(Continued from Ch 59, Inmates)

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 60, Baladus


It was the night after the ball and Bellany had waited
patiently for Mary to fall asleep.  Even though nothing
had really happened the night before, it had been a
night full of tension.  Mary had patently disregarded
her word to leave Bellany's bed at the first sign of
feeling lust.  Instead she had snuggled, but she could
not get comfortable.  It had taken half the night for
them to fall asleep and the night had already been
shortened due to the relatively late hour Mary had come
back from the ball.  In spite of their short night,
they still had to get up in time for reverend Leland's
sermon.  After the sermon, Bellany had taken a very
long afternoon nap, but Mary had been obliged to work
in the library.  Having missed so much sleep last
night, Bellany knew Mary would sleep like the dead
tonight.  That suited Bellany's plans just fine.  After
slipping out of bed, Bellany moved some of the blankets
on Mary's bed to Bellany's bed where Mary was now
sleeping.  It was indeed chill.  Bellany donned a heavy
sweater and a thick robe and then stole out of the room
and into the library.

Bellany knew the skeleton key Cooyman had made her,
based on the impressions of the two keys she had given
him, worked on the library door.  While everyone was
away watching the last of the tournament events she had
tried it. She also knew it would work on the door to
the librarian's cage since the same key that opened the
door to the library worked on the cage.  Yet, she was
pleased when it also worked on the door to the spiral
staircase.  It unlocked both of the doors that Cooyman
actually had impressions of the keys for.

Bellany locked the door behind her, started up the
stairs and then hesitated.  She could review the magic
books she had hurriedly read on previous nights, but
there was really no need.  They had done their work by
bringing back a great many memories.  She had hinted to
Cooyman that she would try to get out of Vargrend's to
see him, but she had also more or less told him that
she might simply wind up able to get into the basement.
She reversed her direction and tried the key on the
next door down from the library door, the door that
went into the office.  It worked, but Bellany heard
someone unlocking the door to the boys' reception area
in front of the office from the outside.  She
immediately relocked the door to the spiral stair and
stole down the stairs.  She arrived at the bottom just
in time to hear the door to the stairwell being
unlocked.  She dismissed her light and listened.  She
heard a voice or voices from up the stairs.  It sounded
like Headmaster Bristol.  No doubt he had been a
chaperone at the ball and was going to go up to his
apartments in the smaller tower that rose from the roof
above the library stacks.   Perhaps there was someone
else with him but it was impossible to tell for sure.

After Headmaster Bristol was safely in his tower,
Bellany looked at the door to the crypt.  It was at the
bottom of the spiral stair.  She tried her key.  The
door to the crypt was a little difficult, but she was
very curious about it after her conversation in the
courtyard with Headmistress Vargrend.  Besides, that
was where the ghosts seemed to live.  Her key did not
instantly work on the door.  Bellany knew she was
risking her key, but she carefully fiddled with it in
the lock.  A few minutes later the door opened for her.

Bellany held her blue light aloft but she could not see
more than a few feet beyond the door.  The minor magic
that maintained her light was simply not very strong.
There was a torch in a holder affixed to the wall just
outside the crypt.  Bellany took it down and sniffed
it.  It smelled as if it had been used within the last
few weeks but not within the last few days.  After
attempting a fire finger cantrip several times but
failing to create the flash of magical flame she was
after, Bellany retreated up the stairs with the torch
and lit it from the candle that was kept burning in the
office next to the door to the staircase.

She was able to see much more by the light of the
torch.  She returned to the crypt door that she had
left slightly ajar.  She read the words carved into the
slab above the door, "House Bristol, The Hall of
Ancestral Heroes and Their Valiant and Learned
Retainers." Below that were two more lines.  She read
them easily as the prayer they spelled out was a
familiar one.

Bellany opened the door to the crypt and looked in.
She remembered the first time she had seen such a crypt
on Graveston Isle.  The pirate named Backster had gone
in before intoning the prayer above the door and had
been trapped.  Bellany checked the doorjamb and saw
that two unusual deep, straight mortar joints went from
the ceiling to the floor just beyond it.  She looked
up.  There was a slot above.  She conjectured that a
metal plate might slide down from it to block the exit.
It was an arrangement almost identical to the one used
on Graveston Isle.  She would not let the same trap
catch her twice.

Before stepping into the crypt she repeated the prayer
above the door, "Hail thou hallowed dead.  Rise not to
greet this humble mourner, but rest in Mortaebius'
grace... to rise only in the direst need," Bellany
added, as was the custom of her order.

Bellany smiled to herself as she entered the crypt.  It
felt good to be in a tomb again, and that could only
mean she really was Deaconess Rapina, of The Order of
the Shroud.  The smell in the corridor she entered was
that of ancient bones.  To the sides the corridor went
both left and right but also a little backwards so that
each segment wrapped around the tower that held the
stairway.  The walls to the sides opposite the walls of
the tower held stone shelves filled with bones.

The walls of the corridor straight ahead of the entry
door supported three tiers of stone plaques on either
side.  Behind each plaque was a grave.  At intervals
along the centerline of the corridor straight ahead
were the plain or carved stone sarcophagi of important
Bristols and Vargrends.  They sat on stone slabs and
seemed to be arranged by period such that
contemporaries shared the same area.  The ceilings were
of ancient vaulted stone perhaps ten feet tall at the
peak.

Bellany turned left and examined the stone shelves on
the outside wall of the corridor that ringed the
stairway tower.  All of the shelves combined contained
the ancient bones of perhaps a hundred soldiers.  Small
bronze plaques that told what battle the men had fallen
in decorated the shelves.  The torchlight was too
bright to allow her to see with her blue light turned
black; thus she had no idea if any spirits had been
bound to the bones to enable them to animate
themselves.

She needed her first sight spell to see magic.  Bellany
cast and recast the spell until she at last got it to
work.  She was rusty and tended to forget little things
but she knew it would all come back with practice.  The
bones were ancient and by the look of the dust on them
had not stirred for a very long time, but Bellany
thought she could make out a faint aura of necromancy.
She briefly examined the bones but made sure that she
did not touch any of the rings that a few of the
skeletons possessed on their fingers.  She remembered
that Kent had tossed a ring from the finger of an
entombed noble at her party of pirates to activate a
group of armored skeletons.

Bellany returned to the door and shut it without
locking it to keep her torch light from leaking out
into the stairwell in case anyone should happen by.
She turned and made her way up the corridor that led
straight away from the entry door.  She read the names
and inscriptions on the plaques and sarcophagi as she
went.

The crypts of the ancient Bristols and Vargrends were
arranged in corridors that fanned out from a central
hub like spokes from a wheel.  The tower that held the
staircase and entry door was like a second very small
wheel on the edge of the large one.  The sarcophagus of
Warlord Bristol, founder of the line, was on a raised
circular platform at the hub of the spoke-like
corridors.  The sarcophagi of later barons were
arranged around the base of the platform. Each pointed
outwards towards a corridor that housed the given
baron's contemporaries.  Pointing towards the spoke
where the first baron's men were buried was the
sarcophagus of Alistair Vargrend.  Bellany raised an
eyebrow.  Evidently warlord bristol had recognized
Alistair, the learned priest who had started off as a
slave left over from the Crabbets as a font of wisdom
by the end of his life.  Bellany would have opted to
put the baroness in Alistair's spot, but instead the
central hub was an all male affair.  Bellany guessed
that the many suits of plate armor standing around the
hub area were skeletal guards but she did not want to
check for fear of activating them.

Near the hub in the entry hall she had come from,
Bellany did find the sarcophagus of Elaine Crabett-
Bristol although the inscription on her sarcophagus
left out the Crabett name.  Bellany stroked the carving
of the woman's face.

"I learned about you on the first day of the trivium.
Your life was supposed to give me hope that a woman
without the virtue of chastity could still amount to
something.  Of course, I never did put a lot of value
in chastity, but I am sorry for what you suffered.  You
founded a dynasty but I get the feeling you were a
slave in your own house, an object useful for her
beauty and her pedigree.  ...No fun in that."

"Ooouu!"  Bellany squealed and jumped as a chill ran up
her spine.  She dropped her torch and then picked it up
only to suffer another chill.  "Stop it!"  Bellany
commanded, brandishing her ghost hand.  When she felt
no more chills she turned her hand to find the location
of the spirit.  The feel was familiar but there was
something different about it; She felt palpable
despair.  Something was wrong.  "Something seems wrong
with you.  Stay there, Lady Ghost.  I need to see you.
Let me put this torch down one of the other halls.  It
is too bright for my black light."

Bellany retreated into another of the spokes and put
the torch into a holder then made her way back to
Elaine Bristol's sarcophagus.  When she arrived, she
hastily summoned her bluelight and dropped it into her
left palm to turn it black.  This was the ghost that
Bellany had formerly known as Lady Weepins.  The
silvery lines around the areas where Bellany had
previously wounded the ghost had degenerated leaving a
sizable hole in the spirit's chest.

"I am so sorry that wound has grown worse.  It was my
intention to discipline you not to destroy you.  I
think I may be able to fix it but you must be patient
and allow me to cast.  I cannot do any serious magic
with you causing chills.  All I can do is rip and
tear."  Bellany held up her ghost hand.  The ghost
cowered.  "Hold still."  Bellany was about to attempted
her bestow energy spell through the ghost hand but then
realized that the ghost was more a construct of faint
life force than it was a construct of negative life
force.

She attempted her bestowal spell using her right hand.
The attempt was a failure and would not have healed a
wounded person, yet even a failure bestowed a great
deal of energy, the energy was simply insufficient to
cause actual changes in a physical body.  The ghost was
a thing of much greater delicacy.  The silvery lines
grew exceedingly bright and the ghost quivered
violently.

"Goodness, I hope I did not mess up," Bellany said.

The ghost floated to the floor and did not move.
Bellany bent to have a closer look.  The hole in the
creature's chest was regenerating almost as if a gaggle
of tiny silver spiders were re-spinning their web.
Once she was satisfied that the ghost was getting
better and not worse, Bellany lifted her very gently
with the palm of her ghost hand and set her on her
sarcophagus.  When it became apparent that the ghost
was not going to wake up anytime soon, Bellany decided
to continue to explore the crypts.  There was one man's
sarcophagus she wanted to find in particular.

"Baladus Vargrend, Priest of Mortaebius, Order of
Death's Peace," Bellany read.  "He definitely must have
been an important man to have a sarcophagus like this."
Bellany looked at the elaborately carved stone box.  It
was quite substantial.  She pushed it but could not
budge it.  Either it was extremely heavy or it was
built into the stone slab on the floor.  Bellany began
feeling the carvings.  She jiggled the interior portion
of a couple of spiral carvings on the front corners of
the sarcophagus.  She realized that they might turn.
She wondered if she should turn one and not the other,
or one then the other or both at the same time.  She
reasoned that turning both at the same time would take
the most deliberate effort and would be the least
likely thing to be done by a mourner.  She examined the
inscriptions once again wondering if there might be
some booby trap for grave robbers.  The only
inscriptions were the name and priestly order of the
deceased.  Bellany knew the motto of The Order of
Death's Peace since both Thane and Rames had received
their original ordination from that order.

