Return of the Runebound Professor

“It looks like everyone came to the same conclusion,” Moxie said. She and Noah stood at the top of a tall plateau, overlooking the students below them. A dozen Fluffants laid dead on the ground behind them, having made the poor decision of attacking after noticing the energy coming from Noah’s sword as they’d landed. Several more hours had passed since the exam had started, and it was now well into the night.

“It was kind of a freebie,” Noah said. “There’s no other way to get Lee to stick around for any period of time. Hunting a bunch of Fluffants and piling them up to force Lee to stand still for just a few seconds is the best shot they’re going to get.”

And that was exactly what both groups were doing. They’d set out on a hunt that probably would have broken at least a few laws on depopulation on Earth, taking out every Fluffant they could and dragging the bodies into piles in an attempt to create what was functionally an offering.

“I feel a bit bad for the Fluffants,” Moxie said, looking up at the sky. The sun had started to make its trek beneath the clouds and evening was approaching at a steady pace. It wouldn’t be long before the darkness was properly upon them. “And we might see some other monsters coming out soon. I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen more since there isn’t a Great Mosnter in the Windscorned Plateau.”

“I think I noticed a few bird monsters, but nothing in particular,” Noah said. “Anything we should be concerned about?”

“Those are Skycutters. They’re fast and large, but they aren’t particularly dangerous. They eat the flowers, just like the Fluffants. I suppose they could be a bit problematic if there were enough of them, but nothing that couldn’t be handled.”

Noah nodded absently. Lee had managed to keep everyone in the same general area, so their vantage point let them see both groups. Todd’s team had gathered quite a few more corpses than Isabel’s had due to Alexandra’s help.

The Rank 3 was, for lack of a better word, a menace. The Fluffants had absolutely no chance against her, and she didn’t seem to expend much energy fighting them. She carved straight through their ranks, only needing a single blow to take out a monster.

It wasn’t like the other students weren’t effective in their work. Alexandra was just far better.

“I guess that’s what happens when you get trained to be an assassin and are good enough to keep Gentil’s attention,” Noah mused as he watched Alexandra finish off the last few Fluffants in the herd.

“She’s strong, but there isn’t much variation in her fighting style,” Moxie said. “And she’s not comfortable around others. Only time will tell how much damage working for Gentil actually did to her.”

“Can you try to get a better understanding of what we can help her with while I’m fixing the other students’ Runes later today?” Noah asked. “At some point, if she sticks with us and proves to be trustworthy, I’ll fix hers as well. Today is too early, though.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a secret you should be keeping very close to chest,” Moxie said, her voice deadly serious. “Possibly more than your inability to die. If word of that comes out, the entire world is going to come down on us and there won’t be anything we can do.”

Despite Moxie’s harrowing warning, Noah’s chest warmed. There hadn’t been any hesitation at all when she’d said we. Even though he was pretty sure the right move in the worst case scenario would be for him to make it clear that he was on his own, Moxie’s unspoken promise that they were in it together was comforting.

A small trail of smoke caught Noah’s eye. He looked over to Todd’s group as they set their pile of Fluffants on fire.

“They’re cooking them. That’s one way to get Lee’s attention – not that she isn’t already watching,” Noah said. “She’s probably bored out of her mind by now.”

“I’d imagine so,” Moxie agreed. “She’s probably going to take the bait if only to have fun. The real question is which team she’ll go with first. I don’t think she particularly cares about if her food is cooked or not.”

As it turned out, they didn’t have to wait long for the answer. Even though Todd’s team had the larger pile, Noah caught sight of Lee – or rather, he caught sight of the herd of Fluffants that she mowed through.

“Over there,” Noah said, barely able to keep up with Lee as she blurred across the plateaus in the direction of Isabel and James. “I think she’s intentionally letting herself be seen. She’s really into this, huh?”

“We should do it more often,” Moxie muttered. “Let’s get a better view so we can hear what’s happening.”

They both stepped onto Noah’s flying sword and zipped off toward the trap and the rapidly approaching would-be-trapee.

