(Adventure Adrian and the Kings) The Herald Quest

Chapter Ten

TEN

I was really sad to see Jay leave.  Since arriving in this unfamiliar world he’d become a loyal and trusted friend. In fact he was the first real friend I’d made in a long time. What struck me most about Jay was that he was so unselfish, letting me take all the glory for the Chimera attack and all. 

Although I felt guilty that I hadn’t told the Professor the truth about the attack, I knew Jay couldn’t have taken my place here anyway. In this world it seemed a peasant would never be considered good enough in the eyes of the Guild or even by the Professor himself.

After a few days at the College I’d already experienced loads of new things. On day one, I’d learnt about the history of the Kingdom and man was there lots of it too! The second day, we discovered all there was to know about the infamous Spirit Kings and their mighty powers. Day three was my first Monstronomy class, which was basically an hour of learning about mythical monsters.

The classroom was bustling with excited students, who were all hoping to graduate at the end of the year as Heralds and finally be granted a quest. It was the ultimate reward for any student to be given an important message and then deliver it to nobility. I kept quiet for now and tried to get my head around all the new books I’d been given.

I was delighted when Professor Izanbar walked into the room and took his place at the blackboard. He was the ideal teacher for this subject after all. And as the session began, at first it felt like any other of the ‘make believe monsters’ classes that he had taught me back at school.

Yet as this lesson went on, it soon became obvious that he was talking about a range of odd creatures as if they were real and unbelievable stories of monsters that had actually happened. It finally started to dawn on me that either I was still suffering from my knock on the head or this world was real!

But I didn’t feel as scared or freaked out as I should of. In fact I was having so much fun here that if Aunt Edna came to collect me then I’d ask her if we could hang around for a while. I felt strangely at home in this place.

“So we end today’s lesson with the question I set you all for homework,” the Professor announced and then stood confidently in front of the class. “So can someone tell me…what’s so special about a Unicorn’s horn?”

There was no response.

“Come on ladies and gents…this is your basic heraldry 101 question,” Izanbar said as he waited impatiently for an answer whilst repeatedly tapping his foot on the stone classroom floor. “No-one?” 

Being the new kid, I thought I’d try to impress both the Professor and my classmates all at the same time. I sneakily lifted the top of my desk and reached inside for the book that my Aunt Edna had given me. I obviously couldn’t answer the question on my own. I knew less about this magical stuff than all these kids put together. So I carefully and quietly flicked through the pages to the ‘U’ section before reading the description…

A Guide To The Living World                  Page 248

Unicorn Horn                 

The horn of this magical horse is one of the most valuable sources of good in the entire Kingdom. It is recommended for slaying evil demons.

 I raised my hand.

“Yes Adrian?” the Professor said, pointing towards me at the back of the room with some surprise in his voice. All of my new classmates turned around with mixed looks of both shock and disbelief.

“They’re a powerful weapon?” I hesitated and tried to make it sound like a bit of a guess.

“Not bad,” Izanbar nodded with a smile. “If you can handle a sword the way you tackle monster theory then you might just make it as a Herald yet.”