Tarry Bennett
The day had been proceeding as usual. After his address, and after the exam-takers entered their rooms, he made small talk with others in the crowd. He shook a few hands, mingled with some of the parents, and listened to their desires for their children’s future.
“Pleasure to meet you, Mayor Bennett. Elias Briggs.” Eli walked up and introduced himself, a small smirk dancing on his face. He had located Tarry during a lull in the crowd.
“Please, call me Tarry. I’m so happy that I could endorse your, uh, son was it?”
“My nephew. Sad story, he was orphaned at a very young age. I’ve provided him the best I could through the years, but he just deserves this opportunity. He’s worked so hard.”
Tarry almost couldn’t hold back an eye roll at Eli’s fake, sickly-sweet simpering tone. It was unbecoming on him.
They stood in the atrium of the auditorium. The Grandmasters milled about nearby with a small group of eager parents and guardians circling about them. No one gave the two of them any unwanted attention or suspicion.
“So, how do you think he’s going to do?” Tarry asked in a low voice when he was sure they weren’t being eavesdropped on.
“I have faith in the kid. I think he can go the distance,” Eli said with a shrug and a slightly coy smile that Tarry wasn’t sure he liked.
“You seem confident, but it’s largely up to chance, at least for the magical component,” Tarry insisted, hoping there would be some elaboration.
Eli looked at him in a way that suggested he was appraising Tarry, thinking carefully about his next answer. Alzira’s words still echoed in his mind from the night before, and he wasn’t certain exactly where he stood with Eli on this issue. That concerned him more than Eli’s non-committal actions and lack of serious response. It was the fact that he felt Eli was not just concealing information for Tarry’s political safety, but that he was playing Tarry. And that bothered him, on more than just a professional level.
He squashed down those feelings, trying not to dwell on it. No matter how far their partnership went back, Alzira’s warning had been fair.
Eli nodded at something behind Tarry, breaking him out of his thoughts. “What do you suppose those are for?”
Tarry spun around. He watched as several apprentices, Labourers based on their green school blazers, carried out brick gates in pairs. They arranged them in the atrium until there were twenty in total. Abigail led out several more apprentices, this time her own Conductors, who were wearing black. They each lined up with a gate and opened up a tunnel without much fanfare.
Tarry frowned. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen this before on test day…” he trailed off. Looking around he noticed Alzira was unoccupied and made his way over to her.
Eli strolled a casual distance behind him, maintaining a politely inquisitive look on his face.
“Grandmaster. Would you indulge my curiosity about the gates that are being set up?” he inquired neutrally.
She gave a knowing smile. “Ah, ah, Mr. Mayor. You know better than to ask for our secrets of the aptitude test. But if you must know, they’ll play a role in the magical sensitivity test.”
He cocked his head, frowning. “I wasn’t aware there would be major changes this year…,” Tarry was cut off by a harsh rumble in the distance, “What was that?!”
Alzira looked entirely unconcerned. “Looks like it’s just about starting.”
He whipped towards the other Grandmasters who were equally unconcerned. However, some of the parents cried out in alarm. A few apprentice Controllers emerged and stood near the edge of the crowd, providing a watchful eye.
“No need to panic,” Franklin took the stage once more, “The second part of the aptitude test is now underway. Everything is one hundred percent within our control.”
It seemed to appease the crowd, but there was still a nervous energy in the room. As Franklin exited the stage, Tarry marched over to him, willing himself to walk with poise and remain as unruffled as possible. Alzira followed him while the other Grandmasters went on an intercept course. Eli sauntered behind, taking up the rear from a respectful, but still audible distance.
They met just behind the stage. “What was that?” Tarry hissed.
“We knew that we needed a shake-up from previous years’ tests. With the concerns regarding tunnels, we figured we needed to test for emergency readiness. There’s a proctor with each group, feigning an injury and maintaining an eye on the group. There’s also a few planted, fake exam-takers in each room to help assess the response to the situation,” Franklin explained proudly.
“You’re mad,” Tarry said in a hushed voice, recoiling in shock, “In what world would you even think this is an acceptable testing method? Particularly with the current events. Parents are going to be furious. We’ll all be sued! We could lose our jobs!”
