DarkSkull Hall

by Lisa Cassidy

  “I get it,” Tarrick said tersely. “There’s no need to explain.”

  “All right then, I just wanted you to know. You need anything down the track, come look me up,” Adahn shook Tarrick’s hand.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Adahn smiled. “Of course. Good luck.”

  Alyx watched as Adahn returned to the centre table, sharing a few words with Galien as he sat opposite him. The Shiven glanced over at Alyx with a look of contempt. Adahn said something else and Galien smiled, his attention turning to Oscar as he shared the joke.

  “I spoke to Madame Grange today, Finn.” Brynn changed the subject. “If you want a roommate, you’ve got one.”

  “Really?” Finn looked delighted.

  “How did you manage to get permission from Madame Grange?” Dawn was astonished.

  “Even evil tyrants can be charmed,” Brynn said. “I’ve been working on her for weeks.”

  Alyx was secretly impressed. She’d tried asking Grange for an extra blanket once and received only a lengthy lecture on how DarkSkull wasn’t interested in providing the luxurious comforts of a noble bedroom. Even Dawn had had her polite request for extra boot polish flatly denied.

  “Great,” Finn said. “Bring your stuff up tonight.”

  “Sure. Let’s do it now.”

  Alyx and Dawn rose with them; since the day before they still preferred to cling together as much as possible.

  “I’m still eating,” Tarrick complained, waving at his nearly empty bowl of stew.

  “You don’t have to come with us,” Brynn said.

  “What? And sit here alone looking even more pathetic?” Tarrick pushed the bowl aside and rose too. “Besides, you’re both kind of scrawny. You might need help lifting Brynn’s stuff into Finn’s room.”

  “I can’t decide whether that was a nice offer or an insult,” Brynn whispered as Tarrick strode through the dining hall ahead of them.

  “I think you’ll find it was both,” Alyx commented.

  Once outside their dormitory building, Alyx and Dawn parted from the other three and went inside, heading up to their room.

  “I don’t know whether being noble-born prepares you any better for this, but after last night I’ve been in a constant state of fear,” Dawn said as they changed. “I kept jumping every time I saw Fengel or Galien look at me today.”

  Alyx wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but settled for, “I’m a sixteen-year-old girl too. I think almost getting killed probably affects us the same way.”

  Dawn looked up. “Oh. I was hoping you’d have some wonderful words of wisdom that would make me feel better.”

  “Being rich and noble doesn’t mean being perfect,” Alyx said, irritated. “My life might be a bubble, as you put it, but I’m here just like you are.”

  “I’m sorry, Alyx, I didn’t intend to be mean,” she said softly. “It’s just that from a distance, your life does seem perfect.”

  Alyx sighed. “I’m just saying that I’m still human.”

  “I understand.” Dawn blew out the lamp so that both girls could crawl under the covers. Despite her tiredness, Alyx stayed awake a little longer, thinking.

  Her feelings had undergone a confusing shift since the previous day’s incident. Aside from Cayr, and her prickly relationship with Dashan, Alyx had many friends in Rionn. They were mostly girls of her own age, daughters of the nobility. She spent time with them, giggled and gossiped with them, shopped for dresses with them. Cayr was the only one she really talked to though, the one she discussed important things with. She knew had he been there the day before, he would have stayed to protect her. And that’s what Brynn, the twins, and even Tarrick had done. Despite the differences between them, despite the fact they would probably have never met if Lord-Mage Casovar hadn’t sent them to DarkSkull, they had stood by each other in the most terrifying moment of Alyx’s life.

  Did that make them her friends? They were definitely more than what she had with the girls of the Rionnan court. Alyx knew if they’d been confronted with the situation she’d faced yesterday, there was a good chance those girls would have run screaming and not even given her a second thought.

  “Dawn?” she spoke softly into the darkness.

  “Mmm?” The girl sounded sleepy, but still awake.

