There was a time in his life Alec had been a heavy sleeper, his parents oft having to rouse him from slumber by shaking his shoulder or loudly calling his name. Sadly that time of his life had come and gone, and not just because his parents were dead.
The moment he woke up he just had enough time to register the unfamiliarity of a soft mattress before he’d rolled off of it, grabbing his sword from under the bed by pure instinct to rise into a crouch, the blade drawn in the direction of the noise that had woken him.
Holly, woken by the stab of second-hand adrenaline through their bond had tried to do the same in the other direction, only to rebound off the wall the bed was pressed against.
It took them both a couple of seconds to relax as they realised what had woken them had been a simple knock at the door.
The pair shared an embarrassed glance before Alec sheathed his blade and Holly crawled over to his side of the bed so she could get to her feet, neither of them saying a word as they hurriedly tried to make themselves vaguely presentable. Alec brushing the worst creases from the clothes he was still wearing and awkwardly shrugging on his bandoleer, while Holly painfully worked out the worst tangles in her hair with her fingers, yanking one of them hard enough that Alec winced from the echoed pain.
By unspoken agreement Holly went to answer the door, Alec lurking just out of sight to the side of it.
“Good morning!” An infuriatingly chirpy voice announced, Holly almost being blinded by the brilliant smile facing her.
“Good morning?” The dryad replied hesitantly as she gave the young man, older than Alec by her judgement but not by much, a look up and down, silently checking him for weapons, ‘Ritual dagger on the belt. Athletic physique, no body armour unless the robe is enchanted. Some sort of runic scarification on the hands. I don’t think he’s a threat.’
She didn’t see Alec’s nod of acknowledgement but she felt it, though the teen didn’t take his hand from the hilt of his spatha.
“You weren’t told to expect me?” The newcomer asked, surprised and not afraid to admit it.
“No. Should I have been?” Holly replied a bit more confident now she was reasonably sure the young man wasn’t a threat.
“I don’t know.” He admitted with a bemused shrug before he began ferreting inside one of his pockets, “I wasn’t really expecting to be here either but when I woke up this morning there was this letter on my desk. Which is all sorts of creepy given it wasn’t there when I went to sleep.”
That said he brandished the letter as if it were some sort of shield which Holly slowly and carefully accepted, reading with the paper held as far from her as possible, as if worried it might explode.
Anesh
Two new students have been enrolled in the advanced stream. You are to greet them and guide them throughout their first day here. They are in room eleven
Merida
For a moment Holly debated with herself whether the letter was a forgery. While it certainly matched her first impressions of the elven archmage, direct and to the point with less than no room for other points of view, that proved little.
‘We’ve got to trust someone or we’re going to just end up starving in our room.’ Alec’s thoughts gently interjected, as if he weren’t poised to stab his fellow mage.
“Well Anesh, I guess we’re in your hands.” Holly declared with false cheer, stepping out into the corridor.
“How do you know my-?” The apprentice necromancer began before realization struck, “oh.” Anesh suddenly very interested in his boots. “I swear I’m usually smarter than this, just mornings you know?”
“Not really.” Holly admitted. Trees were very much morning people as a rule, and Holly had watched many a dawn up on the branches of some of Von Mori’s larger non-dryad trees. Alec had thus far proved similarly early to rise – if not always happy about it. “So what should we bring with us?”
“Whatever you consider necessary to do magic.” Anesh supplied readily, “Though don’t expect to be using it. The teachers are pretty strict about the advanced students just casting with their hands, external crutches are a good way to piss them off. I heard one poor girl had her wand snapped in front of her. The only reason I get to use these” He gestured to the runes scarred into his hands, “is they’d have to flay me to stop it. Though I know there’ve been talks…”
Holly winced at that mental image before responding, “Well that could be a little awkward, how secure are the rooms?”
