Chapter 18: The Blackwells.
Croix took a deep breath as she looked intently at the closed metallic door in front of her. She didn't want to open it, of course, but… she didn't really have a choice. She had accepted that already, and could only hope things would go well.
And so, she inserted they key in the lock, turned it and took a step inside, taking care of closing the door behind her. Then, she paused for a moment, trying to mentally prepare herself. Croix took a few deep breaths, but she knew she didn't have much time, so she quickly turned around, ready to face…
"So you've come. I was starting to wonder why they hadn't sent you before." Chariot remarked. She looked… better than Croix had expected, to be honest.
"Mother said that you're being quite stubborn and refuse to cooperate." She answered with her best 'cool voice', crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, she did drag me out of Luna Nova before the agreed upon time and put me inside this cell against my will." Chariot didn't bother to dissimulate her anger.
"Does it really matter?" Croix raised an eyebrow. "This was going to be the outcome either way."
"I didn't have time to cover my tracks and disguise my disappearance!" The redhead argued, getting up from the wooden chair she had been sitting on, but… she could only take two steps towards the other woman before she was stopped by a heavy metal chain attached to one of her ankles. "We had a deal!"
"Tell that to my mom." Croix shrugged, unbothered, and started pacing, careful to keep a safe distance from Chariot. "She can be quite distrustful, you know? It'll take more than just your word for her to be convinced you're on her side."
Croix paused and gave Chariot a pointed look. The redheaded woman held her gaze for a few seconds, determined, then ended up sighing and looking to the side.
"What does she want?"
"You know what."
"But I don't have it! I don't know where it is!" Croix could only chuckle at her answer. But it sounded bitter.
"You know? I'd almost believe you if I didn't know the truth. You're just as good an actress as you were back then." Resentment and barely held back anger were sweeping through her voice.
"Even if I knew, I would never tell you where the Shiny Rod is!" Chariot yelled.
"I'm aware." Croix sighed. "I tried to tell that to my mother, but she was under the impression you'd want to talk to me."
"We have nothing to talk about!"
"Nothing, you say?" Croix smirked. She had been waiting for this moment. "Didn't you forget something when you left in such a hurry?" She made a dramatic pause, looking directly into Chariot's crimson red eyes. "A certain daughter of yours, perhaps?"
Her eyes widened, but she still tried to remain calm. However, her agitated breathing gave it all away.
"Y-you won't tell them about her!" Somehow, Chariot's cry managed to sound like a plea, an order and a question, all at the same time.
"I won't." She agreed with a calculative expression. "But you know, Akko is quite stubborn. She won't give up until she finds you."
"She won't have a choice." Chariot's eyes hardened. "She doesn't have any magic."
"Are you sure about that?" A taunting smile appeared on Croix's face. "I'm just saying… it probably won't be long before you hear from her once again." With that, Croix turned around and opened up the door. She was about to walk outside when she heard Chariot's voice once again.
"Don't you dare go near her!"
Croix turned to face the redhead one more time, watching her struggle against the chain holding her in place.
"Do you know how long I've waited for you to be away from her?" Croix laughed. "I can't let this opportunity pass, can I?"
"If something happens to her, Croix, I swear-"
"What? What will you do?" She mocked her. "Will you destroy me with your mighty staff, oh Chosen One?" She only got a snarl in response, but this didn't seem to bother her. "Didn't think so."
And with one final challenging smirk, Croix closed the door on Chariot's enraged face.
Amanda was precariously balancing herself on the hind legs of her chair, as she looked at the yellowed parchment in front of her, wondering if stealing it had been worth it, after all. It definitely wasn't what she was expecting.
"Can you stop doing that? You're making me anxious!" Hannah, who was sitting next to her, chastised her.
"Aww, worried I will fall?" Amanda couldn't let the opportunity to tease her pass, but she still did let the chair's four legs touch the ground as she leaned forward to try and get another bread stick for herself… only for the last one to be snatched by Jasminka. Why was this always happening? Was Jas doing this in retaliation for all the times she'd had to knock some sense into her?
"I'm worried, but not about you." Hannah remarked, snatching the prophecy out of her hands.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like we even know what those hieroglyphs mean."
"They're not hieroglyphs." Barbara rolled her eyes.
"Maybe." Lotte interfered. "They are quite similar to the Japanese Kanji, which are technically a type of hieroglyphs."
"Japanese, you say?" Amanda adopted a thoughtful expression. "You think Akko would be able to read them?"
"Read what?" Just then, Akko arrived and Amanda turned to look at her, noticing her clothes were covered in mud stains.
