The Apprentice In The Master’s Shadow

by Ian Gregoire

  Kayden had no objection to waiting for the completion of the errand. Yanina Ajaynadu wasn’t just a former classmate from her time as a level seven apprentice, she was now part of the small circle of friends she had established for herself over the course of the last two years.

  “So what’s this I’ve been hearing about you roughing up a level five apprentice this morning?” asked Neryssa.

  What? thought Kayden, confused. Oh, the apprentice who sneaked up on her and Lazar, possibly overhearing something he shouldn’t have. “That was a minor misunderstanding,” she said, trying not to sound evasive. “Hardly worth talking about.” Recalling the incident made her feel bad. If Lazar hadn’t intervened she might very well have seriously injured the unfortunate apprentice given how angry she was. It was still disconcerting that she had flown off the handle to such an extent.

  “So you didn’t threaten to kill him then?”

  “Could we drop the matter, please,” she said. The reminder made her realise that, in the heat of the moment, her threat had been uttered sincerely. “I was having a bad morning, and he bumped into me at the wrong time.”

  Now that she’d had time to calm down during Sister Melora’s language class, Kayden fully understood what it was about her chastisement in the administrator’s office that had upset her so much. She wasn’t angry about the punishment Fay had chosen to mete out. She wasn’t angry with Fay at all, for that matter. It was the look of disappointment in her master’s eyes that ultimately triggered her tantrums. All morning she was unable to get that image out of her head, and only now did she comprehend that it was herself she was furious with. Until that moment she hadn’t appreciated how much it would hurt her to be a disappointment in Fay’s eyes.

  “Fine, the matter is dropped,” said Neryssa. “I wouldn’t want you threatening my life over it.”

  Kayden rolled her eyes at her smiling counterpart, but before she could deliver a snarky riposte Neyssa’s expression changed abruptly. No longer smiling, her fellow apprentice glared at someone or something over her shoulder.

  “Just what is that woman’s problem?” her friend blurted in obvious annoyance.

  Peering back over her shoulder, Kayden spotted a woman in the cream and beige attire of a Jaymidari hurriedly walking away. She couldn’t be absolutely certain, but from a distance it looked like Sister Daria from the infirmary.

  “I used to think I was imagining it,” continued Neryssa, “but I’m not. She’s been giving me the evil eye for… months.”

  “Who?” asked Kayden, returning her focus to her agitated colleague.

  “Sister Daria!” replied Neryssa, confirming Kayden’s suspicion. “I can’t imagine what I did to offend her, but I wish she’d have the guts to face me instead of lurking in the background, giving me dirty looks. But if she’s too much of a coward to come to me…” She lurched forward, stepping past Kayden before she could offer any sort of response. “I’ll just have to confront her about it.”

  In an instant, Kayden grabbed hold of Neryssa’s arm, pulling her to an abrupt halt. “Cool your boots, Neryssa, that won’t be necessary,” she said. “You’re not the one Daria, I mean Sister Daria, has a problem with. It’s me.”

  “I don’t think so. It’s clearly me she has an issue with.”

  “Trust me on this.” Kayden’s insistence was tempered, somewhat, by the real possibility that Neryssa was the target of the Jaymidari’s ire. If Daria mistakenly believed that she and Neryssa were more than just friends it wouldn’t be surprising if she was jealous. “Think about it,” she continued. “On the previous occasions you thought Sister Daria was giving you the evil eye, were you with me?”

  Neryssa was silent for a moment, clearly trying to recall an instance when that wasn’t the case. “Now that you mention it,” she said finally, all the wind taken out of her sails, “I think you were there on each occasion, at least as far as I can remember. Even so, I’m certain it’s me being given the looks.”

  “While that may be the case, I can assure you it’s me the Sister has issues with. She and I have… history. I suspect her ill-feelings towards me are just spilling over on to people she perceives to be close to me. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

  “Should I even ask what you did?”

