“I would think he was in good hands if there were ten like that,” said Wayllin.
“There are certainly not ten like Colly,” said Clouda.
When I opened my eyes, Wayllin didn’t notice at first, and she went right on speaking.
“I think we need to keep all of the princes safe. I don’t think any of them should be put at risk like this. If something happens to one of them, it’s only a matter of time before something happens to all of them. We can’t afford that,” she said.
“I agree,” said Clouda. “But there’s nothing more we can do. Just keep them safe. That’s about as difficult an undertaking as there is.”
Wayllin nodded. Then she glanced at me and her expression soured. Clearly she wasn’t happy to see me awake.
“I see you’re still acting foolish. At the rate you’re going, you’re not going to survive the week,” she said.
“I was just trying to help,” I said. My jaw hurt, but otherwise I was no longer in pain.
“Your history would dispute that you’ve ever wanted to help,” said Clouda.
I didn’t respond to that.
I thought of times in my life when I wanted to help. And I thought of the breaking points, the times when I gave up on that idea. Now it seemed like there was no point in even trying.
“What happened?” I asked.
“It looks like you broke the bonds on your magic yourself. Heaven help the rest of us,” said Wayllin.
I glanced down at my hands, which were still swollen. When I flexed them, my fingers felt dry. My skin was cracked to the point of bleeding. There was some faint blue, but it was fading. To my utter shock, the cuffs had paled, and looked far more like ordinary tattoos than they had before.
I twisted my hands, but it felt as if I was lifting a boulder in each one. My muscles screamed and protested. Then I saw a thin line of gold running up my arm, and I knew I’d find another circlet around my neck. But my neck hurt too much when I tried to tilt my head down, so I stopped trying. I wished I could see my feet, but figured I’d wait till my visitors left.
“We’re trying to figure out what all of that is,” said Wayllin. “But whatever else is going on, your magic is free. Your power is free. Now we just have to see what you can do with it, what was so important about your power for all those years that it had to be chained,” said Wayllin.
There was no point in asking about my wings right now. I didn’t dare.
I just glanced up at Wayllin and smiled.
Chapter Fifteen
The academy fell into a routine. I realized that I could get by in my homework if I listened hard despite my secret inability to do a basic part of academic study. Sometimes, to compensate, I’d go to the library and listen in on others’ conversations. I could gain enough knowledge that way about what was happening in class that I could get by. But I had yet to do a single reading.
The days had quickly taken on a pattern. Everything was very uniform. Outside days we did swimming, running, and weapons training. On the days spent inside we did the boring classes: philosophy, ancient plants, and building blocks of a strong society.
There was endless weapons training, and it was connected to magic. Magic was only ever done with weapons in your hand, said our trainer. I wasn’t so certain that was true, but I didn’t bother to contradict the trainer. There was also hand to hand combat. I had to admit to myself that I enjoyed hitting things. Whatever was closest.
We didn’t learn archery, because the teachers thought students might use it to attack each other, taking a cue from the Shadow.
Vayvin was very good with weapons. She said she had grown up in the desert, where you might not have greenery or water to swim in, but there were knives and swords and all the rest readily available.
I caught myself enjoying morning kitchen conversations so much that I started to look forward to our early morning work sessions. It was hot and sweaty, but I didn’t mind.
Anyone could have done our tasks, really, although Lewis was still particularly awful at cracking eggs. Our chats were informative, fun, and diverting, especially the ones between the prince, Batham, and Lewis.
Colly and I mostly listened. I had never met anyone who spoke as little as Colly, and because of that it was difficult to understand exactly who he was, or what his motivations were for choosing to guard Reidar.
Meanwhile, Batham was only too happy to tell me everything.
As the days and weeks went on, the one aspect of the academy I was missing was joining an organization. The more students we had in organizations, and the more good leaders they had, the harder it would be for the killer to choose his next target. The attacks had subsided after the first couple of days. Whoever was out there to get the princes seemed to be biding his time.
Maybe with classes in full swing there was less time for scheming. Whatever it was, the killer had disappeared. Some students found that comforting and were more than happy to go outside and lie on the grass. I wasn’t so complacent. In fact, I was deeply concerned.
Around the kingdom, the war on our Greenleaf border was heating up, with frequent reports of battles and death. So even if nothing was happening at the academy at the moment, I knew it was only a matter of time before the trouble in the outside world reached in to affect us.
I got most of my outside information by listening at the library, as with my classwork. A daily report was posted on a bulletin board outside the library door, but I never read it.
Often in the morning, on my way to the kitchen, I would run into the prince and his guards reading it. They usually turned to me in surprise.
After a couple of weeks of this, I said irritably, “This happens every morning. You really have no cause to be surprised anymore when you see me.”
Prince Reidar grinned. “You know I’m just happy to see you. You saved my life, and then I saved yours. There’s a bond there,” he winked, deftly slipping his arm around my waist.
