Black Magician-01-The_Magicians' Guild

by Trudi Canavan

  "Everybody wonders what they do in there. Don't you?"

  Sonea hesitated. "Well... sometimes."

  "Of course you do. You've got more reason than most. So, do you want to spy on a few magicians?"

  Sonea looked up at the buildings. "How are we going to look inside without them seeing us?"

  "The garden goes right up to the walls of the buildings," Cery told her. "There are paths going back and forth, and beside them are trees with hedges on either side. You can walk between the hedges and nobody can see you."

  Sonea shook her head. "Only you would do something this crazy."

  He smiled. "But you know I don't take stupid risks."

  She bit her lip, still ashamed that she had suspected him of betraying her. He had always been the cleverest of Harrin's gang. If it was possible to spy on the Guild, he would know how to do it.

  She knew she should tell him to take her back to Faren. If someone discovered them ... It was too frightening to think about. Cery was watching her expectantly. It would be a shame not to try, a voice in the back of her mind whispered, and I might see something helpful.

  "All right." She sighed. "Where first?"

  Cery grinned and pointed toward the Healers' building. "We'll get into the gardens down there, where the road's dark. Follow me."

  He scampered back into the forest and wove his way through the trees. After a few hundred paces, he moved back toward the road and stopped beside a tree.

  "The magicians are busy training right now," he murmured. "Or they've gone to their rooms. We've got until the night classes finish, then we'll dig down and hide. For now, we just have to watch out for servants. Stuff your cloak in your shirt. It'll only get in the way."

  She obeyed. Cery took her hand and started toward the road. Sonea looked up at the windows of the University dubiously.

  "What if they look out? They'll see us."

  "Don't worry," he told her. "Their rooms are full of light, so they can't see anything outside unless they go right up to the windows and they're too busy doing what they do to look outside."

  Taking her arm, he pulled her across the road. She held her breath and searched the windows above them for watchers, but no human shapes appeared in them. As they entered the shadows of the garden, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  Dropping to his belly, Cery wriggled through the base of a hedge. Following him, Sonea found herself crouching under a dense net of foliage.

  "It's grown a bit since I was here last," Cery murmured. "We'll have to crawl."

  Moving forward on their hands and knees, he led her through a tight tunnel of vegetation. Every twenty paces or so they had to squeeze past the trunk of a tree. After crawling for several hundred paces, he stopped.

  "We're in front of the Healer's building," he told her. "We cross a path, then go into the trees against the wall. I'll go first. Check to make sure the path is clear, then follow."

  Dropping to his belly again, he pushed his way out of the hedge and disappeared. Moving to the hole he had made, Sonea peered out. A path ran along the hedge. She could see the gap where Cery had pushed into the hedge on the other side.

  Crawling out, she hurried across and pushed her way into the foliage. She found Cery sitting in the space behind, resting his back against the trunk of a large tree, facing a wall.

  "You think you could climb this?" Cery asked quietly, patting the wall. "You'll have to go to the second floor. That's where they have their lessons."

  Sonea examined the wall. It was made of large stone bricks. The mortar between was old and crumbling. Two ledges ran around the building, forming the base of the windows. Once she had reached a window she would be able to rest on the ledge while she looked inside.

  "Easy," she whispered.

  His eyes narrowed, then he began searching his pockets. Bringing out a small jar, he opened it and began smearing dark paste on her face.

  "There. Now you look like Faren." He grinned, then grew serious again. "Stay behind the trees. If I see someone coming, I'll hoot like a mullook. You stay put and keep real still and quiet."

  Nodding, she turned to the wall and carefully set her toes into a crack. Digging her fingers into the crumbling mortar, she sought the next foothold. Soon she was clinging to the wall, her feet level with Cery's head. She looked down at him and saw his teeth flash as he grinned.

  Her muscles protested as she hauled herself up but she did not stop until she had reached the second ledge. Pausing to catch her breath, she turned her head toward the nearest window.

