Guild Mage: Apprentice-Chapter 146 - 145. A Steep Price

Liv inhaled and opened her eyes to the low murmur of voices. To her surprise, her head was still in Rosamund's lap, while Wren, Arjun, Tephania and Sidonie were clustered about the room in the chairs they'd brought in. Archmagus Jurian was slumped back in a final chair, motionless, his staff cradled against his chest and tucked into the crook of his elbow.

"-how long it will take?" Teph was asking. "It doesn't hurt, does it?"

Wren shrugged. "It didn't hurt when they did it to me at Whitehill. But you don't really know how much time is passing. They could be out till morning, for all I know."

"We're done," Liv said, then swallowed. Her throat was a bit dry. A groan from across the room signalled that Jurian was stirring, as well.

"We brought a pot of tea up not long ago," Sidonie said. "Why don't you each have a cup."

"That sounds good." Liv carefully extricated herself from Rose's lap, and sat up. The other girl crawled out of the bed and stood next to the wall. Liv and Jurian each accepted a cup of tea from Sidonie, and after she'd had a sip, Liv felt better able to talk.

"I notice you didn't show me how to imprint a word without help," she commented to Jurian.

The archmagus shook his head. "No. You already have plenty to occupy you, between silent casting, Authority training, and practicing with ambient mana. I may not be the best teacher in the world, but even I can tell when to stop piling new concepts on a student."

"I guess I can put that aside for now," Liv decided, then closed her eyes and breathed in the steam from the cup.

"What did you see?" Teph asked.

"If you all don't mind, I'm going to take my leave before you have that conversation. Reliving that memory once in an evening is enough." Jurian tilted his cup of tea back, finishing it in a single motion, and then set it on Liv's vanity table.

"Thank you for showing me," Liv said. "It explains a few things."

Jurian grunted, then scanned the room, meeting each of their eyes in turn. "Don't stay up much longer," he cautioned them. "Most of you still have classes at the ninth bell." With that, the archmagus turned and left.

Sidonie stood up. "I'm going to close the door before we speak," she said. Only once the journeyman had clicked the lock into place did she return to her chair.

"What a mess," Liv said, finally. "I can see both sides of it. On the one hand, he was right. They went down into Godsgrave and came back with a word of power that wasn't claimed by anyone else, and it made the guild stronger. He wouldn't be an archmage if it wasn't for what they did."

"But?" Arjun said.

"But it got two of their friends killed, and turned Genevieve Arundell against him. And if they'd brought more people, or been better prepared, it probably didn't have to happen," Liv said. "I don't agree with her, but I can see why she holds a grudge. I mean, if someone got two of my friends killed..." She shrugged. Would Isabel Tanner's family feel the same way about Liv, that Genevive Arundell felt about Jurian?

"What was it like?" Sidonie asked, opening a notebook in her lap.

"A giant, smoking crater," Liv said. "Miles across, and maybe - half a mile deep? That's a guess, though. The air is poisonous: they tried to cover their faces with cloth to filter out the worst of it, but I think we could do better with the right enchantment. It was dark, too - the entire crater was covered by clouds that blocked out the light."

"That makes sense. Asuris was one of the gods that died there," Wren said.

Liv looked over at the huntress, and hesitated. freёnovelkiss.com

"What?" Wren asked. Liv wasn't certain how the woman would react to what Jurian had shown her. But for months, Wren had been guarding her back, even down into the depths of two different rifts. Liv owed her at least this much.

"They found a chamber," Liv said, "where he thinks Ractia grew your people. There were dozens of them there, sleeping, dreaming enchanted dreams. Preserved since the war."

"Still alive?" Wren asked. Liv nodded, and the huntress sprang to her feet. "This is it," she said, excitement bubbling up in her voice. "We don't need Ractia at all! If we go and rescue them, wake them up, that's an entire generation of new blood. Did he show you enough to find it again?"

"I think so," Liv said. "But Wren, we also think that she used Cei to train them. They've dreamed for a thousand years that she's their mother goddess, and that we're their enemies. I'm not saying they shouldn't be rescued," she hurried to explain, "just that it may not be as easy or as simple as you're thinking. And we don't know how many of those chambers there might be. If you want to do this, I'll help you. But I think it's going to be a lot of work, and we're going to need help.

Wren took a deep breath, and nodded, visibly making an effort to calm herself. "Of course. But I need to get a message to my cousin and her husband. They'll help us."

"There were wyrms there, Wren," Liv said. "With burning eyes, scales dark as obsidian, and poison. That's what killed one of Jurian's friends. Those people have slept for a thousand years, and they can sleep for a few months more. We need to be ready when we go. I don't want to make the same mistakes he did."

"I want to help," Tephania said, "but I'm not going to be capable of going into that rift. Your people will need to be ready to care for them after, won't they? It's going to be quite a change, to wake up in a different world. Maybe I can help them."

