The Claddagh Academy

That Time When Kodiak Spread Rumors That Made Me Want to Kill Him

Kodiak

            “Have you seen that Darkholme girl? Brah, she is hot,” that one sentence made me stop and look back. My brothers looked at each other, probably sensing trouble in the air. We were all spread in pairs inside the locker room, some of my brothers were changing clothes, others talking by the doors on their way out. When I started walking in the direction of the assface who had spoken, all my brothers smiled and moved closer. We were Unseelie. We were trouble, and someone happened to be talking s**t about my mate. I couldn’t just let it pass, didn’t I? Slowly, to not attract attention on me, I moved to the large circle of guys that were talking by the end of the locker room. Prince Gallagher and Prince Edmond from the Earth and Water courts led the conversation, looking conceited while they talked s**t. I couldn’t understand why other guys needed to talk about girls with other guys. If a man was man enough he would only talk about what was on his mind with the girl he liked. Take Gallagher for example, why he needed to talk about Blaise when she wasn’t in there to hear what he wanted to say? It made me kind of mad, murderous even.

            I rested my back on a locker and crossed my arms, waiting until Gallagher finished his manly speech about all the girls he would hit on during the year. When he was done and all the bastards had laughed and enjoyed comparing d***s I walked in, using my magic to lift Gallagher by his neck and keep him hanging in the air. Two other guys from the Water court tried to help him, but my brothers Talon and Totem were there, pushing them back…by hitting their elbows against the imbecile’s noses. My mood improved exponentially. I would never again underestimate the positive effects of a good fight.

            “Gentlemen let me make things clear,” I extended my power from door to door, compressing my magic to every corner, every cranny and hole inside the locker room. All the Fae, including my brothers, gasped in terror. I was only showing them a minuscule, tiny part of my powers, but enough to make some of them piss in their pants. When I was sure that every Fae was in the same page as me, I let Gallagher fall. He screamed like a pig on his way down and hit the floor with a sonorous crack. Gallagher screamed again, this time in pain which meant he broke some bone on his fall. The sadist in me wondered which bone it was, just to inflict more pain over the wound. The beast in my head only kept saying killhimkillhimkillhimkillhim over and over. He had been speaking s**t about Blaise, I could kill him like the beast wanted. But I knew I really shouldn’t. Blaise was already starting to ask questions around about what have killed the Banshee that attacked her. She was smart. If I killed Gallagher she would start connecting the dots and I didn’t want to scare her. At least not yet.

            Blaise was the first girl that had ever challenged me. It might be because she was my soul mate or maybe because she didn’t know what I was, but I was enjoying the fight she always put up whenever I was close. We were always at war, fighting each other, studying the other one as a player would study his opponent’s technique in a chess match. If I killed somebody then she would probably see me as the monster I was. It was still too soon for her to understand…well, everything about my complicated story. It didn’t escape me that my sense of right or wrong was as skewed as the Tower of Pisa, but somehow Blaise had transformed into my moral compass. I only knew that if I thought she wouldn’t like some of my actions, then I shouldn’t do it, since they were probably wrong. Like killing Gallagher. I retrieved my magic. It felt like putting on a jacket, a mechanical movement, pure muscle memory. Everyone breathed relieved, while I walked closer to the prince laying on the floor. His terrified eyes found me while I looked down at him, “Blaise Darkholme is mine. Spread the word and do it fast. If I heard anyone else talking badly about her or trying to hit on the girl I claimed, I will kill them. From now on Blaise is invisible to all of you. Now scatter.”

            The locker room started getting empty as soon as I’d finished talking. My brothers surrounded me slowly, almost carefully. I could sense their curiosity about Blaise, it was in their eyes, burning silently while they waited for me to explain myself. This was the first time I’d made such a public display of ownership over a girl and they were all interested to know what had made me so sloppy. I was the king of the Unseelie. The youngest king that had ever overthrown a past king. Some might think I had a lot to prove, but the true was I didn’t care s**t about court games and I cared even less about proving myself to the other courts.  The other kings and queens in result were nervous and have joined to plot against me. They had never seen something like me and they were scared. Which meant they were desperate to know what my weaknesses were. Up until now my only known weaknesses were my siblings and my kingdom. Now I’d raised the stakes by publicly claiming Blaise. The more I thought about my actions the more decided I was that it had been the right move. She had already been pushed into the spiral of danger that surrounded me from the moment I felt the bond between our souls. Claiming her put Blaise under my protection and from now on whoever tried to hurt her would have to try to put me down first.

