by Guy Antibes
“How did you do that? That is my biggest weakness in Pollen Sciences.”
“Miss Plunk showed me how to examine wards and how to deactivate them. Gold is the key and working from the edges,” he said, only telling Tera part of the truth. He stood. “Let’s find Glory and get to work.”
“You sound as if it wasn’t a big deal.”
Sam smiled. “It isn’t a big deal if I destroy the ward. If I was unlucky and triggered it, then it would have been a big deal. I have had practice, though. Miss Plunk could make some nasty wards.”
“The explosions in the back of the ship?”
“Practice,” Sam said.
“Oh. You are wonderful,” Tera said with earnest eyes.
She was a pretty girl, Sam thought, but it was too late to think romantic thoughts with Tera heading out. He regretted the fact that both girls were headed into very dangerous territory, especially being ordered around by Smaller.
By the time they reached the dorm, Glory, now uniformed, met them at the bottom of the stairs. “I will show you.” She stopped. “What happened to the ward?”
“Sam removed it with a gold piece.”
“I had a little practice on The Twisted Wind. Miss Plunk is an accomplished ward maker,” Sam said.
Glory looked at him out of the corner of her eye before crooking her finger. “Follow me.”
They were back outside the dorm room that Glory shared with Tera. Young men and women in uniforms walked back and forth. Sam shuddered to know that these people were headed to very dangerous places.
She opened the door. “I always put my money right here,” she said, pointing to a box on top of a small dresser.”
“And you, Tera?”
Tera pursed her lips and looked at Glory before opening a drawer filled with underwear. “In this purse. It is half of what it used to hold.” She quickly shut the door.
“Was your money missing at the same time?”
Both girls shook their heads. “Mine was stolen three days after Glory’s,” Tera said.
“Have you reported this to the University Guard?” Sam asked.
“Smaller won’t let us. We aren’t the only victims. He says the military will take care of it.”
“Because you are now part of the military?”
Glory nodded, a bit sheepishly in Sam’s opinion.
Sam sighed. He pulled out his guard whistle. “I’m a semi-official member. Don’t hold it against me, military members.”
Tera smiled. “What questions do you have to ask us?
“Do you lock your room?”
“All the time,” Tera said. “That is one of the regulations we have to follow.”
“With limited access, the thief probably has a key to your room. I was always taught the simplest explanation is often the right one. I’d say it is highly likely someone with a key stole the money, especially since the thefts were done on different days. Who has keys?”
“We don’t have housekeepers,” Tera said. “We have had to do all the cleaning and washing of our own things for the last three months.” She frowned. “There is a price to pay for signing up in the military.”
Keeping a place clean wasn’t the worst price the two girls might be paying, thought Sam.
“The floor supervisor has a key.”
“And Smaller or Professor Smallbug?”
The girls laughed at his use of the nickname. “Neither.”
Smaller would have been high on Sam’s list, since he knew him to have questionable ethics.
“Then let’s talk to your floor supervisor,” Sam said. “Take me to him or her.”
The girls giggled and took Sam, one on each arm, and marched him to the floor supervisor’s rooms at the far end of the hall. The setup was similar to Sam’s dorm, except many of the rooms held two occupants.
Glory knocked and then entered. They walked into an office. A woman with frizzy brown hair looked up from her desk. She wasn’t wearing a uniform, Sam noted.
“We caught this civilian in our barracks,” Glory said. The smile had been wiped from her face.
“And you are?” the woman asked.
“Sam Smith. I am a university student living in the South Dormitory.”
“An athlete?”
Sam nodded. “I am on the dueling team.”
The woman snorted. “Why are you here?”
“I met these two girls on the ship that brought them to Tolloy.” Sam removed his spectacles and pulled out a handkerchief and began to clean them. He looked around the room and spotted a hidden compartment in the floor containing small sacks, presumably of the funds the woman had been stealing. This was as simple an investigation as Sam had ever done.
“Then you need to leave.”
“Under what authority?” Sam asked.
“My authority as the floor supervisor. The university gives me the right to order you off the floor.”
“Not the military?”
“Aren’t you the impudent one? I’ll call the university guards if you don’t leave right now.”
Sam folded his arms. “Then call them.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “Are you defying me?”
“He is,” Tera said, barely concealing a smile.
“Miss Wheeler, fetch a guard.”
“Fetch three. The guard office isn’t that far away. Ask Lieutenant Kelch to accompany them if he is available,” Sam said.
Sam sat down in a chair and put his spectacles on. He looked at the woman. “How long have you been the floor supervisor in this dormitory?”
She looked indignant, but replied, “Three years.”
“Has this been a military dormitory all this time?”
“Yes, it has.” Her sense of indignity seemed to swell. “Are you going to keep asking me senseless questions, young man?”
Sam looked at Glory, who had folded her arms.
“Are you under the jurisdiction of the military?”
“No way,” the woman said. “The students are, but that is all. I cooperate with the military supervisors.”
“And Smallbug’s son?” Sam didn’t remember his name since he had been calling him Smaller all this time.
