by V. St. Clair
If you have to tell someone how smart you are, then you aren’t half as smart as you think.
He exhaled to release his anger, trying to imagine it flooding out of him with his breath.
“What did you do to your eyes?” he asked, regarding the strange purple-blue hue with disdain. He couldn’t imagine looking so unnatural, yet Master Laurren didn’t even look bothered or ashamed by the abnormality.
“Does it matter?”
For a moment they considered each other in silence. Trying a new angle, Aleric said, “Of course not, sir, I was merely curious. I’ve never seen such an odd eye color before.”
In fact, that wasn’t the only thing about his appearance that was odd, though it was the easiest thing to put his finger on. In combination with his dark hair and pale skin, he somehow had an otherworldly aura about him, like he knew secrets that no one else did and was lording it over them all. Aleric tried to shake off the sensation, but it was a constant reminder with his presence.
“I colored them myself,” Laurren answered at last, though Aleric suspected that the man was lying for some reason. There was something too powerful radiating from him to be a result of self-alteration, though Aleric still couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
“Really?” he asked skeptically, because there was no respectful way to call him on the suspected lie. “Why would you want to look so unusual?”
“Well,” Laurren began. “I do teach a subject called Abnormal Magic, so it seems appropriate for me to look unusual.” He shrugged as though it was a matter of no importance.
Cinder, who had been perfectly still and silent until now, let out a small screech at that moment, and Aleric and Laurren both turned to look at the dragonling, who was staring at the Master with unnerving focus.
Laurren tilted his head respectfully to Cinder, making Aleric wonder for a wild moment whether the man could understand his familiar, though he immediately dismissed the idea as ridiculous. There were only a handful of mages in any given century that claimed an ability to interpret magic at that level, and this oddball of a Master with no proper lineage to his name would hardly be such a rare find.
“Well, this has been fun, but I must be going,” the Master addressed him once more, squinting in the light of the falling sun, which made his eye color look even stranger than ever.
“Me, too,” Aleric conceded, thinking that he really should find Asher so that he could run his idea by him. The inner peace that came with making that decision had been temporarily disrupted by his encounter with the irritating Master of Abnormal Magic.
“Then I suppose this is farewell, Allen Frost.”
“Aleric,” Aleric corrected as the man began to walk away, annoyed beyond imagining that a commoner like him could forget his name.
“Aleric, right.” He smirked and then continued on without looking back. Cinder made an interested noise as he watched the man leave, and even Aleric had a hard time looking away. The sunlight seemed to halo Laurren as he walked back towards the castle, and it was hard to believe that the figure he struck could belong to anyone other than the greatest of mages. Perhaps he had been lying when he said he didn’t know much about Great Houses…maybe he even came from one himself? He must, to walk with that sense of self-assurance…
But no, Aleric would certainly remember his mother introducing him to someone with purple-blue eyes who only answered questions indirectly.
Aleric left the bizarre encounter with Master Laurren, not sure of whether the man was the real deal or an absolute fraud. Intrigued about the class despite his resolve not to begin any new subjects this year, he resolved to ask Asher about his own dealings with the man, to see if it was worth the effort or not.
When Laurren was nowhere in sight, Aleric made his way back towards the castle, ruminating on his new research idea for Prisms and wondering if Asher was going to tell him he was completely insane for even suggesting it. He passed the cluster of shops behind the school that sold magical instruments, books, and clothing, grouped together like their own small village. Most of them were dark by now, with only a few mage lights left along the main pathways for illumination, as everyone had gone home for the night.
He entered the school through the back door, passing the smooth black stone floor that Master Reede used for Conjury lessons. During the day it was normally covered in chalk residue from all of the students who practiced on it, but now it had been wiped clean so that it reflected the falling light of the sun and forced Aleric to avert his eyes from it.
He had undoubtedly missed dinner, but Aleric was reasonably confident he could charm the kitchen staff into preparing him a plate if he stopped by later. The research idea that had been haunting his thoughts all day must come first, or he wouldn’t be able to enjoy his food at all.
Aleric entered the Pentagon and took the stairs upwards two at a time to the second floor, turning left along the only hallway there and following it to the room he shared with Asher.
“Hey Ash, I was wondering if—” he began talking before realizing that the room was empty.
Frowning, he paused and considered where his friend might be at this time of day if he wasn’t in their room. He shouldn’t have another challenge arena for several weeks, dinner was well finished by now, possibly tutoring Maralynn or Tricia…?
Maybe he’s working on his own research, the thought occurred to him suddenly. He certainly hoped he was correct, because if Asher was off somewhere with one of the girls, Aleric had no idea where to even begin looking for them.
He closed the door to their room and turned back down the hall, acknowledging the people that called out to him from the common area with a wave but otherwise ignoring the attention as he returned to the stairwell and continued back to the ground floor.
