Chapter 7

A split second after she left the room, Matron Splitsplat returned.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, your friend Sapphire has been assigned to the Ring of Falcon and is currently residing in the Tower. Each house has its own species of mascots. Your mascots will accompany you on your quest. Look at the pile of brochures on the table for further details. You two girls will be sharing a room, while Darren will be sharing with Dave. You will be responsible for the cleanliness and deco of the room.”

With that parting repartee, Matron Splitsplat marched out of the room.

“Huh? What quest?” asked a puzzled Azure.

“Who’s Dave? Will he like my War Zone toys?” asked an increasingly worried Darren.

“Well, we’ll find out sooner or later. Lets go check out those brochures.” Said Amber.

Amber picked up the stack of brochures with the title “A GUIDE TO LOTAHOLES ACADEMY” and started reading.

Mascots
Ring of Merlin: Shieldbubble – Shieldbubbles come in a variety of colours. The colour they are when conjured reflects on the creator’s personality. If the owner experiences a major personality twist and changes in nature, the colour of the Shieldbubble will also change accordingly. They are often friendly, but can become a dangerous opponent if its owner is faced with danger as they can assist in casting spells and hexes.
Matron: Bloodie Splitsplat

Ring of Vulture: Pile-o-bones – pile-o-bones come in 4 colours: grey, black, white and light blue. They are in the shape of the skeletons of various animals, and can use any bone from their bodies as swords or boomerangs. Some of the smaller bones are also used as toothpicks when out in the wilderness away from civilization.
Matron: Beady Mac Ice

Ring of Eagle: Harlin – Harlins are miniature guardian angels. They are white in colour, the only difference between them being the colour of their hair. Their abilities include sharp eyesight, good sense of direction, healing minor cuts and stunning victims for 10 seconds.
Matron: Goldie von Clawwe

Ring of Falcon: Darcmyste – Darcmystes are tiny figures shrouded in darkness and mystery. When seen, they are generally wearing dark coloured cloaks covering their body. No one knows their true identities and looks for certain except their owners. They can create and clear fog, proving their worth in hazy surroundings. They can also shield their owners from sight for a period of 10 seconds.
Matron: Misty de Haste

#all students must get their books, badges, name tag and ring symbol from their respective matrons.
~The End~

Underneath the brochures were 3 parcels, one addressed to each of them. Amber immediately ripped open her parcel, noticing that the others did so too. Inside was a badge made in the shape of the merlin, the namesake bird of their Ring, name tags, books, a badge in the shape of a silver star and a note.
The note read “Lessons start tomorrow at 9 sharp, you are required to gather at the study hall after breakfast. Breakfast starts at 7.30 in the dining hall. One of your peers will guide you to the study hall after breakfast.”

Darren stifled a yawn and said: “Well, I guess its time to meet Dave, I hope he’s nice. Why don’t we meet here again at 720 tomorrow morning?”

“Fine by me,” chorused the two girls.

“G’night”

“Good night”

Chapter 6

With wobbling steps, they followed Lady Radeyes down the corridor leading to the headmasters’ office. All too soon, they arrived at a door with a shiny gold plaque reading: Headmasters.

“Do you think there are two of them?” whispered Sapphire.

“You will remain silent outside while I inform the headmasters of your arrival,” said Lady Radeyes, all the while glaring at Sapphire with her piercing red eyes.

They stood in a straight line, discussing all the strange things that they had seen that day in a whisper, making a futile attempt at being quiet. Suddenly, Lady Radeyes was at their sides once more, saying “Amber, the heads would like to see you first.”

Amber nervously crossed the stretch of brightly polished floor leading into the office, knocked softly, and entered. Once inside, she stopped walking abruptly and her mouth dropped open, literally, for on the chair sat a genuine, two-headed person drinking ribena. Or was it blood? Anything was possible, considering his four pointed canine teeth. Suddenly, he took out a Gummy Worm… Wait a minute, was that a piece of dried meat?!?! And began eating it.

“Aah… Ms. Glassfire I presume? You must forgive my eating habits, I find it hard to control my hunger sometimes. Now, would you kindly sign your name here?” said the two heads simultaneously.

Amber took the quill nervously. “but… but… where’s the ink?”

“Nevermind… just write your name in the student record book. The ink is in the bowl.”
Amber dipped the tip of her quill into the bowl of rusty brown ink and began to write. The moment the quill touched the page, a piercing pain shot through her arm. It felt as though a hundred knives were slicing through her arm, making mincemeat of it. Droplets of blood appeared on her wrist, like dew on the leaves after a storm. An image of the meat pie she had just eaten rose unbidden into her mind, and she had to stifle a scream.

