Chapter 25: The Silver Tower Academy

Landar, Sakura

Landar

The noon sun hung over head as I walked out of the temple complex following Sigvold to the entrance to the garden maze. “We will wait for the girl, so I do not have to repeat myself.”

The silence was uncomfortable as I watched small groups of initiates and clerics go about their work in the garden, or who were simply enjoying a break from their duties elsewhere. To the north of us was a wall that nearly beat the temple's central hall in height. I could see guards patrolling it, each wore full plate armor that shined even in the noon sun. It was the wall separating the common section of the city from the noble estates. It was as tall and thick as the outer wall, being an extension to it.

Soaring above even the wall was the massive single spired tower. It wound its way up towards the sun. It looked silver in the gleaming light of the sun, but upon closer inspection I could make out the architecture.

It looked like the leaning tower of Pisa, all pillars, arches and a spiraling walkway on the outside, with a massive internal structure I could only guess at. It was the largest building I had seen in this world, and easily rivaled most of the more common skyscrapers back home on Earth.

The silver look mainly came from what appeared to be inlays of metal that reinforced the outer structure. Whether it was magically enhanced silver, or actual steel, I wasn’t sure. But whatever it was, it made up the pillars that upheld the walkway around the tower. At the very pinnacle I could see a large dome that touched the heaviest and lowest hanging clouds.

“Back on Earth,” I said, getting Sigvolds attention. He was literally the only one I could talk about this with. It felt odd to say the name of my home planet, and it was then that I realized I had never spoken it out loud that I could remember. Not here in this new world. I shook myself and refocused. “Back on Earth, in New York we’d call that a skyscraper.”

Sigvold nodded. “I saw the glittering towers from a high vantage point in your memories. You went into one of these sky palaces. Did you not?”

“Eh, kinda. A buddy of mine owned one. He let me stay there, while I was studying for the foreign service exam. That . . . that feels like a very long time ago.”

“It was. You were young then. You were getting old when you died and came here.” Sigvolds words shocked me for a moment.

“Wait. 54 is not old.”

“Yes it is. Even by the standards of most nobility in this world. One's fifth decade is considered when one begins to understand wisdom.”

“What was all of that that Mortimer was saying about his age?”

“Archduke Mortimer is hardly to be considered normal. He is well over two hundred years old.”

“Oh. And you?”

Sigvold smirked. “I’m almost sixty years old.”

“No shit! You look barely a day over forty. You’d probably be younger if you got rid of the beard though.”

“Thank you. I think. Your world's standards are far different than ours. Also I'm not getting rid of the beard. It makes the Clerics think of me as wise.”

I snorted. “Afraid of the jocks stealing your lunch money huh?”

“I . . . believe I might have understood that reference. A jock is a physically apt, young athlete.” he looked at me for approval and I nodded. “And it is a common thing for children to have the money their parents give them stolen by these jocks?”

“Kinda. Only those Jocks who were also bullies”

“You used to refer to another nation as a bully, and you were working on resolving conflict with them when you died. Is that right?”

“Yeah, China. Woh, I haven’t thought about that in a while. When I died, they were pushing hard to harass shipping in open waters against international laws and all kinds of treaties. They were being bullies of all the much smaller countries around them, and I was trying to help get those countries to work together to stand up to them.” I waived it off. “I wasn’t very good at it, and it wasn’t really getting anywhere.”

“I do not believe that is correct. From what I understood you had at least some modest success in encouraging this, Japan?” I looked to me to see if he was saying the word right. I nodded again. “This Japan had increased its military budget dramatically during your tenure.”

“Not even by half what I was aiming for. But yeah, sure. I saw some success I guess. Still I'm a shit diplomat compared to some of the people in the state department.”

I spotted an old woman walking towards us, one I hadn’t seen in five years. I had to fight back tears as Mother Margaret escorted someone towards us. That emotion was quashed about two seconds later when I noticed it was the girl who had interrupted my poorly thought out revenge plot. I honestly didn’t know what to think of her.

On the one hand she had been strong. Very strong. And the holds she had used on me, while simple, had been brutally effective. If she had wanted too, she could have done a lot more damage then she had done.

Then again, so could I. She was stronger, and faster. But I had a small arsenal of rune inscribed weapons and gadgets at my disposal. On top of that, I was no slouch either. I easily had fifty pounds on the girl, probably more, and came up at least a head taller than her.

