Quill

215. Clean-up Job

Martel's first lesson on Glunday went much like those on Pelday, with little to no progress. "I'm sorry, Master Alastair." Mostly because between spending time with the Night Knives or in the Chamber of Earth, he had barely practised these spells as he was supposed to.

"Don't be, my boy, you will learn however fast or slow you must. But maybe we shall try some other bits of advanced magic. The trouble is that water is far from your natural inclination, and coupled with another element, ...

214. Getting Baited

Besides the Pelday evenings, Martel was making the most of his Malday afternoons. In the alley behind the insula where the Night Knives resided, he sparred with them as well. He did so using his staff rather than offensive magic, as their training had a specific purpose; for the first time in his life, Martel wore chain armour. It lay heavy on him, weighing many pounds, and made his arms feel slow. It also necessitated layers of fabric and leather, unless he wanted the iron rings to gnaw on h...

213. Fire and Ice

Another fiveday passed where little happened beyond Martel's usual routines. He stayed mindful of the debts he owed to no less than four people, but with the silver letter sent to his mother, at least the weight of his brother's medicine had been taken from him. It might take a while, but he would gather the money to repay what he owed in due time. Apart from Weasel, Martel did not expect the others to press him for repayment any time soon. So while he stayed alert for any messages from the N...

212. Silver Letters

At breakfast, Martel was among the first as usual, allowing him to choose an empty table. As he was nearly done, he was joined by not only one, but two mageknights. Maximilian was no surprise, but he had not expected to see Alain there, even if they did have a good sparring session last night. He wondered what Cheval would say if he saw his companion now sharing Martel's company.

"Nordmark, you work in the apothecary, correct?" Maximilian asked.

"Yes, what of it?"

"You know ...

211. Expanding Circles

Pelday morning, Martel counted his wealth. Thanks to his work with the Night Knives, he now stood at twenty-five pieces of silver and four pennies. Close to the wanted sum of thirty, yet still a while away. Waiting for chores to open up with Master Jerome would take many days unless something had changed drastically. Another task with the mercenary band would ostensibly net him the remaining coin, but he had no idea when that would be. Lady Pearl had not given them a new assignment, so that m...

210. The River Pearl

Ten warriors, wielding an assortment of arms but without emblems on their clothing, stood in a semicircle to prevent the three Night Knives from escaping. Martel noticed that they all wore an earring of red gold, presumably in lieu of an insignia.

Marcus pushed past Martel to stand by Flora's left side, holding his sword and round shield ready. Having observed the mageknights in training, Martel understood where to position himself and stepped forward to guard her right side.

"You...

209. A Trio of Knives

As agreed, Martel returned to the Night Knives the next day. As he entered the apartment, he found Marcus putting on chain armour and the rest of his equipment. Flora already seemed prepared. She glanced at Martel. "Lose the robe. You look like a scribe. We got a surcoat for you. Some armour too, just in case."

Martel pulled off his brown robe, revealing that he wore his leather tunic underneath.

"Ah, Master Jerome's work?" Flora nodded in acknowledgement. Of course, as a former s...

208. Selling Services

As Master Fenrick spoke about an etching of an obsidian idol from the Western Isles and what that might suggest about the local understanding of magic, Martel thought about the catacombs. Obviously, he could not reveal to a teacher that he had visited that dreaded place. The amount of uncomfortable questions this would unleash – best to keep it to himself. But Martel thought about the markings on the walls, looking to be of different make than those who built the tombs themselves.

The...

207. Present Help

"Have you given any thought to what Quintus told you?" Master Alastair asked as his lesson with Martel was coming to an end.

Not really, given how Martel had spent his time since, not to mention being concerned about his brother, but that felt rude to say. "Yes, a lot. I was a little troubled to hear that both as a weathermage or seamage, I might still end up in battles."

"It is unfortunate regarding being a weathermage, since any other province besides Nordmark would probably be ...

206. Double the Mage

While his last lesson with Father Andrew had hardly been riveting, practising his penmanship for a full bell, Martel saw the benefits of being able to write well. And he could think of worse ways to spend two hours. Sitting down at his desk, he looked at the old priest.

"Get your parchment and quill," Father Andrew mumbled.

Martel grabbed both, ready to write.

"Today, we'll look at arithmetic."

