by Dixon, TJ
“That was splendid.” A shocked Lady Gracewell says.
“So we get nine more attempts right?” I ask.
“You passed in thirteen seconds though…”
“But somebody else could do better.”
“I doubt it but if they do then you will get another attempt. For now be happy you passed. I’m not recreating all four barriers nine more times on the off chance that somebody else beats your record.” Our classmates are stunned to see us exit so soon and as it happens Lady Gracewell is right. Nobody else even comes close to our record. Nobody else even beats the one minute mark. Only one other group beats the two minutes mark, and only just. Once the results are announced it is the end of the day.
We feel like celebrating so we eat a rather indulgent meal together and share a bottle of Happy Juice. Apparently it has an enchantment that relaxes you and it certainly seems to have that effect on us. Unlike lunch, the food tastes delicious now. I have a roasted fish with roasted sweet vegetables, whilst Rin has a salad with a boiled lizard egg the size of her head. Hermes has a plate full of piping hot potato chips enchanted to taste like dragon meat. Never having tasted dragon meat she has no idea whether it tastes anything like the real thing.
“I’m so glad I sat next to you.” Hermes says after taking a gulp of Happy Juice. “I’d never have been promoted if we hadn’t trained and taken the test together.”
“We make a good team, but I don’t get how nobody else got past all the barriers in less than a minute.” I say between bites.
“What I don’t get is how we got past them so quickly.” Rin says taking a spoonful of her egg. “Those were barriers the teacher put up and each should have taken a lot more effort to beat.”
“As long as you use the right tactics rather than brute force, it’s easy. It’s common sense that stone or earth will break when frozen, and then rapidly heated and shocked. We got lucky that the ice wall was immediately behind it. Fire needs air. Deprive it of that and it goes down. Lightning and wind can be stopped by earth.”
“Some of that may be common sense, but putting it all together like that and acting so quickly is far from it.” Hermes says with a laugh. “Have a chip, they’re a bit weird but really great.”
I taste a chip and she is really right. Weird but nice. Rin obviously doesn’t like it but forces herself to swallow. The look on her face is hilarious but I try not to laugh.
“So, 3E, here we come!” Hermes says raising her glass. We both raise ours as well to toast our new class.
“You got promoted to 3E?” A voice behind me asks. I look behind me. It’s a tall but thin girl carrying a book in one hand and a plate in the other. Her brown hair is short and fluffy, and her eyes are a matching brown. Her skin is a pale golden colour.
“Yes.” Rin answers cautiously. “Are you in 3E?”
“Yes. I’m Claire Ippy.” She says.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Rin. I don’t have a formal name.”
“I’m Hermes Fleetfoot.”
“Peter of the Wind.” I say and she blinks.
“Are you related to Magistrate Elisa of the Wind?” She asks.
“I don’t know. Who’s that?”
“A really famous mage from 200 years ago.” She says eyes sparkling. I look to Rin and Hermes who both shake their heads. I guess they haven’t heard of her either.
“Probably not.” I reply. “I don’t even know who my parents were, let alone an ancestor from 200 years ago.”
“You don’t know who your parents are? So exciting! You’ve just got to sit next to me!”
“Sorry but we plan to sit next...” Hermes says but Rin interrupts.
“No. I’m the one who’ll be sitting next to Peter.”
“Oh it gets better!” Claire says with a great big grin. “Are you having an affair? Let me guess Hermes is your girlfriend and Rin is your second lover?”
“No.” Rin says. “We are not like that. We are partners in magic. Hermes is also on our team.”
“But I want to sit next to Peter again.” Hermes says pouting.
“You sat next to him in this class.”
“Why don’t you both sit next to him? The desks are for four students because that’s how we normally work, and there are three spaces left next to me now. In fact those are the only spaces left. The people I used to work with got demoted.”
“Sorry!” Rin says embarrassed.
“Oh don’t worry, I never got on with them so I’m hoping we get on better. So who’s the girlfriend?”
“Really, we’re not like that and you’ll cause us trouble if you start saying things like that.” I say annoyed at her.
“Oh fine, I’ll give up on that. You must be rich though to afford those sorts of meals.”
“No, we don’t normally eat like this.” I say with a laugh.
“I wouldn’t have been able to afford this before I took on the job though.” Hermes says.
“None of us could.” Rin says with a laugh. “I had to treat Peter to his first meal here. I got him half a bowl of the cheap broth.”
“You mean you shared a small amount of your own. I was grateful though since you didn’t need to give me anything. I used to go without food for weeks but I would hate to go back to that now.”
“No food for weeks. It sounds like you live the sort of life I love.”
“Umm. I’m not sure if there is a polite way of asking but, are you a masochist?” Hermes asks.
“No. Definitely more of a sadist.” She replies and I now know why she didn’t get on too well with her classmates. “I just love reading and hearing about people suffering great torment. Going without food is still fairly plain but you hardly ever hear about people who actually live lives like that. So anything else you suffered?”
“Other than being a slave and fighting in the arena?”
“I saw you fight in the arena, but even if you did get burnt, that was only one little fight. You were a slave though? That’s great news!”
