by Guy Antibes
“Valian, stay behind,” Mattia said.
Ricky’s heart dropped. Talking to the intimidating Master Mattia was just what he wanted to avoid.
“Yes, Master Mattia.” He took a seat and waited until the last student took his folder.
Mattia didn’t ask another student to remain. Ricky looked at his teacher. “What is it you have to say, Master Mattia?”
Mattia pointed to Ricky’s folder. “Did you read my comments?”
Ricky opened the folder and quickly read Mattia’s critique of Ricky’s analysis. “You liked what I wrote?”
Mattia pursed his lips and then said, “Do my words indicate I did?”
“No,” Ricky said. “You were startled by my creativity.”
The teacher nodded. “Creativity is only one aspect of a good general. Your plans were adequate, but not astounding. You astounded me by the process. Listen closely to my words in the future. You will learn practical principals so you can apply them to the technique you used. I saw this as something a sorcerer might use to craft a performance or a writer to pen a novel. You have much to learn, but I daresay you are ahead of the others in this course.”
“Thank you, Master Mattia,” Ricky said.
“Don’t thank me until you have accomplished something,” Mattia said. He shooed Ricky out of the classroom.
Ricky grabbed his folder and spilled stew on it when he collected his lunch. He sat by himself, but a few of his classmates eventually sat by him.
“What did Mattia say?” one of them asked.
“Good technique, mediocre planning,” Ricky said. “I made sketches of the battlefield to plan. He liked that part.” Ricky didn’t elaborate on anything else Mattia said.
“At least he didn’t rip yours up like he did mine,” another boy said, flashing the torn paper in his folder.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it right now,” Ricky said. “I’d worry about what he says when the class ends, whenever that will be.”
And that worried Ricky. The man was shaping his fellow students, but to what end? With Warden Sarini’s opinion of what Mattia might be doing, Ricky didn’t expect a positive conclusion to the class.
~
Kela stood at the table when Ricky walked into the library after an awful lunch three weeks later. Mattia still hadn’t invited him down to the basement.
“When are we done?” she said. “Before you can’t come in afternoons?”
Ricky had to smile. She had worked hard to soften her accent for her two questions.
“Are you able to read better?”
She nodded. “You solved the problem. Now I will get better. I need help to know the terms.”
“Your speech is much smoother,” Ricky said. “We’ll find you a dictionary. There are a few here in the library.” Ricky found the newest one and gave it to her. “Henni will have to sign it out to you if you want to use it away from the library. Let’s go over a few of the final sorcery terms, and then we’ll read more in the novel, and I’ll show you what I did to read better.”
Kela smiled at Ricky as they sat down to go over the sorcery primer. It took them the rest of the afternoon, but Kela had very good pitch and knew pitch was important to get the specific power to make many of the spells work.
Ricky suspected first and second-year sorcery did much the same. He had done advanced spells but had missed learning these basic intonations. Ricky enjoyed learning with someone else. Kela finally found enthusiasm, and it made her sit straighter and brought some light to her face. It made her prettier in his mind.
He wondered about sharing the secret of the unopened door with her, but he didn’t trust her enough to tell her yet.
Their session ended, and Ricky stopped to talk to Henni.
“Have you written home about meeting Kela, yet?” the guard said.
“I’m permitted to send letters?”
Henni blinked in surprise. “Pisan didn’t tell you?” He looked away in disgust. “He is supposed to provide you with writing materials or will write the letter that you dictate once a month.”
“I’ve been here nearly two.” Ricky pressed his lips together. It wouldn’t be wise to show the intensity of the anger Ricky felt. His ability to communicate with Loria had failed, and he had just assumed he couldn’t get a message out to Saganet. “I never thought to ask.”
“How would you know?” Henni pointed at the supply closet. “Write one now, and I’ll send it outside the Home. That way Pisan won’t toss it away.”
“Would you do that for me?”
Henni smiled. “We’re friends, now, aren’t we?”
