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Authors: Caroline Stevermer

BOOK: A Scholar of Magics
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“To be frank, I don't feel any embarrassment” Robert seemed to consider the matter. “Residual fury, perhaps.”
“Understandable, given the circumstances,” said Stowe. “What were Voysey's claims?”
“He was very proud of having tricked Lord Bridgewater into abetting his schemes. It was only Bridgewater's assistance that made the working device possible. Both men shared a devotion to the expansion of imperial interests that I consider unwholesome.” Robert sniffed. “I knew Voysey had played on Bridgewater's patriotism and his respect for Glasscastle as an institution of magical research. Bridgewater not only provided private backing for the project, he exercised considerable influence in government circles as well, all of which he used in Glasscastle's favor.”
“To return to the cipher letter,” Porteous said, “did Voysey say anything to lead you to believe that he himself had engaged in dealings with the German secret service?”
“On the contrary. From what Voysey told me, he contrived the cipher letter purely to incriminate Fell. Selling secrets to the Germans was the worst crime Voysey could imagine.”
“Did Voysey say anything that led you to believe that the Earl of Bridgewater had dealings with the Germans?” Porteous asked.
“His lordship's worst enemy could not make such a claim and expect it to be taken seriously,” Robert replied. “As I see it, both Voysey and Bridgewater are far too partisan to consider such measures.”
Russell frowned and leaned forward. “Too partisan? What do you mean by that?”
Robert said, “I should have said too patriotic.”
“Surely it is impossible to be too patriotic?” Russell asked.
“That judgment must depend upon your view of the actions taken by the defendants,” Robert countered smoothly.
Stewart cut the exchange short. “Thank you. That will do.”
The Provosts dismissed Robert. The audience shifted, murmured, and coughed as he resumed his seat. The beadle summoned the next witness, Meredith.
Meredith stood in the spot Robert had vacated. He looked uncomfortable, Lambert thought, perhaps because he was dressed more formally than usual, full academic robes over an immaculate suit.
Porteous, once again, spoke first. “John Meredith, will you describe from your perspective the events of yesterday?”
“From my perspective?” Meredith thought it over. “You woke me up in the middle of the night, that's my perspective. That idiot Williams had wired from Ludlow with some madness about a working version of the Agincourt device. I was scarcely back from London, where I've been wasting days trying to get an appointment with Lord Fyvie. Small chance of that!”
“Please—” Stewart held up a hand to stem Meredith's tirade. “May we confine ourselves to the events of yesterday?”
Meredith calmed down. “Very well. I suppose I might have been asleep for three hours when Porteous woke me. He said the Agincourt device was working. Williams had seen it used with his own eyes. I tried to tell him that if anyone had done such a thing, I'd know about it. He paid no attention to me, as usual. Next thing I knew, I was squashed into a train compartment with Porteous and Stowe while we
argued about the best spell to use once we got there.”
Porteous looked indignant but before he could speak, Stowe asked, “At what point did you appreciate the degree of Voysey's involvement?”
“We were halfway there before anyone mentioned that Voysey was involved at all.” Meredith looked annoyed. “Up until then, I had a hazy idea someone had managed to break in and steal the device. Indeed, even after I heard the accusations against him, I could scarcely believe Voysey was responsible for such a thing.”
Stowe cleared his throat, and asked, “At what point did you encounter Adam Voysey?”
“At the precise point that I appreciated the degree of his involvement,” said Meredith, bitterly. “We had successfully deployed the Vox Magna to break the protective spells on St. Hubert's. I was among the first group of Fellows to enter the place, an advance search party. The moment I opened a cupboard door and saw the muzzle of that infernal Agincourt device pointed at me—that was the exact moment when I realized everything I'd heard about Voysey was true. The moment after
that,
of course, he turned me into a fox.”
Stowe asked, “Were you at any time aware that Voysey transformed himself to resemble you?”
Meredith looked disgusted. “I wasn't aware of a bloody thing until I came to my senses on Midsummer Green, naked as the day I was born. Any further questions?”
“Er, no. Not at this time.” Mildly apologetic, Stowe dismissed Meredith.
The beadle thumped again and called Nicholas Fell. After Meredith's neat appearance, Fell provided a striking contrast
in his academic robe. Fell stood before the Provosts waiting for their first question as patiently as if he were waiting for a train he didn't particularly want to catch.
This time Russell spoke for the Provosts. “Nicholas Fell, please explain to the Provosts why you neglected your duties as a warden, as well as your duties as a Senior Fellow of Glasscastle, to pursue a personal interest in mathematical calculations which you are not qualified to make?”
“My dear Provosts,” Fell replied, after a long dispassionate look at each of them, “I respectfully decline to do so. Whatever my reasons, they were sufficient given the limited knowledge available to me at the time.”
“An interesting point,” Stowe said. “Are we to infer that you now have more knowledge available to you?”
Fell looked bored. “You may infer that I found Mr. Russell's question impertinent.”
“Is that why you decline to answer? Because you consider yourself above being questioned?” Russell asked.
“Clearly you have a fondness for impertinent questions,” Fell countered. “Are you capable of asking any other kind?”
“Gentlemen, let me remind you we are not here to be rude to one another,” Stewart cautioned. “We are here to get at the truth. You are uniquely situated to help us, Mr. Fell. Will you do so?”
Fell looked mollified. “I will help if I can.”
“Perhaps we can dispense with questions and get on with it.” Stewart's glare quelled any incipient protest from the Provosts. “Mr. Fell, from your perspective—what happened?
“I'll tell you what I
thank
happened,” Fell said. “Some of it I've known for some time, idle talk being what it is. Some of
it I learned from conversations with Voysey while I was his captive at St. Hubert's. Some of it I've taken the trouble to find out since Lambert rescued me and saved the wards. Most of it I learned from Bridgewater's close embrace. While he was draining my strength, his concerns were evident to me.”