Martel barely suppressed an audible groan. He spent the next bell writing d...

205. Where All Roads Lead

"Martel, do you have any plans this afternoon?" Master Alastair looked at him as they took a break during the first lesson of the day.

"Just your second class, master," Martel replied while wondering what made his teacher ask.

"Remember I mentioned my friend in the Imperial administration? He has time to meet this afternoon. I figured we could do so in the bell before our class."

It took Martel a moment to remember; a lot had happened lately. Oh yes, Master Alastair's friend...

204. Silver Friends

Solday saw Martel returned to the workshops, though he had to work the first bell for free. Taking advantage of Master Jerome's good will and sympathies, he convinced the artificer to let him work another bell, bringing up his acquired fortunes to eight pieces of silver.

Working his daily shift in the apothecary, Martel thought about how much faster it would be if Mistress Rana paid him. She had once given him two silvers per bell he had worked, back when he laboured to make the cures f...

203. Quandaries as Posed by an Urchin

Knowing that Maximilian could be prickly in the mornings, Martel waited until lunch the next day. Once the mageknight was busy with his second portion, looking satisfied, the novice broached the subject. "Max, I know that I already owe you money, and I haven't forgotten. But I received a letter that my brother is sick, and my mum needs money for his medicine. Any chance you can lend me some?"

"That is an intense question, Nordmark. Of course I will help, but it is middle of the month. B...

202. Familial Duty

Although dismissive of Flora's offer, Martel ended up giving it more consideration than he initially thought. Obviously, if he wanted to be a weathermage and return to Engby, he could only do so in the employ of the Empire. Working for these Night Knives meant travelling across the continent or beyond, he surmised.

But if Martel decided to become a seamage, pursuing the dream of seeing distant lands, maybe he should consider doing so for the employer who would pay him the most. Martel h...

201. Scouting for Talent

Martel left the Chamber of Earth with some fresh bruises and additional respect from the others present. Someone had brought skin salve, which helped with the former, and Martel went to sleep feeling satisfied with the evening. It was nice to feel for once that something had gone the right way. He slept well that night without a repeat of unpleasant dreams; waking up the next morning, he felt ready to face the day.

Shuttling into Father Andrews' classroom, Martel took his usual seat and...

200. Who Talked About Sparring Guild

Martel's prediction came true. As he slept, his dreams moved through dark tunnels, full of familiar people and strange creatures, where he walked endlessly without ever finding the way out. It felt eerie to wake, his head overtaken by all these thoughts, but he could take comfort feeling magically refreshed with his spellpower restored to him. His leg had also improved; it still hurt a little when he walked, but otherwise did not trouble him.

Even though he had to save some of his spell...

199. The Shape of Things

Martel hardly felt rested as he woke the next day, even if little sleep was better than none. His leg still hurt, but if he walked slowly, he could disguise his limp. None of the gashes were deep, thankfully, but it would take a few days to heal at least. Although he had not planned for it, he was lucky that today was Solday. While he had his work in the apothecary and the workshops, he would not be required to do any spellcasting, as he had no classes. With much of his spellpower still drain...

198. Limping In

For a being without muscles, the undead skeleton moved fast. Running down the tunnel, whenever Martel looked over his shoulder, he found the creature keeping pace. While maintaining his magelight, floating over his head, Martel tried to shoot more bolts of fire behind him as he ran. Unable to take aim using his heat sense, he had to rely on the light, which did not work as well; sprinting in panicked flight probably did not help either. Every bolt missed, accomplishing nothing but making him ...

197. Close Encounter of the Cold Kind

Martel had a new strategy for exploring the sewers. Remembering that both hostile wizards and scared homeless people might live down here, he did not light a flame to follow him around permanently. If he met the former, Martel would like to have the element of surprise; with the latter, he did not wish to frighten them away. Instead, he only ignited his light when consulting his map, ducking into an alcove each time to limit who might see. Should he be unlucky enough to meet inquisitors again...

196. One Does not Talk about Sparring Guild

Martel traced his steps back through the sewers until he reached the grate door. He picked up the padlock and placed it onto the door but without clicking it together, leaving it unlocked. With luck, nobody would have reason to come here tomorrow, and the door would still be open for Martel's next trip. This taken care of, he hurried to get all the way back to the castle, up the hatch, and out of the workshops. Removing his cloth mask, he took a few deep breaths; the effect of the perfume had...

