Agent of the Dragon

An undignified squeak, followed by a thud, reached Rhysa’s ears. She lifted her head to look at the observation area--and saw Elise sitting on the ground, rubbing her chest and head. Realizing Elise must have run into the invisible protective wall, Rhysa began to giggle. Upon hearing this evidence her friend was okay, Elise relaxed enough to begin giggling herself.

Still giggling between gasps for air, Rhysa looked around for her teacher. Lady Kasteryn stood where she’d been when she’d so decisively ended the match. She was, in fact, leaning on her sword as if it were a cane. Even from this distance, Rhysa could see Lady Kasteryn breathed heavily.

Using the wall as a support, Rhysa slowly climbed to her feet. Once standing, she leaned against the wall. She glanced at Elise and back at Lady Kasteryn. “Think we can let Elise out, now?”

Lady Kasteryn gave a small, tired start, then laughed quietly at herself. She turned to face Elise and deactivated the protective walls. Rhysa felt the one under her back disappear.

Elise walked onto the combat floor and picked up Rhysa’s disarmed sword. She glanced at Rhysa and Lady Kasteryn, and returned it to the weapons rack. “If you two aren’t hurting, you will be soon.”

“I know it.” Rhysa pushed herself off the wall, grunting with the effort.

“Oh, I’m already feeling it.” Lady Kasteryn shot a glance at Rhysa. “I’m going to have to think about what to do with you.” Then she sighed. “But not right now. Now, I’m going to go soak.” She rubbed at a shoulder. “If you’re feeling anything close to how I feel, you won’t be good for much before noon. You’ll still have your sessions with Lord Hermestus and Lord Amonteus.” Rhysa winced and Lady Kasteryn made a noise Rhysa thought was supposed to be a chuckle. “Don’t worry. I’ll let them know what happened this morning. They’ll be gentle.” Lady Kasteryn turned and left the salle.

Rhysa and Elise looked at each other. Rhysa took a deep breath to sigh, and winced as her lungs pushed on a couple of ribs that might be broken. “I should probably ice my ribs, but I want to soak my muscles first.”

Elise nodded her agreement and went to a small cabinet next to the weapons rack. She took something out and handed it to Rhysa. “You’ll probably need this.” It was a bandage meant to apply compression.

Something occurred to Rhysa as they left the salle. “Go on ahead and start the bath. I want to get a clean set of clothes, and stop by the kitchen. You want anything?”

“Nothing that can’t wait for breakfast. I’ll see you in the bath.” Elise turned down a hall while Rhysa continued on to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Rhysa spoke with the sous-chef, who was in charge of the breakfast and noon meals. The sous-chef gave her a dubious look but agreed. Rhysa thanked him and went to her room, where she picked out some clean clothes.

Before she headed upstairs to join Elise, she stopped by the communal washroom at the end of her hall. She wetted a couple portions of the bandage, then wrapped the bandage around her ribs. She made sure the wet portions were positioned over the potentially cracked ribs.

Using a trickle of magic, she carefully removed the heat from the water until the wet parts hardened into ice. She could have made it colder, but that would risk damaging skin and muscle. She put her sweat damp tunic back on and returned to the kitchen.

The sous-chef gave her an appraising look as he handed her a steaming mug. “That’s an interesting concoction.”

“Did you taste it?”

He nodded. “The flavor’s odd, but pleasant. It certainly wakes up the mouth.”

Rhysa grinned. “Glad you liked it.”

“Where’d you pick it up?”

“It’s a variation on a recipe from Lord Hermestus. It’s good for various aches and pains.”

“Why not use willow bark?”

“Lord Hermestus’ original recipe does. But willow bark ruins the taste. The remaining herbs are as effective, though they take longer to kick in.”

“Huh. I wonder why no one uses your version.”

Rhysa’s grin returned. “Probably in too much of a hurry. Besides, if used too much, say as a regular tea, it can cause bowel problems.”

“Hmm. Nevertheless, I think I’ll create a concentrate. The way I do with willow bark.”

“By all means. An overdose isn’t dangerous, merely inconvenient and occasionally--hmmm--embarrassing.” Rhysa left the kitchen and a thoughtful-looking sous-chef.

When she reached the guests’ bathing room, Elise was up to her neck in hot water. Elise had her eyes closed and her head rested on the side of the tub. The musk-sweet, spicy scent in the air told Rhysa Elise had added patchouli oil to the bath.

