'Forgotten Vault' Preview
The woman’s fist collided with Liora’s face, drawing a line of blood across her cheek as a cut opened up. It left the princess dazed, staggering backward and struggling to defend herself.
Liora managed by some stroke of luck to dodge the next hit. Hitting the dirt, she rolled off to the side. In the next moment, the girl was gone. Radiance wrapped her up, cloaking her in warmth as she got back to her feet, still crouching low.
“Ain’t gonna work,” her opponent chuckled. The young woman took in a short breath and then screamed loudly.
It was a shrill noise, the kind that made you claw at your ears to try and get rid of it. The intention was to disrupt Liora’s senses, shocking her into dropping her radiance cloak and revealing herself.
Except that Liora hadn’t stayed still, and the scream missed entirely.
Liora was on her feet behind the rage. Grabbing hold of the young woman’s vest, she tugged at the same time she swept her leg out wide. She tripped her opponent, twisting her around until her back hit the ground and Liora’s knee was on her chest. As the dust of the field settled, Liora reappeared where she had the woman pinned.
“That’s enough!” their instructor, Lastimosa, called out. The large and imposing woman stood just outside of the ring of sand along with the rest of the class. “Well done, Caverly. You win the round.”
Caverly. It was the name Aren had chosen for the Corvus siblings. It was the name she had chosen for her and Louis when they were acting as their parents so it made sense. Though Liora was still adjusting to actually responding.
“Get off,” the rage beneath her grumbled, toppling Liora off of her.
“Sorry,” the princess murmured as she hopped to her feet. Turning to face their trainer, she nodded and moved to step out of the sparring ring.
“But Caverly?” Lastimosa called out. “Get some new tricks, okay? You’ve found decent success, but you’re leaning too hard on spooking. That won’t always work.”
Liora offered a salute in response before she hopped up the stairs to the tiered, stone seating that had to be from the original school.
Garrison Military Academy was built by Liora’s many-great grandfather, Garrison Corvus. Every member of the royal family, save for a handful, had attended. Its prestige was well-known and promised a solid future for its graduates, whether in military or in politics.
Aren, despite Liora’s persistent disagreement, picked Garrison as their home - for now at least. It was a solid place for them to hone their skills. It provided Aren access to contacts she believed to be there. And, the part that Liora disagreed with, was who would look for them at a school run by the Imperial Army and the Praetorian Guard.
“Do I spook too much?” Liora asked as she leaned over the rails in front of the seating. She had pulled her hair down, letting it cascade over one shoulder.
“Absolutely,” Evie said from where she was declining, arms crossed over her chest.
“Didn’t even need to think about that.”
“Nope. You rely on it too much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s your strength, I don’t blame you. But this is supposed to be sparring practice. Which you kind of suck at. Sure, you win the moment magic is an option. But that’s because you just use magic. You don’t even try to fight.”
“Have you looked at me recently?” Liora argued, holding up an arm. “Of course I don’t try to fight. I’m scrawny and not full of rage.”
“Have you looked at me?” Evie countered. “You register that I win my fights even when we’re not supposed to sculpt, right?”
“You’ve been trained and fighting since you were able to walk. So I guess, well, I guess you’re going to have to teach me, aren’t you?” Liora asked over her shoulder, still watching the sparring.
“Happily,” Evie shrugged. “But you’re not going to like it. You’re a shitty student.”
“You’re a worse teacher,” Liora laughed as she turned to face Evie.
“Girls, come on,” Cade finally sighed. “You’re both pretty.”
Lastimosa shouted at the two boys sparring. She paused the fight to admonish them on their forms and, to quote her, ‘shitty magic.’
“She’s prettier,” Liora argued further, pulling herself up to sit on the rail. “Almost as pretty as you, Cade.”
“Neither of those things are true,” Evie rolled her eyes.
“Yeah,” Cade said petulantly. “I’m exceptionally pretty.”
“You’re gorgeous,” Liora sang to her brother as she looked over her shoulder at the match. “I really am awful, aren’t I?”
“As a general concept?” Cade asked. “Or at martial combat? I mean either way, yes.”
“I’m going to go get lunch,” Liora huffed with a wrinkle of her nose and hopped off her seat.
“Liora?” a young man asked, standing nearby. He was handsome, with dark hair cut close to his scalp and skin slightly darker than Din’s. He had some of the warmest eyes Liora had ever seen.
“Hm?” the blonde had asked as she turned to face him. She blinked when she saw him, caught off entirely guard. “Oh. Yes?”
“Making sure that was your name,” the man said, smiling. “Liora Caverly, right? Saw your bout. Impressive stuff, despite what Lastimosa said.”
“Oh, thank you,” Liora smiled in return. “She’s right though. I’m a bit one note.”
“Better to have one good note than a bunch of subpar ones,” he offered. “In fighting anyway, probably not so much in music.”
Liora chuckled.
“You’re Jacob, right? Jacob...” she trailed off and looked a bit embarrassed.
