Ferryl Shayde - Book 2 - A Student Body

by Vance Huxley

  Kelis got it first. Molecular reconstruction. Ferryl didn’t understand that, and none of them were good enough at science to be sure, but it had to be similar. Though Ferryl couldn’t make just anything, she’d only memorised the arrangements for gems and valuable metals. Gold for value of course, but also because the weight made it a good store for magic. She had to mean density because lead came a close second though she’d never memorised that. Gems were excellent magic stores, but useless for selling because of the glyph in the centre. According to Ferryl, the staffs that wizards were always shown with had gems and gold just for the magic storage.

  Despite the lovely golden fairy now placed on the table between them, the three teenagers were a lot more interested in magical storage. They’d all had to top up halfway through fighting the Troll baby. Now Abel at least wanted a store of magic to carry about, and asked why Ferryl hadn’t mentioned it. He finally found out how the wits worked. The knowledge really did work like memory, there if needed, rather than a file Ferryl could browse. She’d started changing silver to gold, and remembered another reason for doing so.

  The trees in Castle House garden gave them an almost endless supply of magic, because they had no dryads. Anywhere else dryads guarded their trees so anyone running low on magic had to wait until they absorbed more the usual way, slowly from the air around them. If the three of them could carry free magic around with them, they could get around that restriction.

  Discussing storing magic came back to another skill none of them had yet, because sorceresses already had a way to carry extra magic. “So we can’t carry spare magic until we can heal ourselves, because the diamonds or gold have to be set into our bones?” Rob looked down at himself and touched his lips. “I can’t even heal a scratch. No wonder sorcerers are miserable if they have to keep burning tattoos and embedding stuff inside them.”

  “Does it have to be inside, Ferryl?” Abel might be the keenest on having a spare magical battery, because Henry had nearly got him.

  “In the flesh at least, because you might dislodge anything else in a fight. The pain is no more than burning a ward, and the bone part isn’t usually a problem. By the time a sorceress learns to make gems or gold to store magic she has mastered healing herself. Learning to make a gem can take several hundred years of trial and error, because nobody ever teaches anyone else. Healing is more important because that’s the only way to live long enough, and also why only sorceresses can do it. Witches never become adept. They are people who activate their magic but can’t progress beyond simple glyphs, so the best any can manage is to slow their aging a little. Some of your Taverners will die before ever becoming sorcerers and sorceresses.”

  “Die? Of old age? But sorceresses don’t? So how long does learning the healing take?” Kelis frowned. “Is that why sorcerers look old?”

  “They look old if they want to, though many die before learning that.” Ferryl/Claris turned to Abel, suddenly serious. “Your bargain was better than you realised at the time. I never thought it through because the cost was not significant, not to gain my freedom and a sanctuary. Sorceresses usually have apprentices, but might only teach them simple glyphs for twenty years. Maybe not even as complicated as the growth glyph. The apprentices will pay for the training by setting or topping up protection hexes, or any other similar minor tasks.”

  “Is that what Pendragon does, uses Elrond and the rest to power protection hexes for businesses and lawnmowers?” Kelis looked puzzled. “It doesn’t seem much of a service.”

  “Not to you. Remember, they will not have access to tree magic so work like that can be a serious drain on them. Then a sorceress may demand another twenty years servitude for the first hints on healing, or a veil, perhaps a seeming. Age, accident or meeting the wrong opponent can kill the apprentice long before they learn properly.”

  Her eyes went to Kelis and Rob. “Because you are his friends, and Abel insists, you are also benefitting. Many apprentices never learn how to heal properly before leaving their mistress, and definitely never make gold or gems, or bone wits, until they are free. You have already absorbed ten or fifteen years of lessons, though as yet you have not polished those skills. Though with limitless magic you are getting years of practice in just weeks. What you will learn in ninety years is truly priceless.” Ferryl/Claris’ face broke into a big smile. “Or a small price to pay for my life.”

  When Kelis’ phone struck up with “I don’t want to be royal” she gave everyone an embarrassed look and ran outside to answer it. The others followed, slowly, but she’d already gone through the lychgate to flag down Laurence’s car. Abel looked at his watch. “That old thing about time flying and having fun works. Ten on the dot.”

