by Logan Jacobs
“What?” Emeline gasped, her face drained of color. “What are you talking about? I haven’t done anything wrong!“
My hand went automatically to the hilt of my dagger, and I glanced back at Lavinia, Maruk, and Lena, a plan to attack the mages holding Emeline and cut our way out of there already half-formed in my mind. Then I felt Aerin’s hand on my wrist, and the healer gave me a warning look and shook her head almost imperceptibly.
“I’m sure there’s been some mistake,” Aerin said loudly as she turned toward the archmages.
The two mages that held Emeline had restrained her with her hands cuffed behind her back, and they each had a hand clasped tight on one of her shoulders. The panthera woman looked terrified, her ears pressed back almost flat against her head.
I curled my hand around the hilt of my dagger but forced myself to stay still and let Aerin talk. I knew she was right to have stopped me. There was no going back if we did try to fight our way out of here, and I couldn’t let my emotions get the better of me, as angry as I was to see Emeline treated this way. It had to be a mistake, and we would sort it out.
The archmage who had pointed out Emeline, a relatively young man with short red hair, narrowed his eyes at Aerin and turned to the panthera woman.
“You are Emeline Solé, are you not?” he asked.
“Yes, but--” Emeline started to respond in a trembling voice.
“Then it is my duty to inform you, Emeline Solé,” the red-haired mage interrupted, “that you have been charged with the possession of illegal texts pertaining to blood magic and the study of forbidden arcane arts by High Enchanter Alphonse Cuvier. Your trial will take place in two days, for which you will be provided with legal representation, and in the interim period, you will be imprisoned.”
“Blood magic?” Emeline echoed in disbelief. “Wait, what texts? I’ve never- Cuvier is lying!”
“She’s telling the truth,” Aerin said forcefully. “I’m a healer, I can read auras. She isn’t a blood mage, this is ridiculous!“
“Take her away,” the red-haired mage ordered with a nod to the mages who were restraining Emeline. He didn’t so much as look at Aerin, let alone regard what she’d said.
“Hang on!” I said as I pushed forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lavinia and Maruk shift, still ready to back me up. “You heard Aerin. She’s telling the truth, Emeline is not a blood mage. You can’t just arrest her like this! Where’s your evidence?”
“Don’t worry, if you believe this to be unjust, you’ll get your chance to testify at her trial,” the red-haired mage said with a sneer, “and you should count yourselves lucky that you are not currently being detained as well for associating with her.” Before I could respond, he turned with a sharp flutter of robes to follow the other mages and Emeline through a door behind the lobby desk, and they were gone.
A stunned silence had fallen over the previously bustling lobby, and all the remaining mages stared at us. I couldn’t have cared less about them, though, and I rounded on Etienne.
“Did you know about this?” I demanded. “Did you know they were going to arrest her when she came back here?”
The panthera man looked startled and took a half-step back.
“Of course I knew,” he answered, but he sounded more desperate than defensive. His eyes flicked over to the mages who were still huddled around the lobby, and he dropped his voice. “They came for me first, they thought I was involved.” He shook his head. “They found a book in her room, a book about blood magic. I thought that was why she was so eager to leave and go with you, that she had anticipated this and managed to escape. I never dreamed she would come back.”
“We shouldn’t talk about this here,” Aerin said quietly. “Come back to our guild hall with us, we’ll figure out what to do next.”
“What to do?” Etienne repeated. “What do you mean? What is there to do?”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
“What the hell do you mean?” I asked, my anger plain in my voice. “Are you saying you really believe your own sister is secretly a blood mage?”
“They found the book in her room,” Etienne hissed. Then he bit his lip, his expression pained. “I don’t... I don’t want to believe she could be capable of something like that, but...”
“She was telling the truth when she said she wasn’t a blood mage,” Aerin reminded him. “She’s innocent.”
“They won’t take your word for it,” Etienne replied miserably. “How could we hope to prove it?”
