Chapter 21

Congratulations on your duels. You’ve acquired wielder skill: Shadow Block.

It was the end of the session, and the blue screen of Status had popped up for the sword with the results of his exercise. He dismissed it without looking, and could see the rest of the class in the same activity, though most of them were reading carefully at the message only they could see.

Except for Mei Huang, who was standing quite still with her eyes closed, like she was in pain.

He wondered if she had been injured during the bouts. He had watched a few of her matches, when his opponents were particularly slow, and he had the time. She was clumsy still, but it was clear she knew what she was trying to do, she must have seen combat as a [Monarch].

Ms. Lopez walked them back to their dorm, another security measure. When they emerged from the lower level it was dusk, the wind cool against the sweat drying on the sword’s skin.

Arthur walked next to him, whistling softly. The sword found the noise grating, and found himself asking questions just to make it stop.

“Why are we in a siege?” He asked.

“You mean, why aren’t we going out and fighting the greedy little bandits?” Arthur asked. “I mean, it’s hard to invade when we don’t have a portal.”

“Do we not have a portal?”

Arthur shrugged. “Let’s say, if we do, we’re holding back for now.”

“What is the advantage in delaying?”

“Do I look like a strategist to you?” Arthur asked. “Me [Demon Lord], want slaughter, mayhem. Blood and guts and boobies. Who cares about strategic objectives and all that nerd shit?”

The sword waited for the real answer. Sometimes Arthur just needed to work himself up to saying what he was really thinking.

“I feel you don’t believe me anymore,” Arthur said sadly, “You don’t trust your only friend.”

“I am glad we’re friends,” the sword said, because he had been thinking it for some time, and hadn’t said it.

“Whatever, nerd,” Arthur waived this away. “There’s a clock and we’re running it out, that’s the answer to your question. At some point our worlds are going to be out of alignment, and whatever portal they’re using, it’s going to send them somewhere not here.”

“When does it run out?”

“That, I don’t think the Headmaster herself knows, but worlds are only in alignment for a little while. Can’t be more than a month. The portal just helps them cross in different places, it’s not going to let them keep up the invasion once we’ve passed.”

They passed into the shadow of their dorm building. “Why are you here?” The sword asked. “You don’t live here.”

Arthur pressed a finger to his lips. “Just trying to get a little extra fresh air. Keep talking, make it look natural.”

Arthur always seemed not to enjoy his room. The sword didn’t like his either, but Arthur’s was much smaller, which the sword imagined would be more comfortable.

“So then,” the sword asked, “why hasn’t there been an invasion yet? They know we know they’re here. That they have a portal. What are they waiting for?”

Arthur shrugged, “To personally deprive me of my chance to acquire a perfectly fresh corpse, as far as I can tell.”

This seemed unlikely to the sword. A moment later he understood it was a joke. He still had trouble some times telling when Arthur meant what he said.

“So we really don’t know why they haven’t attacked? Cadmarius asked me what I thought,” the sword still found this absurd.

“If we do, no one’s saying anything. Kinda weird huh? Just these random little dustups out in the woods, about the same number of troops as we were saying before they blew their cover.”

“COWARDS,” Haldar Brassbones said from behind them. “THEY SHOULD FIGHT US.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Brassy,” Arthur said, baring all of his teeth.

The sword moved so that he was more fully between Arthur and the [barbarian].

“TOO MANY COWARDS ON EARTH. EVEN THE INVADERS WON’T FIGHT. EVEN THE SWORD WILL NOT FIGHT. WE ALL KNOW YOU CAN, AFTER MEI. YOU SHOULD ACT LIKE IT.”

He walked away.

“Was he talking to me?” The sword asked.

“You can tell he wasn’t talking to me by the lack of death threats,” Arthur said. “What’s up with this thing with Mei?”

The sword didn’t have an answer.

“Huh,” Arthur said, when he didn’t say anything else. “That’s weird.”

A flash of light in the distance, the boom of thunder. “Nobody move,” Ms. Lopez barked out.

They were still a little ways from the dorm front entrance, they could probably run to it, but that was where the sound had come from.

Everyone moved, of course. They were just in time to catch the flash of blue of a portal closing, and the final wisps of smoke of the last blasts of lightning rising from the tree they’d struck.

The school was using small patrols to guard the woods around the school, one of them had gotten unlucky, run into a larger force of the lizardmen [Scouts]. They had apparently retreated when Ms. Lopez had appeared, even though she wasn’t carrying her sword.