"We are the brave Mortaebian warriors of death's
peace," Bellany said.
"Looters and despoilers shall not prevail against the
might of our staves
while we, the champions of the dead, protect their
graves.
We rest not, so that the dead may rest in peace."

Bellany twisted both carvings towards one another.
They moved but nothing else happened.  She pushed on
the lid, then tried pushing in another direction and
pushed harder.  Rollers within the lid loosed and the
lid was suddenly sliding quite easily in the direction
of the foot of the sarcophagus.  Before it had slid
more than halfway off, Bellany looked at the underside
of it near the foot of the coffin.  There were bronze
tracks of some sort built into the lid.  She could push
it two thirds of the way off the foot of the
sarcophagus with no worries that it would fall.

_Is this really Baladus?_  Bellany wondered.  The
skeletal corpse radiated a faint aura of necromancy.

"Baladus?" She asked aloud.  "Take me to Baladus
Vargrend."

_Damn it! I'll never see Baladus.  I know how to
instruct skeletal minions but not how to command them.
If this skeleton were alive I could explain but it's
quite obvious that he was speared through the skull
quite sometime ago and even if he hadn't been, I know
how brainless and literal skeletons can be._ "Right
bonehead?"  Bellany asked as she patted the skeleton's
skull with her left hand.

The skeleton stiffened as if a bolt of lightning had
just struck it.  Bellany looked at her ghost hand.  She
suddenly knew the skeleton belonged to Lieutenant Gage,
commander of Special Forces, but she did not understand
why she knew that. A memory replayed in here mind; she
heard Roger the death-skeleton speak. "Mortaebius knows
where the dead lie," He rasped.  She put her hand back
on the skull.  "Take me to Baladus Vargrend," She
commanded.

The skeleton now sat bolt upright.  She heard some sort
of mechanism.  The floor of the sarcophagus began to
lower.  It was an elevator.  Bellany caught on quickly.
She climbed up on the sarcophagus and stepped into the
area recently vacated by the now seated skeleton's
back.  The lid of the sarcophagus slid shut as the
sinking floor reached a mark some six and a half feet
below its original level.  Perhaps seven feet later it
stopped descending.

Bellany stepped off the platform.

She heard clattering from along the walls. All the way
down the hall-like chamber she was in, armored
skeletons brandished rusty weapons or decayed handles
and came marching towards her. Some fell as their armor
fell down or off due to rotten straps or joints that
refused to properly flex.  Nevertheless they rushed
towards her giving her only a moment to realize that
she was unarmed and dressed in a robe.

She blocked the first rusty sword with her torch and
had to duck the flying bits of decayed metal and rust
as it broke.  She pushed the skeleton forcefully
backwards with a kick. It in turn knocked over three
others, but there were many more where that came from.
Bellany dodged numerous blades, shattered a few
skeletal ribs and legs and kicked nearby skeletons into
tangles with the ones in the rear.  Yet she was
overwhelmed and backpedaling.  She was pinned in the
corner when a skeleton with an ancient bronze mace
knocked the torch from her hands.  It flew across the
room and nearly went out.  Bellany screamed in the
darkness and threw up her hands in a vain attempt to
fend off a sea of deadly blows.

The blows never came.

As the flames of her torch rekindled across the room
she saw that all of the skeletons nearest her had knelt
before her and those that clamored over them rapidly
knelt as well.

"Oh," Bellany said.  Suddenly she realized that, like
the skeleton that operated the elevator, her ghost hand
had swayed them.  She went to touch one skeleton and
the others rose and began to brandish their weapons
only to kneel once again when she presented her hand to
them.  It took a little doing but she managed to keep
her hand angled outward most of the time while touching
each skeleton in turn.  She found that touching their
armor was not always sufficient, but touching bone was.
If she touched the skull of a skeleton it often brought
knowledge of that skeleton to her mind. "Obey," she
said to each of them, willing them to heed her words as
she took note of their names.

When she had touched the last skeleton, Bellany wiped
the sweat from her brow and shook herself.  Her heart
was pounding but she seemed to have things under
control.  She retrieved her torch and looked around the
room.  The previously clear floor was strewn with
broken, rotting weapons and pieces of armor that were
more rust than metal.  It was obvious no one had
visited this secret area in many decades if not a
century or two. The skeletons themselves were in bad
shape.  She had damaged some of them, and some of the
others had damaged themselves due to their rotted gear.
There was an art to putting armor on skeletons, and
Bellany knew that art.  It had obviously not been
applied to these skeletons for far too long.

Bellany decided to explore further.  She formed the
skeletons into a column.  Two of them would march ahead
of her and two beside her.  The remaining ten or twelve
would take up the rear.  She began having them open the
doors along the walls of the chamber she was in.  The
layout was somehow familiar.  Most of the rooms were
empty storage rooms, but the one nearest the elevator
had some ancient barrels that seemed to have been
soaked in resin.   There were also bolts of ancient
canvas that were now largely composed of dust.  Towards
the far end of the room there was a large door.
Bellany noticed that a few feet in front of the door
the floor seemed to droop downwards when the skeletons
began to walk over it.  She turned and jumped back in
the direction of the elevator and found herself hanging
on the edge of a newly opened pit as the floor fell
away below her.

"Gods!" Bellany said.  All four of the skeletons in the
front had fallen in.

"Mick, push my feet up," Bellany ordered.  The skeleton
of Mick got off the spikes at the bottom of the pit and
pushed Bellany up.  She got out and ordered all the
skeletons in the pit to get off the spikes.  She then
had each one climb up on Mick and reached down to catch
the hand of each of them to help them out of the pit.
When the second last skeleton was standing on Mick's
shoulders she ordered Mick to grab its feet and then
hauled both skeletons out of the pit.

"Thank goodness that trap was old and in need of
grease," Bellany said.

There was a narrow strip of flooring on one side of the
pit that could be used to get to the door at the far
end of the room.  She ordered four of her skeletons
across it before following.  At first she thought the
door was stuck but after shaking it she reasoned that
it had been bolted from the other side.

"Perhaps there was a secret knock," Bellany mused.  She
looked at the skeletons until she had determined that
Mick had the strongest aura of necromancy around him.
She hoped that he was a reaving skeleton and therefore
had a little more brainpower than the others did.  It
would make sense to have a leader in the bunch,
although they may have been created too long ago for
that kind of sophistication.

"Mick, knock on this door as Baladus and his
compatriots knocked when they wished to get in."  The
skeleton knocked, "tap... tap-tap-tap."

Bellany waited a moment and then tried the same knock
herself.  It sounded different because she had flesh on
her bones.  She heard some activity on the other side
and at last the door opened.  She wasted no time
touching the skeletal doorman's head.  "Daniel, you are
not to attack me but you will otherwise continue to
obey the last instructions given you before you met
me," Bellany said to the skeleton.

The next room appeared to be a study or conference room
of some sort.  There was a desk in the back and a
podium standing before it with a huge ancient book
lying open upon it.  A rotted wooden table had once
stood back from the podium but its legs had given way.
Bellany ordered the skeletons ahead of her and made her
way to the desk.  The papers in it were ancient and she
had to be exceedingly careful with the velum or it fell
to fragments in her hands.  The papers appeared to be
letters and requisitions for needed supplies.

Bellany pointed to the book on the podium.  "If this
book is Baladus' spellbook, it should be copied before
it turns to dust," Bellany said.  "Otherwise all his
work will be lost."  Bellany remembered Red Jack's
story of the book that burst into flame.  _I wonder if
he put magical booby-traps on it?_  Bellany considered
the issue for a moment.  There was a cord hanging from
the book that could be used as a marker.  She decided
that if she were going to trap a book, she would trap
the page that was open, the first page and the last
page, but she had no idea if that was right.
Tentatively she touched the cord.  Nothing happened so
she grasped it, closed her eyes and softly blew the
dust from the pages of the open book.  She did not dare
look at it to see how well she had done her work.  She
put the cord into the book and then closed it, keeping
her eyes closed.  After that she stepped back and
glanced to see if there was any title on the book but
there was not.  The black leather binding was cracked
and rotted.

Suddenly the specter of a man materialized in front of
her.  She screamed and jumped backwards.  Her heart
pounded and she ran for the door but deliberately
stopped herself against the wall next to the door
instead.  _I am a deaconess of Mortaebius.  I am of the
shroud.  I am not some frightened little girl to be
scared off by parlor tricks._  Bellany recovered
herself, turned and walked back towards the ghost but
the ghost faded away.  "Joshua take my torch to the far
corner of the room," Bellany pointed as she handed the
torch to one of the skeletons.  She conjured her
bluelight and let it drop into her palm.  She now saw
the apparition that had so recently disappeared.  He
was standing near her with his arms raised and moving.
She held up her left palm.  "I am of Mortaebius.  I
mean you no harm," She said. The ghost hesitated.  A
moment later she saw the ghost of Lady Elaine burst
through the door, glowing brightly and looking quite
healthy compared to the way she had been.  The two
spirits seemed to converse briefly, although Bellany
could not really hear anything.

After they were done, the man looked Bellany in the eye
and then pointed at the book.  She walked over to it.
He put one hand over his eyes and held up three
fingers.  She closed her eyes, opened the book and
carefully turned the first three pages.  She then
tipped her head up and looked at the ghost without
looking at the book.

He smiled and held up ten fingers thrice without
putting his hand over his eyes.

"May I look as I turn the pages?  It will help.  I can
be more careful with the pages that way.  The book is
in very delicate condition."

The ghostly gentleman nodded.

Bellany slid her globe of blue light back up onto her
fingertips so that it went from black to blue.  She
slowly turned the pages.  The language was old but she
had no trouble understanding it due to all of the old
books Thane had had her read in the past.

"Ash Kinetics, Bumblebee, Chill of Fear, Drain
Vitality, Firefly, Fleeting Stench." Bellany wrinkled
her nose.  "Ice Sickle, Slip, Throat Frog, Twitch...
These are cantrips.  I have seen Bumblebee somewhere
before," Bellany said as she dropped the light into her
palm and looked at the ghost near her.

The apparition nodded.

"These notes are priceless," Bellany observed.  "You
must have written them when you were learning these as
a beginning caster.  Wait, I see there are several sets
of initials being used in the notes.  It looks like
several students who worked on this edition of the book
contributed to the casting notes.  Oh here we have a
new chapter entitled, 'Elementary Spells.'"

The ghost motioned her to keep turning pages.  The
spells were in alphabetical order.

