"Oh, man! That was some fight! I don't think I've seen a spar like that in a while!" Christo praised Caspian as they walked down the hall toward their dorm room. The day was over, classes had ended, and it was time for the students to get their rest. Most of them would need it, since the next day promised to be just as grueling as this day had been. "I can't believe you actually beat an instructor! I mean, I know you're good and everything, but still... beating an instructor is something else. I'm impressed."

Caspian felt a small bit of elation at the praise. He would admit it felt good, but he couldn't let that get to him. This man might have been friendly now, but that was only because he had yet to show his true colors. All nobles were the same; arrogant and deceitful. They couldn't be trusted.

Caspian had learned that the hard way. Christo was not the first person who'd tried this tactic—getting close to him, pretending to be his friend, only to stab him in the back. He would not allow himself to be deceived. Never again.

"I don't see why you're so excited about something like that," Caspian grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Even when asking a question Christo sounded abnormally sunny. "Of course I would be excited! You just beat an instructor! Those guys might not have become a Sorceress's Knight, but they're still pretty hardcore. Not just anyone can take one of them on and win, especially Murdok. I heard the only reason he didn't become a Sorceress' Knight was because his Sorceress was assassinated before the Knighting Ceremony could take place."

"I just got lucky," Caspian replied with the same nonchalance Christo had come to expect from him. The young teen with the roguish attitude was as cool as a cucumber, rarely showing any emotion—aside from annoyance and irritation. He had been that way for as long as the cheery noble had known him. "Instructor Murdok was angry and wasn't thinking clearly. That's the only reason I won."

That, and he had been training his butt off in order to show up those arrogant instructors who always told him that he was a pathetic waste of space. They'd been screwing him over for far too long. No way was he going to keep putting up with the way they belittled him. If they were going to fight him with fire, well, he was just going to have to douse them with a cold dose of reality.

Christo just chuckled at him. "So you say, but we both know otherwise. After all, you aren't ranked number two in our school for no reason."

"If you say so." Caspian decided to just drop the subject. This wasn't something he enjoyed talking about. It had nothing to do with being uncomfortable or modest. He just didn't like being the topic of discussion. It happened far too often for his liking.

All around him, people stopped and stared as he walked by them.

"Do you see him?"

"The one with the bandana?"

"Yes, that's Caspian Sol."

"Really? That's the peasant boy?"

"Hmph. He certainly looks like a peasant. You can tell from the way he walks that he's of an ignoble breed."

Caspian tried to block out the noise. How many times had these words been spoken? These people didn't disguise their conversation. He was positive they did this on purpose; talking loudly enough for him to hear whenever he walked by. It was their way of letting him know that he didn't belong there, that he didn't belong with them.

"Hey, man, don't mind these people," Christo said in a loud voice. He threw an arm over Caspian's shoulder. "They're just a bunch of idiots who don't know what they're talking about. Pay them no mind."

"I don't care what they say," Caspian said, his voice hollow. "I never have."

The look Christo gave him told Caspian how much the other boy believed him.

Arriving at the small T-junction that would take them to the dormitories, they found their path blocked by Julius and his two friends. The trio didn't look very pleasant. Actually, they looked decidedly unpleasant. It was probably those ugly mugs they had. They had the face of a Warg, and those things were hideous.

"Ah! Julius!" Christo greeted the much bigger teen, his smile so large it actually forced his eyes to squint shut. "This is a pleasant surprise. Is there something we can do for you, my gargantuan friend?"

"You can't," Julius said, his tone, manner and disposition all conveying a sense of disgust toward his fellow candidate. Not that his eyes were even fixed on Christo. They were currently trying to bore a hole through Caspian's skull. "I need to have a discussion about propriety and etiquette with the social reject here."

"You're using awfully big words for someone of your intellect," Caspian's tone was as dry as the expression on his face. "I hope you didn't look those up in the school dictionary just so you could use them on me."

