The Night Runners: First Year

Chapter 9

The next time the four girls found themselves together in the same room, it was the middle of the term's midterm exam week. It was also snowing. As the first term came to an end, winter had set in, bringing rough winds and sleet and snow and ice. Fading into the gray distance, the world seemed comprised of pale blues and whites and blacks as all that remained of the school's park were wide fields of snow and pines and firs and the bared, black branches of the elms and oaks. The season had changed the school grounds into a harsh land of ice and cold. More often than not, Chrystyna's, as well as Katrynn's, pencil faltered as their attention wandered away from a revision. Outside, the world of white seemed far more interesting than calculating the mathematical sums which their teacher had given them for practice.

"A good assassin is a calculating assassin," Master Thompson always told his students, "and that doesn't just mean being clever or being manipulative. It is also about quick thinking and being able to swiftly guess a distance or a measurement in the heat of a mission."

Master Thompson, Emalynn thought, is always trying to make maths more exciting than it really is – but we all know the truth. She sighed.

"What are you studying?" Katrynn asked, eyes still focused on softly falling snow drifting past the wide windows of Chrystyna's Tower (that was the unofficial name for their team's meeting place).

"Maths," Emalynn grunted, her glare still fixed on the papers before her. "I think Master Thompson just gave us this stuff to keep us busy."

"We're already busy," Brittainy rolled off her seat dramatically and sprawled on the ground, still clutching one of the quills which Chrystyna had set out in a jar for everyone's use. "That's all I've been doing – homework, homework, homework! I'm going to die!!!"

"No one has died of homework," Emalynn snorted.

"Well, I'll be the first!"

"I'll be the second," Katrynn rubbed her eyes. "I think I read this sentence twice and I still can't remember it!"

"What're you studying?" asked Brittainy.

Her blonde curls now popped up at Katrynn's elbow, and the young girl's blue eyes fixed on the dark-haired girl's lecture notes. Brittainy wrinkled her nose.

"Oh. You're already on your alchemy?" The girl gave a gusty sigh. "I hate the fact I have to memorize that table thing."

"You mean the table of elements?" Emalynn said. "We all have to memorize it. You're not the only one."

"I finished memorizing it last night," Chrystyna said, withdrawing her attention from a small purple-backed book for a moment. "It wasn't so bad."

Emalynn recognized the small textbook as that of the Social Arts taught by Master O'Shore. Chrystyna has been having problems in that class, she mused. Well, she has problems in most of her classes – but that subject really doesn't seem to come natural to her.

"You think you'll get a passing grade on the exams this time?" Brittainy looked over at Chrystyna, bluntly asking what the Romayans had been wondering.

"I hope so," Chrystyna said. "Living here is so interesting, and so different, from home. I would like to stay here and learn even more."

"You do realize that this Academy is about being an assassin," Emalynn said, "not just about reading and learning things."

"Yes, of course," Chrystyna said and then added vaguely, "but learning comes in different ways."

"I don't see what that-"

"Well, hopefully Mistress Stonecroft passes you for Assassin's Life," Brittainy interrupted Emalynn. "I think that if you fail that one, you'll be out for sure. And you know how much she hates you."