Death & Magic (The Barefoot Healer, volume I)

Death & Magic chapter 34

Chapter 34

Adramal picked up her satchel and went downstairs, trying not to look as though she was about to break half-a-dozen of Kyturil’s rules. Outside, she glanced at Degoran’s tower, its stones stained crimson by the setting sun.

She headed for the gap between the Great Hall and the inner wall, where she’d tried to eavesdrop on the teachers as they were dining on Tanshalm’s Day. As she picked her way among the detritus, she wished she’d thought to put her boots on, but it was too late to go back and change now.

She squeezed past the staircase that led to the top of the inner wall. Sweat dripped from her, and not because of the heat. She decided to stay here for about an hour after curfew, to make sure everyone was asleep.

Something small hit the ground a few feet away. Adramal jolted and bit back a yell. Feathers rustled above her. A bell rang — curfew — no, eleventh hour. Another hour to sunset.

Do you know any songs? said Lelsarin. Or funny stories?

Adramal felt her tunic ride up her back as she slid down the wall. It’s going to be a long couple of hours.

The shadow of the inner wall crept up the side of Shendar’s tower. Eventually, the bell rang for curfew. Adramal tensed. If she was going to be missed, it would be now. She heard footsteps from the inner ward — apprentices leaving the library, she guessed, and servants returning to their quarters.

Shendar’s tower was now almost completely in shadow. How to reckon another hour? The bell wouldn’t ring again until morning. Overhead, the stars were coming out, peeping through scraps of cloud. She knew you could measure the night’s watches by the stars, but had never bothered to learn how. Angaris, the near moon, took about an hour and a quarter to go halfway across the sky. That would be perfect... if she could see the damned thing.

She decided to wait until Shendar’s tower was entirely in shadow. Then she would watch the first star that emerged above the Great Hall until it disappeared above the inner wall.

A few minutes after seeing a star, she regretted this idea. She had to squint to keep track of it among the clouds, and its movement was slower than the burning of a candle. Her neck and shoulders ached by the time the star finally passed out of sight.

Be here now.

With a deep breath, she took a step towards Degoran’s tower. The crunching of her foot among the leaves almost stopped her heart.

She waited, every muscle taut, straining to hear any sign that she had been heard. Then she edged forward, treading as lightly as possible. She still thought they would hear her footsteps in Kyer Altamar. At the corner of the Hall, she paused, peering into the darkness.

Anyone who’s supposed to be here would have some source of light, wouldn’t he? said Lelsarin.

Adramal looked up at Degoran’s tower, visible as something that obscured the stars behind it. She felt her way to the door. It opened to her touch with the faintest of squeaks, and she slipped inside.

As she fumbled in her satchel for a candle, the door swung shut, cutting off what little light remained. The candle slipped through her sweating fingers and landed on the floor.

Panting, she dropped to her knees and swept her hands over the flagstones. Dirt stuck to her fingers. When she found the candle, she gripped it so tightly that she feared she would snap it.

Didn’t think you were afraid of the dark, said Lelsarin.

I’m afraid of what — or who — this darkness conceals, Adramal replied. She put the candle on the floor and took out her tinderbox. After putting a small piece of tinder on the floor, she tried to strike a spark. On the fourth attempt, the flint flew from her hand and skittered out of reach.