  A kaleidoscope of memories from her illicit year and a half long sexual relationship with Daria flashed through Kayden’s mind. They were by no means unpleasant recollections—she had enjoyed many of those intimate moments—but there was no forgetting that the relationship had meant nothing to her; it was merely a means to an end. She needed knowledge from Daria, and trading her body allowed her to extract what she wanted from the Sister. Unfortunately, Daria had made the mistake of falling in love, whereas she had no romantic feelings for the woman, whatsoever. In the end she didn’t have to do anything to extricate herself from the situation. Once Fay found out she was using the Jaymidari, for her own ends, that was the end of the affair. Or so she thought.

  “A couple of years ago I… I may have got Sister Daria into trouble with Master Fay,” began Kayden, awkwardly. She had no intention of telling Neryssa the full story. “I don’t think she has forgiven me for it, or ever will. She literally hasn’t spoken so much as a word to me these past two years.” Whatever Fay had said to her subordinate had definitely put an end to any interaction between them. “I tell you what. I’ll go to the infirmary right now to have a word with her. If she’s bothering you, she’s bothering me.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

  Before Kayden could insist, Yanina’s voice intruded upon the conversation. “Hey ladies! What are we discussing?” The tall swarthy apprentice had a warm smile on her face as she joined the pair, her kinky hair tightly braided into several neat rows running from front-to-back.

  “I’m heading to the infirmary,” Kayden replied. “You and Neryssa should go inside and start lunch without me. I’ll join you in a little while.” She didn’t wait for agreement as she turned on her heels, marching swiftly away. The sooner she told Daria to stop rattling Neryssa’s cage, the sooner she could eliminate the possibility of anyone learning of their intimate past. She could live without being the subject of that kind of gossip.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Disturbing Revelations

  Kayden entered the infirmary where she saw Sister Alina Grinello beavering away, tidying up some shelves while nattering with a colleague who was standing close by doing nothing. As this was only the second time she had cause to enter the building, Kayden couldn’t say whether it was always as quiet as it presently was, although given the number of injuries apprentices sustained while training, it seemed unlikely.

  “Kayden! This is a surprise,” said Alina, turning around to greet her. “It’s not often we see you in here.” She stepped away from her shelf to close the gap between them. “So, what is it that ails you?”

  “I’m fine, Sister. I was hoping to have a word with Sister Daria. I thought I saw her come in a short while ago.”

  “She’s in her office,” replied the Sister. “Why don’t you tell me what it’s concerning, and I will let her know you are here.”

  Telling Alina what she had to say to Daria was a non-starter, but Kayden knew she needed to obfuscate in a manner that wouldn’t cause suspicion. “I need to pass on a message to her,” she said in a neutral tone, “and I suspect it’s one she wouldn’t want anybody else to hear.”

  “Oh, I see.” Alina frowned, causing Kayden to wonder what the Sister was thinking. “In that case, go ahead and knock on her door,” she continued, pointing at a closed door on the other side of the infirmary.

  With her sweetest, most innocent smile, Kayden thanked Alina then ambled casually towards Daria’s office and knocked three times to announce herself. Moments later the door swung open and there was her middle-aged former lover, with her shoulder-length brown hair framing her olive complexioned face. The warm, welcoming expression Daria wore shifted instantly, replaced by a look of consternation
. She was less than pleased to see who was at her door.

  “What are you doing here?” Daria intoned, ensuring her words could not be overheard by her two subordinates. “You cannot be here.”

  “We need to talk.”

  “No! You need to leave now,” said Daria, murmuring urgently, “or I will.”

  Keeping her own voice just as low, Kayden said, “Actually, loud enough for your Sisters to hear, you will invite me into your office, informing me that you need to write a note of reply for me to take back.” She made sure the look on her face conveyed that her words were not a request, nor would they be repeated. It didn’t matter whether Daria understood what was being asked of her, or why. All that mattered was swift compliance, to avoid provoking any speculation or gossip between the other Sisters.

