by Guy Antibes
~~~
CHAPTER SIX
~
A FTER TWO WEEKS OF TRYING, RICKY WAS ABOUT TO ADMIT DEFEAT tutoring inmates who didn’t want to be taught, other than one young inmate and Kela, the other attendees of his afternoon class did little more than fill out Ricky’s sheets and ignore the exercises. He stopped Master Hisso on the teacher’s way into the morning class.
“I don’t think I’m making any progress except for two students,” Ricky said. “Lela Torris and Paolo Cistero.”
Hisso looked disappointed. “Work with them for another week and report back,” the teacher said. “I wouldn’t have given them to you if they were good students, you understand.”
“I do, Master Hisso.”
“What have you done to help the girl? She has made significant progress in the class.”
Ricky smiled. “Her problem was not being able to pronounce words correctly in her head, so she couldn’t recognize them when she read. I spent extra time on pronunciation drills, reading other books.”
Hisso raised an eyebrow. “By yourself? You two, alone?”
“We met at the library. I worked with Kela Torris in sight of the guard.”
“That is proper then. You know there are strict guidelines about boy-girl interaction at the Home ever since Warden Sarini took over.”
“I didn’t,” Ricky said, “but I used common sense.”
Hisso relaxed. “Good thinking. You can continue to work with her. I think Paolo has made enough progress that we can end your sessions this afternoon. I might need you later. There is constant turnover in my classes.”
“Thank you for the opportunity,” Ricky said.
The teacher gave Ricky a curt nod and left him in the corridor. Ricky watched him unlock his classroom and disappear inside. He didn’t know if he truly felt that the tutoring experience helped him. Paolo would have caught on anyway.
He was glad to be rid of the students and glad that he could still help Lela. She was much smarter than she seemed, now that her accent had thinned out a bit with all the reading they had done.
Ricky might have time to continue his own studying. He found two more texts on sorcery, but they were newer volumes that didn’t reveal as much as the first one he had found. He walked down to the library and saw a new guard looking very bored.
“Where’s Henni?” Ricky said.
“The permanent guard? He’ll be back in a few days. Sick, he is,” the man said. “What do you want?”
“I spend my time down here since I already know my letters and numbers. In the afternoons, I tutor a girl inmate.”
The guard frowned. “Hanky-panky is not allowed here.”
“Henni acted as a chaperone, sir,” Ricky said. “She is a foreigner, and we’ve been trying to teach her how to read and write better.”
“I’m not interested in your love life. Don’t bring her down here. Go get me some water.” He shoved a battered metal pitcher into Ricky’s arms. “None of that wretched pump water down here. Go to the kitchen.”
Ricky shrugged and did as the guard asked. He figured that he had been lucky to have Henni as the library guard. The new man didn’t look like he enjoyed his duty and didn’t want Ricky around. He trudged up the stairs and knocked on the locked kitchen door.
A woman put her face to the little window in the door. “What do you want?” she said.
Ricky could hardly hear her voice. He lifted up the pitcher. “I’m on an errand for a guard.”
She made a face and opened the door. “We don’t like distractions,” the woman said with a pinched face. “Next time, if you want to get in, there is a door opposite that is usually unlocked.” She pointed to the busy kitchen. “Come in.”
Ricky waited at the pump sink for a few minutes before he had a chance to fill up the pitcher. He looked around the hot, busy, room. The cooks had keys to retrieve knives from a cabinet. Everything was stacked as neatly as possible.
“Don’t inmates work off detention in the kitchen?” Ricky asked the cook behind him waiting for Ricky to finish.
“Late afternoons, before dinner,” the young woman said. “We work all the inmates to death, so don’t be one of them.”
Ricky picked up the teasing tone. “I won’t!” he said as he left by the door opposite.
He wanted to know how to get to it from the outside and found it opened into a little alcove. One door led into the building, another looked like it was for storage, and another led outside. He opened the door to the storage room and saw shelves filled with food and boxes of utensils. Around the corner, he noted a stairway leading down into the basement. He figured it might be used for cool storage.
Ricky was tempted to explore further, but he needed to get back to the library. The guard grudgingly thanked him for the water and told him to be quick about his business. He didn’t want to be caught wandering the corridors with no place to go, so he examined the books.
Out of the guard’s sight, Ricky spelled a light and went looking for an old history book to read. They were the most interesting. He strolled to the very back where he had put the oldest books and pulled a few out, putting them on a table. After reading a few chapters on trade between cities, Ricky realized that the new guard probably wouldn’t remind him he had to go to his gardening assignment.
He put his light up to replace the books but noticed a seam behind the shelf. He pulled a few more books out exposing a line. Was there a door behind the shelf? Ricky heard voices, quickly put the books back, and extinguished his light. He walked back to the front of the library.
“Hendrico Valian? Warden wants to see you,” a guard said.
Ricky followed the man upstairs.
“You know the way,” the guard said and carried on.
The warden’s door was ajar, and the secretary was gone.
“You need to do something differently,” a shrill male voice said. “I won’t have you protecting one of your inmates. I can always find a new warden.”
“You think to intimidate me? Do you forget who I am?”
