Chapter 289: Attack

Author's Note: Read the last chapter before this one please. I overwrote the hiatus notice

Olpi yawned as she shambled towards the closest thing the Demis had to a town square, a large opening at the center of their quarters. Bleary eyed Demis had formed a crowd. Even those on the second and third floors were making their way down. Olpi pulled herself up on a cot to get a view of the person standing at the center of the attention: Menla. Her heart sunk, but her friend didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. While the crowd was rowdy, they weren't aggressive. Olpi lept off the cot and maneuvered through the crowd.

"Trenlo," Menla listed off a name from a sheet of paper, and the Demi in question raised his hand. Menla nodded and crossed something off the paper. "Trost?" Another Demi raised their hand.

"What's going on?" Olpi asked as he stepped into the center. "Menla, there was someone who saw you-" The breath escaped her as Menla half-hugged half-tackled her.

"Thank the goddess you're alright," Menla cried as she stepped back.

"Well that's up for debate," Olpi coughed, holding her stomach. "I see you're recovering your strength nicely."

"We were looking everywhere!" Menla said. Tears welled up in the girl's baggy eyes as words fumbled out of her mouth. "I saw a man with a bow. He shot at the academy! I heard several windows break and I ran. I don't know what to tell people or do since you're in the lead and I'm just-" She stopped in a fit of coughing and pointed at the list.

"Menla, you always forget you need to breathe." Olpi put two hands on the girl's cold shoulders to calm her down. "You saw a man where? Take your time."

Menla took a small breath: "He was standing outside the academy, far away. I didn't see exactly what he looked like, but I sensed that he was strong and mean. He definitely wanted to hurt someone. There were also lights around, as if there were more people behind him."

Olpi frowned and hugged the Dwarf again. "I'll take over from here." She turned to face the crowd, which had gone silent since her arrival. They were people she had known for as long as she could remember. She may have forgotten her real family, but she had found a new one. "Here's what we're going to do. Continue the roll call and get every Demi back here. I'll notify the instructors."

"The instructors?" Menla gasped. "But they never help us."

Olpi nodded and said with a rising confidence: "We all know our situation, and that we can only rely on other Demis." She paused, cursed under her breath, and continued: "We may live under the academy's rules but those rules can be bent. If we know the system, we can force the instructors' hands. I will go and appeal on the students' behalf. The instructors can't ignore an attack if the students are in danger."

With a blue flash the door to the room burst open, and for the first time in fourteen years an instructor willingly walked into the servant's quarters. Back then the instructor had been chasing the dark mage known as Sozo. Now Lance charged in with a different purpose. His curly black hair, usually neat and orderly, dangled in front of his baggy green eyes. "Olpi," Lance's hoarse voice rang out in the sudden silence which had overtaken the chamber. "It's Cerlius, my disciple. Please come to the medical wing."

Behind Lance, patrolling up and down the halls were the white stone Watchmen. Runes appeared over the students' wooden doors. "Gather them," Olpi said to the Demis as she hurried to follow Lance. Mana flew out of the instructor and formed two magic circles on the ground. As they stepped through the spells, their feet left the ground. The Demi responsible for checking on the students was bound in icy chain, muttered to himself that he didn't do anything. Lance and Olpi flew over trails of fresh blood to the end of the hall.

Olpi flicked through her keyring by force of habit but Lance held her back. "None of those work right now." His Allpass flew off his wrist and the runes over the door vanished. He floated through and was met by a torrent of magic circles. "It's me!" Lance shouted. The magic circles vanished to reveal the Head Mage, Glenin Ostroch.

He leaned his crooked form on his elegantly carved wooden cane the same as always, yet there was a fire burning within his coal-like eyes. Olpi almost didn't notice the many wrinkles and liver spots atop his bald head. "My office was broken into and you waste time on getting a Demi?" The old crone screeched, his long white beard swaying with anger.

"I didn't hear about this," Lance gasped. "I'm sorry I just brought her because she was the last one with Cerlius and she might have some information about the injured students. Were the thieves caught? Any word on who they are?"

Glenin shook his head and rubbed his beard. "It seems they injured the students as a distraction. Several tomes were missing when I returned to my office. Whoever it was, they're either extremely stupid or extremely skilled. I've sent the second and third floor instructors out, but whoever they find combusts with that strange black powder!"

"Did you ask the knights for assistance?" Lance suggested.

The Head Mage waved his hand. "No I would rather die than ask for help from those idiots. The nobles are already pushing to change our teaching methods for the coming war. I cannot have word get out about this, or they'll have reason to do so."

"What would you have me do?" Lance asked.

"Just get to the Medical Wing," Glenin sighed. "Tell the healer to bring the students to consciousness as soon as she can and save the rest of her mana for potential captives. The Resistance might have forced their way through the Capital, but they will not get through my academy. And Lance," Glenin said as Lance turned to leave. "Try not to get your bad name involved."

"Thank you for considering my position," Lance said as he hurried off with a relieved expression.

Olpi followed behind and heard Glenin mutter as she passed him: "Of all the spells they could have stolen, they just had to take the most dangerous." The old man stretched his wrinkled fingers out and he vanished.

As Olpi and Lance flew past the crystal windows of the first floor, the usual sea of clouds was nowhere to be seen. It had been blown back with an unnatural wind to reveal a valley of burning plants. She spotted black craters where the smoldering remains of people lay.

'Will the Demis be safe if they stay here?' She thought.