“So, why don’t you tell me about this ‘apprenticeship’ they keep talking about?” I asked Elliot as we settled in our room.

He had once again taken out some platters full of food for us to partake in, since our early lunch was so rudely interrupted by the seniors. There were three kinds of fruit pies, freshly baked bread, and fried bacon and sausages with poached eggs.

I was worried about Cat at first, since he threw-up in the dining hall, but he seemed to have recovered as soon as Elliot handed him a slice of peach pie with whipped cream on top.

“As I was saying earlier,” Elliot began, “This academy is famous for its apprenticeships.” He took a big bite off a strawberry pie before he continued. “But it wasn’t always that bad back in the old days, in fact, one of the best privileges you could get while studying here, is to be apprenticed to an actual master.”

“A master?” I asked.

“Yes, masters of all fields from all over the empire teach here in the academy, and you can be an apprentice to them if you are lucky enough to catch their attention,” Elliot continued. “As a matter of fact, my father was invited here years ago and even taught here for four years as a master merchant. We have several merchants under us, after all, and he was the Merchant Guild master six years in a row!” he said proudly. “He didn’t stay long, though, since my father preferred going to far away places rather than standing behind a desk and teaching spoiled royal brats how to start and keep a business running.”

“Things changed for the worst, when the crown prince started attending the academy three years ago,” he went on. “Even back in my father’s time, discrimination between nobles was already a big problem, but it became worst when he arrived. A clear divide was put upon students from lesser known houses, while his close friends were given more privileges. It got even worst when he stepped into his 2nd year. It was then that he decided that senior students like himself, should be given the privilege to take in neophytes as apprentices, and treat them as slaves.”

“As actual slaves?” I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

“Well, not really slaves,” he corrected himself. “The idea was to help the new students fit in and to show them the ropes, but these privileged bastard used it as a reason to abuse their authority and turn their apprentices into their own personal slaves!” Elliot continued with a disgusted snarl. “Just think, having your pick of the young masters of noble houses, ordering them around and even doing perverted stuff with them! And of course, those who passed this kind of humiliating initiation, would surely do the same when they reach their 2nd year, and take revenge on the incoming freshmen.”

“Thus, a viscous cycle is born...” I said beneath my breath.

“I guess that’s why my sisters told me not to catch the eyes of the seniors!” said Cat who was now stuffing his mouth with a slice of apple pie. “My sister Caithlyn used to have this fiancé who went here, see? He came back five years later, and he was crying, and he said he can’t be with my sister anymore because he had changed in ways that he cannot explain. He said he can’t give her children anymore.”

“He completed his six years in the academy?” I asked.

“That’s right, it happened just last year!” Cat added.

“Then the crown prince couldn’t have been his senior back then.”

“They say the rest of the senior students followed suit when they saw what the crown prince was doing,” said Elliot. “Another senior probably violated him, or maybe someone from the same year who was close to the crown prince. He was lucky to be alive, though,” Elliot said as an after thought. “Some neophytes didn’t even last a year, or even a month when the crown prince suggested this apprenticeship. They were sent back home in caskets, with an undertaker’s note claiming that they died of some bogus disease or another.”

“Didn’t the nobles ask for an autopsy?” I asked Elliot. “Or perhaps performed one of their own?”

“Some of them did,” replied Elliot. “They found wounds in places there shouldn’t be, as well as questionable marks and bruises all over their bodies, but the royal undertaker insisted that they died of some sickness, saying that the remains were too rotten to get another reliable autopsy. Also, the royal family proclaimed that the undertaker’s findings were final, and that all who continue to question it were to be sent to the Crow’s tower for sedition.”

The Crow’s tower.

It is an infamous prison in the middle of the Southern Red Wilderness where murderers and treacherous nobles are sent and never seen again.

“They say the number of deaths lessened a year later,” Eliot added, “but there are still cases where students are sent home in wooden caskets, particularly from those who were brought to the second prince’s private residence. And now that it’s another new school year, a new wave of concubines are sent to the crown prince’s harem.”

“This truly is a serious dilemma,” I said, shaking my head.

“Serious is right,” said Cat with a pout. “I could hardly keep up with the stuff you’re talking about! My head is about to crack just trying to understand what you two are saying!”

“Let’s just say that the crown prince is a big bully who likes ass!” Elliot said with a loud laugh.

“Watch your language, young man!” I told him while covering Cat’s ears, which he quickly pulled off.

“That’s right! He’s a real bully!” he proclaimed. “And Patrick, you talk like my grandpa! I haven’t even heard of half of the words you’re using!”

“Yeah, I get that feeling from him, too!” said Elliot with a big grin. “You should loosen up a bit, Pat, it’s just Cat and me here with you, anyway. No need to act so formal.”

“I am afraid, though, that this is my natural way of speaking. My mother raised us in a very strict household, after all,” I said apologetically.

