"Knute?" asks Tauria.
"What’s wrong? What’s happening?" I ask just as he throws up, vomit splattering all across the lawn. Alica jumps back with a yelp.
"Arren happened," says Laelia, clearly annoyed. "He has a concussion, and then he’s been riding all the way from Aldhill and running around the Academia all day and having to watch an idiot blow up part of the dining hall today."
"If he has a concussion, we should get him to the hospital wing! Like, right now!" says Gil, ever the mother hen. He turns to Knute, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Can you walk?"
Knute slides down the wall as an answer. He's barely managing to keep his eyes open, although I doubt he understands what he's seeing either way.
"Okay, come on," says Laelia, lifting his arm over her shoulder and somehow managing to hoist him back to his feet. She looks at us for a moment before huffing out, "A little help here, I can’t carry him alone?"
"Don’t worry, I can carry him." Gil picks Knute up in his arms with one swoop and boy if that wouldn't make my knees weak if someone's life wasn't potentially on the line. "Someone hold the door open for me!" he commands, and we all start to move again, Alica scrambling to open the door.
"You know what happened to him?" Tauria asks, taking a hold of Laelia's sleeve. Laelia looks away with an annoyed frown.
"He got in a fight yesterday and hit his head, and then decided it’s a great idea to spend the morning riding a horse and the afternoon getting atacked by the same guy who this time blew up the dining hall," she huffs out. That means -
"So it was Viper and Knute in Aldhill!" I exclaim, and perhaps it wasn't the best of time because Laelia's scowl turns to me.
"Yeah, it was. Well, it was Viper. Knute just apparently tried to punch him in the face."
"That's right," says a voice from behind us and we all turn to look back, surprised. I hadn't noticed anyone come up to us. It's a young woman, probably the same age as Knute and Tauria. Very petite, with short brown hair.
"Who’re you then?" I ask the newcomer. She walks closer.
"Ray. I rode down from Aldhill with Knute this morning," she explains. That's convenient. "I heard someone blew up a part of the Academia this morning and I was worried. Apparently not for nothing..."
"You were there when the fight happened?" I ask, because this could really give new light to what exactly Viper is planning.
"Yeah, I work at the shop," she clarifies. "I was in the back room when it began, but I was there to see him-" she nods towards Gil, who is standing in the doorway with Knute still in his arms "-get pushed away from the other guy and hit his head on the counter. And that he was trying to punch the other one right before that."
"What happened-?" I start but am immediately interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly.
"This is all very interesting, but Knute is not the lightest person, and he does have a concussion, could we talk while we walk??" Gil says, starting to sound pissed off.
"Shit, right," I say.
"Get moving people!" says Laelia and we finally get inside.
"So do you know what happened after?" I ask Ray as we're making our way purposefully through the now empty school building. All the other students are in their home rooms, after all. "What Viper, the other guy, what he wanted?"
"Well, he kind of fled pretty quickly. So even if he did want something, he didn’t get..." she says and then her eyes widen as she realises something "Oh, someone did break in the shop last night. It’s possible it was him. Or it didn’t have anything to do with this." She shrugs.
"Do you know what was stolen?" I ask.
"A small bag of dried nervora-herb, I think."
"Nervora? What is it used for?"
"Not sure, really. It’s not something that people buy a lot. Or ever. I don’t even know why we keep it in stock." She shakes her head and it seems she really doesn't know.
"Damnit…" I mutter. Luckily there is someone else who knows quite a bit about magic and stuff. "I’ll have to ask if aunt Sharon knows something…"
"Aunt Sharon?" asks Laelia, falling into step with me.
"Oh yeah, my aunt decided to pop up out of the blue," I tell her. "She was the older woman who came with us. She’s a… really powerful sorceress, apparently."
"Sharon? Like Sharon Rey?" she asks. It's not all that surprising she's heard the name.
"Yep." She keeps staring at me blankly for a while and finally I squint my eyes. "Is this… somehow relevant to you?"
"I’ve heard about her. Read the book. You know," she says with a shrug although I get the feeling there is more to it than just that. "Your family’s weird," she adds with a small smile.
