19. BRIGHT IDEA
Violet stood in the sparse training room some days later, her back to the enchanting table. Helghast leaned against the wall and crossed his arms with an attitude conveying: this better be worth my time. However, he could see that Violet wasn't nervous, rather, she was excited, so he twisted his head toward the far wall:
"Alright, show me."
Violet raised her arms slowly, bending her elbows as she turned her wrists. The somatic technique resulted in her effusing more electricity, the purple sparkling from both hands before she pushed them out together, a condensed shot rocketing out and hitting the wall with a loud bang. They stood in silence for a while and then Violet couldn't help smiling, marveling at her new skill.
Helghast smirked, "Excellent."
"It really is, isn't it?" Violet's words were tripping over each other, "I've only been at it for a week, I didn't think this would even be possible!"
Helghast pushed off the wall and paced while he contemplated, "Well, you exhausted twenty times the lifeforce you should have for that one shot. But that's to be expected. You'll need to work on energy output, also speed."
"It looked plenty fast to me."
"Sure, but no soldier worth their weapon is going to charge a mage head on, especially not while they're powering up. Imagine doing what you did there to a moving target, or multiple."
Violet paused, "Suppose that was a bit showy, wasn't it?"
"Indeed. But the raw power is there, and I'm very impressed by it." He approached her, arms behind his back in that important posture of his. "But the psychological block isn't fully gone."
"How can you tell?"
"I just can. At any rate… it's not interfering so much at your current level, so I believe I'll be able to train you. I'm freeing up my schedule this afternoon, and we're going to use the room where the guards do their drills."
Violet nodded, swelling with gratitude, "Thank you."
He gave an indulgent nod and walked off. Violet felt her smile begin to fall. She'd heard about how terrible Helghast was from his own soldiers: his involvement in various wars and the slave labour driving his operations. Even if he was helping her get stronger, she really shouldn't be abiding any of that. But what could she do to stop it anyway?
Well, if she wanted a purpose outside of getting stronger, she could think of how to expose him and liberate the thousands of testificates who'd been uprooted from their homes. Violet heard Helghast's footsteps echoing down the walkway and her head snapped up. She walked quickly from the room, the hem of her dress swishing against her legs.
She'd tried talking to the quiet servants, and then she'd got to know the friendlier guards. If any of them did hate Helghast they were keeping it to themselves. Despite the large number of people involved in his operations, there'd been no whistle blowers. Violet supposed that everyone here was kept cut off from dimensional travel so nobody could send a signal out if they wanted to: 'hey, I'm here!'. In theory, all it would take is one message to the kingdom of a populous world and then armies would descend on whatever realm it came from, such was Helghast's infamy.
If all his soldiers were crooks, it made sense they'd only be interested in helping themselves. As for the servants, they were probably worried about their families and fellows that were still on their homeworlds. Neither would help her. Prisoners might, but according to the guards the cells in the palace were all empty. It seemed like the guards really did serve little purpose here, except for maybe intimidating the servants. Or - Violet realised at that moment - they were probably there to put up just enough fight against an invading force that Helghast could escape.
If she did want to stop him permanently, it'd require more careful planning than she'd thought.
Dangerous though it may be, Violet had dedicated much of her life to studying and admiring testificates. Their mistreatment was the most salient issue, and so her goal would have two ends in view: Power to be stronger, and also power to stop him. Between the training and reading, her next order of business would be to figure out where Helghast sent the majority of his prisoners. If anyone would be willing to aid her, it'd be them. Crossing over to that world would then constitute another problem….
After lunch, and before she was to be called for her training lesson with Helghast, Violet was practising her sword fighting against Lydia. A pack of soldiers were watching as they clashed, steel blurring. They were fully armoured and actively trying not to get each other in the face. Lydia's hair was in a honey-blonde ponytail, swishing under her helmet as she battered away Violet's strikes, biting her lip and sweat dewing her brows.
"Alright!" After a strong parry Lydia stepped back and called for a pause. They were both panting. "You're quite good."
"I am?"
"You don't do training halfway, do you? Your style's vicious."
Violet looked at the men watching who didn't comment, some sipping from bottles of ale.
