Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Stealing Through the Nights Uncertainties

Sophia’s head was still resting on top of the wooden table as the teacher walked in. The man’s back was slightly hunched over giving him an awkward gait. He spent a minute setting up his magic and the board before he turned back around.

“Sophia? Please pay attention to the class,” the teacher said dully.

Sophia blearily raised her head and then plonked her chin down onto the table, giving him a challenging look, daring him to comment.

“Today class,” he began, glancing unflinchingly at Sophia’s changed facial features, “We’ll continue our study for the end of year tests.”

Sophia tried to weave her illusion again and felt it snap back into place, “So it was just an extended disruption spell?” She pondered.

With the teacher focused on his lesson, Sophia looked over at the teen that unmasked her to find him glaring angrily at her, his fists clenched and bone white at his sides. With a vindictive smirk, Sophia cast a spell on the chair beneath him and then settled in.

Only a minute later he shifted slightly in his seat, the front two legs of the chair letting out a pained creak as they collapsed in on themselves. With a yelp he smashed his face into the table in front of him and then flopped onto the ground groaning in pain, cradling his face as blood started to drip from his nose.

“Mr. Veslingr,” the teacher drawled, “Are you okay?”

Hearing a few classmates start to chuckle, the injured teen sprang up. He sent a fiery glare over to Sophia.

“It wa’ her faul’!” he said nasally, one hand still cradling his damaged nose, the other pointed at Sophia.

Sophia raised her hands innocently and with a languid smile said, “I’m sitting half-way across the classroom how could I have done anything?”

“Right.” The teacher said dryly, before he turned back to the teen, “Mr. Veslingr, please go to the healer.”

With a huff, the teen began stomping his way out of the room, the fierce glare he was giving Sophia increasing in intensity to a scorching inferno.

“Fuck this! She can’t get away with that!” he shouted, sending the students into a hush.

“Mr. Vagn Veslingr that kind of language is not acceptable at this institution.” The teacher said drearily.

“Bu- bu- but- she cast a spell!” He raged, “The chair broke for no reason. It’s her fault!”

“Stop,” the teacher said brusquely, heat creeping into his tone, “Please, just go to the healer.”

“Bu- but- but” he fumbled over his words, his fury palpable, his visage now atomic red.

“One more ‘but’ and you’ll be in detention,” the dull teacher curtly replied.

With one last inarticulate growl of rage the teen stormed from the room, blood still dripping from face. The class breaking out into hushed laughter as he left.

“Sophia please stay after the class,” the instructor ordered, the class letting out muffled ‘ooh’s’.

With a roll of her eyes Sophia settled back onto her desk. The teacher was now keeping an eye on her, so with a pained groan, for the first time, Sophia focused her gaze on what was being taught.

It was a dull eyed Sophia that robotically walked up to the teachers desk an hour later, all original thought seemed to have been lost into the ether to escape the mind-numbing boredom.

“Sophia?” The man quietly called out.

The blonde’s green eyes finally refocused, “I’m sorry what was that sir?”

“Sophia,” he sighed, “The teachers know that you and Ursula are above your year level. It’s why we’ve been so lenient on you sleeping during classes. But we do not condone the harming of your fellow students.”

“But he started it!” Sophia petulantly replied.

“I know,” he said calmly, “And that is why I’ve let it slide this one time. If he confronts you again, please just ignore him.”

“You know that’ll only make him angrier, right?” Sophia noted, spotting Ursula’s head peaking around the corner into the classroom.

With a small sigh the teacher massaged his furrowed brows, “Yes, I do. But stooping to his level will not solve anything. Go along now, your next class starts soon.”

“Yes sir.” Sophia huffed, and she started to walk out of the classroom, but as she reached the door the teacher spoke up once more.

“Oh, and Sophia?” He called out, “Please don’t let Ursula near him. I need my students in good health.”

With a nod Sophia left the room and was quickly beset by Ursula.

“What happened Soph?” The tall elf questioned, her eyes searching over Sophia’s body, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sophia reassured, and then gestured to her face, “Just that idiot from last week removed my illusion.”

