Still don't own it. J.K. Rowling still does own it. Props to Miranda Flairgold. Read and Review, greatly appreciated.
This is the first writing for Night is Long that I've done in a while. This chapter should be a few thousand words long, we'll see how far I get tonight I guess. Leave a review with any questions you might have or suggestions you might have, they are greatly appreciated.
If y'all like this let me know, positive feedback leads to more chapters faster. Go and check out my HP/Warhammer crossover fic 'What Was Once Forgotten' and my pure HP fic 'How A Roman Should Die'
This should be the last chapter inside the Trial Grounds, next chapter will introduce the school, and the chapter's after that will be classes and maybe a minor story arc.
I'm introducing a new race this chapter, very common to fantasy worlds. Let me know what you think about it. I'm also introducing several other characters this chapter, some will be important and some will not. Enjoy.
The dark silhouettes that had suddenly appeared stood tall at the edge of the canyon ridgetop, casting an imposing image down to Warren, Shadowknife, and Markus, who were now thankful at their saviours, but wary of any attacks. As one of the taller and bulkier of the silhouettes suddenly hopped into the air and started gracefully sliding down the canyon wall, kicking up a small cloud of dust behind itself, Markus raised his wand slightly, it would not do to be caught unprepared in another trap. Beside him Warren did the same, and to his other side Shadowknife followed suit with his magical firearm.
The figure was now much more visible, and it was apparent that the figure was in fact tall and bulky, and was also a he. Medium length black combat robes flowing and whipping in the wind behind him as he completed his slide down the canyon wall the still unidentified person had lowered his wand, which prompted Markus and his friends to lower their wands and weapons slightly. The pale skin and red eyes of the man were a dead giveaway to his vampirism, and his black hair and robes completed the image.
Markus felt something deep inside of him rise subtly, something akin to apprehension or anxiety, but could not quite place what it was. It definitely prompted Markus to stay on alert as the vampire slowly walked towards them, arms out in a somewhat friendly and unthreatening gesture.
Beside the tall vampire another vampire landed, having also slid down the canyon walls. This vampire was a girl, with long black hair and similar style combat robes to the other vampire, who was quite obviously related to her. Their hair, facial structure, and even expressions seemed to be the same.
The rest of the silhouettes stayed motionless at the top of the ridge, still casting a rather imposing image down on the three beleaguered and tired friends.
As the two vampires nostrils flared ever so slightly and their heads tilted back just the smallest degree Markus was curious. It seemed as if they had caught some faint scent on the wind, and as they made eye contact with each other, the male vampire shook his head so slightly that Markus almost missed it, but the female vampire seemed to recognize it and stopped sniffing at the air.
Markus, still palming his now almost completely lowered wand, was the first of anyone to speak. "Thank you for the bombarda, I'm Markus." Taking a risk and introducing himself, as opposed to opening with outright hostility seemed like the better decision to make, after all despite the immortality and long livedness of vampires it seemed that the two in front of him were bound for the Academy, just as he himself, Shadowknife, and Warren were.
The tall male vampire, who stood a few inches taller than Markus, spoke in return, "I'm Corvus, and this is Evelyn. Of the Ivanov Clan." The vampire, now identified as Corvus Ivanov, spoke in a very slight Eastern European accent, and when he had brought up the Ivanov name he had obviously expected some sort of recognition to come along with it.
"I assume you're both Academy bound, then?" Markus asked, already knowing the answer.
Receiving two nods of affirmation, Markus decided to take a slight risk. Sheathing his wand in it's hidden quick-draw holster he extended his hand to Corvus, who shook it firmly, and then waited for Evelyn to extend her hand. Markus had picked up some manners from his time with Lord Slytherin, who had been appalled at the idea that someone who carried his gift of parseltongue could be rude or not know how to handle a social situation appropriately.
Corvus gave a small nod, seemingly of approval, at the handshake, and Evelyn gave a quick smile.
Pointing behind himself Markus introduced his companions, who had remained silent and still so far. "This is Warren." Pointing back to Warren, "And this is Shadowknife." Pointing towards Shadowknife, who had now both lowered and holstered their weapons, just as Markus, and now Corvus and Evelyn had done.