"Bestow Life Force I, Disease Cloud I, Draining Touch
I," Bellany read.  She shook herself as she read
Draining Touch. "This was the first spell I managed to
get to work.  Some sort of magic damaged my memory but
I cannot remember exactly how it happened.  Seeing this
is bringing back my memories of learning this spell
though.  The version I learned was a little different,
but not very different.  This Bestow Life Force spell
is a lot like the healing spell I do but this one only
banishes fatigue."

The ghost held up two fingers and mouthed four words.

"Are you saying my spell is Bestow Life Force II?"
Bellany asked

Baladus nodded.

"That is interesting. I had the worst time trying to
get bestow life force to work, and even when I got it
to work I had to have very full reserves.  Perhaps I
needed to study this fatigue banishing spell first.  My
former mentor's education must have been less broad
than yours.  Either that or he just wanted me to have
spells useful in battle and thus contrived to start me
with a specialty of the most useful of the necromantic
spells.  He used a first tier drain spell as the
foundation for a second tier bestow spell.  What I
probably also needed was a first tier bestow spell to
serve as the foundation for the more difficult bestow
spell.  This bestow spell should be helpful.  The drain
spell is too different to serve well as the foundation
of the bestow spell.  He also taught me a spell to view
magic, and that is not necromancy. Perhaps he was just
trying to teach me the things that would be most useful
first."

Baladus shrugged and nodded.

Bellany smiled and continued to skim through the
writings as she turned pages.  She read the title of
each spell as she went.  "Empathy, Fear I, Fumble I,
Gentle Beast, Ghostly Whispers." Bellany felt a minor
chill.  She shifted her light into her palm and looked
up.

The spirit held up his hand in the signal to stop and
pointed at the Ghostly Whispers spell and back at
Bellany.

Bellany began to read the notes on effect.  "This
allows a magician to hear the utterances of ghosts and
spirits.  I suppose you want me to learn it?" Bellany
asked.

The spirit nodded.

"That makes sense.  You are a necromancer not a mime."
Bellany giggled.

The apparition shook his head but smiled and said
something to the other ghost.

"I really should have brought some parchment and a
quill but I was originally just going to go over the
magic books in the stacks again," Bellany said.  "Now
that I have managed to get a nefarious skeleton key
made, however, curiosity got the best of me."

Bellany studied the spell for half an hour and then
began to work on the semantic components.  The
apparition corrected her several times, but before the
end of an hour her motions were perfect.  She added the
utterances.  It took another hour to get them
synchronized.  Finally she attempted to shape the magic
in accordance with the casting notes while doing the
verbal and semantic components.  Before she had got the
spell to work, Lady Elaine appeared and pretended as if
she were asleep and then woke up, wiped the tiredness
from her eyes and pointed upwards.

"Oh goodness, is it morning already?" Bellany asked,
having been too immersed in her new project to realize
how the time was passing.

Both apparitions nodded.

"Okay, I had better go.  Thank you for the lesson.  Is
it Guardian Baladus?"

The apparition nodded and then pointed to Bellany.

"I look like Bellany Norwit, and I am not entirely sure
why.  Her parents nursed me back to health after some
adventurers delivered me to a leech in the baronety of
Norwit.  Bellany had been captured by orcs the year
before.  I had also been captured by orcs and I was the
victim of hostile magic or something.  I still do not
remember what happened.  Currently I am posing as
Bellany Norwit. Otherwise I would not be going to the
most prestigious girls' school in the Duchy.  My memory
was damaged but some things have come back."

Bellany curtseyed.  "I am pleased to meet you Guardian
Baladus; I am Deaconess Rapina, Order of the Shroud,
apprentice magician.  Lady Elaine I am so glad that
healing seemed to work.  I will come back another night
as soon as I can.  Thank you Guardian Baladus.  I was
getting so homesick.  I know I should have my head
examined but it is actually a relief to be in the
company of you and these boneheads."  Bellany motioned
to the skeletons and smiled.

Baladus smiled.

"I guess I had better go."  Bellany bowed.

Balladas bowed slightly and made a motion as if to shoe
her out.

Bellany grinned.  She was about to let her bluelight
lapse when she realized that the torch in the skeletal
hand of Joshua had long since burned out.  She took it
anyway and ordered the skeletons to come out with her
and take their former places.  She ordered them to
attack anyone entering the room other than her, Baladus
or Lady Elaine.  She hoped that would do.  She had to
yell but she managed to order Lieutenant Gage, the
bonehead in Baladus' coffin to lower the coffin floor.
Soon she was making her way through the crypts with a
smile on her face.

The school commissary was located in the same building
as the cafeteria.  One passed over it if she used the
bridge and covered walkways from the administration
building to the cafeteria.  It was next to the school
leech's office and accessible from the cafeteria during
meals and for two hours in the evening.  Bellany looked
at the candles and then returned to the counter.

"Excuse me; do you have a box of candles? I don't want
to clean all of the stock off the shelf," Bellany said.

"Of course, we have them in boxes of two dozen or four
dozen, stocking up?" The attendant asked.

"After being chilled by the ghost in the library, I
thought it might be prudent to have a night light,"
Bellany whisperd.

The attendant giggled.

"I would like three of the large boxes, please,"
Bellany said.

Bellany took other items that she needed from the
various commissary shelves.  Eventually she had placed
a large bottle of glue, a large bottle of ink, a
crystal inkwell, a sheaf of quills, a penknife, a
shaker of blotting sand, a sack of blotting sand, a
horsehair brush, a sheaf of parchment and three thick
bound volumes of blank parchment, one large and two
small on the counter.

She tossed a canvas sack on top of the other items and
waited while the attendant tallied the cost.

"It looks like you are buying your start of the term
supplies all over again," The attendant said.

"Sometimes being The Fallen Angel of Vargrend's means
your things suffer," Bellany said as she paid the
attendant.

"Sorry to hear that," the attendant said as she handed
Bellany her change.

Bellany nodded.  "Thank you."

That night she was simply too tired for a foray to the
crypts. Instead she opened her closet and dropped her
sack of items into one of her trunks.  Thup-thump.
There was something odd about the sound.  Bellany began
knocking on the trunk and soon realized that it had a
false bottom.  After a while she figured out how to
open it and did so.  Inside were two small books, some
scattered sheets of parchment and a portable Standish.

Bellany opened the first of the books and read the
title. _The Diary of Bellany Norwit, Captive of the
Orcs._  Bellany raised an eybrow.  The other was
entitled, "Darkness and Despair."  It was a book of
poems written by Bellany Norwit, the real Bellany
Norwit.  This particular trunk was the very same trunk
that had been delivered to the leech in northern Norwit
along with Bellany's old clothes and one badly damaged
body.  Bellany flipped through it and read one of the
last poems in the book.  It was entitled, "Dark Lover."
As she read the poem she realized that it was about the
real Bellany's love for the high shaman of the orcs.
She knew she would read both volumes, but for the time
being she hid them back in her trunk. It was a lucky
thing that she did because Mary came in just as she
finished putting them away.

Even though Mary snuggled, Bellany went right to sleep
and slept until the monitor awakened her to get ready
for her morning class.  She did not even recall hearing
Mary get up and leave for work at the library.  Bellany
knew her schoolwork was suffering slightly from her
late night adventures.  Headmistress Vargrend had even
marked her off for a grammatical error on one of her
papers for the trivium.  She was not too worried,
however.  She had already read the books for the term
and she found the homework easy enough, although trying
to sound like a vindicator girl in her writings made it
seem a bit more challenging.

The next night after attending the optional drawing and
painting class, Bellany returned to the room to find
Mary already preparing for bed.

"More fruit?" Mary asked as Bellany put down a board
with her latest drawing project on it.

"Yes, even the art books leave certain details off the
human figure.  I think they are putting off real nudes
until after the last year of school," Bellany grinned.

"Morality through virtue," Mary said quoting the school
motto.

"And don't you forget it!" Bellany grinned alluringly
and gave Mary's lust just a subtle tug.

Mary blushed.  "I would have an easier time forgetting
it if they let me stay in the boys dormitory," Mary
whispered.  "It is just not fair.  What makes me so...
off?"

"There is nothing wrong with you, Mary.  Your nature is
a common human variation.  It is simply a variation
that the church of the vindicator finds no use for.
There are other girls in this school who are as you
are.  They are all just busy hiding it," Bellany said.

"Bellany, how can you say those things?  Where is your
faith?"

"I am sorry Mary; since the orcs, my faith is more
observance than belief. I know I should not badmouth
the church while in the company of a true believer.
Perhaps religion is not really what is bothering me.
Perhaps I just feel badly about torturing you."

"Torturing me?" Mary asked.

"Yes, you would get on much better with a woman who was
not sexually aware and had no interest in women.  I am
neither," Bellany whispered.  Thankfully it is a
relatively warm night tonight so you will not have to
resist all that lust."  Bellany winked.

Mary rolled her eyes.  "What makes you think I feel any
lust for you?" she whispered as she finished undressing
and fetched her nightgown.

Bellany smirked.  She put her hand softly on Mary's
shoulder and watched her roommate's nipples rise.  She
did not even have to tug on the poor girl's lust.
Bellany pointed at Mary's left breast and watched her
blush crimson.  Bellany snatched her hand back.  "I am
sorry.  I should not toy with you like that.  It is not
right when you are trying to be such a model vindie
girl.  Obviously this imprisonment is getting to me,"
Bellany whispered.

Mary looked at Bellany.  The longing in Mary' eyes was
palpable.

Bellany groaned.  "Now you are toying with me.  Mary
that tortured longing just drives me to distraction.
You know I find it difficult to resist someone who
really wants me.  I suppose it is my own fault for
toying with you.  I am glad it is warmer and we will
not have to repeat the night before last."

Mary flopped onto her bed.  "Vindicator forgive me,"
She said.

Bellany smiled and slid into her own bed.  "Goodnight
Mary."

"Goodnight Bellany," Mary said.

In spite of the drama, Mary's lust passed to slumber
less than half an hour after they went to bed.  Bellany
carefully took her candle from her nightstand and got
her sack from the trunk.  She waited until the hall
monitor was headed for the floor below and then stole
out of her room.  She lit her candle from one of the
candles in the hallway wall sconces and then went into
the library locking each door she opened behind her.
Finally she went down to the door to the crypts.  She
recited the prayer above the door and headed towards
Baladus' sarcophagus.  Once there, she recited the
motto of The Order of Death's Peace, twisted the
carvings, slid back the lid and took the elevator down
below the crypts.

She greeted the skeletons and made her way into the
room that held Baladus' spellbook.  She blew the dust
from an ornate bronze candelabrum on the far side of
the room and then filled three of its five holders with
candles from her sack of goods.  She lit them and blew
her original candle out.  She crossed to the podium and
conjured her bluelight and let it slip into her left
palm.  The ghost of Baladus already stood near the
podium, and Lady Elaine was seated at the desk.

"Good evening Guardian Baladus, Lady Elaine," Bellany
said cheerfully.  "I brought some candles and writing
supplies."

