Chapter 3
Harry, age 4
The genie pulled Harry into a whole new world. Harry landed in a dark room in the middle of an intricate pattern painted on the grey stone floor. A tall man wearing a white dress and lots of gold jewellery spoke in a language Harry didn’t understand. Another man, wearing a shorter dress and only a leather collar with jewels in it around his neck, pulled Harry from the circle. Harry winced at the pain shooting up his arm. A woman, also wearing a collar, said something and then took over and gently guided Harry from the dark room, up a few stone stairs and to a bright hallway with open windows that showed a large courtyard full of children of all ages doing some sort of exercises in organized rows.
The woman gestured Harry into a large room that had several beds and cabinets and instruments Harry didn’t recognize. She ushered Harry up on a bed and started undressing him, and Harry let it happen, utterly overwhelmed that he was no longer stuck in the cupboard under the stairs, and that by the looks of it he had landed himself in some sort of hospital or maybe a school. Whatever it was, Harry hoped with all his heart he could stay there.
The woman pointed at her own chest and said, “Genka.”
Harry got the idea, and repeated the gesture and said, “Harry.”
Genka smiled at him and then took her time washing him with soapy water while she made Harry swallow lots of strange little drinks.
The tall man with all the gold hanging off him entered the room, holding a large staff with all sorts of trinkets hanging from it. The man ran the staff alongside Harry’s hurt arm and at once the pain disappeared. Harry blinked at him in awe and smiled in complete gratitude and didn’t protest at all when the man, who had long, dark hair, a tanned complexion and very white teeth, fastened a leather collar around Harry’s throat.
After Harry was clean and pain-free, he was given a white dress that reached his knees, with a belt to tie around his waist. He was also handed a pair of leather sandals that Genka helped him put on because there were a lot of leather straps that tied all the way up his calves.
And then Harry was clean and wearing new clothes and comfortable shoes for the first time in his life and he beamed at Genka and the man. Genka nodded at him and gestured for him to follow the man, which Harry did.
The man walked with long strides and Harry had to jog to keep up but he didn’t mind, since he was overwhelmed with happiness at being away from the Dursleys at last.
The man steered Harry into a room that looked like an office. The walls and floor were white and made from stone, and all the furniture was constructed of dark wood with a red sheen to it. Harry admired the large desk and the many cabinets, some filled with books and scrolls of paper, others with strange metal or glass trinkets.
The man ran his staff over Harry’s head a few times, muttering some words and he must have liked what he saw because he got a bright smile on his face. He rushed towards one of the cabinets, pulled a small glass ball off the shelf and handed it to Harry.
Unsure of what to do, Harry simply held the ball with both hands and slowly but surely the ball began to glow ever brighter until the light started hurting Harry’s eyes and he squeezed them shut.
The man cried out in sheer joy, quickly yanked the ball out of Harry’s hands and then crouched in front of him, speaking very quickly while he cupped Harry’s cheeks with a pair of warm hands. Harry hadn’t a clue what the man was saying but he seemed happy enough with Harry and that was all that mattered.
From there things happened very quickly. Harry was shown to a room that held six smaller beds and one larger. There were more children there, one little girl with olive skin that only stared at the floor, utterly mute, a pair of girls with dark hair that stuck together and ignored everyone else, a girl with blond hair and freckles that looked at Harry with large, hopeful eyes, and a boy who greeted Harry in perfect English.
“Wait, you can understand me?” Harry asked in astonishment.
“Yeah. I’m Roy, I’m from Singapore,” the boy said with a huge smile.
“I’m Harry, and I’m from England,” Harry said with an equally wide smile, and from that moment on he and Roy were inseparable. The small, blond girl usually tagged along with them and Harry soon learned her name was Rindyll, and just like that, for the first time in his life, Harry had friends.
Harry had been right that the place he found himself in was a school and the first lessons he and his friends got was learning to speak the local language, known as Santireen, which was the dominant language spoken in Santika, the world they now occupied.
At first their teacher simply showed them lots of drawings of items and she would tell them the Santireen word for it. The children would repeat the word many times and then learn how to write it on a piece of slate with a small chunk of chalk.
Yes, Harry was already learning how to write and he couldn’t have been more excited. Soon enough they picked up the language and were able to converse in simple sentences and they were given more diverse subjects to learn, like learning their numbers and studying runes, which were funny little symbols that had all sorts of strange meanings. They also learned about all sorts of plants and what they could do, and all the animals that lived around them.
The school was an amazing place. They were served three hot meals a day in the dining hall. In the morning and afternoon they got warm porridge made from boks, a starchy tuber that grew readily in the vast, lush forests that surrounded the city. In the mornings the porridge was usually mixed with different kinds of dried or fresh fruit and nuts, and in the afternoon it was made with bone broth and things like mushrooms, vegetables and a few times a week some meat.
In the evenings they usually had boks balls, either steamed or fried, served in a sauce that was oftentimes quite spicy but Harry learned to love that soon enough. There were many kinds of vegetables, raw and cooked, served alongside them, and a couple times a week there would be meat, usually a bit spicy as well.
And once a week they had pintas night. A pinta was a deep-fried pancake made from boks, rolled up and filled with a sweet and spicy mixture of meat and vegetables and they were just about everyone’s favourite food. No one was every late for dinner on pintas night, and Harry soon learned that the worst punishment Master Karakas could hand out was to deny you any pintas but serve you a bowl of watery porridge instead while everyone else got to enjoy them.
