Rebirth

Rebirth

Chapter 8: Some Unorthodox Teaching Methods

"Welcome to your first lesson," Elektra said, handing them each a staff. "Let's hope it will take place today, after all, without childish tantrums of any kind disturbing us," she added, her eyes set on Aenor, who just rubbed his neck, looking sulky.

"The goal of this lesson is to test your reflexes, to see how fast you'll react." She paused and looked at them, checking if they were paying attention. All she got in return were expressions of anger (Aenor and Dulce), fear (Geno and Irina), and dumb puzzlement (Half-Pint), so she sighed and asked, "Very well, who will go first?"

Aenor took one step forward, since he was obviously eager to use his staff on her, but, without looking at them, Elektra pointed at Dulce.

"We better start with you," she said. "Let's see how an infant Zagalo fights."

"I'll hit her for you," Dulce whispered to Aenor, though not believing it herself, and approached the centaur.

"First of all, you need to know how to block. Therefore, you'll need to direct your staff towards the one that is being thrown at you. For this, check out your opponent's movements so that you can predict the direction where the blow will come from. Body language is everything."

Dulce nodded, though she didn't quite understand what her teacher had said, and made a pose that she had once seen in a magazine, since she believed that it was the correct way to hold a staff in these situations.

"Don't be an idiot, child," mocked Elektra. "This is battle practice, not ballet."

"She's completely out of her mind," Geno whispered to the others.

"Quiet," snapped Elektra, as she prepared to strike Dulce from the left. The girl reacted instinctively, but was too slow and was painfully hit on her shoulder.

"You need to be faster," Elektra said, as she attacked again, this time from the right. Once more, Dulce was too slow and failed to defend herself.

"You're useless. Next! You!" the centaur said, pointing at Aenor, who eagerly ran to her.

One by one, the five Avises took their turn facing Elektra, all failing miserably. Being so small, Half-Pint was unable to hold the staff properly and accidentally hit his own head repeatedly.

After all of them had had their turn, Elektra forced a still dizzy Dulce to face her again, and so another round began, followed by another, and then another... After two hours, they were exhausted, extremely weak with hunger (since they still hadn't eaten anything) and still unable to satisfy Elektra's expectations.

"You are a disgrace. How am I expected to teach such useless creatures like yourselves?"

"We're not warriors, you know," Aenor said, defiantly. "We're just eleven-year-old kids, who are hungry and tired and want to leave."

"Oh, you didn't have enough yesterday, Aenor?" The boy took a step back, fear and anger in his eyes. "If you're hungry, that's your problem. Fight it."

Fight hunger? She was really out of her mind, they all thought.

"As for leaving this room, I don't think you'll ever leave. Not until I feel like it." She was looking very pleased with herself, and displaying that smile that they all hated so much. "You're going to be great, whether you like it or not."

***

"You asked for me?"

Ventura was looking out of her office window, and turned as she heard Coleraine's voice.

"Yes, I did," she said, pointing to a chair. She then sat at her desk. "I got news about the Asterlyth," she added.

"And where is it?"

"Approaching quickly. Unfortunately, there have been no measures to stop it so far, because everybody's convinced that it has been a false attack perpetrated by a lunatic obsessed with the legend."

"Like the possibility of ordinary wizards stopping the Asterlyth could be humanly possible," he joked.

"Yes, but some preventing actions could help."

"Well, it is not likely that it will be able to attack us here, is it? Ingarnal is as strong and difficult to reach as Hogwarts."

"That's what we thought the first time, and Voldemort's followers still managed to find it and destroy it."

Coleraine remained expressionless, and added, "You didn't really call me here to talk about that, did you?"

"No, I didn't. I have some questions to ask."

"Let's start with the questions, then," he said, sarcastically. "Let me guess... it's about Elektra?"

"It is, obviously. School has resumed its normal course, and the children are nowhere in sight. I also can't find Elektra anywhere. Do you have any idea where she might have hid them?"

"What makes you think I know anything about this, my dear professor?" he asked, a tone of mockery in his voice.

"Well, my dear professor," Ventura added, her eyes fixed icily on Coleraine's, "you're Elektra's masterpiece, the perfect Sertorian soldier, invincible, who will be the greatest hero of all time."

Coleraine's expression changed from mockery to anger. Ventura had struck a nerve.

"Don't look at me like that," she said, her tone still dry and without any trace of sarcasm. "That's how I've heard her call you countless times, and that's what she made you believe as you were growing up." Coleraine didn't reply. He looked like a living portrait of peacefulness, but his eyes burned with anger. Ventura continued, "You know as well as I do what she's capable of, and the damages her obsession can make. You're not like Dumbledore or Penumbra, who trust Elektra because they don't know about her vision of the Sertorian Champion, and how far she can go to turn it into reality. Actually, you know it better than anybody else, because you lived with her obsession hanging over you, all your life."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Coleraine, but the tone of his voice revealed that he knew it very well, and wasn't at all happy about it.

