Highfield Academy - Revenge of The Crows

Merlin looked at the various teachers before him. “Good afternoon, it is a pleasure to introduce to you a new teacher this term, Miss Terrassa Mac Death,” and as he spoke, he indicated to a Fay looking teacher who was quietly sitting by his side. Her ears were pointed, and she had a distinctive appearance of one of the Crow Tribe from Queen Shellbacks lands.

Miss Mac Death is from Queen Shellbacks realm and shall be teaching defence against the dark arts.” There was a gasp of shock at the realisation of her speciality, as such lessons were normally only open to sixth-year students and apprentice teachers.

Merlin allowed the teachers to settle and then explained.

“You are correct, normally such lessons would only be open to sixth-form and above, however, due to these troubling times, intelligence tells us to expect Demoni attacks, and with help from the fallen, so our students need to be prepared, hence why Miss Mac Death is here to teach from third-year and above.”

Merlin then looked at Miss Pigtailly and smiled. “

Miss Pigtailly you appear to be slipping in your skills, I hear only a couple of hands of students made it to the infirmary this term.”

There was general laughter from the fellow teachers as Miss Pigtailly responded.

“It would appear master Joshua and his team are incredibly protective towards their fellow classmates,”

she paused momentarily and laughed, and then continued talking.

“However, I still caught him by surprise, and it took some seconds to respond,” she explained.

Mr Claws spoke next, “Miss Catherine, Miss Tianna and I have been trying to prepare them for such surprise attacks, but for some reason as clever and good as these particular students are, they seem to have a mental blockage when it comes to trusting teachers, and expecting them to not harm them, silly students,” he said grinning.

Merlin laughed, “Well I believe Miss Pigtailly might have burnt that out of some of them,” he responded laughing gently, “I authorise you and the other teachers to operate such surprise attacks during lessons and rest periods, and the occasion night curfew as well, it is imperative they get into a mind-set of prepared readiness at all times. These are dangerous times and as high as the school’s security is, it was broken by Queen Shellback and as unconceivable as it is, it could be broken again.”

There was a general agreement from among the teachers as they disbursed to go for lunch. Merlin called over to Miss Pigtailly,

“Peggy could you stay for just a moment please.”

Miss Pigtailly thought she knew what was on Merlin’s mind,

“I apologise for the incident in the hall, said Miss Pigtailly, expecting this to be the reason Merlin had held her back.

“Oh, no, that is not why I want to talk with you, as far as I am concerned that silly young man deserved such, as disrespect of that nature is not tolerated even by me.” Merlin paused and breathed in, held it a few seconds and then exhaled.

“No Peggy, the reason I held you back is I want you to not go easy on the Rang team, they as you will be aware, have undergone special training above that of the other students, and as such, they need to develop their response times and skill levels. So, I want you to enforce your attacks, but do not kill them as we need them alive. I know the Dryads will largely protect them, yet they need to face as real of a danger as we can create, Oh, yes you need to also be aware they have every right to protect themselves.”

Miss Pigtailly nodded in agreement and then left to meet young Stephen to oversee his one thousand lines. As Miss Pigtailly entered the classroom master Stephen was awaiting her arrival and humbly spoke.

“Please Miss Pigtailly will you forgive my rude and unacceptable behaviour, it was wrong of me and truly Miss I apologise.”

He then reached down and picked up a small essay of almost three thousand words.

“Here miss I was so angry at myself that I decided to write almost three thousand words on why it is important to not disrespect a teacher.”

Miss Pigtailly looked surprised, “When did you do this child?” she enquired. Stephen lowered his head, “As I was being treated by the doctors and nurses in the infirmary Miss.”

Miss Pigtailly looked at the child realising that to have written so many words, he would have had to have avoided having pain killers as they would have nulled his mind, and for this she respected and accepted his apology.

“Thank you master Stephen, now go and get yourself some lunch while there is still food available.”

As the student left the room a single tear fell from one of her eyes, realising just how much the child had understood the stupidity of his actions and in his genuine repentance for his folly. Looking at the essay in her hands she started reading.

Miss Pigtailly, please will you forgive me for my reaction to your name, it was not only disrespectful but utterly stupid of me to have responded in such an immature and uncontrollable way. I not only deserved such, it was also a valued lesson to my other fellow students who possible had similar thoughts but had been able to supress their reactions.

