Vengeance took many forms. Diroh hadn’t relied on pouting, sarcasm, or disobedience. Instead, she had made sure to drag everything of Dallion’s from the inn using air currents. Not only that, but she had made certain to spread out the items around her as widely as possible during their flight.

Dallion would have called the approach passive aggressive, had there been an ounce of pettiness emanating from the girl. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any.

“The Academy isn’t a place for pranks,” he said. “The battlefield isn’t either.”

“Really?” Di asked with the most charming smile. “And where are you taking me first?”

“The Academy,” he said without hesitation. “Right after we finish something in Lanitol.”

“What’s so important there?”

“Politics.” He sighed. “I must congratulate the archduke on his victory.”

“But he lost.” Diroh flew in front of Dallion. “Countess Priscord kicked his butt.”

The phrasing suggested that she had spent some time with Spike.

“That’s not how he sees it.” There was no point in going down this topic. There was nothing Dallion could say that the fury didn’t already know. Unlike him, she was a born princess brought up by hunters. “What skills did they teach you?”

“Didn’t take you long to get to that.” The fury floated away. “Enough to take care of myself. Skye’s also picked up a few tricks. Do you want to see her turn into a sword?” Part of the cloud creature floated off the fury, taking on the form of a massive broadsword. “Or maybe a whip blade?”

On Dallion’s shoulder, Ruby flicked his wings menacingly. The intent was noticed by everyone, causing the cloud fox to move back to Diroh.

“It’ll help me know what to do.” Dallion allowed himself a smile. “And what to teach you if I can’t.”

“I know the basic four,” the fury said.

The basic skills were attack, guard, acrobatics, and athletics. There was nothing special about them individually, although having all four was nothing to be brushed away, especially since she hadn’t been awakened for long.

“And carving,” she added.

Internally, Dallion wanted to scream. That was the only skill that he lacked of the twelve, making it a sort of a sore point.

“What about magic?”

“Nothing new there. I can manipulate air and ice.”

“Just ice?”

“Technically water as well. I can use air to turn water into ice and then play with the ice, but not the other way around.”

That was a pity. Dallion could have had Harp teach her a thing or two about water manipulation otherwise. By the sound of it, the ice power was more of a natural oddity than trait magic. There was every possibility that Di would never be able to increase her magic level, but as with everything else, there always were exceptions. After all, Dallion wasn’t supposed to have learned magic either.

“What about trait ability? Echoes, splitting, and all that?”

“Vend tried to teach me splitting, but I’m bad at it. I could manage two or three for a few seconds, but it’s exhausting.”

Worse than a child, Dallion thought.

Now you see what it’s like for someone with predetermined limits, the armadil shield said. Sounds like her mind trait is capped. That’ll be a challenge if she were to become a mage.

“March taught me how to do a line strike, but told me not to use it too much.” The fury thought for a few moments longer. “That’s about it. I can mend and improve items, of course.”

“Good enough.” Dallion said, earning himself a displeased glare. “I meant good start,” he corrected himself. There was no denying that being stuck at the Academy had made him a bit antisocial.

“What about you?” she asked in turn. “What can you do?”

“Everything except carving.” Dallion put an end to the conversation. He had already spotted a few cloud bastions on the horizon. None of them were red, thankfully, but an increased patrol presence suggested that something was going on.

Casting a quick spell to enhance his perception, he focused on the distance. It turned out that there were four bastions in total. Each had several squads of furies, and also a few Academy mages. The green and cyan robes made it clear that this was more than a simple patrol. They were looking for something.

One of the bastions abruptly changed path, splitting off from the other three and moving in Dallion’s direction. He had been spotted.

“Di,” he said. “Move behind me.”

“What’s going on?” The fury looked in the direction he was staring.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Guard clouds. They’re probably here to ensure the transition happens calmly,” he lied. “Keep your magic hidden,” he whispered. “And get Skye out of sight.”

“I thought that now that I was with you it wouldn’t be a problem.” As she spoke, the cloud fox shrunk to the size of a white marble.

“We’re not at the Academy yet.”

Dallion turned towards the cloud, making it clear he wasn’t avoiding them. Diroh followed. There was a sensation of tenseness coming from her, though no fear or eagerness. Hopefully that meant she wasn’t going to “greet” the cloud the same way she had greeted Dallion.

Gently, the two groups approached each other. When the distance became less than a thousand feet, the cloud stopped, remaining still, leaving Dallion and his companion to fly to them. Over three dozen fury mercenaries were visible—more than required for something this size. Sitting on the top on chairs of sea iron were a total of four mages. Three of them were the garden variety of battle mages that Dallion had gone on missions with. One of them looked vaguely familiar, though not to the point that Dallion could lead a conversation. The fourth mage was a few ranks higher. Although not part of the mage legion, she had the authority to order everyone except Dallion around.

“Academy mage,” he said with a slight nod, stopping five feet away from her.

“Battle apprentice.” The mage twisted her lips as she replied. “I wasn’t informed you had business here.”

