[52]

“I cannot believe you two buffoons went to her house without me!” Joy said, staring at Raxx and me with an indignant look across the lunch table. Since we were in public, we did not voice whose house we were talking about.

With the war tensions, close to a third of the student body left. The large open spaces in the dining hall were the only reason we risked discussing the subject at all.

“We didn’t have time to get you!” I said, holding my palms up. “By the time we figured out where she lived, we didn’t have enough daylight to run back and grab you.”

After our eventful evening at Florence’s house, along with the news about my father, this had been the first time we could sit with Joy and tell her what we discovered. She might have appreciated us swinging by in the morning to tell her, but by then I was too drunk.

“Oh, don’t give me that. What difference would a few hours have made?” Joy countered. I had to admit she had a point. Raxx and I had been too enthusiastic to turn back. Though we considered it in the heat of the moment.

“A lot,” Raxx said. “If we had come a few hours later, we wouldn’t have discovered the assassins.”

“Assassins?” Joy leaned over the table to whisper the word. “Are you sure?” She seemed uncharacteristically nervous.

Raxx nodded, giving me a look.

“Yep,” I confirmed, leaning in to whisper back. “We found out who tried to kill Elaine outside the dining hall that evening.”

“And?” Joy asked, biting a lip.

“I don’t want to say their name.” I said, using the same caution as with Florence.

“Motive then? Name of the group?” Joy asked.

“Do the words,” I leaned in real close to her ear, “Vargyr Raas mean anything to you?”

Joy sat back, looking relieved. “Those amateurs? I thought you were talking about a real assassin. Like someone in one of the four guilds. Yeah, I know about them. A bunch of jumped-up punks that want to pound the world into their noble-less ideal. Still must give them credit for going after a duchess in the middle of campus though. That took some walnuts.”

One day, I really wanted to know how she knew about this stuff. It could not have all been from library books, surely.

“So they tried to kill her?” Joy clarified.

“Nope. Turns out she is the one that set them on Elaine.” I said, smiling shrewdly.

“The audacity of that sneaky witch. I’m kind of impressed. It explains why she’s so paranoid.” Joy said, chortling. “I guess the killer wasn’t too happy with her then?”

“Not at all. They ruined a perfectly good table from the sounds of it and gave her two days to find Elaine’s new location. Apparently, Lady Highrow is protected from scrying—wait! That reminds me. They found her home with a tracer wand. Have you heard of it?” I said.

“Yeah, I know about them. Not a poor plan if you have access to enchanted gear. I wouldn’t have minded using one myself, if I had known from the outset that she was going to use magic to hide her trail.” Joy said, looking peeved. I guess being unable to track Florence had put a dint in her pride.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t. I’m not sure what it was, exactly, but something was with her, and I think it had exceptional senses….” I briefly explained the invisible creature and how it detected the three boys as soon as they entered Florence’s property.

“Huh, that sounds like bad news.” Joy agreed, thinking it over.

“Raxx and I aren’t sure how her friend didn’t spot us. Ugz was right there on the roof unnoticed for hours.” I said.

“Well, there could be several things. Ugz might have registered as a normal animal to whatever the thing was. Also, with you guys already being there in cover, maybe it didn’t pick up on your movement. Or only picks up on movement. Same goes for Ugz now that I think about it. He is far from what I would call fidgety.” Joy concluded.

I shrugged. Her reasoning was just as good as what Raxx, and I came up with. The two of us discussed it and decided she must have had a tracking spell on them.

“So, why didn’t you come straight to me after that?” Joy said.

“We didn’t want to wake you for one.” I said truthfully.

Raxx followed up. “Yeah, we went straight to Marwin. If you ask me, she’s the one that sent the demon after Harald. Better they get after her sooner, than later. Look at all the havoc she’s caused in one week.” he said.

Joy sighed. I could tell it hurt her, but I did not know what to say.

Raxx took the wind out of her sail, “Anyway, enough about that.” The Sea Dog put a massive paw on my shoulder. “Harald’s hometown got raided. He hasn’t been able to reach his father.”

“What!?” Joy’s eyes grew big. “Are you okay? Is there anything we can do?”

I shook my head sadly. “Nothing. The messenger said they burned the town down and returned my letter.”

