If I didn’t survive, the world could come apart. With me in charge of my own destiny, it likely would anyway.
Chapter Five
We started to climb again, heading for the academy in the high mountains. I was amazed at how long it was taking us to get there.
We rode for hours, until my hands and feet were numb. And still we kept soaring upward, the muscles in my arms starting to go weak from hanging on. We moved in and out of cloud cover, but when we were above the clouds we were so high that it was freezing despite the brightness.
At least it wasn’t raining. After what had happened with Julia, I loathed the rain.
When the clouds finally started to break up and we started to descend, ever so gradually, I gasped. Warm sunlight hit my face, birds chirped within hearing distance, and a butterfly about as big as my arm skittered past, the biggest butterfly I had ever seen. Normally they were about the size of my pinky; this one was as big as my hand. I watched it flap away into the bright sunshine, not quite believing my eyes.
All around us was a summer more brilliant than I had seen in years. The world was awash in greens and yellows and blues so bright that they seemed otherworldly.
Okay, maybe they were the colors of late summer, but it was still summer, carrying a warmth I hadn’t known in years. I hadn’t thought this sort of landscape existed any longer, because in our world, the seasons had started to disappear. There were fewer trees, fewer sunny days, less rain. I hadn’t realized that until I had been forced off the mountain.
I glanced around, shocked that nobody else was surprised. They all had known that this was coming, and no one had warned me.
I was drained from the ride and my hands and feet were tingling from the cold, but they started to recover in the sunshine. I tried to focus on what was in front of us.
Everywhere I looked there was beauty. The treetops reached up to meet us, almost as if they were sending a greeting.
As I drank in the view I saw, nestled between mountains, the most gorgeous castle of pure white stone, looking so clean I almost wasn’t sure if it was real. It was also huge; it just kept going in every direction. It was by far the largest building I had ever seen.
We swooped to the left, then swerved back to come upon the building at dead center. On the right was a waterfall that stretched up into the clouds, as if the gods were dumping the water down themselves.
I snorted at my own thought. It had been a long time since I had considered the gods. They had given up on me long ago, so why should I think about them?
To be fair, the gods had clearly given up on the entire kingdom. Perhaps the world. The next few months and years would tell the tale.
The guards and officials escorting me started to look more relaxed. Some of them even looked happy. But I wasn’t all that interested in them. Instead, I found myself trying to take it all in, to enjoy the smells and sights we encountered as we got closer to the academy.
Handling her unicorn with expert precision, Goya turned to glance back at me. “What do you think of your new home?” she asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said. Might as well tell the truth, since she knew it anyhow.
She nodded. “You can’t burn down white stone, I hope you know. You also can’t tear it down. The strongest person in the kingdom couldn’t. Just in case that’s what you were considering: escaping by destruction.”
I never acted without the goal of survival in mind. Why would I destroy a castle that had yet to do anything to me? Possibly that was what she thought, that I was that much of a monster. If you heard my history, I supposed, you might believe it too.
As we soared closer to the castle, I took in more of the landscape. There was a robust river running along the right side of it that looked like a blue snake covered in diamonds. My eyes followed the course of the river to the side of the castle, which brought me back to the waterfall, the most mesmerizing, glittering thing I had ever seen.
And I hated water, specifically rain, more than almost anything else.
The castle grounds were a mixture of gold and marble courtyards and roads. I couldn’t believe the colors, or the precision, or the years of work and craftsmanship that must have gone into this place.
It was only secondarily that I noticed the gates, which were folded in on themselves right now to allow access between the forested mountains and the castle. They were slick and black. It looked as if, were they to be closed, nobody would ever reach the castle.
Except by air, of course, for those fae who rode unicorns, or had control of their magical wings and wanted to brave the creatures that dwelled around the school.
I shifted my shoulders and wondered what it would be like to fly. I had never allowed myself to think such things before. Flying had always seemed like an impossibility for me, so why waste energy imagining it?
“We’re heading for that side of the courtyard,” Goya called. My unicorn heard her and follow the other unicorns, while I continued to hang on tight and watch.
My eyes went back to the waterfall just as a tall young man appeared near it. He was shirtless and sleek. Even from the air I could see the ripple of his muscles and his hair flopping over his forehead. The waterfall itself looked like gold, tumbling, rushing in the light.
Then I looked more closely and gasped. There were several heads bobbing in the pool at the bottom of the falls. I looked back at the man at the top just as he raised his arms over his head. As he pushed off, I saw his magic wings tuck. He was going to plummet down to the bottom without using them. I screamed out loud.
The guards glanced in my direction but didn’t appear to care. Maybe if I had been getting attacked by baby dragons they would have reacted. Then again, dragons didn’t exist, so they would certainly have been surprised, if nothing else.
The man plummeted to the pool and landed with hardly a splash. His friends whooped and yelled. Soon he popped back up, that golden hair slicked back with water. Even from high in the air I could see him grinning.
