I will be releasing two chapters today, six and seven, because of the sheer length of what I want to make available at one time, over 12,000 words. I normally only submit single chapters from between four and six thousand words but that would fail to resolve some story/plot issues that are bothering some of my readers which I had promised them would be resolved with this release.
I have probably not done the best job of editing, if you find any mistakes that annoy you, please leave a comment and I’ll try to fix them.
Thanks for reading.
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Chapter 6: Alex and Donna to the Rescue.
I arrived at the University during the early afternoon. While waiting there, I was ignored by the University Registrar and his assistants, who obviously favored the better dressed new students that had servants accompanying them. When I finally reached the Registrar’s desk I was loudly informed that I was a charity case and that my tuition was being paid for by the Crown. This was said quite snidely. I was then told because of my being a “charity case” and since the other “on-time” students had already checked in, I would have to make due, with being assigned to a vacant room in the old servant’s wing of the University Complex. I was informed that the old wing was now being used for storage and that the University’s general labor and service staff as well as the personal servants for the wealthy students, were now being housed in newer and much improved quarters. The man remarked, “Almost as good as what the real students have.”
I was led to the old wing which, I found extremely dusty and damp. My guide quickly ran off before I had even opened the door to my room. It was quite large but it was packed full to the ceiling with old furniture and wooden crates. I checked the other rooms that shared the same hallway and I found that several of them would have been a better option but I had been assigned to this room. What to do? I walked back to the Registrar’s office and I found it closed. I approached the cleaning staff and they ignored me. I went back to the old wing and I selected the best room that was available there. I did a superficial cleaning, set some wards, and ate my dinner, which I had wisely bought on my carriage ride from the ship that I had sailed aboard.
Being the slave of a witch and living in a swamp and later on a battle zone had long since taught me how to wake up when I needed to. I had gone to bed early the previous night and so I easily awoke well before dawn. I found a functional washroom in another wing of the same building and I got cleaned up. I returned to my room for my morning meal which consisted of hard biscuit and dried meat. I could smell something wonderful cooking, somewhere about but I decided to ignore that for now. After eating, I went back to the Registrar’s office and waited until they opened up.
“Why aren’t you in your uniform and in your class you ignorant lout?” Are the words that greeted me.
“Because you didn’t tell me when we previously talked, what classes I’ve been assigned to nor did you inform me about the requirement for a uniform. I’m here now to get that information, which you should have supplied me with yesterday and to ask why, I’ve been assigned a storage room, filled to the ceiling with old desks and broken beds, as my bedroom.”
“Don’t you snap back at me; young man! I’ll take my cane to you.”
“The last person who tried to do that I killed; actually it was man with a spear but that’s close enough.” I gave the old fart a leveled glare; he took a step back and called for the school proctors.
He told his version of events and I told mine. The Assistant Proctors were going to lash me, saying that they didn’t believe swamp trash like me. I told them that I would leave the University first but if they tried to harm me in any way, that I would see them dead before I left. I took off my shirt and showed them my scars.
“You see, I have had more than enough of people whipping me, burning me and beating me.” They gulped and stepped back.
It was at that point that the Head Proctor showed up. “What’s going on here? Why isn’t this student in class? Why isn’t he in uniform? Why does he have his shirt off?”
The lies started once again, this time with the Junior Proctors adding a few. They even said that I had drawn my dagger on them. I didn’t have a dagger, just a small cluster of insignificant harmless looking tubes, no bigger than my little finger, and the nonexistent darts inside the tubes were definitely not coated with an exceptionally strong, paralyzing, spider venom.
“Listen to me boy. I don’t know how you got into this school but we don’t like your sort around here, not one little bit. Now, hand over your dagger.”
“I don’t want to be here either but Princess Ellen and the King both insisted. As for my dagger, I don’t have one. Your men really should practice their lies more carefully so that they at least meet some of the observable facts.”
