Sahra's harsh tone was quite surprising, though it was understandable in the circumstance she was describing. She seemed to me to be a rather considerate girl, if not great with how she expressed it, but she was pulling no punches as she shut down Rokus's protest.
I wanted to tell her that Rokus surely wasn't part of the plot that she was talking about. It seemed unimaginable that he could be, and I felt rather bad for even suspecting him, seeing the honest good will with which he'd treated me. Yet it was true that I had ended up unaware of what was going on, and wasting time, because I'd trusted him.
There was no time to spare to consider the matter further, so I didn't contradict what Sahra said, even if the dumbfounded look on Rokus's face was rather pitiful, and instead hurried to clarify what she'd said.
"What exactly do you know about what's going on?"
"Dad interrogated a few of the other instructors. It's mostly the usual suspects – Byrnoi, Clavina, Trymne and Coris in the lead. They are trying to to expand the Fae rift further. Apparently a lot of them are already in the Faewood, since they had to start early, after everyone started talking about the disappearances."
I didn't know what exactly Sahra meant by interrogation, and how Rapfrad could just do such a thing with fellow instructors, but it seemed that he had been extraordinarily quick to act and effective in the past hour. What Sahra was saying matched everything that I knew, and at the very least it was clear that something was happening to the rift already.
I had no idea why they wanted to do such an insane thing, but the names that she listed were certainly all families that seemed to be hostile to the Tannels, so bringing down their rival was probably part of it. And since such families were overrepresented among the prefects and instructors, they'd of course had an easier time hiding such a plot.
But it didn't sound like it was part of the plan to have Maeve accuse me and cause a public uproar like that. Even though her family was mentioned, and I could guess that her brother had disappeared whilst trying to scout out their target, she probably didn't know anything. She'd seemed to genuinely think that I was the one with a nefarious plot. It was easy to see why someone like her wasn't included in their plans.
"Dad sent me to get you, since he's holding up the other family heads, to make sure that they don't get involved. Having a discussion, he called it, though I don't know how long they are going to stay civil. Really, how come you didn't realize what was going on earlier?"
Sahra oddly smiled, in fierce manner, when making such a worrying comment, before she asked the obvious question. I didn't really have a good answer. Of course I was kicking myself for not having been more suspicious earlier, but I'd not completely realized just how serious the petty rivalries that the Tannels had got into really were.
"Yeah, I've been quite distracted recently."
I couldn't help how bitter and self-deprecating my answer sounded. It wasn't like I could tell Sahra exactly what sort of crazy things had been distracting me, even if she seemed to be surprisingly in the know about the Fae rift, and appeared to take it for granted that we were on the same side. As for why the Loens seemingly were on the Tannels' side in this matter, when so many of the other families were instead uniting on the other side, I really had no idea.
It was becoming clear that I needed to figure out what exactly was going on with the different factions present at the academy, and what their relationships were, but at that moment I didn't have the time to think about it. Even if I didn't fully trust the Loens, with what Celine had said about them being rivals to the Tannels, it seemed like they were the only people that I could count on in the moment. Rapfrad had done exactly as he'd promised at the very least.
"You need to contact your family first, right?"
Sahra made a sensible suggestion, but of course I still didn't know where to start on that. Celine had advised me to not to seek out anyone from the Tannels, but that seemed like a secondary concern compared to the crisis at hand. Unless of course members of the family being involved in schemes like this was what Celine had warned me about. But it was probably too late to worry about it anyway.
"They'll be aware by now. I should just head into the Faewood right now."
I was as much thinking aloud as I was explaining my thoughts to Sahra. There was absolutely no way that Mary hadn't been alerted to what was going on already, so it was really a pointless question. I still had no idea what I was supposed to be doing in such a situation, but I did know where I needed to be, if I was to be of any use. Sahra just nodded, accepting the idea.
"Alright. I'm going with you."
"Please wait! You must not go to such a dangerous place on a whim!"