"Thanks," I say, amused. "She was a pretty prominent figure back in the day, but I didn’t know that anyone our age had read her book. Most of them were burnt a long time ago."
"Yeah, well, I’m not just anyone," she says with a pointed look.
"True."
"Can we get back to talking about Viper now?"
"Well, without knowing what nervora can be used for, there isn’t much more we can talk about…" I say. Laelia frowns. "Look, we’re almost at the hospital wing, let’s worry about Knute for now." She nods.
Alica slams the doors to the hospital wing open, very dramatically if I might add, startling some of the medics that happened to be in the entrance hall. There's a lot of fumbling as the medics notice Knute and they help Gil put him in a bed. Laelia and Ray explain briefly what happened to him, and the medics take it from there. We go over to the bed the principal is in, but find out he's still unconscious so we can't talk to him. The medics are starting to glare at us rather disapprovingly, so we decide it's best to leave. Tauria and Ray decide to stay behind though, to stay by Knute's bed in case he wakes up.
We stand around aimlessly in front of the hospital wing for a moment before I speak up.
"The others have gone to the library, we should go meet them there… But there is something I need to do first."
"I’m coming with you guys," says Laelia, determined.
"Naturally," I say. "So, you go ahead to the library, I’ll catch up with you in a while, okay? You can have a word with my aunt, if you like. Though… don’t expect too much."
Laelia looks at me, a little confused, but says nothing. I give her a smile, and turn to leave, placing my hand on Gil's shoulder for a moment as I walk past him. He nods. The three of them leave in the other direction, while I head towards the dormitory. There's someone I need to have a conversation long due with.
~x~
The dorm room door opens after my second knock.
"Vincent Ester?" I ask. The large man in the doorway looks at me with a confused frown.
"Do I know you?" he asks.
"Not really. You may have heard of me, though. And I suppose we have met, however briefly." I shrug. His frown deepens. "How's your painting going? Done more posters recently?"
He goes pale, and swallows. He glances all around us. The hallway is empty. His grip on the door tightens.
"I wouldn't recommend slamming the door in my face, it really won't do you any good," I say. His eyes widen even further. "Now, let me tell you what I see. I can see you're scared, which I would probably be too in your position, and I can see you really don't want any trouble. I can see you've abandoned Viper, or been abandoned by him, because you didn't approve of his methods. You might've been a hired goon, but you still don't enjoy hurting innocent people, you are a gentle person deep down after all.
"Now, you have three options. One, you can deny everything, which is futile because I already know. Two, you can try to run, which is also futile since there's no other way out of the room and you really won't be able to get past me. Or three, you can admit it, and tell me everything about what Viper is planning so we can stop him before anyone else gets hurt." I pause for a moment and then lean forward to whisper conspiratorially, "Personally, I recommend option three, although I would be really interested in seeing you try for two."
Vincent stares me down for a moment, before sagging with a sigh and stepping back inside the room.
"Come on then, we can talk inside," he says and I close the door behind us. I take the chair from his desk and sit on it while he sits on his bed. "Viper approached me in the beginning of the term. He somehow knew I had magic, but instead of trying to blackmail me about it, he told me he had magic as well. He said he was sick and tired of people putting magic-folk down just because we have magic, and he said he wanted to do something about it. Like form a group and rally up and make protests and stuff. And, well, I liked the idea. I have trouble... studying, trouble focusing, and I've been here for a long time now, unable to graduate, and I can't do anything to help my family. We don't have much money, and I had thought that if I get educated I might get a fancy job and help them finance, but I can't even get through school and the only things I have are my art and my magic. One of which I can't use to live and the other of which is illegal. So I thought, yeah, I wanna protest this thing too, I want to make a difference. So I made the poster, Viper wrote the secret message and I guarded the barn door while he recruited more members.
"That didn't go as planned, as you might remember... he was really mad after that, and he told me that he would do things alone if need be. He left the school that evening, telling me he had to go get some ingredients for some kind of potion or something. He didn't tell me more.... But then he came back, and he blew up the dining hall and almost killed that one lady teacher... I realised that he had not been planning any kind of peaceful protest at all, he had been planning to... to kill the king."
