The Unearthing (Book I of the Tebel Chronicles)

Chapter 24

After her swords exam success, life at Noring seemed to change for Cyan. Suddenly students were far friendlier to her. But as her popularity seemed to grow with the students, so it seemed to decrease with Rudi and Evan. Both seemed intent on making her life as miserable as possible and Cyan found herself dreading the Skotonia lectures and her physical training.

'On the plus side, it does mean you're getting fitter than most of us,' said Shyla almost sadly. Cyan and Kael grinned at their friend who steered well away from any exercise if she could.

'It helps that you are as good as you are in manipulation without needing to stay fit,' said Kael to Shyla. 'Otherwise you'd be in trouble with Marlin.'

'Hmm, that's the lecturer who made us change pools?' asked Cyan.

'Yes,' replied Kael, 'it's a well-known fact that he despises students better than him. Which of course means he despises most students.'

They all laughed at this.

The common room was filled with students catching up on assignments that they had left until after the practical exams. Cyan had long finished hers and was helping Kael with his Skotonian essay. It seemed anything unrelated to the history of the original country, Inskotonia, held little interest to him and so, once again, he'd left his assignments far too late. While Kael could cite any date or fact about the last king of Inskotonia and the civil war, when it came to anything recent in Skotonian history his reasoning became confused and disjointed.

'Why should I care about it?' he said grumpily when Cyan pointed this out, 'the main reason I came to Noring was to learn about the Kotons.'

'But they are in the texts since the civil war too,' pointed out Cyan.

'Sure, but not much. Nothing about why they seem to be such good warriors. It's like they've been bred to be the strongest. Do you know how good us I'tes have to be to take them on?'

'I hadn't realized that there was anything unusual about them,' said Cyan.

'No, why would you? Master Evan seems determined not to teach anything from that section of their history.'

'Well, it was quite long ago,' said Shyla, looking up from her Perets assignment. 'Maybe he feels it's got adequate coverage. I have to say we don't spend much time on four hundred years ago in Etsah history either.'

'But this is the important history,' argued Kael exasperated. 'This is why we should study it. It's what we should understand. That's why Master Dakin talks about it in our economics lecture - it has a bearing on all the economics and politics of Tebel since then. It has everything to do with my role as an I'te. The only reason I came to Noring after my I'te trials was to gain a deeper understanding of Skotonia and the Kotons – to defeat them.'

'Sure, Kael. But, to be fair, Dakin covers some of it in his economics class,' said Shyla. 'It's probably more appropriate there than if it were the main focus of history.'

'Yes, except his assignments aren't set around it. I want to use texts like those!' He gestured to a small pile of well-worn books. Cyan picked up two of them. A History of Inskotonia's Darkest Moments and The Broken Lineage.

'What are they about?' she asked, interested despite herself. She would never admit it to him, but Kael's enthusiasm for his favorite subject was contagious.

'Well, all the history texts are congruent up to the disappearance of King Rylan and his daughter. And after the civil war they also all tell the same tale. It's the story of King Rylan's arrival, how he appeared and what exactly happened after he left that no one seems to agree on.