Rupeth did go over the safety protocols, though in his own irreverent brand of teaching. Prelinsa was having so much fun that the day felt all too short. Soon, it was time to end training for that day. As they were heading in the same direction – towards Castle Hill – Prelinsa and Rupeth walked together.
“I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in a long time,” Prelinsa said, tapping her fingers against her sword hilt and feeling the wrapping.
“Glad to hear it! The Great Rupeth always tries to make things entertaining when he can~”
As they walked, Rupeth’s ears twitched.
“Ya hear that?” He asked.
Prelinsa listened. It was tricky, but there was the sound of a struggle somewhere.
“Let’s check it out.”
Rupeth strode casually, not seeming to be in any rush. He even put his hands behind his head and whistled. But he probably knew what he was doing. Prelinsa followed after him.
Turning a corner, they saw a lycan man being cornered by a human woman with a big mana heart – definitely stronger than Prelinsa’s Phoenix Spark. She was clearly being aggressive and the man wasn’t having it. A small crowd was also starting to gather, but wasn’t sure how to respond to this strong individual.
“Come on, don’t be like that!” The woman said. “Let’s have a good time!”
“I’m telling you, leave me alone! I’m not interested!” The man replied.
“Prince Rupeth!” Someone in the crowd exclaimed, and everyone made way for him and Prelinsa.
“Hey now, ya can’t be forceful like that!” Rupeth said, as he swaggered over. “Gotta do it like this~”
He shoved the woman aside, putting on his best flirt. Keeping his distance from the lycan.
“Hey man, ignore that lady over there,” he said amicably. “You should go have fun with someone who respects ya, rather than being all pushy! So, wanna go out for drinks? No need for alcohol. We can just take our sweet time getting to know one another. See if we’re compatible or not~”
The lycan blinked, not sure what to make of this.
“You! You’re Rupeth Silvermoon! The rabid fox!” The woman hissed. “Stop getting in my way!”
“In your way?” Rupeth snorted. “Please, your way is terrible! Ya can see he doesn’t want it, but you’re going after him anyway! Don’t be like that. You’ll get more men, women, and everything in-between if ya have even the slightest bit of respect~”
“Fuck you!” The woman drew a saber and lunged at Rupeth, her saber gleaming with electricity.
Rupeth drew his katana with one hand and ignited it, casually parrying and making lots of unnecessary spins and movements. It looked incredibly flashy, not at all like proper fighting. Swordfighting like this would be suicide for a normal person, especially wearing a loaded backpack, but this was Rupeth Silvermoon. His movements were so fast, so powerful, and so nimble that it made no difference whether he fought properly or not. The woman screamed in frustration, turning up her aggression, but Rupeth didn’t care and kept showing off. Prelinsa and the crowd all watched in fascination.
Suddenly, Rupeth flicked the woman’s saber out of her hands, catching it with his free hand. He ignited this sword, too.
“Ooh! I got your sword! I win now, right? Also, this sword’s kinda nice, can I keep it?”
“No!” The woman fired a bolt of electricity at him, but Rupeth just swished the saber to deflect the bolt straight back at her, causing her to fall over backwards trying to defend. Rupeth tossed the saber into the air, pulled something attached to his backpack, tossed it at the woman, and caught the saber again. The thing he tossed exploded in a cloud of smoke and cast a big net, trapping the woman against the ground. She yelled and struggled, but couldn’t break free, even as she zapped away at the net. Prelinsa could sense that the net contained a strong earth dance that was blocking the electricity.
“Well, now I definitely win,” Rupeth said, sheathing his katana. “Also, I was kidding about the sword, it actually sucks. Like, really bad. You can have it back.”
He bent down and plonked the saber onto the ground next to the net – it looked charred from the flames, with iridescent oxidation coating parts of the blade. The crowd clapped and cheered. Prelinsa also clapped. Rupeth gave several bows to them.
“Thank you! Thank you! I hope you all enjoyed that performance by the Great Rupeth~”
Some guards turned up, just a moment too late.
“Prince Rupeth!” They said, bowing.
“Hey! Look who’s finally here,” Rupeth said, grinning. “You deal with the lady in the net, okay? I’ve got other things to do.”
“Are we going back to the castle now?” Prelinsa asked, as the guards took to it.
“Well, I remembered that I gotta do something first. So you go on ahead. Catch ya later, okay?”
Prelinsa nodded, said her goodbyes to Rupeth, and began making her way home. She hummed a tune as she walked, basking in the warmth of the katana and its energy.
As she wandered through the crowds, she ran into Camilla again. Prelinsa could recognize her by scent, and now also felt the fiery mana heart within the lycan brunette. It wasn’t anything special compared to a Phoenix Spark, but she felt a sort of weird kinship with it. Maybe that was just because she was in such a good mood today.
“Hey,” she said.
“Oh. It’s you,” Camilla said grouchily. “I can see you’re a Phoenix Warrior now. And you got a nice new weapon. Must be feeling pretty good about yourself, huh?”
“Honestly? Yeah,” Prelinsa replied.
“Argh! Now I really want to fight you!” Camilla did that thing again with her teeth and fists. “But I can’t! And even if I could, I’d just lose again! Right now, you’re way out of my league! Grrrr!”
