After that, things fell into something of a routine for the next week or so, which was probably a good thing since too much excitement would probably have done some nasty things to Louise's blood pressure. Plus another duel might have gone even worse since pretty much every mage at the Academy had seen me drifting helplessly in the air while Montmorency levitated me.

I'd wake around dawn and slip out of the window to practice my martial arts and fret about how much the lack of a sparring partner was causing my skills to atrophy. And then I'd head down for a quick breakfast with Siesta and the other servants before filling a bucket with water from one of the Academy's fountains and bringing it up to Louise's room for her to wash with once I woke her and assisted her in getting dressed. Indoor plumbing didn't seem to have occurred to Tristain at this point, although I was severely tempted to invent it just to be rid of the horrors they called the garderobes.

Then I'd quickly change into a maid's uniform before escorting Louise to her breakfast and sneaking off to the kitchens for a second breakfast myself. Louise pretended to believe I had lost the privilege of eating sat at her feet as a result of the duel with Montmorency, which may or may not have been the belief of the other students but saved face for that individual once she woke up on the fourth day after our duel.

Montmorency, it must be said, was showing all the hallmarks of being a bad loser. Although the way that Guiche seemed quite unable to look away from me any time we were in the same room may have been the cause rather than our duel. His behaviour certainly didn't help the situation and his familiar had actually tried to bite me (although given that Guiche was apparently trying to trade familiars with my master at the time I can't blame the giant mole for being a bit aggressive. I just wish she'd have taken it out on her master and not on me.)

After breakfast I was responsible for the upkeep of Louise's room and possession: otherwise known as cleaning the room and doing her laundry. For reasons of efficiency and keeping time spent on the job to a minimum I alternated days between these. It wasn't as if she didn't have enough clothes that having something sat in the laundry basket for a day was a hardship and she hardly ever... okay, yes I did wind up cleaning up after her magical experiments most evenings. Don't laugh.

Of course, the reason that I was keen to finish these chores quickly was that once those were done I could sit with Louise in her classes. I got a few dirty looks from the professors but there were no rules against familiars attending lessons with their masters - actually it was officially encouraged. Louise was all for it and considerately never sent me off on errands since with my eidetic memory I was able to provide ready assistance on her homework should any little detail have escaped her during the classes. As a result, I was picking up a decent theoretical education on turning water into wine, combining reagents to create special potions, materializing fireballs out of nothing, levitation...

There was however a degree of frustration for both of us: neither of us could do anything practical with these lessons since Louise was still blowing things up every time she tried and I lacked a wand (although given that they aren't common among magi back home I'm uncertain if I'd need one) and more importantly didn't intend to allow anyone (not even Louise if I could avoid it) know that I was increasingly sure that the testers who thought I might have some talent as a mage were right.

Of course, according to Minch's prospectus anyone could learn and use magic, thus their classes on the topic were in theory open to every student. The principal problem was that using magic required the use of 'magical energies' called quintessence (or sometimes just essence) which for most people (mutants included) has to be gathered slowly and tediously through lengthy ritual or some sort of artifact. Some mutants - and I was beginning to suspect that this was essentially what the nobles of this world were - have a natural talent for drawing one variety or another out of the environment around them and using it 'on the fly'. At low levels only fairly trivial magics can be done without preparation but given what I'd seen, all the students here were at least the equivalent of a mid-ranked Wizard, as such mutants are known. And there were thousands of them, for Tristain Academy of Magic was by no means the only school of its kind.

But I digress. The point was that I couldn't practice magic openly and the professors wouldn't allow Louise to practice it in class (or at least, none of them did so twice), which reduced her to attempting them in her room. With the aforementioned need for me to regularly clean up after explosions.

After lunch and more classes I would eat dinner in the kitchen, pack a supper for later and then head back to Louise's room where we'd work together on her homework. And then, turned loose by my generous master for a whole hour before bed, I'd find an empty classroom and work through more kata. It wasn't much, but hopefully it would keep me from losing too much of my edge - frankly, adjusting for the sudden gain in height of an inch and a half was bad enough without getting slack about regular practise.

The end of the week however was marked by the Day of Void and in the absence of classes this was a day that Louise had marked down as suitable to practice magic in a safe fashion. Which was to say, well away from the Academy itself.

Preparations had been carefully planned and executed. There were two horses being made ready for us at the stables and Siesta was personally seeing to the preparation of a suitable picnic basket. All we had to do was leave early on in the morning, collect the basket, go directly to the stables and ride for an hour or two until a suitable clearing in Tristain's extensive forests presented itself.

We got about three paces from Louise's room before this went wrong.

"Aha!" Kirche declared for the benefit of her audience. "I knew you'd try this, Louise the Zero!"

The audience (Tabitha) turned a leaf of her book, apparently present only because Kirche had a firm grasp on the lapel of her pyjamas.

"Try what?" Louise paused. "And stop calling me that, Kirche the Strumpet!"

The insult washed over Kirche like water off a duck's back. "Don't try to disguise it, Louise. I saw your familiar's breasts when she was ill. And then the very next day they had grown! Now you're going to use that same magic on yourself, how shameless!"

