“Alex, help!”

The alarmed cry instantly jolted Alex out of sleep, a furiously whirling water shield forming so fast that it might have saved his life from a shadowy assassin before he had even opened his eyes. Yet the sound of cracking wood and the abrupt drop to the ground as his bed literally collapsed when his spinning shield sawed it in half made it clear that all he had done was earn himself a mighty tab.

“Fuck!” He cursed allowed, now fully awake as his eyes darted about the dim room, Qi Perception and Shadow Qi affinity making it clear that he was utterly alone, save for flying woodchips and fragments of tattered wool and silk in the air, a sharp contrast to otherwise luxuriously appointed quarters filled with polished hardwood furniture and more than a few ink portraits of desert sands and the life-giving valley below to hammer home the point that he had just lost a fortune.

But he wouldn’t call his shield stupidity, because far better being out a handful of credits than his life.

“Alex!”

His thoughts jolted back to what mattered.

Linnea. Still linked by party interface, and clearly panicked.

His shield immediately dissipated as he headed towards the door, sparing a quick final glance at his bed, relieved by the double-body sized intact area of the shredded mattress that at least his shield would have served to protect anyone who would have shared his bed, not shred them in a farcical tragedy that would have had all his ancient enemies chortling with bitter satisfaction.

Even as he committed to summoning stationary wood or stone shields the next time he was jolted out of sleep, he was already darting out the bedroom door, relieved to see only a single sleepy servitor glancing his way.

“Linnea?” He shouted, sensing her nearby, slipping past the servitor and racing to the dining hall.

His eyes widened with dismay to see Lieberman grabbing her arm and dragging her toward the exit while castigating Linnea who was screaming right back at him as an anxious-looking Hanz trying to placate them both.

“You’re coming with me, niece. This farce ends now!”

“Unhand me, uncle. You have no right to bind me with your will!”

Lieberman coldly shook his head. “You took the clan oath before we left, as our elders insisted. Per our clan codicils, you’re my ward and my responsibility while we’re in this city! That means you’re duty-bound to obey me!”

Linnea glared through her tears from underneath her crimson curls. “I’m not going anywhere! I won room and board for the next thirty days! That’s guest-rights for a full moon that have absolutely nothing to do with you or our clan elders!”

Lieberman gave an angry shake of his head, and the only thing abating Alex’s sudden killing fury at seeing her manhandle her was that he finally let go of Linnea, simply crossing his arms and glaring at her. “It doesn’t matter, niece, and you know it. It will be a mark against your mother and your cousins if you dare to defy the elders in this. A mark against Hanz. Are you that eager to cause your cousin further censor and hardship? Haven’t you done enough?”

He shook his head with scathing contempt. “You’ve managed to embarrass myself, Hanz, and the whole clan, traipsing about with cultivators and a wild-blood without a care in the world. You’re humiliating all of us with your consistent mockery of custom and tradition! Our elders had you both take an oath for this very reason!”

Linnea’s bitter tears turned to sudden fury. Alex’s eyes widened as he sensed sudden heat coming off her in waves. “That entire oath’s bullshit! Our ‘elders’ made me take that oath to control me! So some asshole elder like you would have absolute authority over everything I say and do! Like I’m your fucking slave!”

Lieberman coldly shook his head. “We’re a free people and you know it. The freest in this broken world. No one made you give your word.”

“Freedom? How the hell am I free? How are any of us free?” Linnea angrily hissed. “The elders make it absolutely impossible to even leave that prison of a commune unless I allow you to be my fucking keeper!”

“That’s because you are a child, Linnea, by the laws of our clan. As you are proving to be even now, embarrassing us in front of half a dozen natives, after making a mockery of our clan traditions ever since you met that wild-blood!”

“Father, we don’t know for sure what Alex actually is...” Hanz tried to interject, before wilting as his father and Linnea didn’t even bother glancing his way.

“I’m a child by the laws of our clan?” Linnea let loose a tittering laugh that made Alex’s teeth grate. “I’m twenty two years old! I had my first blood six years ago! I’m an adult in every way that matters!”

Lieberman coldly shook his head. “You’re considered a ward of the commune until you’ve proven your maturity before the counsel. And your foolish behavior this trip has been so egregious that I doubt you’ll be permitted to leave again until you’ve proven yourself in the only way that matters.”

Linnea blanched, stumbling back, eyes widening with horror. “No, no, I absolutely refuse!”

Lieberman sighed. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Linnea. I’ve already spoken to Senior Cultivator Te Chang. He, at least, respects our traditions. You won’t be permitted to delve or pester the students any more than you already have.”