“Well, just keep working harder, I guess?”
“You think I haven’t been?” Camilla hissed. “When I’m not in public and not carrying out my punishment, I’ve been training my ass off! Just because I’m stupid doesn’t mean I’m letting myself get out of touch! Remember, I’m going to catch up to you someday!” She pointed her finger at Prelinsa.
“Right. I do remember.”
Suddenly, Prelinsa felt an odd presence approaching them. It was the same one as before – the one that Rupeth said wasn’t him.
“Do you feel that?” She asked Camilla, looking around for it.
“Huh? Oh- yeah,” Camilla said, frowning. “That’s weird.”
A hooded figure approached them from the crowd, seemingly invisible to everyone but the two of them. Prelinsa could tell from the scent that she was a wererat. She removed her hood, revealing light brown hair and two big, rounded ears. She looked like she was about Corynn’s age, so a bit older than Prelinsa and Camilla.
“Good job!” She said, clapping her hands. “I was going to announce myself, but I guess I didn’t have to.”
“Who are you?” Prelinsa asked.
“I’m Fern. I came here to be friends with you, Prelinsa,” Fern said. She smiled, but there wasn’t any happiness behind it. Prelinsa got the feeling that she spoke with impure motives. Someone who approached like this couldn’t be up to any good.
“What do you really want?” She asked, scowling.
Fern clicked her tongue. “Tch. So impatient. Let’s go somewhere quieter first.”
Prelinsa glanced at Camilla.
“I’m going if you are,” Camilla said.
“Fine. We’ll go,” Prelinsa said.
----------------------------------------
Fern led Prelinsa and Camilla into one of those buildings that was meant for private conversations. It was similar to the one that Corynn led Prelinsa into earlier to discuss her past.
“Alright, let’s get this out of the way,” she said shutting the door and turning to face the two kids. “I came to recruit you.”
“Recruit me? For what?”
Fern smiled again, and outstretched her hands with her palms facing up. “For the Magic Freedom Fighters, of course!”
Prelinsa immediately put her right hand on her sword hilt, ready to draw it. Camilla put up her fists and they lit up with fire, even though she wasn’t allowed to use martial or magic arts. But surely, this was an acceptable breaking of the rules.
“Hey, easy now!” Fern said, raising her hands. “I know what those Silvermoons are like. They told you about how we’re going to ruin the world or something by letting everyone learn powerful magic. But do you really think we’d let that happen? We’ve got plans to deal with that, you know.”
“You mean killing everyone who doesn’t agree with you!” Camilla hissed.
“Sounds like you don’t know anything,” Fern replied. “House Silvermoon has killed countless people. The Magic Freedom Fighters are just acting out justice. We’re avenging our fallen brothers and sisters. We’re liberating people from this oppressive establishment that does evil in the name of good! And we need your help.”
She looked to Prelinsa.
“You’re not like them, right Prelinsa? You’re a Phoenix Warrior, but you’re not from House Silvermoon. You came from a life of poverty. You’ve experienced how bad it is when people in power do the wrong thing,” she said. “What makes you so sure that House Silvermoon will keep doing what is right? How do you even know they’re doing the right thing?”
“Don’t listen to her, Prelinsa!” Camilla urged.
“Shut up! I bet the Matriarch never even told you about House Silvermoon’s violence and oppression. She’s keeping secrets from both of you.” Fern offered Prelinsa a hand. “There’s no place for you here, Prelinsa. Join me, and let’s set magic free together! Let’s overthrow these despots that rule over the Greater Realm! Let’s bring justice and create a new world order!”
“No!” Prelinsa snapped. “You’re talking like you’re doing me and the world some favor. But you’re not Freedom Fighters! You’re just murderers and child abusers! House Silvermoon would never stoop as low as you!”
“Stoop as low as us? Child abusers? What children are you even talking about?” Fern wondered aloud.
“The clones! Don’t tell me you don’t know!” Prelinsa said. “You Fighters experimented on innocent clones to turn them into soldiers!”
Fern snorted. “Oh, right. I guess you would see things that way. But those things aren’t innocent, let alone children.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Camilla looked absolutely appalled. “No! How could you?!” She gasped. “Clones are people! Princess Corynn is a real person!”
“Princess Corynn is just a thing pretending to be a person,” Fern retorted.
Prelinsa drew her katana, its blade firing up with the heat of her anger. She growled fiercely as she took a two-handed grip. “You’re a monster! I’ve heard enough from you!”
But before she or Camilla could do anything, the door crashed open as someone rushed in, tackling Fern to the ground. It was Rupeth Silvermoon. He kind of just sat on Fern, and waved to Prelinsa and Camilla with one hand, while using his other hand to keep his prey in check.
“Hey girls!” He said jovially. He was followed in by a few Silvermoon soldiers.
“Rupeth! How did you know we were here?” Prelinsa asked, relaxing a bit. Camilla quickly put her flames out.
“Sorry, trade secret. Gotta learn it first~” Rupeth said.
