The Tower

by Todd Fahnestock

  Since he could remember, Royal had pictured the day when his people would draw strength from him. That was the purpose of his life, and the purpose of any community—to draw strength from each other. Especially for those like Royal, who had great strength. It was his job to use that strength in service to others. When Royal had come to the academy, he’d loved the idea of the four paths to magic. The structure of a Quad made perfect sense. Finding his power through connecting with three other worthy souls was as natural to him as the sun rising.

  Yet in his dreams, he had imagined his Quad mates differently. He’d seen them strong of heart, true to purpose, and dedicated to the same cause. He had not envisioned an urchin whose desires shifted moment to moment, an irreverent builder’s boy who despised all rules simply because they were rules, and the princess of his sworn enemies.

  Royal loved his wooded homeland, and he thought about Fendir every day. Fendirans understood the power of tradition and ritual. They were passionate—renowned for poetry and art, and for the fearlessness of their warrior druids. The immortal legend of the rogue Bojalio, a folk hero in both kingdoms, had been penned by a Fendiran bard named Vauquelin. The masterpiece painting The Delicate Grape was wrought by Laudine, a Fendiran sculptor who, according to legend, only painted once—that one piece—and it was a masterpiece.

  A young Fendiran might leap from a waterfall as part of his declaration of love, or spontaneously give all the gold in their pouch to a beggar child. A typical Fendiran acted much more like Brom than Royal—lusty and bright-eyed. Royal was not like that. In fact, his father had mused aloud at the dinner table several times, asking Royal if he was frightened of women, or perhaps he preferred the company of men.

  But the truth was: Royal was already in love. With Fendir. His sole purpose was to preserve her, to protect her, and he simply didn’t have time to indulge in other pursuits. The war over the Hallowed Woods threatened Fendir and all she held holy, and Royal had sworn to protect her.

  Fendir herself was fragile and beautiful. Fendirans weren’t methodical like the Keltovari. They didn’t think years in advance, didn’t have a taste for building empires. Given time, Keltovar would grind Fendir beneath the hooves of its oppressive culture if they weren’t stopped.

  Oh, for now the Keltovari claimed to only want the Hallowed Woods. But before that, it had been the land north of the Hallowed Woods. If Fendir retreated again, if they let the Keltovari have that holy place, they would soon want more. The Keltovari wouldn’t be satisfied until the two kingdoms became one kingdom.

  Royal had traveled to the academy with a singular purpose: to become an Impetu and turn the tide of the war. He’d been ready to show every master, even The Four themselves, that he was born to be a Quadron.

  After the crushingly disappointing first year when Royal had despaired that his dreams were dead, his Quad had rallied, finally coming together. They had each looked deeper, seen the worthiness in each other, and worked together like Fendirans.

  His three Quad mates, as flawed as he had initially seen them, had become vital to him, like three beating hearts that pumped his own blood. The future Queen of Keltovar had made Royal’s dreams come true—the thought still stunned him. He was on his way to becoming a Quadron, perhaps one of the most powerful Impetus ever.

  But tonight, he had the cold feeling that he’d made a fool’s bargain.

  In Royal’s experience, human flaws only expanded over time, but his joyous achievement as an Impetu had blinded him to what was happening here. He hadn’t seen the flaws of his Quad mates growing steadily larger, cracking the foundation they’d built. Quad Brilliant had achieved remarkable success...

  But they hadn’t passed the Test of Separation yet. They were still only students, only able to wield magic within the walls of the academy. Until they all took the Test and were able to leave the academy with their full powers, they must follow the rules.

  It was now painfully obvious that Vale and Brom were never going to respect the rules of the academy. Their rebelliousness was as much a part of them as Royal’s tattoos. Of course, he had noticed them breaking rules for months now in small, sneaky ways. Despite what most people thought—at least those who saw him from a distance—Royal wasn’t stupid. He’d stood by because Vale and Brom were his Quad mates. He had allowed for their differences because he wanted to remain open-minded.

