Work Experience (Schooled in Magic Book 4)

by Christopher Nuttall

  “Very good,” Lady Barb agreed. “And how do you plan to use it?”

  Emily hesitated, realizing Lady Barb was right. Necromancers went insane because they channeled vast amounts of power through their minds. If she drew on a battery, she would be running the risk of being driven insane by her own power. Coming to think of it, could she draw on someone else’s power from another battery? What if it was that, rather than contact with their own magic, that drove necromancers insane?

  But it was something she didn’t dare try to test.

  “You could probably use it like a modified ritual,” Lady Barb said, after a moment. She stood up, pulled a book from the shelves and opened it, looking for a particular chapter. “You’d have to set up the spell-structure, rather like using a wand, then open the hatch and let the power flow. But if it failed...well, you might end up with an explosion. Or a wave of wild magic.”

  Emily frowned. The whole concept sounded obvious to her. “No one ever tried this before?”

  “Not as far as I know,” Lady Barb admitted. “But you know how easy it is to hide something in this world – and how many sorcerers keep secrets.”

  The Mimic, Emily thought. Everyone had believed that they were living creatures – and why not, in a world that included dragons, demons and gorgons. But they were actually spells, the most elaborate and complex spells Emily had ever seen. Someone had created them, built them up piece by piece, then sent them out to wreak havoc. And no one had had the slightest idea what their creator had done until Emily had uncovered the truth.

  “We will be practicing creating pocket dimensions while we’re walking from village to village,” Lady Barb said. She pointed a long finger at Emily. “And you will be very careful what you do. There isn’t anyone who can help out there, apart from me.”

  Emily nodded, ruefully.

  “I learned my lesson,” she said, tartly. “I...”

  “Really?” Lady Barb asked. “Remind me; which students were faking library passes when they should have been in New Learning?”

  Emily flushed. New Learning was her least favorite class, if only because most of what it taught was derived from innovations Emily herself had introduced. She wasn’t even sure why the Grandmaster and Mistress Irene had inserted her into the class. But Alassa had talked her into skipping once, then they’d faked library passes for the next two classes. Eventually, inevitably, they’d been caught. They hadn’t been able to sit comfortably for several days afterwards, to say nothing of having to redo several essays and other assignments. It hadn’t been a pleasant week.

  She yawned, suddenly.

  “You can have a nap,” Lady Barb said. She gave Emily a smile as Emily blushed furiously at her sudden loss of control. “I’ll send Jade a note explaining that I’ve worked you halfway to death and you’ll see him tomorrow. Speaking of which, I will have to leave the house early tomorrow morning. When you wake up, make sure to eat breakfast, then start practicing your potions. I want them all perfect by the time I return.”

  She helped Emily to her feet, showed her the brewing chamber, then escorted her into her bedroom. Emily closed her eyes as soon as her head hit the pillow, and fell asleep.

  This time, there were no dreams to torment her.

  Chapter Seven

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING, THE HOUSE FELT oddly empty – emptier than yesterday. Emily awoke, feeling much better, washed herself and walked down to the kitchen. A note on the table reminded her about her potions work, ending with a dire threat to forbid her from seeing Jade if she hadn’t produced a series of perfect potions by the time Lady Barb returned home. Emily rolled her eyes, then took the bowl of porridge off the stove and ate it slowly, savouring every bite. It wasn’t something she’d expected to like, after having to subsist on her own homemade gruel, but she enjoyed eating it at Whitehall.

  Once she’d finished eating, she walked into the brewing chamber and examined the piles of ingredients. There was nothing too dangerous, according to two years of Alchemy; she wasn’t expected to brew anything really complex. But it was still not one of her skills, even though she rather liked Professor Thande. The man’s willingness to constantly push the limits – and encourage his students to do the same – made her feel much better about her poor lab work.

