Secrets and Spellcraft

by Michael G. Manning

A cruel impulse overwhelmed his usual consideration. “Because you like me. It’s about a girl.”

  Janice winced visibly, but she didn’t try to deny his observation. “Oh. Selene?”

  “Yeah.”

  Ignoring her own discomfort with the topic, she pressed on, “Did you get a letter?”

  “I saw her. We talked.”

  “She rejected you?”

  His eyes flashed angrily, but he bit back his first response. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? “Not exactly,” he said instead. “More of a forbidden love and irreconcilable differences sort of thing.”

  Janice’s visage showed surprise and concern. “She confessed to you?” she asked in disbelief.

  “We both did. But there’s something else going on as well.”

  “You’re a commoner,” she stated.

  “It’s partly that. I’ve had opportunities to raise my station, but I’ve rejected them on personal principles. Apparently, that was also a rejection of her,” he said bluntly.

  Her eyes widened. “Wow. You turned down an offer from the king?”

  He nodded.

  “And yet you’re still alive,” she said in a tone of wonder. “That’s a miracle considering your other problems. She must be furious.”

  “That I’m alive?”

  “No. That you would rather stand on principle. It’s almost like you’d rather be dead than rise to a rank that would make you a possible match for her.”

  Despite knowing little of the details, Janice had summed it up pretty neatly. “That’s pretty much what she said. I’ve never seen her lose her temper before.”

  Janice sighed. “She’s probably angrier with the situation than with you, but I can’t blame her. From where I’m standing, your decision doesn’t seem very wise. Can I ask what this principle of yours is?”

  “Sorcery is evil.”

  “Ouch,” said Janice. “I change my verdict. She has to be at least a little angry about that. It doesn’t help that you’re wrong.”

  “I’m not wrong,” he said stubbornly.

  “Prove it then. You can’t make a bold statement like that without offering some proof.”

  “I don’t have any proof. I just believe what my old master taught me.”

  Janice shook her head sadly. “Accusations without evidence are merely insults.”

  “That’s essentially what the king said.”

  “Holy Mother! You told the king that too?”

  “Last week. I didn’t say it that way exactly, but I did let him know that I thought sorcery was the equivalent of magical slavery. That’s how I got the black eye.”

  Janice took a step back, covering her mouth with both hands.

  Will smirked. “Having second thoughts about the ball? Being seen with me might not be the wisest course of action.”

  She nodded.

  His lips formed a firm line, then Will turned and walked away, keeping his spine straight and his shoulders square. Going alone would be better, he told himself. That’s how I’ve dealt with most of this anyway.

  Back in his room, he returned to practicing his spellcraft, though his zeal and enthusiasm were gone. The walls felt as though they were closing in on him. The more he thought about it, the surer he was that going to see Selene had been a mistake. He had promised to kill her father, and whether that was in a month, or years in the future, it would destroy any feelings between them. Falling in love with her was pure folly.

  He wasn’t in the mood to talk to Arrogan, but he called up the limnthal anyway. If I’m going to kill a king and however many others it takes, then I need to forge myself into the best weapon possible, he thought. That’s all I have left. “I need to learn that point-defense shield you told me about,” he said without preamble. “It isn’t in your book. Is there a copy at home in your library?”

  “Not as far as I recall,” said the ring.

  That wasn’t what he had expected to hear. “I thought you had all the rare spells in those books of yours.”

  “Ha!” said Arrogan. “My library was a lot less stupendous than you assumed, then. I did have a collection of things you aren’t likely to find being taught these days, but there were only a few actual volumes of spells on the shelves, and most of them were things I wouldn’t want anyone to learn.”

  “Like the city killer you mentioned? You knew a lot more spells than those,” countered Will.

  “Hundreds, maybe thousands,” agreed Arrogan. “A lot of them I could reflex cast and I would have been hard put to remember them well enough to put them on paper. The others were memorized. I could have written those out for you, but it would be impossible now.”

  “What if you needed something different? Isn’t that the whole point of having a library?”

  “I was a genius, boy, a master of the craft. If I needed something special, I’d create it. After a few hundred years I was pretty good at cobbling together new spells if I didn’t have one to do the trick already.”

  “That’s great for you, but it doesn’t help me much now.”

  “Isn’t that what your fancy ass college is supposed to be good for? They have a massive library here,” suggested the ring.

  Will had only visited it a few times. The first time had been in hopes of finding useful spells, but he had left disappointed. The other times had been to do research for essays. None of his experience within the library made him hopeful that he could find what he wanted there. “Anything remotely useable in battle would be in the restricted sections,” said Will. “Hell, they put anything that might be potentially used for criminal purposes in there, not just the dangerous stuff.”

  “Too bad you can’t use the chameleon spell yet,” said Arrogan.

  “I can,” Will said simply. “I managed it a few days ago.”

  “Oh? What did you do first?”

  “Nothing,” said Will in a sullen tone.

  “You’re a terrible liar. It was the girls’ dorm, wasn’t it? You sleazy little bastard.”