Baladus nodded and pointed to the spellbook.

Bellany looked the Ghostly Whispers spell over once
again and began casting. It was frustrating.  Bellany
knew she had the verbal and semantic components down,
but the shaping of the magic was more than just
meaningful gestures and words of power.  She looked at
her ghost hand a moment.  Somehow it connected her with
Mortaebius.  _This spell ought to be easy for me._  She
tried again and yet again, listening for a voice when
Baladus spoke.  A few hours and countless attempts
later she heard,

"Can you hear me?"

"I think I am getting something."  Bellany advanced on
the ghost of Baladus with a hand cupped to her ear.

"Tell me about the weather outside," Baladus said.

Bellany heard the whispered voice clearly.  He was
practically inside her ear he was so close.

She softly tapped the ghost of Baladus on the forehead
with the palm of her ghost hand as he spoke.

"Mortaebius' will be done; Let no powers sway you but
that one," Rapina intoned.  It was an instruction she
had learned while with Thane for clearing the minds of
undead of compulsions.  "The weather outside yesterday
was overcast and fairly warm for October," Bellany
said.

Baladus Vargrend blinked as though struck.  He looked
taken aback for a moment but then smiled.  "Then it is
true you are of Mortaebius.  Even though you passed my
tests in making it to this room, I was worried that the
vindicator had sent us a Trojan horse.  Yet the dead
know Mortaebius, and that was not the hand of the
vindicator."

Bellany nodded, "Sorry about that.  I thought if I
could trust anyone, I could trust a ghost, but I am
aware that priests of other religions can sway the
undead with the power of their faith.  I had to be sure
you were still of Mortaebius.  I think you already
strongly suspected that I was from my behavior with the
boneheads.  Rest assured I am of The Shroud, and this
hand of mine must be of Mortae..." Bellany trailed off
as her memory released images of the lair of the high
shaman of the orcs.  Reflexively she slapped her left
hand to her forehead as the memories returned.
Suddenly she remembered being in the land of the dead
summoning its lord.

"I remembered something just then. The orcs that
captured me had taken me down into a trackless cavern
to an underground city called Jooldig.  I spent time
with the orc armorers there.  The high shaman of the
orcs summoned me along with the shaman of the orc tribe
that had captured me.  The high shaman had been in love
with the real Bellany Norwit and had sacrificed her to
get power.  He drugged me so profoundly that I found
myself in the land of the dead.  He conjured the soul
of a dead lust spirit into me. Vulvilea, the same lust
spirit whose stored essence I had merged with years
ago.  That merging was the result of a posthumous plot
of my Aunt to avenge her own death at the hand of an
evil reverend of the vindicator.

"The lust spirit was doing something in my body...
perhaps she was the one who changed my appearance so
that I look like Bellany Norwit.  In the end Vulvilea
was in pain and screaming at the high shaman.  Perhaps
he double-crossed her.  I was not paying much attention
at the time because I was stuck in the land of the
dead.  I invoked Mortaebius while in his realm.  He
came to me, and that is all I remember before waking up
in a leech's clinic in Northern Norwit with bruising
that went clean through every part of my body."

"If Mortaebius came to you, then you knew death, for
one cannot know Mortaebius and not know death," Baladus
whispered.

"Then how can I be alive?" Bellany asked.

"Mortaebius knows death like no other.  There is a
spell whereby a necromancer can restore life to the
recently dead, but it requires the sacrifice of at
least two others.  Perhaps this high shaman was
powerful enough to serve alone.  Did he have some form
of magic with which he was especially good?" Baladus
asked.

"Curses," Bellany said.

"If you were reborn from his life force, then you shall
excel at curses and if you were touched by Mortaebius
then necromancy should also come easily to you,"
Baladus said.

"Oh wonderful, curses and necromancy," Bellany said.

Balladas chuckled.  "Powerful aptitudes such as you
will have will spare you time and drudgery, time you
can use to pursue the areas of magic that are your
passion.  There is no need to allow yourself to become
mired in the accomplishments of those who have given
their lives or power to make you more than what you
were."

Bellany nodded.  "My dead Aunt told me that a lust
spirit was limited by its nature, but that I am a woman
limited only by my ability to learn."

Baladus nodded.  "Inspiration and learning are of life,
and Amorra, the goddess of love and lust has gifted you
with a great measure of both.  You will be able to use
the power of Mortaebius and the lust spirit to draw the
life force of others to enhance your own.  Lady Elaine
told me that your life force is pure lust." Baladus
chuckled.

Bellany blushed.  "I have very meager reserves because
I am locked in this school and unable to see men.  Yet,
I was able to give her some of what I had.  I had no
wish to destroy her, even if she has been such a pain
to me."

Baladus smiled.  "Please forgive Lady Elaine.  She is a
very active ghost because she is able to draw
sustenance from the fear of young women.  In life she
suffered a great deal of fear at the hands of Bristol
and his boorish brigands."

"Do all ghosts draw sustenance from fear?" Bellany
asked.

"Many do but not all.  I find the anger of men more
sustaining, perhaps because I spent so much time on the
battlefield, or because I was angry at Bristol for
enslaving and mistreating my father Alistair Vargrend
and his beloved Elaine.  In the end, Elaine and I fixed
Bristol.  I should have taken my rest, but the ghostly
state comes more easily to priests of Mortaebius and I
am of The Order of Death's Peace and of The Shroud.  I
watch over this tomb.  Lady Elaine helps me by keeping
up with the events of the day.  Although she has no
real magic, she feeds easily from the schoolgirls and
this keeps her more alert and active, closer to life
and more easily able to adapt to change."

Bellany cocked her head.  "Anger, battle, strife, maybe
it is not as concentrated as on an actual battlefield,
but you must get a boost from the tournaments," Bellany
said.

"Nay, Lady Elaine has overheard much talk concerning
the tournaments but they are not held within the keep I
knew in life.  Headmaster Bristol provides what little
energy I am able to obtain when he paddles errant boys
in the dungeon.  Unfortunately for me, he is not a
violent man and I lack the energy to prod him in that
direction."

"He would not last long if he made a habit of beating
the children of the peers and the wealthy," Bellany
said.

"Yes, I discovered that long ago with another
headmaster," Baladus smiled.

"You bad ghost," Bellany said, yet she could not help
smiling.  "Is there any way you could leave the keep?"
Bellany asked.

"Ghosts become anchored to a familiar place.  It is
possible to render a ghost more mobile, but the magic
is beyond you."

"Then I had better study," Bellany said.

"Yes, and I must rest. Lady Elaine knows the perils of
my book.  You may speak with her about them.
Manifesting to you the other night was not without cost
to me, and then to remain active teaching you this
spell.  It took an act of will," Baladus said wearily.

"I am Sorry," Bellany apologized.

"You have nothing to be sorry for.  Mortaebius has
touched you with his grace.    When you enter my
chambers the spirits of the skeletal soldiers that now
serve you rise as if living water had at last reached
their long parched lips.  Changes to my environment,
including new people invading my space, usually trouble
me but I find my spirits rise as well.  In your
diligence you have been kind to me in my infirmity.  In
a matter of hours you learned a spell that should have
taken days or weeks of arduous labor.  It is obvious to
me that Mortaebius' art of necromancy is an open book
to you, milady, a book opened by his mighty hand.
Farewell."  Guardian Baladus floated through a door on
one side of the room and was gone.

"Farewell Guardian Baladus," Bellany said as the spirit
retreated.  _Death and curses, I have no wish to become
mired in those things.  I am neither Mortaebius, nor
the high shaman of the orcs. If it is true that I will
understand those things more easily, then I should also
be able to learn to use the principals in reverse for
more positive accomplishments._ She realized that there
was temptation to abuse any aptitude, just as there was
a temptation to use the powers of the lust spirit in a
way that would destroy her lovers.  Somehow she was
sure that Vulvilea relished destroying the unwary.

Suddenly she realized that Lady Elaine was still there.
"Lady Elaine, the librarian's assistant said there were
three ghosts.  What of the third ghost I heard about?"

"That is my love, Alistair Vargrend.  He is resting
now."

"Does he feed on the fear of the schoolgirls?"

"No, he is moved by pain and powerlessness.  He
suffered a great deal of pain in life, both at the
hands of the warriors of Bristol and also because he
was powerless to prevent my pain.  I alert both of the
men when a paddling is about to take place.  Sometimes
the boys are angry and Baladus benefits, other times
they feel powerless and Alistair benefits.  Often they
have mixed emotions and both benefit."

Bellany nodded.  "It is a shame I cannot take Baladus
out to the tournaments with me.  There is plenty of
strife and anger in some of the events."

"It might be possible for you to do that as you
progress, but first we must get to know you and you
must study," Lady Elaine said.

Bellany nodded.  "There are so many spells.  I do not
know where to start."

"I think your former mentor had the right idea.  Work
diligently on those things that would be most useful,"
Lady Elaine said.  "For instance you have a key to get
into the crypts, but what would happen if you were
discovered with it?"

"I would get in big trouble.  My parents would be
notified and Headmistress Vargrend would take my key
away."

Lady Elaine nodded.  "Normally Baladus gives his
students a special key that the Headmaster and
Headmistress recognize but you are posing as an enemy
of Bristol.  It would be too risky to try to convince
Headmistress Vargrend and Headmaster Bristol that you
are of The Shroud and too risky that they might
inadvertently divulge such information to followers of
the vindicator."

Bellany nodded.  "But there were no lock opening spells
in the book," Bellany said.

"Oh yes there were.  You must simply realize what a key
is.  It is a small lever that turns, thus moving a bolt
forward or back. Protrusions called wards prevent a key
without the right notches from turning and thus moving
the bolt. If you could move the bolt without a key you
could open any lock. What spell might you use?"

"Telekinesis?" Bellany asked.

Lady Elaine smiled.  "You are a smart girl.  What spell
will you practice then?"

"First Ash Kinetics, that cantrip I saw for moving a
bit of ash around a smooth surface with magic and then
the various tiers of telekinesis spells in order of
difficulty," Bellany said.

"That sounds like a wise course of study.  I noticed
you were trying to organize the various drain and
bestow spells into tiers.  There really are no tiers or
circles of mystery.  Magic and magicians are far less
organized than that.  Baladus has simply taken similar
spells and put numbers after them to denote orders of
difficulty.  It is likely that Draining Touch I will be
easier for you to learn than Draining Touch II, but I
caution you that just because a spell has a II after it
does not mean that all spells with that numeral will be
of equal difficulty.  For instance, Animate Dead I is
generally not mastered until after Draining Touch II is
mastered simply because animating the dead at its most
elementary level is more difficult than draining a bit
of life force."

"I guess that makes sense.  There have been so many
magicians over the centuries all with different ways of
organizing their spells.  There has had to have been
duplication and near duplication of spells by isolated
researchers as well.  Plus there are always people who
have a knack for making things more difficult than they
need to be, or for making complex processes seem simple
because of their deep understanding and insightful
communication of that understanding," Bellany said."

