Relic Heirs: Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter 28: Touch and Go 

Monstrosity was born of blackened snow, the twisting of innocence, a hunter of man, who had long forgotten the fear of predators. 

News of the pack broke out across the school like a pox, consuming conversation, distracting students, and burning into class time. Even the teachers weren’t immune to Guildhunt fever, and though some simply incorporated the topic into their lessons, others took different approaches. 

Hair dripping, Bridget followed Tuck’s broad, green-clad shoulders into Common Scenarios and was immediately struck by the absence of grey stone and desks. Bright, glaringly white tiles winked at her, each one about four paces across. They blanketed the room from floor to ceiling, no windows, vents or gaps visible between them, save for the door. If not for the curling grey fog that trickled across the ground, Bridget might have thought that they were in a completely different classroom altogether. 

“It burns,” Gail muttered, squinting around at their surroundings. “It’s so white.” 

“More importantly,” Niles said. “Where’s Lady Carmine?” 

Wiping at her horsetail, Briddy joined the craning necks that peered around, but besides the semi-sheer huddle of greencoats near the entrance, the room was completely empty. 

“Maybe she’s running late?” Abaget suggested, glancing up at Thurston. 

“Or she already got called back to Final Sunrise for the hunt.” Warrin mused. 

“Don’t be an idiot. They haven’t sent out the contracts yet.” Gemma snapped. 

Angry mutters broke out, tense glances lingering too long on what kind of accessories different people were wearing. Even Bridget found herself glancing around uneasily, making sure that Gail and Tuck were the closest to her, that the person an arm’s length away wasn’t wearing anything with flames on it. Tensions had been rising along guild alliance lines since the second the word ‘guildhunt’ had sprung into the conversation, and everyone had begun looking over their shoulders. 

It was always when your back was turned that supporters of other guilds struck; flinging paints, invisibly tripping the unprepared, shooting small electric shocks, and levitating rodent traps in an unending barrage. The worst of the attacks came from guilds with rivalrous history, causing members to group together during mealtimes and between classes to avoid being an easy target. 

Even now, their Common Scenarios class began to split, not into cells, but according to affiliation.

“Or hope thereof.” Briddy thought, eyeing the other clusters that were slowly forming. 

Warrin and Parvati found their way over, sidling in the small circle Bridget and the rest of her cell had made. Gail and the Sanlaurants didn’t receive a second glance, their proximity to Bridget clearly enough to vouch for loyalty. 

“What happened to your hair?” Warrin goggled at Bridget. 

Bridget sighed, a high sound of frustration escaping her as she flicked at the wet patches of red paint that covered her hair. “Take a wild guess.” 

“Imbar got us on the way from breakfast,” Tuck said. 

Parvati gave them a sympathetic smile. “At least your Shrouds are still clean.” 

“It’s in my sock,” Gail grumbled. “It may as well be everywhere else.” 

“Well if you would stay with the group…” Niles began.

Warrin leaned in. “I got a letter over breakfast.” 

The group fell quiet, and Briddy looked up as a couple more feather-wearing students joined the huddle. Clearly split, six different gatherings spread across the flat white of the classroom, casting the same glances she was. 

“I did too.” Parvati said, her voice low. “I’m sure a lot of us did.” 

Bridget did her best not to make eye contact with anyone, examining the black seams between the large tiles. Her keepedish had remained still, mechanical legs grasping nothing but silent, empty air. 

“They’ll be moving out soon, then?” Niles asked. 

“It’ll be a while before they can reach the pack though. Pulling that kind of firepower from across the Reach?” Warrin shook his head. 

    “The school will have to make an announcement soon,” Bridget murmured. “and then there’ll be some sort of event for it.”

    Niles looked over at her, an eyebrow scornfully raised. “You don’t know that for sure.” 

    Bridget twisted up her mouth, shrugging. “My siblings went here?” 

    “In the meantime-” Parvati cut herself off as Asher ducked into the circle. 

    “Have you guys heard-” Asher caught the look the dark haired girl was shooting towards his chest. Following Parvati’s gaze, Bridget looked at an amulet hanging there, hammered into the shape of an open book with an eye etched into its cover. 

    “Don’t want to disappoint the family.” He winked, unbothered by the disapproving frown Parvati showed his way. 

    “Heard what?” Niles demanded. 

    “Heard it at the end of Botanica. We’re having a rally.” 

    “When?” Niles asked, excitement in his voice. 

    Bridget couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow at his immediate acceptance of the same thing she had just said. 

