“What if you could?”
Sam didn’t know. When the attacker in the city had tried to peel the device off his hand—and very nearly succeeded—he had worried about it more because he knew others would use the device against Tavran. It wasn’t so much that it was his responsibility to protect the city, but seeing as how he was the one who now possessed the key, it seemed he was responsible for ensuring its safety.
“I think I’d probably keep it on,” he said.
“Why?”
He looked at the device. “When I was young, I wanted nothing more than to have potential. Magic. Even on the border of Olway, we heard about others possessing magic. We knew about the Academy and everything they were able to do. I tried to train with an alchemist—”
“You did?”
Sam debated how much to share. Did he tell the truth here? “A minor alchemist. He has some knowledge. Mostly medicinals and other concoctions like that. He made promises of things he could do.” He knew enough about herbal remedies to make it easier to fabricate some of the other creations. Having some success allowed him to feign surprise when others failed. “I was getting closer to being apprenticed.”
She watched him. “Closer?”
Sam stared at his hand again. The device still pulsed. “It was difficult. I was trying to earn my apprenticeship, but I didn’t have much of a connection to him.”
She started to smile. “Then you were not an apprentice.”
“Not yet,” he admitted. There was no point in lying as it would only run the risk of angering her if she were to learn the truth.
“What did your parents do?”
The question raised the familiar sensation within him of sadness and irritation. “My parents were lost. They were caught near the edge of the Barlands, at least from what we know.”
“You don’t even know what happened to them?”
He let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know. Only that they went into the Barlands, and they were lost.”
“Many have been lost in the Barlands, Mr. Bilson.”
Sam nodded. Talking about it made it more difficult for him than it needed to be. He hadn’t thought about his father in a long time. Now that he knew about the Nighlan, he wondered if they had been responsible. “I know.”
“Do you know why they were there?”
He shook his head. He’d never learned, and though he was curious about why, he wasn’t sure it mattered. “We never did.”
The Grandam fell silent, and Sam fidgeted in his chair.
How much longer will she keep me here? Why is she keeping me here?
When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. “What did you see during the attack?”
“I told Havash what I saw.”
“And I’m asking you.”
He wondered how much the Grandam and Havash even spoke to each other. They should get along, especially seeing as how they had similar experiences, but whenever he’d been around the two of them, there had been an awkwardness between them.
“There was a man who held Tara and me,” Sam said. “We weren’t able to escape.”
“It seems as if you were able to escape.”
“I don’t know who he was. He was powerful, more powerful than Ferand had been.”
“If he’s who I think he is, then he would be.”
“Who do you think he is? All I’ve heard is that they were Nighlan, though I don’t even know anything about them.”
The Grandam leaned forward, hanging her head a moment. “The Nighlan are a dangerous people out of the north. We know so very little about their goals, but they have pushed on our borders for a long time. If they have their way, they will invade all of Olway.”
Sam nodded, thinking of what he’d heard from both Havash and Chasten, wondering how much more the Grandam might be able to tell him. “Chasten says they are after power.”
“Power. Land. Who is to say? But you don’t have to worry. They cannot reach Olway easily. The council and the Academy offer protection that other lands do not have.”
Sam thought about what he had seen, the attack, and decided that he wanted more information. If the Grandam was sharing with him, then perhaps she would share even more.
“Who was the man?” There was something about him that had been powerful, even more than some of the others Sam had encountered. The kind of power the man had access to had been enough to pry the device from Sam’s hand—or nearly so. There had been a sense from him of even more power and energy that Sam had barely been able to withstand.
“If I’m right, his name is Luthian Rold.”
Sam frowned. He’d heard that name before, but not as someone dangerous. Why would he have heard that name?
He searched through his memories, thinking of everything that he had read and learned in his time at the Academy, but though he could recall almost everything that he had seen, the name didn’t spark any real memories for him.
“Do you recognize it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I might have heard something. Is he with the Nighlan?”
She frowned, irritation flashing in her eyes. “Outlying villages, especially those near Erstan and the Barlands, would be the most likely to have heard of him. The people revere him, but he’s ruthless. He should not have been able to reach the city.”
“Others with the Nighlan have reached the city. There doesn’t seem to be any reason that he wouldn’t.”
“Other than protections that we have placed around Olway.”
“What kind of protections?”
Sam didn’t think the army would be able to offer any real defense against the kind of dangers that those with magic would be able to do and having seen Luthian attack, he suspected that he had some power of his own. Maybe arcane arts, or a grasp of alchemy, or considering he was with the Nighlan, some other power that Sam could not fully understand.
“When you leave the Academy, you may be asked to help with them. Until such time, I will not share any more than what I know.” She smiled tightly. “Those who trained at the Academy have safeguarded these lands.”
“I didn’t think that most within the Academy even believed the Nighlan to be a real threat.”