Harry learned that lesson quickly the first time he didn’t finish a chore on time because he got distracted playing in the springs.
Harry had never had such delicious food in his life, not to mention such regular meals, and every time he sat down to eat he felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the genie who had brought him there.
The school, which was led by Master Karakas, the man whom Harry had met the day of his arrival, was located at the top of a city built in a valley with a river running through it, surrounded by mountains and dense forests. Almost every day of the week huge thunderstorms formed near the end of the day and rain poured down for a few hours. The city was called Misty Springs because all this water caused numerous springs to run all around the valley, including several behind their school.
And every day, after they were done with their work, they were encouraged to bathe in the springs to keep themselves clean. The weather was always warm and humid and therefore it was delightful to play around in running water every afternoon. They even learned to swim properly. A few of the teachers took the time to teach them in some of the shallow pools that formed naturally beneath the springs.
Harry wasn’t allowed off school property yet, but he was curious about the city below them. Valdis assured him that one day soon he’d be allowed to accompany her on errands and Harry looked forward to that. Not that there wasn’t lots of room to play at the school, because there was. The school was made up of several two-story wings, made of white stone with a red, tiled roof. There were several courtyards, surrounded by many trees that blossomed and bore fruit. There were areas they weren’t allowed in, like the basement or the front reception rooms near the entrance, but otherwise once lessons were done they could explore to their hearts content. They were expected to do chores, like wash their own clothes and keep their own shared room clean and occasionally they had to scrub some floors or help in the kitchen with washing dishes. But all of this was reasonable, Harry figured, since they were all staying there for free while getting an education and all the amazing food they could eat.
Every bedroom in their wing housed a handful of younger children and one older student assigned to watch over them. Harry’s assigned older student was Valdis, a girl with skin so dark it looked almost black and curly hair she preferred to keep braided in intricate patterns. Valdis was usually kind and patient with them, but sometimes she would disappear for a day or two and when she returned she was usually a bit cranky and snapped at them more often than not, but they quickly learned to give her space on those days.
Harry was more than happy to have a big sister who answered his questions and who helped him tie his shoes, which he could mostly do on his own but occasionally the strings got knotted to such an extent Harry couldn’t unwind them and Valdis had to come to the rescue.
Once they all spoke Santireen fluently Rindyll, the small, blonde girl whose bed stood next to Harry’s, became a good friend of both Roy and Harry. She was a bit cautious around strangers but seemed to trust Harry and Roy completely and always stuck to their side. They learned that she was from a country called Folsnar, which neither Roy or Harry had ever heard of, but then again, neither had studied earth’s geography extensively before they were pulled into Santika.
Later, Harry would call himself rather dumb for not noticing sooner, but his entire transition to Santika had been so overwhelming that he’d simply not realized it immediately.
Master Karakas’ school was a school for magic. All the things Master Karakas could do with his staff was magic. The older students were also doing magic all the time, to help them with cleaning and cooking and mending clothes and finding books in the library. Younger children weren’t allowed in the library just yet, because books were rare and expensive, but Harry had managed to sneak a few peeks inside through the open door and he couldn’t wait until he was old enough to read all those enticing books.
What also gave the game away, Harry thought, was that not all students attending their school were necessarily human. They were humanoid, certainly, but there was one girl with green skin and small horns growing out of her forehead, and one boy who had colourful feathers growing out of his head where hair would ordinarily be. Another boy was much stronger than he had any right to be for his age and size, and there was one girl with shining silver hair who had such an extreme range of flexibility that she could fold herself into a small little package, legs bent over her own back with her head sticking out from between her feet.
“I can’t wait to do proper magic,” Harry sighed as he, Roy and Rindyll were sitting in one of the smaller pools beneath the springs behind the school.
“What are you going to do with it then?” Rindyll asked, her curly blond hair wet and plastered against her face.
“Everything,” Harry said, with a wide gesture of his hand as though indicating the whole world around himself. “How about you?”
Rindyll shrugged while staring down at the water. “I dunno. Make sure no one hurts me again.”
“Oh, that’s a good one,” Roy agreed. They hadn’t ever spoken about it in detail but Harry had picked up, through conversations like the one they were having, that both Roy and Rindyll had lived with people much like the Dursleys. That was probably why they’d found their way to Master Karakas’ school, which Harry was sure was a special place just for children who’d been hurt by adults in the past.
oooooo
Harry, age 5
“Come, child,” Master Karakas said, gesturing Harry into his office. He firmly closed the door behind them and Harry wondered if he was in trouble. Usually Master Karakas let you know at once, loudly, if you’d done something wrong. Harry himself had been punished a few times over the past year. Sometimes he got distracted and didn’t finish his chores, and one time he’d dropped a container filled with crystals, shattering a couple, when he was assigned to help clean up one of the classrooms.
Master Karakas had used a switch on Harry’s hands that time, and while it had hurt quite badly, Harry still preferred having his hands hit than miss pintas night.
Nobody in their right mind wanted to miss pintas night.
But Master Karakas sank down in a chair with a huge smile while Harry stood in front of him and didn’t seem at all mad at Harry, so Harry relaxed and waited for Master Karakas to speak.
“Harry, I have mentioned to you before how special you are, right?”
Harry nodded in agreement. Master Karakas did have a habit of saying that to Harry out of the blue every now and then.
Master Karakas pulled a golden necklace out of his pocket, with a golden amulet attached to it. “Well, child, today starts your private training to hone your very special skills.”
