A short time after supper was over, the ship arrived in the capital's harbour and it was time to leave. Victoria and I met up at the captain's cabin and she gave me several furtive looks, as if she didn't want me to notice. I ignored the looks of course, since that seemed to be what she wanted. We packed up our packs after checking the flowers were fine and all cozy in their temporary habitat, then we changed into more appropriate clothing and left the captain's cabin.

When we stepped out onto the deck, the crew stood in two rows with the captain beside the gangplank. The crew came to attention and gave us salutes for some reason. We walked between the rows and Cynthia gave Victoria a partial hug that was mostly blocked by the pack on her back.

“I hope you don't wait so long to contact me next time.” Cynthia whispered and let her go. She looked like she wanted to do something else and her eyes went to the men.

“About face!” The warrant officer commanded. As the crew did a perfect turn in the other direction, I turned away as well.

That was enough privacy apparently, because I heard several kisses right away.

“I promise I won't wait too long.” Victoria said. “When's your next stop for provisions?”

“Three months and we're staying off for a month to let the yard dogs overhaul the ship. She's been in service for quite some time and needs a good checking.” Cynthia said and then chuckled. “She's starting to creak in places when she should be solid.”

“About face!” The warrant officer repeated and the crew turned back around, as did I. He saw me and nodded.

“I didn't hear any creaking this trip.” I commented and he chuckled.

“We weren't doing any high speed turns or putting extra stress on the masts from overworking the sails in high winds.” He responded. “Believe me, when a boat creaks, I get worried.”

I nodded in understanding and looked at Victoria. “Do we have a coach or something waiting for us?”

“Yes, I booked it a week ago.” Victoria said and took Cynthia's hand to shake it. “Thank you for the ride, captain.”

“Any time, Mage King.” Cynthia said with a smile. “Within reason and operating schedules.”

Victoria laughed softly and gave her another brief hug. “Bye, Thia.”

“Bye, Tori.” Cynthia said and held a hand out to me. “Mr. Drake, it was a pleasure having you aboard. I wish we could have had more time to interact.”

“No, you don't.” I said and she looked surprised. “It would have taken you away from spending time with your friend.” I briefly shook her hand and let it go.

Cynthia opened her mouth to refute that, then seemed to change her mind. “I would have liked to know you better because my warrant officer speaks very highly of your skills.”

“That's because my favorite sex position is called 'Wow'.” I said and she looked confused. “It's when I flip his Mom upside down and do her from behind.”

It took a second for that to sink in and then the whole crew laughed, even the warrant officer.

“D-David!” Victoria gasped and covered her mouth. I could tell that she was trying not to laugh herself.

The warrant officer clapped me on the back. “That was a damn good one! Where did you hear that?”

“The crew of the private schooner that dropped us off. They've got some good jokes.” I said and he nodded.

“Make sure you only use them on sea dogs like us, all right?” The warrant officer cautioned me. “Normal people won't get it.”

I nodded in agreement and they all seemed to speak at once as they said variations of goodbye while Victoria and I walked down the gangplank to the dock. It was getting late, so there was almost no one on the dock except for the navy people that were coming to the clipper ship. They were going to offload the used crates and supplies to refill and replace them for the ship's next outing.

The carriage was waiting for us on the street and we undid our packs before we climbed inside. The carriage took off at its fastest speed and we made it back to the academy grounds fairly quickly in comparison to when we left. The guard at the gate opened the small gate for us and we climbed out of the carriage with our packs in our hands.

“You're late.” A man's voice said and he stepped through the gate to block us going through. I hadn't seen him before and Victoria let out a sigh when the man crossed his arms over his mage robes.

“We're not late. Our arrival is right on schedule.” Victoria said. “If you actually read the thing I submitted.”

“Are you calling me illiterate?” The man asked with a scowl.

“No, just unobservant.” Victoria said. “I booked off two days last week, the two days of the weekend were my personal time, and I booked off today for both myself and my assistant.”

The man's scowl didn't lessen. “I don't see any plants.”

“I'm not taking the specimen out.” Victoria said and hugged her pack. “It needs to be in a controlled environment and...”

The man grabbed her pack and pulled it out of her hands. In the next second, the tip of my glowing knife was an inch from his eye. His scowl was gone and he looked afraid.

“Return Mage King's property.” I said and the man's face changed to a sneer.

“You're only a student! You can't challenge...”

I darted it forward an inch and a smidgen and poked his eye with the tip.

“AHHHH!” The man screamed and dropped the pack as he clutched at his eye.

“I don't need to challenge a thief to kill them.” I said and kicked out with my foot. I planted it firmly on his chest and the man flew backwards through the still open gate. He hit the ground and tumbled for about fifteen feet before he came to a stop.

“Hey! You can't assault academy mages on school property!” The guard exclaimed.

“I'm not on school property and neither was he.” I said and pointed down. We had both still been standing in the street and the guard sighed. “I assume that's why he thought he could take someone's pack without the academy interfering, not realizing that they couldn't interfere if we retaliated.”

“David, you... you shouldn't have done that. You don't know who that is.” Victoria said.

“It doesn't matter who he is. He's a thief and he's lucky that I promised my fiance that I wouldn't take anyone's hand for stealing.” I said and put my pack on, then I helped Victoria put hers on. “He would have taken your discovery and claimed it was his own.”

Victoria didn't say anything in response, probably because I was right. I whispered an apology for not allowing her to go first as I stepped through the small gate. I walked over to the man on the ground and he looked up at me with hate on his face and clear liquid coming out of his hand-covered eye.

