Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7) (12 page)

“Because you’d killed someone in cold blood,” Emily said.

“It was very hot blood,” Lady Barb said. “I wanted the witch to
suffer
.”

She shrugged. “Emily, Healers can only
heal
,” she said. “I’ve known Healers who were forced by their oaths to heal people who had been tortured, so the torturers could start all over again. Or keep quiet about people committing truly ghastly acts. Or...

“I wanted to do more than just heal,” she concluded. “And I think that’s true of you too.”

Emily nodded, slowly. She understood just how the younger Lady Barb had felt, even if she’d grown harder and more cynical between then and their first meeting. Someone preying on the villagers could not be tolerated, not when there was no one who could help her victims.

“It is,” she said. “But I am still going to try to pass Fourth Year.”

“So you should,” Lady Barb said.

Emily took a breath. “Can I ask you about something else?”

“Master Grey,” Lady Barb said. It wasn’t a question. “I believe he volunteered for the job.”

“Oh,” Emily said. “Why?”

Lady Barb smiled. “Why did he want the job, or why did the Grandmaster accept his application?”

“Both,” Emily said.

“I have no idea why he wanted the job,” Lady Barb said. “It isn’t a post that will allow him to claim a permanent tie to you - or Aloha. He may expect you to apprentice with him formally, at the end of Sixth Year, but that would be rare. We normally prefer to have someone apprentice with a master they haven’t met beforehand, just so they start with a blank slate.”

“Master Grey doesn’t have a blank slate,” Emily muttered. “He hates me. And...and I almost had a panic attack.”

Lady Barb eyed her for a long moment. “You
did
face a Nightmare Hex yesterday,” she reminded her, dryly. “They do tend to dig up long-buried feelings and memories.”

Emily nodded. She would have liked to believe that was true, but...there was a part of her that couldn’t help feeling worried, as if Master Grey had darker ambitions than merely supervising two semi-apprentices for a year. The same nagging fear that overshadowed her memories of her stepfather pulsed over Master Grey, the sensation that he might not do something today, but he
would
one day.

“As for why the Grandmaster accepted him,” Lady Barb continued, “you
do
realize that he
is
a practiced combat sorcerer with a proven track record of turning out above-average apprentices? Jade is merely the latest in a long line of students who owe him for their training. And he’s a champion duelist as well. You could do worse, much worse, for a tutor.”

“Dueling is barbaric,” Emily muttered. She’d seen Master Grey in action, after the end of Second Year. He’d insisted that anyone who challenged him had to fight to the death, just to keep the number of challenges down. And he’d never even
looked
like losing. “And he hates me...”

“I don’t think he actually
hates
you,” Lady Barb said, curtly. “His report from the Faire did make interesting reading - he called you grossly irresponsible no less than seven times - but I don’t think he hates you. He may feel that
someone
has to take you in hand and teach you some common sense before your luck runs out.”

Emily cringed. “Why couldn’t it have been you?”

“I like you too much,” Lady Barb said.

Emily started. Lady Barb liked her
too much?

The older woman reached out and patted Emily’s shoulder. “You told me you thought of me as a mother,” she said. “Will you take some motherly advice?”

“That isn’t fair,” Emily mumbled.

“All’s fair in love and war,” Lady Barb said. She smiled, tightly. “Will you take some advice?”

“Yes, please,” Emily said.

“The world is full of assholes,” Lady Barb said. “You will have to meet and deal with people who will be abrasive, or unpleasant, or outright hate you because of what you’ve done, the titles you hold, or merely because they just don’t like your face. I don’t think you have the option of vanishing into your castle and hiding, just because you’re afraid of confrontation, not given the position you hold. You need to learn how to cope with people who don’t like you.”

“And the Grandmaster selected Master Grey,” Emily mused, “because he
knew
we disliked each other?”

“It’s a possibility,” Lady Barb said. “Did you listen to his speech, earlier today?”

Emily nodded, once.

“We try to turn out magicians who can handle anything without losing control,” Lady Barb said, softly. “Having a hard time with Master Grey, here and now, will be better than having a hard time outside Whitehall. He may push you to the limit, he may force you to carry on no matter the pain, but he won’t kill you.”

