by Guy Antibes
Norra had to keep a little annoyance out of her face as Delia did more unpacking than she did hanging. Her new roommate tried on half of her things.
“What’s this? A little doll, how cute. Did your little sister hide it in here?”
Norra ground her teeth. “No. I had it when I was a little girl. I brought it here to remind me of home.” What was Norra to do? She felt bullied by Delia and put her hands into fists. She wanted to hit the obnoxious girl, but Norra just stood there and took it. Delia made her feel like a servant the instant Norra had pulled the trunk into the room after Delia refused to help her.
“How sweet,” Delia said, and then she pursed her lips and her face softened. “I’ve never lived long in any place, so I moved all over Hestvestia until my mother sent me here two years ago when I was sixteen. She was relieved to get rid of me.”
“That can’t be right. Mothers always love their daughters.” But Norra thought of her mother’s own behavior of often pushing her off to do things and then chastising her for doing them.
“You lived a sheltered life in your little Bordon Forest. Life isn’t so idyllic.” Delia’s face lost some of its cheerful affectation.
Norra ventured to say, “But we can be friends and live in our own little room here at Miss Podingoode’s?”
“Poddy’s.” Delia corrected her with a smile and then hugged Norra in the middle of the room. “Sorry if I was a little rude. Sometimes that’s just me, but I do want to be your friend. I see something different in you.” Delia began to help hang up Norra’s dresses.
Delia wasn’t so bad, after all. She reminded herself that making friends could be an uncomfortable experience. Perhaps Delia would be a suitable roommate after all, if that ended up being the end of her rudeness. The girl was two years older and would know the ins and outs of the place.
~
“Your duty as a woman is to serve your husband in a competent fashion, manage the servants, not let them manage you, and fill the rest of your time doing something useful.” The woman could drone on and after two months, Norra needed to concentrate to keep from nodding off.
In contrast to Miss Nonci’s thinness, Miss Poddy was quite voluptuous. She always wore dark velvets with lace tops and lace sleeves and, for a hat, a little version of a scholar’s mortarboard. Her tassels were always pink, no matter what color her velvet gown. She stained her lips with a dark rouge and wore her hair up. Miss Poddy used some kind of hair preparation that made her hair stick out sideways from her face a bit before it swept back in wings. To Norra, the wings looked like dog ears.
Norra glanced at Miss Poddy, droning on and on about the duty of a woman while all of the girls worked on embroidering handkerchiefs that they would send to their fathers. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that she knew all of the academics that Miss Poddy and her assistants taught the thirty girls in the school. Her father had taught his daughter too much.
She sighed and looked at the embroidery. Was this all she had to look forward to for the next three years? However, she knew that her schooling would eventually cover the elements of grace that Norra knew she lacked. Norra felt coltish and awkward as she entered her teenage years and she was ready to put that behind her. She came here to learn to be a woman. ‘Forceful and Composed’ were two words he used often. Norra had no conception of how a woman was forceful. Certainly her mother couldn’t claim that distinction, nor one of being Composed. Perhaps that would be her goal in the first year of the school.
Back up in her room, she sprawled on her bed reading a geography book she’d read before. Delia struggled reading the same book, turning the maps one way and then another. Her eyes lit up. “Why don’t we sneak out? There’s a new kind of shop in town that sells something called coffee.”
“Coffee?”
“Oh yes.” Delia sat up. “It’s a drink made out of cooked berries. They discovered them growing in the mountains in the southern part of Taulone.” Delia flipped through her book and showed Norra a map. “Somewhere here.” She pointed at a map.
“That’s actually Nastalia.” Norra shrugged and then brightened. “Let’s do it. I’m climbing walls.” The prospect of being somewhere else at that minute appealed to Norra as she slapped the book shut.