Corvus and Evelyn both nodding in greeting towards Warren and Shadowknife, and Markus was somewhat relieved. Letting hold a breath he had unconsciously held he now felt better. Intense rivalry and hatred existed between vampires and werewolves, but it seemed that both the Ivanov siblings, and Warren could at least attempt civility with each other.
Glancing upwards towards the edge of the canyon as he began to speak once again Markus asked, "Could you introduce your friends up there?"
Corvus looked up to the edge and nodded to Markus, and raised and dropped his hand. This simple action caused three of the seven or so darkened silhouettes remaining to simply vanish. Markus heard Shadowknife mutter behind him , "Illusions. Hmm."
The hand raise and drop seemed to not only dispel the Illusions, but also seemed to serve as a 'go' signal to the remaining four silhouettes to drop down the canyon wall, much as Corvus and Evelyn had did, but none of the four were quite so graceful about it.
The tallest and bulkiest figure, a large green skinned individual with small tusks jutting out of it's jaws, had the least graceful landing. Perhaps this was due to the leather armor it wore, or the handle of the large battle axe that could be seen slung over it's shoulder, but it landed in a large, green pile and rose spitting curses and growling in a low and guttural language.
Markus and Warren were both somewhat surprised at the appearance of this particular individual. He was obviously an orc, and was also taller and more muscular than the already tall and muscular race was on average.
Corvus pointed towards the angry orc, whose greasy looking black hair was now flying about as he was taking his brutal anger out on a corpse of one of the recently slain Desert Scorpions with quick, ferocious kicks from his muscular legs. After a few moments the orc had stopped and seemed to completely regain his composure.
"That right there is Lumuro Deathbringer, of the Deathbringer Clan." Again Corvus's tone and inflection implied that the Deathbringer name would be recognized, and it seemed as if Shadowknife did recognize the name.
Pointing towards a tall, but slender figure, with long blonde hair and pale green eyes the color of pine needles Corvus spoke again, "The elf is Alarise Silvervale." The beautiful elven lady nodded towards the group, and seemed particularly interested in Warren for a brief moment, before that dissipated quickly. She had landed from the slide down the canyon rather gracefully, especially so when compared to the landing of the orc.
The other two figures who had landed were humans, one with short brown hair and brown eyes, who stood confidently and proud was introduced as "Hudson Dillon" and the other, a female, had been introduced as "Amber Layne." Both of them seemed fairly nondescript, neither seemed to wish to draw any extra attention, despite Hudson's proud stance.
Markus was rather unsure what to think, or how to advance. The group, now nine strong, were all going to be attending the Academy, should they all pass through the Trial Grounds.
"Work together to pass through the Trial Grounds?" Markus tentatively proposed, after all it would not be that unreasonable if the group split up, Markus and his friends going one way and Corvus and his group going another.
Corvus glanced to each member of his own group, and seeing no negative reactions, assented to Markus's offer.
The group had decided to camp inside the canyon for the night, as the sun had already begun it's final descent past the horizon by the time the group had agreed to work together.
Everyone had picked their own sleeping area, with Markus, Shadowknife, and Warren sleeping towards the northern side of their little camp, and Corvus, Evelyn, and their group sleeping towards the southern side. This clear divide was not lost on anyone, as it was still evident that some level of distrust existed between the groups.
They had drawn lots to see who would take which shifts on watch, with two people per shift, one from each group, and the first two had been Corvus and Markus.
Quietly chatting, while staying alert and on guard, as the other members of the party slept Corvus and Markus discussed many things.
Markus whispered low, so as not to disturb anyone else, "The Trial Grounds have been too easy so far. Have you had any trouble?"
Corvus shook his head, barely visible in the darkness of the night and through the deep shadows in the canyon, "No, not much. We lost a few people before coming by you and your friends, but so far we have had little trouble."
"What do you think it means? I've heard much about how difficult the Trial Grounds are to cross, but this has been ridiculous. The Desert Scorpions were our first real challenge." Of course Markus had no way of knowing that Felix Drakul had secretly eliminated a few of the threats that Markus, Warren, and Shadowknife would have had to face, but this still had little effect. Felix had only eliminated the simple and time consuming threats that he was sure Markus would have been able to deal with and would have only hindered him in his journey through the Trial Grounds.
