The Dragon's Vow or the Stubborn Bride
Edgars Auzin?
My name is Mirre Blackrock. Not so long ago I was an empty shell and my mage parents shook me like a hothouse flower, but today I go to the Wind and Storm Academy, the best place to train elementals! The only problem is that it's all-male, and as I found out when I arrived, we're not very welcome here – adepts and teachers alike. Especially one senior student. He can't stand me, and I haven't done anything to him. What's this strange tattoo on my arm? It's magic! Wait! Wait! I've seen that before… Mummy!
Edgars Auzin?
The Dragon's Vow or the Stubborn Bride
Prologue
The office has never been so noisy and “fun”. Writing instruments, pages, dust from the cabinet, and even splashes of saliva flew into the faces of intractable opponents. The rector of the Academy of Wind and Storms, Escher Felsen Schwartz, the onyx dragon, watched this disgrace with a stony face. He had held his position for almost a hundred years, but he had never witnessed such a commotion before.
– Enough! – he couldn’t resist and slammed his fist on the table. Having dispelled several whirlwinds accidentally created by the debaters, the rector delivered a verdict: “It will be as I said, and this is not discussed!”
His words fell like black blocks into the depths of the sea.
“Excuse me, Asher Schwartz, but I…” the dean of the Faculty of Natural Arts, Richard Blackrock, did not want to calm down.
He was unceremoniously interrupted by Estella Krieger, head of the Department of Household Magic, the only woman among the deans:
“But from the very beginning, only boys studied with us!” We are simply not ready to accommodate girls here! You will need separate amenities, a separate house! How will they shower after training? They'll have to run to campus! Surely you haven't even thought about this? So what should we do? – she added sarcastically and hit the nail on the head!
But she didn’t manage to win over the rector with this.
– There’s still a whole month before the adepts arrive, eshsheri. I am sure you will cope with arranging your home. After all, that’s what you teach, isn’t it? Don't disappoint me!
– Pfft! – the Magess snorted arrogantly and turned away, folding her hands on her lush chest.
The quarrel almost flared up with renewed vigor, but the rector kicked everyone out of the office, ordering them to calm down.
– We’ll continue tomorrow, when you’ve cooled down and can absorb the information, but now everyone is free! Free, I said!
Felsen Schwartz pronounced the last phrase with palpable pressure. Yell after that “Vooooon!” I didn't have to. The dissatisfied deans, sensing the smell of something fried, gloomily reached for the exit.
– Blackrock, stay! – the rector suddenly stopped one of them.
When the door closed behind the others, and he and the dean were left alone, the onyx dragon openly showed dissatisfaction with his colleague:
“And from you, Duke, I expected support, and not such fierce resistance.” It seemed to me, or you are personally interested in preventing changes in the academy. I'm right?
The dean hesitated, looked around the room, but still met the rector’s gaze and answered:
“It seems like a waste of time to me.” We'll just cause confusion.
– Richard, I already said that the idea was not mine. The order came from the Bishop’s office, and who are we to contradict? The union of your eldest daughter with Rengold Hallward and the healing of the northern dragons from the Scourge has shaken up the dragon community throughout Balaria. The tradition of marrying true ones has returned to fashion, but you know what?
– What? – Blackrock asked.
– The number of marriages has sharply decreased. For two years, dragons have been regularly visiting the Valley of the Spring Primroses, but, as you know, there are almost no elementals of the required orientation there,” Schwartz shared a secret.
– Is that why the Bishop ordered the creation of a women’s faculty? “Blackrock showed glimpses of understanding.
– Right! It's enough to hide girls in closed boarding houses. You can’t organize a show there, it’s a violation of all foundations and rules. But, as you know, not only dragons have problems, but also magicians.
– What are these? – The dean frowned.
– Elementals are degenerating! Don't you notice this? – the rector flared up, angry at the denseness of his colleague and one of the most skilled elemental magicians. – Every year we receive fewer and fewer students with above-average potential. And all because in these boarding houses of yours they teach dancing and dressing up, and not how to control the weather and pacify hurricanes! A gift that is not in demand dries up as unnecessary! Take your wife, for example,” Felsen Schwartz couldn’t resist making a quip.
The Duke spoke, choosing his words carefully.