...what twisted ways did that girl's mind work! Did it work at all, in fact?

"We're doing nothing of the sort!" Louise declared. "It would take a loose woman like a Zerbst to come up with an idea like that!" Sadly, I could see a speculative look in her eyes suggesting she wasn't as opposed to the idea as all that.

"Hah! Of course you would say that!" Kirche crossed her arms under her bosom. "That's why we're coming along, to learn this secret ourselves rather than let you keep it selfishly to yourself, Louise!"

I risked lowering my shields long enough to slip a message into Louise's mind: 'play along until we get to the stables, then leave them in the dust'.

Of course, what I hadn't planned on was Tabitha having a familiar who could fly and carry both of them.

.oOo.

I noticed the ley line by the tingle as we joined it. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the road Louise picked for us to follow was on one. Whether you call them ley lines, dragonlines or veins of the earth (a phrase I heard from a friend of my father's and took a liking to) there's often a degree of congruence between then and paths or roads. Which came first is open to debate if you're one of the people who like wondering if the chicken or the egg came first.

I'd not been particularly sensitive to them before my mutations became active, but subsequently they'd almost driven me crazy, like an itch I couldn't scratch until Sifu Kwei (I'm not sure if that that was really his name, he was a ridiculously huge David Carradine fan) explained them to me. It was noticing them that was the main reason I got noted down as a possible Wizard during power testing.

Given that ley lines are exceptional flows of magical energy you'd think that mages would stick to them wherever possible but frankly, they're obscenely dangerous and a mage trying to tap them directly is almost certain to wind up frying herself. I'm not sure how highly rated a Wizard would have to be in order to tap into them safely. Probably higher than a Five. The notion of Louise actively trying to create a magical explosion on one wasn't appealing so as soon as we had travelled a decent distance, doing our best to ignore the aerial pursuit, I suggested leaving the road.

"Why?" Louise asked bluntly. "There's a perfectly good clearing beside the road in another hour or so. I remember passing it before."

I rubbed at my rear end ruefully. I'm not really one of those horsey girls and this was only my second time riding a horse (if you count one afternoon pony-trekking five years ago as the first). While I was doing my best to imitate Louise's posture either I was doing something wrong or it was always this uncomfortable. "I think this would be best tried off the road. Just in case someone was passing by at the wrong moment."

She looked back with a sour expression. "Do you think we could lose them in the trees?"

I shrugged. Even with a delay for Tabitha to get dressed they had caught up with us almost before we lost sight of the Academy buildings. "I'd suggest blowing them up, but the dragon seems relatively inoffensive." Actually, Tabitha didn't particularly bother me either as from what I'd seen I wasn't sure she'd even notice if we evaded them. However with Kirche as the driving force behind them nothing short of physical violence seemed likely to deter the group.

With a nudge of her heel and a gentle tug on the reins Louise steered her horse off the road, slowing down to negotiate the rougher ground (not that the road was anything to write home about). I gave the same signals and was somewhat elated that my own ride obeyed.

"So what is it about Kirche that annoys you so much, master? I'm not all that fond of her myself but it seems more personal for you."

Louise humphed. "That woman isn't Tristainian, she's a noble from Germania." I'd managed to get a glance at a map while we were planning this so I knew that Germania was a neighboring kingdom, more or less to the east. A much larger kingdom, just like Gallia to the south. I had to suspect that Germania and Gallia had found Tristain a convenient battlefield in the past - sort of like Belgium being caught between France and Germany. "I told you already that my family's estates are on the Germanian border so we're first on the field against them the moment any war starts."

I nodded to show my understanding. "Are there many Germanians at the Academy?"

"No, just Kirche. She got thrown out of every school in Germania for her behavior." Louise nodded judgmentally. "She's a Zerbst, so what can you expect? They're a low unworthy family. Kirche's great-great-grandfather stole away my great-grand-father's lover around two hundred years ago."

That was an awfully long time ago for someone only four generations removed. Either some of Louise's family had lived for a very long time or she was being a bit imprecise. "Let me guess, the Zerbst family estates are just across the border and they're first to fight you when a war starts?"

"Exactly! We've lost count of how many family members we've lost over the years."

According to my grandmother, her husband's family had had a barony a few centuries ago, up on the Scottish border only to lose it because they wouldn't stop picking fights with other border lords after the Stuarts inherited the throne of England and both Kingdoms were supposed to be united. I imagine that this was more or less the same sort of feud with ample atrocities on either side to justify further 'retaliation'.

As it happened we only had to ride about another twenty minutes before a hillock in the forest caught my eye, the remains of what had clearly been castle walls a century or two ago visible. "That looks promising."

Louise followed my pointing finger. "That ruin? I thought we were looking for a clearing?"

"I can make a clearing anywhere we need it. What we need is a good vantage point and with a little work that will do nicely."

Louise's brow furrowed and then she looked at the trees again. "Oh."

We dismounted and while Louise handled securing the horses by their reins so that they could graze (or forage? I wasn't sure of the terminology) around one side of the hillock, I walked around it and started rearranging the forest. It actually didn't take all that long to tear a tree out of the ground but they were sufficiently closely spaced that actually bringing them down was tricky until I'd cleared a couple of them and had plenty of space to turn them on their sides.

