Midnight Breeze

The only living creatures up besides me at the moment were the insects cricketing, calling out to their fellow bugs. Despite the fact I was tempted to just call them crickets, since they were making cricketing sounds, it would be improper to do so for they might be an entirely different insect than the one I’m familiar with. Then again, it wasn’t like I was an expert on the bugs of my world either. Besides… 

What the hell does a cricket look like? Is it like a dark grasshopper? 

Anyways, the only thing rivaling the noise from the lively cricket-like bugs was the snoring coming from Chris, Luke, and Sir Nathan. The former were sleeping next to me while Sir Nathan napped in a sat up position in the corner.

I could feel Chris’ heavy arm laying dully on my stomach as I stared up at the wagon’s cloth ceiling. I guess it’s nice some people were having an easy time drifting off to sleep. I gently lifted Chris’ arm as I got up quietly. Not wanting for Chris’s arm to lay on the partially cold wooden floor, I pushed his arm to his other side, placing it on Luke’s back.

Funnily enough, the two had been nowhere near as friendly to each other when we first met back in elementary school, they would often get pulled into the principal’s office when their bickering would go from just words to actual punches and kicks. Ten years later? The two could be mistaken for brothers, especially with how peacefully they slept next to each other. My feelings of nostalgia for the old days were shooed away when I was reminded of my main reason for why I had woken up in the middle of the night.

Got to pee.

I climbed out from the front of the wagon, making sure not to shake it too much as I hopped off. It was after I scanned our campsite that I began walking over towards a dark figure I saw marching around the edge of camp. What I found was a zombie, well, he was still a living human but he could be mistaken for one.

“Ughhhh…”

See, he even groaned like one. 

I approached the dead man, waving my hand in the air as I did. He slowly turned his head toward me, squinting his dead eyes as he scanned my face in the dark

“Hello Caleb, just wanted to let you know I’m going to go relieve myself.”

“Huh? Oh… it's just you Noel.” His voice was monotone, which made it hard to believe that he had been the same man who had earlier screamed at the top of his lungs when he had accidentally discovered Kat. He was in a very rough shape, made even rougher as he weakly saluted me before scratching his head. “Crap, sorry. I’m not supposed to address you without the ‘Sir,’ Sir Nathan’s orders.”

I waved off the decomposing knight’s worries. “It's fine, I don’t mind. Anyways just letting you know.”

“Right, well, shout out if something happens and I’ll come running after.”

I nodded. Though to be honest, in his current state, Caleb might actually be more of a hindrance if something were to happen.

I wadded off towards a bushy area with trees that overlooked the riverbank.

In this world there were no phones for people to occupy themselves while doing their business. Back home, before smartphones existed, people would read books or newspapers while on the porcelain throne. I wondered if the people here did the same? Books, though a bit costly, didn’t seem to be scarce if the book shop’s inventory that we had perused earlier in the week was anything to go by.

Regardless, I was just going number one, so it would be a quick event; however, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want something to distract me as I relieved myself. Luckily for me, I had a riverbank that was beautifully reflecting the moonlight, an interesting view to be able to gawk at as I let everything go.

As I began wrapping up my business, I heard the crunch of someone or something stepping on a branch nearby. I immediately zipped up and pulled myself out of the bushes, ready to run the moment whatever was lurking around decided to pounce me.

Instead of some hulking black-coated wolf-like creature that I envisioned in my head appearing, a familiar silver haired girl slowly exited the bushes.

Alice blushed as she approached.

“Alice, it's just you. You nearly scared me to death.” I chuckled, having brushed off a potential encounter with the reaper of this world made me so thankful I had been so wrong in my assumption.

“I’m sorry, I did not mean to sneak up on you.”

“It's fine. But, what are you even doing here this late at-” I pieced together the reason myself, but I was too late in stopping myself from asking.

What else would she be doing except for the same thing I was doing? And why the hell didn’t Caleb warn me?

“I was…”

“Uh, no, it's better if we just leave it at that Alice.” I was about to ask her if she’d like to return to camp together when she closed in on me.

“Its not what you think,” she said with a bit of a shrill.

“Not what I think?”

Her arms started shaking, she pouted her face as she looked at me with her glassy eyes. “It was just urine.”

“Huh?” Hearing the word urine from her mouth would have made me laugh in any other situation, but the look on her face told me this wasn’t one of those times to do so.