Classroom five was Asher’s chosen domain for his no-longer-top-secret research, one of the privileged few students to get his own room for his work. There were enough rooms in the school that typically five mastery-level students from each major discipline were awarded their own space for research, while everyone else shared, but with he and Aleric being the only two natural prism-users in the school right now they were guaranteed their own workspaces.
The door was closed and warded, which could mean anything. Asher would leave his work guarded whether he was inside the room or not, though Aleric thought he could see a narrow strip of light coming out from under the door, which was a good sign…
He knocked loudly, and heard the sound of chair legs thudding against the floor. It was easy to imagine his friend leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling in silent contemplation.
A moment later the wards were stripped away and the door opened a crack.
“Hey, Aleric,” Asher looked surprised to see him there. They almost never interrupted each other during their working hours. “Some kind of emergency going on out there?”
“No, I just wanted to run something by you. If this isn’t a good time I can come back later.” Though I might go crazy, thinking myself in circles, if you send me away now.
“Sadly, I’m not in the middle of anything particularly groundbreaking at the moment,” Asher sighed and opened the door a little wider.
They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Aleric got up the nerve to ask, “Can I come in?”
He half-expected Asher to refuse, especially after the way Aleric had blown up in front of him when Master Antwar suggested the two of them work together, refusing to share credit with anyone else on anything.
Well, times change.
“Oh, sure…” Asher stepped back, allowing him inside. Aleric couldn’t blame him for looking mildly uncomfortable, since he had never been allowed inside here before.
Used to his best friend’s penchant for clutter, Aleric was shocked to find a neat workspace. There was only one small stack of papers, mostly grouped together on one side of a large worktable, with a few loose leafs sitting out that Asher had been recently using. A large, clear bowl of water was prop
ped up on an iron stand, with nearby mage lights positioned so that light would be readily visible through it from all directions.
“This is…tidier than I expected,” Aleric admitted truthfully, looking for something to fill the awkward silence.
“Yeah, Antwar made me clean up a while back.” Asher shrugged and returned to his seat, shoving his notes to the side and gesturing for Aleric to sit down in another chair. He tilted his eyepiece onto the top of his head so that he could see Aleric with both eyes.
“So what brings you to my humble workshop?” he asked without further preamble. “I didn’t see you at dinner.”
“I was away from the school for a bit,” Aleric lied to preserve his hiding place, “and I actually wanted to get your opinion on a research topic I’m considering.”
Asher couldn’t have looked more surprised if Aleric had announced he was abdicating his role in the Frost House to open a shoe shop.
“Uh…okay,” his friend said slowly, scrutinizing him as though looking for signs of illness. “That’s…atypical.”
Aleric sighed and said, “Yes, and that’s my fault. I’ve always been so secretive about my work—too secretive.” He always felt awkward apologizing for things, but he knew this one was long in coming and needed to be said. “I think you know why I’ve been so competitive about this whole thing, but that doesn’t excuse it. I don’t want to be a bitter, paranoid old man like my father, who is constantly waiting for someone to betray him. I trust you, and it’s stupid for me not to share ideas with you, because you’re creative in a way that I am not.”
There, he’d said it. Asher still looked a little like he had just been clubbed over the head, though by no means displeased with the result.
“Wow,” his friend said at last. “It’s just been a day full of surprises.”
Aleric wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but just in case his friend was still unsure of his intentions he said, “I’m sorry for being all high and mighty about my work all this time. If you decide you want to ask me anything about what little progress I made with casting through water before I gave it up, I’d be happy to help.”
“Well, uh…thanks for that,” Asher said awkwardly, which was almost amusing, because Asher was never this uncomfortable around him.
“I just need you to tell me if my idea is absolutely insane or not,” Aleric explained.
“I am considered something of an authority on madness,” he smiled with a hint of his usual sarcasm. “Well, let’s hear it. What’s this brilliant new idea of yours?”
Aleric paused for a heartbeat before he said, “I want to stop memory loss.”
For a long moment Asher was silent, his eyes widened slightly in disbelief. Those six words seemed to echo in the now silent room, and Aleric felt the heat in his face as he mentally berated himself for the idiocy of his idea.
I’ve stumped even Asher with my idea, and he’s trying to think of a nice way of telling me I’ve gone off the deep end…
“That’s…ambitious,” his friend spoke at last, though he didn’t sound condescending.
“By ‘ambitious’, do you mean ‘stupid?’ ” Aleric asked bluntly.
Asher seemed to give the question some serious thought.
“I’m not sure,” he said carefully. “My first thought is to declare it impossible, but on the other hand I’ve never believed that anything is truly undoable, only that it has not yet been done.”
Aleric exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, relieved that his friend was taking the idea seriously and hadn’t laughed at him outright. He was mildly surprised to discover how much value he placed on Asher’s good opinion of him.
“I can guess the source of your inspiration, of course,” Asher continued, though Aleric had known that his friend would realize he was hoping to cure his father’s failing memory as soon as he heard his pitch.
He would have to take pride in me if I could be the one to save him from his own body’s weakness. There could never be a doubt in his mind that I am a worthy son and heir to the Frost name.