“Okay,” Harry said agreeably. He enjoyed learning all the lessons in the school and he assumed this would be just another topic to add to the list.
“Here, put the necklace on and hold the amulet in your hands.” Master Karakas lowered the necklace around Harry’s head and Harry obediently held onto the amulet, which felt strangely cold in his hands. It also sent a shiver up his arms, causing the tiny hairs there to stand up.
“We need just a drop of your blood.” Master Karakas pricked Harry’s thumb with a sharp little needle, and pressed the digit against the gold so Harry’s blood covered some of the swirling patterns on top of it.
“All done and ready for you to use.” Master Karakas gave Harry an encouraging smile. “Now I want you to think of your mother.”
“I don’t remember her,” Harry said while giving his teacher a dubious look.
“You don’t have to remember her,” Master Karakas quickly assured him. “Summoning souls works best if you have an image of the deceased or an item that once belonged to them, or at the very least know their full name. In your case, half of you comes from your mother, Harry, so you will have no problem summoning her as long as you concentrate.”
Harry nodded, even though he wasn’t quite sure what Master Karakas was talking about. He held the amulet tightly and closed his eyes, concentrating with all his might on his mother, or rather the internal image he’d always had of her. Harry didn’t know what she looked like, but that didn’t really matter, did it, because somehow Harry knew what she felt like. When he looked deep, deep inside of himself, Harry was sure he could remember his mum, and how she used to hold him and sing songs to him while she rocked him to sleep.
“Harry,” a voice whispered, unknown and at once also the most familiar thing he’d ever heard.
Opening his eyes, Harry saw a silvery, shimmering woman floating in front of him. She was so pretty and she smiled down at him as if he was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen.
“Mum,” Harry breathed, and at once he burst into tears, unable to stop the sudden flood of emotions from escaping him in a rush. “Mummy.”
“I am here, Harry, I am always here,” his mum assured him while she crouched down, still floating a little above the floor. She smiled at him and Harry smiled back through his tears and just like that she was gone again, nothing remaining that even hinted at her ever having been there at all.
“Well done, child,” Master Karakas all but crowed, leaning forward in his chair and placing both hands on Harry’s cheeks. He pressed a long kiss to Harry’s lips and looked at him with intense, brown eyes. “You, my child, are my little diamond. All the other children here, they are made of gold, and some perhaps even of ruby or emerald. But you, Harry, are a diamond, do you understand?”
Harry gave a stiff nod, barely hearing a word his teacher said, still feeling heartbroken that his mum had left him again so soon.
“This amulet is yours now, Harry. I want you to practice summoning your mother a few times a day. The more you practice, the longer she will be able to remain with you.”
Harry’s whole face lit up as he stared at Master Karakas with wide, disbelieving eyes. “I can call her every day? And my dad?”
Master Karakas nodded, while patting Harry on his head. “Sure, and your father. But Harry…only your mother and father, no one else, do you understand? If I learn you’ve summoned anyone else, I will take the amulet away again.”
Nodding quickly, Harry swore to himself that he would obey Master Karakas in this because he did not want to lose the amulet that would let him talk to his parents as often as he wanted to.
That night, half an hour before curfew, Harry sat down on the floor in an empty classroom and held the amulet tightly between his fingers. This time he thought of both his mother and his father as best as he could and after a few minutes of intense anticipation two shimmering figures appeared.
His father looked a bit like him, Harry thought while he smiled up at the man. His parents only had time to smile back at him before they disappeared again, but Harry didn’t feel any heartbreak at the sudden loss because he knew that from then on he could summon them as often as he wanted.
As far as Harry was concerned he was no longer an orphan. He had his parents back and all because of the amazing Master Karakas.
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Harry, age 6
Harry put as much effort as he could into practicing summoning his parents. At first they could only appear a few seconds, but like Master Karakas had promised, the more Harry summoned them, the longer they managed to stay.
Eventually Harry could have whole talks with them, and while they were surprised to see him living in a magical school in an unknown world, they were relieved to learn Harry was whole and healthy and happy.
In turn they told Harry about what had happened leading up to their deaths, how a bad man who wanted to do bad things to everyone had come to kill them. Obviously he hadn’t managed to kill Harry like he wanted to but neither his mum or dad knew what had happened after they had both perished. The dead were unable to see what happened to the living, unless someone summoned them like Harry was now doing.
Harry told them very reluctantly about living with the Dursleys and how much he’d hated it, and his mum had seemed very upset by this because as his dad explained while his mum muttered curse word after curse word, they’d made sure plenty of nice people were available to take Harry in should they die, but for some reason that hadn’t happened, obviously, but none of them knew why.
Harry soon learned that there were different amounts of power he could use to summon his parents, like using a water tap. When he opened the tap only a little bit and used a small about of power, only he could see his parents and they remained invisible to everyone else. But if he used a lot of power he could make them visible to other as well. Harry took great delight in introducing Roy and Rindyll to his mum and dad, who in turn seemed pleased Harry had made such great friends.
Being able to summon his parents without others being the wiser was something Harry soon started taking advantage of. Every night while he was curled up on his cot, Harry summoned his mum and dad and they sat on his bed with him while Harry fell asleep listening to stories about a magical castle named Hogwarts, and a stag, dog, and wolf who had all sorts of exciting adventures there while a rat and a bat tried to make their lives difficult.
Rindyll asked Harry a short while later, when they were alone right before bedtime, if he could summon her mum for her, since Rindyll had never met her either, but Harry had to turn her down because he’d promised Master Karakas that he wouldn’t. Rindyll stared down at the floor, sadness making her shoulders slump, and Harry suggested she ask Master Karakas if Harry might summon her mother for her, and Rindyll perked up and said she would.