Ricky nodded and grinned. “More than ever.”
He didn’t waste a moment and pulled out some papers and a pencil and began to write. If no one in the Home would read his message, then he could name names and ask questions.
“How will I know if they ever get my letter? If Pisan destroys my outgoing letters, he’ll destroy any sent to the Home.”
“You can use my address. Just explain it in your letter,” Henni said.
“I’m not going to get you in trouble, am I?”
Henni shook his head. “If I ever need some sorcery done, I can ask you, can’t I?”
Ricky shrugged. “I’m not experienced, but if you ask something I can do, like create a sorcerous light, I can do that.”
Henni nodded. “That’s good enough for me.”
Ricky continued to write. He asked Saganet about all the names he had given to Loria. He didn’t hesitate to record that the power-linking had failed and he had arranged to correspond through a guard who had become his friend. He finished by describing the library and the old books that proved Saganet right about how the truth, as written, can change over time.
“There,” Ricky said. “Do you have any sealing wax?”
Henni shook his head. “I’ll get something from my landlord. He has that kind of thing.”
Ricky took a blank page and folded his letter into it, creating an envelope as he had been taught at the academy. He placed Saganet’s address on the letter.
“What is your address?”
Henni provided it, and that was that. Ricky had done all he could to re-establish contact with his guardian. He sat back in the chair and exhaled, not feeling quite so isolated.
“I’m going to do some poking around in the back. I might rearrange some shelves,” Ricky said.
Henni shrugged. “Whatever. Feel free to improve the place. It’s much better to be down here now that you’ve cleaned it all up.” He put his head down to take a nap.
Ricky slipped into the back and began removing books from the shelf in front of the door until he heard voices. He put the books back and went to a different shelf.
“You are Valian?” an unfamiliar guard said.
Ricky nodded. “I am, sir.”
“Come with me.”
Ricky followed obediently.
“Stay awake, Hendrico,” the guard said to Henni. They both laughed, but Henni gave Ricky a look that indicated he should be careful.
The guard led Ricky up to the main level and then to Ricky’s building and to the end of the hallway. Ricky looked at the guard who stopped and pulled out a set of keys.
“Down here,” the man said as he unlocked the door. Ricky looked down a set of stairs.
They appeared to have seen a lot of use, he thought as he followed the man down to the basement level. The stairs twisted at least twice. This basement was deeper than the one under the main building.
The final steps emptied out into a large arena. Boys trained with weapons underneath the entire footprint of Ricky’s building. Ricky saw Gil practicing with another inmate. He didn’t see anyone that struck him as his age.
“Report to Master Mattia,” the guard said, pushing Ricky towards his ‘science’ teacher.
Ricky looked back, but the guard had already made it to the landing and disappeared from view. The clacking of wooden swords reminded Ricky of Saganet’s gymnasium,
except the practice floor in the Home was twice the size. He walked across the floor to Mattia.
“I see you made it down here,” his teacher said. “I have been waiting weeks for Pacci to give me permission to include you.”
“This is what you said would eventually fill up my afternoons?” Ricky said.
Mattia nodded. “It is. We are training your fellow inmates to become soldiers.”
“Why?” Ricky said.
“As astute as I thought,” Mattia said, smiling at Ricky as if he expected the question. “The Duke of Applia has a project in mind and has permitted me, as well as others, to train inmates to fight. You can get released early from the Home and have a profession to walk into when you are released.”
“But I am only here for nine months. I have a place to go to when I leave.”
“I hope to convince you otherwise. We don’t have any battle sorcerers,” Mattia said.
Ricky looked around for a bit. “A boys’ army?”
“I’d rather think that the intent is having an army of trained young men.”
“Do I have a choice to train or to do what I want with my afternoons?”
Mattia’s smile turned into a straight line. “Not really, I would say conscripted is the proper term.”
Ricky didn’t like what he heard, but if he played along, he could learn battle spells. That did appeal to him. “All I have to do is learn spells?”