“Is there any problem, Ms. Glassfire?” enquired the headmasters, Lord Twinheads.

“N-no.” Amber resumed writing, gritting her teeth in an effort to ignore the pain. As soon as the letters of her name were formed in the book, the blood on her wrist mysteriously vanished, reappearing gleaming fresh on the pages of the book. Amber glanced at the names of other students written before her, now already faded a dark brown, and shuddered.

“Thank you, Ms. Glassfire. You can go now.”

Having been dismissed, Amber bowed and retreated to the common room through another door. Before long, the Darren and Azure joined her. They recounted similar stories about the blood. However, they were distracted by the dulcet tones of Matron Splitsplat’s voice as she entered the room.

“Hiya, new students! Welcome to the Tower of Merlin. Did you know that there are four different towers, each housing a different ring. We are called the Ring of Merlin, and you have the honour of joining us. The other Towers and Rings are called Vulture, Eagle and Falcon. I proudly announce that I, Matron Bloodie Splitsplat, am the matron of Tower of Merlin and the Guardian of the Ring of Merlin.
Puffing out her chest proudly, Matron Splitsplat left the room.

Chapter 5

On the third knock, a woman with a stern looking face, hooked nose, weird eyes, rake-thin figure and hair pulled back into a knot at the back of her head looked at them.

“Welcome to Lotaholes Castle. You four are the new students, I presume?” said the woman in a clipped, no nonsense voice.

“Y-yes, m-ma’am…” stuttered Darren, the bravest of them all.

“Good! I’m Lady Radeyes, the assistant principal of Lotaholes Academy. Have a seat in the main hall while I instruct Cook to prepare some food. You just missed dinner,” said the woman, walking through an open door at the other side of the room as Sapphire turned beet-red with embarrassment when her stomach rumbled.

The four of them sat on the chairs in silence, waiting for Cook to come. Before long, a squeaking sound was heard. An amply proportioned woman entered, pushing a trolley laden with cakes, sandwiches, fruits and drinks. The woman’s round face was beaming, and wisps of hair had escaped from her hair-net to fall around her face, forming a contrast to the assistant principal.

“Eat up, my dears, it isn’t often I get to show off my culinary skills in this school.”

The trolley was put in front of them, and having missed lunch, they devoured the food hungrily, manners thrown out of the window for the moment.

When they had all eaten their fill, the trolley was wheeled away. Then, they started discussing all the weird happenings of the day.

“Have you noticed that, even though the walls are full of holes, its not in the least droughty in here?” asked Amber.

“Yeah, notice what the cook said. She doesn’t get to cook that often in this school. Don’t you think its weird? I mean, in a school this size, the students have to eat a lot…” said Sapphire.

“That’s not the worst of it. The assistant principal’s name is Lady Radeyes, but in my opinion, Lady REDeyes would suit her more. Have you noticed? Her eyes are red, and I don’t think they are contact lenses!” exclaimed Azure.

“Don’t get your knickers all in a bother, I wouldn’t be surprised if the headmaster has two heads,” said Darren drowsily.

“Hey, don’t jinx it!” said Sapphire indignantly. “I wouldn’t like to meet anyone with two heads.”

Just then, Lady Radeyes entered.

“Amber, Azure, Darren and Sapphire, the headmasters would like to see you now.”

Chapter 4

Finally, the much-awaited day arrived. The instructions that came with her uniform stated that she was to don her uniform and wait at the Town Square for her transport. She put on her uniform absent-mindedly, all the while imagining what her new school would be like.

After that, Amber strode to the Town Square with the air of someone shaking the dust of the town and most of its inhabitants off her feet. “So long now, people,” she thought, “Bet you never thought I would turn out to be better than the whole posh lot of you.” This was true, in a way, as the other children had often bullied and taunted her for her lack of spending money and finery.

The first thing Amber noticed when Amber got her first glimpse of the Town Square was the group of townspeople gathered there. Then, she saw what the townspeople were gaping at. A group of two girls and a boy were standing together, dressed in the same school uniform as her. The boy was wearing a white cowboy hat, blue and white checked shirt, white pants and black calfskin boots.

“Amber Glassfire, is that you?” called out a classmate unbelievingly as she strode up to join them.

“Where are you going, Ms Glassfire, dressed in so much finery?” asked a teacher.

“Can you really afford it, or did you nick it from someone else’s wardrobe?” jeered another schoolmate.

