Tenthé had ducked into his room and closed the door before anyone noticed his absence. It wouldn’t be long before his keepers tried to get in, but he had a plan. It was time to find a safer place.
He began by examining everything. The walls contained a few stones with a trace of magic about them. Interesting, but neither dangerous nor useful. Finally, his knack produced a result; hidden in one corner behind a support pillar, Tenthé discovered some irregularities in the stonework. The mortar was cut by a nearly invisible crack that, when followed, revealed the irregular outline of something that might very well be a door. Closer examination uncovered no sign of magic. If there was anything here, then it was completely mundane. Looking with his eyes was promising; the wall was quite thin with a space on the other side.
After some poking and prodding, he discovered few blocks could be depressed a small amount, and pushing others would make them pop out again. Using his magic sight to cheat, along with a bit of experimentation, he found that pressing them in a certain order caused a hidden door to crack open.
Tenthé pulled, and the wall swung out to reveal a dark and narrow passageway. As fearless as usual, he sidled into the opening and continued on, continuously checking for any traps or spells, but nothing threatening materialized.
Going a short distance, he bumped into a ladder leading up into the gloom. After climbing a few steps, he bonked his head on something. Backing down, he put up his arms and pushed. With a little squeal, a trapdoor swung open. Tenthé continued upward.
He found himself in a small attic space with a gable on one side and a wall on the other. In-between these, the ceiling sloped down on both sides of a central ridge to complete the enclosure. The area was poorly illuminated by a solitary window.
Tenthé went over to it, pulled up the sash, pushed the shutters open, and climbed out. He found himself on a slate roof, roughly halfway between the eaves and peak.
There was low fencing around the outside, so even if a person slipped, they couldn’t plummet to the ground unless they were incredibly inept. Several more windows, like the one he’d come through, were spaced along the roof. Tenthé supposed they would allow access to a larger attic area. From his vantage point, he could see that the room he’d emerged from was part of the proper attic, but so small that the missing space would be difficult to notice. Later, he’d explore, but for now, he had found an excellent place to sleep. A few blankets, some food and water, and a chamber pot would make this hide-away nearly perfect.
Tenthé climbed back in through the window, then descended to his normal room, where he began collecting various things he’d need. He stripped everything from the bed but left the cover so what he’d done wasn’t obvious. The weather was getting cold, so, until he managed to find more blankets, he would use a few of the extra outfits from his wardrobe and some towels to keep warm while he slept. When he had collected all that he could, he hauled it up to his new sleeping space and settled in.
During this whole effort, he had kept a small part of his attention on the events taking place in the dorm. Elishua and the Envoy were running around, and it appeared that when she was excited, the Envoy sounded just like an angry cat. He picked out a lot of cursing in-between the yowls, some of which was new to him. Ever diligent, he added them to his mental list.
One worry had been that she might have a better way of tracking available to her species, but apparently, his standard stealth spell was adequate. The Guardians could still see him, but, at the moment, they showed no sign of telling on him to the girls. At some point, he should figure out what role they really played, but for now, he was happy to let things be.
Tenthé had also decided that he should get to know the Guard better. It was certainly much more than a simple soldier and might be up there in the god realm. God of what? No idea. Part of why he should get to know it better.
At some point, the girls gained access to his room. Fortunately, he’d remembered to shut the panel behind himself and after a quick check around, they had left, none too happy. Their swearing was even louder now.
And, while he waited for the fuss to die down, he was reading!
Sort of.
“No running in the halls. Treat the Magisters with proper respect and a whole lot more crap like that.” Bear was skipping through the guide.
“I would say you have achieved a record. You’ve broken all these rules, except the one about defacing the statues. And that, I suspect, is just a matter of time.”
Tenthé wasn’t sure which parts Bear had been saying were actually from the guide, and which ones he made up. Not that it really mattered.
“Let’s go back to my list of classes,” Tenthé directed.
After fumbling through the book for a while, with insults flowing both ways, Bear eventually read: “Advanced Combat, Tactics, Physics, Alchemy, Mystic Studies, the Study of Gods, and remedial math and reading.”
“Why aren’t there any classes about spell casting? Isn’t that what the College is all about?” Tenthé asked.
“That’ll come later. They want you to understand more theory before doing anything fun. They’ll give you a little taste, but it’ll be a while before we get into something interesting, and not everyone will have the same opportunities. It’s one of those things to keep the privileged separate from the riff-raff.”