“Cartwright,” he offered, holding out a hand to shake. “And yeah. Sorry, didn’t actually introduce myself.”
“Technically, I didn’t introduce myself either,” she noted as she took his hand.
“You didn’t need an introduction,” Jacob chuckled. “You’re making a name for yourself as it is if you keep up that level of consistency.”
“I am?” Liora asked skeptically. She didn’t exactly want to make a name for herself. After all, she was supposed to be keeping a low profile; not that she would tell the handsome man in front of her that.
“I’d say. I’d count you among the more promising of the new recruits. Evie too.”
Evie shrugged at his comment, apparently unsurprised. Cade frowned.
“And you’re… not a new recruit?”
“Me? No,” Jacob chuckled. “Been here a couple years. Classes are generally split by year to help with curriculum, but teams can include any age. People are always looking to scout the new guys.”
“Can teams be led by any age?” Liora wondered.
“Technically yeah, although it’s almost always upperclassmen,” Jacob considered. “And I don’t think there’s ever been a first year leading a team.”
“Now that would be making a name for myself,” she grinned.
“Oh?” Jacob laughed. “You aiming to take over a team?”
“No, not really. But imagine if I did.”
“That would be impressive,” he smiled. He glanced over her shoulder at the sky and sun, then unfolded his arm. “Well, good to meet you. I got to get going. Try to find a new trick okay?”
“Maybe you could teach me some,” Liora offered, realizing only after that it sounded like she was flirting. She flushed slightly before nodding. “I’ll see you around.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow, giving her another smile and a short, non-specific nod. He waved to Evie and Cade before turning and walking away.
“Well, that was gross,” Cade said.
“Shut up,” Liora murmured, her cheeks a deep shade of pink.
“When is the wedding?” Evie teased.
“There was… nothing. Shut up. I’m going to eat,” the princess waved dismissively as she walked off in the opposite direction of Jacob.
Garrison Military Academy. A cluster of buildings arranged in a grid to form an easily navigable, and mostly boring, layout for the school. It sat near the shores of Lake Barion, with a surprisingly advanced set of docks and naval vessels for use in maritime training. A massive field had been mostly cleared and sat east of the current academy, specially prepared to act as a mock battleground.
The school sat on the north side of the lake, while the western side housed Fort Brusk, a modest city that had grown near to the original academy. The ruins of that academy still sat nearby, resting on the eastern bank of the lake and overlooking the lake from an area that had grown into a small forest. The academy had originally been a part of a fort built to help settle the area, from which the nearby town took its name.
Liora was always curious as she walked through campus. She found her mind drifting, her thoughts wandering to her parents, her family. Everyone in the Corvus line had attended the academy. Her parents met here, walking the same paths she was now.
“Do you think they liked their time here?” Liora eventually asked after Cade and Evie had caught up to her.
“As much as I enjoy playing the pronoun game,” Cade teased. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“Our parents,” she said as if it were obvious.
Cade considered that for a moment, not answering right away. He looked up at the buildings they passed by. Eventually, he shifted his bag on his shoulder and gave Liora a shrug.
“They met here, right?” he offered. “Something to be said for that.”
“They did,” Liora nodded. “Aren met our mother here too. I bet none of them expected life to look like this.”
“I think Aren might have brought us here for purely nostalgic purposes,” Cade suggested.
“Maybe. She insists there should be a contact here but won’t come on campus to find out so…” Liora trailed off with a shrug. “We really should just find them and go.”
“I don’t know,” Evie shrugged. “I kind of like here. Somehow it’s the least stressful place we’ve been, all things considered.”
“I suppose nobody is overtly trying to kill us,” Cade admitted. “Yet. Give it time.”
“I do like not having people or shells hunting us but we can’t find our brothers if we stay in one place.”
“Nobody said we have to find them all quickly,” Cade pointed out. “I imagine this is going to be a long and exhausting process.”
“I am not that patient,” Liora countered. “But beyond that, the longer it takes the longer we are going to be largely unprotected targets.”
“But we’re hidden here,” Cade pointed out. They stepped out of the way of a squad of regimented cadets in gym clothing running in unison.
“Like we were in Oadway,” she argued grimly.
“Oadway was awful, but, relatively speaking, we were safe there for a very long time.”
“Until the guards caught our scent and now there is a trail of bodies for them to follow.”
“There hasn’t been a trail since Oadway.”
“It’s enough of one,” Liora huffed, trailing off as they approached a group of cadets near the mess hall. It wasn’t exactly an impressive setup. The cafeteria had plenty of long tables and benches, with a simple buffet of food easily produced in large quantities. This was a school, after all, not a luxury resort.
“This is taking some getting used to,” Evie commented. “Not that I mind.”
When their classes allowed for it, the group went into Fort Brusk for meals. They had standing rooms for them at the Gilded Dragon there; yes, the same Gilded Dragon, with the same Reveley and his same wife. Liora didn’t bring it up and no one else seemed to notice.
