No Class Found

Doc woke in the second-floor room above the clinic with morning light coming through the frost-edged window.

The building was already awake beneath him. Footsteps crossed the floor downstairs, followed by the scrape of a chair and someone opening the front door.

Good morning, Doc, Lux said through the link.

“Morning.”

Doc sat up and looked toward the corner where Fish usually slept.

Her blanket was empty.

“Where’s Fish?”

She woke approximately forty minutes ago. Current location: Clinic ground-floor.

Doc swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“She didn’t even wait for me.”

She has not waited for you the previous four mornings.

“Still rude.”

Fish had started spending more time downstairs recently. At first she had only followed Maris around while she worked. Now Doc occasionally came down and found her stretched beside one of the treatment beds while someone waited for Ironha.

Most adults still gave her plenty of room, but children were usually less cautious.

Doc stood and stretched.

“What’s the plan today?”

You are scheduled to meet Mazoga and accompany her to the Academy for her follow-up interview with Archmagister Kaine. Following that, you have a radio meeting with Edda and the Threeburrow council.

Doc rubbed one hand across his face.

“Anything after that?”

Nothing formally scheduled.

“That means something will happen.”

Historical evidence supports that conclusion.

Doc looked toward the ceiling.

“You could have just said no.”

He dressed quickly, pulling on the Exo-field suit and headed downstairs.

The clinic was already busy.

Two patients waited near the front while Ren spoke quietly with an older woman at the desk. She had several folded papers in one hand and kept pointing toward one of them while Ren searched through the ledger in front of him.

Near the treatment area, Maris carried a case of health tonics from the supply shelves.

Fish walked beside her.

A young boy sitting with his mother watched the phase wolf pass. His eyes followed Fish all the way across the room.

Fish noticed.

The boy smiled and gave her a small wave.

Fish gave a soft chuff in return and continued after Maris.

Doc smiled at that interaction.

Maris noticed him near the stairway.

“Good Morning!”

“Good Morning.”

Fish glanced toward him.

“Good morning to you too.”

Her ears twitched.

Doc continued through the connecting door into the depot side.

It was quieter here, though not by much.

Ironha sat at the small kitchen table near the back with a plate of bread and soft cheese in front of her. A second plate waited across from her beside an empty cup.

She pointed at the chair.

“Sit.”

Doc sat.

Ironha poured tea from a ceramic pot and pushed the cup toward him.

“You planning on feeding everyone who comes through here?”

“Only you,” Ironha said with a smile.

Doc took a piece of bread.

“Why only me?”

Ironha gave him a look.

Doc paused.

“Okay. Fair.”

He bit into the bread.

“Where’s Maz?”

“Trade depot. She wanted to check the outbound wagons.”

Doc glanced toward the depot floor beyond the kitchen.

“Supplies for Foroughfore?”

“And Threeburrow. Two wagons are leaving later today.”

Ironha picked up her tea.

“Marron sent another list last night. Tools, lamp oil, metal fittings, a few replacement parts. Threeburrow needs more cloth and salt.”

“Anything we’re short on?”

“Here?”

Doc nodded.

Ironha took a drink before answering.

“The tonic we use to treat necrotic disease.”

“How short?”

“Not enough to be a problem yet.”

Doc set the bread down.

“What’s happening?”

Ironha leaned back slightly.

“It’s the refugees coming down from the north.”

Doc waited.

“Some have wounds and they’ve been traveling through places thick with necrotic mana. Abandoned villages. Roads where bodies have been left for weeks. Some of them spent days hiding in places overrun by draugrs.”

Her mouth tightened.

“I’m seeing more necrotic sickness.”

“How bad?”

“Mostly early cases but their are a few farther along.”

Ironha rotated the cup between her hands.

“The tonic we use to treat necrotic disease can handle most of it. I’ve had two severe enough that I had to intervene myself.”

Ironha glanced toward the clinic.

“We’re going through the tonic faster than I expected.”

Doc nodded.

Foroughfore had plenty. They just needed to send more with the next shipment.

Ironha seemed to know what he was thinking.

“It isn’t only supplies.”

Doc looked at her.

“The clinic can handle more people,” she said. “Especially with Maris and the others helping now. The district can’t.”

“Housing.”

Ironha nodded.