“Not very.” Anesh confessed, while blatantly trying to sneak glances past Holly at the room’s contents now. “but you’re more likely to see food go wandering off than anything valuable. Though someone did steal Hope’s bedding once, which, I don’t care how valuable it was, is creepy as a ghoul’s sleepover. And of course there’s Brin, but he’ll give it back soon as you ask.”
The young dryad ignored the blatant attempts to scope her bedroom for valuables. She liked to think she had a good understanding of the necromantic psyche by now, maudlin, paranoid and almost pathologically addicted to gossip… ahem… secrets. What little valuables they had were safe with Anesh, knowledge of them on the other hand would be being traded for an extra large helping of mashed potato come lunchtime.
“We’ll let the teachers decide.” Alec declared, finally stepping into view and startling Anesh badly enough that the runes on his hands glowed blue where he very nearly cast something on reflex.
Which very nearly had Alec draw and throw a vial in reply, both mages-in-training stopping as they realized the other wasn’t a threat.
“Bloody hellfire.” Anesh wheezed as he fought to get his heartrate back under control. “Don’t scare a guy like that, I nearly became part of the reanimation supplies.”
Alec let his hand fall away from the bandoleer of phials on his chest. “Sorry. Just… jumpy.” He said in way of explanation, “We weren’t sure you’d be friendly.”
“Huh.” As huhs went this one was solid enough you could moor a boat to it. “That’s a lot of caution for someone who’s not even had a lesson yet, guessing you’ve been through it before you got here?”
That received a short nod from Holly and an even more reluctant one from Alec. “You could say that.” Holly agreed, heading back to grab Yew’s stave, electing not to leave the weapon that had killed a demonic god unguarded in their room.
The staff certainly got a wide-eyed look from Anesh. The staff was far too unassuming for the mana he could feel coming off of it in waves. “Bloody hellfire.” He hissed, taking a step back as if the unadorned shaft of wood was an unexploded bomb. “No wonder you were worried about security. How in the Martyr’s forgotten name have you been allowed to have something like that?”
“Noone’s allowed us to have it. It’s ours.” Holly shot back hotly, only narrowly beating Alec to it. “It was a… gift.”
“It’s a bloody relic… what kind of wood even is that? It’s like it was made for necromancy!”
“Elder dryad’s heartwood, freely given.” Alec told him, trying to keep the statement as flat and inflectionless as a lecture on law.
Anesh’s eyes got even wider, “Who on Reath are you two?!” He spluttered backing away in his awe and fear.
That, Alec noted, would be a problem. Presuming Anesh was a typical example of the advanced students, an admittedly dubious supposition with a sample size of one, then it was going to be difficult to make friends, he and Holly faced either with sycophancy or base dread. An even bigger problem was how on Reath to answer Anesh’s rather reasonable if shocked question.
There was an uncomfortably long pause, at least from Anesh’s perspective, as he silently consulted with Holly, the argument taking place at the speed of thought until they’d narrowed their options down to one; the truth, or at least some of the truth.
“A senior necromancer had taken us as apprentices.” Holly explained softly, and the sadness in her voice was only slightly exaggerated as she added, “He… passed quite recently and it was his will that the staff go to us.”
It was a bit of a gamble but the conclusion he and Holly had reached was that declaring themselves Erebus’ apprentices openly would have been as good as painting targets on their backs and a lot more permanent besides. The necromancer had loved the Necropolis dearly, but it had been very clear, what with the assassination attempts, total lack of support and repeated throwing to the wolves that that love was not reciprocated.
But necromancy was a dangerous business and their hope was that there’d have been enough senior deaths lately that it would muddle things. Thirteen of their most combat capable liches to start with.
“Sweet Martyr I’m so sorry.” Anesh gasped, going from stunned to penitent in moments, “I don’t suppose either of you two have a crowbar?”
That brought them both out of their silent scheming rather abruptly, “What?” Alec blurted gormlessly.
“You know… so I can pry my foot out of my mouth.” Their guide explained with a forced grin. “Anyway, we’ve dawdled here long enough. Uh I don’t know what your species eats but breakfast is served in the common room… though if the dietary requirements are difficult to reach then you may have to arrange your own supply.”
