by Guy Antibes
“She couldn’t tell you herself?” Loria said.
“Saganet and I talked about it. I think that’s what she wanted.”
“So what did you want to talk to me about?”
“The Compact. Saganet said it restricts what sorcerers can do, but you’ve known about sorcery your whole life, probably, and I,” Ricky paused out of embarrassment, “I don’t know anything. Maybe a bit more than that now.”
“I come from an unconventional household,” Loria began. “My parents operate a business that doesn’t quite follow the rules. I may not be the right person to talk to.”
“You think your household is unconventional,” Ricky said. “I don’t think your story matches mine.”
“This is not a competition, Hendrico.
“Ricky. My name is Ricky.”
Loria folded her arms, a little red in the face. “Ricky, then. It’s not a competition. Many people think my family operates on the edge of the law.”
“Smugglers?” Ricky’s eyebrows rose.
“Not exactly.”
“Are they sorcerers?”
“Yes. My father uses his power in unique ways, but he doesn’t violate the Compact, usually. My mother had some talent, but only a little. Of my brothers and sister, I’m the only one who wanted to go to the academy, although they all are sorcerers and now married.”
“You are more than talented enough.”
She looked at Ricky with narrowed eyes. “Not like you.”
“Let’s forget about my power. I want to know what sorcerers can do with and without regard to the Compact before they’ll get arrested.”
“And put to death?”
“That only happens for treason,” Ricky said, remembering the penalties in the Code.
Loria put her finger to her lips.
Ricky turned around to see Victor Taranta standing behind him.
“Are you two in the advanced class, too?” Victor said with a leering grin. He shoved Ricky in the shoulder.
“We are,” Ricky said.
“Mind if I join you?”
“You and your friends?” Ricky said looking at three of Victor’s followers standing behind him. “We are talking about the Compact. Does that sound intriguing to you?”
“Uh, no.” Victor rubbed his hands on his robe. “I guess maybe another time.” He furrowed his brow as he took his friends back to the buffet line.
Their snack came, and between their encounter with Victor and consuming sweet pastries, their conversation lagged.
“So, the Compact?”
“You want to know how to evade it?”
Ricky nodded.
“Learn how to use a sword. If you are good, enter a few academy contests to show everyone how proficient you are. They are for third-years and higher.”
“Saganet told me much the same thing.” Ricky wondered if he was wasting his time talking to Loria.
She leaned over and put her hand over his and spoke quietly. “Then you learn how to use your magic discreetly. My father has sorcerers in his employ who use magic to do their jobs.
Ricky nodded. “Maybe I should speak to your father.”
She smiled. “Maybe you should, but not now. You need to grow a bit before that happens. Don’t worry about the Compact. There is enough turmoil in Paranty that it might become moot at some point.”
Ricky was surprised Loria knew as much as she did. Her knowledge of the political situation probably dwarfed Ricky’s. Anyone would understand more than he did.
~~~
Chapter Twelve
~
T he next day, Ricky entered the lecture hall an hour earlier in the morning and saw four students at the bottom. Loria looked back up at him and gave him an encouraging smile. Victor Taranta’s smile was much different. He never expected to see him in the advanced class. Saganet had said Victor’s skills were rather modest.
“We won’t be working today, but I wanted to relay my expectations of this class. All your abilities are at least second-year level,” Loria looked at Ricky standing behind another student, “and above. Your time would be wasted in the first-year class. Tomorrow, I’ll be handing out an outline of what we will be doing. Our focus remains scales, intonation, and resonance. The difference with this class is that we will search for the right resonances for some spells that will be useless applied by the other students.”
“My father wants a note from you that I’m in this course, Professor Calasay,” Victor Taranta said. “He didn’t believe me when I told him.”
She bent over and scribbled out something and ripped a sheet of paper from a notebook. “Here. Anyone else need a note?”
The other students were quiet. Ricky smirked with the thought that Gobble might have wanted something like that from him. His grandfather always acted like Ricky hid something, and Gobble was right. Ricky had learned to hold things back from his grandfather at an early age.
“Good. Don’t sleep in. We have lots to do this year. If you progress as I hope you will, there is a chance of placement with the fourth-year class next fall.”
Loria grinned. The excitement brightened her face. It made her look very nice, he thought.
“Loria and Ricky will follow me to Dean Doubli’s office for a demonstration of our test results. The rest of you are dismissed.”
Victor bumped into Ricky on the way out. He looked back with a sneery smile on his face.
“I imagine you could turn his face purple or red,” Loria said, giggling.
“Sorcerers can do that?”
“Don’t even think it,” Professor Calasay said from behind. “The less attention you pay to Master Taranta, the better.”
They followed her to the Administration Building. Ricky wouldn’t meet Mistress Doubli in her office, but Professor Calasay led them to a conference room on the main floor. The Provost, Mistress Doubli, and two other professors, both men, turned to look at them as they entered.
“You both know the Provost and Dean Doubli. I will introduce you to Professor Garini and Professor Bastacco. They are on the Sorcery staff. She put a hand on each of her students’ shoulders. This is Loria Mansali and Hendrico Valian. I wanted you to see how they did in the candle test.”