Maybe the group of friends could feel my eyes on them, I wasn’t sure. But for whatever reason, at that moment they all turned to look at the unicorns trailing through the sky.
We lost sight of them as we reached the side of the castle, otherwise known as the training academy for the entire kingdom.
We landed on the flagstones, my heels clicking on the translucent marble as I dismounted.
I marveled at the stunning shapes and structures, the colors and the light. Teal-colored stone alternated with pink in a sort of checkerboard pattern. The castle was set among high peaks that were surrounded by even loftier mountains. We were in a fortress high above the world. Whatever this mountain range was, I had never heard of it before.
The castle had several turrets, with one main entrance where more checkerboard stone greeted anyone who approached. To one side was a massive glass atrium, built long ago by someone determined to take advantage of the stunning views. A wide expanse of lawn surrounded the structure as a whole, with several smaller buildings dotting the landscape nearby. Students were coming out of a few of them carrying weapons and leading animals.
I stood, shocked, until the guards moved closer to me and reminded me that I was not there for my own entertainment.
Several faces peered out of the castle windows. The officials wasted no time in leading me forward, and as soon as I moved I realized how sore I was from sitting on the unicorn’s back for so many hours. I also suddenly realized that there was no longer any sign of the healer. When she had departed from us I wasn’t sure, but there was no time to worry about it now.
I followed the officials into the castle.
Into my new life, for however long it lasted.
Chapter Six
Our entry into the castle brought us to a long, dark hallway, headed, as far as I could tell, toward the middle of the vast building rather than toward one of the sprawling wings. I took note of the fact that the windows were not very large. I was sure that was for
safety.
In short, this place wasn’t some casual school. It was a fortress, meant to be impenetrable. The walls had never been breached. When murder came to the school, it was an inside job. There was a killer among the residents themselves.
I wondered if anyone else had died since the decision had made to send me here. They were bringing in several other new students, I had gathered as much from the conversations back at the Dungeon of Black Stone. But the other prisoners were from dungeons that didn’t have as poor a reputation as the one I’d come from. The incoming students from those places didn’t worry me. I could eat them alive.
“This way. We’re going to see the principal.” Goya’s feet tore into the stone floor as we careened along. “After you’ve spoken with him you’ll be taken to your new dorm room. No fighting.”
Goya’s short hair didn’t cover her neck, and I saw her head twisting slightly to the right and left, watching our flanks, keeping an eye on everything.
Up ahead I saw a couple of fae turn into our hallway, catch sight of us, and turn around again.
Seeing them turn away made me worry about what was to come. My background story was supposed to cover every eventuality: I was a noble woman who’d been living on the streets for years. That would account for my terrible manners and my general ignorance of noble customs.
I figured there was no chance that was going to work, but time would tell.
The principal’s doors were made of heavy mahogany. They looked as if they’d still be standing even if the rest of the castle crumbled. They made the doors of the warden’s office back at the Dungeon of Black Stone seem pathetic. There was no way I would ever be able to slam my way through them.
The door on the left opened and out stepped a small woman with a haircut similar to Goya’s. Their faces were also alike in that both were composed of sharp angles, more accustomed to scowling than anything else.
The woman looked me up and down and sniffed, but something about the way she moved told me she knew how to fight. I imagined that most fae at the academy did.
“He will see you now. You are the last to arrive,” she said tersely.
“We were the farthest away,” said Goya. “Besides, we had to test her.”
“And?”
“She’ll do,” Goya said.
I wanted to roll my eyes but didn’t bother.
The man behind the desk had bluish hair graying at the temples and a well clipped beard. His hands were large and brutal-looking and he was wearing a shirt that looked more like armor than clothing. He glanced up as I entered.
“You,” he said.
At first I wondered if he was a prince, but I didn’t think so. Maybe a duke or a lord, somebody important, at least. He wore his power easily, confidently. There was a sort of threat even in his gaze. He knew perfectly well that he would get what he wanted out of you.
I took note of it. I had never felt the cuffs around my wrists as acutely as I did now.
“Welcome. Sit,” he said, gesturing to one of the plush cushions opposite his desk.
The desk was about as large as most small rooms, certainly larger than I could get across in a hurry. But I had a feeling that the man behind it could be across it in half a second if he chose.
I sat, as instructed, and waited.
“You snuck out of the dungeon. I didn’t think we’d find anybody there for our current purposes. I thought you’d all be too wild to bring here. Turned out I was wrong. And winged to boot, even if chained. Do you know who chained you?” he asked.
I wasn’t sure whether to lie or not. I did kind of know, but only kind of. I figured my uncertainty should make my answer sound befuddled enough. I shook my head. He sat back in his chair.
I didn’t know if my expression changed, but his piercing eyes stabbed at me. What could he possibly know? Then he leaned forward again.
“Don’t be afraid. I don’t care about your secrets. We have bigger problems. Best case scenario for me is that all of my students live to the end of the year. That’s not a very good scenario,” he added, “at least as compared to what I would normally be hoping for in terms of accomplishments.”