“I’m saying I didn’t do… you know.” She took a step forward, leaning herself closer to me. “I had just finished when I heard a noise and by the time I realized it was another person it was too late to leave.” I took a step back, placing my hands up and away from Alice. “I didn’t mean to listen in and I didn’t do that, so please don’t think less of me,” she pleaded.

I chuckled at Alice being so worried about how I perceived her. “I get it, don’t worry about it. Even if you did go number two, I wouldn’t think any less of you, it's perfectly natural.”

“Number two?” Alice asked as she gave me a quizzical look. Based on her reaction I could only surmise that they don’t refer to one’s business in this world by numbers.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Alice shook her head furiously. She then took an even bigger step closer, her face only mere inches away from mine. “What I’m trying to say is that I didn’t do anything other than pee.”

Once again, I had to keep the childish desire to laugh bottled up. I took another step back, feeling myself bumping into a large tree. “And I’m saying I believe you.”

Alice raised a pointed finger at me. “Then why do you keep backing away when I’m trying to explain myself?”

“That’s because I still have to wash my hands and you're getting a little too close.”

It was true, if anyone approached us it would look like Alice was pushing me up against the tree. This accidental restroom rendezvous would then seem more like a midnight affair.

Alice immediately pulled away, whether it was because of my dirty hands or of our misinterpretable positioning I couldn't tell you.

“I’m so sorry.” Alice bowed, her arms bent to perfectly match the degree she was currently bowing at.

“Like I said, don’t sweat it. Plus, as sad as it is to say, that isn’t the first time a friend has walked in on me taking a leak.”

Alice raised her head, her face was a mix of horror and confusion.

“Let's just say that you should always make sure others know when you're going off to relieve yourself in some bushes. Especially if you don’t want them searching for you thinking you got lost.”

I had learned this the hard way when Chris’ family had taken all of us camping. Though in my case it wasn’t just one person, Chris and Luke ended up sticking around to laugh at me while Mira ran off, all the while she screamed something along the lines of needing to drown her eyes in the lake.

“Anyways, let me just go wash my hands in the water and then we can head back together.”

“No,” Alice protested which surprised me.

“No?”

Alice started fidgeting, it was times like this when she acted like a regular shy girl, as she similarly did back at the book shop, that reminded me that she, while being nobility, was just a normal girl at heart. And just like other girls, or rather people in general, wasn’t the best at explaining her thoughts when flustered.

“I… what I mean is that the water might not be clean a-and boiling it might take a while.”

I waved my hands limply. “Maybe, but I can’t exactly go back with dirty hands.”

“In that case would you like me to wash them?”

“I know how to wash my hands,” was what I wanted to shout but I held my tongue and let her finish.

Alice raised the palm of her hand towards me, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. “Torius.” She summoned a small amount of water in a bowl-like shape. She opened her eyes, a sigh of satisfaction escaping from her lips. “Go on, wash them. This water should be a dozen times cleaner than any river water.”

I nodded, dipping my hands into magical water, not too cold and not too hot, a perfect balance in temperature. I had started pulling my hands out to dry when Alice stopped me.

“Hang on, you’re not going to use soap?”

“Erm, I didn’t think we had any? Us guys asked Caleb before turning in for the night but he told us to just make do with water.”

“Unbelievable.” Alice rummaged through her coat’s pockets until she pulled out a small bottle full of thick liquid. She opened it, then she grabbed my wrist and poured some onto my hand. “Scrub thoroughly and then wash it off, got it?”

I know how soap works.

 I did as I was told, once again holding my inner thoughts at bay. Oddly enough, though I had scrubbed the soap thoroughly throughout my hands, it left no odor.

“Unscented soap?”

“Unscented?”

Alice and I traded looks of confusion. After a brief conversation about the soaps of my world…

“You have soaps that smell of fruit?”

“Among other smells, yes.”

Apparently the soap makers of this world had been so focused on the effectiveness of the cleanliness of the soap itself, which were created and enhanced with magic, that they had neglected to consider any "unnecessary things” such as adding pleasant aromas to them, whether on purpose or by accidental byproduct.

“Well, we’ll have to have a long discussion with my father about the matter when we return home.”

“I don’t think squeezing a meeting tomorrow will be a good idea.” Having finished properly washing my hands, I rubbed them against my shirt to dry them.

“Tomorrow?” she asked. It was only once she asked that I saw the connection click in her eyes. “Oh, Katherine. Right…”

Ah, I knew that look all too well. The look of uncertainty that came with rocky relationships with siblings. It would likely be best not to meddle into the affairs of others. I knew this of course, yet…

“Got something on your mind? I can’t give you the answers but I can lend you an ear.”

