Guild Mage: Apprentice

Over the next few weeks, the time practicing with Rosamund paid off for more than just Liv. Both Arjun and Tephania were able to test up out of their remedial armed combat course into the basic level that Liv had just left behind. Unfortunately for them, the second person that Merek Sherard had challenged was unable to hand him another defeat; as a result, Teph and Arjun had to continue to suffer through his presence.

“And if a baron offers you above guild rate for a court mage?” Sidonie asked. Liv was lying back, sprawled across one of the couches by the fireplace on the landing of High Hall.

“Turn him down,” she said. “Standard prices are set by the guild, it’s a violation of guild rules to negotiate your own arrangement. Same goes for people trying to bribe you to take their students on, or with higher shares at a culling.”

“Alright, your turn, Teph,” Sidonie said, reading from a list of questions she’d prepared in one of her journals. “Who is eligible to have the guild pay for their treatment from the chirurgeon’s guild?”

“Why couldn’t I get that question?” Arjun complained.

“Because it would be too easy for you, like anything even tangentially related to medicine,” Liv reminded him.

“Guild members, obviously,” Tephania answered, ignoring them. “But also spouses and children, which I have to admit I wasn’t expecting.”

“Good.” Sidonie smiled. “I think you’re all ready, honestly.”

“And none too soon, with you leaving,” Rosamund broke in. “Have they said where they’re sending you, yet?”

“Duskvale,” the older girl replied, reaching up to adjust her spectacles. “All signs point to an eruption in the next few weeks, and they want us to leave day after tomorrow. Every journeyman who isn’t actively teaching a course. It’s a rather peculiar rift - sunlight doesn’t penetrate the forest, and all the mana beasts are adapted to hunt like ambush predators.”

“That sounds perfectly horrible,” Teph said.

“Just take care of yourself, will you?” Liv added. “Being in a rift can go really wrong, really quickly.” Not for the first time, she considered whether she should teach Sidonie and the rest of her friends how to handle the wild mana of a rift, the way her father had taught her. What stopped her wasn’t the political repercussions, she told herself again. But there was no convenient shoal to practice in with any degree of privacy. What were they going to do, take a rowboat out into the bay and drop anchor, in full view of everyone?

What she needed, more and more, was a way to practice or teach things with some assurance of privacy. Liv wondered whether the professors had experimented with shaping dreams that could function as tutoring sessions. If she could have Sidonie join her in a dream of the shoals around Bald Peak...

“Letters, m’lady!” Thora called, hurrying up the stairs toward them. “Just arrived - from Duchess Julianne and Lady Beatrice.”

Liv sat up, took both letters in hand, and broke the wax seal of the first, scanning it quickly. “They received the shipment of spices and silk from House Sherard,” she said, summarizing for her friends. “And apparently Julianne sent back a message where she ripped them up one side and down the other, as well as lodging a complaint with Prince Benedict.”

“He deserved a lot worse,” Rosamund grumbled.

“You’ve got that right, m’lady,” Thora said.

Liv shrugged. “I’m healed, and he put his family in a bad spot. Honestly, as long as I don’t have to deal with the stuck up brat again, I’m happy.” She set the first letter down, and broke the seal of the second. “Triss says Matthew’s arm bothers him quite a bit, though he tries not to show it,” she continued. “And-”

“What?” Sidonie asked. “Is there going to be a baby? I absolutely cannot picture Triss as a mother.”

“No,” Liv said. “Or at least, she doesn’t mention it. She says Archibald’s asked my mother to marry him. And there’s a note.” She slid out a second piece of parchment, folded up inside the first, and opened it, after passing Triss’ letter off to Sidonie. Her mother’s handwriting was immediately recognizable: after all, Liv had learned to read on her recipe book.

Livy, dear;

I hope you’re well, and that you’ve made a few friends. It’s strange not to have you here with us, and we all miss you so much.

Lady Beatrice agreed to send this note along with her letter, which was very kind of her. I wanted to let you know that Archibald has asked me to be his wife. I’m certain that’s not something you were expecting to hear, but it isn’t as much a surprise for me as it must be for you - I suppose that makes sense, it shouldn’t be a shock to me or something would be wrong!

It’s a strange thing, to spend so much of your life raising a child, then send her off like a chick leaving the nest. Gives you a bit of time to think. Archie and I have been friendly for many years, now, and we’ve spent a lot more time together since you’ve been gone.

Neither of us are getting any younger, and while there won’t be any more children in my future, I’ve been surprised at how nice it is to have someone to share my life with. We’ve agreed to put off the ceremony until you’re a journeyman, so that it will be easier for you to come.

I hope you can be happy for me, my dove.

Your Mother

“This is so strange,” Liv said, letting her hand fall into her lap. “I suppose I always thought that if my mother was going to marry anyone, it would be my father.”