"Most of you aren't even apprentices yet," Sidonie pointed out. "Focus on finishing your studies here at the college first. If you can't do that, you aren't ready for a rift like Godsgrave. Now. Let's leave Liv to get some actual sleep, shall we?" She capped her ink bottle, set aside her quill, and blew gently across the pages of her journal to begin drying the ink of her notes.

"Let me just check her over first," Arjun said. Liv sat still patiently while he counted her pulse, felt her temperature, and finally pronounced that she seemed well enough. Teph helped Sidonie move the chairs back out of the room, and Wren headed down to the servants' quarters. Finally, the only one left in the room with Liv was Rosamund.

"I notice you didn't say much," Liv began, after a moment of silence.

Rose stirred from where she'd been leaning against the wall. "I wanted to make certain I didn't make you uncomfortable," she said.

"By helping me go to sleep?" Liv asked, giving the other girl a smile. "No. Thank you for that, actually. I don't think I could have, otherwise. It was just too bizarre."

"Good." Rosamund nodded. "You're going to be alright alone?"

"I will," Liv assured her.

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"Goodnight, then," Rose said, and strode across the room for the door. She shut it behind her, and Liv listened for the creaking of the floor as she departed.

"Goodnight, Rosamund," she said, and settled back in her bed.

☙

Liv was surprised at how quickly the days settled back into a routine, even after everything that had happened since the coronation. It seemed almost an insult: that the world should have fundamentally changed, somehow, with Isabel's death, but the students rose for breakfast and went to their classes when the horologes rung the bells, and life continued.

Thora returned the day after Liv's enchanted dream. The maid caught a ride halfway up the bluff to the college campus on the back of a merchant's wagon, leaned up against barrels of ale for both the Crab and Gull and the White Dolphin. Liv and Wren had gone for a morning run, and she was just donning a fresh dress after cleaning off the sweat in the bath chamber when Thora came into the suite.

Though Liv had been confident that the other woman was in no danger going to Al'Fenthia, she still breathed a sigh of relief. "Welcome back," she said, and reached out to give the maid a quick hug. "How was the journey?"

"A bit terrifying without you," Thora admitted, taking a seat on the padded bench in the sitting room. "Especially because I didn't speak the language. But your name and your letter worked wonders, m'lady. They put me up in a beautiful manor house, and the lady of the town saw me herself. Gave me a response for you." She held out a rolled and sealed piece of parchment.

"Good." Liv accepted it. "Why don't you take a bit to settle back in. I have letters for Whitehill, but you've only just returned, and they aren't urgent."

"Thank you, m'lady," Thora said. "If you don't mind, I'll go downstairs and change, at least." Liv nodded, and once the lady's maid had ducked out of the room, she broke the seal and read the letter from Al'Fenthia.

Livara Tär Valtteri -

My husband told me of you some years ago, after a trading expedition to Whitehill. He mentioned that you might one day come to visit us, and that you were the same age as our son.

As you know, we are a family of merchants. I am certain that is why you came to us with your request, even if you might have expected Airis to be the one to receive your request. Nonetheless, I can and will provide what you seek. It will be delivered to Coral Bay by one of my men when complete.

In return, when you visit Al'Fenthia, you will imprint one of your words of power on my son as his second word. The particulars can be negotiated when you arrive.

I look forward to a mutually profitable relationship with you and with your house in the future.

Saana Tär Taavetti

House Keria

Liv couldn't help but make a face as if she'd sucked on a lemon. She was certain that she had gotten the worse end of the deal, but on the other hand, she hadn't had time to go to Al'Fenthia and negotiate herself - to say nothing of how much attention that might attract. In the end, she used the spark charm to burn the letter in the fireplace and resolved that she could do nothing but wait for her delivery, and make payment when the time came.

She made certain to visit the Most Noble Bankers' Guild, as well, so that she could deposit her payment from the Well of Bones, along with the payments that would go to Isabel's family. In the afternoon, Liv accomplished multiple ends at once, by taking Steria for a ride along the beach. Wren kept an eye out from overhead, while Liv sought out pockets of ambient mana.

When she found one, she reined Steria to a halt, then reached out in an attempt to integrate the ambient mana into a shield, using Aluth. As she had when she first began working toward silent casting with Cel, Liv started by whispering the incantation. With the amount of frozen swords she'd left melting on the floor of the second floor bath chamber, she didn't expect success to come quickly - but making use of ambient mana would, she hoped, help to extend the amount of practice she could fit into each day.

By the time Liv made her way down to the training grounds for her first class as the remedial students' only instructor, she'd had plenty of time to plan. She let them run just as they did every class; in fact, she ran with them, because Liv knew that she could use the practice. When she opened the chest of wands, however, Liv held up her hand to stop the students before they began equipping themselves for practice.

"We're going to try something a bit different today," Liv said, unable to keep herself from smiling.

