by Sever Bronny
Augum smiled to himself at the small insight and nudged Leera. “Bridge is having quite the time with Ollie,” he whispered, only to receive a small groan, her head nuzzling deeper into his neck. “You snoozing, love?”
Her hands dug deeper into his robe. “Mmm.” And sure enough, her breathing soon slowed.
Bridget spotted him and Leera. She said something to Olaf, excused herself, and made her way over, climbing up to sit across from Augum.
“Someone’s happy,” Bridget whispered.
“I’m not the only one,” Augum whispered back. “Your cheeks are aglow like fire, and it’s not from the ale.”
She glanced at Olaf, who was speaking with an animated Devon. “He has a good heart.”
“That’s ’cause he’s a good egg.”
Bridget smiled and nodded at Leera. “I’ve always admired how she can fall asleep anywhere. Come to think of it, she mostly snoozes peacefully around you. Telling, isn’t it?”
Augum smiled wryly. “What are you saying, Lady Burns?”
“Nothing you don’t already know, Lord Stone.”
Augum gently adjusted Leera’s position, and she entwined herself closer. “Lots coming up, including the Royal Armory quest—thankfully we now have The Grizzly on board.”
“And we need to let them help us.”
“What do you mean?”
“We don’t have to do everything ourselves.”
“That’s … rather cryptic of you.”
Bridget raised an apologetic hand. “Fair enough. First, we won’t have a moment to spare on the armory plan as we’ll need to totally focus on the course. Second, well, I think it would be a great thing for The Grizzly and Jez to do together, you know what I mean?”
“Gods, they’re that far along? Leera’s going to flip.”
Bridget shrugged and smiled. “Don’t you think they deserve a chance?”
Augum thought about it and reluctantly nodded.
Her face grew serious as she idly brushed the top of her lip in thought.
“Copper for your thoughts?”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on the Arcaner course, and I think I have a plan.”
“Oh?”
“Brace yourself, because it might sound a bit …”
“A bit what?”
“Drastic?”
Augum’s eyebrows rose.
“Just promise to hear me out.”
“Bridget Abigail Burns with a plan she calls drastic? I’m bristling with curiosity.”
She gave him a meaningful look.
“Oh, right—I promise to hear you out and not interrupt you like I often do.”
“Good, because the plan results from everything I’ve learned so far from all sources, including everyone’s research along with my Centarric observations from Archives. And you’ll see why we won’t have a moment to spare for the armory quest.” She brought her hands together. “So you know how we tentatively planned on resurrecting the course before we figured out a way to skip right to the end?”
“Yeah …” It was the best plan they had come up with thus far.
“Well, I believe we’d fail if we did that.”
Augum’s spirits dimmed. “Yeah, I could see that happening. Becoming an Arcaner is not about taking shortcuts or cheating.”
“Which means we’d have to do everything the course demanded. Except, after putting all the clues together, I realized the full course at our degree is actually two full terms, not one like we thought.”
“What? Two whole terms? But we only have a tenday. It would have already been super difficult at one term. Now it’s just impossible.”
“If we did both terms, it would get us to dragoon rank, minding we pass both the first term and second term exams—if there’s even an exam at the end of the first term, I can’t be sure. And then we should theoretically be given the task to not only uphold the chivalric code of honor, but to keep safe the Heart of the Colossus, whatever that is. And the latter is only if King Samuel is right, because none of us found anything about it in our research.”
“All right …” Augum replied. “But that’s a big if.”
“Here’s the thing. I’ve done the arithmetic on how many hours total it would take to complete both terms—”
“In a tenday—?”
“Precisely one hundred and four hours total,” Bridget blurted. “And you promised you’d hear me out and not interrupt.”
“Sorry, you’re right. Please go on.”
“That’s fifty-two hours—or five months—per term, which is ten months of schooling at the requisite two terms. If we factor in six quints per month at two class hours per quint, with the final month only being a third of a month because of exams and time off, and you multiply that by two for two terms, it adds up to exactly one hundred and four hours.”
