Knight of the Black Rose

by Nissa Gordon

  "You've already had a look around?" Troy asked kind of annoyed that she hadn’t waited for them.

  "What? No," Lucy answered.

  "Did you hide in there?" Will teased.

  The three of them looked at her, as her face blushed a deep shade of red before them, which told them everything.

  "At least we know that's all you have to do to claim a room," Will said as Alex opened the door and went inside, the lights coming on as they all went in to have a look around.

  It was a little smaller than their classrooms, but it was still quite big. There were six desks and chairs on the right hand side of the room, with empty bookcases behind them along with shelving. On the other side of the room, up near the door, was a kind of lounge area, with sofa's and comfy chairs. Then in the back corner, nothing; probably left free so that they could do with it as they pleased; well there wasn't really nothing, in fact there were two doors.

  "Don't you think this is a lot of room?" Lucy asked behind Will.

  Will shrugged. "Well, not really if there's a few of you in here working on different projects,"

  "Where do you think the doors lead too?" Alex asked as he walked over.

  "Could be next door," Troy suggested. "That'll be handy,"

  "The other one could lead to the arena," Lucy suggested.

  "That's a point, I mean if we're supposed to share them," Will agreed.

  "Yeah, but what are they supposed to look like?" Alex asked. "We haven't even seen them for classes yet,"

  "That's probably because we don't know enough about magic yet to use them," Troy told him.

  "Speak for yourself," Lucy said smirking.

  Alex looked back at her over his shoulder shaking his head, before he turned around and opened the door on the back wall; the others walked over to join him, as they all wanted to know what these arena's were supposedly like. They slowly walked into the dark room, the lights slowly coming on, and a console rising up out of the floor. By the time that it had stopped, the lights were on full showing them a room the size of three classrooms combined together, with benches ringing the outside leaving only gaps to where doors lead to other rooms.

  The console screen lit up, and a male voice spoke. "Room settings; please indicate how many rooms the arena will be joint to. It has to be linked to three or more rooms, and this setting can be changed if you wish to add more rooms."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Alex asked.

  "It just said," Lucy said.

  "We get to decide who we can share the room with," Will told him.

  "Well, how many?" Troy asked.

  They all looked at each other, as if wondering what they should do.

  "Err...how about this," Lucy suggested. "My room, for the girls. Next door, for you three. And then the third for what, Eddie and Methos? We need three to start with; I'm sure they won't mind. They'll be plenty of room in these three rooms for everyone,"

  "She has got a point," Troy agreed.

  "Fine," Will agreed also.

  "You can tell them what we've done," Alex told her.

  Lucy smiled as she stepped around them. "Fine. So...how'd you set the room?"

  "Please enter the amount of rooms you want the arena linking to," the male voice told her.

  "Three," Lucy said aloud as she typed it into the console.

  The console screen flashed green and then the room began to move making her quickly step back into Troy who grabbed her, as they watched the benches shift, growing longer over the empty spaces that had been left open for the doors. Now there were only three of them left, two behind them, and then one just a little further on, for the last room.

  "That was easy," Lucy said.

  "We'll have to tell the others," Will said.

  "Do you think they'll even be up yet?" Troy asked as he turned Lucy around so that they could go back through to the other room.

  "We can at least check," Will told him.

  About an hour later, they had managed to get everyone together in their own common room above the dorms; they all seemed quite excited that they had these rooms waiting for them, not minding that much that they had already been claimed.

  "So...what are they for?" Libby asked.

  "Whatever we want," Lucy told her.

  "Do we have to share with them?" Libby asked nodding at the guys.

  Lucy smiled slightly. "The only thing that we're sharing with them is the arena, which we have to. A minimum of three rooms have to share each arena; that's what the computer told us,"

  "The computer spoke to you?" Libby asked.

  "You've never seen an interactive computer?" Jess asked surprised.

  "Not really," Libby admitted and wondered if she really had lead a sheltered life.

  "And extra room should be alright to practice in." Selena said. "It'll give us more room to do other stuff as well,"

  "Right, that's what I said," Lucy said pleased that someone else understood.

  "We're looking forward to trying the arena out," Alex told them leaning back on his chair.

  "Yeah, but you have to know enough magic, otherwise it's pointless," Eddie pointed out.

  "That's what we're learning here," Alex told him.

  The lad next to Methos dropped a newspaper down in front of them on the table, making them all stare at him. "Have you seen this?"

  "You read the newspaper?" Alex said smirking at him.

  "No...not normally," Duncan said puzzled by the question as he pointed to the front page.

