Several weeks ago, Ogier sat in the sunlight, watching his mother’s training. Bruises covered her body. There were three grown men attacking her while she defended herself. They all had wooden swords, and Ogier’s mother’s face was filled with desperation. There was no way she could win; however, she was doing better than any 15-year-old girl had any right to.
He noticed that her opponents were at least twice her size; however, Ogier didn’t think training with them was any feat of courage. As far as he was concerned, they were just playing.
Sometimes, Ogier did something similar with her. He bit at her fingers when he was feeling playful. If his mother wasn’t wearing her glove, this could cause her to bleed. Ogier didn’t want to hurt her and bit as lightly as possible. But he wasn’t quite smart enough to figure out that the gloves protected her.
Ogier was 5 and a half feet long and a bit over 1 and a half feet at the hips. Sand-colored feathers covered his body. His feet had a large claw that he’d use to restrain prey as he bit it. Additionally, he was 3 years old and fully grown.
It should be obvious that Ogier wasn’t his mother’s biological son. He was a velociraptor who imprinted on her. This imprinting meant he thought he was a human. His kind had been selectively bred for a few generations, which made them friendlier and more social to humans. The breeding also made them retain some infantile traits into adulthood, like their love of playing. However, he was still a wilder creature than cats or dogs.
Two people, a man and a woman, were sitting next to Ogier. While he was on the floor, they were on chairs. The man was a tall and imposing person of 62. He had a thick mustache that reminded Ogier of a tasty snake. He wore light armor at all times. This was very uncomfortable and his eyes had bags under them from lack of sleep.
Ogier once had armor put on him. He tolerated it until they tried to place a helmet on his face. That was when the velociraptor forced the armor off. Not being intelligent enough to understand that armor protected you, Ogier had no idea why he’d wear something like that. No one had attacked the man either. So the velociraptor couldn’t figure it out even if he was smart enough.
As for the woman, she would have been beautiful if she was stress-free. She was 35; however, the woman looked like she was 50. Her hair was grey, her face covered in wrinkles, and there were scars on her cheeks where she clawed them with her fingernails. Her clothing, on the other hand, was immaculately beautiful.
They would be Ogier’s grandparents if he had a concept of them. He was more social than wild members of his kind; however, velociraptors evolved to live in mated pairs with children. The concept of living with your children's children or having any real relationship with them was alien to him.
His mother took two strikes before collapsing onto the ground. Her breath was feral and ragged. The people next to Ogier stood up, and he did the same. With bird-like movements, the velociraptor went over to his mother. He made some comforting clucks when he saw how hurt she was.
“That wasn’t good enough!” the man reached down and grabbed his mother before yanking her up.
The effort of this made him cough up blood.
“We can’t just have you beat that Myrksalr boy! You must crush him utterly before you kill him!”
Ogier let out a goose-like hiss. He had no idea what the man was talking about, but he knew that the man was being hostile towards his mother. At one point, he would have bit the man for this. A few beatings crushed that idea.
The man glared at Ogier. Fear pulsed through the velociraptor, and he backed down.
“Honestly, Gustava, why couldn’t you do better? Don’t you care about our family’s honor?” the woman spat.
“I-I’m s-sorry. T-That was the best I could do,” Ogier’s mother said.
“The House of Myrksalr has been our enemies for a thousand years, ever since they dishonored our ancestor! If that was the best, it isn’t good enough!” the man shouted.
Ogier had no idea what most of those words meant; however, he knew that this man said that the House of Myrksalr was their enemies at least five times a day.
“Now, listen here, Gustava! The main branch of the House of Myrksalr has only one son left! We could end that bloodline if you kill him! I don’t have much time left, and I want to live to see the House of Myrksalr in ruins.”
That man said this a lot too. Ogier understood that this meant that he was going to die soon. The velociraptor liked that. He couldn’t wait until the man was lying dead on the ground. Then, the beatings would stop, he wouldn’t need to be afraid anymore, and his mother would be safe.
“I’ll kill him, father, I promise! Please let go. You’re hurting me,” Gustava begged.
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“I understand that you’re a girl,” the woman started. “But you are the heir to the House of Lejon. If you can’t take twice as much as any man can, you’re not good enough.”
Ogier didn’t like her either. But he didn’t think she would die soon, which was unfortunate.
The man dropped Gustava to the ground. There was a stern look on his face.
“Our enemy is at Athena Academy. You don’t have any time left for training, so you had better crush him. Do you remember the plan?” he asked.
“I do,” she answered.
The man glared, “Don’t lie to me! I know you’ve forgotten it!”
“No, I remember,” Gustava insisted before blurting things out. “Athena Academy has a lot of our supporters among their staff. They’ll put me in the same room as the Myrksalr heir. Then, I’ll make sure I’m undressing when he goes into the room. He’ll walk into the room, see me undressed, and I’ll have an excuse to challenge him to a duel. We’re not supposed to kill each other at the Academy and will use blunted weapons, but blunted weapons can still kill someone. I’ll say it was an accident and our supporters will back me up.”