That, of course, was when a ton or so of blue dragon decided that I was kindly making a landing zone for it and parked itself where I was about to put a tree. Then it licked my face - I had my shield up so I didn't technically get the slobber on me, but it's the principle of the matter. "Oh. Hello."

"Where's Louise?" demanded Kirche as she dismounted.

"On the hill." There wasn't much point lying since short of knocking her out, she'd find Louise sooner or later. "You do realise you're hounding after something that doesn't exist?"

Kirche made a grab at my chest, which I avoided. "You can't expect me to believe that they grew like that overnight without magic!"

I couldn't? Damn, that was pretty much my entire defense. Besides it's not as if she needed breast enhancement. I hadn't grown more than a cup size or so, which didn't leave me in any danger of rivaling her unless I kept growing. "I just had a growth spurt. I'm reasonably sure that you're familiar with them."

"A magical growth spurt!" Kirche took out her wand and then started flying up the hill. I'm astonished that any of the girls at the school would do that given that the uniform skirts are so short.

"Is she like this much?"

Tabitha didn't reply.

"Would you mind moving your dragon?"

No answer.

"I'm going to put a tree down where you're sitting whether you move or not," I bluffed.

Tabitha looked up from her book and gave me a blank stare. I pulled a tree up by the roots illustratively. She nodded and nudged the dragon to walk out of my way. Once it was gone, I dropped the tree and started snapping off the branches. I was almost done by the time I heard Louise shouting at Kirche. "Are they always like that?"

For a moment I got no response, which was pretty much what I expected, but then Tabitha murmured: "Mostly." She then added: "Familiar?"

"What?"

She looked slightly irritated that I hadn't understood her question. Perhaps she was getting close to the end of her daily quota of words. "You're strong."

"Wh- Oh! Am I this strong because I'm a familiar?"

Tabitha nodded, returning her attention to the book.

"No, it's related to how I fell ill after the duel," I told her, hoping that this would satisfy her. Actually, although I had at first simply been grateful that I had survived the burnout, the changes that had taken place had been preying on my mind. Physical changes in appearance usually only meant one of two or three things for a mutant: some sort of shapeshifting ability; emergent GSD; or manifesting Exemplar traits. All would have problems associated with them. For example, if I was a Shifter and couldn't keep it under control my reflexes and co-ordination would be shot. And I had more than a little concern about how the Tristainians would react if I was visibly non-human. My status was dubious enough as it was, with most of them just thinking of me as an odd servant of Louise's.

Of the options, the best would be if I was an Exemplar: my body changing to mirror some idealised (and usually superhuman) image in my subconcious. But from what was said during my power testing at the police station, that was highly unusual for a PDP although the tester hadn't given me any explanation as to why. If that was the case, I just hoped that I didn't wind up looking like Kirche. I have no idea how she managed to stay upright with those melons on her chest.

When I was finished moving trees there was a clearing about sixty metres long leading away from the hillock. Five trees marked roughly equal increments along it and at the end I'd stacked three tree trunks and most of the branches and so forth. It made a decent sized heap.

Then I ran up the side of the hill and hopped over what was left of the wall on that side. This side was fairly steep but if you know what you're doing you can find handholds on most natural surfaces... and if you can find a handhold and you're moving fast enough you can usually use it as a foothold instead. It's not exactly the sort of thing you see in bad kung fu movies, which are mostly wire work. Actually it's probably more like parkour, which I'd seen on television a couple of times although I'd never lived anywhere in easy reach of a club that could teach it.

The castle hadn't been huge - a cluster of six towers around three sides and a hall on this side but when it had been brought down - slighted is the technical term I think - most of the walls had simply been pushed off the sides of the hill. I wouldn't have been surprised if the resultant rubble had then been pilfered for building the Academy. However, as a result the actual floor was fairly intact and not heaped with too much rubbish.

Kirche was lounging on one of the stones, pushing her chest out every time Louise looked in her direction. If i didn't know better I'd think she was treating Louise like the boys she usually flirted with... which had all sorts of implications that I would prefer not to think about. For her part, Louise was walking back and forth, glaring impatiently in the direction of the ruined gatehouse and the path up to it from where the horses had been left.

"What's keeping her?" Louise muttered.

"Maybe she's charitably teaching Tabitha how to make her breasts larger," Kirche suggested.

"This has nothing to do with making my breasts grow!"

I cleared my throat. "Master? The clearing is ready."

Both girls looked sharply in my direction. "How did you get up here?" Louise asked. "I didn't think you could fly."

"I climbed, master. It's not that difficult." I made a mental note to ask her more about familiars. What Tabitha had said suggested that there could be more to being Louise's familiar than I had expected.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, let's begin."

We walked up to the edge and looked down over the clearing, Kirche's eyes following us curiously. Louise took out her wand. "The pile of wood at the end?"

I glanced down and saw no sign of Tabitha or her familiar. Glancing up a shape was moving in the sky. "That might be a little ambitous for the first try, master. Let's try the nearest distance marker first." We hadn't found a spell that intentionally created explosions so Louise was instead going to attempt the most destructive spell that she had learned in class.