“No, you have to learn how to wield a weapon of some kind.”
“I guess I can already do that,” Ricky said.
Now that he knew where the older boys went during the afternoons, it didn’t seem like a revelation as much as he thought it might. The warden’s negative reaction to Antino Pacci and Master Mattia made more sense. She wasn’t a proponent of teaching the inmates fighting skills. Ricky knew he couldn’t trust a good percentage of the boys he had crossed paths with at the Home. What kind of unruly army did Mattia think he was creating?
Ricky had no choice, and he wished he had known about this before he wrote his letter to Saganet. Now, he’d have to write another one. He didn’t want to put Henni in a difficult spot. In fact, Ricky didn’t know if Henni supported Mattia or Warden Sarini.
“What do I do now?” Ricky said.
“You don’t look committed.”
Ricky looked Mattia in the eye. “Committed to what? I’ll train along with everyone else.”
Mattia narrowed his eyes; his lips turned up in a smile. Ricky could feel the man weighing if Ricky could be trusted or not. Ricky didn’t feel his acting skills were up to showing excitement at being forced into this ‘boy’s army.’
“Go over to our trainer.” Mattia pointed to a large man with a bald head watching a pair of inmates spar with wooden swords.
Ricky gave Mattia a bow. “Yes, Master Mattia.” Ricky’s bad feeling had just gotten a lot worse, but a training hall was always preferable to a torture chamber.
Ricky walked through shards of light coming into the basement from small, high windows at the very top of the walls. As he approached the trainer, he could see scars on the man’s face, arms, and hands. The man looked very experienced.
“I am Hendrico Valian,” Ricky said.
The trainer looked away from the sparring boys. “Address me as Master Poppi. You’re the sorcerer?”
“There are those that think I am,” Ricky said.
Poppi snorted. “I imagine you’ve never held a sword before?”
“I have had a bit of training. My guardian is the weapons master at Doubli Academy in Tossa.”
“Saganet Crabacci?”
Ricky nodded. “You know him?”
“I served with him for a brief time a long time ago, before his injury.” He examined Ricky more closely. “Care to spar with one of these boys?”
Ricky shrugged. “I can if you want me to.”
“I want you to,” Poppi said. He looked at the two boys, still going at it. “Stop.” He yanked the sword out of one youth’s hands and gave it to Ricky. “Show me you can use that thing.”
Ricky took the sword and swished it back and forth a bit. Ricky judged it had terrible balance, but his opponent’s sword looked the same.
“Trying to look impressive, Valian?” Poppi said.
“Trying to get a feel for this sword. It isn’t very good.”
“You can tell? Good.” Poppi folded his arms. “Go ahead. Show me what you know.”
Ricky didn’t want to look too good, so he thought he would just defend. He held up his sword to indicate he was ready, but his opponent just slashed through Ricky’s position.
Ricky had to jump back and deflect a torrential rain of blows. The bigger boy didn’t let up, so Ricky abandoned his defensive strategy and began to poke his partner between his slashes.
His opponent backed up once one of Ricky’s thrusts hit home. Ricky took advantage of the boy backing up and mixed up thrusts and slashes of his own. Where the boy’s attacks were deflected by Ricky, his opponent’s defensive moves were less effective. Ricky began to slap his sword on the hand of his partner, and that slowed up the match.
Ricky’s conditioning work with Saganet began to show, and the other boy, who had already been sparring, began to flag and suddenly threw down his sword and raised his hands.
“I’m finished!” the boy said, and putting his reddened hands underneath his armpits, he stalked off.
Ricky stepped back. He straightened his back and picked up his opponent’s sword, waiting for some word from Master Poppi.
“Adequate for a sorcerer,” Poppi said. “The inmate you defeated is one of our better swordsmen, so you are also adequate for a soldier.”
