The Iron Trial [Magisterium]

Chapter Nine... Magic Class One

        I was totally prepared to spend most of my morning walking through the caverns and fighting the onset of claustrophobia, but Master Rufus led us down a straight corridor to an underground river instead. I should have been thankful for that, only, I wasn't sure this river was much better.
        It reminded me of the forest tunnel I went down once as a child when I'd gotten lost looking for lumine, who'd gotten spooked by something when we were on our walk. I remembered the cool darkness that seemed to swallow all the light around me. I looked from the sheer rock wall that rose behind us, to the water flowing swiftly past us into a smaller cave where I could only make out shadows. The deep mineral smell was doing nothing to calm my nerves as I stared at several gray boats tied up on the shore in a neat row. They looked like they were constructed of wooden planks, each overlapping the other along the side and meeting the front, affixed with copper rivets. They made me think of tiny Viking ships. Which I couldn't hate on, Viking ships were cool.
       "Go ahead," master Rufus said. "Get in."
       I watched as Aaron scrambled into the first of the boats, reaching out a hand to help Call inside after him. It was rather gentlemen like of him. Tamara refused his hand, getting in herself with a look of mild nervousness. Her hesitation set off my panic. 
       "I uh... Don't really have to get in, do I?" I asked my voice tight. Water and I really didn't mix. I glanced at Rufus only to sigh. Of course I did, no skipping magic classes huh.
        I put all of my focus on getting into the boat, terrified I was going to fall into the water that held who knew what. I panicked as the boat lurched under foot, throwing my balance off, I stumbled. Like the biggest idiot ever I reached out to rebalance myself, as I do when I hit a bad bump when on Sir Galahad, just as someone grabbed my elbow. Thrown forward I landed on something soft. My cheeks heated instantly as I realized it was a lap. I glanced up through my bangs and winced. I landed on Aaron's lap. Just my luck.
        "Ah! Um sorry." I moved quickly, taking the spot closest to Tamara as she laughed under her breath. As soon as I was significantly embarrassed and settled into my seat, Master Rufus stepped into the boat like he was born on one.
       "This is the most common way we get around the Magisterium, using the underground rivers. Until you can navigate, I will take you through the caves. Eventually, each of you will learn the paths and how to coax the water to take you where you want to go."
        "Can't I just fly to class or something?" I muttered miserably as I gripped the seat with my hands, determined not to move an inch no matter what happened.
        Master Rufus leaned over the side of the boat, making it tip slightly and whispered to the water. There was a soft ripple across the surface, as if the wind had stirred it, even though there was no wind underground.
         Aaron leaned forward probably to ask a question, but all at once, the boat began to move and he fell back into his seat.
        My stomach lurched as the boat cut through the water, into a deeper darkness. I couldn't help but think about sharp rocks and how sometimes in caves there were cliffs and holes that dropped down like a million feet below sea level. How could we avoid things like that? How could we even get to where we needed to if we couldn't even see? This was some Charlie and the chocolate factory stuff right here. Only it was magic who made the boat move not unfeeling oompa loompas
        Then, as though it knew of our panic the cave came to glowing life. We passed into a room where the walls shimmered with pale, bioluminescent green moss. The water intakes turned to light where the prow of the boat touched it, when Aaron despite my squeak of panic dragged his hand through the river, it lit around his fingers too. He flicked the water into the air and it transformed into a cascade of sparks.
         "Cool." Aaron breathed.
         I couldn't fight him on that. It was sort of cool, if you could overlook the fact that we didn't know what was making the water glow like that.
         We passed walls of rock striped in dozens of colors, and rooms where long pale vines hung from the ceiling, trailing tendrils in the river. Then we would slide again into a dark tunnel and emerge into a new stone chamber where quartz stalactites sparkles like knife blades, or where the stone seemed to grow naturally into the shapes of curved benches, even tables it seemed- we even passed two silent Masters in one chamber, playing checkers with pieces that flew in the air like some checkered version of wizards chess.
    "Got you!!" One of them exclaimed startling me and the wooden discs started to rearrange themselves, resetting the board to the beginning.
   As though it were steered by some invisible hand, the boat docked itself near a small platform with stone steps, rocking gently into place.