Faculty of Fire (28 page)

“And what was it you were creating in the middle of the night?” Caiten asked, looking up at us. “Couldn’t it wait until the morning meditation session?”

“It wasn’t something we could do during meditation,” Chas sighed.

“The practical class, then?”

“All we get in the practical classes is bullying and mockery,” I blurted out.

“What do you mean?” Caiten asked in surprise.

Chas and I told our tutor all about what had happened that day, and the way Shins kept mocking me all the time (sure, we complained, so what?).

“Now that’s interesting,” Caiten said. “I never noticed that Shins was particularly vicious before. And you’re the only one he treats like this?”

I nodded.

“We’ll have to figure out what’s going on here,” the junior tutor said thoughtfully. “All right, we’ll come back to that. And now for your punishment. For three weeks you will work in the dining hall, morning afternoon and evening. Call into the kitchen today after lunch, and they’ll explain everything to you. That’s all, dismissed. I’ll send for you when I want to see you.”

We obediently stood up.

“And one more thing ... Zach.”

I looked round.

“Be careful in Shins’s classes and try to keep away from him outside class.”

Outside Caiten’s study, we exchanged anxious glances.

“Did you understand any of that?” Chas asked.

“Not a thing,” I replied honestly. “And I don’t understand why we got such a weird punishment. What’s so terrible about working in the dining hall?”

Chas shrugged.

“It’s not so terrible, but there’ll be no free time left at all. Just think of it, stuck in the kitchen for hours at a time, morning, noon and night. It doesn’t seem like a great way to have fun to me.”

“Me neither, I suppose.” “Okay, let’s go to the lecture, or we’ll be late,” said Chas with a shrug.

We weren’t late for the lecture. But we arrived just as it began, so we didn’t have any time to talk to our friends. But during the lecture I caught Alice glancing at me in concern. Glances like that made life seem much more pleasant, despite all my trials and troubles.

After the lecture Chas and I went to the dining room to collect our lunch and take it out, so we could discuss the situation in a calm atmosphere. And at the same time, we found out when we had to come to the dining hall in the morning to start our punishment duty.

The group discussion took place in my room – probably because Chas was always hanging around in there anyway, and the others sometimes joined him.

“Well then,” said Chas, when were sitting in my room, chomping on our vegetarian lunch. “I declare our meeting, devoted to the problems of Zach, open.”

“But I thought we were going to eat,” Naive said in surprise.

“You eat,” Chas advised him affectionately. “We won’t bother you.”

Vickers junior nodded gleefully and bit into a vegetable. I’d been eating this crud for two months, and I still hadn’t learned any of the names. On principle. Why would I want to learn the names for green crud?

“Yes, Shins went totally berserk today,” Neville remarked. “You should have seen his face when you wiped out five fireballs with a single wave of your hand. By the way, will you show me the pattern for that?”

I gladly handed him my drawing.

“When they took you to the treatment station ...” Alice hesitated. “It was really horrible. You mustn’t go to his classes any more. I’m afraid it could be much worse the next time.”

“How much worse could it be?” I sighed. “And what do you suggest I do? The punishment for skipping classes would probably be set by Shins. Imagine what he could come up with!”

I shuddered. To be quite honest, it was lucky that I lost consciousness immediately. I wouldn’t wish the pain of a scorched face on anyone.

“By the way, we told Caiten everything,” Chas said. “He promised to do whatever he could.”

“Oh, sure,” Alice said sceptically. “He might be our tutor, but he’s not even a Craftsman. What can he do?”

“He can tell the other Craftsmen,” Neville suggested, looking up from my drawing for a moment. “They can’t really approve of that kind of teaching, can they?”

Sure. Only Shins didn’t give the others a hard time the same way he did me. Why had he picked me? Oh, there was something behind all this. I’d have to go and see Romius in the evening. Of course, it wasn’t the manly thing to complain, but I didn’t know what else I could do.

“By the way, when they took you away, and Alice and Chas followed you, Shins explained the principle of your fiery snake,” said Neville, as he tried to create my invention in the air. “And he gave us some hints on how to counter it.”

Alice took the drawing from Neville and started studying it.

“And what exactly did Shins tell you?” I asked jealously.

So now that fat man was going to tell everyone the secret of my brilliant invention!

“Ah, but note, he only explained the principle on which it works,” Neville emphasised, as if he’d read my mind, “but not the design of the spell. I don’t think he even knows it.”

“It’s beyond him, the old blockhead,” Chas agreed.

“And what principle does it work on?” Alice asked curiously.

I must admit, I felt curious too. I’d created the spell, but I hadn’t completely figured out its operating principle. For instance, I didn’t understand why it only worked on fireballs.

“You remember the way we create fireballs?” Neville asked.

“Sure we do,” Chas answered for everyone.

“So, when we take the two energy flows and cross them over each other, then join them into two rings, the joints in the two rings are at the same spot.”

“The weak spot,” said Alice, remembering Tyrel’s class.

“Precisely,” Neville agreed. “So when Zach’s spell locates that weak spot in some way that only he understands, it cuts through the energy channels, and the fireball simply collapses. And the energy of the lines is cancelled out, because they release it simultaneously towards each other.”

What a mouthful. Well, now I understood what the weak spot was. But then what happened when I launched my snake at Shins’s fireball?

“But what did Shins do,” asked Chas, getting in before me.

