Alchemist Assault (The Alchemist Book 2)

by Dan Michaelson

  But it might only be obvious to Sam. He still hadn’t come to learn why he was able to see others using the arcane arts. Somehow, he could, though.

  “I know that you have free time that you did not previously have.”

  “I’ve offered my help to the librarians,” Sam said.

  Havash started to smile, which looked strange on his face. “I imagine they did not appreciate that.”

  “I don’t know why they wouldn’t,” Sam said.

  “Because you were there, Mr. Bilson. That is reasoning enough for them not to want your involvement.”

  Sam hadn’t realized they knew.

  “How did they learn?”

  “The same way most learn of things within the Academy. Rumors, of course. It doesn’t take much for them to spread, and in the case of this…” Havash shrugged. “Unfortunately, the rumor has legs, and even those who may not be inclined to believe will probably not let it drop.”

  “So I won’t be able to help.”

  “Neither you nor Ms. Stone will be permitted, I suspect. Which is even more reason for me to come. I have something that I would like to ask of you. Of both of you.”

  “What?”

  “An assignment.”

  Sam resisted the urge to groan.

  He knew what had happened with the last assignment that Havash had given him.

  Chapter Three

  Angulation was slow this morning. Sam tried to pay attention as Professor Clarice went on about the intersection between the second and third tenets of angulation but found himself drifting off. Havash’s assignment for him had been exactly what Sam had expected, an attempt for Sam to keep working through the almanac, but Havash wanted more than just that. He wanted Sam to try to piece together anything that he could about alchemy, documenting both symbols, shapes, and any sort of patterns that he might find.

  It should be a compliment. It was Havash’s way of acknowledging that Sam might have something to offer. And he did. Sam felt quite strongly that he had something that he could offer to the Academy. But in this case, Havash didn’t want Sam to be the one working through the puzzle of the various alchemical symbols. He simply wanted Sam to document what he came across.

  It felt somewhat less exciting.

  And Havash had forced him to stay in the alchemy tower far beyond when Sam normally would have. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he found James watching him.

  James had grown leaner in the time they’d been in the Academy. When they had first come, Sam had thought him bordering on chubby, though perhaps that was only because Sam had lived on the street for as long as he had, and anybody who had an ounce of fat upon themselves seemed chubby to him. James had grown, so perhaps stretching into his adult size had helped shake off some of that baby fat.

  “How late were you and Tara up?” James asked. He leaned forward, trying to avoid drawing Professor Clarice’s attention, but she paused, looking around the room as if she had overheard him saying something.

  “I went to your room after everybody dispersed from the great hall, but you weren’t there. I sort of thought you might end up there. I know you miss the library and all, but you can join in with the other students.”

  Sam just nodded.

  “I got distracted with something that I was working on for Professor Havash,” he said.

  James frowned at him. “What does he have you working on? I don’t know that I want to work with him at all.”

  “He can be a challenge,” Sam admitted. “And I don’t think he pays much attention to the evening bells.”

  “Was this some sort of punishment?” James asked, keeping his voice low.

  Thankfully, it was low enough that it didn’t seem as if Professor Clarice overheard.

  She mentioned something about the third tenet, and Sam cataloged it in his mind, thinking about how it fit with some of the books he had been reading on angulation. He hadn’t one idea on why he went through the effort of doing it, other than the fact that he tried to compile all of the different theories and discussion on the tenants he had read about. Sam might not be able to use the arcane arts, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t understand them. On the contrary, it might even help him.

  What he really needed to do was to start thinking about the various patterns that were formed by angulation. That was one part that he couldn’t read from books. He needed to see it.

  Unfortunately, as he had not found any evidence of others who could see the arcane arts in action—at least in the library books he had read—Sam hadn’t been given an opportunity to piece together the various patterns implied.

  “Not a punishment,” Sam said, realizing that James was still waiting on him. “It’s just that I think he is still upset with me about speaking up in his class,” Sam added, trying to think of some reason for him to have been working with Havash. James was his friend and was one of the only people in the tower that he truly spent any time with other than Tara. He had tried to get to know some of the other first-year students, but the rumors of him coming from the Barlands had made it difficult for Sam. Then there was what had happened in the Academy and the rumors that had begun to spread there.

  “Would the two of you like to discuss what you are talking about?” Professor Clarice had stopped the clock and looked at Sam and James.

  Sam suppressed the flush that worked through him.

  James licked his lips. He wasn’t going to be able to come up with anything.

  “I just remarked that your comments on the third tenet remind me of what I read of Michael’s theorem on angulation,” Sam said. “And how he speaks about how the intersection of various lines can increase the strength of the construct.”

  Sam was thankful that he had paid any attention to what she had said, as it was what he had thought, though he hadn’t expected to try to share that.

