The Academy

by Vincent Trigili

  There is a story told of the first time he made such a ruling. It was in the course of choosing this planet for the location of the school. Several of the professors complained about the barren, rocky nature of the site and tried to talk him out of it after he had already declared his official ruling. Apparently he was not happy with this because he stood and called out, “SILENCE!” This shocked everyone in the room, but as legend has it they were astounded by what happened next. He said, “Apparently you doubt my authority as Grandmaster Wizard and wish to challenge me for it, so prepare yourselves for battle.” It is reported that the professors in question immediately apologized, accepted his ruling and fled the room. Knowing Grandmaster Vydor as I did, I doubted the story was true, but it did seem to give him an image of ultimate authority among the students.

  We left the headmaster’s office and went down to get an early lunch. In the mess hall we saw our usual meal companions hanging around chatting. When we joined them Phoenix, who was once called David, said, “Hey, James, you ditched out of the party before you gave your speech!”

  “Speech? What speech?” I asked.

  “Man, you’re the first student to use your powers off the grounds of this campus and you did that in a big way, so we need to be enlightened by your experience,” he said.

  “Not to mention you kicked major spirit butt,” said another student.

  “Oh, I am so big and tough it only took me and eighty-six of my closest friends to beat one spirit,” I said.

  “Oh, we hardly did anything; by the time we arrived you had that spirit licked,” said Phoenix.

  “Right, and Master Kellyn was just there to help cook supper?” I commented. That brought some laughs. “On a more serious note, what did you guys see? I have no solid memory of the fight.”

  “Not much, really. We were told you were locked in a life-and-death struggle with a dark spirit and needed help. When we arrived you looked bad; real bad. You were bleeding from just about every part of your body. One of your arms looked like it was completely destroyed, and the other looked more like ground beef than an arm, but with that one you had a vise-like grip on the spirit. That room was way too small for us all to fit in, so we formed a long chain through every room in the house. In the end I guess it was more of a net than a chain, but it worked.

  “I’m not sure how much time passed before Master Kellyn showed up, but she was awesome. She stepped into the room out of midair and with a sweep of her hand shredded the spirit like it was made of paper. Once the spirit was destroyed you collapsed, and it was all Patty could do to catch you. Once she had you down on the floor Master Kellyn went to work on you. It was amazing to watch your body being rebuilt under her hands. After she had done all she could for you she then healed Patty’s mom.

  “Well, that must have pushed her too far because she fainted, and I caught her. Rannor came in then and put her in one of the chairs. Patty had already taken you to another room with a bed. Shortly afterwards Grandmaster Vydor appeared to take Master Kellyn home and instructed the rest of us to return to our vacations. Later, Rannor filled us in on some of the details, and that’s about it,” he said.

  “Thank you all for coming that day. I would not have survived that fight without you all,” I said.

  “Hey, you guys should have your new names by now. Care to let us in on them?” asked Phoenix.

  “Flame Dancer,” said Patty. “I’m a Pyromancer and Illusionist.”

  “Somehow I should have guessed that. What about you, James?” asked Phoenix.

  “I am now known as Shadow Weaver,” I said. They needed no more information, as that brought a collective gasp. It was somewhat alien to me, but then I thought back to my navy days when someone would be given a big promotion to ship’s captain or another high rank and everyone would cheer and have a party; this group of wizards was very aware of our responsibilities, and they knew the burden that came with my position.

  Phoenix finally broke the silence saying, “Hey, cool! That means we get to add ‘prophet’ to my list of titles.”

  I smiled. “Maybe, but you know they kill prophets the first time they have bad news or get it wrong.”

  “In that case, I think I’ll just keep quiet about it,” he grinned. “So, what are you two lovebirds planning to do with the rest of our day off?”

  “Shadow, you never got to go hiking at my place, so let’s go hiking today,” said Flame.

  “That is a great idea,” I said, and we finished our meal and headed out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  When we got to the school’s main gate I said, “We should take one of the lower trails since the sun will be brutal in the high passes this time of day.”

  “Hey, I’ll go with whatever you think is best. I’ve never done this before and always wondered what it was all about,” she said.

  “In that case I will go slowly,” I replied. She gave me a look that seemed to say, “Just try to keep up.”

  We hiked for a while in silence; I think we were both thinking about the meeting with the headmaster that morning. Eventually we came to a small hollow in the hillside, and we set up a small camp there to rest and drink some water. I looked up overhead and could see the multicolored, swirling energy of the planet’s defenses.

  For whatever reason, I could not remember exactly when I had started to be able to see it. At some point early on in my time at the school, I began to be able to see power and energy clearly. I had always been able to sense things that no one else could, but over time I acquired the ability to see them quite clearly. I knew that none of the others could see things like this, and I learned to keep such visions to myself as it seemed to alienate my fellow classmates. I assumed it was part of being a spellweaver, but still knew too little about my gifts to verify that assumption.

  “Shadow, I was wondering: do you think that they attacked my mom to get at you?” she asked.

