Chapter 9: Chapter 8 – Who’s that Rapping

I woke up feeling guilty. I knew that my parents were hurting because they thought I was taken advantage of, but I lost sight of that simply because I did not want to marry. While I can go to school and I cannot wait to go I feel horrible about not telling them. That on top of my choice on what school to attend put me into a sulky mood.

I was expecting to go to the Living Saint Academy, focus on healing and that would be that but the Royal Academy was hands down better. The real issue is what if the nobility were all like the Duke? Taking what they wanted just because they held power. I lived through high school before so I kind of knew what to expect in other schools but rich nobles? I had no idea. I would be a town bumpkin in a school of privileged children. What's worse is I knew my growth phase was coming because I set the date and stages. I knew what I would look like and even at this age I felt like others looked at me too long. I should have made myself a hag.

My doom and gloom mood stayed with me until I got downstairs. I tried to cheer myself up or at least look cheerful in front of my mom. She looked so upset at this point that I would just do anything she asked so she would smile at me. Should I tell her? Would she hate me for not saying it before? I steeled my resolve and prepared myself to tell her. "Mom I nee…" and was promptly interrupted by a banging on the door. My hands reached into my pockets one grabbing a potion while in the other I grabbed my mace and I stood in from of my mom. I had not left my cloak out of my reach since returning. I almost viewed it as a protective talisman which apparently did not work very well.

My face was grim. My father was at work, so it was just my mom and me and neither of us were fighters. I looked at her and she looked at me. The banging came once again, and I saw her flinch. That was it. I pulled out the items in my hand and went closer to the door. I cast my Armor spell onto me and my mom. I then cast Coat of Arms onto myself and saw a golden crest appear in front of me. It had an angel on the center with a rock golem standing behind it with little wind swirlies around both. It quickly shrank and attached itself onto my cloak still shining brightly.  I have no idea what any of that meant, but the description said it would make me stronger so I am just going to go all out. I cast Aid to boost my health grabbing the door handle. Well I tried and almost dropped the smoke bomb I had already in my hand. I nervously giggled and stuffed to potion back into my pocket. I needed to calm down.

I took a deep breath, then another trying to calm down. That did absolutely nothing. Damn tv led me astray. Fine whatever, I flung open the door with my mace raised to strike. I was greeted with a middle-aged man whose expression went from impatient to terrified. Shrieking like a girl, he fell on his butt and tried to scooch back. Is he not a bad guy? I kept my mace ready anyway. I might be a tad bit grumpy because I glowered at him. And there we were; I watched him, he watched me. Neither of us saying anything. Well this is awkward. "Can I help you?" I finally said but it came out angrier than it probably should have.

He fumbled into a pouch that was at his side and I raised my mace a little higher. "I.. I.. got a …. Me.. ,ess.. age" he stuttered. A message? From who?

"Whose it for and who sent it? And watch your hands I have had a rough night." I might as well get this going. Holding a mace over your head is tiring but I did not want to put it down if he was a bad guy.

"From the Living Saintess, a .. a letter of invite. I'm not sure if I got the right place though." He looked at me with doubt in his eyes. Why would he bang on a door if he did not know the residence? How rude. "Umm, do you happen to have a twin sister? A Healer?" he looked pointedly at my mace when he said that last part.

"No just me." Is this guy mentally ill? I don't think I have anything that would heal mental issues yet. "So you have a letter?" I prompted. He seemed harmless enough and as I lowered my mace he collected himself a little as did I.

Standing up, he coughed and said with as much dignity as he could muster, "yes, it is right here." He reached into the pouch again and pulled out a letter and a drawing. Holding up the drawing he looked at it and then at me one more time. "Sorry, we have been looking for you since the awakening ceremony. We normally approach candidates there, but you left so quick and we did not catch your name. It was you there, right?" He still looked doubtful. What a weird guy.