"Wait, the king. He is actually planning to kill the king?" I ask. Vincent looks down.
"I think so, yeah," he says. "He said, before, that the plan was to make a point during the midsummer day festivities in the capital, because midsummer day has a long magical heritage and it would be the perfect time to reinstate magic into society. I think he's... he's planning on taking the throne to himself."
"He actually thinks he can get away with something like that? He is more crazed than I thought..." I say, mostly to myself. Vincent sniffs.
"I wanted to stop him," he says quietly. "But I knew I wasn't strong enough, my magic anyway, and I didn't know who I could tell about this. I never wanted it to be like this, if I had know, I..."
"It's okay," I say, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You told me now. And I think with this information we can finally make a plan to catch this guy. You did good, Club." He gives me a lopsided smile.
"Thanks," he says. "You just make sure you catch him, before he destroys every last chance magic still has left in this country."
"I will," I say. "I promise."
~x~
There's a giant ruckus as I walk into the library. A lot of yelling is happening.
"That doesn’t make any sense!" Laelia is shouting. She seems pissed, and also confused.
"What doesn’t make any sense?" I ask as I walk up to the others. She whips around and grabs my shoulders. I freeze. She squints at me.
"They’re telling me Hans Jacobs is alive," she hisses. I blink.
"Oh, right. He is," I say. Laelia stares at me like I'd grown a second head. "I... guess it didn’t come up out there."
"No, it didn’t!" she says, and finally lets go of me, if only to throw her hands in the air. "Since when has he been alive?"
"Since… he was born?" I can't help but answer. She rolls her eyes, very skillfully. "Cole found him last Tuesday. He got arrested when he tried to apprehend Jacobs." The comment seems to derail her slightly, as she stops and blinks.
"Huh. I think I never even heard that rumour going around. No wonder I couldn’t figure out why he was arrested," she says. Alica flips her hair behind her shoulder and smiles.
"I figured that even though all the rumours were super crazy, it’d be best to keep Jacobs’ name out of it," she says. "The three of us were the only ones who knew he was alive, you know. Us, and Cole. And chief Wismuth, I guess, but it’s not like those two would be spreading any rumours about anything."
Laelia's face is blank, disbelief in her voice as she says: "So magic was banned for no reason?"
"Truth be told, the tension between sorcerers and non-magical people had been growing for a while…" says Sharon. She seems sad, regretful. "There was all kinds of prejudice amongst the most radical factions of both groups of people, but in the end it was the assumed assassination of private Jacobs and the following aggressive attacks towards non-magical folk that finally sparked the war. Of course, it turns out that even those were all perpetuated by just one guy… the same guy that was a part of the Jacobs-ruse to boot! Ohh, it makes me so angry, I-!"
"Excuse me, I have to bang my head against the wall..." says Laelia while Sharon continues on her rant.
"But now that we’ve uncovered this, that means we have a strong case to appeal to the king to make magic legal again!" says Gil, perhaps not as excitedly as he had wanted to. He looks between us, and he does seem to believe it. Mostly. "So… even though it sucks that it’s been like this for 30 years, we have a chance to fix it.
"Sure!" says Laelia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Gil crosses his arms, not appreciating her tone, but she doesn't notice. "We can go to the king and be all 'hi, we’d like to make magic legal again because turns out one guy isn’t dead. Oh, yeah, and don’t mind the lunatic with magic that’s trying to overpower non-magical people'. They have a better excuse to ban magic now than they did back then!"
"Unless we stop Viper," I point out. "With magic. I mean, think about his motivation. He’s only doing this because magic is illegal! If it weren’t, magical people would have no reason at all to be dissatisfied and feel the need to do something this radical."
"If he was doing this only because magic is illegal, he wouldn’t make it worse for everyone with magic!" she argues. "He’s doing this because he thinks he’s better than everyone else because he has magic. Not that banning magic will make those people less dangerous."
"Arren is…!" Percy starts, and then hesitates. "He’s confused. He doesn’t really think he’s better than everyone else, not more than any other person does, he’s just… he’s been shut out of society for so long he just… he doesn’t want to be left out anymore. And the only way he can get people to notice him is through magic."
