‘Let me help,’ Harshon said. ‘I remember my first time.’ She held Lexington, steadying her.
Lexington composed herself marvelling at the surroundings. ‘Why does everything appear uneven?’
Shaking her head, Harshon tut-tutted her. ‘A word to the wise. Do not use the word why?’
‘Why? That breeds ignorance.’
Harshon smiled. ‘Ignorance can be strength. Come. The Head-Discipliner wants to meet you.’
Unable to resist Quixote stepped off the edge, jumping a few steps down into the amphitheatre.
Harshon frowned at him, though seemed to understand, and with sadness said, ‘They will discipline that one.’
‘Exactly explain discipline,’ Melaleuca said. ‘Our Aun...I mean the lady that keeps us, uses that word. What does it mean here?’
Harshon frowned more. ‘Oh I see. Well then there is much for you to learn. Who put you in first year clothes?’
‘The lady that keeps us,’ Ari said.
‘I would not have dressed you in such,’ Harshon replied. ‘Now follow me, please.’
They passed under a large protrusion a few storeys up. It jutted out over the amphitheatre and had a door on the outside of it.
‘What is that?’ Quixote asked.
‘That is the Head-Discipliners office.’
‘Who is the bottom discipliner then?’
Ari sniggered, Harshon looked at him worried.
‘Why is that door up there?’ Ari asked.
‘In former times, students that did not make the grade were pushed from it.’
Disbelief crossed their faces.
Quixote snorted with confidence and said, ‘Then it’s a good thing we have the ─ ’
Melaleuca slapped her hand over his mouth.
‘Shhh.’
Lexington halted and stared up at the office.
‘How can such a thing be?’
Still walking Harshon cast a glance back at her, disapproving of her question.
‘It just is.’
‘Just is? This is disgusting. How can you treat people this way, and seem so...so...so calm?’
Harshon glided to a halt, and cast a harsh eye over them, but then softened her gaze.
‘Life in New Wakefield is tough at the best of times and from there it just gets worse. People here all have big families, 6 or 10 children, as most die before they reach adulthood. The training here, well, here it has a high death toll.’
It took a few seconds for it to register. Melaleuca rechecked her feelings. Despite dreading what she had heard and seen so far, she knew she had made the right decision.
‘Most of them?’ Lexington asked. ‘But how and for what?’
Melaleuca tried to lock eyes with Harshon but she kept looking away.
‘Look at the outside world,’ Harshon replied. ‘People die all the time, and for nothing at all. Some people die for a lack of water. To die for no purpose now that is a real shame.’
Melaleuca tried to look into Lexington’s eye, though could feel her offended nervousness without doing so.
What if?
‘What would happen if we turned around now and walked out?’ Melaleuca asked.
Harshon’s face lit up amused.
‘The local Inquisat would be alerted and you would be hunted down, and then...hmmmmm....let's say....things would be worse.’
‘What could be worse?’ Ari said
‘It can always get worse here. It's about character. Strong character is not developed in paradise. You will see. Come, follow me now.’
They entered one of the buildings, speeding along a dim corridor. Embossed drawings covered the walls depicting past students, floating ships, battles, sea journeys, students being whipped, stars, the moon, emblems, and people and figures performing heroic deeds.
Upstairs they eventually stopped before a huge circular bulge in the corridor wall. A featureless lady sat at a stone desk with thin, moss like hair; her eyes, nose and mouth little more than dots and lines.
‘The new entrants to see the head,’ Harshon said.
‘Little old are they not,’ said the lady.
‘These are the outsiders.’
A hint of surprise creased the lady’s face. ‘Go straight in. He is expecting you.’
Respectfully Harshon knocked on the doors.
‘HURRY UP THEN!’ a voice yelled. ‘COME IN!’
She pushed on the door revealing a musty smelling den filled with piles of paper, cupboards, and walls covered with weapons both ancient and modern. A faded, chipped mosaic emblem mottled the floor, of an eagle battling a snake, with rivers pouring out of them, and a faded cow over looking them.
Harshon pushed them onto the mosaic floor.
