True Magics (20 page)

“Hm.” Thomas thought about that. “Why? Why is it so important?”

“No idea, just yet,” said Henry. “I’ll let you know when I’ve figured it out.”

In the market square, the preacher was standing on his crate again.

“And who are these witches?” he was demanding as the three went by. The man had a small crowd around him. A few were mocking him, but most were listening. “Who are these horrors whose unnatural, depraved acts so threaten our Church? They are women! Women and the men who are their slaves! Beware your neighbours! Beware your wives and daughters! Yes, even the innocent among you may have been seduced by the Banished, and exchanged their purity for the power to control men’s minds and make them their slaves!”

His words sent a shiver through Thomas.
All we need is a witch-hunt to make things perfect.

Eileen, on the other hand, was seething. “How dare he say that!” She glared at the preacher. “Bet I can hit him with a rock from here.”

“He’d just call you out as a witch,” said Henry. “And then he’d follow us all the way to the Academy.”

“Not if I hit him hard enough.”

“And how, you ask?” continued the preacher. “How is it that these women grew to be so depraved that they would willingly give their bodies to the Banished? Look no further than at yourselves, my friends. We as a city—we as a
nation—
have fallen. We who were once pure in our desire to serve the High Father have turned our eyes from him and onto worldly matters. It is our greed, our desire, our thirst for knowledge beyond that which men should know that has led us to this point.” He pointed directly at Thomas, Henry and Eileen. “And if you need proof of this, look no further than the king’s own Academy!”

Thomas, Eileen and Henry didn’t stop moving.

“Look at the boys who go there! Look at the men they become! Drinkers! Debauchers! Deceivers! For who can name a more drunken, lying, depraved group than the king’s students?”

There were more mutters of agreement.

“Bet you want to throw a rock at him, now,” said Eileen.

“Well, yes,” said Henry, grabbing an arm on each of them and leading them out of the square at a faster pace. “The problem is, that’s our reputation.”

“And it’s not like we haven’t earned it,” said Thomas. “There have been brawls between students and townsfolk before, and there is usually a girl or two with child by students every year.”

“That’s terrible!” said Eileen. “What happens to the girls?”

“Marriage, mostly,” said Henry. “Or the student’s family has to pay a hefty fine to cover the cost of raising the child.”

“And if the girl was raped?” demanded Eileen. “What then?”

“There hasn’t been a claim of rape against a student for fifty years,” said Thomas.

“By order of the king,” said Henry, quoting the Academy laws, “convicted rapists are to be hung at the gate by their fellow students. They are to suffer slow death by strangulation, not by breaking of the neck, with their boots no more than three inches from the ground. All students in the Academy will witness the death. The rapist’s body is to be left there until his corpse rots enough to fall off by itself.” Henry smiled his wolf’s smile. “Serve them right, too. We may be a depraved, debauched lot, but we have standards.”

The preacher’s voice faded as they slipped and slid their way through the icy streets to the Academy.

A double line of students, with Keith in the middle of them, blocked the Academy gates.

“Oh, by the Four,” said Eileen. “What is this?”

“There she is!” shouted Keith. “Link arms! No hurting anyone! She doesn’t come in!”

“What are you doing, Keith?” demanded Henry. “We have to get to class.”

“You and Thomas can go right on in,” said Keith. “But she’s not coming in.”

“Who’s ‘she’? The cat’s mother?” demanded Eileen, stepping forward. “I’m right here.”

Keith ignored her. “We can keep the gate blocked all day, if we have to,” said Keith. “She’s not coming in!”

“The Headmaster said Eileen could attend classes,” said Thomas.

“He didn’t say anything about us having to let her onto the grounds,” countered Keith. “So she can stay outside.”

Eileen, furious, turned her back on the gate. “Anything we can do? Aside from running him through?”

“Run him through was my thought,” said Henry. “Unfortunately it would get us expelled.”

“Maybe we can wait for more of the company and force our way in,” suggested Thomas.

“I’m not sure that would be enough,” said Henry, “And they might already be inside.”

Thomas growled in frustration and wished he were as big as George.
The gates might as well be closed…

“Side entrance,” said Eileen. “The one under the vines where we snuck in the first time.”

Henry smiled. “Very good. Thomas, you distract them.”

“Me?”

Henry ignored him and taking Eileen’s arm in his own, led her down the wall away from the gates. The boys at the gates cheered.

“Right,” Thomas muttered. He walked straight toward the students. “Why are you being so stupid about this?”

“Stupid?” said Keith, as an angry rumble went through the gathered boys and young men. “You’re ready to throw away two hundred years of tradition and you’re calling
us
stupid?”

“Just you, actually,” said Thomas. “But what about the rest of you? Why are you doing this?”

“Girls don’t belong here!” yelled one.

“They’re distracting!” said another.

“They’re not allowed!”

“They’re not smart enough!”

“They’re getting in!”

The last was a shout of dismay. Thomas tried to put himself between Eileen and the charging boys but was shoved aside at once. The boys ran for the small gate but were too late. Henry had already slipped open the latch and pushed Eileen inside. He stood in front of the little gate while the boys around him grumped and grumbled.

“She has a rapier!” said Keith. “She can’t go armed on the Academy grounds!”

“‘Had’ is the word you’re looking for,” said Henry, holding up Eileen’s sword belt. “Now if you will excuse me, I do need to get to class.” He walked back to Thomas. “A lot of good you were.”

“You try stopping twenty of them by yourself next time.”

“There won’t be a next time,” said Henry. “We need to ask the Headmaster for free access to the grounds for her.”

“It won’t work,” said Keith. “We’ll keep her out!”

“Why?” asked Thomas. “Seriously. Why does it matter so much to you?”