"Did you have a fight with the lakeshore and it won?" Sucy asked, cackling.
"Something like that…" She answered sheepishly.
"I told you to change before coming to have lunch." Diana then appeared behind her, looking as proper and elegant as always despite wearing a comfy-looking light blue tracksuit.
"I'm hungry!" She argued. "Besides, I will change after we're done with the practical training."
"Very well." Diana sighed, very much looking like she was done dealing with Akko already. "I'll tell Anna to fetch a plastic chair for you. Something easy to clean." And with that, she left, likely eager to get away from her disciple.
"Cavendish been tutoring you, or torturing you?" Amanda laughed.
"Both." She pouted. She was about to sit on an empty chair between Amanda and Lotte, but a servant came running and took it away, forcing her to stay standing.
"Honestly, I don't understand how she has the patience to teach you." Hannah made a face.
"She truly does live by her family's motto." Barbara agreed.
"Anyways." Akko decided to ignore the two bullies. "What were you talking about before?"
"Here." Amanda snatched the prophecy off Hannah's hands, despite her protests, and handed it to Akko. "Can you read this?"
Akko took the parchment and stared at it for a moment, trying to make sense of all the little symbols adorning the page, thinking it might be some sort of code, but…
"You know, just because I was born in Japan, doesn't mean I know Japanese… or whatever language this is." She deadpanned.
"I know, but… you like anime and all that stuff, right?" Amanda insisted. "Surely you must know at least a little bit!"
"I had never even seen these symbols before!" She retorted. "Are they Kanjis?"
"We don't know." Lotte interfered. "I tried running them through three different online translators, but they didn't even detect the language."
"Really?" Akko raised an eyebrow. "What even is this thing anyways?" Lotte was about to answer, but Diana came back in that moment, and also took an interest on the yellowed paper.
"May I see it?" She asked Akko, who got startled as she hadn't seen her coming. Still, after the initial surprise, she turned to glare at the blonde.
"This is between my friends and I!" She answered defiantly.
"Just let her see it! It's not like you can decipher it." Hannah interfered… but her words just made Akko scowl at her with a stubborn attitude.
"Akko… don't be childish and just give it to Cavendish." Everyone turned to stare at Amanda as if she'd grown a second head, and the girl could only sink down under their gazes. "What?" She blushed. "If we don't know what it says, all our hard work of getting it will be in vain!" She tried to justify herself.
Diana saw the opportunity and took this moment of confusion to take the parchment out of Akko's hands.
"I see." She frowned as she examined the characters written with black ink. "This is certainly extremely old, and it has some resemblance to traditional Chinese writing, but…" She trailed off, appearing slightly troubled. "Where did you get it?"
"None of your business, Cavendish." Amanda retorted. Although she was half-expecting one of Diana's minions to spill the beans, but was pleasantly surprised when they remained silent. She figured they wouldn't want their dear leader to find out they'd infiltrated Appleton and stolen a precious heirloom.
"In any case…" Diana tried to remain composed despite the harsh attitude she had been met with. "These symbols appear to be an ancient form of witching writing, derived from the lunar alphabet, but likely lost to time. You'd need a very potent translation potion to read it." With those words, she gave it to Lotte, much to Akko's annoyance.
"I see…" Lotte's strong suit weren't potions, but she could only hope Sucy would want to help.
"You can use the library if you need to." Diana added. "I'm sure you'll find books about the subject."
"Thank you, Diana."
"Can we have breakfast now?" Akko pretty much whined. "I'm starving!"
"Ah… yes, of course. My apologies." Diana then moved out of the way so Anna could place a plastic chair for Akko to sit, while she herself went to take a seat next to Hannah and Barbara, at the other end of the table. The two girls were about to grab food from the many platters placed across the table, when suddenly Daryl walked through the entrance of the dining room and crossed her arms over her chest, standing stiff as a rock as she glared at Diana.
The girls quickly quieted down, sensing something was up, and sure enough, just a moment later, they saw two men walk in as well; both blonde, serious-looking and wearing expensive suits. But while one of them was older and more on the heavy side, with a prominent mustache, the other appeared to be no older than twenty, and had a slim physique and a very odious smug face.
"Diana, can you tell me why the Blackwells have come to inform me that one of your friends stole something from Appleton's academy?" Daryl said in the coldest tone Akko had ever heard coming from her, which was no small statement.
Diana's eyes immediately turned to glare at Akko's, who shrank down in her chair despite having no idea of what was happening. Meanwhile, Lotte quickly gave the scroll back to Amanda, knowing it was the stolen item in question, who promptly hid it and then turned to look at the men with a challenging expression on her face.