“Shins created his fireball so that the weak spots of the two channels of energy were in different places on the surface of the sphere. And when Zach’s snake broke through one of the weak spots, the fireball didn’t collapse. On the contrary, the energy released from the first channel reacted with the second channel, and it exploded.”

“What a load of gobbledegook,” Naive commented. “Listen, brother, you’re spoiling my appetite with this twaddle.”

“So, note, now everyone who wants to fight a duel with you will make his fireballs like that. Better not risk it again,” Neville continued, ignoring his younger brother’s remarks.

I’d realised that already. There was no need for him to tell me. After all, it was a real pain. Just when I finally had an ace up my sleeve.

“What if you strike at both weak spots at the same time?” Alice suddenly asked. “There shouldn’t be any explosion then.”

“It’s a thought,” Neville agreed. “Only don’t forget that a fireball can be made with three or more rings of energy. Our fiery boy here sometimes sticks in as many as ten of them just for the fun of it.”

Naive nodded in agreement, but he wasn’t going to let any of this distract him from his lunch.

“So you have to create several interconnected snakes at the same time,” Alice said with a shrug. “How do you like our idea?”

They all looked at me expectantly.

“It’s a good idea,” I agreed. “But I’m not sure there’ll be time to put it into effect.”

“Oh, stop that,” Chas laughed, starting a spell for a fireball for us to experiment on. “We’ll figure that out in a flash ...”

“No!” I shouted, jumping up off the bed. “We’ve had enough hassle already.”

Chas froze in surprise, without finishing his spell, and Naive suddenly went bug-eyed. Alice instantly realised what was wrong, and gave him a good slap on the back.

“Chkkha,” our fiery boy exclaimed with a gulp. “What are you shouting for? I almost choked.”

“You shouldn’t eat so much,” Chas remarked. “Look, he’s already eaten more than half of our lunch.”

“I’ll have you know,” Naive admonished him, “that mental activity seriously stimulates the appetite.”

Chas couldn’t control himself, he burst out laughing, “Oho, that’s too much ... hold me up.”

“But they punished you and Chas for working on the spell in your room,” Neville pointed out. “How did they find out about it?”

“It’s all very simple,” I said. “Caiten told us there’s a sensor spell in every room, and it reports any magical activity, apart from lighting a lamp, which is just a typical example of technomagic in any case.”

“Caiten told you that?” said Alice, surprised. “What made him so forthcoming all of a sudden?”

“That’s right,” agreed Neville. “Either he thinks we’re too stupid to find the spell and trick it, or ...”

“Or he wants to help us,” Chas said optimistically. “Since the second explanation is far more agreeable, let’s accept it as a fact.”

Iron logic. No arguing with that.

“So what do you suggest?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Let’s look for the spell,” Alice suggested.

Easily said. But how could we look for it. For that we needed ... What did we need? We needed a magic detector.

Naive did as the vampiress asked and started walking round my room in circles.

“I can’t see it,” he admitted after a few minutes.

Of course he couldn’t see it. I doubted very much that they were that easy to find. This was a task that required intelligence.

“Right, it’s time for the evening meditation session,” Neville remarked. “Let’s finish lunch and get going.”

Naturally, the only one who had a full lunch was Naive. But he’d eaten for all five of us.

I reluctantly got up off the bed and followed the others toward the door, but Alice barred my way.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked.

“To meditation class,” I replied honestly.

“You’re not going anywhere. You’ve got to take it easy today. We’ll explain everything to Tyrel.”

I was about to argue, but I changed my mind when I remembered I needed to have a talk with Romius.

Scene 3

In fact, I was really glad I didn’t go to meditation. Now I could call on Romius with a clear conscience. He might have come up with some new ideas, and apart from that, my uncle sometimes fed me meat pies ...

I walked out of my room and went up to the floor that was completely occupied by the Craftsmen’s studies. And then who did I run into the moment I stepped off the teleport, but Shins!

“Where are you off to, young man?” the fat Craftsman asked suspiciously.

I was so surprised I just stood there, rooted to the spot, not knowing what to say.

“I ...”

“You’re scheduled for meditation now,” Shins went on, fixing me with an icy stare.

I plucked up my courage.

“You told me to go to the tutor’s study, and I’m on my way,” I lied.

I just had to hope Shins hadn’t been talking to Caiten and didn’t know Chas and I had already been handed our punishment.

“Then why are you just standing there?” Shins barked. “Off to the tutor, at the double, and then go to meditation class!”

I obediently trotted off along the corridor towards the tutor’s study, although Romius’s study was in the opposite direction.

After a few steps, I glanced round warily, hoping that Shins had already left, but no such luck – he was still standing there, watching to see where I would go. As if he could read my mind – or maybe he had just been in Caiten’s study after all?

I didn’t have any choice but to go into the tutor’s study again. And now I’d have to come up with some good excuse for missing the evening meditation session, or I’d be stuck working in the dining hall till the end of studies. My luck was really lousy.

I walked quickly into Caiten’s study, forgetting to knock on the door first.

“Good evening,” I said, before I noticed there was no one to say it to. Our tutor wasn’t there, he must have gone out. The gods be praised. I could wait here in peace until Shins went away. Maybe he had already gone away? But how could I check? I couldn’t just go peeping round the door.

Okay, so I’d just have to wait for while. All I could do was hope that Shins would leave and Caiten wouldn’t come back too soon.