Battle Of The Valkyrie

Chapter 9

9

“Hurry, we’ll be late!” I glared at Astrid dragging her feet when she should’ve been running like me.

“Relax, it’s just another boring history class from Professor Gorm.”

“Yes, but Flavia said we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. It’s business as usual.”

My worries echoed through the wide halls of the Academy, which were emptier than usual. Students had to be hanging out in dormitories and different places now that the halls were patrolled.

Astrid shrugged as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Being late is my business as usual.”

“Well, not for me.” I glared at her before taking off by myself. Just because we were working together and were part of the same group, did not mean I had to get another detention because of her. Especially not tonight.

My shoes thudded on the marble floor and the colourful light in the hall led me to my designated classroom, where I joined the line-up just in time before Raven Peterson initiated the march.

“Forward!” he shouted, leading us into the classroom where Professor Gorm was waiting behind his desk.

He looked up from his dusty book, his thin glasses jittery on his crooked nose. He rose from his chair with straining effort and waved at the class. “Welcome to another session of Valkyrie History, my dear students. We shall begin our journey—”

“Aren’t you taking attendance?” Raven Peterson interrupted him.

“Attendance?” Professor Gorm chuckled. “My dear boy, I’m sure all my lovely students are here.”

“It’s a new mandatory rule to take attendance,” Peterson insisted.

“Ah, alas. I have no list of student names to take attendance from.” He turned back to the class, his smile wide. “So… Why don’t we start with—”

“Professor.” The Raven held out a sheet, no doubt a list of our names. “I insist.”

That took the professor off guard. The sweet old man stuttered for a moment before accepting the sheet. “Well… If I must. Ummm… Let’s see, who do we start with here.”

While he called names of the list, I stared at Astrid’s empty desk, my nerves growing with every name. If she wasn’t getting here soon, she’d be in trouble. Again.

Why did she always have to be such a pain in the ass?

“Rita?”

The girl two desks ahead of me raised her hand. “Present.”

“Astrid?” Professor Gorm called.

Crickets…

Of course, she wasn’t here.

“Ahem… Astrid?” he repeated hopefully.

“Hmm. Interesting.” Peterson made a note in his own booklet, no doubt writing my classmate down for another disciplinary session.

The i***t. But she kind of deserved it.

“Right, okay…” Gorm continued, a little startled. “Where was I… Ah. Ylva?”

“Present,” I replied, steadying my voice.

The professor nodded as he walked along the blackboard. “Aellyn?”

“I’m here!” The Wood Elf next to me answered cheerily. “I mean… Present!”

With the attendance done, Professor Gorm returned to his usual ramblings and mutterings. His long beard dangled down his robe as he swayed back and forth, tittering on about sacred history and forgotten legends.

As suspected, another boring lecture about things that were no longer relevant.

Just when he was handing out some sheets, the door swung open and Astrid appeared with her stupid grin.

“Ahh, Astrid,” Professor Gorm said. “Welcome, my dear. Have a seat.”

Raven Peterson coughed loudly. “She’s late.”

“All the more reason for her to sit down,” Gorm replied sweetly. “Let’s continue.”

“But—”

“Young man, are you going to keep disturbing my class?” Despite his frail nature, there was a determination in Gorm that made Peterson back off. The professor smiled and just returned to his lecture.

Astrid sat down next to me, her smile annoyingly triumphant. “See, I told you it was fine. Nothing happened with being late.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes back into my skull, not in the mood to acknowledge she was right. I only had that many agreements in me and I wanted to save them for more important issues.

My classmate flipped her book open and peeled through the pages. “So. What’s the old fart moaning about today?”

“If you were on time, you’d have kno-own,” I sang, making sure to use the most annoying voice I had. Maybe our constant quarrelling was petty, but it was a great outlet for any of my negative emotions. She could dish it out, but she could also take it. In a way, we were like sparring partners or mutual boxing balls.

I stared back at my own book, realising I also didn’t know which page we were on. I flicked through some of the chapters, hoping to miraculously find what Professor Gorm was discussing today.

“You don’t know either. Hah!” Astrid’s triumphant cheer echoed through the room and had some of our other classmates glaring back at us.

“Well… Fine, I don’t know either.” I ignored the girl on my left and turned to Aellyn. “What page are we on?”

“Three hundred and ninety-four,” she whispered back.

“Right… The origin of the Four Winds?” I yawned. “Come on, we all know how this one goes.”

A voice boomed from behind me. “Is that so, Ylva?”

“Professor.” I gulped audibly. How did he get there?

“If you know, why don’t you tell the entire class?” Gorm suggested nicely.

Fuck. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.

Awkwardly, I ran a hand through my hair and tried to ignore Astrid’s snickering from my left. If she thought I was going to embarrass myself, she had another thing coming.

I straightened my back and took a deep breath. “Well, my mother always told it to me as a bedtime story.”

“Go on.”

“When the earth was a wasteland and all kinds of gods still roamed this world, looking to make their mark, Odin was the one to capture the ravenous Wind. Then he created his people from two wooden trunks he found near the sea. One body became human and the other a vessel to trap the Wind. Our first ancestor. She gave birth to four sons and those became the Four Winds as we know them. North, East, South, and West.”

Professor Gorm nodded. “Hmmm. You know your bedtime stories.”

I grinned. Maybe I should participate more often in his class if he was going to give me compliments like this.

“We all know what happened to the Four Winds.” Gorm shot me a smile and shuffled to the front of the class, his beard waving along. “But what about their mother?”

“What about her?”

The professor nodded. “What happened to the mother?”

“I don’t know.”

Someone in the front of the class raised their hand. “Didn’t she just die after giving birth?”

“That’s what most people think, but some believe that’s not what happened.” He finally handed out the sheets he brought and nodded. “Go to the library until the end of the hour, formulate a hypothesis on what happened to the Mother of Winds and write an essay to prove your point. If you don’t get it done, make it homework. Two pages, by next week.”

Before any of us could write his assignment down, Raven Peterson bounced up from his chair. “No homework. Those are the new rules.”

“Young man, I don’t give a s**t about your new rules.” With those words, the always kind and boring professor packed his bag and waltzed out of the room, leaving us all stumped and surprised.

“That was badass,” Aellyn whispered.

“It was,” I agreed. “Very. I wonder what got into him to speak up against a Raven.”

“Maybe something in the water?”

“Hmm… Maybe…” I reached for my bag. “Let’s go.”

“The library is boring,” Astrid yawned. “I’m going back to the—”

A shadow fell over her desk and she looked up to find Raven Peterson standing next to her, his glare murderous.

Her eyebrows knitted together. “Yes?”

“Disciplinary session.” He held out a pink note, his face wrought in frustration.

“What? I didn’t do anything.”

“You were late.” Without saying anything else, he strode away and left Astrid fuming.

She reduced the sheet into a tight ball and shoved it in her bag. “It’s not fair. They’re so boring.”

“I know.” I shot her a smile. “Guess you shouldn’t have been late after all.”