"Yes, magic was created by people, intelligent people,
but you know how people are.  What will you do when you
are bored or tired of telekinesis?"  Lady Elaine asked.

"I need to practice what I already know and to recall
my drain and bestow spells.  My bestow spell is a bit
anemic.  I only seem to be able to get it to work when
I have very full reserves, but now that I have got it
to work on the orcs and now that I have a simpler
bestow spell I can practice to strengthen my skills, I
think I could improve it," Bellany said.

"It is always good to retain what you know but by the
leave of Mortaebius I am sure you will soon re-master
and improve on your draining and bestowing skills.
What else might you find useful?"

"More potent light and vision spells.  It seems I am
always using this puny bluelight and I cannot see
anything more than a few feet away save if I have it
blacked and am looking for spirits.  I could also use
concealment spells so that I could sneak around with
less risk.  The telekinesis spells will be the most
important.  I will never leave the keep if I cannot
open the gate lock.  I need to leave the keep to see
men.  If I can see men often then I can easily get by
on only two or three hours of sleep each night."

"I don't understand," Lady Elaine said.

"Just as you can feed on the fright of young women, I
can feed on lust spent into me by men.  It is a power I
inherited from a lust spirit and it is why the energy I
used to heal you with was, as you said, 'pure lust.'  I
suppose I might have tried to hide my nature from you
and Baladus, but you already know about Timothy and
what the character of the healing energy I used on you
was.  It would only be a matter of time before you put
two and two together." Bellany said.

"Now I understand why I was drawn to pick on you.  You
are a creature of lust.  I lack your power and was
forced to do what you probably relish.  As you guessed
I was a slave in my own house.  In life had I had your
power I would have been the lord of the keep but I do
not think the pain of being a lady whore would have
been any less," Lady Elaine said.

Bellany nodded.  "I had my taste of powerlessness.  I
took on the powers of the lust spirit in a desperate
effort to escape the clutches of an evil man.  At the
time I did not realize that I could have enslaved him
and controlled the town even though he thought he was
enslaving me.  It would not have been right anyway.  I
am sure that what I am gives me a unique perspective;
it is not one that you would probably feel comfortable
with, yet I hope you will not hate me for it."

Lady Elaine nodded.  "At first in my ignorance I hated
you for your lust.  Then I feared and hated you because
you had the power to hurt me and used it.  I tried to
convince myself that you had overreacted, that you
should not have hurt me but I could never completely
convince myself that I could not have killed you on the
stairs, or that I had not made a royal pain of myself
by feeding from you so often.  I should not pick on a
particular girl.  I have done that before to girls who
were exceptionally terrified of ghosts.  They provided
abundant sustenance but at great cost to them. Yet you
were less afraid than most and I persisted.  You were
so obviously a creature of lust that I tried to punish
you.  Then you healed me in spite of it all.  Few
mortals care about ghosts.  We are vermin to be
eradicated.  The ghost hesitated.  "Was the evil man of
whom you spoke reverend Evangeline Avengene?"

Bellany said nothing.

"Oh my, you really should not say, should you?  I feel
so embarrassed now that I know you are the Life of
Death.  I should have known better than to pick on a
beloved servant of Mortaebius."

"There is no need to feel badly, Lady Elaine.  Neither
of us knew it at the time but you were doing
Mortaebius' will.  Without your prodding I would never
have come to the crypts.  I have you and my history
teacher to thank for nudging me towards Baladus.  Had I
known just how potent Mortaebius' hand was, I would
have been a bit less liberal with it.  I hope you can
forgive me," Bellany said.

"I already have," Lady Elaine said.  "If the healing
was not enough, seeing you with the skeletons and with
Baladus was.  Chastity may not be among your virtues,
but you have heart.  That is far more important in the
long run.  I grew adept at using the lust of Bristol to
gain a small measure of power, but I could take no joy
in it the way you did with Timothy in the library.  In
a way I am very jealous of you.  I never got to be a
naughty girl.  My life was too dire.  Were it not for
Alistair I would have lost the greater portion of my
mind.  I know I must have lost something or I would not
linger here as a ghost.

"Enough of this talk you would not be with us if
Mortaebius did not have work for you.  I will do my
best to help you learn.  I have only a small measure of
telekinesis.  Baladus is much more powerful than I, but
he is so undernourished that it does not always show.
Baladus has had a few other students over the years,
but most of them were Vargrends and priests of
Mortaebius.  The book you are looking at is the third
incarnation of Baladus' spellbook.  The first two are
only dust and memories."

Bellany nodded.  "I need to copy down all of the spells
and everything pertaining to telekinesis.  When I was
learning the drain spell, it was techniques and
refinements from a more advanced spell known by my
mentor that finally helped me to cast my first real
spell.  First, I had better jot down some notes on the
Ghostly Whispers spell."

Bellany quickly jotted down some personal notes on the
casting of Ghostly Whispers, and then she turned to the
page where the Ash Kinetics cantrip was located.  She
hesitated.  "I cannot just copy this.  I am
impersonating a vindicator girl.  If I am caught
studying magic, I will get locked up in a convent or
worse."

"There is a book on codes in the boys' library," Lady
Elaine said.

Bellany nodded.  "For now I will just translate the
notes into orcish except for the actual verbal
components to the spells.  Once I read the codebook I
will create my own code and transcribe these notes into
a small bound volume."  Bellany began feverishly
copying down the information on the Ash Kinetics
cantrip.  Next she copied the information from the
pages on the easiest Telekinesis spell.  She was
working on the second spell in the telekinesis line
when she felt a mild chill.  She let her bluelight
slide into her palm.  Lady Elaine said something but it
was obvious Bellany's ghostly whispers spell had
lapsed.

"I can no longer hear you Lady Elaine, the whispers
spell has lapsed."

The ghost pretended to sleep, and then to awaken.  She
pointed upstairs.

"Oh goodness, is it morning already?" Bellany asked.

Lady Elaine nodded.

Bellany hastily finished the spell she was working on
and then shook sand onto the page.  While that page was
drying she brushed the pages she had completed earlier
and stacked them up.  Finally she blew the sand off the
page she had just finished writing and put it on the
top of the stack.  She relit the candle from her
nightstand from the stubs now standing in the bronze
candelabrum and then blew the stubs out.

"I really appreciated the very practical advice you
gave me tonight, Lady Elaine.  I shall try to put it to
good use.  Farewell until the next time."  Bellany
waved.  "One of these days I will repair the skeletons,
but for now I will study the spells I need to keep and
expand my freedom."  Bellany waved to Elaine and made
her way back up through the library.  While peeking out
the library keyhole she heard the library monitor knock
on the door to her room.  Time to get up, Mary.  It
seemed like an eternity before the monitor made it to
the other end of the hallway even though she was
walking at an even pace.  Bellany locked the library
door behind her and stole into her room.

"Where were you?" Mary asked from the darkness.

"I woke up a few minutes ago and decided to get us some
fire," Bellany said, holding up the candle and holder
from her nightstand.  She handed it to Mary and took
off her robe and shoved it into her bureau while Mary
was busy lighting the candelabrum above the desk.

Bellany thought feverishly as Mary got ready for work.
_That was much too close.  Should I ever get caught, I
should have a back up story such as I am naughtily
reading books in the stacks.  I would get in trouble
for that, but the repercussions would not call my
identity into question like cavorting with dead
Vargrends beneath the crypts.  Since I have been
leaving the crypt door open, I might as well just steal
Mary's key.  That way if I get caught I will not get
caught with a skeleton key.  I will stash my key in the
secret compartment of my trunk._

The morning dragged by.  After lunch, Bellany went on
her usual walk with Cleopatra but bowed out of going to
the thicket to read one of the books Cleo had borrowed
from the temple of Amorra, goddess of love and lust.
Instead she went to her room to take a nap.  She was
about to hang up her cloak when she realized that she
had not given Nimbus, the raven, his daily biscuits.
She opened the window and stared out through the
wrought iron bars.  She stood there in the window
making raven sounds for nearly a quarter hour and was
about to give up when she heard the fluttering of
wings.  Suddenly Nimbus came to roost on one of the
crossbars that protected her window.  Bellany smiled
and held up one of the biscuits she had profusely
buttered for her avian friend.  He ate directly from
her hand as she had been getting him used to her for
several weeks now.  For some reason Cleopatra had never
been able to get him to take food directly from her,
but he seemed to like Bellany.  While he ate she talked
to him.

"This is my roost, Nimbus.  I live here with another
girl named Mary Duffy."

"Gwaark pruk-pruk-pruk," Nimbus replied.

After Nimbus finished his biscuits he flew away.
Bellany left a note for Mary requesting that she wake
her at the end of the midday break.  After the break
Bellany dragged off to classes and then returned to nap
again.  She woke as Mary came in for the night.

"Sleeping in the afternoon again?  I think you missed
your art class" Mary said.

Bellany nodded.  "I was far too tired for art.  For
some reason I just did not sleep well last night."

Mary nodded.  "I hope it was not on my account."

Bellany shook her head.  "No, you were fine."

Bellany finished up some schoolwork while Mary was
doing the same, and then both went to bed when the
monitor called for lights out.  The next night was
Thursday and Bellany spent all afternoon and evening
reading through a book on code from the boys' library.

She decided she would invent new symbols for the
alphabet and would switch randomly back and forth
between the trollish, orcish and common languages as
she wrote.  She would also use several alternative
spellings with more or fewer letters than the originals
for common words that could often be deciphered based
on their frequency of use and their most common
position in sentences.

On Friday Morning she purchased another bound volume
with exceptionally thin pages.  By Friday Evening she
had transcribed her notes on Ghostly Whispers, Ash
Kinetics, Telekinesis 1 and Telekinesis 2 into her new
coded book of spells and casting notes.  That night she
made a foray to the crypts using Mary's library key.
She first went up to the stacks and blew the dust off
the section on Mortaebius.  She paged through a few of
the books quite rapidly and then put them back.  She
was familiar with just about everything the books said.
She simply needed to know which book was about which
topic in case she needed to seem to have been reading
books on Mortaebius to cover the real reason for her
forays into the library.  She decided that sometime
during the day she would also try to take out some
books about the undead if the library had any.  When
she got to the crypts Baladus was not around. Lady
Elaine greeted her.  Bellany returned the greeting and
the two of them went down into Baladus' secret
chambers.

Bellany got right to work.  She left some space in her
coded spell book for further telekinesis spells and
then started a section labeled "Necromancy" primarily
for drain and bestow spells.  First she shored up her
notes on the Ghostly Whispers spell and included the
actual verbal and semantic components.  Then she
started into the actual necromantic spells.  She
completed the first and second tier drain spells
including Draining touch one, Draining touch two, the
first drain at range spell and a drain over time spell
called Leech one.