Julius grit his teeth at the insult, but quickly reined himself in. They couldn't afford for things to get physical here, especially not in the hallway where someone would see them. The headmaster did not tolerate violence outside of sparring. Even if it was violence perpetuated against him, the faculty would be forced to mete out punishment, lest they risk the headmaster's wrath. Caspian knew they knew this as well as he did.

"Also, if you were trying to convince me to go off to some place where you can take advantage of your superior numbers to beat me, you can forget it. I'm not interested in entering a male pissing contest with a couple of overgrown apes."

Gritting his teeth, Julius took a single step forward, his hand raised as if he were about to deck Caspian in the face. He was saved from doing something that could get him potentially expelled (potentially, because Caspian doubted Julius would be expelled for picking a fight with him; suspended maybe, but not expelled) by his friend putting a hand on his shoulder.

When the young man, a lackey whose name Caspian never bothered to remember, shook his head at Julius, the large teen with blond hair "tsked" and lowered his fist.

"You'd better watch yourself, Sol!" Julius growled at him, his face akin to boar hound slobbering over a steak. "The staff and instructors might put up with your crap because the headmaster has a soft spot for you, but I won't stand for your misbegotten face tainting this school. Sooner or later, you're going to trip up, and when you do, I'll see to it that you're sent out of here faster than you can say 'Lady Silvia.'"

With his plan of getting Caspian alone and beating the tar out of him via a three-on-one battle in tatters, Julius left, his lackeys in tow, trailing after the giant of a teen. As Julius passed Caspian, he roughly shoved the smaller male with his shoulder, forcing Caspian to shuffle his feet to keep from falling to the floor.

"Man, can you believe that ass?" Christo asked as he looked behind him to watch Julius and the other two turn a corner. "I can't stand him. He's always such a jerk. You think so, too, right Caspian-eh?" Christo blinked when he saw that Caspian was no longer standing next to him, but already several meters away. "O-oi! Oi, wait up! Caspian! Don't leave me!"

***

Being the only peasant living in a place filled with nobles, all of whom hated his guts and would like nothing better than to kill him in his sleep—or at least get him expelled—Caspian had learned to sleep with one eye open out of necessity. Children were cruel, noble children even more so. He had accepted this long ago after a series of terrible pranks had been pulled on him when he'd first arrived at the academy.

Because of necessity and the desire to keep people from hurting him, Caspian was a very light sleeper. Even the slightest of noises, such as the wind rustling against the leaves outside, the chirping of crickets, even the squeaks of a small rodent would be enough to wake him up.

It was no wonder, then, that he was awoken when a light tapping sounded against his bedroom window.

Sitting up in bed, the sheets pooling to his waist, Caspian ignored the cool air hitting his bare skin. Silently grumbling to himself about being interrupted from his sleep at such a late hour, he climbed out of the bed and made his way to the window.

Christo was still asleep, he noticed with a small scowl. The boy snored away in his bed, and Caspian saw that he was drooling.

I almost envy him.

Opening the window and poking his head out, his eyes locked onto the carrier bird sitting on the window sill. It was just a small white dove. They were the standard carrier birds used to deliver letters around the academy.

Caspian didn't know why the academy still used such outdated methods of communication, but he honestly didn't care. If the old man wanted to deliver letters via pigeon instead of using the newer delivery system that relied on MagiTech, who was he to complain?

Grabbing the letter attached to the dove's left leg, Caspian allowed the creature to go along its merry way. As the bird flew back to the bird pen, he unfolded the letter and began to read:

"Come to my office first thing tomorrow morning. I've got another task for you."

Straight forward and to the point. There were no wasted words at all. Just what he'd come to expect from the old man.

"I see." A sigh escaped lightly parted lips. "So it's time to pay rent again, eh?" After another moment, he smiled. "I hope this next task allows me to get out a little more." The smile turned into a frown. Caspian closed the window and glanced around the room. His roommate was still snoring away, occasionally scratching his belly, and mumbling utter nonsense in his sleep. "I really could use a break. I'm honestly not sure if I can stand staying in this place for much longer," he finished softly before crawling back into his bed.