Scholar of Magic

by Michael G. Manning

  He laughed. “In all the same places. We must have missed each other at every stop.”

  “What about when you came here?” she asked.

  “I was in your father’s room until I came here to sleep.”

  She raised her brows in an unspoken question.

  “He lost a lot of blood, so I fed him.”

  “You two seem to have gotten close,” she observed, her tone suspicious.

  A remark like that from most daughters might have been a joke, or a compliment, but Will knew otherwise. Selene feared and hated her father more than anyone living. “Trust me, we aren’t. Far from it. In fact, if I had known you were coming back, I might not have kept him alive.”

  That led to a lengthy telling of what had occurred over the past week. Selene’s reactions ranged from shock to anger at some of the things that had happened, but when Will referred to Mark Nerrow harshly, she stopped him. “That isn’t fair,” she said.

  “I didn’t mean he was actually as bad as your father, but he really is an ass.”

  She gave him a quick kiss, easing his frustration, then responded, “Don’t judge him too harshly. He’s a hundred times better than my father. He actually cares about his children, and that includes you too, even if he hurts you with his poor handling of the situation.”

  He could still hear his father’s voice after their last fight, as he had walked away. “It does matter if something happens to you.” Will shook his head to clear the memory. “He’s still a jerk.”

  “He’s human,” corrected Selene. “I know he’s hurt you, but remember this, not only did he raise Laina and Tabitha, but he’s the only real father I’ve ever known. My time with that family is the only reason I’m not completely broken.”

  Will sighed. “I guess I can give him credit for a few things.” Then he shifted the topic. “What did you mean by ‘diplomatic tensions’ earlier?”

  She looked uncomfortable. “Well, I mentioned my problem with Sylandrea, but I didn’t tell you the details of what happened.” He waited, so she continued, “He came into my room one night and kissed me.” Selene stopped. “No, that’s not quite right. I kissed him, but that’s why he was there. He knew what would happen. I realized my mistake almost immediately, but he wouldn’t let me go, so…”

  “So…?”

  “I broke his nose—accidentally.”

  “You mean on purpose,” said Will, feeling a small bit of satisfaction.

  Selene frowned. “I hit him on purpose, but I didn’t mean to break his nose, so it was an accident.”

  “What did you hit him with?”

  “My forehead. I jerked away and headbutted him.” Will began to laugh, but she went on, “Anyway, it turns out his uncle is rather important, so my stay there became something of a problem. Your bargain with my father to get rid of the heart-stone enchantment couldn’t have come at a better time.”

  Will studied her for a moment, then spotted a small cut on her forehead. It looked to be just a few days old. “Is this from the headbutt?”

  She nodded, with pouting lips and large, woeful eyes. “Think it will scar?”

  He smiled, then kissed the wound. “I hope so. For me it will be a splendid reminder of your love. For others it can serve as a warning.”

  Selene rolled her eyes again. “No one will know what it’s from.”

  “You can wear a sign,” he suggested helpfully, laughing when she punched him.

  “I don’t want an ugly scar,” she lamented. “At least not there, right in the middle of my forehead.” Will pointed at his cheek, which still retained a long, silvery mark from a coachwhip in his childhood. “That’s different. It’s actually sort of dashing,” she commented.

  “Well, I’ve been thinking for a while that you needed to be uglied up a little bit anyway,” said Will.

  Her mouth went wide, into an ‘o’ of surprise. “What does that mean?” she demanded.

  “You’re too pretty. I was thinking you should start wearing sackcloth dresses, or maybe chop your hair up, but a scar would probably do just as well.” He grinned. “We have to find some way to keep the men from chasing you constantly.”

  She growled. “Is that really what you think? And if I’m ugly, what’s going to keep you chasing me then?”

  “That’s easy. I’m not after you for your looks.” She smiled, but then he continued, “I’m actually after you for your money and the wild sex.” Selene tackled him, and they wrestled for a moment before he cried uncle, laughing as he capitulated. “I repent, I repent! It’s actually your inner beauty, your intelligence and personality.”

  “I’ll show you some personality!” she warned.