"The first challenge we faced was a pit of sand snakes, they killed one person travelling with us, a goblin. I think that it means that the next leg, the final leg, of the journey will just be that much more difficult for us."
Markus nodded in agreement, it certainly did seem as if the Trial Grounds had been holding back, giving them easy challenges and perils to face, it seemed as if it must be holding something in reserve, something big.
Markus and Corvus ended up deciding against waking Warren and Alarise, the two that had watch duty after them, and then later decided against waking Shadowknife and Lumuro for the third and final watch shift. The two, Markus and Corvus, had ended up having vague, yet pleasant, conversations about each others past's, alternating the entire night between watching in silence and speaking in soft and low voices to each other.
Corvus, Markus had decided, would make an excellent friend, and not to mention ally, if what he had implied of the Ivanov family was true. Unknown to both Markus and Corvus, a third person had stayed up through the night with them, observing and listening as they talked.
Felix
Despite having already decided to allow Markus to go through his first semester of the Academy as a regular human, Felix had not given up on keeping tabs on Markus. He had sat, completely cloaked and undetectable to the entire world, and had observed Corvus and Markus beginning their friendship.
This was exactly what Felix wanted, the latest scions of the Ivanov Clan were shaping up to be powerful vampires, and Felix knew this for a fact. His one true friend left in the world was Alexander Ivanov, the patriarch of the Ivanov Clan of vampires, and the grandfather of Corvus and Evelyn. Felix would be very content if Markus developed a friendship with the Ivanov twins, as it would undoubtedly prove useful in the future, especially once Felix unlocked and awakened the caged vampirism that was hidden inside Markus.
Deep in thought as he simply stepping into a waiting shadow and disappeared Felix reappeared nearly instantaneously on the other side of the globe. It would do well for Markus to become friends with the Ivanov twins he decided, and began to pen a message to his oldest friend.
The sun had not quite begun to rise as Markus and Corvus woke up the rest of the group. They only had two more days to reach the Academy, and they still needed to find the pass that would take them through the looming and imposing mountain that laid ahead of them.
Breaking camp just as the first rays of light peeked over the horizon it was obvious that the group would reach the mountain in a few hours time.
This turned out to be true, as the group, being led by Corvus and Markus, was walking on a steady incline, getting steeper and steeper until they were no longer walking, but hiking, and then no longer hiking, but climbing. While Corvus and Markus had both been the 'leader' of their own groups before the merge they had rather seamlessly meshed together with leadership. But now, for the mountain segment, the final segment, of the Trial Grounds, Lumuro and Shadowknife had taken the lead.
The mountain orc and the goblin had the most experience with mountains and climbing, and Lumuro's powerful and strong frame allowed him to climb easily and quickly, proving himself to be a veritable trailblazer in finding a path up the rocky face of the cliff the group was currently climbing.
While Lumuro was powerful and fast, Shadowknife was methodical and precise with his climbing. He was somewhat slower than the orc, but was wasting no energy. The various members of the group followed behind these two as they made their way up the rocky cliff face.
The mountain they were climbing was like no other any of them had seen or climbed before. From far away it had appeared massive, and had looked as if it would take weeks to even approach the lowest of the peaks, but during the hike up the mountain it had only taken a few hours to reach where they were, about a third of the way up the entire mountain (though the group did not know this.)
As Lumuro helped pull the last member of the group, Alarise, up onto the small 'clearing' like area that was on top of the cliff they had just scaled. Before the group lay three different paths they could take. The first was a small seam in the otherwise solid rock wall, the second was a narrow path that inclined upwards with a few visible switchbacks up the path, and the third was a narrow passage directly in front of them. Lumuro, Shadowknife, Markus, and Corvus had all agreed that the inclining path was not the correct path to take, as they knew that they were not in the correct position on the mountain to be near the Academy. They needed to actually traverse their way through the mountain to reach the other side, where the Academy was waiting for them.
They had less than two days now to reach the Academy and still be eligible for attendance, but that did not bother the group. The choice was now between the seam that lead into the mountain itself or the narrow path, with tall rock walls on either side as far down the path as was visible.
