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

by Donald Wigboldy

  Her eyes caught a glimpse of someone with a gray shirt ducking into a janitor’s closet. Even a school run by and for wizards required maintenance. Locals from the town could be seen working in the school from time to time, so Katya shrugged the curiosity from her mind. Even if it had been some cadet, it wouldn’t be the first one made to do clean up or some other chore that no one wanted to do. If they were in trouble, punishment could certainly include being a janitor for the day or an hour.

  A quick greeting of the woman sitting on a chair beside the door preceded Katya moving into the bathhouse where she proceeded to remove her clothes that already smelled a bit musty from her surprising amount of sweat. The girl was glad she had brought a change of clothes, if that was the case.

  With a big sigh, the novice went to soak in the warm pools of the bathhouse.

  Chapter 22- Smelling a Rat

  Niklaus slipped into the janitor’s closet ready to try his next prank. They had been released from weapon’s training to rest and eat lunch, but the warm meals wouldn’t be ready to be served for nearly an hour yet. It was a school of snacking wizards and mages, but the best food was regulated to breakfast, lunch and supper.

  While he had made a quick sandwich for himself before going into the school with its classrooms and wizards, Niklaus had mainly done so because of the magic he planned on using. Mages were limited in magical power, so eating a little before using spells of greater than average strength was usually a wise thing to do.

  He had been practicing not only the regular battle mage training, but his shape shifting magic as well as trying other spells his brother already knew, though those remained beyond him for the most part. One thing no one had seen him try was perhaps the best thing he had discovered on his own.

  There was a vent cover which led into the duct work run throughout the school. It had been created by wizards for distributing air throughout the school, since many of the rooms were otherwise sealed in so deep inside the walls that they would suffer from heat or cold without a fireplace or oven to at least heat them. From what he knew, one of the duties of apprentice wizards was to work with the machines which served the process. Magic could be added to increase the power of the furnaces or the strange bellows like devices which could send cooling air throughout the vast complex.

  While he didn’t understand everything about them, the cadet had learned enough to know that until he learned how to turn invisible, this was the best way to get around unseen. Of course, humans couldn’t use the network because they couldn’t fit; but a wizard or cadet who could change shape and the size of his body could.

  “Become a cat,” Niklaus said after removing his clothing to place the pieces in a pile to one side. He had been working on a shorter way to use his spell. While just calling out the name of the animal wasn’t quite enough, the cadet had managed this new version.

  Becoming a gray cat, the cadet ducked into the vent. His improved night vision looked up to see roughly eight feet of a vertical shaft. It wasn’t completely smooth, but Niklaus was unsure if his claws would find enough purchase until he tried. A couple failed attempts later, the cat seemed unable to climb inside such a tight manmade area.

  Without changing back to human, Niklaus concentrated on becoming a rat. Unlike the cat, the rat seemed able to find better purchase and in moments’ the shape changer had managed to climb up to the horizontal duct which could give him access to the entire floor and its rooms. Changing back into a cat with just a thought, the cadet moved quickly while watching out for other vertical shafts that would be pitfalls for his progress. Even with a cat’s eyes to help him, it was dark; still he found the bend and smelled the water on the air after a time. Following his keen senses, Niklaus found the bathhouse. Looking through a vent with a view below him, the cat found the changing room; but it was nearly empty. Only a single wizard dressed in her red robes remained at the moment.

  She was too old for him and nearly completely dressed by the time he had arrived. With nothing of interest there for him, Niklaus tested his luck and moved towards the heavier humidity. A breeze suddenly pushed past him as the wizards’ system worked to keep the school at an even temperature. He wasn’t sure of the controls used to monitor it and had to assume there was some form of thermal control for the different areas like the bathhouses.

  It was unimportant to the boy and as he found a new vent he looked down to see several girls soaking in a half dozen tubs. They were raised above the stone floor and steam could be seen rising from each one even from his vantage point. The current occupants were most likely novice or apprentice wizards relaxing after their morning’s trials. Niklaus smiled and even as a cat it translated into the wickedness of what the boy intended to do.

  Sniffing with his feline nose, he found what he was looking for. There had been pranks from boys on the girls played over the decades since the first students had arrived making White Hall a wizard’s school. The problem with boys, who also could use magic, was that their ability to create havoc was that much greater than boys without the spells at their disposal. Niklaus had the power and skills to try a prank that would be told for decades, if he could pull it off correctly.

  Invisibility, known as stealth to battle mages, had been one of the greatest spells used, but Niklaus didn’t know that magic yet. One of the reasons it wasn’t among the first taught to young cadets was the trouble the spell could make. Still, the boy had discovered the ability to become an animal, and there were ways to be almost invisible using such a spell.

  Moving to the far side of the shaft, he smelled the mice. While magic wards were used to keep such creatures out of the school, even magic wasn’t fully proof against the tenacious little beasts. Sliding down the vent with the knowledge of a human, the mice noticed the predator as the sound of his claws scratching the inner ductwork announced his arrival.

