by John Bierce
“What?” Hugh asked. “What detail?”
“Indris gifted you a book. She specifically told you that it was to pay off your yearly obligation to your master— which is one of the clauses of your warlock contract.” Alustin said.
Hugh thought back to the ceremony. He remembered the red paged book, of course, but most of what people actually said during that ceremony he had forgotten in a haze of anxiety at being in front of a crowd that large.
“So you’re saying that someone on the Skyhold Council works for Indris?” Sabae asked. “And why exactly are you telling us all this?”
“Not necessarily working for Indris, no,” Alustin said. “Other powers have ended up with information about Skyhold that they shouldn’t have way too many times over the last few years. If it weren’t for that, maybe we could have believed that Hugh or one of the others had let themselves talk about it where they could have been overheard. They messed up this time, though, as outside those of us in this room and Kanderon, only the Academic sub-council members have access to the details of Hugh’s contract.”
“So you’re saying that someone is selling secrets, then,” Sabae said. “That’s a problem, sure, but I still don’t understand why you’re telling us all of this.”
“It’s… not just a matter of someone selling Skyhold’s secrets,” Alustin said. “We think it might be considerably worse than that. We think that Bakori might be influencing someone on the council as well.”
Almost everyone in the room started talking at once again.
Hugh froze in his seat, his heart trying to climb out of his chest. If Bakori was influencing a council member, then he wasn’t safe here. He needed to get out of here. He needed to…
Talia’s hand grasped his wrist and squeezed hard. Hugh winced, shooting a surprised look her way. Talia gave him a resolute look, slowly letting go of his wrist.
Hugh took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down as Alustin quieted everyone else down.
“Earlier today,” Alustin said, “the academic council met for their first session of the school-year. Kanderon brought up a measure to allow Hugh to do his second-year final test in a different labyrinth, as she judged it too risky to put Hugh in the same labyrinth that Bakori hides in. She proposed the labyrinth under the gorgon capital, given our fairly close relations with them these days.”
Alustin seemed distracted for a moment when he mentioned the gorgons, then he shook his head.
“The council voted against the measure. Not only that, some of the members actively expressed their disbelief that Bakori was even in the labyrinth at all.”
“That hardly seems like a convincin’ argument for one of them bein’ controlled by a demon,” Artur said.
“Influenced, not controlled. Bakori can’t control anyone directly, merely influence them. Sending whispers into their dreams, altering their feelings about choices that they don’t feel too strongly about, that sort of thing,” Alustin said. “And no, that’s not why Kanderon believes Bakori was manipulating one of the council members— in fact, she could smell Bakori’s influence. She couldn’t, however, tell who it was on, but it seems like a reasonable bet that whoever it is likely has been selling Skyhold’s secrets as well— weakening Skyhold only helps Bakori’s goals. Skyhold council members are all long standing, trusted members of Skyhold, and there have been few betrayals of the sort in its history.”
“Couldn’t all a’ them been influenced by Bakori?” Godrick asked.
“Kanderon doesn’t think so,” Alustin said. “She believes that no more than one of them was affected. Unfortunately, all three of the council members who voted against the measure have quite legitimate reasons for voting against Kanderon, so that doesn’t help us much.”
“Why does Bakori want Hugh back in the labyrinth?” Talia asked. “Revenge?”
That sounded likely to Hugh. He doubted Bakori was fine with having wasted an entire year’s worth of work trying to manipulate Hugh into pacting with him.
“More likely he’s trying to use Hugh’s connection with Kanderon to attack her. For all the advantages pacting offers both to the warlock and their partner, it also conveys certain weaknesses,” Alustin said.
This didn’t significantly cheer Hugh.
“So someone could attack Hugh through Kanderon?,” Sabae asked.
Alustin gave her an odd look. “Anyone powerful enough to take Kanderon alive would be more than powerful enough to squash Hugh like a bug without needing to resort to such measures. The reverse is far from true.”
“So we ignore the council entirely,” Talia said. “Why should we listen to them? Why does Kanderon, for that matter?”
“Because,” Alustin said, “like it or not, they have the power to back up what they say. And, as powerful as Kanderon is, even she would be hard pressed to stand up to the other mages of the council combined, let alone the combined might of Skyhold. She’s the most powerful mage in the mountain, but she’s not invulnerable. Besides, she helped found Skyhold. She’s not going to casually violate its charter.”
“Then we leave,” Talia said. “Does Hugh really need to study here? We could travel up to my clan’s territory. You could teach us all up there.”
Alustin gave her a wry look. “I have to admit, something vaguely along those lines had crossed my mind. It’s a bit premature for anything like that, though, and Skyhold seldom lets anyone break ties with them so easily. No, for now we just need to practice caution.”
“Is that why you’re telling us all this?” Sabae asked. “Just to warn us?”
Alustin shook his head. “No, actually, I expect you all to help us catch the traitor.”
At this revelation, no one made a sound, save for the malfunctioning origami golem knocking over a pile of papers atop a bookshelf.
Finally, Artur spoke up, his voice thick with anger. “Why, exactly, are yeh havin’ a bunch of children dip their hands inta a boilin’ pot that most full mages would be best keepin’ out of?”
