Rise of the Archmage Alister

The taste of blood and the gritty feeling of dirt filled little Fiera’s mouth. A reddening mark was the clear imprint on her cheek from where the other six-year-old noble girl turned her ring to face inwards before slapping her. It cut her cheek both outside and inside, cutting her lip on her teeth, too. The surprise of the force knocked her to the ground.

“Pwetty cute?” Genna repeated, only a couple inches taller than Fiera, her anger clear, “My cat isn’t ‘pwetty cute’, plebian. She’s amazing. Get it wight, Fiewa.”

Fiera Odelline cringed, holding her cheek where she now bled. She worked so hard trying to get her makeup to look like the other nobles’ this morning, too… “I-I’m sorry. You’re right, she’s beautiful,” she said, eyes cast down. She absolutely hated this, but there was nothing she could do. Her family was first and second-generation baronets, the lowest rung of nobility. They were barely above knights, who weren’t even considered nobles - at least on their own - by the aristocracy. Even rich merchants had more sway than baronets. They couldn’t afford to cause trouble, her momma already had no idea how to handle the day-to-day work involved, never mind extraordinary circumstances…

“You’we damn wight she is. More beautiful than you! And mowe of a noble too,” the young daughter of a viscount said, black wavy hair bouncing where it framed her eyes. “Mattew of fact… I want you to say it.”

Fiera froze in place. “I… I…” What was she to do here? They were baronets because of her grampa, who died from his wounds after holding a fort with only ten men under him against a monster army of two hundred! What was she supposed to do? Dishonor her grandpa by backing down? Honor her momma by not stirring up trouble? There was no right answer.

“Say what, Gen? That who ith more of a noble?” interjected a third voice, this one a young boy. Jacob Destil. Tears of gratitude began to well in Fiera’s eyes, but she did her best to remain composed. He was missing his front teeth right now, which gave him a funny lisp, but his big teeth were coming in so everyone was jealous about it anyway.

The bully visibly shrank in her green dress. “O-oh. Lord Destil. I just wanted… uhm…”

This timidness just made the boy grin. “Thomething about a cat, right? Thomething about… Thaying that you want to be a cat? Ith that right, kitty cat?”

The pale skin of the young girl turned red as a tomato, “I-I-I… I’ve got t-to go I’m afraid, I’ve got uhm… to…” She broke into a sprint suddenly, rushing past him.

“That’th right kitty-kitty, go find the litter box! Bury yourself in it while you’re at it!” he sneered, yelling at her back. The cruel sneer dropped from his lips as he reached down to help Fiera up. “I thwear, Ode, why don’t you juth fight back? Your mom can deal with it, this bitch is gonna get you in trouble eventually anyway for fun.” He was the only one who called her Ode. She liked the nickname. It felt like it made her family more important.

She shook her head vehemently, almost dizzying herself. “I can’t! Momma- er… Mother couldn’t possibly handle trouble from the Viscount if Genna went to him. At least this way it’s just me…”

This just got a sigh from the boy, shaking his head. “I’m telling you it’s pointleth. I can’t alwayth be here to help, ya know. Anyway, I juth heard that both you and Gen were out here, tho I figured that could only mean trouble. If you won’t defend yourthelf, why won’t you at least invo-”

“No way!” shouted the previously timid girl, her blue eyes lighting up with a vigor unseen by the others, “I’m not gonna rely on people being scared of you to defend myself! I can take care of myself, I always did before all this stupid nobility stuff…”

At this, Jacob just stared at her for a moment. “Thee? Juth like that, Ode. I know you’ve got it in you. I know you don’t need me to defend you. But you’ve got to do thomething. I won’t thep in next time, but… theriously. As a favor, please. Do something about thith.”

Even before he said this, though, the gears were turning in her head. She needed to start a rumor, and this kitty thing was a good start. They were being pretty loud, and a few people were watching. They wouldn’t dare spread the word, they were all lesser nobles like herself, but if she could spread the conversation, to begin with… they wouldn’t be able to help themselves…

----------

This was… way more awkward than Ode expected. She hovered around the edge of the dining hall, watching the girls that she was going to talk to. “Just beat her up,” Jacob kept suggesting… but that wouldn’t work. Just wasn’t plausible. She knew he just wouldn’t get how that kind of thing was handled, but it was still annoying.

Finally working up the nerves, she stepped forward. The person she needed to talk to was a young girl who was an orbiter of the popular crowd. That way her name wouldn’t be so easily attached to the rumor and would get lost in transmission.

Clearing her throat, Ode got the attention of the other young girl, with similar silver hair. “Hey, I heard something that I thought was um… I thought was funny,” Ode said, trying to feign confidence and act like she belonged… but the open staring made it obvious she failed. Managing to contain squirming, she cleared her throat. “So, I heard that Lord Destil found out that Lady Genna wants to be a cat,” she said, managing to finally catch their interest.

“Wants… to be a kitty-cat?” one of them asked, eyebrows peaking up. “Why’d he think that?”

This just got a shrug. “I don’t know, I didn’t question him about it. He is the son of a count, after all, he must have his reasons…”

It was clear at this point that her goal was complete. It’d get back to Jacob, and he’d confirm, she just needed to get it going in the first place.

----------

After a week or so, Ode couldn’t help but continue watching Genna nervously. She hadn’t messed with Ode recently… not since she’d begun having her own issues. Just yesterday she’d seen the girl get called “cat kisser” and “cat girl”.

Ode didn’t really know how to feel about any of this. She never meant it to get so out of hand, she just wanted her to stop. She just wanted her to stop insulting her honor, or teasing about her station. Damn it, until only a couple of years ago she was a commoner! It was a huge improvement! Baronet still counted as a noble!

The young baronet couldn’t stand it, could feel uncharacteristic anger boiling inside. Her momma had been so stressed, silently bearing the burden of nobility in a supremely vulnerable position. Ode had heard momma talking to one of the servants, one that came with the title that she’d grown really close with, about how the only reason she kept it up is that it took them out of poverty.

Why did Genna get to make light of that? Why did being born a higher noble give her the right to be such a jerk to everyone?!

Shaking Ode out of her stormy thoughts with a surprise tap on the head, Jacob let out a grunt of surprise as he got met by a shove. It didn’t take him off his feet or anything, he was far heftier than her, despite them being the same age, but it did shock him. “Wow, Ode. Thomething muth have you really miffed, huh?” he asked with a grin. He liked where this was going. Not that he wasn’t already proud of her work. It gave him something to think about in the future when he really wanted to fuck with someone.

Ode froze in place, panic briefly passing on her face. Did she really just…? Why did she like that so much…?

Seeing the expression on her face, Jacob groaned. “Oh come on. What’th wrong now?”

This made her jump again. “Oh. Uhm. I guess just… I don’t know how I should feel about it…” she said, thoughts chaotic. “She’s leaving me alone, but… I didn’t mean for things to get worse for her just so they’re better for me…”

Young Jacob just scoffed. “Oh. That. Well, I dunno, I thought it was pretty cool. But if you really need to feel better about it, think of it thith way. The’th a bitch who wath hurting you-”

“Jacob!”

“Fine. A jerk. A jerk hurting you and a bunch of other low nobleth… now the’th not. You or them. That’th… pretty cool, actually.”

Ode stared at him for a moment, thoughts calming some. That… did sound pretty good, didn’t it?