Chapter 39 - 38: Reaching the Academy

Chapter 39: Chapter 38: Reaching the Academy

Chapter 38: Reaching the Academy

The mage looked at the spot and said:

"Seems their numbers are up again. We’ll need to send a clearing job out after we’re back."

Then he walked on like nothing had happened. The girl stood there a moment before catching up with the rest, and no one tried to stop and look at what was left of the creature.

They went on for almost another hour before the trees began to thin out and then a huge stone structure showed up ahead among the rocks. It was less like an academy gate than some old entrance somebody had left in this place a long time ago, and off to its side was a huge stone statue of a two-headed lion.

The mage stepped forward to the door and all at once one of the lion’s heads opened its eyes. Then the mage shouted.

"Open sesame."

The other head opened its eyes too, and a hoarse sound came out of it, close to a roar.

Silence fell over the students as they looked at the great mage who looked like an idiot standing there shouting.

A muffled laugh came from the back. One of the students had tried to hold it in and failed. The mage stopped and turned to him.

"You find something funny?"

The smile left the student’s face.

"No, sir."

The mage lifted his finger and tapped it in the air.

Nothing happened at first. Then the student’s face changed suddenly and he started backing away.

"No..."

He stared straight ahead like something was coming at him.

"Get away from me!"

He backed off further until he fell on the ground, and then started screaming and shoving at the air with his hands while no one else saw a thing in front of him.

The rest of the students watched in silence, and the mage said:

"Mages with power close to each other can joke around. You’re still students. Learn the difference before you learn it a worse way."

Noah looked at the two statues, and then at the student sprawled on the ground. The rule wasn’t difficult to follow. When power is close both sides can set the limits on a joke. When the gap is so wide, it’s the stronger one who decides where the joke ends and the insult starts.

The mage pointed at the student.

"Carry him."

The two staff members with him came forward and lifted him easily, and then the group went in through the door.

A long stone stairway behind the gate was visible, winding down to disappear into the dark. The mage struck the ground twice with his staff, and lights caught along both sides of the stairs one after another, running down to a depth Noah couldn’t see the end of.

They started down.

Noah did not know how far they walked, but it was longer than he expected, and after close to twenty minutes the stairway finally ended and a wide space opened ahead, corridors branching off it in all directions. Only then did he realize that the structure they’d seen above ground was just a small part of the entrance.

Inside, the place was several times bigger than it had appeared from outside. Wide corridors, halls, heavy doors, paths splitting off in different directions until it felt closer to an underground city than a school.

One of the students said:

"All of this is underground?"

The mage answered without a break in his step:

"Not all of it. The Academy’s been here for centuries and it’s been expanded more than once. There are parts above ground and parts below, and other entrances you won’t be allowed to use for now."

They passed a wide junction and he pointed down one of the corridors.

"Residences that way, lecture halls the other. We have labs, the training areas, growing grounds for materials, the market and the mission district. Someone will take you around later, so don’t waste my time asking now."

Noah looked about as they walked. Older students passed now and then, most of them paying no attention to the new arrivals. Some carried crates or tools Noah didn’t know how to use, while others wore robes a little different from the ones he’d seen at the reception station. He didn’t try to work everything out on his first day. As long as he was going to live here, he’d come to know these things in time.

After a while they reached a large metal door with symbols carved into it that Noah didn’t recognize, some like words and some closer to runes.

The mage saw a number of the students looking at them and said:

"Don’t try to read them. This is a language you’ll need for spells and some of the old books, and you’ll learn the basics later."

Then he knocked.

An old man’s voice came from inside.

"Come in."

The locks moved on their own and the door swung open slowly.

The mage went in first and the students followed. The room was large, and behind a black desk sat an old man with a white beard, a stack of papers and a writing quill in front of him, while long shelves rose behind him, filled with books and scrolls and crystal balls until the room looked closer to a library than an administrative office.

The man lifted his head when they came in.

"You’re late."

The mage said:

"We ran into trouble on the way. A hippogriff."

"I heard about that." The man set his quill aside and looked at the students one after another, then his eyes stopped on Courfeyrac and stayed there longer than on the rest.

A slight smile crossed his face.

Courfeyrac didn’t answer.

The mage said:

"This is the batch."

"Good."

The old man looked over the rest of the students and said:

"Since you’ve arrived, your fees are paid, and your tests are done, you’re now officially students of the Academy. There are only a few things left to do, and after that we’ll start choosing your instructors."

Some of the whispers stopped.

Noah stayed where he was among the others, looking at the man behind the desk.

He’d finally reached the Academy. But the thing he’d been waiting for the whole trip wasn’t seeing the buildings or the corridors.

It was the two goals that mattered. Increasing his strength. And creating his own faction.