undead turn in their direction. ¡°Mireille! Can you?¡±

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°You bet!¡± Mireille drew her degen and with her other hand stroked along the blade wreathing it in lightning. Jumping forward, she slashed and split the head of the first undead to come in range. Grimacing in disgust, she flicked the half-frozen bits from her blade before backpedaling as one of the others lunged at her. The street, the only street, of the village led between low houses the eaves touching the ground some firewood stacked beneath and at the walls of the house.

    Five walking corpses of formerly six were crowding toward the entrance of the village with a few dozen more deeper inside, but it seemed they had already taken notice.

    Cyrus hissed and prepared to pounce.

    Alea murmured an order, and Butler One bowed, and from inside his forearms, blades unfolded and locked with an audible ¡®snick¡¯.

    The skin of the corpses was frozen, and ice framed the eyes moving madly in their sockets. Using both arms and legs to lope forward in a graceless shamble, they rushed down the street, over the houses, and in between.

    They had moved further along the street as soon as they had finished with the first few, but having reached a small clear space in front of the only two-story house with a sign proclaiming it the ¡®Wanderer¡¯s Rest,¡¯ they were faced by nearly two or three dozen of the walking dead.

    Alea incanted a lengthy spell as Butler One fought off several rabid corpses.

    Alea stumbled back as the light seared her side. Quickly casting the soothing dark mists, she felt the presence of Asandria. ¡®Tap into the jewel and impose your control. If you don¡¯t, one of you is inevitably going to be hurt or worse.¡¯

    Focusing she felt alignments of glyphs, and runes snap into place as if being pulled from somewhere deep inside of her. The runes shone like a constellation in the darkness of the jewel embedded in her left arm.

    ¡®Focus!¡¯ Asandria hissed, breaking her spellbound gaze.

    Focusing the rushing void into the pathways was nearly too easy, and as she did, feeble minds consumed by hate and hunger began to blaze in her vision, and it was simplicity itself to lock onto them, grasp them and keep them in place.

    Dark tendrils of power shot from her left hand and connected her to the slavering fleshfiends. A matronly woman, her throat ripped clean to the bone, stopped in her tracks just as she grabbed for Mireille¡¯s back. Cyrus flashed forward, and his stinger shot into the back of the matron''s head, piercing bone and exiting through the forehead. Shards of bone unfolded like a morbid flower. Ripping the tail back out, the wyvern gave a stuttering screech that raised goosebumps for the three friends.

    The redhead turned and yelped in surprise as she saw the undead standing directly behind her. Jumping to the side, she focused, and lightning shot along her right arm, bursting from her sides to crawl along the walls of a nearby building, and with bone-shaking clap of thunder, a bolt grounded into a group of their assailants, shattering bone and cooking flesh.

    Damaged or now completely dead corpses fell or impacted all around as Mireille drew a shaky breath. That had been much too close for comfort. Seeing the horde locked in place, a frown of determination settled on her features, and she prepared another lightning bolt.

    Light washed over the open ground, and undead flesh began to sizzle and then burst into flame. Alea was sweating in spite of the cold, with her blindfold darkening at a visible rate. Directing the rays of brilliance, she finally heaved a sigh of relief before flinching as she saw Alyssa huddled beneath an overhang, dark mists gathered around her form.

    ¡°Alyssa! Are you hurt?¡± She stumbled toward them. Mireille meanwhile knocked at the door, exchanging some words with whoever was inside. Snow cascaded from a frozen window as someone forced it open from the inside. With a flash of lightning, Mireille vanished into the building.

    Alyssa panted and stood patting snow from her coat as Alea barrelled into her hugging her waist. ¡°Ouch.¡± The embrace got a bit tighter at that. ¡°Sorry. I have been careless.¡± Alyssa hesitated, then patted the smaller girl''s head before hugging her back. ¡°I should make it a habit to have my mists fully formed before we start fighting.

    ¡°You are really fine? Not hurt anywhere?¡± Alea patted her sides tickling her inadvertently.

    ¡°Ah!¡± With a pained-sounding giggle, Alyssa grabbed her friend''s arms. ¡°Please! Don¡¯t do that!¡±

    Butler One swiveled on his hips, a claw flashed, and the head of a fleshfiend fell from the roof of the house they were sheltering under. The porcelain mask dipped as the construct verified the enemy''s demise then the automaton resumed its watch.

    Shocked back into the situation at hand, Alyssa swallowed. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Let¡¯s be careful. That wasn¡¯t all of them and Mireille is in that inn over there. She might get in trouble.¡± The skin on her left half was blistered but already slowly healing. A ¡®benefit¡¯ of her subsisting on the thick void-miasma hanging over the village.

    Nodding wordlessly, Alea stepped back while Cecily, her spider, turned, and crystalline lenses roved over the still burning undead.

    ¡°Was that new? They did not burn the last time. Or am I mistaken?¡± Alyssa raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Mh. Only some more emphasis on the sun.¡± Alea mumbled.

    Mireille stuck her head outside and waved at them. ¡°There are wounded in here. Who wants to do it? You will have to go through the window, I fear. The door is impassable at the moment.¡±

    Alyssa nodded at Alea. ¡°I will guard outside with Butler One.¡± Cyrus butted her in the side with one of his wings. ¡°Arg! ...and Cyrus!¡± Grumbling, she rubbed her smarting flank.

    <hr>

    Iseret stood beside Mordrak and raised her head toward the sky. It was late afternoon. The sun was already descending behind the mountain range in the west. Soon it would be true night again. Perhaps she would be back by then. She sighed.

    ¡°Drink?¡± The huge wolf-tribe raised flask made of hardened leather. Yellow eyes stared into her own.

    She shook her head.

    ¡°It might help...and keep you warm.¡±

    ¡°I might need my faculties intact, so I will abstain. Thank you nonetheless.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself. If it gets worse, go to Sirviel. She will know what to say.¡±

    Iseret looked at him, a bit taken aback. ¡°Why should I?¡±

    ¡°You seem depressed. And I¡¯m not good with words.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing to be worried about. I simply dislike the thought of not being fast or useful enough to accompany my friend.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Friend¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Friend.¡±

    ¡°If you say so.¡±

    Fireflies were born from the bushes near the great oak in the center, both magical discharges and common bugs swirling around each other. Sirviel sat beside some of the more seriously wounded, singing in a soft voice as she stroked across the head of a wiry tribeswoman missing her left hand. The injury seemed recent, and blood caked her clothing, but the wound was already close to vanishing. Even scarring was minimal.

    ¡°Could she regrow a limb?¡±

    ¡°Mh. She did in the past. But it¡¯s a long and painful process. And she sleeps, sometimes for years. So we cannot completely rely on her for that.¡±

    ¡°I will do another round. See you later.¡± Iseret nodded at the stoic warrior before walking into the silent forest. Somewhere an owl hooted and took flight. Dislodged snow trickled to the ground.

    Mordrak raised his head and sniffed the air growling softly before resuming his watch.

    <hr>

    Iseret sat on a thick barren branch and listened to the humming of the wind brushing through the trees. Pulling her coat tightly against her slender form, she shivered. Leaning back, she gazed at the stars. Different from those of her homeland''s skies. It had been a favorite of hers when she was young, staring at the little lights spanning all the heavens. The hut had been crowded and stifling, so she had taken to lying on the roof, and even as broken and brittle as it was, it had been more than sufficient to bear her emaciated form.

    And then there was a small girl standing beneath the tree looking up at her with lambent green eyes. ¡°Iseret. What are you doing up there?¡±

    Flickering glyphs shone around her hand as the snake woman turned and glided from the branch hitting the snow without sinking into it. Slit-yellow eyes inspected her friend¡¯s torn and cut clothes, and she went on one knee looking closer. ¡°Are you injured?¡±

    ¡°No. Only my confidence and attire. But yes, it went wrong. All of it.¡± She lowered her head.

    Slowly Iseret raised her hands so as not to startle her and hugged Vanessa close. ¡°Don¡¯t leave me behind next time.¡± She murmured.

    The elven girl tensed before slowly relaxing into the embrace.

    ¡°Mh. It seemed to be the smartest choice at the time.¡±

    ¡°Smart is not always right.¡±

    Cold hands with the merest hint of scales pressed against her cheeks, causing Vanessa to look up, meeting her friend''s eyes.

    The moon Ioreth rose above the trees, blurring edges, softening lines, and the shadows of the two of them flowed into each other.

 Stand together or hang separately

    ¡°The ambition of men compels them to break even the most heartfelt vows.¡±

    - A.H. Septimius

    ¡°Can you get the door open?¡± Alyssa called after she tried the grip fastened to the outside and was shortly met with the resistance of a deadbolt.

    ¡°There is a lot of furniture piled up inside. Was probably smart.¡± Mireille shouted back.

    ¡°Are you here to save us?¡± Mildred asked with trepidation.

    ¡°No. Sorry. We did not even know there was a village. But when we saw the smoke we knew there had to be someone left alive. And so we chose to come down and have a look.¡±

    ¡°Thank the gods.¡± Lutz, the tavernkeeper sighed and grimacing massaged his severely scratched arms.

    ¡°Can someone get the door, any door, open?¡± Mireille asked.

    Meanwhile, some of the villagers resting in the kitchen had roused themselves, and some hesitantly entered the common room.

    The man, still holding his axe, shrugged. ¡°There is the door out back. But it''s been snowed in quite thoroughly, so we did not need to barricade it. Might still be easier to shovel a bit of snow than move all that.¡± He gestured with the axe making Mildred take a step back in caution.

    <hr>

    Back on the forest road.

    Calvin stood at the cliff and manipulated a lens made of air, scrying for problems below. He had found the old spell in a grimoire from the great desert where the sometimes occurring Fata Morgana had been the inspiration for the technique. Gina and Kira his charges, stood beneath a large chestnut tree, waiting for him to finish.

    ¡°Kira, what have we got ourselves into?¡±

    Her friend merely gripped Gina¡¯s hand a bit tighter and then averted her gaze from the scene in the village.

    ¡°It would have happened either way. Look on the bright side. At least you are not in the forest with a bunch of bandits. They would not have stood a chance.¡± Calvin mumbled absentmindedly.

    ¡°Calvin Ambrose,¡± Sarah exclaimed heatedly. ¡°Can you be a tad less sarcastic in this situation? Come with me, and we are going back to the group. We cannot delay any longer. Catch up with us as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Will do.¡± The wizard dismissed the spell with a wave of his hand. ¡°I¡¯m going down. I cannot see into the building they¡¯ve entered.¡±

    Shaking her head, Sarah gestured and walked back to the road, followed by the two girls.

    <hr>

    The snow was, in fact, easier to move than the broken furniture. And after getting it all out of the way, Alyssa and Alea healed what wounds they could, and everyone gathered in the common room. From a village of a few hundred souls, there were maybe twenty people left. Not counting possible survivors in hiding outside. But with the weather and the undead, that would not have been for long.

    <hr>

    ¡°Calvin, we can¡¯t simply leave them like that, can we?¡± Mireille looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°We are neither the town guard nor the army. We cannot do anything else but leave. We can take a thorough look around and clean up anything dead and moving before we go, but that is as far as I will go.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. We can close the palisade, and there are some weapons, bows, and such. We can hold out until the army gets to us.¡± Lutz, the tavern keeper and possibly the only person resembling an official authority at the moment, interjected. ¡°We cannot expect you to remain here, but please help us make the village safe for living again.¡±

    ¡°We will not make it to the fortress before the others. And if they decide to retreat back toward Kronenburg as would be smart, we will probably be left behind. Just saying.¡± The wizard sighed heavily.

    ¡°But you said¡­¡±

    ¡°I know. I will help clean up, as I said. But we have to face it. We will probably be on our own. Traveling at night, I cannot recommend so, when night falls, we will stay here in the inn and try to catch up tomorrow.¡±

    The girls nodded, and the townsfolk looked relieved. An old woman cradling an infant of perhaps two years brushed some tears from her eyes and smiled. ¡°We will pray for you, and if we should by some miracle survive, you will forever be welcome in Clefthome.¡± That apparently being the name of the village. No one had cared enough to ask ¡®til now.

    Mireille and Alyssa teamed up as well as Alea and Calvin trudging through the deep snow no one had bothered to clear all the while on the lookout for trapped restless dead...things.

    Not only the corpses of the peasants but also any livestock, and as they had seen, even the rodents had become animated.

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    <hr>

    Some hours later

    Alea gestured, and an intense beam of light illuminated the street and the hovels standing beside it, as well as the cliff-faces to both sides. A chicken half rotted and half frozen, scratched desperately at the fence before bursting into flame and then falling still once more.

    ¡°That should be the last one.¡± Calvin brushed some sweat from his forehead. Even in these freezing temperatures, he had to contend with this. Shaking some residual flames into the snow- he had tried to conjure a fire bolt before Alea had made it unnecessary- he grinned tiredly. ¡°Come, let us go back to the inn. I cannot wait to eat something warm after all of this.¡±

    Halfway back, they met up with Mireille and Alyssa, both in good shape visually.

    ¡°Everything okay?¡± Mireille asked and inspected Alea critically.

    ¡°I¡¯m well.¡± Alea smiled at her. Cecily tapped restlessly on her shoulder.

    Alyssa was carrying Cyrus with both arms, his long sinuous neck lazily lying across her shoulder and down her back.

    ¡°What¡¯s with him?¡± Calvin asked, one eyebrow raised.

    ¡°The snow is not good for him. He is not completely like a reptile but whatever keeps him warm is much less than a full dragon. And he is tired from playing with the undead.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that, please.¡± The older wizard rubbed his head. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside.

    Inside the inn, it was marginally warmer but still cold, and the people depressed. The hope that came with the rescue had been shortlived as one of the villagers, an older man, had died of an illness that the girls had not known how to treat, and the first it became apparent was when he stood back up again as a newly raised undead. The logger had once more come to the rescue and split his head, laying him to rest once again. But the atmosphere had been tense and uncomfortable afterward.

    Alyssa looked around, and her gaze came to rest on the pieces of dead rodent someone had swept into a corner. Dark energies had begun to gather there as entropic energy called like to like, and with growing trepidation, she realized.

    What was dead once more need not stay that way.

    The world seemed well and truly broken.

    ¡°Calvin.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Alyssa?¡±

    ¡°The dead won¡¯t stay that way.¡±

    ¡°And¡­? That seemed apparent from what we saw the last days.¡±

    ¡°I mean. They will not stay dead. No matter what. I think as long as there is some residue that can be animated, it will be.¡±

    ¡°What!? Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°I see it happening just now.¡± She pointed at the rat corpses.

    ¡°That is...bad. We will have to incinerate or somehow trap the corpses outside. Perhaps it is sufficient to throw them beyond the barricade and hope for the best?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we can generate enough fire to burn everything that needs to burn.¡±

    ¡°So we go with keeping them away from the living until we manage to end the magic that does this?¡±

    ¡°I could try to raise them myself and then force them to walk away.¡±

    Silence hung between them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can allow that.¡±

    ¡°But if we simply throw them all over the side of the palisade, they will get in. They are not completely without instincts, and they have time and numbers on their side.¡±

    ¡°I...will think about it. If we do it, the villagers have to stay inside the inn, and no one looks outside. If someone sees you raising the dead for the second time without a direct threat to your life. You will be punished, and the least of it will be your expulsion from the academy.¡±

    ¡°Are there really no exceptions?¡±

    ¡°Other than a pardon from the king, ahem, queen. No.¡±

    ¡°And if we persuade Lieseleta afterward?¡±

    ¡°And you want to put all your hopes on that working? She is not only your classmate anymore, and there are a lot of things she has to consider. She might not be able to help you.¡±

    Mildred, the innkeeper''s wife, came over with two bowls of steaming soup. ¡°Here, we have a lot of supplies now that we are so few left. So at least the food should be good.¡± She lowered her face and drew a shaky breath.

    Alyssa felt highly uncomfortable as she realized how jaded she had become over the last few months. From the beginning in Firswending, the bandits, the battles she had lived through to now. Was that really normal? Cold clear darkness washed through her veins, and she knew the answer. But how were Alea and Mireille coping? Suddenly becoming aware of the soup bowl before her hands while Calvin was already drinking his. She nodded and forced out a ¡°Thank you¡± before taking the proffered dish.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, my dear.¡± The woman gave her a wan smile and walked back to the villagers huddling around the hearth-fire someone had got going in the daytime.

    <hr>

    At dusk on the forest road

    Zhira, the army scout that had accompanied the group of teachers and their students since the disastrous ambush at the camp, raised her head and looked alertly at the surroundings. ¡°Someone is watching us. Quick, prepare for battle.¡±

    Sarah nodded and drew glyphs into the air, and her robes shimmered like a metallic liquid before the effect faded and was nearly unnoticeable again. The other teachers and some students followed suit.

    ¡°Ah. What a welcome sight.¡± A voice came out of the darkening forest. The group had pressed on into the evening hours, looking for a better place to stay but had so far not found any.

    ¡°Who is there?¡± Sarah shouted back.

    ¡°Ah, Sarah. Have you forgotten me so soon? And I thought we had that special something. Teacher to teacher. Did we not?¡± A person strode from the darkness clad in white robes stitched with gold. He held a long staff in his gloved hands, and his head was covered with a silver skull-cap etched with arcane sigils.

    ¡°Gerferak.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Lordrum, please. I don¡¯t think our acquaintance was that close.¡± The old man laughed at his own wit as the other teachers looked around grimly.

    ¡°What do you want, traitor?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Sarah. He who holds the pen can tar anyone with this epithet, can he? And to devolve into name-calling just two sentences into the greeting is a bit low, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Behind the white-robed wizard, several soldiers emerged as well as some men and women, or teenagers really, in the traditional robes of a magician. Farther into the forest the walking dead staggered forward unsteadily. Some better, some worse.

    ¡°So it has come to this.¡± Sarah frowned and removed a crystal tablet from one of her pouches.

    ¡°Ah, ah, ah.¡± Shaking a raised finger at her, the former master of the tower of time continued to speak. ¡°Don¡¯t go there, my dear colleague. If we really get down to fighting, I can promise you that even if you manage to defeat us, you will lose some of your own. Are you really prepared to do this? We only want you as hostages. To force the realm to listen to our demands seriously. And in return, I will personally ensure your well-being. How does that sound? There is even a hot meal and warm lodgings where I would be taking you.¡±

    Some of the students, as well as some teachers, looked torn at the offer.

    ¡°And what, pray tell, are those undead doing with you? Are you responsible for them and the terror they bring?¡±

    ¡°No. We merely have the means to ensure their¡­compliance. As would you were you not too hidebound to see that sometimes needs must.¡±

    ¡°Lies. They are in league with the undead and thus the Heartstealer!¡± Escaldis Aldrnarit, the fire-wizard spat, his face livid.

    ¡°Ah. As volatile as his subject matter, my dear fire-wizard. I don¡¯t think you should be making decisions in that state of mind. Let cooler heads prevail.¡± Gerferak Lordrum chuckled as he brushed some snow from his robes.

    Sarah turned and sought eye-contact with some of the other teachers, and a silent accord was reached.

 Into the light

    ¡°I have heard the languages of apocalypse, and now I shall embrace the silence.¡±

    - Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Endless Nights.

    Sarah injected her mana into the tablet pressing her thumb against a raised portion, pricking her skin. With a crack, the tablet shattered and a wedge-shaped wall of force sprang into being smashing forward into the assembled soldiers. As high as a small house and faintly glowing yet transparent it seemed like a ghostly apparition. The ex-towermaster seemed surprised for a moment before the wedge reached him and he seemed to shatter into flickering shards of light.

    ¡°He is using an illusion!¡± Someone behind Sarah shouted.

    The wall of force meanwhile, bowled over soldiers and young wizards alike smashing them into trees and down the low incline to the group''s right. Shouts of pain and sharp cracks as bodies collided with wood echoed through the darkening woods.

    ¡°Tsk.¡± Gerferak Lordrum strode from the woods to the left. He raised his hand and the wedge of force dissipated. ¡°Get to it men. Try not to damage them too much, will you- Mh?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t grandstand just so much, Lordrum. Keep them down and retreat along the road, we have to reach the fortress!¡± Escaldis shouted back.

    The ex-towermaster grinned and gestured and several reflections of him flickered and turned solid around him, each gesturing in tandem with the ¡®original¡¯. Strobing energy reached several of the students, and two of them blinked and fell to the ground in an unresponsive heap.

    ¡°Someone grab them!¡± Escaldis gestured and spat an incantation as a ball of fire grew between his hands illuminating the surroundings in a rapidly brightening glow. Bare branches crusted with ice reflected the flames in a thousand sparkling surfaces.

    The ball flashed forward and detonated between the images dispersing half. A glowing shield diverted the brunt of the explosion around the ¡®real¡¯ Gerferak letting only a fraction through to singe his beard and redden his face.

    Gasping the fire-mage pushed a student along the road conjuring a flash of fire shielding against another flickering blast of light. A sleep spell probably.

    ¡°You won¡¯t get far. Why struggle? Someone might even get hurt.¡± With a smug but somewhat strained smile on his face the ex-towermaster began another incantation.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in the village.

    Calvin surveyed the street surrounding the inn and nodded. For tonight at least, it would be quiet. Tomorrow they would have to face the decision of what to do with the potential undead. A flutter of wings alerted him, and he saw a runesparrow materialize out of the darkness, landing on his shoulder.

    Sarah''s voice sounded, her breathing ragged from exertion. ¡°The Nordmark troops have found us, and Gerferak is with them as well as several young mages. We withdraw toward the fortress. Try to meet up but avoid them. They are too many.¡± There was a bit of heavy breathing and something like a breaking branch, then nothing.

    ¡°Goddamn it.¡± Calvin gritted his teeth. Weary from the day''s labors, he looked at the ridge behind which the road south meandered through the woods. Then shook his head.

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡± Alyssa walked up to him carrying a steaming mug with a rag wrapped around it to shield it from the heat. ¡°Here, for you. You wouldn¡¯t come in, and the soup is getting cold.

    ¡°Mh. Thank you.¡± Calvin grabbed the proffered cup and blew over the scalding brew. ¡°I got a message from Sarah. She and the others have run afoul of the Nordmark¡¯s and not only that, they seem to have magical support. More, much more than hoped.¡±

    ¡°We have to help them! I will wake Alea and get Mireille¡­¡±

    The older mage grabbed her shoulder and winced for a moment as he felt the cold radiating from her left arm. ¡°Don¡¯t. We will never manage in time, and if we do, we run into the pursuing troops. What will happen then? No, we seek another way, and before that, we get a night''s sleep.¡± Seeing the rebelliousness in Alyssa¡¯s features, he elaborated, ¡°We would never make it before everything is done and over anyway. It¡¯s been hours since they left. They should have been halfway to the fortress already.¡±

    The wind rattled an empty shutter. Branches rustled, snow trickled from a rooftop.

    ¡°Ahhh. Damn it all. Damn it to the nine hells!¡± Calvin cursed, and flames flared around his clenched fists. ¡°Aaaaaah. I could burn them all! Greedy bastards. Stupid pricks!¡± He continued shouting into the night as Alyssa took a step back. Breathing deeply, he violently shook his head. ¡°And I joked with them about the bandits. Please, Irkonos, keep them safe.¡± He caught himself and briefly closed his eyes. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± He grinned feebly. The fires around his hands flickered and died.

    ¡°You really think you can sleep after that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need that from you, young lady.¡± But then he sighed and nodded. ¡°I should take my own advice. Don¡¯t tell the others. I don¡¯t want another discussion on my hand, and they should get to sleep in peace. Tomorrow we will talk.¡±

    Alyssa looked uncomfortable but nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    <hr>

    The next morning found them surrounding the biggest table in the common room.

    ¡°So. I have something to say.¡± Calvin cleared his throat. ¡°The academy group was attacked this night and I don¡¯t have any news regarding the outcome.¡±

    ¡°What?! Since when did you know?¡± Mireille sprang from her seat. ¡°We have to leave immediately...¡±

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why!?¡±

    ¡°We would be much too late.¡± He lowered his head. ¡°I made the decision not to run into the woods at night, hours from a fight that should take minutes, only to get killed, captured, or worse. I stand by my decision even as I hate it as much as you.¡±

    Mireille let herself fall back into her chair and frowned. ¡°I would have liked to have made this decision on my own.¡±

    ¡°I am responsible for you. It was my decision to make.¡±

    ¡°Alyssa, Alea?¡± Mireille looked at the two of them.

    Alea seemed bewildered and thoughtful. Alyssa bit her lips, and for a moment, guilt flashed across her face.

    ¡°You knew? Everyone knew?¡± She stood, and the chair fell over with a clash. ¡°Only I did not?¡±

    Alyssa jumped up and grabbed her friend. ¡°Please. What Calvin said made sense. We would never have reached them in time.¡±

    Mireille struggled half-heartedly before hugging Alyssa. ¡°Don¡¯t decide for me. I have to know such things. I may not be the most intelligent, but I would have understood it. Don¡¯t keep me in the dark.¡±

    ¡°It was not that. Alea was sleeping, and you were about to. You would not have been able to rest. I know I did not.¡± Alyssa buried her face in Mireille¡¯s shoulder.

    The innkeeper, Lutz, and his wife, Mildred looked uncomfortable and compassionate respectively.

    ¡°And we did say we would help,¡± Calvin said quietly. ¡°We cannot do the others much good. Maybe we could rescue them if they were captured. But that is dubious at best. Here we can at least save those people.¡± He gestured. Dark rings marred his eyes, and he looked older than his forty-something years.

    The other villagers sitting at other tables looked over whispering. The toddler began to cry a feeble hiccuping sort of wail before the old woman shushed him and began to sing a low lullaby.

    ¡°Thoughts?¡± Calvin looked at the others.

    ¡°I have thought about a blessing,¡± Alea said quietly. ¡°I am no priest, but I was given the blessing of the Lightbringer. And they made sure to make me memorize some of the more common prayers.¡±

    ¡°Okay. That is one option we will most likely take. But how long would that work?¡±

    ¡°I have no accurate guess, but I would think it should last a few months at least. It is meant to lay the dead to rest. Would not be much use if it wore off after a few days. Would it?¡± Cecily clicked as she moved to pan her gaze across the table.

    ¡°Mh. That should solve the problem nicely. Put them all together and bless them.¡± Calvin gave a half-grin. ¡°Perhaps heap some logs on them to keep them down, just in case.¡±

    ¡°If the logs are in place, why not burn them?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°Because burning bone needs a lot of heat. A bonfire would do it, but you would need a lot of fuel. Could put them in the houses and try to burn them in there, but with the snow and all, it would be difficult. Not impossible, but we wanted to be underway as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°All of us that are able to, will help,¡± Lutz interjected as a moment of silence reigned.

    ¡°Then let us begin.¡±

    The work was hard, dirty, and cold.

    The villagers, Mireille, Calvin and Butler One, and to a lesser degree, Alyssa worked through the morning before they had made a pile of the dead just north of the gates. An old handwagon had made it all go much quicker.

    Alea walked out of the inn and down the street, scarred with deep ruts and the footprints of the men and women that had worked all morning. Light fell down on her, harsh and bright at midday and without a cloud in sight. The sky was a stark gray-blue extending into infinity.

    The dead were laid side by side and on top of each other. Men, women, children. Cut and burned by her light. Silent and unmoving. The sheer scale made it seem unreal, as if simply made as a background in a play, a stage.

    The villagers had assembled and stood to the side. Some praying, some crying, most simply silent and grieving.

    Calvin came up to her, followed by her friends. ¡°Are you sure you can do it? If not, we can try to burn them. Tear down a house or two, and we have enough wood.¡±

    ¡°No. I can do it.¡± Alea shook her head decisively.

    As everyone focused their gaze on her, she shrank into her large coat, looking like the child she was.

    ¡°Jaros, Lord of Mysteries, Watcher on the Threshold.¡± She began and swallowed dryly.

    ¡°Those who passed have laid down their burdens and reached the end of the path.

    The last night comes, and we need your light, oh Lord.

    Charys waits to welcome them, but they lost their way.

    Grant them your light to guide them.

    Darkness holds them fast.

    We implore you- free them in your light.

    Those who have suffered, grant them reprieve.

    Enfold them in your blessed radiance and stand vigil on the threshold against the distant dark.¡±

    Alyssa turned away behind the window she had been looking from as her small friend began to glow, becoming brighter and brighter, eclipsing the sun at noon. The illumination shone through every crack and cranny into the room, painting the walls with a web of light.

    <hr>

    Ivyander, the necromancer, flinched as he felt a burn on his left arm. Turning, he raised his arm reflexively, shielding his eyes. Far off in the distance, a light glowed, visible in the middle of the day. Squinting, he tried to get a better look, but then it was over safe for some dancing spots clouding his vision.

    ¡°What in the¡­?¡± He mumbled.

    ¡°Master. What was that?¡± A young man stood beside him and, looking bewildered, asked him. The man was a student of some academy that Zygmund had saddled him with. The man was eager and practically without scruples. Where the lord had found him, he did not know, but he could make use of him.

    ¡°A powerful light magic spell or blessing, I would surmise.¡± He shrugged. ¡°But to put it simply.¡±

    ¡°It is a problem.¡±

    <hr>

    In the palace of Margrinar.

    The table was made of heavy, dark wood polished to a brilliant sheen. In the center was a map inlaid with precious metals and ebony showing the coast of dreams, Margrinar, and the surrounding countries.

    Papers were strewn across its surface. Murmurs of quiet conversation echoed in the stale air. Some smoke from a fire, the scent of old tobacco and wine tickled the nose.

    ¡°The sixth Batallion led by the Kronenburg Greatswords have met the rebels in the field of Mayburg. Casualties are light¡­¡±

    ¡°The fortress at Thundersplit pass is under attack by undead and giants. Not expected to hold unless reinforcements are dispatched immediately.¡±

    ¡°Reports from the Nordmark territory have the Wolf-Tribe in open war with the northern army. No reply to requests for clarification. We cannot expect aid from that quarter, it seems.¡±

    ¡°The high priest of Charys requests an audience. The dead have risen to attack the living all along the northern regions. Mages tell of darkness spreading across the land.¡±

    ¡°A missive by the King of Rivenlorn decries our lack of assistance against the undead. The troops of the Confederation of Equals are withdrawing to Firswending and plan to hold the forces from Ulsom there¡­¡±

    Golden eyes came to rest on the slight figure lying across the table standing at the side of the room. Golden curls spilled over the wood and the table''s edge like a waterfall made of silk. Eyes closed, Lieseleta seemed beyond exhausted.

    Heloise sighed, and the light that had blossomed around her right hand faded away as she decided to let her sleep. Pulling from the gate inside of her, she flooded her mind with light. ¡°Gentlemen, might I have your attention.¡± The generals and ministers turned and looked at her and silence returned to the war-room.

    <hr>

    Amber smiled brightly. ¡°Come, my dear. You can do it.¡± Taking a hesitating step and stumbling, the pale little girl walked toward her across the chamber. She wore heavily frilled clothes in pastel-colors fit for a princess. Sparkling, ebony eyes were firmly fixed on the woman. Cold light fell through the open window, and snowflakes drifted onto the expensive carpet.

    But none of those in the room felt the cold anymore.

 Change of plans

    ¡°There are two means of refuge from the misery of life ¡ª music and cats.¡±

    - Albert Schweitzer

    Alyssa huddled in the small house overlooking the village from its vantage point up against the hillside. Her left arm burned from the light that had seeped through the cracks in the old wall. On the ground, in front of her lay the dead-once-more remains of a large house cat probably with some wildcat mixed in. Whiskers drooping sadly, fur singed and frozen- in whatever order it had happened.

    Dark energies had begun to infiltrate the dead tissue once more and morose as she was at once again having to hide from her friend''s magic she was interested despite herself. The intricate dance of necrotic energies mimicking the vivacity of life itself.

    Looking closer she raised her left hand and the residual void magic resonated with her own bringing a sort of closeness as if meeting an old acquaintance if not a friend. Glassy eyes sparked with green flame as glyphs rotated and sprang to life inside the jewel inset in her wrist.

    ¡®This is such a bad idea.¡¯ But when had that ever stopped her before, she suppressed a mad giggle.

    With a crackle, the ice broke as frozen muscles flexed and with a rasping sound, the cat tried to stand. Power flooded into the small body and she saw the connection forming between her, the undead feline, and the void. Shadows seemed to writhe and the formerly dull fur regained an unearthly sheen.

    Gasping Alyssa fell onto her back hitting the wall with a dull thud.

    Stumbling but rapidly regaining its footing the small undead slunk closer brushing its head against her side.

    ¡°What are you?¡±

    Cyrus who had been outside the hut snaked his head through the door and hissed at the cat who reciprocated by bristling its fur while making growling noises.

    ¡°Cyrus! Stop, I...I did that.¡± She regarded the feline with distrust. ¡°Do you understand me?¡±

    The cat blinked sat back raising its hindleg and tried to lick its feet but the tongue was still frozen to the lower jaw and would not move. Irritated it batted at the offending appendage without much success.

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Outside, Mireille called for her.

    ¡°Can you hide?¡± Alysse hissed softly. The cat blinked its eyes and slunk back into the shadows, becoming one with them. After a look at the gem embedded in her arm, still glowing with rapidly fading energy, she stood up, brushed the dirt from her clothes, and shouted back, ¡°Coming!¡±

    The field before the palisades was still bathed in a sourceless white glow. The dead seemed to be peaceful somehow, and even the wind did not disturb their rest.

    Alea shivered and hugged herself. Calvin looked at her warily and then, smiling grimly to himself, patted her shoulder as the girl flinched at the touch. ¡°Well done. But that was visible for quite a ways. I hope we didn¡¯t do the good people here a disservice by calling attention down on them. But they should be safe enough now. Let¡¯s gather our things and leave.¡± He got a short nod in return. The girl¡¯s face was nearly completely hidden by the blindfold, and a heavy dark blue shawl wrapped around her chin and ears.

    Lutz and Mildred, the innkeeper, and his wife, stood before the southern gates with the villagers arrayed behind them. ¡°Thank you for saving us! Now we have a chance!¡± A tired smile crinkled the man''s face. Some of the gathered people echoed his sentiment. Most were still lost in grief.

    ¡°And our friends and family can know peace.¡± Mildred sighed. Subdued sobbing came from some of the villagers behind them.

    Silhouetted by the winter sun falling toward the distant horizon, the group trudged toward the forest through snowed-in fields and past small barns and a few outlying houses.

    A shadow slunk along a ditch and passed behind a forgotten cart sheltered beneath an overhanging eave. Eldritch light flashed in the darkness as dead eyes regarded its mistress and companions.

    The forest was silent and mostly empty. The wind increased in intensity over the day and howled among the treetops as dusk colored the ice in rose and red.

    ¡°We have to find shelter for the night or get our tents up.¡± Calvin decided. Looking crossly at the barely visible forest path. ¡°We seem to have gone farther west than I had hoped. But going cross country would have been even slower.¡±

    And after searching until the light had dimmed to near darkness, they gave up and erected their tents in the shelter of some great oak trees.

    Alyssa leaned against the trunk of the greatest among them, staring through the bare branches swaying with the gusts of wind, groaning and creaking intermittently.

    She raised her left hand, looking at the stars through the gaps in her fingers. The eye of the hunter stared back at her as the constellation of Irkonos whirled far above in a silent dance that would continue long after her death, which would more than likely be soon. She felt the cold, but she no longer shivered; she was rarely uncomfortable anymore, but neither did she feel the delicious warmth she remembered when she was huddling before the fire, her back cold as ice as she strove to get warm in the cold of winter.

    Her thoughts flicked back to Firswending.

    What was her father doing now? Was he arrested, sold to the viscount? Did he even survive? His cold craggy face, mouth turned downward in a bitter arc rose from her memories. The eyes had been full of life and ambition once. She remembered that she had seen it but could no longer conjure that memory.

    She would do as she had promised.

    Go west.

    Kill the Heartstealer.

    A demigod, an unkillable undead.

    Should she separate from the others? It was more than a fool''s errand, it was prolonged suicide or worse. She sighed, and a tear froze beneath her right eye still capable of such action. A cat made of ice and shadow slunk onto her lap, purring like creeping frost. Cyrus hissed and regarded the undead uneasily before pressing into her right side, worming under her cloak for scant warmth. Her hand found his head nearly on its own, stroking along his smooth scales, eliciting a purring hiss.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    The cat blinked its eyes. Like green stars winking in the darkness.

    A breaking branch and the sound of footsteps preceded her as Mireille trudged through the snow and walked up to her seated friend blowing into her cold hands while keeping the mittens clamped between her elbow and side. ¡°There you are. I was looking for you, you know?¡± Without waiting for an answer, she sat down and put the protesting wyvern on her lap scooting closer to Alyssa, leaning against her side. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    The cat had dissolved into the shadows, its presence felt but not seen.

    ¡°Should I go alone?¡± Alyssa murmured, staring at nothing.

    ¡°Are you daft?¡± Mireille raised herself to get a better look at her friend. ¡°Naturally not!¡±

    ¡°I fear I don¡¯t have much time anymore. Look at all of this.¡± Her white hair gleamed in the starlight reflected from the snow. She made an expansive gesture. ¡°Undead roaming freely, the Nordmark becoming traitors, rebels in the cities, and¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long I can keep going.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? You have the potions, us, Vanessa, the academy. What can go wrong?¡±

    ¡°What can¡¯t go wrong? That is the better question. The assassination of the king was no accident, followed by all that I already mentioned. The Heartstealer is awake, and she is coming for this land, for us. And the potions? I did not tell you, but with my changes progressing further, they have less and less to work with. I can feel it. This year. It¡¯s only this year now. Other than a miracle, that¡¯s it. I don¡¯t want you to die or Alea. So I should go alone. What difference would it make? We can¡¯t do anything. We are students, children. If it works by some strange fate, it should do so even when I¡¯m alone, right?¡±

    ¡°Shhh.¡± Mireille hugged her close. ¡°Don¡¯t. You are making sense without being sensible. My mother¡¯s saying.¡± Alyssa felt her friend''s smile with Mireille¡¯s face pressed into her hair. ¡°What if you never reach her? There are countless dangers on the way over the mountains and into Ulsolm. And even then, what if some giant clubs you to death without you ever laying eye on her? We have to believe that your Asandria has something planned, that this is something more than a simple suicide. And this here is more than enough reason to try. Do you really think that this ends before either she or everyone else is dead?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡®You friend speaks truth.¡¯ Asandria said quietly. ¡®I cannot promise you will live. I cannot promise anything. But what I can say is- The Heartstealer is awake, and her ambition is boundless, she wants, and she will never get. There will never be enough for her. A living being could change, see reason, but she, she will never do so.¡¯

    ¡°What about Vanessa?¡±

    A cold smile formed on the transparent specter''s face, stars shining through her figure. ¡®She did something to herself to keep her mind. But even that will not be enough to face eternity. She is one of the strongest undead on this continent. By the Eternal Queens'' own design, but what she did robbed her of most of that power. That sacrifice and the centuries of sleep kept her sanity. You don¡¯t think that the Heartstealer would give up even a fraction of that to keep a mere mortals mindset?¡¯ She scoffed. ¡®If she still had it, it would be the first thing she discarded.¡¯

    They sat in silence until Calvin called to them, ¡°Come to the fire, you two! We have decided on the watch order, and you are most certainly included.¡±

    Groaning, Mireille pulled Alyssa to her feet, and both walked back without saying much more on the matter.

    Alyssa woke to a sharp pain in her right index finger, and she felt warmth pooling on the tip. Opening her eyes, she saw the shadowy cat licking at her blood welling from a puncture made by the very sharp canines of the creature. ¡°What are you doing!¡± She hissed. The cat blinked innocently at her, and she felt something like a touch inside her mind. She had tried to form a more comprehensive link with Cyrus and recognized it as something like telepathy. An art she had never mastered before.

    Accepting the intrusion, she suddenly saw a scene of an early morning. Grey light filtered through dense branches up overhead. Endless rows of undead, villagers mostly and the long dead, their clothes rotted to an unrecognizable mess, marched through the woods spread out through the trees. A small group of armed soldiers, nervously looking at the thronging corpses, escorted a pale elf in dark robes carrying a staff made of fused bone. He suddenly raised his head, looking about suspiciously beneath his hooded cloak. The viewpoint then shifted rapidly and the one seeing all this seemed to be racing along the branches in the trees, jumping impossible distances and sometimes seemingly teleporting from one shadow to another. There was an impression of time passing, perhaps an hour or two, before she saw the tents, and then her own sleeping form.

    Gasping, she ripped her mind free of the vision.

    ¡°You saw all this?¡± She fixed her eyes on the cat. Mireille grumbled in her sleep, pressed against her side.

    The cat slowly blinked its eyes.

    ¡°Thank you. I have to warn the others.¡± She struggled to extricate herself from Mireille and Cyrus before stopping. ¡°Where was this? Which direction?¡± The cat raised a paw toward the south. ¡°What are you? You are not a simple cat, even a simple undead cat.¡±

    The cat began to lick its left front paw.

    ¡°Five minutes,¡± Mireille mumbled, still half-asleep.

    ¡°Wake up!¡± Alyssa shook her friend, and the redhead unwillingly opened her eyes.

    ¡°What time is it? Do we really have to?¡±

    ¡°There are undead and Nordmark troops on the way!¡±

    Suddenly wide awake, Mireille sat up. ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°They are a few hours away, but we have to hurry!¡±

    ¡°Then I could have slept at least ten minutes more!¡±

    Alea was sleeping beside Mireille under copious amounts of blankets, and even the commotion had not been enough to wake her.

    Soon all were assembled around a glowing heat stone.

    ¡°So you say that troops are coming from the south. How could you know?¡± Calvin scratched his head and yawned while eating a bit of stale, frozen bread.

    Alyssa gritted her teeth and tensed, ¡°I might have summoned something yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Might have?¡± The wizard looked at her while slowly raising an eyebrow. ¡°How is that in any way uncertain?¡±

    ¡°Because it started out as a cat.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make this like pulling teeth. Out with it!¡±

    ¡°I raised an undead cat because it seemed like the thing to do, and then as I strengthened the connection, it became something more. And now it went and found the troops probably on their way to apprehend us and told me.¡±

    ¡°Told you? Ah, whatever. I¡¯m getting too old for this. Where are they? And don¡¯t think for a moment that this is over only we have something more important to do at the moment, and me yelling at you might alert something else.¡±

    ¡°They are a few hours march in this direction.¡± Alyssa pointed south and a bit east.

    ¡°Damn. That is the direction of the fortress.¡± Calvin rubbed his chin. ¡°Nothing to it. We try to circumvent them by going west and then south.¡±

    ¡°That will bring us deeper into the Nordmark territory,¡± Alea interjected.

    ¡°As if I didn¡¯t know. But other than taking our chances with the Wolf-Tribe I wouldn¡¯t know where to go. And east is a very rough country near the border. So southeast it is.¡±

    ¡°You would know best.¡± Mireille shrugged. ¡°Geography was planned for next semester.¡±

    ¡°Ha.¡± Calvin grimaced and breathed deeply. ¡°So. Gather your things and be quick about it.¡±

    Alea looked at Butler One, who went and dismantled the tent in record time.

    ¡°Would have given much to have something like this when I was still a student.¡± Calvin looked impressed. ¡°And where is this special cat now?¡±

    ¡°Shall I call it?¡±

    ¡°Do it. I want to know what you did this time.¡±

    Concentrating, she easily found the connection, and then there was a cat winding around her ankles, rubbing it¡¯s midnight black fur on her boots.

    ¡°This is it? Ah, I see. It¡¯s an Alp. It¡¯s a nightmare being that gains strength by killing people in their sleep, suffocating and tormenting them to gain more energy. I¡¯m horrified and impressed at once. Keep it away from me, you hear? But it would make a very good scout, so don''t dismiss it for the moment. You are certain that you can control it?¡±

    ¡°There seems to be no issue there. The spell came from the jewel.¡± She raised her wrist.

    ¡°The gift that keeps on giving. I don¡¯t think we have the time to discuss that further, but discuss it we will!¡± Calvin gestured. ¡°All of you, fall in.¡±

    And then he adjusted his backpack grabbed his staff tightly, and walked into the woods, away from the path they had used. The rest of them walked behind him in single file.

 Venturing forth

    ¡°When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.¡±

    - Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

    ¡°How did you know what that cat-thing was?¡± Mireille was the only one that wasn¡¯t breathing hard. Even Calvin was a bit out of breath. Age and lack of exercise combined to rob him of his vigor.

    ¡°They are rare, certainly, but the more common monsters are usually killed by the local authorities, and mages are only needed in exceptional situations. Alps, on the other hand...can be a mite troublesome. Finding them and then catching them. Nearly impossible for someone without magic. So we academy mages get to see them more often than their scarcity might suggest.¡±

    They had been walking for hours now. And despite the somewhat light-hearted banter, the group was subdued and very aware of the fact that they were getting farther and farther away from their goal while being hunted.

    Alea was stumbling by the time they finally stopped for a rest by midday. Butler One had taken her arm while also hefting her backpack and other supplies, but it was barely enough.

    Alyssa looked around and stretched. She felt fine actually. The dark magic suffusing the country replenished her more than any rest could ever do.

    ¡°So, eat something even if you don¡¯t feel like it, and then we rest for half an hour.¡± Calvin rubbed his hands together and warmed them on the gently glowing tip of his war-staff. An old trick he had copied from some older mages that were normally good for nothing more than swilling beer and gossiping. But sometimes, they had useful wisdom to impart.

    They sat under the bare branches of a willow tree overlooking a frozen forest lake. The winter sun shone from above, and the brilliance of the ice was nearly too much to bear for long. A coldness brushed her cheek, and with a sigh, a weight settled on her neck as the dead cat draped itself around her shoulder. ¡°Is something the matter?¡± Alyssa whispered and turned her head to look at the Alp.

    Green eyes fixed on her amethyst orbs, then drifted to the side, fixating on something in the forest. Claws slowly pierced through the coat, pricking her flesh as the feline vanished into the dappled shadows of the trees.

    ¡°There is something in the forest!¡± Alyssa stood up, stuffing the rest of the bread into her mouth. Patting her gloves against each other to get rid of the crumbs, she focused and, after hastily swallowing, intoned the spell for Dusk-Eyes and, quickly after that, the Shielding Mists.

    She felt the void energy long before she saw anything as a prickling cold much more acute than mere temperature.

    Breaking branches, heavy but muffled thuds as hooves hit the snowy ground.

    Bursting from the woods a good two dozen skeletal horses wreathed in the merest hint of darkness broke from the forest as branches whipped at them and bushes were trampled flat. The riders were skeletons wearing rusted armor held together by spite and darkness. Pitted weapons were raised with mechanical discipline. The first among them wore a crown of tarnished silver, and the remnants of scraggly hair brushed his shoulders. Empty eye sockets glowed with pale green light.

    ¡°Take cover behind the trees!¡± Calvin shouted as he brushed along his staff, gathering fire energy forming it into an incandescent ball.

    Mireille conjured lightning around herself and brandished a sizzling spear of electric blue.

    Alea began a long incantation, gathering radiant energies.

    Alyssa threw herself to the side as a javelin thudded into the ground where she had been standing. Cyrus shielded her with a scaled wing.

    Racing forward, lightly maneuvering with supernatural grace through brush and trees, the undead riders reached them. The crowned warrior stopped behind the other riders and the bare skull adorned with a deathless grin regarded them indifferently.

    Mireille jumped over one of the oncoming horses, rider and all, and with a flick of her weapon, burst the ribcage in a thunderous explosion sending the spine, skull, and arms spinning to the side.

    Alea was not ready as they reached her; Butler One grabbed and threw her behind a tree, where she fell on her backside, grimacing more from humiliation than pain.

    A flaming sphere impacted another group sending gouts of flame and steam into the air but the darkness around the horses intensified, and black energies flared around the fist of the wight before the rider broke through the fire and smoke to bear down on Calvin.

    Alyssa clenched her teeth and raised her left hand. Unnoticed by herself, she grinned wildly as the jewel in her wrist began to suck in copious amounts of mana. An incantation forced itself through her throat, bruising vocal cords not made for the words she spoke.

    Her will formed tendrils of midnight black, shooting into the approaching undead, hitting their cores. The white became blinding while the black deepened into an abyss bereft of color, like a flash of lightning in reverse. The darkness throwing out shadows of light.

    ¡°KNEEL!¡±

    Dead horses broke down and pressed themselves to the ground. The riders made of bone not held by any sinew, with earth, and grit frozen to the too-pale bodies, bowed their heads.

    The crowned wight looked at her. He was the only one still standing. A sigh blew through the clearing and over the frozen lake. And then he spoke, his voice a scratchy hiss.

    ¡°My time has passed. My soul is sunk in darkness, and yet they pull me into the light. What do YOU want from me, little girl? There are no dreams, no hope for me. But I have hate aplenty. Dare you use it, use me?¡±

    Calvin held the ball of flame tethered to the warstaff and raised an eyebrow while taking a step to the side. He was confident that they would survive the encounter but less so that it would be without injuries. So he hesitated.

    Confronted by the intense stare of the wight, Alyssa stumbled over what she wanted to say, and silence spread. The undead shifted and gripped his mace tightly.

    ¡°I need your help. My enemies are the people that raised you. If that is sufficient to make you submit, tell me. If not...I think your former comrades won¡¯t help you anymore.¡± Swallowing, she squinted against the glare of the sun on snow.

    The wight scoffed at that, ¡°It matters not. I will have my revenge this way or another. Little girl, you reek of power, and yet you are soft as cotton. Which is true? Which is false? It will be amusing to see.¡± His gaze lingered, and then he nodded, ¡°I will follow you, for now.¡±

    ¡°You...mean that? You really want to have those¡­¡± Calvin made a sweeping gesture losing control of his fireball but thankfully dispersing it relatively safely.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Alyssa did not know where her calm came from. ¡°I need more protection. And I will not go back to the fortress. I have to go west.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you!¡± Calvin shouted and then, remembering the situation, looked at the tall wight seated on the skeletal horse warily. ¡°We should talk.¡± Seeing the interest in the wight''s eyes and the other skeletal riders getting back up, he continued, ¡°Without the audience.¡±

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°I have to kill the lich queen!¡± Alyssa shrunk back after her outburst.

    The undead warrior laughed with a grating sound. ¡°You might have overwhelmed the weak bindings with your own magic, but that is nothing before the might of the Heartstealer. I dare say even this power is not wholly your own.¡± The light in his eyes dimmed. ¡°Keralis Erh. Those bastards. Good that I have nothing to lose anymore. It matters not to me. But if you want to continue living, you should listen to the girl. I feel the power beyond the mountains grow with each passing day, and if it is not checked soon, all of this will fall under her sway.¡±

    ¡°You talk too much.¡± Calvin ground out. ¡°And she is still a student. There will be others to take up the fight- She most certainly will not need to!¡±

    ¡°That is a bold opinion. Of those here, she is the only one that could compel the husks and me. What makes you think another fireball would have had more effect?¡±

    ¡°She is still a girl. There are armies, squadrons of mages back in the capital.¡±

    ¡°Yes. And if I remember anything from my former life, there they will stay, isn¡¯t that right? The nobles will protect their lands, and then they will protect the crown. It is always the same. Not that I begrudge them their self-interest, but she is here and willing. She has power, and perhaps she has a chance. Honestly? You will all die horribly and be made into my likeness.¡± He laughed again.

    ¡°Good that you are having fun.¡± Calvin fumed.

    ¡°What he said is not wrong, isn¡¯t it? All this time, the threat of Ulsolm was known, and nothing was done about it. In Firswending, they said- It is contained. Meaning that it is not bothersome enough to really do something about it!¡± Alyssa interjected.

    ¡°They sent all those to the north they thought had no future, no potential.¡± Mireille walked up to them and said. ¡°If they really wanted to end the threat, they wouldn¡¯t have done that, wouldn¡¯t they?¡±

    Alea was hiding behind Butler One and between her hands hung the eye construct made of light glyphs.

    ¡°You did not ask, but I think our alliance warrants it. My name is Calmund Gotthard von Nordmark.¡± The wight spoke.

    ¡°Nordmark?¡± Alea asked and inspected him.

    ¡°What¡¯s so strange about that? They used what they had on hand. Where do you think they would have gotten an old war-wizard like me? From the royal crypts¡­?¡±

    ¡°I only thought you might be my great-grandfather.¡±

    ¡°Mh. When I look at you, I see some of my lineage in you. What¡¯s your name, girl?¡±

    ¡°Alea von Graufurt.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Graufurt, that backwater.¡± If he still had lips, he would probably have wrinkled them. The tone was scathing.

    ¡°And Nordmark is looking very good lately?¡± Mireille looked at him with a combative expression.

    ¡°They ruined it. The lands are soaked with void, and the peasantry are dying. If the war does not finish it the undead will. My grandchild is a power-mad idiot. Those lands here will become a waste, a monument to greed and stupidity. On that, we are agreed. Makes Graufurt no less an unimportant speck on some map.¡±

    ¡°We are really taking those undead along? Really?¡± Calvin sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s much safer this way,¡± Alyssa said quietly.

    The wizard shook his head and gripped his staff, and waved for them to follow.

    Alyssa felt the tendrils connecting her to the dead. The bond to the wight was tenuous at best but strong enough that she would realize him breaking it before he did so. At least, that was her hope. Sending a mental command, the rider spread out into the surrounding forest, following along without being so visible. She thought it best not to burden their friendship any more than necessary. The wight was not so considerate and rode alongside them, his gaze boring into her back whenever she was inattentive.

    <hr>

    Evening found them at a small village. The gates stood open, and a large pyre had burned on a snowed-in field before the low palisade. It seemed to have been some time ago. New snow dusted the black ashes with some blackened bones in between.

    ¡°Who goes there!?¡± A shout from a guard came from a rickety tower made of three tree trunks lashed together in a tripod configuration with a small wooden platform on top. There was a tarpaulin stretched over some wooden poles offering a little shelter beneath which stood a man clad in dirty furs with a bow held in hand.

    The wight stood back with the skeletal riders inside the forest''s edge. It had taken some convincing by Alyssa, which did nothing to alleviate Calvin¡¯s worries about her having enough control.

    ¡°Travelers seeking shelter for the night!¡±

    ¡°Stand where I can see you!¡± And then the guard called down, much softer this time, ¡°Quick! Close the gates! Them¡¯s bandits!¡±

    ¡°We are no bandits! We simply prefer a roof over our head if possible!¡± Calvin called.

    ¡°They heard us!¡±

    ¡°We have some money and can pay!¡±

    ¡°They want our money! Is the gate not closed yet!¡±

    Calvin put his face in his hands.

    An older woman walked up to the slowly closing gate and raised a hand which made the as-of-yet unseen persons stop.

    An aged but melodious voice sounded, ¡°Christoff, don¡¯t be so hasty. If they meant us harm they would hardly let us close our gates in peace. And if I¡¯m not mistaken, those are the colors of Kronenburg¡¯s Academy. Am I right?¡±

    ¡°Madam! Good to hear a reasonable voice! We are cut off from our colleagues and simply want shelter for the night. We can pay and be on our way by next morning. Hardly a bother at all!¡±

    ¡°Come closer. Then we will discuss this without shouting it to the whole forest.¡±

    Walking up to her, they saw that behind the ill-fitting branches bound together to form a gate stood a group of young men armed with pitchforks and spears. The older woman nodded at them in greeting while inspecting them cautiously but without apparent hostility.

    ¡°I am Myra. And what comes closest to an elder around here? The former village chief was sadly killed by undead and lies with those that had risen in the field beyond.¡± She motioned at the burned patch of ground. ¡°If you don¡¯t cause trouble, I will not send you into the woods. Traveling as you do, you should know the catastrophe that has befallen us.¡±

    Calvin nodded at that.

    ¡°Do you have any news if someone is doing anything about this?¡±

    ¡°I fear the answer would disappoint you. The kingdom is beset on all sides, and I fear their help will take some time. The Nordmarks¡­¡± He gauged her reaction, and as he saw the tightening of her eyelids, he nodded and continued. ¡°Are responsible for it all.¡±

    ¡°I feared as much. Come in.¡±

    They sat together in the largest hut, eating some warmed-up soup seasoned with dried roots. The tales they had to tell were grim, and the atmosphere depressed.

    Finding an empty hut was not difficult as the population was a mere third of what it had been in autumn.

    Alyssa gazed into the dying embers of the fire still burning in the hearth, huddled with Alea and Mireille beneath several blankets while Calvin kept first watch. The shadowy cat eyed her from the shadows blinking once and then vanishing into the darkness. Cyrus was lying across her feet, nearly cutting off her circulation, and she shifted to make his position more comfortable.

    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± Mireille asked softly.

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alyssa turned and regarded her friend.

    ¡°It will be an early departure. You should try to get some rest.¡±

    ¡°I know. But I can feel them in the forest, and Calmund is restless. I feel his thoughts. He remembers blood and fire and battle. He once killed some strange green folks out in the mountains.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell him not to disturb your sleep?¡±

    ¡°As if he would listen.¡± Alyssa perked up a bit and shifted closer, the warmth making her drowsy enough that even the dreams of the old undead did not hold her back from drifting off to sleep.

    <hr>

    Vanessa pulled Iseret forward, and with a shimmer, they both appeared in another patch of forest. It was night-time, and an owl hooted in the distance. On a hillside to their left drifting clouds of ice-crystals denoted the presence of frost-wraith, and the vampire marked their position in her mind before comforting her friend. ¡°It will get better if we do it more often. The astral plane is very inhospitable, but I think I have learned to give you breathable air?¡±

    Coughing while trying to stay silent, Iseret nodded. ¡°That is true, but the dust¡­¡± She coughed again. This time her hands were flecked with a bit of blood. ¡°I fear the dust is corrosive or contains some shards of metal or crystal or both.¡± She coughed again, more softly this time.

    Vanessa looked alarmed and spoke a short spell glowing water rose around her raised hand, and with a touch, flowed along the graceful arc of Iseret¡¯s neck before soaking into the skin briefly illuminating it in pale blue and pink. ¡°Better?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°We should not be more than a quarter of an hour behind the girls. Let us make haste and see what they have been up to.¡±

    <hr>

    In a trackless expanse of emptiness, a blackness that was the absence of every color and light, sat a girl with pale white hair and eyes the color of a storm at dusk. Before her sat a cat made of frost and shadow. ¡°Good little kitten. Was it hard? Did it hurt?¡± The girl petted along the lustrous black fur. ¡°How is she who is me? She never calls for me anymore. It is so lonely.¡± The hand brushing along the cat''s flanks tightened a bit, and with a hiss, the creature vanished only to reappear some undetermined distance away. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to play, go back and protect her. I don¡¯t want to see her here too soon.¡± The girl pouted.

    Singing to herself and turning her head away in a silent dismissal, she rocked back and forth while hugging her knees. The cat blinked glowing green eyes and vanished into the darkness.

 Volstedt

    ¡°Travel far enough, you meet yourself.¡±

    ¨D David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

    Vanessa entered the village before Iseret and observed the bored-looking guard taking a patrol inside the palisade. The nights were unnaturally cold, and even a determined guardsman would find it difficult to persevere in the single watch-tower only barely shielded from rain and snow. So after a quick look, the young man quickly crunched back through the snow inside the house closest to the gate shutting the door firmly. The small thud of the latch falling in place somehow sounded relieved.

    Waving for Iseret to follow, the two of them went to the house that emanated the tracking marker that Vanessa had put on Alyssa months ago. Perhaps she should refresh it sometime soon. The vampire shook her head and dissolved into mist before quietly opening the door from the inside.

    Butler One tilted his head before resuming his silent vigil beside the mound of blankets in the one-room building. Calvin slept on a ledge above made for storage but comfortable enough. The fire had long gone out, and only the quiet breathing- and light snoring from above- were audible.

    Iseret raised an eyebrow at Vanessa and whispered, ¡°What about those undead riders?¡±

    ¡°They had Alyssa¡¯s mana signature. The wight is a headache, though. I cannot be sure of her ability to keep control of him.¡±

    ¡°Mh. That is, all in all, better than I feared. Shall I accompany them in the morning or wait for you to wake in the evening?¡±

    ¡°And who might you be?¡± A male voice, a bit hoarse from sleep, came from above. ¡°Mh. You are Alea¡¯s maid, aren¡¯t you? Don¡¯t remember the name, sorry. But you...you were at the battle of the Exhibition, weren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°That...is correct. You can call me Vanessa. And she is Iseret.¡± Vanessa looked up and nodded in greeting. For a moment, she had relief at her friend''s wellbeing overwhelm her common sense. ¡°I am sorry for intruding so rudely, but I had to see if my friends were well.¡±

    Calvin grinned and saw the last of his ward disintegrate into small specks of light. He had spelled one hinge of the door to alert him if it was opened. The spell used only a little power and was very hard to detect.

    The girls had taken a lot of blankets and built a sort of nest before the hearth. The single, wide bed had seemed dubious at best, with the straw not aired for months.

    Calvin removed the wand he had been pointing at the door but still held himself at the ready. Jumping down, he nudged Mireille with his left foot causing her to grumble in her sleep and turn to the other side. His left eyebrow twitched as he nudged her again, this time with less gentleness.

    ¡°What?¡± Mireille shot up, dislodging Alea, who had snagged the middle position this time, forcing her to startled wakefulness too.

    ¡°We seem to have guests. Do you know them?¡± Calvin did not remove his gaze from the two intruders.

    ¡°Ah, Vanessa, Iseret. Good to see you caught up.¡± Then with a more petulant tone. ¡°Did you have to get here so late? I was just dreaming and coming to a good part!¡±

    The wizard relaxed as he saw Alea nod toward him, not interrupting Mireille¡¯s monologue. ¡°So, you know each other. That makes it simpler. You are no maid...and you...are not a girl either. What are you?¡±

    Vanessa sighed. ¡°A friend of the three. We met on the road, you could say. And we share a similar goal. To end the threat of Ulsolm once and for all.¡±

    ¡°Grand words. And I would be surprised and incredulous had not a certain person.¡± His eyes rested on Alyssa. ¡°...not said the same. Pardon me if I will remain vigilant. We are not in a safe situation, but for now do you want to stay here with us? Two other huts could serve as shelter. The people here had many losses, and there are a few houses freshly vacant.¡±

    ¡°We would like to stay here for a short while and talk. Iseret? Will you stay with them for now? I will be alright.¡±

    Unreadable yellow eyes fixed on her own, and there was a hint of discontent before Iseret lowered her face and nodded. ¡°It might be for the best.¡±

    ¡°...it¡¯s just¡­¡±

    ¡°...that you are faster without me and the winter woods no place for snake-folk. I know.¡±

    Calvin snorted and held a hand to his mouth to stifle his mirth while Vanessa looked at Iseret half-exasperated and half-guilty.

    When she thought no one would see her hand quickly went and rubbed her larger friend''s back.

    Now that all of them had woken, they sat before the fire, freshly fed new wood, and discussed future plans.

    ¡°I have to go west. I cannot wait for all of this to become better on its own. It¡¯s only gotten worse and worse.¡± Alyssa stated.

    ¡°I would really have liked for you to finish the academy at least.¡± Vanessa looked dissatisfied. ¡°Your chances at accomplishing anything are abysmal.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget us!¡± Mireille pulled Alea closer, who tensed but then let the older girl do what she wanted.

    ¡®She has a good chance as it is. She only has to reach her. And that is where you and her friends come in.¡¯ Asandria spoke. Heard only by Vanessa and Alyssa.

    Calvin rubbed his forehead. ¡°I do get the urgency, but I cannot fathom why you think you should be the ones to go and end a centuries-old lich. Is there any reason I should take that seriously?¡±

    ¡°Alea has the blessing of a god. Mireille and I are very good with our respective magics, and I have bound to me an old elven sorceress. At least the spirit of one. That assures me it is possible.¡±

    ¡°A ghost? And they are never malicious and try to get people killed?¡± Calvin shook his head.

    ¡°This ghost is trying to kill the Heartstealer. That much is true. And if she says there is a way, I¡¯m inclined to believe it. But it does not sit well with me either.¡±

    ¡°Do you think in terms of pure magical might, even if we prepared for a lifetime. That it would be enough?¡± Alea spoke up.

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    Everyone was silent after that.

    ¡°She has troops, subordinates, the whole Nordmark fief. And we have...us. So why don¡¯t we try?¡±

    ¡°Because you only have this one life. If you throw it away on such a mad gamble¡­¡± Calvin sighed again.

    ¡°What if we don¡¯t go? The Heartstealer intensifies her attacks, Nordmark attacks the realm. The undead plague we are facing. All of this. Will it really be alright? Should we wait until it is more hopeless still?¡± Alyssa argued.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it is that bad yet.¡± Calvin began.

    ¡°Oh, but it is.¡± Iseret leaned forward, placing a hand on Vanessa¡¯s arm as the smaller undead was also going to speak up. ¡°I have information from the capital and it is all bleak. Rebellion in the coastal cities. The pass to Rivenlorn under attack by undead. The void-born undead plague reaches outside Nordmark lands. The Wolf-Tribe have declared war while the northern army''s command is disorganized. There is probably more, but the method of contacting me relies on brevity.¡±

    Silence descended, only broken by a crack as a sap pocket inside the firewood burst in a shower of sparks.

    ¡°I will go.¡± Alyssa declared firmly.

    ¡°Then I will go too.¡± Mireille seconded her.

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alea nodded in affirmation.

    Iseret smiled and imperceptibly leaned towards Vanessa, who sighed and nodded too. ¡°Alright, I will help.¡±

    Calvin opened his mouth once, closed it again, and then sighed.

    ¡°Every time you sigh, happiness leaves your body. At least that¡¯s something they used to say where I grew up.¡± Mireille shrugged.

    ¡°I will sleep on it.¡± The wizard finally said non-commitaly.

    After that conversation, it was hard finding back to sleep, but as they woke Vanessa was gone, and Iseret seemed more taciturn than usual.

    The elderwoman was a bit surprised at Iserets appearance but, as they were leaving, did not press them.

    Walking out of the palisades with the sun at their back, they made relatively good time following a barely visible trail, only detectable because of the thick branches above having shielded the ground from too much snow.

    <hr>

    With the sun descending toward the mountains, they finally left the woods. Calvin had a complicated look on his face as he saw the distant town overlooking the snowed-in farmland with houses scattered in between.

    The wight and his riders silently melded with the shadows between the trees.

    ¡°We seem to have reached Volstedt. And are much too far west for my liking.¡± Anticipating protests, he raised his hand. ¡°Yes. I know. You want to go there. But I have responsibilities to the Academy and the two girls I picked up. I think we should disguise ourselves as best we can and try to enter the town to see what¡¯s what. Afterward we can always split up, or you could become sensible and come with me.¡±

    ¡°Or you could come with us. Whatever happened with the academy group is long since over.¡± Alyssa tried to persuade him.

    ¡°Or they could really use our help. We can¡¯t know at the moment.¡±

    Iseret was very proficient in mundane disguises, while Calvin knew a few illusion spells. Covering up the most obvious signs of allegiance- the academy badges and changing up the uniforms was largely sufficient- they neared the town. Guards stood at the gates, having not much to do as there were few travelers.

    ¡°Halt!¡± One of the guards, a portly fellow, raised his hand and called. ¡°I need to know your occupation and intentions for visiting Volstedt.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a traveling mercenary mage. Those here are my apprentices.¡± He pointed at the three girls. ¡°And this here is a fellow warrior of fortune.¡± He indicated Iseret.

    ¡°That will be a silver per person, and you should make your way to the recruitment office near the barracks. The country needs every able-bodied man and woman.¡± He pointed at a stout, blocky building looming over the smaller residential houses to the east of the town. ¡°And keep your beastie to yourself.¡± He gave Cyrus a wary look.

    ¡°Will do.¡± Counting out the money they paid and entered.

    The town seemed lifeless, the windows shuttered for the most part, and only here and there people hurried along the deserted roads.

    ¡°The void has not fully reached here. It will get much worse when it does.¡± Alyssa looked around.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you mean- if?¡± Mireille shook out her shoulders sore from the backpack she was carrying.

    ¡°It will slow down with time, but I don¡¯t see it stopping for a while yet.¡±

    Calvin only looked at them, listening to their discussion. For a while yet, he had seen a boy following them. If they did not need supplies, he would not have gone near the settlement, but what¡¯s done is done. Speaking a spell under his breath, he reinforced his clothing with a touch of mana. It would not turn a spear but could stop a lighter projectile, like an arrow or bolt.

    Reaching the market square, they saw two inns and a tavern, but all of them seemed dark and uninviting. Marching up to the first one they came across, they entered into the dimly lit interior. The common room was mostly empty apart from a rotund merchant accompanied by a younger woman wearing well-made traveling clothes, his wife or daughter perhaps, and three guards sitting at the table beside them. An old man sat at the bar and was nursing a cup of uncertain beverage.

    Behind the bar stood a lean man in his fifties wearing an apron. He polished a drinking glass that did not seem in need of such attention while looking bored. The floor were close-fitted, age-darkened wooden panels. The ceiling was held by massive wooden beams.

    The merchant looked at them warily but nodded a greeting. The innkeeper seemed cautiously happy to see them and gestured for them to come closer.

    ¡°New in town? Names¡¯ Thym. Thym Vaulkner. Can I get you something? Food, drink. A room for the night, perhaps?¡± Close up, the man had dark rings beneath his eyes, and his left hand was twitchy as if nervous.

    With only a quick look at the rest, Calvin began to answer when Iseret nodded and said, ¡°Yes to all three. We need the room for one night only.¡±

    When the wizard gave her a questioning glance, she shrugged and answered, ¡°We might separate tomorrow.¡±

    Suppressing a sigh, Calvin nodded. ¡°I will pay for one room and meal. Please bring me a flask of ale, too.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a room with space for four?¡± Iseret asked.

    ¡°Mh. We do have a room fitting ten. But at the moment, it is empty. So I could let you have it for the price of two double rooms. What do you say?¡±

    ¡°Acceptable. Please bring us something warm to eat as soon as possible.¡± Iseret turned and ushered the rest toward a larger table.

    Sitting down, they soon saw a stout barmaid walk over with a pot of stew and some bowls. Putting it all on the table, she came back twice more to deliver ale and a pitcher of water.

    Finally eating something cooked properly was very welcome.

    Pushing her bowl away, Mireille stretched and yawned sleepily. Some sparks flew between her fingers, which she did not seem to notice. The merchant blinked in surprise, and his companion shrank back against his side.

    ¡°Mireille. You are making sparks.¡± Alyssa said seriously.

    ¡°Mh. Really?¡± Rubbing her eyes, Mireille looked at her blearily. ¡°I feel so tired suddenly.¡±

    ¡°You ate three full bowls.¡±

    The door slammed open, and four guardsmen entered one after the other. Stepping inside, they let their gazes roam over the few customers and the innkeeper, who put away his glass and cleaning rag, to walk around the bar clasping his hands nervously.

    ¡°Thym.¡± An older guard addressed him.

    ¡°Bert. What do you need? Can I bring you something to drink? Something hot perhaps¡­¡± Before Thym could talk further, the guard shook his head and raised his hand.

    ¡°Where is Rachel? You know she has been drafted and had until today to make arrangements.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t she at the barracks? I sent her off myself?¡± Thym smiled unconvincingly.

    ¡°Is that so? You don¡¯t have any problems with us looking, do you?¡±

    ¡°Of course not. Feel free...but¡­¡± He stopped at the glare of the older guard.

    ¡°Go.¡± The three younger men that had stood against the door took that as their cue to walk quickly toward the back. One going for the kitchen and two going up the stairs.

    Mireille seemed a lot less sleepy all of a sudden and looked at Calvin. ¡°What is that all about?¡±

    ¡°It seems his lordship wants to increase the ducal army by illegal means. Or he needs people for something else.¡± A memory of a fort at night. The dead piled into the courtyard like firewood. ¡°I hope it¡¯s only the first.¡±

    ¡°And what have we here?¡± The older guard walked up to them, grinning without any apparent mirth.

 Insurrection

    ¡°A little rebellion is good now and then.¡±

    ¨D Thomas Jefferson

    The gaze of the older guardsman was covetous as he inspected the high-quality gear of the group, especially Calvins. ¡°What are you doing in our fair city?¡±

    ¡°Just passing through. Perhaps we will seek employment in the province capital.¡± Calvin replied with equanimity.

    A shrill shriek sounded from above, probably female, followed by some laughter.

    ¡°Mh. Seems I will not have the time to chat any longer. Keep yourself clean.¡± He turned and walked toward the tavernkeeper. ¡°So. You never knew she was still here, did you?¡±

    From above came the sounds of a short struggle, then one of the two guards that had gone up came down again, manhandling a thin human woman less than twenty years of age.

    ¡°Rachel!¡± The tavernkeeper quickly circled the bar and walked up to them. ¡°Are you hurt?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you heard me clearly.¡± The guard that seemed to be in charge grabbed his shoulder. ¡°Did you know about her desertion?¡±

    ¡°She is only an hour or so late! There was never an attempt at desertion!¡±

    Mireille was quietly fuming as the young guardsman, a man with dirty brown hair cut roughly just below his helmet gripped the young woman making her cry out in pain.

    ¡°What seems to be the problem?¡± Calvin shoved his chair back and stood before other more hotheaded persons could make the situation deteriorate.

    ¡°Keep out of this, mercenary. What¡¯s your interest anyway, it¡¯s not as if she has any money to pay you with. Or are you interested in her other ¡®goods¡¯?¡± The old guardsman looked mock-surprised.

    The woman, a teenager really, was dark-haired and slim. The resemblance to the tavernkeeper was visible at a glance especially the somewhat larger nose and full lips.

    Her searching gaze found Alyssa¡¯s as she struggled with her own reaction. ¡®Stupid!¡¯ Alyssa scolded herself internally as she rose and stood beside Calvin who gave an almost inaudible sigh.

    From Mireille, a crack could be heard as lightning discharged into the table from her clenched hand.

    The guard realized that something was wrong and took a step back while calling, ¡°Hans! Claude! We have a problem!¡± Muttering something under his breath dull, leaden-grey metal began to form around his hands crawling up beneath his sleeves while bulking out the fabric of his coat. ¡°If you go back to eating we can simply pretend this never happened. But if you try to interfere you will get what¡¯s coming to you!¡± The insincerity was nearly oozing from his smile. Calvin sighed more audibly this time.

    The other two guards came from the back room and the upper floor respectively looking harried.

    ¡°That was quick.¡± Iseret slowly rose to her feet with a laconic half-smile. In a low voice, she addressed the group. ¡°Do we interfere? We will be targeted anyway.¡±

    The young woman took the chance as the guard holding her was distracted shaking free of his grasp and called out to Alyssa, ¡°Please! They force people to be branded, and most of them die!¡± A heavy hit on the back of her head made her bite her lips and blood flowed over her chin.

    ¡°No one can brand people by force! The celestial council ruled about that decades ago!¡± Calvin seemed really angry now.

    ¡°She is simply a draftee for the militia. Don¡¯t listen to her nonsense.¡± The metal had reached his throat by the time he finished speaking.

    ¡°I only wanted some ale.¡± Calvin sighed, even more deeply this time. ¡°Girls. I won¡¯t stand in your way.¡±

    Mireille was off like an arrow her feet and fists wreathed in lightning. An uppercut to the unprotected chin of the guard who had molested the woman put the man decisively out of the fight.

