The Schism (The Broken Prism Book 4) (8 page)

Someone in the audience gasped, but Hayden didn’t turn to look at who it was. There was nothing even remotely friendly in the faces of the Council members now, which gave Hayden a vicious sense of satisfaction, because it meant he was winning. He was sick of them walking all over him just because he was a teenager.

“You are as arrogant as your father,” one of the Councilmen snapped at him. “You should learn some respect for your superiors.”

Thoroughly annoyed, Hayden ticked the Medal of Heroism on his chest and said, “So should you. If it wasn’t for me and Oliver Trout, you’d still be in a cage having the magic sucked out of your body while the Magistra governed from your Crystal Tower.”

The Councilman jumped to his feet and slammed his palms onto the desk in front of him, face purple with rage as he shouted, “You’re nothing but a jumped up little boy who thinks he’s special!”

“I’m a jumped up little boy who’s about to win this lawsuit,” he corrected, enjoying the man’s anger. “You’ve toyed with me long enough. You haven’t been able to come up with any legal argument yet for why you should still be allowed to hold my property, so you have one month to begin repayment and finish up whatever you’re doing in my estate, or I’m coming after you individually.”

Magdalene Trout motioned for her colleague to sit down, looking annoyed with his outburst. Calahan exchanged a brief glance with her that Hayden couldn’t interpret, and then he said, “Alright, you’ll get your things back. We’ll have one of our accountants contact—”

“I’ll be using my own accountant, actually,” Hayden interrupted. Mrs. Trout and Edgar had both strongly encouraged him on this point, to keep him from being swindled by someone that the Council had control over.

Calahan frowned and said, “I wasn’t aware that you had your own accountant on retainer…” in a tone of polite disbelief.

In truth, he didn’t. He was about to take a gamble and hope for the best, because Edgar and Mrs. Trout had disagreed about whether his next decision would actually work or not.

“I’ll be hiring Fia Valay to run the ledgers and get everything set up with the banks, until I have time to put someone on permanent retainer,” he explained as though it had already been decided.

Fia Valay, who happened to be in the audience, looked momentarily stunned, but he cleared the expression from his face almost immediately and stared curiously at Hayden. The High Mayor glanced over at his Fia like he was wondering why he wasn’t told about this development beforehand. In truth, it was because Hayden hadn’t actually asked the Fia if he would help him yet, and wasn’t at all sure that the man would want to, since Hayden nearly blew him up with an Absorber last year while fleeing Mizzenwald.

Mrs. Trout had thought it was too risky to gamble on Valay agreeing to help him without speaking to him first, but Edgar thought it was brilliant. Hayden had only thought of the Fia because anyone who could teach him trigonometry was clearly a mathematical genius, and could certainly figure out the mess of receipts and transactions from this loaning business.

“You’re hiring one of the High Mayor’s Fias to run your personal finances?” Calahan couldn’t have looked more shocked if Hayden had announced he was from another planet.

“Is that a problem?” Hayden asked cautiously.

“It’s just surprising that you wouldn’t want a mage to be involved in the process…” he said with a brief glance at the Fias in the audience. Hayden couldn’t have scripted Calahan’s words better himself, because the Fias looked affronted at being called second-rate for not having magical abilities.

“Why would I need someone with magic to do simple arithmetic?” he raised a questioning eyebrow. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Please provide him with a copy of all your paperwork and receipts regarding the Frost properties and monies, and we can work out a repayment schedule once I’m back at school.”

The room fell silent again, and Hayden stood there expectantly, attempting to wipe his sweaty palms on his robes without anyone noticing how nervous he still was. He hoped he had done Magdalene and Edgar proud, since he was fairly certain he’d just made some dangerous enemies in the Council of Mages.

Finally, Calahan spoke.

“Fia Valay will have all of our documentation within the week.” It sounded like every word was causing him terrible pain, and he looked ready to spit poison.

“Thank you,” Hayden replied courteously, hoping his relief wasn’t too visible.

He turned and walked calmly from the chamber, letting the door close behind him and finally taking a moment to slouch against the wall in the hallway and breathe deeply.

I did it. I actually one-upped the entire Council of Mages and got my things back.

He didn’t have long to celebrate privately, as the doors opened almost immediately and the room began to clear, forcing him to stand upright and look professional again. A few of the audience members Hayden didn’t know filed past him, one or two of them stopping to shake his hand while the others simply gave him appraising looks. The High Mayor and Fia Valay actually stopped to talk to him.

“I wasn’t aware that you intended to hire away one of my Fias for as long as it takes to settle things with your estate,” the former greeted him dryly.

“Neither did I,” Fia Valay added, giving Hayden an inscrutable look.

“Sorry, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’d be willing to help out with that.” Hayden made an apologetic face and the High Mayor snorted. “I’m told I can afford your services now.”

The Fia frowned thoughtfully and said, “Why me? We didn’t exactly part as friends after you tried to kill me.”

“I honestly had no idea that the Absorber would explode like that, and I really wasn’t trying to kill you,” Hayden apologized more sincerely. “And I thought of you because you actually managed to teach me some math last year, so I know you’re gifted, because I’m terrible at math.”

Valay’s frown deepened and he said, “Be that as it may, you aren’t worried about giving someone who dislikes you access to your family’s finances?”

Hayden shrugged and said, “I trust that you have great respect for the noble title of Fia, and that you will be both thorough and honest in our dealings, no matter what you may think of me personally.”

The Fia actually looked pleased with him at this endorsement.

“Very well, then we have a deal. I’ll review everything the Council sends me and put a plan together for your review within the month.”

Hayden thanked him again and he and the High Mayor continued on their way down the hall, soon followed by the other Fias that filed out of Chamber Four. Masters Asher, Willow, and Mandra were the next to stop and speak to him.

