Alchemist Assault (The Alchemist Book 2)

by Dan Michaelson

  Tara started to glow with a brighter light. With it, Sam could see the contours of the wall more clearly. She touched the wall, and there came a hint of a shimmer, nothing more than that but enough that he could tell something had shifted here.

  “What did you do?” he asked.

  “I used a connection to try and probe at the wall. Why?”

  “I saw something.” He looked along the rest of the alley. There wasn’t anyone here, though he hadn’t expected to find anyone, only the silence that greeted them. There were no other doors along the alley, and he couldn’t come up with a reason for the alley to exist. It led nowhere.

  Sam took her hand and pressed the vrandal against the barrier. When he stepped through, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. Tara reacted, pushing out with power, casting a soft white glow over everything.

  “How did you find this place?” asked Tara, eyes wide as she looked around the room.

  “It was more that it found me.”

  She glanced over at him. “How did it find you?”

  He started to answer when he noticed the emptiness in the room. The chair was still where it had been, as was the bed, but the fallen attacker was gone. With the power that had blasted from him, he would’ve expected the man to still be here.

  Could Daven have been forced to return? No, Sam didn’t think Luthian would have gotten that information out of him. Even under the torment Ferand had inflicted, Daven hadn’t cracked.

  What about the other room? Sam led Tara to the barrier. They pressed through it slowly, almost as if they barely oozed their way to the other side. There was enough of a separation that it made it difficult for him to pass through. Only because he’d been here before and knew about the room on the other side was he able to cross over.

  “What is this place?” Tara asked.

  Sam looked around at an empty room. The lantern was gone.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sam had several books on angulation in front of him, though only one of them was the actual assigned text. He kept it resting on the table while listening to Professor Clarice and tried not to lose track of the line of comments she was making. The other books were ones that she had assigned him in particular. Much as Tara had suggested, the professors had been more than happy to offer him additional assignments. He had skimmed them. Nothing he read had been altogether complicated, and most of them were still more basic than what he had already gone through in the library. He figured that if he could prove himself, maybe he could convince the instructors to help guide him toward ever more complicated books.

  Either that or Sam would have to find a way into the restricted section of the library again.

  “You’re fidgeting,” James whispered.

  “I’m not,” Sam said.

  “I can see you fidgeting. Look at you. You can’t even sit still. What is it?”

  “I’m just a little distracted.”

  James eyed the stack of books in front of Sam, shaking his head. “I can’t believe that you went looking for more. Most of us are simply trying to make sure that we understand the second and third tenet before getting into the testing. It’s not going to be as easy as it was for the very first test.”

  “My test was different than yours,” Sam whispered.

  “That’s right. You had to go on about zero tenet. I still don’t know that I understand.”

  Sam stared straight ahead, watching as Professor Clarice droned on about different styles of angulation. He had hoped that he might find clues in the books that she offered him on how angulation patterns could be visible or whether there was anything in the specific patterns that might be useful but had not found anything.

  “It’s all about belief. It’s a basic tenet, probably too basic for us to be focusing on here. It’s more for those who haven’t gained any access to the arcane arts yet.”

  “I get that,” James said. “It’s about believing that you can use the arcane arts. Anybody who is here in the Academy has that belief. We wouldn’t be here without it.”

  “Right,” Sam said.

  He wasn’t sure what else to say.

  Even though it should be straightforward, Sam and found himself looking into the zero tenet more than he had expected. He understood the concepts, much like he understood the reasoning behind it and the purpose.

  Which was all the more reason for him to try to master what he could of that tenet. It was tied to him struggling to understand whether there might be something that he could learn about the arcane arts. If he could find some truth within it, some way of believing that he had the means of accessing the arcane arts, maybe he could use that.

  Or perhaps not. Belief was the central feature of the zero tenet. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the necessary belief when it came to that.

  When the class was over, he motioned for James to go on ahead. He made his way up to Professor Clarice and handed her the books he borrowed from her. She frowned at him for a moment before looking at the stack of books.

  “Are you done with these already, Mr. Bilson?”

  “I am, professor. I was hoping that maybe you would have something more advanced that I could read.”

  She smiled at him, though he wasn’t sure if it was a placating smile or if she was pleased with him. “I might be able to find something more advanced. It will take some time, though. As you undoubtedly know, the library has become difficult for anyone to have adequate access to.”

  “Normally, I would go to the library, as well,” Sam admitted. “Mostly so that I could find different volumes that would support my studies, but with the library being as disrupted as it has been, I haven’t had the same opportunity.”

  She waved her hand. “Of course. I will see what I can find for you. Perhaps it’s time for us to begin working on how you apply angulation. Normally I would suggest waiting until you were later in the year, but seeing as how you have demonstrated such potential early on, I wonder if perhaps it is unnecessary for you to take so much time.”