  “This should be fun. We were supposed to find a reason for Claris to be here.” Rob raised a hand to answer Laurence’s wave when he saw the three of them. “Better get there sharpish before Kelis gets inventive. She doesn’t fire on all cylinders round Laurence and she’s got a strange sense of humour when it comes to you, Abel.”

  Both seemed to be true when the three of them came out of the churchyard. Kelis turned away from Laurence’s car with a bright smile. “I’ve just had to explain why Claris is already here. I’m sorry Abel, Claris, your secret is out. Though at least you can relax and act natural while we’re out together instead of pretending to be just friends.” Her smile had a real struggle not to turn into a giggle at least as she started walking towards Abel. Abel turned to Rob and Ferryl/Claris but Rob had turned away. The way his shoulders were shaking he must be strangling hysterical laughter.

  Laurence looked past Kelis, definitely not convinced. “Claris? What’s going on?” A relieved Abel reached for Claris’ hand to tell her to scotch the idea as Kelis’ little joke, hesitated because that looked bad, and then Ferryl/Claris had brushed past him and Kelis to the car. She bent down to talk to Laurence, too quietly for Abel to hear.

  Kelis took another step to come near enough to whisper. “Sorry, it was the first thing I came up with.” She finally giggled, but quietly. “Your face is priceless. Don’t worry, Ferryl will put him right then I’ll laugh and we’ll all tease you a bit.”

  “Then I’ll tell him it’s really Rob she’s seeing and see how he likes that.” Abel glared at Rob, who promptly turned away again and started shaking. “He’ll not find that anything like as funny.” Even as Kelis giggled again, Ferryl/Claris stood upright, turned and came back towards them with a big smile.

  Abel caught the mischief in Ferryl/Claris’ smile much too late. “I’m sorry Abel, I’ve had to tell Laurence it’s true.” She hugged Abel gently and turned to face a startled Kelis and gobsmacked Rob, slipping an arm round Abel’s waist. “It’s a relief in a way. Now it won’t matter if I forget and put my arm round you while we’re out with him and Kelis.” Her other hand came over to catch hold of Abel’s, making skin contact.

  “This works out perfectly. I have to stay close to you, and now it won’t seem strange. I can get lodgings in Brinsford for as long as necessary and see you every day. If there are more attacks, I will be here.”

  Zephyr connected Abel to Claris. “No you can’t! I’m nearly two years younger than you and you’ve left school.” Abel took a mental breath. “Laugh, tell him it’s a joke. He’s never going to believe I’ve somehow bamboozled Kelis, Jenny and you into going out with me within six months. Look at me I’m a bloo….ming wimp, a geek!” Abel fought not to look horrified about Ferryl/Claris’ little surprise, or laugh at Kelis’ face now her joke had bitten back. “Is that a good idea, us going out together properly?”

  “You’ve filled out a bit with all that exercise, so not quite a wimp.” The mental laughter with that didn’t help. “Laurence and all the rest of the boys will be impressed and the girls will be curious.” Ferryl/Claris leant on his shoulder, pretending to whisper too quietly to be heard. “Some of the young blades would have a score of women in a year. They were much admired.” Out loud she said, “Don’t you want to?” Her voi
ce sounded really upset.

  Abel stifled a groan as he pretended to smile at whatever she’d supposedly said. “It’s just that you are a bit confused right now.” He’d thought Ferryl got over her early Elizabethan ideas of morals. “Two hundred years out of date, Ferryl. The blokes will think I’m a slimeball who took advantage while you were drugged and the girls won’t go near me, ever. Anyway, you know I won’t play that game without the girl agreeing. We sorted that out with Jenny but not with Claris. Now she’s fast asleep and doesn’t want waking.” This mental communication worked a lot faster than speaking. Even so Abel turned to pretend to whisper in her ear to avoid an awkward silence and maybe someone asking questions. Both Kelis and Laurence were poised, waiting.

  Ferryl/Claris moved her lips again as if whispering, then kissed his ear. “I made the Leech release Claris’ mind several times so I could explain what happened after it left. I mentioned wanting to keep close to you because we had a bargain, and that doing so might involve kissing. She said she’d kiss you, Rob, Kelis and the rest of the school to get that thing out of her.”