But before she managed to do that, Rindyll disappeared for a day.
Harry and Roy were running around the school all day looking for her until Valdis told them Rindyll had merely been sent on an errand for Master Karakas and that she’d return soon, probably the next day. That calmed the two boys down somewhat, but Harry still worried for his friend.
Rindyll did return the next day, but then had to spend a whole day in the hospital for unknown reasons, and Harry and Roy couldn’t get Valdis to explain what had happened. When Rindyll finally returned to their bedroom she was pale and bruised and the moment she saw Valdis she burst into tears. Valdis pulled Rindyll into a tight hug, her own eyes shining as she pressed her face down in Rindyll’s curls.
Harry couldn’t take it anymore, his whole body tense with anxiety. “But what happened?” he demanded as he stood in front of the crying girls.
“Not now, Harry,” Valdis all but snarled before shoving him out of the room with a firm push of magic, the door slamming shut in his face.
Rindyll refused to talk about it, and soon enough Harry and Roy decided to drop the matter because every time they brought it up, Rindyll would run off and they’d not see her again for half a day or so.
From then on, every three to four weeks, Rindyll would be missing for two days, always returning pale and bruised and needing lots of hugs from Valdis for a while.
A few months later, Roy disappeared and Harry didn’t know what to do with himself. He knew something bad happened to children who were not seen for a day or two. After this had started happening to Rindyll, Harry had paid a bit more attention to the comings and goings of other children and he started noticing that most of them did indeed briefly disappear on a regular basis.
Some never even returned. Lydia, the very shy girl assigned to their bedroom, who’d not really talked to anyone, even when Harry and Roy, and later Rindyll had made an effort to reach out to her, had just been gone one day. Harry had overheard Master Karakas say to one of the teachers that it was a pity not all children were cut out for the real work, and Harry had simply assumed this meant Lydia had been sent home. He’d felt sorry for her for not being able to stay at their amazing school but then he’d put her out of his mind, too busy adjusting to his new life.
But now Harry wondered if Lydia’s disappearance might have something to do with what was happening to Rindyll and Roy and all the other children that were sent on ‘errands’.
When Roy returned he, too, had to spend a day in the hospital, and Genka had to send Harry away more than a few times, even threatening to exclude him from the next pintas night before Harry would finally listen and leave her domain alone.
Roy also looked pale and sad when he finally was released from the hospital.
Harry gave him an inquiring look as they sat side by side on one of the stone benches in the main courtyard. “So what happened?”
Roy shrugged, not meeting Harry’s gaze, arms crossed tightly over his chest. “They hurt me.”
“Who is they?” Harry demanded, anger rushing inside of him like a small feral beast.
“Just some men.” And that was the last Roy would say about it, no matter how much Harry tried to get him to talk.
From that moment on, Roy also became a regular to do ‘errands’ for Master Karakas that lasted more than a day.
Harry finally asked his parents about it when he couldn’t figure it out himself what was happening to his two best friends.
“Perhaps they’re being given private lessons,” his mum suggested. “You receive those as well, don’t you? And magical lessons can cause injuries if people aren’t careful.”
It was true. Master Karakas still gave Harry private lessons twice a week. Usually, Harry had to demonstrate his summoning skills while Master Karakas gave him pointers and told him more about summoning souls, and other times Master Karakas made Harry learn runes that were different from the ones they all got to learn during their regular classes. And when Harry had asked Master Karakas why he had to learn even more runes when they weren’t using them at all, Master Karakas had explained that learning runes was a little bit like learning a foreign language. You might not immediately use the language in your daily life, but once you knew it you could put it to good use for the rest of your life.
His dad got a thoughtful frown on his face while he pondered the situation of the missing children. “Harry, can you send us away from you? We always stick with you, but can you give me a task to do that allows me to spend time in this word without staying near you?”
Harry widened his eyes at the implication of that. “We can try. Dad, I want you to go to the hospital and see what Genka is up to.”
His dad got a smile on his shimmering face and floated away from Harry and his mum. He returned minutes later and was able to tell them exactly what Genka had been doing, namely scrubbing bedpans. Not the most exciting news in the world, but they now knew that Harry could use his parents to gather information unseen. Because as long as Harry regulated his powers while summoning, no one else could see his mum and dad.
“The next time one of your friends disappears, call me and tell me to go with them,” his dad suggested and when Roy next went missing a few weeks later, Harry did exactly that.
His father returned quicker than Harry had thought he would and his face with drawn tight with tension. His mum, who’d stayed chatting with Harry in the empty classroom they were using, started looking equally worried when his dad wouldn’t say anything for a few long moments.
“Don’t ask,” his dad snapped when Harry opened his mouth to do exactly that. “Just know that there are people here in this world that hurt your friends. Very bad people.”
Harry swallowed audibly. “So now what do we do?”
“There is nothing we can do at this moment,” his dad said while giving Harry a stern look when Harry got ready to protest. He didn’t want anyone to hurt his friends. “You’re a child, Harry. Right now there is nothing you can do to stop this, but once you get older that might change.”
“Just be there for your friends, sweetheart,” his mum suggested while she gave Harry an encouraging smile. “If they’re hurt, they’ll need someone they can feel safe with.”
