The man shot him a look. “There is no release. The testing has to run to completion. Did you not know this?”
Sam glanced over. “Not this kind of testing. I’ve read about it.”
“Ah. You have read about it. Well then, perhaps you should have performed the testing instead.”
His sister was still limp. Unmoving.
His temper got the best of him.
He lunged. It happened faster than his thoughts, a matter of instinct and desire to protect his sister, nothing else. He leaped at Havash, pulling on his arm.
Then the man tossed Sam free. He landed next to his sister.
She was now a deep shade of blue. She was dying.
He reached for her, touching her leg. “Breathe,” he whispered.
He started to get up, balling his fists. If it was going to take him attacking this man, then he was willing to do it.
Mia suddenly opened her mouth. She sucked in a deep breath. Then another.
Her color started to return. First, the blue faded, then the redness in her cheeks retreated. She took another breath.
Mia looked down at him. “Sam? What happened?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Havash hiked up his cloak, and he turned back to the wagon.
“Where are you going?” Sam demanded.
The man looked over to Sam. “You would dare attack somebody from the Academy? You were the one who came to me. I was willing to let the first insult slide when I thought that she might have potential—”
“Please,” Sam said, glancing back at his sister. “She does have potential. You saw that. She passed your test.”
At least, Sam thought that she passed. He still wasn’t entirely sure whether or not she had.
“It matters very little. Do you know how many have talent?”
“No,” Sam said, reaching the wagon.
Havash was starting to pull the door closed. The soldier or the man Sam had thought was the soldier, sat atop the wagon, preparing to guide them forward. He was dressed in leathers, but he didn’t have the helm of the soldiers that he had seen within Erstan. He was nothing more than the wagon master.
That would explain why he hadn’t intervened. Not that Havash had needed any help. He had handled Sam as if he were nothing.
“Go,” Havash said, making a motion with his hand.
“Please,” Sam begged. “If it’s a matter of money, I can get it for you.” He wasn’t sure how, but he was willing to steal if it meant that his sister was going to be safe. He would go back to Arne’s shop, break in if he had to, and take what was needed. “I’ll do anything you need.”
Havash held the door partially ajar. “Anything?” He eyed Sam up and down.
Sam nodded. He was ready. If it meant that Mia would have a chance, he would do anything he possibly could.
“Anything. Tell me how much money you need. I can get it for you.”
Havash snorted. “You don’t look like you can get money, but perhaps that is just as well. I have something else in mind.”
Sam licked his lips. Terrible thoughts of what he might want from him flashed into his mind. “What do you need?”
“I will take both of you to the Academy”—Sam started to agree, but Havash raised his hand, cutting him off—”but you must do whatever I tell you. Even if you disagree. Even if it is dangerous. You will do it, or your sister will lose her spot.”
Sam looked over at Mia. It was better and worse than he had expected.
She had passed. She would get to go to the Academy. What did it matter if he had to go and serve alongside her getting her chance?
It would be worth it.
But as he looked at Havash, he couldn’t help but wonder how bad it would be.
“I will do it. Whatever you ask. No questions.”
The smile that crawled across Havash’s face nearly made Sam shiver.
Chapter Five
The wagon rumbled forward, with Sam sitting on the bench beside his sister, neither of them speaking. Mia had been quiet ever since Havash agreed to bring them with him, and the first time Sam had attempted to question Havash, the man had made a point of silencing him fairly quickly. So Sam sat on the bench, feeling every jostling jolt of the wagon, trying to keep from saying anything that would anger Havash any more than he already had.
It gave him an opportunity to try to work through what the man had told him.
They were going to the Academy.
That was the first piece of good news that Sam had gotten in quite some time. Havash hadn’t even given them a chance to go back to their broken palace to gather whatever meager belongings they had, but truth be told, they didn’t have anything worth saving. Some scraps of food. A few tattered pieces of clothing, and there were the few books that he had borrowed from the school, and it would probably upset Elinorav that he didn’t return them, but at this point, he didn’t think that mattered.
Then there was Arne.
Sam’s feelings for him were a bit more complex. He didn’t want to upset Arne, but at the same time, he wasn’t convinced that Arne would have ever made him his apprentice. Maybe he would remain as his errand-runner indefinitely, or at least until he grew to be too old for Arne to look at him as anything other than a fully grown man, at which point Arne might find another street urchin to take his place.
This was the better option.
Mia bumped into Sam as the wagon rocked.
“We will talk about your responsibilities,” Havash said. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his lap. “I am returning to the Academy after some absence so that I can teach alchemy. You will assist me.”
Sam nodded. Maybe he would become an alchemist’s apprentice. It might be better than staying with Arne. “What does the work entail?”
Havash glowered at him. “Did we not discuss this already?”
Sam forced a smile. “I can’t do what you want until I know what it is that you’re going to have me do. I’m not saying I’m going to question. I’m just asking what you are going to need from me.”
