Return of the Runebound Professor

As soon as Noah and Lee stepped out of the room, the door slammed shut behind them. Lee’s body rippled and she shrank back down, returning to her normal appearance. She pulled at her torn clothes and frowned. Luckily, Noah wasn’t all that much larger than she was, but they’d still ripped slightly at the seams.

“What is happening?” Brayden demanded, looking from Noah to Lee. “I feel like I’m having visions. Are you Lee? Is Lee–”

“Lee is Lee, especially when others are concerned,” Noah said, cutting Brayden off.

How am I supposed to tell you that your brother is dead? I can’t keep this act up forever. Eventually, I’m going to slip up and you might genuinely be the only person in existence that would even care.

“Then…” Brayden gestured vaguely in their direction. “An illusion? Shapeshifting of some sort?”

“You tell me. Not many have this many puzzle pieces,” Noah said. “You know why I was at Arbitage and what we were working toward.”

Brayden slowly closed his mouth, looking at Lee with a growing frown. He glanced back to Noah. “It’s her, isn’t it? She’s the… you know.”

The demon? Not the one you’re thinking of.

“Not my place to say,” Noah said with a shrug. “Ask Father if you really want to know, but Lee’s on my side.”

The question still remains to be seen if my side will line up with yours, though. I can’t imagine Father wanted to summon a demon for any savory activities. Suppose I’ll find out when he tells me what he wants.

“Does it matter?” Lee asked. “Nothing has changed.”

“No, I suppose it hasn’t,” Brayden said, scratching his chin. “You sure you can’t just say what’s going on? I’m so confused.”

“Maybe after everything has settled down,” Noah suggested. “Until then, Father said you’d take us back to our lodgings. I’m pretty exhausted after that talk, so I’d love to settle in for the rest of the day.”

Brayden blinked, then nodded. He gestured for them to follow after him as he headed up the stairs. “Of course. Sorry, I forgot how things can be. I haven’t spoken much to Father as of late, but I know what you mean. Follow me. There should still be a room in the mansion for you.”

“Actually, I’ll be staying with Lee, Todd, and Isabel,” Noah said. “I’ve still got my teaching duties to uphold, you know.”

“Right. It’s so easy to slip back into role as an enforcer for the Linwicks that I forget you’ve got your own roles now,” Brayden said with a chuckle. They headed out of the mansion and set off along the street, passing by a group of armored guards. “So how long will you be staying?”

“Not sure yet,” Noah replied. “I’m still just planning on two weeks, but we’ve still got some time until the survival exam. We’re going to have to get a little outside practice in before then, and I don’t want to be away from Arbitage for too long. I just want to make sure–”

“Everything is good with Father.” Brayden nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know how much free time I’m going to have while I’m here, but maybe you can loosen up now that your guard doesn’t have to be quite so high.”

Noah just cocked an eyebrow. Brayden rolled his eyes.

“Fine, fine. Keep the stick up your ass. Just make sure you get a little rest. If you don’t, Father is going to bleed you dry.”

Brayden’s words sounded like they came from experience, and Noah didn’t doubt him for a second. The three of them arrived at the house that Noah had just slipped out of a few minutes before.

“Here we are,” Brayden said. “Lee’s in the top room. Isabel and Todd are on the lower floor. There are some extra rooms, so you can take your pick. I’ll try to carve some time out for dinner, but I’ve got no idea what Father’s plans are. He’s going to want to give me my orders for my next task, and I do still have to figure out a coverup for the Hellreaver. Maybe we’ll just get a replacement monster sent over and brush over the whole thing. Not sure if Arbitage will take that as an answer, though.”

Brayden trailed off, rubbing his chin. He blinked and shook his head, suddenly remembering that Noah and Lee were still standing there.

“No need to wait on me,” Brayden said, shaking his head. He raised his hand in farewell and strode off down the street, turning a corner and vanishing from sight – though Noah could still hear Brayden’s heavy steps for a few seconds after losing sight of him.

“How did I do?” Lee asked, walking up to the door. “I tried to avoid saying too much.”

“Perfectly,” Noah replied as they walked inside. He bit back a frown as a thought struck him.

Just how extensive is Father’s paranoia going to be? Is it possible he’s got some form of listening devices in our rooms? How freely can any of us even talk? I’ll have to make sure to use words that don’t actually bring any suspicion on the off chance that he can hear me.

“Your true form was definitely intimidating. We’ll have to get you some new clothes, though.”

Lee nodded. “I’m sure the old guy will pay for it. He smells like money. What do we do in the meantime, though? More practice?”

“Among other things,” Noah said with a nod. He glanced around the expensive interior of the house. There was a closed door across from them and a stairwell to their left that led up to the top floor where Lee’s room was. Across from the stairwell was a large dining room and a kitchen. Presumably, Isabel and Todd’s room was the one beyond the door.

