AfterWorlds (Book 1): Chasing Blood

Chapter 4 Gallay

Chapter 4

Bartok and Elise had rose before the sun and reached the large stone wall before sunset the next evening. It only took them a few hours to finally arrive at the Arch of Gallay. It stood taller and larger then Elise home in Kingsdown and much, much taller and larger then Bartok's mother's bungalow farmhouse. Elise glanced over at Bartok who was staring in awe. "Even though I've been here before the size of the Norst wall and Castle are just beautiful." Bartok spoke faintly. Elise eyes finally peeled from Bartok to look up to the magnificent stone creation before them. Six very large stone pillars surrounded the school which was also around six stories high. Large vibrant teal and silver banners flapped at the top of each pillar on the south and large red and black banners flapped and waved on top the north pillars; a large stone archway stood before a very thick and long bridge which connected Nolands and Gallay. "What is that?" Elise pointed a thin arm up towards the archway. "That's the Arch. It only lets students and teachers through, I think." Bartok looked at it his horse swaying slightly beside the elves. The closer the pair got to the entrance they both noticed a small group of people standing by one of the stone bases of the Arch. "Welcome!" A tall dark skinned man with large thick black hair and large thick black glasses greeted as two of the four people standing at the base disappeared onto the bridge; two girls who wore black robes with bright teal scarfs each and looked back at Elise and Bartok before smiling, giggling and hurrying across the bridge. "I don't think I can do this." Elise pulled the reins on her horse."It will be fine, come on." Bartok took gave his horse a gently nudge forward and was off before Elise even opened her mouth to protest. Elise stopped behind Bartok just in time to hear the two creatures in front of the boy introduce themselves. "I am Professor Terapin! I am the creatures 101 professor," The man with thick black hair and glasses was speaking. "This is Professor Tulsa; she is the Equestrian Professor with magical and non-magical creatures." A short muscular woman stepped forward petting the horse Elise was seated upon. Elise and Bartok both dismounted their horses and Professor Tulsa took their reins leading them over the bridge. "Where is she taking them?" Elise whispered leaning towards the boy. "The Barn for non-magical creatures Miss Casris." Professor Terapin answered smoothly. "Elise." The young elf shot back still watching Professor Tulsa until she disappeared into a thick fog that grew darker as the sun began to set. Professor Terapin smiled politely and bowed forward a few inches. Professor Terapin extended an arm towards the large stone Arch. Elise walked towards the Arch her slim shoulders back and tried to stand as tall as she could Bartok at her flank and Professor Terapin a few feet behind them. "It will certainly be a good year with you two here!" The professor clapped his hands together; Elise looked back at him uncertain then back to the Arch, only a few more feet until they crossed. Elise reached the Arch and stopped only inches from where the grass changed to wood indicating that you were crossing to Gallay. "It'll be fine." Bartok smiled warmly; Elise took a deep breath in and nodded. "Let's hurry! The sorting ceremony might have already started." Terapin pressing his palms into Elise and Bartok's back causing them to stumble through the Arch onto the bridge. Elise head whipped around to looked back at the Arch now behind her wide eyed, nothing had happened. The entrance to the school was beautiful; Professor Terapin, Elise and Bartok climbed down the large hill that appeared as soon as you stepped off the bridge, than climbed steps up another hill until they came to a large body of water. "This is the South West entrance; it's a quick cut around the lake. All students arriving from the North must travel over the lake, but luckily, not us." Terapin gave Elise and Bartok a happy wink as his speed picked up and he raced around the edge of the lake, Elise eyes followed the professor, the sun had set so his body looked like a tiny black blob bobbing as it ran until his tiny distant figure stepped under a small light bolted to the side of the castle beside a large thick wooden door. Professor Terapin waved his arm feverishly for Elise and Bartok to hurry. As they picked up their pace to reach the teacher Elise looked down into the deep black waters of the lake they walked beside. The elf stepped slightly