“Does every mage have at least one Talent?” asked someone.
“We don’t know,” said Master Jorey and a few students looked deflated at her words. “Today Master Yettle showed you healing, but imagine if you’d never seen it before. How would you know if you had an innate ability for it? You may discover a Talent while at the Red Tower or you may not. It might come to you years from now when you’re out in the world. Or you may never discover one, but that shouldn’t stop you from studying as hard as possible. Time for dinner,” she said, hopping off the desk and waddling out of the classroom ahead of the students.
“I would never have guessed that about her,” said Tianne, coming to stand beside Wren’s desk on one side. Danoph lurked on the other, a thoughtful expression on his face. He said little and was often elsewhere in thought. Still waters run deep, was something her father sometimes said. “I always thought she was a fish wife,” whispered Tianne. Wren felt a stab of guilt at having the same unworthy thought about Master Jorey.
Lost in thought, Wren followed the others in silence through the brightly lit corridors, barely glancing at the mage lights fixed to the walls. Part of her mind idly wondered who was responsible for lighting them each night.
Normally in the dining hall there were at least ten people serving food, but for some reason there were only five this evening. It took Wren and her friends longer than normal to get their meals, but eventually they sat down to eat in their usual spot. A pool of space was left around them which Wren pretended not to notice. She’d hoped all of this would go away, but nothing had changed since that night when she’d fought back. Others might have tried in the past, but Brunwal had been the strongest in their dormitory until now.
“Do either of you have any advice on how to fix this?” asked Wren, hoping they might have an idea she’d not considered.
“Well, you wanted him to stop bullying you, and it worked,” said Tianne, trying to see the good in the current situation. Sometimes her positive attitude was refreshing. This was not one of those times.
“I didn’t want to become the bully,” said Wren. “Even though I’ve not hurt anyone else, they’re all scared of me. I need to find a way to regain their trust.”
“That’s not easy,” said Danoph, around a mouthful of beans. He was always hungry and ate every meal as if it was his last, often scraping his plate clean. “It will take time.”
“Maybe you should do something nice. Then people will like you,” suggested Tianne. Wren frowned and chose not to comment on Tianne’s idea. She knew her friend wanted to be liked by everyone which seemed both an impossible and senseless goal. Wren didn’t want all of the students to like her. She just didn’t want to be feared and ignored.
“Perhaps I should ask a teacher. This cannot be the first time something like this has happened.”
“Isn’t that what got you into this?” said Tianne. “Listening to Garvey.” She dropped her voice and looked around the hall. There was no one close enough to overhear them and, besides, Garvey never ate his meals with the other teachers.
A handful of teachers took their meals in their rooms, but some of them came into the dining hall on most days. No food of any kind was allowed in the library and before every meal Master Ottah pulled on a pair of leather gloves. Food smears and crumbs found inside a book were another crime he considered punishable by a slow death.
Occasionally Balfruss would sit with Master Jorey or Choss during their evening meal and Wren would hear a rumble of laughter coming from their table.
Today the teachers’ table was empty which she assumed meant they were all busy.
“The fault was mine,” said Wren, thinking back to her conversation with Master Garvey. “I must have misinterpreted his instructions.”
“I doubt it,” said Tianne. “I think he likes seeing people get hurt.”
Her friend’s disrespect had gone far enough and Wren could not ignore it any longer. “Tianne, I know you don’t like him, but he’s still a teacher, and a member of the Grey Council. All of the teachers only want the best for us. He was trying to teach me something and I misunderstood.”
It was clear from Tianne’s expression that she disagreed, but this time she bit her tongue and sullenly went back to her meal. Wren cleared her plate and passed it through the hatch to the kitchen. Even the student working there this week couldn’t meet her gaze.
“Be careful,” said Danoph, as he walked past. “Perhaps the lesson Garvey was trying to teach is not one that you want to learn.”
Wren frowned and pondered his words as she searched for Garvey. At this time of night students were not allowed inside the tower without being accompanied by a teacher. All three members of the Grey Council had rooms inside, but asking for him at the front door was the last place to try on her list. She’d noticed that when she and the others left the dining hall at night, Garvey was often walking around the grounds smoking his pipe. Using her nose she walked around until she saw a small cloud of blue smoke. He was leaning against the back of one of the dormitories that surrounded their training ground.
“Master Garvey, could I speak to you for a moment?” she asked, not wanting to intrude if he was hoping for some privacy. He beckoned her closer with his pipe and took a few more drags. “I wanted to ask your advice on how to deal with the other students.”
“Has something else happened?” he asked, staring up at the sky. It was a cool evening and the night sky was awash with a sea of glittering stars, but Wren had no time for stargazing. She heard enough about stars and their spiritual meanings in Master Farshad’s lessons on religion.
“Nothing new,” she said, “but the other students are now afraid of me. What can I do to reassure them that I’m not a threat?”
Garvey tapped out the bowl of his pipe and ground the contents under his heel. “You were stupid.”
Wren was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. He seemed content to wait for her to find her voice. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.
“I thought that was what you wanted me to do,” said Wren, ignoring the insult. “To stand up to him.”