    The Leader grimaced, the metal had already reached his chin, and ponderously lifted the mace at his side. Alyssa spat some arcane words before ripping a hole into the void. Ice spread over the wooden planks of the floor and caused the breath of those present to steam. Eyes widening while his pupils shrank from the adrenaline the older guard swung at her, but the mace simply vanished into the darkness and different from all the times before, did not emerge on the other side. Ripping it back ice-vapors followed, and the head of the weapon trailed flakes of rust, the surface pitted and worn, spikes blunted.

    Alea stumbled back from the fight gesturing for Butler One who took a few quick, jerky steps. The man out of the kitchen hacked with his shortsword earning only sparks from the blades extending from the Butlers¡¯ arms for his troubles, and with a deft turn, the automaton circled around the stumbling figure as bladed appendages came to rest at the guardsman''s chin where a subconscious movement sliced several superficial cuts into his throat. Trembling in fear he froze. The eyes were very white beneath the helmet he wore.

    The second guard that had searched the upper floors cut at Alyssa from the side blasting a shower of sparks from his left hand at Calvin who tried to intercept. As the blade neared she tried to duck to the side but was hampered by the chairs and tables. A cat made of darkness ran between her assailant''s legs causing him to stumble. The creature vanished with a hiss as Cyrus pounced from above. ¡°No! Don¡¯t kill him!¡± Alyssa shouted, but it was already too late as the stinger plunged into the meaty part of the left shoulder piercing the tabard and cheap-looking chain beneath. Ripping it out the wyvern clawed at the defensively raised arms before gaining height with two heavy wingbeats shoving half-empty mugs from the tables to shatter on the floor.

    Blood spattered on the ground.

    Screaming, the man let go of his sword while grabbing for the wound, frothing with black poison. Stumbling back, he began to convulse.

    A flash of fire blinded the now completely metal-encased guard, and with a stumbling turn, his weapon and forearm plunged into the darkness of the second seal. For a moment, he seemed to be fine, then he too, began to scream, ripping his arm back from the black oval. The mace was missing this time, and the fingers curled around each other like the legs of a dying spider. The metal was already disintegrating, vanishing in small bursts as his concentration failed. The arm beneath was pale and shriveled, the clothing ripped and worn.

    The innkeeper had grabbed the woman and pulled her back from the fight, eyes widened in fright.

    Alyssa felt the cat, the Alp, and the small creature''s satisfaction. Cyrus was confused why she had stopped him. And beneath all that, she felt a familiar bond, bleeding frost into her arm and chest. The guards seemed to be well in hand, so she let go of the spellform. As the oval began to grow transparent, she saw a hand reaching for her, and a face looked back at her, features as familiar to her as what she saw in the mirror. Then it was gone.

    Mireille looked at the innkeeper and Rachel and called, ¡°Are you alright?¡± The young woman nodded from behind the man.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    The merchant, his wife, and the men at arms in their employ had shifted back toward a corner of the room, and the merchant was talking hurriedly with his men.

    ¡°I did not even get to drink a single mug of ale.¡± Calvin looked at the ground where slowly thawing beer was seeping into the straw-strewn planks.

    ¡°Let¡¯s ask what¡¯s happening here,¡± Alyssa suggested.

    ¡°Mh. I think so too.¡±

    Iseret had taken position behind the metal-branded who was cradling his right arm, trying to massage some life into the withered limb.

    ¡°They are collecting corpses. And after seeing the state, the woods are in with all the dead waking, I cannot think it a coincidence. Nordmark is in full rebellion and doing who knows what to its own people.¡± Calvin spoke into the room, no longer caring who heard him.

    The merchant gasped and blotted his sweating forehead. The soldiers were grim but unsurprised while the tavernkeeper swore softly to himself.

    A face pressed to a window in the back quickly ducked out of sight as Iseret looked in its direction. ¡°We had someone watching. Might not have as much time as we think.¡± The snake-woman quietly remarked.

    ¡°What shall we do?! I don¡¯t even know who you people are!¡± The tavernkeeper shook from residual nerves.

    ¡°Put those people into the cellar first and tell anyone looking that they could not find her and went to look for her somewhere else,¡± Alyssa suggested. ¡°Bind them first!¡±

    The man nodded and then visibly struggled before asking, ¡°Could you take Rachel with you? I don¡¯t know what to do! She can¡¯t remain here, and the friends we had are dead or cowed by the guard.¡±

    ¡°We cannot take her with us!¡± Calvin adamantly refused.

    The back door suddenly opened, and a stout man in his fifties entered. His bald pate gleamed in the light of the candles and his muscular arms stretched the fabric of his shirt and thick woolen coat nearly to a breaking point. Behind him were several men and women visible only briefly until the door swung close. He had the appearance of a prosperous craftsman or perhaps a foreman with a mallet at his left and a long hewing knife at his right.

    ¡°Brecht? What are you doing here? The lord''s men are looking for you all over!¡± The tavernkeeper exclaimed in surprise.

    ¡°The name¡¯s Brecht, Langhold Brecht. And you are just my kind of troublemakers. I can help you get away, and it¡¯s the least we can do for your help with that scum.¡± He spat at the downed guards. ¡°Come with me, and perhaps we have even more in common.¡± His voice was gravelly and slightly hoarse-sounding as if he used it more to shout than talk. ¡°We can take them off your hands, Otto.¡± A disinterested gaze roamed over the merchant and his guards. ¡°All of them.¡±

    ¡°And who are you exactly?¡± Mireille asked with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Just told you.¡± The man grinned and turned his head to look at her.

    ¡°That tells me nothing¡­¡±

    Before she could continue the Tavernkeeper named Otto interjected. ¡°He is a renowned builder and mason here in Volstedt but as the new orders came he argued and tried to resist. He was caught and imprisoned before breaking out and is now wanted in the whole county.¡±

    ¡°Nice of you to think so well of me.¡± Langhold grinned more openly now, then raised his hand and pointed at the merchant who was steadily walking toward the front door. ¡°You will wait until I have spoken to you.¡± The former jovial demeanor became a lot colder.

    Iseret nodded and, after seeing that there were enough people to subdue the guard-leader walked up to the merchant and his wife and guards. ¡°I don¡¯t think you have anything to worry about, good sir, but if you tell the guards, the good Otto here would have a problem, so we cannot allow that for now.¡±

    The thoroughly intimidated merchant grabbed his wife''s hand and retreated toward his guards, nodding all the while. ¡°Honey! We did nothing wrong. How can we let them arrest us?¡± The wife exclaimed but was soon shushed by the still trembling husband.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Langhold nodded toward Iseret. ¡°Far from home are we?¡± He took in her scales and eyes, the claws on her hands.

    ¡°Not so far from the home I chose.¡±

    ¡°Ha! Good answer. Let¡¯s grab those people and get out. If we are still here when the guard decides to come looking, we will have a real fight on our hands. I hope you can trust me insofar as we have common enemies.¡± Brecht nudged the guard-leader, still cradling his injured arm.

    Calvin nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go and hear you out. I¡¯m very interested in what you have to say.¡±

    Otto said a tearful goodbye to Rachel, not without scolding her for not hiding properly, and then the group went out the back. The men and women they had glimpsed as Brecht had entered were still standing in the narrow alley, the surrounding houses leaning over and shading the roughly cobbled ground. Open sewers were thankfully frozen this time of year were overflowing with trash and nightsoil.

    ¡°They are friendlies,¡± Langhold said laconically and gestured. ¡°Fall in. We go to the old house.¡±

    The men eyed them suspiciously but otherwise did not bother them. They grabbed the subdued guardsmen and surrounded the merchant and his wife and men at arms. They wore patchwork armor, not of the shoddy kind but simply bits and pieces as if the contents of an armory had been unevenly distributed between them. Some held halberds or spears, and some carried crossbows, loaded and ready to fire.

    A middle-aged brunette woman with an ugly cut across the side of her neck, still red and not completely healed, looked at Calvin and the girls lingering on Iseret and Butler One. ¡°What did you find this time, Brecht?¡±

    ¡°Either a solution or a whole boatload of trouble.¡± Grinned the heavyset man.

    ¡°Seems to be more like the latter¡± With an unladylike snort, she tipped an imaginary hat before introducing herself. ¡°The names¡¯ Isolde. Former owner and proprietor of the ¡®Kiss¡¯, not that I expect that to mean anything to you lot. Nice to meet you.¡± A stiletto hung from her hip, and she wore a low-cut purple dress showing off her ample bosom with a furlined but cheap-looking cloak.

    Walking down the alley, two younger men jogged ahead, looking carefully around the next street corner before waving them on. The clatter of a shutter was the only sign of life as someone pulled it shut at their coming. The town seemed like it was empty, even though some houses¡¯ had smoke drifting straight up from the chimneys into the still air.

    The maze of streets, never planned but grown over time, led them farther into the outer regions near the walls. An old house rising above its newer neighboring buildings came into view. A crumbling, partly fallen wall enclosed the whole sorry structure.

    The group, numbering around a good dozen people plus the captives, Alyssa, Mireille, and friends, were quickly ushered into the spacious antechamber by a harried-looking older woman wearing conservative servant''s clothes. ¡°Brecht! How could you run around in bright daylight? The bounty not enough deterrent for you? Are you daft?¡±

    ¡°Tilda, my dear. Your nephew saw something remarkable, and I decided it was high time to take some small risks. Don¡¯t be angry. It was all for the best.¡±

    The interior was paneled in old, worn, down wooden planks. Some carpets lied about haphazardly while old paintings in varnished flaking frames hung from the walls. A staircase led to the upper floors, of which there were two, and several doors led deeper into the building.

    ¡°Follow me. Tilda, do we have some tea left? It¡¯s colder than Zygmund¡¯s arse out there!¡±

    With the group slowly piling inside, the relatively spacious room was soon filled to capacity. Tilda, still grumbling, led them into a dining room. The adjacent houses blocked the pale winter sun, and the dark wood swallowed what light remained casting the chamber in gloom.

    Brecht unceremoniously spoke a command, and several light-globes flared to life. ¡°Enter and have a seat if you would.¡± The merchant, men at arms, and wife were escorted to somewhere in the upper floors while the captured guards were led into the cellar.

    Some of the men and the woman called Isolde took some of the chairs and sat down. Calvin nodded and did the same, with the rest of the group following suit.

    Silence descended as everyone looked each other over. The men that were still in the room were one older mustachioed gentleman in fine clothes looking for all the world like a librarian to a rich noble, ink-stains on his hands and a monocle hanging from a chain around his neck. The other was a younger man with the bearing of a soldier or a fighter with a heavy saber hanging from his hip and reinforced leather armor protecting his chest and upper arms. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, he cut a dashing figure. The woman, Isolde, was not as old on second glance as she had seemed at first but dark circles rimmed her eyes, the wound on her neck and relatively thick make-up combined to make her look older. Perhaps an intended effect.

    Calvin broke the silence first and asked. ¡°So, what do you think we could do for you?¡±

    ¡°I recognize a magician when I see one and can surmise you probably are a part of the academy. What I propose is simple enough. Most of those you saw have been unwillingly branded, and we would like to free those that have been forced the same as us. They are still held in the barracks dungeon, and with them and the militia, we propose to take this town from the sons of beasts and bastards that call themselves the Nordmarks.¡± Brecht leaned back and breathed deeply after this outburst.

    ¡°And why do you think the militia and those other branded would follow along with this plan highly likely to result in their death?¡± Iseret asked.

    ¡°How many people do you think this town has?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Humor me, please.¡± The eyes of the muscular mason were cold.

    ¡°Two, maybe three thousand?¡± Calvin guessed.

    ¡°There are perhaps a bit over a thousand left. Of a population nearing three thousand. The rest were taken, killed, forcibly branded, or pressed into the army. Many died from the branding. And that, my potential friends, is reason enough. More than enough.¡±

 A walk in the dark

    ¡°You seem to think that the only genuine existence evil can have is conscious existence - that no one is evil unless he admits it to himself. I disagree.¡±

    - Gene Wolfe

    Isolde grabbed a cup and a pitcher of beer to fill it, then drank it down, only to fill it back up again.

    ¡°Isolde, what¡¯s got you in a hurry?¡± The blonde man asked disapprovingly.

    Brecht slammed down his cup and cleared his throat. ¡°To be honest, we don¡¯t have much of a chance right now. The Duke has everyone cowed by threat of violence, and all those who resisted have been killed, conscripted, branded, or a mixture of all. The men that hate him nevertheless have to serve him. There is no choice but servitude or death. But when offered a way to get even, to rise up. They might well take it.¡± He grinned his habitual grin. ¡°And when I heard little Josh say he saw you put down those guards like it was nothing...I knew it was the only chance we have. As I mentioned, there are still a lot of branded imprisoned in the barracks, and with the new recruits under guard and in training still, we could free them all, and with a bit of luck, they fight with us.¡±

    ¡°Things must be pretty desperate for you to pick some schoolgirls from the street for your rebellion.¡± Mireille raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I am no fool. At least I sure hope so.¡± Langhold stroked his chin while looking at her. ¡°You travel to Volstedt during the harshest winter in years. You are obviously mages or branded. All of you. You have an automaton, and you fight when threatened instead of giving up as every ¡®normal¡¯ traveler would. Ergo, you are no normal travelers. Before all this madness broke out, I heard that there would be a training event for the Academy of the Arts of Kronenburg. Luck played a role in my getting that information, but everything else is simple deduction. So. You are probably students and a teacher?¡± He looked at Calvin before continuing, ¡°Perhaps on a mission...no then you wouldn¡¯t have acted so recklessly. You are separated from your fellows and seek to get back. But you are no trained soldiers or spies and so you help out of a sense of justice. With that said, I offer a chance to do some good. With risk to life and limb and with a possibility of getting aid for you in return.¡±

    He leaned back. ¡°That is my offer and my request. What do you say?¡±

    The rest were silent. The blonde man looked critically at the group of girls accompanied by two adults and a construct. Isolde grinned quietly and drank her third ale.

    Alyssa looked at Calvin, who seemed to have a headache, and cautiously said, ¡°I think it would be for the best. The academy group was under attack as you told us and could use a breather. If we help this rebellion succeed, then it would follow they could not put as much pressure on Fort Wolfsbane and the academy group.¡±

    ¡°Look at it from my point of view.¡± Calvin rubbed his forehead. ¡°If one of you dies or is crippled while fighting the town garrison. I hate to even think about that. I am responsible for your safety! Yes, we are already involved but not to the point of fighting a war.¡± Gritting his teeth, he continued. ¡°But I think you are right. What I have to confirm first, though, is what we are facing and if they are really branding the unwilling. If that is true, they deserve death. Each and every one of them.¡±

    ¡°When I was branded in Saintscrossing, they did not explain a whole lot about it. It seemed more like a matter of course.¡± Mireille looked at the fuming Calvin and felt a bit strange.

    ¡°That is normal.¡± Langhold shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know of any army that tells its soldiers honestly what awaits them. But here, it¡¯s not just press-ganging but also killing them in a horrific manner. As you have been branded, you should know what happens when there is not enough compatibility. And imagine that happening to hundreds. The actual number of persons able to bear a brand is about one in ten. And if you thoroughly prepare and test for it normally, no one dies. But as times are hard, it is not that unusual for it to happen. But this here is a travesty, and I can only echo your teacher''s sentiment. If you want to see for yourself, then I can show you. There is an old slaughterhouse that has not seen use in some time where they throw those they kill. Can¡¯t waste anything, can you?¡± He grimaced. ¡°Isolde will guide you. It¡¯s near her former establishment.¡±

    ¡°Why me.¡± The woman in question whined.

    ¡°He already told you to get up and make yourself useful as something other than target practice. Hurry up!¡± The blonde man disdainfully eyed the still angry-looking cut on her neck.

    With a sharp look at the still unnamed blonde man, not seeming nearly drunk enough for all her earlier theatrics, Isolde stood up and shrugged. ¡°Well then, who will come with me? I suggest some of you stay here.¡± She eyed Alea and Butler One. ¡°Not to be unfair, deary, but I doubt you could be stealthy if your life depended on it. And you¡­¡± She looked at Iseret, inspecting her exotic features. ¡°I nearly said something stupid.¡± She grinned. ¡°You will do just fine.¡±

    Calvin rose and dusted off his pants. ¡°Well. Alyssa, Mireille? You coming too? Or is it Iseret and me?¡±

    Alyssa looked uncomfortable and finally answered, ¡°I would like to remain here with Alea. As you said, nothing against you fine people, but I don¡¯t want to leave her here alone.¡±

    ¡°I can understand that. Rolf here¡± Brecht nodded at the blonde man. ¡°Will accompany you to your room where you can wait for your friends to come back. If you are still hungry from your interrupted dinner, I can have someone give you some food first.¡±

    ¡°My name is Rolf Baerken von Maarn. And I¡¯m no servant!¡± The blonde man called Rolf apparently gestured angrily.

    ¡°But for your money and family, you wouldn¡¯t even be here.¡± Isolde shook her head and patted Mireille on the arm gesturing for her to follow.

    ¡°I can hold my own against anyone!¡± Rold stood and looked after her, fuming.

    ¡°Yes, you are good with a blade, but sometimes I wish your proficiency extended to some manners as well.¡± Brecht smiled wryly to take some of the sting out of his words.

    Alyssa looked at Alea and interpreted her slight frown as a signal to go themselves. ¡°Thanks for the offer, but we ate enough. I have no appetite at the moment. If you could show us to our room- rooms? We would be grateful.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Then come with me.¡± Rolf stood and walked to the stairs in the entrance chamber leading to the upper stories.

    Calvin, Mireille, and Iseret accompanied an only slightly drunk Isolde to a door leading outside.

    The cold hit them as soon as the door fell shut behind them. Shivering, Mireille fumbled with another mana crystal, inserting it into a metallic pocket sewn into her coat. Soon, new warmth began circulating through the metallic threads woven into the fabric.

    Calvin adjusted his collar pulled the hat he was wearing deeper into his forehead, and gripped his staff showing that he was ready.

    Iseret let her gaze roam over the buildings surrounding the old house and then shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Isolde walked ahead while keeping silent. The streets, empty as they had been since coming into town, took on a more desolate air as the reason for the lack of traffic became known. A loose shutter banged against the wall, driven by the wind that had risen again come evening. A dog barked somewhere behind some houses to the right. A single gleam of light escaped between drawn curtains painting a thin line of light on the house on the opposite side of the street.

    Dusk had come and gone while they fought with the guards and talked to Brecht afterward, so it was near total darkness, safe for the light of the stars and the few pinpricks of light like the one from the window. It seemed no one wanted to draw attention to themselves. Isolde never hesitated, seemed to have very good night vision, familiarity with the area, or both, and never backtracked or hesitated.

    Ahead of them, the glaring cone of light from a bulls-eye lantern shone done the main street they were nearing. The side street they used was merely a somewhat open gap between the haphazardly built houses. Sometimes, they even met one or two stories above. Volstedt wasn¡¯t big exactly, but it was old and venerable, and the houses were built tall as the town¡¯s charter did not allow for an expansion of the city wall- a common problem with smaller towns in the outer duchies. The royals did not want them to become too prosperous.

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    Isolde gestured, and her hand briefly flashed with subdued flames pointing to a shadowed doorway with an overhanging roof. Joining her, Mireille, Iseret, and Calvin pressed themselves against the stonework and waited. Four men in the colors of the Nordmarks walked past them, one lantern at the back and one in front. From where they were standing, they could hear some fragments of a quiet conversation accompanied by the clanking of arms and the crunch of boots on snow.

    ¡°...eer! And that was flat as Miss Winsfeld.¡±

    ¡°...hear that! She will tan your hide.¡±

    ¡°...amily?¡±

    ¡°...mother is on her way to the capital. Thanks to the new regulations.¡±

    ¡°...mh.¡±

    Then they walked around a corner, and the voices became incomprehensible whispers on the night wind.

    Isolde gestured again, limning her hand in the barest hint of fire, granting a flash of visibility in the total darkness beneath the wall.

    Soon they stopped again, and Isolde looked around cautiously.

    A shadow was visible for a fraction of a second, and a blue-green eye winked from beneath a dark hood before vanishing in the darkness. A smile tugged at Iseret¡¯s mouth before she gave a barely perceptible nod and focused on following Isolde again.

    The area was older, and the buildings mostly in ill repair as they reached a low wall circling a small compound. Two buildings loomed above the cramped yard a few dozen yards along and across, blocky and functional. An old gate was tightly locked. Isolde gave it a speculative glance before she jumped for the top of the wall and pulled herself up with unexpected strength and agility.

    The rest followed, and soon they stood before large mounds of snow piled higher than the surrounding walls. With hesitant steps, Isolde walked up to the nearest one and then gently brushed the powdery snow from whatever lay beneath.

    The four friends were hardly surprised as a hand was revealed smudged with old blood. Burn scars crisscrossed from the upper arm to said hand, coming from a somewhat familiar symbol, especially to Mireille. It seemed to be one of the lesser brands, useful only for those with low affinities.

    Soon a head and another set of hands, then a leg, were freed from the oppressive snow. The wind hummed along the walls of the surrounding buildings, with the odd snowflake twirling along. Stars shone coldly from above, illuminating the large mounds. Their steaming breath was lost in the breeze. As Isolde turned and looked at them, something seemed to glitter in her eyes, and she quickly turned back to silently gaze over the yard and the heaps and heaps of snow and bodies. The main building with the large gate leading into the main workshop was not closed, and inside, there seemed to be some humanoid figures leaning against the sturdy tables where in times now past, animals were butchered and sorted for later use.

    Rubbing angrily across her face, Isolde hissed, ¡°Seen enough?¡±

    Calvin swallowed dryly and nodded before realizing she couldn¡¯t see him and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back. Tomorrow we will talk.¡±

    Lightning coursed along Mireille¡¯s veins and discharged with a rasping crackle into the snow, melting a circular hole before she got a hold of herself.

    Iseret sighed and remembered the small bodies buried in shallow graves behind the great temple where the desert hyena or jackals soon dug them back up again. All those that fell too deeply into the poisoned dreams of her Who-Is-Many-And-One. She remembered the boy that had been in the carriage that had driven them to their fate. He had cried so hard that he fell unconscious. She had tried to calm him and, in doing so, mostly calmed herself. He had not been there when they were taken from the snakes'' embrace. That day so many years ago. Old bite scars twinged in remembered agony.

    ¡°What about the undead in the workshop?¡± Iseret whispered, and a bit of magic carried her words to her friends without going further.

    ¡°Not now.¡± Calvin bit out and then walked back to the wall.

    ¡°Undead?¡± Mireille looked around warily, a bit of lightning creeping along her hands.

    Iseret softly took her by the arm and led her behind the receding figure of Calvin. ¡°There are some in the workshop. I think they are not the wild kind but created for some purpose. I think Calvin is right not to bother at the moment. Let us concentrate on ending this new atrocity.¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile, at the townhouse, Alyssa sat down heavily on the mattress stuffed with straw and then quickly shifted her seating to avoid the straw poking her backside. The room was small and probably meant for servants. There were two bunk beds with a total of four straw mattresses with some coarse blankets thrown on top. There was a musty smell probably from the damp and cold, without much ventilation. She rubbed a bit of the fabric between her fingers and winced at the prickling sensation. Even so, it would be much better than sleeping on the forest floor.

    Alea tidied up the bed opposite and inspected Butler One for damage, after ordering him to re-sharpen his armblades she too, relaxed.

    ¡°Are you ready to kill town guardsmen?¡± Alea asked quietly. ¡°I know we had to do it before, but this time it will be much worse, I fear.¡±

    Alyssa looked out of the small window, the glass was frozen over, and ice flowers bloomed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I think it will be no problem.¡±

    Silence fell and both busied themselves sorting through their supplies. With metallic rasping noises, Butler One used a whetstone to remove some small scratches from his blades.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Alea spoke again after a while.

    ¡°I think so?¡±

    ¡°Do you still have potions left?¡±

    ¡°There are two that are still unopened.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s...less than I had hoped.¡± Alea petted Cecily.

    Cyrus was busy grooming his wings but lifted his head at the tension in the room, and one large eye blinked slowly at his mistress before he resumed his ablutions.

    ¡°I had to drink one yesterday. Taking control of the wight and his riders was more taxing than I first thought.¡±

    ¡°I am not surprised that it was taxing, merely that you thought differently,¡± Alea said archly.

    ¡°It is not as if I raised them all myself, and I was there when the necromancer wasn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Probably the reason it worked at all.¡±

    ¡°No, that was the strange part. It wasn¡¯t that hard. The jewel did most of it.¡± Alyssa brushed her fingertips over the crystal inset in her wrist, feeling its smooth coolness.

    ¡°If you want me to, I can have a look. I have been learning about soul magic since we got the notes from Willibald, the gnome. And I think my grandfather left me something in the form of Butler One. I have had some dreams where he taught me.¡±

    ¡°That is the first I hear of that. Are they pleasant dreams?¡± Alyssa looked at Alea curiously.

    ¡°Nostalgic, I would say. But there are techniques, spells that I can now use, which I never learned in the Academy. Some are merely the completed versions of some disjointed writings in the notes; some are different altogether.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound displeased or alarmed.¡±

    ¡°I loved my grandfather. I forgot him, and I think that was his doing, but now that I remember, I know he was the most important person in my life. It is slowly coming back, but inside the dreams, I can meet him, talk with him as if he never left.¡±

    ¡°I wish I could see my mother again.¡± Alyssa looked at her friend enviously. ¡°I mostly remember only a pale shadow of who she was. Do you know that feeling that you only remember remembering? That it is like a picture drawn from a picture, not the original at all? I only know that she was our light. And when she died, she took all of it, all that light, and nothing was left. My father was like the white moon always illuminated by her while having none of his own.¡± She smiled sadly.

    With a ¡®snick¡¯ the blades retracted into the metallic arms, and with a soft whirring sound, Butler One stood back against the wall, waiting for when he would be needed next.

    Alea raised her hand and then, not knowing what to do with it, let it fall on the bed again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±

    ¡°You need not. You think that you could help me with your light magic? But will it not hurt me more?¡±

    ¡°I think I can use it very carefully in conjunction with arcane magic, and then there should only be a bit of discomfort. Vanessa could help too.¡±

    ¡°We should try it then when we are no longer actively threatened. There might not be enough potions left. We won¡¯t have the opportunity to go back and use a proper laboratory if we are to press on to confront the lich queen. Even saying that, I feel ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°That is something only you can know. I don¡¯t see or hear Asandria, and she is the one insisting we have a chance.¡± Alea shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m very sure she means it too.¡±

    Time passed, and the beds were soon tidied up, their belongings still packed for a quick getaway if necessary.

    Footsteps neared the door before someone rapped against it once, opening it soon after. Mireille walked in looking grim. Behind her came Iseret and Calvin.

    ¡°Did you find the proof?¡± Alyssa asked, somewhat intimidated by the tense and silent atmosphere.

    ¡°Mh. Wasn¡¯t hard. They don¡¯t think they have to hide. At all.¡± Calvin said in clipped words.

    ¡°They simply threw them in an old slaughterhouse¡¯s yard.¡± Mireille sounded disgusted.

    ¡°I am sorry you had to see that,¡± Alea said quietly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let anger cloud your judgment. The rebels are no innocent daisies, either. But they probably mean...mh...if not well at least they are no genocidal maniacs. I think we should rest for the night and then talk more tomorrow. But before we go to sleep and you worry too much- Yes, we need to do something.¡±

    ¡°Where are you sleeping?¡± Mireille asked Calvin as she prepared her own bedding.

    ¡°I will ask if they have another room close by.¡± The wizard grumbled.

    Soon everyone was settled.

    ¡°Do you think the bed is big enough¡­?¡± Mireille asked from above.

    ¡°No.¡± Answered Alyssa heartlessly.

    ¡°But it is sooo cold.¡±

    A rustling sound could be heard, and then Alyssa was pressed against the wall. ¡°I said no! The mattress is bad enough without half-lying on the wood of the bed-case!¡±

    The protest went unheeded, and the warmth was welcome. Alea looked at them a bit enviously.

    And then there was only quiet breathing and the wind rattling the shutters.

 Preempted

    ¡°But as she and Rin had both discovered, the battles were easy. Destroying was easy. The hard part was the aftermath.¡±

    ¨D R.F. Kuang, The burning God

    When Vanessa thought back to the fall of the elven empire, she mostly remembered the courage and dedication but also the hopelessness and sacrifice. Not to say that elves were much better than humans, as was shown by her betrayal and the submission of her people under the rule of the lich. But the longer lifespan and greater magical abilities led to a more distant approach to life. Not driven by short-term ambition but able to think, plan and live for centuries took the urgency out of it all.

    Sometimes that led to an unhealthy feeling of superiority, that nothing short-lived could matter more than personal whims and plans decades in the making. There was no shortage of arrogance, cruelty, and simple lack of empathy in her people. But the sheer scale of self-destructive malice she was witnessing here was astounding. And amid it all, the guards she was observing were joking about dinner and the weather.

    The courtyard she was looking at from the rooftop of a two-story building across the street was large and ill-kept. The snow was deep, and great drifts of it lined the walls. Broken training dummies, and a wrecked cart lent a deserted air. The soldiers were mostly away fighting the Tribes or the Academy. Only a token garrison was left.

    A large barracks stood at the side, forming an L shape with the main building while half-enclosing the area. A tower stood on the free corner opposite overlooking the town. The flag of Nordmark hung stiffly frozen over the main entrance, and powdery snow was blown in eddies and streams from the rooftops down into the yard. A group of guardsmen was standing near the large gate surrounding a brazier containing glowing coals. Each gust of wind let them flare up for a short time only to settle down into a dull orange again.

    With a thought, her form vanished into silvery mist drifting along the currents of the wind before entering through cracks beneath a door.

    Should she kill them all and be done with it? She felt wards still active in the stone, and there should be at least some branded and one or two mages left. More than enough to contend with townsfolk or the odd guard finding their conscience. But enough to stop her? Probably not. But killing them all in their sleep would not go well if they then needed those that wavered, the ones going with the flow. She and her friends would leave. And then?

    Thinking that those she thought to spare were those that stood beside the captives as they were branded and most of them killed.

    She sighed.

    As she was presently a drifting mist, only some cutlery clinked in a sudden breeze.

    Down she went, down a steep, broad staircase ending at an iron-banded portal. Light briefly flared as old wards reacted to her presence. Coalescing back into her corporeal form, she studied the inscriptions. Nothing too complicated but well-built and often reinforced. The last time that had been done was a few years ago though. She grinned and incanted several spells before touching one rune slightly more worn than the rest. With a soft crack, the stone shifted, and dust rained down. Looking across her shoulder, she listened briefly and then turned back into mist. When this night was over, she would have to feed.

    This time nothing barred her way, and she entered a large room made for processing prisoners and serving as a guard room the rest of the time. A lone older guard sat at one of several tables playing disinterestedly with a pair of bone-dice. Throwing them again and again, they rattled across the uneven surface of the tabletop. Two lanterns mounted on the walls to the side glowed with magelight. The floor was roughly polished, natural stone. A few spears were unceremoniously stuck in a barrel beside which a chest with some cudgels rested on the ground.

    Brushing his bristling mustache, the man scratched his ample stomach and leaned back, the chair creaking alarmingly. ¡°Shit, it¡¯s damp in here.¡± He rubbed his left shoulder and stood up to throw another log into the fireplace. Several dark doorways led deeper. The air was cold as the proverbial ice-cellar.

    Dark downward-sloping corridors led further beneath the building. One to the right quickly ended at a portal made of the same iron-banded wood as the one she had already passed. And yes, there were the runes again. To the front was another dark passage with iron bars set into the walls to the sides leading into single cells. If there had been someone, he or she would have died of the cold long ago, so she quickly passed them, her hands twitching as she mouthed a detection spell. Void burned through her veins. The suffering those cells had witnessed lingered, one on top of the next in a melange of pain.

    She frowned, that was much worse than she had expected, but it was not a problem for her. But living prisoners exposed to it would die much faster, and they might even give rise to ghosts and spirits.

    Turning toward the portal, she cracked another two runes before the wards were feeble enough to let her pass.

    Those were better cells meant for a better sort of prisoner, probably. Now the former single rooms housed groups of people from men to women. Old and young.

    Vanessa listened to the tired murmurs drifting beneath the doors. There was some sobbing and cursing but muted. This smaller tract held dozens of people. Then she felt it. Crude magics pressed at the edge of her mind. Holding Branded and be they fresh and untrained would be a veritable hazard if not for enchantments that had been hastily used in the rooms. There was no finesse but much power through the liberal use of mana-dust.

    Everything she needed to know had been answered. If they felt the need for those measures, the people behind the barred doors were most likely unsympathetic to the current regime and at least somewhat able to do something about it. And that was most of what she came to find out.

    Listening to the quiet sobbing, she nodded and, hesitating for a second, turned to go. If she forced an entrance, she would likely manage to destroy the ward and she could always simply break the door. But then? Staging a prison escape in the middle of the night without further planning would be a fool thing to do.

    But there was one thing she thought she could still do. Fangs lengthened, and her thirst, her need intensified. Flashes of runic light ringed her vision as the old spells she had enchanted herself with stabilized her will, and with a shrug, she turned back into mist before drifting back the way she came and then higher into the main building.

    <hr>

    ¡°Captain Lixa?¡± The cautious knocking became firmer, ¡°Mage captain? Is everything alright?¡±

    Light fell through several framed windows with somewhat bubbly glass, nevertheless of high quality. The rays painted streaks of pale light over thick carpets. A four-poster bed stood at the wall opposite the door. Paintings, mismatched in style and theme, hung from the walls, some in expensive-looking frames. There were many, and some leaned against the walls.

    In the middle of the bed lay a tall, middle-aged man, one hand stretched toward the nightstand where a short stubby wand rested. His eyes were dried out and broken. The mouth twisted into a rictus of pain. Dark hair was spread across the pillow, the quilt thrown aside, half-revealing a night shirt underneath. Blood soaked the formerly white sheets, and the throat was torn open, exposing the white bone beneath.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Dust motes danced in the early morning sun.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming in! There have been some incidents.¡± The door rattled against the deadbolt, and a surprised voice sounded again. ¡°Captain?¡± And much softer. ¡°Quick. Get me the second lieutenant.¡±

    Outside, the pale winter sun shone on Volstedt, glittering in the frozen snow.

    A shriek rose from a window in the upper stories before being dispersed by the wind.

    ¡­

    Brecht nodded at them and then proceeded to eat the warm porridge. The dining room they had used for yesterday''s first meeting was also used today.

    ¡°And? I know perfectly well that this is rushed. But I cannot believe you would not want to travel further toward whatever goal you have, and I, as well as my colleagues...¡± He motioned with his spoon toward Isolde and the blonde Rolf who were sitting on opposite sides. ¡°...would also not tarry any longer than absolutely necessary. We could be found at any moment, and supplies are scarce. The outrage and hurt are still relatively fresh, but with some time, many will probably elect to flee rather than fight, which simply will not do.¡± A hard gleam entered his eyes.

    ¡°I think I speak for everyone here.¡± Calvin glanced at the girls and Iseret. ¡°When I say that we would prefer to do to something, it would depend on the chances and what we are up against.¡±

    Munching on the porridge, Brecht nodded and swallowing said. ¡°There is maybe a score of guardsmen left. There is a captain who is an accomplished magician¡ªformer mercenary and icemage. Then three other mages are in the position of lieutenants. They are needed for the branding ritual and so responsible for much of the horror you witnessed. Then there are the fresh recruits. Those that could be cowed with threats or promises. Of those, there are perhaps two-three score. Many of them are branded, but the majority are lesser talents fit only for a firebolt, a windblade, or even less impressive magics. And they are nearly untrained. We should try to gain their support and kill or imprison the other soldiers before liberating the town. As it stands, Nordmark is rebelling, and hopefully, we could rejoin the kingdom to receive support.¡±

    A heavy thud came from the front door. Muted by distance and the room''s door. Then it came again. ¡°Open up! In the name of the duke, open up!¡± The banging intensified.

    Brecht raised his gaze from the bowl in front of him. ¡°It seems our plans must be implemented sooner than I would have liked.¡± He nearly drawled the last words and then took a napkin to clean his hands and mouth. ¡°Well? What are your thoughts?¡±

    The banging ceased, and then muffled words sounded directly after the front door shook violently. Wood cracked and splintered. Shortly after, the side door groaned as a body collided with the normal-seeming wood, only to rebound with a cry of pain.

    ¡°Tsk.¡± Brecht frowned.

    Calvin¡¯s gaze bored into the builder''s face. ¡°And you have nothing to do with this? It would force us to take action and fit your plans to a t.¡±

    ¡°Who interceded on behalf of the innkeeper''s daughter and killed a guard? I seem to recall that this was nothing I conceivably had a hand in.¡± The napkin was thrown onto the table, and Brecht stood.

    ¡°Let us free this town!¡± Mireille rose from her chair shortly after, followed by Alyssa and Alea. Iseret had positioned herself beside the door to the entrance chamber without anyone noticing.

    ¡°Bah. You win.¡± Calvin grabbed his staff and stood. ¡°We have a town to liberate.¡± And with a softer tone. ¡°And don¡¯t think I did not realize you knew they were coming.¡±

    Alyssa concentrated, and her connection to the wight intensified. Vaguely she saw sunlight filtering through bare branches and a snow-covered forest floor. Dark amusement flashed through the link as she focused on transmitting her wishes. ¡°I called the wight. He will make a distraction at the southern gate.¡±

    ¡°We will talk about making unilateral decisions when this is through.¡± Calvin ground out.

    Alyssa grinned. ¡°There is no time!¡±

    They heard a heavy crash from the front door, and wood clattered on the ground.

    Brecht grinned fiercely and concentrated, mouthing a command word. Granite covered his arms and hands while his features became more rugged and his skin color darkened into gray.

    Isolde spoke a spell, and flames coalesced into a thin blade hovering before her pointing finger. Seeing the surprise in Calvin¡¯s eyes, she bit out acerbically. ¡°What? The whore can¡¯t be a sorceress?¡±

    They waited beside the door as several sets of feet tramped through the entrance chamber, some going up the stairs. There was a crash as another door was forced open.

    ¡°Idiots, that wasn¡¯t even locked.¡± Muttered Isolde.

    Then the door to the dining room was wrenched open, and two guardsmen walked inside, stopping at the sight of Brecht standing opposite the door covered in stone and dust.

    ¡°What the fuck! Branded!¡± One of them shouted.

    Brecht smirked and answered, ¡°If you lay down your arms, we will not harm you. We fight for Margrinar and against¡­¡± He did not get to finish as a crossbow bolt struck his chest, cracking the skin but not penetrating further. Dark blood, the consistency of molasses, slowly welled from the cut. ¡°Is that your last¡­¡± Another bolt shot into the room, missing Brecht despite the short range and embedding in the plaster behind him.

    Iseret moved nearly too fast to see, and the guard furthest into the room grabbed at his throat while gagging. Blood soaked into his dirty shirt, dying it bright red. His partner standing a bit behind and to the side, screamed as a short-sword seemingly materialized from his flank angled upward beneath the ribs. While the first guard fell to his knees, desperately clawing at his cut throat, the second tried to flee, only for the sword to be ripped from his side, gushing blood in a crimson jet. He stumbled once and then fell, dead or unconscious.

    ¡°Help! We need help! Mages!¡± Someone outside shouted.

    Alyssa was covered in dark mists while Mireille sparked with suppressed lightning. Alea was standing behind Butler One light magic circling her wrists.

    A conflicted look passed over Alyssa¡¯s face as she saw the guardsmen scrabbling to escape the doorway. That lasted until a lanky man with dirty blonde hair and a deformed nose raised his hand, summoning a flaming sphere she knew to be a fireball.

    With a shiver, she had a vision of the fire engulfing the room and her friends, and with a quickness, she later found astounding summoned the abundant void magic between her hands, spreading her arms with ripping motion while foregoing most of the necessary chant. The result was much better than feared as the wall between dimensions ruptured and void spilled forth. The men and women in the stairwell saw the darkness spreading, and long tendrils like the feelers of a sea anemone grasped at them. The man invoking his fire-brand hastily threw the fireball, which vanished into the blackness with nary a ripple.

    Iseret took a quick step to the side, her own divinely gifted magic shrugging off the effects of the unleashed void. A temporary flicker of unease vanished to be replaced with her usually stoic demeanor. Screams from the entrance chamber echoed strangely while passing through the black oval. The jewel in Alyssa¡¯s wrist glowed with dark energies.

    Mireille took a step closer before cautiously putting a hand on her friend''s shoulder, causing her to flinch. ¡°Alyssa. Don¡¯t overdo it. There are more of us than only you. You don¡¯t have to kill yourself so we can safely be idle.¡±

    The doorway was nearly filled with waving tendrils of darkness, and only flashes of fire could be seen along with the screaming and soon the sound of several people running.

    Letting go of the spell, the oval collapsed. What was new were the black motes of unlight drifting like ashen flakes on a nonexistent breeze.

    ¡°Mh. That was¡­¡± Brecht seemed doomed not to finish a sentence in this fight as the side door finally gave way to a metal-encased Branded who wielded a large axe.

    Mireille surged forward, and as he raised the axe for an overhead blow, she stabbed him in the chest with a spear made of lightning. The metal was nearly no defense against that, and sparks blew from his eyes, nose, and mouth before he stumbled back, impacting against the next guard in line.

    ¡°What is happening in there?¡± Someone called from outside.

    ¡°Rush them! The sergeant has breached the front door!¡± Another voice shouted.

    Isolde quickly swiped the fiery blade sprouting from her index finger through the doorway, and a pained scream accompanied by unpleasant sizzling noises were her reward.

    From up above, the twang of a crossbow could be heard as some of Brecht¡¯s men joined the fight as well as they were able. A bright light blossomed soon after, shining through the door as a fireball detonated on the upper floors.

    ¡°Damn it.¡± Brecht cursed.

    ¡°Alea! Could you and Butler One get our things before the house burns down?¡± Mireille cast a worried look at the ceiling.

    Calvin grasped his staff tightly and intoned a complicated spell. Birds formed of sparks, and flames materialized out of flaming tendrils coming from the tip of his staff before he pointed, and the stream of flaming crows burst outside, burning and igniting the waiting soldiers.

    Screams rose, and some began to flee as the leader outside began to order and scold them. ¡°Cowards! If you run now, only the executioner''s blade awaits you. Damn imbeciles, come back!¡±

    The man with the large axe stumbled back outside and let his weapon fall to the ground while gasping for breath and clutching his chest. ¡°P..p..please don¡¯t kill me! I surrender!¡±

    Then Mireille shot out of the door, and the commands ceased soon after.

    ¡°And?¡± Brecht asked into the sudden silence.

    ¡°Let¡¯s gather the wounded and then plan. Quickly! For what is now to come.¡± Calvin sighed. These days were certainly not to his liking.

 Blood on the snow

    ¨D Napoleon Bonaparte

    Mireille pulled her fist back for another blow, but then it registered with her that the man calling out the orders had been unconscious probably since her first blow. Looking around, she saw several guardsmen running away down the street. A window on the opposite side of the street was slammed shut as her questing gaze met two terrified eyes looking out of a darkened room. The large axe-wielder was kneeling on the ground while holding his chest, the metal around his form slowly retreating.

    The man she had grabbed was of middling height and size, with a red-blonde well-groomed beard and proud mustache bristling to the sides. His former aquiline nose was bent and bleeding after she had hit him a few times, and a sword was lying several feet away where it had flown after she had disarmed him. The coat of arms of Nordmark adorned his tabard thrown over chainmail which may have been silvered. It was gleaming a lot brighter than the other steel she saw. Wrinkling her nose in disgust at the splatters of blood from his copiously bleeding nose she opened her grip letting him fall, rattling, to the ground.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me!¡± The large man was blubbering behind her, and a soft wind stoked the flames coming from the first floor.

    Flames.

    Mireille turned around and looked up. The fireball they had only indirectly witnessed from inside had lit one of the rooms above on fire, and smoke and sparks blew out of the shattered window frame. ¡°Shit! Anyone good with water magic?!¡± She called back inside.

    Alyssa came running outside and looked up, frowning in thought. ¡°Asandria. Do you know a spell for that?¡±

    The elven spirit looked at her. Eyes dark holes in a pale ectoplasmic form. ¡®I do. But I hardly think you able to learn it before the house burns down.¡¯

    Brecht called out for buckets and water. The order was quickly relayed by some others shouting further inside the building.

    And soon, a properly mundane bucket line was made aided by some judicious use of wind and water magic.

    Burned and injured rebels, a stout woman, probably once a maid as well as two men were evacuated outside, coughing and moaning from the pain. Alea quietly approached and whispered something gaining a nod from the woman in return before she began to incant a light-based healing spell.

    Calvin grabbed Brecht as the man began to walk back into the house. ¡°We have to make plans. Those who ran will be back with reinforcements. And soon.¡±

    ¡°That is for the best. Fighting them in the garrison is asking for trouble. Here they will not have walls or wards to assist them.¡±

    ¡°Would that we had a chance to prepare or plan for something. That would have been fantastic.¡± Calvin¡¯s eyes bored into the other man.

    ¡°They had already tracked us to this neighborhood. And because some people...¡± He eyed Calvin in return. ¡°...were very reckless yesterday. They had an easy time of it. Delaying them for one night was all I could do.¡±

    ¡°But talking about it with us was also beyond your abilities?¡±

    ¡°No. But I deemed it unnecessary. Perhaps you would have tried to leave in the night, and then we would have all the problems but no good solutions. This way we get both.¡±

    ¡°Honesty after the fact is worthless. Don¡¯t think I will forget this.¡±

    Shrugging off the hand restraining him, Brecht walked back into the house while calling back over his shoulder. ¡°They should be here in about ten minutes. The captain is a bit timid.¡± Heaving a mirthless laugh, he entered before shouting a few orders to his men.

    Alyssa looked at Mireille who was still standing beside the downed Nordmark soldier and Calvin. ¡°Arrogant ass.¡± She cursed and then looked ashamed for her outburst. ¡°He could have worked with us instead of simply using us.¡±

    ¡°He probably feared that we would no longer help when it became apparent that the whole garrison would try to arrest or kill us.¡± Mireille walked up to her while looking around vigilantly.

    ¡°Right you are, and that is why I hate politics. What he did here wasn¡¯t even a fraction of what Taberus von Grenzwald did in his term as councilor in the academy.¡± He mumbled after that, ¡°Not that that is an endorsement, mind.¡±

    Grim satisfaction flooded through the link with the wight, and the feeling of life energy flooding through parched veins elicited a gasp from Alyssa.

    ¡°Everything alright?¡± Mireille asked with a worried look at her friend.

    ¡°My wight, Calmund, has killed someone at the gates. We can expect there to be a distraction as we planned. Hopefully, it will not get too bloody.¡±

    ¡°How did he get there so quickly?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we know everything he can do. He did find us before everyone else.¡±

    The housefire was finally doused, and black smoke curled into the brilliant grey-blue winter sky.

    Iseret and Alea, accompanied by Butler One, had silently joined them in the meantime.

    Brecht nodded at them cordially, soot on his face and clothes. ¡°Not much longer, I think.¡±

    ¡°We might have someone distracting them at the front gate, so your timing could be off by a bit.¡± Mireille interjected.

    ¡°Who?¡± Brecht, his face turning serious, looked at her.

    ¡°My undead.¡± Alyssa looked at him defiantly.

    ¡°Undead. Right.¡± His eyes turned distrustful, then he sighed and looked around to make sure no one overheard. ¡°Don¡¯t talk about something like this. I might be inclined to believe the old adage of means and ends. But not everyone around here shares my practical approach. And are they even strong enough to attack a town?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We should hurry toward the gate and try to take advantage of the chaos.¡± Calvin made an impatient gesture. ¡°That was your plan all along. So we improved on it a bit. Sour?¡±

    ¡°Shit, I deserved that, didn¡¯t I?¡± His habitual grin came back. ¡°Men! We move out! Meet up at the gate and wait for my orders!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s with him?¡± Mireille looked at the guard officer she had downed, his tabard spattered with blood and smeared with snow.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Oh. That there¡¯s the son of Baron Meresvel von Volstedt zu Nordmark. But he is a right bastard in the truest sense of the word. The mistress has since passed from a fever, but she was a looker, alright. Commanded a high price in Isolde¡¯s establishment. But that is for later. Someone will take care of the prisoners, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    ¡°Keep together.¡± Calvin looked at the girls and Iseret. ¡°We cannot be separated under any circumstances. And if it looks bad retreat.¡±

    Together with Brecht and Isolde, as well as the blonde man, Rolf, they ran for the town gates. The ringing of a large bell came from that direction, so it was easy to orient themselves even as they were completely lost in the haphazardly built alleys of Volstedt.

    A group of about ten men and women attired in a mismatch of old armor, and some obviously stolen gear from the soldiers, shields, helmets, and weapons joined them, coming from a sidestreet, getting a nod from Brecht, who waved for them to fall in.

    Snow crunched underfoot. Accompanied by the sound of metal clanking, heavy breathing, her friends and her own, Alea suddenly felt hard hands subtly stabilizing and pushing her. Cecily twisted, and the dark windows and old, grey brick stone walls whirled around her before she saw the porcelain mask of Butler One. Long used to it, she did not even stumble- much. Icicles hung from the eaves, and their crystalline tips shimmered in the sunlight. Alyssa threw her a reassuring grin, even as it seemed a bit forced. Mireille was up ahead with Iseret and Calvin.

    She was unsure about the wizard, but until now, he had done his best by them.

    The alley¡¯s mouth appeared before them, and her burning thighs made her stumble. The hard hands of the automaton behind her shifted to her armpits, and heat flushed her face as she gritted her teeth at the indignity.

    ¡°P¡­.ha¡­protect me as I work my magic.¡± She pressed out, breathy from the exertion. She was in no way comparable to her older friends, even as the exercise she had gotten since leaving Grunewald had done her good in that regard.

    And then they were out on the main street leading away from the southern gate. The ringing of the bell was deafening now. Several soldiers stood on the stairs on the inside of the wall leading down the wall at both sides of the gateway, which stood half-closed. They seemed to have at least tried to keep the raiders out but failed- The undead horsemen milling about in the little plaza testament to that fact. The wight, his crown flashing in the sunlight, slammed his mace into the soldier furthest down the steps. Green-tinged magic flared, and the poor man crumpled beneath the blow thrown off the stairs and into the waiting skeletal undead below. Blades rose and fell the trampled snow shone with bright hues of red.

    ¡°Hold them off! Reinforcements are on the way!¡± A sturdy soldier with the markings of a sergeant bellowed.

    ¡°You might think about that again! We will stop any that come to help you, and only death awaits! Surrender now and spare yourself the pain!¡± Brecht took that as his cue to shout back.

    ¡°Traitor!¡± Sputtering with rage, the stout officer pointed his sword at Brecht from the platform above the gate. His face the color of a rotten tomato.

    ¡®That cannot be healthy,¡¯ thought Alea remembering the healer''s lessons in the academy.

    Alyssa, beside her, brushed her hands over her face and chest, dark mists spreading over her form. A prickle, like small needles piercing her skin with cold, emanated from those mists, and Alea concentrated on her own gate, flooding her skin with light magic. The dark dissipated instantly, and she saw her friend wince and take a step back.

    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Before the dark-haired, smaller girl could finish that sentence, a volley of bolts from a quartet of crossbowmen on the parapet slammed into the ground nearby. Diverted by some magical shields hastily raised by Calvin and Mireille. The crackling lattice of lightning was especially pretty reflected in the ice coating the buildings nearby.

    Shaking free of those thoughts, Alea took cover behind Butler One and then focused on the incantation of the lidless eye. Words in the old elemental tongue of Allisair spilled from her lips, the gate inside her breast supplying power like the sun at noon on a perfect summer day. Worries burned in that light as well as pain from her legs, and barely suppressed fear giving way to a deep calm.

    A structure made of interlocking glyphs shaped as an eye appeared before her. She had done it so often now that the motions were nearly instinctual. ¡®As it should be.¡¯ Her thoughts flashed by as minnows in a stream.

    Down the street, a larger group of soldiers could be seen half-running toward the gate, several of them encased in stone or metal. ¡®It seems they have mostly metal and stone brands. I wonder why.¡¯

    And then the construct was ready, and her magic flowed into the waiting spell matrix, empowering it fully. Pointing with her hand covered by the heavy woolen gloves seemed comical somehow, as if she were a child accompanying her mother on a winter stroll.

    Light gathered and the natural lens of the eye focused it into a thin beam lancing into the oncoming soldiers. She winced as it cut through a young man stumbling along in the first line. The energy passing through his upper body and charring the shield of the woman coming up directly behind. A shrill scream was her answer. Then there was blinding flash and a thunderous crack as a bolt of lightning impacted in the middle of the formation splintering the cobblestones and throwing people to the side while others twitched, lightning coursing through their armor.

    ¡°Focus on the officers!¡± Brecht shouted. ¡°Isolde, Rolf, stay with me!¡±

    The large builder encased in stone turned ponderously toward the onrushing group of soldiers and spread his arms, concentration twisting his features. With a rumble, the stone before him slowly rose out of the ground forming a shallow berm up to his upper legs and extending nearly the whole breadth of the street.

    Another clatter of bolts, this time accompanied by screams of pain as Mireille was focused on the reinforcements and Calvin unable to stop them all. But it seemed that this time there were only some flesh wounds. A younger woman was holding her sword arm, red spreading through the coarse shirt she wore. Grimacing angrily, still holding a short sword she brushed her dirty brown hair aside with the backhand and raised her shield higher, giving Alea a quick smile as she did so.

    The wight took several blows to his torso, and sparks and pieces of old armor flew into the air, but with a movement quick as a viper, his left hand shot forward, gripping the throat of the stone-branded before him. At first, nothing seemed to happen, then the large soldier began to scream, his shrieks getting higher and higher as he scrabbled to loosen the hold of the undeads grip.

    Alea turned away, trying and failing to block out the sound. The eye-construct in her hands filled up with brilliance once again, and she directed the energies down the road at an officer standing behind some forgotten barrels to the side of the street. His eyes lit up from within with a brilliant glow as the beam impacted the side of his head. Steam rose into the still morning air, and the man fell down like a marionette with its strings cut, his hair still burning with a bluish flame.

    ¡®Why.¡¯ Tears dampened her blindfold. ¡®Why do we have to do this? Could we have talked? Made a demonstration of power? Freed the prisoners first? Was there no other way?¡¯

    Then there was Butler One standing directly before her enveloping her with his arms, and fire blossomed behind him, coloring all in crimson. A wave of heat brushed past, singing her exposed arms. The smell of burned cloth and hair fouled the air, and screams signaled some injured. Then there was another bright flash and thunderous clap as another lightning bolt burned down the street. Cecilie¡¯s vision tilted crazily as the small mechanical spider tried to look around her face.

    ¡°We surrender!¡± A shout from the gate brought her back to the present. ¡°Call it off! Please!¡±

    Dark, metallic-sounding laughter wafted from where she knew the wight to be.

    ¡°Calmund! Stop it!¡± Alyssa¡¯s voice sounded a bit breathless but still firm.

    Another flash, another clap of thunder, and then there was the sound of running feet.

    ¡°I surrender! Please, don¡¯t kill me!¡± Several more pleading voices joined the singular shout.

    Looking down the road, Alea saw still forms lying in the street. A good dozen men and women, mostly injured-looking soldiers, were kneeling down, weaponless. A smaller group of soldiers were running down the street but did not seem to be a coherent unit anymore.

    The sun crested over the building beside her, bathing the blood and bodies in its pale, bright light.

    ¡°Victory!¡± Brecht shouted, lifting his cudgel, soon joined by his men, who began cheering.

    Isolde spat on the snow. Rolf simply raised his bloody sword over his head.

    Iseret put a hand on Alea¡¯s back, rubbing it slowly in circles. ¡°Don¡¯t look too close. Wait for them to call for a healer. You did well.¡±

    Calvin was looking after Alyssa and Mireille, the latter with a complicated expression on her face.

    ¡°So we won?¡± Alea regained her breath, wincing at some smaller burns where her gloves met the sleeves of her coat.

    ¡°There might be some left in the garrison, but I think that¡¯s a foregone conclusion.¡± Iseret raised her yellow-golden eyes, the slitted pupils shrinking in the light. ¡°So I guess you could say that.¡±

 Brought low

    ¨D Plato, The Republic

    Calvin shook Alyssa¡¯s shoulder and whispered in her ear, ¡°Not the time to have philosophical discussions. Send the undead outside, perhaps have them hide in the woods again. They were quick enough just now.¡±

    Alyssa frowned, ¡°And if we need them? Brecht has more and more men. See, there are some soldiers defecting, joining his rabble. What if he does something we don¡¯t like?¡±

    ¡°Do it!¡± Calvin said in a clipped tone before turning and walking toward Brecht.

    Somewhat hurt-looking, she turned to her friends and saw Alea rubbing at tears running from her blindfold. ¡°Alea! Are you hurt?¡± She walked to her friend who flinched at the contact with the dark mists still coiling around her body and with a gesture she dismissed the lingering effects of the spell.

    Iseret had been tending to Alea before and the snake-woman''s eyes held a mix between appreciation and pity. As if seeing something precious but sad.

    Mireille grabbed her left arm leaning against her side. ¡°Puh. That was rough.¡± With her left hand, she brushed the sweat from her forehead, smearing the blood from a cut on her scalp all over her face.

    Distracted from Alea¡¯s plight Alyssa grimaced and grabbed a handkerchief, ¡°Wait! You are bleeding.¡± Dabbing at the worst of it she cast the waters of life under her breath conjuring a light drizzle of glowing water washing away grime, blood, and the wound itself.

    ¡°Ah! Thank you. That feels much better already. What happened to Alea?¡± Mireille focused on the teary girl and let go of Alyssa¡¯s arm before grabbing Alea by the shoulders looking her up and down.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± Alea tried to speak but her voice was hoarse and she had to cough before continuing, ¡°Undead, monsters, Those that try to kill us, have killed before my eyes. With fighting against those, I have no problem. But killing armsmen, town guards.¡± She shrank her shoulders, turning to lean against Iseret. ¡°I hate it. I hate it, and it feels wrong. I would rather heal and purify. Make the world a bit better than see my light as it burns and kills.¡±

    Alyssa stopped and tried to formulate an answer but fell silent at last. Was she a bad person? She had had that thought in the beginning, but after a while, it was less and less important. In the last weeks, it had been a certain pride that grew together with her abilities. Even as they were sometimes borrowed from the jewel. There was no reluctance left in her. The raised hand fell to her side, and she swallowed dryly.

    Mireille looked at Alea and smiled. ¡°You are such a princess! But a good one! A storybook one! Healing with a touch and suffering with the wounded! And you are blessed by Jaros! That¡¯s perfect!¡± Then she realized again the smaller girl''s sadness and hugged her. Stroking her dark hair, she whispered, ¡°Stay out of it. Healing us when something happens is more than enough. Don¡¯t do things that make you so sad if it is not really, really necessary.¡±

    Iseret slowly shifted Alea into Mireille¡¯s embrace and took a step back before closely inspecting their surroundings. Giving the three girls a last look, she wove sinuously through the throng of men and women and reached Brecht nearly at the same time as Calvin.

    ¡°...garrison.¡± Brecht smiled broadly, and the men and women around him raised whatever weapon they held for another loud cheer.

    ¡°We have to hurry! Who knows what they will do to the captives? They are of use to the enemy alive or dead, so we should not leave that to chance!¡± Calvin called out.

    Murmurs spread through the crowd as Brecht raised his hands placatingly. ¡°No one is going to get killed on my watch! We will march to the garrison posthaste, and then we secure the town! The kingdom is at war with the Nordmarks, so we can be sure to receive reinforcements. This town and our loved ones are going to be safe! No longer will they be burned and killed! Some of you care for the wounded and guard the prisoners. Isolde?¡± He turned, and the woman nodded, ¡°Thank you! The rest...with me!¡±

    The soldiers and town guard they had captured were put beside a large building, probably a warehouse hands bound and disarmed. A group of Brecht¡¯s men was standing beside them crossbows loaded and pointed at their backs. There was no being too cautious with several branded among them.

    Alea did not want to be left behind and joined Alyssa and Mireille with Butler One trailing along behind them.

    <hr>

    An old man looked out of the tower''s window. A back as crooked as an old root, a hunchback, really. The hair scraggly and barely covering the liver-spotted pate. Eyes rheumy, with the left nearly blinded by cataract. A hand, shaking with age, grasped the lid of a small coffer opening it. Inside several scrolls lay under a thin layer of dust. The sun shone dimly through grime-encrusted windows. The floor were planks covered with a threadbare rag. Grinning as he found what he sought, the man broke the waxen seal, and a small discharge of whitish energy briefly lit the room.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°You will not take my chance at immortality. You will not.¡± Mumbling to himself, he began an incantation. Stopping in between to cough. Soon he finished, and a small whirlwind came into being just before his hands. ¡°Tell the duke, Volstedt has fallen. Rebels are in command.¡± He hesitated, ¡°Tell the mistress I was faithful.¡±

    Outside, a lone maid was sweeping the floor, and, hearing the mad cackle of the man inside, hurried along the corridor. They had been forbidden to go into the master wizard''s room for years now. Melloris knows how it was inside. The old transmuter had been long since retired in his mansion, but the last month there had been visitors at all times of day, and the old workshop had seen much use.

    She and the cook were the only ones left. All the others had been taken, and she had the suspicion that the master was where some of the brands they had used on them originated. The master had been a well-known metal-caster in his time. Shivering, she closed the door of the unused salon, furniture buried under protective rugs, like the ghosts of chairs and tables. Dust floated in the air, and she heard distant cheering. Not trusting her ears, she opened one of the windows just a crack and looked outside. A group of armed citizens marched for the gates of the garrison. Several soldiers stood on the wall, and their nervousness was visible to the naked eye.

    A crack and then a clinking sound from the master''s study woke her up again, and she prayed to whoever wanted to hear her that she would not be forced to enter that room.

    <hr>

    ¡°We want to speak with the captain!¡± Brecht shouted through his cupped hands.

    Murmuring from the guardsmen.

    ¡°He is¡­¡±

    A slap to the back of the head silenced the speaker, and another darker-skinned woman leaned over the parapet.

    ¡°Not available. That¡¯s what he is. Just disperse and go home. Don¡¯t make it too ¡®ard on ya.¡± The woman tried and failed to get rid of her accent.

    ¡°We captured and killed everyone you sent after us. So what do you want to do? Fight? You will only get some of us and all of you injured or killed. If you surrender, I promise you your life. More I can and will not offer before knowing what you did. If you did nothing much, we would gladly let you join us if sincere. Mh. What¡¯s that for an offer?¡±

    Several of the men and women above the gate looked at each other, hesitation written across their features.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare! Fire crossbows. Disperse that rabble!¡±

    A man in the robes of an army mage frowned heavily and cast a searching gaze across the assembled rebels. With some of the soldiers having joined in and more and more people arriving, there were about two hundred of them. Several branded showcased their magic, and Calvin stood beside Brecht, a flame coiling around his staff.

    The mage stepped aside and spoke a short incantation summoning a diffuse golden glow covering his robes. ¡°I recommend we surrender!¡±

    ¡°Coward!¡± The woman that had been speaking up to now shouted back, her face livid.

    ¡°Dumb cow, all you Andrians are good for is farming. Why fight if we lose anyway? Do you think we will be heroes if we resist? At best, we become more fodder for the undead!¡±

    The men around him listened and nodded along.

    Brecht called up to them. ¡°Hear, hear, the voice of reason. Why fight if all it gets you is a blade in the guts without hope for success? We will be listening to everyone''s reason for being here, and no one will be killed out of hand. You could be in a nice dry cell, eating stale bread and not shivering on the ramparts facing certain death.¡± He laughed.

    One of the men standing at the side of the mage lowered his crossbow and pushed down the weapon of his neighbor, whispering something urgently.

    More and more took a step back, and some even laid down their arms completely.

    ¡°Dirty traitors!¡± The woman raised her sword threatening the archer beside her, a middle-aged blonde woman with the tabard of the city watch. ¡°Shoot, or I run you through, so help me Cornac!¡±

    A heavy twang made everyone flinch. And for a second, the rebels and the soldiers looked at each other searchingly. Then the Andrian soldier let go of her sword, the blade clanging against the stones of the wall. Blinking in the sunlight as it tumbled end over end, coming to rest point first in a drift of snow. Grabbing at her back, she turned and glared at a weasely man holding a freshly discharged crossbow who took a stumbling step back. Then she sighed and fell heavily to the ground.

    ¡°We surrender!¡± The weasely man did not wait for the atmosphere to turn ugly and shouted.

    The mage wrinkled his mouth in distaste but then shrugged. ¡°I surrender!¡±

    More and more joined in, with a few seemingly torn but not motivated to do something about it.

    Brecht grinned broadly. ¡°My favorite kind of fight. The one that didn¡¯t happen.¡± He guffawed. ¡°Open the gate!¡±

    <hr>

    The evening came, and darkness fell over the land.

    The frost elf Ivyander looked at the stars and looked at the tracery of magic he had been following. The soldiers surrounding him looked uneasily at the swaying undead spread throughout the forest. They were technically stopping here for the night, but the no-longer dead were restless. Dry, white eyes gleamed in the darkness, greenish flames lit in bare skulls.

    ¡°Prepare camp. We should reach them come tomorrow evening. No use in expending ourselves.¡± Ivyander commanded. And as the sounds of the camp behind him spread through the silent forest, he folded his arms behind his back in contemplation.

    <hr>

    Inside a fortified manor near the border with Hundredstreams.

    ¡°WHAT!?¡± With a snarl, Zygmund gripped the man opposite him. ¡°They have reached the fort? Why am I surrounded by incompetents and laggards.¡±

    ¡°They used several clever shortcuts as if they knew the are very well. Seems they had some locals to guide them!¡±

    ¡°Excuses. Excuses.¡± Cruelty lit in his glowing eyes as he turned to command the wight at his side.

    A whirlwind of ice and mist flowed through the door to the dining hall he was standing in. The hearth cold because the warmth was no longer necessary. With caution, Zygmund observed the ball of turbulent air come to settle before him, and a visage formed within. An androgynous, cold face leaning toward the feminine formed words that were a whisper steadily gaining in strength.

    ¡°¡­Volstedt is lost. Rebels have overrun the town. Remember my faith to our mistress.¡±

    The message was repeated several times, and then the being dispersed with a relieved sigh.

    ¡°Margramus. Pretentious old wretch.¡± He laughed. ¡°No one else would dare. If he thinks he would get the gift.¡± He muttered and then turned to the still waiting- and sweating- soldier.

    ¡°Contact Lars. After losing one, he can regain another. Not that it erases the stain, but it should ease the punishment. And yes, tell him I said that!¡±

 Fool me once

    "No rest for the wicked, no peace for the good."

    -James S.A. Corey, Abaddon''s Gate

    The door was ripped open, and light shone into the sparsely furnished cell. The few cots were hardly enough to hold the occupants, and moldy straw heaped on the floor gave scant comfort. The bright light was blinding to those who had been without for hours or even days.

    A face cast in shadow from the torches burning on the corridor walls loomed indistinctly in the open doorway. A young, male voice sounded ¡°Everyone. Good news, as of now you are no longer prisoners!¡±

    Surprised groans and bewildered faces greeted the announcement.

    ¡°But there is bad to go with the good.¡±

    One of the men roused himself sufficiently and asked, ¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You are all drafted into the Volstedt Militia.¡±

    <hr>

    The group with Alyssa, Mireille, Alea, Iseret, and Calvin stood aside as the men and women from the newly christened Volstedt Militia gathered the prisoners at the side of the square. Brecht was calling out orders, and Rolf was assisting in whatever capacity needed.

    ¡°Mh. What now?¡± Mireille peeled a dried spot of blood from her leather armor.

    ¡°We see to it that we rejoin the academy group at Fort Wolfsbane,¡± Calvin stated matter of factly.

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Alyssa mustered up her courage and looked at the older magician.

    ¡°Mh. You will most likely die.¡± Calvin looked her in the eye. ¡°I cannot manhandle you across the countryside. If you really don¡¯t want to go I cannot force you.¡±

    Nodding and not trusting herself to answer Alyssa turned and looked at Mireille and Alea.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming with you. You could not get rid of me if you tried!¡± Mireille grinned, but there was apprehension in her gaze.

    Alea¡¯s face was inscrutable with the blindfold obscuring it, but then she nodded too.

    ¡°Then we see to it that everything here is reasonably settled. And go our separate ways.¡± He pinched the bridge of his nose and then raised his head looking at the still bustling courtyard and the cautious glances thrown their way.

    <hr>

    The evening came and the sun slowly sunk behind the distant blue peaks of the mountain range.

    Brecht raised his glass, and the beer inside sparkled in the light of the mage globes. The mansion they had appropriated had once belonged to the local magistrate.

    ¡°I hope to find you all healthy and in good spirits! Today we did the impossible and liberated our fair town from the traitorous scum of the von Nordmarks!¡±

    Cheers resounded as the speech dragged on. Most were distracted by the food but also not half as bored as they could have been.

    The hall was not large as far as their experience with the academy or some of the houses in Kronenburg went, but it was nevertheless enough to house a good hundred people in comfort. The hall was three stories high, and balconies looked down from above where more of the townsfolk had gathered. The windows were dark mirrors reflecting the light of candles and mage globes.

    Caskets with wine and preserved foods were opened and unceremoniously shared among those present, and the atmosphere had a strange sort of desperate liveliness.

    The three girls and Calvin had appropriated one of the balconies for their use. Alyssa and Mireille were eating pickled apples while Alea was eating some strawberry preserves on toasted bread.

    ¡°Let me have a bite!¡± Mireille leaned forward and shamelessly bit into the bread Alea was holding before chewing contentedly.

    Alea frowned and looked at the marred perfection of her meticulously prepared feast.

    Alyssa smiled, and her gaze was drawn to the windows. Ice flowers grew on the glass, and the darkness beyond let her see her own reflection. A pale, thin girl with white hair, flowing across slender shoulders. The left eye a dark lightless abyss, the right an amethyst star. She might have grown, but she was certainly too thin. It seemed a strong breeze would blow her over.

    The festivities below reached a crescendo, and laughter echoed to the high ceiling and along the side corridors. Iseret returned a forced smile and Rolf took that as an invitation leaning forward. ¡°What of it, my cold-blooded beauty? Care for something to keep you warm at night?¡± He laughed at his own wit.

    ¡°I think you would find a more appreciative audience in some of the other ladies.¡±

    The eyes that had been devouring her turned stubborn. ¡°Hey, wait¡­!¡±

    The snake woman twisted between some of the rebels, completely absorbed in the celebration, and was gone.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Rolf hit the table with his mug while Isolde, sitting a table over, gave a short, derisive laugh.

    Outside in the small garden, Iseret looked at the distant moon and, with a whisper mist coalesced beside her, and Vanessa sat on a stone railing carved with vines and grapes, nearly submerged in snow. Together they silently looked at the frozen lake and the eddies of snow blown by the wind.

    Strains of music and laughter came from the half-closed door behind them, and the world was still.

    Slowly Iseret tilted her head, looking at her companion. Raising her hand, she stroked the hair fine as silk before drawing Vanessa into her arms. The small body cold as the snow dusting the barren trees.

    <hr>

    Margramus the Golden, the wizard of the Volstedt hills.

    Once, he had been a well-known figure among the elder wizards. That was before he failed the rituals keeping his failing body hale. Before his mind started to go. The rituals were translated from the book of passage and waning, the original long lost with sunken Alissair. They described ways to focus mana to strengthen the life force, anchor the soul...and they were...exceedingly difficult. None under the rank of an elder wizard had ever successfully finished the rites, and even those that did had to contend with their bodies changing and slowly worsening conditions. Expensive ingredients and the raw power needed put further strain on those that sought longevity.

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    And he had failed.

    The rites had to be consecutive, and you could not fail once or miss the right time. There were other ways to prolong your life, but the rites were what a proper human wizard aspired to.

    The pity had hurt him worst. The sneers, the malice hidden in some of his colleague''s eyes was at least a sign that he mattered, that he was a threat. The pity...was for someone lesser. Someone flawed. Someone who would be insignificant for long-term plans.

    With a wave of his hand, the fireplace flared, and heat radiated from the empty space where he had conjured a spark of true fire. Biting into the cooked ham, he wrinkled his mouth. The food was very lacking, but with the war and the rebellion, there was not enough fresh produce, and the results were readily apparent.

    A knock sounded from the door to the dining room, and he raised his head, frowning all the while. ¡°Yes?¡±

    The door opened, and the maid bowed deeply. ¡°There is a visitor, and he insisted.¡± She shivered, ¡°That I relay a greeting.¡± She cleared her throat and said in the tone of someone reciting from memory, ¡°The lady has taken notice.¡±

    ¡°Is he still waiting? Invite them in! Don¡¯t stand around gawping!¡± Margramus rubbed his hands excitedly.

    ¡°R..right away, sir!¡± The maid curtsied and hastily ran outside, coming back shortly with a figure draped in grey robes and cloak.

    Brushing back the hood, pale blue hair was revealed, and dark, steely eyes inspected the shrunken old man in expensive brocade robes. Slender, pointed ears inscribed with tiny black runes and sharp-edged features clearly showed the elven ancestry, but the rounded eyes and somewhat fuller figure showed the influence of human blood. White and delicate fingers emerged from the robes cuffs, and a scroll bound with a silver clasp was thrown on the table.

    Despite the somewhat rude gesture, the enchanting voice coming from the visitor was respectful. ¡°I greet Margramus the Golden in the name of my mistress. You can refer to me as Sable.¡±

    ¡°Ah! Please have a seat. Do you want to drink, eat? Anything you need?¡± The old wizard clenched his shaking hands and gritted his teeth. The flattering words were clearly foreign to his usual demeanor.

    ¡°Perhaps later. First, I want to thank you for your kind warning. The mistress has other matters to occupy her attention, but we, her loyal subjects, tend to her wishes even in her absence. And I can assure you, she will know your worth.¡± Cold eyes accompanied a smile.

    ¡°That is...gratifying to hear.¡± He grabbed a cup standing on the table and drank deep of the wine it contained, spilling some from the corners of his mouth in his haste. Brushing away the residues with his sleeve, he inspected the scroll still lying on the table. ¡°And, if I may ask, what is your purpose in telling me this? Not that it is unpleasant to hear.¡±

    ¡°We require your further assistance in an important matter.¡±

    ¡°Retaking the town? I hardly think I will be very useful as I am now.¡± The wizard self-deprecatingly gestured at his feeble body.

    ¡°You could say that, but no. We don¡¯t think we will require aid in that regard, but there is one thing we would like your cooperation with.¡±

    ¡°Anything.¡± The desperation and self-loathing in his eyes caused the half-elf¡¯s smile to fade before returning to its usual brightness.

    ¡°There is a group of mages in town who, if my sources are accurate, had a big part in suppressing our troops and may have even been a thorn in our side for much longer. One of them is a necromancer aided by an old artifact and quite dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Oh, is that so?¡± The old wizard raised an eyebrow. ¡°That is unexpected to hear. And how can I help with this matter?¡±

    ¡°We are very sure that she will not stand idly by when we attack the town. And troops are already near that will prevent her from leaving prematurely. Her magic is large-scale in nature, and the necromantic energies present will be tempting for her to use. We need you to prepare a special surprise.¡± Her smile, for the half-elf seemed to be a woman, grew a bit more genuine.

