Wyntier's Rise (Creatures of the Lands Book 3)

by Natalie Erin

  Professor Rose pranced around the room. “Anyway, throughout this class you will be writing everything from poems to papers. Some of the things you write will be shared in front of the class. Others will not.” The professor came to a stop in the middle of the room. “So, why don’t we get started? Is there anyone here who has already written something in the past and wants to share?”

  “Why don’t you share a poem, Cam?” Soran nudged her gently, whispering to her. “You said you like poetry, and I bet you’ve got something you’ve written on you. I know you’ll be great.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been good at getting up in front of people,” Cameliyon replied nervously.

  “If you screw up, I’ll make a fool of myself to create a distraction,” Soran offered.

  “Really? You’d do that for me?” she asked.

  “Of course. What are friends for?”

  “Okay.” She nodded, and stood up from her desk. “I have something, Professor Rose.” She raised her hand and pulled a sheet of folded paper from her bag, hands quivering slightly.

  “Wonderful! Come on up here, darling.” Professor Rose smiled, tapping her desk eagerly with her hand as a sign for Cameliyon to come to where she stood. Cameliyon drifted to the front of the room, nervously raising the paper in front of her face.

  “I wrote this about a year ago. I think it’s one of my better pieces,” Cameliyon said quietly. “Here it goes.

  “To drown within a pool of water blue,

  Surrounded by the fish and the colored reef,

  Never even having a single clue,

  As to what you are doing here beneath.

  A stab of pain that is over quickly,

  Never given the chance to scream out loud,

  Falling down upon the floor so weakly,

  Lost forever in the silent black shroud.

  A love so pure and perfect that it sings,

  Ripped and torn away from me so cruelly,

  To me a horrid grueling pain it brings,

  Such a heartbreak as this must be deadly.

  Nothing better than the release of death,

  To those who are broken with nothing left.”

  The class was silent. A small tear rolled down the girl’s cheek and she slowly walked back to her seat. Professor Rose’s mouth was open. The teacher shut it slowly before continuing on with her lecture, acting as if nothing had ever happened.

  “That was great, Cam. I wish I could write like that.” Soran smiled and placed his arm around her shoulders when she sat down, seemingly the only one enchanted by Cameliyon’s words.

  “You really think so?” Cameliyon asked, wiping the lone tear from the middle of her cheek. A small trail was left in the blush where it had fallen.

  “Yeah. That was amazing,” Soran commented. “I could never do anything like that, even if I tried.”

  Nobody else read anything after Cameliyon. When the bell rang everyone rushed out of sight, away from the girl and her friend.

  Soran and Cameliyon lingered. “I don’t want to go. This is the only class I have with you today,” Cameliyon said quietly.

  “You can stop by my dorm later. It’s number twenty-nine, on the third floor,” Soran told her with a smile.

  “You’d really let me come visit you?” Cameliyon asked in surprise.

  “Sure. As long as you don’t mind Daren and Vivi being there too,” Soran said. “They kind of take over the place.”

  “Is Daren that kid that was with you earlier?”

  “Yeah, that’s Daren.”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t seem to like me very much.” She stared at the ground nervously.

  “He was just shocked that you and I are friends now,” Soran commented. “He’s a little odd like that.”

  “Okay. But who’s Vivi?” she looked back up at him.

  “Vivi’s my older sister,” Soran explained. “You’ll like her. She’s pretty awesome.”

  “Okay. I...guess I’ll try to get along with other people.” She swallowed. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

  “Anytime you want to come over, just stop by,” Soran told her, feeling lightheaded as she left the room. He didn’t know why, but he felt like this semester at Dinkleberry was going to be the best he’d ever had.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Angel in Hiding

  The Changeress stared longingly as she watched the students file into the entrance hall sadly. The tall towers stretched above her, casting down dark shadows upon the palm trees she was taking refuge under. The building had been constructed as a grand fortress long ago to defend bonded pairs from the agony of the First Despondent, but now it was simply a school that needed repairs, a beautiful castle that she was not allowed to enter. The air was hot in Nesting’s Haven, but she was used to it. After all, she did live outdoors.

