Voiceless Bird

Chapter 11

Sounds Like a Plan to Me

"Psst. Night! Nightingale!" I felt hands shaking me awake and cracked an eye open, still half asleep.

"Are you awake? Night?"

It was still dark outside and there was someone in my room. I opened my eyes fully and was met with Meraella's round ones. I jumped up from my bed in surprise, what was Meraella doing in my room at this hour?

"Urgh, sorry for sneaking into your room, but I wanted to correct the misunderstanding from earlier." She screwed up her face and playfully poked out her tongue, "Robin is such a mean person."

Now that was the Meraella I knew.

I silently chided myself for thinking otherwise of her. Meraella was the most supportive friend I ever had and I trusted her.

"It's just that..." She rubbed at her eyes, brushing away tears that were threatening to fall, "Robin is so intimidating and whenever I want to talk to you or spend time with you, he just s-scares me away..."

My heart went out to her and I hugged her tightly as she cried softly into my shoulder. I hadn't realised that Robin intimidated Meraella so much. I narrowed my eyes angrily at the thought that his presence had kept her away.

This only added fuel to the fire.

**

"In honour of the upcoming Aureas Tournaments, today we are going to learn about the Academy's founder- Aurora Aureas."

Our Anatosia history teacher, Ms Chandler, paced around the classroom. She looked disapprovingly at Robin next to me, who had his head on the table, asleep.

In front of me, Meraella raised her hand. "Wasn't there two founders of the Academy?"

Two founders? I hadn't even known the Academy had been founded; I always thought it had been there since the beginning of history.

Ms Chandler stopped pacing and frowned slightly, "Well... technically—yes—but the high treason caused by that person blemished his family name and it was erased from the Academy's history." Meraella opened her mouth to say something more but Mrs Chandler had already moved on. "And that is what we will be discussing today."

She clicked her fingers and all the books on our desks turned to a page. Robin slowly lifted his head from the table and yawned. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that his eyes were slightly bloodshot and he looked exhausted. "What did I miss?"

I ignored his question and started reading, disregarding his state of confusion.

Aurora Aureas
Aurora, along with her partner, were the first Ruling Royals in the years 698-714. She founded the Academy in 700 and her vision for the Academy was to help train Royals-to-be before they entered Royal society. Leander Argentane, a Royal part of the council at the time, helped Aureas in her vision of the Academy. However, their paths split and Argentane's ambition took a turn for the worse.

The books magically closed shut with a snap before I could read more.

Aurora Aureas... the name sounded strangely familiar, but I shook it off. I must've just heard it somewhere before; after all she was one of the first Ruling Royals.

"Rumours and reports from spies hinted at the preparation of war from other countries during that time." Ms Chandler's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Leander Argentane proposed the idea to the council that the Academy be put to use for the training grounds of war—as those with powers would be useful for combat.