As she did so, she heard the sound of pages turning, and couldn’t help smiling more. It was amusing, but she should’ve known that even a teacher had to study to improve their magic.
Chapter 11
“Alright, what do you think we need to take with us? Food, obviously,” Sella said, a slate board in front of her and a piece of chalk in hand. “I’m figuring the wand and bracelet you gave me, Rue, along with one or two more wands…”
“That seems wise to me,” Ruethwyn agreed, smiling slightly. “As for me, I’m taking my satchel as well as two general reference books, a bedroll, all the supplies I’d want for a week in the forest like tinder, my cold-resistant dress, a hammer and chisel, my sewing kit, an enchanting kit complete with summoning gear, a flask for water, and a length of rope.”
“Isn’t that a lot of stuff?” Korima asked, looking at Ruethwyn in surprise. “I mean, it’s a magical test, Rue, not a camping trip.”
“It’s a set of magical tests in a special magical space that we have a week to get through,” Ruethwyn corrected, shaking her head. “It’s entirely possible that some of the tasks will be easier to solve through mundane means than via magic, so I’d rather have some things on hand to deal with them and save my mana for the harder tasks.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Tadrick said, rubbing his nose thoughtfully as he frowned. “I’d probably best go get a bedroll and some basic tools myself. Maybe some magic items would help… I don’t know.”
“Umm, Rue… you said you’d help me figure out how to prepare. I think the mundane supplies are easy enough, but I’m trying to figure out what to do if it requires me to do artificing or summoning,” Yalline said nervously, shifting in her seat on the opposite side of the table.
Their group had gathered in the dining room of the dormitory to discuss the upcoming tests and plan. Ruethwyn found it a bit amusing since she thought that most of them could likely get through the test without needing to put so much thought into it. She wasn’t going to count on that, though, and she had the unfair advantage of being able to call for help from elementals like Zaria. Still, she focused on Yalline’s comment instead.
“I’d think the answer was obvious. Right, Korima?” Ruethwyn asked, looking at the kitsune, who suddenly looked uncertain.
“Umm… blast the barrier or the like open with a really big rock?” Korima suggested. At Ruethwyn’s incredulous look, she flushed and spoke defensively. “It’s what I was planning to do if I found something I didn’t know how to get by!”
“That’s not what I had in mind at all. Sella, I hope you’re not thinking the same way…” Ruethwyn said, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose.
“No! I’m just not certain what you’re thinking would be the best approach,” Sella replied quickly.
“Reference books. Seriously… if you have a weak point, why not take a book with you that allows you to look it up on the spot?” Ruethwyn asked, looking at the others in faint exasperation. “Master Mara said we can take what we need. This isn’t one of the tests where it’s entirely based on what we remember, and once we go out in the world, why not take material with us that helps when we run into something we’re not as skilled with?”
“Oh, well…” Korima’s puzzled expression turned to embarrassment as she slowly flushed bright red. Looking away, she squirmed before speaking. “Right, that is an option, isn’t it?”
“It is. I don’t think it’s one I need to worry about, but I’m definitely going to consider it,” Tadrick agreed, grinning. “It’s pretty unusual for that to be an option!”
“Probably because books are heavy, and we have to carry everything with us,” Yalline said, not looking nearly as relieved as the others, though her nervousness looked to have eased slightly. “I’m guessing that I’ll need two books… one for summoning, and one for artificing. It’s going to be hard to carry everything I need, I’d guess.”
“Hmm… like you said, Rue, this is a test to see how well we plan. I know I can carry quite a bit, but we have to balance what we can easily carry with what we think we need,” Sella said, her voice thoughtful.
“Wait, aren’t we going into a set of halls? It shouldn’t be that big, so having a bit of difficulty shouldn’t be a problem,” Tadrick protested, and Ruethwyn gave him a skeptical glance.
“Oh? What if the halls are outside the city and we’re forced to hike to them? Or maybe they’re in the shape of mountains where we’ll have to go long distances?” Ruethwyn asked, tilting her head as she considered, then added, “Or, even worse… since they’re in an adjacent plane, one the teachers have carved out just for that purpose… in that case, they could be potentially infinitely large or small, and they could even manipulate the weight of everything within.”