  The headline read ‘THE TRUTH REVEALED’, then underneath was a picture of one of their magical leaders.

  "So..." Alex said dismissively.

  "My mum sent it me," Duncan told them, as they all still stared at him wondering what was so important about it. "It's about a magical school, a student telling them basically what's been going on,"

  "No one would sell their story to the papers," Selena said quite sure of this.

  "You can't, there's supposed to be magical enchantments in place," Lucy told them.

  "Well, whoever it is, got around some of them," Duncan told them. "And I think it's someone from our school and our year. Me, I'd never sell this out, even though I come from a non-magical family. But whoever this is, told them about the ship and coming to the island...though it doesn't say that it's on another world,"

  "That'll be the enchantment." Lucy explained.

  "It says that the students have been told to lie about what's really going on here, and what's real," Duncan told them.

  "What does that mean?" Libby asked confused.

  "Oh, my goddess!" Lucy said making them all stare at her. "They must have tried to explain that lycanthropes, vampires and other beings are real. But because we don't want them to come out just yet, there's restraining spells, so people can’t admit to them,"

  "How do you even know that?" Jasper asked next to Duncan.

  "My dads work," Lucy said dismissively. "Does it give anything away to who it might be?"

  "Not really," Duncan admitted.

  "What do you think they'll do about it?" Troy asked.

  "They're putting the whole school in danger...well everyone actually," Methos told them.

  "He's right," Eddie agreed. "The bigger picture was kept a secret, so there wouldn't be panic,"

  "This is really bad," Jess agreed understanding fully what the real impact by be if this all got out.

  Chapter Twelve

  As they all sat in the dorm common room, talking about the newspaper article, a low rumbling sounded over head and then the head masters voice came clear through hidden speakers. "Can all first year students please return to their dorm common rooms immediately!"

  "Wow...do you think it'll be about this?" Duncan asked holding up the paper.

  "Probably," Eddie answered.

  "There were these kind of contracts in our letters, we had to agree to sign them saying that we wouldn't give info away that would put others in danger," Jess told them.

  "Wait a minute, I
thought that you were a magic, because you know all of them?" Jasper asked her.

  "I come from a mixed family," Jess told him.

  The door opened for the bridge, and the last of the girls joined them, just as Professor Hunter came up the stairs making them all turn around to look at him; it was after all the first time that they had had anything to do with him, because he didn't take them for any lessons.

  "I hope that you're all here," Hunter said gravely as he stepped forward so that they could all see him. "I'm just sorry that we had to meet like this. You may not be aware of what's going on in the non-magical world back on Earth..."

  Duncan lifted the paper so that he could see it. "You mean this sir?"

  Hunter took the paper off him nodding. "Yes, this appears to be the main sources at the moment, but there are other papers. This article might not seem a lot to you, just someone selling their story about coming here, but it is a lot. Especially now, now that we have had to finally come out of hiding. In the past, it has always been so dangerous when they found out about us, with many being killed because they were afraid of us and anything that was different. Some think that won't happen again, that they've grown enough to except us, but in truth, on whole, they're not ready for this.

  “There are groups that believe us to be evil unnatural beings. Some, like this newspaper, are praying on others offering them money for their stories. The school is hidden for your protection, as is every school. If something were to happen, these schools are supposed to be protected, but it seems as though someone doesn't understand that. We can't force you to keep quiet, even though those contracts that you had to sign were supposed to restrain you, which from reading this, looks as though its kind of working. Like I said, we can't force you to do anything, but we ask you not to sell your story to the papers, as it's putting everyone else in danger."

  Lucy put her hand up. "Sir, it looks as though they were also trying to tell them that we're not alone,"

  "Yes." Hunter said even more annoyed. "I know this has only been basically covered in your classes. But you're not alone, there are other beings out there in the galaxy, and some of them go to school here. Everyone has the same right to be kept safe. There are groups and organizations out there that actually hunt down and kill supernatural beings. This means that any information that you give away, may in fact end up helping them; costing many innocent lives. What we're asking is that you properly think about your actions, as it isn't just your own life that you're putting in danger, but thousands, millions of others. We're not going to point any fingers at anyone, and we're not asking that you spy on each other, only that whoever did send this, think very carefully before he or she does it again."

  "Wait a minute...you lot have those...err...terrorist groups as well?" Duncan asked surprised.

  "The galaxy is a big place," Lucy said.

