Crow sat at her desk. She had a journal of her thoughts opened in front of her. A pen

made of bone stood in an inkwell as she considered what she had written.

Nick was off her version of his sphere of influence. There was a pointer in the

direction where he had gone, but it was beyond the cut off she enjoyed from his

natural map.

Where had he gone?

She decided to send him a message. She knew she could do that from his sphere of

influence. She admitted she didn’t know how far the range was. He might be out of

range from the Academy.

“Where are you, Nick?,” she asked the air.

“I’m heading home,” said Nick. “Good luck on your tournament.”

“You said you would stay,” said Crow. She fumed at her fellow misfit.

“The basics of a plan must change due to unforeseen consequences,” said Nick.

“Really?,” said Crow.

“Master Slawn taught us that,” said Nick. He didn’t seem to guilty about breaking his

word and running off.

“What are you not telling me?,” asked Crow.

“Nothing,” said Nick.

She heard whispers and her face pinched at the new facts she had been told.

“They say you got into a fight with Madam Quince,” said Crow.

“It wasn’t a fight,” said Nick. “She said she wanted me to do another assessment and

then they were going to seal off my magic. So I said no.”

“And now you are out of the city, and on the run,” said Crow. She pinched the bridge

of her nose. “Come back, please.”

A notice that Nick had killed something flashed in her vision. Had he killed Madam

Quince?

“Did you hurt Madam Quince?,” asked Crow.

“No, I didn’t hurt Granny,” said Nick. “I killed a paw and got a better weapon and

more charges for the thunder cracker.”

“Just stay where you are and I will come out there and get you,” said Crow. “We will

discuss this and iron out the problem.”

“I’m good as is,” said Nick. “It won’t take a second to put a hole in Granny’s leg so

she will stop chasing me.”

“You will not,” said Crow. “I order you to come back to the school and not shoot

Madam Quince.”

“You don’t have the authority to order me,” said Nick.

“Yes, I do,” said Crow. She poured all of her power into making contact with Them

and asking for some help with her demand.

Crow became a spirit of white feathers exploding out of Nick’s body. He fell to the

ground in agony. She turned one black eye where the ping of Madam Quince stood.

“Come out, woman,” said Them. “I would have words with you.”

Madam Quince stepped into view. She held a blade of air in her hand. She squinted

at the thing on the tree branch. It glared at her with its black eye.

“You will take my servant home,” said the feathered demon. “You will not seal his

magic, or do another assessment. Am I clear?”

“I can fight you,” said Madam Quince.

The white thing flexed a talon. The teacher fell to the ground, pain shooting through

her body. She lost control of her spell and it vanished.

“You will do what I say, or else,” said the demon. “My oracle is fond of you, but I am

not. Boy, there will be no more foolishness. My oracle thinks you can save the world.

I do not. I think you will die from stupidity. If you see me again, it will not be good

for you. Go home with your teacher. Do not think about disobeying again.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” said Nick. He couldn’t quite move his hand to point at

the giant creature glaring down at him.

“The oracle is your boss, and you will do what she says.” The feathers of the thing

ruffled in anger. “Do you understand the words that I am putting in your stupid little

brain, mortal brat? Because if I keep this up, there won’t be much left of that peanut

sized lump. Go back to the school, and maintain watch. Do not make me look for you.

It has not been that long since I have had a human heart.”

The feathers exploded and Crow woke up in her room. They gave her their

assessment. It was not the stuff of unicorns in her opinion.

“I need him to help me find the Warlord’s heart and get rid of it once and for all,” said

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Crow. “Do you think he will keep this bad attitude?”

They thought she was making a mistake trying to deal with this monster hunter. He

would always pull left, when she needed him to go right.

“I will do what I can with what I have,” said Crow. “Thank you for your help. Maybe

you have scared him into doing the right thing.”

They laughed at the suggestion, noting her idiot had tried to summon enough of his

ability to try to shoot at them. He was obviously not too bright despite being brave

to a fault.

“I know,” said Crow. “Again I have to work with the clay that I can find and not the

finished vase that I want.”

They receded to the back of her mind. Their whispered discussion did not fill her with

confidence. She had to plow ahead, or get someone else to help her with her burden.

The other misfits might try, but they didn’t have the same eye that Nick did.

“Nick?,” said Crow, touching the mind link she had tricked Nick into opening up for

her. “Come back to the school.”

“We’re having trouble moving,” said Nick. “That thing took out Granny with a look.”

“I will get the others and we will come get you,” said Crow. She rubbed her face.

“Try to stay in one place and out of trouble until we get there.”

“I doubt either one of us will be able to move for a while,” said Nick. “I might be able

to kill something for a stimulant to get me back on my feet. Granny looks bad from

where I am laying.”

“Act with a little more prudence,” said Crow. “Let me see what I can do.”

She removed her touch from the thread connecting them. She decided that Steve

might be able to help with his spell work. He might be able to fly out and get the both

of them under his own power.

