Greenwood's Academy, year 7
Nodoka hit the mat cheek first, and that hurt quite a bit. She moaned as the pain receivers filed in complaints to the brain.
"Efromm said you'd gotten better and I gotta say that was impressive at the start," said her sparring opponent with a hint of smugness in his tone. "But you got sloppy towards the end there. You got too confident with holding your ground and then your anger got in the way for you, leaving you wide open."
And whose fault is it that I got angry? She wanted to snap back at him, but she knew he was right.
Fashtar, or Master Fashtar during active classes, was very much the guy responsible for the life she had now. He was also the guy who got her into the university to study magic, to begin with. So he was in that particular position where she didn't like him, but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. Separated from her home and family, she was stuck alone in a hostile universe that didn't care who she was and how she was faring with all this.
Just like with her father.
As one of the teachers at Greenwood's, he had the reputation of a trickster who had a habit of making practical jokes to his students as a disciplinary measure. The headmaster hadn't come down on him for that the whole time he's been here alongside her. Still, they rarely saw each other outside of class, merely him checking in on her once in a while when the lessons were over, and she was trying to relax with her friend Ela, or when he needed an "assistant". Nodoka wasn't as frequent of an assistant since she had come to the headmaster's office, so the few times he did call on her was when he had critical advice for her.
Now it was free time, and he took the opportunity to take her for a few rounds on the sparring floor in his private sanctum. Nodoka's real trainer in PE was Efromm, the golden-haired githyanki warrior who, thanks to her exotic aesthetics, had garnered an interesting entourage of people willing to talk with her when they were out. And she was as lethal a fighter as she was an exotic beauty.
Fashtar, meanwhile, was probably up there with Jack Rakan-san. He was no handsome fellow (as githyanki had a bony physique and primarily yellow, leathery skin compared to the smooth, many-colored skins of humans and elves), but his body belied a physical build that may have been carved from solid rock or beveled from steel, judging by the way he had cleaved an oak table in two once. And seeing as he was considered a master by the university's standards when it came to magic, he was on par with either Albiero Imma or the Thousand Master.
…then again, Nagi had flunked out of magic school, who made up for it with raw power and pure talent.
Fashtar, meanwhile, was an eloquent, sophisticated, and intelligent master of the Art. To compare the two, Nagi was a brawler, using a massive greatsword and spear in one hand each and was a natural genius with every other kind of weapon he got his hands on, but couldn't be bothered to learn the finesse and technique required to understand them, he just used them and used them well. Fashtar was more the fencer or a dojo master, having learned all kinds of weapons the hard way and with his own skill at it, had mastered them to a degree he could hold his own against any foe. And he could pick up the right one for a specific situation and come out on top with barely a scratch.
Compared to those two and Negi-sensei, Nodoka was a rookie afraid to use knives.
He asked, "Troubled again?" Nodoka grimaced. He could tell she was thinking, as always. "Come on, again." She rolled his eyes and got back up for another sparring round.
They went through the basics, the primary stances, swings, and thrusts of quarterstaff fighting. Nodoka once asked Efromm what the idea was of learning the staff. The answer was that the staff is the most useful weapon of them all. The sky was the limit with its potential.
You want to know how to use a sword? Practice with the staff. The spear? Same thing. A large battleax, a greatsword, a halberd, even the basic club? The staff can do them all, and it was just as lethal, if not more. Swords would have trouble against plate armor or helmets, whereas the staff ignores that. The battleax has a small strike surface, in contrast to the staff that has its whole structure as its strike surface.
As usual with their sparring, Fashtar was the offensive while Nodoka played defensively against him. He was fast and strong, while she was agile and clever. Efromm had forbidden her from using her artifact in sparring because (a) it was a cheat code, and (b) it actually hampered her progress. By relying on something as mind-reading, she wouldn't actually get better for the event that she couldn't rely on mind-reading. So she responded by looking at their body language and eyes to see what they were planning. And that gave her a short response window but timed right, it gave her the edge needed to win.
Of course, when you go up against a master in actual combat, the window could shift at any time.
"There, better," Fashtar complimented her as she blocked one of his hard-to-predict thrusts by making it go to the side, leaving his left side wide open, but she didn't take the bait for that one. It was too obvious a move.
Instead, she twisted her staff to get under his and then swung it into his front, making the master gasp in pain and take a step back. He caught his breath and then looked at her with a pensive expression.
"Your left side was too easy," she explained. "If I had tried to go for that, you could have simply gone forward, and my strike would have gone wild, leaving me wide open for an attack from the rear."
He looked at her blankly, then he nodded in approval. "There, you see? You have the skill."
"Yeah, by getting whupped all the time." She put the staff back on its rack, a bit rougher than she intended. He put his back a lot gentler.
"Hey, you know the problem?" he asked her. When she shook her head, he got close to her face. "You are being too hard on yourself. I've seen you. Your grades are amazing, you're popular with your fellow students, you even help others improve their grades." Semi-true, Nodoka had become an unofficial teacher after-hours with the study groups cropping up at the dorm, helping students of younger years. Ela was also one as was Neissa Ravenclaw, a necromancer student in the same year. But they were all just students as well and they took notes from each other as well.
"So what's with the self-pity party?" Fashtar asked.
Nodoka blinked and looked away. "Well… how am I supposed to compete, really?" Now he blinked. "It's everything I'm gonna go up against," she explained. "Ifrith, Fate Averruncus, that Necromancer thing, those illithids, and Vlaakith. How am I supposed to face all of those guys, and make it? I'm not- I'm-" she struggled to find the words. "I'm not this super-badass hero wizard people think I am. All I can do is read their minds and find out their names."
"And just like that, you are every demon's worst nightmare," he countered.
"No, I am not. That would be a paladin with the stuff I got," she retorted. "This time at the university has helped, but I require lifetimes of training to reach the level I need to be in order to go up against what I have to face." She slumped against the wall. "And I don't have that."
"No, but you have a start," he said, leaning against the same wall. "Listen, Nodoka. One day, you are going to be shining brighter than the sun. You won't give up just because you're weak. You have shown that pluck before. And you're going to continue doing so, no matter what. A day might come when you bite off more than you can chew, but it isn't going to be the first fight you get into, nor the one after that. And it's no guarantee you're going to die once you reach that fight. All you have to do is last long enough to find the right solution."
"I might never get that chance."
"You never know for certain," he said, stroking his bejeweled eyepatch. "I speak from experience about that."
That was for the first time she had ever seen him touch that eyepatch. He had pushed it aside for ages and only now grazed it. Part of her wanted to ask about it, but the better side of caution took over and convinced her to let it be.
"I gotta go," she spoke up suddenly. "Graduation exams are on their way and I got an after-hour session to hold with the others for cramming. Later." She walked off, leaving the githyanki master behind.
She didn't say thank you to him. Never to him.
It had been four days since she got back to the cottage. And it had been relatively peaceful.
No Lindwurms coming by for a visit, no bears wandering about in the woods wondering who was living in the cottage (No joke, she had seen bears look for food in the middle of winter) and no pack of wolves led by a direwolf - which she had heard in the distance sometimes during the night - had come for a visit. (1)
It gave her some actual breathing space. And boredom, so to pass the time, she would read her spellbook on the more complex spells she hadn't fully mastered yet. She memorized but couldn't cast any of them as actual spells. She kept herself moving as well. Motion stimulated the brain. And kept her warm by ensuring that her warm blood reached all of her limbs.
She kept herself busy through many means over the days. Practicing archery - getting a flat wooden disk to serve as a target wasn't hard - combat stances with her fancy new sword Dawnbringer - though she wouldn't try any of the Jedi Lightsaber stances, mostly because she wasn't that much of a Star Wars nerd - and vocalizing the syllables of her spells, as well as going through the motions of her somatic spells. (2) She even tried carving a new staff to serve as both a focus for her magic and as a close-quarters weapon if it came to it.
She wasn't hurting for food. The pig she shot had plenty of meat, and she was just one person, so she had food to spare. She wanted to use her new Cabinet to get food, but that would be cheating.
And judging by the fact no one had come to get her yet, she figured she must have lost merely a day or so down in the Underdark. Bit annoying, but okay. And Maddie considered the whole thing a success anyway. Aside from that awful business with the lindwurm. But she hadn't counted on that.
Maddie also had to do the chores of getting more firewood and putting out traps for any small wild animal that might be living in these woods and some traps around her cottage. Collecting pine needles was tedious, but it allowed her some nutritious and probably healthy tea to drink. And she felt great. This past week alone had helped her in so many ways. It was subtle, but there.
She swore her skin looked more pristine. Spending years cooped up underground hadn't done much for her there. But with the fresh air, the outdoors exercise, and the lack of rivals she didn't have to stress about, she felt better than ever. The thoughts of despair about never coming home - which were rare as hell, shut up readers - were almost gone.
Maddie felt like the worst of this whole challenge was over.
...
…I just jinxed it, didn't I?
Knowing Eva-chan, and the sadistic streak of her master, there was probably a big challenge for her to fulfill.
The first thing she noticed was the presence. Maddie had kept her Alarm spell handy since the lindwurm and she was seriously thinking about getting a magic item that could do the job without her needing to use up a chunk of her memory.
But right now, thanks to the Alarm spell, she felt the presence of someone coming. Then two, then three, then more.
People had come. Out here. They had come to a desolate region devoid of civilization and they were on an intercept course with her cottage.
Maddie responded immediately. She grabbed her bow and rushed outside to climb up the tower. Her staff wasn't ready by a long shot, so she was stymied if it came to a fight. That said, she hadn't been idle living out here.
The tree in the immediate surrounding area formed a ward designed not to be lethal (she didn't have the heart for that) but to be straight-up nasty. Over the last couple of days, her firewood smoke had been collected by the ward, avoiding the risk of someone seeing the smoke pillar from a distance.
