Schooled in Magic (28 page)

He rubbed his hands together. “So ... how many loopholes are there?”

The boy standing next to Jade started to list them on his fingers. “You can try to alter your own spying spells to match the enemy’s spells, in the hopes that they will work perfectly through the enemy’s concealing spell. You can take a piece of hair from an enemy commander and use it to gain a sense of him; that’s hard to block without specific charms and plenty of people don’t bother ... ”

“I recall a hustler who tried to sell Captain Hawke a pair of skulls that, he claimed, belonged to General Yeller at two different parts of the General’s life,” Harkin commented. There were some chuckles, although Emily couldn’t see how
anyone
could expect a half-way intelligent officer to fall for such a stupid con. “It isn’t actually
that
easy to lay your hands on a piece of hair from an enemy commander’s head, let alone flesh, or blood, or bones.”

“... Or you could try to slip into the enemy camp,” the boy concluded, looking a little nervous. “Maybe you could pose as an enemy commander and ... ”

Harkin snorted. “Do you think you could pretend to be me well enough to fool Sergeant Miles?”

The boy shook his head, embarrassed.

“Yet another clever idea that never works out quite right in practice,” the Sergeant commented. “Although it
has
been tried.”

“As it happens, one final loophole is to actually spy on the enemy camp with your own eyes,” he continued. “It is possible to evade or fool most detection spells–and you can use a twinned mirror to get the message out as quickly as possible. If you got caught, of course, you might well be tortured, or hanged as a spy. Is anyone brave enough to volunteer?”

His voice sharpened. “There’s an enemy army marching on your city. Your King needs to know where it is to place his own army to intercept it. And he needs to know how strong it is, so he can prepare his battle plans. Will you volunteer to go to take a look at the enemy army, knowing that it could cost you your life?”

“Yes,” Jade said flatly.

There was a dull rumble of agreement. “Glad to see that we have so many brave soldiers in our midst,” Harkin said. He pointed towards the forest. “A rebellious sorceress, the Lady Ravenna, has determined to wage war on your Kingdom. Having raised a dark army, she now makes her camp in the forest while awaiting the return of her brother and his raiding party. Your mission is to get through the forest, get into a position where you can spy on the army, and report back to your King using the twinned mirrors. Should you be caught, I need not add, you will regret it.”

He looked at them. “I’m going to send you in, one by one. You know what you have to do, but remember–any sorcerer or sorceress can be a tricky opponent. Remember what happened the first time you walked through the forest and watch where you put your feet. Jade, since you were the first to volunteer, you can go first.” He tossed Jade a small mirror, wrapped in paper. “Oh, and keep your head down.”

Emily watched as Jade walked up to the edge of the forest and was swallowed by the blackness. One by one, the other students followed him, until it was her turn. Shivering slightly, she stepped under the canopy and grimaced as darkness fell over the forest. The darkness seemed almost alive, leaving her glancing around nervously before she started picking a path through the trees. There was no sign of any other students.

The sense of being watched grew stronger as she slipped onwards, picking a course at random. She had the feeling that the forest, like everything else in Whitehall, was far larger than it seemed on the outside, perhaps being specially designed to serve as a training area for military students.

A moment later, she jumped backwards as her boot threatened to sink into a hidden bog. She hadn’t even realized that it
was
a bog until it had been almost too late. It seemed nearly impossible to separate the dangerous place from the mud ...

She picked up a stick and used it to test the ground. The bog was everywhere, even
behind
her. Cursing the Sergeants under her breath, Emily realized that magic ran through the ground, trying to trap her. If she sank in the mire, could they save her before she drowned? Or what if ...

Desperately, she cast a freeze charm ahead of her. The mud froze, creating an icy path running through the forest. She picked her way along it, slipping and sliding, until she reached the end of the bog and returned to solid ground.

In the distance, the sound of horses neighing broke the eerie silence. Carefully, Emily walked closer to the sound, trying to use the trees to give her some additional cover from prying eyes. A moving shape caught her attention and she stared at an animated suit of armor. Its eyes, if it had eyes, were sweeping the forest. Instinctively, she dropped to the ground, feeling
something
pass over her back. If it had caught her in the open ... she didn’t know
what
it would do, but she doubted it would be pleasant.

The ground was muddy, and smelly, but she forced herself to crawl forwards, noting that the armor wasn’t looking
behind
itself, just ahead. She slipped past it and towards a light in the distance, where she could see something moving. It was difficult to slip much closer because there didn’t seem to be much that she could use as cover. Then she saw a large bush. She was careful to check the bush for hidden surprises before she moved. Apparently, according to one of the books she’d read, some plants were animate and snatched anything–or anyone–who came too close. She wouldn’t have put it past the sergeants to hide one of those plants in the forest, just to teach the trainees a lesson about not taking anything for granted.

As she inched forward, the army came into view. Half of it seemed to be composed of other animate suits of armor, although they were walking freely and might have been nothing more remarkable than men clad in armor. The remainder...looked like men, but as they came into view she saw chillingly inhuman faces. They were crossbreeds between humans and something else, something very different. Everything she knew about genetics said that interracial hybrids, such as
Star Trek’s
Mr. Spock, were impossible. But in a world of magic, who knew
what
was possible? Maybe orcs and goblins had started out human and had been transfigured by powerful magic, the changes passed down to their descendants. Or maybe...

Ninety-seven suits of armor
, she thought, counting silently in her head.
And seventy inhuman creatures ...