“Half the people I treated yesterday are sleeping in wagons or tents.”

Doc glanced toward the clinic wall.

He had noticed the camps growing around the Outer Approach. Everyone had.

“It’s getting crowded.”

“It’s going to get worse.”

Before Doc could answer, Maris appeared in the doorway.

“Ironha?”

Ironha looked over.

“The old men with the shoulder is back.”

“Already?”

“He says it still hurts when he lifts his arm.”

Ironha sighed and stood.

“I told him not to work yesterday.”

Maris gave her a look and said “He worked yesterday.”

“Of course He did.” Ironha sighed

Ironha picked up her tea and drained what remained.

Doc smiled.

“Busy morning.”

Ironha set the cup down.

“Every morning is busy now.”

She took two steps toward the clinic, then stopped.

“I’m bringing it up with Edda during the meeting.”

“The refugees?”

“I know Foroughfore could take more.”

Ironha folded her arms.

“We have land. We have food. We’re still building.”

“We’re also still taking people in.”

“I know.”

“And every person we bring in means another house, more food, more work for Brenn and Tor—”

“I know, Doc.”

Doc looked at her then.

She looked more tired than Doc had realized.

Then she glanced through the doorway toward the waiting patients.

“Yesterday a family came in with three children. They left their village with two blankets, a cooking pot, and whatever they could carry.”

Ironha looked back at him.

“The youngest had necrotic exposure. Nothing severe. We treated but they’re sleeping under their wagon.”

Doc leaned back in the chair and sighed.

“We’ll bring it up.”

“Good.”

“That doesn’t mean Edda will say yes.”

Ironha smiled.

“If you ask it, she will.”

Ironha then disappeared through the doorway with Maris.

By the time Doc stepped onto the main depot floor, the rest of the building had come alive.

Two workers were shifting crates near the loading doors. Someone had chalked destinations across the lids.

FOROUGHFORE.

THREEBURROW.

GLASSHOLD — HOLD.

Talia stood behind the counter checking each item against a ledger while another worker waited with a crate balanced against one hip.

“No,” Talia said. “That one stays here.”

The worker looked down.

“It says Threeburrow.”

“It should have been change yesterday.”

She reached across the counter and showed him the page.

The man sighed and turned around.

Doc waited until he moved off, then stepped up to the counter.

“Morning.”

Talia looked up.

“Morning.”

“You seen Mazoga?”

She glanced toward the rear yard.

“Outside. She was checking the wagons.”

“Thanks.”

Doc headed through the loading doors.

Cold morning air hit him immediately.

Two wagons stood in the yard.

One wore the yellow duck flag and was already mostly loaded. Workers secured canvas across sacks and crates while the driver checked the harness on the Stonehorn goats.

Rald stood beside the second wagon speaking with one of the drivers.

Kipp was up on the wagon bed tightening a rope.

Doc had barely stepped outside when Mazoga came around the far side of the first wagon.

She had changed out of the armor she returned in yesterday. Her hammer was still strapped across her back, but otherwise she looked almost casual.

Doc noticed the stiffness when she stepped down from the wagon bed.

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

Mazoga looked at him.

“I slept.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“It is when you do it long enough.”

Doc glanced at the crates behind her.

“Ironha know you’re out here moving things?”

“I’m not moving anything.”

Kipp leaned over the side of the wagon.

“She moved three crates.”

Mazoga turned her head and glared at him

Kipp grinned and went back to the rope.

Doc looked at her.

Mazoga sighed.

Doc let it go

Mazoga waved him toward the gate.

“Come on. Kaine wanted me there this morning.”

Doc fell into step beside her.

“You ready?”

“For an interview?”

“Yeah.”

Mazoga shrugged.

“I hit the thing until its head came off. Not much else to tell.”

“I suspect he’ll have more questions than that.”

“Then he’s going to be disappointed.”

Mazoga adjusted the hammer across her back.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

They left the depot and headed toward Glasshold.

Kaine was halfway through reviewing the notes from yesterday’s examination when the ward alarm sounded.

He looked up as sharp tone echoed through the office.

Kaine was already standing when Serin came through the adjoining door.

“Do you know what that’s for?”

Serin shook her head.

“No.”

They left together.