And that is what Harry did from then on. Whenever Rindyll and Roy came back pale and bruised, Harry would sit with them quietly, distract them with games, sneak them treats from the kitchen and read them stories from the books Valdis let him borrow as long as he promised to be careful with them.
Harry still wanted to do more but even he recognized that he was still very young and couldn’t do much magic yet and thus stood no chance against the full-grown warriors that occupied the city below them.
Because that was something Harry had learned over time. That the city that bore the very pleasant name of Misty Springs was a wretched hive of scum and villainy. The city and surrounding countryside was ruled by a Warlord named Bram the Red, and anyone that tried to go up against him ended up dead. Yet still plenty of people, some loners and some Warlords that commanded entire armies, tried to take over Bram the Red’s territory on a regular basis, leading to all sorts of mercenaries and other swords for hire calling Misty Springs home since there was lots of work available for someone who made a living killing other people.
And once Harry had learned all those lovely details about the city he lived in he was suddenly very glad they hadn’t been allowed to explore it on their own before.
On his parents’ insistence, Harry also started sending them out on a daily basis to explore the world around them. They started with the school buildings themselves, especially the parts Harry wasn’t allowed in like the basement and the public reception rooms in the front near the entrance.
“Harry, sweetheart, trust that we want what’s best for you,” his mum said giving him an almost pleading look. “We’ll share what we think is appropriate for you to hear at this age, okay? And in the future, when you’re older, we’ll tell you everything we discover.”
“Yeah, fine,” Harry replied, disappointed that his parents wouldn’t tell him every little detail they found.
“I can tell you Karakas is hoarding a small mountain of gold in a very well secured room down there,” his dad said with a huge grin.
“Really?” Harry’s whole face lit up at the idea that there was treasure buried beneath their school.
After his parents had thoroughly explored the school Harry sent them further away, at their own insistence. Harry’s parents seemed determined to learn everything they could about the world their only son was now living in.
His dad discovered a smuggler’s path that ran partially along the back of the school and that wound precariously up the side of the mountain and through the jungle for miles and miles until it ended in a whole different territory. It wasn’t used very often but according to his dad it was still in reasonable repair and could be used if they ever needed to make a quick escape.
His parents did urge him not to tell anyone he was sending them out to gather information, not even Roy and Rindyll. If it came out Harry was essentially using his dead parents as invisible spies, losing his precious amulet would probably be the least of his worries. So Harry kept up the charade of talking to his parents about childish things while in reality they were gathering more information about anyone and everyone than they even knew what to do with.
ooooooo
Harry age 7
Harry was finally allowed to accompany Valdis on an errand into the city. For the first time ever, Harry walked through the iron gates that kept the students in and the people of Misty Springs out and he gaped as he took in the city with his own eyes. His parents had already told him lots of interesting details but it was still an enormously amazing experience to see and hear and smell everything for himself.
Their school was located halfway up the mountain, and the only building that was higher up than that was Bram the Red’s castle and surrounding compound located half a city away. Just below their school were lots of white, stone buildings, homes mostly but also stores and some workshops, all occupied by the more affluent inhabitants of the city.
They stopped briefly on a ledge that overlooked a lot of the city below them.
“That’s Shit Creek,” Valdis told him, pointing out what looked like slums near the very lowest point of the valley, right beside the river that crossed through the city. Harry could see hundreds if not thousands of little huts built practically on top of each other, some no more than loose boards tied together to form a decrepit roof held up by a few crooked poles driven into the mud. Others seemed to be a bit sturdier, with solid wooden walls, but none looked particularly pleasant to live in.
“Why is it called that?” Harry asked with a huge grin. Imagine living in a place called Shit Creek.
“Because all our shit runs straight through them before being dumped in the river,” Valdis said with a chuckle.
It was one of Misty Spring’s advantages, that there were so many running springs found around the city. Thanks to a system of pipes and canals, running water was available pretty much everywhere up The Hill, the part of town where their school was situated. They even had flushing toilets in the form of stone ditches that had constant water running through them, while wooden boards with holes in them covered the ditches and people could sit on them to take care of business.
It had been a bit strange at first to have communal toilets, people sitting side by side while they went number 1 or 2, but Harry got used to it soon enough. There were always huge baskets of leaves available to wipe with, and those leaves were tossed in the shit streams as well. Harry wondered if the people in Shit Creek saw lots of used leaves floating by in the open sewers around them.
They continued their journey to the bakery. There was a summer holiday coming up to celebrate the sun goddess Mar and traditionally for that occasion they ate a type of pastry, marsals, made of wheat, rolled up and filled with fruit jams. Since wheat had to be imported from the plains far away, it was quite expensive, and so they rarely got bread or pastries at the school, instead using boks that grew locally in the forest as a starchy component of their meals. But occasionally, for a holiday, Karakas was willing to spend some gold on his pupils, and that’s why Valdis and Harry were sent out to order enough pastries for the whole school.
“What a pretty thing you are,” a brute of a man called out to Valdis. He stood surrounded by other gruff men outside a tavern under the ripped awning, all holding large tankards.
“No, mate, you don’t want to mess with them,” one of his companions said urgently.
“And why not? Is that scrawny kid going to stop me?” the brute demanded, face red and sweaty in the humid heat.
“No, but Lord Carcass won’t be pleased and he will curse you. And if not him, then Bram himself will have your balls. The chattel is protected unless you’ve paid for them, fool,” the other guy said with a roll of his eyes.
The brute waved them off with a rough gesture and went back to gulping down whatever was in his tankard.
Valdis didn’t say anything, though Harry had noticed her tense shoulders and narrowed eyes as they walked past the men.
