That wasn’t what I’d expected, and it must have shown, because Richard raised an eyebrow. “Neither of you are apprentices. I’m not responsible for your accommodation.” Richard turned to Anne. “You’ve been quiet so far. Do you have any questions?”
“Just one,” Anne said in her soft voice. “What do you want?”
“As I said, you’re to work with Morden.”
“You could have recruited a Dark healer or a Dark diviner,” Anne said. She didn’t raise her voice but her eyes stayed steady, and I had the feeling she was watching Richard very closely. “Why us?”
“Competent life mages and diviners are rarer than you might think.”
“That’s not an answer.”
For the first time, Richard smiled. “How long has it been since you joined the Light apprentice program, Anne?”
“I’m not a member anymore.”
“Regardless, how long ago did you join?”
“Five years.”
“How many years would you say a Light mage usually spends as an apprentice before graduation?”
“Three to seven.”
“But the only Light apprentices who spend the full seven years are those who join the program in their midteens,” Richard said. “The seven-year-apprenticeship tradition is rare nowadays. Almost all Light mages graduate by twenty-one, twenty-two at the latest. You are . . . twenty-four, was it?”
“There are apprentices in the program older than me.”
“Let me put this another way,” Richard said. “You spent a little over three years in the apprentice program. After the first six months, how often were you taught anything about the use of your magic that was genuinely new?”
Anne was silent. I looked at her, slightly puzzled. Somehow Richard had her off balance. “What’s your point?” I asked Richard.
“The point is that she should have been raised to journeyman rank within three months,” Richard said. “Instead she was required to waste her time in classes far below her level of ability. I expect that it wasn’t uncommon for her to know more about life magic than her teachers.” Richard turned back to Anne. “Do you know why they resented you so much?”
Anne didn’t answer.
“Because you were an embarrassment,” Richard said. “Apprentices aren’t supposed to outperform their masters, especially apprentices trained outside the program. They were never going to let you graduate. Your argument with that apprentice was simply a pretext. If they hadn’t expelled you for that, it would have been something else.” Richard looked back at me. “A similar story with you. You only achieved the status of auxiliary because of your friends in the Order of the Star. They would never have allowed you to become a full Keeper.”
“The Council doesn’t like us,” I said. “What are you getting at?”
“Unlike the Council, I do not believe in wasting talent,” Richard said. “The two of you are highly competent. Your skills were being underutilised. I viewed that as an opportunity.” He looked at Anne. “I hope that answers your question.”
Anne hesitated. “I suppose.”
“Good. One last thing.”
Here it comes, I thought.
“From time to time, I will have additional tasks for you. When I do, I will send someone with instructions. I will expect them to be carried out promptly and thoroughly. Is that understood?”
It was what I’d been afraid of, and I didn’t have an answer. There was no point arguing. I stayed silent, and so did Anne.
“Then if there’s nothing else, you’re free to go.”
I looked at Richard.
Richard sighed. “Yes, Alex, you are free to go wherever you wish. Stay in Wales, return to London, travel to another country if you like. As long as you fulfil the duties assigned to you, then where you spend your time is your own decision.” Richard glanced at the clock. “Morden will be expecting the two of you at the War Rooms tomorrow at nine A.M. In the meantime, I have another appointment.”
We looked at Richard, then at each other.
“You can go now,” Richard said.
We left. The construct was waiting for us in the next room, empty eyes and an unchanging smile. “Please follow me.”
| | | | | | | | |
As we walked back through the corridors I searched through futures of us staying in the mansion, scanning for any signs of danger. Nothing showed, but I still couldn’t help wonder whether Richard was going to just let us walk away.
“Is that it?” Anne asked.
We passed an intersection and I glanced left and right. “For now,” I said, keeping my voice down.
“I was expecting . . .” Anne said.
“Expecting what?”
“I don’t know. Something worse.”
“We’re not out yet,” I said. Ahead of us, the dama kept to its steady pace. I wasn’t sure if it was even hearing us at all.
The dama reached the front door, opened it, then stood with its hands clasped, looking at us with its empty smile. Through the open doorway I could see green grass and trees. The cold January air blew in, making me shiver.
I walked out through the door. The front of the mansion held a porch, with three concentric steps leading up to the doorway and pillars supporting a balcony above. Beyond the porch was nothing, not even a path. A grassy slope dipped down into a valley before rising up to a treeline. Around us, the green hills of Wales rose up into an overcast sky.
Anne followed me out and I walked down the steps. I was still looking through the futures in which I turned and went back inside, looking for any signs of danger in the mansion behind us.
The attack came from ahead.
A green ray stabbed from the trees on the other side of the valley, down towards where I would have been if I’d taken that last step onto the grass. I jerked back just in time, seeing the air flash sea green an arm’s length away, and I had an instant to identify the spell before I was darting back for the cover of the doorway. A second ray cut me off, passing between us to strike the side of the door, and I saw Anne’s eyes go wide as a whole section of the masonry puffed into nothingness, then Anne jumped back and I had to twist to dodge another ray which hit the pillar supporting the left-hand side of the porch, and turned the bottom half of it to dust.
With a creaking groan, the porch collapsed. The natural reaction would have been to jump backwards, but I knew that would leave me exposed to my attacker so instead I darted forward under the falling stone. Bricks smashed onto the steps all around, then I was through just as an avalanche of stone and masonry crashed down behind me.
All of a sudden everything was still. Choking dust filled the air. “Alex!” Anne shouted from inside.
“I’m okay!” I shouted back. “Stay there!”
Anne stayed quiet. The left side of the porch was a pile of broken rubble, shielding me from the line of fire, and the jagged remains of the balcony ended abruptly overhead. I crouched behind the debris, looking ahead to see if I’d get shot at if I stuck my head up. For a moment shadowy images of violence played through the futures, then they were gone.
I checked again, then stood up with a grunt. “We’re clear.”
Anne appeared in what was left of the doorway. She’d dodged back into the entrance hall when the balcony had fallen, and now picked her way over the rubble. “Look,” she said, nodding back into the hall.
I did. The dama was still standing there, still looking at us, still smiling. The balcony’s collapse had ripped one of the double doors off its hinges, but the rubble had missed the dama by a few feet. “Why’s it just standing there?” Anne asked.
“It’s programmed to wait for us to leave, then close the door,” I said. I pointed at the remains of the door beneath the rubble. “It’ll sit there until someone gives it new orders or until it runs out of batteries.”