Chapter 13: Between Raindrops

As shaky legs carried the silent masses to windows, balconies, and out into the streets, the ground began to shake underneath them; the Titaness Twins had begun to move.

Falling through the air at a rapid pace, the raindrop hit the ground in front of the class, shattering into thousands of droplets that scattered a fine mist across the Common Scenarios classroom. A welcome sensation, the cool water scattered through the assembled students, who let out a collection of happy gasps and exclamations. Overhead, another droplet began to fall, followed by a hundred brothers and sisters, each bigger across than two fully grown men, and just as tall to their pointed tips.

“Don’t get hit darlings, unless you want to spend the rest of the day soaked and miserable.” Lady Carmine was reclined at the opposite end of the room, perched atop a singly chair whose legs were obscured by the grey fog of the Somnasium Annex.

“So what, we just run through?” Argus, a small boy with big ears called, leaning back to avoid the huge tear-shaped blob of water descending in front of them.

“What? Oh no no no,” Lady Carmine chuckled, her ruby locks bouncing as she shook her head. “You’ll need to capture Eustace and bring him to me.”

A murmur broke across the group, confusion rumbling through and creating a wave of craning heads and searching eyes.

“Lady Carmine?” Briddy inquired, her voice cautious. “Who is Eustace?”

A laugh bubbled out of the red-haired woman, and she threw her head back even as her eyes raised in amusement. Her laughter was the practiced sort of those who had spent time in the courts of the Reach, light and airy like a bell’s peal.

“Why, Eustace is my pet! Though what you’ll be interacting with today is merely a facsimile, a hard illusion created by the room. Wouldn’t want you all accidentally getting wounded by my darling.”

Briddy pulled her mouth into a tight line, nodding thoughtfully. It was quite telling that their teacher was more concerned with this ‘Eustace’ harming them than she was about the students hurting it.

“So…” Gail’s friend, the curly-headed boy she had called Asher took a step forward, glancing around. “Where is Eustace?”

A secretive smile bloomed across Lady Carmine’s red lips, and she tapped her mouth with one finger, as though she was about to share a secret. “You’ll see!” She said sweetly. “Now who’s ready to go first?”

The shuffling of feet and avoidance of eyes answered her, as the class desperately tried to not be selected. Her finger still tapping, the teacher’s bright eyes slowly meandered across the group, sparkling with amusement at the way the students winced as she pointed towards a group on the right. “Lord Thurston, I believe? Yes, please proceed.”

Shuffling back, the group made way for the young man with the thick, dark sideburns to step forward, followed by Abaget as a silent shadow. He offered a courtly bow to Lady Carmine, touching a hand to his mouth and gesturing outwards and then sharply down before straightening.

“Happy to oblige, my Lady!” He motioned the rest of the group forward, though Briddy noted that they stepped forward with markedly less zeal than their leader possessed.

Heading between a pair of towering raindrops that had fallen close to each other, the group paused as they looked over the grey expanse between them and their teacher, breath baited. When nothing happened, they broke into a small jog, shouts rising as they called out different raindrops close to the group.

They made it about halfway when, with a screech that rang through the room, a mass of feathers and a snaking neck sprang from the grey fog, battering the group in a cacophonous assault.

Thurston let out a wordless yell, covering his head in a desperate attempt to ward off the creature, as Abaget swiped at the air, trying to grab it.

“Her pet is an Aspswan?” Gail said from behind Briddy’s shoulder, sounding more impressed than fearful.

“It’s a rank E monstrosity. One of the least lethal of the two hundred and twenty.” Niles remarked dismissively.

“One last thing, darlings!” Lady Carmine called from the front of the room, her red lips smiling even wider now. “You’ll need to defend yourselves. Relics, magic, and all. Just try not to hit your cellmates.”

Abaget wasted no time, opening her hand with the fingers splayed wide. “Barrae.” She said, and the monstrosity bounced off Thurston as though it were made of rubber, and turned around to face her, and the class. A rotund body led to a long, serpentine neck that slowly undulated back and forth as it considered them. Atop it, a feathered head in a diamond shape, wide at the top and then narrowing to a point near the bill, looked at them with narrow black eyes, completely dark from pupil to where the white should have been. With a hiss, the nearby creature swung its neck around, glaring at the two members of Thurston’s group that had been silently creeping up behind.

The hiss grew as the creature took a step forward, slowly backing them towards one of the fog-covered walls near the edge of the room.

“Ah, Ma’am.” One of the boys said, his eyes never leaving the forked tongue that flicked in and out of the bright orange beak. “What if we’re martial course? I mean I can use spells but uh…” He trailed off into a yelp as Eustace’s head shot out, soundly nipping him behind the knee.

Briddy winced as she watched the boy dance around, holding his leg and desperately swiping at the honking monstrosity in front of him.

