“Not yet, but I got a few leads.”
He gathered the berries that he had collected recently, trying to look past how they were already starting to be squishy, along with a bottle of water that he set out on the table. He waited for Mia to get the water first, along with everything else, for that matter.
When she did, he took a few bites of the apple that was on the counter and closed his eyes, trying to imagine that it was something fresher and tastier. Even the apple was a rare treat.
“What is that smell?” she asked, screwing her face up.
Sam opened one eye. “I don’t smell anything.” He glanced out the apple. He wouldn’t put it past the fruit to have spoiled by now, but he thought that it was still good. At least, he hoped that it was still good. He didn’t want to feed his sister stale and spoiled fruit, but sometimes there were really no other options.
“It’s not in here,” she said. Her nose was wrinkled, and she brought her hand up to her face. “I can smell it, but I don’t know what it is. It’s like a storm.” She frowned. “I don’t hear the thunder, though.”
“You smell a storm?” Sam asked, starting to smile.
“I’m not saying that is what it is, only that I smell something like that.”
She headed over to the sheet of metal that served as a makeshift door, leaning toward it. She pressed her head up against it, breathing in slowly, deeply, and finally shook her head. “It’s out there, Sam. I need to know what it is. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything like it before.”
She pushed the door open, poking her head outside. She stood there for a moment, breathing in and out slowly, before slipping off the way out the door.
Sam looked down at his apple before setting it aside.
He didn’t know what she had found, but he would help her.
She stood in the ruins of the building, resting one hand on the stone, her face screwed up into a tight frown. “Tell me you smell it,” she said.
Sam shrugged. “I don’t.”
The sky was clear and blue, no sign or sound of nearby thunder. Out here in Erstan, there was always the possibility of thunder and the occasional trembling that suggested there might be something more, but it infrequently came, not the steady rumbling of an oncoming storm.
“I don’t know how you can’t smell it.”
She started forward when a thought occurred to Sam. Why hadn’t he considered it before? “Wait,” he said, grabbing her arm.
“Wait for what? I need to figure out what it is. It seems to be getting worse. I don’t know how I am the only one who smells it.”
“Because you’re the only one who can use magic,” he said, his voice low. “I read about this. When I was trying to understand what was involved in the Academy testing, I came across a comment about those who can detect magic. Sometimes it’s smell, sometimes it sound, but it’s always just those who have the ability who can detect it, not anyone else.”
Mia stiffened. “You mean someone else is using magic here?”
“It seems that way. We should go look.”
“I don’t know. I’m not trying to get in trouble, Sam.”
“I know you aren’t,” he said.
“And I don’t want somebody to get upset about me using some magic that I’m not supposed to.” She coughed. “Ugh. It’s getting worse.”
Worse?
Suddenly, it hit him.
“The Academy,” he said.
“What?”
“That’s what has to be,” he said. “Somebody from the Academy is here. There has to be somebody here.” It was what he’d been waiting for.
“If it’s somebody from the Academy, they are probably here to test somebody with money,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “And we’re going to force them to test you.”
“Sam, you know what would happen.”
“I know what I hope would happen,” he said.
“But if I go—”
Sam squeezed her hand. “If you go, it means that you’ll be safe. Isn’t that what you want?”
“I want us both to be safe,” she said.
“I will be, but I want you to have the things that I can’t provide for you.” He dragged her forward, avoiding a soldier in the distance, making his way toward the market. “You need to try to detect where you smell the magic.”
“How am I supposed to follow what I detect?”
“You’re the one with magic,” he said, forcing a reassuring smile.
“Sam…” She pulled to a stop and forced him to stop with her, looking at him. “What if I don’t want to go?”
“You have to pass the test first. I don’t know all that’s involved. I know it’s going to be difficult, though. They don’t just take anybody. You have to show real talent. Minor magic isn’t going to cut it.”
“I don’t know if I have anything like that.”
“Trust me,” Sam said. “I’ve seen what you can do. I know that you have that potential.”
“But what if—”
“Don’t. We aren’t going to talk about what-ifs. We’re going to talk about you succeeding, and you getting invited to the Academy, and you finally getting away from here.” He held her gaze for a moment. She looked as if she wanted to pull away, as if she wanted to argue with him, but she didn’t. Sam smiled again. “Besides, once you get to the Academy, and you get your full training in arcane magic, then you can return for me.”
“What happens in the meantime? I know it takes several years to get through the Academy. What happens to you while I’m gone?”
Sam battled to keep the smile on his face. “It just means that I am going to need to hold out. I can do that. Think about what we’ve done so far.”
“Are you sure?”
He smiled at her. “I can do this. And you deserve this.”
She pointed to her right. “It’s coming from there.”