She also did a few more wooden discs and tied them to the tree. Upon getting hit, they would trigger the ward and release the smoke all at once. Fire smoke was a noxious fume, dangerous to inhale and it was effective. Maddie had done protective wards on the cottage and the tower, which would shield her effectively from the smoke while intruders would choke. If they were smart and fast, they could get out of the smoke, but by the time they got away, she'd either be ready with other spells or long gone.
They were coming just around the corner. She nocked and drew an arrow, ready to shoot.
But she wasn't going to trigger the ward right away. She was nice like that. A warning shot would suffice for now.
As soon as she saw a boot, she loosed the first arrow. It whistled past where the walker's head would have been.
Immediately, she saw them scramble backward. "Take cover!" she heard someone yell. "Ambush!" "Where did that come from!?"
The voices sounded both young and old. She readied a second arrow. But she couldn't see them; she could only guess where they were now. Behind the treeline, that was certain, but she couldn't tell what they were doing.
"Anyone see where that came from?" she heard someone shout, and she had their position. Sounded young or small. Halflings were a thing. But they didn't sound like someone who expected to be out in the wild.
"Think they can see us?" Someone asked and they sounded older. That sounded like a safe target.
If they were smart, they'd be lying down against the trees to ensure maximum protection, both to hide their location and to minimize the chance of getting shot. Maddie loosed an arrow in that direction.
The arrow went between the branches. No one screamed. "Yeah, they can see us," someone else yelled.
She heard a murmur and then, "Wait! Cease fire! Cease fire!" Wait a minute. That voice sounded familiar. "Uh, I'm going to come out now! Please do not shoot me!"
"What are you doing?" Someone snapped at them and the first speaker stepped out.
They were an elderly man with a runner's build and a shaggy beard. He wore a big red pointy hat and robe with golden stars sewn into them, a backpack with patches all over it, and a belt and bandoleer holding various vials with potions of several different mixtures. His belt had a couple of glass grenades and a holster that held a wand of an unknown make.
Not that he needed a wand before because Maddie recognized him right away. "Rincewind?" She asked the elderly man.
Rincewind had gotten a bit older since last she saw him three years ago at graduation. He had also cleaned his robe since they usually were always covered in mud at the bottom. His boots were clean, too. He also had another small holster on the other side of his belt, but she couldn't tell what that was.
He squinted up at her. "Samasal?" He clarified.
Oh right, he'd been hit by the mass suggestion ritual they pulled the last tenday to change her name in their memories, too. He wouldn't remember her as 'Miyazaki', but he would remember her as 'Samasal'.
"Master Rincewind!" That was more a shout of elation and joy from her and she almost jumped down the tower ladder to rush over to him. He had a big grin on his own face as they collided in a hug.
"Heeeeey, how are you doing, kid?" He asked, ruffling her hair. "Clear!" he shouted back to the treeline.
Maddie saw a couple of other teachers, one she didn't recognize, and Master Brandybuck, a portly Halfling who was her old teacher of alchemy. Brandybuck also ran a small brewery on the side of being a teacher but had been strictly forbidden by the Headmaster to provide or sell any of his alcoholic concoctions to the students, as inebriated students made for poor students.
The other was wearing a breastplate and carried a large war hammer, accompanied by what appeared to be a dog made out of… metal? She was giving off an aura of magical energy of sorts, but she couldn't make heads or tails out of it.
The rest of them were students. Younger students in their fourth year, wearing the classic brown robes of the novice. Maddie remembered her fourth year. Good year. Except for one night. (3)
"Well, bless my meat and sweeten my ale," Brandybuck said as he stepped forward. "Young novice Samasal, how nice to see you again."
Maddie chuckled genuinely. "It's Apprentice Samasal now, master Brandybuck. And it's so good to see you again." She knelt down to give him a hug as well. "Uh… I didn't hit anyone, did I?"
"No, no no no," Rincewind answered her. "No one got hurt. Although I think I might need to change my underpants because of that first arrow. Whizzed right past my face."
"Eek!"
"Did you mean that as a warning shot?"
"Well, uh… yes?" She answered, probably shrinking down to six inches.
To her surprise, Rincewind laughed. "Nice! Doesn't hurt to make someone think you intended to kill them."
"Whaaaaa?"
"Oh by the way, what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" She asked after regaining her composure. "What are you doing here?"
"School field trip for a survival course."
"What, out here on the outskirts of the steppe?"
"Well, mostly the forest, but there's a steppe here?" He asked.
"Yeah, just go five hundred meters in that direction and you'll see the open area," she said while pointing northeast. "Me, I'm here for an exam from my master."
"Are you?"
"Yeah. We're reevaluating our lessons, he dropped me off here and I have to spend a tenday here. Part of the challenge is to live out here without the common luxuries," she explained.
Rincewind hummed. And Maddie took the opportunity to ask him another question. "Wait, we're nearly three thousand miles from the university, how did you get here?"
"Teleportation circle."
"Oh." Those things were rare as a diamond just lying in the street between two cobblestones, but they were worth it. They could be used to transport you anywhere between two circles, regardless of distance.
This meant of course that someone once had come out to the steppe just to make the circle. Which would explain the cottage. The circle isn't something you pull off in an hour, exactly. If Rome wasn't built in a day, why would a teleportation circle be done in that time?
Finally, she had an explanation for the cottage: It was an outpost for the university.
"Ah yes, this is Birgitte Romavax," Rincewind introduced the third teacher with the metal dog. "She became a teacher after you graduated. She's Master of Artifice at Greenwood's."
"Ohhh, an artificer," Maddie clarified, shaking Romavax's hand. "I didn't recognize your arcane presence there."
"It's okay. It's a rare skill, after all," Romavax replied.
The students sensed their turn to be introduced and they got talking. Maddie noted it was a varied bunch this year. There was only a handful of non-humans in her own year, Ela among them, and no halflings or gnomes. There were three of them in this school year, two halflings, and one gnome. Also, there were four elves (two male, two female) than usual and a male dwarf who hadn't grown his beard yet. The rest were human. All in all, they were about 24 people, plus the teachers.
It didn't take long for them to set up camp. The students had tents to share and the teachers had their own individual tents. Save for Romavax, who somehow managed to set up a house in a matter of minutes. A simple wooden two-room cottage, with one serving as both kitchen and dining room at once, and a bedroom. Rincewind made due with his own tent that was magically insulating.
Once again, magic rules.
Maddie got to keep the cottage as her sleeping quarters, but she was kind enough to share her fire with the teachers. They got talking over past lessons and as was usual when teachers caught up with old students, barraged Maddie over her lessons, which - thanks to her master having implanted a photographic memory in her - she excelled at.
"So how long do you have to stay here?" Rincewind asked.
"Well, I was here for about a week, so…" She did the calculations. "About two more days. Then my pickup arrives."
"Two days… I think we can spare that time out here," said Rincewind. He always dragged them off someplace in the past and oftentimes they would spend more than just two days. "Say, do you mind leading our little hunter trio of this year to find something? I can't imagine you have enough food for all of us?"
"Oh god, no," said Maddie. "I don't have the food for that. Just point them out, and someone else can lead the foragers on their own excursion. Just make sure they don't break into their secret rations, would you?"
She grabbed her bow and went outside with Rincewind. "Right, time to find our supper!" The latter called to the students. "Foragers with me! We'll find something edible here!"
"Hunters with me," called Maddie. "We'll check the traps first and then we're off to look for bigger game."
Rincewind led the foragers into the forest, and Maddie led their hunters out of the forest.
Trapping is a waiting game. It includes a lot of patience on the hunter's behalf, and it involves both cunning and craftmanship from the hunter.
The best trappers know where to find the small game. They know their resting zones, their eating zones, and what routes they take when they run from hungry predators looking for a quick and easy meal.
So they plan accordingly. Their traps are designed with a specific purpose in mind and for where they plant them. A simple noose tied to a branch and triggered by being moved can lift the quarry up and they experience death by hanging. A nasty fate, but such is the way of life in the wild.
Other traps include rocks, pitfalls, snares, and tripwires. Done right, the trap could very well possibly be the most practical tool in a hunter's kit.
Within an hour, it was clear to all of their group that Maddie Samasal was not a trapper.
The traps were in a good place, that much was certain. They were around a small hare nest burrow, where they'd venture, look for food, and probably go to sleep at night or when they could.
The problem was that Maddie hadn't made the traps work. They were either of poor quality (which was amazing by itself, given the abundance of raw materials) or they were too obvious for the hares to notice. Meaning they could avoid them.
"I used the crossbow, okay?" Maddie defended herself.
"You were an ambusher?" Asked Hugh Valence, the archer of the hunting trio.
According to tradition, each person in the trio had a specific purpose, each one armed with different knowledge. The archer was the chaser or the fast shooter. They would loose arrows and target several targets at once. The idea was that they'd keep up with the quarry and tire them out.
The crossbowman, by contrast, was the ambusher. Lie in wait for the opportune moment to place their shot and then, hit a vital spot on the target, so they wouldn't run far. The trapper, on the other hand, wouldn't do either of those. Also the tracker, the trapper would set traps for their game along the way and then wait until the other two were done. Then they'd check their traps later to see if anything got caught.
The dwarf student, Barendd Trueblood, was the crossbowman of their group. And little Chenna Sunmeadow, one of the halflings, was the trapper. She was tiny compared to the others. Maddie must have looked like a giant to her, the way she looked at her. But Chenna had steady hands and grew up with a trapper father, who wanted her to live a better life. She simply used her father's knowledge to trap wild game for them.
Maddie felt a bit responsible for them. They were still young. Barendd hadn't even grown his beard in full. They barely looked like wizard students, save for their brown robes, which Maddie once wore.
"Yes, I was an ambusher," Maddie replied, as they moved on. "I didn't come to them, they came to me."
They were approaching the northeastern edge of the forest. And they hadn't caught much if anything at all. Chenna was kind enough to redo the traps so they'd get something by the end of the day, much to Maddie's embarrassment.
Then they reached the outskirts.
"So… this is the steppe, huh?" asked Hugh.