  Scattering before their enemy meant fleeing in the most obvious direction, that of the vent along the floor, though a few disappeared into a couple small holes in the stone. One day he would have to warn those in charge of the weakness in the stone, but it would be no time soon if he hoped to avoid being discovered and punished.

  Screams as the girls discovered the mice entering the bathhouse made it clear that his prank was working.

  Joining the exodus of about a dozen mice, Niklaus became a mouse as well to watch as the pretty girls leaped out of their baths. As if driven by his feline form, the mice ran from one tub to another rushing towards the far wall and the other vent there. They knew their environment and went against their instinct to stay near the walls to avoid notice. It was pure flight as the creatures panicked making the young, female wizards respond equally.

  Naked girls screamed or ran for the changing room. One fell and the mouse winced at the sight. He hadn’t thought about the slippery floor made worse by their wet skin. Still it was a prank and he supposed as long as no one was injured beyond magical healing all would be fine.

  “Gust,” he heard the familiar mage spell and noted the bare beauty casting just before a wind drove the mice back including Niklaus himself.

  Katya stood in the water of her tub as she flicked her hand at the mice heading her way. Fully half were driven back by the swiftly cast wind. Niklaus was lucky that he wasn’t knocked into one of the pools though other mice weren’t so lucky.

  He gazed at Katya looking both gloriously bare and dangerous as her mind didn’t scare like the other girls. She was a farm girl and had dealt with them for her mother and sister before. They didn’t scare her at all and now she was a novice with more than twenty magic spells at her command.

  Trying to commit the beautiful view to his memory, the mouse retreated to the vent behind him and quickly changed to a rat to scurry back up the ductwork. Slower than a cat, he transformed once again into a feline and moved to look through the vent above the pools to check his handiwork as well as sneak a last peek at any remaining naked girls.

  Katya spotted the movement and barely had to mo
ve her head to see the eyes glittering through the vent at her. Hands on her hips, the girl was too angry to remember that he could see all of her. Instead she cried out angrily, “If that is you who did that, Niklaus, you will go back where you came from before going to Carice who is guarding the bathhouse and turn yourself in for punishment!”

  At first the boy looked at her as if she was crazy, but his feline eyes noticed a glow to her eyes even as Katya’s coercion locked onto his mind. Wanting to cry out in surprise, not even a peep escaped his cat mouth. The power was overwhelming and the boy turned away from the impressive sight of the naked, beautiful coercer to make his way back to the janitor’s closet.

  Turning back to human, he replaced the vent and dressed. Opening the door, Niklaus began to walk towards the girls’ bathhouse to do as Katya had commanded. His mind wanted to fight the order, but his feet continued towards the guard. As he rounded the bend he noted several girls hysterically holding towels trying to cover themselves gesturing to the woman at the door to go inside and slay the mice.

  Niklaus didn’t see Katya yet and the thought of her suddenly caused his feet to stop. Shaking his head, the boy stepped back around the corner even as a cloud seemed to lift from his mind. The power of Katya’s magic had been overwhelming for sure, but she was virtually untrained in the spells of her guild and only that meant her magic failed to hold him to his purpose.

  Letting out a breath of relief, Niklaus took one more glance at the nearly naked girls in their continued panic before turning to disappear back down the corridor. Without hurrying his steps, the boy descended the tower stairs starting to whistle a tune he had learned as a child.

  Niklaus walked to the dining hall and even after several of the apprentice and novices involved in his prank began telling their wild tales of an attack of mice from the walls, the mage said nothing. It wasn’t until Jeraan arrived along with some of their other friends that the cadet felt satisfied that he would get away with his prank in spite of Katya’s magic.

  The morning session had been a lot of work as they followed their mentors casting new spells to add into their steadily growing arsenal. For Piotr, working with air magic wasn’t as much of a challenge as fire had been, though earth and water were certainly easier than those two. As a future nature wizard, it wasn’t unheard of for them to use all the elements to a degree; or so he had been told by Wizard Zieran and some of the other nature wizards who were often around the zoo and nature courtyard while he studied.

  He had watched Katya struggle; though the girl often made it look harder than he thought it truly was for her. When Piotr watched her perform a quicker version like he had seen from the battle mages, his brother included; the boy wondered if it was more that wizard designed spells seemed to bog her down in their process. After using a mage version, Katya appeared to figure out the other way to cast the magic after only one try.

  While Piotr knew of the fear of wilders, since he was lumped into that category as well; Katya seemed like more of a fit for battle mage magic than that of a wizard. He had heard Ylena complain to her to do it ‘right’, but what was right if the girl could do it more naturally in a simpler fashion.

  “Gust,” the novice called flicking his hand and tried to make the air move as he had with the more involved version of the spell.

  “Don’t tell me you want to train like a battle mage too,” Job complained jokingly. He had seen the same use of magic from the girl, and it wasn’t just from Katya that the bug to fast cast was derived from among the new wizards. Too many had seen Magnus’ use of mage magic that night against the older apprentice. A former friend, who was only slightly younger than the champion of Winter’s Edge; Arrimus had been humiliated and made to look a fool. The problem was, it was obvious to them all that if used by the more powerful wizards, mage spells were even more overwhelming in a duel and would be better in a tight fight as well.