  The swan walked back towards the school courtyard, where a small pond lay in waiting for her. She paddled around the water aimlessly, like she did every day. Ever since she could remember she’d wanted to attend Dinkleberry University, but that seemed like an impossible dream.

  A Changer laughed with their Accompany as they raced to class, but the swan tried to ignore them. Even though she wanted to go to school, she would have given it up for a chance for someone to love her.

  The swan dipped her beak in the water. She had nothing to call her own. She’d been in a finding ceremony every year ever since she had been born and had never found an Accompany. Her sixteenth birthday was on the horizon, and that was the cutoff point. Nobody had ever gone without a partner past sixteen. There would be nobody her age left to bond with. She didn’t know what she would do then.

  She came to the pond’s edge and set her feet on the shore, changing into a lovely white fox. She could never change into anything without the color being white...it was just the way she was. She gazed at her reflection in the water mindlessly, mind muddled with lonely thoughts.

  Yes, she had nothing and nothing had her. She had a teacher for a while, a few months ago. That was the one time she could remember being happy. There was a woman, Miriam, who had found her and taught her for a while, but when Angel started to get on her nerves she had stopped. She didn’t see why Miriam had gotten so upset. She never said anything to make her angry…

  Then again, she didn’t say anything at all.

  All her memories were of living out in the heat, hiding away from everyone at day and shivering under the bushes at night. She’d been raised in the orphanages when she was very little, and had been pushed out when she was old enough to take care of herself. She didn’t even have a proper name. Only a nickname...Angel. The orphanage directors named her that, after her pretty white wings.

  Bitterness welled up in her. All she’d been told when she was little was that her parents had died in the Great Siege, and in the process, Angel had lost her voice a few days after she’d been born. The doctors had said she would never speak.

  One of the worst parts about not being able to talk was that she couldn’t ask any questions. All she could do was stare dumbly at people and try to make gestures so they could understand her. Sadly everyone, even Miriam, thought there was something wrong with her brain instead.

  She flew away from the school, not wanting to be noticed. The pureness of her coloration did that too often, attracted undue attention. If the professors caught her lurking about the grounds, she’d be shooed away again. She didn’t want that to happen.

  She came to land in front of a massive stone cathedral that sat on top of a large cliffside, overlooking all of Nesting’s Haven. The cathedral had a massive stone staircase leading to the city streets below, and was surrounded by vats of oil and incense. People were filing out by the dozens, so she hid behind a marble pillar until all of them were gone.

  When nobody was around to see, she entered. This was the one place she couldn’t be kicked out of because of her status as an unbound. Her flat feet smacked on the shiny floors, and as always, she was swept with amazeme
nt as she gazed at the stained glass windows, illustrating wonderful images of beauty. The red pews were empty and all was silent as she made her way to the altar.

  Candles smoldered on their holders. She walked towards the altar cautiously. Are you even there, Creator? she asked the silence. Can you even hear me? I don’t know if you would listen to a silent prayer, especially from an unbound…

  She backed up a few feet, already regretting the decision to come inside. She bumped into someone behind her, jumping backwards at the touch of a stranger.

  The otter behind her jumped as well. Frightened, Angel changed into a dove and flew off into the rafters to hide. She hid behind a pole and the brown otter cried, “Hey, hold up! I didn’t mean to scare you! Wait for me!”

  He turned into a brown wren and fluttered after her to catch up. She hopped along the beam and he said, “No, don’t run away! It’s alright. Seriously!”

  He was trying so hard to make it up to her that she softened. For the first time, someone was actually concerned that they’d frightened her off.

  “I’m Martin,” he said. “I’m sorry I ran into you. Did you want some privacy?”