“He is my direct liaison. We work closely together.”
Sam heard heavy footsteps approaching the door. Sam thought it was the guard, but Smaller stood there, holding the door open, looking furious.
“Smith! What are you doing here? I thought you’d be in the university infirmary.” Smaller stared at Sam’s arm.
“Your assault didn’t work,” Sam said. “Glory and Tera took me here after I saved Glory from your attack on her. I understand you and this woman are in close communication?”
“Are you trying to insinuate something?” the woman said. “You just wait for the guards to arrive. I’ll have more than trespassing charges to press.”
“Fine with me. You can stay, too, if you’d like, Smaller,” Sam said.
Smallbug’s son’s face turned red. “You and your infantile nicknames.” He grunted and sat down on the other chair in the room.
Everything turned silent until a parade of footsteps finally arrived at the floor supervisor’s door. Sam was relieved to see Lieutenant Kelch’s face.
“Smith, what have you gotten me into this time?” the lieutenant said.
“You know him?” the woman asked.
“I do. He wouldn’t have summoned me unless there was something interesting.” Kelch looked at Sam, who stood.
“We have a situation here. The students in this dorm are in the military and will be leaving the university in a few days.” Sam looked at Smaller. “Am I right?”
Smaller folded his arms and nodded.
“The floor supervisor has been helping herself to the purses of the students. Once they leave, they won’t be back. I located where she keeps the stolen money.”
“Impossible!” the woman said. She looked at Smaller. “Did you tell him?”
Smaller jumped to his feet and denied steali
ng anything. It was clear Smaller wasn’t a very good liar.
“Where is it, Smith?”
“Under that floorboard,” Sam pointed to the spot.
“Which one?”
He lifted up his spectacles to make sure and bent down and knocked on the board. It gave off a dead thunk, not at all like the sound of the adjacent plank. “This is pollen, not wood,” Sam said.
Kelch knelt and performed the same test. He looked at one of the guards. “Pry this off.”
The woman tried to escape to her living rooms behind the office, but one of Kelch’s guards stopped her, as the other guard pried the pollen board from the floor revealing the cache of purses.
“She stole a few coins at a time, but I am guessing she became a bit more greedy once the students were given their orders to leave. She stole half of Glory’s and Tera’s money, and that made her little thefts more noticeable.”
“I’ve never seen that hiding place. It must have been there for the last three years before I came.”
“Will a pollen board look this good for three years?” Sam asked.
“Not at all,” Kelch replied. “Some of the students might recognize certain coins.” He looked at his guards. “Have them inspected by the victims on the floor. In the meantime, take her away.”
“It isn’t just me!” the woman said. “He told me when they would all be out for training.”
Kelch looked at Smaller. “Really? An accessory? You can come with us, too.”
Smaller drew himself taller. “I am a Vaarekian officer. You can’t take me.”
“For questioning, I can. It’s up to the military to try to punish.”
The guards put pollen manacles on Smaller and the floor supervisor while the guards cleared the woman’s desk and spread out the coins. Sam stood and observed as the students filed by. Seven coins were positively identified, which looked to be enough for Lieutenant Kelch.
“Take them away,” he said to his guards. Kelch scratched his head. “How will we know how much she took?”
“That’s not my problem,” Sam said. “I guess you ask them and then divide what they tell you by three or four.” He smiled and left with Glory and Tera. “How about a farewell dinner?”
“With Smaller tied up for a while? Let’s do it,” Tera said, taking Sam’s arm.
Plantian had claimed the food was better at the South Dormitory, and he was right. Sam endured the lower quality food but enjoyed the bigger selection in the main commissary.
The girls talked the entire time of their training and how much more proficient they were with wards. Sam let them live in their excitement.
“I’ll miss you both,” he said.
Glory punched him in the arm. “No, you won’t. We hardly saw each other in all the months we’ve been training.”
Sam smiled. “But you were on the campus. Now you will leave for who knows where. My little connection with Toraltia will be gone.”
“Thanks for calling me little,” Glory said with a smile. “You knew me when we were little.”
“Smaller,” Sam said. That got them all to laugh.
The talk faded, and Sam rose from the table. “I need to get back to my dorm,” he said. “Take care of yourselves.”
Sam sighed as he hugged each girl before leaving the commissary. He walked back to his dorm in a subdued mood. Their leaving the campus did leave a hole, and as he said, links to his past.
He took a deep breath before trudging up the stairs to his room. By the time he got to the top a smile had appeared on his face. At least his latest investigation was very easy, and he didn’t mind getting back at Smaller for the vicious little ward he had slapped on Sam’s arm.
Chapter Twelve
~
S am looked at the two farewell notes on his desk. Glory and Tera were now officially gone from Tolloy to some destination in Vaarek. They thanked him profusely, and Tera wrote that Smaller was left behind for a few months, staying at a military jail in Tolloy.
He sighed as he slipped them in a drawer and gathered his Lashak sword for practice. With the club tournament season over, Sam spent his time practicing with the two professors. Grott had a break from fencing classes for part of a term, and Drak occasionally joined them.
