Chapter 15: The Tyrant's right hand
'This cheeky little brat is really begging for a spanking.' The old woman thought, the vein on her forehead showing.
The current situation, the realization that she would have to stay past her usual hours just so she could deal with the paperwork, and now this had pushed her over the edge of reason. She was tempted to drop her dampener and grill him, right here right now, but barely kept herself in check.
"Sadly that won't be possible Mr. Clades." Is what she actually said, with a smile so warm it could freeze you even if you stood next to the Sun.
The students had expected her to refuse. Her anger was also understandable, but no one expected or understood the fear they felt toward this frail old woman. Ciaran, being the sole exception as today had taught him that he knew next to nothing about this world. He also remembered that the Maze was scared of his teacher, an amusing thought at the time, a scary one when he stood directly at the terror itself.
'I don't know what she is capable of, and I have a feeling I will regret what I am about to do. Heavens show mercy, I have no choice, I need to see this to the end.' The boy thought.
"Rayon, wherever you get put, the moment they take their eyes off you, riot! Beat everyone who is not ours! This goes for the rest of you as well. I don't expect you to be as brutal or as strong as my brother, but cause as much damage as you can." The boy commanded.
Mrs. Elizabeth Parker looked shocked once again. A second later she realized what she had just heard. Before she could even respond though, Ciaran raised his hand to stop her.
"Since you don't want to give me the key, even though it would have saved me the trouble of looking for another way up, let's make a deal. My gang would ignore the last set of orders I gave them. Hell, they will be on their best behavior for the whole day. They will even limit themselves to studying one thing each, so less homework for you. All I ask in return is for you to keep our business in our class. No other teachers, staff, or even other students are to be notified about my plans."
"In addition, you will escort them and stay away from the Library for at least an hour. I need time to make a new plan you see, as you essentially took my limbs from me."
"Finally, once today is over, whatever happens, it's all on me and no one else. Punish me however you want, but leave everyone else out of it."
Elizabeth didn't want to burn the boy anymore. It would be too quick, too merciful. This little bastard had just blackmailed her in front of their whole class. Hell, he wasn't even nice about it. Worse still, he recognized she was furious and was about to yell at him so he fired his whole speech at once.
'He preserved my image of a cool-headed teacher, more or less saying I should take the deal. Fine, game on boy.'
"I admire your boldness Mr. Clades. You have a deal, but I want to make sure you understand, there WILL be consequences to your actions." She actually said, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"I am aware. In business, you always have to pay a price for the goods that you want. The higher the buyer's need, the higher the cost imposed by the seller. "The boy said and paused for a second.
"Give me what I want. Do your worst after." He said and gave the most genuine smile of his life.
Ciaran Clades was a very couscous kid, but right now he was high on adrenaline. He felt on top of the world, and he knew she would take the deal. She had to. He had felt impulsive before, but never had he acted on his instincts to this degree, never had he felt so free.
'I really shouldn't have antagonized her like that. I could have bargained, smooth-talked her into it. Hell, even if I just asked her, without the blackmail it would have been fine. '
He knew this went against his training, against everything he knew about strategy and tactics, but it was fun, exhilarating even. And the rush it gave him was like no other.
Their teacher took a good long look at him and then smiled. There was no coldness in her eyes, in fact, one could even feel the warmness of the first days of Spring, right after one particularly cold Winter, radiating from her smile.
"I will Ciaran, don't worry I will." She said. And at that moment they all knew, he fucked up. If their teacher was angry about his request and furious about the blackmail, she was absolutely mad about his audacity.
"Thank you, Elizabeth. I will be looking forward to your return." Ciaran had said, looking genuinely happy for her response.
Every single student stepped back. Today, they all learned madness was contagious, and they didn't want to be infected by the two lunatics in front of them.
"Since that is settled, let us get organized. Clara, you and your girls stay with Mr. Clades, we can't have him running unsupervised after all. As for the rest of you, group up into three lines of eleven children each. It's time to go." She declared, then looked at Ciaran.
She fell on one knee and looked at him as if to see if he was injured in the Trials. She made sure no one else could hear her, or see her lips. "Good luck kid, be sure that time passes quickly when you have fun" She whispered to him.
He nodded enthusiastically, happy she took him seriously.
Five minutes later the crowd was dispersing and a small percentage of the kids was left.
Clara went near the boy and scalded him, to the shock of no one.
"Really, blackmail, really? Why stop there, why didn't you threaten her with your father's influence as well? Maybe, offer her a job as well? " She girl was absolutely furious.
"Dad would never back me up on this Clara, you know this. Gods, as my witness I tried asking so many times. And the Academy pays very well sadly, buying her off is impossible with my funds." He said matter of factly.
"And you are broke." She sneered.
"And I am broke." He nodded.
The two were at it again, but this time their conversation was strange. There was no malice, no insults.
" So you don't even have money now, peasant? And your ruffians have been taken away from you. Why don't you just behave and not-"One of Clara's girls, a Baron's daughter, got a confidence boost, seeing her Lady's rival alone, and hearing that his biggest advantage was taken away from him. She always hated feeling inferior to common blood, and would not miss an opportunity to show him his place. At least now when that was beneath her of course.
Ciaran just relist his Zeroth aura. Looked at her sternly and said. "Shut up, I don't want your blood on my conscience."
The girl flinched but didn't back off. "Y-you, d-d-don't scare m-me, L-lady Clara h-has also- ."
"I know, that's what I am saying girl, back off before things get ugly." He said as he got between her and Clara.
"My little sis hates it when you arrogant nobles call me a 'peasant'. I have seen this brute beat people to death so many times, I still have nightmares.
"First of all, you are no more than a week older than me." Clara protested.
"The last seven peaceful days, I have experienced on Dyrta." The boy didn't miss to add.
With a glare in his direction, she continued. "Second of all I am no brute. Settling disputes by combat is one of the Empire's long-lasting traditions. Now you would know that if you cared to listen to me during our homework sessions. But no, you and Ray give me a solid forty minutes and then I lose you. I swear to God, how we kept the charade of you being a good student is a mystery to me."
"I have always been a great liar, and an amazing cheat," Ciaran said matter of factly.
"Ok, quick explanations, as we are on a schedule here." He turned to the girls and spoke.
"None of you care about keeping me away from level two. You all just wanted to get on Ciara's good side. Well good news, the change in leadership does not, in fact, ruin your relationship with this nerd. Bad news, we are allies now, and betrayal to me will be met with a horrible school life for all of you. Questions?" Ciaran addressed the former girl police.
"Good, now listen well, because you will all be a part of my glorious plan. It's time to siege the tower."
Mrs. Elizabeth Parker had thought that she had crippled him by taking away his goons. Most of the damage came from keeping Ray away from the Library, as he was Ciaran's left hand man, the shield who protected this wannabe mafia boss. What she didn't know was that Ciaran was right-handed, and that particular hand he made sure stood close to their teacher, with a dagger on the ready. Purely metaphorically speaking of course, most of the time.