Faculty of Fire (49 page)

At least the old duffers behaved with more restraint, believing it was beneath their dignity to talk to me. I could see that very clearly in their eyes, together with their obvious curiosity ... but the former overcame the latter by force of habit. I could sit calmly among them and think my own thoughts. For instance, wonder where Alice was right then ...

What a creep I was, really. I couldn’t abandon Neville and Naive, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that I was abandoning Chas and Alice. On the other hand, Alice was a vampiress, after all, she should be able to take care of herself, and Kelnmiir had said she was all right. I just hoped he wasn’t wrong ... But that still left Neville and Naive, and Caiten ... they’d definitely been captured, and Kelnmiir and I had abandoned them. Steel was still somewhere in the Museum too ... maybe he hadn’t been caught.

“Why so sad?”

“The pat on my back almost sent me tumbling down the terraces.

“Kelnmiir, you shouldn’t sneak up on people so quietly,” I protested furiously.

“You know, it seems to me you can’t sneak up any other way but quietly,” the vampire laughed.

“So what were you discussing with the Craftsmen? Or this time did they make you promise that you wouldn’t tell me anything?”

“No, they didn’t think of it this time either,” said the vampire, positively glowing with satisfaction. “I see you’ve started examining the events taking place around you more closely. This time we discussed the possibility of using my own beloved self as our main weapon against the trolls.”

“Meaning?”

“The honourable Craftsmen considered the possibility of providing me with blood in exchange for my active assistance in the defence of the Academy.”

“That was only to be expected,” I said. “But you told me yourself you don’t have any abilities that could help us to get out here.”

“And I told them the same thing. But I think they don’t believe me, they really believe I’m hiding something from them. But since they couldn’t prove it, we worked out a plan that doesn’t include donations of blood.”

“So we do have a plan, after all,” I exclaimed happily.

“That’s exactly right,
we
have a plan,” Kelnmiir replied. “I told the Craftsmen I would only help them if we worked together as a team.”

I blinked at him in amazement.

I felt pleased at this announcement, but I wondered if I really should.

“It is the Craftsmen’s opinion that soon most of the teleports the trolls are using in the Academy will stop working,” Kelnmiir went on.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, you see, teleports are designed to transport people. And, in case you didn’t know, people don’t weigh more than about three hundred and thirty pounds. But can you imagine how much a troll weighs?”

“Not really,” I admitted.

“Tons! The teleports simply aren’t designed to transport so much weight at one time. So soon one of them will be torn to pieces in transit, and then the teleports will simply stop working.”

“Maybe all the trolls will get torn to pieces in the teleports and that will be the end of it?” I said hopefully.

“Right, in your dreams,” Kelnmiir laughed. “But you’re thinking along the right lines. Basically, the Craftsmen believe that soon, when the teleports start breaking down, we’ll be visited by a delegation from the invaders.”

“To take a couple of Craftsmen to fix the teleports?” I suggested.

Kelnmiir looked at me as if I was an idiot.

“Do you think the invaders are stupid enough to give the Craftsmen the energy they need to repair the teleports? Not very likely. And where would they get that energy from? The most they will do, if they’re not total cretins, of course, is use one of the Craftsmen to check which teleports are working properly.”

“Let them go through first, you mean?” I asked, confused. “But any ordinary pupil will do for that ...”

“Hmmm ... we didn’t consider that possibility,” Kelnmiir admitted. “In any case, if there’s the slightest possibility that they will show up here, we have to be ready.”

“For what?”

“For anything. They’ll give us two sets of Craftsmen’s livery, we’ll put them on and stand at the ready by the teleports, together with one real Craftsman.”

“We’re going to act as bait?” I guessed instantly.

“We’re going to try.” The vampire looked around. “Unless, of course, you have any other ideas. Feel free to mention them, we’re all friends here. Don’t be afraid to appear stupid.”

I thought about it.

“I don’t really know. Well, the different levels can’t be completely isolated from each other, there’s some kind of ventilation system ... or just cracks between the blocks of stone, if it comes to that.”

“That’s an idea,” the vampire agreed. “I wonder why the Craftsmen didn’t think of that?”

“Probably because there’s no way for a human being to exploit an opportunity like that.”

The vampire snapped his fingers.

“But that’s a human being! If necessary, I can crawl through the crack under a door ... You go to the teleports and get dressed in your Craftsman’s livery, and I’ll try looking for a ventilation system or a crack of suitable size.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Kelnmiir dissolved into the crowd, and I picked up my all-purpose battle broom and set off toward the teleports in the corridor. On the way I was stopped by men on guard at the entrance to the Main Hall, but they let me through as soon as I gave them my name.

At the teleports I was met by Shins.

Oh no! Surely the “real Craftsman” wasn’t going to be Shins? What had I done to deserve torment like this?

“Here, take this,” he muttered, flinging a set of red livery at me. “I don’t know what the vampire wants you for, but don’t let it go to your head. I’ll be watching you all the time, and if you try anything suspicious, you’ll have to take the consequences.”

“Why do you dislike me so much?” I asked, unable to hold back the question that had been bothering me for so long.

“I’ve always hated spies,” Shins hissed through his teeth. “And I won’t let any Tabernacle scum harm the Academy.”

Clear enough. He thought I was a spy too.

“But I’m not a spy,” I repeated yet again. “Just because someone used hypnosis on me, that doesn’t prove ...”

“It’s proof enough for me,” Shins said drily. “Put that livery on quickly and ... where’s that vampire?”

“He’ll be here in a moment,” I answered, leaning my broom against the wall and starting to put the livery on.

We were standing right in front of the teleports, so we noticed immediately when one of them flashed.

A stone troll walked out of the teleport.

“I need one craftsman,” he growled. Shins and I glanced at each other.

“We’ll go and get him for you,” we said almost simultaneously, both taking a step backwards. Shins simply wanted to get out of there, but I was hoping to pick up my broom without being noticed and sweep the troll right off the floor.

“I’ll think you’ll do for me,” the troll said, once he’d taken a look at us. “I’ll take two instead of one. That way I’ll have a spare ...”

Before Shins or I could take a couple of steps, the troll grabbed us and stepped back into the teleport.

Before the flash, I just had time to think that the combined weight of the troll and the two of us was more than a teleport could handle. Consequently, the chances of being smeared across all the levels of the tower were greatly increased ...

Scene 6

“You’ve brought two Craftsmen instead of just one?”

“Something could happen to one,” the troll said with a shrug. “This way we have a spare ...”

They dragged us into a hall where several trolls in scruffy loin cloths had set up base. These lads were obviously the ones with all the brains, in charge of the whole operation. Otherwise why would they need the maps of the Academy that were laid out the table?

“All right,” the other troll agreed. “What was it Dkharm said? The Craftsman must check the teleports before every transit. Well then, two Craftsmen can check the teleports twice as fast.”

Shins and I glanced at each other.

“Sorry to ask, but do you know how to check teleports?” I enquired in a low voice.