by Brian Keller
That day, once Miss Camilla’s class had begun, Cooper went to the front of the room to speak with her. Remembering a project she’d been working on, he’d been reading up on certain substances and hoped to contribute. He cleared his throat and managed to say, “Excuse me, Miss?”. Miss Camilla looked up from her flasks and beakers, “Cooper? Is something wrong?”. He replied, “Um, no, Miss. At least I think not. I have been reading about one of the substances you were testing a few weeks ago… before I started attending your classes… A sample you were testing and found Talgrit root…?”. He paused, waiting for her to acknowledge. She responded almost immediately, “Yes, I remember well. I’m still working on that. What are your questions?”. He shuffled his feet a little bit, “Well, miss, I was wondering… what were the conditions? Was it being used as a poison? Who was the victim? Did it result in death? How was it administered? And how was the sample recovered?”. Miss Camilla smiled, “Those are a lot of good questions. Is this more than a casual interest?” She paused, scrutinizing him before she continued, “Let me see if I can provide you with the answers you seek. It was a lethal dosage applied to a weapon of some kind that was used on a House Father. The wound was a large puncture, almost like an arrow or crossbow bolt. The body was brought to me and I distilled the poison from blood and tissue samples near the wound.”. Cooper had been taking notes and let the information make a picture in his head. He began to speak to himself, starting with generalities. If he was getting off track he knew Miss Camilla would stop and correct him. “Talgrit root is most lethal when ingested. I don’t even recall seeing any written material on toxicity based on any other method of introduction. How could the poisoner be sure that sufficient levels would enter the blood? The potency was high… I should have asked this already; where was the victim struck? Could the arrow or bolt have caused the death and the poison is just a redundancy?”. Miss Camilla chuckled, “Your instincts were initially correct. If the shot was a killing strike no one would’ve even called me to look at it. The victim was struck in the shoulder. The weapon, whatever it was, had been removed. From the amount of blood lost, it was likely removed before death.”. Cooper thought about this new information, and remembered that Miss Camilla had said earlier that she suspected something had been added to speed the heart rate. Cooper had a different theory but didn’t know enough about herbs and poisons to follow it through. He said, ”Miss, the problem with using this poison in this way is that it’s a slow and unpredictable way to use it. I think that whatever was mixed in had to be something to increase the absorption, otherwise the victim would be more likely to die from infection than from poison.”. He went back to thinking out loud, “Unless they used a paralytic on the weapon and then forced ingestion of the killing poison. But then that seems unnecessarily complex and that still wouldn’t explain the higher levels of the poison in the tissues surrounding the wound.”. Miss Camilla interrupted his thoughts, “You’ve given me some things to think about. I’ll need to test for some different substances than what I was looking for. Hopefully I have enough of the poison left to do the tests.”. She then realized that most of the class had stopped what they were doing to watch and listen to the conversation. Her voice cut sharply through the room, “All of you, back to your studies!”. Then she looked pointedly at him, “That includes you, Mister Cooper.”. Before he turned to go back to his table, she’d given him a smile and a wink.
Mister Skran seemed glad to see the boys when they entered the Training Room. Several older students were already doing drills, either with each other or with Mister Strawman. The ringing of steel on steel made conversation a little challenging. Mister Skran’s voice, however, seemed to have no difficulty being heard over the background noise. “Welcome to Advanced Combat. I’m sure all of you are eager to receive your blades and begin training, but before I hand out weapons I must express to you the dangers of weapons training. The injuries you’ve received before were all bumps and bruises. With edged weapons, those will become stab wounds and cuts. You must take more care than you have in the past. For the first couple of weeks, you will use blunted blades. This will allow you to make some mistakes while you become used to the differences between sticks and blades. Before the end of the month, you will exchange these blunted blades for fully functional weapons. I am trusting that none of you will attempt to kill or maim each other. There will be no use of Manifested speed in this class without my expressed permission and supervision. Each of you will remain in this class until you Manifest… Most of you are likely to remain in this class for some time after Manifesting as well.”. He led them over to the table and directed them, “Select your weapon. All are essentially the same, but there are some few subtle differences.”. Cooper picked one up, felt the grip, stepped away from the table and tried a few movements, reversed his grip and tried a few more. It felt easier to control than the baton he’d been using but the way it handled was very different. He decided that it would likely take a few days to adjust to it. He knew better than to ask when they might expect to start learning to wield a blade in each hand. Even the older students in the room were using just a single weapon, and they were at least a year more advanced than he was. As he watched them, he observed their movements looked rehearsed, as if they were just going through the motions. He was determined that no matter how much repetition he was subjected to, he wouldn’t allow himself to become so complacent as they appeared to be. Mister Skran had them line up and begin doing drills, just as they had done a few months ago with batons. The intent was for them to get used to the differences between batons and blades. He focused on his movements, trying to make each as precise as possible. Yes, the blade was easier to control than the baton, but he needed to pay attention to the fact that a blade had one or two edges, and the orientation was important. With the batons being round, the orientation was of no importance. Any surface was as suitable as the one beside it for striking. For him, any adjustments were minimal. He’d always attempted to use his baton as if it were a blade, always keeping the orientation of his weapon in mind. After two hours of repetitive drills, he was ready for class to end but there was still another hour to go. He hadn’t thought much of Egil, the boy from the Dregs who’d cracked his ribs, but neither had he ever really been far from his mind. He suspected he had been the boy that had beaten Cecil to death, but couldn’t be sure. He imagined him as his opponent and this invigorated his movements. With each strike, he imagined watching Egil bleeding from a fresh cut or puncture. It helped.