We'd ignored Rokus, as he stayed silent when we continued to talk, but he interrupted us again when we were about to leave. It didn't seem like he really understood the gravity of the situation, and just perked up when I explained my course of action. What he said wasn't really wrong. I was being reckless. But the delay from his continued objections helped me harden my resolve, and I decided that it was best to do as Sahra suggested and consider him a suspect for the time being.
"It seems like the real danger here is letting your fellow prefects do as they wish. And I don't think you have any say on what I do in regard to the Fae rift."
I tried to project confidence with my chilly response, but I felt silly for reminding Rokus that I was a Tannel, when I still didn't really understand what that meant myself. But it was enough to shut him up and, amazingly enough, he was obedient enough to sit down and wait like he was told. He looked conflicted as he watched me leave with Sahra, but I couldn't be certain that it was really just because of his concern for us.
Heading upstairs and towards the entrance to the building, we also walked past several other prefects, all of whom were eyeing us warily. Perhaps seeing me glaring back at the prefects, who suddenly all seemed like potential enemies to me, Sahra spoke up.
"They tried to get in my way, but they won't try anything further right now. We can sort out who here is involved afterwards."
It was also possible that they'd just been left behind simply because they were uninvolved in the plot, but what Sahra said also explained her suspicion towards Rokus. It really didn't seem like anyone wanted to question us leaving, so maybe she'd given them the very same warning. I recalled that Sahra had certainly told off a couple of girls trying to bully me, when we first met, but it was the first time that I saw the girl acting with such a commanding presence.
"You should thank your friend there for me finding you so quickly. I wouldn't have thought that you were still stuck here if she hadn't come to ask me about you."
Sahra's next words brought my attention to the entrance to the building, where I was surprised to find Phila waiting. My previous determined steps slowed down, as I suddenly felt awkward and unsure about what to say, but Phila clearly felt no such hesitation as she rushed over, showing a relieved expression when she noticed me.
"Thank goodness you are alright Mela! I was so worried when that nasty rumor started going around, and then you were being escorted away by a prefect!"
Really, what did Phila think that the prefects would have done to me? Then again, with the how insane a thing they were attempting, maybe they really would have tried to do something worse than just delaying me, if they weren't too scared to try challenging me head on. It seemed like the fear towards the Tannel name more or less warded off a lot of the danger that came with the hostility that it equally caused.
It was obvious that Phila was genuinely concerned for me, and she didn't seem to treat me any different, despite having realized that I was a Tannel. As much I was happy knowing that she didn't believe any of the rumors, and was instead concerned about how they affected me, I also felt guilty for trying to hide it, and for not trusting her in the first place. It made it all the more awkward to explain that I couldn't stay to talk.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for worrying. But I really have to do something urgently right now, so I'm sorry, but I have to get going."
"Alright, but you need to be there at lunch next time!"
I just nodded, before briskly heading off, trying to not to show how embarrassed I felt. Phila had brightly reminded me about how I'd dodged her, and the other three, two days in a row at lunch time, simply because I had been afraid of seeing them. It felt like I was just running away again, but it was the truth that I was simply in too much of a hurry to stop to talk.
I was reminded me that I was also not going to be there at the time that I promised to meet Celine, but I swiftly decided that I'd just explain the matter to her later. It seemed unlikely that Celine knew much that would have been of help in the crisis that I was dealing with, considering how restricted her information was. And, more importantly, I didn't want to get her involved, in case things got dangerous.
"Hey, will your father be alright alone?"
It suddenly occurred to me that Sahra had said that Rapfrad was dealing with the heads of multiple prominent families of mages, and she seemingly had implied that things could get violent. It didn't seem unreasonable to worry, so I asked her about it after we started moving at a jog. I wondered if she didn't want to back him up, rather than following me. Instead she snorted derisively.
"There's no way those old-timers could keep up with dad. And you should know that combat magic is our family's specialty!"
