Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  Tamlen opened the book and turned it toward Gilai’el, and she was greeted with the familiar scent of expensive paper as he did so. The Prefect offered her an inked quill, which she accepted and began to sign her name where he had indicated.

  “Your entry should read: Gilai’el ‘Scarlet’ Three, to match your Reading, as you do not yet have a house,” he reminded her after she had completed her own name. Gilai’el paused and considered the instruction. She knew it was yet another attempt at ‘instruction,’ but she was exhausted from the successful casting of her first spell. When she was finished with the first signature, she flipped the book to her own entry, which was complete with a strikingly detailed, full-color picture of herself.

  She was tempted to read the entry, but she knew it meant nothing to her. These people could never know her as well as she knew herself, so there was little point in reading their conclusions. She quickly signed the empty line at the end of her entry and repeated the signature on the back cover of the book before sliding it back toward the Prefect.

  “You have done well for yourself, Gilai’el,” said Tamlen as he closed the book and walked toward the shelf where he placed it on the uppermost shelf which was nearly full. As he did so, Gilai’el noticed a wooden blank in the one hundred seventeenth spot on the shelf. It was carved to exacting dimensions and detail, and she hadn’t even noticed it during her first examination of the shelf.

  “The one hundred seventeenth class of Veldyrian,” Tamlen acknowledged with his back still turned to her, as he finished placing the book on the shelf. “Theirs is a tale unknown to all but the successful graduates of this College.”

  “What happened to them?” asked Gilai’el, her curiosity getting the better of her.

  Tamlen turned and wagged a finger at her. “You are not yet a successful graduate of my College,” he reminded her.

  Gilai’el narrowed her eyes. “I have seen enough of your College to understand that from this point, I have only two paths: graduation or death. Either way, whatever happened to the one hundred seventeenth class will remain known only to those successful graduates, as no one else leaves these walls.”

  The Prefect sat down in his chair and smiled. “As always,” he tilted his head, “your intelligence and reasoning are extremely impressive, Student.” The doorway behind him swung open, and the Prefect continued, “Your fellow Students will no doubt assist you in your efforts to discover the fate of One-One-Seven.”

  The two Custodians gestured for her to enter the doorway, and the Prefect began writing a new entry after her own as she heard the screeching sound of the iris opening.

  “Proceed, Student,” instructed the Prefect coldly after she had turned to see which Student was coming behind her. She had a suspicion she already knew the answer, so she did as instructed and walked behind the desk to enter the doorway, which led to a small, square room with no obvious exit.

  Gilai’el turned to ask what type of riddle the room presented when the door closed automatically, and she felt herself the floor descend gently beneath her feet. She braced herself against the walls of the strange room before the queasy sensation in her stomach subsided.

  After a short interval, the door opened once again, and she stepped out into the brightly illuminated corridor, which was so very different from the other dark, foreboding chambers and corridors she had seen to this point.

  The walls of this hallway appeared to be stone painted over with a brilliant, metallic gold which cast the light from the lone glow globe throughout the room in a dazzling display as she moved through it. There was another door opposite the one she had entered through, and after she had exited the strange moving room, its door closed and she had no choice but to continue onward.

  She opened that door and saw what appeared to be a classroom filled with Students, at least fifty in all. The room was shaped like an amphitheater, with an instructor positioned at the lower landing, and rows of students sitting behind large, individual desks on curved banks of graduating height.

  “We welcome our latest entrant to the College of Veldyrian,” came the voice of the instructor. He was a short, half-bald man with curly grey hair and rectangular reading glasses.

  The entire class stood in unison, and Gilai’el felt all eyes upon her. There were boys, girls, men and women assembled there, some as young as herself, and others at least ten years her senior.

  “Who then wishes to challenge this course?” continued the professor with an expectant look to his class.

  Gilai’el realized that all of the desks were currently occupied, and she saw a few of the Students looking about nervously, which put her on guard.

  “I do, Professor Danyel,” came a boy’s voice from the highest level of the room.

  The Professor nodded. “Kaven ‘Cerulean’ Four, I have heard you. Does any member of this class wish to contest young Kaven’s claim to ascent?”

  “I do,” Gilai’el heard a man’s thin, tight voice from the front row desk nearest the door she had just used to enter the lecture hall.

  Professor Danyel nodded to the young man with thin, light brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. “So be it,” he continued, “the challenge has been made, and the two Students shall now come forward to determine if either of them have learned the lessons of this class.”

  The young man who had challenged Kaven’s claim stood and approached the Professor, who was reaching beneath his lecture podium to retrieve a small box.

  Kaven, the blond-haired boy who had initially challenged the course (which was nothing Gilai’el had been told to expect) made his way confidently down the steps to the landing before the Professor’s podium.

  “This contest between Kaven ‘Cerulean’ Four,” began the Professor officially as he handed the young blond man a ring, which the boy placed on his right index finger, “and Jezran ‘Cobalt’ Five will now commence. The victor shall have the opportunity to advance beyond this class and into the general student body of Veldyrian’s College, while the defeated must remain in this class for a minimum of one full calendar year before repeating the test.”

