The Woodward Academy, Year 5

Chapter 11: April

David walked slowly along the perimeter of the castle's courtyard. Penny was at his side. He had come to the castle just to get away and do some thinking, but he didn't mind having the company.

"You have had a very busy year," Penny said. "Dealing with those hooligans in The Clan has been taking up far too much of your time."

David grunted. "Well, they seem to like being a problem, that's for sure."

"Is there nothing more you can do to stop them?"

"Nothing legal. I could stop them any time I wanted, Penny, but to do it would get me sent to prison. The same with anyone else on the DIRT. I mean, really, most of The Clan is first- and second-year students. We could have wiped the floor with them in any encounter we've had, if we'd wanted to. But we'd have gotten in a lot of trouble for doing so."

"Yes. Being law-abiding certainly does limit your ability to fight back effectively."

David grunted in agreement.

"Is that why you came up here? To get away from the turmoil on campus?"

"Not really. I was just trying to figure out why Bob decided to join The Clan. I would have expected a hundred years of wisdom to have taught him better."

"Perhaps dragons learn slowly," Penny offered.

David grinned. "Don't let Bispy hear you say that."

Penny giggled. Then she turned serious. "Did you wish to be alone? If you came up here to think..."

David shook his head. "No, not really. You and I don't spend enough time together anymore, and I'm just as glad for your company. The truth is that there's not really anything to think about. I don't know why he did what he did, other than because he's mad at me. I don't know how to stop him from being mad at me, so..." He shrugged.

"Well, in that case, perhaps you should stop thinking about it."

"Probably, but you know me. I'm not good at just letting problems go like that."

"No, you're a fixer. You can't leave things broken."

"Nope."

As they'd been talking, they'd passed by some of the outbuildings in the castle. Suddenly, David stopped. "You know, I've never been in any of these outer structures? Like, I don't even know what this one is."

"It was the bakery."

"That wasn't in the keep?"

"No. It takes up too much space, and gets much too warm."

"Want to explore?"

"I've already looked, but I'll join you."

David went in and looked around. The building was almost completely taken up by one room. In the room were five work tables, permanently stained with the remnants of flour and dough. Eight ovens sat waiting to bake the breads and pastries. Empty flour bags sat in one corner. A door in the far wall stood open. Not able to resist, David went and looked in.

The door led to a storeroom. What had been full bags of flour sat, unopened, but their contents rotted away. Bread crumbs adorned shelves where animals had nibbled on the few items left when the castle was abandoned. As David turned, he saw more empty flour bags, folded neatly and set on a shelf. The rest of the room was empty, except for shelves.

David stepped back out into the front room, where Penny had waited for him.

"Not much to see here," David said.

"No. It was simply the bakery. The bakers lived in the keep, of course, and so all of their housing needs were in there."

David started to leave, but suddenly he came to a dead stop. Penny would have bumped into him, but as a ghost, she passed halfway through him before stopping.

"What is it?" she asked, concerned, once she had extricated herself from inside him.

"Those bags," David said, looking to his right.

"What about them? They're merely empty flour bags."

"Right. Thrown on the floor in a heap. Yet I found a whole bunch of empty flour bags in the back room. They were folded neatly and put on a shelf for later use. Now, I can't imagine the baker that did that, also did this."

"Well, there was more than one baker, David. Perhaps they each did it their own way."

"Maybe, but, you know, the kind of person who is enough of a neat freak to fold empty flour bags, probably wouldn't tolerate this kind of mess. They'd probably clean it up themselves, if nothing else."

"So, what are you saying?"

David walked over to the pile, and began shifting the empty flour bags. There were several dozen of them in the pile, and it took a few armloads to get them all moved. When he was done, he was faced with... the floor.

"Well, damn," David said.

"What did you expect to find?" Penny asked.

"Some kind of secret. I don't know... a thousand-year-old Playboy magazine."

"A what?" Penny asked.

"Never mind," David said. He ran his hand over the floor, but one piece looked and felt very much like another. He knocked, and it had the usual, hollow sound of knocking on wood.

That was when David stopped.

He backed up about five feet, and knocked again. The knock was not hollow, but very solid. He moved back to the corner, and knocked once more. Again, the hollow sound was there.

"I thought so."

Penny came over. "What did you find?"

"A hollow spot. Most of this floor is wood laid down right on solid rock. The floor is there merely as a comfort. Right here, however, the wood isn't touching rock. Why not? The only reason I can think of is that there's a hole here. But how to get to the hole..."

David looked at it, and then backed up. He aimed his wand at the floor, and cast a levitation charm. Slowly, an irregular-shaped piece of the floor came loose and floated upward. He pushed it to the side, and saw that it hid a square hole, but that the boards had been cut in such a way to hide the regular shape.

The two looked down into a hole, which had a ladder attached to the side of it.

"Some kind of hiding place?" Penny asked.

"I'm not sure. Care to do some more exploring?" David asked.

"Certainly. This is new to me, and new is always good."

David chuckled. He wondered how long it would be before he thought the same way.

The two descended the ladder, which went down quite a ways. David estimated they'd dropped at least thirty feet before they found a solid stone floor beneath them. David used his wand to give them light to see by, and they found themselves in a tunnel hewn out of the mountain.

Well, probably not hewn, David thought to himself. More likely the mountain was built with this tunnel in place to begin with.

The pair walked down the tunnel until they came to a different-colored square of floor. The tunnel ended here, and they looked around for a second, wondering what the purpose might be, until the floor began to descend beneath them.

"Rock lift," David said to Penny, who nodded in agreement.

The rock lift didn't drop all that far before it settled into a platform. The platform was raised from the floor around it, and there were narrow stairs leading down from it.

Once the two were on the floor, there was another tunnel. This one took a couple turns, and then emptied into a huge, cavernous space. The space didn't contain anything, but there was dirt on the stone floor.

"What the hell is this for?" David asked aloud.

"I'm not sure. I think you'd have to ask Lord Woodward."

"I wonder..." David said to himself.

"Wonder what?"

"A space this big, seems like it would be good for storing things, but not much else. But how are you going to get anything in here? The entrance under the bakery is the only way we saw to get down here. I wonder if there's another way into this room."

The two walked to the far wall. What they found was fairly obvious, once you were close enough to it.

"These are huge doors. Like... the size on a barn."

Penny said, "Perhaps that's exactly what this is, then."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if we came down far enough, we might be on the terrace. In the days when the castle was used as a castle, they kept grazing animals on the terrace, for food."

"That's right! I'd forgotten! So this might be just one big barn. But then, why the weird route up to the castle?"

"Easier to get to the animals?"

"Not particularly. Especially not if they kept those sacks on top of the entrance all the time."

"Secret entrance? Perhaps only used if the castle was under siege? It would allow you to get to the herd without being seen."

David nodded. "Yes, that's probably it. I wonder if there's a smaller door. There are three sets of these barn-sized doors..."