“That’s what we’re going to figure out,” Aerin said, “but not here. Will you come with us?”
Etienne hesitated for a moment as he looked from Aerin to me to Lavinia, Lena, and Maruk behind us, then his shoulders sagged, and he nodded.
As we turned to go, the crowds parted for us and cast nervous glances at our group, as though they were afraid we were the carriers of some contagious disease. I supposed they thought that if they so much as brushed against us, they would be guilty by association of harboring a blood mage. I remembered what that red-haired mage had said, that we were lucky we weren’t being arrested as well.
We made our way quickly back toward our guild hall, but Etienne seemed nervous about even leaving the University Tower. He’d pulled up his hood as soon as we stepped outside and seemed reluctant to take it off even when we were all seated around the dining table in our guild hall, well out of sight of any onlookers. I remembered what Emeline had told me about people in Ovrista treating her and her brother differently for being panthera, how quick people were to assume the worst about them. I didn’t doubt that prejudice played a factor in Emeline’s arrest now, especially after seeing how nervous Etienne was.
At the moment, the panthera man had his head in his hand as he stared blankly at the rough wood grain of the table. Maruk sat on his left, his expression sympathetic, while Lavinia seethed quietly on his right. Lena had gone to the kitchen to make tea, and Aerin paced behind her seat. Sulla and Urim had returned from the market, and they leaned against the wall with their arms crossed.
“That book they found wasn’t Emeline’s,” Aerin said. “She wasn’t lying.”
“So someone must have planted it among her things to frame her,” I suggested. “What was the name of the person who accused her in the first place?”
“Cuvier,” Etienne answered. He didn’t look up from the table. “Alphonse Cuvier. He’s one of the highest-ranking mages at the Academy. He was the author of several papers on the history of magic and the civil war. He’s known for his... strong opinions regarding magic, he’s even argued against holy healing. He believes it’s too similar in nature to blood magic.”
Etienne sighed. “He won’t be convinced by the testimony of a cleric, especially an elven cleric, as proof of my sister’s innocence. It would be easy enough to claim that you were lying to protect Emeline, and he’ll use his influence to sway the jury.”
“There must be some way to prove that Emeline isn’t guilty,” Maruk said thoughtfully. “Perhaps the jury wouldn’t be convinced by Aerin’s testimony alone, but the rest of us could also testify as character witnesses.”
Lena returned with a steaming teapot and poured fragrant herbal tea into mugs for everyone.
“Will that be enough to counter the charges?” the alchemist asked as she set down the teapot and swept back a lock of her blonde hair.
“Doubt it,” Lavinia responded bitterly. “That book they found will look a lot more convincing to a jury than all of us going on about how nice Emeline is. The mage elites already don’t care about what people like us have to say. They’re not going to be any more willing to listen to us in a trial, especially if it makes them look bad.”
Etienne turned slightly to look at the ladona woman as if he was surprised by her insight. Lavinia returned the look with an arched brow.
“This Cuvier guy is a big-shot, right?” she asked knowingly. “He’s the one who accused Emeline, so even if he weren’t the
one who framed her, he’d lose face if she was found innocent. If I’ve learned anything about those assholes in that shining tower of theirs, it’s that they don’t really like to be embarrassed.”
“We’ll have to find out who framed her, then,” I said firmly, “and be able to prove it.”
Even as I said it, I knew an undertaking like that would be much, much easier said than done, but Emeline’s life wasn’t something I was willing to leave in the hands of whoever the Mage Academy appointed to represent her in her trial. Even so, the truth was that I wasn’t even sure where to start. I doubted the archmages would be willing to let us examine the book they claimed to have found in Emeline’s room, and even then, the trial was to take place in two days. What kind of compelling case could we construct in that time?
I set my jaw. First things first, we should determine the suspects.
“Etienne, you said the mages came to you first,” I said then. “Did they say anything about who found the book?”