  It was the size of a doorway and filled with four large panes of glass. She cautiously slid along the ledge until she could see into the room beyond.

  A large group of brown-robed magicians sat inside, all gazing intently at something in a far corner of the room. She hesitated, fearing that one would look up and see her, but none glanced her way. Heart racing, she edged forward until she could see what they were staring at.

  A man with dark green robes stood at the far corner. He held in his hands a carving of an arm with colored lines and words scrawled over it. The magician was using a short stick of wood to point at the different words.

  Sonea felt a thrill of excitement. The magician's voice was a little muffled by the glass, but she could make out his words if she listened carefully.

  As she did, a familiar frustration grew. Strange words and phrases made up much of the magician's lecture. It made as much sense to her as another language. She was about to give in to the ache in her fingers and return to Cery when the speaker turned and called out loudly: "Bring Jenia in."

  The novices turned toward the open door. A young woman entered the room, accompanied by an old servant. Her arm was bandaged and hung from a sling tied behind her neck.

  The woman smiled boldly and laughed at something one of the novices said. With a stern look from the teacher, the class quietened.

  "Jenia broke her arm this afternoon when she fell off her horse," he told them. He gestured for the young woman to take a chair. As he began to unwrap her bandages the smile fled from her face.

  A bruised and swollen forearm was uncovered. The teacher picked two novices from the class. The pair ran their hands gently over the bruised arm, stepped back and gave their assessment. The teacher nodded, pleased.

  "Now," his voice rose to include the class, "first we must stop the pain."

  At a signal from the teacher, one of the novices took the woman's hand. He closed his eyes and the room was silent for a moment. A look of relief passed over the woman's face. The novice released her and nodded at the teacher.

  "It is always better to let the body heal itself," the magician continued, "but we can mend it to the point where the bones join and the swelling is relieved."

  The other novice slowly ran his palm along the woman's arm. The bruises faded under his touch. When the youth drew away, the young woman smiled and tentatively wriggled her fingers.

  The teacher examined her arm, then replaced the sling, which the woman regarded with obvious disdain. He instructed her sternly not to use her arm for two weeks. One of the novices said something and the rest laughed.

  Sonea drew away from the window. She had just seen the magicians' legendary healing powers at work, something that few dwells ever witnessed. It was as amazing as she had imagined.

  But she had learned nothing of how they had done it.

  This must be a class for skilled novices, she reasoned. New novices would not know how to treat an injury like that. If she found a class for new novices, she might be able to understand it.

  She climbed down. As her feet touched the ground Cery grabbed her arm.

  "Did you see any healing?" he whispered.

  She nodded.

  Cery grinned. "Told you this was easy, didn't I?"

  "For you, maybe," she said, rubbing her hands. "I'm out of practice." Moving to the next tree, she forced her tired fingers between the bricks, and hauled herself up again.

  The teacher in the next cl
assroom was a woman, and she was also wearing green robes. She was silent, watching her novices as they bent over their desks, frantically writing on sheets of paper and leafing through well-worn leather books. Sonea gave in to the ache in her arms and returned to the ground. "Well?" Cery asked.

  She shook her head. "Nothing much."

  The next window revealed a class of novices mixing liquids, dried powders and pastes in small jars. The window after contained a single young man in green robes, his head resting on the open pages of his book as he dozed.

  "The rest of the rooms don't have lights," Cery told her when she reached the ground again. "I guess that's all you'll see here." He turned to point at the University. "There are more classes to watch over there."

  She nodded. "Let's go."

  Squeezing out of the hedge, they dashed across the path and pushed into the foliage on the other side. Halfway across the garden, Cery stopped and pointed to a gap in the hedge.

  Looking out between the leaves, Sonea saw they had reached the strange masts she had seen rising above the gardens. They curved inward, as if bowing to each other, and tapered to a point at the top. They were spaced evenly around a large circular slab of stone which had been set into the ground.