~
Twilight was about to depart when the pair walked into the coffee shop. The place looked like something between a teashop for ladies and an inn’s taproom. The floors shined from polishing and prints of nobles doing stupid things decorated the painted walls. Both sexes were seated in the shop. Feeling a little guilty about sneaking out, Norra let out a deep breath, a little uncertain about the place. Everyone spoke in low tones. On the rare occasions her father took her to pubs in nearby villages, the places rocked with songs and lewd behavior. Here it seemed that everyone drank the liquid from tiny cups with their noses in the air.
“It’s not like a tavern. Ladies are here,” Delia said, whispering and giving Norra an excited look. Norra had to admit that after eight weeks at Miss Poddy’s that she might be ready for a tiny cup of something exotic. She had found that ‘exotic’ didn’t exist at school.
They were led to a small table and each ordered a cup of coffee and a pastry.
“This is supposed to be good?” Norra made a face. “It’s so bitter.”
Delia tried to look blasé about the whole thing.
A short young man, dressed in black, entered the room and took a table by himself. Delia laughed as she turned around to glance at the newcomer. “The boy is dressed as a wizard, but he can’t be more than five feet tall.”
A wizard? Norra hadn’t ever seen a healthy one before. She furrowed her brow and said, “Don’t be so judgmental. He could be the greatest wizard on Polda and we wouldn’t know it. My father told me not to trust them.” She had certainly seen a wizard before and had successfully tucked the experience away, until now.
“Father.” Delia snorted and then turned back around. “My mother has always thought that wizards are exciting with all that magical power. Once their wars are over, they’ll be in vogue once again.”
“But what good is having power if you use it to dominate others?” Norra said. She tried another sip and then looked around. Other ladies were dipping their pastries into their mugs and then eating them coffee-soaked. She tried it. “Much better. Delia, dip your pastry into the coffee like this and then eat it. Coffee tastes much better soaked into something sweet.”
Delia was about to dip when a man, wearing a dirty innkeeper’s apron, charged into the coffee house. He spotted the wizard and marched to his table, yelling at the little man.
“You see, if I was a wizard I would make that man leave.” Norra twirled her fork and played like she cast a spell. The little wizard turned and looked right at Norra with an astonished look on his face.
“I’ll see that you won’t embarrass my daughter again,” said the bartender. He grabbed onto the wizard’s gown. The little man intoned a spell and the bartender skidded across the room and sat down hard at the doorway. The innkeeper’s face went white as he rose and hastily left.
“You’ll have to go.” Norra could barely hear the owner of the coffee shop talking to the little wizard. She looked away and then concentrated on her coffee. She felt a tap on her shoulder.
“The man…” The little wizard stood just behind her and looked back at the table he had just sat, watching a maid clear it. His eyes brightened. He turned back to her. “You shook a fork at him. I didn’t feel a spell, but I noticed a tiny pulse in your red-gold mage light. I can’t believe it, a woman mage? There hasn’t been such a thing for a thousand years since the curse. Excuse me, my name is Fenning.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Norra put her nose in the air. “My friend and I are students at Miss Podingoode’s. Ladies wouldn’t be bothered with magic and spells or anything like that. Even if we could, we wouldn’t use magic to injure an innocent man. “
Fenning put up his hands. “He wasn’t as innocent as
he seemed. I’m sorry to have bothered you, but you are unique in the world. I get your message young lady. May I know your name?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Norra folded her arms.
“Norra of Bordon Forest,” Delia said nodding at Norra. “I’m Delia Stone.” She put her hand out and shook Fenning’s hand.
Norra gave the man a curt nod. “It’s time to go, Delia.” She emphasized her roommate’s name and stood, tossing a few coins on the table.
Delia had no choice as Norra rushed them both out of the coffee house, leaving Fenning still standing at their table.
“Why did you tell him my name?” Norra shook in anger and embarrassment. “What if he casts an evil spell on us? He might turn us into toads or something.”
“You told him we live at Poddy’s.” Delia stuck out her lower lip. “I was just being polite.”
Norra rolled her eyes and gave up. “Well that episode is over. I did like the coffee once it was sweetened up a bit by the roll.”