“Just sunlight and water for me.” Holly assured him. That was another lie they’d agreed on. If people knew that Holly was entirely dependant on Alec for the mana she needed to live then it was going to be hard not to be seen as just a parasite or extension of his will, something neither wanted.
“Huh…” Anesh said, eyes glancing between Holly and Yew’s stave, “So uh… was that yours?”
The young dryad snorted, “I’ll try to take that as a compliment. No I am not an elder dryad.”
The teenager flushed, “Sorry. Sorry. Had to ask. I swear I’m not normally this dumb, I’ve just never met a dryad before. Or expected to really, I thought you were all forced to live by the tree that created you?”
“We are, normally.” Holly told him, not explaining any further as she headed towards the door at the end of the corridor that Anesh had indicated. Now that she was closer she could see it was rather helpfully labelled ‘Common Room – Advanced Students – First Year’.
“So do you eat food?” Anesh asked, perhaps a touch hopefully. His stomach hadn’t audibly betrayed his hunger yet, but it was really just a matter of time.
“I eat food.” Alec said, deciding to throw his fellow necromancer a bone as he followed after Holly, the dryad waiting for him so they could enter with a united front.
“Great!” Anesh declared a little too eagerly as he through open the stout oak door, to reveal the common room, and its occupants.
The common room was… cozy, and not much more than that. Whatever expectations Alec and Holly had had vis-a-vie casual magic, they weren’t met. Really just a smattering of cozy armchairs and their attendant tables, a couple hammocks, an entire wall of bookshelves, with the odd board game jockeying for position and a buffet table piled up with food against one wall.
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Their fellow students were a lot less of a letdown. There weren’t many of them, just five, not including Anesh, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in peculiarity. The most obvious was a truly titanic, almost swollen figure. Alec couldn’t be entirely sure how tall they were because they were sat in an equally massive armchair, but they were taller than Agh’zak and that was just sat down, the large creature eating in near total silence from the haunch of some animal, taking the meat straight off the bone in huge mouthfuls before cracking the bone for the marrow with a retort like an alchemy accident.
The creature was the first to notice them, eyes that looked beady on a face that large widening in surprise before the monster bellowed, or, as Alec would soon find out, quietly spoke, “New people! Come in new people! Brin is always happy to make new friends!”
Which rather killed any chance of a quiet introduction.
Two of the other students looked up from their game of chess, a girl with hair so deep brown it was almost black and a far too handsome young man, who offered them a scowl and a smile respectively, the latter of which instantly put Alec on guard for reasons he couldn’t quite place. A sensation he felt echoed by Holly.
‘He’s like Meliador.’ Holly sent across the bond. The thought was furtive, fearing that even that most private and intimate of communications could be overheard.
Alec’s blood ran cold as his conscious mind caught up with his hindbrain. He could see it now, the too good to be real beauty. The smile full of too perfect teeth. The hair that gleamed in the light. The face that was perfectly symmetrical. The eyes that shone as if reflecting starlight.
Meliador was a Sidhe Lord, one of the four rulers of Avalon and Lord of Autumn, and for all he was the least of those four, the teenager could remember what being in his very presence had felt like.
As if there was a great weight upon the fabric of reality and they had little choice but to fall towards it. To move without his permission had been impossible. To disagree with him, unthinkable.
Alec tried not to react as the young man rose to greet them, but something must have shown on his face for the young man’s smile vanished.
“Kristos Solsticeblood.” He told Alec, offering his hand anyway, and not looking too upset when Alec didn’t shake it, “and I see you’ve met some of the family… which Court?”
“Autumn.” Alec told him stiffly.
“Ouch, worst of both worlds there. All the cruelty of Winter and the impulsiveness of Summer.” Kristos shook his head, “My condolences. Who’d you lose?”
“Uh noone…” Alec replied hurriedly, still watching Kristos cautiously.
“Lucky. Still I can see you encountered someone harrowing… they contracted you?”
