The Academy was reached without further incident.
After knocking on the gate to rouse the no doubt sleeping guards, she was finally allowed inside. The other girls all fussed over her once she reached the breakroom, wanting to know why she was so late. Wasn’t she afraid of night monsters? And why had she spent so much time at the smithy? Wasn’t Harkon a little old for her?
She brushed off their concerns without mentioning the real night monster she had dealt with, laughed at the quip about Harkon, and after a quick meal headed off to bed. In truth, she was utterly exhausted.
She awoke the next morning feeling like she hadn’t slept hardly at all. Somehow, she got herself up and moving. By the time she sat down for breakfast, she felt almost human.
The next week’s lectures crawled past. She got into trouble a couple of times for not paying attention, but whenever put to the test she had no trouble performing the magic she supposedly hadn’t been listening to the instructions for. Her mind kept swirling around with ideas for other spells for weapons, for spells to reinforce castle walls, for all sorts of ideas. She spent most of her free time re-reading the few tales that had survived from the Great War and before with their amazing tales of magical feats that most people thought had to be exaggerated.
The week ahead would mark the end of formal instruction. The week after that, there would be a series of magical tests, supervised by the Lord of Magic and the two senior lecturers, Academagician Lendar and Academagician Horren.
Chapter Four: The Sorcerer is Revealed
On Fronday, there was a stir as a soldier came galloping to the Academy and headed straight for the Lord of Magic’s office. That evening at mealtime, the students gathered together and the Lord of Magic came to speak to the whole body.
“Students. The King of Shoveria has launched a surprise attack on Kinder Island, which as you should all know is owned by the Kingdom of Metonia. They landed troops north of Watfield, which allowed them to take the town by surprise. As you should also know, the Metonian possession of the island has long been a bone of contention between the two realms.” He paused and looked around the room.
“We have two students from Shoveria and one from Metonia, I want no trouble between the three of you. What your kingdoms do is not the business of this Academy. Take due heed of my warning.”
He held up his right hand and a small ball of fire appeared in the air above it. As a show of magical power, his ability to do that had always been seen as very intimidating by Taroniah’s fellow students. Even she had been intimidated in her first year, but since then, not so much.
“No one is to leave the Academy for the next week at least. The exams start on Ashday, so I expect you all to spend the next two days studying.” He nodded severely and left.
The students returned to their meals and the hubbub grew enormously as the students discussed this sudden turn of events. Korlah was holding forth about how it would mean war as West Dumfordia was allied to Metonia. Taroniah rather thought he was right, just for once. Her own land, the Kingdom of Marland, would almost certainly join in as well, although that would depend on the attitude of their long-time rivals, Bovil and the much larger Kingdom of Padmouthia on Marland’s southern border.
The exams were more important than a possible war at this stage. She spent the next two days practicing various things she was likely to need to be able to do in the tests. The hardest part would be not showing off! Being more powerful than most, if not all, of your tutors was quite awkward. Sick of study, late on Urday she took her bundled sword outside and around behind the building where she was unlikely to be seen. Here she practiced wielding it in either hand, trying to build up her muscles. She was much weaker in her left arm than her right and she worked hard on it until she could barely lift the sword at all.
“You’re going to be sore tomorrow,” a voice said quietly behind her.
Taroniah spun around. Jenna stood at the corner of the building, watching her.
“I got sick of study.” She began bagging her sword as Jenna approached.
Jenna nodded, then peered at the bag now that she was closer.
“That bag has magic applied to it. Or inside it. Or something.”
Taroniah quickly considered the fact that her friend was quite strong magically as well and decided to test her. She closed the bag up and wrapped the excess cloth around the sword and scabbard. “Yeah. I impregnated the cloth with hardness like the cups we did in class last week, so hopefully, the cloth won’t rip too easily.”
Jenna looked at the bag, then at Taroniah. “Oh. Interesting idea.” And although she sometimes looked at the bag again as they walked inside, she never said anything else about the bag, the magic aura, or anything.
The next day was the first exam day, but the senior students had no tests. Most spent the day quietly studying in their dorms.
The day after, Taroniah’s first test was Spell Notation. The Academagician put four incomplete spells on the board and they had to write the full spell out. The first two were straightforward. The third was tricky in that the spell section on the board was missing the first part of the spell, as well as some of the end. The fourth was just the end part of a common, but complicated, spell that purified water.
In the afternoon she had martial arts. The archery was easy; she slapped her accuracy spell on each arrow as she fired and scored three nicely clumped bullseyes at two hundred paces. The sword drill was harder, but she lasted long enough against the instructor to pass. The hand-to-hand combat was much harder as she was put up against one of the shorter and slighter male guards. Surprisingly, her speed let her win three to two, so an easy pass in the end as the girls only needed to get one fall against the male guards. Her opponent got ribbed mercilessly by his mates after their match!
History and Geography the following morning was straightforward, and although she didn’t get a great score, it was high enough.
Spell Casting after that was a test of how many spells they could get through in a limited period of time. The Academagician had five wooden boards, each with a basic spell on it. He held them up randomly as quickly as you cast the previous spell. She topped the class, she thought, although nothing was said.