Lumuro approached the fissure that lead into the mountain and pressed his face into the opening, inhaling deeply through his wide, orcish nostrils. With a slight snarl he withdrew his face from the crack and spoke in his low and guttural tones to the group, "Death lies in this passage."
The simple message was enough to persuade the group to take the narrow and seemingly winding path that snaked it's way through the peaks and crests of the mountain.
The group set out, again with Lumuro and Shadowknife in the lead, followed directly by Markus and Warren, and then the rest of the group, with Corvus and Evelyn taking up the rear, making sure no one was left behind.
Markus and Corvus had shared uneasy looks as they entered the narrow passageway, it was only wide enough to fit a single file line, and even then Lumuros broad shoulders and tall axe handle scraped the walls. But Markus and Corvus were on edge because this was truly the last leg of the last leg of their journey, and it had been way too easy so far. They were both worried of something dangerous and deadly happening while they traversed the narrow passage.
For hours the group walked, winding their way through the mountain passage. It was slow going, but they made steady progress and took no breaks. Everyone drank their water as they walked, and ate any food they wished as they walked through the path. At times they would have to squeeze and push and pull to get through the tighter sections, but so far this part of the Trial Grounds had proven just as easy as the rest.
This was all to change soon, as from above deafening cracks and snaps could be heard, making Corvus, Evelyn, Warren, and Alarise all flinch when their sensitive ears heard the noise.
Markus was the first to realize what was happening, and was the first to react. Luckily his bad feeling that he shared with Corvus had prompted him to keep his wand close at all times through the last few hours, and he was ready.
With a shout Markus warned the rest of the group, "Rock fall!" Pointing his wand toward the sky and shouting "PROTEGO!"
Pouring as much magic and power as he could into the hastily cast shield spell Markus prayed it would work. The falling boulders had been halfway to crushing the entire group when he had cast the spell, but as they continued downwards and made an earth shatteringly hard impact on his shield he was relieved to feel it hold, and feel the boulders smash and disintegrate into smaller rocks.
His speedily cast shield spell has saved the group for now, but another deafening cracking noise was heard, and another boulder sailed down the narrow passageway towards the group, now all huddled and pressed together near Markus.
As the next boulder again smashed into smaller, much less dangerous rocks the Protego began to show signs of splintering and cracking. It would not hold up for much longer, but by now the group was aware of what was happening, and multiple people had cast their own shields to work in tandem with Markus's.
"Is everyone alright?!" Markus shouted from near the front of the huddled group, all still in a single file line but much more cramped.
Hearing everyone sound off in the affirmative Markus shouted his next order, "Keep moving! Keep the shields up!" Corvus nodded his assent to Markus from the back, where he was casting his own shield spell that was protecting the back third of the train of people. Markus was protecting the front third, and the middle section was being protected by multiple smaller, and frankly weaker shield spells that others had cast.
As they continued, now at a reduced, but much more urgent pace, the rocks continued to fall on them. Every few moments another rock would smash into the shield's, further weakening them.
A confused yell came from the middle of the group, "This isn't a rock fall! It's an attack!" Markus looked back, and suddenly realized that no rocks were falling ahead of them or behind them, they were all landing and shattering on the group's shields. They were being targeted.
This was somewhat unnerving to Markus, but he had expected to have to deal with dangerous situations and creatures, but his rather strained thoughts were interrupted by a shout from Lumuro.
"End of the passage up ahead!" And the end of the passage was ahead, the group filtered out of the narrow passageway, and while keeping their shields raised above their heads, despite no more rocks falling, looked around at their surroundings.
It was an empty clearing, about a hundred feet long, and eighty or so feet wide, all the ground and rock walls made up of the same craggy, grey rock that made up the rest of the mountain. An entrance to another small path was visible at the other side of the clearing, much like the one they had just exited.
Not yet lowering their shields, but spreading out slightly Markus and the group could see dozens of skeletons littering the ground, with various weapons, armor, and clothing scattered around, in varying states of decay.
From above they again heard deafeningly loud noises, but this time they were different. Hearing four loud crashes and then suddenly nothing the group looked above themselves as they were suddenly cast in shadow.
