Chapter 46: Chapter 46 – Walking Into Danger

By the time the car came to a stop in the academy’s empty parking lot, I was not emotionally ready for what was to come. The confrontation that was about to happen was in a whole different league from the times I confronted Isabel and George. In those situations, I planned in advance and had the element of surprise. Now, though, the tables were turned on me and I had no idea what I was really walking into. To say I was nervous would have been a huge understatement. But nonetheless, this was something I had to do.

After taking a moment to steel my resolve as best I could, I turned to the blue-skinned golem women sitting on both sides of me in the back of the car. "Wait for ten minutes after I get out, and then come find me and attack anyone that isn’t Isabel or me… Actually only one of you come. I want the other to wait for thirty minutes, and if you don’t receive new orders from me, the other Hex, or Isabel, then you should go find my mother and tell her to leave without me."

As much as the support of another of Hex’s bodies would be beneficial, if this went badly, I didn’t want Mum to wait for me when I might not be coming. As much as she wouldn’t like it, in that situation, it would be better for her and the others to leave me without me.

"As you command, Master," Hex responded back, like the dutiful golem maid she was. If I got out of this alive, I really owed it to her to try and understand what was going on with her soul. Maybe I could even find a way to make her truly alive and not subservient to the master and golem relationship. But any thoughts on that matter were just distractions, as I attempted to put off the inevitable.

Putting aside all such distracting thoughts while my mind was clear and resolute, I forced myself out of the car. The parking lot around me was eerie. It was completely empty and shrouded in darkness. Not even the usual street lights that illuminated the grounds for those leaving after doing the lock-up were lit.

As I slowly walked down the paths into the heart of the campus, this same eerie darkness was found throughout all my surroundings. I had walked down these same paths a great many times over the past few years that I attended the academy, but never when it was this late or this empty. It felt weird… And not just because I knew I was about to willingly walk into a dangerous situation, but because It was strange to see a place so noisy and alive this silent and still.

It only took me a couple of minutes to find my way to the building housing all the training rooms and halls. Although the door should have been locked closed as it was way after hours, it opened freely to me, just as I expected. It wouldn’t take someone on the Council of Thirteen much effort to get the keys to this place. It would have probably been barely an inconvenience for him if it even was one at all. It would have been similarly easy for him to get visitor tokens that would bypass the campus's usual security wards for himself and any of his lackeys.

Oh, fuck… lackeys!

During all my planning, I did not even consider the fact he might have lackeys with him. The more people there were the harder it would be for me to rescue Isabel. However, it was too late now to turn back, not that I ever would have given someone I cared about’s life was on the line. 

Unlike the training rooms, which I had used to practise and have sex with Hannah a couple of times, the training halls were rather different. For starters, there were only two of these halls, one at each end of the building. But the main difference between the rooms and the halls was that the halls were much bigger. There was enough space for a hundred people to freely move about inside, all of whom could be practising their own magic without infringing upon anyone else’s space.

Seeing as how there were only ever around four hundred students attending the academy at one time, that amount of space was overkill for personal training and, as such, was often used for combat simulations. For classes that required more active learning, the teachers would use the training halls to set up obstacles and terrain so that students weren’t always practising in the same environment. However, since I was only an abjuration specialist, I was really never involved in such activities.

Once I made it to the doors leading to training hall 1, I took a moment to stop and take a deep breath. After calming myself as best I could, I threw the doors open and did my best to fake a confident walk inside. My heart almost leapt out of my chest when I saw that there was only one person inside the otherwise completely empty hall. 

If Isabel wasn’t here, it would have made rescuing her a whole lot harder, but luckily the person lying in wait for me wasn’t Cromwell, as I assumed it would be. In hindsight, though, it made sense that it wasn’t going to be him. The snake of the man operated through lackeys the last time, so why would he get his own hands dirty now? Unfortunately, the identity of the person waiting for me was both a good and a bad thing.

It was a woman somewhere in their late twenties. I would have said that she was around eight years older than me if I had to guess. Their build was broad and tall, probably only a few centimetres shorter than mine. Although their clothing was loose-fitting robes, it was clearly combat gear one might see in the arena. Given the identity of the woman, which I immediately knew, it made sense that she was wearing such clothing.

That’s right, the person that was lying in wait for me was none other than Isabel’s sister, Iona Ignis, the famous arena duelist known as the Inferno Tornado. However, I recognised her not just because she shared her sister’s fiery red hair and crimson eyes, but because I had seen her televised duels a number of times. Although we had never met before, I was more than a little familiar with who she was and what she could do.

"I take it since you're here that Isabel isn’t actually in danger?" I asked. It was a reasonable assumption on my part given how protective the two of them were of each other.

"No, she’s at home, a little confused as to why her sending slate was taken away and why I told her not to leave, but otherwise perfectly fine for now." The broad-built woman just stood there with her arms crossed as she responded to me. 