Shock ran through me. Whether it was from anybody touching me or Reidar specifically, I had no idea. And I didn’t care. But his guards looked surprised as well, Colly particularly so.
Without thinking, I grabbed the prince’s hand and threw it off me.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Just because you’re royal doesn’t mean you get to do that,” I said.
“I did it because I like you,” he said, in a tone of patient explanation.
I snorted. “I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous.”
He gave me a foolish grin and nodded. “There are definitely more ridiculous things. But living in a cell for months as you did, I can see why you haven’t heard about them.”
After that we made our way down to the kitchen.
Lewis was there before us, for once, and he greeted us with a lazy wave. “I wanted to sleep in this morning,” he said, “but no. Every morning it’s this blasted kitchen.”
Penny happened to be walking behind him. As he finished speaking, she brandished a large wooden spoon in his direction.
Once she was gone he ran his fingers through his curly brown hair. He had gained muscle since the start of the term, and his cheeks had thinned out a bit. He was becoming more like the others. And he was remarkably good-looking, I thought.
I glanced down at myself. I was still mostly skin and bones. I hadn’t been able to gain any weight after my magic had been freed, even though I tried. I thought about just sitting on my bed at night eating loaves of bread. The other girls would judge me, but what difference would that make? Vayvin and Esmeralda were the only ones who would speak to me with any consistency anyhow.
When Penny reappeared, Lewis asked her, “What will it be today? Peeling potatoes? Crushing blueberries?”
Penny stared down her small nose at him. “Don’t be impertinent,” she said.
“But there are so many things to be. Might as well be one that’s fun,” he opined.
My routine kept me so busy that I even stopped thinking about escaping. All I knew was that my magic
was freed, and that I was terrified. Something imprisoned inside me for so long had now broken free. Whatever had happened out there on the pond, it had changed everything.
At the same time, it had changed nothing. I was still trying to navigate a strange new world where my powers flourished and alpha speed was standard.
Supposedly, freed magic should have made my school attendance easier, but it didn’t feel much like it. As the days wore on I learned to take better control of my magic. Any time it threatened to well up and escape, I ruthlessly shoved it back down. To the extent that I could avoid my powers, I did so.
Our outside training took on a strange sort of pattern. Even though there was no sign of any further attack, we no longer went into the water. Whenever we were told to jump, to attack, or for some of us, to fly, I avoided doing so because that would encourage my magic to get involved.
I didn’t want to go near that sparkling ball of power inside me.
I knew it was only a matter of time before my incomplete homework caught up with me as well. I could only fake doing the readings for so long. In the evenings I would go to the library and listen to snatches of conversation, trying to sit near students who were in my year, taking in what they were saying.
Because now we had a test coming.
One where I needed to be able to read.
Which I had never learned how to do in all my years on the run.
The thought of asking any of my classmates for help was unbearable, but I wasn’t going to get by in class much longer, especially with a test coming up.
News continued to trickle in slowly from the outside world. Sometimes we heard teachers talking about the state of the kingdom, usually in hushed tones. There had been more attacks, and worse trouble was brewing. More battles were being fought on our borders, with our two neighboring countries causing all the problems.
Countries that had once been our friends were now enemies, the roots of discord reaching deeper and deeper into the dirt and taking hold, inevitably growing destructive.
As I headed back from the library one evening, my frustration started to bubble over.
The test wasn’t far away. On the academic front I was not doing well. I was so at sea that my mind again wandered to the idea sneaking away from the academy.
Could I get off of this mountain range? I tended to doubt it. But I had been ready to die before. Maybe it was worth a try.
As I walked down the quiet hallway I heard a soft patter. At first I didn’t recognize what it was, then I understood.
As I passed one of the large wrought iron windows, I gazed out at the world. It was awash with a river of rain tumbling down from the sky. I couldn’t even see the mountains because of all the rain crashing against the window.
Silently, demanding that the sky stop pouring down, I kept glaring out. There had been a lucky few weeks without any rain, but apparently no more. It was as if the entire contents of the pond had been picked up and dumped on the castle.
“What are you looking at?” Prince Reidar’s voice interrupted me.
I turned to look at him and he smiled. His ever-present shadows were following him as usual. Batham gave me an awkward grin. Colly didn’t so much as look my way.
“Nothing,” I said. Judging from the direction they were coming from, they had also been at the library.
“It looks like you’ve already done your studying for the night,” said the prince.
“Yeah, I guess I have,” I said.
“You should join us sometime. I’m far better the rest of the day than I am in the morning,” he said.
“To be fair, that’s a pretty low bar,” said Batham, earning a sidelong look from the prince.
“What? You know it’s true. You’re barely coherent in the morning,” Batham persisted.
“Yes, exactly, and the rest of the time I’m charming and filled with incredibly witty conversation,” said the prince.
“Are you listening to this?” Batham looked at Colly.
