First Year

by Rachel E. Carter

  And then I knew for certain.

  “I have to say,” Priscilla remarked, “the pig’s blood was a nice touch.” She turned to me, savoring my reaction as she spoke the next words slowly: “When the prince first proposed the idea, I was reluctant. Seeing you now however, I am pleased we went forward with the plan.” The highborn beauty smirked. “I never would have guessed it would take this effect. Darren did a good job, did he not?”

  I could not control the shaking of my hands. There was a loud pounding in my head that was threatening to explode. Magic was filling my senses, and I was seconds away from flinging the traitorous prince as far as my limits would go.

  “Don’t be a fool, Ryiah,” Darren said.

  Fighting back tears of rage, I met the eyes of my enemy. In that moment I didn’t care that he was a prince or the most powerful first-year in the school. All I knew was that he was a boy who had hurt me, tricked me, kissed me, betrayed me, and somehow won my trust against every instinct and piece of advice I had ever received.

  “I might not beat you,” I snarled at the non-heir, “but it will sure feel good to try!”

  “Give the wench a lesson!” Jake urged.

  Flames enveloped my vision.

  “No.”

  The fire subsided just enough for me to catch Priscilla frowning at the prince. “Why not?”

  “She’s not worth it.” The words cut like a knife.

  The four of them began to take their leave.

  “I am worth a thousand of you!” I shrieked, casting out as much magic as I could summon. I launched the force forward, sending it barreling towards the prince’s unguarded back.

  Darren spun around. With the flick of his wrist, my casting was sent staggering into the forest behind. He dark eyes met mine, unreadable.

  “It looks like you never needed that apology after all,” I spat, ignoring the baffled expressions of the three that stood beside him.

  Let them think what they will.

  “It turns out I was wrong,” I continued, “I never made a mistake. You are exactly who I expected.”

  Twenty minutes later Ella found me in the barracks, furiously scrubbing the stain of pig’s blood from my skin.

  “Oh Ryiah,” she began, as soon as she saw me.

  I didn’t respond. I just kept washing.

  “Are you going to say anything to Master Barclae?” She grabbed a cloth to help rinse the red from my tangled hair.

  I stayed silent.

  “I wouldn’t fault you if you did,” she said quietly. “Was it Priscilla?”

  “Darren.”

  “The prince?” she gasped. “How did he—what happened?”

  I watched the crimson haze twist and curl around the tub’s drain. “I should have listened to you,” was all I meant to say, but instead I found myself spilling the secret I had been holding onto for the last month. I told her everything.

  “I think it’s time I told you what really happened in Devon,” Ella said, once I had finished. “There’s something I think you should know…” She looked at me, eyes clouding. “I would have told you sooner, but I was ashamed.”

  That night I stared up at the ceiling, long after Ella and the rest of our barracks had fallen asleep.

  How had I been so naive?

  For some unknown reason, I had really thought there was something genuine to Darren, something likable and kind, something that could justify the reckless attraction I had felt in the midst of all his sarcasm and condescending talk.

  Now I knew with certainty there was not. Ella’s tale haunted me, and while she had clearly moved on, I couldn’t help but feel righteous anger on her account. Darren had hurt me, but what he had done to my friend was despicable.

  Ella and her family had lived in the capitol for years, in one of the palace’s many rooms for visiting nobility. She’d grown up playing with the children of various courtiers, though the two princes had usually not been a part of that group.

  Blayne and Darren were too important to mingle with any but the most important residents’ children…It was only as they got older that they started paying attention to the intrigues of court.

  Darren was private and aloof, much like he is now. He spent most of his time with the knights. I hardly ever saw him.

  Blayne was the older, more sociable, of the two. He was handsome, popular, self-aware. He was also charming, and he could do no wrong.

  Ella had only been twelve when the crown prince had lured her away under the guise of amity and attempted to rape her. She had tried to fight him off, but Blayne had muffled her screams.

  But Darren heard me anyway.

  When he came to investigate the shouting, he found his older brother on top of me. He could see there’d been a scuffle. It was obvious from the rips in my dress and the long scratches on Blayne’s neck.

  Darren looked me right in the eyes, Ryiah. He knew exactly what was happening. I felt hope. I knew if anyone could stop the prince it was his brother.

  But Darren had just walked away.

  At first, I thought maybe he had gone for help…but no one ever came.

  The only reason Blayne had not succeeded in his mission that day was by accident. In the heat of their struggle, the boy had slammed Ella’s head against the wall.

  Like your first time, the pain released my magic. Until that day I hadn’t even known I’d had it.

  Her powers had knocked the crown prince unconscious, and she’d been able to escape. Her family had left court the very next day.

  Ella had warned me repeatedly. She’d said it since day one. Don’t trust Darren. Don’t trust the non-heir. Don’t trust a prince.

  The overwhelming hostility had never made sense.

  Now it did.

  Darren had willingly stood by as his sixteen year-old brother had attempted to rape my best friend.

  Prince Darren, second son to King Lucius III, was the most base, amoral, cold-hearted person I had ever met.

  He wanted to try and send me home by pig’s blood?

