The Apprentice In The Master’s Shadow

by Ian Gregoire

  “Who would launch an attack against—”

  “Move!” barked Fay, unceremoniously cutting Darrian off mid-sentence. The pair reacted instantly, both heading towards the north entrance then coming to an abrupt halt. Each stared at the other, seemingly trying to decide who should go north and who should go south. “Solen, north; Darrian, south. Go!”

  The two men departed swiftly, running towards their respective destinations, leaving Fay alone with Elsa. The concerned looking Sister, attired in the cream and beige garb that marked her as a Jaymidari of the Sisterhood of the Covens, was staring at Fay expectantly. Fay had neither the time nor the inclination to offer words of reassurance. She quickly looked away to see several dishevelled campus instructors emerging from the staff residential buildings. But there was no sign of Isko. Where was he?

  She returned her focus to Elsa.

  “Fay, what is going on?” asked Elsa in a troubled undertone.

  Keeping her own voice low, Fay replied, “That’s what I intend to find out, just as soon as you can rouse a couple of your Sisters to assist you in binding the Zarantar of our prisoners. They’re all Sanatsai, but not from the Order.” She glanced quickly in the direction of the twenty. “They look like foreigners,” she said, then looked back at Elsa. “And they’re wearing the uniform of an Anzarmenian military brigade.”

  Elsa looked confused as she replied, “What in the world are Anzarmenian soldiers doing here in Mirtana? And why would they attack the campus?”

  “Questions I’ll be putting to them once they’ve been fully subdued.”

  “I will wake up Alina and Daria immediately,” offered Elsa, “then we’ll have that taken care of right away.” The Jaymidari appeared to shudder involuntarily as she, too, glanced quickly at the detainees. “I don’t think I like the way the gruff looking one at the end is staring over here.” She shuffled away towards the residential building for female staff, giving the prisoners a wide berth as she bypassed them.

  Fay watched Elsa depart as a few more bewildered looking instructors began to approach the scene. She turned her attention towards the individual who seemed to have disquieted the Sister, and instinctively she knew him to be the man who had led the raid. As her eyes locked on his she understood Elsa’s unease about him. In ninety-eight years of life she had only seen that look on a handful of occasions. It was the look of a fanatic. There was a time long ago when she could observe that very same look in her own eyes when she saw her reflection in a mirror. Whoever this man was, Fay had no doubt he was a devoted follower, and someone still fully committed to his cause. He and his men hadn’t truly surrendered. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t over yet.

  “The campus came under attack?”

  Tearing her gaze from the presumed leader of the intruders, Fay saw her dishevelled colleague Isko Nardini approaching. He was still adjusting his black and three shades of grey uniform when he stopped beside her, indicating that he’d already turned in for the night and had been forced to get dressed again.

  “So it seems,” she replied soberly.

  “I’m sorry, Fay.” There was an obvious hint of shame in the veteran Sanatsai’s contrite words. “I can’t believe I slept through an attack on the campus.”

  “Your apology is unwarranted. What I need from you is your cool head to take charge of securing the grounds,” replied Fay, getting straight down to business. “I cannot say with any certainty that this attack is over.” She was now speaking in her customary matter-of-fact fashion again. Having Isko at her side made it easier to compose herself. Of all the campus staff serving under her, there was none she could rely upon more in a crisis.

  Isko was a veteran of the Leshek campaign, which had brought about a swift and decisive end to the occupation of the island territory following the surprise invasion by Sirathania to annex Leshek from the dominion of the Kingdom of Darmitana. She had served alongside him as part of the five-thousand-strong deployment despatched to the island by the Order, getting to know him well during the campaign. She knew him to be a man of calm temperament, who kept a cool head under pressure. He was exactly what she needed right now.

  “How many men do we have stationed beneath Antaris?” she continued. There weren’t nearly enough Sanatsai on campus grounds for her liking. She had less than a dozen people standing guard over the twenty hostile detainees, and until they all had their Zarantar bound they remained a threat.