Strangely, Korlah did very well at this test. Interesting.
Emilday, they had the morning free then Spell Conceptualization in the afternoon. Taroniah entered the room she was assigned to and found herself facing the Lord of Magic. Lord Margary was the brother of the Kern of Kenshire in the Kingdom of West Dumfordia and a personal friend of the King. She had always been rather intimidated by him and seeing him here to give her the test was no different. Suddenly, she had butterflies as she walked forward.
“Ah. Taroniah of Marland. I have heard a lot about you in your four years here,” he said in a deadpan voice from which she couldn’t gather whether he meant good things or bad. Her butterflies began to be replaced by anger. “The test will consist of you conceptualising and casting three very complicated and difficult spells. You have two hours, so it shouldn’t be about the time limit with only three spells.”
He paused and studied her.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” She was puzzled. Only three spells?
He turned over three boards on the table in front of him. Apply a spell of hardness to a glass pane so it wouldn’t break: apply a spell of light to a candle that would illuminate the room brightly while causing the candle to continue to burn normally: and finally to apply a spell of force and knock over a small brick wall. She looked around. Ah. There was a wood-rimmed pane of glass, a candle on a small table, and over there behind where she had come in, a small brick wall, cemented several days ago by the colour.
“Tricky, sir,” she said.
He looked slightly puzzled by her comment. She concentrated, calling up the hardness spell and double, then triple strengthening it, the brightness spell, and finally a spell of force. It was hard mentally organising and balancing the three sets of spells and she los
t the concept twice before she bundled it all together and could cast the combination.
The Lord of Magic had sat down behind the desk and was starting to look rather bored by the time she cast her combination conceptualization. The candle brightened and the bricks were not just knocked over but thrown violently against the stone wall.
“Oops. Sorry. Too much force, sir,” she offered at his startled reaction.
He had sat up with a start and now looked sharply at her before walking over to the bricks. He looked at the mess for a moment, picked one up, and threw it at the pane of glass. The force of the blow sent the wooden framed glass pane flying, yet despite being hit by the brick andlanding hard on the floor, the glass didn’t break.
He stood and stared.
She shrugged. She’d done what he’d asked.
“I didn’t mean perform all three tasks simultaneously in one big spell,” he said at last.
What? Oh.
“Sorry, sir. I misunderstood.”
“Obviously,” he said shortly, then shook his head. “Well, you passed this test, Student Taroniah. In a most astonishing manner, too. Well done.” He actually smiled and shook her hand!
It was so unexpected, she left the room in a daze and didn’t even realize she was back in the common room till Jenna shook her.
“Hello?”
Taroniah started and smiled.
“Oh, hi,”
“What happened? Did you mess up?” her friend asked, looking concerned.
“No. No. Well not exactly. The Lord of Magic shook my hand.” Her voice sounded odd, even to herself.
“Really?” Jenna looked stunned. So did Korlah, who happened to have walked in just then.
“You’re not serious?” he asked.
Taroniah just nodded.
Before they could question her further, there was some noise outside. Armed men entered the room. Two wore West Dumfordia green, but the lead man wore Marland blue and Royal Guard blue at that. They marched over to the Academagician, Lendar as it happened, at the far end of the room, and had a few words. Whatever it was, Lendar looked surprised, then nodded. He moved to the area at the front and rapped the gavel on the lectern there.
“Students. You are all to immediately retire to your rooms, pack everything you can carry, and assemble in the courtyard. We are evacuating the Academy!”
This brought immediate noise and confusion. Taroniah looked at Korlah.
“Shoveria,” she pronounced.
He nodded, as did Jenna, and the three left the hubbub behind. She packed everything she had quickly. To help make her seem like a normal student, she hadn’t come loaded with chests of fancy clothes which meant she had all her possessions in a pack that could be worn on her back. Only the sword wouldn’t fit, so she carried it, still in the bag, downstairs.
The courtyard was utterly chaotic, but the regular guards and the small force of West Dumfordian troops from the town, as well as the three Marland Royal Guards in evidence there, soon had the students organised and marching to the town. She couldn’t get a good look at the Marland fellows, but the tallest one did seem familiar. The Academagicians stayed behind to hide everything they couldn’t carry. Most of the ordinary staff joined the march to Alcitran.
Even though it was late in the day, they arrived before full dark. They were herded into two of the temples. The girls were sent into the Temple of Emilar, and the boys into the Temple of Teshar.
Simple pallets had been laid out by the priestesses and the girls were made welcome. Taroniah had barely put her pack down before there was a commotion at the door. Two men in Marland blue entered. The taller one she could now clearly see was Olli Marteen, Captain in the Royal Guard. As she stood up erect, he came straight over.
“Captain Marteen. A pleasure to see you again,” she said, suddenly all lady-like.
He gave her a small bow.
“Lady Taroniah. Your father sent us to escort you home after you finished your exams, but it appears we will be delayed.”
Taroniah nodded.
“So, Shoveria?” At his nod, she continued. “How many and how far away?”
If he was surprised by her questions, he gave no sign.
