Seventeen Stones (33 page)

Professor Fain chuckled
wearily.  “That’s two questions.”

A
deep voice rang out from the door.  “I have a question.  What, in the name of
all that’s decent, is going on here?”  A man of indeterminable age was picking
his way past the chunks of furniture.  Avery spoke up from under Mia’s watchful
wand.

“Greatlord Markson!  They are
defying a direct order from Greatlord Strathorne!  If you could only get a
message to the Magus…”

The
addition to their party cocked a grin.  “Oh, I just arrived from the Magus’
office Avery.  He sends you greetings.”  Mia’s heart skipped a beat as
guardsmen walked in behind this new Greatlord.  She closed her eyes for half a
second, and then put her wand back on Avery.  She wasn’t going without a fight. 

The
Greatlord ignored Mia’s wand and handed Avery a scroll.  “I’ll save you the
bother of reading it.  In effect, it says that you had better get yourself back
to your job before he decides to transfigure you into something I won’t mention
I front of ladies.  It’s phrased slightly more politely than that of course.”

Avery’s
black brows pulled together in a look of utter incomprehension.  “I don’t
understand…”  Mia shut her open mouth.  No need to look as dumbfounded as she
felt.

The
strange Greatlord grinned, obviously delighted.  “You overstepped your
authority by attempting to summarily take a student out of Headmistress
Villanova’s care without the proper forms.  Even Greatlords are supposed to
obey the City Codes, a fact that Strathorne has been ignoring for years.”  The
two burly City Guards came in and grabbed the unconscious Greatlord. 

“Take
him to the detention center on Second Street.  Here are the orders from the
Magus.”  He handed the men a sealed scroll.  “He wants the former Greatlord
stripped of his titles and lands and he is to be transfigured into a tree frog
before  the hour is up.”  The Guards looked at the scroll carefully and the
bundled the ex-Greatlord out of the room.  Markson picked up Strathorne’s wand
and snapped it in half.  “The Magus requested the pieces.”

Avery
looked around with his ferret’s eyes and moved from one foot to the other. 
Markson turned his back on him and drawled “I’d get back to work Avery.  If I
were you, I wouldn’t want the Magus’ personal attention turned toward me for a
very long time.  He’s already annoyed with you about your lack of progress on
the missing person’s cases.”  Avery gave a little squeak and scampered out the
door to the sound of Markson’s chuckle.    

Headmistress
Villanova looked up.  “Markson.  Explain yourself.”  The Greatlord laughed.  He
glanced at Mia’s startled expression.  “Mother, I think your student is
confused.”  He picked up the sofa and set it right, and indicated that Mia should
sit.  “I am Greatlord Markson Villanova.  Since my mother is a Greatlady, I’m
generally known as Greatlord Markson.”

He
turned toward his mother, who was righting her sitting room.  He took out his
wand and they had the room put in order quickly.  There was even a hot pot of
tea and refreshments.  Professor Fain was gobbling sandwiches as fast as he
could stuff them into his mouth.  Greatlord Markson grinned like an impish
youngster as he poured himself a cup of tea and added three sugars.    

“The
strangest thing happened today Mother.  I was waiting for an appointment with
the Magus a few minutes ago, when I was handed a stack of scrolls and sent,
like a common errand boy, to handle a slight problem.  I’ve never seen the
Magus in a temper before.  It was terrifying.”  The smile left his face for a
split second.  It returned with full force as he continued.  “Apparently there
was something very wrong here.  I was hustled into the Magus’ private carriage,
which is
very
fast and handed a new accessory.”  He pointed at the
golden council medallion hanging from his neck.

He
glanced over at Chilton’s still form.  “Is he still alive?”  Headmistress
Villanova shrugged.  “I haven’t checked.”  Her tone implied that she didn’t
care much either.  Stone-mad or not, she blamed him for his dereliction of
duty.

Greatlord
Markson squared his impressive shoulders and walked over to the Greatlord. 
“He’s still in a trance, but he has a pulse.  This scroll relives him of duty
as the Council Representative for the College.  It basically banishes him to
his estate under the guise of retirement.”  He handed the scroll to his mother.

She read it and grinned as much as her stiff face
would allow as she looked up at her enormous son.  “So
you
are the new
Representative for the college?  I imagine we could work together…”  Greatlord
Markson laughed.  “I imagine so.  We may have to move slowly, but we’ll be able
to make some changes that you’ve been requesting for the past forty years.”

