VII.I; Six, Seven, Eight

  All of us watched Gram leave alone, walking into the woods with his crate. Gett hadn’t stopped giggling at this point—he obviously found it pretty funny, but I don’t think anyone else did.

  “What was that?” Medlyn asked the professor.

  But the professor stayed silent. I turned back and looked at him, trying to ascertain what was wrong. I wish I didn’t look. Professor Riscard hadn’t taken his grey eyes off Gram, long gone. He watched with a stoic face, sure, but I couldn’t help but sense… fear? There was something bad about this.

  Only now had the humour worn off for Gett. “Professor?”

  Snapping out of it, Professor Riscard turned to him. “What?”

  “What was that?” Medlyn asked again.

  Taking a deep breath, he patted Ran’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Like Gett said, he’s never seen a weapon before.”

  That’s obviously a lie. Not the weapon part, I wouldn’t know, but I highly doubt one of the most confident, brazen people I’ve ever met and judged within the span of some odd twenty-four hours would randomly start stuttering at a… at a pick?

  But speaking of such, why’s Ran looking away too? He was looking at the tower. Why did the professor pat his shoulder? Slowly circling through my peers and around the crates, Ran’s face began to come into view.

  That was two times I wish I didn’t look. Ran was worse off than Gram himself. He was practically about to sob, a strand of snot dripping down his lips. He was twitching, too. Shaking.

  What the hell is going on here?

  An ethereal noise began to fill the air as a great door appeared on the front of the tower, shedding apart to reveal a magi wearing a hooded black robe with a great, grey beard.

  He slowly walked out of the tower towards us, and as he got closer I noticed his golden eyes. He has to be of the Golden Magia. His eyes, they’re too gold for lightning–like Ran’s—and far too gold for fire.

  And from the door, which had quickly shut and opened again, another magi I hadn’t seen before appeared. Dressed in blue robes, with the hood down, his wavy grey hair betrayed his age. He looked so young, as young as Riscard. And his eyes, well, they were grey.

  The black-robed magi turned back to the tower and spoke in a golden tongue. “Eldric.”

  This Eldric did a curt nod as he too approached us. Only now did it dawn on me that this was quite odd. Apart from Hil, I’d never seen another magi outside the tower besides Riscard.

  The two of them stopped at the crates. The black-robed old man walked up to Ran. “Are you alright, young…”

  “Ran,” Professor Riscard finished his words.

  Nodding, Ran sucked up his snot and stood straight.

  All the while, Eldric was looking at me. “You’re the Angles girl, correct?”

  His voice sounded like shrewd, shredded iron. Like metal. Metal Magia. It has to be. I straightened my posture. “Yes, sir.”

  “Hmm.” With that, Eldric turned to Ran. “Tell me, boy, and tell me—”

  “—not in front of them,” the old man in the black robes interrupted, raising a hand. “Preparing for your journey to Estain, Riscard?”

  Nodding, Professor Riscard pointed to the weapons on the ground. “Mikael was kind enough to lend this gear.”

  Trailing his hands above the crates, the old man counted. “Only six?”

  “Gram has already retrieved his.”

  “I see,” he smiled, ever faintly. “Well… you know what to do, Riscard.”

  Professor Riscard nodded, looking at the rest of us. “All of you but Ran, leave. Now. Take your crates, weapons and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  I tilted my head, staring at Ran staring at the tower. “What’s going—”

  “—I said leave,” Professor Riscard cut me off. “Now.”

  Nodding, I grabbed a sword from the pile—as did everyone else—placed them into a crate and lifted it up. With that, we left the three magi and Ran as we walked through the woods back to the dorm.

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  Walking through the bush, Fedwin turned to the rest of us. “So everyone found that odd, right?”

  “What was odd about it?” Gett questioned—although I doubt he didn’t know why it was odd. He was probably just trying to protect Gram at this point—no doubt due to the whole spying thing from before.

  “Probably the fact that two magi we’ve never seen before,” I began, “both with two of the rarest Magia, came out of the Tower we’ve never seen the inside of moments after Gram left us.”

  “What Magia did they have?” Isla questioned.

  Re-adjusting the crate I held in front of me, I sighed. “The one with the black robes had Gold, and the other one with the blue robes was Metal.” I wonder why he cared that I’m from—

  “So you’re from Angles, Alice?” Fedwin asked. “That’s what the blue-robed one said.”

  “Yes,” I answered. “Is it really so surprising? Look at my name compared to yours.”

  Gett chuckled. “What’s the matter with our names, Anglesian?”