"Oh, you don't? Then tell me what she has taught you. You know how to fence, how to fight, you can throw spears, shoot arrows..."

"Yes, yes, yes. You know all that!" he said, impatiently. "You've seen me train several times! She taught me all that. So what?"

"So, it wasn't necessary. What else? Did she teach you to control the energy? Zagalo wrote to me saying that you met a dementor at Hogwarts, so I presume that you know how to use it."

Coleraine grumbled.

"Sorry, I didn't hear that, Hector."

"She didn't," he said clearly. "The Captain taught me."

"The Captain?"

"Yes, Captain Octopus, from Lusitania Academy. We met when I was a child, and he taught me to control the energy, until Elektra found out and threw him out."

"Obviously. She wouldn't want anybody else to share the glory of creating the ultimate soldier." She paused for a moment. "How about basic knowledge of magic? Did she teach you that?"

"If you really must know -"

"I must."

"No, she didn't teach me that. I learned every spell, every incantation, on my own, reading books."

"And did she make you train using those charms and incantations?"

"Only those meant for attack. I had to practice the rest of them on my own."

"Those books... where did she get them from?"

"She didn't. I got them myself."

"What?"

"I stole them, all right?" He was feeling exasperated with all the questioning. "I used to steal food and books from the villagers, on the island where we lived. One of the villagers was almost a squib, so he had some interesting basic information..."

"Wait a minute... did you say you stole food?"

"Yes."

"And was Elektra aware of it?"

"She encouraged it. Survival of the fittest, she called it. Actually, it was the only way I could eat anything."

"So what you're saying is that you learned magic on your own, without supervision of a qualified teacher, you only know part of the energy control because of the Captain, and that Elektra starved you and only taught you how to steal and fight?"

Coleraine's eyes were flaming. He approached Ventura and said, very seriously, "Listen to me. You don't want to interfere."

"Those children are my responsibility."

"Forget those children. Elektra has them, and she won't give up on them. You know what she feels about her family's tradition, and how far she'll go to create champions. At a certain point I defied her, and paid the consequences. The same can happen to you, too."

"I'm willing to take the risk," she replied, unmoved by the warning.

"Very well, if that's what you feel."

"It is."

He got up and prepared to leave the office, but then turned back. "She's still inside the castle. It has all the things she'll need to train the children, and as you know there are hundreds of hidden rooms connected like a maze through trapdoors and hidden entrances."

And with that, he left.

Ventura sighed, and turned to the fireplace.

"Now do you believe me?" she asked.

The head of Albus Dumbledore, which was resting on the flames, lowered his eyes.

***

The Cegonha 1 landed safely near the lake. From its doors safely exited the twenty-five children that belonged to the houses of Goa and Ceuta, and the teachers that had spent the holidays with their families.

Among the group were Magda and Tulio, who had spent the entire trip discussing the misadventures that happened to them on Christmas. Magda was now completely recovered from the "food poisoning", and was back to her normal self.

With the excitement of the arrival and the loud conversations, nobody noticed the five children yelling and gesticulating from the waterfall window.

"Hey you morons!" Aenor was now hoarse with the shouting. "We're up here!"

"It's no use shouting," Elektra said, smiling nastily. "No one will hear you. I made sure of it."

However, a swooshing sound at the window soon erased her smile. The five Avises were looking at her as she spoke, but turned their eyes back to the window to see what had caused the sound. In front of them was the silver bird, gazing darkly at the centaur, who was absolutely terrified at this sight.

"No, no, no, no, no. You're not supposed to be here! Not now!" she gasped. "You're going to ruin everything!"

The bird blinked and flew away.

"Hey, come back!" Aenor yelled, approaching the window again.

A small explosion, followed by smoke, announced that Elektra had also disappeared.

"What just happened here?" asked Dulce.

***

Once in the corridor, Elektra began to run.

"Where are you?" she asked under her breath.

"Right here," Ventura's voice was heard, as she came into view from the corner.

"How did you...?"

"How did I find them?" completed Ventura. "Well, assuming you didn't leave Ingarnal, you had to go to a place that was close to your nature and your style of teaching. As a former Avis student, I know all the rooms of this school better than my own backyard, even after all this years and after the reconstruction of the castle, and so I knew this had to be the only place where you could have hidden the children."

"And what are you going to do, Djanira?" Elektra's voice had lost all fear, and was regaining its superior tone. "Take those children away from me?"

"Yes."

"Well, you can't do that. Dumbledore gave me the right to have the last word about what's best for those children's education. And what I think is best is for them to receive the exact same style of education I gave to Hector."

"Bad news for you, then. Dumbledore was finally informed of the kind of education you gave him, and what your goals towards those children really are, and so he changed the authority over to me."

Elektra's smile of superiority vanished, and her expression and voice became troubled once more. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not," Ventura replied, handing a roll of parchment to the centaur. "He just handed me this. Read it."

Elektra grabbed the parchment, unrolled it and read it, as her face slowly displayed a dark shade of red. "How dare you?" she asked.

