Volinette's Song (26 page)

He quit the room, leaving them foundering in the sea of their own silence. Baris was the first one to break the tableau. Volinette expected no less.

“Well, a ‘thanks for helping’ wouldn’t have been out of place,” he groused.

The girls stared at him for a moment, then all three of them dissolved into laughter. No matter how much her muscles hurt, it felt good to laugh. Volinette knew that no matter what happened, no matter what charges were brought against her by the Grand Inquisitor of the Orders, that as long as she had her friends with her, they’d be able to weather any storm.

“Do you think they’ll kick us out?” Janessa asked.

Volinette thought about it. They’d managed to help the Masters defeat the menace of hundreds of demons swarming around the Academy grounds. They’d closed the portal to the Deep Void, and they’d returned (albeit in somewhat used condition) the Transcendental Prism. How much more could they want?

“No,” Volinette answered at length. “I don’t think so. I imagine that we’ll have a lot of explaining to do, but Maera is nothing if not fair. She was there. She saw how we contributed to the battle with her own eyes.

“Adamon is powerful and he has a right to be angry about how things happened, but he’s not a monster either. It’ll work out in the end. Things usually do.”

“Besides,” Baris quipped, glancing sidelong at Volinette. “Maybe it’s time for us to get our second chances.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Sunlight streamed into the courtyard from the east, illuminating motes of dust kicked up by the stonemasons who were working to repair the fountain. All around the Academy grounds, craftsmen scurried to and fro, often assisted by Quintessentialists who were recovering from wounds or had no other duties to attend to. Classes had been suspended until the repairs were complete, and knots of students were gathered under the trees. There was a fair amount of pointing and whispering as the trio passed, but Volinette, Baris, and Janessa kept their heads high, their eyes forward, and just kept walking.

Baris let out a low whistle as they approached the Great Tower of High Magic. Volinette followed his gaze and couldn’t help but to let out a small sigh. Some Masters were working to repair the damage the arch demon had done to the tower, but it was a slow process to mend the magically infused obsidian that gave the tower its strength.

“That hole looks a lot bigger now than it did then,” Volinette said quietly. “Did we really defeat something that came through there?”

“We? No
,” Janessa said, shaking her head. “You? Yes, absolutely. If I’d known what you were capable of from the beginning, I’d never have even thought about messing with you.”

Volinette glanced at her, narrowing her eyes in mock anger. “Guess you better watch where you’re stepping then, huh?”

Janessa nodded sagely. “Yes. Definitely.” She rummaged around in the pocket of her tunic. “Oh! Before we go inside, I have something for you.”

A moment’s wariness ran through Volinette, but she quashed it. Janessa hadn’t given her any reason whatsoever to doubt the profound change that had reshaped the girl.
Janessa took a fine silver chain out of her pocket. Hanging from it was the knotted twist of hair, the ring that Janessa had made for the Rite of Fealty. Janessa opened the chain and nodded at Volinette. Volinette leaned forward, allowing Janessa to put the chain around her neck. Once it was on, she traced its line with a fingertip and raised one eyebrow at Janessa.

“I wanted you to have it,” Janessa explained. “It meant a lot to me that you trusted me without it…and I thought it would be a good reminder.”

Volinette folded her new friend in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered in Janessa’s ear.

Baris scuffed the cobblestones with the tip of his boot. “Oh,
brother!
” he groaned.

“Quiet, you
,” Volinette snapped at him. “You’re just mad you won’t get to use it to manipulate a kiss from Janessa.”

His mouth worked silently, unable to form a retort of any kind. The girls laughed and resumed their way toward the tower. Baris caught up to them a moment later, still muttering under his breath about how cruel
, evil, and unfair the female mind was.

The entrance hall was being put in order. Many of the displays and artworks had been replaced or repaired. The urns of ancient
Quintessentialists had been removed for repair and special attention. Masters and visitors flitted from one corridor to the next, or waited for the brass cage that would lead them to the other parts of the tower. Volinette’s eyes landed on the foot of the stairs leading up to the higher levels, and her heart gave a hard thump in her chest. A little gasp escaped her lips.

