Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (23 page)

Myr Billy opened another cupboard, and as we finished our drinks and put our mugs on the table for the Journeymen to clear, he handed each of us a candlestick and a fresh candle.

“Now for the remainder of the afternoon I want you to practise on something a little more difficult. The principle is the same with candles, but the area you are trying to ignite – the wick – is much smaller and requires greater accuracy with your Hầұeӣ. So try not to explode them, eh Jaseth?” Sallagh tittered. Was Myr Billy teasing me?

“Although you won’t be using candles much in the Hall, they are useful things to be able to light at will, without having to bother with matches or sparklights.” He paused and looked around, suddenly serious. “Now I’m sure you will have gathered this already from your Mentors, but Hầұeӣ is not something to be used frivolously. You Nea’thi-Bloods have a gift, but it is nothing more than a quirk of your DNA. The ability to use Hầұeӣ is something that is certainly admired by Human society, for it is useful and can be used to great effect to enrich the lives of others. However, Humans are envious creatures by nature, and blatant flaunting of your powers is unwise, and sometimes even dangerous. We – the staff here at the Academy and your Mentors – will endeavour to the best of our abilities to keep you safe, and the Nea’thi Quarter is a forgiving place, but please do your best not to arouse jealousy amongst Humans who are not as fortunate as you.” Myr Billy frowned as he finished his speech. “Understood? Good, right, take your candles and off you go.”

At my bench I placed the candle firmly in its holder and studied it for a bit. It was a fresh candle, beeswax, and the wick was made of finely braided cotton. The break had caused my concentration to drift as I settled, so I took a moment. With my eyes open I felt into the wick, sensing the tiny particles. I gave them a nudge with my Hầұeӣ and I felt them quicken briefly, then slow. Hmm, I needed more then. Remembering Myr Billy’s warning I reached inside and gently drew out more, the microscopic view I had of the cotton made it feel huge in my mind. I wiggled the atoms and they started to speed up, but still there was no Πiầ. I
pushed more Hầұeӣ into it until finally the candle burst into life, then spluttered and went out.

“Dammit, what happened?”

“Ah, okay Jas, think of Fiona and her hairs. With the wood-chips you could set them alight and then they would burn by themselves, right?”

I nodded at Charlie.

“Well, with these candles you’ve got to hold it long enough for the flame to catch. Try again, but keep going until it can burn on its own.”

I tried again, stirring about in the wick until I saw it catch, and then I pressed harder, forcing the combustion to continue until—

“Oh bollocks. I think I need a new candle.”

The wick had caught and burned down its entire length, turning the candle into a messy lump of wax.

“Well would you look at that!” Myr Billy came up beside us, holding out a fresh candle. “You’ve got a lot of power, Jaseth, but you need to be more specific with your channelling. Feed the Πiầ a little at a time, rein yourself in. There’s a good boy, keep trying!”

On my third attempt the candle caught and flared for a few seconds before going out. The next attempt lasted only slightly longer. I was trying very hard not to feel frustrated – the woodchips had been easy compared to this. I felt a headache beginning to growl between my ears, but I pushed it away. I finally lit the candle and I let it burn for a minute before Charlie blew it out.

“Very good! Now, try it again.”

For the next hour I practised on the candle, but it was a bit hit and miss. Often I would get it to catch properly, so that one of us would have to blow it out, but it seemed that more and more frequently it would only spark and then die.

Finally Myr Billy clapped his hands to get our attention. “Very good work for a first day, my dears. Now, tomorrow we start work on what you saw your Mentors doing earlier – creating an oxygen-proof barrier, a form of Ћieл, to put fires out – most important given your natural propensity for Πiầ, don’t you think? So tonight I want you to practise lighting candles, under
the supervision of your Mentor of course. Myn Eve will have a stash of them at the Hall. So do your practice and your readings and we will look forward to another successful day tomorrow!” Myr Billy didn’t wait for any replies before sweeping out of the classroom, his robes almost billowing behind him. It appeared that we were dismissed for the day.

A couple of Journeymen, not as young as Steven or Alan by the looks and more confident air of them, came into the classroom and began to clear away our cups and clean our workbenches.

I gathered up my pen and journal and followed everyone else out of the classroom. The late afternoon sun was golden and still warm as we crossed the quad.

