Realm of the Runes: Blood Right

Chapter XXXI

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The Athenaeum stood fast against the storm, winds howling in the greyness above as they hurried off the platform and bustled through the doors in a flurry of coats and flying hair. Bobby's conical hat had been swept away and Daphne and Lissa had to comfort him as he watched it fly briskly away, over the walls and into the distance.  

Chronos met them in the map rooms,  spending several hours escorting them through another history lesson, moving on to tour an artifact library hidden away in the depths of the Athenaeum's basement.

Finally, the day's lessons concluded with a detailed quiz on mythological creatures in the main part of the library.

"Well done young charges," he congratulated, surveying their answers. "You have learnt quickly. You may take your leave back to the Palladium and get some food and rest."

The group quietly dissembled and the majority of the Octad headed toward the portal and the Palladium, shattered. Ryaki bit back a yawn, tightening her scarf as they prepared to brave the elements again. She nudged Dennis, remembering something. He scowled at her as he pulled up the hood of his oversized jacket.

"What?"

"Do we still have to go to Mageia tonight?"

He groaned and slapped himself across the forehead, hard. "Unicorn turds! I'd almost forgotten that. Fuck it all."

"Damn it," she grumbled. "I thought as much."

Rich overhead their conversation as he was about to slip away to a secluded nook and read his book.

"Gods be damned," he muttered, changing his plans reluctantly. 

There's no time for a late night reading now.

His stomach growled as he tucked his tome into the inner folds of his overcoat and followed the rest of the group into the blustering gale. The platform was vacated the moment they were all standing on it, and the relative calm of the Palladium greeted them moments later. Tropical fronds and luminescent blooms shuddered in the onslaught, but the whistling of the wind was not as loud in the shelter of the courtyards.

The muted sounds of their footsteps echoed through Palladium halls, and one by one they slumped down into their chairs at the banquet table. Dinner was a slow affair, as eyelids drooped in fatigue. Finally Ben rose, Bobby sound asleep in his arms.

"Are you certain Arcus wanted to see us tonight?" he rumbled, hefting his brother a little higher in his arms. For a temporary moment, Lissa's tired gaze fixated on the flex of his bicep.

"Positively," Dennis said emphatically, letting loose a string of creative curses as he shoved his plate away and fluffed his pantaloons.

"Let's get a move on, then," Ryaki groused. "I'm bloody exhausted."

Matthaios pulled himself up from where he'd slumped over the table in an inglorious heap. 

"This won't take long will it?"

"Don't ask me," Dennis snapped saltily. "I don't know. But grab a warm coat. Where we're going, it's cold enough to freeze Hades over a dozen times."

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They left the golden palace, their fur coats and warm boots incongruous as they trudged past the myriad of tropical palms and evaporating fountains. Dennis led them to the portal, turning to look back at them grumpily.

"Think of no place but Mageia. Got it?"

"Got it, got it, let's go already," Ryaki snapped, her eyes lined with tiredness. Rich clapped her shoulder reassuringly and she shrugged off his hand impatiently.