Baris’s hand found hers and he squeezed it. The link-shock that jumped between them was a subtle but important reminder of what they’d been through together. It had been awful and horrifying. There w
ould be nightmares every night about what they’d seen and what they’d done. Still, no matter how it weighed on her, she’d never been alone. That was something to hold onto.

Volinette looked at Janessa and saw the girl’s eyes were locked on the stairs descending into the tower. While Volinette and Baris had been fighting for their lives on the third floor, Janessa had been left alone. Left to die. No one to help. No one to share her fear. She reached down and took Janessa’s hand in hers, hoping that the link-shock between them would reassure her new friend
, and let her know that she’d never be alone again.

Janessa looked over at her and smiled. It felt good. Better than Volinette would have expected. Things finally seemed to be right. No matter what happened today. No matter what sanctions were levied for their willful abuse of the rules, at least she knew that she’d made her dreams come true. She may not be a Master
of the Order, but she’d used her magic to save her friends, the Academy, and possibly the city. There was no small sense of satisfaction in that.

They walked, hand in hand, to the brass lift that would take them up to the Head Master’s office. They weren’t late, but neither were they early. There was no longer any time to dawdle. They had to meet their destiny
, and meet it head on. No place to run, even if they’d wanted to.

“Well met, heroes,” the page operating the cage said as they approached. He opened the grate and motioned them in with a grandiose gesture.

“We’re not heroes,” Volinette protested, but the page just winked at her.

“We’ll see.”

There was no time to argue, as the massive granite counterweight slid past them in its channel, descending into the bowels of the tower and lifting the cage slowly toward Maera’s quarters. The trip, which seemed to have taken so long when she first made it, was over in the blink of an eye. A bell chimed, the gate retracted, and the three of them found themselves standing in the antechamber outside the Head Master’s office.

All the confidence that Volinette
had about the end result of their actions against the arch demon and the portals evaporated as soon as she stepped out of the cage. She watched the cage retreat to the floors below, as if it, too, knew what was about to happen. A shiver went up her spine and she turned to Baris in a panic.

“What if I was wrong?” she blurted. “What if they end up censuring us and kicking us out of the Academy?”

“Fine time to be worrying about that!” Baris quipped with a little grin. She could tell he was nervous too, but he just shrugged. “If it happens, then it happens. Not much we can do about it now.”

“Better to face it together than alone,” Janessa added.

Janessa was right. No matter what happened, they’d be together. Volinette swallowed her fear, smoothed down her tunic with shaking hands, and walked toward the tapestry that separated Maera’s office from the antechamber.

The Head Master was there, behind her desk. Olin and Adamon stood to one side. Fulgent Casto and a
Quintessentialist Volinette had never met stood on the other. There was enough magical power in the room to level a fair portion of the city, yet Volinette knew in the back of her mind that it had been her power that ultimately saved them all. It wasn’t an arrogant knowledge, just an understanding of fact.

“Thank you for joining us this morning,”
Maera said, standing. Her ornate cloak had been cleaned, but was still tattered around the edges from the damage it had received during the battle. She hadn’t had time to have it mended yet, Volinette thought. Or she wanted to keep it as a souvenir.

“As if we had a choice,” Baris whispered loud enough so that only Volinette and Janessa could hear. Janessa giggled, but quickly hid it behind her hand, concealing it in a cough.

Maera swept out from behind her desk, her robes flowing like a receding sea around her ankles.

“Janessa, Baris, and Volinette,” the Head Master said in a tone that was far too serious for Volinette’s
liking. “You’ve been brought before this tribunal to answer to the accusations lain against you. Chiefly that you disobeyed the mandate of the Masters charged with your protection and interfered in a situation beyond your training and experience. Would you like to speak on your own behalf?”

Baris opened his mouth before Volinette could stop him. “You bet your a—
”

She
kicked him, hard, in the shin and he clamped his mouth closed over the rest of his sentence. Volinette glanced at Janessa, seeking unspoken permission to speak for the group and receiving it by way of an almost imperceptible nod.

“Head Master, none of us dispute the validity of the charges. Grand Inquisitor Vendur was kind enough to enlighten us as to the number and variety of the complaints against us. He’s right. We disobeyed a direct order, we took things without permission, and we interfered in a situation beyond our training and experience.

