“Hmm,” Rumford said with a shrug, and silence settled between us.
We emerged into the main hallway, which stood empty but for the two of us. Rumford veered into the cathedral hall, and I followed. My pent-up worry released as I took in the room. More than fifteen master wizards milled about, conversing in groups. I recognized the shaggy brown hair at the back of Master Wendyn’s head. He needed a haircut.
“Hey, Master Sutherland. You’ll never guess what they discovered. I’m a girl!” Rumford broke into snickering, while a diminutive blond man swiveled and fixed him with a look that could melt ice.
Beside him Master Wendyn also turned. His face relaxed when it lighted on me.
“You dare to joke after all this, Rumford?” Master Sutherland strode nearer and grasped his apprentice by the collar. “Come on. You and I need to talk about appropriate behavior.” He crossed the room, Rumford in tow, muttering a behavior.” He crossed the room, Rumford in tow, muttering aBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 27
spell as he went. A wizard door shimmered to life before them and they disappeared through it. Master Wendyn’s hand fell on my shoulder, and thoughts of Rumford scattered as I turned my head to look at him. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d gotten lost. Or Punished,” he said, glance taking me in.
“There was a long line ahead of me.” He tilted his head to scrutinize me, as if trying to read the truths between those words. “Let’s go.” He moved toward the head of the room. I followed, giving the other wizards in the room a brief glance. They looked as tired as I felt. Master Wendyn muttered the revealing spell, and our door appeared, edges wavering and flickering.
Neither of us spoke until the door clicked shut and the tapestry fell back into place with a swish. I moved toward the chair opposite the desk and sank into it, eyes clamped shut, massaging the base of my skull as though I could reach through bone and rub the thumping away.
“What happened to you?” we both said at the same time. I opened my eyes to see Master Wendyn lower himself into the chair behind the desk.
“No, me first,” he said. “This is more important. Was there talk of Punishment?”
I shook my head—and winced at the pain the movement brought on. “Nothing like that. The wizard—DeWitt was his name—cast a on. “Nothing like that. The wizard—DeWitt was his name—cast aBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 28
deception defense and asked if I was a girl.” He raised a brow. “And then what? He never noticed when you crumbled in pain?”
“I didn’t crumble in pain,” I said, half insulted at the description. “He was preoccupied when I answered and didn’t seem to notice anything amiss. I think I hid my reaction pretty well.”
“I’m impressed if you hid it at all.”
“So what did they do to you, then? Where did the guards take you?” I rubbed at my temples.
“A room off the PMW hall. Robenhurst gave us a half-hearted lecture about harboring females. I don’t think he believes any of us would knowingly assist girl underwizards.”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “That’s a relief. I thought maybe you were undergoing the same treatment as me—or worse.”
“What did you think they’d do, Punish us?” Master Wendyn made short, quick noise of mirth. “Don’t worry. The day they take forty master wizards to be Punished is the day Robenhurst has a full-scale revolt on his hands.”
I sat up straighter. “DeWitt mentioned that Robenhurst thinks there may be many female underwizards. Did he say anything about that? Or what his proof is?”
Master Wendyn shook his head. “Is that what this is all about? I figured Robenhurst must have a reason why, but he about? I figured Robenhurst must have a reason why, but heBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 29
wouldn’t say, even when asked. He just kept saying he’ll do what it takes to root out dishonesty. That he can’t abide lying.” I chewed on my lip. “I wonder if Oscar knows anything about it.”
The master nodded. “Or if he can find out.”
“I wish he still lived here,” I muttered.
“He had his reasons for leaving. And it’s not as though we don’t have access to him.”
After the fight with Matthias Kurke in his bedroom last winter, Oscar had decided to move back in with his son, Master Wendyn’s father, in Hampstone. I couldn’t really blame him. Kurke had, after all, died in Oscar’s bedroom. It hadn’t been Oscar’s fault—I was the one who cast the killing spell—but Oscar’s actions had set Kurke’s whole plan into motion, including the murder of an innocent family in Hutterland. It was easy to see why he might need a change of scenery for a time.
I frowned. “Why are you being so calm about this? This is bad. If I can’t get past Robenhurst’s gender spell, I can’t take any more tests. I won’t be able to become a master wizard. You may as well disapprentice me now.”
He stood and paced to the door, where he shed his robes and tossed them over the hook on the back of the door. “Of course it’s a problem. The spell is flawed, but once Robenhurst refines it…” He trailed off and made a gesture with one hand that seemed to say it’s all over.
A shiver ran through me. “Can we find a way around it? Maybe if I knew how it was cast.” I drummed fingers on the desk. “Maybe I could break into the PMW’s office and steal a copy of it.”
Master Wendyn held his hands out, a barrier to my words. “You jumped to burglary a little quicker than I’d like, not that I doubt your abilities. But I think it would be premature at this point.”
“How so?” He loosened his collar and moved toward the window behind me. I twisted in my chair to look back at him as he stared out at the black night. His face reflected in the glass, serious and contemplative. “There’s no point in doing anything until he finishes refining that spell. Otherwise we’ll be trying to hit a moving mark.”