After several more minutes of looking, they found it. There was a regular, human-sized door in the wall. It didn't, however, seem to have a handle.

"What was that..." David said out loud to himself. Finally, he was able to pull it up. "Well, might as well give it a try..."

David raised his hand and said, "Salayani tekonda."

Unexpectedly, this spell actually worked. The door clicked, and then slid open along the wall. They were assaulted by the bright light of the afternoon.

David and Penny stepped out into the light. There were trees blocking their view from any passing students, so they didn't worry too much about giving away the school's secret. Turning, they were a little concerned. They couldn't see the door; the mountain looked solid.

Stepping over, David slowly reached out his hand to where he knew the door to be. His hand passed right through the illusion.

"Very clever," Penny said. "Whether or not the door is closed, it never looks like there's an opening."

David nodded. "I wonder why Lord Woodward never mentioned this secret entrance to me."

"I don't know. Perhaps you should ask him."

"I think I will. You want to come with me?"

"No. I don't care to be in Lord Woodward's presence very much. He intimidates me."

"Intentionally?"

"No, I don't think so. Just because he is who he is."

David nodded. "Well, in that case, I guess I'll talk to you later." David faded to ghost form so that he could give her a warm kiss. Then he closed the door to the outside and went off to find Lord Woodward.

"I'm sorry we're starting so late," David said. "It was my turn in the patrol rotation, and I didn't want to screw up the schedule. It was hard enough working one out."

"It's all right, David," Olissa said. "I don't mind."

The two were currently riding in a carriage from the school down to Bolmont. David had wanted to do something special for Olissa's birthday, and he couldn't really find anything fun or interesting to do in Gorumshead, so he'd had to go further afield.

For her part, Olissa merely sat next to him, her arm looped through his, her head on his shoulder. David always did something nice for her on her birthday, but this was the first year he'd taken her out.

When they arrived in Bolmont, the driver dropped them off at a theater.

"We're going to see a play?" she asked.

"A dance troupe, actually."

"Not ballet..." she said. Olissa didn't really care for ballet.

"No, not ballet," David assured her with a smile.

"Good."

The two went in and sat down. The dance troupe had a variety of styles, and covered the entire range of emotions, from humor to love to sadness. By the time the performance had ended, Olissa was snuggled tightly against David, enjoying the show.

Once the house lights came up, Olissa looked up at David.

"Now what?"

"Well, now that we've seen how the professionals do it, we're going to go make fools of ourselves trying to dance."

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Yep."

David hired another carriage to take them across town to a public ballroom. This was a place where people would come to dance, and to watch others dance. Though drinks were served, they tended toward wine, rather than liquor. David ordered champagne for them, and they sat together, watching the "advanced" dancers on the upper ballroom floor.

"I could never move like that," Olissa said.

"You could, if you learned. You are certainly graceful enough."

Olissa snorted. "I'm too fat to move that way."

"No, you're not. You move far more agilely than that while you're playing your melodium. But you don't need to dance that well tonight. Come on, let's go to the beginner's floor."

David led Olissa onto the lower floor, where casual and beginning dancers were moving semi-gracefully around the floor in time to the music.

"I don't even know the moves, David."

"That's why I get to lead," he said. Not that he knew many of the moves, either, but he could hide that fact by being in charge of the dance.

The first song was a waltz, and David, like most people, knew the vague idea of what this was supposed to look like. He moved Olissa around the dance floor as the music played, and she followed his lead, moving as assuredly as she could, given the circumstances.

The next song slowed way down, and was obviously designed as a "rest" song. David gently pulled Olissa closer, and she put her arms around his neck. He softly gripped her waist, and they swayed more than moved. Olissa was looking up into his eyes, and he was gazing right back at her. Before the song ended, he kissed her softly.

They spent quite some time dancing, resting after every few songs. David wasn't trying to wear her out, he just wanted to spend some time with her in public. Finally, though, he felt it was time for the plan for the night to move to the next stage.

David hired another carriage, and had it take them to his Bolmont home. Olissa took in a deep breath when the carriage turned into his driveway. Every time she saw the house, it was exciting for her. It was just such a huge mansion that she couldn't ever get used to it.

David paid the driver, and then the couple went in. David immediately escorted Olissa up to the second floor, where there was a fire going in the fireplace already.

"I came down here earlier today, to get the house set up for you. Otherwise, it'd be really cold in here."

Olissa smiled at him, warming herself by the fire. David stepped up behind her and stroked her arms, then pulled her back against him, his arms wrapped around her waist, her head leaned back against his shoulder.

"Let's go into the sun room," David said quietly.

"It's just past midnight," Olissa objected good-naturedly. "I don't think you'll see much sun."

"No, but the full moon is up. And besides, it's not really the sky I'm worried about seeing."

Olissa smiled as she allowed David to lead her into the next room. Because the sun room was right behind the fireplace, it was warm, despite having a full wall of windows. The moon blazed into the room, its full brightness bathing the room in pale light. David removed his dress coat and tossed it onto one of the loungers. As Olissa moved over to the windows to look out, David also removed his shoes and socks, now barefoot against what was, thankfully, a fairly warm wood floor.

David moved to Olissa, pulling her to him gently, but holding her firmly in place. She didn't resist, nor did she interfere as his hands moved to the buttons on her blouse. She leaned back against him as his fingers slowly opened the shirt. It wasn't long before David was finished with that task, but his fingers continued downward, finding the zipper on her skirt. He slid that down, as well, and it tumbled to the floor.

"Come sit with me," David said quietly, and released her. She stepped out of her skirt as she turned around, to see David moving to the end of one of the lounge chairs. There was enough room for her to sit in front of him on the end of the chair, so she knew what he wanted. She stepped out of her shoes before walking to him. As she moved, she also got rid of her blouse. Now, wearing only her underwear, she turned and sank down onto the end of the chair, pressing her back against him as he scooted forward to press himself against her.

David ran his hands across Olissa's stomach, gently caressing her skin. She smiled in enjoyment, closing her eyes for a minute and just feeling his touch. When he moved his hands up to the front clasp on her bra, she made no move at all. The release of her ample breasts from their satiny prison caused a slight sigh to pass her lips, but nothing more.

Looking over her shoulder, David saw how the moonlight played across the chocolate skin of Olissa's breasts. Her nipples were standing proud, and he lifted his hands to let his fingers toy with each one. He leaned down and kissed her on the neck as he played, and Olissa moaned lowly.

After a couple minutes, David decided it was time to move on. He let loose of Olissa and rose from the chair, keeping a hand on her shoulder so she wouldn't get up. He moved around in front of her, and then gently pushed her backward until she was lying down on the chair. David reached down and grabbed hold of the waistband of her panties, and began to tug. She helped him by lifting her hips, and he quickly slid her panties down off her legs.

With Olissa nude, he knelt in front of her, and then urged her to part her knees, which she did. David leaned in and slowly swiped his tongue over the entire length of her pussy, with a last flick of his tongue against her clit. Olissa trembled in pleasure, and her juices began to flow immediately.

