With it being the Lundein Fair, and with most every itinerant Dayer throughout the Bernician Isles gathered in Lundein ready to be hired by the various guilds, it was only to be expected the guilds would use the students of M ægen Scōl for extra labour; either as heroes, or to do unskilled work. Of course they put it to them that it would be an excellent learning experience. I guessed it really would be.
Accordingly every student was called in by their guilds to work. Not only students, but most of the facility were drafted to help with the Lundein Fair too. The four misfit students: myself, Gomes, Tan-bei, and Lucia were not part of any guilds. So we were mostly ignored and not hired by the guilds.
Our odd dorm ’s exception was Tan-bei.
Her minor talent in supportive divine arts, including healing, was rare enough for others to put aside their distrust with her and use her.
As everyone was helping either at Fairfields, on the far side of Lundein, or patrolling the even busier than normal streets of Lundein, the lands of M ægen Scōl were oddly and disturbingly quiet.
Because I wasn ’t sure if it was a comfortable or uncomfortable quiet, I focused upon my lovely full belly. The way my was mouth was filled with a soothing taste of lovely bread and the firm and flavoursome cow’s cheese, which so unlike the mild creamy goat’s cheese I was used to from my home isle.
I really was content. Though I had to admit I was missing Sara ’s comfortable warmth and the cheap ale taste of her eager kisses. It not take much for me to be truly content, mainly to be rid of the annoying pain that kept on radiating that dull twinging every step I took.
Though Doctor Lee had asked for me to come, I was worried that the Medical Hall would be left with only traditionally trained, unpowered healers available. If so, maybe they could do something to aid with the pain … But, well, I wasn’t sure what they could do, which my body wouldn’t do naturally.
Having already walked past Brook Dorm, just after I entered lands of M ægen Scōl using the small discrete gate which led into the Brook Bridge region of Three Bridge. I was walking through the, by now, overly familiar fields and precise geometric ornate gardens which separated our dorm from the rest of the dorms and their integrated classrooms. What should’ve been tranquil felt unnaturally forced and homogenised as the flowers were the same creamy shades as the imposing creamy stone amphitheatre with its simple buttresses holding up its plain creamy stone walls which lorded over all.
Even the new dorms and Medical Hall, which were built in a grand manner, with the same creamy stone as the amphitheature, but with lots of large windows dominating their facades they didn ’t make much of an impression on me. Maybe it was because I was biased. I enjoyed fighting on the vivid rust-red sands of the amphitheatre, a beautiful colour of blood and sweat, and was far more comfortable with the smaller and more intimate Brook Dorm with its historic brick construction and oddly comforting creaking, especially as I climbed the narrow and wonky stairs.
Before today, I don ’t think I have ever needed to walk through the flagstone lined, vaulted archway into the calming confines of the Medical Hall. The bright splash of flowers and herbs gave off an intense calming smell, which helped ground me. It had been too long since such a nice natural scent had surrounded me, even if it was unnatural that many of those calming scent baring plants grow in such proximity to each other.
‘Took your time, didn’t you?’ A familiar angry voice said from the open door of the day treatment room.
All the calmness I felt from the floral and herbal scents faded.
Carrack stormed out still wearing his purple outfit. His metal mask was off. ‘You were meant to head straight here and not stop. You are wasting my time. I am busy, you know. Too busy to keep chasing up after a thief who cannot do what they’re meant to.’
He stopped in front of me cockily sizing me up.
Like Gomes, he had black hair which framed his face. Unlike Gomes, his black hair was neatly cropped, and his skin was a rich pink. He was also probably a decade older than me, looking like he was probably in his late twenties.
‘Hand the knife back over.’ He looked at my belt. ‘Where is the knife?’
‘I gave it to a friend.’
‘Go. Get. It. Back. It belongs to us.’
‘Are you admitting you had me stabbed?’
‘Are you an idiot?’ He growled ineffecialy at me, as if he were a puppy. ’That was a given. Of course I had you stabbed. It’s normal procedure for those who refuse to lower their mental barriers. Pain disrupts your—normally disrupts your shields. Thankfully, we hired an idiot from Three Bridge to wield it, so their loss doesn’t matter.’ He then looked at me with a stern gaze, which maybe was meant to be intimidating. ‘So give. The knife. Back.’
I shrugged. ‘I gave it away. Was pretty interested in it when I gave it to him.’
‘Of course he’ll be interested in it. It’s a powerful remnant.’
