by J. B. North
He gave me a collected look. “It is not my fault that you couldn’t catch the bird. You’re not used to flying yet.”
“Then teach me how to fly better!” I exclaimed.
He stared me down. “Do not yell at me.”
I was silent. I still scowled at him.
“Hunger is the best teacher,” he recited, as if he had heard it many times before.
“Hunger also weakens,” I retorted.
“Then you’d better learn quickly.”
We sat in silence as we studied the plate of food. Just looking at it made my mouth water. It was hard to look away, but I had to. I was very tempted to snatch the piece of bread that was set closest to me, but I wasn't in the mood for punishment. After a while, I noticed that the trainer hadn’t bothered to consume anything either.
“Why aren’t you eating?” I asked.
He looked back up. “I made up a rule for us because I thought it might motivate you a little more…. If you don’t eat, I don’t eat. Now, I won't be taking the survival tests with you all the time, but the headmaster keeps a record of the students' progress in his office. I'll be watching yours there.”
I ducked my head, and stared at my feet. I wouldn't admit it verbally, but I felt the extra burden on my shoulders. I would rather him eat in front of me.
Being at this school was torture already, and I hadn’t even gone through a day of training yet.
A bell rang in the distance, reminding me of my old home. It was obviously signaling the end of dinner. I stood up and stretched. Maybe in the morning I’d have better luck. I found that I couldn’t wait to get to bed. Morning meant the possibility of food, and sleeping made morning come faster.
Outside, voices were shouting and I heard many shuffling footsteps. I walked to the tent entrance, stopping only when I thought of something mildly important.
I turned back to the trainer. “I never got your name,” I prompted.
He stood and dumped the plate of food in a trash bin that had been put in the corner. While his back was turned, he answered, “Kurt.”
He kept his eyes on the plate as he placed it back on the table. The light from a lantern lit up the side of his face where the scars were. I hoped that those scars hadn’t been from training. If that happened to him, what would happen to me?
To ward off the thoughts, I finally went out to join the others. I suddenly remembered that I had no idea where my dorm room was. Natalia had neglected to show me. I followed the current as I pondered over what I should do. Luckily, I didn’t have to think for long. “Ivy!” someone shouted.
I turned to see Roselle racing toward me. “I saw you come out of tent number one,” she said breathlessly. “I almost can’t believe it.” She took me in more carefully. “What is your second form anyway?” she asked, curious.
“I’m...” I stopped short. Natalia had told me not to tell anyone, and I wanted Roselle to be my friend without knowing who I truly was, since so many people were seemed shocked when I told them. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone yet.”
Roselle smiled. “I suppose that's a good idea. I wish people had given me that advice when I first came here. It would have helped things a lot, put me at an advantage over the others.”
We were quiet as we walked behind the other students. Maybe she would know where my dorm room was. “Do you know where Natalia’s dorm is?” I asked.
She grinned. “Is that because you are in her dorm?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“That means that you’re in my dorm, too. You can just follow me.”
It made me feel better to know that I would have a friend in my dorm. Perhaps two if Natalia turned out to be a good person. The way she left me after I’d told her who I was made me feel unsure.
We followed some other girls into the building and up the stairs. Some of them stopped at other doors and went in while others kept on going after Roselle and I stopped at one that had the letter L on it. “This is us,” said Roselle.
She opened the door, and I was met by the sight of a small room, just big enough to hold three bunk beds. They all had the same bedding with trunks at the end. “Which one is mine?” I asked.
She pointed to the one closest to us. “That one, I’m afraid. No one likes to sleep closest to the door, so it goes to you because you’re new.”
“What’s wrong with sleeping closest to the door?” I asked.
“You get the full blast in the morning when they come to wake us up with the trumpets, and if there is someone in one of the other dorms who wants to hurt you, it’s the easiest bunk for them to get to.”
“Don't the doors have locks?” I asked.
“Yes, but locks don't really work against those with magic abilities.”
I smiled weakly. “Great.”
She gave me a half-smile. “We’ve all had it at some point. The good thing is that if you think you can win, you can challenge one of the people in our dorm to a duel in order to get their bunk. Rules say that you can challenge someone for anything that belongs to them. That’s how I got my bunk,” she said as she climbed the ladder on the bunk next to mine. “It declares me the third best warrior in this room.”
“Who is the first?” I questioned.
“January. She’s a witch.”
I laughed at her joke, but Roselle’s face was serious.
“No, really,” she said. “She’s a witch. Her second form is a pixie, but her father was a wizard and trained her in the art. That’s the only reason why she’s first.”
“Is she mean?” I asked, although by Roselle's tone of voice, I already knew the answer.
“Exceedingly. It keeps us all on our toes, that’s for sure. If we do one thing she doesn’t like, we won’t appreciate the outcome.”
“Have you ever gotten on her bad side?” I asked.
She smiled. “Unfortunately, yes. Many times. I’m afraid I’m not very smart for doing it either, because I’m not a Level Nine, like her.”
“Level Nine?” I wondered aloud.