It was impossible to miss Sahra's affectionate pride towards her father, an odd contrast to the manner in which she dismissed the mages facing him as a threat. As for the Loens specializing in combat magic, I of course hadn't had any idea, but it was honestly reassuring to hear, considering how dangerous the situation looked. No doubt it was also part of why the other prefects hadn't wanted to get in her way once she put her foot down.
I wasn't ashamed to admit that I'd never got around to applying magic to combat. With how restrained the utility spell arrays were in such circumstances, and the other training required, few mages did. Certainly some magic had utility on the battlefield, but that wasn't something that one would study at Altrel, at least not as far as I knew, and adapting magic to personal combat was something even more specialized. I had a hunch that it partly explained Rapfrad's celebrity status.
I honestly wanted to sprint my way over to the town by the rift, knowing that I was already acting far too late, but I didn't think I was fit enough for that, so I restrained myself to just a brisk jog. Though barely outside the academy grounds, it was still quite a distance away to cover in a hurry, when the academy itself was so large. Sahra didn't make any comment on my pace, even as I started slowing down further eventually, though she certainly didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up with the pace.
We could have reached the Faewood itself quicker, if we didn't make the detour over to the town, but just reaching the forest wasn't our actual objective. The only parts of the forest, that I at least knew somewhat, were near the town. Likewise, I assumed that the group, that I had seen heading into the forest there, had actually been sent by our adversaries to scout out their attack route.
Most students had already finished their classes, and we passed by a lot of people on the way. Though many were certainly unnerved when they recognized me, they all seemed equally unaware of what was going on in the nearby forest. The wild waves of mana that I sensed rushing past us probably caused only mild discomfort to even the most sensitive students around, whereas I wasn't certain if it was the mana itself, or what I associated it, that made me feel sick.
At some point Sahra had to have noticed that I kept glancing at the sky above the forest, as she was looking at me with a frown. But since she was confused, she surely was also not able to notice what I was looking at there. The mana leaking from the rift there was so much that it appeared to me like the sky around it was distorting. In the first place, there was a reason why I was one of the only people to notice the rift when it originally appeared. The rift appeared physically larger than back then, but at least the flow of mana wasn't yet as dangerously chaotic, even as it was being disturbed.
By the time that we reached the town by the rift, I was able to notice other worrying signs. The mana in the vegetation that had overrun the town was flowing at a much quicker and more erratic pace than when I'd last visited. I had a premonition that, if I was correct in my interpretation of the forest's wild growth, the plants might soon start conquering more of the town. The town was already influenced in many ways by the mana of the Faerie, so there was no telling what would change if such increased exposure continued.
As we came to a halt at the edge of the Faewood, I had a new issue to solve. I had originally planned to use the method, that I'd learned a few days earlier from the spirit, to look for the mana of any of the conspirators that had made their way into the forest. But as I stood there, it was clear to me that such a delicate method was completely inapplicable, as it would have been impossible to track them among the erratic waves of mana that were pulsing forth from the rift. Before just blindly wading in, I decided to try one more thing, at the same time as I stopped to catch my breath.
The spirit wasn't exactly eager to help. In fact, the whole way there I had been ignoring its nagging efforts to get me turn around. It clearly understood what I intended to do, and was seriously afraid of what waited for us in the forest. But I was certain that it knew more about the forest than I did, so I discarded all the care that I'd taken in communicating with it before, and focused on conveying my desperate plea to it.
The spirit was not convinced by my promised gratitude, but I had no idea what else to offer it. At my insistence it came back with a counteroffer. It simply required me to promise it a future favor. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, as I wondered if making such a promise to a spirit wasn't as unwise as making deals with the fae themselves, but I did not hesitate to accept.
I waved for Sahra, who looked expectant after my sudden pause, to follow me. I in turn followed a stream of thoughts, which painted a clear picture of the path to follow in the forest. The spirit seemed quite satisfied with the deal that it'd made, and it seemed to have a clear idea of where we were going, but for my part I had no idea what its goal was, as we followed the edge of the forest.