  “If you could step into my office for a moment, Kayden,” said Daria with feigned warmth, after a moment’s hesitation, “I need to write a message for you to take back.” She stood aside to permit Kayden to enter the room, then gently closed the door behind them.

  Kayden glanced around the cosy office as she ambled towards the burnished oak desk ahead of her. The room had the look and feel of a nobleman’s study in a rural manor house, with its plush carpeting and antique furniture. At least, that’s how she imagined such a room would look like. It was certainly at odds with what she expected to find in an infirmary.

  She halted in front of the desk, and turned around to face Daria who shuffled to a stop a few paces from her. Though she wanted to get straight down to business, in order to bring a swift resolution to the matter, Kayden was forestalled from grilling the middle-aged Jaymidari by the conflicted look on the woman’s face. If she was reading the Sister correctly, Daria appeared to be battling opposing emotions as they stood facing each other. On the one hand, there seemed to be annoyance, resentment and anger etched upon her face. But, at the same time, it looked as though there was also relief, hope and longing in her gaze. Could it be that Daria was still in love with her, two years after their liaisons were brought to an unceremonious end by the administrator?

  “Say what you have to say,” said Daria, her tone unapologetically curt, “then get out of my office, and out of the infirmary.”

  Kayden was irritated by the abruptness of the Sister’s words. “Hey! Don’t get snide with me. The only reason I’m here is because you’ve been giving my friend the evil eye. And just so you know, if not for my intervention it would be Neryssa in here giving you a piece of her mind.” She brought her voice down a notch, taking the abrasiveness out of her tone. “If it’s jealousy that’s responsible for this, you have no reason to be jealous. Neryssa and I are just friends, and we’ll never be anything more than that.”

  “Kayden, I couldn’t care less who you lay down with. It’s no concern of mine.” The assertion was less than convincing given the evident bitterness saturating the words. “So, if that’s all you have to say… it’s time for you to leave.”

  “Lie to yourself, if you must,” Kayden retorted. “But you’re wasting your time lying to me. Neryssa is not the type of person prone to exaggeration or paranoia. If she says you’ve been giving her hostile looks for months, I have no reason to doubt her word. So, you need to cut it out. Neryssa isn’t stupid. Eventually she’ll work out why you have a problem with her being around me. And if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer it if our past indiscretions didn’t become common knowledge.”

  “Indiscretions?” Daria let out a humourless laugh. “Is that what you call the times we spent together?” She was clearly not amused. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. After Administrator Annis warned me away from you, I eventually realised that it was you who put her up to it. That was the only plausible explanation for why you made no effort to see me after your return from Temis Rulan.” She gave the apprentice a withering look. “You are many things, Kayden, but I never took you for a coward.”

  Kayden pursed her lips, bristling at the accusation of cowardice.

  “If you wanted to end things between us,” continued Daria, “you should have done so face-to-face. I wouldn’t have been happy about it, but a part of me always knew we didn’t have a long-term future together. However, since I’ve come to realise you were just using me for your own ends, that you never cared for me at all, I can understand the lack of consideration for my feelings.”

  Though she couldn’t decide whether it was the assertion itself she took exception to, or the bitterness in Daria’s tone, Kayden resented the words all the same.

  “Don’t try to paint yourself as a victim,” she said tersely. “Yes, I used you. But don’t act as though I held a blade to your throat and forced you to do things against your will. You got what you wanted from me in return… many times over.” She swiftly raised a hand to forestall protestation from the older woman. With a sigh, she thought it best to end the conversation. “Look, I didn’t come here to start an argument,” she continued in a placating tone. “I just wanted to ask you to stop bothering my friend. Now that I’ve done that, I’ll leave.”

  As good as her word, Kayden hurriedly walked past Daria towards the exit. She slowed to a halt at the door before calmly turning around to address the Sister one last time.

  “Before I go, let’s be clear about one thing. I haven’t been avoiding you. If anything it’s you who’s been pointedly ignoring me these past two years.”

