One Year Later...
Chapter 2
I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I knew why I had woken up so suddenly. After all, it was Choosing Day. Choosing Day was for everyone going on thirteen. You would take a test—half of it a written examination and the other half a practical test. The test would decide your future career, so it was essential that you be well prepared for it.
I got up and looked around the circular room that was the North Tower. Everyone was still asleep. I had always wondered how people could sleep so early yet get up so late. As soon as I had shook Robin awake, he dressed quickly, and went into the girls’ room. Soon, I heard the sound of a pillow being whacked against heads. I’d guessed he’d do it. Thunder dared him to last night. Robin was very predictable at times. I frowned a bit as I strolled to where I kept my scrolls.
“Robin! Stop that!” Snowstar groaned so loudly that I could hear her quite clearly from where I was, a short distance away.
“Alright, but only if you get up. Now,” came the response. I could feel pleasure just radiating from him as he whacked Snowstar unnecessarily with carefully disguised malice, probably payback for yesterday’s defeat. They were all so... violent. Even so, I couldn’t help smiling a bit as I grabbed a scroll from my bookshelf. One must always be prepared to study at the last minute.
Complaining loudly, the four girls, Moon, Snowstar, Autumn, and Sunset got up and dressed. Five minutes later, we were ready to go downstairs, although the girls were still yawning. Grumbling at the way Robin woke them up, we accompanied the girls as we marched down the stairs to our awaiting breakfast, which consisted of toast, milk from the milk-flower, and fruit jam. The milk-flower was one of the many plants created by Gem when Gem, Jim, and Poppy first came here. They looked a little like Earth's bluebells, and were bred from plants that originated from Water Island. Gem had brought them to Sun-City and most farms harvested the milk that they produced each morning. Each flower provided about half a bucket of fresh, sweet milk, each day. I’ve witnessed them dripping milk before. A trough is put under four milk-flowers. Then they drip milk down into the trough. When it’s full, the trough is replaced by another empty one, but only if there was still milk left to be dropped, which, of course, there usually was.
Fruit jam was imported from Earth itself, and we only received several jars a year. No one liked it very much, but Gem and Jim did. It probably reminded them of Earth- their old home. But, we did mash sun-pulp, a sweet yellow, round, and common, fruit, to spread over plain bread.
After our quick breakfast, the eight of us sneaked down to the castle grounds and into the nearby forest. On the way to the cave, we stopped to pick up the books we had stolen one year ago. We hadn’t kept them in our room anymore, since we might leave it outside accidentally, and Gem and Jim and Poppy might see. So now we hid them in a hollow tree log five minutes walk off the path, where it was nice and dry. We turned right when we saw the tree in the middle of the road.
Since that day when we had stolen these books, we had memorized them thoroughly and honed our fighting skills so much that we were now the best among our ages, and several grown men and women. We practiced all day and night, giving Sunset and Ash a chance to practice their healing skills by treating our sore muscles.
The nurse that had been jailed the same time had also been released. She had been given ten emeralds and chased out of the castle. We had watched her leave the castle from our window. Ten emeralds were probably enough to get a job as a healer in a smaller town hospital.
The money system, the standard one in the Moonstone Galaxy, was that a ruby equals four emeralds, an emerald equals equals four diamonds, and a diamond equals four sapphires. Much more simple than the ones that humans use on Earth. A moonstone, of course, was the most precious gem. Priceless, it contained a specific type of magic. Except for one: Nature’s moonstone- it contained all four elements. All the others only contained one or the other. That was one of the reasons Nature was so powerful. She always wore it around her neck.
Robin kept checking the glow’s brightness, counting down the time when the test took place. “I still can’t believe we’re taking the test.”
“You guys are our friends, do you think we’d let you go off to some boring farm to work?” said Autumn.
“Well said,” I spoke up, “but don’t you think we should be getting ready for the test?” One could never overprepare.
“We are, and we already know everything. We can repeat these books by heart even when we’re asleep. We’ve been preparing for this for the past couple years! Especially this last year.” Snowstar added as an afterthought.
“Shouldn’t we choose jobs in a group first? You know the leader, the warrior, the healer, and the magic maker?” asked Ash. “After all, a group stays with the rest of their group for practically the rest of their life.” This custom was one of the oldest traditions, which is saying a lot, since Gem and Jim had only ruled for about seventeen season-changes. To people on Earth, a season-change was about a quarter of a year. So, probably five or six years?
“What’s a magic-maker?” asked Sunset.
“It’s the title for a person who is really advanced at magic-making,” I explained.
“Whatever! I call being warrior!” exclaimed Thunder.
“Wait. No calls. Not yet,” said Sunset. “How come these jobs are in groups of four, but there are eight of us?”
“Father is giving us a choice of being a group of eight or two groups of four, but we’ll definitely be in one group of eight, so there will be two of us for one job,” Moon said. Obviously, I thought.
“Well, that settles it then,” Snowstar said. She took out a piece of paper. Leaders, she wrote. “All right, who wants to be a leader?” Snowstar asked, staring around at everyone.
