by Guy Antibes
Ricky sat at the desk sketching a figure choking on a song, except he didn’t know how to draw someone singing other than wavy lines coming out of a stick figure’s mouth. Someone slapped his head from behind. Ricky turned around to see Victor Taranta sneering at him.
“You saw how important my father is around here. Beware of my friends and me. I don’t like sharing breathing space with a servant,” Victor said. He bumped Ricky out of the chair, but Ricky was able to gain his footing.
“I understand,” Ricky said evenly. He didn’t add that he’d be watching Victor as well. His shout gave cover for Ricky to do other things than steal. The problem that Ricky had was that Mistress Doubli had noticed him shouting the spell, and he didn’t know if Victor would do the same.
“Hendrico, come down here.”
Ricky looked around at the empty classroom and joined Professor Calasay at the bottom of the lecture hall.
“Yes, Professor Calasay.”
“Did you understand the lecture?”
“I did. I know a little about what you spoke about, so I was able to follow along. I don’t have any formal background.”
“Obviously. I’d step carefully around Victor Taranta. His father is very close to joining the Council of Notables and is friends with the Duke. The man likes to throw his weight around. Unfortunately, his son knows that all too well. The father and the son can make your life miserable. They come from a long line of people who like to make other people’s lives miserable. Do you understand?”
Ricky nodded. “I do.”
Professor Calasay flicked her wrist as a dismissal.
He ran up the stairs. Mina Doria’s language class was in another building, and Ricky had to run. He joined many other students rushing through the pathways to the buildings.
Ricky found Mina in a smaller classroom, not a lecture hall with tiered seating like sorcery. Ricky wasn’t the last to show, but he did notice the other students. Half of the attendees had robes as worn as his.
She rang the bell, but from her expression, it looked like everyone arrived on time. Ricky recognized a number of them from his arithmetic course.
“This is a remedial class for learning Parantian. Some of you know your letters and need improvement, and a few of you don’t have any command of writing. Due to the nature of Doubli Academy and the policy of admitting scholarship students with unique abilities, you leave the class when you have attained competence in the subject.”
Ricky heard a few students groan.
“For some, that means a few months, and others might spend the entire year. There are courses you can’t take because you can’t read.” Mina pointed to a stack of books, sewn together with thick paper covers. “If you can read this book and do the exercises inside, you are done with this course. I will interrogate you when you are ready. In the meantime, we will learn the basics first, and then we’ll get more advanced. Since you all know how to speak Parantian, the process should go by relatively quickly. Most students are gone by the fourth month.”
Ricky didn’t want to spend four months learning how to read. He vowed to test out of the course in two with Saganet’s help.
When the session ended, Ricky was a little less confident that he could learn his letters in two months. He spent the rest of the day in the gardens, weeding as usual. He used magic on one weed-filled section, but when he finished, he didn’t feel any ill effects.
Saganet hadn’t arrived at the cottage yet and left a note asking Ricky to fix something for himself. That brought a smile to his face. He’d make something that Saganet would like.
He busied himself in the kitchen, repeating letters and their sounds as he went. He walked over to the commissary and asked for any chicken meat and was given a whole chicken since they knew he lived with ‘Professor Crabacci.' Ricky didn’t think of his guardian as a professor, but he didn’t care if that got him a fresh-plucked chicken.
Into a pot of boiling water the chicken went with herbs and vegetables. Ricky had found some familiar herbs growing in a little-wooded corner of the academy that Jock let grow wild. He added those and seasoned the broth after the chicken was done.
He had to smile using water from the tap. He didn’t even mind pumping it up from the well. The stew simmered while Ricky cut up the vegetables that didn’t do as well boiling while the chicken cooked. He removed the chicken and cut the meat off the bones and put it back in the stew.
By the time he finished, Saganet had stalked into the cottage in a fit of silent rage.
“Is something wrong?”
Saganet nodded. “Don’t ask me about it.” He collapsed on his chair and sat staring into the empty fireplace. A few minutes later he walked into the kitchen. “What do I smell?”
“A chicken stew, sort of,” Ricky said.
Saganet grabbed a ladle from the drawer and sampled Ricky’s work.
“This isn’t bad. Where did you get the axaroot? I haven’t tasted that for years.”
“It grows in the south wood.”
Saganet drew another ladleful. “You have another assignment. I like your cooking much better than mine.”
Ricky nodded. “I can get ingredients from the commissary any time like I did today? I used your name.”
Saganet thought for a bit. “I’ll talk to Merry. I’ll say that it’s part of your education. I frequently shop late in the afternoon, but you’re in class then. We will make it happen, you and I. Now, serve me.”
They ate in silence for a while.
“What got you so mad?” Ricky asked once Saganet had eaten his fill.
“Politics. Lord Taranta is pushing his weight around. He threatened to close the academy because of his son’s mistreatment.”
“Victor?”
“You know him? He’s shown that he is a nasty bully, and school has just started.”
“I know him too well,” Ricky said. “I don’t like him.”
