"What a day." I mutter to myself, shoving the key hard into my room door.

As a Senior Brother, I have the privilege of a small apartment within the grounds of the Robeur Keep at no cost of my own. The lower ranks were free to rent private lodging of their own if they did not want to stay in the communal barracks, but I spent my early days there since money was so tight when I first arrived at Deshawn City. Thank goodness I no longer need to go back to the barracks though. I would probably die of humiliation.

I wake up in the morning and the first thing that greets me is Christina staring at me wearing that stupid gown. Then I realize the entire class of apprentice Battle Mages are present as well. After that Henrik threatens, no promises, to file a complaint against me with the House. Wonderful, just wonderful.

And even leaving the Gardens did not help either. When I reached the Bursar's office to request for a new key to my own bloody apartment, the staff there kept politely quiet about my appearance, but I just knew they were laughing at me. Its in the eyes you know. You can tell what people are thinking by looking them right in the eye. And I saw the derision they had for me, oh yes. Look at Mac Nair making a fool of himself. What a bundle of laughs. Fun for the whole family.

Throwing the door of my apartment open, I toss the laundry bag used to hide my sword to the floor and collapse on to a chair by the dining table. The expensive gown crinkles and I sigh tiredly, realizing that I still need to get this outfit back to Ramon. Going to my bedroom and pulling out a fresh set of clothes from the wardrobe, I begin to undress before being rudely interrupted by someone knocking at the door.

"Who is it?" I yell, not interested in opening up and becoming the butt of yet another joke.

"Senior Brother Nair," a muffled voice responds, "I'm from the Bursar's Office, need to discuss something with you. Could you open -"

"No." I snap, my irritation rising again, "I can hear you just fine."

There's a brief silence before the voice starts speaking.

"Oh. Uh, alright then." the muffled voice continues after some hesitation, "We just did an inventory check and your horse is missing from the stables. Did anything happen to it?"

Damnit, why hasn't Ramon returned my horse to the keep yet? Ramon promised to do it, didn't he? Now I've got administration breathing down my neck.

"There's nothing wrong with the horse." I reassure, though how reassuring I sound while shouting past the door is a separate matter, "I've arranged someone to bring it back for me."

"Uh, if you say so -" the voice mumbles and I hear the flipping of papers on the other side of the door.

"Yes, yes I do say so." I insist, tossing the maid's gown into my laundry basket, "Is there anything else?"

"We just need to put it down on record, Senior Brother Nair," the guy on the other side of the door says, "if the horse is damaged in any way, you'll need to pay a fine for loss of House property. If you could sign the confirmation that this message was passed to you -"

"JUST PUT IT IN YOUR RECORD!" I bark, completely furious. Can't I get a moment of peace here?

There's the shuffle of feet as my interlocutor presumably scurries off away from my outburst. I rub my temples in exasperation, regretting giving in to my temper. But its hard to stay calm while someone is hassling you while you're standing about buck naked. The Bursar's Office will just send someone else to bother me again later, and all I've managed to do is piss them off. I need to exercise greater control over my mouth. Thinking before I speak and all that.

Fuck, I need to get out of this place. Staying at Robeur Keep isn't healthy for me.

......

Stepping out into the morning light, I begin making my way down the neat, cobbled path that heads toward Gallant's bust at the center of the Garden. The residences within the Keep bracket the Garden from all sides, forming a rough, though incomplete circle. There were four blocks of buildings sandwiching the Garden, with the bust of Gallant located equidistant between each of the residential blocks. Each block served a separate branch of the House of Robeur.

The Lodge of Swordmasters was where I stayed, obviously. Then there were the Lodge of Battle Mages and Lodge of Healers. Again it was self explanatory who stayed those two places. Rounding the ensemble off was the Lodge of Heroes, or in other words, the barracks which housed all the apprentices and Brothers who did not have the required seniority to stay in one of the other three blocks. The paths to and from each Lodge all led to the bust of Gallant, and I heard that this was a deliberate part of the Keep's design, meant to hammer home Gallant's role as the greatest of all the magic knights. The bust of Gallant was also equidistant from each Lodge, since while we may all be different, we were also all equal before the great Hero's eyes.

Supposedly at least.

As I quickly learned after originally joining, House Robeur's really big on symbolism. And it had a far more subtle way of signaling the differences between the Lodges. The Lodge of Heroes and the Lodge of Swordmasters were located on the southern side of the Garden, closer to the Keep's walls that separated it from Deshawn City proper. In time, the people who worked for the House began to refer to these two residences as the Outer Lodges.

The remaining pair of Lodges were nestled to the north of the Garden, snuggling up to the Keep's central building, where the top officers of the House lived and worked. Property is all about location, and the Inner Lodges certainly had that requirement down pat. Of course, left unsaid was the inconvenient fact that if the Keep was attacked, the Heroes and Swordmasters would be obliged, thanks to the location of our homes, to rally and defend the battle mages and healers from any would be invaders.

I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable, tactically sound ground for this arrangement. But all the same, it doesn't take a genius to work out which Lodge is more prestigious than the other.

Passing the bust of Gallant, I make my way toward the central building. I need to sign in and clear my schedule for the day first. After that I can spend some time cooling off in Deshawn City and forget about the embarrassment that has been heaped upon me. And if I'm lucky, Ramon will have my horse back at the Keep by the time I return. Nodding politely at the guards at the entrance, I swing the double doors open by their brass handles and stride onward to the duty room.

