by V. St. Clair
“Thank you,” Hayden replied courteously, hoping his relief wasn’t too visible.
He turned and walked calmly from the chamber, letting the door close behind him and finally taking a moment to slouch against the wall in the hallway and breathe deeply.
I did it. I actually one-upped the entire Council of Mages and got my things back.
He didn’t have long to celebrate privately, as the doors opened almost immediately and the room began to clear, forcing him to stand upright and look professional again. A few of the audience members Hayden didn’t know filed past him, one or two of them stopping to shake his hand while the others simply gave him appraising looks. The High Mayor and Fia Valay actually stopped to talk to him.
“I wasn’t aware that you intended to hire away one of my Fias for as long as it takes to settle things with your estate,” the former greeted him dryly.
“Neither did I,” Fia Valay added, giving Hayden an inscrutable look.
“Sorry, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’d be willing to help out with that.” Hayden made an apologetic face and the High Mayor snorted. “I’m told I can afford your services now.”
The Fia frowned thoughtfully and said, “Why me? We didn’t exactly part as friends after you tried to kill me.”
“I honestly had no idea that the Absorber would explode like that, and I really wasn’t trying to kill you,” Hayden apologized more sincerely. “And I thought of you because you actually managed to teach me some math last year, so I know you’re gifted, because I’m terrible at math.”
Valay’s frown deepened and he said, “Be that as it may, you aren’t worried about giving someone who dislikes you access to your family’s finances?”
Hayden shrugged and said, “I trust that you have great respect for the noble title of Fia, and that you will be both thorough and honest in our dealings, no matter what you may think of me personally.”
The Fia actually looked pleased with him at this endorsement.
“Very well, then we have a deal. I’ll review everything the Council sends me and put a plan together for your review within the month.”
Hayden thanked him again and he and the High Mayor continued on their way down the hall, soon followed by the other Fias that filed out of Chamber Four. Masters Asher, Willow, and Mandra were the next to stop and speak to him.
Asher looked like he’d never been more proud of anything in his life as he clapped Hayden on the back.
“Excellent work in there,” he greeted Hayden, grinning. “The Council probably hates you almost as much as they hate me, and you haven’t been working to cultivate their disdain for nearly as long.”
Master Willow rolled his eyes at his colleague and said, “Yes, I don’t think they were expecting to fight with someone who knew what he was talking about. I believe that will be the last time they underestimate you.”
“Good,” Hayden said with satisfaction. “I’m tired of them treating me like a naughty child just because they can.”
Master Mandra raised an eyebrow in interest and asked, “Who has been training you?” with professional interest.
Hayden, ready for this question, said, “What makes you think I didn’t just read up on things for myself?”
Master Willow pursed his lips and said, “Please, Hayden, don’t insult our intelligence. We both know that someone very skillful must have been preparing you night-and-day for this moment. You could never have come so far on your own in such a short period of time.”
Hayden shrugged and said, “If that’s true, then they would probably want to remain anonymous to stay on the good side of the Council.”
Master Mandra smiled wryly and said, “It seems you’ve been making some powerful friends since we last met; good for you.”
“By the way,” Asher turned to him with a grin, “what in the name of our holiest arcana possessed you to hire Fia Valay to do your accounting? I almost cracked a rib trying not to laugh at the look on everyone’s face when you announced it to the room.”
Hayden couldn’t entirely suppress a smile when he answered. “Well, I was advised that it would be a good idea to use someone who wasn’t tied to the Council, so I don’t get screwed over, and since the Council and the High Mayor are always at odds…”
Master Mandra snorted in amusement.
“That’s a bit of an understatement. The regional governments in each of the Nine Lands would be thrilled to see the Council of Mages abolished. Having two governments ruling over the same groups of people in each land is a nightmare, which results in a lot of arguments over which group is responsible for each issue that comes up.”
“I’ll bet the High Mayor is laughing his head off in his office right now,” Asher added cheerfully. “He probably loved watching you purposely circumvent the Council and bring in his people instead. It’ll give Valay—and by extension, the Mayor—some leverage with you in the future to ask for favors or insight into what the magical community is doing.”
Hayden already knew most of this, since Magdalene and Edgar had debated it with him at length over the last few weeks, so he simply shrugged and said, “So be it.”
They stopped talking as the Council members began filing out of Chamber Four, the last group to leave the room. Calahan was the first to pass them, and gave a stiff nod of acknowledgement to the three Masters present without sparing Hayden a glance. Most of the remaining members followed his lead, pretending as though Hayden was a piece of furniture not worthy of attention, but this hardly bothered him as he’d had to endure much worse in his life so far. A few of the Council members gave him appraising glances though, and Hayden made a mental note of who these people were because it seemed likely that he might be able to forge alliances with them in the future.
Look at me—I spend a winter holiday at the Trout estate and I’m already strategizing like them.
Magdalene was towards the end of the line of mages, and she walked past with a look of cool displeasure on her face, stopping long enough to shake hands with each of the Masters and again, pretending like Hayden wasn’t even there.
