Remedial Magic: Step by Aching Step, page 9
“Wait, what?” Aldric asked. A sudden wind had caught most of her words, so he figured he must have misheard her. Now it was Miraea’s turn to blush, though Aldric didn’t understand why. He sped up his fanning of her in case she was getting heat stroke.
“Um, nothing!” she blurted. “I’m just complaining. I know my life is better than most, and that I will probably never want for anything. Nothing physical, anyway.”
Aldric frowned at her. “What does that mean?”
Miraea didn’t answer for several long moments. Aldric waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts, though he stopped fanning her when his arm started to get tired. When she did finally speak again, she didn’t answer his question.
“What do you want to do, Aldric?”
Aldric just blinked at her. “Um, just talking like this is fine.”
“I mean when you graduate. When you finally leave this place. If you could do anything, what would you do?”
Aldric had to think about that. Truth be told, he’d never really considered it. His future was so bleak as to almost not exist.
“I always figured I’d do something in magic research,” he finally answered haltingly after a few minutes of silent thought. “Not sure what, but it’s the only thing that sounds appealing. Though I have little reputation or wealth to get started on that. I just haven’t really thought about it much.”
Miraea frowned at him, seeming disappointed in his answer. Aldric quickly scrambled to come up with a better one, but Miraea turned back to the vista before them and spoke first.
“You can do better. You will. One day, you will do something amazing. I know it.”
Aldric would be lying if he said he wasn’t flattered. She was probably being nice, but she certainly sounded like she believed it. She wasn’t one to give false praise or hope, either. Zasia had once said that Miraea had as much trickery and guile as a punch to the face. She usually just told it like it was. For better or worse.
“Well, if I’m so set for life, I can’t imagine what insane things you and Zee will accomplish,” Aldric said offhandedly, trying to take the conversation away from his own uncertain future. “You both are twice the talent I am. What would you do?”
Miraea didn’t answer for a long time, instead staring blankly out at the city below. Aldric waited, not sure if she was upset with him, ignoring him, or just thoughtful. It was so hard to tell sometimes with this girl.
“... I want to find out,” she finally answered. Aldric frowned in confusion.
“Find out what?”
“What I want to do.”
Aldric stared at her. Was that supposed to be an answer? He still waited in silence for her to continue, however. Miraea herself frequently admitted she wasn’t good at putting her feelings to words. She rarely talked about her own life at all, so this was the first time Aldric had seen this much emotion from her.
“I’ve only recently learned what a fool I am,” Miraea eventually said. Aldric frowned at her, not expecting such an answer. “For not wanting more than what I had. For not wanting anything, really. From day to day, my entire life, I was told what I wanted. What the family wanted. I always thought that was right.”
She looked back to the balcony entrance and frowned in annoyance, likely thinking of her uninvited entourage waiting eagerly for her to return. “Only until recently did I question that. I spent so much time following my family blindly, time that I could have spent working towards... something. Anything. I have this burning desire to do something, yet no idea what that something is. It’s... frustrating.”
She turned to Aldric and frowned accusingly before he could respond. “It’s your fault,” she declared bluntly. “I should probably just admit it. I followed you for a long time. Long before we ever met. It was unbecoming, and I knew that, but I still did. You were fascinating to me. I could never understand why you tried so hard. No one expected anything of you, but you still tried. People routinely put you down and tried to break you, but you never let that stop you. I wanted to know what drove you. I wanted to feel what you felt. To yearn for something.” She paused, then smiled sadly at him. “I wanted to know what drove the boy who claimed magic was his favorite thing in the entire world, when magic had only ever been a forgone obligation to me.”
Quiet dominated the balcony, the only sounds being the voices of chatting nobles and the clinking of wine glasses that floated through the balcony doors to the great hall. Aldric never would have suspected Miraea had any sort of interest in him before a few months ago. Even now, he could only say they were good friends, mostly because Miraea didn’t have any others. If he was honest with himself, he of course had hoped for more. He briefly wondered if he should use this moment to tell her just how fascinating she was to him, and not just because she was absurdly pretty, but Miraea stole his moment.
“That’s why I don’t like it when you put yourself down or say that all your effort is for nothing. That’s why it upsets me when you act like you have no future. It sounds like you’re giving up, and it makes me wonder if I should just go back to being the mindless puppet of my family. I don’t want to do that. So, you aren’t allowed to give up either. Take responsibility for what you’ve awoken in me. Please.”
Then she gave Aldric a smile that was lovelier than any she had ever given him. It had nothing to do with her looks, or the expensive dress, or the gorgeous view before them. It was simply filled with such sincere admiration and hope for him that it nearly made him cry. No one, not even Zasia, had ever looked at Aldric with such a look of unwavering faith.
“You’re at your best when you’re struggling, Aldric,” she said gently. “Don’t ever stop.”
Aldric couldn’t speak. As far as compliments went, it was an odd one. Most would probably be mildly offended. But Aldric felt like Miraea had just grabbed a hold of his soul and thrummed it like a harp string. The truth of her words caused an odd resonance inside of him. Even if it was for a single, fleeting moment, a lifetime of horrid treatment was shoved to the side to show him a world he never would have thought possible.