She pointed her wand down into the clearing, towards the nearest of the trees I had felled. "Fireball!"

The result was not a fireball but it did reduce a fair amount of tree-trunk to woodchips. Unfortunately it was one of the trees to one side of the clearing rather than the distance marker.

Kirche laughed. "Another failure from Louise the Zero, but what should I have expected?"

"Not bad for a first attempt," I told the crestfallen Louise who had been sure that she would manage a fireball properly. "The power was excellent and you weren't far off from distance. A little work on direction next, I think."

"Eh?" The Germainian girl shook her head. "Don't think you can fool me! You act like you're just making explosions, but the minute I turn around you'll be making Louise's chest bigger. I'm going to be right here. Bosoms are the right of all women, not only of Tristainians!"

...well that explained her motivation. At least she wasn't planning on using the spell she was imagining on herself. "Louise, don't use that spell on Kirche until we're sure you won't hit the picnic basket."

"But I don't know a spell that makes brea- Oh, the fireball." Louise blushed.

Kirche sat straight upright. "Wait, what about after she can aim it!"

"That would between you and my master," I told her matter-of-factly. Louise seemed lost in a fantasy world and was giggling in a rather worrying way. "Master? Next shot?"

Louise stepped up to the edge of the castle and cast again, blasting a hole in the forest floor. It was closer to the target though so I chalked that one down as progress.

.oOo.

After a few more tries, Louise did manage to hit the distance marker. In fact once she got the hang of it she blasted every tree I'd felled until there wasn't a piece larger than a toothpick.

"You're doing very well," I congratulated her as she stood triumphantly looking at the blasted forest floor, which looked rather as if an artillery barrage had torn it up. In a way I suppose that that is precisely what had happened. She didn't look physically tired but at the same time I did get a sense of weariness about her - perhaps she was reaching the limits of her use of essence for the day. "Just one more thing and then I think we should call it a day."

"What more is there?" Kirche asked boredly. "I think she's destroyed everything down there."

"A little more work on precision," I explained. "I'm going to set up one more target, master. Once I give you the signal, please try to hit the target without hitting anything else."

With that said I scrambled over the castle wall and descended the side of the hill at a run, which was quite a rush although I was glad to be wearing jeans and trainers rather than a skirt. I'd gotten pretty much used to the long skirts of the maid uniform but it wasn't the sort of thing to wear for athletic activities.

I picked out the upper half of a tree that Louise had blasted down, stripped it down until it was passable as a stake and walked forward to plant it not much further from the castle than the first distance marker was. I'd had a good look at Louise casting magic by standing near her and I was pretty sure I could replicate it - the energy seemed to have flows - if I assembled enough essence. Whether I'd manage a fireball or an explosion of the kind Louise almost inevitably seemed to produce was an open question.

So having satisfied myself, I had one more question to answer that was pretty much for Louise's benefit. Well, two questions. One was what the magical energy was doing at this end of the spell. The other was how much control she would have at this end now that she had managed to get at least rudimentary control of the explosives (my instincts were practically screaming that we were barely touching the lowest rungs of her potential).

And so I'd decided to give her some motivation.

Standing next to stake I gave Louise a wave that she should cast the spell.

Nothing happened for a few moments and then I heard a shout of: "Get away from the target, stupid!"

I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Just do it!"

There seemed to be an arguement up in the castle, Louise trying to get Kirche to do something. Probably to come down here and reason with me. Or just to levitate me out of the way. I made a mental note to ask Louise why she thought shouting at someone would make them more compliant. I amused myself by wandering around the target, punching lightly at irregularity in the wood. I kept my shields down - punching while they were up was like using a knuckle duster even when I held back - but my clairvoyance up as I really did not want to miss Louise starting to cast.

I should point out that while the explosion from her attempt to transmute rocks into metal had been significantly less damaging than the attacks she'd been throwing around I don't exactly know the limits of my shields when it comes to protecting me so I wasn't planning on just standing there and taking the hit. But Louise didn't know that and I guess she was worried about her foolhardy familiar. It's kind of sweet in a patronising way.

Given the choice between coming down after me and starting to cast, Louise opted for the magical solution. Rather decently she sent down a warning shot first, which missed me and the target by the proverbial country mile.

"That was pathetic," I shouted up at her, raising my shields. "I score you as zero!"

The next one drilled into what was left of the tree with pinpoint accuracy. I could practically see the magic flowing into it. And then I reached out and took the magic.

The tree didn't explode.

For an instant I wasn't entirely sure that I wouldn't though.

.oOo.

For the record I am probably entirely too trusting of my instincts when it comes to this sort of thing.

This was what I was thinking as I grabbed hold of enough magic to damn near vaporise my own body mass of oak without having thought of what I was going to do with it. My intention as far as planning went, was to maybe siphon of just enough to attempt to shield myself from the full force of the explosion. And then what might, for want of a better word let's call my hindbrain presented with an image of 'this is how to grab the whole lot and not have a rather large explosion happen right next to you.'