“They’re already involved,” Alustin said. “I highly doubt Bakori has forgotten Hugh’s friends. I’m also certain he means only ill towards them. What’s more, I’d hardly call them children. They’ve all proven themselves more than capable over this summer.”
“What’s that supposed ta mean?” Artur demanded.
“Did you hear about the events in Theras Tel over the summer?” Alustin asked.
“Just somethin’ about Ataerg turnin’ on Indris,” Artur said.
“Well, to make a long story short,” Alustin said, “these four were instrumental in foiling Ataerg’s coup.”
The huge stonemage just gaped at Alustin, then at the apprentices. Before Artur could speak, Alustin raised his hand. “I’ll tell you the whole story afterward, I promise.”
Alustin turned back towards the apprentices. “Up until now, you’ve really only been training as battlemages. Kanderon and I, however, have been grooming you as prospective Librarians Errant. While Librarians Errant are required to be capable combatants, there is considerably more to the role than merely fighting. We intend to keep you on the fringes of the investigation where it is safer, but it will provide you with experience in some of the other skillsets that Librarians Errant require.”
Sabae snorted. “You mean spycraft.”
Alustin gave her a pained look. “I’d hardly use such crude terms to describe it. Kanderon’s commands bring us to bear against a diverse range of tasks that...”
Artur chuckled at this. “They’re spies, thieves, and treasure hunters. They do Kanderon and the Council’s dirty work, whenever and wherever it needs ta be done. It’s one a’ the worst-kept secrets in Skyhold.”
This honestly didn’t surprise Hugh— the four of them had basically suspected something of the sort for some time.
Alustin sighed. “Regardless of how you want to describe it, yes, we’re training you as candidates, and Kanderon is strongly in favor of danger as a teaching tool. Furthermore…”
&nbs
p; As the pause dragged on, Hugh grew quite worried about that furthermore.
“Well?” Talia finally demanded.
“Furthermore,” Alustin said, “events this summer have led to a situation that requires a mobilization of the majority of the Librarians Errant. We’ll be in the field as often as not this year. This includes myself, and even Kanderon. And you won’t be able to join me this time. So as much as it pains me to admit it, your assistance isn’t just a training exercise. We’ll actually need the help.”
“What,” Talia said after a moment, “could possibly be more important than uncovering a traitor in the Skyhold Council?”
Hugh found his mood sinking even lower, and his attention drifted inwards. Without Kanderon and Alustin around all the time, he had a feeling that life at Skyhold was going to be a lot more complicated. He certainly felt much less safe from Bakori without them around.
“Well?” said Sabae. “Are you going to answer her?”
Hugh felt his spellbook twitch, and a hint of what seemed like confusion came from it. It seemed to stare at Sabae for a moment, then at Alustin, albeit directly through his desk. Gradually, its interest seemed to fade, and Hugh felt its attention focus back on the sparrow origami golem.
Curiously, Alustin looked relieved at the question. “I actually can’t tell you, no.”
Artur glared. “And why am ah here, exactly? Do yeh expect me to come harin’ off with ye on this mysterious quest while yeh have me son in over his head in intrigue?”
“Actually, no. We’ve got the mission more than handled on our end. I called you here because I can hardly in good conscience involve Godrick in all this without clearing it with you first,” Alustin said. “For another, I need someone I can trust to watch over my apprentices while I’m gone.”
Artur stared at Alustin, still scowling, but not as intensely. “Ah’m not saying no, but ah’m not saying yes, either. We need ta have a long, long talk first.”
“I believe the four of you were planning on getting lunch,” Alustin said, dismissing them.
As the four of them left the room, Hugh doubted he’d be able to make himself eat much. He’d really, really been hoping for a quiet, peaceful year, but life seemed to delight in keeping that out of his reach.
As he passed the origami golem, fluttering aimlessly through the air, Hugh’s spellbook abruptly made its move. It lunged up through the air, yanking Hugh almost off balance as it closed its pages around the sparrow-shaped construct. He would have fallen if Godrick hadn’t caught him, but the spellbook merely put off a feeling of contentment as it chewed.
Hugh just glared at it.
CHAPTER THREE
Class
Artur did eventually agree to allow Godrick to join the investigation and keep an eye on the foursome whenever Alustin needed to leave Skyhold. Hugh gained the impression from Godrick that Artur was mostly irritated at being surprised, not at the request or the danger involved.
Given how much less Alustin would be here to teach them this year, Hugh and the others were being enrolled in a lot more classes than they had been last spring.
All four of them had physical and combat training scheduled immediately after breakfast. Alustin planned on running that as often as he could, though Artur would be taking it over when needed.
After combat training, they had shared math and history lectures that alternated by day, followed by lunch. After that… things got a bit weirder. They had another shared class, cryptography— codes and codebreaking, essentially. Then they all split up for separate classes in the afternoon.