“Nearly.” The teen admitted, “A sidhe lord bumped into me and I apologised.”
Kristos winced. “Well you’re still here, that’s a miracle. They give you a quest or something? Or just decided they couldn’t bother to train their new servant in magic? No offence but if you’re faebound you and I can’t talk much. Too risky for me.”
“No. Nothing like that. The people I was with appealed to a higher power and got the debt annulled.” Alec told him. Technically true, as long as he regarded Erebus as a higher power, but technically true was pretty much the requirement when dealing with fae.
“Titania’s ample bosom you got lucky.” Kristos choked out a somewhat relieved laugh, “Don’t worry kid, I’m not fae, just faeblooded.”
“I’m not a kid.” Alec protested, “I’m almost as old as you are.”
“I doubt that heavily.” Kristos told him, giving him a cheeky smile, “Then again I’ve been surprised before. I’m eighty two. Got a number to match that?”
“...no.” The teenager admitted. “Though if you’re that old… what on Reath are you doing with the rest of us?”
Kristos’ expression darkened, “It’s complicated.” He stated, not just closing the door on that topic but locking and deadbolting it just to be sure before his smile lit back up, “Now who’s the lovely young lady who’s been standing carefully clear of your swordarm while subtly aiming a warstaff at me?”
“Someone less trusting than Alec.” Holly told him coldly, “Reach for me and I’m assuming an attempt to charm me and will throw you into the far wall.”
The faeblood’s smile widened further at that, “I do hope you didn’t intend that threat to make you less attractive. Because wow. Where have you been all my life dangerous stranger?”
Holly’s expression stilled, becoming as unmoving and hard as the bark of her former home, “Go away.”
“I’d be careful Kristos.” The young lady who’d been glaring told him sharply, her glare still focused on the pair of newcomers, “She means it. That’s a Von Mori dryad, they’re vindictive to a fault.”
The dryad in question narrowed her gaze, and Alec didn’t need open access to her soul to know she was a hair away from following through on her threat just to prove a point. “Either you have a good eye or someone warned you about me in advance.”
“It was definitely one of those Holly.” She replied, matching the coldness in the dryad’s voice. If there had been a sudden outbreak of frost between them Alec would not have been surprised.
Alec’s own swordarm slowly went loose, to let it fall casually closer to his blade. He wasn’t sure why everyone was so close to violence but there had been real hate in the young woman’s voice that he could not explain.
Just when he felt Holly tensing to cast, and could see the woman’s hand come up with blue light on the fingertips, a too loud voice made the four of them jump. “Brin thinks everyone is very silly! All just met, is too early for hate and fighting! Don’t make Brin knock heads together! Now everyone go have food, Brin wants seconds and can’t have until others have eaten.”
Alicia managed one last glare before shuffling off to the buffet table, plate in hand.
Holly’s attention was diverted by a long low whistle, Kristos shaking his head almost admiringly, “I’ve never seen anyone get under Alicia’s skin before, trust me I’ve tried, and you did it just by standing there. What’ll it take to hear your story Holly, daughter of Von Mori?”
The dryad shrugged, unsure how to answer such a direct question, again electing for honesty, “I haven’t decided yet, it’s not just my story to tell.”
“None of the good stories are, for all we like to pretend.” Kristos smiled, “For every great hero there are a dozen friends who fell along the way. People who gave little, because it’s all they had to give, and who if lucky will got one line in the tales told afterward. It doesn’t stop your part in it being yours.”
Holly again paused, taking her time as she thought upon her answer. She could just about feel Alec’s racing thoughts, the teen trying hard to dampen the bond to keep her mind clear of his pondering how Erebus would handle this situation. Because he could feel it too, the instinct to trust Kristos, to want to tell him things, and he knew enough to know that the instinct wasn’t his own.
But Erebus wasn’t the only mentor Holly had had who knew how to deal with the fae. Forget the necromancer, what would Von Mori do in this situation?