I am perhaps a little too prone to act on impulse, not second-guessing my instincts.

The first thing a mage is taught, wizard or not, is to never ever draw on magical energies without knowing exactly what you intend to do them, even it it's just storing a little for later use. Energy is not static. If you have a purpose in mind, it will go with that. If you don't have one then it will do something. Most wizards break that rule at least once. It's the leading causes of death for mutants with that particular talent, right ahead of other mutants and supernatural beings (which tend to trade the second and third places on that list).

Fortunately, I had an example of a spell recently reinforced in my mind.

Unfortunately for the forest, that spell was a fireball.

The forest vanished from sight in flames and for a long, long moment I choked, trying to suck in air that wasn't what you might call fresh. My shields held back the fire from my skin and clothes but I can't deny that the burning heat was palpable even through that.

Air rushed in as the first flames died, stripped of fuel by their own efficiency. Around me was blackened grass and woodchips most smoking and in some cases the orange glow of embers that suggested that more fires in the future. Around this area dozens of trees were on fire, something that I hoped didn't spread, and soot marks were visible on the remaining walls of the castle.

If I hadn't known that it had been slighted years before the evidence of my eyes might have led me to believe it's current shattered state was the result. There was no sign at all of Louise or Kirche and a thrill of fear rushed through me. I broke into a run, shaking off my disorientation as I thought back to my first aid training, specifically how to treat burns.

As I climbed the hill I heard the neighing of panicked horses (can't blame them under the circumstances) and then Kirche's voice. "Louise! Louise! Oh... Louise..."

Yes I know what that sounds like. I can assure you it didn't sound like it to me. Although under less serious circumstances seeing Louise laid out on the ground, Kirche kneeling over her and both showing more skin than usual (even by Kirche's standards) would have raised my eyebrows a bit.

"How is she?"

"A bit scorched - she's more passionate than I had realised."

What?

"Her breasts haven't grown at all though."

Perhaps due to being more accustomed to working with fire or possibly because she had been a bit further from the centre of the fireball, Kirche didn't seem to have been hurt. Louise, on the other hand was unconscious although fortunately her pulse and breathing were fine. She looked like she'd have the mother and father of all sunburns though, which would probably not make me her favorite person when she woke up.

Absent anything immediate I could do for Louise (after-sun lotion? I wish!) I checked for the last member or members of the expedition, depending on whether the dragon counted separately from Tabitha or not. Fortunately there was a rustle of wings and the pair of them descended down to settle onto one of the ruined towers. Tabitha directed a mild glare down at me: "Updraft," she said reprovingly. I suppose that was her way of complaining that the fireball had affected the air that she had been flying through.

"Sorry about that. Does it look like the fire will spread? I don't want a forest fire on my conscience." I've never come across one of course but I've seen news items on them from America and it almost always seems that someone has died in them.

.oOo.

The horses had broken their reins and run away, so in addition to Tabitha putting out the fires that had been started, we would also depend upon her dragon Sylphid to carry us back to the Academy. And of course, Louise would be accounted responsible for the horses if they didn't return of their own accord. I've no idea how expensive horses are, but it seems likely that no one would be too pleased at losing a pair of them.

All in all, in every way save in polishing Louise's aim, the expedition had been a near to total disaster. Oh and confirming to myself that I apparently was a Wizard and of sufficently high rating to be a danger to both myself and those around me. Yay.

Kirche apparently saw no reason to curb her tongue. "It stands to reason, Louise, that you would manage to turn even successfully casting a spell into a catastrophe."

"Shut up!" Louise's harsh tone had about the impact on Kirche that you'd expect: none at all.

"Poor planning on my part," I told them. "However Louise is hardly at fault for that. In fact this was something of a triumph."

Kirche and Louise turned their heads to look at me in disbelief (I was sat at the back of the little line of girls on the back of Sylphid) at that assertion. I admit it took a certain amount of willpower to keep my face steady as I said it but it was true after a fashion.

"If I understand it correctly duels between nobles are forbidden at the Academy", I pointed out. "Under other circumstances they're almost commonplace?" Which sounded as if it should be killing nobles off left right and centre, but who was I to judge? "Now that my master can use her magic with some degree of control she is not defenseless should someone challenge her to a duel."

"She blew up half the forest!"

"Feel free to tell everyone about that. It should serve as a deterrent." I decided risking lowering my shields - Kirche would certainly know of my unusual strength and resilience but I didn't think she had enough information to determine the mechanics of it yet - was an acceptable risk. And yes, I do consider Kirche a risk. She's unpredictable and that can be a very serious problem. 'Louise, the fire wasn't your fault, it was a mistake on my part.'

I could feel the sudden tension in her. 'I can tell them that if you want.'

Now her feelings shifted towards the negative and I very carefully reached deeper. Having her familiar mess with her magic was bad enough without it being bandied around.

'Alright, I'll keep it quiet then. Now, do you remember the two theories I had? That you might be too powerful for the spells you are being taught or that your skills lie with another kind of magic?' I felt a degree of affirmation. 'I suspect that both may be true. That was an extremely powerful fireball.'

