The Artful Apprentice

by Christopher Nuttall

  Chapter Eight

  “MY LADY EMILY,” SILENT SAID, AS Emily finished her breakfast the next morning. “His Lordship wishes you to attend upon him in the Blue Room.”

  Emily sighed, inwardly. Silent had been her maid for nearly a month and the poor girl hadn’t relaxed at all. My Lady Emily was the closest she’d come to calling Emily by her first name and she seemed terrified even to say that. Emily stood and brushed down her robe, telling herself that she shouldn’t pressure the maid. Her next master might be a great deal less forgiving. Who knew what would happen if Silent slipped up then?

  She put the thought aside as she allowed the wards to guide her to the Blue Room. It lived up to its name. The door was blue, the walls were blue, the couches and comfortable armchairs were blue... she frowned as she entered, feeling a twinge of déjà vu. She’d been somewhere similar, not too long ago. It nagged at her mind as Void stood to greet her. He was the only thing in the room, except Emily herself, who wasn’t blue. She was mildly surprised he hadn’t changed his robes to match the room.

  In my house, she thought, suddenly. There’s a Blue Room there too.

  “Emily,” Void said. “I trust you slept well?”

  “Yes, sir,” Emily said. She felt her frown deepen. It didn’t look like they were going to be practicing spellwork. “Why are we here?”

  “Last year, I insisted that Whitehall give you some formal grounding in soul magic,” Void said. “I understand it was very helpful. Is that correct?”

  Emily nodded, stiffly. She wouldn’t have been able to save Frieda's life — let alone prove her innocence — without soul magic. Her friend would have been enslaved and executed and Emily would have been forced to either risk everything to save Frieda or watch helplessly as she was taken away. Emily’s lips quirked. She’d had to risk everything anyway. She was lucky she’d had friends to help.

  “Good,” Void said. “Why do you think I asked the school to give you the grounding?”

  “To prepare me,” Emily guessed. Void had had no way to know she’d need the magic to save a life. “You wanted to make sure I knew the basics before proceeding?”

  “True enough.” Void gestured at the nearest couch. “Take a couch or an armchair, whichever suits you. The idea is to be comfortable.”

  Emily hesitated, unsure which one to pick. The armchair was more dignified, but it would be less comfortable if she collapsed. The couch would allow her to lie down... she frowned, then took the armchair. She could always move to the couch if things threatened to go wrong. Void wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t as if they were going to be in permanent mental contact.

  “A person’s mind is a disorganized mess,” Void said, once Emily was seated. “Their rationality is always compromised by their emotions. There is rarely any pure logic in the human mind, nothing as elegant as a well-crafted piece of spellware. People — you and I included — almost always decide what they want to do, then come up with the rationalization afterwards. You cannot, as you already know, treat a person’s mind as a map or filing system or even something as simple as a list of instructions. You have to realize that while there is cause and effect, it can be a little... random from the outside. A person’s real motivations are rarely what they say.”

  Emily nodded, slowly.

  “This is part of the reason soul magic is so dangerous — and so tightly regulated. A simple compulsion spell can be removed, once it’s detected. Indeed, the basic spells you will have seen at school are easy to detect, if not always easy to fight. You’d know you were being compelled even if you couldn’t stop it. Soul magic, on the other hand, messes with your emotions and your rationalizations. It is not so easy to realize that you’re being warped into something else.”

  “If the world is changing,” Emily mused, “and all the tools you used to measure it were changing too, would you know the world was changing?”

  “Quite.” Void smiled. “Magic tends to make the problem worse. You might, by channeling vast amounts of magic, damage your mind. Necromancers always go mad because they simply can’t handle the power they’ve unleashed. Some are better at hiding it than others, at least for a while, but they’re damaged from the moment they perform the rite. We have a lesser problem, when we work powerful magic, but we still have a problem. You can damage yourself by casting spells without proper preparation.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Your enemies may believe you are too powerful to attack directly,” he said. “So what do they do? They attack you indirectly. Poison... or mental attack. I know powerful sorcerers who were brought down by simple compulsions, because they couldn’t detect the spell before it took root in their minds. They killed themselves or left themselves vulnerable or... you can look up the rest of the stories in the library, when you have time.”

