“Wait!” Justan stood. He had an idea. It was a gamble, but it was all he had. The wizards looked irritated by the intrusion. “I am sorry for interrupting, but Jeffrey, this beast, they captured. Did it have the head, claws, and tail of a lizard, but the mane and the flanks of a horse?”
Everyone turned to Justan with surprise as Jeffrey answered. “Why, yes Justan, it does. You’ve described it perfectly.”
Randolf frowned at Justan with suspicion. “How do you know about this, boy?”
“I have seen this creature before when I was in the Tinny Woods with the elves.”
Justan figured that this was his only chance to get them to let Gwyrtha go. He didn’t want to lie to the council unless he had to, but he hoped that if they thought she was the property of the elves, they would be forced to let her go. He knew that if he told them about the bonding, they would want to study her even more.
“Why didn’t you tell us about it earlier?”
“The elves were upset that I had seen the beast and made me promise not to tell anyone that I saw her. Especially anyone at the Mage School.”
“Why not us?” asked Professor Beehn.
“They were afraid that if the wizards here found out about her, you would capture her and experiment on her. The elven council was very insistent. We need to let her go, or they will be very angry.”
“This is an outrage!” barked Master DeVargas. “How dare the elves keep something of this magnitude from us?”
“I agree,” said Wizard Munsey. “Their hiding this from us is an enormous insult!”
Wizard Randolf leaned back in his chair. “Perhaps they don’t know that she is here. Surely it will do no harm if we do some research. After all, when we are finished, we can just let the beast go.”
“That hasn’t worked very well in the past,” Valtrek pointed out.
Justan waited for Professor Beehn or Master Latva to speak out against such action, but they just sat there with thoughtful expressions. Finally, he blurted out, “I don’t understand what could be so important, that you would take something belonging to the elves without permission.”
DeVargas stood. “It is not your place to speak that way here, apprentice!”
“This is true,” Master Latva agreed to Justan’s astonishment. “Jeffrey, would you please take your leave and see to the care of the rogue horse?” The stableman nodded with relief, uncomfortable with the tension in the room, and Alfred let him out.
“Master Latva, I was just trying to say that we can’t possibl-”
“Enough, Edge!” Latva said, anger sparking in his youthful eyes. “You may have been named, but you are still a student here. Apprentices are not allowed to speak to the council that way.”
“I am sorry, sir.”
“Very well.” The master’s tone softened, but his visage was stern. “Edge, the council has more business to attend to and I must ask you to leave. We will discuss your matter further and if there is anything else we need to speak to you about, I will send Alfred for you, understood?”
“Yes sir.” He was embarrassed about being chastised in front of the whole council, but he was still furious that none of them came to Gwyrtha’s defense.
Master Latva continued, “You must wear the gloves Alfred gave you at all times. No student is to see your runes until we decide what must be done about them. We don’t want rumors flooding the school.” He motioned and Alfred escorted Justan from the room.
Professor Auger started in, “We cannot release the creature. This is too important for the study of magi-” As the door swung shut behind him, the wizard’s voice cut off completely. The council room was protected against idle listeners.
Justan fumed. His life was falling apart. What was he to do? His thoughts were interrupted by the weight of a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Alfred staring down at him. Justan hadn’t noticed the gnome leave the room with him.
To his surprise, the gnome’s wide mouth opened into a toothy smile and he patted Justan on the back as if in congratulation. Justan had never seen the gnome make much of any facial expression before. Alfred turned and walked back through the door, leaving Justan alone in the hallway even more confused than before.
Chapter Twenty
Justan paced back and forth in the library, a book in his hand, searching for answers to one of the many questions buzzing through his mind.
The library was the only place left for him to find answers. He had tried to get into the stables to see Gwyrtha, but there were guards posted out front and they wouldn’t let him in. The council had made the stables off limits to all students. Now, though it was getting dark outside and he had missed dinner, Justan didn’t have room in his thoughts for hunger.
“Pardon me, Justan, but I am afraid that if you don’t stop soon, you might wear a hole in that rug.”
As he turned to see his friend Vincent, the gnome’s tall, thin frame shaking with a chuckle, Justan couldn’t help but allow a smile to corner his lips. “Good evening, Vincent.”
“Was I right?” the gnome asked.
It took Justan a moment to realize what the librarian was referring to. “Oh yes, they made me an apprentice earlier today.”
“Fantastic! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Vincent demanded. Then his brow wrinkled and he began tugging on the end of his long nose. “Or did you? I’ll have to look in my log book.”
The gnome turned and started to walk away, but Justan stopped him. “Vincent, wait. I have a question.” The gnome turned back. “What can you tell me about rogue horses?”