Amber resisted the urge to poke out her tongue at them, instead trying her utmost to cool her rising anger by thinking, “I will not lower myself to their level by acting childishly to get back at them. I am a cut above them and when the transport comes, I will be free of this town and all his inhabitants.”
Amber’s reverie was cut short by a voice saying, “they can be so cruel and thoughtless sometimes, right?”

Before Amber could deign to reply, a horse-drawn carriage bearing the name Lotaholes Academy arrived at the square. With mixed feeling, Amber followed the other three onto the carriage. All they had with them was a small backpack as their luggage had already been sent to the academy a few days earlier. For a few moments they all looked out of the window, watching the scenery stream past at an astonishing speed.

“Hi, I’m Amber Glassfire. The letter said that this was a school that gave free education. What do you think?”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sapphire Clearwater. My letter sais this was a very expansive Swiss Finishing School for refined and talented young ladies. You see, I’m the heir to the county of Rocky Mountains, and my parents want to groom me into a lady fit to be a Countess,” said a blue eyed, blonde haired, fragile looking girl.

“You think you’ve got it bad? I’m Azure Aquawing. They told me this was an orphanage that offered free education and boarding. You see, my parents didn’t like me,” said the pretty girl with green eyes and auburn hair sitting by the window, sadness colouring her voice.

“The name is Darren Lance. They told me this was a martial arts school. All my relatives are world class fencers and samurais. They think I’m a wimp because I can’t fight well,” the black-haired, black-eyed boy said.

They looked at each other with confusion. “why are the stories all different?” asked Amber. “they cheated us!”

Just at that moment, the carriage door was opened and a voice was heard saying, “we have arrived at Lotaholes Station. Kindly disembark within seven minutes.”

They hurriedly scrambled off the carriage and onto the platform. A whole group of butterflies were currently taking up residence in Amber’s stomach, and many more kept arriving.

On the platform, a heavily scarred and deformed man was waiting, bearing a sign that said: Lotaholes Academy. He only had tufts of hair, six fingers on each hand and one ear. At his feet was a dog with a linage as mixed as a bowl of mixed fruits put in the blender. It was impossible to tell what breed of dog it had been descended from. One thing was clear: this was no pedigree.

They adverted their gaze to avoid looking at him, until he said “My name is Gregor and this ‘ere dog’s name is Mix. Don’t worry about staring, I’m used to it. Used to give my poor old dam the heebie-jeebies, I did. I believe it was the sight of me by her death bed that finally sent her into the arms of Hades.”

It was a very quiet ride to the castle in Gregor’s wagon. They passed by plenty of marshes, rivers and overgrown, untended wasteland. Finally, a castle reared up in the distance. When they reached it, the saw that it had more holes in the walls than a block of cheddar cheese. That alone was enough to let them know that this was indeed their new school. Sapphire let out a high pitched, hysterical giggle as the crossed the drawbridge.

“I’ll be leaving you here, I’m only the caretaker,” said Gregor as they reached the front door. “don’t go missing me now.” The main entrance was adorned with two gruesome looking gargoyles with their mouths wide open and fangs as long as their arms. On the door was a knocker in the shape of a lion’s head, so highly polished until they could have admired their reflections, had they not been so nervous.

The four of them looked at each other, until Darren built up the courage to raise the brass knocker and knock loudly on the wooden door.

Chapter 3

Preparations were being made as Amber was leaving for Lotaholes Castle the following day. Her mother was in quite a state. Towels, books, pens and clothes were sent flying everywhere. No doubt, every mother wants the best for her child.

Now, Amber had received a parcel on her doorstep a few days ago. She had rushed to pick it up, to find that it simply said:
Amber Glassfire----Lotaholes Academy

Amber had it torn apart before you could say “Diddledoo”. Inside lay a light blue and white checked blouse, a white skirt and a pair of shiny white leather shoes. It will be a great school, thought Amber, even the uniform is prettier than most schools I’ve attended. It will be great, except for the fact that there will be a lot of holes in there, which will totally explain the namesake of her new school. (Well, not exactly a new, new school, more like a new, old school. Ancient, in fact.)

While packing her bag in her bedroom, Amber felt a strange, unexplainable urge to wear her locket. She retrieved her locket from the little oak treasure chest under her bed and hung it around her neck. Instantly, a warm, comforting feeling overcame her. She felt something magical about this delicate, gold-wrought locket that carried the gem of her namesake. “Oh well, I could use some luck at Lotaholes Academy”, Amber decided. “It will be nice to make some new friends, maybe we will even have adventures together. Who knows?”