“Me, I guess. I don’t really like the other options,” Moon shrugged. Then, with a nasty glint in her eye and a smirk at her mouth, she continued, “Especially being stuck with a mindless nitwit who whacks people on the head only when someone tells them too.”
“Hey!” Robin protested.
“Calm down,” Ash said, laying a hand on both of their shoulders. He had to use quit a bit of force with Robin before they get up that morning.”
“Also,” Moon said, as if Ash hadn’t said anything, “Being a warrior is too much like being a nitwit- a mindless one, mind you- being a healer is too frustrating, being a magic maker is too Jay-ish.” There! In one sentence, she had actively insulted everyone in the group. The girl was suicidal. She must have a death wish. If she did that to everyone- and she did, sometimes- I’m sure she’d be murdered in the middle of a night.
“Jay-ish?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Jay-ish. Like Snowstar is Snowstar-ish.”
“Snowstar-ish?” exclaimed Snowstar. “I”ll show you Snowstar-ish!” She made to get up, fists raised, but Ash forced her down again.
After calming down, Snowstar spoke again. “Is that all? If so, then I suppose that I’ll be a leader too,” she replied, writing it all down on the paper.
“I want to be a warrior,” Robin said loudly, to make sure he was heard. “And I think Thunder would like that too.” He glanced at Thunder, who nodded.
“That’s settled then,” Sunset said. “I want to be a healer myself.”
After we finished, Moon read out the paper with the finalized jobs on it. Moon and Snowstar were leaders, Thunder and Robin were warriors, Sunset and Ash were healers, and Autumn and I were magic-makers. We sat there for a while, making idle chitchat.
“I think it’s time to go to the Great Hall for the test,” I told them. I surveyed the others’ faces to see how nervous they were. I could have sworn Robin’s face looked a little green. But if anyone thought he was nervous, I knew that he could blame it on the amount of bacon he had for breakfast- one and a half of those huge platters. Thunder usually dared Robin or Snowstar to do things, but occasionally selected someone else as his target.
We went back to the castle, enjoying the views of the forest on a sunny morning. Little sunlight filtered through the tops of the trees, but thankfully, it was enough to see by. The lush green of the leaves made it seem as though we were walking through a beautiful painting. Birds sang and chirped in nearby trees, and the leaves rustled as animals stalked their prey. I felt like I was in a dream, out of place among the quiet beauty of the forest, and the test would only wake me up, and I would never return to this moment.
At the Great Hall (the place where the test would be), we waited with the other palace children, which included our longtime archenemies, Crystal, Flame, Volcano, Shadow, Tornado, Hurricane, Tsunami, and Lightning, who also happened to be a group of eight. They were the sons and daughters of the Count, Countess, and the Duke and the Duchess. No one besides the Count, Countess, Duke, Duchess, Queen Poppy, Gem, and King Jim bothered to remember who their parents were. The Duke and Duchess were more well known than the Count, so everyone just said that they were the sons and daughters of the Duke and Duchess.
Moon’s, Thunder’s, Snowstar’s, Sunset’s, Ash’s, Robin’s, Autumn’s, and my rivalry with them had started at the age of eight, when someone had pulled a trick on me: a cruel trick. Even then, I had loved reading. The culprit had stolen some of my most precious scrolls, fully understanding that it would drive me crazy. The culprit had turned out to be Flame. We had gotten into a fight, and it had taken the combined efforts of Queens Poppy and Gem and King Jim too, and the parents of Crystal’s group, to pull us apart before we had started actually killing the other. To this day, both group held a grudge against the tricks we had played on them and them us.
“Alright everyone! Settle down, please,” a small man said in a squeaky voice. He was a Halfling, a former member of the Small Worlds, so he had to stand on his chair to be noticed. “Sit down with your group at a round table. Then, I will hand you the theory tests and you may begin. When you finish, raise your hand and you will begin the practical one with actual magic in a separate room. Remember, you will do this as a group. No talking.”
Then, we went to work on the tests, each one taking their own jobs’ questions and working in pairs. Once in awhile, we would whisper and talk about the questions with the other.
“How in Moonstone Galaxy do they expect us do it as a team when we can’t talk?” I murmured. My friends all nodded their heads vigorously.
Most of this is pretty easy, I thought. We didn’t need to research anything at all! This is just what we learned in classes.
“Are you guys done yet?” Moon muttered out of the corner of her mouth while keeping her eye on the paper in front of her.
“No, almost done though,” Thunder replied, still whispering.
“Just a little more…. done!” Ash said, putting his pencil down in satisfaction. We weren’t the first ones to finish, though. As we raised our hands, we saw Crystal and her group leave. The small man collected our tests and shooed us towards the exit, which, by the way, is the same doorway as the entrance. Several guards came toward us, dressed elegantly. Then they marched formally, with us sandwiched in the middle, to the Throne Room, where my father sat on the throne.
“Welcome to the last part of the Test,” he boomed, “where you will rely on magic and fighting alone to survive with your group. You must work as a team. One monster shall be released on you and you must rely on your wits alone to battle it.” On the last word, there was a sound of metal against metal and a monster slid out from behind a door.
