The Seventh Mountain (19 page)

They had decided to watch only part of The
Choosing Ceremony. They were interested in seeing some of the
students who would be joining the Emerald Tribe. One of the girls
who were chosen for the Emerald Tribe looked entirely out of place
at the school. She was dressed in a black tank top and black knit
slacks. Her milky white complexion was a harsh contrast to her
clothes. Her hair was a mass of black and white spikes. The Emerald
captain met her before she had even entered the corral gate.
Someone called out, “LeOmi Jones, Emerald Tribe.”

 
* * *
 

Day five of orientation week was designed
for socializing and getting to know other students. The entire day
was spent either inside The Oasis or in the dormitory common room.
Students wore their tribe colors. They sat at their tribe tables.
Assembly was to begin at 5 p.m., sharp.

The day started with all kinds of games in
the common room. There was air hockey, billiards, foosball, shuffle
board, darts, board games, and just about any game that you could
think of that was one on one competition. Mark enjoyed playing
dueling pinball. It was essentially two pinball machines back to
back with no top portion. Points were scored when the ball was on
your opponent’s side.

Five o’clock found the students seated at
their tables in The Oasis. People dressed in gray work tunics
filled most of the booths. A low rumble of chatter filled the
place. The people on the stage were dressed in black tunics with
silver trim. Mark recognized some of them. Mrs. Shadowitz, Mr.
Diefenderfer, Ms. Vanmie and Mr. Thorpe were seated at the center
table. Tim and Gerod were seated at one of the counselor’s tables,
off to the side.

Mrs. Shadowitz stood up. Her voice was
amplified. “Ah-hem.” Silence settled over the assembly. Everyone
turned to look at her.

“Thank you for your attention. First, I’m
going to introduce to you, for the sake of the freshmen, the
Council of Elders…”

She faced to the right. “Commander of
Emerald Tribe, Head of the Communications Department, AlHufus
Diefenderfer.” Mr. Diefenderfer stood and Emerald Tribe stood and
applauded.

She turned to the right and pointed at a
lady. “Commander of Ruby Tribe, Head of the Language Department,
Julia Diefenbuacher.” A thin, short lady with black hair stood up
at the center table. Students at the Ruby Tribe’s table stood and
gave applause.

Mark was too excited to pay close attention
to the introductions. He looked around at the people there. The
Oasis was jam-packed and he noticed that not too many of the upper
classmen were paying that much attention to the introductions.
After all, they probably already knew all of the people,
anyway.

Mrs. Shadowitz turned to her left and
continued with the introductions. It seemed like a lot of time was
being given to what most people were not interested in, in the
first place. Second, he knew that he would get to know who was who
by association much more so than by just mere introduction.

“Commander of Diamond Tribe, Head of the
Combat Training Department, Joramina Vanmie.” Applause from all of
the tables followed.

Mark leaned toward Nick. “I wouldn’t mind
being in her tribe if we weren’t already in Emerald Tribe.”

“Me neither. She’s pretty cool.”

Mrs. Shadowitz introduced a few more of the
Council of Elders before coming to Mr. Thorpe. Mark remembered his
encounter with him in the bookstore and on the balcony. There was
something about this man that was very odd and he thought that he
probably wouldn’t like him.

“Commander of the Onyx Tribe, Head of the
Math Department, Harmonious Thorpe.” Applause, from the onyx table,
just a little louder than had been the case with the others.

“And finally… The Commander of Jasper Tribe
and Head of The Seventh Mountain, me… Theresa Shadowitz.” Everyone
stood and applauded. Mark thought that it was because she was
done.

“Now, if you would like.” She turned to look
at one of the side tables. “I will introduce to you, all of the
teachers, counselors, and instructors…” Moans and groans
followed.

“As you can see, contrary to what is widely
believed, I do have a sense of humor. Now you understand why I keep
it locked in my desk drawer, most of the time.” A few chuckles
passed through the assembly.