    “There’ll definitely be an announcement before the end of the day.” Someone said in a loud voice, and the Gilded Down group raised their heads, looking for the source of the noise. Thurston stood near the middle of the room, a sapphire sun embroidered across the waistcoat he wore underneath the green of his Shroud. “Reports will hit scrying stones by lunchtime.” He said authoritatively. 

    “How many are in the pack?” A voice called. 

    “Have the hunting parties left?” Another added. 

    “You’ll have to wait and watch the broadcast.” Thurston smiled, his cheeks pushing against the bushy sideburns that crept down his face. 

    A chunk of dirt flew through the air, accompanied by a shout from a group of greencoats with a dripping flail on their bags. “Gossipmonger!” 

    Abaget leaned forward, expertly swatting the clod of mud out of the air with one of her textbooks. 

    “At least we aren’t hired as brutes.” She flung back, stowing the tome away. 

    “Why even act interested in the hunt, Sunrise? You only care about making more fame for yourselves!” 

    “As if you’re not profiting!” Thurston frowned at the group of Molten Flails. 

    A tense silence fell, both groups glowering at the other. 

    Briddy cautiously eyed both clusters, taking in the creased brows and clenched fists. Dimly, she wondered if there would be yet another brawl, despite the last four ending with a trip to the eels for all involved. After seeing their classmates wander around the day after, hollow-eyed and shuddering every time they touched a surface, the fights had mostly died out. Even with the threat of punishment, strain had boiled over once or twice, and the dark cloud hanging over the Final Sunrise seemed to threaten a storm. 

    Bridget shook her head. Everyone seemed to lose their minds whenever guild lines were drawn. 

    With a bang, the door to the classroom flew open, slamming into the tiled wall as Lady Carmine strode in, long legs carrying her across the fog covered floor. 

    “Good morning darlings.” She said, scattering the group of Final Sunrise students in the center of the room with a wave of her hand. “I apologize for the last minute notice, but today is going to be a game day. I have far too much to get done right now, and your sweet little minds are not on class, I’m sure.” She looked across the group, scarlet lips curling in a smile. 

    “Ma’am?” Gemma’s hand went up in the air. “Do you-” 

    “There will be a broadcast to answer those questions.” Their teacher replied, echoing Thurston’s words. “Now gather in your Cells, please!”

    As the greencoats split away from their guild groups and slowly began to integrate back into their assigned collections, Lady Carmine called out: “And huddle in on the same tile, if you will.” 

    Bridget crowded in between Gail and Tuck, feeling the warmth that radiated from her friends as they gathered in the corner that Niles had chosen. Six groups of four looked back at them, spread across the room in sporadic lengths as they waited for Lady Carmine to direct them. 

    “Try not to move darlings.” Their teacher ordered, raising her wrist with a twist. 

    Beneath their feet, the fog twisted up, spiraling into thin tendrils like stalactites piercing up from the floor. With a hiss, the points inverted, the mist slamming back onto the floor. Across the room, the tiles flipped over, one by one in a lightning-fast wave of successive motion. Bridget squinted at the ground, looking at the new side of the tile that had been exposed. Where they had been flat before, the surface of the tile now rose in a slight arc, curving upwards like a lens. 

    “Step onto a new tile, darlings.” Carmine purred. 

    Following her direction, Bridget was the first to hop to the side, stiffening in surprise once the curved surface of the blank tile sunk slightly under her feet, a click clearly sounding as it depressed into the floor. It barely moved half an inch before the flat white lit from within, bright blue light shining out in neon beams, consuming the whole tile with the fluorescent color. 

    “Looks like you blue it.” Tuck grinned, following his cousin and Gail as they joined Bridget on the tile. 

    “Horrible,” Bridget muttered, shaking her paint-covered hair. 

    As soon as Gail’s foot left it, the chunk of floor they had been standing on also flipped over, the surface rotating from flat to curved. 

    “You should now have your team color and number.” Lady Carmine said, waving her hand across the tile-covered room. “Your objective is to make sure that by the end of the next hour, the majority of this room is covered by your color.” 

    Bridget looked across the room and saw Warrin’s cell was indeed perched atop a tile of bright pink, while Parvati’s group stood on a tile of lemony yellow. Slowly, she turned towards the wall right next to them, since Niles had chosen a starting spot far in the corner, and pressed her hand against its surface. 

    With a small push, the tile sank in beneath her fingertips, sky blue light beaming out around the black shape of the number four in the middle. With a frown, she looked beneath her own feet and saw a small chunk of the same numeral etched onto where they stood. 