Two massive Stone Giants, each about twenty to twenty five feet tall were soaring through the air, having leapt from the top of the rocky cliffs that made up the walls of the narrow and winding path that the group had just passed through.
The crashes had been their enormously heavy footsteps as they prepared to jump, but had also served to dislodge the end section of the walls of the passageway, sending them crashing down, blocking immediate escape from the stone clearing.
Shaking the earth, and sending everyone stumbling or tumbling to the ground the two Stone Giants landed, and took stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking the way across the clearing. Made of pure rock, and somehow animated, the two had no weapons, but were sure to prove formidable opponents.
Corvus had pushed his way to the front of the group, and spoke with Markus.
"We have to fight our way through. This is the final Trial of the Trial Grounds."
Markus nodded, and raised his wand, signifying he was ready.
Taking a few moments to organize themselves and the group Markus and Corvus devised a rough plan
Dividing the group into multiple smaller groups Markus stood with Evelyn and Alarise in the center of their little formation. Corvus stood with Warren and Lumuro to the left of Markus and his group, and Shadowknife, Hudson, and Amber all stood to the right. The plan was the Shadowknife and his group would be providing spell fire support to both Markus's and Corvus's groups, while Markus and his group engaged the Giant to the right and Corvus and his group engaged the Giant to the left.
It did seem as if the odds were stacked against them, but they were nine of the worlds best, as only the best were even considered for the Academy, and they were powerful.
"Bombarda!" Markus and his group opened with a salvo of Bombarda's against their giant, and they seemed to have little effect. The Giant managed to dodge one, despite his slow speed and lumbering body, but took the other two to the chest. One simply had no effect on it, and while the other detonated in a dusty explosion it did no damage.
Stealing a glance to his left Markus saw and heard Lumuro raising his wand, which looked like a twig in his large, green hands, and roar "Frangit Petram!" And Markus saw a quick bolt of greyish magic slam into the Giant, and while it had little effect, it caused the Giant to falter in it's first step forward ever so slightly.
Turning back to his own battle and seeing his Giant had began to advance on his group Markus cast another Bombarda, this time hitting the Giant in the arm. Looking to his other group members, Evelyn and Alarise, Markus could barely see Evelyn because she was moving so quickly. She was like a blur as she darted around the Giants feet, seeming to throw different potion vials against it, Markus could smell the disgusting odor of the various acids she was using from where he stood.
He could also see that Alarise had fallen back slightly, and was weaving her wand in a complex pattern and seemed to be chanting under her breath.
Looking back to the Giant that was now closing on him Markus deftly sidestepped the Giants arm as it swept it out, trying to swat Markus away.
Jabbing his wand forward and incanting, "Perdere!" Markus continued casting spells. A blue bolt of magic shot from his wand, and slammed into the shoulder of the Giant, having little effect again, but this time a few rocks chipped off of the Giants rock body and fell to the ground. A bolt of reddish magic that Markus recognized from his short duel with Shadowknife, when they had first met, also slammed into the shoulder of the Giant where Markus's spell had just impacted.
Markus could no longer afford to steal glances towards Corvus and his group, nor to Shadowknife and his group, but he knew they were faring about as well as he was. The entire group was somewhat tired out from maintaining their shield spells against the steady and hard hitting rock attacks while they were in the passageway, and it was showing.
As Alarise finished her chanta and wand motion a beam of green elvish magic, the same color as her pale green eyes, shot out of her wand and made contact with one of the Stone Giants arms. The powerful spell nearly completely severed the Giants arm, and as it's craggy jaw opened and roared in pure rage and pain, showing it's rocky teeth, the arm was completely severed by a well aimed shot from Shadowknife.
Crashing to the ground and disturbing a great amount of dust it seemed that Alarise was nearing total exhaustion. The spell she had cast had been very powerful, but very taxing. She stumbled slightly, almost managing to dodge the still- attached arm as the Giant swung at her, but did not quite manage to dodge completely. The massive stone hand clipped her shoulder, and sent her spinning to the ground, where her head made a sickening impact.
