by T. H. Hunter
“It is good to see you here, Miss Flynn,” he said, smiling at me.
I nodded in appreciation and then lowered my head to the fountain. The smell of the Elixir was strong, yet not repugnant. I took the goblet from Doctor Yurasov. As soon as it touched my lips, I tasted that familiar flavour of iron and sweetness. It was a lot better than the stuff we had got out in the training camp. Perhaps they really had improved it, or the bottled stuff just wasn’t as fresh as this.
Walking back to my table, I felt both refreshed and thirsty at the same time. It was a curious sensation, a feeling of not quite being satisfied. By the looks of it, the other students felt quite the same way.
Finally, after all the newly Initiated had drank from the fountain, the teachers stepped down from the gallery and joined Doctor Yurasov at the fountain.
Doctor Stephanopoulos was wearing his benign smile again as he wished each of the staff well for the coming semester, calling their names and shaking their hands before they drank.
“Doctor Wiley,” Stephanopoulos called finally.
There was silence.
“Doctor Wiley,” he repeated.
He was nowhere to be seen.
Doctor Stephanopoulos looked at Mr. Vox, who stepped forward and whispered something in his ear. Stephanopoulos nodded. He looked worried. When he spoke next, his voice was unusually subdued.
“In the name of the staff, I wish you all the best for the upcoming semester.”
I looked quizzically at Lynn, who appeared to be just as baffled as I was. He hadn’t given any explanation for Doctor Wiley’s absence at all.
***
“Male first years, with me,” Mr. Vox ordered. The guys immediately detached. Some, Jayden among them, were mockingly disappointed at being separated from the girls. Beyond the laughter, I couldn’t help notice Jayden throw Lynn a last look. Mrs. Prill, mirroring Vox’s orders, beckoned us to follow her.
“You will be sleeping in the East Tower in your first year,” she said.
“What, no coffins in some underground dungeon?” I said to Lynn.
“Would beat those huts any day, though,” she said.
We marched for quite some time through the castle’s many corridors. They were all made of the same white grey stone, though the occasional paintings of vampires or tapestries covered the walls. We finally reached a narrow spiral staircase ahead and ascended it. Perhaps it was the tiredness from the day, but it felt unusually steep.
After a while, Mrs. Prill led us through an archway that led away from the stairs. We found ourselves in a narrow yet circular hallway that wrapped itself around the staircase.
“Silence please. You will find that your luggage has already been brought up. You will find your names on the doors. Recent changes in policy,” Mrs. Prill said, lingering disapprovingly on the last word, “have allowed students to switch and swap rooms as they please. I cannot prevent you from doing so, but you must report any changes to me immediately. The Junior Common Room is located on the third and upper-most floor of this tower. You will find your schedules in your rooms. Goodnight.”
Chaos ensued as everyone tried to find their rooms. They were simple rooms, usually sporting two chairs, two beds and a table. Lynn and I were able to persuade Lise, the Bavarian girl, to swap with me so that Lynn and I could be in one room.
After moving my luggage over, I sat down on the bed, happy but exhausted, and opened the letter we had all received, which bore the words “1st year schedule”. I read the page for Mondays and Tuesdays.
Monday:
14.00Stealth (Doctor Linton)– Outer Courtyard
16.00Engineering (Master Gorgos) – West Tower
18.00Vampiric History (Doctor Yurasov) – West Wing
20.00Vampiric Martial Arts (Doctor Matei) – Dungeons
Tuesday:
14.00Vampiric Ethics & Law (Mme Dampierre)– West Wing
16.00Haematology (Doctor Balewa)– Lecture Hall
18.00Surgery (Doctor Hasenberg)– Hospital
20.00Alchemy (Doctor Wiley)– East Tower
The other days mirrored the subjects, though apparently they were to be taught in tutorials by junior staff. Most of the subjects looked fascinating, and both Lynn and I wanted to discuss them all in detail, though we were so exhausted from the day that we just slumped onto our beds and immediately fell into a deep sleep.
9
Doctor Wiley’s mysterious disappearance continued to be the number one topic the next day. Apparently, he still hadn’t turned up. It was announced at breakfast that his classes were to be held by his assistant, Mr. Vox, who would be working overtime. No further information from the staff was forthcoming, however, despite numerous students asking. It was evident that his disappearance came as a great surprise to everyone – staff and students. Rumours spread throughout the castle that some sort of foul play was involved but nobody really believed that.
“What’s first today?” Lynn asked.
“Stealth training with Doctor Linton,” I said, checking my schedule again.
“Oh no, he’s that boring British guy,” she said.
“Hey, I’m British,” I said in mock indignation.
“There’s an exception to every rule,” she said, grinning. “He’s just ancient.”
We arrived with just a minute to spare. Most of the class was already there, forming a half-circle on the lawn.
“My name,” a voice said in a careful voice, “is Doctor Linton.”
We shuffled forward to get a better look. A small, extremely thin man stood before us. He was almost entirely bald save a grey ring around his head. He looked quite frail.