He might be able to fly out and not be able to fly back with either one of them.

She decided to ask. Maybe he could help her fashion a solution to this without the

whole school getting involved.

That Nick! Why was he causing trouble on the first day?

They told her where to find Steve. She went to the kitchen and found him puttering

over the hearth, cooking something over the open fire.

“I need some help, Steve,” said Crow. “I’m hoping you could point me in the right

direction.”

“What’s the problem?,” asked Steve. He stabbed whatever he was cooking with a

long fork.

“Nick and Madam Quince went over the wall, and I need to get them back,” said

Crow. “Any suggestions?”

“You ask one of the air magicians to go out and get them,” Steve said. He winced at

the glare that got him. “I suppose you want to do this without anyone knowing what

is going on.”

“Yes,” said Crow. “I need transportation without the school becoming involved since

Nick opposed Madam Quince and I need him in the school until things are done,

Madam Quince wanted to have Nick reassessed which he vehemently opposed, and

I had to ask them to interfere and now Madam Quince knows something more of my

own talent. So I need to get them back without anyone knowing so we can hammer

something out without any more personality problems.”

“Have you really took a long look at Nick?,” said Steve. “He is nothing but

personality problems.”

“I’m trying to fix him for what I need him to do,” said Crow. “Can you do something,

or should I ask one of the others?”

“I don’t think the brothers have a movement power. I am not sure about Will or

Calliope,” said Steve. “Will might be a good enough generalist to have rocket

power.”

“I’ll ask him,” said Crow.

“How much stealth do you require?,” said Steve.

“You have a transporting spell, don’t you?,” said Crow.

“Yes,” said Steve. “And no.”

Crow crossed her arms as he winced from her attention.

“I know a spell,” said Steve. “But I need a cart, or sleigh.”

“Why?,” asked Crow.

“Because it’s a summons I can’t ride so I need something for it to pull behind it,” said

Steve.

“All right,” said Crow. She nodded as they murmured to her. “Come with me.”

Steve followed as she led the way to where Calvin and Felix were practicing their

spell work. They looked up at their frowning classmate and backed up a bit.

“We need you to create a sleigh body,” said Crow.

“I don’t think we have the expertise for something like that,” said Felix. He glanced

at Calvin. “We can create a pile of mud, but we have never been able to shape it into

something.”

“I’ll do the shaping,” said Steve. “Whatever happens, you are not to tell anyone what

you see. It will get you into trouble.”

“How much trouble?,” asked Calvin.

“Not as much as Nick is in,” said Crow. “Or how much he will be when we get him

back.”

“Are you sure you aren’t special friends?,” asked Felix.

“Nick took off and led Madam Quince a merry chase into the forest outside the wall,”

said Crow. “The both of them are getting a piece of my mind. But first we have to get

them back to the school. Now please create the mud.”

“All right,” said Calvin. He held up his hands. “That is a lot more serious than we

thought. Let’s see what we can do.”

The brothers focused on the empty space where the aircraft had landed the day before.

They muttered their activation phrase as they cupped their hands in front of them.

Water rained upwards, but became mud on the way down.

Steve clapped his hands together and called for hundred hands. Invisible forces

caught the mud and shaped it into a bowl spinning it around as it worked. Wheels

were built and mounted on axles jammed through the soft mud before it could harden.

The front stretched out into a yoke arrangement with a simple rod for steering

emerging from the bowl.

“How did you do that?,” asked Felix.

“I have a spell that allows me to use a bunch of hands from the air,” said Steve.

“That’s how I lit the lamps when we were given our building.”

“What did you need this carriage for?,” said Crow.

“To carry us,” said Steve. “Climb in.”

Crow grabbed the edge of the bowl body and pulled herself into the carriage. Steve

joined her with a lot more effort. He righted himself and got to his feet.

Steve clapped his hands again, calling for the beast of balefulness. Flame erupted

from the ground, turning into a horse of fire. The wheels of the carriage caught

fire as the animal stepped into the yoke the magician had made and was harnessed

by the remains of the hundred hands.

“Remember,” said Steve. “You didn’t see anything.”

“I certainly did not see a flaming horse pulling a flaming carriage with two insane

people inside of it,” said Calvin.

“Neither did I,” said Felix.

“That’s good,” said Steve. He cracked the yoke control. The beast of balefulness

headed directly at the wall around the Academy. At the last second, it started climbing

the wall at the head of a trail of fire. Then it was up and over and out of sight.

“How do we deny we saw that?,” asked Calvin.

“By pretending we don’t know anything about magic,” said Felix. “I’m going to raid

Steve’s tea stock.”

“Maybe you’re right,” said Calvin. “No one would believe us hearing Crow through

the wall.”

The brothers headed toward their dorm.

Crow maintained a white knuckled grip on the edges of the bowl as the carriage

careened through the streets of the city. She had run out of breath to keep screaming.

They whipped through the open gate in the wall and out of the city in a flash of flame.