            “You just signed a death warrant under that girl’s name,” said Gwilym. I turned to my brother and nodded. It was true what Gwilym had said, people would be after Blaise from now on, as a way to get to me. It was only too bad they would never get to hurt her. As long as I live Blaise would be under my protection. I smiled and looked at my brothers. They smiled in return, getting ready for the war games that would precede my proclamation of ownership over Blaise.

            “Let them come,” I said to my brothers and they all nodded, knowing too well everything I did, I did it for a reason. Totem pinched his chin, taking a step to the front and looking at me with an air of uncertainty. Strange. It wasn’t like Totem to ever show doubt.

            “We need to train the girl, she might be called the Darkling in the human realm, but she has never fought inside Faerie,” Totem said, confirming all my previous thoughts about my soul mate. She needed to be trained, and she needed it right away. I turned to Totem and smiled at him, knowing too well he would hate the little task I’d reserved for him.

            “Totem, how do you feel about babysitting?” I asked him, and my other brothers started laughing while Totem paled, cursing under his breath. He knew he had brought it upon himself when he pointed out Blaise needed to be trained. From now on my soul mate’s life would get a lot busier.

                                                             ~~~~*~~~~

            Blaise

            “I’m so fat I could roll like a rock downhill if you push me,” I stated, patting my belly and studying placidly the set of dirty dishes I’ve left on the table behind me. In my defense I hadn’t eaten breakfast, and who knew History of Faery could be a class that consumed so many calories while sleeping? Karoo laughed at my side while guiding me among the insanely crowded dining hall. It still surprised me how a small creature like Karoo could walk with so much force on her step. She looked like a gazelle queen, all eyes, grace and attitude. Karoo smirked, probably a side effect of reading my thoughts. Amused, she looked back at me and smiled.

            “A gazelle queen? Please, if I deserve such pompous honorifics then make me a furious creature like a tigress or a panther. They do have amazing eyes like me,” she said, all smiles, battering eyelashes and arrogance like a Doomhold.  I guessed arrogance run in the family. I laughed, walking by her side and enjoying the moment. I always enjoyed any moment in which my belly was full, but Karoo’s company was always soothing and comforting. I even didn’t know I needed comforting until I met her and her friendship atoned a whole life without any feminine company.

            “I know exactly what you mean. After living with thirteen, very male brothers, I feel as if I can finally breath at your side,” she said after reading my thoughts and I nod.

            “Yeah, is the lack of testosterone in the air. It makes breathing easier,” we descended the stairs on our way to the coliseum. I was actually excited about our next class. Tactics of Combat. I couldn’t love the name of the class even more than what I already did and to make things even better I’ve heard other First year students talk about our professor, the infamous Mss. Olympus. Some students said she was an ancient sss warrior, cursed by one of the old human gods to stay forever young and see everyone she loved die in front of her eyes. Others said she was half Centaurus and could shift into her animal form once a month under a full moon. So much debate and superstition had made me very curious and I couldn’t wait to put my body back to use. It had been two days since I last trained and that was like a thousand years of lazy vacations for a bounty hunter.

            “I wish I could be as excited as you are about this class, but I can’t say I’m very fond of any form of violence, not even if it’s only tactical,” said Karoo at my side, which made me smile down at her.

            “You know what I wish? I wish to read minds as easily as you do. Then I would teach Ko…I mean, then I will teach some people to mind his own businesses,” Karoo’s face brightened like a Christmas tree and she was suddenly very close and very suspicious. Her curious eyes made me curl my lips in irritation, “What?”

            “Which name you were about to say?” She asked me, smiling toothily at me. I rolled my eyes and opened the doors of the changing rooms. Karoo followed me closely.

