Chapter 29 - The Thunderbird Room

AN: This is going to be the last week of 7 posts. I'm out of manic 'start of book' energy, and I'm going down to a more sustainable 5 per week. There's a good chance that, like in BTDEM, that number will drop as the series gets larger. Still, I believe I'll be ending with 40 chapters in 40 days, which is solid.

I like the time I've been posting. 5 a week naturally dovetails to M-F schedule.

Enjoy!

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Characters – 

Erik Morsin: Heir to the Duchy of the Emerald Isle. Just wants to play his violin.

Sora Park: Erik’s loyal friend. Loves flying. An absolute broombrain.

Vivian Merryweather: An expert on all things color, fashion, and of the heart. Gets seasick easily.

Alexandria Renard: Wants to be the next Morgana Le Fay. Can’t speak louder than a whisper. 

Valerie De Lys: 16th in line for the De Lys Duchy, which rules over what's roughly France in Logres.

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Bjorn was clever, as was Alyssara, the two conniving how to have the invaders best feel their wrath.
He struck at soft targets,
Slashing across borderlands and borderlines like a lightning storm.
Villages razed. Keeps left hollow.
Bodies displayed with artistry meant for nightmares.
Each act whispered:
"I can stop whenever I choose."
But the hand never stilled.

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 49

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Erik’s trick of writing down names and an interesting fact about people was paying off. He already knew all of his fellow Thunderbird classmates in the same year. Him, Sora, Alexandria - he wondered if he could call her Alex - Vivian, Valerie De Lys, Silas Sugarplum, and a few other students. They were one of the smaller houses. To his surprise, Kirin, of all houses, had gotten the most students. Maybe it had something to do with how ‘scholarship’ students were recruited? But then, why wouldn’t the magic of the castle try to balance things? The same disparity didn’t seem to exist at the higher years. Perhaps it was simply the way the dice rolled this year. It was up to the student’s choice, not decreed from on high.

Prefect Orren halted once they were all in the common room. The sixteen new students - and five transfers, either from other schools or other houses - paused behind him. A number of the older students looked on curiously.

“We’re here! Tadpoles, you’re at the top of the spire. You can interpret that as generosity, giving you the best view, or the rest of us being tired of walking up so many flights of stairs.” Orren joked. “The rest of you already know the drill. Sorry transfers, the unpacking magic only works on tadpoles. I recommend working together. Breakfast starts at 6:30AM for anyone who’s an early riser. You’ve got your CAT exams tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM.”

He paused and looked over the students.

“Thunderbird is the house of power. Not just about how strong your arm is. Wealth is a type of power, but only applied properly. Don’t brag just because your family’s rich, do something with it.” His eyes flickered to Erik’s and Valerie’s. “We’re the house of magical power. Physical power. Knowledge is power. Social power.” He chuckled. “Literally the power of friendship. Use it. Form covens. Work with each other. We’ve got a bad rep of being individualistic. In my experience, we’re anything but. We know how life’s better working with other people. I’ll show you all the little neat perks of Thunderbird house tomorrow. Okay? Okay. Great, get some sleep. Shoo, get out of here.”

The students started to shuffle their way over to the stairs. Erik tried to catch Alexandria’s eye, but she strode ahead, resolutely ignoring him.

“Morsin! Wait!” A venom-filled voice shouted across the common room. Almost everyone paused, and Erik turned around, mentally shifting spells. Smile #5, bland-but-pleasant went on, and he turned to face the man yelling at him.

“Hi, can I help you?” Erik asked, his eyes flicking to the drawn wand and noting the rest of the outfit. Standard dueling robes, no armor, no shield, a pair of rings on his hand - man was head of his house, De Corci family - but no secondary weapons.

Just a wand, like anything could be ‘just’ a casting focus. The number of people getting up and standing behind him was rapidly getting concerning. 

“We don’t want no Morsin here.” He spat. “Leave now, before I make you.”

Erik’s eyes were quickly moving, and he was disappointed but not surprised to see the Prefect slowly backing off. It warmed his heart to have Sora boldly step up next to him, and the broombrain thankfully let him do the talking.

“I’m a student here, just like you.” He kept the smile on, holding his hands out. He was hyper aware of his satchel, and was rapidly coming up with his own plans.

De Corci turned his head over his shoulder to the people behind him.

“I asked nicely, like you said.” He turned back, and his face was twisted in a rictus of rage.

“Morsin, I had to watch my family burn alive in front of me.” He spat out. “I’m going to kill you.” A large number of wands came up behind De Corci.

“Not even as a duel?” Erik asked, doing his level best to keep his voice mild.

