“She was one of the bravest women I’ve ever known. Her and your father were both determined to take the fight to the enemy. They both loved you and had serious plans for how you were to be raised before everything fell apart for them. The high protectors failed to protect them. It’s my failing as their captain. I swear to protect you with my life if you’ll have me.”
Chris looked up at Omasa. The man was in almost visible pain. Tears had jumped into his eye and they rolled down his stoic face. The sight of the portrait had moved him. It had perhaps moved him even more than it had Chris. To Chris this woman was a stranger. A stranger who happened to share a lot of features with him. Like glancing in a mirror with the lights set to dim.
“You’ve protected me all these years. I don’t see why you should stop now.” Chris really needed a book of better ways to say things. If everyone around him was going to continue to be all dramatic about everything and speak with such vigor and flair. It was all really annoying. Thinking he probably needed it Chris went ahead and gave the tall knight a hug. Omasa stiffened up immediately at the attention but then warmly returned the hug as he told Chris thanks. Miss Penny winked at him and gave him a look of approval about the whole exchange. Chris noticed the tears in her eyes as well as she turned away quickly with just a smile at him.
Lacosta waited respectfully for everyone to pull themselves together. Then she continued the tour by opening up the doors to the main hall. This hall was used for dining by the majority of the faculty and students. Three times per day the table was set but there was always a way to pinch snacks if you missed one of those three meals. Chris wondered why they had all paused once inside the doors. Looking at the clock on the wall he noted it was almost six. Lacosta turned to him and told him he’d want to be careful coming through here at eight in the morning, noon and six at night since that is when the tables were being set.
Chris saw other students had begun arriving and all were waiting a good distance from the actual hall. Then the tables that were neatly stored on the sides of the hall began moving into position by themselves. Chris took a step back and looked up at Lacosta who was smiling down at his reaction. The tables continued to move into position as did dishes and silverware until the empty hall was fully set to host dinner. At which point dinner began flying out. Great trays full of delicious smelling food levitated slowly to the tables and set themselves down. The lights in the hall went off and on three times and the students all began settling themselves at tables for dinner.
“The lights flash so that you know the food is done being set. Before the lights some people would enter a little too soon and end up with a concussion from being hit in the head by a flying turkey or a pot of eggs. Waste of a perfectly good pot of eggs. All of it is done with just a well-orchestrated levitation charm. Forces you may have seen on movies or TV shows called telekinesis. You’ll be learning all about that soon enough. For now you may join us at the faculty table for dinner. Typically, you’ll be sitting with your classmates but we’ll get into all of that as well.“
Lacosta finished talking and led him over to a richly appointed table in the front of the room. It was on a slightly raised platform so he had to walk up a few stairs to get to the table. Sitting up on the platform like that put them in view of the entire hall. Chris could hear the whispers starting as he moved to the head of the table as directed. The lights continued to come up and more students filed in. A few gasped at the sight of the purple robed boy on the dais. Everyone who entered the hall moved to their respective seats and then knelt with their hand in the air saying the ritual words of fealty. This continued until the entire hall was kneeling silently with four fingers of their left hand extended towards him and their heads bowed. Miss Penny kicked him in the shin and rolled her eyes up.
“You may all rise.” Chris intoned. Feeling more like he was at church than fixing to eat some sort of magically delivered dinner on a stage in front of all his subjects. How was he supposed to eat with everyone staring at him like that? Everyone took their seats and politely waited. Lacosta stood up to address all of the students who were mostly looking up at Chris with curiosity.
“Tonight we dine in the presence of a great hero. The knight Omasa has kept our king safe in a world full of danger for these last few years. We owe him a great amount for this service. He has fought the enemy to bring our king to us. Now it is up to us to train the king and help him learn our ways. He is royal which means he belongs to all clans. He is royal which means he belongs to no clans. He is neither above nor below any of us except by his own and your own actions. Will you welcome your new king!”
The hall went crazy. Loud cries of welcome in multiple languages. Applause and yells and war cries echoed through the hall. Chris, once again, had absolutely no idea how to respond to any of this. A week ago, he’d been making sure he knew the multiplication tables by heart so he could ace that test like all the others. Today he was finding out he was the king of some sort of underground society of magical folk fighting a great enemy that could wipe out all of mankind if they ever got around to it. He looked to Omasa for help but saw that he was standing and clapping loudly like the others. Lacosta finally got everyone settled in.
“Our king has spent his life outside of magic. He was sent away by our queen at a young age to keep him safe. Now it is his time to learn. We’ll all help him on that journey so that when it comes time for him to face the trials he passes them and comes out of them strong enough to lead us to victory over the enemy. But for now though we eat. Everyone tuck in.”
