White Hall (The High King: A Tale of Alus Book 10)

by Donald Wigboldy

  “Genes?” the farm boy asked unsure of what the word meant.

  “The building blocks of what we are made of, if that makes more sense. Our children inherit something from each parent. You may look like your mother or father or both. The same can be said for a chance to have magic.”

  The girl looked to his eyes in surprise and asked, “How did we get to talking about this? You’re only fourteen. It’s not like you should be thinking about sex, especially as a wizard.

  “Now maybe if you were twenty and I was twenty three, we might be closer to thinking of families.”

  “Or when I am fifty and you are fifty three?” Piotr chuckled bringing an exaggerated look of sickness to the girl’s face.

  “If I am fifty three and still unmarried, take pity on an old woman and marry me, would you?”

  The boy shrugged and said, “Only if my wife is dead and gone. You can’t expect me to wait until I am fifty to marry. I mean, I have girls nearly breaking down the door to date me.”

  Looking very disbelieving, Iris asked, “You have a lot of girls chasing after you, do you? And how many do you think that is?”

  “Counting you? Maybe one,” he laughed as the girl started to blush.

  Groaning, Iris complained, “Why did I ask? You can be such a kid.”

  “I kind of am a kid,” he laughed again.

  “Just dance.”

  The trip from the far side of the third floor of the school to the dining hall for breakfast seemed even longer at such an early hour. The first bell had sounded waking Katya. Neira’s moving around to grab clothing for the girl’s baths didn’t help to remain asleep either.

  Though she probably needed a bath as badly, Katya refused to get up so early. By the second bell, it wasn’t much better, but Cheleya was a positive ball of energy as she herded her friend out the door. The restroom was closer and the dragoness managed to get her awake enough to clean up a bit before the long walk.

  Job and Briahnna had looked as bad as she felt and Katya wondered how people could get up so early. Even living on a farm, the girl had never bothered to get up before the sun arrived. That was a time for her brothers and father. Her mother’s cooking was the thing that awoke her most mornings, but the kitchens of the dining hall were too far away to be a wake up call.

  As to the twins, she was ready to strangle them for looking perfectly ready for the day. Though less perky than Cheleya, Piotr’s grin in particular made the girl want to punch him.

  “How can you be so wide awake already?” the girl complained.

  “The animals on the farm can’t always wait, so our dad made us get up early since we were children,” he said with a shrug. “It would take more than a week of sleeping in at those inns to lose that.”

  “Two weeks might do it for me,” Niklaus laughed. “You do look tired. Didn’t you try to get to sleep when you left us?”

  “First, I needed to find the bathrooms and then Cheleya was talking for awhile, until Neira yelled at her. Then it was just too dark, I guess.”

  Their room was built without windows. Air flowed into and out of the room through vents to heat and cool it, but there was no light. Such darkness seemed unnatural to the girl. She had awoken at one point feeling almost suffocated by the darkness, but managed to ease herself back into sleep after awhile.

  It wasn’t that she was afraid of the dark, but she felt pinned by the stone and darkness of the room. The air had felt stale, though it was magically regulated so it shouldn’t be.

  The others didn’t ask about what she meant, since a couple of the others could sympathize. The stone of the school simply had a different feel from the houses or inns made of wood with glass windows letting in the light of the three moons even with drapes.

  She had barely finished her breakfast before Ylena appeared along with a couple more wizards of differing colors. “Are you ready? We don’t have that long to get your clothes before orientation begins for you all.”

  Katya joined the procession of wizards and recruits back to the admissions area and beyond. Basically walking the entire first floor of the school from one end to the other, they finally turned heading through an enclosed walkway. They could hear the sounds of hammering before they opened the far door.

  “I thought that they said this was the blacksmith and armory,” she commented noticing a door on their left as well as an open path towards where the noise and extra heat were coming from.

  “The main floor is mostly for the black smiths, but the wizards chose to use the excess heat from the forges to help heat the water for the laundry. Luckily for you children, if you’ve never bothered to learn how to wash your clothes, you still don’t have to unless you earn a punishment along the line,” Ylena said loud enough for Katya and the others to hear. The other wizards all chuckled at the comment; and the girl had a feeling that time spent in the laundry, was very likely one of the popular punishments for young wizards who misbehaved.

  Following the wizard through the closed door, the smell of soap seemed to be in the air. It should have smelled clean, but it was overpowering to the girl’s nose making her the first one to sneeze.

  Since Ylena had led the way, Katya was also the first to be put in front of an older woman. “Time for another class of novices, Triall. Set her up with the usual.”

  The woman nodded without smiling. Two white dresses, two tunics, a coat, some white stockings and two pants were put into a pile before the woman looked her over a little more closely. “Another little one, didn’t your parents feed you, girly?”

  Five sets of underpants in the same boring white was placed on the pile before Triall stepped around to pull her top snugly back before wrapping a tape around her chest. Blushing at the invasion of private space, she was even more taken aback as the woman said bluntly, “Not too much to worry about yet, but she’s a young one so bound to grow eventually.