On a raised platform, behind a large stone desk, with the back of his large bald head visible, a little man sat dwarfed by his surroundings. Legs dangled off his seat, and he stared out of bulging windows as if seated in the cockpit of a spaceship.
‘Take a good look. This shall be your making or your breaking,’ he said cruel and cold without looking at the cousins. ‘I am Sah Task-Master Carrion, the Head-Discipliner. I care for one thing. That you become strong, mentally and physically. That’s all.’
He lowered his voice, saying with evil relish, ‘Some once sought to make students emotionally and spiritually strong. Pah! We stamped these out......totally! My rank is Sah Task-Master. Do you know what that means?....Of course you don’t.’
Harshon cleared her throat and said, ‘These are the outsiders.’
He wheeled about on his chair, staring at them, his oversized head wobbling on his skinny neck.
‘The outsiders!’
He jumped down from his chair, and limped toward them, one arm dangling useless at his side. Cruel in appearance, deformed and smaller than them, the cousins gawped at him spellbound.
As if he read their thoughts, he said, ‘Diminished in size I may be, but large in the things that make men strong am I. There is none crueller than myself, none more prepared to sacrifice a hundred weak, pathetic students for one ennobled in strength and moral rightness.’
Lexington gripped Ari’s arm hard, while Ari looked sideways at Melaleuca, noting that she too stared in amazement.
Quixote, almost overcome with laughter, said, ‘How come your head is so large? Did you get stung by a super-bee?’
Harshon hushed him.
‘Yeah, I know,’ Quixote said, sounding bored. ‘Everyone keeps on saying don’t do this, don’t do that. But how come his head does not snap off. It looks like an apple hanging off a tree only the other way up.’ He bent over and peered at Sah Task-Master Carrion through his legs. ‘Yep, apple on a tree.’
‘Stop it!’ Harshon said. ‘Stop it at once.’
‘Tut-tut. Harshon,’ Sah Task-Master Carrion said. ‘The boy cannot be a mere 2, 3 years old in terms of discipline and moral character. Sad, but to be expected. Frivolous and filled with the world’s decay. I expected little else, though I will indeed enjoy smacking the stupidity out of this one.’
He limped back to his desk and stood behind it on a dais of some sort, staring into the distance out of the windows. Puffing his small chest out, he said, ‘It fills me with a sense of rightness. That at the appointed time we shall be ready. Indeed we shall be ready.’
‘Ready for what?’ Melaleuca said.
He stepped down and with great pomp, half-marched, half-limped around to face them again.
‘It is only because of Matron Gertrude that I agreed to allow you into this thousand year old institution, which for you will be one of pain. You little ingrates little realize what a great favour she has done for you. And besides she has her honour at stake, her HONOUR!!! Eh! Did you know that? No I bet not. Do you know her position here? She is a Matron of the House of Josephus and a Matron of the House of Keys. It is given to her to know what has passed, so that the future can be shaped. She also holds the knowledge of the passages in and out of New Wakefield. It is
to her and to her alone this has been decreed, that we should take selected youngsters from the outside world, a world that knows not of us, nor cares little, and bestow on them the high benefits of a disciplined education.’
He ranted so fast that none of the cousins could get a word in.
‘She has asked that I ride you the hardest I have ever pushed any child. I was going to give you a days reprieve, but seeing how filled with yourselves you are it shall all start now.’
He dismissed them with a flick of his rake-like fingers, adding. ‘Take them to Master Saurian’s class, he is expecting them.’
Harshon ushered them out before they could say anymore, though Lexington tried to study the mosaic as they left. It seemed too coincidental that an eagle and cow, the same symbols she had seen before, should be on the floor.
Flushed with worry, Harshon hurried them down the corridor.
‘If you want to last through today, then stay silent, say little, answer few questions, and by all means keep your ways to yourself.’ She looked at Quixote. ‘And keep this one under control.’
He grinned, imp-like back at her.
‘Your Head-Discipliner is also very interesting,’ Melaleuca said.