"Our goal is not to create a troop of Jasons and Hercules. These children are to be trained so that they won't become victims of their own heritage, and that's it."

"But I can make them great!"

"They will be great, but only if they want to."

Shadows were now surrounding the centaur, whose expression was dark and disturbing. She was slowly approaching the professor. "That's not enough."

"It will have to be. They're not pawns to use for your own glory."

"How dare you?" she said. Their faces were nearly touching.

"Let me get those children," Ventura said firmly.

"You'll pay for this," Elektra said, her whole body immersed in shadows, as she tried to get her hand on Ventura's throat. However, the professor was faster, and grabbed the centaur's hand first with such strength that the sound of a bone breaking was almost imminent, and it didn't happen by mere luck.

"Those shadow tricks might fool Hector, but they don't fool me," Ventura said. Her face was calm, as if she wasn't making an effort. "I remember when I was a child, and you tried to control me. Professor Holroyd made sure you wouldn't cross the line, and now I'm going to do the same." She let go of Elektra's arm and continued, "Now, Dumbledore said that you can still teach Special Studies, but that you'll have to follow the program, and I'm going to make sure you'll do exactly as you are told. Are we clear?"

Elektra nodded silently. The dark shadows had dissipated, and she looked much smaller and frail.

"Now, I'm going to take the children downstairs. The other students are here, and if they're not seen at the feast, they'll begin to ask questions we're not ready to answer."

With this, she turned her back to the centaur and approached the wall leading to the waterfall room. After a few seconds of inspection, she touched a specific point with her index finger as she murmured a few incantations. As her finger traveled down the wall, it ripped the bricks as a knife cutting paper, and created a frail entrance.

As the crossed the entrance, Elektra got up, hissing through her teeth. "You're going to pay for this."

***

At the sound of Ventura entering the room, the Avises, who were staring out the window again, trying to catch someone's attention, turned and raced to her.

The only words that they heard from her for a long moment were "Oh my..." The sight of them made her speechless, since they were wearing dragon skin rags, and looked extremely dirty, like savage children. The fact that they hadn't eaten anything since the end-of-term feast and had only survived so far because of the dream-controlling potions was also pretty obvious, because they looked rather yellowish (perhaps a side effect) and had hunger written in their eyes. Besides that, some small bruises caused from Elektra's "training" were also visible, and Aenor had a strange purple mark on his neck, shaped like a hand.

They also gazed at her, speechless. The two days that they had spent awake had been so bizarre that they weren't sure if their Flying teacher was really there, of if it was only an illusion; after all, Elektra's strange behavior was so illogical that it couldn't be real. However, they soon acknowledged Ventura's presence as real and, in unison, they all advanced and tried to hug her, tears of relief in their eyes.

"Come on," she finally said, "we need to get you cleaned up and properly dressed so you can join the others."

They followed her through the hole she had opened. Nobody said a word during the entire journey to the Avis common room, even though everybody's brain was exploding with questions that needed to be answered. As they crossed the mirror with the swan, the first thing they noticed was the absence of the statue between the doors for the dormitories. Irina's dead roses were still lying on the floor.

"What happened?" Dulce finally asked.

"We found the cure," Ventura said. "I'm sure Elektra decided to tell you about Miss Cassidy, so I don't think I need to explain. She's recovering, as the chock of reanimation was very strong."

They were all (even Aenor) very happy with the news, but the mention of Elektra caused a chill to run down their spines. In a flash, all the questions they had formulated inside their minds during the journey back to the room were flying out of their minds with violence.

"What was that ruddy centaur playing at?"

"She said some strange things about us, that we were going to be great or something like that. What did she mean?"

"What's the Asterlyth really like, and what does it have to do with us?"

"All I want to know is why we were locked inside that room wearing these things."

"Julia's family was attacked, and now the same thing happened to a boy. Will we die too?"

"She talked about an energy. Do I have it? Will it hurt me?"

Ventura sighed. From the questions, she clearly realized that Elektra had told them much more than they needed to know at their age. They were supposed to progressively learn about their heritage, and now they had their minds filled with confused information, some of it untrue. She raised her hand for them to be silent (something she had copied from Dumbledore, as she had never had the need to silent a noisy crowd, and had no idea of any other way to do it) and after a moment of thought had made her mind up about what to do. After Elektra's mad behavior, she had no other choice.

"I'll tell you everything after the feast."

"But -" Irina was about to begin.

"After the feast, Petrova." She had regained her professor-like behavior; it was easier like this. "And I promise I'll tell you everything you need to know. But first, you'll have to join the others, and pretend that nothing has happened."

Dulce was about to speak, but Ventura raised her hand again and she quieted. "As far as everyone is concerned, you suffered from food poisoning. I know it's stupid, but it's the only logical excuse we have, especially after we managed to convince Miss Rocha that she had suffered from it as well, but in a smaller dose. Now, please, go to your dormitories and get changed as fast as you can. And after that return here, and I'll explain everything you need to know."