  “Vilma, five of the number two,” she called over the counter to one of the other women watching nearby. Apparently the spectacle of dressing the novices was good for stopping work, Katya thought in annoyance. Even more annoying was watching the woman put a handful of bras on top of her pile where the boys could see them. Most of them were snickering for now; though she knew that their time would come.

  “Grab your stuff, Katya, and we’ll run up and have you change for orientation.”

  “Come we might as well get you girls all set up a moment before I have to deal with these boys,” Triall stated tugging Briahnna closer to the counter. Katya could hear her groan as the woman started putting together her pile.

  As they walked up the steps towards Katya’s room, the girl asked over the pile she was carrying, “Did we really have to do that in front of the boys?”

  “It’s not like you had to take off your clothes to be measured. Triall has a good eye for sizes and our tailors make clothes to fit various body types. Most girls and boys will fit into a typical category.”

  “Still, she measured me in front of the boys, Ylena. Now they know what I am wearing underneath besides!”

  “Oh, stop being so dramatic. Just wait until you get old enough to need to go on trips to the wall. There’s nowhere to hide half the time when you’re all traveling together,” Ylena chided without sympathy.

  Katya was surprised to see Cheleya already seated on her bed dressed in a white tunic and white shorts touching her knees. She was sure that her leggings weren’t standard issue, but more surprising were the pair of stripes circling her neck.

  “Are you considered an apprentice already, Cheleya?”

  Ylena looked surprised by the pretty blonde’s outfit as well.

  “I am here to learn healing and some battle mage training as well if it seems promising, Falconi Martina had them put the black stripe on the shoulder as well.”

  “Black is for research apprentices,” the wizard accompanying Katya acknowledged as her ward placed her pile on her dresser.

  “Yes, I will learn all that I can while I am here,”
Cheleya said cheerfully.

  Looking like she wanted to argue a different point at first, Ylena reined in her questions concerning the girl and instead paid attention to Katya. “You can have shoes and boots made for you at the cobbler in White Hall. We have a few in our service, but they remain outside the school walls to make their living in town.”

  “I have shoes and boots that I have brought along with me, if that is all right for now?” Katya questioned. The girl threw all of the new undergarments in a drawer with those she had brought with her. Other than a tunic with the gray bands and a silver stripe on the shoulders, and a pair of pants; the girl either placed the other pieces in the wardrobe or the dresser before stripping off her top and skirt.

  Quickly swapping the novice clothing for her old clothes, Katya replaced her shoes ready for the walk to wherever Ylena planned to take her next.

  “They don’t give out skirts?” the younger girl asked looking for something to break the silence.

  “It is still winter. You can order them if you want for spring,” the wizard replied and opened the door. Since Ylena wasn’t wearing a coat, Katya figured it was safe enough to stay as she was. While the new clothes were dull, the girl noted that they were quite warm. She would probably stay warm if she took a brisk walk from the laundry to the dining hall if the need was there.

  The two younger girls followed the wizard. Cheleya had been left to Ylena when the dragoness had informed the falconi of her roommate being new as well. She had been asked whether she wanted to be roomed with the battle mages and had asked to join Katya, since they were already friends; so the busy battle mage didn’t worry about her orientation.

  When the three finally arrived inside of a large class room with tables and chairs facing a long chalk board, Ylena waited until the other novices joined them and a new wizard dressed in black with silver trim entered walking directly to the front.

  Katya found it a little odd that a diplomat wizard was the orientation leader, though she supposed being a mediator was part of the job description for most. He was a man of middle years, with hair more gray than brown and a tidy mustache and beard. His blue eyes were piercing and for an older man, she thought he was fairly handsome, though he was likely at least as old as her father.

  “So you are the first harvests of the new year,” he stated to a dozen students dressed in white. “From four search teams sent out a few weeks ago, they have brought back twelve, which is a very good start. I’ll have you know that White Hall rarely finds more than fifty children who can use magic at a mage level or higher each year. This means you are rare and hard to find, but it also means we are likely to have more still coming.

  “We want to get you started learning how to use your gifts as soon as possible while your teachers can still give you as much attention as they can.”

  Katya glanced around seeing three more girls and three boys. Evenly split, she wished that she could read auras to know who would be a powerful wizard or mage; though their new clothing broke them into three cadets and three novices as well. Before Wizard Gregor managed to get too much further with his orientation speech, a large battle mage entered the room half dragging a stocky looking boy with a gray jacket. While the boy might be considered muscular, he was dwarfed by the powerful looking falcon.

  “Got another one for you, Gregor,” the big man stated giving the boy added momentum towards the seats and desks. “Sit down, Krevahs.”

  Like a guard, the falcon leaned against the doorframe just inside the room. He was a definite obstacle should the cadet wish to leave, since it was the only door into the room.

  “Thank you, Falcon Eyrk. Now that we have the complete class, let’s discuss what you can expect for the next few months and what we in turn expect of you...”

  After about an hour of the rules and expectations of the school, Katya felt they finally got to do something related to why they were there in the first place. Lamps with oil were distributed to the new students. Even Cheleya received one, though it was more for her to show the others how to create a flame on the wick, than because the wizard mentors believed that she needed to prove that she could cast such simple magic. She had already proved herself capable as a dragon mage the afternoon beforehand after all.