For the longest time, David worked over his partner, pushing her higher and higher. Finally, the dam broke and Olissa cried out, her body shuddering as her orgasm washed over her. David stopped licking her as she came, but started to run his fingers softly up and down the tops of her thighs, heightening the sensations and continuing her orgasm without overpowering her.

Once Olissa's orgasm began to settle, David rose and quickly removed his own clothing. With that done, he stood and looked down at his lovely partner. She still had her eyes closed, and he enjoyed watching her breasts heave as she took deep breaths, trying to settle from a very good orgasm.

When Olissa finally opened her eyes and saw David looking at her, she smiled at him. She raised her hands to him in invitation, imploring him to join her on the chair. David did so, kneeling above her and caressing her face with his free hand while the other supported him.

"That was great," she said.

"Want another one?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," she affirmed.

David shifted his position and pressed the head of his cock to her opening. Slowly, tenderly, he pressed into her depths. Olissa sighed and mewled as she felt him filling her up. When he was fully inside of her, he stopped and looked deep into her eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Olissa. Even if I am about twenty minutes late."

Olissa giggled. "That's okay. I was willing to wait for this. Besides, the dancing was kind of nice."

"I'm glad you liked it," he told her, then he started to move inside of her.

"Mm. Didn't like it as much as this, though," she said.

David smiled. He didn't increase his pace, but maintained a slow, smooth rhythm inside of her. He wasn't in a hurry; he wanted her to enjoy herself.

Olissa was certainly doing that. She closed her eyes and let the pleasure wash over her, feeling every inch of his cock as it slid in and out of her pussy. She sighed as David ran his fingers over her nipple. She squeaked slightly when he leaned down and took her other nipple between his lips, but then smiled and relaxed into the wonderful feeling his lips and tongue were causing.

David continued to work Olissa over, keeping his moves gentle, his actions smooth. He could sense that her heat was once again rising, and he was happy to let that happen at its own pace. He continued to slide in and out of her, increasing his pace only slightly, and adjusting his angle to perhaps hit a better spot inside her.

Apparently his effort was successful, as Olissa's passion jumped quickly upward. Her hips began to rock against him, and she whimpered as he made love to her. He knew she wanted him to go faster, but he also knew it wasn't necessary. Her body was clearly on the verge of climax, and he didn't want to rush that. Instead, he tried his best to keep her right there on the edge, not tipping over...

Olissa's body was having none of that, however. Her hips rocked up into him of their own accord, and that sent her into orgasm, her hips slamming up against David, and she cried out in passion and joy.

David, who had been holding back his own orgasm for some time, now let loose, filling her with his spunk and grunting in his own pleasure. The two convulsed as one for a few moments until David settled down and slowly withdrew from Olissa. He helped her into a sitting position, and then he slipped in behind her, holding her tenderly. She was not yet coherent, and couldn't even hold herself up, but David kept her from going anywhere.

It took a couple more minutes before Olissa was able to talk. Before she said anything, however, she turned her head and kissed David as passionately as she ever had before.

"Thank you," she said, her voice full of meaning.

David smiled softly at her, but didn't say anything in reply.

After relaxing for a little while longer, the two decided to take a quick shower - they were pretty sticky - and then head back to the school. They both had class in the morning, so they couldn't dawdle too much. David had brought his glidecar to Bolmont earlier in the day, so they rode it back to Gorumshead.

As they were walking along Thunderbird Dorm, Olissa said, "Thanks, David. This was a great birthday."

"I'm glad you liked it."

As they neared her dorm room, she asked, "Would you mind if I slept over?"

"You're always welcome," David said. They continued past her dorm room and walked on to his. David let her in, and she headed back to the bedroom.

David stopped for a second to say hello to Jailla and make sure nothing had happened while he was away. Seeing that things were good in that respect, he said good night to his familiar and then joined Olissa in the bedroom.

"David?" Jailla asked.

David looked up from the model he was building. He was still working on the Spirit of Chicago that Ellie had given him. He didn't have all that much spare time that he wasn't filling with school things, and so it wasn't nearly finished yet.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"I wanted to ask you about Olissa... and Anne."

"What about them?" David asked, returning to the model. He could talk and glue things at the same time.

"I know you love Olissa. Do you have feelings for Anne?"

David set down the glue. He held the piece he was working on steady as he looked up at Jailla. "I'm not sure. She's a lot nicer now than she used to be, that's for sure. It's hard for me to say if that has some effect on the way I feel about her."

"Well, I would assume you didn't like the earlier her, so it would have to."

"That's not quite what I mean. You know how you enjoy something that has been improved more than you like something that was good all along?"

"I know what you mean, yes..."

"I wonder if my feelings for Anne aren't kind of like that. I like her so much now because I'm comparing her to how she used to be, and it makes her look even better than she is."

"So, you think your feelings are artificial?"

"Not artificial. I mean, that implies that I don't actually like her, and I do. I just don't know if I love her, or if I'm just... meh, I don't know."

"Well, would you give up Olissa for her?" Jailla asked.

"Olissa isn't mine to give up," David replied sourly.

"She is, in a sense. You're still intimate with her. Last night, you spent a very long evening with her. She slept in your bed. So, the question is, if Anne wanted to be exclusive, would you accept that?"

"I have always honored those kinds of requests from my girlfriends. I was exclusive with Lise."

"You love Lise," Jailla pointed out.

"Granted. What's this about? Did Eric say something to you?" Eric was Anne's familiar. He was a fruit bat.

"No. It was last night's date that got me to wondering about it. Was last night an attempt to convince her to go out with you for real? You've never taken her out for her birthday before."

"While I really wish Olissa would date me, I've given up hope that will ever happen. Actually, last night was mainly because I couldn't think of anything to get her as a present."

"Ah, I see," Jailla said, bobbing his head. "Nothing that wouldn't be misconstrued as a romantic gift, you mean."

David looked at Jailla. "The problem is that seeing it as a romantic gift wouldn't be misconstruing anything."

Jailla nodded.

"So, what about Anne? What if she wants to be more serious?" Jailla asked.

"I'll worry about that if and when it happens. I've had enough failed relationships here in school already, including Olissa. I see no reason to push myself into another one. If it happens, it happens. If she just wants a playmate, then that's where we'll stay."

"Fair enough," Jailla said, letting the issue drop. David then returned to building his model.

David sat in his workroom, staring at the mixture in frustration. For months, he'd been trying to create a workable high-levitation spell: something that would allow people to float up the side of the mountain. He had hoped to use it to help the DIRT get around more quickly. Unfortunately, while he could, in fact, make people levitate higher off the ground - his highest attempt was fifty feet - they were so unstable that they really couldn't move, and simply flailed around until the potion wore off and they descended to the ground.