“What about the wards we’ve heard so much about?” Vivian asked to nobody. Erik almost dropped his mouth open in surprise. Gone was the whip-smart girl he’d started to see lurking in her depths. Vivian was all dull expression and vacant tone, with a little tremor of fear. “Aren’t they supposed to keep us safe?” By Odin, the lady could act.

De Corci spat on the floor, and got dirty looks from most of the onlookers.

“Fine. We’ll just send him to the hospital wing, and keep sending him there until he leaves, one way or another.”

Vivian took a half-step towards them, then paused. It was just Erik and Sora, surrounded by the older students.

“Is there a single banner of mine here?” Erik asked loudly. A few students behind De Corci cursed. 

“Ugh. Yeah.” One of the students called out from the crowd, and shoved his way forward, drawing his casting focus. An unusual circle, filled with a web. 

“Elderstone.” Erik tersely greeted the man. “You’re a credit to your house.”

“Spending my first week in the hospital was not in my plans.” He grumbled.

“What are you doing over there?” One of the students behind De Corci yelled.

“Would you be friends with an oath-breaker!?” Elderstone roared back, finding his fire. “Would you want to stand next to a man who abandons his duty when convenient? Like it or not, we are sworn to the Morsin family, for good or for ill.”

Erik resolved for his family to do something quite nice for the Elderstone Barony at his next opportunity. 

Elderstone’s quick speech shook out a half-dozen more students, who stepped up next to Erik, and drew their own casting focus. What had started off as a bunch of older students ambushing a tadpole was now looking more like a full-scale battle. Vivian snuck up to the back of the crowd, while De Corci’s group was arguing with each other. Erik noted everyone who’d stepped up, and put them on the ‘nice’ list.

Later on, he’d check to see who hadn’t stepped up, at which point he’d need to have several pointed conversations with them.

“Do you even know a spell?” Erik quietly asked Sora.

“Punch.” She deadpanned. Erik crept his hand over to his satchel.

“Enough talking! GET THEM!” De Corci shouted, and the spells started to fly thick and fast.

Erik dove towards De Corci, ducking under the spells flying through the air, and pulled his morningstar out of his bag. He managed one good swing from a kneeling position at a surprised De Corci, and was rewarded with his knee going crunch in a most satisfying way.

Sora tried a similar maneuver, but caught a spell in the throat when she was only halfway across. De Corci went down with a scream, but Erik was now stationary and facing a half-dozen wands pointed right at him. The spells caught him, overlapping painfully as the jinxes and hexes interacted in unusual ways. His arms flopped around bonelessly, which was excellent when he kept trying to punch himself. Boils erupted across his face, and he started coughing and wheezing, unable to breathe properly. His hair wasn’t long enough to attack him properly. Erik shuddered as dozens of kinetic impacts hit all over his body. It was like a chef took a meat tenderizer to his face, groin, elbows, and every other sensitive part of his body.

Erik’s group fought well, but they had been heavily outnumbered, even before some of them had never cast their first spell.

As blessed darkness encroached on Erik, he heard a few final words, hissed in agony by De Corci.

“Get his bitch.”

The last thing he heard was the chant of a few spells, followed by a whispered squeaking noise.

Then darkness claimed him.

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Erik woke up to the bright green-and-blue lights of the infirmary. He was in surprisingly little pain, and his arms had returned to normal. Footsteps rapidly approached, and Healer Elaine was there a moment later. He tried to sit up, but couldn’t quite manage it.

She was quite cross, with her hands on her hips. Her long, flowing brown hair framed blue eyes that sparkled with the stars. Erik figured it was the side effect of a ritual - or perhaps an intended effect of one. 

“Good, you’re awake.” She said, waving her asclepius staff over him, and smiling at the readout. “Drink this.” She shoved a potion in Erik’s hand. He only hesitated a moment before throwing it back with a grimace.

There had to be a reason they made all medicine taste foul.

“I need you to answer a few questions for me. What’s your name?” She asked.

“Erik, of the house of Mosrin.” He said formally. 

“Where are we?” She asked.

“I’m… guessing the infirmary in Camelot, although if I’ve been kidnapped that’s going to be wrong.”

Healer Elaine lifted her eyebrows.

“Is that something you often worry about? Getting kidnapped?”

“Often? No. Waking up in an unusual location after being in a fight? With how people see my family?” Erik tried to shrug, which was hard lying down.

“We’ll get back to that.” Healer Elaine said. “Do you know what day it is?”

“I’m going to guess the day after we arrived at Camelot, but I’m unsure what curses I was hit with or how long I’ve been out.” He said.