  He held up his arms. “Please, no. I surrender. I can’t take any more personality. Maybe in a few hours.”

  She stood up and snatched the bedcovers away, exposing him to the air. “Weakling!” she declared imperiously, though her eyes were twinkling.

  It was then that the door opened. Janice stood there, her expression blank, while Tiny stood behind her with a clear view over her head. Moving without haste, he put one hand over Janice’s eyes, then helped her back out of the doorway. From behind them, Laina’s voice called, “What is it? Is he in there?” Her head darted around the doorframe for a second, then her cheeks reddened, and she jerked back. Tiny’s hand appeared—then slowly closed the door.

  Will and Selene had remained frozen, but now they looked at one another, exchanging embarrassed looks. Through the door, Will could hear their friends talking. “I’m scarred for life. I’ll never be able to unsee that,” said Laina.

  Janice’s tone was calmer. “At least he didn’t have to pee this time.”

  Tiny simply laughed.

  A short while later, the married couple timidly emerged from Selene’s bedroom. Laina hurried to give her best friend a long hug, while Will attempted to shift the focus elsewhere. “Is anyone hungry?”

  Tiny’s eyes lit up, but Laina had more pressing concerns. “Not anymore,” she said harshly. “Where have you been?”

  “Here. I couldn’t find anyone after I sorted things out with the king,” answered Will. “The entire city was deserted.”

  His sister glared at him, and he noticed that her eyes were red and swollen. “You told me to get them out of the city.”

  “But everyone was gone,” he said, knowing he was missing some important clue.

  Janice intervened. “After we got the students out, Laina insisted on coming back for the citizens, in spite of her father’s objections. We found Tiny at the school entrance, along with all the bodies. You were nowhere to be found, and we couldn’t wake him up.”

  “They had to use a cart to carry me out,” Tiny boasted with a grin.

  “And when he did finally wake up the next day, what he had to say…,” Laina’s voice tapered off as her throat closed up. She went to the window, facing away from them.

  Janice helped once more. “His story wasn’t very reassuring. So we spent the next day waiting miserably. It took everything we had to keep the people from returning to their homes, but fortunately Laina can be very persuasive when she puts her mind to it.”

  Selene smiled faintly. “Another speech? You really do have a gift, Laina.”

  Laina still wouldn’t turn around, and she was busily rubbing her face with one sleeve.

  Janice continued, “So the entire populace camped outside that day and the following night. We only returned this morning, when it was obvious that the city wasn’t going to be destroyed. We’ve been trying to find you ever since.”

  “You could have left a note somewhere. Something!” exclaimed Laina, her composure crumbling again and angry tears falling to her cheeks.

  Will crossed the room in two large strides and pulled her into a firm embrace. They stood that way for several minutes, and when he stepped back and looked at his friends, he saw an excess of moisture in everyone’s eyes. More hugs were the only solution.

  When things finally calmed down, Tiny brough
t up an urgent concern. “You asked if we were hungry a few minutes ago. I think we should revisit the topic.”

  Laina wasn’t ready to let him off the hook, though. She shook her head. “He still hasn’t told us what happened.”

  “We can talk and eat,” suggested Tiny plaintively.

  Laina threw up her hands. “Fine!”

  They went to the palace kitchens and were promptly rushed out. While Selene’s presence made a strong impression, they were told it would be some time. The forced evacuation and subsequent return had left the palace in a state of disarray. The returning soldiers and servants had wiped out the food that was already prepared, and it would take some time to get things back in order. Will suggested they return to Wurthaven. “I know my kitchen, and I can make a better meal anyway.”

  Selene lifted one brow. “Your kitchen?”

  He refused to capitulate. “Your house, my kitchen.”

  “Our home,” she corrected, leaning forward to rub noses with him.

  Laina gagged. “There went my appetite again.”

  “I’m still hungry,” Tiny insisted.

  They left the palace and headed for Wurthaven. Will resumed telling his story. Earlier with Selene, he had ended at the point where he and Tiny separated, so he began with his entrance into the old Arenata residence. When it came to the point at which Androv had started inflicting terrible injuries, he tried to gloss over them with less dramatic phrasing. Selene’s face went pale at those points, but Laina demanded more detail.

