Guild Mage: Apprentice

After saying goodnight to Sidonie, Liv sat at the small desk in her bedchamber and unfolded the letters from Whitehill. There was one from Beatrice, and another from Julianne, which was sealed with wax.

"What's the news, m'lady?" Thora asked, as she brushed out Liv's hair for the night.

"Triss says that Gretta was very sick this winter," Liv said, with a frown. "Water in the lungs. We're lucky she still lives at the castle, because Mistress Trafford was able to care for her."

"Not many people have a chirurgeon right there to take care of them," Thora said. "It's one of the reasons I've never understood why some people look down on service. Whatever other trouble you've dragged me into, m'lady, I know that I'll always have a place to sleep, food to eat, and won't be tossed out on my ear when I'm old."

Liv tapped her fingers against the desk. "I'm going to be going some places that you probably shouldn't come with me, eventually," she said.

"I don't mind going north," Thora said. "If that's what you mean. Your father's always been nice enough to me, and Lord Inkeris seems kind, as well, from what I've seen."

"I think Al'Fenthia will be fine," Liv said, managing not to roll her eyes at Thora styling Keri a lord. That wasn't really how the Eld worked, but she didn't bother to correct her maid. "I'm sure Airis Ka Reimis and his family will host us while we're there. And the same if we pass through mountain home. Humans aren't usually allowed to travel Elden lands, but if you're with me it should be fine. Even when I go to the Tomb of Celris, you can stay at Kelthelis. What I'm really talking about is Varuna."

"Across the ocean." Liv felt Thora pause in combing her hair. "I'm not looking forward to that, m'lady. Is there even a proper town?"

"What I got a glimpse of was mostly jungle and mountains," Liv said. "I don't think it would be fair to bring you there. How would you feel about staying at Whitehill, when I go?"

"Would there be anything for me to do?" Thora asked. "I'd hate to be idle."

"Oh, there's always something," Liv assured her, "especially if Gretta's not able to work any more. And I suspect that Lady Beatrice could use some assistance, as well. She writes that she and Matthew are trying for a child."

"Well, I'd rather give her a hand than be eaten by a wildcat," Thora admitted. "If it's truly alright."

"I'll bring it up with her," Liv said, and set aside Triss' letter to open the one from Julianne. It had been written before the coronation, over a month before, just at the end of winter. The Duchess explained how she'd named Baudwin, Triss' second brother, baron over a new mining town northeast of Whitehill, in the mountain range that hemmed in the Aspen Valley. "They've struck gold," she read aloud, raising her eyebrows despite herself. "That mining camp will be a proper town within a few years, if the vein runs true. And she says they're already seeing people come north. It'll only pick up now Benedict is making proclamations."

"People who aren't happy with the new king, you mean?" Thora asked. "There we are. All ready for bed, m'lady."

Liv nodded. "She's careful about how she says it, but yes. Anyone who ever spoke out against Benedict must be feeling a bit nervous, especially after he sent out a wave of royal pardons. To someone who has the money to make the move, a duchy ruled by Julianne might seem a lot safer. I'll write back to her and Triss tomorrow. But first –" Liv cleared her desk, set out a fresh piece of parchment, and uncorked a bottle of ink.

This was the letter she'd been dreading, and Liv had put it off until last. But it had already waited three weeks longer than it should have, and it wouldn't be fair of her to make Isabel's family wait any longer because of her own discomfort. She wrote slowly, scratching out phrases as she went; Liv would have to make a clean copy once she had her words straight.

To the Tanner Family –

I first met your daughter, Isabel, when we worked on the same team during a King Tide here at the college. She came to the college a year before me, and so we didn't share many classes. When the guild answered a call for aid from the fortress of Akela Kila in Lendh ka Dakruim, Isabel was appointed our culling commander, and she named me her second in command.

During our time at Akela Kila, I saw how determined and steadfast Isabel was. She never hesitated to protect others, and she was the kind of leader who would always listen to suggestions and do what was necessary. She never acted out of pride or anger.

After the eruption was complete, Isabel volunteered to go with me and a small team into the depths. At the bottom of the Well of Bones, she was killed. It happened quickly; I don't think she had time to feel any pain.

Because of your daughter's bravery, Akela Kila is a safer place. No longer will corpses rise from the rift beneath the city. You should be proud of her.

Livara Tär Valtteri kæn Syvä

Journeyman of the Watchful Guild of Magim

Liv looked over the letter for a long moment. "I don't have the slightest idea how to do this," she muttered. "I can't tell if it's too formal, or not formal enough. I've never met these people. Honestly, I don't even know whether anyone in Isabel's family can read."

