Return of the Runebound Professor

An urgent knock rang out against the door. Moxie pulled her eyes up from Noah’s grimoire, her brow furrowing.

“Who wants something this late at night?”

“It’s Karina,” Lee said. She didn’t even stop rooting through his bag. Moxie had no idea what she was looking for, but Lee had gone through the contents of the bag twice and still had nothing to show for it.

Moxie’s nose scrunched in annoyance. The amount of energy Noah had been going through was fascinating, and she’d leeched more than a little of it as it slipped out of his body. Normally, that would have been fairly rude, but she couldn’t help herself.

He was going through so much power that he was wasting enough to practically form a whole extra Rune. Liberating just a bit of that to fill up her own supplies, especially when it would be wasted otherwise, wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

“What does she want now?” Moxie asked, slipping out of bed and walking over to the door. “Is it just Karina?”

“Yeah,” Lee said. “She smells nervous.”

There was another knock on the door. Moxie pulled it open as Karina raised her hand to knock a third time. Karina flinched, then quickly took a step back and adjusted her shirt.

“What is it?” Moxie asked. “Is something wrong?”

“First one? What are you talking about? Nobody else has shown up,” Moxie said. Something soft brushed her leg and she looked down to see Mascot rubbing up against her.

“No assassins?” Karina asked.

Moxie threw a glance over her shoulder at the window, just to make sure nobody was staring through it at them. She shook her head. “No. Come in. What’s going on?”

Karina hurried to obey, pulling the door shut behind her and locking it. She nervously adjusted her shirt again, then skittered over to the bed beside Noah to pull the curtains shut.

“Mascot did something,” Karina said. “I went to write a letter to Jalen like Vermil asked, but while I was making it, he grabbed the letter and stole it.”

“That sounds about right for him, actually,” Moxie said, looking down at the white cat that was still doing its best to interlock itself between her feet so she tripped over it. “Why is that a concern? Didn’t he just ask to meet Jalen somewhere neutral?”

“Yes, and that’s what I was writing,” Karina said. A wave of energy emanated out from Noah and crackled through the room, setting Moxie’s hair on end. She and Karina both drew in sharp breaths.

“Damned Plains, what is he doing?” Karina asked, staring at Noah in disbelief, her fear forgotten.

“Don’t worry about it,” Moxie said. “What were you saying about Jalen? What does he have to do with this? Did he say he was going to send more assassins or something?”

It took Karina a moment to pull her eyes away from Vermil. She shook her head, snapping out of the daze as the weight of the situation settled back in on her shoulders. Karina reached into a pocket and pulled out a crumpled note.

“I only had the request written without any of the niceties. It was a draft!” Karina exclaimed, squeezing the note in her palm. She was breathing so quickly that Moxie suspected the woman was about to start hyperventilating. Moxie grabbed her shoulders.

“Relax! Breath slowly and tell me what’s going on. You wrote a rude letter or something?”

Karina drew in a slow breath and let it out through her nose. She swallowed, then shook her head. “No. It wasn’t rude. It was basically just a demand that he come meet at a different neutral ground, but Mascot grabbed it before I could do anything else. It was just a draft!”

“You said that,” Moxie snapped, her patience wearing thin as the stress started to build in her as well. Karina was far too stressed for any sort of minor issue, and she was starting to get an inkling of what might have happened. “What did Mascot do with the letter?”

“He delivered it,” Karina said weakly. She held the note out to Moxie, who uncrumpled it. There was only a single sentence written on it, but it was enough to make her blood run cold.

If that’s how we’re playing, then I’ll oblige. and pay you a visit myself. See you soon, Vermil.

“Damned Plains. Jalen is coming personally?” Moxie asked, looking back to Karina. “And he thinks Noah wrote him – what, a challenge?”

Karina gave her a weak nod. “Contessa ran to try and find someone strong enough to keep Jalen from killing all of us. We need to get one of Arbitage’s Enforcers. They’re the only ones that are strong enough to make him actually stop before he does anything.”

“Does Jalen not care about the neutral ground bit at all?” Moxie asked.

“With all the assassins he’s sent? I don’t think so. I’m telling you, he’s insane,” Karina said. “We need to run. Jalen will kill all of us without a second of hesitation. I–”

Another wave of energy, even stronger than the last, roared off Noah’s body. It was so intense that Moxie staggered as the power flowed through her. It felt like a miniature storm had passed through her body.

“What in the Damned Plains is that?” Karina breathed. She shook her head urgently before anyone could respond. “No. Never mind. We need to run! And we need to do something about your cat – I swear it’s trying to kill us.”

Moxie wasn’t sure she could argue. Mascot certainly had a penchant for pulling them into situations where their life was threatened. She glared at the furball, which let out a rumbling purr in response a moment before vanishing in a small puff of smoke.