“That’s almost good enough,” he said. “You should have said the plan faster.”
“Isn’t it enough that I remember it?” Gustava begged.
“Pathetic girl. As if that could ever be enough. You must be fast if we’re going to get revenge on the von Myrksalrs,” the man said.
“The time has almost come for you to avenge our family’s honor,” the woman looked right into her daughter’s eyes. “Come back with the Myrksalr boy’s head or don’t come back at all.”
Gustava gulped. It wouldn’t be enough to just kill him after breaking him. She had to bring his head back to her family. That cut off some of the possible killing methods. It didn’t cut off many of the ones she’d use, but it still meant that her options were limited if the duel plan failed.
Back at the present, Sigismund von Myrksalr walked towards the dorms with the stern-faced boy in front of him.
“Why the hell are you following me?” the latter glared.
“I’m not,” Sigismund stated. “We’re both going to the dorms.”
The boy grimaced, “I can’t be seen with a weirdo like you. Could you go some side route or something?”
“No. I’d get lost. Why don’t you go down a side route?”
“Because I am John Lancaster, son of Duke Edward Lancaster. I can’t have my reputation ruined by kowtowing to someone from a viscount family like you.”
“We’re Margraves,” Sigismund corrected.
“How am I supposed to know the ranks of every single foreign noble family?” anger flashed through John.
“Well, I don’t want to make enemies of a future duke, so I’ll go an alternate route.”
“Good.”
Sigismund jumped 10 feet in the air and landed on a rooftop. He then ran forward, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
“Dammit,” John slapped his face. “I didn’t want you to take a route that makes you look cooler than me.”
Sigismund arrived at his dorm room. The boy knew he would have a roommate, so he knocked on the door. There was no answer. The boy entered the room, turned around, and locked the door.
The room was very upscale. It had elaborate purple curtains with silver and gold inlays, tapestries depicting Athena Academy’s history, and furniture carved of the finest wood. Sigismund entered the bathroom, which was just as decorated as everything else. He turned on the bathtub’s knob to find that they had running water.
“As great as this looks, most of it’s a pretty big waste. I mean, purple curtains? Does whoever’s in charge of this place like throwing away money? Why not spend it on something that’s actually useful?”
Sigismund heard the sound of the doorknob turning and then stopping. That sound came again, and he approached the door. The lock turned before the door opened.
Standing outside of it was a woman Sigismund’s age. She had hair that was both red and blue, heterochromatic blue and purple eyes, and a look on her face that screamed, “Oh, shit.” There was a velociraptor next to her that looked at Sigismund with curiosity.
“I didn’t expect you to get here before me,” she said.
“What is a girl doing here?” Sigismund asked. “This is the boys’ dorm.”
“There weren’t enough rooms for everyone, so they had to put me here,” the woman stated.
That was a lie so blatant that Sigismund wondered why she bothered.
He questioned, “If they had to put a girl in my room, why didn’t they tell me? If I wasn’t the sort of person who knocks on the door, I could have seen you changing.”
“Never mind that!” embarrassment and anger mixed in the girl. “I am Gustava Lejon, and I know you’re Sigismund von Myrksalr!”
“If we’re going to live together, please call me Siggy.”
“I’d never live with Myrksalr filth like you! I hate you and your entire family after what you did to us 1,000 years ago!”
Sigismund said, “Let’s stop fighting, then. We can end this pointless feud.”
“You’d call our conflict pointless? How dare you!” Gustava shouted and threw down her glove. “Sigismund, I challenge you to a duel! If I win, you have to leave Athena Academy!”
“What do I get if I win?” he asked.
“I have to leave the Academy,” she answered.
“But I don’t want you to leave. I’m fine with you staying here.”
Gustava grit her teeth so hard that Sigismund thought they’d crack.
“You…” she said with a burning hatred. “I want you dead. Are you not taking me seriously?”
“Alright, I’ll accept your challenge,” Sigismund’s face turned serious.
He picked up the glove and slapped her with it. Gustava smirked.
“Two hours from now, the dueling grounds. Don’t be late,” Gustava said.
Then she just stood there.
Sigismund questioned, “Why are you just standing there?”
“Well, this is still my dorm room,” Gustava replied. “I need to put my stuff here and make sure Ogier’s comfortable.”
“Oh, right, go on in,” he stepped to the side.
The girl walked in and started putting down her stuff. Her velociraptor followed her inside before hissing at Sigismund. He then jumped onto one of the tables and spread his arms wide to make himself look bigger than he actually was.
“What’s his name?” Sigismund asked.
Gustava answered, “His name is Ogier, and after I’m through with you, he’ll be eating what’s left of your corpse!”
Hatred and rage filled her face. Sigismund remained calm.
“I’m going to the dueling grounds now. Someone has to tell them that we’re fighting,” he said.
“That’s fine by me. I can’t wait to kick your ass.”