Talia had a class with a fire mage that specialized in, of all things, crafting puppet shows for children entirely out of flame— Alustin thought that this was her best bet for learning to control her own dream-based illusions, which only ever generated images that looked to be made of flame. Along with that, Alustin had convinced one of the few dream mages that sometimes resided at Skyhold to help instruct her, both to improve her use of dreamfire and out of hope that she might learn other uses for her dream affinity.
Curiously, Alustin had chosen not to find a bone mage for her to work with— he had just muttered something about them not being helpful. Instead, he’d reserved a large, shielded room for her to test her odd bone affinity— he was supplying her with large amounts of different animal bones to test, with a huge checklist of data for her to gather. Given how many bone spells affected the caster’s own bones, it was clear why Alustin didn’t want Talia learning those. That clearly wasn’t a safe option for Talia, unless she wanted to blow herself up. Hugh didn’t see why a bone mage couldn’t teach her other things, though.
Sabae had an introductory healing class— something usually intended for first years, but given that she’d refused to use her healing affinity last year, she didn’t have a ton of choice. After that, she had a sort of rotating seminar designed to help her progress with her unique magic techniques. Alustin would be taking charge of it whenever possible, but he had found a number of mages willing to try to help her out, including a noted expert on spellform-less casting, as well as several water mages. Alustin wasn’t having her move forward with her lightning magic yet.
Godrick’s schedule was by far the simplest— he was going to be spending most of his time working with his father, given that they had close to identical affinities. Artur’s iron affinity was more than close enough to Godrick’s steel affinity that it wouldn’t cause problems. There weren’t, unfortunately, any scent mages in Skyhold currently that could help him out.
Hugh had two main classes, other than the lessons scheduled with Kanderon whenever she was available. One was a spellform construction seminar attended mostly by journeymen mages. While Alustin was quite capable at spellform construction, he had about reached the limit of his knowledge that would be useful for Hugh— much of the rest of his knowledge was focused on glyphs, paper magic, and the like. Hugh was, however, warned not to tell anyone that he was already doing improvised spellform construction. Standard spellform construction was deemed dangerous enough as it was.
Hugh’s next class was a ward class run by a somewhat reclusive wardsmith named Loarna of the Vault that lived deep in the bowels of Skyhold. Alustin wouldn’t give him any more details than that, merely smiling ominously.
Finally, all four of them were enrolled in a class together that met every Fourthday afternoon. It was simply titled “Intermediate Library Filing Skills,” and Alustin refused to share any details about the class with them.
To Hugh’s delight, Alustin told them not to bother with attending the start of year assembly. It was, in his words, ‘an utterly superfluous waste of time that literally no-one involved enjoyed.’
Of course, Alustin wanted them to use that time for training instead.
By the third day of classes, Hugh was close to falling asleep on his feet. It was common knowledge that your second year at Skyhold was much more difficult than your first, but Alustin, unsurprisingly, took this much further than most masters.
Physical training every day was absolutely brutal. After the events of the summer, Hugh definitely understood why Alustin demanded it of them, but that didn’t make running miles every morning any more fun— even less so when Alustin informed them that they’d start having to do it while carrying progressively heavier buckets every day. There was also mention of obstacle courses, climbing, and a few surprises that Artur had in store whenever he took over the class.
Godrick grinned at that last one, but he wouldn’t tell the others anything.
Combat training was grueling as well. There were plenty of magical training exercises planned— starting with target practice and moving up to more complex group scenarios. To Hugh’s surprise, hand to hand combat training was being added as well— before, only Sabae and Godrick had trained in it at Skyhold, though Talia had plenty of combat training from home.
Hugh was fairly sure he wasn’t going to be enjoying it very much.
Math and history were, well, math and
history. The biggest challenge was just staying awake in their exhaustion. They clustered in the back of the classroom and took turns poking and kicking each other awake.
There was one other major challenge, at least for Hugh— all the other students kept looking at them and whispering to one another. There had already been plenty of rumors about them going around after they had escaped the labyrinth at the end of last year, and the rumors apparently only intensified over the summer, especially among the sizable population of students who had stayed at Skyhold.
It seemed that rumors about what had happened in Theras Tel were also spreading rapidly, which Hugh really didn’t need. Even the instructors seemed unduly interested.
Thankfully, Godrick was more than happy being the face of the group— he’d been friendlier with a great many more people last year than the rest of them. Hugh had absolutely no interest in talking to a bunch of strangers. Talia was infuriated by the lot of them— when she’d seemed a failure as a mage last year, they’d all ignored her, only to start paying attention now. Sabae didn’t seem overly concerned one way or another— according to her, she’d learned to deal with stuff like that back in Ras Andis.
Cryptography was… interesting, to be certain. Their instructor refused to tell them their name and went concealed at all times with a thick hooded robe and gloves. Their face was concealed behind magical shadows, and their voice was magically altered. Hugh had no idea what gender they were, even. The only thing that he could tell was that they were short and fat— and Sabae claimed that they were stuffing their robes to make themselves look that way.
The actual coursework in cryptography wasn’t as difficult as Hugh had anticipated. They were learning about the fundamental principles of encryption and the like. They hadn’t even started on any actual codes, yet, though apparently the first ones would be fairly simple.