Aik Iskandaryan - William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I

«I can imagine that!» William said with irony. «What about the fourth stage?»

«The closing ceremony! After which we get into this death machine again and go back. That’s how this ball goes.»

«Awesome! And how do you know so much?»

«My older brother Ralph told me! He took part in the Annual Enrolee Ball twice! First when he was an enrolee like us, and the second time as a graduate curator of enrolees. We’ll be assigned one when we get there.»

«You’re lucky to have such a brother! Which MUni are you going to enter?»

«Garville, of course! My whole family studied there! I’m the youngest, so it’s my turn now!»

«Well, I hope that’s where you’ll go by the end of this year! I want to go to Templedoor!»

«Well, Templedoor is considered the best MUni by many people, that’s why the grades to enter it are higher than for other MUnis. But, personally, I don’t think that this makes Garville worse than Templedoor. Each MUni is unique, but Templedoor always takes special talented wizard kids. So, if you can’t get there, I recommend going to Garville without any further thinking!»

«Well, if Templedoor doesn’t work out, that’s what I’ll do!»

William looked out of the window. They were still moving along the ocean floor. Trying to keep it out of his mind, he decided to distract himself with Wayne’s stories.

«Tell me what is the Six O’Clocker famous for? My mailmage says that there are many legends and that…»

«You’ve got a mailmage?!» Wayne interrupted roughly.

«Well, yes,» William was puzzled by this question. «Why does this surprise you? I thought every wizard had one.»

«Every adult wizard – yes! Mailmages don’t serve children. They serve the head of the family.»

«Oh, I see! Well, I am the head of the family. I mean, the last representative of my kin.»

«I’m sorry, I didn’t know!»

«It’s alright! So what is the Six O’Clocker famous for?»

«Well, like my grandfather told me, and like his great-grandfather told him…» Wayne interrupted the story with another intake through the inhaler, «long time ago, when there were difficult times in the Wizarding Community and many families were forced to leave the country, it was the Six O’Clocker that took them away.»

«Why couldn’t they peregrine? Why use the Six O’Clocker when peregrining takes much less time and energy?»

«At that time peregrining was monitored by the enemies, and quite often, when wizards peregrined, they came not to their destination, but right into the hands of their enemies. Even before that, during battles, the Six O’Clocker delivered provision and backup troops to those who were forced to defend themselves in a castle or a fortress of some sort.»

«How long have the Six O’Clocker existed?» William was surprised by the historic scales the Six O’Clocker routes encompassed.

«Nobody knows. It is considered to have simply existed and that’s it. Even during the times of Goodwin of Essex, the Blue-eyed carried their legendary carriage to the most remote parts of the world, each time with an important mission.»

«And why is it pulled by elks, not horses, like usual?» The thought just came to William’s head.

«Usual where?» Wayne asked with a grin.

«Well,» William drawled, «among demits.»

«That’s right!» Wayne nodded. «Only they use horses because they are unable to tame other faster creatures.»

«Er… aren’t horses faster than elks?» William asked stupidly.

«Don’t make me laugh!» Wayne laughed as if he had just been told a very good anecdote. «Only White Elks are faster than elks. Well, except for all the flying creatures.»

«Are you serious?»

«Of course! It’s a well-known fact that elks can run at the speed of more than two hundred miles per hour. As for white elks, they pull their carriages at the speed of over four hundred miles.»

William was starting to feel irritated when he heard something for the first time, but this «something» was followed by «everyone knows». «Well, I’ll have to get used to it!» he thought to himself and asked:

«Are the Blue-eyed that kind of elks?»

«They are, but they are the only representatives of their kind!» Wayne said busy-like. «The others were driven to death.»

Meanwhile, the Six O’Clocker pushed from the bottom with the hooves of its Blue-eyed and was speedily going up to the shore. After reaching it, it didn’t go out of the water, but drove the horns of the Blue-eyed into the ground and submerged the cabin into the underground semi-darkness, illuminated by two dull lamps, as before.

«There,» Wayne looked out of the round window, «we’ll arrive soon!»

The Six O’Clocker moved underground for a short time, then it rushed to the surface, accompanied by the endless racket of the hooves of the Blue-eyed, until it was on the surface again, following its course, but moving at a slower pace than before. The underground darkness made way to the twilight of the majestic mountains. When William looked out of the window, he was able to make out only that they were moving on the ground, like a normal carriage was supposed to do. But it was impossible to make out anything else because of the stubborn fog and the mist on the glass.

«Is it far to the castle?» he asked Wayne.

«Almost there!» he replied. «The Six O’Clocker only moves on the ground in two cases: when it takes passengers and when they are to get off.»

He’d just finished talking, when the speed of the mysterious cab started to slow down, then it slowly came to a halt in a mountain area.

William reached out for his things, ready to get off, by Wayne stopped him:

«Wait, not yet! We aren’t supposed to get off until a curator comes to take us to the castle.»

«So we’re up for another journey, this time to the castle?»

Wayne just shrugged to that.

William sat down again, waiting for the curator to show, and soon the cabin door opened suddenly, letting in cool mountain air. He breathed it in deeply and sat with his eyes shut for a while, enjoying the work of his own lungs. Then a head showed up in the open door and an unfamiliar voice started talking, making them both jump.

«Are you going to sit here till morning? Do you want me to continue risking my health and freezing out here?» said a young wizard in purple robes. He had slick hair and an unhappy face. His robes had a red «G» on the front.

William hurried to get out, and Wayne, who had also been sitting with his eyes closed, doubly happy to feel fresh air, followed him at once. When they got out of the cabin, stepping out on the frozen ground, the young wizard headed to a group of enrolees waiting for them nearby. He made a few steps forward, then turned around and addressed the group:

«Alrighty, kids! I’m Morty, a junior curator. Don’t huddle and stand in a line! My task is to take you safely to the castle and stay at your side at all times, to make sure you don’t do anything stupid!» He glanced around the foggy landscape. «It’s easy to get lost here, especially with this visibility, so try to keep up and follow me!» At this, he turned around and headed to the castle.

After the enrolees had covered some distance, there was loud a echo from the thumping of hooves, after which the mountain area was filled with shrill elk cry, which made everyone slow down involuntarily.

«No stopping! Move along!» Morty’s voice said.

And they continued moving at a usual pace. Not far, on both sides, William could see other groups through the fog, which were following their curators to the castle, dressed in black hooded robes. He thought that from the side their silent procession looked more like a secret druid gathering.