Heroes' Reward (7 page)

“Aye.”

“Dunleavy, this
is Shield Liam Murdoch,” said Saint-Gerard. “He has been instructing the
casters for the past year or so.”

So I’d been
brought in to replace him? They’d put me in a position of insulting him? “I
can’t do the cast he was just performing,” I told Saint-Gerard.

“No doubt
because you haven’t encountered it before,” said Murdoch. “You are the best,
aren’t you?”

“No.” I wasn’t
the best. Why did so many assume I was? “If you want to maintain control of the
lessons, I have no objection.” Really. None at all.

“The council
would, and ego has no place in such a serious situation.” He held out a hand.
“Shield Liam Murdoch.”

“My pleasure.” I
shook his hand. “This is my Source, Shintaro Karish.”

Taro and Murdoch
exchanged brief pleasantries.

“I’ll leave you
to get acquainted,” said Saint-Gerard. “Liam, can I rely on you to help Dunleavy
get settled with the others?”

“Of course.”

“Excellent.
Taro, my boy, it’s time to meet your students.”

After giving me
a wink, Taro ambled off after Saint-Gerard, towards the Pairs. If he felt any
apprehension, he didn’t show it. He wouldn’t be able to actually do anything,
not without my being there to Shield him, but he could charm them all, and that
would put them at their ease, ready them to accept him as their new instructor.

“Will you be
working with us, creating events?” I asked Murdoch.

“I’m not
Bonded.”

Oh. How
embarrassing. Without intending to, I’d made things awkward. “You’re young,
yet.” I had a suspicion, though, that he was nearing the age where the Triple S
would no longer expect him to attend Matchings, to ever bond at all.

He shrugged.
“I’m good at this. I can reconcile myself to that.”

He seemed a calm
sort. I enjoyed that trait. “I have no idea how to teach anyone how to do
anything,” I blurted out.

This brought on
a slight smile. See? I wasn’t completely awful with people.

“I do,” he said.
“I’m happy to assist, if you wish.”

“I do. Very
much.”

The group had
gathered around us by then, everyone having ceased their casting.

So, time to
begin. “Fair day, everyone.” My voice was nice and steady. “I’m Shield Dunleavy
Mallorough.”

“We know who you
are,” one woman interrupted sharply. “Does your acclaim mean you’re an
excellent instructor, too?”

“Not at all,” I
responded mildly. “Which is why I’ll be relying on Shield Murdoch’s
assistance.”

“Then why
doesn’t he keep teaching us? He’s been doing a great job so far.”

“Because
Professor Saint-Gerard believes she has something to add to our lessons,” said
Murdoch. “If you disagree with him, I suggest you see him. I, for one, trust
his judgment.”

He waited for
further objections, but he didn’t get any. I didn’t think the woman was
convinced, but she seemed unwilling to press further. No one else spoke up
either, though not all of them seemed pleased to see me.

Time to move on
and pretend I had some confidence. “Now that we have that out of the way, how
about we start with names?” These were the names I would have to remember.

Chapter Eight

The next day I
found myself standing in the largest library I’d ever seen. Even the Imperial
library at Erstwhile wasn’t as grand. Certainly the Shield Academy didn’t have
anything like it. I’d never even seen most of the books. I asked Murdoch,“Where
did these come from?”

“They were
stored in the Shield Academy. After the Council House was built, they were
moved here.”

“But why have I
never seen them?”

“There are books
we don’t necessarily want students to see,” Murdoch answered. “Especially
these.” He laid his hand against a stack of shelves that had been set a little
apart from the others in the tall, long room. “These are the volumes of spells
we’ve accumulated over the past few centuries or so.”

“Centuries? The
Triple S has known about spells that long and didn’t tell any of us?”

“You know
pretending to cast is illegal. We couldn’t have anyone suspecting we were
teaching the students criminal behaviour. That would alienate just about every
kind of regular there is.”

I supposed that
could be true. “How did you get the books?”

“For the most
part, they were sent by Pairs whenever they came across them.” He raised an
eyebrow at me. “Something you chose not to do, from what I’ve been told.”

Why would I? No
one had ever instructed me to do such a thing, or had even told me that magic
existed. It had never occurred to me to send books to the Triple S, and if it
had, I still wouldn’t have done so, given all of Taro’s warnings concerning the
dangers of letting the council know I could do anything unusual.

Under the advice
of Risa, I had destroyed the first batch of casting books I’d accumulated. The
second batch had belonged to Fiona and her tenants, which of course meant I
didn’t have the right to take them without their permission. Besides, I’d
wanted to study them myself.

