Queen of Ice (Through the Fire Book 2)

by Benjamin Medrano

  Dana, Delvin, Sella, and Tadrick were in the classroom, and all of them were looking at her. Ruethwyn smiled slightly as she nodded at the others and replied. “That I am. Unless I’m dreaming of coming back to class, and that would be rather disconcerting.”

  “I imagine it would at that,” Delvin said, the black-haired man smiling broadly, his white eyes glittering with amusement. “Welcome back, Ruethwyn. I didn’t really have a chance to tell you before this, but thanks.”

  “Thanks for what? You and Dana got out on your own,” Rue replied, making her way to her seat in the back corner. She settled into it with a sigh, happy to not be stuck in bed anymore.

  Dana, her eyes and hair the opposite of her twin, shook her head as she spoke. “Ah, but he wouldn’t have thought of it without you saying something. Beyond that, I do appreciate not having to pick my things out of the rubble of the dormitory.”

  “It took quite a bit of damage as it is. Master Vrenne has been griping for the last five days about replacing the keystone,” Tadrick said, looking relaxed as he nodded his greeting to Ruethwyn. “How’re you doing, Rue? We’ve been busy lately, so…”

  “I’m doing… reasonably well. I can’t use magic for a few more days yet, since my mana core is healing more slowly than they expected, but I can at least attend classes and do bookwork,” Ruethwyn replied, mentally reaching into her core, where she could feel the fractures radiating through it. It wasn’t as bad as it’d been immediately after being pulled out of the planar rift, but Cora had warned that it might not ever fully recover.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Sella said, watching Ruethwyn closely. “Yalline hasn’t been allowed back yet, as Master Mara said he was waiting for you to return to class, and Madeline hasn’t been nearly as nasty, either.”

  “That might have just been because I wasn’t here,” Ruethwyn pointed out, frowning. “Still… we can hope. I didn’t want to disrupt class.”

  That brought a chorus of laughter and derisive snorts, but it was Tadrick who replied. “You? No, it was Yalline who managed that. Gods, if that wasn’t a lesson about not playing with magic you don’t have a full understanding of, I don’t know what is!”

  “Fair, I suppose. She’s lucky she survived,” Ruethwyn said, letting out a soft sigh and closing her eye for a moment. The gods only knew what Yalline had been thinking, to use atavism without the proper protections and summoning a fire demon.

  “Rue!” Korima’s voice was loud and excited, and Ruethwyn opened her eye to see that in the moment it’d taken to react, the auburn-haired kitsune had bounded halfway across the room, and only gave Ruethwyn seconds to brace herself before Korima reached her.

  “Gah!” Ruethwyn gasped out as Korima abruptly hugged her tightly, all but pinning her to the chair of her desk and driving the air from her lungs.

  “You didn’t say you were going to be back today, Rue! Why didn’t you tell me?” Korima demanded, and over her voice, Ruethwyn could hear the others laughing.

  “Can’t… breathe…” Ruethwyn gasped, her arm trapped by the kitsune’s embrace.

  “Korima, if you’d let Ruethwyn go? She just barely returned to class, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t send her back to the infirmary.” Master Mara’s tone was dry, and Ruethwyn could barely see the bald teacher past Korima’s twitching ears.

  “Oh, sorry!” Korima said, suddenly letting go and allowing Ruethwyn to gulp down a welcome breath of air. “I was just excited to see that Rue was back!”

  “I’m glad to be back, but breathing is nice, too,” Ruethwyn replied, her breathing slowly steadying as she looked at Korima, her emotions a bit out of skew. The memory of Korima kissing her the night after banishing the demon… it confused Ruethwyn, especially with how she felt about Anara. It was something she didn’t want to think about right that moment, but it was hard to dismiss. Much like Korima, as the kitsune was enthusiastic enough that ignoring her would be an exercise in futility.

  Beyond Korima, both Master Mara and the rest of Ruethwyn’s classmates had entered the room. Barthel grinned at Ruethwyn and nodded as he found his seat, while Madeline studiously ignored her, the blonde noblewoman back to her usual attitude. It was a far cry from how disheveled Madeline had been when she was rescued from the demons, as the one glimpse Ruethwyn had seen of her had looked like Madeline had been dunked in a mud pit.