            “None, all I meant to say is that is pretty cool you can read minds,” I said shrugging and Karoo sighed, stopping to grab our change of clothes- a pair of leather leggings, boots and white cotton shirts- and throwing a set at me. I grabbed it in midair and thanked her while Karoo seemed to pond about something in silence. After that we changed fast. I tried to ignore the curious looks of some other girls that were purposely looking at me while I changed. Aella’s green eyes narrowed on me and I smelt in the air her envy and contempt. One good thing about being half siren was that I owned one of the best noses in the world, and my nose said right then that Aella was angry at someone and everything seemed to point at me. I normally couldn’t smell emotions easily without waking up the siren’s conscious, but Aella’s emotions were so strong that had become pungent under my nose. Karoo managed to pull me out of my reverie by taking my hand and leading me outside the locker room. We were halfway down the dusty road that connected the school grounds with the coliseum when Karoo stopped me and frowned.

            “I can teach you,” she said suddenly and my mind- which had been trying to understand why a spoiled brat like princess Aella could be so envious of little me- did cartwheels trying to follow Karoo’s train of thoughts. She put a hand on my shoulder, a comical gesture considering she was only five feet tall, and looked up at me, “I can teach you how to read minds. That is if you want and I can’t promise you will learn quickly. The art of mind reading is a hard subject and requires a lot of magic power.”

            “Are you ducking serious? “I asked my friend, barely restraining myself from using a more colorful language, “Of course I want you to teach me! When can we start?”

            “Between learning all those stupid rules from Mss. Lambert’s book and studying at night I think we will only have time right before bed,” said Karoo shrugging and I smiled excited.

            “That’s perfect!”

            “Yeah, you will not think so after you start trying to break into other people’s consciousness. I remember when I first tried to break into Kodiak’s mind. It gave me the most horrible case of migraine a seven-year-old child could have ever experienced. If I were you I wouldn’t try to exercise what I teach you with Kodiak. At least not at the beginning. His mind shields are the stronger that had ever existed. Let’s say is impossible to get inside his mind,” she added, and I narrowed my eyes at her challenge. Surely, there was nothing impossible. If I wanted to become stronger then I had to set myself some goals. Reading Kodiak’s mind and also blocking him from my own mind were my main objectives. I would only stop practicing whenever I managed those two tasks. I smiled for Karoo’s behalf and promised not to try anything too risky. Secretly, I couldn’t wait to try everything that Karoo would teach me on Kodiak.

            We reached the coliseum a while after and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at the beautiful edification. It stood proudly, just like the old roman coliseum stood, after surviving so many centuries in the human world. The only difference between them was that this coliseum still looked as a real war dream. Red blocks had been put together to erect large walls that closed themselves around the circular arena. When I passed the large arches of the entrance I heard the echo of people talking by the stands and my blood pulsed in excitement. My eyes drink everything in, from the stands to the arena in the middle of the building. It had always interested me the reason why romans had used sand to cover the fighting ring of their coliseum. When I was a little girl I used to think they preferred sand because fighting in such dense soil made them look even more heroic. Amadeus had soon destroyed my innocent imagination and assured me romans had taken the idea from the Fae, who were very clean creatures who preferred to train and fight over sand, where blood was easy enough to hide and dried even faster.

            Karoo and I joined the rest of First year, which were standing by the middle of the arena mingling and laughing. Some students of upper years were seating by the stands. There were a couple of them with their noses shoved on big books, but the rest of them were staring at us as their form of entertainment. Very fun business to see juniors getting their asses kicked between them. If I were honest to myself I needed to admit I would have done the same if I were in an upper class and wanted to see if there were any young good fighters to train with. I noticed something amiss right away. It might had been my imagination, but while we were passing the other students I felt as if every boy in attendance purposely looked away from me. I didn’t care for it, all the contrary, I thanked whatever reason had managed to give me a second of peace from the masculine eye. I followed Karoo silently, while she talked about her plans to read Mss. Lambert’s book of rules in the library tonight. I nodded absently, letting my senses navigate around me. The air tasted salty in my mouth and the sun in the sky seemed to intentionally pour all its power on those last days of summer. The sand produced every possible noise, it crackled and popped in my ears while I walked over it, testing its softness and denseness under my feet. As I predicted, fighting over it would be twice harder that fighting over concrete. I smiled at the prospect of fighting again and looked up, just to find the tall figure of Kodiak about fifteen feet away from me.