  Sam tried to ignore the sudden pounding of his chest. “I am not sure that is necessary.”

  “Nonsense, Mr. Bilson. At a certain point, even someone from the Barlands must jump in and begin to push themselves. You have a brilliant mind, and we need to ensure the talent matches.”

  He just nodded.

  Here all he had hoped was to gather additional information rather than to put himself into the crosshairs of his instructors, but maybe that was all he had done.

  He forced a smile and then headed out of the classroom. He made his way toward his next class when he saw Mia.

  She was leaning against the wall, crying.

  He started toward her, his heart immediately going out for her, before catching himself.

  Mia didn’t want him there.

  One of the other sharan students crouched beside her. She was talking quietly to Mia, and Mia was wiping the tears from her face. She kept her gaze lowered, as if oblivious to the fact that she was crying out in the open.

  Someone bumped into him, and Sam looked up.

  Gresham.

  “Oh, look. It’s the Barlands boy. Maybe you should watch where you’re going.”

  Sam focused on the vrandal and the power that he could coerce out of it. He immediately began to focus on the pattern that he needed to activate it, ready to lash out at him.

  But not in front of Mia.

  There was no point in doing that, not if she could see him and not if it would somehow impact her.

  “If you want to rematch, I’m happy to provide you with one,” Sam said, keeping his voice low. “But I don’t think you want the shame of losing to a first-year student again, do you?”

  Gresham leaned close to him, lowering his voice. “You had better be careful, Barlands boy. I don’t think you understand what you have gotten yourself into here.”

  “What’s that? Some pompous ass who thinks that he is somebody special just because of who his father is?”

  He sputtered and
leaned back. “Now, I definitely know you don’t have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.” He leaned toward Sam. “You won’t last very long here. I’m sure of it.”

  Sam turned away, ignoring him. It was the only thing that he could do.

  He pushed past Gresham, glanced over to Mia, locking gazes with her for just a moment and long enough for him to see her turn away from him. She didn’t want his help.

  Instead, he marched onto his next class, getting through the day, distraction overwhelming him.

  By the time evening and fallen, he was in no mood to go to the dining hall, so he snuck into the Study Hall, making his way down the alchemy section, and pulled out the almanac. He grabbed the stack of pages that he had taken notes on, and he started to prepare.

  His mind churned.

  Partly it was because Tara didn’t believe that Daven had been trying to help him but partly was because he didn’t feel comfortable just sitting around in the Academy doing nothing.

  It was tied to the key.

  It was tied to him.

  They were after something.

  It might be almanac, and it might just be the key, but Sam couldn’t help but feel as if perhaps there was something more.

  He rested his hand on the almanac, preparing to trigger it.

  As he did, there came a tingling in his palm. At first, it was slow, but it began to build, and he frowned to himself.

  The key had never tangled quite like that before.

  He leaned back, looking down at the vrandal, tracing his finger along the surface of it. He could feel the energy within it, but he could also feel something else.

  Maybe it was just his imagination, or perhaps there really was something to it. Either way, that tingling bothered him.

  At one point, he thought he felt a hint of wind whipping around him, and he looked up but didn’t see anybody coming through the Study Hall into the alchemy tower, nor did he see anybody coming through the main entrance. It was an imagined wind.

  He turned his attention back to the book. He attempted to trigger the vrandal again.

  It should be fairly straightforward. With what he’d learned, the connection was easy, or at least it seemed to be. But now…

  Something felt off.

  Tingling.

  He couldn’t shake that sensation. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was that ongoing irritation that came from the key and his inability to fully use it.

  He pressed it upon the almanac again.

  It seemed like it should be a fairly straightforward technique to use, which was tied to how he summoned the power from it, but lately, he found that the trigger was different. It wasn’t quite what he had expected.

  He focused on it, feeling the coolness to it. And he wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake was something with it.

  Sam had used this many times, and he generally had no trouble triggering it, but that was in a specific pattern, one that had been tied to how he attacked Ferand. This time, the key was meant for something else, only he wasn’t able to fully utilize it.

  He focused again, setting it down on the almanac. As he tried to replicate what he had done many times before, activating the key, he felt it tingle once more.

  It was strange.

  Daven had told him he needed to try to master the vrandal and the power that existed within it, but that wasn’t necessarily straightforward.

  He turned his hand, looking at the key, and suddenly heard a sound behind him.

  This time, he was sure that he heard something. He had no idea what it was nor why he would hear it. As he jerked around, the vrandal flew off his hand, clattering to the stone near him.

  Sam was too startled to do anything.

  He looked down at the ground where the vrandal rested. It was the first time it had completely come off his hand. Even when Luthian and Ferand had tried to remove it, the key hadn’t completely come off. Now his hand no longer tingled the way that it had, but Sam thought that might be even worse. It was better to have some sensation from the vrandal, even if it was the strange tingling he didn’t fully understand.