    <hr>

    Inside a room in the inn that had been their first stop in Volstedt Mireille burrowed deeper into the blankets. Alyssa sat on the bed¡¯s sideboard, brushing her long hair while looking into the pale winter sky. She felt the void energies growing stronger and estimated that it would be days at most before the same spontaneous raising of the dead happened here as it had in the places they had visited before. Shuddering at the thought of a whole town''s graveyard, unburied dead, deceased animals waking and killing, she put away the comb and shook Mireille¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Hey, wake up! It¡¯s morning already.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t play that game with me. You were awake since I washed up. Now it¡¯s your turn.¡±

    ¡°Mmmh.¡±

    Alyssa walked up to the window and forced it open with some difficulty. The frame firmly frozen. Shaking it a bit clear, ice broke off and fell on the roofed veranda scarring the pristine snow only marred by some indentations made by crow¡¯s feet to the side.

    Bitter cold invaded the room and made her breath steam even as she hardly noticed the cold as had become the usual.

    ¡°Ah! What are you doing!? Do you want to kill me!?¡± Mireille grabbed all the blankets she could reach and huddled like a human caterpillar in the corner.

    ¡°Will you get up if I close the window?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Shut the damn thing!¡±

    Alea gazed at her two friends through the eyes of her construct. Long since ready to depart. Butler One had tidied her part of the room and was now waiting patiently behind her.

    Alyssa gasped and shut the window. A sharp pain, more like the prick of a needle, shot through her head, and she pressed her right hand to her temple while leaning against the wall.

    ¡°Everything alright?¡± Mireille quickly got up, forgetting her protest and the cold.

    The white-haired girl shook her head as the sensation came again. Flashes of a forest and flames, bolts of ice, and then nothing. She felt Calmund von Nordmark''s grim regard filter into her mind. And without words, she signaled him to retreat toward the town.

    ¡°My undead are under attack in the forest.¡± Alyssa grimaced. ¡°And their sophistication is not only a good thing. Whoever made them probably had a better way of controlling them. If that happened in a normal fight, I would have a serious problem.¡±

    Somewhere outside, a bell began to ring frantically.

    ¡°So much for sleeping in.¡± Mireille looked disgruntled. ¡°Let me at least have a quick wash!¡±

    ¡°Five minutes.¡± Alea gave a faint smile at her friend''s surprise. ¡°What? Alyssa was uncomfortable, so I only wanted to help.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille raised an eyebrow and then shook her head, walking quickly to the bowl of water, breaking the thin ice that had formed, and quickly dunking a towel before doing her morning ablutions.

    Alyssa gazed at her shivering friend and began a longer incantation summoning warmth into a metal ball ornament adorning one of the bed posts. Heat began to radiate from the pewter sphere raising the temperature from freezing to uncomfortable.

    A knock from the door made them turn toward the entrance to their small four-person room.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Alyssa stood protectively before the half-naked Mireille and called.

    ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± Calvin called back. ¡°We seem to have underestimated the reaction speed of the Nordmark troops. I just heard that there were soldiers coming from the woods.¡±

    ¡°Fantastic.¡± Mireille groused while drying her hair.

    ¡°Be quick about it and meet me in the common room.¡±

    ¡°We will be quick,¡± Alyssa promised, disregarding Mireille¡¯s groan of protest.

    Soon they tramped down the stairs, backpacks packed and ready.

    Calvin sat together with Isolde at one of the tables, eating warmed-up gruel.

    ¡°Ah, there you are. Isold here¡­¡± He turned to address the woman, seemingly still hung over from the night before, ¡°Thanks for the heads up, by the way.¡± before continuing in their direction, ¡°Came by to inform us of the troops surrounding the town.¡±

    ¡°Surrounding?¡± Alyssa asked. ¡°That would need a lot of men.¡±

    ¡°There are hordes of undead. As far as I have heard, the live troops are only several dozens, maybe a hundred all in all.¡± Calvin cast a questioning gaze at the still-suffering Isolde.

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s what I was told. Could the damn beasts not wait until tomorrow? Not one day to celebrate? What¡¯s that but torture under another name?¡±

    ¡°And does Brecht have a plan?¡± Calvin asked.

    ¡°When doesn¡¯t he? But even he seemed a bit surprised at the speed of their response. There must be something else that drew them here even before it became necessary because of us rebels.¡± She gave their small group a very ostentatious once-over. ¡°And I cannot think who could have drawn so much attention.¡±

    ¡°Stow it.¡± Calvin grimaced. ¡°Without us, you would probably have waited until spring thaw before acting.¡±

    ¡°Then you don¡¯t know, Brecht.¡± Isolde laughed mirthlessly before flinching and holding her smarting head. ¡°I will never drink a drop of alcohol again.¡± Massaging her temples, she nodded toward the table. ¡°Eat. And when you are finished, come with me. Brecht has called an emergency council, and he and I think you should be included.¡±

    Mireille chose that moment to return with three plates heaped with bread and a bowl of gruel for each of them. There was even some dry cheese.

    Iseret sat down beside them, holding another.

    ¡°Morning.¡± Mireille eyed the snake woman and, getting only a nod in return, went back to eating quickly and efficiently.

    Soon they had finished their food, and the tavernkeeper, Vaulkner, and his daughter Rachel cleaned the table. The man looked worried, and as he accompanied them to the front door, he quietly said. ¡°Please tell us if you hear anything concrete.¡±

    Calvin nodded at him before walking outside into the cold, white streets. ¡°We will. Lock the doors and windows. I have a bad feeling about this.¡±

 Shame on you

    ¨D Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

    Ivyander surveyed the group of soldiers and the few mages accompanying him. Not nearly enough to take a town. The undead were another matter entirely. Purely regarding their numbers and fighting strength, it should not be impossible, but their lacking intelligence and cohesion made them a deterrent for counterattack at best. He had taken them along when he found them wandering in the forest or the little deserted village they had passed, but more to overwhelm the group of fugitives he was chasing than for any kind of strategic reason.

    And, he had to admit to himself, he was not as certain of the loyalties of the soldiers guarding him that he did not want some insurance for his continued good health. Without him to keep them docile, the undead would turn on the first target available which would be gratifying if he were not dead by then. So mutually assured destruction it is. He smiled.

    From the small farmhouse he had requisitioned, he looked at the distant town walls and the dark spots moving along the parapet. Like poking an ants nest.

    ¡°Do we have a time for when the main army arrives?¡± Ivyander turned around, his pale hair grown much too long whipping around his sharp features.

    ¡°The messenger said it would be three days, four at most.¡± The young brunette woman swallowed at his piercing gaze. She wore the clothing of an apprentice army mage, long dark blue robes slit in front for easier movement reinforced with leather patches at the elbows, the shoulders holding the insignia of a sergeant, her relative rank, even as she was not able to give orders to ¡®normal¡¯ soldiers. That was something for the more accomplished full mages to do. No sense letting a young apprentice boss around an experienced soldier ten years his or her senior.

    From the corner of his eyes, he saw another person approaching and turned to look at the dark cowled figure. Dazzlingly wrong in the expansive snow covering the fields and roads.

    ¡°Sable.¡±

    ¡°Ivyander. I was able to make contact and confirm that he wishes to aid us.¡±

    The frost elf rubbed his cold hands before turning fully toward the woman. ¡°The mistress will keep her word to him, but I don¡¯t think he can even imagine what it means.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he cares for anything other than keeping his miserable life.¡±

    ¡°Is he still able to do it?¡±

    ¡°At the moment, they don¡¯t suspect him, that should be enough.¡±

    The voices faded as the wind picked up, moaning around the rooftop of the farmhouse and outlying buildings.

    A half-rotted corpse shook its upper body and screeched. The call was taken up by the multitudes waiting in the shadowed forest echoing eerily as the white sunlight burned down on them eroding the void energies by its sheer presence.

    <hr>

    ¡°It¡¯s not right. It¡¯s not.¡± The young watchman shivered, rubbing his hands together before grabbing the spear and leaning against the rampart. Outside, the snow-covered fields stretched toward the distant line of the forest. Stumps from cut trees dotted the grounds further out, and the risen dead stumbled along between the farmhouses.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not. And now those freaks are with us too. Have you seen that dead thing wearing a crown? Its eyes alone give me nightmares.¡± A woman, older than him by a decade, stretched her back before shifting the heavy mail she had squeezed into. ¡°And if I heard it right, that white-haired slip of a girl summoned him. What is the world coming to if children go around raising undead.¡± Her face was wrinkled in disapproval like a dried prune.

    ¡°But without them lightning girl and that fire mage of theirs, it would have been really bad.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense. Brecht would have made it right somehow, even without those meddlers.¡±

    ¡°They helped kill the captain.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± The woman spat over the wall. ¡°Bastard stood there while we burned.¡±

    A creak from behind them alerted them to a door opening.

    ¡°Ah, there you are.¡± A deep voice came from behind them, and Brecht held the door to a stairwell built into a tower. An old bowed man in rich robes, hands stuffed into the sleeves, exited and looked around, blinking owlishly. Walking up to the parapet, Brecht gestured toward the small encampment around the farmhouse bustling with Nordmark soldiers and the surrounding undead. ¡°And that is what we are facing. Any ideas?¡±

    ¡°The old wards in the walls are in ill repair. If there is crystal dust, I could maybe fix some. That would certainly help against spells and the undead. Enchanting weapons would be too cumbersome. With time a worthwhile endeavor but without sufficient preparation a fool''s errand.¡± The voice sounded scratchy and somewhat hoarse.

    ¡°Mh. Crystal dust can be found. How much do you need?¡±

    ¡°A barrel, at least.¡±

    ¡°That stretches our supplies but should be doable. So, will you help us then?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will help you.¡±

    Brecht turned, and the sun''s glare blinded his eyes, so he did not see the malicious smile vanishing from the old face as quickly as a passing thought. He smiled his usual jovial smile and secretly rubbed his forehead when the old man was not looking. The old man was nearly reptilian in his expressions, cold and hard, and there were other things bothering him.

    When they had come to solicit his aid, there had been no one in the mansion but him. The maid and the cook were rumored to have fled during the fighting stealing some of the loose coins and silver cutlery. But the old wizard had seemed strangely disinterested, not even asking them to apprehend the thieves.

    ¡°I will need the crystal dust as soon as possible. Bring it to my workshop.¡± Margramus the golden shivered as another blast of cold wind came over the balustrade.

    <hr>

    The wight and the undead horsemen were standing just inside the town-gate in the small square. The blood stains from yesterday''s fight were still visible on the stone steps leading up the wall.

    Calvin was arguing with Rolf in the background, and Alyssa talked with Isolde.

    Mireille looked at Cyrus, who had managed to ascend to the roof of the gatehouse, and proudly raised his head, tail whipping behind him.

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    On the wall, Brecht talked to the old wizard.

    ¡°We can¡¯t have the living dead inside the walls!¡± Rolf shouted, followed by calm- and thus indistinct- words from Calvin.

    Isolde crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow at Alyssa. ¡°Can¡¯t have them out in the open like that. We are fighting the good fight against the traitorous necromancer scum.¡± She had the decency to look a bit embarrassed at that. ¡°We cannot have undead openly standing in the gate square. I myself appreciate your help and your¡­¡± she elongated her words as she saw Calmund turn his head, greenish flame flickering in his skull. ¡°Ah, whatever. Hide them, make them invisible, put them in a warehouse for all I care.¡±

    ¡°But if we are attacked¡­¡±

    ¡°They are mostly mounted. Ever seen a rider defend a wall? You would use them for a counterattack or for fighting in the streets. And until that happens, there will still be time to get them out from wherever they hid.¡±

    And shortly after, it was decided to bring them to the slaughterhouse where ¡®normal¡¯ townsfolk would never venture, and death energies were thick.

    <hr>

    They had returned to the tavern after the night spent at Brecht¡¯s requisitioned townhouse. And come evening, they once again sat around the table situated at the corner to the right of the bar.

    Calvin listlessly stabbed into his stew before taking a bite frowning all the while.

    ¡°You don¡¯t like the stew? I think it''s perfectly fine.¡± Mireille eyed his portion. ¡°Sure you are gonna eat that?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Came the clipped reply.

    ¡°No need to be rude.¡± Mireille leaned back and sadly looked at her empty bowl.

    Alyssa surreptitiously shoved her own toward her friend, who mouthed a ¡®thank you¡¯ and began to eat the leftovers with glee.

    Cyrus wrestled with a large bone underneath the table, giving the impression of a strange dog. His powerful jaws splintering the tough material.

    ¡°What do you think of the wizard?¡± Alea asked into the silence.

    ¡°What of him? Some old coot that got his courage after everything was over?¡± Mireille swallowed a potato and continued. ¡°Don¡¯t like him.¡±

    ¡°He feels wrong somehow.¡± Alea fiddled with a button before consciously relaxing her fingers, laying them on the tabletop before her.

    ¡°How so?¡± Calvin was finally successfully distracted from his brooding.

    ¡°His life force is much stronger than it seems from his appearance alone, but it does not fit his soul.¡±

    ¡°Mh. That sounds a bit worrying but don¡¯t think too much of it. There is some talk about rituals that can extend our allotted time, and Illimen, for example, was old when I was still an apprentice.¡± Calvin smiled at the thought but regained his seriousness soon after. ¡°We should keep together and talk to Brecht about him. He seemed to be on decent terms with him as far as I could see.¡±

    ¡°Where is Iseret?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°She mentioned she had something she needed to do,¡± Alea spoke up.

    <hr>

    Sable had a split-second warning before a claw made of black ice slashed into the space her head had been in as she dodged desperately.

    The night was lit by red-tinged moonlight, and the cramped alleys were full of possible hiding spaces.

    Vanessa cursed under her breath before she concentrated, and the demon bound to her shadow elongated grotesquely over the wall behind her back. The half-elven spy spread her hands, and glyphs glowed in a line between them before a burst of bluish energy blasted forward, hurling Vanessa backward and into the wall. She hit with a crunch, plaster spiderwebbing from the impact. Grimacing, the smaller vampire pushed off the wall and jumped to the side, her leg straightening with a sick crackling sound as unnatural energies forced the bone back into shape.

    Long stilettos appeared in Sable''s hands, waving before her in a figure eight. Mesmerizing in their perfect motion.

    A sudden slight whisper was the only warning as a dagger flew from a rooftop to the side, burnished black and barely visible, cutting into the left arm of the cowled half-elven woman.

    With a muffled curse, she turned to flee while parrying another dagger, causing sparks to fly from the impact.

    ¡°Who is there!?¡± Cried a sentry somewhat inanely, causing Vanessa to roll her eyes in exasperation before hurrying after her departing quarry.

    Glyphs telling of time and the spaces between seconds burst into bright life around the fleeing half-elf, and with a desperate effort, she escaped beyond the walls, her left arm dangling uselessly, dripping blackened blood.

    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Iseret made a stopping motion toward Vanessa as the two came to a stop on top of the wall.

    The cowled figure retreated toward the forest, seemingly slow compared to the magically induced burst of speed.

    Vanessa tensed to spring forward as a featherlight touch on her shoulder caused her to hesitate.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Iseret¡¯s yellow eyes glowed under the reddish moon Ioreth.

    The figure slowed and turned before crumbling to the ground.

    ¡°Your mastery of poison is better than mine,¡± Vanessa murmured, barely audible over the moaning wind.

    ¡°She who is many and one graces my blood with her divine venom.¡± Iseret¡¯s voice was without emotion.

    Another figure, taller than the woman, rose from a shadowed recess beside a farmhouse, and with a gesture, hundreds of undead in various states of decay rose from the snow and shambled closer, standing around the two protectively.

    ¡°I feared as much. Everything about that reeked of an ambush.¡± Iseret remarked quietly.

    ¡°The spy is still down, should we¡­?¡± Vanessa seemed conflicted.

    ¡°No, I think we should be careful.¡±

    The larger person invoked a few spells, and the smaller figure stumbled back to her feet.

    Standing quietly, Iseret sighed, ¡°So much for my vaunted poisons, but I think she will feel the sting of my bite for days and days even as she might no longer die from it.¡±

    Someone on their right began to shout, ¡°Alarm!¡±

    ¡°I think we should go before we have to fight or, worse, explain ourselves.¡± Iseret made an inviting motion toward the town proper. ¡°After you.¡±

    With an amused scoff, Vanessa turned and jumped to the next rooftop, rapidly gaining distance to the commotion on the wall, closely followed by Iseret.

    <hr>

    Margramus the golden.

    His name was not only a play on his wealth or capability to wield and transform metals, once it had stood for his golden mane of hair. He had been quite fond of it and a bit vain, as he would be the first to admit. Small vices were for public consumption, while the larger failings had no place in the light.

    His hands moved as he cut the heart from the younger maid. She had long, blonde hair. Just like him.

    Once upon a time.

    Perhaps he would have it once more when he rose again. He laughed under his breath.

    Dripping the heart blood on the crystal dust, he grimaced. The void energies suffusing the air in larger and larger amounts made his heart stutter for a moment as they flowed along the more useful- for him- unaspected mana.

    Blood crystal.

    What a crude and vulgar concoction. But very potent nonetheless. Draining the heart''s blood and infusing alchemical substances with more and more power, the former blue crystals darkened and developed reddish-black splotches. It would not suffice to turn the whole barrel into the notorious drug, but it would be more than enough for his purposes.

    He grinned mirthlessly. And even if they killed him afterward, they would hardly have the time to sufficiently degrade his body to hinder his second birth.

    His gaze roamed over the scroll with the silver clasp. He had followed the instructions to the letter. If everything went well, he would die and then rise again as a greater undead. And if, for some reason, he failed in this endeavor, the Heartstealer herself had promised him a place in her court.

    He closed his eyes and suppressed his doubts. He had gone too far, risked too much to turn back now. With the incriminating evidence in the hands of Sable or her masters, it would be childs play to turn the town against him.

    There was no way but forward.

    <hr>

    Another day passed.

    Rolf drilled the militia.

    Brecht made the rounds and spoke to his men.

    Isolde organized supplies and gathered what was left of the populace.

    Calvin drank more than was good for him.

    Alyssa and Mireille talked and rested quietly while Alea tinkered with Butler One.

    Cyrus slept deeply after eating more than was healthy or prudent.

    <hr>

    Another night passed without incident.

    From the great road leading northwest marched column after column of soldiers the banners of Nordstrom under the great flag of the von Nordmarks.

    And with trepidation and dark faces, the defenders stood upon the walls, the rising sun at their backs.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they will wait us out?¡± One large journeyman-smith said into the silence.

    ¡°We inside our houses with the supplies meant for a population three times our size, and they in the abandoned farmhouses in midwinter? What do you think?¡±

    And as the murmurs grew in volume, someone shouted. ¡°There is a rider. They want to parlay!¡±

 Fool me twice

    ¡°Come,'' he said, ''come, we must see and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same.¡±

    ¨D Bram Stoker, Dracula

    A group of three riders separated from the troops behind them and rode up to the wall.

    ¡°Don¡¯t shoot. Let¡¯s hear them out. It will at least be good for a laugh.¡± Brecht called out even though his voice sounded a bit tense. Scattered laughter answered him.

    The three soldiers slowed as they came closer and a big man took the lead shouting toward the defenders. ¡°Men and women of Volstedt. You have risen in rebellion against your rightful liege, and your lives are forfeit. The duke has nevertheless decreed¡­¡±

    ¡°You kill us with or without reason! At least this way, we can fight back!¡± A voice interrupted him.

    ¡°He has decreed that everyone that lays down his arms will be spared. In his magnanimity, he will not even punish you as you deserve.¡±

    ¡°Liar!¡± Another voice.

    ¡°But those rabble-rousers that incited this uprising will die.¡±

    ¡°And we will be killed soon after. Don¡¯t listen to his drivel!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t throw your lives away for nothing!¡±

    ¡°For Margrinar and the living!¡± Shouts swelled from the ranks of the townsfolk.

    Reigning in his spooked horse, the rider flicked the reins and began to gallop back to the troops as a single arrow arched after him sinking into the snow a fair distance away.

    Brecht grimaced and tensed for a response, but the soldiers simply continued setting up a good distance from the town walls.

    ¡°Have we heard anything from the kingdom?¡± Rolf asked quietly, just loud enough to be heard above the shouts and the moaning wind.

    ¡°No, nothing as of yet. I sent several messengers. Volunteers, mind you. But with the undead and the weather it would be a miracle if they managed to get through.¡±

    <hr>

    Mireille blew on the bubbled glass making up a part of the window and rubbed with her sleeve, trying to see outside.

    ¡°See something?¡± Alyssa raised her head from the book she was reading, her focus crystal lying on the low table in their room in the inn. They had secured the second-best suite the establishment had to offer, something the proprietor had stressed quite a bit.

    Alyssa had to admit that it was true. The table was smooth cherry wood, and the floor covered with a thick carpet. Even the walls had colorful hangings to cover any gaps in the expertly fitted wooden paneling.

    ¡°No. And I don¡¯t want to open the window.¡±

    ¡°I think it would do us some good to get some fresh air in here.¡± The tone was questioning.

    ¡°No, absolutely not. I will certainly freeze to death on the spot.¡±

    The fire in the large fireplace crackled as a log split, and sparks rose with a bit of smoke.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see that happening.¡± Alyssa wryly arched an eyebrow. Shutting the book, she stood and walked up to her friend, gazing outside into the swirls of snow falling endlessly from above. Southern winds had brought some clouds that now shed their fluffy cargo.

    ¡°When do you think they will attack?¡± Mireille asked quietly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Calvin said they will attack when they are rested from the march.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Or the day after.¡±

    Silence fell. The room contained three beds. One had been added after the fact, and the other was probably meant for a body-servant or maid. Both girls were kneeling on the one pushed underneath the large window overlooking the plaza before the inn.

    Cyrus was sleeping beside the fire the dancing flames patterning his scales in red.

    Somewhere among the rafters, a small shadowy figure stalked silently settling in a particularly dense shadow while blinking green cat eyes.

    ¡°There is only one potion left,¡± Alyssa remarked.

    ¡°Can we make any more? The old wizard should have a laboratory and there have to be some alchemists around town somewhere.¡±

    ¡°I sure hope so. I will try asking around. Until it became necessary, I sort of forgot.¡±

    ¡°Mh. As if. You probably tried to tough it out and only spoke up when that didn¡¯t work.¡± Seeing Alyssa avert her eyes with a guilty expression, Mireille snorted in triumph. ¡°So, we probably should ask Isolde or Brecht. Come, let¡¯s go.¡±

    <hr>

    Brecht looked from afar as the old wizard laboriously inspected the large metal plate affixed to the side of the corridor built into the town wall. The ceiling was arched and mortared bricks, some broken, some misshapen, made for a rough and unfinished look.

    The metal plates fashioned from wrought iron were covered with fine inscriptions. And even as rust claimed a part, they were mostly well-preserved by some of the magic imbued in the runes. The wizard berated a craftsman who painstakingly removed the rust built up in the more important-looking grooves.

    Turning to the side, Brecht asked quietly under his breath. ¡°Anything suspicious? He made some alterations there.¡±

    Isolde snorted lightly. ¡°He seems to want to be able to focus energies that run through the town. How much of it is properly channeled...I don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°Can he do something with that to aid our enemies?¡±

    ¡°He could try to make himself stronger or, when they get inside the town, help them then, but at the moment, it is inward focused, and he even strengthened that aspect.¡±

    ¡°Is that not unnecessarily complicated for a ward defending the town?¡±

    ¡°Being purely defensive seldom wins the battle and if my historical- admittedly spotty- knowledge serves, the mages settling here had less mundane and more magically active troops.¡± Isolde shrugged. Margramus threw them an unreadable glance and she lowered her voice even further. ¡°We cannot babysit him the whole time. Let¡¯s have an eye on him when the fighting begins if he even joins in the defense. Wouldn¡¯t even begrudge him that, the old bugger already looks half-dead just from walking around.¡±

    Brecht chuckled coldly at that and then patted her shoulder turning to go. His silhouette outlined by the blinding glare of the snow as he walked out of the low exit, ducking to spare his head.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    <hr>

    Night fell, and the inside of the alchemist''s shop was dimly lit by a flickering mage-globe. The floor at the corners of the room was covered in rime, and their breath steamed from the cold.

    After running around all day to help with the siege preparations, they finally had a moment of calm. The militia had been wary of them, and Brecht had to speak on their behalf, gratitude for helping with the rebellion being tempered by them being strange foreign necromancers. At least, that was a common perception.

    ¡°Why not repair the thing? How can anyone do quality work this way?¡± Mireille was cursing while looking through the cupboards. Squinting in the uncertain illumination. The room they were standing in was part sales floor, part laboratory. They had sadly realized that the more wealthy merchants had left first when seeing the signs on the wall and having taken everything not nailed down or built-in, there were only the more rustic- if one wanted to be charitable- establishments left. Possibly excluding Margramus¡¯s mansion.

    Alyssa recalled their attempt to solicit his aid and winced as she remembered the cold stare of the old mage. He had told them to get lost in somewhat more polite language and alluded to the wartime measures that had seemingly taken most of his lab equipment. Requisitioned for the army.

    As if.

    Alea coughed as she brushed a dusty alembic, trying to organize the mess that was the leftovers of the former alchemist plying his trade here. The man had died in the branding two weeks prior, and the shop had been vacant since then, the older man having been widowed for years already. There purportedly was a son, but whatever became of him was unknown.

    Alyssa held her hand before her mouth to stifle a laugh as the small dark-haired Alea struggled to keep from sneezing, looking adorable all the while.

    Cyrus was clawing and biting a large sack of ingredients, probably the tails of lightning deer. At least that was written on a note tacked to the hempen fabric.

    ¡°Do we need lightning deer tails?¡± She asked into the busy silence.

    ¡°Mh. Not that I could think of.¡± Alea gave it serious thought and lost her composure, sneezing violently before embarrassedly dabbing at her nose with a stitched handkerchief.

    ¡°Some of those have frozen.¡± Mireille tapped some vials that had a cloudy interior and cracks running through the glass. ¡°Worst winter in ages.¡±

    From above, soft footsteps came down the stairs leading up from directly behind the counter. Iseret came into view, followed by Vanessa. Both of them held several books and scrolls as well as some more ingredients.

    ¡°It¡¯s not looking good.¡± Vanessa¡¯s melodious voice interrupted their banter. ¡°There are mostly inexpensive and common ingredients left. Iseret even got the strongbox open, but there were only some money and promissory notes.¡±

    Iseret nodded somberly. ¡°We will try our best but I think it will be much less effective than what we had.¡±

    ¡°Every little bit helps.¡± Alyssa frowned worriedly before smoothing her features to hide her unease. Talking about the risk of void magic and having it dangled before her so blatantly, even she was not as blas¨¦ about that as she tried to pretend.

    ¡°So. I have a recommendation.¡± Vanessa bluntly stated. ¡°Please refrain from using large-scale void magics. If we are close to defeat, I can accept it, but other than that please be careful.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alyssa nervously rubbed her cold left hand.

    ¡°On another note.¡± Mireille raised a bottle. ¡°We have some truly fine whiskey here if the bottle is any indication.¡± Forcing a grin while trying to relieve the tension. ¡°So, who wants a sip?¡±

    <hr>

    The next morning in the inn¡¯s common room.

    ¡°If the walls get overrun, and it seems hopeless, take the skeletons and flee. There is no use in dying gloriously for Margrinar in this godforsaken town.¡± Calvin sneezed and blew his nose, destroying the somber atmosphere.

    The girls sitting around the table nodded. Mireille chewed hastily and added a spirited, ¡°I will try!¡±

    Alea was shrinking back into her chair, still not completely comfortable with the wizard even as they had been traveling together for a while now.

    Alyssa frowned. ¡°When we try to flee, will we not make even more of a target? They somehow tracked us here.¡±

    ¡°Let that be my problem. I will try and do something about tracking spells and such.¡±

    Mireille shrugged. ¡°We will leave that to you then.¡±

    ¡°You were making something in that rundown store yesterday?¡± Calvin¡¯s eyes held a bit of interest. ¡°And? Any luck?¡±

    ¡°There were not many usable ingredients left,¡± Alea answered after a short hesitation.

    ¡°I reiterate. We should try to get back to Fort Wolfsbane. No one gains anything if you kill yourself before you even cross the mountains.¡±

    Outside, the tolling of a bell broke the early morning¡¯s silence.

    ¡°Shit. Let¡¯s go and see if it is serious.¡± Calvin stood and grabbed the war-staff in his right hand.

    Together they exited through the front door. Rachel, the innkeeper''s daughter, gathered their used dishes with trembling fingers causing one of the plates to drop with a crash.

    The streets outside were eerily empty for a town, even a modestly sized one like this.

    Hurrying down the alleys and byways, they soon reached the plaza before the western gates. Even from afar, they heard the deep bass thump of a fireball exploding and some scattered screams.

    Cyrus, who had been hopping and running along with them, finally had enough of the snow and clambered up to the roof of a large residential building before then jumping from the highest point. He glided along behind them, beating his large wings to gain a bit more height and catching up quickly this way. Soon he was the one waiting for them up ahead.

    Running up the stairs to the top of the wall without stopping they had to catch their breath after the exertion, with Mireille being only slightly winded and Alea holding on to Butler One with shaking legs.

    Outside, the undead were advancing on the town with mages and branded behind them, throwing an assortment of missile-spells. Alyssa closed her eyes reflexively as a fireball detonated against the battlements. The expected pain from the flames gushing over the stone was strangely absent, though, and as she opened her eyes again, she saw the last of the fire dissipating with the wind as a faintly glowing runic shield faded back into invisibility.

    ¡°Mh. The old wards are still holding. That is good news for however long that lasts.¡± Calvin unconsciously stroked his warstaff while looking over the situation. Beside them stood men and women, some in common clothes, some in some manner of armor, firing down on the undead with crossbows and spells.

    Stone missiles impacted on dead flesh, throwing the corpses back but without damaging them much. Wind blades cut into unfeeling skin, and some of those were strong enough to incapacitate limbs. The fire missiles, bolts mostly with some rare flaming spheres, seemed to be more effective, but the cold and frost were quite good at counteracting what should have been killing blows.

    Somewhere to the right on the flat roof of the gatehouse they could see the silhouette of Brecht and his close allies directing the battle with the help of a surviving officer of the guard.

    Pennants with the crest of Margrinar flapped above them, and the bright winter sun shone down, giving a slight warmth.

    Alyssa frowned and raised her hand before Mireille tapped on her arm. Turning to look at her friend, she saw the freckled red-head slowly shaking her head. Nodding her acceptance, she turned the void bolt she had been forming into her trusty fiery missile sending the globe of flames across the trampled snow to impact on the chest of a large undead beast, it had been some sort of magical bear-thing, probably. Flames spread from the impact causing the flesh fiend to howl in anger before hastening its approach.

    Another bolt and then another flew from her hands as she cast the spell again and again. Beside her, lances of light shot from Alea¡¯s spell construct, and lightning crackled from Mireille¡¯s position, followed by deafening cracks of thunder.

    But soon, she gasped and held onto the parapet before her as the fire energies ebbed inside of her and only slowly began to replenish. ¡®There is nearly no fire-mana in the air. The void energies seem even thicker than yesterday.¡¯

    Alea seemed fine mostly, but she was drawing on her gate, Alyssa thought sourly.

    Mireille was even more exhausted than her after throwing six bolts of lightning in close succession.

    A cheer went up from the defenders as the last of the undead was either slain or began to retreat out of range of spells and missiles.

    ¡°That was only a probing attack,¡± Calvin said quietly. The words were nearly drowned out by the cheering townsfolk.

    ¡°But they should not have¡­¡± Alyssa winced. ¡°They simply wait for the undead to wake, and then they do it again.¡±

    ¡°There might be some too badly damaged or cleansed by light energies, but yes, I think that was less a victory for us than it seems.¡±

    An older woman with a shawl draped over head and shoulders began coughing, holding her chest with one hand while stabilizing herself on the battlements. She seemed pale and ill at first glance.

    Alea hesitated and then cast a healing spell. Light energies played around her hands and flowed into the still-coughing matron.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The woman got better quickly and then forced a smile.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Mireille asked. The other townsfolk were still cheering and throwing insults after the departing undead.

    ¡°I felt faint all of a sudden and very cold.¡± She lowered her head. On the snow ahead of her were tiny flecks of red.

    ¡°It¡¯s the void energies.¡± Calvin stroked his chin. ¡°That will only get worse with time.¡±

    ¡°Should we warn someone?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°I will talk with Brecht. Perhaps he can limit the use of magic for the more serious situations.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t that be a problem for those army mages too?¡± Mireille looked indignant.

    ¡°Probably. But do you see that making a difference? The Nordmarks don¡¯t seem to hold human life in much regard.¡±

    ¡°But shouldn¡¯t the soldiers rebel when their lives are squandered like that?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. But I fear that it might be much too late, and far too few that will find their courage. Let us go back inside. There is an ale with my name on it back at the inn.¡± With that, the wizard turned and strode back down the stairs, holding his leather hat to keep it from being blown away by the wind.

 Shame on me

    ¡°I smile to myself knowing that they may be dead.¡±

    - Emilie Autumn

    ¡°Alarm!¡± The ringing of the bell and shouting from outside roused Mireille from deep sleep, and she was disoriented and confused on waking. She nearly fell off the bed she had occupied in spite of Alyssa¡¯s protests. She had been too worried and anxious to sleep alone, covering this up underneath even more mischief than usual.

    Alea was struggling into her clothes, Butler One helping while Alyssa still seemed out of it.

    Shaking her friend, she, caught up in the moment, whispered, ¡°Hey, wake up. You have to wake up!¡±

    Alyssa¡¯s amethyst eyes focused on her, and for a moment, Mireille saw the darkness devouring her friend''s gleaming left eye, leaving a ragged-looking hole before the illusion reasserted itself.

    Mireille winced.

    ¡°...what¡­?¡± Focusing Alyssa tilted her head listening to the alarm bells. ¡°Argh, can¡¯t be helped.¡± Struggling upright she became aware of someone hogging her blanket. ¡°You had a perfectly fine bed over there, could you not even bring your blanket?¡±

    ¡°It was scratchy.¡± Mireille mock-pouted.

    ¡°Could you hurry up, please? I have a bad feeling about this?¡± Alea interjected, having finally managed to fit into her robes.

    From the chill common room with its slight musty beer smell they strode outside and were greeted by the bite of frost. The night outside was pitch-black and even colder than the day had been.

    Surreptitiously Mireille added a pinch of crystal dust to the runic circuits in her coat and sighed at the new warmth suffusing her tired body.

    Calvin met them at the door, looking tired. He had his backpack on, and for a moment, she wondered if she should go and retrieve her own.

    Anticipating this Calvin shook his head. ¡°No time to go back and pack. If you did as I recommended you will not have much to pack anyway and going into battle burdened is a good way to die. Come on, we have to hurry.¡±

    The direction of the fighting was easy to discern, flashes of light and the rumble of spells going off led them to the western gate, but just as they reached the broader street leading up to it Vanessa jumped down from a building to their right.

    ¡°Wait! They have a group readying to assault the eastern gatehouse!¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Calvin squinted in the unsteady light of his flaming staff and seemed ready for action.

    ¡°Stop! She is a dear friend. That is Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°The person who purportedly trained you?¡± The wizard cocked his head and looked at Alyssa without taking his eyes from the smaller elf.

    ¡°Yes, I trained her and accompanied her from Rivenlorn. But could we postpone the greetings and getting-to-know each other for after the assault?¡± Vanessa spoke up, and her pale green eyes shone briefly like cats-eyes in the dark of her hood.

    ¡°She is trustworthy and if she is right we can do nothing much by strengthening the already adequate defenses and can do a lot for the men and women manning the eastern wall!¡± Alyssa looked at him challengingly.

    ¡°I will regret this. Ok, let¡¯s do as she says.¡±

    Together they ran back the way they had come before crossing the central market square and entering the eastern part of the city. The sounds of the commotion behind them soon receded, and the moaning winds brought only fragments of screams and metallic clanging with the occasional explosion in between.

    Iseret joined them shortly after the market and without seeming winded in the least kept pace with them while reporting the situation. ¡°They have killed the sentries and are now opening the gate. The only good thing is that because of the siege the mechanism was blocked, and we still have time before the lesser undead stream into the town.¡±

    ¡°Too dumb to climb a wall?¡± Mireille scoffed.

    ¡°Be thankful for that, if they get in here, we might have lost already.¡± Iseret threw Alyssa an unreadable gaze as she said that.

    Alea frowned and, ignoring the byplay, turned to Iseret to ask, ¡°They are all dead?¡±

    Iseret turned her head, glancing at the younger girl, and nodded, ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°They only wanted to be left alone, to life.¡±

    Mireille had the good grace to look ashamed as they hastened further down the street and the gate came into view. ¡°I did not mean that it did not matter.¡±

    ¡°I know. You lose your sense of proportion in all this mess.¡± Alyssa looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°I will be going on ahead and try to keep them away from the mechanism. Follow as soon as you can.¡± Vanessa had kept pace with them and now accelerated, jumping up to a nearby rooftop. Some dislodged snow rained down into the street.

    Cyrus eyed Alyssa¡¯s shoulder but was nowhere near small enough to fit. His disappointment seeped through the link and Alyssa grateful for the small distraction gave him a quick smile.

    Vanessa soared through the air landing on the gatehouse¡¯s upper platform. To its sides, awnings protected the lower walkways on top of the wall.

    A bolt of silvery energy flashed in her direction, and with a word a shield sprang into being before her face just catching the metallic energy. The shield flashed, and she fell backward just as it shattered the bolt- much diminished but not gone- traveling through the space her head had just vacated. Bowing back, her hood came loose, spilling her blue-white hair across the snow-covered bricks.

    From the other side, two lanky human men brandishing short swords and attired in dark-grey clothes jumped at her and hacked at her leg and chest, respectively. Their swords impacted only mist, though as Vanessa turned intangible reforming on the battlement. She winced as dark blood oozed from a cut on her chest where she had not been quick enough.

    Claws of black ice formed around her hands, and with a gesture the darkness came alive as the shadow demon rose out of the shadows cast by the lost eye, the white moon.

    ¡°Nirileth, give me speed.¡± Mireille quietly prayed as she saw the flash of magic on the platform high above before concentrating and activating her lightning haste. Tendrils of lightning crawled across her form lighting up her eyes and vaporizing the snow around her before she drew her sword infusing it too with the power of the skies. This took less than a second, and then she took off running up the wall of a nearby house before jumping across the alley landing on top of the wall.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Calvin had not finished his shout before the girl was again in motion jumping to the roof of the gatehouse. ¡°Shit! Be careful! After her!¡± Focusing he pointed at a smaller door leading into the gatehouse before a bolt of incandescent flames formed around the tip of his staff with energy twisting through the runes and carvings coming from the mana-crystals before then shooting forth shattering the lock. White hot metal fragments and splinters burst from the impact, and the wizard looked at a slightly darkened jewel inset in the staff with distaste before hurrying after Alyssa who kicked the remnants of the door open.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    On the platform, the two human men attacked Vanessa, who deflected the strikes with her claws before the demon drove his sickle-shaped talons into the lower back of the left one.

    Out of the darkness ahead of her two humanoid figures materialized. Eyes glowing a dull green, the skin of their faces drawn tight over sharp bones, wispy hair covered their nearly bald pate crisscrossed with ancient scars. Coarse grey cloth covered rusty but serviceable-looking mail armor. Their hands held a whip and a serrated bone knife. Snarling the one on the left jumped forward covering the meters-long platform in a single bound as the assassin to her left gave a last gurgling gasp before sliding to the ground, blood pooling in the snow. The demon vanished back into the darkness as several bolts of silvery light impacted where he had stood. The wight that had remained behind losing them in a steady stream from the bone blade in his hand.

    With a crackle and a hiss, Mireille suddenly stood on the battlement behind the caster, swinging her degen infused with lightning at its back.

    Vanessa had to parry a flurry of blows from the whip, which impacted with bone-crushing energy imbued with some form of force magic. The other assassin threw a brace of knives at her, tips glittering with a tarlike fluid. Her right claw danced through the air deflecting most before one cut across her cheek, drawing darkish blood.

    Suddenly the night grew even darker, and in the middle of the platform, the snow blew to the sides as a large being crashed into the stone that groaned beneath the weight. Rising from a crouch, a hulking figure clad in heavy plate mail rose, grasping a two-handed sword. ¡°There you are.¡± A gravelly voice, rumbling like the echoes of an avalanche, sounded into the sudden silence. Dark eyes with a hint of red light shone from the helmet''s visor and focused on Vanessa. ¡°I come to take you home.¡±

    Mireille used the distraction to stab her sword deep into the chest of the wight she was facing. Lightning flared, and actinic light blasted from cracks and wounds before the wight stumbled back, severely damaged and smoking.

    ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me.¡± The two-handed sword was swung with uncaring force, impacting the hastily thrown up lightning barrier in front of Mireille before shattering it and slamming into the young woman. With a cut-off scream, she was launched backward over the crenelations and to the street below.

    Eyes blazing angrily Vanessa shifted with the shadows behind the Assassin gutting him with a double sweep of her clawed hands. With a gasping scream, the man collapsed. The wight used the slight distraction to swing his whip just past the head of his fallen comrade, taking off an ear and a generous helping of hair and skin before impacting against Vanessa¡¯s right arm, throwing her heavily to the side.

    Crashing into the battlements, she gritted her teeth as the bones in her arm shifted and realigned. Before she could finish, another flurry of blows from the whip made her tumble over the stones just a centimeter ahead of the impacts cracking the brick-floor.

    ¡°I am the second to have received the order. What happened to poor Tarus, mh?¡± The giant took deceptively slow, ponderous steps in her direction. The wind let his cloak billow behind him the edges merging with the darkened sky. ¡°I cannot believe he fell to the likes of you. Binding yourself, limiting your growth. What a waste.¡± The large sword began to glow as runes activated. ¡°I will simply have to cut you a bit so that you cannot run...again. It will be over soon.¡±

    Several silvery bolts peppered the ground around Vanessa as the damaged wight reentered the fight. Fading into mist, she tried to escape as the large undead, probably a vampire too, shouted a spell disrupting her efforts. The shadow demon materialized behind the damaged wight and, with a scissoring motion of his claws, cut off its head. The skull tumbled through the air trailing fading sparks before falling over the side to the road leading away from the town.

    ¡°Hrm.¡± The giant grumbled and blasted a gout of flames from his left gauntlet, lighting up several runes inscribed on its surface. The houses across the street reflected the sudden illumination, the snow glittering redly. The demon hissed like a steam kettle and vanished again.

    Another hit from the whip made her small body tumble as she was folded in half around the metallic strand, but using this as an impulse, Vanessa launched herself over the parapet to the town streets below.

    Meanwhile, inside the gatehouse, Butler One hacked into a retreating soldier wearing dark inconspicuous clothing over armor that had been guarding the spiral staircase leading to the room holding the opening mechanism. Scoring across the breastplate and mailed arms, chainrings shattered, and deep cuts appeared on the plate amidst a flurry of sparks. The woman fighting them was attired in coal-blackened armor with a grey hooded cloak thrown across her shoulders, wielding a short sword in one hand.

    Alyssa leaned to the side, throwing a small bolt of fire, which sadly missed but caused the soldier to flinch to the side, catching another blow from Butler One, this time to the neck. Gasping while pressing her left hand to the side of her neck, the woman retreated, parrying desperately with her short sword. The eerily cheerful porcelain mask of Butler One glinted in the scarce light.

    Inside the chamber, two soldiers were trying to fit a large gear back into place that had probably been dismantled. Three town militia lay still and unmoving on the ground. Their mismatched armor and hardly-athletic physique a sad contrast to the professional soldiers standing above them.

    Two dark shapes ghosted across the room, and the soldiers grasped at matte-black blades protruding from their necks and soon, the poison began to take effect, making them shake and twitch. Alyssa just saw a whirl of dark clothes and a single gleaming slit-yellow eye outside an arrow slit toward the town proper before Iseret vanished again.

    Then a scream and a thud came from outside, and Alyssa paled as she recognized the voice of Mireille.

    ¡°Go!¡± Calvin gestured back down the stairs. ¡°I will secure the gate-mechanism. Help your friend.¡± He looked at Alea and made a shooing motion with his chin at her too.

    Back on the streets, Vanessa struggled to her feet and saw Mireille groaning in a snowdrift before a general store. An old wooden sign proclaimed, ¡®Best prices!¡¯

    Before she could orient herself, another deep thud came from her left, and the gigantic figure of her adversary began to walk toward her slowly.

    Shaking her right arm, she focused on the ambient void energies, and with a last snap, the broken bone aligned and fused once more.

    ¡°I had to leave the battle for Rivenlorn to come get you.¡± The dark voice rumbled, and a bit of snow shook free of a dark lantern drifting toward the ground.

    ¡°Agh.¡± Mireille bit off a pained scream as she tried to put weight on her left leg. Falling back into the snow, she raised her hand, pointing at the plate-clad monstrosity.

    ¡°Sialysalethussar¡± The lightning gathered in her arm, her hand springing forth from the gate, irising open in her chest to admit a rush of power. The alley was lit bright as day as, with a crackling hiss, a bolt of power lanced across the distance, hitting the protectively held Zweihander and shoving the giant undead back several feet. A crack of thunder drowned them in noise, and with a ringing in her ears, Mireille looked at her handiwork.

    An iron grip took hold of the neck of her coat, ripping her to the side while making her scream with fresh pain from her broken leg. Vanessa threw her behind a couple of abandoned crates covered in snow before a wall of fire swallowed her in blistering heat. The roar of the flames drowned the world in heat and light.

    The large undead lowered his hand and cracked his neck, grabbing his sword with both gauntleted hands again. ¡°Little insect, do be quiet until I get to you.¡± He spat. The armor was scorched and burnt, some of the plates still emitted heat, crackling as the metal settled. The ground around him was free of snow in a starburst pattern, with the centermost part covered in steaming water.

    Vanessa stumbled, flames licking across her clothes. With a grimace, she ripped her cloak off her neck and threw it to the side. Fading glyphs of broken enchantments sputtering. With a snap, she summoned her claws again and took a fighting stance.

    ¡°How you get someone to follow you of all people. The useless princess. The spare. The one that let her family fight by themselves and die.¡± He spat again. ¡°Doing nothing. Squandering her gifts.¡±

    Alyssa, Butler One, and Alea spilled from the small side gate taking in the situation. Behind them, rapid steps from above made Alea hesitate, gesturing for Butler One to cover their back.

    ¡°And more lambs to the slaughter. To me, soldiers of Nordmark!¡± the vampire bellowed.

    Hooks being thrown on top of the wall clattered with metal on stone.

    Alyssa formed a spell, glyphs arranging themselves before her as a bolt of fire took form.

    Asandria and Cyrus supported her as she commanded the latter to stay away from the large warrior.

    Asandria murmured, ¡®That is Cereus von Saltmarsh. An old warlord she had preserved for just such a case. Now a vampire. Keep out of his reach!¡¯

    The flames hit him on the shoulder, guttering out beneath a wave of countermagic from runes inscribed in the armor. Chuckling darkly, the vampire raised his left fist, and another wall of flames rushed forward. Alea threw herself down, the flames brushing across her back, the heat burning her lungs as she gasped. Alyssa spread her hands, forming a voidblack oval that swallowed the fire without a trace. The spell was near effortless as dark energies streamed into her core, making it more difficult to stop the flow than continue casting. With a groan and a shake of her head, she cut off the energy causing the oval to flicker and vanish.

    From inside the gatehouse, a clash of metal could be heard, and then the crack of a whip.

    Alea rolled to the side and then rose to her knees before incanting a spell.

    ¡°Troublesome.¡± The vampire, Cereus, muttered before he began to trot toward Vanessa. ¡°But first things, first.¡±

 Silence

    ¨D Anonymous

    Vanessa grimaced at the pain from the burns on her arms and face, but the enchanted cloak had kept the damage to a minimum, for now. Even her singed hair would regrow faster than her noticing the loss, undeath was convenient that way. She gritted her teeth and sprang forward.

    From above, the sound of several pairs of boots came from the battlements heralding the Nordmark reinforcements. Scrabbling from the gate meant that the undead had been advancing too.

    Gesturing, she flung a glyph at her adversary, and with a shrill sound, pellets of ice peppered his visor, jolting his head and spraying frozen water across his vision. The sword he had tried to block with too slow for the fast-moving projectiles. There was no damage done, but that was never the point.

    Sliding along the snowy ground, she gritted her teeth and hacked at the left thigh splitting the chain mail on the back of the leg while cutting deep into the tissue beneath.

    Roaring with pain, Cereus stabbed downward just missing her body shattering the stones beneath. With a small whimper, Vanessa broke off her claw, leaving it stabbed into the leg where it was interfering with his natural regeneration.

    Jumping desperately forward, she escaped- just- two heavy swings of his two-handed sword buffeting her with the wind of its passage. Rolling to shed some momentum, she came back to her feet before focusing on reforming her claw.

    Alyssa grabbed the wand she had stashed in her belt, gained all those months ago from the traitor mercenary, and injected her mana shooting forth several bolts of force.

    The missiles dented the plate mail with sparks flying from overloading runes that were nevertheless still holding for the moment. The vampire spread his arms and bellowed a word of power. Flames even more fierce than the blasts before rushed from his form shrouding him before rushing forth in a circle of destruction. Alea¡¯s eyes widened before Alyssa jumped on top of her crushing her to the ground but shielding her from the worst of the fire.

    Mireille fired another lightning bolt, and with the weakened runes, some of it branched into the armor playing across the pale skin beneath, blackening and contorting muscles and flesh.

    Red eyes gleaming with fiery anger, the vampire warlord took a few steps to build momentum before charging at Vanessa.

    <hr>

    The fire popped, and sparks whirled into the darkness. From afar, the sounds of battle echoed over the snowy fields before the town. The edge of the forest rustled as two figures emerged and walked up to the fire. Zygmund von Nordmark raised his hand and then let it fall down again as the undead sentries did not react.

    One of the two was of average height attired in a torn and ripped dress, the other was much smaller and wore a frilled dress much better preserved than her companion¡¯s. The woman''s eyes flickered with eldritch light for a moment as a tide of void energies brushed across the land, and he recognized Amber. The undead woman stood before him with an unreadable expression lit by the firelight. The small girl in a frilled pink dress wore a vacant expression, only when she looked at her ¡®mother¡¯ was there some emotion flickering in the dark icy depths of her gaze.

    Zygmund snorted disdainfully, ¡°So nice of you to finally join us. It seems the time has come for you to avenge yourself and be useful for a change. I want you to focus your energies on Volstedt. Drown them in void.¡±

    ¡°How will that help me? How will that help any with my revenge against a being of the void...?¡±

    ¡°You want to simply kill her?¡± He looked at her with derision.

    ¡°Yes!¡± Amber¡¯s mouth was a thin slit like a wound in a face too pale for the living.

    ¡°But then it would be over. Nothing more, nothing less.¡± He laughed, ending in a nasty little chuckle, ¡°...and she would be at peace without a worry in the world. Do you truly want that?¡± Amber hesitated, looking down at Lily. Zygmund continued, ¡°Or will you give her to our queen? You know she will do much worse than you ever could.¡±

    A fireball exploded against the wards of the city. The undead did what they did best, unable to scale the wall, and they died, again.

    But there were many, and for those with keen eyes, the recently dead-again were already twitching and slowly getting back up. Only here and there but in steadily gaining numbers as the corpses piled against the stone barrier.

    <hr>

    ¡°Haaa, haa.¡± Alea coughed and scrabbled back to her feet, pushed behind her friend as Alyssa stood protectively before her. She winced at the sight of the burns snaking across her friend''s back, the cloak in tatters and the hair still smoking, partly gone.

    She only wanted away from here. The killing, the dirt, the cold, the undead. But then she gritted her teeth and focused on the slow tick of the mechanism in her breast and focused on her gate, throwing it wide open.

    Alyssa jumped as the radiance behind her burned her in a different way than the mostly superficial burns from the fire. Summoning dark mists, she took a few steps away. Vanessa meanwhile gestured and concentrated as missiles of black ice formed around her like a thorny halo before shooting forward, trying to impale the lumbering mass of metal that was Cereus.

    As per her expectations, that did nothing more than buy her some few seconds as the ice shattered against a raised forearm or the platemail covering his body, but this was enough for her to gather the abundant void energies to heal herself.

    ¡°Nirileth damned piece of pond scum. Son of an ass and a mole.¡± Mireille cursed and held her broken leg, tears of pain carving their way through the dirt on her face.

    Bolts from a few crossbows shot from above, and one of them struck sparks from the street a few centimeters from her head. Her curses growing more colorful, she dragged herself behind a corner into an open doorway.

    From inside the gatehouse, clangs and screaming metal strained to a breaking point grated on the ears.

    A ray of sunlight, gentle and bright, shone on the scene, and with a scream, the large warrior undead shielded his face with his right forearm stumbling as steam billowed from every crack and opening in his armor as the light burned the void that was sustaining him.

    Still clutching his two-handed sword with his right hand, he began to incant, gesturing with his left. A sphere of roiling dark flames burst into being before him, glyphs circling the flaring mass of fire.

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    Vanessa took a step forward, hissing as she brushed against the light; she stumbled back, the skin of her hands bubbling and steaming.

    Alyssa blinked rapidly to regain her vision, spots floating before her eyes, and let loose another force bolt impacting the house behind her target, splintering bricks and showering the scene with fragments of stone. With a gesture and a mental order, Cyrus distanced himself from the fight on the ground and took to the air to harass the soldiers on the wall.

    Vanessa incanted a spell. Glyphs rapidly sprang into being, glowing with a pale blue.

    The large warrior finished his spell, and the sphere of fire shot toward Alea.

    With a singing sound like a string breaking, the spell flared and vanished as the small vampire finished her counterspell. Winded and hurt, she staggered against the nearby wall of a warehouse.

    Three of the crossbow-wielding soldiers on the wall suddenly sprouted dark knives from their faces and necks as Iseret jumped down from the gatehouse platform to disrupt the fire from above. But more soldiers climbed the walls as she fought.

    The large vampire stumbled back as the light intensified, and the glare became nearly too bright for normal eyes.

    ¡°Jaros, warden at the threshold¡­¡± A murmured prayer came from Alea¡¯s direction. Even if her faith had not been firm as she was blessed, it had grown with each time she had felt the caress of light.

    With a crash, the ancient warlord went down on one knee. His attempt to cast a new spell was disrupted by another pulse from Vanessa¡¯s arcane magic.

    Suddenly the light flickered and waned. The sensation of unearthly cold brushed across and somehow underneath the skin. The shadows darkened, and all contrast seemed to vanish into an abyss of night.

    Vanessa felt an invigorating rush of power, but the relief she felt quickly turned to dread as she saw the warlord rise once again, the darkness rushing into his giant form.

    Inside the city and underneath the snow, long dead bodies, be it a starved hound or the forgotten body of a beggar, everything began to shiver with the influx of void.

    Alea gritted her teeth and fought against the sensation of frost invading her body, keeping herself free, but her spell faltered under the onslaught.

    ¡°You will suffer for this. I will ask for your corpse and soul as a plaything!¡± Cereus bellowed, seething with rage, his wounds still smoking from the hateful light.

    With quick steps belying his size while still limping a bit, he accelerated toward Vanessa, who jumped up to a low-hanging balcony swinging up to the edge of the roof. With a quick turn, he targeted Alea, and as the girl stumbled back, Alyssa fired another blast of force from her wand. With a whine and shimmer, the bolt harmlessly splashed against the armor before the wand cracked, the forward third hanging by a few strands of broken wood.

    She angrily threw the useless implement aside, dodging the first hacking slash- only just- as Vanessa sprang from above, her claws blinking in the scarce light.

    Time seemed to slow as Alyssa saw the cruel smirk on the badly burned features beneath the full-helmet as the warlord turned quick as a striking snake, the damaged armor groaning as rivets popped and recently overheated metal ripped. The two-handed sword rose in a fluid motion and impaled Vanessa through the stomach, her quick use of wind magic thwarting his aim for her chest. A pained scream accompanied by an unhealthy whistling sound was cut off as he slammed her to the ground pinning her like a butterfly to the cobblestones.

    Another crossbow bolt from above cut a burning line across Alyssa¡¯s right arm.

    Cyrus stabbed into the shooter''s neck, eliciting a gargling scream. The crossbow tumbled end over end to the ground below.

    Mireille discharged a small bolt of lightning at another soldier, singing the crossbow and hopefully rendering it unusable. Another bolt hit Alea cutting into her leg. Iseret fought against several soldiers, at the moment, with good success, but more were on the way.

    Blood.

    Dark against the white of the snow.

    Flames infused with void.

    The pain in Vanessa¡¯s eyes as the large undead warrior twisted his blade with a hateful grin.

    The gasp as Alea fell to the side, clutching her leg.

    The pale face of Mireille as her arms shook from pain.

    The endless void in the air around her, calling to her.

    Power just beyond her fingertips.

    The solution to all her problems.

    It had always been that way.

    It had been her solace and salvation and the only way she had ever been strong enough.

    She focused on the jewel in her wrist activating the dormant spell-constructs and fed it all she could, more than she could actually. But that was fine, for she would need it all.

    Glyphs aligned, most of which she did not even know the name of. A mind brushed against her own from deep inside the jewel, organizing, helping, but once activated, it did truly have...a mind of its own. And she could only accept the gift of power flooding through her veins, her heart.

    The air stilled, and with a strange whispering, sucking sound, the air pulled in toward her as if a gigantic beast had taken a deep breath. Snow whipped along with it, and with a cackle, the old wizard Margramus threw bloodred dust into the wind, his magic infusing the crystal that was technically of the element of earth and streams of it wound from his tower toward the distant altercation. His hands bled where they had come into contact with the volatile substance.

    More and more power rushed into her as her own gate supplemented the flow.

    While the void still gushed forth, her spell took hold with a silent explosion. Darkness blew from her in a great eruption carrying with it images of endless night. The final maelstrom carrying souls into the darkness beyond.

    Her mind detached from her body, and she felt the spark of unlife burning bright all around her with but a thought she took command and the hordes of undead outside the gates stilled, turned, and began to attack the startled Nordmark soldiers, not all of them were surprised as they had an inkling of what was to come but many.

    The large vampire before her fought back against her mind, so she simply poured in more and more energy.

    That which does not bend...will break.

    With a flash of darkness from eyes and mouth and ears, the giant slowly toppled back, falling to the ground. To her enhanced senses, it seemed like everything happened as if in dream, and it took a long, long time until his eyes lost the red spark enlivening him.

    More power burned along her veins, and she shuddered, twitching with every wave of energy hitting her. Dustlike particles shrouded her form, drifting on the wind like blood-red snow.

    Pain flared from her skin, her mouth, her lungs, and warm blood dripped from her eyes and mouth.

    Her mind cracked down on any and all that stood against her. The dead of the town, the animals, the humanoids, the fresh and the long dead, everything heard her call.

    With a cracking, splitting sound, the cobbles rose, and hands clawed at the air, broken fingers mending in the influx of necrotic energies. Long dead corpses of rodents scrabbled against doors and windows, and screams reverberated throughout the town.

    Freshly slain soldiers and guardsmen opened their eyes to unlife.

    The circle of undeath spread like a ripple in a pond several miles into the countryside.

    Her will imprinted her instructions.

    And then the spell was finished.

    With a thud, she fell back into the snow. Her eyes were wide open, and the pain was dulling fast. Relief followed, but then that too, grew muted.

    A long slow beat.

    A small chamber in a small house, a girls hand reaching for a piece of bread. A brilliant smile on a half-remembered face. Jovial laughter from a big male presence. The smell of candles and fire and herbs.

    Thud.

    The face of a grinning noble leaning over her. The face of a matron with greed in her eyes. The same noble face a pale ruin.

    Thud.

    A temple at night, a large statue of a beautiful woman dancing. A spectral elf, a woman too. ¡°I will accompany you if you allow it. I will lead you and assist you if you promise to undertake this task.¡°

    ¡°I accept.¡±

    A small, winged reptile having grand dreams.

    Thud.

    A red-headed girl playing with a winged cat, another dark-haired girl sitting behind her on a chair, reading. The cat jumps on the book, and it falls to the floor. Golden laughter, golden sunlight.

    Half-elven twins. The girl''s face in shadow, teeth gleaming in a too-white grin, the boy hiding shyly behind her.

    A stuttering beat.

    A school, acceptance, and derision. Friends and enemies. ¡°You don¡¯t belong here!¡±

    ¡°You are my friend.¡±

    An old wizard blowing a ring of smoke while throwing her a mischievous wink.

    Silence. Another beat, weaker still.

    A princess making a speech, a burning air-ship in the background. A vampire bursts into flames inside a ray of light.

    A snowball fight on a quiet day.

    The purr of a dead cat.

    Silence.

    The cold freezes her, and then it too, is gone. The stars dim before her eyes.

    And then there is only the void.

 Regret

    Windows shattered as dead ¡®things¡¯ flooded out of them. Who knew there were so many dead animals hidden in nooks and crannies?

    An ivory waterfall gleaming in the rising moon''s pale white light.

    Mireille gasped as her leg brushed against a plank buried in the snow. The wight she had seen Vanessa fight exited the gatehouse and looked around searchingly before its gaze came to rest on the Nordmark soldiers that had climbed the wall. And with a crack, the whip unfolded, and more screams joined the chorus. She was worried about Alyssa but she did not seem to be in pain.

    Alea glowed with pale light as she finished healing the flesh wound to her thigh before first crawling, then scrabbling hurriedly to where Alyssa was lying. The ground was saturated in shadow that moved like it was a liquid or perhaps even alive. Eyes open, flesh sunken and sallow.

    Vanessa hissed and gathered power to transform into mist- her horrific wounds bordering on her final destruction.

    ¡°Shhh. Don¡¯t move.¡± Cool hands gripped her face, and she saw the face of Iseret above her. She was kneeling behind Vanessa''s head, knees touching her hair, while bowing over her body. As the transformation into mist began, a terrible weakness gripped her mind, and she nearly slipped away. Her body was a sieve, and the darkness was no longer as attached as it needed to be. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Another admonition. With one hand, Iseret gently raised her dagger before kissing the blade. Black blood bubbled from a deep cut into her tongue. With a decisive movement, she pressed her lips against Vanessa¡¯s, funneling the life-giving elixir into her mouth. Only a twitch of her eyelids belied her pain.

    The greatsword was still stuck in the pavement pinning the vampire. Her arms rose to push Iseret back, but then she embraced her head, nuzzling against her while her stomach slowly grew back around the metal blade.

    <hr>

    The sensation of falling, no sound, no light.

    A rainy day in the foothills. Behind them, the town was swathed in a cloak of mist and cloud. The mountains beyond mere hints of green and grey topped with white. The world faded into a foggy nothing.

    ¡®Like cake.¡¯ A half-forgotten but familiar woman''s voice echoed from somewhere, soft laughter hidden within the words. It sounded like a saying a personal joke.

    Why was it sad?

    A shivering hand pressed into the grasp of a large bearlike paw, hairy and...warm.

    The way was not paved but strewn with gravel, neglected more often than maintained. Grasses grew from patches of loam unearthed by the ceaseless rains.

    The scent of wet leaves and earth pressed against her senses, and she raised her head, letting the rain fall into her eyes. Blinking.

    The big man beside her had to slouch for her to reach that big warm hand.

    But that was not difficult, he was bowed and broken already.

    An errant thought supplied a word.

    Father.

    The men and women around them were faceless and pale, ghosts cloaked in greys and blacks. Drifting along with them, in front of them, beside them. The gates of wrought iron topped with inscribed and silvered spikes enfolded them, and the procession walked on.

    Somewhere behind them, a bell tolled. It was not often done for someone of low birth. But someone who had lost or perhaps not lost so much because...mh...why exactly?

    Someone had gifted the sound of the bell for this occasion.

    It was the lesser voice of the tower of Gesserach. A bit tinny but still audible far into the mountainous hills.

    And then they were there.

    The large person beside her sobbed quietly, and she patted his hand, not understanding what was happening. The sobs were broken things, so small for such a big man and he did not feel her little hand at all.

    An old, ornately robed man came from behind some tall stones carved with the likeness of people and beasts of legend, a dragon, a fair-folk, a merman. She thought she recognized the faces they seemed familiar.

    A gaping hole in the ground swallowed the endless rain in rivulets and small streams that meandered through the grasses and low bushes. Some trees, gnarled and twisted by the storms on this flat hilltop shadowed little houses, much further in. There she saw angels, their wings spread against the greying sky.

    The old man raised an old silver cup and began to sing. The ghosts around her did the same. She would like to sing too. But she knew not the words.

    The hole in the ground was very large and frightening. It was black and deep and silent. To the right of it, four men carried a platform on which stood a pretty chest built of warm wood and carved with vines and herbs.

    The song entwined with the voice of the bell and rose into the clouds. Listening closely, the clouds drifted lower, and wisps of fog flew along the trees and taller stones.

    Lightning flashed and threw the stones into sharp relief. Then came the thunder, and the rain got stronger. Drenched and shivering, she pressed against the large leg to her right.

    A woman stood beneath a tree further up the hill her form morbidly thin a hand caressing a carved plinth of stone. She split the world where she stood, and everything she was, was only her, never a part of something else. Her head turned, and a face as white as bone with eyes like chips of ice on a midwinter morning looked in her direction. Flinching before that gaze, the child pressed her face against the sodden fabric of the leg beside her.

    The pretty chest was put on boles above the large gaping hole, and the man with the cup put his finger in it.

    ¡®That was dirty!¡¯ The child thought indignantly.

    Sprinkling clinging liquid silver onto the wood, he sang once more, and the ghosts around her followed.

    There was darkness in the ground, a cold pervasive presence. She had felt it when her mother had to close the eyes of one of her patients. She had said that it was so they could sleep. But here, the darkness was old and deeper than she had ever felt before.

    It felt good.

    Stumbling, she was pulled along as the great man beside her moved forward with the ghosts. And soon, they stood at the side of the chest, and someone pulled it open. Flowers and herbs, wreaths of it covered a slight female form. Only the face was left uncovered.

    It was a face she never remembered and always wanted to. Gentle but sharp, beautiful but not pretty, a mouth that could be pinched into a thin line and then curve like a rainbow.

    ¡°Mother!¡± The child pulled toward the chest and stretched her hand. The large man, her father, simply held her hand and looked at nothing.

    The rain ceased to fall, and strings of pearls reached for the heavens. Everything stilled and became a painting, and the canvas was the whole world.

    And the face was no longer what it had been. Wide-open amethyst eyes stared sightlessly at something beyond the darkness of the clouds, youthful features drawn with pain, emaciated from leeching energies flowing just beneath the skin.

    It was her own.

    <hr>

    How it had all gone to hell, Zygmund could not fathom. He had all of it, every last thing, well in hand before the blast of void magic had nearly overwhelmed his mind. All of the undead under his control had been ripped free and set upon his troops. Everywhere skirmishes without rhyme or reason flared up when men and women in the Nordmarks¡¯ colors were driven back into the woods, where still emerging undead put a swift end to many of them.

    ¡°Ivyander!¡± His bellow cracked like a whip across the open plain.

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    Amber regarded the chaos with bleak scrutiny. ¡°So it failed. It did more than nothing; it helped them.¡± The last was screeched at him.

    Wincing and covering one ear, he turned and backhanded her with a crack. ¡°Shut your damn mouth. Help defend us, or so help me the outer dark. I will make it my mission to chain you into a buried tomb for all eternity.¡±

    Snarling more from humiliation than pain Amber drew upon the void, and tendrils of it flashed from her fingertips before getting a hold of herself. ¡°You will rue this day, Zygmund. I¡¯m neither your minion nor your subject. Watch your back.¡± Grabbing Lilly, she drifted back over the ground and into the tree line. Her vigilant gaze never leaving the fuming vampire.

    A crack of lightning and a flash of light were soon followed by shortlived thunder as a horde of newly risen undead was split and thrown asunder. A pale figure in an ice-grey robe dashed between the still-befuddled corpses and sprinted up to him. ¡°Lord Zygmund. What was that?¡± Ivyander the frost elf grimaced, exhaustion was written on his face.

    ¡°That¡­¡± Zygmund paused and finally ground out, ¡°...was the sound of failure. We leave. Gather as many of my men as you are able and leave the rest. We have to retreat and consolidate.¡±

    With a sigh, the elf nodded. ¡°At once.¡±

    Concentrating, he wove a spell and drew a sharp hissing breath as the glyphs flickered and strained against something before becoming more stable. A good dozen undead turned and stood still. ¡°Whatever spell that was, it is hellishly potent. I will not be able to enforce my will on more than this paltry few. If Milord would perhaps lend me his strength?¡± The gaze thrown at the vampire was inscrutable in the bad lighting, but imagination supplied the sarcastic sneer.

    ¡°Don¡¯t overstep, servant.¡± Each word was enunciated forcefully. Then Zygmund began to gesture, taking much longer, and the glyphs seemed a bit lopsided. They gave a brief flare before winking out. Concentrating, he began again.

    Meanwhile, two contingents of Nordmark troops were organizing a fighting retreat peppered by missiles from the suddenly victorious town defenders. The ranged fire from the walls was nonetheless sporadic as many of them still targeted the ¡®allied¡¯ undead still. Scattered cheers rose as the retreat became obvious.

    <hr>

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Alea shook her friend hastily, patting down her belt before grabbing a handful of potions. Cecily inspecting each before she poured a reddish-brown concoction into her friend''s slack mouth. ¡°Swallow!¡± She massaged Alyssa¡¯s neck as tears streamed over her cheeks. But for all her efforts, the liquid simply pooled and then dribbled to the ground beneath. ¡°No, no, no.¡± Pressing her lips together, she focused and began an incantation light energy gathered in between her hands.

    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Mireille shouted at her, using her summoned lightning spear as a crutch to lever herself on her good leg. ¡°You will hurt her!¡±

    Alea did not pause in her efforts.

    Vanessa clung to Iseret with all her being. The kiss deepened as she began to feel and think clearly again. The terrible pain was at least somewhat muted. But the cold and the fluttering heartbeat of her friend alarmed her sufficiently that she pulled away, her arms still wrapped around her friend¡¯s head. Realizing the origin of her newfound vigor, some fear stole into her gaze, and she shouted, ¡°Iseret! Are you alright? Answer me! Don¡¯t you dare sacrifice yourself!¡±

    With a wry smile still dripping arterial blood, the snake-woman grabbed a potion from her belt. ¡°I will be.¡± She lisped before pulling the cork with her teeth and spitting it and a healthy dollop of her blackened blood into the snow, where it sizzled and foamed. Drinking down the potion, the cut on her tongue began to heal rapidly. ¡°I will survive.¡±

    Still upside down in relation to each other, Iseret still kneeling behind her head, the vampire girl focused and turned into cloud of mist only to reform while frantically looking around to get a sense for the situation at large.

    ¡°What happened? Alyssa!¡±

    Calvin exited the gatehouse at this moment. ¡°Alyssa! That was you, wasn¡¯t it?! How could you?!¡± As his gaze fell on the still form, he gave a deep sigh dragging his hands through his hair. ¡°I knew it had to happen.¡±

    Cyrus fell from the sky, landing beside the prone girl, his movements uncertain and confused.

    The energies of light began to radiate through Alea¡¯s hands everywhere they met with the shadowy pool surrounding Alyssa both evaporated and the darkness seemed to deepen for a moment before the light of the stars and the moon became sovereign.

    ¡°Don¡¯t use light magic! That can¡¯t work!¡± Mireille shook Alea¡¯s shoulder, and the spell broke and fizzled into drifting motes of light.

    ¡°But I cannot do anything else!¡± Alea sobbed.

    ¡°She only looks dead. When she put that jewel-thingy in her wrist, she looked much more dead than now.¡±

    The broken amethyst eyes slowly filled with darkness, and with a crack, the right arm ripped free from the ground where it had frozen solid, sending ice splinters tumbling through the air.

    And then it grabbed Alea¡¯s throat with a vicelike grip. With a groan, the mouth opened, exposing pearl-white teeth.

    <hr>

    The little girl on the hilltop pulled again and stumbled as the father no longer held her in his grip. Tumbling forward, she skinned her knees, and tears sprung unbidden to her eyes. But she was a big girl and would not cry. She had promised Mother. But Mother had cried first, so it couldn¡¯t be so bad.

    Stumbling to her feet, she pulled herself onto the platform and looked into the coffin.

    Words and memories slowly filled the void of ignorance that had held her in this tiny form.

    And the pale woman was beside her looking down into the open grave.

    One hand slowly caressed her hair. And with a toss of her head, and the memory of elderly aunts down the street, Alyssa patted the hand away. A hand as smooth and cold as ice.

    ¡°Am I dead?¡±

    ¡°You know you are.¡± A voice like the drifting rain given voice flowed back to her.

    ¡°Does everyone meet you then? I never thought about it, honestly. That would be a lot of work.¡±

    ¡°No. Most people and nearly all animals will never see me. Either in life or in death.¡±

    ¡°What do you do then?¡±

    ¡°There is still much of the child in you, is there?¡±

    Blushing, Alyssa pouted. ¡°It¡¯s too late to change now anyway.¡±

    ¡°I lessen their suffering.¡±

    ¡°You are Charys, the drinker of tears.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°What is the one thing that everyone has when he or she dies? What is there in one form or another? For all of them?¡±

    ¡°A desire to live?¡±

    ¡°No. That is not always the case.¡±

    ¡°Hatred for those that killed them?¡±

    ¡°No. Most of those that die do so without malice. Even those you would not expect it from. No, it is regret.¡±

    ¡°Why not desire to live, but regret lives passing?¡±

    ¡°Some don¡¯t regret much. A mere passing thought for how things could have been different. A nostalgia for a time that never was and never could be. A dream.¡±

    Eyes like clouded ice focused on her, and she felt the weight of sorrow and regret of all the wishes and dreams, the potential unlived. All that ended and could have been. And she was on her knees and crying before she realized it.

    ¡°I apologize. It has been some time since I talked to one of you. And I never got good at it.¡± A fleeting smile lit her bone-white face. It reminded her of Vanessa, a little bit like the blade of a pointed arrow. Hair like black clouds of fog flowed from the crown of her head, fusing seamlessly with the strange black robes she wore. And, of course, there was a silver chalice.

    ¡°And what do you do about it?¡±

    ¡°When the soul drifts into the void on its journey toward the maelstrom, I gather the regret and sorrow and make it my own. So they can reach the end of their journey without that burden and be free of the darkness so much sooner. It might seem nonsensical, but pain prolonged is pain heightened. And it does not take much for me to do so.¡±

    ¡°I think it sounds like you are a good person. I never thought about it, but you have quite a bad reputation. Drinking the tears of the departed and strengthening yourself on the sorrow of the lost.¡±

    ¡°That is what they say. But even as we can gain strength by worship, us elder gods do not need it. The young ones, yes, they fade and grow with the tides of faith. But not us.¡±

    ¡°Why are we having this conversation? Not that I don¡¯t like that!¡±

    ¡°My brother asked me to.¡±

    ¡°And who is that?¡±

    ¡°You know him as Jaros.¡±

    A lengthy pause ensued.