The practice hall was less than half-full with students practicing during the class hiatus. Sam sought out Grott, who was talking to Professor Drak.
“You just jumped up in the rankings,” Grott said. “Four of my best Level Ones informed me that they were on a scholarship paid for by the military. They have been called up to serve.”
Sam recalled Captain Gortak’s words and reminded Grott of them.
“He knew, and I didn’t.” The professor sighed. “I suppose there will be others who won’t be at next year’s tournaments. It gives you an advantage, but that’s because the competition won’t be as fierce.”
Sam frowned. “How good am I, really? I’ve never been able to beat either of you.”
Grott smiled. “We have both done our time in the open tournaments and have kept up working with students. You have definitely shown improvement, Sam, and we expect you to continue to improve, but are you ready for the open tournament?” Grott shook his head. “Teenagers generally don’t make it to the open, but when you finish at the university, we both think you will be able to enter. I’m not saying you’ll win, but you’ll be able to compete.”
That was what Sam wanted to hear, but he had another question. “How will I get better if the best of us have gone?”
Drak looked at Professor Grott. “I don’t recall getting a notice to serve in the military. Have you, Pilot?” This was the first time Sam heard Drak address Professor Grott by his first name.
“We will spend more time with you, if that is what you want,” Grott said.
Sam grinned. “Good. I will look forward to it.”
~
Now that Sam didn’t have to spend as much time with the fencing team, he turned his focus towards his studies. He soon tested out of his classes and sat in Professor Drak’s messy office to puzzle out his accelerated classes during the Sumer Break.
“You are doing well in all your classes,” Drak said, looking at Sam. “But no pollen classes? That is highly unusual.”
“I will be living with a pollen professor after this term,” Sam said. “More history and more Mechanical Science.”
“Vaarekian literature. You need additional Vaarekian classes to graduate with a First and a Second, you know.”
“But I had Vaarekian literature. You were my professor,” Sam said.
“Advanced Vaarekian Literature, then,” Drak said. “I won’t be teaching it this time. You will like Madrida Hanla. She is from Ristaria and has some unique perspectives.” He looked down and shuffled through some pages. “Innovations in Mechanical Science. You will like that. Both of them are multi-term classes. As for Mechanical Sciences, Professor Renatee Dinik fancies himself as an inventor. The course is about making new things.”
Sam had heard the name when he first started. He might be the one who was Plantian’s friend. He thought for a moment. “What is Professor Dinik like?”
“Unconventional, a bit like you. He is a Zogazin, or part-Zogazin. I think he is friends with your landlord, Plantian Plunk.”
That was where he had heard the name, once at Hilsa Forinin’s Zogazin restaurant and again when Plantian said he would have Professor Dinik show him around. That had never happened, but Sam hadn’t needed showing around, as it turned out.
The conversation turned back to taking required courses that Sam didn’t have much interest in. They talked about the classes after the break. He could probably test out of mathematics and spend more time in the practice hall with Professor Grott.
As he walked over to Professor Plunk’s house to see Emmy, Sam thought his time during the Summer Break might be fun. Two unconventional professors, so Drak had said. He smiled at the thought. Plunk wasn’t in, so Sam walked around to the back and found Emmy sitting i
n the sun by the kitchen door. She spotted him and barked before running the length of the long back garden and just about knocked Sam over, as usual.
“I brought you something,” Sam said. He grabbed some scraps he had begged from the main commissary after he had finished with Drak. “Maybe this is what you smelled that had you so excited,” he said.
Emmy didn’t even bark like she usually did as she devoured the meat. The package was pollen-made, so Sam tossed it on Plunk’s pollen pile before using his key to enter the house. The dog barked and ran up the back stairs. Sam followed her. She nudged a partially closed door open.
“Desmon!” Sam said. “I didn’t think you were going to return.”
The Wollian looked up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Emmy took that as permission to run to the bedside and lick Desmon’s hand.
“I remember times when I would have thought she would have tried to bite off my hand with that move.”
“Not Emmy,” Sam said. “What brought you back?”
“I never did leave for good. You never looked in my wardrobe. I left clothes here, and Plantian knew.”
Sam clamped his lips tight. He had been too much wound up in his own affairs to probe.
“But Banna…”
“Banna Plunk.” Desmon laughed. “Who would have thought she developed a soft spot for you. Uncharacteristic to say the least. Nakara needed me for something. It’s still best that you don’t know, but that part of her little revolution is all ready to go at a much later date.”
“She is going to invade Tolloy?”’
“All I will say is not in the near future, but I wouldn’t want to buy real estate in Vaarek any time soon,” Desmon said. “Who knows what Kreb will do when he has to defend Vaarek?”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Sam said.
Desmon got up. “Let’s go to the Grand Market. I want to see if I can really get my job back. It was promised, but you never know.”
They grabbed Emmy’s leash and took a carriage to the Grand Market where all kinds of items were sold under one gigantic roof. Desmon could resume his job, much to his relief, or so he said. It didn’t seem like it was that big of a thing, to Sam.
