“That is not expected for a student of his level,” the Secundum said. “Barely of someone in the second year.”
“Oh, it is quite all right,” Professor Clarice said, waving her hand. “I’m sure Mr. Bilson doesn’t mind. I’ve heard him speaking about the seventh tenet in ways that tell me that he has been studying them.”
She wasn’t wrong. Sam had been studying all of the tenets of angulation, but he had done so using different texts from the library that he didn’t know would be approved by Professor Clarice.
“The zero tenet of angulation is tied to concentration and belief,” Sam said, immediately going into what he had memorized from one of the books that he’d read in the library. “It is the concentration of mind, a hardness thought, and a belief in success,” he continued. “All of that is—”
“I can read Jesert’s Treatise as well as any,” Chasten said. “Can you tell me what it means to you and how you would pursue the Arcane Arts?”
Sam wasn’t sure why he was surprised that Chasten recognized the book as quickly as he had. He had attempted to draw from one of the more obscure volumes, as many of them went into the various tenets of angulation, but none of them had gone into it with much detail, certainly not enough detail for him to have been able to do anything with it.
But Chasten had known.
He had to be careful that he didn’t irritate any of the instructors. He also had to be careful he didn’t fail here.
“Belief is crucial so that you don’t fail before you begin and so that you—”
“Now you share Hecasius’s Principles.”
Sam tightened.
“Again, I can read those volumes myself if I want to have them regurgitated to me.” Chasten leaned forward. He clasped his hands together. “I am curious what it means to you.”
It meant nothing to Sam.
And perhaps that was what Chasten was getting at. He had been there when Sam had taken the alchemy exam, and so he would’ve known that Sam had a near-perfect memory when it came to reciting what he’d read.
Perhaps he had spoken to Havash afterward and had learned the truth. Or perhaps he only wanted to really pressure Sam.
Professor Clarice watched him, though she had an unreadable expression on her face. Still, she didn’t seem upset with him. He suspected that she would not have pushed this herself, especially as she would only ask him about the first two tenets at most.
The Secundum was little more difficult for Sam to tell how he might react, but he had a kindly look in his eyes. His hands were clenched, and he sat leaning forward as if waiting on Sam to reveal some great truth to them.
Chasten had leaned back, and now his arms were crossed in front of him. He seemed almost disappointed in Sam.
“Perhaps you’re asking a bit much for first-year students early in the term,” Professor Clarice said. “We could have him demonstrate his control over the Arcane Arts, and then we can let him on. He has already proven himself more than capable of grasping the theoretical aspects of the tenets.”
Chasten regarded Sam. “I would much prefer an answer to this question.”
Sam thought everything that he’d read about the various tenets of angulation. The zero one had always been unusual, mostly because it spoke of concentration and belief and aspects of a subject that he thought were not nearly as critical.
“From my reading,” Sam began slowly, “belief is critical for success. If you fail to believe yourself capable, you will not succeed even if you have the power within you. From there, concentration becomes the key, but even that would fail without the necessary belief. In order to reach for any of the other aspects of angulation, one must have the necessary belief so that they can call upon the Arcane Arts in the first place.”
It was a hodgepodge of different theories, but it all essentially solidified the concept into a singular peace. And none of it mattered to Sam.
Belief in one’s ability was crucial for the Arcane Arts. And Sam knew that he had no ability with it whatsoever.
“Better,” Chasten said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “At least that isn’t reciting something that you’ve read. We don’t need students who won’t think critically. We need students who can challenge themselves and can find new answers.”
“You’re challenging first-year students on the theoretical application of angulation?” the Secundum asked. “We don’t even ask that of our graduating students.”
“I’m trying to challenge him to understand what he’s learned.” Chasten turned toward the others. He noticed that both Professor Clarice and the Secundum had a pale white glow to them as they were calling upon their Arcane Arts. It was what he saw coming from Chasten that bothered him. It was a faint green.
Sam regarded him, squeezing the alchemy device in his hand. It was the same type of power he’d seen in the alchemy section.
The three on the panel began to talk in hushed voices, arguing about how they were to have tested him.
Sam stood silently.
Surprisingly, a wall of crisscrossing white erupted in front of the three of them as they continued their debate. When it finally faded, Professor Clarice nodded at Sam. “You may go, Mr. Bilson.”
“Is that it?”
“We have all agreed upon your satisfactory responses. You did well, Mr. Bilson.” She smiled, and he found the Secundum nodding.
The only one who wasn’t was Chasten, who continued to glow with a pale green light as he regarded Sam with an unnerving intensity.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sam knew that he should feel excited about passing his exams, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something not quite right. He made his way through his meal that evening, trying to ignore everybody else around him. As the exams were done for everybody, there was a general sense of ribald in the dining hall.
“Are you going to come up the city with me?”
Sam looked up at James. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Exams are done, Sam. Everybody’s heading out for the evening.”