Thora leaned over Liv's shoulder to look at the letter. "You usually use your human name here," the maid pointed out.

"Because it's easier, and draws less attention in Lucania," Liv said. "Their daughter's dead because of me. I feel like they deserve the entire thing. They deserve a lot more than that." She took out a fresh piece of parchment and copied the entire letter over from the beginning, as neatly as she could. Most of the time, Liv was more worried about taking notes quickly than she was concerned about good penmanship.

"I don't have a seal or anything," Liv muttered. She carefully folded the parchment into thirds, then reached out her hand. Thora handed her a stick of sealing wax, with a wick on the end, and Liv used the spark charm to light it. She dripped just enough red wax onto the place where the two edges of the parchment met to hold it closed. Then, she slipped her guildring off her finger. There was no design on it, just a plain mana-stone, polished smooth, but it was all she had, so Liv pressed it down firmly, leaving the impression of the stone and setting in the wax.

"Can you run this over to Blackstone Hall?" Liv asked Thora. "Archmagus Loredan said he would see it sent." The maid nodded, accepted the letter, and left the room. Liv, her hair brushed out and wearing only a linen shift for sleeping in, climbed into her bed and tried to sleep.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Perhaps it was the act of writing the letter, or perhaps it was coming back to Coral Bay, but Liv found that she had a restless night. When she dreamed, it was of the Well of Bones, and of Isabel. Sometimes, it was the sight of a great, rotting paw closing over the girl's face, and breaking her neck with a violent jerk.

Worse were the dreams in which Isabel's dead body, skin pallid, eyes dull, lurched forward down the corridor. Her head lolled to one side, at an angle, but her eyes dug into Liv's with an accusing glare, as if to say, 'you killed me.'

She rose before dawn, unable to sleep any longer, and went into the bath chamber, where Liv let the hot, steaming water fall on her until the dreams were gone. By the time she returned to her bed-chamber, the sun was brightening the sky, and Thora was waiting with a fresh set of clothes.

"Archmagus Jurian caught me on the way back last evening," Thora said, while she helped Liv dress. "He asked me to tell you to be down at the practice yard before the ninth bell. He said you're to teach a remedial class, now you're a journeyman."

That, at least, was something that Liv had a small amount of experience doing. Before she'd left Whitehill to come to Coral Bay, Master Grenfell had put her to work helping him with the younger students from town. She ate a breakfast of mana-infused eggs from wild ducks, scrambled with crab meat from the bay, discarded the idea of wearing her armor, and then walked down the hill to the training grounds.

When Liv arrived, just before the ninth bell, she wasn't surprised to see that Jurian and Wren were seated together on the lowest bench of the stands, passing a flask of watered wine back and forth while they caught their breath. Journeyman Gamel was there, as well, among others.

"Good," Jurian said, when Liv approached. "You're here early. You're going to be taking over Journeyman Lena's Remedial Magical Combat class." The archmagus nodded to a third year student with long, wavy blonde hair.

Lena led Liv off to one side as the students began to arrive. Liv saw her friends in the crowd: none of them had gotten to the point they were testing out of combat classes entirely, yet, though she imagined that Rosamund was close. As the groups split up, Liv watched Rose and Arjun walk off with Archmagus Jurian's other advanced students.

"We've got the kids with no words of power at all," Lena explained, leading Liv over to one of two locked storage chests. The blonde pulled a key on a leather thong out from beneath her bodice, and unlocked the chest. "Here," she said, handing it to Liv. "It'll be your job now. I'm heading off to cull a rift in the foothills. Archmagus Jurian has a key, too, and Professor Norris, and I'm sure Archmagus Lordan does as well."

Liv leaned over, looking down into the chest. There were piles of wands, all carved with sigils. At a glance she could tell that they all did one of two things: summon a mana-shield, or launch a blade of mana.

After a run and a short time stretching, Lena had their dozen students each take a wand from the chest, and stand in two lines facing each other. One student would use their wand to launch a blade of coherent mana at the other, whose task was to use their own wand to block it with a mana-shield. Tephania, Liv saw, was one of them. The more she watched, the more Liv couldn't help but frown. Eventually, Lena had the students swap lines, and that was it. At the end of the class, they all stacked the wands back in the chest, and Liv used the key to lock it.

"That's what they do every class?" Liv asked Lena, once they were done.

The other journeyman nodded. "There's not much else you can do with them," she said. "Anyone with any talent has already tested up at this point in the year. These are people who are too timid or clumsy to beat anyone from the basic course, even when we give them wands. At this point, they're mostly just going to limp along until the new students get here come harvest season."

