Chapter 52: 51. News From the Front

The rest of the week passed quickly, very much mirroring the tumultuous chaos that had ripped apart the skies.

 

The academy staff had been quick in summoning a meeting the morning after, if only to institute a restrictive curfew at the bell marking sundown as well as reminding us that all travel out of the academy was forbidden. They’d even decided to restrict the mail service, telling us that we’d have to wait for ‘passions to settle’ before general letters would be allowed to leave the grounds.

 

This, of course, was met with shock and anger.

 

Despite being in Minua, most of the noble students here were not from the duchy, instead hailing from places all over Verol. Of these, most were not explicitly aligned with Andril and the Minuans in this dispute, and this was especially true with the more southern aristocrats. Noble children from Ducal Verol, Trenlend, and Ostip were the most up in arms about it, probably worrying (albeit not exactly incorrectly from my point of view) that they’d be used as hostages. Of the others from Fanula, Fangpeak, and Summark, most didn’t know where their lieges stood on the matter, and feared (again, probably not incorrectly) that Miniua would use their safety as trading chips to bargain for allies. There was certainly no hope among us that the King and Senate would take the death of their baron as anything other than a declaration of rebellion.

 

All in all, it was a proper shitshow. The feeling about the campus was downright apocalyptic as we went through our lectures and reviews, the generous scuttle of unease perpetrating every room. Students whispered plots and worries around every corner, and every other lecture was interrupted by an impromptu discussion over politics that even the professors participated in. Even the cafes and shops were deserted as noble and yeoman students alike instead ate at the free kitchen in the dorms to conserve funds. I overheard dozens of worrying discussions as I sat about the week.

 

“I wonder how Fanula’ll declare? My life probably depends on it…”

 

“Duke Belvan wouldn’t use me against Ostip, would he? Father would kill me…”

 

“Damn it, they better not bar Alisone’s Pass, the company wouldn’t survive a winter of that…”

 

“Hey, if we’re going to be hostages anyway, why not go out with me?”

 

Well, worrying to me at least. A couple of the male students seemed to gain strange swells of confidence in the outbreak of the news. Thankfully, these were mostly resolved with a few choice words. 

 

Auro, though, wasn’t so lucky. Her status as the daughter of Lord Belvan earned her a suspicious amount of popularity as students plied her with requests to return home. Nor was her dorm even safe from such intrigues, as her dorm mates pushed for the same. By midweek we’d taken to just having her sleep in our leftover bunk, something even Hosi was easily convinced of allowing.

 

“Do you even have that kind of sway with Lord Belvan?” I had asked shortly after turning away another group of students.

 

“Of course not!” She’d shouted back. “Father’s never listened to me like that. I had to tear up just to get the gate guard to take my letter down…”

 

Which hadn’t been a surprising answer to me. Auro’s relationship with her father had never given me the impression of a caring dad and happy daughter. It was more like he thought of her as an object to marry away for favours than someone he’d raised since birth. It was almost no wonder why she’d turned to sneaking away magic tomes.

 

And speaking of magic, I found it harder than before for myself to practice. Reviews ineventanly found themselves cut short each day as all the groups slowly devolved, but that just left more time for clubs and reading groups to fill the library until dusk. And after the moons rose, security rose dramatically as academy officials enforced the curfew, dashing any hopes I had of sneaking into the library to copy down any more spells. I was simply left with the same five or so spells I knew to practise with, and even then I had to be careful to keep my mana saturation low around the now crowded dorms. It wasn’t that I didn’t need to build up my resistance, of course, but being mana-drunk in the middle of the hall wasn’t a scene I was particularly excited to experience.  

 

As such, I suddenly found that I had a ton of time to kill. Originally I tired working on the ‘Lmenli Problem’, but between my letters unable to be sent due to the academy staff and being unable to find any more easy leads on the mysterious stones I ended up just wasting half the days away catching up on the novel series Saphry had started reading before I’d jumped in. It was only when Breale came up to me on that Friday afternoon with a letter from her brother clutched in her hands that gave any more thought to anything important.

 

Well that and the sudden demand that I explain why I could use magic. 

 

Though, that conversation had been surprisingly short. After all, the only explanation (read: outright lie) that I was willing to give was that I was just born with it, and she had seen all the flashy bits back in the pass. After the wonder that I would dare to break such a law came and went, we pretty much just exchanged mutual shrugs and decided to wait until Fredrick was here to make any real decisions on that front.

 

Which leads me to now, the present. Breale, Auro, Gideon, and myself stood around the main gate to the mountain road in the pouring rain as we waited. Boiling clouds rumbled with thunder overhead, though the flashes of lightning seemed content to arc between their pillaring masses. Our hoods were drawn far over our faces in an attempt to dissuade the dreary weather, but without proper pants and with the rain being thrown sideways with the heavy wind my face and legs were already soaked. I’d always been a rainy day kind of person and I didn’t feel the cold so it wasn’t too horrible, but there was certainly a point where it became a little obnoxious.

 

“He should’ve been here at the last bell!” Breale shouted over the wind, sounding absolutely miserable. “Who does he think he is, making us wait out in the rain!”

 

I didn’t bother pointing out that his letter had said nothing of meeting him at the gate.

 

“Perhaps we should wait inside?” Auro shouted back.

 

“He has to be soon!”

 

“You said that half a bell ago.”

 

“So he has to be even closer!”

 

I sighed. Breale could be stubborn at the worst of times, so short of just abandoning her to find the nearest cafe I couldn’t see us getting out of this until the gate guards ordered us away. 