With that Chris felt a lot of the attention move off him as people focused on passing around the excellent food that had been served family style. Chris felt his stomach gurgle with hunger as the aromas of the food in the trays on the table hit his nose. Omasa handed him a tray covered in biscuits and meats and Chris forked some of the food onto his plate before passing it over the head mistress who was seated on the other side of him. A she was scooping Chris asked if she could tell him more about what he would be doing now as a student.
“You’ve always felt advanced for your grade haven’t you? We’ve seen your test scores and I’m guessing you were pretending to study just to fit in but you’ve always known you’re at a much higher level academically?” Lacoste waited while Chris absorbed this and nodded slowly. Admitting something he’d never really shared with anyone before. “Well, you’re not a freak at all. You’re a royal which means you’ve got the raw potential to dominate in any field you set your mind to. If you’d been left in that world you could have been a world class athlete or a world class scientist or surgeon or all three.”
Lacoste paused to take a dainty bite of the potatoes she had forked onto her plate. “Here you’ll be paired with tutors who will help you reach the peak of strength for each of your talents. Every person is different so everyone ends up being trained slightly differently. Royals such as yourself are an interesting case since you have so much potential in so many areas you aren’t put on a specific track like everyone else is. You’re not limited to martial, mixed, or magic. You’ll be trained and expected to excel in all three areas. A lot of it is individualized training but there are some common topics you will be learning in a classroom setting with your classmates. You’ll be provided a full schedule within the week for you to look over.”
“Thank you, that makes sense I guess. What’s this place called anyway? I keep hearing the hallowed halls but haven’t heard a real name for it yet.” Chris looked expectantly at Lacoste.
“Ah. Your highness. Names have power. You’ll learn that lesson soon enough. It’s why we have common names we use and keep our real names a secret from most people. We haven’t named the island or the hall because it would make it easier for the enemy to find us. For instance it’s much easier to pinpoint a location if you capture a bunch of people who say they attended classes on an island called Sandy Shores. If you capture and torture a bunch of people and all you get is various euphemisms for the place it is
harder to track it down. There’s more to it but that’s the underlying principle of it all.”
Interesting. Chris made a note to remember that and also not to go blurting out the name his Xandian mother had given him. He’d go ahead and stick with Chris for now which was pretty close anyways. He finished up his food and leaned back in his chair just absorbing the conversations happening around him. A lot of it centered around the return of Omasa to the fold. He had been a pivotal piece of court politics for so long that when the queen sent him away it had caused a good bit of contention within the ranks. Now that he was back everyone was eager to get together with him and fill him in on what he had missed and get his opinion on what they should be doing.
Dinner wrapped up with desserts being delivered to the tables with great fanfare by the cooks of the castle. Chris was presented with an invisible cake. Even when he focused on it there did not appear to be anything there but his fork found it and as he pulled pieces away and ate them the cake slowly seemed to materialize. The cake itself was delicious and based on the whispers and applause around him the magic that had gone into it was more than just the frosting on top.
As the food was finished the hall began to clear out. Omasa stood up and told Chris he’d take him to his room if he was ready to go. Chris stood up and told everyone at the table thank you and made sure to tell the cook how much he’d enjoyed the magical dessert. Then he followed Omasa out a side door and down a corridor that led outside. They were in a giant courtyard that was covered in cobblestones with gardens of all kinds of plants breaking out here and there. Cats and all manner of lizard and bird also roamed the cobblestones with impunity. Chris found himself watching his step to avoid all the cats that were trying to rub up on his legs looking for a quick petting session.
Omasa led him though the courtyard and into another wing of the giant building. When they got inside Chris saw a small sign on the inside of the door that declared this was the boy’s dormitory. Omasa led him to the end of a very long hallway and then opened the last door on the right. The door opened up into a living space with little study nooks and a huge fireplace. There were other doors off of the main room. There were several boys sitting around the fireplace. They ranged in age from about ten to a couple who looked to be in there very late teens. They all turned around and looked back casually at Chris as he walked in. As soon as they marked the purple robes they all stood and bent at the torso into deep bows.
Chris motioned for them to all rise. Then he walked over to the fire with Omasa and began introducing himself to each of the boys. Once again, he knew he’d probably never actually remember any of their names. Finally, it was beginning to get late and Omasa took him into the room at the top of the stairs. Inside the room there were a total of six large bunkbeds. Each had storage space underneath them and there were racks on the walls for robes and weapons to be hung in. Chris saw that the bottom bed at the end of the row had been freshly made for him. There were also a few robes hanging in the open closet and fresh underwear and other clothes were neatly stacked in the drawers underneath the bed.
“Royals have their own quarters inside each of the dorms. There used to be a whole lot more of you as you can probably tell from all the extra beds. If you need anything let the fire watch know. The fire watch will be a young squire who has been assigned to patrol the dorms and make sure all is well. They’ll be coming through once an hour to check on everything. The enemy cannot get to this island so you should be safe here. Once you’ve locked this door behind me it’s almost impossible for anyone to break through it has so many warding charms on it. Royals have been rightly paranoid for a very long time. Royals have died in training but none have ever been assassinated on this island that I know of. Try to get some rest. You’ll have martial training every morning so expect to be woken up early and to work hard until you’re back in bed late every night. Good night my king.”