It was a good sign that she didn’t just attack me straight away, as it gave me some hope that I might have been able to reason with her. "Do you suppose the fact that I’m dating your sister will afford me some mercy?" I gave her a cheeky smile as I came to a stop about twenty metres away from her.

The woman had a slight chuckle over my suggestion before becoming all serious again. "I will do what I must, whatever that is, but you have a choice. The Warden Arcanum has decided to be merciful and offer you a path out of this that doesn’t necessarily have to end with your bloodshed.”

"Oh, really now…" It was my turn to chuckle. "And what would this new path entail, after he had already sent someone to kill me."

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"All he wants is the Crown of Lust, whatever the fuck that is." Iona began to explain. I already assumed he was after the crown, but it begged the question of how he knew about it. I doubted that my father would have told another living soul about it.

"Instead of killing you, I can chuck a pair of magic restraining cuffs on you and take you to meet him. The choice is yours."

Upon hearing the snake of a man’s "gratuitous" offer, I couldn’t help but let out another chuckle, but then an idea came to me. With a mischievous grin stretched across my lips, I asked the woman in front of me something that she wasn’t expecting. "Iona, tell me, do you like your life here?” 

“Participating in staged duels for the attention of the crowds that would shun you if they knew how fake it all really was, not to mention being forced to kill for that snake of a man who allowed your sister to be similarly manipulated. I can’t imagine you are overly pleased with your current situation."

Iona gritted her teeth, obviously annoyed by the things I was bringing up but unwilling to voice that opinion. "Whatever you’re trying won’t work, so stop trying. Either come with me to meet with the Warden Arcanum, or I will kill you."

"There aren’t just two options, there is a third…" I let my words linger for a second before continuing. "I’ve made plans to leave the city and escape Cromwell. You and your sister could always come with us. Come with us away from the corruption of this godforsaken place, and build a new life on the ground."

"Isabel may be safe now, but do you really think that she would be safe on the ground, or for that matter, that you would be safe there? I’ve heard that the place is infested with terrible monsters called fellspawn. They devour any signs of life they find and are constantly testing the strength of any settlement on the ground. You two are just 2nd-level. How are you going to defend yourselves against such dangers." The woman retorted, and it was a good sign that she was actually engaging with me instead of just threatening to kill me again.

"My mother grew up on the ground before she came to Caellas. She knows what it's actually like and how to survive. And me, well, I’m not as weak as you would think." I responded confidently.

For a few seconds, it looked like Iona was seriously coming around to my suggestion, but then she shook her head and said. "No, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Even if I trusted you enough to put my sister’s safety in your hands, which I don’t, the Warden Arcanum is tracking me.” 

As if to explain herself, the woman held up an arm where I saw a metal bracelet around her wrist. Given how tightly it dug into her skin, it didn’t look like she could easily remove it without destroying it, which would no doubt alert the one monitoring it of her betrayal. “The moment he finds out I have left the academy and that I’m not heading for the Starspire, he’ll send someone to take my sister into custody. What, did you really think no one would find out about the crime she committed?”

“When the Warden Arcanum’s lackey suddenly disappeared, of course, he would graciously extend an offer to find out the truth of what happened to his fellow council member, Archmage Garner. All the Warden Arcanum would need to do is pull a few tomes from the Arcanum Vault and conduct an extensive ritual that would allow him to consult with the young man’s wayward soul.”

“Truthfully though, finding out who killed poor George was much easier than what he led the young man’s family patriarch to believe. However, the answer he got is still susceptible to change, depending on what happens now. I will only say this one more time, come with me to meet the Warden Arcanum or die, Alek Allur.”

So, Isabel’s life isn't in danger, she’s just being threatened with incarceration for our crimes. That isn’t great, but I could still-

My thoughts were interrupted as the doors to the training room were thrown open upon the untimely arrival of my maid. Since the conversation with Iona wasn’t what I had expected, I completely forgot about the fact that I ordered one of the Hex’s to follow me after ten minutes had passed.

"What is this? You were told to come alone!" Iona shouted as fire coalesced in her hands. “I guess you’ve made your choice. BURN!”

One of the traits of someone who had progressed to the 5th level of spell casting was that they could create runic arrays in their mind instead of having to draw them in the air. This allowed for a much greater, near-instantaneous speed of casting, which was exactly what the woman was showing off here as she sent a super-charged fan of flames spells my way. Although that spell was relatively tame at the 1st level, when upcast to the 5th, it became a tsunami of intense, skin-blistering heat. One that was heading straight for me and Hex.

As much as I wanted to peacefully convince Iona to come with me, the time for words was at an end. If I wanted to survive, then I needed to act fast and not pull my punches. The only way I could survive fighting someone as strong as Iona was if I went all out.

 

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