***

Mia was sitting in front of the fire in the girl’s
sitting room when Ella brought her a book.  “Here you go!  Mildred Weaver’s
Life
of the Anubis
.  There wasn’t a copy left in the library, but Professor
Stoats let me borrow his.”  Mia smiled absently at her friend and thanked her. 

“Cheer
up Mia!  At least you don’t have to worry so much about the Council finding out
about you anymore!”  That was true enough.  The headmistress had been trying to
arrange her son’s posting as College council representative for years.  The
good headmistress was looking decidedly smug about his appointment. 

Greatlord
Markson Villanova was now officially the final word in all matters concerning
the college.  Only the Magus himself could contradict his orders.  The
Greatlord had visited Mia before he left the campus.  “I have never supported
the practice of taking the most talented young wand wielders away from the
college before their studies are finished.  I don’t expect I would approve the
measure unless there was some sort of emergency.  My mother” and his mouth
quirked into a slight smile at the mention of the lady “insists that the apple
tree was a fluke, an accidental aberration.  Who am I to argue with the
Headmistress’ evaluation?  Still, I should caution you that the Headmistress
might have to revise her opinion if a second incident occurs that draws the
attention of the council.”  He stood up to go.  “It was a pleasure meeting you,
Miss Amelia.” 

He bowed over her hand like she was a real lady
instead of a first year student and turned to walk away.  He suddenly stopped
and turned his head to look at her again.  His grin held more than a hint of
self-depreciating humor when he said “You don’t have your mother’s coloring;
but there is something about your chin and eyes that reminds me of her…just a
bit.  And of course, her power was remarkable too.  Try not to get yourself
killed over the next two years, would you?  I’m looking forward to the stir you’ll
make when you’re introduced to the rest of the council.”  He chuckled to
himself as he walked out the door.  Mia was left feeling like she’d been kicked
in the gut, and she had no idea why.

 Mia
was still taking extra classes with Professor Fain.  The headmistress had looked
at her with the oddest expression on her face and insisted that they continue. 

Professor
Cavendish did not approve of Professor Fain, no matter how Mia implied that he
had saved her from Strathorne.  “He’s the young idiot who almost got you killed
once before.  I can’t believe that the headmistress is allowing him to continue
to teach at all, much less teach Creation of all things!”  Mia defended him,
but it didn’t do much good.  Even Vivian couldn’t find out what the original
argument had been on the day the apple tree nearly killed her.  All anyone knew
is they were speaking quietly at the infirmary one minute and yelling the next. 
Vivian was more than slightly annoyed: neither Professor Cavendish nor Professor
Fain had discussed the incident, cutting off her easiest route to finding out
about it. 

The
apple tree was less conspicuous once the grass grew around the ruts it had made
in the grounds.  People sometimes forgot and bounced off the invisible shield
that kept the apples away from the students.  The tree would shake its branches
in a tree snicker when things of that sort happened.  Mia made a point to visit
a few times a week.  She always had the feeling that the tree missed her.  It
was less likely to trip students on purpose right after one of her visits
anyway, and that didn’t hurt her general popularity.  

Greatlord
Markson was, of course, mostly sympathetic to his mother’s agenda.  “She’s
itching for Marshall to set a toe out of line, because then she can haul him up
in front of Markson and finally get his reeking carcass out of here.  If he
hadn’t been granted tenure under her predecessor he’d be gone already.” 
Professor Fain was sharing this with Mia over a snack in his office.  She
didn’t spend quite so much time in the music rooms these days, with the threat
from the council lessened. 

Mia
finished the snack and stood up reluctantly.  “I’d better get back.  I have to
deal with the reeking carcass tomorrow in class.”  The professor almost
growled.  “I hate to see you taking class with that…”  She shot a grin at him. 
“Now, now professor, you wouldn’t want to undermine my faith in a fellow
educator, would you?”  He didn’t dignify that with a comment.  “I’ll walk you
back to the dorm.” 

Markson’s
comment on missing persons hadn’t been lost on Mia.  A slight crease folded her
brow.  She’d told the others everything…well everything except the odd shadow
she thought she saw.  Sarah had been enraged that the papers hadn’t been covering
anything like the disappearances.  

“Look
at this!  Here’s a piece on Greatlord Strathorne’s genealogy, claiming that the
author always knew he was a bad egg, but not mentioning exactly what he was
turned into a tree frog for…six pages in the Times about new décor’ for summer,
three pages in City Today about a broken drain in the wandless quarter…nothing
at all in any of the papers about people going missing!”