    ¡°And did he say what he wanted from this...here?¡± Alyssa turned and took in the whole scene. A graveyard on a hilltop near Firswending. The graveyard where her mother was buried. And now probably her father too, if he was not lost to the mountain. She swallowed. Rain and low-hanging clouds still hung from the sky like props in a play. The ghostly funeral procession and her father had vanished, but she, her body at least, was still lying in the coffin.

    ¡°You could resolve an old evil and bring a bit of peace to this troubled world.¡±

    ¡°Why can¡¯t you do it?¡±

    ¡°We made an oath not to.¡±

    ¡°And that is¡­¡±

    ¡°I will not tell.¡±

    ¡°And so you will return me to life, and I can continue to fumble my way to the Heartstealer before she then kills me?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°To which part of what I said?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t bring you back to life. I can only keep your soul and mind from dispersing. You killed yourself when you invoked the f?a Vand. And there is nothing I will do to cheapen your sacrifice and make your life and death meaningless.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it works that way?¡±

    ¡°But as always, there is a choice. I will gift you the decision. As much as my brother would like you to, he is not the keeper of souls. Either you return to your dead body, a spirit bound to flesh in truth with your mind at least temporarily shielded, or I return you to the ocean of souls and hasten your return to a better life, loved and cherished and without want. For your destiny was played with and subverted, your very self formed of the ambition of a dead people. And you never had that choice.¡±

    ¡°I did not lack in this life. I had my friends.¡±

    ¡°You are sixteen years, and you won¡¯t get to be seventeen. You died to the magic that should have been your boon and only isolated and harmed you. I don¡¯t think it unfair to give you that gift. Don¡¯t think you are the only fate I meddle in. There is such a thing as karma. However, you put it. And in its essence, it is the meddling of fate and gods.¡±

    ¡°Are my friends alright?¡±

    ¡°They are in danger, and they suffer but should survive.¡±

    ¡°And if the lich queen is not defeated?¡±

    ¡°Their survival becomes tenuous. But no one knows the future. At least not with certainty.¡±

    ¡°I will go back. It is not for that long, is it?¡±

    The gaze of the goddess was blank as a mirror, and she only saw herself reflected in the clouded ice.

    ¡°So you have decided?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I will go back and help them.¡±

    ¡°Then you will have to drink.¡± With graceful movements, the pale woman took the chalice and put one hand on the back of Alyssa¡¯s head before putting the rim of the silvered vessel at her lips. The girl''s eyes pleaded for a last question, and with a sigh, the white woman answered. ¡°Yes, it will be very bitter.¡±

    What she drunk was not liquid. It was more like a fog, a taste without substance, like drinking a cloud, but it was salty and very bitter, as tears are known to be. The taste was like smoke drifting over the ocean and left the need to cough and hold your breath.

    And contained within were sorrow and pain.

 Dawn

    ¡°In the end it seems we''re just toys, easy to break and hard to mend.¡±

    ¨D Mark Lawrence, Prince of Thorns

    Vanessa sprang forward and pried apart the fingers of Alyssa¡¯s hand, wincing at the crack of a breaking bone. But she could not be gentle as the girl''s death grip on Alea already bruised her slender neck.

    Void magic roiled in the air above them, visible to the naked eye.

    Mireille who had been quite overwhelmed by the situation now finally came back to her senses and grabbed Alyssa from behind. ¡°That¡¯s Alea! Stop that!¡± Grunting with exertion she managed to get her captive away from the struggling and coughing Alea.

    The scene undulated as if seen in a mirror of liquid silver.

    A ghostly Alyssa pushed forward trying to reach for Alea and the body that looked so much like her own.

    ¡°I am so sorry this happened to you.¡± The voice came from behind her, a young woman''s voice.

    Struggling without any progress and with the distortions growing worse Alyssa let go and was pushed back tumbling and whirling. Strangely she felt no discomfort or nausea.

    A girl hung in the darkness regarding her silently. Alyssa had seen her several times now, dreamt of her. She was like a mirror image of herself.

    ¡°What...what is this?¡±

    ¡°We are at the threshold of the void. The walls Between are thin here.¡±

    ¡°She, Charys, said I would return?¡±

    ¡°I was not there but if you say so.¡± The girl looked at the slowly stabilizing scenery. The Alyssa they were seeing was trussed with rope and healing spells flared as her friends tried to mitigate the damage to Alea, Mireille, and Iseret. Alyssa swallowed as she saw the body with her likeness snarl and toss before Vanessa gagged her with a strip of cloth.

    ¡°I have to get back there!¡± She pointed. ¡°Why is my body doing this?¡±

    ¡°You became a naturally occurring undead when you died. No wonder really and now fragments of your personality and soul give this new unliving thing direction and purpose.¡±

    ¡°And what do I do now?¡±

    ¡°Breach the spheres, obviously. You can use breaking the second seal for that. You have no physical presence at the moment.¡± The edge of her mouth ticked a bit upward at that.

    ¡°Why are we speaking like this? The last time you were nearly mute?¡±

    ¡°By taking from you, of course. The longer you remain here, the more we become alike, and in the end, we are as one. That would not be in our best interests, though. Without an anchor, we would be swept into the deepest parts of the maelstrom.¡± Some slight anxiety was briefly visible in her dark eyes. ¡°I recommend you hurry.¡±

    The Mireille in the picture was screaming at Vanessa, who seemed stoic, but Alyssa had come to know her over the months, and she was not nearly as impassive as she seemed.

    Trying and failing to concentrate, she pressed forward without success. Repelled by a film of ¡®something¡¯ she flew dangerously close to her doppelganger.

    Focusing again and again, she suddenly felt a massive influx of void mana and saw her body draw upon the shadows still pooling on the ground. Using that felt natural even as it seemed to be anything but an oval manifested before her, but instead of darkness, she beheld a much clearer vision of the town and her friends.

    ¡°Good luck. And don¡¯t hesitate.¡± The dark girl behind her murmured just loud enough to hear.

    The sounds from outside became clear and with a desperate lunge she spilled into the ¡®normal¡¯ world again.

    There was only a very short moment where she hung in the air before she was rapidly drawn into her body.

    <hr>

    Somewhere in the forest surrounding Volstedt

    Mordrak Redfang of the united tribes lifted his head, sniffing the air laden with the reek of decay. Behind him, several dozen trail-runners waited for his orders. Not as disciplined as the soldiers of one of the southern nations, they independently stalked through the night-time woods looking for enemies.

    ¡°There are undead ahead. Wait here while I scout the way.¡± His deep voice growled as he kept the volume low. Waving ahead, he and six others vanished into the darkness.

    The trees rose high above them, bare branches covered in snow.

    The moon shone from above, intermittently illuminating the dark figures running through the underbrush. The bushes and thorny vines parted with a whisper, closing behind the hulking warriors.

    In front of them was a detachment of Nordmark soldiers fighting a rearguard action against a tide of undead clawing and slavering at their heels. As they watched, one of the men slipped and was buried in gleaming bones with only a choked scream to mark his passing.

    ¡°Quick. Bring the rest. We will use that distraction to ambush them. The dead will never catch us.¡± A cruel smile spread on his wolfish features.

    <hr>

    ¡°What do we do with her?¡± Mireille shouted at Vanessa. ¡°We cannot leave her like this!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think there is anything we can do.¡± The vampire replied softly, nearly a whisper. ¡°That is not Alyssa anymore.¡±

    ¡°Can we not make her one of your sort?¡±

    ¡°No. I cannot. There might be someone who can do that, strike that, there naturally are such mages, but I am not one of them.¡±

    Alea coughed and cleared her throat before walking up to Alyssa, thrashing against her bonds. Cecily skittered across the ground where she had fallen as the bound girl had assaulted her, climbing on her shoulder and lending her its sight.

    Calvin stood to the side, gazing suspiciously at the wight that had cleared the wall of Nordmark troops and was in the process of hunting the fleeing survivors. He lifted his arm half-opening his mouth to say something, then closed it again, the arm falling limply at his side.

    For a split second, the night deepened, and something brushed across the senses, like a feather made of ice. Then Alyssa¡¯s body contorted, and the bindings groaned as they took the strain before she fell back, still once more.

    Vanessa narrowed her eyes and quickly stepped closer. Beginning a spell, she was interrupted as reality distorted, and a calm dusky glow fell on the still body of her bound friend.

    The light was gentle, like an evening spent listening to whispering leaves bathed in the fading glory of the dying sun.

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    And then it was gone.

    Alyssa felt as if immersed in a tomb of ice, struggling to form words; she found herself bound and gagged.

    ¡°Mmmmmh!¡±

    Then there was the light and a featherlight touch of a cold hand on her brows before she felt the cold separate from her by a tiny margin but enough to gain a bit of sanity.

    The broken finger snapped back into place even though Alyssa had not really realized the injury; its absence brought some slight relief.

    ¡®She is back. Quick, release her bonds.¡¯ Asandria¡¯s words echoed strangely, and Alyssa saw the specter more clearly than she ever had. The void energies were also starkly defined against the night sky. A deeper black against the backdrop of the starry heavens.

    Vanessa looked at Asandria incredulously, but then one razor-sharp claw of blackened ice formed on her fingertip, and she slashed the cloth gag.

    Coughing, Alyssa tried to form words only to find her mouth dry as a desert. It was not uncomfortable, but she could feel her tissue straining, and her muscles seemed more powerful and less sensitive at once.

    ¡°Water.¡± She gasped.

    Mireille¡¯s eyes lit with unconcealed joy as she scrabbled for the waterskin at her hip. ¡°You are alive! I knew it!¡±

    Cyrus gave a keening screech and eyed her suspiciously. The formerly lustrous green-brown and black scales seemed to be interspersed with grey.

    The waterskin was placed at her mouth, and she took a greedy gulp before noticing that it did not help much. Her hands struggled instinctively to grasp the skin, and suddenly there was a crack as the rope snapped from the unnatural strength brought to bear.

    Alyssa and her friends flinched from the sound before the formerly bound girl blinked in embarrassment.

    ¡°What the hell?¡± Mireille, who had been stabilizing her head and holding the waterskin, leaned forward and looked her squarely in the face.

    Alyssa gave a tentative smile and then struggled into an upright sitting position brushing away the rest of the broken rope and the cloth scraps of her gag.

    ¡°Care to tell us what the hell happened?¡± Mireille asked not only of Alyssa.

    ¡°I think that someone or something intervened in our favor. But if it lasts and if it is to our benefit in the end, I do not know. She is clearly more in possession of herself, and that is at least one positive.¡± Vanessa took a step back and eyed Asandria with suspicion. The latter raised a spectral eyebrow at the scrutiny.

    Swallowing a bit of the water still pooling in her mouth and washing away the remnants of the healing potion that Alea had forced on her, Alyssa raised a hand and said, ¡°I think I¡¯m good for the moment.¡± The words had a questioning tone but became firm toward the end. ¡°I¡­I think I did it this time.¡± Guilt was written on her face. ¡°I could not let you die. I couldn¡¯t. Not while I had the ability to help. And if you¡­¡± She nodded at Vanessa. ¡°...were killed it would be all over for us too. So I gambled.¡± She sighed. With a start, she realized that she did no longer need to breathe. She had forgotten to after her last words and had to consciously inhale to continue talking. The weirdness nearly short-circuited her thoughts before she gathered herself and continued. ¡°There was a vision. I know it sounds pretentious, but I think Charys spoke to me and helped me...to get back.¡±

    Vanessa slowly nodded. ¡°That is not unheard of. And what I know of her could fit. You received a blessing, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know?¡± Alyssa grimaced. ¡°But I also think that it is likely. I don¡¯t feel nearly as bad as I should, actually. Being dead and all.¡± She giggled hysterically at that.

    ¡°Shh. You are nowhere near dead.¡± Mireille looked at her reproachfully and hugged her from behind. ¡°Perhaps your condition with the runes and paleness...and the eyes spread a bit. But you are still you, I would know.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Alyssa struggled and felt her eyes burn without the ability to shed tears. ¡°Thank you.¡± She finally finished. ¡°But I think Vanessa is right. The void and that strange red crystal dust killed me. And Charys only made it so that I¡¯m not some slavering, newly-risen undead.¡± She smiled self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you would have become something so simple, but yes, I think that is correct,¡± Vanessa interjected. She still looked wan and injured even as her most obvious wounds had closed, and the effort to stay on her feet seemed to be draining her. Iseret, who had been quietly standing to the side, guarding them, took a step closer and surreptitiously entwined her arm with Vanessa¡¯s, stabilizing her.

    The sounds of distant fighting had been a constant all the while, but slowly the battle seemed to wind down, and it grew quieter.

    ¡°So you are like Vanessa? Do you have to drink blood and turn into mist?¡± Mireille asked, but the cheer injected in her words seemed a bit forced.

    Alea put a hand on the red-heads shoulder and shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t pester her. We have to get to somewhere safer we can¡¯t remain here.¡±

    ¡°I will have to find some more sustenance. And as much as it pains me, I will have to leave for a short while.¡± Vanessa sighed. ¡°I will be back as soon as possible. But I¡¯m not much use as I am now. Please be careful as long as I¡¯m gone.¡±

    ¡°We take...this house.¡± Mireille pointed at a large residential building, probably once the home of a well-to-do merchant or craftsman.

    Calvin, who had been silent up to now, nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t claim to understand what happened here, but I think we should seek shelter. The cold and our wounds don¡¯t mix well.¡±

    Vanessa gave Iseret one last look, nodded, and then hurried toward the gatehouse vanishing inside using neither magic nor mist to hasten her steps.

    In front of the townhouse, Calvin readied his staff, summoning a ball of fire. Iseret shook her head and said, ¡°Wait. I can do it without destroying the door.¡± Quickly she took out a strip of metal and worked on the lock. A quiet ¡®click¡¯ sounded, and the door opened on well-oiled hinges. Inside, the foyer was smelling of old, cold dust, and protective blankets shrouded the furniture. The floor was made of polished stone with inlays of a darker color forming geometric patterns. It was more cramped than a noble¡¯s house, but the inspiration for the d¨¦cor was obvious. Frowning men and women, some at the desk of their study, some with an ornate cane in front of a landscape, looked down on them from picture frames lining the stairwell to the floor above.

    ¡°Good choice if I say so myself.¡± Mireille looked a bit smug and then turned serious before helping Alyssa inside.

    The ground floor should contain a dining room and servant''s quarter, kitchen, and the like, so they climbed the stairs and quickly found some guest rooms.

    Deciding to rest for the remaining night, the girls and Calvin separated while Iseret went outside to look for Vanessa.

    The large canopied bed stood in the center of the room with a wardrobe to the side and a small alcove containing a washing basin and bedpan on the other.

    Alea was very quiet and sat on the side of the bed, brushing her hair in an absentminded manner.

    Mireille was staring at Alyssa, who tried to comfort Cyrus, who was still very much disturbed. ¡°And?¡± Mireille finally broke the silence.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Charys, I truly think it was her, told me her brother Jaros instigated her to help me. And that I could and should end the lich queen. I have no idea how I should accomplish that, and she did not tell me. She told me that she would not truly bring me back to life so as to not ¡®cheapen¡¯ my sacrifice.¡± She gave an unladylike snort. ¡°I could live with¡­¡± she began to laugh as she realized what she was saying before breathing deeply and continued, ¡°I would really like to live with not having made a heroic sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°You should have thought of that before doing something so stupid.¡± Mireille scolded. ¡°Yes, it looked bad, but Calvin had not even come out at this time. There would have been something we could have done other than you killing yourself. Don¡¯t think it¡¯s all on you.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Alyssa slowly felt her neck and cheeks with her hands, looking at her pale, white skin. ¡°It feels as if it does not truly belong to me.¡±

    ¡°I think you are not completely back yet,¡± Alea spoke up. ¡°I have some notes on soul magic. Perhaps I can help.¡± She still had her back turned to them while brushing her hair, but Cecily stood on her left shoulder, eyeing them with cold crystal eyes.

    ¡°I hope so.¡± Alyssa let herself fall back into the soft but dusty sheets. Ridges from the brocade cover pressed into her skin, but the feeling was muted, and if she were asked as to the temperature, she would have been stumped. There was also no feeling of fatigue, only a vague sense of exhaustion, of alienation.

    Mireille pounced on her, making a hissing Cyrus back off. Grabbing the startled Alyssa, Mireille hugged her desperately. ¡°I¡¯m only glad that you are not dead.¡±

    Patting her friend on the back helplessly, Alyssa smiled a bit. A pair of green eyes flashed on the wardrobe in the darkest corner, and a soft miau reached her ears before the being vanished again with the swish of a dark tail and a soft touch of calming thoughts.

    Alea put down the brush and climbed into bed before turning her back on them. ¡°Good night. Try to sleep a bit.¡± She mumbled.

    Alyssa softly disentangled herself from Mireille and removed her bloodied coat and boots before she, too, laid down, intending to sleep before realizing that she no longer felt the need.

    Mireille grabbed her as soon as she had gotten comfortable again and did not let go, even while sleeping. Watching fingers of grey light slowly creep along the old, white-washed walls of the room, filtered through the shutters closing off the windows, the dawn gradually overtook the night. She listened to the soft breathing of her friends and felt the deafening silence where her heartbeat used to be. The jewel in her arm prickled like a limb waking, and she felt the energies contained within slowly begin to reintegrate with her being.

    Asandria was a pale presence hovering beside the window, seemingly looking outside through the cracks. But that was a talk she did not want to have at the moment.

    Closing her eyes for a moment, she remembered the funeral she had attended with Charys and the face of her mother she had long tried to remember. ¡®Thank you.¡¯ She thought at the goddess and inanely wondered if that constituted a prayer.

    A faint warmth brushed over her skin, and she opened her eyes with a start. It was the first hint of temperature she had felt since waking up in the snow.

    A hand made of golden light brushed lightly over her head, the sensation mixing with memories of the distant past and another warm hand warding away her fears.

 Life...or something like it

    ¡°He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.¡±

    ¨D Friedrich Nietzsche

    ¡°We need the laboratory of Margramus,¡± Vanessa whispered, and Iseret nodded slowly. Both were in the master bedroom; no one else had thought to claim. Large and ornate furniture rose in the near darkness, and where the light caressed the wood, there were ornaments and inlays made of silver and brass.

    The night was coming to a close, but even the sun could not fully disperse the thick void magic hanging over the town. Good thing that nearly all dead things were already under control. How long that would last was anyone''s guess, but for now, it would suffice.

    ¡°Mh. Are you better?¡± Iseret asked lazily, gazing at the vampire sitting crosslegged on a large cushioned seat, her small form looking like a child in the overly grandiose furniture.

    ¡°Yes. Cold blood is not something I relish, but with all the energy in the air, I should be fine come evening. And how about you?¡± She hesitated, ¡°I did not take too much?¡± There was an undercurrent of embarrassment, and Vanessa had to consciously keep herself from biting her lips.

    Slit-yellow eyes blinked from the shadows calmly regarding her. ¡°It was my choice, and I would do it each and every time. I will be fine.¡±

    Vanessa curled in on herself, catlike in her demeanor, blue-green eyes shining from the folds of her cloak, which was slowly mending itself as the magical inscriptions gathered ambient energy.

    As the deathlike sleep of day claimed her, the last sensation was of strong hands tucking her into a nest of blankets before she lost herself to unconsciousness.

    <hr>

    There had been no big celebration, no jubilant crowds after the victory. How could there be? Dead friends and neighbors stood together with livestock and fallen enemies slowly swaying on the spot. Sometimes groaning as if in pain. They had simply stopped where they stood after the last Nordmark soldiers had been chased away. Those chasing them had...naturally...not stopped. Those in the town- when they lost sight, they lost all motivation.

    Silence reigned, only broken by the wind- the creaking of wooden beams and branches. Where once the night watch would have announced the dawn and carts, and people would have made a ruckus, there was only the quiet whisper of the night breeze.

    <hr>

    The morning came, and the girls and Calvin ate some dry travel rations before venturing outside. Alea regarded Alyssa with some trepidation. The illusion anchored in the amulet covered her most obvious changes, but she was thinner, and there was a stillness to her that was disconcertingly unnatural.

    And Alea could feel the absence of light, like an emptiness in the fabric of life where her friend walked beside her.

    Mireille seemed mostly relieved and teased Cyrus, who was still very grumpy and not completely himself.

    Calvin was silently eyeing them as they walked to the town center. He had intended to talk to Brecht in private, but Mireille had insisted, and the rest simply followed along.

    ¡°There you are.¡± Brecht smiled, but seeing the falseness in the cheer wasn''t difficult. ¡°Care to explain what happened yesterday?¡± He had been talking to Isolde and Rolf, accompanied by a small group of rebels while inspecting the marketplace.

    The sun shone on them, and the trampled snow glittered in the bright light. There was an undercurrent of decay in the air, a faint smell of cold death. At the corner of a street stood several corpses swaying in a nonexistent wind. Undead rodents formed a mound beside an empty market stall. One of them burst into tiny golden flames as the sun shone fully on the bleached bones, and with a soft crack, the skeleton fell to the ground inanimate once more.

    Calvin took the lead and answered, ¡°We had some difficulties. The enemy was well prepared, and some powerful undead accosted us. So Alyssa thought it necessary to force matters.¡±

    ¡°Mh. She had to force matters, you say. If I had not been there, I would simply nod and smile. If anyone gets wind of what happened, she will be hunted by the churches and us, us they will ask some pointed questions...when, not if, that happens.¡±

    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t think you could have survived without her intervention. And if it helps any, she told of a vision by Charys. And I believe her.¡± Calvin winced at the way that sounded spoken out loud.

    Brecht and Isolde made a warding symbol at the mention of the goddess. ¡°Don¡¯t blaspheme her. Not here, not now.¡± Brecht looked serious for once.

    Alyssa frowned, then straightened and raised her right hand, on the palm of which a stylized tear shone like liquid silver.

    Isolde took a step closer, and a look of wonder came over her features. ¡°That is her symbol. Charys symbol.¡±

    ¡°Bah. Could be a simple counterfeit to impress us and divert attention from her.¡± Rolf grumbled but without much heat.

    Brecht regarded them for a moment, then nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s fake. And if it isn¡¯t, you are very close to blasphemy yourself.¡±

    ¡°I think we could be more thankful being alive and able to argue about it,¡± Mireille interjected with a glare. ¡°It sounds like you had everything well in hand, but you didn¡¯t.¡±

    Isolde pointed to the living dead at the street corner. ¡°Those were some of the folks who died from the branding. What do you think their families and neighbors think about them coming back to life and rotting on some stretch of road.¡±

    ¡°It would have happened with or without me,¡± Alyssa said quietly. ¡°The void magic that the Nordmarks unleashed would have raised them sooner or later. Only when it happened that way they would have tried to kill you.¡±

    Brecht and his men eyed her warily.

    Isolde nodded, ¡°You might well be right, but desecrating the dead, even when done to help people, will only rarely win their goodwill.¡±

    ¡°Your undead riders were quite helpful,¡± Rolf said, surprising them. ¡°They held off some of the Nordmarks that had climbed the walls.¡± He raised his arms in exasperation. ¡°What? I hate that she did what she did, but I can see why. With their power¡­¡± he nodded at the girls and Calvin, ¡°...they could have simply left. That I personally don¡¯t like them does not mean I can¡¯t see what they were doing.¡±

    ¡°Right you are.¡± Brecht sighed. ¡°What do you intend to do now?¡±

    ¡°We will need some time to heal and recuperate. Then we will see if we can find a solution to the undead and then we will leave.¡± Calvin said.

    Alea took Alyssa¡¯s right hand, turning it so she could see the symbol. ¡°Good.¡± She whispered so that only Alyssa could hear.

    <hr>

    Lieseleta stood behind the large table of her late father''s study. Big bookcases reached for the distant ceiling, and smaller tables held everything from an astrolabe to a glass decanter containing spirits. The ceiling featured a painting showing the arrival of the first king of Margrinar on the shores of what would become the kingdom.

    Heloise was beside her, looking out of the window.

    ¡°What do we know about the situation in Nordmark?¡±

    ¡°They have rebelled and allied with the lich queen. At least, that seems most likely with the reports of undead we have been getting. Couriers have reached the northern army and found it in open warfare with the wolf tribes. We put an end to that and commanded them to retreat into and fortify the encampment at the border. The wolf tribe seems to have used that as an invitation to raid deep into our, or to put it better, rebel territory.¡±

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    ¡°Do we know anything about the academy group that was to train there?¡±

    ¡°They seem to have gotten between the various warring forces. Reports are incomplete and contradictory. I¡¯m sorry, Liese.¡±

    ¡°We have to end the rebellion of the coastal cities. We cannot afford to divide our attention. Have all the lords brought their levies?¡±

    ¡°No. We still have many that want to wait and see, citing the danger to their fiefs and responsibilities to their people as excuses why they still did not follow our call for muster.¡±

    ¡°Can we make an example of one or two of them?¡±

    ¡°I think that is what might be needed.¡± Heloise''s golden eyes gleamed as she turned to regard her niece.

    ¡°Then we do so. Who should we target first?¡±

    <hr>

    Calvin stayed to talk to Brecht and his group while Alyssa, Mireille, and Alea went back to the inn.

    Entering, they found the common room deserted but for the innkeeper absentmindedly sweeping the floor with a broom.

    ¡°Ah. You survived.¡± He nodded, but there was a bit of added worry in his gaze as he spoke. He nervously brushed back his greying hair and then smoothed his apron.

    Rachel nodded at them from the door to the kitchen. ¡°Do you want some breakfast? It¡¯s a bit cold by now, but I can heat it and have it ready in a minute.¡±

    ¡°That would be great!¡± Mireille answered enthusiastically. Alea nodded.

    Together they took a seat at ¡®their¡¯ table. Alyssa rubbed at the glass panes in the window, cloudy from condensation, trying to see outside.

    Alea sat down beside her and shuffled closer before taking her right hand again.

    Alyssa looked at her curiously but then let her have her way.

    ¡°I¡¯m cold and hungry. I hope they have some honey.¡± Mireille complained.

    ¡°Where is Iseret?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°No clue. She was gone as soon as we got into the house last night, and I did not see her in the morning. Why?¡± Mireille stretched like a cat, then winced and looked pitifully at Alea. ¡°Alea...could you have a look at my leg again? It still hurts.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Bones are difficult.¡± The dark-haired girl nodded as she continued to inspect Alyssa¡¯s hand. ¡°Later when we are back in our room.¡±

    ¡°And now you have a holy symbol in your palm. Can you make water into wine or something nifty like that?¡± Mireille kicked her feet and smiled a bit mischievously.

    ¡°Ask Alea. I¡¯m no saint, at least not that I¡¯m aware of anything like that. The symbol was quite a surprise to me too. I found it in the morning when I washed my hands.¡± Alyssa shrugged, then gave an inadvertent giggle as Alea brushed her small fingers over the center of her palm, tickling her.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you can still laugh like that,¡± Mireille said softly with a more serious look.

    ¡°Me too,¡± Alyssa replied with a pained smile.

    ¡°We have to get a laboratory.¡± Alea finished her inspection and let go of the hand she had been holding. ¡°Without some tools, I can do nothing.¡±

    ¡°What could you do with those?¡± Alyssa asked interest and a bit of hope in her eyes.

    ¡°I told you that I had some notes. I also have more memories, and I think I might be able to help stabilize your condition.¡±

    ¡°You think it needs that?¡± Mireille asked, a bit alarmed.

    ¡°Yes. There is a blessing and something else helping her. But it will not last forever...might not even last a few months to a year.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Why, what?¡±

    ¡°...not make it last? She is a goddess, isn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know enough about religion, but there was always that bit about the gods working through us and helping without intervening directly. Something about a covenant of the elder gods.¡± Alea answered. ¡°I think she stretched that quite a bit already.¡±

    ¡°And you mean that what she did was what she could get away with?¡±

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    ¡°Bringing me back even as I am now was not a small favor,¡± Alyssa interjected quietly.

    They ate and went back to their room. Mireille helped Alea mend some tears in their clothes, and Alyssa used water magic to clean and polish their dirty laundry and boots.

    Cyrus remained downstairs, begging some food from the kitchen. As Alyssa raised an undergarment against the light falling in from the window, inspecting it for stains, she saw the eyes blinking at her from underneath the bed, and she smiled wryly at the Alp in the form of a cat nesting in the darkness.

    Whiling away their time with mundane chores eased by magic, the day passed, and the sun sunk toward the horizon.

    ¡°Are you really, really okay?¡± Mireille had grown bored of sewing, even using the magic her grandmother had bestowed on her, and was lying on her back on the bed behind Alyssa, who read the books on void magic she had bought that day long ago in the market.

    Putting the book down, Alyssa turned and regarded her friend. ¡°What should I say? I really don¡¯t want to think about it too deeply.¡±

    ¡°You laughed.¡± Mireille scooted closer and hugged her waist from behind. ¡°Can¡¯t be so bad then, can it?¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Alyssa lowered her head, and her white hair fell down, obscuring her features. ¡°It''s like standing before a river, and you can¡¯t see the shore. What if there is no shore? And you swim and swim, and you can no longer turn back?¡±

    ¡°Then stay and don¡¯t swim?¡±

    ¡°I fear I stepped into the river some time ago.¡±

    A knock sounded on the door. Shouting for whoever it was to come in, Rachel opened the door and brought a platter with some sliced meat, potatoes and beans. ¡°I thought you could maybe use some more food. You did not come down for lunch, so I wanted to bring you at least dinner?¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Mireille perked up. ¡°That¡¯s really nice of you.¡±

    ¡°The least I can do after you saved me.¡± The young woman blushed and put down the platter on the small table, grabbing a rag stuffed into her belt to clean a bit of dust.

    ¡°What do you think of our victory?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°I...I¡¯m glad that I¡¯m free and not burned to death in the garrison. And that my father is healthy.¡± She looked shyly to the side and bit her lip before continuing. ¡°But the dead scare me. I only heard stories.¡± She quieted down and then blurted out, ¡°They are not in pain, are they? They groan like they are.¡±

    ¡°They shouldn¡¯t,¡± Alyssa spoke up. ¡°It''s complicated, but there should not be much left that could feel pain.¡± Secretly she felt a bit unsure as their studies never touched on the mechanics of necromancy that much.

    ¡°Could you¡­.could you let them sleep again? I know it is too much to ask when you helped so much, but I know some of them and¡­¡± She bit her lip again.

    ¡°If I do, they will become like they are now, only without any control. The only thing we could do is maybe bless them¡­¡± She looked at Alea, who nodded, ¡°...or burn them. That could be a bit difficult in winter.¡±

    ¡°We could manage,¡± Rachel said, brightening a bit. ¡°I will tell Father, and he will speak with Brecht. I think everyone would like them to be at peace again.¡± Turning and leaving the room in a hurry, she swallowed and added, ¡°Thank you again.¡±

    Footsteps descended the wooden stairs, and then it was silent again.

    ¡°I could bless them.¡± Alea adjusted her blindfold.

    ¡°We could burn them that would end any undead shenanigans for good.¡± Mireille shrugged.

    ¡°I think we should go with what Alea said. Perhaps we could burn the animals.¡± Alyssa mused.

    ¡°Let''s eat first and let Brecht and Calvin decide what they want to do...tomorrow.¡± Mireille yawned. ¡°I¡¯m still wasted from the fighting and healing.¡±

    Eating the meal, they found it surprisingly palatable.

    ¡°This Rachel girl is really nice. And she is a good cook.¡± Mireille praised before looking at Alyssa''s empty plate. ¡°Why don¡¯t you eat?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t. I no longer get hungry.¡± Alyssa looked uncomfortable.

    ¡°Why?¡± Mireille looked at her with a stubborn set to her mouth.

    ¡°You know why. Please don¡¯t make me say it.¡± Alyssa frowned.

    Alea put a hand on Mireille''s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Why are you, of all people, sorry ?¡± Mireille rubbed at her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s me that was thrown from the damn gatehouse like the idiot I am. What I did most was lie on the ground and be useless. If I had been better and not such a cursed fool, she would not have had to cast that spell.¡± Tears dripped from her eyes as she stood up and quickly walked to the door.

    ¡°No! Stay,¡± Alyssa grabbed her friend''s arm as she passed her by. ¡°You did do nothing wrong.¡±

    Mireille struggled to pull her arm out of Alyssa¡¯s grasp but did not put any strength into it.

    Alyssa stood up and embraced her. ¡°I was not going to survive that anyway. If there is an idiot among us, it''s me. I could have renounced the void magic, used the cumbersome techniques of the academy, used fire, water, summoning. Anything. But I used void. It was easier, much more powerful, and it was special. I was special. I could be someone, and I mattered. I¡¯m glad that my last spell was to protect all of you. To save you. It could have been something silly like killing some wildlife, training a new spell, or simply the void magic accumulating in this sorry land. But I did it for you. I would not want it any other way.¡± The burning in her eyes grew, but there were, as she was getting used to, no tears.

    Mireille gave up on removing her arm and hugged Alyssa back for all she was worth. ¡°I¡­I will never give up on you even when you are¡­¡± she whispered, ¡°...no longer alive.¡±

    Alea stood and walked closer, trying to hug them both but with her shorter arms only half-succeeding. ¡°Me too.¡±

    <hr>

    Margramus rubbed his hands and grimaced a bit at the lingering pain from the blood crystals embedded in his skin. Even healing magic had not been sufficient to remove those. He gripped the bell pull before realizing its uselessness. Sighing, he moved toward the kitchen. Some stale bread and dried fruit would tide him over until he got to one of the inns or taverns that were still open for business.

    The kitchen was dark and silent as he grabbed the bread and put some butter and preserved pears on the platter. Balancing all of it, he returned to his study, pushing the door open with his foot. As he entered, he felt a cold bite on the skin of his neck.

    ¡°Quite arrogant, are we? You leave the correspondence with the Nordmarks lying around for any spy to see. Tsk, tsk.¡± A husky woman''s voice with a slight hiss on the consonants sounded in his ear.

    The platter with the food fell from his weakening grasp, shattering on the carpeted floor, spilling bread and pears on the fine fabric.

    ¡°W..who¡­¡± While trying to distract his assailant, he tried to get his wand out of his sleeves, only to see the object of his desire waved before his eyes.

    ¡°Are you looking for this little piece of wood? Seems like it could be dangerous in the wrong hands. I will be keeping it for now.¡±

    ¡°What do you want? Is it gold? I have some in my strongbox.¡±

    ¡°No. Not right now. Now I¡¯m in the mood for some answers.¡±

    With surprising strength for the slender arms gripping him, he was slammed against the wall, the dagger still at his throat. Slit-yellow eyes regarded him coldly set in an angular, beautiful face.

    ¡°And do take your time. I want to know it all.¡±

 Retributions and Reunions

    ¡°Be hole, be dust, be dream, be wind/Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,/Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,/Above, beneath, betwixt, between.¡±

    ¨D Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

    Iseret shook her head and looked at the two undead crammed into a small, windowless storage room in the cellar. It seemed to be a cook and a maid. Both showed signs of brutal, improvised surgery. The hearts were missing. With a bit of ¡®encouragement¡¯, she had gotten some of what had happened from Margramus and because it would be much too dangerous to try to hold captive a master mage, she slit his throat.

    ¡®If only all problems could be solved neat and tidy as this one.¡¯ She mused.

    Her muscles burned with a judicious application of divine magic, and she heaved the body into the room. Hesitating she grabbed a large kitchen knife from one of the low tables at the edge of the room, goddess knows what this room was originally meant for, and stabbed the dead body of the mage through the back of the head. Hopefully, if he were raised by the ambient void, not much of his personality would come back. And perhaps she could get Alea to do a blessing. Some of the more volatile chemicals in the laboratory would also do in a pinch, but she was a bit rusty on her alchemics and not inclined to try without need.

    The cellar was once well made, and the stones set with nary a gap. The dust now covering everything had to be the result of long neglect. As she left, the mage globes flickered and faded, burying it all in darkness.

    <hr>

    ¡°How did you get Margramus to lend us the lab?¡± Mireille poked a strangely twisted flask which promptly began to fall over.

    With a suppressed sigh Iseret quickly grabbed the falling vessel setting it down in the center of the table. ¡°I think he only wanted to flee this place. He did not seem very talkative as I spoke to him.¡±

    ¡°I think this has everything I need.¡± Alea was taking stock of the equipment and supplies. Adjusting some apparati and measuring the reagents. ¡°But without Vanessa, it would take too long.¡±

    ¡°She should be back by evening.¡± Iseret smiled faintly.

    Alyssa stood back by the door, looking around with a worried expression.

    ¡°Come in, don¡¯t block the door. It¡¯s cold.¡± Mireille scolded her and then unceremoniously grabbed her hand, pulling her inside.

    The laboratory was a large room probably once meant as a recreation area with large windows overlooking a small overgrown garden. A large bookshelf divided two worktables that contained an alchemy lab and more esoteric contraptions. Runes and protective glyphs covered the ground and walls around the tables.

    In the tabletop, metal plates were inset with rubies to focus heat, and some bowls enchanted to provide endless water. Cleansing wands were scattered on the floor where they had fallen, and some glass shards spoke of clumsiness or a bad temper.

    Notes, some encrypted, it seemed, covered writing tables pushed against the other side of the room. A large chair with many plush cushions promised a comfortable rest. The walls were painted in a light grey tone and almost conspicuously ugly.

    Mireille grimaced as she took a look around and said, ¡°That¡¯s some pretty bad taste, even compared to the prison we have been in.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the color is for the ambiance.¡± Alea absentmindedly replied. ¡°There is probably something in it he found useful. Perhaps some magical property.¡± Patting her hip, she extracted the old glasses of revealing she had liberated from the workshop in Grunewald and offered it to Alyssa. ¡°Please? I don¡¯t think it will go well if I try to look through that with Cecily.¡±

    Alyssa nodded and inspected everything closely, pointing out different magical properties as far as she understood them.

    Around noon, they ate something from the kitchen before returning to the lab.

    Vanessa appeared much as she usually did by materializing out of a drifting cloud of mist.

    ¡°Vanessa!¡± Mireille exclaimed happily, rescued from hours of boredom looking through old notes.

    Alyssa gave Vanessa a nod, some hope and trepidation in her eyes.

    Iseret walked closer and very naturally leaned closer as if for a short whisper before smoothly separating again. Only Vanessa felt the soft press of lips on her ear. Shrinking back like a startled cat, she glared at the offender, who gazed back at her with a calm and unruffled appearance.

    Alea cleared her throat, ¡°We need to hurry. I don¡¯t know if we can remain here for long.¡±

    Vanessa took a few quick steps forward and looked over the worktables. ¡°Mh. Should be enough for something temporary.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to make it last longer?¡± Mireille asked. Cyrus was sleeping on the mantle of the fireplace behind her.

    ¡°It would if we had the time. I do think Alea is right, and we might be forced to abandon this place sooner rather than later.¡± An unreadable gaze fell on Iseret, who smiled slightly while brushing the hilt of her dagger. Nodding, she continued, ¡°Through the belated generosity of Margramus, we have access to one of the better labs I have seen in this human realm. But it is not configured for soul magic, and I¡¯m missing most of my notes and grimoires from when I did the spellwork on myself. And you are different from what I am.¡±

    ¡°Will it work?¡± Alyssa asked quietly.

    ¡°Yes. And Charys did something to you which should help enormously.¡±

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Why not simply let that do the work then?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Because I can see it fraying already,¡± Vanessa answered. ¡°It is divine magic, and I cannot really fathom exactly what it does, but it seems to isolate the mind as my enchantments do with mine. You don¡¯t want the void magic eroding your sanity, and you also don¡¯t want it to erase all positive emotions. What remains if that happens is what we have seen. Greed, hate, possessiveness, and rage. Selfish thoughts and wants.¡±

    ¡°Mostly, it¡¯s numbness,¡± murmured Alyssa.

    ¡°For you.¡± Vanessa smiled. ¡°If you had more hate and greed, that would have remained vivid enough.¡±

    ¡°What do we do now? Do you need my help in any way?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Vanessa replied with some sympathy. ¡°It''s delicate work and perhaps some enchanting design. I¡¯m not sure Alyssa can be of much help, to say nothing of Iseret.¡± The latter gave a small helpless shrug at that, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Vanessa. ¡°We enchant a metal band, a diadem, that anchors a spell we then power with what crystal dust he has left us. It should last for a month or two. And when it wanes, we can always try to fuel it with our own magic or some more dust. It¡¯s very possible that we have to travel by way of the ducal capital, which could mean new supplies.¡±

    ¡°Very optimistic of you.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°I will then be looking for something useful in here.¡± She gestured vaguely at the rest of the mansion.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go into the basement. I did not disarm the traps there.¡± Iseret interjected.

    ¡°Yes, mom.¡±

    Iseret rubbed the ridge of her nose and waved the mischievously smiling Mireille off.

    Alyssa put a hand on her friend''s shoulder as she walked by and said, ¡°Wait! I¡¯m coming with you. I don¡¯t think they will miss me around here.¡± Casting a searching gaze at Vanessa and Alea, the former nodded at her while making a shooing gesture.

    Outside, Alyssa looked at Mireille as they climbed to the second floor. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°I should be asking you.¡± Mireille turned on a landing leaning back against a wall hanging depicting a cherry tree laden with fruit.

    ¡°I am hopeful but a bit scared,¡± Alyssa answered truthfully.

    Mireille turned her face to the side. ¡°Me too.¡±

    Silence descended on the stairwell, and the light from the window set high in the wall filtered by the dust covering the glass cast them both in shadow.

    ¡°Come.¡± Mireille pushed herself up from the wall and climbed the rest of the stairs to the second story. There was a third and even a fourth above.

    ¡°What are we looking for exactly?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°Some magical thingies that could be useful. Warm clothes. Perhaps a blanket or two. Mine has not fared well so far.¡±

    ¡°Mh. I will keep a lookout.¡± Alyssa smiled at the gruff response and hurried her steps to catch up to her friend. Grabbing Mireille from behind, she smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Mireille half turned, looking back at Alyssa¡¯s face shrouded in her long white hair. ¡°What...ah dammit. You are welcome.¡±

    <hr>

    Alea sorted the materials and listened deep inside for the whispers she had been hearing here and there, sometimes louder, mostly just a bit too soft to understand.

    There. A soft touch on her left hand led her to an ingot of a nearly black ingot with purple highlights. Bringing it to the fore, she inspected it critically.

    ¡°Adamant-infused mana-steel. Expensive and probably a good choice.¡± Vanessa looked up from what she was doing, tilting her head to get a better look. ¡°We should combine that with an acid etching and probably use a transmutation ritual instead of conventional smithing for the final form.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alea was a bit intimidated by her friend...mentor? She was unsure what her relationship was with the vampiric girl. Looking at her appearance, she seemed to be the same age as herself, but she knew better. And she was so good with arcane magic. Her eyes lit up as she remembered their past discussions in the townhouse in Kronenburg.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Vanessa asked. ¡°Something I can help with?¡±

    Alea hesitated. ¡°I think I might have some memories left from my grandfather. He was a very accomplished enchanter, and his research focused on the magic of the soul.¡±

    ¡°Memories?¡±

    ¡°He left me an artifact in the form of a heart.¡± Alea was much more calm than she had thought herself to be as she said that.

    ¡°Oh. That is an unusual piece of magic. Most would not risk it.¡±

    ¡°There was not much choice. I was dying at the time.¡±

    Vanessa regarded her quietly and then put her hand on her shoulder, reassuringly squeezing her.

    ¡°And what powers this heart is probably some remnant of his.¡±

    ¡°There should be a way to access that memory. It would be highly unusual if that were not intended.¡±

    ¡°And that is why I¡¯m telling you this. Do you have any ideas?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Off the top of my head, I have some, yes. Oneiromancy comes to mind. It was quite the rage for a period of time before I was born. In the elven empire, I mean.¡±

    ¡°Something about dreams?¡±

    ¡°The empire worshipped all the elder gods, but there was one god who held a special place in our hearts. The god of poetry and gentle dreams. He was not the most martial or powerful god, but he fulfilled a deep need of our people. And the dream part was what gave rise to the enthusiasm around the practice of Oneiromancy or, more simply put- dream magic. I could probably cobble something together that would let you go into a trance without losing your mind or practical abilities. Normally that could be used for focused work or avoiding mistakes while tired. It is not without risk because you might get caught in it and work yourself to exhaustion. But that is hardly an issue with all of us here.¡±

    ¡°Then..should we try?¡±

    ¡°It would probably help. I find myself remembering more than I thought, but reference works are there for a reason, and I don¡¯t find them here.¡± Vanessa inspected the spines of the books again. Then she turned and stretched her fingers. ¡°Do you want to do it now?¡±

    ¡°Now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Why wait?¡±

    Alea faltered but then straightened and faced Vanessa before nodding. Iseret, who was half-lying in the big cushioned chair, raised her head curiously.

    Vanessa gave a reassuring smile and began to incant a spell. Glyphs flickered into being before being succeeded by other more complex forms. And then a cage of runic inscriptions flared once before sinking into Alea¡¯s forehead.

    The sounds she had only registered subconsciously became more prominent, the whisper of the winds, a dog barking somewhere further inside the town. The creak of wood expanding from the warmth emanating from the fireplace. The hum of the heating plates on the worktable. The tick, tack of her heart. And then all of it became distant. Present but not...there.

    The area just before her came into sharp relief, clearer and more vibrant than she had seen it for a long time. The edges of her vision were even more jarring with the crystalline reflections from the jewels inset in Cecily.

    Her thoughts were both more focused and, at the same time, less inhibited than before.

    It was surreal and...dreamy.

    A hand, warm and reassuring, fell on her own small fingers. Looking up, she saw a transparent vision of an older man, still spry and dignified in his own way. Back unbowed by neither time nor grief.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, Lea.¡± The voice was a whisper, but it was understandable. ¡°It seems you want to anchor a soul against dissolution and a mind against void-decay.¡±

    ¡°Yes, grandfather.¡±

    ¡°Good girl. Never try for something too simple and mundane. For that, you will always find someone without the necessary imagination and ability. Don¡¯t waste your talents on common dross.¡±

    Alea smiled brightly. More than she had ever smiled in the last years, even when she had been happy accompanying Mireille and Alyssa. But the loss of her grandfather had been a wound that had never fully healed.

    Vanessa looked at Alea¡¯s smile with a bit of worry.

 Examples

    If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases, observe it.

    - Julius Caesar

    Alea reached for the carving rod fashioned of a very hard crystal, stabilized by magic, and with sure motions, began to carve the small metal plate that somehow had found itself before her. She was a bit unsure how it had suddenly appeared.

    Nodding, Gallius, Alea¡¯s grandfather, stroked his insubstantial beard. ¡°Put more emphasis on the Sarn rune. It will have to do a bit of double duty to strengthen the material itself.¡±

    ¡°Yes, grandfather.¡± With a smile, she broadened her strokes just a bit. And added a small emphasis in the form of an additional line. With her new-found focus, it seemed right somehow.

    ¡°Mh. Just so. Would that I could grasp something, it was never my habit to simply be a supervisor.¡± The old man grumbled. But pride and affection shone in his eyes as he regarded his precious granddaughter.

    Vanessa pulled her hand back before she became an unwilling part of the carving. She had finally found a suitable metal plate for the central engraving and put it on the table, only for Alea to blindly grasp it and begin to inscribe some runes, all the while talking to empty air.

    What had she expected? The dream-spell was meant to do exactly what she was seeing. Concentrating she cast a few cantrips to better inspect the spells taking shape and then put some crystal dust in a jar in easy reach of Alea¡¯s hands. She had to admit the enchantment seemed to be coming along nicely. So she grabbed some ingots they had prepared and began to form the spellwork to transmute it into a circle. A somewhat cumbersome and delicate process she would have happily delegated to a trained smith, if some were at hand.

    And the adamantite infused steel would have needed a very hot flame to soften anyway.

    A gaze to the side showed Alea in an animated discussion of which she could listen to only half. Vanessa showed a fleeting grin before arranging everything for the transmutation ritual.

    Without the permanence of a physical object, the runes would fade too quickly, so she pulled a carpet to the side and was pleasantly surprised at the single great stone slab beneath, perfect for a casting circle. ¡®As if we were in the laboratory of a mage.¡¯ She mused self-deprecatingly.

    ¡°A body made of metal, a body made of unliving flesh.¡± The transparent old man waggled his upthrust finger, ¡°Both have some of the same problems.¡± Gallius paced a few centimeters above the ground. ¡°To have a sense of self, to feel and to have the necessary mortal desires and emotions. You need anchors for something as fleeting as a spirit.¡± As he mentioned each, he raised a finger from his closed fist. ¡°The first is relatively simple. The law of similarity applies here. As long as what you fashion is somehow humanoid or even like an animal you can draw upon universal laws and make it into a whole with the sentience and soul integrating like into a normal body.¡± The bearded face split into a broad grin. ¡°It¡¯s actually a bit more difficult- for the same laws should keep a dead body from moving. But apart from that the second problem is like the first really and with undead not particularly problematic but it could nevertheless lead to a feeling of alienation and loss of function when the sense of touch, heat, cold, pain fades away. So we have to take care to strengthen that aspect. Emotions and void is a problem, however.¡±

    Sigils took shape under the guidance of the old ghost. And the scene was very harmonious.

    Vanessa shook her head and rubbed her aching brows as she tried to remember the specifics of the formula she had begun to inscribe.

    <hr>

    Mireille saw Alysssa going through some fabrics piled inside a chest and knocked on the doorframe to get her attention. ¡°I¡¯m going to look in the upper story. Perhaps I can find something there.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Take your time.¡± Alyssa seemed absentminded, but who would blame her?

    Mireille smiled wryly, pushed the doorframe, and walked up the next set of stairs. The house was cold, and her breath steamed before her face. Warmth. Something else Alyssa did not seem to have anymore.

    The upper story did contain some guest rooms, some storage, and more rooms for housing servants. She got a good blanket and some coins for her troubles. The big silver candle-holders or crystal goblets inlaid with semi-precious gems were too cumbersome to carry, though she had to consciously keep herself from grabbing them nonetheless.

    ¡°Nirileth, forgive me. But it is said you love getting something more than keeping it. I can totally understand that.¡± She grinned and saw the ladder leading upwards. Curious, she climbed up and entered the attic. A labyrinthine series of chambers stuffed with old curios, nick-nacks, and nothing of worth. With a start, she raised her hands and nearly electrocuted a great brown bear''s stuffed and mounted head. The moth-eaten fur shone dully in the sparse light falling through a small window caked with dust and cobwebs. Eyes made of glass gazed sightlessly while the mouth opened in a ferocious roar spoiled by a canine dangling on a thin thread.

    Suddenly the air was too stuffy and full of dust, reeking of cold, moldy wood. The window was- unsurprisingly- stuck, and with a well-placed kick, she broke the rust keeping it closed. With sure and swift motions, she levered herself onto the roof, pleasantly surprised to find a platform with a low wrought-iron railing before she saw the small door inset in the roof some meters away. ¡®That could have been easier,¡¯ she mused.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    A storm hung over the distant mountains, and she breathed deep of the clean, cold winter-air.

    Stretching, she suddenly felt the oppressive silence around her, the loneliness of the close-to-empty town.

    She looked at her hands and clenched them into fists. Sparks of lightning walked up the veins on her arms. Pushing her hands together and then pulling them apart, she formed a dazzling arc of light fluctuating with her pulse. The energy flowing from and into her flesh gave her a pleasant calm. It took nearly no mana, and each breath, each beat of her heart, made her and the lightning become closer.

    Sometimes when a particularly bright flash blinded her, she saw the gigantic serpent flying through the sky on many wings wreathed by storm clouds.

    Too big for this more grounded world she was living in, it seemed to be something from a tale, a story, an epic.

    A giant eye turned in her direction and inspected her.

    The game turns stale and new skies call.

    Thunder rumbled, and in the cacophonous noise, nearly loud enough to drown out her thinking, there were words. Words she was hearing without her ears, feeling them in her blood.

    There is not enough left of the enemy to savor their pain.

    Lightning bolts thick as trees carved the darkness into lattices of light.

    Bite the neck and release the prey from suffering. Thin as it is, you carry my blood.

    End the game.

    <hr>

    The remnants of the Unrepentant gathered in the secluded mountain valley. Their attack on the city of broken ivory had not fared well, as had probably been expected.

    The Leaf-that-Fell grimaced at the tearing sensation in his left hand. The grafted iron blade was ugly but functional. He had gathered what remained of his army after seeing his druids turn the corpses of his brethren into soil. They would not gift the bounty of fresh bodies, bodies of the people no less, to the lich.

    Only a handful of war beasts and three of the druids that had accompanied them were left. His troll slave had been slain, and when he took count, only about a hundred of his men were left.

    He pondered what to do as old Solitary-Vine walked up to him. The old cyclops wore heavy furs embroidered and bound with copper chains. ¡°Is this our last stop?¡±

    Leaf-that-Fell rubbed the still bloody iron inset where his left hand had been. The blade was fashioned from the blade of one of his brothers cold-forged for lack of coal. Dented and chipped but still sturdy, it was a testament to Cyclop''s weapon forging arts. ¡°I don¡¯t think retreating further will change anything for the better.¡±

    ¡°I will prepare the land to receive its due. Dead flesh long denied its proper rest.¡±

    ¡°I will see to the warriors.¡± Nodding his respect to the elder, he stood and walked to the campsite.

    <hr>

    The barony of Kalbersheim was small but prosperous, nestled in the rolling hills south of the great road leading to Kronenburg from out of the coastal cities it enjoyed the traffic and trade that brought. The county of Saltmarsh lay to the south and, with it its prosperous mines and crafts.

    All was well.

    The baron von Kalbersheim, Helmut-Thadeus, was a fit man in his late forties and well used to respect and deference due to his stature and wealth. The latter was the cause of most of his pride, and- if he had anything to say to that- he would not remain a mere baron for all his life. And if all else failed, he could always marry off his disappointment of a son.

    The castle was situated as part of the eastern wall built prominently on a looming rocky hilltop overlooking his domain in a most pleasing manner. The study he was working in had two large windows, a later addition when it became more and more unnecessary to keep up the pretense of a military fortress, and the light of the moon mingled with the glow of several mage lights.

    Raising a wand, he intoned a short command word, and an amber ray of light bathed the scroll lying on the table before several glyphs materialized above the parchment and the seal. Adjusting his monocle, he frowned, murmuring the names of the glyphs under his breath. ¡°Mh. Standard enchantments.¡± He sighed, taking the monocle and putting it back inside its small silk-clad wooden box. ¡°At least it''s not poisoned.¡± Scoffing, he continued his monologue, ¡°The parchment, at least, the words¡­¡± Chuckling at his own humor, he cut the seal and unrolled the scroll. ¡°...are you hereby reminded that continued tardiness in responding to the call of your liege, the Queen Lieseleta Ophelia von Margrinar, represented by her highness, the regent, Heloise¡­¡±

    He rubbed his brows and cast the letter into a bin waiting at the side of the table. Everything was well made, and in good order, paintings of woodland scenes adorned the walls, and a fire burned without smoke in the small fireplace.

    ¡°What are they thinking? I made it clear that I required assurances and concessions. Do they really believe that I would risk the wrath of the other houses by coming to the aid of the maiden queen?¡± He laughed, opening a flask with a ruby-red liquid. Swirling it before sipping, he walked up to the windows before ringing a bell.

    A well-dressed servant in dark grey attire entered and bowed. ¡°Did Milord need anything?¡±

    ¡°Yes, actually. Please copy the reply I made the last time the queen asked for my aid. Make it a bit different but keep the meaning.¡± Shaking his head, he drank another swallow, his mood brightening at the taste. ¡°And order some more of this wine.¡±

    ¡°I will hasten to obey.¡± The man bowed again and left. The door softly fell closed.

    As he left, the servant turned and looked at the closed door, a faint sadness in his eyes. Brushing along his mustache as was his habit, he walked back into his own small study and grabbed a crystal tablet activating it with an injection of mana. ¡°The baron refuses to reconsider. As per orders, I will leave the castle. I hope you can spare the staff.¡± A sparrow made of glyphs and sigils formed and then quickly darkened until only a vague shadow was left that darted through the window into the night.

    <hr>

    The maid sighed and stretched. She had just finished cleaning beneath a particularly bothersome dresser and was tired and her back sore. Patting the dust from her knees, she turned to leave the small guest chamber. Her eyes widened in fright as a silhouette coalesced out of the shadows cast by the open door. There was an impression of many grasping vine-like limbs, and then there was a tall man in a hooded robe. Lifting his head, a pale face came into view with flesh drawn tight over sharply defined bones with eyes a pale white devoid of pupils.

    ¡°Go, leave the castle and never return here. Forget what you saw but remember your fear. Each moonless night see my face and dream.¡±

    The maid shut her mouth, her eyes turned lifeless as she turned, putting away the duster with mechanical movements. She walked out of the castle with precise steps, staring straight ahead. Behind her came the other servants and attendants, a surprisingly large group. And behind them, the darkness came alive with great grasping limbs of shadow cloaking the castle in deepest black, and for years the people would tell the tale of the night baron von Kalbersheim was lost with all his most trusted retainers. The howls that could be heard as far as the town gave those that listened nightmares for years and years.

    In the days that followed, the number of positive replies and apologies addressed to the royal palace increased sharply.

 A history lesson

    ¡°If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.¡±

    ¨D C.S. Lewis

    Alyssa heard Mireille climbing the stairs, the wood creaking under her steps. And then it was silent again. The wind outside had picked up again, and a whistling and light rattling came from the shuttered windows.

    Walking forward, she marveled at the ease with which she saw in the darkened room a dresser loomed to her right, and a canopied bed occupied the middle of the room. It seemed this was once one of the nicer guest rooms and, as such, most likely held nothing of great value. But she could be mistaken and went through shelves and cupboards, pulling out drawers, rifling through the contents a bit absentmindedly.

    A tugging sensation brought her back into the present, and with some alarm, she saw that she had caught her thumb on a piece of splintered wood. There had been just a hint of discomfort, but now that she was looking, the large splinter had ripped along the upper, softer layer of skin, leaving a deep gash.

    Startled, she brought her hand up to her face expecting to see blood...but there was none of that. The edges of the wound began to curl in on themselves while flashes of darkness lingered in the wound. And then the ¡®healing¡¯ stopped. Irritated she incanted the waters of life spell and gently glowing water bather her hand...doing nothing. The glow of the spell faded, and splashes of illumination meandered over the walls getting fainter all the while like sunlight shining through the surface of a lake.

    ¡®Waters of Life.¡¯ A voice came from behind her. ¡®A very useful spell, especially as you want to avoid light magic.¡¯

    Turning, she saw Asandria floating near a mirror blinded by dust. ¡°And?¡± Alyssa returned, annoyance coloring her speech.

    ¡®Life. Something you no longer possess. Not every spells name will be useful or even remotely accurate. Sometimes it''s only thinly veiled vanity that led to a spells nomenclature. But sometimes it is close enough.¡¯

    ¡°You mean...I will not heal if I get hurt?¡±

    ¡®Oh no. You will heal, but only to the extent of keeping your function. Obvious defects like a broken bone, or a wound, will heal until you are no longer hindered by it. But void is not life, and there is nothing inside of you that would heal without the aid of magic, so, the void will restore you to function but nothing else.¡¯

    ¡°But that would mean that I would look like a fleshfiend after a few weeks or months!¡±

    ¡®Nothing so drastic. Small scrapes should heal without much in the way of visible defects, and you could strengthen your flesh to withstand mundane injury.¡¯ A mirthless smile graced the specter''s features. ¡®I was curious how long you would wait to ask me about your condition. It seems I underestimated your airheadedness.¡¯

    ¡°I fucking died! I died, went into an afterlife, and spoke to the goddess of sorrow, and after all that, I think I deserve some slack!¡± Alyssa exploded, and the anger burning inside of her felt so very good for its intensity, startling her. ¡°It¡¯s because of you that I went here and tried to fulfill my obligations, now that I have literally died for that, could you be a bit more understanding?!¡±

    Asandria threw her head back and laughed. Alyssa regarded her incredulously, getting more and more angry all the while. Clenching her fists, she thought about what she could do to be taken seriously for once, but then the specter stopped and regarded her. A chill spread through Alyssa that had nothing to do with temperature.

    ¡®Yes. You work to fulfill your obligations. But that is what they are, a bond, an oath. And no, you have not fulfilled them yet. I can, and I have helped you. I taught you, advised you, and gave you the opportunity to bond with the Soul Jewel. And if you had not been so reckless, you might even have been alive until the end.¡¯

    Alyssa felt a strange pressure around her heart, and for a fleeting moment, she was back in the broken temple, the thorn men stalking after her, rustling, shivering with anticipation. Claws of blackened wood dripping with venom reached for her face.

    Then everything went dark.

    Back in the room again, she saw strange glyphs like brambles and splintered ice burning with a pale blue radiance shining from the center of her chest.

    ¡®Until you truly fulfill your end of the bargain, you belong to the princess. It wouldn¡¯t do for you to forget that.¡¯

    ¡°Why?¡± Alyssa stumbled back and had to sit down on the covered bed. For an inane moment marveling at the softness of the mattress. With hurt in her eyes, she forced out, ¡°Why do that? I did what you wanted from me without protest. I always accepted my debt. Why threaten me? I thought we had a rapport, at least a friendly understanding?¡±

    Asandria looked at her, and some complex emotions flickered across her face. The dark holes in place of her eyes made her even more unreadable. ¡®I...might have gone too far. But when you killed yourself...¡¯ The specter turned around for a moment. Her shoulders trembled. ¡®...everything I worked for seemed to turn into dust. I did not really know that you would return. I strongly believed it, or I would have made sure that you did not use so much void magic, but I did not know.¡¯ She bit out the last words with resentment. ¡®I don¡¯t know if I would get this opportunity again. So I was...agitated...that you were so nonchalant about your death and continued existence.¡¯

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°Is that an apology?¡± Alyssa looked at Asandria, part puzzled, part angry still.

    ¡®You might take it as one.¡¯

    A stronger gust of wind slammed into the shutters rattling them. Dust hung in the air shining in the one ray of light let in through the window.

    ¡°And what about my problem?¡± Alyssa waved her thumb at Asandria.

    ¡®Later.¡¯ The specter raised an eyebrow. ¡®Do you know why it is I asked you to kill the Heartstealer that night?¡¯

    ¡°She is a lich and destroyed your empire? Isn¡¯t that enough?¡±

    Asandria smiled. ¡®True, to an extent. I think it is time you understood more fully.¡¯

    ¡°I would like that,¡± Alyssa answered cautiously.

    ¡®Where to begin?¡¯ The specter turned and floated back to the mirror, brushing over the dusty surface. The dust stirred slightly at her passing, but none was removed.

    ¡®The elves were the favored children of Jaros and Yrgos, brother gods that did not often see eye to eye. Both were deeply tied to magic and the words and runes of power. Where Jaros taught and protected, Yrgos tested and pushed. Sometimes...too much. He was a fickle god, and his attentions wandered as wildly as his feet. Yrgos Worldstrider.¡¯ She smiled again. This time it did not look like a happy expression. ¡®Yrgos had a son with one of the smaller godlings born at the forging of the world, and his name was Vyarlis, the feathered snake, the firstborn of Thunder. And for a while, untold years and years, he was the only one, the beloved and spoiled child of the god of...betrayal. As you might surmise, it did not end well. Yrgos grew bored of this child of his and began to neglect him.¡¯

    A faint light grew inside the mirror, and the dust moved, forming the shape of a gigantic serpent with many pairs of wings meandering through endless clouds.

    ¡®And as Jaros proposed to create sentient life, Yrgos was the first to support him. It is not that the gods did not do it before, there had been many worlds created before this one, and presumably, this world will not be the last. But this act of creation still seemed to be of great significance as far as we know. And when the first elves were formed, they were gifted by two gods with magic and knowledge far beyond what they could have attained on their own. The favor and preference gave rise to arrogance and pride. Vyarlis was at first only angry at his father, but in time he grew to envy and even hate the race that had taken the attention of his creator. And this turned into blood and conflict. The son of Thunder burned cities, boiled seas, and struck down mountains. The other gods did curb his excesses, but he did not relent. And the elves fought back with magics that are now lost to this world, and for good reason. Finally, it was Yrgos who gave the elves the means to kill his son. It is said that the skies rained tears of blood and the thunder booming in the endless clouds echoed with Yrgos mad laughter as his son died.¡¯

    The gigantic serpent in the mirror fell from the clouds, pierced by a strangely shaped weapon, and fell on the ground, crushing a city beneath his folds.

    ¡®The elves.¡¯ She hesitated for a split second. ¡®We. Built the orchid palace out of his bones. Some of them were transported further north and formed the foundation of the city now known as the City of broken ivory. But you cannot truly kill the direct son of an elder god. Vyarlis dreamed of vengeance, and for years and years, this was all he could do as the elven empire flourished and grew...but also lost some of its knowledge by design, most likely as Jaros strove to undo some of the damage Yrgos had wrought. And then there was the night of the gate.¡¯

    Asandria looked distracted, her gaze not focusing far beyond the confines of the room. ¡®The world nearly ended as the first god-king of Allisair rent the spheres to transport his people from another world to this one. Magic from a dying planet did many strange and wondrous things. Clouds swam beneath the ocean, and mountains rose into the sky. Vyarlis took this opportunity and roused from his deathless slumber. Again, years and years passed. The god of poetry and gentle dreams, a child of Irkonos and- of all things- Ielenia came to love the elves, and we did love him back. But as is the prerogative of the truly gifted poet, he became broken in love as the princess of icy stars could not give him back the love he held for her. Gifting her his crystal heart, he vanished into spheres beyond.¡¯

    Asandria fell silent for minutes after that.

    ¡®The heart was a marvel for all that beheld it, granting magic and inspiration, leading to great works of art and the arcane. The nation of Allisair had been a known factor for some time now as an envoy entered the elven lands. Her name at that time was Ekaterina Vesselda of Allissair. She was a lesser princess, wed to a declining house. Her personal power nearly non-existent. Eclipsed by the talent and power of her siblings. Her spouse¡¯s name was lost, along with Allisair. She was envious, jealous, and ambitious.

    And even as her talents seemed mediocre, she had great facility in necromancy and void magic. Something she hid deeply. Vyarlis sensed her burning need, and together with her magics, he began to tempt her in dreams and visions. It did not take much for her to succumb to his whispers, and with his aid, she obtained the crystal heart, defiling and blaspheming it in a rite of blood and darkness. Her wish came true but cost much more than she had thought. Originally she had wanted to obtain power and eternal youth. She got eternal existence and great power, but simultaneously, she lost her life and her freedom. The city of broken ivory where she performed the ritual became her prison as the gods themselves punished her for her crime. The elves, complacent and inattentive, were punished alongside the lich, and the empire that stood for an age fell in less than a century to the divine curse. The elves used all of their fading might to combat the lich queen and their own demise, but the Fateweaver used divinations and prophecy to guide events so as to destroy the Heartstealer forgoing any possibility of saving her people.¡¯

    Tapping the mirror again, the dust formed the side-profile of an elegant elven woman wearing her hair down her back bound by complex braids.

    ¡®She was defamed and cursed by those who knew, but some of the more sane voices spoke to the inevitability of the elven empire¡¯s fall and praised her for at least taking vengeance where salvation was impossible. We will most likely never know. And what she wrought in her visions and by twisting the tapestry of fate led to you. You being here today. And possibly you being alive at all. So take that as you will. Perhaps we are all puppets dancing on the strings of some long-dead elven sage.¡¯ Grinning, she let her arm fall at her side, and the picture made of dust puffed into nothingness.

 A quiet night

    ¨D Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

    Vanessa double-checked the inscriptions made with the specially prepared chalk she had found in one of the drawers. ¡®Nice to have a laboratory meant for more than alchemy!¡¯ Frowning, she dusted her hands, and still seeing white residues beneath her nails, she intoned a cleansing spell. Water briefly flowed over her skin and then vanished, taking the dirt with it. Waving her arms to remove the last drops of moisture, she concentrated.

    In the background, Alea was happily chatting with the ghost of her grandfather.

    Iseret was sleeping on the cushioned armchair. Even in slumber, her eyes were half-open. Mireille and Alyssa were still searching the house, and Vanessa briefly contemplated looking for them. But with her and Alea in the lab, there should not be that many possibilities for mayhem. And the night was not getting any younger.

    She hesitated and looked at the door but then shrugged. The ingots they had found were lying in the middle of the stone slab the chalk markings and inscriptions took nearly two-thirds of the area, two by two meters all in all. If she could still have gotten back pain, she probably would have.

    Small earthenware bowls filled with crystal dust still mixed with blood crystals stood at key points of the circle. She was not shy about using the tainted crystals as they contained valuable mana, and she was pretty confident in getting it to do as she wished.

    Shrugging out of her cloak, one of the few times since she had escaped the cage back in Sorringen, she cracked her knuckles and began weaving the necessary spells. The ingots began to glow with a cold flame and then started to soften and run together. Small flashes of energy sparked inside the metal, illuminating it like lightning-lit storm clouds.

    The process took nearly an hour of continuous chanting and spellwork. The result was a glowing blob of liquid metal hovering in the air between the softly gleaming sigils. Nearly two-thirds of the crystal dust had vanished, integrated into the working.

    ¡®Now for the difficult part.¡¯ Steeling herself, she concentrated on the result she was aiming for, envisioning it as perfectly as she could. Her memory kept pristine by spells she had cast beforehand; she then initiated the final part of the spell.

    Iseret gazed at the vampire and smiled quietly to herself. The lithe figure of her friend, clad in a close-fitting dark grey linen shirt and pants cinched with two different belts from which hung an assortment of pouches and tools, never ceased to fascinate her. There were the fragile-looking thin arms and legs but also the power barely contained beneath the surface. The grace of her elven heritage and the stillness of death. Add to that the glowing eyes and elongated fangs, and she could barely restrain herself from hugging her.

    Which would not be well-received, especially now. Lowering her eyelids, she lazily continued to watch.

    The metal formed a circle or- more correctly put- an oval, better to fit Alyssa¡¯s head, the intended recipient. Then runes began to appear as the metal was pressed and formed by telekinetic forces. Vanessa frowned and barely controlled a sputtering discharge of elemental force as a particularly large piece of blood crystal ignited, and the power surged.

    Then the lights began to dim, and the hovering circlet began to solidify.

    ¡°Finished?¡± Iseret rose from her seat and walked over while inspecting the metal circlet.

    ¡°Mh.¡± Vanessa looked mentally drained and rubbed her hands, kneading out the stiffness from the hours-long spellcasting.

    ¡°And Alea?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. She is still designing the spellwork. This circlet will contain most anything now. I should know. I used one of those in the years when I was trying to get my mortality back.¡±

    ¡°You did?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I was not remotely satisfied being an undead monster, and the possibility of falling under the sway of some necromancer or other made me want to kill myself more than once.¡±

    ¡°Good thing you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Well, it is finished, and it seems that Alea still has work to do. We should look for Mireille and Alyssa. I wonder what took them so long.¡±

    ¡°I think it would be best if you remain here and I go looking. I¡¯ve slept long enough.¡± Iseret smiled before giving Vanessa¡¯s hair a quick fluff.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Swatting the mischievous hand aside, the vampire looked annoyed as the door closed behind the assassin.

    Iseret found Alyssa quickly enough. She was lying on her back on a bed in a guestroom, feet still resting on the ground staring at the ceiling. She looked to the side as the snake-woman entered, stopping her petting of a quietly sleeping Cyrus. ¡°Ah, Iseret. Anything happening?¡±

    She sounded quiet and a bit depressed.

    ¡°Vanessa finished the circlet. We should have barely enough crystal dust to anchor a sufficiently powerful enchantment. Did you or Mireille find anything?¡±

    ¡°Some coins, a bit of jewelry, and a few very comfy blankets.¡± At the last, Alyssa smiled a bit.

    ¡°Do you still sleep?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Damn.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I did not think you wouldn¡¯t realize. Do you know where Mireille is?¡±

    ¡°The last time I saw her, she walked up those stairs over there.¡± She pointed in the direction of the corridor.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Please go down and join Alea and Vanessa. I will get her.¡± Iseret motioned with her chin towards the door before vanishing into the darkness of the corridor.

    Alyssa groaned and followed her directions.

    Soon after, they were all assembled in the lab.

    ¡°What is with Alea? Will she come out of it soon?¡± Mireille made to poke the unsuspecting girl but was stopped by Alyssa, who shook her head with a frown.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think she will finish this night.¡± Vanessa ignored this byplay.

    ¡°She will stop before she gets too tired?¡± Iseret asked.

    ¡°I can end the trance at any time.¡±

    Iseret pulled the curtains back a bit and looked outside. ¡°Just before dawn. I think you should let her get some rest.¡±

    ¡°Mh, she seems energetic enough. But you may be right.¡± Vanessa made a cutting gesture, and Alea stumbled, looking around dazedly.

    ¡°Where, what?¡± She stammered.

    ¡°I ended the spell keeping you in a trance. You have been talking to your grandfather for a few hours now. Do you remember?¡± Vanessa waved her hand before the girl''s face.

    Alea staggered, and Mireille quickly grabbed her shoulders, guiding her towards a chair. ¡°Everything alright with you?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Yes.¡± Alea looked forlorn, and the exuberance of the past hours was nowhere to be seen.

    Vanessa looked a bit uncomfortable. ¡°Sorry for putting you through that.¡±

    ¡°No. No, that was...I¡¯m very glad you did that. It helps us, and I can finally say what I wanted to him. I did not say goodbye. I did not realize the spell would end so soon.¡±

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t finished. I think we will have about two days at least before the spell is ready.¡±

    ¡°You mean¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will spell you again in the evening when you have rested and eaten something.¡±

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m glad. I was pretty sure that this¡­¡± She patted the stack of notes that had formed before her. ¡°...would not be enough, but I wasn¡¯t sure.¡±

    Alyssa gave Alea¡¯s shoulder a squeeze. ¡°And then you can still say goodbye. You only have to remember to do it first.¡±

    Alea gave a wan smile and nodded.

    ¡°So. Everyone, grab what you need, we are staying here this night, but I don¡¯t want you scattered over the whole building. No sense it giving our enemies a defenseless target.¡± Vanessa interrupted the two.

    Alyssa nodded, ¡°I will keep watch.¡±

    Mireille wanted to protest, then remembered her friend''s condition and finally kept silent. Emotions flitted between protest, irritation at herself, and finally, a tired acceptance.

    The day passed at a snail''s pace. Alyssa skimmed some of the books arranged in bookcases along the wall but was soon bored to death by the highly academic wording. Only a book on poison techniques was strangely entertaining as the author was something of a cynic and had a malicious humor that was as captivating as it was repulsive at times.

    In the early afternoon, a commotion could be heard from outside, and she quickly walked to the window pulling back the curtains for a better look.

    Toward the eastern gate, there seemed to be some sort of gathering, and many militias were manning the walls. Groaning as she feared a renewed assault, Alyssa woke Mireille and Iseret. The latter was already up as she wanted to shake her. ¡°I think there is another attack from the east!¡±

    Iseret¡¯s eyes sharpened. ¡°Do you still have your connection to the undead?¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Alyssa looked a bit sheepish and concentrated. The first she realized was the simmering resentment from Calmund von Nordmark, the wight she had left in the slaughterhouse. He had apparently distinguished himself in the streetfighting, but she had neither seen nor spoken to him since. A flash of reproach stabbed at her before she could send him a few calming thoughts with an underlayer of her catastrophic wounds from the blood crystals. She omitted- not that she had the wherewithal of prolonged communication- her new undead state but sensed that he might have caught on to something. Grim amusement colored his dismissal of her silent apology.