Garvey shook his head. “I told you to fight back. Instead you lashed out without any planning or forethought, making you just as stupid as him. Before, you had one bully and a few of his friends who did nothing, just watched and jeered. Now you have five or six enemies that are plotting their revenge. Not only for beating Brunwal, but also for embarrassing him in front of everyone. You can’t beat that many enemies at once.”
“I don’t understand,” said Wren, not seeing where he was going. She’d thought he was going to offer her advice, but instead he was only succeeding in scaring her.
“What you should have done is bided your time. Waited until Brunwal was alone and beaten that idiot until he was scared of you.” Garvey’s contempt for the boy was palpable, as if he’d been personally hurt. “Then the next time they spotted you, Brunwal would have found an excuse to ignore you and moved on to bullying someone else.”
For a second time Wren found herself speechless. Normally she could control her anger, but his solution was so callous she ignored decorum.
“I came to you hoping for wisdom, but your advice is to let him hurt someone else in my place.”
Garvey shrugged. “You can’t fight everyone’s battles for them. Otherwise I could have thrashed that boy after he attacked you. But what would that have accomplished?” he asked and Wren didn’t have an answer. If anything she now felt more confused about what to do next. “I’m disappointed in you, Wren.”
He tapped his pipe on the wall one final time and walked away leaving her feeling twisted up inside with anxiety. “What should I do?” she called after him.
Without turning around he spoke over his shoulder. “Stick close to your friends, and sleep with one eye open.”
He moved around a corner and Wren felt her knees begin to buckle. She’d thought the situation with Brunwal was over, but if Garvey was right this was mere
ly the calm before the storm. She’d never considered he would have a vendetta against her. Perhaps it was not fear that kept the other students away. Maybe none of them wanted to be seen with her in case Brunwal and his cronies turned their attention towards them as well.
Realising she was alone and hidden from view, Wren hurried back towards her dormitory, wiping her face and trying to compose herself. Thankfully Brunwal and his friends were not lying in wait for her, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be another time.
For the first time since arriving at the Red Tower, Wren wondered if she had made a grave mistake.
CHAPTER 14
Akosh rode into town and tied up her horse outside the first tavern. She’d visited many times in the past few months and moments after she entered the main room a drink was waiting for her on the bar.
“Go and take care of her horse,” said the owner to the stable hand. The adolescent boy blushed and raced off while the sweaty-faced owner mopped at his balding head. He’d told Akosh his name at some point in the past, but she’d not bothered to remember it, so in her mind he was simply the owner.
Ever the professional and willing to play her role to a fault, she smiled at his inane grin and even went so far as to enquire after his family.
While he prattled on about his offspring, regaling her with their tedious accomplishments, Akosh nodded along in all the right places, but her mind remained elsewhere. Occasionally she’d wondered what it would be like to settle down. To find a small town, somewhere out of the way, and just live a normal life. Working at an ordinary job every day. Coming home to the same house every night. Buying things she liked to decorate it. Maybe even marrying a big, strong man and growing old together. As ever, whenever she idly thought about it, Akosh came to the same conclusion.
She’d be bored within a week and murderous after two. It wouldn’t take her long to tire of her husband and bury a kitchen knife in his chest, just to stop him flapping his mouth. Maybe she’d even kill a few of the neighbours, just for some peace and quiet.
Such a life would definitely not suit her at all. A more nomadic approach was much more interesting. Safer as well, for everyone else.
When the owner had finally finished talking about his wretched children, Akosh asked for her usual room and he waddled off to take care of it personally. She wondered what that meant and hoped it wasn’t something perverted. He thought he was being clever, staring at her cleavage when she was looking elsewhere, but she always noticed him doing it. Then again, she couldn’t really blame him. The owner’s wife replaced him behind the bar, glaring at Akosh as if she were responsible for her being born with a face like a sow’s diseased arse. Akosh thought it amazing the owner had managed to look past his wife’s ugliness and have one child with her. That he had fathered more than one was miraculous. Perhaps he closed his eyes and pictured someone else. Probably Akosh and her cleavage. She smiled at the wife who sneered and scuttled away, no doubt to spit in the food.
In the afternoon Akosh went to the boy’s house in time for her weekly appointment. She knocked loudly on the front door and was greeted by his long-suffering mother, a child on one hip and two more clustered around her feet. The whole house smelled of boiled cabbage, feet and unwashed children.
Forcing a smile was difficult but Akosh eventually managed it by grinding her teeth together. “Is Yacob home?”
“Yes, would you like to come in and wait for him?” she asked. Akosh felt her smile waver. She was willing to do many things to fulfil her role, but going inside the stinky house was pushing her to the limit.
Before she had a chance to reply she was saved by Yacob appearing. “I’m ready. Let’s go,” he said, coming towards her across the room. Akosh heaved a sigh of relief as his mother fussed over him, straightening the collar of his shirt.
“You’re getting so tall now,” she said, embarrassing the boy who at sixteen was almost a man. Or so he believed.