“Your days are numbered. Galdacci has already announced his retirement from the Council of Notables. You’ll soon lose your support from Sealio.”
“When?” the warden said. An urgency crept into her voice.
“He hasn’t said, but I’d be surprised if he is still in office by the end of the year.”
Ricky tiptoed back a way and approached the warden’s office again, making loud footsteps.
“Hendrico must be here,” the warden said.
Ricky knocked on the door and stood, waiting.
“Come in,” the warden said.
Ricky poked his head in the door and entered. He gave a bow to Warden Sarini and to the thin man who sat with his legs crossed and his arms folded.
“This is Antino Pacci. He is one of the Duke of Applia’s aides.” The warden looked at Ricky. “I present Hendrico Valian.”
Pacci gave Ricky a greasy smile. “Welcome to the Applia Juvenile Home.”
“I’ve been here for a bit more than three weeks,” Ricky said.
Pacci nodded his head and rubbed his hands together. “I understand you are a sorcerer. I heard you helped heat the baths of other inmates a few weeks ago.”
Ricky nodded but remembered to reply. “I did, Lord Pacci.”
“He’s no lord,” Warden Sarini said.
“Master Pacci?” Ricky said.
“That will do,” the little man said after a nasty glare at the warden. “I read your file. You won the summer novice competition in Tossa?”
“Along with a partner,” Ricky said.
Pacci picked up a slip of paper. “You were awarded a prize for the best spell. You, not your partner, received this prize?”
Ricky shook his head. “Perhaps. I wasn’t around when the results were announced, Master Pacci.”
“I see. The Home is starting a new class.” Pacci glanced at the warden and lifted his chin. “A science class. I would like you to attend. It’s i
n the fourth morning hour. You are free at that time?”
Ricky nodded. “I am, Master Pacci.”
“It will start in two weeks. Make sure you attend. Your building supervisor will notify you about the classroom.” He flitted his hand. “That is all.”
Ricky bowed to both and left the office, closing the door behind him. The secretary sat at her desk.
“Who is Antino Pacci?” Ricky asked.
“Someone you definitely don’t want to know,” she said. “Don’t hang about here.”
Ricky walked to his room and sat on the bed. He linked with Loria.
I’m in class, she said.
I have another name to check on. Antino Pacci. Have you gotten any information on the others? Ricky said.
And how are you, too? Loria said. She sounded a little peeved. How is your little Fisttian doing?
Fine, I guess, Ricky said. I hope you are well. I haven’t had any fights since the first week, so I am doing okay. What is going on at the academy?
Broomball! We have teams and everything. Some new students transferred in and one of them is simply an amazing athlete! You’ll have to play when you return in the spring.
If I last that long, Ricky said. I don’t think they have a big enough space to play it here. The lunch bell rang. I’ve got to go. Check on the man, Antino Pacci.
I will. Bye.
For some reason that was an unsatisfactory communication. At least Loria was enjoying the school year. Ricky was anxious about learning more about the teachers and the warden and now, Antino Pacci. He jumped up and headed for lunch.
~
Ricky’s tutoring students met the news of the cessation of the sessions with different reactions. Kela stayed behind.
“Does this mean my session will end?”
Ricky shook his head. “Not at all, but we won’t be able to continue until Henni comes back. He’s out sick, and the guard who took his place isn’t interested in helping.”
She sighed, “I like to learn. I improved my language?”
Ricky nodded. “You have. I’ll see you in a few days.”
Having nothing better to do, Ricky descended into the library. The guard station was empty. He walked to the back and began to unload the books from the shelf to take a better look at the seam he had spotted in the morning.
He struggled to move the shelf out and looked at the outline of a door. Someone had done a poor plastering job to conceal it. Ricky wondered what to do. He went to the supply closet and took out a pen. It had a sharpish end, so he hoped it would function as a focus for the intended spell.
Ricky thought of removing the mortar and tried different pitches until he found one that filled him with a certain power. He touched the tip of the pen to the plaster and willed a tiny bit of power into a crack. Bit by bit, using his will to vibrate, the plaster began to turn into tiny flakes and granules.
He spotted the space between the door and the jamb and continued to work until the outline of a door appeared. He removed the plaster covering the hinges but frowned when he discovered he had no way of opening it. Someone had removed the knob.
Ricky didn’t dare spend any more time on his project. He wiped the granules into a little pile and replaced the shelf. He heard a noise just as the shelf slid into place. Ricky quickly replaced the books and went to the cleaning closet and pulled out a broom.
“Time to do some cleaning up,” he said to the temporary guard.
“Do you think this is your library or something?” the guard asked.
“Henni didn’t mind.”
“I do. I’ll give you a few minutes more, and then you can leave.”
Ricky hurriedly removed the plaster evidence. He couldn’t see the outline of the door in the poor sunlight that filtered through the few dirty windows close to the top of the outside wall. He replaced the broom and the pan, carrying the dust in a rag.
“I’ll get rid of the rest and won’t return for a few days.”
The guard just grunted as he pulled out a ratty book with the picture of a scantily clad woman on the front. No wonder he didn’t want Ricky around.
