Gloria Oliver (12 page)

In the following days, Helyn flooded them with even more information, though now a lot of it was more mundane and things Talia could have been taught at home. Helyn also gave them small tests to try to find out how much each of them already knew about history, mathematics, and geography. Almost as if to give them a treat, however, as soon as the testing was done, she spent some time talking to them about dragons. Talia found herself fascinated by her class more than before.

“Dragons come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They range from the size of a household cat to as large as a mid-sized barn. You’ll see that some are long and thin, while others tend to be short and squat. They even come in all sorts of colors.”

Sonsan snickered. Talia grinned, picturing a shop full of them where you could buy them and take them home to put on your bed.

“Only seven colors for dragons exist, though every once in a long while a dragon with a different hue might appear, but these are very rare. The seven main colors are red, green, gold, purple, blue, silver, and black. The color tends to determine body style as well as whether they have the ability to speak vocally or through thoughts. Though as with all things, there have been exceptions.

“They are also normally as intelligent as us, if not more so. You might not think so due to their lack of mechanical inventions, but that would be an error. Dragons focused more on developing their minds than in making things. And many are born with magical aptitude. They’ve been great contributors to the field.”

Tyr’s eyes grew wide. “So dragons can do magic?”

“Some of them, yes, and very well at that. Others though prefer to spend their time preserving and teaching the lore of ages past, theirs and ours. They have an amazing capacity for retention of information. They hand it down from generation to generation through songs and poetry in their own common tongue.”

In the end, Talia came to realize that dragons’ likes and dislikes were as diverse as their human partners’.

That night, she slept deep and hard, dreaming of colorful dragons making rainbows as they flew overhead.

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THE NEXT WEEK passed by quickly. Talia’s class learned about each of the seven continents, the oceans, the plants and animals of each. With so much information, and parts of it so strange and at times wondrous, she could barely think when she went to bed at night. The world was proving to be an incredibly complex place—things could be done in so many different ways. It was so much more than she would have ever found in Queegam.

Mandee and Yllin both laughed when she confided this.

“It’s a shock, isn’t it?” Mandee grinned, thoroughly amused. “And you’ve barely even started.”

Talia questioned whether her poor brain could possibly take more.

One day, after returning to class after lunch, she and the others quickly grew restless when Helyn did not appear. They’d started discussing amongst themselves whether or not they should send someone to try and find her when she finally arrived. The teacher’s eyes looked troubled, and her usually cheerful face seemed subdued. Talia wondered what was wrong.

“I’m sorry I’m so late.” She looked at each of them, an apologetic smile touching her lips. The troubled look didn’t leave her eyes, however. “There’s been a change in plans for today. You see, there appears to be a worm infestation at the dragon dormitory—so you will all need to be fitted with armor.”

Talia frowned, the pronouncement sounding ominous yet making no sense. What did armor and worms have to do with each other?

With everyone else looking as confused as she felt, she left the room as Helyn shooed them all out. The teacher then led them toward the back of the school to a wide set of stairs leading down.

When Mandee and Yllin took her on her tour of the school, they’d not shown her this almost hidden way to go underground. Talia would have normally assumed the stairs led to some sort of cellar but at the moment wasn’t so sure.

As the students followed Helyn down, their footsteps echoed all around them. The air turned slightly cooler as they continued the long descent, and they could see water condensing on some of the stones. A moldy scent tinted the air. Talia and her classmates walked closer together.

At the bottom of the stairs, Helyn turned to the right down a long, dark corridor, leading them to a room with a strong, oak door. After she stopped and glanced back at them with a truly serious air, she opened the door and escorted them inside.

The room within was small and unadorned except for a set of old benches on each side. At the room’s far end was an undersized door, and the first thing they all noticed was the thunderous booming sound coming from its other side.

“Go ahead and take a seat.” Helyn almost yelled to be heard over the din.

