Chapter 62: Forsaken
The knock sounded again.
"Reynold?"
Reynold pushed the book under the bed quickly and stood up.
He unbolted the door and pulled it open.
Seeing who it was he stare and then closed the door..
He stood there for a second with his hand still on the bolt. Then he opened it again.
Nymeria was still there.
She has that her signature blank expression.
Reynold scratched the back of his head.
"I... did not expect to see you here," he said.
That was the only think that came to his mind to say at the moment.
Nymeria looked at him for a moment. Then she bit her lower lip slightly and asked, "Can I come in?"
Reynold hesitated. Then he stepped back and opened the door wide.
She walked in. She was not wearing her magic user cadet uniform. She was wearing the Wyrmwood Academy sport crop top and training trousers for her girls. Her braids hair was tied back loosely.
She looked around the Ironhold room briefly, the way someone does when they are not impressed by what they see but are too composed to show it.
Reynold was still standing near the door.
He noticed the paper Lyon bag in her hand. She was holding it with two fingers.
She extended it toward him and he took it without thinking.
Nymeria looked at him. "Can I sit on the bed?"
He blinked. "What?"
"The bed. Can I sit on it."
"Yes," he said quickly. He was already stepping away from it, moving to sit on the floor instead.
He set the paper Lyon bag beside him and crossed his legs.
They stayed like that for a moment.
Reynold was genuinely trying to arrange his thoughts.
The last time they had talked, or see each other was after the Blood Seeker Orb incident.
The orb that Nymeria had some how kept from turning red. After that day, there had been nothing.
Reynold was not really sure if he was the one avoiding Nymeria or if she was the one avoiding him.
Maybe both. It was one of those situations that had no clear answer the more you think about it.
"How did you get in here?" he asked. "And why are you here. No offense but you are the last person I expected."
Nymeria did not answer.
Reynold waited for her to answer
But she still did not answer.
Seeing that she was not answering, he let it go.
The smell coming from the paper Lyon bag was beginning to reach his nose now.
His attention shifted to paper bag..
"Is the food for me?" he asked.
He was already opening the bag as he said it.
He pulled out the first container and stopped.
This was not academy cafeteria food. The academy cafeteria does not even have this kind of rich made food on their list. This was the kind of food made by a private chef.
The first container was filled with nraised river hen, and then the second container was spiced root grain pressed into a clean block. Then the last one was Pigeon Pie:
Reynold stared at it.
Then a thought flash his mind..
Wait.
What if it is poisoned?
He looked up at Nymeria as different thoughts flash his mind.
She kept the orb from turning red. She has been carrying his secret. What if she got tired of carrying it. What if this is the easier solution?
Reynold set the container down slowly.
Nymeria’s eyes moved to him. Seeing his confused look, her hand move to the collar at her neck, the lock sitting just below her jaw. She flipped her fingers lightly and the collar gave a faint click.
She looked at him and said quietly, "It is not poisoned."
Then she leaned forward, took one of the containers in front of Reynold and opened it, and ate directly from it.
Then she closed it and placed it back in front of him.
Reynold looked at her.
"Did you just read my mind?"
She did not answer. Dammit! She must have done that..
"Nymeria." Reynold voice came out more flat than he intended. "I did not agree to that. That is my head and you don’t just go into someone’s head like that."
Nymeria still no answer.
He looked at the food. He looked at her. Then he looked at the food again.
He picked up the container and started eating.
The braised river hen was extraordinarily good. He finished it faster and reached for the pigeon pie without pausing.
After a while he asked the question he wsnted to ask. "Why are you here. I knkw you did not come here just to bring me food. We are not exactly friends."
Nymeria was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "First. The lectures are still going on. And you’ve been in here and you are falling behind. If you stay here for the full three months, you may be the one losing."
She looked at him directly. "I spoke with the principal, you are getting out on Monday."
Reynold stopped chewing.
He will be aout Monday.
Today was Friday just three days.
He was still trying to digest the information and not quite believing it when Nymeria continued.
"However." Her voice dropped a little. "The matter is not fully handled. There is something else you should know."
She paused.
"Silla, from the low born circle. She was found dead outside the academy grounds. The school believes she was murdered, possibly inside the academy premises, and the body was moved."
Reynold’s hand went still on the container.
Silla.
He knew her. She had been one of the ten representatives selected by the professor for the quadrant tournament.
She had not failed the challenge. And she still has her position. There was only one competitive reason for some one to move against her.
Which is; kill her and take her spot.
And Reynold was sure she was murdered by a highborns..
Maybe they wanted to remind the low borns that they still control the academy.
Reynold looked at his closed fist.
Then he started eating the food again.
"Why is the academy not doing anything about the highborns," he said. His mouth half full. "They keep letting these highborns operate like they are above the law."
Nymeria made a sound that was almost a laugh. Maybe it was a chuckle. "It is the culture. The academy was built with that culture and you can not pull the root out without disturbing everything around it."
"That does not make it make sense."
"No," she agreed. "It does not."
She was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "One more thing. Briar Coldwater is now faster with his sword and is and he is very good in combat now. His dragon riding is getting better too. Be careful with him."
Reynold scooped another portion of the grain block and scoffed. "I’m not scared of Briar Coldwater."
"I did not say you were scared of him," Nymeria said. "I am saying you should be careful. Professor Valerius is not here at the academy right now. If you get into trouble, he will not be here to help."
Reynold scooped another spoon.
"Where did he go?"
"The enclave facility," Nymeria said.
Reynold paused chewing as he looked at Nymeria and expecting her to continue.
Nymeria exhaled slowly. She was looking at the floor now, the stillness in her face shifting slightly into something heavier.
"There is a meeting being arranged," she said. "With the Forsaken Lords."
Reynold almost spit out the food in his mouth.
He looked at her and said nothing, ad he dud not want to interrupt her.
"It is intended as a peace-keeping treaty," she continued. "But the council doesn’t trust them.."
Reynold set the food down properly this time.
The Forsaken Lords were not a foreign nation with armies and borders you could draw on a map.
They were more like People who had gone past the edge of conventional magic, past the boundaries that the academies and the councils agreed on, and into things that were dangerous and did not care about agreements.
They deal on black arts(black magic). And they are very cruel. They don’t even have the interest of anyone at heart, including their follow Forsaken.
"What treaty?" Reynold said. "Even though i am not good with history, i know there was an agreement signed in the 190s. Both sides agreed to stay off each other’s borders. That was the whole arrangement."
"It was," Nymeria said. "But recently, Forsaken have been spotted near the West and East borders. And the rumour is they are moving toward something precious to the continent. That they believe the Greywood Basin belongs to them and they intend to take it back."
Reynold stopped.
The Greywood Basin?
The Basin was where the majority of the continent’s magestone(magic stone) deposits were found.
This is the same magestone that fed the academies, the economy, the infrastructure of every major city in Valdris.
The stone is their biggest trade weapon.
If the Forsaken wanted the Basin, that means they want the whole of Valdris to collapse..
Reynold stared at the wall across the room.
"Why would the Forsaken suddenly want the Basin?"