“I don’t know. I might just say in. I’m tired, and…”
He wasn’t exactly sure how to tell James that he was interested in looking into something else, but maybe he should include James. He was his friend, after all, and he might need his help.
But he didn’t want James to learn the truth about him.
It was stupid. Sam knew that, especially as he hadn’t come here to make friends, but now that he had, he didn’t want to lose them, either. Considering he had basically James, and maybe Tara, though Sam wasn’t quite sure what to make of the connection that he had with her, he wanted to keep the friends that he had as close as possible.
“At least, for a little while. We don’t have to end up in the plaza. Plus, you might want to end up in the plaza. I can’t say whether or not Tara is going to be there.” James looked over to where terrace and the far end of the table, eating alone. She often ate alone, Sam noticed.
“Would you stop?” he said, shaking his head.
James chuckled. “You haven’t told me how it went. I’m assuming you did great, as you have done great on every exam. At least considering the scores that were posted.”
Sam frowned. He didn’t realize the scores were posted. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you have the top grade on the other tests. I suspect we’ll see the same with angulation.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Sam muttered, and he turned his attention back to his food.
“Why is that?”
“I had little difficulty with the line of questioning. They were asking about the zero tenet, and I got called out on something I was—”
“You were asked about what?”
Sam frowned at him for a moment. “It’s nothing. They were asking about advanced tenets of angulation, and I couldn’t answer them the way I suspected they wanted me to.”
“Even still, that you are asked about advanced tenets seems to me that
they knew you could handle the basic stuff. I told you about my testing.”
Sam nodded. “You did.”
James continued to go on about the testing, about what he had gone through, and Sam listened only halfheartedly. When he finished eating, he looked along the table and realized that most of the students had already gone. He was thankful that the chaos in the dining hall was already calming down and even more thankful that it didn’t seem as if he was going to have to deal with Gresham anytime soon.
He got to his feet. “I’m tired, James. I think I might just get to sleep early tonight. You can go on into the city without me.”
A look of disappointment swept across his face. “If you don’t want to go, then don’t go, but…”
“You don’t have to feel bad going without me.
James chuckled. “Who said I’d feel bad? Maybe bad for you. You’re going to miss out. I hear the celebrations after the first set of exams is not something to be missed.”
Sam smiled tightly. He stacked his tray away and then wandered back out into the Academy building. He had started going back toward his room, much like he had promised James when he changed his mind and decided to go to the library. He didn’t feel like sitting in his room, much like he didn’t really feel like sitting out in the city. He didn’t want to spend the money anyway.
He nodded to Muriel and started back toward his typical booth when he decided to look into what he had seen during his testing. Chasten and the greenish light. Though he had been placed into the tolath tower because of his ability to see colors, or presumably so, he hadn’t managed to uncover anything.
It was getting late, near to when the library would close, and he would have to leave, though he could return when Tara showed up at his booth. She seemed on edge for some reason.
“You didn’t go out to celebrate?” Sam asked.
“I don’t need to go out into the city every time I pass an exam,” she said. “It’s not as if it’s that exciting.”
“Tell that to everybody else.”
“Everybody else gets so caught up in the exam and what it means for themselves that they forget that classes resume the next day.” She glanced at the stack of books set before him. “Well?” Tara asked.
Sam frowned at her and looked up, not at all certain what she was getting at. “Well, what?”
“You ask about Ferand. Did you want to go and see where he stayed?”
“You know where he stayed?”
She looked past him and ignored the question. “That’s a strange grouping of books you have there.”
There weren’t many people in the Academy who would’ve recognized what Sam had pulled from the shelves, but Tara was one person who had, and more than that, she might even know why he was looking.
“Just trying to understand something that I saw.”
She grabbed the topmost book and started flipping through it. “These are older books. Not many people try to work their way through them.”
Sam shrugged. “What can I say. I’m looking for a connection between the use of the Arcane Arts and various physical manifestations of the user.”
She glanced over to him. A question flicked across her eyes before she set the book back down. “Is it true what they asked you?”
“Is what true?”
“During your testing on angulation. People are saying that you were asked about the zero tenet.”
Sam nodded slowly. “It’s true. I got called out on regurgitating what I’d read from several of the books here in the library and was asked to summarize what I could about the zero tenet.”
Tara scratched the back of her neck, clenching her jaw for a moment. “And I thought I had a hard test during my first one.” She shook her head. “It’s mostly philosophical. That is if you get behind that. Everybody who comes to the Academy has the ability to use the Arcane Arts, so the philosophical component really isn’t of interest other than to those who might one day be able to grasp it.” She looked over to him, and there was a question in her eyes now, and she did ask it. “Why would you have even bothered with it?”
Sam debated what to answer her. He suspected that anything that he might tell her that wasn’t true she would call him out on. She was smart, and she would probably know if he was trying to deceive her anyway.