  “Like I had a choice!” Daria all but hissed.

  Her words confused Kayden, though not nearly as much as the scowl on her usually demure face. Daria was obviously angry at something more than just the end of their affair, and the knowledge that she had been used.

  Face shifting into a frown, Kayden replied, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Daria sighed audibly, which seemed to calm her down, before she ambled forward to join Kayden standing at the door. “When the administrator confronted me about my… inappropriate conduct with you, she stipulated that I must stay away from you for the duration of your apprenticeship, in order to avoid disciplinary action. I’m not allowed to to speak to you, I’m not permitted to treat you for medical reasons, I can’t have any interactions with you whatsoever. Your mere presence in my office right now could see me transferred away from Antaris.”

  Hearing Daria’s plight instantly elicited sympathy in Kayden. At the time, she hadn’t thought to ask Fay what she had said or done to bring an end to the forbidden relationship with the Sister. She was just relieved to be spared the responsibility of doing the dirty work herself. If she had known, she would have objected to the unnecessarily punitive conditions Fay had imposed upon Daria.

  “I didn’t know, Daria,” she said. “I would have done something about it if I had. Now that I do know, I will have a word with Master Fay. It wasn’t fair of her to place such burdensome restrictions on you. Inevitably, our paths will cross on campus, and you shouldn’t be on tenterhooks every waking moment, worrying about being punished for just being in the same room as me.”

  There was an awkward silence. Daria held her gaze, looking forlorn. In spite of herself, Kayden couldn’t help but feel bad for the woman. The longing apparent in Daria’s eyes made it clear she still harboured feelings for her. Kayden nearly uttered an apology, but decided there was little point. She couldn’t take back what had happened, so why waste time trying to mollify the Sister?

  “I promise I will speak to Master Fay,” she reiterated. “Everything will be fine.” Without waiting for a response she quickly turned on her heels and exited Daria’s office.

  Walking towards the exit, Kayden gave the two Sisters on duty a half-smile and a silent wave before leaving the building. Outside, she shuffled pensively away from the infirmary, debating whether to return to the mess hall to rejoin Neryssa and Yanina for lunch with Sinton, or to head immediately to the administration building to confront Fay about Daria’s situation. The moment her mind was made up, her stride lengthened en route to her chosen destination.

  Marching with purpos
e, Kayden approached the administration building, thinking how odd it was for two Sanatsai sentries to be standing guard on either side of the rear entrance. Then it clicked. She remembered there had been a deadly raid launched against the campus during the night. It was easy to forget given that any signs of the attack had already been cleared away or repaired, and the sense of mundane normality that usually hung over the campus had returned, as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Nonetheless, she had visited the building early that morning, and there were no guards on duty at the time. What had changed since then?

  The two Sanatsai watched her like a pair of hawks preparing to launch themselves at their prey, as she came closer. Somehow, it seemed to Kayden that neither man was staring because they found her attractive and were fantasising about laying with her. It should have been a pleasant change, but it wasn’t. If she didn’t know better she would have concluded that they viewed her as a potential threat—which made no sense whatsoever.

  Heading straight for the entrance, Kayden was surprised—not to mention annoyed—when one of the sentries stepped forward to meet her, aggressively blocking her path and forcing her to halt. He had a good four inches on her, and appeared to be in his late twenties, with a toned, athletic physique. She may very well have found his rugged good looks appealing if not for the threatening scowl upon his face.

  “State your business!” His brusque command, coupled with his demeanour, was clearly intended to intimidate.

  “What?” Kayden replied, confused.

  “Are you hard of hearing, apprentice? I said—”

  “Don’t speak to me like that!” she snapped back instantly. “Who do you think you are? And since when do I have to state my business just to enter the damn administration building.”

  “Since right now, so don’t get uppity with me!” he said, voice rising to drive home the point as he glared down at her. He seemed affronted that she refused to be cowed by him. “The building is currently off limits for security reasons, so unless you state what business you have inside, and with whom, you are not going in.”