“Rogue horses, an amazing subject. Let’s see, Punja’s book on mysterious magic. Floor two, aisle twenty, row three. The Punja Row, I like to call it. You know Punja was an amazing scholar. He didn’t have a bit of magic talent within him, but he studied with both my people and the wizards his entire life.
“I recall that there is a funny story about him in the memoirs of Wizard Gillard, floor two, aisle ten, row one, volume two, pages thirty five through forty, starting on paragraph three of page thirty five. You see, Willard Gillard had an itchy skin condition that the other wizards just could not heal. Punja heard about it and did a month of research on the subject. Then one day, he appeared in Wizard Gillard’s office with a sack of troll dung-.”
“Vincent!” Justan’s head was pounding and he didn’t have the patience required for dealing with his friend.
The gnome was so startled that he dropped his glasses. “Oh, my! Justan, you know better than to shout in my library.”
“I’m sorry.” Justan picked up the librarian’s glasses and took a deep breath as he handed them back to him. “Look . . .Vincent, you were telling me about rogue horses?”
“Oh yes, Punja’s book on mysterious magic, chapters ten through twenty five. An amazing subject, rogue horses. They are strange beasts, part horse, part something else. Each one is a bit different. Did you know that to this day, the wizards at this school still don’t know how they were created? There are some theories and in chapter twenty, he talks about the creators of the beasts. What were they called? Hmm, page eighty-three . . . or was it eighty four?”
“Never mind, Vincent.” Justan’s head couldn’t take much more.
“Perhaps it was on page eighty five, paragraph two . . .”
“Please.”
“Wait, wait! I remember . . . no. Hmm . . .”
“It’s okay, I’ll look it up later.”
The gnome tugged on the end of his nose, his brow furrowed in deep thought. “No . . . wait- page eighty seven . . . no.”
Justan had had enough. “Vincent, I saw Chauncey asleep in the astronomy section, floor two, aisle seven.”
Vincent’s jaw dropped in outrage. “Why, I told that gnome to retrieve Volume three of Master Alvin’s book on geometric symbols that Professor Polt had asked for.” The librarian stormed off in that direction, tugging his nose furiously.
Justan sighed and ran one hand through his hair, wincing as the stitching on the
leather glove caught a stray hair and plucked it out. From the moment that he had put the gloves on, Justan hated the way they made his hands feel confined. Before he had traveled thirty steps from the council hall, he had taken the gloves off and cut out the fingers with his dagger. Now his fingers were free, but the stitching was loose. The constant tickling of the fibers was another reminder that his life was out of his control again and that irritated Justan all the more.
Justan sat down at a nearby table and thrust his head into his hands. What was he to do? He reached down inside himself to try and contact Gwyrtha as he had done a hundred times since leaving the council room, but once again, there wasn’t even a stirring in response. He found nothing more than a warm spot in his mind as proof of her presence.
He could not stand the idea of Gwyrtha being imprisoned just for curiosity’s sake. She needed to be free. He knew her well enough through their bond to surmise that she would not last long in captivity. He needed to set her free and it had to be soon. The longer that she was here and the more the wizards learned of her, the harder it would be to get them to let her go.
He was left with one choice. But how could he go about it? Even if he were able to subdue the guards outside of the stable and somehow awaken her and get her over the wall, he couldn’t imagine her being any more willing to stay away from the school than she had been before. She was too stubborn for that.
Gwyrtha would most likely hang around the school in hopes that he would come and visit her again. She would be recaptured sooner or later. The only way that she would willingly leave the area was if Justan went with her. But if he did that, he would void his contract. He couldn’t throw away any chance of entering the BattleAcademy after coming so far. Could he?
Things had changed earlier that day. He was a named warrior and wizard now. Sure, if he left the school at this point, the chances of him ever being allowed into either school again were slim. But finishing his training in either the MageSchool or the academy at this point seemed almost pointless. His abilities were so different from everyone else’s that he was beginning to doubt that the wizards here could teach him how to use them.
For the first time since Justan could remember, his sense of purpose was broken. Could he really let go and venture out into the world, leaving his old dreams completely behind? Maybe he could. He humored that thought for a moment. Here in the school, he was just a student, but outside, he was a man. There was a certain amount of freedom associated with that idea.
Justan realized that staying at the school would be selfish of him. The one thing far more important than going to the academy was Gwyrtha. His first priority needed to be freeing her. If that meant that his life needed to change, then so be it.
Justan stood up and strode from the library, fueled by a new purpose.
He ran back to his room, quickly dressed in his traveling clothes, and put his robe back on over them. Then he gathered the things together that he felt he would need for his escape. He packed his few belongings and placed the full pack back into his small closet so that Piledon would not see it when he came in for bed. After that, the only thing left for him to do was wait until after the curfew when the school was quiet. Then he would make his move.
