The Other Prism (The Broken Prism) (11 page)

That was good to know, because Hayden had been terrified of going in completely unprepared.

“I missed the arena team selections today,” he blurted out quite suddenly.

Maste
r Asher raised an eyebrow at the change of subject and lifted a hand at the sound of Horace taking flight and coming to join them. The hawk alit on the Prism Master’s wrist and surveyed Hayden imperiously.

“Yes, your absence was noted,” he confirmed.

“I completely forgot about the challenge arena stuff after the Prism trials were finished,” Hayden explained, frowning.

“I figured that was the case, though Sark was convinced you were trying to snub us.” Asher rolled his eyes at the thought. “Out of curiosity, where were you all day?”

Hayden frowned. “I was playing ‘fetch’ with Bonk and Cinder by the translocation circle. They liked diving over the cliffs.”

Master Asher raised his eyebrows in interest.

“Ah, so that’s where Cinder went off to. I had wondered.” He shrugged.

“Zane said you all were punishing us
because I wasn’t there, and assigned Lorn to our group,” Hayden turned the subject to the real reason he was here.

Master Asher pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Why do you think that was a punishment?”

Was he joking? Had he completely forgotten the mutual enmity between Hayden and Lorn Trout?

“Because Lorn and I can’t stand each other, and you all knew that and deliberately put us in a group together anyway. Do you all just want to see me fail
or something?” Hayden blurted out, his irritation getting the better of him.

The Prism Master leveled his gaze at him
.

“Yo
ur attitude does you no credit,” he said seriously. “You have been convinced for the last year that we exist only to see you suffer, and quite frankly, it’s getting old.”

Hayden felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment and anger.

“Can you
blame
me?” he raised his voice without meaning to. “Sark has been trying to expel me since the minute I showed up, Kilgore sent me into a hydra-infested bog for detention, Willow sent me to the top of freezing Mount Arawas with two people who hate me and want me dead, Reede’s thought I was insane ever since I lost it in that arena challenge last year, and
you
nearly attacked me when I asked if you would ever consider sponsoring me!”

Every pent-up ounce of frustration was bursting out of him at once; he couldn’t stop himself even if he wanted to. He wasn’t even pausing to draw breath between sentences.

“Every time I use magic you all look at me like I’m a freak! I can’t even go down the hallway without hearing people talk about how I’m going to turn out bad like my father, or saying I’m a show off! I’m sick of it! I’m tired of being the son of Aleric Frost: I’m tired of being the one everyone talks about, the one that can’t even go into the prism shop without getting into a fight with the owner!” He paused to draw in a lungful of air. “You said last year that we were both outcasts, that you’d have my back, but you stuck me with Lorn just like you stuck me in the I.S.C., to watch me fail!”

An uncomfortable moment of silence fell between them. Master Asher hadn’t moved during Hayden’s entire rant, but now he looked stonily back at him.

“Are you finished?” the Prism Master said at last.

“Yes,” Hayden swallowed, unclenching his fists, wondering when he had stood up
because he didn’t remember doing it.

“
Good, now it is my turn to talk and your turn to listen,” Master Asher continued mildly, though Hayden could see the angry set of his jaw. “You are not the first or only person to earn the distinction of Kirius Sark’s ire, so please do not feel special in that regard. Willow and Kilgore happen to think you are quite talented, and have a healthy respect for your moral fiber, especially after you turned down the chance of using an imperfect prism last year. Reede does not think you’re crazy, on the whole, though he says you’ll be lucky to ever complete a successful double-braided cross with your execrable drawing skills in Conjury.

“
As for me, if you don’t know by now that I hold you in high regard then you’re much stupider than I thought,” Asher continued in that cold, level tone. “I’ve already said I intend to help you as much as I can before the I.S.C., and my peers and I did not put Lorn in your group because we want to see you fail. If you’re so convinced that we all hate you, I can put in a call to the Council of Mages tonight to have you transferred to a different school. Maybe
they’ll
appreciate you properly and coddle you into adulthood.”

Hayden felt his face blanch in horror at the thought of being sent away from Mizzenwald, where he had friends and felt like he belonged…

“No, I don’t want to go anywhere else,” he said quickly.

“Then get your head out of your butt and accept that I am on your side,” Asher said bluntly.

Hayden took a deep breath and sat back down, trying to school his features into something obedient and nonthreatening.