"Sure, cause terrorising the Academia is a great way to fit in," says Laelia, throwing her hands in the air again. Percy looks like he wants to say something, but doesn't. He's fidgeting with his ring again, looking at the ground. It must be hard for the poor guy.
"He thinks he’s been chosen by the gods, right. By Geltoech, specifically," I say. Percy doesn't look up but the frown on his face deepens. "He is delusional, but it is not the fault of his magic. It is, however, the fault of the anti-magic legislation that he’s felt that he has no one to turn to. No one to talk to. And the authorities need to understand that pretending magic doesn’t exist in the country doesn’t make it go away, and it only makes things worse for the people who have to deal with it!"
Laelia opens her mouth to say something but is cut off by professor Eclaise.
"Come now, students, I understand that you are passionate about this, I am too, but don’t you think we should try to focus," he says. "We still know very little about this Viper fellow, and his new powers, and if he does whatever terrible thing he’s planning there really won’t be a future for magic at all."
"I quite agree, we need to find a way to stop him, and quick," joins in Cole.
"Oh, that’s right, I need to ask you something, aunt Sharon," I say as I remember the conversation with Ray. Sharon turns to look at me. "Have you ever heard of a herb called nevora?"
"The nevora? Good heavens, how did he manage to find that?!" she says, clearly shocked. That's can't be good.
"Stealing," mutters Laelia.
"This could be bad, very bad," says Sharon. She looks just about ready to start pacing. "That herb is used in a potion meant to increase one’s magical powers. If he’s drank that, and if his powers are as great as you seem to think they are, he is going to be very strong."
Everyone is stunned silent. Yes, that is not good at all.
It's Percy who breaks the silence.
"...well, we do know someone whose magical powers are just as great," he says, glancing over to Laelia. She opens her mouth to say something, but changes her mind and just nods. "Knute."
"Master Ferrel has magic as well?" Eclaise asks, surprised. I had been suspecting it for a while now and the conversation we had outside more or less confirmed it, but it's always nice to know for sure. Percy nods.
"But he’s still unconscious… because of the concussion," Gil says, because someone had to.
"Oh, I can help with that!" Sharon perks up, clapping her hands together. She digs around the small satchel hanging on her hip and pulls out a small vial full of sparkly liquid. "Nothing a bit of faeriewater won’t fix," she says in a sing-song voice, twirling the vial around. My mind flashes back to the beginning of the term, when I had read about faeries after finding the faerie nest in the woods. There had indeed been something about the healing properties of faerie hair, if one knew how to brew them. The book didn't tell it, of course, that was magical information. But it makes perfect sense that Sharon would know.
"You can help him?" Laelia asks, starting to look a little hopeful herself.
"Well, yes, of course!" says Sharon and laughs. "I’m not called the Grand Sorceress for my encahnting looks, you know!"
"Okay, so that’s good!" I say, because finally something's turning up our way. But if we're to hatch a plan, I need to know... "Laelia, do you… do you know exactly what kind of magic Knute has?"
She hesitates, understandably, but then decides it's best she told us. Desperate times...
"Obviously," she says. Obviously. "Nature magic. He can pull energy from the world around him, the ground, the water, the plants. He can make things come to life. Like a branch that he accidentally turned into a faerie nest."
"That… that could work," I say out loud. At least I think I do. Strong internal nature powers... with the addition of gathering energy from the ground? And the timing-! "Yes, yes I think we can work with this. Oh, this is very good timing!"
"Vincent Ester?" I ask. The large man in the doorway looks at me with a confused frown.
"Do I know you?" he asks.
"Not really. You may have heard of me, though. And I suppose we have met, however briefly." I shrug. His frown deepens. "How's your painting going? Done more posters recently?"
He goes pale, and swallows. He glances all around us. The hallway is empty. His grip on the door tightens.
"I wouldn't recommend slamming the door in my face, it really won't do you any good," I say. His eyes widen even further. "Now, let me tell you what I see. I can see you're scared, which I would probably be too in your position, and I can see you really don't want any trouble. I can see you've abandoned Viper, or been abandoned by him, because you didn't approve of his methods. You might've been a hired goon, but you still don't enjoy hurting innocent people, you are a gentle person deep down after all.