  The young man named Jezran had almost bony features. His body was clearly frail, and while he was a good six inches taller than Gilai’el, she doubted he weighed much more than she did.

  Professor Danyel drew forth another ring from the box, and Gilai’el could see that it was carved from a deep, brilliant blue colored gemstone. Jezran accepted the ring and placed it on his finger.

  “The rules of the contest are as follows,” explained Danyel as he turned to Gilai’el, who had not expected to be addressed by the balding professor, “these rings are customized focus devices which will normalize the relative powers of their wearers, so as to nullify any natural advantage either contestant might have over the other.”

  Gilai’el looked to the young Kaven, who wore a smug look on his face while the smaller, frailer Jezran looked unflinchingly at his adversary.

  “The test is simple,” continued the Professor, “when each contestant has achieved the requisite measure of concentration, their rings will activate, and the energies within each Student will be directly through those focus devices toward the other. After the devices are active, it is merely a battle of wills between the contestants which may take as much time as is required for the outcome to be determined.”

  The raven-haired girl stole a glance up at the assembled Students, who leaned forward with great anticipation.

  “Students, prepare yourselves,” instructed the Professor as he stepped forward, placing his outstretched hand between the two young men.

  Both young men closed their eyes, and after only a second or two the young Kaven’s ring erupted with a dazzling blue beam which struck the Professor in the hand. The curly-haired instructor seemed to hardly notice as he turned his gaze toward Jezran expectantly.

  It took at least ten seconds for Jezran to successfully activate his ring, and Gilai’el saw his features schooled into a mask of desperate concentration. She felt he
r heartbeat quicken as she watched the deep, rich blue beam spring from Jezran’s ring where it also struck the Professor’s hand.

  “The challenge begins now,” declared Professor Danyel as he pulled his hand back, and the two beams collided with each other in the air before the curly-haired man, who folded his arms across his chest as the battle of wills began to unfold.

  Immediately, Jezran’s beam surged forward with incredible power, driving the swirling ball of energy the colliding beams created to cover over half the distance between the midway point and young Kaven.

  A look of shock crossed Kaven’s face before he clenched his jaw tightly and leaned into the beam, causing the advance of the swirling ball of battling energies to cease its advance. Slowly but surely, that ball began to march inexorably toward the midpoint, which it crossed after nearly two minutes of continuous battle.

  Gilai’el looked at Jezran’s features and saw the sweat pouring from his forehead like nothing she had ever seen. He was clearly a weak physical specimen, and for a moment she felt empathy for the young man as he failed to stop the advancing ball of light as it slowly approached his body.

  Kaven’s face was a contemptuous sneer as he bared his teeth, forcing his beam to gather in strength with a visible flaring of its energies, and Jezran barely managed to stop the ball from making contact with his outstretched hand, which Gilai’el presumed would signal the end of the contest.

  The ball remained there as Jezran gasped for breath, his knees shaking badly enough beneath him, that he actually lowered himself onto one knee to keep from falling over. He let out a desperate cry as the energy ball nearly touched his finger.

  Kaven cackled mercilessly as he issued a triumphant roar, and it appeared the frail Jezran would be Gilai’el’s classmate for the next year.

  Then Jezran’s expression changed slightly, and if she had not been so near to him, Gilai’el was certain she would not have noticed it. He closed his eyes as his features flattened into a mask of serenity.

  The ball snapped across the twenty feet separating the two boys almost too quickly to see, cleaving the other boy’s light blue beam into a quartet of smaller, weaker projections before it slammed into Kaven’s body, sending him flying through the air until he smashed into the iron-bound wooden door on the opposite end of the lecture hall.

  Jezran stood slowly with a smug look of his own. He dusted himself off emphatically before removing his ring and handing it to the Professor.

  “Well done, Jezran ‘Cobalt’ Five,” congratulated the curly-haired Danyel. “I have never seen such an impressive display of control in all my thirty years of teaching this class. You have earned your place among the student body,” he gestured to the doorway Gilai’el had just used to enter the room.

  Jezran nodded and cast a hard look at the unconscious Kaven sprawled out against the wall nearly a hundred feet away.

  He barely made eye contact with Gilai’el as he strode past her and entered the golden corridor through which she had just arrived.

  “We have an opening in our class, it would seem,” said the Professor after Jezran disappeared into the small, moving chamber which had brought the raven-haired girl to this level. Gilai’el turned to see a pair of Custodians enter through the iron-bound doors which the young, blond man had struck less than a minute earlier. They collected his limp body and left wordlessly through the same doors.

  “Be seated, that our lesson might continue,” Professor Danyel commanded, gesturing to Jezran’s now empty seat, and Gilai’el did as she was bidden.

  Just before the Professor was about to continue whatever lecture he had been giving prior to Gilai’el’s entry, the door to the small chamber which Jezran had entered mere seconds earlier opened, and Gilai’el saw Jon step through.

  As soon as his eyes caught hers, he cracked a lopsided grin and made his way through the golden corridor to the classroom.