Havash tapped his hands together. His gray robes were not nearly as ornate as Sam had expected somebody from the Academy, and given how Havash claimed that he was returning to the Academy, even more questions came to him. He couldn’t ask those, though.
“Very well. There was an accident within the Academy. Some blame alchemy, though such a thing is ridiculous,” Havash said, waving his hand. “And now the alchemy section is dangerous. At least, to those who have magical predilections.” He looked over to Mia before turning his gaze back to Sam. “Which is why you are accompanying me.”
“And what do you need me to do ?”
“You will be responsible for helping me understand what happened. As I won’t be able to go into the area that has now been closed off, I need someone that can.”
Sam said nothing for a moment. “What happened?”
“That’s the mystery. No one knows. Some claimed it was an alchemical process that went wrong. Others claim it was a targeted attack.” His tone of voice suggested to Sam that he thought that incredibly unlikely. “But I won’t know until I can investigate. Or, in this case, you.”
The wagon continued rolling, moving steadily. Sam imagined where they were. There weren’t windows in his section of the wagon. He could only look at Havash.
“So you want me to go into this section and just take a look? Not that I’m complaining,” he said hurriedly, “but it just seems like you could have asked anyone to do that.”
“Not just anyone,” Havash said. “I need someone who can go in, but who can also observe what I cannot. They can really get to know what happened there.”
“And you seem to think that I can do this?”
“No. I think you will do this.” He held Sam’s gaze for a long moment, and he said nothing. “And now on to you,” he said, turning to Mia. “You are a different challenge.” He drummed his fingers together. “You have potential. That much is true. You would not ha
ve survived the testing otherwise.”
At least that answered Sam’s question about whether Havash was willing to kill his sister in order to test her.
“But I will admit… you are unusual. Most who come to the Academy do so with money or some measure of training, and so you are going to have to work diligently.” He leaned forward. “Are you a studious type?”
Mia blinked. “Am I what?”
“I can help her,” Sam said. Havash glanced over to him, and Sam shook his head. “Not with magic, but with her studies. I’m good with books. A fast reader.”
“So you are not studious,” Havash said to Mia.
“I’m not stupid,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“We will see.” Havash glanced over to Sam. “Perhaps that would be best. You can join. I can position it that we have come across a pair of potential candidates.” He frowned. “It would be unusual for her brother and sister to be in the same year, but as you are from one of the border villages, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising.” He tapped on his lips. “Yes. That might work. You will remain there and investigate from the inside. If you don’t, then…”
“You send us back,” Sam said, nodding his understanding.
Havash said nothing, which left Sam wondering if maybe he would do something even worse.
The wagon continued rumbling on, and Sam leaned forward to look out the window, eyeing the mountains rising the distance. The mines. If he didn’t do this, and if Mia failed, then he would end up back here in Erstan, probably in the mines, working until he died.
He could do this. For his sister, he would do this.
Sam regarded Havash for a few moments, realizing that something didn’t quite feel right. “You said that there was an accident. You wouldn’t need me if there was an accident. There’s something else going on.”
Havash frowned, and his eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you will be useful. Yes. I do suspect the explosion was deliberate.”
So now it wasn’t just coming to the Academy. Now it was a matter of looking into some conspiracy? “Why won’t the Academy look into it?”
“That is what you have to uncover on my behalf,” Havash said, smiling tightly. “I’m questioning whether the Academy has covered this up. Perhaps there is a conspiracy against the alchemical faction. This way, you will work with me on my behalf, and you will do what I ask.”
“So you want me to be a spy.”
Havash’s smile widened even more. “That might be one way of looking at it.”
“What if I don’t find anything?”
Havash raised an eyebrow, his expression stern. “Are you already disobeying?”
“No. I’m just saying that what if there isn’t some conspiracy?”
“Then you have succeeded.”
“What about Mia?”
That was his greater concern. He didn’t want her to be asked to leave if there was something there that she might be able to learn.
“If she passes the first year, then she may stay. It won’t be on me to decide that.”
“What about me?”
“Then perhaps…” Havash shook his head. The wagon jolted again. He looked up. “Blasted Barlands. I’ve had too much difficulty out here already.”
He pulled open the door, poking his head out, and Sam realized that they were coming to a slow. Not to a complete stop, but definitely slowing.
He leaned forward, but Havash pushed him back, forcing him away.
Sam tried not to get too close to him. Not wanting to upset the man.
Mia leaned in. “Are you sure about this?”
Sam took a deep breath. “Not particularly,” he admitted. “I have no idea what to make of any of this.” Sam lowered his voice. “You need to go to the Academy. You deserve better than what you can get in Erstan. And this is a way out. For you.”
“But now you have to serve him.”
“It doesn’t matter—”
Havash leaned back, and then the wagon stopped completely. “Out,” he ordered.
Sam frowned, but he didn’t argue. He climbed out as instructed.
They walked for a while, away from the wagon, and Sam looked back.
The wagon master was working on one of the wheels, but he didn’t get up.
