Chapter 167: Mock Escort

Tauri Katag leaned on the tower balcony’s railings with an impatient groan, “This is boring.”

“That’s because you didn’t have to do any of the work,” Loh yawned.

“The principal gave me the order to create the raiders barely a week ago. I had to stay up every single bloody night just to raise enough corpses for today’s mock escort,” Professor Gete grumbled.

“I can see that,” Loh stared at his bizarre appearance.

Somehow the black magic professor’s usual gaunt cheeks looked even more sallow. Large dark bags rested under Gete’s eyes. The man clearly hadn’t slept in days.

“Don’t get me wrong, Miss Loh, I am an incredible necromancer, one of the best in this academy, I can do the job. And I am honored to help Lord Noir whenever I can. I only wish he put more realistic deadlines for his staff,” Gete rubbed his eyes.

“My grandfather has always been a talented mage and ever since I’ve known him he has always expected others to keep up with his magical abilities,” Loh nodded in sympathy.

“You’re not much different, Loh. I remember how you used to complain back when we were students,” Tauri chuckled.

“That’s because the professors back then were only teaching us the most basic lessons, it was so boring I wanted to kill myself,” Loh rolled her eyes.

“You called the students boring too,” Tauri raised an eyebrow.

“Remember that kid from House Skeller that tried making you take your words back?”

“Oh, yeah, the orc with the mustache, right? Didn’t he challenge me to a duel?” Loh asked.

“And you literally burned his ass, two charred butt cheeks,” Tauri laughed. “He was lucky his family was a bunch of white mage healers.”

“Meh, not my fault a kid from some minor family thought he could challenge me,” Loh said.

“Ah yes, they were all incapable of being worthy to sit next to the great Loh Noir in the prestigious and most difficult class that was magic theory 101,” Tauri said in a mocking tone.

“Shut up, I wasn’t like that,” Loh pushed her shoulder.

“Yeah, you totally were,” Tauri giggled. “You should have seen it, Gete. Loh used to be super brooding and gave off this apathetic vibe that basically said, ‘You’re all beneath my level, get good or don’t talk to me.’ I don’t think she would have hung out with me at all if we hadn’t been childhood friends.”

“I would have still hung out with you,” Loh frowned.

“Does that mean the rest was true?” Gete asked.

“The other students were all idiots who kept trying to ask me about my family,” Loh grumbled.

“Well, not all of them,” Tauri said.

“She was an exception, an annoying exception,” Loh crossed her arms.

“Who?” Gete asked.

“The sword and mage prodigy, Gale VIII. She was the only one who could keep up with Loh in class. Those two practically won the Great Cities Mage Tourney on their own, I was only on the team for the ride,” Tauri’s red lips curled up in a smile.

Gete snapped his fingers, “Oh, I remember hearing about that! Miss Loh and Miss Gale dueled in the last match of the tourney. The match ended in a tie, right?”

“It was the first time the tourney ever had two winners,” Tauri nodded. “The judges only allowed it since both finalists came from the same city. In other words, Hollow Shade had already won.”

“Man, I wish I could have seen that fight, it must have been incredible,” Gete sighed in wonder.

“Meh, it was whatever. I’m much more interested in seeing today’s mock escort,” Loh looked out from the balcony.

“I can’t see anything from up here,” Tauri glanced down at the grove that surrounded them.

Loh turned to the dark elf that sat on the only chair on the balcony, “How is it going so far?”

“It would be easier to tell if you all could stop talking so much,” Vayu Glaz muttered.

His eyes were closed and purple arcane sigils glowed across his temple and down his neck.

“Just tell us if your hawk can see the students or not,” Loh kicked his foot.

“Stop, you’ll break my concentration,” Vayu frowned.

“Are the students anywhere near reaching us?” Tauri asked, hope practically dripping from her voice.

“How many of my undead batches have attacked them?” Gete asked.

“How many did you make?” Tauri asked.

“Four, about a dozen undead orcs and humans each,” Gete said.

“It’s already been an hour. I bet they’ve already cleared them all. They’re probably facing my undead trolls by now,” Loh said.

