Hereditary (20 page)

“Yeah, wonder what brought this on.”

“I don’t know. Are you going to go?”

He relaxed back down next to me, and I could sense more people arriving, though I had eyes only for the flowers above me.

“I have to, don’t I?”

I laughed. “Like that stops you, Cale.”

“Right,” he snorted. “But that’s before the famous Harbringer decided to come out of retirement.”

“What’s this?” asked Alton, his face appearing in my line of sight.

I had noticed that Alton’s blue eyes only ever cringed when he was looking at me; otherwise they seemed to be constantly dancing with laughter.

“Didn’t you hear?” answered Cale. “Harbringer is being pulled out of retirement to teach the mysterious lesson this afternoon.”

“No way!” Alton seemed to forget his dislike of me momentarily, and there were a few other gasps around us. “You mean Joseph Harbringer?”

“The one and only,” came Hazen’s dry voice.

I picked myself up when I realised that all the others had gathered, and slipped off the table, onto the bench seat, the blossom tumbling from my stomach.

“What do you think it’s about?” asked Kai, smoothing over her short, shiny bob. “Should I go home and change?”

Kaylee giggled, and Cale rolled his eyes.

“He’s like a hundred years old or something,” Kaylee said, flicking a carrot stick at her friend.

“Yeah, but he’s supposed to be
immortal
, Kay, which means he probably still looks hot, right?”

“I’ve heard that he just ages differently, like one year for every two of ours. Some of the rangers are like that,” said Robert, pushing a dark lock of hair behind his head.

“What else did you hear?” Kai said, as if Robert was a reputable source for information.

“That the Tainted Creatures are planning another uprising, and that they want to teach the senior students to fight,” he supplied.

Four sets of eyes swung toward me, except Hazen and Cale, who looked instead to each other, but it was Rose who came to my rescue, having reached the table just in time to hear Robert’s comment. She looped her arms around my neck and planted a smacking kiss right on the top of my head.

“If they were afraid of the Tainted Creatures revolting, I’m pretty sure I’d know about it. Because, you know, my father is the King…”

“We’ll see,” said Robert mildly, and I was forced to remember who his father was.

The Peacock Knight
was another famous fighter, though he was of a very different caliber to Harbringer. He had once belonged to the King’s Guard, but had apparently been discharged for ‘reckless’ behaviour. He was a shape-changer, and his ever-changing, brightly-coloured appearance was what had earned him his name. That wasn’t what he had been famous for, though. It was his fighting that had garnered him attention and praise. It was rumoured that there wasn’t a single person who could go up against the Peacock Knight and win. He often welcomed impossible odds, and always walked away with barely a scratch. If the Tainted Creatures
were
planning a revolt, was it possible that the Peacock Knight knew something about it?

After lunch, Rose and I walked to Domestic Manipulation of Common Specialties, and found seats tucked away at the back of the class where we might have a chance at speaking without Hectarte noticing.

“Kai is skipping this period to go home and change,” she whispered as we got out our books. “She wants a famous boyfriend, and she’s set her sights on Harbringer.”

“After meeting the guy, I almost feel sorry for her.”

Rose snorted. “He won’t even look at her. The only reason he talks to Hazen and Cale is because they have undefined abilities that nobody else has. I guess he admires strength, and if his history is all true, I’m not surprised.”

“Well she’s not the only one who’s going to feel let down,” I muttered, looking around at the girls of the classroom, who were all currently engaged in frantic whispering, not unlike Rose and myself.

“You know he doesn’t look all that different.”

“Huh?” I looked back to Rose, suddenly feeling lost. “Harbringer?”

“Yeah.” She poked me, admonishing me for not paying attention. “The way he looks now, it’s not all that different to how he looked before he took on the synfee power, it must be a glamor or something, but that’s why nobody knows about it.”

“He’s always been that good-looking? Were one of his parents fae or something?”

She smirked at my answer, and I realised the trap a little too late.