Linnea’s eyes widened with horror that quickly turned to outrage. Alex felt the sudden pulse and thrum of wild mana as her hands abruptly burst into flame.

“You absolute bastard!” She hissed, glaring at her uncle.

Qi Perception check made!

“Linnea, don’t! It’s a trap! He’s setting you up!” Alex roared, now coldly glaring at Lieberman, doing his best to ignore the half dozen cultivators dressed in silken finery baring witness to the fiasco, all of them radiating Deep Bronze or actual Silver potency, clearly enjoying the show. All of Alex’s focus was on Lieberman’s half smile, like a master chess player cornering his opponent.

Linnea’s eye widened. The white-hot fire blazing in her hands abruptly snuffed out. She took a shuddering deep breath and stepped back, crossing her arms that now radiated absolutely no offensive energies at all, angrily shaking her head. “No. I won’t let you goad me into getting kicked out! I…I’m not leaving, no matter what the hell you say or do.”

Lieberman’s half-smile turned to a feral snarl as he glared Alex’s way. “You dare to interfere again, wild-blood?”

Alex couldn’t help snorting at that, doing his best to reign in his own hot temper. “Wow, you managed to think up a disparaging insult for the one supposed Ruidian that doesn’t quite fit your mold. Just goes to show that any group will disparage anyone that they can for pretty much any reason, and that you lot are no better than the true-bloods when the tables are turned.”

Lieberman snorted, his mocking smile returning. “Pretty words that mean absolutely nothing. And as you have proven yourself unwilling to accept challenge, your actions have absolutely no weight with my clan. We need no longer acknowledge your presence.”

Alex blinked in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Hanz gazed apologetically Alex’s way. “Don’t you remember, Alex? When you offered to fight my father for Linnea’s hand?”

Alex opened his mouth, but no words came out as Linnea’s panicked look returned and Lieberman’s smirk grew. And of course the flawless featured cultivating elite that could afford to eat here every morning were savoring every word of the free entertainment playing out before them.

Hanz sighed, shaking his head. “Father waited between dusk and dark at the main courtyard for your challenge, just as custom dictates. You failed to show.” He lowered his gaze, sounding genuinely regretful. “That’s automatic forfeiture. I’m sorry, Alex.”

Alex’s eyes bulged. It was all he could do not to laugh. Because of course there would be some crazy unexpected twist. And who could he blame but himself? He knew he had been forgetting something last night! His challenge to Lieberman. That had been it. Of course!

“I’m not from your tribe. My customs are different!” Even as he said the words Alex’s thoughts raced. Yet by the looks the cultivators were giving him, he was just coming off as a fool. Still, if Hanz’s furrowed brow was any indication… “I was honoring my commitments to the school, after assisting Masters Win and Shi with our classes’ first delve… and Linnea was as well! We were also honoring our commitments to this school!”

“By daring to sleep with my niece in your arms?” Lieberman abruptly roared. “Deflowering her with your tainted blood?”

“No one was deflowered last night!” Alex angrily shot back.

Lieberman’s faux outraged turned to a pleased smile as Linnea gazed his way with horror. “Then that means my niece is still a virgin. Excellent. Then she is still my clan’s property uncontested, and there’s no need for this discussion at all.” He glared down at an utterly defeated Linnea. “Come, child. This farce ends now.”

Alex’s eyes widened in alarm, as Hanz gave him a sad shake of the head, realizing that he had just been played.

Thinking frantically he smirked and shook his head. “Um… you do know that last night wasn’t the first night your niece shared my bed, don’t you?”

He forced a smirk as Lieberman’s eyes widened with outrage.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“That you would dare!”

Alex’s grin widened as he gave a nonchalant shrug. “Like I said. No one was deflowered ‘last night.’ I was trying to save face with the cultivators here, before realizing that I didn’t really care if they knew or not.” He winked at the cultivators as if including them in the farce, several of them chuckling.

“Point is, Linnea and I were both fulfilling our obligations after escorting the newest aspirants through a delve. That obligation included the customary feast after surviving their first rift, which was actually far more perilous than anyone had anticipated. And that is definitely following tradition, as I’m sure you will agree.”

Hanz’s eyes widened. Much to Alex’s relief, he gave a pleased smile, nodding his agreement.

“His words actually make sense, Father. If he’s from an entirely different clan… we have to give consideration to his dueling customs. And I know for a fact neither of us thought to confirm with him the dueling hour for his tribe! And he’s right as well about the feast. Did you know that he and Linnea actually managed to save half a dozen lives between them? Maybe more. So certainly honor had been accrued with the academy and they would have insulted our hosts, if they had failed to attend the celebratory feast!”