“Alright, sir, then
may I ask why you thought it would be advantageous to put Lorn on my challenge team?” he asked with credible politeness.

“He’
s a Powder major, like his brother,” Master Asher explained calmly. “It’s a good complement to your team, because Tess has always focused more heavily on Elixirs during your challenges.”

Hoping he didn’t sound argumentative, Hayden asked, “What about a Wand major though? I was hoping for the offense, because Tucker really saved us
a few times last year.”

“Willow believes that you are sufficiently skilled with wands that you can use them when necessary for your team
, and Zane can use wands as well. Most importantly though, you need to learn to work with people you don’t like. As an adult, and as the son of Aleric Frost, you are going to have to get used to cooperating with people who hate you. The sooner you develop that skill, the better.”

Hayden frowned thoughtfully.

“How am I supposed to get people who hate me to listen to me?”

“That’s for you to figure out, because in the real world you won’t be able to just ask for a new partner on an assignment. You’re going to need to
work with whoever is available whether they’re your best friend or not,” Asher said without sympathy. “Lorn is a good place to start, because he has a vested interest in your challenge group succeeding now that he is part of it. I suggest you start finding a way to use his knowledge to your advantage, because the boy isn’t stupid, for all that you dislike him.”

Hayden nodded in concession and stood up.

“Thank you for your time, sir. I’m sorry I raised my voice at you.” Having yelled himself hoarse, he was now absolutely exhausted and eager to wash up and do some reading in bed.

“I accept your apology.
” Asher nodded curtly, watching him leave.

Hayden stopped at the doorway and turned around, because there was still something on his mind, something that had been on his mind for a long time now, but he was always too
scared to ask about it. It was the one part of his rant that the Prism Master hadn’t really addressed during his rebuttal.

“Something
else you wanted to say?” Asher hadn’t moved from his chair, still watching him intently.

“Yes, sir.
I wanted to ask…I’ve wanted to ask for a while now, how come you…” he trailed off, wondering if the question was impertinent, or if it would lead to another round of yelling that would prompt Asher to have him transferred to another school.

“Yes…?”

Something about the look on the Prism Master’s face gave him pause, because it seemed like he knew exactly what Hayden wanted to ask him.
He must have known when I shouted it before, and he didn’t answer on purpose…

If there was a reason for his silence on the subject, dragging it out into the open would probably only make Hayden regret it in the long run. Better to quit now, while he was ahead…

“Never mind, sir. It isn’t important.” He turned away, leaving the living room and closing the door behind him. He had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach for the entire walk upstairs to the showers, as the question that had been on his mind for months continued to hammer around inside his head.

If you think so much of me, why are you so horrified a
t the thought of sponsoring me?

6

The Shield Charm

H
ayden spent the next morning feeling distinctly awkward for shouting at the Prism Master in his living room the night before. Now that he was well-rested he reflected back on the conversation with horror, wondering how he was supposed to ever look Master Asher in the eye again.

He
made no mention of his worries to his friends at breakfast (though Tess asked him more than once why he was being so quiet), and was quite relieved to depart for Charms class by himself.

The moment he sat down, h
e locked eyes with the one of the girls who had been whispering about him in the common area yesterday and she blushed and looked away. The classroom filled up rapidly around him, and Master Dirqua materialized into the center of the circle of desks just as the bell rang.

“Today you will begin your first attempts at producing a charm,” he greeted them, his metallic green robes swishing behind them as he paced back and forth. “You should have re
ad all about low-level defensive charms by now, so if you’ll turn to page twenty in your books we can get started.”

There was a rustling of paper as everyone found the right page, which had a very basic wooden carving in the shape of a shield, followed by a list of detailed instructions for how to imbue it with magic and link it to a Source.

“In time, some of you may begin crafting your own emblems, but I don’t teach that until my second-level class because of the time involved. For now you’ll be using template emblems that have been crafted by a charm supplier.” He reached into a pocket of his robes and extracted a double-handful of small wooden shield emblems that looked exactly like the picture in Hayden’s book.

“Take one of each and pass them around,” he de
posited the wooden shields with a clatter on the desk nearest him, and a wad of leather string in front of the girl who wouldn’t look at Hayden earlier.

For a minute there was silence as the materials were passed around the room in a circle, until everyone had an emblem and a long piece of string
in front of them.

“First things first, go ahead and secure your emblem to the string and fashion a necklace out of it,” Master Dirqua instructed them, moving around the room to help those who were having difficulty.

