Seventeen Stones

by Vanessa Wells

  Ella sang next, and she surprised everyone with her sweet, light soprano. Her voice rang out through the building, filling the rafters with pure, high notes without a hint of the trepidation that she sometimes showed in her speaking voice. Mia listened with open-mouthed admiration, and clapped along with everyone else when the song was done.

  Ella smiled and blushed at the enthusiastic applause. She sat down by her friends and whispered while the professor scratched notes on a pad of parchment. “We always sang everything back home. Mum had us singing all of our sums and alphabet, and we had songs about our history too. Made learning easy and you could sing while you were doing the chores.” The girls quieted as the next performer played.

  When her turn came, Mia walked up to the stage and sang a love song, one that old Geoff from the village had sung for as long as she could remember. Her voice was strong, in the mezzo range, but nothing spectacular. She used a little wooden pipe, a gift from Emma, to play the part of her lover who had been transfigured into a bird. She let the final notes die away. The acoustics from the stage were amazing.

  Professor Petrov eyed her speculatively. “May I see the instrument?” She fingered the little hand-carved flute for a moment. “That’s well made, for a wooden pipe, but you’ll need to invest in a metal instrument if you intend to carry on with it.” Mia shook her head. The metal flutes were very complicated compared with the simple instrument she was used to. “I’d like to try piano, since I’ve never had the opportunity to learn.”

  The professor warned her in a stern tone “We don’t get many complete novices, and I can’t guarantee that you’ll be ready for the mid-winter show without a lot of hard work.” Mia nodded and sat down. The rest of the class was spent watching performances varying degrees of difficulty. The professor told them she would have a course of study mapped for each of them by next class, and the chimes rang.

  Mia and Ella hurried to the other end of campus, where the stables stood in front of a large grassy hill where the pegasus grazed. The winged horses each wore a specially spelled harness that kept them on the ground as long as they were confined in the field. They beat the chimes (barely) and stood with a large group of students, waiting for the professor. Mia was just digging in her bag for her schedule to be sure she was in the right spot, when a lanky man of twenty-three or twenty-four dashed up. “Sorry kids. A three headed puppy escaped from the kennel and I lost track of time.” He absently flicked his wand at his clothing, erasing paw prints down his front that were eight inches in diameter. Mia suppressed the urge to giggle when he turned around; he still had one large print in the middle of his back.

  “I’m Professor Stoats, Animal Husbandry. Once upon a time this class was joke…the most dangerous animal you might encounter was a goat…or maybe a swan, those things were vicious.” He grinned. “Be aware that swans are the least of your worries here. If you are not prepared to bottle feed an orphaned dragon kit, check a pegasus for broken primaries, or inspect an anubis’ many canines, you need to drop the class and take up knitting.” He fingered his wand absently. “We will be covering the care and breeding of farm animals as well, so you guts and glory types had better be prepared to muck out a stall if it’s called for. We have fine stables here at the college. All of you will learn to ride, first horses, then Pegasus or one of the other exotics if I believe you’re up to it. Anyone caught trying to ride an animal they are not cleared for will be punished to full extent available here at the college.”

  The students eyed the winged horses with varying degrees of enthusiasm. There was a quiet murmur of voice from the back. One or two of the boys were pushing each other a bit; Mia saw at least one of them punch another in the arm. “Boys.” Mia muttered to herself in disgust. She could ride already, it was one of the few ‘social graces’ that Emma had insisted that she learn…but she was not interested in being that far off the ground. Ever. She glanced at Ella, who was practically drooling. She actually looked excited about flying.

  “We won’t learn about pegasus until later in the semester. You won’t be riding them until after mid-winter break. We will begin by studying some of the more useful insects, like this one.” He flicked his wand and a large glass jar appeared in front of him. There was a small green insect inside, roughly three centimeters long, with wicked looking scythes on its first two mandibles. Professor Stoats tapped the little jar lightly with his wand and it magnified the insect so they could see it better.