The Head Proctor didn’t like being made a fool of and he quickly turned on his men and the old man in the Registrar’s office. It turns out that I was stuck with my assigned room for some UNBELIEVABLE bureaucratic reason. But I was told that I could empty it, of what was stored there and put it into one of the other rooms in that same wing. I could also take anything that was stored in the old servants’ wing and use it for my own needs, which didn’t sound too bad. As for emptying out the room it was expected that my own servants would take care of that task. The University’s servants were only for the common areas.
Uniforms were custom ordered and I would have to arrange for my own. I would also have to purchase my own books. Finally, I was given my class schedule and I was walked to my class by the Head Proctor, Micah Powers. I heard enough to learn, from loudly spoken whispers in the hallways, that the rumor going about was that I could not be given a failing grade or expelled from the University but I could be forced to quit, simply wonderful.
Upon my arrival at the classroom, the first thing that I heard from Professor Greta Marks was, “So Mister Drake you could not even bother to pretend to study for my class or buy a book?”
“Actually, I enjoy studying and I’ve had little time to do it over the past few years. I only arrived in Sweet Port yesterday and I was not informed about the need to buy books or the need to for a uniform. None of the people that wanted me to attend this University informed me about either of those two things. I will take care of those matters as soon as is possible. Tonight though, I will need to empty out and clean my room, the Registrar’s office has assigned me a storage closet in the old wing as my sleeping quarters. I need to prepare it for both sleeping and studying.”
Take your seat Mister Drake. I see you at least have a notebook, so please be good enough to pretend to take some notes, though you’ve already missed well over half my class.”
The Professor resumed her lecture. “We were talking about the discovery of Lord Thomas’s new healing potion which he learned to make while exploring the perilous Drake’s Swamp. Thus he named the concoction, Drake’s Healing Potion. That potion is far easier to make and is less expensive as well when compared to a traditional healing concoction. It is not as powerful as other similar potions but its sheer economic cost benefits make it a brilliant achievement for Lord Thomas.”
I’m not one to let things slide but I saw no point in causing a spectacle. I wrote a note at the end of class explaining things to the Professor. I detailed how to make the potion in the note as well. Sadly my writing is still terrible and barely legible.
I followed my nose to the University dining hall for lunch. It was served in something called buffet style which was like an army chow line. There were no personal servants allowed in this area. You walked up, filled a plate with what you wanted and found an empty seat. My problem was that my fellow students kept blocking me from getting to any of the available foods there. If there is one thing that I can’t stand, is going hungry when others are not. That happened to me too many times when the Witch was alive.
I didn’t want to start a fight and I finally managed to get some of the less appetizing foods located on the tables there. There were many chuckles at my expense, especially since I had little time to eat my meal.
The next day, Professor Marks looked at me strangely during class but she said nothing at all to me. At week’s end, I hated to do it but I wrote a letter to the Princess detailing my grievances with the University to date. If I should leave this place, she should be aware of why I was doing it. My letter would take as long as three weeks to reach her and then I would have to wait for her reply. I in no way thought that the Princess held me in any sort of real regard, though many others said that she did. I was just a tool that Ellen no longer needed, but she might have a use for it again, one day.
King Rivers was in a quandary. He had to finally acknowledge the brilliance of his daughter. She was a tactical and strategic genius on the battlefield that had far eclipsed everyone else in the Kingdom, most especially her older brother. She was now proving to be a skilled administrator too. The problem was that her older brother had dealt her too many injustices over the years, for her to ever forgive. Edward was more than a little spiteful and once he assumed the throne he might very well anger Ellen even further. Taken too far that might lead to a civil war and the Army and Navy adored the Princess. The best thing for the Kingdom was if Ellen was to be made the heir but the King didn’t know the best way to accomplish that, he would have to give it some more thought.
