by C J Timms
Eight
‘Frak,’ Gale said, ‘I have a very bad idea.’
Swan looked at him, ‘Whatever you’re going to do water boy, better do it fast.’
Gale looked up the hill from the beach and clasped his hands together with a mighty clap. Then he grappled with the tide of Deep Script inside him and let it come crashing out.
Five.
Water surged from the moat, flooding forward in a tumbling column. The water swept up Gale, Swan and Titus and shot them like cannonballs up the mountain. They rocketed through the air with a birds-eye view. At the top of the mountain, a large clustered in battle at the gate.
Fwak.
A crossbow bolt punctured one of the other students trying to get through the exit. The other students scattered. Atop the gate Yip crouched and sniped off anyone who approached close. A vortex of books defended him from shots. Yip held the line for them.
Gale felt momentum change, and they began to arc down through the air. Swan and Titus looked over at him nervously.
‘How do we land’ yelled Swan.
Gale gulped.
‘Gale….’
Gale clasped his hands together and summoned a massive bubble of water around them. They collided with the mountain top, and the bubble burst. They spilled out in front of the gate. The gate stood less than fifty metres ahead, a glowing goalpost that seemed to shift continually. Then a great weight fell upon Gale.
It felt like a mountain had sat down on his chest. He couldn’t breathe, the snapback from his Deep Script kicked in. Gale gasped for air and stretched his hand out in vain for the portal. A golden flash of light forced Yip down from the gate. Another a student ran through.
Four.
A hand grabbed him on either side as Swan and Titus lifted him. They both hauled him towards the gate, as the flood of students held back by Yip now surged towards it. Yip swung down into the portal. The team leapt through.
Zero
Gale tumbled out onto a hardwood floor, collapsing in a heap with Titus and Swan. The portal snapped closed behind them. The countdowns on their chest played a faint victory note. Yip was standing, and he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
‘Get up, don’t show any weakness. Put on a show.’ Yip hissed.
Gale pushed himself to stand, feeling his skin red hot from overuse of Script.
The university hall was a massive dome of glass and steel. A chandelier with a large flame burned overhead inside a circle of fire. It was like an eye of fire stared down at them from the roof, unblinking. Statues made of black volcanic rock lined the hall.
Weapon mounts popped out of the domed roof, harpoon launchers and nail cannons. The university wasn't just a hall of learning, it was a mobile fortress. Why glass, though? It would shatter under the first assault.
Moving light sculptures were scattered throughout the hall showing great battles. Addison’s fall at mount Axis. Canute turning back the tide. Dozens of other warriors fixing Lovecraftian horrors from the Deep. Things with too many tentacles, eyes and mouths.
Small furred animals ran back and forth around the edges of the hall, carrying messages, scrolls, deliveries.
The other students stood in clusters, battered and bruised. The remainder of the two hundred were a surprising mix of humans, goblins, Wyldfell kin, komodo’s and rock golems. One of the Canuteian monk candidates staggered and Gale caught the waft of beer from their group. Gale looked over as Titus who had already sobered up. Gale strained his ears and heard one say, ‘don’t understand it, perhaps a side effect or a spell.’
The four of them took their place at the back, their rankings on their Safeguards. Gale got 200th, no surprise there. He’d been last through, and despite the difficulty of his path, he beat Gitynan’s interference had affected his score. Yip 145th, perhaps from his defence of the final gate. Titus got 198. That just left Swan.
‘199, how did I come behind you, you bloody bogan.’ Swan roared.
Titus shrugged and gave her a thumbs up. ‘Cheer up Swan, at least you didn’t come last.’
‘Yeah, but the only person I beat is Gale.’ Swan said gesturing wildly.
Gale winced, words hurt. He looked over at Yip. ‘You held them back for us Yip, why?’
‘Telling you the plan would’ve slowed things down. Plans go quicker without a steering committee meeting.’
‘Cheers bro, it's good to know you’ve got my back.’
Yip looked straight ahead, ‘I would’ve left the instant my spot was at risk. Don’t mistake competence for sentimentality. I’m going to take every opportunity to graduate. I just figured my chances were better with you lot.’
