The Shadowhand Covenant (25 page)

He pushed me up against the wall. “Tevrok is par-Goblin for sanguibeast excrement.”

Oh, right. I kept forgetting he spoke par-Goblin.

I coughed. “Er, sorry. Force of habit.”

He grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me down the corridor.

In the end, I used my superior powers of deduction to locate the training hall. Basically, we followed the sounds of explosions and screams.

The trail of thunderous mayhem led us to a massive room, several stories high. Circular wooden platforms hovered at different levels over the stone floor. On each dais stood a trio of gray-robed apprentices, each brandishing a glowing spellsphere. They seemed to be taking turns casting spells at one another, with great streaks of energy flying across the room. Some succeeded, others failed. It was the failures that typically led to the explosions and screams that had guided us here.

As we stood gawping, a pair of strong hands gripped us by the nape of our necks and yanked us back. A Satyran woman in mage robes, who looked like a younger and meaner version of Dylis, regarded us coolly.

“Where is your third partner?” she asked.

“Well,” I said, “you see, it's like this. We were late. We're not usually late, but it's been quite a day. You wouldn't even
believe
me if I tried to tell you—”

The mage dragged us both across the room to where an apprentice sat on a bench, cowled head facing down.

“I found you some partners,” the mage said with a roar.

When the apprentice looked up, I found myself staring into the face of Callie Strom.

Her eyes lit up with a mixture of happiness and confusion. Before she could say a word, I leaped forward and started shaking her hand.

“Hi there! My name is Tyrius,” I said, eyes wide in a “please play along” sort of way, “and this is”—oh, zoc, I couldn't think of anything better—“Tevrok.”

“I'm going to kill you,” Maloch said, low enough so only I could hear.

“Thank you, Madam Zaia,” Callie said to the dour mage.

“Begin your drills,” Madam Zaia said. She waited until the three of us moved.

“Over here,” Callie said confidently, leading us to a wooden platform nearby. She pulled a spellsphere from her robes, cleared her throat, and said,
“Boshoren!”

Nothing happened.

“Boshoren!”
Callie insisted again.

The Satyran mage looked ready to eat us all alive. She
marched over, and Callie stood at attention.

“Sorry,” Callie said quietly, “I only just got my spellsphere. I'm still learning—”

“Again!” the mage said. “And concentrate.”

Callie gulped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. Then she said forcefully,
“Boshoren!”

This time, the spellsphere flickered to life. A cascade of purple and orange sparks spilled out of the sphere and danced along the surface of the wooden platform. A moment later, the platform rose up into the air.

Callie kept her eyes closed, and the platform rose until we were higher than any of the other groups, almost to the ceiling. As the platform came to a halt, Callie opened her eyes and nearly killed me with a hug.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. She looked over to Maloch and frowned. “And why is
he
with you?”

“Hey, you're no prize either, Strom,” Maloch said, folding his arms.

I had completely forgotten that Callie was here. When I imagined Kolo going through with his plans to destroy the palace, I hadn't even realized that Callie would be among those . . .

I shrugged off the thought. “Callie, what's going on here?”

I looked over the edge. Below us, the other trios of apprentices continued their mini war games, dodging one another's spells and improvising defensive maneuvers.

“Pretty intense, huh?” Callie asked, rolling her spellsphere between her fingers.

“I thought apprentices weren't allowed to have spellspheres until they were sixteen,” I said, eyeing the dark gray marble.

Callie shrugged. “That used to be the rule. But it got thrown out the window when we were evacuated. Not only do we all have spellspheres, but we spend half our days learning the magical language. It's supposed to take years to master, but they expect us to learn it
now.
Let me tell you: it's not easy.”

“Yeah,” Maloch said with a laugh, “that much is obvious.”

Callie grabbed a fistful of his robe. “You want to give it a try? It's exhausting. Half of our training is to build up stamina. Every time you use magic, it drains you. Use too much and it can knock you out. So give it a try, Maloch. I'd really love to see that.”

Maloch looked away, and Callie turned back to me. “It's crazy here, Jaxter. When it was just me and Talian, we moved at a slow pace, learning all about the history of magic. But now we never stop learning. We spend mornings learning how to speak magic, afternoons training in here, and evenings working our assigned jobs—in the forge, in the gardens. . . .”

She sat cross-legged on the platform. “It's like they can't teach us fast enough. People keep getting hurt. Everyone's trying to please their teachers, and when they try too hard, they get sloppy. The Palatinate is convinced the Sarosans are out to get them. But most of them are locked up in Umbramore Tower. I can't imagine the few left are any threat.”

Maloch cleared his throat. Callie's face fell. “What?”

I pulled out the pocket watch and eyed the fast-moving second hand. “You might want to rethink that.”

“When you sell the impossible, you are a master thief.”

—Kaelis Grimjinx, architect of the Dagger

B
y the time Maloch and I had finished recounting everything that had happened to us since Vengekeep, I thought Callie was going to fall off the floating platform. Her eyes got big when we described being kidnapped by the Sarosans. Her jaw dropped when we told her about being hunted by the bloodreavers. And her hands shook when we talked about dodging traps in the Dagger. I didn't think she'd have any reactions left by the time we got to Kolo's plot to blow up the Palatinate.

I was wrong.

“We have to warn everyone!” she said, leaping to her feet and pulling out her spellsphere. She barked a command, and nothing happened. “Come on, you stupid thing. Go down! Down!”

“Whoa!” Maloch said, holding his hands up. “You can't tell anyone.”

Callie pointed over the side of the platform. “There are two hundred mages in this building and almost as many apprentices. Most of them are our age. And they're my friends. Of course I have to warn them!”