Wondering why they couldn’t hear the noise out in the hallway when in here it was so loud she almost couldn’t think, Talia did as she’d been told. Everyone else also sat down, half of them covering their ears, trying unsuccessfully to hold back the racket.

After they all sat, Helyn looked satisfied and then left through the small door. Several minutes later, the pounding from the other side stopped.

Talia sat with the others, nervous, not sure what to expect next.

The small door suddenly opened. One of the students gasped as they caught sight of who was there. The man was big,
huge
. He ducked through the narrow opening into the room. Muscles rippled over his body as if they possessed a mind of their own. His skin was tanned, like old leather. The man was bald, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his head. A large, ragged scar cut through the middle of his large face.

What trapped her gaze, however, was the large stump where his right arm should have been.

Despite his missing limb, the giant looked strong enough to snap any of them in two with just his left arm.

The hammer he carried appeared formidable enough to bring down walls. The stranger’s dark eyes raked over them one by one and finally came to rest on Tull, who was the biggest amongst them. “You there.”

The man’s voice boomed across the room as he pointed the hammer in Tull’s direction. Those sitting next to the boy quickly scooted away from him.

“Sir?” Tull’s face went white, his voice a high squeak.

“You’ll be first.” The armorer, for she assumed that’s who he must be, slowly licked his dry lips and then smiled. It didn’t look friendly. “Come on inside.”

Talia quickly looked from one to the other, the only thought in her head being that she was glad she wouldn’t be first.

Tull didn’t move.

“I don’t have all day,
boy
.” The armorer glared at him with impatience.

Tull swallowed hard and then stood up. Hesitantly, he moved forward. As soon as he’d gone through the small doorway, the armorer raked the rest of them once more with his dark eyes and then laughed before ducking out the way he’d come. Talia felt a chill weave down her back as his cold laughter echoed through the room.

“What is going on?” Narilla’s eyes were wide with barely controlled fear.

“That’s the armorer?” Mari asked. “He looks more like something from a nightmare.” She hugged herself as if spooked by her own words.

Talia shuddered, agreeing with her only too well. “Surely he’s not as bad as he looks, don’t you think?

This is a school after all.” She hoped her words sounded more confident than they felt.

They all jumped as a high yelp echoed from the other side of the small door. A high, cackled laugh, belonging to who knew what, followed after.

Everyone in the room froze, not sure what to make of what they’d heard. A number of them looked even paler than before.

Talia kept her eyes on the door. None of this made any sense. Still, she couldn’t stop her heart from hammering in her chest.

A squeal came through the door trailed by more cackling. This was soon followed by another yelp, which was abruptly cut off. The creepy cackling came again, this time from multiple voices. Talia felt the hair rising up on the back of her neck.

Less than a minute later, they all jumped in their seats as the door through which Tull was taken through started to inch open. Talia heard someone in their group gasp and scurry to the back, but didn’t see who it was. Her gaze was riveted to the opening door.

Standing only about the height of her own shoulder was the oldest person she’d ever seen. The woman was hunched over as if carrying a great weight, and she leaned on a thick cane. Her face was puckered as if it was fruit left out in the sun too long. The old woman smiled a secret smile at them, revealing a gap filled mouth. “Who’s next?” Her voice sounded like loose gravel.

When none of them volunteered, the old woman shuffled a few steps closer and eyed each one of them.

“You,” she said, pointing at Narilla with a crooked, aged finger. “You’ll be next. You look good and healthy.” Something about the way she said it Talia didn’t take pleasure in at all.

Narilla let out a small squeak of fear. The old woman laughed. They all now knew where the cackling came from.

“Ma’am, where is our teacher?” Talia didn’t realize she was going to speak until the words left her mouth.

The old woman turned yellowed eyes in her direction. “Don’t you worry yourself about her, sweetness.

Your turn will come soon enough.” She cackled with glee, her laugh echoing harshly in the small room.

She shuffled forward again and yanked Narilla by the wrist. Fear pouring off her in waves, the young girl hesitantly followed the old woman through the door.

