The Scholars: The Hidden Heritage II

by Derek Palmer

  I nodded and did not say anything. I was quite certain that there might have been some other reason for the secrecy and the use of that special wood in paneling the rooms. The fact that the house had been abandoned long ago didn't make me feel any better. Merely one more reason to keep my skills hidden - except that I didn't quite do that. I did give Frode a back massage - like a payback for the rounds he made me go through with Geir.

  There was the idea that I had been told that magical healing really only worked for those who also had magic skills themselves. On the other hand, through trial and error, I had managed to create something that had affected the Guardians who had no magic skills. Just like the creature had also been able to affect the Guardians who had been after him. So, while giving Frode a light massage, I also tried to sense and cure him, just as I had been taught. As a result, he felt so much better that we had agreed on a weekly massage. I admit, I had some selfish reasons. Were he in better shape, he'd be able to help me more with the building maintenance, and with those other things he had been doing. I really had no clear idea how and why the healing was somewhat working; I was just happy that it was. So was Frode, even if he didn't know about the magic part. One more thing I learned about him was that he had 'a close friend' he occasionally visited. For some reason she preferred him coming from the roof, not through the door. Not just because her front door was guarded. Once I heard that little piece of information, I wondered for a moment if I was the only 'normal' person living in that house, since Miss Dahl was more than a bit eccentric: life was a play, the world was the stage, and she was the star.

  However, one evening during dinner I noticed that I was conversing normally with the other people and there were no more probing questions directed towards me. Besides that, I began to hear more business discussions and things happening in Aston that I had previously had no idea about. When I went to bed that evening I had a small smile on my face, since I was sure that my stories had held enough water. Most likely I really was one of this family now.

  That good feeling didn't last too long when I allowed my thoughts to wander to the ones I thought of as my real family. Again, I was barely able to resist the urge to try to sense them. Just barely.

  --

  Chapter 15

  There was one thing that had made me feel very relieved. The official acceptance letter the twins had gotten for me - or the University pass as it was called among the students - made it possible for me just to appear at any lectures I wanted to attend - except Magic, of course. Even though all the students should have had the same right, the truth was that the professors wanted to select their students and collect some benefits (in cash), whenever possible. Not too openly, of course. With my pass I would be one of the privileged ones. On opening day, even though I had no need to rush through the halls of the University making sure that my name was on the lists of the students allowed to attend to a lecture, I still went there. I knew that I needed some serious practice. I needed to practice staying in crowded places while maintaining my ability to concentrate. It would be crowded there, and I would need to be able to concentrate on the teaching.

  So, here I was, feeling totally overwhelmed because of the presence of hundreds of people rushing through the halls to the lecture rooms, all desperately trying to get their names on the lists of course participants. I had heard that it was quite common that the new students - who had no idea how the system worked - had to take the courses and the lecturers that were left. Useless courses with bad lecturers or the religious lectures. I guess I should have felt shocked because of that - after all, this place should be the home of the greater knowledge in this kingdom. I just couldn't. Maybe I wasn't all that naïve anymore.

  "Hands off me!"

  That wasn't really a shout. No, it was merely a whisper, but there was something in it that piqued my curiosity. Something that worked its way through my dampened senses. The person who had said that was a short girl in a long dress. Quite a plain-looking girl with short red hair and face full of freckles. The person who had groped her was a big guy towering over her, holding her hand and groping her smallish breast.

  "Come on, do you want to get in that class or not? With looks like yours, you shouldn't be so prudish."

  All my common sense shouted that I should stay away from them. Especially when she didn't object all that strongly. I was here on a mission, a mission to learn enough to save myself and the people I loved. As usual, I almost followed my common sense.

  "I thought she asked you take your hands off. Maybe there's some problem with your hearing?"

  I smiled when I took his hand and pressed my thumb hard between his thumb and first finger. Pressed hard. For a big guy his squeal was quite feminine. Who would have believed?

  The guy let the girl go and then he tried to a step back and pull his hand away from my grip. I made sure to keep on smiling at him and I even added some pressure before I released him. The guy took two steps back and kept on glaring at me.

  "Don't you know who I am? Don't you know? I have friends in high places! Neither of you will never get into any classes I attend! Never!"

  After shouting that out loud, he noticed there were several people watching him and the looks he received weren't exactly friendly ones. In the blink of an eye he was gone but not before giving me another glance full of hate. I kept on smiling at him until he disappeared behind the corner. Only when he was gone, did I turn to look at the girl who was still standing there.

  "Miss, are you okay?"

  The young woman had also been following the big guy with her gaze but now she turned to look at me - and she wasn't smiling.

  "Don't you know who he is? His father is on the town council and he can cause all kinds of trouble for the people he doesn’t like. Besides, I need that class and now I probably need to go directly to the professor."