  Each table sat two across, but Piotr turned around moving his lamp to the girls’ table. He was paired with one of the other new recruits, who watched her partner turn and joined him with a smile for the two girls.

  “I’m Lyssa,” the girl introduced herself cheerfully. Her shoulders had dark blue stripes and as she frowned at the wick looking a bit confused, Katya thought that maybe having a natural leaning towards water might make the task that much harder for the novice.

  “I am Katya. This is Cheleya and you are next to our friend, Piotr,” the younger girl greeted her with a similar smile and she asked, “Have you started casting any magic without warning yet?”

  The other girl appeared taller, even as they sat, and Lyssa had brown hair which was still lighter than Piotr’s which was nearly black. Even though she might have been taller, Katya thought that the other girl looked no older than her. Her eyes looked shocked to be asked such a question and Lyssa shook her quickly as she replied, “Goodness, no. I can’t imagine what I would have done had that happened.”

  Piotr and Katya exchanged glances as Cheleya suddenly giggled. All three looked to the dragoness curiously. Noticing their eyes on her, the eldest of the new students said, “It is rarely that scary from what I know of the transition into your magic. I was found before I truly exhibited any signs, but my people really only have one area to search. Rarely do any of our children get to the point of being any harm.

  “Anyway, once you realize that you have magic, it often becomes as natural as breathing to a wizard. Piotr has a lot of control already, though he knows few spells.

  “Katya on the other hand would have more to worry about without being found, since her power was already escaping and had to be bound.”

  The new girl looked at the three in surprise, but noted that Cheleya mentioned nothing of her own magical capabilities. “So Piotr already knows magic and Katya couldn’t control hers. What about you?”

  Again the dragoness smiled warmly for the new girl. Katya thought that she noticed the sweet scent that the girl gave off and it often seemed stronger when she met new people. Whether Lyssa noticed the scent as well didn’t really matter, since no one had ever complained about it before.

  “I am not really a novice. I have already studied most of the elements in Mar’kal. Though I am new here and hope to learn how to heal, this is not new to me.”

  With a quick gesture, Cheleya pointed at her lamp making it light with ease.

  Lyssa frowned and said, “You make it look so easy. I can’t even feel my magic to try it.”

  Clapping from the tables across from them caused the four to look over to see Niklaus being praised by the two girls who wore the gray of mage apprentices and one of the two boys as well. His lamp was lit already making Katya frown.

  “How did he do that already?”

  Sighing as he looked at his lamp feeling almost as hopeless as Lyssa, Piotr informed the girl, “Magnus taught him the fireball trick on the ride here, remember? It must not be much of a leap to just light a lamp for him.”

  Lyssa glanced at Niklaus and back to Piotr stating more than asking, “He is your brother?”

  Responding before the boy in question, Katya said, “They’re twins. Piotr is stronger in magic, but his brother Niklaus has magic as well. He didn’t even know that he had the gift unlike Piotr here.”

  “I discovered my magic last fall, though it’s coming easier now. Still I’m not sure how to light this thing anymore than you. Wizard Gregor said to just see the flame and move our fingers like so... but I don’t feel it at all.”

  Katya stared intently at the wick in her lamp and stuck her tongue out to the side biting down lightly as she concentrated on the stem and tried to see fire in her mind. M
oving her fingers like they had been shown, Katya tried to create a flame like Cheleya had so easily.

  After three tries, the girl shook her and complained, “I don’t know why we have to do all this gesturing with our fingers. My brother Sebastian is a battle mage and if he were here, I bet he would just look at it and say something like ‘light’,” she said and waved her hand at the lamp.

  Still concentrating as she had been shown, Katya was surprised as she felt like a switch had gone off in her mind. Flame shot up from the wick reaching beyond the top of the protective glass in an instant. So strong was the flame, that as it receded back onto the wick, they could see smoky looking burn marks on the glass.

  Looking at Cheleya accusingly, the young girl asked, “Did you do that?”

  The dragoness shook her head and smiled at her friend, “No, I felt your magic do it. That was you.”

  Ylena hurried over in surprise and even the lead wizard, Gregor, had been startled by the amount of fire created by the new novice.

  “You did it already?” her mentor said looking impressed. “I have heard that some young wizards, whose magic has been tethered to a charm, can have difficulty at first.”

  “But I did it wrong,” Katya protested with a shake of her head. “I just said ‘light’ and waved at it,” she clarified for the wizard.

  Gregor moved closer looking concerned at the remark.

  Ylena glanced to her leader and asked, “Does this mean she is going to have problems and will be a wilder?”

  Shaking his head, the man denied the idea and made quick little gestures with his fingers before saying a word of power that sounded nothing like common to the girl’s ears. The flame died instantly and he said to Katya, “Use the feeling that you found saying the word in common and try it as we showed you now.”

  Her tongue found its way to the side of her lips as the young girl tried to do as the master had ordered. After several more tries without flame, Katya blew up at her bangs touching her forehead in frustration. Wondering if the flame had just been a fluke, the girl waved towards the lamp and said, “Light.”