by Guy Antibes
Ricky slid the switch into the cane. He looked at the battered outside surface. “I’m going to need a new cover for this.”
“Easy enough to do,” Effie said. “I’ll get five or six in different woods made up. I think the metal liner needs to be a bit thicker, too.”
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Nine
~
I t seemed to Ricky that everyone forgot about sorcerous communications. Dari started meeting with everyone at the bottom of an empty lecture hall. The lectern had been moved to a corner, giving them a sufficient space to work with.
“I’ve prepared copies of a list of required spells. We will go through the songs and the intended effects for each phase of the program separately before we link them together,” Professor Calasay said. “It may take some time for each of you to learn what song you’ll have to sing to produce each effect. The process may bore you, but part of being a performance sorcerer involves knowing yourself and what your own songs and your will permit you to produce.”
“Is this something a student at the Royal University would learn?” Loria said.
Dari nodded. “The theory taught isn’t much different than what you get at the end of your academy studies. It’s the practice that makes the difference.”
“But no one teaches power links,” Ricky said.
Dari shook her head. “Not in Paranty. The ruling class, and that includes plenty of Notables, are suspicious of sorcery, so most of the spells one learns are for performances or for certain tasks that a low-paid sorcerer can do. It’s been that way for generations.”
“Let’s get started.”
They worked on the first spell. Ricky could tell it would take awhile to get through all the spells on Dari’s list, and that was assuming Loria and Ricky could make them work.
The next day, another person joined them, Professor Garini.
Dari made the introductions. “I was going to wait and use Professor Garini later when we integrated the spellwork, but I can see that it’s going to take too long for me to work separately with both of you. Petro will work with Ricky, and I’ll continue with Loria.”
“You won’t need us for now, then,” Merry said, as she rose from a student’s seat with Betti.
“I’ll monitor you both while you progress,” Betti said.
Ricky looked at the balding dark-haired professor. He was a bit older than Saganet, with more gray in his hair. Petro probably used to be a well-built man, but age, and maybe a lack of exercise, had made him a bit on the paunchy side. He wasn’t the most handsome gentleman Ricky had ever seen.
“Come this way, young Valian,” Petro said. “I have access to a faculty courtyard that will allow us to work outside.”
Ricky nodded and followed Petro through a series of halls and across a quadrangle to the opposite side of the academy from the cottage. He unlocked an iron gate set into a tall hedge. Ricky walked into a grassy enclosure planted with flowers along the borders of paved paths.
“I never worked in this garden last fall,” Ricky said.
“We don’t allow Jockal Forbasca in here. The Faculty members tend it themselves, or I should say, interested faculty members. I’m one of them,” Petro said. “There aren’t that many of the faculty in residence this summer, so we pretty much have this to ourselves. I wouldn’t mind it if you help me keep it looking orderly. It becomes a bit unruly if untended.”
“It looks like you’ve done a good job,” Ricky said. He had only spent a few months under the academy’s head gardener, so he couldn’t speak as a gardener.
“Jockal wouldn’t think so.” Petro laughed.
The professor led them to two small benches facing each other in an alcove. “This will work. Sit down, and let’s chat. Merry says you can shout.”
Ricky nodded. “When I do, time seems to stop, but I guess I speed up.”
“Can you demonstrate?”
Ricky nodded. “I haven’t done this for awhile,” he said a bit nervously.
He shouted, and everything seemed to stop. Ricky leaned over and pulled a flower, putting it on Professor Garini’s lap and sat down. He waited a moment before sensing everything speeding up.
“Amazing. That is self-taught, right?”
Ricky nodded.
“I felt the spell and I could see your beginning and end movements as a blur.” He picked up the flower and smiled as he thought about something.
“I think Betti Singlia hasn’t imagined enough.” He sighed. “Well, let’s learn the spells in her vision of the performance before we dazzle them with something that we come up with on our own, eh?”
“Did you do performance sorcery?”
Petro laughed, putting his hand to his chest. “Me? Not at all. I did some consulting for Dean Doubli. That’s why I’m here at the academy. She runs a delightful place of learning, and I am satisfied to prepare students for entrance into the Royal University.”
“Do you still consult?”
“For university friends, sometimes, but they are getting too old to be popular. I will say I am very good at finding what a student-sorcerer can and cannot do. I can see you already have plenty of power and will to accomplish whatever you want.”
Ricky had to think about that. “But I can’t use sorcery to defend myself.”
“Not legally, no. However, with your power, we can come up with some undetectable sorcery that can be slipped into your fighting. I watched you train yesterday morning, and you are doing remarkably well for one your age.”
“It has come remarkably well, or I would be remarkably dead,” Ricky said, and then he told him of the attacks he’d sustained.
“I heard of Taranta beating you near to death with a broomball stick. Dean Doubli has kept the knife attack quiet enough for me not to know. I see what you mean. Let’s get you going with the performance spells and then we’ll work on some defenses. I will reiterate they are illegal in Paranty.”