  “I’m really glad I’m here with you and Finn. And I’m glad that Brynn has joined our group too.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Finn can be irritating, but he’s very smart and he makes me laugh.”

  “Funny, that’s the way I think about him too.”

  “And Brynn is nosy and overly direct, but he’s really nice.”

  “Agreed.” Dawn yawned.

  “Do you think we can trust Tarrick?”

  “I think his honour is very important to him. It must be hard for him too, to be shunned by the people he belongs with. It doesn’t make what he did right, but I think we should give him a chance.”

  Silence fell as Alyx mulled that. Eventually she turned over, glancing across the dark room.

  “I don’t know how I would cope here without sharing this room with you, Dawn,” Alyx admitted quietly.

  “It’s strange to think we were both so irritated about having to share a room when we first got here,” Dawn said sleepily. “But I feel the same way.”

  “Night, Dawn.”

  “Night, Alyx.

  Chapter 15

  With Tarrick’s mage powers having broken out during Galien’s attack, they all began attending two-hour sessions every Seventhday morning with Howell, who had also pronounced Dawn ready to train. As soon as they’d described to Howell the way Dawn had warned them of Galien and Fengel’s approach that night, he’d lit up with glee and told her she was lucky enough to have a very special ability.

  Dawn was a telepath.

  Even Tarrick had perked up at that piece of news. Being a telepath meant Dawn was no lesser mage like Brynn, and Howell told them Dawn’s ability to also sense the emotions behind the voices she heard meant she could become a powerful one.

  “We haven’t seen a telepath mage to rival Master Romas’ power since Master Tobias died ten years ago,” Howell said. “It’s a rare ability amongst mages.”

  Finn and Alyx came along to the lessons to observe. Finn usually brought notes from their classes and spent the time poring over them. Alyx, not wanting to study for a second more than she had to, spent the time trying to avoid utter boredom and daydreaming about the things she would do when she went home. Cayr featured frequently in these dreams; she missed him terribly.

  As far as Alyx could tell, Howell’s teaching was slow and haphazard. He set complex exercises for his initiates that they found difficult to complete. When Tarrick complained once, Howell simply smiled and said that a mage needed to be in complete control of his or her magic.

  “Blowing things up is not a sign of control,” he added, shifting in his comfortable chair.

  “If it’s so important, why are we only spending two hours a week learning magic?” Tarrick muttered.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of opportunity to learn about your magic,” Howell said happily. “You’ll be here for at least four years, don’t forget. The first year is more about settling into the rhythm of student life, and learning the fundamentals of education you’ll need once you do learn your magic and become a fully-fledged mage.”

  “How does one become a fully-fledged mage?” Dawn asked.

  “Much like the Taliath did. You undergo a trial of magic and spirit.”

  “What happens in the trial?” Finn looked up from his books, intrigued.

  “That is something you will find out when you are ready to become a mage.” Howell stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Which is a long time off. Tarrick, control! How many times do I have to say it?”

  “Sir?” Dawn asked hesitantly. “Can you tell us more about what mages do once they pass the trials?”

  “You really are innocents, aren’t you? The answer is
varied. Most mages choose to work for the Mage Council. Those that don’t usually work directly for their kings, or emperor, in the case of Tarrick’s brothers.”

  “There’s no higher honour for a Zandian than serving the emperor,” Tarrick said.

  “What do council mages do?” Finn asked.

  “Some become warrior mages, like Master Rothai. They travel a lot, trying to curtail the activities of robber bands or acting as bodyguards or such like. Those who have healing magic become healers, some live like nomads and travel all over. Others stay in one place and assist their local region. There are many that choose to teach, and even one or two spies.”

  “How does the council decide where to send mages?” Finn asked.

  “They receive requests from kings, or merchants or groups. Sometimes even individuals.”

  “And how do they decide which requests to accede to?”

  “Well, the council is paid for its services, of course, but that’s why we have a council, to weigh each request and decide on its merits. The decision will always be made in favour of a task that has the most benefit for the region or community involved.”