Gale nodded. ‘Take every opportunity.’
‘I teamed up with you Gale because I like those who help themselves. Don’t fall, because unlike these two, I won’t pick you up.’
Titus flicked Yip’s ear. ‘Cheer up pocket rocket. Things are tops. We’re made, we’re officially fracturesmiths.’
‘Not even close,’ Yip said, rubbing his ear.
Chancellor Helios, still in his board shorts with his nose zinced, strode up on stage calling the room to silence.
‘The college expects perfection.’ Helios said from atop the podium. ‘Those of you who have made it through, congratulations….on being accepted into the hardest training of your life. If you strive for perfection, someday you may earn the right to bear the war hammer of the fracturesmiths.’ Helios held aloft his war hammer, red and yellow striped. The thing was ridiculously oversized.
Gale looked around the successful two hundred. Then at the top nine.
The exam was marked based on how quickly you got through in combination with how well you did on each test. It wasn’t just a speed run. Although Adam hadn’t been first across the line, he had obliterated every test, even completing extra ones for bonus points.
Adam stood at the front with a small group of eight others who made up the top nine candidates, all of them were human. Sterling had gotten through seventh. Swan glowered at him, and her fingers twitched on the Slagblade.
Helios held up a golden palm badge. He presented it to Adam to mark him as the ‘Prime Candidate' for placing first. The first nine were granted immediate entry to House Laurels. The remaining top fifty had their pick of houses and they all joined Laurels. Alisdair, without hesitation, went to House Laurels.
‘Everyone else will receive a choice of the remaining Houses.’ The Chancellor said. ‘Pick wisely. The University operates on a house system for both accommodation and rankings. The right house is critical to making connections and getting the job you want on graduation.
At the end of the year, the best ranking house will win the House Cup.’ Helios gestured to a giant tankard with handles of horn which sat high on a platform. 'This cup has been kept by the University since man defeated the nine abyssal lords, the spawn of Corrosyv. It will start in the hands of House Laurels as the reigning champions.’
Helios gestured and six crests floated in a circle.
The first was a golden palm tree inside a red flame, ‘House Laurels - Victory at any cost’. Gale considered it strongly, he needed to seize any opportunity and well, build up his resume. Gale discarded the next two options. House Canute’s crest was a tower made of driftwood that rose from a lake ‘Faith holds back the tide’. House Solvent’s symbol was a set of gold coins inside a beaker of water ‘Our price is gold.’ Neither of these two were what he needed, one required adherence to religious dogma and the other was ridiculously expensive.
House Baxtro tempted him. Its crest was a rum jug with four x’s on it, ‘Life should be lived.’ The fifth was house Eternus ‘United we stand’ was emblazoned beneath nine interlocking circles. House Eternus was mainly for inter-realm students from non-human realms such as Celesta Firma, Locomotyr or Wyldfell.
The final selection was a simple lighthouse on a cliff. Beneath it were the words, ‘Any man worth his salt.’ White on dark blue. The line shuffled forwards as groups and individuals ma
de selections for houses.
House symbols slowly went out as students filled them. House Laurels was the first to go out. The first seventy students filled it. House Canute’s light went out as every monk picked it. The line slowly shrunk as the houses filled up.
The line shrank down through two hundred students until it reached the four of them. Yip went first.
Yip picked house Eternus, and its light went out. Titus looked over the remaining choices, gazed at House Canute, then picked House Baxtro instead, and it faded. Swan looked up at the floating crests and chose House Solvent. House Solvent’s light went out.
Finally, with all the house lights gone, Gale faced the professors. No choices left and all alone. Helios was talking with Giltynan, Arancina and Urms. Giltynan’s face grew redder as he shot looks at Gale, his hands gesturing back and forth. To the side, one of the tutors caught his eye and winked.
It was Blush.
The redhead who’d saved him from the fathomless swarm earlier this year. The mystery woman he’d been chasing for answers and teaching. She was a tutor. The employer that had got them out of prison, it was the University. Blush grinned at him as though reading his mind.
She mouthed something to him. ‘Not just a pretty face.’