“Well reasoned. Right, you’re aware of time, place, and location, and you’re out of critical care. This is your first time here, so I’m going to lay down the law.”

The woman was diminutive, and couldn’t be more than 50 kilos soaking wet. Erik was fairly certain he was larger and stronger than her, even as a teenager. Yet, in that moment, Erik felt a terrifying presence bearing down on him, one that caused him to break out in a cold sweat.

“The infirmary is sacred. You do not start nonsense in here. I take off hundreds to thousands of points at a time, and if you need reminding, you’re expelled at losing 300. You do not start problems in here. If someone’s talking to you and you dislike it, close the curtains. They’ll seal you away so you don’t need to hear them, and I will dock the offender significantly. Now, I’m no stranger to boys getting in trouble in school. Second law. You tell me what you did. If I ask what spell you cast, you tell me. If I ask what forbidden ritual you performed, you tell me. It doesn’t matter if you’re a patient here or not, if I send one of the Unicorns to bring you here, you come along and tell me what I need to know. I do not dock points for anything done outside of the infirmary. I don’t care how illegal it is, I don’t care how terrible it was. I will keep your secrets, but I have to know what was done to save your life, and the lives of whoever you curse. Understood?”

Erik nodded weakly.

“Third and last. You do not try to circumvent the ward system that’s in place. It’s entirely possible to cause absolutely devastating harm to a person in a way that won’t trigger the wards. One of the more harmless combinations would be a draft of eternal sleep combined with an invisibility necklace and a closet. Am I understood?”

Erik nodded like a bobble, and Elaine’s features softened.

“Excellent. Now, in less strong terms, I’ll tell you to listen to me and the Unicorns working the hospital wing, because we know how your body is put together and we’re trying to get you better. However, I have no intention of making a law I know will be disobeyed. Just know the students here have my full permission to laugh at you when you ignore our advice and get hurt even more.”

Erik couldn’t imagine better motivation for listening to healer’s orders.

“Am I clear?”

“Yes madam.” Erik said.

“Good. Your weapon and bag are locked up in my office, both to prevent theft and prevent problems. I didn’t spot a casting focus on you, should we be worried?”

Erik shook his head.

“No madam. I don’t know any spells yet, so I didn’t draw it. It’s in my bag.”

“Good. Now, the Praetorians want to talk with you. It’s my judgment that it can wait, so I’ll fend them off if you’d like.”

Erik licked his lips.

“I’ll talk to them, madam.” He said.

“Good, I’ll let them know. Now, you’re quite lucky. The spells cast around during your little spat are quite easy to reverse, and you’ll be out before dinner. Do you have any questions?” She asked.

“My friends, how are they?” He asked. “Um. Park, Sora; Merryweather, Vivian; Elderstone, Edgar; Renard, Alexandria…” He listed off a few more names of the other students that had stood with him.

“Nobody involved in the altercation will still be in the hospital wing in three days.” Elaine said blandly. “However, I’m not going to give details about any patient to anyone without permission.”

Erik winced.

“Ah, well, can I go talk with some of them?” He asked.

Elaine pursed her lips.

“Yes… but remember, if people dislike what you’re saying, I will dock significant points.”

That reminded Erik of something.

“Oh! Speaking of circumventing wards, did you know someone tried to murder me yesterday? Blasted me off the castle wall before we were under wards.”

A cold fury erupted from Elaine, and Erik flinched away at the look on her face.

“Excuse me.” She said in a tight, controlled voice. She got up and left.

Erik managed to struggle up and look around the room. Most of the beds were closed, with the sheets around them. Part of him wondered if he could bait De Corci into attacking him here - it’d be an easy way to get rid of the problem. 

At the same time, Healer Elaine seemed like nobody’s fool, and would probably smack him down for the attempt. No, better not risk it. If he had to try anything, it would be to see if he could get her to work in Dublin in a few years time.

Going around, ripping off curtains - if it was even possible, they looked charmed - just to see if it was one of his friends seemed like it could also backfire. Several of the Unicorn students were walking up and down the aisle, taking a look at the chart and writing notes down. At least his neighbor’s curtains were open, and it wasn’t someone he minded talking with.

“First time in the hospital?” Odric asked. 

“Yeah, you?” Erik said. Odric barked a sad laugh.

“Oh, how I wish. No, I’m quite familiar with them. This one’s pretty nice. Haven’t gotten a chance to make the bed my own yet. It’ll come.”

Erik looked over in disbelief.

“Are you actually cursed or something?” He asked. “Lost the core lottery?”

“Ha! I wish. No, I’m unlucky.”

Erik shook his head, then laid back on his pillow.

This was going to be a long wait.