And, seriously,
the Triple S should have told me about casting before I’d left the Academy. Why
hadn’t they? “Does anyone read them now?”

“Only those we
can trust to act with sufficient maturity and caution. We don’t want anyone
reading them and attempting casts they’ve not yet received instruction for.”

The books were
huge in their variety. Some were thick tomes, others were little more than
pamphlets. Some were old, some newly printed. And then there were the hard
black volumes with covers of a material I had seen only once before, with paper
that bent without creasing, in a language I couldn’t really understand.

“Zaire,” I
breathed, lightly touching the spine of one of those strange books. “These are
from the First Landed.”

Those
adventurers who had come to our world with grand machines that could fly and
send words across great distances and accomplish all sorts of other activites
most of us couldn’t imagine. And since I’d left the Academy, I’d learned it was
believed by some that they had brought casting with them as well. But their
machines had failed, and so had their magic, and those who were able to leave
deserted those who couldn’t: my distant ancestors stuck with a world of
unceasing and vicious disasters, barely surviving until the world created the
first Source and Shield.

“Can you read
these?” I asked.

“No, we haven’t
found anyone able and willing to translate them.”

“Academic Alex
Reid – ”

“Is dead. He was
attacked and killed by robbers.”

He’d been such a
smart man, friendly man. Quiet, but with a strong will, and honourable. I
hadn’t known him well or long, but I was sad to hear the news of his death.

Murdoch pulled
out a book and offered it to me. “I found this helpful, to begin with.”

I was happy to
get all of the advice I could. “I appreciate it.”

“Shall we sit? I
thought I might tell you how I deliver my lessons, if that isn’t too
presumptuous.”

“I’d like that.
Thank you.”

Murdoch spent
most of an hour giving me what sounded like excellent guidance for teaching
others. Like Browne, he believed in starting each class with simple casts, to
get everyone thinking in the right direction. He was able to give me
suggestions about how to handle a large number of students – there were
slightly over forty – having them work in pairs and small groups. He also had a
little to say on managing pride, disappointment, and impatience.

And then Taro
strode in. “There you are.”

I felt a little
lump of tension curl between my shoulder blades. Taro sometimes had strange
ideas about what it meant when I spent a significant amount of time with other
men. Not all men, just those who appeared particularly intelligent. I didn’t
think he felt possessive or jealous, just … a little irritated? Maybe?

“What are you
talking about so intently?”

The evening
before, Taro and I had exchanged information about our students and our
impressions of the Arena. We had briefly spoken about Murdoch and Taro had
shown no particular reaction at the time. I didn’t know why he was then. “He’s
preventing me from making a fool of myself in front of my students.”

“That’s advice I
could use. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

Ah, but Taro had
natural charisma and beauty assisting him. That could take a person far, even
with strangers in an unfamiliar situation.

“I would be
happy to,” said Murdoch. “But not right now, I’m afraid. I have to see
Saint-Gerard. He wants a detailed report.”

“About what I
did yesterday?” I asked.

“Aye.”

So soon? I’d had
less than a day with them.

Taro watched him
leave. “He’s a handsome fellow.”

I didn’t think
so, but Taro had always had a broader range of what he considered beautiful.
That wasn’t the significant element of his comment, though. The tension between
my shoulder blades grew denser. “Taro,” I said with resignation.

“What? I can
look, can’t I?” And he winked.

And just like
that, the tension flowed out of me. I sometimes forgot he’d changed, a little.

Relief made me
grin. “Of course you can look.”

He gestured at
the door with his head. “I’m thinking it’s time to show the other Pairs how
it’s done. I’ve gone as I can on my own.”

Taro and I
hadn’t been able to work together with the Pairs the day before, on account of
a sudden shower of harsh rain.

The Pairs were
waiting for us in the field. They were all staring into space, the usual stance
of Pairs channelling. Sources and Shields could speak and even move about while
channelling, but we didn’t like to do it.

The Pairs were
arranged in quartets, facing each other in a sort of stand off.
Confrontational.

This was all so
wrong.

Taro cleared his
throat, and one by one, each Pair withdrew from their channelling.

“Good day,
ladies and gentlemen,” Taro greeted them pleasantly. “How are all of you
doing?”

I glanced about,
trying to read everyone’s mood. There were those who seemed relieved to be able
to stop, those who looked tired, and those who appeared irritated.

“Frustrated,”
one woman confessed.

She looked
familiar.

Taro grinned at
her. “No worries. It’s early days, yet. Lee, my love.” He presented the woman
with a low wave of his hand. “This is Source Katherine Devereaux.”