  Abel kept the fixed smile on his face as Kelis’ face went from startled to suspicious to worried. Rob had moved from gobsmacked to definitely intrigued, and he’d started to smile. Laurence looked definitely suspicious, so he wasn’t convinced at all and Abel wasn’t surprised. He probably thought Claris still took something to help her come off the drugs, and Abel had taken advantage. “One kiss isn’t permission for you to suddenly make us a couple, especially now the Leech is out. Claris has got enough in her head when she wakes up. She doesn’t need me as well. Not only that but Laurence doesn’t believe you.” He really wished pretending to whisper wasn’t confirming what everyone must be thinking.

  “I told Claris she might only have to kiss you, but several times. She said she’d snog your brains out as often as necessary to get her life back. Apparently you’ll taste a lot better than anything the Leech made her drink.” Ferryl/Claris hugged gently and her mental tone took on a hint of mischief. “Maybe I should do that to persuade Laurence, snog your brains out? I think I know what she meant.” Her voice sounded determined, and a little bit worried when she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’m not confused about this, Abel. I thought you liked me now.”

  “Maybe I’ll persuade him.” Abel gently removed Claris’ arm and headed past Kelis, winking at her. “I think Laurence and I need a few words, just so nobody gets the wrong idea.” He bent down to talk to a definitely unhappy Laurence, keeping his voice low. “Because you don’t believe a word of that rubbish Kelis and Claris came out with about me and her, do you?”

  “No, or not all of it. What really happened with Jenny? Or Kelis because she was the first.” Laurence really kept his voice low, so he definitely didn’t want Kelis hearing. Luckily she’d gone to have a low, intense conversation of her own with Ferryl/Claris.

  “I kissed Kelis at New Year, when the chimes started up. Stone cold sober but we’d been dancing and it was her first kiss, and mine, so very special. By February we both realised it wasn’t eternal love. Come on Laurence, look at her, Kelis could be a model in a year or two. I look like a flipping dwarf next to her.” Abel grinned, a totally genuine one. “I’d need neck surgery after a month or two.”

  A little smile touched Laurence’s lips. “She really is tall for a girl, as tall as me. I never noticed until after Christmas but suddenly she was there, more or less spitting in Seraph’s eye, without a sign of the shy skinny little thing she used to be.” The smile died. “So what about Jenny and now Claris?”

  Abel ran through his now practiced explanation about Jenny and paused, and Laurence nodded gently. “A few people wondered about the gratitude thing, but it was a bit more. Jenny obviously liked you.” A bright smile suddenly lit his face. “Jenny really ripped into Seraph just before school broke up. Personally I give you credit for that, for giving her confidence to do it.” His eyes narrowed. “Now what about Claris?”

  This time Abel played on what Ferryl/Claris had told her mum. “Now I’m worried if I just refuse to have anything to do with her, she’ll crack. She’s off all the drugs, but bloody terrified of whoever it was had her. She’s latched onto me as some sort of anchor, but thinks it’s more.” Abel shrugged, trying to radiate innocence or maybe just stupidity. “So I’ll put an arm round her, hold her hand, talk to her and act like a couple. Maybe a kiss or two but that’s all. Then when she gets her head together she can go back to real life with no harm done.”

  “So you don’t like her? You shouldn’t, not the way she used to talk about you.”

  “I don’t hold grudges. Ask Henry. Jenny finished any influence Seraph had, and now she’s left so I don’t think Claris will be the same. Especially after all this drugs stuff.” Abel shrugged again and smiled, a completely natural shy one because the next bit was true. “To be honest I think she’s kinda pretty now she’s not snarling at me. It won’t exactly harm my street cred if she hangs on my arm for a month or so. I might even end up with a real girlfriend, one who doesn’t have to nearly die first.”

  Laurence almost choked over that, trying to stifle the laugh. “Looks aren’t everything. Claris isn’t really that nice, or wasn’t because she seems different now. How bad was it?”

  “I don’t know, but from the bits she told us I don’t want to know the rest.” Abel took a breath. “So if we wander about arm in arm, hold hands, maybe kiss now and then, you’ll go along with it?”