"Yeah," Maddie answered. "It's a massive grass desert, covered in a layer of snow and ice. I got a few landmarks to a water stream, then we're on our own." They never covered the steppe lands in their survival training, and Maddie was going to ask Rincewind why later. "If we have luck, then we-"
She picked something else up. Noise. Hoofbeats. Two horses, coming up from the south. And no one in their party had come with horses.
"What? What is it?" asked Barendd.
"Company," Maddie told them and retreated back to the treeline. The students followed her, and they all hid behind trees. Maddie readied her bow and they all prepared their own ranged weapons. Barendd had his crossbow, and Hugh had a bow, too. And Chenna had a sling.
The suspense was killing, but it was diminishing as the students now heard the hoofbeats. Maddie used simple hand gestures to signal the others. Two horses, one big, one small. Expect one rider, two at most. Do not shoot unless met with hostile intentions first.
The others nodded and Barendd took his position first. As the crossbowman, he was expected to make the first shot. Hugh nocked an arrow in place, as did Maddie. Chenna had a stone in the sling ready for her shot, too.
Then they came into view.
First, a dwarf in heavy mail, astride a golden brown pony with a blonde mane and fetlocks that was covered in light barding. He had an ax on his hip, a pair of small bucklers tied to his wrists like bracers, a crossbow bigger than Barendd's on his back, and a large long wrapping of cloth underneath the crossbow. He looked elderly, with his great, bushy, and majestic beard.
Maddie stopped herself there. Majestic?
The other rider stopped her dead. A drow. A drow in black leather armor and a mail shirt underneath, and a green cloak, with a pair of scimitars at his side. He had a bow in a holster on the side and he was riding a flippin' unicorn. With golden barding.
Hugh flinched immediately and drew his bow, taking aim at the drow. Maddie hissed at him to wait, but he loosed it anyway.
The arrow went straight past the elf's face and he jerked backward immediately. His dwarf companion looked to the treeline and saw them. "AMBUSH!" He jerked his ax out, intending to charge the treeline. Barendd reacted immediately, taking aim at the other dwarf.
"Damnit," Maddie hissed to herself. It wasn't supposed to go this way, but now it was an ambush. "Chenna, stay down!" She drew her own bow to take aim.
The drow was fast, faster than anyone she had seen before in Faerun. He pulled his own bow out and drew an arrow to take aim. He pulled that off in the time she had told Chenna to stay down, draw her own arrow and take aim.
There was a clear difference between the two. And she noted he was aiming at her. Good idea. Hugh was going to take time getting a new arrow in place and Barendd was in a standoff with the dwarf rider, meaning he wasn't going to focus on the drow. That left her.
Maddie had to time it right. Too soon and he'd adjust his aim. Too late and she'd get hit. Arrows fly a lot farther than people believe, especially in a straight line. A modern-day bullet is at a speed of 400 meters per second, while an arrow could go 72 meters per second. The difference is that you can see the arrow coming at times.
And it was a distance of fewer than twenty meters between the two.
He loosed his arrow and Maddie swirled immediately to the side to dodge the arrow. It missed her at the last instance…
…and flew right into a tree further in. It exploded, taking the whole bottom section of the tree trunk with it, in a massive smattering of splinters and instant charcoal immediately.
Maddie's eyes widened, as did the others. Hugh dropped his jaw, and Chenna had a hiccup attack. Barendd was still in a standoff, but he certainly heard the boom. Their cover didn't even matter with arrows like that in play. Okay, time to run a simulation. If we stay here, he'll blow up our cover and kill us. If we run, the two of them could run us down. If he was disabled from using his bow, we might stand a chance.
…Shit, I'm gonna have to rush him. He's probably readying a second arrow right now. If I go now, I could get him to miss now, or- Damnit!
"Hugh, give me some cover!" Maddie dropped her bow and pulled out her unfinished staff. The staff itself was made, it just lacked the carvings needed to function as a magic wand. But as a big stick to hit people with, it was ready.
Maddie rushed forward. Chenna and Hugh stepped forward and the latter targeted the drow archer. Chenna needed a spin-up to launch her stone, but at this range, she wouldn't mind, giving the drow three targets to pick between. The mounted dwarf decided to make his move and charged the treeline, making it straight for Hugh.
That would leave Barendd free to shoot him, but a moving target is harder to hit. Maddie was also a moving target, moving to disable the drow's shooting capability, but she had to worry about exploding arrows rather than a simple shot.
He targeted Chenna, and the halfling moved as soon as she could, seeing his shot. By the time the arrow was flying, she was rushing to the next tree over, taking cover behind that one rather than the tree that just got blown up.
But it gave Maddie the opening she needed. Or so she thought.
The unicorn reared up and the drow held on, dropping his bow on the ground. Maddie had to contend with two, and when unicorns decide to fight, they get nasty. At twelve hundred pounds at minimum, they also sported a two-foot-long pointy horn that could easily skewer a person who didn't wear heavy armor.
But then it hit her. Why were they-
She stopped and screamed at the top of her lungs: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAIITT!"
Everyone stopped. The mounted dwarf turned to see her. The unicorn got back on its feet and the drow looked at her, utterly bewildered from the looks of it. Chenna had popped out from her cover and Barendd was in the middle of reloading. Apparently his shot had gone wild and Hugh was further back, meaning he had run further into the forest to avoid the pony rider.
Maddie was mildly hyperventilating when she just asked everyone "Are we being stupid?" They all looked at one another. "I mean…" Then she saw Hugh further back. "Valence, get over here!"
Everybody calmed down. Hugh rushed up to Maddie's side, while the drow unicorn rider got his bow back. "Hugh, why did you shoot at him?" Maddie asked when Hugh came up to her.
"Well he, he, he's a drow. He's a dark elf," Hugh answered stammering.
"The man is riding a snow-white unicorn," Maddie explained, pointing at the horn, "he could have shot lethally at us with his bow, gave us ample time to take shelter, and you decided to shoot him on account that he's black?"
Hugh stared at her as if she had just swallowed an orange. "Well, drow are evil, aren't they? And there are evil unicorns, I've seen them."
"Were any of them white?"
"...No?"
"No worries," said the drow at last, "nobody was hurt and we can one day look back at this in fondness and laughter."
Hello. That was a far cry from the crowd she used to run with back in Menzoberranzan. Maddie had to pinch herself to see if- OW. Okay, that hurt, this is not a dream.
Wait…
"Are you… Drizzt?" She asked.
The drow with the purple eyes and scimitars at his side gave a brief salute in greetings. "Drizzt Do'Urden (4). I'd say at your service, but I am at someone else's at the moment." He gestured to his companion. "Mordin Dolval, blacksmith at Mithral."
"Aye, lads and lasses, ye really should know better than to shoot someone just because they're black," said a now grumpy Mordin astride his pony. He must have wanted some action or the other.
Maddie opted to shake hands with the famous hero. "Madivh Samasal. These are my juniors. They're on a field trip from Greenwood's Academy for survival training. I just… live out here for the moment."
Then a pillar of flame rose up above the trees further in from the forest and then exploded in spectacular fashion with a loud boom that they all could hear as if they were standing right next to the explosion. "That came from the camp!" cried Chenna.
"Calm down," said Maddie. "That was just a botched ritual. Master Brandybuck must have done something wrong with the Reinforce Campsite ritual."
"What?"
"It happened in my first year. Master Rincewind said he had gone through the whole thing in theory twice over and when we sat down to feel in the magic, boom. We were all covered in soot and Rincewind-"
Whoosh!
"Hang on, what was that?"Maddie asked as a strong gust suddenly kicked off.
"Did anyone else feel that?" asked Chenna as the wind kicked up again. And again. And again…
This wasn't the wind. It was something else. This was different from a blizzard or a storm. "What kind of wind is this?" asked Hugh.
"It's not," said Drizzt. "This could only mean-"
Then a shape flew right over them. An unmistakable shape of a massive quadrupedal beast with a pair of leathery wings and a long tail trailing behind. All covered in scales. It was just above the treetops as it passed over them.
"A dragon!?" cried Hugh.
"It's a dragon!"
"It's massive!" cried Chenna the tiny, tiny halfling.
Maddie could see it, too. She remembered her lessons well from the university on how you could identify a dragon, thanks to seeing them from a distance at times. There was once a dragon that lived close to the university, a copper one, who loved knowledge and didn't like people, so they kept their distance from that one. He had been about four to six hundred years old, judging by his scales' wear and tear, shine, and his own size.
This one seemed to be only a hundred years old, a juvenile by dragon standards. His scales shone in the remaining sunlight.
His crimson red scales.
"It's a red," she announced and the others got nervous.
"It's just a juvvie," said Mordin, "probably just looking for something to hunt."
Then the dragon turned in the sky. Turned towards them.
"Oh, it's hunting, alright," Maddie said as it began picking up speed in its descent. "It's hunting us!"
"Back to the camp!" Barendd cried and turned immediately back the way they originally came.
It didn't take long for them all to be heading into the forest as the dragon roared overhead.
Rincewind would always say it once a year to his students: It doesn't matter where you're running to, it matters what you're running from.
And as red dragons go, that's a pretty good quote.
This is why the six of them ran as if there was soon going to be a large wall of fire bearing down on them. Which was probably going to happen whenever a dragon began to breathe fire.
Maddie led the way, hauling her butt like an experienced runner and forest dweller, the others followed as best they could. Mordin and Drizzt were astride their mounts, neither of which had trouble traversing the root, rock, and fallen tree-infested path back to their camp. Hugh was panting hard already, the telltale sign of someone who avoided the jogging track with a passion. Barendd's panting was understandable as dwarves aren't known for sprinting. Chenna had little trouble with breathing, but she was small and every bump mattered.
The riders were on the flanks, taking their time to ensure everyone kept up and to keep an eye out for the dragon in case it bore down on them. "Where's it gone!?"
"Don't ask, just keep moving and don't stop!" Maddie shouted back. She could care less who asked.
The six of them rushed as fast as they could. Then the dragon was heard swooping overhead. "Oh crap, he's gonna spot the others!"
"We gotta get back to camp, then get the masters to put up some serious defense spells! After that, we can talk!" said Hugh.