One of the human patrol, an older student the sword didn’t know, had been injured, there was an ugly charred gash visible through her shirt, and the smell of charred flesh which was already making some of the other students gag.

Ms. Lopez used a quick skill that engulfed her in golden light and sent the girl to sleep.

“I need volunteers to get her to the clinic,” Ms. Lopez said. “People who can run. And I need other runners to call for help so we can reinforce the perimeter, in case this is a real attack.”

“Nick and I will take her to the infirmary,” Mei said, stepping forward. “And Arthur,” she added after a moment.

The sword looked at Arthur, then he looked at Mei. She wasn’t looking at him.

“Uh, sure,” the sword said.

“Fine,” Ms. Lopez said. “Just keep Mr. Hall from getting too close to her. Best to avoid temptation. He can open doors. Get moving. Who are my messengers? Quick now.”

The sword and Arthur moved forward, there was some awkward maneuvering, but they got the girl hoisted between them, and started an awkward shuffle run for the clinic.

“So what are you trying to pull?” Arthur asked as they pulled away from the rest of the class.

Mei didn’t respond, just readjusted her grip on the girl, who snorted like she was about to wake up.

“I mean, you picked us for a reason. I don’t see how taking me is helpful at all. But I don’t really see why you would take Nick either.”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Mei said, her hoarse voice echoing a little as they stumbled into the building with the clinic, and started up the stairs.

“I love things that don’t concern me,” Arthur said brightly, “It’s part of my irressistible charm. ‘That [Demon Lord] has the most insatiable curiosity’, they used to say about me.”

She didn’t respond.

Arthur skipped ahead of them, pulling another door open. “Well, I appreciate you bringing me along,” he said brightly. “Always helps to be able to collect the bodies right after the big event. If we’re lucky, might even be able to catch a little bit of her soul as it leaks out. Not that I’m saying she’s going to die or anything. But it’s been a pretty boring little conflict so far, I really appreciate you giving me this chance.”

Mei’s throat worked. “You are vile,” she said.

Arthur bowed as he shut the door behind them. “It’s in the job description.”

“I don’t like when you guys talk about nothing,” the sword said wearily. His arms were beginning to strain, he wasn’t used to holding a wieght like this, and he was already tired from the exercise. “If you’re going to make noise, can’t you actually say something important? It’s distracting.” When one else said anything, he found himself saying, “my arms are tired.”

The girl shifted a little in his grip, Ms. Lopez’s sleep already beginning to wear off. Unfortunately her wound was still very much not healed, the sword imagined it would be painful, if he was the kind of person who noticed such things.

Her skin felt weird to touch, softer than he was expecting, different from the way his own skin felt in a way that he found unsettling.

They stumbled into the clinic, heralded by Arthur’s cheerful “Did anyone order a slightly burnt [Ranger]?” And were immediately surrounded by three staff members already glowing with healing magic leaking from their hands.

“Go wait outside,” someone said, “there isn’t room for visitors,” and the sword found himself herded back out the door, pressed into a plastic chair on the opposite wall.

“Can’t we just go?” He asked. The task was finished.

Surprisingly it was Arthur who told them to stay. “Better wait,” he advised. “They’re getting testy about us walking around on our own. Either one of the staff will walk us back, or they’ll call someone when it’s quieter.”

The sword frowned.

Arthur kicked back in his chair, leaning it so that the front two legs were off the ground. “Relax. You’re in too much of a hurry for a guy who used to hang out in temples for decades, waiting for someone to pick him up. We’re way more fun than a bunch of ascetic warrior monks.”

Mei crossed her arms. “I don’t want to talk,” she said, “please keep discussion to a minimum,” she said.

“Not a chance, highness,” Arthur said cheerfully. “Why don’t you tell us what kind of rumors you’re spreading about our walking hunk of metal here? I think he deserves to know don’t you?”

“I’m not,” she had to cough to clear her throat, “spreading rumors.”

The sword glanced between the two of them as they started to argue again. Arthur sounded cheerful, but the sword was starting to think that he was at his most angry when he sounded the least angry, a confusing but at least clear signal.

What rumors? He thought about it, and realized Arthur must mean all the looks people had been giving him. And what Haldar Brassbones had been talking about.

He just assumed the class had misunderstood something, they alwasy misunderstood things. But Arthur seemed to think Mei had done something on purpose.

He looked at Mei. “Why would you lie about me?” He asked, curious.

She looked away. “I didn’t—”

“It was to protect you of course,” the healer with purple headphones said from the doorway.