Tomas looked over the assembly that made up the College Council. It consisted of the senior Magisters and a few others he’d handpicked to bring some order. At the moment they were “discussing” Tenthé.
Madam Destine was on a rant. “I have no doubt that he is a plant from the Horde, or Sky City, or the secret Society of Diviners, and is trained to torture, slaughter, and kill! Right now, while we’re distracted, he’s subverting our defenses and plotting to murder us all! Just let me squish him, like the bug he is. It’s so obvious! Give me the word, and he’s gone! What? No-one? You’re all spineless offspring of a dung beetle and a hell-bound Devil Snake.”
As she paused for a breath, a quiet voice asked, “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. Are we all the result of one mating, or did this unlikely pair get busy several times, because, as you can see, we vary markedly in age.”
This came from Magister Ignatius Graf, who taught Tactics.
Thomas used the wards to transfer Madam Destine to her cool-down room. The booms and crashes that followed sounded faintly in the background.
“Ahem, yes… Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I would like to go through what we know, what we suspect, and how we are going to handle this situation. Nurse Practitioner Packle, if you will?”
The NP who had attended Tenthé stood up. She was as level-headed as Mme. Destine was not.
“I performed a thorough physical examination when he came in. In addition to the laceration on the back of his head, he has quite an array of other scars and injuries.
“Here is my summary. Thirty-seven bite scars from twenty-four different beasts. Eight puncture wounds, twenty-six slices, and fifty-three indeterminate scars. For the most part, his injuries have gone through various levels of magical healing, the rest have healed naturally. He has had a general heal more than once. I estimate five separate occasions. These have masked even more scars, making the total difficult to assess. This leads me to suspect that what we do see are a minor subset of the actual number.
“Before Magister Tomas’ monitoring stopped responding, it reported a considerable amount of internal trauma. I will not list everything, but most of his bones have been broken at least once.”
She paused, took a breath, then continued, “These injuries do not appear to result from abuse. They are very similar to those received by soldiers on the battlefield, but much more numerous. He would have had to be in battle almost every day of his life for this level of injury. Oh, yes, when we removed his cloak we found a number of tiny knives, strapped to his legs and arms, and more in his pockets. They were definitely sharp. Very sharp, and not for show. Not at all.
“His age is indeterminate, nine to twelve years old, and in spite of the damage we noted, he is in quite good shape. Much like peasant children who have a hard life along with an adequate but unexceptional diet. He does not look particularly imposing, but Tomas’ observations are that he is strong and quick.
“There is also a mark, or tattoo, on his left forearm. It is similar to those of the priests of the Turtle God, but not a variant we have been able to identify.
“He was dirty when he came in, but most of it seemed to be relatively fresh. He did have a more ground-in base; the sort acquired when baths are only taken occasionally. This is typical for vagrants who frequent the Mission; they receive a voucher for the public baths once a week.
“He has some method to cancel magic. We tried everything we could think of to negate this ability, with no success. Obviously, it operates when he is unconscious. No-one has ever heard of anything like this, beyond a few extremely expensive amulets.
“When he woke, I attempted a spell. He flinched as it was cast and then negated part of it that was supposed to make him sleep. My hypothesis is that he has some way to sense spells, whether by vision, or some other manner. I don’t know. He must also be able to do some level of analysis, since he allowed parts of my spell to work, or he is a consummate actor.
“He used no offensive spells while I attended him. Perhaps when he dropped Mme. Destine, although that appeared to be an aggressive use of his magic negating spell. When she recovered, she had no power at all and it took a few hours for her to recover. She did not take it well.”
The audience chuckled at this.
“I examined his cloak and possessions. He had several stones, twists of ribbon and twigs, and a bit of food, but nothing terribly strange or exceptional to explain his abilities. Oh, he also had the remains of a stuffed toy. It was very old and in rough shape. It may be something. I felt a hint of strangeness about it.
“I think that’s it for my observations. Magister Tomas has more information concerning our subject and the Mission.”
She sat.
Tomas remained quiet for a moment as he processed the NP’s report. It was quite likely her matter-of-fact presentation masked how she actually felt while in the boy’s presence. He would discuss it with her later, after the meeting.
“Thank you. That was extremely interesting,” he said.
People were talking amongst themselves, so Tomas raised his voice. “Alright people, let’s hear the rest of the reports and then open up the matter for discussion.”
After the room quieted, he continued, “I’ll go next. There is a great deal which I have documented and sent to everyone. To save time, let me summarize.
“I found the boy when my carriage ran into him. In retrospect, I suspect he inadvertently negated the avoidance spell which permitted him to walk into the lead horse. He was knocked to the ground and struck his head on the pavement. I cast healing spells, to no effect. When I touched him, I was introduced to his magic cancelling ability. At that point, I directed my non-magical driver to pick him up, and I drove us here.
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“When we arrived, I noted a diminishing of the wards that came into contact with the boy.” This started a muttering in the audience.
“I re-arranged things to keep them off him, and the reduction ceased.”
Tomas paused to order his thoughts, then went on.
“I observed while the staff, Mme. Destine, and the Envoy, worked to develop a method to treat him. Although their final approach was unorthodox, to say the least, they did find a suitable treatment without the direct use of magic. I feel we have been arrogant; underestimating non-magical methods, such as those used by the Trachteur. I will be assigning a committee to expand our understanding.
“I checked on the boy periodically and was there when he woke. That was when things… got out of control.”