“What about those two mercenaries you sent for? You try contacting them?” Joy asked.

“No…” I said, heart speeding up as I thought things through. Saewulf and Rollo would have sent me a letter right away if they were too late, but it still would not arrive for a few days yet. Also, it was more likely they were with him during the raid, in which case I would have a letter inbound from their commander telling me of their deaths. Either way, I might know something soon. “No, I hadn’t thought of that. They would contact me. I should probably go check for a message.”

“Hold on there bumble bee,” Joy said, gripping my arm. “There is going to be a general assembly in a bit here. We can’t leave the building until it’s done.”

Joy and Raxx made small talk, trying to include me while we ate. However, I became lost in thoughts about my dad again. Raxx could tell and tried to get me talking about level F-3. That just made things worse. Murdering a demon had been cathartic. But if I was honest with myself, I never wanted to act that way again. Sawing off a guy’s head, even an illusion, simply replaced my uncivilized inner rage with a more cosmopolitan shame.

After finishing our plates of food, we waited patiently to see what the assembly was about.

A nudge from Raxx stopped me from getting too deep into my head, though. I looked up to see an orange headed noble male strutting toward our table with a walk I could only describe as absurd. The man was exceptionally thin, looking like a skeleton in a blue robe. A blue velvety hat with a huge feather sat on a nest of red curls, spilling down either side of his effeminate face.

He reached our dining table, stopping at the edge and presenting me with a limp hand.

I ignored it, giving him a withering look. My experience with the nobles of Ankest had not been pleasant.

Raxx, on the other hand, thought the entire thing was the height of humor and subjected the boy to a high-pitched fit of laughter, slamming a paw on the table in a fit of building mirth.

Joy looked amused as well, but more from Raxx’s response than the boy’s appearance. To be fair, she did not see his flamboyant approach.

“Yes?” I said coldly.

“I am Whelk Der Roker, future lord of the barony of Algrey.” he stated in a voice more manly than I expected.

“Okay, and?” I said, getting more annoyed by the second.

From under a closed mouth, I could see him licking his teeth, considering what to say next. Derision was clearly an uncommon reaction for Whelk.

“Princess Valstra has invited you to sit with her at her table.” Whelk decided on saying diplomatically.

“Nope.” Joy said, making a shoo-ing motion toward the fop.

“Pardon?” Whelk said, wrinkling his nose like he smelled a turd.

“Harald has had enough P.P. in his life,” Joy said adamantly.

“What!?” I said, giving her a confused look, hoping she did not say what it sounded like she said.

Raxx stopped laughing for the first time since Whelk arrived. Looked at Joy, then back to me, then at Whelk again, and began laughing even harder.

“Princess and Politics, duh!” Joy clarified.

“But you know what P.P. sounds like, right?” I said, eyes imploring her not to say it again.

Raxx fell off his chair, causing nearly everyone in the dining hall to look in our direction and turning me red with shame. “PP”. What the abyss was Joy trying to do here?

“Look, Whelk,” Joy continued, talking over the Sea Dog’s heckling laugh, “Harald here just got done with a bunch of your type of classist bullshit. Tell Princess Vandercooter that he isn’t interested in whatever asinine scheme she wants to pull him into. He has enough on his plate for the moment.” I went from humiliated to touched, just like that. Joy’s mama bear routine meant a lot.

Whelk sneered, spun on his heel, and left without saying another word. Well, that is not completely true. I think he said “savages” under his breath, but it was hard to hear over the Harak.

“If I may have your attention, everyone!” An amplified voice shouted across the crowd.

I helped Raxx back into his seat, then oriented myself toward the front of the dining hall.

Ten men and women in purple robes, including Administrator Marwin, formed a line behind a tall woman in a gold robe.

One of the purple-robed men was the speaker, however.

“Headmistress Wetherden will begin this general assembly.” he said, bowing to the woman in the gold robe and getting into line with the other administrators. I had heard little about the Headmistress of Ashmere. She was an imposing, severe-looking woman in her late middle-age years. Though she could not have been much taller than five feet, there was an aura about her that radiated magic. She tied her gray hair in a tight bun, like you might expect a female soldier to wear in the field, and her eyes were so green they almost glowed.

Whatever her reason for calling us here, I sincerely hoped it was about the demon cultist. But I would not hold my breath.