  Sonea shivered. A vaguely familiar vibration tainted the air. Disturbed, she put a hand on Cery's back.

  "Let's move on."

  Cery nodded and, glancing one more time at the tall masts, led her away.

  They crossed two more paths before reaching the wall of the University. Cery placed a hand on the stone.

  "You won't be able to climb this one," he whispered. "But there's plenty of windows at the ground level."

  Sonea touched the wall. The stone was covered with rivulets and ripples running up and down the surface. She could not see any cracks or seams. It was as if the entire building had been made from one huge block of stone.

  Moving behind a tree, Cery linked his fingers together. She rose and placed a foot in his hands. Stepping up, she peered over the window ledge and into the room beyond.

  A man in purple robes was writing with sticks of charcoal on a board. The sound of his voice drifted to her ears, but she could not make out what he said. The drawings on the board were as incomprehensible as the speech of the Healer. With a pang of disappointment and frustration she signalled for Cery to let her down.

  They crept along the building to the next window. The scene inside was as mysterious as the first. Novices sat rigidly in their seats with their eyes closed. Behind each seated novice stood another who pressed his palms against his fellow's temples. The teacher, a stern-looking man in red robes, watched them in silence.

  Sonea was about to move away when he spoke suddenly.

  "Come away now." His tone was unexpectedly soothing for a man with such a hard visage. The novices opened their eyes. Those who had been standing rubbed their own temples and grimaced.

  "As you can see, it is impossible to see into somebody else's mind without their good will," the teacher told them. "Well, not impossible, as our own High Lord has proven, but far out of the reach of ordinary magicians such as you and I."

  His eyes flicked toward the window. Sonea quickly ducked out of view. Cery let her down, and she crouched under the window ledge, pressing her back against the wall and gesturing to Cery to do the same.

  "Were you seen?" Cery whispered.

  Sonea pressed a hand to her heart, which was pounding rapidly. "I'm not sure." Was the magician hurrying through the University now, intending to investigate the gardens? Or was he standing at the window, waiting for them to step out from under the ledge?

  She swallowed, her mouth dry. She turned to Cery, ready to suggest they run for the forest, then stopped. Behind her, in the room, the muffled sound of the teacher's voice had begun again. She closed her eyes and sighed with relief.

  Cery leaned forward and cautiously peered up at the window. He looked at her and shrugged.

  "Keep going?"

  She drew in a deep breath and nodded. Rising, they moved down the building and stopped under the next window. Linking his hands together, Cery lifted Sonea up.

  Flashes of movement met her eyes as she peered through the window. She stared at the scene in amazement. Several novices were dodging and ducking about, doing their best to avoid a tiny point of light that flew around the room. Standing on a chair in one corner, a red-robed magician followed the progress of the speck with an outstretched hand. He roared at the novices: "Hold still! Stand your ground!"

  Four of the novices were already standing still. When the bright speck came close to them it was propelled away like a swatted fly. Gradually more of the novices followed the others' example, but the spark was quick. A few of the less skilled youths bore tiny red marks on their arms and faces.

  Suddenly the spark vanished. The teacher leapt off the chair and landed lightly. The novices relaxed and grinned at each other. Afraid that they would glance her way, Sonea dropped to the ground.

  At the next window she watched a purple-robed magician demonstrating to his class a strange experiment with colored liquids. In another she watched a group of novices working with floating globules of molten glass, shaping the glowing masses into intricate, glowing sculptures. Then in the next, she listened to a gentle-looking man dressed in red robes giving a speech on making fire.

  A deep chime suddenly echoed through the Guild. The magician looked up in surprise and the novices began to rise from their seats. Sonea ducked away from the window.

  Cery lowered her to the ground. "That bell marks the end of classes," he told her. "We'll stay quiet now. The magicians will leave the University and go to their rooms."

  They huddled close to the trunk of a tree. For several minutes all was quiet, then Sonea heard the sound of footsteps beyond the hedge.