"Now, you have three options. One, you can deny everything, which is futile because I already know. Two, you can try to run, which is also futile since there's no other way out of the room and you really won't be able to get past me. Or three, you can admit it, and tell me everything about what Viper is planning so we can stop him before anyone else gets hurt." I pause for a moment and then lean forward to whisper conspiratorially, "Personally, I recommend option three, although I would be really interested in seeing you try for two."
Vincent stares me down for a moment, before sagging with a sigh and stepping back inside the room.
"Come on then, we can talk inside," he says and I close the door behind us. I take the chair from his desk and sit on it while he sits on his bed. "Viper approached me in the beginning of the term. He somehow knew I had magic, but instead of trying to blackmail me about it, he told me he had magic as well. He said he was sick and tired of people putting magic-folk down just because we have magic, and he said he wanted to do something about it. Like form a group and rally up and make protests and stuff. And, well, I liked the idea. I have trouble... studying, trouble focusing, and I've been here for a long time now, unable to graduate, and I can't do anything to help my family. We don't have much money, and I had thought that if I get educated I might get a fancy job and help them finance, but I can't even get through school and the only things I have are my art and my magic. One of which I can't use to live and the other of which is illegal. So I thought, yeah, I wanna protest this thing too, I want to make a difference. So I made the poster, Viper wrote the secret message and I guarded the barn door while he recruited more members.
"That didn't go as planned, as you might remember... he was really mad after that, and he told me that he would do things alone if need be. He left the school that evening, telling me he had to go get some ingredients for some kind of potion or something. He didn't tell me more.... But then he came back, and he blew up the dining hall and almost killed that one lady teacher... I realised that he had not been planning any kind of peaceful protest at all, he had been planning to... to kill the king."
"Wait, the king. He is actually planning to kill the king?" I ask. Vincent looks down.
"I think so, yeah," he says. "He said, before, that the plan was to make a point during the midsummer day festivities in the capital, because midsummer day has a long magical heritage and it would be the perfect time to reinstate magic into society. I think he's... he's planning on taking the throne to himself."
"He actually thinks he can get away with something like that? He is more crazed than I thought..." I say, mostly to myself. Vincent sniffs.
"I wanted to stop him," he says quietly. "But I knew I wasn't strong enough, my magic anyway, and I didn't know who I could tell about this. I never wanted it to be like this, if I had know, I..."
"It's okay," I say, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You told me now. And I think with this information we can finally make a plan to catch this guy. You did good, Club." He gives me a lopsided smile.
"Thanks," he says. "You just make sure you catch him, before he destroys every last chance magic still has left in this country."
"I will," I say. "I promise."
~x~
There's a giant ruckus as I walk into the library. A lot of yelling is happening.
"That doesn’t make any sense!" Laelia is shouting. She seems pissed, and also confused.
"What doesn’t make any sense?" I ask as I walk up to the others. She whips around and grabs my shoulders. I freeze. She squints at me.
"They’re telling me Hans Jacobs is alive," she hisses. I blink.
"Oh, right. He is," I say. Laelia stares at me like I'd grown a second head. "I... guess it didn’t come up out there."
"No, it didn’t!" she says, and finally lets go of me, if only to throw her hands in the air. "Since when has he been alive?"
"Since… he was born?" I can't help but answer. She rolls her eyes, very skillfully. "Cole found him last Tuesday. He got arrested when he tried to apprehend Jacobs." The comment seems to derail her slightly, as she stops and blinks.
"Huh. I think I never even heard that rumour going around. No wonder I couldn’t figure out why he was arrested," she says. Alica flips her hair behind her shoulder and smiles.
"I figured that even though all the rumours were super crazy, it’d be best to keep Jacobs’ name out of it," she says. "The three of us were the only ones who knew he was alive, you know. Us, and Cole. And chief Wismuth, I guess, but it’s not like those two would be spreading any rumours about anything."
Laelia's face is blank, disbelief in her voice as she says: "So magic was banned for no reason?"