“You see, Felsen,” he addressed the rector as if he were an old friend, which he allowed only in private and then rarely. – My youngest daughter Mirre is studying in one of these boarding schools. She is making some progress, but…
– If she is successful, she will definitely be chosen. Don't worry so much, we will easily solve this issue.
The dean's face contorted for a moment as if he had been offered a sip from the latrine. But he immediately pulled himself together and, sourly thanking the rector for his help, left the office.
Felsen Schwartz leaned back in his chair with relief.
It turns out that Blackrock was simply embarrassed that his daughter was not a strong enough magician. There were rumors about the dean's wife: she was beautiful, but the magic was barely there. It is not surprising that my daughter’s gift awakened only at sixteen – four years later than usual. And what kind of gift is that? One name, most likely…
But the rector was not particularly worried. He hoped that all the adepts would quickly find grooms and leave the academy early. Even if they return to their boarding houses, most importantly, already engaged. For the dragons, it didn’t matter at all how strong the magician the true couple was. Everything is arranged differently for them.
So Felsen Schwartz, with a calm soul, promised to place Blackrock’s daughter in an academy closer to daddy. Since the mediocre Crystal Princess grabbed the whole duke and the best elementalist, then their daughter will also look after her future husband. And then, lo and behold, she’ll get married even before finishing her studies. It is not at all necessary for her to study well.
Chapter 1
Mirre Blackrock, a pupil of the capital's Boarding House for Noble Elementals named after Teresa the Magnanimous in Verlore, Onyx Rocks
Having settled down on a wide window sill in our shared bedroom for twenty pupils, I placed a book under a sheet of paper and hastily wrote a letter to my older sister. My neighbors and the girls from the room opposite gathered with us, sitting on the beds in twos and threes, to admire the lucky one, that is, me, and at the same time express to her, that is, to me, a collective “Fi!”
Fortunately, there were those here who rejoiced at my luck. Unfortunately, they found themselves in the minority, or rather, alone, so skirmishes broke out in the room every now and then. Quiet and even relatively polite. For others, we would be punished – it is not right for noble eshsheri to behave like market women.
Therefore, the girls whispered animatedly and sighed enviously, every now and then glancing sideways in my direction, but they did not allow themselves more than poisonous statements.
– Lucky you, Mirka!
– Still would! Her father is a dean at the academy. It's no surprise that she was chosen.
– That's it! So, did your father bother? I see…
– What are you talking about! I seriously didn’t know?!
– The first time I've heard!
– Don’t be jealous! Or have you forgotten what score Mirre received on testing last year? – my only friend Samantha sarcastically reminded. – A hundred out of a hundred! And Grymza said that she would have made an excellent battle mage if she had been born a boy. So there’s nothing to talk about!
The discussion went in a new circle, but I didn’t listen anymore. During the two years that I spent at the Boarding House of Teresa the Magnanimous, who during her lifetime was still such a bitch, I managed to become completely disillusioned with both local teaching methods and the noble eshcheris in general, which is why I was glad with all my heart that I was leaving. Another dream coming true!
The thrill of anticipation, concentrated at my fingertips, poured out in neat lines onto the paper:
Hello, beloved sister!
I don’t even know where to start… I’ll start, perhaps, with the main news – I’m going to the Academy of Wind and Storms! Yes, yes, you heard right…
I had almost finished the letter when the girls jumped out of their beds and stood with their hands folded on their stomachs, as decency required. Having quickly said goodbye to my sister, I crumpled the scribbled sheet into a ball so that it would fly further and, opening the window sash, threw it outside. True, I didn’t have time to get back into service. So she stretched out in the place where she was found. I don’t know about other educational institutions, but the order in our boarding house was cleaner than in other barracks. The mentors trained their pupils with all their might, trying to make them exemplary eshsheri and ideal future wives for elemental magicians. True, in their opinion, the ideal wife was a submissive, and better yet, a completely weak-willed creature, who did not have her own opinion, but was capable of “carrying out a number of laid down instructions. Somehow: estate management, playing music and other arts, etiquette, politesse and much more.”