Rhysa set her clean clothes and tea on a nearby massage table, then stripped. She spread the no-longer-icy bandage to dry. Then, she took up her tea again and climbed into the bath.

As Rhysa settled herself, Elise smiled. “I was worried you’d forgotten me.”

“Hardly. I had to explain how to make this.” Rhysa gestured with her tea mug. “And while I waited, I figured out a way to conveniently apply ice to my ribs.” She took a sip of the spicy-sweet tea.

They sat in silence while Rhysa slowly sipped at her tea.

“What’s in it?” Elise’s voice lazy from relaxation.

“Bromelain and tumeric with a hint of cayenne. It’s something I learned from Lord Hermestus.”

“Ah. I thought all medicine was supposed to taste bad.”

Rhysa chuckled. “Hardly. Medicines for stomach complaints taste good, or no one would be able to keep them down. This recipe,” she waved her mug, “originally had willow bark, and it completely ruined the flavor.” Rhysa wrinkled her nose at the memory of the taste. “Since I didn’t need it, I removed it.” She took another sip. “This is much better. Care for a taste?”

“Sure.”

Rhysa floated herself through the water to hand Elise the mug. “You can have the rest, if you like it.”

Elise sipped hesitantly, then gulped the rest when she discovered she liked the taste. Rhysa snickered. Elise never sipped unless constrained by occasion. Elise set the mug aside and a relaxed silence descended once more. Rhysa closed her eyes and let the patchouli relax and refresh her.

When the water began to get noticeably cooler, Rhysa decided they’d soaked enough. “We’re going to get spoiled. Two mornings off in a row.” She stood and stepped out of the bath. Elise watched her get out, dry off, and put on the clean clothes. When Rhysa was dressed, she turned to look at Elise. “Coming?”

Elise stretched luxuriously, then stood. She stepped out and carefully made her way to her own towels and clothes. Rhysa watched and admired as Elise dried off with lazy motions. Elise put on her undergarments, then looked over her shoulder to give Rhysa a direct look. Rhysa saw a small smile touch Elise’s lips. Time stretched--until Elise resumed dressing.

As they left, Rhysa looked for her sword, then cursed as she remembered she’d left it in the salle. “Go ahead. Order breakfast and I’ll join you in your room.” She explained the situation to Elise.

“Hmm. Bring that stack of information we picked up yesterday. You may not get another chance to look it over.”

Rhysa nodded and jogged off to the salle, being careful not to jar her ribs. She entered the empty salle and saw her sword leaning in a far corner. She walked across the salle floor. When she reached the center, she stopped suddenly. Something was--odd. Not wrong, just odd. Had she left her sword in that corner? She couldn’t remember. She switched to Sight, but nothing came into view. Pulling from her newly recovered memories, she sent out fans of magic, looking for any telltale distortions. Nothing. She dropped Sight, picked up her sword, then hurried to her room.

She shook off her nervousness, but when she got to her room, the feeling returned. This time she knew someone had been in here--had been and riffled the papers on the vanity. Instead of neatly stacked papers bound together with stretchy material, the top page was wrinkled slightly.

Rhysa snapped up her shields. She drew her sword and tossed the scabbard and belt onto her bed. She switched to Sight, and moved across her small room like a stalking cat. She approached her wardrobe carefully. Standing to one side, she opened one of the doors with a touch of magic. Nothing leapt out. She opened the other door the same way. Again, nothing. She dropped Sight.

“Just as well,” she said aloud to herself. “This room’s too small to use the sword.” Something or someone had her spooked. She sheathed her sword and buckled it on. Then she grabbed the papers and left. She paused after closing her door to set up a tracking field. If anyone entered her room, the field would mark whoever it was, making it a simple matter to find out who it was.

As she made her way to Elise’s rooms, she paid attention to who she saw. She also kept an eye out for anything out of place. Sight activated, she scanned for anomalies. She hadn’t seen anything unusual by the time she entered Elise’s rooms.

Elise was buttering a piece of toast when Rhysa slipped in and closed the door softly. She looked up. “Ah. Good. Breakfast just arrived.” Then she looked again at Rhysa. “What’s wrong?”

Rhysa told Elise about her sense of something odd going on, and that someone had riffled the stack of papers.

“Could it be part of a test?”

“Could be. Probably is. But that doesn’t make it any less creepy.”

“Hmm. Well, have some breakfast. We can worry about other things afterward.”

Rhysa kept her breakfast light, just enough meat and egg to reinforce her sore muscles. She didn’t particularly want to talk, but Elise had held off as long as she could. Rhysa was grateful Elise had held off this long.

