True Magics (13 page)

“Not on her, sir, but on—”

“On her!” the professor thundered. “Now, I understand that there is disagreement about whether or not young ladies should attend the Academy. And I know there are many arguments one way and another and I know that feelings run high,
but I will not tolerate personal attacks on anyone in this classroom! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?”

Heads nodded around the room. The professor blew on the instrument again. A hundred hands went over ears.
“IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?”

“Yes, professor!” the students chorused.

“And as for you,” said Professor Dodds to Eileen, “your emotional, hyperbolic reaction, not to Mr. Ralston’s question about the inferiority of women, but to his use of a relatively modern text to answer a question about ancient beliefs can only mean one thing.” He let the words hang in the air a bit. “You’re one of us.”

Half the class cheered. The other half grumbled. Keith Ralston steamed in his seat.

“Now put your robe back on, Eileen,” said Professor Dodds. “You and your friends who dashed in may be excused. The rest of you can clean up this mess. Master Rolston and I will discuss the new assignment he has due by the end of the week once you are all finished.”

Eileen, Thomas at her side, led the company out of the room. Brian, Ronald and Mark took the moment to sneak out with them. Eileen’s hands shook as she buttoned up her robe. She looked more dazed than happy, and more tired than either.

“I do believe we won that one,” said Henry. “Not surprising, mind you, with Dodds, but good.”

“Very” said Thomas. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” said Eileen, though her tone said the opposite. She managed a small tight smile at Thomas. “I just can’t believe they’re being so…”

“Obdurate?” suggested Wilson.

“Annoying?” Bill said.

“Stupid?” said Henry.

“Stupid,” said Eileen. “Definitely stupid. Why are they being so stupid?”

“And what was that crack about witchcraft?” said Wilson. “I thought it was Thomas—”

“I never used witchcraft,” said Thomas, glaring at Wilson.

“I know, I know,” said Wilson, holding up his hands to block any more protests. “I just mean, yours is the name that everyone is bandying around. Why pick on Eileen?”

“Because imbeciles grab whatever weapon they can get,” said Henry. “Too bad you held Eileen back. I would have loved to see her punch Keith in the nose.”

“Thomas should have thrown lightning,” said Bill. “That would have shown him.”

“Will you shut up about it?” hissed Thomas.

“Oops. Sorry.”

Thomas sighed.
Somewhere, sometime, someone is going to say the wrong thing, and then…

They reached the gymnasium before Thomas had time to worry brood on it further.

“I’m for Case Law,” said Henry. “Then lunch at the Green Griffon, if you want to join us.”

Henry and most of the rest of the company walked off through the drizzle, leaving Mark and Wilson behind with Thomas and Eileen.

“And what are you wearing for fencing, Eileen?” asked Wilson wiggling his eyebrows and dodging Thomas’s swat.

“Don’t get too excited,” said Eileen as the four went inside the gymnasium. “I’ve re-sewn one of George’s shirts, so you won’t be seeing anything.”

Wilson looked disappointed just to irritate Thomas as the four stripped off their cloaks and coats, and hung them with the other dripping clothes in the front hall. Eileen also stripped off her sweater and skirt, much to Mark and Wilson’s interest. Thomas slapped them both on the back of the head, but neither paid attention.

George’s shirt reached down to her knees, with a thin belt around the middle to hold it in place and breeches underneath. Eileen had tacked the sleeves back, so her arms were bare to the elbow. She hung her skirt with the rest and led the others into the fencing hall. The other boys were all lined up in shirtsleeves and breeches, practice blades in their hands, waiting for the fencing master. All of them stared when Eileen stepped into the room. She shook her head. “I’ve been training with you for months. You’ve all seen my legs.”

“We didn’t know you were a girl, then,” said one of the students. “Now it’s… different.”

“Yes,” said Eileen. “Because my legs have changed so much since you found that out.”

“Well,” said another, blushing. “We didn’t know your legs were worth looking at before.”

Eileen rolled her eyes. “I suggest to you that I’ve beaten half of you. And since none of you want to be beaten by a girl
again
, I suggest you stop looking and start practising.”

Thomas chuckled and then had to smother it when Eileen raised an eyebrow at him. She took her place in line with the others.

“Say,” said John, one of the fencers, looking at her chest. “Did you get bigger?”

Thomas’s eyebrows went up at that. Eileen smiled. “They’re not tied down, John, and if you don’t raise your eyes, I’ll run you through.”

“If you can.”

“Did the last two times. Want to try for three when the master comes?”

“The master is here,” said Master Parres Brennan. “Eileen Gobhann, step out of line.”

Eileen stepped forward and the master met her before she could reach the fencing floor. His bald head was red with anger. “You lied to me,” he said. Eileen opened her mouth to protest, and he stopped her with a raised finger. “I don’t care your reasons. I do not teach women to fight. It’s an obscenity. Leave my class.”

“Please, Master…”

“I am not your master!” The words came out harsh and clipped. “You think this is a game, silly girl? It is a horrible thing to kill a man.”

“I know,” said Eileen.

“You know?” the Fencing Master’s voice rose in volume. “You think you know, but until you sink a blade into a man’s flesh, you know nothing!”

“Five.”

“What?”

“I’ve killed five men,” said Eileen, her voice flat. “Four with my rapier. One…” she swallowed convulsively,. “One with fire. There was another one I nearly killed, but he lived.”

The Fencing Master’s expression grew harder. “Then you, Miss Gobhann, are an obscenity as well. Now leave.” When she hesitated, the Fencing Master pointed to the door. “Out!”

Eileen tensed, sucked in a breath, and Thomas half-expected her to explode. Instead, she only said, “I thank you for the lessons, Master,” and raised her blade to salute.

