Forging Alliances: Wizards of White Haven

by Frances Howitt

  ‘Thank you, my love,’ she said and led the way outside to the table and chairs on the veranda. It was their favourite place to eat whenever it was mild, well, when it was mild enough for her comfort. Drako happily sat out all year round on their swing seat. She’d seen him brush snow off the seat before now, to take his favourite perch. Oh to be blessed with his thick fluffy bear coat. She’d far rather do the hibernation thing in winter!

  Just a few yards away she watched Freddie and Natalya come out and settle on their own veranda with plates and mugs. Cassy returned their wave of greeting and shifted her chair slightly to find a patch of sunshine. The wind sighed through the pine trees behind the house but just here was sheltered from the prevailing brisk autumn wind. The village was spread out below them and people were moving about purposefully in the village street fetching food supplies or heading off to begin their work for the day. Many stopped for a quick chat when they met a neighbour before going on their way. It was a peaceful scene that was relaxing and soothing and she knew that was one of the main reasons Drako sat out here. The atmosphere had helped put his demons to rest, healing his soul and many of the villagers’ as well.

  Soon breakfast was tidied away and Drako and Cassy walked down to join Natalya, Freddie, Dustin, Rupert, Johnny and Jack who’d gathered at Freddie’s house. Drako held Cassy’s hand and led the way at a steady pace. They walked up the side of the quiet sawmill and followed the path across the meadow, away from the village. It was always a little surreal to leave the peaceful village, walk through an equally quiet forest, step into a barn and then pass through an ancient magical device that whisked them hundreds of miles away, in just a moment.

  Féarmathuin Castle’s portal room was full of stuff as usual, but it was at least neatly stacked and there was a clear aisle down the centre leading out. As they climbed the final staircase and entered the Great Hall they could see dozens of people already hard at work. The castle, in direct contrast to everywhere else this morning, was already a hive of activity.

  He’d primed Darius that he’d be coming this morning and Natalya would need the wall workers, so he was pleased to see them in the hall waiting. They weren’t idle though, but could be hauling stone from the portal room and stacking it, using Jack’s winch system, down the steepest part of the hill to the upper bailey wall. His brother was here with them too and clearly curious. He now turned to call the two that were outside to return.

  ‘Listen up,’ Drako called and silence fell over the busy workers. ‘Gather round,’ he added and waited until everyone in earshot had done so and those hauling materials down below came up to join them. ‘Natalya here has devised a way to make us almost invisible to wizards.’

  ‘How is that possible?’

  ‘She can create an individual shield, for each and every one of us, which we can keep. It’s not a defensive shield, because that is exhausting to maintain, however this will hide our magical signature. It’ll mean that from a distance, wizards will be fooled into thinking an animus is an ordinary human.’

  ‘From how far a distance?’

  ‘I can hide your animus signature,’ Natalya responded. ‘However, if they get within speaking distance and can actually see you clearly, they might notice the other clues that you are not a plain human. Of course, having hidden your magic they will be less likely to be looking at you closely enough to perhaps guess you’re something else.’

  ‘It’ll make a wizard think we’re plain humans?’

  ‘Exactly. You all know how to hide from sight, this will help you do that,’ Natalya added, aware many were sceptical and others were actually scared to have anything wizard related touching them. ‘What the shield will also do is hide your thoughts. It will create what the wizards call a privacy shield. It might surprise you all to know that animus are considered “loud” by wizards.’

  ‘What? The wizard students are so noisy we get headaches joining them for meals.’

  ‘That is true,’ Natalya acknowledged easily. ‘Do you know why? You have hit on one of the fundamental differences between a wizard and an animus. Both have excellent hearing. However, one hears physical noise, while the other is tuned to hear mental noise. An animus tends to walk softly to minimise the noise he hears, while a wizard does the same thing by shielding their private thoughts from spilling out.’