Her insides churned as her feelings could not settle on how she felt about this place, even though she knew she had made the right decision. The words of their mothers burnt through her confusion; just keep moving forward. She needed to stay strong and focused, especially for her cousins. Through all the churning inside her she could feel the faintest seed of something growing, something big, the same thing she had felt lying on her bed, not more than a day ago.
‘We are all a bit nervy here of late,’ Harshon said.
Melaleuca scoffed.
‘I would say a lot nervy.’
Harshon beckoned them to speed up.
‘Someone has been kidnapping our children.’
‘Who would want them?’ Ari asked.
‘At first no one minded, just another way to build character,’ Harshon replied, ‘but then a few more went missing and then a whole lot, and then it started to annoy the council. They control the amount and level of discipline and development. We can’t have people charging off doing their own thing.’
‘Why are you telling us this?’ Melaleuca asked.
Harshon stopped, spun around and knelt, gathering them close, searching their faces. She looked as if she wanted to divulge a secret, though as she caught eyes with Melaleuca, she pulled away, an air of resignation about her. She stood.
‘Move.’
‘What were you going to tell us?’ Melaleuca said
‘Just follow.’
They trod on through the austere corridors following her, intrigued by Harshon’s behaviour and pensive about what was to come.
Melaleuca called her cousins to her and as they walked, said, ‘I do not know what to expect, but we shall not bend to their ways. From what little we have seen we will do well to follow the advice we have been given and just be ourselves.’
‘Is that wise?’ Lexington said. ‘Surely we should gather our facts first.’
Harshon stopped.
‘Well here we are. Master Saurian’s class. It’s for 17-18 year olds. Matron Gertrude said you children were exceptionally bright, so Sah-Task-Master Carrion has put you with the worst, most feared, Discipliner.’
She knocked on the door and waited, listening to someone heavy walk to it.
The figure that opened the door blocked it out entirely. A wide man with no neck and no hair stood there. His skin looked scaled and reptilian, and he had cold grey eyes. His head sat like an oversized swollen bump atop his lump of a body.
‘Acid,’ he spoke in a deep voice.
Chapter 22 - Detention
‘Acid what?’ Melaleuca asked.
‘My skin is like this due to acid. That’s the last question you will ever ask until spoken to.’
‘Enjoy,’ Harshon said walking off.
Master Saurian stepped away from the door revealing a class of smart-dressed, hard-faced boys and girls in their late teens. All of them had Galeslars on their left arms - some short, some long, some decorated with bits of metal and badges, others bare and empty.
As they moved into the bare classroom a cold welcome greeted them. Four empty desks sat in the front row awaiting them. They sat and the class whispered, ‘Outsiders.’
‘Enough,’ Master Saurian said. ‘For the four new ones Gregand, stand and recite the four creeds.’
He stood, snapping to attention.
‘Only the fit survive. Character triumphs over all. Pain and suffering is your friend. A high moral stand is the only right stand.’
Master Saurian motioned for him to sit.
‘Prangard. Explain the first creed.’
Another boy stood, strong looking with a face full of anger, and said, ‘It means that a person must find ways to overcome the obstacles placed before them, that life, true life swamps those unsuited to survive.’
And on it went. One by one Master Saurian pulled up male students, getting them to recite creed after creed.
Quixote sat still at his desk, hands out in front. Melaleuca thought there was no way he would last a day of this. She raised her hand in the air.
Master Saurian glared at her.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I have a question.’
‘Not allowed.’
The class looked on shocked.
‘Why are none of the girls being asked?’
One of Master Saurian’s eyes twitched and he snagged up the corner of his mouth in a snarl.
‘Because they know their place.’
‘And where is that then?’
Master Saurian stood over her using his wide girth to intimidate her.
‘Be quiet. Stop asking questions! Listen to what they say and learn or ELSE.’
Much to Melaleuca’s surprise, Lexington fluttered her eyelids and raised her hand as well, saying, ‘If I may sir, I see a simple misunderstanding. You see where we are from education is an entirely different matter.’
Master Saurian half turned his neck-less head toward her. ‘Shut up. It matters not where you are from.’
