Here we go
Cover Art: Z-ComiX
Chapter 96
The outskirts were quiet once more. Wildlife was more abundant, and birds chirped in the trees where before there had been none. It was as Goodwitch said – the Grimm had been culled drastically by their latest attack. Ruby and Qrow were deeper than they had been the last time and they hadn't come across a single Grimm. Ruby wasn't sure if she should be pleased about that or not. It meant they had to keep searching.
"Will Weiss be okay?" she asked to break the all enclosing silence.
"Maria is friendly enough to those who don't wrong her." Qrow replied without looking back, stepping over a fallen and mossy log with his eyes fixed ahead. "Unless your friend attacks her or tries to capture her, the worst that'll happen is she gets kicked out and the illusions go back up."
Kicked out into a Grimm-infested forest. That wasn't Ruby's definition of safe, but at least Weiss was closer to Vale than they were. Still alone, she thought. If Weiss did get into any danger she'd have nothing but her own wits to rely on. The least Goodwitch could have done was send Jaune along to protect her. All the best combatants were being kept to the city however or kept to the Collegium. Despite that the Huntsmen employed at the Sanctum were perfect anti-Grimm weapons, none had been deployed to the front lines.
It was almost like the White wanted to hide them away from the common people. Maybe they were worried it would look bad to have a practically enslaved force of humans who were, if Jaune's mother was correct, taken away from their families and forced into a state of mental handicap.
"Focus Ruby," Qrow said. "We have enough problems of our own without borrowing more."
"R-Right."
"We're far enough from the city to be out of range of the bells," he went on. "If you need to, you're safe to use your wild magic."
Safe was a curious choice of words since people would get suspicious if they kept surviving impossible odds. Then again, better suspicious than dead. Luckily, her outburst in the battle before had pushed back any oncoming surges. Her power lapped gently beneath the surface of her skin, calm and placid like a midsummer lake. It liked to be used – if it could be said to be sentient at all. The more she refused to, the worse it became.
Qrow scaled the rising rock faces and held a hand down to haul her up. They were further than they had been before, far enough that the trees became thicker and closed off any view of the city behind them. It felt as though they were leaving civilisation behind and entering the old, forgotten parts of the world. Ruby had never dared to travel so far even before the Grimm. Wolves, brigands and the very real fear of getting lost held all but the most desperate back.
It was the deepest parts of the forest that brought the worst terrors to mind. Images of vanishing alone to never be seen again, monstrous creatures hiding in the dark corners. Ruby told herself they were figments of her imagination, but this was the kind of place that made a person believe they might be real.
"Still no Grimm," Qrow mused. "I guess Goodwitch was right."
"Do you think they used all the Grimm?" Ruby asked.
"That would be the dream, wouldn't it? Doubt we're that lucky. The best we can hope for is that they're out the way. Gathering somewhere safe out of fear we'll launch a counterattack. If that gets us close enough to find one of these Arcanists, it'll be enough."
"Wouldn't they be with the Grimm, though?"
"Depends on how much control they have, doesn't it? Would you want to sleep near monsters like that?"
No. Even if someone told her they were under control, she'd want to be a good distance away and sheltered before she let her guard down. These lot couldn't be much different. "Should we wait for dark then?" Ruby asked. "We could track a campfire then."
In answer, Qrow swung his pack down and took a deep breath. "Not a bad idea. Take a break."
/-/
Weiss hummed frustratedly as the puppet came out of her control once more, collapsing into a wooden heap. She blew air out between pursed lips, ignored the amused cackle from Lady Calavera and tried again. The trick was in using water magic to soak and dry the wool, causing it to contract and expand in a crude facsimile of human muscle. The concept was remarkably simple but the execution was, as usual, another matter entirely.
After hours of practice, the best she could manage was to make the wooden sculpture wobble and bounce on the table. Moving each leg independently to have it walk was like making clockwise circles with your left hand and anti-clockwise squares with your right, except that you had four limbs to work with now. The multi-tasking alone was nauseating.
Maria was not helping.
"Ooh. Was that frustration I heard? Are you growling? Not very ladylike, is it? You're one of those ones that thinks they can get anything right on the first try. Pah. If that were true, there wouldn't be so many undiscovered arts out there. I've spent the last fifty years mastering this."
"And here I am grasping the basics in an afternoon," Weiss spat. It was petty and rude, and Lady Goodwitch would have chastised her for endangering her mission to get close to Calavera. "I-I apologise. My temper gets the best of me."