Liv bit her lip to keep from saying anything. It was clear to her that Lena had already given up on these students – which meant that she'd given up on Teph. Liv wondered how many of these first years would just give up and leave the college.

Since she didn't have any formal courses as a journeyman, Liv stayed around once the classes were dismissed, waiting to speak with Archmagus Jurian. Rose, Arjun and Teph glanced in her direction, but she shook her head and called, "I'll catch up with you later."

She saw that several of the other journeymen had questions for Jurian, but she could be patient. She walked over to where Wren was sitting in the stands, sat next to her, and while they waited, Liv took her book out. It was as much a notebook as a spellbook, now. Liv had long passed the point she needed to prepare her incantations in advance. Instead, she began to jot down ideas for the remedial course.

Finally, Jurian walked over and settled down in the stands next to the two women. "Welcome back," the archmage told Liv.

"I want to change the remedial class," Liv said. "They're not learning anything. Lena's already given up on them."

"Lena is a decent mage," Jurian said. "But she isn't a very good teacher. Do what you want. It's your class now."

"You're not even going to ask me what I'm planning?"

Jurian shook his head. "We'll talk after you teach a few classes. About what's working, and what isn't. There's not much damage you can do here, honestly. Those are the lowest dozen students in the college, and they're either too scared to challenge up, or they've already tried and lost so many times they've given up. If you help even one of them, you'll be doing a better job than Lena did. But that's not what I wanted to speak to you about. How are you?"

Liv shrugged. "I need to run," she said. "And swim. Three weeks in a bed absolutely wrecked my endurance, and I have to build it back up again. If I had to fight Karis the way I am now, I'd collapse before the end of it."

"That isn't what I meant," Jurian said. "Norris tells me you've gained what, three rings? And Isabel Tanner didn't come back. You've been through a lot."

"I did what I said I'd do," Liv said. "I went down into the depths."

"And she went with you."

Liv nodded. "She came with me, and it got her killed."

"Was it worth it?" Jurian asked her.

"I don't know," Liv admitted. "I should say yes. I think the rational answer is yes. What I did – I made that rift a lot less dangerous. Every year, there are going to be ksatriya who survive because I went down there. There'll be more warriors to help at other rifts, leading to even less loss of life. All those people are going to have children that otherwise wouldn't exist. It's simple arithmetic - all of that counted against one life is worth it. Yes."

"But it doesn't feel that way, does it?" Jurian asked. Liv shook her head.

For a long moment, both of them were silent. Overhead, gulls circled and cried out. Beneath the bluff upon which the campus had been built, Liv could see the breakers as lines of white in the bay, and she could smell the salt on the breeze.

"When I was a journeyman," Jurian said, finally, "I had a group of friends. Much like you do now, in fact. Daniel was the son of a banker; his father had more than enough money to send him to Coral Bay. Like most merchant guild families, they were hoping their son would marry a noblewoman. Lorelie Ryder was the daughter of a knight from the Mangrove Forest Rift, not far from here. And Genevieve Arundell's father was a baron."

Liv glanced over at the man who'd been first her rescuer, then her master in name only, and finally her professor. "Those were the names she shouted during your archmage test."

"They were. I'd like to show you something, if you'll permit me to," Jurian continued. He tapped the butt of his staff on the ground. "I think you need to see what happened to us in Godsgrave."

"How?" Liv asked.

"If you go to sleep," Jurian proposed, "I can take control of your dreams with Cei. I can shape them to show you my memories."

"Is there any risk of being hurt?"

"No." Jurian shook his head. "I won't use my archmage spell. Unless I give the nightmares substance using mana, they can't actually touch anyone. You will simply be able to watch what happened. You won't be affected by it, and you won't be able to change anything."

"Enchanted sleep again," Wren complained. "Will she be able to wake up while you're doing this?"

"Not until it's finished."

"Then it needs to happen where I can protect her," Wren demanded.

"How about in my room tonight?" Liv suggested. "We can get Arjun there to make certain it isn't hurting me, and Rose can help you keep watch."

"I had been thinking of using the infirmary, but I suppose with all the doors open and that many students around, no one would be able to accuse me of anything improper," Jurian decided.

"The beds in the infirmary are horrible," Liv said. "Anyway, I'll have a hard enough time falling asleep with my friends around watching me. I don't think I'd be able to do it at all with a room full of patients."

"Very well," Jurian said. "I will come to High Hall for the tenth bell of the evening. You can go ahead and invite anyone you want to be there - whatever will make you more comfortable. And once you're asleep, I will show you Godsgrave."