TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy) (16 page)

“During your finals, I will give you specific times or time windows in which you are to return to the marker from which you left for your quests. If you fail to return to that marker at these times the alarm will be raised and a rescue team will be sent if possible. Now, let me be perfectly clear here. If you arrive either before, or after, the set arrival time; you will fail that challenge and this failure will be non-negotiable. A failed challenge will have to be repeated, and passed before you will be able to arise. Failure to meet the objective of a quest will also result in failure. If you are asked to collect a seed sample, a live animal, or a bag of gold, for example, and you do not do so; you will fail the challenge and this failure will also be non-negotiable,” said Zurina sternly.

She then went through safety procedures for the setting of pendants before she finally reminded us that a carelessly set pendant could result in a quester’s worst fear. The never ending drop was a slow death in unbearable pain and, as it wasn’t the type of subject any quester ended a night on, Zurina finished, instead, by outlining our schedule for the next morning. Apparently, our people owned the house next door as well and we’d be moving over there after the morning meal tomorrow to view our weapons and combat training rooms. Of course, training in these areas would continue for all of us throughout the challenges and this was in preparation for when we officially arose. All questers maintained their training schedules themselves for as long as they remained upon the Quest.

Before she left us, Zurina explained that there was Synthetic Era cavity lighting in our rooms. These lights were set on the dimmest setting and could be controlled only by the house panel. I didn’t look at Morgan as she went on to say that tonight, and also during our finals, lights out would be at set nine and she expected us to be in our dorm rooms by this time every night.

“The morning run will be at rise seven, but as it’s the seventh day, tomorrow you may meet for the morning meal at rise eight instead,” she said briskly, before she wished us ‘good set’ and promptly left the room.

I looked at my pendant. It was only a quarter clock turn now until lights out, and we all followed Seth who stood up straight away and headed for the stairs.

“Good set Livia,” said Morgan softly, before he headed into his room. I paused in the hallway and glanced at my dorm room a little apprehensively before I turned to Morgan.

“Good set, Morgan,” I said slowly, and he half smiled.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll have to sleep with one eye open in there,” he said. He gestured to his dorm room and I nodded sympathetically before I left him and went, reluctantly, into my own dorm room.

Imogen and Erin stopped whispering the moment I walked in, but I ignored them and opened my travelling bag. The cavity lighting lit the ceiling of the room with a soft, even light and I closed my hand around Josh’s music cartridge. As I folded down my blanket, I slipped the cartridge surreptitiously beneath my mattress, then I folded back a thick, cotton sheet as well.

Our bed frames were made of oak wood, which was very expensive in this particular time segment, and they were simple in design. The mattress felt like an Aldirite one though and I guessed it would have been bought here from Aldiris. The mattress slotted within shallow wooden ledges around the bed frame and Josh’s music cartridge lay between the mattress and a canvas covering which was tacked across the bed slats.

I used the bathroom after everyone else was done and I’d folded my clothes to fill in the time while I waited. The lights went out as I washed my face and I let my eyes adjust to the darkness before I left the bathroom and returned to my bed. I could already hear the unfamiliar shuffling and whispering as the other girls lay in their beds…….but I didn’t hear it for long. As soon as I undressed, I reached for my music and, as the songs mingled with the familiar longing, I wondered if Morgan was asleep yet……or whether he’d be able to sleep at all………..

CHAPTER 7:

Sunday dawned with the sun trying desperately to shine through the atmospheric mist. Our second day of orientation began with a morning meal of porridge, and this was followed by a trip to the house next door. We left our Quest house through the gate in the back courtyard and it opened onto a well-worn dirt track which lead into the trees, and along the back fences, of the houses to either side of ours. Zurina informed us we’d run along this track each morning when we returned here in a week. I looked uncomfortably at the track which disappeared into the cypress trees and I wondered how far we’d have to run as I followed the others to the house next door.

This house was almost identical to the Quest house on the outside, except the colour scheme was beige rather than grey. On the inside, however, the lower level had been modified to include a large weapons training room set up for sword and bow training and it was also fitted out with a combat mat. The walls were bare brick and the floor was laid over with smooth wooden boards. The windows were tinted and I noticed someone had marked Aldiris handball circles on the brick wall at the far end of the room. I assumed it must have been the guards. Their rooms were upstairs here and apparently Marko lived here too. Zurina had her own rooms on the lower level of the Quest house. As well as the large training room, there was another small kitchen with a smaller dining area attached, and there was a small isolation and recovery ward in case one of us or the guards took ill. There was also a storage room full of practice bows and swords, and Zurina warned us that this room was to be left tidy at all times. She then went on to outline the times we were able to use the practice room, and before we all walked back to the Quest house, she explained the rules we were to follow when practicing unsupervised. By the time Zurina finished explaining procedures for movement between the houses, it time for us to wash our hands so we could have an early midday meal before returning to our tutors in our respective time segments.

As the Quest house marker was a rising marker, we were to leave just before midday and Zurina appeared to accompany us out to the courtyard. Just before she commanded the back door to open though, she paused beside the Early Era shield which was mounted on the wall in the hallway.

Zurina reached out and removed the shield before she turned to face us.

“We’ve been through plenty of safety procedures but this tends to put what we listen to in theory into real perspective,” she said briskly…….and we all stared silently at the wall. Zurina had revealed a display of small, wooden plaques mounted together on the wall. There were eight of them, and each had a single name engraved into the polished wood.

Zurina looked at each of us solemnly.