“I was trying to understand the various tenets of angulation, and I came across several volumes discussing the zero tenet. I’d never heard of it, at least not in class, so I thought to learn more about it.”
She laughed and glanced toward the shelves where he’d taken the books on angulation. “I bet there aren’t that many students outside of those taking advanced angulation class who even know that there is a zero tenet.”
“Again, it’s just theoretical.”
“Theoretical or not, I’m surprised they asked you about it. And it sounds like you got pushed on it, too?”
“I’m not so sure that it was that topic so much as it was on the fact that I was simply regurgitating what I’d read.” He chuckled to himself. “I did the same thing with the theoretical alchemy class, and the same tester was there.”
“Who was it?”
“Chasten. Older man. Gray hair.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t know him.”
“You don’t?”
It was Havash’s friend, but he’d also used some greenish power.
Alchemy.
But what if it was something different?
“There are plenty of testers who are brought in. They’re usually those who have some experience with the Academy. Most of them live and work around Tavran. There are just so many students to test that the Academy wants to try to keep quite a few of the graduates involved. Maybe he’s some older academic who wanted to be a part of it.”
He waited for her to ask him more about the books that he had gathered, but she didn’t. Instead, she just watched him, as if she were waiting for him to do something else.
“Are you going to tell me more about why you were suddenly asking about Ferand, or do I have to dig it out of you?” She glanced the stack of books behind him. “ I can start to piece together some things, and knowing the rumors about Ferand as I do, I think I might have some idea of what you are looking into. Not that I can figure it all out, though. It might take asking a few more questions.
Sam looked around him. “Do we have to do it here?”
“It’s like that, is it?”
Sam shrugged.
An amused smile spread across her face. She gathered several books, stuffed them under her robes, and motioned for Sam to follow.
He looked back at his own stack of books longingly, though he didn’t need to feel as if he was abandoning anything by going with her. Even if he left the books behind, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t come back for them. Now that he knew about the Study Hall, he could return at any point and claim whatever he wanted without asking any questions.
They headed out of the library and into the tolath tower, where Tara paused at the landing before triggering the door leading into this Study Hall. She stepped inside, into the darkness, and Sam followed. Once inside, she sealed it closed again and turned to him. He could feel the warmth radiating off of her, and he could smell something almost minty about her.
“Well?” she asked again.
“Maybe we can go someplace where we can talk. I had thought maybe one of our rooms.”
“You wanted to go to see where Ferand worked. I want to show you.”
She grabbed his hand and started pulling him through the Study Hall.
They headed up toward one of the classrooms when she veered off, taking a direction that Sam hadn’t gone. He had been more interested in the library, understanding the connection to the kitchen, and trying to figure out other ways of navigating the Study Hall that he hadn’t realized that there was more.
“You’re going to need to be quiet when we step through here,” she said.
She triggered a door, and it slid open. It was
in the section of the Academy that he’d never been. There were paintings hanging along the wall, along with pale yellow alchemy lights that glowed, casting something of a gentle illumination all throughout the hallway. She raised a finger to her lips, hurrying out of the hall, and then across to a door, which she swung open. It led up a narrow staircase.
He had climbed a dozen steps when Tara slowed, looking back at him. “This is to an older section of the Academy. Not many come this way anymore.”
“Should we be coming this way?” he asked, nervously looking around.
“Just come along. I had to look through one of the old maps to try to find it.”
The stairs led impossibly high up, and when they stopped, and let out into another hallway. This was sparsely decorated. It was cold, as well. There were no lanterns here.
“This whole section was closed off. It was once one of the faculty towers, but it was home to seven different faculty that all were banished from the Academy.” Her voice was soft, but it seemed to carry along the hall as if it didn’t care that everything should be muted. “Everything here was sealed off as if there was something about the building itself that had them turn against the Academy.”
“Turn?”
“They wanted power. Nobody talks about it, at least not openly, but when you mentioned Ferand, I was actually surprised that you didn’t know. It’s a fairly common story here.”
“What story?”
“He wanted power. They all did. And they went looking for keys to the Nighlan power, as well.” She looked back at him, and there was a hint of a smile that curled her lips. “That’s just a story, though. Most consider the Nighlan little more than stories.”
“Not in the Barlands,” Sam said. “In the Barlands, the Nighlan are an actual threat. They keep pushing at the border of the Barlands, but it’s too hard for them to cross. It’s why people in my village were safe. Well, they were safe until Olway claimed us.”
“You didn’t want to be annexed?”
“Things were fine before.” Sam wouldn’t call them good, but they were definitely fine. He didn’t have to worry about anyone attacking, and he didn’t worry about soldiers coming after he or his sister, and he didn’t have to fear anything other than finding enough food to eat. Once Olway had annexed Erstan, everything changed. It became more about trying to ensure that they were serving the goals of the empire.
Alchemist Apprentice (The Alchemist Book 1) Page 20