In Movement class, it was as Master Brais had predicted. Muscles became adapted to use and grew stronger. Soreness never truly became a thing of the past, but it certainly faded into the background. Bruises now often had time to fade before new ones took their place, rather than each new bruise building on the one before, as it had been in the first weeks of class. Their instructor began to place new demands on them, “It is not enough to simply move from one location to the next. It is important, necessary even, to move silently. This means no more flat-footed landings, Rukle.. No more grunting, Kolrem.. And that goes for you as well, Cooper. And the overtly loud exhalations… completely unnecessary.”.
Once he’d returned to his room, he simply fell into bed. He decided that he’d undress later, if he felt uncomfortable enough to bother with it. He was nearly asleep when he heard someone clear their throat nearby. He wanted to ignore it but he could feel eyes upon him. Without opening his eyes he said, “Hello, Marna. Wonderful evening, isn’t it?”. He opened his eyes to see Marna’s thin smile as she stood at the entrance to his “stall”. When she saw that he had his eyes open she replied, “I can’t comment on the quality of the evening, but I’ve been convinced to help you with certain aspects of Etiquette class.”. This brought him to an upright position with eyes fully open, “Huh?!”. Marna’s smile became genuine for just a second before the chill crept back in. “Yes.”, she said, “I was a little surprised as well. I wouldn’t have thought you’d need help with something so simple, but O
srim is willing to compensate me for my time teaching you, so here we are.”. He still felt tired but he was now far too intrigued to sleep. He replied, “Ok. Where? Here?”. She shrugged, “Here is as good as any.”. She unrolled a sheaf of pages and laid one of them out to start with. He looked over the page. At the top of the page it was written “Rhychevel”. It showed the King’s name and other members of the royal family and how they were connected. It also displayed most of the noble families and how they were connected to the royal family. Cooper saw that it was basically a map of how the families were arranged. It was simple yet brilliant. He wondered why he hadn’t thought to write out the family arrangements in this way. He voiced this to Marna. She raised her eyebrows before she asked, “You mean you’ve never seen a diagram like this before?” He shook his head. She chuckled slightly, “Do you mean to say that you’ve been studying the families without ever seeing the family trees displayed?”. He nodded affirmatively. Marna unrolled the other sheets. She had each nation displayed along with how nations were aligned according to marriages and economics. He thought these pages were worth five times their weight in gold. He asked, “Could I make a copy of these pages?”. She shrugged slightly and said, “Sure. But it would be easier just to get a copy from Mister Ysel or Miss Eiler. That’s where I got these. They give them out to everyone.. well, almost everyone, apparently.”. Cooper wondered how he’d missed out on getting a copy of them. He’d have to ask about that. He took his eyes away from the pages to look at her, “Thanks for coming to help me, but if I can get a copy of these pages then my difficulties will likely be solved. Then my only real challenge in the class will be learning all the customs and such.”. She sniffed, “Well, those are easy enough but if you want to get it from the real local expert, you need to talk with Trea. I believe Osrim has already spoken with her as well.”. She was shaking her head as she continued, “I’m not sure what has caused Osrim to suddenly become interested in your education, but it’s good to finally see him interested in something.”. He knew he should try and get some sleep, but this new realization had him both excited and relieved. He asked, “Could I borrow these pages for the evening? I’ll see about getting my own copies tomorrow.”. Marna looked at him from the corner of her eye, “I suppose so. Just roll them back up when you’re finished and leave them beside my bed. I still have time to go join in a game of dice. Sure you don’t want to come along?”. She put on her best ‘come hither’ look, which was easy to ignore considering that he wasn’t even looking at her. He was already absorbed in the pages. He still managed to reply, “No thank you, Marna. I have gambled enough without ever handling dice.”. She shook her head at that as she walked away.
A little over an hour later, the fatigue he was feeling was making it hard to remember what he was studying. He rolled up the sheets, bound them together and placed them beside Marna’s bed. Then he stripped down for a quick bathing and returned to his bed ready for several hours of glorious sleep.
