Year: 3045 AGD

Month: Time of Storms

First Thirdday

Serenity Valley

Institute of Learning

Amphitheater

The atmosphere in the amphitheater was tense. Everyone was dirty, tired, and hungry. They had been captives now for nearly four days and nerves were stretched to their limit all around. The captives were beginning to wonder if they would die of starvation and there was more than one group talking about trying to fight their way out of the troll blockade.

The trolls seemed to be just as frustrated as whatever they came here to find continued to elude them. There were just as many disgruntled looks from the trolls towards the human that led them as there were malcontents in the amphitheater.

The man, who had told them his name was Walkins, had tried twice already to get Torva Blackbriar to give him information on something he called aegis, but the headmistress either didn’t know, or wouldn’t tell. Either way, things were going to come to a head soon, and Olivia was not looking forward to how that was likely to play out.

“Sara, how is your brother doing?” The headmistress asked in as low of a voice as she could accomplish, which was still loud enough for anyone within ten feet to hear clearly.

“Much better Headmistress Blackbriar, thank you for asking.”

Sara had long-since stopped cradling her brother's head in her lap and was now simply kneeling by his side checking his pulse and the swelling on his head every few minutes. Olivia thought this was quite the improvement.

“The swelling has gone down quite a bit in the last day or so thanks to the minstrations of nurse Stonebank.” Sara punctuated her statement by once again looking under the bandage to check the wound on Rigael's head.

Olivia was halfway through rolling her eyes when Rebeccca poked her in the side.

“She's just worried about her brother.” Rebecca whispered, “you'd be doing the same thing if that were Shawnrik or a member of your kompanias.”

“I know, it's just...”

“Ms. Blackbriar.”

The girls all watched as the Headmistress's whole body tensed before she released a breath before turning around to face the man who held them all captive. Walkins strolled through the gathered students and faculty with a handkerchief pressed to his nose.

You wouldn't have to use that if you'd let us go use the showers. Olivia thought.

“Mr. Walkins, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening?”

Olivia was seriously impressed by the ability for the headmistress to layer in so much sarcasm into her statement while sounding completely sincere.

Walkin's waved his handkerchief lightly around as if to wave away the fact that it didn't matter what she felt about him personally. “You know why I'm here. If you just told us where we can find this aegis device we could all be done here and we could all go our separate ways.”

Torva Blackbriar seemed to be processing something for a moment before she spoke. “Mr. Walkins, I assure you that if there was a device called aegis that you could just take out of here that I knew about I would simply give it to you.” Walkins seemed to be about to say something when she continued. “However, you seem to be under the impression that were you to get this device you and your hired help could just leave and we could go back to our regular schedules. I hate to disabuse you of the idea that this is going to go quickly, but you are aware that the portals will not activate again until right before the harvest festival?”

Walkins seemed to lose some of his bluster as the two trolls that followed him through the crowd began to mutter to each other under their breath. He moved in closer to the headmistress and lowered his voice.

“What?” Walkins looked around and pulled on the headmistress's shoulder causing her to raise an eyebrow, but allowed herself to be pulled down closer to his level. “Are you trying to tell me that there is no way out of this valley before the harvest festival? You have no control over the portals?”

Torva Blackbriar laughed. A deep sound that sounded more like boulders grinding together than mirth. “There are a few fishing vessels that brave the shores of our small island, but I don't think you would want to take any of them out into the ocean; nor would there be enough of them to take all of your men with you.”

Unlike Walkins she had made no efforts to lower her voice so the reactions of the trolls behind Walkins would have been entertaining to Olivia if things weren't as tense as they were inside the amphitheater. Several nearby people having overheard the remarks laughed sardonically.

“As for the portals.” She continued, “As far as I am aware, no one is able to control them, nor has anyone been able to for as long as the Institute has been around. There are set markers out in the world that can receive a portal, as well as set times and days that the portals are active. We have two empty rooms where portals used to open, but no longer do. We were able to verify that one of the connected pillars had been damaged to the point that it no longer worked. The other has never worked according to the records I have been able to find.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Nearly a minute passed as the man seemed to be processing this new information. Olivia looked from the man to the headmistress and then back to the troll guards several times during this period and she watched as first the man, and then the guards seemed to understand that no one was leaving anytime soon, and things were not going to go well if something didn't change in the immediate future.

“Mr. Walkins, I can see that your employer left out vital information that you should have known before you were sent on this silver wolf chase.” She somehow seemed to grow smaller as she took a step back, looking as nonthreatening as a female troll her size could. Olivia thought the difference was about equal to Immediate violence versus the threat of immediate violence, but held her tongue as the woman continued. “Might I suggest that you allow us move into one of the dorms so that we might at least have the basic necessities. We could even start a kitchen back up and you and your men could have some real food while you continue your search in the following months.”