He followed her along the street. They stayed off to the edge of the street, trying to avoid any crowds, and as they made their way along the road, Mia moved slowly, almost cautiously, which required Sam to prompt her every so often to keep moving. He nodded to her, trying to encourage her, but each time that he had to push her forward, he had a feeling that she still wasn’t quite convinced.
They rounded a corner, and she stopped.
Even for Sam, it was obvious where they would find the magic-user.
The home was situated on a wide road, in one of the nicer parts of Erstan. It wasn’t enormous compared to what he imagined in Tavran, but still much nicer than anything Sam could imagine living in. Two wagons were lined up outside of the home, soldiers surrounding them.
“Is that—”
“Tristan’s home,” Sam said, nodding. “I saw him yesterday out at the Marston farm. He was going to see Gina.”
“Well, if he gets called off to the Academy, then you don’t have to worry about him chasing after her anymore.”
It would be even more reason for Gina to wait for him. If she were able to end up with somebody who had trained at the Academy, she would almost certainly be willing to wait.
“What do we do?” Mia asked, looking over to him.
“I think we should get you inside,” Sam said.
“And then what?”
Sam shrugged. “Then we force him to test you.”
“That’s not going to work,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because they have no reason to test me. I don’t have money.”
She wasn’t wrong. Most of the time, from what Sam had managed to find, testing involved a certain amount of funding.
“We just have to convince him that you’re worthwhile, then.”
Sam could imagine several different ways that could play out. She could either have potential, something that the Academy tester might find, or she could have talent that had already developed. Given that he didn’t think there would be any way to demonstrate existing talent, not beyond what she already had, Sam had to hope
that her potential was going to be enough.
He guided her along the street, moving closer to the house, watching the wagons, making sure that there were no signs of anybody who might come after them. He didn’t see anything other than the guards, and they weren’t moving.
“How are we going to get over there?” he asked, more to himself than his sister.
“Where?” she replied anyway.
“Past the guards,” he said. “Somehow, we have to get behind them. Once we do, we can sneak forward, and we should be able to figure out who is doing the testing.
“You want us to sneak into the house.”
“I suppose I want us to—”
Sam didn’t get a chance to finish. The door opened, and a man stepped out. He was dressed in a simple brown cloak, with hard eyes and a long, disheveled appearing beard. There was something about him that spoke of authority—and disappointment.
“Are you sure, Master Havash, that he does not pass?”
“I’m quite sure,” the man said, waving his hand. “And you have wasted my time.”
“You can test him again,” Tristan’s mother was saying, hurrying toward the Academy master, grabbing for his hand before being shaken free. “We can pay. I know that we have already given you five silvers, but I would give you another five to have him tested again.”
Sam’s heart sank. Five silvers?
That was more than they had. Even five pennies was more than they had.
Mia must’ve overheard that as well. “We can just go,” she whispered.
“Not yet,” Sam insisted.
“They aren’t going to test us. Me. Not without the right kind of money.”
“Not yet,” he said again.
She looked as if she wanted to argue with him, but she closed her mouth and said nothing else.
“Please,” Tristan’s mother said.
The master, Havash, reached the cart, and he nodded to the guards. “Come on. We have wasted enough time here.”
“Ten silvers.”
The man snorted. “Even if you were to pay me triple that, it would not be worthwhile. Neither for you nor for me. I’m not wasting any more of my valuable time here.”
He climbed into the wagon. The soldiers guarding it hurriedly climbed atop, and then one of them started the horses moving.
With that, Sam had an idea.
“Come on,” he said, motioning to his sister. “We just have to catch up to them.”
“Catch up? Sam, it’s not going to work. He needs at least five silvers to even begin testing me.”
Sam glanced back to Tristan’s house. “Tristan needed five silvers. I’m hopeful that maybe you don’t need that much.”
“Sam?”
He motioned for her to follow him. “Just keep up with me. This should be easier. Once we get to the outside of the village, I want you to start using some of your power.”
“Why?”
Sam paused, looking to assist her, holding her gaze for a moment. “Because they need to detect it. If he can detect what you can do, then maybe he’ll decide you’re worth testing.”
“I didn’t even know the Tristan had any ability,” Mia said, glancing behind her.
The wagon wasn’t moving that quickly, but it didn’t need to. At this point, even rumbling slowly along the road was enough.
“He doesn’t. I think it was more a matter of pride. Have him tested, prove he might have some potential, and perhaps he did have some and then move on from there.”
“But what if they won’t test me?”
Sam clenched his jaw. Several thoughts raced through his mind. If they wouldn’t test her, then the Academy wasn’t worthy, anyway. If they wouldn’t test her, then they were fools. If they wouldn’t test her, then he didn’t want her going there anyway.
But he said none of that.
“They will.”
They reached the outskirts of the village, where the wagon still rumbled. They were trailing behind, giving it some space until they were ready. If they waited too much longer, though, they would lose the opportunity.
Sam breathed out slowly. “Now,” he said. “You’re going to have to use everything you can do.”
