Chapter 4: Failures
"Now get along with your classmates. Find some friends, some good friends. Even if it is just one; a close friend is better than a mountain of false ones." Louise's older sister Cattleya spoke those words to her as Louise was ushered off the school. Sometimes, Cattleya acted more like a mother than her older sister. However, worrying older sisters aside, Louise never knew how true her words were until now. The last couple days had been the happiest she'd had in a very long time. Montmorency and she had eaten meals together, chatted about silly things, and sat next to each other during class. Louise had never imagined such simple things would bring such joy.
After classes Montmorency had even taken to trying to help her learn water magic. The girl had insisted her familiar's invisibility must be water based, as there was apparently a square level water spell that refracted light around the user. If there was, Louise hadn't heard of it, but she wasn't about to turn away her friends help. While the two had been unable to get anything but an explosion from Louise, they had managed to get a smaller explosion, only digging a fist sized crater where into the ground where a glass of water used to be rather than a head sized crater. It was progress.
In return, Louise had taken to helping Montmorency with her bookwork. Louise made sure to excel in all forms of non practical magic, she had to, lest she flunk out based on her practical failures. It was in their second second day as friends that they found themselves in Louise's room, finishing up studying for Professor Colbert's exam on the use of fire magic in smithing. The man certainly liked to push the more constructive aspects of the war element.
The two shared Louise's small table exchanging notes and helping each other with various topics. Montmorency's frog was left to atop the dresser. The small amphibian stared impassively at Louise's Kyuubey who was idly swishing its tail back and forth from the bed.
They were just about done when Montmorency spoke in a serious tone, drawing a curious glance from Louise. "I heard about what you did." Louise tilted her head to the side, what could she be talking about. "About the duel with Guiche."
Oh. Louise was surprised she had forgotten about it. The thrill of a new friend had overridden pretty much everything else. "Yeah... Sorry about that." Louise embarrassingly apologized. It might not have been the wisest choice to beat up her friends crush.
"Don't be." Montmorency giggled at her friend's sheepishness. "That dog needed a good whooping, he's fine now anyways. The only thing you really hurt was his pride." Montmorency spared a smirk at Guiche's expense. "I may even not break up with him, seeing as he hasn't been chasing skirts lately."
That surprised Louise, raising her eyebrows she jested, "You don't suppose I broke him?" The two friends laughed in unison.
Their laughter subsided and the two closed their books, finishing their studies for the night. It was getting late anyways, and Louise needed a good sleep before the test. "Hey Louise." Montmorency spoke up once again. finishing stowing her books in her bag. "Can your familiar really grant wishes?"
Realizing its powers were in question, the little familiar hopped upright and jumped over to the table. "I can! Did you think of one Montmorency?"
Louise suppressed a sigh, that Kyuubey had a one track mind when it comes wishing, she doubted it would relent without a sufficient rebuff. "It definitely thinks it can, and the rest of its abilities are exotic." The beings tail swished back and forth, still waiting for Montmorency's answer.
Montmorency twirled one of her blonde curls, as she often did while thinking. "I'm still surprised it can talk... er, well communicate as it does. It really startled me when it found me in such a mess."
Louise raised an eyebrow, putting two and two together. "You little scamp." She pointed accusingly at her familiar. "You were off trying to get a maiden to agree to your wishing contract while she was recovering from an ordeal." She reached over and flicked the Kyuubey's forehead, causing it to shake of it's annoyed head. "For shame, and all to prove your wish granting skills."
The Kyuubey tilted its head and closed its eyes, "But I can grant your wish."
Montmorency held up a placating hand, calming the irate Louise. "I'm sure he was just trying to comfort me." Louise relented, the little Kyuubey really didn't know any better. "To answer your question little Kyuubey, I have no wish right now, I still need to think of one." The two girls shared a glance, better not call the little thing on its boasts of wish granting skills. The poor thing didn't need any more punishment.
Kyuubey jumped back over to the bed and flopped over, realizing it wasn't going to get to grant a wish tonight. "You humans can be so odd."
Montmorency giggled as she collected her things, grabbing her frog from the dresser, she made for Louise's door. "I'll see you tomorrow Louise, for breakfast?" Louise smiled and nodded to her friend, and the girl left, her frog ribbiting from her bag was the last they heard before the door closed.
Louise finished her nightly ritual, preparing her things for the following day, dressing down into her pajamas, and giving her familiar a quick pet. It wasn't long before Louise moved to extinguish her light. With a smile, Louise climbed into bed, and drifted off to sleep.
Or she would have, if not for three solid raps on her door. Who could it be this late at night? She had just been about to fall asleep! Taking care not to wake her familiar, Louise quietly pulled on a pair of panties and grabbed her robe. Lighting a candle, Louise carried the light over to the door and opened it, revealing Miss Longueville, the headmaster's secretary. "My apologies for the lateness Miss Valliere," she began, "but the headmaster was quite insistent you be brought to his office. He's not too happy about the duel."
Louise froze, she had thought she'd gotten off without punishment since she had barely harmed Guiche physically; but apparently the headmaster just took a few days to hear of it. Panic subsided into resignation, and Louise weakly smiled, "I'll just get dressed. One moment."
