Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Chaos filled the common room of the girls dormitory.

Apparently having more than one dorm key was a good thing, and the tougher girls were stealing as many as they could from anyone who couldn't or wouldn't defend themselves. I could only watch as a crystal covered girl came towards me, flames erupting from her nostrils with every breath. Looking around for help, or maybe a distraction, things didn't look good.

The only person who wasn't taking part, willingly or unwillingly, in the free for all was Ella, the girl was walking between the fights, taking it all in with a curious smile, being avoided by everyone. Being the daughter of the Mad, Immortal Emperor of Arp must be pretty good, I thought.

Crystal girl was almost on top of me, when I noticed a very tall girl wearing a soul cloth cape striding in my direction. The cape fluttered behind her, despite the fact that there wasn't a breeze in the room, images of moaning faces rose and fell in the pitch black fabric.

This was bad. Then from somewhere in my terrified brain a mad idea rose up. It was crazy, and I would lose my key, but it was better than being roasted alive or possibly being turned into a piece of clothing. Putting my bags down, I grinned as widely as possible, trying to look completely at ease, as the two girls came up to me.

“Hi, I'm Petra. Who are you two?” I asked, before they could say anything.

“You're worst nightmare if you don't give me your key,” crystal girl said.

“Tanya. Now give me your key or else,” the tall girl replied.

I held the key up, about the same distance from the two girls. “Bidding starts at twenty copper for this key.”

“Why don't I just take it,” crystal girl snarled.

“Tanya might have a problem with that, especially because I'm more likely to give it to her, she's much more polite about things,” I said.

“Are you really trying to get us fighting each other over your key so you can slip away?” Tanya said, snorting in disbelief.

“Not really, I just want to get something for my loss,” I admitted. I stood up on my bag to get a bit more height. “Everyone who wants a key, I've got one here, bidding starts at twenty copper,” I shouted.

A number of girls who weren't as scary looking as the others, but had the look of being bullies in their eyes came over. “Twenty copper for a key, who wants it?” I repeated.

“I'll give you twenty, but I'll beat it out of you later,” a girl who looked to be a half orc said.

“Alright, we've got twenty copper, do I hear twenty-five? Highest bidder gets a key. Come on the keys are important, here's a key you don't have to fight for. Twenty-five copper, and you'll have two keys.”

Someone shouted twenty-five coppers.

“Ok, twenty-five copper, to the red head with the battle axe. Do I hear thirty. Thirty copper, and you don't have to worry about getting blood on your clothes. Thirty copper and you can chose which room you like best, and sell the other one when people are getting desperate.”

I heard thirty copper.

“Do I hear forty? You're probably going to beat the money out of me later on anyways, so you're not losing anything in the long run.”

“One silver,” Ella said from the edge of the crowd.

“One silver, going once, going twice, sold to the daughter of the Arp Emperor,” I shouted. Grabbing my bag, I walked over to her, the crowd getting out of my way and eyeing Ella nervously. “Here you are Ella, if you can wait a bit to pay me when I'm less likely to get beaten and robbed, I'd appreciate it.”

“Aren't you afraid I'll forget to pay you?” she asked.

I looked around at the bullying and extortion that was occurring throughout the room. “I'll take that chance. Worse comes to worst everyone knows I don't have key, so they don't have any reason to come after me and I get to keep all my teeth. I'll consider that a win.”

She smiled at me, making my heart flutter a little. “You're pretty smart. Are any of your relatives villains?”

“My grandfather was a lawyer and a town mayor for a few years, does that count?”

That earned a pleasant laugh. “When you need the money, just ask. I always keep my word.”

With that she disappeared into the crowd.

Sitting on a couch, I watched as some other smaller and less talented kids tried the same thing I did. It actually worked fairly well. No one got a silver, but they were getting at least thirty or forty coppers for their loss. The bullies were so worried about each other, that they weren't pummelling or stealing from the kids who were willingly selling their keys, while the kids who didn't want to sell were eventually caught by someone and beaten up, or simply robbed if they were lucky.

As the chaos died down a bit, I found time to go to one of the bathrooms and change my clothes. I went with the pants and shirt choice, being most familiar with them. The underwear was tighter and comfier than I was used to, and figuring out the bra took a bit of time. Since other girls were coming in and out of the bathroom as I changed, I couldn't stop to look at or even think about my new body, that would have to come later. Residual shock was also keeping me from thinking too hard about what had happened, which was probably for the best, breaking down in tears would definitely be seen as a sign of weakness and who knew what would happen to me then.

Going back to the unoccupied couch, I continued to watch as bullies fought each other, and smaller, weaker girls tried to beg or steal a key from others. And a few girls were unconscious from concussions, busy picking up their teeth from the floor, or baa'ing and looking for some grass to munch on.

Soon enough I had a small group of girls who seemed to be as out of their depth as I was, sitting beside me.

“Where did you come up with the idea of selling your key?” a pink haired girl called Naomi asked.

“I had two bullies come up at the same time, it seemed the smartest thing I could do,” I admitted. "Anyways, I'm here because of my parents wanting to see me properly educated, and to help they gave me a general education plan. How about you guys?”

