The Sorcerer's Abyss (The Sorcerer's Path)

by Brock Deskins

  “Academy autonomy does not allow you to bring armed troops through my city without notice or permission. I have half a mind to clap you in irons for that!”

  Magus Harvey continued to smile in his annoyingly ingratiating manner. “You did not receive my notice? I apologize, Your Grace, I must have forgotten to file it with your staff. I would ask that you refrain from carrying out your threat of incarceration. Interfering with the legal execution of Academy law is against the King’s law and could have rather serious repercussions.”

  Melina took several controlled breaths to keep the scowl from her face, and General Brague looked as though he was just waiting for a signal to cut this wizard’s head off. “I will speak with my daughter and Magus Allister. General, keep to my side.”

  “Always, Your Grace,” the General replied.

  “Thank you, Your Grace,” Magus Harvey said, thinking he had cowed the Duchess.

  “It is not for your benefit, you little dung heap!” The Duchess snapped in a rare show of vulgarity and nearly trampled the annoying mage with her horse. “Open a gate for myself and the General,” Melina called out.

  A sally gate opened immediately and the Duchess and her general guided their mounts through. The inside of the school compound was prepared for battle. The students of the Orphan’s Academy erected multiple barricades and defensive positions in what must have been very short order. Melina and General Brague gave an invisible nod to the students’ training and discipline.

  The Duchess and her general dismounted near the wall and ascended the ramp to its top where they quickly located Magus Allister and Miranda along with several other senior staff members of the school.

  “Miranda, Magus, please tell me what is transpiring here,” Duchess Melina said. “If I must listen to that arrogant little twit down there I may very well ask the General to cut him down.”

  “I still can if you would like, Your Grace,” Brague mumbled.

  “You are sweet to offer, but let us try a diplomatic approach first. What is this all about?”

  Allister answered, “He first came last year ago looking for Ellyssa and threatened to shut down the school. From what I can tell, he failed to get Ellyssa and is now trying to accomplish his secondary task.”

  “And his claim of legal authority?”

  “I assume The Academy council has issued an edict of some sort. He did wave a piece of parchment at me,” Allister said.

  Melina gave the archmage a disapproving look. “You did not bother to read it? What exactly is his intent?”

  Allister looked abashed. “I am not certain, Your Grace.”

  Melina rolled her eyes. “I expect such verbal imparity from men, but I thought I had trained you better, Miranda.” The Duchess looked down at the people below. “You there, annoying little man, what are your intentions here?”

  “Magus Harvey, Your Grace,” the wizard clarified.

  “Oh, as if I care; now answer my question.”

  Magus Harvey’s ingratiating smile slipped to a scowl at being so readily dismissed. “I have an order from The Academy to place this school under its direct control and supervision. Several Academy staff will stay on as instructors and council members to ensure Academy law, guidelines, and curriculum are strictly adhered to. Were it up to me, I would shut it down completely, but there are those who have chosen to keep it open as long as it complies with Academy standards.”

  Melina turned to Allister and Miranda. “What is your decision? My infantry are nearly here. I will support your decision, King’s or Academy law be damned. I will deal with that when it comes.”

  “They are talking about taking over my home, Mother,” Miranda said forlornly.

  Rusty took a step forward and spoke. “Will it really be that much different than what we do now? Our curriculum is a little more advanced and faster-paced than The Academy, but our classes are already overflowing. More instructors could help a great deal, even if it means we give up some control.”

  “It’s not about keeping control, Franklin,” Allister said. “It’s about surrendering Azerick’s legacy to a bunch of elitist snobs. Many of these new wizards, Harvey in particular, support the Academy’s exclusivity in regards to attendance. I will not allow this jumped up jackanapes to dictate our enrollment.”

  “Perhaps an agreement can be reached in regards to shared authority,” the Duchess suggested.

  Allister considered it and called down to the assembled forces. “The current administrators of the school will have equal authority and positions on the council, and any admissions, expulsions, or punishments will follow Academy rules regardless of social standing or wealth.”

  “Allister, you are hardly in a position to make demands. The Academy has given me authority in this matter, and I am under no requirements to make concessions.”

  “I strongly suggest you take note of the two thousand men approaching and rethink your position, annoying little man,” Melina loudly recommended. “You may wish to confer with your soldiers’ officers regarding tactics when trapped between a fortified wall and numerically superior forces. I think he will recommend you to consider concessions.”

  Magus Harvey’s face burned with such intensity its discoloring was evident even to those atop the wall. “You would dare violate the laws of the King as well as The Academy?”