"Bombarda! Bombarda!" Markus cast Bombarda at the Giant over and over again as he made his way to Alarise's fallen form. A few more reddish bolts slammed into the Giants chest in quick succession of his Bombarda's and the Giant finally seemed to be taking the toll of being hit with so many spells. Markus's bloodmagic pieces gave him extra strength and stamina that he had desperately needed, especially after shielding the group from so many boulders from falling on their heads.
Evelyn's plan also came to fruition as the Giant attempted a great stride forward, putting all of it's weight onto it's right leg, intending to launch a massive kick to Markus and Alarise, but it's foot and ankle suddenly crumbled, sending the Giant toppling over.
Markus reached Alarise and could tell that she was injured, but still alive. This was somewhat comforting to Markus, as he wished to have as many people survive this encounter as possible. Immediately upon realizing that she was alive Markus spun and attacked the fallen Giant with Evelyn, and more reddish bolts came raining in from Shadowknife.
Looking to his left it did not seem as if Corvus and his group had been so effective in dealing with their Stone Giant. The two humans, Amber and Hudson, lay dead in a quickly growing pool of blood, and Lumuro and Warren were both obviously injured.
Corvus was casting spells that were damaging the Stone Giant, but it would not be enough to bring it down alone. As Markus watched Lumuro gave a sudden and wild roar, bestial in nature, and with pure rage in his eyes jumped onto the arm of the stone giant.
Running up the thick, stoney arm with impressive agility and speed for such a large being Lumuro Deathbringer raised his axe, and heaved it downwards. He cleaved clean through the head of the Stone Giant, and rode the body down from the shoulders, slamming into the solid rock ground of the clearing they were battling in. He was gravely injured, but like Alarise, was still alive.
Markus sighed as he cast a final spell to the neck of the crippled and dying Stone Giant in front of him, "Scalpere!" As the spell rammed home it sliced through the Giant's neck, severing it's head.
Levitating Alarise to where Lumuro was sprawled out, unconscious, and Warren was sitting, Markus reflected over the battle. The battle had not been too long or drawn out, but had not been a quick fight. Hudson and Amber were dead, the only two pure humans that he could relate to in the group. He was know the last pure human in the group, although that did not bother him much, and nor should it, because though he had no way of knowing, he himself was not quite pure human.
Looking at Corvus and Evelyn as they spoke to each other, no doubt discussing the battle and checking on the health of the other, Markus went to Warren, where Shadowknife was already standing, casting a basic healing spell on Warren's badly broken arm.
"I can fix the arm, but the should is too messed up for me to handle, you'll need a mediwitch or wizard."
Warren half nodded, half grimaced through the pain, and stood slowly. Shadowknife moved on to Lumuro, determining that he had broken a few ribs and damaged his head in the fall, but would live. Corvus and Evelyn approached as Shadowknife moved to Alarise, and determined that she had also injured her arm and shoulder and head, but would also live.
Markus was looking at the nearly flattened bodies of Amber and Hudson as Corvus came and stood next to him.
"Vanish them?" Corvus suggested, and even though it did seem rather cold, it did not seem without merit. The group had lost time and would now be pressing forward at a slower rate, having to levitate Alarise and Lumuro.
"No, let's let them lay here. Maybe the Academy will do something, send them to their parents, or something." Corvus nodded, he did not care at all what they did with the corpses.
As the now very battered and exhausted group exited the rocky clearing with a few less member than they had entered it they knew they had passed the final Trial.
Moving through the new passageway, which was wider and easier to traverse than the last, with Shadowknife leading the group, everyone who was able and not levitating Alarise or Lumuro had their wand ready and their senses alert.
It would not do to be surprised just when they believed they had passed the final test, so the entire group was alert as they could be in their exhausted state.
They again walked for hours, until they were walking by wand light as the sun had gone down hours before. Stopping in a clearing for a few hours rest and a very quick meal the group determined that they had about twenty four hours left to reach the Academy.
Alarise and Lumuro were revived and given some food and time to recover as the group rested in the small clearing. After a few hours break the group again pressed onwards, pushing through the passageway that continued through the mountain. Shadowknife seemed to think that they were nearing the end of the path, and Markus certainly hoped so. He had had enough of the mountain pass, and indeed the Trial Grounds.
