The City of Souls by Vacen Taylor

Author:Vacen Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Odyssey Books
Published: 2015-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The Soulbankers’ School

The next day the children were instructed to attend school once again. Even Long, who had arrived back late in the night without offering any explanation to Mai, couldn’t get out of it this time. He grumbled about it to Marlie. She made it quite clear that the queen had insisted he attend the classes.

Elemental instruction was an important part of a soulbanker’s schooling. The teachers were a serious bunch, but the children were curious and daring.

‘Show us how you do it.’

‘Yes, show us!’

‘Make the earth move.’

‘No, break it open. Make a crack appear.’

The excited chatter spread amongst the whole class of soulbankers as they sat in the courtyard. Akra wasn’t sure if the teachers would like him showing the children this type of earthfollowing. It could be dangerous and draining.

Mai heard more chatter coming from behind them. A large group of older children had gathered at the entrance to the courtyard. She heard Akra wish they would move on. That wasn’t going to happen—everyone was waiting to see what Akra could do. Word of the Starchild had swept throughout the royal school.

‘You don’t have to if you don’t want to,’ Mai said, eyeing the group at the entrance.

Right then Scholar Farlane saved him. She whirled into class and clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. The chattering stopped immediately.

She explained that today they would be learning how to recognise and rescue souls. Mai had no idea what that meant. Akra understood some of what she was talking about, but he was no master either.

As it turned out, it was the most interesting of all the classes they had attended so far. Scholar Farlane was a big believer in the hands-on approach. It was very different to Scholar Riff’s class the previous day, where he had just talked and talked about all the different ways a soul could leave the body. However, by the end of the class it was obvious nobody had listened. A girl had brought her pet, a glowdrum who was sick, into the class for Akra to heal. So while Scholar Riff talked, the little glowdrum was passed secretly, but gently, from one person to another along with a note until it reached Akra. The note read: He’s dying. Can you heal him for me?

Akra had looked around to find the owner of the glowdrum. Everyone pointed discreetly to a small girl who had a face covered in freckles, two ponytails on either side of her head and one tooth missing. Akra had smiled back. He rested the little glowdrum in the centre of his hand. Mai watched carefully, ignoring Scholar Riff altogether.

Akra had been gentle with the little glowdrum when he touched it. Almost instantly he knew the creature was very sick. Carefully, he moved his finger along the insect’s body, leaving behind a trail of ice. Healing ice. This was a waterclasper’s skill. The ice seeped into the glowdrum’s body. Mai had watched so intensely that she hadn’t noticed when Scholar Riff made a noise in his throat to get her attention.

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