Sighing, he set the potion aside for the moment, and turned to his other project for the day. The vampires at Travaysal were running low on Lust Less, and so he needed to make up a large batch of it. He kept large quantities of the ingredients on hand, because he had to make this potion every couple months for them. It was enriching his bank account rather nicely, not that he cared.

As David was getting the ingredients together, he heard raised voices coming from the next room. The next room, of course, was Sam's classroom. Curious, David decided to see what was going on. He faded to complete invisibility - he didn't want to interrupt if it was merely a spirited class session - and then stuck his head through the wall.

What he saw caused instant rage within him.

Two students were on either side of Sam, trapping her between her desk and the wall, with no way past. There were three more students, about ten feet back, but clearly part of the situation, as well.

"I said get back to your seats!" Sam demanded. She sounded stern, but David could hear the slight quiver of worry in her voice.

"Why should we?" the leader of the group - David knew they had to be Clan members - asked. "You can't stop us."

Just then, the guy grabbed hold of Sam's arm. He then made a huge mistake. He grabbed Sam's breast and squeezed.

"Get your filthy hands off of me!" Sam snarled.

"Five of us, bitch. Only one of you. What you going to do? You lay a finger on us, you lose your job."

"Luckily, I don't have that problem," David said, unseen.

"Wha-" the guy grabbing Sam tried to say, but suddenly couldn't talk. This was because David had grabbed him by the throat, and was squeezing so hard that he couldn't even breathe. David pushed the guy back until he was forced to let go of Sam. He then hauled him forward, actually stepping back through the wall. The other guy, being solid, was quite unable to follow, and when he contacted the writing board on the wall, his nose was shattered. David let go at that point, and the guy, screaming in pain, collapsed to the floor.

David had instantly gotten an idea of how to deal with these punks, and while he was back in his workroom, he grabbed a potion that he kept on a shelf. He didn't use it just yet, but moved back into Sam's classroom.

The other Clan member who had been close to Sam was grabbing at her now. David, still invisible, took hold of that punk's throat, and threw him forcefully over Sam's desk. He tumbled to the floor in a heap, having hit his head as he fell.

David moved slightly away from Sam, just to make sure no one thought she was doing what was about to happen. He screamed out, "Tenebray germerde!"

Suddenly, it was as if the light in the room began to swirl. It all headed for where David - still invisible - was standing. The edges of the room descended into darkness, which steadily filled the room, moving inward until even David was engulfed in utter blackness. A few of the students screamed, afraid of what was coming.

David faded back to solid form, now that no one could see him anyway. He took out the potion he'd grabbed earlier, and swallowed it all. His body was immediately surrounded by a magical blue flame, blasting angrily in every direction as he moved. However, despite the flame, nothing beyond a couple of feet from David was illuminated. The blackness spell engulfed even this light. David knew where his enemies were, however.

"Bodani bich!" David screamed, and a red, whiplike tendril shot out of his wand. It sliced across the chest of one of the three people still standing. He screamed in pain and stumbled backward, out of David's sphere of light.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" one of the three still standing screamed to the others.

David flicked his hand, casting a few silent spells. The storage shelves along the wall slid quickly across the floor, blocking both doors out of the classroom.

"Oh, no," David said blackly. "You fucks are not escaping me that easily." The sheer level of malice dripping from David's voice was scaring even Sam, and she knew that she was in no danger whatsoever.

David sensed that one of the two prone Clansmen was rising. He turned to see which one. It turned out to be the one he'd thrown over the desk.

"You fuck! I'll kill you!"

"SLAPPYWAG!" David screamed, using the right arm motion. The guy immediately collapsed to the floor, puking his guts out. He started to sneeze while throwing up, which was just a disgusting thing to watch. He ended up inhaling some of his own vomit as he sneezed, which started a coughing fit. David knew that he would not be a problem any time soon.

David reached down and grabbed the leader of the group from where he lay on the floor.

"So you think you can lay hands on a professor, do you?" David snarled.

"Fuck off! You can't touch us!"

"Oh, I can't, can I?" David said evilly. "Well, if I can't touch you, then I think that perhaps I should prevent you from touching anyone else!"

David faded to ghost form, the man still in his grasp. The guy screamed in discomfort as the fade happened to him, too. David then grabbed both of the man's arms and held them out in front of the guy. With that, he pushed the guy toward the wall, until his hands and forearms had passed into the wall. At that moment, David faded back to solid form.

Of course, the Clan leader did, too. Unfortunately for him, his forearms were still buried in the wall. The man let loose a horrid screech of pain and agony as his arms were completely destroyed by being integrated with the solid stone of the wall.

"Be glad it wasn't your motherfucking head, you jackass," David growled. The man barely heard him over his own pain and screams.

Having fully dealt with the two that had actually had the nerve to touch Sam, David turned on the other three. He had enough vision to see that they had huddled at the back of the classroom, completely unclear of exactly how to deal with the walking vision of Death Incarnate before them.

David stood in front of the front row of desks. He could see a few of the students looking at him in awe and obvious fear. David wondered just what to do, then got a mischievous idea.

Well, she told me to practice...

David focused his attention, and then held his arms out to his sides. The magical fire still engulfing his body - for this potion did not stop when he ghosted himself - shot out toward the walls. David concentrated, and the fire began to swirl, forming a vortex in each direction. When it reached the sides of the room, David struggled a bit, but managed to bend the fiery vortexes, allowing them to travel back along the walls, until they had reached the back of the room, where the three Clan members waited, actually huddled together in terror.

Their terror was joined by others when David turned the vortexes one more time and, in a quick and awful rush, slammed the two vortexes together right on top of the three guys. Two girls screamed in panic at what was going to happen...

But nothing did. It was, after all, magical flame. The three boys had shouted in fear, but it didn't take them long to figure out that they weren't being injured.

Before they could make use of that knowledge, David ended his pyromandy, and the vortexes evaporated. He then let loose of the darkness spell, and the room's light returned to normal. Another spell extinguished the blue flame in which he had been engulfed.

Somehow, however, David's mere countenance was more terrifying than all of his trickery had been. He walked back to face down the three Clansmen, now literally shaking in their shoes.

"If you ever try to lay hands on another teacher in this school, I will have you expelled." He didn't know how he'd do that, but he would manage. His real message came next, however. "If you ever try to lay hands on Professor Stott again, I will take you up to the top of the South Tower of the castle, and I will throw you off. There are no Sentinel Trees to save you. I will watch in satisfaction as you plummet to your death, eighty feet below, your bones shattering into thousands of pieces against the castle foundation. Your internal organs will rupture, and your blood will leak out of every orifice of your body... including some you don't have yet."

Several students, including the three before him, looked about ready to throw up at this description.

David finished by saying, "And as you lie there, staring up at me looking down on you, I will smile and wave, like this," David said, lifting his hand and wiggling just his fingers at them. The look on his face made it entirely clear that he wasn't bluffing even a little bit.

