I heard Themmichus call something from the doorway, felt the priest respond above, around me, but the words were fast fading into nonsense. If the journey from my room to this office had strained me, the priest's lifting me broke my last tenuous hold on consciousness. I realized this man would care for me, by oath and by law, if anyone in the world might. I sighed behind closed eyes at the thought, and then I let the pain drown me and fell back to a blistered peace.
I woke in absolute darkness to the sound of a feeble cry. I blinked, hoping my eyes would adjust to the dim light, but there was none. I searched my memory and eventually remembered my trip to the Kind Father's offices. I remembered a bed like a high table and gentle hands on my injured leg, murmured prayers and the smell of blood and fire. I shivered at the shard of memory.
Then I heard a noise, not ten paces away, but muffled by a door or wall. It was a furtive sound, a careful one, but it held the sharp brutality of violence. I frowned in the darkness and, without thinking, rolled off the bed to land at a crouch on the floor. There was no pain, no weariness even, and for the first time I realized this must be a dream.
And then I heard the sound again, and once again a pathetic little moan. Curiosity dragged me across the room, and caution made me quiet. I moved by touch and distant memory and found my way to the door. I turned the knob with all the care in the world, and it didn't make a sound. I eased the door open a crack, and then I saw a light.
It was faint but unflickering. A dull green glow, entirely unnatural, and it came from an open doorway on the other side of the Kind Father's main office—another room like mine. I saw the shadow of a man stretched grotesque against the wall and ceiling, the sharp line of a beard stabbing down from his chin, the great draping sleeve of a robe hanging off powerful arms. I saw one of those arms rise up in shadow, then slash down in what looked like a backhand, and I heard another desperate groan. And I heard what sounded like a chuckle.
And then I thought of Claighan. I remembered him, broken and bleeding on the ground beside me. I thought of him helpless in the bed, of the cruel-eyed Seriphenes or the sneering student Archus lashing out at him, and I felt a great fury build in me. I was strong now. I was whole. I could defend him against this cruelty. I balled my fists, tensed my legs, ready to hurl myself across the gap and into the room.
An outer door opened and I barely stopped myself short of gasping in surprise. I fell back on my heels and sank low to the ground, heart pounding, desperate to remain hidden. I recognized the form silhouetted out in the hall. It was Seriphenes, tall and terrible, and he lingered on the threshold for the barest heartbeat before his eyes narrowed on the eerie green glow from the other room and he stomped in. He pulled the outer door closed behind him with more restraint than I suspect he wished, but he did not make a sound.
He crossed the office in three long strides, and darted into the other room. I heard a growl like an angry dog's begin low in his throat, and I could see him clearly in the eldritch glow. His eyes narrowed to slits.
"Lareth," he snapped. My blood ran cold.
Lareth, the rebel wizard. The traitor who had turned the king against us. He was the same who had been striking a helpless Claighan. I felt my teeth grinding together so hard it hurt, and I forced myself to relax lest the sound of it gave me away.
The other wizard answered with a voice like summer honey, smooth and sweet and languorous. "My dear Master Seriphenes," he said. "What brings you here?"
"I thought I sensed the shape of a traveling," Seriphenes answered, his voice cold. "Of a pathway stabbing off hundreds of miles to the south of here. I
thought
perhaps I recognized the workmanship—"
"Nonsense," Lareth said, and I could imagine him waving a hand dismissively. "I have learned new tricks. My workings are undetectable."
Seriphenes growled again. "You always were stupid. There is no such thing."
"There is," Lareth said. "I'm sure it was simple intuition that brought you here. Or, perhaps, a desire to see justice done."
Seriphenes frowned. "Justice is doing well enough on its own. There is no reason for us to stain our hands with it. And there is certainly no reason for you to be
here
—"
"What, am I unwelcome at my teacher's table?"
"As long as you are in open rebellion against the king," Seriphenes hissed, "it would be
wise
for you to keep away."
Lareth took a step closer. "I have been too long without news," Lareth said. "I began to feel abandoned."
"You stupid child," Seriphenes said. "This king is not a forgiving one. If he suspected anyone in these walls so much as spoke to you, he would bring the whole of his army against the Academy."
"Let him try," Lareth said lazily. "I have seen just what his army is worth. I've slain a thousand men by my own hand, with just the least portion of the things you taught me."
Seriphenes looked around. His eyes passed right over me, but he could not have seen me. "You would be wise to keep such words to yourself, even when speaking to me. I do not condone your actions."
"And yet my actions are set to prosper you greatly." Lareth chuckled, dark and low. "Astonishing that the king's wrath turned against the one who suggested he send
someone
to speak with the rebels, and the old fool never gave a thought to the failings of the man who trained the traitor up."
"King Timmon doesn't trouble himself to know the details of our apprenticeship process." Seriphenes's lip curled in distaste. "Admittedly, he does not trouble himself to know that much at all."
Lareth laughed, delighted, and clapped Seriphenes on the shoulder. "There's the mentor I know and love." His shadow turned away, washing across the ceiling. "Come, try your hand at the doddering old fool. If we don't abuse him a little, the Kind Father just might bring him back after all."
Seriphenes's lips curled in amusement, but he shook his head. "I've always admired your zeal, Lareth, but I suspect you might nearly be a dangerous maniac."
"I am practical," Lareth answered, and some of the honey left his voice. "I don't
truly
enjoy this sport, any more than I do killing king's Guardsmen. But it is so much easier to do under the persona of a madman."
Seriphenes cocked his head, curious. "Fascinating," he said. Then he shook his head. "That conversation must wait for another time. I have told you, Lareth, you must stay away from the school until you are ready to end this foolishness with the rebel army. So long as you are openly in defiance of the crown, you must wait for me to contact you as I may."