“That was amazing! What you did this morning.” Elise’s enthusiasm breaking through her discipline at last.

“I barely remember anything. Mostly trying to keep from getting clobbered.”

“It did look like that’s what was going to happen at first. But you managed to hold your own. At one point it started to look like you were actually going to beat her. Both of you were moving so fast. I could barely keep track.”

Rhysa heard the awe, and under the awe, she heard the beginnings of self-doubt. “Magic enhanced.” Rhysa’s reply was quick, hoping to head off hurt feelings. “We both used magic to enhance movement and reflexes.” She looked at Elise wryly. “Without magic, you can still beat me three times out of five. I still have a lot to learn.” Rhysa shook her head, still impressed with how decisively Lady Kasteryn had beaten her. “That last combination was absolutely sublime.”

“I thought she’d done some real damage to you, the way you bounced off the wall.”

“The shields absorbed most of it.” Rhysa gave an experimental twist. “And with as much moving as I’ve been doing since then, I doubt my ribs are much more than bruised.”

Elise looked at her dubiously, apparently convinced Rhysa was making light of a serious injury, but let it pass. The conversation meandered on, and Rhysa found herself choosing words very carefully--she didn’t want to get on the subject of her father.

When breakfast was finished, Rhysa took up the sheets of information. She removed the bands holding the sheets together. When Elise asked if she could help, Rhysa handed her the arrest records. “See if you can find a pattern in those.” Rhysa, herself, started with property damages. The information was very dry, and she’d only worked her way through half the stack before it was time for her to head to Lord Hermestus’ house.

Lord Hermestus and Rhysa spoke over lunch. “Amelia tells me you regained some memories.”

“Yes.”

A brief twitch in Lord Hermestus’ eyes told Rhysa he’d caught the note of anguish she’d tried to bury. He didn’t press. “She also told me about your lesson this morning.” Lord Hermestus’ tone was neutral, leaving Rhysa in doubt about his opinions on the matter--she nodded. He grunted and looked at her for a long moment.

“No doubt,” he said at last, “you took some injuries. Tell me what your condition was at the end of the bout. Then, tell me what you did about it.”

Rhysa took a deep breath, successfully hiding a wince of pain, and told him everything she experienced, thought, and did from the time she collapsed. Lord Hermestus nodded from time to time. He even seemed impressed when she told him about her improvised ice compress. When she finished, he nodded his approval and smiled.

“Good. I hadn’t thought anyone would drink that tea willingly.”

“If you don’t use willow bark, it’s actually fairly pleasant.”

He grunted. “If you’d like, I can remove your scrapes and bruises.”

She agreed, and when he’d finished, even her ribs no longer twinged. When she thanked him, Lord Hermestus merely said something about students in pain not being able to concentrate.

Despite his remark about students and concentrating, Lord Hermestus wanted to examine her mind for residual effects of the collapse of a large portion of the walls surrounding her memories. After lunch, Rhysa found herself once more in walls of light trying to read his expression. He was regrettably good at hiding his thoughts and reactions from his patients.

When the wall of light came down, Rhysa stood. “Well, Doc, am I going to die?” She made it sound hopeful.

Lord Hermestus snorted. “I’m afraid not. You’ll have to deal with your problems the hard way.”

“Ah, well. What did you find out?”

“Pretty much what you’d expect. Large portions of the wall surrounding your memories have disappeared. Nearby portions show signs of severe cracking.” He gave her a direct look. “Listen to your hunches. Chances are something is working its way through those cracks. Follow them up. They may lead you to something which will remove portions of that wall.”

Rhysa bit her lip thoughtfully. Lord Hermestus looked at her, his prompting question obvious in his expression. “There were a couple of things that seemed out of place this morning. Elise and I figured it was part of another test.”

Lord Hermestus scowled thoughtfully. “No, Rhysa. You weren’t due for another test for another few weeks. Especially with so much of your memory returning. We’ll need to spend a great deal of time establishing how your skills have changed. That’ll push any test further back.”

Rhysa’s brow wrinkled. “Then what--”

Fire branded Rhysa’s back. Pain dimmed her eyes, and she was only faintly aware of flurried movement as Lord Hermestus leapt forward to catch and ease her to the ground. Dimly, she felt the ground shake and heard the report of a huge detonation. She lay there, half conscious, in shock. She remembered the pain. It was the same pain she’d felt when marked by the House Orbs. The thought chased her into darkness.

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