This was going to be hard.

“Callie . . . ,” I said gently, and got the same deadly look she'd just given Maloch.

“Talian's here, Jaxter,” she said, seething. “Remember him? He's your friend.”

“I know,” I said to her. “Really, I know. But Kolo's got spies watching for an evacuation or attack. He'll ignite the tinderjack if he suspects the Palatinate has been alerted.”

We locked eyes for what felt like an eternity. She didn't seem entirely convinced. “We have to do
something
,” she insisted.

I kept my tone even. “I don't know what we can do. It's not like we can have Kolo and his men arrested and taken—”

Or could we . . . ?

“The Dowager!” I said. I drew my hand back into my robe, rummaged around in my pouches, and pulled out the star-shaped gem from the Dowager's pendant. “I can talk to her with this. All we have to do is have her send the Provincial Guard to arrest everyone in the Sarosan camp, and it's all over.”

“Would she do that?” Maloch asked.

“If it means saving hundreds of lives, she will,” I said. “Here goes.”

I tapped the gem three times as instructed. Nothing happened. I waited a moment, then tried again. Still nothing.

Callie shook her head. “It won't work in here. While we're on lockdown, the Palatinate is fortified so that no magic gets in or out. You'll need to go outside to use it.” She tilted her head as she considered. “Although it might work if you went to the North Tower. The top is open air.”

It was as good a plan as any. “There's no telling how long it will take the Dowager's guards to arrive.”

“Then we get the Sourcefire and give it to Kolo,” Maloch
said. “We can stall him until the troops come.”

“You contact the Dowager,” Callie said, taking charge the way she often did. “Me and the Armpit here will find the Sourcefire.”

“‘Armpit?'” Maloch asked.

Callie grinned. “Didn't you know that's what everyone in Vengekeep calls you behind your back?”

I nodded. “A couple more baths a year wouldn't kill you, Maloch.”

Maloch's jaw tightened. I took that to mean I would pay for that remark later. I'd lost count of how much I had to pay for later.

“The Sourcefire is heavily guarded with magical defenses,” Callie said. “But I think I've learned enough magic to get us past them.”

“You
think
?” Maloch asked.

Callie ignored him and held out her spellsphere again, trying to coax the platform to go down. Instead, we just continued to float. I tried not to sneak any nervous peeks at the pocket watch. Callie was already under enough stress. But at this rate, we could be stuck up here right until the moment when Kolo ignited the tinderjack.

A few more tries and suddenly the platform lurched downward. Thrown to the surface of the dais, we dug our fingers in and cried out.

Our free fall dropped us past the other training platforms. The other apprentices gaped in stunned silence as we plummeted, the floor rising to pulverize us. As we were seconds from death, a green glow surrounded our platform. For a moment, I felt weightless. The dais gently slowed until we touched the floor with a tap. Madam Zaia stood there with her spellsphere, clearly unhappy.

“It's a simple spell,” she said to Callie, whose face had gone so red she looked a bit like a bloodreaver. “If you can't even—”

A deep, sonorous bell rang out, echoing off the walls. It sounded loud enough to be heard throughout the entire Palatinate. As it faded away, a strong woman's voice took the bell's place.

“All apprentices will report back to their workstations,” the voice said.

One by one, the other floating platforms descended. The apprentices stepped off and began filing out of the room. With the Satyran distracted, we quickly mixed in with the
departing crowd and exited.

We followed the other apprentices until we got to a wheel-spoke juncture. There, people peeled off in groups, each heading down whichever corridor led to their workstation. We waited in the hub of the spoke until it was just the three of us.

“Won't you be missed at your ‘workstation'?” Maloch asked. We were both thinking back to the ruby-eyed forge master. He seemed the sort to send bloodreavers out to retrieve any apprentice who was even a minute late reporting for duty.

Callie blew it off with a wave of her hand. “They were in such a hurry to get everyone safe in the Palatinate that they didn't take any time to . . . well, organize it. I've skipped plenty of work sessions and classes.”

“Says the girl who's going to get us past the magical defenses of the Sourcefire,” Maloch said.

Callie elbowed him and turned to me. “Okay, Jaxter, here's how you get to the North Tower—”

“Down that hall, take two lefts, up the stairs all the way to the top,” I said.

Callie and Maloch pursed their lips as one. Maloch
tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, Callie said, “You know we're going to ask how you could possibly know that, so stop showing off and tell us.”

I pretended to pout. “You used to like it when I did that, Cal.” I pointed to the flickering torches on the wall. “There's a breeze wafting through the corridors. Faint scent of jewelpine trees. This palace lies just south of the largest jewelpine forest in the Provinces. Since we can smell the forest and we know the wind comes in from the north,
that
way must be north. When the defense classes let out, I could hear students head down that hall. From the angle their voices echoed back off the walls, I knew they—”

“Let's go,” Maloch said, pulling Callie away. “By the time he finishes, Kolo will have blown us up a dozen times over.”

Sometimes, I really think my deductive skills are woefully unappreciated.

When I arrived at the stairway to the North Tower, I found myself wishing I'd let Callie give me directions, instead of just deducing it all. She probably would have mentioned
the 1,543 spiral steps that led to the very top.

Oh, yes. I counted.

The stone stairs wound in a tight spiral through the tower's core. By the time I reached the last step, my jelly-like legs could barely support me and my lungs ached from all the heavy breathing. The top of the tower was completely flat and open. A blast of freezing wind hit me as I moved to the center. I spotted the jewelpine forest to the north, and to the west, I watched the sun sink closer to the horizon. Time was running out. I could only hope the Dowager could get here fast enough. Fingers shaking, I took out the star-shaped gem and tapped it three times.