"Hold out your hands," David ordered them. Not a one of the three even considered back talk, let alone resistance. David used the handcuff hex on them, and also used a spell to chain the three of them together, to keep them under control.

Turning, David waved his hand, and the shelves moved back to their usual spots, away from the door. He pulled out his mirror and called the infirmary.

"Yes, David?" Annie asked.

"Your assistance is needed... eventually... in Prof. Stott's classroom. No rush."

"Right," Annie said, and fogged off.

David walked up to Sam. "You okay?"

She just hugged him, and gave him a deep, soul-warming kiss in response. David was even able to ignore the continued cries of anguish from the guy next to him while Sam kissed him like that.

When they broke their kiss, however, David found the guy annoying.

"Shut the fuck up!" David snarled, then slammed the man's face into the wall. This rendered him unconscious finally, and blissfully silent.

"You're going to get in trouble for this," Sam warned.

"Oh, I don't think so," David disagreed. "I don't think Prof. Hellerhan has the stones to even question me on an issue like this one."

Sam smirked at him. "You have certainly gotten more confident over the years."

"I know what I'm doing now. I had excellent teachers."

"Uh-huh," Sam said. "Thank you, David. This could have gotten really ugly."

"I'm well aware," David said.

Sam looked around, then back at him. "Yes, I guess you are."

It took Annie over half an hour to recover the guy out of the wall. David could have made her life easier by ghosting the man, but that was not about to happen, because it would ease his suffering. She had cured the slappywag hex fairly quickly, but that didn't mean the guy felt better. Though he was no longer puking his guts out, he still looked green and unhappy. The other three merely sat and waited. David wanted to make sure that Annie could, in fact, get the guy out of the wall.

Class had already been dismissed, and so it was just David, Annie, Sam, and the Clansmen. Little was said between the three of them, and the one time that any of the Clansmen had tried to speak, David had glared him into terrified silence.

Just as Annie was freeing David's victim, Dean Lengel showed up with the Board of Discipline in tow.

"What the hell happened here?" Dean Lengel asked in consternation.

"The Clan crossed a big red line that no one on this campus gets to cross," David said.

"What, did they insult your mother?" Prof. Hellerhan said snidely.

David stared at the man blankly. "My mother and I are not on speaking terms."

"Sam?" Dean Lengel asked.

"These five were apparently intent on assaulting me. David... I'm guessing was in his workroom, which is on the other side of that wall... anyway, he... um... stopped them."

"Stopped?" Prof. Hellerhan demanded. "That boy no longer has any hands!"

"Then he will have difficulty in assaulting Prof. Stott, now won't he?" David asked reasonably. "Therefore, I stopped him."

"Once again, you have far overreacted to the situation," Prof. Hellerhan started. David interrupted him immediately.

"Yeah, you know what, Professor? I did overreact. So, here's my promise. If they ever try to kill you, I... will... let... them."

Prof. Hellerhan's eyes went a little wide. Before he could react verbally, however, David continued.

"You have just suggested that the attempted rape of a professor does not warrant a vigorous response. I personally find that appalling. If I were you, I would be ashamed to be seen in public. Your reaction is almost worse than the actions of the Clan. They, at least, have the excuse of only being nineteen or twenty. What the fuck is your excuse, other than having your head buried so far up your ass you can breathe out your belly button?"

Dean Lengel didn't even try to hide her snicker at that.

"Now, I have to take these assholes to detention. Don't you ever tell me that defending a professor is unwarranted again, or Dean Lengel will have to expel me, because I will put your sorry ass in the infirmary for a few months. Step aside."

"I don't take orders from-"

"MOVE!" David bellowed. Prof. Hellerhan, and every other member of the Board, got quickly out of his way. David turned, but didn't have to utter a word. The three Clansmen were quickly on their feet. He jerked his hand, and they all went as fast as they could. The chain holding them together prevented them from running.

As David passed Prof. Hellerhan, he said, "You're a worm, Professor. And much like a worm, you are full of shit. Don't ever question my actions again. You just surrendered the moral authority to do so."

David had taken the Clansmen to detention, and had then attempted to return to his workroom. He was, however, waylaid by Sam, who took him to her apartment. He didn't get to leave for the entire weekend.

Now, however, David was on patrol. He was leading a three-person team with Charlie and Morgan. He chuckled silently to himself, to think that he was the one leading the two people who'd wanted his job.

"So," he said to them, extending his thought, "either one of you still want my job?"

"Hell, no," Morgan said quickly. David chuckled; Morgan's attitude had certainly changed through the year.

"No, not right now," Charlie said more circumspectly.

"You're expecting something major, aren't you?" Morgan asked David.

"Yes. I'm not sure when, but we're clearly going to have it out with The Clan at some point. I can only hope that not too many people get hurt in the mess."

"You're worried about The Clan getting hurt?" Charlie asked.

"Not really, no. I'm far more concerned with us, plus anyone else who might get in the middle of it."

Charlie nodded.

"What really happened on Friday?" Morgan asked. "I heard there was a problem in Prof. Stott's class, but not exactly what happened."

"The Clan tried to assault her. I taught them not to do that," David said. The three lesser Clansmen involved had already left the school of their own volition, because they didn't want to be anywhere near David. He was perfectly all right with that. The two major violators, having actually laid hands on Sam, had been summarily expelled by Dean Lengel.

"Yeah, they couldn't have picked a worse teacher to harass, could they?" Charlie said a bit derisively.

"Jealous much?" David asked.

Charlie kept his peace after that.

Around the middle of their patrol, the DIRT came upon a group of Clansmen. They were carving their names into one of the trees.

"All right, that's enough of that," David said.

The leader of the group turned to face them.

"Aw, hell. Bob, you know better than this. Defacing the school is a mandatory two days in detention."

"Who's going to take me there? You?" Bob challenged.

"If I have to."

Morgan started to move forward, but David held out his hand. "Bob is my responsibility. You two take the other four down to detention."

"You go ahead and try it. You'll be spending the next week in the infirmary," Bob said.

David nodded to Charlie and Morgan. As they moved forward, Bob prepared to spew fire.

David pulled his wand and yelled, "Pichac!" Bob was thrown forcefully to the ground.

"All right, out with the hands," Charlie said to the four Clansmen, as they looked at Bob, getting back to his feet.

"You are a dead man," Bob said to David, growling.

"Yes, I am," David said with a grin. "And you are not. Unless you'd like to become one, I'd suggest you back the fuck off. Now."

"You know I can take you apart."

"I know you can try," David said. "Nothing says you'll succeed."

Charlie and Morgan got handcuff hexes on the other four while David and Bob were verbally jousting. Seeing that the task had been completed, David said, "Take them to detention. Two days."

"What about you?" Morgan asked.

"I'll be fine," he assured them.

"Don't count on it," Bob said.

Once the others had left, David focused his full attention on Bob. "You think this is a smart play? What's your mother going to say when she finds out you've been causing trouble?"

"You're only humans. Who cares?"

