Death & Magic (The Barefoot Healer, volume I)

Death & Magic chapter 28

Chapter 28

Adramal clenched her teeth to stop herself from swearing. “One of us will have to cast a light spell.”

“You know we’re not allowed to do magic without permission,” he said, his voice trembling.

“Who’s going to find out?”

“The teachers can sense it,” he said. “We’re not all that far from the classrooms.”

“Stone blocks magic,” she said. Most magic. “There’s at least four feet of it between us and them.” She stood up. “Come on.” He didn’t move. “Look, I’ll do the spell, all right? Seeing as I’m the one who’s late.” Seeing as it’s my fault we started kissing.

“The penalties are severe,” he said. “I’ve known apprentices be expelled for it.”

“The penalties if I’m caught are severe,” said Adramal. “You might be content to wait for someone to rescue you, but I have a lesson to go to. I’ve been late for too many of them already.” Even as she spoke, she knew she was being pigheaded — if she got herself expelled, the murderer would be free to kill again. But Kyturil’s petty prohibition on the use of magic chafed at her. She started for the stairs.

Perinar jumped to his feet and moved to block her. “Let me go first.”

Adramal closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. Be here now. She put the spell together and opened her eyes. Nothing had happened. Come on, girl, she told herself. Light spells are supposed to be easy. And so they had been — when there hadn’t been a firm rule against using them, and she hadn’t needed to deal with the unfamiliar feelings Perinar had aroused in her. She calmed her mind more carefully, and cast the spell once more. A fist-sized fuzzy white ball appeared before her, almost invisible in the sunlight.

She descended a few steps, staying as close to the wall as she could. Perinar advanced, about half-a-dozen steps in front of her. Once she was under the roof, she directed her light to move a few steps below her feet. It was brighter than the candle, and a lot steadier.

“That’s a very good light spell,” Perinar said.

With any other apprentice, she would have made a sarcastic response like, “I’ve only been practising it for five years.” But now, all she could say was, “Thank you.” She was surprised to find that she meant it.

The descent seemed to take much longer than the ascent, though they went as quickly as they dared. Adramal kept one hand on the wall all the time, her fingertips gripping the edges of stones wherever she could. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the stairs and the wall, going so far as to shield the side of her face with her hand so she wouldn’t accidentally look into the void.

At last, Perinar reached the bottom of the stairs. He turned around and held out his arms to her. She went down the last few steps and embraced him. Fear and joy overcame her self-discipline, and her light went out. For a moment, she thought she was falling. But no — he held her tight.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Nothing could hurt her while she was in Perinar’s arms. She wanted to kiss him, and keep kissing him. But she had enough responsibility left to say, “I have to go now.”

“Take care. Will I see you at lunchtime?”

“Of course.”

Reluctantly, she eased out of his embrace. She picked up her satchel and sprinted to the classrooms.

She edged open the door of the room she should’ve been in ten minutes ago. The apprentices already had their heads down, reckoning their way through Eskalyn’s problems. Eskalyn himself stared into the middle distance. She might get away with being late after all...