Ricky nodded to each of them. His hands began to sweat and he took a deep breath. He feared to fail, but he had no reason not to succeed. Ricky lifted his head higher and stood a little straighter as he watched Professor Calasay place a candlestick on the conference table.
“Go ahead, Loria.”
His classmate perfectly ignited the candle to polite applause.
Ricky looked at his sore finger and decided to make a change in his performance. It was all a matter of will, anyway, he thought.
“Your turn, Hendrico.”
Ricky bristled at his formal name. “You can all call me Ricky,” he said. He noticed the condescending smiles of the two Sorcery professors.
He took a deep breath and slid his voice to the proper resonance for creating fire and willed a dancing flame a few inches from his finger to keep it from getting hot. He moved his finger, and the light danced a bit. He let it get a little bigger as he moved it a foot above the candle and let it drift to the wick. When the candle lit, he snapped his finger to remove the flame.
“I’m sorry. I’ve never tried that before. I burned my finger practicing and didn’t want to do it again.” He rubbed the tip of his finger..
Everyone stared at Ricky.
“This is an untutored first year? I’d like to put him with my third years,” Professor Garini said.
Professor Calasay shook her head. “No need. I pulled out my five high-potential students and will tutor them separately. They will be ready for third or fourth-year placement when I’m done with them.”
“I would like to see a demonstration every three months or so, Dari,” the Provost said. “It doesn’t have to be a contest, but I’d like to monitor young Valian’s progress.”
Ricky glanced at Loria who looked a bit crestfallen.
“We would be happy to appear together,” Ricky said.
“Of course,” Mistress Doubli said. “Two such students in a year.” She smiled at the others and turned to Professor Calasay who remained standing with her students. “Bring them both, but I want to see how they do every two months, instead. Is that acceptable?” She looked at the professors, who both nodded. “Thank you for bringing them to our attention.”
“It’s time to leave,” Professor Calasay said as she ushered them out of the conference room.
As Professor Calasay shut the door, Ricky heard one of the professors say, “He’s an audit student? Incredible!”
She looked at Ricky. “Don’t let success go to your head. You are still a barely literate first-year student at the academy. There is a mountain of learning you still have to accomplish.”
Ricky walked behind them both out of the Administration Building. Loria took his hand as she dropped back. “Thank you for including me in future demonstrations. I’ll try hard to keep up.” She gave him a smile and squeezed his hand before returning to Professor Calasay’s side.
They returned to the now-empty lecture hall. “Take your books, and I will see you tomorrow.” Loria left first. Professor Calasay tapped Ricky on the shoulder. “You performed wonderfully. Loria will improve much more quickly with you helping her.” She even cracked a smile. “Your trick shamed her a bit, I think, but you made up for it. I can’t teach nobility in Sorcery, but you practiced it this morning. Dismissed.”
Ricky would be the last to call himself noble, but the compliment made him feel different. Gobble had congratulated him for theft, but his grandfather’s words were never to encourage. He smiled and thought that he had done the right thing, even though he had over-acted on purpose.
Ricky had some time before his history class. He decided to have a little more breakfast and slipped over to the cottage. The door swung open revealing Frank coming out.
“What are you doing here?”
Frank’s face turned red. “I, uh, was looking for you.”
His friend obviously lied. “Let’s go on inside, since here I am,” Ricky said.
“No. I need to go back to my room for something.”
Ricky straightened up. “You are going to follow me inside.”
“I, uh, can’t.” Frank took off running across the green towards the student quadrangle.
Ricky never thought that Frank would steal as he watched his erstwhile friend take a quick look back before he disappeared into a building. As he entered the cottage, it was apparent why Frank ran rather than re-entered. Drawers were pulled out, along with books littering the floor, their pages fanned out as Frank must have ruffled the books to find a message. Could it be Frank worked with the thugs that ransacked the cottage before?
Instead of getting a bite to eat, Ricky straightened things out as best he could. He would have words with Frank if the boy showed up for classes today. Ricky doubted that he would dare to attend classes.
~
With Ricky’s changed Sorcery class, he went in to watch Saganet’s last class for the day.
“Want to spar with me?” Saganet said.
“Spar or perform?”
His guardian grinned. “Spar.”
“I’ll be doing more of that,” Ricky said.
“Really?”
Ricky nodded. “We have to lock up the cottage for sure, every day now. I caught Frank coming out after he searched the whole place for something. Could the people who beat you up and broke up the cottage still want the message?”
Saganet’s amiable face turned serious. “That is disturbing,” he said. “It is pretty common knowledge at this point that the Council of Notables has shifted towards the King. That message has lost all its value.”
“Then something else?”
Saganet bit his lip. “Maybe, but what they might want is not in the cottage. I keep it in a safer place. Don’t ask where it is.”
“I won’t,” Ricky said. “The thugs who attacked us the night of the performance were looking for this other document?”
“It isn’t worth exposing the poor boy. Now we know which side his parents are on. Foolish, foolish,” Saganet said with a smile.
“What side are you on?”