With that Omasa left the room and let the door shut behind him. Admonishing Chris through the door to lock it behind him. Chris locked the door and not knowing what else to do he went and laid in the bed. He was pretty wound up from the day and he figured he’d have a hard time falling asleep but within a few minutes of crawling into the bed he was fast asleep. He’d learn later that even the beds had been spelled. They’d been spelled to provide for rest and rejuvenation. There was too much of importance to do here at the school to risk students sitting up all night in their beds and then playing with dangerous magic while drowsy.
Chapter 10: Early to Rise
Chris woke up to a loud banging noise. He sleepily raised his head off the pillow and looked around. Once again he was thrown off by waking up in yet another new room. To add to the confusion the room looked completely different in the light pouring in through the windows than it had the night before when Omasa had dropped him off. Chris looked for the source of the banging noise and eventually figured out it was coming from the door. Someone was knocking on the door. He shook off the last vestiges of sleep and got out of bed to open the door in his t-shirt and underwear.
He threw the door open and standing there was a small and wiry woman dressed in a loose robe with a sword strapped to her back. Chris jumped back into the room and got tangled up in the robe he was trying to quickly throw on. The lady at the door just watched him with an amused look on her face.
“I thought this was the boy’s dorm.” Chris said huffily while trying to get the stupid robe to settle over his shoulders and tighten the correct strap.
“It is the boy’s dorm. I’m your Sensei for the next year for early mornings. You may refer to me as Sensei Niko. I assure you I take no joy in having seen you in your underoos your majesty. Once you are dressed please meet me down in the common room.”
Chris finished getting the robe on and wondered if he was supposed to take any of the weapons with him from off the rack. He had not been instructed to so he left them hanging where they were. He pulled on his sneakers and went down to meet his Sensei. Whatever a Sensei was.
Sensei Niko was standing in front of the fire warming her hands when Chris got to the bottom of the stairs. She was the only one in the common space.
“Everyone else has already left for the days lessons or to knock out any early assignments they were given. Moving forward I’ll expect you to meet me at the top of the bluffs by seven in the morning sharp. I’ll show you where today.”
Chris had a question he was a bit worried to ask but he threw it out there anyway. “Is there a magical way for me to be woken up or how does that work?”
Sensei Niko gave him a long look. “Yes. Go to your magical closet in the room and pull out the magical alarm clock that is in there. You’ll need to magically wind it up with your hand.” Breathing deeply Niko continued. “I know you are new to this but we don’t use magic for everything. Here at the school we have a ton of magic but in the real world it takes a long time to charm something to go flying around every day at a certain time. You can figure each part of the table and chairs in the dining hall took a student or group of students a few weeks to charm to move around like that on demand. Most people are not going to bother when they have a house with a table that sits there all the time. You’ll find all kinds of strange things on this island that were basically students screwing around or practicing for the trials or working on their homework assignments. If you ever sit on the beach and a rock starts telling you dirty jokes or something like that don’t freak out.”
Chris smiled. She had taken some of the sting out of the alarm clock comment. He decided to push his luck with the questions. He asked her what a Sensei was.
“Never seen Karate Kid huh? Oh well. Sensei is the Japanese word for teacher or master. You’re the king so I’m not your master. I will be your morning instructor though. I also don’t get too caught up in politics or the fact that you’re a king since I’m granted this job here for as long as I want it. Which means you can’t fire me for being hard on you. I will be hard on you. You have to be able to defe
at opponents as strong and skilled as me by the time you enter the trials if you expect to survive them. Enough talk. Follow me.”
Niko set out running down the hall. Chris ran to keep up. He was a superb athlete and he’s show on that on the baseball team he’d been on. However, Niko was not making any allowances for the fact that he was only eleven years old and his legs just were not as long as hers. She quickly left him behind as she headed out the manor and up the steep hill to where the bluffs began. Chris refused to give up and kept his legs pumping as he ran as fast as he could up the hill. By the time he got to Niko he was seeing red and felt like he may pass out or puke or maybe a combination of the two.
“Chris, are you here because you are a normal person expected to do everything the normal way? When you played baseball what did you do to hit the ball so far?”
Chris tried to answer her but wasn’t doing a great job since he was extremely winded. “Focus. Ball. Hit.” Great. Now he sounded like a real genius.
Niko nodded happily though. “Yes. You focused on the ball. You focused on a task and your body followed suit. It happened naturally because you believed it could happen. You have the power in you to own that run. My job as your martial instructor is to help you unlock that potential and get you to be able to dip into that well when you need it. To do that we need to get you very self-aware of your body and work on your focus and concentration. Make sense?”
Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic Page 8