Chapter 12
“I am Eskalyn, First of the Council of Kyturil,” the man said. He looked to be about forty. “Would I be right in thinking that you’re the daughter of the wizard Alesin?”
“Yes, Sir, I am,” said Adramal.
“I would have thought you would be an apprentice at Thuren.”
Are you going to send me back there? “I... I was, Sir, but I left recently.”
“And how many years had you completed there?”
“Four years, Sir. I was nearly at the end of my fifth.”
“And why did you leave?”
Tell the truth. Tell the truth, even if it hurts. “My father is a teacher at Thuren, Sir.” Her mouth had gone dry, and she swallowed. “The Council there felt that his... his expectations of me — the sort of wizard he thought I should be — were preventing me from becoming the best wizard I could. They therefore decided it would be best for me to finish my apprenticeship elsewhere.”
Eskalyn looked sceptical. A younger man at the right-hand end of the line spoke. “I knew Alesin — probably before you were born. He was a difficult man to be friends with — one of the strongest and most talented wizards I’ve ever met, but he expected everyone else to be as capable as him, and he seemed not to understand why they might not be.”
He hasn’t changed much since, then.
“I see,” said Eskalyn. “So you wish to accept our offer to complete your apprenticeship at Kyturil?”
Not really. “Yes, Sir.”
Eskalyn leaned back in his chair. “For an apprentice to move from one master to another is unusual...”
“Unprecedented, you mean, among wizards,” said the woman on the left of him.
Eskalyn nodded. Adramal thought he scowled at the interruption. “Nevertheless, from what we’ve heard about you, you’re talented, and of course, we’d be proud to have Alesin’s daughter studying here.” The others nodded. “We’ll give you a test to see whether you’re up to the standard we expect of our fifth-year apprentices.”
Part of her hoped she would fail, so she’d be free from the dangerous obligation she’d got herself into.
The wizard at the left-hand end of the line spoke. He was older than Eskalyn, by perhaps a decade. He squinted at her, as though he couldn’t see properly at a distance. “My name is Komarth. I teach history and geography. Tell me, on what river does the city of Salthes stand?”
“The Tigron, Sir,” said Adramal.
Komarth gave no indication of whether this was the right answer, though Adramal knew it was. He made a note on a slate in front of him.
“Name the islands of the Shofirrn Archipelago, from west to east.”
“I... I’ve never heard of those islands, Sir.”
“What are the principal exports of the Shofirrn Archipelago?”
Adramal wondered if he’d heard her. “I just said, I’ve never heard of those islands. So how would I know what they export?”
He gave her a hard stare. “We do not tolerate insolence from apprentices, Adramal,” he said. “If you don’t know the answer, just say, ‘I don’t know.’”
Adramal tried not to scowl. The teachers at Thuren didn’t tolerate insolence either, but it usually took a lot more back chat before they reminded her of it.
YOU ARE READING
Death & Magic (The Barefoot Healer, volume I)
FantasyA murder mystery set in a school for wizards. When apprentice wizard Adramal moves to a new school to complete her training, she discovers that several ritual murders have been committed by magic, threatening the fabric of the world. The evidence po...