'It was, wasn't it?' Louise's mental tone was smug, but it was the fact that she was replying in verbalised thought that surprised me enough to break off the telepathic contact sharply by snapping my shields up. It took me a long moment of assessment to assure myself that she hadn't been projecting the comment herself, merely responding to my comment actively rather than passively letting me read her reply from her mind.

Is that normal?

I didn't have a clue. Was I changing Louise? My eyes flicked to the markings on the back of my left hand, their meaning unknown to me. I'd been branded somehow and I still didn't know if there were other effects.

"Look."

My contemplation was broken by Tabitha's voice and she even broke off from her book to point forwards. Figuring it must be something fairly apocalyptic to produce that sort of reaction, I obeyed her instruction. In the distance, only partially visible as a result of the sun being only partially visible over the horizon, was Tristain Academy of Magic's central tower.

And something equally towering that hadn't been there this morning.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's an earth golem!"

"What's a golem?"

Louise leant back against me. "A giant moving statue. But what is it doing at the Academy?"

The golem raised one fist and slammed it against the side of the tower, somewhere around the fifth floor.

"Isn't it obvious, Louise?" Kirche called almost happily. "It's attacking!"

"Well of course that's obvious now," my master muttered irritably, drawing her wand. "We have to do something."

"It must be Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt," guessed the fire mage seated in front of Louise. "I wonder how handsome such a famous mage is."

"Who... never mind," I changed my mind quickly. It would probably take too long to explain, becase Tabitha was urging Sylphid to fly faster and faster.

"He's the most famous thief in Tristain," Kirche waxed lyrical. "He's stolen magical items from all over the country from the best defenses Tristainan nobles have been able to set up and he always leaves a message to show he was responsible for the crime!"

"A powerful mage?"

"Look at that thing, he must be at least a triangle class!"

I thought that over. "Maybe it's Professor Chevreuse in disguise."

"No no!" Kirch shouted. "He's here for the most prized treasure at the Academy, my heart. Here I am darling! Wait for me!"

I palmed my face. "Oh dear god." Then I looked over Louise's shoulder. "Master, you've had a busy day, maybe we should leave this to the teachers?"

Her grip tightened on her wand and she shook her head, hair flailing in my face.

Somehow I hadn't thought she'd go for that. "You might want to see what Tabitha wants then, since this is her familiar we're riding on."

Louise looked at the golem, which the dragon was making a beeline towards. "I think she has the same idea that we have." The golem had turned and as we watched it jumped over the outer wall of the Academy. I could just barely make out what looked like someone standing on its shoulder. If that was someone... I did some quick calculations... that golem would have to be around a hundred feet tall and could easily weigh thousands of tons! I hadn't hit a limit to what I could carry but I'd never even considered trying to lift something the size of a small ship. And I don't recall any advice from any of my teachers on how to fight something that size.

Fortunately I wouldn't be doing it in the dark as although the sun was disappearing from view the moons (yes, there were two moons which was pretty solid evidence if I needed it that this was nowhere near home) were provided quite a decent amount of light.

Sylphid banked towards the golem. A staff and two wands rose with intent to use magic, Kirche protesting as she pulled her wand out of her cleavage - something about Fouquet running out on her and being the worst sort of male. I wasn't paying much attention to her, honestly. Tabitha was the first to cast a spell, chanting an incantaion that conjured a whirlwind to strike the golem. Unfortunately it had no effect and nor did Kirche's fireball.

Louise also cast fireball although to no one's surprise, the result was an explosion on the surface of the Golem, rather smaller than those that Louise had used earlier on. It did blow a small chunk out of the golem's chest, which was quite impressive in my book considering the lack of effect from the other spells. And the 'small chunk' was about the size of a bathtub.

The golem took another few steps, as if to say 'I'm not hurt. No really, 'tis but a scratch' and then crumbled abruptly into a large mound of dirt.

"That is the power of the Vallière family!" Louise declared smugly as Sylphid circled the dirt.

I scanned the ground searching for the person I'd seen standing on the golem. Nothing. Something told me that this wasn't dealt with yet.

.oOo.

It turned out that I was right. The aftermath of the attack kept the staff too busy for anyone to question Louise's assertion to the stable staff that the horses had been scared away by the golem. She came up with that all on her own and was very plausible - I was taking mental notes because clearly Louise had a great deal to teach me in the important field of lying to adults (it's a very marketable skill as the professions of politican and lawyer go to prove). Nonetheless Louise was called to the headmaster's office before breakfast and given that Tabitha and Kirche were also present there was a degree of cold sweat involved.

However, it turned out that the three students had been summoned as witnesses to the attack, or as it more accurately might be described: the theft. I followed Louise but was not in a position to bear witness directly since as a familiar I was... well, would you ask a pet cat to give testimony? Apparently the same logic applied to me which was more than a trifle annoying but I decided this wasn't the time to make an issue of it.

When we arrived, one of the professors I hadn't met was ripping into Chevreuse. "You were supposed to be on duty last night! Am I right?"

She broke into tears, which was rather embarassing. I still held by my theory that she might be Fouquet but if so she was a decent actor. "I'm sorry... very sorry."