  The first potion was a standard pain relief draught, one she knew how to make from memory. It was commonly used for headaches, she’d been taught, although – like all potions – it had a tendency to become addictive if overused. The one time Professor Thande had been genuinely angry with an experimenting student had been when the student had made a potion actually taste nice. Thande had pointed out, sharply, that anything that encouraged people to take potions was asking for trouble.

  Emily sorted out the piles of ingredients, one by one. Imaiqah had worked with her for hours, helping to improve her technique. One of the simplest tricks was to lay everything out beforehand, then start brewing. She lit the fire under the cauldron with a simple spell, then poured in water and waited for it to boil. Once it was ready, she added the herbs and then a handful of less pleasant ingredients. There were times when she suspected she would have preferred not to know what went into the potion.

  She kept stirring it until it boiled again, then settled down into an unpleasant green color. Once it was done, she removed the cauldron from the fire and poured the liquid into a bottle, then left it there to cool down. Lady Barb wouldn’t be able to find anything wrong with it, she told herself, as she cleaned the cauldron and set it up again. The next potion was taught to both male and female students, but female students had a strong motive to learn. It helped prevent cramps and bleeding during their time of the month.

  The first potion went wrong, somehow. Emily swore, poured the mess into a container for disposal and started again. Frustration was a problem when making potions, Professor Thande had told them more than once; their magic could accidentally interact with the magical transformation taking place inside the cauldron. Disasters – cauldrons were known to explode on a regular basis - occurred when someone was irritated or frustrated. But the second version came out fine.

  Emily sat down to rest for half an hour while it cooled down, reading through one of the books on transfiguration Lady Barb had picked out for her, then returned to the brewing chamber. The third potion was designed to handle poison, flushing out any toxins within the victim’s body. It wasn’t even remotely clean, she knew, but it worked. She brewed it perfectly, then went on to the fourth potion. It took her four tries to get the contraceptive potion to come out properly.

  She looked up as she felt the wards shiver around her, then heard the sound of Lady Barb making her way down the corridor and into the chamber. She looked tired, but happy; Emily smiled at her, then waved a hand at the prepared potions. Lady Barb nodded to her and checked them, one by one. They all passed muster.

  Emily relaxed, slightly, as she finished the final potion. “I finished them all,” she said, as Lady Barb moved over to stand beside her. “They’re perfect.”

  “Good enough,” Lady Barb agreed, after a careful inspection. “You used a little too much rabbit blood for the contraceptive potion. It won’t last more than a week outside a charmed bottle.”

  “Sorry,” Emily said, tiredly. She still didn’t understand what kind of mind would devise tests to explore the magical potency of rabbit blood. Professor Thande and the other alchemists had to be out of their minds. “Do you want me to redo it?”

  “Not now,” Lady Barb said. She turned and headed back towards the door. “Bottle up the potions you’ve made, clean up the room and then wash yourself, thoroughly. There aren’t so many wards here.”

  Emily nodded and started to clean the cauldron. Professor Thande had taught his students not to use magic anywhere near their tools, pointing out that it could produce unexpected results the next time they started to brew. She wiped it clean with boiling water, then placed it and the rest of the tools on a shelf to drip dry. Once she’d bottled the potions
, she left the room, washed herself and walked back down to the kitchen. Lady Barb was busy laying out food and drink for lunch.

  “I spoke to Jade,” Lady Barb said, when Emily sat down. “He’s going to pick you up at sixteen bells so you can both watch the dueling.”

  Emily blinked. She knew that magicians used duels to settle disputes, at least when one side refused to back down or apologize after a long argument, but dueling wasn’t taught at Whitehall unless the student wanted to become a champion dueler. Sergeant Miles, when asked, had pointed out that duels followed rules and war tended to have none – and teaching his students to respect rules wasn’t doing them any favors. Emily tended to agree with the sergeant, although she knew that some of the boys had objected.

  She looked up at Lady Barb. “Why does Jade want to watch?”

  Lady Barb’s lips twitched. “Master Grey is going to be competing,” she said. “I believe that Jade wishes to support his master.”