Which was surprisingly a clever idea. But first, they had to get back to the others and let's just hope that-
Something landed right in front of them. Maddie put the brakes on first, then the others stopped after her. Maddie could tell it wasn't something from the forest. And then it rose up.
What stood before them could only be described as a monstrous giant. Giant as in a very tall bastard, but not an actual Giant. (5) Seven feet tall at minimum, and while yellow-skinned, a pair of great red horns protruded from its head, with its red hair flowing freely like the classical barbarians of old, decorated with beads of silver and gold. Its hands extended with sharp claws and it had a nose that was flat and highly placed, almost in between its eyes that were sunk deep in their orbits and long, pointed, and serrated ears.
Githyanki features. And then some. Maddie didn't recall anything like this in her interaction with the Imperium. It looked like a male.
But wait, that was not all.
It- He wore a jet-black breastplate, with a chainmail sleeved arming jacket underneath, and a pair of bracers on the wrists. He had a bandoleer across the front cuirass, with a scabbard on the back making up the rest of the bandoleer. It held a number of wands in place and a small array of other things. He also had a pair of goggles around the neck that had eagle-eyed-shaped lenses and features that made the wearer resemble an eagle looking for its prey. He had a sword in hand, long, straight, and single-edged that made Maddie think of a nodachi or a katana, but it lacked the features of any Japanese weapon, and it lacked the distinction of resembling a European sword. And it was too straight to look Middle-Eastern in design. On top of that, he had a pair of firearms slung over his shoulders, with a satchel containing the ammunition he needed for them.
But wait, that was still not all.
Maddie spotted markings on his forearms. Tattoos? Something was off about them, too. And he had two rings, one on each finger of different designs and emitting some serious magical energy.
This guy was here on business and dressed for intense fighting.
Maddie was tempted to use the Sight on him to see his deal, but she didn't think twice about thinking about what she would not like to see.
He pointed straight at her. "You."
Barendd reacted immediately. He had a crossbow loaded and ready to shoot, so he made a straight shot at this new enemy. From his perspective, it must have looked badass.
From Maddie's perspective, the bolt hit the breastplate and bounced off with a 'ting!' noise. This new enemy looked down at his plate and then looked straight at the dwarf.
"Really?
"Bad call," Maddie said softly. Then many things happened at once.
As the big one stepped forward, Drizzt rushed forward, and as sprinters go, he was faster than anyone Maddie had ever seen. His scimitars were out and he got in the big guy's way. Maddie saw a whirl of blades from the two. The big guy wasn't as fast, but his own size belied his own agility with a sword, easily the hallmark of a master. He lacked the precision of Setsuna or the speed of Kaede, but he had the brute force of Ku Fei and Asuna combined. He parried both of Drizzt's swords at critical moments, letting his plate armor take most of the blows.
"Go, go go go go!" Maddie screamed at her students, making them rush around the two. Chenna got picked up by Hugh and she hurled profanities at him and yelled to be put down.
Apparently, she didn't like being picked up.
Mordin dismounted and got his crossbow from his back. Maddie got her own staff out because her bow wasn't going to cut it. The big guy saw them both and simply grabbed the drow's wrist and tossed him aside like he was a rag doll.
Okay, this guy was strong. Then he rushed at them both.
Maddie had the melee weapon so she got upfront before him. What the hell are you thinking, she told herself. The guy was bigger, probably faster, and much stronger. And here you are, without your best toolkit. All you got is a stick! What can you do with a stick?!
Efromm had once come at her with a greatsword in school while Nodoka had just a quarterstaff. A specific counterattack against bladed opponents, she was told. The key was the timing and the angle.
The big guy loomed over her and swung his sword, probably to cut her staff in half, because it was common usage to block a strike with the staff. But at his strength, the staff would be cut in half, and probably her with it. That's a no-go.
Everything happened in slow motion for a moment. Maddie could see his angle and adjusted mid-strike. Something Efromm said, during their practice.
"When going up against an armed opponent, don't target them. You target their weapon."
Maddie swung her top against the flat of the sword as hard as she could. The sword went to the side, and the guy's face was that of someone who hadn't expected that. Maddie spared a glance downward. The guy had… no protection for the feet save his boots? She jabbed down as fast as she could on his foot.
The guy yelped and hopped up on his one unhurt foot, making him off balance. And then Maddie pressed her advantage. When you're off-balance, it doesn't matter how big you are, you can be pushed like anyone else.
Maddie pushed at him with her staff, using her momentum to get him moving as she wanted him. He had to move with her to not be knocked over, and he didn't see her goal until it was too late: A big tree trunk laying flat on the ground, with a little gully on the other side. Maddie spotted that early on when she first arrived in the forest. Good thing that little tidbit of knowledge came in handy now.
He toppled over and fell down the gully head first, rolling on the slope and landing roughly on his belly. He groaned in unexpected pain.
That, she told herself. I can do that with a stick.
"Nice one, lass!" Mordin complimented her. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
"In school," Maddie answered, "now come on!"
Drizzt had come to his feet and had rushed as fast as he could over to them. The students had come a bit further forward. They were in sight of the camp, at least. Seems masters Romavax and Brandybuck had rallied the students together and made shields around the cottage and the tower.
Then a big form came in over their own group and landed right on Maddie. "AHH!"
"Maddie!" Chenna cried.
"Just go!" Maddie ordered at them. The students obeyed, but the adventurers stayed.
The big guy had gotten back on his feet, using his leg muscles to get up amidst the trees between them and then jumping between to get the drop on them again. This guy did not skip leg day.
"None of that," he said and threw away her staff. Drizzt came at him again, but he was going to have that nonsense again, apparently. He raised his right ring at the drow and spoke "Jaculetur."
Maddie knew what the classical Magic Missile looked like. A concentrated bolt of silver glowing energy surged out of the ring and hit Drizzt straight in the chest. Those things do not miss under any circumstances.
Mordin had his crossbow out and he shot at him. At that distance, he couldn't have used her as a shield. He didn't need to. The shot bounced off the cuirass just like the last one. "I have no issue with you."
"Then ye should take your leave and not trouble us again!" Mordin snapped back.
"And I will. I just need to take this one with me."
Maddie's blood froze.
This guy was no doubt working under orders. And if he was githyanki, with draconic features, specifically red dragon features… there was only one person who could send this guy.
After ten years, the Big Fight was finally in front of her. And Maddie was nowhere near ready. And she certainly wasn't willing to meet Her.
"Ye're gonna have to go without her, I'm afraid," Mordin replied. "Ye ain't taking anyone with ye, not now, not ever."
"I wasn't asking."
"Sorry, but you're not my type," said Maddie and sent a flare of raw magic right up in the guy's face. He yelled in pain and fury, letting her get more freedom to move.
Thank you Quenthel, for all those lessons on how to handle assassins and ruffians.
Maddie swirled on the ground, facing him directly. She delivered a punch to his jaw and YOWCH, that hurt! At least he recoiled back. She got her knife out (never leave home without it) and cut at the satchel strap containing his gunpowder stuff. Then at a strap holding one of his guns. Both were distractions from what she was really doing.
Gromph had told her the importance of whispering when casting spells. The gestures are unavoidable, but if you could, then whisper the words. It made no difference to the Weave. You say the words and do the gestures, and the magic will respond. And Maddie spent every day practicing her spells.
A small ball of concentrated acid hovered above her free hand. He focused on her at the perfect opportunity. "You really shouldn't have-"
Then she shoved the acid ball into his eye.
The scream of agony was deafening. And it gave Mordin the window he needed. He bull-rushed the big guy, knocking him clean off Maddie. The gith didn't pay him any heed, clutching his eye in pain instead. Maddie got back up on her feet, grabbed the satchel and the gun she cut loose and the two of them ran for the camp. Drizzt came after, shortly.
The three of them made it to the camp. Barendd, Hugh, and Chenna had made it to the other students and all three masters were present. Rincewind must have seen the dragon as well and rushed his foraging students back to camp. They probably haven't had any problems as Maddie had.
"Drizzt," Rincewind called out, and the two clasped hands. "I didn't know you were here."
"Long story, master Rincewind," Drizzt said with respect for the old mage, "but now is not the time. We have two assailants, not one."
"There's another dragon?" He asked.
"No, it's-" Maddie interrupted but struggled to find the words. "The dragon had a rider on its back. We met him on the way back. Big fellow."
"Ugly, too," Chenna added in, prepping a stone in her sling. Most of the students huddled in fear, but a few who seemed to have prepared a few combat spells stood ready.
"Really had it in for the lass," Mordin said.
"Two assailants…" Rincewind muttered and counted on his fingers. "I can't teleport all of us out of here."
"Can we reach the teleport circle?" asked one of the elven students. But Brandybuck shook his head.
"Too far. That dragon sees us, he's gonna cut us off. We need an exit strategy now."
"Can't reach the circle, can't make a stand here…" Romavax pointed out. "Do we have any way out of here?"
And then it clicked in Maddie's memory. "Wait, I got something!"
That was when the dragon appeared again. It crashed in between the trees and a good thirty feet away from them, well within its lethal fire breath.
"GIVE US THE GIRL OR I INCINERATE YOU ALL, MEATBAGS!"
"Holy crap!" Someone yelled.
"ACK!" Maddie agreed. Then Heebie appeared. Maddie's little honey badger familiar didn't like the cold nor did he flee from a fight. Neither did he disobey his master's orders.
"Heebie, what are you doing?" She hissed at him.
Heebie made a noise at her that sounded friendly and then shuffled along the ground to remain undetected.
Rincewind stepped forth against the dragon. "You think I'm so cruel as to give up one of my favorite students?" He pulled out a… crossbow? He had a crossbow the size of a pistol in his hand, loaded and ready to shoot. He also took out one of his glass grenades. Maddie had never seen his grenades in action, many thanks to nothing serious happening. "I think you should leave," he told the dragon.
Rincewind. Just told. A Red Dragon. To leave.
The dragon was not as impressed. It inhaled and let loose its fire. Rincewind raised a hand in response.
