by Andrew Rowe
I nodded.
That was not what their reaction told me.
I’d hit a nerve somehow. That didn’t necessarily imply that they were actually working with the Tyrant, but there was clearly some kind of history there.
I glanced from person to person briefly, but I didn’t see any of the glowing marks on shoulders that Keras had warned me to look for. Just normal attunement marks, in normal locations.
That was good enough information for now. If they’d had the shoulder marks, I might have tried to signal Keras somehow to come in and do something, but for now, I didn’t have enough information to make a move.
And with at least six people, in their own territory, starting a fight without a good reason was a bad idea.
“I don’t suppose you could at least give us a hint about who hired you?” Jin asked.
“A hint?” One of the hooded people behind us said. “I love it. Go ahead, Jade. Give them a hint.”
Ah, so the person in front wasn’t the actual leader, then.
That made sense. It meant the actual leader was able to watch us without being watched in return, and lowered the risk that we’d attack them directly.
“Jade”, the person I’d previously assumed was the leader, raised a hand to their mask, giving a look of consideration.
After a moment, they said, “Someone with great power who may yet be your friend or your enemy, depending on how you play your hand.”
That was absolutely terrible hint.
But I’d take what I can get.
“Thank you. We apologize for intruding on your territory. We will leave you now.” Jin replied.
“We didn’t say you could leave,” Jade replied.
We tensed. I almost reached for my sword.
“Ah, just kidding. Get out of here, kids.” Jade waved a hand. “And walk safe. There are unsavory types about this late at night.”
***
Jin and I headed back toward the dorms at a rapid pace. We did not want the Blackstone Bandits’ crew to change their minds.
“I’m sorry that we failed to learn the identity of our pursuers.” Jin offered after a time.
I shook my head. “We did. We just didn’t find out who hired them. I’d call that a success.”
“Perhaps.” He shook his head. “But it doesn’t feel that way.”
“It’s progress, at least.”
We slowed down a bit when we got back to the school grounds.
I turned toward Jin. “Any ideas on who that clue might point to?”
He shook his head. “It could be any number of people. The ‘with great power’ is the only true hint, in my mind. That could be political, economic, or magical power — but it still narrows the field to a degree.”
I nodded. “I concur. We can most likely rule out other students, and probably our teachers.”
Leaving powerful nobles as options, independently powerful attuned like Derek, and foreign powers like Keras or the Tyrant.
We stopped before reaching the dorms to talk a bit more.
“What are our next steps?” Jin asked.
I frowned. “I don’t know. I’ll talk to Derek and see if he has any ideas. Maybe he’d have some ideas on who might be connected with the Blackstone Bandit.”
“He doesn’t seem like the type to work with thieves.”
I shrugged. “You never know. It sounds like whoever hired that crew has either lost interest in us, or decided to take a different approach. For the moment, I think we’d best just keep our eyes open, and communicate if either of us learns anything.”
Jin nodded. “I can agree to that.”
“Good.” I hesitated for a moment, then added. “Thank you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “For?”
“Coming to me about someone following us. I appreciate the information.”
“Of course.” He hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something more, then simply concluded with, “You’re welcome.”
“It doesn’t change what you did before,” I added hastily.
Jin shook his head. “I did not expect it to. But I hope that perhaps, over time, you can learn to trust me at least a bit again?”
I drew in a deep breath. “I’d like to. But I don’t know.”
Jin gave me that crooked smile of his. “That’s a better answer than you gave me before, at least.”
“It is.” I acknowledged. “Good night, Jin.”
“Good night, Corin.”
***
I met with Keras on the way back to the manor.
“So, did you pick up anything I may have missed?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t presume to know what you noticed, but there were a considerable number of additional members of their group still waiting nearby, both inside the building and atop it. That is not a small organization, Corin. And I believe you found one of their bases of operations.”
I frowned. “Or that whole encounter could have been staged. I don’t see why they would have had a monitoring device in that sort of location. It seemed like just an ordinary neighborhood.”
“Operating out of a seemingly ordinary neighborhood seems like a pretty good way of keeping your group of thieves from being obvious,” Keras pointed out. “It’s not like they’re going to have a big building that says ‘Blackstone Land’ on it.”
I chuckled. “I suppose. Although given how lighthearted they sounded, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Don’t take their levity as a sign of weakness. They were well-organized. Professional. They had people with ranged weapons aiming at you at all times. You were wise to withdraw when you did.”
That only made me more nervous. “Any clues on who they work for?”
Keras shook his head. “No. Did you catch any names? I wasn’t close enough.”
“Jade.”
“That’s not a good sign.”
I nodded. “Because it’s a gemstone name?”
I remembered what he’d told me before.