"Heh. You think I care for manners out here?" As if to show it, Maria took a swig of her tea and belched loudly. Weiss scrunched her nose up and the puppet tripped onto its side. "All that noble tosh gets in the way of learning. I don't care for it. As for grasping this so quickly, it's a lot easier to be taught something than it is to pioneer it. I had to work this out the hard way."
That, she could understand. Then again, Maria hadn't had to learn anything she didn't want to. There was so much magic in the Collegium, so many different spells and the potential to develop her own in the Amber Arcana if she truly wished. Necromancy would have been forbidden to her there as well of course, but it wasn't like developing a new art was off the table.
"I see you lost in curiosity again." Maria said. "Ask away."
"I was wondering why you didn't try to join the Amber if you wanted to research new magics. Naturally, you would have been forbidden from necromancy, but you could have focused on other things."
"Could have." Maria agreed. "Maybe would have."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "But?"
"No choice. I was locked into my Arcana. My own fault for being impatient," she said. "Much like you, I wanted to be something special. The next best thing – maybe even the Grand Arcanist myself. That led me to picking my Arcana early and locking myself out. Ans when Ozpin became Grand Arcanist, I knew any chance of that were lost."
It was such a mundane reason and yet also a warning for herself. She and Ruby had chosen the White Arcana very early into their careers – or she had; Ruby had been invited – and Pyrrha was already locked into two. There would be no further flexibility for her, and she could never go back on her choice.
"Do you think I should wait before choosing my second?" Weiss asked.
"If you want to stay a good and loyal Arcanist, yes. Think carefully, then think twice. Those rules are always so restrictive." Maria snorted. "As is their purpose. You'd best make sure yours is something you can dedicate the rest of your life to, otherwise you'll end up like me."
"What Arcana did you choose?"
"Azure and Emerald."
Such an innocuous combo – an Arcana dedicated to secrets and knowledge combined with one focused on healing. The latter explain how Maria had come to her understanding of the human body, and maybe even how she developed her curiosity as to life and death.
"Would you make different choices if you could go back and do it again?"
"Hmm. Amber and Black, I think." Maria rubbed her jaw and continued. "Those two don't have any limits to what they can do. There are finite spells to every Arcana, but the Amber can spend time making more and the Black are the same with their enchanted objects. You'd never be bored in those Arcana. What of you, lass? Chosen your second colour already?"
She had, but now that she had fresh warning from Maria, she was beginning to doubt the wisdom of it. "I'd planned on going to Crimson…"
"Ah. The old White-Red. Popular combo, especially for those indoctrinated by the White first. Pah." Maria spat on the floor. "Do yourself a favour and don't. There's a reason the White pushes its members to that – it's because it's the most limiting combination. You learn to fight, you learn to follow orders and then they use you for the rest of your life. You're little better than a soldier and they'll use you as such until you're too old, then you'll be relegated to teaching the next generation to be as mindless as you."
"Not that you're biased or anything…"
"Course I am!" Maria yelled. "But that doesn't make me wrong. Besides, Crimson is a waste of an Arcana slot. Anyone can learn to fight given enough effort. You damn well know I'm no pushover. Why waste a gemstone on something you can learn on your own?"
There was truth there. Aside from Maria being unbelievably powerful – the strongest Rogue Arcanist in Lady Goodwitch's own words – there were other ways to train. Pyrrha would help her if she asked, and she was well off enough to hire a private combat instructor. There were no laws against trying to learn other Arcana spells on your own.
"There has to be some point to the Crimson Arcana," Weiss said.
"Eh. Tactics, strategy and leadership I suppose." Maria waved a hand dismissively. "Nothing you couldn't learn outside it. They'll be better at it experience for experience, but you could spend a hundred years and not master everything the Black has to offer. Crimson is the quickest to master. It's why it's so popular. Well, that and young idiots thinking big, flashy attacks equate to power. Most people join it because they see it as a fast-track to becoming a two-stone Arcanist, and that's all that matters to them. All the power in the world, limitless possibilities, and all they want is the bloody kudos, the reputation. Nobles," she said angrily. "Wastes of human potential."
"You are noble as well, Lady Calavera."
"I was. Ain't now, and I'm happier for it. Last of the Calavera line anyway, and not interested in continuing it. B'sides, all my assets were seized by the White when I went rogue." She snorted. "As if I cared." Her eyes narrowed as she watched Weiss. "You're getting better at that."
Weiss looked down to the puppet she'd been working on throughout the conversation. While keeping it upright was indeed something she could manage while distracted, movement was as hard as ever.
"I can't make the legs move independently."
"You can."
"Okay, I can." Weiss sighed exasperatedly. "But it's so difficult."