  But most importantly, Ruethwyn could just barely see Yalline almost hovering behind Master Mara. Anxiety was on the brunette’s face, her topaz eyes darting from side to side rather than meeting Ruethwyn’s gaze, and she was wearing a simple white dress.

  “I’m glad to see that you’re back, Ruethwyn. Your actions the other night were impressive, and I’m glad you were able to hold the portal until we arrived,” Master Mara said, smiling at Ruethwyn. “I’m sorry that you were forced to push yourself so far, but it’s greatly appreciated.”

  “Thank you for the kind words, Master Mara, but I simply did what I had to. If I hadn’t, all of us might have suffered a fate worse than death,” Ruethwyn replied, bowing her head slightly.

  “Perhaps so, but since everyone is here, we may as well get started. We’re going to have a slightly unusual lesson today, so everyone but Yalline, take a seat,” Master Mara said firmly, glancing at Yalline.

  “I want to talk more later,” Korima murmured, looking at Ruethwyn for a moment before taking a seat just in front of her, rather than her usual spot on the front row.

  Everyone settled into place as the teacher closed the door, then he looked at the class, Yalline standing by his side nervously. Finally, he spoke, his voice firm. “First off, Yalline will be remaining in the class, albeit on probation for the time being. Before any of you object, realize that she has too much talent and knowledge to allow to remain untrained, and she’s been informed that if she does something so foolish again, she’ll be sent to the Royal Courts for judgement… and as in the case of many rogue, dangerous magi, that very well might result in her death. We expect you to make mistakes when you’re attending the academy, though this particular mistake is likely to be used as an example in classes for decades to come.”

  “Not how I’d like to make a name for myself,” Sella murmured, and Ruethwyn winced at the thought. It wouldn’t do good things for anyone’s reputation, let alone a student. Fortunately, Master Mara continued without allowing questions.

  “I should add that the only reason she’s getting off this lightly is because no one died, and the resulting injuries were relatively minor. Even so, it doesn’t absolve her of responsibility for what happened, and she has something to say to all of you,” Master Mara continued, looking at her as he asked, “Yalline?”

  The young woman looked around the room nervously, then finally spoke, her voice soft and trembling as she did so. “I… I need to apologize to everyone for putting you into danger. I completely underestimated the danger of what I was doing, and my mistakes came far closer to getting everyone killed than I ever had imagined. What I did… I know that nothing can make up for it, but I promise, I’m going to do everything I can to avoid making a mistake like that again.”

  Barthel let out a soft snort, shaking his head, and Ruethwyn thought she heard some of the others whispering among themselves, but she didn’t say anything. She thought that Yalline was being honest, but she also hadn’t realized that the woman was a danger before.

  “Go ahead and take a seat, Yalline,” Master Mara said, smiling thinly as he continued. “And considering this near-disaster, I’ve decided that it’s time to be far blunter about the horrible things that can happen to you if you screw up summoning by the numbers, as well as some of the failures that led to us ceasing experimentation with atavism.”

  Yalline headed for her seat, and Ruethwyn saw Madeline glare at her, causing the young woman to flinch. The sight prompted a hint of pity to well up inside Ruethwyn.

  “What sort of things, Master Mara?” Korima asked, frowning.

  “First off, if you’d been cap
tured by the fire demons, they’d have taken you to their plane, where you’d be enslaved for them to harvest your mana, and possibly to be bred like livestock. Remember, elementals grow more powerful off mana, and you are all magi, so they consider you a ready supply of mana that they can drain as they like,” Master Mara explained, his voice positively frigid. “Your chances of being rescued or escaping would be minimal at best, and planes like that are quite hostile to us. An early death would be your most likely release. And death is what likely would’ve happened if Yalline hadn’t screwed up the contract, then used the second stage of atavism.”

  “What’s that? Are you talking about the strange ice form Rue used?” Tadrick asked, looking over at Ruethwyn curiously. “I wondered about it, but we didn’t have time to discuss it at the time.”

  “Ruethwyn, would you care to explain what it is?” Master Mara asked, frowning. “I know some of the results, but I don’t have your direct knowledge of atavism.”

