Two druids met them as they walked into the walled city. One was chubby and jolly-looking, the other skinny and dour-faced.

"You're late," said the dour druid.

The jolly man ignored him and chuckled at the trio. "Caught by the gates, eh? Happens to a few students every time!" He clasped each of them on the shoulder as he pumped their hands vigorously.

"Can't be helped, can't be helped. Anyway, welcome to Ys, the walled city. And to the Academy of Magical Arts!"

The other man's face turned from dour to scowling. "We are very late, Corentin, and getting later!" he complained.

"Oh, Servius, it's not like they'll start without us. But come, come new students. I'm Corentin, as you've probably surmised and this is Servius." He spun on his heels and started leading the children into the city. Despite his earlier dismissals, he set a fast pace. His sour colleague actually had to hurry to catch up, putting him even with the students.

As they walked deeper into the city, Corentin pointed out every building of note. And every building seemed to have some sort of note. Maddie tried to keep up with the overflow of information, but most of it went over her head. She looked over at Cleo and Gaius. Cleo seemed to be taking it all in, while Gaius looked bored. That seemed to be his default mood when not talking about himself. Maddie did manage to get a general layout of the city. It was roughly circular with two roads forming a cross in the middle. At the far end, directly opposite the gates was was the king's palace. Maddie managed to glimpse its tall towers. To the palace's left was a large temple with altars to many of the important gods. A large lawn surrounded the temple, no doubt the site of many gatherings.

The druids led the party to the right, onto the second main thoroughfare. At the end of the road, opposite the temple, was a sprawling structure rivaling -- no, dwarfing -- the palace in size and grandeur. They walked through the gates and onto the school grounds.

"Welcome to the Academy!" Corentin exclaimed. "Now, let's hurry, for we are quite late and only getting later!" His companion grumped and grumbled at that.

Maddie was amazed. Beyond the gates was a thickly wooded area that looked like a forest inside a city. They passed quickly through sprawling lawns dotted with benches and statues and surrounded by buildings large and small. The main path led to the largest and most centrally located building. Huge doors, taller than the gates of Ys were set in its face. A carved metal grate covered them, decorated in swirling patterns. An archway of stone surrounded them, with carving so detailed and intricate that Maddie could only guess at their subjects. As they continued walking, Maddie's eyes were fixated on the gargantuan doors. A bit of fear wiggled its way into her mind. What if those doors were opened. She was so distracted that she almost walked into the frame of another, normal-sized door. She came through and Servius hurried her through the door with so much intensity that he practically shoved her.

Beyond the doors was a large stone room that stretched up into darkness. It curved out of sight on either side. Whikle the hallway was quite large, it led through a massive arch into another circular chamber. Other arches were visible on each of the compass points. Here too the ceiling seemed impossibly high up, but a myriad of windows illuminated the room so that the walls seemed to terminate in bursts of light. Maddie wondered if she would ever get used to the massive scale of this place. Hundreds of people were gathered in the center of the chamber. Milling about were druids dressed in their long white robes. Off to one side was a group dressed in brown robes. Many of them looked bored, as if they had seen this all before. The people in the direct center were all people of about Maddie's age. She saw a few older and younger faces mixed in. Straight ahead was a raised platform. On it was a tall man dressed in an elaborate white robe, woven through with threads of pure gold. On his head was an elaborate golden crown. The man glimmered and shone in the light streaming from above.

"Let us begin," he intoned when he saw the quintet enter. "I am Elouan, the Head Grammaticus here and Leader of the Sacred Order. I want to welcome our new students to the school. You will be expected to work hard and in exchange you will be rewarded with a bounty of knowledge. Your teachers will inform you of the rules. Anyone caught breaking them will be summarily expelled from the Academy and exiled from Ys. Now go get settled in and there will be a celebration later in the day."

The brown robes began filing out of the rotunda, recognizing that they were dismissed. Elouan left the dais. The new students shifted uncomfortably, not sure where to go.

"The Grammaticus seems like a difficult man," Gaius said to Maddie and Cleo, "very unlike my tutor. He was always very accomodating."

Maddie remembered the man with Gaius at the inn, hanging on his every word. "Accomodating" seemed like an understatement.

"Well, I for one plan on working hard and learning as much as I can. The Grammaticus should not be a problem unless we break the rules."

"They say rules are meant to be broken," Gaius said.

"Then perhaps I will see you one day if I ever find myself in Londinium," Cleo retorted.

What about you, Maddie, do you plan to work hard or be a rulebreaker?"

Maddie swallowed hard. "Well, I've never liked to break rules," she said quietly, "And I promised my father that I would learn a lot."

"Good, the we shall learn together! Gauis, you can still join us if you wish."

Gaius scowled. "Of course I'll join you. I happen to be an excellent student. And I can follow rules if I desire to."

"New students, listen up! In a moment you'll be split up into groups and go with your assigned teachers."

Ten druids walked among the crowd, tapping various students on the shoulder and pointing them to different areas. Corentin walked toward the trio, after directing several students to a spot on the side.

"What luck! You're to be my students this year!" He escorted them to his designated area, chattering happily about the makeup of his new class and how much he was looking forward to the new school year.

Cleo poked Gaius in the arm. "He likes to talk almost as much as you do," she whispered. Gaius looked annoyed. Maddie stifled a laugh.

They joined another 17 students, making up a class of 20. Maddie saw that there were ten groups of 20 students. Servius headed another group. Corentin began outlining the structure of classes.

"This year you'll be learning the basics. In addition to Elementary Spellcraft, you'll have classes in Lore, Poetry, Astronomy, the Natural Sciences, and Philosophy. More advanced concepts, like Ritual Magics and Enchanting will be covered later. You'll be expected to memorize a lot of information, on which you'll be periodically tested. Now come with me and we'll go to your new living quarters."

Several hours later the new students had settled in, received their new black robes, and were set to feasting. Sleepiness started to creep up on Maddie. She looked around, attempting to clear her head a bit. A man standing by a pillar caught her eye. He was dressed in black, but instead of robes he work a tunic and pants. He exuded an aura of danger, despite the casual way he leaned against the pillar. His eyes caught hers and he smiled. It sent shudders down her spine. She looked away.

"Can we go back to our room," she asked Cleo, "I'm feeling very tired."

Cleo had been having a spirited conversation with Gaius and another student. "Couldn't you go yourself?"

Maddie looked down and nit her lip nervously. "I...I'm not very comfortable in new environments. Could you walk with me, at least?"

Cleo was surprised at the depth of her friend and new roommate's fear. "Of course."

When Maddie glanced back at the pillar she saw no one, only a quick flash of black.