A small fire blazed into existence in Ursula’s eyes, “That fuck! Well, if he’s going to think with his dick then I’ll give him to opportunity to think without it.”

“Ursy, it’s fine, nobody got hurt.” Sophia soothed.

“But Soph, it’s an open secret that a few nobles go here in disguise. If they recognized you…” The sound of Ursula clenching her fist could clearly be heard over the clamour of student’s footsteps and conversations, her fingernails digging deep into the palm of her hand.

“It’s too late now Ursy. Nothing you do will be able to change what’s happened. We just need to get back into training and hope for the best.” Sophia said practically.

Ursula’s shoulders slumped, a dejected look on her face, “I’m sorry Soph. I just hate not being able to do anything. Especially when you’re involved.”

Sophia reached up and pulled Ursula down into a soft kiss, “Thank you for looking after me. But I am capable in my own right. Need I remind you that I was the one who severely hurt the manticore?”

“Need I remind you that I was the one who killed it?” Ursula snarked back, a small smile breaking through the frown.

“Yeah, because I injured it.” Sophia shot back, her face lit up in happiness, “We’ve had this conversation a hundred times before and I will always win.”

“That’s because I always let you,” Ursula stole a quick kiss from Sophia’s soft lips and walked off to her next class.  

Sophia watched Ursula go until she turned a corner, a fond grin on her face, before heading off to her next class.

Sophia felt Vagn’s blue eyes drilling into her head with extreme ferocity for the remained of classes. This time the pair waited for him to leave before they set off for Axia’s smithy.

 

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Inside the training room the duo had just finished their stretches when the master smith strode into the room.

“A warrior should never be far from their weapon.” She tossed a book towards Sophia who hastily caught it. “Recall enchantment. Learn and apply.”

“Yes Axia, I’ve had a few lessons from my ancestor about spatial enchantments so it shouldn’t take too long to learn.” Sophia replied, a gleam in her eyes as they focused on the book.

She looked over to Ursula, and spoke brusquely, “With me. Focus on increasing enchantment capacity.” She returned to the forge, the intense heat of the fires blazing back into existence radiating through the wall a few seconds later.

After a short kiss Ursula headed off towards to forge while Sophia cracked open the book and began to read.

It was a tired but contemplative pair that walked back home in the evening, their hands clasped together but their eyes and thoughts focused elsewhere.

“The enchantment works by having a ‘receiving’ script enchanted onto something like a ring on your person, then you add a ‘sending’ script to the weapon. Then when you channel your magic, it runs through the script teleporting the weapon to your hand.” Sophia’s brows furrowed, “Although it’s stopped by most barriers tuned to blocking magic.”

Sophia opened up her mouth to continue but shut it with an audible clop, “Sorry. I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”

“Yes.” Ursula replied bluntly, “but it doesn’t mean I’m not interested.”

“Ursy all it took for you to leave the room back then was for me to start talking about chemistry,” Sophia said flatly, “This is not that much different.”

“Back then we weren’t in a relationship.” Ursula pointed out.

“So getting in a relationship is all it takes for a subject you didn’t like to become interesting?” Sophia snarked.

“It was for me,” Ursula said quietly.

“Oh…” Sophia mumbled, stumped by the reply, “I’m not sure if I asked but do you actually like blacksmithing?”

Ursula took a quick glance back at the smithy, “At the start, not really, learning all those texts sucked. But now that it’s more practical it’s becoming a lot better.”

“Speaking of Axia you know you’re not really speaking as much recently Ursy. Is she rubbing off on you that much?” Sophia questioned.

“Huh,” Ursula paused, “Now that you mention it… I did used to speak a lot more.” Her face gained a contemplative look, “I wonder if our families will even recognise us when we finally get back.”

“Ursy, I injured a kid for no other reason than being a big nuisance to me today. Am I going too far? Are we going too far? Back then I probably would’ve been suspended for doing that…” Sophia said pensively. “I think – I hope – we’re just being influenced by what we need to survive in this world. I mean for god's sake our real parents in this world didn’t want us and, if they found out, would probably try to kill us!”

