Volinette's Song

by Martin Hengst

  “The weight and severity of these crimes cannot be overlooked. Justice must be done. However, I’m sure that the Grand Inquisitor could be swayed toward leniency if only the item were returned. If Janessa would be willing to return the Transcendental Prism…”

  “I can’t return what I don’t have,” Janessa spat.

  “Then I’m sure Master Vendur could be convinced to lessen the punishment required,” Maera continued, ignoring the girl’s heated outburst.

  Volinette thought that Adamon looked as if he had no intention of reducing the consequences of Janessa’s actions, but she kept her mouth shut. If discretion were the better part of valor, she’d have earned a medal by the time the night was through. She saw Baris open his mouth and kicked him soundly in the shin. Baris wouldn’t be earning any medals.

  Janessa’s father changed tack, sailing into previously explored waters of courtesy.

  “Head Master,” he said, inclining his head. “Might we speak to our daughter in private?”

  “Of course, Master Navita,” Maera motioned to the curtain separating the main office from the chamber beyond. “My antechamber should suffice.”

  Janessa’s parents escorted the protesting girl through the curtain. Olin, who had been observing the proceedings with a stony detachment, came to life and moved to stand by the partition separating the rooms.

  The Head Master’s office was dead quiet. Even so, it was impossible to hear the conversation that Janessa and her parents were having beyond the curtain. Except for a few muted outbursts by the girl, they might as well have disappeared from the tower. Volinette shifted from foot to foot. She wanted to be back in her room with the door closed, the light out, and snuggled under her blanket until all of this had blown over.

  “What happens now?” she blurted when she couldn’t take the silence any longer. Maera and Adamon exchanged a knowing glance. The Inquisitor shook his head.

  “If she continues to claim ignorance of the crime or the whereabouts of the Prism, I’ll have no choice, Head Master.” Adamon shrugged.

  “Surely there must be another way, Adamon. She’s still a girl.” Maera’s eyes searched the Inquisitor’s face before she turned away, toward the window.

  “She has shown a flagrant disregard for our laws, our ways, our heritage, and other mages. She’s a danger to herself and every other Quintessentialist in the Imperium. Censure is the only way.”

  Censure. The word echoed through Volinette’s mind like a pebble dropped down a deep well. Each time the pebble bounced off a wall, the word seemed to get louder and louder. It landed in her stomach like a block of lead, making her feel sick and cold.

  The horrors of censure were legend among the people of the Imperium. Tales of mages who went rogue and were caught or who were censured for their crimes, were often told around campfires and tavern tables. Each tale would be worse than the last. Stories of men who lost their minds and went feral, or worse, became homicidal madmen who could no longer stand the company of other people, because the pain of what they had lost was just too great. Entire volumes in the Great Library were dedicated to these tales. Volinette had devoured them with a voracious appetite she didn’t quite understand.

  She wanted to plead for Janessa. Surely censure wasn’t the only option, but she found her mouth had gone very dry. No matter how she worked her tongue, she couldn’t manage more than a whisper. That was probably best, she decided, as Adamon didn’t look as if he was in any mood to barter any favors.

  Olin stepped away from the curtain, flashing a hand signal to Adamon, who nodded and turned to face the entrance. Maera turned as well, and they all focused their attention on the velvet partition as it was pushed aside.

  Janessa’s father entered first. His jaw was tight and his eyes were fixed straight ahead. He acknowledged no one else in the room as he entered and waited for his daughter and wife to follow. Janessa came next, her chin raised in her typical haughty manner. The most significant change was in Janessa’s mother. While she had left as a hard, cold woman, she returned with red, swollen eyes that betrayed her tears. Her shoulders were stooped. She was a woman who had admitted defeat. Volinette had seen that look before in many singing competitions. This time, though, the consequences of failure were much direr.

  Adamon addressed Master Navita as soon as they had all entered the Head Master’s office.

  “You’ve had your time to confer, Master Navita. Your daughter stands accused of these crimes, witness has been brought, but yet she denies the claims. Further, she will not return the stolen artifact. Have you been able to convince your daughter to cooperate?”

