Gil and I are sitting on our floor, staring at the two masks in front of us when the door slams open. I don't bother to look up but in my peripheral vision I see Gil jolt at the sudden noise. Alica joins our circle and lays an identical mask next to two we had already.
"Everyone in the school got one," I say, because of course they did. "That's how they keep anonymous. Everyone gets one so that no one can be accused for having one."
"So what are we gonna do about it?" Alica says. "We gonna crash their little party?"
"Crash a party for potentially rebellious sorcerers of unknown power that is hosted by a masked person who clearly has no regard for possible collateral damage?" Gil says, smiling a little maniacally. I look at him with a slightly amused smile. "Yeah, that sounds like a great plan!"
"Quite right you are Gil," I say and clap his shoulder. He glares at me. "The greatest plan we could have at the moment!" I grin at him but he scowls. He seems actually rather concerned. "Come on, do you really think some lunatic who's been poisoning and possessing people will get any support in this school, oppressed people or not?"
He seems to consider this, and though he clearly isn't completely convinced he doesn't say anything.
"So," says Alica. "Should we make a plan?"
~x~
For a moment I was worried Gil would not come with us as we took the masks and our travel cloaks and left for the town, but he does, of course, and the three of us leave the campus side by side. The walk feels like eternity and no one says anything the whole way. The town is moderately full, it's Friday night after all, so no one thinks it unusual to see three Academia students walking about. The merriment of the townsfolk doesn't catch onto us though, and we quickly make our way through the main square until finally we get to the outskirts of town and we give each other one final look before putting the masks on and pulling our hoods on.
The central clock tower is already striking eight as we rush past more and more desolate places until we find the one we're looking for; a big barn a ways off from everything else, two large lanterns hanging beside the door and a very large man standing guard. I can feel Gil hesitate next to me and I brush my hand against his arm. We do not stop until we're standing in front of him.
"Hello, friend," I say, measuring the man, gathering every bit of knowledge I can based on his appearance. 190cm, at least, probably more muscle than the three of us combined, potentially aggressive based on his role as the bouncer and the fact that he has a large club resting against the barn wall. He's wearing an Academia uniform underneath a cloak, an old and ragged one at that.... Not many students fitting his description, though. He's wearing a mask as well, making it impossible to read his face, but hopefully he'll be expressive with his body. I do need some practice in body movements. "This is the gathering place for the children of Geltoech, correct?"
As he looks down at me I can see his eyes clearly, which will make things so much easier when I have to bullshit our way inside.
"Can you prove you are Children of Geltoech?" he asks, voice not quite as deep as I had expected but still intimidating enough to not undermine his physique.
"Ah, well," I say. "You see, Club, we don't really know any spells, or anything, if that's what you're asking... I mean, there's never been anyone to teach us, you know."
"Can you prove?" he repeats. It's never that easy is it...
"I, uh, I can see things," I say, trying to sound convincing. "About people, things they haven't told me. And sometimes about their the future. But I can't really control it properly." Club-man doesn't budge, instead crossing his arms. Figures.
"Alrighty then," I say and take a deep breath.
"I can see that you're a student at the Academia, and have been for quite some time, much longer than is usual. I can see that your family is not terribly wealthy, a simple farmer and his wife and you have... Five, six... Six siblings that you feel partially responsible for. You wish you could do more for them, perhaps with the help of magic... I can see that you're a good fighter too, close combat and blunt force over weapons and strategy, and it works more often than not. However, you don't want to be a farmer nor a fighter, but would rather pursue art. And I concur, your brushwork is exquisite and with a little polishing and proper promotion you could really make good money selling your paintings."
Everyone is silent. It's been a while since I've deduced so much about someone I don't know and I just hope more of it was right than wrong. Club's eyes are wide in surprise, that much I can see through the eyeholes of the mask, so I count that as a win.
"Very well," he says finally and we all breathe out a collective sigh of relief. "What about you two?"
"Oh, you really don't want to see that," I cut in. "She can only perform dark magic, like proper evil genius stuff. Hexes and curses only."
