CHAPTER 6

“Who in their right mind thought to let the rabble in here?” One of the elves hid her mouth as she spoke, her voice louder than what a normal person would have been if she was truly trying to hide what she was saying. Which was confusing to me.

I’d always hated that when I was even younger. I remembered the times that mother and father had encouraged me to try and make friends with the other children near us, though they were older or younger by a few years. There was nothing that I could have done differently to try to relate to them, but every time I tried to do something with them, the voice was there to report and ask and report again. I paused and listened every time hoping for something different and the term simple had been thrown my way more times than I could count.

“Beast.” Another boy growled at her, her stoic face an almost-exact copy of her elder sister’s but that didn’t mean I would allow it to happen. Right?

I didn’t owe her anything, but I could at least make my time here a little easier if she was a little more amenable to me.

“I challenge you to a duel.” I looked at Winfred to see if I had said that right and she just stared at me in shock.

“Who said that?” The boy turned around and glared at me in disbelief. “You?”

“Yeah, me.” I blinked at him and took a step back before I put my fists up like the other children in my village had showed me before they had ostracized me.

“For what?” The girl who spoke when we had first gotten her scoffed and stared at me. “For stating the obvious about little beastie behind us?”

“I challenge you too.” I nodded to him. “He’s getting it first, anyone else can form a line.”

They stared at me in confusion. “You have no idea who we are, do you?”

“Am I supposed to care who you are when you insult the person whose family has taken me in?” I stared at the boy and the girl as they stared at me for a moment. “Are you not going to defend yourselves or am I just not doing this right?”

“The latter.” Both of them stated.

“No first year is allowed to duel until the school allows them the opportunity to about half-way through the year.” Winfred explained, then she turned to the other two. “Master and Mistress Marki, I see that your reputation is well earned from within the courts.”

“That would get you a lashing if you were ours.” The girl stated haughtily as she lifted her chin.

“In her case, I’d say two.” The boy drawled and the other children laughed.

“You just keep adding to the beating I’m going to give you both.” I stepped forward and they flinched, then seemed angrier for it. But it was Winfred’s hand on my chest that stopped me.

“Though duels are not yet allowed, they are allowed to be scheduled and will be viable.” Winfred smiled and the two children in front of us flushed slightly as she stared at them. “Consider the duel scheduled for the day after duels are allowed among the first years.”

I stepped toward them and growled, “Move.”

The stood in my way for a moment longer until I lifted my chin and allowed myself to go completely still as I stared at both of them. “I said ‘move.’”

They stepped aside and I strode between them to check on Xanile. She looked mortified and wouldn’t open her eyes, tears streaming down her face as I stepped closer. I whispered, “Come on. Let’s get food.”

She reached out and grabbed my hand, hers warm despite her formerly cold demeanor. I pulled and guided her toward the line for food to the muttered jeers of the other children behind us and let them say what they would until I finally said, “We’re away from them.”

“Good. What the hells do you think you are doing?” She hissed words surprised me. I glanced over at her as a bulky man in black robed behind the wooden table with food on it slapped food onto a plate for us and passed it down to another. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m a no one with nothing to lose, I think?” I just noticed that Winfred was gone and I was here on my own. “We don’t know each other other than by name and you have no idea what I even want. To be completely honest, you know why I’m here. I have a debt to repay and I want to go home. You and your family seem to be in a position to be able to make that happen. If I have to watch over and defend you to prove that I am a valuable asset, then I will. But I’m also not the kind of person to allow a bully to do those sorts of things.”

She turned and looked at me where she was ahead of me in the line, “I appreciate honesty, but I will not tolerate being treated like a damsel in distress. This is no fantasy book for the poor, middling farm boy to go to the big city or into the army to become a hero and get the girl. This is war. Whether it be out there where arrows fly and swords cleave heads from shoulders in the blink of an eye, or it be the minor political games that the children here play—war!”

She turned and glared at the man in front of her, “No cheese, please.” He grunted and piled something onto her plate and offered it to her. She took it and glanced back at me. “I can take care of myself without an idiot making a fool of himself and my house.”

