¤ Fluffy Fun

It must be them again, Aurora frowned. They just wouldn’t let mere lessons stop them from taking this chance to torment me, would they?

‘Come out, you cowards.’ She called, stepping towards the lit area beyond the circle of darkness around her. ‘I thought the last time you snuck out of classes to come after me, Mistress Spiruna threatened to test that new skin-dying spell that she recently invented on you. Are you itching to have orange skin to match your carrot head, Ferra?’

However, as soon as she emerged from the darkness, the torches in the next area also died out. With a sigh, she conjured a cackling blue flame in her hands. ‘I was listening to that lesson on light casting, even if that’s a foreign idea to you. Just come out now, and we can settle this right away.’

She sensed a movement in the deep shadows, and quickly sidestepped. Sure enough, a fairy came swooping out of the darkness, only to tumble in astonishment against a few empty cages when he found his target missing. The Jr. Pepes in the neighbouring cages squalled, agitated.

‘You’ll have to be faster than that, Zereff.’ Aurora said, holding her handful of flame higher to reveal the flushed face of her attacker.

The only answer from her enemies was another fairy’s attempt to trip her up. Her training at the hunters’ kicked in hard now. Leaping up nimbly, she lashed out with the only solid object in her hands, smashing the cage into her attacker’s face. The attacker let out a moan and crumpled to the floor. The Leatties in the cage squealed in protest as they were mashed willy-nilly within the cage.

‘Sorry, lil ones.’ Aurora whispered softly to the poor creatures; they only rustled quietly against the cage’s bars. She whispered the fire spell she had used when she entered the basement again; all the torches blazed back into flame, allowing her to see the lone figure that stood a few metres to her left now. The fairy’s wings were spread wide for intimidation, and his brilliant orange hair clashed painfully against the gold of his wings.

‘Ferra.’ Aurora said in a hard voice. ‘Haven’t I beaten you enough times?’

‘Pathetic mortal.’ The fairy youth spat out, as if tasting something dirty in his mouth. ‘Mistress Spiruna should never have the likes of you in her class!’

‘Even if Mistress Spiruna wasn’t willing, King Kranz is the one that set up this Academy. Are you having treasonous thoughts against your King, fairy?’ Aurora answered, her voice underscoring the last word with equal contempt.

‘You are not fit to speak the name of our King!’ Ferra cried, and raised his arm in a spell-casting gesture. Energy swirled at his palm, and sped towards Aurora in a blue blur.

Putting on a bored face, Aurora watched as the energy bolt simply splashed against the magical shield she had conjured instantly, leaving her unharmed. ‘I think I know why fairies live for so long. You guys need all that extra time to have lessons repeated to you again and again, right?’

A fiery arrow spun out of nowhere; quickly, Aurora cast another shielding spell that neatly defected the arrow, which fizzled out instantly. ‘Zereff, leave the magic to the pros, and concentrate on your weapons work.’ She turned to the stunned fairy. ‘Just a bit of friendly advice for a fellow warrior, you know.’

‘Who needs your advice, filthy mortal.’ Ferra growled and took to the air on his wings, swooping down on Aurora. Nimbly, she ducked, and rolled out of his reach, clutching the small cageful of squealing Leatties to her chest. Her path brought her towards the fallen fairy that she had punched in the face with the cage.

Too late, she realised her mistake; the fairy, the bloody cut on his lips distorting the snarl on his face, rose up and pinned her arms to the ground, breaking her grip on the cage. The cage bounced away nosily from the struggling Aurora, the catch on the gate swinging apart on the impact. Squeaking, the Leatties shot out hurriedly from the open gap, their white fur ruffled from their rough experience in the cage.

‘Who’s beating who now, stupid mortal?’ The fairy holding Aurora laughed. ‘They say you could have been a fairy in your previous life, for all your talents, but you must have been tainted so bad by your filthy mortal blood!’

‘Shut your mouth, Wing. I can’t stand your bad breathe.’ Aurora snapped, and fought to free her arms, but in vain. She kicked out with her legs, but Wing neatly avoided them, still holding onto her arms. ‘I’m not going to fall for that again,’ He chortled at Aurora’s efforts, then called out to Ferra. ‘Hey, I got her.’

But instead of the affirmations that he expected, he could only hear yells of agony. ‘Get those stupid creatures off me!’ Twisting around as much as he could, Wing caught a glimpse of Ferra staggering past him, his face completely concealed by a white fluffy mob of at least six Leatties. The rest were attached to his arms, and all of them were clamping resolutely onto his flesh with their small, sharp teeth. Wing thought for a moment that he looked like an insane white mould-infested creature, but that thought was quickly forgotten as he leant back to avoid a headbutt from Aurora.

‘Ferra, Zereff, Wing, Aurora. What in Orbis is happening here?’ A cool voice cut through the swathe of chaos at the scene. Immediately, Wing let go of Aurora, allowing her to scramble to her feet. She looked towards the direction of the familiar voice; sure enough, it was Mistress Spiruna, who had come down into the basement to investigate why her students were absent for so long.

‘I fell down, ma’am.’ Aurora said blandly and with a straight face. She knew better than to tattle on her bullies. Spiruna never took kindly to tattlers, and would punish them as badly as the wrong-doers. ‘These kind gentlemen were just trying to help me up. Please accept my apologies for taking so long to fetch the Leatties.’

Spiruna surveyed the ragtag bunch, noting coolly the cuts on Zereff and Wing’s faces and arms, and the swarm of White Leatties around Ferra. Her voice was even as she said, ‘It is a good example you set, young fairies, to show such goodwill towards your mortal counterparts.’

‘Where are the Leatties you have fetched?’ The teacher turned to Aurora. The girl pointed towards Ferra, ‘He was helping me gather them.’

‘Very well. Young Ferra, you will bring those Leatties to class now. No, you do not use the cage,’ she rapped out as Ferra bent to pick up the abandoned cage. ‘They look fine where they are presently.’ Spiruna’s eyes gleamed, as she looked away from him to Aurora. ‘Let us return to lessons now.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ Ferra said dully, watching Spiruna and Aurora leave the basement. Zereff and Wing rallied to him, but he waved them off irritably, the White Leatties on his arms clinging on gleefully. They had never had such fun before in their short, puffy lives, and they sure weren’t about to give it up now.

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Links to previous chapters:
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Don’t kill me for not posting as often as before! >< Things are starting to get busy in school, with major exams looming, and I cannot get online as frequently now because *coughs*mymotherwouldn’tletme*coughs* I haven’t even leveled up in ages… *mourns*

Anywayyy. Attached is the promised picture of Hedwig. The more I look at it, the more I think I ought to just delete it off from the face of cyberspace. Her face is wrong, her arms are wrong, her butt is wrong… the list goes on. But since I promised… look quickly before I delete it off from the face of cyberspace!!

Cookies… lessee. Good old chocolate chips wouldn’t go wrong! ^^