  Finn frowned. “But what if a certain country asked the council for warrior mages to attack another country?”

  “The council doesn’t intervene in territorial disputes.” Howell sighed. “And that is enough questions from you today. This is a magic class, and you are not yet a participant.”

  Alyx felt useless during these two hours, though she was nonetheless curious to see mage power in use, even in small amounts. After the sessions, they would trudge off to groom and exercise the horses in their remaining free time before lunch. In his self-imposed role as protector, Tarrick usually went with them when they exercised their horses, or when leaving the safety of the main hall, classrooms, or dormitories. On the one occasion Finn and Brynn went for a walk after dinner without telling Tarrick, he was furious with them both.

  Apart from this, Tarrick fit oddly with their group. Though only an initiate, he was far more familiar with magic than any of them, and clearly wasn’t comfortable spending all his time with innocents who didn’t come from a rich mage culture and tradition. Still, he never said anything about how he felt, and stuck diligently by them. He generally stayed quiet when they conversed together though, and didn’t make a huge effort to get to know them or become more a part of the group.

  Alyx understood this; she felt very much the same way. She felt so out of place at DarkSkull sometimes that not even Dawn’s gentle support could lighten the despair she felt.

  “Alyx?”

  She glanced up at Finn’s voice, startled from her daydream about walking with Cayr along the docks. Not far away, Tarrick, Dawn and Brynn were focusing intently on something Howell was trying to teach them. “Yes?”

  “Want to go over the formulas from Master Dirrion’s class yesterday? I noticed you were struggling with them.”

  Alyx sighed and shifted closer to him. She didn’t imagine the formulas would be any less boring with Finn explaining them to her, but failing classes meant not keeping her promise to her father. And that risked being sent back to DarkSkull for a second year.

  “Thanks, Finn. That would be great.”

  Finn was better at explaining than Dirrion, but Alyx found her attention wandering a short time later. Her gaze focused on two initiates who’d entered the far end of the room to empty out the charcoal from the unlit fireplace. It was one of many duties issued to those who’d infracted the rules somehow. Alyx vaguely recognised them as students in her mapping and languages classes. As with the other initiates though, they steered well clear of the Rionnans once it became clear how Galien and Fengel felt about them.

  “Finn?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why do you think the DarkSkull Masters care so much about us having perfectly clean rooms and obeying the most minor of rules, when they don’t seem to care if initiates get bullied to the degree Brynn was?”

  Finn looked up from the page of formulas he’d been teaching her, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I’m not sure. If I had to guess, I’d say they don’t so much care that we have spotless rooms or neat attire, but that we demonstrate we can follow their rules without complaint. At the same time, they don’t want mages who need help every time they find themselves in a bad situation. Howell himself said that we needed to learn to manage Fengel’s bullying for ourselves.”

  “So they don’t want mages that are weak or unable to be self-sufficient, and they don’t want mages who can’t follow strict orders,” she murmured, mostly to herself.

  “That sounds about right. There’s a limit though, obviously. They presumably don’t want dead mages either, hence Fengel’s punishment for using magic against Tarrick.”

  Something niggled at Alyx about that, but her attention was drawn by the movement of Howell and the others as their class finished. Finn packed up his books and he and Alyx were rising to their feet as Dawn, Brynn and Tarrick approached.

  “I’m headed to the library,” Finn said. “Master Prajana’s lesson on Zandian verbs yesterday made little sense to me so I’m hoping there’s a book that will help.”

  Dawn groaned. “I need to try and catch up with the work from yesterday’s class too. I know Prajana isn’t going to give us a chance to go over it again tomorrow.”

  “All right, study time.” Brynn sighed.

  “In that case, we’re both going too, Alyx,” Tarrick said.

  Alyx nodded, resigned to a boring afternoon of sitting in the library studying. At least it would be warm in there.