Lizzy
glared at the paper as if it offended her.  Beth looked at it uncertainly.  “Do
you suppose they’re trying to avoid a panic?”  Sarah growled.  “Trying to avoid
being transfigured into frogspawn by an enraged populous is more like it.” 
Ella was re-reading the front page, as if she expected the headline to change. 
“Do you suppose someone is leaning on the papers about covering this?”  Vivian
shook her head.  “Maybe…maybe not.  There’s not even a rumor about this in the
market.”  Mia crossed her arms.  “If anyone is leaning on the papers my vote is
that Avery is responsible.”  Sarah’s lips twitched.  “He’d need help.  He’s not
bright enough to repress a rumor by himself.”

Mia had uncrossed her arms.  “He’s bright enough to
still be a Greatlord and the wandless haven’t rioted.”  Sarah cocked a brow. 
“Not yet.”

***

“Has
something happened?  Another accident…or an unexplained disappearance?”  Ethan
Fain pulled on his cloak and nodded wordlessly.  She tossed her cloak around
her suddenly chilled body.  “How many does Avery think are missing?”  He opened
his mouth and glanced at her face.  “Avery couldn’t find his…well Avery doesn’t
have a clue what’s going on.  His second in command is the competent one.  If
he didn’t spend all his time covering for Avery the Magus would have turned him
into a slug by now.  As for the disappearances…there was another one reported
last week.  Fifteen since the start of the school year, maybe more.  Those are
just the ones I can confirm from the City and Port area.  The Guard is pursuing
it with the Magus’ aid.  They’ve even drafted another score of dragons, though
that’s a dangerous card to play with the current political climate.  All I know
is that they can do everything in their power to protect the populace, but
fifteen is too many.  Too many to be coincidence, and too many to let you wander
around by yourself, with or without extra lessons from Professor Patrick.” 

Mia would have argued the
point, but she didn’t mind the company on what was, after all, a mile long
walk.  She should just get herself a dragonfly…but the fad was passing as the
first batch of dragonflies were killed, lost, and died of natural causes.  Mia
didn’t mind.  It made the campus a lot quieter.  She only regretted the lack at
times like this.

They
were quiet as they walked down the path in the misty evening.  Mia was thinking
about the fifteen people who had vanished without a trace since she began
school.  Professor Fain kept his thoughts to himself, content with the silence
for the moment.  Mia looked up to thank him for walking her to her dorm and
noted the most peculiar look on his face. 

She
looked at his intense stare and asked “What?”  He looked away, almost
embarrassed.  “You know, you never told me how you liked that silly musical
that you went to see.”  Mia grimaced.  “That good huh?  But I suppose the company
was pleasant.”  She turned to look at him, a bit confused.  “What else would it
have been?  It wasn’t as much fun as working on advanced Creation…” 

He snorted.  “Yes, because
you have so much fun working every rest day.” 

Mia
cringed.  “I’m sorry if I made it seem that way.  You’re working as hard as I
am, and I want you to know that I appreciate it”   He looked up and sighed. 
“You shouldn’t have to put in twice the amount of work and three times the
effort that everyone else does, just because you’re more talented to begin
with.  I wish you could just be a normal first year student, for your sake.” 

Mia
laughed out loud as they walked up to the dorm.  “Can you imagine me as a
normal student?”  He stared at her for a second, seemingly trying to
concentrate, and apparently failed.  He chuckled lightly.  “Well, for my sake,
I’m glad you’re above average.  I can’t imagine how dull my life would be if
you weren’t in it.”  He shot her a small smile and walked into the mist as she
climbed the stair to the dorm.     

Time
progressed, as time often does.  There were more social obligations as summer
began to emerge.  Mia visited Madam Reece’s shop one afternoon and ordered her
spring and summer wardrobes.  There were visits to the estate, and to Mr.
Smith’s office to see to business there. 

The
headmistress was trying to find candidates for the position that Professor
Cavendish held so long.  Botany wasn’t a popular field: those who knew about it
were busy in places like Forestreach or on their family estates.  There were a
number of learned gentlemen who claimed to be experts in the field; the
headmistress allowed the Professor to conduct the interviews.  Mia was entering
the greenhouse when an old blood wand wielder in a white suit and yellow
beribboned shirt ran out, crying. 

“You’re
never going to be able to retire if you don’t play nice with the other children.” 
Mia half-sang as she walked in.  The Professor wheezed as he laughed.  He’d
caught a cold on the cusp of spring and winter, and he was still feeling the
effects.  “Idiots.  Flaming Idiots.  I’m not supposed to remember that now that
they’re all grown up.  If that’s the standard to which I have trained my
students, I suppose I deserve what I’m getting now.  Fifteen applications in
the last two weeks, and not a single one of them has ever done more than study
these plants from inside a cozy room with a bottle of brandy.  Armchair
horticulturalists!  I never thought I’d see the day!” 