“I won’t be sharing today. But if you really want to know, bleed for me.”
The words hung heavy in the air for just a moment before Kristos’ grin grew even wider, “Old school rules. I like it. Of course, I expect some reciprocation.”
“Alec. Sword.” Holly replied, meeting and holding Kristos’ almost luminous eyes with hers as she held her hand out expectantly.
‘Holly, what are you doing?’ Alec’s words echoing in her head even as he handed her the blade without complaint.
‘Blood has magic in it.’ She didn’t quite explain, there wasn’t time for a full explanation without the pause being awkward and besides, Alec was smart, he’d figure it out… probably.
Kristos drew a scrimshaw knife from his belt, pressing the point to the ball of his thumb but not pressing it home as he watched Holly place Alec’s spatha against her palm, by unspoken agreement drawing blood at the same time.
Rich sap oozed from the cut on Holly’s palm, Alec wincing slightly in the process as the dryad held up the wounded appendage for Kristos to see even as Kristos proffered the trickling wound from his own hand for inspection.
The blood was a little too red to be human, or perhaps the term was a little too real, as if the rest of the world had been painted with watercolour and the blood alone had been painted with oil. But that was all it was and even as Holly’s magical senses enveloped it it remained so.
Slightly too magical blood, but not the kind of weight on the world that something belonging to a Sidhe would have.
“Finally convinced I am what I say I am?” Kristos asked her politely.
“No.” Holly told him with a smile, “But if you aren’t then you’re enough of a threat that it’s a Necropolis-grade problem and not a Holly and Alec problem.”
“I’ll take it.” The faeblood agreed, before placing his bleeding thumb in his mouth to try and stop the bleeding.
“Well that was all very dramatic. Now for the love of Ariadne will you all please go eat before Brin passes out from hunger?” A quiet feminine voice declared from one of the hammocks. No, not a hammock, Alec would realise after a moment, a cocoon.
The arachni was a small one, and shrank even further from the attention her outburst had garnered, little more than far too many eyes peeking out of a slit in her silken lair.
“Hope is right. Brin is very hungry and only has twenty minutes left before class. Please hurry.” The massive monster all but pleaded.
Alec nodded to him, “Of course, I’ll go load up a plate, anyone else planning on getting anything?”
There were, much to Brin’s visible relief, a chorus of nos, the lumbering creature slowly getting up from its reinforced chair to tread after Alec towards the buffet.
A year ago Alec would have been terrified walking next to something like Brin, but there were only so many times a person could be within arms length of an apex predator before they became numb to the fear.
Up close the figure wasn’t just big but grotesquely fat, though the way he moved belied an incredible strength as well. That was the disconcerting thing. Alec’s study under Saiko had shown him how a trained warrior moved and his travels with Erebus had taught him how a predator walked as well, and Brin had aspects of both.
“There’s no polite way to ask this, so I’ll just come out and ask, what are you?” The teenager inquired as gently as he could.
“Brin is an ogre.” Brin told him with a broad grin, “And what is Alec-and-Holly?”
“Well I’m just human, and Holly’s a dryad-” Alec began before Brin cut him off.
“Is no just human. Would be like saying Brin just ogre. Hope just arachni. Normal to one person is strange to another. Alec shouldn’t talk Alec down with silly words like just.”
The teenager took a moment to reply, visibly taken aback, “So uh… I don’t know what an ogre is. Sorry.”
“Not knowing things is not crime.” Brin shrugged amiably. “Brin would tell but no time. Can Brin ask question?”
“O-of course.” Alec replied as he slowly began filling his plate. Most of the food was unfamiliar to him, lots of meats he couldn’t identify at a glance, most thinly sliced or skewered.
“Can Alec not take the last of the devilled eggs?” The ogre asked, indicating one of the platters that was indeed looking a little sparse.
“Sure.” He replied, loading his plate mostly up with the skewers, the meat reminding him of a slightly sweeter beef. “Honestly it seems like a lot of food for just eight people.”