“Why did they call the master Lord Carcass?” Harry asked once they were well and truly past the tavern.
Valdis snorted. “Because Karakas buys corpses and uses them for magical experiments. Karakas hates that name.”
“What?” Harry almost tripped over a small branch that someone had probably lost while carrying firewood.
“When someone in the city has to get rid of a corpse but they don’t want to properly cremate them, they can sell it to Karakas.” Valdis gave Harry an unconcerned shrug. “When you’re older you’ll use some of them to practice your magic on.”
“Ah.” Harry wasn’t sure what to make of that, but soon enough he got distracted by a troop of screeching monkeys that swarmed over the rooftops and across the street before them. They were the size of large housecats and had bright red faces and long brown tails and Harry had seen them almost every day in the trees around the school, but the school itself was warded against them because apparently they were little thieves that would steal the food right off your plate.
When they turned a corner Harry got his first good look of a panky. They were enormous beasts of burden, used mainly to pull heavy carts up and down the mountains. They vaguely resembled oxen, but they had four horns, lots of loose skin around their heads and necks and the hooves of a horse. They were about the size of a large draft horse, and Harry stared at them, utterly in awe as they walked past a pair that were hitched up to a large cart loaded with boks.
There were also plenty of regular horses around, but they were used for riding, not for pulling carts. They passed a number of men and some women on horseback, most dressed for battle, with leather gauntlets around their bare arms and long swords hanging from their belts or tied across their backs.
The bakery was a fascinating place. The part that was open to the public was fairly small, with a wooden counter and behind it two racks that held loaves of bread in several sizes. On the counter stood a few trays with different types of pastries. While Valdis got the order for the school in, Harry shuffled to the side of the bakery, so he could see around the corner of the shop. There he saw several large woodfired ovens, and piles and piles of firewood. There was a persistent smell of smoke around the whole place.
“Harry, come on!” Valdis had already left the store again and Harry hurried after her, still amazed by all he was seeing around him. Misty Springs might be a violent place, but Harry really wished he could explore it even further. He couldn’t wait to tell Roy and Rindyll all about everything he’d seen on this adventure.
Valdis led them straight back to the school, just as thunderclouds started forming in the distance. It was that time of day again and they started walking a little faster because neither had brought their cloaks and they didn’t want to get soaked by the incoming downpour.
Just inside the gates of the school, in the courtyard there, stood a small hand-pulled cart with big wooden wheels, with a stained linen sheet covering whatever was lying on top of it.
Master Karakas was yelling at the burly man who was holding a small wooden chest, and since they were blocking the entrance to the building Valdis and Harry stepped to the side to wait quietly.
“This is getting out of control! Another investment down the drain because someone couldn’t control themselves!” Master Karakas gestured wildly, face flushed with anger. “You know how long it takes to get my pupils ready for market? Years and years. In the meantime they can earn their living by servicing those willing to pay, but that does not mean they are expendable goods!”
“Lord Bram is aware of this and he sends his honest apologies and this bounty in recompense for your loss.” The burly man sounded utterly bored as he opened the small wooden chest, revealing it was filled with gold coins and many coloured gemstones. “Lord Bram also wants to assure you he’ll have words with Rylan to make sure this won’t happen again.”
“He had better because this is the umpteenth of my pupils he’s broken beyond repair!” Master Karakas all but yanked the wooden chest out of the burly man’s arms.
Meanwhile Harry looked from Master Karakas to the cart with wide eyes, realizing they were talking about a student of the school who had been seriously hurt. Without even knowing what he was doing, Harry took a step closer to the cart. From this new angle he could see a small hand sticking out from under the sheet.
Harry knew that hand, had known it for years and years, because it was the hand of his best friend. Harry’s head seemed to be caught in a daze while he stepped closer and closer to the cart while Valdis was distracted by the still arguing men.
Grabbing a corner of the sheet, Harry lifted it and stood on his tiptoes to look at the body on the cart.
Roy looked utterly pale and still, eyes wide open and glassy. His face was covered in blood and around his whole neck ran a broad line of black bruises.
Harry must have made a sound, but he wasn’t sure because around him the entire world had stopped moving and all that was left were the mangled remains of his best friend.
“Girl, get Harry away from that,” Master Karakas snapped in the distance, wooden chest clinking in his grip. “And Broi, Meeren, come and take the body downstairs and put it in the tank. At least we’ll be able to use it at a later date, so it’s not a complete loss.”
Harry barely saw or heard anything as Valdis grabbed his arm and dragged him inside the school. His best friend was dead, murdered by someone called Rylan.
oooooo
Harry, age 8
It had been a few months since Harry and Rindyll had lost Roy and ever since then they stuck together like they were joined at the hip. Rindyll had disappeared a time or two herself since losing Roy and during those days Harry had been unable to eat or sleep, sick with worry he’d lose his remaining friend as well.
His parents did their best to comfort him while they exchanged worried glances with each other. Harry’s mother, at her own request, spent a lot of time spying on Bram’s castle and its occupants. She told Harry a few things of what she discovered there, like that Rylan was apparently Bram’s second in command and had a very bad reputation, but Harry got the feeling there was a lot she still wasn’t telling him.
Meanwhile, his father had taken to keeping an eye on Master Karakas and spying on any visitor he received in the school.
And Harry applied himself to his classes, because his parents insisted he do so, even if he wasn’t nearly feeling as enthusiastic anymore as he’d once had. Master Karakas continued their private lessons, which now included learning how to apply the unique runes Harry had been studying for almost a year now.