    ¡°And?¡± Iseret asked her impatiently.

    ¡°I¡¯m working on it!¡± Alyssa frowned and concentrated on the more tenuous connection to the undead outside the city, nearly overwhelmed by the multitudes of vermin, animal corpses, and humanoid undead. Some of them seemed to be agitated by nearby living people, and she further honed in on them. The jewel in her wrist began to glow as she began to expend more power, and suddenly she was seeing through the eyes of a fleshfiend staggering between some frozen trees. Before her, she saw a column of men marching in a double file on the snowed-in road from the south. And as she subconsciously urged the fleshfiend closer she began to see individual faces and some uniforms. The colors and insignias of Margrinars army as well as the heraldry of Kronenburg.

    Before she could come closer, a woman riding beside the marching soldiers raised a stout rod in her direction, and she had a brief view of green eyes in a youngish-looking face that she soon recognized as one of the academy teachers who had come along for the field training. A flash of brilliant light seared her eyes before her vision spun around, and she saw the sky wheeling above her- Then nothing.

    ¡°Soldiers from Kronenburg!¡± Alyssa excitedly exclaimed.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Mireille grabbed her stumbling friend. ¡°Hey, sit down first!¡±

    ¡°There were soldiers, and they wore the army''s uniform, and they flew the banner of Kronenburg. And there was a teacher from the academy. I think she was called Esme?¡±

    ¡°Esme...and?¡±

    ¡°I only remembered her first name because it was cute!¡± Alyssa blurted out.

    Iseret snorted in amusement. ¡°We should have someone go over and have a look. Mireille?¡±

    ¡°Yes? I mean, yes! Alyssa, come with me.¡± Mireille grabbed her coat quickly, putting it on before pulling Alyssa toward the door.

    ¡°Halt! Where do you think you are taking our new undead? Into the daylight and toward soldiers, only waiting for one to show so they can kill it?¡± Iseret slammed the door shut before they could leave.

    Vanessa groaned and sat up slowly. ¡°Soldiers? And academy mages? We should keep out of sight but...thank the gods.¡±

    Iseret looked at them worriedly. ¡°Are you fit enough to flee if someone comes for you?¡± She inspected the vampire.

    ¡°Yes. That should be no problem, and Alyssa is even less affected. Go. Alea is still here, too. We are not defenseless.¡±

    <hr>

    Mordrak stretched his arms and balled his fists before cracking his neck. The small camp he had his men prepare after the ambush last night was busy with his warband covering all traces of their presence. They had made the Southerners pay for their transgressions, and many of the soldiers would feed the roots of grass and tree with their flesh and blood.

    Grinning at the thought of a bit of karmic payback, he looked up as the scout he had commanded to have an eye on the city came jogging through the snow between the trees. The lithe figure bowed quickly, and then the young woman with the golden eyes of his pack but only vestigial fangs and claws, making her unfit for being a warrior, spoke up. ¡°Men, many men and some horses coming from the south. They wear the cloth and the color of the despoilers. I counted at least five scores.¡±

    ¡°A hundred. Mh. Not that many on the larger scale of things. And the horses?¡±

    ¡°Men and woman both. They have green and gold clothes.¡± She gestured, indicating coats and a cape.

    Mordrak¡¯s thoughts flashed back to the group of students he had seen ¡°Mages. Perhaps they are not in league with the despoilers after all. We should not be hasty. Stirring another hornet''s nest when we have so much still to do...could be unwise.¡± His deep voice rumbled through the clearing, and his Warband listened.

    The woman flattened her ears and slightly turned her head, exposing her throat in a subconscious gesture.

    ¡°Be at ease. I will go and try to speak with them. You will guide me. My wolves! Try to stay on their trail and harry them when needed. Olif will command in my absence. Wait for me when they enter one of the dwellings of stone. Mark the trail with our signs so I can find you.¡±

    The warriors nodded, and one of them, a giant nearly his equal in size and bulk, bashed his chest with a large calloused fist before motioning the other wolf-tribe to hurry.

 The White without Stain

    ¨D

    ¡°Open the gates!¡± Brecht shouted, and the guards in the gatehouse relayed the order. The banner of Volstedt snapped in the freshening breeze, and somewhere far above, a falcon danced with the wind black before the winter sun.

    The militia surrounding him were visibly nervous, and several muttered quietly between themselves.

    Desertion, mutiny, and execution were words that fell often.

    Isolde grimaced and rapped one of the more vocal troublemakers on the back of the head. ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense! We freed Volstedt, nothing else to it. Keep your gob shut.¡±

    Rolf looked at her with disdain. ¡°Always so violent.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen violent if you think that¡¯s all I will do if...you keep talking!¡± She growled the last in a louder voice at two militia men standing a bit to the side, who promptly shut up.

    The gates were raised with the slow rattling of chains. Soon the first of the soldiers in the colors of Margrinar entered the town on foot followed by mounted troops and several army mages. Mixed into those were mages in academy robes denoting third years and teachers.

    Behind those came a group of mounted warriors in chain and plate mail washed white and silver with the symbol of the candle of Ielenia. Some other clerical troops followed behind those but in significantly lesser numbers. Cornac, Jaros, Melloris and Gesserach. The lord of war, mysteries, civilization, and oaths, respectively.

    Mounted on a humungous warhorse, an older warrior rode up to the group around Brecht. Raising his visor, a lined face with a salt and pepper mustache and well-groomed beard became visible.

    ¡°Greetings. I assume you might be the people in charge of this town? The name¡¯s Garibald of Saltmarsh. High commander of the royal garrison at Kronenburg and acting general for this here detachment of troops.¡± He called to them in a gravelly voice, raising an eyebrow at the ragtag appearance of the group. No two militiamen had the same weapons and armor, and even though most had at least an armband in the colors of Margrinar, green, and gold, it was more of an afterthought.

    ¡°My name is Brecht. And this here, are my lieutenants, Isolde and Rolf. We are mighty glad to see you. We had sent the Nordmarks packing day before, but the situation was still very much uncertain.¡±

    ¡°You repelled a siege?¡± The commander now raised both eyes in disbelief.

    ¡°Yes, we did. We had the help of a group of academy mages¡­¡± Seeing the mounted warrior scrutinizing their party, he changed his intended words, ¡°...well, they aren¡¯t here, and they don¡¯t answer to me, mind. But they should be at the inn.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating. So. Gather your men for debriefing. I will inform my officers, and one of you should lead the troops to the garrison. I think it would be best to get them out of the cold as soon as possible. Had some frostbite on the way here. Never seen such a winter.¡± He shook his head.

    A woman in white and gold robes and a white veil walked up to them. The hair was blonde interspersed with grey, but the forehead was still unlined, and the eyes held a strange intensity that was easily overlooked for the shapely form and gentle posture. The candle of Ielenia was embroidered on her left breast, and she held a staff crowned with a white flame dancing just above the gold-plated tip without consuming any visible fuel.

    ¡°Commander.¡± The voice was melodic and with a hint of an echo lending it an ethereal quality.

    ¡°Priestess.¡± There was a hint of wariness in the polite address.

    ¡°I will command the white guard to scour the surrounding fields of the plague of undead. This here is even worse than what we saw on the way. The land is truly stained with darkness. The light of Ielenia shall burn it free.¡±

    ¡°It would probably be best if we coordinated with the locals before we burn something?¡± The old commander sighed. ¡°And perhaps even your holy warriors want to have some hot food and a roof over your head come evening?¡±

    ¡°Ielenia provides, while the poison seeps deeper and deeper into the earth, the air, and even the people we cannot rest more than absolutely needed.¡±

    ¡°If you insist. Can¡¯t fault you for ridding this land from the undead.¡± The commander shrugged. ¡°Go ahead. I will tell my aide to prepare lodgings for you and your men. The gate guard will be informed, and if you, later on, need it, simply ask.¡±

    ¡°Blessings upon you. I will take my leave.¡±

    Brecht sucked some air through his teeth and looked at Isolde, who made a surreptitious gesture behind her back, urging caution.

    ¡°Something on your mind?¡± The commander asked.

    ¡°No. Nothing. I think we should get on with the debriefing. Perhaps you might like a first-hand account?¡± Brecht raised an eyebrow where the priestess would not see.

    ¡°Ah. That might be for the best. Lead on then.¡±

    The priestess gave the trio of rebels an inscrutable gaze before raising one hand in blessing and turning to leave.

    Isolde pressed one hand against her chest as her heart beat an erratic rhythm. She never was one for religious authority, and if she read the priestess right, she and her compatriots were only given reprieve but not absolution.

    The old warrior dismounted with a practiced jump, the armor clanging as he hit the ground. Discreet runes flashed as some of the force was magically redirected.

    There might be legitimate reasons, like falling from the horse, but Isolde was pretty sure that the flashiness of the move was one big reason that enchantment was made.

    ¡°So. We have some privacy. What was it you wanted to tell me?¡± Garibald did not waste any more time.

    ¡°We did indeed manage to repel the Nordmark forces and their Ulsolm allies, necromancers, undead, foul scum. But those academy mages were more than essential. If they had not intervened, we would not be standing here today.¡±

    ¡°Good. Those academy whelps are usually only good for some scent spells and for the new year''s fireworks. Finally, they are showing some promise where it counts!¡± The commander looked gratified.

    ¡°But...¡± Brecht began with a deep breath.

    ¡°Shit. Those undead standing around being target practice. Damn it.¡± The old man swore.

    ¡°Ahem. Yes. It is, as you might have thought. One of those academy mages is a necromancer on par with the greatest in the stories. She raised and controlled all the dead in the town and surrounding countryside and used those to rout the remaining forces of Nordmark.¡±

    ¡°You cannot be serious.¡± The commander looked as if he had the world''s worst headache. ¡°You know, I was a bit worried that the combined clerical troops would be a nuisance, divided line of command and all that. But I would not have thought that the problems would begin BEFORE I even get to see the enemy! This alleged second coming of the damn Heartstealer- Is she still sane? A good law-abiding, or at least all the laws sans necromancy, citizen of Margrinar?¡± He poked Brecht with one gauntleted finger somewhat painfully in the chest area. ¡°...you will assign berths for my troops, and then you will bring me this necromancer genius, posthaste!¡± As he was growing a bit louder, he realized that he might be heard from back by the gate and quieted down again.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Brecht finished the breath he had been holding since the diatribe began.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    <hr>

    Iseret and Mireille had just reached the square as the words of the large officer conversing with Brecht and his lieutenants indistinctly reached their ears.

    ¡°Did they just shout necromancer genius?¡± Mireille poked her ear with her index finger.

    Iseret shushed her and looked around.

    Dozens of soldiers were entering the town and were then directed by some of Brecht''s subordinates toward the garrison building. A priest of Cornac, the god of battles, prayed over the copious bloodstains that marred the ground.

    ¡°Cornac. Weren¡¯t those the people who wanted to ship Vanessa south?¡± Mireille did not seem to be deterred by Iseret¡¯s gestures.

    ¡°Mh.¡± The snake-woman absentmindedly replied, gazing at the roofs of the surrounding buildings. With a nod, she turned and focused on Mireille. ¡°Yes. The priesthood of Cornac betrayed her trust and captured her for further interrogation. Normally they would be very welcome against the undead, but now, they are a problem.¡±

    As they talked, a young man, boy really, in the robes of a novice of Ielenia, walked up to the priest, bowed, and then said something to which the priest merely nodded, gesturing for the boy to leave.

    ¡°And there is an even bigger problem. Ielenia. They hate my people. We are not ¡®pure¡¯ enough. Quite the irony as we are called impure by them and our own priesthood.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Mireille asked curiously.

    ¡°That explanation would be a bit much for just now, but in Sur Kesh, the more you resemble the snake, the purer you are. Here it is the opposite.¡± She grinned without mirth.

    ¡°I thought you all looked like, well, you?¡±

    ¡°Not nearly. The blessing, as it is called, manifests differently in everyone. Some only gain a bit of scales, an eye, some claws. The more pure you are, the closer you are to the perfect form of the snake.¡±

    ¡°But then you are...a big snake?¡±

    ¡°Yes. And then you are mostly worshipped and cared for. But then your line is at an end, for the snake can no longer merge with another less blessed individual. So reaching this point is actually not that preferable all in all.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s strange.¡±

    ¡°You tell me.¡± Iseret sighed. ¡°And all of it is- as far as I know- the interpretation of the priesthood. She, who is many and still one, never taught this. It¡¯s always been one high priest or another. The great goddess is full of boundless curiosity, and there is also the wish for more power, more influence. More souls.¡± She pressed her hands together in a strange contorted gesture that nevertheless seemed practiced. ¡°May she bless me with wisdom.¡±

    ¡°Is she an elder god?¡±

    ¡°No. She was born with the river and the land. It is said that she swallowed the word of creation with the meaning ¡®snake¡¯ and was then endowed with godhood.¡±

    ¡°Can you eat a word?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the tale, at least.¡±

    ¡°Brecht wants to talk to you.¡± A burly woman in thick winter clothes, all wool, and leather in natural colors, strode up to them and interrupted them.

    ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°At the garrison. You know where that is?¡±

    ¡°We will manage.¡±

    Soldiers and the usual baggage train were still entering the city, and Mireille and Iseret walked alongside the stream of people and goods.

    ¡°How many are there?¡± Mireille idly asked as they pressed into a doorway to allow a larger wagon to pass. The wheels ground through the snow with a crunching noise, and the two oxen snorted testily, annoyed by the cold.

    ¡°I think about a hundred soldiers with maybe half that in support personnel. Not counting the temple troops. Did not get a good look at those.¡±

    ¡°That does not seem too much?¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong, but from what I hear, the kingdom faces a lot of crises, and the temple troops with the mages might even the odds by quite a bit, especially against dark magic and the undead.¡±

    ¡°Like...us you mean?¡±

    ¡°Possibly. I would try to avoid a confrontation.¡±

    A big soldier looked a the two, and his face darkened as he saw Iseret¡¯s features. With a snort, he spat in the snow in front of them before turning to go, not without giving them a last disdainful glare.

    ¡°What¡¯s his problem?!¡± Mireille took a step forward, lightning sparking around her feet and hands before her companion pulled her back.

    ¡°Nothing I¡¯m not used to. Kronenburg is mostly fine being a bit more cosmopolitan, but even there, it¡¯s best not to show too much scales in certain neighborhoods.¡± She shrugged disinterestedly.

    ¡°At least you are much more interesting, don¡¯t look like the ass of one of those oxen and smell a lot better.¡±

    ¡°Thanks...I guess?¡± Iseret raised an eyebrow, especially when she heard the last ¡®compliment¡¯.

    Soon they reached the garrison and saw the troops unloading the supplies before bringing them into the barracks building.

    ¡°Excuse me!¡± Mireille tapped one of the civilian workers, a cart driver by the looks of it, on the shoulder.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, missy? Them magefolk are over there if you are looking for ¡®em.¡± He pointed at an inn that had been vacant as far as Mireille knew.

    ¡°No. We are looking for Brecht. He sent someone to get us.¡±

    ¡°Mighty good job they did if they did not even tell you where to go.¡± The middle-aged man in a wool-lined leather coat grinned. ¡°He¡¯s the elder here or sumethin¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you could say he is.¡±

    ¡°Go down to the large building over there. The officers have all gathered inside, and there was a group of important-looking townsfolk. Should be one of them, I reckon.¡±

    ¡°Thanks!¡±

    ¡°Take care.¡± The worker grunted as he heaved another sack of flour onto a pile, already waiting for someone to carry them inside.

    Before they could enter the inn, a soldier leaning against the wall with a bored expression raised a gloved hand. ¡°Halt! What do you think you are doing?¡±

    ¡°I heard Brecht is in here, and he sent someone to get us. Here we are.¡± Mireille looked a bit irritated by now.

    ¡°Who the fuck is that? Don¡¯t know any Brechts around here. If you don¡¯t have any business here, get lost.¡±

    ¡°We just told you.¡± Mireille was getting angry again.

    ¡°Could you ask if Brecht is inside? If he is, it¡¯s most likely because your commander asked him to bring us. We did fight for this town, after all.¡± Iseret gave a polite smile.

    ¡°The one place I thought I¡¯d never see snakes, the frozen north, and what do I get.¡± The soldier grumbled but pushed himself away from the wall before walking up to the door and rapping against it. ¡°Hey. It¡¯s me. Open up.¡±

    A small window opened, and another young soldier with a scraggly beard looked outside. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Is someone called Brecht inside?¡±

    The younger man looked outside and, seeing the two women waiting outside, asked, ¡°Are you asking for those two? What are they called?¡±

    ¡°How the hells should I know.¡±

    The soldier inside the inn seemed to swallow a retort and asked Iseret, ¡°Are you perchance Alyssa?¡±

    ¡°No, my name is Iseret Sekesh, and this here is Mireille Annirstochter, a student at the Academy of the Arts in Kronenburg.¡±

    ¡°Ah, good that you made it. Wait a second while I open the door. Brechts inside talking to the commander who asked to have you sent to him as soon as you arrive.¡±

    With a thunk, the bar was lifted, and the door opened.

    ¡°Finally,¡± Mireille grumbled. With a last superior look at the soldier still standing watch outside, she entered the common room together with Iseret.

    Inside was more or less controlled chaos as some officers ate, and some attendants organized the luggage.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± The young soldier tapped another on the shoulder. ¡°Can you man the door for a moment, have to bring those two to the commander.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± A woman in her early thirties shoveled the last of an unappetizing gruel into her mouth before walking up to the door waving them on.

    Down a corridor and up a flight of stairs, they soon found themselves before a sturdy door that opened after a brief exchange, and then they were ushered into a large combination of study and bedroom, possibly once the demesne of the former innkeeper.

    A large well-muscled man in his late middle age with salt and pepper hair as well as an impressively bristling mustache eyed them before raising a hand in greeting.

    Brecht and Isolde were also present, as well as two mages.

    Escaldis Aldrnari, the fire mage, and some younger wizardess in the attire of a teacher at the academy. The woman had close-cropped hair of a brownish color, freckles, and a young-looking appearance belying her status. The robe she wore did seem a bit on the looser side. Several wands were tucked into sheaths bound to her belt.

    Escaldis preempted any further greetings when he jumped up as soon as the door closed, nearly overturning the chair. ¡°What has she done? Where is Alyssa?¡±

    ¡°She saved this sorry town.¡± Mireille retorted angrily.

    ¡°We need to have her here as soon as possible.¡± Escaldis frowned and stroked a bronze amulet with several inset rubies, clearly a nervous tick.

    ¡°Why?¡± Mireille asked heatedly before Iseret had a chance to reply.

    ¡°Do you really have to ask? If the priestess of Ielenia gets to her before we do, she might well be executed on the spot!¡±

    The commander, who had at first tried to get a word in edgewise, now gave a long-suffering sigh. ¡°Those are no unreasonable assumptions. She is not known for her soft-heartedness when it comes to cleansing a ¨C in her eyes- taint.¡±

    ¡°And?¡± The fire mage asked again.

    ¡°If we bring her here. Will you protect her? And what are your plans for dealing with what she has done?¡± Iseret¡¯s calm voice quieted them all down.

    ¡°I will, of course, arrest her. But she is a student of the academy and has to be tried by us, not some religious fanatics.¡± Escaldis answered.

    The commander raised one hand and then turned it into brushing his mustache without further comment.

    ¡°Ah. I see.¡±

    ¡°Will you be so kind as to get her?¡± The wizard asked in an overly controlled tone. The politeness only a thin veneer by now.

    ¡°I think we should hurry to get her then.¡± Iseret grabbed Mireille¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°Why arrest her? She died...nearly died for this miserable piece of frozen stone. She should be thanked, not arrested!¡±

    Iseret pushed her outside before taking a quick bow. ¡°We will be back soon.¡±

    Garibald, the commander, cleared his throat. ¡°¡­Gregor¡­¡± He looked at the young soldier still standing outside, who seemed gratified to be remembered. ¡°Please escort the young ladies to their destination, wherever that is, and take care to bring them and their friends back here as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Sir.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

 A fork in the road

    ¡°Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.¡±

    ¨D Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

    As they were escorted back down the stairs, they saw further along a corridor several of the mages that had accompanied the soldiers. They seemed to be unloading their baggage and chatting while some eyed them curiously. Mireille recognized a few of them, and a girl from ¡®Sword One¡¯ gestured in her direction, but then they were past.

    ¡°We have to hurry.¡± The young soldier, Gregor, the commander had called him, urged. He was probably in his twenties but looked a bit younger as he had taken the time to shave- unevenly- and the armor was meant for someone bulkier, so it looked a bit as if he had mistakenly put on the mail of his older brother.

    ¡°Mh,¡± Mireille grunted noncommittally, signaling Iseret with her eyes, but the latter seemed preoccupied with her own thinking.

    Down the wooden staircase, they went. Small windows let in the pale winter sun. Neglect and disuse had put dust and dirt on the once-polished wooden steps.

    Back again in the common room, they marched straight for the exit. Just as they reached and unlatched it, the door was pushed open, and they heard the tail end of an argument from the sentry outside. ¡°...not supposed to simply barge in! Hey! I was talking to you!¡±

    White, a whole lot of white, was the first impression Mireille had as the big man shouldered into the room, bowing his head a bit to avoid banging it on the door frame. Stumbling back, she saw the symbol of the candle on his tabard, white, and the plate mail- painted white- as well as his cloak- Still white. A heavy Warhammer hung at his hip with a stylized flame engraved in the blunt hammerhead. Small flames billowed around the engraving marking it as more than an ornament. The face was emotionless beneath the open-faced helmet and clean-shaven. Nevertheless, she would guess him to be at least in his thirties.

    ¡°Out of the way.¡± The voice was deep and rumbling. Standing beside the door, he vigilantly eyed the room before waving with his hand to someone outside. ¡°Please come inside, your holiness.¡±

    Iseret pulled Mireille to the side, and one hand lightly stroked her khopesh, which caused the white-clad warrior to narrow his eyes.

    Gregor stood between them with a helpless look on his face. ¡°What...who?¡±

    A slim figure entered, attired in a white robe bordered with gold stitching, the candle of Ielenia on her breast. A veil hid her face safe for her eyes but hinted at finely carved features. The hair was blonde laced with strands of white. Eyes of a pale grey gazed at them with indifference. A faint scent of incense accompanied her entrance. Sparks of light shone from her eyes that were not simply reflections from the windows and mage-lights.

    The warrior took a step forward and forced Gregor back with his sheer bulk. ¡°Make way for the priestess.¡±

    ¡°But!¡± Gregor¡¯s somewhat weak protests did not deter the duo from walking further into the room and then toward the stairs. The woman nodded shallowly in greeting, and one hand formed the symbol of blessing. The index and middle fingers raised the thumb spread to symbolize the flame.

    Iseret whispered softly to Mireille, startling her from her reverie. ¡°We have to go. We don¡¯t have much time, I fear.¡±

    ¡°Ah- Yes, let¡¯s.¡± Mireille shrugged and turned to go. Gregor hastened to keep up.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t run off!¡±

    The cold, clean air was comfortable after the stuffy interior and the intimidating temple warrior. Mireille rotated her arms and stretched, stepping a bit closer to Iseret. ¡°Do we really let them arrest Alyssa? If something goes wrong¡­¡±

    ¡°No. At least, I don¡¯t think so. It would be best if we could all work together, and there are enemies enough for all of us and more besides, but if I know one thing. Religious reasons need no logic.¡±

    ¡°Should you say that as a religious person?¡± Mireille quipped.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Gregor interjected as he finally caught up to them.

    ¡°I did not have lunch yet and was thinking about going to fetch some food.¡± Mireille lied blithely and grinned.

    The soldier blushed as he saw the girl smiling mischievously and scratched a left-over patch of beard.

    Mireille raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers, making small bolts of lightning flicker over her hand. ¡°Come on. We have to hurry.¡±

    Together they walked through the still mostly empty town. With a spit-take, the young soldier jumped back and drew his short sword. ¡°What the hell!¡± Pointing the weapon- tip wobbling a bit from nerves- at the corpse of a dog that had raised its eyeless head at them, making as if to sniff. Greenish flames lit the empty eyesockets, and the flesh and fur not eaten by the rats were frozen and greenish looking.

    Iseret surveyed their surroundings and then nodded to herself. ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± She pointed at a small, relatively well-kept house, probably once housing a few families of workers. ¡°Go on in.¡±

    The soldier seemed still frightened. ¡°And this abomination?¡±

    ¡°Will be there when we come back out. Did you not see the undead on your way here.¡±

    ¡°I was with the baggage train.¡± He said sheepishly.

    ¡°Then you will get some practice.¡± Mireille grinned, but a bit of confusion lingered in her eyes as she mouthed a question at Iseret behind Gregor¡¯s back.

    Stepping sideways without losing sight of the undead hound, Gregor began to turn as Iseret gave him a sudden chop to the side of the neck. Stumbling and with a betrayed look, the soldier tried to say something before falling to the ground. The sword tumbled into a snowdrift.

    After stripping the glove from her left hand with her teeth, Iseret deeply scratched her wrist and murmured a prayer. The black blood welling up burned for a moment in dark flames and then turned into a viscous colorless fluid which she dripped into his still-open mouth.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Not stopping or slowing down, she answered. ¡°We have to finish Alyssa¡¯s enchantment. They will look for us at the inn and with Gregor...occupied. No, he is not dead.¡± She turned her head slightly to give Mireille an exasperated look. ¡°We will have a bit of a headstart.¡±

    ¡°To where?¡± Mireille was frustrated being led around by the nose.

    ¡°I think we should use the Astral plane.¡±

    ¡°Ah, one of the things that is flat but not.¡± Mireille nodded sagely. ¡°And how will that help us?¡±

    ¡°Now, you will help me get him into the house. We don¡¯t want him freezing, do we?¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye.¡±

    Together they pulled him into the entrance and then into the building, leaving him under some old blankets found in one of the deserted rooms.

    ¡°And now?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°We hurry.¡±

    ¡°Why did they only send Gregor with us?¡± Crunching through the snow, the redhead walked quickly after Iseret, who strode down the road with long strides keeping to the shadowed parts but otherwise not very concerned with stealth.

    ¡°Because they did not want to make a big commotion. Sending a dozen soldiers would mean that the temple would realize something is wrong. Sending one soldier is not conspicuous.¡±

    ¡°So they wanted to help us?¡±

    ¡°Seems that way, but it would still not be in our best interests to let Alyssa be incarcerated. What would they even do to keep her from casting magic? No. Even with good intentions, the way they were doing it would have made everything much harder.¡±

    <hr>

    Alyssa gazed at the simple diadem made of a dark metal inscribed with runes. ¡°Could you have made it a bit more¡­delicate?¡±

    ¡°More of the magical metal means we have more room for errors in the runic array. The sturdy construction is also a plus. If someone hits it in the heat of battle, for example, it will not simply break.¡± Vanessa frowned. ¡°I have been up in the daylight to help Alea complete the enchantment. The least you could do is not get in the way.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Alea looked a bit uncomfortable at that and then swallowed what she was about to say.

    ¡°I will leave you to it then.¡± Alyssa turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door gently with an exertion of willpower she did not realize she had.

    ¡®I know I am a burden at the moment, but I saved her too.¡¯ Grumbling internally, she walked down the now more familiar corridors and went up the stairs to the platform overlooking the town.

    ¡®Vampires suffer from the sun more than most undead.¡¯ Asandria said conversationally.

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡®How are you holding up.¡¯

    Alyssa raised her face toward the floating specter, and her eyes widened a bit in at least partly overdone surprise. ¡°Oh! So you care for me after all.¡±

    ¡®Don¡¯t do that. I was asking seriously.¡¯

    ¡°Not good.¡± Alyssa bit out the answer. ¡°I wish Mireille was here. Vanessa is a good friend, and Alea is fantastic, but both are not who I would want to talk to about feelings.¡±

    Asandria seemed a bit taken aback. ¡®And you think me a better prospect for such a talk?¡¯

    ¡°No. But with how you are always present, I can no longer muster any sense of shame or outrage when you know about my faults.¡±

    ¡®Mh. True enough. And? Why are you feeling bad?¡¯

    ¡°You have to ask?¡± Alyssa clambered up the set of stairs to the attic and exited through the window. She then settled down on the platform, her back to the gently sloping roof, still within the shadow cast by a large cluster of chimneys. Her eyes roamed over the town and then toward the distant mountains. As a gust of wind moaned across the roof, she pulled her coat closer, more out of habit than need.

    ¡®Without asking, I can not know for sure.¡¯ Asandria sounded a bit defensive.

    Cyrus forced himself through the same open window and hopped onto Alyssa¡¯s lap, covering her legs completely.

    ¡°Hey! You are too heavy for this!¡± Arranging his wings and tail more comfortably, he stubbed her cheek with his forehead. Laughing, she pushed him back a bit, looking at his green-yellow eyes. ¡°You have nearly the same eye color as Iseret.¡± Petting the wyvern, she leaned back against the low railing. ¡°I¡¯m still holding on.¡± She murmured. ¡°But it¡¯s like hanging from a rope, and it¡¯s getting harder to keep on holding. It would be so much easier to simply let go.¡±

    ¡®And then?¡¯

    ¡°I could scream, shout and try to cry.¡± She forced a grin. ¡°Maybe I would never stop.¡±

    ¡®Would that make you feel better?¡¯ Asandria seemed honestly curious.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tired of keeping myself together.¡± Propping her chin on the back of Cyrus''s neck, she stared at the mountains.

    ¡®The enchantment should help.¡¯

    ¡°With staying sane?¡±

    ¡®Yes. It will change the mana your spirit and mind will use, and that will change your emotions.¡¯

    ¡°So, which is my ¡®natural¡¯ state? The depressed, nearly insane Alyssa, or the one we will have then?¡±

    ¡®I find emotions to be distracting and mostly useless. They are fine for giving direction and fomenting ambition. But most often, they simply cloud the mind.¡¯

    ¡°You were a dancer and an artist? And you find emotions so useless?¡±

    ¡®Not useless. I used emotions all the time, but I will not be used by them. I would recommend this to you too.¡¯

    ¡°You know. That does not help at all.¡±

    ¡®I may not be the best at talking about emotional matters.¡¯

    ¡°But if you want to manipulate someone, you should know something about them?¡±

    ¡®Do you want to be manipulated? I can accommodate you if that is the case.¡¯ Empty, dark gaps in the beautiful but ethereal face turned to regard Alyssa.

    ¡°I think I will trust in what Alea and Vanessa can come up with.¡±

    ¡®That might be for the best.¡¯

    ¡°Wait! Is that Mireille and Iseret?¡± Standing up to get a better look, she saw her friends hurry down a side road toward the back entrance of the mansion. ¡°It seems there has been some trouble.¡± Narrowing her eyes, she took in the furtive way in which Mireille kept to the side of the street and the cautious look she sporadically gave her surroundings. ¡°Come, we have to inform Vanessa.¡±

    ¡®As if I had a choice in the matter.¡¯ Asandria laughed a tinkling silver laugh that seemed to reverberate through the air, and the snow twinkled with the light of a thousand stars.

    Alyssa forgot to breathe, and then the moment was gone, and she realized she would not have had to breathe either way. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡®What?¡¯

    ¡°Ah, forget it.¡± Hurrying back into the attic, she clambered down the stairs and ripped open the door to the laboratory.

    ¡°Don¡¯t simply barge in. You could have interrupted something important.¡± Vanessa gazed at her reproachfully. At that moment, the small vampire seemed to be bigger than her, even if that were physically impossible, but somehow she managed.

    The metal band floated above the runic circle Vanessa had spent the night forming, and Alea was gathering energy before infusing it in some of the runes. Streamers of brilliant light lit the room in a kaleidoscope of colors.

    ¡°Mireille and Iseret are coming back; I think the news is not good! They were running and trying to be stealthy.¡±

    ¡°Mh. Nothing I did not expect.¡± Vanessa rubbed the bridge of her nose. ¡°I lost any trust in the temples when they captured me under the banner of truce.¡±

    ¡°Why did they do something like that? The flag of truce is sacred.¡± Alyssa was taken aback. ¡°That¡¯s so...villainous.¡± She groped for an appropriate word.

    Vanessa laughed at that, her expression lightening a bit. ¡°I think they thought of me not as a person to be treated with respect but as a monster that wanted to deceive them anyway. My perception was still that of an elf and not a vampire. I have since then rectified my mistake.¡± She looked tired as she said that.

    ¡°The only vampire I have talked to that did not want to kill or eat me is you, so I might be biased. But I find you a perfectly normal person. Or at least as normal as it gets around here.¡± Alyssa looked at the blindfolded Alea with Cecily on her shoulder and shrugged at her point being made for her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think dwelling on it will make it better, so you are right. But that means we have to be ready to flee at a moment''s notice, or at least as soon as the enchantment settles.¡±

    ¡­

    Vanessa cast some spells of her own. Her fingers contorted to form the necessary glyphs while she bit her lips in concentration. Alea was off in a trance brought by the dreamspell and freely conversed with her grandfather.

    Steps from the stairs below came closer, and then the door was wrenched open, and a breathless Mireille caught herself on the doorframe before drawing a deep breath. ¡°We have to leave! They want to arrest you, Alyssa!¡±

    ¡°I thought as much.¡± Alyssa slumped a bit. ¡°Who is ¡®they¡¯?¡±

    ¡°All of them!¡±

    Iseret entered behind the girl and gently pushed her aside. ¡°The temple is probably still thinking the Nordmarks raised the undead. And it¡¯s not completely wrong, so that is that. But the army commander and the academy want to apprehend you, ostensibly for your own protection against the temple troops but mostly as a measure of control. I think they are worried out of their minds.¡± She smirked. ¡°After your display here, they might have some concerns over what you will do next.¡±

    Alyssa turned her wrist, and the jewel glimmered, embedded in her flesh. It had grown into, and with her, the deep purple color, nearly black, was somewhat reminiscent of her own amethyst eyes, at least before her death. She should really take the time to remove the illusion and have a good look at what she had done to herself. Lost in her inner musings, she gave a start as Mireille put her face directly before her own, waving at her.

    ¡°Hey! No sleeping!¡±

    ¡°As if I could.¡± Shrugging uncomfortably at her lapse in attention, she cleared her throat. ¡°So we have to flee?¡±

    ¡°Yes. And I think it best we take a shortcut through the astral plane.¡±

    Vanessa tensed a bit as she heard that but continued her spellcasting.

    ¡°What¡¯s with her?¡± Mireille followed Iseret¡¯s gaze to Vanessa and realized her taut posture.

    ¡°We had some troubles when last we used this plane to escape the royal knights.¡±

    ¡°The knights!? With Gryffins and all?¡±

    ¡°Yes. With Gryffins. But they did not get us.¡± She smiled and brushed along her lips in remembrance.

    ¡°Does not seem to be a bad memory?¡±

    ¡°Where is Mireille, and what did you do with our airheaded friend?¡± Alyssa joked. ¡°Since when did you become so perceptive?¡±

    Time passed. Vanessa and Alea worked tirelessly while the rest of the group made themselves comfortable- after packing their belongings, stacking them beside the door.

    The sun slowly sank toward the horizon as a white light flared somewhere toward the mountains in the east, still inside the town.

    ¡°Mireille, could you take a look? You have the best eyes, and you are near the window.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille pulled back the curtains, careful not to spill the sunlight on Vanessa. ¡°Don¡¯t see anything.¡±

    Some time passed, and another flare, this time closer, rose from a square to the north.

    ¡°Whatever it is, it is coming closer. Don¡¯t know if it has got something to do with us, but I have a bad feeling about this.¡± Mireille commented from her position at the window. ¡°I could go to the platform. There, I would have a better point of view?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t. Iseret shook her head. They will come when they come; going there will only make you more visible. There is nothing you can do to slow them down other than perhaps fighting them, which I do not...¡± She paused for effect, ¡°...recommend.¡±

    ¡°Was only an offer.¡± Mireille scowled.

    ¡°And you were curious.¡± Alyssa raised her arms to hug her friend and saw the deep wound in her thumb, exposing sinews that moved with her gestures. Coming to a halt, she stared at the cut and began to shiver.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up? Oh! What did you do now!¡± Mireille grabbed her hand, but Alyssa pulled back violently, hugging the arm and hand close to her chest.

    Iseret frowned and then made a calming gesture toward Mireille, motioning her toward Alyssa.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Mireille said quietly. The chanting of spells and the discharge of energy mere background noise. Sitting down beside her friend, she stretched her neck to better see what had Alyssa in such a panic. ¡°You know, there are always more solutions than problems. At least, that is what my grandmother used to say. And Nirileth would support her, I think.¡±

    Alyssa raised her head and looked at Mireille without speaking, and Mireille knew without a doubt that her friend was crying, but there were no tears.

    With a very gentle movement, not at all like her usual, a bit boisterous self Mireille took the injured hand and slowly petted it. ¡°Why is it that when I finally get my head wrapped around it, you begin to panic? When I first knew that you were not...alive. I was panicked and sad and did not want to accept it. But then you were so cool and collected, and everyone was- no, that¡¯s not a big deal, and she would have gone over anyway. And now I have finally realized that you are...still you, but you are beginning to lose it. I¡¯m your friend, and I know you are still Alyssa, and you are not some flesh fiend with her memories. Even Charys agrees!¡± The last was spoken in a somewhat irreverent tone causing Alyssa to smile a bit in amusement.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know what my problem is,¡± Alyssa said in a small voice, her white hair cloaking her features. ¡°I got over the whole dying thing. At least, I think so. I¡¯m even a bit proud that I did it for all of you. But now that I can no longer heal, my body is falling to pieces. That makes me panic. Perhaps it is all of it- The temple troops, Ielenia. They remind me of Christina and how she took us prisoner. The days spend bound on horseback.¡± She shuddered. ¡°Thank you.¡± Getting a hold of herself, she hugged Mireille before straightening her clothes and sitting a bit straighter. ¡°I think I will hold on for a while longer.¡±

    Iseret nodded at them and then walked to the window before raising the curtain a bit and looking outside. One hand shot up in a warning gesture as she stilled her movements. ¡°They are here.¡±

    A heavy impact shook the door some two stories below, and some dust rained from the ceiling.

    A deep voice shouted. ¡°Open up in the name of the goddess. The building is surrounded. Surrender yourself to the judgment of the White without Stain.¡±

 Escape!

    ¡°If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.¡±

    ¨D George Bernard Shaw, Immaturity

    ¡°Damn it!¡± Mireille cursed grabbed her Degen, and tested drawing it before she looked around. ¡°What? Anyone else have something to say to this?¡±

    Another deep thump reverberated through the stairwell coming from the entrance hall, this time accompanied by a crashing noise.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have much time.¡± Iseret looked speculatively at the door and then slid the locking bars back into place. ¡°This will hold them for a short while. The room is relatively secure, and the magical emanations should not be easily sensed. Margramus did not want anyone to detect what he was up to.¡±

    Alyssa swallowed dryly. ¡°How long until¡­?¡± She gestured at Alea and Vanessa.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Iseret shrugged. ¡°Hopefully before the warriors of Ielenia bash the door in.¡±

    ¡°Can we do anything else?¡± Alyssa gasped as a spike of pain forced itself into her mind. She saw the slaughterhouse and the skeletal cavalry probably through the eyes of Calmund, the wight. ¡°Shit.¡± She grabbed at her forehead. ¡°I completely forgot to order Calmund to flee.¡±

    ¡°That is...unfortunate,¡± Iseret said quietly.

    ¡°Do you think Calvin will be in trouble? We simply left the inn and went here. You wrote a note, I think?¡± Mireille scratched the back of her head a bit sheepishly.

    ¡°Yes I did. But I kept it vague. There was so much to do, and he was pretty uncomfortable with most of it. I am very thankful for what he did, but he would not follow us farther west, of that I¡¯m sure.¡± Alyssa gasped as another spike of anger washed through her link. Concentrating, she bade the wight leave the city by whatever means necessary without killing anyone that did not try to kill him. And even there, she implored him for mercy. Grudging acceptance radiated back through the link.

    Crashes sounded from down below as doors unlocked mostly were simply kicked open. Then footsteps descended into the basement.

    ¡°It seems certain cliches regarding evil villains come to our aid.¡± Iseret looked at the door. ¡°That will perhaps grant us another few minutes.¡±

    Shouts from below and another bout of rushing footsteps came after a short period of waiting.

    ¡°Mh. It seems they found the bodies in the cellar.¡± Iseret kept up her commentary.

    ¡°Bodies?!¡± Mireille looked at her questioningly.

    ¡°The maid and cook¡­and Margramus perhaps.¡±

    ¡°What? Didn¡¯t he leave?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Permanently.¡± Iseret looked unconcerned.

    ¡°But you said¡­¡±

    ¡°I did not want a discussion about it, but he was in league with the Heartstealer and tried to sell us all out. I think he was even responsible for killing Alyssa with some judicious application of blood crystal.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡± Alyssa spoke up after staying quiet for a while.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I found it expedient at the time, but I did not want you to be blindsided by whatever accusations they will level at us when they get to this door. I have a bad habit, ingrained by my training, to never tell more than necessary. You never know when information you did not share becomes crucial.¡± Before the others, especially Mireille, could interject, she continued with a raised hand. ¡°I know. And I said, I¡¯m sorry, I mean it. I will try to be more open. This here is not part of my usual duties.¡±

    ¡°Forgiven. You are not paid. You are not indebted. I¡¯m really grateful for all you have done for us so far.¡± Alyssa nodded at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m still pissed you did not think to mention it, but whatever, not as if I miss him.¡± Mireille shrugged but grumbled a bit.

    Iseret looked at Vanessa, still focused on her spellcasting, and her eyes became more gentle. ¡°Believe me. I have ample reasons to help.¡±

    It did not take long after that for some of them to search the upper stories. The door vibrated as someone kicked it in tried and true fashion.

    ¡°Ouch! Damn it!¡± A young female voice.

    ¡°Language.¡± A prim-sounding male voice.

    ¡°This door is locked!¡± Excitement could be heard in the young woman''s voice.

    ¡°So? Open it. We don¡¯t have all day.¡±

    Another hit. This time probably with a weapon. Runes sparked to life and began to consume mana dust. All around the doorway in the frame made of polished granite glyphs shone.

    The voices outside became less audible as the spellwork began to shield them from even sound.

    With a flash, the adamantine band began to shine and absorb energy from the surrounding air.

    Muffled by the barrier, the prim voice shouted in agitation. ¡°They are finishing a spell!¡±

    Vanessa took a step back while Alea adjusted some of the floating runes.

    Iseret quickly walked up to her. ¡°We have to escape into the astral plane. Everything else is too uncertain.¡±

    ¡°Really.¡± Vanessa sighed and then looked at the metal band still floating above the runic inscriptions. ¡°Alyssa, put on the circlet. Mireille Iseret, please help me clean up the floor. I have to inscribe another spell...and soon.¡± The last was spoken as something slammed into the door making the walls vibrate and dust rain down from the ceiling.

    Alyssa swallowed dryly and then grabbed the metal band. ¡°I don¡¯t think this deserves such a delicate description.¡± The metallic circle was two fingers in height, inscribed with carvings flickering with energy. The front was a bit pointed, making it a bit similar to an ancient crown. But all in all, it seemed more sturdy than elegant. Tarrying no longer, she firmly pressed it upon her head. With a flicker, tendrils of energy flowed into her head, and the crown seemed to settle, even going so far as to change shape minutely for a better fit.

    ¡°Alea, that was a bit unnecessary.¡± Vanessa dryly remarked.

    ¡°But grandfather hates crude workmanship!¡± Alea rubbed her covered eyes, clearing the residues of the dream from her smarting head.

    Mireille scrubbed the chalk marks as Iseret slowly dribbled water on the stone slab.

    Alyssa gritted her teeth and then looked around, blinking owlishly.

    Another strike hit the door carving a deep gash into the wooden surface. Behind the newly made hole, a large metal-clad figure swung a heavy Warhammer at the door, flames shrouded the hammer''s head with streams of whitish heat.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Open in the name of the temple!¡±

    ¡°Who would do such a thing?¡± Mireille groused from her position on the floor, scrubbing vigorously.

    Vanessa pushed Mireille to the side and began frantically inscribing a complicated circle.

    ¡°Can someone ¡®discourage¡¯ them?¡± Iseret turned to look at them one by one.

    Alea looked to the side, ¡°I don¡¯t think Jaros would condone using my blessing against another temple without a direct threat to my life.¡±

    ¡°How much more threat do you need?¡± Mireille patted the dust from her pants and then walked up to the door, positioning herself before the gash. With a practiced gesture, she raised her hand.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Alyssa shook her head groggily. ¡°You might destroy the door!¡± With a frown, she sat down heavily, tentatively feeling for the dark metal crown. Cyrus butted her on the stomach with his head and then looked at her questioningly.

    Several chants from outside reached a crescendo, and soon after, white flames crashed into the door. The runes sparked and sizzled as some began to crack.

    ¡°Vanessa?¡± Mireille turned to look a the vampire. ¡°How long do you need?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t disturb her.¡± Iseret pulled her back and turned her toward the door. ¡°Focus on the door. If they break through, hold them off with your lightning.¡±

    ¡°I cannot really control it when I let loose. Is that alright with all of you?¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t kill anyone.¡± Alea bit her lower lip, fidgeting with Cecily nervously.

    ¡°Might not have a choice.¡± Iseret gauged the progress Vanessa made against the steadily worsening situation at the door.

    With a crackling sound like small fireworks going off, the runes exploded in multicolored sparks. The door followed soon after as another heavy blow hit it in the middle. Broken wood and fragments of stone blew into the room, cutting across the floor where Iseret interposed herself between the freshly drawn circle and the splinters. Grimacing as several cuts appeared on her face and hands, even as she shielded herself with her bracers, she brandished her khopesh. Runes along the edge flickered to life.

    Mireille staggered back and wiped her face with her backhand snarling as she realized she was bleeding too. Again, she raised her hands and spat, ¡°Sialysalethussar!¡± Lightning gathered around her hands, thick bands of energy flowing along her arms, shooting from eye and mouth. With a thunderous crack, especially deafening in the cramped surroundings, a lance of Skyfire blasted through the open doorway, hitting the armored temple warrior. Sparks danced along his eyes, and hands scorched the metal of his armor. With muscles convulsing, he staggered back, hitting the wall opposite as still more energy discharged into the wood and stone of the building. Flames flickered to life, and smoke began to rise. Groaning, the warrior righted itself, and the glow of healing spells began to shine on his form from the sides.

    Stomping forward, he swung his hammer in an underhanded grip to avoid hitting the doorframe as Alyssa gritted her teeth and shouted a spell ripping her arms to the side. A black oval pressed against the thin skin of the world, covering the entrance nearly completely. A dull shimmer was the only thing they could see as the hammer presumably hit the second seal from the other side.

    Spellcasting from the other side made Alyssa frown more deeply. ¡°The void is strong here, but there are several priests outside. I don¡¯t think I can hold the spell for long. Never had the problem before!¡±

    At this moment, the window shattered as someone from outside swung into it, hanging onto a rope. Glass and wood rained into the room, and a lithe white-clad woman sprung up from a roll brandishing a short sword and a holy symbol flickering with white energy. Dark brown hair framed a petite face of a younger woman with several scars marring her youthful features. The robes billowed around her but revealed a close-fitting chain-mail underneath.

    ¡°Damn it.¡± Iseret vaulted over the still scribbling Vanessa cutting at the new assailant. With a clang, she hit hastily raised short sword, driving the priestess back toward the window.

    Quick as a cat, the white-robed woman stabbed at Iseret, turning to the side to present a smaller target. Mumbling a prayer under her breath, she turned, avoiding another slash from Iseret before her symbol began to glow with a bright, white glare.

    Blinking tears from her eyes, the snake-woman staggered back, swinging the khopesh in a wide arc to disrupt the still-attacking assailant.

    A spear made of lightning stabbed at the priestess, causing her to retreat again.

    Vanessa raised herself to a standing position giving her surroundings a quick look before then focusing on a lengthy spell.

    The dark oval flickered and vanished under the onslaught of bright lances of energy. Alyssa turned her hands, regarding them silently, before clenching them into fists. ¡°I don¡¯t want to hurt you. But I will. Stay back!¡±

    The white-armored warrior with the Warhammer strode forward. Blood still dripped from his lips which he had bitten while convulsing due to the lighting. ¡°Surrender. The goddess will be your judge.¡±

    Suddenly a wall of light shimmered into being, covering the doorway. Alea firmed her shoulders and stood one arm raised toward the door, the other pressed to her chest.

    More spells impacted the light curtain from outside, but the effect seemed much diminished compared to before.

    ¡°Alea! Everything alright?¡± Alyssa did not take her eyes from the doorway.

    ¡°Mh. I am still not very proficient with this spell. It¡¯s the second time I got it to work.¡±

    ¡°Great job!¡± Mireille gave her a thumbs up before stabbing at the priestess, who was retreating toward the window again.

    With a tearing sound, the space above the circle twisted and ripped open, showing an expanse of dark dust dunes with strange and contorted trees growing toward a sky carved with psychedelic glowing rifts and holes spewing strange and nameless colors. ¡°Everyone! Take a marble and put it under your tongue. Then enter the portal. Hurry!¡± Vanessa waved at them before grabbing a handful of glass marbles from a pocket.

    Mireille grabbed a marble before popping it into her mouth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t swallow!¡± Vanessa looked worried for a moment.

    ¡°Mmmmmh.¡± Mireille gave a lop-sided grin, grabbed Alyssa, and pressed another marble into her friend''s mouth before shoving her through the portal.

    ¡°She...ah, whatever.¡± Vanessa opened her mouth to object, but Alyssa was already stumbling across the dunes, dust blooming with every step.

    Mireille cautiously put another marble into Alea¡¯s mouth before then shrugging and doing the same to Cyrus, getting to him just before he, too, entered the rift.

    Fighting a rearguard action, Iseret retreated from the priestess, who intensified her attacks as she saw the portal.

    With a shriek, Alea was also punted through into the astral plane, and this time Mireille, too, jumped into the portal.

    Iseret gasped as the white-robed woman got a hit on her leg and arm. The priestess was bleeding from many cuts, some of which glowed with healing magic warring with black poison.

    <hr>

    A hammer fell toward the stone slab, and Vanessa managed to conjure an ice shield just in time for it to shatter into sharp-edged splinters. Grabbing Iseret, she jumped backards into the rift. The priestess gritted her teeth before rushing after them just as the warrior tried ¨C and failed- to grab her.

    With a final discharge of energy, the portal slammed shut.

    With rage in his eyes, the white-armored temple warrior slammed his hammer into the inscriptions shattering the slab of stone.

    ¡°Wait, we could¡­¡± The prim-sounding male voice belonged to an elderly robed cleric wearing the colors of Ielenia. A pair of crystal lenses in a wire frame sat on his nose, enlarging his eyes and giving him a seemingly startled look. A smaller female priestess entered behind him. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can decipher the casting now.¡±

    ¡°The work of an undead and a heretic.¡± The warrior looked a the priest with condemnation.

    ¡°But we could have tried to follow them!¡±

    ¡°When they return, we will find them. That will be soon enough.¡± Shouldering the Warhammer, the warrior turned to inspect the scene.

    ¡°What of Jill?¡± The priestess asked.

    ¡°She made the necessary sacrifice. Perhaps she can send one of them to Charys before following herself.¡± The warrior made the sign of the candle.

    Gritting her teeth, the priestess lowered her eyes to hide the anger and unwillingness within.

    <hr>

    Dust. Darkness. Cold. And no breathable air. The realm of ashen dreams unfolded before them.

    Mireille gasped and coughed as some of the dust Alyssa had stirred up entered her airways, but after a few moments, the marble still underneath her tongue began to grow warm, and a billow of fresh air flowed into her lungs. Spitting from the dust caking her mouth and nose, she frantically pulled up her shirt to have a bit of a filter.

    Alea gasped and struggled for breath before she, too, began to inhale and exhale greedily.

    Alyssa simply held her breath before she pulled out the marble, inspecting it curiously.

    Vanessa plugged another dark glass orb into Iseret¡¯s mouth, pulling her hand back as if stung as the snake-woman gave her a kiss on the fingertips.

    Behind them on the dusty plain, a white-robed priestess struggled to stand. Her face turned an alarming shade of blue as she tried- and failed- to draw breath.

    Cyrus had the marble in his fangs and looked highly uncomfortable as he could not let it go without losing his ability to breathe.

    Alyssa sighed and then walked up to the struggling woman. A slash with the short sword missed her by an inch, but the movements grew increasingly erratic. With an angry slap, the girl disarmed the priestess before grabbing her firmly and pushing the marble into her mouth.

    In a few moments, the white-robed woman was gasping and coughing on the ground before vomiting a copious amount of dust from her strained lungs.

    ¡°What are you going to do with her?¡± Vanessa quietly walked closer as Iseret took the short sword turning it this way and that while inspecting it.

    A fierce glare from the woman in question made Alyssa question her decision.

    Streams of strange light played across them as in the distance, distorted hound-like creatures raised their heads, scenting the air.

 From the frying pan...

    ¡°As I gazed rather intently at the earth my grandfather said: How long will your thoughts continue to dwell upon the earth?¡±

    ¨D Marcus Tullius Cicero , Somnium Scipionis

    ¡°Do you think¡­¡± Mireille did not get to finish the sentence as a whipcord-thin THING burst out of the ground, stabbing toward Alea¡¯s back. A circular mouth opened, and black lustrous teeth arrayed like a lamprey¡¯s spread with a disgusting squelch. The segmented body of several meters in length seemed more like a cut rope whipping through the air than some animal or beast.

    Vanessa¡¯s eyes widened before she desperately flung out her hand forming a glyph, and then she shouted a word of power. A shard of ice shot from her hand, missing the wormlike creature by a hair but forcing the being to dodge to the side, which led to it only grazing Alea. Tufts of fabric ripped loose, and a red color, shocking in its intensity, sprayed from a long wound on the girl¡¯s upper left arm. Alea screamed as she was abruptly thrown forward, and the pain registered.

    The shard of ice impacted the ground and was swallowed by the side of the dune with a puff of dust.

    With a fierce yowling, a shadow separated from the one cast by Alyssa, and a cat made of mist and ice sprang forward, grabbing the worm, and then began to shred it with its powerful hind claws.

    With disgust in her eyes, Alyssa focused void energies through her left hand, and dark flames bathed the cat and worm. The cat seemed to relish the black energies. With a hiss, like gas escaping a corpse, the insectoid monster dropped to the ground. Giving a savage growl, the nightmare cat ripped a length of chitin, dripping foul fluids out of the upper part of the worm before trotting over to Alyssa, putting it in front of her feet before then beginning to groom its left front paw.

    ¡°Ew.¡± Mireille swallowed down some bile before turning to the priestess. With lightning reinforcing and quickening her limbs, she shot forward and hit the arm that was clutching a dagger. ¡°What are you thinking?! If you hurt any of us, we simply leave you to these creatures!¡± The forceful blow disarmed the white-clad woman, and with a pained grunt, she pulled back her injured wrist, cradling it against her chest. Remaining stubbornly silent through it all.

    Sighing, Iseret walked forward and collected the dagger. ¡°Anything else?¡± Waiting for a short time, she nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t try that again.¡±

    Vanessa looked around. ¡°We seem to have caught a lot of attention. Usually, it¡¯s just me, so I don¡¯t have much experience with living people and this plane.¡±

    Iseret gave her a raised eyebrow.

    The vampire shook her head and continued a bit embarrassedly. ¡°That would take too much time to explain and serve no purpose. When I have the circle ready, don¡¯t, for the love of the gods, disturb it. And keep our unwilling guest from doing so!¡± Vanessa was really worried about the soft ground she had used for carving the runes. The packed dust was easy to cut and usually held up fine, but when someone wanted to destroy a rune, it could not be easier.

    Grabbing the dagger out of Iserets hands, she began to inscribe the complicated formula. ¡°Please put some dust in there.¡± She pointed, and Iseret filled in a bit of mana dust. Answering the unspoken question in her friend''s eyes, she continued. ¡°The mana I can manage is not sufficient for a force shield large enough to cover us all. So the crystal dust is a must.¡±

    The priestess was still standing back from the group, and with her head slightly lowered, her eyes were hidden by her dark-brown hair.

    Mireille tilted her head to catch a glimpse of her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. ¡°Everything alright?¡± After not getting a reply, she waved her hand in front of the woman''s face. ¡°Hello! Care to answer? We don¡¯t seem to have unlimited time.¡±

    ¡°Heretic.¡± The word was spat at Mireille with enough venom to shame Iseret.

    ¡°I do think Nirileth likes me. And I like her. Jaros. Charys.¡± She folded raised fingers into her fist, counting them with the other hand. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m very heretical for most of those. If my friends were not hunted by you and yours, I would not even think about much less fight you.¡±

    ¡°You consort with undead and impede the work of the goddess.¡±

    ¡°So the worms it is? I would be a bit sad, and Alea would probably take it harder, but if that is truly your wish, I won¡¯t force you?¡± Mireille gestured helplessly.

    Iseret took a few steps toward them. ¡°I follow Many-as-One, and I know you should have a bit more flexibility than that. Even for the White-without-Stain, there is such a thing as means and ends. I don¡¯t ask you to help us directly, but you could try to focus on the greater evil and keep your peace until that is vanquished. No one says you have to be stupid about it and die without reason.¡±

    ¡°I will not be like you. A heathen without morals and integrity!¡± The priestess shouted back. The noise was muted as the dust swallowed the sound, and the air was leaden.

    In the distance, several questing tendrils rose from the dunes swaying and tasting the air.

    ¡°Last chance.¡± Iseret pushed Mireille back toward the circle, making a shushing motion with her hand before the redhead could talk back.

    Malformed many-legged shadows began to gallop toward them from far down a narrow winding valley of dust winding between dead metallic trees. Garish pinks and blues shone from above, switching to green and dark red.

    ¡°I¡­¡± The woman swallowed.

    Iseret turned and hurried back toward the circle. Energy sparked from the runes, and she quickly grabbed a small bag from her belt before dribbling a bit of crystal dust into the deeply cut runes.

    A mournful howl rose from somewhere in the dark land.

    ¡°Wait!¡± The priestess hastened after her and coughed from the dust disturbed by their back and forth. ¡°Only until we get back.¡±

    Alyssa looked at her quietly. Beneath the anger, hate, and determination, she seemed so very young. ¡®And when did I become ancient?¡¯ she silently questioned herself.

    With a dull snap and a sizzle, the runes caught fire, and a globe of darkness enfolded them, leaving no light safe for the runes themselves.

    Breathing deeply before she was reminded of the circumstances, Mireille was soon coughing again. ¡°Damned dust. Why is there so much dust?¡±

    ¡°There is no water. And no life to keep the soil from becoming dust.¡± Vanessa remarked as she sat down to meditate and regain her mana. ¡°I once read that the astral plane was once alive. There were creatures, people, trees...and water. How it came to be as it is now, I have no idea.¡± She shook her head, settling in a crosslegged position, putting her hands to her temples before focusing inward.

    ¡°How long?¡± Mireille asked and wiped the drool and dust from her lips.

    ¡°The last time, it was an hour or two. I am not completely sure.¡± Iseret replied.

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    ¡°I did not think anyone knew.¡± Mireille looked at her.

    ¡°It was an emergency. Let¡¯s leave it at that.¡±

    Alea grimaced as she focused light magic on the gash on her arm. The flesh regained its healthy sheen, and the wound closed quickly.

    ¡°You can use light magic?¡± The priestess asked, seemingly despite herself.

    ¡°Naturally.¡± Mireille bragged. ¡°She is a saint of Jaros.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing with those creatures!¡± The white woman asked incredulously.

    ¡°I should take offense at being labeled a creature, but if you compare me to Vanessa, I will take the compliment.¡± Mireille joked. ¡°And did you not see her invoking this light wall spell of hers?¡±

    ¡°I thought it came from my people and meant to imprison you.¡±

    ¡°Nope. Was for us to get away without killing you. ¡®twould have made Alea sad, so there is that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say it as if it would not have made us all uncomfortable,¡± Alyssa interjected.

    Iseret raised an eyebrow at that.

    Alea brushed her hand over Cyrus¡¯s head and smiled while seeming a bit forced. ¡°What is your name? It¡¯s unbecoming to simply call you ¡®you.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Jill. Jill Temrer.¡±

    ¡°I would say nice to meet you, but grandmother always said it¡¯s no use lying if the other knows you do.¡± Mireille drank from her waterskin. ¡°Anyone?¡± Waving it around and finding no takers, she fastened the skin back at her hip. ¡°What? I think it makes sense.¡±

    Alyssa giggled at that and then, mortified, put her hand to her lips, eliciting a laugh from Mireille.

    ¡°You are doing this to make me doubt myself, but it will not work!¡± Jill gritted her teeth and pressed her back against the dark sphere of the spell.

    ¡°I do think it would have been a lot easier to simply let you suffocate. So please think about what that could mean.¡± Mireille frowned.

    ¡°You still have a use for me, and it can¡¯t be good.¡±

    ¡°Normally, I would encourage healthy skepticism, but what could we stand to gain from you? When we are back in the real world, your status as a liability will only increase if we don¡¯t somehow imprison you.¡± Iseret stated calmly while yawning.

    Jill responded by mumbling a prayer under her breath while huddling in her corner.

    ¡°I do think this is a lost cause.¡± Mireille sighed.

    ¡°But I could not let her die.¡± Alyssa shrugged. ¡°I did not need the marble after all.¡±

    ¡°We could demand our money back! Those marbles would cost a pretty penny in Kronenburg.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± Alea scrunched her nose.

    The time passed in uncomfortable silence. Even Alea was reticent after being rebuffed so firmly.

    Mireille fixed Alea¡¯s clothing with judicious applications of the cantrips learned from her late grandmother.

    ¡°So. I¡¯m ready. I will try to get us closer to the mountains. Perhaps we can even assist in taking Nordmark¡¯s capital, Sevenpeaks.¡± Vanessa dusted off her robes and stood before taking a long look around.

    ¡°Perhaps. If we are not killed by our ¡®allies¡¯ when we try.¡± Alyssa threw a glance at the still-praying Jill.

    ¡°Gather close. I will open the portal back, and anyone not going through will probably be eaten by worms. Also...when the portal opens, the forcefield will fall. Normally I could simply transfer us back, but with so many people, I sadly cannot.¡±

    Looking a bit nervous, Mireille and Alea stood next to Alyssa, who focused on Jill. Cyrus was coiled around his mistress¡¯s legs.

    Beginning the incantation again after inscribing another magical circle, Vanessa finished a bit more leisurely than her hurried escape from Margramus¡¯s home, but soon the portal flashed into being, showing a snowed-in woodland. ¡°Hurry up!¡± Vanessa urged before the portal distorted when it hit the forcefield, and the latter vanished into nothingness.

    Outside, several wolf-like creatures were lying in the dust, but as the protection fell, they quickly jumped back to their feet, some having six, some only three limbs hobbling, jumping, and running towards them.

    Jumping through the portal, there was a second of disorientation, and then the biting cold of the winter woods hit them in the face. Mireille turned with her sword in hand, guarding against anything coming through the portal with them, and good thing, too, as two astral wolves rushed through the closing portal. A third only managed to get his head and front half into the open before the creature was cut in two by the suddenly vanishing oval.

    The dark of night greeted them, illuminated by Gesserach''s lost eye.

    Jill tumbled through the snow along with the others but struggled back to her feet, athletic as she had proven to be, and began running into the forest.

    With a screeching howl, more akin to metal on stone, the two wolf-beasts attacked, and one was swiftly skewered by Mireille lightning sparking through the scabby fur igniting foul oils lingering on the diseased-looking flesh. The maw was crooked and twisted like a corkscrew with metallic shimmering teeth stabbing out of it every which way. Three eyes were inserted without rhyme or reason into the domed forehead glaring with hatred and hunger at the small group of friends.

    Mireille grinned broadly as she began to declaim her victory, but the smile vanished from her face as the astral wolf pulled back from her blade, bleeding brackish blood that steamed on the forest floor. Shaking itself, the wound began to close- slowly- as Vanessa peppered the other one with shards of ice.

    Alyssa concentrated and incanted several void bolts in rapid succession, the ovals of destructive nothingness impacting against the side of the creature Mireille was battling. With a sucking sound gaping wounds opened in the matted fur, and with a final lingering squeal, the wolf fell on his side and did not move anymore.

    The other creature was facing Iseret and Vanessa and was faring badly. Alea blinded it with a well-placed flash of light before an overhand chop from Iseret separated its head from its body, making it tumble end over end down a narrow slope.

    Gasping for breath, Mireille spat the marble into her hand and, after wiping it on her robes, put it in one of her pockets. ¡°Never know when that comes in handy!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t rely on it too much. I hurried the enchantment. It should only be good for another hour or two.¡± Vanessa inspected the wolf with the short sword taken from the absent Priestess, lifting a flap of skin or a limb with thinly veiled disgust.

    ¡°Why do they have to be so ugly?¡± Mireille wiped her degen on the snow before then concluding the cleansing with a water spell begged from Alyssa.

    ¡°The strange energies from the rips in the sky do worse things with humanoids from our world if they are not shielded.¡± Vanessa shrugged. ¡°They are astonishingly well adapted even as they are still suffering from the radiance.¡±

    ¡°Do we chase her?¡± Alea quietly asked. ¡°Or did you wish for Jill to get away?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t recommend separating us at this point.¡± Iseret shook her head. ¡°And when we did not bind her, it was nearly inevitable that she runs as soon as she was able.¡±

    ¡°And we are okay with that?¡± Mireille looked from one to the other.

    ¡°We are kilometers from Volstedt and much closer to the Nordmark capital. They will have a lot more to occupy them than hunting us. And even as she shouted about heathens and heretics, they still know that the rebels in league with the Heartstealer are much worse than us. Perhaps they lump us in together with them not believing what they can hear and see, but still, the capital will distract them nicely.¡± Iseret explained.

    ¡°Where are we exactly?¡± Alyssa asked, calming down a visibly agitated Cyrus.

    ¡°I simply took us closer to our goal. The spells I use fixate on areas significant in magic energy. So there should be something significant in the area.¡± Vanessa took a look around too. ¡°And I would really like to put some distance to that¡­¡± She pointed at the slowly dissolving wolf creatures.

    ¡°Why are they getting all gooey?¡± Mireille took a few steps back.

    ¡°They are dead and originally not native to this plane, so they are rejected by the magical energies of this place,¡± Vanessa spoke absentmindedly before pointing further down the small hilly slope they were standing on. Tall oaks and other leaf-bearing trees surrounded them, barren and covered in snow as they were the light of the moon fell between the branches shining on the white floor. ¡°It¡¯s down there! Whatever pulled us to this place should be down this way.¡±

    ¡°Should I go ahead and take a look?¡± Iseret asked with a shallow smile.

    ¡°Please do.¡± Vanessa subconsciously smiled back.

    Mireille grinned at Alyssa, who shook her head in exasperation.

    Iseret nodded and vanished between the trees. Incanting the spells for movement and to lessen her weight, she jumped up to the lower branches making her way swiftly and silently.

    Soon she reached the border of the forest and, before her, stretched a large field encircled by a high stone wall. Further behind the walled-in area, the lights of a large town or small city blinked in the darkness, and columns of smoke rose against the starry sky.

    Stone monuments and mausolea, gravestones in orderly rows. A large graveyard opened up before Iseret¡¯s eyes. Among the poorer section, torches flickered, and distant chanting could be heard. Dark-robed figures moved between the small houses of the dead, and a big figure clad in ancient armor presided at an altar made of skulls and bones.

    Among the stones, Iseret could barely see a flitting figure wearing white clothes.

    Sighing deeply as she saw from her position high up the path of the white priestess intersecting with a patrol made of undead led by a group of cultists. The chanting probably covered any noise those undead and cultists were making.

    And then Iseret reached a decision.

 For whom the bell tolls

    ¡°I am a cemetery by the moon unblessed.¡±

    ¨D Charles Baudelaire, Paris Spleen

    Iseret was rarely indecisive, but at this point, she was still weighing the upsides of intervening against her annoyance with the priestess.

    The patrol consisting of seven undead in various states of decay and two cowled and robed figures closed in on the intersection that Jill was rapidly nearing too. Just now, she seemed to have heard something and began to rapidly look around before pressing herself into the entrance of a mausoleum. But as luck or misfortune in this case would have it, the patrol turned and began to walk down the path between several crypts and mausolea containing the exact one the priestess was hiding in.

    Speaking a quick prayer, gathering wind and some shadows to herself, Iseret jumped and rapidly descended from the forested slope. Rolling to dissipate momentum, she came to rest behind a row of graves with impressive and, more importantly, large tombstones.

    ¡°Did you hear something?¡± An aged male voice asked.

    ¡°Mh. No?¡± A much younger, also male, voice responded.

    ¡°I could have sworn.¡± The older man spoke a quick cantrip, and pale white light shone from a crystal he held toward Iseret¡¯s hiding place. Moving it to and fro, he shrugged. ¡°Perhaps it was just some loose snow.¡±

    ¡°Most likely.¡± The younger man rubbed his arms to stop himself from shivering. ¡°By the queen, it¡¯s cold.¡±

    ¡°I told you to wear two robes. But no.¡± Grumbling, the two turned to go as Iseret chucked a piece of fallen masonry down the way they had come where it clattered against cast iron bars closing off a crypt.

    ¡°That was no loose snow.¡± The older man turned and spoke a short spell. Dark energies infused his robes and robbed the snow of its luster. Gesturing, the group of skeletons and flesh fiends shambled toward the crypt.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we keep some back? What if we are attacked?¡±

    The older man turned and gave the younger a quick look. The latter shrank a bit into himself and coughed awkwardly. ¡°Yes. Of course.¡±

    Jill gripped a dagger in her right hand, and with the left, she seemed ready to form a glyph. She flinched as a whisper reached her. ¡°Don¡¯t move and don¡¯t reply. I will get you away from them, but you have to cooperate.¡±

    ¡°Where are you?¡± The young woman furiously whispered back.

    Iseret sighed to herself and then leaned out from between two crypts opposite making a beckoning gesture. ¡°Over here.¡± The sound was unnaturally clear carried on a soft wind.

    The cowled wizard, the older of the two cultists, gestured and began to cast another spell.

    Jill gritted her teeth while shutting her eyes before she calmed down and hurried across the narrow gravel-strewn path. Visible only where the snow was blocked by buildings or dense trees.

    Iseret cautiously kept an eye on the dagger and led them through a maze of tombs and crypts.

    Chanting reached them from beyond several rows of tombs.

    ¡°What is this? And where are we?¡± Jill tensed as several voices rose shouting a name made of guttural consonants.

    ¡°I have no idea, and I think we are near Sevenpeaks.¡±

    ¡°Sevenpeaks? That¡¯s three days, five with this weather from Volstedt!¡±

    ¡°The astral plane is dangerous and unpleasant, but there are advantages. Don¡¯t talk, let¡¯s make haste.¡± Iseret gestured toward the forest''s edge.

    Jull swallowed and pressed her lips together then nodded silently.

    Both made quick and stealthy progress.

    Eerie light flashed behind them, and lightning flashed but without the accompanying thunder. The chanting resumed after a short pause and the earth rumbled.

    The priestess stumbled and turned to look, but Iseret pulled her along, nearly getting stabbed for her troubles.

    ¡°I should have left you.¡± Iseret cursed under her breath.

    ¡°...hm...sorry.¡± The reply was nearly drowned by the moaning wind.

    Looking back with a raised eyebrow while not stopping for a second, the snake-woman gave her a quick smile. ¡°Appreciated.¡±

    Despite the scars she carried and the obvious expertise in wielding her weapons, Jill seemed to be just a bit over twenty years of age and blushed under Iseret¡¯s gaze- though partly from anger.

    ¡°Come here. We have to get back to the others. And no. We don¡¯t plan on letting them keep doing whatever, but with just the two of us, it would be quite hopeless.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jill answered grudgingly before both she and Iseret finally reached the treeline.

    Turning back, halfway up the slope, they saw the armored figure surrounded by a glowing circle of runes while only indistinctly visible figures gestured and chanted.

    A quick look at the sky showed the white moon just setting, the reddish one, Ioreth, had not made an appearance yet. ¡®So it''s the latter half of the night.¡¯ Iseret quickly calculated.

    Working their way back to the spot where they had exited the astral plane, Iseret spotted her friends resting underneath a large fir tree. The ground was nearly bare of snow and made a reasonable campsite.

    ¡°You are back...and she is too.¡± Mireille looked at Jill with some distrust.

    Now that there was a bit more time and neither worms nor wolves were trying to get at them, she took a closer look. Jill was wearing a slit robe with pants underneath chased in silver and completely white. Even after all the strain the clothes had been through, they were still pristine. The arms and face were somewhat sharper cut than was perhaps considered beautiful, but pretty was an adjective she would probably receive often. And that was despite several small scars marring her arms and face. A particularly severe cut had left a white streak in the hair of her forehead up to her right eyebrow, thankfully sparing the eye itself.

    ¡°Will you try to kill us, or does the truce still work?¡± Alyssa asked bluntly.

    ¡°I...cannot understand how you willingly associate with the undead.¡± She gazed at Alea, Iseret and Mireille.

    ¡°I did not realize she was dead...ehm...undead...at first. She is just the same as before. So I treat her the same.¡± Mireille shrugged. ¡°And Vanessa is a real dear most of the time.¡± Getting an unreadable look from the subject, she hastily corrected herself. ¡°All the time! I meant all the time.¡±

    Jill looked at them incredulously. ¡°Is that..why are you¡­?¡±

    Mireille suddenly got up and hugged Alyssa. ¡°See? Nothing to it. A bit colder than she was, and that¡¯s a damn shame but otherwise good as new.¡±

    Alyssa gave a pained smile at that. She felt the warmth emanating from her friend, but the cold inside of her muted everything like touching through a fine silken cloth. Comfortable at first, but if you remembered the real thing, it was but a shadow of the former sensation. But then she hugged her back, trying not to think of everything that- was- different. The illusion covering up the most obvious changes, not the least of it.

    Alea shrugged. ¡°Until recently, I lived with my grandmother and did not get to meet many people. And now I found friends in Alyssa, Mireille and Vanessa. I cannot lie and say that what happened does not affect me, but Alyssa and Vanessa are my friends, and Vanessa at least was a vampire as long as I have known her and as upright a person as any I know.¡±

    Jill frowned, ¡°Undeath isn¡¯t just like...like being a foreigner. It¡¯s as if you compare yourself to a piece of stone. It.¡± And she looked at Vanessa and Alyssa. ¡°Is not a living person anymore. Some hunger for your lifeforce, some for emotions, some are simply filled with hate and want to destroy. They are no longer a person.¡±

    ¡°You are mostly right.¡± Vanessa nodded.

    ¡°...and because of that...what?¡± Jill looked at the elf, nonplussed. A snowflake took that moment to land on her nose, and she shook her head to get rid of it.