Sidonie passed back Triss’ letter. “It’s almost unheard of for Eld to wed humans,” she pointed out. “We’ve all seen your father, Liv. He’s young - or he looks young, at any rate. How old’s your mother?”

“Sixty,” Liv answered, after a moment’s thought. “And Archibald’s a bit older.”

“I think it's nice she’ll have some companionship, now that you won’t be around,” Teph said. “Not that I’ve met her, or anything, but I hope she’ll be happy.”

“I do, too,” Liv decided. Though she was never going to call Archie ‘father.’ “Alright, Sidonie. What do you want to do tomorrow night, before you leave? Dinner at the Crab and Gull?”

☙

They sent Sidonie off with an evening of warmth and laughter, several bottles of wine - though Liv was careful not to drink too much, because she’d learned that drunk Liv made choices sober Liv would have to deal with later - and plates upon plates of seafood.

Sidonie wasn’t the only journeyman who left. While people like Gamel, Barnabas and Genne, who taught courses of first and second year students, remained behind, Venetia left, along with Turstin and a dozen others, many of whose names Liv had never even learned. It made the campus feel a bit empty, at first, and it meant that finishing the book on plants and animals of the far north fell to Liv, Arjun, Rose and Teph alone.

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The worst part, however, was simply that another friend had gone. Triss and Matthew were in Whitehill, Sidonie off to Duskvale, and Liv was confident she’d see all of them again eventually. But it was hard to think of the first few weeks at Coral Bay, with both Sidonie and Cade at the table drinking and laughing with them, and know those two seats were going to be empty from now on.

The day after the journeymen left, Liv asked Barnabas to give her the examination to test into the advanced course on guild law. She stayed after the rest of the class had left, working through questions that she remembered from the first day she’d come to Coral Bay. Topics that she’d guessed on, before, she now breezed through, smiling as she recalled Sidonie’s very particular tone of voice criticizing the guild charter.

“Off and get yourself some dinner,” Barnabas said, once she’d handed the sheaf of parchment to him. “I’ll give it to Professor Every, and it’ll take her a day or so to find the time to go through it.”

“I guess Master Jurian has things a bit easy, doesn’t he?” Liv realized. “He just watches a couple of people fight and promotes the winner.”

“You should hear some of the other professors complain about it,” Barnabas told her, grinning. “Go on, now. I’m missing my meal, too.”

Wren fell into step beside Liv, and they headed out of Blackstone Hall to cross the courtyard at the center of campus. “Just one more, then?” the huntress asked.

“Enchanting,” Liv said. “And I know what I have to do. A single enchantment, from start to finish, entirely on my own. No one to embroider a cloak, or carve a piece of wood. The only piece you’re allowed help on is resonating with the final word, but that’s only for students who didn’t come to the college with magic of their own.”

“Any idea what you’re going to make?” Wren asked her.

“I do have one, actually,” Liv said. “Do you want to go into town with me, after dinner? I need a shop that sells thread and needles. The rest I think I can get down at the infirmary.”

“I know just the place,” Wren told her, with a smile.

‘Just the place’ ended up being the Cedar Closet, where the shopgirl Wren introduced Liv to seemed to alternate between fawning and terror. Rosamund and Tephania came along, and Thora trailed behind them all, collecting merchandise for later purchase.

“What do you think of this, Liv?” Rose asked, holding up a set of stays in bright scarlet and black lace.

Liv blinked, half a dozen spools of thread in her hand. “It’s.. very bright? What’s the point, though, if no one’s going to see it?”

“I think the point is that someone will see it,” Wren joked, and Liv felt her stupid cheeks and ears blush again.

Of course, getting the thread was only the first step. Linen bandages were, like Liv had guessed, easy enough, and once she’d explained to Professor Annora what she wanted to do, she left the infirmary with half a dozen, all woven from linen that had been exposed to an eruption.

Planning the sigils themselves was the next step, and by the time Liv got the results of her Guild Law and History examination, she was buried in texts from the library, working that piece out. Once again, she missed Sidonie. Arjun, Rose and Teph had become wonderful friends, but they weren’t at the level of magical theory that Liv and Sidonie had reached. In the end, she simply plowed through it herself, setting aside work on the book or the charts of Coral Bay in order to get this last barrier out of the way.

Liv had just about decided she was ready to make the attempt when word ripped through campus that a panel of Masters was being assembled to judge whether Master Jurian would become an archmage.

☙

“I will permit questions this once, and once only,” Master Jurian said, at the beginning of Liv’s course in Advanced Magical Combat. “After this, I expect to hear no more of it, and our class will proceed as normal.”

“It’s true, then?” Cassandra Banks, the girl who used water magic, spoke up first. “You’re going to be an archmage?”

“Your vote of confidence is heartening,” Jurian answered, with a smile. “The other Masters will be the judge of that. I presume you’ve all gone far enough in Guild Law to know what requirements I need to meet.”