“Oh no… they wouldn’t really do that, would they?” Yalline asked, her eyes widening in horror. “I’ve never been one for long hikes!”
“I’m not saying they’ll do something like that. I’m just assuming the worst to make sure I’m not caught completely off guard,” Ruethwyn explained, letting out another sigh as she sat back.
She jumped as a servant suddenly appeared on her right, leaning forward to set a plate of crackers and a bowl of some type of dip in the middle of the table. Ruethwyn bit back the urge to tell the servant not to sneak up on her, once again wishing she had her right eye back.
“It makes sense to me. I’m just not happy with the idea of surprises,” Korima said unhappily. “We’ve had enough of those so far this year.”
“Agreed,” Tadrick said, frowning as he asked, “Does anyone know what they learned about Lissa? I haven’t heard anything from the teachers, but it hasn’t exactly been a huge concern after midwinter.”
“Nothing,” Sella replied, shaking her head, and Ruethwyn nodded her agreement as Korima began to nibble on the snacks. “I’d hoped they’d find her, but if she really wanted to leave… it wouldn’t be too hard to lose herself in some of the more remote areas of the kingdom. I should know, since I used to live in one.”
“True,” Tadrick agreed.
“Speaking of which… I had something I wanted to ask you, Sella,” Korima said, her eyes brightening and her ears perking up. The smile on her face caused a thread of suspicion to stir inside Ruethwyn, but she didn’t say anything.
“Oh? What’s that?” Sella said, looking at Korima curiously.
“I asked my parents if I might be able to come visit your home with Rue after the year is over, and they agreed. I just wanted to be sure you were okay with it first,” Korima said, her tone somewhat smug.
“What? Why would you want to visit Waterstone?” Sella exclaimed, looking as shocked as Ruethwyn felt. “It’s nothing important, not in the slightest!”
“True, but you and Rue are going there, and I wanted to tag along. Plus, since the troupe is considering going up into the area, it allows me to do a little scouting for them to see where the best place to go would be,” Korima explained, her voice surprisingly reasonable. “Mother pointed out that Waterstone might be a touch too small for a performance, so one of the nearby towns might be a bit better location. I’m supposed to look at things along the way, then give a full report.”
“Really? That’s all you have planned?” Ruethwyn asked, swallowing her surprise and suspicion as she eyed the kitsune. “You didn’t mention this before.”
“Of course not. You would’ve tried to get me to call it off,” Korima said, sniffing derisively as she smiled. “I tried to tell you earlier, but Master Mara interrupted.”
“Well, I know that Father would be delighted to have the troupe in the area, and Mother said that she was fine with me bringing friends home for a visit, so… sure?” Sella said, slowly relaxing as she spoke, obviously growing more comfortable with the idea as she thought about it.”
“Great! I’ll let them know, and make sure I’ve got a good idea of what they’ll be looking for,” Korima exclaimed happily.
“We’re kind of getting sidetracked,
though. We still need to figure out—” Tadrick began, but at that moment, Barthel burst into the room, an uncharacteristic expression of excitement on his face.
“Hey, you’ve got to come outside and see this! There’s an airship coming into the city and heading for the docking spire!” Barthel exclaimed. “It’s not from the kingdom, either! It looks nothing like the ones I’ve seen before.”
“Oh?” Ruethwyn asked, her curiosity rousing. The others were already getting up, but she started following them as she asked, “How’s it different?”
“It doesn’t look like it’s designed to float in water at all,” Barthel said quickly, grinning as he headed for the door. “I’ve never seen one like it!”
“Really?” Ruethwyn asked, but this time there wasn’t a response as people rushed outside.
Following them, Ruethwyn saw one of the maids coming along as well, but her thoughts were racing. If an airship didn’t look like most of the local ones, and especially if it didn’t look like a normal ship… that meant that it was either designed to land on the ground, or it was made to fly permanently. If it was the latter, there was only one place the airship could be from, and that excited her.