  Her voice was soft, barely audible over all that background noise. Okay, I was able to understand that, but not the fact that the girl was upset by my actions! I looked at her and forced myself to keep on smiling.

  "Miss, please don't tell me that you would just as soon have had him push you to the floor begging for mercy. In that case, I'm sorry that I interfered, but if I hadn't, my mother would have come and given me an earful. Besides, what class is that?"

  "Royal University Botany, the first course."

  "Botany One, I'm going there, too!"

  "You mean you were. I'm sure that he makes sure that neither of us will be able to attend."

  I guess I hadn't really understood how privileged I really was with my special pass since even the professors wouldn't dare to question it if I did not cause any trouble otherwise. This issue with some lowly assistant barely was one, not for me at least. But it could be quite different for the girl. I shook my head.

  "I'm quite sure that I'm safe, but I didn't really want to cause you any extra trouble."

  "Yet you did! I really need to attend that course and after a while, everything would have been fine!"

  This really didn't feel fair since I had only tried to help. Besides, she didn't actually sound like everything would have been fine. I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed before looking at the slightly angry young woman again, even if she looked more subdued than angry. At least I was able to hear her now.

  "Miss, I'm sorry that I ruined your perfect plan. It means that I'm in debt to you, and it's my responsibility to make sure that you'll be able to get to all the classes you want."

  "And exactly how are you going to do that?"

  Suddenly her low voice was had some sarcasm in it - so, I made myself look crestfallen.

  "You are right, I can't get you to all classes. The classes in Magic are out of my reach, I'm sorry. On the other hand, I'm even more in debt to you since you just solved one of my biggest problems: what classes to take."

  "You are just plain crazy."

  That comment made me smile again, since this was starting to be fun for the first time here at the University. She
still looked subdued, maybe a bit angry, too - but there was also some confusion on her face.

  "Definitely I am. I have to be absolutely crazy to come here today even if it was absolutely unnecessary."

  "What do you mean?"

  The twins had given me crash course in the University dynamics, so now I knew that there were good teachers and bad teachers. The teachers of the beginner's classes were either old and bad, or very young. These teachers formed cliques and most of the teachers between and even inside those cliques were ready stab you in the back if that would help them with their own careers. The assistants on these beginners’ classes were mostly horny guys, trying to take advantage of the female students. The best advice they gave was not to trust any of the teachers or assistants there. Never. At least that would be easy for me.

  Besides that, I was taught some of the University vocabulary. The thing the student carried with them was their 'The University Acceptance Pass' or just 'The Pass' that also showed what the student was allowed to study. All of them had some long great names, but they were known by the color of their cover.

  Magic students carried a black pass, a feared black pass that some people wanted more than anything else. If you weren't from a rich or a noble family and you didn't want to become a Guardian, that was the surest path to the power. You needed to be really good and you needed to want that more than anything else. But if you got it and stayed alive... then you became someone. Even the Church was afraid of the Magicians.

  Then there were yellow, green, blue, white and red passes. The first three were directed towards certain topics, yellow was preferred by those who studied either religion - in order to become a priest, or something related to the society. You learned to talk and give speeches, which was good for those who wanted to become councilmen. Green pass was mostly for those who wanted to know about forestry, farming or geography. If you wanted to become a steward or a caretaker of some great property you'd better get a green pass while at the University. The blue pass was for those interested about technology or trade. You learned how to make stuff and how to sell it. If you made something special, you might get into contact with the Magicians; you were able to get close to the power. Or, if you could design better bronze cannons for the Sea Guardians.

  White pass was mostly for future teachers, they learned about everything the children should learn - and lots of Anglon. Miss Dahl had had a White Pass back in her days, but she never became a teacher. No, she studied Anglon, literature, plays - and she performed whenever she could. That was the only area where there were more females than males among the students. I guess that men weren't that willing to become teachers.

  I had a Red Pass. Students with a red pass weren't always taken that seriously, since that red pass was something that was usually given to those privileged young people who had no idea what to do, but who needed to get some University education. There was nothing very special in that - the special thing with the red pass was that the carrier of the pass was allowed to bring one companion with him or her to the class. Maybe they thought that those privileged people needed somebody with them to do the studying for them. I had no idea of the reason, and I didn't care - since this was a perfect solution to one problem I had had while planning my studies.

  I could feel those green eyes on me while I kept on smiling.

  "I mean that I have a red pass and I don’t have a good idea how to start my studies. Now I'll just need to follow you to the classes."

  Now it was her turn to shake her head, but she didn't look quite as angry as before. Confused, maybe.

  "Red Pass. Red Pass? Who are you?"