“Like father, like son, I’m sure,” Saganet said. “Merry needs to get a royal charter for the academy. Then local cretins like Taranta won’t be able to do as much damage. I say ‘as much’ because they always know how to make things uncomfortable for their enemies.”
“Why doesn’t he put Victor into another academy?”
Saganet shook his head. “Doubli is the very best academy in Tossa, that’s why.”
“So Mistress Doubli has to endure? I know about endurance from bullies. It’s no fun.”
That brought a smile to Saganet’s lips. “I suppose you do. It’s a bit of unpleasantness. Being Dean is not all smiles, but Merry is continuing to learn.”
“Can you help me with my letters? Professor Doria says I can leave her class once I master a certain book and write out the exercises.”
“Sure. I’ll give you an hour of my time right after you clean up the dishes.”
“Dishes? But if I cooked, then you can do the dishes.”
“It’s all part of the assignment.”
Ricky accepted Saganet’s job and soon they sat at the kitchen table reviewing letters and sounds. Ricky had just about mastered those, and he showed Saganet how the sounds went together. He realized that learning the Parantian alphabet was just the start.
~
Saganet didn’t return from his classes the next day. Ricky hurried to the Dean’s office but found the administration building locked up for the night. He walked back to Saganet’s cottage, having no idea what to do.
His guardian slumped against the doorstep. Ricky hadn’t locked the cottage.
“Saganet! What happened?”
The man looked up. Even in the inky blackness of the evening, Ricky made out the puffy eye and dark blotches on his face. Someone had beaten the weapons master.
“Help me inside,” he croaked as Ricky opened the door and helped Saganet to a chair in the kitchen.
Ricky turned up the wick of the oil lamp and examined Saganet’s beaten face. He held his left hand to his body.
“Who did this?”
Saganet shook his head. “Anonymous thugs. I may be a weapons master, but I left the academy with no weapons.” He moaned as he shook his head.
“You need to go to the infirmary.”
“You answered the unasked question correctly,” Saganet said.
Ricky heated up the cold dinner and fed Saganet before they left. While they waited for the soup to warm, Ricky inspected Saganet for blood but didn’t find anything but bruises and perhaps a broken bone or two on his left hand.
It took a long time, but they finally reached the infirmary and woke the duty healer up.
“Professor Crabacci, what happened?” the healer said.
“I walked into a door and then fell down the stairs,” he said.
“But your cottage doesn’t have any stairs.”
Saganet looked at the man and just stared.
“Never mind. This way.”
The healer let Ricky struggle to help Saganet get into bed. By the time shoes were pulled off and clothes gingerly removed, the weapons master was asleep.
“What actually happened?”
“Someone beat him up. I don’t know when. He mentioned that he was caught without weapons. Not a drop of his blood was spilled.”
“He has some cracked ribs and bruises all over. He’s been pummeled and kicked by expert thugs,” the healer said. “I’ve seen such beatings before. He did fight back, looking at the abrasions on his knuckles.”
“Here?” Ricky said in disbelief.
“Not at the academy,” the healer shot back. “I used to work at a constable station on the far west side of Tossa. Thugs ruled the streets. Those poor souls who refused to pay for protection or whatever were often beaten like this. Enough to really hurt, but not enough to kill them. A dead person can’t pay.”
“So this is a professional beating? He wasn’t robbed?”
The healer picked up Saganet’s coat. “Let’s find out. I think I felt a wallet in here when I took this off.”
Ricky watched the man pull out the wallet and shuffled through a wad of bank notes. He grabbed Saganet’s pants and pulled out his purse. His guardian still had gold coins on his person. No robbery.
“Is there anything I can do tonight?” Ricky asked.
The healer shook his head. “He doesn’t have a bump on the head, so I don’t fear a head injury. If he wakes up, I’ll put him back to sleep with a pain potion. You go to bed. You can come back at noon tomorrow to check on him. I’ll notify the administration that he is injured and won’t teach classes tomorrow.”
Ricky felt powerless to help his guardian as he traipsed across the grounds to his cottage. He opened the door and gasped. It looked like a tornado had spawned in Saganet’s living room.
Books were strewn on the floor. Furniture had been ripped open along with every cupboard laid bare. Ricky didn’t know if the intruders found what they looked for. He spent the next hour or two cleaning up what he could.
He collapsed into his bed, making sure the cottage was locked tight. He had left it open, of course. Saganet never secured his home. Ricky would make sure his guardian stopped being so lax.
~~~
Chapter Seven
~
A fter arithmetic, Ricky hurried to the infirmary. Saganet had left an hour earlier. He found him at home sitting on one of the two kitchen chairs that hadn’t been broken.
“What happened here?” Saganet asked.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Your attackers decided they hadn’t done enough damage and walked into an unlocked house and searched for something.”
“Where were you?”
“Helping you to the infirmary.”
Saganet nodded his head and winced, holding his neck. “I vaguely remember. I’m surprised I made it home.”
“Barely. Are you missing anything? It doesn’t look like anything was stolen, just broken.”