“Was more.” Brin told him before picking up the entire platter of eggs and simply tipping it into his mouth, chewing rapidly and determinedly before swallowing, “Alamaya, Perric and Malasma. Incident in Wrath Vault. Also Brin eats a lot.”
That certainly was true, the ogre grabbing another platter and scraping it into his open maw. The corpulent creature noticing Alec’s somewhat shocked look. Even for someone of Brin’s size it was a lot of food. “Maybe time to explain little bit about ogres. Food become magic. So Brin must eat lots before lessons start.”
“So what are lessons like?” Alec asked while he watched Holly and the others talk. Or more accurately watched the others talk while shooting wary glances at Holly. Yeah… they hadn’t exactly made a good first impression, something he’d regretted from the moment it had started, but he honestly couldn’t see any other way the dice could have fallen.
Brin paused between platters, chewing thoughtfully before responding, “Ask Hope. Brin eating.”
The rookie mage let his gaze fall on the cocoon strung up between two posts, the arachni’s gaze wasn’t explicitly on him, but she had enough eyes that there was no way she didn’t notice his attention.
He tried to make it look casual as he walked slowly over to the cocoon, feeling the weight of everyone watching him cross the room. “Sorry to bother you miss, but I was hoping you could tell me what lessons are like here?”
“Brin too busy eating?” The arachni checked, her magically projected voice almost psychotically cheerful, “And please call me Hope.”
“May I know what that’s short for?”
“Hope For A New Dawn.” The spider looking down in embarrassment as she fastidiously cleaned her pedipalps. Which at least confirmed in Alec’s mind that that little sign of anxiety wasn’t unique to Weaver of New Tales, the other arachni he’d met.
“Not a fan of the name?” Alec noted quietly.
“It is a great honour.” Hope said hurriedly, before adding, rather more quietly, “And sometimes a heavy burden.”
“Big shoes to fill or something?” He guessed.
“Something like that. There aren’t many arachni who even have enough mana to cast a spell, because of how much mana it takes just to keep us alive,so there’s a lot of expectations riding on me.” She explained almost mechanically.
“Sooooo… lessons?”
“Ah yes. The honest answer is I can’t tell you, all the advanced students have a personalised lesson plan though we do share a lot of classes given some skills are universally necessary. I’d imagine your first week is just going to be assessing what you and the dryad can do.” Hope explained, the arachni’s wide front eyes resting squarely upon him.
That was one big difference between her and Weaver, he noticed, the other arachni’s eyes had been a lot more even in size. Sure the front two had been a little big, but Hope’s were like staring into two inky pools easily deep enough to drown in.
“Thanks. And sorry if we were a little hostile when we came in. It’s… been a long journey here.”
“It’s fine. Besides hostility seemed to be waiting for you in any case.” Hope replied cheerfully, and Alec was certain it wasn’t an accident the way her gaze shifted so that the reflection in her wide black eyes showed Alicia glaring daggers at his back. “If you want to check your lesson plan it’s on the wall by the door.”
“Thanks.” He told her, drifting slowly towards the door to give it a read. ‘Hol, you might want to share my eyes for a few seconds.’
He resisted the urge to blink (that was not his) as he focused on the lesson plan with his name on it. For today just ‘Basic Mana Sensing And Manipulation’ and ‘Basic Combat Proficiency’ were on the table, ditto for Holly’s plan, which he noted differed from his on a couple key points later in the week.
After a few moments the sensation of extra weight behind his eyes faded, Holly had taken what she’d needed and gone back to her conversation.
Fortunately, or more likely purposefully, the lessons were to take place right here in the common room. Keeping things easy and fairly gentle rather than forcing them to navigate the maze that the Necropolis seemed to have been designed to be.
A quick glance at Anesh’ timetable told him he’d be attending the same lessons. Which had to suck for the more advanced mage, Alec making a mental note to both apologise and thank him when he got the chance.
Though looking at the way Alicia was still glaring at him and Holly in turn, it might be a short while before he got the chance.