Loose clumps of magic knights stand about, poring over operation plans or just shooting the breeze. The duty room is where the House hands out assignments and where we report in on the results of our "quests". The clerk at the reception spots my approach and hands me a heavy leather bound tome expectantly.

"Thought you would be here yesterday." the clerk, a wrinkled, dried up old woman, remarks drily as she opens the tome and indicates where I need to sign.

"Got caught up with something." I shrug, eyes following the woman's finger as it lands on a single entry recorded on the page.

GOBLIN EXTERMINATION

CLIENT - NOBLE HOUSE RAHM

CONTACT - MILLS RAHM

ASSIGNED KNIGHT - MAC NAIR (WITH APPRENTICE ON FIELD STUDY)

SIGN BELOW UPON COMPLETION OF QUEST. KNIGHT AFFIRMS THAT HIS STATEMENT IS TRUE AND QUEST HAS BEEN COMPLETED TO CLIENT'S SATISFACTION

IN CASE OF FAILURE, PROVIDE REASONS WHY IN A SEPARATE FILING. COMMISSIONS DUE TO THE KNIGHT WILL BE PUT ON HOLD PENDING INVESTIGATION OF QUEST FAILURE

I lift the proffered feather and dip its nib into the inkwell placed by the side of the receptionist's table. I carefully tip the nib to the side, letting the excess ink run off back into the inkwell. Don't want to cause smudges in the book when I sign. As my hand moves into position, hovering over the tome, the clerk abruptly pulls the book away.

"Hey." I grumble and look up at the receptionist who merely points behind me in return. Taking the hint, I turn around and see a travel stained man staring intently at me.

"Can I help you?" I ask, slightly disconcerted by the intensity of the man's stare.

"Mills sent me." the man finally rasps, "There's a problem."

Shit. From the corner of my eye I can see the clerk reaching for the form needed to report quest failure.

"The goblins were wiped out." I interrupt before the messenger can spoil things any further, "Mills witnessed it. The entire camp witnessed it."

"Huh? Oh yeah, those goblins were wiped out." the messenger agrees after some thought and I breathe a sigh of relief.

The clerk goes back to extending the tome for my signature. I gesture at the man to give me a moment while I have that piece of business put away. Unfortunately, he keeps speaking in a rush.

"But the goblins are back. Even more of them." the man blurts out.

"What." I nearly snap the feather in two from the surprise, "Its barely been a few days! How can a new war pack attack the camp so quickly?"

"That's what the scouts say." the man presses a sealed velum scroll into my hands, "I'm just here to retrieve you, sir."

I break the seal and unfurl the document, taking it in. Its an emergency request made by Mills in the name of his family. More goblins that need killing. But more worryingly, the document claims that the camp can't hold out for much longer and a knight's presence is urgently required.

"Are you guys already under attack?" I query, sweating bullets. Mills had better not be asking me to head into a slaughterhouse. I did not sign up for this kind of shit.

"Not yet." the messenger shakes his head, "But the last I heard was that the goblin war pack would reach the camp within a few days."

"I need time to prep a team." I frown, "If its something so serious, we'll need swordmasters with battle mage and healer support."

"You dealt with hundreds of goblins on your own last time sir." the messenger bows deferentially, "Mills has confidence in you."

"That's ... nice." I finally manage to say, "But more haste means less speed. We should prepare for the possibility of another goblin warlord. Or maybe even external actors. Like the Order."

The messenger looks aside upon hearing my comment, confirming my suspicions. The Order's back. And they're the ones stirring up the goblins like before.

"I can't handle the Order alone." I fold my arms, making a decision, "I need a battle mage at the very least."

"There's no time sir!" the messenger wails desperately, putting me on the spot. I can't abandon Mills, at least not publicly like this. Its bad business. But the messenger is also not giving me the breathing space I need to prepare a proper plan to tackle the threat.

"Senior Brother Nair." the receptionist informs, "We can accept the urgent request now. Just follow the standard procedure."

"Yeah. Got it." I sigh, admitting defeat.

Standard procedure for urgent requests would be to send someone, anyone, to scope out the situation and hold the fort while reinforcements are prepared at the Keep. I wouldn't have had a problem with this normally since the request would enter the general pool of magic knights, but Mills had specifically asked for my presence. Meaning I can't brush the request off, not unless I wanted to get canned a few days down the line. I can't bring Christina as my battle mage support this time either, since there's a possibility of magic knight on magic knight combat involved. Christina is powerful, but she's nowhere near ready for this sort of potential trouble.

"We'll need to leave immediately." I muse, "Its the only way to catch the war pack in time."

"I'll send the request for reinforcements to the Lodge Masters." the clerk says, "But without concrete proof of the opposition they'll face ..."

"I know." I rub my face in frustration, "The Lodge Masters will wait for my report on the actual threat level. I've handled stuff like this before. I'll deal."

"A provisional team will be kept on standby." the clerk reassures, "Help won't be far away Senior Brother Nair."

I nod morosely to the messenger and make a vague gesture at him to lead the way. Then it hits me. I don't have my horse. If we leave together, I'll make a fool of myself. Again.

"Look, uh, I'll meet you at the entrance of the Keep, alright?" I say and the messenger nods affably.

With that done, I walk back to my apartment to collect my gear. The messenger can wait for me to arrange a loaner horse from the House. Serves Mills right for summoning me so suddenly.

He can afford to wait a bit longer.