  “In my copious spare time,” Emily said, dryly.

  Void laughed. “How, then, might you defend against such attacks?”

  Emily leaned back into the armchair. “Through soul magic?”

  “By knowing yourself,” Void said. “You must be aware of yourself — aware of what you are, aware of how you think — to the point you know when something changes without reason. The danger is not something forcing their way into your mind and tearing your thoughts apart. The danger is someone sneaking into your mind, placing a command within your thoughts and sneaking out again. If you don’t feel the intrusion, if you don’t know you’ve been violated, why would you check for an enemy compulsion?”

  Emily shivered. “How common is this?”

  “True soul masters are rare,” Void told her. “But a powerful magician may know enough to do real damage.”

  “I see,” Emily said, carefully.

  “It’s easiest when maintaining magical contact,” Void said. “A person can touch you directly or brush their magic against yours. Or worse. Some specialists use blood to interface with your mind from a considerable distance. Others prefer eye contact or even physical contact, despite the risk.”

  He met her eyes. “And what is the risk?”

  “If I sensed it, they’d be right next to me,” Emily said. “I could lash out at them.”

  “True,” Void agreed. “But what’s the other risk?”

  Emily frowned. She had enough experience with mind and soul magics to know they could be dangerous, but... she wasn’t sure.

  “Your mind might contaminate theirs,” Void said, before she could try to answer. “If you happened to be going mad, contact with your mind might turn them mad. Your... view of the world might infect them. The results can be very unpleasant. Using blood to forge the link ensures someone can cut the link in a hurry, if things start to go wrong. It can be a great deal harder to escape if you’re right next to them. If nothing else, the links are two-way. They look at you, you look back at them.”

  He smiled, reassuringly. “It also has other advantages,” he said. “You can conceal information within your own mind. You can pose as... someone else... and, as far as anyone will be able to tell, you will be that person. It’s the simplest way to beat a truth spell. You’ll lie because you’ll think you’re telling the truth. Of course” — his smile vanished — “you’ll have to be very careful. If you don’t leave yourself a path to the hidden memories, you might never come back.”

  Emily swallowed. “I don’t think I’ll be playing with it.”

  “Certainly not now,” Void agreed. “You need plenty of practice before you start messing with your own mind.”

  He shifted until he was facing her. “My old master used to try to read my mind without warning. That wouldn’t have been so bad later on, when I knew what I was doing, but it was irritating and dangerous at the start. I’m going to warn you — at first — when I’m going to touch your mind. Later, we’ll be testing your defenses properly. Are you comfortable?”

  “Not really,” Emily admitted. She didn’t like the thought of anyone reading her mind, even someone she trusted completely. The mere thought of having her mind read caused her
to think of things she’d sooner keep to herself. “Do I have a choice?”

  “It has to be done, sooner or later,” Void told her. “And your secrets are safe with me.”

  Emily forced herself to relax. “I’m ready,” she said, although she knew it wasn’t true. It was like going to the dentist. There was no way to avoid it, no matter how much one detested it. “What do we do now?”

  Void reached out and took her hand. His fingers felt cool against her bare skin. She shivered, tensing despite her best efforts. Her thoughts ran in circles, an endless series of memories and impressions she wanted to keep to herself. It was hard, so hard, to center herself, to keep her thoughts under control. And he hadn’t even begun. She wondered, sourly, if she’d even notice. Her thoughts were churning so rapidly that it would be hard to tell if one of them wasn’t hers.

  “Close your eyes,” Void advised. “Try not to focus on my touch.”