"Difficult is fine. Difficult can be overcome. You can keep that," she added, waving a hand when Weiss looked down at the doll nervously. "Nothing illegal about it," she said. "If you don't trust me, buy one yourself in the city. Not too hard to find someone selling children's toys and puppets."
It was just wood and wool. No one could say what she was learning now was dangerous in any way. While Weiss wasn't stupid enough to not catch on to the fact this technique could be used to animate deceased bodies, learning it on a doll didn't mean she had to cross that line. Lady Calavera might have piqued her curiosity with it, but that wasn't going to lead to a desire to learn necromancy, if that was Maria's plan.
I'm not that desperate for knowledge, thank you. Even so, Weiss bobbed her head. "I do trust you. I was more concerned for Lady Goodwitch's reaction if she hears I'm learning anything from you."
"Ha. That's fair. Stuffy bitch would take, burn and salt its remains on the off-chance it carries my taint. The answer is simple. Don't tell her I taught you this."
Simple, yes. A slippery slope, yes. Was Maria actively trying to lead her astray? Possibly. The woman was old and might have been in the market for someone to carry on her legacy. That someone could be me, Weiss thought, interest worming its way through her. She mentally shook it off. No. I'm not going down the path of a Rogue Arcanist. The Schnee family doesn't need a criminal in it and there are plenty of different ways for me to make a name for myself.
"I'm not interested in learning necromancy, Maria.
"Necromancy isn't the only thing I know, is it?" the woman shot back. "Don't dismiss eighty years of magical knowledge just because you don't like one bit of it. That's the White talking. Destroy entire Arcana because they don't like one aspect, hunt a person down because they have the potential to become a problem." Maria leaned forward. "Want to learn how to seal a bleeding wound?"
Weiss' hear skipped a beat. Yes. Yes, she did. Emerald magic was carefully kept away from anyone not in the Arcana. It was jealously guarded, and for good reason. "Isn't that too dangerous to have in the hands of an amateur? Emerald magic can be used to harm people if utilised by someone inexperienced or-"
"White justifications!" Maria snapped. "No magic is good or evil – it's the person who uses it that makes the distinction. If I teach you to heal, will you be using it to warp innocent people's faces off?"
"N-No." Emerald magic could do that? Weiss shivered. "Of course not!"
"Then what's the harm?"
"W-Well… what if I'm no good at it and I hurt someone…?"
Maria scoffed. "You think I'm going to let an amateur try magic on my body? Or anyone's? I'm old, lass, not senile. You would be practicing it on dead animals."
"Isn't that necro-"
"The same as how the Emerald Arcana does it."
Weiss cut off. "I-It is…?"
"Course it is. You think they let beginners try it on living people? Too much potential to go wrong. First thing you learn over there, after a year or two of theory and mundane herbalism and treatment, is how to close a wound on a dead rodent. You don't so much as look at a living animal until you've mastered dead ones, and you don't get to touch a person until you can bring a dog from the brink of death back to life."
That sounded a lot like necromancy, and yet it also made too much sense to not be true. With how dangerous Emerald magic could be, it was only too logical that students would have to practice on animals first. The Emerald Arcana also did a lot of work with antidotes and medicine, simple herbalism infused with magic. That had to be safer than working with the human body, so it made sense they started with that.
"How long does it take to master the Emerald Arcana?"
"Ten years, give or take."
Such a long time. Not a surprise by any means, but ten whole years dedicated to one school of magic was still a daunting prospect. Daunting, but not eternal. If it had taken Maria ten years to learn Emerald and ten to learn Azure, then that still left her with forty plus years of boredom, as she would be unable to delve into any new Arcana.
That could happen to me as well. Whatever Arcana I pick as my second, that will be it. I can only learn from there. The Emerald Arcana would never allow me to learn any of their spells because there's too much risk involved.
Maria was offering to teach her, though. No one would know and the magic itself wasn't forbidden. Quite the opposite. If she learned it, she could say someone from the Emerald taught her or that she'd figured it out on her own. That was if anyone even cared to ask. As long as she wasn't doing anything bad with it, no one would care where the White Arcanist learned to heal. They would just see it as a useful thing that she did.
"What would you teach me?"
"I could show you how to stem bleeding and close a wound. It wouldn't save the life of someone already dying, but it could prevent someone getting to that point if you got to them quickly enough."
"You know more, though?"
"Girl, I mastered the Emerald Arcana. I can rearrange a person's insides if I wanted. And I could teach you that if we had the time." Maria shrugged innocently. "How much you learn will depend on you, won't it?" She pointed to the doll in Weiss' hands. "It'll depend on how much you balk at difficult and how much of a problem you have getting your hands dirty."
