Soul Fire (10 page)

“Niko, would you get that bird out of here?!” his
mother shouted, and the small boy leapt after the fowl.
She turned back to me, disbelief in her eyes.
“Larni’s a mage?” she repeated slowly.
I nodded and told her the story of the day I’d come
back to my dorm room almost blinded. When I mentioned
Larni healing me, her eyes widened, and her fingers
gripped the table tightly.
“Should I not have told you?” I asked quietly, when I
finished my story.
Her mother shook her head and I relaxed.
“What happens now?”
“We get her tested again,” she began slowly. “And then,
I suppose, we appeal to get her into the Academy.”
“They have to take her,” I told her. “They have to. They
can’t just leave a mage uneducated.”
“You’d be surprised about what they can and can’t do
up at that Academy,” she said, standing up. “Thank you for
coming here, Sky. We’ll keep you informed.”
“I just want what’s best for her,” I admitted. “I think
she’s pretty great.”
The older woman smiled at me, and her face seemed to
grow younger by several years. I turned around to leave
just as Larni stepped through the front door carrying
several baskets.
“Sky!” she said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d just stop by, but you weren’t home.” I
told her quickly, stepping past her. “I’ll see you tonight
back up at the Academy.”
“Of course,” she said slowly, and I could see she was
beginning to guess about my real purpose in her house.
I closed the door behind me and trotted down the front
steps, hands in my pockets. I’d almost rounded the clock
tower when someone spoke.
“Will I be a mage?”
I looked down to see Niko looking up at me, the
chicken still tight in his grasp. It clucked angrily upon
seeing me.
“I don’t know,” I told him truthfully. “Do you want to
be?”
“Yes,” he said immediately. “Then I can go to school in
the big castle on the hill. Is it fun there?”
“I suppose,” I said, thinking of the waterhole and my
friends. “Yeah it is.”
“Can you cast a spell on me?”
“What?”
“Can you cast a spell on me?” he repeated. “So I’ll be a
mage when I get tested?”
“Uh, I can try,” I said uncertainly, and then waved my
hands about. “Niko, I declare you to be a mage!”
He’d shut his eyes, so I was the only one that saw the
green spark leap from my fingertips to his shoulder. I
snatched my hands back in surprise as he opened his eyes.
“Did it work?”
“I don’t know,” I said, tucking my shaking fingers into
my pockets. “I guess you’ll find out.”
“Thanks, Sky!”
I watched him run back to the house, the chicken
bouncing in his arms with every step. I decided it would
be best to not mention this incident to anyone.
I rode back to the Academy’s stables, where I groomed
Echo and let her into the paddock with the other horses.
She nipped my hair gently before cantering out into the
wilderness.
I was almost back to the Academy when I remembered
the others were at the waterhole. I changed my path,
heading there instead. The forest enveloped me, the cool
trees shading me from the hot sun. I trod the path slowly,
in no rush to get anywhere. The brush swept along my
legs, and cicadas leapt from the branches as I disturbed
them, singing loudly. I kept an eye out for snakes; I didn’t
know if this realm had them, but I wasn’t going to find out
the hard way.
I reached the waterhole, the sounds of screaming and
splashing meeting my ears before I rounded the corner. I
emerged from the cool forest onto the hot rocks, envying
those in the water. My group was there, as well as some of
our classmates who’d heard about the swimming hole.
“Sky!” Dena had spotted me, and heaved herself out of
the pool. “Why aren’t you in your swimmers?”
“Just got back from Keyes,” I told her, making my way
over to the edge of the pool. I pulled my boots off and
rolled my breeches up, dunking my legs in the water. I
sighed as the cool water lapped around my knees. “I’m an
idiot, I know.”
She laughed, and splashed me a little. I didn’t mind;
where the water hit me, it cooled my hot skin. I kicked
my legs a little, not caring that my breeches were getting
wet.
“Hello,” someone beside me said. Dustin had come up
behind me to sit next to me. He kissed me on the cheek
and I blushed. Dena smirked and then leapt back into the
pool, deliberately splashing me. “Where’ve you been?”
“Keyes,” I told him. “Had some stuff to do in town.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to go with you?” he asked.