“My dad was a wash out here,” Naomi said, cradling her cheek which was badly swollen, a spear covered in runes was leaning on the wall next to her, “he's hoping I can regain the family honour. I'm supposed learn fighting and leadership.”

“I'm hoping to get into politics, so I'm working on leadership and subterfuge,” Clarice, a wispy girl, who looked to be maybe twelve, said. “My parents think this will be a good way to learn how to avoid getting stabbed in the back.”

Calcium, or Calci for short, a chubby Dwarf girl with long curly emerald green hair and beard, who was sitting with her knees up near her chin, bit her lip and said “M-my mentor said it would put some granite into my bones. I convinced her to get me into potions and poisons, since I like to cook.”

“Ouch,” I said, patting her on the back. “I'm going to try to change my classes. Subterfuge and magic might be nice. Learning how to lie and cheat in a place like this has to be a good thing, and I don't think I'd survive a day of fighting.”

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“What do you think will happen when we say we don't have keys?” Clarice asked.

“We'll probably get punished, and assigned a room at random. It can't be that bad,” Naomi said, trying to sound encouraging.

“I'm more worried about what the classes will be like. I've heard that the exams can be real killers,” Calci said.

We all shuddered at the thought of that. Around the room the fighting intensified as the bullies really started going at it, shouting and blood flew around us. Ignoring them we traded rumours, stories and ideas on what to expect.

**

It was almost five and the room was mostly quiet. Everyone was pretty much worn out from fighting over keys, although a few girls were still begging and trying to buy a key from those who had more than one. My little group wasn't bothering, we could have used our numbers to steal a key from some of the girls who still had theirs, but it didn't seem quite right.

As we started to get more nervous about what was going to happen to us, Ella came over.

“Hello Petra, are these your friends?” she asked.

“Yeah, these are Naomi, Calci and Clarice. Everyone this is Ella,” I said, introducing them.

“It's nice to meet you. I'm guessing none of you have keys, right?”

We all nodded.

Ella smiled, and opened her hand revealing four keys. “It just so happens I was able to get five keys, while keeping my own. If you'll do me a favour later on, I'll give you each one key. One of you will have to room with a girl I met earlier, don't worry she's mostly safe. Is it a deal?”

“What type of favour?” Clarice asked.

“Nothing that will get you killed or badly injured. Other than that I don't know, it will depend on what I need. Is it a deal?”

“If it's too dangerous, we get to back out and do another favour later on, agreed?” Clarice said.

“Within reason, and you have to be backed up by at least one other person here,” Ella countered.

Clarice nodded, holding out her hand. It seemed reasonable to me and everyone else, so we all nodded in agreement, shaking Ella's hand in turn to seal the deal.

“Petra, you'll be my roommate,” Ella said, when she handed me a key. “You think on your feet, and when necessary you're quite violent. I like that in a friend. As for the rest of you, I'd like to be your friend if you let me. You can never have enough eyes watching your back, and I think I can be reasonably sure you won't be holding a knife while you're doing it.”

Calci looked at the seemingly sane and powerful girl and gave her a big smile. “I'd be stupid to say no. It's great to meet you Ella.”

The others quickly followed suit.

**

Master Grieve watched the students through the crystal ball, focusing on the most interesting ones. His two colleagues did the same. The girls dorm was most interesting, at first there had been the typical bullying and beatings, but then the not so foolish girl Petra had auctioned her key off. He'd seen it done before, but after being so easily tricked, Grieve had thought the girl would be one of the weak ones. She had also managed to get the attention of the little empress, that also quite interesting. Petra would bear watching.

The boys dorm was far less interesting. It was mostly fighting amongst the strongest boys, while the rest dove for cover or formed gangs to survive. No class or intelligence, just brute strength. He shook his head sadly.

Tapping the ball to turn it off, he turned to his colleagues. “Who has caught your eye?”

Lady Plague waved her hand creating a picture of Ella. “She's a smart girl. She's building alliances instead of getting minions. And made sure everyone knows who she is simply by talking and spreading rumours. No one wants to risk angering her and being assassinated, and the weaker ones see her as a helpful patron.”

Sir Drago and Sir Grieve nodded in agreement.

“Most of the others are what we thought. A few are stronger or weaker than expected, but nothing surprising,” she said.

“I agree,” Sir Grieve said. “But I think we were wrong about Peter. Whether his transformation made him smarter, or made him more paranoid, her willingness to use her brawn and brains is rather refreshing.”

“She's in the general program, correct?” Sir Drago asked.

“Yes, her parents didn't ask many questions and just followed our advice. Silly people,” Lady Plague giggled.

The lizard man pulled on some of his feathers in thought. “Do you think she'll survive?”

“No,” Sir Grieve replied. “But it will be amusing to see her try. Let's give her some of our personal attention, shall we?”

“Ten thousand gold, that she doesn't last until mid-winter vacation,” Lady Plague said.

“Agreed, but I give her until the end of the school year.”

“Four weeks as a human, and then dead or transformed into a tulip or something,” Sir Drago said. “And we should let the other teachers bet on her. We don't want her to get bored do we?”

Sir Grieve nodded, “Agreed. Now how many students did we lose?”

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