What did it matter that no one took him seriously? That hadn’t stopped him from coming as far as he had, right? He would do what he wanted, because he wanted to, and the world could go get bent if it didn’t like it. It didn’t matter that his family name meant nothing to anyone. He had another name he could use, and the name Aldric could mean a lot to many people if he tried hard enough. Even to a girl as amazing as this.
“Then I’ll struggle,” Aldric answered simply, his conviction solidifying into iron with the statement. “But you have to struggle with me. Don’t just do what your father wants. Do what you want. Even when he works behind your back, just keep following your own desires. Me and Zasia will be with you the entire way, if you’ll have us.”
Miraea’s smile somehow became even brighter. “Deal,” she said simply. Her smile faded a bit as she fell into deep thought. “I still don’t know how to do that, though.”
Having been lost in the emotional high from the impactful moment, Aldric waffled as his mind came back to the present. To be honest, he hadn’t thought that far ahead. He’d mouthed off and made some big claims without even thinking.
Miraea thankfully kept thinking and gave Aldric time to as well. Aldric’s eyes cast about desperately before catching sight of a servant that was exiting a side room in the great hall. Aldric had assumed it was just for servants or kitchen staff, but people had been coming and going from the room all night. When yet another group of servants walked up to the large but unadorned double doors, Aldric saw they were carrying a large crate between two poles with them. The servants disappeared into the room, then returned a few minutes later without the crate. It must be for storage. And the only thing they would store throughout the celebration would be gifts for the empress. A rather juvenile but funny idea popped into Aldric’s head.
“We’ll start small,” Aldric said, leaning close to whisper conspiratorially to Miraea. “Let’s sneak into the gift room.”
“What? Why would we do that?” Miraea asked, shocked.
“Because we’re not supposed to,” Aldric answered easily, with a devilish grin. “Your father would probably have a fit if he knew you snuck into some dark corner of the castle without permission. Besides, you’re not curious? Who knows what kind of gifts an empress would get? This might be your only chance to find out.”
“Isn’t that a bit childish?” Miraea asked skeptically, though she hadn’t declined immediately.
“Yep,” Aldric answered easily. “And when was the last time you did something like that? Like I said, we’ll start small.”
Miraea opened her mouth, closed it, then stared at the entrance to the gift room Aldric had pointed to. After a moment’s thought, she looked back at him, a small smile on her face.
“An excellent point. How do we do it?”
DESPITE BEING IN THE largest governmental building in the empire that housed the ruling empress, sneaking around the place proved embarrassingly easy. All it took was Aldric causing enough of a commotion with a few nobles in the crowd for the single guard that had been watching the door to leave his post. After that, Aldric and Miraea had simply walked right in, with no one the wiser. If anyone ever learned of this, entire scores of guards would be fired in an instant, and rightly so. Not that Aldric minded how easy it had been.
The room was rather dark, but there was enough light coming through windows throughout the room that illuminated it enough to see. The ceiling loomed high above their heads with a vaulted ceiling, perfect for storing a horde of gifts. It was absolutely filled with the things. Every possible luxurious thing Aldric could name was in this room, and even a few he’d never thought of or had never heard of.
Among the sea of luxury, the standouts were a gigantic statue of the empress and a caged cat-like beast of some sort. The caged creature hissed a bit and scared the daylights out of Aldric and Miraea, but then settled down to sleep and ignored them entirely. What madman had given that thing as a gift? And what the hell was the empress supposed to do with it? Keep it as a lap cat?
Miraea turned to Aldric expectantly, looking somehow both excited and worried at the same time. “Now what?” she asked quietly into the crowded room. No one was here, but she still felt the need to whisper. It was cute how nervous she was to be deliberately breaking the rules. He played along with her and keep his voice down as well.
“That... is a good question,” Aldric whispered back. He was mostly flying by the seat of his pants on this one. He looked around briefly, thinking. It wouldn’t do for Miraea’s first taste of freedom to just end at sneaking into a restricted area. Even if they got caught, they could easily just explain that they got lost and be returned to the party. It wasn’t like anyone would doubt Miraea’s word. No, this needed to be a bit more. What would be appropriately adventurous?
While Aldric thought, Miraea wandered the room and gawked at the gifts like a kid at an exhibit. It was quite the impressive lineup, even if Aldric internally groaned at the waste of empire resources. Seriously, the cost of some of these things could likely feed a large village for a month. Most of this crap would never even leave this room. Or they would eventually be sold off. At least it would have a use then. Aldric wondered what his father had brought tonight to stay relevant and in the empress’ good graces. It couldn’t possibly measure up to all of this, surely?
Signaling to Miraea to follow him, Aldric searched for any sort of organization to the chaos. Thankfully, some servant had the foresight to alphabetize which gifts came from who. It didn’t take too long for the two to find the gift from Lord Dengarius. As soon as he saw it, however, he just couldn’t accept it.
To Empress Minerva Rhagia, sovereign of the Rhagian Empire, given by the families of Belfrit, Libri, Sycra, and Dengarius. For as long as this monument stands, let her reign bring peace to her people.