The following morning before breakfast, while he was sitting on the floor stretching, Trea came to speak with him. She said, “Osrim asked me to talk with you about the customs and mannerisms of each of the different cultures that we’re studying.”. He smiled up at her and said, “If you know a way to help make sense of all that, I sure would be glad to know it.”. She smiled and seemed to blush a little as she replied, “Well, I have ways that make sense to me. I can teach you how I remember them. Maybe that will help you, too.”. Cooper felt hopeful, “I have classes that start right after breakfast and, except for lunch and dinner, I’m in class til eight every night. Can you show me after that?”. Trea’s laugh was a bright, weightless sound, “It will surely take more than one night, but we can start tonight. It will give me an excuse to withdraw from the nightly gambling soirees.”.
Chapter 28
That morning Master Darius announced that they would be tested on locks at some point within the next five days. He added cryptically, “It could be tomorrow, it could be the next day, but it will certainly happen within the next five days.”. Habbon asked, “Sir, will all of us be tested? Some of us haven’t been here as long as others.”. Master Darius considered this and snapped his fingers, “All of you have received the full class, but it is true that not all of you have had as much time in class to master the skills as others. If any of you that arrived just a couple months ago wish to withdraw from testing, I will allow it and you will not be penalized for not testing… but you will not advance to receive instruction on traps until you have successfully tested on locks.”. He thought for a moment longer, “It seems that there are perhaps six or eight students that fit this category. I will need your answer by the end of this class period as to whether you intend to be tested within the next five days.”. Habbon had another question, “Sir, how will the test be conducted? What material would we be tested on?”. Master Darius looked at Habbon as if he’d never seen him before, “What material?!?... well, Locks, of course! Silly boy!”, he recovered his composure, “you may expect there will be both a written portion and practical aspects to the test.”, he paused then continued, “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”. Habbon nodded, mollified. Master Darius then looked around the room, “As for any of the newest arrivals, do any of you know as of this moment whether you intend to submit yourselves to be tested?”. Cooper raised his hand, as did Aden, Rukle and Kolrem. Master Darius called on each of them individually, each boy announced he was prepared to take the test. That left Habbon and Neril as undecided at this time, but they still had a couple hours to decide and make their intentions known. Cooper had to admit that he hardly cared at all whether either of those two tested or not. He’d almost prefer to leave them behind.
Etiquette class was less unpleasant today since he’d been able to study Temidan’s political hierarchy and lineages using Marna’s diagrams. He knew the answers to almost every question asked today and even volunteered to answer a few of them, which was unusual enough that both instructors looked a little surprised. Birt had looked over at him on those occasions with raised eyebrows and a quirky smile as if to ask, “What’s gotten into you?”. Cooper curled his fingers and rubbed his fingernails against his shirt front, then extended his fingers as if to inspect his freshly polished fingernails with satisfaction. Birt chuckled audibly and Mister Ysel called on Birt to answer the next question, thinking that Birt had volunteered… or perhaps he’d asked him since he observed that he hadn’t been paying attention, either way it provided Cooper with some amusement watching Birt struggle to answer a question that he hadn’t even heard. As class concluded Cooper approached Mister Ysel and asked about the family tree diagrams that Marna had shown him. Mister Ysel replied, “Yes, Mister Cooper, what about them?”. Cooper looked a little sheepish as he asked, “Well, sir, could I get a copy of them?”. Mister Ysel was taken aback, “Do you mean to say that you never received them? Or have you misplaced them?”. Cooper replied, “Sir, I did not realize that those documents existed until last night.”. Mister Ysel was shaking his head, “So the fact that you were answering questions today was a direct result of having those diagrams to study last night?”. He replied, “Yes, sir.”. His teacher continued, “And could we assume that if you’d had these documents available to you from your first day of class, as your classmates have, that you’d have participated more from the beginning?”. Cooper shrugged, “I suppose so, sir.”. Mister Ysel called over his shoulder, “Miss Eiler, could you bring a copy of the family trees to Mister Cooper? We seem to have overlooked him somehow. He has not yet received a copy of them.”. He heard Miss Eiler’s reply from further back in the classroom, “What?!! How?! Well, nevermind that. Yes, of course. Wait right there and I’ll bring them to you.”. He could hear her talking to herself and she was getting his diagrams but she was too far away to distinguish what she was saying. By the time she’d obtained the papers and was approaching him to hand them over she simply had an apologetic look on her face, “Mister Cooper, I am so sorry. Do I recall correctly th
at you arrived a little after your classmates on your first day? I think that’s the only way we could’ve overlooked getting your copies to you. Oh, to think how frustrating it has been for you to try to make sense of all familial connections without these as a reference…. No wonder you appeared so frustrated at times! Well, hopefully these will allow you to catch up with your classmates. We still have much more material to introduce, so you really aren’t far behind.”. He nodded, “I expect that I’ll be caught up before the end of the week. Thank you, miss.”. Miss Eiler looked a little surprised, “Before the end of the week? Really?”, she smiled and tried not to give him a patronizing look as she said, “Well, I won’t hold you to that. Just do your best and we’ll help you get caught up as best we can.”. She looked like she had to resist the urge to pat him on the shoulder. He felt his hackles rise, but it would serve no purpose to let her know it, she was just trying to help. He forced his face to form a genuine smile as he thanked her again and he bowed, turned and left the room.