I huffed out an impatient breath, hating that he was right. “How long will that take?”
“Probably about as long as it takes.”
I twisted forward again, chewing on my lip. Master Wendyn didn’t know about Orly and how I’d promised to make her my apprentice once I became a master wizard. She was already growing impatient. If I didn’t pass the trials quickly, she might just go out and apprentice herself to the first master willing to take her. As innocent and inexperienced as she was, I could see her getting into some real trouble.
Like I had with Kurke over the winter.
Thoughts of Orly and her innocent good nature led my thoughts to Rumford, and I straightened in my chair. “You haven’t heard the worst part. Apparently the Council has been investigating gender affidavits.”
“Devil’s dawn.” I heard, rather than saw, the master turn from the window. “Who told you that?”
I related my conversation with Rumford. The master shook his head and moved around the desk, seating himself again and pulling a drawer open in one swift movement. “You used a forgetful spell on your swearers, didn’t you? So if they were ever questioned by the Council, they would have no memory of swearing on your behalf. Still, such a simple spell would be easy for a master wizard to break, if it hasn’t already weakened on its own.” He pulled out a clean piece of parchment and pen, which he dipped in an inkwell before scratching it across the top in his messy scrawl.
Gender affidavits had long been a requirement for potential underwizards, three sworn affirmations from individuals with personal knowledge of the candidates, enough to vouch for their gender in front of the nearest master wizard under one of a variety of truth spells. Most potential underwizards used family members—parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles, even the midwife present at their birth.
Nerves fluttered through my midsection at the idea that I Nerves fluttered through my midsection at the idea that IBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 32
could be so easily exposed by the men who had dared to swear that I was a boy. “So if not a forgetful spell, then what? An oblivion?”
He put down the pen. “Come on, Mullins, thi
nk. It’s much more complicated than that. The swearers are a problem, yes. But you need to think bigger. If Council members visit Waltney, who there could tell them you’re a girl?”
I bit my lip. “Pretty much anyone.”
“Which is why you need to think beyond your swearers. Yes, definitely start with them, because that’s where Council members will start. But you need a spell that can affect every person in Waltney.”
“Does such a spell exist?”
He grinned. “I’m glad you asked that.” He bent and pulled out a low drawer, then emptied its contents onto his desk—a sheaf of papers, an empty ink pot, three dip pens. Once it was empty a click sounded and he pulled out what looked to be the back of the drawer. After a minute of shuffling things around, he removed a heavy tome and set it on the desk before him.
“So that’s where you hide dangerous spells. I wondered.”
“I already saw the trouble you can get into when complex spells are left lying around.”
He must be referring to the dry as desert spell, which I cast on myself several years ago before I was his apprentice, without knowing that it was actually a killing spell. without knowing that it was actually a killing spell.Beckstead / Shadowed by Death / 33
Fortunately for me, all it did was take away my ability to cry, though we’d fixed that last winter. The pages flipped as he moved through the book, seeming to know what he was looking for.
“Here it is. The gilded tongue spell.”
I sat forward and tried to read it upside-down. “What’s it do?”
He scanned the page, hardly listening to me. “Yes, This will do the trick, I think,” he said halfway to himself. His eyes raised to mine. “Cast this spell and the next sentence you speak will be taken as truth, no matter how many people you address. One sentence. That’s all you get.”
“That sounds useful.”
“Don’t get any ideas. You’re only to use this with discretion. For this one instance. Understand?”
“Why? Is it…forbidden or something?”
“Not forbidden exactly. But it’s certainly not a spell that’s well thought of. Think of the damage you could do, just by speaking one sentence. For instance, I could announce myself as the new PMW or king or army general. The spell’s weakness lies in that it only affects those who hear the words. So if I wanted to convince the whole kingdom I was now the king, I’d have to speak the words to at least the majority of Faronna’s population, and hope that word of mouth did the rest.”
I whistled. “So you’re saying that in order to convince I whistled. “So you’re saying that in order to convinceBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 34
everyone in Waltney who knows me as a girl that I’m not, I’m going to have to speak to each and every one of them?” “More or less.”
“In one day?”
He fixed me with an impatient look. “Waltney’s a good sized town, but it’s no Hampstone, Mullins. Tell as many people as you can.”
I sighed. “All right.”
“Good.” He went back to scrawling on the parchment.
I came to my feet, leaning closer to peer at his scrawls. “What are you doing?”
“Writing to Grandfather. I’ve heard he’s off on assignment. I won’t mention anything specific, but I’ll tell him I need to see him as soon as possible. Hopefully that’ll be enough to bring him round in the next few days. If anyone will have insight into the PMW’s actions, it’ll be him. Meanwhile, we’ve got to take care of your swearers.”
I nodded and watched him write. Finally I asked, “So when should we go to Waltney?”
His glance flicked up to mine. “You should go tomorrow.”
“Me? Won’t you be coming with me?”
He shook his head. “Would if I could, but I have plans with Valerie tomorrow.”