Only girls with gifts studied at Teresa the Magnanimous Boarding School, but for some reason very little attention was paid to magical sciences. Basics of elemental magic. The history of the magic of Balaria, general information about the races of Balaria, about magical sources and their influence on all living things, and a few more theoretical subjects, but that’s all!
And practice is only twice a week! And even then, for the most part, we learned to “pacify the gift.”
Certainly! After all, this is so important for the noble eshsheri! Otherwise, if the Mother of All That Existed didn’t bring him, she would smash the crawler in a quarrel with her beloved, or hit him with the fist of the wind in response to impolite treatment, and even smear the unfortunate man against the wall.
In general, the gift of pupils was considered only as a guarantee of the appearance of a strong heir in the family, but nothing more. But I hoped to develop the gift, and not to pacify it, which I repeatedly tried to tell my dad and mom, who traditionally did not hear me.
“This is the best boarding house in the capital, baby! I learned everything there myself,” repeated Calle Blackrock, nicknamed the Crystal Princess.
The first beauty in Onyx Rocks at one time and a very weak mage, whom no one married for a long time, despite all her beauty and excellent marks in home science. Now I couldn’t help but think that my mother put too much effort into taming the gift when she was studying here. I know that when she insisted on studying at this boarding school, she only wanted the best for me. But our understanding of this “best” was very different. In general, there is no hope for my mother, and my father… An experienced dean, he always took the side of the teachers. He said that the mentors were right and knew better. And in general, “they have experience,” “you’ll understand as you grow up,” and stuff like that. So I had to train in secret, fortunately I managed to find opportunities.
Grymza, the director of the boarding house, a terrible woman in every sense – both in face and in character – burst into our bedroom, accompanied by several mentors and a curator. She looked around at those present with a stern look and asked:
– What kind of gathering is this? How did you let this happen?
The second question was addressed to our curator, Ashsheri Tix, an elderly, timid lady who was always afraid of everything, especially the wrath of the headmistress.
– Eshsheri, why not in your rooms? – She began to fuss, showing zeal with all her appearance.
– The girls came to see Mirre off. “She’s leaving early,” simple-minded Samantha tried to cover for everyone.
She always does this – she takes the fire on herself, and then she is punished. And never a word of gratitude from anyone, except me, perhaps. This is probably why we became friends from the first days.
But this time Samantha was rescued by stupid Henrietta, without wanting it herself:
– And Mirre threw the garbage out the window! She deliberately decided to set us up because she was leaving!
A short, fair-haired beauty with a childish, doll-like face and lush eyelashes spoke with a disgusting drawl, which spoiled the entire impression of her appearance.
Mother of All That Is, what a fool she is! Who was pulling her tongue?
I was sure that the silly girl was simply voicing the thought expressed by the snake Ashsher. And exactly! The brunette with a sharp nose narrowed her eyes meanly, carefully hiding her smile. Did you want to spoil me one last time? Oh well…
Ashsheri Tix immediately ran to the window and looked out. I didn’t even move, hoping that Simka had sorted everything out.
Grymza looked at me intently and asked:
– Pupil Blackrock, is this true?
– I didn’t throw garbage out the window, director!
Yes, I wouldn’t dare call the letter to my beloved sister garbage, so I didn’t lie one bit.
“There’s nothing under the window,” Ashsheri Tix confirmed my words.
I couldn’t resist and also turned around, noticing a white speck in the bushes at a distance. A fluffy tail flashed and immediately hid. The paint has washed off Simka again! It's time to update.
– What kind of book is this, Mirre?
Ashsheri Tix took a textbook on the basics of elemental spells from the windowsill, which I used as a backdrop.
– Oh, sorry for the mess, eshsheri. I was just refreshing my knowledge before leaving. You are not allowed to take a textbook with you, and the most powerful elemental magicians and dragons study at the Academy of Wind and Storms. I don’t want to lose face in front of the local adherents and disgrace the glorious name of our boarding house.
I said all this, embarrassed, and in such an unctuous voice that I even felt sick. Ashsher was completely warped, but more because of how cleverly I managed to get out.
“Commendable, Blackrock student, commendable.” – Grymza was flattered by my words. “The rest of us have an extra task for the evening, since there’s nothing else to do besides gossip.” Learn paragraphs thirteen through twenty-eight on obedience theory. Let's do an additional lesson.