“Not the King, and that is all we will speak of it,” Saganet said. He gently pushed Ricky aside. “Shall we spar with swords?”
“Staffs,” Ricky said.
“Good choice. Get some padding on. I want to give some instructions to my students first. If Frank doesn’t show, you might as well join this class. They are Third Years, but I think you can handle it.”
Ricky put on pads and watched the students train. He could see they didn’t exercise as hard as Frank and he did. Ricky had to think of the Compact and figure out how to cheat using his sorcery. But he didn’t know why. He would have to learn a lot more to make his own decision about the King’s and the Duke’s attempts to bring back a full monarchy.
What caused Frank to violate his trust? These questions bothered Ricky. He hadn’t had to think about such matters before he entered the academy.
“Wake up!” Saganet said. “You seem to be thinking too hard.”
Ricky nodded. “Can we talk some more when I am cleaning the gymnasium?”
“That is a more appropriate time than now.” Saganet tossed a staff to Ricky. “Show me your conditioning.”
Ricky smiled. This was better than practicing genteel forms with Frank, anyway. He walked out onto the hardwood floor of the gymnasium and touched staffs with Saganet.
“We haven’t sparred with staffs. I’ll go easy on you,” Saganet said.
They circled each other. Saganet poked his staff in Ricky’s direction. Saganet favored his left leg.
“Did you injure your leg the night we went to the performance?” Ricky asked as he deflected a blow from Saganet and countered with one of his own.
Saganet tossed off the strike.
“It doesn’t take much from a specific direction. Can you find out which one?”
Ricky knew, but he just nodded. He swung high towards Saganet’s head and then twisted to his right, crouching low to evade a swipe from Saganet. He tapped Saganet’s right knee and rolled over the staff, which he placed on the ground and came up ready to deflect another blow from Saganet.
“You won’t get me to do that, lad,” Saganet said. He twirled the other direction and midway through the twirl, he flashed out with a strike that caught Ricky in the ribs.
The blow took the air out of Ricky, but he jumped out of the way, still gasping and swung wildly, now that the pain blossomed on his side. The staff hit Saganet’s, but his guardian had planted it against his foot on the floor, so the collision shook the staff and hurt Ricky’s hands. He dropped his staff just as Saganet lifted his up and tapped Ricky on the head.
“Enough?” Saganet said.
Ricky nodded, out of breath and gasping for air. One of his sore hands clutched his side. “I think you broke ribs.”
“I didn’t, but they will hurt as if they did. You sit down for a bit and reflect on our match while I finish up with my class.”
Ricky struggled to find a comfortable position. His ribs ached. Somehow he thought with all the extra conditioning he would be able to put up a fight, but now Ricky reflected on how naive he was. Fighting and dominating Frank had boosted his own perception of his abilities, but Saganet quickly proved that to be hubris. Hubris was a new word that Frank had pointed out to him the previous day in history class.
He wondered if Frank had withdrawn from the academy after being caught in Saganet’s cottage. Ricky watched his guardian spar with another student. That young man fought Saganet about as well as Ricky did.
He leaned back and mentally reviewed their match. Ricky had made some good moves, he thought, but moves didn’t affect the outcome. Saganet knew how to handle everything Ricky did.
The students stopped and clustered around Saganet at the other end of the gymnasium, getting some feedb
ack. Ricky took a deep breath. At least his hands didn’t throb any longer. He grabbed a broom and began to sweep the floor. His sore ribs didn’t keep him from sweeping, if he acted carefully.
Saganet strolled to Ricky’s side as he worked. “You didn’t do so badly, so don’t fret. I’d say you were average or a little below the capabilities of the boys in my class, even though you are a few years younger. You’ll fit in fine with a bit more conditioning after a few weeks of personalized instruction.”
“Now I’m too sore to do much today.”
Saganet nodded his head and put a hand to his chin as he watched Ricky continue his task. “Whenever you spar with me again, know that I won’t give you an easy time of it.”
“You went easy for some of our match,” Ricky said.
“You noticed?”
He nodded as he worked. “I don’t have the strength to stop some of your blows. Those you pulled.”
Saganet smiled. “Good. When we spar, I’ll give you enough of a challenge to show you that you’re not where you need to be.”
“I could always use magic to slow you down.”
“You mean where you speed up?”
Ricky nodded. “That’s what Mistress Doubli saw me do. She could see my spell start. She says I speed up, but to me, it’s like everything slows down.”
“Without anyone to see it, I can understand your perception. That is a funny thing, perception. Get it right, and you can do impressive things. Perceiving a match the wrong way leads to defeat. No magic, yet. I can’t help you there, but I can get you prepared to use it without anyone knowing.”
“That’s the key, isn’t it? Professor Calasay can teach us how to use just a bit. How to hum or sing or whatever to get resonance without an opponent knowing.”
Saganet nodded. “I’ll straighten out the pads and weapons while you finish up. Let’s have an early dinner in the commissary.”
“I’m all for that,” Ricky said.
~~~
Chapter Thirteen
~
P rofessor Krispor Denata, Ricky’s history teacher, called Ricky down to the lecture well at the end of his class.