Chapter 46 - An Angry Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Characters –

Felix Sutter: Poor boy living in Sacramento, recently found out magic existed. Hard worker, knows the price of everything.

Erik Morsin: Heir to the Duchy of the Emerald Isle. Just wants to play his violin.

Leona Thorne: 5th year Commander of Dragon house. Long black hair, casually throws around huge amounts of magical power.

Christopher Mau: The black cat. 3rd year Dragon student. Possibly has nine lives. Unusually lucky and dexterous.

Beatrix Brynwyll: 3rd year dragon student. A little uptight. 

Kaladin Thalorien: The Headmaster.

Dame Elspeth Evenwood: The lady doing all the actual administrative work of running the college.

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 Maeve willingly entered the ritual circle, barefoot and veiled.
Her body, still not healed, was laid upon sacred stone.
The witch of Bjorn’s coven carved runes upon her skin,
And poured silver and ash into her veins.
When the chanting stopped, the prophecy was set:
She would bear two children, and no more.
But the first -
The first would be a son, and he was already stirring.

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 30

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Felix wondered when the zombie-like state first thing in the morning after PT would end. How were his fellow Dragons upbeat and chatty after exercising for an hour!? Wasn’t it supposed to get less painful over time? Today had been a short PT as well, in the ‘interest of everyone being fresh and at their best for the first day of class!’

Didn’t stop fully half the Dragons from running extra laps because they could.

Felix figured the entire ‘exercise’ thing was a gigantic scam that masochists ran on the rest of the world. Leona ended it with a short speech.

“Dragons! Today’s the first day of class! Today’s the first day we’re getting points! I want us to take an early lead, and hold it for the rest of the year. For the hoard!”

“For the hoard!” The rest of the students cried out before the morning formation was dismissed.

“Sutter, you’ve got everything?” Brynwyll asked. “Books, notes, supplies?”

“Yes.” Felix cracked a yawn. “All present and accounted for.”

Chris snickered. 

“Right, I’d say come find us if you’re lost, buuuut that wouldn’t work at all. If you’re lost, how will you find us? Instead, think back fondly on our time together. Remember the beautiful hours we spent traversing the hallways, finding rooms and getting in trouble. Ah, we’ll always have Camelot.”

Beatrix hexed Chris. None of the other Dragons said a word about it.

“Stop flirting with the tadpole.” She grumped as Chris tried to cast the counterspell with noodle arms. It wasn’t going well.

“I’ll just go then?” Felix said.

“Double check your schedule.” Beatrix said. “We get an early start on the day. If you’re wondering what to do, get to the classroom door early and read your textbook. Remember, Forum is first thing in the morning for everyone. See you then.”

“Or at breakfast.” Chris said between failed counterspells. One of the older Dragons took pity on him, and cast the counterspell.

“Or at breakfast.” Beatrix said. “Right, good luck, and tell us all about it after.”

“Yeah, don’t forget, it’s our job to tutor you.” Chris said.

Officer Merton took that moment to swing by. 

“I have all of your work schedules.” He said, handing them out to everyone. Felix could feel his heart sinking at the sheer number of black blocks in the late afternoon and evening. Door duty, door duty, stravolux practice, door duty, stravolux practice, and on Saturdays, more stravolux.

At least the practice sessions were ‘only’ an hour and a half on the weekdays. Oh right, and wasn’t door duty basically a glorified study hour? He was in school. Spending the entire evening working and studying was nothing new, and it looked like there was significant free time where he could… he could…

What could he do for fun here? Felix had seen all the clubs and games, but usually was too busy. Movies and other stuff on a laptop were his ‘usual’ form of entertainment, but…

Eh, he’d figure it out. It wasn’t that important right now.

Felix went down for breakfast with a number of the other ‘get up and get going’ Dragons. The Dragons that waited to go down were either doing some last minute preparation, reading, or just knew the timing and wanted to be comfortable in the common room, instead of standing in a hallway in the castle.

Felix ate breakfast while reading his charms textbook. When it was over, he left for the forum entrance, trying to read and walk at the same time. Naturally, he tripped right in front of a bunch of older students. Better than running straight into them. 

“Watch it, don’t want to miss the first day of class.” The older Unicorn student joked. A ripple of giggles went through the rest of the Unicorns. To his embarrassment, he recognized Thalia. Felix scrambled and got back up.

“Er, no, that’d be bad.” He agreed and hurried off to the forum.

The room was open, and a few students were scattered around the great seats. Some of them even looked like they were napping! Felix had to wonder if they’d chosen to sleep here, and why. Maybe it was a good way to wake up if their dorms didn’t have a trumpet blast at unholy-o-clock?

He kept reading his book as people continued to file in. A number of students were lining up at the front of the room, with Leona at the very front. Professors were coming in and taking their spot in the front row, or along the sides of the room.

