Nightfire | The Whispering Wall #1

Twenty Eight: Homesick

Yddris chuckled and took another drag on his pipe. "You'll get there. I'd be willing to bet you aren't shit, Nika's just got notoriously high standards." The man shook his head. "Kiel's teeth, you should've seen him when I was teaching him. Burned through every book I bought him in a matter of days and could answer any question on its contents. Bit embarrassing, if I'm honest."

"Wasn't that a good thing?"

"Well, yes, it was for him." Yddris shrugged. "It's not exactly a pleasant experience to be shown up by your apprentice."

Jordan frowned. "So can you not..."

"Read? No. Never learned, but I survived this long without it. Plenty do. Just saying, boy, and it probably won't be this way, but if you never manage to drill a single letter of Nictavian into your head you're not the only one. Anyway," he got up, "I've convinced him to let you go for the day."

"Thank god," Jordan said vaguely, still processing what Yddris had told him.

"Because it's about time you started your lessons with me."

"What?" Jordan sharpened up, and realised Yddris was serious. "But it's late."

"Exactly."

"Don't demons...."

"Yes."

"Oh." It dawned on him at that moment what Yddris was referring to. "Oh."

"Come on. It might take your mind off things."

Jordan doubted that very much, considering that what constituted 'things' was exactly what Yddris was about to take him out to do. He sighed, ignoring the tight ache in his throat, and got up off the bench to follow Yddris inside.

"Demons do come out primarily at night," Yddris said as they went, "but you can relax for now. We're starting small." He led Jordan to the bottom of the attic stairs and pointed up them. Jordan frowned. He hadn't had occasion to go upstairs, though he'd been staying at Yddris's house for a week. The attic had gained an eerie mystery in his mind, and he couldn't help the thudding of his heart against his ribcage as he ascended into the semi-gloom.

Behind him, Yddris lit a torch of green flame in the palm of his hand, throwing odd shadows over the crossbeams of the room above. The space was larger than Jordan had expected. As he clambered out of the trapdoor, Yddris lit a lamp that sat on a hook beside it on the low ceiling. More were ranged along the beams at waist-level, and Yddris went around lighting them all until the attic glowed green. It was barren aside from a white chalk circle, faded with age, on the floor in the centre.

"I've been told that the noise has been a problem for you," Yddris said. When Jordan frowned, the Unspoken tapped the side of his head with a finger.

"Oh...yeah. It has." He fidgeted and shivered surreptitiously. "I hear it in my sleep. All the time."

"Magic runs closer to the surface at night," Yddris said, sounding pleased, as if Jordan had answered a difficult question. "Which is why we are doing this now." He chuckled. "You might want to start getting used to the idea of training at night."

Jordan groaned. "But you sleep at night...don't you?"

He thought about it for a minute, and then realised that he had nothing to back it up. He had never come across any of the Unspoken except Koen sleeping at night, and even then the other apprentice had gone to bed much later than he had.

"We sleep when we get the chance," Yddris said. "Demons are active at night; most of our jobs take place then. For a new apprentice just starting out in understanding the Gift, there's no point making it harder by training when the source of the Gift is harder to reach."