Wizard (Troy Sanders Trilogy Book 1)

7: To Firewalt We- I mean, I- Go

The next day was a bustle of activities in the manor house, the entire household getting ready for the all-round affairs of the day. My own designated work was to get myself ready for Firewalt and grandpa Blake’s to going around seeing to the arrangements of my belongings for the departure; at least I hope he was, the old chap was nowhere to be found.

“What are you doing?” he asked when he finally did show up in my room around 11 a.m.

That morning, the old man had opted for a more down to earth look: a blue shirt, black trousers, black tie and a black coat with a blue muffler. Is it just me or does the old Sanders really like dabbling with fashion outfits a lot?

“I’m preparing for school, like I’m supposed to,” I replied, giving him the ‘Duh!’ expression.

He gave a short laugh and said, “But you’re not going to be needing any of this stuff, Troy.”

Now, my confusion took on a more physical appearance on my face. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any other thing apart from this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured me, and then he called Morris- kinda like the butler but more modern- who came immediately. “Go get Master Troy’s luggage ready, Morris,” he said to him.

“Right away, sir,” he replied and took off to “Get the luggage ready,” whatever the hell that meant.

I attempted to ask Grandpa Blake once more what in the world was going on but he signaled for me to shut up and watch before I could even get the word out. “Let’s just go have breakfast,” he said to me, walking away as if he didn’t know that he was drowning me in a pool of confusion; and it wasn't even the private "I'm in a five-star hotel" type- classic Blake Sanders, I tell you.

Breakfast, by the way, was incredible. I didn’t know that scones and tea could be so delicious. I mean, I always thought that that kind of food was girly; but one bite was enough to make me neglect my belief.

After breakfast, it was finally time to go. I didn’t see any emotional display on Grandpa Blake’s face as he led me down to what should be the basement, only this time there was nothing there but walls. I was about to ask him if we had taken a wrong turn when he placed his hand on the wall and muttered something under his breath.

Almost immediately, a small section of the wall disappeared to reveal the entrance into what turned out to be a tunnel. I knew I’d seen enough of magic to not be surprised by it anymore but I couldn’t control the awe that coursed through me at seeing that happen.

He led me to a carriage which was pulled by two white horses. A travelling bag that looked like it was made out of ancient leather— my “luggage”— was laid in the makeshift boot at the back of the carriage.

I didn’t need to know the location of the school to get that it would be a long journey and I was kind of expecting to be taken there by a car, not the king’s carriage. Not wanting to appear rude though, I got in beside Grandpa Blake.

“Buckle down,” he said, gesturing to a seatbelt-like thingie that ran across the seat.

It sounded insane to me that I had to buckle in a doddery-old carriage; I never even used seatbelts in a real car. But I complied anyway and believe me, I was thankful for it later.

Thing is, when Grandpa Blake first gently tapped the horses with his whip, they began to gallop softly; like at a normal horse walk-running pace. But as the seconds went by, they gained momentum, their speed increasing; and after a while, I sensed they were running about the speed of a car.

But as I was soon to discover later, the horses hadn’t reached their climax yet; not even by a long shot. As time went by, they kept gaining speed at an alarming rate until they were moving at a speed that was proportional to that of a jet; or something even faster. It finally dawned on me what the seatbelts were meant for; no man could ride that carriage without them, believe me.

It got to a moment that it seemed like we were travelling at the speed of light; as if I was being launched through the air like a torpedo. But the strange thing though was that even as fast as we moved, I didn’t feel nauseous. It was almost like I was sitting down on a cool day feeling a gentle breeze blow past me and the only reason why I realised the real speed at which we were moving was because of my knowledge before magic.

A smile came onto my lips at the feeling of pure euphoria that suddenly bubbled within me- it actually felt like real bubbles- and soon, I was laughing really loud. But when I looked over at Grandpa Blake, his face was as expressionless as the time we left the house. Well, it was a no brainer that he had been on the carriage ride before so it stood to reason that it wouldn’t be feeling the thrill, at least not in the way I felt it.

The tunnel had become a blur and now looked like a giant water body flowing amazingly fast by. But all of a sudden, we broke out of the tunnel and into an area that seemed to have jumped right out of a fairy-tale. The place was so colourful that it hurt the eyes at first glance; the colours seemed to have a light and life of their own. Everything oozed of peace, joy, and, of course, magic; although how I could identify those feelings from a sniff alone was still a mystery to me.