    ¡°What you said is conventionally correct. But there are exceptions. It took decades for me to perfect the spells keeping me sane, relatively speaking, and in a mental state approaching what it was before my demise. For Alyssa, it is the intervention of the goddess of grief, Charys. And now the enchanted circlet she is wearing.¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡± The priestess looked lost.

    ¡°Here.¡± Alyssa raised her hand, and the teardrop imprinted in her right hand rippled and shone with a gentle, silvery light. ¡°That was left when I came back to my senses after...you know.¡±

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    ¡°What do I know?¡± She looked confused.

    ¡°Ah, right, you weren¡¯t there. I used a lot of void magic to defend Volstedt, and that...killed me.¡± She inhaled, held her breath for a moment, and then exhaled again. ¡°But it didn¡¯t take. And so I¡¯m here as I you see me now.¡±

    Licking her lips, Jill slowly resheathed her dagger. ¡°Charys.¡± It sounded like a curse. Shivering, she looked back. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. But this symbol...¡± She looked at Alyssa¡¯s hand. ¡°I mean, there are some dark cultists in the graveyard.¡± She sighed. ¡°Truce?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Alea quickly answered before taking a shy look at the others.

    Vanessa nodded approvingly. ¡°I concur. Let us take care of the next problem and then see about shelter. Mana dust should not be a problem for the near future, but we should not waste it on heating enchantments.¡±

    Alyssa nodded along with them, still held by Mireille, and then self-consciously adjusted her circlet the black metal somehow warm against her cold body. Moving, she felt her skin pull where moisture had frozen on its surface. She would have to do something about her lack of healing as well. Shrugging those thoughts off, she extricated herself smiling at the somewhat disgruntled-looking Mireille. ¡°Later. Now we have some cultists to catch.¡±

    Moving back toward the graveyard, they soon heard the chanting.

    ¡°Do we try to be, you know, sneaky?¡± Mireille asked the rest.

    ¡°Vanessa and I could take the lead, and then you follow. When you are discovered, we can spring an ambush.¡± Iseret offered her yellow eyes glittering darkly in the light of the setting moon.

    Silence reigned, and the wind rustled the branches, accompanied by rhythmic chanting. The moonlight glinted on the snow covering the tombs and crypts, interspersed with the occasional mausoleum.

    ¡°I think that sounds good. We are not that good at stealth.¡± Alyssa said diplomatically, looking at Alea, who fidgeted under the attention.

    ¡°Then it''s settled,¡± Vanessa spoke up and gestured for Iseret to follow. Jill looked at the group, hesitated, and finally followed Mireille.

    The graveyard was a substantial and sprawling affair. You could see where the first nobles had erected monuments and crypts to the honored and wealthy dead, and from there came large areas with tombs competing with each other for ostentation before finally petering out in simple stones marking simple graves for the poorer citizens.

    It was also soon apparent that the graves had been disturbed. Many tombs had been opened either conventionally with a shovel or from the inside by the inhabitants crawling out of their coffins. The crypts had mostly been left intact. But here, too, were signs of vandalism, and behind the bars closing off, some of them shambling corpses could be seen scratching at the stone and metal.

    Jill looked at Alyssa. ¡°Do you have my sword?¡±

    ¡°Oh. I think Vanessa took it. I only have another dagger if that helps?¡± Alyssa patted her belt and pulled out a dirk offering it to the priestess.

    Recoiling a bit from the white-haired girl, the priestess shook her head. ¡°No, thank you. I have one already.¡± Motioning with the dagger she had drawn again when they entered the graveyard, she tried to downplay her aversion, but the disapproving huff from Mireille showed her efforts to be in vain.

    The group continued, and the chanting grew louder.

    In between a set of monuments depicting a victorious warrior lifting a flag while ascending something like a steep slope and another showing a relief of Charys drinking the tears of indistinct mourners, they saw a small plaza. There had been a brazier mounted in the middle, the rest of which lay to the side, broken and dented. The space that had been freed was taken up by a complicated symbol daubed in glittering reddish fluid in the middle of a large circle painted in chalk. The circle was augmented with dozens of smaller glyphs, all of them outside the boundary of the white line.

    A round dozen robed cultists stood outside the markings and were swaying and chanting while wisps of dark energy crackled over the symbol in the center. A large armored form stood at one end, simply observing a two-handed sword loosely held with one hand, point stuck in the snowy ground. A woman in a tattered dress with a child at her side stood incongruously close to the armored giant. Spikes jutted from his pauldrons and helmet, lending him- or her, for that matter- a demonic air.

    The woman seemed to be arguing, but the words were drowned by the continuous chanting.

    Alea wobbled as one of her feet hit a hidden stone boundary surrounding one of the monuments, and as she put out her arm, trying to stabilize herself, she brushed against the piled-up stone covering the religious carving of Charys. With a rushing sound, the snow slid down the side in a white cloud.

    With nearly synchronous movements, the woman and the warrior raised their heads and looked in their direction.

    The warrior grabbed the sword with both hands rolling his neck before lifting it into a ready position.

    The woman pulled the child closer, which did not seem to elicit any sort of reaction. The exquisite pale face, framed by blonde hair, as still as a doll¡¯s.

    ¡°To me! Defend the circle!¡± With a booming shout, the warrior began to trot, then run in their direction. From further in the graveyard, answering shouts could be heard.

    Vanessa looked at Amber and the unbreathing ¡®child¡¯ at her side. ¡°Don¡¯t hold back! She is very dangerous. Uses uncontrolled void.¡± She murmured to Iseret. They were both lying on the roof of a particularly ornate mausoleum prominently displaying the Nordmark coat of arms.

    Iseret gave a slight nod and stroked the runes on her khopesh.

    With a sudden coordinated movement, they both sprang forward, Vanessa summoning her ice claws while Iseret flourished her sickle sword, runes flickering to life alongside the cutting edge.

    With inhuman speed Amber, for that is who the woman was, turned and raised both hands, letting loose with streams of black flame, that burst forth with uncontrolled fury while shouting. ¡°You! You will not take her from me again!¡±

    In Alyssa¡¯s sight, the symbol burned with a mixture of void and some other magic she had not had much contact with. The blood crystal was the next best approximation.

    The cultists had differing reactions, most of them were in a trance and did not react in any way, but some turned and grabbed wands or daggers from inside their robes, leveling them at the group of friends.

    Looking guilty and covered with fallen snow Alea rapidly incanted a spell but misspoke at a complicated passage. The curtain of light that was forming flickered, and then a barrage of force bolts impacted, disrupting the still-weak spell.

    Mireille looked alarmed and pushed a web of lightning to the fore shielding herself and her companions.

    Alyssa formed a voidbolt and threw it at a particularly enterprising cultist who had overtaken even the charging warrior. Hitting a leg, the cultist gave a shrill scream tumbling head over heels before landing in a moaning heap.

    With a swing of the greatsword, the onrushing armored fighter shattered a low railing, probably once denoting a flower bed. Shards of stone sprayed across the ground. Alyssa winced at the display, probably meant to intimidate as much as for clearing the way.

    Vanessa twisted in midair, conjured winds changing her trajectory, and narrowly avoided the gushing black flames.

    Iseret sped up her descent, ducking underneath the torrent before she slashed in a spinning motion, neatly circling Amber and cutting into the raging woman from the front to the flank. The runes on the khopesh lit up more brightly as the blade clashed into some form of shielding before penetrating and slicing deeply into undead flesh.

    Screaming more in anger than pain Amber turned and lashed out with a stream of black fire that incinerated or, more aptly put, disintegrated several cultists. One of them, who had been firing force bolts at the group around Alea, shouted in anger and loosed a few force bolts at Amber before his wand spat a shower of sparks and detonated with a sharp crack lifting him and throwing him into a bush.

    Jill uttered a prayer, and her dagger shimmered with a bright light. Jumping forward and to the side, she stabbed at the onrushing warrior, but the cut was turned aside by heavy armor.

    Alyssa shot a few void bolts, but even as they impacted the plate armor, there was no visible damage. Deliberating for a second, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t follow me!¡± Before sprinting forward while gritting her teeth. Dark mist sprang from her hands and cloaked her form as she avoided a slash from the greatsword that would have split her in two.

    ¡°What are you¡­!¡± Mireille gasped as her lightning shield got another beating from both some force missiles and a slash from the armored fighter.

    Alea was suddenly bathed in light as a glyph construct in the form of an eye formed above her head, emitting lances of light that burned into the metal of their adversary''s armor.

    Giving a pained grunt, the fighter raised an arm conjuring a disc of magical force, hefting the two-handed sword in one hand before advancing further.

    Jill stabbed into the less armored joints hoping to pierce the armor that had frustrated her efforts, but even there, the enchanted blade found little purchase.

    Stumbling over obstacles buried beneath the trampled snow, Alyssa hurried forward. A cultist tried to get in her way, but she shot a void bolt into his torso, causing him to crumble. A force missile impacted her chest, carving deep into her flesh, but other than a vague discomfort, there was no pain. Deliberately not looking, she put everything into a final leap carrying her into the circle.

    The warrior turned and shouted something.

    Jill finally managed to push her dagger into the thin slit beneath his helmet.

    Mireille dropped her shield and infused her degen with lightning before speeding after Alyssa.

    Alea directed her construct to shoot forth beams of light, burning several cultists who had been focusing on Alyssa.

    Vanessa buried her claws in Amber¡¯s back as she was turning toward Iseret, the latter rolling with her unspent momentum just a hair in front of the black flames.

    Cyrus, who had been sluggish during their return from the astral plane, roused himself and then jumped and flew after his mistress stabbing at anyone that got too close.

    Pushing magic into the jewel in her wrist Alyssa raised her left arm, the artifact embedded in her arm glowing with baleful light. Shadowy energy flowed into her as her body was pummeled by several impacting force and fire bolts. One of the cultists having decided to cast his own instead of relying on a wand.

    The warrior grasped at his throat as white light shone from the dagger embedded in his neck. Stumbling a few steps, he punched with a sudden desperate move with his left hand still carrying the sword, and hit Jill with the pommel snapping back her head as blood flew from a deep cut on her cheek. She had tried to parry the blow but been too weak to do more than divert it.

    With a snap, the magic that had lit the runic circle vanished, and the jewel in Alyssa¡¯s wrist pulsed like a black heart.

    With deep clarity brought by her connection to the void, Alyssa concentrated, and the magic snapped shut around the minds, or what was left of them, of the undead populating the graveyard. Screams rose from the patrolling cultists as their attending skeletons turned on them.

    Amber ripped herself loose from Vanessa opening grievous wounds on her back. Falling heavily to the ground, she twisted, trying to right herself as she felt the edge of a blade touching her throat. Looking up, she saw Iseret holding her khopesh in a two-handed grip.

    After a quick look at Vanessa, she tensed her grip.

    ¡°Please! Don¡¯t hurt Lily!¡± Desperation shone in her eyes, clouded by madness. ¡°Don¡¯t. Don¡¯t hurt her!¡±

    Vanessa faltered, and a complicated look passed over her face as Iseret slashed downward, the keen blade slicing through the neck. Amber moved her mouth as darkness flared from the stump of her neck. A pressure, a sense of oppression lifted just like that, and- those who still could- were suddenly breathing easier.

    Undead burst onto the plaza and rushed at the still reeling cultists. Half-decayed skeletons in ruined finery threw themselves at their former masters, silver and gold jewelry glinting in the light of smoldering fires and the slowly setting moon.

    Alea looked at the fallen priestess and quietly thanked Jaros that she did not see the scenes that followed. The warrior was quickly swamped and torn down.

    And then the plaza was silent once more. A hint of grey touched the horizon sharply, painting the barren trees against the dim sky. With angry caws, a flock of crows burst from a large belltower situated at the edge of the graveyard as the bell began to toll.

    Alyssa covered her eyes with her hands, refusing to look down as Mireille softly hugged her. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad.¡±

    ¡°Liar.¡±

 A short reprieve

    ¡°Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.¡±

    ¨D J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

    ¡°The undead need to be gone by the time Jill wakes,¡± Alea said quietly into the silence.

    ¡°I concur.¡± Iseret nodded, still holding the khopesh dripping with dark fluid.

    The body of Amber burned with cold flames and slowly melted away. The small girl that had accompanied the woman stood to the side while gazing expressionlessly at the fire.

    Alyssa slowly pulled Mireille''s hands from her eyes and looked around. Asandria stood beside her and inspected her critically. ¡®It could be worse. But what were you thinking?¡¯

    ¡°I knew that I would not be badly hurt, and the warrior and the patrols¡­ They were nearly here.¡± Alyssa said in a subdued tone.

    ¡°Talking to Asandria?¡± Mireille asked her, not easing up on the hug.

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡®I hope they have some necromantic texts here. We need more information than I have on the subject to restore you.¡¯

    ¡°What is with her?¡± Alyssa motioned with her chin toward the child-like undead standing beside the burning corpse.

    ¡®I will free her. Don¡¯t think I will make a habit of helping you with irrelevant things, but this is too much even for me.¡¯

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Alyssa said quietly before tugging on Mireille¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Mireille?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I need to see.¡± Pushing her friend back, she looked down and quickly wished she had never done so. The force-bolts from the missiles and the firebolts from the one cultist had done a real number on her. She was only thankful that a dull ache was the only thing she was feeling from the wounds she was seeing. Deep craters marred her torso where flesh had given way and bone splintered. The white bone was slowly knitting back together, but the flesh merely curled in along the edges smoothing out but not covering the deep gashes. Beneath all that, she glimpsed muscles that were similarly damaged but, as far as she could see, healing nicely. Swallowing, she raised her arms and, to her surprise, discovered that both were nearly intact, and the small scratches she had acquired were already healing in the void-rich environment of the cemetery.

    ¡°Did they get me in the face? Don¡¯t dare to lie to me!¡± She fixed her gaze on Mireille.

    ¡°No. Seems pretty normal.¡±

    ¡°And she died just like that,¡± Vanessa said quietly, looking at the crumbling remains of Amber. ¡°I had a lot of problems with her. I couldn¡¯t get to her, and her void magic was stronger when I faced her. Perhaps the distance to the void gate was a problem for her.¡±

    ¡°We will probably never know.¡± Iseret shrugged and gave her sword a quick slashing twist shedding the dark blood-like fluid that had been coating her blade before fixing the weapon on her back. ¡°I do think she will be at peace. Charys has her eye on us all now.¡±

    The wind blew over the plaza, the mausolea ringing it buried in snow, frozen ivy climbing over old frescoes and reliefs. The center seemed hot somehow, and drifting snow only briefly touched the ground before melting and then evaporating into a vague mist-like steam.

    ¡°Anyone still alive?¡± Mireille looked around.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. But we should check.¡± Iseret answered before turning to Vanessa. ¡°Could you look after Alea and Alyssa? I will go and accompany Mireille.¡±

    Vanessa only nodded before giving her a brief, tired smile. She looked at the small undead girl fixedly, and only she and Alyssa saw when Asandria stepped near, brushing across the blonde hair with frozen ice stiffening some strands. The girl looked up at her, and for a moment, the eyes came alive, containing boundless grief.

    ¡®Sleep. My child.¡¯ With a sigh, the small body tumbled to the ground, and for a moment, starlight suffused the plaza, the snow dazzlingly white in its brilliance.

    <hr>

    Far to the east and across the mountains, a beautiful face turned, and with tense lines around the corners of her mouth, the woman looked over the pallid stone columns rising from the ground with the remnants of walls interspersed between. Several armored giants, eyes glowing with baleful energies, turned at her regard and fell to their knees, shaking the ground.

    So quick were her movements that the illusion did not quite keep up, and bones shone under the light of the fading moon as the hem of her robes shifted, and wrists without a scrap of flesh were exposed.

    The Heartstealer spoke words of power, and a lens made of ice formed before her, magnifying everything as she surveyed all the miles and miles between the city of broken ivory and the mountains. Nothing moved that was not under her direct control. Elves scurried between their menial tasks shifting the last piles of skeletons and dead bodies unto ritual circles where wight mages and necromancers, elf, human and even orc were preparing to do her bidding.

    With a slashing motion, the spell ended, and the ice shattered. Clenching her fists, she turned and looked up at the distant, icy stars. A sneer marred her perfect features.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°You! I will forge a crown of your bones, drink the blood of your veins and warm myself by the fires of your burning soul. Princess.¡± The last she spat, and around her, the snow sizzled as darkness billowed from her robes.

    <hr>

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Alyssa stood beside Asandria while petting Cyrus, who seemed distressed by her wounds, licking the most severe laceration on her torso before she pushed him away.

    ¡®Don¡¯t mention it.¡¯ Looking at the eastern mountains, a brief smile flashed across her features before her expression stilled again.

    ¡°What now? They were all dead, by the way.¡± Mireille trudged up to them through the snow kicking to loosen the frozen mush sticking to her boots. Iseret followed her much more sedately before then taking her place beside Vanessa.

    ¡°I think we should have a look at the town. And we shouldn¡¯t forget Jill. Incidentally- How is she doing?¡±

    Alea answered, ¡°She was hypothermic, so I have spent some time healing her, but we should try to get to shelter.¡± Shivering, she brushed across the metal plate that was the central piece of the heating enchantment. Cecily leaned over her shoulder to take a look, and she finally managed to adjust the temperature to her liking.

    ¡°I think I saw a house someway further down the hill toward the city,¡± Mireille spoke up.

    ¡°The priestess would fare much better in warmer surroundings,¡± Alea added.

    Vanessa shrugged and tore her gaze from the fallen child.

    It fell to Iseret to carry Jill, and after she had secured the still-unconscious woman on her back, they walked past the silent statues and tombstones further down the hill. Snowed-in hedges kept a sort of order that quickly gave way to baroque meanderings trying to separate the haves from the have-nots.

    And then there was the cemetery gate. An ornate wrought iron affair only slightly rusted with the gate standing ajar. As Vanessa passed beneath, some runes flickered for a moment, and a feeble resistance tried to keep her inside. With an unwilling shrug, she broke through. The same, if a bit weakened, happened when Alyssa strode through the passage.

    Iseret eyed the feeble wards with a look of disdain.

    ¡°They simply ran out of crystal dust.¡± Vanessa¡¯s voice broke the silence. ¡°What with all the undead prowling about.¡±

    Iseret simply shrugged. ¡°Judging by the size of the graveyard, they should have been strong enough.¡±

    ¡°You may be right. But it might have also been some time since the dukedom invested in such things. The present regime should be quite disinterested in keeping undead out of anything.¡± Vanessa gave her a half-smile.

    With a groan, the bundle on Iseret¡¯s back moved, and the snake-woman quickly lowered her to the ground before taking a cautious step back.

    And not a moment too early as the priestess blinked, focused, and then quickly sprang to her feet while brandishing her dagger. That seemed to be a bit too soon for comfort, and she swayed, grabbing her head with the other hand. Grimacing, she visibly fought against headache and nausea.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move! You have a concussion.¡± Alea took a cautious step forward. ¡°If you move too quickly, it will only get worse!¡±

    ¡°Did we¡­did we get them?¡±

    ¡°Yep, all dead,¡± Mireille spoke nonchalantly, but a slight quaver betrayed her unease at the words.

    ¡°Thank, Ielenia. The truce was said to last until we had the danger contained.¡± Jill looked at them with a bit of worry.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that was all of them. In fact, I¡¯m sure that there are a lot more where those came from.¡± Iseret shrugged.

    ¡°What she means is that the truce still stands,¡± Alyssa said gently.

    Focusing on her, Jill did a double-take. ¡°What in the name of the White happened to you.¡±

    Wincing, Alyssa pulled the slowly self-repairing clothes over her more obvious wounds. ¡°I was injured during the fighting.¡±

    A bit of disgust warred with grudging respect before the priestess got a hold of herself. ¡°Are you...going to be alright?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Please, I would like to change the subject.¡±

    ¡°I was only concerned...¡± Jill began, then thought better of it and fell quiet. ¡°What now?¡±

    ¡°We are looking for a place to shelter us. Some of us need to sleep, as probably you do too?¡± Vanessa spoke up.

    ¡°Yes. That would be best.¡± Jill rubbed her forehead, her eyes still a bit unfocused.

    ¡°Can you manage on your own, or should we carry you?¡± Alea asked, having gathered her courage.

    ¡°I¡­¡± The priestess breathed deeply, in then out, ¡°...will manage.¡± Shaking herself, she followed the group as they resumed their walk.

    Soon they came upon a small house, probably once belonging to a grave keeper or priest, nestled in between large oak trees and standing beside a well circled by a stone wall with a winch and bucket to access the water. Now frozen, in all likelihood.

    The door stood open, and the interior was cold and dark.

    Iseret raised her hand and then quickly and stealthily entered. After a few minutes, she came back outside. ¡°There is no one inside, and I think the grave keeper was probably one of those in the cemetery. I found some extra robes.¡± Dangling a set of cultist robes and a mask before her before throwing it on a low table just inside the entrance.

    The house had two stories, with the ground floor having a kitchen, pantry, and common room. The first floor had a bedroom, a guest room, and a small study as well as a sort of bath. The latter was much less luxurious than what they had grown accustomed to in the wisteria dorms and Margramus mansion but a clear upgrade to sleeping outside.

    The majority of the building was made of wood, and some stone bricks in the kitchen area. The outside was overgrown with ivy, frozen and snowed in as it was at the moment. And the roof was fashioned of dark shingles.

    Soon a crackling fire filled the hearth, and the room slowly began to warm.

    Mireille was shivering and pulled Alyssa to one side and Alea to the other, closer to herself.

    Alea seemed flustered by the attention, while Alyssa seemed uncomfortable. Cyrus laid his head on her lap, turning just so that one eye looked up at her pleadingly. Sighing but smiling a bit, she scratched him under his chin. Lashing contentedly with his stinger just missing Jill, as the priestess entered with another armful of wood, he ignored the angry looks he was getting.

    Vanessa sat on the bed in the guestroom while brushing her hair. Iseret leaned against the door, lost in thought. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± The vampire asked.

    ¡°Oh, nothing of great import. And you? You have been quiet since the death of Amber and Lily.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what will happen now. Will the gate truly close now that the anchor has been removed? And...I pity her. She was an intelligent undead, just like me. And she had an agenda beyond killing everything. But due to her circumstances, she could never simply exist in peace.¡±

    ¡°She was nothing like you.¡± Iseret retorted quietly. ¡°She was crazed by her loss. Did you not mention that you killed her ¡®daughter¡¯ and that said daughter was around thirty years of age or even older? She put the soul of her daughter into the dead body of someone¡¯s child. She was never going to simply ¡®exist in peace¡¯.¡±

    ¡°You are right. Perhaps I did wish for her to have had such thoughts. But I truly think she only wanted to be with her family.¡±

    ¡°I think Charys will grant her wish. In a fashion.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope you are right.¡±

 Ruminations in the snow

    ¡°Reason shows reason can only bring pain - how wise to forget and be happy again!¡±

    ¨D Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator

    Mireille, Alea, and Alyssa shared the master bedroom, while Vanessa and Iseret wanted to use the study. Jill...had secured a few extra blankets and made a makeshift bedroll in the kitchen.

    ¡°I will stand watch.¡± Alyssa extricated herself from Mireille¡¯s grasp.

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille patted the suddenly empty spot and frowned unwillingly but soon fell back to sleep. The past hours had been intense.

    Alea was already sleeping in complete exhaustion.

    She buttoned her coat and habitually gripped the small metal plaque that could be used to adjust the temperature and then sighed before halting the enchantment. She had been more and more indifferent to the cold, but now she did not even feel it anymore. Cyrus raised his head sleepily, but she waved him off, and he laid back down, fast asleep.

    Softly closing the door to the bedroom, she walked down the stairs startling a surprisingly alert Jill.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± The priestess asked her, still drowsy but wariness coloring her words.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get some air. Besides, I will watch for danger.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you can be trusted with that?¡± Jill blurted out. A bit of red on her cheeks, seen in the light of the dying embers of the hearth, showed her embarrassment.

    Snorting in amusement, Alyssa shrugged. ¡°You might find out. But to be clear- If you do not harm us, we will not harm you. It¡¯s that simple.¡± She nearly told about her experience with Christina, the kidnapping priestess of the adventuring group, but then reason prevailed.

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°No. Just some unpleasant memories.¡±

    The priestess slowly got up and leaned against the warm bricks surrounding the fireplace. ¡°I don¡¯t know. You will probably try to corrupt me. Make me renounce my faith for some demon or other.¡± She was mostly talking to herself by this time.

    Alyssa gazed at her curiously.

    Jill sighed. ¡°Can you show me the symbol again?¡± She gestured toward Alyssa¡¯s right hand.

    Eyebrow raised, the white-haired girl obliged and raised her palm. ¡°Should I come closer?¡±

    ¡°No. No, this is fine. I hate unclear, ambiguous things. I hate it when things don¡¯t make sense. Are you blessed, cursed, both at once?¡±

    ¡°Both. I think it''s right to say both.¡±

    Emboldened by their conversation, Jill leaned a bit forward and looked at her face. ¡°Why are you living like that? Would it not be better to have died saving your friends and the town without becoming an undead abomination?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say I like what happened to me but dying? I think that would be a whole lot worse. At least this way, I still have options, possibilities, a future. If I died, all would end. Perhaps I would be reborn, but then? I would be someone else, not me anymore.¡±

    ¡°But you would not sully your soul with...this.¡± The priestess gestured at her, and Alyssa realized that she had neglected to cover a wound that cut into her neck, exposing the dried-out muscles beneath the torn skin.

    Grimacing, she pulled her coat close and glared at Jill. ¡°I will fix this.¡± She bit out and then turned, walking quickly toward the door leading outside.

    Jill pushed herself upright from her leaning position and blew a strand of hair from her face that had fallen before her left eye. Starting to say something, she stopped and then settled for a simple: ¡°Take care.¡±

    Alyssa turned and looked at her in surprise before smiling a bit. ¡°Thanks. I will.¡±

    Outside, the oak trees shook their branches in the stiffening breeze coming down from the north. The sun had well and truly risen, and the snow glinted in the pale light. Kicking at a snow drift, she walked along a path that was a mere indentation in the piled-up snow until she reached the well. Looking inside, she reflexively used the eyes of dusk, and the darkness shifted, revealing a deep shaft at the bottom of which ice glinted in the dim light.

    ¡°Mh. Perhaps if I let the bucket fall, it could break the ice¡­?¡± She mused.

    ¡®It will most likely break the bucket.¡¯ Asandria broke the silence.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so negative. I could always use a stone first.¡± Tapping her lips with her index finger, she looked around speculatively.

    ¡®I have not heard you singing lately.¡¯ The specter was nearly invisible in the glare of the snow.

    ¡°Nothing to inspire song around here, is there?¡± Alyssa gave up her pretense of looking for a stone.

    Wandering between the trees, she looked at the city sprawling along a small river with the mountains rising up behind. ¡°So peaceful.¡± She sighed. ¡°With distance, you cannot see the undead, the soldiers, and the fear. You can only see the pure snow and the sun on the river. No wonder the gods stay so far away from us.¡±

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    <hr>

    In the afternoon, Mireille stirred and sleepily yawned before grabbing Alea, who startled awake at the touch and quickly got up.

    ¡°Let me sleep! It¡¯s still lights out.¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it be the other way around?¡± Alea shot back quickly, shrugging into her coat as the chamber was quite frigid with bad insulation.

    ¡°Mh! Don¡¯t discriminate against Vanessa!¡± Mireille mumbled self-righteously. ¡°Where is Alyssa?¡±

    ¡°I will look for her.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± The sound got softer and was soon replaced by steady, soft breathing.

    Alea shook her head, tidied up her blindfold, and gathered Cecily on her shoulder before she walked downstairs. The old, well-worn steps and railing, smoothed by years of use, led into the living room where Jill sat before the fire feeding a splintered log into the flames and then stoking the languid embers with a fire-poker.

    ¡°Light shine on you.¡± Came the absentminded greeting from the priestess as Alea looked around, not finding Alyssa.

    ¡°Good day to you, too,¡± Alea replied primly. ¡°Have you seen Alyssa?¡±

    ¡°She was here in the middle of the night and talked about going out for a walk.¡±

    ¡°In this weather?¡±

    ¡°She did not seem to mind. Or care.¡± Jill made a face as if she was eating a lemon.

    Alea sighed and walked up to the single large table sitting in pride of place before the hearth. ¡°Do we have some tea?¡±

    ¡°I remember seeing a tin in the kitchen.¡± Jill stood up and patted the dirt from her hands. ¡°I will go and see what''s available.¡±

    The still blindingly white attire seemed quite out of place in the homely surroundings but the enchantments- or blessings, perhaps?- cast on her double-layered tunic seemed to repel everything dirty and unclean. Even Jill herself seemed nearly untouched by her adventures so far, safe for dark rings around her eyes and tired lines around her mouth.

    ¡°I will help you.¡± Alea followed into the kitchen. The room was small but tidy, and everything was arranged in an orderly fashion on and in cupboards and shelves with a large stove in between.

    Jill, meanwhile, had opened a tin box and was sniffing the contents. ¡°Seems to be a bit musty but should be alright.¡±

    ¡°Can you accept something that is not perfect?¡± Alea asked curiously.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mistake physical for spiritual purity. We strive for both, but the latter is much more important than the former. Cleanliness is godliness, but it would not help one whit if you forgot your soul and mind in the process.¡± The answer came in a somewhat perfunctory tone, as if she had said the same sentence dozens of times.

    Alea blushed and quieted down, a bit alarmed at her own forwardness, but somehow she liked the brash priestess.

    Jill turned. ¡°Herbal tea good with you? Didn¡¯t find any other so far.¡± Waiting for Alea to give a quick nod, she turned and grabbed a kettle before walking back into the living room.

    Alea stood there, a bit lost in thought, as Jill turned back and called. ¡°Are you coming?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Alea trotted after her.

    <hr>

    Outside in the snow, Alyssa was lying on her back. She had gazed at the city and then the grey-blue winter sky, and before she knew it, she had simply laid back down in the snow, looking up at some pale, fluffy clouds high above. The snow had not been uncomfortable in any way, and without melting at the contact with her cold flesh, it had not even wet her clothes.

    Sinking deeper over the hours, she had tried to feel along the many threads binding the undead to her jewel. There was Calmund, the wight with his skeletal riders closing in on her position. There were the remnants of the undead formed in Volstedt that she had forced to rise but fewer than a day ago- The temple detachment had been busy, it seemed. And last, there was the undead surrounding the cemetery that she had ¡®liberated¡¯ from the cultists.

    It should be around two or three hundred, all told.

    She did not feel burdened or strained. Should she? She wondered.

    ¡°Asandria?¡±

    ¡®Yes?¡¯

    ¡°Do undead not normally drain mana from the caster?¡±

    ¡®A bit.'' She paused, ''Why don¡¯t you animate a rock or a tree, a cloud?¡¯

    ¡°Because that would be silly?¡±

    ¡®Because a rock was never alive in the sense that we know. A rock never moves on its own. A body did both. We simply remind it of what it had. It wants to move and act. And void magic is sometimes abundant, especially on a battlefield, so its use to awaken the dead to fight once more is well established. You could certainly raise an elemental spirit, but that is a completely different kind of thing.¡¯

    ¡°What has that got to do with the undead not straining me as much?¡±

    ¡®Now you are being facetious. The act of raising a corpse is simply an awakening, a remembrance. The cost is naturally much lower than forcing something to do what it was never going to do on its own, not now, not ever.¡¯

    ¡°Mh. Can my flesh not remember how it looked like before?¡±

    ¡®That might be possible, but I¡¯m unsure how that would work. I only healed the living in the past.¡¯

    Humming a song to herself, Alyssa looked up at the sky.

    <hr>

    Lieseleta looked at the sky and frowned. ¡°It might snow again.¡±

    Jera, her knight, quickly stepped closer. ¡°Your Highness, please close the window. It¡¯s very cold outside. You might catch something.¡±

    ¡°As if my aunt would not simply snap her fingers and cure me. And what is that with ¡®your Highness¡¯? We are not in public. You should simply call me by my name.¡±

    ¡°I find that you do not listen when I do.¡± Jera deadpanned.

    Brief amusement flashed across Lieseleta''s features, and she brushed back her golden locks, shimmering as if made of pure liquid metal.

    The two were walking along a stone corridor facing one of the countless courtyards dotting the palace proper. Lieseleta gave the window a small shove and watched as the dwarven-made frame clicked softly into the locking mechanism.

    ¡°We need to get some more of the stout folk to work for us. Even those new machines are not half as good as a dwarfen smith.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do with the rebels on both fronts?¡± Jera asked quietly.

    ¡°Crush the Nordmarks and bring the coast to heel. Now that we have the support of the nobles, it should not take long.¡± Lieseleta¡¯s eyes flashed with blue energy, and a sudden breeze swept some dust into the air.

    ¡°You should not overdo it with the elemental tonics,¡± Jera said worriedly.

    ¡°If I don¡¯t strengthen myself, the next assassination might succeed. And with more magical power, it might not even come to that. The older nobles still respect force of magic the most. Did you know that we had attunement rooms for all the major elements? And that they are so well made as to be nearly without limiting effects on the other magical arts?¡±

    ¡°No?¡±

    As they walked down the corridor, the darkness behind them deepened. A maid that came out of a room to the side glimpsed a tall, robed figure with smoky tendrils leading from its back far into endless darkness. Pale eyes turned to regard her as she crumbled into a faint.

    ¡°Did you hear something?¡±

    ¡°No, your majesty, I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare ¡®your majesty¡¯ me!¡±

    They did not see the darkness following them, and they did not feel the lifeless air left in its wake.

 Prisoners

    ¡°We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.¡±

    ¨D Oscar Wilde

    Jera sped her steps to get in front of Lieseleta as they reached the end of the dark corridor. The gloom was soon overwhelmed by the light falling in through an arched gateway leading outside. The doors were fully open, and a cold wind blew in their faces. Somewhere outside, commands could be heard and the rattle of armor.

    The cowled phantom gliding behind them accelerated, and darkness was pulled toward the hands, strangely intensifying their pale white color.

    As they exited the building, entering a large courtyard, Jera nodded at the two soldiers standing guard to each side. After looking around, she gestured for Lieseleta to follow, and both walked fully into the sunlight.

    Jera suddenly grabbed the golden-haired queen and pulled her into the courtyard and away from the door.

    ¡°What do...?!¡± Lieseleta could barely get out half of a question as the stone above the door shifted, and bulged grey-colored limbs suddenly came into focus around a flat, elongated body the color and texture of the stone beneath. Several circular orifices opened, and a foul breath gusted at them. The being was nearly a dozen meters in length and perfectly camouflaged. The ¡®shell¡¯ had been pressed flat against the masonry while some magic or other hid its bulk.

    With an insectoid wriggle and a twist, the thing let go of its footholds, only anchored in the upper parts of its segmented body, and shot toward Lieseleta. Jera invoked a force shield by slamming both arms together in front of her while crossing her wrists.

    With a crunching noise, the mixture between a centipede and a cockroach met the shield, and Jera was hurled backward, hitting Lieseleta just as the latter was trying to cast a spell of her own. The two soldiers standing at the entrance meanwhile toppled over, and two thin tendrils snapped back into the insectoid horror.

    Letting go of the wall, the mass of the creature buried Jera under its bulk Liseleta¡¯s eyes widened as she saw several mouthlike orifices try to bite and devour her while the knight desperately held on to her shield.

    Grabbing a hairpin, she spoke a command word and hurled the implement at the beast, and with a surge of light magic, the needle shot forward, piercing the thick grey carapace that was steadily adapting to the snow-mush on the ground, leaving a hole nearly as big as a large fist that leaked dark ichor.

    Screeching with a piercing whine, the creature turned and twisted like a worm caught on a hot stovetop pressing Jera further into the ground and eliciting a pained groan.

    With a folding motion that seemed impossible, the flat elongated body snapped forward, and the rearmost part shot at the queen, and two swordlike pincers growing out of the carapace snapped shut around Lieseleta.

    White light burst from several pendants placed at vulnerable portions of her anatomy and kept her from being cut in two.

    With a flicker of shadows, a cowled figure rose from the snow and touched the creature near the center with a nearly caressing motion.

    ¡°There, there.¡± A malicious whisper floated in the air, and the shouts of alarm drifted further and further away as even the snow suddenly lost its luster, and everything was distant as if seen through a layer of water. ¡°Can¡¯t have that now, can we?¡± Dark tendrils latched onto dark grey chitin and spread into the creature, which began to keen in a high-pitched tone before suddenly being yanked back into the darkness of the castle corridor.

    Within seconds the surroundings were empty again, save for Lieseleta, Jera, and the two fallen soldiers.

    ¡°That was twice.¡± With that, the cowled figure faded and vanished.

    <hr>

    Alyssa gazed at the sky, and the sun had passed its zenith for some time as she heard the murmur of voices coming from down the road. And it did not sound like any of her friends.

    Tensing, she raised herself a bit astounded at how deep she had sunk in the snowdrift. Thin ice broke as she moved, as some warmth left in her clothes had at last managed to melt a bit.

    ¡°They should have long since come back!¡± A slightly hoarse male voice.

    ¡°I told them it was too dangerous. The undead have to suffice.¡± A female voice, perhaps middle-aged at most.

    ¡°They are gross and stupid. The only thing they are proficient in is as targets and to induce fear.¡± An aged voice with very precise and somehow condescending diction.

    ¡°Morale is important.¡± The hoarse voice sounded defensive.

    ¡°At least Jonathan seems to be alright. Look, there is smoke coming from his home.¡± The female voice tried for a bright and optimistic tone but fell short.

    ¡°Means he is a coward or a traitor or both. Where are the rest? Where is the demon?! We need the power of blood magic to properly fashion the spawn. Bah. Imbeciles.¡± The condescending voice got even sharper.

    With a soft sigh, Alyssa laid back down and concentrated on the undead nearby. Gripping their feeble minds, she steered them closer, their dark magic flickering under the onslaught of the sun.

    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± The hoarse voice sounded alarmed.

    ¡°What¡­!¡± The question turned into a scream before the scrape of steel signaled a drawn blade.

    ¡°Drat!¡± The derisive voice became cautious before incanting a spell.

    Clenching her hands into fists, she fed more void magic through her bond, the jewel flickering to dark life. Cautiously she raised herself and pushed a bit of snow to the side, getting a glimpse of the fighting.

    A group of five stood back to back on a snowed-in but trampled road overshadowed by large chestnut trees leaning toward each other, nearly forming a tunnel. Without leaves, the whole was nevertheless brightly lit. Stumbling corpses moved even more stiffly as some of the flesh had frozen and converged on the small group. A woman was fighting off several flesh fiends with a short sword while showing a good amount of skill, but she was losing to the woodlike texture of the corpses, not even managing to cut them properly. She had dark blonde hair bound into a ponytail with a dark green cloak over a light chain mail. A leather bandolier crossed her breast festooned with several pouches, a short bow, and a quiver was hanging on her back, hindering her movements slightly.

    Then there were two men with the appearance of soldiers from the Nordmark household troops cutting at the undead in perfect silence. Their hacking movements seemed nearly mechanical, and it did not take Alyssa long to see the core of void energy enlivening them in a pretty lackluster simile of life.

    The other two men were one older mage with a traditional staff covered in runes and wearing a dark red cloak over a black robe stitched with warding symbols and a younger man who might be an assistant or apprentice even as he was probably in the late twenties. As she saw the mage launch several brilliant orbs of fire that seemed to be infused with light magic at the undead, destroying several, the apprentice coughed violently and then formed a fire bolt of his own but without much in the way of finesse.

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    Now the armored undead from the deeper crypts came into play, and Alyssa felt the power flooding her veins. The circlet around her head lit up as runes activated, and her mind regained a bit of clarity that she had gradually lost without noticing.

    The mage stumbled back and pushed the apprentice toward the dead noble he was fighting, and with a nasty crunch, the longsword broke the arm the younger man had raised to protect his head.

    Seeing the pain in his eyes, Alyssa rapidly lost the last bit of pleasure she had drawn from the scene. Hearing the door opening in the grave keeper''s house behind her, she struggled to her feet, patting the snow from her coat absentmindedly. With a sharp command through the link, she raised her arm, and the undead came to an abrupt halt. The female fighter slashed into the neck of the fleshfiend that had been fighting her but only managed to get her sword stuck, which she desperately tried to retrieve.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Alyssa shouted at the group, and realizing that they were no longer under attack, the three living turned toward her as the mage raised his hand, and the two dead soldiers, too, became still.

    ¡°Who are you.¡± The mage gave her a closer look, and his eyes were tense.

    ¡°Alyssa Miner.¡± She nearly laughed at the strange situation as she introduced herself.

    ¡°Alyssa!¡± Mireille skidded to a stop directly beside her, degen flickering with suppressed lightning and her coat unbuttoned, and while she looked around cautiously, she was still struggling with her left sleeve.

    From the house, Jill and Alea jogged closer, with the priestess frowning heavily as she saw the reanimated corpses. ¡°What in the name of the goddess is this new heresy!¡±

    The mage looked surprised and perplexed at once as he took in the robes of a priestess of Ielenia, and his eyes flitted between the deathly pale Alyssa with dark magic swirling around her left hand and the pure white robes with the symbol of the White-without-stain on the other side. ¡°What in all the hells is going on here?! I¡¯m Leomund von Hollgren court magus of Nordmark.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no surprise.¡± Mireille tilted her head and looked at the Nordmark crest on his robes.

    ¡°So. Who sent you.¡± Leomund subconsciously smoothed his robes while his apprentice was holding his broken arm, gasping in pain.

    ¡°What are these undead doing? Is it you?¡± Jill turned to Alyssa.

    ¡°I just took control. They were here before us.¡±

    ¡°Lay them to rest right now!¡± She furiously strode in front of the girl, her knuckles whitening around the grip of her sword.

    ¡°If we are interrupting something¡­¡± The female fighter took a step back, pulling the apprentice along.

    ¡°Stay where you are!¡± Alyssa hissed. ¡°Jill. I did not raise them, but we are in the middle of the Nordmark territory, and we need their help to end the evil they are committing here. Can¡¯t you see that this is necessary?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t cleanse this cesspit when you yourself are full of filth.¡±

    Alyssa and Jill stared at each other, but it became soon apparent that the undead girl no longer needed to blink, so Jill finally looked away and swallowed angrily while blinking.

    Alea softly touched Alyssa¡¯s shoulder and asked. ¡°Do we truly need them? I think it is distasteful too, and the aid of a priestess could mean more in the days to come.¡±

    ¡°Fine. But this is not the last word about this!¡± Alyssa gestured, and the undead faltered and then fell heavily to the ground. With another gesture and a flare of power from the jewel, the two undead soldiers guarding the small group before them suddenly lost all tension and spilled onto the ground, their armor rattling and the weapons tumbling end over end.

    The mage seemed surprised and intimidated by the display. ¡°How¡­!?¡± He had raised his hand as the undead began to fall but now thought better of that. Licking his lips and no longer as arrogant as before, he cleared his throat. ¡°We merely wanted to have a look at the graveyard. We won¡¯t bother you anymore. What would it take for you to let us leave?¡±

    ¡°Tell us what those cultists were doing and what the ritual was meant to accomplish.¡± Alyssa folded her arms before her chest.

    ¡°As far as I know, it was meant to summon and bind a demonic entity. The undead have proven to be insufficient in the amount and quality we can muster.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s with the Heartstealer? Are you really allied with her?¡±

    The mage grimaced and swallowed. ¡°Do you have to ask?¡± He nodded at the undead surrounding them. ¡°If I answer, I will probably be killed when I return. Even though it is self-evident.¡±

    ¡°And they don¡¯t give you troops?¡± Mireille asked incredulously.

    ¡°There is the matter of the mountains. And the stone-tribes and dwarves don¡¯t like undead passing their territory, which has led to...losses.¡±

    Alea nudged Alyssa and whispered. ¡°The one with the broken arm. I fear he is close to fainting. Could I perhaps heal him?¡±

    ¡°Do we let them leave?¡± Alyssa whispered back and looked at Mireille. The mage looked at them nervously.

    Jill had a disapproving look on her face, but after the confrontation with Alyssa had ended, she had been quietly guarding at the side.

    ¡°We take them prisoner, but we won¡¯t kill them,¡± Alyssa spoke louder as she answered.

    ¡°What makes you think we can agree to that!¡± The mage blustered, but at that moment, the apprentice swayed, and his eyes rolled up so that only the white could be seen before falling. The female fighter, that had been mostly silent, grabbed him before then lowering him gently to the ground. She then shook her head at the mage, who sighed in defeat.

    ¡°Damn it.¡± giving his staff a push, he let it teeter for a moment before it plunged into a snowdrift. He raised his hands in surrender. ¡°Promise not to kill us, and I, we, will come quietly.¡± He looked at the fighter in confirmation and got a nod in return.

    With a light fluttering sound, Iseret dropped down behind them and sheathed her khopesh, startling them. ¡°A wise decision.¡±

    With a soft thud, the sword the fighter was wielding hit the snow, and she, too, raised her hands.

    Alea cautiously stepped around them while Iseret bound their hands with rope and then began to incant healing spells to fix the apprentice¡¯s broken arm.

    Soon they had the trio bound and gagged in the cellar with some blankets so that they should not freeze.

    Jill was taciturn all the way and did not look at Alyssa, who also seemed disgruntled.

    ¡°We have to work together if we want this to work.¡± Mireille interrupted their brooding. ¡°I know you hate the undead, but this is only taking the weapon of the enemy and making it our own. We don¡¯t raise them. We simply make use of them and then free them.¡± She nearly stumbled over the part mentioning the raising but managed adequately.

    ¡°I cannot condone letting void-infused mockeries of life remain in our midst. The body of the honorable dead is forever stained with dark magic, and even the soul might suffer.¡±

    ¡°No. How would that work?¡± Alyssa interrupted incredulously. ¡°Souls go into the great wheel and have to pass through the void. How would that corrupt them?¡±

    ¡°You use the magic to force them to do your bidding, twisting the natural order. That is not without cost for the soul!¡±

    ¡°What cost? The memories and even the identity of the dead are lost in the void. At least, that is what is known. So what if they are around a day or two longer?!¡±

    ¡°There is no such thing as a good deed done by evil means!¡± The muscles in Jill¡¯s jaws bunched as she ground her teeth.

    ¡°But she can free the undead that would otherwise fight for those that raised them.¡± Mireille interjected.

    ¡°That¡­Oh, I don¡¯t know. I¡­I can¡¯t.¡± Jill clutched her head and turned away from them, praying to herself.

    ¡°Let us leave her alone for a bit. Perhaps she might come around to our point of view.¡± Alea adjusted her blindfold and stroked across Cecilies brass carapace.

    ¡°I will keep an eye on her,¡± Iseret said softly. ¡°You look after our prisoners. We still have a few hours until Vanessa wakes, and then we interrogate them and decide what we will do.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Mireille nodded and looked at Alyssa, who shrugged.

    ¡°I think that is a good idea. Please keep her from leaving. If she is alone in these woods, I don¡¯t think she could survive for long before she is either frozen or captured, and I think she genuinely wants to be a good person.¡±

    Iseret gave a slight smile at that, nodded, and vanished through the front door going after the priestess.

    ¡­

    ¡°What is it?¡± Zygmund von Nordmark was in a foul mood. ¡°Where is the last demon? I need more if we are to hold the city.¡±

    The room was the dungeon underneath the castle, and several corpses were laid on stone slabs awaiting their raising. A figure swaddled in thick clothes followed him closely while carrying a large iron-bound book. Fumes rose from the figure, shining a sickly yellow-green in the torchlight. Two wight-warriors guarded the entrance.

    Ivyander was standing beside the entrance and, as had become the usual, was wearing an inscrutable expression.

    ¡°I have not heard of a new demon. And might I remind you that the summoning of such volatile creatures might very well backfire?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. You were, as always- nagging about that. But look.¡± He turned and pointed at the hunched-over creature following him. ¡°They are useful and obedient. Nothing like what you are always going on about.¡± Laughing to himself, he strode toward the prepared corpses. ¡°Sent another patrol but make it larger this time. Let the blood knight accompany them. He can use the exercise.¡±

    ¡°At once, milord.¡± Ivyander sounded slightly sarcastic as he bowed and then turned to leave.

    ¡°Get Jamila. It is high time she, too, embraces the gift. As she is, she is nearly useless.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

 Interrogation

    ¡°If talk is cheap, then being silent is expensive. And many people it seems, can''t afford to buy into it.¡±

    ¨D Anthony Liccione

    Vanessa¡¯s eyes snapped open, and she looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. There was a remnant of a dream, a dream she should not have had as she was no longer sleeping in the traditional sense of the word. She remembered her father, he sitting at his desk and she running beneath it, hiding from her mother who wanted to bring her...and the rest was only a bit of faded memories.

    Pushing the blankets aside, she sat on the edge of the mattress they had requisitioned and spoke a quick spell. A breeze laden with icy water brushed over her clothes, hair, and skin and took away all the dust and grime of the past day.

    ¡®Should have done that sooner.¡¯ She grimaced and gave the blankets a cursory inspection noting the smears of dirt with distaste.

    Soft steps came from behind her, and she listened to the comfortably familiar cadence. ¡°Iseret.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my love.¡±

    Vanessa¡¯s breath hitched for a moment at the blatant words, and if she still could, she would have blushed. The steps neared, and soft arms encircled her, and soon a faint breath caressed her ear as Iseret leaned her cheek against the back of her head. Clasping the woman''s arms to her chest, the smaller girl sighed. ¡°I will never understand what you see in me.¡±

    The arms tightened for a moment, and there was a featherlight touch to her forehead before Iseret gracefully rose back to her feet. Her silhouette a dark cutout against the rose-colored dusk seen through the small window. The snow refracted the sinking sun with a million tiny lights before suddenly extinguishing as the eye of Gesserach sank beneath the mountaintops.

    ¡°We had visitors, and now we have some prisoners.¡± Iseret calmly remarked.

    ¡°Did someone escape?¡±

    ¡°Would I be so leisurely if that were the case? There were only two undead, a scout and a magus. We got them all.¡±

    Vanessa nodded to herself and stood, brushing her hair with her fingers before shrugging and using a small air spell to brush it into a more respectable appearance. ¡°Then let us hear what they can tell us.¡±

    Down in the common room, a steaming kettle spread the aroma of herbal tea while some dried sausages and even drier bread served as dinner for Alea and Mireille. Alyssa sat beside her friends. Her collar pitched so that her neck- and the horrific wound on the side of it- were covered. Mostly.

    ¡°oood to shee thouu.¡± Drinking down an offending piece of bread with a healthy swig of tea, Mireille waved at the two coming down from above.

    ¡°Please finish eating. We have that much time, I gather.¡± Vanessa shook her head at Mireille¡¯s antics but seemed quietly amused.

    Alyssa nodded at her and fed a sausage to Cyrus, who grabbed it with his wing claws before ripping into it with his needle-like teeth.

    Somewhere in the rafters, a shadowy cat turned on her back while batting a piece of spider web with her paws.

    <hr>

    All of them were gathered in the now somewhat cramped living room while Mireille leaned inside the door to the kitchen.

    The three prisoners were kneeling in the middle of the room on the floor, hands and feet still bound.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± The mage was the first to break the silence after spitting a few times to get rid of the residue left from the cloth gag. And his eyes clearly questioned the presence of Vanessa, but he was too smart to ask.

    ¡°And who is she?¡± The apprentice blurted out to the pained frown from the mage.

    ¡°None of your business.¡± Alyssa shook her head and focused on Leomund, the mage. ¡°Is Zygmund von Nordmark in Sevenpeaks?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That is common knowledge on the streets, by the way.¡± Leomund coughed. ¡°Could I have a bit of water? Please.¡±

    Jill sighed and walked over with a cup of water tilting it slowly for him to drink, nevertheless there was some spillage.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Are there other powerful mages with him? Vampires? Other higher undead?¡± Iseret interjected.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡± Leomund looked highly uncomfortable at this line of questioning but then slumped, defeated. ¡°I have no tolerance for pain and don¡¯t owe them much loyalty. I will try to answer your questions, but I would like to remain alive. Will you promise me that?¡±

    The female fighter pressed her lips together but then hung her head and looked away.

    The apprentice seemed bewildered.

    Alyssa looked at the others and then shrugged. ¡°Why not. It¡¯s a promise.¡±

    Vanessa nodded at her.

    ¡°So. The Lord has one of those frost elves with him most of the time but he does not seem to value him much. One Ivyander or other. I had the opportunity to talk to him twice. He seemed a bit disdainful of humans, but what else is new.¡± He looked at Vanessa and gave a half-smile without much sincerity. ¡°I hope you take no offense.¡±

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    Getting no reply, he continued. ¡°He is a powerful and resourceful necromancer and much more knowledgeable than the Lord of Nordmark. There was a vampire, a warrior of some sort, but he did not return with the troops after the defeat at Volstedt. Then there are several wights but without much in the way of intelligence. The one that had some they sent away with an escort of skeletal riders. He did not return either.¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t be all,¡± Vanessa spoke and regarded him sharply.

    ¡°No. There are around a dozen mages bought or raised locally. You can guess which one I am.¡± He grinned. ¡°And some of the other Nordmark nobles are pretty good with a sword or magic. One is even a teacher at the Academy of the Arts in Kronenburg, Jamila von Nordstrom. And there are the undead. A lot of them.¡±

    His face turned grim. ¡°Whatever they did, the air reeked of void magic. They invested heavily in blood magic to complement that, but the cultists failed to show. And so we were dispatched thinking that perhaps the ritual went too well.¡±

    ¡°That looked more like demonology to me,¡± Vanessa remarked.

    Leomund was silent, and then his arm twitched as he subconsciously tried to move. ¡°Damn it. My nose itches. Yes. They did it. All of it. I don¡¯t think it can get any worse. Demons, undead, the thrice-dammed Heartstealer, they have it all.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not as if the crown could punish them more. Rebellion should be pretty much the worst offense, isn¡¯t it?¡± Mireille yawned.

    ¡°It¡¯s only so that we know what to expect,¡± Alyssa replied.

    ¡°Expect? Are we going to storm the city?¡± Mireille¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Why don¡¯t I know about that?¡±

    ¡°I think we should try to stop them from committing further atrocities. How can you be so calm when you hear all that?!¡± Jill exploded after she had been quietly fuming in the background.

    ¡°We are students, not soldiers, not vigilantes, not templars, students. Why do you sound so accusatory? We try to help anyone we meet and fight with undead, mad dukes, and mages. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Mireille shouted back. ¡°Alyssa died for this town she did not even know the name of a week ago.¡±

    Jill looked at her silently and then worried her lips before saying, ¡°That is a good point. I forgot what you are and that you have no more responsibility to stop this madness than any citizen on the street.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Mireille snorted but looked slightly mollified.

    Leomund looked between them and cleared his throat. ¡°Does that suffice for my part of the bargain?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Iseret answered this time. ¡°I still have some more questions.¡±

    <hr>

    Jamila grabbed another book and forcefully stuffed it into a backpack before grimacing at what was left of the books, scrolls, and jewelry strewn about the floor. The chamber was generously sized and doubled as a bedroom and study. The wood-paneled walls shone with polish and gave everything a warm look. The large windows were blinded by frost but would have had a nice view over the lawn in front of the mansion nestled inside the old castle grounds.

    The old halls were full of tradition, drafty, and nearly impossible to keep clean. So some more modern-minded ancestor had built the mansion. It was rumored that, at first, it had been meant for a mistress, but that rumor was hardy and unsubstantiated at once.

    ¡°Milady, the duke requests your presence, and he is also impatient with your...delay.¡± A supercilious male voice sounded from behind the closed door.

    ¡°I was bathing when you called and am just trying to get my things in order. Tell grandfather I will be with him soon.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± She heard footsteps walk away, growing faint before falling silent once again.

    ¡°Damn them all.¡± Jamila cursed, pressing the last book deeper before decisively latching the pack close. If a guardsman she had done some favors had not warned her, she would have walked to her death with a faked smile on her face. But she was not ready! The pince-nez glasses she affected to wear were carelessly stuffed in a pocket of her sturdily made leather jacket. Something she had had no cause to wear for years. Not since she finally broke with Calvin. Her hair was bound in a messy ponytail without any of the discipline and art she usually employed.

    She remembered the summer day, long had it passed her by, when she stood in Illimens study decrying the presence of one Alyssa Miner trying to get the dean in trouble to help the chancellor.

    But what had all her scheming and scraping gotten her? Her personal power had soared at first. It had been the resources, the forbidden or rare texts she was suddenly able to access, that had catapulted her past her prior limits and made her one of the youngest teachers in the academy. But then it had all stagnated. Her past services only led to more of the same and hardly as well paid. Her time was often wasted on politics and socializing. Not that that had not been pleasant sometimes, but her growth had all but stalled.

    Looking around, she sighed deeply. A life compressed into one sorry backpack. Hefting it, she winced as the leather straps bit into her shoulders, but a small spell toughened her, and another lessened her overall weight. With a look of distaste, she spoke another spell and discarded books, and a blanket shimmered before taking on her appearance. She critically inspected her work and was satisfied with the slackjawed impression on her double''s face and the deathly pale color of her skin. Gripping a candle holder, she gave it a vicious twist, and with a grinding sound that forced another wince from her, a wardrobe rotated and revealed a small opening leading to a very narrow spiral staircase.

    It was time to leave the sinking ship.

    A rat chittered somewhere ahead in the darkness and she marveled at both the unfortunate symbolism and the hardiness of the rodents.

    Turning one last time she mouthed ¡®Good riddance!¡¯ Before descending the stairs while the opening closed behind her

    <hr>

    A person in a red robe with a mask made of cloth covering everything but the eyes raised a gloved hand and dripped a reddish liquid into a steaming beaker with precise and measured movements.

    The walls were mortared bricks, but where those had crumbled, bare earth could be seen. Dampness and the smell of old blood pervaded the air, and the small mage globe barely illuminated a corner of a much larger room, the ceiling vanishing in the darkness. Several passages led into the darkness while missing the doors that would normally have secured a bit of privacy.

    The laboratory was not in good condition, having been assembled with an emphasis on speed while neglecting much else. The robed figure gestured behind its back, and a hulking form lurched forward and placed an open barrel half-filled with a churning liquid beside her. With an angry seeming gesture, the contents of the beaker were thrown into the barrel, causing the liquid to bubble furiously for a while.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t it either.¡± Mumbling to himself, the robed persons stroked several boxes and bottles before settling on a large bulbous flask containing a small amount of a pale white liquid.

    Flirring, a rune sparrow shot through the wall and hovered before the person. A scratchy, old male voice sounded, ¡°The creature failed miserably and only wounded the personal knight. We expected more from your merchandise. Especially for the price. Contact us as soon as possible.¡±

    The sparrow then disintegrated into motes of blue light.

    Stroking his chin, the robed person seemed to ponder something and then snapped his fingers again as the hulking creature took the barrel away again. Heavy footsteps vanished into a side passage.

    ¡°They have no appreciation for the art.¡± The robed person shook his head before finally settling on the pale liquid, pouring it into the beaker to begin the tests anew. "Not like poor, poor Vadislav." A cackle followed the monologue, and then it was quiet.

 Well met, indeed

    ¡°Sanity was the gap between perception and desire,¡±

    ¨D Max Gladstone, Two Serpents Rise

    Alyssa sat down heavily on one of the cushions thrown haphazardly on the ground. ¡°What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s storm the city and rescue the people!¡± Mireille sounded as if she was only half-joking.

    ¡°Not the best of plans.¡± The captive wizard remarked. After a pointed look from Mireille, he quickly added. ¡°But who am I to judge.¡± He tried to shrug but had to content himself with looking a bit helpless instead.

    ¡°Shall we get them back into the cellar?¡± Iseret asked into the ensuing silence.

    ¡°No. I think we can probably come to an agreement. Won¡¯t we?¡± Vanessa kept her eyes on Leomund.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    ¡°The army is coming,¡± Vanessa said bluntly. ¡°And it is not likely that Zygmund von Nordmark will turn the tide. There are even temple warriors in attendance.¡± She glanced at Jill. ¡°And you could do worse than stand on the winning side even more as it is the right side, in my opinion. And what about you two? You have been silent all along.¡± She gazed at the apprentice and the female warrior.

    ¡°I...hate what Nordmark has become.¡± The armored woman swallowed dryly. ¡°But what should I do? I have seen the fate of those whose families try to flee or who make ¡®mistakes¡¯ for which said families suffer. I have a mother and three siblings. Father was a soldier like me¡­¡± She stopped. ¡°But you won¡¯t want to hear this. Please, if you can keep my family safe, I will help however I can.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± The apprentice looked a bit overwhelmed. ¡°I was only hoping to study. My family are merchants, and they did not want to invest in my schooling. ¡®Magic is for those with gold to spare,¡¯ they always said. If master helps you, I will too.¡± He winced as he moved. ¡°Thank you for healing my arm.¡± He nodded in Alea¡¯s direction.

    The wizard gave a weak chuckle at that. ¡°I think you got your priorities straight, at least.¡± Turning toward Vanessa, he nodded, ¡°Yes. I will help if it seems in any way feasible. I will not do suicide missions, but if it looks like a fair chance, I¡¯m your man. And you will put in a good word for m...us?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Vanessa shrugged. Looking at the others, she pondered for a moment. ¡°Do you think we can trust them?¡±

    ¡°I think that it is obvious how the wind has turned. Yes, I think we can trust them that far, at least.¡± Iseret answered.

    ¡°What would be the alternative? Keep them in the cellar indefinitely?¡± Alyssa sighed. ¡°I think what was said is reasonable.¡±

    Alea softly cleared her throat. ¡°I concur. If there is nothing else, I will clean Butler One.¡±

    After the altercation in Volstedt, the construct had been mostly useless as minor and major damage had to be repaired.

    Vanessa spoke a word of power, and black ice formed around her fingers, with a decisive slash and a grin, she cut the ropes binding the captives.

    Flinching back, Leomund nearly toppled over before smiling sheepishly and rubbing his wrists. ¡°Thanks, I guess.¡±

    ¡°You know that this is your only chance?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Vanessa nodded and turned to the other two, slashing their bonds with the same efficiency.

    The female warrior stretched painfully and then rubbed her nose. Seeing the looks she was getting, she blushed. ¡°It was itching all the time! Especially when he...¡± She pointed her chin at Leomund. ¡°...had to mention it! I am Johanna of Nordstrom. I¡¯m not some noble. It¡¯s simply the place I came from.¡± She cleared her throat and looked pointedly at the apprentice.

    ¡°Me?¡± The apprentice pointed at himself. ¡°I¡¯m Ralf. Ralf Hollermark. I¡¯m his apprentice.¡± He pointed at Leomund.

    ¡°A bit old for that, are we?¡± Mireille asked him bluntly.

    ¡°Hey! I did not get the opportunity until the town was gone to hell and back. But if you ever need a barrel made, I got you covered.¡± He smiled sheepishly, ¡°I was apprenticed to a cooper before.¡±

    ¡°He is not even the worst apprentice I have seen,¡± Leomund interjected, but his smile remained cautious all the while.

    Johanna looked at the silently thinking people and hesitantly asked. ¡°And? What do we do now?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a look at the city. Perhaps we can pose as cultists? There are a lot of robes in that cupboard over there!¡± Mireille grinned broadly.

    ¡°That might not be so bad an idea. Pose as if you were injured. Smear the face with some ash, and Leomund can get us inside.¡± Iseret mused.

    ¡°And if he warns anyone, we have a very bad fight on our hands.¡± Alyssa looked conflicted.

    ¡°Otherwise, we have no recourse but to wait for the troops to arrive and then help as much as possible.¡± Iseret shrugged.

    ¡°Usually, you are so cautious.¡±

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    ¡°I don¡¯t want us to get caught. Someone will come to look for Leomund and his group sooner or later, and that does not even include cultists coming to look for their own.¡± Iseret shrugged.

    Alea, who had quietly begun to scrape some dried mud from a hinge in Butler One''s torso, looked up and quietly focused on Jill, who seemed to be wrestling with her conscience. Cautiously, she put down the scraper and leaned over to the priestess before whispering. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that the physical is less important? Wearing some cultist robes should not be so bad. You could even remove the insignias if there are any. I doubt the soldiers will be so knowledgeable to look for it.¡±

    Jill nodded at her and whispered back. ¡°I will do it.¡± She then raised her voice and asked, ¡°And what is our plan when we get into the city?¡±

    ¡°Kill Zygmund and then take control of the undead before laying them to rest,¡± Alyssa responded, looking a bit guilty but determined as she said that. ¡°If Johanna is any indication, I think they will be glad to be rid of this whole fiasco. Perhaps we can even offer amnesties or reduced sentences if they surrender?¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go. Waiting will get us nowhere.¡± Mireille yawned and then blinked rapidly before grinning sheepishly. ¡°I might not have gotten enough sleep. But I will be okay- Promise!¡±

    Even Jill had to grin at that.

    <hr>

    Jamila pressed her back to the brick wall, slowly turning her head and leaning to the side. She tried to catch a glimpse of the next alley. When she had exited the escape tunnel, she was greeted by the tolling of a bell and saw the soldiers, living and otherwise, hurriedly searching for something. Someone. Probably herself.

    Now, she cursed the weight of the backpack she had forced on herself, and even as the spells made moving no longer a chore, she was still hampered by the unwieldy contraption.

    The air seemed clear, and with quick movements, she jogged toward one of the old sewer entrances closed off with a grate and cursed again as she saw the rusted-shut ruin of a lock. ¡®Damn it. Why can¡¯t anyone do their fucking job!¡¯ With a quick whisper, she gathered magical energy from the sludge seeping into the grate, and with a gesture a pale liquid appeared over her hand, slowly dripping onto the lock. With a sizzle, the metal softened and sloughed off before falling into the smelly darkness below. Gripping the grate, she pulled with all her might, thankful for the gloves she was wearing, and with a heart-stopping screech, the metal cover swung open. Without waiting to see if anyone noticed, she clambered down the mortared-in steps on the side.

    <hr>

    The group around Vanessa walked down the snowed-in road toward the city. Lights on the walls flared as gusts of wind met burning coals. They made for an unsettling sight as they wore the robes of the dead gravekeeper. He had owned more than they had expected. Leomund, Johanna, and the apprentice did not need such disguises and walked alongside them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t do suicide missions. If you really do something stupid, you are on your own.¡± Leomund grumbled.

    Vanessa¡¯s glowing eyes gazed at him unblinkingly before he seemed to shrink a bit. ¡°Not that that will happen.¡±

    After another few minutes with the gates coming fully into view, he stopped while looking at the walls warily, ¡°There are quite a lot of guards for the late hour. Even with some of them being undead, that means something happened.¡±

    Nearing the gate, one of the guardsmen shone down with a bullseye lantern and called. ¡°State your name and business!¡±

    ¡°Leomund von Hollgren, court magus. Here on the duke''s orders.¡±

    ¡°In the middle of the night?¡±

    ¡°You can ask his grace if you don¡¯t believe me. And don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that it¡¯s late. My bed has been calling me since hours before!¡±

    The figure backlit by the flaming brazier shook as if with laughter, and then a gesture to the side made one of the guards clamber down the stairs inside the gate tower. ¡°Patience. Someone will open the side gate.¡±

    A small ironclad door opened with a groan, and a tired-looking soldier beckoned them inside. As he saw the robes more clearly he made the sign of Gesserach and stumbled back to let them pass, trembling all the while.

    ¡°Seems those cultists are well-loved,¡± Mireille whispered to Alyssa, who nodded in return.

    ¡°Quite.¡± Iseret''s whisper carried on a cold draft of wind reached their ears.

    ¡°Spoilsport,¡± Mireille murmured but then held her tongue.

    ¡°Do you require an escort, my lord?¡± The gate guard waiting outside asked them as they exited through the front.

    ¡°No. That will be all.¡± Leomund imperiously answered, much to the obvious relief of the guard who pulled a threadbare shawl around his neck.

    Soon, they walked out of the plaza adjoining the gate and down a larger thoroughfare, empty and covered in snow. Statues stood at intersections every dozen meters or so, depicting famous knights and personages of the duchies past.

    ¡°Can we talk now?¡± Mireille asked rebelliously.

    ¡°Yes. We should be clear. But please be more careful. This is no game.¡± Iseret looked at her with a bit of disapproval. ¡°Where to now?¡± She turned toward Leomund.

    ¡°Down this road and then the castle road.¡± He answered, distracted by a patrol moving swiftly down the road armed with lanterns with which they shone down alleys and into darkened doorways. ¡°Something got them riled up. Hope whatever it is does not trouble us.¡±

    Mireille winced. ¡°Nirileth, I hope she did not listen.¡±

    The patrol stopped them for a short chat but was reassured by Leomund, and Johanna left with clear instructions to keep to the larger roads. Their robes had, again, intimidated the soldiers.

    ¡°Do you know why they fear those robes so much?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°The duke has given them a lot of leeway, and some of those robed freaks can call demons to their help.¡±

    ¡°And how did you miss to tell us that?¡± Vanessa asked, still looking ahead while walking down the road.

    ¡°Ahem. I did not think it was an issue? They were nearly all at the cemetery after all, and you had to have met them already?¡±

    <hr>

    Jamila had exited the sewers when she came across the first groups of undead stalking the frigid, thick liquid flowing through the channels carved into the middle of the tunnels.

    And now she was still inside Sevenpeaks with her energy and patience waning fast. As she looked from the alley mouth, she was hiding in, she saw a group of cultists walking with a scout and a mage. The last seemed to have difficulty moving and, even as he kept pace, was nearly stumbling from a bad left leg. Eyeing the robes speculatively, she remembered the reactions she had seen in the market square. Flexing her hands, she gauged her chances. A small illusion that mimicked the missing cultist for a minute or so should be doable, and she still had a wand of sleep tucked into her sleeve.

    Without taking risks, she was not getting out of here.

    The group came closer, and one of the cultists looked in her direction. With a whisper, she activated a ring on her right hand, giving her a few seconds of near invisibility. She was quite proud of the charging runes as she could use the thing every half hour or so.

    And then they walked past.

    Still invisible, she brandished the wand and waited for the perfect moment. A mental command activated the wand, and green energies surged along the crystalline structure, hitting the last cultist full-on. A smile grew on her face as her right arm made a gesture she had practiced more often than she liked to remember, and an illusion of the cultist took the place of the one she had...stopped.

    Shocked, she looked as her victim turned in her direction, and the robe''s hood was blown back by a sudden gust of wind, uncovering a mask made of porcelain.

 Fleeing forward

    ¡°Awake, arise or be for ever fall¡¯n.¡±

    ¨D

    Whirring gears adjusted the metallic head covered by a smiling porcelain mask as Butler One assessed the situation. The group around the friends, Leomund, Johanna, and Ralf, the apprentice, walked on ahead, none the wiser. An illusion of the last ¡®cultist¡¯ walked ahead where Butler One would have been. Jamila¡¯s spell perfectly recreated the city''s background without letting anyone see that something was amiss.

    Stumbling back from the automaton, Jamila looked incredulous and gritted her teeth before quickly stepping further back.

    As luck would have it, the patrol that had questioned the group seemed to guess something was wrong, and the soldiers that had been inspecting a side street began to walk in their direction quickly. The sergeant in charge waved and shouted for them to stop.

    Vanessa had been quietly walking alongside her friends and temporary allies when she suddenly sensed something amiss. Turning, she carefully looked around, flinching at sudden shouts from the sergeant, who seemed to be somewhere down the street and out of sight. The last ¡®cultist¡¯, Butler One, trudged after them, head lowered. Everything seemed to be in order. Then it suddenly dawned on her. She could see Butler One¡¯s chin because of her good night vision, and the construct naturally did not sport a somewhat unkempt beard!

    With a spell and a cutting motion of her right hand, the delicate spellweave was disrupted.

    ¡°Stop right there!¡± The sergeant grabbed his sword as he suddenly saw a person appearing from thin air. The group of soldiers and undead were uniformly attired in thick winter cloaks over studded leather armor while holding short swords and shields, with some additionally armed with crossbows.

    Vanessa quickly took in the situation and grimaced. ¡°If I find you have betrayed us¡­¡± She hissed at Leomund, who had a bewildered expression on his face.

    ¡°No! I did...I never¡­!¡± He stumbled over his words.

    Butler One took two steps before Alea and asked, ¡°Is this person an enemy? Non-lethal magic use sensed.¡±

    ¡°Be careful, but don¡¯t hurt her,¡± Alea said quickly while huddling in her too-large robes.

    Alyssa stroked Cyrus''s neck. The gate-guard had accepted the familiar as a demonic creature quite readily.

    ¡°Who the heck are you?¡± Mireille asked Jamila, who took in the somewhat familiar face.

    Focusing on the girl, Jamila gasped, ¡°You are academy students! I am a teacher, Jamila von Nordstrom!¡±

    ¡°Damn it.¡± Alyssa cursed. So close. They had nearly reached the castle.

    ¡°What have we here?¡± The sergeant came closer. ¡°If that isn¡¯t the missing Ms. Nordstrom.¡± Turning to the ¡®cultist¡¯ group and Leomund, he said, somewhat apologetically, ¡°She is a wanted fugitive. Please leave this matter to us.¡±

    Alyssa thought furiously, ¡°She...she damaged our construct. We demand restitution.¡± She pointed at the visibly damaged Butler One.

    ¡°Ah.¡± The sergeant looked a bit bewildered at that. ¡°That can all be discussed when she is under lock and key. Please excuse me.¡± He gestured for two of his soldiers to get the wizardess.

    ¡°Should we do something?¡± Mireille whispered to Alyssa.

    ¡°I can¡¯t really remember where I heard of her before. It was nothing good- but what exactly? Be that as it may, we cannot simply stand by and do nothing when a teacher of the academy is arrested.¡±

    The sergeant saw them whispering and frowned. ¡°I suggest you talk to the guard captain. He will help you. Until then. Please move along.¡± With another gesture, one of his men nodded and pulled a horn from his belt before blowing a loud, strident note.

    Jamila gestured with her wand. ¡°Don¡¯t come closer, or I will not hesitate to use this. Who commanded you to arrest me?¡± While she stalled, she gave Vanessa an urgent look.

    The group around the sergeant were ten men and seven undead. The latter stood a good bit to the side, staring at the ground or the walls with slack expressions.

    ¡°We can¡¯t¡­¡± Alyssa began when Iseret shushed her.

    ¡°Sergeant?¡± Iseret gestured to Vanessa behind her back, trusting in her friend to understand her.

    ¡°Yes?¡± The man looked highly irritated now.

    Suddenly, a dense fog billowed forth and covered the soldiers. Vanessa lowered her hands and pulled Mireille toward the side street where Jamila was still standing, gesturing at them to follow. ¡°Let¡¯s follow her.¡±

    ¡°Alarm!¡± The sergeant lunged from the thick roiling mists only to be met by the shadowy form of the demon Vanessa still carried in her shadow. Recoiling back into the fog, he stabbed and slashed desperately, only to nearly succeed in wounding one of his men.

    ¡°Down here!¡± Jamila gestured at the sewer entrance she had already used once. Hurrying down the steep stone stairs, she nearly fell, only held back at the last moment when Vanessa grabbed her by the collar, narrowly pulling her back.

    ¡°Careful, don¡¯t break your neck.¡± The cold air from the vampire girl''s mouth brushed over her neck, making her shiver. Eyes glowing a pale blue-green, Vanessa seemed more like a lifeless doll than a living elf at the moment, backlit by the feeble light from the sewer entrance.

