Ice Burns (2 page)

Chandra looked at the area around her and noted she was the only student either old enough or young enough to train. The children waiting were barely old enough to attend their own toilet and the elders probably couldn’t manage it anymore. Her face heated in a way that had nothing to do with the burning building, and her eyes were moist. She knew how she must look to them: her pale skin smudged with dirt that also stained her knees from crawling; her long brown braid loose from sleep and escape; hazel-green eyes full and wet with unshed tears. She took several steps away from the group to separate herself from them. She didn't want her height to announce her to other students as she towered over aged mages and children. Rage tickled at her insides, and she felt energized at the dark feeling of it. In her head, she swore and shot angry glances at the group near the estate.

Chandra was the apprentice. She was the girl who had been in training since her first day with Master Dreys, so she had been told. He had found her on his doorstep, left there to be taken in or die. From the moment Master Dreys had seen her, he had declared her his future apprentice. Chandra was the one who would succeed him as eventual master of the estate and his heir-apparent. If her power came as it should, that would happen within the next year as she came of age. She was old enough to marry, have children, and almost be in full power. Unfortunately, none of that seemed to be in her future as even her position as the apprentice was in jeopardy.

No one knew why Master had chosen her. At one point, when she was eight, she had asked.

"I sensed in you, something special. I knew that it was you who belonged at my side as much as a hammer belongs beside a Smith." Chandra had smiled and went back to reading the books Master had given her. Her young mind tried to focus on the words in front of her, but couldn't let go of the idea that she was special. She wanted more, and her child's mind easily drifted and pulled toward impulsive behavior.

"But what did..." she started, but Master raised one hand, open palm to command her silence. She felt his magic with a sharp jerk to her throat that made her gasp.

"Questions are best kept for instructors or teaching oneself instead of looking for easy answers through a busy Master Magician," Master said, not looking up from the open book in front of him. "Off to class. I've no doubt Magician Beryl would be pleased to instruct you on the benefits of silent study."

Chandra remembered how she had swallowed around the soreness in her throat as Master released her, gathered her books and left as silently as possible. Though the questions burned in her mind like a hundred match sticks, she focused on what Master had told her only once: he chose her. Chandra learned not to ask questions without invitation after a few times of that magic harness wrapped around her throat.

Her training as Master's apprentice had never been easy. Chandra's magic was sporadic at best and poorly controlled. She often wondered if the Master had been tricked or mistaken. Had he sensed magic that wasn't Chandra's or had hers fizzled away? It was not unheard of for magic to leave a mage, though it usually was followed by insanity or death. Since Chandra was alive and as sane as she thought possible, it made her wonder what she was. She also secretly feared that Master would lose patience and reject or toss her out.

A hissing sound began near the manor. It tore Chandra from her thoughts as some of the younger students shrieked. The breeze that had been a gentle flow, playing at the treetops from earlier in the day had grown to a tempest. Dead leaves and random bits of rubbish swirled and surrounded the manor like a tornado. The swirling wind pulled in upon itself and narrowed into a thin funnel that hovered over the well near the kitchens.

Chandra knew then that it had to be magic. She moved closer to study the swirling eddy of the wind that was draining the cold water from the dark depths. A mist shimmered on the controlled maelstrom, making wet, hazy rainbows in the moonlight. Like a child, Chandra found herself mesmerized by the colors and gentle spray. The brush of cool water on her heated skin felt sensational, and she smiled as she stepped forward. She reached out her hand to the mist that curved and swayed like an elemental dance. When her hand touched the wet air, it wrapped around her fingers like a cold glove. Chandra smiled at the fresh, silky feeling, but the smile dropped quickly as the water became a vice.

Chandra frowned and pulled her hand to move it from the gripping magical hurricane, but it wouldn't release her hand. Instead, it spread, crawling up her hand and wrist; wetting her sleeve and reaching further like a mindful sea creature intent on prey. The water was icy and smooth as silk, but it wrapped around her like heavy linen that would not yield. Chandra stared at the rising flow of water over her skin. She couldn't do anything but stare.

The grip tightened and continued its mindful spreading up her arm. Chandra's fear grew thick in her lungs. Her breath came in gasps, and she began to jerk madly at the waving storm. Her hand became hot in the mist, and she saw a glow start in the eye of the funnel as fear clawed at her throat. Shock released her voice, and she tried to yell, but the watery edifice had reached her neck and was squeezing as it wrapped cold, lazy tendrils around her neck. Her hand burned in the center of the storm, and a voice behind her swore before something wedged between her hand and the hurricane of magic. When the grip cut suddenly, she fell to the ground, hard. Her side jarred, and her teeth hit painfully together before she gasped a lungful of smoky air. A moment later, the air in her lungs was expelled with force as an immense weight crashed into her and pressed her into the ground.

"Stupid idiot," a soft male voice hissed in her ear. A moment later the weight was lifted from her. Chandra looked up through the stars in her vision at the lanky shadow over her. As her vision cleared further, and with the help of the streaks of moonlight, she saw the man who had been on top of her. Master Dreys' voice confirmed the identity at the same time Chandra's lips formed the name of her savior squisher.

“Deakon! What have you done to my apprentice? Why are you on my estate despite having been banished?”

Master's voice cut across the garden, barely preceding the sound of his quick, sharp steps on the flagstones. His face was smudged, and his hair was uncharacteristically unkempt, showing his active part in the battle against the fire. As usual, though, his robe was impeccable. It was as though he had freshly donned them instead of having worn them through a fierce blaze. The estate behind him smoked and hissed, but no fire raged, and the funnel of water had dissipated.

Master lifted the young man and pushed him aside as though he were nothing more than yard rubbish. He reached down and pulled Chandra up quickly and shoved her behind him in a way that made her wonder if she, too, were rubbish.