Ricky hadn’t known about using surreptitious spells. He wondered if Effie or Saganet would bring it up to him before he did with them. But he’d save that for when he learned something and surprise them, if what Professor Garini taught worked.
They spent the rest of the afternoon testing Ricky’s songs and will to create the requirement of big, colorful, translucent balloons of light. He was finally able to create small white globes before their session ended.
“Excellent. You are a quick study.”
“I don’t think I picked that up very fast, and I can’t do big colored balloons.”
“Not yet, but that is a matter of fine-tuning what you produced today and then practice, lots of practice.”
~
“Are you ready to go outside the academy?” Saganet said as he finished up his last morsel at breakfast. “I’ll take you to my townhouse. Just don’t get your hopes up. It’s nothing much.”
Ricky laughed, relieved that his guardian thought he was prepared to leave the grounds. They hadn’t had any problems in the last four weeks since Victor stabbed Ricky.
“We’ll leave early and be back in time for your next session with Garini. Effie will be coming with us.”
“Bodyguards?”
Saganet nodded with a rueful smile on his face. “At this point, I don’t know which body is guarding whom. Finish up, and let’s go. Don’t forget your cane.”
Ricky grabbed his cane and put on his chain-mail shirt, in case the worse happened. They couldn’t walk around the streets of Tossa wearing armor.
Effie leaned against the wall outside the academy, waiting for the pair,and let Saganet lead the way.
“This time we will go to the townhouse first. I want you to remember where it is, both of you.”
Ricky looked around at the buildings during the golden light of a summer’s morning. He smiled, glad to be outside. It had been a long time. Effie’s head swiveled on her neck, looking backward and peering into every alley.
“No one is following us, yet,” she said.
“Good. We
will see if young Taranta still has enough influence with his father to post observers.”
“Is that possible?”
Saganet shrugged. “We have to be prepared for it,” he said as they turned down an alleyway.
Ricky looked back at the buildings, trying to memorize their path. They had walked for a little less than half-an-hour when Saganet took another alleyway. This one was broader than most. Carriage houses were on one side, and back gardens of residences were on the other.
“Is it close?”
Saganet nodded and unlatched a gate. “Here it is. Sixth one from the west entrance to the alley.”
“You own the carriage house as well?”
“It will be on the tour,” Saganet said as he produced a key. “Ladies first.” He bowed to Effie, who walked into a dark room.
Ricky expected a hovel equivalent to Gobble’s houseboat, but Saganet’s house made their cottage seem like an outhouse. Their host turned up a sorcerer’s lamp, flooding the kitchen with light.
“The pantry is always stocked, and the pump produces good water,” Saganet said.
Effie ran her finger over the counter. “You keep this place clean.”
“Of course I do. A clean house is a sign that people live there. That’s the impression I want to leave.”
“You can even afford servants to keep the house clean?”
Saganet nodded. “I can. The linens are regularly freshened, as well. Everyone comes through the back to make sure the place stays maintained. One of my people stays for a few hours each night, moving lights back and forth while she studies for her classes at the academy.”
“Loria?”
Saganet chuckled. “No, a third-year scholarship student. Very reliable. When school is in session, she comes here to study.”
“Is she safe walking the streets of Tossa?” Ricky asked.
“She lives a few minutes away in a more modest neighborhood.”
“How often do you get to stay here?”
Saganet sighed. “Rarely. I inspect the place once every week or two.” He rubbed his hands. “Now for the tour.”
Ricky thought he had it made with his secret shantyboat, but Saganet’s townhouse put his hideout to shame, since the inside of Saganet’s townhouse matched the outside.
“I will show you how to retrieve the key,” Saganet said as they toured the upper two floors. “This is my bedroom,” he said, flinging wide double-doors on a suite that took the entire width of the house facing the street.
“Why do you stay at your cottage when you could stay here?” Effie said. It was her first comment since they had entered the dwelling.
“To be honest, I like a simpler life. I had the money when my wife died, so rather than spend it on frivolous things, I bought this house. Karian and my daughter Mina know, but even Merry has never been here. If either of you needs a place to stay outside the academy, feel welcome to spend a night, as long as you take basic precautions.”
Effie grunted. “Any room but this one?”
Saganet nodded. “And don’t use the front door,” he said as they exited his bedroom suite. “Especially you, Ricky.”
“Why me?”
“Gobble Bangatelli has a house similar to this one on the other side of the street. He’s been a resident for fourteen years. Does that seem to be a coincidence?”
Ricky sat down on a hallway chair. “All this time?”
Saganet nodded. “Karian and I have been doing a little checking. I’ll tell you about it when we are done. Follow me.”
He unlocked a door that led downstairs to a basement, which was free of cobwebs and filled with weapons. Saganet had Ricky produce a sorcerer’s light.
“Are you going into business?” Effie asked as she looked at barrels of swords, stacks of pikes, and breastplates.
“Selling arms?” Saganet shook his head. “I have other plans. Follow me.” He walked to a corner of the room and yanked on an iron sconce, and a portion of the wall jutted out. Saganet pulled a door open.
“We still need your light, Ricky,” he said as he walked into the darkness.