  At Adamon’s question, Janessa’s mother burst into fresh tears. Janessa’s shoulders jerked a little straighter. Volinette winced in sympathy. The brave front Janessa was putting on was just that, a front. Janessa’s father worked his jaw for a moment, then lowered his face to the floor.

  “No, Grand Inquisitor, despite our pleas, she maintains her innocence.”

  “Very well. Janessa Navita, I find you guilty of crimes against the Imperium and the Orders. I sentence you to censure. You will be remanded into custody until such time as the Rite of Censure can be scheduled.”

  Janessa’s mother rushed to Maera’s side. She clutched the royal purple robes, bunching them between her bony fingers.

  “Please, Head Master, please convene the High Council of Masters. I beg you, let me make my appeal.”

  “The High Council of Masters shall be called. I trust Adamon will ensure that Janessa is kept comfortably until such a matter can be resolved.”

  The Grand Inquisitor nodded. He motioned to Olin, who stepped to one side of Janessa. Adamon went to the other. They marched her from the room in much the same way that Volinette and Baris had seen her escorted from the dormitory to the tower.

  Janessa’s parents followed the Inquisitors through the curtain, and the muted rumble of the elevator beyond filled the otherwise quiet room. For the first time since Janessa and her parents had reentered the Head Master’s office, Volinette dared to look at Baris.

  He looked back at her and shrugged. His eyes were as dark as she felt. They’d witnessed one of their peers being sentenced to censure. Volinette couldn’t remember ever hearing of the ritual being performed on someone so young.

  “You’ve witnessed something traumatic in its own right here today,” Maera said, her voice quiet yet still thundering in the stillness. “The decision to cut a Quintessentialist off from the resonance of the Quintessential Sphere is never one to be taken lightly. I trust Adamon and his decision, though I don’t like it.”

  “What about the High Council of Masters?”

  Maera shook her head, her eyes sad.

  “While many of the Masters may see the merit in offering a lesser penalty considering Janessa’s age, her attitude will almost certainly seal her fate. Once they witness her crimes as they were committed, she will have few friends within the tower, much less on the High Council.”

  Maera turned her back on them then, looking out the window over the darkened city.

  “It’s getting late. I thank you for your service. Both of you. I’m sorry you had to be involved with this so young and so early in your time at the Academy. I hope tomorrow is brighter for you.”

  Volinette knew a dismissal when she heard one. She reached down and took Baris’s hand, unsurprised to find it trembling. Her hands were no steadier. The link-shock that danced between them was a welcome reminder that they were still connected to the Quintessential Sphere. They followed the accused and the Inquisitors. They reached the shaft for the cage and rang the bell to call the strange and wonderful carriage.

  When they parted ways in the courtyard to go to their respective dormitories, Volinette had never felt more alone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next morning brought a return to class and with it, Volinette had hoped, some normalcy. Any desire for things to be more normal evaporated like fog in the sun as soon as she walked into the classroo
m. Most of the apprentices whispered to each other behind cupped hands. Syble, Nixi, and Halsie were less sneaky about their feelings. Violinette’s table was conspicuously empty. Poor Baris was obviously getting the dirty end of the stick. He and Syble were as far apart from each other as the length of the table would allow, and they both looked as if that wasn’t half long enough for either of them.

  “Class, come to order,” Fulgent Casto said as he stalked into the classroom. His usual cheerful demeanor was nowhere to be found, and there were dark bags under his eyes. Volinette suspected that she wasn’t the only one who had suffered through a sleepless night.

  Under the watchful eye of Master Casto, the girls couldn’t really make a move against Baris or Volinette. She suspected that they lacked the bravery and innate sense of entitlement that made Janessa so formidable. However, that didn’t stop them from cornering Volinette and her friend after class let out.