Yacob hurried out of the front door and Akosh followed, delighted to be away from the smell. In the centre of town the Mayor had arranged for several tables and benches to be set out for various events.
They sat down to one table, out of the way of passing traffic, so that they were not disturbed during the boy’s lesson.
Without being asked Yacob took his pens and paper out of his satchel and laid them out on the table. There were few career options available for people in this small town. Most ended up working in the mine and a few left as soon as they could to find their fortune elsewhere.
Yacob was intelligent and had an aptitude for writing and numbers. With some schooling from her, and if he was very lucky, he might become an apprentice scribe or bookkeeper. He was desperate to have a future beyond the town and its population of inbred miners. Akosh thought if he was very unlucky then Yacob might become a tax collector for the Regent. She was sure his family would see the funny side when he came to collect and they couldn’t pay their debt.
After their lesson, as was part of their routine, they went for a walk together around town. They moved beyond the houses and headed into the surrounding forest. A few people were felling trees damaged by a recent storm for firewood.
“Do you see that plant?” said Akosh waving her hand towards something at random. “If you grind up the petals of the flower they can be used to make ink. The stem also numbs muscle pain if you chew it.”
Yacob frowned because he knew she was just making it up, but he played along until they were out of earshot. As far as everyone knew he was a student and she was just his tutor. They both had roles to play when other people were present.
A few minutes later they stepped off the path and went deeper into the trees. Akosh stopped in a small clearing and before she had a chance to speak Yacob was pressing her against a tree, his mouth on hers.
She let it continue for a little while as he slobbered on her before easing him backwards. “Slow down.”
“You don’t know what it’s been like,” he said. The whine in his voice made her wince, but of course he didn’t notice. “The house is suffocating me. No one ever thinks about what’s out there, beyond the town. I feel like I’m sleepwalking except when I’m with you.”
He lunged towards her again with his eyes closed and Akosh dodged out of the way. The swelling in his trousers was significantly pronounced already but it started to fade when he walked face first into the tree. Once his nose had stopped bleeding she gave Yacob a brief kiss to placate him before peeling his roving hands off her again.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Have you been practising, like I asked?”
“You want to talk about that now?”
Swallowing a sarcastic retort Akosh forced another smile. “Yacob, my sweet, the Seeker will be here tomorrow morning. You need to be ready.”
Yacob frowned when she mentioned the Seeker. “People in town have been talking. They think Seekers are corrupting children and cursing them with magic.”
Akosh forced herself to smile. “Who cares what they think? Are you cursed?”
“No.”
“Besides, I thought you wanted to be different from everyone else.”
“I do,” said Yacob, nodding emphatically.
“Good, because if you impress him, you’ll immediately leave town, and never have to come back. Ever.”
That finally cooled his libido as a thoughtful expression crossed his gormless face. “Never?”
Akosh shook her head. “Why would you?” she said, not hiding her contempt for the town and its inhabitants. “They all live small, tedious lives. Day after day they’re grinding away underground, burrowing in the dirt. You could travel all over the world as a powerful mage. Kings and queens pay mages a great deal of money for their services.”
“How much?” he asked.
“A lot,” she promised, touching him on the chest to distract him. “You would have money, power, and who wouldn’t find that attractive?” she asked rhetorically, sliding a hand up to his neck. Her h
and spasmed and she almost crushed his throat but fought down the impulse.
His eyes drifted away and she could imagine where his teenage mind was wandering. She let him contemplate the fantasy of being a famous mage for a while before dragging him back to the present, gripping his jaw firmly in one hand.
“None of that will happen if you can’t impress the Seeker,” she promised. “You’ll end up back here, working in the mine.”
“No,” he said, trying to pull free but her hand was like a vice.
“You’ll marry one of your fat neighbours and then have lots of fat squalling children. After that you’ll spend the rest of your life stuck here until you die of old age or the damp lung. Then you’ll be just like your parents and grandparents before them.”
The horror in his eyes made her smile but he didn’t notice. “No. I can’t. I won’t.”
“Then show me,” she said, shoving him backwards. Red marks from where her fingers had pressed into the side of his jaw stood out against the white of his skin.
Fumbling along Yacob reached for the Source and slowly drew power into his body. The tide slowed from a rush to a trickle until she felt the power radiating from him like sunlight against her skin.
Akosh shook her head in disappointment. “Is that it? You said you’d been practising.”
“Wait,” said Yacob, as she turned away. He was sweating from the pressure already, but she felt him stretch as another small trickle of power seeped into him. “Is that enough?” he asked, gasping for breath.
“Maybe,” she said, not promising anything. Before she could push him any further he released his connection and slumped to the ground in exhaustion. “You know I’ve been teaching Jelkin as well. I think he’s a bit stronger than you.” A different kind of heat flushed Yacob’s cheeks. “I’ll see if he needs some extra tuition tomorrow, after the test.”
“I’m stronger,” shouted Yacob as she walked away. “I’ll prove it!”
The following morning when the Seeker came to town most of the people stayed away. They were too busy, working down the mine, washing their clothes or boiling cabbage, which was about the only thing they seemed to eat.
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