“Oh. Valerie.” My tone came out flat and disappointed. “How nice.” Master Wendyn had reconnected with his childhood friend nice.” Master Wendyn had reconnected with his childhood friendBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 35
Valerie a few months ago, and they had since spent far too much time together, in my opinion. She was the daughter of his former master, Uphammer. Since then they’d been on multiple outings, and she’d visited the Hall a handful of times. She was an attractive woman in her mid-twenties, as the master was, and she found everything he did fascinating.
“The good thing,” he continued, oblivious to my disappointment, “is that you can go to Waltney as you, a girl. If anyone recognizes you, it will be as Avery Mullins, come to town to visit her father.”
I frowned and sat abruptly in the chair. Bones. I had forgotten about Papa.
He eyed me, wilted as I was in my seat. “Don’t worry. I’ll copy the spell for you tonight. It’s definitely complicated, but you’re quick. You’ll pick it up easily enough. Just remember to pull the appropriate amount of magic to you.”
The memories washed over me: Papa, forehead creased as we exchanged barbed words. My acrid tone explaining that I wished he were dead. Emotion stinging the back of my throat as tears threatened to spill. I shook my head. “It’s not that. It’s Papa. I forgot I’d have to see him.”
“I thought you said your mother wanted you to see him again.”
I blinked, pulled from the memories. “My mother? Oh. That was a dream.”
“Hmmm,” he said, clearly unconvinced.
When we defeated Matthias Kurke last winter, I had a dream of my dead mother and brother. Mama told me that the time had come to forgive Papa and visit him again. I had agreed with Mama then—because what else was one to do when confronted by their dead mother but agree with them?—but I had never once seriously considered doing as she had asked.
“I don’t know what it was,” I admitted, running a hand over my eyes, an attempt at wiping the memories away. “But I still don’t want to see Papa.”
Master Wendyn tugged at his collar, loosening it further. “What did he do that was so awful? Keep multiple mistresses? Boil small children and eat them? Sell you to gypsies?”
“No.” I said quietly. “He was just…awful.”
He grimaced. “I’m sorry. I see it’s a sore subject. But I think you’ll manage to avoid him just fine. When you put your mind to a task, you’re very good at carrying it out.”
He was teasing me. It made me feel watery inside for a moment. To cover the emotion, whatever it was, I said, “Mama always had a forgiving heart when it came to Papa. No matter what awful things he did, she always forgave him. I don't have the same heart.”
“You’re capable of change, same as all of us.”
That was true enough. Master Wendyn had certainly become different since his friendship with Valerie had rekindled. I different since his friendship with Valerie had rekindled. IBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 37
hated to admit it, but it had softened some part of him that had seemed unchangeable when I’d first come to Ryker Hall. Valerie. Some days I wondered if they would marry, and if I’d be stuck hearing her hissing laughter over every meal.
The watery feeling vanished. Involuntarily I made a face, then turned it into a cough. “Yes,” I said stiffly. “If only it were possible to avoid Papa. The problem is, he was one of my swearers. So I’ll have to see him.”
“Your father?” Something like concern tinged his face. “He swore an affidavit for you? You never mentioned that.”
My eyes flashed to his. “Why? Is that bad?”
He ran a hand over the shadow of beard on his chin. “Given your relationship with your father, I never assumed you’d have asked his help.”
“Papa was always willing to accept a bribe. So were the other men who swore. That’s why I chose them.”
“All right. So now think about it. Your father’s memory must be altered. He can never remember you as a girl.” He drummed his fingers on the desk. “It’ll remove vital memories of your relationship together.”
I waved a hand. “Forgetting the past will make our relationship better.
” It certainly couldn’t make it any worse.
He leaned forward across the desk to peer at me. “You really don’t have a problem with taking your father’s memories of you away?”
“It’s nothing. Truthfully I’d planned to never see him again. So what difference does it make, really, that he’ll remember a different past?”
Master Wendyn continued to peer at me so long that I became self-conscious and looked away to fidget with the sleeve of my robe. When I looked up again, he’d picked up the pen and gone back to scrawling on the parchment. He looked vaguely disappointed.
“Tomorrow, then,” he said, without looking up from the parchment. “I want you to go tomorrow. I’ll build you a wizard door before I leave, connected to your house in Waltney. That way we’ll be within the rule about wizard doors only connecting to wizard residences.” The pen stopped moving, and he shook his head, then set the pen aside and glanced up. “It seems ridiculous to talk of keeping one rule and breaking another, doesn’t it? But we aren’t inherent rule breakers, are we, Mullins? The only rule I’m willing to break on your behalf is the gender rule.”
I nodded. I honestly couldn’t remember if I’d broken any other rules, but I’d better try harder to be sure. For the master. “I understand.”
He nodded. “Do you have a dress?”
“I’ll spell one. Although…won’t that just confuse them more? Once I cast the gilded tongue spell they’ll believe I’m a boy. And yet there I’ll be, standing in front of them in a boy. And yet there I’ll be, standing in front of them in aBeckstead / Shadowed by Death / 39
dress.”
“When the spell is first cast it will leave the person in a
bit of a fog, according to the spell’s details here. Best to
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