            He was surrounded by his brothers and to my surprise some First-year girls too. Including Aella. Of course, it didn’t bother me this fact. Not a little bit. His twelve brothers seemed to be doing all the flirting and if I was honest to myself Kodiak looked bored out of his mind while Aella coquetted with him, touching his arms at times to state some point. Kodiak had nice, touchable arms. That was a well-known fact. Particularly nice I might say when he was dressed in a black vest that revealed his muscular torso and strong biceps. His pants were also black, and riding boots adorned his feet. That was the boy’s uniform for training. Every other boy was dressed like him. Why then I was only looking at him? I groaned and planted my feet down, until Karoo stopped and looked back at me.

            “What is the matter?” She asked me, opening her eyes like platters while her pupils danced dramatically from Kodiak to me and back forth. I shook my head at her, not ready for the drama and needing some exercise to clear my stupid thoughts. I turned my back and started running to the outer circle of the arena. My muscles groaned in recognition to the exercise. I could almost feel my legs tensing and reminding me there would be hell to pay for resting so long without training, but I smiled at it. I was an exercise junkie. My body was my ultimate weapon against monsters and I’d always kept it ready for battle.

            “I’m stretching a bit before Mss. Olympus arrives,” I announced Karoo over my shoulder and sprint on my feet before she could talk me out of it. The moment I gained speed everything else faded away. There was just me, the sand and the movement of my legs, pumping me faster and harder around the arena. This what why I lived for. Well, exercising and killing monsters. I only wished I could be with Amadeus too. I missed the old ox. After fifteen years of fighting side by side and moving around the human world with him I couldn’t do anything else but miss my godfather. I wondered what he was hunting down now? When we parted ways, he had been heading to the south, which only meant he was going further into Unseelie territory. I would write him soon and ask him about it. I also needed to ask him about the incident at Siberik and if he had any notion of what could had happened to Molly to break free from the caravan? The more I thought about the subject the more inclined I was to think it hadn’t been an accident. Molly had escaped a heavily guarded caravan and trespassed Claddagh territory. Amadeus mentioned that only the best Faerie enchanters charmed the schoolgrounds to keep every possible threat away. How did Molly break in? And how she had been killed?

            Something told me that whoever let her in hadn’t have any business on killing her. Those were two separate matters. First of all because it didn’t make any sense that whoever brought Molly to Claddagh wanted to kill her after putting so much work on freeing her from Siberik. Secondly because whoever killed Molly was powerful enough to kill me without needing anybody else to blame. A killer who didn’t let any trace behind. I’ve never seen anything like it. Yes, I had to be right about it. Whoever brought Molly inside Claddagh didn’t kill her. The schoolgrounds are enchanted and charmed against any possible threat. Every year its defenses are reinforced by the professors, who by the way, are the strongest enchanters in Faerie. Only students and personnel can get inside Claddagh. Those had been Amadeus’s words in the train on our way to Claddagh. Which only could mean…

            My speculations were soon halted by the apparition of a woman at my side. I had a second to understand there was a tall, very beautiful brunette, running with a huge smile on her face right at my side. She was dressed in a golden armor, a metal vest that defined her small waist, a pleated leather skirt and tall sandals. Her long black hair was tied in a braid in the same fishtail style I favored, which of course made me feel I was indeed at the side of a kindred spirit. Her wild smile produced one of my own and sensing she was fair game I looked ahead and run faster. The woman laughed accepting my challenge and easily forced her step into a faster march. I’ve never been beat in a speed race, I was awfully arrogant about this, but the woman at my side seemed ready to overthrow me and teach me a good lesson on humbleness. Every time I increased my speed she increased hers until we were tied. I wouldn’t ever stop, at least not until she stepped out of the race. Mercifully the woman only laughed, stopping me with a heavy hand and then patting my shoulder.

            “Good grace, you are fast kid! What is your name and year?” she asked me with a weird accent. I couldn’t say I recognized her intonation, but it was definitely marked and very pronounced. Almost Scottish, but more musical and less wild.  I stopped by her side, walking in circles to keep myself warmed up. It was impossible not to stay warm under the heavy sun on top of our heads, but I was too excited about my first class with Mss. Olympus to stay calm.