She’s a terrific actress, he couldn’t help but think.
When she shook Master Asher’s hand he gave her a winning smile and said, “Thanks,” under his breath so that Hayden could barely hear it.
“For what?” Mrs. Trout looked at him flatly, walking away without waiting for a response.
Asher waited until she was out of earshot before he said, “I’ve always admired that woman,” to Hayden. “So hard to find a good strategist who is also refreshingly candid these days.”
Hayden was fairly sure that he knew who had been helping him out all winter, and his thoughts were confirmed when Asher winked at him and said, “Lunch?” to the group at large.
It felt odd being invited to lunch with a group of Masters, and he expected them to spend the entire meal discussing things that were way beyond his understanding: politics, advanced magic, maybe even the finances of Mizzenwald and Valhalla…
He was surprised when they took him to the cafeteria in the mayoral compound and sat at a regular table amongst the people who worked here, and even more so when they began talking of trivial things like lesson plans and whether there was supposed to be a snowstorm next week.
The only really serious issue they discussed was the battle in the Forest of Illusions that had taken place some months before.
“Are they any closer to declaring the Forest safe for occupancy again?” Mandra asked conversationally. “I’m sure I’m not the only one looking forward to resuming my research in there, if the Council would just decide whether or not the place is stable enough for reentry.”
Asher chuckled and said, “The Council of Mages can hardly agree on whether the sky is blue, and you expect them to come to a consensus on whether the Forest of Illusions is stable, or if it’s likely to jump locations again in the near future?”
Mandra gave a groan of acknowledgement of the truth of this, and Hayden asked, “Have the s
chisms that opened up from the Forest moving locations all closed themselves yet?” even though he thought he knew the answer.
Master Willow turned a sympathetic eye on him as he answered.
“Most of the smaller ones have, yes. Unfortunately, a few of the larger ones are still holding themselves open, including one at Mizzenwald.”
“What?” Hayden asked in shock, dropping the drizzling spoon for his honey cakes onto his plate with a clatter. “There’s a schism open at Mizzenwald? What were the odds of that happening?” He was beginning to think that there was some cosmic force that just hated seeing him happy.
“Actually, fairly high,” it was Asher who answered him. “Schisms are breaches in the boundary between our world and its inverse plane…a magic-induced breach. Because of that, they tend to be drawn to places where magic is highly concentrated, which is why we saw so many of the small ones—and a few of the not-so-small ones—opening around the Forest of Illusions after it finished moving earlier in the year. That also makes magical strongholds like the Great Nine schools and the Crystal Tower of the Council likely targets for schisms to open.”
Hayden frowned thoughtfully.
“But you said most of them have closed themselves?”
“Yes,” Willow explained patiently, “Schisms are usually fairly unstable themselves, since holding a door open between our world and the realm of anti-magic is quite difficult and energy-intensive. The larger a schism is, the more stable it becomes. Unfortunately, this just means that the schisms that are still open are going to be a nightmare to force closed.”
“But it can be done?” Hayden asked a little desperately. He felt that it was at least partially his fault that the schisms had even come to exist in the first place, since he blew up the Forest of Illusions due to a flux in his Foci when he wasn’t wearing correctors. “They can be forced closed?”
“Usually…” Master Willow trailed off with a note of uncertainty, exchanging a meaningful look with the others.
“What is it?” Hayden pressed. “How does one even go about closing a schism in the first place?”
For some reason the others looked to Asher to explain, and the Prism Master sighed and set down his fork, meeting Hayden’s gaze.
“Schisms are a…tricky business, to say the least,” he began, before changing his mind about something and shaking his head. “It’s hard to explain to someone who has never been inside one before—give me a second to think.”
“You’ve been inside a schism before?” Hayden blurted out without thinking, but Asher simply waved a dismissive hand at his shock.
“Briefly, yes. You see, to force a schism closed, you have to do it from both sides at the same time,” he began again. “Someone on this side of the opening uses magic to perform a Closing spell, while their counterpart does the same from the other side of the schism.”
“Oh no,” Hayden felt the color leave his face. “You mean that someone has to stay behind inside the other realm and sacrifice themselves just to close it?”
“What? No!” Asher looked astonished that he would think such a thing, and Hayden felt his momentary surge of adrenaline subside. “Or at least, not unless the person on the other side of the schism is terribly slow about things,” he amended. “I suppose it has happened before, but usually the person inside the other realm is quite eager to get out and doesn’t slack at their job.”
“But if you work a Closing spell from both sides…” Hayden persisted.
“A schism large enough to require someone to enter it is very stable, like Wil said.” He nodded to his colleague. “Even with dual Closing spells, it takes almost a full minute for the gateway to fully shut. That’s why it’s important to use mastery-level instruments to do the spell-work, so that your instrument isn’t fully consumed before the schism is good and closed.”
“Oh, okay then…” Hayden trailed off thoughtfully. “Well, that doesn’t sound so terrible.”