  Well, he had just guaranteed my stay.

  I was not going anywhere. Someone like that would not win.

  “He did what!” Alex roared over breakfast the next morning.

  I grabbed my brother’s wrist in an attempt to quiet him. “Please Alex,” I begged. “Don’t make a scene.”

  Much to my dismay, Ella had told the rest of our group about my encounter with Darren and his friends the night before. Ruth, Clayton, and James had taken the news in stride. They had been disturbed, but each one of them understood that reporting the incident was not an option.

  Alex, however, had refused to see reason. He was the level-headed twin, the pacifist… except when it came to me. Then brotherly instinct took over, and no one, not even me, could calm him down.

  The last time I’d seen him this upset was when his best friend Jason had called an end to our courtship. It had been amicable. But that still had not stopped my brother from ending a ten-year friendship and swearing that he would gut the trader’s son, should he ever come calling again.

  Alex had broken many hearts in his wake, but the gods should fear if anyone ever hurt his sister. I had tried to point out as much last time, but it hadn’t gone over well.

  My brother broke free of my hold and took off toward the front of the room.

  “Ryiah!” Ella cried.

  The two of us raced after my brother, calling his name, but he had already shoved his way past Jake and William and grabbed the non-heir by the neck of his tunic.

  The entire room went silent, all eyes following Alex as he sent a fist flying into the prince’s face.

  Alex had only a split-second of advantage. Moments later my brother was airborne, plummeting into the table behind, as Darren stood brushing himself off angrily.

  “You spineless predator!” Alex roared as Jake and William held him down. “All you do is prey on the weak!” He coughed blood as Jake’s fist collided with his nose.

  “You think you ar
e the next Black Mage,” Alex continued, as William kicked him hard. “All I see is someone too insecure to let anyone with potential try! You think you can bully everyone into leaving. Well, guess what, my sister Ryiah—”

  Darren’s eyes shot to me, startled.

  “—is staying and so will anyone else you victimize, if I have anything to do with it!” Alex stared defiantly ahead as Jake prepared to land another punch.

  “Stop!”

  Jake lowered his hand to glance at the prince.

  “That’s enough,” Darren said, walking over to where Alex kneeled, spewing blood across the floor while he tried to balance himself. Darren offered him his hand. Alex spat at it.

  Ella thrust herself in front of the prince to help my brother up, glaring at the non-heir and his friends. “Will you hit me too?” she demanded.

  I joined my friend, lifting Alex’s other arm.

  Darren stared at the three of us for a long moment, anger burning in the dark shadows of his eyes.

  Then he turned and left the room, Priscilla, Jake, and William following in his wake.

  After that morning, my brother became a bit of a hero.

  The hazing had come to a halt. In the weeks that followed, there were no new incidents to report. And while no one had offered up an explanation, none of us had any doubt in our minds who was responsible for the change.

  Darren’s group had become altogether complacent, though that didn’t extend to the looks of loathing Priscilla still shot me whenever she had the chance. That would have been expecting too much.

  We gained a few new faces to our study group, others who had been upset by the hazing—only they, like the rest of us, had not had the courage to speak out against it. Alex had also acquired a fan base, and unlike his exchanges with Ella, his present flirtations were met with success.

  Ella seemed unusually irritable. I couldn’t help but notice. At first she’d been happy that we were no longer the outcasts of our class, but after two weeks she sang a different tune.

  “Just look at them fawning over him,” she complained, sawing away at a defenseless piece of cabbage. “They are treating him like he’s a god… They wouldn’t look twice at him a month ago!”

  “You sound jealous,” I told her, grinning.

  She glowered at me through a mouthful of stew. “I am not jealous. I am disgusted.” She eyed my promiscuous brother, who was now seated a good five spaces ahead, having been crowded out by his newfound admirers.

  “It’ll pass,” I told her. “You’ll get your friend back.”

  Ella didn’t answer. She was too busy watching Alex to hear me.

  I smiled to myself the second she looked away and he glanced our way. Alex hadn’t forgotten Ella. He was just enjoying the chance to make her squirm. Not that I could fault him. She hadn’t given my brother the time of day until he had stopped trying to charm her. Then again, I couldn’t blame her either. She knew his reputation, and the last thing I wanted to do was lose a friend.

  It was funny how our minds worked.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Before I knew it, two months had come and gone since the winter break. With the absence of hazing, all focus had returned to study.

  Five more had resigned from Combat: two during the period prior to hazing, and three after they had reached the limits of their potential.

  There were others whose development had ceased as well, but they refused to acknowledge it. For most of us, we had gone too far to quit.

  I was lucky. Even as others’ stamina was fading, my magic was continuing to build. Ella’s too. It could be argued that those of us with the least training had the most opportunity to grow, but I knew that was not the only factor. While I had yet to outdo the more talented first-years of Combat, I was passing others whose limits had started to stall.

  I still had a long road ahead, but I was fast approaching the top third of my faction.

  Unfortunately, Darren, Priscilla, and Eve were still at the head of our class, alongside Ray, one of the lowborn boys their group had adopted early on. It was frustrating, but none of them had finished building their magical stamina either.