It took all the willpower I had not to sigh. This Carrack was being as much an annoyance as the dull throbbing in my side. Seriously, he was more worried about the knife than about the death of a person. I did a quick mental calming procedure to calm myself down. ‘I was promised healing. Where is it?’
Carrack chuckled to himself. ‘Healing? You don’t deserve healing, you thief. I know you stole that knife, and I have an eyewitness which saw you carrying a strongbox that likely belonged to the warehouse you invaded earlier this morning. The same warehouse from which you stole the cargo, which belonged to a trading house within Lundein. ’
‘Who was this eyewitness?’
He waved his hand, ‘just some drunk fool blabbering about scary demi-humans.’
‘So you’re taking the word of a drunk over a student such as myself?’
‘I saw his memories you know,’ Carrack said, stepping in closer to me, doing his best to intimidate me a second time.
I couldn ’t help it, but burst out in laughter.
In the past better people; people such as professional killers and soldiers had tried to intimidate me. But it was the wicked, and frankly insane, individuals who had succeeded to a lesser degree or other. Plenty of them had been smaller and slighter than me. Despite their slight size some of them had made me, at the very least, anxious. Few had survived those incidences. Fewer still left the situation without any harm happening to them.
So the humour of this fool trying to intimidate me in the most basic and simple manner possible washed away my anger. Yes, this fool was muscular, and was reasonably powerful and strong. But the idiot was trying to intimidate me, going up size against size.
That was just too much.
Another round of laugher burst out unbidden.
His head barely reached the middle of my chest, and his shoulders were the width of my chest. Did he honestly think that with the discrepancy in size he was being threatening to me? Especially after the hard life I had lived.
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His rich pink face flushed red with anger.
On top of that, I honestly couldn ’t believe just how far this man was pushing things.
Part of me wanted to know just how far was this idiot going to push it. Still, in his anger, he was giving me more information than I was sure I was giving him, and I wanted to know just what cargo they were on about and why they suspected me above all.
‘So what did you see in this memory of the drunk?’
‘Three grey skinned demi-humans.’ The look of disgust was palpable. ‘One a pretty slip of a lass, a cute girl who is almost right for popping,’ he gave an eager little grin there, ‘and a muscular giant of a man who loomed over everyone and everything. And the only muscular giant around here is you.’
This time I couldn ’t help but sigh. So he understood I was bigger and taller than him.
I could also see that Lucia could be called pretty with her slender figure. In fact, if I was to describe her, she would be pretty. My beloved Sara would be chubby and plain, but she had plenty of other cute and beautiful things about her.
But what annoyed me, and what made it hard to keep my temper in check, was the way he said that my daughter, Nolicia, was ready for popping. And he seemed to enjoy thinking about it.
She was maybe around eight years old, that was way too young. I did the best to ignoring the fact I was not much older than that my first time.
Maybe I was letting my anger get in the way, but he was insinuating she would have no choice in the matter. At least I had a choice, and decided to.
Carrack backed away slightly.
Maybe my anger wasn ’t in check as much as I thought it was. Giving in to a slight sliver of my anger, I reached out and grabbed Carrack by the throat. Then, as easily as I picked up the strongbox this morning, I picked him up so that his feet were dangling in the air.
He gripped my wrist with his two hands, trying, I guess, to reduce the strain on his throat. I then pulled him closer so he could inspect my bearded face. The pain in my side flared up, but I ignored it.
‘My skin. Is it grey?’
Carrack tried to get a word out, but he couldn ’t speak. In the end, he did the best shake of his head he could.
I threw him backwards a small distance.
He landed on his feet and then stumbled slightly, landing awkwardly on the flagstone floor.
‘How dare you?’ He said, taking gasps of air. ‘How dare you treat me like that? I am a Guild Hero. You are a nothing but a troublemaker.’
‘It’s getting harder and harder to see the benefits of being a Guild Hero.’ I said, walking towards him before crouching down so I was closer to his pale, panicked face.
He was still laying on the flagstone floor and shuffled backwards slightly.
‘Those who need help are overlooked. Trampled beneath your so-called righteous ways. True heroes do not act in such a way. They help any who need help: powerful and downtrodden alike. ’ From the way his face turned into a sneer I knew I wasn’t getting through to him. ‘Tell me about this special cargo? What is so important it requires you to spend time during the Lundein Fair to go hunting after it?’