"Apparently you do, since you chose to go to a human school."

"My mother sent me here."

"Ah, and so we come back to, what will she say when she finds out what you're up to?"

"I don't need to answer to you."

"Not as such, but you are going to detention."

"If you try it, I will incinerate you."

"Which will achieve very little."

"It will keep me from detention."

"No, it won't."

"I warned you before not to get in my way, David."

"Bob, you're a dragon. You may be long-lived, but you're still mortal. I'm not. There is literally nothing you can do to me."

"I can cause you a great deal of pain."

"Okay, true, you can. Except for one little thing."

"And what is that?"

David faded to his visible ghost form.

"Now, you can't. But I can still hurt you. See, you don't know enough wizard magic to hurt me, because you haven't been paying attention in class. I, on the other hand, know five years' worth of wizard magic, and I can plaster your sorry ass to the ground if I need to."

Bob glared at David. "Then do it."

"Not unless you give me no other choice. I have no desire to cause any kind of difficulty between the humans and the dragons. You are going to detention, because when you came to this school, you agreed to abide by its rules. Now, we're going to walk together to the detention house. If you give me any shit... well, we'll find out if you know enough to hurt me in this form."

Bob continued to glare, but then gave that up, and started walking. He remained silent for the entire rest of the trip to detention.

"Come in, David," Prof. Rutherford said. "How have your studies been going?"

"Well, I've managed some pretty interesting things so far, but I've lost my study partner, so it's not as easy for me to get large fires to play with anymore."

"Oh. Where did Bob go?"

"To The Clan," David said.

"Oh, dear. That could be a real problem."

"Yeah, I've already had to deal with him once."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that. Besides, weren't you supposed to be working on finesse, now, rather than size?"

"Yes, but it would still have been nice to have the option to keep working on it."

"That's true. Well, there's not much point in worrying about that now. Tell me what you've been up to."

David explained to her what he had done. They had not spoken in a few weeks, because Prof. Rutherford wanted to give him time to work on things. When he was done, he said, "In truth, I'm not sure there's a lot more I could do with pyromandy in the 'bigger' direction, anyway. I think the double-vortex was pretty much my limit."

"A fairly impressive limit, anyway..." Prof. Rutherford said.

"I've seen third-years do better," David said dismissively.

"Maybe, but they would have been very powerful pyromanders. We know you're not. You're doing very well with this subject in spite of that. But, anyway, I think it's time you focused more intently on the smaller end of the scale, like you did with terramandy."

"I'm not sure that fire lends itself to that precise of a control... but I guess I'll just have to find out, won't I?"

Prof. Rutherford smiled. "Yes. I'd like to see you focus a flame just as tightly as you can, and see what you can do with it. Keep in mind that, if you can focus tightly enough, power won't be as necessary. Consider the difference between a fire pit and a blow torch. They will both get things hot, but a blow torch will do it a lot faster, with less fuel."

David nodded. "When do you want to see me again?"

"Oh... well, you know, we're so close to the end of the year as it is, why don't we just let you work on it until our final meeting before summer?"

"Okay."

"Unless you have questions, of course."

"Right. Well, in that case, I'll see you next month. Say hi to your daughter for me."

"Will do. You have a good one, David."

"You, too."

"Good work, Luke. Janey, stop goofing off," David said.

Janey turned red in embarrassment and sat back down in her seat. "Yes, sir," she said seriously. David rolled his eyes at her, but didn't say anything. Instead, he walked back up to the front of the classroom.

"Okay, folks... I hate to say it, but you've learned all you're going to learn this year. From this point on, we'll be doing review for your final. Your final will take two days to complete, and will cover everything you have learned not just in this class, but in every Conjuring class you've taken. You need to be secure in your entire knowledge set. If you pass this test, you will receive an endorsement on your license, which merely states that you have completed training in Conjuring, and so you should be competent with it. This does not make you a Conjuring Master, by the way. It just makes you... well, a conjurer who is fully trained.

"The test will cover the Conjuring Room in great detail, so you will need to be proficient with that, as best you can be. Fail this exam, and you won't get your endorsement. Any questions?"

"What does the endorsement actually get us?"

"Not much, unless you get in trouble for conjuring something. Those who have the endorsement are treated differently by the magistrates. You will be expected to know how to conjure, so mistakes may be treated more harshly. On the other hand, those without the endorsement can be seriously penalized if they mess up while doing something they had no business doing because they didn't finish their training. So, ultimately, the answer is, not a heck of a lot. It might get you some better job offers. But, really, if you want to use your conjuring in a professional sense, you should find a master and apprentice with them."

"Why does it take two days? Is it really that long?"

"Yes, it's really that long. Each of you will be tested physically for almost fifteen minutes. The written exam is one hundred fifty questions long. Several of the last questions will take a good long time to answer. So, yes, on Monday and Wednesday of Finals week, you'll be taking the exam."

"Will you give us a review sheet?"

"In just a few minutes. Let me say that, for some of you, the exam's not going to be an issue. You all know basic conjuring, and most of you have a solid grasp on even the advanced stuff we've been doing this semester. Don't panic while you're taking the test, and you will all probably do fine."

"Will we meet that Friday to go over the test?"

"No. You'll have that Friday off, just like in most of your classes. I'll need that time to finalize your grades. Or, well, to help Prof. Blackstone do it, anyway."

The class chuckled at David's slip.

"So, are there any other questions?" There were none. "In that case, let's begin to review." David waved his wand at the stack of papers on his desk, and they disappeared, reappearing one by one on the students' desks. With that, they began their review.

When class was over, Prof. Blackstone came up to David. "So, tell me now who you think will not complete the exam successfully."

"Larry won't. Karen probably won't. If Janey doesn't, it won't be because she doesn't know it, but because she's not taking it seriously. There are a couple others I think will be close, but I think they'll make it."

Prof. Blackstone marked the names down on his list. "We'll see. By the way, this has nothing to do with your conjuring, but I've noticed that you have been able to become more assertive about discipline in your classroom. You used to just tolerate Janey's behavior. Today, you corrected her."

"It's been getting easier to think of it as 'my' class, I guess. I don't feel so much like a substitute anymore."

"That's good. You can carry that forward into your teaching career."

"Professor..." David said scornfully.

"I know, I know," Prof. Blackstone said, raising his hands. "You'll make up your own mind. Anyway," he said, growing more serious, "I'll want you to come see me this weekend, so we can work on the details of the final exam."

"You don't have one already made up?"

"I never re-use an exam. That way, older siblings can't help their brothers and sisters cheat by showing them a copy of their test."

David nodded, understanding the idea.

"Okay, when do you want me over?"

"Sunday afternoon. Say, five o'clock."

"I'll be there."

"Good. And you've done very well with this class, David. I think you may have a higher than average success rate."

David nodded in understanding, rather than agreement. "I hope so, Professor."

"All right, well, I'll see you Sunday. You have a good one."

"You, too."

