Warlord's Revenge Read Free Page B

to work.”
    As the shouting started again, Raydon frowned at John. “John, be a little more careful, please,” he said before whirring away.
    “But, sir, he did it on purpose !” Mordant shouted after him.
    Once again, Raydon ignored him.
    “It was an accident Mordant, and I am sorry,” John said calmly. It had been plain on John’s first day at Hyperspace High that he and Mordant Talliver were never going to be friends. Since then, John had saved the half-Gargon’s life but, if anything, this seemed to have made the black-haired boy dislike him even more. Nevertheless, John didn’t want to cause any more bad feelings between them.
    “Yeah, right . Just don’t think I’m going to forget this.”
    “The young master certainly does have an excellent memory,” G-Vez agreed in its most self-important voice.
    “Shut up, G-Vez. I’m not taking to you,” snapped John.
    “Don’t tell my droid to shut up.” One of Mordant’s tentacles prodded John in the chest.
    John slapped it away, his face reddening. “I’m trying to apologize, you stupid—”
    A glow of light filled the room, as the headmaster zipped through the wall and flashed into his humanoid form. A door opened, and two Examiners floated into the room. Every student fell silent. Every student except Kaal, who was still intent on putting out his fire.
    “AAAAAAARGH!” he screamed at his fireball.

Chapter 3
    As Kaal’s screech put out the flames , the Derrilian looked around in triumph. Spotting the headmaster, his face fell. “Oh, sorry, sir. I didn’t see you there,” Kaal mumbled.
    “That’s quite all right, Kaal,” Lorem replied. “ Excellent screaming, by the way. I shall certainly call on you if I need to extinguish a fire in zero-gravity.”
    While he was speaking, Examiners passed rapidly from student to student. Using force fields, the featureless white robots created spheres of green light around each of the remaining fireballs. Starved of oxygen, the flames died.
    The headmaster turned to Raydon. “Professor, I’m sorry to disturb your class, but if you would be so kind...”
    “Of course, headmaster,” Raydon said, nodding. “Zepp,” he said, “Restore gravity, please.”
    Zepp obeyed the teacher’s request in an instant. Around the holo-classroom, students tumbled out of the air. John fell on his feet. Others weren’t so lucky. A few students stood up, rubbing freshly bruised backsides.
    “Ouch, Zepp. I nearly broke an ankle,” Lishtig complained, wobbling to his feet.
    “You should grow some wings,” grinned Kaal, landing lightly and folding his own leathery wings across his back.
    The headmaster raised a hand. “I have important news,” he announced. His smile had faded. He looked, and sounded, extremely serious.
    The students fell silent, eyes fixed on the headmaster. “Hyperspace High,” the headmaster continued, “founded ten thousand years ago by the scholars of Kerallin...”
    The students glanced at each other. This wasn’t news. Everyone knew the scholars of Kerallin had created the finest school in history as a gift to the universe.
    But Lorem hadn’t finished. “That much you all know,” he continued. “What fewer people realize is that every 100 years, the scholars inspect one class of Hyperspace High students. Very few are chosen to study here, and standards at the school must remain high. The scholars want to make sure that every student is making good progress and to judge whether they deserve their places. Hyperspace High only teaches the very best, and it is not unknown for the scholars of Kerallin to ask students to leave if they are not reaching their full potential.” Lorem paused for a moment, and then finished matter-of-factly. “This year, they will be testing you.”
    The news created an instant buzz. Around John, students began to chatter in excitement. The scholars of Kerallin were near-mythical figures who spent their lives wrapped in secret study on their hidden world. Very few