Dead King's Sword (Old Draft)

2. I Regret Everything

Zeren

***

My new school was a prison. The giant black castle was far away from civilization. With nowhere to perform my stand-up routines, I would go mad with boredom. Above the castle's walls, magicians dressed in black robes patrolled the battlements. Werewolves prowled the surrounding forests for intruders. My father parked the car near the twin black gates that marked the entrance; other students were unloading their suitcases, saying goodbyes to their families. I glanced at the side of my dad's face, the shadows moving across his dark brown skin. He said, "Look, this is your last chance. You need to do well here if you want to work for a good company in the future."

"I think I might just live as a nonmagi, work as a comedian."

My father's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Your ancestors fought hard for your freedom; don't waste it standing on a stage, telling stupid stories."

"They're not stupid stories. People like them; it makes them laugh."

He groaned. "You get no money doing that. It's pointless; no daughter of mine is going to waste their life like that. You will finish school, get a good job and bring honour to the Mandel name."

I sighed, leaned back against the chair. "Whatever." I kicked the door open and got out.

***

The walls of the principal's office were composed of cedarwood. A ram's head hung on the wall, its horns curling behind its ears. The place smelled of frankincense and something sweeter, almost like candy, or perhaps it was the perfume of the girl next to me as Erin and I sat together while our parents took the wings. The principal who had our audience was a boring man, shaped like Humpty Dumpty, covered in a black robe. He was bald except for a few strands of hair on the back of his head, which he wore in a ponytail.

My father was a captain of the June Defence Squad, a group of black magicians who embraced African spells and potions, voodoo, and the like. He was of a low, inconsequential rank in the magical society but dreamt of his children doing better things. I, as his eldest, had been a disappointment, letting him down time and time again.

My mother, well, I didn't know where she was, so it didn't matter what she thought of me. She had left when I was ten, vanished into the night, and never returned. My sisters and I used to make up fantastic stories about her disappearance; we fantasized about her going to slay a dragon or defeat an evil wizard, but in reality, she probably just grew tired of us.

On Erin's left was her mother, Amelia Gatti. Amelia belonged to a line of powerful vampires who had been influential in Ancient Rome, modern Italy, and a few parts of Greece. They owned a lot of lands that gave them passive income through rent. Amelia was tall, slim, and stoic with pale ivory skin and long bluish-black hair. A cold breeze continually wafted off her form. As a child, I had been terrified of her. I had always hidden whenever she came to the school. I was still anxious to be alone with her. Her eyes had a way of making you feel like you had tumbled into a pit with no bottom and were falling endlessly into the dark.

Amelia's husband, Dai Williams, had been anointed after defeating Luther, a dark elf who had kidnapped young wizards and turned them into an elixir to maintain his youth. Luther had slipped like a shadow through villages for a long time, stealing the young from their backyards and killing them in his secret caves. He was so gifted at evading capture, people began to doubt if he had existed at all. By bringing Luther's severed head to the Canadian Council of Archmages that governed our community, Dai gained the interest of the Gattis. Later, after a few bouts of magical duels, he won his wife. Some people compared their love to Romeo and Juliet, but they were still alive, so the comparison didn't make sense to me. Dai was tall with short bronze hair, a stern face, sunken cheeks, and a sparse beard covering his jaw. His green eyes were always callous, impassioned, but I found him easier to talk to than his wife.