"I don't like the sound of that…"
Maria cackled. "No one does, not even me back when I was your age. One of the first things you learn in the Emerald, though. You can't learn how to make a body work if you don't know how a body works in the first place."
/-/
Qrow spotted the campfire first. Ruby figured it was because he was so tall that he could see it long before she had a chance. He signalled her for silence and they both crept forward, stopping a good hundred metres or so away. The fire was hidden behind trees, but they could see its reflection on the bark, a spec of light in an otherwise gloomy and abandoned forest.
Ruby's heart pounded quickly in her chest. She looked left and right, noting the lack of Grimm. It could have been travellers, but she shoved that thought aside as soon as it came. There was no way people were out and about at a time like this.
"We need to take one alive," Qrow whispered. "If there are multiple at all. Our goal is to get them back to the White for questioning."
"Easy enough."
"No." He clutched her wrist before she could stand. "They will be questioned by the White. You think they won't mention how powerful you are under interrogation? Use any wild magic and Glynda will figure it out."
Surprise and panic wormed its way inside her and Ruby bit her lip, settling back down silently. She hadn't thought of that and now that Qrow pointed it out, she wasn't sure how useful she would be. If they even came under attack by Grimm on the way back, she wouldn't be able to fight for fear of revealing herself.
"Leave the capture to me," Qrow said. "In fact, leave most of it to me. What you can do is mask your abilities as mine. I typically use wind and fire magics. Focus on those and try not to make it too obvious where they're coming from."
"My magic might draw Grimm…"
"Won't matter. If they're in danger, they'll draw the Grimm anyway. We need to be quick about this. With any luck, one or more of them will be sleeping anyway." He paused, considered and then asked, "You lived in the slums, right? How good are you at staying hidden?"
"Good enough."
"Think you can get close?"
Ruby peeked out again. The forest was thick and dark, gloomy with hundreds of tall trees, some narrower than others. It wasn't the buildings and rooftops she was used to, but there were plenty of places to hide. She nodded quickly, shucking off her cloak and laying it quietly on the ground.
"Play distraction," Qrow whispered into her ear. "Nothing that can't be explained away."
With a nod, she was off, slowly picking her way forward past trees and over rotten logs and mossy rocks. The air was full of the chips or crickets, masking the slight sounds of her movement. Even so, she carefully picked her way, keeping her eyes peeled for dry twigs or branches she might snap underfoot.
The reflected firelight ahead grew bolder and brighter. Whomever was camped there should have had a sentry and may well have, but they could just as easily have felt invulnerable with the Grimm on their side. Closing the distance to forty metres or so, she crept up to a tree and peered nervously around the side.
Small campfire, metal pot off to the side with stacked bowls beside it. There were two rolls on the left under a stretch of leather tied to the side of a tree. A barrel of water, or what she assumed was water, stood off to their left. The two forms were asleep, the fire crackling nearby. Ruby was about to move again when she heard the rustle of dry leaves and hunkered back down.
A third figure stepped back into the ring of firelight, yawning and tugging at their robes. The long hair suggested it was a woman, but her face and skin were hidden under a cloak she gripped tightly around her to ward off the cold. As Ruby waited, she stepped past her sleeping allies and stooped over the barrel, reaching in and using her hand to spoon water to her mouth. Once she had drunk her fill, she moved back over to the fire and crossed her legs, sitting down in front of it.
A sentry. It was too much to hope for them to be arrogant, especially when any wild animal could come up and kill them. Ruby watched the woman poke the fire with a stick and stretch her arms above her head. She looked tired, but unlikely to go to sleep anytime soon.
When the woman started to poke the fire again, Ruby broke cover and crept around the right, making sure to approach from the woman's behind, where she couldn't be seen. The sound of wood and ash being pushed around in the fire masked the quiet sounds of Ruby's breathing, letting her sneak all the way up to the tree the tent was tied to. No more than five metres away from the Arcanist sat before the fire.
Dimly, Ruby considered snuffing that fire out and sending them into a panic. That would almost certainly have the woman shouting out however, and that would wake up her allies.
I could kill these two, a dark part of Ruby's mind whispered. They were fast asleep and wouldn't recognise they were under attack until they were dead. It was definitely the wisest choice, but she wasn't sure she could actually do it. It would be easy, right? If I made the tree fall on them then it would be like I didn't do anything at all.
Despite thinking that, her sweaty palms and dry mouth suggested otherwise. Ruby backed up, pressing her face to the cool bark and instead waiting for Qrow to make his move. If she were better, braver or just more bloodthirsty then she could have killed the person at the fire and been done with it. The other two could wake up in captivity and no one would be any the wiser.