  He and Isla are nobles, I remember, some Raelad house, so they’re probably not too fond of me now. Doesn’t really matter, I suppose. “Well, they’re barbaric—simply put. Like Gram, for instance. It’s just a deviation of the Anglesian name Bram, but for some odd reason they put a G at the front. Isla’s just an odd butchering of Elizabeth, and even Gett’s just someone’s mispronunciation of Ged—and Ran? Who’s idea was it to name someone after the act of running?”

  “What about Professor Riscard’s name?” Medlyn eagerly asked. She seemed to be the only one that wasn’t immediately offended by me talking down their names.

  I must say though, it’s quite annoying how easily that incident with Gram and the magi is being forgotten. “Again, it’s some weird deviation of Richard.”

  “And what about mine? And the pervert’s?”

  “I’m not quite sure,” I told Medlyn. “I imagine it’s just made-up, like Ran’s, but if I had to guess, yours has something to do with melody or something. As for Fedwin, I’ve no idea, but it sounds a bit like the old Anglesian names.”

  “Since when am I a pervert?” Fedwin asked.

  “Since this morning,” Medlyn crudely told him.

  Chuckling, Gett turned to her. “Come now, he’s learned his—”

  “—I don’t think you should talk,” Isla interrupted him. “At all, really.”

  “Duly noted.”

  Thus we all made our way through the woods, across the cobblestone bridge and over the lawn of our dorm. Entering the dorm, I looked around.

  Gram must be in his room. I’d imagine so, at least. Unless he went to go fish again or something—funnily enough, he’s the only one I believe was actually there to fish this morning.

  As we ascended the stairs and walked to our rooms, I stopped at my own door for a moment. Number seven. And number eight’s right beside me. I could knock—could try to fuel my curiosity at such an odd thing. Could try to help—console him, even… but what was the point? I didn’t know him - not really. Why would my words matter? Why do I even care?

  Sighing, I held the box on my ribs and turned the doorknob of my room, but something caught my attention: room six. Its door knob was… turned. Locked. What the hell?

  I opened my room, placed the crate by the door and went over to Gram’s door. By now, Isla—who had noticed me and was the only one not in their room by now—had come to my side. “What’s the matter?”

  “Room Six is locked…” I knocked on Gram’s door, yet no one answered. I knocked again, and again, and again. No one was answering. I pressed my ear against his door and heard nothing.

  Walking over to Room Six, I tried to turn the knob—but it wouldn’t turn. It really was locked. Gram was inside this room. He had to be. That means…

  Making my way back to Gram’s room, I opened the door. It creaked open - which I found quite odd because, as far as I was aware, no one else had creaky doors. Inside, his bed was messy, its blanket by the door. Every compartment of his cabinet was open, the clothes once inside hanging off the drawers and strung about the room.

  Only the drawer on the very bottom was fully open—and seemingly empty. That was the draw for personal stuff—whatever you brought with you to Sigel. It shouldn’t be empty, though. Last night, Professor Riscard said his belongings were in his room.

  Stepping over his blanket and strolling towards the cabinet, Isla called out behind me: “What’re you doing?”

  “I find it passing strange there's… nothing…”

  Yet there was something in his drawer. All the way at the back. A black ring, a pure black ring with a small, fine ruby embedded in the centre. Pretty odd for a peasant to have. I reached back into the drawer and grabbed the ring, raising it to my eyes.

  It was just a ring. Nothing more. No writing or engraving. The black colour of it looked familiar, though. Like the Tower, and the Dorm. So strikingly similar, there had to be something about it.

  I turned my head to Isla, intent on showing her the ring, but behind her I saw Professor Riscard, his face red with anger. “Get out. Now!”

  Placing the ring back in the drawer, I rose from the cabinet and rushed out of the room. As I got to the door, the professor practically pushed me out.

  “If I ever catch you trespassing in another student’s room again, you’ll both be expelled. Am I clear?”

  “Yes sir,” Isla immediately said.

  “Why?” I asked, scrunching my face.

  Sneering, Professor Riscard slammed Gram’s door shut. “It’s one of the core rules of the academy. You of all people should know that, considering you read the book constantly on the way here.”

  Hil told him that? “He’s in Room Six? Isn’t that a rule—”

  “—an unwritten rule!” Professor Riscard roared. I’d never seen him so angry before. “Regardless, do not use sophistry against me again. He’s not in trouble right now, you are. Now the two of you, get to your rooms. Now.”

  Obeying his command, both Isla and I entered our rooms, giving each other a glance as we entered.