Hayden had to re-tie the knot on his necklace after trying it on and discovering he had made it much too long, but he wasn’t the only one to make adjustments and Master Dirqua waited patiently for them all to finish before moving on.

“Everyone have their necklaces ready? Good, now you must each choose whether you want your charm
to be bound in blood or hair.” He said this as though it was a matter of no importance. “Blood is the most powerful of all binders, so charms bound with blood are therefore the most effective, but there is no question that you can get good reliability out of the other binders as well.”

One of Hayden’s classmates raised their hand.

“If blood is the most powerful, then why doesn’t everyone just bind everything with it?”

Master Dirqua smirked as he answered. “It’s sometimes overkill, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. For instance, this charm of Sight,” he ge
stured to one of the many emblems hanging around his own neck. “This allows me to see through the eyes of animals that are in the vicinity. As you can see, I’ve done the binding with hair, because I really don’t need the added power of blood. All I’m doing is seeing through the animal’s eyes; I’m not trying to control it, fight with it, and so forth.”

He dropped the charm so that it disappeared amidst the others around his neck and continued. “Quite truthfully, the reason most mages don’t use blood unless they need to is because it gets very tiring always pricking your fingers for a
fresh supply.”

Hayden was completely prepared to believe that, because he didn’t even like the prospect of doing it once.

“For the charm you are making—a defensive one—you would do best to bind it in blood if you can stand to. It will heighten the protection it gives you, which is generally important to the mage wearing it.” He looked around the room and saw that a few of them were looking squeamish, adding, “Of course, since this is your first charm and you might soon produce a better one, you may wish to use hair until you’ve gotten the hang of it and worked up to something more advanced.”

Some of Hayden’s classmates exhaled in relief, but Hayden considered the wooden shield in the palm of his hand. He had no idea how soon they were going to be able to move on to more advanced charms, and he would have challenge arenas and the Inter-School Championship coming up very soon. It would be better to go in as well-equipped as possible since he had no idea what he’d be facing.

Frowning, he accepted one of the pins from the box that was being passed around and pricked his thumb with it. It didn’t hurt as much as he expected, and he squeezed a drop of blood onto the back of the little wooden shield.

When everyone was finished with their bindings (most people chose to use hair), Master Dirqua addressed them all again.

“Now for the hard part. You’re going to use your instrument of choice to imbue the charm with power, as described in your textbook. For today’s charm, you’ll want to use simple spells such as: Repel, Ward, Banish, or Cleanse—if you know it.”

Hayden raised his hand.

“Can we only put one spell into the charm?”

Master Dirqua smiled at him.

“You can pack as many of them into your charm as you want—up to five, for the time being. Remember, if you’ve got five spells loaded into your charm, it is going to activate all five of those spells whenever you have need of one of them, and it will be pulling directly from your Source to do it. Five spells straight from the Source when you haven’t built up your resilience yet will probably require you to take a nap to recover your strength immediately after.”

Hayden remembered how it had felt after his endurance trial the other day, how he had been too fatigued to do anything but get to his bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

“Sir?” Another student raised his hand. “I always see the Masters holding their charms when they’re using them. Does that mean that it won’t work for us unless we’ve got our hand on it? Because during a challenge arena we might need both hands for our other weapons…”

Master Dirqua shook his head.

“An excellent question, and no.” He smiled. “A charm will work as long as it’s around your neck. The reason that we hold our charms while using them is because it amplifies their power,” he explained.

There was a long moment of silence and then someone else asked, “How?”

The Charms Master looked like he had been waiting for the question. “Think about what is on the other side of the palm of your hand.”

Another moment of silence.
A girl to Hayden’s left said, “The back of your hand?”

There were a few chuckles at that, and she blushed in embarrassment.

“Try again,” Master Dirqua said blandly.

“Your Focus
,” Hayden volunteered.

The Charms Master nodded at him.
“Much better. You see, clasping an emblem in your hand when you use it is a way of channeling magic through both your Source and your Focus at the same time. That acts as an amplifier and yields more power, though of course it also ties up one of your Foci to do it and will fatigue you even faster.”

Hayden pondered that for a moment in silence.

“Now then, get to it. Use your weapon of choice and focus your spell-casting on the charm in front of you.” Master Dirqua called them back to order, and Hayden withdrew a prism from his belt without even thinking about it.

