Samantha Rye and the Magic Girl High

‘By the Twelve Realms, what is going on here?!’

The entire faculty in the room stood at attention as a girl who looked to be seventeen walked into the room followed by two men in armor. She wore a maroon sleeveless choker dress with a brown leather corset with brass accents. Her knee-high leather heels made audible claps as she stormed into the room. Her hair was long raven black and untamed. It probably normally went down to her waist, but it was currently tied up on her head held together by a large brass pin that made it look like she had a regal mane.

She stormed over to me and I made a halfhearted attempt at a military salute with my hands chained up. Vicky walked over to her, ready to run damage control.

‘Your Royal Highness, I can explain.’

‘You can explain why you have a Bondless child chained to a chair while the top three faculty members interrogate her? By all means, Headmistress, explain away.’

‘She is not of this world and was brought here by the Transmigration Ceremony. That puts her under my jurisdiction and responsibility. She is Bondless for now, but we will soon fix that.’

Seeing Victoria trying to flex her authority on a princess was fun to watch, so I decided to throw a little fuel on the fire.

‘Thanks for coming princess, but we were in the middle of Miss Orica telling me how the three of them have been continually erasing my memory for the last year in an attempt to trick me into bonding with a fairy, so if you could wait until we are done, that would be great.’

‘You mean to tell me that you have been using your abilities on this defenseless girl for a year! You are supposed to be a leader and an example, not a tyrant and a dictator!’

‘Defenseless!?’

Miss Irons about fell over at the suggestion that I was defenseless. She stepped forward to protest and the knights accompanying the princess gripped their swords as a warning.

‘Are you telling me three of the strongest Fairybond known are having problems containing a mortal with no fairy? How pathetic can you be?!’

I knew that look. The princess was having almost as much fun as I was watching as these three squirmed. She walked over to the desk and tugged on my chains.

‘Unlock these restraints at once.’

Miss Orica held her hand up to her temples to relieve some pent up stress.

‘I wouldn’t advise that.’

‘Why, Miss Orica? Do you see something with your ability that I should be wary of?’

‘Not for you, No.’

‘Then release this child.’

Victoria hesitated for a few seconds and then pulled out a set of keys and unlocked my restraints. I tried to jump up and felt my legs buckle a little. Miss Wintry came up from behind me and caught my shoulders.

‘Easy there. You have been chained up for longer than you think. Take it slow.’

I tensed my legs and then gingerly bent them to test out their buckling points. I then walked over to Victoria and held out my hand.

‘Now give me my sword.’

‘No, you can’t be trusted with a weapon. I won’t arm you only to be cut down by you again.’

Miss Wintry leaned against the desk and smiled a wicked grin.

‘You would withhold a weapon imbued by a fairy specifically for this girl? Do you know what fairy imbued that sword with its power?’

‘Nonsense. It’s not imbued. It's a plain sword with no attributes.’

‘Samantha, dear, is that blade unimbued?’

‘No, ma’am.’

‘Then why does it look normal, dear?’

‘The blade can only hold its activation for a short time…ma’am.’

I was becoming wary of her questioning. Playing the obedient student seemed like the correct play, but I wasn’t sure this was a group of people I wanted to reveal my fairy too. I still knew so little about her.

‘And what does the blade look like when it is activated?’

‘Um, I don’t think that…’

‘It’s OK, dear. We are only talking about the blade. No need to get dodgy.’

I got where she was going with this. We had recently found that a blade could be imbued by any fairy. That didn’t implicate her as my fairy specifically.

‘I see. It becomes a black blade with small serrations. A red and orange eye gem is affixed to the hilt. A grey wrap appears on my wrist with a black inked symbol of an eye.’

An audible gasp was heard from the room and one of the knights jumped back and clutched at his neck several times before realizing whatever was normally there was either not or hidden under his armor. Victoria’s face was turning a satisfying red color.

‘Im...Impossible.’

‘Which is more likely? A Bondless girl kills a class three Revenant by herself, or with the aid of a blade imbued by the infamous Third Sister?’

Third Sister? That was a phrase I had not heard yet. I would have to do some research once I got all these teachers off my back. Miss Wintry continued to push against Victoria.

‘I would think that, in the position that you are currently in, should the Third Sister show favor to a student, you would not seek to offend that fairy’s offering due to a personal vendetta.’

‘I do NOT have a personal vendetta!’

The princess let out a sigh and folded her arms. Until now she had been quietly gathering information from the bickering. Apparently, she felt she had gotten all that she needed and was done being a passive watcher.

‘Give her the sword, Victoria. How many of the Trinity were you planning on offending in one week? Need I remind you that we are in a war in which we are completely reliant on the fairy’s power?’

I again held out my hand to Victoria. She glared daggers at Miss Wintry for a few seconds and then nodded at Miss Irons. Miss Irons held her right hand and I noticed a silver ring with a green stone on it. She retrieved my blade from her storage and gave it to Victoria. After a long pause, she handed it to me.

‘Thanks, Vicky.’

I quickly drew the sword three or so inches and paused. Victoria jumped three feet back and Miss Irons moved to block me. I chuckled and returned the blade to its sheath and walked toward Miss Wintry.

‘I’m joking! Geeze. You people act like you don’t just pop back into existence after being killed. I’m honestly surprised everyone isn’t running around killing each other as a prank.’

I stood beside Miss Wintry and one of the guards. She held out her hand to me and revealed that she had my locket. I strapped it onto my waist again and held my hand by my side to gauge its positioning. I then returned the sword and pulled out an apple, taking a bite. The guard to my side looked down at me curiously. I offered it to him with a gesture, but he waved his hand back and forth to discreetly tell me no.