Augum gawked at her incredulously.
Bridget leaned forward. “You believe in this dragon thing or not?”
Augum realized she was also asking if he believed in her. “I do.”
“One hundred and four hours at around ten hours per day of solid study and work and in-class training is a tenday.”
“Wait, slow down. How? Start from the beginning. Please.”
“I put this all together after a lot of thought. Well, and some careful estimation. Anyway, remember how I said something about there being no teachers passing on Arcaner knowledge because they didn’t exist? That they were ghosts? Well that’s because I believe the course is taken with those Arcaner legends we met. That’s how it all works. The entire thing is conducted in that round Arcaner room. And those Arcaner legends don’t get tired or take time off. They’re practically independent ghosts. Sort of. Look at me. We can do this, Aug. We’ve worked this hard before with Mrs. Stone. We can do this.”
He studied her while the plan rolled about in his brain. “You’re not telling me something.”
“There’s a complication. Three, actually.”
“You think? Darby’s going to have a fit.”
“Oh, yeah, there’s that too. We still have to attend class, and if we don’t, since he can’t strike out at us—”
“—he’ll strike out at those closest to us.” Augum sighed as he subconsciously squeezed Leera. That’s how a coward would react.
“But it’ll only be tough for the first quint, which is only a review quint anyway. The cram quint comes next, which means—”
“—no classes, right? But that first quint will be hell.”
“Yes, it’ll be tough, and that’s the first complication—squeezing it all in without going insane. So I did some preliminary planning. Our regular classes are seven hours including lunch, and then we spend another eight to ten doing back-to-back classes with Arcaners, which will put us up to seventeen hours in school a day, leaving around seven to eat and sleep. But during cram quint and the two study days we’ll just do Arcaner stuff for around twelve to fourteen hours a day.” She rubbed her face. “Which gets us to a hundred and four hours by tendays’ end, barring we don’t die from exhaustion or some calamity doesn’t prevent us from studying.”
Augum gaped at her. Could this actually work? “And the second complication?”
“We might also have to practice what we’ve learned after hours.”
“It’s a good thing I wasn’t sipping ale or I would have spit it out.”
“I know it sounds crazy impossible—”
Augum flashed her a Leera-style Obviously look.
“—but since a lot of the course should be physical, we might get away with minimal training outside of class, if any. This isn’t a theoretical course—it’s all practical stuff conducted in class.”
“I never thought, of all people, you would be the one to push for something so … ridiculously difficult.”
She waited patiently for him to consider the idea.
Yet he had to admit, the more he thought about it, the more he loved her plan. And she had been concocting it this entire time! �
��All right, you ingenious schemer, what’s the third complication?”
“The scroll from Archives. We still have to comprehend what it meant to me.”
“I … I’ve run out of sarcastic things to say.”
She gave him a bittersweet smile. “What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Augum ran a hand through his hair, careful not to wake Leera. “I think this is one of the most brilliant things you’ve ever come up with.”
Bridget’s cheeks flushed with pride.
“And yes, it’s insanely brilliant, but it sounds insanely difficult too.”
“As insanely difficult as becoming Arcaners and learning how to summon dragons?”
Augum almost snorted. “That’s a fair point, Lady Burns. A very fair point indeed.”
“Look, I made a connection when I cast Centarro. I made a connection studying the notes, the history. And it’s all coming into focus, as if I’m waking from a dream—especially after we spoke with that lunatic, King Samuel. Yes, he’s looking for this Heart of the Colossus, and no one knows what it means, but I think he’ll find it one way or another, I do. But if we find it—and I truly believe we can—then we can save …” But she didn’t go on.
“You don’t want to say the number aloud. Neither do I. It would make it real.” A quarter million Solian lives.
