This is sure to receive a goodly bit of editing some time
in the future; but for now, it shall suffice.
=====
Academy
Chapter Two
Intro
Jan Rosencrantz
didn’t mind the disapproving look his father first gave him when he said that
he wished to join the VKP. He didn’t mind the way his family whispered (continued to whisper, he reminded
himself grimly) behind his back. He didn’t mind that all his older brothers had
smiled condescendingly. Jan did,
however mind that his father had made it a point to send his younger brother in
a carriage and make him walk. Of
course, this may have been due to that fact that his younger brother James had always been on the Academy’s list, it
had been merely a matter of waiting until he was old enough. But Jan doubted
it. His father had a way of subtly (to others, at least) but painfully (to the
objects of his wrath) making his displeasure known.
He snarled at
the passing carriage bearing his family’s crest and walked in the general
direction of the
1
The smell of
soups and breads filled the air as the students filed into the Dining Hall. It
was perhaps the noisiest place Callo had ever been, save the streets of
Callo caught
snippets of conversations as the crowd milled about. “…I hear some rich
embastard’s son came here…” “…Father shan’t be happy if I’m away at harvest…”
“…and in his family’s carriage!”
“Why not sit
hither?” The voice was soft but firm and she turned to look who had spoken.
The speaker, a
short but sturdily built man of Nordic stock smiled grimly and pulled her into
a seat. “The people of Valendia do not look upon those not born in their shores
with kindness, lass. Sitting next to a Head of Year will provide you with some
protection.”
“I thought VKP
Agents relied on themselves?” Callo raised an eyebrow. She did not bother to
wonder how the man had known her heritage.
“Why suffer
needlessly? You may call me Herberich.” The man replied.
“Herberich? Just Herberich?”
“Aye. ‘ Tis just Herberich t’ ye,” the man
responded. “Ye shall show me the respect due me, as yer Head of Year, aye.”
“Head of Year?”
He paused before
explaining. “Ye will graduate the Academy in a certain year. Until that time,
‘tis my responsibility to prevent you from causing too much trouble. Now, if ye will pardon me, I will seek out my
other charges.”
Herberich stood,
looking down at a roll of parchment and calling out names. Boys stopped in
their tracks, and obeyed the Instructor’s demands to approach and sit. One sat
across from Callo, his dark eyes flickering from Callo to Herberich. She had
been amazed at how tall most of the boys were,
“KAJETAN MERLOSE!” Herberich bellowed, and
suddenly her elder brother materialized behind her.
“I am here,”
Kajetan said.
Herberich’s eyes
scanned the tall form. “Merlose?”
“I am Kajetan
Merlose,” Kajetan said by way of introduction, his words sounding somewhat
stilted.
“Herberich,” the
Instructor grunted.
“Well met,
Herberich.”
“Hardly,”
Herberich grunted. To the others, “Have ye seen Jan Rosencrantz?”
He sighed at the
responses to the negative, stood taller, and shouted, “JANSEN ROSENCRANTZ!”
When nobody surfaced to claim the name, Herberich sighed and seated himself.
‘Twill not be long before another Instructor drags the boy over, Herberich muttered, just audibly enough for Callo to hear.
* * *
Herberich hated fish— they smelled bad, they tasted odd, they had little bones in them the cooks didn’t bother to remove and they needed special forks.
Herberich sighed and picked at his plate, watched his students (minus Jansen) eat with gusto. As though they had done something worthy of hunger besides sitting in a carriage. The only people whose hunger he could understand were the Italian ones; they had been on a ship for the past however many months.
Servants entered in droves to remove the plates of those who had finished or would not eat, and Herberich used the moment of peace before more servants brought the next course to scan the crowds for his missing student. He did not see him, and so Herberich settled in to wait as the servants brought out the cheese. His students had remained silent throughout the meal, but now the break between courses had arrived, and they began to speak. He listened to their conversations, occasionally gleaning facts he hadn’t known but mostly learning more about the children.
Herberich sighed and leaned back in his chair, warily
glancing about. Years as a soldier and then a Riskbreaker had ingrained habits
too deep within him for him to remove. The slightest glimpse of motion at the
periphery of his vision— he turned his head to find the cause. . A pair of older boys were tipping the
chair of a younger boy backwards. The boys were all nobles. All had a look
about them, a facial setting particular to the Rosencrantz boys.
James, from the look of one, and… was that?
The Instructor hadn’t sprung up to snatch his stray
charge from the fray when the Inquisitor presiding over the table snagged him
by the ear and began hauling him over to Herberich.
"This one would be yours?" The Inquisitor
asked.
"Aye, my thanks," Herberich replied
stiffly. "As for you, Jansen Rosencrantz... I am not certain just what
to do."
The Inquisitor gave him a sharp look. One was never
to admit weakness before students.
"I suppose then," Herberich concluded
with a rakish grin, "that I shall assign you more physical training."
When Jansen failed to grasp the seriousness of his
punishment, Herberich added smugly, "With me."
Dinner ended, eventually and after many odd
incidents, which the author here will not record. Suffice to say, Ashley Riot,
Kajetan Merlose, Rip Hadley would be serving extra training sessions as well.