  Volinette caught Baris’s eye as Master Casto dismissed the class. She wanted to be out of the room before the harpies had a chance to regroup. Why she thought her luck should be any different today, she didn’t know. From the time that Master Casto left the room, Syble was just steps behind Baris. Nixi and Halsie closed in on Volinette, blocking her escape.

  “You didn’t think you were going to get away with it, did you?” Nixi demanded, taking nominal leadership of the group in Janessa’s absence. “The High Council will never rule against Janessa. Her parents are too well known and too powerful for that to happen.”

  “That’s not what the Head Master says!” Baris exclaimed. Volinette glanced at him. His hands were balled into fists by his side.

  “Baris!” she snapped, hoping to quell some of the madness before it began in earnest.

  “And how would a farm boy like you know what the Head Master says?” Syble demanded.

  “We were there. We saw everything.” Baris’s eyes took on a hard gleam, something Volinette had never seen before. “Janessa wasn’t so tough when the Grand Inquisitor sentenced her to censure!”

  The harpies gave a collective gasp and a quick smile flashed across the boy’s face before he regained his composure.

  “Oh? Didn’t know about that, did you?” Baris gave them a wicked grin. “You only have half the information. Yeah, they’re calling a High Council of Masters to decide Janessa’s fate…but it isn’t to decide if she’s guilty or innocent. Adamon already declared her guilty. It’s done. Janessa’s mother pleaded for the Council, begged the Head Master for it, to try and pull Janessa’s bacon out of the fire!”

  Volinette couldn’t help but to commiserate with Baris. He’d put up with so much at the hands of the girls that it was only natural for him to want to take his pound of flesh. She just wished he’d done it in a more public place, or at least when they weren’t outnumbered three-to-two.

  The harpies recovered from the shock of Baris’s revelation with relative ease. Nixi stepped forward, her eyes flashing with menace.

  “Janessa’s parents won’t let anything happen to her, High Council of Masters or not. They certainly aren’t going to let that…that outlander allow the Grand Inquisitor to censure her. They’ll cause a revolt first. They have considerable power, you know.”

  Volinette couldn’t believe her ears. Nixi’s epithet, though technically true, was a vile accusation against the Head Master. Maera wasn’t, strictly speaking, human, but her people, the Theid, were close enough to human that it shouldn’t matter. Her retort was just as heated as Nixi’s had been.

  “I think you vastly overestimate the amount of sway they have, Nixi.” Though she’d scolded Baris just moments before for wading into the fray, here she was doing the same thing. “My family probably has more influence than the Navitas.”

  As soon as she’d uttered the words, Volinette couldn’t believe what she’d said. Her family stature had never entered into her life in the Academy. In fact, until it was proved otherwise by Janessa and her ilk, Volinette had always assumed that one’s rank or standing outside the Academy or Great Tower had no bearing on the treatment one received once they had been welcomed into that hallowed institution. How wrong she had been. Now she knew better. Maybe if she’d pulled rank from the beginning, she wouldn’t be in this mess now. That’s not how she had wanted it to be, though. She’d wanted to stand on her own merit, for all the good it had done her.

  “Yeah!” Baris agreed, taking up the baton and running with it. “Who’s ever heard of a Navita outside the Academy or Blackbeach? Nobody. That’s who. Everyone’s heard of the Terris Singers. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone singing or humming one of their songs. What’s that one you sang for Master Jotun earlier, Vol?”

  Volinette was beginning to think that with friends like Baris, she didn’t need enemies. Still, she knew he was just trying to help in his own way. Even if that way was as likely to get them killed as not.

  “It was nothing,” she said, trying to downplay Baris’s enthusiasm. “Just an old fishing ballad.”

  “You’re a Terris? As in, the traveling family minstrels?” Halsie barked, laughing. “Right. And I’m Queen of the Pheen.”

  “You’re damn right she’s a Terris, your Majesty,” Baris countered. “She can prove it too. Can’t you, Vol? Weren’t you on the training ground, Halsie? Don’t you remember what she did to that elemental? With her voice?”