  At that moment I had to remind myself of my situation. About who I was now since something in me wanted to reveal everything t0 her. I needed to be careful in these spontaneous situations. Stian needed to be careful. The look on my face turned serious and I shook my head again.

  "Me? I guess that I'm a lucky bastard. I'm lucky because of my new family. I do have some friends in low places, and I can, maybe, be considered a bastard because there's a patrimony I cannot claim."

  Sorry, father, even if that wasn't exactly a lie. As far as I know, there was no way to officially marry in my old home village and, because of the decision Torvald Horn made, I can no more claim your house as mine. Besides those things, I think myself lucky because of my real family out there and, in a way, also because of my new family here. So, from a certain point of view, I was only telling the truth.

  "So, Miss, my name is Stian, and I hope that we could become friends. Could we start by you telling me what classes I'm going to take?"

  For sure I didn't tell her that there was another reason I wanted to stay close to her. Not because of her good looks, since she was very plain-looking when compared to my Elven friends. Very. And no, not because I would have liked to have sex with her, since it just didn't feel right to have sex with somebody other than my ladies. No, it was because I was almost certain that she had some magical skills. I just had no idea if I could trust her or not. A possible ally or an enemy. Either way, I felt that I needed to stay close. If she was a potential ally she could show me how to stay unnoticed - and if she was an enemy, well... I could only hope that she would not be expecting her possible enemies next to her!

  --

  Chapter 16

  "Geography? Why do you want to study geography?"

  A few days later we weren't quite friends, but maybe we were heading there. I hoped so. She was normally so silent and reserved that I probably looked very social when compared to her. I had already learned that she didn't mind silence, unlike some other girls who immediately wanted to fill the silence with their own voice. Linnea - yes, she finally told me her name, because she had to while entering one class - wasn't like that and she was biting her lips when we had been forced to listen to one girl think aloud before one class. However, Linnea almost smiled when I whispered in her ear: 'Her brains will probably stop working if she stops talking. Damn, it must be really hard to be in her classes.'

  I had already learned that when Linnea asked a question she was really serious about her question. Maybe there was a time for joking, but it wasn't when she asked direct questions. No, she wasn't the easiest person to try to be friends with. Luckily I had learned a lot about that during my first months with the Elves.

  "Trade. I intend to become successful on my own and one possible way of doing that is trade. One way to do successful trade is to understand geography, use the information while planning what to offer and where to get it."

  "You mean smuggling."

  I shrugged. "The hostilities between nearby nations may end someday. Those who already have established connections once it happens would have some serious advantage."

  "So you had a plan."

  I wanted to groan since it was as though she was still suspicious of me for helping her.

  "About my future, yes - about my studies, not really. Not that there really seem to be many choices for us first-year students."

  "Still, do you want me to join you there?"

  I turned to look at Linnea, just to be sure she was serious with that question. It seemed that she was, as usual.

  "Linnea, I won’t order you to do anything. You are your own person and you make your own decisions. That's the way I was raised to believe. However, I admit that I'd be happy if you decided to come there with me. As a reward, I could offer you the chance to have lunch with my family."

  The look on her face gave nothing away, so I continued.

  "Just as a friend. I don't expect any other reward because of that."

  Finally she shrugged and followed me to the class. I still didn't know what to think about Linnea but I was ready to admit that I probably needed her much more than she really needed me, even if I might have wanted to deny it. I might be a good hunter and maybe a powerful natural Mage and I had some knowledge of trade from my business with Birgit. But nothing, absolutely nothing, had prepared me for the University and constantly being close
to hundreds, or even thousands, of people. Even if I had wanted to claim otherwise, the truth was that, after a few days, I had been totally exhausted by the time I had been able to retreat to the solitude of my room.

  It didn't make me feel better that, so far, most of the classes had felt like a waste of time because of all the books I had already read about several of the university's courses. Almost all except calculus - or Mathematics as it was called here. With Mathematics, I was almost totally lost. It was painfully clear to me that there were several commonly used methods that I had no idea about. There would be no way that I would be able to close that gap during the classes, which meant that I needed help. Serious help. I felt that I needed to keep an eye on Linnea, but I also needed her help. Badly.

  I had one - or maybe two - advantages. First, I had some money. Some money I could use. By following Linnea for a few days, I was quite certain that she didn't have any extra money to spend, since she always carried some food with her even though you could get your stomach full outside the University entrance for a few coppers. The problem was that I couldn't be sure how she would react if I'd offer her some money. That brought in the other thing - the house in which I was living. Even if I had tried to make it clear to Mrs. Hansen and Alva that I could quite well study in my room, they had prepared a corner in the library for me. Yes, that house had a library - and there was a desk I could use. A desk big enough for two, maybe even three persons, but certainly for two.