Stolen Hearts; Chapter Three

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." - Andre Gide (French writer, humanist and moralist, 1947 Nobel prize for literature, 1869-1951)

James was apprehensive; Cala had a fervent look in her eyes as she stared up towards the castle. She was going to be sent to prison, but Xandu had guaranteed them that Cala would see it as a cage and would try to escape from that cage at all costs. Ruffelm had agreed and the minister had reluctantly decided to let her join the school instead.
"Wait," Ruffelm held up his hand and everyone halted. Cala looked around to see why they had stopped. The concentration of power in the air had almost diminished after she set off with the White's for they had travelled through sparsely inhabited areas, but now; as they neared the castle and it grounds Cala felt it growing ever stronger. Hundreds of power pulsing people concealed behind the castles grounds and Cala could sense every single one of them and their energy. It was a skill among several others she had been lucky enough to have been born with, along with the more common abilities of self healing and the capability to see at night, it was one of the most useful.

Battles in war are almost always a mathematical equation. Every person has a limit ranked up to five as the highest known so far. In war soldiers are always fighting at their limit, they need to, to survive. So if a level 4 comes up against a level 3, the four will win but then battles aren’t all that simple. However it helps to tell how strong an opponent is and therefore how likely it is they could be beaten. Even a 5 can be conquered if they are up against two 4’s, though that would be a shameful defeat. Cala was a 5, the only known five alive, which was why she had been so good at her job. It was why she was valuable. Ruffelm was a 4.5 and James a 4.5, hence the reason he was chosen to fight Cala. Xandu was a 4.5 also and Sir Grey was a 3.5.
"Sirs, I think you have reached your destinations. I, the professors and James will take it from here," he continued.
"Now, Ruffelm see here…" Sir Grey said reproachfully his usual querulous self.
"No Oswald, we had an agreement," Ruffelm interrupted patiently.
"Oh, very well," said he and the other eight officials wasted no time teleporting, leaving Cala alone with Ruffelm, the two professors and James.

Ruffelm turned to face the school again and started muttering incantations under his breath and twitching his fingers every now and again. After several minutes he started to walk forwards again, the others followed. Nobody held Cala now; nobody seemed in the slightest bit bothered about her. She had the chance to escape but the castle was calling her so she followed obediently behind. Ten or so paces in James teleported off without a word, as did Ruffelm and one of the professors. The remaining one, a 4, turned on Cala sharply and pulled down his hood to reveal a lean spindly looking man. His face looked like it had been carved unevenly and his eyes sank deep into his head. His lips were thin and pale, his hands showed the same sort of lanky fingers as the NEX. His sleet cold stare sent a momentary shiver down her spine, eyes of a tarantula.
Cala thought that he had been left to finish her as he stepped forward and abruptly grabbed her by the wrist with one hand, and by the scruff of the neck with another. But then she felt an all familiar tingling in her stomach as if she was dissolving. Cala relaxed, this man was teleporting her. The colors of the scenery around her faded away into blackness and the slowly new images formed around her. She was in a big room filled with children from the ages of ten up to seventeen, all eating their dinner on one of four long wooden tables. Each table had about two hundred students seated around it. At a long table, at the top of the room, raised slightly above the rest, sat about thirty teachers and Ruffelm, all smiling sweetly at each others conversation, it almost seemed spurious to Cala.

