Esmeralda arranged her friend’s tunic. “These are dangerous times. You can’t be too careful,” she said.
Vayvin hefted her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “As a matter of fact, you can be too careful, but I’m reasonably certain none of us are,” she said. And with that she was gone.
Tension had seeped further into Noble Fae Academy. Not only was there a murderer among us, but now students had to worry about their families back home as well. We knew that the king was fighting battles on a number of fronts. A scouting ship had been burned in our waters off the coast, and a raiding party led by a feared mercenary from Greenleaf had broken through a blockade and attacked a village.
As the situation deteriorated, whispers and questions were multiplying concerning why the king continued to keep the princes at the academy when it wasn’t safe. The answer always seemed to be that it wasn’t safe anywhere else, either.
There had been no sign of the killer for weeks, but that only increased everyone’s edginess.
More guards patrolled the hallways than ever before. Until they got to know each student, they were skeptical of everyone’s presence at the academy.
My favorite part of each day was still going down to the kitchen every morning. It was peaceful and soothing, and I eventually realized that it was because I got to hang out with fae who worked for a living.
Other than the four noble students I had work duty with, there was no nobility in the kitchens. Just hard workers who had to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready day in and day out, all year long. They were more my type of fae than almost everyone else at school, even though–or maybe especially since–my friends included some very noble young fae.
“Do you think I’ve gotten any better at peeling these things?” Lewis asked, examining a mangled potato.
Batham turn to the prince and said, “You should take this question.”
“Why do I have to do it?” the prince demanded.
Batham grinned. “Because you’re the prince. You always know what to say.”
The prince shook his head, but Lewis held a potato out to him anyhow.
“I do believe it looks all right. Downright edible,” said the prince, clearing his throat.
Lewis beamed, but just then Penny walked past, looked at the potato, and said, “Who do you expect to eat that? Somebody who can’t see? It might still taste good, but not if you keep gripping it like that. Even potatoes bruise if they’re squeezed that hard.”
And then she was gone into the mists that rose from the giant boiling pots on top of the wood stoves.
Lewis glared at all of us. “You know I need honest friends,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re the ones to look to for that,” I told him honestly.
He examined another potato. “I suppose you might have a point. If you’re in the nobility and in one of the royal courts, it’s most likely that you have to lie for a living. That’s how you maintain your power, at the very least. I shall look elsewhere. Penny? Will you be my friend?” he yelled.
From somewhere in the depth of the kitchen a muffled “no” was heard.
The prince didn’t comment on anything Lewis said, but Batham started whistling. “I think the real test would be if you managed to properly crack eggs,” he said.
Lewis threw up his hands. “Now you’re just asking too much.”
All five of us chuckled.
I had now achieved a rudimentary ability to read. After the brief holiday break, I had a bit more time to practice. But I still felt like I was plodding along, not making as much progress as I’d been hoping for.
Our real textbooks were still a lot for me to try to handle, but I could at least get the basics. I practiced my words every night along with my sword work, which was supposed to be an extension of my magic.
I wasn’t supposed to have to think about using the sword as a weapon. It should simply slash out and take down any attacker. I often thought of Prince Orlando and his ability with a blade. His attack on me had been the catalyst that destroyed the last bonds holding my magic inside.
The power had come ripping out of me. I still wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I knew that the prince had not forgotten either.
Now, as the winter started to thaw so high up here in the mountains, I glanced at those high peaks once again.
There had been a time when some of the guards had thought that the riders of the mountain were to blame for the murders at the academy. But the only attack they could possibly have committed was the one at the beginning of the year, when I had almost been shot while I was running with Vayvin and Esmeralda. The riders couldn’t have gotten into the castle at the times of the murders without being seen, so the accusations had been pretty thoroughly disproven.
Even so, relations between the mountain folk and the academy hadn’t improved. Resentment had grown from a trickle to a bubble and it was still worsening. There was no telling what would happen when it boiled over.
I ended up insisting that Londa join my new organization, not because I thought she’d be a particularly good member or interesting to have at meetings; she didn’t even care about history. No, I made her join because if she didn’t we couldn’t have an organization. It would just be me and Esmeralda, and that wasn’t enough students. Vayvin would join when she could, but she was too busy with band to make a regular commitment.
She did, however, suggest that we might be able to give a presentation to the band at some point to “practice our oratory skills.” We could practice speaking in front of an audience and maybe also try out our magic at the same time.
Londa, Esmeralda, and I agreed that it was a good suggestion, but we weren’t ready for an audience yet.
On the night of the first meeting of the Historical War Group, Esmeralda, Londa, and I headed for one of the small studies off the library. Since it was considered one of the safer spaces on campus, we thought it would be a good place to start our research into the kingdom and where it had all gone wrong.
We started off at the library by finding a couple of basic books on the history of the kingdom.
“All of these books!” said Esmeralda, plunking several volumes down on the table.