The gust of fire slammed into an invisible barrier that enclosed the fire on itself, a half-dome formed to turn the fire away from the students and the trees. The fire licked at the edges, but never went past. The shield was shaped too much for the fire to just go around.
The more impressive part was that there was no heat emission. No heat traveling through the shield to melt flesh or sear someone's bones to the point they'd explode. It was a shield of sheer force meant to halt anything and everything in its tracks.
And Rincewind had done it with one hand.
"Maddie! That escape route, if you please!" He shouted and Maddie sprung as fast as she could back into her cottage. She remembered exactly where she had left her iron key wand.
The fire ended its streak and the dragon was less than happy with the effect it had. Rincewind merely dismissed his shield, pressed the lid of his grenade, and flung it at the beast.
Now Maddie had seen flashbangs before. She had managed to replicate one herself to deal with pesky rivals who tried to kill her. But they were drow students, short-sighted fools who figured they'd make a name for themselves. Maddie had to talk down her bodyguards and the soldiers into not doing anything, letting her handle it instead. And her flashbangs were weak. A bright flash and a loud bang, along with smoke to make it clear they messed with the wrong girl.
Rincewind's flashbang lit up like the sun, blinding everyone save him, apparently. And it was loud. Deafening, in fact. It sounded like what you got when you combined the ringing sounds you get when you have tinnitus, the rumbling of a stampede of thousands of cattle, and a T-rex's roar of either it putting on a threat display, a claim of dominance over a territory, or a mating call. All of that at once. And the dragon was right in the center of that rumble. The old wizard stood there undeterred while everyone else clutched their ears.
Guess Rincewind didn't get to where he was by stamping his daily membership card, either.
Maddie held on to her key for what it was worth. She had to get outside too, so everyone could get to where she intended.
Good thing she made friends with a Genie.
The sound ended and the dragon was heard screaming in agony. Probably over the sound, too. And where was Heebie in all this? He wasn't planning on flanking the dragon, was he? How could a honey badger even hurt a dragon of that size?
"Arrgh!" The dragon snarled. "You should not have done that, insect."
"You face four arcane users, beast," Rincewind stated. "Three of us are Masters of Greenwood's Academy, I'm certain you know of it, and we have two additional warriors that have felled things bigger than you. What you should not have done is attack us."
An exaggerated bluff, Maddie thought. In truth, the only one with any experience against dragons was Drizzt and he had the excuse of being with his usual companions. Rincewind had made it a point of never going up against a dragon since he would surely lose that fight. Brandybuck was no combat wizard, though a savant at alchemy. And she didn't know about Master Romavax to know what she could do.
Maddie had had run-ins with dragons and every time she had run like hell herself. And even if this was a juvenile, it was still a dragon large enough to happily bite a horse in half, gulp three oxen and still have room for dessert. No thanks.
"Ha," The dragon chuckled. "You should know better than to bluff against your superiors. I have laid low armies in my wake. I have brought down fortresses of stone and iron. No blade can pierce my scale. No gun can puncture my hide. Your magics, as you call them, were first honed by my kin before you vermin ever learned to walk this earth."
And long since before you were born, as well," Rincewind countered. "You are not a practitioner yourself and you are alone."
"That's where you're wrong."
As if on cue, a boulder came flying out of nowhere, heading straight for the elder wizard. Rincewind grimaced and a suit of glowing plate armor, formed from pure force energy, covered his whole body. The boulder slammed into him as if he'd been hit by a steam train and he collapsed to the side. But he wasn't dead. In pain, surely, but not dead.
The big gith warrior came forth and he had his sword drawn. He looked absolutely pissed. And the upper right side of his face was a mess of burned flesh and molten eyeball. How he was ignoring the pain was anyone's guess. And Maddie was guessing it was pure rage. People used to talk about how barbarians could channel their fury into some kind of active physical enhancement magic. Was that how-
No, focus. Make a way out of here, now.
"I asked nicely," the gith said. "We asked nicely. But some people just don't care to listen." He was snarling and gnashing his teeth. His right eye twitched. Ugh, that was an ugly sight.
"Keep him off me!" Maddie shouted and started doing her circle in the air. And then hell broke loose in a very concentrated and short fashion.
Romavax's metal dog rushed the big warrior, with its master behind, brandishing her war hammer. Brandybuck had a pair of vials in hand. Most of the novices threw themselves behind the main battleline, watching their Masters get to work. Drizzt and Mordin joined the dog.
The dog was swatted aside like a ball, almost hitting Drizzt if he hadn't dodged at the last instant. The dog crashed hard against a tree to the point no one could tell if the dog or the tree was worse off from the impact. Mordin swung his ax as hard as he could at the warrior. But he caught Mordin by the wrist and pulled the dwarf in closer for his punch. Apparently, he was still not going to kill anyone unless he had to.
Drizzt was faster than before, his two scimitars appearing as light fixtures in the air. And his footwork was incredible. He moved as if he was dancing, twirling and spinning as he struck at the warrior. He was noted for aiming more for the head and the legs than last time.
When he could, the enemy blocked the strikes with his arms, torso, and sword. His own footwork wasn't as fast, but it was solid and considerate of its positioning. He was on the defensive, but Drizzt kept it up. There was a realization that if Drizzt let up or got tired, he was done for. The others could not get close.
Then Romavax's hammer flew straight at the two and Drizzt had to let up his offense to dodge. The enemy dodged as well. Romavax had thrown her weapon and it had missed.
But it was an opening for Brandybuck's vials. Which made roots spring up from the ground and ensnare the gith warrior. Drizzt managed to evade them by jumping back. Mordin got pushed away by the growing roots.
Meanwhile, Rincewind had been in a standoff with the dragon. It snarled and lashed out with its claws at the old wizard, but the wizard's shields proved too good, apparently. Also, Rincewind was doing something interesting.
He had unleashed a pair of ogre zombies. Ogre. Zombies. Maddie didn't even know they were a thing. And where did he even get them? Last she checked, you needed corpses to create zombies? Did he-
All of a sudden, she felt Heebie's presence in her mind. He was underneath the dragon and bit down on something soft. The dragon yelped (the first time ever she'd heard a dragon yelp in pain), bucked its hips upwards, and swung the hindlegs from side to side. Maddie spared a glance to see Heebie with his teeth sunk into-
…
Oh. That. (6)
"Nearly there!" Maddie shouted. Her circle was ready and she was about to put her key in the middle and then turn it when the unbearable happened.
The dragon used its rear leg to get Heebie off its unmentionables and then, once it had sight of the little critter, stomped down on him, crushing Heebie.
Maddie screamed in agony and collapsed, clutching her head.
"Maddie!" One of the novices, the fair-haired of the elven girls, rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"
"No!" Maddie shouted back at her. "But I'll live." Her brain felt like it was on fire. Nearly every nerve she had was telling her to lie down and don't move. But she didn't listen. If she listened, they were all dead, and she'd be carted off to face the Lich Queen.
Yeah, no. That is not happening.
She rose up to the best of her ability. The circle was still there, thank goodness. Maddie put the key where it should be and then turned the key.
The air cracked and shattered in front of her. It ruptured up and revealed a white sandy beach in the sun by the sea. The smell of saltwater flooded her nostrils.
"Okay, we have an exit!" She shouted. "Novices, you first!"
"And you?" The elf next to her asked.
"The portal will close when I go through, so you first," Maddie insisted.
The girl let out a curse in Elven and then turned to the gith warrior. "Hey, you," she said, getting the big guy's attention. Then she clasped her hands and said a word. The result was a bright purple beam emitting from her head and connected with the enemy's.
The gith reeled back, holding his head in one hand, screaming in pain. The elf girl gave off a smirk, then rushed through the portal.
Huh. They have been teaching them new tricks at the university.
Hugh loosed an arrow at the big guy, making him flinch. Chenna threw a rock. She missed, but she didn't try a second shot and ran through the portal, too.
The rest of the novices ran through, some of them trying something on the enemy beforehand. Romavax, with her war hammer back in hand and a sweaty brow, carried Brandybuck through. Mordin had come to, and stood by the portal, holding his crossbow in hand. Somehow. "Drizzt, come on!" he shouted to the drow hero.
The big guy got his arm free and tore off the roots with his bare hands, and breathing fire. Okay, he could breathe fire now. That was a thing he could do. That was unpleasant to know.
"Here, lass, take this." Mordin handed the big cloth-wrapped bundle to Maddie, while Drizzt shot arrows at the dragon, covering Rincewind's retreat. Maddie had to hand over the musket to her old teacher as he jogged past. Then Drizzt came through the portal as well.
"What?" Maddie asked holding the thing. "What am I supposed to use this for?"
"Round two." Then he kicked Maddie through the portal, staying behind.
"NO!" The big warrior yelled in rage as the portal closed behind her. He looked to be on the verge of sheer mental meltdown. Mordin could not help but admit a smirk underneath his beard.
"Ye lose, halfbreed."
The look on his face alone was worth his oncoming death.
Maddie just lay there on the beach, holding the bundle. She lost track of how long it took.
And then the searing headache from Heebie's death came roaring back. She clutched her head and groaned loudly. And…
Again.
It happened again.
Nodoka had lost people before. She's lost friends before. And now, someone she hadn't known before, someone who once had a life of their own, friends and family of their own… had just given up his life.
To protect her.
And just like last time, she couldn't stop it.
And Heebie. Heebie had been a good friend to her over the years. A bit greedy with dried jerky, but a good listener to her troubles over the years and he had been her primary shield during the few bouts of combat she'd been in since coming to Menzoberranzan. The little honey badger didn't give a damn what he was up against and he absolutely loved her.
And now he was dead, too. Three years together and he gets done in by his own reckless behavior in battle and a lack of fear in front of a dragon.
…of course, as far as deaths go, getting killed by a dragon isn't a bad one. But it's still a death. And Ma- Nodoka hated that.