“They said they were tipped off by an anonymous source that Emeline had been acting strangely,” the panthera man answered. “Someone had left a note for the archmages. It was the day after she left with you. Cuvier and a few other archmages, including that man you met today, Kieran, went to investigate and found the book. They say it was under a loose floorboard by her bed.”
“How convenient that they got an anonymous tip the moment she left the tower,” Lavinia said drily.
“Well, can you think of anyone who might have a reason to try to frame Emeline like this?” Aerin asked.
The panthera man shook his head.
“People on the street, nobles, even some of the mages, don’t particularly like panthera,” he answered after a moment. “We would always get a few sideways looks when we went out, and I know Emeline was teased sometimes by the other students, but I didn’t think there was anyone among them who hated us, hated her, so much as to do something like this.”
“Who would have had access to her room to plant it?” I asked.
“It could have been anyone, really,” Etienne replied with a weary shrug. “Well, any mage. Even the youngest students are not barred access to most places in the tower, and the dorms are open to everyone. Honesty and adherence to the rules are expected, and well, with so many hundreds of people living in such close quarters, you’re never really alone. Knowing that someone is always watching encourages obedience.”
“Then there could be someone who noticed something,” Aerin put in hopefully. “Someone who might have seen who planted the book or left the note.”
“Great.” Lavinia leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “We’ll just interview every single mage in the tower in two days and hope someone saw something.”
“At least it’s somewhere to start,” Aerin replied with a frown.
“You’re making it too complicated,” Urim said suddenly, and we all turned to the orc.
“How so?” I asked.
“You know who accused her,” Urim said with a shrug. “He was probably the one to frame her. It is not necessary to have more people involved.”
“I’d bet my bow it was this Cuvier bastard,” Lavinia said with a nod.
“Did you know he bullied Emeline?” I asked Etienne.
“We all know each other in the tower,” Etienne replied. Then he sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair. “Cuvier taught some of Emeline’s classes, and she complained about him a few times to me, but he’s known to be a strict instructor, and my sister was hardly the sort of restrained, quiet pupil he would expect. I’m sure they weren’t fond of one another, but Cuvier is not an unreasonable man. He wouldn’t try to have Emeline executed over a grudge like that.”
Etienne looked desperately around at us as he spoke as if he wasn’t sure about the truth of his statement and needed one of us to confirm that Cuvier couldn’t be capable of such evil.
“You sure about that?” Lavinia asked bluntly to pop Etienne’s bubble.
“We should try to talk to Emeline,” I suggested. “Maybe her relationship with Cuvier was worse than you realized.”
Etienne looked hurt. I knew he must be terrified, and I hadn’t meant to offend him, but at the moment, Emeline’s safety mattered more than his ego. If he’d misjudged Cuvier or written off Emeline’s complaints about the archmage, we needed to know.
“Would they allow us to visit her?” Maruk asked.
“Not all of us,” Aerin whispered into my ear so that Etienne couldn’t hear. “And Gabriel, you definitely shouldn’t go.”
“What?” I frowned at the healer. “Of course I’m going.”
“The archmages are already suspicious of Emeline practicing illegal magic, they’re going to be suspicious of us, too.” Aerin gripped my hand tightly, her expression earnest and fearful. “You more than anyone shouldn’t go out of your way to subject yourself to their scrutiny.”
She made a good point, but it was precisely because of the danger that I faced as a manipulator that I was so invested in helping to clear Emeline’s name. Emeline had never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, she wasn’t a danger to society like her trial would more than likely make her out to be. The Mage Academy shouldn’t have the authority to imprison and execute her because they found a book under her floorboard, and they shouldn’t get to kill manipulators just for existing. I wasn’t going to stand by on this.
Before I even said anything, I could tell Aerin had seen the resolve in my expression by the way her shoulders fell.
“I have to help,” I said softly. “I’ll bring my invisibility cloak, we’ll be careful, but I have to be there.”
Aerin frowned down at the table for a moment.
