Kao buried her face in her hands, unable to watch the scene play out. Why does he never listen to me when it is important? Was ‘stop he is dangerous,’ too subtle.

“Maybe I should get him a leash,” she muttered to herself. “Between Orn being Orn, and the effect of his mother’s path, I doubt he heard anything I said.”

She sighed, and lifted her gaze back to the duel. How he is going to get himself out of this mess?

Orn’s feet slid a bit in the gravel as he struggled to maintain his grip on his sword. Suddenly she felt a tug on her being, and Kao knew he had made his decision. She felt the connection to her knight expanded and her power respond to his will. “The other boy needs to be taught a lesson, but I hope Orn does not kill him. It will just make this worse.”

Rather than try blocking the blow Orn had used his healing ability numb the area. “Really? That is your plan!” Kao yelled as the rapier came down. Orn’s uniform tore as the older boy’s blade tore into his shoulder. Kao felt she flinched more at the impact than Orn did.

Kao watched the older boy’s eyes go wide as Orn ignored the injury to retaliate with his knife. The knife found no resistance in the noble boy’s thin sleeve, and sank deeply into his forearm. The older boy screamed and snatched his arm back, only to be pursued by Orn. Only the older boy’s height allowed him to keep away from Orn’s knife.

Orn alternated attacks between his knife and newly freed sword. The older boy was left to fend off Orn using only the sword breaker, as he lost his grip on his rapier when he was cut. The rapier remained stuck in Orn’s shoulder, its guard caught in the torn threads of his uniform.

“Finally,” Kao muttered, to herself as Orn seemed to recognize the rapier’s presence and paused his pursuit. “I know your healing can numb the pain, but that should be excruciating.”

Orn’s knife caught against the rapier’s guard, and pulled it free with a quick motion. “Not like that,” Kao groaned as the rapier fell to the gravel. Even at this distance she could tell the action had made the injury worse. “Please, stop hurting yourself. Look around you. Even the other knight students were shocked by that you barbarian.”

The students in the crowd were not the only one’s shaken by the action. Kao noticed Orn’s opponent stood dumbfounded at the sight, until Orn rushed toward him. The older boy staggered back under the weight of the blows, but the result was inevitable. Eventually, the noble boy’s foot slipped as he tried to deflect Orn’s sword. A low spot in the path, and the force of the blow combined to send him to the ground.

The older boy landed flat on his back with a grunt of pain. Orn moved to press his advantage when the noble raised his sword breaker intending to ward off the attack. Unfortunately for him, a quick slash from Orn knocked it out of his hand. This left he older boy unarmed as he stared up at a furious Orn.

Orn’s sword drew back and Kao readied herself to intervene. However, she was beatten to it by a large figure that rushed out of the crowd. The large man pushed Orn away from his opponent, then jumped back himself. The large noble's hand barely avoided a reflexive slash from Orn, though his silk sleeve was not as fortunate.

Kao breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the teacher was unharmed. “If I had started teaching Orn to fight multiple opponents, he might not have been so lucky,” Kao muttered to herself.

“What do you think you are doing, you idiot peasant?!” The man yelled, his face turning red. “Attacking your betters is punishable by death. You will be lucky if your family keeps their heads after this.”

Orn seemed unsure what to do until he noticed his opponent start to rise. Orn readied himself to leap at the boy, but froze as a foot landed on the sword breaker the boy had been reaching for.

“I think it is best for everyone if this stops now,” an old bearded man said, then turned from the old blood student to Orn. “It is very clear that you won and anything further might as well be murder. Unless you really want to continue?” The man directed the last to Orn’s opponent who still stared at the blade under the man’s foot. When the student shook his head the man turned back toward Orn.

“He is right,” Kao added, as she moved to appear by Orn. “The other boy is a bully and donkey’s rear, but that does not mean he needs to die.”

“The duchess’s insults hurt mother so much. If I leave him alive…” Orn’s began, his grip tightening on his weapons.

“If you leave him alive?” the fancily dressed man yelled. “The guards have been sent for. Drop your weapons and I will ask that your family be spared.”

“Shut your mouth Jolm!” The second man snapped, glaring a the large man. “For the love of the goddesses, shut your mouth. If you agitate the boy and he runs you through, I will personally tell the king you deserved it.”

“Headmaster!” the first man turned to look horrified a the older man. “This peasant has already attacked a noble. We cannot give him any leeway. Honestly, your patience with the rabble is the reason we have blood spilled before classes even start.”