“I think Mascot left us to deal with the aftermath of his prank.” Lee rose to her feet and stuffed the rest of Noah’s belongings back into his bag, keeping a strip of jerky for herself. “Jalen is Rank 6. I don’t think we can fight that. Not again.”

“We definitely can’t,” Moxie said, spinning to wake Noah up. “Contessa has the right idea. We need to get an Enforcer immediately. We can’t put up a fight against a Rank 6 with a vendetta.”

Moxie managed to take a single step before a wall of force slammed into her – not from Noah, but from behind.

She stumbled, just barely managing to spin back to face the door way. Karina had already fallen to the floor, pinned down by the immense pressure pushing its way into the room. Moxie’s skin went as pale as a sheet of Catchpaper. Lee’s eyes widened and she took a step back, just barely managing to keep herself upright beside Moxie.

A middle-aged man stepped through the doorway, his arms clasped behind his back. His graying hair was combed back over his head, and his eyebrows as sharp as his features. The goatee on his lip would have looked ridiculous if it wasn’t for the immense amount of power coiling off him.

This can’t be happening. We just dealt with Evergreen. Why is Jalen here? He’s the actual head of the Linwick family! He shouldn’t give a shit about some random insulting letter he got! Doesn’t he have anything better to do with his time?

Even though he wore nothing but plain purple robes trimmed with faint golden threads, the man exuded the presence of a king. His eyes were like empty pools leading into an endless ocean, and they were focused directly on Moxie. She could barely breathe through the pressure driving into her from every angle.

The difference between Evergreen and Jalen is incredible. I don’t know if her Domain was just weaker than his, or if she didn’t think we were worth using it on.

Somehow, Noah hadn’t noticed Jalen’s approach. He was so wrapped up in his work that he didn’t even twitch when Jalen entered the room.

“Karina,” Jalen said, looking down at the prone woman, a displeased expression flickering across his room.

“I didn’t mean for it to get sent,” Karina wheezed, her hands trembling as she tried and failed to push herself upright. “A cat stole it.”

“I presume that would be the same cat that took a shit on my paperwork when it arrived to give me your letter?” Jalen asked, his lips pursed in distaste. “It certainly sent quite the message.”

“I swear I didn’t plan for it,” Karina wheezed. “Please, just–”

Jalen clicked his tongue and shook his head. “No excuses, Karina. You sent the letter. I don’t care how you sent it. Regardless, it was pretty clear that you weren’t the one that actually wanted to write it in the first place, though. You were just the pen – the hand that wrote it was Vermil, and you simply acted on his behest.”

Jalen’s gaze flicked past Lee and Moxie as it rose to Noah, who still sat on the bed, completely unaware of the Rank 6 mage in their room. Jalen’s eyebrows tightened.

“Who apparently does not even care enough that I have arrived to give me the time of day. I see he’s put the artifact he stole to good use, but where in the Damned Plains is the other book?”

Moxie called on her Runes, reinforcing herself against Jalen’s domain. She could still move within it, but the less information she gave away, the more chance she had to do… well, something.

She exchanged a glance with Lee, who inclined her head slightly. They were both able to move, but Moxie couldn’t see how they could possibly do anything against him, even if they were able to move.

Calling out to Noah might just make Jalen attack and kill him on the spot. That wasn’t exactly a permanent drawback, but it wouldn’t help the rest of them and Noah still wouldn’t be able to use magic for a while after his death.

Despair washed over Moxie.

Shit. Noah needs time to set up a Formation – and even if we had it, we can’t go against Jalen. This can’t be it. There has to be something we can do!

Lee flicked her eyes toward the window. Escape wasn’t a bad idea, but Moxie didn’t believe for a second they could actually outrun Jalen. She thought desperately, trying to think of literally any way to keep them all alive.

“We’re on neutral ground,” Karina stammered. “Magus Jalen, you can’t do anything here. It’s not the same thing as assassins, and this wasn’t the deal. I–”

“You called me here,” Jalen reminded. “And with the way you worded that message, I could hardly refuse. I’m starting to get annoyed, though. It’s quite rude to summon someone and then proceed to ignore them.”

A crackle of purple energy ran along Jalen’s fingertips.

Pressure slammed into Moxie for the second time – but not from Jalen. Noah’s eyes snapped open. The world seemed to slow down as energy swirled in the air around them. Despite their situation, Moxies’ eyes widened in disbelief.

Noah had reached Rank 4. The power rolling over her from his domain was immense – far stronger than any Rank 4’s domain ever should have been. It wasn’t anything compared to Jalen’s, but the fact that she could feel it at all while so close to the Rank 6 mage should have been impossible.

It only took Noah an instant to take in the situation in the room around him. His eyes narrowed and he raised his eyes to match Jalen’s gaze.

He snapped his grimoire shut and rose to his feet as his features tightened in anger – not affected by Jalen’s domain in the slightest. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in our damn room?”

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