I was far behind in my math and composition classes. But I devoured and enjoyed my math book. Composition was proving to be a lot of work but I was trying my best. Biology was extremely interesting and so was civil construction even though it needed a lot of math. My Potion class was a breeze but I did learn some better techniques. In my Wards class, I learned a few new ones but I found that many of the old wards that I knew; were not in my new school book. My old books, I had hidden long ago in a special chest concealed in my keep. Runes were the same, as it pertained to my classes and books. Actually, I found that their way of doing runic magic was not nearly as powerful as the runes and methodology taught in my old books.
I persevered for the next five weeks; I ate crappy food and I did my best to study. Until one day that I came back to my room and I found my belongings destroyed. The Head Proctor had told me that it was against University rules for me to ward my room and that I must rely on the locks that were provided. I had verified that rule.
There were potions and ink bottles smashed on top of my clothes. Dried, powdered and liquid potion ingredients were mixed together. Amulets and ward signs had been thrown into the cast iron stove that warmed my room and a fire had been lit inside. I carefully searched and found that my hidden coin purse was missing. What with my damaged possessions, I must be out at least sixty gold pieces. It takes most people ten years to earn a sum so large.
I went to the Proctor’s office and I told them about what had happened to my room. I left there feeling very unsatisfied with their response.
A few hours later, I was in Dean Reynolds office with the Head Proctor Micah Powers. “I am withdrawing from this school, Dean Reynolds. I’ve put up with unwarranted harassment for the past six weeks but the destruction of my belongings in my assigned room was the final straw. So I’m leaving immediately, goodbye.” I already had my few salvaged items in the remains up of a torn up blanket, so I left his office and headed for the front door. Both the Dean and Head Proctor said some things but I just ignored them as they had been ignoring me since I arrived at this school.
When I had earlier reported the vandalism to the Proctor’s office, the Junior Proctors there had ignored me. Micah Powers had only arrived at my room, after I had missed lunch and two classes. At that point I had salvaged what I could which wasn’t that much and I was getting ready to leave. I think even he was surprised at the state of the destruction, in my room. He had stooped so low as to accuse me of doing it myself. I had ignored him and walked to the Dean’s office to resign. I really didn’t care any longer, I guess I was supposedly disappointing Princess Ellen by withdrawing from the University but she would get over it.
My family had sold me, the witch had fed off of me and Princess Ellen had only used me, I wasn’t a person but a commodity. This appointment to the school was supposed to be my great reward with the promise of a title at the end. I had already predicted that they would never accept me. I was going back to my swamp. Other people might fear the place but I found it comfortable and to me it was a home with plenty to eat, unlike this place.
Dean Reynolds turned on Micah Powers. “What the hell happened?”
“It’s just like he said, his room was vandalized. Someone broke the lock and wrecked his stuff. There must be hundreds of gold pieces in potions, ingredients, spell components, books and clothes that he has lost. Well at least he’s gone now.”
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“If he’s gone then both of us are probably gone as well. He’s got the backing of the Princess and she’s got the backing of the King ever since her great victory over the Empire. I’m hearing crazy stories that Drake was with her for every step of the way and even saved her life more than once. I just received a slew of vitriol laced letters from her demanding answers to some of the complaints that Drake has shared with her. She is after my head and she’s threatening to send a detachment from the Fifth Regiment here to take it. She’s calling me to account for all the promises that I and this University made to her, the King and young Drake. And then apparently broke starting the very first day he arrived here! Her letters to me also indicate that she has sent copies of them to the King, so I might be hearing from him very soon now.”
“Oh shit.”
“What do you mean oh shit?”
“I might have overheard some of the male students talking, they’ve been planning on jumping Drake if they ever hear of him withdrawing and leaving this school.”
“Damn it, some of the rumors that I’ve heard, say that he’s a self taught war mage and a very good one too.”
“Why in the hell have I heard none of those rumors? You should have told me! I’ve been treating that kid like shit; he might have gotten angry and killed my ass! I was told that he was some poor orphan street thief that the Princess had found and thought had a little magical talent. Now you’re telling me that he might have been in combat for the past three years alongside the Princess. I should have suspected something was up when I saw all those scars on his body.”