Aromatic cedar planking lined the flag-paved tunnel. Another door led out. Saganet pulled a chain causing the door to shift. He pushed it, but darkness filled the other side. Ricky stepped through with his light. Arms filled the basement, presumably under the carriage house. There were barrels of arrows. Bows were stacked neatly on a table.
“There is enough here for an army,” Ricky said.
“Hardly,” Effie picked up an arrow and sighted down its length. “Two or three hundred men?”
Saganet nodded. “It’s here if the current situation turns worse,” he said.
“A revolution?” Ricky said. The words were difficult to say and harder to think about.
“I wouldn’t be the one to say that,” Saganet said. “The weapons are for self-defense, if necessary. He looked at Effie. “See? I’ve already created an armory.”
“You have,” she said. “What else is here?”
“A living space. A hideout in the hideout. My dear student caretaker and Mina know nothing about this, of course.”
“Of course,” Effie said.
“This way.” He pushed a stud, and another doorway appeared. “Here is the real hideout.”
Saganet turned up the knob on a sorcerer’s lamp, showing a room filled with comfortable furniture. One side was dedicated to food preparation and even had a water pump.
“You keep this stocked with food, too?” Effie said.
Saganet nodded. “It is less fresh, but I always have enough for a month or more for four people.”
“Impressive. Karian knows about this, too?” Effie opened up a cabinet.
Saganet smiled. “He does, and he is responsible for keeping this place in shape. There are bedrooms.”
He showed them four tiny cell-like bedrooms, each with room enough for a bed, a narrow dresser, and a chair. “All with sorcerer’s lamps.”
“For you and who else?” Effie asked. Ricky just absorbed it all.
“Perhaps Ricky, perhaps you, perhaps me.”
“So even if the Duke’s men find the storage room on either side, you hide it from others with your secret doors.”
“I do. That is why I wanted a townhouse and a carriage garage.”
“You couldn’t have done this all by yourself. Don’t workers talk?”
“Not if they were imported from various city-states in Hessilia for this job alone, they don’t.”
Effie nodded her head. She looked impressed. Ricky was flabbergasted at the place. Somehow it all fit being a product of Saganet’s mind.
“What do you do with the carriage house above us?”
“Store carriages, what else? Some of my associates come and take the carriages and use them as for-hire coaches.”
“Can you reach this basement from above?”
Saganet took them to another corner of the room and opened the door to a small foyer with a staircase and a door in the wall.
“Ah! A lift.” Effie said.
“What’s a lift?” Ricky asked.
“You use a winch to move a platform to bring things up or brings things down without having to lug them up the stairs,” she said. “There are enough of them in the King’s castle.”
“Indeed. All the weapons in both basements came through this lift from the carriage level.” Saganet rubbed his hands, looking quite proud.
Ricky thought about the weapons he had seen. “What about the weapons at the academy? You probably have as many there as you do here.”
Saganet just smiled. “I don’t know what you mean, young Valian?”
Ricky took that as an adequate answer. “So what has to happen?”
“To get these distributed?” Saganet said, “Duke Bariani or the King will eventually do something foolish in Tossa. The Ducal Guard is only a few hundred strong. Not all the constables will follow him if something untoward happens. We don’t know what or when, just that some action is ine
vitable.”
Ricky would have to pay more attention to his political science class next year. It was easy for him to say he would be against royalty of any kind, but he knew he didn’t understand the political situation in Paranty like Effie and Saganet did.
“I have one more thing to show you before we find somewhere to eat. Follow me.”
Saganet led them upstairs into the carriage house. They walked past the three carriages in the room and into the stable portion of the building. Saganet threw open a door.
“This is the tack room, but it is also a bolt hole.”
Ricky’s guardian threw open the door of a large chest and shifted a harness stored within.
“Press on this edge and then pull up on the end that pops up.” He demonstrated to show a hidden stairway. “We’ll go down again.”
Sagenet led them down to the bottom. It reminded Ricky of a well. “That tunnel leads to the outside. We’ll be taking it out. If you walk around the stairs…” He moved a board to reveal a latch and pulled the lever. The door slid aside revealing the hidden apartment in the basement.
“You are going to extreme measures, Saganet,” Effie said.
He smiled. “It helps pass the time. That was before Ricky showed up at the academy. I did most of the work last summer and finished up before winter break. Now I’ll have to find a new project.”
“I can’t imagine what that will be,” she said.
Ricky figured that Saganet was about to get more active politically. Saganet led them past the stairs into the tunnel that took them at least one hundred paces before confronting another sliding door.
Saganet opened it and led them into a foodstuff storeroom and up another set of stairs into a corridor. Ricky heard the clinking of mugs and kind of talk that reminded him of the commissary.
“A restaurant?”
“Better.” Saganet grinned. “A popular tavern. We can just walk out along with others. You first, Ricky. Take your time getting across the street. We will take a few minutes to leave this establishment separately.”
After they finally assembled across the busy road, Saganet took them to Karian’s store. Ricky enjoyed all the careful travel. It turned walking the streets of Tossa into an adventure.