Giltynan turned to face Gale, his grin dripping with satisfaction. ‘Ah master Knott, it seems that you have a problem. There are no more house spots left. We expected to have more fail the exam. Unfortunately, you will have to come back next year.’
Gale gritted his teeth. ‘What?’
‘There is no space left in Laurels, Canute, Solvent, Eternus or Baxtro.’
Gale stared back at Giltynan, who was just chomping at the bit to tell him the real truth. None of the house heads, the top Professors, would accept him. They didn’t want a trenchborn in their house. They’d expected him to fail. He’d earned this, he’d come last, but by the skin of his teeth he’d frakking made it through. Now they were rejecting him on a frakking technicality.
He looked back at the floating crests. Then he smiled.
It paid to read the rulebooks.
‘What about the Lighthouse?’
Giltynan jerked back. ‘The Lighthouse, it hasn’t been used in eighteen years. Its a decommissioned wreck. I don’t even know why it's up there with the others.’ He looked over at Helios who shrugged and gestured open-palmed with a dumb grin.
‘I will take it. You said the problem was there was no space. Well, I just found some.’ Gale stared down Giltynan. That was the problem with being a stickler for the rules. You had to follow them.
‘You’ll be fighting on your own, no house support, no teammates.’ Giltynan said.
‘How’s the rent?’ Gale asked.
‘Quite minimal in comparison, I understand.’ Said Helios.
‘I will hold the Lighthouse by myself.’ Gale said. He thought he’d make a rather dashing lighthouse keeper. The lone sea-dog tending the building. Cheap rent was just a bonus.‘
‘No…he won’t’ said Yip. His eyes flicked to the house crests, he gauged the other students and calculated. Then smiled and came to stand beside Gale.
Gale clapped Yip on the shoulder. ‘You’re a top bloke you know that Yip.’
Yip put a crossbow in his ribs. ‘I’m in this for the cheap rent. If you take the spot I just vacated, Iwillshoot you.’
Gale took a very gentle breath, the crossbow bolt withdrawing.
‘Rule number one.’ Titus yelled from the mass of House Baxtro students. He shouldered past the students and rushed to stand beside Gale. ‘I will also join the Lighthouse.’
No one else spoke. Gale’s eyes flicked to Swan, who was swirling a cocktail in the mass of Solvent students. He couldn’t ask her to join them. It would be starting at such a disadvantage. The cheap rent was nice, but there was no guild infrastructure around them. No advisers, no perks, no weapons or armour. Just a roof over their heads. No, he wouldn’t force this on her, she’d had his back already.
‘Oy Swan shift over here.’ Titus yelled from beside Gale. Swan hesitated in the mass of House Solvent students. She’d just been offered a welcome basket.
‘Free massages Titus.’ Swan yelled back.
‘Swan you’re me mate, come on, come onnnnnnnn…. I’ll buy you a pie.’
Swan looked at the three of them and over at Sterling in House Laurels. She sighed and handed back the welcome package but kept the cocktail walking over to join them.
Gale was speechless, Titus slapped Swan on the back. He pulled a pie from somewhere in his jacket. It wasn’t even waterlogged. Swan looked at it, shrugged and took a bite. She looked at Gale and just jerked her thumb back at Titus.
Giltynan’ face was beet red. ‘Be that as it may, you need a professor to lead your House and the Lighthouse has none. We can’t just leave students unsupervised. Unless anyone wants to take the role I’m afraid we’ll have to remove you, all four of you.’
Swan choked on her pie. Gale felt the crossbow bolt return to his ribs.
Gale looked at the group of professors, they all turned away or looked down at their feet. He looked at Blush, hoping for a miracle. She fidgeted looking side to side. Come on, Gale thought, I know you have Deep magic, help me out. Blush took a deep breath and squared her shoulders to step forward.
‘Urmm….I will…urmm…’ came a thin voice from the back of the professors. Professor Urms stepped forward, his head down, his shoulders hunched. His hand touched something held beneath his shirt, and he stood straighter.
‘I will take the role. I will guide the Lighthouse.’
Giltynan turned and stared daggers at Urms, then he threw up his hands and stormed off. Chancellor Helios clapped his hands together.