“I want to remind you that the method of
tuition payment that you intend to use; is to be made known to your
counselor prior to September the twenty-eighth. The tuition is the
same as it has always been, one hundred ounces of gold or two years
of service to the school or any combination thereof, for every year
of study.”

She paused for a moment. “School catalogues
are available in the bookstore. I mention this because all school
rules are listed in an appendix. I encourage all students to get
one.”

She scanned the student body. “As for tribe
standing, the tribe that accumulates the most points has their
tuition for the current year waived. As an added bonus, the
students in that tribe have the option to not take the final exams
and let their points stand where they are.”

“The labyrinth, though generally
inaccessible, is strictly off limits to all.”

She looked down at a piece of paper. “School
grounds, at night, are off limits to all students that have not yet
developed Rooack Mareh or are not accompanied by an instructor or
school staff.”

“Do not feed the leviathans in the moat or
anywhere else that you might find them.” A low rumble of mutters
followed this announcement. She paused before continuing.

“As of now, practical jokes are not allowed
on teachers. Is that clear Miss Dover?”

One of the Onyx Tribe students stood and
faced Mrs. Shadowitz. “Yes ma’am. It’s very clear.” She sat back
down.

“Most of you are wondering what that was all
about. Well… Miss Dover had the audacity to play a practical joke
on me. I’ll spare you the details. You’ll be glad to know that it
was clever and forthright. She was awarded ten points.

“Also, in the practical joke area, one
worthy of note is, Mark Young and Nikola Poparov have been awarded
ten points each. They were able to convince Ralph Lawrence, Ricky
Barns and Keith Richards that if they could touch Ms. Vanmie, when
she tested their reflexive defense, that she would give them a
sword.”

A roar of laughter broke over the crowd.

“The results were as you might imagine them.
The last note worthy event is that Mark Young, Chenoa Day, Jamal
Terfa and Nikola Poparov were pre-chosen by an equestrious. Mark
Young was pre-chosen by The General himself.”

Low murmurs rustled through the crowd.
Everyone turned to look at the group. Everyone knew of Mark Young
now, the boy with the staff.

“No oracle has ever sung of it, no prophet
has ever foretold it, nor has any dream ever shown it. We are at a
loss to understand it. There have only been three Magi ever
pre-chosen throughout all known history before now, and then never
by a horse. We are still consulting on the meaning of this event.
Hopefully, we will be able to expound on this matter in the next
assembly. That assembly will be on the first Saturday in October at
5 p.m. If someone has an announcement that they would like to make,
now is the time.”

She looked over to the teachers and around
at the staff. No one indicated that they had anything to say. “Well
then… this assembly is over. Counselors, you may hand out the class
schedules.”

Tim found the group and handed them their
class schedules. “Oh, yeah. There is something that I forgot to
tell you. I played a joke on Gerod when he first came here. I was
younger then, not as wise as I am now.” He gave them a toothy grin
and winked.

“That is how we got to be friends. I made
some changes in his algebra book. It was really funny when he
answered Harmonious Thorpe by saying that the Pythagorean Theorem
was good for calculating how many biscuits should be made for
dinner depending on the number of guests that you expected. You can
imagine Mr. Thorpe’s face when he heard Gerod say that. Neither
Gerod nor Mr. Thorpe thought that it was funny. I got five points
for that one. Anyway, my point is that you should get together and
compare your books, word for word, before you go to class, just to
play it safe.”

“Okay, thanks. We’ll be sure to check our
books.” Mark looked around at the crowd. “What is Rooack
Mareh?”

“You will learn that next year. It is like
being able to see with your mind. You do not use your eyes.”

“It looks like all of the booths are taken.
Who are all these people in the work tunics?”

“Most of them are alumni who are working off
their tuition. Did you ever wonder what it takes to keep this place
going? This whole thing is like a city. It takes a lot of workers
to keep it running. The ones who are not alumni are just regular
folk, like Albert over there. You have already met him.”

