Vayal Academy

Once again, I’m too late.

They’ve picked one of the rarely-used rings on the outskirts of campus — the central ones are proper arenas, but this is little more than a flat field bounded by (usually invisible, but not for me) arcane walls, shimmering panes of energy that provide a magically-suppressive aura, ensuring — in theory, my panicking brain reminds me — that any injuries are non-lethal.

Vila and Alyx are already inside, waiting on either side. Vila paces like a predator waiting to pounce, while Alyx reclines leisurely in a conjured chair.

“Finally!” Nym calls, bounding down the bleachers with a wave. “They’ve been waiting for you.”

I feel bad barrelling right past her, but it’s the two other — and only two, because they’ve managed to keep this news from spreading — spectators that catch my eye. Mae and Syrene. They sit together, Syrene laughing soundlessly at some joke. I’m up there in an instant, all my attention on Mae. “We have to stop this.”

“Baby, it’s-”

“It wasn’t Nym. In the vision. It was her.”

Mae’s about to say something, but she blushes and quiets when Syrene puts a hand on her thigh (fuck I could just kill her, if not for this fucking promise). “Gods, Hattie,” she says, in Nym’s voice, “you’re just so fucking smart.”

I ignore it. “Mae. If it’s her, Alyx might actually get hurt. Nym doesn’t plan but she does.”

“You…” The conflict plays out in plain view across Mae’s face, and she turns to Syrene with her big, impossible to lie to eyes. “You wouldn’t hurt her, would you? Wouldn’t mess with the ring’s field?”

“Of course not. Losing is humiliation enough; that’s what I’m here to see.”

I’m ready to accuse her of lying, because why go through all the trouble of masking herself from me if that’s all it is, but a robotic female voice cuts me off. “The duel is about to begin. All non-combatants, please maintain a safe distance from the ring.”

“Mae, we have to stop this.”

“Three. Two. One. Begin.”

Fuck!

My eyes stay fixed on the ring. This isn’t right; I don’t like it at all. But it’s too late. I was too slow. Now I just have to believe in her.

Vila opens with a firebolt aimed square at Alyx’s chest. She conjures a small silver plate right in its path — the silver melts to slag, but absorbs the bolt’s momentum. The same happens to the next four bolts.

Okay. That’s good. That’s smart. If she plays defensively and tires Vila out, she’s got a chance. Takes a lot more mana to propel a firebolt than it does to make a little plate.

Vila screams and slams her wrists together, lets loose a roiling ball of blue fire that whistles through the air like a trebuchet stone. Quick on her feet, Alyx dives to the ground — a wall of vines interposes itself between her and the fireball’s landing. The conjured chair is reduced to smoking ash, the wall is torched, but Alyx is unharmed.

“Looks like she’s fought before,” Syrene says.

Mae giggles. “Might be she’s just that good.”

“Coward! Face me!” Vila holds her palm out flat, her other hand working the spell. Alyx expects another bolt or ball and brings up an oversized bouquet of purple and yellow flowers, but instead the fire comes in a stream, burning through the wall and licking at Alyx’s face. She’s just fast enough to get the spell off — a vine whips out of the ground next to Vila and wraps around her wrist, wrenching her arm back and redirecting the torrent harmlessly to the side, where it smashes into the invisible arena boundary in blooming waves.

My heart’s pounding; it’s like it’s in my head, the boom-boom-boom hot against my ears. “Syrene, you better-” but she’s gone — down at the base of the bleachers, talking with Indel(?). No time to think about what’s going on, because Vila’s freed herself and resumed her assault.

Six bolts of bright blue streak across the arena, their impacts like a whip crack. Each misses Alyx, who ascends to the top of the arena atop a petal. The supporting vine withers under the flames, but as Alyx is falling three more sprout — one catches her, and the other two seize Vila.

Yes!

Spared from her onslaught, Alyx has time to focus — time she uses well. Working rapidly, she gets the bonds reinforced and adds two more, keeping Vila’s legs spread apart and the Evoker pinned firmly in place. “NO!” Vila shouts, thrashing against the thick, coiling vines. “NO!”

The vine Alyx is riding shoots forward, coming at Vila from the side. Smart. Even if she gets free, it’ll be hard to turn her body in time — right now all she can move is her head. Alyx seems to be surfing the pink petal, legs apart to keep steady. She reaches out to the side and her fingers close around a shining steel mace, ready for the knockout blow. The vine crests, Alyx leaps, soars through the air with the mace swinging.