After finishing those she copied the spells and notes
for the banish fatigue and the first Bestow Life Force
spell.  After transcribing the notes for those spells
she skipped forward and started a section on light
spells.  She left space for notes on her Bluelight
cantrip and the Glowbones spell and then transcribed
the notes on the willowisp spell that was used to
create a bright globe of white light.  Lastly she
checked the notes for the telekinesis spells and made
sure she had them right.  She wanted at least a couple
hours of sleep and thus resisted the temptation to
transcribe the third telekinesis spell.  Instead she
simply read it while the ink dried on the last pages
she had scribed.

When she was through she brushed the blotting sand from
the last two pages she had written in her book.  She
turned to the page with her transcription of the
Ghostly Whispers spell and put it to the test.  After a
brief review she cast it.  It worked on the third try.
"Let me try something, Lady Elaine."  Bellany stood
close to the ghost and recalled the moment she was
captured by Red Jack's crew, the moment she was
paralyzed by Kent, the first time Thane touched her
with his skeletal hand and the time she was rooted in
place by a priest of the vindicator.  Each time she
attempted to accentuate the fright from those moments.

"I hope that helped," Bellany said.

Lady Elaine smiled.  "It did, although you needn't
worry about me.  I feed easily."

Bellany smiled.  "Yes, I know but I could not think of
any other gift you might be able to use."

Lady Elaine smiled.  "It was a fine gesture."

"I am not sure when I will be back," Bellany said.
"Tomorrow is a tournament.  That is why I am leaving a
little early.  I need at least a couple of hours of
sleep, to tide me over until I can waylay a man or two
during the day tomorrow."

Lady Elaine shook her head.  "I am not the only one who
feeds easily, lust spirit."

"With the army of chaperones I must outwit, it is not
so easy," Bellany said.

Lady Elaine smiled.  "Good luck then, Lady Lust.
Remember to practice your magic during the coming
week."

"You can count on that," Bellany said.  "I very nearly
got caught yesterday morning.  The sooner I can
navigate Vargrend's without a key, the better.
Besides, I am pretty sure the gates require different
sized keys than the ones that fit the library locks."

Elaine nodded.

"Is it possible to hug a ghost without getting chills?"

Elaine giggled.  "Yes of course."

Bellany carefully hugged the apparition, caressing the
back of her head very lightly with her left hand.
"Mortaebius' will be done; Let no powers sway you but
that one."  Bellany pulled away slightly and looked
into the eyes of the apparition.  "I hope there were no
compulsions on you, Lady Elaine, but if there were, you
should have your mind back now."

"You conniving girl!" Lady Elaine squealed.  "There
were none that I know of.  You took me totally off
guard just as you did Baladus.  Actually I can never
tell with Baladus.  He may have wanted you to make a
move and simply have been glad that you made it for
Mortaebius.  He is resistant to the machinations of
priests since he is one and he has kept us safe for
many years."

Bellany smiled.  "It is fortunate that he is here.  I
know there are quite a few priests around and I don't
relish the thought of them using you to find this
place.  Luckily the worst of them is a man and he is
not likely to set foot on the girls' side of the
school."

"Who is that?" Lady Elaine asked.

"Reverend Leland of the vindicator," Bellany said.  "I
am obliged to sit through one of his guilt-ridden
sermons every Sunday to maintain my cover as a
vindicator girl.  If you ever see him, stay far, far
away."

"I will heed your advice." Lady Elaine said.

"I have no idea if he can actually cast spells.  He
probably cannot but better safe than sorry.  As you
have probably overheard, the vindicator has made war on
Mortaebius.  The Order of the Shroud has been
awakened."

"I have heard bits and pieces." Lady Elaine said.

"I will tell you more about it another time.  I must
get to bed soon.  There is one thing I should ask you
about before I go.  Girls in my history class and I saw
what looked like a ghoul out the window.  Other girls
have sighted the mysterious man in rags on several
occasions.  Do you know if there is a ghoul in the
keep?" Bellany asked.

"The Order of the Shroud removed all such creatures
before the founding of the school.  It would be far too
dangerous to have ghouls in residence with the
academies here.  They feed on the living and cannot
completely be trusted," Lady Elaine said.

"That is a relief.  Perhaps it is just a boy playing a
prank as Headmistress Vargrend believes," Bellany said.
"I must get upstairs before they miss me. Farewell,
Lady Elaine."

The spirit waved her ghostly hand.
-------

Morning came all too soon and Mary was eager to get
ready for the tournament. She had again volunteered to
officiate at one of the baking contests.  Abraham
Steefl had also invited Mary to the tournament ball.
This ball was to be held at Jordell Manor.  Everyone
knew that Jordell Manor was the grandest of all of the
emerald estates.

Bellany yawned.

"Goodness Bellany didn't you sleep well last night?"
Mary asked.

"Not particularly.  I did write a poem though," Bellany
said.

"I thought you had stopped writing poetry.  Let me hear
it," Mary said.

Bellany smiled.  "Don't you remember?  My poetry is no
longer palatable for virgin ears.  Nevertheless, I find
it therapeutic.  I could not write after the orcs
because the content would have offended too many
people, including my mother.  Thanks to the boys'
library, I have a way around that.  I have started a
book of philosophical thoughts and poetic verse."

"What has the boys' library to do with being able to
pen your thoughts and verse?" Mary asked.

"Cryptology," Bellany replied.  "Mother would have
defeated any lock in the name of parental supervision
but she will not defeat this."  Bellany patted her
book.

"You wrote your poem in code?" Mary asked.

"In my own personal code," Bellany said.  "Girls with
vindicatorish mothers must either be good or smart, and
you know I'm not good."  Bellany giggled.

"Bellany!" Mary chided.

Bellany grinned.

"What happened to your robe?  It's all soiled," Mary
asked.

Bellany hesitated a moment.  She knew she couldn't tell
Mary that the side of the pit she had nearly fallen
into was old and dirty.  Instead she made something up.
"I made the mistake of stashing it under my bed one
morning as I began my exercises.  There was a spot on
the floor where dirt had collected.  I will put it into
the wash." Bellany said.

Mary nodded.

"Are you officiating at the pie bake-off again?"
Bellany asked.

"Yes, squash and pumpkin pies this time," Mary said as
she got out of her nightgown.

Bellany nodded as she also pulled her nightgown over
her head and poured some water into the porcelain basin
for washing.  It was cold enough that her whole body
felt like one big goose bump.  Lust tickled up her
spine and she turned to Mary and smiled.  She finished
and let Mary have the basin.  "It's time to pick out an
autumn dress.  I think maybe this goldenrod colored
one."

Mary nodded breathlessly.

Bellany tickled Mary beneath her breast.  "Goodness
Mary, you're flushed.  I am flattered you find me so
distracting but I know you care what reverend Leland
would think, and I am sure he would scold you."

Mary frowned.  "How do you know I am not just cold?"

Bellany grinned.

Mary cleared her throat.  "I think he would say I
should not look on your nakedness if it tempts me.
Don't you find me even a little distracting?" Mary
asked in a whisper.

"Of course I do, but I know you are just an extension
of reverend Leland's long arms, otherwise I would have
long since taught you far more than that single kiss.
Instead of just dressing me you would be my personal
pleasure slave."  Bellany grinned.

Mary blushed.  "Bellany!"

"Mary you have been assigned to take care of my womanly
needs.  Mary, Kiss this. Mary massage me here and Mary
lick there." Bellany giggled.

"Bellany you are horrible," Mary said.  "Shouldn't you
be just the opposite after all those orcs?"

"I do not remember much but I think my body must have
got used to entertaining an entire tribe of orcs
because I seem to have enough lust to satisfy about
that many men and you are no help in that department
Mary.  I enjoy your lust, but it is very distracting.
You have to give me credit.  Here I am The Fallen Angel
of Vargrend's and I have not swept you off your feet,
tossed you on the bed and did all manner of lewd things
to you," Bellany said.

"Do you really think you could pick me up and toss me
on the bed?" Mary asked.

"Maybe not if you were kicking and screaming, but if I
took you by surprise..."

Suddenly Bellany grabbed Mary and lifted her off her
feet.

Mary squealed.

Bellany trotted to her bed, tossed Mary onto it and
then climbed onto her and sat on her abdomen.

Bellany bent down and kissed Mary on the forehead.  "It
would have been something like that only much juicier."
Bellany giggled.

Mary lay there open-mouthed for a moment looking up at
Bellany and the undersides of her high, lush breasts.
"Gods Bellany, you're as strong as a man but you are
obviously not one," Mary said.

"I am not as strong as most of my brother's athletic
friends, but strong enough to carry you." Bellany
smiled.

"What would you teach me to do?" Mary asked.

"Mary!" Bellany giggled.  "I cannot say.  You would
succumb to guilt and soon you would be teaching all of
my tricks to reverend Leland and that is not the kind
of knowledge you want in the hands of a priest.  Just
ask Bruhnhilda Daelrath."

"Oh goodness, isn't she the one who was raped by a
priest of the vindicator?" Mary asked.

Bellany nodded. "That is true if conversations among
the emerald boys are to be believed.  Celibacy is
against nature.  Some priests get twisted up from it."

"If it is true she was raped, why doesn't Bristol snub
her?" Mary asked.

"Because Bianca Bristol is not quite that dumb,"
Bellany said.  "Bruhnhilda Daelrath is Baron Daelrath's
only living child.  That means she could become
Baroness Daelrath.  Snubbing the person who protects
Bristol's northern border from trolls when Bristol is
having a conflict with its neighbor to the East would
be horribly brainless.  Baron Bristol has been stupid
about that in the past.  Lord Avengene was making
himself indispensable to Daelrath until that lecherous
priest and the whole Brianna Barter issue set him back.
The Bristols were fools to let Daelrath fall under the
influence of another lord.  My guess is that with this
religious conflict brewing, the Bristols are supporting
Daelrath more than they had been in the past.  If they
are not, they deserve what they get," Bellany said.

"It doesn't seem fair.  If she snubs one victim of rape
she ought to snub them all." Mary said.

"That would be logical, but you cannot discount
politics.  Perhaps it does not count if a priest of the
vindicator rapes you.  I am sure that is what the
priest told Bruhnhilda," Bellany said.

"Bellany how can you say that?" Mary asked.

"Don't get me wrong.  I think it counts for sure, Mary.
When it comes to priests raping young women, I have to
call a spade a spade.  I got in a lot of trouble for
advancing that theory where Brianna Barter was
concerned."

"But that's impossible, Reverend Evangeline was
practically a saint," Mary said.

"Saint or lecherous man, I am not touching that topic.
I have got in enough trouble over it already.  Besides,
I know very little about it and Bruhnhilda Daelrath is
probably not about to tell me all about Brianna Barter.
As far as I know, Bruhnhilda is the only one who has
even seen her.  I would show you a few lustful things
but we mustn't be late for breakfast." Bellany grinned.
-------

Charles Norwit's face reddened as he held his mouth
shut.

