Chapter 19
Hospital food isn’t as bad as what I have heard, happens to be some of the nicest toast I have ever had, and this cup of tea hits the spot. I woke this morning the day after the school’s Halloween event, Dad was asleep on a chair in the corner of the room, I knew where I was instantly, and I was still so drained I fell back asleep instantly. later on, Dad told me that he and the others fended off the rest of the minotaurs and the other ones that turned up, apparently another horde of them turned up, but Dad and the others got help from teachers and guild members who heard what was going on.
Here’s the news that made me full to the brim with joy, Nate the little boy in the werewolf costume. His full name is Nathanial Walkerstone, the younger brother of Wyatt and Barty Walkerstone, that means that the guy I saved, and he demanded that respect be put on my name was their father, Bartholomew Walkerstone senior. Dad told me that he was surprised when she saw Barty senior there trying to help me, during their time in school they did not get on. He was a year younger and acted just like his sons do now.
A full investigation has been launched into how minotaurs had gotten into the school grounds and how they knew what I was going to be originally dressed as I had only told a few people, it definitely wouldn’t have been Kevin or Grace, the only people who overheard me at the school was, Ethan, Tori, and Charlotte.
Mum thought I didn’t notice but I knew my room was being avoided by most of the nurses and doctors, perks of being the only dark mage in the world. Unfortunately for them at the school was a husband and wife who happens to be a doctor and nurse here, Barty senior handed me over to them at the school and explained what had happened and they have been looking after me ever since, doctor and Mrs Morgan, doctor Morgan were shorter than his wife he was a nice guy, his goatee was the only hair on his head, his shinny dome reflects light like the moon, his wife was like a gladiator a tall women that could punch a hole threw a wall. They fixed me up, apart from the cut on my left temple, which’s scared over, and can’t be fixed or smoothed over, because it was caused by the horn of a minotaur, the horn is classified as mythical, like the horn of a unicorn, the fangs of a vampire, and the claws of a werewolf. So now I have a scar that travels from the top of my left cheekbone, at the bottom of my temple straight up, it’s the size of an AA battery. Mum and Dad have tried to reassure me that it looks cool, but I don’t know, I liked my face how it was, both of them have tried their best to make sure I don’t hear anything from the news channels, and not see newspapers but the nurses here talk loudly. I am being blamed for the whole drama; the popular opinion is if I’m not around everyone will be safe.
Thankfully we leave the hospital soon, Mum has turned up again, with clothes for me, a nice black tracksuit. I thanked the Morgans for looking after me and we left, the nurse’s station was empty as we walked past, until a mobile phone rang and slowly a hand reached up from under the table and grabbed it and stopped the ringing. Mum scoffed. I thought we were going home until, Dad said Lincoln and Madison were at the guild, they had both finished the last day of school for the week because it was Friday, and I was eager to see them and the rest of the guild. I wanted to give Jackson a good head scratch for carrying me back to the school and thank Marvin and Tracy for coming to save me, and I also wanted to speak to Kevin and Grace and find out what they had heard in school today. We opened the guild doors and walked in, it wasn’t packed, everyone must be out on missions, Madison saw me and ran over and jumped at me, her hugs were getting more bear-like. She then pulled my head down.
“I thought you said the scar was small?” she said and then poked the scar, a jolt of itchy pain screeched through my skull.
“It was a lot bigger” Mum pulling my head back up. “They did a good job getting it as small and thin as possible”.
“that’s a beauty that,” Lincoln said,
“Thank you”.
I thanked both Marvin and Tracy for what they did,
“Don’t mention it” Marvin said, he gave me a warm smile and patted my head.
“I’m just glad you’re okay” Tracy said, she pulled me in for a big hug, “what you did was very brave! But don’t do it again! Okay?“.
Other guild members made jokes, saying I might become half minotaur, which is what three-quarters man 1 quarter minotaur, I don’t think they thought that one through, and then I had tails of how they got their scars, Lexie one of the younger member she liked to die her hair every few days, she as a scar in the middle of her palm after trying to pet a unicorn, it turns out three other people have unicorns related scars, apparently unicorns are incredibly annoying and hateful things. Who knew? Eventually, it was just me, Kevin and Grace sitting around a table with a cold soda in hand.
“The teachers are livid!” Grace said, “I heard them talking, no one knows how they managed to get that many monsters into the school and how they knew what you were gonna be wearing”.
“It’s all the school can talk about” Kevin said, “Everyone saw Wyatt’s dad walk into the school with you on the back of Jackson and immediately thought he had saved the day, only for him to loudly tell the doctors, so everyone could hear, they you are injured and exhausted and that you fought valiant, valiantly? That right?” he turned to Grace.