I was totally unprepared. It was a huge creature with yellow eyes and wings, and a long mass of hair-like substance all along the back. The scaly hide looked impenetrable, and the claws were long and sharp, about the size of a regular sword. It breathed out, and a horde of arrows came shooting out of his mouth toward me. Luckily, I leaped out of the way just in time. The last few, I swept away with a burst of magic, and clattered to the ground beside me.
“It shoots arrows and has swords on the back and as claws! It’s a War Machine! The tail is also like a club, just so you know! It’s native to the Shadow Realms!” Autumn shouted, as the tail came crashing down on Ash’s shield. The shield buckled and splintered, and although they weren’t harmed, Sunset and Ash had to run as a horde of arrows rained down on them.
“Nice to know!” Robin bellowed back. “But not helping!” I rolled and dodged another volley of arrows. I got to my feet shakily, in time to run as yet another volley of arrows peppered the ground.
“How do you kill this thing?” yelped Thunder, backflipping as the club came down to smash him.
“I’m not sure! The books don’t say!” Autumn shouted back.
“If we can’t kill this thing by force, let’s try magic!” suggested Thunder.
“Good idea!” Snowstar yelled. “Drop your weapons, guys. We’ll need our hands free to do the magic.”
“Don’t you dare!” I shrieked. “The textbooks also say that you can’t use magic on another living thing, excluding your own kind, otherwise whatever spell you cast will bounce back on you and result in an unpleasant disaster!”
“What disaster isn’t unpleasant?” Moon screamed, rolling on the ground, as a razor- sharp talon scraped the ground where she had been a second earlier.
“Don’t worry about that now!” groaned Ash. “Stop arguing and let’s get to work! Distraction is a good factor in defeating a monster such as this.”
Moon got up and shouted, “I’ll distract it with my bow and the rest of you kill it! You’re going to need help with that!” Autumn joined Moon, “We’ll get it from the front!”
“Right!” Snowstar snapped, “Thunder, Jay, attack from behind! Robin, Autumn, pick a flank and injure it! I’ll help you if you need! Move it! Positions, people!”
I took up my position with Thunder. I quickly unsheathed some of my daggers and got the feel of them. I didn’t usually use weapons. I much preferred to solve arguments by talking or by magic. Unfortunately, you can’t just talk to a War Machine.
“On my mark!” Snowstar called. I exchanged a glance at Thunder.
“Cut off that thing’s tail, Jay. I’ll jump onto it’s back, and aim for the neck. Back-up plan: do it as it happens.” I rolled my eyes at that last part. That back-up plan wasn’t my favorite strategy. But in this situation, I could tell that there was no time to figure it out.
“How about I try to shield your fall with magic?” I said.
“Sure!” Thunder grinned. Then we lapsed into silence and waited for the signal.
“Go!” Snowstar shouted. Six warriors charged at the monster while Moon and Autumn kept it’s head busy. Ash was paired with Snowstar and Sunset with Robin. I nodded at Snowstar’s order. Very balanced and gave us a higher chance of survival.
Thunder vaulted onto the War Machine’s back, and after several very hard tries, I finally found a gap in its armor and, with difficulty, chopped it’s spike-covered tail off. It howled in pain and turned to face me. Holy Chaos! I cursed in my head. I ducked a blast of arrows and threw my dagger. That turned out to a mistake, because it knocked the dagger out of the way easily. The War Machine blew some more arrows at my face, and instead of jumping out of the way, I rolled forward. A giant claw came down on top of me. I closed my eyes, holding my shield up. When nothing happened, I looked up. Snowstar was there, holding the claw off with her sword. Then the Machine grabbed her and began to squeeze. Suddenly, Moon was at my side.
“Help me with this, will you?” she grunted. Ash and Sunset threw some knives desperately at it.
“Finishing blow!” Snowstar managed to yell with the last of her breath. Out of all of us, only Robin understood.
“All of you distract it!” He yelled. We ran to surround the monster and distract us as best we could. Robin dodged arrows and talons and finally got to it’s chest.
“Goodbye, ugly,” I heard him sneer. The sword worked it’s way through it’s armour and into it’s heart. Then just as suddenly as the battle started, it was over. We stood panting beside the fallen body, except for Sunset and Ash, who were frantically collecting the skin, which would make good armor if they managed to find out how it worked.
“Congratulations,” said King Jim. “You have finished your test and shall be getting the results back tomorrow. For now, try to get some sleep. It looks as if you need it.”
I sleepily nodded. Once we had reached outside, though, I breathed in the fresh air, and I wasn't tired anymore.
“You know, I’m not so tired anymore,” I turned to my friends. “Are you?” For some strange reason, my strength felt like it was being poured back into me.
“I’m with you,” added Autumn. “Anyone up for a treat? Let’s go to the main city.”
“We need to take this to our room. Then we’ll go,” Ash said, showing us the skin he and Sunset had collected.
“All right,” Moon said. “You guys ready to go?”
“Deal.” I agreed. We walked away, letting the fear and tension of the battle fade.
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