The plaque at the foot of the colossal statue that dominated the center of the room was clear, but the implication behind it baffled Aldric. How the hell had his father afforded this? It was at least the height of four or five men and impressively lifelike. Even if other families had all chipped in, this thing must have been impossibly expensive. He’d never even heard of the other three families listed, so they couldn’t have been very well off either.
“I’ve never heard of the other three families,” Miraea whispered as she read the plaque. “I’m impressed your father could requisition such a fabulous gift, even with assistance. My own family wouldn’t have gone this far just to please the empress.”
That statement caught Aldric’s attention. If even Miraea had never heard those family names before, that was extremely odd. At the very least, they weren’t from Redan and wouldn’t likely be at this party. Aldric knew he would have noticed something like this in their own family manor, provided it could even fit, and it would have been too obvious and expensive to ship from outside the city. Where had Aldric’s father kept such a thing?
HIs suspicions mounting, Aldric walked closer to the statue and scrutinized it. It looked just like a statue, but something was off. When he reached out to touch it, the texture was rough like stone, but strangely pliable. When Aldric shoved a finger at it, the material dimpled beneath it like clay.
“You can’t be serious,” Aldric muttered to himself.
“What?” Miraea whispered.
“I think he faked this thing. This isn’t stone. Has he seriously fallen so far that he’d try to pass off a statue made of clay as the genuine article to an empress? He’ll be lucky to be jailed for such an offense. To make up a bunch of family names as well... seriously, what was his plan?”
Aldric was suddenly angry. Angry that his father was stupid enough to try something like this. Angry that he was going to make their lives even more miserable after this was inevitably found out. And for what? To have the biggest gift at the party? None of it made any sense.
Frustrated, Aldric abruptly kicked the statue, leaving a soft indent in the strange material in the shape of his boot. The statue made an echoing noise, as if it was empty on the inside. How had nobody noticed what a piece of garbage this thing was?
“What, already? I thought we were waiting for the dinner speech to start?”
“Shut up, idiot. That’s the signal!”
Aldric nearly fell onto his butt from shock when the statue started talking. More than one voice came from within the fake stone, growling and cursing as loud thumps came from inside it. The fake stone material bulged outward as someone began pushing against the inside, then plopped onto the floor in a soft blob.
“Oh, to hell with this,” another voice growled. A sword point poked out from the statue, missing Aldric’s face by inches. That was enough for Aldric to snap out of his shock and act. Miraea had frozen up next to Aldric, looking horrified to have watched him nearly get skewered through the head. As quietly as he could manage, Aldric grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her over to a dark corner of the room to hide. Whatever was going on, Aldric wanted nothing to do with it. He pressed Miraea’s back to his chest to take up less space and ducked down behind a few boxes, hoping that their whispers hadn’t been heard earlier.
The sword that had nearly stabbed Aldric was cutting a door through the thick clay-like substance of the statue. When it was finished, a roughly rectangular slab fell away and smacked loudly against the stone floor. Then several figures emerged and spread out around the room, clearly looking for something. They were all men, twelve of them by Aldric’s count, and they all carried themselves like people accustomed to violence. Tall, well built, and armed with blades or clubs at their sides, they were all dressed in dark colors and were obviously up to no good. Aldric had a bad feeling that his father had gotten himself and the family mixed up in something awful.
“Where’d he go?” asked one man. His words were reflected in the confused faces of all the other men. “I thought it was time.”
“See? I told you it was just random noises! Now we’ve blown the whole thing!”
Before the argument could go any further than that, the double doors Aldric and Miraea had snuck through cracked open just enough for a thin beam of light to fill the room from the great hall. Aldric hoped for the briefest of moments that a guard had heard the voices of the men and come to investigate, but the reality had his heart sinking into his stomach.
Lord Dengarius slinked into the room before closing the door softly behind him, Nora the maid right on his heels. They were both dressed rather simply for such an event, something that Aldric never would have expected from a man desperate to hide his family’s misfortunes. Then he realized that it also made them inconspicuous and better able to slip into a crowd. Aldric’s father immediately spotted the rouges, but instead of screaming in fright or running for the guards, he approached them with obvious familiarity and poorly concealed frustration. Aldric’s sinking feeling quickly became worse.
“You simpleminded idiots! I told you to wait for me to come get you. It took months of planning to get that damn thing in here, and you’re already ruining it!” The men tried to protest, but Dengarius cut them off. “Enough. It doesn’t matter. I took care of the guards already, anyway. We’ll not be bothered for the next hour at least.” Aldric now realized why it had been so easy for him and Miraea to sneak in here. “Everything is ready. You all know your part, yes?”
The biggest of the men, probably the leader, slammed his fists together with a nasty smile on his face. “Chaos and bloodshed. It’s what we do best.”
Miraea grasped Aldric’s arm over her front nervously. He didn’t blame her. If these men really were here to attack the party, it would be a bloodbath. No one had come expecting a fight, and weapons were not permitted within the castle. The guests would have a hard time fighting back, if they could at all. Being a mage didn’t mean you had the combat experience to fend off a sudden and violent ambush.