sideways to move farther away from the dark waters and accidently knocked shoulders with Bartok. "Sorry." Elise muttered, but when she glanced over Bartok was staring up at the castle, he looked as nervous as Elise felt. The elf grabbed the corner of the boys sleeve to slow his pace."Will you be alright?" She said in a hushed voice."Yes, no. Probably... I hope so." Bartok glanced towards Elise and he looked terrified. They walked down a dimly lit hall that seemed to go on for a while until they came to the large wooden door. "Ready?" Terapin breathed happily.Before Elise or Bartok could answer he pushed the doors open and light flooded their vision and caused them to shield their eyes as they walked through. Once their eyes adjusted the scene and noise came into perspective. They were standing in an enormous room; the ceiling must have been stories high, large drapes hung from the ceiling to the floor, on one side they were vibrant teal and silver and the opposite a scarlet red and black.Six long large tables filled the dining room and students dressed in Gallay uniforms, black robes and some in teal and red scarfs too surrounded them. "Better join your other classmates." Terapin whispered in between Elise and Bartok and pointed at a large group of students standing in the center of the room before moving past the two and joining what looked like the other teachers at a large singled out table at the front of the room. Elise eyes traveled along the row of teachers until she noticed one of them staring back at her. An older witch, long silver hair pulled back into a thick braid that sat over her shoulder. Elise felt something in the pit of her stomach stir until the witch stood up abruptly and everyone fell silent. Elise and Bartok joined the others before she began to speak. "Welcome new and old students of Gallay. For those of you who do not know I am Professor and Headmaster Lazura Rosel, Witch of the seas and conqueror of Terigard and Nolands. Many of you come from separate lands that rival one another, but here," The Headmaster paused looking around her eyes scanning. "Here we unit, here we are one. Lands separated you before but here in Gallay, there are no lands. If we stand together, we stand strong." The room echoed loudly with cheers and whistling but settled fairly quickly.Elise stared up at the Witch in awe, she had though before that Juliet was one of the most powerful witches she could have met but she was wrong, so wrong. Elise glanced over her shoulder at Bartok who was looking around at the students standing in front of them; her eyes looked forward again scanning the students too. There was a very tall boy with long light brown hair, at first glance Elise would have mistaken him for an elf but he had human ears and when she caught a glance of his profile and his irises were so light in color they looked almost white, something in his eye told Elise to be wary of him, he seem to be surrounded in a sea of black, brown, blonde and other shades and colors of heads of hair bobbing up and down. Elise noticed a pair of girls whispering excitedly to each other, one had a long bright teal cloak and a short black dress with short purple hair, the other was slightly taller and wearing a black cloak with a gold trim and long blonde hair pulled tightly back into a pony tail. Elise looked down at her top armor; horse hair covered black dress and dirty socks and boots and felt her cheeks flush, quickly attempting to tame the frizzy brown curls. The first thing she was going to do when she could was have a long bath. "Another thing I would like to inform new students and remind old students." Headmaster Rosel continued. "If you go beyond the Norst wall, you will more than likely find yourself dead. The woods that surround the outer walls of this school home creatures and monsters some of you couldn't even fathom in your worst nightmare." The witch waited for the hushed anxious wishes to quiet. "If you stay within the school grounds and out of the forests, you will be safe. Now I would like talk about something more joyous and welcome our new first year students!" Professor Rosel smiled warmly and raised her arms."Here at Gallay there are two main houses; Durton" She motioned her arm to one side of the grand room were teal and silver banners crowded the top of the tall ceiling. "And Welton." Her arm motioned now to the opposite side of the room with red and black banners. "You will be placed in your house tonight first years, now let us get started!" The room broke out into happy light conversation as the Headmaster sat down.
