The Rossem Project

The University - Part 2

     The next time he woke up he was feeling much better, and when he sat up he was surprised to find that the beds on either side of him were empty. He was sure that they'd just woken up and gone somewhere else, perhaps to have a bite to eat, but he still felt anxious and worried. He put on a dressing gown someone had left beside his bed and hurried to the door in search of them.

     The door led into a corridor in which the acolyte was scrubbing the floor, singing a song that Thomas recognised; the tale of a young and very innocent pilgrim that Diana Winterwell, another cleric of Caroli and a very good friend of his, had liked to sing while performing some tedious, mundane task. She looked up and sat back on her heels when she saw him, a smile of pleasure spreading across her pretty face. "You shouldn't be up," she scolded him half heartedly. "How do you feel?"

     "Fine," replied Thomas, relaxing with relief. She wasn't acting as if anything bad had happened to Lirenna and Derrin. "Where are my wife and son?"

     "Down there," she said, pointing. "And take it easy! You're still not fully recovered."

     Thomas promised and hurried off in the direction indicated. The infirmary was as large as any to be found in a large city, testifying to the dangers of magic use, but at the moment it was almost empty, telling him that none of the great disasters that happened occasionally, despite the best precautions, had happened recently. It wasn't so large that he was in danger of becoming lost, though, and he soon found his way to the common room where Lirenna and Derrin were eating a light meal. They jumped up in delight when they saw him, and the three of them hugged each other tightly, glad they'd all come through the ordeal intact.

     "You were still asleep when we woke up," explained Lirenna a few minutes later when he finally let go of her. "The cleric said you needed to rest, so we thought we'd get something to eat and take something back for you, ready for when you woke up."

     "Thanks," replied Thomas, who suddenly realised that he was ravenously hungry. He pinched some of the food from Lirenna's plate, earning him a disgusted look from his wife and a giggle from his son. They chatted happily for a few minutes, all glad to be alive and together and to have safely (more or less) reached the place they'd been aiming for. Gradually, though, more serious matters began to occur to them and Thomas looked around nervously as he wondered who he could talk to. There had to be someone around here who could explain the situation to them fully.

     "I suppose I'll be staying here full time now," said Derrin absent mindedly, and both his parents nodded in agreement. Their former plans had depended upon their being able to teleport between Lexandria and the Overgreen Forest, and now that was out of the question. Not only Derrin, but all three of them would have to stay until they could find some other way of leaving. Thomas was glad in a way. Now he wouldn't have to endure entrancement every few weeks as they entered and left Haven. Now that the secret valley was a long and arduous journey away, trips to and from Lexandria would be limited to once a year, if that.

     "Perhaps we could borrow a flying carpet," mused Lirenna. "We could be back in Haven within the week. They wouldn't let us keep it, of course, and we wouldn't be able to travel so fast on future visits here." She turned to Derrin. "How would you feel if you knew you'd only see us for a couple of weeks every year or so?"

     "I'll be okay," said the boy confidently. He turned to Thomas. "You never saw your mum or dad for the whole five years you were here, did you?"

     "True," agreed Thomas, nodding. "Very true. But we were older than you when we came here, and quite a bit taller. You'd be in a class full of boys and girls bigger than you."

     "I'll be okay," repeated Derrin. "You said I was cleverer than other boys my age, and I was getting pretty bored with school back home. I'll like it better here."