"Truth be told, the tension between sorcerers and non-magical people had been growing for a while…" says Sharon. She seems sad, regretful. "There was all kinds of prejudice amongst the most radical factions of both groups of people, but in the end it was the assumed assassination of private Jacobs and the following aggressive attacks towards non-magical folk that finally sparked the war. Of course, it turns out that even those were all perpetuated by just one guy… the same guy that was a part of the Jacobs-ruse to boot! Ohh, it makes me so angry, I-!"
"Excuse me, I have to bang my head against the wall..." says Laelia while Sharon continues on her rant.
"But now that we’ve uncovered this, that means we have a strong case to appeal to the king to make magic legal again!" says Gil, perhaps not as excitedly as he had wanted to. He looks between us, and he does seem to believe it. Mostly. "So… even though it sucks that it’s been like this for 30 years, we have a chance to fix it.
"Sure!" says Laelia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Gil crosses his arms, not appreciating her tone, but she doesn't notice. "We can go to the king and be all 'hi, we’d like to make magic legal again because turns out one guy isn’t dead. Oh, yeah, and don’t mind the lunatic with magic that’s trying to overpower non-magical people'. They have a better excuse to ban magic now than they did back then!"
"Unless we stop Viper," I point out. "With magic. I mean, think about his motivation. He’s only doing this because magic is illegal! If it weren’t, magical people would have no reason at all to be dissatisfied and feel the need to do something this radical."
"If he was doing this only because magic is illegal, he wouldn’t make it worse for everyone with magic!" she argues. "He’s doing this because he thinks he’s better than everyone else because he has magic. Not that banning magic will make those people less dangerous."
"Arren is…!" Percy starts, and then hesitates. "He’s confused. He doesn’t really think he’s better than everyone else, not more than any other person does, he’s just… he’s been shut out of society for so long he just… he doesn’t want to be left out anymore. And the only way he can get people to notice him is through magic."
"Sure, cause terrorising the Academia is a great way to fit in," says Laelia, throwing her hands in the air again. Percy looks like he wants to say something, but doesn't. He's fidgeting with his ring again, looking at the ground. It must be hard for the poor guy.
"He thinks he’s been chosen by the gods, right. By Geltoech, specifically," I say. Percy doesn't look up but the frown on his face deepens. "He is delusional, but it is not the fault of his magic. It is, however, the fault of the anti-magic legislation that he’s felt that he has no one to turn to. No one to talk to. And the authorities need to understand that pretending magic doesn’t exist in the country doesn’t make it go away, and it only makes things worse for the people who have to deal with it!"
Laelia opens her mouth to say something but is cut off by professor Eclaise.
"Come now, students, I understand that you are passionate about this, I am too, but don’t you think we should try to focus," he says. "We still know very little about this Viper fellow, and his new powers, and if he does whatever terrible thing he’s planning there really won’t be a future for magic at all."
"I quite agree, we need to find a way to stop him, and quick," joins in Cole.
"Oh, that’s right, I need to ask you something, aunt Sharon," I say as I remember the conversation with Ray. Sharon turns to look at me. "Have you ever heard of a herb called nevora?"
"The nevora? Good heavens, how did he manage to find that?!" she says, clearly shocked. That's can't be good.
"Stealing," mutters Laelia.
"This could be bad, very bad," says Sharon. She looks just about ready to start pacing. "That herb is used in a potion meant to increase one’s magical powers. If he’s drank that, and if his powers are as great as you seem to think they are, he is going to be very strong."
Everyone is stunned silent. Yes, that is not good at all.
It's Percy who breaks the silence.
"...well, we do know someone whose magical powers are just as great," he says, glancing over to Laelia. She opens her mouth to say something, but changes her mind and just nods. "Knute."
"Master Ferrel has magic as well?" Eclaise asks, surprised. I had been suspecting it for a while now and the conversation we had outside more or less confirmed it, but it's always nice to know for sure. Percy nods.
"But he’s still unconscious… because of the concussion," Gil says, because someone had to.