"Oh, rubbish, luv," says Alica with her best homicidal maniac voice. "It's been loo long since I've killed something! You have a small animal, maybe a rodent or a toad? Birds will do just fine too, it's always fun to watch them explode in the air!"
"Do we really want to a repeat of last May Day?" I hiss at her loud enough for Club to hear. "Because I am not cleaning blackbird guts off any more clothes."
He is standing very still, frigid really. He seems to be buying it.
"Well how about a little excruciation curse? On him? You won't have to clean anything, unless he bites his tongue," Alica says in a singsong voice and takes a step towards Club, who immediately takes one back.
"That won't be necessary!" he rushes to say. "I believe you." He moves out of the way and waves us forward. "Go on in."
As we walk past him I give him a small thumbs up while Alica makes a small surge towards him. He jolts backwards and she laughs. She is really enjoying this. Gil is clearly not though, as he is practically clinging to my uniform sleeve, probably hoping that Club doesn't remember that he hasn't proven himself yet. He doesn't.
The inside is very spacious, empty of everything except some ten other people all in masks looking somewhat confused. There is a small crate a little ways from the group, near the back of the barn and soon someone walks over to it and stands on top of it. Undoubtedly the one who invited us.
"Friends!" he says and everyone turns towards him. "Brothers, sisters, my name is Viper. I have gathered you here today to ask you to join me on my quest to rid the world of inequality. It is a noble quest, and one that I am sure you all will want to join!"
I trade a look with Alica. She's frowning. Gil's grip on my shirt tightens and I put my hand over his. The rest of the crowd is completely silent.
"You all know what I'm talking about, don't you? It has been decades that the government of this country has been oppressing us for having magic and thirty years that they officially made it illegal! Now many people are forced to hide away in fear of punishment, not being able to use their skills to make their lives better, while the aristocracy sit in their ivory towers and do nothing to earn the wealth they get! But I say enough is enough! It is time we join forces and change the world! My brothers and sisters, it is time for a revolution!" He throws his hands in the air in a grand display. Flare for the dramatic, I see.
"Why should we follow you though?" says a young female voice from the crowd. Viper hesitates, his hands faltering.
"What?" he asks.
"I'm just saying," the girl continues. "We don't know anything about you. You're hiding behind a mask and an alias, for gods' sakes. Why should we listen to what you say?"
"Because I have a plan!" he says. I get the feeling he hadn't expected resistance.... "And I have great power! You must have heard about the things I've been doing in the Academia!"
That means... "You're the one who made the pixie possess that girl?" I say. He straightens his back, like he's proud. "And the one behind the poisoning?"
"That's right," he says. "And I have plans for doing much more than that!"
"Are you crazy?" says the girl again, anger seeping into her voice. "You risk the lives of innocent people just for what? A power play?"
"You're lucky no one has died yet!" says someone else from the crowd.
"Do you actually think we'd hurt someone just cause you'd say so?" says another.
Soon the whole crowd is shouting simultaneously at the man, telling him to get lost and they'd never hurt someone and other things along those lines. Viper is looking very flustered, trying to calm the people down but is very unsuccessful in his attempts. He's starting to look like he's ready to blow. I nudge at Alica and Gil, and we move to the side of the barn before all hell breaks loose.
"Silence!" he finally yells, and everyone quiets. That is a very commanding voice. "You lowly maggots, don't you see what I'm trying to do here? I am trying to make a new world, to take back what is ours! If you cannot see it I shall feel no remorse if I have to wipe down every last one of you to achieve it!" Then he steps off the crate, and the crowd splits as he marches past them, cloak billowing behind him.
There is a few minutes of silence after he's gone and then people start to leave the barn one by one and disperse wherever to take their masks off in private. The three of us leave as well, and hide in a nearby alley to take off the masks and cloaks. Then we emerge back into the bright, lively streets of the town.
~x~
We travel back to the dorms in silence, no one daring to say anything in public. It's probably past curfew, but Alica joins Gil and I into our room anyway.
"So that was... Interesting," says Alica as soon as the door is closed. I dump my stuff onto the floor with a sigh and fall onto my bed. "D'you think this'll be trouble?"