‘Marvellous, that's that settled then. You four will be our Lighthouse keepers.’
Rust - The nine relics
In the dark of night, deep within a cloud bank, the city of Brazenbound was easy to miss. Brazenbound was built atop a floating island and perpetually cupped by a bowl of rolling white clouds. The cloud bank hid Brazenbound from below and the sides. Only from above could the magnificence of Brazenbound be viewed. Stealth sacrificed for the glory of seeing the sun. So the citizens could reach out for it, stretching to touch their god.
Constant and never-ending improvement, Rust thought. That was what those Tony Robbins seminars had told him. Always push yourself to be better. He drummed his fingers on his armour and then added to his to-do list.
Sign up for ‘Unleash the Power within 2021’ [ ]
Rust crouched down and patted his skymanta’s head. He whispered to it and its wings tilted. The skymanta resembled a flying stingray, about the length of a train carriage but drastically thin. Script rolled off the underside of its ‘wings’, keeping it elevated. The Skymanta gave a slow tilt of its wings and curved around towards Brazenbound.
Floating orbs with tiny wings lit Brazenbound. They flitted about, clustering near golden towers that stretched upwards throughout the city. In the very centre, a statue of a winged knight thrust a blade up and reached for the sky. The statues wings drenched in a soft golden flame. The outskirts of the city faded into a cultivated bamboo jungle with birds and wild animals roaming freely. Yet it wasn’t the city that had drawn him here. He patted the skymanta’s head and urged it further downwards, down into the clouds, to find the raw underbelly of the cloud island.
‘Quiet as a mouse, Gary.’ Rust said.
Rust could feel Gary roll its eyes at him. He was a well-trained skymanta, but too proud by half.
They descended into the cloud bank, looking for the hidden blight of Brazenbound. Brazenbound had another name, known only in the highest and the lowest of circles. Brazenbound dealt in a secret business, away from the prying eyes. To the wretched and their keepers, the city was known as Tempeste Incarcerem, the Prison of Clouds.
Flying blindly through the clouds, Rust relied on Gary’s other senses. The clouds around him cut off the world. All that remained was him, the skymanta
beneath his feet and his mission. Gary slowed, and his tentacles stretched outwards, touching a rocky cliff face. Gary latched on with barbed suckers, moving silently despite his size. Gary slithered across the rock until he found it.
A bamboo platform.
Rust pulled out his to-do list. He shook a gauntleted hand, and a mechanical pencil protruded near the thumb joint. With stiff hands, he ticked off the first point on his goal chart for today.
Find the cloud prison [ ]
The Rust Knight patted the skymanta in thanks and stepped onto the rickety bamboo platform. The platform rocked slightly beneath his feet, fixed loosely to the underside of the rock. A series of passageways, platforms and ladders all stretched before him, forming a prison complex beneath the city. The structure swung back and forth to his footsteps. So this was Tempeste Incarcerem, the barnacle that clings to the boat of Brazenbound, hidden below the cloudline. Like the scum that needed cleaning from a ship.
Heavy boots clumped onto the platform behind him, breaking the silence. Redfoam, or Red as he called her, stepped onto the platform holding an apple, Red twisted her helmet at an odd angle to fit the apple into it. Red bit down, with a crunch that echoed into the night.
Rust cut his fingers across his lips in the universal gesture for zip it. He considered the repeating daily goal that he so rarely got to tick off his list.
Don’t rise to Redfoam [ ]
He took a deep breath. It was okay, the armour was part of his authentic appeal. It demonstrated his mission, his purpose. This mission was his why, he knew what it meant. Simon Sinek taught you to start with why. Well Rust knew why he was doing this.
To save a world.
‘I mean its all good, it's just good to know our fearless leader has a flare for the dramatic.’ Red winked.
Rust turned back to Red. ‘When we came up with our plan, we had to think big. I aimed to inspire fear in our enemies. I want them to hear me coming and tremble. This is the unholy raiment of war, the herald of a world’s destruction. Do you want to know why it shrieks, though? It shrieks because it has to listen to your jokes.’