  “Three hundred,” replied Isko.

  “I want a hundred up here immediately, patrolling the outskirts of the campus until sunrise; I’m not taking any chances.” Isko nodded, so she continued. “And I want a further fifty on campus grounds—a dozen at the south entrance, a dozen at the north entrance. The rest are to help stand guard over the intruders until Elsa returns with her Sisters to bind their Zarantar. Once that is done, those men are to form two-man roving patrols within the campus.”

  “As you wish,” said Isko. “But what’s preventing you from binding the Zarantar of the prisoners? I’ve witnessed you do it single-handedly, whereas it takes three Jaymidari in unison to accomplish the same.”

  “I can only bind one individual at a time, and the level of concentration required might prevent me from reacting if the other nineteen tried something.”

  Accepting the explanation without question, Isko marched away towards the administration building in compliance with Fay’s order. Standing alone once more, she glared at the twenty kneeling detainees. It would take at least ten minutes for the Sanatsai stationed beneath the campus to make it above ground—more than enough time for something to go wrong. Maybe that was why she couldn’t shake the feeling the worst was yet to come.

  From where she stood—two dozen yards from the captives—Fay could still see the defiance in the leader’s eyes. What are you waiting for? she wondered. A disturbance in front of the men’s dormitory building diverted her attention from the prisoners. Turning her back on them, she saw a small group of pyjama-wearing apprentices congregating outside the entrance. Some of them began walking tentatively towards the scene, while the others loitered.

  “Apprentices!” she yelled, advancing a couple of quick paces towards them. “Return to your dorm rooms… now!” She spied several curious faces peering from all the windows of the building. “Stand clear of the windows! All of you!”

  As soon as the apprentices began to comply with her order, Fay returned her attention to the detainees, just in time to catch the meaningful look on the face of the group leader, passed down the line of kneeling men. She couldn’t say for certain what was exchanged between them but she knew something was about to—

  It happened so quickly.

  The lead intruder lowered his hands from his head down to his sides, causing a small, blood-red globe to fall from his sleeve into his hand. Fay recognised the object immediately, but she had no time to respond to her alarm. In an instant, the remaining nineteen interlopers lurched this way and that to wrestle the Sanatsai guards standing over them to the ground, while their leader rose to his feet initiating a determined dash towards the women’s dormitory building. She took a step forward, intending to stop him in his tracks, but was prevented from acting when she felt the Zarantar of all his accomplices. Her alarm spiked further still with the realisation of what it meant.

  Time seemed to slow down as Fay’s attention was drawn back to the nineteen men. Eleven of them were struggling on the ground with their adversaries from the Order, while the remaining eight were now rushing headlong towards her. “No!” she yelled. Suddenly, the nineteen men were no longer just flesh and blood people. They were all screaming, fiery humanoid forms.

  Fay instinctively invoked Inkansaylar, and instantly a translucent barrier sphere reminiscent of a large soapy bubble formed around the onrushing suicide attackers closing in on her. Her timely reaction successfully contained the detonation that spewed smouldering blood and viscera within its confines, but there was nothing she could do to avert the other, almost simultaneous detonat
ions that instantly ended the lives of the remaining aggressors and eleven of her subordinates. She was blown off her feet by the blasts, and sent hurtling several yards through the air before colliding heavily against the wall of the nearby assembly hall.

  Badly winded, and more than a little dazed after landing in a crumpled heap on the ground, Fay recovered her wits quickly enough to remember the attack wasn’t over yet. There was still one last individual who needed to be stopped, and someone’s life depended on it. From her prone position she glanced towards the women’s dormitory; the sole surviving attacker was fast approaching the entrance to the building. She opened her mouth to shout, “Stop him!” but though her lips moved, no sound issued forth.