“I don’t know where I got the chains,” I told him. He shrugged. He had expected as much.
“You didn’t steal them, anyhow. It’s common knowledge that bastards get killed at birth in this kingdom. You were born a bastard, and yet here you are, alive and kind of well.” He wrinkled his nose, and I knew he was taking in my skinny arms and my hair, which had been cut at odd, random angles to get the snarls out. “Some mothers don’t want their illegitimate child to die. There are actually more winged bastards than you might think. Most don’t know their parentage. Many die young because they cannot be cared for properly.”
I took that information in. It hadn’t occurred to me that I might be one of many. So, there were many bastards whose mothers had saved them. I filed that information away and waited.
“Do you understand the bargain you’ve made? You have given up one cell for another. The gods may not look kindly on you even here. They certainly seem to have deserted us at the academy,” said the principal.
“I understand the bargain I made,” I said. “I’m not worried. It seems that all the students are in danger here.”
“Some more than others,” he clarified. “We’ve been trying to protect the princes. Two new ones came this year, along with their bodyguards. But they only came because there’s nowhere else for them to go. At this point, nowhere in this country is safe.”
“They should try the dungeons at the Dungeon of Black Stone,” I said. “I don’t think anybody was getting in or out of there.”
While I said it my mind worked. Princes? How many? The king had no children and no heirs, so one of the eight provinces of Whessellond would provide a prince to become the king’s heir.
The principal’s expression didn’t change, but I credited myself for the fact that he might be slightly amused. “I want you to understand,” he said sternly. “You are not special. Many students come and go here. Some even graduate. More do not. The one thing you have going for you is that we know you’re not the murderer. You weren’t here last year. Therefore you won’t be a suspect in the investigation, and neither will anyone else who is new this year. Everyone else is fair game.”
“Even you?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“You don’t ask me questions,” he said, shutting down markedly.
I took that as a yes: even him. But that only made me wonder who exactly was doing the investigating. The best tracker in Whessellond, McGryth, wasn’t here; we had left him smirking at the Dungeon of Black Stone. Now that I was here, I hoped fervently that he would stay there.
Then again, he already knew where I was. It wasn’t as if he was likely to come after me again, at least as long as I didn’t run.
“You’ll be assigned to the regular dorm,” the principal went on, businesslike again. “This should be the only time this year that we speak. You don’t come to me with problems. You may go to the dorm mother, or somebody else who might care. I do not. And to be perfectly honest, no one else will care very much, because they don’t know who your father is, so he won’t be paying for them to care.”
He paused to let that sink in, then added, “You will study your subjects. You will avoid discussing your history at the Dungeon of Black Stone. Your identity is that of a lost noble, should anybody ask. It runs similarly enough to your own story that you should get away with it.”
He paused again. I’d give him one thing, the man knew dramatic pauses. “There’s one last incentive,” he said.
I looked up at him.
He wasn’t stupid. I had been wondering why I should bother with all of this. I mean, I was risking my life, and for what? The chance to stay out of prison. Maybe prison would be better than death, but either way I was going to die soon. I didn’t ask him what the incentive was because he had just told me I wasn’t allowed to ask him questions.
When I stayed quiet, he gave in. “The last incentive is that if you make it to the end of the year, we will try to find out exactly who you are. Although to be perfectly honest, you may not want to know,” he said. “That’s all I have to offer you. There is no safety in this kingdom any longer. I’ve given up applying to anyone’s better gods. They have left us because of the crimes of past generations. Be that as it may, we will struggle until the end.”
“So I’ll just get to learn philosophy and ancient languages now. What a joy,” I said.
I started to rise. He barked out a command.
“I did not give you permission to leave. But yes. Your studies begin tomorrow. You will join all the other students in the atrium tonight for the welcoming feast and announcements. I advise you to make friends quickly. Students here have found that it’s better not to travel at night. And never travel alone,” he said. “Death awaits those who do.”
Chapter Seven
I was dismissed. Powerful men like the principal of Noble Fae Academy didn’t have time to sit around talking to insignificant prisoners like me. I was dirt under his heel.
That was fine with me. My eyes cast down to the cuffs around my wrist, and I thought about the other markings on my body that were covered by what I was wearing.
My eyes locked on him again and he leaned forward and said, “We’ve seen them before. Just not as well done. It’s a compliment to whoever wanted to bind you. You are bound as well as anyone has ever been. It explains a lot. Unfortunately, those explanations only raise more questions. You’ll be a work in progress.”
I wondered if he meant to imply an unstated conclusion: “. . . until someone comes along and kills you.”
I wasn’t sure, but one thing was clear. I had to find out more about this murderer. I also had to consider getting the hell out of this place, although I had been told it wouldn’t be easy, and from everything I had seen, I had been told truthfully. As the guard had said very early in this adventure, we were so high up in the mountains that I was as likely as not to die of exposure if I made any attempt to leave.
Noble Fae Academy: Year One Page 4