 

Though I could definitely understand her feelings. The information blackout over what was actually happening down there had gotten to everyone, and Fredrick being allowed in was certainly the signal that the school would be sloughing off its more depressive whispers soon enough. 

 

Well, that or it got worse. News was always good after all.

 

“Master Maverick! We’ve been awaiting you!”

 

A guard’s voice echoed from beyond the gate.

 

“Huh? Yes, she’s right behind the gate.”

 

I pricked my ears, but I couldn’t hear Fredrick through the gale.

 

“That’s not… she’s been here for two bells perhaps. Ah, yes, I’d agree with that, I find it strange too. You have a devoted sister.”

 

“...”

 

From the corner of my eye I saw Breale glower and mutter a few choice words. I think I caught the words ‘pitching idiot’ and ‘revenge’.

 

Those words became a little more audible as Fredrick entered the gate and joined us.

…

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“As you might imagine, the situation down there is not good.”

 

Fredrick started his story as soon as we sat down around the circular table in the cafe. It was pretty much abandoned aside from us and the chef behind the counter, but it still felt cosy in the dim lantern light as the storm raged outside.

 

Fredrick was clad in the uniform of the school already, though his cloak seemed to have a few more enchantment glyphs upon it than normal. Which would be better said in that it had enchantment glyphs on it at all. He looked dishevelled and tired beyond even what I had seen on the trip over from the capital, and some slight stubble had managed to grow on his face.

 

None of us looked surprised at the admission as we pressed him for details.

 

“How so? Has the senate done anything else?” Auro asked.

 

“Is Andril alright?” I asked.

 

“Where you involved in the fighting?” Breale asked.

 

He looked a little put off by the barrage of questions.

 

“No, yes and no, and yes. I doubt survivors from the battle have reached Ducal Verol yet. It’s probably snowing further west and they left most of their train and command behind in their haste.“ He glanced towards his sister. “And I did partake in the fighting, though it was thankfully brief. I had joined Andril for the parley, after all.”

 

“You fought in the actual battle?” Breale sounded more jealous than concerned. “Of course you’d-”

 

“Yes and no?” I interrupted. “What does that even mean?”

 

I had a bad feeling about that already. Andril wasn’t exactly in the best of shapes mentally when I’d seen him before.

 

“How much have you heard of the battle?”

 

“Practically nothing.”

 

Fredrick raised an eyebrow.

 

“They’ve played it that close? Ah, well this should be quite the surprise then…”

 

He launched into an explanation of what had happened, explaining from the very beginning. As he had warned, it didn’t sound like everything had gone as planned.

 

Apparently, the whole thing had started when Andril decided to meet the Baron after the latter had sent a messenger to the walls asking for parley. Duke Belvan and Fredrick had warned against it, warning that the Baron was exactly the ambitious sort who’d seek to betray the white flag, but a compromise had won out where Andril would meet him outside the gates. And so Andril, Fredrick, and a few choice soldiers had left the gates in sight of the guards.

 

The Baron had demanded the obvious things, that Andril come with them and face trial and that Minua grant them supplies to journey back. Fredrick was of the mind that the Baron had been somewhat desperate after his failures up until then, only settling for supplies after the threat of a sally was uttered. After that, the negotiations had winded down and the now irritated Baron had made to leave with the promise that Minua would sell them just enough supplies to return back to the capital.

 

And it was there that tragedy struck.

 

As he was leaving, apparently the Baron had made some comment about Andril’s fiance that offended him, leading the disgraced prince to cut down the Baron as he had walked away. That had started the Baron’s guards to attack, and the rest of the company camped outside followed soon after.

 

“It was by far the most chaotic battle I’ve seen.” Fredrick finished with a subtle shake of his head. “They were not prepared for a proper assault, of course, but neither were all of our officers on the towers. It devolved into a magical brawl more quickly than I’d thought possible, with each side launching everything at each foe they first laid eyes upon like some common bar brawl. It was a miracle we made it back to the gates before our shields completely failed. Why, they found bare arrow heads outside the gate yesterday, their shafts burned away.”

 

“He got offended?” I sputtered. “That’s why the war started?”

 

That was… I don’t even know how to describe how unbeleivably stupid that was. Was he stupid? Mentally ill? What was he even thinking? How could he lose his temper at such a crucial time?

 

“The Baron did say some fairly… unsavoury slurs.” Fredrick said. “But indeed, many people will die for that insult.”

 

“It was bound to happen at some point.” Auro said, not as surprised as I would’ve imagined. “There was no other way this could’ve gone. That was just the last snowflake before the avalanche.”

 

“Still…”

 

“It can’t be helped, though I agree with you on Andril.” Fredrick shook his head. “I understand grief, but our prince will damn us if he continues acting like this.”

 

We fell into silence as the chef set down plates in front of us, and a smaller one in front of Gideon. The portions of pasta and cloudfish I’d ordered were small in comparison to the gigantic plates I used to get in America, but even this felt like too much with the recent news on my mind.

 

The rain pounded on the window.

 

“What do we do then?” Auro asked, breaking our silence. “Surely there’s some way we can help? Because I’m not too big of a fan of waiting around in the academy while my great home bleeds around me.”

 

“What can we do?” Breale muttered. “We failed to stop it. Barely tried, even.”

 

I scoffed.

 

“Nonsense. There’s no point in just sitting around depressed.”

 

“Then what?”

 

“I don’t know.” I admitted. “But I’m sure we’ll figure out something.”