Soldier? Ricky thought. What role did Mattia want Ricky to fill, soldier, officer, or sorcerer? He didn’t want any of them, but he still had to play along. He already knew more than he was comfortable with, and he had no illusions that his participation was past the point where he could reject Mattia’s offer.
“What is it you want me to do?” Ricky said.
“Train with the rest of the inmates. Help when requested.”
“Can I do my training?” Ricky asked.
“If Crabacci was your trainer, then you probably know how to condition better than this rabble,” Poppi said.
The term ‘rabble’ bothered Ricky. The expectations of whatever purpose the military training represented weren't very high. It only made Ricky more curious about what role Mattia expected Ricky to play.
Were they trying to fill open positions in the Duke’s army, or did they intend to bolster royal forces? He was uneasy about the lack of information and didn’t expect to get any. Even Saganet was stingy with giving Ricky any indication of what was going on in Tossa, and he never mentioned specific aspects of Parantian politics. Ricky didn’t have any option other than to float along with the rest of the inmates.
“You are proficient enough, young Valian,” Mattia said, walking up on Ricky from behind. “You’ve been taught well.”
Ricky grimaced, out of Mattia’s sight. “I have,” he said. “What do I do, now that I have shown I can swing a sword?”
“Run, exercise, train, condition your body. Your sorcery instructor won’t arrive from Sealio for another week or ten days.”
“I’m getting my own instructor? What about you?”
Mattia chuckled. “I teach strategy and tactics. I know nothing about your talent or how to make it happen. I do know how to use sorcerers.”
Again, Ricky learned more than he wanted to know.
“Am I free until he arrives?”
“Her,” Mattia said. “If you spend an hour or two down here conditioning, I suppose you can have the rest of your afternoons off. I’ll let you know when she arrives.”
“Thank you, Master Mattia,” Ricky said.
Mattia pursed his lips as he looked at Ricky before he turned and sauntered off without another word, hands clasped behind his back.
Ricky decided he might as well do his conditioning in t
he training hall rather than work out in his room. He began with running and ended up going through his exercises. By the time he finished with sword forms, he had attracted enough stares to make him feel uneasy, so he left to wash up.
~~~
CHAPTER TEN
~
W HEN HE ARRIVED AT THE LIBRARY, Kela sat at the closest table to Henni. Her head hovered over a book, and Ricky heard her voice quietly pronouncing the words as she read.
“I didn’t think I’d see you again in the afternoons,” Henni said.
“It surprised me, as well. Master Mattia is bringing in a sorcery teacher in a week or so. Until she arrives, I only have to keep my conditioning up. I thought I’d spend the extra time down here among friends.”
Kela lifted up her head and smiled. “I’m a friend?”
“Sure,” Ricky said. “We three can help each other, can’t we?”
“Count me in,” Henni said. “I thought I enjoyed the serenity of guarding the basement, but I’ve grown to like the company.”
“You guard the entire basement?” Ricky asked.
“Just the one in the main building. Whoever built Building Two installed the activity center.” Henni gave Ricky a knowing look. “It’s used for a different activity now. Most guards don’t go down there, including me. I just have to make sure all the doors are locked on this level. I make a round in the morning when I come in and then when I leave.”
“What else is down here?”
“Mostly storage. The library is the only place with windows. There are old dungeons, but most are filled with old or broken furniture.”
Kela shivered as she walked to Henni’s desk. “Spiders and rats?”
“Spiders, maybe,” Henni said. “Not much food down here for rats. The kitchen has its basement that’s kept locked from this side. I imagine all the rats will be there.” He chuckled at his joke. “Want to walk with me? I can make my final rounds right now.”
Ricky nodded. “Sure.” He glanced at Kela. “Are you all right by yourself?”
She looked around and shivered. “No.”
“Then come on,” Henni said. “I’ll give you a tour. It isn’t much.”
Ricky made a sorcerous light that he held up in his palm. Kela was about to do the same thing and began to hum, but Ricky touched her arm and shook his head, looking ahead at Henni.