At precisely 8:30, the doors shut.

“All rise.” A lady Felix recognized as Madam Evenwood said. He stood up along with everyone else. “Thank you, attendance has been taken. Please be seated.”

Felix sat down. Well, that was much less painful than having all the names called out.

“Morning announcements. Professors?” She said.

The doors burst open dramatically, and headmaster Thalorien, scowling, stormed down the center aisle, pulling all eyes to him. His robes flapped as he walked down, and his pointed hat didn’t bend at all. He exuded malice and anger. The professor that was starting to stand up quickly sat back down. 

He got to the front of the room and spun around, letting his robes flare.

“Every year I find myself standing up here!” He spoke, and Felix shivered at the undertone of raw anger there. “Every year I think to myself ‘This is the year the students will not be so foolish as to make me come up here and lecture you’. What do I find this year? I find myself up here on the very first day of class, the very first announcement, needing to have a pointed discussion with you lot. The first years are still tadpoles, having never cast their first spell. The 5th years are eager to be adepts in name and truth. The 4th and 8th years haven’t even made their first study guide. Yet, I find myself here.”

He started to pace back and forth in front of the room, giving off the impression of a caged wolf. A feral, hungry beast, looking to pounce on the students.

“Do you have a death wish?” He asked the students. “Are you fed up of living? Do you wish to leave the mortal coil behind?”

Dead silence. There wasn’t a single rustling of robes, not an unattentive whisper.

“Who wishes to rouse the great bear of Ireland from where he slumbers? Who wishes to return to the war we have so recently ended? Who wants to see funeral pyres built high, and see death itself roam these hallowed halls?”

Felix shifted nervously.

“Bjorn Morsin can walk through wards. There is no place safe from the man. The Dark Civil War, no matter what propaganda you might have heard, ended when people stopped bothering him. And now, in this castle, people are trying to murder his son. His only son. Morsin, stand!” The headmaster commanded. Erik stood up. Felix didn’t dare wave to him.

“This is Erik Morsin. You may perform the usual array of childish pranks on him. Trip him in the hallway. Switch his homework. Change his class schedule. Make him miss a game. Speak mean words to him, whatever insult is currently in vogue. Make no mistake, I am not declaring open season on the boy. Poor behavior will still be met with a reduction in points and detention. But, you blithering idiots, stop trying to murder him!”

There was more uncomfortable shifting around.

“We’ve already had to expel two students, and they’re currently being prosecuted! Two students in orientation week! Never, and I mean never, have I been so ashamed of you all.”

He let the disappointment seep in, and Felix could feel it himself. Even though he was one of the only people helping Erik.

“Use the brain the gods granted, and clearly failed to fill with any sort of intellect! Appeals to your better natures will obviously fail here. Those of you who see a young lad and think ‘yes, I shouldn’t murder him’ are already doing the right thing. As such, I must appeal to your worse natures instead. If you kill Mr. Morsin here, his father will retaliate. He will retaliate on you. He will retaliate on your friends. He will burn your family’s home to the ground. He will visit Camelot, and wreak bloody vengeance upon us all. Dublin Castle’s security was better than Camelots, and he slaughtered the entire family in one night!”

The headmaster paused a moment, before ‘casually’ adding in a few more points. Felix would bet every last one of his remaining 46 denarii that it was entirely preplanned.

“Oh, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Mr. Morsin had a long memory and carried justifiable grudges. What is your future going to be when blacklisted by one of the most powerful families in Logres? When they refuse to buy from businesses that hire you, what decision will the business make? What will you do when it’s impossible to rent a house or shop? Perhaps the young Mr. Morsin will have a forgiving nature… but I would not count on it.”

The headmaster paused long enough that Felix thought the lecture was over. He ended it with one final roar that made Felix jump.

“Stop trying to murder my students!”

With one last disgusted shake of his head, the headmaster stomped off. Felix made a note to himself - don’t get on the old man’s bad side.

The doors slammed shut with a resounding boom, and the students broke out in a nervous chatter. A loud explosion from the front of the room silenced the students, and Leona stepped forward.

“Dragon house is recruiting, as always. Please speak to me or one of the other students if you’d like to know how to get in. Thank you.”

The morning forum became a little bit more like what Felix expected. A round dozen clubs had a student or professor stand up and talk about them briefly, then sit down. Dame Evenwood reiterated a few upcoming deadlines, and reminded people of the date. The coven deadline was coming up fast, and Felix figured it’d be best to get it done today. If possible. He’d have to talk with the other members. 

It did seem to drag on, and eventually Dame Evenwood interrupted the student talking about the Cauterwauling Choir.

“Unfortunately, we must leave now to attend class. Thank you all, have a good day.”