"Even if you cried your heart out, would it come back? Or are you going to pay for it?" The man would have been an excellent choice for the role of Snape in the Harry Potter films: tall with long black hair and affecting a pitch black cape. His manner was even similar although that was perhaps due to the circumstances.

"But..." The woman fell to her knees, tears still streaming down her face. "But I just finished paying for my house."

The door behind us opened and I stepped aside smartly to let the headmaster sweep into the room. He certainly looked the part of a powerful wizard with a long grey beard. Wearing a hat he'd make an excellent Gandalf or in flourescent robes, Dumbledore. "This is not the best time to be hard on the ladies, hmm?"

"But Osman, Mrs. Chevreuse failed in her duty!" protested the man. "She was sleeping soundly in her bed when she was supposed to be on watch!"

The old man striked his beard thoughtfully, looking at professor. "Er... what was your name again?"

"It's Kaita!" he snapped, redfaced. "Have you forgotten?"

Funny, he didn't look like a dwarf. "Oh, yes, Kaita. That's right isn't it?" Apparently unperturbed by his apparent lapse of memory, Osman pulled out his pipe and started stuffing it with tobacco. "Well Mr. Kaita, don't be so angry. Honestly, how many of us here can say that we are always vigilant for every moment of our time on watch?"

There was an embarassed silence and several teachers hung their heads.

"Well, what's done cannot be undone. In terms of responsibility, I think all of us - myself included - have to be held accountable. Why did we think a thief could never infiltrate the academy? Because of the number of mages present here gives us the assurance that we have numbers on our side. But numbers have never been enough to stop Fouquet and our complacency gave him the courage to trespass and steal the Staff of Destruction."

Well that sounded like a nice, innocent thing that would never cause any problems in the wrong hands...

Chevreuse stood up again, apparently bolstered by the headmaster's support. Although the fact that the old man took the opportunity to play grabass - in front of students! - suggested that he might have had personal motives for aiding her. "Well then, who were the ones who witnessed the theft?"

Colbert, who had summoned us, indicated the three students with a wave of his hand. He also gave me a thoughtful look that I didn't know what to make of. I'd have expected him to be annoyed at me for knocking him down on our first meeting, but I didn't get that impression at all. Easing myself gently into his thoughts, the focus of them seemed to be a blurry image of the runes that had been burned into the back of my hand when Louise claimed me as her familiar.

"Ah yes. Kirche the Ardent, Tabitha the Snowstorm and Louise t- er, Vallière."

Louise glared at the headmaster for his lapse in almost using the nickname as if it where her runic name (something that she officially lacked as I understood matters).

Osman lit his pipe and started to puff on it. "Please tell us about the event in depth."

Louise stepped forwards to act as the spokeswoman for the three. "We were returning from practising in the forest when we saw a great clay golem standing next to the tower. It smashed a hole in the wall and after a moment escaped over beyond the school walls. We cast magic at it and my spell caused it to collapse into dirt. We didn't see anything that could have been the Staff of Destruction though."

I leant forwards and reminded her in a whisper that I had seen someone on the golem.

"Yes, and my familiar thought someone was riding the golem but we didn't see anyone after it broke apart."

"Hmm. So that is what happened." Osman stroked his beard and then put his pipe down. "Mr. Colbert, where is Miss Longueville?"

"I'm not sure," the bald mage replied. "I haven't seen her since early this morning."

"Where could she be during these trying times?"

As if summoned by the words the door opened again, admitting a rather pretty woman wearing spectacles and her hair in a bun. It seemed she was aiming for the sexy librarian look and achieving it.

"Miss Longueville! Where have you been?" asked Colbert anxiously. "There has been terrible news!"

Rather than replying directly, Longueville directed her words to Osman. "I'm extremely sorry to be late! I was carrying out an investigation so..."

"Investigation?"

"Yes. When I woke this morning I was told right away of the attack and visiting the vault I saw that Fouquet had left an inscription on the wall, as is his custom, boasting of the theft. Therefore I immediately began investigating to see what I could learn of any suspicious activity that might lead to the infamous thief."

Colbert looked impressed by her diligence. "You're really very efficient, Miss Longueville. But in the end, did you find anything?"

"Why yes." She smiled blandly. "I believe I have determined the whereabouts of Fouquet."

"What! How did you manage to obtain this information, Miss Longueville?"

"According to the commoners around the area, they saw what seemed to be a person wearing a black hooded cloak entering an abandoned house in the nearby forest yesterday. As the weather has been quite clement, such a cloak would not be needed except for concealment so I think that the person is most likely Fouquet and that the abandoned house is most probably his hideout."

"A black hooded cloak?" Louise looked at me questioningly.

I shrugged. "It's possible. I didn't get a good look at him. Or her."

"How far away is this house from here?" Osman asked.

"By foot it takes half a day," Longueville told us. "But by horse it should only take four hours."

"We must report this to the royal court right away! We must seek reinforcements from the royal army!" suggested Colbert loudly.