It slammed shut with resounding finality. After a moment, they heard a bar being placed across it from the other side.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have said anything, Talia.” A quiet voice spoke up from beside her.

She glanced over at Daltan’s worried face, quite sure he was probably right.

The boy looked as if he might say something else when a frightened scream ripped in from the other room. The cackling which quickly followed sounded even more dreadful than before.

“This is wrong.” Willer shot to his feet, panic written all over his face. He ran to the door they’d come in through and tried to pull it open. It didn’t budge. “We’re trapped in here.”

Talia felt a touch of alarm rising inside her and quickly tried to quench it. Things weren’t supposed to be this way. None of this was right. “Let’s stay calm. We really don’t know what’s going on. This is a school.

They wouldn’t hurt us.”

A couple of the others nodded in agreement, albeit slowly, but the rest looked unsure. Willer still kept trying to open the door.

No other sounds came through the door from the other room as the minutes ticked by. Talia stared at it, uselessly trying to guess at what was going on behind it while at the same time attempting to hang on to her resolve that whatever it was it was harmless.

The rest turned to face the door as it opened again. The old woman came forth, but before she could say anything, Talia sprang to her feet. “I’m next!”

Someone gasped behind her, but she didn’t dare check to see who it was. She knew if she saw the fear she already felt in any of their faces, she wouldn’t be able to go through with this. And she’d already decided going through would at least let her know what was going on, which was preferable to sitting there, letting her fears build from her own imagination.

The old woman’s bushy brow rose high at her declaration and then came down as she started to laugh. It was a natural sound, nothing like the high cackling they’d heard before. “All right then, if that’s what you want. Come along.”

Talia stepped forward and went through the door, not once glancing back. She heard the old woman close it behind her and then bolt it.

No one else was in the small room she now found herself in. A stool sat near the door, and shelves covered the wall on the right. The one closest to the bottom held a pile of cream-colored clothes folded in neat piles. On some of the higher shelves, she spotted two other bundles of clothes. She tried to wrack her brain to recall what Narilla and Tull had been wearing. Straight before her was a thickly curtained doorway.

“Where are—”

“Shshsh. No talking.” The old woman kept her voice low, bringing a gnarled finger to her lips.

“Yes, but—ow!” Talia jumped back, her shin throbbing where the old woman whacked it with her cane.

“Shshsh.” The old woman put her gnarled finger to her lips again. “Grab one of those from the bottom shelf and change into it. You can leave your clothes there on the shelf. I think one of the ones from the second pile should fit you quite nicely.” She was still keeping her voice very low.

Talia didn’t move, looking from the shelf to the old woman and back until the old woman took another swing at her shins. She jumped out of the way.

“Come on, get going. The others are waiting their turn.”

With some trepidation, she turned her back to the old woman and picked up the clothes from the second pile as she’d been told. The fabric felt soft and comfortable in her hands, but it didn’t feel familiar.

She unfolded them to see what they were.

One was a loose shift and the other pants—both close to her size. The pants came with a string at the waist which could be pulled tight. What were these for?

Not willing to ask for fear of getting hit in the shins again, she took off her vest and shirt and pulled the shift over her head. She folded her top clothes neatly and set them on one of the shelves, before taking off her shoes.

Glancing around, Talia found the old woman settling herself on the stool by the door as she watched Talia with a toothy grin. Not liking it, Talia turned her back to the old woman again and pulled down her pants. She was in the process of pulling her right foot out of them when she was pinched hard on the rump from behind. With a yelp, she tried to move away and ended up tripping over herself and falling hard on the floor. Evil cackling rose up loudly beside her.

“Why did—”

“Shshsh!” The old woman came close a grin on her face. “Quiet, now. Get dressed.”

Annoyed and embarrassed more than hurt, she rose back to her feet and finished changing, this time keeping her eyes on the woman. When she was done, the old crone got up from the stool and motioned Talia to go before her through the curtained doorway.