    “Now, no attacks of a lethal nature are allowed, but seeing as you are slowly progressing as students, some injury is to be expected.” Lady Carmine smiled. “And as an incentive, the winning team will receive a special treat over lunch, a dessert that had made the Palanquin quite famous in the kitchens across the Reach, and the losers…” She tapped a finger on her chin. “Will help Doctor Nguyen muck out the menagerie stalls during the midday break.” 

With that, she flicked her wrist, a tile in the center of the ceiling turning a solid, inky black. “When this tile is white, your time is up.” Lady Carmine said, making her way towards the exit. “If you need me darlings,” She paused at the door. “Don’t.” 

    A swish and click of the latch later, the six cells were left alone in the room, looking at each other and eyeing the blank, convex tiles all around them. Nobody wanted mucking duty. Bridget could feel her own fists tightening in anticipation, nails digging into her skin as her eyes darted between the five other groups. Who would make the first move? Doing so would almost definitely draw attention from the others, and Carmine had said that attacks were allowed…

    “She forgot to give us our weapons.” The silence was broken by Argus, picking at the grey and green uniform that hung down his shoulders. 

    Briddy glanced back at Tuck, who was looking down at his big, empty hands in almost mournful silence. 

    “It’s probably to simulate reality.” Niles cut in, his nasal voice carrying across the room. “In a real hunt, you won’t always have time to be carrying everything you need-” 

    “How,” Gail said, cocking her head to the side as she looked down at him, “Is this situation anything remotely similar to a real hunt?” 

    Briddy couldn’t help but nod her agreement. 

    “Well someone needs to start moving,” Parvati said, pointing a silver finger up above their heads. “Because time’s running out.” 

Bridget followed her hand to what had been a completely black tile on the ceiling, where what was once a totally black ceiling tile was now leaking grey around all of its edges. 

Niles sniffed, turning slightly. Because of how close they were, crowded on the five-pace tile, his shoulder smacked into Briddy, who was, in turn, jostled into Tuck’s immovable bulk of muscle. 

“Sorry.” She muttered. 

“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled.

“Go on then Thurston.” Niles raised his voice. “Be a good lord and take the first move.” 

“Why don’t you go first, Sanlaurant?” Warrin called, his cell clustered in the opposite corner from theirs. Parvati’s and Argus’ cells were nearby, bordering the wall to their right. In a puff of smoke, a pair of blades curled into his hands, black fog forming one longer than the other. “I can give you some motivation if you’d like.” 

    Niles didn’t respond for a moment, his hand twirling an invisible shaft that spun into reality. “I’m good, thanks.” He said, putting the end of his tall spear down with a thud. 

    Gail looked over at Briddy, who shrugged the best that she could, looking out across the center of the floor towards Thurston’s group. 

    Vex. She didn’t even feel the wall anymore, and briefly, Briddy wondered if that would be enough to satisfy her father. I belong here. 

    As mist solidified into golden metal in her palm, Bridget felt a shudder of power ripple through Gail. She didn’t need to look down to know that she had also summoned her relic, her oversized, gauntleted fists at the ready. 

    Weapons flickered in existence around the cubical room, blades were drawn, bowstrings pulled taut, and the blade of a hatchet sliced through the misty grey fog that clung to the floor. Seventeen relics were summoned, narrowed eyes now watching all fronts. 

    “Go on then, Niles.” Asher called, the only one relaxed in the room. He leaned against an oaken quarterstaff that he had seemingly pulled from a small pouch at his waist. “After all, your girl there already made the first move.” He raised his chin in the direction of the bright blue tile on the wall behind them. 

    Bridget whipped her paint-covered head back around towards Warrin’s cell. “I was experimenting.” She said indignantly.

    “But you did go,” Asher said, a small rascal’s smile in the corner of his mouth. 

    “Sorry you didn’t think of it first.” Gail shot back. 

    Briddy fixed Asher with an icy glare, but his grin kept widening as though her wrath were something to be enjoyed. 

    “When you’re done flirting, Bridget,” Niles said in a low voice. “Stay with Tuck. Gail and I will get more tiles.” 

    “It’s easier to defend a territory,” Bridget murmured, almost regretful to speak after his earlier comment. Glancing out at the other groups, she could feel gazes lingering on them. 

    “She’s right,” Gail said, crossing her arms. 

    “Work your way out, then back. Tuck. can you-” Niles stopped talking as a click sounded across the room. 

    Warrin looked up, a foot pressing the tile in front of him. “Whoops.” He smiled. “I got bored.” 

    There was barely the briefest pause before watermelon pink erupted out of the tile in front of him, a three curling in the center and chaos following close behind. 

