Dead King's Sword (Old Draft)

23. Nonmagi in a School of Witches

Erin

***

The teacher for Attacking 301 was the handsome yet inadequate Haniel Roy, a core six offensive specialist from the house of Ignite. His slicked-back brown hair carried red, orange, yellow, and white streaks. A loose red and white shirt covered his lean torso; skinny jeans hugged his legs. He looked more like a model than a teacher.

Zeren was studying him closely, squatting. I could almost hear her thoughts, 'He's hot, but I'm hotter.' She nodded to herself, sensed me watching her, and stuck out her tongue. I showed her my middle finger. She smiled and looked away. Light glinted off the diamond studs that decorated her ears.

Professor Roy cleared his throat and called the nonmagi human, Dawson, to the front of the room. The boy's face seemed pinker than usual. Roy held the boy's shoulders and said, "I've received some complaints from our nonmagi friend."

Some of the guys groaned.

Standing near Princess Anne, Sam said, "The boys are just idiots, sir." To Dawson, she said, "It gets easier to ignore them as time passes."

Roy smiled. "Actually, I received some complaints about you girls as well."

Shocked whispers filled the room, and Roy raised a hand for quiet. "Now, I understand that many of you have never seen a nonmagi before as our two nations are segregated, but that doesn't mean you can take samples of his hair, nails, and toes without his permission."

A girl with short hair raised her hand. "But how will we study him otherwise? How will we conduct our experiments?"

"You can ask questions with your mouth."

Murmurs of discontent travelled through the audience. A few shook their heads in protest. Roy patted Dawson on the back, sending him back in line. "Now, let's get started, everyone; remove your jewellery; we don't want any accidents. I once saw a girl's finger get so swollen we had to cut the entire thing off to remove her ring. She should have listened...."

While we removed our accessories and placed them in bins to collect later, Zeren and I received Z-wands to supplement our lost magic. Unlike Dawson, we would have to return ours promptly after class. Each gold wand had a black box near the centre of the handle that opened to reveal a keypad. The supplementary device could only perform simple offensive and defensive spells, but it would do for now.

One downside was Z-wands needed to charge for a few hours when their mana was depleted from their gemstones (artificial cores). They were also a hindrance as most attack spells outside of what we learned in elementary school were initiated by thoughts.

Thoughts happened at the snap of a finger. But Z-wands required you to punch in a code and wait for the device to carry out the order. I sighed as I accepted mine and took it from its red box. Zeren pointed hers at me, closed one eye, and watched me through the other as if staring through the scope of a sniper, then mouthed, "Bam!"

I looked heavenwards.

Roy arranged us into partners based on our core size or wand's approximate core size. Princess Anne and Sam were the first to utilize the sparring ring. The girls greeted each other with a curtsy, and then Roy blew a whistle for the match to begin.

Sam launched a lightning strike, but it was blocked by an energy shield in less time than it took to blink. The air expanded, thunder crackled, and bam! Lightning struck. The princess gritted her teeth, but her shield held. Roy nodded, showing his appreciation.

After a few strikes, Sam grew tired, her movements became sluggish. When Sam reached into her pocket for a vial to replenish her energy, Princess Anne knocked her outside the circle with a mighty wind spell. Sam flew backwards, then rolled across the floor in a tangled mess of clothes and limbs. Princess Anne raced over to help her, laughing at her victory. How I would have liked to be fighting Zeren.

Dawson gave me a shy wave, which I didn't return. My heart had turned cold to him after I had learned he wouldn't freely share his DNA samples with us. I raised my hand. "Can Dawson and I go next?"

Professor Roy nodded.

Good.

Dawson and I took our place in the green circle, standing about twelve feet apart. He had removed his robe and was wearing a black vest over a white dress shirt and fitted black trousers. He had a slightly pudgy mid-section; his chubby fingers gripped his wand. His eyes were afraid—just the way I liked them. Sweat plastered his black hair to his forehead.

Off to the side, Professor Roy whispered, loud enough for all to hear, "Go easy on him." In case I didn't hear his loud whisper, he winked. A few students laughed, and red spread to Dawson's ears.

I didn't know what easy meant.

Without looking, I punched in the code of the desired spell. I had gotten the feel of the wand after a few days. I pointed the wand at Dawson as it hummed. A gust of compact wind hit Dawson with the force of a speeding car. It threw him off the ground, outside the ring, and he landed in a heap on the ground, groaning. Most mages would have rebounded after a hit like that. But Dawson wasn't one of us. In a small, faraway voice, we heard him say, "Mom?"

Professor Roy winced and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Now I remember what I had forgotten. Principal Bast warned me about this. It's a funny story, actually." He laughed but was interrupted by Dawson groaning and whimpering. Mr. Roy snapped, "Quiet, boy, Teacher is speaking." To us, he said, "So it turns out that nonmagis have a far weaker constitution than us. Their bodies are fragile, so we shouldn't hit them with a strong spell. I think I accidentally gave you two wands with a size four, let's downgrade that to a one." He collected Zeren's wand with some difficulty as she ran away from him at first, and he had to chase her about before tackling her and taking it from her tight grasp. Then he returned for mine. So, I placed it on his palm with little hesitation.

"Is he dead?" I asked.

Relations between magi and nonmagi weren't all that good, but the king and his administration hoped that the younger generations of both races would be able to live in peace. If the authorities learned we accidentally killed the first nonmagi sent to our school, we would be severely punished. A chill ran down my back. If only Roy had remembered Principal's Bast's warning before I had attacked poor Dawson.

Professor Roy said, "I don't think he's dead." After a moment's pause, Roy beckoned us closer. "I'm going to take Dawson to the nurse's office, and this doesn't leave the class. We'll wipe his memory—"

Kite raised his hand. "But, sir, didn't we wipe his memory yesterday? Won't he lose brain cells or something if we mess with his mind so often?"

Professor Roy said, "Yesterday, he got hit by your stray fire blast."

Kite said, "It was yours actually, sir; I don't like fire magic."

Professor Roy laughed, then held the back of Kite's neck. "Come on, cousin, we talked about this yesterday. You were the one that burnt the boy's skin and made him look like a melting candle." A few boys laughed, but Roy silenced them with his glare. "Besides, yesterday never happened, so whether it was you who set him on fire, or me, it doesn't matter."

"But it sort of does if the spell goes wrong and he ends up remembering it later," Kite said.

Professor Roy said, "If everyone keeps the last two days a secret from Principal Bast, I'll give you all an 'A' on your next exam." Roy frowned, tilted his head to one side, then the other, and added, "well, B minus to A-plus; it's better to have a range, so Bast doesn't get suspicious. Good deal?"

A few people murdered their consent; others remained tight-lipped.

***

A/N: I almost posted this chapter with only a title XD That would have been a fun read.