Code of Shadows

Test 3 (Part 35)

I had taken less than 10 steps into the room when I heard a big cheer from my right. I turned just in time to see a figure tackle me.

"Cait, you are all right!" I heard a voice say.

I turned my head just a little bit to glimpse a little bit of blond hair.

"Nice to see you Dove," I said.

I then felt another body crash into me, I tried to muffle a groan, but it still managed to come out.

"You know Meredith that I am still recovering from a injury right?" I asked.

Meredith giggled, "but you are up and moving, so you have to be at least a little okay!"

I groaned. "A little okay from having a sword shoved through my gut?"

Meredith gave rolled her eyes, then helped me up.

I looked around to find that the whole Grianan recruit group was around me. There was a lot of shouting, and even more waving. I smiled, but not before I was attacked again.

"Jonathan! You're crushing me," I wheezed out.

Jonathan smiled guiltily, "Sorry..." I pulled away from the hug, then went to Peira, Tristan, Halo, and then almost everyone in the Grianan trainee group. As soon as I started to become overwhelmed with names, I felt Belle's presence in my memories, pulling out the right name and putting it to a face. I silently thanked her.

...................

By the time I had introduced myself to everyone I was bone dead tired and I was ready for a bed. It was late into the night, and my day had been long and strenuous. Not everyone had been very supportive of me. I could see it in their stance. They still remembered this morning, at the recruitment. I couldn't blame them, how could you forget something like that so easily. I couldn't believe that just this morning I had been sleeping in the woods. It felt like weeks ago.

The mentors lead our group up the grand spiral staircase. We went up two floors before we stopped. Sam and Sara divided our groups into our original girl and boy bunches. The boys stayed on that floor while the girls continued upward. I waved good night to Dylan, then took up the end of the girl group. We went up several more levels before we finally stopped. Sara turned around to face us here.

"This is the start of the girl dormitories. There are 7 floors for the girls. One for each of the specialty groups. The trainees are at the top of the tower because they are less experienced, and if we are ever attacked, not saying we will, the attackers will have to go through all the more experienced people making it so that there is a higher survival rate.

"We will still have to go up 6 more floors, but for the moment just take in this area because it is where the girls dormitories start. Also, remember that the boy dormitories are below us, and that they start the level above the dining area. Now, we will continue up to your floor," Sera said.

By the time that we were on the correct level, the whole group of trainees were dragging their feet. Everyone was tired and sore. Sera was even starting to show signs of fatigue.

It took everyone a minute or two to catch their breath at the top of the stairs. That was before Sera turned around though.

"You will not be able to access any other dormitory except this one right now. You will have a card that will open this door for you, and for the future any door that your status allows you to open. For me, being a mentor, I can open the doors to both of the trainee levels, and the girls mentor level. Now, you each will be given a card that will allow you to get into only this level. We understand that things get lost, but losing this will be unacceptable. It will add up to a punishment, such as no outside activities for 2 weeks. I got that when I was a trainee, let me tell you, you don't want it.