Page 2 of Daughter of the Ninth Line: Part Two

I felt some kind of kinship to the pathetic creature, and despite my thoughts only moments earlier, I couldn’t let it be eaten.

But getting between a war cat and its prey was a recipe for a mauling that I was in no hurry to experience. I looked at the door behind the big cat, then back at the stolt. You weren’t supposed to run from predators, but right now, I wasn’t its prey.

Tightening the straps of my pack on my arms, I sucked in several deep breaths. If I died on the first day of my conscription at Boellium War College, so be it. It would hardly be a record for the school, or for my Line.

If I was lucky, the door would open outwards. If I was unlucky, I’d be eaten. Surely Boellium wouldn’t let its conscripts be eaten by the animals of the Third Line? There had to be rules and order of some kind here.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I sucked in one last long breath and sprinted toward the door. I raced around the groups of people, other conscripts and members of the other Lines, heading straight for the purple stolt. I kept my eyes on it, leaning down and grabbing it by the scruff of its neck as I darted past the war cat and straight at the door. I hit it with all the force of my full body weight, and it flung open, slamming backwards against the wall in a way that would have smashed the glass of a normal door. Spinning quickly, I grabbed the handle and slammed it shut in the face of an annoyed war cat.

Fuck, that wasnotsomething I wanted to do again. Leaning back against the door, I dropped the stolt on the ground. “Off you go. You’re on your own now.”

It looked up at me, blinking slowly, then ran up my leg and into the pocket of my oversized skirt. I tried to empty it, but the angry call of, “Next!” from the office in front of me had me giving up.

“Uh, okay. I guess you’re coming with me.” I pushed into the administration office, where the woman behind the desk was glaring up at me.

“About fucking time. You must be from the Ninth Line?” She had one arm and a wicked scar that ran across her upper lip, making her look fierce. Her head was also shaved close to the scalp, but somehow, none of those things detracted from her femininity. It was like looking at a warrior elf from one of my childhood storybooks. “Name?”

“Oh, Avalon Halhed, fifth child of the Baron of the Ninth Line.”

She eyed me sternly, her gaze too knowing. Did she know of me? Had she heard the rumors too? “Fancy fucking title. Your dorm is three floors down. There’s no one else from your Line here, so it might be a bit quiet.” She handed me a folder of paperwork. “Your timetable. Be early.”Or elsehung between us.

I stepped out of the office and straight into someone. Looking up, and up again, I found myself nose to chest with Hayle Taeme. My breath caught in my lungs until they felt like they were on fire. I scooted backwards, away from him as fast as I could. “Sorry.”

His hand snapped out and gripped my arm. “Who are you?”

My eyes felt like they might pop out of my skull. “No one.” When he didn’t let me go, I swallowed down the lump in my throat that threatened to choke me. Why was I reacting this way? Was it the sheer power that emanated from him? Finally, I found my voice. “Avalon Halhed, from the Ninth Line.”

Listening to the warnings banging around inside my skull, I dragged my arm from his grasp and sprinted to the stairs, barrelling down them so fast that if I’d tripped, I’d be dead. My head was screaming at me to stay as far away from Hayle Taeme and the Third Line as I could. That in that direction lay only incredible pain.

Could I sense that he was a predator? Was it my hindbrain taking over due to my obvious lack of self-preservation?

Stepping into the Ninth Line dorm, I noted that dust coveredeverything. Someone had stacked a bunch of chairs in the room, which looked like it had been long uninhabited. There were still dirty plates in the sink, and I tried not to think about why. Tried not to think about the fact that most of my Line had died here before they could graduate.

You only had to be a conscript for two years, and then if we went to war, you got called up to fight. But we hadn’t been to war in so long that I doubted there were people alive who remembered the last time. Even longer since we’d been to war with anyone but the other Lines of Ebrus.

I moved some boxes and chairs to the far wall and picked the furthest dorm room from the entrance. Putting my bag down, I worked at stripping the sheets and blankets. Who knew whatwas living in these things after all this time? Piling the linens on the floor, I was surprised when the stolt leapt from my pocket and curled up on top.

Laughing at the small purple animal, I nudged the nest of linen with my foot. “You aren’t very smart. Are you someone’s pet? Someone from the Third Line, maybe?” It just yawned and blinked jewel-colored purple eyes at me. “Well, if someone comes to beat me up for stealing their pet, I’ll tell them I tried to get rid of you twice. Stubborn creature.” I reached down and scratched its head, and it leaned into the touch. Definitely tamed. “Should I name you? Calling you Stupid seems a little counterproductive.”

His color reminded me of the purple epsirialle flowers at home. That was a long name for such a tiny creature, though.

“What about Epsy? Do you like that?” It booped my hand with his face, either agreeing or asking for more head scratches. Or both. “Epsy it is.” I didn’t know why; it just feltright.

My stomach rumbled angrily, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in twenty-four hours. I wanted to change out of my traveling clothes, but I was a little worried that I might pass out from hunger in the shower. Food, then a bath. And then sleep for at least twelve hours.

Walking to the dorm entrance, I looked up at the stairs and rethought my plan, but I’d thrown up the whole way over to Boemouthe on the ferry, and I wasstarving. I’d start stockpiling food down here as soon as I could, because although the trek down here might’ve been hard, Boellium War College wasn’t going to be any easier. If the accounts I’d read were correct, it would be the most difficult training of my life.

So I grabbed the handrail and pulled myself up to the main floor of the atrium. I looked around for Hayle Taeme, because if he was up here, I would be tempted to head back down to my dorm. But there were just crowds of people milling around, mostof them heading in one direction. The sun was setting, and I’d bet my non-existent dowry that they were heading to the dining hall.

I walked behind them, just going with the crowd. There weren’t as many people in all of my hometown of Rewill as there were in the atrium right now. Not even in our Keep, at least not outside celebrations. Father hadn’t had any celebrations in the Keep, however, since I’d murdered my mother.

Pushing the thought away, I stepped into the huge stone building. I noticed immediately that the long dining tables were segregated by Line, which meant finding mine was easy. It sat toward the back, like a desolate tribute to the fact this whole place was a death trap.

I headed over to the food line and grabbed a plate. I really was starving, with my head now beginning to throb. Still, I straightened my spine and slowly loaded my plate. The only thing more embarrassing than inhaling a mountain of food would be eating so much that I puked all over the table.

The other tables were filled to capacity with people, and while most of the Lines were hard to distinguish from one another, one table was so overfilled that there were people sitting on the tabletop, as well as squished down the long benches.

“Twelfth Line. They’re having a famine, so they’re sending as many teens as they can to Boellium,” the girl behind me murmured, probably because I was staring. She nudged me further down the row, and I ladled a heaping spoonful of some kind of stew into the deep well of my Falain plate. I placed two bread rolls in another section, with some form of dried meat in the third. In the last section, I placed an apple.

---