Tarous, стр. 39

“What was that?” I asked.

“I said welcome to the school,” replied Earl.

I still wanted to kick him, but I wanted to go home even more. After seeing Jeb’s condition I just really wanted to go home. Strange thing was I think Tarous missed Jeb more than I did.

“How many students are here at the school? I haven’t actually seen more than twenty people including Mary?” I asked, honestly curious.

“Well… Recently we had a lot of training deaths.”

“What happened?”

“Well… Some died from training accidents, but a good portion of the deaths were because they saw Emily slip and fall and they laughed at her. She beheaded the lot. And several students in the nearby rooms as well. A few in the above and below floors as well. Also the kitchen staff and a few people in nearby buildings. One was just using the bathroom. Nice chap, I miss him a little.”

I sat there with my mouth open. I felt bad for the guy in the toilet. I imagined the guy in my mind sitting on a toilet minding his own business and then BAM! DEAD! Also, not dead anywhere, but dead on the toilet. Poor guy, I felt for him.

Earl waved to the stack of paperwork on his desk. “These are the records of just the ones that Emily ate, and I’m not even sure how to write a letter of apology to their parents. ‘Dear parents, sorry your child was ripped into tiny pieces…’ Nope, still sounds terrible.” Earl let out a long slow sigh. He was never going to be able to finish all of his paperwork.

“Why wasn’t she at least expelled?” I asked.

“Well you see… She’s… Really scary. She did almost kill the entire school…” Earl mumbled.

I had to admit he had a point. I sure as heck wasn’t going to be the one to kick Emily out of the school. I liked living. Tarous seemed to have a different opinion as I could tell he was enraged from Earl’s comments. As a human in a monster’s world he remained quiet. I had to admit I was rather starting to like him.

“Currently we have a few other students who are away. Two of them just left on a long training journey - a rare aswang and a werewolf. It may be a few years before they return though.”

I diverted my gaze over to Tarous. I decided not to whistle since it would seem a little too suspicious.

A commotion sprang up outside of the castle. We could hear screams in the distance, and I began to faintly smell smoke.

“What in the world?” I asked, looking back to Earl.

Earl stood and left the room. “Stay here!” he yelled back to us.

Tarous and I looked at each other and then took off running. There was no way we were going to sit and wait. We ran down the castle halls and outside towards the fires. The smoke appeared to be coming from the south side of the city.

“What is it?” Tarous asked in surprise.

“The south side of the city is where the portal I opened to your world is located. The Rask family owns all of the land south of the city.”

Tarous paused.

I wondered if his people had come to rescue him or if this was an attack on the monster world. There was a possibility that the witches had come for Tarous. I took a deep breath and thought about everything dealing with Tarous. From the moment he arrived to how I felt about him now. I weighed the pros and cons and then made a decision.

“Let’s hurry and see if your friends are there,” I told him with a calm and deep voice. I had made my decision, for better or for worse.

Tarous looked at me in surprise. I looked at him and gave him a slight nod. We took off and ran into the city. Our path had been set and the only thing left to do was to see where our course would take us.

Monsters were running everywhere, but most were running towards the fires. Tarous and I ran towards the fires as well, occasionally punching out a monster or two as they got in our way. When we reached the heart of the fires we saw several witches casting fireballs at all the surrounding buildings.

A knight in shining armor rode a black horse towards us. He drew a sword and pointed it at me and motioned for Tarous to climb up onto the horse.

I turned and looked at Tarous. With a smile I snapped my fingers. I could feel powerful magic being released with that simple gesture. The collar around Tarous’s neck released and fell to the ground. It was heavy and Tarous immediately looked more comfortable afterwards.

The knight immediately sheathed his sword. Apparently my actions marked me as a friend. The knight then removed his helmet, or should I say she removed her helmet. A beautiful dark haired angel I would later learn was named Nyxra looked down at Tarous and offered her gauntlet. Tarous reached up and she pulled him up behind her.

“My hero,” he said with a smile.

I nodded to Tarous and he nodded back. We said all we needed to say with that nod. For those that don’t speak nod I will translate. ‘Sorry for kidnapping you and enslaving you. Monsters have to eat and all that. Now that we got the chance to know each other you’re actually a cool dude and you can count me as a friend.’

Tarous’s responding nod meant ‘I understand and we are cool. Best of luck in the upcoming war, but I can’t let you eat my people.’

Nyxra gave the horse a tap with her heals and they trotted back towards the other witches and eventually past them.