The room didn’t go quiet, in fact it just got even louder as people started to realize Cala Hunt, ‘The War Princess’ who had fought in the Black Nations army ever since she was seven and killed well over six hundred people, was stood in the middle of the room. Cala was irate; she had been brought here especially at this time so that everyone could see her and they knew all too well who she was. With a bounty on her head worth more gold than the weight of Mebenna’s capital city Estha it was hard not to know her.
"Get your hands off me," Cala ordered the man still grasping her like a vice round the neck.
He gave her a hard shove "Don’t ever talk to me like that again or I’ll see that your every second in this institution is a living nightmare!"
Cala growled under her breath "Too late dick’ed," and bunched her firsts.
"If you ever cross me again you’ll be feeling the back of my cane all too frequently. Don’t forget you’re in my nation now blood traitor!" He brought his hand down across Cala's cheek before she could even blink. His nails cut deep into her skin and left a bloody trail which flowed freely down her chin and neck. He raised his hand to strike a second blow.
"Don’t touch her Kancar!" the voice came from the table on her nearest right. Cala looked around to see who it was, for a second she caught sight of James but he scowled hard at her as the boy next to him stood up and walked towards her and the Professor. Cala gasped, she couldn’t read him but he was strong, a high 4 but four point what? It made all the difference. He was strong enough to block her reading him but more surprisingly was the fact he was aware she could read him. He was almost a head taller than Cala. He had messy brown hair, grey eyes, which unlike his small thin mouth seemed to be smiling at her, and broad shoulders. He looked strong but not in the brutish bulldog way, he was slim, athletic. He had a look about him that seemed to show he was more than able to throw a couple of good hexes here and there but knew better. Cala liked the look of him but could tell by the impression on James face that they were good friends and he disapproved immeasurably at him standing up for her.

Petulant as ever Cala thought.
Kancar turned to face him, lowering his hand. The teachers at the top table took little notice and only one or two heads from various tables turned.
"What did you say boy?" Kancar spat. One or two of the boy’s friends jeered him on from the table.
"I said, don’t touch that girl," the boy repeated steadily. He was obviously not afraid of the professor and Cala could guess that they had had previous run-ins before now.
"Why you insolent creature, watch your tongue and sit back down!"
The boy shrugged and sat back down. Kancar however didn’t hit Cala again as he dragged her up to the front of the room and sat her on a small ancient stone stool in front of the staff table, it looked less welcoming than a bed of jagged rocks. She could overhear their conversation as she looked out over the four tables and their occupants.
"Are you having trouble again with our Simon, Professor?" Ruffelm was asking.
"Yes. That waif has no manners what so ever headmaster, I'm a little surprised why you haven’t spoken to him about his boisterousness. He disobeys almost every rule and there is no other stronger candidate than him for being, as the kids call him, ‘Dodger’. I tell you that boy is a pirate and will meet only the noose at this rate,"
Pirate!
"Oh, he just has different loyalties in this school. Its not that he disregards the rules he just finds in some situations they don’t apply and as for him being ‘ Dodger’ who knows but he is innocent until proven guilty,"
Kancar grunted "Well I don’t think it is up to him to decide when and where rules apply really and piracy is a crime!"
If somebody in this school is a pirate then they must be strong enough to pass through the boarder as Ruffelm did. They’re probably as strong as me. What if they’re dangerous? Wait, they’re a pirate, they don’t choose sides. But whoever it is they are still strong! They must do dealings with Xandu…