“Can you show us?” Liv asked. “A spell that uses two words, right, and -” she caught herself before using the word ‘authority.’ “-and the ability to control all mana within five feet of yourself.”

“I will not be showing you the spell I have created, at least not today,” Jurian said. “For reasons that will become obvious when you see it.”

“It’ll be public, then?” Arianell Seton asked.

“That is my understanding,” Jurian confirmed. “I believe Archmagus Loredan commented that it would be an educational experience for you all. But we’re going to have to wait for a few masters to arrive. What I am willing to do is this - and it even could be considered part of our course material. I will stand in the center of the training yard, and one at a time, you may attempt to attack me with a spell. Line up.”

Liv scrambled out of her seat in the stands just as quickly as the rest of the class, and managed to be fourth in line. For the rest of class, students threw sprays of water, shards of silver, and whatever other magic they could conjure up using their words - only to watch their attacks dissolve into wisps of mana or skew off course before ever actually reaching Master Jurian.

On her second time through the line, Liv decided to get creative. With a wave of her wand, she created a soldier of ice.

Jurian shook his head. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Apprentice Brodbeck,” he said.

“You haven’t seen what I intend to do yet,” Liv told him, unable to keep a grin off her face. The soldier bent down, lifted a clod of earth from the training yard, and flung it at Jurian. A plane of shining blue mana flickered into existence, stopping projectile before it could hit him, and it exploded in a spray of dirt.

“You had to actually block that,” Liv pointed out. “If we use magic to throw something at you, instead of making an attack from magic directly, you can’t just will it away, can you?”

Jurian opened his mouth, but before the professor could speak, he was assaulted by dirt, rocks, and anything else that could be scrounged from around the yard. Arianell Seton formed a scoop of silver, which she manipulated to fling debris, while Cassandra Banks blasted the ground in front of him with an angled jet of water, which splashed mud up into his face.

Interlocking panes of coherent mana flashed up to shield the professor, but he’d already gotten an eyeful of mud by the time he managed to scramble out of the way. Jurian wiped his eyes with his sleeve, glared around at his students, and then allowed the corner of his mouth to twitch into half a smile.

“Clever,” he admitted. “I suppose I can’t complain that my students are clever, and that they can adapt.” Liv, along with everyone else in class, exhaled in relief. “I can make you run, however,” Jurian pointed out. “It builds endurance, after all.”

☙

Liv had never been skilled at embroidery, though like any other servant girl she’d learned to stitch up a tear in her shift or her cloak. As a result, she was exceedingly cautious with each movement of her needle, and she leaned in close over the bandage she had spread over a table in the enchanting workshop.

Professor Norris, along with Genne, Arjun, Rose, and a few other students who’d remained after the rest of her class left, clustered around the table and watched as Liv worked. She’d already asked for and received permission from Professor Every to miss class, just this once.

The silk thread she’d ended up choosing was a beautiful blue color that reminded Liv of the winter sky on a cloudless day. The color didn’t matter, but the silk came from worms who’d lived inside a shoal somewhere in Lendh ka Dakruim, and had cost her quite a few gold coins. When she’d gotten the last stitch of the last sigil in place, tied it off, and cut the thread, there was nothing left to do but the final step.

“Remember,” Professor Norris told her, for what felt like the dozenth time. “You need the mana in the bandage to resonate with your intent.”

Liv nodded, took the strip of cloth in both hands, and closed her eyes. She started by circulating her mana: that wasn’t something Norris had told her to do, but it made it easier for her to move her magic down through her hands and into the bandage. Then, she let the word of power that crouched in the back of her mind like a sleeping predator wake. There were two now, which was still an odd feeling, but Liv didn’t need Luc today, only Cel.

Cool, she thought. Not freezing, but cool. Something shifted - not in her, but in the bandage that she was holding. Liv opened her eyes.

“Who wants to try it out?” she asked.

“That depends,” Rose answered. “How likely is it the thing suddenly erupts into flames or something?”

“Not likely at all,” Professor Norris said. “Apprentice Brodbeck uses ice magic, not fire magic. An enchantment gone wrong is far more likely to give you frostbite. Genna, why don’t you test it.”

The journeyman winced, but accepted the enchanted bandage from Liv. Carefully, she wound it about her arm.

“There’s a loop of thread on the end, there,” Liv told her. “Pull that.” It had been her solution to the lack of buttons or other mechanical moving parts. She was fairly certain that she’d done everything right, but she still held her breath when Genna pulled the thread.

“Oh!” Genne exclaimed. “That’s cold. Not so cold it hurts, but cool. It actually feels nice.”

Arjun grinned. “Professor Annora is going to want an entire stock of those,” he pointed out.

“I can deal with that if it means I’ve officially made apprentice,” Liv said. “Have I?”

Professor Norris smiled. “I will speak to the archmagus,” he said. “But as far as I am concerned, you’ve met the requirements to move into Advanced Enchanting. Congratulations.”