"Please Daryl, don't be so harsh on Lady Diana." The older Blackwell said, before turning to look at the Cavendish heir. "After all, I'm sure she didn't know about the incident; otherwise she would have informed us, as is required on the documents signed by her ancestors with our family centuries ago." The man was looking intently at Diana, and his voice was dancing on the edge between threatening, friendly and condescending. Akko decided she didn't like how he talked.
"You mean the documents my ancestors were forced to sign under the threat of being burned alive?" Diana stood up, both literally and figuratively, to everyone's surprise. She glared at the men and adopted a cold expression. "Yes, I'm very aware of those. Now please inform me why you think one of my friends could be a thief."
The boy just smirked in response before getting something out of his pocket and holding it up for everyone to see. A yellow ribbon, just like the one adorning Hannah's head. Diana shot her friend a questioning glance, but Hannah just shrank under her scrutiny.
"We were informed that three witches got into our school last night, causing property damage and injuries to some of the guards, and successfully stealing an ancient scroll that had been in our custody for centuries." Lord Blackwell was the one who spoke this time. "That is a grave offense to us, and we would like your cooperation to allow us investigate who was responsible for this and punish them properly."
"No need." Everyone turned, startled, to look at the one who spoke. Amanda got up from her chair and gave the Blackwells a challenging grin. "I stole your stupid prophecy and I ain't giving it back. What are you gonna do about it?"
"Nonsense!" The younger man exclaimed. "The reports clearly said there were three witches, and this ribbon, found in the crime scene, is undoubtedly Hannah's."
"Hannah and Barbara were there to stop me." She shrugged. "But they couldn't, and instead got targeted by the guards as well. We all escaped together because of that, but I am the thief, not them."
"Amanda…" Hannah tried to interfere, but was quickly interrupted.
"No, I ain't letting you take credit for my accomplishments. I worked solely by myself." Amanda shot her and Barbara a reassuring smile, but the girls didn't seem too convinced about the whole situation.
"Very well." Lord Blackwell smirked. "Then give us the prophecy and a generous monetary compensation and we'll be on our way."
"Hah!" Amanda laughed. "A thief who steals from a thief is in no fault of their own."
"Are you calling our ancestors thieves?" The man's face turned an angry shade of red all of a sudden, taking on the appearance of a tomato.
"Well…" She adopted a thoughtful expression. "I think the right term would be 'murderers and bigots', but… 'thieves' works too."
"Enough!" The boy took a couple of steps forward and grabbed the neck of Amanda's shirt, in what he thought was a threatening gesture, but the redhead just gave him a shit-eating grin.
"Wanna fight, pretty boy?" She taunted. "How about this: if I win, you guys go away and let me keep the prophecy with no repercussions. If you win, I'll give you the prophecy and all the money you want." In response, he just snarled.
"When I win, I want you arrested and punished properly."
"Fine." She shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time that I get sentenced to do community service."
"Oh, no. I meant a proper punishment for witches." He smirked evilly. "As per our house's traditions, the only real way to punish a witch is torture."
"You can't be serious!" She protested. That really sounded medieval.
"He isn't." Surprisingly, Diana was the one who spoke walked up to the duo, but keeping an eye on Lord Blackwell. "Modern laws don't allow for that sort of punishment, not even for witches. Isn't that right, Louis?" She looked pointedly at the boy, as if daring him to contradict her.
"Lady Diana is right, as usual." Lord Blackwell interfered, although it looked like it gave him physical pain to utter those words. "However, a generous monetary compensation and the return of the prophecy should suffice." He said, looking threateningly at Diana. "Plus, her eviction off your property."
Diana's eyes hardened, obviously not liking to be given orders by this man, but just when she opened her mouth to speak, Louis interfered instead.
"What about our duel?" He pretty much whined.
"You want to duel? Then do it properly!" His father barked. "My son won't be getting into any fistfights like a street rat!"
"Of course, father." He smirked, turning to Amanda. "We'll have a sword fight, then. Although I doubt someone like you has even seen a sword in her life, so I won't blame you if you just concede defeat right now."
"You kidding me, right?" She laughed. "I'd love to see your face when I have a sword to your throat."
Everyone marched out to the Cavendish training field, where Akko and Diana had been practicing spells just a few hours prior. The sun was high in the sky, its heat suffocating and its light blinding, but this of course didn't faze the two young contenders who were about to duel.
In their audience, Daryl seemed amused, while Diana appeared to be mostly exasperated, like she thought this was all a big waste of her time; an expression almost mirrored to exact detail by Lord Blackwell. Amanda's friends appeared to be mostly concerned for her… except Jasminka, who was happily eating popcorn, as usual, and Constanze, who had resorted to fiddling with some small mechanical contraption and didn't seem to be paying attention.