I hadn’t been able to find any because of my trouble with reading. That left Londa.
“I just have this one,” she said, setting a book on the table and spinning it around so we could see the spine.
“What does it say?” I asked.
“It says, “The History of Kingdom Overthrows: The Last 200 Years,” said Londa.
“Charming,” said Esmeralda.
“Did I miss anything?” said a male voice. Lewis had refused to join us in this endeavor, so we knew it wasn’t him, though for a moment I wondered if he had changed his mind.
But no, there was Batham in the doorway, closely followed by Colly and the prince.
“You missed everything! You can’t join,” I stammered.
“That’s not really connected to the question of whether we missed anything,” said Colly.
“I didn’t know he talked,” said Londa, her mouth hanging slightly open.
In a sea of good-looking fae, the prince and his two guards still stood out. They were taller, faster, and stronger than all the rest. Colly’s beautiful eyes made him even more unique. It took girls a few minutes to recognize how special he was, but once they did they swooned over him. It always irritated me.
“You missed far too much. I don’t think you’ll be able to enjoy the organization to the fullest extent,” I murmured.
Batham grinned. “Welcoming as usual. I expected nothing less from someone so charming,” he said.
I glared. “I am charming, and don’t you forget it.”
“Are these the books?” the prince asked.
Esmeralda managed to push the books in his direction without saying a word. When he grinned at her in thanks, she ducked her head with a blush. I had never seen Esmeralda blush before.
The prince approved of the re
ading choices, and the six of us got to work. By the end of the night we had agreed that it was an hour well spent, and that we would gather again in a week for more of the same.
With a twinkle in his eye, Colly promised they’d be on time.
I told them that Vayvin might join us at the next meeting too. “She’s in the band, but she was interested in attending when she could. We might have a joint meeting or something,” I explained.
“I’m willing to do this for you, but I don’t know that I’m willing to do it for the band,” said Batham, frowning down at a historical document on war supplies that he was trying to understand.
I rolled my eyes. “You’ll like the band. They need all the help they can get,” I told him.
“No one likes band,” said Batham.
“That’s not true,” said the prince.
After the meeting was over I walked back to the dorm with Esmeralda and Londa. I couldn’t help but feel as if everything was going well. Nothing had gone wrong in months, and there was no sign of the killer. Instead of a deep sense of foreboding, I actually felt hopeful for once.
I was the leader of my own organization. Which meant, if nothing else, that I didn’t have to listen to anybody if I didn’t want to. And who could argue with that?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A week later, the six of us got back together for our second meeting. We had all tried to do some reading in preparation. It didn’t go smoothly for me, but Colly was there to help, and I hadn’t even been annoyed about having him come to my aid. Because of it, I was able to arrive at our gathering prepared with a paragraph to discuss on battle tactics for smaller regiments.
“Who wants to start?” I asked.
“I will,” said Batham, clearing his throat and making a show of pulling out his papers, which earned him an eye roll from the prince.
Batham started to read. “Many years ago, the Kingdom of Greenleaf was overthrown. Greenleaf had been developing a growing economy, but when it was overthrown, the Trifecta was broken. The information that would have made it possible to rebuild the Trifecta was lost long ago, but that doesn’t even matter, because Greenleaf is still in chaos, and dark strains of powerful fae have taken over large parts of the country. Anemone hasn’t wanted to get involved for fear of suffering the same fate.
“Trade had been thriving in Greenleaf, and apprentice training programs for skilled workers had more applicants every year. But then, fifty-seven years ago, it was discovered that the king had been making secret deals with countries across the continent.
“What was worse, they were countries that didn’t have Greenleaf’s best interests at heart. After much debate about what to do, a group of rebels overthrew the king. Since he had no heirs, it became a question of how the rebels would govern. At first it was assumed that there would be no king after that. However, the two kingdoms on either side of Greenleaf were uncomfortable with that idea.
“Anemone’s ruling family had reigned for generations, and they were deeply unwilling to see a neighboring country give up their kingdom. Not only that, but there was magic born of the ground, of the fiber and fabric of all that made the kingdom powerful. That magic went into the formation of graphite gems in the ground throughout the land.
“That magic was best harnessed by a king. If more than one individual tried to wield it, the splitting up of the magic would weaken it and the weakening would be disastrous for the kingdom, because the whole point of the magic was to allow the country to prosper and grow, and to make it possible to defend the country against any enemies that might arise.
“A king was needed, and so he was chosen, a nobleman loved and respected by everyone. He was at that time still unmarried, but after he was crowned he proceeded to wed three times. None of his marriages produced any children, much less an heir.
“The royal family of Anemone was happy enough, however. They at least did not have to worry about an overthrow within their own country, because Greenleaf had set a bad example that no one wanted to follow. Meanwhile, in Greenleaf, once there was a royal family again, the rebels backed off.”
