01 - The Price of Talent (41 page)

“Ok, so no maiming or killing,” I said. “Seems simple enough. And all this starts when the guard at my door lets me out around midday tomorrow?”

“Precisely,” said Claudius.

              Just then there was a gentle knocking on the door.

“Excellent timing,” said Claudius. “Your food has arrived. Now, I will take my leave. Good luck Tyr, I think you will find tomorrow to be quite a lot of fun.”

              Then Claudius left. As he left, a guard came in with a tray of food for me. After the guard left, I realized I was quite hungry, so I ambled over to the table to see what was on the tray. Once I removed the cover, I found a plate with roast lamb, potatoes and vegetables, all apparently cooked with the lamb to absorb some of the flavor. It was an excellent meal, clearly the kitchens had been working hard to make the meal before the exam enjoyable.

              When dinner was done, and with nothing else to do, I settled into the chair in the sitting room and leafed through the books that Claudius had left me. One was a standard book of religious text from the church explaining how the first high priest defeated the oligarchy of evil mages. Another was a book about the history of the holy empire since its founding after the defeat of the mage’s armies. Clearly most of these books had been taken from the history section of the library.

The last book I looked at before giving up and turning in was about how the people of the holy empire have benefitted from 500 years of church rule. It compared how the people lived under the mages and how they have lived since. Apparently, the mages were a loosely connected group of local lords. They each controlled individual areas of the country from their towers of magic and all the peoples who lived within them. The book portrayed them as local tyrants with nearly complete control over their subjects’ lives. It was fairly overbearing on that point. It then went on to compare the relative freedom the populace has today, emphasizing how little interference the church made in the everyday lives of the populace. The thesis of the book was that, because currently the local lords were appointed and overseen by the church, it kept them from becoming corrupt and falling into sinful ways of governance. Sinful being, apparently, any policy not approved by the church.

If there was a message in the books Claudius selected, I didn’t get it at the time. Mostly, flipping through them bored me just enough to make me turn in early and get a good night’s sleep. Well, try to get a good night’s sleep anyway. My problem was that I was more than a bit nervous as to the prospects of Meredith’s and my escape attempt planned for the following day. There was too much that was left to chance, and not enough things we could count on. But beneath these doubts was also a determination too. I didn’t want to stay here. I had seen too much of how the church dealt with dissent to want to continue to be taught its ways and allow myself to become any more involved with it. My parents were dead, my friends missing, and Meredith’s dad imprisoned far to the north as a result of it.

It was these thoughts that finally settled my mind enough to sleep.

Chapter 24.

I woke fairly early the next day. Even though I was ready to get on with things, I knew it would not be time for my part for another few hours. Instead, I stayed in bed, letting myself enjoy the relative comforts I had now, comforts that I would not be enjoying on the road. After a while though, I got bored, so got up, got dressed and let the guard know I could use some brunch. Why brunch? Because it was halfway between breakfast and lunch, and because I wanted to let the food have plenty of time to settle before I began my part in Meredith’s and my escape attempt. Today was not a day I wanted indigestion to mar my performance.

The food my guard brought was quite good. Eggs, sausage and oatmeal sweetened with honey. I was glad for it, as I was likely going to be eating cured meat and root vegetables while on the road. You know, the kind of food that keeps for a long time but takes a lot of boiling before it’s palatable. I lingered over every bite, savoring it as if for the last time. But eventually, I finished, and all I had to do was wait.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait more than an hour or two. When my guard came in and collected my food tray, he said:

“They’re about to start the practical exam now. So you can bugger off and let me clean this all up.”

“Any sign of the test-takers in the hallway?” I asked.

“You’re not gone yet?” He said with a smile. “No, the dungeons and store rooms are as quiet as ever.”

              With that, I thanked him and headed out into the hallway. True to his word, there was no one there. I was at the far end of the hallway, with the stairs going up towards ground level at the other. Between myself and the stairwell, there were a few store rooms. Behind me was the stairwell into the dungeon proper, where the actual cells were. Further down in the bowels of the dungeon was the cold room I had been staying in when I was first brought here.

