The School of Bermuda - Volume 1 - The hunter's daughter

-12-

"Good! Barked the teacher. I am your coach for the races, but also for the elected pall. You will have three hours with me to talk about this discipline tomorrow, but for now, we are here for the races. Who knows what it's about?"

She completely ignored Ree, Izãdo, and another classmate whose bangs completely covered her eyes. All three had raised their hands.

"No one, huh?" she mocked, turning her head. "I'm not surprised. Well, you bunch of slugs, they would probably tell you that it's a fun activity for students. In my opinion, it's mostly a waste of time!"

The students looked at each other. If Tera Noctis was intimidating, yet a good teacher, this woman seemed completely disinterested in her work.

"I suppose you all already know how to ride a broom, although I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. So, what are you waiting for? Do you have it with you? Mount it! If someone didn't bring an object to knock them out, leave immediately, I don't have time to waste!"

The young ones hurried to take out what they had brought. Lili had opted for a frying pan, although she wondered what its use was. They weren't going to fight on a magic broom, were they? She also ordered them to deposit their wands in a box behind her. It was divided into several compartments with the students' names.

Mrs. Montlaure pointed her own wand in the air, and immediately, magical circles appeared, tracing out a whole course. Some moved a few meters back and forth horizontally, vertically, or describing arcs in the air. Then, the teacher headed towards a large cloth placed on what seemed to be a table, but when she lifted it, there was actually a cage underneath. The creatures inside, Lili identified them as Tuftoos - thanks to her magic book! These small balls of fur, about twenty centimeters in size, had only one eye lost in their mass of fur, a small mouth full of pointed teeth, and small wings on their backs. However, they didn't have legs. In the book, Touftous were described as very aggressive and impossible to train.

"Get ready for the race," the teacher said, grabbing the latch of the cage.

"Are you going to release them?" Lili protested.

"That's the goal of the races, Miss Mause. The participants follow the course marked by the circles, without missing a single one, while avoiding the Tuftoos, hence the usefulness of your non-magical object."

"But... shouldn't we practice first?" Ree hesitated.

"I believe in learning on the job. Let's go!"

With these words, she opened the cage sharply. Seeing the little creatures rush at them to bite them, the students hurried to take off on their brooms and launch themselves through the rings.

Quickly, a Tuftoo came up to Lili's height, trying to grab her arm, but she narrowly dodged it, hesitating to strike it. It was just a small animal, how could they have come up with such a game? But when the beast rushed towards her again, this time grabbing her ankle and deeply sinking its fangs into it, she didn't hesitate and sent it flying with her frying pan. She realized, relieved, that these creatures were elastic, something the book hadn't mentioned, which made them very resistant. The one she had just struck didn't seem affected at all, immediately chasing after another student as if it had just been pushed back by a gust of wind. Lili had to put her pity for these animals aside when three of them attacked her at the same time. Nevertheless, she focused on the rings so as not to miss a single one.

Louis, the mute triplet, received a Tuftoo right in the face, which his sister had gotten rid of without paying attention to where she threw it. He fell straight to the ground, quite violently, surrounded by some of the creatures. However, they seemed to lose interest in him and preferred to attack the other runners. Perhaps the Touftous were attracted to fast movements?

Ree was accidentally ejected as well, landing right on poor Louis. Several other students quickly found themselves on the ground.

When all those still able to continue had crossed the last ring, Céline Montlaure blew into a small object that made no sound, but brought all the little creatures back into their cage.

The students were out of breath. Lili grimaced when she set foot on the ground, as her ankle was painful. Nonetheless, she rushed to Ree and Louis.

"Ree, are you okay?"

"More scared than hurt," the blonde replied with a smile. "Luckily, I landed on something soft."

Accompanying her words with actions, Ree gave a playful tap on the stomach of the mute boy, to return the teasing that Edward and Anna subjected them to. Ree got up with Lili's help when Madame Montlaure called them all.

"This race was meant to decide who would represent your class in the competitions this year," she declared. "So, the prince will be the only one to participate in this class since he came in first."

The other students hurried to congratulate him.

"Obviously," the teacher continued, "he will no longer be allowed to represent your class in the following years. No one can represent their year twice. Now, everyone go, I have real training to give to Mr. Roiyaruu."

Ree, Lili, and Lulis congratulated their friend and wished him good luck before following the rest of the class.

Lulis had been among the first to be caught by the Tuftoos, as he had had a lot of trouble accelerating his broom, so he was covered in bites. Ree only had a few bruises from her fall, she also scraped her right knee and had two bites on her arm. Lili, on the other hand, was limping a bit. The bite on her left ankle was deep and terribly painful. She had two more bites on her right arm and one on the top of her thigh. The Tuftoo that had given her the latter bite remained attached until the whistle blew. Wearing a skirt for this kind of sport was really not advisable!

While the other students preferred to enjoy the last-minute free time they had gained, the three of them decided to head to the infirmary.