  But their transgressions made Royal feel like someone was scraping his teeth with a knife.

  Oriana never made Royal feel this way, and that irony was not lost on him. Vale and Brom caused him daily frustration while Oriana remained sane and dedicated to their collective purpose. By Fendra, how could it be possible that Royal had the most in common with Oriana? It was as though everything had turned upside down.

  Against his will, Royal found himself admiring her. Oriana was a champion of order. She was predictable and straightforward. Whether a school or a kingdom, she believed civilization needed a framework of rules. The princess was smart, capable, and level-headed—all qualities that made a good leader. To his surprise, he even quietly found himself adopting her habits in an effort to improve his own leadership. He and Oriana were far more aligned than he wanted to admit. Ironically, he felt...calm around her. Serene and secure.

  Brom could make Royal smile with his humor and quick wit, and Vale was like an endearing little sister. But Brom would leap off a cliff with that same smile. When he made those leaps, he didn’t consider those attached to him, those who would go over the cliff with him.

  And Vale...while he now enjoyed her company, it was impossible to forget how vicious she had once been. That malevolent little urchin was still inside her, and Royal often wondered when it would spring forth from the dark places of her heart. She sneaked out of her room at night, surely going places she should not, doing things she should not.

  Brom and Vale had encouraged each other to break the rules. And now they’d gone too far. They’d flaunted the rules, and by the sound of it they’d nearly been caught. Now the masters were looking for Brom. He’d jumped off the cliff and had taken the rest of them with him.

  The rules of the academy demanded that Royal go to one of the masters and tell them about this midnight excursion. The rules required him to throw Brom and Vale upon the mercy of those who stewarded the academy. It might even be good for Brom—teach him to respect the rules. It might keep him from hurting himself or anyone else in the future.

  And yet...

  These were his Quad mates. His natural duty as an Impetu was to protect them. They were his friends. They were dear to him.

  He let out a sigh and watched until both Vale and Oriana had safely returned to their rooms and closed their doors. He stood vigil, keeping an eye on each of his Quad mates’ doors from across the foyer, making sure no threat visited any of them as they drifted off to sleep. He contemplated what he would do if an academy master came here in the night to threaten one of his Quad mates?

  I will fight them, the thought came swiftly, without hesitation, surprising Royal.

  He clenched his jaw. Yes. Of course he would. That’s all he could do.

  Fendra damn him, he would fight the masters if he needed to. He would fight The Four themselves to protect his Quad. If someone was coming for them, Royal would stand as the wall between his friends and danger.

  I am a fool, he thought.

  He was tired, so he used the remaining magic crackling in his chest. He pushed it into a thin trickle of energy, used it to bolster his vigilance, to last him the night.

  He stayed, arms folded and elbows on the rail, until first light speared through the tall window at the northern end of the grand foyer. At that point, he drew a deep breath, went into his room, and dressed for the day.

  They all went to classes without speaking, and after lunch, Royal went to the practice room. Oriana was already there. As always, she was replete in a tailored and extravagantly embroidered gown. This one was white, of course, but with accents of red, perhaps an indic
ation of her mood, and the collar covered her neck all the way to her chin. Clothes arrived for Oriana every month or so, and this dress was new.

  Royal nodded at her, and she nodded back. He wanted to talk to her, to commiserate about the lawlessness of their Quad mates, but there wasn’t time.

  In moments, the Invisible Ones came in, the faceless people who had been paid to subject themselves to the mental and emotional manipulations of the Mentis and Motus of Quad Brilliant.

  Vale entered next, giving a winsome smile to Royal as she crossed the room and jumped up onto her favorite windowsill. She dangled her legs like a mischievous child, despite the fact that she’d been ready to claw Brom’s face off last night. She seemed completely unperturbed by what had happened, but Royal knew that could be a lie. Vale’s emotions ranged all over. No one knew how she would react to any given situation.

  Brom came last, which was no surprise. He was rarely on time to anything, as his mind was often roaming far afield. Oriana called it soul-seeking, and Royal wondered what it must be like to be able to see into the soul of another. Perhaps he, too, would be constantly distracted if he had such a power.

