Andorra Academy—Part Two (Patreon)

This story was brought to you by the Tuan'diath Exzircon, in cooperation with Thunder King, who requested a short story about their custom characters attending the Caldenian magic academy.

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          When Ex handed in his harness to a referee he found Meridias sulking in the corner. She looked about as upset as he’d ever seen her. “Hey, Mere,” he said as he sat down next to her. “I didn’t see you in there today. I take it things didn’t go that well?”

          “I d-didn’t kill anyone!” she sobbed. “Another zero. They’ll send me home for sure!”

          Ex patted her on the back and was careful not to apply too much weight as he did so. She didn’t wince out in pain so he considered it a success. He felt like he was getting better at that. “You know, this is just one school,” he said. “You’re not much of a combat wizard anyway. You should apply to Denicus in the fall if they send you home. They’d appreciate you way more.”

          She rubbed her eyes dry with her sleeve and took a deep breath. “No, I think I’ll just have to head back home and work for my dad. I already applied at Denicus and got rejected. They said they hit their quota on lithomancers and won’t be taking any more in until next year.”

          These elves. Always so concerned about things that didn’t matter. “You’ve got a long life ahead of you, Mere. Even if you do get kicked out it won’t be the end of the world.”

          Meridias looked down at her lap and picked at an errant thread in her sleeve. “Sure, I’ll just live a thousand years as a book salesman.” She rolled her eyes. “Yay me!” The sarcasm was thick.

          Ex huffed out a breath. He wasn’t getting through to her. “You can’t define your entire self-worth on something as—”

          “Hi guys!” someone yelled quite loudly. Ex looked up to see TK’s thick, pale form approaching them hesitantly. He was far too big to do the “timid” thing justice, but it looked like he was trying. He had his dirty blond hair pulled back in his usual style which formed a small bun on the top of his head but allowed the bottom half to hang free to just below his neck. His wide mouth and bright green eyes looked happy to see them in spite of himself. Or Meridias, anyway. It was clear he had a thing for the girl. He had a few punctures in his blue uniform but it seemed he’d somehow avoided having his plate destroyed.

          “Oh gods,” Ex complained, “he’s louder than ever.”

          TK barreled on like he hadn’t heard Ex’s comment and made no attempt to quiet himself. Probably he hadn’t. Whether from sonamancy feedback or just plain loud noise it seemed TK was on the verge of complete deafness. “I just wanted to say sorry about what happened in there,” he yelled.

          “Oh?” Ex asked. “What happened?” He’d certainly heard dozens of TK’s annoying Thunderbangs, or whatever they were called, while the matches were still ongoing. He’d been sure to keep to the opposite side of the square. It was hard to stand near the juvenile sonamancer and not get caught in one of his shockwaves. Even if they didn’t hurt you they could certainly break the ceramic plate that kept a student in the game.

          “What?” TK practically shouted. “You’ll have to speak up. You’re really quiet!”

          Ex shared a look with Meridias. She seemed sympathetic to the annoyance that was bubbling under the surface. “What happened?” Ex asked, much louder this time.

          TK drew his brows together. “She didn’t tell you? I accidentally eliminated her. I guess she was standing right next to me and I didn’t even know it.” He laughed to himself, but neither Mere nor Ex joined in.

          “Oh, so you got that spell to work?” Ex asked Mere.

          She nodded. “It only worked when they got close, so people kept coming over to investigate, then forgetting what they were doing.”

          “Funny, huh?” TK shouted. “I guess that spell of hers really worked after all. Too good, if you ask me.”

          Ex closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “I can’t do this,” he said. “I think he’s giving me a headache.”

          “What?” TK asked again. “You’ll have to speak up.”

          Ex looked around desperately. More students like themselves were still milling around the entrance to Battle Training. Only a few referees were close by collecting undamaged plates and hanging them up on a rack or dropping the broken ones down in a pile. Ex waved his arm until he got the attention of one of them. The older elf—a brunette with skin only a few shades lighter than Ex’s own—waved to let him know she saw him and headed over shortly.

          “Congratulations out there, today!” she said with a smile when she reached the trio. “I heard you stayed hidden again today, Ex! Two more rounds and you’ll break the school record.” She gave him a wink. “I know you can do it!”

