A Game of Cards

Chapter VIII: Tamar Solaris

Maybe you should try to appeal to Headmaster," I suggested to the friend beside me dressed in a white dress shirt and deep maroon trousers, flicking through the pages of another book and shoving it back onto the shelf.

"We did appeal," Mace sighed behind me, scanning the shelves, "Twice. The first time she was enhancing my magic and the second time she was trying to manipulate the headmaster's mind with me. Headmaster Taneliorence was still unwilling to change the pairings."

"The general's not that bad," I mumbled, tossing another book to the side, "Her rankings from past projects were all quite high."

Mace looked up at me, incredulous. "Not that bad? We literally spend half of our time restraining from killing each other and getting weird looks from everyone. One of us would be a pile of bones in the dirt when this project is over."

We searched in silence for a moment, until it became too quiet again.

"What was with Lady Trinity in the war games?" I asked, "Did you two know each other?"

Mace shook his head. "Last minute alliance."

I crammed another book back onto the rack and groaned, burying my head into a new book. "We'll be here all afternoon at this rate," I slammed by head on the hard blue cover of the book. "They really weren't lying when they said that we won't be able to find much on the Trickster Jester."

"Listening to Onyx this time would have served me well," Mace muttered, "I wish her fortune in finding information on the Trickster Jester history, for I have failed."

I start to laugh at his ridiculous mock-dejected tone, but then immediately stopped cold at the sight of two Spadian figures glaring our way. Or more specifically, they were glaring at Mace, who gave them both a cocky smirk. A young girl and an older boy, both dressed in matching Spadian-style scholar's robes, a silver and black, with a white ribbon binding the fabric tight at their waists separating the two colors. The hem of their robes reached their ankles, decorated with silver floral patterns against the black fabric, sword sheaths bound at their waists. All the different nations designed the uniform of their own students in Magislight, showing the culture of all the lands. Spadian students were the only ones who had the same uniform for both male and female students. The trio of Spadian siblings were often seen around the campus, training, talking, and studying together. Cozbi, Dane, and...

"Where's Onyx?" My voice came out faster than I could stop it, and I regretted it immediately. The matching maleficent glowers on their faces made them seem like twins.

"Threatening Headmaster into changing the pairings," Dane broke his glower and grinned. That boy could never stay serious for too long. Cozbi tilted her head at her brother curiously, staying silent herself. Despite being the blood sister of one of the most calculating people in the world, her was never too bright herself, quite slow to react to words, a perpetual blissfully oblivious smile on her face. Even though she was a spy for her sister and considerably clever with her blithe footing, she seemed as if she could only act on command, her head too small to create orders of her own.

Mace chuckled behind me, and the siblings immediately stiffened, even the unbright Cozbi, who was still smart enough to know Mace to be the enemy. "Going to confront Headmaster without me? My, my, what other atrocities would Onyx be willing to commit if she would go this far?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully for a moment, offering the siblings a devilish smile. "And here I thought she was cleverer than the rest of us, while she had thought that her antics would work. Is she not aware that Headmaster's sister is the head of the People's Unity Council? Unless of course, she is going somewhere she would rather not disclose, somewhere she would rather not disclose. I have not known the Zhanwu siblings to be ones to bluff, so if that is the case...I wonder what she could be doing that would tempt a Spadian royal to throw away their integrity?"

Dane paled, a look that did not match his muscular figure while Cozbi smiled at Mace as if he had told the funniest joke, too blunt to understand what he had really meant. Dane dragged Cozbi away by the elbow, disappearing behind the rows of leather-bound books. Mace and I went back to the searching, opening then closing each one to find no information on the Trickster Jester that we needed for the projects. My friend's words lit a new suspicion inside me, wondering where Onyx could be. Clearly not searching book after book for sources in the library like we were.

Mace frowned at the page he was scanning beside me, sighing. "Tam, we've been here for two hours looking for something on the Trickster Jester, not to even a flicker of avail. We should just head to Sir Daebell and ask what he knows."

"Him? He'll be blabbering on and on about how we learned nothing in class with not a single useful word before the first question even leaves our mouths! I'm just fine right here, safe from textbook-wielding demon-teachers, thank you very much!"

But Mace was already heading towards the library exit, and I had no choice but to follow.

...

Sir Daebell did not react the way I thought he would when we asked him about the Jester and the book. Instead of chastising us, he turned a sickly shade of white at the very mention of the name, his snubby arrogant face beading with sweat, and he kept rubbing his round belly nervously, as if we had ventured onto a forbidden topic.

"Look," he started, "It's not that I am uninformed of the topic. I mean, I'm the history teacher, of course I know about the Trickster Jester, but..."

"But?" Mace prompted.

"These matters are best not discussed publicly. If you want information on the topic, I suggest you speak to Headmaster Taneliorence."

"Told you he wouldn't be of any help." I whispered to Mace as we headed out of the stuffy classroom, glad to finally be free of the reek of heavy cologne.

Mace just shook is his head. "Could you sense it, Tam? He was scared."

"Scared?" I snorted, "Of an ancient children's bedtime story?"

But I could sense it. Sir Daebell clearly thought we were venturing onto dangerous grounds investigating that topic.

"Let's just head back to dorms." He was changing the topic, as if he could sense my unsureness as well. Mace had a way of reading people, even without using a card. "We're just wasting time here. We'll continue tomorrow."

I shook my head. "But we haven't even got any information yet. Should we go to Headmaster's like Sir had suggested?"

Mace suddenly lit up, a familiar devil's smile pasted back onto his lips. "No, I've got a better idea."

"Uh oh," I muttered.

His "better idea" apparently had something to do with sneaking into the Opaque Tower. This was a horrible idea.