The carriage didn’t slow down one bit but somehow I could see everything around me in great detail. The vegetation was healthy and beautiful; not a trace of decay among it. There were everyday animals running around in the forest that we passed; alongside some not-everyday animals like Pegasi, Unicorns, Gryphons, and birds the size of a lion. A real magical place, I tell you.

The atmosphere felt like spring although the heat that came with summer could still be felt; and that coupled with a slight chill of winter and the amazing clearness of fall. It was like all the seasons had been fused together to form one perfect fit, and I suspected they were although what kind of magic could do that, I didn’t know.

I looked forward to see a massive structure rise out of the horizon as we rode towards it and knew right then, even before Grandpa said it, what it was; Firewalt’s school of magic.

Firewalt was a really, really big place. It was a jumble of many structures all around but the main one was actually a set of four buildings that locked at the edges to form a perfect square. The entire school was painted chocolate brown; but unlike those magic structures seen in movies, it wasn’t overrun by creeping vines or anything like that. In fact, there was no creeping vine in sight.

We appeared to be right on time as other lightning carriages- that was what I called the horses- were pulling up around the same place and time we did too.

Grandpa Blake made a shimmering green light appear around the horses as we highlighted. “To prevent unauthorized joyrides,” he said, although I was more worried about those horses running away than joyrides; they’d be impossible to catch if let loose, trust me.

Just then, I heard the clicks of heels approach us from behind and I turned to see a woman in her early thirties, I guessed, walking towards us.

She was petite but not plump; kinda the type you could call a “portable size,” if that made any sense. She had a flowing black hair which she kept trying to restrain as it was dancing all over her face in the wind. She wore a brown skirt with matching blouse but no earrings or necklace. Her heels were a teacher type; not too flashy but not so plain either. She didn’t have the witch air around her; not that I would be able to recognise it if it were there though.

“Hello Mr. Sanders, I’m Abigail Clark,” she said as she shook hands with Grandpa Blake. “We spoke on the phone earlier.”

“I remember. Nice meeting you, Miss Clark,” he replied.

She shook hands with me next and I flashed her a toothless smile in return. “I’m going to be Troy’s guardian in the school and his first resort counselor in case of anything,” she explained. “Everything concerning him will be relayed to me which I will in turn then relay to you as need be.”

There was no objection from the old man. “I understand,” was all he said.

“If you have no question or concern, Mr. Sanders, you can take your leave now. I'll take charge of Troy from here.”

“Alright, Miss Clark, I’ll be leaving then,” he replied before he turned me, taking my hands in his. “It’s up to you now, son,” he said. He kissed my forehead as he always did during farewells, an “I’m really going to miss you” smile on his face as he walked back to the carriage and rode away; leaving me standing next to Abigail as we watched him go.

After grandpa Blake disappeared from sight, I carried my luggage which was surprisingly light considering the contents it should contain and followed my new guardian Abigail.

Truth be told, I didn’t like the fact that I had a guardian when I was supposed to have reached the age to be able to care for myself. But well, it could have been worse. I mean, my guardian could have being a blind old man with all his teeth fallen off. Or even worse, one of those scary-looking monstrous witches like the ones on TV. How bad would my life be then?

And speaking of which, “Why isn’t my guardian a male?” I asked. “I mean, isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?”

“Yes, Troy, it was. But rules change,” she replied simply, putting on that matter-of-fact expression that all teachers had whenever they were explaining something to a student. “This time, it ties you to me.”

She took me to where I was supposed to get my uniform: a wizard’s cloak- without the stars and long crazy hat, thank God- to be worn over any clothes I choose. They only allowed me to take one although I couldn’t believe they’d expect me to wear that one throughout the semester- what if I washed it or something?

I got down to a bit of a Q and A with the supplier and used that opportunity to gain as much information as I could on Firewalt.

Apparently, Firewalt was divided into five years; year one wore green cloak, year two blue, year three red, year four red with a blue dragon at the back and year five white with a red dragon at the back. It was worthy of note to add that the designs on the cloaks were really cool- it had a frigging hoodie! Like how cool was that?- I could only hope it went well over my outfits which, by the way, I still hadn’t seen.

“This is just like your normal school, Troy,” Abigail said to me as we walked. “Trust me, you’ll fit right in here.”

Yeah, I had already made that connection by then and it wasn't exactly filling me with joy. Truth is, there was something I had learnt about being in school, it was that it never bode well for me.