  He hurriedly grabbed off the ground, looking around to see who might have come down into the alchemy tower. There was no one. He slipped it back onto his hand. It started to tingle again. He remembered the words Ferand had said to him when he took the device. He had been convinced the vrandal would harm Sam.

  Could this be some delayed harm?

  Daven would have said something if that were that the case. He was convinced that all Sam needed was to learn to control it. He was growing increasingly confident with that, but not completely. At least not yet.

  As he looked at the vrandal, the tingling continued to build.

  If it wasn’t bonded to him, what could he offer the Academy? What reason was there for him to remain here?

  Maybe there wasn’t any.

  And that thought bothered him more than any other.

  He had a strange sense of loss.

  When it had first connected to him, he had been terrified of what he had done, but having the vrandal, and its connection to the almanac, had given him a purpose.

  Now what?

  The only thought that came to him was his need to find Tara.

  He slipped the vrandal off his hand for a moment, and the tingling began to ease.

  When he put it back on, the tingling immediately returned. Something had changed. It was no longer a part of his palm the way it had started to feel. Now it was something else.

  He pulled it off his hand, stuffed it into his pocket, and stared at the almanac.

  Without the key, what am I?

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What do you think changed?” Tara looked at the vrandal resting on the bed. The room was sparsely decorated, like most of those in the Academy. They had a bed, a desk, and some people had more decorations than others. Sam and Tara had stacks of books that very few others had. Sam had read all of the books available to him.

  The light caught it, making the metal seem dull and flat. Almost cold. In the time since the tingling had started, Sam hadn’t been able to put the vrandal on for any long periods of time. He’d tried, but each time that same tingling worked through him. It was more than he could bear, and he hated that he wasn’t able to tolerate it. Too much discomfort started in his hand—the kind of discomfort Ferand had warned him about, he thought.

  “I haven’t been able to figure it out. I’ve been trying to pull it off for so long that now that I can, I have no idea what has changed for me or for it. It worries me, though. Especially with the Nighlan attacking in the city, and what I saw happened to Daven.”

  She lifted the vrandal and twisted it in her hands. She’d done that a few times, holding it up to the light and examining it, even using arcane magic on it. Nothing seemed to make a difference. As much as she studied it, she didn’t find any answers. Not that he expected her to find anything.

  The vrandal was alchemy. That was what Daven had said. Sam needed an alchemist to help him understand what had happened, but even if Havash could tell him, would he help find a way to place it on Sam’s hand again? He didn’t know if Havash would.

  Tara slipped it onto her hand, and Sam waited. He didn’t know what she might experience but suspected there would be some pain. If it were anything like what he now went through, she would feel tingling like needles had been stuck into her palm. Then that sensation would intensify. In his case, the feeling continued to worsen to the point where he could barely stand it.

  “It’s unusual, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “What do you detect?” It was the first time she’d placed the vrandal on, so he wasn’t entirely certain what she might experience.

  “There’s no sense from it,” she said, locking eyes with him. “All the times we tried to take it off, nothing changed. Now with this tingling that you describe, it slips off easily.” She slid the vrandal from her hand and set it back on the bed.

  “You don’t fee
l any pain?”

  “There’s no pain. And I don’t feel anything like you do.” She took a deep breath and added, “Not that I’m saying you’re making up what you feel.”

  “I didn’t think you were.”

  “Why do you think it suddenly separated from you?”

  Sam shook his head. “If I had that answer, then I wouldn’t be questioning it.”

  “Maybe it’s to give you a chance to better understand the nature of what it is so that when you can wear it again, you’ll be ready for it.”

  He didn’t think that was how it worked but didn’t want to say that.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing. I can see from your face that it’s something. What is it?”

  Sam lifted the vrandal and pushed it back on his hand.

  “I never thought I’d be able to be so close to magic.” He said it softly, turning the vrandal in place in his hand and avoiding her eyes. It felt silly to hear the words come out of his mouth, though he’d admitted them before. Not to Tara, though. Maybe that was why it was so difficult.

  “You do know that it’s highly likely that you have some connection to the arcane arts. With everything that we’ve heard about alchemists, they all have some connection, however minor. You are just like that, even if you don’t believe it.” She arched a brow at him. “And you know that belief is a part of what is needed.”

  “You don’t need to go reminding me of the tenets.”

  “Don’t I? Sometimes, it feels like I do need to remind you of them. You often seem to forget that what you have studied is techniques for accessing the arcane arts. And you, of all people, should understand the key to it.”

  “I understand,” he said. “I just thought that I would have developed my connection by now if I had one. Besides, I don’t think either my parents had a connection to the arcane arts.”