He tried to square up against me, but it looked strange as he was still laying on the flagstone floor. ‘It belongs to a rich merchant house who was about to sell it overseas. When I escorted the two parties to the warehouse this morning, we found that the place had been attacked. The security of the warehouse brutally murdered, and the cargo stollen.’
‘If the cargo was taken, there must’ve been a large group of people to take it. Especially if the gang was murdered, why me then?’
‘Treeman killed most of the guards.’
Oh, no, please tell me the cargo wasn ’t what I was thinking it was. I forced my face into a blank expression and nodded. Forcing him to carry on.
‘The cargo was cattle, and would’ve stunk up any warehouse within Lundein. So they made a deal to store it in Three Bridge.’
‘Cattle doesn’t get shipped aboard. Normally the Bernician Isles import horses, not export them. What type of cattle was it? A herd of cows would be hard to hide, even in Three Bridge.’
‘Cows,’ he scrunched his face up in confusion and dislike, ‘no, not sheep or goats either. But disgusting demi-humans.’
I stood up and turned away.
If I carried looking at him, I would likely be the cause of his murder. I saw Doctor Lee with her timeless beige skin face with its silver hair framing it was looking down upon Carrack. Her normally elegant face twisted in pure disgust.
Next to her the slightly curvaceous and stunningly beautiful Tan-bei. She stood tall, slightly taller than the average man, almost the same height as Gomes and she had a wonderous womanly figure which caught the eys of most men. Her silky and straight black hair, fell perfectly down her back. She looked at me with a complex look. But her warm eyes were expressive and connected with mine in a way deeper than the most passionate of kisses I shared with Sara. Her lovely warm copper-fawn skin, similar to the tan some of my fellow islanders got during the sun season. Between her warm smile, and giving and flirty nature, she was one of the more popular students amongst her peers—despite being from Brook Dorm. It helped that she also wore a beautiful and simple long sleeved dress, as she always did, which didn ’t cover all of her long shapely legs, and accentuated her womanly figure.
‘I promised you one last attempt to talk to Master Berwyn, Master Ailward. Instead of treating him with dignity and respect, you continued to harass him. Not only that, you disclosed many pertinent details about your investigation. I will be sending a formal letter of complaint to the Guardians of Lundein Pool today. As for the remnant, you lost. Well, it’s lost and remaining lost. I believe that Master Berwyn most likely gave the knife to his friend Gomes de Rio Puente. So, unless you can convince Gomes de Rio Puente to sell you the knife, it is lost to you. And as he’s a member of the powerful Rio Puente family, do not attempt to bully him. They are a powerful traiding family and have many connections within Lundein.
‘I will be telling him about the remnant before I allow any of the Guardians of Lundein Pool to meet up with him. Not that I expect I need to tell him much, because he is an artefactor of the highest degree. Despite his lack of interest in his general schooling and interest in exploring as many women as possible. Master Ailward, you may go, but before you do, wait here. I will have that letter of complaint written up for you to deliver. Tan-bei, please go with Berwyn to Instructor Maelwys’ chambers. He’s expecting Berwyn. You may treat him there.’
Tan-bei walked over to me and grabbed my arm, holding it close, resting her head on my upper arm. Those beautiful and bright eyes looked up at me with still the same powerful expressive gaze as before. Normally, she was more subtle and gentle with her touching.
‘You ready?’
Maybe because she looked at me with more passion, more openess than Sara did last night in bed, I finally got it. I shivered slightly, but I couldn ’t think of a way to remove Tan-bei from my arm. Not that I wanted to. Selfishly I wanted to keep her close.
All I could do was nod and walked back through the vaulted archway back out of the Medical Hall, Tan-bei holding tight onto me.
‘Take the lead, okay? Because I’m just an innocent girl.’ She semi-puckered her lips.
I cupped her cheek, almost reached down to kiss them.
No.
No, I couldn ’t.
‘Ooh, so Sara finally got you to see her, did she? So my lessons paid off. ’ Tan-bei gave me a smile, which made me feel cold and warm deep inside. ‘Oh, this is going to be fun…’
Tan-bei gave me a seductive smile. My heart pounded within my chest.
‘Come on then, we can’t keep him waiting. We’ll have to be quick. And I’m okay with you being quick.’ She gave me a smile which resembled one I had seen Gomes give girls when he wanted to sleep with them. A smile, which worked more often than not. One which might’ve not worked on me before. Yet the smile was close to working on me, right now.