***

“I hear her coming.” James turned toward the edge of the plateau. Get ready. I’ll remain hidden until the right moment if we’re going to have any chance of catching her.”

Isabel gave James a sharp nod, and the boy’s body rippled as he bent the moonlight around himself and disappeared from sight. She walked toward the direction of the growing rumbling, standing between it and the pile of food.

Stone ripped away from the ground, slamming into place all over her body to form jagged armor. She left both of her hands open, keeping her knees bent in preparation to lunge at the first sign of motion.

Giddy laughter echoed across the empty plateau. An instant later, Lee practically flew down from the edge of a cliff face above them, slamming to the ground. Her eyes went right past Isabel and locked onto the pile of bodies behind her.

“You got me snacks!” Lee exclaimed. “How kind!”

That’s right. All for you. All you have to do is let me tag you.

“Help yourself,” Isabel said, her fingers twitching. “It’s all yours.”

“Okay! You should just watch out for that,” Lee said, pointing into the air. “I brought some food of my own.”

It was dumb, but something in Lee’s voice made Isabel listen to her. through the air, hurtling straight toward them, was a Fluffant. The Fluffant wasn’t alone, either. There were almost a dozen other monsters all plummeting down toward them like massive, furry droplets.

Isabel couldn’t bring herself to do anything but gaze into the sky in wide-eyed disbelief.

“Move!” James yelled, shoving Isabel to the side with a powerful blast of wind. She staggered, snapped out of her reverie. The rock beneath her launched her forward and out of the way as a Fluffant slammed into the ground with a resounding crash and a splatter.

“Lee, what in the Damned Plains?” Isabel demanded, thrusting a hand into the air. The rock around her erupted like a wave, crashing down for Lee. She didn’t have a chance to see how effective the attack was, though. Another Fluffant was plummeting in her direction, and standing still meant she might be in the blast radius when it landed.

Dashing to the side, more sickening thunks rang out around her. The Fluffants were so heavy that the ground shook faintly with each impact. But, unlike Isabel, Lee hadn’t been idle while they’d been falling.

She had taken advantage of the students’ distraction to make nearly half of their collected Fluffants disappear. Isabel had no idea what had happened to them, and she didn’t even care to know.

With a yell, Isbabel flicked her hands up. The lines of stone beneath the dirt surrounding the bait pile erupted up, forming a cage around both Lee and the dead Fluffants.

“Now, James!” Isabel yelled, pouring magic into the bars to reinforce them.

Lee’s head snapped to the side and she vaulted backward. She raised her head to the air, sniffing once before launching herself straight up. Lee latched onto the bars above her and with a casual pull, completely ripped one of them away.

Even as Isabel struggled to regrow it, Lee slipped onto the top of the cage. James flickered into view as a burst of wind blades shot from his fingertips, but Lee hopped out of the way easily. She waggled fingers down at them.

“Good try!”

And then she was gone, a blur in the night. James and Isabel exchanged a glance, their shoulders slumping as they took in the carnage around them.

“Damn,” James muttered.

“Yeah. Damn is right,” Isabel said, flopping onto her butt and trying to ignore all the dead monsters. “At least something tells me that the others aren’t going to have much more luck.”

***

“She’s coming,” Todd said.

Alexandra stood beside him beside the pile of charred Fluffant corpses. She sent a doubtful look back at the pile.

“You’re sure this is going to be appetizing enough to bait Lee into a trap?”

“It’s food,” Todd said.

“It’s a bunch of burnt monsters.”

“I’ve seen Lee eat a squirrel. She’ll bite,” Todd promised. “Besides, we both heard the crashes nearby. That’s definitely Lee.”

“If you’re sure,” Alexandra said doubtfully.

Several more seconds passed. Todd shifted from foot to foot. He flexed his fingers at his sides, ignoring the excited knot of adrenaline in his stomach. There was no way Lee would pass up on this much food – but she was taking a lot longer to show up than he expected.

There’s no way she wouldn’t come, right? This is meant to be a training exercise. There’s no way we could ever catch up to her normally, so she’s got to take the bait so we actually have a chance. It’s the only way this would make sense.