Rindyll became rather withdrawn and Harry wished there was more he could do for her. He made sure she was comfortable and well looked after whenever she came back from an ‘errand’, but she still refused to talk about it and Harry didn’t press her to do so.
And then, one afternoon out of the blue, while Harry had just summoned his mum and dad to send them on more spying missions, Valdis found him and shoved a tray full of little bowls of dried fruit and nuts and other delicacies in his arms.
“Come with me,” Valdis ordered him, carrying a tray holding many small glasses and a large bottle of boksala, which was a popular alcoholic drink made from fermented boks and had a milky white colour. “Harry, whatever you do, you must hold your tongue, do you understand? What you’re about to see isn’t pleasant, but it’s important you see it.”
“Okay,” Harry agreed easily, his curiosity going into overdrive at the idea of learning something new and important. Harry’s parents, invisible to anyone but him, floated after him while exchanging a few tight looks between them.
Harry followed Valdis to the front of the school, towards the section normally off-limits to the students, and inside a large reception room that held a table with many comfortable chairs.
Master Karakas was there, as were a few other people, all seated around the table.
“Ah, there are the refreshments,” Master Karakas said while giving everyone a huge smile. If he was surprised to see Harry there, he didn’t show it. Valdis and Harry put their trays on the table, Valdis serving everyone drinks while Harry distributed the little bowls around the table so everyone could eat what they wanted. After they were done, Valdis grabbed Harry by the arm and led him to a empty piece of wall, where they stood side by side quietly, servants waiting for their next order.
“That is Bram the Red,” Harry’s mother whispered to him while gesturing at the biggest man in the room.
Bram the Red was huge, with the thickest arms Harry had ever seen. He had long reddish-blond hair and a wild beard, and the kind of fair skin that refused to tan properly so he always looked slightly sunburnt with lots of freckles everywhere.
“And that is Rylan Bloodstone,” his mum whispered while pointing to the man beside Bram. Rylan wasn’t nearly as huge as Bram, then again, few men were, but Rylan was tall and well-muscled in his own right. He had short, spiky hair that couldn’t seem to decide if it was brown or black and his face was marred by several deep scars crisscrossing it. His eyes were grey and piercing and around his neck hung a large gemstone set in gold, exactly the colour of fresh blood. His bare arms were covered by many swirling tattoos, and if Harry hadn’t been overcome with grief he might have recognized some of those patterns.
Harry’s throat closed as he looked at the murderer of his best friend from under his eyelids, head held down respectfully as he stood still.
“Harry, son, you have to stay calm,” his father whispered in his ear as he crouched next to him. “I swear to you, that your mother and I will do anything in our power to help you out of here and to take down Rylan if that is what you want, but right now you have to remain calm, do you understand?”
A small wave of relief washed over Harry, knowing that his parents were there for him and would help him in the future to make sure Rylan got what was coming to him, but for now Harry understood he had to keep it together otherwise things could only end badly for him. So he released a deep, silent breath and willed his own body to stop trembling with grief and fury.
“It is always a pleasure to visit the House of Chattel,” Bram said in a too loud voice. The first impression you might get from him was that he was a jovial man who enjoyed his food and drinks, but there was something hard and flinty hidden not that deeply in his pale green eyes. This wasn’t a man you wanted to cross, no matter how good-natured he might appear.
“And we are always most pleased and honoured to have you, Lord Bram,” Master Karakas said while toasting the large man with a glass full of boksala. “Ah, and here is our guest of honour.”
The door opened and in stepped Astrid, a young woman around Valdis’ age. She looked around the room in clear apprehension, especially when spotting Rylan, but Master Karakas waved her in further. Harry knew Astrid as a friend of Valdis’, and as someone who’d helped him learn his sums when he’d had trouble with them at first. She was always friendly with the younger kids, unlike some other students who ignored or even bullied those younger than them.
“Come, Astrid, let Lord Bram have a good look at you.” Turning towards Bram, Master Karakas continued in a voice that wouldn’t be out of place on a seasoned salesman. “She specializes in healing and warding, though she is also very talented in potions and curses.”
“Good, good,” Bram said while looking Astrid over a time or two. “She will do. We’re riding against Walt the Silent next week and we need all the healers we can get. The usual price?”
Master Karakas nodded politely and watched quietly as one of the other men at the table hauled a small chest up from the ground. Harry could hear it was probably filled with coins and gems and he was genuinely shocked to realize that Master Karakas had sold Astrid for a pile of gold.
“My thanks, Lord Bram. As always it is a pleasure doing business with you,” Master Karakas said smoothly while refilling everyone’s glasses until the bottle of boksala was empty.
“The pleasure was all mine, Lord Carcass,” Bram said with a booming laugh before downing his drink.
“That boy, how much for a day with him?” Rylan asked while gesturing in Harry’s direction with his full glass before sipping it.
“Oh, he’s not for sale,” Master Karakas said quickly, face paling at the thought of Rylan getting his hands on Harry. “He’s a most talented sorcerer,” he continued, now addressing Bram again. “Once I’m done with him he will probably be the most powerful one I’ve ever trained and I already have him reserved for you, Lord Bram. It would be a shame to see all that effort wasted prematurely.”
“Rylan, you need not fuck every tight hole you can find!” Bram slapped Rylan on the back while giving him a wide grin. “Keep it in your pants for a change, because your cock is costing me enough as is. Come, we must be away.”