  She shook her head. He sighed in relief and changed into a brown ferret, putting a paw to his head. “That’s good. I didn’t want to ruin anything. I just like it in here so much, you know? It’s so peaceful and quiet, and nobody can bother you. I don’t have to worry about what happens here. It’s so safe. It’s almost like you can hear the Creator, do you know what I’m saying?”

  She nodded quickly. He laughed and sat back down. “Look at me! Here I am chewing your ear off. Sorry for being rude. Who are you?”

  She kept silent. He cocked his head at her and asked “What’s the matter? Lost your voice?”

  He didn’t realize the absurdity of his statement, so she just nodded again. He laughed and said, “Don’t be shy. Tell me your name!”

  She opened her beak and he leapt back in surprise, expecting an attack. Instead, she stretched out on her legs and stuck out her neck in a position that you would expect to see if she was screaming, except no sound came out. The effort made her feathers ruffle.

  Martin gazed at her in shock. “You can’t talk, can you? And I just went and insulted you. I’m sorry.” He dipped his head.

  She ran forward and pulled at his coat with her beak, as an invitation to follow her.

  He changed back into a wren and they flew out of the temple and onto the sandy ground outside. With her beak, she drew some letters in the sand.

  “Angel? Is that your name?” he asked. She nodded again and he asked, “Shouldn’t you be with your Accompany?”

  She shook her head and drew more letters in the sand. UNBOUND. OUTCAST.

  “You’re an outcast?” he said, baffled. “Well, that’s not very fair. Why aren’t you in school right now?”

  She tilted her head.

  He got embarrassed and scratched his head with his wing. “Okay, I’m not in school either, but it’s not like me to sneak out. I just wanted some alone time. My sister is sort of hogging our Accompany all to herself…yes, yes, we’re bonded to one Accompany, it’s a long story,” he said as her eyes widened.

  “Outcast…” he murmured. “You know what? That’s great! So are we. Well, Pumpkin and Cameliyon could be popular if they really wanted to, but Cameliyon never trusts anyone and Pumpkin won’t ditch her. But we hang out with a bunch of other outcasts. There’s Soran and Vivienna. Everybody hates them because they’re Wyntier’s kids. You know who Wyntier is, right?”

  Angel gave him a confused glance. She had heard of Wyntier, but his involvement in anything beyond the Great Siege was a mystery to her.

  “Anyway, their Changers are outcasts too just for being with them and the last kid Daren and his Changer keep getting shoved into lockers. So all we really are is a bunch of misfits.”

  She smiled. Martin hopped around her in a circle. “Come with me. I bet we can find a way to sneak you in.”

  This was the most insane class he had ever been in in his entire life.

  Soran leaned away from the table, giving a confused, open-mouthed stare at Mr. Mensolen. The crazy elder waved his hands around in the air. He acted out his class, The History of the Lands, as if past events were literally taking place right in front of him.

  “The Second Despondent is coming!” he shouted. His platypus Changer, who was just as mad as he was, made a gurgling sound in agreement. “Prepare for death as the arrival of the twin Changers sets off the greatest war in a century! We must be ready!”

  Vivienna leaned back in her chair and stared at her fingernails. Melodi was yawning on her shoulder as a mouse, bored. Vivienna and Melodi were such good students, they’d passed every single course Dinkleberry had to offer and now had to retake a few just to fill time until graduation. Soran wished Zorna were here, but he was probably in Nature Skills trying to get Federin to help him do whatever Changers did when they were roaming in the wild.

  He hoped the class would get over with quickly, so he could get to Battle Tactics quicker. He’d heard Professor Smithton had resigned, and been replaced with another teacher. He’d sighed in relief when he realized he wouldn’t have to face Smithton again.

  “Quack! The Second Despondent foretells doom!” the platypus croaked.

  “Yes! Doom!” Mr. Mensolen’s eyes grew wild, and he tore at his hair. “There are twin Changers, bound to one, and their enemy shall be undone! There is light inside and darkness within, but whomever the twin Changers side with will win!”