  “What makes you say that?” I replied.

  “I was just thinking about it. They could have easily known that we were dating … well, thought that we were dating, or something like that. Anyway, they could have listened in to all my calls home; they were over public channels, after all. Then my mom started getting sick right about the time you and I passed our tenth year of school. They would have known that would mean we were graduating soon and would probably travel home to see my mom, especially if she was sick,” she said.

  “No, I do not think so. After all, it was a fairly weak spirit, and if they were planning to kill me they could have just shown up at your place without any preliminaries, or used a more powerful spirit to be assured of success,” I said.

  Suddenly I noticed several bright flashes in the sky. It took me a minute to figure out what was happening, but once I did I hurriedly packed up our campsite and said, “Flame, we have to get back to the school right now!”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “It is under attack!” I said.

  “That’s a good reason. Let’s go!” she said and took off back down the path to the school. We had not got far when one of the professors appeared.

  “Sorry to interrupt your hike, but we must get you back to the school right now,” he started.

  “Master, I can see that it is under attack and we are moving as fast as we can to get back,” I said.

  “There’s no need for that,” he said and reached out grabbing each of our shoulders. Instantly we were in the auditorium of the school with countless other students. I noticed the purple robes of elite level wizards moving about in the hall. I had never seen any of them at the school before and knew this must be serious. Through the window I could see the planet’s shields glowing under obvious attack. Then Grandmaster Vydor and the rest of the Council appeared on the stage. Immediately after that I saw three dark streaks flying away. “Master Gafar! LOOK!” I called out.

  Instantly I felt him inside my head looking through my eyes, just in time to see the streaks pass out of si
ght. I thought, “Can you see what I saw earlier?” and felt him pull up my memory of it and watch everything from what I had seen on the hike until the streaks left. “Thank you,” I felt him say and he left my head.

  “Attention, everyone!” called out Grandmaster Vydor in an impossibly loud voice. “The danger has passed, but we were attacked by three of the master sorcerers. They failed to penetrate our shields and, demonstrating their cowardice, they fled the instant we came back to meet them. For the present, all students must remain on the school grounds until we know more. Now, everyone is free to go.”

  As he finished talking, I felt Master Gafar in my head saying, “Grandmaster Vydor wants to talk to you and Flame. Meet me at the headmaster’s office right away.” And then he was gone again.

  I grabbed Flame by the hand and said, “Come on, we have to go to the headmaster’s office.”

  “I probably don’t want to know, but why?” she said.

  “Grandmaster Vydor requests our presence, and we are meeting Master Gafar there who will take us to see him,” I said.

  “Yep, I was right; I didn’t want to know that,” she said and visibly paled. “Why does he want to see us?”

  As we made our way through the crowd I said, “If I know him as well as I think I do, he wants to hear your idea about the dark spirit.”

  “And just how would he know about that?” she asked.

  “Master Gafar knows, from reading my memory of the attack outside,” I said.

  “Great, simply great. Now he’ll think I’m hare-brained too,” she said.

  “No, I do not think so. Look, I served with him for a while on the Dragon Claw, and I know him far better than most because of it, so just trust me on this. You will be fine,” I said.

  I had no time to say any more before we turned the corner, where Master Gafar was waiting for us. Before we could properly greet him he said, “Enough of that,” and placed his hands on each of our shoulders. Instantly we were in a room filled with books, tables and easy chairs. I saw Grandmaster Vydor sipping a hot drink and reading a book in an oversized armchair. Master Gafar was nowhere about. Flame had such a tight grip on my hand that I was sure I would have to see Master Kellyn to get it fixed later.

  I felt Flame start to bow, so I stopped her and said, “Hello, Grandmaster, it has been a while.”

  He stood and smiled, saying, “Yes, Shadow, it has. Please try to convince her to relax, if you can. Can I get either of you a drink?”

  “Grandmaster, I would love to try whatever it is you are drinking,” I said. Flame just shook her head. “Flame: here, sit down and gather yourself. Are you sure you do not want a drink?”

  She again just shook her head. Grandmaster Vydor handed me a mug of a dark liquid which, upon sipping, I realized was coffee. I had not seen it for so long, I had forgotten what it was like. I savored the strong flavor of the brew for a moment and sat next to Flame on the couch.

  “First, Shadow, thank you for the report you gave to Master Gafar about what you saw. Since they retreated so fast, I did not get a chance to see anything myself. Next time I will have to come in more discreetly,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  “You are welcome, Grandmaster, but I do not think that is why you asked us here,” I told him.

  “No, of course not. I want to hear more about Flame’s theory involving the attack on her mother. There are some details about it that we here at the school did not know and now we need to. But I think I might have to fetch Master Gafar to get it out of her,” he said with a smile.

  “I think Flame must have heard one too many rumors about how you devour students who don’t reach the standard,” I said lightly.

  “Sorry, Grandmaster, I can’t,” stuttered Flame.

