by B. T. Narro
Eventually he reached the first classrooms. From what he remembered, the windowed buildings here to either side were for psychics and chemists, though the two classes never trained together.
He was getting closer to the enormous pillar of Redfield Stadium at the center of the campus. It had to be as tall as Kyrro’s castle, with a clock on each of its four sides. He could see the blood red walls of the stadium rising up from behind the classrooms.
He kept going until he came to the mage classrooms. They were recognizable by their three-walled training grounds adjacent to each lecture room. He pulled his horse behind him as he stepped onto the sand in the first training ground. A group of men and women his age focused their attention the other way, on three metal figures blackened from years of fireball blasts, as an instructor demonstrated a spell.
She aimed her wand and snapped her elbow with a grunt. A pillar of fire shot out and scorched the head of the middle training dummy.
Desil approached the closest mage. “Can you direct me to the Group One training grounds?” he asked.
The young man seemed confused by Desil’s horse, but he pointed west. “It’s all the way at the end of this road, before the student houses.”
“Thank you.”
Desil returned to the road and mounted his horse. He rode past dozens of training grounds, noticing that fire seemed to be the theme for each spell, at least for today. The new year for the school had just begun. From what he understood, the mages and warriors would be tested all this week to determine what group number would best fit their abilities, one being the best.
He wondered what it meant that Leida was selected to demonstrate her skills in the Group One training ground. Had some mages like her already proven their abilities during recruitment or in the past at the Academy, or was she just there by chance? He had a feeling Group One was where she belonged given her skill with memories. Desil was curious which group he would’ve been assigned to at the end of evaluation week, if he had joined.
Without any control over sartious energy, he couldn’t cast fire. Yet every mage here seemed to be spending the morning burning the training dummies. Basen had wanted to speak to Desil about the Wind Knights. Perhaps his role at the Academy would’ve been something else entirely.
Eventually he came to the last training ground. His horse was generally well-behaved and knew not to run off, but he didn’t want to take even the small risk of losing the animal here. He guided her onto the training grounds and looked through the fifty people for a young woman of medium height and red hair.
Desil recognized the instructor as Mage Penny, the recruiter who came to meet him in Kayvol when he applied to the Academy. She was in her middle years, with gray hair yet a youthful look in her eyes. When she saw him, she cocked her head as if confused, then put up her hands to stop the three mages casting.
“One moment.”
Everyone turned to Desil. He didn’t get a chance to continue looking for Leida as Penny approached.
“What are you doing here?”
He hadn’t anticipated this and was at a loss for words. He couldn’t tell her the headmaster had sent him, or should he?
She spoke again. “Did you speak to Basen yesterday?”
He had, but not about what she had in mind. It seemed that even the Group One mage instructor didn’t yet know about the headmaster’s disappearance.
“Has everything been explained to you?” she asked, beginning to show annoyance at his reticence.
“It was explained to me, thank you. I’m actually here to see someone else.” Desil looked behind Penny…at everyone staring. His cheeks burned as he tried to keep his composure in the awkward silence.
Suddenly he found Leida in the middle of the crowd. She wore a thick training gown to protect herself from burns, like everyone else, but something about her set her apart from the rest.
Her hair wasn’t as much red as it was auburn, flowing down in rich waves framing her creamy cheeks. Her eyes were bright emeralds as loud as a bell, sharp as daggers. His breath caught. It wasn’t just her beauty. He was connected to the mind behind that piercing look, feeling as if they’d known each other for years. Something, in fact, was telling him they’d met before.
“Leida, can we talk? It’s important.”
A few of the mages around her asked who he was, but she might not have heard. She seemed to be focusing all of her attention on Desil’s eyes as if he were wearing a mask she was trying to see behind. His irises were the same blue and gray color of the lake. He could almost feel her recognizing their connection.
Penny had walked out onto the road past Desil for a glimpse at the Redfield clock. She announced, “Lunch hours are beginning now. Meet back here in an hour.”
Leida finally looked away from Desil’s eyes to meet the curious glances of those who seemed to be her friends. Desil had to force himself not to stare as he waited for her response. He was glad when Leida’s friends walked off without her and she approached alone.
But Penny stepped in front of her before Leida could say anything.
“What is this really about, Desil?” Penny demanded. “Why are you here?”
He tried to think of something that could move this conversation in the direction of her leaving the two of them alone. “The headmaster wasn’t actually home. I waited for a while, but—”
“Ah, Basen.” Penny clicked her tongue as if disappointed in the headmaster. “I’m sure something must’ve come up, then. I’ll organize another meeting for you. A letter will be sent to your mother’s tavern.” She looked at Leida before turning back to Desil. “Now why are you asking to speak to his daughter?”
This instructor was more protective than Desil had expected. He’d come to believe the truth was best in situations like these, even if he had to bend it.