They were in an interior room and the lighting wasn’t fantastic, so Hayden had
to squint and rotate his prism a few times to find a good array, and then he lost it a moment later. He would either have to get up and move closer to a lamp or make his own light source.

Frowning, he held up his clear prism and activated the Light array without even having to look for it, setting it off to the side and equipping one of his other prisms. A few people gasped at the sudden brightness of the room, and Master Dirqua watched him with mild interest as he dialed in his blue-
tinted prism and cast Shield, followed by Banish. Neither prism shrank noticeably, and he was once again delighted by the heightened power of level-three prisms. He pulled on his rose prism next and added Repel and Cleanse to the shield. He didn’t yet know the alignment or the prism for Ward, so he took out his level-three oak wand and made that his fifth, extinguishing the light from his clear prism as he did so and returning all his materials to their holders.

It was then that he noticed that a lot of other people were watching him. Master Dirqua had a hint of an ironic smile on his face.

“What?” Hayden asked dumbly. “Did I do something wrong?”

The Charms Mast
er said, “Not at all. I find it interesting that you immediately went for the maximum number of spells allowable as soon as you had the chance.” He folded his arms across his chest. “None of your other classmates dared more than two; you must be feeling adventurous, or very confident in your Source’s stamina.”

Hayden frowned at the attention, looking around the room at his classmates.

“No, I’m just trying to plan ahead, because I expect that the I.S.C. is going to start soon and this might be the only charm I have to wear by then. I want it to be a good one in case I need it.”

Now the Charms Master looked thoughtful.

“You’re not going to have a lot of time to practice pulling magic from your Source between now and then. What happens when you use it during the competition and have to lie down and rest immediately afterward?”

A few of the others laughed at that, but Hayden met the Master’s gaze steadily.

“I’ll just have to practice a lot so that that doesn’t happen,” he said calmly, feeling stubborn.

“Well then, no time better than the present.” Master Dirqua reached into his belt and
extracted a mastery-level ash wand. “What spells did you imbue your charm with?” he asked with casual interest.

Hayden swallowed hard, suddenly nervous.

“Shield, Banish, Repel, Cleanse, and Ward,” he answered.

“Very good.
I’m going to cast a basic offensive spell against you, and if you’ve imbued your charm properly, it should be deflected by your shielding spell.”

Hayden frowned. “What if it makes me tired or doesn’t work?”

Master Dirqua smiled politely. “Then you’ll be in some mild discomfort and may miss your next class.” He shrugged as though it didn’t matter either way. “The rest of you, pair off into groups and test each other’s defensive charms like I am about to do with Hayden. Those of you who need to rest afterwards may lie down for the remainder of class today.”

The sound of chairs scraping on the floor filled Hayden’s ears as his classmates moved around to pair off, but he could tell that many of them were still watching him. He didn’t dare take his eyes o
ff of Master Dirqua, anticipating a surprise attack.

Without thinking about it, Hayden lifted his hand and clasped the charm tightly
like he always saw the Masters do, which seemed to delight the Charms Master.

“My, my, you
are
feeling confident in your Source.” He flicked his wand at Hayden without warning, and Hayden’s eyes widened in surprise as he felt a blast of magic radiate out of him. It was different than when he cast with prisms, which was a very streamlined process through his Foci; this felt like magic was coming out of every pore of his skin, forming some invisible cloud all around him, like it was tugging on every molecule of his body at the same time...

His charm must have worked, because nothing happened to him as a result of
Dirqua’s casting, and a moment later Hayden felt the magical cloud dissipate from around him. He stifled a yawn, though on the whole he didn’t feel too bad, not nearly as tired as he had been during the endurance trial.

The Charms Master was watching him carefully, eyes widening in pleasant surprise when Hayden remained on his feet.

“How do you feel?” he inquired politely.

“Not bad,” Hayden admitted, looking around the room at the others who were still watching him, though some of his classmates had moved on to testing their own charms and were now slumping tiredly
at their desks or on the floor.

“Huh,” Master Dirqua tapped his chin thoughtfully, returning the wand to his belt and moving closer to Hayden. “That is very interesting…” he mused out loud, before turning to look at the class. “Why aren’t you all testing your charms? Carry on.”

Immediately, everyone else began focusing on the task at hand, and Master Dirqua now stood directly in front of Hayden, speaking to him privately.

“Asher did say you had a respectable amount of Source power, but I am beginning to think he was grossly understating the situation
, for whatever reason he saw fit.”