“Everyone writing the test has signed strict non-disclosure agreements with specific clauses. Participants have never been permitted to share test methods openly. And not to mention there will be no injuries, the proctors are there to shut it all down in case anybody needs immediate assistance or if there’s real crowd problems,” Oleg described casually.
Tarry recoiled. Of all the things to agree on, it was this farce. He looked at Alzira, who did have the humility to look uncomfortable. “Dare I ask, how did you manage to set this all up? On Occaigh soil, right under my nose, no less!”
Abigail chimed in. “Well, it took a lot of effort and trial and error, but we rigged each exam room and lined the four walls with a temporary space-time fabric. It cleverly simulates the visual appearance of a cave-in, and they all think they’re underground right now. But in reality, nothing about the position of the room has changed. We used sound effects for realism, and the visual stimuli of abrupt lighting changes plus the activation of the fabric caused a visual vibration effect. All this to say, they have to get out within thirty minutes. To actually have the ability to exit the room is the test for magical aptitude because only students with sensitivity can actually find and use the means to escape. There are hints around the room of course. But, possibly more importantly, it’s designed to test the ability to act under pressure.”
Tarry’s mouth dropped open. “So they think they’re in mortal danger and that they have no means of escape?"
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Yes, brilliant, isn’t it? I came up with it myself,” Franklin boasted, “You see, the original door is obscured by the temporary space-time fabric, so they can't find it. However, a tunnel is hidden somewhere in the room, but with a difficult enough access point that they truly need to sense what they’re looking for. Differing levels of sensitivity may come into play, so we won’t entirely exclude people who don’t make it out, but the tunnel will block people if they can’t detect it correctly.”
Oleg rolled his eyes behind his back. “We helped, you pompous bastard,” he muttered, but Franklin ignored him.
Tarry shook his head, eyes wide in horror. “You’re… That’s completely immoral.”
“It’s genius,” Eli said in a hushed voice. He had made his way to the group silently.
Tarry looked at him incredulously, not caring who was around to notice. Eli gave a small shrug as if to say “what?”.
“See, at least one of your constituents understands, Tarry,” Abigail said with a shrug, “It’s all perfectly safe Tarry. We came up with it together, we will deal with the consequences together.”
“Bullshit,” Tarry hissed, “You can’t do anything together willingly. Why would you start with something this colossally stupid? Shut it down, now. Shut it all down while we can still strategize a response.” Tarry was beyond caring what anybody thought of him.
“Tarry, you do not call the shots here,” Oleg said warningly.
“You orchestrated this in the very area I was elected to serve, so you will find I very much have jurisdiction here. I will be responding to the fallout regardless so I am telling you that there better not be a single hair harmed on anyone’s heads.”
For once, they were silent. Alzira looked vaguely embarrassed though the rest were irritated. Tarry shook his head in disgust. “If you won’t take action, I will deal with my side of the backlash independently.”
“You’re more than welcome to act in any way you see fit, but we’re not shutting it down. We need candidates who are qualified to face the hazards and issues of the new world we’re living in,” Abigail said, in a low, dangerous voice.
Tarry recoiled. He opened his mouth to say something else but thought better of it. “Fine. Fine! You’re all on your own then.”
He stormed off. Eli, who had vanished into the crowd during the argument, quickly found Tarry’s side.
“Cool yourself,” he warned in a low voice, keeping stride, “People will think something’s up.”
“Something is up,” Tarry growled, “They’ve lost their goddamn minds.”
“Perhaps, but you’re going to need to keep your wits about you and remain calm. Whether you agree with it or not, it is brilliant. But that’s the point, they’re showing you exactly how brilliant they are, so you need to stop playing into their hands.”
A reaction rose from the crowd and they stopped to look. The first two candidates had emerged from one of the tunnels, a teenage boy and girl. They appeared scared and desperate. As Eli and Tarry moved forward to take a closer look, they were treated to the newly escaped candidates crying out about how everyone in the room was in danger and needed help. The isolated cheers from the crowd just seemed to confuse them. Proctors honed in on them, sweeping them away from the crowd and presumably bringing them somewhere quieter to get their names and explain the situation to them. A few more participants popped out from the other tunnels, with similar reactions.
It made Tarry feel sick to his stomach.