“You managed to raise trolls!? A single troll can take weeks. How did you find the time?” Gete asked in confusion.

“Oh, I had some free time yesterday afternoon. There were two troll corpses stored in one of the academy's underground cold chambers, so I decided to spice up today’s exam,” Loh said lightly.

“...You made two undead trolls in a single afternoon?” Gete’s voice cracked.

“Yeah, it was no big deal,” Loh shrugged.

“No big deal?” Gete squeaked.

Tauri patted his shoulder, “Join the club.”

“So, how are the students?” Loh asked.

Vayu sighed, “They haven’t even gotten past the first undead attack.”

“What? How?” Loh wrinkled her nose.

“My undead are quite capable that’s how,” Gete nodded repeatedly, a bit of pride returned to his voice.

“No, I don’t think that’s the case. The students are simply awful,” Vayu said.

“Ugh, I’m never gonna leave this damn tower,” Tauri groaned dramatically.

“Oh, one of the undead just took down the last orange mage, kicked the boy right in the balls, that’s gotta hurt,” Vayu winced.

Tauri raised an eyebrow to Gete.

“What? The principal told me to make the undead non-lethal, he never said anything about avoiding nut shots. Plus, you can’t really make undead non-lethal,” Gete shrugged.

“The volunteer passengers are now being taken out of the wagon and carried away by the undead raiders. The few students left guarding the wagon do not seem capable of catching up to them. Oh, one of the students tripped on a tree root and twisted her ankle,” Vayu narrated.

“That’s enough, Vayu. Call back your hawk, this exam is over,” Loh said.

“Yes, general. Ah, sorry, force of habit. I mean, Professor Noir,” Vayu said.

“No need for formalities, I hate being called professor, Loh is fine.”

“I can’t believe I stayed up working on all of these undead, I should have stopped after the first dozen,” Gete slumped his shoulders. “So much precious sleep lost.”

Tauri sighed, “Gods, we're never going to win next year’s tourney. I heard our team already got knocked out over in Frost Rim at this year’s tourney. I guess we can kiss that shiny trophy goodbye forever.”

“Our team may have lost this year’s tourney, but those are our 3rd-years. Don't give up on all our 2nd-year students just yet, we still have a chance. Send in the next class,” Loh said.

Gete laid on the balcony floor, took off his mage robe, and used the soft black fabric as a pillow. “We’ve been through all the 2nd-year classes, but this one. I doubt they’ll be any different.”

“I dunno. Isn’t your apprentice in that class, Loh?” Tauri asked.

“Yeah, along with the other top six potential candidates for next year’s mage tourney,” Loh nodded.

“Wonderful, I’ll finally get to see the academy’s notorious goblin in action,” Vayu grinned.

Gete opened his dreary eyes, “Ah, I remember him. Stryg was his name, yes? I taught him black magic last year. Great at shadow spells. Horrible at necromancy, like absolutely horrendous, never let that boy near a corpse.”

“Yeah, it’s not his forte,” Loh admitted.

“He isn’t great with people either,” Tauri added.

“Oh, yeah, didn’t he beat up that Goldelm girl?” Gete recalled.

“That’s an understatement,” Tauri shook her head.

