I shivered under my cloak as I made my way up the Protectorate's slanted streets. It was much colder up in the mountains that it had been in the lowlands of Solangia, though I had a feeling that it would take just a few minutes of hiking up to the school to make me regret such a heavy cloak.
Worse, I still didn't feel normal. The walk wore me out much quicker than it should have, my breath coming too heavily. It felt like everyone who passed me could tell I didn't belong there from how I staggered upwards. But I gritted my teeth and kept going. Taking a break from merely walking would be even more embarrassing.
The school rose from the top of the city's mountain in sheer walls of white stone, like a giant's ivory crown. Its towers, evenly spaced along the rounded outer wall, rose into the bitingly clear blue sky, oval windows at the top of each one shining like jewels. Squinting, I could see that they were barred. It was a stunning balance between the beautiful façade and its function as a prison.
The iron teeth of the huge gate were swung wide open to a vast courtyard. Two misshapen, stone gargoyles stood at either side, hunching over incoming visitors. I gave one a matching snarl as I passed it, panting from the trek up.
The courtyard wasn't more impressive than the ones of the Solangan royal castle, but it was probably just as impressive, and it was open to the public — which meant it wasn't half as beautiful as the parts of the university reserved for important people. It was knowing that that made me stop inside the entryway and stare.
The ground was rough gray rock, but the smooth white stone walls rose up all around creating a hexagonal yard with an open sky. Where there would have been a fountain in a Solangian courtyard (which I suspected would be frozen for most of the year in these mountains) was instead a larger-than-life statue of a figure with their arms out in a welcoming gesture, hands gracefully positioned with their palms upwards. It was carved from the same white stone as the walls and practically shining in the sunlight.
Interested, and wanting something to do so I wouldn't appear to be taking a break simply because I was winded, I drifted toward it and looked up. It was hard to decide what gender person the statue might represent; it wore a cloak whose hood hid their face and its folds swept all the way to the ground, carved so delicately and lifelike that it seemed to be blowing in the wind, obscuring its body.
Benches arranged around the courtyard were occupied despite the cold, with students swathed in fur cloaks and scarves, talking with each other or reading. Many students were here willingly, as the Protectorate's university was one of the five greatest on the continent. Or maybe it was six greatest. Seven? I hadn't paid that much attention when Caer talked about it, to be honest. Anyway, I wasn't interested in any of them. The Black Knight would be an eighteen-year-old boy who likely hadn't left the city of the Protectorate in his life.
I took one last long look at the statue, confirming what I had first thought. I knew this figure, which its face hidden and its arms out. It was the Healer. Though what the image of a Solangian Guardian was doing outside of Solangia, I didn't know.
The Healer was the best of the Light Guardians, always positioned directly opposite the Assassin. It had been several generations since Solangia had one. It was supposed to be an omen of good luck, the very opposite of me and Nemia and the Black Knight.
For a moment I was struck with a cold sort of awareness, a tingle down my spine. I could picture exactly how I looked to an outsider just then — wrapped in a black cloak flapping in the wind, arms crossed tightly against my chest, dark hair loose and obscuring my face as I looked up, up, up at a white form at once both delicate and powerful. The Assassin, silhouetted against the brightness of the Healer.
Unnerved by the way it towered over me, I stepped back, then looked furtively over my shoulder to see if anyone had noticed my preoccupation with it.
Only one girl sitting nearby looked up at me from her book with a vague sort of curiosity. When I met her eyes, she smiled. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Fascinating," I agreed. I hated it.
When I didn't look away she smiled again, friendly and open, her dark red hair contrasting with her pale, flushed skin. She was very pretty, and almost familiar. "You must be a new student."
"Yes," I said, making an abrupt decision. "I am. My name is Magali."
The pause before she responded was a fraction of a second too long to mean nothing. She blinked twice. I noticed. She might have noticed me noticing, because she said, "Nice to meet you! I'm Morane."
I didn't pause at all. "Morin! I hope I see you again later once I've figured out where I need to be, I'd love to talk." I flashed her an uninhibited smile and walked away, not letting myself pick up the pace until I was far beyond her range of hearing.
Once I was, I broke into a run and hissed out a string of curses as long as I had breath for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finding the university's equivalent of the training yards was harder than I'd expected it to be, mostly because they were located exactly where I wouldn't have put them.