Vila roars, pure defiance, an ear-splitting scream of anguish and humiliation and rage — and, from her mouth, another torrent of flame, a fiery fist that smashes Alyx in the chest and sends her flying into the air. Her body collides with the invisible wall. There’s a sickening thud when she hits the ground, rolls, body smoking.

Mae and I are on our feet in seconds, rushing, running, because please please please please please be okay, she has to be okay, please, surely Syrene wouldn’t lie about that, surely-

We both bounce off the wall. Syrene, however, passes right through, crossing the empty field as Vila rips herself free of the vines. “Stop!” I shout, hammering the magical barrier with my fist. “She’s already hurt!”

Syrene crouches down in front of Alyx, wrenches her head up. My girlfriend’s eyes are only half-open, her breathing’s shallow, and I’m about to throw up from worry and pain and anger. A blackened burn creeps across her chest like a crater, the flesh beneath mangled and twisted. Syrene pushes a hand against it and Alyx screams.

“OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR!” I shout, let me in, fuck the promise, fuck it, I’ll kill her, I’ll-

Syrene’s eyes flick to me and Mae, then back to Alyx. “They’re the only reason you’re still breathing. I hope you’re grateful.” Her paw presses further into the squelching wound. “I hope you remember my mercy. Gods. What a sap I am. Let you off light the first time, too, and still, still, you couldn’t keep your grubby little hands off my girlfriend. Those two not enough for you?”

“I-” Alyx gaps, but Syrene silences her with her claws in the burn. KILL KILL KILL.

“No more excuses. You can’t be trusted. Make me punish you a third time and it’s your life.” She digs something out of her bag and tosses it into the dirt beside her, then stands and walks out the opposite end of the arena. I want to go after her, to grab her and beat her fucking face in, but Alyx is more important.

“Vila! Turn the field off!” She’s the only one who can do it, now that Syrene’s gone — anyone inside can end the duel. Fuck. If only Alyx were conscious enough.

She totally ignores me. “We had a deal,” she says, to Alyx. She picks up the object Syrene dropped, and it’s only as she’s attaching it that I can make it out — a rounded square of thin, steel bars. Vila straps the cage muzzle around the back of Alyx’s head.

I slam my fists against the barrier again, but, this time, it crumbles beneath me and I stumble through, blinking in surprise. Mae surges past me, and I snap out of it, pulling Vila off Alyx while Mae pumps her full of golden light.

It stings my heart to see her like this, her blouse a tattered ruin and her tie burned away.

The oozing burn heals, her breathing strengthens, and Alyx’s eyes open all the way, a scowl across her face. But when I kneel down, so both me and Mae are hovering over her, it turns to a smile.

“Are you okay, baby?” Mae asks.

Alyx lets a trembling, angry breath escape her and nods. “Arf,” she says. She bolts up in confusion. “Arf,” she says again, eyes focusing on the muzzle. “Arf!” Her hands go behind her head and she fiddles with the strap. “Arf!”

“Let me,” I say. When I find Syrene… When I find her… I don’t know. I can’t get expelled but also, fuck her, fuck her, fuck her. The strap remains stubbornly on, only tightens as I try to remove it.

“Arf!” Alyx yelps, in pain.

My anger and confusion are pierced by Vila’s voice, now loud and proud. “Come!” Alyx crests forward and lands on all fours, crawls to Vila’s feet. “Good girl,” she says.

Alyx stares up in hatred and says, “arf.”

“Now then. I have won, and to the victor go the spoils. Such is the way of the Empire. I am taking my puppy, and I am going home.”

“No you’re not,” I say, grabbing her by the tie. “Let her go.”

“Get your hands off me, Orc, or a black mark will be the least of your worries.”

Mae puts her arms around me. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” she whispers, “I’ll talk to the Headmistress and get this sorted out. Just let me handle it, please baby. I don’t want you to get expelled.”

Fine. Fine. Fine. Mae… I can trust Mae. Mae can fix it. It’s- It’s going to be so hard, without Alyx, but she’ll be back tonight, tonight, after Mae fixes this.

I release Vila and she walks away, Alyx crawling after her, radiating shame and anger. She turns her head back for one last look at us, and in her eyes I see reason to calm, reason to trust — they’re full of determination. She won’t let this stand.

“I love you,” I whisper, as they go.