Akko just thought Amanda was being a little bit reckless, but… she seemed pretty confident in what she was doing, so hopefully she'd be fine. Maybe. In any case, she was ready to intervene if things went wrong somehow, although she really had no idea of what she would even do.
"Hey, Akko." Amanda grabbed her attention. "Mind keeping this for me? I wouldn't want it to get lost in the chaos." She then said, giving her the prophecy.
"Sure…" She answered, a bit insecure, as she took the scroll in her hands. "But… Amanda, do you even know how to fence?"
"Something like that." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just relax, Akko, and enjoy the show. You'll see how I'll wipe Louis' smile off his stupid face." She said with such confidence that Akko was almost convinced. Almost. She knew Amanda well enough to have seen her do far more stupid things while having the exact same amount of confidence as she was displaying right now.
"Amanda." Diana handed the girl a metallic sword of sorts. It was long, old and slim, with some rust at the handle; the blade wasn't sharpened and the tip was rounded as well. Clearly it was just for practice, and not a real weapon. "I do hope you know what you're doing."
"Look, just because I'm not from a noble family doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about duels and stuff." She remarked.
"Right." Diana seemed unimpressed. "I just want you to know that I won't go out of my way to get you out of this mess."
"Pfft. Whatever. Like I need you to." The other girl laughed.
"You've been warned." Diana then went to give another identical sword to Louis, sparing him but an annoyed look, before taking her position between the small crowd, while her aunt took this as her clue to take a step forward and talk.
"As proxy head of the Cavendish, and owner of the property where this duel will take place, it is my duty to set the rules." She paused, looking intently at the two contenders. "The first one to receive what would be a fatal wound, were these swords sharpened, will win. You can also surrender, and you will lose automatically." She then paused as she returned to where the rest were, while Amanda and Louis assumed their fighting positions, always keeping an eye on each other. "Begin."
At the signal, Louis lunged forward, trying to land a stockade into Amanda's chest, but she was quick and blocked it in time, deviating the hit with her own blade as she moved out of the way at the same time. Then, without losing momentum, she tried to twist her own blade to land a hit on him, but it was swiftly stopped by the boy's sword handle.
As the two fought, it was obvious that Louis had a lot more practice, since his form and stance were pretty much impeccable, while Amanda's were a lot less polished. Still, it was also clear that it wasn't the girl's first time using a sword, and her agility and quick feet were saving her from most of Louis's blows. However, she was yet to land a single hit, and instead was using a defensive approach.
Truth to be told, Amanda was struggling to get used to the sword she'd been given. It was too thin for her; too light. She had mostly trained with big hand-and-half swords herself, the type used in medieval times by knights in heavy armor, that were very different from this rapier. But still. Swords were swords, right? And she was sure she could win. She had to!
Louis came at her once more with a very aggressive approach, aiming to her face, and although she managed to move in the nick of time, she still got hit on the right shoulder with the sword, so hard that it sent painful shivers down her arm and almost made her drop the sword, but… she couldn't let that happen! She held on, her knuckles turning white as she tightened her grip on the sword like her life depended on it.
"You know? You can always surrender, if you can't continue." Louis taunted her, no doubt noticing her struggle.
"Hah! This is nothing." To emphasize her point, she took two quick steps towards him and swung her sword, as if trying to slice him in half… but her blow was intercepted easily and she had to step back in order to escape from Louis' own blade.
Ugh. It was clear her strategy wasn't working. And for obvious reasons too! You can't exactly treat a rapier the same way as a hand-and-half, right? Even if they were almost the same length. She really had to change her approach.
"What's the matter, thief?" Louis taunted. "Can't handle my mighty sword?"
"Ugh." Seriously, this boy was the worst. "No, it's just that I would feel bad if I didn't give you a fighting chance."
"Sure thing." He lunged forward in a quick stockade that Amanda was just barely able to deviate. Yeah… he had definitely noticed her struggle and was fully taking advantage of it.
She needed to step up her game and catch him by surprise. But… how? What could she do? If she kept fighting like she'd normally do, she'd lose, but then… Maybe she could…? No, it was too risky. And yet… what if it worked? It'd certainly be something Louis wasn't expecting.