“Then there is only the matter of adjusting the collar.” Master Karakas and Bram both got up and stepped up to Astrid, who was looking very pale with her lips pursed tightly. Bram got out a small knife and sliced his thumb, pressing it against the largest gemstone on Astrid’s leather collar, apparently familiar with whatever ritual this was.
Master Karakas had his staff in hand and pressed the tip against Bram’s hand while speaking a complicated set of words, probably a spell of sorts.
Before Harry could see what else was happening, a hand cupped his face and raised his chin up.
“Such a pretty one you are,” Rylan said with a sly smile that showed that one of his front teeth was chipped and blackened. “Too bad you are Lord Carcass’ personal little whore, but mark my words, boy, I will find a way to make you mine.”
Beside him, Harry’s mother and father both made tight noises of outrage, but Harry kept as still as possible while Rylan studied him. There was something about Rylan, not just any of the obvious matters, that made Harry’s skin prickle and his stomach roll in the most unpleasant of ways.
“Rylan, come!” Bram yelled and Rylan released Harry’s face with one last swipe of his thumb across Harry’s lips. Harry barely managed to hold back a violent shudder at that contact.
Before long the room was empty and Valdis rushed out the door and Harry hurried after her. “What was –”
“Not here,” Valdis snapped while she made her way to the classrooms that were empty that time of day. The entered the first available one they found and Valdis closed the door harder than she probably meant to.
Harry stared up at her with wide eyes. “Karakas just sold Astrid!”
Valdis crossed her arms and briefly lowered her head while releasing a loud snort. “Thanks for noticing, Harry.”
“But why?” Harry asked, feeling genuinely confused and distressed about all he had just witnessed. “Why would he do that?”
“Because we’re slaves, moron!” Valdis yanked on her own collar violently. “We’re here to be trained and sold to anyone who is willing to pay the right amount of gold.”
Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times but no sound came out. He quickly glanced to the side at his parents, but they both looked rather resigned and not at all surprised.
Had they known all along?
Harry couldn’t ask them at that moment, so he focused his attention back on Valdis who was looking at him with narrowed brown eyes. “And Rylan, he wanted to buy me for a day, right?”
“To rape you,” Valdis said without any emotion in her voice.
Harry blinked, unfamiliar with that word. “Huh?”
“To have sex with you. You know what sex is, right?”
Harry nodded. The monkeys in the trees around the school got up to all sorts of funny things and some of the older students had taken great delight in telling the younger ones what was going on, so Harry had a good idea what Rylan might want to do to him.
“Rape is when someone forces you to have sex against your will,” Valdis explained, still sounding very frosty.
“Oh.” Harry considered this and then finally, finally he realized what was really going on around him. “That is what happened to Roy! And to Rindyll!” He looked up at Valdis with wide eyes. “And to you.”
Valdis nodded before flicking her fingers against Harry’s forehead. “But not you, because you are the master’s precious little diamond.”
Harry suddenly felt deeply ashamed for reasons he couldn’t quite articulate. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“How you could miss any of this, seriously.” Valdis pulled on her collar again. “Everyone here wears a slave collar, Harry.”
Shrugging, Harry stared at the floor. “I thought it was just part of the uniform.”
“You really are a blind little boy,” Valdis said, voice still full of annoyance but then she sighed and seemed to relax a little bit. “But you are a powerful little boy, so I am counting on you to get all of us out of here.”
“Now?” Harry asked, a flash of panic warming his chest.
Valdis flicked her fingers against his forehead again. “No, not now. When you are older, fool.”
“Ah, okay.” Harry nodded, and inhaled a deep breath to calm his racing heart. “Yeah, I want to get us all out of here, too. I’ll do my best, I promise.”
“Good.” And without saying anything else, Valdis turned on her heels and walked out of the room, the door falling shut behind her.
“Did you know?” Harry asked, touching the collar around his neck with trembling fingers as his parents floated closer.
“We figured it out eventually,” his mother said with a kind smile.
“Then why didn’t you ever say anything?” Harry’s voice cracked and his throat filled with a lump and he stepped towards one of the benches and sat down, shoulders hunched. For some reason he felt like his entire world had crumbled. Roy’s death had already caused quite a few cracks to appear in Harry’s peaceful existence, but now it felt like everything was gone and Harry didn’t know anymore how he was supposed to live in the world around him.
“Harry, sweetheart, you’re only eight years old.” His mum sat down beside him as best she could and placed her arm around his shoulders. It always felt a little chilly, that kind of contact, but Harry treasured it nonetheless.
“We were waiting until you were a little older,” his father added while he crouched down in front of him. “We’ve been collecting all the information we can so that when the time is right we can help you escape.”
Harry’s mum swallowed and gave his dad a considering look. “I do think the time is right now, James, especially now that Rylan has taken a personal interest in Harry.”
“Yeah, it’s probably better to get going sooner rather than later.”
“Get going with what exactly?” Harry asked, looking between his parents while hope bloomed in his chest. Maybe his parents would finally tell him everything so Harry could prepare for the worst to come.
“We’re going to help you plan to get out of here.” His mum held up a hand when Harry looked ready to burst with questions. “We’re not sure yet how you’re going to accomplish that, but we figure the more plans we make, the better.”
“Yep.” His dad gave Harry a wide smile. “And the first thing you need to do, Harry, is call in more troops.”
“Huh?” Harry blinked at his father in great confusion.
“What he means,” his mother explained with a chuckle, “Is that you should gather the extended family to help us.”