Asher looked like he’d never been more proud of anything in his life as he clapped Hayden on the back.

“Excellent work in there,” he greeted Hayden, grinning. “The Council probably hates you almost as much as they hate me, and you haven’t been working to cultivate their disdain for nearly as long.”

Master Willow rolled his eyes at his colleague and said, “Yes, I don’t think they were expecting to fight with someone who knew what he was talking about. I believe that will be the last time they underestimate you.”

“Good,” Hayden said with satisfaction. “I’m tired of them treating me like a naughty child just because they can.”

Master Mandra raised an eyebrow in interest and asked, “Who has been training you?” with professional interest.

Hayden, ready for this question, said, “What makes you think I didn’t just read up on things for myself?”

Master Willow pursed his lips and said, “Please, Hayden, don’t insult our intelligence. We both know that someone very skillful must have been preparing you night-and-day for this moment. You could never have come so far on your own in such a short period of time.”

Hayden shrugged and said, “If that’s true, then they would probably want to remain anonymous to stay on the good side of the Council.”

Master Mandra smiled wryly and said, “It seems you’ve been making some powerful friends since we last met; good for you.”

“By the way,” Asher turned to him with a grin, “what in the name of our holiest arcana possessed you to hire Fia Valay to do your accounting? I almost cracked a rib trying not to laugh at the look on everyone’s face when you announced it to the room.”

Hayden couldn’t entirely suppress a smile when he answered. “Well, I was advised that it would be a good idea to use someone who wasn’t tied to the Council, so I don’t get screwed over, and since the Council and the High Mayor are always at odds…”

Master Mandra snorted in amusement.

“That’s a bit of an understatement. The regional governments in each of the Nine Lands would be thrilled to see the Council of Mages abolished. Having two governments ruling over the same groups of people in each land is a nightmare, which results in a lot of arguments over which group is responsible for each issue that comes up.”

“I’ll bet the High Mayor is laughing his head off in his office right now,” Asher added cheerfully. “He probably loved watching you purposely circumvent the Council and bring in his people instead. It’ll give Valay—and by extension, the Mayor—some leverage with you in the future to ask for favors or insight into what the magical community is doing.”

Hayden already knew most of this, since Magdalene and Edgar had debated it with him at length over the last few weeks, so he simply shrugged and said, “So be it.”

They stopped talking as the Council members began filing out of Chamber Four, the last group to leave the room. Calahan was the first to pass them, and gave a stiff nod of acknowledgement to the three Masters present without sparing Hayden a glance. Most of the remaining members followed his lead, pretending as though Hayden was a piece of furniture not worthy of attention, but this hardly bothered him as he’d had to endure much worse in his life so far. A few of the Council members gave him appraising glances though, and Hayden made a mental note of who these people were because it seemed likely that he might be able to forge alliances with them in the future.

Look at me—I spend a winter holiday at the Trout estate and I’m already strategizing like them.

Magdalene was towards the end of the line of mages, and she walked past with a look of cool displeasure on her face, stopping long enough to shake hands with each of the Masters and again, pretending like Hayden wasn’t even there.

She’s a terrific actress,
he couldn’t help but think.

When she shook Master Asher’s hand he gave her a winning smile and said, “Thanks,” under his breath so that Hayden could barely hear it.

“For what?” Mrs. Trout looked at him flatly, walking away without waiting for a response.

Asher waited until she was out of earshot before he said, “I’ve always admired that woman,” to Hayden. “So hard to find a good strategist who is also refreshingly candid these days.”

Hayden was fairly sure that he knew who had been helping him out all winter, and his thoughts were confirmed when Asher winked at him and said, “Lunch?” to the group at large.

It felt odd being invited to lunch with a group of Masters, and he expected them to spend the entire meal discussing things that were way beyond his understanding: politics, advanced magic, maybe even the finances of Mizzenwald and Valhalla…

He was surprised when they took him to the cafeteria in the mayoral compound and sat at a regular table amongst the people who worked here, and even more so when they began talking of trivial things like lesson plans and whether there was supposed to be a snowstorm next week.

The only really serious issue they discussed was the battle in the Forest of Illusions that had taken place some months before.

“Are they any closer to declaring the Forest safe for occupancy again?” Mandra asked conversationally. “I’m sure I’m not the only one looking forward to resuming my research in there, if the Council would just decide whether or not the place is stable enough for reentry.”

Asher chuckled and said, “The Council of Mages can hardly agree on whether the sky is blue, and you expect them to come to a consensus on whether the Forest of Illusions is stable, or if it’s likely to jump locations again in the near future?”

Mandra gave a groan of acknowledgement of the truth of this, and Hayden asked, “Have the schisms that opened up from the Forest moving locations all closed themselves yet?” even though he thought he knew the answer.

Master Willow turned a sympathetic eye on him as he answered.

“Most of the smaller ones have, yes. Unfortunately, a few of the larger ones are still holding themselves open, including one at Mizzenwald.”

“What?” Hayden asked in shock, dropping the drizzling spoon for his honey cakes onto his plate with a clatter. “There’s a schism open at
Mizzenwald?
What were the odds of
that
happening?” He was beginning to think that there was some cosmic force that just hated seeing him happy.

“Actually, fairly high,” it was Asher who answered him. “Schisms are breaches in the boundary between our world and its inverse plane…a magic-induced breach. Because of that, they tend to be drawn to places where magic is highly concentrated, which is why we saw so many of the small ones—and a few of the not-so-small ones—opening around the Forest of Illusions after it finished moving earlier in the year. That also makes magical strongholds like the Great Nine schools and the Crystal Tower of the Council likely targets for schisms to open.”