  “Flame, just behave naturally. Grandmaster Vydor hates to be treated like a celebrity,” I said. She was behaving out of character, and that greatly concerned me.

  As I finished speaking I thought I saw something near her head, but it was only a fleeting glimpse. “Grandmaster, did you see that?”

  “Yes. It seems we do have need of Master Gafar,” he replied, and instantly the Master appeared in the room and placed both hands on the sides of Flame’s head. Shortly afterwards Master Kellyn arrived. I saw her reach out and pull some darkness out of Flame, who went limp in Master Gafar’s arms. Master Kellyn magically lifted Flame from her slumped position, laid her down on the couch and sat down beside her. Master Gafar left as quickly as he had come.

  “Grandmaster, what happened?” I asked.

  “It seems that someone tried to take control of Flame and was planning to kill me through her. She knew it and was fighting it for all she was worth,” he said.

  “Flame will be fine in a few minutes. She just needs a bit of rest, so I am keeping her asleep,” said Master Kellyn.

  “Grandmaster, who did this? Was it connected to the spirit we fought?” I asked.

  “Yes. It seems that it left part of itself in her; and I suspect that was the plan all along, except that you were the intended target, not Flame. They did not allow for you being a spellweaver and were counting on your previous relationship with me to bring you close enough to attack,” he said.

  “But, Grandmaster, how could either of us have hurt you?” I asked.

  “At a guess, they were counting on my guard being down among friends,” he said.

  “Grandmaster, that would have been a stupid guess,” I said.

  He smiled. “Yes, it would have been.”

  “That settles it, then. Flame was right: the sorcerers did use her mother to get to me. We did not predict their next move,” I said.

  “It does appear that way,” said Master Kellyn. “Between this and today’s attack, I would say our time of peace is definitely over.”

  “Yes, I think we will have to ask some of the elite wizards from the other realm to stay with us for a while,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  Flame awoke then, looked around and said, “I was hoping that was a bad dream.”

  “No, I am afraid not,” I said. “But at least you can be sure no one thinks you are hare-brained.”

  “Thank you, Master Kellyn. I feel much better now,” she said. Looking at Grandmaster Vydor, she asked, “Grandmaster, did Master Gafar get all the knowledge he needed while he was in there?”

  “No, we would not do that without your consent. We do know everything you told Shadow earlier; is there anything you can add to that?” asked Grandmaster Vydor.

  “No, not really, Grandmaster. I was here at the school when my mother took ill, so I don’t know much about it,” she said.

  “Then I think we need to talk to her. Kellyn, please pay her a visit and see if she remembers how she got sick,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

  “Sure thing!” answered Master Kellyn and disappeared.

  “Grandmaster, how did that spirit get in here without being detected?” I asked.

  “Well, it was so small that no one noticed it. It really was a very clever attack and one we will have to adjust our defenses for, but in the end it was too small and weak to work and Flame here was able to stop it. I intend to have the school resume normal operations. However, you two will have to stay on the planet until we have more information on their next move. After myself, Shadow is their primary target so I do not want you traveling about until your powers are more developed,” was his answer.

  “Grandmaster, what about our families? Aren’t they at risk?” asked Flame.

  “Very much so, and we will watch them, but you cannot let any risk or danger to them stop you from fulfilling your duties as wizards. You must realize that they will only go after your families if they think that will have an impact on you. The best way to keep them safe is to let your actions convince the enemy that any attacks on them would be a waste of time and power,” was his reply.

  “Grandmaster, my family will completely understand that, as we have lived it before. I just need permission to tell them so,” I
said.

  “Yes, good idea. Go ahead, and use an open channel when you do,” he said. “That brings up another point; from now on assume all your communications are being monitored, as they likely are.”

  “Grandmaster, the rules of the school tell me I cannot use my powers, except under very limited and restricted conditions; but if the sorcerers attack, what then? Surely I should defend myself?” I asked.

  “Shadow, there are two overriding rules which apply to all wizards and supersede any rule of the school or indeed anywhere. The first is: strive always to follow the path of light. Your moral fiber must be without question all the days of your life. The second is: do everything within your power to prevent sorcerers from ever getting a foothold in this realm; and should they one day manage to do so, then you must do all in your power to remove them. These two rules are the foundation of all the Law and Code of Wizards, so judge each situation as it happens against them and you will never go wrong,” was his answer.

  Before I could say anything else Master Kellyn reappeared and said, “It is as we feared. She does not remember much, but she does know that she had a visit from a tall, dark man shortly before she became ill. She remembers nothing else about him and, given how sharp her memory is in other ways, I think we can safely assume that he was a sorcerer.”

  “Then the peace is truly over. Shadow, Flame, over the next year you will notice some changes in the way things are done around here. Do not be alarmed: we have planned for this day for quite some time now. I must ask that you keep what you heard in this room to yourselves. The professors will distribute information as needed. Shadow, Professor Rannor asked me to tell you not to worry about the headmaster and to continue with your recovery as he planned. I assume you know what that means?” he said.