True Magics (5 page)

The sun broke the horizon.

The bells stopped, and for a moment there was no sound save the winds and the waves. Then the Archbishop raised his voice, leading the people in prayer and song. Across the beach, hundreds of priests did the same, bringing the people together to celebrate the end of winter, and the coming of the spring rains that would cleanse the snow from the earth and make way for new life.

The singing stopped, and all eyes went to the Archbishop.

“It has been a long winter,” said the Archbishop, and all down the beach his priests echoed his words so that everyone there could hear his sermon. “And for some of the people in our country it has been a very difficult one.” He looked to where the students stood. “In the north of our country, in Frostmire, there was a war.”

Thomas felt his throat close.

“And though it was a brief war, it was no less tragic for the people who lived there than any other conflict,” the Archbishop said. “A group of raiders attacked Criethe’s northernmost duchy, and they did so using the vilest instrument the Banished give to those who usurp nature! They used Witchcraft!”

A murmur of disbelief rumbled down the beach. The students around Thomas and the rest of the Student Company all stared at them.

Archbishop Culverton raised a hand for quiet. “I know it is hard to credit,” he said, “but it is true nonetheless. They called fogs to hide their action and called flames to burn down the towns they seized. Hundreds of men, women and children died. Our own envoy and the twenty good men he took north at the call of the Duke were slaughtered in an ambush.”

The Archbishop lowered his voice. “And as horrifying as that is, there is still worse news. The witchcraft that so decimated our northern duchy did not die with the raiders.” He searched the beach with his eyes. “For those who went north to fight these raiders also used witchcraft, casting spells against them. Witchcraft that they have brought with them back to Hawksmouth!”

And as he spoke those words, the Archbishop found Thomas.

“Our priests, who minister to the families of this city, who care for the sick and the poor, and who guide your souls to the High Father, have heard disquieting rumours,” he said, his eyes locked on Thomas’s. “Rumours of those who would use powers beyond those granted mortal men. Rumours of those who would endanger their souls by engaging not with the High Father, but with the Banished!

“So when we show our defiance to the winter,” Archbishop Culverton declared, “when we show our refusal to submit the frost and when we use our faith to send the cold away, let us also think of those in Frostmire, whose faith and defiance cast off the shroud of witchcraft that hung over that land! And let us renew our own faith, and renew our strength, that we may resist the siren call of the Banished, and bask instead in the glory of our High Father!”

The Archbishop stepped down from the stage and made his way to the water while his priests led the people in prayer. Thomas mouthed the words along with the others, but they were like ashes in his mouth. Eileen’s grip on his hand would have been painfully tight if Thomas had been able to feel anything.

Instead, he stood there, numb and horrified, as the Archbishop walked toward the water and went in up to his knees, as ceremony required.

3

“So,” Evan’s voice was bitter. “All going to blow over, is it?”

Thomas couldn’t find words, could barely move. His eyes fixed on George, who was standing rigid, his face a mask of fear and anger.
He can’t let the smiths see him like that,
Thomas realized. He shook himself out of his stupor. “Eileen. Get George. Tell him he’s jumping in with us. Hurry.”

Eileen took one look and then ran to her brother. She grabbed George and Linda’s arms and started pleading with them. All around the Student Company, people were looking their way. Thomas could see the questions in their expressions.
Thankfully now is not the time.

“The king is preparing to go in!” said the Master of Rhetoric. “Students, make ready!”

Thomas craned his eyes to the royal pavilion. He could just see the king, wearing a long white robe and flanked by guards and courtiers, step out onto the beach.

“Student Company!” yelled Henry. “Let’s be first after him! Sir George! Hurry!”

Eileen and Linda pulled George toward the rest of the company. George, already red with suppressed anger, turned a shade darker on hearing his title. He sped up, though. Soon, the entire company were together.

“Well, don’t just stand there!” shouted Henry, pulling off his cloak. “Student Company! Make ready!”

“Stand back,” Thomas warned Eileen. Linda caught Eileen’s hand and led her to one side.

“Why?” asked Eileen. “What are you going to do?”

Thomas didn’t bother answering, just started taking off his clothes. Around him, hundreds of other boys and young men were doing the same thing, to the cheers and laughter of the girls and women around them. Eileen stood there, her mouth open with amazement. Then she started laughing as well, though it had a near-hysterical edge to it.

“How far down do we go?” demanded George, watching the others tossing off cloaks and shirts and breeches.

“To the braies,” called Michael. “Have to keep a modicum of decency, you know.”

“But only a modicum!” said Henry. “Faster, boys!!”

Thomas was down to his own braies in a matter of moments, the rest of the company soon after. Together they started pushing toward the water’s edge. All around them girls and women cheered. Then Keith Rolston’s voice rose up above the others. “Not so keen on being a student now, are you,
girl?
”

Thomas spun. Keith and a gang of students had come up behind Eileen and Linda. All were in their braies, and all of them were glaring at Eileen. Linda had her hand over her mouth and was at once turning red with embarrassment and glaring at Keith for being so rude.

Eileen stepped forward until she was nearly chest to chest with Keith. “What did you say?”

“Students go in the water,” said Keith. “Don’t see you getting ready to go in!”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Linda, before Eileen could reply. “Girls aren’t allowed.”

“Gentlemen!” A priest pushed into the crowd. His face and tone were both severe. “This is not a time or place for arguing.”

“Is there a rule against girls going in the water, Father?” asked Keith.

The priest, caught completely off guard, stood there with his mouth open until Keith prompted him. “Well?”

“Umm… no. No, there’s no rule,” stammered the priest. “It isn’t done, though. Not here, anyway.”