“None of that is in question, but I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t point out several facts that may have escaped the notice of the Grand Inquisitor, or at least weren’t given the weight that they should be given.

“We disobeyed a direct order to stay inside the admin building with the other refugees during the crisis. That’s true. However, staying inside with the others meant that a fellow student and friend would have been left to die in the dungeon below the tower. Isn’t the mandate of the Order of Ivory Flame to protect the Imperium and
all
its people? What kind of lesson would we have learnt if we had left one of our own to die, caged like an animal?”

Maera nodded and rolled her hand. Volinette continued.

“We also took things without permission. The Seer’s Cube we took from Master Vendur’s office. Although we didn’t have permission, the cube was essential for our survival, and it allowed us to help rescue the other students who were trapped on the third floor with us. It was also instrumental in helping us to rescue Janessa. We took it, but that was the only thing we took, and we took it without entering his office.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Adamon asked, his voice cool. Volinette glanced at him. He was fingering the ring of keys hanging from a lanyard on his belt. She felt herself flush, but nodded.

“I never said mistakes weren’t made.” She shrugged. “Time was of the essence and we needed to get Janessa out of the dungeon. I’m sorry we went into your office for the keys, Master Vendur. It was necessary.”

“Was it also necessary to shatter my door? And scatter the contents of my desk all over the floor?”

Volinette shot a sharp look at Baris, who found it a good time to inspect the toes of his boots for any scuffs or scrapes. Volinette planned to give him a good scuffing of her own as soon as they were alone.

“No, probably not. For that, we apologize. Don’t we, Baris?”

“Uh, yes,” the boy mumbled. “Sorry about that.”

“And your interference in the battle against the arch demon?” Maera asked, her voice no warmer than Adamon’s had been.

“With all due respect, Head Master, I felt that I had an advantage and I exploited that advantage before anyone else could die. I think we can all agree that what happened to Nixi, Halsie, and Syble shouldn’t happen to anyone. They were perverted by magic they didn’t understand, and they paid for it in the worst way imaginable. It was my duty, to the Order, to the Imperium, and to myself, to make sure that no one else was hurt or killed by what they unleashed.”

There was a long silence, which was finally broken by the rumbling laughter of the
Quintessentialist standing off to Maera’s left. His flowing brown hair and beard were shot with gray, but his hazel eyes were lively and full. He folded his arms across his chest and looked down at the Head Master with a smile.

“What’s so funny, Master Indra?”

“Say what you want about their methods, Maera, but they got the job done when the rest of you couldn’t. I remember a time not so long ago when you were standing in this very office between Tanglar and myself, explaining to Head Master Jotun why we shouldn’t be censured and thrown out on our collective ears.”

The Head Master sighed, running her hands through her silver hair. She glanced at the trio of students, her amber eyes flashing. She looked to Olin, who shrugged. Fulgent Casto spread his palms as if he w
ere helpless against the logic that had been presented. Finally, she looked at Adamon.

“What is your recommendation, Grand Inquisitor?”

Volinette had never been subjected to such intense scrutiny in her life. The look that Adamon turned on her felt as if it had burrowed into the essence of her soul. Janessa and Baris each had a turn under that icy regard and fidgeted in much the same way Volinette had. They waited, and waited, and waited.

“I think, Head Master, that in this case, the ends were justification for the means. Since no
irreparable
harm was done during their foolhardy quest, and the Prism has been returned to its rightful place, I would say that their misadventures be considered time served.”

“Why, Adamon,” Faxon Indra said in a sly drawl. “I didn’t know you had a heart.”

“Everyone deserves a second chance, Faxon.”

Volinette jerked upright as if she’d been shocked. She stared at the Grand Inquisitor, and he stared back.

“Just remember,” Adamon said as he swept toward Maera’s antechamber. “There are very few things that escape the notice of the Inquisitors. Come along, Olin.”

Adamon disappeared and Olin followed with a sigh. He paused as he passed the trio. “Good job, you three. I look forward to seeing what you can do when you’re actually working at it.” Then he followed Adamon from the room.