Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

We went back to the dorm room and met with the others to tell them about the day's events. They had a good laugh at our written exam antics and then kept laughing as we described how we completely destroyed the educational curve of practical magic exam by a very wide margin. We ate supper together and then I studied my acquired notes for the basic potions class, as did Gella. Since no one questioned her being there, we decided to see how far we could take the ruse.

After we had a quick bath and Jill performed the ritual, we were piled into bed and Gella finally told me what was up with her last name.

“It was supposed to be a surprise for your birthday after the exams.” Gella admitted while Hanna and Farra blushed. “We visited the kingdom's administration building and had our last names legally changed to Drake.”

“It was surprisingly easy, considering we were previous slaves and you technically still own us.” Farra said, which made the other two nod. “It took longer for us to register our official roles.”

Gella laughed softly. “They accepted Hanna's role immediately as your personal slave and only started to fight against mine as your sworn sword until Farra said she wanted to be declared your apprentice.”

“Oh, boy! Did they react to that!” Farra said with a laugh.

“It was like she let off a fireball in the hall and everyone was freaking out.” Gella said with a shake of her head. “It was a bit pathetic, really.”

“Did they make you perform tests?” I asked.

“I had to perform a bunch of magic spells to their satisfaction.” Farra said. “It actually sounds like what you did for your spell casting practical exam.”

“I assume you passed with high marks.” I said and she nodded happily. “Good.”

“I'm officially licensed to help you with spell casting, potions, and enchanting.” Farra said, quite proud.

“You're terrible at enchanting, though.” Gella said with a bark of laughter.

“Hey, they don't know that!” Farra said and they both laughed.

“The documents are all sealed with the official Gulf Kingdom seal.” Jill said.

“What about Gella?” I asked.

“I had to fight one of the King's Men.” Gella said with a predatory smile.

“How many seconds did he last?” I asked with my own matching smile.

“Eight, and that was because I had to allow him to attack first to prove my defenses were sufficient.”

I had to chuckle at that. “I assume they allowed a magic use license.”

“They had to. I froze the ground with his feet and then cut his blade in two with my enchanted one.” Gella said, her voice full of pride like Farra's was. “They were almost falling over themselves to get us out of there after that.”

“Did you let him go?” I asked, knowing what her answer was.

“Technically.” Gella said with a grin. “I told him to use the pommel of his sword to shatter his boots and walk away.”

“HA!” I barked and that set them off as we all laughed.

“I have her documents and Hanna's as well. Everything is completely legal and registered.” Jill said.

“Thank you.” I said and reached over to take her hand briefly, then laid back down to let the others cuddle in. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” They said and we all went to sleep.

The morning quickly arrived and Gella and I were cleaned up and dressed, then we went to the written part of the basic potions exam. Greta, or Mage Marks as she needed to be called in class, looked sad as she saw me enter the auditorium with the other students.

“We're doing it seriously this time.” I whispered to Gella and she nodded in response.

“You have all morning to complete this written part and I suggest that all of you do your best to use as much of that time to complete as many answers as you can.” Greta said as she walked around and placed the exam papers face down on the occupied desks, even Gella's. “Are there any questions?”

I raised my hand and she sighed. “If we finish long before the time limit, do we stay here and relax or do we leave and relax?”

Greta gave me a sad look. “The rules state that you must remain until the time is up, which is why I said to use as much time as you can to answer as much as possible on the exam.”

“We're not allowed to work on anything else to use up the time, are we?” I asked and she shook her head. “Thank you for the answer.”

Greta looked around at everyone as she returned to the front of the room. “Anyone else?” She asked and no one moved or said anything. “Then flip your exam papers over and start writing.”

I did so and almost laughed at the first question about the reason for the procedure of using clean equipment to gather prepared ingredients from containers. I quickly filled out the answer and moved on... and on... and on. Instead of taking the entire morning and going over my answers, I was done just over two hours later. My ability to write concisely and consistently was put to excellent use and I had every single answer written out and correct.

I flipped my exam papers back over and sat back to relax. I was very tempted to cross my hands behind my head and recline before I saw Greta's searching eyes locking onto me. I decided against antagonizing her and crossed my arms over my abdomen and closed my eyes instead. I didn't want to be a disruption to her first exam given at the Mage Academy.

An hour later, Gella was done and she actually reviewed her answers before she copied my leaning pose and crossed arms. She didn't close her eyes, though. She couldn't protect me if she wasn't still alert. I didn't really need her to do protect me, because of my vigilance technique and my own skills; but, I wasn't going to refuse her service after she had devoted herself to me.

Greta didn't comment and stayed quiet as everyone else in the auditorium continued to write for the full exam time. When lunchtime arrived, Greta walked up and down the aisles and gathered up the exam papers. She didn't say anything as she took mine and then took Gella's with only a flicker of her eyes at the name on her paper.

