He spent the rest of the day out there, alternately sunning himself in the warmth of the blue sky and swimming in the azure sea that flowed beneath, riding waves as they came up the little inlet onto the beach. Finally, the sun rolled down the horizon, deepening into the red as it touched the waves, and Tarranau gathered his things, squeezing what moisture he could out of his damp clothing. The remains of his food packed away, he headed up the path, watching the sun set, free of the nagging worries that had haunted him the day before. With little but idle thoughts on his mind, the student made it back to the school, grabbing some food to eat from the dining hall as he went to his room, sluicing himself down and cleaning away the salt of the ocean. Refreshed, exercised, and full, Tarranau collapsed into bed, dreams quickly snuffed out as deep sleep overcame him.
“Dammit, Holbenth, bring that lantern over here. I want good light when I find what I’m looking for. That boy has never performed as well in my classes as he has as anyone else’s, and I’m sure he’s doing it just to show me up. This is probably his idea of revenge for being assigned extra work to make him catch up with the rest of his class. I’m sure its somewhere in his chest, that boy said he saw Tarranau carrying it this evening. Plus, no one had seen him since the morning. He was probably plotting how to get that amulet from me. Bloody insubordinate wretch of a child.” Magister Gothren’s invective trailed off, more from running out of air than from any lack of things to say. He had the upper half of his body in the chest at the foot of Tarranau’s bed, the contents strewn around the room, having been picked over as Magister Gothren searched. Magister Holbenth hovered nervously over him, carrying a lantern fired by oil rendered from fish. The light was fitful and not that bright, and Gothren continually muttered or yelled for more light, or light closer to him, or some other directive to Holbenth.
Tarranau came awake with a start at a particularly loud expletive from Gothren. “What? What are you doing in my room? Get out of my chest! Those are my things, and I’ll have them folded and put back, right now!”
Gothren extracted himself from the chest, stretched to his full height and walked over to the bed. He towered over Tarranau, who was trapped in the sheets and blankets, and groggy from waking up. “You, boy, have been accused of stealing a valuable amulet from my room, and reported as carrying that amulet by another student. Now, I am exercising my right as a senior teacher of this learning institution to search your room. Magister Holbenth is here as the required observer. You will sit still and not interfere with this investigation, or you will be presumed guilty for trying to interrupt my rightful act of search.” Gothren had been glaring down at Tarranau this whole time, and now turned his eyes toward the other teacher in the room, holding a glare no less stern than that given the student. “Holbenth, if he needs clothes, hand him a few of the ones already searched. And while you may like Tarranau as a student, I would suggest not doing anything foolish, unless you wish to join him on his way out of this school.”
“I… I’m sorry Tarranau. Magister Gothren woke me from my bed, handed me this lamp, and dragged me to your room. I don’t really know what is going on here any more than you do. I just wish we’d followed proper procedure, and waited till morning.”
Gothren spun away from the chest, his eyes locking onto Magister Holbenth’s. “Wait till morning? Wait till morning? Had I been so foolish and inept as to do that, my amulet would have been gone, disappearing with that child” his arm waving at Tarranau, “probably to be sold down on the docks to whatever trader would offer him a half acceptable price. And this is the proper procedure, dolt, and I’ll not have you questioning my motives. Now tie your mouth shut and bring that lamp here, so I can see what I’m doing.”
Holbenth gave Tarranau a resigned shrug, indicating there was nothing that he could do in this situation, and that they all just needed to play along. Tarranau gestured at a few of the clothes laying around the room, and the Magister handed them to the apprentice, who dressed himself, feeling a little more appropriate and less vulnerable now that he was properly clothed. Even so, there was nothing Tarranau could do, aside from watch Gothren tear and paw through his clothes and belongings.
It went on for some time, with Magister Gothren grubbing around in every pocket and seam, searching for the lost amulet. He finally came to the bottom of the chest, emptied and with no amulet to show for it, and rounded on Tarranau. “Where did you hide my amulet you little scamp? I know it’s in this room! I will find it, and you will show me where it is! And for your own safety, you shall not have sold that amulet already or I will exercise every ounce of my power to see you ruined, your family ruined, and your career so destroyed that you will have to flee this island and lie about your very name to earn a job as a ditch digger. Find me that amulet!”
Magister Holbenth placed his hand on Gothren’s shoulder, easing him upright from where he had been bent over Tarranau, shouting directly into the apprentice’s face. Holbenth took a step back when Gothren’s eyes turned on him, but steadied and regained some composure. “I do think you’re being too hard on the boy, Gothren. After all, have you considered that if you don’t find the amulet here, someone else might have hidden it, and that Tarranau might not be the one who took it? After all, he is a well regarded student here at the school.”