  ‘I’ve never heard it described like that,’ Cassy remarked to her friend, nodding agreement. ‘But it’s true. Sorry, go on.’

  ‘The magic within every animus gives them a mental voice, but because they can’t hear it themselves, they have no idea they’re being loud. Essentially every animus could be compared to a deaf person calling out, or a baby yelling, when they only need whisper to be heard. That’s the main reason an animus is so easy for a wizard to track.’

  ‘We yell like a baby?’ Darius asked in dismay. ‘Not sure I like the sound of that.’

  ‘No, we don’t either!’ she remarked. ‘The crowd of you gathered around us right now is very loud, primarily because you’re all nervous and thinking hard,’ Natalya added with a small wince. ‘You mentioned wizards in the dining hall clattering stuff; that’s what you are, right now, to us. The stone of this hall helps muffle you to the outside world, but many of you do work outside and that’s what we’re most concerned about.’

  ‘You’ll incorporate a mental privacy shield in the spell too?’ Cassy asked in amazed approval. ‘Excellent. Teach me the spell and I’ll help. We’ve more than enough people to get around.’

  ‘What do we have to do to get this shield? When can we get it?’ Jack asked eagerly. He’d gladly have paid good money for this, if it had ever been offered before. He’d hated being tracked by the squads. They’d followed him and his family relentlessly and now he knew why they’d found him so easily. He was all for something that would thwart those evil wizards and level the playing field.

  ‘That’s why Cassy and I are here today. We can make a start now. There are a lot of you, so I doubt we’ll be able to get around everyone today. What I want to concentrate on are those of you working outside. Those people are the ones most at risk of being spotted and drawing attention, so the sooner they’re shielded the better.’

  ‘Is it safe though? What will it do to us?’

  ‘Yes, it’s safe,’ Drako assured them. ‘Freddie, his pack and I, have already trialled the new combination shield. It’s working for us as we speak. The only thing you will perhaps initially notice is to feel a little tired. For us that passed quickly as our bodies adjusted. Now I don’t notice anything different at all.’

  ‘You may begin with me then,’ Darius said, stepping forward with no further ado. He was their lord; it was his place to lead. He also suspected Natalya had worked on this spell knowing just how close they truly were to that prison. Did those in the prison scan in this direction? Given such proximity, they needed to take every possible precaution to remain undetected. He agreed that prioritising the wall builders was therefore essential for everyone’s safety.

  The warriors eventually chosen to go on the rescue mission would need to be shielded from notice too. Giving as many of his people this protection now, saved sapping their wizards later, when he might actually need their strength for defence.

  After so many years fighting and being chased by the warped wizards of the inquisitor squads, it was quite a leap of faith to expect his people to trust having a spell cast over each and every one of them. Many of the clan lived in the White Haven village with wizards as neighbours and were undoubtedly happy to be there. Proximity to those wizard children had helped put the evil of the inquisitor teams into perspective. However, for many, they’d been bitten for too long to be anything other than suspicious and wary.

  When he’d first met Cassy, his brother’s girlfriend at the time, he’d been very suspicious of her intentions, sure she would betray them. He accepted he’d overreacted at the time, his man causing her more physical harm than he’d intended. However, he’d had little reason to trust o
utsiders then and his brother should have known better. For all he knew, being a wizard, she could have put Drako under a spell to get him to uncover their remaining people. Drako had led her right into the very heart of the Clan’s last remaining hidden winter sanctuary and it had shocked the hell out of everyone.

  He’d kept an eye on her since that time and been pleasantly surprised. She had a warm, open and helpful way about her, which fostered trust and was a complete contrast to what they tended to expect from the average wizard. She had quietly won the respect and trust of Drako’s part of the clan and was well on the way to acceptance by Darius’s people too.