    A blur streaked past Briddy as Tuck began sprinting towards the center, leaving a gleeful whoop and a blue trail behind him. 

    “Bridget.” Niles hissed, but she had already begun to sprint after him. 

    “On it.” She tossed over her shoulder. 

    People burst out alongside them, smacking walls, sprinting across floors, touching whatever surface they could reach as sporadic color slowly began to consume the white of the room. Following Tuck towards the center of the room, Bridget nearly tripped over herself when he took a sudden left two tiles away from Thurston’s Cell, who had arms and magic raised to fend him off. 

    Releasing Vex, Briddy sprinted after him, the lack of the sword’s shape in her hands allowing her to catch up. After the turn, she tried to run beside him, catching the tiles to the left underfoot and widening their trail. When they reached the wall, Tuck slowly began to back in, dragging an arm across the tiles on the wall. 

    “Stay there,” Niles called to her, and Bridget turned her head to find Gail on the opposite side of the room, delivering a nasty side blow that hefted tiny Argus completely off his feet. 

    Niles had stationed himself in the center and was taking on Thurston’s club with irritating ease. 

    Frowning, Bridget turned back to the room, taking in the different ‘territories’ her class had claimed. She was surprised to find a myriad of different tiny patches coating the middle and two sides of the corner, bordering the only other large patch of shocking pink. 

    Battles ensued, and were lost against both of the patches, but through a long struggle, both blue and pink maintained their majority in the tiles. Nobody seemed to want to bother Gail after Argus’ unfortunate flight, and mostly the four groups in the middle turned to infighting. An ideal situation, if not for the fact that Briddy had to keep dealing with an invader. 

    Turning to find the same wall tile turned bright pink with a number three, she found the watermelon path that led a certain dark-curled alchemist near the edge of the blue territory. 

    Asher twinkled a grin at her as he smacked some tiles in the middle, the end of his quarterstaff making a loud thwack as it struck. 

    Sighing, Briddy made her way back over to the tile, pressing it so that it became blue once more. Eyeing Asher, who was caught in a small scuffle with a fox-faced girl, she slowly began returning to her spot near the middle, helping Niles rebuff Thurston and Abaget’s attempts to break into their big blue patch of room. 

    A soft click stopped her in her tracks, and Bridget whipped around in time to see Asher pushing in the tile with the tip of his staff, unrepentant smile resplendent. 

    “Why?” Bridget stormed back over, smacking it back to blue. “There are so many other tiles, go press one of them.” 

    Making direct eye contact with her, he reached the wooden tip of his weapon out once more.    

    Vex sprang into Briddy’s hand the second her lips moved, and she swung the blade in an upward arc as though to slice the wood in half. Quick as a blink, he pulled it out of her way, shooting the tip downwards to strike her wrist with a nasty crack. Pain erupted across Bridget’s hands as she cried out and dropped Vex, the golden blade clattering once against the blue tiles underfoot before disappearing into mist. 

    Asher laughed, blue eyes dancing with that unspoken taunt. “Should have kept a better grip.” He said. 

    “You-” Bridget swiped at him with her good hand, batting at the offending quarterstaff. Ducking out of her way, Asher danced back, nearly smacking into Argus. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Briddy lunged forward, trying to grab his weapon away from him. With a deft twist of his body, the alchemist slipped from the half-formed grapple Argus had been trying to apply to his midsection, just in time to receive a crushing blow to his arm from Gail, who seemed to appear from nowhere. 

    Staggering back, he tossed a vial to the ground, the glass clinking against the floor before it erupted in a plume of blue smoke, its tendrils reaching towards the ceiling in a curving, feline smile not dissimilar from Asher’s, taunting her. 

    “No, you don’t,” Briddy muttered, taking a deep breath and charging through the fumes. She was vaguely aware of Niles yelling something at her as she leapt, but what little pride she had was stung, along with her smarting hand, propelling her through the haze. 

Looking back over his shoulder, Asher’s eyes widened briefly, a laugh curling out of his chest. He came to a stop two tiles before the area of pink that Warrin and Kurtis had been protecting as a chime rang out overhead. 

“Hoisted on my own petard.” He chuckled. 

Briddy followed his eyes up and saw that the black tile was completely gone, a smooth, unblemished white glaring down to end the game. 

“Well done team four.” Lady Carmine said, reentering with a sheaf of papers stuck under her arm, barely looking up at her students. 

It was then that Bridget looked back towards her team, along a path of blue that led through groaning classmates and dissipating smoke to Niles and Tuck cheering in celebration, and Gail with her long arms crossed, eyes looking away.