Miss Longueville grabbed the door lightly, stopping Louise from closing it. "That's..." She paused, looking slightly anxious. "We should hurry. The Headmaster is in a foul mood and he best not be kept waiting."
Louise took a moment to process the statement, then nodded. Dueling was grounds for expulsion, even bloodless duels were technically subject to that rule, and this late at night the headmaster was likely to be grumpy. It would be best to not keep him waiting. "Okay." Louise meekly agreed, and followed the secretary out of her room.
The two wound their way through the corridors of the school. It took a moment for Louise to realize they were not heading toward the headmasters office. Worried about the implications, Louise spoke up, "Miss Longueville, where are we going?"
The secretary looked over her shoulder at Louise and offered a comforting smile. "This is a less traveled way to the headmaster's office, it avoids any place students like to retreat to during the night. I thought you wouldn't want to be seen by a boy out passed his curfew."
Sighing with relief, Louise relaxed as they turned down another corridor. Miss Longueville was a rather kind lady. They were passing down yet another lonely corridor when Louise heard something squeak.
It was so faint that Louise believed she had misheard. Louise almost collided with the secretary leading her when Miss Longueville stopped abruptly in front of a pair of double doors. "Why are we stopping?" Louise inquired.
Miss Longueville offered another comforting smile and said, "I think I heard something." The squeak came again, this time Louise was sure she heard it. The noise was coming from beyond the double doors. Drawing her wand, the secretary pulled open the door. Peering inside, Louise dropped her candle at the sight that greeted her.
Bound in rope and gagged, Montmorency squeaked through her cloth filled mouth at Louise, fear in her eyes as she recognized her friend. "Oh that's right!" A mocking voice came from behind Louise. "I left a hostage in this room." The secretary's voice sent chills up Louise's spine. On instinct, Louise's hand darted for her wand, only to find her pocket empty. Whirling on the secretary, Louise found her own wand in the fiend's off hand. "Ah, I should mention I'm a master thief, so pickpocketing really is child's play."
Louise's next instinct was to scream, only for her mouth to be blocked by a earthen hand. The floor erupted with animated stone hands. Grasping the struggling Louise firmly. Even screaming with all her might, only a small squeak escaped. Her squeak joined Montmorency's own as they tried to summon help. Dammit, where was an invisible familiar when you needed one!? "Oh do stop that children. I've already placed an enchantment to soundproof this room." The secretary drawled out, annoyed at their struggles.
The older woman just closed the doors to the room and leaned against them, waiting for her two captives to tire out. It took a couple minutes, but the two bound girls eventually were reduced to panting though their noses, tired from constantly trying to call for help. "Now that I have your attention." Longueville began, meeting Louise's eyes. To the girl's credit, Longueville would have been dead several times over if looks could kill. "I'll introduce myself. Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth, at your service." The thief bowed theatrically, enjoying the moment.
Louise was shocked, she had heard of Fouquet, the great thief who plagued many a noble, but for such a figure to be here, at her own academy, the headmaster's secretary no less! Sensing recognition in Louise's eyes, Fouquet continued. "Ah, my reputation precedes me. Then I supposed I can skip the speeches." Gesturing with her wand, Fouquet caused the stone floor to grow up and around Montmorency. The flowing stone grasped her head and forced it to the ground, then began rising above her. The stone formed into a small tower, its shape caused Louise to freeze with fear. A transmuted stone guillotine held her friend's struggling neck in its grasp.
Louise whipped her eyes back to Fouquet, struggling anew against her bindings. "Mph Mmph!" She screamed in fury.
With a sigh, Fouquet waved off the pointless efforts of her captive. "Relax, I'm not about to kill her as long as you do a little something for me." Louise paused, willing to do anything to save her friend. Fouquet smiled at Louise's relent. This plan might work after all. "I'll put it simply," she began, "I need something from the school vault. You are going to help me get it. Try anything funny, and I forget to keep levitating that nice stone blade. Simple right?" Louise searched the thief for any falsehood, but found none. Relenting, Louise nodded as best she could, eliciting another smile from their captor. "Now I'm going to let you go now. I have to concentrate to keep your friend there alive, so don't do anything surprising, or I might slip up. you understand."
Nodding once again, Louise felt the stone hands grasping her release and fade back into the floor. Soon, she stood on her own power. "Just what do you want me to do." She asked meekly, fear for her friend evident in her voice.
Fouquet smiled a wicked grin. "See that wall?" She gestured to the wall opposite Montmorency. "Beyond that is the vault. I hear you can do some odd things with transmutations. I want you to open the way."
Louise stood stock still. The walls to the school vault were enchanted with square level protection charms. For her failures to bypass them; was this thief mad? "I can't possibly-"
"You better hope you can little girl." The thief interrupted, her intent clear. Fouquet held out Louise's wand, only to hold it back momentarily when Louise made to grab it. "No funny business, okay?" Louise quickly nodded, not trusting her voice, and grabbed her wand.
A squeak from behind her drew Louise's gaze to her endangered friend. Montmorency's eyes were wide with fear. Trying to summon enough courage for the two of them, Louise forced a smile, "Don't worry, I can do this."