This wasn’t news to Tenthé. It was just how the City was.
“And, what was that part about grades?” he asked.
“Your performance in each class is graded. I told you, that means you’ll receive a mark for how well you’ve done.”
“That’s stupid. What am I going to do, wave a piece of parchment with my mark on it to scare something into giving up? Either you learn, or you don’t, and you use what works, or you lose. In the Pools, I may not have liked getting the crap beat out of me, but I sure learned what I needed to.”
For once, Bear disagreed, which wasn’t uncommon. But this time, he actually had a point. “That’s not the approved teaching technique here in the College. Most likely, some Magisters will be harsh, but nothing like you’re used to. And, I suspect, thrashing students to teach the more intellectual subjects probably wouldn’t work, anyway.”
“I dunno.”
“Let me put it this way: from the First Pool, how many of your training group were still alive when we got out?”
“Uh, none.”
“And why is that?”
“They all died in the battle.”
“Why?”
“The enemy was tougher than the generals said. They told everyone that we were the best because right was on our side.”
“And what was their plan?”
“Run at them and fight and win.”
“How well did that work out? Who won?”
“We did. Sort of, but there were only a few of us left and everything was wrecked.”
“Yeah. It was pretty grim. But, didn’t I tell you that was what would happen?”
“I suppose.”
“If someone had taken the time to come up with a plan, then all that could have been avoided.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybe about it! What they needed was Tactics. Figuring out how to win and not lose all that you’re supposed to protect. You could learn from it.”
“I don’t know. I just do what I think I should.”
“Yeah, and it drives me nuts! You could do so much more. But, if you give the College a chance, who knows, they might find some way to hammer something useful in to your tiny little brain. And, I’m fairly sure a few of the classes will be interesting. Even Mystical studies. I admit I slept through most of it, but you’re supposed to. They teach you how to interpret dreams and signs.”
“Signs like outside the taverns?”
“Ha-ha. No. Things that hint what could be coming. Let me see… suppose I tell you that if you step in horse poo, then that’s a sign that you might be in for a bad day.”
“Well, sure. If you step in horse poo, you’re already having a bad day.”
“No, no! That’s not what I meant!”
By now the ruckus below had died down, which suggested that his minders had left, so, instead of carrying on with the meaningless argument, Tenthé got up. He didn’t have much to do until his class tomorrow, so he had decided to go exploring. For fun, he’d ask some of his dorm-mates if they wanted to come along. Besides, it would let him see what they could do.
Stuffing Bear into his cloak, he exited the window and made his way to the next. It was locked, but after jimmying it open with one of his small knives, he stepped through into a crowded storage space.
The main attic was crammed with miscellaneous goods, something he would have to root through later. At the moment, though, an exit would be useful. He started searching for one. For a little person such as himself, snaking between everything was easy and kind of fun.
His search uncovered a few sets of stairs leading down, some narrower than others. He chose one near the wall separating this attic from his secret lair. This was probably a servant’s route, very tight and steep, making several twisty turns before ending in some sort of closet. Oddly enough, the way the stairs were positioned, they wouldn’t be visible when looking into the closet from outside. Tenthé approved; he liked hidden passages.
Stepping over some cleaning supplies, he cracked open the door, then slipped through and shut it behind him. It took a moment to figure out where he was; a hallway near his dormitory.
A few students were about. Some ignored him, but a few started whispering and pointing as he walked by. Tenthé sighed. By now, the announcement would have spread around the College.
As he approached his dorm, he stopped at the door to the lounge and peeked in. A number of boys were clustered around a few of the chairs, talking.
He entered and came up behind George.
“Hey! I’ve figured out some of what’s going on.”
George jumped and screamed, “Ahhh! What the hells?… Oh, it’s you. Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?”
“Don’t care. You want to know about your magic?”
“Uh… yeah!”
The other boys had stopped talking and were listening in, Nikolaus among them. He asked, “How can you do anything for George? If the Magisters can’t figure it out, pretty sure you can’t!”
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“A bunch of ways, but see my eyes?”
Everyone looked, and another boy piped up, “Hey, they’re weird! One’s brownish, and the other’s kind of green, but it’s hard to tell. They aren’t really any color and they change.”
“Yep,” Tenthé answered, “When I turn it on, this eye sees one sort of magic, and the other a different sort, and when I use both, they add together so I see even more.”