“That’s the thing. He wasn’t bluffing. He’s a true fanatic, beyond The Path Disciple kind. But he needs the Heart of the Colossus and wants it badly enough to trade all those lives for it.” She took a deep breath. “We can do it, but we’ll need help. The others will need to keep researching Arcaner, Canterran and Rivican history. And while they do, we study like we’ve never studied before. We work, we cram, we quiz and test each other, the works. We utilize everything we’ve ever learned about learning. We use Centarro for key breakthroughs. We put it all together. And we earn the right to discover what the Heart of the Colossus is and use it to save half the damn kingdom.”
Augum gaped at her. “Lady Burns, you make a compelling case. And Unnameables help me, I know you’re serious when you curse. You never curse.”
She slapped her knees. “Two terms, one hundred four hours—”
“—squeezed into a tenday. Plus the practice time outside of it.”
Bridget bit her lip and nodded.
Augum kept shaking his head while gently holding Leera close. “Insane. Absolutely insane. But so damn brilliant too. What about everything else? Our exams?”
“We petition for a deferment due to exigent circumstances. It’s in the academy rules. They’ll understand. Besides, what’s the point of exams if we don’t have a kingdom?”
“And the money I owe the cursed Von Edgeworths?”
“We’ve got enough to survive for a few days now. We task the others with figuring out the rest. Alyssa. Jez. Cry’s father. Patriotic nobles. The Grizzly, if we have to.” Bridget extended her hand toward him. “Augum, I’ve been mulling this over and over since casting Centarro. We can do this. We can do this, Brother.”
Augum glanced between her open hand and her earnest face. “And here I’d been thinking it’s Brandon who’d been occupying your thoughts.”
She shrugged. “He has been too, but that’s over with now. This is what matters.”
Augum looked deep into her hazel eyes and saw the conviction, the boldness, the bravery. “Now this is a dare.” He slapped his palm into hers. “Let’s do it, Sister.”
They shook, smiling and staring at each other proudly.
The Riddle of the Archives Scroll
Augum changed into his spare garments and shared Bridget’s brilliant plan with Leera before the trio joined their friends for a quick breakfast at the inn. They caught up on the day’s news in the heralds and filled Jez and the others in on the new course plan, before allowing Jez to teleport them and the other—mostly hungover—students to the academy. Haylee and Isaac were in the worst shape, instantly vomiting onto the Steps of the Crescent Moon from the dizzying sensation of teleporting. Although Jez looked on with folded arms and a sour expression, she said nothing, perhaps knowing a womanhood ceremony had its sacrifices.
“Two terms in a tenday,” Jez said to the trio as the others stood around like zombies, eyes puffy and hair askew. “Well, that’s about as realistic as stuffing a house into a pickle jar. But you’ve proven how incredible you can be when you put your minds together, so who am I to judge? Anyway, Abe and I—”
But she was interrupted by Leera, who spastically coughed as if something had flown down her gullet.
“Have something to say, Jones?”
Leera thumped her chest as she tried to recover. “You’re … you’re on a first-name basis?”
“What the hell do you expect? Former Lord High Commander Brewerson?”
“No … I mean … I—”
“Deal with it, Jones. Anyway, as I was saying, Abe and I will be putting our heads together regarding that plan of yours. Stone, you all right if we go ahead and implement it?”
“Er, I thought—”
“Stone, I’m a 17th degree warlock and Abe is 18th. Look at my face. Is there any part of it that screams incompetence?”
Augum opened his mouth to reply but thought better of it.
“Good, someone values their hide. Look, kiddos, the adults have to have a little fun too now and then. We’ll keep you in the loop—if we feel like it. In the meantime, keep your heads down, noses to the grindstone, that kind of thing.”
Leera said nothing as her shoulders sagged in resignation.
Augum withdrew the map to the coal tunnel from his satchel. “Guess you’ll probably be needing this—”
“Of course we will—” Jez snatched it from his hands and put it away in a dignified manner. Then she straightened and smoothed her turquoise robe. “Though I must say, it’d be fun to become an Arcaner at my age and tag along with you delinquents. How would that feel?”