I nodded and she led herself away from me as I collected my plate, a roll and some silverware. When I turned to look for a place to sit that would be secluded, I realized that the young miss stood not ten feet from me, “Are you joining me, or not?”

I just bobbed my head once and followed along behind her to the table to have a seat and begin shoveling food into my mouth.

“That needs to stop.” She eyed me critically as I piled food onto a roll and bit into it with an inarticulate grunt in her direction. “Seriously, that is so embarrassing.”

I fought to swallow all the food in my mouth, having to tilt my head back to choke it all down before saying, “Don’t care, I’m hungry, and this food is good.”

“It’s slop.” She chuckled to herself and pushed a few things around on her plate before taking a bite. “But it will work.”

“Why don’t you use Glamour on your eyes?” I stuffed some of the vegetables in my mouth and groaned. They were so salty and savory.

“That requires knowledge of how glamour works and while I know some magic, that is not something I was taught.”

“What do you know how to do?” I looked at her and she rolled her eyes. “Or don’t tell me. I can wait.”

“We should worry more about what elective classes you will take.”

I paused, “What are those?”

“Those that you can choose outside of what the curriculum is for normal students, did no one say anything to you about them?”

“I was told that extracurricular classes could be…that’s what those are, aren’t they?” She nodded and I made the ah face and moved on. “So what is the curriculum itself?”

“Fae history of the realm, Fae history by court, general military classes like unit tactics, hand to hand combat, weapons training and some other things I’m sure I’m forgetting.” She took a bite of her food and chewed it over for a moment before swallowing and adding, “And for us, magic classes.”

I nodded, “So we’re going to be getting beaten up a lot.”

“Most likely.” She admitted.

“Your sister thinks that you’re lazy for some reason, you don’t seem that way to me.”

She turned and stared at me, clearly aghast, then glowered and muttered, “Of course she does, I’ve had to be hidden away my entire life. She’s the family prodigy and has been the center of attention since she was old enough to walk.”

“She has the ability to charm people.” I grunted and she stared at me in shock. “You didn’t know?”

“She used it on you?” I nodded. “She never uses it on anyone. You said she kidnapped you and that you owe a debt. What happened?”

I thought about what I could say. She could force an answer out of Winfred, I was sure of that. But lying was just not something I wanted to do at the moment and if she knew, it might help her realize how much I needed her help. That would be a good thing, right?

“One of her men wanted the spot that she and her man Draughtby thought I should have, so he arranged for me to have an accident so that she would recommend he come here.” She remained quiet while I spoke, swallowing as I tried to figure out how to put the rest of it. “His arrangements fell through, and while she was subduing him, I cut his neck.”

“And now you have to take his place?” I nodded as she forked another bite into her mouth. “That’s not something you want? The black leaf is an organization that sees the most action behind enemy lines. They’re the ones that everyone reads about.”

“I just want to get back to my normal life.” She shook her head and it almost looked like she pitied me. “What?”

“War has already come to the realm, Saemus.” She nodded to the files of Unseelie students who walked into the room now and formed a line in front of the their side of the food tables. “The Seelie and Unseelie will soon be at war.”

“Why?” I blinked at her and she just seemed taken aback. “What was it that started the war in the first place?”

“Encroachment.” Was all she would say for a moment, then she shook her head, but it doesn’t matter. We need to defend our lands and our people.”

“My people were attacked by creatures with bloody helmets on their heads, were those Unseelie?” She frowned and looked to be at a loss. “Do we learn about creatures like that here? Can we?”

She frowned deeper and stared at me oddly, “I think so.”

“Good.” I finished my food and stared longingly at my empty tray.

“Someone as scrawny as you is likely allowed to have double rations.” She smiled softly as she said it. “Go get more and then we can return to our rooms to prepare for the coming days.”

I did as she suggested, conscious of the stares and whispered rumors about me that were beginning to circulate. I wasn’t unused to this, but it was irritating.

I got my food and returned to my seat next to Xanile and scarfed it down as if it would be my last meal. She watched me eat as she drank her water and I realized how awkward I was going to be in all of this. She was older than me by a couple of years and her eyes, though pretty and attractive, were filled with cunning intelligence not unlike her sister.

Did I mess up in telling her so much?