Lareth turned back to him, and for a long time he said nothing. Then he stepped closer and lowered his voice. "Find more opportunities, Master. It is a dangerous world out there, and I would hate to face it without your aid."
Seriphenes frowned. "I will do as I can, as I always have, but if we are caught—if anyone so much as suspected—I could help you not at all. I might even be driven to living the same squalid life you've chosen for yourself, and I would not like that at all."
Lareth laughed. "It's not so bad. Living off the land. Sleeping under the stars."
Seriphenes sneered. "I prefer my creature comforts. Now go. And do not come back."
Lareth started to answer, but Seriphenes raised one hand and silenced him. A moment later the green light flashed, so bright it seared dark spots behind my eyes, and then it was gone completely. I sat in the darkness, stunned, thinking over everything I had just heard and trying desperately to comprehend it.
And then a new light flared in the office as Seriphenes summoned a white flame of his own to light his way out of the office. It happened before I could even move, and he passed within a pace of me. The light washed over me, and his gaze followed it.
For a terrible moment his cold black eyes met mine.
And then, for reasons I cannot imagine, it passed on over me. He made no comment, gave no indication he'd seen me at all. He slipped through the outer door and closed it so quietly behind him I didn't even hear a sound.
Fear and fury bubbled up within me. Seriphenes was a traitor to the crown! It seemed he must have seen me but that didn't matter now. He had to be stopped. I threw open the door above me, and it didn't make a sound. I flew across the Kind Father's little office, and my movements felt eerie. Dreamlike. I drifted like a mist across the room and threw open another door that made no sound.
I washed out into the wide corridor lined with benches and stone-brick walls, supported with carved-wood pillars, and lit with fixed points of magical light. I remembered it bustling with students during the day.
But none of that was there now. Not the students, not the pillars, not the corridor, not even the lights. Outside the door of the Kind Father's office was only blackness, thick and deep and stretching out forever.
I could hear footsteps on stone, though. I turned toward them and saw the shape of Seriphenes, strangely-lit in all the darkness. He had his back to me, and as I watched he whisked away. I tried to run after him, but I drifted too slowly, and soon he faded and was gone.
That left me in perfect darkness. I tried to hurry after him. I tried to turn back to my room, but there was no light anywhere. My heart raced, and fear bubbled up in me, but there was nowhere to go. The darkness washed around me like a nightmare, and I screamed and screamed without making a sound.
Sometime later, sunlight kissed my skin and glowed red through my closed eyelids. It summoned me gently back to consciousness with light touches on my arms and face. I drank in a deep breath, opened my eyes and blinked against the brightness. The air was heavy with the sweet smell of apple blossoms, even at this time of year, and thick, lush grass made a more comfortable bed than the mattress in my room. Slowly I sat up and realized with a start that I was whole again. I pushed back the tattered leg of my pants and examined my leg, healed clean without even a scar.
"Nice, isn't it?" The small voice made me jump, and I realized for the first time I wasn't alone. Behind me Themmichus was sitting on a large stone thick with moss. He held a crisp apple in one hand and rested his chin in the other. "Kind Father said you would be well, but I've never seen such concern from him. You must have been hurt worse than I realized. What happened?"
I shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. "I haven't had a good week."
Themmichus waited for more, and when I didn't offer it he laughed. And then harder, and he gave a shrug. "How could I forget? You killed a dozen Guardsmen in Gath-upon-Brennes."
My stomach turned sour at the joke, but I kept it from my expression. "Yesterday it was nine," I said, and he only laughed harder. I scowled and shook my head. Then I climbed to my feet and looked around. "Am I dreaming?"
He popped to his feet beside me. "If so, you're not very good at it," he said. "And I don't know why you roped me in."
"It's just...." I ducked my head, thinking. I could remember the incident in the Kind Father's office, but it held an eerie unreality to it. An impossibility. Seriphenes a villain, conspiring with a traitor. Lareth, the man at whose feet I could lay all my troubles, come in the night to wreak petty vengeance against my only ally in this place. It was all too much.
Themmichus stood beside me, looking up into my face, and after a moment he frowned. "How are you feeling? Should we go back to the Father? He told me to watch over you."
"No," I said and forced a smile. I tilted my head back to feel the sun on my face, the cool breeze in my hair, and my smile grew a shade more genuine. "No need," I said and began strolling idly among the apple trees. He fell in step beside me. I reached out to trail my fingers through the flower blossoms on a low shrub and shook my head. "What is this place?"
"Kind Father thought you could use some sun," he said. "Said it wouldn't do for you to be waking up in darkness. So he brought you to the Garden. I asked after your health one too many times, so...." He trailed off, looking uncomfortable, but after a moment he finished with a weak smile. "He told me to watch over you. Protect our famous new warrior child from all the dangerous monsters prowling these grounds."
I was supposed to laugh at that, but I thought of Lareth, of Seriphenes, even of the quiet, dreadful threats the Chancellor had offered me. I couldn't quite manage it. I gave him a sickly grin, though, and he settled for it.
"Anyway, main reason I'm here is to make sure you wake up in time for classes. Lhorus caught me this morning—said he'd heard from the Kind Father that you and I were friends now." He chewed his lip at that, and his eyes didn't quite meet mine. I suspected he would come to regret expressing any concern for my well-being. "Anyway," he said. "The Chancellor has decided you should begin with private lessons to get you up to speed."
"Lessons now? Right away?" I felt a panic bubbling in my chest. Then I turned to look the direction he'd been waving and found myself staring at the wall of the dormitory's west wing. My jaw dropped open. "This is Academy grounds? But...but I was in the courtyard yesterday and it was nothing but dust and dirt!"
He chuckled at that, then started off toward the building. "Follow me. There's something I should show you."