Gothren rounded on Holbenth with a fury unblemished by the early hour or the many rages already this night. “So,” he sneered, “am I to assume that what I know, right here” at this he jabbed himself fiercely in the head, “is wrong? That what another young, upstanding gentleman like this one told me was a lie? That one of my best students can’t even tell the truth to his own teacher? Or maybe I should look for other explanations, perhaps? After all, you’ve always been soft on Tarranau, haven’t you Holbenth? He’s never, ever, been the best student in your class. Oh no, not for the last four classes you taught him, either. Do you know why I grabbed you out of your bed at this hour when any other teacher would do? Because I wanted to see if you helped him with this. Oh yes,” at this Gothren began to shake a finger in the young teacher’s face. “Oh yes, I know about how you and some of the other young teachers grumble about ‘how poor old doddering Gothren is unfit to teach’, and the guilty looks you give me when I come by unexpectedly. I’ve seen them all, and I might just have to have a word with the other head teachers about this matter.”
Magister Holbenth stared and sputtered. “There has been no such thing, Gothren! I will not have you impune me with these slanderous accusations! None of the teachers with whom I associate myself have ever mentioned any statements of the sort that you bring forth here. And yes, Tarranau has been the best student in my classes. He is innately gifted at the style of water magic that I teach and he does well because of it. It is not because I play favourites. I’ll thank you to not repeat these accusations.”
“And Tarranau has been the worst in mine! Am I to presume that someone elsewhere so gifted in the arts of this school cannot transmute a single bucket of sea water to something potable within an entire week’s time? That a student who was about to receive our seal of approval in only a few short weeks would be worse than mere children who are five years younger than he is? Or that he has taken a dislike to the one teacher in whose classes he cannot perform? I’ll let you think on that, Holbenth. Now, this discussion is over, and you will sit quietly on that desk, right there” Gothren pointed with a single, thick finger “and you will not speak until spoken to. However, first, escort this boy out of the room; he’s crowding things up and getting in the way.”
All this time Tarranau had been stuck sitting on his bed, watching the fight rage back and forth between Magister Gothren and Holbenth. Now he struggled to his feet, and looked to Holbenth for further instructions.
“You might as well go to the dining hall or one of the study rooms and try and catch some more sleep. I’ll find you in the morning when we have everything sorted out.”
Tarranau grabbed a blanket and pillows from the bed. He would bed down on thes
e to recover what little sleep he could.
“Leave those, boy. I don’t want you taking anything out of this room. You are still not yet innocent.”
With those words following him, Tarranau headed out to find a place of mental peace from the last hour. As he walked down the hallway, other boys who had been awoken by the shouting came out of their rooms, a few asking “What happened? What’s got into Gothren now? Why did I see Holbenth with a lantern? What’s going on?” He dismissed all of them with a brief shake of his head or a quiet “Not right now, I’ll tell you in the morning.” As these were the older students at the school, many of whom had seen Gothren’s wrath before, they slipped back into their rooms, careful not to draw too much attention while the teacher was still in the full flow of his rage and anger.
Tarranau made his way to the small but exquisite library, home to works that could be found nowhere else, and within which Tarranau had spent many a pleasant day. Finding a booth in the back, he leant there in a daze and attempted to come to terms with the results of the early morning awakening.
Tarranau knew he hadn’t taken anything. After all, he hadn’t even been in the school most of the day. Unfortunately, he had been alone, enjoying a private sunning on the beach, and thus had no people he could turn to for support, especially as the only time that he was back at the school was the time that he was accused of stealing the pendant. Although, if he hadn’t been seen coming out of the teacher’s rooms, he should be fine, since they couldn’t find an amulet in his room that he hadn’t stolen, after all.
“Play out the day in your head Tarranau, let’s see what happened. First, I woke up and didn’t realize that I had no classes, went to the classrooms, then finally figured it out. After that, got changed, grabbed some food and went off to the beach for the entire day. Enjoyed that, set out for home a little after sunset, got there, ate, and then collapsed with exhaustion from a great day out. The next thing that happens after that is waking up and being screamed at by Gothren. Bastard. If only he didn’t get his jollies by trying to break those who stood up to him. Not going to let that happen to me. Going to present my case in front of the more reasonable teachers if it comes to that. Well, not much more I can do about it until they finish up searching my room and find nothing. Gothren will have to eat crow at that point and I’ll have to be careful if he does. Vengeful sort, that.”
Tarranau shifted around as he tried to find a comfortable position in a chair clearly designed to keep the seated person awake and alert. Rest was eluding him, and so he sat fully awake, the events of the last day replaying over and over in his mind, till they latched onto one phrase: “that one of my best students”. Gothren’s best students were his lapdogs, people who would kowtow to him and act as yes men, pumping up his ego whenever he needed it, and listening intently to his every word as if it was a drop of long lost knowledge. They always got an easy ride through the school, because although they would never exert themselves in another teacher’s class, they always worked their utmost for Gothren, and their status as lapdogs prevented them from being given a poor grade by any other teacher.
Most students, Tarranau included, had realized that if they performed well in all of the classes without showing special favouritism to one or the other, they could avoid being embroiled in all of the back room politicking that infected the school. Unfortunately for Tarranau, and for several of the other boys at the school, they were overly talented in one area and lacking skill in others, meaning that they were seen as supporting one teacher against another. This was the case for Tarranau and Magisters Gothren and Holbenth, and since he was not skilled in the area of Gothren’s specialty, Gothren took as it a personal affront.