“There are levels given to us in the time that we spend here. I’ve only been given a Level Five so far. We stay here until we reach a Level Ten or for three years if we never do. Those who graduate the soonest get sent to do the harder tasks for the kingdom, so I don’t want to get too high anyway.”
At that point, the door opened again and Natalia walked in with another girl who had dark brown hair and eyes almost as black as the creature I'd faced in the trial arena.
“January!” Roselle said, resting her chin in her hand as she sat cross-legged on her bunk. “We were just talking about you!”
I really wished she hadn't said that. I tried not to look intimidated.
January looked at me as if I were bait, and then back up at Roselle. “Were you?” she asked, pasting a fake smile on her face. “All good things, I hope?” The threat was not overlooked by anyone in the room.
“Of course,” said Roselle. “Everything about you is good—at least in your eyes…. So I can’t go wrong.”
January’s eyes flashed. “Don’t overstep your boundaries,” she warned. Her narrowed eyes turned to me. “And you make sure that you don’t either.”
With that, she walked past us to her bunk which was on the top in the farthest corner. Natalia had already gone into a room that ours was connected to.
Roselle rolled her eyes, and turned over in her bed.
I stood and opened the trunk at the end of my bed. It was separated into two parts. On the left, the number five was scratched into the metal, and on the right, there was a number six.
Figuring that I was number six, I took out all my items and studied them. Our uniform was very plain. The shirt was brown and baggy, like a potato sack. The pants were a faded black. Instead of the thick coat that would be needed in the freezing temperatures, we were only given a ragged black cloak. Mine was much like Natalia's, except it looked a little worse off. Although the gaps had been sewn up, there were several places where a blade
had penetrated the fabric. The boots were brown, made of leather, but I had a feeling that they wouldn't be as comfortable as my old ones. The traction needed for the ice had been completely worn off with use.
I sighed and set all the items back in the trunk, except for the nightgown. I unfolded it and froze. Right up where the heart would be, there was a tear. And a red stain that looked fresh. I reached up to touch it, and my fingers came away wet with blood.
I screamed and threw the nightgown across the room, trying to wipe the blood off of my fingers and onto my pants. Roselle and Natalia were silent, but January erupted with laughter.
Then, the realization hit me, and I glared at her. This was her doing.
Natalia looked at January, and seemed to bare her teeth at the witch.
January picked the nightgown up off the ground, revealing that there was no hole. No blood. “Some warrior you'll turn out to be,” she sneered. She threw my nightgown at my feet and climbed into her bunk.
Seething, I stooped to pick it up. I tossed it in the trunk, deciding that I would sleep in my dress. I didn't want to admit it, but the stunt that January had pulled had gotten to me.
I climbed into my bed, bringing the covers up to my chin. With a sigh, I closed my eyes and kept them that way even when I heard the other girls come in. Finally, when the only thing I could hear were snores, I fell asleep.
CHAPTER FIVE
I woke up to sudden light and the blaring of a trumpet, just as Roselle had described. All the candles and lanterns in the room had been lit up, probably by magic. What an awful way to wake up.
I gritted my teeth as they pounded our door so hard that I was afraid it would be smashed in.
The girl next to me, one of the girls that hadn't come back in until late last night, sat up and rubbed her eyes, yawning as if she hadn’t just been rudely awoken. I watched as she smiled and got out of bed, reaching into her trunk for her clothes. Roselle had sat up also, but she looked a lot crankier.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” she whined. Natalia wordlessly got out of bed and got her clothes just like the first girl, except a lot less smiley.
I decided that I should do the same, no matter how much I would’ve loved to stay in bed. I was used to waking up before everyone else at the orphanage. There, everyone was only required to wake up at eight o’clock. I usually woke at seven.
When I got to the other room, Natalia was standing outside of the changing screen, waiting for the first girl to come out.
I sighed and looked back into the other room, noticing for the first time that January’s bed was made and she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Where is January?” I asked Natalia.
“She’s probably getting in some extra practice,” she said. “Some people like the training after they’ve done it for a while.”
“How long has she been here?”
At that point, the other girl came out from behind the screen. Before Natalia went behind it, she answered, “About two years and a quarter.”
Roselle had told me that people only stayed in training for three years at most. January wouldn’t be here for much longer.
As I waited for Natalia to finish, I pondered over what the training would be like. I hoped that I would be able to manage it.
Roselle and the other girl that I hadn’t seen came in and waited behind me. I took one look at the girl, who undoubtedly slept on the bunk above mine, and swallowed hard. She had a black eye and her nose looked as if it had been broken a couple of times. She was very thin. Other than that, there was nothing extraordinary about her appearance. She and Roselle looked almost as if they could be sisters. Like Roselle, this girl had brown hair and brown eyes, although slightly darker.
“So you’re the new girl,” she said unenthusiastically.
“Yes,” I replied.
“I have some advice for you,” she said. It seemed as if everyone had advice for me. “Do whatever it takes to do what they want you to. If you don’t, you’ll regret it.”