“What, ah, concerns were those?” Stewart looked as if he weren't sure he wanted to know the answer to his question.
“For one thing, he wanted to save the world.” Fell smiled bitterly.
“In what sense?” asked Russell.
“In the literal sense. He intended to keep the world safe personally, once the British Empire controlled it—under his supervision, of course.”
“Really. How did he think he was going to accomplish that?” asked Stowe.
“Through me. In his view, I was ignoring the power of the wardenship. If I wasn't using it, someone should. What I was wasting, he was welcome to. In his estimation, of course.”
“Ah, yes. The wardenship.” Porteous sounded pleased. “Modern theories wotwithstanding, we see before us the new warden of the west. I felicitate you, sir.”
Fell looked a trifle sheepish. “You are too kind. However, the events we are discussing took place before I accepted the wardenship. For reasons I won't enlarge upon at this time, I wished to abstain from the wardenship. I might have reconsidered the matter if I had known how my reluctance played into the hands of Voysey and Bridgewater.”
“You hold them both equally responsible?” asked Stewart.
“I blame Bridgewater more, for he understood the wardenship, while Voysey honestly believed it to be a matter of folklore until Bridgewater persuaded him otherwise. Bridgewater wanted me to continue to abstain from the wardenship while he looked for ways to get at the power through me. That's why Bridgewater invited me to be his houseguest when I attended his lecture in London.”
“Yet you declined that invitation,” said Stewart. “Did you have some reason to suspect Bridgewater's interest in you?”
“I suspected nothing,” Fell replied. “I had work to do. Bridgewater was at least as interested in forging a connection to the power of Glasscastle's wards as he was in exploiting the power he believed me to be ignoring. That is why Bridgewater permitted Voysey to incorporate the Egerton wand into the Agincourt device.”
“I understand why Voysey wished to incorporate the Egerton wand,” said Stowe, “but surely Bridgewater prized it himself? Why did he consent to let the wand be used in the Agincourt device?”
“The Egerton wand gave Bridgewater a link to the device. It was a significant source of power to Bridgewater, but he could reach the power he wielded without it. Once the wand was incorporated into the device, he could reach the power of Glasscastle. At least, he could reach as much of the power of Glasscastle as Voysey could access. It was a singularly ineffectual ultimate weapon, the Agincourt device. One reason was that Bridgewater was drawing power out of it only a bit more slowly than Voysey was putting power in.”
“Voysey accepted the wand and incorporated it into the device. Why?” asked Stewart.
“Power like Bridgewater's wand? Voysey was sure that Glasscastle magic subordinated all others. The wand was a source of energy and no more, as far as Voysey knew.” After a moment, Fell added, “There was another reason Voysey wanted to use Bridgewater's wand, a less pragmatic one. Voysey knew that Bridgewater envied him. Voysey enjoyed that. He wanted to keep Bridgewater involved, close at hand, always mindful of Voysey's superiority.”
“Why did Bridgewater permit that?” Stowe asked. “If Bridgewater's power was so great, why did he wait so long to attack the wards of Glasscastle?”
“Bridgewater dared not approach the wards of Glasscastle until Voysey used the Egerton wand. Not until then was he able to draw power from Glasscastle, through Voysey and finally through the wand,” Fell said. “Even then, Bridgewater was careful. He was escorted through the gate during the confusion caused by the arrival of the animals from St. Hubert's. I was under escort as well. It took Bridgewater hours to find a way to free me. In the end, he used main force to bring me with him to the garden.”
“Any Fellow of Glasscastle could have escorted him there,” said Russell. “Why did Bridgewater trouble to free you in particular? Because you are the warden of the west?”
Fell regarded Russell solemnly. “If I had accepted that responsibility, Bridgewater couldn't have forced me to go with him. I was still resisting. Therefore Bridgewater planned to use me to reach the power I refused to touch myself, just as Voysey was the straw through which Bridgewater sucked at the power of Glasscastle.”
“Bridgewater brought the wards of Glasscastle down just
before five o'clock,” said Porteous. “Their silence was our first warning of Bridgewater's intent. If you knew he was conspiring with Voysey, why didn't you warn us?”
“I didn't know,” Fell said simply. “I was surprised to learn the plans for the Agincourt device specified the Egerton wand. Until then, I had assumed Voysey was working alone. The spell on the armchair at St. Hubert's seemed a bit sophisticated to be Voysey's handiwork, but I didn't know the role Bridgewater played until he took me into the garden.”
“When he did so,” Stowe said, “when you believed you understood Bridgewater's intent, did you believe you had reason to fear for your life?”
“On the contrary.” Fell chose his words with care. “I was afraid that my life would last too long. If I died before Bridgewater reached the power of the wardenship through me, the wardenship would pass to someone else. There's no way of telling who. But I thought it would be better to shut the door Bridgewater had opened. To close the connection between us. Before it was too late. That's why I asked Mr. Lambert for his help.”
“Did either Voysey or Bridgewater, at any time, threaten your life?” asked Russell.
“Oh, no. They each abducted me, but neither had any intention of killing me,” Fell replied.
“Are there any other charges you wish to bring against either defendant?” Stewart asked.
“Beyond the abductions?” Fell thought it over. “In a way, I am grateful to Voysey. He permitted me time to devote myself to my work undistracted. He could even be said to have contributed, however indirectly, to the reasoning process that
made it possible for me to assume the wardenship. Bridgewater, on the other hand, used us all unscrupulously. To further his own ends, he stole every scrap of power that he could. He gutted Glasscastle. Had he not been transformed into a beast, I don't doubt that he would have committed many more crimes.”

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