He took one of the sorcery books and walked to his room with the volume shoved down the back of his pants. He spotted Gil, his former ‘buddy,’ slip through a door. Ricky wondered where that door led.
Just as Ricky put his hand on the knob, Master Pisan walked up. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Gil walked through here. I was going to follow.”
“Why?”
Ricky shrugged. “Just curious.”
“You can spend your curious hours picking up chamber pots. Detention for a week,” Pisan said. He pulled a little stack of papers out of a pocket and gave it to Ricky. “Main floor cleaning station, not far from my office. Go now.”
Ricky looked at the note. It said one week of chamber pot detention for the bearer. He wondered if he should throw it away, but perhaps Master Pisan might give him two weeks of detention. He sighed and hid the sorcery book before seeking out the cleaning station, whatever that was.
He found a door with a filthy sign that said ‘cleaning station’ close to Pisan’s office. Ricky grinned and wondered if anyone understood the irony of the sign. He knocked.
“Come in,” a woman’s voice called.
Ricky opened the door. Two women, dressed like cooks but in brown instead of white, looked up at him. One of them brightened up. “Detention?”
Ricky showed her the note. The other woman snatched it out of Ricky’s hand. “She can’t read,” the woman said as if Ricky should have known. After reading it, the woman cackled. “Won’t take a moment to train the likes of you.”
“Take that cart and dump the chamber pot contents inside. Then take the pots to the washing-up area and rinse them out before putting them back,” the illiterate woman said. “Takes a little more than an hour for this building. The second, third, and fourth floors are the same. Break the cart, and it’ll be more than detention for you.”
“How do I get in the rooms?” Ricky said.
“See that key?” the illiterate woman pointed to a key on the wall. “It opens all the rooms in this building.”
Ricky nodded. The other woman pushed a cart with sturdy wheels at him. “Keep the lid on the tub, or you’ll stink up the building.”
Ricky nodded again. “I’ll get started.”
“If you hear the dinner bell, you stop immediately, hear? Return the key and go have your dinner, or you’ll go hungry.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ricky said.
He wheeled the cart out and lugged it up the stairs. He decided to start on the top floor so he wouldn’t be dragging a full tub of slop up the steps. He stopped and gawked. The fourth floor was for girls.
He groaned inside, but didn’t see anyone about. He knocked on the doors before he pulled out the key and unlocked everything. Ricky piled the dirty chamber pots on the cart and finally reached the washroom at the end of the hall. He rinsed out the pots and put them back before he trundled the cart down to the next floor.
He decided that boys ate more than girls, or never made it to the washroom at night when he emptied the third-floor pots. A couple of younger boys jeered at him while he went about his work. He tuned out the surroundings and focused his thoughts on the mysterious door in the library.
Ricky finished his stinky task and wheeled the cart, now empty of its contents, into the cleaning room. The two ladies weren’t there, but Ricky put the key on the hook anyway.
On a whim, he used his key in the cleaning station door. It nearly worked if he forced it. Ricky wondered if his key was close to the master, but it didn’t open Master Pisan’s office, so the keys to the cleaning station and his must have been very similar.
Ricky hadn’t been careful enough during detention, so his clothes smelled worse than they should have. He thought he had the time, so he took a quick bath, having to lug buckets to a tub since it wasn’t raining. He didn’t spend much time in the tub, and then he washed
his clothes.
After using a bit more magic to dry them, he heard the dinner bell ring, just as he finished up.
A few older boys, drenched in sweat entered to take a bath but turned around when Ricky said the dinner bell had rung.
“What are you doing in here?” One of them said.
“Chamber pot duty. I splashed a bit on me. I’ll try not to do that again.”
The boys laughed. “Serves you right, being a snitch and all.”
“Snitch?” Ricky said. “Who did I snitch on?”
“Gil.”
“When did I—”
One of the boys pushed him from behind.
“Think you’re smart, eh?”
“Not particularly.”
Ricky felt a blow on his back. “Hey,” he said, turning around. “I didn’t do anything to you.”
“Don’t have to.”
Ricky dodged a punch and then shouted his trick spell. He slipped ahead of them after pushing them all to the floor. He didn’t want to show up at dinner with bruised knuckles, so he left them and found a place to wait before everything slowed down.
When a boy walked past, Ricky followed him into the dining hall and stood in line. At least the stew was new, he thought, as he grabbed his food and found Gil eating by himself.
“Did you tell other boys that I snitched on you?” Ricky said.
Gil blushed. “Maybe.”
“When they come in and start bumping into me, you tell them I didn’t.”
His former buddy flinched. “And if I don’t?”
Ricky cracked his knuckles. “When you least expect it.”
Gil nodded.
Ricky noticed the three boys looking surprised when they saw Ricky sitting next to their friend. One sat next to Ricky, and the other two put their trays down on the other side, looking at Ricky with angry faces.
“Uh, Ricky is okay,” Gil said. “I might have exaggerated a few things.”
Ricky didn’t say a word and continued to shovel down his food.
One of the boys glared at Ricky. “How did you get away?”
“I have my secrets,” Ricky said after swallowing a mouthful of food. “I am blindingly fast.”