  Professor Clarice looked at Sam, and she started smiling. “Very good, Mr. Bilson.” She turned to the rest of the class. “That is exactly the point that I was trying to make.”

  “Then she should just make it,” James muttered. “Why does she have to go yammering on?”

  “Quiet,” Sam said, giving him a nudge.

  She wasn’t the only instructor in the Academy who rambled about topics that could be more easily understood by reading straight through some of the books found in the library. If people only took the time to read some of the older texts, they might find it easier to understand angulation.

  Professor Clarice continued talking about Michael’s theorem, changing her focus slightly, which Sam appreciated. She did have an obvious grasp of angulation and would certainly be able to use it far more effectively than Sam, but he still felt that there were easier ways to teach it.

  But then, that was only his thinking about the theoretical approach of angulation. He might feel differently if he had to try to master the actual use of it.

  By the time class was over, Sam had grown tired, and he found himself thinking longingly of returning to his room and resting.

  When they went to mathematics, Professor Jones stood before them, his beefy hands resting on his hips, a series of equations written on the chalkboard by him. He tapped on it as he spoke, causing the chalkboard to tremble beneath the force of his strikes. Each time that he did, several of the students closest to him stiffened.

  “Do you understand any of this?” James said, leaning close to him.

  “Yep.”

  “Of course you do. Why did I even bother asking?”

  Sam smiled, but he also recognized something. The equations that Professor Jones had written on the board were all designed to help amplify power. He didn’t necessarily say it like that, though, but Sam knew it from his earlier readings. And as he looked around the class, he found others starting to drift, slowly growing agitated by the complicated equations.

  The class couldn’t get over soon enough.

  He finished the day feeling completely exhausted and was thankful that he didn’t get called on agai
n. Somehow, he had managed to avoid drawing that kind of attention a second time.

  By the time they reached the dining hall for dinner, Sam was exhausted.

  Tara sat across from him. “We're going outside. You need to wake up.”

  Sam didn’t resist her pulling on him, tearing him away, while James just grinned.

  They headed out of the Academy, and the fresh air immediately helped. While they were out in the gardens, more students gathered together. Sam realized it was midmonth, so students would be permitted into the city.

  “What were you doing last night? I kept waiting for you to join me, but you never did.”

  “Havash,” he explained.

  “What did he want from you now?”

  Sam shook his head and sighed. “I don’t know. I think he believes that the two of us can interpret the almanac.”

  “The two of us?”

  “Well, mostly me with the key, but I think he also wants to try to understand the symbols used in alchemy.”

  “Don’t go down that rabbit hole,” she said.

  “And what rabbit hole is that?”

  “The one where you start to think that Havash is somehow going to try to take the almanac from you.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  She chuckled.

  “Come on,” she said. “We don’t need to stay here. Not with them,” she muttered.

  “You can go off without me,” he suggested.

  She arched a brow at him. “And why would I do that?”

  “I’m just saying that if you don’t want the others to look at you like that.”

  “Do you think I care how others look at me?”

  Were it Sam, he might have felt some hesitation. He did care how people looked at him, regardless of what he tried to tell himself. Tara, on the other hand, had proven that she was less concerned about those things.

  She dragged him by the hand.

  “James is going to be upset with me that I still haven’t gone into the city with him.”

  “James will go off with Lacey, so I doubt that he’s going to be concerned about you at all.”

  “You’ve been watching him?”

  She slowed as they neared one line of shrubs. “I know he’s your friend. I know you don’t want to upset him. So I pay attention, Sam. But, by Kal, you would think that you were the only one who was aware of what happens in our power?”

  “I would tell you that it’s very unlikely that I know anything about what’s happening in our tower.”

  “That is true.”

  The lawn outside the Academy was neatly manicured, but there weren’t many places to hide. There were a few shrubs away from the main row and a couple of trees near here, but nothing more than that. Certainly not a way for her to disappear.

  “Tara?” Sam whispered her name. They might have been alone out here, but others could still detect them if they were looking. “Where did you go?”

  He turned in place, peering into the darkness as he tried to find where she’d disappeared. There was no sign of her.

  This was part of what she’d wanted to do. It was her way of trying to determine whether he would be able to detect her magic. Sam could see the magic used, though he wasn’t able to smell it the way some could. The way Tara used arcane magic left a soft glowing white aura. There didn’t seem to be any way for her to hide it from him.

  “I thought you wanted to see what you might be able to do out here,” he said.

  There came a slight shimmer, and then Tara appeared in front of him, grinning widely. “It worked.”

  Sam’s breath caught. “What did you do?”

  “It’s a technique I thought I’d try. I didn’t know if I’d succeed, but it seemed like it should work as well for a person as for the other things they taught us to use it on.”

  “You can make yourself invisible?” Now that she had reappeared, he could also see the soft glowing light coming off her as well. It was faint, suggesting she wasn’t pulling on a lot of power, but definitely there—and distinct from the moonlight.