She rose up on her feet. They were on a white sandy beach flanked by cliffs, the open ocean slapping its waves on the shoreline and against the rocks of the cliffs. Behind her was a small forest, filled with palm trees and other trees which had fruit growing on them. The rest was a verdant grassland that reminded her of the islands in the Caribbean. Or Okinawa. Her mother once took her to Okinawa back in elementary. That was a fun trip.
A large mountain jutted upward in the far distance, probably the center of the island. And quite likely a volcano.
This was what she had gained from Marina's magic? Holy hell, this was almost paradise. But Nodoka could barely focus on that.
The students had gathered together and the teachers were doing a roll call. Drizzt walked up to her and offered a hand. Nodoka took it.
"Are you well?" He asked.
"No," she answered curtly. "I got a splitting headache and I am no doubt covered in bruises." To prove that point, her stomach groaned with pain rather than hunger and she almost keeled over, if not for him. "Ow."
"You'll live, I think," Drizzt reassured her.
"Yeah. But do you think Mordin will live?" She asked. And he said nothing. Nodoka stroked her forehead. The headache was killing her.
The two of them joined the rest of the group on the beach and Brandybuck took charge. Everyone had lost their tents so they'd have to find some shelter on the island. Nodoka made the assumption that this was an island, she didn't have much to go on.
But there were also heated arguments.
"I say we get back there, and show those guys what for."
"There's only two of them."
"One a powerful warrior, the other a dragon," said Rincewind. "I am not risking my students' lives for some glory. There's no glory in fighting a dragon in vain."
"Master, surely you have slain dozens of dragons," argued one of the students, one of the two elven boys.
"I have done no such thing. In fact, I've prided my career on staying away from dragons for as long as possible," Rincewind countered. "And you shouldn't fight it, either."
Back in school, someone had made the suggestion of getting close to that brass dragon, only for Rincewind to shut it down. He didn't want his students anywhere near that one. And brass dragons were nice. Reds were a completely different story. Nodoka certainly had enough run-ins with dragons to know that getting close was a bad idea.
That same elf girl who had zapped that gith warrior stepped forward. "Master, we get it. But this isn't about glory, nor pride. This is about-"
"About what?" Nodoka stepped into the argument. They looked at her. "You're talking about going up to a red dragon for a rematch. How is that not pride? And it's glorious to have killed a dragon, maybe, but the hard part is trying to kill it."
"Maddie, you saw those two. You saw what we could all do if we pooled together."
"I did. And I also saw that while we didn't get our asses kicked back there, we didn't exactly kick their asses in turn. They tanked everything we threw at them. Drizzt here was no match for just one of them – no offense," she quickly offered to the drow.
"None taken."
"And Master Rincewind may have held his ground, but he wasn't gaining ground against the dragon, either. We had three fighters on one and the other side was winning. Even if we did go back there, you're a group of novices going up against someone who's most likely a seasoned veteran of fighting wizards. No. We're not going back out there."
"They killed one of us."
"Who until recently, tried to kill us because we shot first. And they didn't kill one, they killed two."
She paused to let it sink in. Heebie was dead.
"All the more reason to-"
"The only winning move here is to not play," Nodoka interrupted harshly. "We're staying put until they go away and then we're heading back to the university. Field trip's canceled. And I'm not letting any of you out until it's safe."
"This is-"
"Not up for debate," she decided. "We're staying put, end of discussion."
Then she walked inland, needing privacy to get away from the noises aggravating her headache.
There were no birds. No wildlife. Just trees, bushes, and grass one could find on Okinawa or the Caribbean. But no wildlife. Nodoka found that quite odd. Perhaps the spell Marina-san replicated through her magic didn't take regular life into account. Probably meant she'd have to get some animals in here to live off the land and to bring in some variety.
But that was a worry for another time.
Nodoka kept going inland, heading for the volcano. The mountain seemed like a place to go, at least. It was better than the beach. Away from all the noise.
Away from the people no doubt angry with her for refusing to…
She found herself by the side of a clear water pond with a small waterfall. The freshwater smell was soothing and refreshing. And with no wildlife, that meant no predators to ambush her if she stopped for a drink. But a drink was far from her mind right now. Instead… she peered down at her own reflection.
"What the hell are you doing?" She asked it.
"Yes, I am addressing you, Nodoka Miyazaki. It is you I am talking to. Here we are, lost in space, untold light-years away from home. You had it all back then. Friends, family, love, no more money than you actually needed, holidays where you could go see your mother. You had everything you needed and wanted in life, right then and there.
"Now? You're stuck in a war you didn't want to be part of in any way, you're trapped in a dimension where everyone probably hates you and you don't have any of your friends to protect you and you don't have any of the tools you regularly use to get results."
Nodoka slumped down on the ground, nearly exhausted by her tirade. And then she sighed long.
"Where did it all go so wrong?"
"I think it went wrong when you left your home," a new voice cut in. Nodoka whirled about. There was Rincewind, smiling gently at her. It was only now she could see his state. His clothes were all ruffled, patches of dirt and soot everywhere. His beard looked a little singed and he was holding that musket rifle she had taken from that enemy.
"Master Rincewind." Her tone was terse but respectful. Always show respect to your teachers, her mother had drilled her.
"Been one of those days, hasn't it?"
"You could say that again," she replied. He moved to sit next to her, and she didn't object.
"It's occurred to me… that you haven't aged a single day since you first enrolled at Greenwood's," he said after a moment of silence.
She didn't answer. She had to keep it quiet. She promised.
"Come on, girl. It's just the two of us. No one else around. And you know me."
He was right. She would have noticed if anyone else was around. She sighed again. "I was given a peach shortly after my lessons started. Fashtar said it would keep me young."
"Ahhh, a Peach of Longevity," he concluded. "Heard of them. Keeps you eternally young, halts your aging."
"And keeps you perpetually in your puberty, if eaten at the wrong time," she remarked and he chuckled. "I guess I got lucky there."
"Quite," he quipped. They were silent for a moment there, too. "It's also occurred to me," he said, "that you have either grown remarkable powerful to have made this demiplane… or you got incredibly-"
"Yes, I got lucky." She took a deep breath. "I got lost in the Underdark, I found a nice sword, killed a vampire, took his castle from him, found a genie in a lamp. End of story."
His eyebrows rose. "I… didn't expect that."
She smirked.
They sat in silence some more. Then he said, "I approve of what you said back there, by the way. About not going back." She didn't say anything, so he continued. "They're students, so they should not go up against a dragon. But that's not why you don't want to go back out there again, is it?"
Nodoka put her head against her knees. "No," she mumbled.
"Ahhh, I see."
"Do you, Master?" She asked. She looked at him and saw his face full of… confusion. "Do you really see?"
"Clarify."
"Ever had people look to you for decisions, ever had them ask you what should be done and when you actually try to do something, they're taken away from you?" She got up on her feet and paced about on the lakeside. Rincewind didn't say anything, he just watched her. She took as her cue to continue. "I just… I mean… I have lost people before, people who trusted me to keep them safe, to keep them… and it's just…"
"Just… what?" He asked.
Ah, to hell with it.
"Shit," she declared. Then she continued. "Shit, shit shit shit shit shit shit shit, shit."
"Yes," Rincewind agreed. "Defecation falls trippingly from the mouth."
"Because I'm angry!" Her tone was a bit louder than expected.
"Do you know anything else?"
"F-...fornication?"
"Oh, Maddie."
"Fuck," she said. And then she cut loose. "Fuck! Fuck, fuck fuck fuck, fuck and bugger! Bugger, bugger, Buggerty, buggerty, buggerty, fuck, fuck, arse! Balls, balls, fuck, shit, and willy! Willy, and shit, and fuck, and… tits."
She stopped to catch her breath. And felt she couldn't continue with that rant.
"There you go. Feel better?"
Maddie stopped for a moment and then… "Yeah. Yeah, I feel better." Then she sat down again. "Not much better, but…"
"Can't say I blame you," Rincewind replied. "And yes, I know what it is like. I'm old, Madivh Samasal. You're not the first to have lost people in war. And you won't be the last. You just hate that feeling."
"Yeah. I hate that feeling. But I don't know how to feel about this." She clutched her head.
"It's the link you had with him," Rincewind said.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"Your familiar. You two had an empathic link with each other. Him popping in and out of the Material plane is something they do, but when you share a plane of existence, you two are acutely aware of each other."
"But you could in theory hide it? Because I didn't feel his presence until he decided to bite the dragon."
"Seems that theory is sound. At any rate, what you're feeling right now is the psychic backlash. It's part of why so many wizards these days just use a spell to summon a familiar rather than just have the one all the time," he said.
Nodoka grunted. Another thing Fashtar kept quiet about, apparently. "How long until-"
"A year and a day," he answered immediately.
"What?!"
"That's how long you'll have to go without getting another familiar. The Weave has a few safety measures that disallow certain magics at a time. If you attempted it again within that time and you lose them again, the backlash could fry your brain. So you're not going to get another familiar for a year and a day."
"And the headache?"
"Give it a day and drink water."
"Phew, had me worried there."
Knowing that the headache wouldn't be around for a year and a day was good to know. Knowing she couldn't get another familiar wasn't so good. But at least she knew why.
Rincewind sighed. "I think… I get why you don't want to go back there as the others suggested."
"Do you?"
"Yes. You may have been a gentle and compassionate student, Nodoka, but you were also raring to go on the field trips, and I've seen you in combat spars with ms. Efromm."
Nodoka blushed and looked away. Truth be told, she-
Wait.
Stop.
She turned back to him, and he looked confused. "What?"
"You said my name," she whispered, almost horrified.
"Oh, yes." He tutted and looked out over the water. "That ritual was cast by your master, no?"
"Along with several colleagues and their apprentices to help amplify it, yes."
"Well, it worked. But it couldn't reach everyone. I got hit, and so did every teacher at Greenwood's. But you know who doesn't teach classes at the university?"
"The Headmaster of the university, sure."
"And the head librarian. Remember Balthazar?"
"How could I forget him?"
