The Quest for Normania #1: The Door of Andrios

29. A Student's Return

Rumin Nyagal awoke suddenly, drenched in sweat and panting for all she was worth.

She looked around, her mind still whirling with the images of the dream she just had. She had seen live visions of rape, blood, killing, murder, and bloody battles... So, one can imagine the kind of dream she just had.

'But something woke me up from it,' she thought, her eyebrows slowly creasing. 'Some... noise... There it is again!'

Sure enough, a flash of lightning brightened the room, followed by a roar of thunder. She frowned. Just then, the grandfather clock in her house gonged and she waiting, listening. It rang six times and stopped.

'Six o'clock?' She turned back to the window. 'And it's supposed to be summer now. It's already going to rain?' As if to answer her question, a draft of chilled air brushed past her and she jumped. 'Oh no, we're in for winter!'

Rumin hopped off her bed and grabbed her coat; it was suddenly cold in her bedchamber. She rushed out and the first thing she did was brew some hot tea with some of the phemur leaves from her own garden outside.

As she poured hot water in a Normanian glass cup and stirred her leaves in it, she remembered something in her garden. 'Oh dear, it's going to snow and I dug up some summer herbs! I ought to bring them in... ... No, that won't help them – not if this is what I think it is!'

She enclosed her cup of tea in a spell to retain its heat and rushed out to the side of the shinto. She gathered up the herbs she planted just before Mithra and Norin's departure and hurried them back into the house. Her stomach fell to see them in their state of despair; and since they were so young, they would likely have died in another hour or so in such chilly atmosphere! She removed her cup of tea and placed them instead. She increased the capacity of the sphere of heat energy. Her heart soared in relief when she saw the delicate leaves blooming again.

'I wonder how Mithra and Norin are doing?' she thought as she took a sip of her tea. 'I hope they got the eurin back safely to her kingdom. Or maybe they're about to depart now; that poor boy was so exhausted. The Magical Sphere usually saps out some energy, too. Coupled with that...' She shuddered. 'I can only imagine. Oh, I wish I made him take some rest first! But that wouldn't have done any of the world any good. And a damn good thing, too, since Winter has already arrived!'

A clap of thunder outside burst outside the confines of her home. 'I should start thinking of putting up protection spells around the grounds. There is no reason for this Winter going to be –'

There sounded a knock on her front door. She froze. A wave of visions enveloped her mind for a moment, but she didn't allow them to overwhelm her. She was used to them by now, besides.

Rumin set down her almost-finished tea cup back on the kitchen counter and got to her feet. With the determination of someone who knew exactly how she was going to die, she strode out towards the narrow corridor and opened the door.

A man-like figure completely covered in black robes stood outside the threshold. "Rumin Nyagal," it said in a horrifyingly robotic voice. "May I come in?"

Rumin pursed her lips and snorted. "Of course not. You cannot simply barge in here like you own the place!" She was perfectly composed, inside and out.

"I ask again—may I come in?"

Her resolve never once wavered. "And I tell you again—of course not. Which part of that sentence do you not understand?"

"You leave me no choice but to –" The figure stepped forward and towards the threshold point – and crashed loudly into an invisible wall!

Rumin smirked. "See? That's what your insolence costs you! Now, go, before I think of something else to do to you that will completely deform you, so you'll never be able to get back to your master again... Or indeed, never come out at all! Now, go – shoo!"

The figure let out an injured squeal, turned tail, and ran away.

"And don't you dare think you can come back to my home again!" She watched as it disappeared along the path.

Rumin set to her task without more delay. She strolled around the compound of her shinto, whispering powerful spells and incantations, rolling a string of white Beads of Miova to cast barriers and protection spheres.

When she was done at last, she winded up at the front of her front gate. She turned around to go back inside, when she froze. This time, she really was afraid.

"Leave before I decide to blast you with my power!" she warned him.

The man chuckled, but it sounded more like a cackle. The heavy fur coat he wore looked as evil as he himself was. "Ah, the Great Sorceress, they call her! Wonderful, charming... great teacher with a record number of successful students! Did you forget I was one of those students of yours, too?"

She swallowed but was determined not to show her fear. "How could I? You were my first."

"So you do remember? That's good... very good, indeed!" He cackled quietly again.

"What do you want?"

"Ah, such sharp tones do not make of a regular woman, but you're not one, are you? A regular woman?"

"I said... What. Do. You. Want."

He touched his heart with a mock broken-hearted expression. "Ah, you scare me! – me, your best friend! Well, we were once upon a time, I suppose. And it ended at the most crucial part of our relationship." He pretended to sigh. "Well, women are women, as they say.

"But that's not going to help that mighty anger of yours now, is it? Fine, I came to make a deal with you."

"I do not want to, though. So, you may leave."

"Please. Just one chance?"

"You've got all you deserved and more. You're not getting any more – not from me."

He sighed really now. "Well then, I suppose that means you really don't care about your little foolish students?"

"They're not foolish and neither are they little. They're big enough to take care of themselves."

"So you say...!"

Her patience was at the end of her tether now. She raised her left arm, fingers facing him, and chanted, "Deturbo et novum redit!"

Instantly, the man flew out of the tree in the most dramatic way and shot towards the lightning sky. She could swear she saw a twinkle at the spot where he vanished. Satisfied, she dusted off her hands and went back into her home, the chilly Winter drafts no longer bothering her.