He lay in his bed fully clothed until Piledon entered the room. The cadet shuffled in and stood in the darkness looking in Justan’s direction. He stood there for quite a while and Justan’s heart began to race. What was his roommate doing? Usually the guy just ignored him and went to sleep. Finally Piledon sighed and climbed into his bed. Justan forced himself to relax.
While his roommate went to sleep, Justan planned out the escape in his mind. He had long ago figured out a way to raise the portcullis for an escape, but he hadn’t tried it when visiting Gwyrtha in the forest because it would be far more likely to be noticed than climbing out had been. But since he wouldn’t be returning this time, it didn’t really much matter.
He waited for Piledon’s breathing to slow and then he climbed out of bed and doffed his outer robe. As quietly as possible, he opened the closet door, belted on his swords, strung his bow and strapped his pack about his shoulders. As he was about to open the door, Piledon stirred.
“Justan?”
Justan swore under his breath. “What?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so. I’m scared.”
He was scared? What was this, a joke? “Look, Piledon. I don’t really have time to talk to you about it now. Later, maybe. Okay?”
“But I have to tell someone now, or I think I will pop. You see, there is something about the golem that I didn’t tell the wizards.”
Justan was curious, but he didn’t have the time to discuss it. Now was the prime time for his escape.
“The person you need to talk to is Professor Beehn. He is the best wizard I know when it comes to listening to a student. I’m going for a walk now. Please just tell Professor Beehn all about it in the morning.” Without waiting for a response, Justan left the room, pushing his roommate from his mind. He had a friend to rescue.
As Justan closed the door, Piledon shivered in the darkness.
Chapter Twenty One
Justan padded around the side of the stables as silently as he could. The school didn’t normally post guards at the buildings, because they had no one inside the walls to protect themselves from. But this time the circumstances were different. The guards were there to protect the students from Gwyrtha. When he had come by the stables earlier in the day, he noticed that the guards posted were not the academy graduates and he hoped that was still the case.
Justan knew that he couldn’t sneak Gwyrtha out of the stables past the guards, so he was going to have to subdue them. Subduing a man without using lethal force was a difficult thing to do, but Justan had studied quite a bit on the subject and thought that he knew how he would do it.
Oddly, the guards weren’t at their posts. This worried him at first, but he figured that the wizards hadn’t deemed it necessary to leave guards to shoo away students that were asleep. Justan smiled at his good luck. He opened the doors to the stables and snuck inside.
The smell of horses, hay, and manure hung thick in the air and all was quiet except for the occasional snort of a horse. Justan hadn't been inside the stables very often but he remembered the basic layout. It was rather big, with thirty to forty horses present at any given time and room for twenty more. At the very back were the supply rooms and one stone-walled room with a thick door that Justan assumed was the place where Gwyrtha was being held.
It was very dark and Justan couldn't see much of anything. He tiptoed forward with slow, measured steps, his arms extended in front of him, hoping not to walk into anything. He nearly tripped over a bale of hay and almost smacked his head on a support pole but, though it seemed to take forever, he made it to the stone-walled room in mere minutes.
Justan sensed that Gwyrtha was near. He ran his hands along the wall, trying to find the handle to the door where she was being kept. Just as he reached what he thought was the correct door, a light flared behind him.
“Hello, Edge. I thought that you might show up here.” The lamp Valtrek held in front of him gave off a surprising amount of light. The wizard's short black beard framed a knowing smile.
“Professor Valtrek,” Justan said. This was the last person that Justan wanted to see. A sour feeling tugged at his heart.
“I had my suspicions this afternoon when you were named so unexpectedly, but it wasn't until you showed up here that they were confirmed.”
“I just wanted to see the rogue horse again,” Justan said lamely.
“Dressed like that? Fully armed? We both know that you're smarter than to think that I would be fooled by that excuse.”
Justan knew that his plans were ruined, but he pushed his fear away. He had to save Gwyrtha, and if he had to take the wizard down to do it, he would, no matter the consequences. Justan
knew that Valtrek was a powerful wizard and that he didn't stand much of a chance of overcoming him, but it didn’t matter. He had no choice but to win. Perhaps those lessons in magic defense would come in handy.
Valtrek noticed a desperate look crossing Justan’s features.
“Before you do anything rash, Edge, here me out,” he said and Justan winced at the sound of his new name coming from the man that he so despised. The wizard reached into his robe and pulled forth a scroll. “When you left the council room today, I announced that I was taking you on as my apprentice.”
“No!” Justan snapped. He felt like there was a vise slowly closing on his throat. “You can't do that. I refuse!” There was no way that he was going to give this man so much control over his life.
Messenger of the Dark Prophet (The Bowl of Souls: Book Two) Page 22