Osman shook his head firmly. "You fool!" he shouted, causing Colbert to shrink back. "By the time we report this to the royal court, Fouquet would have made his escape. Besides if we can't even handle such a small problem on our own then we're not fit to be called nobles! The staff was stolen from the academy and it is the academy that will retreive it! Our reputation is at stake!" He broke off and coughed, the tirade apparently having strained his throat. "Now, we're going to organize a search team to find Fouquet," the headmaster declared when the fit had passed. "Those willing to join, please raise your wands."

There was an uneasy silence as the nobles looked at each other waiting for someone to make a move.

"No one? That's perculiar," Osman commented after a moment. "No one wants to be known as the hero who caught Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt?"

That was rich given his own staff wasn't exactly being raised, but it did convince one noble to put her wand in the air. "Master?"

"Miss Vallière!" exclaimed Chevreuse. "You mustn't do this! You're still a student Please leave this to the teachers!"

"Who else is there?" I asked, putting one hand on Louise's shoulder supportively. I wasn't sure this was a good idea, but I wasn't going to undermine her now. "None of you are volunteering and at least my Master has faced Fouquet's golem before."

Another wand rose beside us. "Well I simply can't let the Vallière family take all the glory," Kirche drawled. A moment later Tabitha's staff was lifted. "You don't need to, Tabitha," Kirche said, looking slightly embarassed. "This does not concern you at all."

"I'm worried," Tabitha said quietly, cutting off further objections from the fiery Germainian although Louise mumbled a grudging thank you.

There was a laugh from Osman. "Well then, we shall place our faith in the three of you then."

"Sir!" Chevreuse protested. "Headmaster Osman, I strongly object! We must not put the lives of students in danger!"

He cut her dead with a stern: "Well, would you go in their stead, Mrs. Chevreuse?" and left her stammering about her health. "As Miss Vallière's familiar has pointed out, they have faced Fouquet before and even though Miss Tabitha here is very young, I have heard that she has already received the title of Chevalier."

Everyone looked at Tabitha in astonishment. I didn't know exactly what that meant although I guessed it was about equivalent to being knighted back in the middle ages. (Actually, it was much more than that. Chevalier was the only non-hereditary noble rank and was only awarded for genuine personal accomplishment. In comparison, I know of children being knighted Tudor England as a status symbol). Tabitha, who appeared to be no more than thirteen, did not seem a likely candidate for that accolade.

"Miss Zerbst from Germania comes from a family of distinguished war heroes and she herself has a very strong background in fire magic."

Kirche preened and Louise drew herself up, expecting similar praise. However, Osman seemed to be struggling to find something similarly creditable, covering for his indecision with an unconvincing coughing fit. "And of course Miss Vallière is of a similarly prestigious family and has demonstrated her true noble character by being the first to step forwards to apprehend Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt." He adopted a solemn tone and added. "If anyone thinks that they're more capable than the mentioned three, please step forward."

There was no sudden rush of volunteers but Miss Longueville did raise her hand. "Headmaster, perhaps I should accompany the three of them as a guide."

"An excellent suggestion," the elderly mage agreed. "Well then, the academy awaits the capture of Fouquet."

The three young noblewomen held their wands up in what I took to be some sort of formal gesture. "We swear upon our wands to capture Fouquet," they chorused and then curtsied. Behind them I folded my arms across my chest and directed what I hoped was a withering glare at these so-called 'responsible adults'.

.oOo.

Siesta almost tackled me to the ground when I went to the kitchen to see what could be thrown together for provisions. Given that I'd missed dinner entirely the previous night and barely managed to piece together a quick supper by scavenging directly off the dining tables before they were cleared, I was rather hungry.

"You're alright!" she exclaimed in relief. "I was so afraid that you wouldn't survive!"

"I'm not sure we even laid eyes on Fouquet."

"Not him, I heard you went off into the forest so that Miss Louise could practice her magic!"

"It's alright, I only got blown up once."

There was a muffled squeak and she pulled back to examine me. "You were blown up!"

"Just a little bit. My own fault really." It wasn't as if I was particularly hurt: Louise was still tender in places from the mild burns she'd suffered whereas mine weren't bothering me at all. "I'd tell you all about it but unfortunately I am on a bit of schedule so it'll have to wait until I get back."

"Back?" Siesta asked. "You're going away again?"

I chuckled. "Siesta, I was only away a few hours. Hopefully this little trip won't take any longer."

"Where are you going?"

"Miss Longueville - Headmaster Osman's secretary - has a lead to where Fouquet might have taken the Staff of Destruction so Kirche, Tabitha and Louise volunteered to go and capture him."

Siesta nodded. "Oh I do hope they capture that villainous thief. How many teachers are going?"

I rolled my eyes. "It seems that they've decided to 'heroically' stay here and guard the academy in case Fouquet returns."

"T-then you're going to hunt for the most famous and dangerous thief in the world with just the three of you!"

"And Osman's secretary."

The maid burst into tears and threw her arms around me, although I managed to keep my arms free this time. "If Fouquet doesn't crush you with a golem then Miss Louise will kill you with her explosions!" Uncertainly, I patted her on the shoulder in what was meant to be reassurance. Given that I'd gone against her advice with regard to the almost disasterous duel with Montmorency, I should probably have paid a little more regard to her concerns.