"God this is getting old," Charlie said. David, Charlie and Morgan were patrolling this night, and they had just finished the reports on three Clansmen they'd put in detention.

"That's the nature of the job, Charlie," David said.

"Yeah, I get that. It's just that it doesn't seem like we're making a whole lot of progress. We put them in detention, they get out and just go right back to causing trouble."

"Yep. That's criminals for you," David said. "Punishment doesn't work unless it hurts."

"You think we need to beat them?" Morgan asked.

"It doesn't necessarily have to hurt physically... though that's not a bad idea for some of them," David said with a grin. "But it needs to be something that they want to avoid. Detention is the adult equivalent of a 'time out'. And how much behavior does that ever seem to change?"

Morgan nodded.

"You know the Board isn't going to give you any more leeway," Charlie said.

"Unfortunately, the kind of thing I'm talking about isn't something that we could do. It would have to be a change in the dean's policy for punishments. And she's not going to change that."

"Why not, do you think?"

"Because she still believes that a lot of these kids are just misguided, that they're being led around by a few real troublemakers."

"Well, aren't they?" Morgan asked.

"Morgan, do you really want someone who is that easily swayed being able to control magic?"

"Um..." he said.

"The problem here is that the Minister of Education believes in rehabilitation. Since such a strong disciplinary policy would have to go through the ministry, it's unlikely Dean Lengel could get any changes, even if she wanted to. And I'm not sure how much she wants to."

"You think she's protecting The Clan?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"No. I just think she doesn't quite get how serious the problem can get, and she doesn't know that the best thing she could do is to come down on this problem like a mother elephant protecting her newborn. Before you can rehabilitate people, you have to make them want to be rehabilitated. That means showing them how nasty it gets if you don't change."

"She seems pretty smart..." Morgan objected.

"Hey, I respect Dean Lengel, and I consider her a close friend. But that doesn't mean I agree with her on everything."

Morgan nodded.

Charlie said, "But, back to us, I don't know how much longer we can keep throwing ourselves in front of this freight train if nobody's going to pull the brakes."

"We can and will keep doing it until... well, the middle of next month or so, at least," David said with a grin. "We're the only thing protecting this school at this point, Charlie. If we leave, what happens? Do you really want to be responsible for the destruction of Woodward Academy's reputation?"

"Hey, you can't lay that on me. I didn't start this gang."

"No, but if you quit, you're not helping to stop it, either."

"Neither are eighteen hundred or so other students."

"Right, but they never agreed to try. You did."

"But how the hell are we supposed to make a difference? I mean, hell, with guys like that Bob in The Clan, what reason do they have to listen to us? There are just enough guys like that in the group that we could never just overpower them directly. And that's probably the only shot we've got at beating these bastards back."

"Maybe," David said, his look going unfocused for a long moment.

With that, they continued their patrol for the night.

The next day, David went looking for Bob. He found him on the terrace, hanging out with a few of his Clan buddies. They all stood and faced David as he approached.

David stopped about ten feet away. "Bob, I need to talk to you. The rest of you, take a hike."

"Hey, we don't take orders from you, dickweed," one of them said.

David merely raised his hand and blasted a huge energy ball at the guy, sending him tumbling forty feet along the grass. He lay, unconscious and much more pleasant to be around.

"You can suffer the same fate, or you can get lost. Now."

The others moved away quickly. Two took the time to stop and collect their unconscious friend.

"That might have been impressive... if you'd fried him to a crisp," Bob said snidely.

"And I could have done that, if I thought death was warranted. Do you only have one attack level, Bob? That seems fairly limited."

"Keep it up, Stroud, and you'll find out what kind of attacks I have."

"Is that what it's going to take?" David asked.

"For what?"

"For you to stop hanging out with these morons. The Clan is going down, Bob, one way or the other. If you're in the middle of it when it happens, you're going down with them."

"You think you can take me?"

"Frankly, yes. I've seen nothing that says otherwise. You're supposedly adept at dragon magic, whatever that is, but your human magic is pathetic, and frankly, your physical fighting skills, what I've seen of them, are not impressive."

Bob lunged at David, swinging. David, knowing it was coming, blocked the shot and decked Bob hard enough to land him on the ground.

"Like I said, not impressive. But if that's what it's going to take, for you and me to go a few rounds, then let's do it. We can go down into the area outside of town and we can spend the entire morning trying to take each other apart."

"What's wrong with right here?" Bob said, struggling to his feet, and then swinging on David again.

David moved aside this time, and pushed Bob, who was off-balance, back to the ground.

"Because fighting on campus is against the rules."

"I care little for your stupid rules," Bob said.

"Obviously. Do you care for anyone's?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that my next step, should you not be able to listen to reason, is to go and talk to your dragon clan leader."

Bob rose back to his feet. "Oh, so you're going to go run and tattle to my mommy?" Bob sneered derisively.

"I see you've learned the lower forms of human communication quickly," David said. "I will do whatever I have to do to protect this school, Bob. If that means getting your mother involved, then so be it. This is my home, and I am not going to let you, The Clan, or anyone else spit on it like you're doing."

"You can't stop them, or me," Bob said.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I am sure as hell going to try. If that means that I have to face off with you, then that's what I'll do, but this ends now, Bob. You joined The Clan to get back at me for stopping you from hurting Kim. You know it, I know it. The problem is you're not hurting just me. You're hurting nearly two thousand other people who haven't done shit to you."

"They're merely humans," Bob said dismissively.

"Bob, why did your mother send you here?" David asked.

"None of your business," Bob snapped.

"She sent you here to teach you that we're not 'merely' anything, didn't she?"

"She was wrong," Bob said. "I've seen nothing to recommend your species."

"And if I use only you as an example, I've seen nothing to recommend yours, either," David replied. "You're self-centered, selfish, egotistical, brash, and frankly stupid."

David saw the flames licking from the sides of Bob's mouth.

"You take a perfect opportunity to learn from some of the best human wizards there are, in the best academy of magic in Dugerra, and you waste that opportunity because you're too busy feeling superior. What makes you superior, Bob? Because you can make flame? I can do that with my wand. Because you can change into a human? Most humans can make themselves look like dragons. Because you can fly? We have ways of doing that, too. What, exactly, do you have that's so fucking special?"

"We are dragons," Bob said simply.

"That's pathetic," David said. "It's simple racism, which, among us humans, is considered a very primitive way to think."

David had reached the threshold. Bob opened his mouth and blasted a huge flame at David. David, of course, had been entirely ready for that, and had silently erected a containment charm around Bob. His flame never came anywhere near David, or anything else that might have been damaged. A small piece of the ground got scorched where Bob was standing, but that's all.

Bob finally wore himself out, unable to produce any more flame. He stood there, glaring at David and breathing heavily.

"You are a dragon. I am a wizard. Unless and until you become both, you aren't squat," David said. "Your mother sent you here to learn that lesson. She probably hoped that you would learn it through education, not through conflict. But you've rejected the idea that we have anything to teach you, so it's time you learn the lesson the hard way. Right now, I am much better than you."