The absolute best defense I have is when I’m talking to someone that I would logically hide my demonic nature from. As long as I’m around Isabel and Todd, I can act normally. Even if Father can overhear me, it won’t matter.

“What other things? Are we going to check out the new city? If you are, I’ll have to determine if sitting around and doing nothing is more interesting than seeing new stuff.”

“Not today,” Noah replied. “We’ve been traveling a lot and it’ll be nice to take a page out of your book and just do nothing for a little.”

And that’ll give me time to recover from dying and get my magic back.

“Great!” Lee said, darting up the stairs. Noah followed after her at a considerably slower pace. Even though his headache was far better than the normal ones, it was still a far cry from comfortable. At least it was bearable.

The second floor of the house had several rooms scattered along the hall, and Noah didn’t particularly care which one he got. After a detour into Lee’s room to raid her closet and reclaim his belongings, he took the room across from her and flopped into the posh bed, not even bothering to take his clothes off.

Noah crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, letting himself sink into his thoughts. If Father held his word, he’d be sending someone that night for Noah to ply with questions and not have to worry about setting off any alarms.

That wouldn’t do him much good if he couldn’t actually figure out what questions to ask, and that was exactly what he planned to prepare over the course of the next few hours.

***

A knock broke Noah out of his thoughts. It took a second one for him to roll out of bed. He blinked, squinting out the window into the setting sunlight. Somehow, hours had slipped away.

Noah approached his door and opened it. A woman – probably about twenty five, if he had to guess – with long black hair and wide, circular glasses stood before him, a large book clutched to her chest.

She swallowed heavily when Noah’s gaze fell on her.

“I – Father sent me here,” she said, speaking so softly that Noah could barely hear her. “Is now a bad time?”

“No, no. I just got a little distracted,” Noah replied. He sent a glance over his shoulder. “Is there somewhere we should move to? I’m afraid I haven’t had much chance to look around the house yet, but there seems to only be one chair in my room.”

“Maybe the dining hall?” she offered meekly.

“Works for me,” Noah said. “Lead the way – ah, what’s your name?”

“I – I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself. My name is Janice.”

“Pleasure, Janice,” Noah said. Janice was in front of him, so he couldn’t see her face, but she was absolutely horrible about hiding her emotion and body language – and it was clear that the woman was terrified. “And how much do you know about my situation with Father?”

“Only that Father told me I am to follow any orders you give me, no matter what they are,” Janice replied. They arrived at the table and she pulled a chair out, sitting down. Noah took a spot across from her.

Anything? Trying to see if the demon actually likes eating humans, Father?

“That was very kind of him,” Noah said. “What’s your relationship with Father, Janice?”

“I’m just part of the Linwick family. One of the offshoot branches,” Janice said, adjusting her grip on the book clutched to her chest. “I’m not actually his daughter. Most people aren’t. Everyone just calls him Father. It’s his title.”

“I see,” Noah said. “Well, how much time do I have?”

“He did not specify a time.”

“Lovely,” Noah said. “I’ll try to keep this shorter for your sake, then.”

No promises, though.

“Thank you.” Janice shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked around the kitchen, as if she were expecting someone to suddenly pop out and attack her.

“I’ll start with the easier stuff, then,” Noah said. “Where do the Linwicks stand in relation to the other noble families?”

“We’re considered one of the top ten families within the empire,” Janice replied. “There isn’t a specific rating that would say one family is guaranteed to be stronger than the other. The Linwicks have an extensive network of information and connection to many other noble families that make us powerful politically, even if our fighting force is weaker than some other families.”

“And where do we stand with respect to the Torrins?”

“Politically superior,” Janice replied diplomatically. “We have far more allies, but their mages are often considered to be considerably more capable. Many of them straddle the line between soldier and mage, but they don’t dare a direct attack on us because of our connections.”

“What about other noble families? Anyone that would have a grudge against us?”

“It’s possible. There are a lot of groups that don’t like the Linwicks, but we don’t have any more enemies than any other family. The Torrins would be the most likely suspects for anyone that would try to do anything to us, though they haven’t made a move in quite some time.”

So if there was someone that tried to kill Vermil purely for political reasons, there’s a chance it might have been the Torrins – though there’s clearly some internal strife in the Linwick family.

“What about inside the family?” Noah asked. “There are people that don’t like Father, right?”

Janice swallowed. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. “Yes.”

“Who?” Noah asked.

“There are a lot,” Janice admitted. “He is an outer branch member of the family, but he’s a powerful one with a lot of support. I would be sitting here for a long time listing people off you wanted all of them.”

Hm. If there isn’t someone specific that really hates Father, then it’s probably more likely that the people that poisoned Vermil were going after him directly. The message seemed personalized, so even if the eventual goal was to get at Father, the target was still Vermil.

Well, that’s fine. There are quite a few more things I need answered. This might take a while.