Chapter Sixty-Six: Jade In Magefell, Part 2


    Four battles later, and Jade is disappointed. They’d fought five battles—five!—and lost every single one. Their first had been their best, and even that one was a little one-sided. In the third battle, they’d even tried the shield wall, but the others had broken through their defenses so easily. Robin had killed her once more, and another soldier had murdered her another, but the other two she’d survived, the battle only ending when her commander was dead.


    When Captain Kanad calls for the end, Robin comes to talk to her.


    “You fight well, sister,” She says.


    “As do you. I’ll win next time.”


    “Ha!” Robin laughs. “Yes, I am sure you will.”


    “ATTENTION!”


    At once, every soldier and guard stands up and salutes Captain Kanad, who smiles.


    “At ease. You have done well. Jade, come up please. I want you to explain what happened yesterday.”


    Jade cocks her head in confusion but obeys him.


    “Sir?” She asks.


    “How did yesterday go with the High Mages?”


    “Oh,” Jade says. “Well, I talked to one called High Mage Aegon. I told him that Magefell was in danger, but I didn’t tell him any specific details.”


    “Good job. And?”


    “And he promised to get us a parliamentary hearing.”


    “Thank you, soldier. You may return to your spot.” Once she had returned to her spot, Captain Kanad continued. “Today, in the morning, this High Mage Aegon talked to me, and he told me our Parliamentary hearing is tomorrow, which is great. Only I will go, along with Jade and two others, who I will pick. I picked Jade because she was the one to reach the High Mages. Now, at this time, we must practice every day. Hopefully, I can get the Vanguard to practice with us for a few days. We will need to know how they fight in order to fight ourselves.


    “We have a little over a month to prepare ourselves for the worst fight of our lives. Every day, we must get a little better. I expect you all to improve. I know you can. You are two hundred of the best soldiers in Arcadia. You are dismissed. You shall return at four.”


    — — —


    “Where are you going?”


    “I’m taking a nap,” Guilia says. “I’m tired, and if I don’t sleep now, I’ll sleep at four.”


    “We’re going to explore Magefell,” Jade says, pointing at Mothe and Robin. “You sure you don’t want to come.”


    “I’m sure. I’ll see you all after, though.”


    “Suit yourself,” Yue shrugs as she leaves.


    “I think I’m leaving, too,” Mothe says, starting to follow Guilia until Robin pulls him back.


    “No, you don’t,” She says. “You stay with me.”


    “You’re a soldier,” Jade tells him. “Act like it.”


    “I may be a soldier,” He says. “But so is she. And she’s a Snjornin. Not my type, I might add.”


    “Does that matter?” Robin asks.


    “YES!” Mothe shrieks. “You can’t do whatever you want to me!”


    “Actually, I can,” Robin told him. “This is just the first step.”


    “There’s more, “Mothe groans. “Of course there is. Jade, is there any chance I can see my mage friend today?”


    “Sure, I can take you there.”


    “Thank you.”


    “Not so fast,” Robin interjects. “I still want to explore Magefell.”


    “Well, you go do that,” Mothe tells her, patting her shoulder. “Meanwhile, me and Jade—”


    “Will be with me,” Robin growls. “And then you can see your friend.”


    — — —


    For the next two hours, Jade, Robin, and a very unwilling Mothe go around magefell, following every alleway they find. More than once, they lose themselves—Mothe losing himself on purpose plenty of times, although Robin catches him every single time—but that’s the joy of it.


    After what feels like forever to Mother, Robin finally relents and allows them to go to Magefell—all three together—to find Mothe’s friend.


    Zenyth once again stands as a monument to Magefell’s strength, and this time Jade has no problem entering, as apparently the news of Helstrom’s girlfriend has spread through Zenyth like wildfire. Mothe and Robin both snigger as they hear the guard talk about it, although Mothe’s sounds a bit forced.


    “Who do you want to see, Mothe?”