“Oh,” honestly, it hadn’t crossed my mind. “I don’t
know.”
“Ask me next time,” he said, smiling. “We can go for tea
or something.”
“Will do,” I grinned up at him. “Hang on.”
I stood up, moving my boots to where everyone else’s
stuff was. Then I stood on the edge of the pool, lifted my
arms and gracefully dived into the water.
The water was icy, but it made a wonderful contrast to
the hot sun. We swam and paddled around, and by the
time evening was falling I knew I’d gotten sunburnt again.
We climbed out of the pool, and I waved Dena’s offer
away of borrowing her towel or a drying technique she’d
learnt. It was still humid and muggy, and I had a hunch
that by the time we reached the Academy I’d basically be
dry.
We set off, chatting and laughing. I slowly dripped dry
along the path, and by the time we staggered up the hill,
only the waistband of my breeches and my underwear
were still damp. I excused myself to have a quick shower
before dinner, trotting up the stairs to get a towel and a
change of clothes.
We ate quickly and then Rain brought up the
economics paper.
“I haven’t handed it up yet,” I said, and everyone rolled
their eyes.
“Typical,” Petre said in a high and mighty tone. “I
handed it up a few days after she set it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Well, aren’t you fantastic?” I toyed with my fork.
“Hey, where is the library? Can someone please take me
there after tea?”
“I can,” Dena said, and Theresa nodded in agreement. “I
have a paper to work on anyway.”
We finished eating and grabbed our school bags from
our rooms. Dena and Theresa led me down a corridor I
hadn’t been down before, and then up some stairs. Dena
pushed open a large pair of double doors, admitting the
three of us into the most breathtaking library I’d ever seen
in my life.
It took up two stories, and every wall was plastered
with shelves which weighed heavily with books. To get to
the second level, spiral stair cases twisted towards the
ceiling, which had been painted with a fresco. I recognised
Queen Fleur, her sad eyes observing all who studied below
her. Large windows arched across the walls, and where
light would spill through them during the day, a few
librarians were drawing heavy, red velvet curtains across
them. The library was instead lit with torches in their
brackets, and lamps on tables.
Dena and Theresa made their way to a corner, where a
low table was surrounded with comfy, plush chairs. I sat
my bag next to one and looked around, unable to peel my
gaze from the beautiful room.
“It’s something, huh?” Dena said, taking out her
notebook and beginning to set up on the table. “I didn’t
have a library like this back at home.”
“Neither,” I said, watching one of the librarians hurry
up the staircase to the second level. “Our town library was
kind of dingy.”
Whilst Dena and Theresa began to quietly discuss their
next essay, I headed to the section on international
economics, which happened to be on the second level. I
climbed the stairs, watching my feet; the steps were very
close together and I’d had bad experiences with staircases
before. I found the section easily, thanks to the brass plate
above a shelf telling me what those books were about. I
pulled a few promising titles from the shelf and then
headed back down the perilous stairs to Dena and Theresa.
I read quietly for the next half an hour, now much
more interested in this homework than I would be back in
my own realm. Surac specialised in fruit export. In fact,
much of what we ate in the castle would be shipped from
there, if the food wasn’t in season here. I jotted down a
few notes, reading with interest about Surac’s difficulties
with the island above them, Sudafrae. I shuddered as I
read that they were quite traditional, and some of the
rituals they performed there were very squeamish. I’d just
gotten to the part about the human sacrifices, the Grey Sea
(which was so named for the ash in the water) and the
Suracan’s policy of not swimming when the water was
dark for fear of bathing in human remains, when one of
the librarians approached us to tell us that the library
would be closing.
We quickly packed up our books, and I checked out a
small pile of them so I could continue my homework in
my room. By the clock on the wall, it was about seven
o’clock; plenty of time for home working.
We headed back to the dormitories, discussing the
grizzly Sudafraens and the paper I was yet to write about
Surac.
“Gotta tell you, I miss my computer,” Dena admitted.
“Writing by hand is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“I bet,” I groaned, thinking about having to manually
write and then count every word. “At least there will be
fewer distractions.”
I sat at my table and cracked open the book I’d been
reading in the library. I began to turn my notes into the
opening paragraphs of the essay, and as I wrote I realised
I’d missed it. I knew I had a gift for writing, the words
flowing onto the paper with hardly any conscious effort.