  "That it is," Hunter said. "Like I said, this wasn't meant to point fingers at anyone, but to make you all understand that there is a much larger picture going on here. And you should properly think your actions through,"

  "I wouldn't sell my story, no matter how cool all of this is; because I wouldn't want to lose it," Libby said.

  "Yes, Miss Wordsworth is correct," Hunter told them. "If this gets anymore serious, the person involved will end up losing his or her place at the school. We can not risk the lives of others on the whims of someone like this. Also, with their growing knowledge of magic. You might not think it now, but in time magic can be used for so many different things; good and bad. If they're willing to do this now, then who knows what else they'll be willing to risk."

  "You're saying that some of us may turn out evil?" Alex asked as though he wasn't convinced.

  "Evil is a general term, which basically means bad," Hunter explained. "But yes, some might, depending on countless events; no one can tell how anyone will turn out in the end. Now, as I've already said, this wasn't about pointing fingers, and we don't want you to do that either at each other. Hopefully this was just a one time incident..."

  "How come it was just the first years that were all called together?" Duncan asked.

  "Why would any of the older students risk losing their place here?" Lucy asked him.

  "Miss Shepherd has a point, but they will be told about what's going on also," Hunter told them. "I want you all to be mindful of your actions, as they don't just involve yourself, but others around you,"

  "You know you sound like my dad," Methos told him.

  Hunter smiled at him. "He's a good man, thank you for the compliment. And I'd like to thank you all, for understanding the situation that we're all in. I hope that you'll all enjoy what's left of your weekend," He inclined his head slightly to them before he turned and left; leaving them to talk.

  "I can't believe that someone would sell us all out like that," Troy said.

  "Yeah, but whoever it is, doesn't really know us all," Will pointed out.

  "That isn't point," Lucy said annoyed. "Whoever it is, really is putting us all in danger,"

  "You honestly think that?" Duncan asked.

  "Yes," Most of the room echoed.

  "Take the witch hunts all those years ago," Lucy told him. "Thousands of people were killed,"

  "Most of them were innocent people, non-magic's I mean," Selena told him. "People pointing fingers. That's probably why Professor Hunter didn't want any of us, doing it,"

  "Well, it can't be anyone here, right?" Will asked, as everyone looked around at each other; though no one looked guilty just a little uncomfortable with the idea. "Fine, we're all alright,"

  "Do you think my mum will be alright?" Alex asked.

  "You said that you were going to write," Lucy pointed out.

  Alex nodded, he really did want to make sure that she was alright, and he didn't care if anyone here thought he was being soft, he understood why she had kept her secret for so long.

  "I could get dad to keep an eye," Troy suggested.

  "Me too," Will agreed.

  "Thanks," Alex said smiling slightly at them both.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was Thursday just before lunch, which they were taking as a free period instead of flying lessons, which had in fact disappointed a lot of people. Lucy though had taken the chance to drag them all along to the library, mainly because they had a lot of work already to do, and she didn't want to go on her own. Jess had been easy to convince, mainly because she was just pleased to be spending some time with her, instead of going off with Will and the others. They were also there, but in a different part of the library, doing research of their own. Lucy was pleased that they were doing something, even if it had nothing to do with homework.

  Lucy still couldn't get over the size of this place, and how many different sections there; row after row of books and scrolls, thousands of them, probably millions, from all over the galaxy. Everyone’s take on magic, creatures, beings and history. It was actually kind of overwhelming, and even more so, when they actually thought that this was what they were studying.

  Lucy had left the others at their table, while she walked about looking for a good book for history, because she hadn't decided yet what race to do her first project on. She had considered writing about Lycanthropes, since she already knew so much about them, but she also didn't want to draw too much attention to herself with how much she knew about them. Especially now, considering that one or more of the students were selling them all out to the human newspapers; and she so didn't want to get into trouble for saying something that she wasn't supposed to.

  She walked along the aisle’s looking at the titles of the books, nothing at all jumping out at her. She had just reached the section on Tal'lan, wondering if she should write about her own kind; though even that she wondered about considering she hadn't really told any of her friends what she was. She was just reaching slowly out wondering what to do for the best, when she heard voices, or rather one voice, a male voice.

  "Do you believe this! Look at it!" the man practically sho
uted, then there was a pause while the other man spoke. "No, I will not be quiet...I don't care that it's a library. This...this is ridicules..."

  Lucy looked about her, wondering what she should do for the best; she didn't really like spying on people, but she did kind of want to know who they were. So she made sure that she was out of sight as she moved closer, wanting to know who the man was because she didn't recognise his voice, which meant that he wasn't one of her teachers, and she also wanted to know who he was talking to.