  Now Natalya, an even stronger wizard, had joined them through Freddie, one of their most trusted and loyal guardians. She had volunteered to expend her strength many times already in the brief time she’d been part of their clan. Her generosity of spirit was tangible, coupled with the integrity and strength of a wolf. His bear liked and respected wolves. He glanced at Freddie a little enviously, wishing not for the first time, that he’d seen her first. She now carried Freddie’s baby, adding to the wealth and future of the clan. However she’d arrived, he was simply happy to have such a strong, committed and inventive person join them. It didn’t hurt that she was exceedingly attractive too, tall and with a shapely figure.

  ‘Ready?’ Natalya asked meeting Darius’s dark eyes and trying to interrupt the thread of his not so private thoughts. It would be a relief not to hear so much.

  ‘Yes,’ he said simply and held out his hands for her to take, knowing that physical contact enabled her to connect to his magic. She took his hands and closed her eyes. A small jolt went through him in response to the strength of her magic sweeping through him. Her mental touch immediately warmed and reassured him, clearly noticing his unease. Then he felt a strange sensation as though she was wrapping something around him. Was this the shield?

  ‘Yes,’ she responded mentally. ‘How does it feel?’

  ‘Like a warm blanket,’ he admitted. ‘Oh, it’s gone. Have you taken it away?’

  ‘No, it’s still there. What you’re feeling is me stepping back, taking my power and influence away. You’re the one powering the spell now. It’s becoming a part of you.’

  ‘That’s it; it’s done? Is it working?’ Darius asked as she released hold of him.

  ‘Yes on all counts,’ Natalya assured him and Cassy nodded, scanning him too.

  ‘Thank you. Wizards can’t see me now?’

  ‘No, you scan like an Ordinary,’ Cassy assured him.

  ‘Excellent. Who wants to go next?’ Natalya asked briskly, glancing round.

  ‘Will you be giving those living at White Haven the shield as well?’ Darius asked as a man tentatively stepped forward to take his place.

  ‘Eventually,’ Natalya responded, even as she worked on another volunteer. ‘Whilst the perimeter wall helps mask the animus presences in the village from outsiders, once someone’s inside, they’d feel there’s an unusually heavy concentration of animus there. So yes, we do plan to get round everyone.’

  ‘Good. Thank you for thinking up and designing this spell. I know you must have been the one to do that.’

  ‘Someone had to,’ she said with a casual shrug.

  ‘Thank you. You’re giving us a layer of protection I never thought was possible. And I really like being able to thwart a squad if we ever have to evade one.’

  ‘I prefer not hearing your thoughts too,’ Natalya remarked and grinned as Darius paused, obviously wondering what exactly she might have picked up.

  ‘You were listening?’

  ‘Yelling baby,’ she reminded. ‘Not that you were thinking anything so innocent.’

  ‘I can’t control what pops into my head,’ he objected weakly. He was rather glad his beard mostly covered his face or he’d be more obviously red faced. Then he noticed her amusement and growled. She was one of the few people who dared tease him. ‘You’re having me on. You weren’t listening.’

  ‘Not all the time, no,’ she conceded. ‘I tried to stop listening when you began listing my attributes. Fortunately Freddie couldn’t hear you.’

  ‘Did I hear you say my name?’ Freddie asked arriving at her side with a quizzical expression. He looked from a rather pink Darius to a smirking Natalya and shook his head. ‘Bear baiting again, honey?’

  ‘Only a bit. It’s good to keep him on his toes.’

  ‘Come on, Cassy’s going to finish her crowd before you do, at this rate,’ Freddie pointed out and bit his lip in amusement that she looked up quickly to check. Natalya was definitely competitive, but in truth the quicker they got those they’d earmarked done, the sooner those people could get back to work.

  ‘Are you going to be able to come back and help with the re-build?’ Darius asked Natalya. ‘You’d be able to speed a number of jobs along.’

  ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she promised easily. ‘This project alone is going to take several days to get round everyone though. I’ll see if I can pop over early some mornings, before class, or maybe catch people when they’re back at the charcoal hut for dinner. We do have a term break coming up in another week. We should have more time then.’