“I never heard of that!” Nikolaus retorted. “Everybody’s magic is different! You’re making it all up.”
“No, I’m not!”
“Yes, you are!”
“No, you’re not.”
“Uh… uh, what?” Nicolaus sputtered. “That makes no sense! Anyway, prove it.”
“Uh, okay. Um… I know! Can anyone here do a bird?”
A bird was the common term for any small flying spell. Rarely, they actually looked like birds.
One kid put up his hand. “I can do something,” he said. “It looks like two glowing rings, but it flies.”
“Good enough,” Tenthé stated. “Cast it and I’ll see if it’s what I need.”
It looked like the boy’s magic needed gestures to work. He scrunched up his face and wiggled his fingers in some extremely complex patterns until a pair of glowing rings appeared above his hands and began orbiting each other. He then waved his arms, and the rings flew through the room.
“Yeah. That’s pretty good,” Tenthé said. “I know you can’t see it, but there’s a line connecting the rings back to you. I’ll show you.”
He took a running jump, swiping in the air, and the rings suddenly lurched and came to a halt, just floating in one place. The boy who’d cast the spell waved his hands, but nothing happened. On the other hand, when Tenthé moved his hands, the rings jerked back and forth.
“Now do you believe me?” Tenthé asked. “I can see the magic line between the bird and whatever-his-name is.”
“Alton,” the Nicolaus clarified.
“Yeah, him.”
“Well, I guess so,” Nikolaus reluctantly admitted. “Okay… Let’s say we believe you. So then, what’s going on with George? What can you tell us?”
“Everyone’s different, but sometimes I can see enough to get an idea about what is going on. I haven’t seen anything like him before. His magic’s all tied up in knots. Not simple ones, but tight complicated ones, and they go through the planes. Each of my eyes sees something different.
“Can you tell what kind of magic I have? Underneath, I guess?” George asked.
“Nope. Not until I can see more of it. But I wouldn’t cry. Your knots make a really nice shield against magic. We ought’a test it out and find out how good it is. And, it gives you an advantage. If you carry a weapon, when a spell fizzles against you, you can wallop whoever cast it.”
“Um, I’m not the best fighter. What if I screw up?”
“No need to be fancy; use an old trick: whack ‘em hard on the knee.”
“What? That isn’t honorable!”
“Nope, but once they’re down, you can always follow up with a stab and tell everyone that the first hit was a distraction. Trust me though, with a little practice, the knee’s enough to take out most things.”
One of the larger kids in the back pushed to the front to tower over Tenthé. “What’s all that crap! My dad said only a coward would do something like that!”
With that, he grabbed Tenthé’s robe in a big fist. With a surprising amount of self-control, Tenthé resisted demonstrating how painful a hit to the knee really was.
Besides, the Guardians were watching.
Instead, he reached across and peeled the fist off. Before he could respond, the boy found himself being shoved away with a surprising amount of force. Before things escalated, Nicolaus stepped between them.
“Now Roger! Look at yourself! He’s half your size! Remember the announcement; he’s connected. And, he’s trying to help George. Let it go.”
It was obvious Roger was having a problem with him, not that it bothered Tenthé in the slightest. After a moment passed and nothing happened, he decided to get back to business.
“What I was trying to do before all this started, was to see if some of you guys wanted to come with me and go exploring.” Tenthé stated. “I figured a few of you might be interested.”
“Explore where? The College’s pretty boring,” George said.
Tenthé was truly surprised. “Really? This place has all sorts of secret passages and stuff.”
“Now you’re really making things up. There’s nothing like that around here!”
“What? Yeah, there are. I go through them all the time.”
“I don’t know…” George waffled.
“Tell you what. Let’s see,” Tenthé challenged. “At worst, I’ll look stupid, but maybe we’ll find something.”
“Okay… sure. Why not?”
After some discussion, a handful decided they’d give it a try. Nikolaus, George, Alton, a couple more, and, surprisingly, Roger.
Tenthé started out into the hallways, heading in the opposite direction from where he could sense Elishua and the Envoy searching for him.
He passed by the broom closet to the attic and waited for the others to catch up. Once they were all together, he went a bit further, then entered a small passageway tucked away in an unassuming nook.
Behind him, he heard the boys’ exclamations; mostly surprise that they’d never noticed the passageway being here, before. Following the sounds of crinkling, there were also some comments about it not being on the map, either.