“I knew you noticed. Sometimes you’re so shut off, it’s hard to tell.”

“You’re a worry, Rose.”

She grinned, and then we had to break away from each other for a few minutes as Hectarte walked past, tapping her finger on the page of the book I was supposed to be reading.

“Anyway, he’s not fae, he was actually a renegade,” she whispered, once the professor had moved out of earshot again.

“Wait,
what?
” I hissed, earning another glare from Hectarte.

“The renegades weren’t always bad you know. They were all rangers at some point, but when most of them broke away from the Read’s rule, they were renamed the renegades. Joseph was one of them until they joined forces with the synfees, then he came back and fed the King information. He was re-instated as a low-entry soldier, and almost single-handedly won the war.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think he has the synfee… erm… appetite?”

“No, else they wouldn’t have asked him to come and teach here, and they definitely wouldn’t have let him stay on Academy grounds after he retired.”

We shut up then, because Hectarte was starting to make her way back to us, and I could tell that all the interruptions were beginning to make her angry. Her blue hair almost trembled with agitation.

After class, Rose led me to the Sand Theatre, which was actually a short way down the road from the main Academy gate. Most of the senior students had already gathered in the small clearing behind the mostly abandoned back-section of the Academy, filtering into a small trail that led through a break in the edge of the forest. The trail was short, and at the other end a huge section of the forest had been long ago cleared out to house the giant amphitheater that hollowed right into the ground.

It looked to be made of some kind of crumbling sandstone, with levels of tiered seating stepping down to a comparatively small, grass-covered stage. Standing there already were Joseph Harbringer, along with a straight-backed, grey-haired professor and Mad Mont. The other professors were making their way down, and I recognised Hectarte, Barlow, Carren, Arrol, Raeburn, and Paine—the stuttering professor who taught my Magical Materials class.

“Who’s the old guy?” I asked Rose, as we spotted Cale sitting all the way down the front, directly before the stage, clearly having come early to save seats while the rest of us were still in class.

“That’s Master Savar, he owns the Academy. We barely ever see him unless it’s important.”

We reached Cale just as Hazen did, and we all took our seats as the rest of the senior students filled in behind us. There weren’t enough to even fill up a quarter of the great big theatre, even though it seemed as if every professor in the entire Academy had shown up. Harbringer stepped up almost the instant everyone was settled, and instead of the wave of whispering that I had expected, a rush of silence fell upon the theatre.

“Welcome to Offensive Training,” he said, eyes travelling over the sea of faces before him. “I am Professor Harbringer, and while this first lesson is compulsory, it is only an introductory class. After today, you will be required to have parental permission to continue on until graduation, and I suspect many of you will not be granted it.”

He waited a beat, letting his words sink in, and his eyes met mine for an instant. There was no hint of gold in those inky-black irises, and I suspected that even if he harboured the synfee tint, they wouldn’t have changed in the slightest. He blinked, looked away, and continued speaking, though I found I couldn’t tear my eyes off him.

“In this class, I will be working with students to develop their specialties into offensive abilities. While some time will be set aside for defensive training, keep in mind that this unit
will
be compiled of predominately combative situations, with the focus on attacking, not defending. We will focus on the typical threats of the Tainted Creatures, and the adjustment of fighting style needed for each general race as well. Professors with the shape-changing specialisation have been selected to mimic such targets, and will aid in real combat exercises.

“This class is not going to be easy,” he warned. “Those of you who are given permission to attend will be graded each lesson, and if your grade falls below a five, you will be politely asked to leave. The reason I will not be teaching on Academy grounds is because of the high risk that one or many of you will be injured in some way throughout the course of this unit, so please take that into consideration. We will have members of the Healer’s caste on hand in those situations, but it is not something to be taken lightly.”

He stepped back then, almost abruptly, and Master Savar took his place, delicately clearing his throat.

“Now,” he began, surprising me with how easily his deep voice carried. “Are there any questions?”

A number of hands shot straight into the air, and he began pointing each of them out with a long, bony finger.