And still, there was nothing. Todd’s confusion grew with every passing minute. He was already using a decent amount of his magical energy to keep the stone box just below the ground in shape. It had their surprise waiting within it, and losing his concentration would have… very unfortunate results.

“Do you hear that?” Alexandra asked.

Todd blinked and looked at her. “Hear what?”

“I’m not sure. It sounds like… crunching?” Alexandra’s brow furrowed. She turned toward the pile and nodded at it. “From somewhere over there.”

Todd studied the pile. His Imbued eyes were muddled by the heat coming from the monsters, but he didn’t see anything odd about it. And, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t hear anything.

“No,” Todd said. “Nothing. Are you sure you hear something?”

“Yeah.” Alexandra walked over to the pile, drawing her sword and poking at one of the corpses with it. Todd walked up with her, though his attention was split three ways already. One part of him was watching for Lee, the other was paying attention to the pile, and the third was on the stone beneath the ground.

The pile shifted. Todd flinched, taking a step back.

“Okay. I saw that.”

Alexandra drove her sword into a Fluffant and heaved it to the side. In an impressive feat of strength, she dragged the monster out of the way – to reveal a very hollow interior to their pile.

Lee sat in the center of the offering, chewing on one of the Fluffant’s legs. She’d already eaten almost everything inside, leaving only what was necessary to maintain structural integrity. Beside her was a hole.

“You tunneled in?” Todd asked, a mixture of awe and disbelief in his voice.

“Don’t just stand there. Go!” Alexandra snapped, darting for Lee.

She was fast, but Lee was faster. Before Alexandra had even taken two steps, Lee disappeared. Todd felt a rush of wind at his back and he spun to see Lee prancing past him, grabbing a Fluffant’s leg and ripping it off to take with her with one smooth motion.

“Missed me!” Lee called.

“Now!” Todd yelled, releasing the power he’d been holding. The stone erupted, launching Emily into the air. She held her bow, an arrow already knocked and fully charged. She’d been holding it for the better part of ten minutes, which was no easy feat.

Even less easy was spotting Lee in a split instant while she was getting launched into the air – but Emily managed it. Twisting her body, she took aim and fired. The arrow streaked toward Lee and Todd lunged, setting off a pressure explosion within the armor at his feet.

Wind howled past him as he extended his hands, striving to brush even a single finger across Lee.

He wasn’t fast enough. Lee vaulted backward, landing on her hands and avoiding his grasp. Emily’s arrow slammed into the ground with a crack and ice raced out across the dirt, but even that couldn’t reach Lee as she pushed herself off her hands and landed on her feet.

“That was close,” Lee said, skidding a foot back. Emily landed back on the ground with a grunt, already starting to knock an arrow. Lee gave them a wave. “Thanks for the food!”

Alexandra sprinted, her body blurring as she threw herself forward. Emily released the arrow – but Lee was gone. The arrow whistled harmlessly through the air and Alexandra’s hands caught nothing.

“Damn it.” Todd let his hands drop.

“What was that?” Alexandra demanded. “How can she move like that?”

Emily’s ice bow vanished and she let out a sigh. “I don’t know, but I suspect if you ask, the answer is going to be stretching. I wonder if Isabel or James did any better than we did.”

“Judging by the explosions we heard earlier? Probably not,” Todd grumbled, crossing his arms. “This game was rigged against us from the start.”

“We might have been able to do something if it was all five of us working together,” Emily said. “But that would kind have defeated the whole point of the exercise.”

“Is this how all your classes are?” Alexandra asked, looking back at the pile of corpses.

“Considering we didn’t even come close to death this time, nah. I’d say this one was tame,” Todd said. His stomach rumbled. Both Emily and Alexandra stared at him.

“Are you seriously hungry right now?” Emily asked.

“How’s it my fault? We kept talking about food,” Todd said defensively. “Anyone would get hungry.”

Hidden in the shadows at the far edge of the plateau, positioned on the other side of the pile of hot bodies so Todd’s heat vision couldn’t make her out, Lee nodded in agreement.

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