“The council knows the truth, Mr. Bilson. And that is all that matters.” She took a deep breath. “Now, we must keep what they were after safe.”
“The almanac,” he said.
She nodded. “Since they were successful in their plan, there is even more reason to fear. Especially for you.”
Sam frowned. “Why especially for me?”
“Why, because they freed Ferand. And now that he is free, you will be called upon to help ensure that they do not penetrate the Academy and succeed in reaching the almanac.”
Sam twisted the key on his hand, feeling that there was something there but not really sure what it was. Only that he couldn’t help but feel as if he would be called into something more than what he was prepared for.
And as he focused on the key, he couldn’t help feeling as if he needed to be here. That he needed to be a part of this. What choice did he have but to protect the Academy?
Chapter Ten
Sam’s mind wandered as he struggled with what he’d learned from the Grandam. He still didn’t know what purpose she had in bringing him to her office.
He went through the motions of the day, attending his classes as he was supposed to, listening halfheartedly to Professor Clarice going on about the third tenet of angulation, already having past that, along with several of the more advanced tenets. Still, he had not been permitted to move to a more advanced angulation class. Partly that came from his inability to use the arcane arts and replicate the tenets, though Sam wondered if it was even necessary for him to do so for him to understand what he’d learned.
Mathematics was only marginally better. James sat next to him, leaning over, and he went on about the night he’d spent studying with Lacey. He watched her more than he watched their instructor, and Sam mostly ignored him, his mind
churning.
The remainder of his classes were difficult, and it wasn’t until he got to alchemy that he finally started to settle down.
He listened to the class, his focus drifting in and out, and when it was finally done, he patted James on the shoulder. “I will see you at dinner.”
“Are you going to meet Tara?”
“I have to check on something first.”
James frowned, but he had seemed to be accustomed to Sam and his strange disappearances. He scurried down the hall this time, heading straight toward the kitchen, and into the door leading down into the alchemy tower. This way was no longer shielded by hall monitors so he thought that he could head down without drawing observation.
When the door to the kitchen started to swing open, he darted forward.
His mind had been churning over the same issues over and over again throughout the day. Ferand was free. Luthian had come for him, and Ferand knew Sam had stopped him when he’d attacked the Academy before. That explained why Havash was suddenly interested in working with him and Tara, but why not share that with Sam? It was another secret the old Alchemist kept from him.
Now the Grandam wanted his help finding Luthian. Find him, and they would find Ferand. How could he not help? Sam looked around the inside of the alchemy tower and focused on the key. He had been using it as he tried to scrub that strange coating on the door. Surprisingly, it washed away some of the fill, and Sam figured that he might as well keep working at it. Somebody should clean the alchemy tower, so it might as well be him, especially given how much he had been spending time in this part of the Academy.
Once he got doors claimed, the rooms would be a different matter. Sam didn’t really want to work on them. They stunk.
Then again, if he managed to clean the rooms, maybe the stench within the alchemy tower wouldn’t be quite as offensive.
And with the library closed to him, at least for the most part, he had time that he didn’t otherwise.
While working, his mind turned over what he knew.
If Luthian rescued Ferand and Havash was concerned about Sam’s safety, then Sam needed to learn enough to keep himself safe. The device would help, but first, he had to control the power within it.
Sam studied it, holding it outward. The way the device wrapped around his fingers constricted but not painfully. The main part of it rested flat against his palm. When it pulsed, it did so by seemingly squeezing his fingers and pressing against his palm. The power there was enough that he was able to feel it pulsing and pressing.
He found himself looking at where the almanac rested on the table. It wasn’t hidden. Not in here. There generally was no reason for it to be hidden in a place that only a few people could reach, and without having the key, no one else would even be able to use it. Still, a part of Sam questioned whether it should be returned to the restricted part of the library. At least there, it would be less likely that somebody could wander down and grab the almanac.
But then it would be more difficult for him to try to understand.
He ran his hands along the surface. It was old, the thick cover leather, and there were no markings on it. Holding his hand above the surface had given him a sense of power before, but now that he held his hand there, he didn’t detect anything other than a sense of its age. It was strange how the book responded, strange how the writing rippled and changed when he channeled power through the key. Alchemy. True alchemy.
Pulling open the cover, Sam leaned on the pedestal as he flipped the pages. Without having power flow through the device, there wasn’t an easy way for him to read anything in the book. The symbols didn’t make much sense to him, though he tried to interpret them.
He had been trying to figure out if a sequence to the symbols would help him understand them. If this were alchemy, the symbols would have to be tied to what he’d seen in some of the other alchemy texts. Sam had been working through those that reference the almanac, thinking that any of those symbols he saw within those books might offer him a clue about how to decipher what he found here. So far, it had not been enough.