‘I can explain really. Our parents taught us to use imagination. Not this mindless ─ ’
‘STOP THAT FILTHY LANGAUGE NOW!’
‘Which part?’
‘The “I” word,’ he replied back. He turned to the black board, and said, ‘Most disgusting students ever. Can’t believe I have been ordered to tolerate you.’
Ari rose to his feet. ‘The only truly disgusting person here is you and the way you treat people. This is horrid.’
In one swift move, Master Saurian grabbed Ari by his sackcloth and hauled him off his feet. ‘Look out that window, boy. Beyond that lays the southern wastelands. If I send you there, you never come back.’
Ari eyeballed him.
‘If you are trying to scare me I do not even know what is in this wasteland.’
‘And besides you are wrong,’ Lexington said. ‘We are strong. We went through much to be here.’
‘And once Ari stopped a charging wild boar,’ Quixote said.
Ari flicked him.
‘Yeah, because you thought it would be a cool idea to try and ride it.’
Lexington puffed herself up.
‘He was only five. The boar charged him and he stood his ground with a stick in his hand to poke it. Funny thing was the boar ran onto the stick pushing Ari over, but managed to stab itself by doing so. So you see he was awfully brave.’
Master Saurian bent down, straining to do so.
‘SHUT UP! Whatever you survived, your pathetic little body will not survive here.’
Ari reached up and bent Master Saurian’s thumb back, releasing his grip. ‘We decide for ourselves.’
‘That shall be smacked out of you.’
Master Saurian swung at Ari, though he ducked in time, and Master Saurian blinked in surpr
ise.
‘What are you doing?’ Master Saurian yelled.
‘Getting out of the way.’
‘Insolence!’
He again swung for him, this time with his Galeslar arm and again Ari ducked. He bobbed and weaved as Master Saurian carried on swinging wildly; ploughing forward with all his might, knocking desks and students aside. Ari rolled away from him, dodging behind desks and fallen students.
Quixote leapt on top of a desk
‘Go Ari, go.’
Fearing Ari could be seriously hurt, Melaleuca jumped up, snapping to attention, just like she had seen the other students do. ‘Master Saurian sir! This is our first day. We have much to learn.’
Master Saurian turned about incredulous.
Quixote danced on his desk and yelled, ‘You tell ‘em Mel!’
Grabbing the chance, Ari tried to sneak past. Without looking Master Saurian swung his Galeslar arm, smacking Ari square in the face and sending him sprawling into the wall.
Master Saurian smiled, crinkling his scaled face - satisfied.
Ari sprung to his feet, blood dripping from his nose.
‘May I ask a question then…sir.’ He smiled showing off fresh blood stained teeth.
Quixote threw his arms up.
‘Yeehaa! Go Ari, he is still standing.’
Master Saurian swung his Galeslar arm at Quixote. Lighter and faster, he leapt over Master Saurian’s arm and tried to somersaulted forward, crashing to the floor, though he stood and paused for a performer’s applause.
Master Saurian charged at Quixote like a stampeding rhino, slamming his foot into the side of his desk, splintering it to pieces. Quixote leapt backwards, narrowly missing being squashed, as Master Saurian stumbled into the wall. He rose to his feet, fierce anger on his face, ready to explode.
‘I think he is going to kill us,’ Quixote said.
‘DETENTION!!!’
Puzzled the cousins looked at him.
‘GO TO DETENTION! GET OUT NOW!’
‘What’s a detention?’ Quixote asked.
‘I don’t……You will….This shall…….’ Master Saurian choked, and then his expression seemed to freeze, as if he had run out of words.
Melaleuca peered into his eyes, willing to see what lay beyond his tough exterior. Pain shot through her head, as intense images of blood coursed through her. She broke away and felt her gut feelings swirl about, undecided which way to go. She saw inside her, an undiscovered path. A small path that said, if she fought Master Saurian she could easily become tougher than he could ever dream of. But that was not the path her gut feelings willed her to follow. Theirs was the path of play and pretend and imagination. In an instant she blocked the newly discovered path, trusting all their parents had said to them.
The Omega Children - The Return of the Marauders - Book 1 Page 32