    Coming to stand in the tunnel, she turned and took in her potential rescuers. ¡°You are one of them. For the lich or against?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a quite problematic question in this situation? What if she answers yes?¡± Iseret teased, helping Alea safely down the stairs.

    Jamila¡¯s left eyebrow twitched at that. ¡°Mh, correct. But please indulge me.¡±

    ¡°No. We are not in the service of the Heartstealer.¡± Vanessa answered.

    ¡°Reassuring.¡± The wizardess pointed down one corridor. ¡°This way. Leomund, I did not expect to see you here.¡±

    ¡°Well, life has a way of changing plans.¡± Leomund shrugged.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t talk so much! We are trying to escape, are we not?¡± Johanna hissed.

    With a flicker, Alea conjured a mage light, and the group hastened down the winding tunnel, the half-frozen sewage giving off a foul stench lessened thankfully by the cold.

    After a few minutes of that, Mireille cleared her throat and asked quietly. ¡°Where the heck are we going? If I may ask.¡±

    ¡°Depends on what you want to do?¡± Jamila shot back.

    ¡°Kill the duke and hope the rest aren¡¯t as stupid,¡± Mireille answered.

    Alyssa had to snort at that.

    ¡°You might be right about that, but it won¡¯t be easy.¡± The wizardess slowed to inspect them. ¡°A curious group. Two undead, a Reborn if I¡¯m not mistaken and some academy students. How did you get mixed up in that?¡±

    ¡°Long story, too long for this sewer,¡± Vanessa replied.

    ¡°Do you really think you stand a chance?¡± Jamila questioned.

    ¡°Yes. We have two god-blessed, and they both possess gates.¡±

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    ¡°Mh.¡±

    ¡°What more do you need?¡±

    Jamila stumbled from fatigue and looked with disgust at the smear on her glove gotten from merely touching the grimy walls. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Since this morning, I have been running. You know that Zygmund, the duke, is a vampire?¡±

    ¡°We strongly guessed.¡±

    ¡°He wanted to make me his spawn.¡± Shuddering, Jamila pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders.

    ¡°That is far from easy.¡± Vanessa looked at her sharply.

    Down where they had come from, voices echoed down the tunnel.

    ¡°We should decide right now.¡± Mireille clenched her fists, sparks flying over the fabric of her gloves, and a faint smell of burning cotton drifted through the air.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do it,¡± Alyssa spoke confidently. ¡°I have all this power now. Wouldn¡¯t it be a shame if I don¡¯t use it?¡±

    ¡°Then we must take the next right.¡± Jamila nodded and strode ahead, her fatigue kept at bay- for now.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ungrateful brat!¡± Zygmund smashed his fist down on the table, and with a crack, the top broke in half, spilling the books and notes onto the ground. ¡°Bring her here ¡®til sunup, and I might forgive you, but someone must have warned her. Question everyone who knew about this!¡±

    Ivyander looked at his raging lord expressionlessly and sighed internally. When would he be allowed back to his people? Humans were loud, crass, and greedy. Their talents were mediocre even if they were surprisingly quick in acquiring new knowledge and skills. What his mistress was thinking when she made the lord of Nordmark a vampire was completely inexplicable.

    The crypt Zygmund had made into his laboratory and makeshift torture chamber reeked of blood and fear. Several guards lay dismembered and drained in one of the open graves dotting the ground.

    The room had once been an ornate family crypt with the ancient and honored dead laid to rest in carved tombs in the ground or walls. Toward the rear, great stone doors led deeper into the stony depths. The air was normally stale and cold, but great braziers burning with bluish light- due to enchantments keeping them going without fuel- gave off a chemical reek that mingled most unpleasantly with old blood and rot.

    ¡°Ivyander. Don¡¯t slack off. Prepare the ritual. We will have her before long. Where can she go?¡±

    ¡°Yes, milord.¡± Ivyander hid his thoughts behind an impassive facade and began preparing the runic circle for the ritual.

    A bowing and scraping guard captain crawled backward out of the chamber, lucky to be alive.

    With some effort, the frost elf necromancer stifled the questions he could have asked, knowing from experience they most likely would not be answered.

    <hr>

    With a loud crack, the gauntleted hand slapped the guardsman. ¡°Go! Don¡¯t stand around gawking! We have to get her back.¡±

    ¡°But captain¡­!¡±

    ¡°Do you need another reminder?¡± The captain raised his hand threateningly. A burly man with more than a bit of fat on his face and belly, the man was in his fifties and still muscular but slowly going to seed. His heavy jowls, covered with a struggling beard, were quivering with rage, and dark eyes promised violence to everyone not quick to obey.

    ¡°YES, SIR!¡± The guardsmen in the small room stiffened to attention and then hurried out.

    The captain sagged a bit as his men left to aid the search. ¡°I hope they find her, but the next best thing would be if someone could¡­¡± He did not complete the sentence but looked back at the winding stairs leading down into the earth, and hatred marred his features for a moment before he got control of himself. ¡°So, which guard room did I miss.¡± Walking outside, he counted with his fingers, gesturing for his two personal guards waiting outside the room to fall in. Which they did, chain mail clinking.

    He had heard the most intriguing things about some cultists vanishing with the elusive Ms. Jamila. Perhaps they could solve a big headache for him.

    He was ordered to mobilize all forces. And all forces, including the guards for the crypt entrance, he would gather.

    With a sullen sneer, he walked into the dank corridors away from the brazier, spreading a little warmth in the guard chamber. But he could not forget the plea in the eyes of his dying guardsmen as the duke carved them into pieces and fed on their blood.

    All he could think about was how close he had been to sharing their fate.

    <hr>

    ¡°Here we are.¡± Jamila touched a protruding stone, and with a grinding noise, a piece of wall swung back to reveal a narrow opening leading to an even more narrow spiral staircase. With another tap, faint runes glowed and shed a bit of faint light. Just enough to navigate the steps. ¡°It¡¯s one of the older tunnels. The door will no longer close before someone has not raised the counterweight again.¡± She shrugged apologetically. ¡°But by the time this is discovered, we should be long gone.

    Alyssa turned toward Vanessa. ¡°Do you think I should try to take control of the corpses down here?¡±

    Jill¡¯s mouth was a white line so firmly were her lips pressed together.

    ¡°I think that would be a good idea. Think how much this would help in cleaning up afterward. The undead could be properly laid to rest and not desperately hunted through this labyrinth of a sewer.¡± The words were meant for Jill as much as for Alyssa.

    ¡°Good.¡± Breathing out, she concentrated and started gathering void energies. The circlet on her head began to glow with a soft light, and she felt it as soon as she overwhelmed the enchantment anchoring her mind, and darkness seeped into her thoughts. Stopping herself and slowing down again, she fed a steady stream of power to the jewel.

    Asandria gazed at her silently. ¡®You are getting better at this. Let me help you.¡¯

    Some of the strain she had not even realized was there eased, and she felt a weight lift from her mind.

    Making her intent known to the artifact, something activated, and glyphs spun to life. Words came to her, and she spoke the incantation of a complicated spell. With sudden clarity, she saw the void energies flooding this place. So far from the breach in the old fort down south, the surroundings should have been nearly clean, but the opposite was true. Whatever the duke had done here had forced void energies into the world.

    Then the spell took hold, and the lesser minds of the undead populating the sewers blazed with cold pinpricks of light in her mind''s vision. It was a simple thing to grab them and turn them to her purpose.

    ¡°We can go,¡± Alyssa said matter of fact. Jill shivered as she looked into the black eyes of the teenager. The illusion anchored in the amulet around the girl¡¯s neck was fading in and out of sight as the powerful spell disturbed its structure.

    ¡°Then let us not tarry.¡± Vanessa took the lead, gesturing for Iseret to guard their rear with a probing look at the too-quiet Alea.

    Leomund mumbled something unintelligible but probably a curse. Johanna walked third after Mireille and the apprentice, Ralf, quietly prayed to Jaros.

    Another secret door opened before them, and they exited into a luxurious bathroom. The door on this side was an elaborate mirror that had even doubled as a one-way looking glass.

    The formerly elegant surroundings had not seen much use in recent years, it seemed, and dust covered most surfaces. One tile was even cracked, probably because of the large temperature swings of the last months.

    Exiting, they found themselves in a bedroom. Paneled walls and dark drapes cast the whole room in shadow and gloom.

    ¡°Who lived here?¡± Mireille asked as she brushed over the samite wall hangings, luxuriating in the soft feel of the fabric.

    ¡°My grandmother,¡± Jamila answered shortly.

    ¡°I thought you were a Nordstrom?¡± Alea asked curiously, only to shrink back as the wizardess turned to her.

    ¡°I was born a Nordmark. But my mother was widowed and later married into the lesser house, taking me with her. It''s even more complicated than that, but let''s leave it alone for the moment.¡±

    The door to the corridor opened after Iseret made judicious use of a hair needle to open the lock.

    ¡°All clear.¡± Looking outside, they saw a broad corridor with many adjoining rooms in between hung portraits depicting former lords and ladies of Nordmark.

    With all of them walking down the corridor, Iseret winced at the amount of noise they made, trying to be stealthy or not, and soon they met the first servant, a young maid, going about her work cleaning.

    ¡°Magister Leomund. Magus Erzgau missed you. He asked for you to present yourself at the earliest opportunity.¡± She eyed the ¡®cultists¡¯ and the demonic familiar with a lot of trepidation.

    ¡°Yes, yes. I will hurry, but first I have to change my clothes. It can¡¯t be so urgent that I cannot even freshen up a bit, can I?¡±

    ¡°I will tell him of your imminent arrival.¡± The maid bowed deeply.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurry for my sake.¡± Leomund grinned weakly.

    The maid bowed more deeply still and then backed away politely before fleeing the scene.

    ¡°Will she tell someone about us? This Erzgau fellow?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Won¡¯t make a difference. Erzgau is old and will not give me the satisfaction of coming to look for me. He will make me come to him, and he will most likely make me wait quite a bit.¡± He grinned.

    ¡°Where to now?¡± Alyssa asked and turned toward Jamila.

    ¡°Down the corridor, and then we take the stairs. Should be quite empty this time of night.¡± But her eyes showed her doubts even more than her voice.

    Leaving the broad marble stairs behind, they quickly came across a smaller stairwell built into a niche in a small side corridor. They descended several stories and quickly lost all orientation as there were no windows or other recognizable features but for other small corridors and doors branching off at certain intervals. The walls were bare stone blocks fit together with superior masonry and without the use of crutches like mortar.

    ¡°Dwarfen made?¡± Alea asked suddenly as her fingers brushed across an expertly fitted piece of stonework. Cecily turned and twisted on her shoulder to get a better view.

    ¡°Yes. If we live through this night, I will give you a tour. And bake you something. But we have to hurry now. I fear if we wait, there will be even more searching for us.¡± Jamila answered with urgency in her voice.

    And down they went.

    And with all of them trying more for speed than for stealth, suddenly, they stood before a trio of guards coming out of one of the small corridors.

    The groups stood before each other, and silence spread.

    ¡°Ah. Who goes there!¡± One of the guards, a young woman with scraggly blonde hair sticking from her steel helmet like bits of straw, broke the silence.

    ¡°Leomund. Court magus. On official business. I bring the blood mages to the duke, as ordered.¡±

    ¡°But...we got word you were helping Ms. Jamila, and the blood mages were your accomplices.¡±

    The older of the three guards bit his teeth and looked pained before slowly stepping back.

    With a sudden gust of wind, Vanessa turned into mist and rematerialized behind the trio before they could get their bearings. ¡°I would listen to what we have to say.¡± Claws of black ice manifested around her dainty hands.

 The House of Nordmark

    ¡°During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens...¡±

    ¨D Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

    The old guardsman reflexively slashed at Vanessa, who simply caught the blade on one of her claws, flicking it to the side where it hit the wall with a screech of metal.

    ¡°Let us not be hasty!¡± Leomund tried to calm the situation down. ¡°We might have a lot in common!¡±

    The younger soldiers, a woman and a boy just out of his teens- if on the brawny side- looked at them nervously and had also drawn their swords.

    ¡°What are you people doing?¡± The rough-looking guardsman asked, shaking his hand, still numb after hitting the wall.

    ¡°We...you won¡¯t believe we are here for the good of the people?¡± Leomund tried.

    ¡°No. But I don¡¯t want to die either. Letting you pass and fighting you...each might lead to my sudden death, so I¡¯m conflicted.¡± The guard spat on the ground. ¡°Convince me.¡±

    ¡°Now, now.¡± Leomund looked at his erstwhile captors and focused on Vanessa. ¡°Help me here, will you?¡±

    Vanessa shrugged. ¡°The dead walk, your dead. Family, friends, neighbors. Defiled corpses stalk the streets, and the living grow fewer every day. Your lord is a bloodsucking fiend in the truest sense of the word. We want to end him before all that is left to be liberated is a cemetery the size of this duchy.¡±

    ¡°Ha. Would that it were that easy! In the beginning, there were some who tried. They are now part of his guard. And no longer living.¡±

    ¡°Why are you still here then?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my home, and I swore an oath.¡±

    ¡°You most certainly did not swear to protect a dead person. So this oath ended the moment Duke Zygmund died and became an undead. And to protect your home is most assuredly not seeing it laid to waste like this. We can¡¯t talk any longer. Make your decision now.¡± Vanessa made a cutting motion. The ice-claws lending weight to the gesture.

    ¡°I¡­¡± He began, then stopped.

    ¡°Think about the people you could save if you helped us,¡± Johanna interjected.

    ¡°We will not obstruct you...but fighting the duke...¡± The older guard swallowed.

    ¡°I will do it.¡± The young soldier determinedly gripped his sword.

    ¡°Me too.¡± The female guard nodded, her dark brown hair bouncing beneath the low steel helmet.

    ¡°Ah, Gesserach damn it.¡± The older guard gritted his teeth. ¡°Do what you want. I will try and divert other patrols so that you can do your ¡®good deed¡¯ in peace.¡± He swallowed, ¡°and may the gods favor you.¡±

    Jamila looked at them, tapping her foot impatiently. ¡°We have to hurry. Please, don¡¯t waste time.¡±

    The two younger guards fell in with Johanna and Ralf while Leomund gave the middle-aged soldier an understanding look.

    ¡°He really, really made his own people hate him, did he,¡± Mireille mumbled while intentionally bumping into Alyssa, who gave her friend a wry grin.

    Alea looked at the two and was very nervous herself, quickly stroking Cecily to calm herself. As she stumbled over her too-large robes, a cold metallic hand gripped her arm and steadied her.

    ¡°Thank you, One.¡±

    Down they went. The labyrinthine stone stairs, so far removed from the well-lit corridors and rooms aboveground, spread a gloomy mood. Alea was especially affected as she remembered the fateful day, years ago, when she lost her eyesight in one of the rooms of this same castle.

    She shivered subconsciously.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Mireille whispered.

    Alea simply nodded quickly.

    Descending another set of stairs, they reached a great, arched doorway leading into a large, columned hall. It had once been a temple to Gesserach, and the golden sun symbol still shone in the light of huge braziers, but the statue had been toppled, and the sun disfigured with harshly cut runes, the very lines of which echoed decay. Dark doorways to the side of the altar led deeper into the earth.

    But that was not what caught the group''s attention.

    Several warriors clad in armor reminiscent of the first days of the conquest of the continent stood between them and two doors that led further into the crypts beneath Nordmark Castle.

    And even if the armor hid most of their forms, it was quite clear that they had not been alive for decades, centuries maybe. The armor was ornate, covered in gold and jewels blinded by dust and grime.

    Alyssa grinned as she focused on her artifact. ¡°Should I try to control or destroy them?¡±

    ¡°Destroy them. No sense in risking anything.¡± Vanessa replied.

    With a conscious effort, Alyssa fully opened her gate and drank the void energies suffusing the desecrated temple.

    Without any further words, the undead facing them began to advance as Alea began to chant, and Mireille burst into lightning. Vanessa had never relinquished her claws.

    Iseret faded into the shadows, her Khopesh flaring with new energies as she stroked some mana dust into the runes.

    Leomund hastily incanted, and a glowing shield made of flowing water covered him and his apprentice. He did not seem to be in a hurry to join the attack.

    The soldiers, Johanna, and the two new additions, brandished their swords but seemed to be shaken by the wights approaching from the front.

    Seven ancestors had been raised, and five remained. Calmund and his skeletal riders were still approaching Sevenpeaks, and one of the others had fallen in the siege of Volstedt.

    Alyssa smiled grimly as strands of void energy burst from the jewel in her wrist, ensnaring the silent warriors. Her will crushed down on the guttering self left in the dried-out husks.

    Jamila wove strands of windmagic into a net, her eyes focused on any weakness.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Ivyander took a step forward from behind the fallen statue, lips curled in disgust. ¡°Brutes, all of you humans are just brutish dilletantes.¡± With a quick gesture, he activated the runes carved into the temple, and black energies warred with Alyssa¡¯s spell. ¡°You won¡¯t find it so easy this time.¡±

    With a snarl, the white-haired girl pushed more energy into the spell form, and one wight stumbled before gripping its head. Unearthly screams rang out, soon joined by another, but then the three remaining charged forward.

    Vanessa jumped forward and slashed her claws against the first wight, bearing a two-handed sword. Sympathetic pain flared from her breast as she remembered just such a sword pinning her to the cobblestones in Volstedt. Hitting the hulking undead was not difficult, but the armor, despite being old and rusted, seemed reinforced by the spells surging through the former temple, and not even an ornament was damaged. Cursing, she backflipped her cloak, billowing around her slight form.

    The two-hander slashed through her billowing clothes, thankfully missing her body, causing Vanessa to grimace at the speed and power contained in the blow.

    Iseret appeared behind the wight, stabbing her enchanted Khopesh into its unprotected back. Accompanied by a metallic screech, sparks flew, and with a violent twist, the wight turned, punching with his left fist while holding the greatsword with his right. Bowing backward, Iseret let the heavy gauntlet pass her face by inches, but in dodging, she lost her momentum and had to retreat hastily.

    Golden light flared from Alea¡¯s hands and impaled the next undead; the light vied for dominance, with the dark energies rushing forth from the disfigured golden disk behind the altar, temporarily stopping the ancient warrior. Butler one rushed forward and pushed it back even further.

    Jill copied her and intoned another light magic spell, a shimmer cloaking her form as the protective magic took hold.

    Mireille clashed with another, and her lightning-infused degen pierced the gold-encrusted armor. Blue energies flared from gaps in between the plates and shone from the empty eyesockets, briefly overwhelming even the darkly flickering flames of the undead¡¯s own magic.

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    The battle surged back and forth, with the group of friends and allies sometimes gaining the upper hand, but Ivyander and the prepared spells and runes of the temple were forcing them back the next second.

    Alyssa grasped at the shadows tearing void energies from the very air, but whenever she pushed it through the spellforms in her jewel, Ivyander was there to counter her. The diadem on her forehead became darker, and frost spread from where it touched her skin.

    Dust drifted from the ceiling, and several runes burst under the strain. The fight had been going for a few minutes, and even with her lesser skill, Alyssa was gaining ground fast due to the inexhaustible supply of magic supplied by her gate and amplified by the jewel.

    Mireille was forced back by an underhanded swing from the morning star her opponent wielded, and with another step, the shield the wight was wielding in his left hand slammed against her side. With preternaturally quick movements, she avoided the worst of it, but a pained hiss escaped her as she crashed into the wall. With a defiant snarl, she shook her head, and droplets of blood scattered from her nose.

    Jamila flicked her wrist, and the net of wind magic she had been holding restrained the wight just as it readied a follow-up blow on Mireille.

    Cyrus jumped over a chop from an axe-wielding undead, grabbing its head with strong hind claws while stabbing furiously into the slits of the old visor.

    ¡°Cyrus!¡± Alyssa snapped out her hand, and tendrils of darkness formed by will and intent more than any spell grabbed at the axe, hacking at her familiar, slowing the blow for that decisive fraction so that Cyrus could push the wight away with a heave of its legs just evading the sickly gleaming edge of the axehead. He did not escape a bruising blow from the backswing of the single-headed weapon.

    The two undead she had been keeping at bay slowly began to regain their mobility. But one of them seemed to be near destruction.

    ¡°What a ruckus, Ivyander. You can¡¯t do anything by yourself, can you?¡± A hoarse-sounding voice came from the stairs to the side, leading deeper into the crypts underneath the castle.

    A tightening around his eyes was the only sign the elven necromancer had heard anything as he directed his undead to attack. But he nearly radiated his displeasure.

    Unloading his crossbow at the chanting elf, the male, young guard they had acquired previously grabbed the string before pulling it back laboriously, inserting another bolt. His face a rictus of terror and determination.

    With a negligent-looking gesture, Ivyander flicked a bolt of black flame at the new nuisance, and the female guard hastily interposed her shield, catching the flaring missile just before it would have hit the young man in the face. The metal rusted, and the wood of the shield warped and rotted but still held.

    A giggling creature about a meter in height with skin the color of aged blood looked around the corner of the stairs, eyes glowing a bright red with black pupils slitted like a snake fixed on the group of friends and allies. Horns jutted from its head every which way, and it giggled again before it opened its mouth wider than seemed possible before a sibilant whisper echoed from its throat. Johanna, the scout, gasped before stumbling back, grabbing at her head, blood flowing from her eyes and ears.

    "An Imp!" Jill pointed, "Keep it occupied with something. Otherwise, it will kill with its whispers!" She grabbed Johanna, pulling her back, and began to incant a healing spell

    A hand patted the horned being, and an old man with flowing white hair, clad in ornate metal armor fit for a duke, strode from the darkness of the stairwell. With a dismissive gesture, he threw back a dark cloak, freeing both hands while eyes the color of ice at dusk glared at them with disdain and hatred. Accompanying him were two bowed cultists in dark robes carrying metal bowls dispensing dark smoking incense. Two hulking demonic figures followed, humanoid but with claws instead of fingers and bestially twisted faces without noses and horned ridges running over their bald pates to the neck. Reptilian and unnatural-looking things clad in plate and mail armor of exotic but crude make.

    ¡°Kill them. They will have value in death. But if you want to eat them. I won¡¯t care.¡± Zygmund waved at the two fiends following him.

    Alea had not been idle, and with a look of concentration beams of brilliant light shone from her hands, dispelling the gloom of the temple for a brief but decisive moment. The axe-wielding wight took the full brunt of the rays of brilliance, and with a deep throbbing sound, the animating force left the old bones, causing armor, weapons, and corpse to fall to the ground. Wailing with anguished relief, the spirit of the ancient warrior soared over its fallen form before dispersing into the darkness. Runes on the armor sparked once, then began to crackle and release a burning stench.

    ¡°Disgusting wretches! You will suffer for that!¡± Zygmund snarled and concentrated before beginning an incantation. The words were unsure, and there were a lot of pauses.

    ¡°I recommend you focus on your martial prowess, sir,¡± Ivyander remarked dryly as he directed the fading energies of the temple, eliciting a raised eyebrow and angry glare from the distracted vampire duke.

    One of the wights Alyssa had stopped jerked as her renewed focus grabbed at the wight¡¯s consciousness. With an unwilling scream, the undead began to hack at his companion using a heavy mace and shield. Slamming the shield against the opponent''s weapon arm, the controlled undead created an opening, and, surprised by the onslaught, one lucky blow caught the other wight straight on the head, denting the helmet and shattering the skull beneath. With a prolonged sigh, the spirit departed from the ill-used husk.

    Behind them, several pairs of feet tramped down the stairs, and a large group of guardsmen accompanying the captain burst into the room.

    Leomund half-turned and grimaced, running through some calculations in his head before eying the back of Alyssa standing some steps before him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it.¡± A voice whispered in his ear, and Iseret vanished into the shadows near the doorway.

    Breaking off the spell, Zygmund winced as scattered void energies singed his fingers before being absorbed by his undead flesh. ¡°Finally. Kill them, capture them. I don¡¯t care. But be quick about it.¡± Nearly as an afterthought, he added. ¡°If you hurry, I will kill only half of you incompetent laggards. How could they come so far without me knowing? Imbeciles.¡±

    The captain who had raised his sword to command his troops faltered, and for a moment, everything seemed tinged in red as a deep rage welled up from somewhere he had long shut away. His men killed, the townsfolk terrorized. At first, it had been gradual, and the Nordmarks were never the lenient and gracious sort of lieges, but all the injustices, the swallowed complaints and remarks.

    He found he had not much left to lose. ¡°MEN! CLEANSE NORDMARK OF THIS FILTH! KILL THE TRAITOROUS DUKE!¡±

    Several of his soldiers had clear hesitation written on their faces, but the next bellow from their duke rectified this quickly.

    ¡°So all of them it is. You two, help the wights. No one is left alive.¡± Zygmund shoved one of the demonic creatures following him, and the hulking beast growled at him, twitching its claws, but one of the cultists spat a short syllable, and the demon turned toward the fighting, falling into a ground eating trot.

    The soldiers loosed a salvo of crossbow bolts, and Ivyander cursed as several broke against the stones near his head, and he had to deflect three more that would otherwise have skewered him. ¡°Damn it. I can¡¯t concentrate this way. Keep them off me.¡± Losing his composure, he called out to the undead duke.

    Striding forward while drawing a sword with a sleek and deadly-looking blade, Zygmund spat without turning. ¡°Remember your place, slave.¡±

    Dodging another bolt- this time a flaming missile launched by Jamila- Ivyander cursed under his breath.

    The runes were nearly spent, and Alyssa slowly pushed through the resistance to crush the wight wielding a greatsword. But then the demons crashed into the fighting, and Butler One caught a blow meant for Alea flying high before crashing into a column; sparks of lightning flashed through his torse as something ruptured.

    Several soldiers, along with the captain, charged into the fray and occupied the demon''s attention for a moment. With horror, they saw wounds carved into the metallic-looking flesh close in seconds, even as the unnatural flesh resisted cuts and bruises from their steel weapons.

    Alea chanted another spell, her head dizzy for a moment from the expenditure of mana before another ray of sunlight flashed from her hands, burning into the advancing Zygmund. Darkness burst from an amulet hanging at his throat, combating the light, before the pendant disintegrated with a bang and flaring green-black energies.

    The light seared into his shoulder, burning every piece of visible flesh, the skin flaking off in burning patches while the duke howled in pain, slashed with his sword every which way, and nearly impaled one of the cultists that hastily retreated a few steps.

    Mireille stood over the fallen form of the wight she had been fighting, sweat dripping from her brows and blood from several deep scratches, but otherwise, she seemed unharmed. Her lightning spear shifted crazily before she got ahold of herself and stabilized the construct. Her degen lay shattered on the ground, no match for the ferocious might of the undead fighter.

    Five soldiers had given their lives in the fight against the demons as one of them was nearly eviscerated by a suddenly appearing Vanessa while Iseret slashed the base of its neck with her Khopesh. The enchanted metal fared much better than the simple steel of the soldier''s blades, and with a combined effort, they cut off its head before the whole creature turned to foul-smelling ashes.

    The impish hellspawn near the stairs whispered its strange words, but Leomund forced it to keep its head down by throwing wind blades whenever it tried to peek around the corner.

    Ivyander looked increasingly worried before turning to flee down the stairs beside the cultists. In this moment of distraction, several crossbow bolts impacted around him, one hitting his clothes and one piercing deeply into his upper left arm. A firebolt set the robes covering his legs on fire, and with an undignified lunge, he more fell than jumped down the stairs. The hellish Imp giggled and pointed, its inhuman eyes devoid of anything but malicious glee.

    Understanding his position through the blinding pain, Zygmund began to feel fear for the first time. His unopposed rule, every life squashed beneath his hands, the abject terror of the townsfolk he had dined on everything, had made him more sure of his status and might. It had been unthinkable that anything could happen to him here.

    But once, he had been a relatively shrewd noble, and the old instincts came back to him in this moment of existential terror.

    With a grimace and focused concentration, he drew upon the stolen blood in his veins before slowly turning into mist. Grinning at the frustration on the face of Mireille as she stabbed the cloud where he had been standing a moment before, he suddenly felt a sharp pull in his chest and, looking downward, saw the small cloaked figure that he had briefly seen assaulting the demon carve several runes into the air where his heart would have been.

    With dawning unease, he tried to move back into one of the cracks he had prepared for such an eventuality but found he could not move, and with a painful wrench, he was forced back into his corporeal body.

    The last demon gave a deep rumbling scream as spells, bolts, and Iserets expertly wielded khopesh ended his life.

    The tableau was silent for a second, then claws of ice, a spear of lightning, the stinger of an enraged juvenile wyvern, and the blades of a damaged automaton carved into Zygmund''s leathery flesh. Screaming in anger and pain, he flailed about with his hands, claws sprouting from his fingertips, and a guardsman that came too close was nearly decapitated and fell back, spurting blood from a ruined throat.

    But then he saw the small blindfolded girl with the mechanical spider conclude a lengthy spell, and as her thin lips closed on the last syllable unheard in the din of battle, a light blossomed between her hands that shone more brightly than the sun at noon. And with a last flash of brilliance, the light expanded to fill his vision.

    Everything was the light.

 Happily ever after

    ¡°Elegantly accomplished," said Nehemiah Trot. "I shall compose an Ode. Would you like to stay and listen?¡±

    ¨D Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

    Vanessa jumped to the side, escaping the worst of the intense light, even though she could not suppress a hiss of pain as the flesh on her right arm blistered, and she hastily pulled her cloak tight.

    Alyssa winced and pressed her hands against her smarting eyes, cursing under her breath.

    Burning brightly, the figure of Zygmund von Nordmark twisted in on itself. Burning pieces flaked off and drifted like fireflies around the macabre scene.

    The cultists shuffled backward, and one of them fell heavily on his backside, letting his incense bowl fall to the ground, spilling bones of a distinctly humanoid slant slathered with a dark substance that was still burning fitfully.

    Jumping between the cultists and the stairwell, Mireille brandished her lightning spear. irritated by the blood dripping from her nose, she absentmindedly smeared it all over her face with her backhand before addressing the two robed figures. "Where do you think you are going?"

    The fallen cultist looked at the other, and then both nodded before ripping free wavy-bladed daggers from their belts.

    With a meaty thunk, several crossbow bolts sprouted from the backs of the two, and gurgling, they fell to the ground in a steadily spreading pool of blood.

    The captain still had his weapon and shield raised and eyed the group of friends and more or less willing allies suspiciously.

    Jamila put a hand on Alyssa''s shoulder, jerking back as a biting frost invaded her flesh. She grimaced only for a moment before she stepped around the girl while discretely waving her hand to get some circulation back. "Karl. Good to see that you still have some sense left. As I''m the highest-ranking noble of Nordmark here in this castle and definitely not with the rebels I command you to obey me."

    The calculations going through the head of the guard captain were plainly written on his face- unwillingness, disgust, then apprehension, and finally, acceptance. "Might as well. Never was well-spoken enough to argue myself out of this mess." He eyed the undead lying on the floor and then, with a grimace, added, "Please. We should try to help my men. Perhaps some might be saved."

    Alea cautiously walked up to the downed men and women, and with a short prayer, light energies played over the broken and bleeding bodies, mending some superficial wounds and stopping the bleeding. With a visible effort, she raised her voice, "I cannot do much more in this crypt. The very air is foul, and anathema to all that is light- Please get them up the stairs at least. Perhaps Alyssa can use some water-magic? The one over here is too far gone to carry." Stumbling a bit, she began to take care of the worst of Mireille''s wounds, which were mostly superficial in nature.

    Alyssa nodded and walked toward a downed female soldier, a large gash in her abdomen, leaking copious amounts of blood. Keeping an eye on the rest of the men and women around the captain, Karl she reminded herself. She lowered herself to one knee and intoned the waters of life. The waters that appeared had a sickly greenish hue but seemed to do the job as the ragged edges of the wound slowly grew back together.

    Vanessa looked at Iseret while rubbing her smarting arm, an unpleasant burned odor hung in the air mixed with the musty, cold air carrying hints of rot and the sickly-sweet-smelling incense still burning in the cultist''s bowls. "Do we follow the elf? Or is it too risky to leave Alyssa and the rest?"

    "I fear we can''t trust them yet. Let Jamila and the captain catch him. She is nominally in charge now, isn''t she?" A sardonic grin graced her impassive features. "But how about you?" She stepped closer. "Let me have a look at your arm."

    "Later." Vanessa motioned with her chin at the group around the fallen. "Let us see if something is left from this failure of a duke."

    Walking back, they saw a group of five more or less unharmed soldiers cautiously descend down the stairs accompanied by Leomund and his apprentice, both of whom had a distinctly unwilling look.

    Somewhere, the cackle of the impish devil reverberated through the darkness.

    Forming makeshift stretchers from spears, shields, and cloaks, the remaining soldiers began to carry the seriously wounded up the stairs.

    Alyssa and Mireille pulled Alea with them as they approached Vanessa, Jill trailed along behind them while muttering a prayer under her breath.

    Alyssa clenched and unclenched her hands before addressing Vanessa. "What now?"

    "This place must be cleansed." Interrupting the vampire girl''s answer, Jill spoke up, and there was a barely suppressed fury in her voice. "This is heresy. We have to lay the poor souls to rest."

    "Yes, but not just about now. The army will be here in two or three days if they hurry. By then, there will be priests and templars galore. We should not risk Alea''s health to save some time." Vanessa said firmly. "This here has been going on for months at least. One or two days will not make a difference."

    "But...!" Jill began to argue.

    "Help the soldiers clean this place if you will. Alea is needed by the wounded." Alyssa shrugged. "We killed Zygmund von Nordmark, the cause of all of this. Can you not be a bit more happy with that?"

    Jill seemed about to say something, then stopped and heaved a sigh. "Yes, you are right. I will go and help them. You go and help the soldiers. Until then."

    As the silence between them began to become uncomfortable, Mireille cleared her throat. "Then that''s it? Nirileth be with you." Not waiting for the faint outrage at the ''good'' wishes to become something more, the redhead pulled Alea toward the stairs.

    The rest followed before Jill turned around and walked toward the stairs the group of soldiers, along with Leomund, had descended.

    They had made some room in the dining hall on the ground level of the castle. The vaulted ceiling vanished into the darkness as the light from candles and torches was too feeble to illuminate it all. The narrow windows showed only scattered stars and the bare branches of some trees, probably growing in some sort of courtyard. Alea walked between the tables where the injured had been placed on hastily requisitioned blankets, her healing magic flaring brightly and briefly lighting the hall.

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    Jamila came up to them. "Thank you." She said quietly. "When I fled this morning, I never thought it would lead to this." She hastily added. "But I''m very glad it did."

    "What will you do now?" Alyssa asked curiously while feeding Cyrus a bit of jerky.

    The older woman wrinkled her forehead and then grinned. "Send a request for parlay to the army and then try to mitigate the damage. Rebuild. Not how I had envisioned it when I dreamed of getting power and recognition. And no. I don''t think it will be easy even remaining in charge, much less getting this catastrophe sorted out."

    "You should try and get the priestly orders to cleanse the castle. If not, you cannot live here. There will be ghosts and specters born of the void still lingering here, and the deaths and necromancy will have made it worse." Alyssa looked around, her eyes lit with dark energies.

    Another flash of light bathed them, and Vanessa pulled her hood down lower as Alea finished another healing spell. "Could we use some of the guest chambers? And is there someone who can show us around?" The small vampire asked.

    "Of course. I will ask one of the soldiers, they should know the castle well enough. The servants, what''s left of them, will still be in hiding. They have keen instincts, those that survived, that is."

    "Then we would be much obliged." Vanessa nodded at her.

    A harried-looking older man in chain and leather armed with a sword but missing his shield guided them through the silent castle. Corridors and stairwells were empty of life. Burned-out torches and dust stood mute witness to creeping neglect as they reached a higher floor with several rooms that had formerly been used to house less important guests. The beds and a few pieces of furniture were shrouded in protective cloth covers that were quickly stripped, revealing cold and musty but clean bedding.

    The soldier gave them a tired wave and began the trek back to the dining hall.

    Iseret pulled Vanessa into the first such room with a short nod and "Good night."

    Mireille grabbed both Alea and Alyssa while the latter was still protesting. "I don''t know if that is such a good idea...!" Her clothes were stiff with cold, and she self-consciously tried to extricate herself from her friend.

    "You just have to..." Mireille was fiddling with Alyssa''s coat, much to the white-haired girl''s consternation. "Aaaaand..." With a small crackle and a hiss, the enchantment activated, and heat began to emit from the spell circuits embedded in the coat.

    Alea giggled at that before she realized herself doing it.

    "The bed is big enough." Mireille eyed the large bedframe holding two stuffed mattresses. "But we should try to get a fire going. Would you do the honors?" She looked at Alyssa.

    "Okay." Stacking the dry but cold wood logs they found beside the open hearth, Alyssa incanted her firebolt spell, aiming for one of the bigger pieces of wood, and with a swooshing sound, it burst into flames. Finally, she arranged the remaining kindling so that it would catch on quickly. They retired to the bed, not bothering to change their clothes as the room temperature was just below freezing, and the water in an old washing basin had a solid layer of ice.

    "Are you asleep?" Mireille turned and looked at Alyssa in the darkness.

    Her friend turned to regard her with an unfriendly look. "How could I."

    "Just making conversation." Mireille blinked.

    "Could you please do that tomorrow?" Came a small voice from the bundle of blankets that shrouded Alea.

    "I could not sleep so I thought I could talk to you for a bit." Mireille lowered her voice but heard a quiet snort from Alea as the latter pulled herself further into her blankets.

    "What did you have in mind," Alyssa whispered back.

    "What do you think will happen when the temple warriors arrive?"

    "They will be overjoyed...and then try to kill Vanessa and me. Probably."

    "Do you really think so?"

    "Yes. I think Jill is pretty open-minded, actually. The rest will be worse."

    "And then?"

    "I will try to cross the mountains."

    "We."

    "What?"

    "We will cross them. You won''t try to go alone, will you?"

    "But the mountains in winter..."

    "This is or was a duchy. They should have some magics lying around that could help, and you don''t freeze anymore, do you?"

    Mireille cautiously tapped Alyssa on the shoulder, and as the latter stared at her uncomprehendingly, she was suddenly grabbed and hugged. "Only wanted to make sure you were no longer freezing," Mireille mumbled. "Ah, that is nice." The warmth of the enchantments had slowly built, and Alyssa was actually quite cozy to the touch, at least in Mireille''s humble opinion.

    "Do we have another day before we have to go?" The living girl mumbled.

    "I think so. I can have Calmund have an eye out for the troops." Alyssa mused.

    "Could we talk about that tomorrow?" Alea grumbled.

    Steady, soft breathing was her only response. Raising herself, Alea saw the slack-jawed look on her friend''s face. Relieved, she buried herself in the blankets again. "Good night."

    "Good night."

    ''Good night.'' Asandria turned from the shuttered window and looked at the trio.

    <hr>

    The woman standing on the dais overlooking the silent broken city turned her hand, and a glowing orb formed from swirls of energy drifting from the shadows surrounding the carved marble throne behind her. Beautiful eyes inspected the greenish energy before she closed her hand with a decisive motion, extinguishing the faint light.

    Undead giants lumbered through the night carrying great blocks of stone and smaller skeletons, looking from the distance like white ants, were carving, digging, building.

    What was it she had instructed them to do?

    Ah yes.

    Turning, she stroked the back of the marble throne, feeling the pitted stone, damaged from exposure to the elements, and with a frown, she drew power into herself before speaking some grating syllables. With a shiver like a pebble thrown into water, the marble became indistinct and then appeared again, smooth as the day it had been carved.

    If only everything was that easy.

    Her mind was full of other thoughts, the remnants of the beings she controlled, the spirits she had consumed to further her power whispered in her mind. Years upon untold years, she had simply...waited. The tantalizing scent of freedom she had felt from the East had been the impetus for her awakening but she realized.

    She was still half-asleep.

    Like an unthinking juggernaut, she had thrown the damned and the undead at the southern lands, her more intelligent subjects she had sent over the mountains but she was less than pleased.

    They had played the games of short-lived fools and died like those they emulated.

    Zygmund von Nordmark. She eyed her empty palm, still feeling the lingering rage of the shattered soul. He was not even worth devouring. What had Tarus Iram been thinking? He had probably aimed higher. Wasn''t there something about a younger royal?

    Her thoughts drifted toward abstract formulas, runes of power, ways to turn a soul into a torch that shed light by which one could understand secrets.

    With a conscious effort, she forced herself back to the present. Her momentary lapse had dispelled the illusion cloaking her bones, and the unblemished ivory of pale bone shone from her hands and wrist where it emerged from the robes she wore. Clenching her jaw in distaste, she forced the crystal heart in her chest to work its magic, and alabaster flesh, smooth and beautiful, hid the still bones underneath. The hall she stood in became vibrant with plant life covering the stone walls that stood whole once more, elves in all manner of dress and regalia swayed to unseen music. The throne was shining with a bright and gentle glow. Carved vines and flowers grew out of the lifeless material and opened to emit wonderful scents.

    With a wave of her hand, everything vanished, and only the illusion of her flesh remained.

    "You feel it, too?" Her voice was a cold, hollow whisper before changing to a seductive, husky drawl. She patted her chest, visualizing the crystal heart beating in her lifeless husk. "When I devour her whole, I will be free at last, and then I will find a way to regain what was taken from me. Vyarlis told me, he promised me." Madness shone in her blazing eyes.

 Geist

    ¡°What is a memory if not a ghost?¡±

    ¨D GennaRose Nethercott, Thistlefoot

    It was a long, slow night. Alyssa stared at the room''s ceiling and counted the cracks in the old stones. Quarried and fitted stone, not the burned bricks or even the more newfangled methods of pouring a lot of mortar as some of the newer factories used.

    Just stone.

    With cracks in it.

    Onehundredsixtythree.

    And counting.

    Mireille shifted in her sleep and snuggled closer. Grinning, Alyssa tried to disentangle herself as some of her coat buttons were poking her, but the other girl had a death grip on herself. Sighing, she relented and simply moved the offending pieces of fabric to the side.

    If she had had a sister like Mireille back in Firswending, would it have been enough? Enough to pull her father out of his hole or at least better their lives?

    The metal diadem wrapped around her head felt heavy and somehow constricting, and she tried to adjust it a bit but found it stuck fast.

    ''Perhaps it''s grown in already,'' she thought morbidly

    The night was long when you did not have to sleep. Even vampires had some downtime, even if it was - impractical enough- the daytime

    The hours drifted by, and the grey of dawn was replaced by the cold, pale light of the winter sun filtering through the barely fitting shutters. ''They could have at least given us a better room.''

    "Morrrnin''." Mumbled a sleepy voice next to her ear.

    Turning toward the noise, Alyssa bumped into Mireille''s nose. "Ouch." Blinking owlishly, Mireille let go and rubbed her face.

    "Good morning." Alea chimed in and drew more of the covers over her small form. Helpfully, Butler One tucked it in with somewhat jerky motions.

    "Is Butler One alright?" Alyssa sat up and looked at the construct intently.

    "Mh. Just a bit scuffed and banged from the fighting. I hope we still have some time for repairs."

    "Vanessa won''t be ready before tonight, so have at it." Mireille yawned.

    Warming the still mostly frozen water in the washbasin with carefully applied firemagic, they quickly did their morning ablutions and cast a few spells to clean clothes and equipment before exiting the room.

    Silent corridors greeted them with dustmotes drifting in the silent, cold air. Pale sunlight washed out every color that time had left on the old hangings and pictures gracing the walls.

    "I guess we should go down?" Mireille said hesitantly. "Never heard of a dining room being on the roof."

    "In Grunewald, they had a restaurant with a flat roof and a garden. I once went with my grandmother." Alea helpfully interjected.

    Silence fell as they walked down the nearest set of stairs.

    "Are you alright?" Alyssa asked. "Especially you, Mireille, you were bleeding a lot."

    "Alea fixed me up." She twirled and nearly fell down the stairs before grabbing the railing. "Ahem. Right as rain."

    Cyrus gave a scoffing hiss at that.

    "Does he understand us?" Mireille raised a solitary eyebrow.

    "He understands me and is much more intelligent than a normal wyvern. So...perhaps?" Alyssa smiled and scratched Cyrus''s pointed head between the horns, eliciting a throaty rumble.

    A pale-looking servant came up from below and, as he saw them, hastily went into a side-passage.

    "Is there still some blood on my coat?" Mireille asked doubtfully. "Or is it on my face?" She grabbed Alyssa by the shoulders and turned her head to have her get a good look.

    "You are fine. Let go!" Brushing off her friend, Alyssa grinned a bit. "It''s more that after yesterday, they might be a bit extra cautious, and who can blame them."

    Her eyes were drawn to the side passage, and she wrinkled her forehead. Motes of strong void magic flowed from down the corridor the servant had taken.

    "Might we have a look? I sense a lot of void down that passage."

    A growl from Mireille''s stomach interrupted the brief silence following those words.

    "Sorry." Mireille looked a bit sheepish. "But I think the last time I ate was yesterday in the afternoon. But it''s no big deal!"

    Alea simply nodded.

    Entering the side passage, they saw a row of portraits stacked on the walls, haphazardly arranged in different shapes and sizes. Two doors, one at the end and one to the left, led further into the keep. The one ahead was decorated with bronze banding inscribed with runes.

    "That one looks important," Mireille remarked.

    The side door was not completely closed, and the girls could hear a few hasty steps departing away from them.

    "So much for the servant." Mireille shrugged. "Should we try to open it?" She pointed at the ornate door.

    "Lets. One of our possible objectives was to obtain more knowledge. Perhaps we can find something here." Alyssa inspected the door from a distance. "I fear we will have neither the expertise nor the means to open it quietly, though."

    "Pff. There is void magic here, and this is a vampire duke''s castle. We are only doing our due diligence. Besides, I don''t think Jamila will blame us." Mireille grinned. "So what''s the plan?"

    "We will stand back, and I will bombard the door with void until we get in." Alyssa scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "Or we find Jamila and ask for a key if something like that exists."

    "Let us ask for a key. No need to destroy something without asking first." Alea said softly.

    "But what if she does not have the key or doesn''t have time for something like this?" Mireille asked.

    "The servant might know about a key." Alyssa mused.

    "But the servant is gone."

    Alyssa frowned and then waved at them imperiously. "Step back. I don''t want whatever it is to remain here or fall into the wrong hands." Concentrating, she drew glyphs in the air and summoned the amply available void from within and without.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    "Wait...!" Alea stretched out her hand.

    Mireille grinned and pulled the smaller girl back to the stairs. "No sense in risking anything. Perhaps it''s trapped."

    The first bolt of darkness impacted the door, and with a ripple, several runes cleverly hidden inside the engravings came to life, and the energy was harmlessly deflected toward the wall, where it devoured a particularly dull painting.

    The next few met with a similar fate, but the glow of the defensive runes began to wane. With another exertion, the runes sparked and flickered before then becoming dull. Wisps of smoke drifted toward the ceiling.

    The whole time, there had been a resounding thump whenever the bolts impacted the shielding runes, and the racket would undoubtedly be heard on the whole floor.

    "I think this was more meant to deter a particularly enterprising servant than a mage," Mireille remarked. "Nirileth be praised." She added piously.

    Alea eyed her suspiciously. "Don''t tell me all this is because you were too lazy to look for Jamila."

    With a hiss, the void energies ate into the lock, and the metal became scuffed and brittle in the time it took to draw a deep breath.

    "That should do it." Alyssa looked at her work with satisfaction.

    ''You should be more careful. Any trap worth the effort would have an effect even here.'' Asandria, who had been taciturn of late, remarked.

    "Aw, you do care." Alyssa regarded her out of the corner of her eyes.

    ''Less snark, more caution.'' Asandria gazed back at her with a complicated expression in her eyes.

    "Mh." Alyssa strode up to the door before giving the lock a good kick, dislodging the rotten and brittle metal and cracking the wood around it. The door refused to go further as the hinges were on the outside. Grabbing the makeshift opening, she pulled and broke some more of the wood before getting a firm grip. With a final heave, she forced the door open, behind which a study became visible.

    Large cabinets with glass fronts rose toward a high ceiling, and a desk made of polished, petrified wood took most of the space before a narrow window. Ice flowers bloomed on the wavy glass, further distorting the light. As the door was opened, mage globes inset in the walls flickered to life, illuminating all in a pale yellow glow.

    Shelves on the walls devoid of cabinets held curios and trinkets, a dagger with a blackened and cracked tip, a broken skull inscribed with gilded runes, some chalices with suspicious, rust-colored crusting. A few scrolls and a tablet made of fired clay.

    A large ornate and upholstered chair took center place before the desk, and the worn leather of the armrests implied heavy use.

    "Looks like we found gold." Mireille grinned, let go of Alea, who was nowhere near as interested looking, and walked in after Alyssa.

    "...be careful," Alea murmured to no one in particular.

    "This one." Alyssa looked at a large tome held inside the largest cabinet. "Most of those things..." She let her gaze trail over the shelves. "...are void aligned. But the book seems to be what I sensed." She turned back and inspected the cabinet.

    Many books and a few small coffers were crammed into the relatively spacious but still packed interior.

    Finding nothing of note, Alyssa invoked the eyes of the night and formed the dark mists. The latter were mostly effective against light magic, but as she had grown more proficient, she had woven a bit of water magic into the whole, and the mists had become more...slippery...if that was the correct way to describe it. It should help a bit, at least.

    "Here goes nothing." Grabbing the handle, she pulled open the cabinet.

    The carved wooden door with the glass insets swung open on oiled hinges without making a sound. Alyssa gave a relieved sigh as a soft breeze began to stir, and something manifested in the corner of the room.

    A ghostly form made of shadows and seemingly inadvertently aligned cracks and lighting showed a hunched-over old woman with a servant''s dress. Her hands were claws, and her eyes were deep holes bleeding darkness down waxy cheeks.

    Mireille stumbled back a step before summoning her lightning spear. With a swift and practiced motion, she pierced the breast of the ghostly apparition only for a hateful cackle to sound from all corners of the room as the figure vanished only to reappear splayed on the ceiling, clinging to a dark corner like a bloated spider.

    With a shudder and a piercing hum, the objects lying around suddenly came to life, and the dagger with the cracked tip shot at Alyssa, stabbing her in the neck before she had the presence of mind to react. Hissing, she grabbed the hilt and ripped the blade free as dark blood seeped from the deep cut.

    The chalices and scrolls began to hover around the room, the chalices releasing dark red clouds of smoky liquid that hissed ominously and the scrolls crackling as some of the words on them began to burn with a greenish light.

    With a shout, Mireille activated her haste of the storm and jumped nearly four meters toward the ceiling, surprising the still-cackling ghost. With another sweep of the lighting spear, she cut through its ephemeral substance, scattering it into dozens of ragged pieces. Smiling, she fell back down only to be met by a chalice and the dark red cloud of liquid splattered at her. Wherever the drops of red hit her, smoke rose as skin grew red and blistered, and Mireille clenched her teeth in pain.

    Alea, who had been outside, quickly ran up to the door and loosed a beam of pure light at one of the chalices. With a hollow, metallic clatter, the suddenly lifeless cup fell to the ground, the rusty coating flaking off to reveal brittle metal that burst from the sudden fall.

    Alyssa meanwhile wrestled with the dagger still going for her throat and, with anger in her eyes, infused her hands with copious amounts of void magic. The blade shone with black energy, devouring what light fell from the mage globes or the window, and with a ripple that seemed like those spots you sometimes see in times of exertion, the dagger vanished into fine dust.

    Drawing a deep, unneeded breath, Alyssa staggered back as one of the scrolls shone with a fiery aura before crumbling to ash and losing a firebolt at her. Cursing, she ripped a small fissure into the air. The void leaked from the breach like blood, and the bolt was swallowed without a trace.

    Another cackle came, this time behind Mireille, as the ghost reformed out of the ambient darkness and needle-like claws slashed at the girl''s back.

    Alea had barely time to shout a warning, but Mireille, with unnatural speed, twisted around and slashed the ghost with her spear.

    "It''s the skull!" Alea pointed at the gold-encrusted relic lying still on one of the shelves.

    Alyssa turned, and her eyes flashed as the jewel in her wrist burned with dark fire. Tendrils of void flowed toward the skull. The ghost desperately interposed herself, hunching over the gold and ivory cranium.

    The tendrils pierced the ephemeral figure and enclosed the skull before tightening with a brutal twist.

    The ghost vanished, and the levitating objects fell to the ground.

    "Phew. That was unpleasant." Mireille rubbed a bit of sweat from her brows before wincing as some of that got into a spot burned by the chalice. "Aleeeeeaaaaa....!" Turning, she held her red-spotted arms toward the smaller girl while looking deeply aggrieved.

    "Yes, yes. I will heal you. Spare me the theatrics." But the smaller girl was looking concerned all the while.

    Alyssa marveled at how far Alea had come from the taciturn, barely speaking girl to making jokes in a situation like the one they found themselves in. Taking the time to give herself a once-over, she grimaced as she found another deep rip in her skin. The muscle seemed intact, and there was no more bleeding, but the tear did not want to close.

    With more force than she had intended, she grabbed the large tome and pulled it from the cabinet. "I hope you are worth it." She hissed through gritted teeth.

    ''Incipit Vita Nova'' was written in bold cursive inlaid with something that might be an alloy of lead. The cover was made using a thick dark leather with a slight impression of scales. The whole thing was impractically large but would still fit in her backpack. Especially with her spatial magic to even things out.

    "And? Anything good?" Mireille asked while Alea was still fussing over her burns.

    "Don''t know yet. Could be." Alyssa cursed under her breath as she was not very fluent in this language, but she would make do. In the worst case, she would ask Asandria.

    Taking another look, she found an open coffer containing enticingly glimmering gold coins. The aura of decay surrounding those pieces of metal told her, as much as her common sense, that these might be cursed. Whoever had used this study had really hated thieves.

    Another smaller book gave off a more muted but still palpable aura of entropy. Grabbing this, too, she stuffed both into her backpack. Touching the mana crystal attached to the spatial formation, she estimated it to be good for another week or so.

    Looking through the other cabinets, a smile bloomed on her face as she found a small pouch containing around a dozen more impure mana crystals and some simple jewelry, none of which appeared magical even to her enhanced sight.

    "Are you done?" Mireille asked while playing idly with the skull.

    "Give that to me." Alyssa grabbed the thing from her friend''s hands before stuffing it in her backpack. "I have only controlled the ghost. It''s still there."

    "Ew." Mireille rubbed her hands on an expensive-looking hanging carpet. "The old thing looked pretty unsanitary."

    "You are one to talk." Alea looked unimpressed at the dust and dirt her red-headed friend had accumulated during the fighting.

    "Is anyone there?" Outside, they heard quick steps nearing the corridor. With a shrug and a last look, Alyssa motioned for her friends to leave the room.

    Outside, they met the soldier who had brought them to their rooms the night before.

    "There you are." The soldier eyed the broken-down door and seemed to struggle with his words before giving a quick shake of his head. "Lady Jamila von Nordmark." He emphasized the last. "Would like the pleasure of your company for breakfast if that is agreeable."

    "Fancy." Mireille looked impressed. "Then let''s go! I''m famished."

 The Great White

    ¡°The hunger of a dragon is slow to wake, but hard to sate.¡±

    ¨D Ursula K. Le Guin

    Led by the guardsman, who still looked disgruntled- probably the result of witnessing their creative entering techniques- the group soon reached the ground floor.

    Alyssa rubbed at her neck for the umpteenth time and felt a small hand on her wrist. Turning, she saw Alea, and the smaller girl firmly shook her head.

    Nodding in acceptance, she raised the collar of her coat and forcefully stuffed her hands into its large pockets.

    Mireille gave her a concerned look, to which Alyssa replied with a slight shrug.

    The castle seemed even more dismal in the light of day, if not as spooky. The dust was more visible, and the absence of people was somehow more pronounced during the daytime than it had been in the middle of the night.

    Outside, they could hear some shouted orders, and the guard perked up at that. "Her lordship was adamant that there be a muster of the soldiers as early as possible. She has quickly taken charge." There was a bit of admiration in his voice.

    "What about the undead? Any problems?" Alyssa asked.

    The guard turned his head and looked at her before focusing ahead, "Yes. A lot, actually. After the duke died, some of them went feral. But most, thank the gods, simply did what they did before. But no one knows if that will hold up in the coming days." He sighed.

    "And you don''t know what will happen if they are all laid to rest." Alyssa nodded to herself. "With the kingdom poised to punish the duchy and its army dependent on the ''new'' additions."

    Startled, the man looked at her again. "We would never stoop so low as the former duke."

    "You can thank the rebellion if the duchy is not broken up," Alea said softly. "But I think the queen will have more use for an intact fiefdom and its remnants of an army dependent on her goodwill than a host of succession problems and nobles clamoring about the precedent." The last was spoken more to herself as the guard seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the topic.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know.¡° He murmured back before quickening his pace.

    The group passed a great doorway and entered a dining hall. Jamila was seated at the head of a large table, and there were some servants going about the business of serving her and some richly clothed townspeople, a few that seemed to be officers and some mages.

    Looking up from her talk with a grey-haired man wearing the ornate clothing of a wealthy merchant, she gestured for them to come closer.

    ¡°Ah, there you are. Good morning. Don¡¯t stand on ceremony, have a seat.¡±

    A few of the officers regarded her with disapproval, but Jamila simply ignored them.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡± Mireille plopped herself onto a ready chair, grabbed a bowl with scrambled eggs, and began to shovel that and some ham onto a dinner plate.

    After all of them had found a chair, which was not difficult given that the hall was large and the people relatively few, Jamila addressed them. ¡°Thank you again. I don¡¯t know what you are planning, but if I can be of help, ask. I think it''s best to talk after eating. Then we will have a bit more privacy.¡± She gave them a half-apologetic look before a serious-looking woman on her left audibly cleared her throat before beginning another bout of discussion.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave her alone for now.¡± Alyssa eyed Mireille, who seemed to be in heaven as she ate the scrambled eggs by the mouthful. Alea nodded.

    Inspecting her gains at the breakfast table would raise eyebrows...but what the heck. Alyssa put the tome on the table, shoving plate and cutlery carefully to the side, and then tried opening the damn thing.

    Which did not budge.

    A servant came over and, with only a slightly disapproving glance, removed the unused dinnerware.

    Inspecting the tome again, she did not see any physical obstructions and began to examine the thing with her magical senses. Speaking the spells under her breath, the tome began to glow in an ominous black light tinged with violet and purple. Runes were barely visible in all that miasma. With a slight snort, she grabbed at the void energies, pulling them into herself. This lightened the whole, and she began to see the glyphs more clearly.

    She grimaced before remembering where she was. Schooling her features, she tried to decipher the somewhat archaic forms and managed adequately. Something about blood and bloodlines. ¡®Probably bound to the duke''s family. Perhaps I can ask Jamila for a hand.¡¯ She grinned before again getting ahold of herself.

    Her nearest neighbor was scooting his chair carefully away from her while keeping a nervous eye on Alyssa.

    ¡°Asandria?¡± She muttered under her breath.

    ¡®I don¡¯t think the situation is so urgent that you have to experiment with a void-touched artifact in the company of strangers.¡¯ Asandria said with a wry tone.

    ¡°I only wanted to have a look. Perhaps it can really help me.¡± She refrained from touching one of her non-healing wounds, but only just.

    The breakfast went by relatively quickly, and even though the officers, townsfolk, and lesser nobles in attendance would have liked to occupy Jamila for longer, she finally sent them out with assurance for later talks. Only a few guards and Leopold remained.

    Jamila sighed deeply and then smiled at them even as it was a bit pinched-looking. ¡°Thank you again for the help. I know getting me this post was incidental to killing Grandfather, but I¡¯m nonetheless still in your debt.¡±

    ¡°Cutting off the Heartstealer''s influence was our primary goal. It was self-defense, really, with your Grandfather sending his troops, his undead, and everything else after us or the town we were in, or both.¡± Alyss grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m only glad that it all seems to work out in the end.¡±

    ¡°We could use some help.¡± Mireille put aside a half-eaten piece of sausage long enough to interject. ¡°What? It''s true.¡±

    ¡°What kind of help do you need?¡± Jamila replied calmly.

    ¡°A laboratory for Alea, supplies, and perhaps a guide for getting through the mountains. Cold weather gear. Enchanted if possible. Mana dust.¡± Mireille thought about each point and folded a raised finger as she counted down.

    ¡°Mireille¡­¡± Alea looked a bit uncomfortable.

    ¡°That can be arranged. But if I may ask. What is it you are doing with all of this, and what about a guide? To where?¡± Jamila leaned back and looked at Leomund, who shrugged.

    ¡°I need to get to Ulsolm...and...kill the Heartstealer.¡± Alyssa hesitated a bit before firmly stating the last.

    ¡°What?!¡± Jamila looked at her incredulously. ¡°It¡¯s not my business, and I will be sure to help, but why do you think you have a glimmer of a chance?¡±

    ¡°I have the spirit of an ancient elven sorceress with me, and she has knowledge that will help me have that chance. I have my abilities, an artifact for controlling undead, the Saintess of Jaros, and some other advantages. I know that this sounds like madness, but what other way is there? An army? Which army? What I hear is that Rivenlorn is fighting a losing battle. And Margrinar is divided by rebellion and treachery. It will only grow worse with time. The Heartstealer was not even actively participating in the whole mess. Now she is waking up, and you see what even a bit of attention from her brings!¡± Alyssa became more and more passionate as she talked.

    Jamila frowned. ¡°I will not judge your chances of success, but even as what you said is certainly impressive...I will help you as far as I¡¯m able. So laboratory. Leomund will show you. Cold weather gear. I will have someone from the quartermaster''s office come by your rooms later. Mana dust. Leomund again. If you need more help, please mention it to one of the servants or, better, Leomund.¡± She grinned at the mage, whose smile was a bit tired but genuine.

    ¡°I have to thank all of you, too.¡± The mage rubbed his hands together. ¡°I think I will have the court magicians post at least until the army arrives. That is days longer than I hoped to be alive.¡± He grinned. ¡°On another note. I will be happy to show you around. My apprentice is already in the primary lab and is taking stock of our supplies. It''s looking good, actually. This was one area where the old duke was conscientious.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡± Jamila looked from one to the other. ¡°As much as I would welcome a bit of a reprieve, I have to continue organizing the duchy, so please excuse¡­¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°There is one more thing¡­¡± Alyssa spoke up hesitantly while raising the tome.

    <hr>

    Alea and Butler One were escorted toward the laboratory by a talkative Leomund.

    Mireille went back to their room, aiming for some more sleep.

    Alyssa meanwhile¡­

    A study had been made available on the ground floor. The room, though unused, was reasonably clean and well-maintained. The large chests and shelves held mostly dust and some old records regarding taxes of some sort or other, but the desk and chair were in order, and the mage globe shone with a pale, even light.

    ¡°Miss, please ring if you need anything.¡± An older, experienced-looking servant pointed at a rope leading to a hidden bell somewhere outside. With another bow, he excused himself and closed the door, and then there was only the sound of footsteps slowly fading away.

    Alyssa put the heavy tome on the desk and, with anticipation, opened the dark cover. Jamila had been less than thrilled but, after inspecting the book, had acceded to donating a few drops of blood- which had sufficed to suppress the spells holding the cover closed.

    Delving into the writing, Alyssa was forming the words with her lips as difficult as the passages were for her while hours passed in silence. Only occasionally, Asandria would give some advice.

    ¡°This is a distorted account of someone wanting to become a lich?¡± Alyssa raised her head and looked at Asandria.

    ¡®Seems that way.¡¯

    ¡°Damn.¡±

    ¡®It contains a lot of useful and very esoteric necromantic knowledge. Not everything comes with thoroughly tried and tested spells, formulated for ease of access. This is not some work meant for a school. It''s partly out of pride and a bit of scientific spirit that this was made. What else should someone who already did all of what is described get from scribing such a work?¡¯

    ¡°Perhaps he meant it as a sort of legacy for his family?¡±

    ¡®Would you want your children or relatives to become an intelligent undead?¡¯

    Alyssa tried to wrap her head around it and then sighed. ¡°I would not. But there are many, many things I would not do, which people do nearly daily. Perhaps it''s something only a certain kind of person understands. New Life indeed.¡± Paraphrasing the title, she slammed the book shut, cursing as some of the runes glowed, probably locking it again.

    ¡®Now, you would have to ask Miss Jamila for another bit of blood.¡¯ Asandria shook her head in bemusement.

    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me. Can this damn cover be stripped?¡± Alyssa turned the tome and eyed the bindings, but all seemed to be nearly supernaturally well made.

    ¡®I would think that this is something the book would be warded against. If you try, it most likely will destroy the whole work.¡¯

    Pushing the tome away from her Alyssa straightened and looked through the grime and ice-encrusted small window. It seemed to be early afternoon.

    ¡°No sense in wasting any more time.¡± Alyssa stood up.

    ¡®What about the skull?¡¯

    ¡°Oh.¡± Alyssa sat back down again and fumbled the gilded skull from her bag. Concentrating, she focused on the connection her spell had forged and forced the spirit to coalesce.

    A mist billowed from the empty eyesockets and soon a hunched-over, ghostly woman. Face lined and aged looking with black emptiness instead of eyes and an archaic servant uniform appeared.

    Giving a small shiver at the sight, Alyssa focused once more. ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡®Gaddy Hatsfield.¡¯ The voice was like a soft exhalation but filled with boundless malice.

    ¡°You are mine now.¡±

    ¡®I know.¡¯ With a distinct pause, the spirit added- ¡®Milady.¡¯

    ¡°What did you do before I caught you?¡±

    ¡®I was left to guard the contents of the cabinets. Milady.¡¯

    ¡°Nothing more than that?¡±

    ¡®Nothing¡­.¡¯ The word echoed before falling silent once more.

    ¡°So you can levitate some objects. Oh! And you could use some tablets or prepared scrolls. That could be useful.¡± Alyssa mused.

    The old face formed a grimace, and the clawed hands fidgeted in agitation. ¡®No more¡­.¡¯

    ¡°What do you mean? Speak plainly.¡±

    ¡®The power...was not mine...it was in the room...the runes¡­¡¯

    ¡°You mean now that you are here, you cannot do anything?¡± Alyssa frowned and looked at the ornately decorated skull and back to the spirit.

    ¡®Can still be of use, Milady. I can cook and clean, mend and sew.¡¯ The ghost said in a sing-song voice.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need cooking. Cleaning, perhaps. Sewing?¡±

    ¡®I can sew everything.¡¯ A grin stretched briefly across the transparent features.

    ¡°Mh. Later, perhaps.¡± With a disappointed sigh, Alyssa forced the ghost back into the skull before standing up and stretching. Even as the movement did no longer provide relief from not-so-sadly absent back pain, it was still pleasant in a way.

    ¡°Asandria?¡±

    ¡®Yes?¡¯

    ¡°All that for a ghost with those horrible features and no real utility or power? That can¡¯t be right.¡±

    ¡®Don¡¯t underestimate some nobles and their idle experiments. A powerful Elementalist once enchanted the statues in his garden to hold elaborate dances on the nights of the full moon. He even went so far as to give them- at least in appearance- different personalities with rivalries and friendships, eloping lovers, and all that drama. It was well received for those few who could see it, but as it was his private gardens, it first became famous after his death when his heir sold it.¡¯

    ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡®The power waned over the years, and the last I heard of it, there were only the shadows of the statues still dancing in the magically charged hour just before moonfall. And perhaps it still continues to this day.¡¯

    ¡°Why did he do it?¡±

    ¡®I can only guess. I knew him most from stories. But on the other hand.¡¯ Asandria inspected the skull intently. ¡®This specter is not weak. Perhaps she can really sew anything. You should think about what that could mean.¡¯

    <hr>

    Alea was following Leomund, and the latter was quite busy praising his good luck and skills.

    ¡°And the Lady Jamila soon noticed my flair with earth magic.¡± He proudly gestured but then deflated a bit. ¡°Means I have to brush up on the construction aspects a bit more. I fear the lack of manpower might force me to help out quite a bit more than I would ever want, really.¡± Finally realizing Alea¡¯s lack of response, he turned and looked at the girl. ¡°You were quite brilliant, by the way.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Brilliant! Get it? Hrm. Sorry about that. I¡¯m still a bit giddy to be alive, actually. Did you have any questions?¡±

    Alea thought a bit, then answered softly. ¡°I would only require access to tools fit for repairing and maintaining constructs. Mana dust would be quite welcome if possible.¡±

    ¡°Oh. None of that. The Duchess was quite adamant I accommodate every reasonable request. Now that my rivals for workspace in the lab are mostly dead or fled, I have more than enough to share.¡± He rubbed his hands in anticipation.

    Soon, they reached a large, iron-bound door. Selecting three different keys, Leomund began to unlock the complicated arrangement of different locks before the door finally swung open to the sight of several large tables with alchemical and magical apparati, a furnace, an athanor, and runic circles inlaid with precious metals.

    But the things that most stood out were the ripped-out drawers, scattered documents, and the books haphazardly strewn on the ground. Some beakers and delicate glassware were also lying on the ground, cracked or even blown to pieces. There even were some burn marks around some of the more thickly armored chests.

    ¡°Damn them!¡± Leomund exclaimed. ¡°To the hells and back with them. You can¡¯t treat good books that way!¡± Cursing, he knelt and began to gather some of the more intact books and papers.

    ¡°Butler One, could you help him please?¡±

    ¡°It would be my pleasure.¡± The somewhat melodic but still obviously artificial voice answered.

    As the two worked with Leomund, soon assisted by his apprentice, the room returned to a semblance of order, and Alea began to repair the damage to Butler One¡¯s chassis.

    <hr>

    Night fell swiftly and early, as the season demanded, and in one of the guest rooms, two people stirred.

    ¡°Did you sleep well?¡± The words conveyed the smile gracing Iseret¡¯s face.

    ¡°I don¡¯t sleep. It''s not the same.¡± Grumbled Vanessa. ¡°How did I end up this undignified?¡± The smaller vampire was securely held by the larger snake-woman.

    ¡°I might have had a more uneasy sleep and pushed you out of the bed. Best to make sure that didn¡¯t happen.¡± The smile became more pronounced.

    ¡°Hmpf.¡±

    ¡°You do your remaining dignity no favors.¡± Iseret teased, obviously in good spirits.

    With a quick wriggle, Vanessa left the bed, and with a whispered spell, her clothes lost wrinkles and dust stains, becoming once more pristine. ¡°We can¡¯t afford to laze about. What if the girls cause more trouble? Bad enough, I can¡¯t really do much against the curse of the damned eye. It''s a waste of time.¡±

    ¡°I had a look in the afternoon, and all was well. Alyssa was trying something with a book she recovered. Nothing too serious as far as I could tell. Mireille was still resting with Alea repairing her construct.¡±

    Vanessa hesitated before turning around and looking at her friend. ¡°Thank you. It always worries me when I cannot be there myself.¡± Tapping her belt pouch with her fingers, she frowned. ¡°What about the captured priestess, Jill?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I saw her, as did you, last when she went down into the crypts. She probably is still there. Cleansing.¡± She shrugged.

    ¡°And Jamila? I don¡¯t completely trust her even as I trust her self-interest.¡±

    ¡°She seems to be doing a good job. There is already an alderman hanging from the gallows for still being loyal to the lich queen.¡±

    ¡°Who is that stupid?¡± Vanessa shook her head.

    ¡°He was bought with a promise, it seems. Probably something about a loved one. The Heartstealer might have some more tricks up her sleeve, or at least her minions did.¡±

    Iseret stood up and stretched, her lithe form swaying sinuously before the single mage globe, casting a host of shadows on the barren walls.

    Vanessa, who had begun to reply, became silent. With an embarrassed expression, she tried to turn away only to be caught in a soft embrace. A sigh of contentment escaped her before she regained her composure enough to put up a token struggle. ¡°Let go! We have too much to do¡­¡±

    "I overheard something concerning though," Iseret murmured while burying her face in Vanessa''s hair, breathing deeply of the floral scent the vampire used in her cleaning spells.

    <hr>

    A rune-sparrow flew through the closed window, its wings sparkling before folding against the small jewel-like form. The voice of Vanessa came from the open beak, and Mireille winced. ¡°I need to talk to all of you. Please come to the dining room on the ground floor. Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°As if I did not know it was you. Slavedriver.¡± Mireille pressed her pillow down on her head and shivered as a corner of the strategically placed blanket shifted, exposing her midriff to cold air. Gasping, she pulled it back only to have her feet exposed in turn. ¡°Damn you!¡±

    <hr>

    Shortly after. All the girls had received a similar sending. They met in front of the dining hall.

    Iseret waved them over while Vanessa was busy staring into the darkness outside with her best brooding expression.

    ¡°We might have a problem. Those damned undead really did it this time.¡± Vanessa turned and started without preamble. ¡°There have been rumors of the Great White waking.¡±

    ¡°Who the hell is the Great White?¡± Mireille yawned sleepily. ¡°And why am I reminded of the big fish those silly old buggers wanted to fish out of the saint''s river in Saintscrossing.¡±

    Vanessa looked at her disapprovingly before continuing. ¡°If you had let me speak, you would know by now. The Great White, also known as the Frost that Burns, the Ice that speaks, or more ancient still, the Splinter of Dusk, is a great white dragon. And he was seen by loggers out over the western mountains.¡±

 Last minute preparations

    ¡°It is odd how, when you have announced that you are leaving, it is as if you are already gone, even if your physical departure still lies months away. People begin to erase you from their minds, and you walk the halls with a feeling of growing transparency.¡±

    ¨D Paul Watkins, The Fellowship of Ghosts

    ¡°Will it even notice us? It¡¯s probably really big?¡± Mireille asked cautiously.

    ¡°He. The dragon is a male specimen.¡± Vanessa looked at Mireille with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Gender of the dragon aside, will it be a problem for us?¡± Alyssa interjected.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know, but dragons can be pretty territorial, and we plan to take some troops with us, do we not? It¡¯s unlikely to escape his attention.¡± Vanessa answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Alyssa frowned as she pondered the circumstances.

    ¡°And if we talk to it¡­him.¡± Mireille grinned at the displeasure on Vanessa¡¯s face.

    ¡°If we are forced to do this, we will have somehow survived him noticing us. Making it the only viable option.¡± Vanessa shrugged.

    ¡°And now? Does that change our plans?¡± Alyssa asked. ¡°We still have to leave before the army gets here.¡±

    ¡°How are your preparations coming along?¡± Iseret, who had been mostly silent, spoke up, looking at them in turn.

    ¡°I¡¯m mostly ready,¡± Alea said. ¡°Butler One needs some repairs still but we could leave now without him being a burden. Just not as useful as he could be.¡±

    Alyssa shrugged. ¡°The book was...interesting but nothing I need right now. I can leave at a moment''s notice.¡±

    Mireille grinned. ¡°It would be nice if we had some more time here, now that the vampires and undead are reduced to a minimum.¡± She stuck out her tongue at Vanessa who rubbed her forehead with a pained expression at her antics.

    ¡°Anyone have anything constructive to add?¡±

    ¡°Calmund has reached the town, and I have instructed him to keep an eye out for the army. They are probably one or two days behind, at least. How long do you think we should try to stay?¡± Alyssa looked at Vanessa questioningly.