The corridors were beginning to react around them. Magisters stepped out of offices while students stopped where they were, looking toward the sound.

Kaine pointed toward the nearest instructor.

“Clear the halls.”

The man nodded and immediately turned toward the students.

Kaine and Serin continued down the stairs.

They reached the lower corridor leading toward the examination chambers.

Two magisters stood outside the secured section.

One was working at the ward glyph beside the entrance.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know,” the younger magister said. “The inner containment ward failed first. Then the chamber alarm activated.”

“The researchers?”

“Nothing from inside.”

Kaine looked through the narrow viewing crystal set into the door.

At first, he could not make sense of what he was seeing.

The stone table had overturned.

The metal tray that had held the creature’s severed head lay against the far wall.

The head had rolled beside it.

The body stood a few paces away.

A new head had begun to grow from the ruined neck. Dark flesh covered most of the skull, but one side of the face was still raw and half-formed, the jaw hanging crooked beneath exposed tissue.

One of the researchers was already gone.

His torn robes lay beneath the creature’s feet.

The second was still alive.

The creature had him pinned against the floor.

Dark strands had spread from its torso and wrapped around his legs.

“Open it,” Kaine said.

The magister at the ward glyph looked back.

“Archmagister, the containment—”

“Open it.”

The runes shifted.

The outer ward disappeared.

Kaine pushed through the door the moment there was room.

“Move away from him!”

The creature looked up.

Its unfinished face turned toward Kaine.

Serin entered behind him.

Ice crossed the chamber floor.

It reached the creature before it could move, climbing over both legs and locking them to the stone.

Kaine raised one hand.

Mana gathered.

A concentrated blast struck the creature in the chest, tearing it away from the researcher and throwing it into the far wall.

The researcher curled onto his side, gasping.

Kaine started toward him.

Something snapped around the man’s ankle and yanked him backward.

Kaine caught his arm before he could be dragged away. A dark strand of flesh stretched from the creature’s torso to the researcher’s leg, followed by another that wrapped around his waist.

“Serin!”

Ice swept across the floor beside him. It climbed over the strands and froze them solid, but the creature pulled before Serin could sever them. The frozen flesh tore apart with a wet crack.

Fresh strands pushed out almost immediately.

The researcher screamed as Kaine’s grip slipped.

Serin cut across the space between them with a blade of ice, slicing through the new growth. Kaine pulled the man toward him, but the creature was already tearing itself free from the ice around its legs. Frozen pieces of flesh ripped away and stayed behind as it lunged.

A wall of ice rose between them.

The creature hit it hard enough to send cracks across the entire surface.

The second impact broke through.

Kaine shoved one hand forward. Force caught the researcher across the chest and sent him sliding through the open doorway, where one of the waiting magisters grabbed him beneath the arms.

“Get him out!”

The creature came through the broken ice wall.

Kaine struck it with fire before it could reach the door. The blast caught one shoulder and burned deep enough that the arm dropped uselessly at its side.

For a moment, the way was clear.

Then the damaged shoulder began to move.

Blackened flesh split apart as new tissue pushed through beneath it. The arm straightened before Kaine had fully registered what he was seeing.

It reached through the doorway.

The magister tried to pull the researcher away, but the creature caught him by the leg.

Kaine threw another spell but it was too late.

The researcher was ripped back across the threshold.

Serin froze the floor beneath the creature and sent ice climbing over its lower body, but it already had the man against its chest. Flesh opened around him.

The scream ended almost immediately.

“Back!” Kaine shouted.

The magisters outside retreated as Kaine threw up a ward across the doorway.

He and Serin moved farther into the chamber while the creature fed.

Kaine watched the change take place.

The shoulder he had burned repaired first. Missing flesh filled in around the arm, followed by the damage along its legs where Serin’s ice had torn pieces free.

Its half-formed head changed with the rest.

The crooked jaw pulled into place. Flesh spread over the exposed side of the face, covering bone and raw tissue until nothing remained of the malformed thing Kaine had first seen standing beside the examination table.

Serin’s expression tightened as the last of the creature’s face pulled into place.

The moment it moved, Serin caught its leading leg in a sheath of ice, locking the knee just long enough for Kaine to drive a blast into its chest and send it crashing backward into the overturned examination table.

The Stone table split beneath its weight.