“One more word and I will have you thrown out of this academy before classes start, Jolm,” the headmaster reply was icy. Then the old man turned back to Orn and sighed before continuing in a softer tone. “You said something about your mother. I assume the young man on the ground insulted her.”

Orn nodded and the man continued softly, focused on Orn’s expression. “Is it bad enough that you need to kill him? Would she be happy to hear you took the life of another student? And what if another person saw how upset you got over this? Would you let them bait you into fighting? Would you kill them as well?”

“He should for what he said!” Orn snapped back. “If anyone wants to fight me, I will not run. I will take them all on if that is what it takes.” Orn turned to glare at the old blood students, several of which stepped back after meeting his eyes. On the whole they acted as if Orn was a wild animal.

In some ways they are not far off, Kao thought to herself. Why did that idiot have to insult Orn’s mother? He could of insulted his father and Orn would have laughed it off, but he just had to insult his mother. Though I imagine anything said about Emmy, or Liv would have given the same result. Kao sighed again feeling a growing sense of the challenge in front of her. I should have prepared him for this but his blow up over Emmy’s path made it so hard.

“I think they realize that would be dangerous. But I am not sure how the countess will take it when she hears her son is leaving a trail of blood behind him in her name,” the headmaster said causing murmuring to ripple through the crowd. “Your father might be willing to turn a blind eye to this. But your mother has a reputation for being above gossip, and lies. Will you undermine her efforts to rise above the accusations by dignifying them with a response?”

“They still hurt her,” Orn started, but Kao could see the anger fading from him.

“We cannot stop every lie, nor can we punish everyone who says things that hurt our loved ones. I think you have made your point here, and no one looks ready to do it again,” the headmaster’s voice was calm, and he gestured at the noble boy on the ground. “Let me handle his punishment. I assure you, he will be punished and no one needs to die.”

Jolm looked about to speak, but a quick glare from the headmaster caused him to bite his tongue.

“The headmaster is a fair man,” Kao said softly.

“I… I will leave him to you.” Orn managed, slowly lowering his blades.

“You are doing the right thing,” Kao added softly, and watched Orn suddenly seem at a loss for what to do. How can he go so quickly from a blood thirsty rage to a lost babe?

“Thank you. I must keep him alive to punish him though,” the headmaster said pointing at the prone boy. “Jolm take the young man to the healers.”

“Do you also need to go to the healer’s office?” the headmaster asked looking at Orn’s shoulder.

“I am fine,” Orn replied, and sheathed his blades.

Despite his words, Kao saw his left arm was moving stiffly, but chose not to comment. The healing is stopping the blood loss. He should be fine. Now it is only a matter of how this plays out.

The headmaster shrugged, then addressed the crowd. “Did you all get to see what you wanted? I know you all are out here waiting to see a fellow student get hurt. Are you happy there is blood on this campus? You are here to learn, but if this is what you have learned is a good idea I will shut the academy down. I am ashamed of all of you. Go back to your dorms. Once I get to the bottom of this duel I will determine what punishments need to be handed out.”

Jolm lifted Orn’s opponent to his feet and turned to the headmaster. “It cannot be a duel. A duel still requires a teacher to approve…”

The man’s words were cut off by a glare from the headmaster. “If you were less of a fool, you would have noticed Tetric was standing in the crowd. That alone should tell you what happened. I will punish him later for approving this, and you will join him if you say another word.”

The large man winced at the words, and half carried the injured boy through the crowd.

The headmaster turned to the haggard looking teacher who approved the duel. His words were even, but furry was plain in the older man’s eyes. “Tetric we will speak on this in my office after I finish talking to Blackthorn.”

Kao patted Orn on his uninjured shoulder. She reminded him to keep calm as he, and the large uniformed boy from his barracks, were asked to follow the headmaster.

Orn nodded and fell silently in behind the headmaster. The large uniformed student lagged behind for a moment to whisper with another student. The large boy then jogged to fall in behind the headmaster.

Kao sighed with relief when she saw how calmly Orn followed the headmaster. As her concern over Orn faded she flinched and came to a sudden stop. While the group continued toward the headmaster’s office, Kao knelt and scratched furiously at her shin. Almost as quickly as it started, the itching dissipated. With the feeling gone she stood and, muttered to herself, “why is it whenever he gets into trouble I itch? It has been like this ever since the goblin mother.”