True Magics (12 page)

Thomas made a point of not being in the same group as David. It didn’t help.

“Witchcraft?” said Fred, as soon as their group sat down together. “Really?”

“There’s no such thing,” said Thomas. “Pig-keeper or knight?”

“Knight,” said Billy Randolph. “I heard what those northerners said about you. Why would they say that?”

Thomas sighed.

“The Archbishop said the raiders used witchcraft,” said Fred. “And he said someone on the other side used lightning.”

“I don’t care,” said Thomas, keeping his words slow and even. “I care about whose side we are going to argue for, and how we are going to win.”

“Maybe you could throw lightning at the Professor,” Fred sniggered.

Thomas wiped all expression from his face and stared at the other student.

“It was just a joke,” said Fred.

Thomas kept staring.

“It
was
a joke, Thomas,” said Billy. “He didn’t mean anything.”

“Pig-keeper or knight?” Thomas kept his voice soft and as calm as he could make it. “Which side?”

“Knight,” said Fred, sounding very nervous. “The pig-keeper will lose because his pigs were the ones that got loose. And one man is nobility, and the other isn’t.”

“Which is as good a reason to defend the pig-keeper as any, isn’t it?” said Thomas. “Now here’s what I think…”

Thomas made it through the rest of the class without another incident, and even managed to convince the law professor that, contrary to what had actually happened, the pig-keeper should have won. Those two victories didn’t live past the classroom door.

“All right, what really happened up north?” demanded Billy the moment they stepped out of the house. A dozen others were gathered around, looking eagerly at Thomas.

By the Four, how much of this will I have to talk about?
“What have you heard?”

“You killed Richard Antonius with a lightning bolt.”

Thomas shook his head.
The stories are already getting bigger.
“Baron Goshawk killed Richard Antonius with a throwing axe to his chest.”

“The raiders used witchcraft to break into the castle,” said David, joining the group.

“They used witchcraft to kidnap the Duke’s middle son,” said another.

“You used witchcraft to find out who killed the Duke.”

“They fought with blades made of fire.”

“Enough!” said Thomas, loud enough to silence them. “Lord Richard let the raiders into the castle. No one used blades of fire.” He looked at the group. “Sorry to disappoint you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to fencing.”

Thomas was accosted four more times as he crossed the grounds to the gymnasium. He fended off the questions with a curt “late for class” even though he wasn’t. Halfway across the grounds he spotted Henry with William, Mark, James, and Wilson. He jogged over to them. “Hey! How did the morning go?”

“Well enough,” said Henry, “By which I mean no one asked about Eileen because they were too busy pestering us with questions about witchcraft.”

“Pestering is right,” said Wilson. “One of the
professors
even asked me if it was true about the raiders throwing fire and you throwing lighting.” He shook his head. “I thought everything was going to be about Eileen, today!”

“What did you say?” asked Thomas.

“That you threw candy and the raiders threw flowers, what did you
think
I said?” Wilson rolled his eyes. “The raiders used fire. You never used witchcraft. That seems to satisfy them.”

“For now,” muttered Thomas, not wanting to think what would happen when they weren’t satisfied any more. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. How long before all this blows over?”

“Depends who’s doing the blowing,” said Henry. “If it’s just the lords, that’s one thing, but after the Archbishop’s speech?”

“Where’s Eileen?” asked Thomas. “She should be here by now.”

“Professor Dodds’ lecture,” said Wilson. “Those always go long.”

“Dodds likes her,” said Thomas. “Or at least, he liked Alex.”

“Don’t suppose you remembered to bring a lunch?” said Henry.

“I didn’t,” said Thomas.

“The Green Goose has a good stew,” said Wilson. “And it’s closer than the Quill.”

“Cheap, too,” said Henry. “Shall we all meet there after your fencing class?”

“Well…” said Thomas, who was actually hoping to have lunch alone with Eileen, “I was thinking…”

“Thomas!” Graham Silvers was running across the grass, toward them. “Thomas, Come quick! They’ve got Eileen cornered!”

“Who?” demanded Thomas.

“Keith Rolston and his friends!” Graham slid to a stop on the wet grass. “There’s practically a brawl in Professor Dodds’ class!” He turned and ran back the way they had come. Thomas took off after him, and the rest followed a moment later.

“I thought you were on Keith’s side,” shouted Thomas as he chased after Graham.

“Just in the debate!” called Graham over his shoulder. “Thought I’d pay you back for the drubbing I took when we did ‘rights of the lord against rights of the people’ last year! But this is different!”

“How?” demanded Thomas, putting on a burst of speed to catch the other, taller man. Their boots dug divots in the soaking brown grass and spattered mud and water on their robes.

“I like him,” said Graham. “I mean, I liked him, and she’s still him, even if she’s Eileen now. And it’s not fair to pick on her for not being him!”

“That made no sense,” said Henry from just behind them.

“Well, neither does this, so hurry up!”

They heard the arguing the moment they stepped inside the philosophy building and followed it to the largest of the lecture theatres. The doors were wide open and several professors were standing outside looking in. One saw them coming and stepped in front of the door. “No one else in there, lads. There’s trouble enough already.”

“I say she doesn’t belong!” they could hear Keith’s voice rise about the rest. “She’s not a student!”

“I know I’m not a student!” Eileen yelled back. “All I want is the right to take the exam and
become
a student if I pass it!”

Other students jumped into the argument.

“Girls can’t be students!”

“Why not?”

“Because it would wreck the whole Academy! No one would get any studying done!”