  “Of course, Master Mara,” Ruethwyn said, letting out a breath and considering for a moment before beginning her explanation. “That stage, which my teacher named the avatar state, is when elemental and summoner merge, mind and body both. My body becomes partially composed of elemental substance, and our thoughts become one. It allows our magic to become one and the same, and for the elemental to wield nearly their full power through me. My body couldn’t handle that much power, though, so Zaria was holding back a portion of her strength. The elemental we faced was about as powerful as Zaria, possibly a little weaker.”

  “Indeed. The issue is, if you don’t have the right talent and can’t use the magic correctly, there are rather catastrophic consequences to using atavism. Headmaster Spellmason told me about one of his classmates who persisted in using it, despite Sinera’s concerns at the time,” Master Mara said, his voice grim. “She had a contract with an air elemental and attempted the avatar state. The merging process didn’t protect her from the elemental’s nature, and the resulting energy caused her body to rip apart, leaving only her bones intact.”

  “Guardian preserve!” Sella exclaimed, putting her hands over her mouth and looking slightly green.

  “Indeed. And those are simply some of the possible disasters which could befall you,” Master Mara said, and grinned as he continued. “Today we’re going to go over the last hundred fatal accidents that came of summoning by academy students or graduates. I hope you aren’t too squeamish.”

  Ruethwyn winced and sat back in her chair. While she wasn’t certain she wanted to hear about so many disasters, she supposed it was good to teach some of the others caution. And herself, for that matter.

  Chapter 2

  “Hey, Rue? Do you have a second?” Tadrick asked, and Ruethwyn paused by the steps leading to her room. She stepped aside just in case someone was behind her, then turned to look at her friend. Ruethwyn wished that she could maintain an avatar state constantly, since she’d regained her missing eye and arm when she merged with Zaria, but that wasn’t going to happen with her mana core, even if she had possessed enough mana to pull it off. Which she didn’t, sadly.

  It turned out that it was good she’d stepped aside, as a maid carrying a basket of folded laundry was just behind Ruethwyn. Letting the maid pass, Ruethwyn smiled at her and the woman smiled in return. The maids and other servants had been much friendlier over the last week, Ruethwyn had noticed. Once the woman had passed, Ruethwyn turned her attention to Tadrick a few paces behind her.

  “Yes, I do. I was just going to study for a bit, but it isn’t too important. What do you need?” Ruethwyn told him, tilting her head curiously.

  “Great! It’s just, Sella reminded me that we never did get the chance to go out to dinner for midwinter, and I wanted to ask you if you were still interested. Korima and Sella are planning to come with, and Navaan agreed too, so…” Tadrick let his voice trail off as he looked at Ruethwyn expectantly.

  “I see. In all honesty, you aren’t the only one who forgot about it. After the excitement of the planar rift, I’d completely forgotten about our plans until now,” Ruethwyn replied, shaking her head and smiling slightly. “Still, it does sound like a good idea to me. When were you thinking to go out?”

  “Either tonight or tomorrow. Preferably tonight, but I didn’t want to put you on the spot. You just got out of the infirmary, after all,” Tadrick said, quickly adding, “Though if we wanted to push it back to sometime next week, we can do that too. I’m not sure how good of shape you’re in.”

  “It’s my mana core that was injured, Tadrick. Most of the physical damage was minor, and quite simple for Master Cora to heal,” Ruethwyn said dryly, smiling in amusement at him. “The main reason they held onto me was simple. They didn’t want my mana core to destabilize. We can go tonight, since I don’t think we have any assignments that are problematic.”

  “Nope, that seems fairly accurate to me, and—” Tadrick began, then abruptly stopped as Master Vrenne came up the stairs, an expression of annoyance on the teacher’s face. The woman’s gaze settled on Ruethwyn, and she spoke quickly.

  “Ruethwyn, do you have any wards on your room, or do they belong to someone else?” The teacher asked impatiently.

  “I did put up some wards some time ago, Master Vrenne,” Ruethwyn replied, slightly taken aback. “I’ve been considering how to modify them as well, since my notes were stolen.”

  “Good, then I don’t have to find someone else. While your wards would normally be fine, right now they’re interfering with the new keystone,” The teacher explained briskly. “I need you to deactivate your wards until I can get the dormitory wards fully set up. It might take a few days, but the dormitory should be fine in the meantime since the headmaster set up a large number of defenses.”