“I’m sure they didn’t find what they were looking for. However they did leave something,” Saganet said.
“What?”
“A message. I wish the searchers had been a bit more subtle,” Saganet said.
“Is this Lord Taranta’s doing?”
Saganet put his head in his hand. “He is at the top of my list. That’s what a few words spoken in haste and in the wrong place will do. I mentioned that I had information that the soon-to-be Councilor wouldn’t want to hear.”
“They beat you because you were upset at his son?”
Saganet shook his head and winced, grabbing the back of his neck. “I believe I was misunderstood.”
“Father?” Mina’s voice called from outside.
Ricky unlocked the door and let her in. She took in the damage and knelt by her father, still holding his head up with his hand at the kitchen table.
“I hope you gave them as much back!” she said.
“I seriously doubt it, Mina. There were five or six of them and only one of me. I will say that they were professional about it. Other than the pain, I’ll be teaching tomorrow.”
“Who were they?” she demanded.
“Thugs. Hired thugs. Professional thugs. And it was about nothing consequential. Perhaps an innocent phrase or two overheard by the wrong people, jumping to the wrong conclusions,” Saganet said, breezily through the pain. He pulled something out of his pocket. “Ricky, will you mix this up in half a glass of water. It will put me to sleep.”
“Let me help you to your bed,” Mina said.
“I’ll assist you, my dear niece,” Marissa Doubli said, standing in the doorway.
Ricky hadn’t locked the door after Mina entered. He would have to be more competent, protecting Saganet. He prepared the medicine and gave it to Saganet. He had to lay a blanket over the slashed mattress so Saganet could use his bed.
Saganet slipped into slumber in a minute or two. Ricky led the two women out into the living room and gave them the story as well as he could tell it.
“So what did Saganet really say?” Mistress Doubli said.
“A conversation overheard and misconstrued,” Mina said. “I heard right from his lips, but I don’t know if he was really conscious or not.”
Ricky wasn’t so sure that was the truth, but he kept his mouth shut.
Mistress Doubli looked around the room. “I’ll get replacement furniture.” She looked at Ricky. “I own the furniture and the cottage,” she said. “It came furnished.” Her mind seemed to be elsewhere as she accompanied Mina out the door.
After running to the commissary for something that Saganet could eat when he woke, Ricky put the meal on the kitchen table and a newly-dented pitcher of water and a metal cup by his slumbering guardian’s bed.
He ran to his sorcery class and dozed through most of it. Professor Calasay called Ricky back as he left the lecture hall.
“I let your lack of attention go today. I heard about Professor Crabacci. Make sure you are more attentive tomorrow.”
Ricky nodded. He had to rush to get to his language class. Mina called Ricky to her desk.
“I am ostensibly sending you on an errand, but I’m sending you home. You need your rest. Work in your language book, after you wake up. Make sure my father takes things easy. He has a propensity to overdo.”
He dragged himself back to the cottage. Saganet had woken and sat on his bed, holding a cup of water.
“Want tea?” Ricky said.
Saganet looked up. The puffiness in his eye had gone down, but part of the white was red. “What did you tell the ladies?” he said.
“What you told me. You were misunderstood, and someone heard your words differently than you said them.”
He nodded. It appeared his neck pain had lessened. “Good boy. What are we going to do with this mess?”
“Mistress Doubli is going to replace the furniture.”
“It’s my fault. She shouldn’t do such a thing.”
“I think she wants to,” Ricky said. “I’d let her.” He let Saganet sit in silence for a moment. “There is food on the table. You’ll need t
o get something inside you.”
“I’m the one who should be doing the scolding, not my ward.” He gave Ricky half a smile.
“I may need some help with my language lessons tonight.”
“I owe you that much, at least.”
~
Saganet refused to tell Ricky the real reason someone beat him up. Ricky figured he’d just have to be patient. The next day, Saganet rose at his usual time and went off to his classes.
Jock asked after his guardian but didn’t push Ricky for more than a few words of explanation while Jock pruned and Ricky cleaned up after the gardener. Perhaps Jock knew more of the situation than he did. There were just too many loose ends to figure out what had actually happened.
Since the day the constables had first captured him, he had lost control of his life. His grandfather turned him in for stealing; Mistress Doubli befriended him; Saganet eventually softened, but then they both had been ill-treated by Tarantas. Ricky felt it all might be connected, but then he shook his head as he went out to do some hedge-cutting. How could he be sure?
Working in the garden was the only thing that calmed him down. Perhaps it was all the pressure of schoolwork and living to a higher standard than he ever had before that made him uneasy. Not having to think too hard and always working by himself soothed his worries.
Ricky worked the long garden shears and hoped that the work would give him the strength he needed to wield a sword when Saganet would teach him. Perhaps the time had arrived to ask his guardian if he could start his lessons. He was tempted to use a little magic to make his work go a little faster, but exercised restraint as an attempt at discipline.
Saganet had already brought dinner from the commissary and waited for Ricky to return from his class with Mina.