"If I was in dragon form, you would never dare toy with me," Bob growled.

"I wouldn't have to. If you were acting as a dragon, your mother would be here to beat the living shit out of you for being such a jackass," David said.

Bob had no comment about that.

"You want to ignore half of what you can learn, half of what you can be... half of who you are, hey, that's your business. But you're not going to hurt my school while you're doing it. So what is it going to take, Bob? What is it going to take for you to understand that what you're doing in helping The Clan is simply wrong? You are wrong, Bob. How do I get this through your thick, scaly head?"

Bob clenched his jaw, but then he asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Leave The Clan. Have nothing more to do with them. Don't help them in any way, shape, or form."

"That's it? You don't expect me to fight on your side?"

"I wouldn't trust you on my side, Bob. I just want you out of the fight altogether."

"Very well. I will do this, because you are correct where my mother is concerned. She would not approve of my behavior. For this, and no other reason, am I willing to comply."

"I don't care why you're willing, Bob, so long as you do it."

"When I am ruler of my clan, don't expect much in the way of friendship between us."

"That's fine," David said.

Bob looked at him for a long moment, then turned and walked away. David, taking a deep breath, did likewise, hoping that this issue was resolved. With Bob out of the fight, taking down The Clan would be that much easier.

"David, if you would be so kind as to join me up here?" Prof. Teller said.

David groaned inwardly as he stepped forward.

"Now, I didn't tell anyone this, because I didn't want anyone hurting themselves to avoid the final, but the winner of the King of the Mountain challenge is exempt from the final exam. David will receive an automatic A for that. I don't think anyone here would dispute that his abilities have been well challenged and demonstrated."

The class murmured in agreement at that.

"Now, what David will be doing is helping me to test the rest of you. Now, don't worry; I'm not going to make you attack him again. We all know how that would turn out. No, instead, we are going to ask our best defender to become our assailant. It will be your job to defend against his attacks. I will not give him prescribed maneuvers to perform; you will have to be ready for whatever he might throw at you. This is a points exam; as soon as the attack and defense are finished, you will stop, return to the start point, and begin again. You will each have five minutes. We will give David a couple minutes to rest between each person. Your names will be chosen randomly. Our first combatant is... Diego Vegarozza."

Diego stepped up into the square with David. The two of them immediately bowed to each other, not waiting for the professor's call. Seeing that, the professor said, "Guard!" The two immediately moved into position.

"Begin!"

David stepped forward and slashed with his sword. Diego blocked handily, and tried to bring his own sword around for a countermove, but David swiveled out of the way of that. With that, the attack and counterattack were finished, and the two returned to their initial positions.

For his next attack, David donned his buckler. He raised it up, blocking the view of his sword hand. Next, he moved forward and feinted left, then moved right, slashing with his sword. Diego managed to almost block the attack, but David was a little quicker than he expected, and so David's sword slid off the edge of Diego's buckler, slashing across Diego's arm. No counterattack was possible, as Diego was completely out of position at this point.

Diego and David moved back into position, and David came on again. Attack after attack, Diego did his best to thwart David's maneuvers. Mostly he was successful, but sometimes not. In the end, Diego had protected himself well enough to earn an A.

David and Diego bowed to each other, and Diego went to sit down. David walked around and stretched a bit, recovering from his bout with Diego. He wasn't yet feeling any effects from the test, but it had only been his first opponent. He was sure that by the end of the hour, he'd be feeling it.

David was correct in his assumption; he was starting to tire by the time his last opponent stepped up.

"JoAnne Van Ark," Prof. Teller said needlessly, since she was the only one left.

JoAnne stepped up to the line, and she bowed to David, who returned it.

Prof. Teller started their time, and David immediately moved in on JoAnne. His move was soundly rebuffed, however, and JoAnne attempted a counterstroke that nearly caught David on the arm. He was fast enough to avoid it, however.

David tried to move in more quickly, but JoAnne blocked his second and third attempts, as well. He returned to the line, trying to think of how to get past her defenses. JoAnne had the advantage of having watched every one of David's previous matches, so she knew what his normal tactics were.

So I need to try something I wouldn't normally do.

David's eyes flickered over JoAnne's body, looking for a spot that she seemed not to be protecting so closely. He thought he found one. The strategy session took less than a second for him to perform, and so was barely noticeable to his opponent.

David stepped forward and to one side, and dropped downward, slashing at JoAnne's knee. She was almost fast enough to block him, but he just barely slipped by her, and caught her just below the kneecap. It was something of a desperation move; had he missed, he would have been in a bad position to continue the fight. He knew that going in, however, and he rolled away from her, clearing himself from her range. This meant that, had it been a real battle, even if he'd missed, he'd have time to get up before being attacked again.

David rose and moved back to the starting line. He saw that JoAnne was limping slightly.

"You all right?" he asked her, concerned.

"Well enough," she said.

David nodded, understanding her meaning, and respecting her decision.

The two continued to battle, with David getting a few more strikes in on her, now that she was injured. Still, she managed to block most of his moves. By the time Prof. Teller called a halt to the match, David was growing frustrated with himself for not coming up with better tactics against her.

The two shook hands after the more formal match ending, and they both walked toward their classmates.

"That's all, students. You've all passed this class fairly easily. Not all of you are A's, but no one is lower than a B-minus. You are one of the best classes I've had in a decade. You should all be quite proud of your skills. Class is dismissed, and I hope to see you all next year."

David turned to JoAnne. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you with that knee strike."

"Hurts like hell, but I don't think there's any actual damage, just soreness. It was a damned good move. I wasn't expecting it. I thought that flick of your eyes was you checking me out."

David smirked. "JoAnne, I did that a long, long time ago."

She smiled at him.

David asked, "Have you ever considered joining the DIRT team?"

JoAnne snorted. "Do I look crazy? Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for what you and the other DIRT members are doing, but I also see what you're going through. What sane person would put up with that kind of crap?"

David nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. It's just that we're down to just five of us, and I'm quite sure that trouble's coming with The Clan. It'd be nice to have a higher number to face them with, you know?"

JoAnne nodded seriously. "I'm sorry. I just don't think I could put myself in the middle of that. Not without a better sense of support from the school administration. I know that's basically turning my back on you and the others, but..."

David raised his hand. "It's okay. I understand. Believe me."

"Thanks. I don't like letting you down this way."

"You're not. It's not like you ever offered to join. I had to ask because you've got the skills I think we're going to need."

"Thanks for that."

"And don't worry about DIRT. I'll find a way to beat The Clan."

"Good luck."

As the two separated, JoAnne called, "David?"

David turned back to see what she wanted.

"I can't join DIRT, but... if you wanted to go out sometime, give me a ring, okay?"

David raised his eyebrows, but smiled. "I'll keep that in mind." With that, they headed to their respective locker rooms to change.