  Will’s cheeks reddened. “No!”

  “You’re seventeen and there’s a whole bundle of stupid stuck between your legs. Don’t try to tell me you were mature and responsible.”

  “Not everyone is as twisted as you were at this age,” argued Will. He didn’t bother mentioning that his birthday had come and gone more than a week prior without anyone knowing.

  “If you were stubborn enough to convince me to take you as an apprentice, I doubt you’re a goody-goody. You’d probably be in prison by now if you hadn’t met me,” said Arrogan. “So, just fess up and tell me where you went. It’s probably the first interesting story you’ve had since you started tormenting me with your questions.”

  “It’s none of your business,” said Will stubbornly.

  “Hmm, so it wasn’t the girls’ dorm and you’re sensitive about it—let me just think about what I know about you already.” After a brief pause, the ring gasped, “You didn’t!”

  “Didn’t what?” asked Will warily.

  “Sneak into a brothel and watch the ladies going about their work. That’s just disgusting. I would have thought my living self would have taught you better than that.”

  Will was appalled. “I did no such thing. Why would you even think that?”

  “I’m just getting under your skin. It’s obvious what you did. You went and found that girl you’re always mooning about.”

  Will remained silent.

  The ring went on. “The real question is whether you talked to her or not. Since you’re here now and not on top of a pike at the city gate, I can only assume you weren’t caught.”

  He refused to be goaded into participating in the conversation.

  “Since you’re too embarrassed to say anything, you probably just snuck in and watched her undressing. That’s just sick. You should be ashamed.”

  “I didn’t!” Will exclaimed.

  “So you talked to her, and then—tell me you didn’t.”

  “I didn’t,” Will lied.

/>   “Didn’t talk, or didn’t share her bed?”

  “Either! Wait, I meant we talked, but that’s all.”

  “You really are a bad liar. I bet you’re red as a beet right now,” said Arrogan.

  Desperate to change the direction of the conversation, Will volunteered some information. “I tried to tell her what you told me, about the heart-stone enchantment.”

  “Ninny, and how did that work out for you?”

  “Not well. She didn’t believe me.”

  “Of course she didn’t. Now I understand why you didn’t get laid. She probably tossed your ass out after you started preaching to her about being enslaved by her father.”

  “No, I didn’t mention it until later,” said Will.

  “Hah! So you did defile her!” accused the ring.

  “No! That’s enough! I’m not talking about this with you.”

  Arrogan sighed. “Fine. Let me share some wisdom then. You’re never going to convince her of the truth regarding the heart-stone enchantment. Would you like to know why?”

  “I’d rather know how to convince her.”

  “You can’t. People don’t like being told they’re fools. They simply reject anything that suggests it. Take yourself as a prime example. I’ve been telling you how stupid you are since day one and you still refuse to accept it. I’m sure my living self did the same, and yet here you are, too dumb to realize your idiocy. Normal people are like that too, just not quite as obvious about it. What you were trying to tell her contradicts everything she knows about herself, her father, and her magic. There’s no way she could accept it. All you accomplished is that you probably pissed her off.”

  “I’ve figured out that much already,” said Will sourly.

  “Really? What got the message across? Was it a frying pan to that big stupid noggin of yours, or did she try to put a knife through you?”

  He chuckled in spite of himself. “No, but she was definitely mad. Since you’re so wise, why don’t you tell me how I can convince her?”

  “You can’t. She’ll have to figure it out herself, and that won’t happen until she dies, or her father uses the enchantment to force her to do something that’s obviously contrary to her true self.”

  “I doubt he could do that,” said Will. “She believes in obedience to the king. She’d do anything he told her. Even if she didn’t want to, she’d probably think she was obeying out of loyalty.”

  “You really know how to pick ‘em,” said Arrogan sarcastically. “But even if she’s that mixed up there’s a few things no sane person will do.”

  “Such as?”

  “Hurt themselves or hurt their family and loved ones. For example, if he told her to kill herself, she’d realize the truth as she was driving a knife through her own heart. The same would be true if he ordered her to kill him, which isn’t likely to happen. Is she in love with you?”

  Will didn’t answer.

  “Then you have three possibilities,” said the ring, ignoring his silence. “If he ordered her to kill him, or herself, or you. While the first of those would rather neatly solve two of your problems, it won’t ever happen. The other two would also solve your problems, but you wouldn’t enjoy the resolution.”

  “Isn’t it possible she could resist a command like that?”

  “I suppose anything is possible, but I never saw it happen. At best, it would tear her soul apart and kill her. I doubt anyone is that stubborn.”

  “I always feel so uplifted after our little chats,” said Will dryly.

  “That warms my heart. Glad I could help.”

  He dismissed the limnthal and got to his feet. Then he prepared the chameleon spell and tucked it away for quick use later. It was time to visit the library.

  Chapter 45

  The Wurthaven library was a massive stone building that predated Terabinia, having been constructed in the early days of Cerria, when it had still been part of Greater Darrow. According to the history of the college, it wasn’t entirely certain whether the library had been built to serve the college, or whether the college had been built near it as a matter of convenience.