“I was asked to deliver a message to her, not by Basen, but by a psychic of the king who visited me in Kayvol.”
Penny crossed her arms and stepped back. “Must really be important.” Her disapproving tone indicated she might not believe Desil.
“Tell me what?” Leida asked as she came forward.
But the mage instructor was waiting to hear as well. Desil tried to give her a hint with a polite glance. Penny didn’t budge.
“The message is only for Leida’s ears,” he told the woman. “I don’t want to get in trouble with the king by disobeying his daughter.”
“This message is from Beatrix Estlander?” Penny seemed incredulous. “She sent you?”
Desil nodded. The instructor furrowed her brow in obvious skepticism, but Desil said no more.
His stubbornness won out, the instructor eventually turning up her palms. “Fine. I’ll leave you alone.”
“Thank you.”
When Penny finally left, Leida promptly asked, “How do I know you?”
“From Lake Kayvol.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re the other mage.”
“Yes. Desil Fogg.”
“Leida Hiller.”
They shook hands for the first time, but it felt as if he was reacquainting himself with an old friend.
She spoke with a playful cadence as she held a small smile. “I don’t think I believe you’ve come here on behalf of Beatrix Estlander. I don’t think even Penny believes that.”
There was so much he wanted to tell her yet so little he could actually say. “You need to visit the castle and ask for Beatrix. She’s expecting you before evening.”
Her smile disappeared. “You’re serious?”
“Yes. There’s more I need to tell you, but first you have to be questioned by Beatrix.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
“What about him?”
This was going to be even harder than Desil thought. Leida didn’t know her father was missing. It seemed strange until Desil realized they didn’t live together or see each other every day, like Desil did with his mother. Basen dwelled in the faculty housing area all the
way on the northwestern edge of the campus and, with his enormous responsibilities, probably crossed paths with his daughter infrequently. I bet hardly anyone here knows he’s missing yet.
Desil wanted to tell her how difficult all of this was to explain, but if he gave her even a hint he knew something about Basen, it would come out when Beatrix questioned her. Then both of them could become suspects in whatever was going on between the headmaster and the king.
There was one thing Desil could share. “You’re going to find out that your father has left the Academy for the time being. He has done something to run afoul of the king. I don’t know what.”
Leida opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out.
“I’m sorry,” Desil said. “I want to help you, but there’s nothing I can do yet. First you must speak to the psychic.” He hoped she would get the hint only after going to the castle.
“Beatrix Estlander told you this?” Leida asked.
“Yes.”
“If she wants to question me, why didn’t she come here? Everyone knows it’s evaluation week. I can’t miss a day going there and coming back.” Her wide eyes showed panic as her voice shook.
He was overwhelming her.
“It’s going to be all right,” he assured her. “I can help you after you meet with her. Instead of going back to the school, meet me at the Magic Tavern in Kayvol.”
“Magic Tavern? What is that? How do you expect to help me? Is Beatrix certain about my father?”
Desil put up his hands in hopes of slowing her down. “The Magic Tavern is the name of the only tavern in Kayvol, where I live with my mother.” He slowed his next words to show her how important they were. “You need to meet me there tonight, but I can’t tell you more until after you speak with the psychic.”
Leida took her third deep breath and finally seemed in control of her emotions again. “You know something.”
“I…” He stopped himself, having already said too much. “We can’t talk about that. Take an hour to eat and confirm what I’m telling you about your father’s absence. Then go to the castle and ask for Beatrix. She will be expecting you, and she’s the only one you should talk to. Tell her that I came to notify you of her request, then meet me in Kayvol. Follow the road into the town. The tavern is one of the first buildings on your left.”
Leida looked at him sideways with a squint of her eyes. “I can trust you?”
“I might be the only one you can trust right now.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Leida didn’t just want to confirm her father was missing. She needed to know why. There were two dining halls in the Academy. She usually went to the one just south of the classrooms because it was closer, but she went to the northern one instead. This was where most of the Academy staff, including her parents, ate lunch.
Desil had told her to speak only to Beatrix about her father, but Leida at least needed to tell the person she knew she could trust no matter what.
The building containing the dining hall was nearly half as large as all the mage, psychic, and chemist classrooms combined. The kitchen took up the back section, while tables and benches filled the rest, each long enough to seat twelve comfortably. Leida’s closest friend, Adriya, might’ve been impossible to find among the hundreds of people eating if she didn’t always sit at the same table. She looked worried as soon as she saw Leida’s face.
“Have you seen my mother or father or heard anything about them?” Leida asked.
“No, why?”
Disappointing but expected. “I’ll be back soon to tell you.”
Leida had been famished before Desil arrived, and she wasn’t about to walk four miles to the capital without eating first, not that she had much of an appetite now. As she waited in the long line, she surveyed the enormous dining hall for instructors who might know something.