“Idiot,” Fern said. She shifted into her rat form, which was big for a rat – about sixty centimeters in body length. Her clothes weren’t enchanted, so she was left with just elastomeric undergarments. With this smaller size, she attempted to slip out of Rupeth’s grasp. But Rupeth was too fast. He shifted into a large fox and promptly grabbed her in his mouth.
“Argh! Let me go, you brute!” She squeaked.
Fern rapidly shifted back into her earfolk form, forcing Rupeth to let go. She twisted around and tried to blast the Silvermoon Prince with water. But the water vaporized before it even hit him.
Rupeth grinned through the cloud of steam, as he grew larger and larger, until he was absolutely massive, with his head nearly scraping the ceiling. Against the backdrop of the setting sun and the emerging aurora, his black fur and bright eyes made him look especially sinister. “So rude! You know, we Silvermoons are murderers, right?” He licked his lips. “Did you know we’re also cannibals? I think I’ll rip ya to pieces and roast your remains over a bonfire!”
“You! You wouldn’t dare-”
Rupeth raised a huge paw and slammed Fern to the ground, pinning her there. He bent down, looking at her.
“Rats go well with garlic and soy sauce, you know~?”
Fern immediately shut up. She wasn’t willing to test how far Rupeth would go.
“Prince Rupeth,” one of the soldiers said. “How should we proceed?”
“I dunno – take Miss Leclerc back home or something? I’m just gonna do my own thing, so don’t worry about me.”
The soldiers nodded, seemingly accustomed to Rupeth’s antics. They quickly turned their attention to Camilla. Camilla didn’t seem to like the attention – she was probably worried about being punished for using magic – but she followed them out of the building. Meanwhile, Rupeth shifted back to his earfolk form, still casually keeping Fern pinned to the ground with one hand. He pulled out a rope from his backpack.
“You’re too obvious, ya know,” he commented, beginning to tie Fern up. “I’ve been watching ya for a while now. Gave me a bad vibe, stalking Prelinsa like that. But I didn’t know you’d be part of the Fighters! What a catch!” His tail wagged in delight.
“Don’t be so pleased with yourself! There are more of us! We’ll burn this rotten city and- mmmf!”
Rupeth pulled some of the rope over Fern’s mouth. It looked like it hurt. Prelinsa grimaced.
“Uh, sorry you had to hear that,” Rupeth said, not sounding very sorry at all.
“So you heard everything we said?” Prelinsa asked.
“Yeah! I was waiting and listening outside with the soldiers. We were gathering evidence~” Rupeth finished tying Fern up. “Whole lotta nonsense about Silvermoons being murderers, and how the Freedom Fighters are doing the world a favor.”
“Was it really all nonsense?” Prelinsa knew the question might be sensitive, but she felt worried. Fern’s words had bothered her – maybe there was more to this story than she knew.
“Well, I’m gonna be straight with ya. It’s true that House Silvermoon has a violent past. A lotta bad things happened back then,” Rupeth said. “But we’re all better than that now! And we never bothered the Fighters until they started killing people. Trust me, I’ve been around for over a hundred years.” He tapped his head. “I’m not the brightest star up here, but I know what I’m talking about.”
Fern managed to slip the rope from her mouth.
“That is not true! House Silvermoon is killing countless- mmmf!”
Rupeth yanked the rope taut again.
“Whoops, didn’t get that one tight enough. Let’s just do this…”
He whacked Fern on her neck, knocking her out instantly. Prelinsa felt like he should’ve done that first, but maybe he was just trying to make her suffer. For good measure, Rupeth also took out a thin fabric sack from his backpack and put it over Fern’s head, tying it in place. Prelinsa could feel energy coming from the sack – it wasn’t just an ordinary one. It actually blocked out all the scents coming from Fern’s head.
“There, that’s way better. Now ya can’t see, hear, or speak. Like the three monkeys~”
He finally stood, and patted Prelinsa on the shoulder.
“Anyway, I know her words got to ya, but you can believe in House Silvermoon. Though I’m a Silvermoon myself, so that’s probably not super convincing…? Oh, but like I said, it’s true that House Silvermoon did a lot of bad things, and you can confirm that yourself. Mother wasn’t always so great, ya know?”
“What do you mean?”
“I already talked too much. Gotta go roast this rat first,” Rupeth said, stretching. “Not literally, of course. I was joking about that whole thing. Rats taste awful with garlic.”
He hoisted Fern up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“You should hear the rest of the story from Mother. Or ya know, you can just read about it – it’s all written down and publicly available online. Every terrible thing that House Silvermoon and its Matriarch ever did, ever.”
“Huh.”
“I know, right? Look it up on your phone or something. Anyway, you’re a witness, so you’d better come along and give testimony! Try and keep up with me!”
He dashed off into the evening, Fern still in tow. Prelinsa took a deep breath, then followed after Rupeth. His words gave her some comfort. There wasn’t any reason for him to lie. Prelinsa didn’t use the internet much, but if she could just look up the terrible things he mentioned, then she could tell right away if he was lying or not. That also meant the Matriarch probably wasn’t intentionally hiding the past from her. She probably just hadn’t found the right time or place to talk about it. It couldn’t be easy to talk about, either.
She decided that for now, she would just think on it some more.