195. Slippery Paths

Martel did not require map or markings for the first leg of the journey. With only one direction to travel in, he continued down the familiar path that led to the pipework of the Lyceum, flowing into the sewers. As he reached that point, he had to make his first decision. Several tunnels branched from here, though the choice seemed easy. He remembered where Julia had appeared from the first time he met her, so he went that way. Still on familiar ground – he could undoubtedly find his way ba...

194. Picking and Entering

The next day, in between classes, Martel prepared for his nightly excursion. He felt almost a little excited at the prospect of going exploring, even if his destination was the least appealing place for such an activity. While he knew that he was probably breaking a rule by entering the sewers – if students were allowed to go there, they probably would not leave it locked – Martel saw no harm. Nobody would know, and he had noble reasons for doing it.

He did require a few aids, as he...

193. Service for Hire

"Father Andrew, could we delve deeper into the history of Morcaster?" Martel said as soon as he had sat down, trying to seize the initiative before the old priest might start on another topic. "I think it might be important for me to understand the city where I live, capital of the Asterian Empire. And I was fascinated by what you told me last fiveday on the beginnings of its rise to glory."

Eyes surrounded by wrinkles beheld the novice for a while. "I suppose we can, though I'm not sur...

192. The Fellowship of Feathers

Before Martel began running all over the sewers, which would include somehow getting through the locked grate door, it seemed prudent to make sure Julia had not already been picked up by the inquisitors. He knew that the Inquisition had a building in the temple district, and he assumed any prisoners would be in that place. It seemed a simple matter of simply going there and inquire, but he figured that a little support from a high-ranking member of society would not hurt.

"No." Maximili...

191. Searching Blind

Arriving at the workshops for his Solday task, Martel waited with the other novices until Master Jerome appeared and gave them their work for the bell. As the others dispersed, he waited behind to get the artificer's attention. "Master Jerome, I was wondering if you had more tasks for me to do today? If I could earn silver or two."

"Been a long while since you asked me that. I thought Mistress Rana kept you in her pay?"

"She doesn't pay me. Not yet, anyway."

The bulky man sc...

190. Buried Beneath

When Martel eventually began to suspect that Julia would not appear, he got up from his uncomfortable seat on the ground and walked down the alley. He summoned a globe of magelight to hover in front of him and began searching for any entrance to the sewers. Unfortunately, he was rather hamstrung by not knowing how they looked. He had never had reason to find one before or take a closer look at his surroundings while walking around Morcaster, nor had his course on water magic dealt with this. ...

189. Late Appointments

Martel had survived plenty of classes with only a few hours of nightly rest. He discovered there was a vast gulf between functioning on little sleep and doing so on no sleep. Every thought moved slowly through his head. When someone spoke to him, he felt like it took ages until he had comprehended their meaning, let alone formulated a coherent response. Nora simply laughed at him, warning him that he was fortunate Mistress Rana did not catch him in such a state.

Master Alastair was less...

188. Reminders

They finished the remainder of the journey through the Undercroft in silence. Martel felt a host of emotions, which altogether left him disinclined to talk. As the hot-headed emotions of the fight subsided, he still felt an after-shock when considering how close he came to death. If Tibert's ambush had not been intended to kill Kerra, the most likely target would have been the mage who had embarrassed him twice, both at The Broken Crown and at The Copper Drum.

Tibert had gone so far as ...

187. Spells in the Dark

Already, the other spellcaster raised a stone from the street and hurled it through the air. Diving to the ground, Martel evaded it. Face to face with the unconscious Tibert, he moved to take cover behind his body. Martel assumed the mage would not risk killing her employer.

The earth shook underneath him. A mound rose into the air, with Martel rolling down one side and Tibert the other, separating them. So much for that plan.

His enemy changed tactics. Rather than the slow moving...

186. Rematch

Still hiding inside the building, his face illuminated by the flickering magelight around his staff, Martel tried to think. The shouts and screams from the street did not help, but he had been in situations like this before, and he knew to focus. He considered what he might deduce about the enemy mage. He had caught a quick glimpse, and it looked to be a woman, but he could not tell anything else from her appearance. But, judging by the wall she had raised, she had to be an earthmage. Hopeful...