“But I had a panic attack when I saw him,” Emily protested.

“Then you need to work to overcome it,” Lady Barb said. “Do you realize that could be a dangerous weakness?”

She sighed, looking down at her hands. “You are growing in power every year - even without the battery,” she added. “In three years, you will be let loose upon the world. A person with the perceptiveness to understand your weaknesses could easily use them against you, even if they don’t have magic themselves. I’ve seen people dominated by others who should, on the surface, be far weaker than them. You could wind up the same way.”

Emily shuddered. “I wouldn’t...”

“It’s easy to say that,” Lady Barb said. “But is it actually true?” She smiled, but it didn’t touch her eyes. “Are you familiar with the Duchy of Bothell?”

“No,” Emily said. It was somewhere to the south of Zangaria, if she recalled correctly, but she’d never visited. Alassa’s procession through the Allied Lands hadn’t bothered to stop at such a minor state. “Why?”

“I was there three years ago, back when I was working for King Randor,” Lady Barb said, softly. “The Duke himself died six years ago, leaving his daughter on the throne. She was the undisputed ruler of the duchy, but she was ruled by her husband, someone she’d met and married just after her father died. He was horrible to her, Emily, even though a single word from her could have had him beheaded. Instead, she just...did as she was told.

“You could wind up just like her, if you’re not careful. Better to learn how to deal with assholes here and now, where you have friends and advisers, than out in the wider world.”

“I know,” Emily said, miserably. Her stepfather had held a similar influence over her early life. “Can’t I just stay in Whitehall for the rest of my life?”

“It depends,” Lady Barb said, tartly. “Do you want to give up Cockatrice and everything you’ve created?”

“I think I’m just going to put researcher down as my planned career,” Emily said. She didn’t want to think about the prospect of abandoning Cockatrice. “I could research in my spare time.”

“You could always point out that you will probably spend most of your time at Cockatrice,” Lady Barb offered. “I doubt Alassa’s session will be anything more than a pleasant chat, assuming she goes at all. But they may want you to consider serving the Allied Lands in other ways. You would probably make a good Mediator.”

Emily blinked. She hadn’t considered the possibility.

“It’s a worthwhile job,” Lady Barb added. “And you have the power, courage and connections to see it through.”

“I’ll look it up,” Emily said. “Can I pick your brains about it later?”

“Of course,” Lady Barb said. “But then, you could also ask Master Grey. He would be happy to talk to you about it.”

Emily rather doubted it. “I’d prefer to talk to you,” she said. “Really...”

“And I will send you to Master Grey,” Lady Barb said, sharply. “You
do
have to learn how to cope with assholes, Emily, and one of my motherly duties involves pushing you to learn how to handle them.”

She sighed. “Look at it this way,” she added. “Spend the next term learning from him. If it really turns bad, if it really fails, I will raise the issue with the Grandmaster. He will not be pleased, of course, and nor will I, but we may be able to find another option.”

“Oh,” Emily said.

She swallowed, thinking hard. Cold logic told her Lady Barb was right. She
did
need to learn to handle people like Master Grey, people who would hate and resent her. But emotionally...she didn’t even want to
think
about facing him. He reminded her far too much of her stepfather for her to be rational about him...

Which was the point, wasn’t it?

“I’ll do my best,” she promised. She would force herself to remember, time and time again, that Master Grey was
not
her stepfather until she actually believed it. And she would try to go to his lessons with an open mind. Aloha was right. Master Grey could actually teach them something new. “But what if -”

“Look at it this way,” Lady Barb said. “Are you actually going to let him win?”

Emily shook her head, slowly. Master Grey disliked her; worse, he thought she was grossly irresponsible. She was damned if she was proving him right.

“Good,” Lady Barb said. “That’s a much better attitude.”

She finished her Kava and leaned forward. “Have you arranged a working meeting with Caleb yet?”

“Not yet,” Emily said. In all the excitement, it was something she’d overlooked. She pulled her timetable out of her pocket and glanced at it. “I was thinking tomorrow afternoon.”

“You’d better remember to tell
him
that,” Lady Barb said, dryly. “I’m not going to be taking messages to him for you.”

Emily blushed. “Sorry...”