Ruffelm made no reply and Cala knew he had probably given one of his indistinguishable shrugs to finish the subject. He obviously didn’t think very highly of Simon and from the tone of his voice didn’t think for one second Simon was a pirate. But he knew there was one, and he was worried.
For the next half hour Cala heard stories about students’ outlandish behaviour in lessons which the staff were all laughing at. She heard a lot about two boys called Max and Sam in particular. By the sounds of it they had done everything from scale the castle to pin down an ‘Exams suck!’ banner on the roof too getting out of class with fake viruses. Simon was brought up occasionally but always in a slightly more staid tone to the other subjects of conversation as were James and a couple others.
The only subject however that had truly captured her attention was that of the pirate. There were a select few, very rare and you had a less than once in three lifetimes chance in meeting or even seeing one. The pirates of Cala’s time weren’t like the ones before the ‘Deaf war’, they didn’t just sail ships, they smuggled things across the border. They chose no sides enabling them to do trade with all nations, they had no crew and they worked alone. Their cargo was always stolen and could rage from small trinkets to even smuggling people over the nation boarders. Constantly on the run, living alone, depending on only their powers and mind to survive and always living under the threat of a hanging if caught stealing from either nation. They were the leading characters of many a bedtime story in Mebenna. Of course people never complain at buying stolen cargo from other nations, they like to think pirates are one sided and work for a specific nation. I guess you could call it naïve but really it’s just hoping for sun in a sky full of thunder.
Cala started rocking back and forth on her stool to disguise the rather noisy rumbling sound her stomach was making. She looked out over the tables everyone was chatting and laughing. It reminded her of a city she had once visited and would hopefully see again some day. The stone was warm terracotta in the hall, largely covered in woven tapestries, shields and swords. The ceiling was high, almost two stories and arched, held in place by large wooden beams for support; chandeliers glinted down on the children below lighting up the whole room. Flags draped down between each table, separating them slightly from the rest of the school; blue, green, red and yellow. Objects of all shapes and sizes were flying across the tables from person to person, bread rolls, books, pens, and the occasional piece of cutlery. At the far end of the magnificent room stood a giant pair of wooden oak doors, reaching almost as high as the ceiling itself. With humungous metal ring door handles, luckily they were swung wide open so nobody need haul at the monstrous things to exit and soon many were leaving. Retiring up to their rooms, well fed and exhausted from the days activities.

Only a handful was left and still Cala sat, now staring out of an open window contemplating all and nothing. A storm was coming, this was usual and Cala quite liked the noise of rolling thunder, the wet rain pattering against her skin and the blinding flare lightning made as it streaked through the sky like light through a dusty window but all the same this had been a gloomy day, even if it had been anticipated. Cala sighed and turned back to face the ever emptier hall, Ruffelm had called Simon over. James had lingered behind with two other boys to wait for him but it seemed Ruffelm didn’t want their presence.
"I'm afraid, James, you boys better head upstairs. I need to have quite a chat with Simon here, it will most likely take some time," Ruffelm bowed his head slightly to show his apologies. James nodded as Simon and he exchanged an affectionate slap on the back, Cala always found it a strange thing to do and could never understand why some boys found it necessary.
Ruffelm, Cala and Simon were now the only three in the hall and maids were now scuttling in and cleaning up, with magic, the mess that everyone had made.
"Come on Cala, we’ve got some talking to do and things to sort out," Ruffelm sighed.
Cala walked over cautiously.
"Simon my boy, take her up to my office will you. I’ll be along shortly, just needed to have a quick chat with the maids," Ruffelm looked senile and worn out, Cala didn’t realise he drained of energy so fast. Simon nodded and started walking towards the door; Cala followed not glancing a look back to see Ruffelm’s expression.
Simon turned sharply left after walking through the doors and then turned to face Cala.
"There’s thousands of steps to climb to get to his office and the elevator is only used by staff so will you let me teleport us there?" Simon had a soft voice and it seemed to calm Cala’s heart rate so she nodded and held out her hand in acceptance to let him take her. Simon smiled revealing a neat row of almost white teeth. He looked cute with his single dimple on his left cheek and Cala almost smiled back. He took her hand in his, handling it much like James did, carefully but not so delicately that you felt he was scared you’d disappear away into nothingness the second he squeezed your fingers. He held Cala tight enough for her to feel every twitch in his fingers, just like James did.
"Hold on," He warned before jumping forward. Into nothing, the colors fading like washed out paint pallets and Cala's stomach started fizzing again as if she’d eaten a huge pack of sherbet. Simon squeezed slightly on Cala's hand and the colors started to reform around them.

Thank you so much for the poll results guys. I'm sorry if this story is a bit slow for you. It is actually a novel not a short story so do bare with me if you're expecting something more compressed. I can submit more chapters at once if you would like to speed it up a bit? Tell me what you think. Thanks again.
xx