In the next instant, I was kneeling over him and had my glowing knife in front of his remaining eye. “Swear an oath right now that you will never come after me, Victoria, our families, our friends, or have your friends, family, hired thugs, or anyone else come after us for what you instigated here today.” I said. “I would rather kill you and I'll never have to worry about you ever again; but, we're on school grounds now and an oath will have to do.”

“I'll... kill... you.” The man hissed at me, almost frothing at the mouth.

“You don't want to swear a magical binding oath?” I asked and he very slightly shook his head. “I'll have to drag you out through the gate again to behead you.”

“No!” The man exclaimed as I grabbed him by his robes and then walked back towards the gate. “No! Stop!” He pleaded and his free hand tried to beat on my hand gripping his robes. “Let me go! Guard! GUARD!”

“Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to...”

I waved my still glowing knife at him and he held his hands up and backed away, because he knew the danger it represented. The man I held was almost crying now. I stepped out through the gate and then felt resistance. I looked down and the man had grabbed the open gate to hold on. I sighed and pulled a little harder.

“ARGH!” The man yelled as his hand was easily pulled free and the gate clanged shut behind us.

“Here's good enough.” I said and let him go. “I hate to do this, because it dulls my knife.” I said and the man flinched. “Oh? You can tell a lie from truth. Good.” I knelt on his chest and he had a hard time breathing. “Swear the oath or die. Those are the only two choices.”

“N-no. No! I'm the...”

“I'm the Marsh Man and I don't care who you are, thief.” I interrupted him and the man's eye widened. “I see you've heard of me.” I smiled and bared my teeth at him. “You might not have done this if you knew it was me.” I put my knife back over his eye. “Just so you know, I took the first princess' arm when she stole from me.”

The man didn't react to my statement, so he actually did know some things about me.

“I beheaded a twenty foot long poisonous snake during this trip, wore it like armor for half a day, then I cooked it and ate most of it.”

The man's fear was clear on his face now and he whimpered a little.

“I wonder what you're going to taste like on my grill.” I whispered.

“By the Son's Light! Stop!” The man begged and cried. “I... I'll swear... I'll swear the oath.”

I got off of him and let him sit up, then made him recite the oath perfectly and had him use his magic to seal it. “Remember. If you or anyone else sends anyone after us, our family or our friends, you and your whole family will lose their magic, forfeit their fortunes, and then you'll wither and die.”

The man took a shaky breath and nodded.

“Good.” I said and took out an empty vial and poured a quarter of healing potion inside. “Show me your eye.”

“No! You already ruined it! I won't let you take it as insurance!” The man exclaimed.

I chuckled. “You used your magic to bind yourself and your whole family to an oath. I don't need any insurance besides that.”

The man gave me an incredulous look for a moment, then moved his hand. His eye was still seeping, because I had caused a magical wound that would continue to seep. I darted forward and held his head like a vise, took out my old stub knife that was still sharp, and made dozens of little cuts across the little slit I had poked in his eye. He didn't even feel it.

I put a single drop of healing potion onto his eye and then let his head go. “Drink this.” I said and handed him the bit of healing potion. He did so and after about ten seconds, his eye inflated back to the normal size and he blinked it at me.

“Wh-what... what did you do?” He asked, startled.

“I healed a magical wound.” I said.

“No, you... that's not possible. You have to physically hold those kinds of wounds closed and then find some way to staunch the bleeding and...”

I ignored him and put my knives away as I stood. He sat there, mumbling, so I walked back over to the gate. The guard gave me a smile and opened it for me again.

“He'll realize where he is in about ten minutes.” I said and the guard nodded.

“David, you... oh, my god.” Victoria shivered.

“Let's get the sample to the botany workshop.” I said and assumed my role to escort her. She gave me a look, as if she couldn't believe I was being formal at a time like this, then she sighed and took my offered arm. I led her in a casual walk all the way over to the building and we went inside.

“We can't remove it from the habitat until we examine the soil, the roots, and the grass around it.” Victoria said.

“I hope you have a vault in your office.” I said and she gave me a knowing smile and a nod. We went in there and took several minutes to transfer the habitat container from my pack to the vault. After that, I took the heavy things from my pack and put them back into hers, like the tent, the cooking things, and the tools.

“Thank you very much, David.” Victoria said in a soft voice as her arms went around me from behind. “I can never express what this means to me.”

“You just did.” I said and her arms tightened around my waist.

“No, David. I mean...” Victoria leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “...I can't get your insult out of my head. One that any mage would challenge you over if you ever spoke it in public.” She let out a sigh. “I really want you to treat me like a personal maid. I really, really do.”

She let me go and I turned around to look at her face. It was flushed red and she licked her lips.

“I know I've made you build up so much sexual frustration the last five days and I'm not sorry for any of it. Not one second.” Victoria said. “If I didn't think your fiance would challenge me and kick my ass, I would give you a bath right now and perform the maid's ritual, just so I could have all of that wonderful buildup for myself.”

I stood there and waited to see if she was going to move, and she stayed still.

“You need to go and take care of it.” Victoria said.

“I doubt my maids will be there. It'll have to wait until tomorrow.” I said.

“Oh... oh, god.” Victoria swayed slightly. She bit her lip and looked at my crotch. “I'm sorry.”

“I have two personal maids, so they should be able to handle it.” I said and she shivered.

“G-go. Go. Please.” Victoria whispered.

I took her hand and bent over to kiss it. I gave her a touch of magic and her hand clenched as she moaned. I let her hand go and looked at her face to see that she was quite embarrassed and turned on. I nodded to her and put on my pack before I left her office. I had to get to my dorm mansion and see if the maids had stayed late. Either way, I had a long bath in my near future.