              With no one nearby, I walked quickly down the hall and looked into each of the store rooms. Most of them just contained old furniture, blankets and the like. The sort of things that would be useful if you had a higher profile prisoner that you didn’t want to just stick into a hole in the ground and forget about. They were also clearly not used frequently. There was a fine layer of dust on all of it.

              The stairwell was also empty. I paused, listening to see if I heard anything. The only noises I heard were far enough away that I was able to climb the stairs with little worry of being caught.

              The next level was also deserted. However, as I walked down the hallway, I noticed the contents of these storerooms were less useless. Instead of furnishings, these had racks of old guard uniforms and weapons in them. I immediately decided it would be wise to ditch my initiate monk clothes and change into something a little less conspicuous. I eventually found a pair of breeches and shirt that fit without risking either falling off or restricting the blood flow to my limbs. It was a simple combination of clothes, likely meant to be worn underneath the light armor the guards all wore. And while borrowing some armor would have been useful, I also thought it might draw too much attention to me. Better to appear in nondescript clothes and pretend to be a porter or stable hand until someone recognized me. After all, a guard not at his post, or not standing where a guard was supposed to be would draw the attention of the priests overseeing the exam. After all, they presumably knew where the guards were supposed to be standing. I also ditched my monks shoes (sandals having been abandoned when it got too cold out) for a pair of sturdy leather boots. Fortunately, like the clothes, there were sufficient quantities of these as well, so I could find a pair that fit reasonably well.

              I would have liked to grab a winter cloak too, but unfortunately, this was just a store room for guards’ indoor uniforms. The outdoor uniforms, with their warm wool cloaks, were likely kept elsewhere. The one thing I did grab though was a truncheon. Typically it was used by guards to subdue a prisoner without killing them, so it should fit Claudius’s demand that I not use lethal weaponry. But it was stretching things a bit, as it was quite easy to use a baton to do serious damage to a person. Still, I didn’t want to face any inquisitor initiate test takers without a melee weapon. After all, they would have man-catchers, bolas and likely batons as well. That is, if Alfieri’s test preparation was to be believed.

              So dressed, I left this store room and quickly headed for the next stairwell up. The next level was the guard room. Because of the festivities surrounding the exam, it was mostly empty. Still, the few unlucky guards left on duty, but not assigned to a particular place, were in here. Fortunately, these guys were not part of the festivities and were not a threat. Also, with their supervisors watching the festivities outside, they were playing cards in the corner and quite wrapped up in it. This gave me the opportunity to walk through the room, and largely go unnoticed by them.

              On the other side of the guard room, I got to another set of stairs and headed on up again. This level was only a floor below ground level. Unfortunately, this required a certain degree of caution. This close to the surface I was more likely to run into initiates. This floor contained priest offices. I had no idea what they were used for, but I wasn’t going to waste time breaking into the rooms to read the paperwork on the desks to find out. Seeing this level was also clear, I made my way to the staircase on the far end quickly. Here I stopped and listened carefully while still hidden by the entryway.

              Outside I could hear the noise of the people in the stands, I could also occasionally feel the flicker of magic. Clearly, by tarrying in the store rooms I had allowed other initiates acting as rogue mages to break cover before me. This made me pause and think. It explained why I hadn’t run into any inquisitor initiates, they were out chasing the obvious game. Still, it meant that when I got outside of the castle I would have to be careful. Likely most of the class of initiates were out there looking for me. I decided then that I needed to do some reconnaissance. This required getting higher up to get a good view of the grounds.

              With this thought I entered the staircase and started climbing up. Before I hit the mid-point where the stairs doubled back, I heard voices on the next floor.

“You seen any rogue mages out here?” said one younger male voice.

“Nope, though it sounds like some of your classmates have,” said an older male voice.

“Damn! I knew I should have set up an ambush outside instead of skulking around the castle!” said the younger voice again.

“Hah! Well, have fun and good luck to you, I have to sit here all afternoon,” said the older voice.

              This noise was followed by the footsteps of the initiate walking away from the stairwell. I was going to have to be more careful. Fortunately, I hadn’t used any magic yet, so I had not tipped anyone off about my presence.