After a short distance, they entered into a larger hallway. As was typical, there were doors that most likely led to classrooms, but everything seemed… neglected. The ever-present lighting was dimmer, a faint coat of dust covered the floor, and it was very quiet.
The boys, sensing something, clumped together and stared around.
George whispered, “How can this be! I thought I’d been everywhere in the College. Ahh… I mean everywhere I wouldn’t get demerits for.”
The unnamed boys were a little braver. Both of them broke away from the huddle and tried opening a few doors, discovering everything was locked. From the others’ yelled encouragement, Tenthé figured out their names were Varsh and Dhal.
“What now?” one of them, probably Varsh, asked.
Roger responded, “Let’s try some more doors. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Even he was getting into the swing of things.
This was taking too long. Tenthé walked over and pushed on the nearest door. It slammed open, with little pieces of the lock flying everywhere.
“There aren’t any spells. Come on,” he directed as he entered the room that had been revealed.
The boys looked at each other. Although they weren’t used to casual vandalism, the door was open now, and it was Tenthé who’d done it, so it wasn’t their fault. Consciences clear, everyone piled after Tenthé.The classroom they found themselves in was more trashed than the hallway. Desks were pushed to the side and stacked on top of each other. Gouges and gashes marred the walls and floor. On the other hand, the blackboards were intact, and even now displayed a lesson.
“Hey, look,” Dhal announced, yelling for no good reason. “That’s Gaden’s theorem! Except… it’s wrong!”
Everyone looked, including Tenthé, who had no idea what Dhal was talking about.
“It’s still writing itself!” Dhal yelled. Again, for no good reason.
Sure enough, the glyphs were being refreshed, one very slow stroke at a time. Tenthé examined them and found the remnants of a barely functioning spell.
“That’s kind of cool,” Roger said to no-one in particular.
Just then, a few of the benches moved and a couple of very large spiders emerged.
Instantly, there were spells going everywhere, lots of yelling, additional screams when errant shots struck unintended targets, and people running. Tenthé had to dodge a few students and ward off a weak spell or two.
Eventually, the pandemonium died down. The boys stared at the smears that used to be spiders. Around them, the room was filled with the surprisingly appetizing smell of cooked spider, accompanied by the smoke from a few fires burning in the oddest places. More gouges and holes had been added to the existing collection, and mostly everybody was now sporting small cuts and bruises.
Suddenly, everyone began laughing and thumping each other on their backs, shoulders, and injuries.
Tenthé looked over the celebration. It was good they hadn’t gone anywhere actually dangerous, but even he was infected by the thrill of vanquishing a foe. Interestingly enough, the ever present Guardians didn’t appear to mind what they were doing.
Since there were no serious injuries, they opted for more exploring. Tenthé decided to hang back a bit to avoid any future misdirected spells.
“Did anyone bring any water?” he asked. He knew that after a fight he was always thirsty.
The boys looked at each other. Obviously not. Tenthé pulled a few flasks from a Pocket, and everyone drank.
Roger spoke up, “Maybe next time we’ll be more prepared. I guess the stuff they taught us might be true.” He paused for a moment. “Hey, let’s try it! Who’s taken Combat before? Either here or at home.”
It turned out that they all had, and, as Tenthé watched, Roger did his best to get them into some sort of order. In the end, he didn’t accomplish much, but, at least it was something.
Tenthé also noticed his dorm-mates had gotten over their fear of damaging College property. Each of them was brandishing a club that had recently been the leg of a desk. He had examined each of the boys on the way here, and a few of them could have manifested armor and/or a weapon. Tenthé guessed there was some sort of rule why they didn’t. It didn’t matter, there wasn’t anything dangerous here. Except maybe the other boys, if the spider incident was any indication. Hopefully what Roger was doing would help, at least in that respect.
Once the boys were as ready as they were going to get, they faced Tenthé.
“What now?” Nikolaus asked.
Tenthé was surprised. When had he become the leader?
“Uh, let’s try another room.” When in doubt, state the obvious.
The boys jogged out, with Tenthé following. The next door opened when Roger applied his boot. He and Dhal then positioned themselves, one on each side of the door. Roger took a quick look through the doorway before dashing in with Dahl right behind.
Immediately there was a crash followed by the sounds of clubs hitting something and, of course, yelling.