They walked in silence for a few seconds as they pondered.

 “Not to mention the manamals, dungeons and, worst of all, our fellow people.” Ursula complained.

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Sophia shivered slightly at the last few words, giving Ursula a tight nod, “Yes, we as a general species are our own worst enemy.”

“Let’s take our mind off of that. Do you want to do something fun tonight?” Ursula suggested with a smile and a waggle of her eyebrows.

“I’m not really feeling in the mood tonight. Can you just hold me?” Sophia asked softly.

Ursula’s lascivious smile morphed into one of tenderness, “Of course.”  

 

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The next morning the pair walked to school once more, their disguises already in place. Their eyes were scanning their nearby surroundings, whilst using their superior hearing to listen out for unusual sounds.

Soon they approached the entrance to the school. “I guess he’s just not coming.” Sophia commented.

“He doesn’t sound like the type to give up this easily Soph,” Ursula shook her head, “He probably spent all of the weekend to learn that spell to disillusion you. He’s weirdly committed.”

Having said that they walked into school and went to their classes, Sophia noticing that Vagn’s baleful glare was absent from the room today.

After another boring day the duo were interrupted on the way home by a man wearing full plate armour with a simple longsword at his side. The sigil of a roaring lion standing behind a shield emblazoned on his chest plate. Despite the number of interlocking pieces when he moved, not a sound could be heard aside from his footsteps as he placed a hand in front of them, barring their path.

“My employer wishes to speak with you.” The guard said gruffly, his voice echoing slightly from underneath a full face helmet sounding not too dissimilar to bones being ground in a blender.

“Well you can tell your employer to fuck off.” Sophia curtly replied, Ursula nodding beside her.

“My employer will see you,” The guard used his thumb to partially unsheathe the sword at his side, “now.”

“No need to get physical, we’ll go with you.” Ursula said calmly, her hands raised in surrender.

“Good,” the man said roughly, slamming his sword back into its sheathe, and walked off to a small copse by the pathway.

It was only half a minute of walking before they found themselves in front of a small but extravagant carriage, pulled by two horse-like manamals. The frame looked to be made from pure gold which was contrasted against a rich ebony coloured wood. The window’s leading inside looked to be tinted, showing the reflection of the trees surrounding them.

“Don’t let them onto the carriage Reynard, it’s worth more than you make in ten years,” a snobbish voice echoed out from within. “And their mere presence has already started to dirty it.”

A beautiful young woman wearing simple clothes opened the door and stepped out from the carriage and placed a cushioned step ladder followed by a small roll of carpet. She gave the girls a tight smile and then stood off to the side of the door.

A medium sized man of slight build stepped into the gold-lined doorway, his clothes extravagant to the extreme. Underneath his plush, fur-lined cloak they could see another fur-lined tunic studded with an array of gems and pearls.

He tried to dramatically flair his cloak but all he managed to do was to send it weakly swishing around his gold embroidered shoes, at the same time he released a weak magical aura. His eyes flashed maliciously, as if expecting to see them cower before him, but when they did not react he daintily stepped down onto the carpet. Like a dull puppy, Vagn boldly walked behind him lacking any of his brother’s meagre grace.

Before he took another step he glanced down and then roughly whipped his heavily ringed hand across the woman’s face, “The carpet is not long enough!” He raged.

She collapsed onto the grassy earth like a puppet with its strings cut, cradling the weeping divots in her face caused by the jewellery.

Reynard shifted uncomfortably, “Your father will hear of you hurting our servants, Adam.”

The gruff knight pulled out a small red bottle and leaned over and gently lifted the woman’s head to feed the red liquid into her mouth. After a few seconds the wounds healed at a visible pace until nothing remained.

“The potion will come out of your allowance,” Renard stated.

“Bah, a drop in an ocean,” Adam waved dismissively.

“A high-quality potion from Master Alchemist Toktar?” Reynard sneered, missing the furtive glance from Sophia, “With him having gone to ground your ‘ocean’ will be missing for a few months.”