  It was a blessed relief when she sensed Zarantar Jist, the art of the Jaymidari, nearby. In that moment, the running man was caught within an inertia field that left him moving in exaggerated slow motion. Fay grimaced as she gingerly sat upright to see Sister Elsa returning to the scene with a hand outstretched in front of her. Thank goodness for Elsa; her timely intervention had rescued the situation. There was no longer any danger from the last of the intruders. Even if he succeeded in neutralising Elsa’s invocation he would never reach his intended target—Fay would see to that.

  Rising slowly to her feet, she invoked her unique, hitherto nameless healing ability. Once she was standing upright her heart was still beating rapidly, but she was fully recovered from the effects of the multiple blasts that could have killed her. Without a second thought, she promptly stalked towards the fanatical assailant caught within Elsa’s inertia field—barely restrained anger simmering inside her.

  As she drew nearer, Solen sprinted into view from around the administration building, having returned from guarding the north entrance—no doubt drawn back to the chaotic scene because of the escalation of hostilities. Fay sensed the imminent attack directed at the man who led the raid, but she wouldn’t allow Solen’s invocation of Balatlaydan to end his life. He was the only person left who could provide answers as to who ordered the attack and, more importantly, why. In response to the unleashing of three incendiary orbs, she invoked Yuksaydan to instantly neutralise the flaming bringers of death and destruction.

  “Stand down!” she yelled. “I need him alive!”

  Solen willingly complied.

  Continuing her own march towards the constrained intruder, Fay invoked Turmiraydan, letting loose a concussion orb to render her target unconscious; she had no intention of allowing her soon-to-be captive the opportunity to end his own life before she could question him. The luminous pale green orb flew through the air before slowing, almost to a standstill, the moment it entered the inertia field surrounding the assailant. Fay intensified her invocation, causing the orb to resume its swift momentum into the back of the attacker’s head. He would now fall to the ground, knocked out, as soon as the inertia field was neutralised.

  She halted a few yards short of the inertia field but decided not to wait for Elsa to bring it down. Instead, Fay waved a hand, invoking Yuksaydan to neutralise the impediment. With the inertia field gone the forward momentum of the now unconscious running man caused the body to stumble a few paces closer to the women’s dormitory, falling to the ground just yards from the entrance. The blood-red ball he was carrying slipped from his grasp and rolled away. It began to glow intensely as it rose up from the ground, charting a swift course through the air towards the dormitory.

  Immediately, Fay invoked Inkansaylar, creating an impenetrable barrier sphere to contain both the fallen detainee and the deadly weapon he had brought with him. The glowing globe repeatedly struck the inside of the translucent bubble constraining its flight—much like a demented fly unable to pass through a closed window. Now there was work to do before Fay could get down to the business of interrogating the man who had led the attack.

  Elsa arrived at Fay’s side moments later, while Solen halted in front of her, standing to attention. “Why did you leave the north entrance?” Fay quizzed Solen, knowing that the men she’d ordered Isko to place on security detail had not yet arrived to fill their positions.

  “When I heard the multiple detonations I had to come back,” he said. “But don’t worry, the entrance isn’t completely unguarded, Kai Garonidas is there, and he’s currently detaining a civilian who claims to have unwillingly brought the attackers here. There was no time to verify the claim.” Frowning at her, Solen added, “Are you worried about further attacks?”

  “Not for the moment.” But as Fay looked over Solen’s shoulder at all the faces peering through the windows of the two-storey women’s dormitory behind him, she couldn’t rule it out entirely. “For now, since you are here, I have another task for you.” Solen looked at her expectantly. “Make your way to the communal hall right now and unlock the doors. I’m going to evacuate the women’s dormitory and have the apprentices gather there for a little while.”

  “Why are you evacuating the women’s dormitory?”

  She cocked her head slightly and fixed her penetrating gaze on Solen, making it abundantly clear she wished for her instruction to be carried out at once, not be questioned.

  Solen hurried away in compliance.

  “Return here when it’s done!” she called out after him.