"Yes, that was me alright" and I held out my hand to take the letter. He seemed eager to get rid of it and with that he hurried off. I shut the door and saw my mom looking at me with shock on her face. "Alice, where did you learn those spells?" She pointed at the golden outline on my cloak and the new clasp that the coat of arms made that was overlaying the original.

I did not understand her confusion. "I just knew them" was my reply and she just hugged me, I heard her whisper a "of course you do." I hugged her back. Why was everybody acting so bizarre today.

I was all excited that we received a letter from The Living Saint. I had opened it after putting everything back and dispelling my castings. It was pretty straight forward. Just a letter expressing their interest in me attending their school. No name but since they did not know mine that was ok because they attached a portrait of me. It was kind of creepy how good it was. It was just that, the portrait, the invitation and the date when they opened.

I handed it to my mom after I looked at it. I was even more unsure about this school. They hired crazies which said something about their finances and style if you ask me. And should they not be able to cure that?  Such lack luster standards will get me killed in the dungeon. On the plus side, it was mostly girls that went there so I would not have hormonal teenage boys to deal with and I would be able to come home at night since it was closer to our house. If the school was really bad, I would not have to deal with any rich royals. With this letter, I would not have to go through the introduction tests for the school.

Putting away the letter, I went to sit back down with my mom. I looked at the knitting we had started after breakfast. I freaken dropped a stich! I picked back up the "scarf" I had been making because I cannot do anything except a straight line. Grumbling I picked up my knitting needles and began to fix it. Mom had added Knitting to my list of things to learn "because it will be getting colder" in my guilt I just nodded my head and listened to her talk about how to do it. This was how our morning went. Me knitting. Her instructing.

A gentle knock at the front door came around noon. "Do we pretend to not be at home?" I whispered.

"I…" My mom started to whisper back but a deep gravelly male voice interrupted her. "I can hear you." It was not loud yet it could be heard throughout the room. Is he threatening us? A warning? Or just being … ugh.

I recast my spell. If he is powerful enough to hear us whisper a room away he is not simple. Moving to the door I prepare my usual greeting from this morning. I figured it worked once so it might as well work again. I saw a man in dusty clothes. Scars crisscrossed his body, his face was flatter than it probably should have been from taking too many hits, but man was he tall. Even with my mace raised I might be able to hit his upper chest, but I doubted it. Ok new plan, I will graciously talk first and if that does not work, I will hit him in the knee and run.

"Oh, hello there, my name is Alice." I heard telling the people your name makes them less likely to hurt you. I think. I knew I should not have used psychology as a nap class. Who knew it would be useful? Well it cannot hurt, right? "What brings you to our humble home?" I gave a nervous laugh at the end that did not fit with the sentence. Yup, there are my social skills in action.

"The names Goliath, I am here to invite you into The Earthen Gift. That is if you can take a hit from me." He said it so plainly like hitting somebody was the thing to do once meeting them. His voice sounded all gravelly like he ate rocks for breakfast.

"I will decline that offer," I said and quickly shut the door. I am not signing up to get hit. Especially by that brute of a man. This is not some Jersey Shore House show. Signing up to be abused? Hard pass. What the heck is wrong with that guy? I could hear him mumble about Edgar being upset but I did not care. I slowly moved away from the door just encase he decided to come in anyway. I did not relax until I heard his big feet moving away. Are any of these schools normal?

I looked at my mom. "Is this normal?" but all I got was a shrug as an answer. Sigh this was going to be a long day. The next one was a girl a little older than me. She looked like she was being bothered to be here. She fumbled around a bit looking for a crumpled-up letter that was in the third pouch she looked in and with a "here" shoved it at me and left. I did not even know what school she was from until I read the letter. The Well of Knowledge wanted me to join them. I put it with the other letter and began to help with dinner. Halfway through came the fourth person to bang on our door today. I had given up on spells since that brute showed up. It was too draining to keep casting and keeping them up.

Wondering what school it was this time I opened the door to see a fat man and a dozen men behind him. I felt the color drain from my face as I recognized this nauseating person. The duke! I slammed the door closed as fast as I could and started casting moving further into the house. I heard the door smashing open behind me. "Mom Run!" I screamed still casting. I needed a place that would minimize the numbers perhaps a hallway or door perhaps. This place was not that big, so my choices were small.