“You got it right,” she said. “Valiantly, yes”
“So, he says, that you fought valiantly, that’s why you are so tired and injured, and then someone made the mistake of shouting yeah right! oh, he was not happy, he turned to the guy and said were you there? No, because I was, and I saw this boy fight and kill two minotaurs and in the process save the life of me and my youngest son”.
“I got lucky,” I said, honestly. And I’m pretty sure he killed the first one, I didn’t tell anyone else that fact like.
“Lucky or not! The whole school knows you killed beasts that some teachers and guild members in the school didn’t want to face!” Kevin said, trying to big up what I did.
“They didn’t want to come back of my magic and who I am”.
“Oh no they were scared!” Grace said, “We were in the tents when they attacked”.
“And I was in the maze, with you they attacked and I ran to the school, it was the smartest thing to do, I ran into Mum and the girls”
“your mum was brought on to its knees instantly,” Grace said, in amazement “It was awesome, but more attacked and then there was a roar and they all turned around and started running, we didn’t know why at first so everyone went back to the school, and we met up with Tommy, Lincoln, Yasmin and Rebecca, then the news broke, a girl from Aquarius came sprinting into the school and began to shout that Mr Walkerstone told her to come to the school and gather up teachers and guild members and head into the forest because, you realised they were after you, and that you broke the spell on you, then yelled your name and ran into the forest and all the monsters followed you in”
“Then what happened?” I asked.
“Everything went silent,” Kevin said, looking like he was reliving the moment, “no one spoke, no one moved until Lincoln and Tommy flew past everyone. Jackson became massive, then mum told us not to move and to stay there, we wanted to come we did mate”.
“Don’t worry about it” I said, “I’m glad you didn’t”. both of them looked embarrassed, “You know me by now I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true, but what happened after they left”.
“Well, some people wanted to go,” Grace said looking sheepish, “but their families wouldn’t let them, kept pulling them back and saying no, not for him, but then you returned, and it’s like people forgot you are still 13 and not a grown-up, but when you slid off the back of Jackson, on to the floor so the doctors could look at you, I could hear people saying, oh he is just a kid”
“What happened with you?” Kevin asked, “Like, from the beginning I mean”.
“I want to hear this too,” Lincoln said appearing behind the table we were talking at.
“Me too,” Yasmin said. they both sat down with us and began, I started with finding little Nate crying, then fighting the minotaur so he could escape, and then how Barty senior killed the first one, then I realised I was who they wanted so I broke the spell on myself, shouted me the name and ran into the forest and how I thought I was going to die, pressed up against the tree until I was saved by Barty senior, and we ran for it and seen Dad and Marvin and all hell broke loose, I saved Barty life with my spell, how I got my new scar, Lincoln then saved me and mum turned up and everyone else turned up, I left out what I heard on the way back to the school, I finished my story and it became apparent I was the only person talking in the guild, the only person that could be heard. I felt dozens of eyes on me, and now I feel a little awkward.
“So he did kill one” Terry said swinging back in his chair “Respect mate, most kids your age wouldn’t even attempt a kill shot” he laughed and the tension lifted, Terry stood up from his chair and slid a cold soda can over to me, “he might not be an official member of the guild but its tradition that when someone gets there first beast kill we all drink” Mum and Dad stood up and raised a cup and slowly everyone else stood up and then so did the my table. “Charles king, Beast slayer”
“BEAST SLAYER!” reverberated around the room, I opened up the can Terry passed me and had a big gulp.
The rest of the night was extremely enjoyable, everybody was in high spirits. And I had two additional conversations that made me smile and become enthusiastic about it. Firstly, during my conversation with Marvin he notified me that Terry had given me an unofficial guild nickname, Beast Slayer, I am Charles King Beast Slayer.
Secondly my chat with Tommy, he told me that two events are coming in school both during school times, one is in late November and it is called guild week, 1st and 2nd years have the opportunity to train with a guild member for a week sometimes more than one, guilds write to school and say who they are interested in teaching and the offers are taking to students, and if a student has more than one offers they picked who they want to be taught by, any students who has no offers will be taught by a guild that has volunteered for that particular role and thanks to my actions yesterday I might get at least one offer, more people would feel down with the prospect of only one offer but no me id be happy for even just one. and the second bit of information he gave me, is the year war. The 1st years are divided into forms A, B, C and D. They all learn German while, forms W, X, Y and Z all learn French. In December all the forms became Germans or French sides and competed led by one guild, in a massive game of capture the flag.