  “Wait,” said his sister, holding up one hand. “What do you mean he took the rod and broke your wrist? You had the iron-body transformation going, right?”

  Will winced. “He just squeezed, and it sort of crushed all the bones.” He watched Selene, carefully, noticing a pained look on her face.

  Laina nodded, urging him to continue, but less than a minute later she interrupted again. “You said he ran you through with the sword. What does that mean? From behind?”

  Will nodded.

  “Where did it go in?”

  He pointed to his spine.

  “Ouch,” said Laina, with a grimace. “What does that feel like?”

  “Sort of like your lower body is being burned alive, but I think it’s just the nerves, like a phantom pain, since I couldn’t actually move my legs,” he explained.

  “If he stabbed you in the back, how did your guts come out?”

  “He kept working the sword back and forth.” Will demonstrated by moving his hand back and forth across his midsection. “That’s when everything just sort of—spilled out.”

  Janice gagged and ran for the bushes. Meanwhile, Selene exclaimed, “Please stop. I can’t bear thinking about it anymore.”

  Laina gave her friend an uncompromising look. “Don’t be such a wilted flower. I want to know what happened. He’s obviously fine now.”

  Will held up his hand. “It’s all right. That’s the worst of it. After that, I defeated him with a simple combination of spells.”

  “How?” demanded Laina incredulously. “One arm was broken, the other broken or dislocated, your spine was severed, and your guts were all over the floor! Not to mention this Androv was apparently immune to virtually every form of attack, magical or otherwise. There’s no possible way you could have beaten him at that point.”

  Will couldn’t help but embellish the story slightly. “I had a wind-wall spell prepared already, and since he didn’t seem to care what I did, I readied another spell.” He glanced at his wife so he could watch her reaction. “Selene’s Solution.”

  Janice frowned, Laina blinked, and Selene gaped then said, “Tell the truth. What did you really do?”

  Will drew an ‘x’ over his heart. “I swear to the Mother. That’s what I did.”

  “Now I know he’s full of shit,” stated Laina, but Selene waved her to silence as her brain mulled over the possibility.

  “Let him finish,” said Selene.

  Will smiled. “So, I was lying there, half dead and stricken with unbelievable pain, and I looked Androv right in the eye and told him, ‘You may think you’ve beaten me, but you’re about to make a clean exit from this world.’ I cut loose with the wind-wall, and while he was still whirling around in dust form, I used Selene’s spell to fatally tidy him right into oblivion.” He stared at them to gauge their reactions, but no one said anything, so he added, “Get it? It was a tidy termination.”

  Selene groaned, and Tiny began chuckling.

  “A clean kill?” suggested Will. “A hygienic homicide?”

  Laina pointed at him accusingly. “I don’t believe any of it, liar.”

  Selene broke in, “I think the spell would work, actually. But the rest…” She started shaking her head.

  Janice returned, having recovered from her nausea. “He’s terrible when he thinks he has an audience.”

  Laina agreed. “I’ll believe the rest, but there’s no way you said that bit about a ‘clean exit.’ You can barely think straight when you’re not being tortured.” Everyone nodded, seeming to come to a consensus. Then Laina looked at the others. “Did he try to tell you about his philosophical revelation regarding lies and naked people? I’ve never heard anything so stupid in all my life.”

  Tiny and Will fell back slightly, letting the women take the lead while they began to enthusiastically discuss his flaws. The squire looked at him with pity. “It was a good story.”

  “You believed me though, right?”

  Tiny draped a large arm over his shoulder. “Listen, Will. I trust you, and trust is something you give a friend even if you think they might be lying, because lies are like clothes…”

  Will punched him in the side. “Let go of me, you traitor!” They laughed together the rest of the way home, where they found the remainder of the Nerrow family waiting with a big lunch already prepared, courtesy of Armand.

  The powerful embraces he received from Tabitha and Agnes warmed him all the way through, and the final, unexpected hug from Mark Nerrow brought him almost to tears. After a year separated from Selene, it was the best day he could remember ever having.

  Keep an eye out for the next book:

  Disciple of War

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