“I don’t mean the academy arena. The real thing. And great that I was a slave…?”
“Well you’re not now, so you can talk about how much you suffered without having to go through it again. When you say the real thing do you mean the arena in the capital?”
“Yes.”
“That’s great! Did you get to kill anyone? Or torture them?”
“No.” I say with a sigh. “I’m sorry but my food will get cold.”
“Mine too.” Rin and Hermes both say and we all quickly return to eating.
“I look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow.” She calls out. “Let’s talk lots more then.”
Once she is gone Rin looks at Hermes and says, “You’re sitting next to her.”
“No way!” Thankfully since both Rin and Hermes want to sit next to me, I at least don’t have to sit next to her, or take part in the argument over who does have to.
“Just eat up before it gets cold. It would be a waste when we won’t be eating like this again for ages. Perhaps when we get promoted again we’ll have something like this again.” I tell them.
“Make sure it’s soon.” They both say in perfect harmony before returning to their food.
Chapter 6 (Peter)
We meet outside my tent before porting to 3E classroom. The teacher is a silver skinned woman with matching long metallic hair and no eyes. Not just holes where they should be but perfectly smooth skin as if they had never been there. Her skin is so smooth but unnatural I am not even sure if she is human, let alone what her age is. Her clothes are flowing silver that match her skin. She speaks without a hint of emotion.
“Those desks are free. Don’t cause any trouble, Rin, Hermes and Peter. I am Silmarion the Fair. I was a magistrate before a teacher, so don’t expect to hide anything from me. My loyalty is to the Queen and Contractia. I don’t care about the lives of insects like you, but this is the duty assigned to me by the Queen herself. As such I will make sure your little heads are so full of knowledge that t
hey burst.”
“The current queen or the previous one?” I ask.
“The current queen. Also why are you not in uniform?”
“This is a girls’ school and I’m a boy.” I answer shrugging.
“Then you will wear a girl’s uniform. Also I note that you have been promoted from 3H to 3E in a very short time. Do not expect to get promoted from 3E.”
“But I can’t wear a skirt! I’m a boy!”
“You will find that you can. If you do not comply, your only alternative is to quit the academy. You have until tomorrow to find a uniform. Now, take your seats.”
Which we do and I whisper to Rin. “I hate her already.”
“That is good.” Silmarion says in a raised voice. “I am the law and the law exists to be hated. One wrong move and I will execute the law, and you with it.”
Why can’t the teachers here be normal? We wait in silence until Claire arrives. She grins at Hermes who is sitting next to her.
“So you’ve met the old hag.” She says loudly.
“I am an ancient lady not an old hag.” The teacher says scolding her but she just laughs.
“Same thing.”
“Just because your mother is a magistrate do not think you can interfere with my lessons.”
“The lesson hasn’t started yet.”
“You little rat. Stand in the corner, now!”
“Yes, old hag! Right away, old hag!” She says and skips to the corner waving at us. “Did you know she was alive a thousand years ago?”
“The brats had better manners a thousand years ago, even when they were about to be executed. Everyone is here. The lesson begins.” The teacher says and so it does. My brain is swimming with information by lunch time and none of us feel like practising. I don’t feel like sitting down so I fly for a while and eat some biscuits in the air. In the afternoon my brain feels like it might really burst. I do get some useful tips though and after lessons we meet for our training. We work on some new techniques using what we learnt and make good progress despite mental overload. In fact the training gives us a good chance to vent.
“So where do I get a uniform?” I ask Rin and Hermes with a blush on my face.
Unnoticed until now Claire laughs and says, “Actually I know something that should help. Interesting as it would be to see you in a skirt, there’s actually a boys uniform at this school. It dates back to the early days of Contractia. Boys and men weren’t always forbidden from using magic. There was a time when the only thing that mattered was talent. There were considered to be too few women and girls studying magic though so they did away with meritocracy and replaced it with gender diversity. Our teacher was one of the people who helped change the law all that time ago. Once there were as many girls and women studying magic and at the top of society, they changed the rules again. The Femdom movement rose to power, and soon after that the Queen took control of Contractia. Boys and men were forbidden to study at the academy and had to learn as apprentices, but they never cancelled the old uniform because no girl would want to wear it. More recently of course men and boys were forbidden to study magic at all, so it’s ironic they should let a boy study at the academy again now.”
“So a girl could wear this boy’s uniform too?” Rin asks.
“In theory, but like I said, nobody would, other than maybe you. You are a bit like a boy in that sense.” Claire says and Rin resists the urge to hit her.
“Why?” I ask.
“It looks like this.” She says opening a book and showing us. She leers at Rin who blushes seeing that the uniform is just a pair of red shorts, socks and shoes. Nothing else.
“I would never wear such a uniform! No girl would wear a uniform without a top. Why would you say such a thing? And if you say I’m flat, I’m going to hit you.” Rin snarls at her.
“To see your reaction of course. Anyway, you can get one made at the main alchemist shop in town.”
“My mother can make it.” Rin says proudly.
“It’s quite unique.” Claire says dubiously. “It requires Tree Ent bark, which is really difficult to come by.”