Students of the same class tended to sit together, warriors with warriors, chemists with chemists, and mages with mages. Psychics were the only ones who didn’t tend to develop the same friendships with each other as the other classes. Leida had heard that it partly had to do with how they trained against each other with painful spells but mostly with how they could read each other’s emotions. She spotted a psychic instructor carrying a plate of food and watched her until the woman sat down at a table and disappeared from view. Other instructors were most likely there. Leida memorized the location, got her food without taking a moment to see what she’d be eating, and headed over.
Instructors tended to eat together rather than with students. She hoped Desil was wrong and she would see her father sitting on one of the benches. There were at least twenty instructors spread out among three tables, but neither of her parents was there. Her mother should know everything going on between her father and the king, but Leida was starting to get the sinking feeling that Alabell, the Academy’s top healer, could be missing as well.
Leida stood at the end of the first table of instructors. “Has anyone seen my parents?”
“The headmaster and I were supposed to discuss something this morning,” answered an instructor she’d never met. “But he didn’t show up.”
“I haven’t seen your mother, either,” a chemist told Leida. “I was at the medical building earlier expecting to find her there.”
“Where are they?” another instructor asked to anyone listening.
Everyone looked at each other. None gave an answer. An instructor on the far end of the table asked if this was about Cleve Polken.
Leida didn’t understand why the instructor would bring up Adriya’s father, but Leida politely corrected the man. “No, I’m just looking for my parents.”
“They might be ill,” a healer offered. “I’ll check their faculty house after lunch.”
She wasn’t sure how or why the lake mage was involved in this, whatever this was, but she had to admit to herself that she believed him. Leida thanked the instructors at the table and left without saying more. She didn’t want to cause panic. What could they do with the news anyway?
She sat down beside Adriya and already felt a little better. Like Leida, Adriya had been at the Academy her entire life. Leida hadn’t been permitted to join officially until last year, at sixteen, even if she had been born in the medical building right here on campus. She did get the chance growing up, however, to train with her father and make friends with the older mages. Though none of her friendships were as close as with Adriya Polken.
Adriya was a year older than Leida, at eighteen, but the difference was never noticeable. Adriya was taller because both her parents were tall, and strong for the same reason. There weren’t many battle casters like Adriya, and there would be even less by the end of the year when she and a few others finished their term here at the school.
“That mage from the lake came to see me. He’s a man, I think a year or two older than I am.” It was unfortunate that Leida had to reveal the mystery so curtly. She and Adriya had wondered about this other mage for many months, but now it felt as if it didn’t matter anymore. Leida stuffed her mouth quickly. Before she could force herself to swallow and get to the important part, Adriya asked a question.
“Did he do something to you? You look—”
“No. He came with a message from Beatrix Estlander. She requires I go to the castle for questioning.” Leida stuffed her mouth again.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Leida choked down her food. “It’s about my father. Something strange is going on. He and my mother may be missing and in trouble. I have to eat quickly and then head to the castle, but I want to make sure it’s true first. Can you ask your parents what they know?”
“About what?”
“About my father. I don’t want to believe he might have run afoul of the king, but I’m starting to.”
“I’m sure everything’s fine.” Adriya stood up. “I’ll find one of my parents and come back.”
Leida ate quickly after Adriya left. She cleared her plate in a matter of
minutes and stood up to look for Adriya. Her tall friend was still searching. She seemed worried as she turned back and saw Leida. They met along a walkway between tables.
“I don’t think either of them are here,” Adriya said. “I asked one of the warrior instructors and he hasn’t seen my father.”
“We should ask one of their students if either of your parents showed up today.”
“You think they’re all missing?” Adriya’s voice cracked.
“Probably not, but we should make sure. Do you know any of the psychics in your mother’s class?”
“Only a few. I usually stay away from them because my mother teaches them too well. It would be better to ask a warrior.”
“There’s Eckard.” Leida pointed at a nearby table.
Adriya frowned. “Anyone else would be better.”
Leida agreed. They took a moment to look around but didn’t see anyone else they knew. Eventually Adriya sighed.
“Fine, we’ll ask Eckard, but ignore anything he says that isn’t about my father.”
“I always do.”
Leida stayed a few steps away as Adriya came up behind Eckard. Without preamble, she asked, “Have you seen my father today?”
He turned while chewing, stared at Adriya for a moment, then looked at Leida past Adriya, as if she didn’t exist.
Leida had once agreed with Adriya that Eckard was both handsome and talented. It was his third year at the Academy, like Adriya, and they had spent much of the last year as a couple. He was the only healer in the school to also be placed in Group One as a warrior. There was no one more impressed about this than he was, though. In fact, the same could be said of everything he did.
He stared at Leida for a long while. “How are you doing?”
“Fine, Eckard. Can you answer the question?”
He told Leida instead of Adriya, “Warrior Polken wasn’t on Warrior’s Field this morning.”
“Did anyone tell your group anything about his absence?” Leida asked.