The creature rolled through the debris and came up almost immediately.

Three spears of ice crossed the chamber in quick succession. One punched through the shoulder, another buried itself in the thigh, and the last struck beneath the ribs hard enough for the point to emerge from its back.

The impacts pinned the creature in place, but only for a moment. It twisted hard against the ice, shattering all three spears and sending broken pieces across the chamber.

Kaine had seen creatures regenerate in the middle of a fight before, but never this quickly.

The wounds were closing almost as soon as it was made.

A voice called from beyond the ward.“Archmagister!”

Kaine glanced toward the doorway without taking his attention fully from the creature.

“The western hall is clear. Students are being moved east.”

“Good. Keep everyone away from this wing.”

The magister disappeared back into the corridor.

The creature charged again.

Serin swept one arm outward.

Ice spread beneath its feet and surged upward around both legs. It fought against the forming shell, but Serin kept feeding mana into it until thick ice encased everything below the waist.

She closed her fist.

The ice contracted.

Bone broke beneath it.

Both legs folded.

Kaine took the opening.

Fire gathered along his hand before narrowing into a concentrated lance. He drove it through the center of the creature’s chest and held it there.

The creature hit the floor.

Flame burned through flesh and bone until Kaine could see the ruined stone beneath it. Its arms struck against the floor once, then again, before finally going still.

Kaine let the fire die.

Smoke curled from the cavity in its chest.

Serin kept her hands raised.

Kaine did the same.

Neither of them moved closer.

A finger twitched.

Then another.

Serin swore quietly.

“That should have put it down.”

Kaine watched the ruined chest begin to close.

“It should have.”

The creature rolled onto one arm.

Its shattered legs were already changing. Bone shifted beneath the skin with small, ugly movements as the knees rebuilt themselves.

The creature stood.

One leg bent incorrectly beneath it.

It took a step.

Then jumped.

Kaine brought up a ward just before it reached him.

The creature struck hard enough to drive him backward.

Light rippled across the barrier.

A second blow followed before Kaine had recovered his footing.

Serin caught it from the side.

A mass of ice slammed into its ribs and carried it across the chamber, through a cabinet, and into the wall beyond.

Kaine lowered the ward.

The creature pushed itself upright among the broken wood.

Its ribs were visibly misshapen beneath the skin.

Even as Kaine watched, they began settling back into place.

Serin took a step back beside him.

“We’re burning through too much mana.”

Kaine could feel it in his own reserves. They had spent far more than this fight should have required, and the creature looked almost untouched.

“How much do you have left?”

Serin kept her eyes on the creature.

“Not enough.”

The creature charged.

Serin formed a thick sheet of ice between them and drove it forward. The impact caught the creature across the chest and forced it back several steps, but it dug one hand into the ice and tore through.

Kaine struck before it could clear the opening.

Fire burst against its side and carved deep into the torso.

The creature staggered.

Serin followed with a heavy spike of ice that caught it beneath the ribs and drove it against the wall.

For a moment, it stayed there.

Then the flesh around the spike began closing.

Serin’s breathing had grown heavier.

Kaine saw the creature pull itself farther onto the ice until the spike snapped.

It came off the wall fast.

Serin raised another barrier.

Too late.

The creature struck through the forming ice and caught her across the side.

She left the ground and hit the floor several paces away.

“Serin!”

Kaine threw up a ward as the creature turned toward her.

It hit the barrier hard enough to send a jolt through both of his arms.

Kaine held.

The creature struck again.

Cracks appeared across the ward.

Serin pushed herself up on one arm.

“I’m fine.”

Kaine didn’t look away from the creature.

“Fall back.”

Serin hesitated only a moment before getting to her feet.

Kaine released the ward and drove a burst of force through it at the same time, throwing the creature backward and buying them enough room to retreat into the corridor.

Once Serin was through, Kaine turned and raised both hands.

Runes along the walls flared to life.

A ward sealed the passage behind them.

"The creature reached it seconds later.

Its fist struck the barrier, sending light flashing through the corridor.

Serin leaned against the wall for a moment, one hand pressed against her side.

A crack split the glowing surface on the second blow.

“We’re not holding it here for long.”

The creature struck again.

The crack tore wide open, and the light around it started to flicker.

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