  “Oh,” Emily said. She had never cared for sporting events – she’d done her best to support Alassa in playing Ken, but it wasn’t one of her pleasures – but she had to admit that she was curious. Besides, it would give her a chance to evaluate Master Grey. “I see.”

  Lady Barb nodded. “You can read in the library until he arrives,” she said. “I’d suggest wearing your student robes, rather than the golden ones. You don’t want to be mistaken for a qualified magician.”

  Emily lifted an eyebrow. “Magicians tend to jostle each other,” Lady Barb elaborated. “If one of them thinks you’re a qualified magician, he might try to put you down in hopes of boosting his own status. But it’s considered unwise to try any games with a student. The Grandmaster would not be amused.”

  “I see,” Emily said.

  She ate her food, then went back to the library and started to reread Yodel’s book on pocket dimensions. As before, it was complex, often taking entire pages to explain something that could have been covered in a paragraph or two. She finished it, scribbled a series of notes, then opened one of Lady Barb’s books. Much to her irritation, it was simpler and far easier to understand. She was so engrossed in it that she didn’t hear Lady Barb behind her until a hand fell on her shoulder.

  “You need to pay more attention to your surroundings,” Lady Barb reproved her. “It’s nearly time for Jade to arrive.”

  Emily glanced at her clockwork watch, then jumped up and ran to her room. Lady Barb’s laughter followed her as she undressed, washed again and pulled on her student robes. It seemed impossible to do anything with her hair, apart from tying it into a long ponytail...but she hadn’t done anything more complex when she’d first met Jade. She glanced at herself in the mirror, decided she looked as good as she was going to get, then walked downstairs as she felt the wards shiver, announcing his presence.

  “Welcome,” Lady Barb said, opening the door and calling out to Jade. “She’s just coming.”

  She winked at Emily, turning her head so Jade couldn’t see. “I want you back home before midnight,” she warned. “Or there will be consequences.”

  Emily felt herself flush, although part of her was a little relieved. Her impulses were confusing; part of her wanted to spend time with Jade, part of her wanted to leave him and remain alone. Shaking her head, she nodded to Lady Barb and walked out of the door. Jade smiled at her as the door closed, then turned to lead her back towards the Faire. In the distance, she could hear the sound of cheering crowds.

  “It’s been a long time,” Jade said, as they walked. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too,” Emily said, although she wasn’t sure if that was true. “Martial Magic just hasn’t been the same.”

  Why didn’t I notice he liked me? She asked herself. She’d enjoyed Jade’s company...but that had been before he’d come out and proposed to her. Everyone had noticed that he liked her, apart from Emily herself. Having him propose to her had been a shock. Because the thought of someone liking me seemed so absurd.

  Jade smiled. “You would have done well, with or without me,” he said. “You have talent.”

  “But I still failed,” Emily said. “I don’t know what I will be doing next year.”

  “Most students tend to take Martial Magic in Fifth or Sixth Year,” Jade pointed out. “I think they won’t have a problem with you repeating the class in Third Year.”

  Emily nodded, silently. As embarrassing as it was to repeat a class, she did need the practice...and she wasn’t sure what she would do after completing the second year of Martial Magic in any case. Normally, students went straight into apprenticeships with qualified sorcerers, like Jade, but she had four more years of schooling ahead of her first. She looked up at Jade, wondering what had happened to get his face scarred – and why he hadn’t healed the scars completely.

  “I made the mistake of asserting that I was ready to face a master swordsman,” Jade admitted, when she asked. “He cut my face – and Master Grey told me to keep the scars.”

  They stopped outside a hollow in the ground, surrounded by watching magicians. In the center, a set of wards had been drawn up to protect the spectators and prevent outside interference. They reminded Emily of the wards Sergeant Miles erected to protect his pupils, although they felt as if several different magicians had created them together. Perhaps they had, she decided. One person working alone could always decide to cheat.