He needed to take notes so that he could work through it even when he didn’t have the almanac with him. He didn’t necessarily need to copy it. It might be helpful, especially if he could pull through it while sitting in some of his classes, but even that wasn’t what he wanted. It was just a way of trying to dig through what he saw and understand whether there would be any way for him to decipher it.
He grabbed a sheet of blank paper, a pen, and a bottle of ink, then started copying the symbols from each page. When he was done, he wrote what he remembered from each of the pages. If he could use the device’s power, there wouldn’t be a question about what he remembered. The device would trigger, and he’d be able to read the pages.
It took a bit of time. The most recent page was easier for him, but that was because he had questioned what he’d been reading while he’d worked with Tara. The previous one was a little harder, but the more he worked at it, the more he remembered.
For the most part, it described reaching for power, specific descriptions of angulation, and techniques that he had not seen in any of the other books. From what Sam could tell, mathematical aspects allowed the person using the arcane arts with these specific techniques to amplify their power. He hadn’t worked through the key to it but knew that there had to be some answer.
The door started to open. Sam folded up the paper and shoved it into his pocket as Havash entered.
“Mr. Bilson. I hadn’t expected to see you.”
“I thought that I would try to clean the walls here a little bit,” Sam said. “Since I’ve been spending time down here, but…” He shrugged and turned his attention back to the almanac. “Then I get drawn by this, and I’ve been trying to piece together whether there is anything here that I might learn from the almanac, but it’s more complicated than I expected.”
Havash smiled. “More complicated than you thought? This is arcane arts, Mr. Bilson.”
“I don’t have any difficulty understanding the various tenants of angulation and mathematics in botany and…” Sam shook his head. “All of that is fairly straightforward. This is far more complicated.”
Havash chuckled. “Which is why it has been kept here. Those who might attempt this could be harmed if they didn’t have the necessary control.”
“Tara?”
Havash waved his hand. “I wouldn’t worry about Ms. Stone. She is quite advanced for her years.” He sniffed. “It is the reason that I think the two of you working together on this may offer us insights that we wouldn’t otherwise have.”
“I still haven’t been able to break the code here.”
“And it’s entirely possible that you won’t either.”
Sam twisted the key on his hand, trying to pry it off. “Do you wish that you could use this?”
Havash stared at the key for a moment. He took a seat and looked across the table at Sam. “I’m not an alchemist.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“The Academy has housed many powerful alchemists over the years. As you have no doubt heard by now, alchemy does not require incredible skills with the arcane arts.” He looked up, leveling his gaze on Sam. “Those within the Academy, at least those without alchemy skills, have never truly understood why some of the most successful alchemists are often those with real minimal potential with the arcane arts. And yet what they can accomplish with alchemy is considerable.” He smiled. “They still have some potential, though. Unlike you.”
“As far as we know,” Sam said.
“As far as you know. Do you think you haven’t been tested?”
“I haven’t been tested the way that I suspect you intend to,” Sam said.
“Perhaps not,” Havash said. “But there are other ways of testing. And as much as I know you want to reach the arcane arts, unfortunately, it may not be possible for you.”
“But I have the key.”
“You do. And unless you have
a way of interpreting what is written in that,” he said, pointing to the almanac, “and using the techniques yourself, you can never be an alchemist.”
Sam questioned whether there was something deeper in what Havash said to him. It didn’t seem as if Havash were taunting him the way that he often seemed to. This was more matter of fact.
“And if I can?”
“If you can, then perhaps you can become the Alchemist within the Academy.”
It sounded like a title. “And what is that?”
“It is the one who bears the key.” He glanced down to the almanac. “At least, that is what Chasten has told me. He is an alchemist, unlike me. If you have questions about alchemy, he would be the one to ask.”
“Then why are you here?”
Havash frowned at him. “In the alchemy tower?”
Sam nodded.
“Because I understand alchemy. I may not have the same talent as others do, but I intend to study it and learn what I can about it, especially now that the key and the almanac are out in the open since Ferand’s attack.”
“Where was he held?” he asked Havash.
“What was that?” The Alchemist looked up at him, frowning.
“Ferand. Where was he held?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Just something the Grandam said.”
“And what did she say exactly?” Havash asked, eyebrows raised.
“She suspected the man I encountered was someone by the name of Luthian Rold.” Sam watched Havash as he said it, but he couldn’t read anything from the other man’s face.
“That is not a name I’m familiar with,” Havash said.
The way that he said it sounded worried. Was he troubled by the fact that the Grandam something that? Or maybe it was that there were more Nighlan attacking the city.
“The Grandam said there are protections around all way that should prevent the Nighlan from reaching the city.”
Havash nodded. “There have been protections placed. They have been slow to do so, as there are not nearly as many who believe the Nighlan to be the threat that they are.”
Alchemist Assault (The Alchemist Book 2) Page 10
