19 Goodbye (4)
Support my main contracted novel and winner of Writing Prompts #26 - The Legendary Mage!
Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!
https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!
* * * * *
Sam lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
She rolled from side to side. Not because she wasn't comfortable - she could (and often did) fall asleep on stones, trees or knives without realising it.
No, she wasn't uncomfortable on the outside. But she couldn't quite understand why she felt so funny, inside her tummy.
She placed both her now no longer bandaged hands on her flat, 6 pack abdomen and recalled what she had been eating. Roast lamb, grey mountain horses, Gallic garlic goat stew... Her mouth watered as she thought about her next meal. No, it wasn't anything wrong with the food she ate...
Then what was it? It didn't feel bad... But she felt dizzy, light headed and restless when she thought about her last conversation with Reeve yesterday.
Reeve had not yet fully regained his strength even 10 days after the incident, but when the Baron abruptly cut his trip short, the noble had insisted for Reeve to travel with his carriage - to Turin. Apparently he had obtained his father's approval to enrol Lily in a top-notch boarding school for noble ladies, and also sponsor Reeve to be apprenticed with a legendary knight!
Reeve had hemmed and hawed; he truly disliked the noble's worldview and how he judged people only by their usefulness to him. But he did want Lily to have a better life and more opportunities to learn in the city.
The decisive blow came when Novius offered to grant Sam one request, no matter how big or small; as long as it was within his power, he would do it. Reeve was pressured by his father; it was obvious that the Marquis and Baron were pulling all stops to recruit the young awakened hero.
The Baron was relieved, puzzled then left speechless at her request.
She had asked for 100 strong horses. Pleased that her request was not excessive and only slightly costly, Novius watched Reeve's expression and offered Sam the best, tallest and biggest war horses Rome had to offer. Her eyes widened and she squealed in delight, hugely unbecoming for a 15 year old boy, drawing looks of disdain from the Baron's entourage.
All smiles, he had then politely asked what she intended to do with them (farming? Oxen would be better...). He was left speechless when she answered, "To eat them... Slowly. Those 100 horses will have to last me a whole year!" He couldn't even begin to explain to her what was wrong with her brain, much less how it would be more than enough meat for a family of 10 to eat for that entire year!
Wiping his sweat away, the Baron nodded absent-mindedly, instructing Rosa, his maid and butler, to arrange for it. She curtseyed and assured him the horses would be delivered with the month.
Thus, Reeve had agreed to leave and continue his recovery in Turin, where the young Baron would take up service and vie for power and position against rival heirs.
And that led to the strange goodbye between Reeve and Sam.
* * * * *
"Hey."
She looked up and smiled a wide, guileless smile, and replied, "Hey!"
(She really doesn't have any filters, does she...) Reeve did not enter her room, instead standing at the door, leaning against the doorframe.
He hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "Samuel... I... I'm leaving today."
She nodded, she knew already. She sat up to look at him, able to use her nearly fully-healed left arm to raise herself higher.
"...Why do you call yourself Samuel anyway? I mean, since you're a girl..."
Sam smiled at him and kept silent. She didn't know how to answer in the first place.
Feeling the atmosphere turn awkward, Reeve cut to the point. "You need to take care of yourself. I don't know if you'll get better, I mean, if you'll be able to fight well again. I mean, well..." He sighed. "--I enjoyed our spar very much..." He began to blush, feeling as embarrassed as if he were asking her for a date.
"Dammit! Just get better okay?! And fight me again!" He pointed at her aggressively from the entrance. "But you better improve fast, or I'll leave you behind in the dust! I'll catch up in no time!"
Stunned, Sam looked at him blankly for awhile, then smiled. She felt a warmth in her heart. Then she said, "I hope you'll get strong enough so you won't die in one hit... Then it'll be more fun!" She smiled sweetly even as she delivered the ego-crushing, emasculating words.
"!!!" Furious, Reeve clenched his fists, and felt heat rising to his face. Then he turned away, back facing her.
"2 years."
"...? 2 years...?"
"In 2 years, I'll show you who's the real genius." He cracked his knuckles, and stretched. "I'll come back, and we'll spar again. And I'll let you eat your words!"
"So..." He turned to look at her over his shoulder, his face blushing. "So you need to get well... Okay...? Or... I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life."
He spun to point his index finger at her again, this time hesitant as he asked her, "Promise me, you'll get better...?"
"...Promise! I'll beat you to a pulp in 2 years!"
Smiling, he turned to leave, feeling he was pretty cool with his declaration (for a 15 year old).
"...While waiting for you to get stronger, it's ok for me to come look for you to play in the city, right...?"
Coughing in embarrassment at the sudden change of flow, Reeve reluctantly nodded. Then he asked, "Sure... I'll be waiting for you."
And as he walked out of the physician's office to where the Baron's entourage and Lily were waiting, he whispered under his breath, " And then, whether you're strong again or not... I'll always protect you, Sam."
* * * * *
Sam held her head in her hands and rolled around. She felt irritated at the funny feeling that she didn't understand. She tried going to the toilet, but it didn't help... The nurses just giggled and smiled when she told them about it, just saying things like, "How cute!", "So sweet!" And "What a young couple." Which she didn't understand at all.
So she decided. She jumped out of bed, pulled on the set of rough shirt and pants, then hopped out of the window, straight to the academy - to look for that blasted baldy principal.
* * * * *
"Hehe... My Madeline, my sweet and innocent Madeline... Your curves are fuller than the full moon! Your skin fairer than the whitest clouds..." A creepy man sat in his too, saying creepy things.
"What? You, you want me to help you to und-undress...? No my dear, how could I...? But if you insist... Heh heh heh--"
Crash! His dark tinted window on the 3rd floor burst inwards, scattering glass all over his table and study, startling the balding man out of his wits.
"S-Samuel?"
Sam gave him a glance over, and asked, "Why aren't you wearing pants? And why were you talking to yourself while holding a--" she pointed at the inflatable human-sized doll, "--a balloon...?"
Clearing his throat, Principal Snow shook his head with his eyes closed. "Tut tut tut... Young man... You are still inexperienced with the true pleasures of life..."
He gently and lovingly laid down the inflatable doll on a table, then faced Sam. "My dear boy, there will come a day when you will realise, the desires of a man and his heart can only truly be satisfied by the real, yet unreal." His face took on a sage-like appearance as he continued.
"...For the real can never completely encompass the wideness of a man's wild heart, his raging desires and his deepest fantasies!" His gaze turned sharp. "And thus was born, men - no, mankind's greatest form of art..."
He walked over, still pantsless, and strained to pat the tall girl on the shoulder. When he realised he was too short, he settled for jumping up to pat her once, then walked away to stand by the window, looking out over the distant houses.
"...Young man, all you need to do to be immersed, indulged and initiated into this mysterious, sensual world beyond your imagination, is to bow down to me, your master of the 2 dimension... And I will teach you the pleasures every young man must know..."
"But I'm a girl..."
"....."
He pulled up his pants, then waved his hand, sending the table (and inflatable doll) flying into a hidden cupboard, then sat down casually behind his antique, priceless jadeoak desk.
"Yes my dear, how may I help you...?" He smiled, before the antique table was smashed onto his head - repeatedly.