  “Who can tell me what this is?” Three hands went up: Mia, Ella, and a boy in the back whose hair was the color of butter. The professor nodded to the boy. “It’s a hunting mantis.” The professor nodded. “Does anyone know what it eats?” Ella’s hand went up first. “Aphids. Five or six of those can keep an entire field clear of those bugs, and they secrete a substance that keeps ants away from them.” The professor grinned. “Nasty smelling stuff isn’t it? They’re interesting creatures. They were magically altered seventy-five years ago specifically to attack aphids. At the time we were using a variety of potions to kill the little pests, but this works much better. To demonstrate.” He flicked his wand and a small bush covered in white dots appeared in front of him. He opened the lid of the jar and the insect neatly stripped the plant of the wriggling dots in a few minutes. He asked the class “Who knows what we call this type of insect?” The blond raised his hand again. “The scythe bug, or hunting mantis belongs to a class of insects known as domesticated insects, along with the fat lady bug and the super spider.”

  The Professor nodded. “If you’ll get out your books and read in chapter one, I think you’ll find that this young gentleman is correct. ‘Domesticated insects’ was a term coined by Sir Francis Miller, the noted naturalist. They are insects that are manipulated magically to combat a specific menace. The scythe bug is one of the earliest examples of magical manipulation. The spell is very interesting. It’s a very subtle sort of transfiguration that alters a species slightly. The real trick is not altering the animal you are working on, it’s making it a viable species down the line without causing the rampant mutations that occurred with some of the first test subjects.” He shook his head. “Ah well, that’s extremely advanced wand work done by a very few Greatlords and Ladies when the situation demands it. Find a comfortable patch of grass and sit down. I’ll be back in a moment.” And with that he ran down to the field to do something that was no doubt important. The class quickly finished the chapter, went over the study questions, and began discussing other things. Insects, no matter how magical, could not hold their attention long.

  The professor returned a few minutes before the chimes with a decided frown on his handsome face. “I believe I told all of you to read the chapter.” Ella tentatively raised her hand. He nodded warily, indicating she could speak. “We read the chapter and did the questions at the end.” He glared at her. “Very well, I suppose that you can tell me why the super spider hunts at night.”

  She glanced over at Mia who gave her an encouraging smile. Ella blushed stuttered slightly as she began “Th…the super spider hunts at night because its prey is cockroaches and some types of beetles. It destroys their nerve endings with the powerful neurotoxin in the venom. Then the spider drags the insect to a nest known as a larder. They can survive paralyzed in the larder for up to three days before being eaten. The spider will hunt even when a larder is full, leaving some to die from the nerve toxin in the venom and others to starve bound up in the larder. Foxes and rodents will dig up super spider larders while the spider is away and eat the insects; unless of course the spider catches them…a super spider can kill a mouse or even a rat. A fox or larger rodent would just be very ill from a super spider bite. The female lays seven to ten individual eggs a year, and cares for the eggs and the immature spiders until they reach full adult status, making her somewhat unique in the insect world. The wand wielder who designed the super spider was very hesitant to manipulate the arachnid because the venom glands of spiders are notoriously sensitive to magical mutation;
he altered the breeding habits of the spider because fewer eggs mean fewer chances for mutation to occur.”

  The Professor looked at her as though trying to figure her out. “If I have to leave during the class for any reason, I expect to come back to an orderly group reading the assigned material or discussing the subject I left them with. However, since one of you read the chapter, understood the material, and did background reading, this once there won’t be a punishment essay.”

  After class, Mia congratulated her shy friend and Ella blushed a brighter shade of red. “The worst part was saying it in front of the entire group. I just quoted a couple of circulars that I’d read. Dad was fond of keeping up on the latest agricultural news, so he bought an issue of Farmer’s Friendly Circular whenever he went to the Village. They were always months old of course, but he just saved the advice that he couldn’t use that season for the next.”

  Emma had always picked up the Farmer’s Friendly Circular as well, but Mia couldn’t quote out of it. She was more likely to sigh over the latest dresses in City Couture or read about current events in the Weekly News.