“Nothing troubling, I assure you. I just wanted to make sure the province had returned to normal, and to find out a thing or two about Adzorg.”

“Ah, yes, he was banished to Nerosal, wasn’t he?” the woman said dismissively. “I hope it’ll help you catch him this time. And that is?”

“My novice.” Dallion looked her in the eyes. “I will present her to mage Katka.”

That was enough of a warning to make her back off. The other mages remained silent, patiently waiting for the pissing contest to end so they could get back to whatever they were doing.

“Is there anything I could assist you with?” Dallion offered.

“Assist me?” The cyan robed mage sounded outright insulted.

“I was a hunter in the area, so I know it quite well.”

“Ah, right. You didn’t receive your trait upon awakening. Thank you for the offer, but no. We can take care of the matter on our own.”

One of the battlemages shook his head, indicating it was better than Dallion stopped there. At the same time, he also discretely drew the magic symbol of binding so that only Dallion could see.

“I see,” Dallion nodded. They were chasing after someone, though not Adzorg. “We’re headed to Lanitol. If you’re headed in the same direction we—”

“Good day, apprentice,” the mage cut him short. With a snap of her fingers, she indicated to the furies operating the cloud that the conversation was over. The cloud slowly turned around, then flew off to join the remaining three.

“Charming,” Diroh said once the cloud bastion was several miles away.

“You’ll get used to it,” Dallin said. “Anyway, it doesn’t concern us.” Thankfully.

You’re thinking about it, the armadil shield said.

Thinking about what? Dallion asked mentally.

You’re thinking of going after whoever they’re chasing and taking Di along.

That was the last thing on his mind. Maybe if he were alone, things would be different, though even then it would be impractical. The main thing remained the vortex tower. Knowing that Adzorg was connected was just a bonus.

The rest of the flight was peacefully uneventful. On one occasion Dallion spotted a griffin nest in a patch of ruins, but chose to do nothing about it. He’d had enough of ruins for one day, besides it didn’t look like the creatures were causing anyone harm.

By late afternoon, the city of Lanitol became visible. Shining like a jewel in the wilderness, it made an effort to hide the scars the province had received. Dozen of layers of magic surrounded it like a bubble, adding to its glamor.

The city was a series of platforms stacked one over the other. Even from this distance, the Roman-styled buildings and statues were distinctly visible, creating an impression of grandeur. Last time Dallion had been here, he had entered the city from the ground level. Now, he intended to land directly on the top platform, as merited his position. It was also at this point that he regretted Di taking all his belongings along. That was going to become a topic of gossip for certain.

Ignoring any imperial bastions and city guard forts, Dallion flew on. He expected a mage to fly out and greet him before he got to the barrier enveloping the city. That happened Soon enough, but instead of the city mage, it was an apprentice who emerged through a portal in the air.

“Greetings, battle apprentice,” a young man said.

He appeared to be in his late teens. Starstruck and bushy-tailed, admiration emanated from him like a bell. Unlike the majority of locals, he was light-skinned, with short brown hair and a plain round face. The clothes he was wearing were far more expensive than a common mage apprentice should have, suggesting that he was related to one noble family or another.

“Let me welcome you to the provincial capital,” the boy said. His glance shifted from Dallion to the fury.

Someone hasn’t gone out much, the armadil shield commented.

“My novice,” Dallion said after several seconds of silence.

“Of course!” The apprentice straightened up in the air. “My mage and the archduke are expecting you. Please, follow me.”

The boy cast an eight-circle spell on a section of the barrier. The moment he did, an opening formed, allowing Dallion and Diroh to fly through. If Dallion had to guess, that was based on the local mage’s instruction. It would have been just as easy to cast a portal that would take them to the archduke’s main hall directly. Sadly, there were still those in the Academy that didn’t appreciate the latest reorganization changes. As far as they were concerned, Dallion was a no-good upstart. Of course, the only reason they could do so was because their position ensured that they’d never see war first hand.

“This won’t take long,” Dallion told Diroh, loud enough for the apprentice to hear. “Once we’re done, we’ll head straight for the Academy.”

The flight was painfully slow. Its purpose was to impress Dallion with the wealth and power of the archduke, which was precisely why it had the opposite effect. The strong pretended to be weak while the weak pretended to be strong. No one would say it openly, but Lanitol was the loser in the recent civil war. The only reason he had kept his province was because the former Countess Priscord had let him have it.

“Has there been any activity I should know about?” Dallion asked as a distraction from the boredom.

“Everything is always flawless in Lanitol,” the apprentice gave the rehearsed answer. “There will be a banquet in your honor. That might be considered new.”

“I don’t think we’ll be staying for that long.”

“But… but…” the apprentice stuttered. You must. The archduke has personally organized it and—”

“I’m sure we’ll come to some understanding,” Dallion said, using his music skills to calm the boy down. Making a scene before the first meeting was considered bad manners.

“Will it be like this everywhere you go?” Diroh whispered, more amused than anything else.

“Seems so.” Dallion sighed.