I've no idea how strong the Arcanist is. For all I know they're as strong as Qrow.
The fire crackled. So close, Ruby heard the woman muttering to herself.
"-useless waste of time. Why can't we take over a hut or something? Peasants sleep outdoors. Ugh." She angrily thrust her stick into the fire, causing it to flare up. "Do they even know who I am? How dare they order me around like that."
The exotic cadence of her speech did little to hide the arrogant tone behind it. She sounded like Weiss once had, or as Weiss did when she was tyring her best to be snooty. Given they came from Menagerie's Collegium, they were probably all nobility again. It raised the question of why nobility would want to destroy their home in the first place, let alone Vale as well.
A gust of wind crept through the clearing, picking up speed quickly. Ruby could sense the magical energy on the air, but only because she was looking for it. The woman was too distracted by her anger, still complaining even as leaves began to swirl across the floor. The sound of it all was as much a mask for Qrow's movement as preparation for his attack.
Taking the chance offered, Ruby crept out and around the tree, trusting the woman not to turn suddenly. The two sleeping figures were curled up under their blankets, two men, and they'd left their robes piled beside their beds, Arcanum resting atop them and a few belongings nearby. Knives, too. More hunting knives than weapons, but more than capable of taking a life. Ruby reached for one, picking it up nervously while keeping an eye on the woman.
Sneak up, stick the knife in her and cover her mouth. It'd be easy…
Maybe Yang could have done it. Yang was always braver, more desperate and determined enough to do what had to be done. Instead of approaching the woman, Ruby touched the knife to one of the thin, hemp ropes securing the tent in place. Careful not to let it snap free, she gently pushed and frayed the edges, weakening it but not cutting through. Then, she did the same on the top, sabotaging the tent above the sleeping figures not five metres away from a dangerous Rogue Arcanist.
A very oblivious, unprofessional and whiny Rogue Arcanist who was acting more like a spoiled child than a hardened criminal. That was important information, wasn't it? That these people, or some of them, were little more than entitled nobles. They were dangerous, yes, but not all of them as competent as the one she and Qrow had killed before.
The wind picked up suddenly and the fire was snuffed out.
"Damn it!" the woman snarled, fumbling in the dark. She raised a hand and summoned a ball of fire, lighting up the gloom and basking her in a ruddy orange glow.
Highlighting her location in the dark.
"Oi. Raymond. Henry. Wake up already-"
Something soft whistled through the air and the woman cut off suddenly, her words ending in a silent rattle. Ruby glanced over but wished she hadn't, turning just in time to see the body topple down under its own weight, and a severed head bounce and roll into the snuffed-out fire pit.
"Qrow is one of our best," she recalled Goodwitch saying. "He specialises in taking out Wildmages and Rogue Arcanists, no matter how dangerous they are."
After witnessing such an efficient assassination, she didn't doubt it. The woman had never once realised the danger she was in, and now she was dead. The quiet crunch of leaves heralded the Arcanist's arrival, Qrow's face set and eyes hard as he stepped over the dead body and toward her. His eyes flicked to the knife in her hand, and he shook his head, holding out an empty hand.
Ruby surrendered it without question. She closed her eyes as he stepped up and ducked under the tent flap, crouched over one of the bodies, held a hand to the man's mouth and stabbed the knife down. She didn't see any of it, but she knew it happened because of the muffled and desperate sounds a male voice let out, and the horrible puncturing noise that followed it.
The last man choked desperately, gasping for air and flailing around under the tent flap beside his now dead compatriot. He thrashed and gagged and went still, at which point Qrow released him. His hands glowed faintly as he ran them over the bruised man's neck.
"He'll do," Qrow said coldly. "Gather their Arcanum and any belongings you can find. We'll be carrying him back to Maria's, then to Vale after we've picked up your friend."
Ruby nodded and quickly grabbed the two Arcanum, then looked to the decapitated woman and cringed. "A-All the Arcanum…?"
"All of them. It should be on her body."
"R-Right." Trying hard not to look, and failing miserably, Ruby rolled the dead woman over and opened up her robes, whimpering slightly as she pulled the bloody Arcanum off a neck still gushing blood. "I-Is it always like this?" she asked, staggering back. "Is this how the White usually handles Rogues?"
"If they won't surrender or are deemed too dangerous, yes."
Ruby couldn't take her eyes off the scene of murder. "Is it the same for Wildmages?"
Qrow sighed. "I'm afraid so."
Ruby didn't speak a single word on the long walk back.
Qrow showing what he can do when he has to. Weiss being tempted by forbidden knowledge.
Next Chapter: 18th July
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