  He had a hard time figuring out how something like that would even be possible. But, knowing what he did about angulation, and the primary way that Tara would use the arcane arts, he didn’t know if there was any way for her to turn herself invisible.

  “It’s not invisibility,” she said. “It’s more a matter of masking. I think you could probably use the same technique to conceal other things.”

  “Like making yourself look different?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Why do you want me to look different?”

  “Not you. I’m just thinking of possibilities that exist with this.”

  “I don’t like the way that you are thinking of it.”

  She glowed slightly, and as she did, there came a slight shimmering. When he pointed it out to her, she shrugged. “You might be the only one who can see it, Sam. You might see things that others don’t.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “Or maybe you just need to work on your angulation.”

  She frowned. “At least I can use angulation.”

  He started to laugh. “You can, and I think it’s funny that you think that I might be able to.”

  “That’s not funny, Sam. That’s just logical. With the alchemy that you have access to, it only fits with that—”

  Tara paused and looked off into the distance.

  “What is it?”

  “There was a burst of… something. I’m not exactly sure what it was. Power, though.”

  Sam turned in place, looking all around him, though he didn’t detect anything. Not that he expected to. He didn’t have a way to detect anything other than a sense of the power he could occasionally see. “Where was it?”

  “In the city.”

  In the city. That worried him.

  It wasn’t his responsibility to ensure the protection of Tavran. Still, ever since Ferand and the Secundum had attacked, Sam had felt as if he had a different responsibility for things. He twitched the key on his hand, touching it, and a part of him wished that he could pull it free, though there was power within it.

  Something that was nearly like the arcane arts, though not so similar that he felt control of it.

  Tara looked back at him. “Now you want to move slowly?”

  “Fine.”

  “It’s not near the plaza.”

  “Then we should let others know about it,” he said.

  “Again, that’s not what I wouldn’t expect from you.”

  Tara took off, heading across the yard and giving him no choice but to follow. It was late enough and dark enough that he didn’t worry about anyone else being out. When they reached the edge of the yard, they paused again. There was another barrier here, though it was subtle. When it washed over him, it did so with a chill that left him tingling. Sam had to hold onto Tara’s hand as they passed through the barrier. Even when they were on the other side, neither let the other go.

  The streets glowed gently from the lanterns hanging along them.

  “Which way did you detect it?” he asked.

  “It’s up here.” Her voice was a whisper, and she pointed along the road to the river.

  “The alchemy tower goes underneath the river.” Sam looked at the water and how it reflected some of the moonlight. It was faint, and as the water rippled, it was difficult to make out anything other than a streamer of light streaking across the water. “I don’t understand how they constructed it under the water, or whether it makes the alchemy tower any more powerful but—”

  She squeezed his hand suddenly and pointed.

  He perked up. There was a brief surge of color, though it was faint and possibly imagined. As far as he could tell, it could’ve simply been the streetlights.

  “Look,” Tara said. “I can’t tell where that is, but it’s coming from someplace deeper into the city.”

  Sam nodded slowly. Most of the students gathered in the plaza, though a few students ventured further into the city. Still, m
ost of them had experience up within the city that made it less of an issue for them to do that. Gresham was one, and Sam had no interest in coming across him anytime soon. Since the attack, he had managed to avoid Gresham.

  She squeezed his hand. There came another bloom of light.

  He could see various lighted powers. From the pale white of the arcane arts, to the greenish of alchemy, Sam had come to see different types of glowing power.

  Faint green light bloomed. Sam wasn’t even sure he saw what he believed he did. The light up ahead was barely more than a glimmer of color, but against the backdrop of the night, he was able to see it.

  “There it is,” he said.

  “You see it?”

  “Green light.”

  “Green?” Her voice was tight, and she squeezed his hand harder. There was sweat on her palm, and he held tightly, wanting to offer whatever reassurance he could. They both knew what green light meant.

  There were other alchemists in the city. Quite a few, in fact. He wouldn’t be shocked to learn that there were over a dozen different alchemists in the city, though for the most part, they were specialty shops, selling items that they crafted and only doing it to make a profit. And every other time that Sam had been in the city, he had never seen anything like that before.

  Why would that change now?

  He looked at the massive alchemy shop nearby. Belianrash’s shop was the largest one near the Academy, and Sam had learned that he had some local notoriety. So he glanced at that, but Tara shook her head.

  “It’s not there,” she said.

  “You can see it?”

  “I can’t see anything, but I can feel it.” She frowned as she looked over at him. “Why would I feel something out there?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe because I see something out there?”

  “We probably tell someone,” she said.

  “There you go. Now you sound practical.”

  “I’m just saying that we might not be the right ones to go out there and risk ourselves.”

  “We might not be?”

  “Well…”