  Halsie exchanged glances with Nixi and Syble. For the first time since they’d started this confrontation, they looked as if they might be having second thoughts. Syble was behind the other two girls and was working her way toward the door.

  Nixi struck first, but Baris was waiting. Nixi had only spoken a few words of her cantrip when Baris finished his spell. It was a simple magic missile, a bolt of white light that streaked from his outstretched fingers and slammed into Nixi’s face. Her head snapped back on her neck. The girl’s cry of rage and pain assured Volinette that the girl wasn’t dead, and allowed her to turn her attention on Halsie, who was following up on Nixi’s spell with one of her own.

  Baris dodged Halsie’s bolt easily, and fired back one of his own. It went wide and hit a chair, tossing it across the room with a clatter. Volinette took a deep breath from her belly, and it rushed out in a pure, clear note. Taking advantage of her instinct, she slipped into the Quintessential Sphere. The silver-gray living memory of the Ethereal Realm intruded on her vision. Nixi and Halsie were easy to see, their darker gray shadows dominating her view. Syble’s shade was a lighter gray and further off. She wasn’t as much of a threat as she’d have liked everyone, especially Baris, to believe.

  Focusing on memories of storms, thunder, and violent winds, Volinette summoned forth the memories of ancient skies gone dark. She sang words of power that she’d never heard before and had never read in any book. These were the songs of the wind, whispering their names in her ear just ahead of the words tumbling from her lips.

  The impact of slipping back into the physical realm made her rock back on her feet, but she managed to keep her balance. Volinette blinked, unable to accept what she saw with her own eyes. A tempest raged around her fingertips. Dark clouds rumbled with muted thunder, fighting for attention from the miniature gale that pushed and pulled the clouds in every direction imaginable. Flashes of white lit the room as tiny bolts of lightning danced from cloud to cloud.

  By the time Halsie realized the danger she was in, it was too late. The melody Volinette was singing came to a crashing crescendo and the storm in her hands raced forward in a blue-gray blur. It slammed into Halsie chest high and expanded, lifting both Halsie and Nixi off the ground and launching them toward Syble who scrambled toward the door.

  The three of them landed in a sprawling heap of arms and legs that stuck out in every direction. For a few moments, they fought against each other before realizing that neither Volinette nor Baris were in their pile of flailing limbs. They managed to get to their feet and looked back at the prey who had become the predators. Nixi looked as if she wanted to pres
s the fight and continue a counterattack, but Syble and Halsie each grabbed an arm and dragged her out the door and into the hallway beyond.

  It took some time for the residual power that Volinette had called from the Quintessential Sphere to dissipate. The hair on her arms and head stood straight out. She ran her fingers through the crackling strands, trying to get them to lay down as they should. She turned to look at Baris, whose face was split by a wide grin.

  “Did ya see that?” he crowed, clapping with delight. “You bowled them right over! I bet that’s the last time they try and pull rank on you.”

  “This isn’t funny, Baris.” Volinette felt unsteady on her feet and sank into one of the chairs by the nearest table.

  “Like hell it’s not,” Baris snorted. “They finally got the smallest taste of what they’ve got coming to them. I’m glad you gave it to them, too. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for that to happen. You were incredible. How’d you do that?”

  “How did I do what?”

  “How’d I do what?” Baris tossed up his hands in exasperation. “Oh, I dunno, maybe summon a miniature hurricane in the middle of a classroom and use it to throw your enemies across the room?”

  “I didn’t.”

  Baris gaped at her. He waved his hands in a gesture that Volinette couldn’t decipher while his mouth opened and closed like a landed fish.

  “You…didn’t?” he sputtered, finally finding his voice. “I think if you ask any of those girls, they’re going to tell you otherwise. You whomped them but good.”

  “You helped,” she said by way of weak protest.

  “Oh, yeah, my piddly magic missile was the thing that turned the tide in that whole battle. I’ll admit, though, that I gave Nixi a pretty good black eye.” He paused a moment, rubbing his chin with one hand. “What did you mean when you said ‘I didn’t,’ when I asked you how you’d done it?”