  Despite their studying, Alyx once again struggled during Prajana’s class the following day. She paid close attention for the first half of the class, a throbbing ache taking up residence in her head. Studies had never been so challenging before, and she was unsure how to deal with it. Tempted to give up entirely, she forced herself to hold onto the knowledge that if she could somehow scrape through, she’d be able to go home to Cayr and the rest of her life with him.

  Prajana was demonstrating how to construct a basic Shiven sentence when Alyx’s bored gaze fell on the doorway and she spotted a group of students passing by. One of them was Galien, and when his gaze caught hers, he stopped, a slight smile flickering over his face. A chill ran down Alyx’s spine, and she tore her gaze away from his. Everybody else in the class was focused on the front, watching Prajana, and when Alyx turned back to the door, Galien was still standing there.

  She swallowed, watching as a cold smile spread across his face. A moment later, she saw her quill rise into the air over her parchment. When she tried to move her hand to grab it, she couldn’t; her arm felt like it was in an invisible vice, held down firmly against the table. Alyx sucked in a breath, tried harder to move her arm, but failed.

  Beside her, Madgena noticed Alyx’s frantic movements and frowned, her gaze following Alyx’s to the door. When she saw Galien standing there, she hurriedly looked back towards the front of the class and ignored Alyx. The quill hovering in the air before Alyx moved, slowly drifting over her frozen hand. When she tried to move her left hand to grab the quill, she found it, too, was frozen.

  Panic was like a ball in her chest. She opened her mouth, feeling desperate enough to call for Prajana’s attention, but then her throat was frozen too. Prajana was facing a board at the top of the room, her gaze turned away from both Alyx and the door.

  Alyx could do nothing but watch as the quill moved inexorably towards her right hand, its tip first pressing lightly into her skin before digging in harder. Tears of pain welled in her eyes, and soon the quill dug hard enough to draw a bright red bead of blood. Galien watched her, triumph and hate reflecting from those dark eyes.

  Desperate, Alyx lashed out with her booted foot, kicking the leg of her desk hard. Everyone in the room jumped and Prajana turned to her with a glare.

  “Initiate Egalion. What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I was…” Alyx looked at the doorway, but Gali
en had vanished. The quill had dropped back to her desk, the only evidence of what had happened was a line of blood along the back of her right hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’ll stay back after class and write this sentence, as well as three different versions of it, until you’ve filled three pages,” Prajana said crisply. “Now, as I was saying.”

  Alyx caught the worried glances from Brynn and the twins as they went back to their work but could do nothing except shake her head, not wanting to get them in trouble as well. Her hand stung, but at least Galien had gone.

  Autumn became winter at DarkSkull. Alyx had thought it cold and desolate when she’d first arrived, but the weather only became colder and gloomier as the weeks passed.

  Exercising the horses as the weather worsened was never a pleasant task. They were reluctant to venture out into snow or rain or gusting winds, and often played up. Their riders weren’t too enthused about sitting on a horse’s back while the snow sleeted around them, or the gusting icy winds dug deep into their thick cloaks and scarves either.

  Alyx fell often from Tingo’s back when he took exception to something, which happened frequently. He could be a moody stallion and he understood very clearly that his rider didn’t have the strength or skill to control him properly. He challenged her constantly, and with fingers always sprained and aching from sparring classes and her general lack of strength, Alyx struggled to hold him in or direct him.

  Tarrick was bigger, stronger, and had apparently been riding difficult horses since he was a child, so he had no problems at all. Brynn and Dawn had milder horses, and so their lack of strength wasn’t as much of an issue; they seemed to be getting the hang of things slowly, but Finn struggled as much as Alyx.

  The physical training they had three days a week warmed them, but Alyx struggled to learn with Jrui, who refused to give her any quarter. Alyx learned little in these classes except how to desperately avoid powerful blows and cope with painful bruising and the chafing of her palms from the uneven surface of her staff.