  “These are the newcomers,” Jade told her, nodding towards the two magicians inside the wards. One of them was holding a staff, Emily noted, while the other was carrying a pair of wands, one in each hand. “The serious fights don’t start until later.”

  Emily nodded, remembering a piece of advice from Alassa. “So,” she said, “what happens?”

  Jade smiled, apparently glad to be able to explain. “Level One dueling means the fighters will duel until one of them is unable to continue,” he told her. “Level Two is fought out until someone is seriously injured and the referee calls a halt. Level Three is a fight to the death, with no quarter asked or received. Most of the duels here are Level Two, but sometimes there’s a grudge match where one participant is killed.”

  “Oh,” Emily said. In the hollow, the two fighters were throwing spells at each other with icy determination. It was hard to tell which one of them was more advanced; they seemed evenly matched. “Why are they using wands?”

  “They’re allowed to use wands and staffs by prior arrangement,” Jade explained. “The challenged party is allowed to set the terms for the duel, but there are limits. You cannot use something you don’t bring into the arena with you, for example, and you can’t take help from outside the arena. That would count as cheating and the mediators” – he pointed a hand towards a pair of men dressed in white – “would intervene.”

  Emily looked back towards the arena, just in time to see the wand-holding magician thrown back against the wards. He crumpled to the ground and lay still. His opponent eyed him carefully for a long moment, then turned and bowed to the crowd. There were a handful of scattered cheers, but not much enthusiasm. The winner didn’t seem amused and stalked out of the arena as soon as the wards were lowered.

  When she asked why, Jade told her. “That was a very basic duel. It isn’t what these bloodthirsty bastards came to see.”

  The next two magicians looked flamboyant, both wearing robes that suggested they were color-blind. Emily had to fight down the urge to snicker when they bowed to each other, then stared in awe as they threw waves of raw magic without bothering to wait for a countdown. The wards flashed blue time and time again as streaks of magic slammed against them, suggesting that both magicians were unleashing vast amounts of power. Emily found herself wondering what would happen if the wards collapsed, then pushed the thought aside as the two magicians converged. It was growing harder to see them in between flashes of magic.

  “A grudge match, if not one to the death,” Jade explained. Emily barely heard him over the roar of the crowd. “Those two are brothers – and riva
ls.”

  There was a final multicolored flash of light...and one magician collapsed to the ground, his hand severed. Emily saw blood and shuddered. She knew that a healer could reattach the hand within moments but it was still hard to imagine such pain. The winner picked up his opponent’s staff, ritually broke it – there was a sound like a thunderclap as it snapped – and tossed the pieces to one side. Emily had to cover her ears as the crowd went wild. The winner waited until the wards dropped, then marched outside, waving to his fans.

  The next three duels were less violent, but considerably more interesting. There must have been some careful negotiation prior to the match, Emily decided, for the participants seemed more interested in placing their spells carefully than actually winning. The crowd didn’t seem too amused either, but the competitors ignored them. By the time the matches came to an end, the crowd seemed relieved. Emily tended to agree.

  “They probably agreed to hobble themselves,” Jade told her, as the final pair of duelists limped off the field. The duel had ended in a draw. “There are several schools that limit the type of spells you can use in a formal duel.”

  He winked at her as someone new stalked onto the field. Master Grey stood in the center of the arena, holding his staff above his head. Emily watched with sudden interest as the mediators announced him as the undefeated champion, three years running. The crowd went wild, shouting and screaming for their hero. To his credit, Emily decided, Master Grey didn’t look impressed. Indeed, he almost seemed bored.

  “He insisted that anyone who wanted to challenge him had to declare a Level Three,” Jade said, as the first competitor stepped into the arena. He was a tall bulky man, stripped to the waist, with runes carved into his bare flesh. The crowd gave him a good-natured cheer as he bowed to Master Grey, then lifted his staff. “He thought it would cut down on challengers.”

  Emily stared at him. “This duel is to the death?”

  “Yes,” Jade said.