“The last time the Academy held an Offensive Training class, the Tainted Creatures were threatening a revolt. Is that happening again?” asked a girl in glasses, a few rows behind me.

“Our kingdom faces a great many threats. While a revolt is certainly an ever-present possibility, it was not what prompted the return of the unit.”

“Will we get detention if one of the professors get knocked out?” asked a male voice too far back for me to see the face that it belonged to.

A wave of nervous laughter rolled over the students, and even Savar seemed to smile politely, though it could have also been a scowl.

“No, Duncan, not unless specific rules are disobeyed.”

“Will we get to fight the synfee?” asked someone directly behind me.

Beside me, Cale stiffened and spun around to eye the boy who had spoken, though it seemed as though everyone else in the theatre was now staring at me. I stared down at my lap, glad that I was freshly topped-up on energy thanks to Nareon, because I was certain that my darkness wouldn’t have reacted very well in that second.

“I don’t think so, Cudos. I believe students will only be placed in combative instances with those who can match their abilities.”

And then, to my utter astonishment, Savar looked right at me and winked. Most of the students laughed, but when I turned around to face Cudos, his broad face was red.

“And if you lay a god damn finger on her, you’ll have me to deal with,” Cale hissed, before turning back around to the front.

The hands rose back up into the air then, and the rest of the questions rolled into a blur as I considered the turn my day had taken. We had gone to Harbringer hoping that he would teach me to fight, and here he was, offering just that opportunity to every senior student at the Academy. I felt arrogant thinking it, but I couldn’t help the sneaking suspicion that this had everything to do with our little visit. Perhaps it had less to do with my request, and more to do with Nareon himself? Did Joseph think that Nareon was planning something? And if he was, where did I come into it?

Once the questions died off, Savar waved his arm in a grand sweep, and a rolled-up scroll dropped into my lap. I jumped, and looked over to see that all the others in my row had received one as well. He fell back then, and Harbringer once again stepped forwards.

“You should have just received the permission slip needed to attend my classes, and if you wish to join, you will need to fill out the questionnaire attached, and bring it to my office by Thursday. You are all now dismissed.”

That evening, finally back in my little cottage, dressed in a pair of soft cotton pants and one of my father’s old shirts, I sat at my small desk and unrolled the scroll. The larger piece of parchment was the permission slip, and it detailed the dangers of Harbringer’s class, but didn’t offer any explanation as to
why
the class was suddenly being re-instated. My form was already filled out, complete with my father’s signature, and an attached note in his handwriting.

Joseph had a messenger bring me this. He said it was important that you attend. I’ll be home in two days. We need to talk. Stay safe, Sweetheart.

I didn’t register the tears that gathered in my eyes until the letters began to blur, and then I quickly blinked them away. It had been too long since I had last seen my father, and I found that with everything else that had happened recently, I really needed him.

Putting his note away, I pulled out the smaller roll of paper that had sat inside the permission slip, and flattened it onto my desk. It was the ‘questionnaire’, but there was only one question on it.

Why do you want to enrol in this unit?

I stared at the question, considering a number of responses, until eventually I grew too tired to care, and picked up my pencil to scribble an answer.

There once was a little Siren. She lived all by herself out in the middle of the sea, singing to those who passed in their grand ships, desperate for the contact of another person. When one finally stopped, the crew captured the Siren, and threw her into a cage, deciding that her golden hair and golden skin would make them rich. Not wanting to be killed by the sailors, she sang her way free, enchanting them with a lusty, melodious song full of beauty and innocence.

Her voice called to them, captured them as they had captured her, but as she stood on the deck again, the men kneeling at her feet, she found that she couldn’t stop. She sang and sang, until there was no more beauty or innocence, only hunger and violence. But still they crawled closer, held captive by her Siren magic. One by one, she devoured the sailors, until their bones scattered the deck of the ship, and she was alone again, out in the middle of the sea, singing to those who passed in their grand ships…