“I’m sure you can,” he answered smoothly. “I’m sure someone has tried to find a cure for memory loss before and failed…”
“Almost certainly,” Asher nodded firmly. “Many ‘someones’ if I had to guess.”
Aleric frowned.
“So you’re telling me I should give it up since the brilliant minds of the past couldn’t figure out how to do it?”
Looking thoughtful, Asher shook his head and said, “No, I’m telling you you’re going to have to be smarter than all of those past brilliant minds to succeed where they failed.”
Slightly heartened, Aleric asked, “So you don’t think it’s entirely unfeasible?”
“No,” he answered simply. “I just think it’s going to take every ounce of intellect you can eke out of your superior Frost brain, every resource you can track down across the Nine Lands, and no small amount of luck. But no one has more luck than you, Golden Boy, so for all that I’m sure you’ll manage it somehow.”
He didn’t sound rueful as he said it, which was a relief. Most people were jealous of his seemingly perfect life, but Asher never really seemed that bothered by the difference in their situations.
“Well, I suppose that’s a better reaction than I was expecting from you,” Aleric admitted. “I half-expected you to chase me out of the school with laughter.”
Asher snorted in amusement and said, “If I had known that in advance, I would have been sure not to disappoint you. I haven’t really had the chance to run anyone out of school in years.”
Aleric laughed and then became serious once more.
“I don’t suppose you have any ideas on where I should start my research?” he asked his friend. “You’re usually more obscurely creative than I am about things.”
Asher inclined his head slightly at the compliment, not denying it, though he said, “Honestly, I’m still a little overwhelmed by the entire idea to have any notion of where to start. Let me think on it overnight and I’ll see if I can come up with anything by morning.”
“No need to stay up late pondering it,” Aleric insisted, hating to pull someone off of their own work to assist with his newest idea.
“I don’t intend to,” Asher waved him down. “I do most of my best thinking while asleep; being conscious really seems to hinder my intelligence.” He grinned with good humor.
Also smiling, Aleric offered, “That makes sense. Keeping all that hot air afloat in your head probably kills off all the good brain cells.”
“Hey, someone has to pat me on the back and feed my self-esteem, and no one else is really stepping up to the plate, so I might as well do it myself.”
“I didn’t realize you needed such coddling. Should I hold you while you weep with joy over your own achievements?” he offered blithely.
Asher almost choked on his laughter as he said, “No thanks, you probably wouldn’t do it right. I’m much better at flattering myself than you could ever be.”
“Thus ego doth make fools of us all,” Aleric rolled his eyes and stood up, feeling much better than he had upon entering the room. Belatedly, it occurred to him that he should try and return the favor.
“Thanks for your insight.” More awkwardly he added, “Is there anything you want to ask me about your own work right now? I’d be happy to help in whatever way I can, though I didn’t make much progress on underwater casting before I gave it up.”
“I think I’m actually onto something mildly encouraging at the moment, but I’ll take you up on your offer if it turns out to be a dud,” Asher answered easily, and Aleric couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy that his friend was having success where he had failed. He stifled it as best as possible, not able to control his feelings, but certainly able to control how he acted on them.
“Good, then I wish you better luck of it than I had.” He moved towards the door. “I’ll let you get back to your work.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you lat
er.”
Aleric felt his friend’s eyes on him until he was gone and had shut the door behind him. He paused for a moment, curious to see whether Asher would replace his wards on the door.
He didn’t.
11
Bonk’s Warning
Asher had been enjoying his dream, floating just below the surface of consciousness, aware that he was asleep but not awake enough to direct his own thoughts. Not unusually, he was dreaming of Maralynn, the two of them on a proper date for the first time, when he abruptly snapped awake and lurched upright in bed.
He had no idea what woke him so suddenly. It was still very early out, judging by the darkness outside his window, and Aleric was sound asleep in the bed across the room. Annoyed with himself for interrupting a perfectly good dream for no apparent reason, he almost missed the faintly glowing strip of light on the floor.
Asher raised his eyebrows as he looked more closely at it from his bed, trying to determine the source of the light and whether he had seen it on any other occasion. A dull, muted yellow, it somehow brought no illumination to the room itself beyond the strip of floor it highlighted, bisecting the room and ending somewhere underneath the door.
Asher climbed out of bed slowly, kneeling down and touching the strip of light with his hand to see if it cast a shadow, which would at least tell him something about where the source was located. He was even more intrigued when he found that no matter how he oriented himself, there was no shadow obscuring the light.
He considered waking Aleric to ask for his opinion, but something unbidden in his head advised him not to. Wondering at the advisability of chasing strange beams of light around the school before dawn, he donned his circlet and made sure it was equipped, tugging on his shoes and quietly opening the door.
As he half-expected, the light continued on down the hallway, turning towards the downward stairs that led to the main foyer. Frowning thoughtfully, Asher closed the door gently behind him and then followed the trail, noting that the light disappeared behind him as he walked.
