The Black Necromancer-Book 4

Chapter 14

                Both Tamarak and Romulus reluctantly stopped fighting their captors. Neither of them looked extremely happy, but neither of them was attacking the other anymore. Her magic was still exerting its influence over them, despite the fact that she had stopped talking.

                Just as Kayla thought that the fight might have gone unnoticed, Arulan walked through the now-silent crowd with a dangerous glint in his blue eyes.

                “What is going on?” he asked; his voice was perilously soft.

                “Oh dear,” Cedric muttered under his breath.

                None of them answered. Rather belatedly, Kayla dropped her arms from where she had been gripping Tamarak’s. Cedric followed suit, Hunter got off Romulus from where he had tackled him to the ground like an American football player and Remus offered his brother a hand to pull him to his feet.

                “What happened here?” Arulan repeated, cold disappointment evident in his voice.

                All of them looked down at their shoes, none of them wanting to betray the others’ confidence. Kayla was surprised at the loyalty that all of them were offering to Tamarak and Romulus. Glancing at Tam, she noted the surprise and pleasure that he felt at their silence.

                Even though all of them remained mute, they knew that Arulan would find out what they had been up to sooner or later. The rest of the trainees were all witnesses to the fight and they would undoubtedly tell him.

                “Well, it doesn’t take a genius to guess that there was a fight,” Arulan said grimly, quickly counting heads. “Eight of you got into a fist fight. And,” he added, noting Dahlia’s cut cheek, Tamarak’s black eye and Romulus’s bleeding nose, “Some of you got injured.”

                Tamarak winced. “Actually, Dahlia ended up in the crossfire. She wasn’t involved in the fight. None of the others were fighting either, apart from Romulus and me. They were trying to stop us. It wasn’t their fault.”

                “Sneak,” Romulus hissed, an ugly look in his green eyes.

                Tamarak glowered back. “I don’t want them to be blamed from something that is our fault! It would be just like you to let someone else take the blame for your actions!”

                There was scorn and disgust in Tamarak’s voice and, although it might be partially personal, Kayla agreed with him. Tam was incredibly loyal to those he considered his friends and was also absolutely straight and honest. Romulus, on the other hand, had a slightly cruel streak that was sometimes evident when he was spiteful about Tamarak.

                Romulus went red, and not just out of embarrassment. He lunged forward with a speed that caught Remus and Hunter off guard. Coming out of nowhere, Troy tackled him around the waist, sending them both crashing to the cold floor.

                “Get a hold of your temper!” Troy growled, knowing that Romulus probably would not physically harm him.

                “You’re a fine one to talk,” Romulus retorted. “Magicians of Fire and their stupid hot tempers!”

                Troy clenched his jaw, struggling to control himself and refrain from socking Romulus in the face. Maybe that would make him feel better. Romulus was arrogant when he wanted to be and had a large ego, but punching him would immediately put Troy in the wrong.