Walkins looked around at the unwashed faces around him and seemed to realize that these people weren't going to sit here meekly for much longer if the situation wasn't improved. The trolls also seemed to like the idea of a hot meal as they hadn't quite figured out the knack of the schools equipment quite yet and had been seen with large cans in hand ladling out large mouthfuls of whatever they could open.

“Alright Ms. Blackbriar, I will concede that you are right on this account. I'll go talk to my scouts and see which of the dorms will be easiest to keep you contained in.” His voice rose as he continued. “Tomorrow morning we'll be moving your people into better accommodations. I warn your people not to test my patience as any attempts to escape or cause trouble will be dealt with in a swift and immediate fashion.”

Torva Blackbriar dipped slightly, and Olivia wondered if the headmistress had just curtsied. “I give you my word that no one here will cause you any trouble.” Several groups who had moved closer as the conversation continued began to murmur at these words causing the headmistress to raise her head before speaking so that the whole amphitheater could hear her clearly. “No one will cause any trouble while we make this transition. If anyone steps out of line while we try to make an attempt at some sort of normalcy you won't have to worry about this man and his clump. You will have to deal with me, and you know I do not take lightly anyone who puts my students in danger.”

Olivia watched as the people around them began to visibly take a step back as the Headmistress's gaze passed through the crowd. She couldn't help note that the man Walkins had also paled slightly at the end of her statement and began to make his way out of the amphitheater.

“Excellent, then I'll leave you to organizing everyone so they are ready to move in the morning. I'm sorry we're all going to be stuck with each other a while, but as long as no one does anything stupid things should go smoothly.”

Elsewhere

“This is stupid.”

Lia swore to herself under her breath as she ran past trees that would tower over the tallest buildings in Safeharbor. She was a long way from her home, but having lost the only family she had left in the world she knew that the last thing she could do was live a simple life working as a maid for someone else.

Nim had treated her and Megan better than anyone ever had before. He had given them a place to live, and had allowed them to continue their educations under his employ. It hadn't been until she had seen the pain in his face as her sister's body slowly grew weaker as the poison worked its way through her system that she had realized just how much he had actually cared.

Having spent a good portion of their lives living off scraps and the 'kindness' of others the girls had quickly learned that very few people ever did anything out of the kindness of their hearts. The fact that Nim Mithriannil barely a step removed from the royal line of Theromvores had cared about Lia and her sister and seemed to have no ulterior motives scared her more than if he had. She didn't know how to repay that kind of kindness. He had spent thousands of golds trying to cure her sister, even though the priests told him it wouldn't help.

So she had ran.

Like she always did.

Little Lia, scared of her own shadow.

Her sister had always been the brave one. Megan was the one who had been able to tell that when this man said he could get them off the streets and into a safe place he had actually meant it unlike all the others who had tried to make the girls their own. Megan was the one who took to their martial training with aplomb while Lia flinched every time the practice blade had come near her.

Her sister had told her that she thought if they were good enough they might be able to get jobs like Jenn and become important members of the Theromvore information network, but Lia had simply wanted to be a maid and tease the young master. Megan and Victor had been everything she wasn't. Both were self assured, and had been able to win a room with their personality alone. While she cried at her sister's bedside, holding her hand as the life drained from her, he had been out with Nim making sure the ones that had done this deed would never do it again.

She had finally put her faith in someone other than her sister and it had been a boy who hadn't even seen his eighth birthday. The worst part was that she had known he would get the job done. Of course, he had been accompanied by two of the greatest fighters in the Protectorate, but she hadn't known the Tetriarch of the Sorcerers himself would accompany the boy and her employer on their sojourn.

Because of course he was.

Who else but Nim or Victor could get the legendary battlesorcerer Zander Halcyon to join them on a nighttime walk where they broke a dozen laws of the very city he had pledged to protect. They had come back successfully, but no one thought it was a victory as they prepared to lay Megan to her final rest, and the others left on a trip to the north to save the boy Shawnrik who her sister had said would be a fine man in a few years.

So she had ran.

Like she always did.

Only this time she was running to something instead of away from something. It was a stupid idea. A flight of fancy that a child might run off on. Her mother had told them stories of the forest every night before tucking them into their beds. The once proud elven woman who now worked herself to he bone at the fishery trying to make enough money to keep food on their plates and their father wealthy enough so he would stay at the bar instead of coming home.

She had told the girls of the tribes of people who lived in the southern part of the Death's Edge forests where even the elves with all of their woodcraft dared not go. These mighty and brave people who lived off the land and were spoken of in hushed, fearful tones by even the bravest of the Protectorate.

It was stupid, but she couldn't get them out of her head. If only she had been as fearless and strong as her sister, Megan might not have had to jump in front of a blade that had been aimed for her.

So she ran.

Like she always did.

What she hadn't realized.

In those moments of introspection.

As she ran through the towering growth.

Was that she no longer ran alone.