    ¡°It''s relatively safe to stay for another day, but then we have to leave. Be ready to depart quickly.¡±

    ¡°And the dragon?¡± Mireille piped up.

    ¡°We could try to let the undead travel separate from us, but that would probably mean their destruction, as we are the only ones who have a hope of talking the dragon down. I would say it¡¯s Alyssa¡¯s decision. When we reach the other side of the mountains every body standing between us and potential harm will be very welcome.¡± Vanessa shrugged.

    ¡°I will talk with Calmund. It is still uncertain if I can even bring the mounted undead with us over the mountains.¡±

    <hr>

    Alyssa looked around the town. While disguised as a cultist and fleeing for the nearest sewer entrance, she had not gotten more than a fleeting impression of large, imposing buildings with steeply angled roofs. As it was night-time, she spoke the words of her Eyes of Dusk, and suddenly everything lost color but gained in definition. Small cracks in the plaster, damage to statues and ornaments stood out with great clarity, rimmed by dark flames of entropy.

    From afar it had the look of small ghosts eating away at the fading grandeur of the mansions she was passing by. Sevenpeaks was an old town. One of the first to be founded, actually. She remembered that the South had quickly seceded, or, as the southerners termed it- built their own country.

    They were not called the broken because they did not even see the need to denounce any kind of allegiance. They felt that with the fall of Allisair, the fealty they owed the king was null and void.

    Rivenlorn was the result.

    An old servant laboriously shoveled fresh snow to clear a way to the steps leading to the entrance of a wealthy townhouse.

    Nodding a greeting, Alyssa watched the old man furrow his brow, squinting while trying to see her through the dark only lit by stars. Seeing something in the gloom, he hurried inside, and the door fell shut with a muffled bang.

    Passing down the street, she saw the marks of forced entry on at least four houses, the doors broken by what she presumed to be axes. Two had at least some modicum of repair, while the others stood open. The entryways gaped like wounds as snow drifted inside.

    ¡®It will take more than the lifetime of a human to heal those kinds of wounds to the city.¡¯ Asandria remarked.

    Alyssa sighed and focused ahead. They soon reached the grand central plaza with a few temples, to Gesserach, Jaros, Melloris, and, to her surprise, a smaller one to worship Motok, the Dreamer, the god of miners back in Firswending. She was sure that Charys would have a temple, too, but it was probably near the cemetery, even if she had not seen anything as they fought the cultists there.

    The great thoroughfare- even as it did not really deserve the name, having seen the one in Kronenburg- led to the southern gate. The inns and taverns lining the road were mostly silent. There were some doing brisk business, though, and the isles of light amid the darkness were somehow comforting. Strains of music and raucous laughter, even if it sounded a bit forced, maybe even hysterical, were way better than the moaning of the wind in the empty streets.

    If she closed her eyes, she could imagine the people simply staying at home, waiting out the winter and the cold, safe before a warm hearth.

    A shuffling came from her right, and opening her eyes, she saw a dismembered corpse, both arms and one leg missing, crawling along the ground with jerky motions of its head and remaining leg. The thing was frozen through and through, with ice and snow coating everything that was not in movement.

    With a look of disgust, Alyssa spoke the words of a spell and flaring with power, a bolt of fire hit the crawling undead. With another gesture and a few words, she took control of the feeble flames that had taken hold of the remnants of clothing and fed more mana into the blaze. Even as it took on a purplish tinge, the fleshfiend hissed and groaned before it slowly turned to blackened bone and then to ash.

    Staggering from using the aspected mana, Alyssa gripped a lantern post to steady herself. Grimacing away the stars dancing before her eyes, she righted herself.

    ¡°Halt! What are you doing here?!¡± A pair of guardsmen heavily wrapped against the cold with shawls and cloaks called out to her.

    ¡°Killing an undead.¡± She answered laconically.

    A bit stumped, the second guard called back, ¡°Don¡¯t go out after nightfall. The city is still not safe.¡±

    ¡°I know. But I have business outside the wall. Ask Duchess von Nordmark if you still have questions.¡±

    The two eyed her with distrust for a second, and then the other one that had spoken first made a throwaway motion. ¡°It¡¯s your funeral.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Alyssa grimaced, thinking of her vision and the silent rainy hill with its ghostly procession.

    The two guards watched her until she left their sight. The last she heard was, ¡°What a creep.¡±

    The city gates came into view and, as expected, were shut for the night. It was a wonder they opened in the day, travel being practically nonexistent with the weather and the undead, as it were.

    ¡°Halt!¡±

    That was getting old fast.

    ¡°I¡¯m an honored guest of the duchess and have to check something outside the walls. I will return in about an hour and would appreciate being let back in.¡± Alyssa spoke in one breath.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Silence.

    ¡°Ahem. And who are you exactly?¡± A soldier with a white-streaked beard and a gambeson worn with bits of mail asked back.

    ¡°Alyssa. Alyssa Miner.¡± She looked at them expectantly.

    ¡°Never heard of her.¡± Someone to the side said softly but still very much audibly.

    ¡°I was one of those that laid the old duke to rest.¡± The girl mentioned diplomatically.

    ¡°I think there was something about a white-haired girl. Step closer so that I can see you.¡± The older soldier beckoned her.

    Stepping up to the trio of shivering soldiers, she observed the haunted looks and faces lined by exhaustion. She felt herself feeling a bit of empathy for the men and women serving in those conditions.

    ¡°One hour, you say?¡±

    ¡°Maybe a bit more, but not more than two.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Off you go.¡±

    ¡°But Sarge¡­!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± The old soldier looked at the youngest of the trio before opening a heavily barred iron side door. ¡°If you take too long, just wait for the dawn.¡±

    Giving the man a last annoyed look, Alyssa walked through the small echoing passage and emerged before the city gates. The snow had piled up on the road without men to shovel or carts to flatten it.

    Walking into the woods, she had to take control of several fleshfiends she then used to protect herself. Soon, she came to an open field near a burned-out hovel and saw the skeletal horses and riders waiting in eerie silence.

    ¡°Tired of talking through the link?¡± A gravelly voice with an unearthly echo sounded from the darkest parts beside the still-standing walls. Calmund, the wight, walked forward, the snow crunching under his iron boots.

    ¡°I felt it necessary for us to meet.¡± Alyssa fixed him with a glare.

    ¡°What a coincidence. I think so, too.¡± The flickering lights in the empty eye-sockets grew a bit more intense.

    ¡°We only properly spoke as I turned you.¡±

    The eyes dimmed a bit. ¡°Not even then. But circumstances were a bit...tight.¡±

    ¡°You know we killed the duke?¡±

    ¡°My, how you have grown, my mistress.¡± The old wight shook with silent laughter. ¡°And yes. I know. But he was not the one who raised me. If he had, I might be like the idiots he had guarding him. Not to disparage my descendants or what¡¯s left of them, but the efforts of my late kin were less than satisfactory.¡± He regarded her silently while snowflakes drifted from a slightly clouded sky. ¡°It was the elf. An abomination itself. He did it. I was the one he raised to show the duke how it''s done.¡±

    ¡°How did it feel?¡±

    ¡°Like getting pulled out of the coldest water with claws of burning ice. Like waking up from having your heart slowly crushed in your chest. Like dreaming of a lover only to wake to know that she is dead.¡±

    The wind pushed the dry snow in flurries over the ground, weaving between the legs of the perfectly still horse skeletons.

    ¡°It''s never pleasant, is it? Defying death.¡± Alyssa raised a hand and held a snowflake with a delicate grip, marveling at its unchanging appearance, no body warmth to melt the perfect crystal. ¡°Once, I thought it so marvelous, bringing a moth back to life. It was, for me, an act of hope of gain. Was it painful for the moth, too, I wonder?¡±

    ¡°Nothing worthwhile is without cost. A platitude but true.¡± Calmund¡¯s tautly drawn flesh stretched in a fatherly grin would give most sane people nightmares, Alyssa surmised, but she found it warmed some parts of her the cold did not reach.

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Vanessa¡¯s voice came from the shadows, and suddenly, the elven vampire was beside the two. Calmund recoiled before twisting around and bringing his broadsword to bear in a defensive stance.

    Out of the snowlit darkness, several large hulking forms coalesced.

    The first one was a hulking wolf tribe with a heavy axe held in his right hand, sniffing at Vanessa before tossing his hair with an unwilling gesture. ¡°Battle-Sister. To meet here under this dark sky. What a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°Mordrak.¡± Vanessa inclined her head, somehow looking regal despite her head only reaching his chest with her weight maybe an eighth of his. ¡°Good to see you too. This here is Alyssa I told you about, and the...skeletons and such...are under her control.¡±

    ¡°Mrrrm. Your own unliving nature was accepted by the Greenmother herself. But this stretches the bounds of our orders. The unliving are an unnatural blight on this world. And only where it is truly of great worth can we overlook this.¡±

    ¡°She will not keep them with her forever. It is for a just cause. And we did you a big favor, you ingrate. Zygmund von Nordmark lies dead by our hands, and his successor is set to sue for peace.¡±

    ¡°That is...unexpected. Unexpected but very welcome. What cause do you speak of?¡±

    Alyssa stepped beside Calmund and looked at Vanessa, who nodded. ¡°I aim to destroy the Heartstealer.¡±

    The wind picked up, and the clouds shifted a bit, giving the slowly rising Lost Eye a good look at the proceedings while bathing the whole in silvery moonlight.

    The grizzled wolftribe inspected her for several seconds. ¡°A worthy cause indeed. Alyssa. One for which you have given much as it seems. Let us talk, you and I before you depart for the mountains.¡± Giving her a nod, he turned to Vanessa. ¡°We will make haste to inform the army then. There was talk of a surprise attack and such. Let''s make sure no mistakes are made.¡±

    ¡°That would be best.¡±

    Giving a short huff and nod, the tribal warriors faded back into the darkness they had come from, and their dimly visible forms made for the distant treeline.

    ¡°You were here the whole time?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°I wanted to make sure you were safe.¡± Vanessa looked a bit uncomfortable. ¡°You seemed a bit on edge, and I feared that something would go wrong.¡±

    ¡°No! I did not mean to imply I did not want you to. I was indeed a bit careless. I was only surprised.¡±

    Calmund the wight stared at the vampire with calm attention.

    ¡°You seem more lucid than most.¡± Vanessa gazed back.

    ¡°That is because I am lucid.¡± The wight chuckled. ¡°Perhaps I was simply not ready to let go.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you were haunting the place. Would have certainly made you easier to raise.¡± The scholar in Vanessa spoke without thinking.

    With a gargling huff, the undead threw back his head and laughed. The sound somehow horrifying, with an atonal echo following it without rhyme or reason. ¡°Little mistress. I will come with you and see this Heartstealer. Perhaps I even get to try and kill it. I would like that, I think.¡±

    <hr>

    They returned to the town shortly after, and Vanessa vanished before they got to the gate. ¡°No sense making this more awkward for them and us.¡± The vampire smirked a bit, and then there was only a drifting patch of unseasonal mist.

    ¡°Show-off.¡±

    <hr>

    The next day passed with preparations. Jamila was too busy to talk with them again. Not that the group would have had much to discuss.

    Alea finished her repairs of Butler One and looked at the diadem Alyssa was wearing, shaking her head at the damage it had taken in only a few days but satisfied that it was still holding up well.

    Mireille was alternating between rest and searching the castle for something more edible than trail rations. Finding some stashed sweets, even though they were a bit old, she had a lot of fun.

    Alyssa conjured the old ghost out of the skull. ¡°You said your name was Gaddy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, your grace.¡± The old ghost bobbed a courtesy.

    ¡°And you can sew anything you said?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Anything.¡± The darkness filling the empty eyesockets seemed hungry.

    ¡°Can you¡­can you sew¡­.this?¡± Alyssa pulled back her robes and exposed the wound on her arm. Muscle moving beneath the smooth, unhealing cut.

    ¡°Mh. Yes, yes, I can.¡± A dark tongue licked black, ethereal lips.

    ¡°Then I command you to do it- without hurting me!¡±

    ¡°There will be some pain.¡± The old ghost tilted her head in question.

    ¡°Stop if I say so.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± The silken, smooth answer reeked of dishonesty.

    ¡°Make sure that you do.¡± Alyssa swallowed dryly. ¡°Then you may begin.¡±

    With the speed of a striking snake, the ghost whipped out her needle-like talons, and trailing dark thread stabbed into her flesh.

    Suppressing a scream, Alyssa gritted her teeth while thinking unkind thoughts at the academy teachers, telling her undead felt no pain. And yes, while physical wounds were much less painful and her unhealing wounds did not bother her- much- she was feeling the sharp claws of the ghostly maid as red-hot slivers of pain each time she punctured her flesh. And she was stitching very tightly indeed.

    The flesh merged back together, and the dark thread dissolved into motes of unlight drifting under her pale skin.

    Admiring the smooth surface of her arm once again, Alyssa winced at the remembered pain and postponed the stitching of her other cuts and tears.

    ¡°Was that all, Milady?¡± The ghost asked obsequiously.

    ¡°Yes. That will be all.¡± Waving her dismissal, the specter blurred and faded away while Alyssa drew a hissing breath through her teeth while rubbing her arm.

    <hr>

    The following day saw the arrival of a small delegation from the kingdom. Templars surrounded a glittering white person.

    Alyssa squinted her eyes against the glare of the daylight and motioned for Mireille to make haste.

    As the diplomats were led into the castle''s front gates and welcomed by Jamila, the group exited the city through a small portcullis set into the thick walls of the northern quarter.

    Turning around, they saw the high walls of smoothed stone inscribed with runic constructs towering into the pale winter sky behind them.

    A lone sentry waved at them before the portcullis rattled down, and the gates closed ponderously.

    The road stretched north before turning west in a lazy arc following a frozen river.

    Mireille stretched both arms over her head and yawned. ¡°Why did we have to go so early? Those priests would have never found us.¡±

    ¡°We did not want to make it difficult for Jamila.¡± Alyssa admonished.

    ¡°But wasn¡¯t she the one that had some trouble with Calvin, with you?¡±

    ¡°I was never that clear on that. And if that was the case, it''s all in the past. I can¡¯t be distracted by old grudges.¡± She became quiet, and the horse''s hooves sank into the softly crunching snow. ¡°Do you really want to come with me?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± Mireille abruptly lowered her arms and glowered at her friend. ¡°Will you stop mentioning that? I will be like Asander Brightblade; we even got Cyrus his dragon mount. Nothing will go wrong.¡±

    Alea was silent and regarded the distant mountains glittering in the light of the sun. ¡°I think we will have to contend with the dragon.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡± Alyssa asked curiously.

    ¡°Rivenlorn faced undead that had crossed the mountains while Margrinar only had to contend with some servants, powerful ones, and the gate. Something will have stopped the undead armies from entering this land. The dragon might well be responsible.¡± Iseret turned toward the trio. Another two horses followed her while bound to her saddle.

    Somewhere over the mountain range, a white speck drifted in the sky. Strangely close...or impossibly large.

 A stretch of road

    ¡°End? No, the journey doesn''t end here. Death is just another path. One that we all must take.¡±

    ¨D J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

    The way toward the river was slightly sloped, and the city slowly diminished behind the low swell of a hill. Farms and fields alternated with a warehouse, a watermill, and a large tower that seemed positively ancient and perhaps not of human make. Alyssa inspected the dark grey stone and saw similarities to the lost elven city in the woods near Firswending; the elegance and ornamentation featuring vines and fruit seemed a bit atypical for the Nordmark she had gotten to know, too.

    A small copse of trees, apple if she was not mistaken, came up as they traveled further.

    As they entered the silent world between the bare branches, several large figures detached from the sparse shadows.

    ¡°So we meet again.¡± Mordrak, the giant wolf-tribe, bowed his head in greeting. Still clad in leather and furs, his long, matted hair hung to his shoulder blades while his face bore traces of his wolven ancestry with enlarged fangs and honey-colored eyes.

    ¡°As you no doubt intended.¡± Iseret grinned. ¡°I hope Sirviel is well?¡±

    ¡°When I left, she was still grieving but hale.¡±

    ¡°I met you in the night. What do you want?¡± Alyssa asked.

    ¡°I wanted to talk to you. Did I not mention that?¡± Mordrak raised a bushy eyebrow, adjusting the weight of the battleaxe on his shoulder.

    ¡°You did.¡±

    ¡°Now, now. I was simply curious. I overheard your conversation and talked to Iseret here and your more nocturnal companion, who had some things to say about you.¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± Alyssa tried to be casual, but the physical presence of the wolf tribe warrior was discomfiting her more than she would admit.

    ¡°You plan to cross the mountains?¡±

    ¡°We do.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a guide?¡±

    ¡°Duchess von Nordmark promised us a scout who would meet us before reaching the foothills.¡±

    ¡°Mh. She will certainly try. But you know that crossing those mountains is probably a one-way trip?¡±

    Alyssa nodded.

    ¡°Good thing I was asked to have a look at the threat of Ulsolm. I could be that guide.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡±

    ¡°You can trust him,¡± Iseret interjected. ¡°Wolf-tribe won¡¯t lie about that, and I fought beside him and Vanessa to protect a dryad acquaintance of hers.¡±

    Alyssa looked between the two. ¡°Then¡­thank you?¡±

    ¡°No need for thanks.¡± Mordrak made a noise like distant thunder, which was probably a chuckle. ¡°It is on the way, and Sirviel would be cross with me if I did not offer help to her friends.¡± The fanged mouth opened in a somewhat friendly smile.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°I was sort of worried about that. I mean, Jamila would have tried to find someone, but would she have found a guide in time? Who is willing? But there is one thing I have to ask. What exactly happened to Jill? Did she not want to come along?¡±

    Silence filled the open space.

    <hr>

    Jill flourished her short sword and uttered a short prayer to Ielenia. The weight of her goddess¡¯s gaze rested oppressively on her shoulders as she summoned more of the light energy to coat her blade. ¡°Ielenia protects.¡±

    Several guards and a hapless garrison mage ventured down the well-trodden stairs to the lower mausoleum, leaving behind the desecrated temple of Gesserach and the ashes of the former duke.

    Somewhere down below, a hideous giggle sounded and echoed around them.

    ¡°Damn it all to the nine hells.¡± A grizzled guardsman swore.

    ¡°Language.¡± Jill could not abide blasphemy even as she understood the sentiment.

    ¡°Bah. Not even going to my death, I¡¯m spared the nagging.¡± But a flash of sadness darkened his eyes as he said this.

    The mage walking beside them scoffed. He was a young man just out of his teens with a bookish air and an ill-fitting leather armor hastily fastened over scribe''s robes.

    The other three guards were two women, both in their thirties with weather-lined faces and the lean musculature of a scout, and one portly younger man with impressive muscles more befitting a wrestler than a soldier.

    Somewhere ahead, slow drips of moisture broke the stifling silence.

    Shortly, they reached a hall from which several large stone portals led further into the darkness beyond the light they had brought with them. A few torches flickered feebly around a sarcophagus that seemed to have been used as a sort of table. Papers, scrolls, books, and alchemical paraphernalia were spread around on the available surfaces. A few coffins stacked in a corner bore a distilling apparatus; an old urn was standing upside down with a skull sporting bloody markings resting on the former bottom.

    A large circle of runes glistening with mana dust took up most of the center of the hall. The imp cautiously leaned from behind a broken urn, giggling madly while pointing at them. One of the female scouts gasped as blood gushed from her nose and ears.

    With a loud ¡®twang¡¯ the other scout loosed a crossbow bolt that thudded ineffectually into the urn splintering it further. The imp hastily vanished into the gloom.

    ¡°Ielenia! Illuminate the darkness and reveal thine enemy!¡± Light blossomed from the holy symbol worn around Jill¡¯s neck and banished the darkness, but the corruption that hung thickly in the air smothered the pure radiance nearly as soon as it was cast.

    The foremost scout shouted, ¡°After it!¡± and skirted the bloody designs on the ground with careful but hurried steps.

    From the darkness, several undead lunged at them but were swiftly dispatched with streaks of fire from the mage and several bolts from the crossbow-wielding soldiers. Jill slashed with her short sword, and the white light coating the blade lit the risen corpse of a corpulent burgher from within as she stabbed it deeply into its temple. ¡°May Ielenia grant you peace.¡± She spat, somewhat out of breath, before all of them pushed deeper into the corridors leading from the crypt.

    Soon, every sound from behind them became smothered by the stones around them, and the only noise was their strained breathing and the clanking of chainmail.

    ¡°Where to?¡± Jill asked one of the scouts, a short woman with red hair and weathered features, for they had reached a t-section.

    ¡°This way!¡± The scout pointed down the right passageway, and they quickly followed as she sprinted ahead.

    The corridor led to an open portal. A large hall loomed behind the stone arch, only dimly lit by the mage globes they had with them. Everything had an aged feel and did look more like it was grown naturally than made by man.

    ¡°Stop! We should not rush in foolishly.¡± The mage gasped in between ragged breaths. He did not seem to have much stamina, and the running and fighting had taken it out of him.

    Inside the hall was a central depression much like an amphitheater and opposite the archway they had entered a massive slab of stone rose into the still air. Runes covered the surface and glimmered wetly in the light.

    Something giggled in the darkness, and a shrill screech assaulted their ears as the imp tried- again- to hurt them with his powers. The scout that had taken the lead grimaced in pain and stumbled back, clutching at her head.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Jill narrowed her eyes and then shot forward with startling speed, arriving much faster than anticipated by her opponent before the cowering devil. The small creature had crouched behind some fallen masonry, and the large eyes widened for a moment before the shortsword, still burning with white light, stabbed into its chin, exiting from the crown of its head. Like a fish on a stick, the imp struggled even as the wound was obviously fatal. Its claws carved into the priestess¡¯s arm, but with a quick movement, she retracted the blade, and with white flames licking from the wound, the fiend began to disintegrate.

    Looking around the hall the ground was strewn with rock debris. The sides were nearly lost in the darkness, but outlines of large portals could still be seen. On the ground, prayers for the departed were barely visible, buried by dirt, and made faint by time.

    ¡°Good. We have killed that beastly thing. What now?¡± The mage futilely patted at some dust on his sleeves before looking up at Jill.

    ¡°The elf. The former duke¡¯s mage is still loose.¡±

    A dark figure rose beside the granite stele and surveyed them disdainfully.

    ¡°Fools. Despicable etl¨­.¡± Yviander gestured at a stone portal to the far right of the hall, and with a groan, it ponderously began to open while the elf ducked back into the darkness. A large gauntleted fist grabbed the edge of the portal and, with a groan of mistreated stone and metal, wrenched it free.

    A suit of armor ornate and clearly meant for more ceremonial occasions emerged from the darkness. Dust sifted from the surface a red, wet sheen covered the joints. With more power than grace, the metal-shod boots crashed into the ground.

    Behind them, another portal swung shut, crashing into the stone frame and shaking the hall with the impact. Dust sifted from the far-off ceiling.

    The mage steadied himself by grabbing onto one of the other guardsmen. His eyes went wide at the sight. ¡°Oh shit.¡±

    ¡°You will die here, and perhaps then I can finally leave this blasted place.¡± Ivyander cursed before quickly twisting behind the stone slab as one of the scouts shot at him. The bolt sparked as it cut along the stone''s edge.

    The steel of the armor groaned, and with small pings, rust broke away with the movement, scattering on the ground. With a turn of the helmet, dark rivulets of blood began to run from the neck joint, further darkening the already dusty armor.

    Several bolts and a missile made of flickering fire impacted without much effect.

    The hulking metal creature moved toward them with slow, steady steps, but the hall offered enough space to avoid it. So far.

    Another bolt struck exactly the slit in the visor, sticking from the helmet like a strange branch from an iron tree. With a casual motion, the armor grabbed the offending piece of wood, ripping it free without breaking stride. Some blood splattered on the ground, and an angry-sounding rumble leaked from somewhere within the metal.

    Fire licked at the legs and chest as the mage tried to find a weakness. Soon, the young man was panting hoarsely, and the armor was slightly singed.

    Jill looked around, and as Ivyander looked from behind the slab of stone, a quick flick of her left wrist sent a knife shooting in his direction.

    ¡°Distract it for me. I will try to bring it down.¡± The priestess whispered furiously.

    With a short nod, the group began to pepper the slowly nearing construct, and as a fire missile burst on the helmet, rocking the being back, Jill jumped forward, passing the creature before jumping on its back.

    Grabbing the helmet, she yanked it back with one hand, clamping her legs on its shoulders before stabbing her shortsword, flaring with white radiance into the exposed neck joint.

    With a rumbling roar, the creature grabbed her and ripped her loose before throwing her against a nearby column. The impact rattled the damaged stone, and a sharp crack signified a bone breaking as Jill gave a pained gasp, not having enough air to scream.

    Trudging toward her, the armor pulled back its right arm for a finishing blow.

    The female scout that had suffered under the sonic attack of the imp ran forward and pulled her to the side, eliciting a scream as the fist impacted the stone column. Shattering the damaged structure, the fist became stuck in the wreckage, and the blood-soaked abomination roared as it tried to pull free.

    Dust sifting from above made the mage look on in alarm. ¡°Back! Run! The ceiling!¡±

    With a grinding noise and cacophonous crashing, the ceiling collapsed on the struggling suit of armor, burying it under tons of rubble. Stones rained down on the group of guardsmen but did no more than cut and bruise.

    Stone dust hung heavy in the air as the last piece of masonry settled in place, covering the entrance completely.

    Coughing while holding their cloaks before their faces, the group looked stunned at what had happened.

    ¡°Damn it!¡± One of the male guardsmen cursed. ¡°Is there another way out?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s with the elf? He still here?¡± The female scout asked.

    From behind the stone slab came a hacking cough and Ivyander cautiously looked around the edge a grimace on his face. ¡°There might be.¡±

    Taking a few uncertain steps toward the elf, the guardsmen that had been talking raised shields and swords in his direction. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    The grimace became more pronounced, and with another cough, the elf spat on the ground before sighing. ¡°It means I know of a possible exit, but reaching it will require more than one person.¡± He looked resentfully at the still smoldering spot where the imp had been.

    ¡°Truce?¡±

    Jill spluttered and tried to say something but broke into a hacking cough, spitting out dust flecked with blood.

    The members of the group looked at each other. Silence reigned. Another piece of stone settled with a harsh grating sound before the pile of rocks became still once more.

    The mage swallowed nervously and then nodded. ¡°We can agree to a temporary truce if you know a way out.¡±

    Jill was shaking her head at that, but with another deep cough, she jolted her injured leg, and her eyes rolled back as she passed out.

    <hr>

    Evening found the group of friends in a snowed-in dell between sharply rising wooded hills.

    ¡°Why did we not stop at the last village?¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°Oh. I did not realize that would be a problem.¡± Mordrak chuckled. ¡°They don¡¯t normally like to see Wolf-Kin in the civilized¡­¡± He grinned more broadly,¡±...south.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a shitty excuse. And you are grinning! It''s not even true, is it? You are doing that just to pull my tail!¡± Mireille got more incensed as she talked.

    ¡°Maybe?¡± The giant wolf tribe blinked innocently before Mireille hit him on the lower arm, still too small to comfortably reach his shoulder, eliciting more chuckles.

    Alyssa could not suppress a smile at their antics, and even the dead-tired Alea¡¯s mouth curved slightly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s make the best of it and camp here.¡± Iseret precluded any further discussion. Her voice cut softly but firmly into the bickering of the two.

    ¡°Yes, Mom,¡± Mireille grumbled before quickly hurrying into the woods, seeing Iseret¡¯s less-than-amused gaze. ¡°Going for some firewood!¡± Her voice drifted back to them between some still swaying bushes.

    Alyssa laughed at that and shrugged at Alea¡¯s curious look. ¡°How long until we reach the mountains?¡± Turning toward Mordrac, she raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Mh. If we manage to hold our pace.¡± His eyes drifted over Alea, showing some skepticism. ¡°Three days at most. We will reach Fernhome the day after tomorrow. They are the last real town before the mountains proper. Feeling restless, little witch?¡± He grinned without malice, but his eyes mustered her seriously.

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me that. If I stay another two years at the academy, I¡¯m an initiate magus.¡± She replied without heat.

    ¡°Not blessed by the spirits and grasping for the powers of the night-wind. Witch it is.¡± He nodded before gesturing at his companions, three wolfkin men and two women. Reacting quickly, they began to prepare a campsite.

    ¡°I will go for a walk,¡± Alyssa mentioned before turning and walking into the thicket.

    Alea sighed and patted Butler One¡¯s arm before nearing the makeshift fireplace. Several large stones ringed a small depression where wood had been piled in a cone ringed by a few coals. With a gesture, a wolfkin woman spoke a short, melodic-sounding phrase, and a small flame flared from her fingertips, igniting the dry kindling at the center.

    Gazing at the growing flames with covetousness, Mireille would understand Alea sat down as near as she could endure. Flames baking her from the front while her back was feeling the chill even through the magically enhanced clothes.

    Butler One dragged a wooden log over to her, brushing it free of dirt and snow before arranging it for her to sit more comfortably.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The spider on her shoulder made a little curtseying motion, eliciting a snort from Mordrak, who was regarding the whole production with amused interest.

    Alyssa trudged through the snow, pushing thin branches away from her face, trying to avoid the inevitable whiplash. Soon she reached a small frozen pond green leaves frozen beneath the ice visible where the wind had pushed the everpresent snow to the side.

    ¡°Asandria?¡±

    ¡®Yes?¡¯

    ¡°What do you think of the ghost?¡±

    ¡®I think it is a possibility. You simply lack the refinement to use void magic for healing, even of your own undead form. You can only let it do what comes to it...naturally.¡¯

    ¡°Mh.¡±

    Grabbing the carved skull from her bag, she set it on a mound of snow, contrasting the yellowing bone with the dazzling white of the frozen ground.

    Pushing her spirit at the connection to the ghostly maid, the thin form of the old woman materialized. Hazy in the remaining sunlight.

    Hissing as she backed into the shade of a nearby tree, the old ghost huddled in the darkest parts and shivered. ¡°Why has Madam called Gaddy? Why must it be in the accursed light!¡± She ducked as soon as she said those disrespectful words as if expecting a beating.

    ¡°I did not think about it,¡± Alyssa replied honestly. With a gesture and a few words, dark mists spread from her outstretched hands, covering the area around her in ashy, dark shadows. The ghost quickly slipped closer, and some tension left her gnarled form.

    ¡°Thank you, my Lady, thank you.¡± Bowing obsequiously, she nevertheless had her eyes fixed on the girl before her.

    ¡°I need you to fix my other wounds.¡± Alyssa grimaced.

    ¡°As the Lady commands.¡± There seemed a bit of hidden joy but also malice in the reply. ¡°But I have to see the damage first. If you will.¡± She stepped a bit closer, her clawed hands slowly neared Alyssa¡¯s clothes.

    ¡°Wait! I will do it myself.¡± Self-consciously, she removed her cloak and coat, then stripped her shirt, exposing her thin, nearly emaciated-looking upper body. The skin shone whiter than the snow, but underneath the skin, runes of darkness floated barely visible but impossible to overlook at the same time as if she was covered by dense writing or a jigsaw puzzle. The jewel in her wrist gleamed darkly.

    ¡°May I?¡± The ghost shivered in barely suppressed agitation.

    ¡®May as well.¡¯ Asandria sighed.

    ¡°Do it.¡±

    Claws came for her, and each prick pierced more than her skin as the torn flesh of her breast and neck was pulled together, made whole once more.

    Grabbing her rolled-up shirt, she pushed it between her teeth, and for a long moment, hours, minutes?

    There was only the pain.

 Fernhome

    ¡°Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky, you can see the stars and still not see the light.¡±

    - Jack Tempchin

    Mireille returned with an armful of more or less suitable branches, and her eyes lit up as she saw the warmly glowing firelight. ¡°Ah! You got a fire going. Fantastic! Did you make some soup or tea?¡±

    ¡°Yes, come over.¡± The wolf tribe woman grinned a toothy grin while reaching for a battered teapot kept warm at the side of the firepit. Eying the sodden and frozen bundle Mireille was carrying, she sighed. ¡°Those will have to go to the edges of the fire to dry, and perhaps tomorrow they can be used. Never been out in the wilds, child?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a child!¡± Letting the wood clatter to the ground where indicated, the energetic redhead brandished a tin cup from somewhere inside her coat.

    ¡°Be careful, it''s hot.¡±

    Blowing on the scalding liquid, Mireille nodded, preoccupied with getting the tea to drinkable temperatures.

    ¡°I¡¯m Hella, by the way.¡± Putting the pot back with practiced motions, the woman sat down again. She was clad in brown and green with some metal plates affixed to strategic locations, arms, chest, and upper legs. Her hair was pulled back in a dirty brown ponytail, her face was fair with a smattering of freckles and the beginning of crow''s feet at the edges of her dark yellow eyes. Her teeth were much less pronounced than those of Mordrak and the other male wolfkin, who had a standoffish air.

    ¡°Mmmh.¡± Putting the cup on a small mound of snow, Mireille nodded back, ¡°Mireille.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± The ranger grinned.

    ¡°Only being polite here, you know.¡± Mireille groused, turning her attention back to the tea. ¡°Oh no! The tea is nearly cold!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t put it in the snow next time.¡± Hella grinned.

    ¡°Mpf. Alea?¡±

    The so-addressed did not turn, but the spider moved with a ripple of metallic limbs to focus on Mireille.

    ¡°Are you alright? You are very close to the fire.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very cold.¡± Came the flat answer. Alea shivered and pulled the coat more tightly.

    ¡°Is your magic suit malfunctioning?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the coat and no. It''s not. I simply try to preserve our mana dust.¡±

    ¡°But we had more than enough with Alyssa not needing any.¡±

    ¡°It will get worse.¡± The spider raised its body to look up at the sky. ¡°I did some weather divinations. And to have enough to last us for the trip over the mountains and back, we will have to be prudent.¡± Shivering, she clamped her teeth together and huddled a smidge closer to the fire.

    ¡°I have some moonroot here,¡± Hella interjected. ¡°That should make the cold more bearable. Simply chew one before going to bed.¡± She searched a bit and found a small pouch from which she extracted three small root slices. ¡°Here you are. But be careful, it''s bitter.¡±

    ¡°You could always ask Alyssa.¡± Mireille brightened. ¡°She had those potions when we crossed the pass into Margrinar. They really helped.¡± She frowned a bit. ¡°But I have not seen her do much alchemy outside school. And I don¡¯t even know if she still carries her supplies. Ah! There she is.¡±

    Alyssa stumbled into the firelight, two wolfkin went back to gazing into the forest having had their eyes on the not-so-stealthy girl.

    Mireille patted the snow beside her. ¡°Come, sit with me!¡±

    Rubbing her still-smarting neck, Alyssa grimaced. ¡°There is such a thing as too much cheer.¡±

    ¡°Naaah. That¡¯s rumors.¡± Mireille grinned. ¡°Just glad you seem to be doing alright.¡±

    ¡°What about me says I¡¯m fine?¡±

    ¡°You are on your own two feet and not complaining...much.¡± Mireille grinned broadly; Hella laughed at that.

    ¡°Where is Mordrak, by the way?¡±

    ¡°He has gone to scout ahead. He is particular that way. He will be back before midnight.¡± Hella answered.

    ¡°And Iseret?¡±

    ¡°Probably with Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°Mh. What¡¯s with those two anyway?¡± Mireille leaned back against the stump of a tree.

    ¡°I do think that is quite obvious,¡± Alea said between chattering teeth.

    Mireille went quiet at that murmuring. ¡°My teacher with a southern assassin¡­¡±

    The time went by peacefully, and the night was uneventful.

    The pale morning light found them on the road west again. The long shadows of the trees leaning ahead, pointing the way.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ma!¡±

    The woman wiped the sweat from her brow and then continued to remove the snow from the hatch to the root cellar. She had ash blond hair streaked with grey a thin but robust figure and a plain face that might have been pretty some years before.

    ¡°Ma...a...aa!¡±

    ¡°Yes, dearie?¡± With a tired smile, she turned to the girl with hair as blond as hers.

    ¡°I¡¯m hungry!¡±

    ¡°I know. And I think we might have some earthroot in the cellar. I will see if it''s still edible.¡±

    The girl pouted at her.

    ¡°Run back home, it''s cold out here, and you will freeze.¡± With a patient mien, she patted the girl''s head and pushed her back toward the small house. It was sturdily built, and a thread of smoke hung over the chimney.

    The clapping and neighing of horses came from the road. The house was situated in a small dell, protected from the worst of the weather. A brook meandered across a snowed-in meadow, the water now buried under a thick layer of ice. Trees lined the hilltops, and only the large kilns for burning charcoal showed along the treeline. There were no other signs of habitation.

    ¡°Hurry! Get inside!¡± The woman urged, suddenly very serious. Grabbing an old crossbow, she labored to draw back the string, inserting a rusted quarrel last.

    ¡°Now, now. Don¡¯t you go shooting some harmless travelers!¡± A giant fur-clad hand pushed the crossbow down, and with a yelp, the woman discharged the bolt into the snow. Turning, she fell back into a snowdrift. Looking up at a veritable giant of a man with overlarge canines and yellow eyes. A surprised scream tore from her throat as she scrabbled back over the ground.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°MAMA!¡± The girl ran from the house and came to a staggering halt between the woman and the wolfkin.

    ¡°Maria!¡±

    ¡°Sorry to startle you.¡± The wolfkin made a calming gesture. ¡°But crossbows have a tendency to ignore polite manners.¡±

    The woman grabbed the girl, pulling her protectively into her arms.

    The group of people came closer, and the woman was startled to see three teenage girls riding on some horses among the group of hardened-looking tribal warriors on foot. An older woman with the hood of her cloak drawn deep over her features accompanied them.

    Among the girls, one had white hair rivaling the snow in brilliance and eyes of a startling dark purple. Another girl was a redhead who looked quite cheerful, easily the tallest of the three who carried herself with an easy grace. The smallest among them had dark, ebony hair and a blindfold across her eyes. A mechanical spider moved on her shoulder, turning this way and that. The light seemed to gather on her and illuminate her more clearly than the others so that the eye was drawn before one realized it.

    ¡°Hello!¡± The redhead waved before a look of chagrin appeared on her face. ¡°Ah. We did not mean to scare you. Mordrak! What are you doing with them?¡±

    ¡°I only meant to keep them from doing something ill-advised.¡± The man shrugged. ¡°No harm done, I hope?¡± He turned to the incredulous woman.

    ¡°Who are you? What do you want from us?¡±

    ¡°We are travelers. And we are bound for the mountains and Fernhome before that. We come from Sevenpeaks. I¡¯m Mireille by the way.¡±

    ¡°Sevenpeaks?¡± Cautiously, without taking her eyes from Mordrak, the woman rose while still protecting the little girl. ¡°I¡¯m Nelle. And this is Maria. My husband went to Sevenpeaks, two weeks it is now, and he should have been back after a few days.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is¡­¡± Mireille stuttered.

    ¡°Sevenpeaks was recently liberated from the old duke,¡± Alyssa said.

    Nelle shrank back from the young girl as something colder than mere temperature brushed over her face, bringing a depressed and hollow feeling. For a moment, the eyes were no longer brilliant purple but pitch-black orbs gazing at her unblinkingly.

    Shaking her head, she repeated again, ¡°Liberated? You mean the duke...is dead?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We killed him.¡± Mireille looked smug.

    ¡°Don¡¯t put it so crassly.¡± Alea sighed.

    The woman looked a bit overwhelmed.

    ¡°We would like to ask about the state of the roads and the surrounding country,¡± Mordrak interjected, startling her. How could she have forgotten the giant standing silently beside her? Even with his stature he could simply fade into the background as if part of the scenery.

    Putting aside the issue with the duke, she answered seriously, ¡°Oh. There is nothing much to tell. Winter brings with it Frostwraith and other elementals. They come from the peaks and hunt for warmth in the woods. We have the charms from the town mage.¡± She pointed a some small crystal tablets hanging from the eaves above the door. ¡°They have so far kept us safe. They also don¡¯t like to enter a lived-in dwelling. Bandits were a big problem in the summer, but the duke sent some companies to capture them. They took a lot of the menfolk, too.¡± The last was nearly a murmur.

    ¡°What about Fernhome?¡±

    ¡°The taxes have risen again. And just before harvest, too. Many are starving, and more are enlisting in the army to get away from it all. To have some food to put on the table. My man, Josef, was on his way to sell charcoal. We are charcoal burners, see?¡± She pointed at the kilns.

    Alyssa thought of the twisted undead roaming the streets of the tangled limbs in the butcher''s yard and turned away. Saying nothing.

    <hr>

    The bare branches waved in the wind, shadows dancing on the ice of the brook beside them. The small dirt road led alongside the water. Further into the woods, the snowy ground rose sharply. The trees nearly met far above, coming from both sides, forming a corridor of black, brown, and white.

    The horse swayed beneath her, and Alyssa thought of the days past. ¡°What were the students doing? Were they alright? Had Calvin gotten what he wanted? Was Lieseleta coping with being queen?¡±

    ¡°Copper for your thoughts?¡± Mireille leaned over.

    ¡°You would only lose money with that.¡± She chuckled a bit melancholy. ¡°There is not much to tell. I¡¯m thinking of our friends back in Kronenburg. Hopefully. Do you think the students escaped?¡±

    ¡°They should. They had much better support than we did.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate Iseret and Vanessa.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± Mireille grinned.

    ¡°What do you think is behind those Mountains?¡± Alyssa stared at the misty peaks glimpsed between the trees, here and there.

    ¡°More snow, I think,¡± Mireille grumbled.

    <hr>

    The night saw them camping outside again. A few Snow-Wraith attacked the sentry but were handily beaten back by Mordrak and Vanessa, who had simply appeared as usual after nightfall.

    And the next day, with the rising sun still shining over their shoulders, they got their first sight of Fernhome.

    Standing on the top of a small hill, the road a few dozen meters to the side, they got a good look at the surrounding country. There was a lot of forest still but the hunger of even a small town had eaten a big circle in the otherwise unbroken expanse of trees dotted with farms and homesteads.

    Many smaller columns of smoke rose from charcoal-burner huts like the one they had left behind them with Nelle and Maria but also from some farmsteads nestled against rocky hills that gave them a bit of shelter from the harsh winds blowing from the north along the mountain range.

    ¡°It¡¯s small.¡± Mireille looked at the town a bit curiously. ¡°I thought it would be larger.¡±

    ¡°Saintscrossing is only a bit bigger, you know?¡± Alyssa shook her head at her friend.

    ¡°It¡¯s the last stop before the mountains.¡± Alea looked worried.

    ¡°We will make sure to be well prepared. Don¡¯t worry.¡± Mordrak stretched his back before gesturing at his warriors to form up. ¡°Let¡¯s see, we get there before night falls.¡±

    ¡°Distances in these hills can be deceptive.¡± The calm voice of Iseret disrupted their musings.

    ¡°Another night outside would not be so bad.¡± Mordrak grinned widely at the distress on Mireille¡¯s face. ¡°But let''s hurry. I can see the disappointment when you are thinking about missing that soft inn-bed.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Let¡¯s hurry up!¡± Mireille ushered all of them back to the narrow road.

    Alyssa gave a silent command to the skeletal riders and Calmund the wight to skirt the outer edges of the settled region. And to wait for them in the foothills.

    <hr>

    Nearing Fernhome, they saw the rugged walls made of broken fieldstone cunningly piled and perhaps assisted by a little magic to twice the height of a man. But the impression, all in all, was somewhat disappointing.

    ¡°I can jump over that without even trying,¡± Mireille mentioned disdainfully.

    ¡°It¡¯s enough for some raiders or wildlife. The town was never meant to resist a siege.¡± Iseret shrugged.

    ¡°How come you know about that?¡± Mireille grumbled.

    ¡°I read some travelogues before setting out.¡± Iseret gave a small grin.

    ¡°Who writes about sieges that never happened in a travelogue.¡± Alea shook her head.

    ¡°A retired officer living here.¡±

    ¡°Figures.¡± Alea grinned a bit. The small girl had been getting comfortable with Iseret in the months she had been her ¡®maid.¡¯

    A cold wind made the flags snap and flutter on the towers adjoining the gate.

    As they came closer, several guards poked their heads over the battlements, and a male, gruff voice called out to them. ¡°Wolfkin aren¡¯t welcome around here. Go back to your woods before I add some feathers to your coat.¡± Raising his crossbow, the lieutenant made his point clear.

    ¡°Greetings to you too, little Southling. We come from Sevenpeaks. The war is ended and the duke is slain. You should have gotten notice already?¡± Mordrak called back.

    Suppressed voices came from above before the officer shouted at his men. ¡°We are not gossiping fishwives. Shut your traps, all of you. And you.¡± He turned to Mordrak. ¡°You are feeling mighty fine, aren¡¯t you? But we know your lot. Stealing, raiding. It¡¯s all you ever do. Get lost!¡±

    Mireille rolled her eyes. ¡°Shall I demonstrate that those walls are not gonna stop us?¡±

    The words were spoken too softly to reach the top of the wall, but the guards looked down on them suspiciously nonetheless.

    ¡°Let us in. We have the official recommendation of the new duchess Jamila, and if you delay us further, I will make your career as an officer a short one.¡± Alyssa could no longer stand the back and forth. Her left arm crackled with wisps of dark flame.

    The atmosphere stagnated, and the men on the battlements were silent once more.

    The side door was opened from the inside, and a hand waved at them. ¡°Come on in then. Don¡¯t mind a bit of posturing. We lost some good people in skirmishes with the wolfs.¡± An old soldier stood on the other side. ¡°All those damned powerplays.¡± He murmured under his breath.

    A muffled curse sounded from above. ¡°Anselm! What the hell do you think you are doing.¡±

    ¡°Saving your bacon. If you had read the missives, you would have known about them. Ignorance is no excuse. Do you want to be an example that the new duchess does what she says?¡±

    Waving them on the old soldier stomped up the stairs where an enraged Lieutenant awaited him already.

    ¡°Let us not pour oil on the fire.¡± Iseret shrugged, ¡°A hot bath, a meal not half-burned from a flickering campfire, and a bed would be most welcome.¡±

    Narrow houses huddled against each other, giving stability and shelter before the incessant winds. Narrow alleys wound between the stone dwellings, leading to little plazas ringed by a few shops and a deep well in the middle. The streets were paved with cobblestone, and what wood was used in the buildings was nearly all carved with vines and leaves.

    ¡°Irkonos must be popular around here.¡± Mireille guessed.

    ¡°There is much untapped wilderness to the north, and hunting for pelts is a relatively common profession.¡± Iseret leaned back to gaze at a carving set into a niche up on the third story of a wealthy-looking building.

    ¡°The retired officer again?¡± Mireille grinned.

    Alyssa raised her arm and pointed at a sign proclaiming the ¡®Wayfarer¡¯s Rest.¡¯ Grinning at Iseret, she called, ¡°I think we found at least some of what you wished for.¡±

 A day in Fernhome

    ¡°I love mankind, he said, "but I find, to my amazement, that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular.¡±

    ¨D Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

    ¡°A bed! A bath! Food!¡± Mireille was in heaven then a look of consternation passed over her face. ¡°But what¡¯s first?!¡±

    Alea gave her an unsympathetic glance, then turned to look at Alyssa with a bit of pleading in her eyes.

    ¡°Food for all of us and rooms for the night.¡±

    ¡°A bath! Please!¡± Mireille jumped in.

    ¡°Yes, and a bath.¡±

    The tavernkeeper, a stout and gruff-looking fellow in his later years, knocked on the bar and said. ¡°We don¡¯t do baths in winter. Too much hassle. Three rooms left. Each fits four. Choose for yourself. There is stew. And then there is bread and cheese. I think you want the stew?¡± Turning toward the back, he shouted. ¡°Food for nine.¡±

    The group looked at each other, then most nodded, and some looked indifferent. ¡°Yes.¡± Mordrak nodded at the man.

    ¡°Good. Take a seat. Won¡¯t be long. Oh, that will be five coppers for a meal, three silver per room. The first ale is free, then it''s a copper.¡± Nodding to himself in satisfaction, the tavernkeeper whistled tunelessly as he polished the bar.

    Gathering around a table that two townspeople had vacated at their approach, Mordrak took a look at each of them. ¡°This is the last stop before the mountains. Me and mine have what we need. We can be off come dawn. But if some of you still need something, now¡¯s the chance.¡±

    ¡°I think I have what I need?¡± Mireille was pensive, pushing Cyrus'' jaws away from her backpack and the food it contained.

    Alyssa simply nodded.

    ¡°I will have a look in the morning. Iseret? If you would be so kind as to accompany me?¡± Alea spoke up softly.

    ¡°But of course.¡±

    ¡°Then I think it''s best we stay for one day. Everyone gets to rest, and the day after, we can be on the road again.¡± He grinned, exposing large canines. A burgher a table over hastily got up and scattering some coin on the table left in a hurry.

    ¡°You are scaring the townsfolk,¡± Mireille said with a bit of mock-reproach in her voice.

    ¡°Bah. After the welcome we received, it''s only right.¡± The wolf-kin said without any guilt.

    One man, inebriated by the looks of him, boasting an ample belly and hanging jowls, laboriously stood up and then came over, brushing over the wisps of grey-brown hair barely covering his scalp. ¡°Evenin¡¯. Where did you lot come from? Ever been to Sevenpeaks?¡±

    ¡°Was the last stop on our way. Why?¡± Mireille asked.

    ¡°Lots of rumors going about.¡± Lowering his voice, still comically loud, he ¡®whispered¡¯, ¡°Duke¡¯s dead, Duke¡¯s fled, undead have overrun the city, the Queen has sent an army, so on and so forth. And? What is it?¡±

    ¡°Pfffft.¡± Mireille nearly spat out the ale she was drinking. ¡°Soooo.¡± Raising a fist, she snapped one finger up, ¡°Duke¡¯s dead.¡± She grinned and then raised a second, ¡°The undead have been something the duke was doing. Hopefully, it''s ended soon. Third...¡± she raised another finger. ¡°...the queen has sent an army. Thank the gods.¡±

    ¡°Really!?¡± A man sitting at a neighboring table leaned over after trying ¨C and failing- to look disinterested.

    ¡°Yes, really.¡± Mireille said smugly. ¡°We killed the bastard.¡±

    Mordrak sighed a bit at this.

    ¡°What? You?¡± The man looked at her incredulously. ¡°You aren¡¯t even old enough for the army.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Mireille stopped herself in time, coughing to cover the lapse. ¡°As if I would want to!¡± She said in righteous indignation. Alyssa gave her a side-eye at that.

    After seeing that the group wasn¡¯t as hostile as feared, other townsfolk gathered around. ¡°The duke is really dead? Really? And what of his successor? Who is it?¡± An old man with barely a tooth remaining lisped.

    ¡°Jamila von Nordstrom, now Nordmark, is his successor. And she is working with the queen to calm everything down.¡±

    ¡°Was there fighting? Were there casualties?¡± One of the few women interjected.

    ¡°No. There was not much fighting. Only when we took him down. But there were a lot of executions and other deaths before we even arrived. And he forced some skirmishes with the wolf-tribes. That would not have gone without bloodshed.¡± Alyssa spoke up.

    Murmurs spread, and some people pushed chairs over. The first to sit was a dwarf of uncertain age. A red beard flecked with grey hid most of his weathered face.

    And then the questions really started. Some of the humans especially, remained wary of the wolf tribe, and everyone kept a certain distance from Iseret and Alyssa, the latter because of her cold aura even as the illusion was still cloaking her more visible unnatural features.

    Even the tavernkeeper came over and leaned against a pillar while nursing a mug of ale.

    Mireille really went all out describing the fights against the undead, the betrayal of the northern army, and the flight from the campsite. She mentioned the little village they had passed and their efforts to rid it of the undead. She described their adventure on the astral plane and the fight against cultists and, eventually, the Duke.

    Everyone was shivering as she recounted the revolting appearance of the living cadavers.

    ¡°We get that here, too.¡± The dwarf said laconically. ¡°The mountains have become more and more infested with the vermin.¡± Gulping down a huge swallow of beer, he grunted. ¡°The clans have fought them off for years now. Not that you lowlanders have ever helped.¡± He cast a disdainful glance at the assembled people. ¡°But its grown to the point where we have retreated into the caves. It should only be a bit before you really know how much we protected you. But with the Old White and the undead, we cannot hold on any longer.¡±

    ¡°Always you short folk yapping about protecting us. You only want our money!¡± One big journeyman shouted.

    ¡°Shut yer trap, blockhead.¡± The dwarf returned without rancor. ¡°You will see for yourself in a week or two. I¡¯m here to tell the baron. But he had better things to do than meet with me. Tomorrow I return to the mountain. And good luck to you.¡± He added sarcastically and then drained the rest of his beer. ¡°G¡¯night.¡± He got up before anyone could question him and walked up the stairs in the back.

    ¡°We should get some rest, too,¡± Alea remarked softly. After telling the story, the sky outside had darkened visibly, even as only small slitted windows set high in the walls let some natural light in.

    Alyssa, Alea, Mireille, and Iseret took one room, Mordrak and his men the other one, and with some persuasion, the two women among the wolfkin¡¯s troop got another two-person room.

    ¡°Where is Vanessa?¡± Mireille asked into the darkness after lights out.

    ¡°She said she would go ahead and have a look at what the mountains hold,¡± Iseret replied after a short pause. A bit of rustling could be heard as the others tried to listen.

    ¡°I hope she will be alright.¡±

    Silence was her answer.

    ¡°Alea? Can I sleep in your bed tonight?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why?!¡±

    ¡°You always steal my quilt, you barely leave me any room¡­¡± Alea mumbled something after that too soft to hear.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Mireille huffed and turned.

    Silence gave way to rhythmic breathing, and Alyssa sighed while looking at the dark ceiling, but even if she did not need to sleep anymore, some rest was welcome indeed. A weight settled on her stomach, and looking up, she saw the half-skeletal skull of the Alp shrouded by a shifting layer of shadows mimicking the original skin. The undead cat stretched and yawned before settling into a more comfortable position. An ethereal purr vibrated through the thin blanket, and Alyssa stared before letting her head fall back down.

    After a while, the purr eased her nerves, and she felt something like release.

    <hr>

    The next day dawned with cloudy weather. Some warmer winds had brought some moisture from the south, and soft, fat snowflakes gusted over Fernhome''s steeply arched roofs.

    Mireille looked outside after opening the shutters and shivered as cold air mingled with the stuffy atmosphere inside the room. ¡°Looks like the powdered sugar on those pastries, you know what I mean?¡± Gazing wistfully at a particularly fine specimen of snowflake, she tried to catch it on her tongue, nearly falling out of the window.

    Alyssa grabbed her and then swore as some sparks nearly set her gloves on fire as Mireille, defying gravity and common sense, used her lightning to get back inside.

    ¡°Damn it, Mireille! Can¡¯t you be a bit more careful? Next time, I¡¯ll let you fall!¡±

    The so-scolded turned around and grinned broadly. ¡°I¡¯m going to grab some food!¡±

    Grimacing, Alyssa shook her hands, blowing the steam away, and inspected the damage. Brushing over the burned spots, there did not seem to be too much.

    Alea walked out of the small niche that held a water basin, rubbing at her drying hair. Butler One attentively held a towel for her. Cyrus pried at Mireille¡¯s backpack and inserted his snout underneath the flap, seeking the jerky inside.

    Alyssa felt a headache coming on.

    ¡°I will be downstairs, too.¡± Casting a spell to clean herself, she went straight down toward the tavern¡¯s common-room. The water swirling over her form condensed and she threw the small ball toward a wilting potted plant.

    Alea followed her shortly.

    Mordrak looked up and waved them over, holding something hot in a clay mug between his massive hands. When all had been seated, he cleared his throat. ¡°Alea, you wanted to go and see the market?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I could use some more refined mana-dust, and the region is known to have at least one mine.¡±

    ¡°I will accompany her,¡± Iseret added.

    Alyssa remained behind, playing with Cyrus in the nearly empty common room. The tavern was not very popular in the early morning.

    Mireille yawned and declared that she would sleep for a bit longer.

    Outside, the snowflakes drifted in thick swirls between the houses, and the windows were nearly covered by a thick layer of white.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they will have any open market stalls. Let''s look for a general store.¡± Iseret raised her head and looked around before pointing down a side street.

    Alea pulled her coat tight and huddled behind Butler One. The spider on her shoulder was not as affected by the cold, so she could bury her head fully in her scarf.

    Shortly afterward, they saw a sign denoting general goods. They entered the dimly lit sales room with a ringing tone from several bells. A stout table divided the front from the rows of shelves holding everything from leatherworkers'' goods to hammers and nails in the back.

    A thin woman in her fifties inspected them with a frown. ¡°Not from around here, are you?¡± It seemed more an observation and not a pleasant one. She put a jar she had been holding underneath the counter and straightened. ¡°What will it be?¡±

    ¡°Good day. We are indeed travelers and need some supplies. Do you have any mana dust?¡±

    ¡°Mh. Should be. I keep it in the back. She looked at them with a wary expression, but seeing the rich fabrics of Alea¡¯s clothes, she shrugged, went to a door between two shelves, and vanished with a ¨C ¡°Be right back.¡±

    The door opened, and the wind blew coldly on their backs. Iseret had turned with the first noise, and one hand reached inside her cloak.

    The officer who had nearly driven them off at the gate stood there with a grin. ¡°The dog-lovers. How nice.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Iseret subtly turned so that Alea stood behind her. Butler One turned his head with a snick.

    Two other guardsmen entered. They wore simple leather clothes and no longer their official tabards, but the way they looked at the sergeant and a memory of faces looking down from the wall above identified them well enough. They were rough-looking men with bushy, blonde beards.

    ¡°I want you out of my town. If you know what¡¯s good for you, go and don¡¯t look back. Those forest freaks have killed more than one friend of mine, and you will not buy supplies in my town to help them murder even more of us!¡±

    ¡°Silly me. And there I thought you were a child that gets angry when it does not have its way.¡± Iseret said slowly. ¡°Still smarting from having to let us in?¡±

    The sergeant went red in the face, and the others around him were dumbfounded at first before balling their fists.

    ¡°Stop! Not in my shop!¡± The shopkeeper had returned with an ornate clay vessel. ¡°Lars! What do you think you are doing?¡±

    ¡°Ridding my town of foreign filth!¡± The sergeant took a few steps and swung at the snake-woman standing in front of Alea.

    With a deceptively slow movement, Iseret moved just out of range before striking, swift as a viper, with the pommel of a dagger that appeared from beneath her robes. With a loud crack, the iron ball impacted the big man''s chin, and with that, his eyes rolled up until only the whites remained, and he fell to the ground like a sack of flour.

    The other three were not idle while that happened and rushed forward.

    ¡°No! No fighting in my shop!¡± The woman behind the counter shouted angrily.

    With a crash, the first off-duty guardsman was thrown back as Butler One shoved him violently without seeming to exert itself. The other two got in each other''s way and tried to get around their fallen leader.

    With another lightning-quick step, Iseret pushed forward and hit one of them on the temple, felling him like a tree hit by the lumberjacks axe.

    But as she tried to retreat again, the fallen sergeant groggily grabbed for her ankle, and the other guard hit her heavily in the stomach.

    Grimacing, she clubbed him, too, and he fell to the ground, bleeding from a cut on his forehead.

    Rubbing her middle, Iseret shrugged her shoulders and stamped down heavily on the hand, still holding on to her leg. With a crunch, the limb suddenly bent way out of shape, and a breathless howl from below made a smile flit briefly over her face.

    Alea lowered her hand where a light-construct hovered, dismissing the energies with a subtle gesture. Turning around, she looked at the livid merchant. ¡°Are you still open for business?¡±

    <hr>

    Alyssa had finally decided to exit the tavern, bored by the monosyllabic answers of the tavernkeeper, who only grinned at her with his yellowed teeth when she asked him a question. Mordrak had gone with his fellow wolfkin to talk to some of the townsfolk about the upcoming trek through the mountains.

    Walking through the snow, she looked at the carvings on the wooden beams over the doors of the houses she passed. A crooked mountain troll- Hardly recognizable as such, a wyvern.

    She grinned. ¡°Cyrus, look, someone drew your father!¡± The small dragonling was highly displeased by the weather and the cold and snorted at her.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Grimacing, she wiped the spittle from her face. ¡°No treats for you!¡±

    Cyrus haughtily turned his head away.

    With a crash, a door flew open, and a man tumbled out, soon followed by another and then two more. Snow sprayed from the impacts.

    Butler One strode out, his head swiveling right, then left. The porcelain mask glittered in the winter sun. Where his cloak had slipped, the old butler¡¯s clothes were visible along with his mechanical parts, small strings of metal, gears, and joints shining with drops of machine oil shining through small tears and gaps.

    Iseret walked outside next and sighed, looking at the groaning men, half-buried in the fresh snow.

    One of them stumbled to his feet and roared. ¡°You assaulted a guard of Fernhome. That will cost you your head!¡±

    The sergeant cradled his broken arm with sweat beading on his upper lip.

    Some townspeople stopped and gawked. A window cracked open, and people stared down from above.

    ¡°What the heck is happening here? Lars?¡± A guardsman in furlined leathers stood at the mouth of an alley, looking at the small plaza where all this was happening. Houses rising to a height of three stories threw their shade over all of it.

    ¡°They assaulted us!¡± The man was red as a tomato, and the cold air made the air escape his nostrils'' steam with the frost. He looked like he was literally burning with anger.

    Another struggled to his feet, holding his head. ¡°...¡¯tis true¡­¡± he slurred.

    Alea flinched at the noise but stepped out from behind Iseret. ¡°You assaulted us. Inside a store, nonetheless. With a witness. You should be ashamed of yourself. Guards should keep the peace, not break it themselves. If my uncle had such men under his command, he would summarily discharge them from his service. It¡¯s disgraceful!¡± Her soft voice was struggling to be heard over the wind.

    The newly arrived guard groaned, then put a whistle to his mouth before blowing a shrill note. ¡°All of you, remain where you are. We will get to the bottom of this.¡±

    Alyssa hugged Cyrus, who wanted to attack the man near Butler One. His eyes narrowed, and the tailstinger was raised. ¡°Wait.¡± She gave him a kiss on the head. The leathery scales felt dry and pleasant to the touch. ¡°We can always interfere if necessary.¡±

    Shortly, a troupe of guardsmen arrived from all directions, six in all. ¡°So, you are the foreigners I heard about?¡± The first guardsman to arrive, a young-looking man with a scraggly blonde beard, asked.

    ¡°Yes! They were the ones with the wolves!¡± One of the other guards, a woman, said scathingly.

    ¡°We are, again, at peace.¡± An older guard said slowly.

    ¡°...but they¡­!¡±

    ¡°STOP!¡± The young guard shouted. ¡°I was the first to arrive and will take charge of this mess. Get them off the street and into the castle. This is something for the baron to decide.¡±

    All fell silent at his words. Some townsfolk gave approving nods.

    ¡°Anyone against? No? That settles it, then. Form up. Yes, you too!¡± The man looked at the men who had instigated the trouble, some of whom were just waking up from the cold. The sergeant grit his teeth with pain. "Lars, go and see the medic first."

    Spitting out a bit of blood from a bitten tongue, the burly sergeant nodded, still holding his left arm tenderly. Turning his hate-filled gaze on Iseret, he cursed, "You will get what''s coming to you soon enough, bitch."

    The young guard seemed like he wanted to say something but held it in, finally settling on a "Hurry up!"

    Alyssa gauged the reactions of the locals and frowned. Many seemed angry when they heard about the wolf-kin, and some were talking in hushed tones about the recent skirmishes and losses even though the whole affair had hardly taken more than a few weeks. It seemed the tensions between the duchy and Hundred-Streams were more deeply ingrained.

    The group of guards escorted the four off-duty guards along with Iseret, Alea, and Butler One. Alyssa followed a short distance behind.

 Meeting the Baron

    ¡°If snow is the silence that falls from the sky, perhaps rain is an endless sentence.¡±

    ¨D Han Kang, Greek Lessons

    The group of guards around Alea and Iseret eyed Butler One warily. One of them turned to the leading guard, a young blonde man who had yet to be named.

    "What the heck is this thing? Is it dangerous?"

    "That¡¯s an automaton. You know golems? Something like that," a woman answered.

    "Never seen one. There was this elemental..."

    "No chatting on the job!" The young guard turned his head, fixing the culprits in his sight. ¡°Lars. Will you be alright until after the hearing?¡±

    ¡°Mh.¡± The burly guard sergeant grumbled.

    Grumbling under their breath, the group fell silent once more.

    Shutters clattered as housewives shook out their bed sheets¡ªhurriedly, because of the cold¡ªwhile an old man laboriously pushed a cart with barrels down a side alley. The snow made the process painful to watch.

    "We don¡¯t need five of you. You there. Help the man," the young guard ordered.

    One of the guards saluted ironically before walking over and patting the old man on the back, gesturing at the cart. Soon, they lost sight of him.

    "Don¡¯t think we¡¯re that dangerous?" Iseret asked, raising an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on her lips.

    "Snakes," one of the beaten guards muttered under his breath.

    "No," the young guard sighed. "But leave that for another time, yes?"

    They left the labyrinth of small streets and alleys, emerging into a slightly larger plaza dominated by a statue of a mailed warrior raising a sword to the sky.

    The ground was paved with large, uneven stones buried beneath the snow. Only where the townsfolk frequently passed was the snow trampled into sludge.

    A large building, more stout than elegant, rose above the surrounding structures. Its top bore crenellations and battlements, still reflecting its martial roots. Three towers extended one or two stories higher, the entire structure forming the shape of an ''L.'' A wall completed the blocky square.

    Many people going about their business paused to stare at them, or perhaps word of their capture had spread faster than anticipated. The men and women were bundled in furs and layered cloth against the biting cold, their shawls and hoods accumulating the still-falling snowflakes.

    Reinforced with iron bands, the double doors opened into a passage leading to an inner courtyard¡ªthe inside of the ''L.'' Nodding to the guards on duty, the group soon entered the building proper.

    Lamps burning tallow flickered, casting a dim light over the room. A large fireplace crackled at the head of the hall, before which stood a throne-like chair flanked by two statues: a stag and a boar, depicted as if lying down to sleep.

    Several townspeople stood in a queue, seemingly petitioning the seated lord.

    A lanky young man with a wispy but well-maintained beard and watery blue eyes lounged on the throne, listening to the complaints of a portly woman while making no effort to hide his boredom. Yawning, he waved over an older man, who bent down to listen. After a brief exchange, the older man nodded and spoke¡ªthough his words were lost amid a swell of murmuring and whispers.

    Several guards stood at attention along the hall. They stiffened as the group entered. One stepped forward, spoke softly with the young guard leading them, then nodded and approached the older man¡ªlikely a steward.

    Taxidermied animal heads loomed high on the walls. Fierce mountain bears, stag heads, and boars were displayed alongside more exotic creatures¡ªa strange furred beast of humanoid proportions and a crystal-studded snake. Slitted windows near the ceiling let in weak rays of anemic light and, of course, the cold.

    The murmurs of the assembled townsfolk faded as they took note of the guards and their unusual prisoners.

    "What have we here?" The lord leaned forward, his slightly reedy voice cutting through the residual noise¡ªshuffling feet, a cough, a few whispered conversations.

    "Milord, they have been accused of harming your guards and inciting unrest," the old man declared darkly.

    The young guard bit his lip as if he wanted to say something but held back.

    The baron studied the group slowly. The murmurs of the waiting townsfolk grew louder.

    "Silence!" one of the guards beside the baron barked, and the throng fell quiet once more.

    "So. Not even a day in my town, and you¡¯re already causing trouble." A twisted grin marred his youthful features. "Whatever shall we do with you, mh?"

    "The crime is clear," the steward, Rulfrik, said. "Those assaulted were your guards. Twenty lashes and two days in the stocks. Not to mention the fine, of course."

    The murmuring rose again.

    "...at this time of year?"

    "...death!"

    "...freezing outside..."

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Alea stepped forward. Steeling herself, she began to speak. She faltered once, then managed to say, "You did not even ask our names or our testimony. Is that your way of dispensing justice? I will tell my uncle, and he will be sure to let you know what Graufurt thinks of such a travesty."

    The young baron looked taken aback. He studied her more closely.

    "Graufurt, you say? And who exactly are you?"

    Butler One stood reassuringly beside her as Alea straightened to her modest height and answered firmly, "Alea von Graufurt, Saintess of Jaros."

    The baron leaned back in his carved wooden seat, casting an annoyed glance at his steward before turning his head back to the group. A reluctant smile touched his lips.

    "I was still deliberating," he said. "Rulfrik is right in principle." He shifted in his seat. "But what is your opinion, my noble lady?"

    Alea exchanged a glance with Iseret, who remained stoic.

    "Naturally, you will let us go free after verifying with the shopkeeper that our account was truthful," she said softly.

    The large sergeant who had led the assault visibly sweated.

    The young guard who had brought them sighed, composing himself.

    "So, it seems there are some aspects of this I wasn¡¯t aware of. How about this? I will release you on parole and send someone to investigate. If it is as you say..." He pointedly looked at the sweating sergeant, his expression promising nothing good.

    Iseret''s tone was light as she spoke. "What exactly was the good sergeant doing so early in the morning at the general store, with his men conveniently nearby? Admiring the freezing temperatures? Taking a stroll through the snow-covered streets? Not getting enough of that while standing watch?"

    The baron¡¯s expression darkened. "And who are you, snake?"

    "My retainer," Alea interjected with a frown. The attention was getting to her. Without her experience at the academy, she would have already crumbled.

    "Tsk." The baron turned to the sergeant. "We¡¯ll be looking into this, but for now, I think some fresh air will do you good. The post at Mountainswatch is due for a shift change. You can go directly and inform the men of the good news. Take your men along." He made a dismissive gesture.

    This caused the shoulders of the captive guardsmen to sag with defeat, and Lars, the sergeant, gritted his teeth.

    The Baron rubbed his forehead before shifting his gaze to the petitioners, who were listening intently.

    "The court is closed. I have important matters to attend to. See them out," he instructed Rulfrik.

    Then, turning back to Alea, he added, "Why did you not come to my mansion? I would certainly have liked to extend my hospitality to you. And now that it has come to this¡­" he turned toward Rulfrik, ¡°Introduce me.¡± Waving his hand, he fell back into his seat, tapping the armrest impatiently.

    ¡°Ahem.¡± The steward fought to keep his features calm. ¡°This here is his excellency Amdyr the Third of Fernhome.¡±

    The baron got up and looked at the petitioners. His face fell further as he saw them straining to hear every word.

    "Get out." He barked.

    The men and women hesitated.

    "Out!"

    He slammed his hand on a nearby table, toppling a goblet of wine. The deep red liquid spread across the dusty ground.

    The assembled townsfolk reluctantly filed toward the exit, herded by two guards more interested in hearing what happened behind them than doing their jobs. This way, the whole affair took a lot longer.

    ¡°Rulfrik, see to these matters. I will guide my new ¡®guests¡¯ myself.¡± Gesturing for two guardsmen in somewhat better arms and armor to follow, he waved his hand at the group of Alea and her friends. ¡°Come. Let¡¯s discuss this further.¡±

    A short corridor linked the hall with a smaller one featuring a stair and several doors. Walking straight ahead without pausing, Amdyr, the baron, pushed the door open before one of the guards could more than raise his hand.

    Inside, they found a small seating area with thick pelts carpeting the floor and a small iron stove radiating heat in a corner. With a word, several glow crystals flared to life, but one of them only flickered dimly, earning itself an annoyed look from the nobleman.

    Gesturing at a table around which several upholstered chairs and a cushioned sofa were arranged, Amdyr took a seat at the end. Seeing them still standing at the door, he waved at the seating. ¡°Sit.¡±

    Alea looked at Iseret and then approached one of the lower chairs. Butler One swiftly pulled the seat back, and Alea sat down primly while Iseret remained standing.

    ¡°Now that that¡¯s out of the way. What in Irkonos¡¯s name are you doing here?¡± The baron¡¯s right hand searched for a goblet and began to play with it.

    ¡°We are looking to cross the mountains. We wanted to buy supplies and perhaps engage a scout or two to help us,¡± Alea answered.

    ¡°You? In winter?¡± The baron looked at her incredulously. ¡°Do you have a death wish?¡±

    Alea¡¯s face reddened at the tone. ¡°No. We have supplies, magic, and several seasoned wolf-tribe scouts. And¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­and what?¡±

    ¡°Please be more respectful of the lady. She is the niece of the current liege of Graufurt, Demavar.¡± Iseret interjected, earning her a dismissive glare from the young nobleman.

    ¡°We have to do it.¡± Alea pressed her lips together until their original pastel colors bled into white. "If we don¡¯t, the Lich-Queen will destroy us all.¡± A subtle golden light flared around the girl, and for a fleeting moment, old, scarred hands made of light rested reassuringly on her small shoulders. A sense of security and peace permeated the room.

    One guardsman made the sign of the eye and fell to his knees muttering a prayer to Gesserach, while the baron¡¯s eyes widened, and the goblet held in his hand fell, forgotten, rolling twice before coming to rest at a bowl containing slightly withered-looking apples.

    ¡°That¡­¡± Amdyr licked his lips. ¡°...changes things a bit. You are really a saint?¡±

    Alea nodded.

    ¡°We live in interesting times.¡± Shaking his head, he continued with a serious look that had been absent before. ¡°I will give you one of my best trackers and what supplies you need. I hope that resolves the issue with my guards one way or another?¡±

    Iseret prodded Alea, making her nod quickly.

    ¡°Zygmund von Nordmark is truly dead?¡±

    ¡°He is.¡±

    ¡°Gods help us all.¡±

    <hr>

    Meanwhile, Alyssa had found the wolves and stood outside the fortified mansion.

    ¡°Do you think they are in trouble?¡± Alyssa had to tilt her head to look at Mordrak, who shook his head.

    ¡°No.¡± He grumbled softly. ¡°She is a noble. And that automaton and the little southern snake are with her. If there is trouble, we will hear it.¡±

    Noting her troubled face, he added, ¡°We could probably even see it.¡± He grinned, exposing his fangs.

    Some of the people walking nearby hastened their steps.

    The snow had stopped falling, but some clouds hung high above the snow-covered ground, alternating shade with sunshine.

    ¡°Hey! Why did no one tell me?¡± Mireille walked up to them, yawning widely. ¡°I was just asking for some bread, and then the innkeeper said you all went to the castle, fortress, whatever.¡± She scratched her unkempt hair while she looked critically at the fortified building.

    ¡°They took Alea and Iseret.¡± Alyssa broke into Mireille¡¯s monologue. ¡°I did not want to waste any more time.¡±

    Mireille looked hurt for a moment before realizing what had been said. ¡°What? They took them? Why?¡±

    ¡°They had an altercation with some guards. You remember? The ones that wanted to make it difficult for us at the gate?¡±

    ¡°Those sonof¡­.¡± Before she could finish, a servant in practical, thick clothes with a band on his arm denoting his service hurried up to them.

    ¡°My ladies, gentle...men...¡± The man stuttered as Hella grinned at him menacingly, causing the rest of the wolves to chuckle. ¡°...the baron bids you welcome in his fair city and invites you to have lunch with him.¡± The rest of the words sped up as the servant got ahold of himself. Having finished his speech, he waited.

    ¡°Well. Let¡¯s not keep him waiting, then?¡± Mordrak raised an eyebrow.