  A devious smile played across the Duchess’s lips. “Are you referring to the same King whom my forces and members of this school personally returned to the throne? Would you also be referring to the same Academy whose two senior most archmages are now standing atop this wall? I believe you are, and I will take my chances with the political fallout.”

  Magus Harvey stewed over the unexpected turn of events. He had planned on cowing the stubborn Allister into submission. He had not expected the Duchess to be so intractable and quick to rise to the school’s defense. It was poor planning on his part, and he accepted it. He could still achieve victory even if not as wholly planned. He could not eject most of the low-class trash if he agreed to the archmage’s terms, but he would still have control over the curriculum. He would agree, but the applied magic course currently being taught would come to a glacial crawl.

  “All right, I will agree to the terms, but know The Academy has appointed me as Headmaster, and I will not tolerate dissension from the staff or students.”

  Allister internally railed against the thought of this man acting as Headmaster and feared for his school under his control, but the only other option was to fight, and fighting meant people dying. This school has seen too many of its students and staff perish in the battles with Ulric’s mercenaries and the undead terror on that dreadful night. It would be different, even uncomfortable, but the school would survive.

  “Very well, Harvey. I will comply with The Academy’s order as long as you honor your agreement as well.”

  “I will keep my word, Magus Allister, and it is Headmaster Harvey if you please.

  “Headlessmaster Harvey would please me more,” Allister grumbled. “Open the gates.”

  Magus Harvey, his fellow wizards, and several score soldiers passed through the gates. Magus Allister ordered everyone to stand down and return to duties or dorms. He, Miranda, and the Duchess then met Magus Harvey’s contingent on the ground.

  “I am glad you chose to be reasonable, Magus Allister,” the new Headmaster said with a self-satisfied smile.

  “Same for you, Harvey,” Allister retorted shortly.

  “Headmaster Harvey, Magus Allister. We do not want your lack of protocol to be seen as disrespect. Such a thing could rub off on the impressionable young minds of our students, which could foment dissent and cause them to act in a manner resulting in expulsion. We would not want that to happen, would we?”

  “No,” the old mage choked back the bile that rose in his throat, “Headmaster.”

  Headmaster Harvey smiled in way that made it look more like a sneer. “Excellent. I shall have my quarters and office set up at the top of one of the
towers. The larger one will do nicely.”

  “The hell it will!” Miranda shouted. “Those towers are my home, built by my husband. They are not part of the school and you shall not step foot inside of either of them without my leave. You can find housing in one of the dormitories or in the city. I am sure we can create a suitable office in one of the outbuildings.”

  “What? This is unacceptable!” Harvey railed. “I am the Headmaster, and I require suitable accommodations on the grounds.”

  “Then file a construction request with The Academy so they can agree on building and budget plans. I am certain it should not take more than six months for such a request to go through all the proper channels,” Allister said.

  The new Headmaster looked as if he wanted to continue his protests and demands, but a look at Duchess Melina’s face clearly indicated this was a nonnegotiable issue. As the ruler of this region, she could simply recall the property and structures and reclaim them as her own. The fact she had the forces to evict him and his contingent convinced him to cease his protests.

  The Headmaster fumed. “You may all think you have won this little battle, but I won the war and don’t you ever forget it!”

  “I will never forget it, Headmaster,” Allister responded. “You can count on it.”

  Wolf eased the tension on his bowstring and lowered it when it appeared there was not going to be a battle. He had the back of the wizard doing all the talking dead to rights. It was a long shot, but with the longbow he completed last year, he knew he could make it. He was not sure what was going on, but he knew none of it could be good.

  “C’mon, Ghost, let’s sneak around to the east side and cut through the kitchens. We’ll need to grab some food anyway.”

  The odd pair skirted the woods and dashed across the open ground until they reached the wall. Wolf and Ghost edged along the wall until they found a small door set in the thick, stone walls. These egresses were usually open to allow people to go freely to and from the school, but the heightened alert status saw them all tightly shut.

  “Hey,” Wolf called up to the sentry standing guard atop the wall, “open up. I need to get some food from the kitchens.”

  The young man looked down and smiled at them. “Now’s probably a good time while everyone’s pretty much distracted. You can probably get in and out without Agnes putting a skillet upside your head.”

  It had been more than a year since any of the cooking staff did more than give Wolf a scowl for filching food, which perturbed him. He thought it extremely rude of Agnes to deprive him of one of his favorite games by not trying to crack his skull whenever he snuck into her kitchen during one of his “urban foraging” expeditions. Wolf was certain she stopped trying to brain him just to be mean.