“Because it’s our Academy, not hers,” said Keith, following them in. “And we won’t let her in!”

“You already did,” said Henry. “And now, if you will excuse us?”

They handed in their rapiers at the gatehouse and found Eileen waiting on the other side with Michael, Evan, Wilson and Philip from the Student Company. The boys had sheaves of papers clutched in their hands. “We’re ready!” said Michael. “Petitions written out and ready to spread throughout the Academy!”

“Excellent!” said Thomas.

“Petitions?” sneered Keith from behind them. “What good do you think those will do?”

Thomas ignored him. “Remember the rules: no petitioning in class, no forced signatures, no false signatures. If they aren’t willing to sign their own names, we don’t want them. Where’s everyone else?”

“Already collecting,” said Wilson. “James and Marcus are at the dormitories, collecting names as they come out from breakfast. The others are at the apartments, doing the same thing.”

“Good.”

“You can’t think the Headmaster will accept a petition to bring that little liar into the Academy?” demanded Keith.

Eileen turned, her hands in fists. “What did you call me?”

“A liar. You lied to get in here, and you lied to stay. You probably lied about fighting in Frostmire!”

In the silence that followed that remark, Eileen stepped forward until she and Keith were toe to toe. “I fought,” she said, her voice cold and hard and furious. “And don’t you
ever
say I didn’t.”

“Or what,” sheered Keith. “You’ll kill me?”

Henry caught Eileen’s arm as her punch flew and pulled her away. Thomas stepped into her place and the members of the company formed a line behind him. Keith’s supporters outnumbered them three to one.

“What are you going to do?” Keith sneered at Thomas. “Challenge me?”

“I don’t duel,” said Thomas.

“Because you’re a coward?”

“Because I’ve already killed twenty people,” said Thomas, his voice quiet. “Go away.”

Keith paled, but tried to cover it with a sneer. “You think you can scare me?”

“What are you standing about for?” demanded the gatekeeper. “Get to class!” When no one moved, he added, “Now! Or I’ll have the whole lot of you up before the Headmaster! You hear me? Move it!”

“This isn’t over,” said Keith, stomping off.

“Let. Me. Go,” said Eileen, fury still in her voice.

“Of course,” said Henry, loosening his grip. “Thank you for not kicking.”

Eileen pulled free of his hands and glared after Keith, “Give me some petition sheets.” Wilson held some out and Eileen practically snatched them from his hand. “I’m getting more signatures than anyone today.”

“Bets?” said Henry. “The one with the most gets a free pint at the Quill.”

“Bets,” said Eileen. “Now let’s get to class before those idiots try something else.”

11

Eileen’s class was in the Languages Building, on the other side of the Academy’s grounds. It took half the walk for Eileen to stop stomping. Henry and Thomas walked beside her. Thomas couldn’t think of anything to say to make her feel better, and so kept quiet.

They were three quarters of the way there when Eileen sighed. “I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have let him get to me like that.”

“I don’t blame you,” said Henry. “I wanted to hit him, too.”

“But you didn’t.” Eileen growled in frustration. “I just… I’m not a liar. I fought in Frostmire. I…”

“We know,” said Thomas. “We were there. You saved my life, remember?”

“I remember.” She shuddered, wrapping her arms around her body. “God, it was awful.”

“Try to remember you saved lives,” said Henry. “It helps.”

“There she is! Block the door!”

“Oh, by the Four,” Eileen said. “Again?”

A dozen students stood in front of the Language Building door.

“Henry, your turn,” said Thomas. “Let’s go to the other door.”

Eileen looked ready to argue about it, but let Thomas lead her away. Henry’s voice, calling something about sheep, faded away as they walked around the building. Eileen growled. “Is the whole day going to be like this?”

“No,” said Thomas. “We’ll talk to the Headmaster. He said you could attend class. Those idiots don’t have the right to stop you.” He stopped. Eight more students stood in front of the side door. “Apparently, they learned from the gate.”

Eileen swore and began walking forward. The boys jumped up and stood shoulder to shoulder to block the entrance. Eileen stopped directly in front of them. “Let me in. Now.”

“No girls,” said one of the ones in front. “You’re not coming in.”

“And what will you do if I push my way through?” Eileen demanded.

“You won’t get through,” said the big one. “Not without throwing some punches. And the moment you do that, we’ll have you thrown out for brawling.”

“Pretty cowardly,” said Thomas. “Picking a fight with someone half your size.”

“I’m not picking a fight,” said the big student. “I’m just not moving.”

“Aren’t you?” said Eileen. “We’ll see.”

Eileen walked back to Thomas, took his hand, and led him back twenty paces. Other students were gathering around to watch. “What do you want to do?” asked Thomas. “We can go to the Headmaster.”

“Later,” said Eileen. “I’m not letting him get the best of me.” She put on a polite smile to conceal her fury and stopped one of the other students coming up. “Hello. How are you? Could you stay here a moment?”

Four stayed with her. Others shook their heads and went past. One of the ones who stayed said, “We’re all going to be late for class.”

“No, we’re not,” said Eileen. “We’ll be going to class in just a moment. Meanwhile, we have a petition to allow girls into the Academy. Would you like to sign it?”

Three signed it at once, using Thomas’s back as their table. One said he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but would think about it.

The bells rang.

“Now!” Eileen shouted. “Quick! Run!”

She led the charge, hard and fast down the path to the side door, the other four hard on her heels. The line at the door wavered, and Eileen charged the space between two of them, bursting through. They tried to grab her, but the other students were only paces behind and crashed through behind her. It was chaos for a moment, and when it was cleared, Eileen was dashing for her class. Thomas grinned and took off at a run for his own.