The Fencing Master caught the dulled blade in his hand. “Women do not salute. Get out.”

Eileen’s face tightened, but she let the sword go, and walked out.

Thomas, furious, stepped out of the line. “You should have let her salute!”

“What?!”

“You don’t want to teach her, that’s your right,” said Thomas. “But you should have let her walk out of here with some dignity.”

“I do not train girls to be killers, and I will not have them give themselves false airs when they come in my gymnasium!”

“False airs?” Thomas did explode. “Eileen saved my life and helped stop a war! And when she tries to thank you for helping her learn, you say she’s taking false airs? Apologize to her!”

The Fencing Master’s bald head was growing brighter red. “I will not.”

Thomas stared, unbelieving, at the man. For the last five years Thomas had studied with Master Brennan. Thomas had gone from knowing nothing to being one of the best fencers at the Academy. He’d loved every minute of it.
But he shouldn’t do that to Eileen.
“Please, Eileen’s as good as half the students here, and she wants to be better. She needs you to teach her.”

“No. Now get back in line.”

“No,” said Thomas. “If you won’t teach Eileen, I don’t want to learn from you.” Thomas turned his back on the Fencing Master without saluting and walked away, tossing his sword to one of the other students.

Thomas half-expected the Fencing Master to challenge him or try to call him back, but the man said nothing. Thomas grabbed his robe and cloak and ran out of the door without putting them on. He spotted Eileen, struggling into her clothes and cloak as she walked across the grounds. “Eileen, wait!”

Eileen spun around, horrified. “What are you doing, you idiot? Get back to class!”

Thomas pulled up to a halt in front of her. “Too late.” He threw on his coat and started on the robe.

“What do you mean, too late?” Eileen demanded, doing up her own robe.

Thomas started on his buttons. “I told him to apologize for not letting you salute. He wouldn’t apologize and he wouldn’t teach you, so I walked out.”

“That is stupid!” Eileen said, stomping her foot. “You love fencing! You’re great at it! You can’t just leave the class!”

“Already did,” said Thomas. His heart sunk at the idea.
I really liked that class, too.
“He should have let you salute.”

“It’s not that important!”

“It
is
that important! We knew not every professor was going to accept you into his class when you became a girl. I hoped he’d do better but…”

“Professor Dodds.”

“What?” Thomas was confused.

Eileen looked at the ground. “Professor Dodds was the only one to let me into class,” said Eileen. “The mathematics professor stopped me at the door and told me I could not come in. The history professor…” Eileen looked away, crossing her wet arms in front of her. “He waited until the room was full then announced that he would not begin class until I left.”

Thomas took her cloak from her and wrapped it around her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”

Eileen shrugged. “Professor Dodds said my opinion was as informed as anyone else’s so why shouldn’t I participate? And the class was fine until Keith started making his stupid remarks. Then everyone started shouting and it all got out of hand.”

Thomas squeezed her shoulder. “Fencing was my last one for today. Let’s go someplace warm and get lunch.”

“Your place,” said Eileen. “I don’t want to be out around people and I can’t face George right now.”

“My place it is,” said Thomas. “We’ll get some food on the way.”

They left the Academy and went into the city. The rain was still coming down, bringing with it a sneaking chill that crept under their clothes and left them shivering.

“Is this what it’s going to be like, Thomas?” Eileen asked. “Am I going to have to put up with this all the time?”

“I don’t know,” said Thomas. “I hope not.”

“Even if they let me in there’ll be professors who don’t want to teach me, won’t there?”

“Probably,” said Thomas. “But they’ll have no choice.”

Eileen sighed again. “Oh, Thomas, what have I gotten myself into?”

Thomas didn’t have a good answer, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. Eileen leaned into him and let him lead her through the streets.

There was a market square just past Thomas’s apartment. It was small compared to the one near Eileen’s house, but there was a baker there and a wine-seller, and that would do well enough for lunch. They’d nearly reached the apartment when Thomas realized that the man in the blue cloak was following again. After the third time Thomas glanced behind them, Eileen asked, “What are you looking for?”

“There’s a man following us,” said Thomas. “Same one we saw last night.”

“You didn’t tell me you’d been followed last night!”

“I didn’t told you anything about last night,” said Thomas.

“You should have!”

“I haven’t really had the time,” said Thomas, with some annoyance.

Eileen looked back. “Where is he?”

After another quick glance, Thomas said, “Half a block back. Blue cloak, green coat. Just passing the green door. On the far side of the street.”

Eileen looked back again. “I see him.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t look that dangerous.”

“He doesn’t need to be dangerous,” said Thomas. “He needs to be inconspicuous.”

“Well, he’s good at that,” said Eileen. “Who do you think he is?”

“I think he works for the Church,” Thomas said. “Henry said it was that or the king, keeping tabs on me. Either way we should just leave him alone.”

Eileen grimaced. “I don’t like the idea of being followed.”

“Me, either,” said Thomas. ‘But there’s nothing we can do, so…”

The man stayed behind them while they shopped their way through the square. One shop yielded a basket, another a bottle of wine. From a third they bought meat pies and fruit tarts. All went into the basket and under Eileen’s robe to keep dry as they walked the slick, cobbled streets to Thomas and Henry’s apartment.

“This is the first time you’ve been here without George,” Thomas said as he unlocked and opened the apartment door. “I just realized.”

“Not worried about my reputation right now,” said Eileen, stepping inside. “And no one around here will tell anyone anyway. Is he still there?”

Thomas looked back one more time. He nearly missed the man standing in a doorway across the street, so still that he seemed to fade into the shadows. “He is. And he can stay there for all I care. Hope he catches cold.”