A hand grasped her leg and yanked her backwards with terrifying force. Emily cried out in shock as she was flipped over and found herself staring up into a face that looked to be a nasty cross between human and snake. A moment later, the face shifted and she saw tiny snakes emerging from its head ...

A medusa
, her mind screamed at her.
Mirror. You need a mirror!

There was a blinding flash of light. Her body locked solid. The ...
creature
, whatever it really was, looked down at her for a long moment before it walked away into the forest, leaving her petrified and utterly immobile.

Emily fought down panic and tried to cast a dispelling charm, but whatever the creature had done to her was far stronger than anything she’d yet seen. She tried to run through all of the cancelling charms she could recall, yet nothing worked and her mind started to blur into nothingness and ...

... And then she lay on the ground, outside the forest. Her entire body felt stiff, but at least she was flesh again. And she hadn’t been the only one to be caught. Of twenty-four students, only three of them had completed their mission. She cursed her own mistake as she tried to sit upright, before climbing to her feet. Of course there would have been more guards that just a single suit of charmed armor.

“Not a good display, I feel,” Harkin said. “Three of you were caught by Snake Face and turned into stone. Five of you got caught in the bog, which would have killed you if you made a mistake like that in combat. Two of you made the mistake of trying to fight the charmed armor and were knocked on the head. Seven of you got too close to Ravenna and were turned into her puppets. And two more of you talked too loudly and brought the goblin hybrids down on your heads. Those massive ears they have aren’t just for show. Didn’t anyone tell you that they can hear a cat farting from the opposite side of town?”

Emily hoped that was an exaggeration. She’d made enough noise moving through the forest to alert the goblins if they were
really
that capable. Perhaps Harkin was teasing them, while making a point. They’d all taken too much for granted.

Aloha had a different question. “You keep a pet medusa? I ... I thought that those were illegal?”

“Oh, they are,” Harkin said. “And if Snake Face hadn’t been properly gelded ... why, who knows
what
might have happened to you?” He gave her a sharp look that seemed to put her firmly in her place. “Tell me something. Was there something I said, at any point, to suggest that Martial Magic was actually
safe
?”

Aloha shook her head, miserably.

“I’m glad to hear it,” the Sergeant said. “I would have been losing my touch.”

He looked back at the entire class. “Go shower,” he said.

Emily was suddenly aware that her uniform was sodden with mud and she stank badly. No one bothered to comment on it. They
all
stank.

“And for the next lesson, I suggest you work out exactly what you did wrong and how you could have done a better job. Because we’re going to do it again and again until you know what you’re doing.

“Next lesson, we will form into squads and start some
real
fun. I’m sure you will enjoy it as much as we did when I started here.”

T
HE REST OF THE WEEK WENT
quickly. Too quickly. Emily found herself working in the library every evening, trying to research and write her punishment essay. It was tricky enough to keep track of the basic concept when there were thousands of examples of what could go wrong, each one more gruesome than the last. In between writing–when her hand ached from using the crude pencil–she sketched out a plan for a magical word processor, or even a simple fountain pen.

All too soon, it was Sunday, and she found herself in the Hall of Shame again, waiting to see what would happen.

This time, the Prefect on duty was not even remotely friendly, let alone sympathetic. She pointed Emily to a space in the corridor without saying a word, apart from growling at one of the other pupils to be quiet as he waited for punishment. Emily felt shame and humiliation as she waited, knowing that she wasn’t alone this time, until the Warden finally called her into his office. It took all the courage and determination she had to lower her arms and step through the door. The shame didn’t stop when she entered the room.

“Stand,” the Warden growled. He was still wearing the cloak that concealed his features behind dark shadow. His voice was as atonal as before. “Professor Lombardi has marked your essay.”

Emily shivered, trying to keep her face expressionless. She’d had to hand the essay in to the Professor on Saturday, knowing that it was far from perfect. Maybe presentation wasn’t so important in this world–several of the students hadn’t known how to read and write until they came to Whitehall, where they had to attend classes–but the essay had been meant as a punishment. Professor Lombardi seemed like a nice guy, but he might jump on every problem in the essay. And then ... her hands twitched, protectively covering her bottom. She didn’t want to be caned again.

The Warden seemed to be looking at her, although it was hard to tell. “Did you learn anything from the essay?”

“Yes, sir,” Emily said tightly. With the exception of Professor Thande, every tutor had taken the opportunity to point out just how stupid she’d been–and just how close she had come to killing Alassa. So had some of the older students, those that weren’t scared of her. The rumors running through the school were becoming absurd. “I learned not to do it again.”

“A very good idea,” the Warden agreed dryly. He looked down at the small sheaf of parchments. “Professor Lombardi gave you excellent marks for your writing. His only real quibble was with your assertion that damage could be repaired through further transfiguration, which isn’t always true. One transfiguration alone would charge the victim with
mana
, which would throw off a second transfiguration spell. It certainly isn’t something a Healer would want to do unless there was no other choice.”

There was a long pause. “But the use of transfiguration in Healing is an advanced class and you have barely been here for two weeks. Professor Lombardi states that you have done an excellent job. So we do not need to punish you further.”

Emily relaxed, very slightly. The marks on her rear hadn’t faded away for several days and she
still
felt twinges when she sat down on a hard wooden chair.

“However, you need to understand just how close you came to absolute disaster,” the Warden reminded her. “You are unlikely to survive–to
survive
–a second mistake on the same scale. Do you understand me?”