“Holy Lilbecz, that was some day!” Telgeth caught up to me, grinning widely. “I think we should go to the pub to celebrate!”

I massaged my temples. “Oh gawd, I have the worst headache. Ugh.”

Telgeth drew his brows together and thought for a second.

“Hmm, actually, so do I. Damn you, I hadn’t realised til then! Hey, I’ll get Thomas to grab us some White and we’ll go anyway. Just for a couple of drinks, until teatime anyway.” He skipped away to Lolitha to tell her his plans.

I shook my head, feeling altogether too weary for any kind of socialising, although the thought of smoking some White cheered me up a little. Charlie hugged me round the shoulders, noticing my discomfort.

“You did bloody well today, Jas. I’m proud of you!”

“Thanks. I feel like balls though. And I managed to blow up a candle.

He clapped me on the back. “That’s a good sign!” He grinned at my dubious face. “Honestly! It’s easier to rein in too much power than struggle because you don’t have enough. Come on, I think you deserve to celebrate a little, you really did great today.”

I wasn’t really convinced, but I figured I could wriggle out of it when we stopped at the Hall.

No such luck, however. I had only just put my pen and book down in my room when Lolitha stuck her head round the door.

“Are you coming to the Thistle, Jas? Telgeth said you were.”

I groaned inwardly. If she had a headache like the rest of us it didn’t show on her face. Her eyes were sparkling and she seemed more animated than I had ever seen her before.

“I would, but I have this headache and—”

“Yeah, so do I. Jimmy said that’s normal when you start using Hầұeӣ, and some White and a couple of glasses of wine will sort us right out!”

There was no resistance I could offer in the face of her enthusiasm and I sighed. “So who else is coming then?”

“Oh, well, Sallagh and Mantilly won’t. They’ve started their homework already.” She wrinkled her nose and giggled. “And James isn’t letting Sammoch go, on account of his poor performance on Saturday night,” she grinned wickedly. “But the other boys are keen. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“I don’t know…” But Lolitha strode into the room and grabbed the cuff of my robe, dragging me out into the hall.

“Charlie?” She called over her shoulder. “We’re going to the pub.”

“Oh?” He poked his head round the door to his bedroom. “Cool, I’ll be right there.”

Down in the reception we waited for Charlie to join us.

“Your first day and you’re already off to drown your sorrows. My, my.” Myn Eve shook a finger at us in mock sadness. Jimmy waltzed over and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“We’re celebrating! The Bloodkin used Hầұeӣ today!”

She laughed and patted her hair. “Of course my dears. Be back by eight. Dinner will be ready then.”

Jimmy saluted her as Charlie came down the stairs. “Aye aye sir!” He gave a cheeky grin. “Is everyone here? Good, let’s go!”

We walked through the Quarter as shops were closing for the day. The twisting streets were full of gentle activity as shutters were closed and signs brought in. There were still people wandering about, enjoying the last of the afternoon’s warmth. The doorman at the Shivering Thistle was leaning sleepily against the doorframe, but he smiled pleasantly enough at us as we went in. I suppose it must have been obvious we were the Academy’s new intake of Bloodkin, five young Humans accompanied by their Mentors.

Inside, the sun angled through the amber glass windows, catching motes of dust in streams. A lone harpist sat on the stage plucking gently at an ornate instrument as tall as she was. The pretty, gentle music filtered through the tavern, mostly empty at this hour, though there were clumps of Journeymen in the most comfortable booths.

O’Malley was perched behind the bar, one eye on a newspaper he had spread out in front of him. He stood as he saw us enter.

“Back again so soon? Must’ve been a hard day at the Academy, hmm?”

“We’re celebrating, Myr O’Malley! The Bloodkin used their Hầұeӣ for the first time,” Jimmy grinned at the landlord.

“And you’ve all got wicked headaches, no doubt. Don’t worry, I see this every two years.” He smiled as his eyes flicked over us. “Ahh, you lucky children, Hầұeӣ is a wonderful gift you know. The afternoon is still lovely, why don’t you head up to the roof and I’ll send one of the Journeymen up with a celebratory bottle of something.”