          TK looked between them and lowered one eyebrow in obvious confusion. “What?” he shouted again. “You’re talking way too quiet.” Meridias actually broke her sullen mood to laugh at this.

          Ex jabbed a thumb at TK. “That’s what I called you over for. I think our friend here is in need of some healing.” Before TK could open his mouth for another inane “what,” Ex shouted loud enough for him to hear. “We’re getting you a healer! To fix your ears.”

          TK cupped his hands over his ears. “Oh, shit! Is something wrong with them?”

          The referee whose name Ex didn’t actually know just chuckled at the rich boy’s confusion. “I’ll be right back!” she promised.

          “You should really be more careful,” Meridias told TK. She stood up and brushed herself off. Ex was amazed how fast she was able to bounce back from the abject misery she’d been awash in just minutes ago. She pointed to her own ears to indicate. “With your hearing,” she clarified.

          TK nodded his understanding. “Yeah, it kinda goes with the territory,” he shouted. “But I totally took out Faernyl today, so I think it was worth it.”

          When the referee returned, Ex was surprised to see her stroll up with someone he’d been keeping his eye on for a while: the Dean of Students. He didn’t make a lot of appearances among the student body. From what Ex had been able to gather it seemed he popped out about once a week to make some kind of appearance where a lot of people would see him doing his job, but beyond that, his secretaries handled most of his day-to-day responsibilities. For someone supposedly working in administration he sure spent a lot of time going in and out of the Research building.

          He had skin so pale he nearly looked eldrin with black, well-combed hair that stood in stark contrast. He was shaking hands and patting students on the back as he worked his way towards them. A pair of dangerous-looking combat wizards followed him around everywhere he went. Ex made a mental note of their presence. It was unusual that Caldenia would commit resources to the defense of this random school administrator while they were in the midst of a war. TK and Meridias followed Ex’s gaze and saw the dean coming their way. “Oh, shoot!” Mere said. “He’s coming over to tell me I’m expelled, I just know it!”

          “No,” Ex said quietly, “I think he’s going to fix TK’s ears.”

          Meridias cocked her head to the side and gave Ex a curious look. “I didn’t know he was a visceramancer. How did you know that?”

          It was his job to know. “Umm, I…” he was saved from answering when the Dean reached them.

          “Mister Koarin!” he said loudly. Apparently he’d been briefed about the hearing loss. “I heard you were our highest scorer today. A fine feat, boy! You’ll make a fantastic wizard some day!”

          TK seemed to take the meeting in stride. It was likely the privilege of his upbringing had him rubbing shoulders with people far more influential than one academy’s dean. “Just trying to do right by my father’s name, sir,” TK said respectfully as they shook hands. TK’s hand swallowed that of the smaller man. He stopped and blinked. “Oh! I can hear again!”

          The dean let out a hacking cough of a laugh. “Right you are, boy. Clareen here told me about your hearing. All that damage you do to yourself, but you don’t let that stand in the way of victory, do you, boy?”

          TK smiled. “No, sir. As my father always says, the enemy won’t care if you’re injured, so you better care less than them.”

          “A smart man, a smart man indeed,” the dean agreed. He gave TK a few affectionate pats on the forearm and released him. “Well, I have to be going. Keep up the good work, Mister Koarin, and I’m sure you’ll do your family proud.”

          The dean and his hangers-on made their departure. None of them spared a second glance for Ex or Meridias. “Well that was cool!” TK said when they were alone again. “I wonder why the dean came by.”

          “He usually at least makes an appearance at one of the weekly Battle Training skirmishes,” Ex said. Too late he realized he was volunteering too much information. TK probably wouldn’t realize, but he didn’t need Meridias asking too many questions. She was too smart to underestimate.

          “Well I’m done for the day,” Meridias announced. “I just want to head back to the dorms and take a nap.”

          “Classes are done for the week,” Ex said. “You can take as long a nap as you want as far as I’m concerned.” He didn’t bother saying goodbye to TK, just turned and started walking toward the dorms. “Coming?” he asked Meridias.

          “Where are you guys going?” TK asked. Ex noticed the young elf kept making eyes at him. The thought that TK considered him a threat to his mating prospects only amused Ex. He may not have considered her that way, but that didn’t mean he automatically assumed TK was a good fit. It certainly seemed she could be doing a lot better than some spoiled brat that didn’t even know how to put his dishes away when he was done with them.