“Oh,” Lady Carmine sat slightly forward, frowning. “Right.” Her lips pursed for a moment, as though she was trying to remember something and then a clatter sounded overhead. Training weapons rained down from above, landing on the floor with varied smacks and cracks, scattering about the floor. Briddy could see her training sword, partially obscured by the mist, and felt a small current of relief that she wouldn’t be facing the hip-high Aspswan with just her hands and collection of weak spells.

“Have at it then!” Their teacher sat down to her usual tea, holding the white porcelain as though it were just another day at the courts. Meanwhile, her students ran around in front of her, desperately trying to contain the flapping menace that nipped and bit at any pieces of exposed skin that it could find.

Watching the Cells go, the best way that Bridget could have described their attempts was “organized chaos”, with no two strategies seeming to work back to back. One group drove Eustace towards Lady Carmine with effective usage of the Imbar spell, another created a wall of weapons to threaten the creature into a retreat. Warrin’s group just wrestled the creature, piling on top of one another with a series of yells. As they walked back towards the front of the room, covered with scrapes, bruises, and triumphant grins, they came over to where Briddy and her Cell stood.

“Fantastic strategy.” She shot a small smile at Warrin.

“We figured, well, it can’t bite all of us,” Asher said, grinning widely.

“Just most of us.” The fluffy-haired girl said sourly, examining a line of beak-shaped bruises on her arms.

“I can take care of those.” Briddy offered, holding out a hand. “I’m no healing expert but I’ve patched myself-” The girl snatched her arm away, looking at Bridget as though she had been one to put the marks there in the first place. With a sniff, she marched past her, and Briddy could’ve sworn she heard Niles snort in amusement from where he had been sulking at the back of the group.

“Tuck, could you help me?” The girl asked in a wheedling tone.

“Sure, Gemma,” Tuck replied, after a moment’s hesitation.

Briddy let her hand drop, letting out a small sigh of exasperation, and turning back towards Parvati’s group, who had begun to make a careful advance through the enormous raindrops.

“Rude,” Gail muttered, loud enough that those around them could hear, and ignoring the glare that Gemma shot her way.

Before anyone could make a reply, either way, a heavy wave of mist rolled over the group, originating from a droplet that had struck the floor not too far from them. Briddy shook her shoulders, the fabric of her uniform easily repelling the water, though the same could not be said for her hair and what she wore underneath. Next to her, Gail chuckled, shaking away the droplets that clung to her coffee-colored skin.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

“Like a grumpy Rockcat,” Tuck added, coming up behind them after finishing his healing.

“I hate being wet when I’m wearing clothes meant for dry weather,” Briddy said, frowning at the fabric of the thin-strapped top that was clinging to her skin.

“More like a drowned rat.” A sour voice muttered, though Bridget refused to turn around to acknowledge Niles’ snark. Since she had gotten her father’s letter a few days ago, she had fought to treat him with distant neutrality, a task that he made significantly harder with the small comments he had begun inserting whenever he could.

“You know,” She said, looking up and the water beading overhead into another enormous drop. “With how big those are, It’s almost like we’ve been shrunken down.” Her observation was punctuated by a series of shrieks and honks as Eustace continued his reign of terror. “When are we-”

“Alright team.” Niles cut in, shouldering Briddy aside as he pushed his way to the front, turning so that his back was to the group currently going. “We’ll need to hit a moving target this time, and it’s not going to be able to just be bludgeoned to a pulp.” He shot a pointed look at Gail, who flashed an irritated expression in return.

“Most problems can be solved with punching.” She muttered.

Continuing, Niles gestured over his shoulder at the mass of feathers descending on Parvati before she could make a shot with her silver bow. “It’s important that we stay together this time because, for my plan to work, we’ll need to be in close proximity to properly subdue that monstrosity.” He paused, as though waiting for them to beg him to tell them the plan. When no one said anything, the corners of his mouth quirked down, but he continued speaking anyway. “Gail and I will focus on pinning the creature down, and Tuck will be in charge of playing defense.”

A small knot formed in Briddy’s stomach as she realized where he was going with this strategy, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from remarking.

“Bridget will act as bait, and let the Aspswan attack her while we try to contain it.”

“So she’s just supposed to stand there and let it bite her?” Gail asked, her voice incredulous.

“She’ll be fine, so long as she keeps its attention. If this doesn’t work, it’s because one of you didn’t follow the plan, but so long as you stay in line, we’ll be alright.”