I decided on the kitchen. It wasn't the best place, but it was the last place I saw my mom. I wanted to keep her safe, so I was torn. I was hoping she was there. I was also hoping she had left to a safer spot. As I burst in, I saw her holding a kitchen knife next to the stove.

"Mom it's the duke!" Panic in my voice. I don't think we could beat twelve to thirteen people. I turned around to face the door to see them coming through the dining room. Instead of going around our table they just tossed it aside. Seriously they don't need to wreck our stuff to intimidate us! Their evil grins were enough. I braced myself slightly inside the door. Every buff spell making me glow. My hair started to whip about from a wind I hoped came from my mom.

I hit the first guy that came through the door. He had an earthen armor covering his body up until I hit him. I heard a loud crack and I saw the shock that crossed his face right before he shot out like a cannon ball into the others behind them. He didn't get back up.

I'm not sure who's more shocked them or me. That was more strength than I should of had. After the other guards the duke brought got up,  I noticed the inch-thick armor he was wearing was falling off of him and where I hit him it was completely gone.

"Come at me!" I shouted trying to be intimidating.... It didn't work. They broke into groups one coming forward while the others started casting. I could hear them casting but focused on the men closer to me. Not much I could do about the casters. I just wondered why they weren't silent casting for ambush potential. I guess they thought they didn't need it.

The front guards were saying things like "she can't wait to be with us" "oh the moms a looker too" "I wonder if the duke will give her to us" amongst themselves while looking at us like they already had us in hand. A lightning bolt shot over their heads and arced at me quicker than I could think.  I saw it hit something in front of me and an outline of something huge crouching over me was outlined by the electricity as it ran along it. It vanished when the electricity did but briefly a golem was seen above me. Not that I noticed but the clasp on my cloak dimmed a little.

My swing at the next guy didn't end as well. I saw him grimace as he blocked my hit but the deflection took most of the power from my hit in to the floor, cracking the wood. I kept heading dings for updates, but I was too busy to care. I swung again and as he went to block a gust of wind moved his sword enough that my mace hit him. I swear I wasn't aiming low but I heard a crack that I wasn't sure was his armor and he crumbled off to the side. His face was full of pain. Ok maybe I aimed lower after their comments. It served them right!

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More spells hit the golem and it seemed to be getting smaller and smaller as they tore into it. The kitchen was trashed but we held up until they decided to rush us. I just wasn't good enough and was tackled by the first one and they quickly piled on until I couldn't move.

I screamed. I bit and scratched but it was a lost cause at that point. I heard some curses and then I heard my mom scream too.

By the end, we were beaten black and blue and restrained by those metal cuffs again. Once restrained they dragged us out. I managed to take down three and they laid them beside us. I saw a few with scratches across their faces and one was missing an ear. It didn't matter I failed. A tear fell down and I saw a smile break out on the Duke's face when he saw it.

"You think you could escape from me? Now I have you and this..." He paused to point at my mom and I noticed that at some point they had ripped her shirt open. I knew he was trying to enrage me and it was working. I was going to castrate this Bastard. "He smiled a creepy smile and continued, "Woman, I suppose the guards have worked hard and will need to relax." At this point I lost it, I elbowed the guy holding me and jumped at the duke. He flinched but the guards brought me down before I got to him. I could hear him mutter impossible but loudly he said, "take them back."

I could see the neighbor's peeking out but doing nothing to help. Cowards.

"Hello Oliver, still picking on little girls because women are too much for you?" A silky voice cane from behind the Duke. "You'll be releasing my school's student of course."

I couldn't see who was talking but it didn't sound like our other visitors from this morning. Was this the guy Goliath was talking about? If so, I am willing take a hit even from this guy to get out of this mess.

I heard people moving around but from where I was held I could only see people's feet. I weighed the idea of casting but knew the glow would give me away. I would not be able to stop a knife in the back if they felt threatened.