Everyone else headed for the stairs to the roof garden but I lingered for a second. I looked up above the bar to see if anyone was in Anna’s private lounge, but to my surprise the top of the bar extended straight up to the roof. Where was the balcony that we had looked over the other night? There must have been some sort of Hầұeӣ on the wood panelling to make it transparent from the other side, but opaque from this. Without thinking I gave the wood a nudge with my Hầұeӣ. It certainly
felt
different from the woodchips we had practised on in class, almost as if—

“Ϛaioћ, your Bloodkin looks like he’s going to set my tavern on fire,” O’Malley warned and Charlie turned back and cuffed me lightly round the head, breaking my concentration.

“Don’t go probing stuff until you know what you can do, Jas.”

Oh shit. I shook my head.

“I’m so sorry Myr O’Malley, I didn’t mean… I was just wondering about the—”

“Yes, it’s been altered with Hầұeӣ. You weren’t really trying to set it on fire, were you?”

“Of, of course not!” I stammered, horrified. “I was just… looking.”

“Hmph. Well looking can get you into trouble,” muttered the little landlord, and he turned back to his paper.

I hung my head, shamefaced, as Charlie glanced at the entrance to the staircase that led to the private lounge, but the guard shook his head.

“Lya Myn is conducting business,” he told us tersely and moved to block the way. Charlie shrugged and we went to follow the others.

“Did you tell Anna about what those guards said?” I asked him as we climbed the main stairs.

“The ones by that bridge? No, I didn’t really have a chance. And I’m sure she knows about most things that are happening in the city.” He shook his head. “And I didn’t want to worry her.”

How anything could worry the head of Lya Vassalion was beyond me, but for guards to be muttering about trouble in Lille all the way in the Jaelshead district it must be reasonably serious. Mustn’t it?

Upstairs in the garden we joined the others who had made themselves comfortable in chairs and couches around a large circular table. The sun was leaning down to the west and the city was lit brilliantly in gold. Up on the hills, windows twinkled as they reflected the light, and we could see patches of the lake, still and mirroring the few fluffy clouds above, slowly turning brilliant pink and orange.

A waitress arrived with two bottles of a Jaelshead Sauvignon Blanc and a platter of glasses that she placed on the table.

“Hullo sweetheart, enjoying the afternoon?” Telgeth grinned at her.

“Oh, yes, thank you sir. Is there anything else you need? Oh, ah, good then!” and she skittered away.

“Smooth,” muttered Lolitha, but Telgeth looked puzzled.

“She looked terrified! I’m not that hideous, am I? What did I say?”

Lolitha sniggered, but Thomas smiled at him. “She was very young, couldn’t you tell? And Humans are scary, until you get to know them, of course.”

“But she looked like she thought I was about to eat her or something!”

Thomas shrugged. “We are taught to be careful. And you
do
have a propensity for violence.”

“I do not!” exclaimed Telgeth hotly.

“Well not you specifically, but we study your wars in the Enclaves. And Journeymen who return for their training like to terrorise the young folk with scary stories about Humans.”

“Hmph.” Telgeth sat back in his chair and folded his arms, clearly not mollified. “So how do I convince her to sleep with me then?”

Thomas gasped as Dunkerle and Donnick laughed. Lolitha rolled her eyes and ignored him.

“So, they were mostly all Journeymen downstairs, weren’t they?” she asked Thomas. “They all looked very young.”

“Yes, I’d say most of them are. Myr O’Malley loves all things Nea’thi, and he considers it his duty to make them feel at home out here. He even gets musicians to play our traditional songs, to remind them of home.”

“Huh, well, that’s good of him. I suppose he’s Nea’thi-Blood then?”

Thomas laughed. “Funnily enough, no. I think he desperately wishes he was though. I remember when he bought this place, he would have been, oh, not much older than you are now. Comes from an old Lille family with lots of money and grew up with Journeymen nannies I believe.”

Dunkerle had taken off his spectacles to rub at the bridge of his nose, and as Thomas stopped for breath he broke in.

“Gawd, will we always get headaches like this after class? Richard, may I please have some White? My head is killing me.”

Richard produced his pipe, an ornate brass device with a cherry wood bowl that he packed from his white velvet bag. He sparked it and handed it to Dunkerle.

“No no, you’ll get used to your Hầұeӣ in a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?” Dunkerle squeaked.

“It will get better, I promise. If you practise properly the headaches will lessen as you learn how to concentrate properly. And the meditation will help too.”