Exhaling, Bridget closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths before opening them again with what she hoped was a clear expression on her face.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Niles snapped, raising his voice so loud that it could be clearly heard even through Eustace’s honks. “I swear, first you complain about bringing up the rear, and sabotage the cell by getting underfoot, and then when you’re put in the front, you’re still unhappy! I suppose there’s just no pleasing you, even when I go out of my way to accommodate your demands.” A challenge floated in his watery eyes, lifting the corners of his mouth into a smirk as murmurs rustled through the rest of the class.

Her hands shaking, Bridget looked at the grey misted floor, trying to bite back any of a dozen remarks that flew to mind, refuting the falsehoods that Niles was spouting to her peers. Instead, she looked up at Gail, who was opening her mouth to say something, and shook her head. “Just leave it.” She muttered. “They’ve seen him explode on us enough that if they believe it, it’s not worth our time to correct.”

Her friend shook her head, bristling as her jaw clenched around whatever she had been going to say, though her unease still stretched the chiseled muscles in her arms taut and she crossed them over her chest. It killed Briddy to just let his childish behavior slide, every part of her crying out to push back, defend herself, to put him in his place. She had to ignore it though, let him say what he wanted, especially if teachers would tell her Father if she fought with Niles. Bridget could afford to let Niles disdain her if that meant avoiding Kerr’s.

As Parvati’s Cell limped their way back to the start, having successfully used a spell to smack the fowl out of the rain-field, Briddy held up one hand to her chest, reaching out to the relic she was supposedly connected to.

Vex…

She could almost hear something now, like an echo of a rock hitting the bottom of a faraway chasm, but that barrier prevented it from reaching her, even though bits of response seemed to slip through invisible cracks. Trying to ignore the shiver of frustration that crept its way up her spine, she let her hand fall, fingers curled into her palms so that her nails dug into the skin for a moment before she released them.

“Run with me,” Gail murmured in her ear, and Briddy gave a small jump, swallowing the yelp that had almost escaped her.

“What?” She spoke softly, looking up at her friend, who had leaned in, and Niles’ back as he did his usual showmanship in summoning his relic. Layered plates had already begun to climb up Gail’s forearms as well, their cog-like etching winking as they created her armored fists. “Run with me, Tuck’s going to head in first and spook the damn thing.”

“And then?” Bridget breathed, eyes darting towards her training sword, and then back to the enormous globules of water falling everywhere.

“We smack it until it feels like cooperating.” Gail punched one of her fists into an open palm, closing her armored fingers around it. Briddy turned around, looking up at Tuck with an eyebrow raised in silent question. He nodded, his eyes focused on a burnished metal handle that was glinting out of the thick fog that covered the room. Even the enormous raindrops didn’t seem to dissipate it, the mist swirling where the water struck, but never rising above knee height on even the most diminutive students in the class.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Lady Carmine called from the other end of the room, waving a hand in a broad, sweeping gesture, “Have at it, darlings.”

Niles sniffed, pushing his glasses up his nose and looking back at the clustered trio, who did their best to look innocent. He raised an arm as if to signal Briddy forward, but by the time it fell, it was Tuck who charged past, grinning at his confused cousin and diving towards where his weapon lay on the floor.

“What are you- Gail!” Niles shouted as Bridget and her friend sprinted past, stopping for a second so that they could scoop up Briddy’s wooden sword. That was the easy part, but once they slid to a stop, Eustace was waiting for them in a puffed-up ball of feathered fury.

Hissing, the Aspswan swiveled its head between the spread-out students, orange rimmed eyes narrowed in clear malice as a forked tongue tasted the air between its beak.

“Nice monstrosity,” Briddy murmured “No biting please.” It vaguely reminded her of the birds that flew into Nolan’s tower in the mornings, and sometimes a comforting tone could affect the animals, which were one of the few species that had remained uncorrupted after the Fall. Fighting the urge to touch the clip in her hair, she realized that she almost missed her brother at that moment; he had a way of understanding creatures both big and small with only a glance. Nolan would be able to tell her what to do, how to handle the bobbing, diamond-shaped head that was considering its next attack.

“Don’t think it’s up for bargaining,” Gail said, slowly circling to the creature’s back.

“What is wrong with you!?” Niles had caught up with them, stumbling a few steps to Gail’s right as he tried to avoid the falling water. “I would never leave you behind, that’s coward’s rot!”

Neither girl turned to look at him, keeping their attention fully focused on Eustace, who had lowered its head into an undulating line, parallel with the floor as the tufted feathers at the back of its body twitched in warning.

“Got it!” Tuck called, his voice gleeful. Both the girls and the monstrosity’s head snapped towards where the sandy-haired boy stood, twirling his baton in a circle around his wrist.

Wasting no time, Gail replied, “River’s rush, get in there then!” she jerked her head towards the Aspswan.