Linnea’s features grew tight with strain as he clenched his jaw and glared Alex’s way. “No more excuses or prevarications, wild-blood. I formally challenge you for my niece’s hand. Accept or refuse, this farce ends now!”

Alex gazed Linnea’s way. “Linnea?”

“Please, please, please!” She sobbed, racing to Alex’s side and clasping his hand. “I’d far rather be with you than be forced to marry that inbred mongrel that my uncle’s trying to foist off on me!”

Now it was Lieberman whose features blotched with fury, the cultivators in the room shivering and frowning as the air dropped a good ten degrees in the blink of an eye.

“Careful, father!” A panicked Hanz warned.

Alex glanced the cultivator’s way, before turning to glare at his would-be opponent. “Alright, Lieberman. Assuming it doesn’t violate any school protocol, I’d be happy to accept a challenge, so long as we can agree on the parameters of the fight, including the location and the time, and assure the safety of those around us.”

Lieberman’s eyes glittered with satisfaction, a tight smile caressing his lips. “Excellent! We will duel for my niece a quarter glass from now, within the dueling grounds that the college permits us to use. We will enter at opposite ends of the arena grounds, and all attacks are permitted. We duel until death or submission!” Lieberman said, crossing his arms and raising his chin, glaring coldly down at Alex, which was a neat trick, Alex thought, since the man was considerably shorter than he.

Alex smirked, grateful that he had been paying enough attention during the college tour to appreciate the advantage this would give his opponent. “Opposite ends of a forty yard wide sparring ground? When you know I’m a melee cultivator and you specialize in ranged attacks? Skew the odds in your favor much?”

Linnea paled at Alex’s snark, Lieberman’s glare turning into a cold smile. “Are you refusing to fight for your would-be mate, odd-blood?”

Alex blinked at the latest insult, but just shook his head. “I’m not refusing anything, what I’m saying is...”

“Good. It’s decided. We’ll meet there in a quarter glass.” With those words, Lieberman stormed out of the room.

Hanz paled, glancing between a bemused Alex and a shaken Linnea.

“Are you alright, cousin?”

Linnea’s dazed look turned to angry tears. “Alright? How can I be alright!? The minute I get a taste of freedom, your asshole father does everything he can to get me to heel, trying to force me back home and into the arms of a sick mongrel before I have even a chance of setting my eyes on someone else!”

Hanz blanched, then lowered his gaze. “I know.”

Linnea’s eyes flashed with furious heat. “All so he can claim a girl younger than me! Tell me it’s anything more than that.”

Hanz’s cheeks blazed. “It’s not…” He swallowed, furtively glancing up at the half dozen cultivators hanging on to their every word. “Perhaps this isn’t the best...”

“Just say it, cousin! Because it’s not like I’ll ever be able to speak up or even leave my future hovel for the rest of my shitty life, if my uncle has his way!”

“He just wants another son,” Hanz whispered huskily in their own dialect. “He wants an heir.”

“He has you.”

Hanz flashed a bitter smile. “I’m a dead branch and will doom any chance of his passing on his gifts, and you know why as well as anyone.”

Linnea pressed her lips in tight pity, though it was well tempered by bitterness and the pressure of her own situation. “I’m sorry things are the way they are, Hanz. But that doesn’t change the fact that your uncle thinks nothing of controlling my life, like I’m his fucking property!”

Alex quickly strode to Linnea’s side, gently squeezing her hand, for moral support as much as anything else, even as she burst into tears and wrapped him up in a fierce hug.

“It’s alright. By the end of today, you’ll be a free woman. I promise.”

The smile this earned him warmed his heart, Linnea’s features strikingly beautiful as her face lit up like the sun. “Thank you, Alex. For just… for being willing to fight for me, for coming to my rescue… I can’t thank you enough.”

Alex’s tense features eased into a grin. “It’s alright. Come on, let’s get to the sparring arena and go over tactics while we still have time.”

With those words the three left the dining pagoda and quickly made their way along the hardpacked path splitting the lush courtyards within which so many cultivators could be seen doing their morning meditation, cultivation, and training within. Not that Alex blamed them, with the pristine view of the rising sun lighting the eastern sky that they all got to enjoy, as well as an excellent view of the lush valley below.

It was the most picturesque of walking paths Alex paid little heed to, focused as he was on what was to come.

“Alright, Alex, you already know my father’s favorite tactic while rift hunting, but it’s different while dueling,” Hanz began. “He has access to a powerful swirling storm of ice he can surround himself with, and he can do more than throw straight line ice spears at you.”

Linnea nodded. “He can lob crystals that look innocent, before exploding into deadly shrapnel, and he can fill the field with deadly sharp ice caltrops you won’t even see until your feet are shredded.”