"New students, please line up, it doesn't matter what ordered simply make a line." A teacher with long fire red hair and a face full of freckles stood up as her voice echoed over the chatter, it came to be silent once more in the room.The red haired women walked around the table of teachers, including Headmaster Rosel, Professor Terapin, and women with wavy black hair, she sat very tall she had dark circles under her eyes and a man with dark gray hair pulled back into a bun on the top of his head, he sat in complete armor from head to toe except his helmet which was sitting on the table next to him. She walked down to a tall mirror that stood alone in front of the teachers table; Elise looked around and noticed on the opposite end of the room stood two mirrors one on the Durton side with teal and silver banners the other mirror on the Welton side where the scarlet red and black banners were, the group of first year students including Elise and Bartok bumped and shuffled together awkwardly as they made a quick line. "I am Professor Murry; you may call me Madam Murry I am the Archery teacher." The women with fiery red hair smiled around the room, Elise heart jumped. They have archery? She bit her bottom lip excitedly; Elise loves archery she would practice every day with knight Lurez. The elf felt a lump in her throat grow at the last memory she had of Lurez on his face in the dirt, thankfully her thoughts were distracted by Madam Murry beginning to talk again as she looked down at a long piece of paper. "Before you enter the mirror I will call your name. If I do not call your name when you step forward please come to the side here." The women pointed beside her. "Which ever mirror you step out of over across the room, will determine which house you are sorted into. If you emerge from the Durton mirror, you are in house Durton, if you emerge from the Welton mirror you are house Welton. Now, please step forward." Elise poked her head out from the line of people in front of her and saw the first person in line, a fairly normal looking brown haired boy, stepped forward. Madam Murry waved him to stand in front of the mirror. "Sier, Trans." Madam Murry read from the parchment then looked at the normal looking boy, Elise couldn't see his face but she could see him nodding his head and shake slightly. Madam Murry nodded back and the boy walked through. The only sound that could be heard next was the boy Sier fall to the floor on the complete opposite side of the room. Every head in the packed room turned and saw the normal looking boy stand up beside the Durton mirror brushing himself off. "Oh." He said into the silence his hushed voice echoing off the giant stone walls, his face becoming red as he hurried to sit at one of the 3 tables that belonged to house Durton, when he sat the three tables erupted with happy cheers.Everyone in the line began to talk quickly as the next person stepped forward, Elise turned her head back to watch; it was the girl with short purple hair and a bright teal cloak. "Karah, Durm." Madam Murry called and the purple haired girl nodded and marched straight into the mirror without hesitation, there was silence then stumbling footsteps, but not falling. The girl had appeared on the Durton house side too and the tables cheered once more.A boy with dirty blonde hair stepped forward, Madam Murry seem to have read over the parchment numerous times before speaking. "Your name son?" She spoke quietly, barely anyone able to hear her voice."Barne, Mar" He said his voice shaking slightly."Come stand beside me Barne." She said softly and he nodded quickly his head low as he stood beside her, his cheeks flushing a deep red.The next three students in line, a fair haired girl, a fat short boy and a tall angry looking black haired girl all joined the Welton house; the Welton tables also clattered loudly with delight at their new members. As Elise and Bartok moved closer and closer to the judging mirror, Elise could feel a knot grow in her stomach. In a swift and quick movement, Elise grabbed Bartok by the sleeve of his shirt and swirled him around so he was now standing in front of her. He looked around confused for a moment before looking back at the elf. "Please." Elise whispered softly. Bartok stared at the girl for a moment before slowly looking forward towards the front of the line at the mirror standing alone in front of the table of teachers, Elise eyes followed. A fairly tall and broad boy with almost white skin and short black hair stepped forward. The boy glanced back and Elise noticed he had the most ember orange eyes; he caught eyes with Elise, gave a faint smile then turned back and waited for Madam Murry to call his name, Elise felt a shiver run down her spine and the knot in her stomach tighten, she was starting to doubt her belonging there. "Newell, Naki." Madam Murry nodded to the boy and he nodded in return before moving closer to the mirror, without stopping he walked casually through and walked casually out of the Durton mirror; people began to talked in hushed voices as he was the only one to not trip or stumble, but hoots and cheers began after only a few seconds. Elise watched the boy sit down at the very end of the table, closes to the mirror farthest away from his new classmates. "Harst, Craw" Madam