“As I review events, I admit that we may have made a mistake in allowing Mme. Destine to attend, but she had been relatively good up to that point. She isn’t talking… well, not exactly. She isn’t saying anything helpful. I suspect she cast some inappropriate spell, and the boy negated it. She took offense at this and then tried something even stronger. That was when he drained her of magic. It happened instantaneously. She collapsed from the sudden loss.”
“Our internal monitoring of the situation is spotty. I can only speculate that the boy’s ability interfered in some way. In any case, we attempted to stop him, and were partially successful until he took an opportunity to climb into the ductwork.
“Immediately, I called up the building plans and this particular vent system does not appear to exist. I’m not sure why, and will look into the matter when I have time. Maybe there are other details missing, or maybe the boy… well, speculation is not salient at this time.
“I tracked his path by following his effect on the wards and guessed that he would exit the ducts in the library. Which turned out to be accurate. At no point did I direct the wards to attack, since my suspicion was, and still is, that this whole situation is simply a confluence of bad luck and poor decisions.
“This also appears to be supported by subsequent events. In the library, the boy and I finally had a chance to talk. He is surprisingly cagey for someone as young as he appears to be, but I think he presents us with an opportunity and we should entice him into attending the College. He is an unknown, and… it may be that he is connected to our Dreamer problem.
“That’s it. Before you swamp me with questions, read over the details in the notes I have distributed.”
Tomas paused, listening to the rustle of parchment as the crowd looked through the documents. Extensive experience had taught him that no-one would have done so until he made reference to them.
After a moment, he continued, “One viewpoint we have not heard is that of Sergeant Finleon of the Guardians, who was present when the boy awakened and is familiar with combat operations. I asked him to attend tonight. If you will, Sergeant?”
The man in question stood, holding himself erect. He stared ahead as he spoke.
“I had no indication of problems as a group of us entered the infirmary. There was myself, the Magister,” he nodded to Tomas, “Mme. Destine, the Envoy, NP Packle, and three interns. Mme. Destine did some yelling and then dropped. I can say that what affected her was not a typical offensive spell. There was no surge of magic, or really any warning at all. She just collapsed.”
He fidgeted a bit, obviously uncomfortable, then continued, “I do not want to admit it, but I had no idea we were in a danger situation. The boy showed none of the proper indications.”
The sergeant paused, then regained his stoic demeanor.
“When it dawned on me that something was taking place, I pulled my sword, intending to confront the boy, but Magister Tomas took control. It appears to have been the correct course, but at the time I was ready to resort to a more direct approach.”
He stopped, then sat abruptly.
Silence ruled until Tomas realized the Sergeant was done, then he injected, “Um, okay. Thank you, Sergeant. Tell me, do you suspect that the boy is more than he seems?”
The Sergeant stood again.
“He reacted to an attack and is damnably quick, but, no, I don’t think he is an immediate threat. He didn’t use any fighting styles at all. Well, not exactly; he stayed calm, watched out, and took off when he could. He’s been in the crapper before. I would say that he’s not a spy like Destine suggested, and not a soldier, but he is… something.”
Magister Graf spoke up, “Do you suspect he poses a danger?”
“I dunno. The non-human members of the Guardians seem to recognize him, but I’ve not had a chance to follow up. I will say that the kid’s pretty sneaky, if you get my meaning, and might have depths we don’t know about. He didn’t do anything except what we reported, but from what the nurse told us, he’s had a lot of holes put in him and is still around.
“Now that I think about it, I take back what I said. He could probably do something else, so… maybe? His is very interesting, I would recommend that see how he fares in a combat class.”
While everyone mulled that over, Tomas added, “I had a long talk with him, and whatever he is, he’s doing the best impression of a ten-year-old I could ever imagine. When I took him for a snack, he ate as if he had never seen food before. I wasn’t sure a human being could hold that much. And he talked about the Mission like he’d been there.
“I sent some people to check it out, and no-one admitted to seeing him or knowing him at all. This doesn’t match up with what he said. It’s as if someone cast a spell to hide everything he did, but if so, then it is a new one on me. There weren’t any traces we could find to indicate anything like that. It may be a side effect of his magic nulling ability. I don’t know.
“And this brings up the main topic. I’ve proposed that we bring him in as a student. It will allow us to watch him, and who knows, maybe he’ll learn something.”
Magister Weddig, the head of Admissions, spoke up, “Do you have any idea what schooling he’s had? If he’s lived the rough life, he isn’t going to fit in here well. I realize we’re supposed to teach anyone who has a hint of magic, but over the years we have drifted to mostly the established families. There will probably be incidents.”
Tomas pondered over what she’d said. The City Proper was a decent place to live, but there was definitely a class structure, and the College was expensive to run. Although there were a few charity cases admitted each year, they always ended up in thrall to the more affluent students. It was a good system; upon graduation, the poor student would be slotted into an existing network, and that family would gain a valuable magic user. Of course, the College would be generously reimbursed for their trouble.
This was just how things were, and as the Headmaster, he felt no desire to change a process that had worked for generations.
Unfortunately, Magister Weddig had also brought up a good point. Tenthé wouldn’t mix well with the other students. Though, if he was the one sent by the God of Subtlety, then he needed to be kept close.
Tomas was sure he could handle any issues that came up.
After some thought, he ventured, “Here is what I propose. First thing, we’ll send him to Testing and see what we have, then set him up with the appropriate classes. And, as the Sergeant suggested, it is important for our assessment that he take combat. One of my tasks will be to configure the wards and have the Guardians monitor him closely and intervene at the slightest sign of trouble. In addition, I will find someone to become his friend and use that to help keep track of anything we may have overlooked.”
The meeting went on to finalize their approach, then moved on to normal business. At the conclusion, everyone filed out, content that they had everything under control.