I thought about commenting on it and chose to stay quiet. She hadn't told me she was coming back to work, so I wasn't under any obligation to give her any new information. As if she sensed that, she gave me a questioning look. I just smiled and shrugged, stood up, and led Gella from the room.

We ate with Robin again and she seemed to have accepted that we would continue to eat together every day. We also polished off each bottle of wine with our meals. When I offered to compensate her for it, she shook her head and said it was all covered under the royal meal card. I raised my eyebrows at her and she professed that she wasn't bringing me their most expensive wines, even though she could. That made Gella laugh and I had to smile.

Gella and I went back to the practicals auditorium and a single potion setup was ready for each student from the main class and for the class set aside just for the girls that I had attended for the first half of the year.

“Please brew the potion on the board.” Greta said and flipped over the chalkboard to show off one of the basic potions from just after I had been kidnapped. She gave me a sad smile and sat down to watch over everyone else.

I wasn't sure why she was sad, then I read over the potion. Oh. It's flawed. She switched one of the main ingredients and we're supposed to switch it back. I thought, then I contemplated how I would improve it.

I looked down at the small ingredient cabinet provided to each table and saw that there wasn't much I could change... and then I smiled. If I changed out two of the ingredients instead of just one and altered the brew time and the liquid saturation for the drying time for the powdered and pulverized root it required, I could increase not only the potency, I could also increase the yield from half a crate of vials to just over three quarters of a crate.

Everyone else was already working on their potion and I used the scrap paper and wrote out the altered recipe. My setup wasn't near anyone else, because they didn't want anyone cheating, so no one saw me changing out the ingredients and altering the recipe. Greta was still diligently watching the other students, especially the ones that she hadn't taught, so she completely missed me using different amounts of ingredients and brewing times.

Thankfully, because of the alterations and the greater yield, my potion didn't finish until nearly everyone else had finished their own. No one noticed as I carefully filled up the available vials and didn't stop until my crate was over three quarters filled, not even Greta. It wasn't until she came around with a hand cart and several helpers that she saw what I did.

“David!” Greta gasped and then blushed as everyone turned to look at me. “I mean, Lord Drake, what did you do?”

“I completed the assignment.” I said and picked up one of the filled vials. The potion was much darker than any other student's potion and there was also more. “I know it doesn't really count if I improved the recipe. I just couldn't help myself.”

Greta carefully took the vial from me and popped the cork, then smelled it. “Oh. Oh, my.”

“If I had access to different alternate ingredients, I could have done a lot more to improve it.” I admitted and her two helpers looked shocked.

“Can you give me your exam notes?” Greta asked.

I shook my head and crumpled up the spare sheets. “It's just scrap paper. I'm not allowed to submit them as part of the exam.”

Greta caught her breath as they burned up and the ashes floated to the floor. “David...”

“I didn't make the rules.” I said and stepped back to let the assistants take the crate of potions.

Greta sighed and put the vial in the crate that was marked with my name and moved on to the next table.

I waited for Gella's to be collected before we left the auditorium and went back to the dorms. “I wonder what she's going to do for the advanced class?”

Gella shrugged. “We couldn't get the notes from the others, even when we sent a message to Linette's daughter Jinelle.”

“Do you think she refused because she is angry at me?” I asked.

“Definitely. You had to go and die on her before she could kill you for seeing her naked and not offering her a contract when you returned and were no longer under one yourself.” Gella said with a laugh. “You bastard!”

I shook my head at her sense of humor. “Maybe she didn't get the letter or Lady Marks wouldn't give anyone else access to me if she couldn't have it?”

Gella looked thoughful. “Actually, I think you're right. I was just guessing.”

I smiled. “Let's stop off at her dorm and see if she is accepting visitors.”

Gella nodded and we went to Jinelle's dorm.

The dorm monitor escorted us to her door and knocked. “Young Miss.” The woman said. “Lord Drake has chosen to grace you with his presence.”

Gella had to cover her mouth to stop her laugh and she stared at my face to see if I was going to react to that fairly formal introduction.

“Grandmother had forbidden any contact with the Henrietta Family.” A voice said from inside.

“Tell her the contracts were voided with Helena's death at the hands of her father, including the concubine contracts with Vanessa and the Sellwafer Family.” I said.

The dorm monitor gave me a calculating look and then repeated what I said. A second later, the door to the room was torn open and Jinelle's small body flung itself out through the opening. I caught her and she cried and cried on my shoulder as she told me all about how she mourned my passing, how her grandmother was trying to pawn her off to a wealthy family, and how disappointed she was that I hadn't rescued her when I came back from the dead.