Lined up in front of her, several of the other first years shuffled their feet, and the only one that met her eyes was Tephania. In a way, it was difficult to think of herself as having arrived at Coral Bay in the same class as these students. There was such a gulf of magical ability between them that being categorized in that way seemed arbitrary.

"In a duel or a real fight," Liv continued, "you don't just attack or defend. You have to do both, in the moment, depending on what your enemy is doing. It doesn't do you any good to hit them with a mana-knife if they've already crushed your head. Ideally, you use a spell that can both attack and defend at the same time, or you're coordinating with other people - or you've got some other trick up your sleeve."

"What I want you to do today," she said, "is to each take a shielding wand, and an offensive wand. You've got two hands, so you might as well use them. The half of you that aren't sparring can take a seat in the stands, and I'll be with you in a moment."

The students hesitated for a moment, and then Tephania stalked forward, reached down into the chest, and came up with a wand in each hand. Once she'd done that, the others followed suit, until six of them had a pair of wands each, and the other half of the class had backed off.

"You, with you," Liv said, waving her hand to pair them off. "And you two. Good. Alright, back to back. You've seen duels, haven't you? Just like that. Now, fifteen paces." She watched until all of them had counted out the steps, and then walked forward to pull one of her pairs apart just a little bit more, until they had a proper dueling distance.

"When I tell you to begin," Liv shouted, "You're going to try to defeat your opponent. You stop immediately when someone yields, when someone gets a hit, or when I stop you. Now - fight!"

It was, as she'd expected, something of a disaster.

A young man with nearly carrot-shaded hair flung a mana-knife at his partner, a girl with frizzy blonde hair. When she tried to block it with a mana-shield, she panicked, used the wrong wand, and launched her own mana-knife into the stands, where the rest of Liv's class had to dive aside from an explosion of splinters.

The second pair of students each summoned a shield at the same time, seemingly afraid to lower their defenses. Teph, on the other hand, defeated her opponent handily by launching a mana-knife and then immediately raising her shield with the wand in her off hand.

Liv walked over, checked the blonde girl's wound, and took her wands. "Go sit in the stands and put a bandage on that arm," she said. "One of you, come up here and take these wands. Losers, swap out. Winners, you duel again."

By the end of the class, Liv's dozen students were bruised, cut, exhausted and practically collapsed across the benches that made up the lower tiers of the stands. They looked at her with a kind of horror that she'd thought reserved for teachers like Jurian, and Liv was surprised to find that it didn't bother her in the slightest. They needed to learn how to fight for real, or they were never going to become apprentices. Worse, they were going to get killed. Not at the college, but eventually.

"You all have an assignment, between now and next class," Liv declared, pacing in front of them. "A real duel is often won by the person who's thought ahead and prepared themselves. When I beat Princess Milisant, I'd spent something like a day and a half studying her magic and planning the spells I'd need to defeat her, and I had help."

Tephania raised her hand, hesitantly. "But Liv -"

"Journeyman," Liv corrected her. She couldn't show favorites.

"Journeyman," Teph continued, "we can't cast magic. We can't get ready ahead of time."

"That's why I'm going to help you," Liv explained. "Carrot Head and Tephania, you're dueling next class. Each of you come up with one spell you want loaded into a wand, using Aluth. Find me and tell me by tonight. I'll go to Professor Norris and we'll enchant the wands tomorrow. Don't tell anyone what you ask me for. This is to teach you how to think ahead."

Carrot Head raised his hand.

"Yes?" Liv asked.

"Alan, Journeyman," he said. "My name's Alan."

"Well, make sure you find me before you go to sleep tonight, Alan," Liv said. "I room on the second floor of High Hall." He nodded.

A boy with pock scars all across his cheeks raised his hand, next, and Liv nodded for him to speak. "Um, Milo, Journeyman. It's true, then? You beat the princess in a duel?"

"I did," Liv confirmed.

"I heard you culled a rift before even coming to Coral Bay?" the girl with the frizzy blonde hair asked.

"Bald Peak." Liv nodded. "It's a minor rift north of Whitehill Upon Aspen, where I grew up. But I've also passed along the edges of the Tomb of Celris, in the north, where my father's side of the family lives."

Several of the students were leaning in and whispering to each other now.

"Are you really going to teach us to fight like you?" Alan asked, and it made Liv's heart break to see how much hope there was in his eyes. Just two days ago, the journeyman who had been teaching this class had admitted that she'd given up on these students. They must have all been able to feel it; they weren't stupid.

"No," Liv said. "I can't teach you to fight like me, because we have different words of power, and for any number of other reasons. I'm tiny," she said, waving a hand to indicate her body, with a smile. "I'm also half Eld. You can't fight like I do, and I couldn't fight like any of you will. I won't teach you to fight how I do - but I will help you figure out how you need to fight, if you'll give me a chance. Now, get to the infirmary before you bleed all over each other."