  “I’d love to, Master Vrenne, but I’m afraid I can’t deactivate them at the moment,” Ruethwyn replied uncomfortably, shifting slightly in place due to embarrassment.

  “You can’t—oh! Of course, you can’t wield your magic right now.” Vrenne looked embarrassed as she realized what Ruethwyn was saying, which helped Ruethwyn relax slightly. “I should’ve remembered that, but when I get working hard on a project, I tend to get tunnel vision. Is there someone you trust enough to help disable your wards, though?”

  “Well, I am going to have to revise them, so I suppose it isn’t a big deal if I show someone how to shut them down.” Ruethwyn hesitated, then looked at Tadrick. “Would you mind helping out? I’d rather Master Vrenne was able to get the wards up quickly.”

  “Sure, I can do that,” Tadrick said, his eyes brightening as he pushed away from the wall. “We haven’t gotten to wards yet, so it’ll be interesting to see how they’re set up.”

  “If you’d had more destructive magic, you could’ve gone with Barthel and Korima. They got to see a truly complex set of wards,” Ruethwyn said, smiling.

  “They also made a complete mess of the keystone,” Vrenne added, shaking her head. “Weeks of work, and it was destroyed in minutes.”

  “We’ll get the wards down shortly, Master Vrenne,” Ruethwyn promised, turning to the stairs.

  As she started climbing, Ruethwyn heard the teacher call after her. “Good. I’ll go down and get started, then. I want this building properly warded as soon as possible.”

  Ruethwyn was halfway up the stairs when Tadrick spoke from close behind her. “Hey, Rue? If she said that it’s weeks of work… well, it’s only been just over a week since the old keystone was destroyed. How could she already have one to replace it?”

  “That’s an excellent question. I have a couple of guesses, but they’re just guesses,” Ruethwyn replied, her mind flitting through possibilities before settling on the one which made the most sense to her.

  “What’re those?” Tadrick asked curiously.

  They reached Ruethwyn’s floor, and she fished out her key to unlock it as she glanced back at Tadrick, explaining. “The one I think is most likely is that the school makes ward keystones for the military a
nd nobility across the country, and that they standardize the size and basic functions. If they have that, it probably would take relatively little time or effort to add more specific features afterward, like setting it to the size of the building to be warded and the like. They might even keep a few in storage in case they need to replace one in a border fort or the like.”

  “Hmm… that does seem like a good idea, and it’d make sense based on the little we’ve been taught about artificing,” Tadrick agreed, his tone thoughtful.

  Opening the door to her room, Ruethwyn headed directly for her wardrobe. The room was cleaner than it had been, but she also didn’t think it was that important. It wasn’t as though she had to impress Tadrick.

  “Huh. Your room is a bit smaller than I expected, Rue,” Tadrick said, and she glanced back to see him looking around curiously, closing the door behind him.

  “You’ve seen it plenty of times from outside the door,” Ruethwyn retorted, pulling open the wardrobe and reaching into the back to pull out a small box. It was heavier than it looked, but that was to be expected since it didn’t contain what it listed on the outside.

  “Yes, but that was more glimpses from outside. My room is twice this size, if not more!” Tadrick explained, then paused and asked dubiously, “Rue… isn’t that a shoe polish box?”

  Ruethwyn grinned in return, setting it on her desk as she nodded. “It is. I figured that if anyone was looking for my wardstone, they’d look just about anywhere else. I’ll have to find a new spot to hide a new one, but I doubt most people would find it quickly.”

  “I suppose that’s true. I wouldn’t have thought to look there, that’s for sure,” Tadrick replied, amusement on his face.

  Ruethwyn opened the box to reveal a stone cube, the marble piece slightly longer than it was wide, and its surface bearing numerous carved runes. It wasn’t terribly impressive, Ruethwyn knew, not when compared to other wardstones, but it was hers. Her hand ached slightly when she thought about trying to replace it, with as hard as carving stone was. It was too bad that most wards didn’t work well when traveling, though. They had to be tuned to an individual area, which simply didn’t make it worth the effort most of the time.