Chandra half fell against Andre. The Master's manservant helped her long enough to ensure that she wouldn't fall to the ground before letting go as though she burned him. She didn't miss the disgusted look he gave her before turning and walking away before she could thank him.

Master Dreys stared down the young man as though Deakon were half the size of the lord of the estate instead of a head taller. To say Master's eyes burned would be like calling a candle an inferno. The ground around Master Dreys and Deakon shook, and the younger man struggled to stay on his feet. The young man had been Chandra's closest thing to a rival but had been dismissed from the estate almost a month ago. He had found his lack of apprentice status to be intolerable and had attempted to remedy the situation in a way that Master did not like. Chandra swallowed across the grating pain in her throat as she watched Deakon and wondered if this would be the moment that Master decided to open the ground and make his former student disappear.

Chandra's winced at the thought. Her groggy mind pushed to catch up on the events of the evening, and she came to a realization: Deakon had been on top of her.

"Answer quickly, but be warned that I have no patience left for lies," Master said. His voice was low-pitched and not unlike the rumbling of the ground around them. Chandra knew Master was showing his power. She bit her lip and wondered if it was more his anger at her stupidity or if he had given up on Deakon. The Master was easily powerful enough to open a hole big enough to swallow them all and close it again a heartbeat later. The memory must have dawned on Deakon as well because sweat trickled down his face and into his pale blue eyes. He raised his hands in front of him, palms out, before speaking.

"I saw the fire and sought to help, Master," Deakon said, his dirty blond hair stuck to his head and his clothes were ragged and hung on his lanky frame. "Only help, that is all."

Deakon had always been tall and thin, but Chandra noted his bones were practically coming through his skin. She dropped her head and looked away. She knew that Deakon's lanky body and gaunt look were due to being underfed and probably sleeping in the streets due to his expulsion from the estate and school. Despite their differences, Chandra felt sorry for him.

"And?" Master asked. His face was almost void of expression except for the slight narrowing of his eyes. Chandra had witnessed Master Dreys dealing with servants enough to know that the master was currently at his most dangerous. If Master showed any emotion at all in eyes or mouth, it was a perilous thing. Master did not smile for pleasure. Master's eyes did not light up with joy or excitement. Emotions were not a welcome part of Master's expression.

"I was not trying to hurt the apprentice, Master. I wanted to save her," Deakon said in a rush, shooting a look at Chandra as though he dared her to deny his claim.

Chandra frowned and felt Master's gaze cut across to her. She thought about everything she had experienced with the magical hurricane: choking, burning, pulling and then free with a heavy weight falling upon her. Deakon had been the one to free her from the maelstrom, but with Master looking at her, Chandra choked on the words and couldn't speak. She did not want him looking at her the way he was currently looking at Deakon.

“Apprentice?”

Chandra swallowed, trying to decide if it were better to let Deakon take Master's wrath or tell the truth and face Master's disappointment. Her face pinched, and she felt vomit rise in her throat. Her breath caught, and she lifted her eyes enough to see again the gaunt young man standing across from Master. No matter how much Deakon had tortured her, he didn't deserve the punishment he would likely get from Master. As his apprentice, Chandra would probably be spared almost all of Master's rage.

"It's true," she whispered, her head down. It was incredible to Chandra that she could get the words out through her clenched jaw. As she fought her racing heart, her eye began twitching madly. She couldn't force another word from her lips and stared at the ground, trying to control both the bile in her throat and her sudden urge to urinate.

“The apprentice approached Master’s magical storm and touched the mist that was playing off of it. I was too far away to stop her from reaching it.” Deakon spoke in a rush. “When I did reach her, the water was choking her and had almost covered her face. She would have drowned in another few moments.”

Master stared at Deakon and said nothing. Not once did he turn to look at Chandra either in anger or to check her well-being. Master continued to look at Deakon. He lifted his hand and scratched the edge of his goatee with the nails of two fingers for a moment before speaking.

“I owe you a debt, Deakon. In payment, I reinstate you in the estate at your previous status. Do not disappoint me again or you will never have the opportunity to disappoint again.”

Chandra felt the depth of unstated meaning in that one statement and saw Deakon swallow hard through her eyelashes. She was afraid to lift her eyes any further than that.

Master Dreys didn’t say anything to Chandra but instead turned sharply on his heel and walked back to the estate, gesturing at a few men to come with him for clean-up. She knew this wasn’t the end. She knew that paying Deakon’s “debt” would somehow come from her.

Chandra lifted her head to glare at the tall boy who stood before her with his chin high and eyes narrowed on her. Her hand itched and stung from where it had burned in the eye of the storm. She glared at him as she raised her hand and scratched at the palm as though she could stop the sensation or scrape it off.

"I'll not thank you for the burn to my hand in your clumsy attempts to win your way into Master's favor," she hissed. She wanted to strike him for showing her up in front of the Master. Master Dreys would not wait long to show his disappointment in his apprentice. She felt her tenuous grip on her position at the estate become even more slippery.

The actual issue with Deakon was that he was jealous Chandra had done nothing but been born and been chosen as the Master's apprentice. He had been living at the Master's estate for five years before Chandra had arrived.

It wasn't as though she had done anything to become the object of Deakon's dislike or Master's attention. Chandra knew that her magic was almost non-existent. She couldn't do half of what was expected, but Master made her feel that it was for lack of trying. As time passed, though, Chandra believed what Master had decided about her less and less. She did her best to hide it.

Chandra knew that other students felt the same way as Deakon did about her: resentful and angry. Chandra found that she had to use anger of her and fear for the Master to maintain her status as the apprentice and Master's favorite among the others. She had gotten beaten up so many times as a child by the other students at the estate that Master had punished several children as an example. When it happened again, she went to him, but Master would no longer help.