Chapter 10 Izzy
IZZY
“We knew she was going to do something, but this…” Safir shook his head as he paced the large living area in Olinara’s house.
He and I had received multiple texts. He from Myel and various other sources on campus and me from Myel and Rook. Myel’s text seemed concerned. Rook’s had been clinical, just the facts.
Lhorine had only just begun going over the fundamentals of earth magic when the messages had come in. That would have to wait now.
Olinara — I still had trouble calling her grandma or grandmother, it was easier to think of her as a friend or distant cousin — sat in thought, mulling over our options.
At least today, she wore more than a flimsy robe, if not much more.
Her white blouse strained against her chest, far too many buttons undone.
Between the sheer fabric and how much skin was showing, it was clear she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Her skirt, if it could be called that, was a tiny scrap of fabric which barely covered her necessities.
I couldn’t take her seriously when she dressed like this.
Yet she seemed to be taking my predicament very seriously.
Lhorine sighed. “It’s the perfect strategy for Saldrea. Either you leave or she gets a state sanctioned way to kill you without making a fuss.”
“You’re assuming I won’t win,” I said, though I wasn’t confident I could either.
Everyone looked at me.
“What!” I said, throwing up my arms. “You expect me to just… leave? Go home, forget about everything here?”
“You could go into hiding, much safer,” Safir said.
He’d calmed from earlier. Before I’d started working with Lhorine I’d had a quick word with him.
I’d told him I appreciated all the work he’d done on my behalf and would seek his guidance, but that he couldn’t be doing things on his own anymore.
He had to run things by me first and learn to accept that others would be involved in the process.
He, in turn, had conceded that he’d been a bit of an ass lately. He’d been on his own for so long that giving up control hadn’t been easy. I expected there’d be more clashes between the two of us… or him and others… but for now at least, he seemed to be trying to help me, not run my life.
“I’d still be hunted, so not that safe,” I countered.
He conceded that point with a grimace and a bobble of his head.
Koar, leaning against a nearby wall, grunted. “Yeah, a thousand gold is too good for anyone to pass up. We’d not be able to trust anyone.”
“I’m still not sure we can trust you!” Safir grumbled, mostly under his breath, but he quieted when I threw him a warning look. Even after our talk, he wasn’t fond of Koar. The dragon had punched him earlier, so he may have good reason not to like the big man.
“I have to fight.” I didn’t want to, but it was my only option. “If we want people to follow me, I can’t be some hidden princess who does nothing. I need to be fighting for this nation, for these people, and they need to see me doing it.”
“Hidden princesses are much safer,” Oli mused, then sighed. “But active ones would rouse the people far more. She’s right.”
Thank you, Grandma.
“And I’m well aware of my shortcomings,” I said. “So what we need is a plan, how can I fight and win. Perhaps the others on my team…?” I glanced over at Koar, I wouldn’t mind him backing me up.
He shook his head. “Dragons are forbidden from participating. We possess too many elements.” He grinned. “We’re hard to control.”
Damn.
“You need a team of four,” Lhorine said softly, almost as if talking to herself. “Do you know anyone with strong elements who’d fight for you?”
“Vyns!” I said immediately. However, I recalled something he’d said about himself and dominion. “But… he has light magic, and I remember him saying that wouldn’t be useful.”
“Not for the main purpose of the game, no,” Lhorine said. “Light can’t push people off the field… but he could still be useful, blinding your opponents, so they can’t see you, can’t attack properly.”
“Oh… and he has a wall of light, like a shield-thing, he can do.”
“More useful than he thinks,” Lhorine agreed. “Anyone else?”
I sighed. I didn’t know if I was still friends with Rook.
Safir brought him up. “What about that incubus? He’s also half salmaeri, isn’t he? That’s fire magic.”
Olinara grumbled. “As much as salmaeri have an affinity for fire magic, most of them are not incredibly strong. Saldrea’s sylph friend would probably blow out his flames without a second thought.”