          “To the dorms,” Ex answered TK’s question, “weren’t you listening?”

          “Do you guys… share a room?”

          Meridias just chuckled to herself at the suggestion. “As if! They don’t let guys and girls room together, do you know what kind of problems that would cause?”

          TK’s cheeks actually got some color to them. “Oh… right. That makes sense, I guess. Well I mean, I have a place off-campus. I guess I gotta get back there… unless…” He was clearly fishing for some encouragement to stay. Ex didn’t take the bait.

          “Cool. See you later then!”

          “Unless, what?” Meridias asked.

          “Oh, well I was thinking that maybe you guys might be able to help me with my studies actually. I really just suck so hard at Theory and both of you are so good. I could pay you for your time, if that helps!”

          Ex couldn’t shoot that idea down fast enough. “No, sorry. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is.”

          “How much could you pay?” Meridias asked.

          Oh great… here it came. The kid with more money than sense was going to throw out a number so—

          “How’s five gold sound?” TK asked.

          Meridias pursed her lip and nodded thoughtfully. “I could do it for seven,” she said.

          TK’s eyes lit up. “You will? Sure! I can do seven, easy!” He stuck his hand out to shake on it.

          Meridias grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake. “So, when do you want to start?” she asked. “I’m free tonight.”

          Her suggestion was so abrupt that TK looked as surprised at Ex felt. Did she really not get that he had a thing for her? “I can come by tonight,” TK agreed. Of course he could. “What time?”

          “How’s seven o’clock sound? We can do our first hour then. I’ll need money up front, so be sure to bring it with you.”

          TK blinked hesitantly for a moment before answering. “Hour?” he asked.

          “Yeah,” Meridias confirmed. “Seven gold an hour.” She drew her brows together like she was suddenly disappointed. “I thought we agreed?” Ex had to pay attention to not let his mouth drop open in shock. Even former tournament champions didn’t charge that much for one-on-one lessons! He nearly burst out in laughter but covered it with a cough.

          “Uhh, no!” TK insisted. “Yeah, I can do that. Seven an hour, yeah!”

          Mere’s confusion wiped away and was replaced by a coy smile. “Great! It’s a date. See you then!” She turned on her heels, back to the dorms. “Coming, Ex?” she asked. She left TK standing there.

          Ex finally did let out a chuckle when he was sure they were out of earshot. “Mere! You should be ashamed of yourself! I’m pretty sure abusing a puppy like that is illegal.”

          She just laughed along with him. “What? I could really use the money if they’re about to kick me out of here. I could really set myself up. I’m not going to have a chance like this again.”

          “What about his crush? You should be careful with that. If you piss him off, he has the connections to make your life miserable. If you think you’re in danger of getting kicked out of the Academy now, just wait till you earn yourself the scorn of a noble family.”

          She just shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s kind of cute how simple-minded he can be. It might get annoying after a while, but I might grow to like it.”

          “Well just be careful,” Ex warned. “You might make some quick cash, but you’re going to be up to your hip in some of the stickiest mud you’ve ever experienced if you don’t step very carefully.”

          Meridias raised an eyebrow at him. “What would you know about it?”

          She was getting a little too inquisitive. “Nothing,” Ex insisted. “Just a guess is all.”

          The two of them reached the front doors to the dorms. The woman’s wing was on the left and the male’s was on the right. “Well I was serious about that nap,” Mere said when they came to a stop. “Maybe we can check in later? We can tackle that new section on harmonic resonance interactions after I’m done doing an hour with TK. Meet at the common room at eight?”

          She squeezed him in a quick hug, his confirmation already assumed. He said it out loud anyway. “See you then, Mere.”

          Ex watched her head off in the other direction and pretended like he was walking to the dorms on his side until she was out of sight. He actually had different plans. First off, he needed to get some more food. It was difficult to get enough to eat around here without raising suspicion. He’d realized early on that three full plates was about the most he could grab at any individual meal before people started making comments. With that, he had to find a way to squeeze in six meals a day to not feel famished all the time. He headed to the dining hall.