“That’s because we’ve more sense than the men,” called one of the women in the crowd, bringing laughter all around them. “Now leave that poor girl alone!”

“Hey, Thomas!” called one gloriously drunk student from the side. “Your girl is causing trouble! Magic her off the beach!”

“What?” said another, right beside him.

“Didn’t you hear? Thomas is a magician!” He began repeating Lord Cormac’s story, loudly, while he slowly got his clothes. Thomas felt panic and anger rising inside him, but the drunk fool was five rows back and there was no way Thomas could reach him and shut him up.

“Eileen doesn’t want to be a girl,” Keith yelled, ignoring the drunk. “She wants to be a student. So be a student and go in,
little girl.
Or get off the beach!”

“Now, that’s enough of that, young man,” said the priest. “She has as much right to be here—”

“No, she doesn’t!” snapped Keith. “If she wants to stand here with us, she can well go in with us!”

“Fine!” Eileen shouted. “You want to see me go into the water! You just watch me!”

Linda’s eyes went wide. “Eileen, you can’t!”

“You watch my things and make sure the
little
boys
don’t take them!” Eileen snapped. She turned toward the water and stripped off her cloak. Thomas swore and pushed harder, forcing a path toward her.

“Eileen!” George was furious. “You are not going in there!” Eileen ignored him, unbuttoned her coat and threw it on the ground by her feet. George grabbed at her arm. “You will not do this!”

Eileen twisted her wrist out of his hand and shoved her brother, not moving him at all. “Don’t you tell me what I can’t do!” She spun to face Keith. “Any of you!”

George turned even brighter red. He growled, “You are embarrassing me.”

“The only embarrassment here is Keith!” yelled Eileen, pulling off her sweater then unlacing her bodice. Several of the students started whistling. George’s head swivelled like a bear scenting prey. The boys nearby stopped.

Eileen’s bodice hit the ground, followed quickly by her blouse. Her boots, stockings and skirts followed in short order. The whistling, cheers and laughter grew louder as Eileen stood, barelegged and shivering in her short shift and drawers. George was steaming. Keith just stared at her, fuming.

“What?” demanded Eileen. “Never seen a girl’s underthings before?” She stepped up to Keith and poked his chest hard with a finger. “You want me in the water? You watch me go!”

She turned her back on him and stomped toward the shore. The students parted in front of her. When she reached Thomas, she grabbed his hand and kept on going. The rest of the Student Company stood, gawking.

“Right,” said Henry. “Student Company, Sir George! Make ready! We’re ALL going in together!”

The students of the company looked unsure. Henry yelled. “Follow
Captain
Thomas and
Lieutenant
Eileen! Now! Sir George! Hurry!”

Michael found his tongue first. “You heard him! Let’s go! The Academy!”

“The Academy!” echoed half of the company, and charged for the water’s edge. The rest followed a moment later. Wilson punched Eileen in the shoulder on the way by, yelling, “All together! Come on!”

At the water’s edge Thomas wrapped his arms around Eileen. “You shouldn’t have done this,” he whispered.

“I had to,” Eileen whispered back, huddling close to him. “There’s no way I’m letting that loudmouth Keith say what I can or can’t do!”

Thomas shook his head. “By the Four, what a mess.”

“No fair!” called Winston. “The rest of us don’t have anyone to cuddle!”

“The more fool, you!” Eileen yelled back, but she let Thomas go and stood beside him, her fingers entwined in his and looked out at the cold, grey water. “How bad is it going to be?”

“Oh, very,” said Thomas.
But I’m thinking it will be worse when we get out.

George stomped up beside Thomas and Eileen. He was still red with anger, and the expression he gave Eileen left no doubt at whom.

Behind them, the last lines of men came together across the beach. Most were young. Some were older, a few actually elderly. All stood tall and proud against the incoming wind. For a moment, the beach was silent as everyone waited for the call to go forward.

The priests began ringing their bells again. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until the ringing was continuous then, together, then stopped.

All the people on the beach called out, “In the name of the High Father, let our faith, our strength and our will to drive the winter back!”

“In the name of the High Father!” shouted the king, dropping his robe. He wasn’t young anymore, but he was still powerfully built. He charged into the freezing water without hesitation, his legs breaking through the surf until he dived, head first, into the waves.

“Students forward!” the Master of Rhetoric called. “For the honour of the Academy!”

“The Academy!” roared a thousand students. Thomas, Eileen and the company charged for the water. A cheer broke out from thousands of throats along the length of the beach and the first wave of men and boys charged into the sea.

Oh, gods!
Thomas felt the breath rush out of his body the moment his legs touched the freezing water. He kept running, yelping when the water reached his groin, then dove forward and under. For a moment he couldn’t move, couldn’t draw breath. He forced his legs to work, got his feet under him and pushed his head back above the surface. He let out a strangled yell when he surfaced. Eileen came up a moment later, screaming and shaking in the cold. He grabbed her hand. “Out! Now!”

They ran back to the beach, dodging the ones rushing in. Around them, hundreds of men and boys, all soaked and freezing, their braies plastered to their bodies, dashed up the beach toward their clothes. The crowd cheered and applauded, and the women on shore laughed and yelled at the sight of them. The boys caught sight of Eileen and did the same.

Eileen looked down and turned bright red. She crossed her arms over the front of the now see-through shift and drawers that clung tight to the curves of her body. Thomas charged ahead to their blankets. He grabbed the closest one and wrapped it around Eileen before taking the other for himself. They rubbed at their freezing flesh, drying themselves as best they could. Then Thomas stepped close and wrapped his blanket around them both, pulling her up the beach to their clothes. Her cold, wet skin pushed against his, and he could feel her shivering.