Mark looked to where Tim was pointing. It
was the guy that he had met when the lioness led him to the opening
in the wall. He was all cleaned up, hair combed and wearing clean
clothes, hardly the same person that Mark remembered meeting. He
sat alone.

“Albert is a special case. He might be a
little slow in other areas but nobody is better than he is with
animals. He has a rare gift. That is why he is in charge of all the
wild animals here. I am surprised that he even talked to you. He
does not like people at all.”

Jamal broke into the conversation. “What
kind of animals do you have here?”

“There are a whole lot of them. The most
common ones are lions, tigers, bears and such. Mostly they come
from rescues from fires, floods and stuff like that.”

Mark resumed the conversation while giving
Jamal a reproachful look. “Are there really leviathans in the moat
or is that just a joke?”

“It is not a joke.”

“What are leviathans anyway?”

“Well, there are all different kinds. The
most common one that we have here is the sail-back ornathoptus.
Occasionally, at night, they can be seen floating on top of the
moat. Their large back fins make them look like a sailboat. In the
wild, they have been known to leap out of the water and glide for
more than a thousand yards. We also have some trigibbereras. They
have a long neck and three humps on their back. They look like they
might be stepping-stones when they sleep and float up to the
surface. Do not ever try to use them as stepping stones or you will
get a surprise.”

It looked strange to Mark to see Tim
chuckle. His whole body shook.

“Oh, yeah. A word of warning; some of the
teachers will shut the door when class starts and dock you a point
per minute. If that happens then just wait for the break and go in
then. They are supposed to give a break every hour, but they do not
have to. They can save the breaks and dismiss class early. It is up
to them. I think that is all I wanted to say. Have a good weekend.
I will see you tomorrow.”

Saturday morning marked the first day of
actually being officially enrolled in school at The Seventh
Mountain. Orientation week was considered a part of summer
vacation, even though it was mandatory for students to attend. The
distinction was made because there were no official school
functions during Orientation Week. It had become customary to have
orientation to make it easier on the students to get what they
needed before classes started. The first official function at the
school was tryouts for flags matches. That was always on the first
Saturday before classes started.

At breakfast, Tim handed out the mail. Mark
opened his envelope. It had three letters in it, one each from his
father, mother, and brother. They wrote:

Hi Son,

I guess that I have to trust Tim, for now,
on how you are doing. Your mother told you about the dream that we
had. That is the only information that we have had about you since
he kidnapped you. I understand that this is supposed to be your
destiny, but he could have given us a little more warning. I guess
we have to trust Tim; he told us that you are all right.

I am really looking forward to seeing you
and the school. I won’t miss the first flags match for
anything.

I’ll see you then.

Love, Dad

Dear Mark,

We are so worried about you. We are pretty
well in the dark about where you are and how you are doing. Your
dad wouldn’t let me call the police. He said that we should wait
and see.

Honey, I wish that I could be there with you
and make sure that things are all right. It’s strange that we all
had the same dream about you.

It’s so different here without you. It’s
like I have a hole in the way I think. I can’t explain it, but
without you here is like having a piece of me missing. I’m so
anxious to see you. Tell Tim that we do want to come to the first
flags match. Your dad has switched his duty schedule so that he can
come, too.

Honey
,
I
miss
you
.

All my love, Mom

Hi Mark,

That is some strange looking school that I
dreamed about. Do you like it there? Do you need anything? What’s
it like? How are you doing?

I’ll see you at the flags match.

James

After breakfast the group had just enough
time to make it back to the dorm and write return letters. Mark
wrote:

Hi Mom, Dad and James,

Don’t be worried about me here at the
school. Everything is great. Don’t be too hard on Tim either. I’m
not the only one that he is in charge of. He didn’t have much time
for getting his students to orientation on time. He’s a counselor
here at the school. He’s really okay.

I found out that I have some special
abilities. I can talk to animals and people can read my thoughts.
Tim says that I need to control that and I’m working on it. Mr.
Diefenderfer, a teacher here, has given me some exercises to do, to
help control it.