"I will not be asking again," that silky voice said. "Release them." I could hear the resolve in it.

"Gideon, I got here first," I heard the duke. He sounded like a petulant child. "You are too late they are mine now.?" I could hear the uncertainty in his voice now.

"Oh?" There was an orange glow outline those holding me and I could feel the heat raising. "Well I suppose we can play it the hard way then." He seemed amused. The arms holding me started to shake and I saw the glow go from orange to red to blue. I started to sweat from the heat.

"Let them go!" The hands holding me were quick to let me go and I could see why. There we're two towering golems made of blue flames. I saw the ground bubbling from being melted from where they touched it.

When I saw my mom's condition and I stopped caring about mine. When I saw her she was now covered in bruises and her nose was bleeding. I don't think I was in any better condition, but I pushed my pain aside and cast my heals on her. Moving sluggishly, I wrapped my arms around her. "We are safe," I cried and hugged her. Using the last of my energy I cast as much healing on her as I could and rested my head against her shoulder when I didn't have the energy left to raise it.

The voice I heard before said, "I am surprised your father let you out with all the people looking for you. I'll be sure to let them know you are back. Now scamper off before I deal with you myself even if I have to face your father. I will probably be able to afford the fine. It's not like he doesn't have another son after all."

The Duke made a gesture and he and his guard turned and left without a word. The Duke's face was red verging on purple. I saw them leaving as I struggled to keep my eyes open. Leaving the man alone as he made a gesture and the two towering infernos vanished.

He moved towards us and with a fluid gesture removed his cloak and placed it over my mother covering her so she wasn't on display. I was deeply appreciative.

"The names Gideon I'm here to humbly request your daughter to join my school. I do see you may be a bit indisposed today. Would you mind me stopping over tomorrow?" He patiently waited like the house behind us wasn't wrecked or that we were both half naked due to ripped clothing.

"A.. a of course. We would be honored to have you." She seemed to be in shock. I couldn't blame her. I had closed my eyes and was just listening at this point. I was falling asleep but resisted as best I could. In the end the last thing I heard was another male voice that could have been my father, but it was too far away.

***

"Ma'am, I. I delivered the letter, but I did not think she is a living saint material. Let me tell you all I did was knock on her door and she almost bashed my skull in. I was this close to death!" The middle-aged man held up two fingers held super close together for her to see. "You don't understand. Her eyes glowed with a golden fire that I'm sure would just shoot out if I stayed there any longer. She's super scary and does not understand mercy and compassion at all." She watched on as he shuddered as he recounted the story.

"I understand. A pity, I guess. I will look her over but don't contact her again if she comes here. There is no further need to offer our invitation should she not accept the first one."

"As you wish, Isabella. I think that would be for the best."

***

"Damn it Goliath I told you just to deliver a letter. Not to threaten a child!"

"But she looked so tough. She could probably have taken it? She was wrapped in a magic armor and literally glowed with magical strength. I just wanted to see how strong she was." Goliath held his head high while saying all that. As if there was nothing wrong.

A knocking came right after Goliath finished speaking and without waiting a woven came in. After taking in both of their positions she went up and whispered into the ear of the man at the desks. After about a minute she left and closed the door behind her.

Shaking his head, he looked at Goliath. "She faced off against a dozen of the Duke's men and managed to take out 3 and injured 4 more before she was captured. She was saved by another school, so we probably lost this chance, but I'll send another person just in case. Can you let Argonaut know the Duke's back I believe he wants to have a little talk about his sister with him?"

"Of course, I'm great at passing messages!" Goliath thumped his chest after saying that and proceeded to leave. On the way out he said, "see I knew she could have taken a hit." Followed by the thumps that his feet made down the hall. The girl briefly reappeared and proceeded to close the door Goliath left open like this was a common occurrence.

"Damn, such potential and that idiot wanted to punch her" shaking his head he started looking through the files trying to find a free person that'll be able to smooth this fiasco over.

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