  That night the girls managed their homework (turning oranges into apples for Marshall) without trouble. Having finished in record time, they decided to visit the library. Mia was anxious to see it. They put on cloaks and started down the path. It was lit with floating magical orbs that third year students produced en mass. Even with the trees bare and the cold wind blowing, Mia thought that the brightly lit paths looked like something out of a children’s tale, like Frederick and the Fabulous Wand Wielder of Jimbobo. The story had been her favorite when she was a very little girl. She’d always loved the bit about the magical path to the stars best.

  The library was sixteen stories tall, built when domed architecture was the prevailing mode. The entryway was beveled magical glass from pavement to roof, with bright chandlers glowing behind. The floor as they entered was a mosaic history of the City, done in precious and semi-precious stones. Mia slowed down to look at it and quickly lost the others in the evening crowd. She looked up when Sarah grabbed her arm. “C’mon. If you stand here they’ll run you down.” She allowed herself to be steered toward a wall with twelve doors marked with twelve brass numbers. Mia looked twice, there was no pattern she could see to the numbers, and she was almost certain that the one on the end had been 226 when she’d glanced at it first. It was a non-descript 7 at the moment.

  Sarah consulted a slip of parchment and frowned at it until she apparently found what she was looking for. She went up to the third door from the left, (currently sporting the number 37) and knocked three times on the door. The door opened and Sarah turned back to her and said “The library staff must have been on break when we came in. I guess the map obscures the location of their office during break time. I wonder how the clerk’s guild worked that into their contract?” They walked into a nice office upholstered in leather and velvet, while Sarah whispered “Don’t trust the doors. You have to use the right combination of knocks to get where you’re going, and the door plates change. The last one on the right has a glitch or something in it right now, if you knock dead center it takes you to whatever it’s supposed to connect to if you knock on the right side. They said maintenance would have it fixed in a couple of days…” A friendly attendant signed Mia up for her library card and map, and showed her the spells to operate the card key system. Mia was quite interested in the map, because it changed every few minutes.

  Sarah looked down at her map in disgust. “They built the library about a hundred years after the City was constructed. Apparently, the original wand wielders were afraid that someone would come in and steal the books.” Mia remembered that something to that effect had been mentioned in the history that Professor Fain had loaned her: nothing about the library specifically, but rather the effect of the chaos time before the City was built on the mindset of the early City dwellers. The writer had seemed a bit contemptuous of the attitudes of those early wand wielders.

  Mia glanced thoughtfully around the library, with its gilt edging, bejeweled mosaics, and beveled glass. The building was the work of thousands upon thousands of man-hours, creativity, and millions of gold pieces in raw materials. That was just the building. It was like a jewel box: however beautiful it might be, the real treasure was inside. How much did the people who built this library estimate these books were worth if this building was only here to hold them?

  After she gave Mia a quick tour of the various libraries, Sarah glanced at the map. “Let’s go to the tea room. The food is cheap and delicious, and they have about seventy different blends on tap each night. I’d wager a gold piece that at least one of our dorm mates is holding court in there.”

  She would have won her bet. Vivian was in one corner flirting with five good looking second and third year students; Ella was at the end of a table with a smaller group. Sarah waved at the others and went to the counter. “Two cups of night blend tea and two…no four strawberry scones please.” she said to no one in particular. A disembodied voice said “Three and a half copper pieces please.” Sarah laid the money on the brass scale and it disappeared with a whirling sound. Two cups of steaming tea and a plate of scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam followed them to the table.

  There was a small wooden dais in one corner of the tearoom. Rudimentary lighting surrounded it. Sarah glanced over. “I’ve heard that they have students in to play some evenings; little concerts, nothing big. Well, look at this place; it wouldn’t hold a hundred people unless they were squeezed in like sardines.” The plate and cups slid onto the table where Ella was sitting.