“What scars?”
“He’s got scars all over his body. My men threatened to lash him and he pulled off his shirt and said he’s had enough of being beaten and he’ll kill anyone that tries to do it again.”
“You go out there and stop those boys from attacking him and if you can, you bring Drake back. The University will even reimburse him for what he’s lost due to the vandalism of his room. How in the hell did you let someone vandalize one of our student’s rooms?”
“Your precious Registrar assigned him a storage room in the old servant’s wing. Even though we’ve got plenty of vacancies in the student’s building.”
“Oh, this keeps on getting better and better. Go now and find him. I need this job and you need yours.”
I was walking out of town on a small quiet street. An acquaintance, I met during the war, had told me about his favorite little restaurant in Sweet Port. His descriptions had been so vivid and mouthwatering that I had decided to go there on my way out of town since I planned on never returning.
Suddenly I heard the clip clop of a horse and the sound of wheels rubbing over cobblestones. I turned around and saw not only one but two carriages rapidly approaching me. I stepped further to the side, when I saw and recognized the driver of the first carriage, as one of the boys from school that would consistently block my access to the buffet tables. So expecting some form of nastiness, I leaped further to the side and it was a good thing that I did. He caused the horse to suddenly veer over and the carriage would have hit me if I hadn’t have moved.
He reined up his horse and the carriage stopped. The horse didn’t seem to be happy at the abrupt halt. A second small carriage pulled in behind the first one.
The driver of the first carriage was a big burly redhead. He got out and started talking. “Well, look at what we’ve got here, a lowborn swamp rat fleeing back to his momma. I see you finally awoke to the fact that you had to stop hanging around with your betters. Isn’t that what you are doing boy, running off to momma?”
The redhead was closely followed by a blonde and two dark haired boys. I had no reason to fight them because I didn’t place any value on them in the least and their words were similarly meaningless to me. But thrown rocks could hurt and I think that two of the boys facing me had some magical ability. So I backed away from them and I activated my shield amulets. I guess my expression didn’t hold enough fear, actually it might have shown the disdain I held them in because they seemed to get very upset with me. I had to wonder what I had done to earn such hatred. I mean I was leaving this town, what else could they ask for?
I know what else I could ask for. For the blonde not to have a heavy crossbow and for my witch sight not to be telling me that it was loaded with an enchanted bolt of some kind.
“So besides you four, being vandals you are also now murderers as well?”
“We’re not going to kill you rat. We are only going to teach you a lesson. The crossbow is only if you get any funny ideas, like fighting back.”
Sure Princess Ellen, force me to go to beautiful Sweet Port where you guarantee that I’ll be treated fairly and respectfully by everyone I associate with.
My room being vandalized had left me practically weaponless. That might have been their idea in the first place. The crossbow changed this situation drastically. If I fought and killed any of them, I knew that the law would rule against someone like me. On the other hand these assholes might be out to kill me and I won’t hold still for a beating. I never even made it to the restaurant, though I was tantalizingly close to someplace that smelled terrific. I was continuing to back up when I heard a voice suddenly call out from behind me.
“Fifth Regiment!”
I turned to look and there was Captain Alexander Smith and Lieutenant Donna Simms both had received promotions as a reward just before being released from the army because of medical reasons. They both looked healthy now and they were together too. Oh ho; I had long suspected something going on between the two of them. I noticed the large wedding ring on Donna’s hand.
“James, is that you? David what’s going on here and why are you pointing a crossbow at my friend,” asked Captain Smith, in a harsh commanding tone of voice.
“Cousin Alex, you claim this lowborn swamp muck as a friend?”
“James Drake is one of the finest men I know, so curb your tongue and I claim him as more than my friend. He saved my life and that of my wife’s on more than one occasion. He restored our limbs to us as well, with extremely rare regeneration potions which he went to much trouble to develop and to gather the components for. So I ask again, why are you pointing a crossbow at my friend?”