“It might just be because they’re mimicking the stories about the Blackstone Assassin,” he offered, “But I wouldn’t want to bet on that. I’d advise you to stay as far away from those people as possible.”
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t notice any of those shoulder marks you told me about.”
Keras gave me an approving expression. “Good of you to check. Keep watching for those.”
“I will.”
We got back to the mansion without incident. “Thanks for watching over me.”
“No problem. Get some sleep.”
“You, too.”
He shook his head. “Not just yet for me.” Keras cracked his neck. “I’m still wearing my trouble coat, and I never got to use it.”
***
I never found out what kind of trouble Keras got into that night, when he came back in the morning, his clothes were torn and he was in the best mood I’d seen him in a long time.
I asked him if he’d gone back to fight the Blackstone Bandits, but he just replied, “Nothing like that, Corin. Don’t worry about it.”
I didn’t ask any more questions after that. I had a feeling that I didn’t want to know the answers.
***
I spent just a little bit of time trying to research the Blackstone Bandits. Unfortunately, articles about their group were interspersed with so many references to their legendary namesake assassin that I couldn’t find much reliable information.
Derek told me that he didn’t think they usually did work for hire, but he didn’t know too much about them, either. Most of what he’d heard was that they considered themselves to be “heroic thieves” working against the corruption of large banking institutions like Haven Securities.
That certainly explained the number of bank heists and train robberies that were attributed to them, but it was hard to tell if there was really only a single group, or multiple groups using the Blackstone Bandits’ name. I was leaning toward the latter, since so many of the crimes seemed to be in Cael
ford, rather than Valia, and the Caelford heists seemed to have slightly different methodology.
While I found it fascinating to read about them, I couldn’t justify spending more time on it. If they really were just hired to watch me for a while, it wasn’t worth investing my time and minimal resources into trying to dig deeper.
I’d have to find way to figure out who had been following me eventually, but for the moment, I had higher priorities.
***
At the beginning of week twenty-seven, the entire student body was called to a meeting on the same grassy area where the orientation had been held.
“Good morning, students,” Chancellor Wallace began. I hadn’t seen her much during the semester, but she still had a powerful presence on the stage. “Congratulations on making it this far into the year. Your dedication to this point is commendable. But you’re not quite finished yet.”
She folded her hands, turning her head to scan from side to side. “As I’m sure many of you remember, the traditional final exam for the first year as a whole involves a climbing expedition into the Serpent Spire. Normally, this involves a group of five students entering with a teacher. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to hold that exam this year.”
There was a murmur in the crowd.
The chancellor waved a hand. “Quiet.”
It was surprisingly effective, nearly instant. I felt a tingling in the back of my mind...some kind of mental attunement at work?
Whatever the effect was, it was so brief that I didn’t have a chance to analyze it or try to chase it out of my body. It was already gone.
Out of curiosity, I activated my attunement. I immediately regretted it.
I couldn’t see the chancellor’s aura through the haze of thousands of others.
I turned it right back off, rubbing my eyes.
The chancellor continued. “The reasons for the change are unimportant, but they have required the implementation of a replacement exam. Over the next two weeks, groups of students will be sent to complete their final examinations. Vice Chancellor Bennet will provide the details.”
She stepped back, allowing the vice chancellor — once again in a military-style uniform — to step up to the lectern to speak.
The vice chancellor’s expression was always stern, but he looked unusually grim today. His eyes showed exhaustion, and his jaw looked like he’d been clenching it tight.
He took a deep breath before speaking. That probably wasn’t a good sign. “The spire test is what normally separates students who are merely academically proficient from those who are truly ready for the next step in their training for service. You’ve all survived simulated spire exams throughout the year, but a few hours in a test room can’t show how you’d survive in a dangerous environment for an extended period of time.”
The vice chancellor paused, taking another breath. “For this examination, you will be broken down into teams of five. Those of you who still have an existing team that has survived up until this point will retain that team. Your team will be assigned a second-year student and given a deployment date. On that date, you will be sent into a training facility to the north of campus.
“You will be given an assignment and seventy-two hours to complete it. You will be expected to pack equipment for surviving in the wilderness for three to ten days. You will be briefed for your mission when you are on-site, and mission-specific equipment may be provided to you at this time.
“This test will be a culmination of everything you have worked on this year. You will be graded not only on the successful completion of your mission, but also any casualties to your team, your efficiency, and your judgment.” He turned to the chancellor, nodding to her.
The chancellor stepped back into position. “Your deployment information should have been delivered to your rooms this morning. If you have not yet received it, you can check with the administration department. Deployment dates will vary, but they begin in two days. While you all have done well to reach this point, bear in mind that last test will be your hardest, and you would be wise to earn any additional points you can through other means. Your graduation is not assured, but if you work hard, it is achievable. Good luck. You are all dismissed.”