Augum’s chest swelled with hope as the girls brightened.
“Oh, for—you’re supposed to throw me those revolted teenage looks and eye rolls you monkeys are so good at. Sorry, but I have zero interest in becoming a goody-goody Arcaner.” The trio deflated. “Good luck, you little fiends, and watch out for the bad guys. Now I’ve got to spend all day earning crowns.” She sighed. “I’ll console myself later with a glass of wine and a visit to a certain handsome, manly, bearded—”
“Good luck already, Jez,” Leera said, rolling her eyes.
“There’s that teenage lameness I was looking for,” and she teleported off.
“Gods I hate myself this morning,” Haylee blubbered as she and Isaac helped each other up the steps.
“Welcome to womanhood,” Leera muttered.
“Men hate themselves too,” Augum said.
“Yeah but we’re better at it.”
“How do you even know that?” and the pair bantered on about the point as they lined up to pay their dues. That morning they had two electives, one of which, Runes, Augum shared with the girls.
“Be careful, we don’t know what Darby might have up his sleeve,” Augum whispered, keeping an eye out.
“And don’t exert yourselves,” Bridget added. “We’ve got six hours of classes, only one hour for lunch, and then ten more hours of study. And we still have to figure out when and how to eat while we study.”
“Don’t remind me,” Leera said.
“You all know the plan, right?” Bridget asked the others, all of whom looked blearily back. Even Jengo rubbed his eyes.
“Continue studying Rivican and Arcaner history,” Laudine replied.
“And research the Heart of the Colossus,” Jengo chimed in. “See if anything comes up.”
“Which means time in the library,” Caireen added, hovering close to Isaac.
“And borrowing lots of books to read in class,” Isaac concluded. Despite his hangover, he had a small victorious grin on his face. Augum suspected the first kiss had happened between him and Caireen.
Bridget nodded. “Precisely.”
They paid their crown-per-degree dues from the money Alyssa had acquired, had their names checked off by bored Path Disciples, entered the historic Lecture Wing, and strode down the Hall of Rapture, before separating to go to their electives.
Augum had Military Strategy with The Grizzly, which he was very much looking forward to. The Grizzly, looking refreshed and sounding upbeat, wasted no time detailing arcane fortress defense. Augum thought the man was surely referring to the coming defense of the academy. The other students had no clue, taking notes with glum faces. Augum was riveted, spirits bolstered by the thought that The Grizzly was preparing for a showdown. And who knew structural arcane defense could be so complicated and fascinating!
A white-robed Brandon played the part of the dutiful Path Disciple during class, pretending to watch for infractions and occasionally scowling at Augum to signal to the Canterrans they were still enemies.
Augum took extensive notes, searching for any secret signs or messages from The Grizzly, but there were none. That might have been because the man now had no less than six overseers watching him. As the former Lord High Commander, the Canterrans knew he posed the greatest threat within the academy.
Before Augum knew it, the class was over. The Grizzly had spent the entire two hours on that single subject, and he had barely glanced at Augum.
Runes class with Chappie Fungal was different. The beer-bellied man was as jovial as ever, perhaps enlivened by the previous evening’s womanhood ceremony, which was the talk of the class, if not the academy. After hearing about it, Katrina became incensed that the trio had gotten around her decree, while her friend Elizabeth, sitting apart from Katrina as they’d had a tiff over who knew what, grumbled that she had not received an invitation. As for Carp, he loudly complained that the trio were getting preferential treatment from the overseers and had been getting away with paying fines instead of being put to work in the pits. To Augum, it meant word had spread they were up to something, which only put a bigger target on their backs.
The trio sat with their friends in the back, quietly strategizing and trying not to draw the attention of cranky Path Disciple Jessop, whom Augum had dubbed Pointy Chin a while back. Caireen, Laudine, Bridget and Leera sat in the back row, while Augum and Isaac sat in front of them. This way there was a bit of separation yet they could still hear each other’s whispers.