Both dark haired boys had retreated to their coach and were now making their escape. The redheaded boy seemed to be in an absolute panic and looked like he was preparing to run as well.
At that moment Donna Simms put a brass whistle to her lips and started blowing on it furiously. Alex looked at her, surprised by the sudden noise and then smiled. He spoke, “I guess we must now wait for the constables.” Doors and windows of both shops and residences on the quiet street were now opening and people were peering out at the drama playing on the city street before them.
The redheaded boy took off running, went down a narrow alley and was gone. The only one left was the blonde, holding the crossbow and he looked ready to panic. Donna was turning red in the face because she was blowing the whistle so energetically. Alex gently took it from her hand and took over the chore. A pair of constables finally came running up. One was a large woman with red hair and the other was a man with dark hair.
The woman started speaking. “What’s going on here? You boy, the one with the crossbow, put that down gently now. We don’t need anyone getting hurt.”
David set down the bow and the male constable approached and snatched it off the ground.
I spoke up, “Constable, there is an enchanted bolt in that bow. You might want to be careful with it; some enchanted bolts can kill you with only a nick.” He blanched and as an alternative to carefully unloading it, he instead fired it into a patch of grass on the side of the street. The green grass there quickly turned brown and withered away. Holy shit!
Both constables and my friends cursed upon seeing that. David looked like he was ready to faint.
“James, why is my cousin hunting you with a death bolt?”
“I don’t know. Princess Ellen insisted that I attend the Royal University as a prerequisite for getting the money that the crown owes me. When I arrived at the school, I was harassed and treated as an inferior by just about everyone there except for a few of the teachers. Today my room was vandalized and my belongings destroyed. So I decided I had had enough and I was returning home to the swamp but I decided to stop and eat at the restaurant you were always talking about. A few moments ago four boys, came riding up in two small carriages. Your cousin David pulled the crossbow out and the redhead said that they would use it on me, if I dared to fight back while they gave me a beating for having the effrontery to attend the Royal University while being a swamp rat. I was just deciding what to do when you called out ‘Fifth Regiment’. I knew if I decided to fight back that I would probably be forced to kill one of them because of that bow. But I also knew that being a low born person without any family, would count against me. So you really saved me by showing up. Thank you, Captain Smith and thank you Lieutenant Smith, and congratulations on your marriage.”
I don’t believe in quietly suffering and covering things up. If I have a complaint then I let people know about it. How do they know when to fix things if you don’t tell folks what is wrong when they ask? And if they don’t fix the bad things when they have the power to do so, then they will know or at least suspect why you stop associating with or doing business with them.
Alex cursed. The female constable went and questioned David after restraining him. I didn’t know for sure but shouldn’t a death bolt be illegal to carry around inside a city?
She came back to me. “I’m Constable Victoria Ridge; can you please go over your story once more?”
I introduced myself; I explained my history and I went over my problems at the University. She asked some more detailed questions which I answered as best I could.
“I understand that you were leaving town but we need you to stay now. That lad, David was caught carrying a death bolt and was prepared to use it, that’s a serious crime and we must investigate it.”
“I understand that but when my room was vandalized most of my belongings were destroyed and my funds were stolen as well. I’ll have to look for a cheap place to stay since I withdrew from the school.”
I hadn’t realized it but Donna was behind me and had been listening in. “Nonsense James, we owe you far too much to see you put in a squalid room in some rat infested boarding house. Alex has a fine home here in Sweet Port and we have plenty of room. You’ll be staying with us, I insist.”
“Thank you Lieutenant. I’ll gladly accept your kind offer.”
“It’s no longer Lieutenant or even Sergeant. Please call me Donna and you better not call me Countess. Alex has gone off to alert his aunt and uncle about his cousin’s difficulties. You on the other hand are going to accompany me to a late lunch and then back to Alex’s city house. Agreed?”
“Agreed Donna,” she seemed very pleased with my response; she nodded her head, took my hand and led me into the restaurant. I noticed the two constables leading the securely tied David away.