“What did he mean about you being a mage?” Delia looked at Norra from the corner of her eye.
“Probably the same approach he used on the barman’s daughter. Look at how upset the father was when he charged in. Fenning probably diddled with his daughter.” Delia’s eyes flashed at Norra’s comment. Norra just shook her head. “Let’s hope he doesn’t pester us. How did you like your coffee?” She successfully changed the subject as they walked back to Miss Poddy’s and sneaked back in the rear door and crept up the stairs.
~
Miss Podingoode stood at the second floor stairs and called up. “A, ahem, a gentleman to see Norra.” The girls were required to keep their doors open during the day unless they were dressing so they could be summoned.
“Who could that be?” Delia said.
“My father visited me just last week.” She adjusted her clothes in the mirror and re-tied her ponytail. Miss Podingoode had given her just one more week to come up with a hairstyle that brought her hair above her neck.
‘Time to put childhood behind you, my dear,’ Miss Poddy had said. Her comment didn’t sit well with Norra. Was she really ready to put childhood behind her? After their adventure in the coffee shop, life did seem a bit different. Perhaps she felt a bit more excitement, but she didn’t know if childhood was quite ready to abandon her. Norra looked in the mirror and felt a certain wariness about the responsibility of growing up and facing the world. Now she had to face a bothersome visitor. Was the man a worker on her father’s estate?
She walked down the stairs and Fenning stood in the entryway with his shoes caked with mud.
“She wouldn’t let me in the parlor,” Fenning said shrugging his shoulders. “I have very important news.”
“Outside,” Norra said, pointing out the door. She made an effort to even out her voice. She did not want to talk to him. She didn’t want to have him tell her that her ‘dream’ was real. But his presence only proved to remind her of the encounter with the dying wizard.
“I talked to my master about you. Uh,” Fenning’s forehead showed a sheen of sweat despite the cold. “He is going to kidnap you tonight.”
Norra’s mouth dropped open. She tried to talk, but nothing came out.
“You’re afraid aren’t you?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Well, of course! You come in here and tell me that I’m going to be kidnapped? What have you gotten me into?” She felt her pulse quicken and forgot about the cold outside as anger overtook her mind. “I am not a wizard,” she said through clenched teeth.
“It doesn’t matter to Master Ventor. He feels he can do anything to anybody. He’s of the old school, but a good teacher. It’s hard to find one in Polda when you find yourself possessed of the talent.” Fenning paused and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I knew he might want to talk to you, but not this! I wouldn’t have told him had I known.”
“But you did.” Norra felt like losing her temper on purpose to make this little wizard cringe, but just couldn’t. That didn’t keep her from feeling real fear. If Fenning thought she was a mage and this ‘Master Ventor’ did, then how could she deny it?
“I only mentioned it to him, just in passing.”
Norra glared at him. “Right, just in passing.” She folded her arms. “What am I to do?” She shivered and felt the cold.
“I’ll follow him and protect you when he comes to get you.”
She looked at the little man and shook her head. “Please, please tell him I’m not a wizard or a magician or whatever. It’ll be just a waste of time. What you saw was just a coincidence.”
Fenning looked up into her eyes. “No coincidence, Norra of Bordon Forest. I know what I see and your mage light is as strong a one as I’ve ever seen. A nice rosy gold color…unique, and my mentor can detect it from the street in front of your school. But don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” He looked worried when he turned around and left Norra standing on the boardwalk in front of the school.
She hoped upon hope that Fenning misinterpreted what his tutor told him. Why did that wizard have to die on her?
~~~~
Chapter Three
Flight
~
Delia liked to sleep with the window opened a crack. Norra didn’t mind, even through the winter. She’d be safe because they were on the fourth floor and no one could scale the wall of the building. Miss Poddy’s house was locked up as safe as a counting house.
A big crow landed on the windowsill. Norra got up from bed to shoo the bird away. It put a wing in the window crack and lifted it up. She couldn’t help but stop in shock. The bird hopped into the room and expanded into the black-robed form of a middle-aged man.