"They were safe behind Olga's private sanctum from the weave wave that was sent throughout the world. It worked wonders. But I'm quite certain that a number of mages out there who have such protection wouldn't be affected. If they were, I'm positive they would know about it, and probably not care about the change. It was effective and efficient, but it was not omnipotent."
Meaning that so long as she introduced herself not by her real name, she'd be safe. But anyone actually digging deeper might find the truth. "Great. I take it the Headmaster restored your memory about me?"
"She did. And we're keeping it to just me, Balthazar, and her. Don't want anyone else snooping out where you really come from."
Now Nodoka jumped up and took a few steps back. "Don't bother, girl. I've known you since your second year."
"How-?"
"Remember the old stallion?" She nodded. "I took him for walkies every tenday or so. He told me."
Nodoka blinked. "He… told… you."
"He did. He was always a bright one. Kept an eye on everyone who visited the stables. Noticed you right away. But in your second year, after Miracle stumbled you over, he could properly See you. After that, he told me and Olga."
"And, after that?"
"Fashtar told us the rest afterward."
Now Nodoka's eyebrows shot upwards. "Wait. Fashtar? He told you?"
"Nothing makes someone spill the beans quicker than four archmages and twelve hundred pounds of angry unicorn with two feet of pointy ivory," Rincewind noted with pride.
"What the-? I'd have noticed that."
"Not in the Headmaster's office," He said smugly.
She blinked. "That time I was in her office… that was just a ploy to get Fashtar alone?"
"You two did spend a good amount of time together. We weren't certain you would either stand aside willingly or join him. And he wasn't the most reputable good person, to begin with," he defended.
Nodoka sighed. "You could have just asked." He shrugged as if to concede the point. "So how much do you know about me?"
"Practically everything," Rincewind answered. "Your circumstances were extraordinary and quite tragic. So much happening to one young girl so far from home."
Nodoka took some comfort in that it was Rincewind who knew, as well as Balthazar and Headmaster Stormwind. "Honestly, Sensei," she said that word, in particular, to make it clear she trusted him, "if you wanted to put the screws on Fashtar for what he's done to me, I'd have been right there with you, handing you the instruments you asked for."
It began as a quiet chuckle. Then they both chuckled. The chuckle evolved into roaring laughter as the two friends thought about the things they could have done to that eye-patched bastard.
(Somewhere else in Faerûn, Fashtar sneezed.)
The laughter eventually quieted down. And then Nodoka stood up again and took something out of her robes.
"What is that?" Rincewind asked.
"The castle I mentioned earlier," she answered. She looked for a decent place and found a grassy field next to the pond. She placed it down and then spoke, "Kumamoto-jo."
As before, the magic of the castle made it shift, but this time, the castle grew in size. It grew before her, reaching its full size in approximately one minute before settling itself down with a great thump.
Nodoka placed her hand on the gate and it opened without trouble. Then she turned to Rincewind.
"Come on in," she told him. She could hear the others come their way fast.
"Really? We can?"
"As long as you are here, I am your host and you are my guests. I have to ensure you are all fed and have a place to stay for the night. After today, it's the least I should do."
That Cabinet of Feasting wasn't halfway done.
Nodoka and the teachers had really cooked up a storm for their hungry novices. Some of them were less than thrilled to see her given their last altercation, but food was food and these novices were at least willing to ignore the fact they'd been denied a chance for revenge in exchange for a hot meal.
And then, while they were off fighting each other over which bunks to use in the various wings of the castle, Nodoka, Drizzt and the teachers discussed matters in the library. A library which the bookworm hadn't ciphered through yet, but hoped to, one day.
Romavax set up lights in a triangle to reveal a hologram of their adversary who had attacked them today.
"Look at the size of him," said Brandybuck.
"Look at his exotic nature," corrected Rincewind.
"He looks githyanki as a baseline," Nodoka noted, "but with key differences. Note the red horns and the frill that goes up in between."
"Look at his hands," said Drizzt, pointing at those. "Those are not the claws of a githyanki."
"Nor his knuckles. They're covered in scales."
"Red scales, to be more precise," Brandybuck pointed out. "And that's just his physical traits."
"Indeed. Adamantine is hard to come by, and therefore expensive," Drizzt noted.
"Ignoring the costs of his equipment and turning to his aide…" Romavax spoke. "I can't think of any who could secure the allegiance of a red dragon just like that."
"I can." They turned to Nodoka, who stood up and circled the hologram. "One could look at this person and think he's a mercenary. The gear adds up, the sword, the armor, the equipment he has. Then you see his physical traits and wonder. There are only so few gith factions out there; the pirates, who roam the Astral Seas in search of quarry and loot to sell, the githzerai, who are more aligned with keeping to themselves and meditating among the stars. Plus, they're all in Limbo. (7) Then you have the two githyanki factions: The Imperials and the Royalists."
"The githyanki split into two?" Brandybuck asked.
"Yes. Efromm and Fashtar were Imperials. They broke off from the Royalists to forge their own path. Royalists weren't fond of that. But from what I understand, the Imperium doesn't have this kind of breed with them, and they have no dragons to count on. So… that leaves this one as a Royalist. He is too aggressive to be of the 'zerai, and the pirates don't like raiding the Material Plane. Too risky for counterattacks."
"What is the key piece of the puzzle, here?" asked Drizzt. "He may be of the Royal faction, but that does not reveal who sent him here after us."
"Not 'us'," Nodoka corrected. "Me. 'Give us the girl or I incinerate you all', said the dragon. And that is one of two pieces to the puzzle. 'Give us the girl'. That implies they are acting on orders."
"Bounty hunters?"
"A dragon as a bounty hunter?" Rincewind pointed out.
"So what we have is a red dragon that is acting on orders, and those orders are to capture Madivh," said Romavax. "So who is this person who could order a red dragon, to begin with?"
"Reds don't answer to just anyone. Not without commands straight from Tiamat," Drizzt pointed out. "I know little of the way of the gods, but that does seem to be the case with the dragons."
"Another piece," Nodoka muttered. "Then… it was the Royalists. I learned a bit of history from Fashtar and Efromm about the Pronouncement of Two Skies (8) and then the split between the Royalists and the Imperials. Because when the second split occurred, no dragon sided with the Imperials, siding with the Royals instead."
"Meaning?" Brandybuck asked.
"It means, that this person," she gestured to the hologram, "is an acting agent of Vlaakith, the Lich Queen of the githyanki Royalists."
"A lich!?" Romavax proclaimed. "Welp, that's it. I'm bowing out of this one. No one said anything about liches involved."
"Vlaakith is not here, Master," Nodoka stated. "She sent the agent, she isn't here directly. If she were, we'd be sitting ducks right now."
"...in that case, never mind."
"Vlaakith…" Rincewind muttered. Then with a hand gesture, he altered the hologram to resemble the Lich-Queen, as best he could.
Nodoka had never really seen her in person, nor was she in a hurry, but the image sufficed enough.
"What did you do to earn her ire so badly?" Rincewind asked.
"I exist. Apparently, that's enough."
Silence fell and Romavax dismissed the hologram. "This… is not going to stop here."
Nodoka shook her head. "If I were to go now, I'd be safe. But for how long? A dragon is easy to find and avoid if you know what you're doing, but I'd be looking behind my back for a long time."
"What's more, they won't stop at anything to cease their hunt of you," Drizzt proclaimed. "I have seen such tactics before. If they know your character or anticipate what you would do, there's no telling how many could be at risk just because you escaped their clutches."
"So, I have two hunters on me, sent by the worst enemy possible, I'm cut off from the rest of my original team that I could rely on to hell and back, none of my assigned bodyguards are with me, and we have a pack of novices itching for payback.
"And then there's this." She gestured to the white cloth bundle on her lap. In all the confusion, Nodoka had held on to it for so long. It was the only thing left of their fallen ally, Mordin.
Who by now had surely died at the hands of those two. "Mordin gave it to me before pushing me through the portal. Said… he simply said 'Round two' when I asked him what it was for."
Drizzt sighed and leaned forward. "That is… what we came out here for," he explained. "Mordin forged that not too long ago, guided by visions. He wouldn't say, but asked me to keep him safe while he made it. And then… he wanted to go out and find the person he was making it for." (9)
Nodoka started unwrapping the bundle to see what it was. What she found was a sword. Not the most common dwarf weapon out there. And this was too long to be a sword for a dwarf. She pulled it out a bit to see the gleaming black metal shining back at her.
"This… is adamantine," she stated. "You had an adamantine sword and you didn't use it?"
"There was no time," he defended himself. "And it takes time to adjust to a new weapon."
He got her there. Nodoka drew it out fully.
It was beautiful. And heavy. The blade was inlaid with gold along the fuller, the edge itself was spartan and sharp. The crossguard curved upwards, like a crescent moon and the pommel resembled feather wings fanning out. She could spot, if she focused hard enough, the sacred symbol of Moradin, the chief dwarf god, hidden between the wings. The handle itself was wood, a wonderful shade of brown, smooth texture to the touch yet at the same time, sturdy enough so one would not lose its grip. The sword's length was suitable for a person of her stature and any man would be proud to have such a weapon.
But there was more. She could hear something. She pressed her ear to the blade. A subtle hum that made the blade sing with magic. She didn't know what it was, but it was potent.
She put the sword back in its sheath. "Well, since Mordin gave it to me… I might as well use it for the time being. At least until after we're done here."
"I suspect he would have preferred that," said Drizzt with a soft smile.
Welp, running wasn't an option now. Deep end it would be.
"Great but if I am going to do this… I'm going to need more than a new sword and a pocket full of spells."
"This castle should have an armory or something, no?" Brandybuck asked. "Castles always have armories. It's part of what makes them castles."
Nodoka blinked. "Well… there is the vault."
Sometime later down in the vault, the teachers were briefly astounded by the apprentice's newfound wealth, and then they found the true wealth of the castle.
"And this contains five of them?"
"Four, for the time being," Nodoka explained as they viewed the lamp. "I think it's self-explanatory as to why there is one less in there."