“These are the names of those questers who were living in this very house when they lost their lives during their finals. The challenges are unforgiving to those who make mistakes. The same risks apply here as will apply on the quests you will undertake once you arise, and your training is essentially over once you begin these final challenges. I trust you’ll approach them with an attitude to reflect their serious nature,” she said quietly, and she touched her fingers to a plaque near the centre of the display before she turned quickly and gave a brisk voice command to the back door. We followed her silently and I wasn’t the only one of us who glanced once more at the plaques as I walked past them towards the back door.

It was on that solemn note that Zurina sent us home.

I stood with Morgan in the middle of the back courtyard and, when the grey house, Zurina, and the misty sky disappeared, we travelled together into the deep blue, painful darkness……… It was only a week now until we’d both be back……

Mirren and Jonah waited for us in the park and it felt brighter, and clearer, in +2013. Here, the sun shone unobstructed by a neon, atmospheric mist, and Morgan and I headed straight back to our houses with our respective tutors. Our schedules began again almost immediately and my afternoon consisted of unpacking, followed by a combat class, and then a study session. Afterwards though, I was able to bathe for as long as I wanted in the privacy of my own bathroom, and I combed and braided my hair in Aldirite style before heading downstairs for my evening meal.

“How was your orientation Princess Livia?” Mirren asked me formally, as she set down my meal bowl in front of me. Mirren was still speaking to me without any of her previous nervousness and I noticed she looked very pretty tonight. Her hair was freshly combed and it fell, unbound, over her shoulders. Her eyes were very bright, and her cheeks were flushed, and she glanced at the time on her pendant while she waited for me to answer her question.

“It was very enjoyable,” I said carefully, and Mirren looked directly at me with her clear, blue eyes. “And, did Morgan find it just as enjoyable?” she asked me smoothly. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair and I nodded slowly.

Mirren didn’t exactly smile at my response but I thought, for a moment, she was deliberately trying not to.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said briskly, before she turned and left the dining room suddenly. I watched her go before I picked up my spoon. Beneath the leather that bound my wrist, the deep, blue mark on my skin radiated with warmth all of a sudden and, as I ate my meal, I could feel heat penetrating the skin toned bands of Aldirite leather. I frowned and fidgeted with the bands. Perhaps, I’d tied them too tightly.

Later that night though, as I lay in my bed, I noticed the warmth again, but I was too busy thinking about the weekend to pay too much heed to it. I put my hand beneath the coolness of my pillow and, as my pendant lay against my chest, I relived each and every moment I’d spent with Morgan at the Quest house. Not surprisingly, sleep evaded me completely and I listened to all of Josh’s music, twice…..before I finally managed to close my eyes……….

CHAPTER 8:

The next morning, Morgan was waiting for me on the street when I left my house, and I was becoming accustomed to the quick rush of happiness I felt when I saw him leaning against the light pole outside my gate. I was experiencing this same feeling every time I saw him of late.

The walk to school had never seemed so short and I felt like we’d only just left my house when I realised we were almost at the public courtyard.

“We should walk home by a different route this afternoon. We can get lunch on the way home so I don’t have to choke down my food in the school lunch room,” said Morgan, and I frowned.

“I can’t change my route. My guards won’t allow it. Any changes in my schedule have to be approved by my Mother before they can be applied,” I said, and Morgan laughed.

“You’re joking,” he said, and I shook my head awkwardly. His laughter faded. “You’re not joking,” he said in surprise, and I looked at him apologetically. “Well, there’s nowhere that sells fast food along this street so I’ll have to think of a way to override your security then,” Morgan said slowly. I frowned again.

“Fast food?”

I had no idea what he was talking about and he looked at me in surprise again.

“You’ve never eaten Synthetic Era fast food?” he said, and I shook my head as we headed across the public courtyard past the fountain. He shook his head too before he glanced behind him at my guards.

“You can’t leave this time segment again until you’ve tried their food. You don’t know what you’re missing,” said Morgan firmly. “What’s your schedule this afternoon?” he demanded.

“I have study straight after school and a tutoring session at a quarter clock turn past set four,” I said, and Morgan grinned.

“That’s perfect. I’ve got study until a quarter clock turn to set five and Jonah won’t be home until just before then. Today’s the perfect day for you to try your first burger,” he said cheerfully, as we walked down the concrete stairs and turned right to walk towards our school.

“I don’t want to be late for my tutoring session again and how will you override my security?” I asked him worriedly. Morgan glanced behind him again and he frowned slightly as we crossed the road in front of our school.

“I’ll think of something,” he said confidently, and when Josh caught up to us at the school gate, I glanced behind me as well. Surely, it wasn’t going to be easy to fool six Aldirite guards.

Morgan remained confident all day though, and he assured me he’d already thought of a plan when we sat down at our lunch table, without any lunch. He wouldn’t tell me the details of this plan but, when Josh joined us, Morgan borrowed his computer to look up which fast food restaurants were located close to our school……….

I should have realised outsmarting my guards wouldn’t be a problem for Morgan. It seemed overriding voice activated house control panels was the least of his talents. When school finished, Morgan walked out to the school gate with me and I glanced across the street to where one of my guards already waited patiently. I knew the others waited in the public courtyard at the top of the set of concrete steps and I folded my arms and looked expectantly at Morgan.

“Wait here,” he said confidently, and he grinned and raised his eyebrows at me before he ran across the road to speak to my guard. I watched him approach my guard and point back to the school……and I saw my guard look across the road at me and frown. Morgan kept talking though and the guard folded his arms before he glanced towards the steps and…..nodded. To my surprise, the guard headed away from me and I watched him walk up the stairs while Morgan ran back across the road between groups of students who walked in the opposite direction.