Mia
poured a cup of tea and sat down in the wicker chair beside the Professor.  He
looked up with sudden inspiration.  “You don’t suppose we could lure Emma away
from Forestreach to knock some sense into these old blood ninnies do you?”  Mia
laughed.  “Not a chance.  I’ve asked.  She won’t leave the village…come to
that, she won’t leave the forest.”  The old man shook his head sadly.  “Smart
lady.  I envy her.” 

Mia grinned.  “You’ll find
someone.  Here, I’ve finished another six pages today in the field guide.  Just
seventeen thousand or so to go before you leave!”

Ella
walked into the dorm one evening with a thin sheet of paper in her hand.  The
rest of the girls were out and Mia was doing her homework in front of the empty
fireplace.  It was too warm for a fire now, but she missed the cheery glow.  “I
finally heard back from my uncle Will.”  Mia looked up from her homework.  She
didn’t remember anything in particular about Uncle Will.  Ella had so many
aunts, uncles, cousins, and family members it was hard to keep them all
separated sometimes.  “I thought William was your oldest brother?”  Ella
laughed.  “No Michael and John are my older brothers, and Peter and Wendy are
the twins.  Will’s my father’s youngest brother.  He’s a footman at Greatlord
Feist’s estate.  I wrote and asked if he knew what was going on with the
supplies being stockpiled here in the City.” 

She
had Mia’s attention.  “Uncle Will wrote a friend here at the Greatlord’s
townhome and asked, off the record, what he thought was going on.  The other
footman says that he’s heard all kinds of rumors, but that he doesn’t know
anything for certain.  I don’t know how much good it did.  These stories seem
pretty wild.  I don’t know how anything could attack the City for instance or
why the Magus would be the only one stockpiling supplies if he knew that
another Great famine was coming.  The servants are expecting everything from a
dragon revolt to another City being built, and each scenario is less likely
than the last.”  She sighed.  “I thought it was such a good idea.” 

Mia took the letter from her friend’s hands and
re-read it, chuckling as she saw some of the more far-fetched theories.  “Well,
this proves one thing.  If the servants are this convinced that
something
is going on, then something is.”“I don’t suppose you’ll be returning to music
next year.”  Mia looked up in surprise when she heard the tone Professor Petrov
was using.  She didn’t see a reason to lie.  It wasn’t any secret that she
hated music class.  “No, I don’t intend to.  I still intend to play of course,
but I don’t see any reason for lessons when I’ll never take it further than
evening entertainment.”  The professor pulled her thick brows together.  “I
don’t suppose so.  It’s just that you were just beginning to sound almost
adequate.  I’m afraid that if you’re left to your own devices you’ll slip back
into mosquito noises instead of music.”  Mia ignored the grumbling.  The only
way she would take another music class with the permanently perturbed professor
was if someone was holding a wand to her head.

***

“You
have to take music.”  It was less than two days after the Professor had
grumbled the same thing, but this time the person saying those perplexing words
was the Headmistress.  “I only need one music credit to graduate.”  Mia wasn’t
budging.  Even the idea of subjecting herself to Professor Petrov
on purpose
,
when she knew what she was getting into….she wasn’t masochistic. 

“I
wrote the syllabus Mia, I’m well aware of what you have to have to graduate. 
You have to take music as part of the cover.  I told the council, swore to them
in fact, that the apple tree incident was an aberration.  Markson is the only
one who has reason to doubt that.  I want you to look like one of those bubble
headed wanded wimps so they won’t see what you are until it is much too late. 
Professor Petrov is looking forward to having you in her intermediate piano
class next semester.  Be sure to practice over the break so she doesn’t turn
you into an avocado out of a fit of temper.”

Every
year, before the end of term, the City hosted a picnic.  There were booths with
items to sell for various charities and organizations, free food and drinks,
and a fireworks display as soon as the sun set. 

Tristan
Gentry was leading Lizzy off toward the lake to paddle about on one of the
boats brought in for the occasion, while Gabriel, Vivian, and Mia lounged on a
wide yellow blanket in the sun.  “Throw me another bottle of lemonade, will
you?”  Mia obligingly tossed the bottle to Gabriel, since he’d been reluctant
to leave his post as Vivian’s backrest.  “Ah, this is perfect.  The sun is
shining, the water is cold, and the prettiest girl in school is here with me. 
Life doesn’t get much better than this.”  Vivian rolled her eyes, but snuggled
a little closer to him anyway.