"I have no doubt about it," I say, rubbing at my eyes. "Oh, this will be so much trouble. I am glad no one felt the need to join his crazy cause but damn it if that doesn't make him even more dangerous."
"Why?" says Gil from the other bed.
"Because if he has to do everything by himself, he will literally stop at nothing to get the job done," I say. "If there were several people involved some of them could be persuaded into giving up their cause, hopefully making the plan collapse. But I find it unlikely there's a way to convince him to stop now."
"We do have to stop him, right?" Alica says, sitting on the edge of my bad and pulling her legs to her chest. "He does just want to make magic legal, you know. That's not a bad thing?"
"Except that's not what he wants," I argue. "He said he wants to take back 'what is theirs' and will not hesitate to kill for it. We're talking full blown civil war here, if he actually manages to rally up troops for himself. I want magic legalized as well, but this is not the way to do it! It was actions like his, immoral and without regard to other people, that drove the government to finally ban magic!"
There's a hurried knock at the door and it opens immediately after. Percy.
"You, uh, you went to the meeting," he says as a form of 'hello'. It's not a question.
"Yeah," I say and sigh. "It's bad. We'll have to intervene or someone will get killed. Or worse."
"Shit," says Percy and runs his hands through his golden hair. "Oh shit, what has he done?" Then he looks up at Alica who smiles and waves. "It's past curfew, what are you still doing here? To your own dorm, now."
"Come on, Percy, take that stick out of your ass," she says but Percy just glares and eventually she caves and they leave the room together after saying good night.
I can hear Gil moving around the room, putting out lights and whatnot, but I don't bother to get up anymore as I stare at the ceiling and think about what had happened. We're seriously going to have to do something about this guy, aren't we. My eyes shift to the side where Gil is changing and I follow the muscles on his back as he pulls off his shirt and changes into his nightshirt. When he turns around and catches me staring he gives me a mock glare but I just grin at him, scooting over in the bed and patting the space next to me. He comes over and settles next to me.
"Aren't you going to change?" he whispers after a while.
"Nah," I say. "I already took off my pants and this undershirt will do just fine."
"Okay then." We're quiet for a while. He finds my hand under the covers and squeezes it. "How did you know all the things?" he asks.
"About the doorman?" I ask and he nods. "Well, he was wearing an Academia uniform so he had to be a student, and there's only so many students here who fit his physical description. Besides, the uniform was very old, which also helped me narrow it down. After I matched him with the right student file I just had to recount his study history and family background. I didn't know how many siblings he'd have, but farmers usually have big families so I took a guess and gauged for a reaction which he unsurprisingly gave me. I knew he'd have magic because why else would he be there and I know he fought a lot because his knuckles were bruised and his club was clearly worn. Your weapon of choice tells a lot about you, you know, and bludgeoning is generally chosen by people with a lot of strength and mass and not often associated with very tactical planning."
"What about the art stuff?" Gil asks, stroking the side of my wrist. I hum.
"That was all thanks to you, actually," I admit and he perks up slightly. "I noticed some paint on his fingers that I recognized as the same color as was on the posters. You pointed out that the brush work was very skillful and I know you don't get that good at something unless you are willing to make time for practicing. And painting is really not a skill you require in a farmers daily life, nor is it highly enough appreciated that it would be considered a necessity for him to master. That left me with the conclusion that he was personally interested in it and hoped that he would be interested enough to wish to pursue it more professionally."
"That's amazing," says Gil. "I love it when you deduce stuff."
I turn to my side to face him. "Thank you," I say with a soft smile. "You can't imagine how much that means to me."
He smiles back. "You're welcome," he says and leans over me to take the last candle from my nightstand. He blows it out. "Good night, Oz."
"Good night, Gil," I say and pull him close.
________________________________________________________________
It's late I knooowwwww. I spent all of yesterday in Mäntyharju visiting Maria and Leila who are in Finland for a week, and we got back so late that I didn't have time to finish it last night. And I know I could've written it in the middle of the night like I normally do but I was super tired so I decided to just give up and write it today.
Anywho, the next topic is "Pastry". Or "Pastries" I guess.
Bye.
Pie out.
No comments:
Post a Comment