  “Quack! There is a Changeress filled with power, her time will come at bleakest hour!”

  Soran turned his head away as Mensolen and the platypus shuffled out of the room, muttering to themselves. “Can you believe this?” he asked.

  Vivienna wasn’t listening to him, and neither was Melodi. They looked at each other simultaneously and Vivienna exclaimed, “That’s where I’ve heard it before! That’s where!”

  “Heard what before?” Soran asked, but before she could answer there was a tapping at the window by his desk. A wren, Martin, was knocking on the glass, with a white dove trailing him. Soran leaned over to open it and the birds both fluttered in the window, landing on the desk.

  “Martin! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in flying practice with Cameliyon and Pumpkin?” Vivienna asked.

  Martin changed into a ferret. “Cameliyon never rides me. She’s always on Pumpkin,” he said sourly. “I wasn’t needed and I wasn’t about to waste my time watching everyone else, so I skipped. Anyway, look who I found!”

  He motioned to the dove, who was cowering against the desk. Vivienna came forward and sat on the other side of it. “Who is she?” she asked.

  “This is Angel. She can’t talk,” Martin explained. “She doesn’t have an Accompany so they won’t let her come to school. I’m trying to find a way to sneak her in.”

  “They won’t let you go to school? That’s not fair,” Soran said. He opened up his schoolbag and said, “Hop in. You can come to all my classes and hide in my bag.”

  “And she can stay in our dorm at night,” Vivienna offered. “Our roommate switched dorms so Melodi and I have the room to ourselves. There’s plenty of space.”

  Angel hesitated before doing as asked, fluttering inside the black bag. She ruffled her feathers in a particular way, peeking her head out of the bag.

  “I think she’s saying thank you,” Martin said.

  “It’s nothing,” Soran told Angel. “I’m willing to help anyone out, especially a new friend.”

  Angel’s pale eyes glimmered cheerfully.

  The next day during their free hour in the entrance hall, Soran and Zorna were hurrying to finish up their homework. Cameliyon laughed and said, “What’s up, Sor? I’ve never seen you work so hard on homework in my life.”

  “Today’s the Celebration Carnival,” Zorna explained, clambering over Soran’s papers as a bat. “Soran, no, your calculations are off, it’s supposed to be five, n
ot one. Yeah, the carnival. Soran and I go every year. Does anyone else want to come?”

  “I’m not going,” Daren said crossly. “I went once and had a horrible time.”

  “That was five years ago, Daren, and that was when you still had a head brace,” Soran protested.

  “What’s Celebration Carnival?” Cameliyon asked curiously.

  “You’ve lived in Nesting’s Haven all your life and have never been?” Soran asked, aghast.

  “My godparents hardly let me out of the house when I was growing up,” Cameliyon said. “They only made me come to Dinkleberry because they could no longer handle me at home.”

  “Why were they so protective of you?” Zorna asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Pumpkin said, cutting him off.

  “Is it casual or what?” Cameliyon asked curiously.

  “It’s come as you are,” Soran said.

  “That rules me out,” she said sadly, looking down at her expensive dress. “I know every girl in school would kill to have my wardrobe, but when you’ve got to wear fancy things every day it gets old, fast. I would wear regular clothes if my godparents didn’t make me.”

  “You can borrow some of mine and then we could all go together,” Vivienna said. “You wouldn’t be recognized in some of my dresses.”

  “Everyone would still recognize me. I do have pink hair.” Cameliyon’s eyes widened and she smiled. “Unless…”

  Cameliyon’s pink curls changed, straightening into a short, brown hairstyle, while her pale eyes morphed into a murky blue, her nose lengthening and lips thinning to become pale and straight. It was kind of like watching a Changer transform, except that it seemed completely unnatural.

  “How’d you do that?” Soran asked, gaping.

  “My name is Cameliyon. It’s just something I was born with.” She made her brown hair go back to pink, so nobody else would notice. “Okay, since we’re all going, that means Daren has to come too.”