    “Ali Bann,” Mothe says.


    “So it’s a girl,” Robin crosses her arms. “You can’t be friends with girls.”


    “Why not? Jade is a girl!” Mothe groans.


    “Jade is my sister, it’s different.”


    “Well, in this, you have no say in the matter, and I don’t care what you say.”


    For once, Robin lets it go, although she seems extremely annoyed, and the guard tells them where to find Ali. She lives only a few hallways away from Zade.


    “Have fun with Helstrom,” The guard sniggers.


    “Oh, she will!” Robin grins. “We’ll make sure of it.”


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    Jade ignores her as they follow the stairs and hallways of Zenyth. Fighting the urge to ditch them—the only reason she doesn’t is Mothe—Jade arrives at Zade’s door, but she passes it, and Robin and Mothe don’t notice, thankfully. After a few more minutes, they finally arrive at Ali’s door, and Mothe knocks.


    “I hope she isn’t at a library or anything,” Mothe says. “But, then again, she always stayed in her room.” Robin glared at him.


    “How do you know that?”


    “Because we were often there together.”


    The door opens and a tall girl with long black locks opens it, her wide eyes opening wider.


    “Mothe?” She asks, then reaches to hug him. “It’s so good to see you.” Then in front of Robin, she kisses Mothe. Both Jade and Robin gape.


    Mothe’s eyes are wide too, but he seems to be enjoying it. When they separate, though, he looks down in embarrassment.


    “Hey, Ali. You know we’re not dating anymore.”


    “I know, but I had to, one last time,” She replies amicably. “We did only break up because I left.”


    “Oh, you better not be dating,” Robin growled, glaring at Ali.


    “Why are you here?” Ali asks, ignoring Robin, which irks her. “And who are these?”


    “I’m here on a job,” Mothe replies, clearly unsure of what to do. “And these are my friends, Jade and Robin.”


    “Soon to be girlfriend,” Robin says, but Mothe interrupts.


    “Friend.”


    Robin kicks him and he yelps. Ali raises an eyebrow at the both of them.


    “Are you okay?”


    “No, they’re not,” Jade laughs. “They’re a little crazy.”


    “I can see that,” Ali says drily. “But it’s clear I’m not invited here, so I might as well just leave.”


    “You’re right, you aren’t,” Robin smirks.


    “No, you are,” Mothe pleads. “Please. I can’t with this monster of a woman anymore.”


    “Excuse me!” Robin interjected.


    “Help,” pleaded Mothe, and he rushed in Ali’s room and closed it, a lick announcing that he locked it.


    “THAT MAN!” Robin growled.


    “Robin,” Jade says. “Give him a break. He doesn’t like you, and that’s fine.” Robin sags in her arms.


    “No, he does. He just doesn’t want to admit it.”


    And what if he doesn’t?”


    “Then I’ll respect it,” Robin says sadly. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”


    “I get it. You’re jealous.”


    “I’m not—”


    “You are, and you know that!” Jade tells her. “But it’s okay. Just respect his wishes. You’re pushing him too much. Your culture is different from ours. You have to remember that.”


    “You’re right,” Robin replies. “But I’m not going to stop until he truly tells me what he wants.”


    “He has—”


    “Wait a few days. My culture dictates what I must do, and then he can decide.”


    “Does that involve—”


    “You need not know, sister,” Robin told her. “But no worries, I’m sure it will go well.”


    That sentence made Jade think it for sure would not go well.


    — — —


    “I want to meet your other friends,” Jade declares, staring at Zade expectantly.


    “Fine,” He says. “They’ll love you anyway.”


    “As long as they don’t love you as much as Zade does,” Robin barks, and Jade glares at her. As soon as they exit the room, Xavier gapes from the common room.


    “Zade, calm down,” He says. “One was enough. Two…”


    “Xavier, shut up, or I will force that pillow down your throat,” Jade warns.