“What should I do?”
“Whatever is easiest for you. Something that comes to mind quickly, simply, and that you know will succeed.” He looked up to the wagon. “Right now, it’s all about knowing it will succeed. Once you get past it, then you can start to figure out what else they need from you from a testing standpoint.”
“If you say so,” she said.
She stopped.
Sam wasn’t exactly sure what she did. He never really understood her magic. He had seen him enough times that he recognized the power, though he didn’t know how she used that power.
The only thing that he truly understood was that when she was filled with magic, she could do things that others could not. She had no real control, which was why he wanted her to go to the Academy.
She deserved this chance.
A pale glow built around her. He’d always seen that when she used her power. Then the air started to feel heavy.
“Keep going,” Sam said, glancing over to her.
She nodded slowly. “I’m trying to freeze them,” she muttered, though her mouth was clenched in a line.
He had seen her freeze herself. He had seen her freeze others. But seeing her freeze a wagon was something else altogether. Finally, Mia gasped, and the wagon started forward again, the horse stumbling, before letting out a strange, pained sound.
“Oh,” Mia said, clasping her hands to her mouth. “I hope I didn’t hurt it.”
A shout came from one of the wagons, and the door thundered open and was followed by the brown cloaked Academy master. He tilted his head to the side, breathing in for a moment, before sweeping his gaze up to the horse. “What did you do?” Havash snapped.
“We must’ve hit something.”
“We hit nothing.” The master stepped out of the wagon, and he made a steady circuit, looking around him for a moment before he paused.
He turned all the way around, finally taking in Sam and Mia. He started toward them. Mia stiffened.
Sam took her hand, squeezing it. “Just relax. This is what we want.”
“Which of you did this?” the man snapped.
“It’s my sister,” Sam said hurriedly. “She has talent. I just wanted her to have an opportunity to be tested. To go to the Academy. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“I’m coming through here and was asked to test a few potential candidates,” the man said, glancing back toward the village. “Doubtful that we would find anything of value out here. We never have. I can’t even imagine why this blasted land was ever annexed.”
Sam didn’t know, either. Other than to give Olway access to the wealth in the mines. And to torment people like him.
“Just test her, please? She has potential.”
“Was that you?” He turned to Mia, and his gaze was heavy, irritated, but also strangely powerful. This time, Sam actually felt something. He suspected that he was supposed to feel something as if this man wanted both of them to be aware of his power and authority.
“I tried to use what I could. I don’t have any real control. I can freeze things.”
“Go on then,” the man said.
“What?”
“Freeze me.”
Mia glanced over Sam, but he squeezed her hand, hoping that she would be able to do it. “I don’t know.”
“I see. You just wanted to waste my time. Do you know what the punishment for that is?”
“I can try,” Mia said quickly.
Havash took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest.
Sam released Mia’s hand. “Go on,” he said.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. When she opened them, he recognized the determined tilt to her jaw. The pale glowing around her persisted. Everything felt heavy for a moment, little more than that, and then it passed.
Havash sniffed. “Is that it?”
“I can do more, but I just used it on the wagon, and…”
Havash’s eyes narrowed for a moment. “That was you. Very well.” He strode toward her, and he pulled something from his pocket that he leaned over, scratching a pattern on the ground around Mia.
“Back away, boy,” he said.
Sam moved back, watching.
What is this?
From what he could tell, a testing for the Academy involved demonstrating magical ability. Sometimes that ability was latent, and sometimes it was obvious. In the case of his sister, she had an obvious ability. She just had to have the opportunity to demonstrate it. But what he saw Havash doing was something entirely different.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Havash arched a brow at him. “Are you the one here for testing, or is she?”
“She is,” Sam stammered.
Havash nodded. “Then be quiet.” Once he was done tracing his pattern, he looked over to Mia, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Now break free.”
Sam realized that his sister had gone stiff. So stiff that she wasn’t even breathing. “What did you do to her?”
“Quiet,” Havash snapped.
It looked as if she was paralyzed. She had the ability to freeze things, but Sam had never seen her frozen. Her eyes fluttered closed. Her breathing never changed. Her lips turned blue. Her cheeks became flushed.
Then she sagged.
Or she would have, had there not been some invisible string seeming to hold her upright.
“Mia?”
She wasn’t breathing. She was dying.
This wasn’t the kind of testing that he had read about.
“I see,” Havash said. “You have wasted my time.”
Mia still didn’t breathe.
What was this man doing to her? That only was it not the kind of testing that Sam had read about, but it was violent. Unconventional.
Sam raced over to his sister. He grabbed for her wrist, checking for a pulse. He had been around Arne enough that he understood how to do that. It was slow.
She still hadn’t started breathing.
“You need to step away from her,” Havash said.
“Release whatever you’re doing to her,” Sam said.
Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1) Page 4