Bart Blaxton frowned. "She is a disgrace.  She should
not even be allowed to go to Vargrend's let alone sit
at a table with future peers of the realm."

"We will not sit with that Harlot," George Gransward
said.  Suddenly the heads of the athletes turned in
unison and Gransward was no longer the center of
attention.

Saint Varlans cleared his throat.  "Let's see, who do I
want to sit with, an average looking guy with one title
or a heart-stopping redhead with two great tit-les?"
Vernon Saint Varlan's grinned.

"Oh George you can't be serious about competing with
The Fallen Angel of Vargrend's," James Jordell said.
"Haven't you leaned that young men think with their
balls?  Look now there she is.  That dress makes me
want to puke, but they all insist on staring at her
just the same."

"You would have to be a fairy not to drool over Belle,"
Loyd Carnarvon said.

James Jordel looked at George Gransward and Bart
Blaxton with renewed interest.  Suddenly he gave them a
knowing smile.  "Say, why don't you men stop by and see
me sometime.  I am sure we have a lot in common."

The other young athletes laughed heartily.

George Gransward's face went beat red with
embarrassment.

"I can understand you not liking Charles for political
reasons, George, but why take it out on Belle?  She is
just a war-torn girl who has got nothing to do with
this brewing conflict between Bristol and Avengene.
Have a little charity," Lord Bostwick said.

"Oh George don't listen to them.  They fancy themselves
virile young men and they have discovered that
Vargrend's has a severe lack of bad girls.  Why do they
refuse to do the sensible thing and find hot men
instead of drooling over fallen angels," James Jordell
argued.

"You men have no class.  We are leaving," George
Gransward scoffed.

"Ooooh, may I come too, George."

"Get away from me you faggot!" Gransward growled.

"Is that any way to treat your betters?  I am so
offended.  You will pay for this perfidy, Gransward,"
Jordell pouted as Gransward and Blaxton left for an
empty table on the far side of the room.

Lawrence Eagan shook his head.

"Who needs them?" Charles snapped.  "If it was you,
Verne, I would suck up because no one handles a
broadsword better, but Abe could pound the snot out of
Blaxton at two-handed sword even if Blaxton is the
school's champion."

"Someone needs to teach Gransward some manners,"
Jordell said.

"Now that the two nay-sayers have removed themselves,
why don't you go fetch your sister, Charles?  The
Fallen Angel of Vargrend's is always welcome at our
table," Carnarvon said.

The other men nodded.

Charles smiled as he stood to get Bellany.  "Men, I
admire your pure intentions and charitable
benevolence."

The young men laughed.
-------

When Bellany entered the cafeteria, her senses tingled
with the delicious lust directed at her.  She could not
help but soak it in, pulling subtly on the kindred
energy.  She ignored the usual scornful looks on the
faces of the ladies.  There was a disturbance at
Charles' table for a moment and then she saw George
Gransward and Bart Blaxton leave the group of young men
clustered around Carnarvon and her brother.

Bernadine Belgado came to the serving line behind
Bellany.  "Could you please get me one of those raisin
muffins, Lady Norwit, I forgot to get one when I was in
line earlier."

"Certainly," Bellany said as she picked up a muffin and
gave it to Miss Belagado.

"Thank you," Deena said kissing her cheek.  As she did
so she whispered in Bellany's ear.  "It is important
that I see you this evening before the ball.  A
carriage will be waiting for you at six."

"Okay," Bellany whispered.

By the time she had finished filling her breakfast tray
Charles was there to greet her.

"Good morning Belle, the guys asked me to invite you to
our table."

"Thank you Charles, after all these sneers I have been
catching, it is nice to know someone appreciates me."
Bellany yawned.

"Haven't you been getting any sleep, Belle?"  Charles
looked at Bellany's face.  "I think you might have the
beginnings of dark circles."

"Really?" Bellany asked.

Charles nodded.

"I guess I had better get more sleep," Bellany said
blushing.

"Have you got something going with Mary?" Charles
whispered into Bellany's ear.

"Mary is pure as driven snow," Bellany whispered.

"Good flavor then, I'll bet." Charles grinned.

"Charles!" Bellany giggled.

"Here she is guys, a little tired from those late
nights contemplating purity and chastity with Mary
Duffy, but still one of the three B's," Charles said.

Bellany blushed.

"Welcome Lady Norwit," Lord Carnarvon said.

"Oh you can call me Bellany, Lord Carnarvon.  That goes
for all of Charles' good friends."

"Then call me Loyd," Carnarvon said.

"You have already been calling me Verne and I would
like you to continue.  Mister Saint Varlans is too long
anyway," Verne said.

"Okay, Loyd, Verne," Bellany said, drawing on the lust
of each man as she said his name.

"You already call me Lawrence and that suits me fine,"
Lawrence Eagan said.

"My name is Brad.  You can save Lord Bostwick for
formal occasions," Brad Bostwick said.

"Thank you Brad," Bellany said.

"Paul," Paul Patel said.

Bellany nodded. "Lawrence, Brad and Paul" she said
nodding to each young man as she caressed his lust.

"Abe," Abraham Steefl said.

"Abe," Bellany smiled brightly.  "Good to see you sir
knight."

Steefl blushed.

"You can call me Jamie, honey, but you have to say it
like you would say the name of a beautiful woman for
public relations purposes." The ghost of a smirk
crossed Jordell's face as the men around him squirmed.

Bellany grinned at James Jordell.  "Okay Jamie, I will
see what I can do.  I noticed Lord Gransward got
awfully red when you were talking to him."

The other young men laughed.

"Oh I noticed that too.  The poor man needs to get in
touch with himself," Lord Jordell said.

Bellany smiled as she tugged Jordell's lust.  He acted
as if he had no interest in women, but she knew his
game.  Men were safe and fun to bother.  A little fun
with them could actually be simply fun.  Yet women
might be more interested in Jordell's title, his name
and his money than they were in him.  It was an irony
that Red Jack had made his estranged family extremely
wealthy by avoiding the ships of the Jordells while
terrorizing the Augustana River.
-------

Bellany yawned as she sat with Vernon Saint Varlans and
Brad Bostwick watching the rapier event.  She really
should have felt better after having waylaid Timothy in
the thicket shortly after breakfast but she had
directed his energy to her face.  She knew it was
vanity but she did not want to let dark circles get a
foothold beneath her eyes.  She would just have to find
time to take a nap later.

In spite of her yawn she was enjoying the match between
Jamie Jordell and a young man from The Academy of The
Rose, a school in The Barony of Rose south of The City
of Rosehaven. Around two centuries ago The Barony of
Rose had been forcibly taken out of what once had been
Baron Brickner's territory.  The alliance between
Terrance Bristol and Mayor Rose of Rosehaven backed by
the priestly power of Baladus Vargrend had been
responsible.  Sometime after Rose became a baron, The
City Council of Rosehaven began electing the city's
Mayors.  The current mayor of Rosehaven was Bernadine
Belgado's father.

Bellany was a little amazed that Belgado would even
talk to her since Bristol was snubbing her and
Rosehaven was a city that straddled the Augustana River
and was thus half in The Barony of Bristol and half in
The Barony of Rose. Natalie Rose was certainly snubbing
her.  Perhaps free trade on the river between all
baronies was more important to Rosehaven than baronial
squabbles.  On the other hand, the reason Bernadine was
kind to her might be much simpler.  Belgado preferred
women to men.  Bellany remembered the soft caress of
Bernadine's lust when they had been out touring shops
together.  She smiled at the memory.

Jordell's gay taunts did not seem to faze his opponent.
Bellany realized that this young man must have had
better coaching and a more even temper than the last
one she had seen.  Jordell actually had to work.  Yet
he was an artist.  His movements were rapid and precise
and he was quite lithe and graceful, more like a dancer
than a warrior.  It was a pleasure to watch him and
Bellany took note of each move that she had not seen
before.  The match ended with Jordell up by two points.
Bellany cheered and joined the line of people who were
shaking the hands of the competitors.

Bellany first shook the hands of the loser since he was
a little easier to get to.  "You fought a fine match
Maxfield and you kept your head.  It was a pleasure to
watch you both.  I am a student of the rapier myself.
I wish I could dance as well as you and Jamie."

"You said his name as if he were a she.  I am curious,
is there anything to his taunts?"

"Jamie, er Lord Jordell is a bit... eccentric."
Bellany smiled.  "Some of the boys from the northern
baronies seem to think all masters of the rapier are
ah... like Jamie.  Is that true?"

"The rapier is a very popular blade with men of the
city and elves.  Just because a woman can learn to
handle the rapier does not make its masters any less
masculine.  In a way we must be more masculine, milady.
A man who fights with a rapier does not hide behind
heavy armor.  He faces his opponent and death directly.
Combat with the rapier requires speed and wit.  The
outcome is often decided more rapidly than combat with
any other blade."

"Well said." Bellany smiled.

"Tell me Milady, will you be at the ball tonight?"

Bellany frowned.  "I don't think so.  I am Bellany
Norwit and Bristol is snubbing me.  If you hear talk of
The Fallen Angel of Vargrend's..."

"That is you?" Maxfield asked

Bellany nodded.

"If you do not mind my asking why do they call you
fallen?"

Bellany smiled enigmatically.  "My carriage was taken
by the enemy on the way to school last year," Bellany
said.  Then more quietly she whispered, "I spent last
year entertaining a tribe of orcs."  Bellany drew
strongly on the young man's lust.

"Aah."

"It was scandalous.  My pride and chaste reputation
were blown to flinders.  Thank goodness I still have my
health," Bellany said.

"Yes, yes health is the foundation of happiness," the
young swordsman grinned.

Bellany nodded, her coy smile concealed the power with
which she drew on the young man's lust.

"Oh Bellany, you mustn't steal all my prospects," Jamie
Jordell chimed in.

Bellany smiled.

"Women are all smoke and no fire.  You mustn't take
them seriously," Jamie said. "You can have much more
fun with a man."

Jordell shook a few more hands as the modest crowd of
congratulators paid their respects.

Since she was now close Bellany shook Jamie's hand.
"Congratulations Jamie.  The last time I saw you fight
you defeated your opponent with your tongue.  This time
you showed your true artistry."

"Oh but I would really like to defeat this one with my
tongue too."  Jamie winked.

Bellany squealed.

"You are so bad, Jamie," Bellany said.

"Rank has its privileges." Jordell smiled.

"Again congratulations," Bellany waved.  "It was nice
meeting you also Maxfield. I must see if I can find a
spot to stand for the crossbow event.  I doubt Bristol
will let me sit in _her_ bleachers."

"A Pleasure, milady," Maxfield said.
-------

Bellany raced off to the site of the crossbow event but
was only halfway there when she tripped and sailed past
a couple of young men talking.