“Some of us can actually concentrate with girls around!”

“You can’t concentrate with a wet sock around!”

There was a crash and dozens of loud voices all started talking at once. Thomas shoved past the professors and charged inside with Henry and the Student Company on his heels. On the floor of the theatre and in the raised benches all around the hall, young men were arguing and struggling, and in a few cases, actively swinging fists at one another.

“Eileen!” Thomas yelled.

“Thomas! Here!” called Bill. Eileen was in the centre of the floor in front of the professor’s podium. Roland and Mark had her arms, holding Eileen back from charging at Keith, who was three benches up. There were bodies everywhere in the way, blocking Thomas’s path. Professor Dodds had scrambled up on the podium and was demanding decorum and silence.

“Form a wedge!” Thomas ordered. “Push forward!”

“God, it’s like Frostmire again!” said James.

“At least no one’s trying to kill you,” said Henry. “Follow Thomas!”

The seven of them pushed their way into the room. A few students tried shoving back, but the combined weight of the company was too much. In moments Thomas and the company were against the podium.

“Look out!” called someone near the top. “The witch is at the podium!”

The words nearly made Thomas’s heart stop.

“And so is her boyfriend,” shouted one of the boys near Keith, bringing a roar of laughter and renewed yells and pushing.

“Is that how you snuck in?” demanded Keith. “By bewitching your boyfriend?”

Eileen tried to charge at him again and was once more hauled back by Roland and Mark.

“Don’t do it,” said Wilson. “You hit him, and he’ll use it as proof you shouldn’t be here.”

“Careful now!” taunted Keith. “Your boyfriend can’t toss lightning around in here!”

Want to bet on that?
Thomas stepped in front of Eileen. “What happened?”

“That fool, Keith,” snapped Eileen. “Class was just about done when he stands up and asks me what the position of the ancients was on the inferior intellect of women.” She raised her voice loud enough for Keith to hear it above the din. “Of course, if you’d
read
the ancients you’d know that the Beaudleans spoke of women as equals, the Haperions suggested that women were intellectually superior, and that the Dralfons did not mention women’s intellect at all!”

“The Dralfons call women the incarnation of temptation!” yelled Keith.

“That has nothing to do with their intellect!”

“The teachings of the High Father specifically called the followers of the Mother and Daughter feeble in mind!”

“That reference was referring to the nuns who held out against the Church in a fortress on an old volcano,” said Wilson. “The poison fumes seeping from the cracks in the earth caused their feebleness of intellect! It’s not about anyone else!”

“And a two-hundred-year-old text isn’t ancient!” Eileen shouted.

“You would say that! You’re a woman!”

“I say that because I’m right!”

A brain-piercing screech filled the room. Everyone’s hands went over their ears and everyone’s eyes went to the podium. Professor Dodds was blowing hard into an odd-shaped horn whose sound drove into the students’ ears like rusty, jagged spikes. He sounded it twice more, then yelled, “Everyone who is in this classroom take a seat and be silent! Now!” When there wasn’t immediate action, he blew the horn again. Everyone scrambled for a place, and Thomas found himself squished into a front row seat between Henry and Eileen.

Professor Dodds held up the curved instrument. “This is a Cavlarian war horn. It makes the single most awful noise in creation. This is only the second time I have had to use it to restore order, the first being the result of a rather tense discussion over the nature of matter and the transmutability of lead into gold.” His eyes swept the room again. “Now, what have we learned?” he pointed at a student in the fifth row. “You! What did you learn?”

“Umm… that the ancients did not see women as intellectual inferiors?”

“How about that girls are disruptive to learning?” suggested Keith.

Professor Dodds blew on the instrument again, making everyone groan and cover their ears. “You were not asked!” He pointed to a second student. “You!”

“Uh… that… uh… that the philosophy of the Ancients regarding women does not align with the teachings of the Church of the High Father?”

He pointed to Thomas, “You!”

“Not to walk into your class unannounced?”

“Remember that for next time, young man. You!” he pointed to Eileen, “Come here!”

Eileen shot a look of fear to Thomas, but got up and walked to the podium.

“Stand there,” said Professor Dodds, pointing to a spot beside him. “Remove your robe.”

Eileen’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“You are wearing clothes underneath are you not?”

“Yes!” Eileen started turning red. Several of the boys snickered.

A glance from Professor Dodds silenced them. “Take off the robe. And be quick about it!”

Eileen looked furious but said nothing and unbuttoned the robe, pulling it off with angry motions and folding it over her arms. The brown skirt and sweater she wore made her look like a small mouse in a room full of black cats. Professor Dodds pointed at Eileen, “Now, what do you know about this person standing beside me? Anyone?”

After a moment, someone called out, “She’s short!”

The laughter that followed that broke some of the tension.

“She’s a red-head!”

“She looks better with her hair down!”

“Her boots are dirty!”

“She has ink on her cheek!”

“She’s punches really hard!” called Henry, bringing more laughter and a glare from the professor. “Well, she does.”

“I will forebear asking how you know,” said the professor. “Try again, lads. This time go for something more obvious.”

“She’s a girl,” shouted out a student from the back.

“Very good!” said Professor Dodds. “She is a girl! Excellently done. There may be hope for some of you! And was there anyone in this room who was not aware she was a girl at the beginning of this class?” When the room filled with silence, he pointed to Keith. “Did you, sir, fail to notice she was a girl?”

“No, sir,” said Keith.

“Then would you say that your words were meant as a deliberate attack on this young lady?”