The highest level of the castle, besides the towers, was mostly a balcony, fully open to the elements. Only a wide but very low railing stood between the balcony and the sky, and the view was encircled by mountains in the distance wherever you turned. This was where the university chose to have combat lessons and practice. I could only assume it was for aesthetic purposes rather than safety, and was horrified to find myself disapproving of the danger rather than admiring the setup. God, I was turning into Caer.
I walked past the pairs of sparring students (a decent amount, for a castle full of academics), went to the railing and looked down. I imagined dueling someone while balanced on this railing, with that very long fall to one side, and grinned, excited by the idea. That was more like it.
"Don't fall over," Joshua said, and I whirled around.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded.
He sat on the railing, arms crossed and his back to the steep drop. "Guess."
I scowled. "You better not be trying to get the drop on the rebels by finding the Black Knight first. That would be rude."
"That's what you're doing," he pointed out.
"Right. It would be rude to steal my idea."
We exchanged a look, both of us accepting that neither of us would be giving up.
"I assume you haven't found him yet?" Joshua asked, scanning the students around the balcony. "Figures. You're a mess. I've been here for ages and you only just thought of checking here."
What had taken ages was getting here, not having the idea, but that would have been even more humiliating, so I let it slide with a glare. "Attract any attention on your way up?"
"Of course not. I'm discreet."
"You sure?"
"Yes," he said, but his voice betrayed that he was no longer as sure as he'd been. "Why?"
I shrugged and leaned back on the railing even further than he was, showing off. "Just checking. Meet anyone who might be useful finding the Knight?"
He laughed. "I'm not sharing my resources."
"Of course not," I said in a condescending voice. "Because you haven't got any."
"Give it up, Laerhart. You won't get it out of me that easily."
I patted his arm. "Don't be silly, I'm not trying to trick you into sharing anything. I'm just letting you know that pretty girl with the red hair who was very nice to you on your way up here is Iso's daughter, and she's going to tell him we're here."
Joshua took his eyes very slowly off the fighters and looked at me.
I smiled widely in answer.
His eyes widened as he realized I was completely serious. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," I said. "That's the problem. I didn't do anything while walking in that should have made her aware of who I am, even if her father sent word for her to keep an eye out for me. Yet she latched onto me the moment I walked past her. Which means that something else must have tipped her off before I even got here."
Joshua paled. "I might have introduced myself to a guard on my way in, very loudly."
"As Joshua Blaisze?"
"I didn't think news would have spread about—" He began quietly and quickly.
"No, you didn't think! That's the problem! She obviously knows about us."
"Are you sure? Maybe she's not Iso's daughter."
"She looks just like her sister. Didn't you meet Galatea at the castle?"
"Not for long," he said, and cursed emphatically. "You're right, I see it now. But you're still jumping to conclusions. Maybe it will be fine if we just avoid her. She might not know we tried to kill her father."
I shook my head. "She knows us. Or at least, she definitely knows you're here, and she suspects I am too."
"How can you know that?"
"She introduced herself as me."
Joshua struggled for words. "She — what? Why the hell would she do that? And what does that— how do you—"
I waved him away impatiently. "When I realized I recognized her because she looked like Galatea and suspected that she suspected me, I needed a way to test my theory. So I introduced myself with a different name, to see if she was surprised that I wasn't Morane. I told her I was Magali."
"Oh," Joshua said, understanding. "If she was looking for you, she would be surprised that you didn't have the name she expected, but that it was one still connected to the whole mess. Any random person shouldn't have been thrown off that you happened to have the same name as the Solangian princess, if they even knew the princess of Solangia was named Magali. But she would, so—"
"So she was surprised, and I could tell. Then she tried to turn the trick around on me."
Joshua nodded slowly. "Clever. She's a quick thinker. You must have looked shocked when she stole your name two seconds later, and then she'd know you were testing her, and know who you really are."
"Please," I said, rolling my eyes. "I'm smarter than that. She has no proof I am who I am. But unless she's the dumb one in the family, she has to at least suspect me."
"Can we hope she's the dumb one?" He asked desperately.
"No," I said. "And thanks to you, we better team up to find this Knight as fast as possible. Before she can send a message to Iso and get him up here and make this even more complicated."