Violet looked back to her, "Are you sure you guys aren't just rusty?"
Lydia shrugged and said nothing.
"Suppose in a real fight it'd be life or death," Violet continued, "no point training any other way. That's how I see it." And as she'd already explained to their open-mouthed faces some days ago, most of her training came from wild illagers. "You good to continue?"
Lydia nodded and spread her feet, swishing her hand for Violet to approach. Violet crouched into a stance that was tighter and lower to the ground. Then she sprang and their swords collided, muscles straining and the clashes hurting their ears. One of the men made bread appear in his hands, he broke it and passed pieces around, then they were all eating as they watched the fight.
After a while Lydia called it quits and Violet was next practising against the bearded Paul. A few minutes later their captain marched in:
"Clear the room, lads. The master wishes to use it for training."
It seemed an odd request, but on hearing that it was Helghast's order they all spared no time hopping up and clearing away all mess. The room was suddenly bustling with activity. Violet stepped over to the captain and he noticed her.
"That means you too…" He looked closer and realised he didn't know her.
Violet took her helmet off, "I'm the one Helghast wants to train in here. He's teaching me magic."
He was unsure whether she was a liar or if she outranked him, "...and who are you, exactly?"
"I'm Violet. Suppose I'm an apprentice," she watched him nod, "and his prisoner." With that offsetting her, he understood her rank balanced approximately equal to his.
"Well best of luck with your training, Violet." He was almost genuine. Behind him the last of the soldiers scrambled away, those who knew her shot encouraging farewell glances over their shoulders. The captain marched out too.
Violet stood alone in the spruce wooden room, she turned around and stared again at all the training dummies, the benches and racks lined with weapons. She started to remove her armour, moving to go set it on a stand.
She was slipping out of the diamond sabatons when Helghast strode in. He frowned, and she wondered if he preferred being first in the room whenever meeting someone. Violet hurriedly removed the last of her armour then approached him, resting her hands over her lap. He eyed the clothes she'd worn on her expatriation, the linen shirt and cargo shorts, now clean.
Helghast frowned again, "I'll have to find you more changes of clothes."
Another burst of discomfort; she nodded.
Helghast pulled something from his pocket and walked over to a dummy in the room. It was a case of aloe gel, he used it to fingerpaint a symbol before moving on and repeating the action on the others. Violet guessed it was something to protect the equipment in here, but she was surprised when Helghast clicked his boots together, curled a hand against his chest, and a glow lit up the dummies and they all started twitching to life.
"Oh wow…"
"This exercise will assist you with improving your timing as well as conserving energy. You should only be able to generate enough charge to stun the mannequins because you'll be moving throughout."
"Because I'll be running laps?" Violet tried without much hope.
"Because they'll be chasing you."
She took a breath to collect herself and readied for it. Thank goodness she wasn't wearing the dress. The dolls were faceless and wooden, and they took shuddering steps toward her, the clear gel on their chests now shone lime-green. Violet readied her magic and her body, then she took off running toward the basic obstacle course that included a ramp, a balancing pole, and sandbags that surely Helghast would animate into swinging at her. The dummies gave chase, slowly at first but picking up speed. Violet focused on building a charge - it was harder while moving - and unleashed it when a dummy was just a foot away from her. It flew back and she ducked as one swiped at her head with its wooden arm. She jumped away, fists and teeth clenched.
"Good work," Helghast praised lazily. "You'll want to maintain enough distance to charge some magic."
A mannequin jumped and Violet darted to the side then ran with all four chasing her. She spun back with electricity crackling only to shriek and extinguish it because the nearest one was too close. It jumped to tackle her and she evaded. The next one was also too close so she took a pre-wrestling stance she'd learned when fighting without weapons: Her arms out front to knock the enemy's away. She managed to keep the wooden limbs from whacking her. Helghast examined her with a frown. The other two dummies were converging and the one behind her was back on its feet.
She ducked under their arms and ran through. She needed enough distance to generate smaller bolts, like Helghast said. She got to the far side of the room and turned, her left and then right hand charged up. She released two consecutive bolts, knocking over the outer two while the middle pair rushed her thoughtlessly. It was as much about dodging as practicing magic. With her focus divided she knew this would be some exercise.