  "... a long day," a woman was saying. "We're stretched very thin with this winter cough taking hold. I hope the search ends soon."

  "Yes," a second woman agreed. "But the Administrator has been reasonable. He has given most of the work to the Warriors and Alchemists."

  "True," the first woman replied. "Now tell me, how is Lord Makin's wife? She must be over eight months now . . ."

  The women's voices faded away and were replaced by boyish laugher.

  ".. . had you fooled. He practically thrashed you, Kamo!"

  "It was just a trick, merely," a boy with a thick Vin accent replied. "It will not work a second time."

  "Ha!" a third boy retorted. "This is the second time!"

  The boys burst into laughter but Sonea could hear another set of footsteps approaching from her left. The boys fell silent.

  "Lord Sarrin," they murmured respectfully as the footsteps reached them. When the steps had moved well past them, the boys' voices rose again as they continued teasing each other. They moved out of her hearing.

  Several more groups of magicians passed. Most were silent. Gradually, the activity around the Guild dwindled and then ceased. By the time Cery pushed his head through the hedge to check the path, they had been hidden for almost an hour.

  "We'll head back to the forest now," he told her. "There won't be any more classes for you to see."

  She followed as he pushed his way out onto the path and into the next hedge. They travelled through the garden and scampered back across the road into the forest. Crouching under a tree Cery grinned at her, his eyes glittering with excitement.

  "That was easy, wasn't it?"

  Sonea looked back at the Guild and felt a smile spread over her face.

  "Yes!"

  "See. Just think: while the magicians are hunting around out in the slums we've been snooping around their territory."

  They chuckled quietly, then Sonea drew in a deep breath and sighed.

  "I'm glad we're done," she admitted. "Can we go back now?"

  Cery pursed his lips. "There's something else I wanted to try, since we're here."

  Sonea eyed him suspiciously. "What?"

  Ignoring her q
uestion, he rose and moved away through the trees. She hesitated, then hurried after him. As they travelled farther into the forest, it grew darker and Sonea stumbled several times on hidden roots and branches. Cery turned to the right and, feeling a different surface under her feet, she realized they were crossing the road again.

  From there, the ground began to slope upward. After several hundred paces they crossed a narrow path and the slope grew steeper. Cery stopped and pointed.

  "Look."

  A long, two-story building was visible through the trunks.

  "The novices' building," Cery told her. "We're behind it. Look, you can see inside."

  Through one of the windows she could see part of a room. A plain, sturdy bed stood against one wall, and a narrow table and chair along another. Two brown robes hung from hooks on the wall.

  "Not very fancy."

  Cery nodded. "They're all like that."

  "But they're rich, aren't they?"

  "I guess they don't get to choose their own stuff until they become full magicians."

  "What are the magicians' rooms like?"

  "Fancy." His eyes gleamed. "Want to see?"

  Sonea nodded.

  "Come on then."

  He moved deeper into the trees and up the slope. When they drew close to the edge of the forest again Sonea saw that several buildings and a wide paved courtyard lay behind the University. One of the structures curved down the slope like a long stairway, glittering softly as if it were made entirely out of molten glass. Another looked like a huge upturned bowl, smooth and white. The whole area was illuminated by two rows of large, round lamps, set high on iron poles.

  "What are all these buildings for?" Sonea asked.

  Cery stopped. "I'm not sure. I think that glass one is the baths. The others . . . ?" He shrugged. "I could find out."

  He moved on through into the forest. When they came in sight of the Guild again, they had passed the courtyard and were standing closer to the magicians' building. Cery crossed his arms and frowned.

  "They've all got screens over their windows," he said.

  "Hmm, perhaps if we go around the side we'll see something."

  By the time they returned to the edge of the trees, Sonea's legs were aching. Though the forest grew closer to the building at the side, she could only see a glimpse of furniture through the open window Cery pointed out. Suddenly more tired than curious, she dropped to the ground.