Alice lightly bit her lip, her eyes following the path back to the camp. She then cast her gaze at me and then back towards the riverbank.

“Okay then,” I said as I grabbed Alice by the hand as I gently led us closer to the midnight waters. I turned to gauge her reaction, she held her other hand up to her face, covering her mouth as if she was puckering her fingers. Her eyes weren’t full of worry or embarrassment, instead they were like a riverbank itself, ready to go with the flow. It was once we reached the edge of where the body of water splashed against the earth that I let go of Alice’s hand and proceeded to collect the smoothest rocks and pebbles I could find.

“Stick out your hand for me Alice.” She tilted her head in confusion but, in the end, she showed me her palm with little hesitation. I placed eight stones in her hand and kept eight for myself. I raised one of my stones above my head, reflecting the moonlight towards Alice.

“What are we going to do with these?”

“Simple, we're gonna take one of these bad boys, say what’s on our mind, and then chuck it as far as we can.”

“So, we’re just throwing rocks.”

I shook my head at her. “We’re not just throwing rocks.” I raised my leg as I threw my first, the rock bounced off the water a few times before sinking into the deep abyss. “We’re also throwing out what's on our mind. Like that one,” I said as I pointed at the last of the stone’s impact ripples. “That one was for me wondering when I’m going to get my powers like Luke and Chris.” I picked up one of the stones Alice held in her hand and placed it in her other palm while gesturing for her to give it a go.

Alice hesitated, she watched the stone in her hand as she let the night breeze blow past us. She slowly took a step toward the riverbank. She raised her single stone gently as if she were raising her hand to ask a teacher a question. With a quick flick of her wrist, she threw the stone. It flew through the air only for a mere moment before it crashed unceremoniously into the water and sank.

“I’m not good at this.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, but that's why we have seven more. So, what’s on your mind Alice?”

“I’m worried about Kat. Will she really go back willingly?”

I grabbed another stone and once again gave it to her throwing arm. “And?”

This time she really wound her arm back, lifting her leg before stomping down on the dirt as she sent another stone flying. It sank just as quickly as the first one but it managed to beat it in terms of distance. “I’m praying to the gods that Liam wakes up.”

I grabbed one final stone from Alice, but this time she snatched it from my hand before I could hand it to her. She arched her whole body as she tossed it, it managed to skip once before disappearing underwater.

“I worry about my mother, especially with none of us being there for her.”

She grabbed another stone, repeating the process. “I’m not strong or wise enough to lead anyone. Why did the gods choose me?”

She tossed another. “I don’t know what is expected of me. What do I do as an oracle?”

She tossed another stone. “I’m scared of what we’ll learn at the Sanctum.”

And another. “I worry about Uncle and Father, those two are always fighting amongst each other.”

Alice was down to her last stone, the amount of skips she managed to get increased proportionally with the amount of times she tossed them. By now, Alice was looking like a varsity-level pitcher. She readied her final stone, displaying an olympic level form as she threw it with all her might. This time, the stone skipped so many times it disappeared far into the darkness before we heard its final plop on the water.

“I never wanted to marry Kenneth, even being engaged sickened me.” She hesitated for a moment. “But who am I to defy my father?”

Alice instinctively tried reaching for another stone, yet there was not a single one left in the palm of her hand. Her breathing had become heavy, all of the venting of her frustrations had taken a toll on her.

“Sorry Noel. It seems I got a bit too caught up in my troubles, your turn now.” A wry, but slightly satisfied smile flashed across her face. I gently shook my head.

“Nah I’m good, but,” I said as I wrapped my hand around wrist, turning her arm over and placing all seven of my stones in her palm. “Don’t hesitate to use these next time.”

“Next time?”

“Of course, like I said, I’ll always be willing to lend an ear.”

“That’s not fair, you get to hear all my thoughts and worries while I only heard one of your’s.” She gave me a bashful smile, the night sky reflected in her eyes as she gazed at my face.

“Like I said, next time. Anyways we should get going, otherwise Caleb is gonna start thinking we both went number two.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I’m assuming it's not good.” I rolled my eyes at her before whispering the meaning in her ear. “If that happens it's going to be all of your fault.” Though Alice’s words were nothing but complaints, she happily pulled me by the arm as she led me back to camp.