Afterwards, Violet didn't feel like a success. Her electric attacks were much weaker in a tense situation. She couldn't focus on garnering magic, aiming and firing along with the other stuff: like not getting hit in the face or dying. Instead of the more expansive methodology she would be practicing basic electromancy under pressure, well that was practical too. Violet sported bruises, but that wasn't anything new for her. Compared to earlier training with wooden swords these injuries were nothing.
The training itself was over but Helghast wasn't finished with her, instead he was now leading her through a repository full of enchanted equipment. Everything was glowing different colours but now that Violet understood it was just a special vision of hers, she could will it away and back again. When the colours died down she was surrounded by normal clutter. How odd that her magic vision was automatic, needing to be willed off instead of on.
Helghast was showing her robes, swords and necklaces. These items could augment a mage's power and control, but her ability to utilise them was still dependent on her. At one point Helghast vanished through a doorway to fetch something and Violet was left alone momentarily. She stared at all the glimmering items around her before spying a pedestal. On it was an open book and its sketches caught her eye.
She wandered over, the archaic art seemed to be detailing necromancy. When Violet peered closer she realised all the figures were monsters. This was some kind of advanced spell that increased monster spawning in a region. Probably useful for conquering areas by weakening their defences. Most populated worlds had done away with the issue of monsters spawning every night by setting up vast magical perimeters around cities, it was just like building a plumbing network in terms of the scale and necessity. Was a spell like this designed to override a city's monster protection at night?
It should come as no surprise that after Violet's first week of expatriation, Helghast had been responsible for the unnaturally vast numbers that had spawned when she rescued Tobias from that witch. That had been practice for him, before he felt confident offering the service to whichever relevant warmonger he was doing business with.
She heard Helghast's footsteps returning so she moved back and tried to control her expression.
He showed her a stretch of dark red jewels on a necklace, probably garnets.
"They won't look nice with your dress, but I can find you something else to go with them."
The corner of his lips turned down as he examined her work clothes once more. She sensed a tacit stipulation. Violet suddenly wondered if she'd have less bruises if she'd dressed the way he liked. She turned around and lifted her hair, let him tie the clasp of the necklace. She could feel a humming power permeate her lifeforce pool, the way the energies interacted was curious. It'd take practice, but Violet thought she could make it work for her. Helghast took her by the arms and turned her to a mirror.
"What do you think?"
Violet tried to ignore the feel of his breath on her ear, she reached up to touch a large jewel. They were quite gaudy, but if the crystals were designed to help with magic control they probably had to be.
"They're… nice."
He frowned in the reflection before smiling again, "You're not very impressed by fine things, are you Violet?"
"I suppose not."
"Well, learn how to practise with this. You can train where you like but don't destroy my property. You'll still need to reimburse me for that vase." His burning eyes were entertained as she pursed her lips in guilt. He turned away then, out of the mirror's frame. "I'll be back in a few days to check your progress."
She walked out after him and they parted, taking the corridor in opposite directions.
The next day more boxes were delivered to her door. The manservant saw her expression and looked apologetic when the colour drained from her face. Violet had opened one of them and lifted another elegant fanciful number, this one jet-black. Opening her door to presents was like being courted by a wealthy, overly-enthusiastic lover.
"Helghast has also instructed you wear this," still apologetic, he extended a square box to her.
"What is it?"
"Perfume."
She snatched it, overcome by discomfort, then bent down to pick up the stack of boxes and carried them all in a heap to her desk. The servant let her be. Violet opened all the boxes so she could seethe at each item together. She'd probably return to her room one day to find her work clothes thrown away. For a mad second she contemplated making her own clothes by cutting up all these and stitching together an abomination, but she wasn't that talented with a needle.
She sat down with a sigh and then noticed something she did like: a simple, albeit shimmering cloak and hood. She'd feel much less uncomfortable in whatever she was wearing with that on top. Reaching for the string of jewels that were still on her neck, she wondered which outfit was supposed to complement them. Nothing here was red. She took the black dress and carried it to her wardrobe mirror and stared. She supposed the colours together did something to her eyes, and maybe that was the point.