“And if you get too close, he’ll just send you tumbling back with a blast of icy wind,” Hanz said with a mournful shake of his head.

Linnea paled. “That’s right. He can do that too. Won’t do shit against a massive four-legged behemoth, but against a single human? He’s pretty deadly.”

“And this is after Alex saved his life, and my own.” Hanz gave an apologetic bow of his head. “I’m sorry my father’s doing this, Alex. Considering that we’re only alive because you were a perfect fit for that last delve...”

Alex sighed, patting the young man’s slender shoulder. “It’s alright, Hanz. We’re cool, but your dad is definitely going on the prick-column of people that I’ve met this time around.”

Hanz chuckled. “Fair enough.” His strained smile turned to a desperate look. “Just go.”

Alex stopped, frowning at Hanz. “Sorry?”

Hanz’s voice grew strained, glancing around furtively as if afraid his father might somehow overhear him. “Just take my cousin and leave Liushi. There are other cities you could...”

His voice died off when it was Linnea, of all people, who shook her head. “He can’t do that, cousin. If Alex flees your father, he’ll be in his right to call a moot and have Alex declared anathema with all the clans. And considering the hate hard-on he has for Alex, he’ll do just that. And you know what happens then.”

Hanz winced then reluctantly nodded. “All clans will be turned against you, and they’ll use their influence to make sure neither of you are permitted to set foot in another academy again. Not to mention put a bounty out for your capture.”

Alex blinked. “Wait… you guys actually have that much pull, now?”

Hanz gave him a curious look. “Well… yes?”

“It’s not every academy, Alex,” Linnea sighed. “Just the ones depending on rifts for water cores and whatever else they need for sustenance from the desert sands.”

“Which is pretty much all of them,” Hanz said. “All but the smallest that just ride the shirttails of the larger ones.”

“Who could order their underlings to boot us out in a minute,” Linnea whispered with a curse, shaking he head before turning to glance apologetically up at Alex. “I’m sorry I got you caught up in this,” she said, as the arena grounds came into view, complete with a coldly smiling Lieberman at one end, and no less than three dozen cultivators already gathering around the stone steps carved into the shallow slope behind.

“You actually came,” Lieberman said with a satisfied nod, wearing an air of superiority as a whirling wind of ice and snow surrounded him. “I’m surprised. And pleased. It’s time to put you in your place, half-blood, as all failed members of our clan should be.”

Alex blinked at that. “I’m sorry?”

“He’s talking about all the Ruidians who failed to manifest a jewel, or even have one implanted artificially,” Hanz said with a sigh.

Alex frowned. “But wait… isn’t breeding for nothing but jewel-gifts what has you guys so close to extinction by inbreeding in the first place?”

“The council refuses to see it that way,” Linnea said with a bitter snort. “And my uncle’s a major power in the council of our tribe.”

“Of course he is,” Alex said with a sigh, bowing to his friends and catching at least a few familiar faces in the crowd before heading down into the shallow bowl of the arena, set only a short distance back from the caldara lip.

“You can do it, Alex!” Cheered none other than Ling Ling. Quing and Lilly were also present and holding hands, the young couple having the look of two people who had just discovered the sweet joys of dual cultivation together. Both of them nodded in greeting, bowing his way.

“I hope that freak crushes Alex,” snarled Tan Yi, who glared Alex’s way and spat on the steps below.

And those weren’t the only familiar faces Alex noted.

Alex felt a twist in his gut to see none other than Elder Win attending, along with what was, in fact, their entire class.

“We are looking forward, Alex,” Win said with an enigmatic smile. “And since you’re fulfilling your cultural duties in pursuit of… matrimony? It won’t even count as missing class.”

Alex forced a smile and a bow for their sensei. “This one thanks you, Master Win, and will do his best not to disappoint.”

Lieberman ignored the already excited crowd, glaring Alex's way. “Well, challenger? Are you ready to begin?”

Alex smiled, forcing himself to take slow deep breaths, doing his best to feel with his now bare feet the remnants of an ancient pact, gifts that he prayed would forever be his, no matter how thick the veil placed between himself and ancient gifts hated by jealous tyrants Alex hoped never to encounter again.

His smile grew slightly as he seemed to grow an inch, earning just a couple of considering looks sent his way. Though none from Lieberman.

“Ready when you are.”

Instructor Rah rang a hammered bronze gong. “Then begin!”

And before Alex could even wonder how, exactly, half the school and everyone he knew had managed to get to the arena grounds in less than a quarter glass, the air was already filling with spikes of ice as a snarling Lieberman roared, and Alex was darting forward for all he was worth, racing across the grassy field.