“In this class, you will learn the ancient techniques of concealment,” Doctor Linton continued. “They are indeed as old as vampires themselves, though only very few treatises survived the Great Fire of Munich in 1327, after which all remaining records were moved here.”
“I’m bored already,” Lynn whispered.
“Give him a chance,” I said.
“As students in your first semester, many hours of study await you,” Doctor Linton continued. “You must be meticulous and regular in your training if you hope to so much as prevent your breathing or your beating heart from alerting your enemies.
“Who are your enemies, you may ask? Indeed, many of the presently more distinguished members of our community ask me the same thing. What do we have to fear – now that the wars are over and no vampire who takes blood from the innocent may go unpunished?”
He paused briefly, quivering, surveying his audience.
“The ancient arts have come under attack as a tool of war, even as the enabler of Vampiric aggression. What my detractors fail to see is that they are just as much a tool of defence, and of vital importance to the concealment of our world.”
“What is he talking about?” I asked Lynn in a lowered tone.
“Guess he doesn’t like Stephanopoulos too much,” she said. “I heard there was a lot of friction between them.”
“If you train diligently, the rewards are great indeed,” Doctor Linton said. “Let me demonstrate.”
He took a few steps away from the group so that we could see him all clearly. He was slowly walking across the lawn away from us. Nothing happened. After a few moments, some people began to snigger. But then, his figure suddenly became faded and blurred, like on an old television screen. His entire being seemed to phasing in and out of space, until he was entirely invisible.
We all stood there, awestruck. He was nowhere to be seen. Some people began to cheer.
“Thank you,” Doctor Linton’s soft voice came from behind us, barely audible above the ruckus. The class swerved round at once. “It will be many years before you may achieve the art of invisibility.”
We spent the rest of the lesson learning to move as silently as possible. Rather anti-climactic, I thought. But I suppose you had to start somewhere.
***
“Pretty impressive, don’t you think? Strange guy, though.”
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It was Jayden, who had caught up with us after class on our way to the West Tower. A red colour immediately flushed Lynn’s face, though she made a valiant effort at pretending to be indifferent to his approach.
“Yeah, I guess,” she said.
Jayden gave me a toothy grin – the sort that told me he was a little too cocky. He wasn’t going to give up this easily, anyway.
“Hey, are you guys game for a beer later in MCE South?” he asked.
Seeing my puzzled look, he added: “The Middle Common Room in the South Tower. The guys at South Tower’ve got some barrels of beer from the kitchens. Should be fun. D’you guys want to come?”
With the briefest of glances, Lynn told me that there was nothing in the world she wanted to do more. She really had the hots for him.
“Sure, Jayden,” I said. “What time?”
“Eight-thirty,” he said. ”Nice, I’ll see both of you there!”
***
The next lecture was Engineering with Master Gorgos. It turned out that the massive West Tower was no ordinary tower but the gargoyles’ living quarters. Only the outer walls were left standing because all the floors in between had been removed, so that we could see right through to the roof. Staircases at the side allowed the students access to further seats on galleries similar in style, though not in size, to the ones in the Great Hall.
Master Gorgos looked just as mean as the rest of the gargoyles. He flapped down to class as his introduction, which certainly won him the best entrance of any teacher so far. From what I could tell, though, he certainly knew what he was doing. There wouldn’t be any messing around in his class, so much was clear. Unlike the previous class, students remained exceptionally silent.
After the introduction, it was hard to follow his deep tones on 14th century architecture for long. My mind kept wandering to the last moment I had seen Doctor Wiley. Now that I thought about it, he had appeared extremely stressed, even anxious. It was probably innocent enough, probably some urgent family matter or so. Perhaps too delicate to share with the staff. A nagging feeling remained that something didn’t quite add up.
Our next class was Vampiric History with Doctor Yurasov, whom I had been looking forward to meeting again.
He gave us the course outline for the semester, which covered the basics of Vampiric History from its prehistoric origins to the modern age. I wasn’t really that into history usually, though some of the lesson titles, such as “The First Vampiric-Ursinian War”, promised to be a definite change from memorising the usual dates and people.
***
“Only Martial Arts with Matei left for today,” Lynn said, looking at her schedule. “Dungeons.”
I could tell that Lynn was secretly counting the hours until the party in the evening when she would see Jayden again.
Doctor Matei turned out to be an extremely fit woman of about 30. Unsurprisingly, this made her by far the most popular teacher with the boys. Vanessa and her clique, I could tell from afar, were less than impressed. She had spent the time waiting talking about how skilled she was with various swords and how much she had practiced with her uncle who had been on the Vampiric Council for much of his life.
“You’ll learn to fight in my class,” Doctor Matei told us as soon as she arrived, placing a long white bag on the grass, “and use your abilities to aid your blows. Weapons of choice vary for vampires as it is both a matter of style and aptitude. Today, we will begin with a few basic moves with the rapier, an excellent duelling weapon, though less useful in larger engagements.”
She beckoned us forward.
“I need one volunteer,” she said.
A red-haired student from the back raised his hand.
“Yes, come to the front please. What’s your name?”
“Roger,” he said, winking at his friends.
“Have you got any experience, Roger?” she asked.