Reluctantly Violet got changed and then stood once more before the mirror. She was not as graceful as these clothes suggested. She tried lifting her arm slowly, tried to be fluid with the motion, but it seemed jerky and awkward instead. The kind of woman Helghast probably liked was one who knew how to hold herself, how to stand or pose in a way that embodied grace. A woman who's meant to be looked at. It was a quality she didn't have. Violet was smart and good with her hands, she wasn't good at being the centre of attention, or under a spotlight. She couldn't be what Helghast wanted, but while reaching for the perfume box she supposed she had to try.
There was no chance of fooling such an astute man with any feminine wiles, but she didn't want him losing interest in her altogether.
Violet flung the cloak over and felt a bit better. Also, the perfume seemed 'mature' enough for her to not mind it. She headed out and took the stairs down.
Training with the crystals took some practice, but she soon found she could recharge and shoot lightning faster than before. She practised for a few hours, and then her excess lifeforce was almost used up, so she left to find her soldier companions instead. She found a pair lingering at a corner and after they complemented her on her new cloak, they led her to a turret in the castle wall where a lot of them frequented. She'd learnt that the guards had a predilection for tomfoolery. This turret was popular because hidden behind a shelf full of maps and parchment, there was a fold-out stand and board, one side for chess and the other for backgammon. Games were played in here and it seemed Helghast wasn't aware. The glass beads used for their end-of-the-month bets had likely been sourced from jars in one of the more cluttered storerooms on the ground level.
"That's a beautiful cloak," Lydia pulled it up to look over the material. Violet didn't mind so long as they didn't notice the silly dress she was wearing beneath it. "Mister Helghast gave you this?"
"Yes," Violet said with chagrin.
The men all looked at each other.
"D'ya suppose he fancies you?" Stevens asked.
"No. Not for who I am, anyway." She was overcome by a nervous thought, "Have you guys… seen Helghast here with women?"
"No," Paul said honestly and the others shook their heads.
That was a relief. Allowing him to dress her was as much as she could bear. How terrible it'd be if she was expected to share a romantic dinner with him. Thankfully he was busy and frequently away, and their interactions were limited to her training sessions.
"Helghast has been training you, hasn't he?" Lydia caught her train of thought, it seemed. "What's he teaching you?"
Violet smiled enthusiastically, "Would you like to see?"
They dragged one of the chairs to the middle of the walkway. It was wooden and would make for a fine illustrative example of her progress. It was also brittle from being relegated the position of outdoor chair. They'd toss the wreckage down the ravine later.
The soldiers were watching eagerly from the turret's archway. Violet smiled at them before facing forward, purple raced down her forearm then she zapped a chair leg. It broke and the chair spun up several times before crashing back down. A few of the men clapped.
"Wow, magic. You're a mage."
"I always had the talent for it. But it's only now I've started to learn," Violet replied.
At that Bruce, the man with the deep resonant voice, slammed down his bottle of ale and stood. "That's Helghast's lightning, isn't it? Mind helping me check something, Violet?"
"Um," she was immediately nervous, "check what?"
Some men were shaking their heads and turning away while others chuckled. Bruce walked out and stood by the wreckage of the chair, he lowered himself a bit and swished his hand at her.
"What? You're joking?" Violet heard Lydia snicker from behind her.
"Just a small one," Bruce insisted.
"I'm very new at this. What if you die?" Violet remained alarmed.
"Just zap him," someone yelled. "Think of it as practice."
Bruce wasn't letting up so Violet shook her head in defeat. She'd not tried to make a weak lightning bolt yet, but she supposed she had to try. She raised her arm and focused on her invisible lifeforce, directing a small amount to her hand. She tried to do what she could with it, like moulding with a much smaller piece of clay. She mentally spread the magic around and then electricity was dancing between her fingers. It seemed diluted.
Bruce tensed but Violet was still the most worried one there. She imagined pulling from a space in the centre of his cuirass, then she released and a bolt of purple hit him and he growled as it raced over his body. He curled over and fell forward.
The others were silent and Violet was horrified. After a few seconds Bruce got back up, grunting and breathing hard but he gave a thumbs up. The soldiers roared with laughter and Violet was momentarily relieved before frowning again.