As the boy's sword lunged once more in her direction, she decided to take a chance. Instead of dodging to the side, or deviating it with her sword, she dropped down and rolled forward before using that momentum to stab Louis on the stomach. The dull sword, however, couldn't pierce his skin, but thanks to the force with which it was used, it ended up going into his shirt and tearing the cloth with a rather dramatic sound, going through it and coming out at Louis's back. This, in combination with his pained scream made it seem as if Amanda had really stabbed him, much to her satisfaction.
With a smirk, she pulled out her sword and then pointed it at him, wearing a smirk on her face.
"So… I think that counts as a fatal injury." She said.
"T-that…" Louis looked down at his midsection, and at the angry gash the sword had left, revealing a thin scratch with some droplets of blood showing, but definitely nothing serious. "You could have killed me! You didn't follow the rules of sword fighting!"
"I followed the rules of the duel." She shrugged. "No one said anything about sword fighting. Besides, I barely touched you, so stop being a pussy."
"I knew there was no point in fighting honorably against a witch!"
Before anyone could react, Louis got up and ran towards Akko, snatching the prophecy out of her hands, and proceeding to back away when Akko tried to take it back.
"Hey, don't cheat!" She protested. "Amanda won, now give us the prophecy."
"I'm afraid I won't do that." He smirked, before ripping the paper to shreds.
"No!" Hannah tried to stop him, but it was too late… all that was left was small pieces of torn paper, which would be very difficult, if not impossible, to properly put back together.
"That's what she gets for breaking into our school and stealing our property." He shrugged unapologetically.
"Listen, you-" Hannah was about to punch him, but Amanda quickly grabbed her hands, stopping her.
"Hey." She spoke in a calm manner, surprisingly. "Let's not make the situation worse, alright? He's a cheater, but he got what he wanted, so let him go lick his wounds in peace."
"Who did you call a cheater?! In an honorable fight, I would have made you eat dirt." Louis yelled, obviously intending to continue the fight with Amanda, but he was promptly interrupted by his father.
"Enough!" His authoritarian voice made Louis jump a little a turn to look at his father with an almost comically scared expression. "I didn't raise you to go around picking fights with teen girls."
"But father-"
"Yes, she didn't win honorably, but she did win. And regardless, you didn't have to destroy the prophecy because of that either." He chastised him. "But… I guess there's not much we can do now. Let's stop wasting our time and go back home; it seems you still have a lot to learn when it comes to proper behavior."
For a moment it looked like Louis was about to protest once more, opening and closing his mouth like a gaping fish. However, he quickly gave up and let his head drop, following his father obediently with his metaphorical tail between his legs, as they were escorted out of the mansion by the servants, while the witches observed. Once they were out of sight, Akko was the first one to speak.
"Uhh… it can be repaired, right?" She said, looking at Diana for answers.
"I don't know." She sighed. "It's often very difficult to cast any type of magic on an already magical object."
"Why did you stop me?! I could have punched that jerk in the face!" Hannah snarled at Amanda, promptly getting out of her grip.
"No need." She answered rather unconcerned about the whole situation. "I already gave him what he deserved, fair and square."
"But the prophecy-" Barbara intervened.
"Yeah, I knew he'd do something like that." She then turned to look at Jasminka with a smirk. "That's why you don't show all your cards when you're playing with a cheater, eh?"
Jasminka then buried her hand in her bag of popcorn and quickly extracted from it… a scroll. An intact one too.
"The… prophecy?" Akko asked incredulous. "But how?"
"I made a replica with magic. No big deal." She shrugged. "That one is the real deal."
"Ohh! That's very cleaver!"
"Indeed." Diana then walked up to Amanda and stared down at her. Or tried to, anyways, since they were both the same height. "In any case, I would appreciate it if you don't go around stealing ancient artifacts from powerful families while you're staying on my property."
"Ugh. Why do you hate everything fun?"
"Amanda." She warned.
"Fine! Fine, I promise I won't." She raised her hands in surrender. "Unless stealing hearts count?" She winked at Hannah, but the girl just rolled her eyes at her in annoyance.
"In any case, I believe we have wasted enough time here." Diana sighed before turning to search for her pupil. "Akko!"
"Y-yes?" The girl jumped in surprise upon being called so harshly.
"Let us continue the training now."
"But… What about lunch?" She hadn't had the time to eat at all given the events that had just occurred, so she had been hoping to return to the dining room once the duel was over. However, Diana just marched back to her mansion and Akko had no choice but to follow her, out of fear she'd end up angering her more and the sadistic blonde would make her study until midnight again.
Some days, it really did seem like the Cavendish coming of age ritual couldn't come soon enough.
A/N: Sorry for the delay! Hope that you liked this chapter nontheless, and that you leave a review telling me what you think. I'd also appreciate it if you follow/favorite. Thank you!
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.