Jason had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a long while. He could make out the sound of water behind him and knew he was still by the lake. His eyes briefly focussed and he saw blue sky. ‘I have to make it back to the academy,’ he thought, trying to move his arms to push himself up. Pain seared through his body, and he collapsed back on the ground breathing hard. ‘What’s happening to me?’ he wandered and his vision blurred more, and a new wave of darkness took hold.
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“He’ll turn up once classes start,” Cheiron informed the two cadets, “It’ll be fine.”
Hercules looked at Iolaus who returned his gaze, “He wasn’t at breakfast,” he told the centaur.
“Does he always eat breakfast?” Cheiron asked the cadets, who looked at each other again, before turning to him and shaking his heads. “Then we’ve no need to be alarmed. He’ll show up by the time class starts,” he said. “A true warrior does not panic until it is necessary,” he informed them.
The two friends looked unconvinced, but had no choice but to listen to him. They nodded, rose from their chairs and made their way to class.
“I wander if a true warrior has friends,” Iolaus mused. “We should skip class and go look for him,” he told Hercules.
The demi-God nodded, “I agree, but what if he does turn up?” he asked.
The curly haired boy nodded, “If he’s not there when we arrive, or doesn’t arrive before Fiddle-face hands out the scrolls, we’ll go,” he said feeling like the leader for the first time, as Herc nodded in agreement.
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They walked through the door and saw Jason’s seat was empty. They exchanged a look, and then went to sit down. Fiddle-face entered with an armful of scrolls, and walked to his desk. “Ok class…” he began, “…I would like you all to look at the sketches…” he talked as he walked around the class handing each cadet a scroll. “…I would like you to name the different…”
Hercules and Iolaus weren’t listening, they both kept looking from Jason’s chair to the door and then back again, waiting for him to come striding through the door, making up some excuse for his tardiness, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to.
The two friends looked at each other, reading the other’s mind and nodding simultaneously, and getting out of their seats.
“Hercules, Iolaus, where do you think you are going?” their teacher asked after them.
He was ignored, however the boys had not gotten even close to the exit before they were face to face with Cheiron.
Posted on Apr 9, 2006, 10:11 AM from IP address 88.111.87.2