Colly merely shook his head. He looked out the window, then at me. There appeared to be a question in his eyes, a crinkling of lines at the corners.
I was determined to ignore it.
If the man didn’t actually want to speak the words, I certainly wasn’t going to bother answering. None of this silent communicating crap tonight. Usually it was women who were accused of doing that nonsense. Well, if it was annoying when women did it, it was equally annoying when he did it.
Hell, maybe it was more annoying.
“I’ll see you all in the morning,” I told them, flipping my hair. Without another word, I strolled past them.
The prince watched me go with a slight smile on his face.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to the library next time? I could use some more protection,” he said.
I glanced at him over my shoulder and said, “From what I can tell, you’re plenty well protected,” I said.
With that, I left them.
Chapter Sixteen
One day after kitchen duty, we were actually given some free time. Apparently the teachers wanted to meet amongst themselves now and then, and there were so few of them that we couldn’t still have classes while they were meeting.
Bored, I wandered the halls, wondering what I was going to do with myself. My eyes kept skating toward the windows, which revealed that it had stopped raining. The outside world was now brilliant and cold – and tempting.
But we weren’t supposed to go outside at unscheduled times. In fact, we were banned from going outside at all unless the shields were up, and they weren’t up right now.
I wanted to go anyhow, and I did. It wasn’t as if there were guards at the doors to stop me.
Without telling Vayvin or Esmeralda or anyone else where I was off to, I headed out. I made my way to one of the side entrances, the one closest to the mountains, and slipped out.
It was all too easy.
I skirted the now empty pond. The waterfall was crashing, but no one was there to witness the spectacle except me.
Feeling my hair ruffle, I stuck my chin in the air. The breeze on my face felt crisp and cool. All I could think about was climbing rocks, getting higher and higher into the sky. I already felt as if we were in an academy in the clouds, but now I had an urge to go even higher. I wanted to be in actual clouds.
My hands and feet were sure as I moved upward, allowing some of my strength to seep out for once. It was a brilliant day. With strong sunshine beating down, it didn’t even feel cold.
Suddenly I was determined to get to the top of the nearest peak. As I admitted that to myself, the sparkling inside of me grew. I ignored it, though for the first time I didn’t try to pull it back, to reign in my power. For once I forgot to wish that the cuffs had not split open, cracked, and failed. They still shone gold on my skin, but now they were darkening, returning to the bronze they had been that first morning.
I raced higher and higher. The air was thin, but the view was stunning. Every time I looked over my shoulder at the castle, I gasped. It became a smaller and smaller point as I moved higher, until it was almost invisible.
I didn’t know how long I climbed, but it was ever so good to be up there on my own, popping around from rock to tree and back again.
Climbing was freeing. Never mind that I wasn’t supposed to be outside by myself. Never mind that the Shadow wanted the princes dead. The killer had so far failed in that endeavor, and right now I told myself that his failure meant I could go climbing. No one cared where I was or what I was doing.
Air filled my lungs and I smiled. The heights I had reached reminded me of my old home, the northern mountains, the only place I had ever been offered a home. To be fair, I had never felt like I belonged there any more than I belonged anywhere else, but even so, I hadn’t rejected it. It was the last time I had been offered a chance to be embraced by others and had opened my arms in return.
I sat on a rocky outcropping for a while and contemplated then and now.
I was just debating whether to head back when I heard a scraping noise, then the skittering of pebbles. That was my only warning.
My legs burst into motion, and the next instant I heard hoofbeats coming up behind me. By the time I could spin around, the riders had already surrounded me.
They were riders of the mountain on the backs of spry beasts whose bones I could see under their skin. At least twenty riders, hard-faced men and women every one, had come upon me, their black hair braided away from their faces and ears.
I considered my options. No undefended gap existed in the circle they made. I was entirely boxed in.
“What do you think you’re doing up here?” a man asked. He wore thick fur and was bigger than the others, and older too, maybe about the age of the principal of the academy.
The wind swept around us and I blinked against it. All the riders’ cheeks were pink with cold.
“I was going for a walk,” I said.
A woman rested her hand on the saddle. Her beast didn’t bat an eyelash. “You expect us to believe that you came all this way up here without any help? For a walk? Who are you with? Don’t lie to us! We’ve been lied to too many times before,” she said.
It sounded like a threat. I knew it was.
“I came up here by myself,” I said.
“How?” a third one asked. This one was younger, about my age. He got a stern look from the leader as his reward for opening his mouth. Still, he didn’t back down from his question.
“I put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes I used my hands as well,” I told him.
“This isn’t academy land. You’re trespassing. By rights we could have shot you by now,” said the woman.
“You could try,” I said.
Several raised eyebrows objected to my sass.
“What’s your name?” the leader asked.
“Eddi. I just started at the academy.” I elaborated for once, deciding it was unwise to antagonize the riders any further.
“Nobody told you not to come up here?” the man asked.
Noble Fae Academy: Year One Page 11