"Bit much for you?" Someone heckled.
"Would love to see you give it a try, Paul."
"I'm right thanks."
Bruce swished his hand again, promising her, "This time I'll stay on my feet."
"This is very childish!" Violet snapped.
"Not a lot else to do here," Lydia said before picking up Bruce's bottle and swigging it.
Violet took a steadying breath and tried to reign in her frustration. She willed another small amount of lightning to her hand and it bathed her in purple. She took aim at her willing target before firing.
Bruce gave a long grunt of pain… but remained standing. His friends cheered him. Violet crossed her arms over her chest.
"We're not done yet."
As little as Violet wanted to contribute to the silly display of manliness, it was teaching her to curb her usage of lifeforce. If she could figure out how to do more with less, she wouldn't be exhausting so much of it like Helghast said she was. So they continued. Violet was admittedly tempted to strengthen her bolts, knock Bruce on his butt and end the charade, but she was too nervous to try. What if she fried him like the chair? It was still sitting there on its side with a leg burnt off.
Eventually Stevens agreed to being her target as well, so they could make a contest out of it. Probably what Bruce had wanted. Stevens kept his helmet on and seemed more nervous than Bruce had been, but determined not to scream. Violet just shook her head then shot him.
He did shout but maintained it as a manly sort of growl. He stayed on his feet too. They looked at each other; the challenge was on.
"Hit him with a stronger one, Violet. He's got to catch up to me."
Lydia put her feet up. Paul shook his head, "If they're not tryna be the last to drink the other under a table, it's something like this."
"You know I don't actually enjoy hurting people!" Violet said, exasperated.
"Sure you do, love." Stevens waved at her to shoot.
"Get him," Bruce encouraged.
Violet suppressed a growl and fired another bolt. Stevens gasped and fell to one knee. Bruce immediately pointed and started laughing.
The soldiers started to gather around as the competition heated up. It all came to a dead stop when they heard a dreadfully familiar voice.
"What in mod's name is happening here?" Helghast had returned earlier than expected.
They all faced him and froze. Unfortunately, one of the men was in the process of opening a new bottle of mead and the froth spat out and splattered noisily against their feet. He was too scared to try to stanch it.
"Um…" Violet couldn't think of what to say. She probably looked like a nutter for allowing this.
"Violet, follow me," Helghast whipped around and stalked off.
She dipped her head in shame, following quickly. They set foot indoors, and Violet felt terribly embarrassed. She couldn't think of anything to say. Helghast was not someone who would tolerate juvenile antics like that on his premises.
"Good to be reminded of what exactly my guard get up to while I'm away," he grumbled.
Violet was swayed by pity for them, "They're just bored! It's not their fault… there's nothing on this world apart from your castle, right?"
"I know, Violet. Who do you think supplies them their mead?" He said and she blinked forward. "Still, it's important they maintain the veneer of disciplined soldiers. Otherwise I'll have to shorten the turnover here."
Violet frowned at her feet, she was still guilty over what he'd seen and was waiting for him to broach it.
After a few seconds Helghast spoke again, "Still… I didn't expect to find you testing your electromancy against my guards."
Violet almost told him it wasn't her idea, but she didn't want to get his guards in any more trouble. Instead she shook her head, "I'm sorry."
"Testing your powers against living targets is actually not a bad idea..."
She didn't like where that line of thinking was headed, "Oh? You sure?"
"There's only so much our normal sort of training can do for you."
"Well… why not give your men the job of training me when you're away? I can practise my sword fighting against them too that way."
He glanced down with a look that showed he didn't care much about her sword fighting. But he was coming around to the idea. Violet was sure he could tell what she was doing: trying to keep the others out of trouble and avoid having to do anything garish like torturing prisoners he picked out for her. Violet waited and saw him make up his mind.
"Fine. Next time I might come back to see more progress from you… and less of that."
Violet just nodded, her ears burning red and not feeling like she'd be able to lift her head again any time soon.
。。。
【AN: 'Nother day, 'nother update. So I think I mathed wrong again, but whatever I'm committed to finishing this pretty soon-ish.】