It went on until they were almost at time, and the participants coming through the portals had slowed.
“Come on kid, you can do it,” Eli muttered from beside Tarry. Tarry looked at him, feeling grim. Eli looked deflated as the final minute flashed on the countdown timer. Tarry was about to extend a hand to pat him on the shoulder when there was a mighty CRACK and a blinding flash of light from one of the rooms. Not from the newly formed temporary tunnels, from one of the actual doors to the room. The crowd immediately hushed and Eli perked up hopefully.
The door to one of the rooms had splintered with a mighty force, and there, amongst the wreckage, stood Olly with the rest of his cohort standing behind him, looking frightened.
Olly collapsed into a dead faint, while Eli rushed towards him. Tarry gave chase, with the other Grandmasters immediately dropping what they were doing to similarly hustle towards the commotion.
Though Eli was shorter than Tarry, Tarry could not keep up. He could see that the people closest to the door had crowded around Olly, but Eli was the first to truly reach his side. Nobody seemed brave enough to touch him, seemingly afraid of what he had done to the door. Eli practically dove through the small crowd and threw himself down to kneel beside his nephew. Cradling his limp body, he placed an ear to his chest.
As Tarry reached them, the crowd parting for him and the Grandmasters, he could see the relief etched on Eli's face as he apparently detected a heartbeat. Sure enough, Tarry could see the rise and fall of Olly's chest. "Still think this is brilliant?" Tarry thought to himself but immediately felt guilty about it at the scared look on Eli's face.
"Call for medical attention," Tarry barked in the Grandmasters' direction, and Oleg nodded hurriedly before rushing off.
"Alzira, crowd control is yours, give them space," he instructed gruffly, but slightly gentler.
"You got it," she obliged, calling her apprentices into action to disperse the people who were milling about.
He turned to Abigail and Franklin. Abigail was engrossed in the splintered door while Franklin seemed to struggle to find words, for once.
"His name is Olly Briggs," Tarry ground out the words, trying to keep his temper under control, "I think you'll want that piece of information for your assessment."
Abigail looked up, a piece of splintered wood in her hand, and met his gaze with a smile.
----------------------------------------
Eli looked up from the bed to see Tarry walking into the hospital room. Eli could clearly see the abashed look on Tarry’s face as his eyes flickered back down to Olly, who remained asleep.
“He hasn’t woken up yet?” Tarry inquired in a low voice.
Eli gave Olly’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before leaning back on his chair with a sigh. “Not yet, though they don’t think it’s anything other than exhaustion. He’ll be fine,” Eli explained, trying to sound light.
Tarry flopped down into a chair across the bed, opposite to him.
“I am truly sorry about this. I will undoubtedly need to make a public apology, but I wanted to speak to you personally before that. This was, well, entirely inappropriate doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“I don’t blame you, and I don’t really blame them either. Clearly, they had a plan and it did not include this.” Eli gestured towards Olly’s prone form on the bed.
Tarry was silent for a moment and Eli could see that the grim look on his face went beyond the situation at hand.
“Did you... Did you know about this? His powers, that is.”
Eli bit the inside of his cheek, there was no point in lying. “Yes… I knew there was something different going on, but I didn’t know the full extent.”
Tarry looked disappointed. “Ugh, don’t look at me like that,” Eli tried to deflect with humour, forcing a smile on his face, disingenuine though it was.
Tarry remained unamused. “They could call for my resignation over this. Between the inquest and the aptitude test going totally awry within my own jurisdiction, I can’t afford any more slip-ups. We used to work together. Whatever this is, I could have helped you had you kept me informed.”
Eli felt the smile slide from his face.
Tarry got up to leave. “Well, he certainly has the attention of the Grandmasters now. For better or for worse. I just hope you’re prepared for what comes next.”
Eli felt his lip twitch. “Yeah, me too,” he said, looking away.
Once Tarry reached the doorway he froze before turning around once more. “If there are any further surprises that you could help me avoid next time, please let me know. I’m a lot more helpful when I’m not caught off guard.”
Eli looked down, rubbing his forehead. “Sure thing,” he said in a low voice.
Tarry was already gone by the time he looked back up. Eli wrinkled his nose and propped his steepled hands on his knees, pressing his mouth against them in deep thought.