  “I have something new to show you,” Brom said dramatically, like he was putting on a play. “Let’s take a walk by the river.”

  It was an obvious feint to get away from the Invisible Ones, who were the most innocuous people imaginable, but only a fool would think the Invisible Ones wouldn’t report back to the masters about what was said in this room.

  Nobody questioned. They followed Brom across Quadron Garden toward a giant willow tree by the river. When they reached it, Vale and Oriana picked their way down the slope like they’d been here before. The bank was only about as tall as Royal, so he jumped to the bottom, loving the impact of moist earth on his feet and the brief burn in his muscles. Vale clambered up onto a low, horizontal tree branch and began swinging her legs again.

  “Okay,” Brom said. “We need to talk.”

  “A fucking understatement,” Vale said. Her jovial mask vanished.

  “Quite,” Oriana said with a small smile.

  Royal sighed at Vale’s profanity. Why did she feel the need to be vulgar? He also didn’t understand why Oriana encouraged it by smiling. Oriana herself never swore, of course, but she always smiled when Vale did. Somehow Vale’s profanity was novel to the princess. Royal could only guess at the reason. Perhaps she hadn’t heard profanity growing up in the Keltovari palace.

  “What happened?” Royal asked, trying to steer the conversation toward the real issue.

  “I took Vale out to experiment with a new aspect of Anima I’d discovered,” Brom said. “I wanted to connect her to the Soul of the World.”

  “Vale mentioned. That was ambitious.” Oriana raised a thin silver eyebrow, which meant she was impressed. “She said you succeeded.”

  “Oh, it worked,” Vale confirmed. “I ran like a wolf, faster than I’d ever gone before. It was like I couldn’t do anything wrong, couldn’t take a wrong step. It was an amazing feeling. It made me want to be Brom.”

  “And you ran into a master?” Royal tried not to let his annoyance show in his voice. If Brom had pulled Vale into the Soul of the World with him, he could convey it to Royal and Oriana as well. The thought was staggering. An Impetu with an Anima’s precognitive ability would be unstoppable in a war. It was powerful magic, advanced even for a fourth-year student.

  And Brom had accomplished it as a second-year.

  But then he’d abused his position as a student of this academy and subsequently his power. He and Vale could have done the same work in the practice room, or on Quadron Garden, and they would have been applauded by the masters for their talent. But no. They’d had to sneak out after curfew and run across campus.

  “When we reached the wall, I stumbled across a spell,” he said. “A spell created by The Four, I think. The power comes from their tower. And they...sensed me. At least, that’s what I think happened—”

  “The Four!” Royal blurted. Hot anger flooded into him. “You were caught by The Four?” He looked at Oriana, and her face was tight. Her small smile at Vale’s profanity had vanished.

  “Not caught,” Brom said. “They sensed me detecting it. They looked for me but they couldn’t find me. So I grabbed Vale and ran.”

  “Well, of course they found you. They know it’s you!” Royal slammed a frustrated fist against the trunk of the willow tree. He hadn’t opened a Soulblock today, so the flesh scraped from his hand didn’t start healing right away. He let the pain fuel his anger.

  “I don’t think so,” Brom said.

  “Of course they do!” he said. “They’re The Four. They’re...” He fought to find the right words. “They’re a kingdom unto themselves.” The Four had stewarded the two kingdoms for a century. They were demigods.

  “Royal is right,” Oriana said. “If The Four were looking for you, they found you. It is more plausible to think they simply haven’t made you aware of it yet.”

  Brom hesitated, glanced at Vale. She was pensive now. Brom set his jaw, then met Oriana’s gaze. “I don’t think so.”

  “I think Brom’s right.” Vale spoke up. “Whoever was looking for him tried, but they failed.”

  “How do you know?” Royal demanded.

  “Because I’m a Motus, Humongous,” she said, using the sarcastic name she often called him. “I felt rage. I felt frustration. I didn’t feel the spike of satisfaction that comes with success. Whoever was looking for us wanted to find us, but they couldn’t.”