“I have a nymph friend, Tala,” I offered.
“Is she strong?” Oli asked, then put on a wide, cat-like grin. “Like me?”
“Ah… no.” By her own admission, Tala wasn’t strong in water magic.
“I could put on a new face and be some new nymph friend,” Grandma offered.
“If we were fighting a bunch of guys, you’d be my first choice. You’d be one hell of a distraction, but I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“And if Saldrea figures out who you are, she might make the connection to who Izzy is. Though that’s assuming she hasn’t already,” Safir added.
That was the big unknown: did Saldrea know I was a royal? In many ways it didn’t matter. This was a trap either way.
“I have to believe she doesn’t,” Lhorine said.
“I know the princess and her mother well. If she thought you were a royal, a true threat, she’d hunt you down and end you.
But instead… she’s trying to draw you out.
She’s toying with you. That’s what she does to enemies she believes aren’t a real threat to her status and power. ”
That made sense.
“It’s still a risk though, revealing yourself,” Grandma warned.
“But we all agree it’s what I have to do?”
There were resigned grumbles all around. What a resounding affirmation.
Safir was probably right, as much as I hated to admit it.
I probably should run, stay safe. But it wasn’t in my nature to run from a fight.
Though, I’d never been faced with a true, life-or-death fight before.
I’d not be able to put together a team as strong as Saldrea’s, that was a given.
I had to hope we could fight smarter… or something like that.
I didn’t want to fight that insane princess, not yet.
I’d hoped to have a lot more training, in both water and earth magic, before I faced her again.
But I had no choice. If I didn’t do this, nearly everyone in this world would be hunting me.
I had to show people it was possible to stand up to bullies like Saldrea.
But the truth was… I had no clue how to do that and win. I didn’t have a lot of options for my team. As much as Grandma Oli was a very powerful nymph, I couldn’t bring her onto the field. Although…”
I smiled.
“Grandma, you can be anyone you want, right?”
She blinked and nodded with a smile. “Of course. But I can’t replicate the powers of other races.”
“But if you were another nymph, everyone would think you’re them, not you. You can change yourself that well, right?”
“Oh yes.”
In which case, Grandma could pretend to be Tala.
It would keep my friend safe, Olinara wouldn’t be revealing herself, and I’d have a strong water magic user.
The problem would be… Tala would probably be targeted by Saldrea and her minions afterward and wouldn’t have Grandma’s power to protect herself.
I’d have to talk to her, make sure she was good with this.
I had to hope she’d say yes. If not…
And Lhorine’s idea about using Vyns’ light magic in alternate ways did seem intriguing. I was willing to bet none of Saldrea’s crew had ever fought a seraph before or faced light magic like that.
Which left…
“Could Myel fight?” I didn’t want to include him, but he was an option.
“Shifters aren’t allowed to participate, we don’t have elemental magic,” Safir said.
Ah… so…
The only other person I knew was Rook, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to convince him to fight.
“How common is fire magic among the races?” I asked. “How likely is it Saldrea or others would have faced someone with fire?”
“Unlikely,” Lhorine replied. “Golana is the only one who might have, but from what I’ve heard, she’s never actually been to Urval, despite her family’s vast holdings there.”
I turned to Koar. “You have fire, did you ever… spar with them?”
He scoffed. “Like they’d lower themselves to fight me.”
Then it seemed likely none of them had fought anyone with fire. Even if Rook wasn’t strong, he might be enough of a wild card to help win this. Which meant I had to convince him to fight for me, despite the stick he’d had up his ass lately.
“Okay, I’m doing this, and I know who my team will be.
I’ll head back to campus with Olinara posing as my friend Tala, and Safir.
Lhorine, can you make your way there separately?
I don’t know if I’ll have any time to train, but any time they might give me I’ll use. Koar, find Vyns and get him back here.”
Grandma smiled, proud. “That’s my little royal, already bossing everyone around.”
I had a plan, but whether or not it would work… remained to be seen.