"Indeed," said Romavax. "I may not be able to use the power of wizards myself, but perhaps we could-"
"I'd rather not," Nodoka interrupted. "Wishes are the most powerful spells out there, but they are just as dangerous. The wrong word said, the wrong intent made public, and everything goes wrong. It's too dangerous to use in battle."
"Directly, that is," Rincewind interceded. "A wish can be used in any way, but there are many uses for it. Remember Prestidigitation?"
"I still have it always prepared, Master."
"Wish has a broader spectrum of uses, and as you said, it has many dangers to it, but only if you use it directly. To use it to help facilitate your progress in battle, however, is different. The key is what you want from it."
"Personally, I want to win."
"And how do you intend to do that? You are up against a dragon and a dragon rider, after all."
"Therein lies the rub," Nodoka conceded the point. "But the lamp is not the only treasure in here, now is it?"
"No, let's see what we have." The teachers explored the room. They were interested in the books, but they didn't touch them, per Nodoka's request. They did, after all, respect her and it was her castle now.
Nodoka also had a number of unopened boxes, which she didn't touch the last time she was down here, so she looked through them as well. Several items were stored inside, several of which she considered selling off or trading to other wizards or masters of the arcane arts for other items she might want or need in her war chest.
"I believe this might help," said Drizzt, pulling out something for them to see.
A classical pointy hat, much like the one in a certain animated musical back on Earth, worn by a certain mouse that liked to wear red shorts. Only this one was black. It had stars of glittering gold and silver sewn into it of various sizes and the rimmed edge was decorated with a golden snake eating its own tail.
"Hmm, a hat of wizardry," Rincewind said outright. "Dime a dozen. You can find them almost everywhere these days."
Romavax took the hat and took out a rectangular magnifying glass to inspect the handiwork. Of course, artificers took a scientific approach to magic rather than wizards who simply used magic, so maybe this was how she identified magic items. Nodoka pondered if they took up artificing, would Chisame or Hakase be more apt at it than the other? Maybe Hakase.
"Not this one," Romavax declared. "This hat has been modified. It is a hat of wizardry, yes, but it is a much stronger version."
"What do you mean?" Nodoka asked.
Romavax took the hat and put it on Nodoka's head in response. To Nodoka's astonishment, it fit like a glove. "You know how they work, right?"
"No, we didn't exactly cover magic items back in school."
Rincewind sighed. "Yes, that is a course we should start soon, but we don't want to cause an overflow in the market. Regardless, a hat of wizardry is common enough for anyone to identify without sufficient training. It serves primarily as a focus for a wizard with which to cast spells. It also has the ability to grant you the use of a cantrip you don't know once a day."
"Wait. I don't need to know a cantrip to cast it?" Nodoka asked.
"Correct."
"No need to study it? No need to have seen, heard, felt, or even know about it beforehand?"
"That is correct."
"Then why the hell are these hats not standard issue?!"
…
"Mmmm," he mumbled.
"Argh." Nodoka felt another headache coming on. "So… exactly how has this hat been modified, Master Romavax?"
Romavax patted her on the shoulder before continuing. "Well, the cantrip part is what has been modified. If what I saw was right, then this hat gives you full command of all the cantrips available to wizards, at will."
"Fuckin' WHAT?!"
The eyebrows of everyone in the room shot upward, and Nodoka really hoped it wasn't because she just swore again.
"That is what I saw," Romavax stated.
Nodoka blinked a number of times rapidly. "This vampire I killed had a lot more free time on his hands than I first expected."
"There is a catch, though. You still need to attune yourself to it."
"I expected as much." Nodoka still wore the hat. And she decided she would wear it when she went to sleep to recharge her spells. And she had an inkling on what spells to use for the coming fight. Then she paused her thinking for a moment and turned to Rincewind. "Master, that medallion you gave me at graduation… does it require-"
"Does it-" he sputtered, interrupting her in the process. "Oh, girl…" he shook his head and walked out.
"I'll be taking that as a yes," Nodoka said to herself. Brandybuck chuckled.
"You were the brightest student of the university in a century. And you couldn't figure out a magic item just like that?"
"Regardless," Drizzt spoke up, "how do you intend to handle a dragon on top of all this? Even with all the weapons, armor, and spells available to you, it will still be a dragon."
Nodoka nodded. Dragons never were pushovers to begin with. "I might have a few tricks left that you haven't seen. But right now, I just want to go to sleep. It's been a harrowing day for all of us."
She didn't want to go into battle. But waiting on the edge of one she couldn't escape was even worse.
This must have been what many soldiers must have felt like before their first real fight.
Nodoka read up on all her spells, working hard to decide which spells to use for tomorrow's battle. Her magic was new and it was potent, but it was not without flaws. This magic was reliant on careful planning. It wasn't as with her homeworld's magic where you had a large fuel tank of mana and a varied array of spells to cast to expend that mana.
Here, the wrong choice was a matter of life and death.
On top of which, she didn't know which spells would work on that guy. And what could help to take down a dragon? With the spells at her level, what could she use against that?
She found a volume in the library on dragons, and read voraciously on reds. A long history of brutality, violence, domination, and oppression merely confirms what everyone else had been talking about over the years. Red Dragons had next to no form of honor or sense of mercy, and they had a long history of burning down armies and towns of those who actually managed to kill one.
So even if she killed that big bastard, there was going to be retribution for it. Super.
Nodoka wished Negi-sensei was here. She wished Setsuna was here. Asuna, Konoka, Haruna, Kaede, Ku Fei. Yue…
None of them were here. It was just going to be her this time. And what has she got to use for this fight? An adamantine sword, a medallion she hadn't attuned to herself, a fancy hat…
And a musket with ammo she stole from that horned gith. Things didn't look up for her.
Perhaps this was it. Maybe she would lose this time. Maybe-
No, stop it. Don't look at things so negatively. You may be alone, but you had held your ground before against beings stronger than you, Nodoka. You don't get to degrade yourself like that. Sensei said so. You are a first-class adventurer and you can do this. What choice do you have here?
"Of course, you have a choice."
Nodoka looked up to see… herself. Well, a different version of herself. This Nodoka wore a black version of her schoolgirl uniform, with sharp eyes of red and held a staff capped with a human skull.
There were other versions of her in there. One was golden-haired and wore white, with a golden rosary around her neck, a plate armored Nodoka, one in leather armor, one who wore leather in… a very much different manner than what Nodoka expected, one who wore a lab coat and had glasses.
"Is this in my head?"
"Yes," said Glasses. "We represent certain aspects of your personality."
The first one who spoke, the one in black, spoke again. "You do have a choice. Run. Leave this place with the teachers and the students. Live to fight another day. Cowardice is nothing to be ashamed of."
"There is no need to throw your life away like this."
"Agreed. To simply stand and fight could be suicidal at this point. Better to run and let them come to the conclusion that you have escaped. By the time they find you again, they will be confronted not just by you, but by a large army at your back."
Nodoka pondered her aspects' opinions. "Are all of you in agreement with this?"
"Not for the same motivations, and no," said the plate armored one. "I say that we should fight. I just believe that we should be smart about this battle."
"I for one," said Blackie, "say we just hightail it out of here. We don't need to fight this one. This isn't our fight."
"It is our fight," said White. "But to risk one's life for the sake of others might not be the most prudent of actions. Not this time. We have risked our lives before, and we did so because we had our family to count on to save us. We can't do much on our own."
Nodoka blinked. This was true. But… "If I were to leave now, that dragonrider will be outraged. They came for me specifically. If we fall back, that dragon will take it out on others. They're not stupid enough to take on an army if we show up with one. They will target innocents and make us come to them."
"And what is wrong with that?" Blackie asked. "I don't care if it's mean. Everyone dies at some point. Everyone's got dead people and everyone suffers. That's no excuse to put your own life on the line for others just because you can. You can't protect others if you're dead. And if you die, you don't ever get to see Negi-sensei again."
Nodoka clenched her fist. "And if we had the chance to do something about it, and we turned away… what would Negi-sensei say about that? What would any of them say?"
"They'd understand. They would know our circumstances and respect our choice. What mattered is that we came back to them."
"At what cost?" Nodoka asked harshly. She felt her anger grow. "I can't just stand by and do nothing when I have a chance to do something about this. Someone's died for our sake. Doesn't that upset you?"
"All the more reason to be smart about this," said warrior Nodoka.
"I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING," Nodoka spoke with anger in her voice. Everyone fell silent. Nodoka was breathing hard. "Stop treating me like a child. I have been on my own for the past ten years now. I haven't spent that time being idle. And I have worked my ass off to get to where I am. So I'd appreciate it if you could let me reach a decision on my own."
One by one, her aspects faded away. Nodoka felt like shit.
Great, now her own mind was speaking up against this. And she didn't know what to do.
And then there was one left. This was a child. Like she used to look when she entered kindergarten. Back then… she was so filled with…
"Do you believe that you can win?" asked Hope. Nodoka actually knew which aspect this was. And she knew what to say.
"It's small, but… yes, I have a chance of winning this."
Hope smiled brightly. Like she hasn't done in years. "Then… you know what to do. If there is a big problem, you don't try to get over it."
"You hold it inside and move on," Nodoka finished the saying. Hope nodded and then faded away.
Nodoka went back to her spellbook. Time to stop being a child or an apprentice…
And it's time to be a wizard for once.
(1) Most direwolves are considered bigger than regular wolves. This is true in D&D. Here, they are the size of horses.
(2) Somatic: Something related to the body. In this case, hand gestures.
(3) That very night, she met Asmodeus.
(4) If you know D&D and haven't heard of Drizzt Do'Urden before, I suggest you educate yourself.
(5) I hear they're very touchy about the term.
(6) Honey Badgers have this particular nasty habit when confronted with predators larger than them: They go for the little dangly bits between the legs. For this reason, lions give honey badgers a wide berth when they see one.
(7) Not really true. The majority are in Limbo, but you see the odd monastery elsewhere.
(8) The original split between the githyanki and the githzerai. Look up "Pronouncement of Two Skies", which is a great name for a novel, come to think of it.
(9) See "Incursion Timeline, Part One" for further details.