“Alright,” the healer said at last, “They won’t want to let us all in, so Gabriel, Lena, and I will go try to talk to Emeline. Lena, were you able to finish that sleeping draught we were working on?”
The alchemist stood up slightly on her toes when Aerin addressed her, and when she nodded her earrings jingled.
“Bring it,” Aerin said. Her hazel eyes flicked over to me. “Just in case.”
With no time to waste, I retrieved my invisibility cloak. The fabric was so fine that even folded over several times, it was hardly visible tucked in my vest pocket, and when I adjusted my traveling cloak from Yvaine over it, no one would know I had it at all.
Lena returned just as I’d clasped my traveling cloak around my shoulders. She had a small vial of dark fluid in her hand that she tucked into the pouch at her waist.
“We’ll be back in a few hours,” I told the others where they waited, still arranged around the dining room table. “Lay low, and plan those character witness testimonies.”
It was dark by the time Aerin, Lena, and I swept out into the street again, and the night was cool and still. The only sounds were the buzzing of insects around the street lamps and the far-off chatter of a few people returning home from the tavern, and we were untroubled as we made our way back to the Arcane University Tower.
As we approached the Tower’s lawn, I realized that I’d never been here at night, and so I’d never seen the hazy bulbs of light that floated like wisps around the tower and reflected off its mirrored surface like so many stars. It certainly looked magical, but I wasn’t in the mindset to appreciate it.
In stark contrast to earlier that afternoon, the lobby was completely deserted when we entered save for the lone receptionist at the desk. The older mage we’d seen before was gone, and another mage, a young man I didn’t recognize, was in his place. His light brown hair was a little rumpled, as though he’d dozed off behind the desk and had suddenly awoken when he heard us enter, and he watched us with interest as we approached him.
“Can I help you?” he asked when we stopped before the high desk for the second time that day. I couldn’t help but glance at the door behind him where the archmages had taken Emeline.
“Our friend was arrested,” I told him plainly. There was no way I could see that lying about our inten
tions would do us much good in this situation. We didn’t even know where Emeline was being held. “We need to speak with her.”
“Your friend?” The young man blinked, then he frowned. “Oh, the panthera girl? Her name is Emeline, right? We had a class together. She always seemed so nice. She used to sneak in candy and share it with the rest of us when the professors weren’t looking.”
“Can we visit her?” I pressed.
“Um...” The mage caught his lower lip between his teeth and looked around as if hoping someone else could give him the answer, but the lobby was empty.
“I’m not sure...” he started, but Lena stepped forward and cut him off.
“We just want to talk to her for a few minutes,” she said earnestly. “Just to make sure she’s alright.”
The mage frowned sympathetically and nodded. “Wait here, I’ll see what I can do.” He turned and slipped through the door behind him.
As the minutes passed and the mage did not return, I found it hard to keep still, and I couldn’t stop looking at that door. It was silver with a sweeping, curling design carved into the wood and a crystal knob. The longer it stayed closed, the more certain I became that our request to visit Emeline would be denied.
“We could just go in,” I whispered as I glanced to Aerin. “I could do that with the cloak.”
“We don’t know what all is back there,” she argued. “You might not find her at all.”
Before I could respond, the door opened again, and the young mage appeared.
“Follow me, please,” he said with a small nod.
The door opened onto a long corridor that split off into two directions at the end. Lamps were placed along the walls at intervals to provide light, but there was something else strange about the hall. The walls themselves seemed to be glowing slightly, and as I stepped through the door, I caught a faint, high-pitched sort of whining sound. It had to be magic, some sort of enchantment. I was sure it was for security purposes, though I could only wonder about what, specifically, the enchantment did.
The young mage took us down the lefthand branch of the corridor and past several doors, all with heavy locks and glimmering with the sign of more enchantments. I recalled what Etienne had said about the lack of restrictions in the tower. Apparently, the archmages’ trust only went so far.