We waved each other goodbye and went our separate ways once we made it back. Alice flapped open the entrance to the girls’ tent and crawled inside while I made my way back to the wagon. Having had a pleasant encounter with Alice had really boosted my ego but the sudden realization of what was going on in the wagon quickly brought it back down.

“Oh, hey Noel. I forgot to tell you Lady Alice also went out to relieve herself,” Caleb yawned as he wrapped himself in what had been my spot with my sleeping blanket.

Thanks for the heads up. 

Seeing as how I had lost my spot on the wagon and wasn’t feeling that sleepy anymore, I decided to go give the current man on watch some company.

I approached Father Albert who was once again at our campfire. He was crushing brown beans, grinding them into a fine dust-like state before placing it in a pot of boiling water. He conjured himself a clay cup and poured some of the brown liquid into it. The aroma was quite familiar, it smelled like my room at night whenever I was knee-deep in my editing.

“Is that coffee?” Sir Albert jumped slightly as he turned to me.

“You're up early, Sir Noel.” He conjured a second cup and poured me some.

“I was just coming back from using the restroom, only to find Caleb in the waggon wrapped up like a caterpillar in a cocoon.”

“I’ll give him a stern talking to in the morning.”

I shook my head, “No need, it seemed he already suffered enough with his late-night assignment.”

“Now Sir Noel, just because we like the man doesn’t mean we can go easy on him.”

“I understand.”

“Good, now drink up before the night’s breeze takes all coffee’s warmth for itself.”

The two of us drank our beverages and chatted through a myriad of topics. From me asking Father Albert further questions about silent casting to him asking me about my family and what kind of students us heroes were like.

Eventually the crack of dawn greeted us as Father Albert had poured the last of the coffee into a separate goblet.

“Nathan is just like me, he can’t really function in the morning without a cup of this.”

“Wow, I didn’t know he had such a weakness.”

“Believe me, Nathan has far more weakness than you can count.”

“Is that right?” Sir Nathan appeared in just his casual wear, a white sleeveless shirt and tan trousers. Seeing him without his armor made all of his swordsmen training more transparent as all his muscles were proudly showing.

“All men have their weaknesses Nathan. It's just that some have more than others.”

“Give me my coffee already.” Sir Nathan ripped the cup from Sir Albert’s grasp. Gulping it all down in a single swig.

“See what I mean, he is a foul man without his morning coffee.”

“The only foul thing here is you spouting lies to Sir Noel. I thought lying was looked down upon by priests.”

“As the gods as my witness, I’ve yet to lie this morning, though I have bent the truth.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

“Yes, I told Sir Noel you could be quite foul without your coffee.”

“And? The truth is?”

“That you are still terrible even with it. I suppose you’re just not a morning person.”

“Sir Noel, have this one stick to teaching you magic for it seems that's the only good thing he’ll fill your head with.”

Seeing these two older gentlemen bickering like boys brought a smile to my face.

Father Albert turned to me while Sir Nathan lowered his goblet. “You just thought of us as old men, didn’t you, Sir Noel?,” the two of them said in unison.

Soon the others rose from their deep slumber, all of them clamoring around Zoe who was preparing the morning breakfast. Nothing fancy, just some of the leftover baked bread served with preserved meats and a small ration of cheese that wouldn’t last much longer in terms of being edible. Father Albert once again was in charge of collecting the water. I asked Alice, who decided to take a seat next to me on the log I sat on, why we kept fetching water from the riverbank and boiling it when we had people capable of creating water.

“Well, although the water we create is typically cleaner than the river’s water, it's because the taste of conjured water tends to be a bit off when compared to naturally existing water. That is why we chose boiled river water when it comes to consumption."

I supposed, despite Alice’s protests last night, when it came to different use cases, natural water versus conjured water just came down to one’s preference. “I see.”

The sound of something whizzing past me caused me to end my mental water debate. What followed was a loud thump and terrible scream. I turned around only to find Father Albert on his knees in front of Kat with an arrow piercing his back. He turned his head towards the rest of us, his face full of shock as he slowly cracked his lips open.

“Run.”

A volley of fireballs tore through the area, one of them managing to strike the supply wagon, bursting it into pieces. The three Holy Knights drew their swords as they turned toward the direction that the fireballs had been fired from.

“Zoe, take the girls with you. Noel and Mira, get Albert away from here,” Sir Nathan ordered.