I gave it a few minutes to make sure the initiate was gone. It also gave me a chance for my heartbeat to slow down and for me to calm myself after hearing those voices so close by. When I was ready I headed up to the main floor. I stayed inside the stairwell on this floor though, figuring caution was wise from now on. I peeked around the doorway a few times to get my bearings. When I saw which door I was looking down I wanted to smack myself. It was the stairway in the castle proper nearest to the where the dorms connected to the castle. Knowing this I decided that a good way to get my bearings would be from the second floor of the dorms. Fortunately, aside from the guard, there was no sign of anyone else, so knowing I was not in my initiate’s gear, I walked quickly out of the stairwell and toward the dorms.

I should have realized this would look suspicious. I was not dressed as someone who normally went into the dorms, as the students were in charge of most of the chores involved in cleaning the dorms.

“Oi! Porter, why’re you going to the dorms?” Said the guard behind me,

“Uh… I was told to move some things in there for Claudius,” I said, hoping that would sound official enough for him not to want to know more or challenge me further.

“Well… See that you’re quick about it. Lots to be done around the castle during test time, boy, so don’t let me catch you dawdling,” said the guard officiously.

“Yes, sir!” I said, beating a hasty retreat to the dorms.

              Fortunately, he did not challenge me further or notice the truncheon that I had hidden under my clothes. My obvious nervousness must have been enough to placate him. My fear of being caught meant I didn’t need to feign fear or act obsequious, his challenge really had scared me for a second.

              I made my way into the dorms under the guise of a porter under Claudius’s orders to do something. I figured that anyone in earshot would have heard that and likely would not give me a second glance. Still, I kept my head down so any prying eyes wouldn’t recognize me. I quickly made it to the stairs to the second floor of the dorms and headed up. Once on the landing to the second floor though, I paused again to listen. All that greeted my ears was silence.

              With nothing else to do, I stepped into the hallway of the second floor dorms and started heading down towards my room. From there I knew I would have a good vantage point of both the practice field and the garden area. The thought popped into my mind that it might be safer to try someone else’s room. But I didn’t know how good a view any one of these had. Also, stopping at a variety of rooms would make it obvious that I was not a porter sent to fetch something. A real porter would know exactly where he needed to go.

              Fortunately, no one appeared in the hallway as I walked down it. In fact, the dorms were quiet, at least compared to the hubbub outside. The sounds of voices filtered through the windows and walls. There were lots of people yelling and cheering outside, I felt a couple pops of magic too. Hoping that the action had everyone distracted I walked into my room and headed for the window overseeing the practice field.

              It was at this moment I heard my door close. Not being near it, I quickly spun around to see who or what was there.

“Well, well, Tyr, what a pleasant surprise,” said a female voice. “I just knew, if I waited long enough, that you would head back here to fetch this wonderful blade of yours.”

              Turning around I saw someone I did not expect at all. It was Judith, Meredith’s friend from the library, and not an inquisitor initiate. More importantly, she was standing in a position where she would be hidden behind the door, if it was still open. Also, she was holding my drawn sword, with the scabbard on the floor beside her.

“Judith…” I stammered. “What in the world are you doing in my room?”

“I was sent here by Claudius and Alfieri to make sure you didn’t fetch your sword,” she said. “We have the safety of the inquisitor initiates to consider after all.”

“We?” I asked.

“Well, they do anyway,” she said. “But they’re so busy today with other things, so they sent me instead.”

“Well, then you will be relieved to know I’m just here to get a view of the castle grounds before making my way to the dais,” I said.

“Oh please,” she said. “You could have done that from any room on this floor. The only reason you would have to come all the way to the far end is to fetch your sword.”

“No, Judith, I’m serious,” I said. “I’m only here to get a good view of where I have to go.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “And now that you’re here, I think it’s time I capture you and get my passing grades. I was sent to see if you summoned the sword, but also to capture you if you actually showed up in person. And by capturing you in here, I get a plush appointment to the clergy in the Capital.”

“If you would just listen to me,” I said, trying not to get loud. “I’m only here to see what’s going on outside. I could have summoned my sword to my side at any time.”

“Hah, and risk everyone in the castle feeling you draw magic?” She asked rhetorically. “That seems unlikely. Enough talk, time for me to get that appointment…” She said, cutting off my response.

              She then walked forward pointing my sword at me with both hands. As she did this I felt her start gathering magic.

“Judith, you’re making a mistake,” I stammered. “Really!”