With her friend and her enemy at her back, Louise strode up to the wall adjoining the school vault. If there was ever a time Louise wished for destruction it was now. She focused everything she had on the wall in front of her. Transmute all of it. Destroy everything before her. "Rin EX Cal." she chanted. With one final incantation, Louise poured everything she had, everything she could ever have, into the spell before her.
"Please work!"
The resounding crash that exploded out before her was unlike anything Louise had summoned before. The wall before her ceased to be. The wall beyond that, ceased to be. The mountains themselves would have woken to the tremendous sound of the explosion. Dumbstruck, Louise could only stare though the rapidly clearing smoke. What looked like what was used to be the vault was before her, only now it was a vault with no walls. The inner walls were destroyed, and a large hole had been ripped in the thick outer wall, revealing the night sky.
Fouquet plucked Louise's wand from her hand. "That is amazing." The thief admitted. "And they call you a failure? Ever consider a career in safe-cracking?" Louise snapped back to her senses, reeling toward Montmorency, only to be stopped as those damn transmuted hands rose up to grasp her. "Ah, can't have you causing any more of a ruckus." The thief stepped into the vault, looking around for whatever she came for.
Louise forced her head toward the thief, struggling against her animated bindings. "Mmph! Mmph!" She cried out, trying to remind the thief of her word.
Fouquet looked back at her captives and sighed. "Ah, well I know I promised you one thing. But you know... Witnesses." Louise felt a pit of fear well up in her stomach as the thief nonchalantly shrugged. "Sorry, but you two have to die." Shaking her head, the thief raised her wand. Was this it? Louise had just begun to live!
A small noise drew the thief's attention downward as her foot brushed up against some more ruble. "Ah!" She exclaimed, bending down and drawing out a battered box from below the broken pieces of wall. "Still in one piece, how lucky!" Fouquet hugged the chest sized box happily. With a sigh, the thief realized it was time to finish up. Turning back to her captives, Fouquet prepared to finish the job, only to pause when she found them looking far happier then they should be. "Ah, don't think I'll be sharing the spoils with you girls."
"Air bullet."
A soft voice alerted Fouquet to a new party. On instinct, the thief threw herself to the side. A ball of magically compressed air soared beyond her and impacted the now useless treasury doors. As she rolled, Fouquet saw a second ball of air crash into the guillotine threatening her hostages life, shattering the stone construct. Whirling to her feet, the thief found a hovering dragon outside the newly created vault 'window'. This girl was a student, Tabitha if Fouquet remembered correctly. "It's been less than a minute! How are you already here!" The thief complained, pointing her own wand in return to Tabitha's staff.
"Calm night, good for flying practice." Tabitha replied sternly, looking for an opening.
The standoff was tense, each ready to counterspell the other. Though they both new time was on Tabitha's side, she had to only wait for help to arrive. In a gamble, Fouqet dived toward Louise, sending a wall of ruble to intercept Tabitha's casted wind. Louise felt her bindings falter as Fouquet's willpower was divided. Never so thankful for her small frame. With all her might she wriggled from the grasp of the earthen hands and whirled on the oncoming thief.
With no wand, Louise could only lash out a the thief. With one hand grasping her wand, and the other cradling her prize, Fouquet was at a disadvantage when Louise grasped grasped her wand hand, ripping the magical foci from her. "You little brat!" Fouquet hissed lashing out and slapping Louise across the cheek, sending the girl whirling. Dropping her prize, Fouquet grabbed the Louise's arm and hauled her toward her as a body shield.
None to soon, as Tabitha was already off her dragon and closing the distance between them. Withdrawing Louise's wand from her pocket, Fouquet pointed it at her shield's temple. Tabitha's staff froze inches from Fouquets face. Both mages read each other sternly, incantations on their lips. "Want to see what bullet is faster? Your air or my stone?" The hovering pebble inches from Louise's temple trembled with unreleased magic.
The tension could have been cut with a knife. Moments passed like hours as Tabitha studied the thief, until finally, the small girl lowered her staff and took a step back. Smiling, Fouquet muttered an incantation. Stone hands wrapped themselves around Louise and the box on the ground. "Now I'm going to leave here with my hostage, and you are going to stay here with that lovely lady there." Fouquet gestured to the still bound Montmorency. "Are we clear?"
"Clear." Tabitha replied.
Louise found herself moving as the hand spouted numerous legs and began plodding toward the window. A sharp glance from Fouquet was all that was needed for Tabitha to signal her dragon to retreat. "I salute you, young student. Tonight you almost caught Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth." With that, Fouquet jumped out the window, towing her prize and Louise with her.
Tabitha rushed to the window, fearing the worst. However, a rapidly forming giant stone golem greeted her. Its right hand grasping a struggling Louise, and its shoulder supporting a triumphant looking thief. "The girl dies if I catch you following!" Fouquet called out, willing her golem to turn and retreat toward the countryside. The last thing Tabitha heard from the thief was triumphant laughter.
Aboard the golem, Louise watched as her home away from home disappeared into the night. Captive, wandless, and in her pajamas, she held back fearful tears.