            “Blaise Darkholme, First year, sir,” I said in jest, since that was always the way I referred to my other fellow bounty hunters when we were joking. She gave the same vibe a bounty hunter would give whenever you first met them. A mix between boldness, bravery and lots of stupidity together. The woman smiled adoringly at me and patted my shoulder even harder. She might have looked lean and feminine, but her arms were as heavy and her hands as calloused as a man’s.

            “Just for calling me sir you have won an extra point Mss. Darkholme. My name is Aurora Olympus, but you can call me sir,” she said, offering me her hand and I only blinked perplexed. Somehow, I gave her my hand to shake. I knew this because she then led me all the way back to the rest of my class and informed them my excitement and initiative had won me an extra point. Having the good instinct of calling her sir won me another extra point, which placed me as the head of the class, surpassing even Sanabria. I was still in shock, not by the points, those were just a plus. Winning Mss. Olympus good favor was another thing. I liked her a lot and I was already loving her class. Mss. Olympus jumped right into action asking us to form pairs and warm up. Karoo and I worked together and I could tell right away my best friend wasn’t into exercising. Karoo made faces and moaned as if she was being tortured every step of the way. By the time Mss. Olympus called us back Karoo was looking red and tired.

            “I’m dying,” she said to me while we passed her brothers. I soon realized she had done it on purpose. One of her brothers, a blonde guy with very green eyes moved closer to us and held Karoo’s side to his, making her rest a bit. Karoo smiled brightly, her tiredness soon forgotten after receiving attention. All her brothers circled us closely after that, asking if she was fine and murmuring this and that about how she needed to take it slowly. I bit my lips and just shook my head in amusement. Karoo was the typical spoiled little sister. I envied her a bit. It had to be great having so many brothers that cared for her. I was soon reminded that Karoo’s older brother had to be close too and as if I’d conjured him with my thoughts Kodiak walked by my side, looking down at me and winking. I rolled my eyes and ignored him while we all joined the rest of the class and waited for Mss. Olympus to give us more instructions.

            “There are three main aspects of fighting inside Faerie that makes combat different than in the human world. Does anybody know the differences?” Asked Mss. Olympus, looking hopefully at me. I gulped nervously and shook my head while the rest of the class look between them in general ignorance. It was Kodiak who answered by my side and hearing his voice was like a shot straight to my chest. Kodiak’s voice was deep and clear. It gained attention right away, especially around the feminine group of the class who battered their eyelashes at anything he did or said.

            “In the human realm is expected from us to only use physical combat to not alert humans of our powers. Back in Faerie we have three categories of combat. Mind, magic and physical. Is expected that every single fighter is at least competent in the use of those three categories,” said Kodiak and for some reason I felt as if he was directing that last part of his answer at me. Mss. Olympus looked genuinely happy and smiled brightly at Kodiak.

            “I wouldn’t expect less from the best fighter in Faerie. One extra point for Kodiak,” I opened my mouth in alarm. Kodiak was the best fighter in Faerie? Who had been so drunk to award him such honors? Kodiak bumped my shoulder with his arm, his silent way to remind me he could read my mind. My heartbeat accelerated until it followed a different tempo that wasn’t my usual heartbeat In response I moved a step away from him and crossed my arms in my own form to remind him I hated to be touched by him. Mss. Olympus kept talking happily, “Usually a fighter is always good at one or two categories of fighting. Don’t feel bad if you guys lack in any of these categories. It takes time and a very large amount of magic power to develop a level of competency in any fighting style. That is why we must train your bodies and minds first, while you guys develop your own magic. We will later on incorporate your own style of magic into your fighting program. Now, I will like to form sparring duels. Whoever you are paired with would be your fighting partner for the entire year.”

            I looked hopefully at Karoo and she smiled back at me, crossing her fingers and hoping like me to be paired together. Mss. Olympus called names and slowly started to form pairs and give them directions about what she wanted them to start working on. I saw great pairings, like the Fire Fae I’ve met the night before with Sanabria. I still didn’t know her first name- the girl was shy and timid whenever she wasn’t answering a professor- but she was a Wind Fae and promised to be a singular fighting foe. Then I saw horrible pairings like Aella and one of her brainless minions. They both squeaked and hugged when both girls learned they had been paired and them proceed to do nothing while Mss. Olympus called them over and over to remind them they needed to exercise. Finally my name was called and I smiled hopefully on my way to Mss. Olympus. She smiled at me, checked the papers in which she had been writing down her notes for the day and then looked at me with a frown.