          Aside from Meridias, Ex hadn’t bothered trying to make any friends around campus. Truthfully he hadn’t even tried to make friends with her, but she’d seemed to be magnetically attracted to him once she saw him outscoring her on all the exams. It only took a few study sessions before he found himself caring about her in a weird sort of way. He knew it was against the rules to form an emotional attachment to any of the elves around here, but he reasoned that it was helping him keep up his disguise… and as long as he limited it to just one, they probably wouldn’t mind.

          Nobody bothered Ex as he passed through the line in the dining hall and filled three plates as high as they’d go with pork loins and some kind of starchy grain. He was careful to pick out the sturdiest-looking bench in the room when he settled down to eat it. Without the need to keep up appearances, he wolfed down the food as fast as his current body would allow. That turned out to be pretty fast. He didn’t have much time. The dean would be at the Research building now. If he wanted to slip in and still have time to recharge before his study session with Meridias, he didn’t have time to waste.

          Ex returned his plates and left the dining hall as quietly and efficiently as he’d entered. It seemed his research had been correct that metal piercings were currently out of style in elf society. The piercings he’d studded himself with did most of the heavy-lifting in keeping others away. When he got outside he looked around to make sure nobody was watching. The evening was fast approaching and that was the best time for him to do reconnaissance: late enough that the shadows started to lengthen, but still early enough that the dean hadn’t left his office. Ex slipped into the alleyway beside the dining hall and melted into the shadows.

          He was darkness. Living darkness. In his current body, his brief encounters with the realm of shadow let him feel more himself than any other. He darted from shadow to shadow until he reached the entrance to the Research building. He waited in the shadow of the front steps for what felt like an hour but was hopefully much less than that for someone to approach the building. Security was too tight to just slip inside and not set alarms off.

          When an approaching man’s shadow passed over the shadow of the front steps to the building, Ex passed from one to the other without even a chance of being discovered. The man entered some series of commands into the warding signature at the front door and it opened for him. Ex had wasted the better part of two weeks trying to copy that code, but the best he’d been able to determine was it required some combination of memorized information and a harmonic signature from the person registered to enter. Far too much work to break on his own. Instead he hitched a ride right through the front doors when the warding was temporarily deactivated.

          The man trudged through the entrance like he was bored. He probably was. Ex had learned this particular man’s schedule weeks ago. He covered the night shift, and on the one occasion he’d followed him all through the night all he’d learned was that he spent most of his shift asleep at his desk. There was nothing to be learned from him so it was always best to find someone to transfer to. There was only one person worth spying on in this building: the dean.

          The night shift worker checked in with a receptionist and signed his name into a registry. “Good morning, Laurent,” he said. Even though he was made of shadow at the moment, Ex wished he could let out an audible groan. The same joke every night! He was like a zombie or something.

          “Very funny, Thaendor!” the receptionist teased. “Have a good shift; I’ll be out of here as soon as Dean Graendel gets up.”

          “See you tomorrow, then.”

          Thaendor headed off around the corner and down the stairs. And down… and down some more. None of the student here knew it, but the Research building actually extended six stories underground. On that basis alone, Ex would have reasoned that something untoward was going on inside. He waited patiently for Thaendor to reach the furthest basement level. Once there, Ex made his first jump to the guard that signed Thaendor in. From there the guard entered a further room with a well-dressed bookish type to let him know the night shift had arrived. That was always the riskiest part of his late-night spy sessions. The guard never quite got close enough that their shadows touched, so Ex had to make the jump as quick as he could and hope they didn’t notice.

          As luck would have it, the jump went smoothly again today. From there, Ex would get a few minutes in the room with the Dean. He focused carefully on his surroundings. The last man walked down a dark hallway. There was screaming tonight. Ex still hadn’t managed to penetrate far enough into the facility to see what they were up to in there, but he never liked to hear the screaming, even though all the staff down here seemed to just ignore it.

          The dean was at his desk, buried in paperwork. He was in the process of sealing a letter when the man Ex was shadowing came in. “Nightshift’s in, Graendel,” the man said, “anything more before we call it a night?”

          “Yes,” the pale-skinned dean answered. He pushed the envelope he’d just sealed across his dark-wood desk. “Pass this on to Plurius. Our inventory’s getting low down here. It’s time to restock.”