Natalia came out from behind the screen. “No. I don’t agree,” she said. “Do whatever you are capable of. Don’t push yourself too hard, or you’ll just get hurt.”
The girl glared at her. I watched them both warily before going to change. I trusted Natalia more than the other girl, but I wasn’t excited about finding out what they meant. I changed clothes fast, and when I was done, I came back out from behind the screen and into the sleeping room.
The girl who had been smiling was already gone, and Natalia was heading out the door already. I lagged behind to wait on Roselle even though I was eager to go down to breakfast for our survival tests. My stomach was complaining audibly.
Once Roselle came out fully clothed, we headed down together. “Why did that one girl have a black eye?” I asked.
“Oh, Angelica? She always has some sort of injury. I think her reflexes must be too slow.”
I stayed deep in thought until we were almost to the dining hall. Right before we got there, Niko came out the door, and walked straight toward us, breaking me out of my reverie. He looked angry and I fought not to cower or run for cover.
“You,” he shouted before we reached him, making my heart leap. “Roselle, is it?”
“Yes, sir?” she said, her voice coming out as a squeak.
“I told your trainer that I’ll be training you today,” he said. “To see if the level you were given was accurate.”
She flicked her eyes to me, and then back. “Yes, sir,” she answered, her nervousness prominent in her voice.
Niko cast me a glance before moving on toward a different building. Roselle stood there for a little while, silent. Other students milled around us blearily.
I tried to change the subject.
“Why do we even have a dining hall when we don’t really eat there?” I wondered aloud.
My attempt at conversation snapped Roselle out of her stupor. “Well, we have to have some place to gather, and we do eat snacks at lunchtime and dinner,” she reminded me. “And to tell you the truth, I don't think they used to have survival tests.”
“I wish they still didn’t,” I muttered under my breath.
Roselle laughed, but I could tell it was halfhearted. “Tell me about it…but then again, it will come in handy when they send us on quests.”
“What kind of quests do they send us on?”
“This and that. I’ve never really been on a quest. You have to be here for a full year before they send you on one. Often, students who go on quests don't ever come back. They're either imprisoned or killed.”
I looked at her in surprise. “Why are they allowed to go on quests that they can't finish?”
She shook her head sadly. “It's going to be their lifelong job. If they aren't able to complete one now, what are they going to do the rest of their life?”
I shuddered. I wasn’t ready to go on any kind of quest, big or small. We started walking again, although the troubled look had returned to Roselle's face.
When we got into the dining hall, I caught sight of Natalia sitting with the other girl in our dorm. I led the way to sit with them. This would be the first time that I was in a group during the survival test, and I wanted to be among friends.
Like I had heard the day before, there was no fruit on the table this morning. Servants went around serving water, but that was it. Nothing with true nutrition.
My stomach hurt from hunger, and yet, I hadn’t gone without food as long as some of these people have. I drank down a couple gulps thirstily, hoping that it would hold off my hunger. Thankfully, it did help a little.
When everyone had come in and was settled, the trays were set in front of us again. The lid was lifted off, and everyone at my table groaned simultaneously. The number that had shimmered onto the paper was 16.
“Which one is that?” I asked, worried.
Roselle glanced at me. “The volcano. Actually, there are many in a volcanic location, but this one is the worst.”
<
br /> “It sprays the most ash and spurts the most lava,” said the nice girl. “I’ve gotten pieces of my tail singed off at that place.”
“Your tail?” I asked.
“Liana is a centaur,” Natalia answered for her.
“Ah,” I said. Then after a moment of thinking, “What’s that?”
Liana smiled. “There’s at least three other students like me. I have the body of a horse, but still the torso and up of a human....And I’m the only female at the school,” she added with a proud glint in her eye.
“To your tents!” yelled Mrs. Scarls, breaking into everyone’s conversations.
We stood up together and followed the other students out of the building. This time there was no otherworldly glowing number in front of the tents. Just a simple black number at the top. The morning sun bounced off of the white and shone in my eyes. Our group stopped at number sixteen where a trainer awaited our arrival. She took us in one by one unenthusiastically before handing us each a necklace, each with a black gem in the center. “I’ll instruct you if you need it. In you go.”
Natalia boldly went first, and then Roselle, Liana, and I followed. We were greeted by the smell of burning flesh. I recoiled at the stench, and studied my companions to make sure that it wasn't one of them. Luckily, they were all safe...for now.
We stood in the middle of a scorched wasteland surrounded by ashy wooden stumps, the only remnants of the trees that once stood in their place. The ash was still breathing smoke into the air, meaning that the volcano had been active recently.
“Alright, let's split up,” said Natalia.
“Split up?” I asked incredulously. “All the food is obviously in the forest.”
“This survival landscape was created with the purpose to trick its students. We never know where the food is, and if we spread out, we'll be more likely to find it. If one person is able to find something, we all get a small portion equal to the amount of food they found,” she explained, pushing her black hair up out of her eyes.
“And what happens if the volcano kills you?” I questioned.
