And so, the prophecy comes to fruition. Rotciv557 has, once again, been the first to answer the really easy Easter egg. I am seriously contemplating not letting him answer any more, but I will hold off on that for now.

For those of you who have been living under a pile of rocks bigger than Fouquet's golems, the line "You never knew when to expect the Brimiric inquisition" is referencing Monty Python.

Just a heads up: the next chapter will be a Q&A. if you have any questions, PM me.

Now, I don't look forward to writing this chapter. I don't enjoy writing combat, and there has been a few nasty reviewers lately, so I might need some encouragement. I have 77 favourites by the time I write this, if you like my story then leave a review! PMing is fine too…

Big thanks to the guys who have reviewed already. I might just give you some mentions in the next chapter…

With that out of the way, let's get to it!

Chapter thirteen: Fair play

Professor Colbert watched the great mass of teachers and students attending the Familiar Evaluation Fair. For once, they sat side by side on benches, almost like equals. It was a somewhat strange sight to see the resident Wind magic teacher, professor Guiteau, who was known for his love of his element and his total dismissal of the other three happily chat away with Headmaster Osmond. They seemed to be betting on who would win, and Colbert couldn't say he was surprised.

He turned his gaze to the seat of honour, which was basically just a chair on stilts with a sunroof draped in the royal colours of Tristain. Princess Henrietta had arrived late last afternoon, quite unannounced, and so they had had to improvise. Still, she seemed content there, royal smile upon her face.

As he looked upon the stage, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the students currently standing behind it. They had been forced to discover any hidden qualities their familiars might have, in a short amount of time, and then they would have had to decide a good way of showing these qualities off for the rest of the school. It could not have been easy.

He was, like every year, surprised at the creativity his students showed. Well, most of them. Tabitha had merely flown around for a bit, but he supposed that was okay seeing as she had indeed summoned a dragon. Kirche had made her salamander spit fire in complicated ways, Montmorency had her frog dance to violin music and most of the other students had equally impressed. Now, it seemed to be Louise's turn.

As Guiche walked down the stairs followed by both complete silence and his gigantic mole, Louise entered the stage. Princess Henrietta straightened up a bit, and looked on with kind eyes.

Louise had barely slept, she had been so worried. Ysmir seemed confident though, and that made her a slight bit calmer. Her familiar had so far proved to be very powerful, so if he felt confident there was a good chance he would succeed in bringing them both victory, or at least an acceptable rating.

They had spent nearly five hours yesterday, going over what he could and couldn't do as well as what he could do but was not allowed to. In the end, Ysmir had nodded and said something along the lines of "Do not worry, I will impress them, one way or another."

She had been too tired to care at that point.

Now, she stepped forward and faced the crowd before her.

"My name is Louise Francoise de la Vallière, and this is my familiar. He is called Ysmir, and I will leave the rest to him."

This way of introduction was chosen mainly because she had very little idea of what he was going to do. She might have told him what he couldn't do, but he had been adamant about choosing how to do it himself.

Ysmir stepped forward as Louise took a stride back, and looked out over the crowd through the eyeholes in his daedric helmet. A good number of them felt a chill travelling the length of their spine, and stared at his impressive form with a mix of fear, respect and anticipation. What would he do?

Ysmir swung off his backpack, and retrieved from it a strange contraption before closing it and throwing it to the side.

"For the trick I am about to perform, I will need a willing participant. Any volunteers?"

Silence followed his words. Dead silence.

Colbert felt slightly bad for his new friend, and stood up.

"I volunteer."

As Colbert made his way to the stage, the crowd whispered amongst themselves. Several words drifted up to Ysmir, among them Brave, Madman and Crazy.

Once Colbert stood beside him, Ysmir turned to him.

"Now, professor, would you kindly cast a small fireball toward the main tower?"

Colbert was a slight bit surprised, but chanted a few words and pointed with his staff. A sphere of flame, about two decimetres in diameter, formed from the head of the staff and started making its way towards the main tower, at a pace of about twenty paces every second.

Ysmir wasted no time, but lifted his contraption and placed a small projectile in it. As he took aim, the sun caught the weapon; it shone like gold. Without further ado, he fired his crossbow.

The crowd jumped back when the bolt flew above their head. Still, it was only a crossbow, if a strange one. At least they thought so, until the bolt struck the fireball.

A small explosion occurred, and it seemed the fireball was drenched in ice. A small puff of steam signalled the fireball had gone out, and the resulting ice shell fell to the ground, cracking.

Most were impressed, the weapon must have cost a fortune and the familiar wielding it had some steady aim to be able to hit a fireball in flight. That awe only increased as Ysmir preformed the trick four more times, but with three fireballs every time. No one noticed how he whispered before every shot.

"TIID"

When he put down his crossbow, the crowd applauded. Quite a lot, too. As Colbert, Ysmir and Louise left the stage Old Osmond stood up.

"Well, then, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we have seen some truly amazing performances today. However, there can only be one winner. Thus, I ask her Highness Princess Henrietta to choose which spectacle impressed her the most."

Henrietta did not seem surprised, and donned a look of deep thought. After a few seconds, she raised her voice.

"I would say that anyone who can summon a dragon as a familiar deserves more praise than she received. Therefore, the winner is Tabitha de Norfatul!"

All applauded, including Louise. Whilst she had hoped to win, to perform as well as they had was more than enough. She turned to Ysmir, about to thank him for his good choice of performance.

