Chapter 37

The seven of us arrived in the dining hall together and sat at our designated table. Even though the trial was now over, the atmosphere was similar to lunchtime. Some people were nervous, sweat dripping from the heads and even praying. While others were excited with anticipation. The room had a more warm feeling this time. As nightfall had arrived the grand fireplace was lit at the centre stage giving off orange flames. The grand paintings on the wall showed more detail as showdown could now be seen. The lights had suddenly been lit to an orange colour. Turning on one by one as the master knights came to the stage. On the stage stood Wilfred, Delbert, and Barnardo. Next to the three, were the two other Master knights who also appeared at the test sights. The man dressed in black with a scarf covering his face and the female archer. Each of the knights held a box in their hand containing the different coloured sashes inside. Wilfred then stood forward with the box in hand. "We will now be announcing the results of today's assessments. When you here your name will you please come to the stage where you will receive a sash from one of the following master knights. One by one students were called up to the stage and were given a sash from the boxes. The sash was a plain solid colour making then easy to differentiate from each other. As the students went on stage they bore mix emotions form the colours they received. Some jumped up in joy shouting to the crowd as they received a white sash, while another boy was in tears at receiving a red sash. The sashes were handed out table by table. It finally came to our groups turn. Ian and Slyvia had both received white sashes, which was expected based on their performance in the test. Dan had received a blue sash, looking a bit disappointed at the result. Martha was very pleased with her result receiving a green sash. When Monk had gone up to the stage, he looked nervous. Walking slowly and stiffly to the stage. I could understand why, like me, Monk hadn't done well on any of the tests aside from one. Most likely he would receive a red sash. When he got to the stage though surprisingly he had been given a black sash. Monk excitedly took the sash and bowed down quickly getting off stage. The noise in the room grew as people were talking about what had just happened. Monk was the only person so far who had received a black sash. When Gary's name was called, he walked up confidently to the stage. After all, most people would have said that Gary was the best performing student today. There wasn't a doubt in his or anyone else mind that he deserved a White sash. Strangely enough, when he reached the stage Gary was also handed a black sash. Gary stared at the stash for a while, not taking it from the masters Knights hand. It seemed like he was in shock. A few seconds later he snapped out of it, took his sash and bowed down to the knight.

My name had finally been called, I went up to the stage and expected like everyone else to receive a red sash, but didn't mind because it was what I was also aiming for in the first place. When I entered the stage I expected Bernardo to step forward as he had been handing out the red sashes to students so far. Instead, the knight master dressed in black had stepped forward and presented me with a black sash. I took the sash and quickly left the stage. The sashes had finished being handed out and the celebratory meal had begun. The feast was grand, with high-quality ingredients and top dishes on the table. I had never eaten such great food before. We sat at our table and began eating, most of us were enjoying joyous conversation apart from Gary who had seemed a bit down, until he muttered a few words out. "Why did we receive black shashes? what does this mean?" The table went silent as we could tell Gary was upset by this, after all, black was a strange sash colour. Nobody knew what it meant and it was hard to gauge if it was good or bad. Gary was considered to have done the best in the test results, Myself and monk were considered some of the worst, yet we had all received a black sash. Slyvia was the one to finally break the silence. "I tried speaking to one of the second-year students who also wore a black sash, but he wouldn't say anything about it. He was happy to talk about other things apart from anything concerning his black sash." "Maybe we're special." Monk said. It seemed like Monk's shy nature had changed ever since he received a black sash instead of a red one. He was starting to speak more often to the group. "There have been cases of Knights changing their ranks later on, so I wouldn't worry about it too much." Slyvia in her own way seemed to be trying to cheer up Gary. Gary then looked towards me seeing that we both had the same coloured sash and started to smile. "Looks like we will be training together after all." I smiled back but didn't say much. I was just as concerned as Gary about what had happened. Originally I had wanted to get a low ranking sash colour. This way I would be given more free time and was away from the eyes of the Knights. In the end, I received black, a colour no one seemed to have knowledge about it. A total of four students had received a black sash. Thirty received green. Ten received white and the rest were mixes of various colours. It was clear that black was the rarest of the colours. Out of 300 students to only allow four to receive a black sash. This was a complete mystery.