  Wolf and Ghost stepped through the gate and crossed the grounds to the kitchen located in the old tower. The two stuck close to the buildings and did their best to remain unseen despite the fact nearly everyone’s attention was focused toward the main gates and the apparent intruders. Wolf quickly found the door leading into the kitchen, open as always to let out the extreme heat from the stoves.

  The kitchen was bustling, mostly from boiling water in nearly every available pot to clean wounds and sterilize bandages in case a battle had erupted, but there were also a couple of large stew pots to keep the bellies of the defenders fed. The other kitchens were certainly in a similar state of controlled chaos.

  “There’s some cured meat and dry foodstuffs over there,” Agnes said sternly and pointed with her overly large wooden spoon. “Take what you want, just stay out of the way!”

  Wolf was disappointed once again. The old woman did not even have the decency to take a swipe at him as he threaded his way through the kitchen to fill his sack. He wondered what he had done wrong to make the woman so hateful. Oh well, now was not the time to dwell on such things. The new developments he saw at the gates instilled a greater sense of urgency.

  Wolf and Ghost ran from the kitchen, through the dining room, and up the stairs of the tower to Ellyssa’s old room. Wolf entered the room without knocking, startling the young girl inside who was watching the goings on outside from the small window of her room. Wolf had forgotten about the girl, Olivia, who Ellyssa put in her room while she disguised herself as the delivery girl. When Ellyssa left, no one bothered to move her to the dormitories, so she just stayed here.

  “Wolf, you scared me,” Olivia declared as she pressed a hand to her pounding heart. “Do you know what’s going on down there?”

  “I don’t know. Something about some new wizards taking over the school or something,” Wolf said. “I need to get some of Ellyssa’s clothes. Do you know where they are?”

  Olivia nodded and pointed at the big wardrobe. “They’re still in there, most of them. I never bothered to move them since I didn’t know when she would come back, and I don’t need that many clothes anyway.”

  Wolf opened the double doors and found a knapsack sitting on the bottom next to several pairs of footwear. He grabbed the newest pair of shoes and boots and stuffed them in the knapsack. He then selected several articles of clothing looking the most practical. Ellyssa had several nice dresses, but he doubted she would be attending very many social events, so he left those hanging up.

  With the pack now full and strapped to his back, Wolf and Ghost padded softly back down the stairs. They both stopped as several voices echoed up the spiraling staircase. Wolf quickly recognized Allister and Miranda talking along with Rusty and a couple of others. He waited until the dining room door muffled their voices before resuming his escape. He had just reached the bottom of the stairs when Allister’s booming voice startled him.

  “Wolf, what do you have there?”

  Wolf shot Ghost an accusatory look for letting an old man—even if he was a wizard—catch them off guard. “Just some food and things.”

  “Stuff from Ellyssa’s room perhaps?” Wolf tried to formulate an excuse, but his mind felt like a rabbit caught in a snare. “You know The Academy is very serious about discovering her whereabouts. Should you happen to cross paths, let her know this is a very bad place for her to be right now.”

  “Um, okay.”

  Allister disappeared back into the dining room and Wolf darted out the front doors. The crowd of people was slowly dispersing and the martial students began taking down the barricades. No one paid any attention to Wolf or Ghost amongst the hustle and bustle of The Academy’s intrusion.

  Wolf kept an impressive pace back to Ellyssa’s sanctuary despite his burden. Rarely encumbered by anything more than his bow and quiver, the knapsack and bag of food made him feel unbalanced and clumsy as an ogre. Normally able to move as quietly through the woods as a gentle breeze, he cringed every time a twig snapped or a pinecone crunched under his soft leather-soled feet. Still, his unflagging stride ate up the miles and brought him to the entrance of the cave in short order.

  “Ellyssa, wake up!” Wolf shouted when he ran into the cave and saw Ellyssa asleep on her pallet.

  Ellyssa turned her head and cracked open one eye. “Thanks, but you didn’t have to wake me. You can just leave it on the floor.”

  “No, you have to get up and leave right now,” Wolf insisted.

  Ellyssa forced herself to sit up. “Leave? Why? I can’t even stay awake much less take a vacation somewhere.”

  “Well, you need to find the strength. The school’s been taken over by a bunch of wizards and soldiers from The Academy.”

  Ellyssa shook her head to try and clear away some of the fog. “Allister would never let that happen.”

  “Well, he did and he is no longer in charge. Some guy named Harvey or something is calling himself Headmaster. I thought they were going to fight when the Duchess showed up with half her army, but Allister and the others decided to give in.”