  ‘Excellent. I’d better get back to work. Thanks again for doing this for us, both of you,’ Darius said to include an equally busy Cassy who gave him a quick smile of acknowledgement.

  He strode out of the hall to resume the backbreaking work on rebuilding the walls. He had a castle to mend and that was no small undertaking. Fortunately he had talented help and others who’d come when they really needed it. As Natalya was proving, they also had people helping in other, equally important ways he’d never have thought of. He and his people were no longer alone and it was a realisation that had been slow coming but gladdened his heart.

  22. Final Examinations

  Examination day dawned and four guild specialist examiners arrived at White Haven bright and early enough to join the students in the hall for breakfast. Today Jim was going to have to swap hats, from greeting the examiners as the headmaster, to then joining those waiting to be given a number for their turn to be tested. Whilst one part would be a written test, the remainder of the exam would be on a one to one basis, testing practical application, skill and knowledge.

  Whilst it might seem odd to have guild examiners when White Haven was independent, the last thing he wanted was to disadvantage his students by asking them to sit non-guild approved exams. So, the same testers who oversaw each of the other academies would give his students, and him, tests that were to the same recognised standards as other officially recognised academies. His students and their parents, needed to know that a White Haven diploma was worth the same as one earned anywhere else.

  ‘Sir, are you here to supervise us?’

  ‘No. I never got a chance to take my final examinations, so I’m taking the tests today, same as you,’ Jim admitted. He noticed the students stare, but before he could be bombarded with the questions he could see formulating, the examiner appeared and silence reigned. They were called into the empty classroom and handed their test sheets as they entered, along with a pencil. Once all had sat down at the widely spaced desks, they were instructed to open their test and begin.

  Jim could sense the examiner’s spell, which had been cast over the room and students, to prevent mental communication outside of the room or indeed any snooping on another. He was relieved to therefore be able to relax his guard to concentrate fully on the task in hand. Reading the first question he knew this was not going to be easy, nor was it meant to be. It was the final hurdle of earning the right to become listed as an adult, fully-fledged, wizard.

  He wasn’t the first to finish, but was close to it. He’d taken time to re-read his answers and ensure he’d not missed anything before he went to the examiner, sitting at the front, and handed in his paper. Only then could he escape the room.

  Because of his duties, he hadn’t been able to join lessons on a regular basis. In any case it had felt slightly
awkward to the teacher, and also to the rest of the class, to have him there acting as a student. Whilst he was only a year older than the majority of the final year class, his role as head master meant he had to retain a certain distance and demand respect to maintain discipline generally. It had added another complication to learning the skills necessary to pass the exams. Fortunately, wizard Derek had been amenable to allotting some otherwise free periods, and a couple of evenings a week, to tutor him one to one. His father had also helped guide him through some of the weird parts he’d found in the textbooks, before his parents returned home.

  Jim had had a good foundation, through his old guild’s academy. Used to being top of the class, he’d been initially disheartened by just how much he’d missed since then, and therefore didn’t know. On the flip side, because he’d helped tutor both Cassy and then Natalya, when they’d both missed class time because of injury, he’d learned some chunks of the curriculum quite thoroughly so could skim over them.

  Jim had almost perfect recall and was determined to pass his finals first time. He’d sensed Derek had been quite intrigued to teach him, being able to reduce the levels of repetition normally required, ensuring retention and taking a quicker and more condensed approach to each session. Thereby they covered more each time than would be usual.

  Some long parts of the curriculum were dedicated to teaching a wizard to keep complete control over his magic. This was something Jim had certainly been working on and fine tuning alone. It was therefore a large section that Derek needn’t spend a great deal of time covering. However, because Jim’s unique mix of abilities did take some juggling and required fine control to manage, it was not an area Derek was prepared to skip teaching entirely. There was only so much that a wizard could figure out for themselves and he had certainly been able to teach him some undiscovered tips specific to the strongly gifted.