As we continued to discuss the history of the kingdoms, I started to see a pattern. A single kingdom didn’t have enough power on its own, and yet instead of finding allies, the king would try to go it alone in endeavors like trade and defending the borders.
A given king’s advisors also didn’t appear to agree with the advisors from the other kingdoms. I found myself wondering what the queen of Anemone thought about all of this, and in fact, what the ruling families of all other kingdoms thought. That sounded like a another whole project.
Batham was especially interested in history. To my surprise, the prince didn’t appear to care. At one point he made a comment about how he preferred fighting battles to any other activity. Given that he was the prince, I found that strange, but I didn’t dwell on it.
A week after the second meeting, Vayvin came to accompany us to the joint meeting. She had admitted that band was getting boring, but even so, we were going to go join them to see if our groups could find a way to work together.
“Let’s go this way,” she said, leading us down a series of corridors.
“Wouldn’t our time be better spent in training with a sword? And a knife? Or at least something more apt to make us effective in battle?” Londa asked.
“We can’t just train with weaponry,” said the prince. “We can’t just use brute force for every fight. It has to be both. Diplomacy has to work too.”
This was surprising coming from a prince who liked battle more than history, and I realized that I wasn’t the only one surprised by the comment. Seeing Colly give the prince a sidelong glance, I tried to catch his lavender eye, but I couldn’t. He just continued to walk forward. If anything he was even quieter than usual.
With the arrival of spring, the school year would soon be ending. There hadn’t been as many murders this year as many fae had feared, although one prince was gone. All the others injured in the blast that had killed Prince Connor had managed to survive.
That still left two.
When the king had decreed that we were to finish out the school year and not close because of the murders, maybe he had expected no one else to die.
But there had been an implied “or else” in his statement that no one wanted to think too hard about.
“Here’s the band room, “ said Vayvin cheerfully, spreading her arms wide as if she were leading a tour.
“Here we go,” muttered Esmeralda.
There were about thirty students in the band, spread over all years. I knew most of them, but none of them were close friends.
Vayvin, on the other hand, was the leader of the band and knew everyone. It took about ten minutes for everything to settle down as she led us to our seats, then walked around greeting each band member.
When it was finally quiet, she made a formal announcement before taking her own seat. “Listen up!” she cried. “We who have prowess with musical instruments are going to act as listeners tonight. The history group is a new student organization, and they badly need some practice. They’re going to tell us some stories about the history of the kingdom. I expect everyone to listen and give constructive feedback. You hear me? Constructive comments!” she emphasized.
Several band members nodded, but otherwise our fellow students were unexcited.
“Take it away, Eddi,” chuckled Batham.
I stared at him. “No way. I’m not speaking first,” I said.
He blinked at me in surprise. “Of course you are. This is your organization and your idea. You have to speak first,” he said.
I shook my head. “That wasn’t what I had in mind,” I said, suddenly becoming shy.
“Get up there and speak,” said the prince, making a shooing motion at me. I glared at him, earning nothing more than a grin.
I was stuck, and I knew my friends were right.
“Fine. I’ll speak,” I said at last.
I stood up in fron
t of the gathering, which included several of the waterfall divers. They sat in the back of the room with their arms crossed over their chests, looking bored. They had already learned everything and accomplished everything. There was no knowledge a former prisoner could possibly impart to them.
I wasn’t supposed to have made it this far into the year anyway. I had a feeling that if the killer had gotten to me, nobody would have cared. But the killer had been smart. He hadn’t gone for a single one of the prisoners who’d been brought in as bait. I found that strange.
Then again, prisoners as bait hadn’t really worked out in general. I was the only one who’d risen up the student ranks, while the others almost surely wouldn’t be coming back for a second year.
I cleared my throat and started to talk. I started to explain the history of the kingdoms and magic’s role in the kingdoms’ growth and changes in power. It hadn’t always been the case that magic was so intertwined with the kingdoms, that came later, when magic was needed to maintain the power of one ruling family or another.
At that point it became imperative that the royal families be magical. That led to the custom of powerful faes marrying no one but other powerful faes, until in our era most of the ruling families in most of the kingdoms ruled with magic.
“That had already been the case for a couple of generations,” I said. “It was the reason why the nobility had strong magical ties: strength rises to the top. Three generations ago if you had strong magic and physical abilities you could still earn your place. It was possible to climb out of the slums and into the upper echelons of the court.
“Courtiers quickly realized what was happening. Instead of pushing against it, they embraced it. They married strong fae themselves. They encouraged strong fae. In fact, they founded this academy. They wanted the best of the best to become better. That’s what has led us here today. The foundations on which this academy stands were born of a hunger for power. Our own kingdom is unique in having cultivated that. Other kingdoms did not do so with such a single-minded focus.
“That is what has allowed us to survive for so long even though we are smaller than the nearby kingdoms.
Noble Fae Academy: Year One Page 20