"Oh, I can help with that!" Sharon perks up, clapping her hands together. She digs around the small satchel hanging on her hip and pulls out a small vial full of sparkly liquid. "Nothing a bit of faeriewater won’t fix," she says in a sing-song voice, twirling the vial around. My mind flashes back to the beginning of the term, when I had read about faeries after finding the faerie nest in the woods. There had indeed been something about the healing properties of faerie hair, if one knew how to brew them. The book didn't tell it, of course, that was magical information. But it makes perfect sense that Sharon would know.
"You can help him?" Laelia asks, starting to look a little hopeful herself.
"Well, yes, of course!" says Sharon and laughs. "I’m not called the Grand Sorceress for my encahnting looks, you know!"
"Okay, so that’s good!" I say, because finally something's turning up our way. But if we're to hatch a plan, I need to know... "Laelia, do you… do you know exactly what kind of magic Knute has?"
She hesitates, understandably, but then decides it's best she told us. Desperate times...
"Obviously," she says. Obviously. "Nature magic. He can pull energy from the world around him, the ground, the water, the plants. He can make things come to life. Like a branch that he accidentally turned into a faerie nest."
"That… that could work," I say out loud. At least I think I do. Strong internal nature powers... with the addition of gathering energy from the ground? And the timing-! "Yes, yes I think we can work with this. Oh, this is very good timing!"
"What is good timing?" Gil asks.
"It’s Midsummer!" I say with a wide grin.
Sharon catches my drift and she exclaims: "That’s right! Nature magic is at it’s peak during Midsummer, which means that Knute’s magic will be too!"
"I’ve also found something else out," I say, still excited. Ohh, how well everything is turning out! "It is very likely that Viper is planning to attack the King during the Midsummer festivities in Cerise City. That is this Sunday. Which means, we have enough time to get there and stop him, and with Knute at full power, I think we really have a chance."
"What about the whole ‘super power’ thing that Vipes has going on? You think Knute’s still gonna be strong enough?" Alica asks, crossing her arms. Laelia huffs in annoyance. My grin widens. This is the best part.
"Don’t worry. I have a plan."
~x~
It's much later that evening as we're getting ready for bed. After agreeing to the plan the other went to the hospital wing, Cole and Eclaise to find the principal, and Sharon and Laelia to go check up on Knute and hopefully make him all better. Percy went to his own room, Zeze in tow, the faerie leaving the library for the first time since she arrived. Seeing the state Percy was in, it seemed to be for the best.
Gil, Alica, and I, on the other hand, returned to our dorm rooms. Or rather, to Gil's and mine. Alica insisted that she was not sleeping alone tonight. I had no objections.
We moved the table out of the way, and pushed the beds together, so that we have enough room to sleep properly. Alica disappears for a moment at some point, but reappears soon enough, carrying with her a night shirt, a change of clothes and her overnight bag. We try to relax for the evening, because we know there isn't anything we can do anymore today, but it's hard, the anxiety and nervousness looming over us.
There's a knock on the door, much, much later.
I get up from my place on the bed where I was leaning on Gil and walk over to the door. I can see Sharon's smiling face when I open it. She seems tired as well.
"Good news is, Knute is up and running, thanks to the faeriewater. I even showed him a little how to manage his magic better, though I have to tell you, that boy is unpolished to say the least," she says and shakes her head. "But not to worry, I think we have a good chance with him. He truly is a powerful one, that one."
"Yes, I knew there was something special about him the moment I saw him," I say as I move aside to let my aunt in. She looks at our pushed together beds and my two friends sitting on it - Gil against the headrest and Alica sprawled across is diagonally - but says nothing. Just smiles.
"You seem to have inherited a great inner eye, my dear," she says and shuffles over to the reading chair the moment she spots it. She sinks down into is with a sigh. "Ohhhh, boy, nothing beats a proper chair when you've been basically living on the road for thirty years. Not to mention the three days straight I've been sitting on the back of a dragon!"
"Aunt Sharon, could you..." I start and then hesitate. Why am I hesitating? "Could you tell me more about your magic? And... what you've been doing for thirty years?"
She sits up a bit straighter and gives me another smile. Small, genuine. Loving.
"Of course my dear boy," she says. "I'll be happy to answer any questions you have."