  “Oh yes. If she reverts to bitch mode afterwards, I’ll have a lot of fun reminding her about you.” Laurence might know Claris well enough to have wanted to help her, but from the gleam in his eye he wasn’t above payback sometime. “As long as, you know, you don’t lead her on.”

  “Cross my heart. Now laugh and relax before Kelis thinks I’m competing for you.” The other three wouldn’t know what the completely natural laughter was about but all three faces relaxed a bit as Abel turned. As he walked past Kelis spooky-phone connected and Zephyr filled them all in.

  Kelis turned back to Laurence. “I sort of sprung today on them. Can Claris get changed at my place while Abel tells his mum he’s going out for the day with his new girl?” Her big smile from the look on Abel’s face after that comment lasted while she helped Rob, Laurence and Claris lug two suitcases and a backpack into Kelis’ house. Abel hadn’t any sort of smile as he called mum and absolutely and definitely skipped around Claris coming. At least with mum being at work she couldn’t give him a real grilling by text. Abel almost chickened out when Ferryl/Claris came back from Kelis’ bedroom, made up and wearing her own clothes. She might still be thin enough that her clothes didn’t really fit properly, but she looked much too old and pretty to be with him.

  Despite a lot of hints from Laurence, Ferryl/Claris insisted on leaving her clothes at Brinsford rather than dropping them off where she lived. Rob quietly promised to get them to the church, then swear blind he’d conned his sister into delivering them to Stourton. Despite Abel’s misgivings, when Laurence finally drove out of Brinsford he didn’t start any third degree. Instead he started talking about zoos, or rather animal ecosystems and preservation. Laurence had been studying towards a job in estate management because his extended family owned huge tracts of moors and woodland, especially in Scotland, France and Germany.

  Chestnut Centre turned out to be Chestnut Centre Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park. It wasn’t very exotic as otters and owls, some of them foreign, covered most of the creatures there. Laurence seemed to be in his element, explaining how both species had been threatened by the modern world but were recovering. Abel heard all Laurence’s explanations because Kelis made no move to get any privacy, while Ferryl/Claris hung on every word. Zoo meant menagerie back in her day, a private, personal status symbol for the rich not a public display. Capturing otters and birds of prey rather than killing them astounded her.

  Abel ended up enjoying his day out even if he missed Rob’s jokes. Kelis certainly looked happy
while Ferryl/Claris behaved, just hand-holding with arms around each other now and then. Despite protesting, Kelis, Abel and Ferryl/Claris accepted Laurence’s offer of lunch when he threatened to make them sit and watch him eat it. Laurence hadn’t given anyone an option over tickets. He’d paid over his phone while Ferryl/Claris and Kelis went to get changed and told them afterwards.

  Abel agreed to going out again in three days, Ferryl/Claris agreed she could make it, and Laurence finally roared off away from Brinsford with a big smile. A smile mirrored by Kelis, though hers had some relief. Rob teased them, then took them to see Ferryl/Claris’ refurbished home. That included what Ferryl/Claris’ memory said had been her favourite quilt cover and several pictures from her bedroom. Unfortunately her TV and DVD player wouldn’t work without electricity. The heap of toiletries and makeup looked incongruous in the little toilet and washroom.

  ∼∼

  Someone in Stourton, probably Mrs. Turner, had seen the foursome either set off or arrive back and mentioned Abel’s new girl. After another third degree his mum accepted that Abel now had yet another girlfriend, a skinny redhead even older than Jenny. Jenny helped, especially when Claris’ name came up at the meetings with her Dad, and even came over on her own to make sure the stories tied up. After all, as she put it privately, she’d been in a similar position even if she’d taken a less traumatic route.

  There wasn’t a lot of chance for Jenny to say much at the meetings, because her dad had moved into full businessman mode. He’d talked to friends in various branches of business, and thought Bonny’s Tavern had enough unique aspects to stand out among the plethora of other offerings. Mr. Forester really pushed the charitable part of the scenario as a way to get free advertising, as well as add a unique perspective to the gameplay. He really fancied the idea of making it true, involving the Tavern in real charity work somehow. Abel promised to get the beta players on working out ways and means.