Were they not going by wagon?
He had thought they were going to be traveling by ground to Tavran, but…
“Where are you bringing us?” Sam asked, suddenly worried. They weren’t all that far from the mines.
“Are you always this annoying?” Havash asked with a tired sigh.
“Only when it deals with our safety.”
“I am bringing you to Tavran, as I said. To the Academy, as you demanded.” He arched a brow at Sam. “And…” The man lifted his head, sniffing.
Sam frowned. What was he doing? Next to him, Mia had been mostly quiet the entire time they’d traveled, but she suddenly wrinkled her nose, looking around him.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“I don’t know. There’s a strange odor in the air. Don’t you smell it?”
Sam shook his head. “That’s the same thing you said this morning.”
“Well, it’s the same. It’s like something is burning, but with a funny smell. Sort of like after a storm.”
“It’s called vistam,” Havash said without turning. “Concentrated power. I’m impressed you can detect it so easily. Most I test need training in order to do so. Your time at the Academy will teach you to detect it quickly.” He took a deep breath. “Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps you have more potential than I gave you credit for. We rarely find anyone this far out in Olway with real potential. I don’t know why that is, though…” He shook his head, looking over to Mia and meeting her eyes. “Regardless, vistam is the residual sense from magic. Considerable magic.”
“I’ve never smelled it before.”
“As you should not. It’s not the kind of magic you will use.”
“What kind is it then?”
“A different sort.” Havash lifted his chin, sniffing again. “Come. We must hurry.”
“Why?” Sam asked.
“Because the vistam suggests we are not the only ones here.”
He waved his hand, motioning for them to follow. Havash moved more quickly than he had before, hurrying along the road.
Sam glanced at Mia, but she didn’t look in his direction and didn’t seem to share his concern. “What’s out here?” he asked.
Havash looked over at him before turning away.
“You said you’d encountered some difficulty reaching the village, so there’s something out here,” Sam said. “Is it tied to the rumors out of the Barlands?”
Havash studied him a moment. “And what rumors have you heard?”
Sam shrugged, thankful he hadn’t lashed out. “Nothing particular. We’ve had people stop into the shop from places even more remote than Erstan.”
There weren’t many places, but there were villages even more isolated than they were. Many were practically on the border of Olway, and many of the people who came from there didn’t view themselves as a part of Olway.
“You know the terms of your service. If there is anything that you know, I need to hear it. Especially if it might help our investigation.”
Sam licked his lips. “I don’t know anything in particular.”
As Havash continued to watch him, Mia blinked suddenly. “The smell is getting worse!”
Havash glanced back at the wagon before he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Setting it on the ground, he started to make a small circuit around the circular item. It reminded Sam of what Havash had done when he’d tested Mia, only this time the sun was out, and Mia stood off to the side rather than at the center.
The silvery item had a flat sheen to it and caught the light in a way that almost shimmered. As the Alchemist went around it, there was something about it that shifted, as if the longer he went, the more the device changed.
“Be ready,” Havash said w
ithout looking up. He kept his gaze on the ground. His lips moved, speaking silent words.
The air around the item started to shimmer, not just the silvery sphere itself. When Sam looked over at Mia, her nose had wrinkled deeply, and she looked all around her.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Whatever I smell is…” She shook her head. “It’s awful. I’ve never smelled anything like it before.”
What had Havash called it? Vistam. Something strange. And it meant there was a power out here, though it was the type of power he worried about. Whatever Mia and Havash detected was enough to get the Alchemist concerned enough to do… what exactly?
Sam couldn’t tell what it was Havash tried to do by making his circuit of this, but now the air was definitely shimmering with movement. The shimmer started to spread, looking like some sort of cloud, picking up dust from the slowly drying road and adding to it colors that were reflected from somewhere above them.
It was really quite beautiful, though he couldn’t shake the concern at what Havash had said. If there was something out here, and if the Alchemist was concerned by it, then Sam thought they needed to be moving rather than simply standing there out in the open.
Something changed. The sound of thunder rumbled in the distance. Sam looked up, but there was no sign of an incoming storm. The thunder was loud and seemed to be close enough that he should have been able to see if there was something to it, but he didn’t see anything that suggested there was an actual storm brewing.
There was nothing other than the thunder. When it came again, he looked behind him, back toward Erstan. Storms didn’t usually move in that direction, but the way he heard the thunder left him wondering if maybe this one would be different than the others.
There was nothing there.
Then it came again. The thunder was loud, rumbling through him, and he could feel it in a way he normally wouldn’t unless the storm was right down on him.
Havash circled around the item on the ground more quickly. Now, as he circled, the air was thick, almost a cloud. It crackled with energy as if lightning would explode within it.
“Are you making the thunder?” Sam asked.
Havash ignored him. His jaw clenched in concentration, and every so often, he flicked his gaze around him. Whatever else was happening, Havash was concerned. What would concern someone from the Academy?
Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1) Page 5