“You can’t treat me like this! We pay you!” Adam squealed, “My father will hear of this!”

“Yes… he will,” Reynard said slowly, his head shaking dismissively, “I don’t get paid enough for this bullshit.” He walked over and leaned against a nearby tree.

With a satisfied smile at the man’s dismissal, the gaudy noble turned to his brother who whispered a few words into his ear, before setting his eyes directly on Sophia.

“So, you’re the bitch that’s been giving my brother so much trouble,” he sniffed.

Sophia face flushed a hot red as the muscles in her hands creaked from the pressure.

“Fuck off,” Ursula announced, her voice reeking with thinly veiled anger. A quick glance at Reynard showed him at the ready, his hand on his sword.

“Simple commoners like you are not allowed to speak like that to your betters,” The gaudily dressed man spat.

Ursula sauntered up to him and tightened her gaze, her brown eyes staring down at him, as she released her magical aura in reply. But she quickly curtailed it hearing Reynard the guard draw his blade once more.  

“Who said I was a commoner?” Ursula scoffed as she noticed sweat starting to heavily bead on Vagn’s brother’s forehead.

“You can’t be a noble. I’ve never seen you at one of our balls! And you dress so poorly too!” Vagn interrupted petulantly.

“Maybe I let it go just to have a good enough reason to see some wannabee noble try and then have my family destroy them.” Ursula said with a vicious smile, her eyes almost boring a hole in the nervous teen’s skull.

Both their voices faltered, the older sputtering for a few seconds before he gathered himself back into his haughty pose, “What family are you a part of?”

“I see no reason to give you that information after the way you treated me and mine, especially after you have not yet introduced yourselves.” Ursula spoke with a low rumble.

The man tried to stand straight and tall but just ended up looking constipated, “I am Adam Veslingr, first son of Allen Veslingr and descendant of the second son to the great King Aedan, the founder of this great city.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Ursula snorted dismissively.

“Hmpf, brother let’s go.” He sniffed dismissively as he turned back towards the carriage with a small flair of his cloak.

“You don’t understand brother. She made me bleed my own blood!”  Vagn shouted testily, planting his feet on the spot.

You could almost hear Reynard rolling his eyes.

Adam turned and cast an admonishing glare at his brother before looking at Ursula, “How much for my brother to strike her?”

“I will not agree to any bargain.” Ursula spat out through gritted teeth, her magical aura starting to flair to greater heights, but she was interrupted by Sophia gently placing a hand on her back in both comfort and self-assurance.

Adam’s eyes flickered beseechingly over to Reynard, who had just returned his blade to its former position.

“I’m here to make sure you don’t get yourself killed and ensure this situation is resolved. Don’t look at me.” Reynard said blandly.

“Everyone has a price. One-hundred platinum!” He said with a confident smirk.

Ursula grabbed Sophia and turned to leave.

“Two-hundred platinum.”

Ursula quickened her steps.

“Five-hundred!” He said desperately.

Ursula reached the edge of the tree line.

“One-thousand! Reynard stop them!”

In a flash Reynard stood before them, “Sorry missies. Can’t have that.”

With a growl Ursula turned back towards Adam and cast a spell, a compressed ball of fire bloomed into existence in her palm.

“If the next words out your mouth aren’t ‘goodbye’ then my next spell with summon my guard and you will then feel the full wrath of my family,” Ursula announced coldly.

 “I’d like to see you try,” Adam sneered.

With a flourish of her hand Ursula sent the spell into the sky. When it reached over a hundred meters up it exploded sending out an abnormally large bang.

After ten seconds passed Adam grinned savagely and started to take confident strides towards the pair.

“I knew you were both no good commoner bitches.” He said with a lewd smile as he turned to Sophia, “My brother will take good care of you.”

Sophia’s body thrummed as her breathing quickened, adrenaline coursing through her veins, fingers twitching. Ursula shoved the small blonde behind her, stoically standing in the noble's path.

Adam took the final step to reach them. With a malicious grin he raised his hand to strike. His arm, shivering with excitement, began its decent.

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