Even though they had lost two members of their group, had seen the evidence of other's perishing both at the canyon and in the Giants clearing, and Corvus had spoke of losing a group member, it was still in the back of Markus's mind that perhaps the Trial Grounds had been a little bit too easy.
This thought was banished from Markus's head as Shadowknife announced that he could see the end of the path, just a few minutes ahead of where the group was.
Now revitalized and encouraged, the group pushed their way through and soon found themselves standing on a rocky outcropping, almost identical to the one they had entered the very first passageway on. A steep cliff face went sharply downwards, and below them, past many steep hills and then lesser hills, lay a small building with a thin and snaking road leading to it, just a speck in a sea of green grass from where they were. That had to be where the group was meant to reach, where the Academy would then take over their transportation for the rest of the way.
Felix
Crouched above the outcropping that held the group as they carefully and slowly made their downwards descent to the bottom of the cliff, Felix observed. He had of course watched the engagement with the Stone Giants, and he had to admit that he was impressed with Markus. He and Corvus had arranged a battle plan and followed through, with good results. Stone Giants were notoriously difficult to kill and heavily resistant to magic.
The fact that Markus's spells were damaging it by themselves was promising, and gave Felix hints about his true power. If he was that powerful while essentially a mortal, he would be much more powerful as a vampire when he was liberated from his chains. That is if he survived through the process, and Felix was not sure he would, to his extensive knowledge nothing even remotely similar had ever been attempted.
Once again simply stepping into a shadow and disappearing, Felix had much on his mind.
The group had slowly made their way down the cliff, Lumuro, Warren, and Alarise taking their time, as they were all injured somehow. As the last one reached the bottom and the group began to walk down sloping hills and mounds excited chatter broke out amongst them.
Many people were discussing what they thought the Academy would be like, and what they would potentially study. Other's had kept quiet about what they intended to study, after all it was a very competitive and dangerous place to receive and education, but Markus was thrilled at the prospect of it all.
Chatting with Evelyn as the group made it's way down the hill's and towards the great sea of green grass that they had seen from the outcropping above Markus was content. He was still a wanted man, being tracked and hunted by multiple different groups and organizations, but he now had a plan, and he could work from there with what to do next.
As they reached where the last rock and grey grass of the iron colored hills turned to green grass they were within a stones throw of the small building they had seen.
A man came out of the small wooden building, which appeared to have stables attached to it's side, and greeted the group.
"New students? Of course, of course. Right that way!" The man was a happy seeming, older gentleman with grey hair and a short grey beard. His clothing bore the insignia of the Academy. He was pointing over towards the stables where another man was standing.
This man was decidedly less happy seeming, and was rather dour, "The carriages will take you to the main campus of the Academy. Do not worry, they will take you there safely." The last part seemed a bit ominous to Markus, and the delivery and speech of the man was completely deadpanned and monotone.
The carriages looked like every other horse-drawn carriage Markus had ever seen, except it had been magically expanded on the interior to hold the entire group. It was not pulled by regular horses, nor by thestrals as Hogwart's carriages had been pulled, but it was instead pulled by four massive horse like beasts that had manes that looked like glowing embers, and their hooves left smoldering and charred hoof prints on the ground.
With a quick slap to the ass of the lead horse, courtesy of the dour, monotonous man, the carriage smoothly glided off, beginning down the road that the group had seen from above that snaked and wound its way through the veritable ocean of grass.
Lumuro, Warren, and Alarise were still injured, but were stable and would definitely last until the group reached the Academy proper and would be able to get them medical attention.
Corvus and Evelyn looked excited, but were trying to conceal it, in proper vampire nobility fashion.
It was difficult to read Shadowknife, but it seemed that he too was excited about reaching the Academy.
Markus was very excited, he now had something to do with his life that was not simply running, hiding, or both. While he was still on the run and was still technically hiding he now had a greater purpose, and now he had one hell of an opportunity to get quite an advantage over his opponents.
How did y'all like that? By a good bit my longest chapter ever, hitting about 6,200 words. I really appreciate reviews, leave one with what you think about the story, any comments, corrections, suggestions, or questions. Check out my other new stories 'What Was Once Forgotten' and 'How A Roman Should Die' and let me know what you think.
Also, huge props to Miranda Flairgold for her story and the influence it has on mine.