          This was the chance Ex had been waiting for! It was far too risky to make a jump in the dean’s presence, but when the man he was shadowing reached the desk he had a chance to transfer from one shadow to the other without exposing himself. He slinked under the desk and nestled into the dean’s shadow. He’d finally get to see what happened after this desk jockey left his office. This was the furthest he’d gotten in his investigation. Ex started drafting the letter home in his head. They’d certainly want to hear about this!

          After the assistant left… not much happened. Dean Graendel only stayed at his desk a few minutes more scratching away silently. Ex desperately wished he could get a better view to see what was actually being written, but he dared not risk climbing up the wall and getting noticed. He suffered in silence and waited. He knew it wasn’t long now before the dean was sure to leave the building and head home. He’d still have time for his study session with Meridias.

          With no announcement of the fact, the dean sat up from his seat and packed up his things. All Ex could make out for certain was that he definitely took another letter with him, but he didn’t so much as hum a ditty to himself to help with the boredom. Ex was just glad to be leaving. Now that he’d done it, he could see that following the dean at the end of the day wasn’t going to be the glut of intel he’d been hoping for. There was probably some kind of meetings going on during the middle of the day that would be better to spy on, but doing so would blow Ex’s cover. It was more important that he stay in cover than that he actually complete his mission. That was always the number one priority.

          Only one thing more of note happened on the dean’s way out the building. After he’d climbed all the stairs to the surface he stopped at the receptionist on his way out the door. She seemed to be waiting for him.

          “Good evening, sir. I hope your day was productive.”

          “Always, Laurent.” The dean handed over the letter he’d spent the last few minutes in the office putting together. “See that you get this to Haenor’s office,” he said. “Just a progress report.”

          Haenor? Now that was an interesting name! What business would the dean of some wizard academy have corresponding with Caldenia’s Guild representative? Ex locked that information away in his mind for his report later. He hoped that would mean the day wasn’t a total waste.

          When the dean finally deactivated the security wards and left the building, Ex slipped away in the same shadow he’d first used to enter the building. He stayed in shadows until he reached the backside of the dorm. When he was certain nobody was around he stepped back out and into his physical body. He’d spent a long time in shadow. He could feel the mana in his necklace had dipped to dangerous levels. Meridias would be expecting him soon. He wasn’t sure how long it’d been. She was already starting to get suspicious of him, so he couldn’t take the chance of skipping out on their study session.

          Ex walked in the front doors of the dorms. Rather than stop by his room, he popped his head into the common area. That was where he and Meridias were supposed to meet. He looked in and saw a few tables and couches evenly distributed around the room as usual. Meridias wasn’t there yet. TK was, though. He was sitting at one of the tables with a notepad in front of him looking bored. He looked up hopefully when he saw movement at the door, but frowned when he saw it was just Ex.

          “Hey, Ex!” He practically shouted across the room. There was an unspoken rule about volume in the common area that TK had just violated. The two other singular students in the room both looked up with different expressions of annoyance. “Have you seen Meridias?”

          His necklace was dangerously low on mana. Ex had no time to wait around and have a conversation with this joker. “No, sorry. I’ve got to go.”

          “Wait! Can you—”

          There was no time to waste. Ex even poured his own body’s mana reserves into the necklace for all the good it would do. At most it would buy him another five minutes. This was cutting it closer than he had before. He had to get to his refill spot immediately. With no mana to help him, Ex took off out the back door of the dorms and sprinted straight for the woods. He was off campus property in a minute, but he kept running as fast as he could. The necklace was nearly empty… Any minute now the transition would happen.

          Gasping for breath, Ex reached the tree he’d marked. He’d practiced this route before, but he’d never had to do it on such short notice. There was a small clearing next to the tree. Inside it was a non-descript stump. Ex slammed into it with all his strength. There was no sense holding back any longer. The log of wood eased back and exposed his secret Blink Well. White mana poured out of the hole and Ex jammed his necklace into it. He could feel the skin on his arms and neck start to change, but as the necklace soaked up a mana well’s worth of magic the transition slowly started to reverse.

          Ex was panting. That was a close call. If anyone had seen him—

          “What the hell is this?” someone bellowed from close range.

          Ex’s eyes went wide. He was supposed to be alone! TK pushed a branch out of his way and stepped into the clearing. “Where did you take, Meridias, you bastard?” He held his hands out and they had a soft glow of power in them. A high-pitched squealing sound emanated from his fingers. “And what the hell is wrong with your skin?”

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