He wasn't there. That was not good.

Slightly panicked, she scanned the surrounding area. Things would not go well if Ysmir was allowed to run wild. She could very well imagine him breaking down the door to the headmaster's office, just because he wanted to chat with Old Osmond, among other scenarios. She caught a glimpse of a man, clad in black armour, running around the corner of the archway in the middle of a walkway.

It was Ysmir alright, but what was he up to?

She checked if anyone was looking, found that most were concentrating at Tabitha, and sprinted after him.

Slightly earlier:

Matilda, alias Fouquet the Crumbling Earth, faced the main tower clad in her usual thievery attire; an enchanted cloak which magically concealed her identity, a few pieces of enchanted jewellery, granting her a small, but sometimes lifesaving resistance to nearly all kinds of magic and her wand.

This was as it was supposed to be. She was alone, all of the others were on the other side of the school, and she was just about to rob them blind.

Now then, it was time to get down to business.

She kneeled, and felt the earth. She called out to it, and it answered. The ground rumbled, and a huge mound of dirt, rocks and the occasional patch of sand started moving. It formed itself into a figure, almost thirty meters high, sporting two big arms, good for punching, and the crude image of a face engraved on its upper chest.

Fouquet made sure to make the golem a puppet. She could have let it go rouge on the wall, but that would cause more noise than what she had in mind. She stepped into its leg, and let the dirt lift her up to the left shoulder of her creation.

She had always loved golems. Something about controlling a body many times bigger than your own was just so exhilarating. Even more so when she could feel the arm draw back for the punch that would secure her future. She could retire after this, perhaps buy back her aristocracy, and it was all thanks to a lecherous headmaster who was less likely to look at figure than at references.

It was good to be the best thief around.

Viewpoint change!

Louise caught up to Ysmir as he stopped at the other side of the main tower form where the Fair was located. He was standing still, staring at the huge Golem in front of him.

Oh. There was a golem in front of him.

Why was there a golem in front of him?

Time seemed to freeze as Ysmir brandished his mace, smiling madly, and Louise crossed out possibilities in her head.

Could the teachers be planning some surprise? No, not likely. Madam Chevreuse was the only earth mage employed by the academy strong enough to perform a feat like this, and she had been speaking to Professor Colbert when Ysmir had left the fair.

Could it be a student? No, there was no one who could create a golem this big.

That left only one possibility, and it was not a nice one. As Ysmir looked to her, smiling wide and awaiting a reaction, she finally snapped out of whatever had caught her.

"SOMEONE IS ATTACKING THE ACADEMY!"

Ysmir answered, with badly hidden glee in his voice, almost trembling with anticipation.

"And that means we get to battle it, right?!"

"Yes! You attack the legs, I'll try to hit the person standing on the shoulder!"

Ysmir needed no more encouragement. He sprinted towards the left leg of the golem, and swung his mace at it just as the punch it had been building up connected with the wall.

The discharge of energy when the fist hit the wall was something to behold. An invisible force field stopped the punch, seemingly buckling under the pressure. Like rings created on the surface of a pond once you threw a pebble in, the force was distributed across the surface. Even so, there were a couple of hairline cracks in the field, right where the punch had landed.

Fouquet noticed the cracks, and was just about to draw back the fist once more when the golem fell to its knees. She looked down, frown on her face, to find Ysmir beating on the legs of the golem, smile wide on his face. He looked like a drug addict getting his fix, and that didn't bode well.

She had no time for these games. Concentrating all of her willpower, Fouquet regenerated her golem at an impressive rate. The legs were still being butchered by the strange attacker, but she had enough power for a second punch.

That was when the left arm of the golem exploded. Shards of stone flew everywhere, one piercing her enchanted cloak and causing a shallow wound in her left leg. Quite a distance away, a little girl jumped in glee.

"YES! It worked, I did it!"

Fouquet was just about to call off the heist. She could escape, come back as Longueville a few minutes later and pretend she had been busy cleaning up Old Osmond's office or something like that. But she was so close, and decided to risk it.

The punch flew, and struck the wall at the same place the first one had. This time, the thin cracks in the force field actually shattered.

Like a sheet of glass, the force field shattered, dissolving into the air. The golem fist crushed the academy wall, and Fouquet saw her chance. She ran, faster than she ever had, in through the hole in the wall, grabbed the item she had been looking for and dashed out. Her golem was taking a heavy beating, and explosions rained all around her, so she abandoned her golem, sunk into the earth and escaped.

On the surface, Louise walked up to her familiar. Ysmir was still smiling, but now he had a certain look in his eye, like a hungry animal.

In his hand, she noticed a stone shard, stained red.

Author's Comments:

Wow, this chapter was not nice to me. I had to rewrite it twice, and I am still not that happy with it. Ah well, it will have to do. Now, on to the Easter eggs!

There are none in this chapter, but there is still one from chapter one!

It is about a certain scene that is very similar to a beloved piece of Warhammer Fanfiction. I'll give you a hint, it involves an Assassin specializing in sniping. I want the title of the fanfiction and the name of the Sniper.

This has been unsolved for twelve chapters. Tell you what, I'll give you a hint: most of the people who have read the fanfiction will not call it a fanfiction, but a piece of Writefaggotry. No offence.

Next chapter will be a Q&A. send me any questions you may have.