    “I bet you’d know a lot about forcing something down a—” He gurgles as Jade hits him with the pillow at lightning speed then proceeds to hit him again and again. “AH! STOP! I’M SORRY!”


    Jade continues her assault for a good minute or two before she lets him go.


    “Mention me and Zade again in even a mildly dirty manner and I swear I will stab you,” She says, only half-joking.


    “Wow, touchy much?” Xavier replies, earning another pillow to the head. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” Turning to Zade, he mouths something that looks like women, am I right? And Zade stifles a laugh, but this time Jade lets it go.


    “Come one,” He says. “I need to introduce you to Th’ul, Anni and Sia.”


    “Ooh, Sia,” Xavier grimaces. “She’s your competition, Jade.” His groan as another pillow hit his stomach wasn’t enough revenge, but Jade didn’t bother to do anymore.


    Xavier wasn’t serious, right? She didn’t care either way, obviously, but she certainly hoped it wasn’t. She wasn’t sure why exactly, but she just didn’t want Sia and Zade to be together.


    “I don’t have anything with Sia,” Zade tells Xavier.


    “Okay,” Xavier wheezed. “Just go.”


    Jade shoots one more glare at Xavier, who glares back at her.


    “I hope you weren’t actually fighting,” Zade says.


    “Oh, we were, but we still like each other,” Jade resplies. “At least, I hope so. I wasn’t too harsh, was I?”


    “Not harsh enough, to me,” Zade tells her, eliciting a giggle from her.


    “As much as I agree with douchebag over there, I must say you were pretty savage,” Robin admits. “And your hitting skills are nothing to be trifled with.”


    “Ah, here we are, Th’ul’s room.” Zade says, knocking at the door, which is promptly answered by a man—boy?—covered totally in black with an inexpressive face.


    “Oh, hi, Zade. Is that Jade?”


    “Yes,” Zade responds. “How did you know?”


    “She’s totally your type,” Th’ul responds, then seeing the two glares, he throws his hands up. “Just a deduction. I am right, about her being Jade, after all. Come in.”


    Zade grumbles under his breath as he enters the completely black room, and as Jade enters, she feels an overwhelming sense of darkness surround her, but the room isn’t dark. It’s totally black but it’s well lit, although from where she can’t tell. There’s a blonde girl sitting on a chair in the room, fourteen years old at best.


    “This is Anni,” Th’ul explains. “Anni, Jade, Jade, Anni.”


    “Call me Jay,” Jade thrusts her hand out.”


    “Nice to meet you,” Anni tells her.


    “Were you talking about…” Zade begins but falters off at a glance from Th’ul.


    “Yeah,” He responds. “I think she might be getting better.”


    “That’s great. Well, I hope you get better soon,”


    “Thank you,” Anni replied.


    — — —


    Their second, and last, stop is at Sia’s room. When Jade knocks, the door is opened by a beautiful brunette in a flowing pink dress with a neckline too low for Jade’s taste.


    “I’m Sia,” She introduces herself.


    “Jade. I hear Zade is your beau.”


    “Oh, no!” Sia blushes along with Zade. “Nothing of the sort. We’re nothing if not friends, but that’s all. Him and the Sterkona are like idols to me.”


    “Why?”


    “Well, Yue mostly,” Sia admits. “Because she won the tournament. I still can’t believe I’m her friend sometimes. But Zade, too, because he saved my life.”


    “Oh, he did,” Jade grins as Zade blushes. “Well, I take it you have dirt on Zade?”


    “Only a little,” Sia responds. “But I don’t think I’m supposed to say anything.”


    “Oh, honey, we’ll have so much fun,” Jade says, entering the pink room. “I have a lot of dirt on the man too.” Robin follows her in, and Zade tries to as well, but Jade stops him, smirking.


    “Don’t you dare,” he pleads, but she just grins and closes the door. Eventually, she feels guilty and opens it back up, but, in the end, it only causes more embarrassment for Zade as they trade stories about him.