Aren, Louis, Koi, and Davis stayed at the inn permanently. The teens were forced to sleep in the dorms. They were less luxurious but still comfortable. Liora found them less safe, given how far she was from her brother, but Louis was keeping watch at night.
When their classes didn’t allow for it, like today, the trio met with Din and Eli in the dining hall. It was strange for all of them to have so much food so readily available. Din joked she was going to get absolutely out of shape. Liora hoped she would get in better shape with a bit more weight on her and this was the first time in a while she was calm enough to actually eat substantial meals.
“I got here a few minutes ago,” Din said as they walked in. She was already holding a tray of food. “I’ll grab us a table.”
“Somewhere with a view,” Liora mused, following after Evie who was already starting to gather food.
Cade leaned in to whisper something to Evie, and both of them chuckled before they continued through the line. The blonde behind them frowned.
“What did you say?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” Cade assured her. “Stupid joke.”
Liora’s brow furrowed deeper and she audibly made a sound of discontent.
“Fine. Leave me out.”
“Oh come on, it’s not that big of a deal,” Cade said, piling potatoes onto his tray.
His sister offered no response as she took her tray and moved further ahead. Calm enough to eat was quickly becoming too anxious. She was one note. Everyone was comfortable and wanted to stay put. They were no closer to finding their next brother. And she was the butt of jokes.
It took her a long while to eventually choose a small amount of chicken and some bread with butter before she sort of eyed a pile of danishes.
“Isn’t this weird?” Eli said, sliding into line behind them. “Food always available. I wasn’t a street urchin by any means, but we lived more modestly than this.”
“I thought you had class?” Cade asked. Eli shrugged.
“The professor was sick, I guess,” he explained.
“I’ll make sure Din finds a table big enough for all of us,” Liora mumbled without picking up a dessert, slipping away from the others. She dodged a few of her fellow cadets on her way to the far table where Din sat in one of six available chairs. Liora took a second one between Din and the window.
“You okay?” Din asked. “You look… Well, I can’t think of an appropriate simile. You look like the example of unhappy.”
“Just on edge,” Liora admitted. “Maybe it’s the constant fighting or fear of being caught. It comes in waves.”
“Yeah, I have to imagine that can be confusing to your body. Never knowing if it should be comfortable or completely on edge.”
“Think they’d let me sit out of sparring?” Liora laughed.
“No,” Din chuckled. “Somehow I don’t think the military school will let you skip that particular element of the training.”
“I have more real-life combat training than most of the fourth years,” Liora murmured, poking at the meat on her plate.
“I don’t think that’s true,” Din mused. “I guess it depends on if the exercises count. But I mean, a lot of these cadets have been in the shit. So to speak.”
“Hm,” the blonde shrugged. Maybe Din was right but Liora didn’t care to admit it. Whatever the cadets had been through, she guessed most of them hadn’t been through Oadway and shells, and whatever Marcus Calgari was.
“Maybe not to the same degree,” Din offered, staring at her friend.
Liora shrugged again, setting down her fork. She pulled at her bread without taking a bite of it. The silence only had a moment of life before they were joined by her brothers and Evie.
“Did you guys hear about the festival?” Eli asked.
“A festival?” his sister replied. It was enough to pique her curiosity.
They had festivals in Oadway, of course. All that meant for her though was more work as the crowds filtered through the tavern and the rooms. They had never been permitted to go.
“Big party in Fort Brusk,” Eli nodded. “Cadets are actually given a free day to join in and not have to worry about being hungover the next day.”
“Is there a reason for it? Not that it matters. A party sounds like exactly what I need,” Liora sighed.
“Pretty standard harvest festival, I think,” Eli said.
“There was a battle here a while ago,” Din explained. “Pretty significant one. The town takes a good deal of pride in it.”
“Are they proud of their harvest or the battle?"
“The battle,” Din elaborated. “Although I imagine it’s just a further excuse for a party now. I’m sure at this point the harvest means more to them.”
“We will need something to wear,” Liora considered before finally taking a bite of her food. “And you’re going to need to do my hair.”
“Of course,” Din grinned. “Evie’s too.
“My what?” the short girl frowned.
“Mine is just starting to get back to normal,” Eli laughed, rubbing a hand through his exceptionally short hair. A handful of weeks earlier he’d still be bald.
“You look a little more like Cade every day,” his sister teased, managing her smile. “Minus the baby face.”
“Hey, come on now,” Cade complained. “I don’t look that young.”
“Without glasses?” Din said. “Yeah, you kind of do.”
“It’s the stubble I think. Makes Eli look older,” Liora noted.
“Aw,” Cade grumbled. “I can grow stubble.”
The others gave him a flat look. Liora reached over to lightly tousle his hair.
“About as well as I can.”
Everyone laughed, and even Cade couldn’t help but smirk a little to suppress humor of his own. He winked at Liora when no one else could see.
Perhaps life here wasn’t so bad.