  Ella grinned and introduced the young men she was talking to. “Mia, Sarah! This is Paul, George, and John…what was the other one’s name?” One of the boys shrugged. “It started with an R, but I can’t think of it right now. Anyway, he went for a book a few minutes ago.” Ella was enjoying herself, and Vivian moved a few seats down so their groups could join. One of the boys she was talking to tried to get catch Sarah’s eye, but she seemed less concerned with flirting and more interested in finding the book she was looking for. She was scrolling through a list on the map with her wand. Mia, whose entire knowledge of boys began and ended with Martin Ainsley picking on her, watched from the sidelines and ate her scones. Sarah was right, they were fantastic.

  Sarah finally found the book she’d been searching for with a happy sigh, and quickly left the room to retrieve it. Mia felt somewhat out of place, and decided to head back to the dorm to read the book Professor Fain had given her. She really was itching to pick it up. She had just left her cup in the wash bin when Martin Ainsley walked in. He was wearing a dark blue coat over a white shirt and breeches, and knee-high riding boots. He looked like he was every inch the young gentleman. If those boots had any more shine on them, they’d be an independent light source.

  She saw him and froze. Her reaction seemed to encourage him. He smirked and said in a loud voice to one of the gang of boys surrounding him “I can’t believe what they’re letting in the college these days. One wonders who they bribed.” He pulled off his kid gloves with the air of bored indifference that had worked so well in the past. He glanced back at Mia for a split second and then whispered something else to one of his friends. The entire group broke out into laughter. Ella was motionless with shock, but Mia could see that Vivian was already extracting herself from her group with a hard expression on her face. Mia assumed a cold tone and sneered right back at Martin “Wondering if it was the same person you used?”

  He lost his cool air immediately. “You little village harpy!” Mia took a single, measured step forward. There was no Emma here to care if she wasn’t polite, and she was tired of dealing with him. “You started it, Martin. You want to act like a pedigree and a fortune mean everything in the world? Fine. My mother was a Greatlady. Who are your parents? Your father is glorified clerk in the Magus’ office. Your mother flits from one party to another. Hardly what I would call exalted positions.” She looked him
in the eye for half a second before they both reached for their wands.

  A light cough from directly behind Mia caught their attention before either wand cleared a pocket. What would have been said or done was lost. Martin turned puce and then turned around and walked away. Mia glanced behind her, with her wand still gripped in her left hand and saw Professor Fain. “I was just passing by from my office Miss Rusticov. If you are finished for the night, may I walk you to your dorm?”

  As they walked back to the dorm the Professor asked “I suppose he’s not someone you met recently?” Mia shook her head. “We grew up in the same village. He decided that since I didn’t have parents and didn’t live in a home, he could act like a...well like he was acting tonight. Today’s the first time we’ve seen each other since we both arrived for college, at least outside of class. He never pulled this stuff where adults could see him. He’s probably annoyed that he got caught.”

  The professor snorted. “I imagine he’s annoyed that you verbally decapitated him and handed him his head on a platter. You have an uncomfortable knack for seeing exactly what people don’t want you to see and then blurting it out. I’m not sure I would have had the courage to call the Magus’ private secretary a glorified clerk in first year. The Ainsley boy won’t forgive that. You’ve made yourself an enemy.”

  Mia tapped her chin, pretending to consider. “I wonder what it would be like if Martin Ainsley didn’t like me…oh wait, no, he’s never liked me. It’s not like he can get anymore petty or vindictive than he’s already been.” Professor Fain didn’t answer immediately, but looked very thoughtful. “Don’t make enemies unnecessarily. You don’t realize how much what you do here will affect the rest of your life. It’s a very small world for a wanded person. Martin’s family is very powerful, not necessarily just from their magical abilities. They have a lot of political influence. It’s hard enough to get invited to all the ‘right’ parties without annoying the old blood families, and Martin’s related to everyone. Try to stay with the other girls as much as you can. You’ll be safer if you do.” It seemed important to him. She looked up and nodded.