And in the end her actions had prevented me from making a serious mistake. But for some reason I couldn’t shake a lingering dislike for this girl as she walked up.

I bit my tongue, and bowed a greeting. “Hello. I am told your name is Lady Sakura?”

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The girl glared at me, but she gave a similar bow. Through her eyes never moved from mine. “Lady Sakura Gamra, yes. That is my name. You are well I take it?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“You’re a fool.”

“Sakura,” Mother Margaret clearly wanted to pinch the girl's ear, but she stopped herself. Sakura was too old for such things not to be taken as a real insult. “That is rude.”

“No Mother Margaret, it's alright. She’s right. I let my temper take control, I never tested those devices before I used them, and I nearly got myself and other people badly hurt. I can recognize I’ve been a fool.”

“If that is all true, then you are a hopeless fool.” My blood ran cold, and It was an act of will to keep my face calm. “I was referring to your wolf spirit. She is inside your core, tied to it. She will consume your soul if you do not express or purge her soon.”

“That’s on the to do list,” I smiled trying to disarm the situation. “I didn’t know about any of that until Sigovld here told me about it.”

“So you’re ignorant then. Far better than being a hopeless fool. Ignorance can be dispelled.” Her words were biting, but her expression had softened slightly. “You fight like a rabid beast.”

“Um. Alright, and?”

“And, just what I said. Your fighting style. It's desperate, brutal, beastial. I have seen few like it. Have you been trained in it, or are you self taught?”

I smiled genuinely for the first time in the conversation. Fighting was something I could talk about all day. “Bit of my own style, a few things my dad taught as a little kid, and good old fashioned US Army combatives as a base. How about you?”

Her frown deepened again. “I’m sorry, did you say US? As in, the United States?” She looked back at Mother Margaret. “You told me he might be from another world as well, but you said nothing about him being from my own.”

“Wait, you’re from Earth?’

Sakura turned her glare back at me, and I could see smoldering suspicion and unease in her eyes. “Yes.”

“Oh, where are you from? France, Germany, Mexico, Japan?” All languages I had learned to speak conversationally in.

“No. I am from New China. Or as Americans might say it, The People's Republic of China.”

My smile disappeared in a second, and my hand went to my hip holster where I normally kept my missing ax. Her stance had shifted as well, to one that was clearly more defensive.

“Well shit.” I scanned her, and my vision filled with information.

Name: Sakura

Abilities: Unknown

Magical Affinities: Earth- Minor, Sky - Moderate, Fire - Moderate, Wood - Moderate

Disposition: Weary of you

Level: Unknown

Her body lit up like a christmas tree. She had nearly a dozen meridians open, and her core was almost too bright to look at. My ability hadn’t been able to classify her based on my new knowledge of levels, that was still needing fine tuning. But I could tell just from the raw mana her body contained that if she decided she wanted too, I'd be dead in a heartbeat.

***

Sakura

“Well shit.” The strange broad shouldered, half starved young man said as he moved for a weapon at his hip that wasn’t there. I felt a pressure as he used some ability that scanned my aura. It was methodical, clinical, almost like a machine rather than a real person's aura. It sent shivers down my spine.

I immediately went into a defensive stance shifting my legs into a warrior's pose, and keeping my chie and mana cycling in a steady rhythm that allowed me maximum flexibility in how to respond.

A moment later something heavy came down on my head and I saw stars. My knees buckled, and my eyes opened with me on the ground, staring directly at the young warrior who was likewise prone.

“That is enough from both of you.” Mother Margaret said as her switch drew visible mana lines through the air.

“Yes,” the priest agreed and I saw mana and chie withdraw back into his core where it had been wrapped around his hand. “Whatever prejudices and hatreds once existed between your people, from whatever strange world you came from, they do not exist here.”

“Here, you serve Mortimer. You serve the kingdom.” Margaret reached down and grabbed my shoulder, then hauled me to my feet. “You’re alright girl. Just a bump on the head.”

“Yes mistress” I got out as my knees tried to buckle again. Margarats grip was strangely strong and she held me up as if I weighed nothing.

Sigvold the priest was kneeling over Landar, and a healing aura came from his hand. “He’ll be fine. I just used a bit too much mana in that sleep spell.” He lifted him off the ground and the young warrior blinked drowsiness away as he came too. “That was rude, Landar. To examine someone's aura without express permission is frowned upon.”