"Ooo!" She squealed as she tripped over something that
felt suspiciously like a foot and fell headlong onto a
muddy patch in the trail.  She should have done a
handstand to a flip but it had just happened too
suddenly.  Her training in unarmed combat did kick in
quickly enough that she broke her fall properly, but
the finesse she was capable of was absent.

"Look, a soiled and fallen woman actually looking
soiled and fallen," George Gransward's sarcastic voice
bit the air.

"The truth is at last apparent from the outside,"
Blaxton said.

"Oh but I have forgotten my manners.  Please, let me
help you up, Lady Norwit," Gransward said
patronizingly.

Bellany cursed herself for not having realized George
Gransward had been up to no good.  She supposed he
would make some excuse to make her fall again, yet she
could not refuse his assistance since he outranked her.
She reached out with her left hand and as he pulled her
up her right hand was in motion.  Just as she had
suspected he let go of her hand when she was halfway
up.  She caught his retreating hand with her right
hand, jerked and twisted sideways catching hold of his
tunic with her left hand and pulling as he fell towards
her.

Splat! Gransward fell on his side and Bellany fell on
top of him rolling him onto his back.

Gransward looked genuinely surprised to be in the mud.

"Now who displays the truth?" Bellany asked from two
inches away from the young Lord's face.  At first his
lust had retreated from her as he found her a disgrace
but she caught it and jerked it just as savagely as she
had caught and jerked his hand.  Now she played with it
as she whispered, "Jamie would be so envious of me.
This morning it seemed he fancied having you in his
mud."  Bellany abruptly stood up and ran off.

The ladies grimaced as Bellany arrived and stood near
the bleachers.  The team crossbow competition was just
getting underway starting with the fixed targets.  The
wind was strong today, offering a real challenge to the
contestants at the longer ranges.

After lots were drawn to see which team was to start
the Harold made his announcement.  "To begin this event
Arnold Rees will shoot for the Academy of the Rose."

The crowd cheered politely.

"No Score," The Harold announced as the young man's
bolt finished to the right of the target's third ring.

Headmistress Vargrend appeared from behind Bellany.

"Young lady, have you no pride, you are filthy."

"I am sorry, Headmistress.  I fell in a puddle with a
little help from Lord Gransward, although I am sure he
will deny it.  It is no matter, though.  He got what
was coming to him.  I will clean up straight away after
the crossbow events.  Mother would kill me if I did not
tell the story in my letter.  Charles is much too brief
for her liking.  He simply gives the scores without the
story."

"This feud is getting out of hand," Headmistress
Vargrend snapped.

"I cannot argue with that, Headmistress. Yet when a
man's foot finds its way into a lady's path and trips
her up and then he conveniently lets her hand slip
while helping her up, I believe he deserves to have his
hand caught.  It is a pity the momentum of my backwards
fall launched him into the muck, but he might easily
have avoided his mud bath by not loosing his grip,"
Bellany said.  "It is bad enough that the ladies scorn
me without Lord Gransward and his lackey Blaxton adding
bodily injury to my list of woes."

Headmistress Vargrend nodded.  "I will see that Mary
has the key to the office.  You should file a written
report in case Lord Gransward persists in such
unmannerly behavior."

The Herald shouted above the whispered conversation,
"Next up is Charles Norwit of The Bristol Academy."
Before the crowd had finished its applause, Charles'
shot was away.

"Charles Norwit scores two points!  Next up will be
Vlad Nespet shooting for The Academy of the Rose."

"Ooo," The crowd buzzed as Nespet planted his bolt in
the first ring.

"Vlad Nespet with a three point shot takes the lead!
Next up is Erol Fobs shooting for the Bristol Academy,"
The Herald announced.

"Bulls-eye for Fobs, bringing Bristol's score to six.
Rees is now up for his second shot."

"Awww," the crowd mourned Rees' shot.  This time he had
overcorrected for the windage and had wound up no
better off than he had the first time when the wind had
carried his shot to the right of the rings.

"No score! Norwit is up next for The Bristol Academy,"
the Herald announced.

Charles' shot pierced the second ring for 3 points.
Shot followed shot and Bellany got no chance to relax.
Arnold Rees missed more often than not. The wind was
having a marked effect on his shooting.  Yet Vlad
Nespet was an excellent marksman.   Charles, never the
best with stationary targets, was doing markedly better
than his usual and Erol Fobs was doing a little better
yet.  On the fourth shot Bellany bit her lip as both
Charles and Fobs missed.

"And now the final shots, Ladies and Gentlemen.  The
match is close with the Academy of The Rose once again
in the lead with 16 points.  The Bristol Academy trails
by only one point with a score of 15."

Rees took his shot but missed once again and then
Charles stepped up with his usual bravado and released
his bolt without seeming to aim.

"Bulls-eye Norwit!" The Herald called.

"Ahhh!" The crowd applauded.

"Bristol Academy now leads 19 to 16.  Charles Norwith's
personal contribution stands at eleven points," The
Herald called and continued as the others took their
shots.  "Nespet pegged the outer ring for one point,
bringing his contribution to his teams score to
thirteen points.  He cannot help but have the single
highest individual performance score for the match.  He
brings the total for The Academy of the Rose to
seventeen points.  Fobs has the luxury of missing this
time up... But he most certainly does not!  A three
point hit for Fobs!  Fobs has scored a total of eleven
points for his team for the fixed range crossbow
competition.  The score stands at The Academy of the
Rose with sixteen points and the Bristol Academy with
twenty-two points!  The champions of this team crossbow
event are the young men of The Bristol Academy for
Boys!"

The next event was the ranged team crossbow
competition.  This time Charles scored twelve points
for his team to Fobs' eight.  Charles was definitely
improving at stationary targets and was better than
ever at moving ones.  On the other team, Nespet scored
ten points and the other young man scored a dismal six.


After the team events were over, Charles and Vlad
Nespet competed for the individual trophy.  Charles was
tailing slightly after the fixed targets but began to
catch up as they shot at the moving targets.  By the
third shot the two young men were tied at a score of 19
points apiece.  Nespet scored one point on his second
last shot while Charles missed completely.  Bellany
gritted her teeth as Nespet scored two more points to
complete his score at twenty-two points.  The wind was
making shooting difficult but these two young men were
so good that they were still scoring.  Charles stepped
up and instantly fired.

"Bulls-eye Norwit!" the Herald yelled.  "Norwit comes
from behind overtaking Nespet twenty-three points to
twenty-two!"

Bellany squealed.  She could not believe the way
Charles had risen to the occasion when he was put in a
difficult spot. His indomitable bravado had saved him
once again.

The line to shake Charles' hand was a long one but
Bellany did not dare leave to freshen up.  It just
would not be right not to congratulate Charles on his
win.

"I had no idea they were having a mud pie competition.
Why was I not invited?" James Jordell said from just in
front of Bellany in the line.

"It was a private affair that George Gransward footed.
Then he offered to pull me out and let his grip slip,
but that suited me just fine.  I caught his hand with
my other and he wound up taking a bath himself."

"It serves him right.  A gentleman cannot afford such
manners," Jamie said.  "He will reap what he has sown."
Jamie turned back and shook Charles' hand.

"Congratulations, Bulls-Eye Norwit!  Oh Charles, that
was so magnificent.  You have such finesse! I want your
bolt in my bolt hole."  Jamie winked.

Charles blushed crimson as he shook Lord Jordell's
hand.  "Thank you Lord Jordell, uh I think," Charles
said sheepishly.

Bellany giggled.  "You are so bad, Jamie.  All the men
are scared of you."

"Well, not all of them." Jordell winked and waved as he
sauntered off."

"I heard you talking to Lord Jordell about the mud.
Gransward is such an ass to pick on you like that,"
Charles said.  "It does not surprise me considering he
and Bianca Bristol are an item.  If he did not outrank
me I would give him what he has coming," Charles
growled.  "I am so sorry Belle."

"It's okay; I will just pay better attention to where I
am going next time.  I was in such a hurry to see you
shoot I did not notice the trick boot.  I had better go
get cleaned up. I will see you at Church in the
morning.  Have fun at the ball tonight if I do not see
you before the end of the tourney, Charles."

"Thank you Bellany.  I sure hope things will change for
you," Charles sighed.

"There is always hope, Charles.  Congratulations on
your wins today.  You are doing so well as the king of
the crossbow; that certainly cannot hurt."  Bellany
shook Charles' hand, waved and rushed off to get
cleaned up.

She arrived back at the tournament just in time to see
the last half of the jousting.  Lord Carnarvon had
barely managed to beat his first opponent, only to be
thoroughly trounced by the next.  Steefl fared
similarly against the first opponent barely managing to
keep his horse while the other man fell.

Bellany shouldered her way through the crowd looking
for Cooyman but was unable to find him.  She stood on
her tiptoes to watch as Steefl thundered towards the
second, more skilled opponent.  "Ooo!" she squealed as
Steefl shot off the rear end of his mount.  She noted
that Steefl's opponent had fared no better and was also
on the ground.  Bellany shouldered her way to the rail
and arrived just about the same time as the leech.

She crouched and looked into the slit in Steefl's helm
as the leach checked him.  "Are you okay Abraham?" She
asked.

"I am bruised but bolstered by your concern, I shall
prevail, milady."

Steefl rose, clutching at the dent in the side of his
breastplate.

There were a few tense minutes while the two combatants
got themselves horsed and ready again.  This time
Bellany was at the rail when the knights hurtled
towards one another.

Bellany wondered if maybe Steefl was riding a little
too swiftly.  His opponent's lance snapped against his
breastplate but Steefl stayed the course as if made of
stone.  His opponent attempted to do the same but
flipped backwards out of his saddle as if shot from a
catapult.  He landed hard and did not move.  Bellany
held her breath and then let it go as she heard the man
groan.

After congratulating Abraham Steefl, Bellany hurried to
the girls' side to watch the pie bake-off.  She hung
back so as not to offend the ladies.  Mary won third
place.  Bellany was about to get in line to
congratulate her in spite of the frowns of the other
ladies when Timothy Evin walked past her giving her a
meaningful smile.  A few moments later she met him at
the thicket where he pounded her rump madly as he
thrust into her wet, wanton cleft.  He came almost
violently, jetting her with his seed for the second
time that day.  His gasps were audible as she pulled
his power into her.

Bellany was so tired that she had let her control
slide.  After their tryst Timothy seemed a bit glassy-
eyed but very happy.  She embraced him fondly and
nibbled his earlobe briefly before he had to run off
for fear of the chaperones.  She suspected he would be
tired enough to go to bed early.  It was a lucky thing
scholarship recipients were seldom invited to balls.
She doubted that he would be able to stay awake for
such a party.  She felt marvelous if a bit guilty.  As
she walked towards her room to get cleaned up for her
meeting with Bernadine Belgado, she thoroughly drained
the life from the seed within her.  Timothy had been so
delicious.

-------

This ends, Baladus, chapter 60 of The Chronicles of
Rapina.
The story continues in chapter 61, The Fallen Angel.

Copyright 2004 by Rapina