Now, it sounded like one of Gothren’s best students had tagged Tarranau for something he had not done. Tarranau worried that he had been chosen because of his closeness to a disliked teacher. In this case, the teacher was almost certainly Holbenth, one of the younger teachers at school who had some different ideas about how things should be taught here, ideas based partly on the teacher’s more closely remembered period as a student. He’d spoken to Tarranau about them; after all, Tarranau was the student with whom he most associated.
Tarranau wondered what Holbenth had done that might cause something like this, since there was usually a reason behind the petty squabbles of the school. Probably said something that drew the ire of Magister Gothren, or made fun of him. Tarranau knew why he had been chosen as the target, and it was that he was both the best student of Magister Holbenth and had the temerity to state that he wasn’t all that enthralled with the life of a ship’s mage. This was a sacrilege to those who taught at the school, all of whom had served on the barques. The only teacher who had taken it with any grace was Holbenth, who was still young enough to remember youthful rebelliousness and the desire to not be trapped in a laid out pattern of life.
A resigned acceptance that he might get the wish not to be a ship’s mage granted sooner than expected spread over Tarranau, and he was able to find sleep in the uncomfortable chair.
Tarranau was shaken awake by Magister Holbenth, his back cramping from the awkward night. The teacher stood there for a few moments, his hand on Tarranau’s shoulder, trying to apologize for what he was about to say.
“Magister Gothren found the amulet he was looking for. It was a trophy amulet, one of those he keeps on display behind his desk. Someone had snuck in, taken it down and run away. Gothren, when he discovered the theft, was overcome with anger at the temerity of the person who would dare to steal something of such personal importance. He began waking his favourite students, asking if they had seen anything. Finally, a boy named Fradich said he’d seen you carrying it. Information in hand, Magister Gothren came and got me, in order that he not be accused of planting the item or ransacking your room for no purpose. After that, well, you know what happened.”
“Magister Holbenth, tell me where he found the amulet. I’d like to know where it was planted, and how it happened.”
“I’m sorry Tarranau, I was a little caught up in what happened. It was in a bucket of seawater on your desk. It sat on the bottom, covered with a little algae so it didn’t glint whenever anyone looked at it. Magister Gothren had looked everywhere else in the room, made a total mess out of everything, all your clothes and bed coverings sprayed about. That man is an utter pig, and could have at least behaved with some dignity, instead of wrecking your room out of spite. Then, after gleefully destroying everything, he looked around till his eyes alighted on that damnable bucket, and Gothren rolled his sleeve up and plunged in, fishing around until he came up with that muck covered amulet, almost capering as he waved it at me, yelling ‘I’ve got him! That child was trying to make a fool out of me, hiding it in the very thing I sent him for homework. I’ll see him expelled for this, you’ll see if I don’t’. With that, he skipped out of the room, far happier than I would have thought appropriate for a teacher who had found a student stealing. There was nothing I could do at that point, so I went back to bed and tried to salvage some sleep. Once I woke up I came here to tell you the bad news.”
“So, when is the disciplinary board going to discuss my case? And do I get to defend myself at all, or will I be ejected from a school where I have spent most of my life and my family’s money without even being allowed to speak up? OH! Fradich… that boy is a bully, and a petty thief. He tried to get money from me when I was younger, threatening to hit me. I scared him off, but he does that now to some of the younger boys who won’t talk to the teachers. Blast, if only I could get one of them to speak about it. I know they won’t; after all, I’m the sinking ship and no one is going to jump on board. I’ll get a lot of sorry looks and quiet apologies and ‘I’m sad to see you go’ murmured in my ear, and that will be that, me gone and the school resuming its normal course. I’m always glad to see empathy that will help me with my new aim in life. I’m sure you’re going to give me the money from the school coffers for this last term, aren’t you? After all, I’m ce
rtainly not going to be here to use what it paid for.”
Tarranau paused, looking at Holbenth, who was taken aback at the venom in the student’s voice. The teacher removed his hand from the apprentice’s shoulder and stepped away from Tarranau.
“Three days from today. Magister Gothren was pushing for the board to convene today, but the members decided they wanted more time to gather information, including from you and me. I might also remind you that I am your friend, so I do not deserve an outburst of that nature.”
“I know, I know, but you’re the only person I can talk to in these circumstances. If I speak like this to any other teacher, I get told off, and if I try and speak to a student like that, they wouldn’t understand. Also, you are the bearer of bad news, Magister. Few would react well to this. So, I have three days, at least one of which will be taken up talking to the members of the board, sitting around waiting on their whim and mercy, brought in to answer a question here, a concern there, and then sent to sit outside while they discuss my fate behind closed doors. Outstanding.”
“Tarranau, I’ve spoken to the board this morning, and they asked that you remain within a close distance of the school, and that you don’t go down to the docks district. They haven’t released the news of what happened here, but neither do they want you trying to leave Bohortha Eilan while still under the good auspices of this school. That means you should not go to that beach of yours, either. Sadly, the board have also asked that you not converse with other students. They don’t trust you, you see. Anyway, we should get your room fixed up, even if you’re not going to use it much. If nothing else, we can pack your things for later.”
Wolven Kindred Page 9