  Once he disappeared from view, Fay turned her attention back to the barrier sphere imprisoning the unconscious attacker. She was unconcerned that anyone witnessing her glowering countenance might ascertain the difficulty she was having in suppressing the burning anger within. This is all my fault, she thought bitterly to herself. I should have just killed them all the moment they attacked; now several people are dead because of my mistake. Feeling the weight of Elsa’s gaze upon her, she glanced sideways at her Jaymidari counterpart. “What is it, Sister?” she inquired, noticing the curious look on the woman’s face.

  “Nothing!” exclaimed Elsa. “For a moment I was wondering how you were able to make your concussion orb move at normal speed within the inertia field. But then I remembered… you are you.” She glanced at the nearby barrier sphere. “So, what are you waiting for now if you intend to evacuate the apprentices?”

  Without replying, Fay turned around to see who was among the handful of campus instructors gathered at the scene; she required a female colleague next. Just the person, she thought as she caught sight of her middle-aged counterpart Briselda Lorenti. The no-nonsense Sanatsai was tucking her shoulder-length, dark hair behind her ears, and the habitual expression of irritation she so frequently wore was etched upon her tanned face. It was possible she was annoyed that the attack had dragged her out of bed, but where Briselda was concerned the source of her irritation could never be stated with any degree of certainty—there was always something or other aggravating the woman.

  “Briselda! I need you,” said Fay, beckoning her fellow Sanatsai with a raised hand. The other woman promptly marched towards her.

  “How may I be of assistance, Danai Annis?”

  Fay sighed. “For a start, you can try to remember that as campus staff we are not required to address each other by our rank. How many times do I have to tell you that? And secondly, I want you to organise the immediate evacuation of the women’s dormitory. Have the apprentices gather together in the communal hall for the next half hour or so.”

  “Very well…” Briselda’s hesitation betrayed her uncertainty, though there was no change in her expression. “But what reason do you want me to give? If I don’t tell the apprentices something, the whiny bitches… I mean, the young dears will complain, then it will take that much longer to get them to leave the building.”

  “By now, they are all fully aware of the attack on the campus. Tell them there may be an injured intruder hiding in the dormitory, and we need them out of there so we can begin a thorough search.”

  Looking pensive, Briselda narrowed her eyes at Fay. “There’s one more attacker unaccounted for?” It was hard to gauge whether it was alarm in her voice or something else.

  “There is no intr
uder in the dormitory, Briselda,” Fay confessed in her matter-of-fact fashion. “I just want the apprentices out of there right away; they don’t need to know why.” As far as Fay was concerned there was nothing to be gained by causing senseless panic by revealing the truth: all signs indicated that one of the young women residing in the building had just been targeted for assassination.

  Briselda promptly departed, signalling two female colleagues to follow her to the women’s dormitory. Fay returned her focus to the captive inside her barrier sphere.

  Having been silent until now, Sister Elsa took the opportunity to address Fay’s obvious concern about the last remaining intruder. “You’re worried about something, Fay,” she noted. “If it’s not further attacks, what is it?”

  Fay pointed a finger at the barrier sphere remaining in place between them and the entrance to the women’s dormitory—more specifically, at the flying blood-red ball still furiously trying to escape its confinement.

  “A big red, glowing… gemstone?”

  The uncertainty in the Sister’s voice informed Fay that her Jaymidari colleague had no idea what they were looking at. She glanced sideways at the woman, giving her an inquisitive stare. “You don’t know what that is?” Her own surprise was just as evident as Elsa’s uncertainty.

  “Apparently not!”

  Returning her gaze to the barrier sphere, Fay offered Elsa the benefit of an explanation. “It’s a reaper stone,” she said. “A weapon created by a powerful Saharbashi to eliminate a rival whom he considers to be a threat to his ambitions, or even his life, without the risk of a direct confrontation.” She peered at Elsa once again. “The real mystery here is how and why the twenty men who attacked us came to be in possession of it. Each of them is—or was—a Sanatsai, albeit foreign, judging from their features and clothing.”