“We have some.” Rin says with a smile, but after a moment looks a little sad. “We will definitely make this for you Peter.” Then Rin grabs the book and ports away.
“She’s going to be fun to play with.” Claire says and ports away beaming like a lunatic.
“She’s a bit much.” Hermes says staring at where Claire was a moment ago.
“Yeah, but she did actually help me just then.” I say. “This place is bad for my sanity though. I must talk to the stars again tonight, or I’ll go really mad.”
“Some people would consider talking to the stars a sign of madness.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to bed.” Hermes says and ports away.
After a moment I port outside and look up at the stars. They seem restless and rather than helping me they just disturb me. I go inside the tent and sleep there. I have enough to worry about without them making matters worse. It takes a long time to get to sleep.
I wake to Rin’s cheerful face and see a pair of shorts, socks and shoes in her hands. I instantly cleanse myself and my clothes with magic. I then start to strip off but for some reason she blushes like mad, throws them at me and ports away. “What’s wrong with her?” I ask myself.
“It’s perfectly normal for a girl.” Claire says. “In fact it’s more unusual for a boy not to be embarrassed to change in front of a girl. I don’t mind though.”
“You’re making me uncomfortable. Please leave.” I tell her.
“So is it that you don’t see her as a girl, or is it that you’re so close to her it doesn’t matter anymore? Perhaps you don’t see her as a girl because she’s so flat.”
“Just get out of here!” I say and literally throw her out with a strong wind. I quickly change and port to class. The girls in class draw breath in shock when they see me in my new uniform. The teacher looks at me furiously.
“Is this some sort of joke?” She asks emotionless as always, but Rin answers.
“No, it’s the official boys uniform dating back to the days when this academy accepted boys.”
“Yes, I remember, but it must have been withdrawn since.”
“You really were here a thousand years ago!” Hermes gasps. “I thought that was a joke.”
“No. I was a student here only 998 years ago.”
“It was never officially withdrawn, and requires the queen’s approval to withdraw it.” Claire says with a smirk. I guess she ported straight here.
“I will check the records after lesson. I won’t bother the queen with such trivia. We’re still missing a couple of students, but it is time so the lesson begins.”
Much as I hate the teacher her lessons are actually very good, despite the mental overload. I fly again during the lunch break but we practise after the afternoon lesson. To my annoyance Claire sits in the arena audience watching us. We have no exclusive right to be here though so we can’t tell her to leave. She isn’t really doing any harm, but I find her presence annoying even if she did help me.
The week passes slowly and each day Claire seems to know exactly where we will be training. If she tries to follow us on the job though, we really will have to tell her to leave us alone. Finally it is our day off and we meet at Rin’s home.
“No Sil… whatever her name was and no Claire.” Rin says with a smile and a breath of relief.
“Silmarion.” Claire says. “But I’m here.”
“This is my home!”
“I’m a customer.” Claire says smirking at Rin.
“What? Why?” Rin says putting a hand on her head in exasperation.
“That’s a secret.” Claire says and blows a kiss at Rin. Rin is about to lose her temper when her mother enters.
“Ah you’re here. It’s all ready. Come this way. You do have the money, right?”
“Of course.” Cla
ire says and hands a small bag to Rin’s mother, who after checking it nods and takes a small package out of her pocket and hands it to Claire. “My client requires this remains secret, even from your daughter, so please remember that.”
“Of course, you have my word as an alchemist.”
“That’s good. I’d hate to have to execute you.” She says like she can’t think of anything she’d take more pleasure from.
“That’s my mother you’re talking to.” Rin says absolutely livid.
“Rin, calm down.” Her mother says sternly and Rin doesn’t say anything else but continues glaring at Claire.
“You’d better give them their job. She won’t wait forever and you need materials for the next item.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t keep her waiting. Now unless there is anything else you need…”
“Oh I know when my welcome is over.” Claire says with a laugh and ports away.
“That bitch!” Rin shouts at where she was a moment ago.
“Rin, I know she is a bit, well, different, but please don’t swear at my customers, even when they are not here.” Rin’s mother scolds.
“So what do you need?” Rin asks sulkily.
“The hide of a giant wolf. Undamaged. The only places where you can get it are in the Labyrinth of the Lost Lambs or the Plain of the Moons. Please go to the Plain of the Moons and return before nightfall, with or without the hide.”
“How long do you have to complete the job?” I ask.
“Do not worry about that. Just do your best, and come back alive.”
“We will.” Rin says and grabs our hands. “See you later.”
Rin ports us and we find ourselves standing on dry and cracked ground. The sun is scorching. There is literally nothing around for as far as we can see in any direction.
“So what do you know about these giant wolves?” I ask Rin.
“They are dangerous creatures that can take on the form of a huge man with sharp teeth and claws. Of course in wolf form they are just as dangerous. They rarely leave their home land so they aren’t usually a threat to humans, but their hides have unique magical properties including immunity to pure magical attacks and a high resistance to elemental attacks. Also we need to kill it without damaging the hide. Perhaps suffocating it with your air magic would be best, but it can go without air for a while. Any other suggestions?”