  Emily scowled as she did as she was told. He might as well have told her not to think of a pink elephant. His fingers tingled with magic, his power brushing up against hers. She was aware of him, yet... she couldn’t really see him. It felt as if she’d bumped into someone in a dark room. Her thoughts calmed as she continued to center herself, yet she couldn’t pull away from his touch. She tried to push her awareness forward, but met a solid wall. He hadn’t opened the link. She was imagining things.

  She waited, unsure what to expect. Void wouldn’t be brutal. Being brutal would tell her she was under attack. And, in her mind, she’d have an edge. It was her territory. No, he’d try to sneak into her thoughts. She felt the seconds slow, each feeling like an hour. It was easy, too easy, to start jumping at shadows. Her paranoia was going to wear her out long before he started to read her mind. She was grimly aware she might feel his touch and dismiss it as her imagination...

  Her thoughts hardened, suddenly. Something was brushing against her mind. A flurry of memories — harmless memories — ran through her awareness. She smiled, reminding herself that he’d been right. A mind was not organized like a filing cabinet. There were so many associations between different levels of thought and memory that actually reading a mind was very difficult. She braced herself, growing more and more certain that he was intruding into her thoughts. The more she felt his intrusion, the more she knew it wasn’t hers.

  Emily pushed back as hard as she could. The intrusion fell away. She felt his fingers tighten, just slightly, as she shoved him out of her mind. There was a flash of calm approval echoing down the link, then nothing. Emily didn’t open her eyes. There would be another attack, then another and another. She had to know herself before it was too late.

  Her thoughts swirled again. An image of her stepfather rose in front of her. She recoiled, suddenly feeling ten years younger. The man had been a monster. She looked down at herself and saw a child, the girl she’d been a decade ago. It wasn’t real... but it felt real. Self-loathing washed through her, combined with naked hatred. The man deserved to die... a stream of associations ran through her mind. If she...

  She was under attack. The realization showed him working his way through her memories, picking through her thoughts. She cursed mentally — she thought she felt a flicker of amusement at words she would never say in front of her tutor — and shoved, again, as hard as she could. He pushed back, trying to pin her in place while he ransacked her mind. Emily gritted her teeth, then restructured her mind. Void’s intrusion crumbled. She pushed him out before he could gather himself and keep her under control.

  “Good,” Void said. His voice was very calm. “You’re doing well.”

  “Thanks,” Emily managed. Her mind felt oddly tired, as if she’d worked it too hard. She reminded herself that it was still morning. “What now?”

  “Wait,” Void ordered.

  Emily waited, schooling her thoughts into patience. She was becoming more and more aware of the contours of her own mind, the bits that remained constant and the bits that changed as easily as she changed her clothes. It was strange to feel the ebb and flow of something more fundamental than magic running through her, something... human. Her magic was part of her, yet... it wasn’t as natural as breathing. She thought she understood, now, what Void had been trying to say. Her body breathed automatically, just as long as she forgot she needed to breathe. Magic... it was so easy to remember the whole and not the component sections.

  Her thoughts remained quiet, stable. Emily looked down at her mental kingdom, wondering — idly — what Void made of it. Her mind palace looked more like a crazy junk shop than a castle on a cloud. She suspected that wasn’t a bad thing. Castles tended to be logical, at least when they weren’t designed by magicians. A castle could be looted easily... a junk shop would force an intruder to waste time looking for loot. And yet... she frowned as she saw threads running through her mind, connecting memories to memories. Given time, someone could take everything. Alanson of House Fellini had ripped secrets from her mind when she’d lost her powers.

  She felt a flash of alarm. Had she been tricked? Had he steered her thoughts in a dangerous direction? She hadn’t sensed anything, but that was meaningless. Voyeurs didn’t put up warning signs. The thought made her smile as she ran through her memories, looking for the intrusion. His fingers tingled as he snapped into her awareness. He’d been pushing at her, very gently. And she hadn’t sensed it until it was far too late.