“He’s got his good points, you’ll see,” Loh smiled wryly.

~~~

“I wanna go home,” Stryg complained.

“What? But we haven’t even started yet,” Callum Veres looked at him funny.

“That’s my point. We’ve been sitting here for hours. I’m hungry and Feli is making venison stew tonight.”

“Yeah, Stryg is right. We’ve been out here for hours, watching each class go into the tree grove with their wagons, but none of them have come back,” Nora Azol eyed the tree line suspiciously.

“We’ll be fine. Just because the other classes probably failed doesn’t mean we will. All the green magi students have to tend to the academy’s grove as part of our curriculum. After two years I know these trees quite well,” Clypeus Gale rubbed Nora’s back.

“Clypeus makes a good point. All we have to do is escort the volunteers inside the wagon and to the small tower in the middle of the forest, it shouldn't be difficult,” Callum said.

The wagon sat behind them, attached to four centaurs in harnesses. The tall orc Kegrog and the red-head dwarf Kithina sat on the driver’s seat. Kegrog had spent some time taking classes in the military academy and had learned about wagon driving, a skill he was trying to impart to Kithina.

“Hey, Stryg, heads up, Freya Goldelm is leaving her posse of friends and heading over here,” Kithina called out from her driver’s seat vantage point.

“This should be interesting,” Nora whispered.

“She came back to school a few days ago, honestly I’m surprised she hasn’t come sooner,” Clypeus admitted.

Callum sighed, “Freya and I are old friends, I’ll mediate this conversation. Stryg, please no fighting.”

“No promises,” Stryg curled his clawed fingers one by one.

The blonde dwarf walked up to the group and looked at each of them, finally settling her golden eyes on the blue goblin.

“Stryg,” Freya nodded curtly.

“Hey, Freya, before you say anything more, please remember we are in the middle of an exam,” Callum placed his hand on her shoulder.

Freya slapped his hand away, “I am not a child to be handled, Cal. I came here to speak with the goblin.”

Stryg stepped past Callum and walked up to Freya until they could feel each other's breath. The last time Stryg had seen her they were around the same height, now he was clearly taller, if only by an inch or two.

Stryg stared at Freya’s face, he noticed the faint freckles beneath her makeup, but there was not a single hint of scarring from their previous bout. The white mage healers had clearly done their job well.

“What do you want, Gold-Eyes?” Stryg asked.

Freya’s eyes twitched. She took a deep breath, “Many things, believe me. But I am capable of putting my feelings aside and focusing on the task at hand. For the duration of this exam, I wanted you to know you have nothing to fear from me. I will do my part as a member of this class. Can I count on you to do the same or should I expect a dagger in the back?”

Stryg’s pupils narrowed to black needles before relaxing into narrow ovals. He slowly raised his hand towards their faces. Freya’s eyes widened as the back of his claws brushed her face. His hand settled in the air between their faces.

“If I were to stab you, I promise it will not be with a dagger to your back, but with my claws in your chest. That being said, my master expects me to pass this exam, so I will excel.”

Stryg opened his hand wide, “I will fight beside you, I swear it by the honor of Ebon Hollow.”

Freya grabbed his open palm, “Then we are in this together, goblin.”

“Agreed, Gold-Eyes,” Stryg said solemnly.

Freya nodded at the others, “Everyone.”

She turned away and walked back to her friends.

“I expected that to go differently,” Kithina said.

“You and I both,” Clypeus said.

“I think you’re all too hard on Freya,” Callum rubbed his hand.

“Yeah, she’s pretty hot,” Kegrog said.

“Kegrog, that is not what he meant,” Nora rolled her eyes.

Stryg glanced at the grove’s gate behind them, “Here they come.”

The hooded volunteers walked eagerly towards the students. They greeted the students politely before climbing up and into the back of the wagon. Stryg caught a familiar scent within the group of volunteers.

“I guess it makes sense,” he grinned half-heartedly.

“What is it?” Callum asked.

“Nothing,” Stryg shook his head.

“There’s Professor Glaz’s hawk, that’s the signal,” Nora pointed at the large bird flying overhead.

“Alright, everyone, it’s go-time!” Clypeus yelled.

The other students got off the ground, brushed the grass off their clothes, and gathered around the wagon.

Clypeus pulled out one of his gladii from his waist and pointed the blade to the sky, “Since I am the most familiar with the academy’s grove I will move with the vanguard and guide the wagon to the tower at the other end of the grove. You all know your roles and positions, I expect you to act with honor and bravery as you protect the wagon and the people inside. Are we clear!?”

The students yelled back in agreement.

Stryg stared at the trees in the distance. The last time he had been here he had gone off on his own and was ambushed by Clypeus’ team. This time things would be different. This time he wouldn’t run away.

Stryg pulled his spear out from the ground and brandished it in a familiar twirl, “Here we go.”