"Should we..." says Gil from the bed. I turn to them. He looks uncertain, in a way I've never seen him before. I don't think I like it. "Do you want us to leave? Give you some privacy?"
"No, no, there's no need for that!" I hurry to say. "Right, aunt Sharon?"
"If you're okay with it, I have no objections. I do get the feeling you are... very close friends," she says. There is a flush on Gil's face, barely distinguishable, and Alica grins.
"Damn right, auntie," she says, shifting onto her stomach, resting her hands on her palms. "Could you tell us about all your epic adventures? Where did you get the dragon?"
Sharon laughs. "Well aren't you eager," she says, a fond look on her face. "Now, that tale is one of intrigue and mystery, including knights and bards and a half burnt village, although it is a very long one at that, and perhaps it best be left for another time."
"Aw, boo," says Alica, pouting. I snigger.
"That's alright, aunt Sharon," I say. "We would love to hear that story. We have time."
Sharon looks surprised but then smiles sweetly and launches into an amazing story on how she came to find Stevie in the outskirts of, indeed, a half burnt town. He was blamed for burning it, until Sharon proved that Stevie was unable to produce fire. Her story is gripping and absolutely riveting and once she's done with it, she starts on another one, and another, and another. She fills the room with exciting tales from the neighbouring kingdoms, and even beyond, stories of fae and goblins and magic and wonder, and we're on the edge of our seats the whole time. Or the edge of the bed, anyway.
After a very enticing story about a teenage dragon rider way to the east who helped uncover a secret conspiracy, a comfortable lull falls over the room. Alica has dozed off, which isn't all that surprising since she hadn't had time to take her usual power nap in the afternoon because of... well. She's curled up like a cat with her head on my lap, and Gil is leaning against my shoulder, his eyes starting to droop as well.
"It's getting a bit late, isn't it," says Sharon after a moment of silence. "I should let you kids sleep, early day tomorrow." She stands up and stretches.
"Aunt Sharon wait," I say, pushing Alica's head gently off my lap as I stand. She protests with a soft groan and looks up blearily. Gil tells her to change into her nightshirt as I walk over to Sharon who is standing by the door by now. "I still want to know more about magic. Yours and mine. Since I.. seem to have some. And I want to know about.. about..." She puts her hand on my cheek and I quiet.
"We'll have time to talk about anything you want later. And hopefully it won't be another decade to that moment," she says. I huff out a laugh and lean into her touch. "I need to go now. Stevie is already waiting for me outside. He's been sending me impatient thoughts for the past fifteen minutes."
"Right, right," I say, a little disappointed. "I uh.. I'll see you later then."
She smiles and kisses my forehead. "You can count on that." She gives me a wink and then leaves the room. I lock the door after her.
Alica has somehow managed to get herself into her night shirt and is back curled on the bed and Gil is in the process of changing as well. He looks up and smiles when he realises I'm watching. He comes over, still no shirt, and takes my hands in his. I look down.
"There's no need to worry. Your plan is good, and this will all be over on Sunday. You'll get to see your aunt any time you want once we can get magic legal again," he says. He lifts my chin up with a finger. "Come on now, look at me. We'll get through this. We always do, don't we?"
"So far, yes," I admit, finally looking him in the eye. "I am worried though... This is bigger than anything we've ever faced before."
"True, but you said it yourself, didn't you? We're not alone." Gil cups my face. "Come on, let's go to bed before Alica hogs all the blankets."
"Yessir," I laugh and he takes a hold of my hand again and walks us over to the bed. I change quickly and then climb into the bed. Alica mumbles something as the mattress dips, and she immediately clings to my side once I've settled down in the middle. Gil shakes his head fondly as he lays down on my other side. "Good night, Gil," I say.
"Good night, liebling," he says and kisses me softly before draping his hand across my waist.
We ride out towards Cerise at first light.
____________________________________________________________________
Ooooh, how exciting! What exciting things will Wednesday bring us?? Oh, how exciting huehue.
I'm having some trouble with putting a picture in the middle there, but let's see if I can manage it once the thing is published.
Anywayyyyyy. It's ur last one next time, exciting isn't it? Your final topic isssss "Cow(s)"
Byyeee. :DD
Pie out.