Murry said after a boy with black hair combed back stepped forward. The Welton tables broke out in cheers when he exited from their mirror. When Elise looked forward she watched Bartok step before professor Murry, she felt her heart beat faster."Bartok, Yiska." Madam Murry read and Bartok nodded before taking a deep breath and walked forward. Elise head swung around before Bartok even stepped through the mirror to the other two, waiting to see which he would excite from. Bartok seem to take the longest to come back through the mirrors but when he did the Durton table yelled happily welcoming him.Elise smiled slightly before she noticed an odd silence fall over the crowed.She looked forward and realized Madam Murry was waving her forward. Elise lips pressed into a thin line but she forced herself to move. "Elise," Madam Murry paused and her eyes seem to be scanning over the paper for a moment before she pinched the bridge of her nose annoyed and nodded quickly for Elise to go through, Elise looked forward to the giant gleaming mirror. It was framed with what looked like gold tree branches and golden cherry blossoms; but the mirror itself didn't look like a mirror at all, it looked more like milky water, swirling around and moving in different directions every few seconds. Elise took a deep breath and closed her eyes right before she walked through the milky looking mirror; as soon as she was through she felt like she was floating not really walking anymore, a numbing tingling feeling feel over Elise entire body, she tried to take another step and after a few attempts finally felt the marble floor under her feet again, when she opened her eyes Welton looked extremely displease as Durton broke into Cheers and welcomed Elise just as they had Bartok. "Elise!" Bartok called from one of the three tables and Elise moved quickly as Madam Murry announced another name and Welton hooted and chattered at another student entered their school house. Elise sat down on the opposite side of the table as Bartok, he was grinning from ear to ear. "I told you, it would be fine." He said happily as Madam Murry nodded through two last and finally first year student to be sorted into one of two houses, a girl with magenta hair and a short small boy were welcomed happily by Welton and Madam Murry rolled up the parchment. By the time the sorting was done 3 people were standing beside Madam Murry and she was ushering them out of the side door Elise, Bartok and Professor Terapin had entered through earlier. "Where are they going?" Elise said aloud accidently. "They're escorted out of Gallay, not sure where they end up though." Karah, the girl with purple hair answered. Elise watched as Madame Murry close the large wooden door behind her and the three students she was leading. "Yeah, people try to sneak into Gallay all the time. With a lot of help a few people can get through or around the Arch but none of them can get past the judging mirror. Even if they someone how go on the list, the mirror would just spit them back out." Karah said smiling amused slightly as the boy with ember eyes and almost white skin turned around hearing the conversation."They were non magical creatures, probably human." He spoke his voice smooth. Now that Elise was up close Newell looked a lot older then 13, he looked as though he could pass for 15 or 16, but many of the nurse and maids would say that about Elise as well; she opened her mouth to talk but headmaster Rosel was standing again and everyone had fallen silent. "Now that we are all sorted, I would like to start tonight's dinner feast!" Rosel smiled warmly as the three doors on the south side of the room flew open and hundreds of cooks and servers were pouring out with armfuls of plates of food. "Oh man I wonder how big the kitchen here is. Gah, this is awesome." Karah the short purple haired girl in house Durton also said as a few of the servers stopped and placed food before Elise, Bartok, Karah and Newell and the rest of their table.All of them stared at the food for a moment before Professor Rosel announced for everyone to dig in and the giant room with 6 tables including the table the professors and headmaster were sitting at broke out into loud happy chatter with plates and forks knocking softly as conversations picked up everywhere. "Classes will be on the second floor and basement, dormitories on the third." Said Karah happily to anyone listening as she nibbled a piece of chicken, her purple hair and teal cloak making her stick out quit obviously. "How do you know?" Bartok asked a forkful of potatoes slowed for a moment before he put them in his mouth and chewed.Karah looked at Bartok as though she was slightly surprised he was listening to her. "We got a package at the registration. It was in the handbook." She said her cheeks flushed slightly. "I didn't even know there was a registry." Elise said into her plate of food she was pushing around. Even though the sorting was done she still felt a bit uneasy and wasn't sure she could handle eating anything yet. "Really?" Newell Naki spoke his ember eyes on Elise. She looked at him for a moment before looking away not saying anything. Every time she met eyes with him something seem to tighten in her gut and she couldn't quit tell yet if it was a good feeling or a bad one.