            “I wish to have paired you with Kodiak, since I think you two are ahead of the class, but he already asked me to be paired with someone else,” I frowned, feeling strangely disappointed but not understanding why. I pushed every thought about Kodiak away and focused on the matter at hand. Mss. Olympus waved a hand and one of Karoo’s brothers run in our direction. I recognized him right away. He was the very strong guy with purple eyes, the one who seemed to have a soft spot for girls. “This is Totem, a very promising magic fighter. I think you two will benefit of working together. I want you guys to start knowing each other and start working on your weaknesses. Whenever you are ready to give me a report on your improvement I will make my own assessment and make a training program for both.”

             I offered Totem my hand and the big boy smiled down, showing me straight teeth and his mesmerizing, sly, purple eyes. He styled his hair like Elvis, all gel and pompadour and seemed to know his way around girls. It was impossible not to look at his smiling face and not smile. He was only sixteen, but I could already tell he will only get stronger and more muscular with time.

            “I’m Blaise,” I told him, and Totem took my hand, shaking it for about a second before he pulled me, trying to unbalance me. I moved fast, connecting my fist with the side of his body. It was like hitting a rock. Pointless. Totem smirked and grabbed my wrist, pushing me down. Not a chance. I could see in his face he thought I’d already have lost, but what Totem didn’t know was that I’d put down even bigger monsters than him and Molly together. I moved closer to him and stepped over his leg and stomach. I was using his own body as a ladder and Totem didn’t seem to like it. I could tell by the sound of irritation he made when I pushed myself in the air and hooked my legs around his neck in a firm lock. Totem went down under so much weight, while I moved fast and secured one of his arms in another lock. I pushed it in a weird angle that assured intolerable pain and Totem started groaning like a girl under me. Nobody dared to say a thing. Totem was after all one of the twelve crowned princes of the Unseelie Court and I’ve dared to humiliate him publicly.

            For my utter surprise Totem started laughing so hard the sand underneath us crackled. I started laughing too. It was easy to do so when he laughed like a big bear and tears of merriment started falling from his eyes. We stood together, still laughing while some of his brothers surrounded us with big smiles on their faces and some appreciative remarks about my fighting skills.

            “I believe you are the one who needs some babysitting Totem,” said Kodiak with a smirk, who joined us followed closely by Karoo. My friend was looking all sorts of irritated and tired at his side, which promised a good story for sure. Totem laughed again and patted my shoulder. I’m sure he intended for the touch to be just friendly, but I felt as if I was being hammered down in the sand. Kodiak intervened, grabbing Totem by the back of his neck and taking him away from me. I took the chance to massage my abused shoulder and followed the Doomhold brothers with my eyes until they disappeared by the boy’s locker room doors.

            “Why are you so cranky?” I asked Karoo while we started walking out of the coliseum.

            “Oh, you would be cranky too if you had been paired with Kodiak for the entire year! He is a tyrant! I swear he didn’t let me take a break from lifting weights and running in circles. You have it easy with Totem. He might look like a big guy, but he is an eternal little boy and is always laughing,” said Karoo and suddenly I felt ten times happier than what I’d already felt when Mss. Olympus gave me an extra point. I couldn’t understand the exact reason of my sudden good mood, but I decided to just enjoy it while it last.

            “Shin up my friend, our first day of school is over and we can finally have a shower and rest for the night,” I told her, and Karoo groaned, still bothered at being paired with Kodiak. I wouldn’t be lying if I said I was happy she had been paired with Kodiak. Karoo needed to grow some physical resistance, and something told me Kodiak would make sure to prepare his sister to become stronger. I smiled. So Karoo had been the student who Kodiak asked to be paired with…

            “Why are you smiling?” Asked me Karoo, lifting an eyebrow and looking at me curiously.

            “No reason,” I said shrugging and rushing to take a well needed shower.