He gestured and a ball of white lit up the room. Delia screamed, but it came out as more of a squeak as the wizard gestured with his hand. Norra backed up against the wall, biting her knuckle.
“Go away!” she said and flicked her wrist as if the man were an errant fly or a little mouse. Fear froze her ability to act. She couldn’t muster up the courage to move away from the wall.
“Fenning was right. She does have power, but she obviously has no ability to use it” he said to himself and that really frightened Norra.
“I’m a person. Talk to me, don’t talk about me!” Norra said as desperation began to take over. “Go away, shoo!” She thought hard and tried to throw some kind of spell at the wizard. If it worked on the innkeeper and Fenning was right, what else could she do? Norra didn’t know, but she was too terrified to think of anything else. She tried another gesture, but this time the wizard slammed her against the wall with a spell, hurting her shoulder. A blackbird flew into the room. A silvery, glittery light surrounded the wizard and then he crumpled senseless to the floor.
Fenning appeared, looking down at his fallen mentor. “I’m afraid he’s dead.” He looked forlornly at Norra. “I couldn’t stop him.”
“I’d say you stopped him,” Delia said as she poked her head out of her covers, not being able to take her eyes off the crumpled body.
“You have to leave… tonight.” Fenning rubbed his hands in dismay. “I’ll go with you. Ventor sent a few messages out. Others will come looking for you. A female isn’t supposed to be born to power.”
“I wasn’t, I assure you.” Norra weighed telling Fenning in her mind, but it wasn’t the time. She looked down at the dreadful man at her feet. His open eyes spoke of his demise. She felt tinges of hysteria and quickly cast them aside. That couldn’t keep her from rubbing her hands and feeling an extraordinary level of anxiety upsetting her stomach.
“I’ll take you. I have money in Hiddington and enough to take us there.”
“I’ll just go home.” Norra wanted to go home where it was safe. That’s where she really desired to flee—back into her father’s arms. His comfort would erase this awful episode.
“Once they know you aren’t here, the first place they’ll look is at your home. You have to flee. I suggest you leave a note to have sent to your parents, sa
ying you have left for someplace other than Hiddington.”
Norra couldn’t believe what Fenning was asking. “I can’t do that. You think I’ll just go with you? Look at what you did to the barman’s daughter.” Could such a simple ploy rid herself of the little man?
“Ha! Things aren’t what they seem. He came after me because I wouldn’t take his daughter’s bait. She tried to seduce me!” He poked his thumb in his chest.
“You?” Delia said.
“Yes,” Fenning began to color. “I’m sure they would have blackmailed me. I caught her at a prevarication while in a delicate position and left, ending up at the coffee shop.”
Norra grunted. “I still don’t believe you.”
Fenning pointed to the crumpled form on the floor. “Is this an illusion? Is it?”
Norra again felt fear clutch her stomach and the inevitability of flight made her shake. She didn’t want to leave Miss Podingoode’s. She especially didn’t want to leave her father and Bordon Forest, but she couldn’t put her parents in danger. That would never do. She gazed down at the body. This was no dream to wake from. She had to flee. Anger flared. How could this happen to her?
“Norra, I’ll go with you. I’m awfully bored here. Let’s go find some adventure,” Delia said. She actually had a smile on her face!
Now even her roommate was against her. How could she just, just leave like that? Was any of this real? Yet Ventor’s body remained on the floor. Her legs shook. Norra felt a weakness she hadn’t experienced before, but, if Fenning spoke the truth, more wizards would come. The dying wizard did say he needed a mage to perform the transfer. She looked at Fenning. If she really did have this power, and at this point in time it looked like a distinct possibility, she would need a wizard that she trusted. Would he go with her all the way to wherever Magia was? Ignorance was bliss, as her father used to say, but ignorance might get her killed along with her parents. She decided she’d have to face up to what happened in the forest.