“Spoken like someone who has never seen the inside of the other realm before,” Asher agreed cheerfully. “You’ve seen the sort of creatures that live on the other side.” Indeed, Hayden remembered his second year of school, when he had battled a sorcerer that was trying to open an oculus to Mizzenwald and their clash accidentally opened a schism. Two schism-wargs—creatures that looked a lot like normal wargs except they seemed to be inside-out, larger, and fiercer—had escaped onto the grounds of Mizzenwald and tried to eat Hayden and his friends. “All of the monsters we have in this world have a counterpart in the schism-world. Imagine all of that unpleasantness coming after you while you’re in a strange place, unable to use most of your magic, and half-insane.”
“Wait,” Hayden interrupted at this point, “what do you mean—”
They were approached by a man who wore the uniform of the common workers at the compound before Hayden could finish his question. The man stopped at their table and tilted his head respectfully at the four of them before saying, “The High Mayor and his team are ready to meet with you now,” to Masters Asher and Willow.
“Oh goody,” the former muttered with a sour look on his face. The latter quelled him with a flat stare and said, “We’ll be right there,” to the messenger.
“Looks like we’re out of time,” Willow turned to Master Mandra when the man had gone. “Do you mind taking Hayden back to Mizzenwald for us? This might take a while.”
“Of course,” the Wand Master of Valhalla agreed readily, getting to his feet.
Wondering if he was being impertinent, Hayden asked, “Why are you all meeting with the High Mayor?”
Asher made a face and said, “Unfortunately, your trial wasn’t the only reason we came to Kargath today. Our good friend the Mayor—and some of his Fias—are still up in arms about the discrepancies in our accounting ledgers, and they’re trying to drum up a case to milk more money from the school in penalties. Wil and I were the poor chumps who drew the short straws, so we were nominated to come deal with them today.”
Hayden made a commiserating noise, wondering if Eldridge was one of the Fias they would be meeting with today. If so, he was glad he wouldn’t be there, since he had punched the man in the face just a few months ago and managed to escape punishment for it.
Masters Asher and Willow turned left out of the cafeteria while Mandra and Hayden turned right, making their way back to the main entrance and leaving the mayoral compound before translocating to Mizzenwald.
It just occurred to Hayden that he hadn’t brought all of his things from the Trout estate with him for the new school year, but he could hardly ask Master Mandra to take him there without giving away who he had been staying with for the winter holiday.
While he was still deciding what to do, Mandra said, “You should hurry along and get inside. I’m sure my colleagues put up defenses against any schism-creatures that may have found their way onto the grounds, but you can never be certain; you don’t want to get caught outside on your own with one of those nightmares wandering around.”
Hayden repressed a shudder at the thought and thanked the Master for bringing him back to school.
“Oh it’s no trouble at all. Now that you’re officially the head of the Frost estate, we should talk business sometime. I’m collaborating with a few other people to develop orchards in Sudir—lord knows those people have had a hard enough time with the droughts these last few years; fruit import costs are sky-high at the moment. If you wanted to get involved as a ground-level investor, there could be large dividends in the future…”
Alarmed and overwhelmed at already being propositioned for business deals, Hayden said, “Oh, uh…maybe. I’ll need time to go over everything with Valay and get settled before I go making any new arrangements.”
Mandra winked at him and said, “Good thinking. I expect all sorts of people to try and hustle you for money and favors; don’t agree to anything without the counsel of someone you trust.” He shook Hayden’s hand. “But after you’ve gotten settled in your new role, do consider th
e orchards and let me know.”
And with that he was gone.
5
A New Perspective
Wearing his Frost family robes earned Hayden a lot of stares as he crossed the grounds and approached the castle, surreptitiously keeping an eye open for schism-monsters as he walked. Whatever the Masters had done to defend them was obviously working so far, since he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as he entered the school, including the schism itself. He made a mental note to ask someone where the opening was actually located at some point, so he wouldn’t make the mistake of wandering into it out of ignorance.
He crossed through the Pentagon with the five signs of the major arcana depicted on the walls and took the main stairwell two steps at a time to the third floor, where fifth-year students were housed. There were fewer rooms on this floor than in the higher ones, and Hayden suspected it was because by this time in their education some people were opting to leave school and go out into the world.
He scanned the doorways for his name as he passed, eventually finding it on a door in the middle of the hall. He was pleased to see that he was still rooming with Zane, Conner, and Tamon.
Pushing open the door, he was a little stunned to find Zane already in their room, unpacked and waiting for him. He was even more surprised to find that his own bags were piled on his bed; someone must have dropped them off for him.
Zane took one look at him and said, “Whoa—are those your House robes? Does this mean you won your case against the Council of Mages? Did you get all your stuff back?”
Grinning, Hayden opened his arms and said, “You are looking at the official head of the Frost clan. I now rule over…all one of me.” He laughed, as Zane got up to high-five him.
“Nice! I can’t believe my best friend runs a Great House. That toad, Lorn, didn’t say whether you’d won or not when he dropped off your things.”
“Lorn brought my stuff?” Hayden gestured at the untidy heap on his bed, which explained a lot. He supposed he should be thankful that it wasn’t covered in mud or animal poop.