“Upwards of two thousand, horse and foot. They will be here tomorrow according to the Dumfordian fellows.”
She nodded.
“I wonder if they have any sorcerers?”
He laughed.
“Not bloody likely. Maybe a couple of magicians who went to your school, but there aren’t any real sorcerers anymore.”
Which was indeed the common belief and no doubt probably true up until now.
“Well, they are in for a world of hurt tomorrow then.” She waved at her fellow senior students. “We can all do serious magic, magic with military application, I might add. And the senior boys are just about as good.” She saw Jenna snicker out of the corner of her eye.
“I can’t let you risk yourself, Lady.” He tried to look stern.
She stuck her chin up just a little, held out her hand, and produced a ball of fire like the Lord of Magic used to illustrate his power.
“You will find it almost impossible to prevent me, Captain,” she said imperiously.
He stepped back a little and frowned at the small fire floating above her hand.
“My orders are to keep safe, Lady.”
“Well then, Captain, I have no objection to you and your men forming my bodyguard on the morrow when we fight the Shoverians.” She stared at him as if daring him to say otherwise. She let the fire disappear.
“If it wasn’t for the two Shoverian ships off the port, I’d drag aboard our ship and sail tonight,” he countered.
She laughed.
“I doubt you’d have much luck trying that, Captain. Now, if you will excuse us. We ladies have to get cleaned up before going to bed.” She made swishing motions with her hands. “So, shoo.”
Glancing around at the numerous giggling female students and the glaring priestesses, he decided discretion was in order.
“Very well, Lady. We will continue our discussion tomorrow.”
He bowed, turned on his heel, and led his still silent companion out of the temple.
The next morning, Taroniah got dressed quickly. After a short breakfast put on by the Priestesses, she headed for Harkon’s smithy. From things overheard in the street, she gathered the Shoverian force was still a couple of hours away. Given the panic in the streets, it probably wasn’t far enough. Harkon’s was packed with fellows wanting their weapons sharpened, armor repaired, and a host of other things. All at once! He had his apprentice and another young fellow helping, but even that wasn’t keeping up with the demand.
Taroniah pushed her way into the smithy more by force of will than anything, along with the fact she was a female whom the men were reluctant to lay hands on. She managed to catch Harkon’s eye.
“Any armor for a girl?” she yelled.
He looked at her blankly for a moment then pointed to the other small shed.
“Check in there. Take whatever you want. We can sort it out later.”
She blew him a kiss and pushed out of the crowd. The shed held a lot of junk, cast-offs, broken swords, spears, along with God knew what. There were two wooden boxes against the side wall and one held all manner of leather bits and pieces. She found some shin guards, arm guards, and one leather helmet that were serviceable. In the other, there were all sorts of armor, mostly bits of mail or mail armor with holes in it. She found two serviceable coifs, two mail tunics that were on the small side, one with a hole in the front and the other with a hole in the back. The other tunics were way too big for her, but she took them with her for the guys.
Somehow, she managed to pick up the enormous pile of junk and stagger into the street. One of the West Dumfordian guardsmen spotted her and took two-thirds of the load from her and helped carry it all back to the temple.
Captain Marteen and his two offsiders were already there and looking quite irate, probably b
ecause she wasn’t there! Ha!
She and the guardsman plonked all the gear down on the steps outside the temple. She saw Korlah over on the steps of the Temple of Teshar.
“Korlah. Come get some protection!” she yelled.
He glanced at her, saw what she was carrying, and started nudging the other boys to head this way. Taroniah purloined the mail tunic with the hole in the back, a couple of leather braces for her forearms, and two leather shin guards. Captain Marteen looked to interfere, but she held up her hand.
“There is nothing to discuss, Captain. Now I am going to get my sword. Don’t go away.” With that, she marched into the temple. The armor was heavy but should serve. She was more concerned about the blow she didn’t see coming than any opponent in front of her.
“Come.” She led the captain back outside. She wandered around and finally found where the Academagicians were congregated with the Lord of Magic. Walking straight up to him she gained his attention by the simple expedient of stepping in his space, right in front of him.
“Sir,” she said,
He blinked. Ignoring several other Academagicians talking at him, he looked at Taroniah.
“Yes?” he asked.
She held out the scroll she had made up with the arrow spell. “This is a spell of targeting. The spell needs to be impressed into an arrow, then the magician draws the arrow, visualises the target and where he wants the arrow to hit, lets fly, and then activates the spell. Done correctly, the arrow will hit the target exactly as aimed provided the target is in range.”
She pressed the scroll into his hand.
“Really, Taroniah—” Lendar started.
The Lord of Magic held up his hand, bringing silence. He indicated Taroniah should continue.
“The spell is difficult to conceptualize, but I think all the Academagicians should be able to at least impress the spell on a dozen or more arrows before they tire, the senior students maybe less. The other magical students and any guards with magical ability should be given bows so they can use the magic arrows in the defense of the town.”
The other Academagicians all waited to see what the Lord of Magic would say or do. He opened the scroll and studied it. And studied it some more. He looked up at Taroniah.
Fantastic Schools, Volume 3 Page 26