  “You can’t possibly think you escaped The Four.” Royal threw his hands in the air. It implied The Four were fallible, that they could be hoodwinked by this little rule-breaker. That was impossible. “They have to know what you did,” he insisted. “For Fendra’s sake, we’re students! Oriana, support me here.”

  But Oriana remained silent, one long finger pressed against her lips, a gesture that meant she was lost in the labyrinth of her mind.

  “Oriana,” Royal prompted.

  “I’ve been to the wall several times,” she said softly. “I’ve never detected a spell, but it makes sense for there to be one. There could be half a dozen reasons for it, but the most likely is to bolster our fragile Soulblocks so that we might work magic in this place.”

  Brom shook his head. “No. This spell wasn’t friendly. It was...sucking green fire from everyone in the school. And I went there... I think I was meant to find it.”

  “How were you meant to find it?” Oriana asked.

  “My intuition led me there. I’m almost certain of it now.”

  “Your intuition?”

  “A foreboding has been growing in my soul for a while now. I’m convinced it led me to the wall where I could discover the spell. That green fire is the reason for my unease.”

  “That green fire could be the bolstering of The Four,” Oriana said.

  Brom shook his head. “No. I don’t think it’s designed to help anyone. It’s not a good thing.”

  “You think The Four are trying to hurt us?” Royal asked. He shook his head violently. “That’s ridiculous. You’re wrong.”

  “I bet even the masters aren’t aware of this spell,” Brom said. “It was sucking green fire from them too.”

  “It’s not sucking anything,” Royal growled. “If it’s doing anything, it’s helping us, like Oriana said.”

  “It made my stomach turn.”

  “Well then let’s listen to your stomach over The Four,” Royal hissed.

  “I don’t like the idea of anything being sucked out of me without me knowing about it,” Vale said.

  “That’s not what’s happening!” Royal ground his teeth. “If The Four wanted to hurt the Quad, they’d just hurt us. They could have used their magic to conquer Keltovar and Fendir if they wanted, but they haven’t. They could have kept the secret of magic to themselves, letting young people drain their souls and die. If not for The Four, there wouldn’t be Quadrons. We are indebted to them. We wou
ld have no magic if not for them.”

  “This magic isn’t theirs,” Vale said darkly. “It’s ours.”

  “You know what I’m saying,” Royal said. “This academy. The masters. Where would you be if you hadn’t been invited here?”

  Vale narrowed her eyes.

  “Royal, I’m not making this up,” Brom interrupted. “I didn’t go looking to unveil The Four. I was just practicing my connection to the Soul of the World. And I’m telling you what I saw. A giant green flame over their tower, connected to this insidious spell, connected to me. To you. To all of us.”

  “And if you’d been practicing in the practice room where you should have been, you could have asked one of the masters to explain it to you,” Royal said. “That’s what we should do now. Tell the masters and ask them what it is.”

  “No,” Vale said immediately.

  “What if you’re wrong about The Four?” Brom asked.

  “Fendra, I’m not wrong! If The Four created this spell, it’s the highest level of magic. You just don’t understand what you saw,” Royal argued.

  “You’re right. I don’t know what it was,” Brom said. “But I know what it felt like. It was the opposite of breathing or...or of kissing someone, the opposite of all things beautiful and natural. It was horrible. It wasn’t made to benefit anyone. I’d stake my life on it.”

  “You’ve staked all of our lives on it,” Royal growled.

  “Don’t be dramatic,” Oriana finally said. “I hardly think The Four would kill a student.”

  “Except every year at the Test of Separation,” Vale said.

  “That’s not The Four,” Royal said darkly.

  “Then who is it?” Vale demanded.

  “It’s the Test of Separation,” Royal said. “It is the most deadly test in the two kingdoms for a reason. Only the strongest and most dedicated can become Quadrons.” He chopped his hand through the air, cutting off her intended retort. “It has always been that way. It always will.”