Free A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix Page A

than me, stronger than me, and possibly smarter than me. Three were taller, two were shorter, and I guess four of them were better-looking, if you assume a classical approach to beauty, in terms of symmetry of features and so on.
    Our seniority within the class group was based on our ascension dates. Much to the annoyance of most of the others, who had come to the Academy more swiftly from their candidate temples, I was the second-most senior. A rather pig-faced Prince called Charoz was the only one senior to me, and then only by a few hours.
    Charoz had a nasty glint in his eye, and I could tell he hated my guts from the get-go, possibly because I inadvertently made a kind of snorting noise when he introduced himself, and like I said, he did somewhat resemble a pig.
    Apart from Charoz, almost all the other Princes were pretty much interchangeable, at least as far as I was concerned. For starters, with the single exception of a Prince Tyrtho, they were all members of House Jerrazis. Judging from their joining dates, they had received the same offer that Commandant Huzand had extended to me, and they had accepted.
    Tyrtho, for some reason, belonged to House Tivand. I guessed that she must have been offered the opportunity while en route to the Academy and had accepted, not knowing that this would put her at a disadvantage. Later I confirmed part of this was true; she had joined Tivand from her candidate temple. But Tyrtho had known that the Academy was dominated by the Jerrazis and had chosen Tivand anyway, because of that House’s strength in the higher ranks of the Navy. She planned a long way ahead and had started off much better informed than I was, for the simple reason that she had always asked lots of questions, something she continued to do throughout her Naval cadetship, no matter how unwelcome the questions were.
    Tyrtho was the only one who stayed out of what happened next.
    ‘You have about twenty minutes,’ said Jesmur. ‘Check the requirement for full ceremonial uniform and report in that uniform to drill hall twelve at eleven forty-five. I have to attend to some other matters; I will see you there.’
    She looked at me as she left, quite a fierce glare, and made a kind of signal with her eyebrows at the others. It didn’t take an accelerated Prince brain to work out that she was suggesting that they teach me the importance of fitting into the unit and all that kind of stuff.
    As soon as Jesmur went out the door, the whole bunch (except Tyrtho) moved toward me, their hostility evident. But they had only taken a step forward when a wide-shouldered Prince with a low forehead called Marmro said, ‘He’s connected, witnessing.’
    ‘You and Jipru block him,’ ordered Charoz. He was taking the seniority thing seriously; the order snapped out as if it was some brilliant fleet command.
    I felt a slight pain inside my head, and for a millisecond, my connection to the Imperial Mind was lost as my relaying priest, Uncle Frekwo, was blocked. I felt Uncle Aleakh join in and also immediately get blocked, but then two of my aunts joined in and connection was reestablished. All of this happened in the time that my classmates took only one more step toward me. I knew their intentions, for at that point we’d all had the same basic unarmed combat training in our candidate temples. They were moving in the posture called Cranes Advance on Single Fish, which was for advancing on a lone enemy when supported by numerous allies.
    ‘He’s still witnessing!’ burst out Marmro.
    ‘What?’ asked Charoz. He hesitated, his brilliant command mind not quite up to unexpected situations. ‘Uh, Aliadh and Fyrmis, you block as well.’
    But I’d already messaged Haddad about the situation and he was relaying too, with first nine and then all twelve of my priests online. I backed up to the door as the other seven Princes continued to move toward me. Tyrtho sat on her bed, watching.
    ‘He’s still witnessing!’ protested