The essay went on in the same vein but showed utter humility and a level of maturity which surprised her, that was until she reached the last few words. Where Stephen kind of made her laugh at his bravery and tenacity of character.

It read as follows, Of course as a student I should have expected a teacher to turn into a monstrous fire breathing dragon and spit flame over one of the students in her care, so yes, I guess I genuinely have learnt a lesson to not trust anyone, as such I thank you for an excellent lesson taught.

Miss Pigtailly laughed and swallowed badly coughing in delight that the bravery of the student had learnt such a lesson, yet he had the courage and tenacity to write such words. As Stephen sat quietly eating his meal, his hair, well what hair he had left was still occasionally smouldering and little wafts of smoke ascended. Miss Pigtailly appeared behind him and whispered in his ear.

He jumped as he realised who it was, and then looked at the essay as it was handed back to him. “Excellent work young man, just do not forget who and what I am.” She said and then vanished from the dining hall.

There was a gasp of shock from the other students as they saw her hair and millions of tiny snakes wriggled to look around the room. There was a shout from the teachers table. “Joshua why were you and your team of so-called hero’s not concentrating, that could have been an attack?” said Miss Mac Death.

“I was ready Miss, so was master Tim, we sensed the arrival and had prepared ourselves,” he responded.

As he finished talking a concealed wand appeared in his hand while the Dryads informed him of what was happening around him. Just then Mr Claws, Miss Tianna and Miss Catherine appeared from concealed positions in the dining hall. The other students blinked as there were still avatars of the teachers sitting at the table.

Yet it was Tim and Joshua who surprised all, including Merlin and the other teachers, as they appeared at opposite positions in the dining hall and quickly encased the attacking teachers in a time spell. Miss Pigtailly smiled and looked at Miss Mac Death.

“I tried to warn you these are not ordinary students,” she said, and Miss Mac Death begrudgingly pushed over her ice-cream Sunday to Miss Pigtailly’s place.

Merlin raised a hand and unfroze the teachers and as their avatar’s vanished Merlin transported them back to the dining table where they sat and carried on eating as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Estella and her brother Philip looked in awe at what had just transpired, and when a second attack suddenly accrued from apparently out of nowhere it caught Joshua momentarily unprepared but Tim, Paula and Jisalder were expecting such an action, and it was realised Joshua had volunteered to be the bait.

As Miss Pigtailly appeared like a huge dragon breathing fire towards Joshua, a monstrous wave of water swamped the teacher quenching the fire, and then Joshua used his elemental powers to turn it to ice. It took some minutes to release the surprised teacher as the students many soaked applauded their fellow students for their actions.

Merlin smiled and was pleased as well as amused, his earlier training and efforts to prepare the students had paid dividends and as he arose, he looked at the stunned teachers.

“I did try to warn you, it is only right to expect retaliation from those whom you attack, as long as it does not kill or bring long term lasting harm.

None dared another sneak attack that day and they decided it was wiser to be more prepared for the next time, and they knew there would be many next times, only now they understood they also might end up in hospital.

The Dryads were incredible and operated in harmony doing all they could to protect their students, only some days later during the early hours of the morning there was a loud scream coming from the girls’ dormitory and Mr Claws appeared to see what had happened. To his surprised he informed Merlin one of the students was missing and this brought fear into some of the students.

Questions were asked and some of the third-year students started asking why the Rang team were not there to protect them. And at one-point shouting started as various distraught students started pointing fingers at Paula and her fellow team members and shouting it was their duty to keep them safe.

As a calming spell settled over the startled students, Merlin softly spoke.

“It is the responsibility of each of you to oversee your own safety and if possible that of your colleagues, you cannot place the blame on others, that is like saying I forgot to clean my teeth and it is another’s fault you have tooth decay.”

As his word’s as softly as they were spoken settled in their minds the realisation that each of these students had come to rely on others rather than on themselves set home and shame overcame them.

“Please Sir,” said a rather teary-eyed student. “Where is my friend, she was sleeping next to me, and momentarily I thought I saw a shadow snatch her away, but then it was gone faster than lightning.”

Merlin breathed in deeply at that description, and he possibly knew whom had taken one of his students.