  Either way, it was well over a thousand years old and the stonework on the exterior didn’t quite match that of the other buildings on the campus. Will approached the main entrance.

  The library kept late hours compared to the rest of the college, as it didn’t officially close until an hour before midnight. Will walked up the long, stone steps and went inside, greeting the library clerk that manned the massive front desk.

  “You’re coming in late,” said the young man sitting behind the desk. Will didn’t recognize him but given his age, the fellow was probably one of the senior students. “You only have a couple of hours before we lock up.”

  “I’ll probably be done by then,” said Will, signing the entry register. “If not, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “Need help finding anything?”

  “No. I’m just finishing a book I started last week,” said Will. The library didn’t allow any of its books to be removed, so it was usual for students to return on multiple days to read a single tome. He headed for the stairs.

  The library had four floors, and beyond the main desk he was unlikely to meet anyone aside from other students that late in the evening. There were assistants to help locate books during the earlier hours, but not after eighth bell.

  The ground floor held mainly general materials and books covering various mundane subjects. The second floor was populated with historical texts, genealogical tomes, and a large section of biographies. The fourth was smaller and the head librarian’s office was located there, along with technical sections covering a wide range of engineering texts, alchemical texts, and materials relating to research done by different departments.

  It was the third floor he wanted, where the spell archives resided. He made a slow circuit of the floor, checking to see how many people were there. He saw no one in the shelves, but along one end of the floor there were rows of semi-private study cubicles. He spotted two students within those, one asleep and the other reading.

  Will returned to the stacks and began walking through them, paying more attention to the organization. As expected, he saw nothing of interest, but the restricted area was easy to see, for it was cordoned off with brass chains.

  The chains were mostly a symbolic barrier, since anyone could slip beneath them or step over if they had long legs. It was the wards that lined the floor behind them that were the true obstacle. Will kept walking until he had reached the stairs, then he went down to the second floor. He had time to kill, so he thought he might as well use it working on his next essay for Composition.

  The few remaining students left over the course of the next two hours, and once Will thought most of them had gone, he returned to the front desk and signed out, giving a nod to the sleepy clerk. The entrance was some twenty feet away and he walked to it, glancing back just as he put his hand on the door handle.

  The clerk was looking down at something he had been reading. Will opened the door and cast the chameleon spell. Then he remained still, watching to see if the clerk would glance up.

  The clerk did look up, but only for a split second as he noted the door closing. Then he returned to reading whatever it was that had captured his interest. Will slowly backed away from the door and made his way to the far corner where a few chairs and low tables were set out for students. He took a seat and kept his eyes on the clerk.

  When the eleventh bell rang, the man got up and locked the doors before returning to the desk and his beloved book. Will silently cursed. Why doesn’t he leave?

  Since the man showed no sign of moving, Will closed his eyes and tried to nap. He’d be locked in all night anyway, so he figured he’d use his time productively. Almost an hour passed before he heard a sound and opened his eyes. The clerk had finally risen from his seat and was walking to the stairs. Why is he going up there?

  Twenty minutes went by before the man finally returned
and let himself out. Will waited until he was gone, then waited another couple of minutes just to be sure the fellow wouldn’t return.

  Finally, sure he was alone, Will headed for the stairs and went back up to the third floor. The glass lanterns that hung from the ceiling were out, so it was nearly pitch black. He must have put out the lights. It didn’t inconvenience him at all, though. He’d adjusted his vision to compensate without even thinking about it. The library was now well lit in shades of grey. I’ll have to make a light to read anything though. He knew from prior experience that reading was nearly impossible using heart-light.

  He stopped in front of the chain that marked off the restricted section. The wards that protected it extended for almost ten feet beyond the boundary line, covering the floor in blue-limned symbols and runes. Dulaney had warned him not to sneak in previously, which meant the professor suspected that others might have done so before him. What method did they use? Will wondered. Did they climb along the shelves, or maybe they had some spell for levitating?

  He was tempted to try climbing, just to see if it would work, but he couldn’t afford a failed experiment. It was better to stick with a method he was sure of. Crouching down, he eased his body forward beneath the chain, then held his hand out to hover above the ward while he matched its turyn. Once he had the feel of it, he gingerly placed his hand against the runes.

  Nothing happened, and a wicked smile crept across his face. William Cartwright, plunderer of archives and cat burglar extraordinaire. He extended his false aura to include the rest of his body and then crawled forward until he could stand up. The restricted section was his to explore.

  As expected, he couldn’t read most of the titles, but there were a few that stood out. He wondered why. Conjuring a light spell, he readjusted his vision and looked again. Some of the spines were stamped with metallic gold lettering. Interesting. I can see metallic paint with heart-light but not ordinary inks.

  He walked along the shelves for a short distance before realizing he’d made a major error. There were too many books and his goal was very specific. He needed to check the index, but it was located outside the restricted area. With a sigh he made his way back, carefully bypassing the ward again so he could get out. Then he crossed the floor until he found the long cabinets that held the card index.