  It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, the prince would always be one step ahead.

  I’d started waking up and training two hours before the morning bell to improve my weapons skills for Piers. I practiced an extra hour of casting with Ella each evening in hopes of impressing Narhari. I was still up long after the midnight hour studying for Eloise and Cedric… but none of it changed my standing.

  I was still behind him.

  I wanted to be rewarded for my efforts, and I couldn’t help feeling as if the gods had jilted me. Would it never be enough? After everything I had been through, everything the non-heir had done to make my life a misery, it would have been nice to stand a fighting chance. Because I knew. If I was paired up with Darren, or any of his friends during our end-of-year trials, I would lose.

  Well, I wasn’t giving up now. I’d made it this far, the next three months couldn’t get much worse. And if they did, well, I’d already taken part in several nightmares.

  “I’m sure all of you have been wondering what the trials are going to be like,” Master Eloise declared loudly as she entered the giant library, bearing a mountain of papers in her wake.

  Everyone stopped talking at once. The woman had addressed the very thing we’d been anxiously awaiting for weeks.

  The large woman took her place at the podium beside a fidgeting Isaac. “As of this morning, you have officially crossed the two-month threshold…”

  I bit my lip apprehensively. Someone was nervously tapping a quill to my right.

  “Yes, my dears, two short months remain, and then your lives forever change.” Master Eloise regarded the class grimly: “Some of you might already be familiar with how the process works—perhaps through family or friends who attended our school in the past—but I can assure you that it is a completely different experience when you are the one undergoing the exams instead. Given the proximity of your impending trials, we have decided to enlighten you as to what role your academic learning will play.”

  Master Isaac joined his counterpart: “To a contender of Combat, brute strength is everything. I can hardly deny this. You have spent countless hours learning how to fight, and to cast. It is a very hard, very grueling feat to have endured as much as you have. Please keep in mind, however, potential and training are not all that makes up the great faction of Combat, and they will not be all the judges look for in your trials.

  “They judges want to see a warrior, not a soldier. Soldiers follow other soldiers into battle—they obey orders, fight valiantly. A warrior can do the same, but he is also a commander, an independent mercenary, and a strategist. The warrior fills many roles, and the capacity to do so requires an intelligence that ordinary soldiers are not trained to possess.

  “In the course of your study thus far, Master Eloise and I have been attempting to impart the groundwork that would behoove a warrior’s learned wisdom. You have been introduced to the principles of climate, Crown and Council law, geography, strategic planning, diplomacy… and, most importantly, the history of Jerar.

  “Each one of these disciplines will play a pivotal role in an apprenticeship, should you be so fortunate. Because of this there will be two trials for each first-year. The first test will focus on your magical prowess. The second, the application of your studies in this classroom.”

  Eloise cleared her throat. “Every student will be given a twenty-minute audience alone with the judges. The panel will be asking questions directly related to your strategies in Combat. They expect to hear citations from Academy lectures, but what they want is to understand how you would make those facts a part of your own approach. The tactics of warfare are ever changing—the more creative your technique is, the more they will take notice. The worst disservice you can possibly do for yourself is quote a plan that is factually-challenged or has been proven flawed by history.”

&nb
sp; A couple of students groaned, and I thanked the gods I had made it a point to carry out my nightly studies.

  Master Eloise narrowed her eyes at the class. “I take it you feel unprepared. Well, fortunately for you, the next two months will be spent reviewing everything we have covered. Unfortunately, that will not be enough to make a difference for the ones that need it most. Still, I advise you to try because being able to tie everything in, and think in terms of strategy rather than relying on brute force…that will be what separates a novice from an apprentice in your studies here at the Academy.”

  After four hours of magical theory, Ella, Clayton, and I left class with more apprehension than when it had started. We’d already heard rumors that there were two parts to the trials, and Eloise’s announcement had just confirmed it.

  I was relieved, in a sense. I was in very good standing compared to most of my faction. The downside was that now everyone else was going to be attempting to catch up. Until today, most of the students had been focusing solely on casting. Now that they knew half of our trials would be devoted to military tactic and strategy, derived entirely from Eloise and Isaac’s course, there was bound to a plentitude of sleepless nights ahead.

  “So I think the both of us will be joining your late-night library runs,” Ella told me, as she and Clayton sat down beside me for lunch. The rest of our study group was still missing. No doubt Ruth was running late from her lessons with Master Ascillia, and I could see Alex at the end of the room flirting outrageously with a pretty girl from Restoration.

  “Just make sure no one notices you when Barrius comes round to do the final dismissal,” I warned. The last thing I needed was to get caught because half the class had suddenly decided to take up late-night study.

  “Does Darren still go there?” Ella asked abruptly.

  My face burned. “Not since that kiss.”

  Clayton’s goblet fell to the floor with a loud clatter. He ducked under the table to retrieve it.

  Ella raised a brow, grinning, and I scowled in return. I knew what she was thinking, and I did not care to comment.

  Clay had been going out of his way, recently, to try and make me laugh. He was thoughtful, kind, good-looking… but it didn’t matter one bit.