“No, Doctor Matei,” he said, still unable to take the proceedings with a straight face.
Doctor Matei took out two rapiers from the bag and handed one of them to Roger. She spent the next minutes explaining the intricate traditions of preparing for combat.
“These are practice weapons in order to keep wounds to a minimum. Keep in mind that real weapons will inflict far worse – even fatal – injuries. And now, Roger, defend yourself,” she said.
He looked rather dumbstruck, clumsily raising his rapier. As quick as a flash, Doctor Matei had circumvented his defences and landed an expert blow on his chest.
We were each handed a rapier and spent the next hour learning how to grip our weapon and how to position our feet, moving on to basic parrying techniques. The weapon felt light and natural in my hand. The more I practiced with it, the more I got the impression that I was recovering some lost and long-forgotten skill. This was impossible, of course, since I’d never so much as held a sword in my life. Lynn, on the other hand, was having much more trouble, especially when Doctor Matei stopped to watch us practice the moves we had learnt.
“What is your name?” she asked me.
“Rebecca Flynn,” I answered.
“Good work. Keep it up.”
“Thanks,” I said.
***
After a while, Doctor Matei addressed us again:
“For the last 15 minutes, we will have some more practice duels. I need another two volunteers.”
Nobody seemed willing. I put up my hand, more to break the awkward silence than anything else.
“Yes, Rebecca, excellent,” she said. “And one more. How about you, Vanessa?” Doctor Matei said.
“Of course, Doctor Matei.”
I turned around to see Vanessa’s sly grin. Those cold blue eyes were full of spitefulness and arrogance. We raised our rapiers immediately.
“Now, now, girls,” came Doctor Matei’s voice from what seemed to be a very far-away place. “Protocol, please.”
Reluctantly, both Vanessa and I mechanically bowed, weapons raised with the hilt facing downward as Doctor Matei had previously demonstrated. It was the traditional Vampiric stance.
“And fight,” Doctor Matei said
We circled around each other slowly at first. Then, out of nowhere, Vanessa lunged at me with a quick stab, aimed straight at my face. With some trouble, I parried, though her message got through alright: she wasn’t messing around. But neither was I.
She hadn’t been exaggerating, she really was good at this. Vanessa launched another attack, which I managed to dodge only by mere inches and started a counter-attack of my own. She was obviously taken by surprise but managed to fend off the blade.
The people around us moved in to get a closer look. After another violent exchange, we hadn’t been able to penetrate each others’ defences, though I was steadily getting more confident with the weapon in my hand. Vanessa, however, was getting flustered. Her manoeuvers were also getting far more risky, too, I noticed.
“You can’t beat me, Flynn,” she said, just loud enough for only me to hear.
“We’ll see,” I said.
At that precise moment, she moved in and stabbed, though I was ready for her this time. I stepped to the side and landed a blow to her shoulder.
“Well done, Rebecca,” Doctor Matei said. “A little wild in style perhaps, but an excellent demonstration of how to punish overly aggressive attackers.”
Vanessa was red in the face with supressed rage.
“That will be all for today. Please return your weapons in an orderly fashion, and we’ll pick up from here next week. Make sure you to practice in your upcoming tutorials,” Doctor Matei said.
I was about to join Lynn and the others when Doctor Matei put her hand on my shoulder.
“Wait a moment, please, Rebecca.”
“Sure,” I said.
She waited for the class to leave and closed the door.
“Where on earth did you learn to fight like that?”
“I didn’t – I mean, this was my first time,” I said.
She must
ered me incredulously.
“Well it certainly accounts for your rather unorthodox style. But my word, I’ve rarely seen such talent out of the box.”
She paused, staring at me.
“You have the Curse, correct?”
“Yes, so they’ve told me,” I said.
She looked at me thoughtfully.
“It is quite common for a vampire’s abilities and talents to be unevenly distributed, Miss Flynn. It seems that it is even more true for those who possess the Curse. I make no promises, especially not for first years. But, with a lot of hard work, you might be good material for the Knights.”
“The Knights?”
“The Scarlet Knights. A team of elite fighters and doctors,” she said, “dedicated to protecting our community. We usually recruit from the senior students, but on occasion we do make exceptions.”
“So, is it like a police force?” I asked, feeling rather foolish for having to ask.
“Well, not exactly. The gargoyles would come closer to that function, amongst their many other roles. The Knights take orders only from the Council and the King directly. Our missions are quite diverse, ranging from rescuing prospective Initiates, such as yourself,” she said, smiling approvingly at me, “to operations against the Outlaws. Of course, in the past the Knights directed the war effort against the Slayers as well. Whatever is required of us, we will do. Within certain ethical boundaries, of course.”
I didn’t know what to say, but luckily Doctor Matei continued.
“As I said, I will not promise you anything. Far from it. But if you train hard, hone your significant talents, and perform well during the upcoming tournament, I will see that you get your chance on the team. You really are a natural.”
“Thanks, Doctor,” I said, “for everything.”
10
“You should’ve seen her face after class, Beccs,” Lynn said, taking another sandwich from the table. “She was mad, really mad. I thinks she’s planning your murder any day now.”