Lady Barb laughed as Emily looked down at her mug. “I’ll give you a piece of advice for free, Emily, because you should know it already,” she added. “Get started on your project as soon as possible and do as much as you can before classes really start to get tougher, because they will. You know the milestone deadlines?”

Emily nodded. “End of the first term, start of the third term.”

“Good,” Lady Barb said. “Missing either of those could cause you to fail.”

“Thank you,” Emily said. She finished her Kava and stood up. “If I’m not going to become a Healer, will I still have to go on the field trips?”

“I will probably take you to the Halfway House,” Lady Barb said. “You’ve already amassed some experience in the Cairngorms, so there should be no need to take you to Dragon’s Den to observe more mundane problems. Still...we will see.”

Emily nodded, then turned and walked out of the room and through the classroom back into the corridor. Melissa waited outside, leaning against the stone wall and looking impatient. Emily hesitated, then smiled. Maybe Melissa had been an enemy, once upon a time, but they weren’t enemies any longer. And Melissa owed her a considerable debt.

“She should be free now,” Emily said. “Are you hoping to become a Healer?”

“It’s a possibility,” Melissa said. “My family can’t object any longer.”

She looked awkward, so Emily changed the subject. “How’s Markus?”

Melissa smiled. She had always been pretty, but now Emily could see
just
what Markus saw in her. The smile made her face come alive.

“He’s fine,” she said. “He has a place to stay in Beneficence, but he’s going to be coming here every weekend. The Gorgon - you know, my roommate - agreed to let us have the bedroom in exchange for some books I happen to own.”

“I’m happy for you,” Emily said, and meant it. “Where is she going to sleep?”

“I thought she had an agreement with you,” Melissa said. She frowned. “She could sleep on the floor, couldn’t she? If she took her blankets?”

“Maybe,” Emily said. The Gorgon hadn’t asked her - nor, as far as she knew, had she asked Alassa or Imaiqah. Maybe she’d found a boyfriend herself. It wasn’t impossible, even if she did look inhuman. “Just don’t get in trouble with Madame Beauregard.”

“Tell me about it,” Melissa said. “She’s strict!”

Emily smiled as Melissa stepped into the classroom, then hastily walked back to the dorms, dodging a line of First Year students as she headed up the stairs. They stared at her, awestruck, which made her shake her head in disbelief. If they knew the truth, she was sure, they would be a great deal less impressed.

“Emily,” Alassa said, as Emily entered the bedroom. She was wearing trousers and a shirt with a tiny silver button pinned just above her left breast. “You’re looking at the new Dorm Monitor for Fourth Year!”

“Well done,” Emily said, closing the door behind her. “What sort of powers do you have?”

“Apparently, I’m meant to report any malefactors to Madame Beauregard, if they don’t stop misbehaving at once,” Alassa said.

“So she can’t punish anyone on her own authority,” Imaiqah put in. “We’re saved.”

Emily rolled her eyes and sat down on her bed. “I had a bit of bad news today,” she said, “but I’m going to get through it.”

“Good,” Alassa said. “Now, what
was
it?”

“Master Grey is going to be my tutor for Martial Magic,” Emily said.

“Ouch,” Alassa said. “Jade says he’s tough.”

“He is,” Emily agreed. “Very tough.”

“I
HEAR THAT ALASSA IS DEFINITELY
the Dorm Monitor,” Caleb said, as he entered the workroom Emily had booked the previous day. “Is that good or bad?”

Emily shrugged. “I don’t know yet,” she said. “What was the last one like?”

“Chased a couple of us through the corridors, once upon a time,” Caleb said. He looked down at his scarred hands. “I didn’t stick around long enough to know if they get nastier as the year goes on.”

“I suppose they do,” Emily said. “They don’t have that much power, do they?”

She ran her hand through her hair as she sat down, then looked at the three metal worktables, the wok and the ingredients she’d borrowed from Professor Thande after his introductory class in the morning. He’d insisted on going through safety precautions with her time and time again, pointing out that
Manaskol
was dangerously volatile at the best of times and Caleb, at least, had been seriously injured trying to brew it. Emily had listened carefully, knowing he was right. If Zed hadn’t patiently taught her to brew the potion, again and again, she wouldn’t be so confident now.