With that, we dispersed.
Sera nudged me. “I’m going to go check my mail. Strategy session back at home in a few?”
I nodded mutely. We walked together toward the dorms for a few minutes, splitting off when our buildings were in different directions.
I was still a little hesitant to go back to my old dorm room. Not because I had any real fear of assassins at this point, but because I still wasn’t quite comfortable with the idea of running into Jin again.
I was feeling a better about him after we’d done the whole thing with finding the Blackstone Bandit’s crew together, but there was a part of me that also felt like any sort of renewed trust in him was a trap.
I needed to sort through that at some point, but I wasn’t quite ready to talk to him again yet.
And I definitely wasn’t ready to to potentially spend seventy-two hours with him during our next test. That was going to be challenging.
Aside from Jin, I was still worried about the possibility that people were watching my room. I checked the area first, but I didn’t see anyone overtly suspicious.
I cautiously made my way inside.
Nothing inside the dorm itself looked to have been tampered with, but I found multiple pieces of mail that had been slipped under the door.
Most of it was junk, simply because I hadn’t visited in a while.
There were three things of note.
First, I found the deployment assignments.
Deployment Date: Snow 8th, 413, 7:00AM
Platoon Designation: Serpent Epsilon
Platoon Assignment:
Cadence, Corin (Enchanter)
Cadence, Sera (Summoner)
Callahan, Marissa (Guardian)
Wayland, Patrick (Elementalist)
Dalen, Jin (Unlisted)
Winters, Katherine (Student Supervisor)
Students are expected to meet with their supervisor at the Beaufort Train Station at the date and time listed above. Tickets to the station nearest to your training area will be provided.
Details on your mission assignment will be given when you reach the training area.
It was Snow 3rd, so we had less than a week before our deployment. We were probably in the second or third group, depending on whether or not they deployed people in overlapping groups or not. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Next, I had a few report papers listing my grades for various classes. I found the most recent overall report.
Cadence, Corin (Enchanter)
First Year
Overall Class Ranking: 987/8112
Phoenix Division Rank: 188/1564
Current Point Total: 584
Class Scores:
Magic Theory – 55 (Rank C)
Understanding Attunements – 65 (Rank B)
Mana Manipulation – 110 (Rank S)
Physical Combat – 61 (Rank B)
Introductory Runes – 75 (Rank B+)
Elective: Art of Artifice – 30 (Rank D)
Elective: Dueling – 70 (Rank B)
General Tests: 118
My scores were pretty respectable. I still wasn’t quite in the top 100, but I was in a healthy spot in the class as a whole.
My mana manipulation score was amazing, though. That must have been what Professor Edlyn had been talking about when she’d given me that ominous line about hearing about my score soon. I’d been worried about nothing; she’d just been talking about rewarding me with an extremely high grade.
That was a relief.
My overall grades still weren’t going to be high enough to please Father, but I wouldn’t have to be completely ashamed, either.
There were two remaining hurdles.
The first was Spider Division.
If our divisi
on hadn’t reported anyone correctly, I’d lose two hundred and fifty points, or nearly half of my total. I didn’t think that would put me below the passing threshold by itself, but it would hurt.
And more worryingly, our scores for this year would serve as our starting point for next year. I needed to plan for that as well. Starting out in a weak position for the following year was unacceptable.
The second hurtle was this new exam.
From the way the chancellor had been talking, I suspected a poor performance would result in failing out of the school outright.
Even a mediocre performance might include a significant point loss. That was also unacceptable.
I needed successes both with Spider Division and the next test to ensure I had the best score possible going into the second year.
But first, I had one more piece of mail.
My Dear Corin,
As you have no doubt already heard, matters in Dalenos have been somewhat tumultuous of late.
I have been rendering what aid I can to their beleaguered government, and as such, I remain indisposed for the time being.
My hope is to visit you shortly after the conclusion of your school semester.
I will once again remind you to avoid any dealings with Keras Selyrian. While I have been informed that he has been cleared from his criminal charges, he is nevertheless an extraordinarily dangerous individual.
There are also some family matters I need to discuss with you, but that conversation will best be held in person and in private.
You will be in my thoughts.
Love,
Your Mother
The letter’s date indicated it was sent just a week ago, so fortunately, I hadn’t left it sitting in my apartment for long.
There was...quite a lot to think about from that.
Most of it I didn’t want to think about, but it was too important to ignore.
There had been an attack in Dalenos just after I’d gotten out of the spire. The grand cathedral — a major center of worship — had been destroyed.
Dalenos was a theocracy, largely ruled by Katashi directly. They had an emperor and an empress, but those were largely ceremonial figures, at least in my limited understanding. Katashi and his priesthood had the real power.