My quill scratched continuously, and when my fingers
went stiff and my hand refused to uncurl from the pen, I
knew I’d done enough for the night.
The next morning I was woken by Larni instead of my
bell. I opened my eyes as she glared down at me.
“Good morning,” I said pleasantly, and she scowled.
“What did you tell my mother?”
“You already know,” I said, and yawned widely.
“Why did you tell her?” she stepped back as I swung
my legs out of bed.
“Because I want you to have a chance at living the life
you’re supposed to,” I told her. “Because you’re a mage and
now you can study and live as one.”
She chewed her lip anxiously.
“You don’t know that they’ll take me though,” she said.
“No, I don’t, but I can hope. You’ve got a better hope of
getting in now that your mother will appeal after you’ve
been tested again.”
I expected her to argue, but she just continued to watch
me with her large brown eyes.
Finally she said something, but it was so quiet that I
missed it.
“What?”
“Alright!” she repeated loudly.
I cracked a grin at her. I knew she wasn’t used to
people taking care of her, only the other way around.
“Good. Now, I’m going to head back to the village this
weekend to see your mother, see how she’s going
organising the tester to make sure nothing gets in the way
of you becoming a student here,” I stood up, stretched, and
then begun my morning push ups and sit ups.
Larni laid my uniform out on the bed and then turned
to me like she was going to say something. I raised my
eyebrow at her, upside down as I lay on the floor. She
opened her mouth and then closed it, leaving instead.
The week passed quickly, and I succeeded in finishing
my essay and handing it up to Watt, who almost refused to
take it because it was so late.
“I promise that’s the only one that will be,” I told her,
bouncing on the balls of my feet. “I couldn’t find the
library.”
She took it without a word, and I knew that I would get
marked down but at least I’d done it.
We’d begun a new lesson, Magical Practical. We all
giggled as we said it over and over again. Sometimes I
thought we were really just six year olds in disguise. Jett,
who also taught this subject, scowled as someone said it
one too many times.
“Alright, so we’re not so good with the names of
classes,” he snapped. “But what matters is what you learn
in the class, not what it’s called.”
We all clammed up, but someone would occasionally
whisper it and set the rest of the class off.
I felt for Jett sometimes. I really did.
Despite the ridiculous name, Magic Prac turned out to
be one of the most interesting classes yet. That first lesson
we learnt the basic theory of healing, and whilst my
attention trailed off like it did in Theory, Dena’s eyes
sparked with interest, and she hung off of Jett’s every
word.
“We can’t test any of this just yet, but with this group I
take it that it won’t be long until one of you injures
yourself,” Jett said, and though we scowled, many of us
agreed with him.
That accident happened the very next day in weapons
training. And of course, it happened to me.
“Ow ow ow!” I clutched my thumb desperately as blood
spilled out of the large gash I’d managed to open.
“What is it, what have you done?” Professor Yu
demanded.
What I’d done was try my hand at throwing knives. No
one had told me they were sharp, so I thought they were
practice blades and had gone right ahead and wrapped my
hand around one.
I cradled my thumb close to my chest, trying to hold
back tears as the class gathered around for a look.
“Can I try healing it?” Dena asked, hope in her blue
eyes.
I could hardly resist her anything when she looked at
me like that, so in spite of the pain, I held my thumb out
to her, dripping blood on the practice mat.
She took my hand in hers, probing the wound gently. I
almost tore my hand away as it stung suddenly.
“Sorry,” she said, unapologetically. “Hold still.”
She held my injured thumb on her palm, and then held
her thumb and little finger above it, making an arch. I
recognized this position from the text book Jett had made
everyone borrow.
Dena closed her eyes – an act which made me very
uneasy – and then, faster than anyone could see, snapped
her fingers together. A small blue spark, the colour of her
magic, threaded the gash close, leaving me with only a
faint scar as though I’d had it for years.
“Wow,” I said softly, holding my thumb up. I knew if
I’d tried it, I probably would’ve done either nothing to the
wound, or made it worse.
From then on, if anyone had an ailment or wounded
themselves, they went to Dena, and she fast topped us all
in that particular area.