  The gust spell didn’t work for him, but if Piotr was honest with himself, he hadn’t felt for the magic in the same way as he had in the courtyard. The novice just wasn’t trying, though his mind wondered if he should be looking into trading notes with his brother to learn more of the spells.

  “No, but you saw how Katya managed the spell in the other form first. It even unlocked the harder, longer version for her,” he mused.

  “Yeah, but Ylena didn’t appreciate it one bit. She said it was cheating basically and that learning the wrong way would end up limiting her abilities. Do you think Katya believed her?” the younger boy asked his friend.

  While they hadn’t known each other well in Delanne, the two boys had discovered that they had a lot in common and had become fast friends. Being able to talk to someone, when he couldn’t see Niklaus as often, had been a wonderful bit of luck. All of the wizards who had started orientation together managed to get along in fact, but Job was his closest confidante outside of his brother.

  “I think if Magnus and Katya’s brother have anything to do with it, there will be more of us turning to mage casting. We can learn both and the simpler spells will save us time and energy if we have to face the Dark One’s armies. Still, I can see Ylena’s point. My brother can do something that I haven’t figured out, but I have my own way of doing certain spells that came from needing to focus my new magic.

  “Maybe that time on my own will work against me also in the end?”

  Job smiled and shook his head, before replying, “You’re doing as well as any of us. Well, maybe Smart Alec is ahead of the curve, but other than him anyway.”

  The boy spoke of the novice who had come from Windmeer. A wizard with an air tendency; Alec had done well with fire and air so far. When most struggled; the boy who was a few months younger than Piotr, like Job was, had figured out the spells either first or very nearly. At the ongoing skill the boy possessed, Katya had taken to calling him Smart Alec as a joke. He seemed to take it good naturedly, and it was definitely better to be known as smart than as incompetent.

  He was about to answer when a strange flash ran across his vision. A room and a vent already opened fluttered like an after image for a moment before making the novice appear to fall asleep.

  Job called out his name, but his mind was preoccupied with the sight and sound from hundreds of feet away; if he had to guess the distance.

  Entering the darkness and trying to scale the duct changed as something different took over and Piotr knew that the animal had changed. Unable to force his brother’s mind out of his own, the boy was dragged along through the ducts until he could see a changing room and a single female there. More darkness led to a sight through vent slats of several naked girls bathing. Some were social and talking as if they were intentionally hanging out together in the larger pools, which could easily hold four or more girls without crowding. The communal aspect was perfectly natural, though Piotr hadn't been to the men's version.

  His own body blushed as he spotted Katya through his brother’s eyes, or more to the point Niklaus directed their sight to the pretty girl.

  He was quite relieved when his brother stopped gawking at the girls returning his attention to the darkness. They were on the move passing over a couple more vents along the way to a drop off. He could sense, as his brother could as well, that something was below the cat roaming the ductwork.

  When he drove the mice out of the ducts into the bath area, Piotr frowned as his brother joined the rush as a mouse. His thoughts of how idiotic Niklaus was being didn’t need to be voiced when Katya turned her magic on the other mice catching them in the gust of wind. It was the very spell he had considered earlier, and now they were seeing it from the wrong end of the spell.

  The mouse retreated to become a cat and tried to escape through the ducts once more, but his brother was too brazen and dared look down on Katya in her glory. She looked confident and her beauty was revealed; but her eyes locked on the interloper and Piotr wanted to yell at Niklaus to run.

  His vision returned as her magic locked Niklaus in place. Her coerci
on broke the boys’ link letting Piotr return to himself to see Job looking at him worriedly. Sitting up, the nature novice frowned making the younger novice ask, “What happened? We were talking and you just suddenly closed your eyes and lay back on the bed.”

  His frown still on his lips, Piotr stated, “Niklaus decided to use his shape changing skills to pull a prank on the girls and dragged me along to watch apparently.”

  “He can do that? You’re the wizard and yet he forced your mind to follow him?”

  “I doubt that he even considered we might be tied together. Usually I don’t flash through his eyes to see what he does, but maybe because he was more excited I was pulled with him.”

  “What was he doing that your brother was getting so excited?”

  Unable to contain a growl of annoyance completely, Piotr revealed, “The idiot decided to go through the ducts to the girls’ bathhouse to sneak a peak, and then he found some mice to startle into the pool area making most of the girls panic. He got a good view of several more when they ran out naked, but Katya was there.”

  “Katya?” the other boy questioned with a little smile. While Briahnna and Job were certainly close, and unofficially were boyfriend and girlfriend; all the boys thought that Katya was one of the prettier girls in school. If not for the irreprehensible way he wound up seeing her naked, he would have admitted that his memory of that night at the inn and the sight of her beautiful body hadn't dulled slightly.

  “He didn’t get to look at her for long. She used the new spell the mage way and blew the mice away. Niklaus was lucky that he didn’t land in one of the other pools. If he had to change to human, he’d probably be naked as well. The magic can only make the smaller animals from just his body. Clothing only stays with him on larger animals.