After a moment, it went quiet and Roger peeked out. “Oops,” he said.
Everyone filed in.
“Thought it was a spectre,” Roger explained, indicating the remains of an anatomy model.
Their training forgotten, the boys scattered to look around. The room was filled with clay pots containing desiccated plants. Almost immediately, a scream echoed out and George ran back, holding one very red hand in the other.
Through tears, he yelled, “Don’t touch anything! Some of the plants are still bad!”
Nikolaus poured water from his flask on George’s hands. The relief was immediate, but when the runoff hit the floor, the wood discolored and began to smoke.
“Well then, maybe it’s a good idea to leave all this and try another room,” Roger suggested.
They went through a few more semi-ruined rooms. The only useful find was a pile of small kettles and stirring tools, which the boys appropriated. They said the College made them pay when they wrecked the equipment in Alchemy. Tenthé got the impression that happened a lot.
By now, it was close to dinnertime, and enthusiasm was waning. Everyone grouped together in the hallway. Tenthé pointed at an innocuous door.
“That’s way goes to the main hallways. Why don’t we head back?”
This suggestion received unanimous approval. Once they’d readied themselves, Roger opened the door, revealing a set of stairs going up. The boys filed in and climbed, finding the stairway to be much longer than expected. Finally, they reached a landing with a door.
“Any idea where we are?” Roger asked.
Tenthé could have told them, but there was no real need. Roger cracked the door open and peered out.
“Just a normal hallway,” he whispered.
After exiting, everyone bunched together again. A passing student took one look, then sped up and hurried past.
Roger looked them over.
“Hmm, we are fairly filthy and the desk legs and pots are somewhat out of place.”
“What have we here?”
Everybody spun around to find the Envoy looking at them with disdain.
Immediately, Roger and Dahl brandished their makeshift clubs, while the rest fell back, shielding Tenthé.
Who was impressed. The boys really had learned something.
The Envoy smiled, “Not bad. First time you people have shown some sense. Now don’t be stupid. I’m only here to gather Tenthé for some…” and she stepped right into a sticky trap that Tenthé had quietly cast.
She yowled and hissed, flailing about as she tried to free herself.
The boys watched, unsure of what to do. When it became obvious she was truly stuck, they looked at Tenthé. He shrugged.
“Maybe, um, leave the clubs there,” he waved toward the stairwell. “Get back to your rooms and clean up. I guess I’ll have to deal with her.”
“You sure?” Roger asked.
“Yeah.”
Reluctantly, the boys complied. The clubs were thrown into the stairway, and the alchemy equipment disappeared into various pockets and cloaks, creating odd bulges, but less obvious than before. There wasn’t much they could do about the dirt. The boys headed down the hallway. They’d figure out where they were pretty quickly.
Once everyone left, Tenthé stood beside the Envoy. Every time she gathered her magic, Tenthé ate it. The loss didn’t appear to affect her as badly as it did most, other than causing frustration since she couldn’t muster any kind of offense.
Eventually, she calmed down, and the two stared at each other until she broke the silence. “Okay, you win. Let me out.”
Instead, Tenthé held out his hand and called up a teeny tiny bit of fire. The Guardians clustered close, watching tensely. This was what he hadn’t wanted to show in Testing; one of the capabilities that he was sure set him apart.
The Envoy stared as a sizzling drop of sullen red hate manifested in the palm of his hand. It was so hot that the air warped when Tenthé rolled it around his hand. After a few seconds, he banished it, exhibiting no ill effects.
The Envoy appeared stunned, her mouth open, showing teeth. Not in a growl, but because she was panting. Tenthé dismissed the trap and walked past her. She made no attempt to follow.
“I see you remembered,” Bear’s voice sounded in his head.
“Um, yeah. The Trachteur have a thing about fire.”
Bear chuckled, “Right, a thing. What you showed her was to fire the same way that a dragon is to a kitten. Good job!”
“Think she’ll tell someone?”
“Don’t know. Whatever.”
Tenthé left the Envoy behind, returned to the dorm, cleaned up, then joined the boys in the small dining room. Everyone was laughing over the day’s events. No-one asked what happened after they’d left Tenthé behind. Obviously, he had to have some kind of guardian spirit watching over him to get away unscathed.
Halfway through the meal, Elishua and the Envoy appeared and sat at a table off to the side, talking quietly amongst themselves and making no attempt to intrude.