  Emily cursed again, then threw a collection of memories at him. They were harmless, but they should keep him busy long enough for her to throw him back out. She sensed a flash of embarrassment as her memories washed into the link. Clearly, she’d shown him more than she intended. She bit down on her own embarrassment as she isolated the link, then pushed him out. This time... she sucked in her breath as she realized he’d slipped a single command into her mind. She could see it clearly now. He’d ensured it never occurred to her simply to break physical contact. And now that she could see it, the compulsion was useless.

  She yanked her hand out of his, then opened her eyes. Void had barely moved. He was expressionless, eyes pools of darkness. She wondered, suddenly, what he’d seen before she caught him. It could be anything, from the kisses she’d shared with Jade to her brief relationship with Cat. Or... she suddenly felt very tired. Her brain hurt. It felt as if he’d tried to press her into the ground.

  “Not bad,” Void said. “You were getting better at detecting my touch.”

  Emily rubbed her forehead. “Does it get any easier?”

  “There’s no easy way to learn,” Void said. His voice was bland. “I told you. The real danger isn’t something trying to force their way into your mind. The real danger...”

  “Is someone being sneaky,” Emily finished. Her head was starting to pound, again. “You’d think it would be easier.”

  Void laughed, humorlessly. “One might be a little surprised if one cast a spell and got a completely unexpected result,” he said. “Spells are understandable. But a mind? One can hop from subject to subject, memory to memory, and never notice anything odd about it. It’s quite easy to get what you want out of someone’s mind as long as you’re careful.”

  “And you make physical contact,” Emily said. She remembered, suddenly, sharing herself with Caleb. And Cat. “Is it...”

  She blushed, furiously. “Is it possible to make contact during sex?”

  Void didn’t seem surprised — or embarrassed — by the question. “In theory, yes. In practice, it would be very difficult to maintain the link when you were... occupied. Both minds would be so consumed by what they were doing that they’d have problems thinking about anything else. I don’t think many magicians could do it successfully.”

  “Good.” Emily cringed, inwardly. She couldn’t believe she’d asked that. And yet... a memory flickered at the back of her mind. Something she’d done... no, something her counterpart had done. “I’m sorry.”

  “I will never punish you for asking questions.” Void smiled at her. “I may, of course, decline t
o answer.”

  Emily started to sit up, then fell back as her legs buckled. “I...”

  “Stay here, for the moment,” Void said. “I’ll have the maids bring you some lunch. And books, if you feel up to reading.”

  “Thank you,” Emily said. Right now, she didn’t feel up to anything. “I...”

  “And don’t try to read their minds,” Void added. “That’s not part of their service.”

  “Yes, sir,” Emily said. “I wouldn’t have...”

  Void snorted, although it didn’t seem to be directed at her. “People can rationalize anything,” he said. “Given time, you can justify doing the most terrible things... at least to yourself. And then you’re halfway to utter madness.”

  Emily nodded. “I understand.”

  Chapter Nine

  EMILY HAD THOUGHT SHE WAS USED to headaches, but this was different. Her entire brain felt sore, as if she’d been brutally pummeled in one of Sergeant Miles’s training bouts. She didn’t even start to feel better until Silent arrived with a tray of food and a vial of foul-smelling pain relief potion. Emily was in too much pain to even grimace at the smell. Instead, she put the potion to her lips, pinched her nose and swallowed. The pain started to fade shortly afterwards.

  “His Lordship commands you to stay here,” Silent said, as she uncovered the food. “He wishes you to summon him when you’re ready to continue.”

  “Understood,” Emily said. She was ravenous, even though she’d barely done anything. “Are you going to stay with me?”

  “I have orders to fetch you a selection of books,” Silent said. “Afterwards, I can stay with you if you wish.”

  She curtsied and backed out of the room. Emily snorted — she wouldn’t take it as a personal insult if someone turned their back on her — and turned her attention to the food. The scrambled eggs, bacon and toast smelt heavenly. She ate as quickly as she could, wondering how long it would be until pizza and burgers reached the tower. It wouldn’t be that long, she was sure. The New Learning had kicked off a massive wave of social change.