Stars and Swords

Stormcloud

The weeks went by as Holos and his fellow recruits learned various things at the Polarian Knight Academy. The instructors did their best, teaching the recruits all they could learn: history, etiquette, and weapons skills. In addition, they had optional classes tackling mounted warfare and advanced weapon tactics, one for each discipline. Time marched on fast and soon, it was their Preliminary Examinations, the first of the three such exams, with the other being the Midterm and Final. The exams were conducted over three days, which included the traditional written part and the practical part, if it applied.

All around the academy, the atmosphere was tense come the first day of the Preliminary. As if to compliment the nerves, the cooks served up their best according to a vote done by the recruits a week earlier: pancakes, bacon, and beans. There were also sausages and eggs available, and three flavors of fruit juice were there, all freshly squeezed.

The mess hall was abuzz as the instructors came in to also eat with the recruits. Moments later, the academy's administrator, which was none other than Lord Auros, Holos' father, stood up to address the students.

"Recruits." Lord Auros began, "Today is the first part of your Preliminaries. Over the course of three days, your skills, wit and intellect will be stringently tested, to see who indeed is worthy of being a Polarian knight. May The Celestium watch over your tests today, and may you prove worthy. Covernius guide your way!" he said, to applause from both the staff and the students. The recruits finish breakfast and soon it was time to partake in the examinations.

Today's schedule was Aurorai History, Formal Etiquette, and Mounted Warfare. Many were getting their last bits of reading in before the test started. Lord Auros then approached his son, much to the surprise of most of the recruits.

"Father, don't you have duties to fulfill elsewhere?" asked a surprised Holos.

"Heh, ain't the headmaster allowed to wish his son good luck?" Auros smiled coyly. :And that goes to the rest of you, young men and women!" he said to the other recruits around them.

"Thanks...Headmaster." Holos said, being mindful of his surroundings, stopping himself from saying "father" out loud while there was other students. Already, some students were mumbling resentfully to themselves about Holos' connection to the headmaster. To make things worse, Oren and his cronies heard the whole exchange between father and son.

"Heh heh heh, you asked daddy to make Combat Basics exams easier?" sneered Oren.

"He did nothing of the sort!" piped up Alec.

"No one's asking, wuss." hissed one of Oren's cronies.

"Hey Baz!" called Oren to the crony that spoke earlier, "What say you, let Holos and his little weakling buddies see how they will utterly fail in the Combat Basics exam!" he said menacingly, as he lunged towards Holos and his friends. Holos had no choice but to parry Oren's punches, but unluckily, one connected straight to his jaw, which winded the silver-haired youth. His friends were doing worse, suffering several blows to the face and body.

"Whassup nerd, gonna cry yet?" leered Oren, winding up another blow. Holos deflected it just in time, but the cost of the blow going into his arm.

"Come on Alec, make it entertaining!" taunted the one named Baz, disrespectfully slapping said boy who was weakened by earlier blows.

Holos landed a blow to Oren's gut, making the burly boy reel before stomping on Holos' foot which unraveled Holos' already weakened guard. That maneuver exposed him to a headlock from Oren, which said boy capitalized fast.

Rushing footsteps can be heard responding to the scene: a teacher passing by, along with a pair of knights.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the instructor shouted out. The knights tore up the fight, which was pretty much a beating. Holos's face was starting to turn purple from Oren's choking while Baz and the rest of the cronies had beaten Alec and the rest of Holo's friends into patches of black and blue. The knights kept the two warring parties apart while the instructor lectured them.

"All of you, follow me to the Head Instructor's office...now." he snarled to both parties, shooting them an angry glare. All involved did so, with the knights escorting them, so neither tried anything fast on the other.

Not much later, they were in the Head Instructor's office, a rather intimidating and stately office. He was a rather well-built middle-aged man with green hair that was well-maintained but starting to fade.

"Take your seats, all of you." he tersely told the recruits.

"What...in the name of Covernius was that nonsense?" he calmly but menacingly asked the involved people. "On exam day, too, have you no shame?" he blurted out. "Can any of you please explain?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Head Instuctor, if I may?" one of Holos' friends piped up.

"Go, Franz." he responded.

"I and Holos, like everyone else, were minding our own business when Oren and his thugs made a fuss about how Holos is related to the professor and how they'll beat us in the Combat Basics exams." Franz narrated.

"But is it fair though?" Baz interjected. "He gets privileges ordinary recruits would not get!" he ranted.

"That's a baseless assumption, Steele." the Head Instructor refuted angrily. :And the fact you exhibited brigand behavior because of that fact...is baffling at best." he lamented. "Because of this incident, the lot of you will be docked 10 points in all your exam results." he snarled. "And that decision is final!" he snapped, "Now then to your exams." he gestured the recruits out of his office. "And I done wanna hear this nonsense happening ever again you understand?" he told them as they were going out.

"Yes sir." the recruits said in unison. All of them hurried it up to where their History exams were being conducted. They immediately picked off the remaining spots and got their exam papers. Holos in particular wasted no time inking his quill and answering the questions. Oren and the rest of his cronies meanwhile evidently struggled, but the fight earlier slowed Holos' pace with answering the questions on the paper. Holos barely made it before the proctor called it "time out, pass your papers", penning in one last answer before he joined the queue of people turning in their papers.

The rest of examination day went on smoothly without incident. After the exams for the day were done, everyone headed to their spots in either the courtyard or the mess hall, winding down from the day's gauntlet. Holos, Alec and Franz along with the rest of his group all elected to take a shower to cool down from all that beating earlier. No one said a word in the showers, all silently agreeing and brewing on what happened earlier.

Finally, when dinner came that night, someone amongst them spoke up.

"Ten points...just for their nonsense..." hissed Franz as he bit into his food.

"Would you rather the whole academy know I am the son of the headmaster that receives leeways no normal student gets?" retorted Holos, chugging his glass of water.

"I know, it's just..." said a curly-haired recruit.

"Interest of fairness, Art." said Alec. "Had it gone the way we all want it, it'll make a precedent." Alec continued, as he continued with his food.

"Alec is right." said Holos. "As much as it is a pain for all of our scores, it had to be that way..." he sighed. The group continued with their food, though they shifted topics; to how well did they do with the rest of the day's tests.

Oren and his group meanwhile, were taking turns shooting pointed looks at Holos and his group.

"Heh, beat em like the little wusses they are." sneered Baz.

"You see that Alec over there? Nice job Baz!" hollered Oren. "Beat em like the nerds they are. And p*****s like them do not deserve to be soldiers, let alone knights." he hissed.

"Keep it down, lest faculty hears us." warned a boy with oily, dull green hair reaching to his shoulders.

"Ah get off my back, Beran." scoffed Oren. "Neither faculty nor the Elders are near right now." he drawled.

As soon as dinner was done, the recruits went back to either their quarters to study or the courtyard, while others remained in the mess hall, at least, until curfew is called. Tomorrow is the second day of quite gruelling test for the recruits, the second day for recruits to show what they learned.