Oh my. That sent
the memory of where I’d seen her before jolting into my mind. She had been at
my Matching. She had been the Source I’d wanted, because she had had the
reputation of being smart and sensible. Then she had Bonded with someone else –
Shield Joshin Clothier, if I recalled correctly – and I had Bonded to Taro, and
it hadn’t taken long for me to forget about her.

I spent about an
instant wondering what my life would have been like with her. I wouldn’t have
been sent to one of the hottest sites in the world, she wouldn’t have been
abducted, I wouldn’t have had to kill anyone to get her back. I wouldn’t have
had to experience all the difficult and terrifying events that had followed
after.

I probably would
have never met the Dowager Duchess of Westsea, Taro’s mother and a
dark-hearted, evil woman. That was something that would have made my life a
whole lot less aggravating.

On the other
hand, I wouldn’t have known that Sources could do more than channel events.
That was knowledge I liked having.

I probably would
have never realised I could cast.

I would have
remained ignorant of how regulars lived.

And I wouldn’t
have fallen in love with my Source, and that would have been a shame.

A man walked up
behind Devereaux. “The Shield you actually wanted,” he said.

Huh.
Interesting. Devereaux had wanted me in particular. That we didn’t end up
Bonding despite each being the other’s preference was just one of the little
quirks of nature.

For a moment, I
wondered if Clothier felt resentment over not being Devereaux’s first choice.

Then he nudged
Devereaux with his shoulder, and she nudged him back. It seemed to me that if
there had been any initial tension between them, they’d moved past it.

“All right,”
Taro said once all of the introductions had been made. “We’re going to pick up
where Shield Merrin and Source Arlif left off.”

Merrin and Arlif
had been the former instructors of the group. Taro had told me the night before
that, unlike Murdoch, they’d been replaced because they weren’t very good at
it, not because the scope of their knowledge had been exhausted.

They did resent
being replaced. I could see the hostility simmering in their eyes. I wondered
if they would be a problem.

“For now, Shield
Mallorough and I are going to focus on the Pairs who are not yet able to create
events and leave those who can to practise on their own. I hope I’m not
embarrassing anyone, but now that Shield Mallorough is here I can better assess
your difficulties and then help you get to the same level as the others. Then
we can all proceed together.”

Some people
looked down at their feet and scuffed the ground with their toes.

It must be so
difficult to be the weakest in any group of people.

The students
broke into two units. I was impressed by how easily the weaker students
admitted they needed more help. The Pairs that were able immediately returned
to duelling. Those who didn’t remained gathered around Taro and me.

“Source
Secondfin, Shield Glosect, we’ll begin with you.”

Secondfin was an
enormous red headed man. Glosect was a very short, dark, slight fellow. An
appealling demonstration of opposites.

“Give us a
cyclone,” Taro said. “Don’t worry about making it strong. Just try to make some
wind move.”

I watched their
eyes and faces grow blank.

Nothing
happened. Taro gave them enough time to provide them with a fair chance to
succeed but not so much that he made a spectacle of them and humiliated them.
Still, they didn’t succeed.

They appeared to
feel humiliated anyway.

“All right,”
said Taro. “Shield Rackey, Source Tweece, you’re next.”

He tested each
Pair in this way. Then, he performed a small cyclone himself, just to show them
how it was done. Then he tested them all again.

Taro had
confessed to me that he didn’t really have a firm idea how to teach them. He
had no one handy like Murdoch to give him guidance. Taro himself had learned to
create events merely by observing another Source, not through deliberate
instruction.

If any of his
students suspected he didn’t know what he was doing, they didn’t express it in
any way. Not even Merrin and Arlif.

Taro wouldn’t
let them stop until the supper bell rang. They were all exhausted by then, and
I wondered if Merrin and Arlif hadn’t pushed them as hard as they should have
during their lessons.

As in the
Academies, meals in the Arena were served in a large dining room, everyone
helping themselves to the food presented on long tables on the right side of
the room. However, there were far more people than would normally be in an
Academy at any given time. Runners, Guards, Pairs and casters were all crammed
in together.

They all sat
with their own, with very little mingling.

I didn’t know
much – anything – about getting a large group of people to work together for a
common goal, but surely segregation wasn’t the way to do it.

“Let’s find
Risa,” I said right into Taro’s ear, as the noise was incredible. He nodded,
and we headed for the tables on the far left of the room, where I thought
everyone were Runners. Once we were among them, I found Risa at the end of one
of the tables.

Taro and I
carried our trays over, and I tapped her shoulder.

She looked
surprised but pleased to see us. “I thought you might stick with that lot.” She
nodded at the tables closest to the food, where all the residents with braids
were sitting.