“As is drawing weapons in the presence of the high priest of the mother.” Margaret said as she took my daggers, which I hadn’t even realized I had drawn, and placed them back in their sheaths on my hip. “Weapons down, children. Or you’ll both be facing a switching.” She maced us both with the old piece of hard leather wrapped around hardwood she had hit me with.

“Yes mistress” I said, and tride to bow but my balance hadn’t yet returned. She had to steady me before I fell.

“Yeah, I . . .” The American’s speech was slurred. “Yeah.” He finally said, after looking for another word to use. He was clearly worse off then I had been.

“Now come along children. I have things to show you.” With that Sigvold opened a portal that swirled with blue and silver energy. “To the tower, please. We will be joining your mother there.”

I walked through without another word, and entered into a wide open stone courtyard at the base of the largest single tower I had seen in this life. It was silver, and in a foreign design that used Greek like pillars.

“Welcome to the silver tower. The aptly named Silver Tower Academy, is over there.” Margaret pointed towards a small set of buildings on the far end of the court yard where half a dozen groups of students mulled about. Most carried weapons, and looked like they were preparing in a way that reminded me of the Silver Lords challenge.

Sigvold and Margaret immediately made for the buildings as the portal closed. Leaving Landar and I behind. The young man, still somewhat dazed, started wandering towards the tower mumbling something about new runes. Sighing, I grabbed his shoulder and gently but firmly led him back towards the academy.

“This way, American.” After only a token complaint, he complied and allowed me to lead him in the right direction.

“Thanks.” He said, his words still a bit slurred as we walked. “I uh, i’m still a bit dizzy.”

“You are welcome. This only adds to your debt to me and my family however.”

“Debt? What debt?” his voice was growing more steady, loud, and belligerent.

How stereotypical. He couldn’t have been the one quiet american?

What's an American? King asked, but I didn’t respond. Now was not the time.

“As I see it, you owe me a debt lady.”

I stopped walking and rounded on him. Keeping my voice down, I answered him in a harsh whisper. “Do you have any idea what you interrupted when you fell through that roof, and tried to kill people in an incoherent childish rage?”

“Uh . . . No.” He at least had the decency to look chagrined. “No I do. It was tax day. You were paying taxes?”

I rolled my eyes, I couldn’t help it. “No you myopic child. I was presenting a gift from my family, to the Duke who had just graciously agreed to take us and our people in and give us a new home, and political asylum. You interrupted that ceremony. If you had angered the Duke enough those negotiations that took place after the incident would have gone poorly. Which might have meant my people would be homeless, penyless, friendless, and potentially starving this time next year, living in the wilds of the far western part of the continent at the mercy of beasts I have never even heard of. My peoples futures were put in jeopardy by your actions.”

I grabbed the color of his shirt and pulled him in closer so only he could hear. “You put my people at risk, worse, you put my family at risk. And for that? Yes. You owe me a debt.”

See Mother Margaret, I can mix my personalities just fine. It was Sakura’s righteous indignation with Genji's instincts for social and political advantage. I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing, but it seemed to be effective as Landar’s face shifted from annoyed and angry to contemplative.

“You’re right. My mistake put your people at risk. I apologize.”

I waited for more. A pledge of service, a promise of a favor in the future, or even the willingness to publicly apologize and acknowledge his actions in front of the Duke. Nothing, he just stared at me waiting for me to forgive him as if he had earned it.

“Pah, American arrogance at its finest.” I let him go and turned to continue our walk towards the seemingly small campus.

“What's that supposed to mean exactly?”

“You demand forgiveness as if you have earned it. You have not absolved yourself, or made things right. You have not earned-”

The sky exploded in golden shadows and an aurora of pure ice blue that clashed violently far above us. Suddenly every instinct surrounding danger that I had honed over the last several years was screaming in unison that the end of the world was upon me, and I was hopeless in front of the onslaught.

My breath was stolen away from me, and I was clearly not the only one. Landar stood next to me, and after only a heartbeat fell to his knees. But he managed to squeeze out a single question through his panting panic. “What . . .?”

My own knees began to shake and weaken as I tried to make sense of what was happening. Then, it finally clicked. “The duel.”