  “I see today will be more eventful than usual,’ remarked Professor Danyel dryly, which caused a chorus of suppressed chuckles from the assembled Students. The balding man turned to his class and asked, “Who wishes to challenge my course?”

  “I do,” came a smooth well-cultured voice from the back row. Gilai’el turned to see a black-haired man with a perfectly trimmed pencil-thin mustache stand from his desk.

  The Professor nodded his acknowledgment. “I have heard you, Pryzius ‘Crimson’ Five,” said the old Professor as he looked out challengingly to his class. “Does anyone wish to challenge Pryzius’ claim to ascension?”

  The entire room was silent, and Gilai’el realized that this Pryzius must have been the son of Arch Magos Rekir ‘Crimson’ Tyrdren, who some whispered was the most powerful person in all of Veldyrian’s lands.

  The silence hung until the Professor folded his arms across his chest in disgust as Pryzius walked past him on his way to the golden corridor. “Do I understand that none of you wish to challenge Pryzius for the right to ascend beyond the walls of this classroom?” he asked incredulously.

  Not a word came from the assembled class, and Pryzius never broke his stride toward the moving chamber, the door of which closed automatically behind him.

  “Very well,” said the Professor in a low, menacing voice, “perhaps I have been too lenient with you in recent weeks. Assume young Pryzius’ seat, Jon ‘Jade’ Five,” instructed Danyel as he pointed to the now-vacant seat of the young Tyrdren.

  Jon made his way confidently past Gilai’el, giving her a sly wink as he did so before climbing the four raised sections on which the Students’ desks were placed.

  10

  New Rules and Crowded Isolation

  Class ended as soon as Jon sat down, and the Professor gathered the box containing the rings used during Kaven and Jezran’s challenge, along with a few other personal effects. He left the room through the double, iron-bound doors opposite the golden hallway, which was apparently closed to the Students — except young Kaven, who had been taken through them following his failed contest with Jezran.

  When the Professor left the room, Custodians came in bearing trays of food for each of the Students. Those trays were placed on their desks by the silent, obsidian-skinned men before they returned through the iron-bound doors.

  The Students ate in relative silence, and Gilai’el was absolutely starving, so she removed the large metal lid from her tray and found that it was even worse than the food they had been served in the Entrance Examination chamber.

  A bowl of simple, slimy gruel and a half glass of water was the entirety of the tray’s contents, and she could hear the Students near her snickering as they saw her disappointment.

  Not wanting to fuel their condescension, she began spooning the awful tasting muck into her mouth. It tasted better than she had expected given the smell, but its consistency was like that of warm snot, and she had to stifle the urge to gag more than once.

  “You have my tray, carrots,” she heard a girl’s brusque voice from the back row. Gilai’el turned to see a fat, alarmingly ugly woman standing over Jon’s new desk. She had never heard the term ‘carrots’ used to identify a person before, but she found it to be an original enough label for a redhead that it elicited a smirk from her lips.

  “I don’t think so, boy,” said Jon dismissively as he took a bite from what looked to be the most delicious apple Gilai’el had ever seen. She quickly realized that this ‘class’ was continuing the same lessons as her first one, and all of the lessons thus far were based on conflict.

  “You heard me,” the hideous, pig-faced woman growled in a voice deeper than most men’s, “and you had best not take one more bite from my tray.”

  Jon looked her in the eye and took another bite. The crunching noise the fruit made seemed to echo throughout the lecture hall, and Gilai’el could see that all of the other Students were watching the exchange, while a few near the scene were beginning to move toward the arguing Students.

  The androgynous looking woman flipped the tray from Jon’s desk, and befo
re it had landed on the level beneath them, Jon dropped his apple to the floor and grabbed the woman by the hair, slamming her face into the sharp corner of his heavy wooden desk with a sickening crack.

  “No!” cried the rest of the Students in unison, and a handful of men leapt onto Jon’s back to subdue him before he could deliver another deadly blow to the now unconscious woman.

  Jon growled and kicked out at the unconscious woman as he was dragged away from her. Gilai’el ran up the steps to the aid of her former roommate but found herself cordoned off from the action by a pair of girls who held up their arms to block her passage.

  “Let me through!” she shouted.

  “Listen,” began the girl, and only now did Gilai’el recognize her as Heldryn, the girl who had shared a room with herself and Bindila two years earlier at Listoh Estate before being admitted to the College the following year.

  “Heldryn?” she asked in a mixture of shock and relief. “What is happening?”

  Heldryn’s eyes burned as she silently scolded the raven-haired girl for a moment. Thankfully, Gilai’el could see that Jon had been released from the handful of men who had restrained him and appeared to be in no real danger, so she took a deep, calming breath as Heldryn spoke.

  “This class is different from the first two,” she explained in a low voice, as the commotion died slowly behind her. “The Professor must maintain a roster of fifty Students at all times; no more, no less.”

  When Gilai’el shrugged her shoulders in exasperation, Heldryn pointed to the pig-faced girl, whose cheek had been torn open by the savage impact with the corner of Jon’s desk. “If she dies, none of us can ascend to the next level until two new Students pass the Entrance Examination, and it is sometimes months between the influx of new Students!” she hissed.