Zoe nodded, carrying Kat over her shoulder and pulling Alice towards the undamaged wagon. Mira and I chased after them, helping each other carry Father Albert to the cart. That left Chris and Luke acting as the rear guard.

“A shame, I was hoping for both of their wagons to have been destroyed.” Walking out of the forest were three familiar individuals. Though they now wore different colored cloaks and boots, there was no mistaking them, they were the ones behind the attack back at the castle, they were the ones responsible for Liam being in a coma.

The one leading them opened her black cloak just enough to draw a sword, it was different than the one she had wielded before. Instead of the shortsword with the crossguard from last time, she brandished a silver rapier with a giant red crystal attached at the end of the hilt as its pummel.

Her subordinates unsheathed cleaver-like swords, both of their weapons also had the same type of crystal that their leader’s rapier had.

The leader of their group raised her blade at Sir Nathan. “Go.” The two cleaver wielders at her side disappeared in an instant. In the blink of an eye they reappeared as they brought their blades down and tore through Mabel’s and Caleb’s armor, the pair of knights fell before they could even raise their swords to defend themselves. The moment the knights hit the ground, the two attackers charged at Sir Nathan from opposite sides.

“How dare you!” Sir Nathan slammed his blade to the ground, bursting from his sword was a massive gale he conjured in the shape of a sphere and sent the two attackers flying, though they both gracefully landed on their feet.

The two attackers followed up by engulfing their blades in blue flames, swinging their swords towards the open sky above. Their flames flew towards each other, becoming one huge flame above Sir Nathan’s head. They brought down their flame towards Sir Nathan as it moved in ferocious spiral like a tornado.

Sir Nathan swung his blade, now fully enveloped by strong gale winds, towards the firestorm, snuffing out the flames as his wind strike trapped their attack in an airless vacuum.

Though his counter was successful, it had caused him to lose focus on the threat on the ground, for as he tried to lower his stance and raise his guard, he was too slow to block the enemy leader’s piercing attack that tore into his clothes.

Luckily, the rapier had only ripped a hole in Sir Nathan’s shirt but had not managed to actually pierce him. That was because, holding the blade back and in place was Chris’ stony arm. He had rushed over to cover for Sir Nathan’s blindspot just in time. As much as the swordswoman tried prying her blade away, Chris did not let it slip his grasp.

Her two compatriots charged at Chris, swinging their wild blue flames at him but they vehemently went off course and into Luke’s palms who had also decided to join the battle. After taking in all of the flames the attackers had produced, he sent them flames right back at them. One of them managed to dodge while the other was swept away by a wave of blue fire.

Taking the opportunity, as Chris had been distracted by the flames, their leader pulled on her rapier once more, managing to pry her blade loose and slipping it out. “Retreat.”

The subordinate that was still standing nodded at their leader’s command, sending three more balls of fire to cover their retreat. They aimed one at Caleb and Mabel, they sent the second towards the wagon, and the third they sent flying towards Mira, Father Albert, and me.

Chris ran forward, encasing his whole body with earth as he braced himself and took the ball of inferno for Caleb and Mabel.

Sir Nathan swung a huge gale arc at the second ball of fire, causing it to burst and send huge shockwaves in the air.

Luke fired off all of his flames into the back of his legs, rushing over with all of his might to reach us.

But he was far too far and far too slow.

He stretched out his palm towards the flames but it seemed he couldn’t absorb it due to his current distance.

Seeing the giant fireball come closer, all I could was shut my eyes and turn away from our impending doom. I waited, and waited, and even waited some more, but the fiery death I expected never came. The only thing I did feel was more of Father Albert's weight on my shoulder. I slowly opened my eyes, shocked by what I was seeing.

Mira had summoned a giant force of wind, greater than all of Sir Nathan’s enchanted attacks combined, she threw all of it against the ball of fire and sent it flying up and beyond the clouds. It was only when we heard a distant thunderous boom that Mira stopped producing wind. We had all survived and the enemy was now nowhere in sight.

Once we all visually confirmed this, Mira immediately fell to the ground afterwards, as if it had taken everything out of her to blow the fire away.

It was as I watched her fully collapsing from exhaustion that I noticed a green glow nearby. Alice had her hand stretched out towards Mira, the crystal on the back of her hand was glowing a vibrant viridescent light.

I then heard Mira’s gentle snoring as the green light disappeared from Alice’s hand, which, paired up with what she had just accomplished, meant only one thing.

Mira had finally awakened her powers.