I gave Gella a pointed look and she still had her mouth covered to stop her laugh from escaping. Her guess had been nearly completely true.

“You... you have to... talk to her.” Jinelle said between sobs. “I can't marry... a forty-three year old man... no matter how rich he is!”

I rubbed her back and didn't say anything.

It took Jinelle several minutes to calm down and then she gasped. She let me go as if I was a hot pot and her eyes were wide. “David, I... I mean, Lord Drake!” She said. “Please, forgive me for...”

I reached out and took her hand and bent over to kiss it as I gave her a bit of magic and then cast Calmness on her. “Relax, Young Miss. I will talk to your grandmother for you.”

Jinelle's face flushed red and she ducked her head. “Lord Drake, you... will you.. accept...”

“No. I refuse to ever be locked into a marriage contract again.” I said.

Jinelle's eyes let out a few more tears before she sighed and looked at my face. “I understand.”

“Only your limited view of it.” Gella commented and Jinelle glanced at her.

“She means that I'm not against just a normal relationship and not anything official.” I clarified for her.

Both Jinelle and the dorm monitor gasped and covered their mouths in shock.

“Yes, that's the reaction I meant.” Gella said with a smile. “Is it really so terrible to spend time with someone and not have to marry them?”

“You... you can't mean... there's no way that mother... or grandmother... or auntie... would want me to... um... do that, without a guarantee that I won't be discarded afterwards.” Jinelle said. “That's the whole point of having a contract. Safety.”

I didn't raise my eyebrows at that, even though I wanted to. I stood there without saying anything as I let her figure out how wrong that statement was on her own.

After a few minutes, Jinelle gasped again and covered her mouth, then she started crying again.

I held my hand out to her and she looked at it and at my face, then shook her head. “Can I copy your notes for the advanced potions class and the list of potions done during the time I was missing?”

Jinelle shook her head for a moment, then she sighed. “I... I shouldn't. Auntie said you needed to get by on your own merits.”

That was a surprise to hear and Jinelle must have seen something on my face.

“Mom has been saying you've helped her save hundreds of lives since you came back.” Jinelle said. “If you were me, what would you choose?”

Gella put a hand on my arm to stop me from talking. “I'll answer that.” She said and stepped forward. “That's not a fair question. My lord wouldn't have accepted the restrictions in the first place, let alone chose to keep them later when asked.”

Jinelle looked surprised. “But... why would...”

“You are supposed to be your own woman and growing into your own abilities. You're graduating this year and letting your mother, or grandmother, dictate who you can and can't associate with, is hurting you more than anyone can tell you.” Gella said. “If I had been you, I would have sought out my lord as soon as he came back and asked for help, then offered my help in return.”

Jinelle looked at Gella's arm patch and saw the new Drake Family crest that happened to be the same as the frigate flag on the ship. She also saw the alteration to show Gella's status. “You're his sworn sword.”

Gella nodded. “He rescued me, helped me get revenge for the death of my father and a lot more besides that, and I swore to help him for the rest of my life when it was done.”

“I can't do that.” Jinelle said.

Gella laughed. “Our situations are different, as our circumstances are different. You need help and he needs help. He will talk to your grandmother about abusing her position to pawn you off to one of her friend's families and you can give him copies of your notes for the exam tomorrow.”

Jinelle thought about that before she started to smile. “There's too much to copy on such short notice, so how about we compromise? We can study together and we'll both get the review we need, then you can go to my grandmother and fix things for me.”

I glanced at Gella and she shrugged. “I think we have a deal.” I said and held my hand out to her.

Jinelle nodded and took my hand and shook it. “Give me a hand carrying it. There really is a lot.”

“Where are your maids?” I asked and we entered her rooms.

“Recalled to the mansion. I'm being punished for not following the family's tradition of sucking up to the potential betrothal.” Jinelle spat before she sighed. “Please forgive my outburst.”

“Do you want him dead?” Gella asked as she picked up a large bundle of papers that Jinelle pointed to.

“Only if it comes to that.” Jinelle said and flipped through several other papers. “Where was that... oh! Here it is.” She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “Read off the numbers by the names.”

I did so and Jinelle went through several stacks of potion crates as she gathered them together. She piled them into an empty crate in the order on the paper and pointed at it.

“Carry that and this.” Jinelle said and put an even bigger bundle of papers onto the crate. “These are the notes on the potions.”

“What are these?” Gella asked and held up the bundle she had in her hands.

“The recipes.” Jinelle said, to our surprise. “Yes, they did a lot while you were gone. It is the Advanced Potions class.”

I nodded and we left the storage room. Jinelle grabbed a wrap to put over her shoulders and then led us out of her rooms and out of the dorm building. We had some serious studying to do.