“Ah, you old families and your old ways...” Elliot clicked his tongue.

“Do you have something to drink?” Cat cut in, choking on a sausage he was eating too enthusiastically.

“Then, what do you think is the best way to deal with this problem?” I asked, picking out the most common words for my speech.

“The best thing to do is to stay out of their sight,” said Elliot, pulling out some drinks from his small red pouch. “It’s a good thing I’m too fat and ugly to catch their attention, and Cat’s got that illusion spell you made, and you...” he looked at me with an apologetic grin.

“Yes, I am also thankful that I look like the undead,” I said with a smile.

“Hey! That’s not true!” Cat pouted after drinking a bottle of ginger ale. “You just haven’t grown into it yet!”

“I beg your pardon?” I asked him.

“My friend Lycan used to have big ears too. In fact, they were much bigger than yours!” he said. “The other kids used to tease him all the time since he looked like an elephant we once saw in a picture book!”

“Oh, I’ve seen one while traveling with my father,” said Elliot. He looked at me, squinted his eyes, and nodded a few times.

“Yeah, I see a bit of resemblance, but your nose isn’t that long... it’s just a bit too big for your face. If anything, I’d say you look more like an imp with your deep eyes bulging out, a wide mouth, and large ears sticking out of the side of your head...”

I tried to smile at my new friends’ comments.

“Well, anyway,” Cat said, drawing our attention. “his face started to change when he got to our age, his face got rounder, and his voice got deeper, and his hands got much bigger too!”

“He got his growth spurt!” said Elliot.

“He reached his adolescence,” said I.

“Yes, that’s it! He grew into his body!” Cat insisted. “So don’t worry if your ears stick out too much, or your nose is too big for your face, or your eyes pop out when you get excited...”

“Do they really pop out?” I asked weakly. I’ve never actually checked myself in a mirror before.

“Yeah, a bit...” Elliot said softly.

“Well, it doesn’t matter one bit!” Cat repeated. “Who cares what you look like? You’re the nicest person I’ve known aside from my sisters, and you’re definitely much better than those good looking seniors who are nothing but big bullies who like ass!”

Cat looked at us with a big grin in his face.

I stared at Elliot.

“I told you to watch your language.”

“Sorry.”

“Did I say anything wrong?” Cat asked, his head askew, a sweet innocent smile on his angelic face.

I gave a sigh and ruffled his soft blond hair.

“Just remember to keep the things we talk about in this room to yourselves,” I told my room mates. “For now, I think we need to give our Cat a bath.”

“Do you think it’s safe to go to the baths?” Elliot asked as we made our way to the common bathroom on our floor.

“Well, it’s the middle of the day, most of the students are probably having lunch right now,” I assured him. “I am also fairly sure that the spell I placed on Cat is waterproof.”

“Fairly sure?” Elliot asked, looking a bit worried.

“Yes, I used to wear it when I slip out of our estate to visit the public library in the middle of town, and I have been caught during a deluge in one occasion.”

“What’s a deluge?” Cat asked.

“A heavy rain or a blast of water,” Elliot answered.

“But do I really smell of vomit?” Cat frowned and lifted his shirt to smell himself. “Bleagh... this is all that Tirin’s fault for upsetting my tummy! It was such a waste of the yummy food Aunt May gave us, too!”

“Hush, Cat, remember to address the seniors with respect when we’re not in our room,” I reminded him.

“You really sound like my grandpa when you speak!” Cat said with a grin. “A very nice and warm grandpa!” he then placed his arms around my waist and hugged me from behind.

“I thank you for the warm compliment,” I replied with a smile.

“You are most welcome!” Cat jumped on my back and held on to my shoulders. He stayed there as we made our way towards the third floor bath which was located near the main staircase.

“For someone as scrawny as you, you really seem quite strong, Pat,” Elliot said, laughing as I dragged Cat behind me.

“Well, books can be quite heavy, after all,” I said with a smile, “and I often need to haul them over to my room, which is at the other end of the estate from our family’s library tower.”

“Are we there yet?” asked Cat who looked over my shoulder.

Elliot looked at the vicinity map he brought with him.

“I think the thermal baths are at the ground floor, we can use the smaller common bathroom here on the our floor, but the water won’t be heated.”

“At least the facilities here are quite nice,” I smiled, thinking how I had to go all the way to the main house just to get a proper bath.

So I simply decided not to take a bath at all.

Until my only remaining servant thought I had died and had begun to rot.

“I think this is it!”

Elliot pointed at an alcove at the end of the first hall. It led into a wide room with a small pool in the middle. Several stalls lined the walls where you could wash yourself and leave your belongings before dipping in the pool.

We were about to choose a stall, when we noticed a group of three students at the farthest end, ganging up on someone lying on the floor.