Needing no further encouragement, Tuck sprinted forward, twisting the handle of his weapon with a simple flick of his wrist. With a snap, two long, sharp prongs made of dull green crystal shot out of the cudgel’s top, wider near the base but narrowing to a sharp point at the end. Sensing the threat, Eustace turned on him, launching from the floor with a shriek that sent shudders up Briddy’s spine.

“What are you doing, Tuck? Let Bridget do that!”

Tuck didn’t acknowledge Niles's question as he began furiously warding off the Aspswan’s hissing onslaught, blocking the shooting beak with the wooden shaft of his weapon. “Anytime you want to help, I’d appreciate it.” He called over to the girls, who were still side-stepping raindrops as they began to close in.

“You ready?” Gail asked, glancing over at Briddy, who gave a silent nod as she raised her sword, the tip forming a line from the ceiling to the floor.

“Gail! You guys can’t just ignore me!” Niles’ tone had turned from rage to a needling whine that grated against Bridget’s ears.

“Who’s Gail?” The girl shot a mischievous grin towards the lancer “I’m slappin’ Gary, slapper of Aspswans.” She darted in, a fist flying up as she prepared to strike.

Briddy let out a snort of amusement, following suit as she swung the wooden shaft of her training weapon in an upward arc.

“You’re being ridiculous!” Niles swung in with the rest of them, albeit a moment later, and the rhythm of combat took over the Cell for a moment, cool mist from the surrounding raindrops washing over their group as they battled.

Tuck would swipe at Eustace, the crystal prongs of his weapon sending it flapping backward as Gail backhanded the creature across its back, the layered sheets of her weapon raising and snapping down before she made contact. As the hissing head turned towards the tall girl with hateful eyes, Briddy brought down the brunt of her sword onto its extended wing, knocking it off balance as it began to change course. There was a space there perfect for an accurate strike from Niles, where the long neck snapped around to face Briddy’s weapon, irritably striking at the wood so hard that visible dents appeared.

Pausing, Bridget waited for Niles to follow up so that she could strike once more, but instead, something slammed into her, knocking her down to the ground with brute force. Her sword went flying, skittering to a stop part of the way across the classroom, not far from where their fellow students stood.

“Should have followed the plan, Vasily.” Niles sneered, treading painfully on her legs as he lunged forward towards the monstrosity.

A wave of fury roared through her, and Briddy slapped the misted ground with an open hand, the silver-grey fog swirling in angry coils where she had struck. Before she could say anything, her mouth was filled with a rush of cold water as one of the globules struck her, the deluge washing away whatever words had been about to escape and get her in trouble. Her head smacked into the floor, and it seemed like an eternity passed before the pressure that held her down cleared. Choking and spitting, she dragged herself up, trying to catch her breath as the water slowly cleared her lungs.

Gently, someone’s hand struck her back a few times, and she looked up to see Tuck kneeling beside her, a concerned expression adorning his face.

“Forset.” He murmured, stuffing his cudgel into his belt and holding out his free hand towards her sword, which flew back towards them. “Are you alright, Briddy?”

Gazing down at his weapon, whose points had once again been retracted, Bridget looked around in slight bewilderment, spotting Gail and Niles standing in front of Lady Carmine with a limp lump tucked under the tall girl’s arm.

“I think you hit your head when the water struck,” Tuck said, gently touching a spot, near her forehead. “Vigni.” A sore spot that she hadn’t even realized was there faded, and he helped her stand, supporting her arm.

“You mean after your cousin struck me,” Briddy muttered, watching as Niles sauntered his way back over, a satisfied look on his face.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” Tuck said soothingly.

“Well maybe next time, we’ll stand and fight as a team, not run in like cowards.” The lancer’s voice was smug, and Bridget let out a long sigh. The Cell made their way back to the front so that the next group could go, with Niles continuing his lecture that constantly reiterated how he would never leave one of them behind, and that they were defined by their spineless actions.

“You alive?” Gail muttered, looking down at her. Briddy grimaced, and shrugged, shooting a dirty look over at Niles.

“-you always fight as a team out there in the field, or else you die alone.”

We did fight as a team, just not in the way you wanted. She thought sourly, not voicing the words. She had to stay out of trouble, so she put a hand on her hip, listening to Niles list the way that she, personally, had caused issues with the exercise. By the time Lady Carmine dismissed them to their next class, she could swear that her eye was twitching. Niles looked over at her with a triumphant expression, slinging one last barb her way. “It’s a pity that Cells can’t be changed until next year,” He glanced around to make sure other people were listening. “Because you’re a clear detriment to ours.”

“It is a pity,” Gail muttered, turning to go.

Briddy took a deep breath, turning to Niles with the most pleasant expression she could muster. “Are you done?” She asked sweetly.

His lips curled in a sneer, but she didn’t wait for an answer, sweeping out of the room with Gail, Tuck, and as much dignity as she could muster for being soaking wet.