Hurrying outside, Ruethwyn saw there were other people near the main building staring up into the sky, but she quickly spotted what they were looking at herself.
“That’s amazing…” Sella’s voice was soft, and Ruethwyn agreed wholeheartedly.
The airship in question shone like burnished brass, and it was all curved planes and spires, with spars extending from each side of its sleek hull, and two extending from the bottom of it as well. Billowing white sails rippled in the wind, and Ruethwyn’s breath caught. It was hard to tell how big the airship was as it flew toward the city center, but she’d heard of airships like the one she was seeing. None of the ones which nations like Selwyn possessed could afford to have spars on the lower hull since they couldn’t fly constantly and instead spent most of their time in lakes.
“It’s from Corval,” Ruethwyn breathed, her voice soft.
“What was that?” Sella asked, glancing at Ruethwyn curiously.
“That airship, it was built in Corval, on the other side of the Sea of Mists!” Ruethwyn said, her excitement growing, though her voice hiccupped with slight pain as she continued. “It was… it was in one of the first books I was shown in the library, growing up!”
“Wait, how do you know that?” Barthel asked, looking confused. “Besides, what’s the big deal about Corval?”
“Corval is a mageocracy situated in the northern reaches of Algaria, on the other side of the Sea of Mists,” Dana explained calmly, the other woman glancing at Ruethwyn, a hint of surprise in her eyes. “They’re extremely advanced magi and use a different set of traditions than we do. Their magical items are widely regarded as exquisite, and they’re the only nation who has determined how to create airships capable of permanent flight. I’m not sure how Ruethwyn knew, but the presence of one of their airships is… unusual.”
“They only come to Selwyn about once a decade or so on a trade route,” Delvin agreed, rubbing his hands together. “I hope they brought memory crystals… not that we’ll have much of a chance of getting any.”
“Memory crystals?” Sella asked, looking confused.
“That airship is designed to stay in the air permanently, you can tell by the spars extending from the lower hull. As for the rest… I’ve read descriptions of Corval’s airships before, and they’re all extremely eye-catching,” Ruethwyn told Barthel, pleased that she wasn’t the only one who knew about Corval. It was understandable that the twins knew, since they were part of a merchant family. Turning her attention to Sella, she added, “Memory crystals form in the Crystalsand desert, which isn’t far from Corval. They’re capable of holding information, images, and even memories of those who know how to use them and are quite useful. Think of even one the size of a cherry pit as being able to hold a hundred-page tome.”
“Ooh… that would be useful!” Yalline said, her eyes lighting up. “Carrying books would be so much easier like that!”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Delvin cautioned. “I’m going to bet that they won’t be set up to trade until tomorrow, and I’ll bet almost anything that the traders will sell out of memory crystals within the first ten minutes.”
“Twenty if you count the time to haggle,” Dana added.
“Still, it’s worth a shot. Want to go see what they have tomorrow, Madeline?” Barthel asked, and the noblewoman smiled at him.
“Certainly. Maybe they’ll have something useful for the trials…” Madeline said, nodding happily at Barthel.
Ruethwyn glanced at Sella and Korima, and the two nodded silently. It looked like the next day was going to be interesting.
Chapter 12
Hearing the sound of a carriage or cart coming up from behind, Ruethwyn quickly dodged to her left behind Korima. Only when she was certain she was out of the way did she glance over to see how close it’d been coming to her blind side. Much as Ruethwyn had suspected, a carriage was coming up on the right, and if she hadn’t dodged, it might have clipped her as it passed, and that could’ve ended poorly.
“Rue? What’re you doing?” Korima asked, pausing and craning her neck to look back at Ruethwyn.
“I was making sure I wasn’t about to get run over. That’d be a bad way to prepare, recovering in the infirmary again,” Ruethwyn replied dryly, nodding at the elegant carriage. “I’ve learned to dodge first and look at what I hear later.”