I had not fully grasped my small stature until this moment. The two guards probably stood over six feet tall. At my current height with their added armor, I didn’t make it up to their shoulders. I was diminutive even compared to most of the other girls. Only Kat and the Crimson Pipsqueak were smaller than me, and one of those turned out to be a lie.

Comparing the size reminded me of the memory of the Dragoon. A flash of his death was pictured in my mind's eye, magnified by the absence of any other memories. My mood was ruined. I decided that I’d had my fun watching Vicky squirm enough for today and turned to walk out the door. I had almost made it when I heard the princess speak in my direction.

‘And where do you think you are going?’

‘I’ll leave the adult business to adults. I have classes to attend.’

‘And do you plan on completing your bond any time soon?’

‘You’re kidding, right? No.’

‘Then you aren’t a Fairybond.’

‘Soooo?’

‘So what are you planning to do next?’

‘Honestly, I need to gather a ton of Aura to get home, since Bighat McGhee over there won’t return my memories. So I’ll probably stock up on supplies and go out into the Wilds and hunt some Revenant until I can gather enough.’

‘I think not!’

‘Pardon?’

‘An army of my people can’t last a week in the Wilds and you think I will let a cute little girl like you waltz in there alone. Let alone to gather Aura that would kill you.’

‘Cute?! Little?! Now wait a second!’

‘And we can’t have you staying here, either! I mean, the barrier has proven to be unsafe for an Unbonded. Just a few days ago a class three Revenant just waltzed in here!’

‘A class three Revenant that I killed!’

‘No, as a normal human you are under the protection of the Crown. And as a representative of the Crown, you will be coming with me and be under my protection.’

‘Now wait just a minute!’

The princess grinned at me with her arms folded and her chest puffed up. The Three Magicteers jaws were about to fall off their faces. I was about to give her a piece of my mind when Miss Wintry held up a hand.

‘Miss Rye, there is still a lot that you do not know. Maybe going to the human capital will offer some insight into this world and give you some needed freedom to get your bearings and make a more realistic plan. You will find there are other ways of getting Aura other than hunting.’

I huffed for a second and calmed down. If only a little. Miss Wintry had not steered me wrong so far. I might as well trust her one last time. If I didn’t like the place, I could always leave. I doubted the normal humans could keep me down if the magic ones had such trouble.

‘Alright Princess, how much time?’

‘Time for what, dear?’

‘Time until we leave? I have a few things I need to do.’

‘I’m sure this will take a bit of time. Meet us at the gate in three hours.’

‘Miss Wintry, do you know if Cinder is at the Forge?’

‘You mean the Workshop? She should be there around now.’

‘Huh. I thought it was called the Forge. Well, I’ll be going then. See ya’ll in a few. Have fun, Vicky! Relax you face Miss Irons, or it will be stuck that way!’

I turned to leave as I heard the princess giggle and talk to her two guards.

‘I like that one. She’s got some spunk!’

-

I stood awkwardly as Blue hugged me tight and sobbed in my shoulder. The whole team had come to see me off. I adjusted my new metal cuff as I tried not to get smothered under the weight of the burly girl. Green stood on the side looking off into nowhere while Candy smiled at me warmly with glistening eyes. Kat stood a few feet away frowning.

‘Saaaammmmmyyyyyy! You can’t leave me like this! I had so many fun things planned! Sleepovers! Makeup parties! Dancing! Whaaaaaaa!’

‘You’ve known me for like a week!’

‘And in that time we created a bond that will last forever! Whaaaaa!’

‘A little help, Green?’

‘Alright Marina, settle down.’

I noticed Green wouldn’t make eye contact with me. Blue released her hold on me but then grasped my hand and wouldn’t let it go. Candy came up and gave me a warm hug.

‘It didn’t take much for you to leave an impression on us. We will look to your example as a paragon of individual strength against all odds.’

‘Thanks, Candy.’

Kat walked up to me, still frowning.

‘I still think you’re a weirdo.’

‘Thanks, I guess. Anyway, keep everyone honest. Blue may be the group’s charisma but you have talent as a strategist. Speak your mind and whip ‘em into shape.’

A Cheshire grin melted onto her face and she saluted.

'Will do, Capt'n!'

And I'm the weirdo? A knight walked up to the group and addressed me.

‘Time to go, little one.’

Everyone gasped and stood back as I flashed him an icy glare.

‘Call me little one, one more time.’

The knight shrugged and turned to walk to the carriage where I would be entering soon, mumbling under his breath.

‘Kids swing a sword around for a bit and think they’re swordmasters. She’ll learn, She’ll learn. Doesn’t even have a fairy.’

The knight packed a few things and climbed into the carriage. I turned and grinned at the girls.

‘I know who I’m going to give a hard time on the way.’

Everyone laughed and we hugged and fist-bumped one last time. I walked over to the carriage and looked in the door. The two knights were sitting on the left with their backs to the driver and the princess was sitting on the right looking down at a notebook. I plopped down next to the princess and stretched out.

‘I hope this thing has good shocks.’

The princess never looked up from her notebook but handed me a small pillow. I noticed she was sitting on one herself. I groaned and looked out the window. The gates opened and the carriage started moving. Part of me hoped that a pack of Revenant would attack as soon as we cleared the gates. No sooner had the gates closed behind us that I heard Blue call out to me.

‘Sammy!’

I looked out the window back at her. She was waving through the gate and had her other hand cupped by her mouth to amplify her voice.

‘Give ‘em Hell!’

I grinned and flashed her a thumbs up. I crawled back in the window and settled in for a long and bumpy ride.