“That seems like a good idea,” Sella agreed, glancing over at the carriage that passed. She tried to slow, but since she’d accepted Tadrick’s arm and he didn’t slow, she ended up getting tugged forward for several seconds, and she protested. “Hey, Tad!”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize you were slowing down,” Tadrick apologized, quickly slowing his pace, but a bit too late as Sella retrieved her arm.
“It’s pretty busy out here… busier than normal,” Yalline observed, the former maid looking around dubiously. “I’ve been in this part of town before with Lady Madeline, and it’s never been this crowded.”
“The theater was worse, just before the performance,” Korima countered, prompting a smile from Ruethwyn.
They were approaching a part of the city Ruethwyn had never visited before. The area around the palace was a fair bit further from the academy than the theater had been, and everything she’d heard about the stores around the city plaza had convinced Ruethwyn to go elsewhere so she wouldn’t be overcharged. Because of that, she simply hadn’t bothered visiting before. The sight of the plaza made her regret that a little, though.
In the center of the plaza was a large fountain with a statue at its center, depicting Anton Tyrness, first king of Selwyn, as he rode a pegasus into battle with his sword upraised. The buildings around the sides of the plaza were exquisite as well, and all along one side were the palace grounds, a thin fence of carefully crafted wrought-iron bars revealing the gardens of the palace as greenery and flowers flourished within, and the glittering white palace beyond.
Of the most interest was the tower on the eastern side of the plaza, though. Extending fifty feet into the air, it had a long dock to which the airship was anchored, and Ruethwyn was even more surprised on seeing it. The airship had to be a hundred feet from prow to stern, maybe a hundred and fifty, and it hovered in place easily with its sails furled. Below the airship was a building attached to the tower, and the swirl of people around it made Ruethwyn wince.
“It was, Korima, but that was because everyone was trying to get in. This is like, oh… how it’d be if the troupe had just been parked in the open for everyone to see,” Ruethwyn replied, shaking her head. “Getting in is going to be hard, isn’t it?”
“I’ve got that taken care of,” Tadrick said, looking back at them. “For events like this, the Trader’s Emporium only allows those in who can prove they have the funds to legitimately bid on items. You could buy an
entrance token, but most noble families purchase yearly passes. Navaan promised to wait for us near the entrance, and he has my family’s token.”
“Oh, good,” Yalline said and took a deep breath. “Not that I can afford anything, I’m sure.”
“Maybe so… hells, I don’t know that I can afford anything,” Tadrick said, chuckling softly as he grinned. “Shall we brave the crowds? I don’t think they’re going to go away any time soon.”
“Not as long as that ship is there, at least,” Korima said, glancing upward. “In fact…”
Ruethwyn yelped as Korima grabbed her and pulled her forward, entwining her arm around Ruethwyn’s waist. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“I’m making sure you don’t get lost,” Korima replied, and started forward through the crowd, not giving Ruethwyn a chance to pull away.
“Not so fast, Korima!” Sella said, quickly following.
Korima was quite warm, Ruethwyn realized, flushing in embarrassment as she was pulled along by the kitsune. She was also quite a bit stronger than Ruethwyn was and trying to free herself from Korima’s grasp wouldn’t be easy. In fact, after a few moments of hesitation, Ruethwyn simply resigned herself to being dragged through the crowd. At least Korima seemed to have a good idea of where gaps between people would be, as she moved through the crowd with astounding ease. Astounding to Ruethwyn, anyway.
Soon enough, they approached the building, and a quartet of guards kept most of the crowd at bay, with only a handful of people entering now and then. Seeing the carriage that had nearly hit her pull away, Ruethwyn smiled slightly, not too surprised it’d been going the same place as they were.
“Alright, we’re here, and…” Korima paused, then looked backward. “Hey, where’s Tadrick? Or Yalline, for that matter?”
“Probably halfway back in the crowd,” Ruethwyn said, trying to escape Korima’s grasp subtly, but unable to do so. After a moment, she gave up and asked plaintively, “Korima, please let go? This is very awkward.”
Queen of Ice (Through the Fire Book 2) Page 9
