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C
HAPTER

4

G
etting across the courtyard took a long time because I had to keep waiting with my eyes closed until my head stopped spinning, and then going on without tripping over a pile of lumber or extra bricks.

I needed to get upstairs without Nevery and Benet seeing me and making a fuss. And I needed time to think.

I had been a thief; I was good at sneaking. I crept into Heartsease and up the stairs, past the kitchen, where I heard Benet clattering pans on the stove. A stair creaked.

“That you?” Benet called. Like Nevery, since I'd been lost and then found again, Benet wanted to know where I went and that I'd gotten home safely.

I coughed, and kept my voice steady. “Yes, it's me,” I answered.

“Dinner soon,” he said.

I kept going up the stairs, past Nevery's study, where I didn't hear anything, and up to my room.

Before putting on a light I paused, wondering if the spell would work. Steadying myself and closing my eyes, I reached out and sensed the magics. They felt more settled now. Maybe they'd been twitchy before because Pip had been defending me from those kidnappers. Might as well try it. “
Lothfalas
,” I whispered, and Pip breathed out a puff of light that drifted across the room and settled in a glass-globed lantern on a shelf.

On one side of the room I had my worktable, boxes of books that I hadn't unpacked yet, a high stool, and bare wooden floors. A ladder leaned against one wall, and there was a pile of broken roof slates next to it. On the other side of the room was my bed with another box of books beside it, the fireplace, a warm red rug that was still rolled up, and a box of clothes. Everything had a coating of sawdust on it, and overhead the roof was half finished and half canvas stretched over wooden beams. It was enough to keep the rain and damp out, mostly. It was home, completely.

Leaving the lantern on the shelf, I creaked over to the bed and lay down on top of the blankets. Pip curled on the pillow next to me, one of its claw-paws resting against my face. I let the light go out and closed my eyes.

After a while I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. From outside the door, down a couple of steps, Benet called, “Dinner.”

In the dark I dragged myself off the bed and over to the door and opened it a crack. “I'm not hungry, Benet,” I said. The words came out stiffly because of my split lip.

I held my breath until I heard him grunt, then stomp away, down the stairs.

I went back to bed.

After a short while, I heard other footsteps on the stairs. Nevery. He knocked on the door, then pushed it open.

As he muttered the lothfalas spell, kindling a light, I pushed Pip away and pulled the pillow over my head.

“Don't be ridiculous, boy,” Nevery said. “Of course you're hungry. You're
always
hungry. Come down now; I want to talk to you about being the ducal magister, and about this locus-stone-stealing dragon of yours.”

“I'm just going to sleep,” I said, from under the pillow.

Nevery stopped. “Something's wrong,” he said.

Just go away, Nevery.

His footsteps came across the room, and then he lifted the pillow off my head.

I cracked open my eye, the one that wasn't swollen shut, to see. He stared at me, his face turning to chipped stone. “Who did this?” His voice was low and angrier than I'd ever heard it, and I knew he wasn't angry at me.

Heavy footsteps from the stairs interrupted us. “Here, you lot,” Benet said, coming in the doorway. “Dinner's getting cold.” Then he saw me.

“A fight?” Nevery asked me.

Benet bulled across the room, then stared down at me, his burly arms crossed. “No. That's professional work, that is. Who?” he asked.

“It's not so bad,” I said, sitting up stiffly. I'd had the fluff beaten out of me before; it really wasn't.

“It's bad enough, boy,” Nevery said.

Benet came closer, peering into my face. “You tell who did this. Now.”

All right. “I don't know who did it.” Drats, they needed to know more than that. I looked up at Nevery and tried not to shiver so he wouldn't see how scared I'd been. “They were waiting for me. Outside in the courtyard.” I didn't mention that the men had tried to kidnap me. I knew they'd worry even more if they found out about that part of it.

“Curse it,” Nevery growled.

Benet clenched his fists and looked ready to squeeze the life out of the fluff-beaters if he got his hands on them. “What did they want?” he asked.

“I don't know,” I answered.

“It can't be a coincidence.” Nevery narrowed his eyes and studied me. “A locus stone stolen and now this. What are you up to, boy?”

“Nothing, Nevery!” I protested.

“It must be something,” he growled.

No, really! I wasn't up to anything!

 

During the night I woke up sure as sure that the two men were lurking by the door of my room. Shivering, I sat up and stared into the shadows, listening for the
skff-skff
of stealthy footsteps and waiting for a heavy fist to come crashing out of the dark.

Instead, all I heard were raindrops pattering on the canvas overhead.

Why had those men been after me?

Then I felt Pip curled against my side and the Wellmet magic's warmth and Arhionvar's stony protection wrapped around me. I
was
safe, even if those fluff-beaters wanted me to think I wasn't. Knowing that, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep without any more dark dreams.

 

C
HAPTER

5

T
he kidnappers had scared me, but I was
not
going to crawl into a hole and hide. I had things to do out in the city. At the meeting the day before, the magisters had been complaining about the instability of the two magics. I thought maybe it was getting worse, too, because I was more sensitive to what the magics were doing than anyone, and I hadn't noticed it being so bad before.

As I'd told the magisters at the meeting, there was no knowing how the two magics would work together. They might not. If they settled peacefully and worked together, they'd be hugely powerful. But now they were struggling, pushing and pulling at each other, entangled over the city, and it felt like they were on the edge of panic.

I needed to figure out how to help the two magics. And I couldn't do that from my safe, cozy room in Heartsease.

Going out into the city to deal with the magics meant the kidnappers might come after me again. But I wasn't a defenseless gutterboy anymore. I was a wizard, and I needed to come up with some spells to protect myself. Spells that would work in the middle of a fight. If the magics worked, that is.

I got up and, leaving Pip to snooze in the blankets, fetched a couple of old grimoires off the bookshelves, carried them over to the table, and got to work, squinting with my good eye at the pages.

Hmmm.

Magic spells were really the language of the magical beings—the dragon language. Most wizards didn't know much of the spell language, but one thing I was very good at, besides lock picking and thievery, was remembering, so I could hear a magical spell once and repeat it back exactly. That meant I understood the magics' language and I could speak directly to them. Really, any wizard could do it, too, if they thought about it, but none of them had ever tried it.

I thought through all the spellwords I knew. The new spells would need to be short, just a few words so I'd have time to say them if some- body was coming after me. Something like the lothfalas spell, but more focused. I paged through the grimoires until I found a white-bright-light spell, and changed some of the words.

“Come here, Pip,” I said. The little dragon snorted in its sleep and didn't move, so I went over to the bed and put my hand on the smooth spot between its wings; then I said the new dazzler spell.

As the spell effected, Pip burst from the blankets, its eyes wide and whirling; a gout of white-bright sparks flashed from its mouth and slammed into my eyes. Then the dragon scrambled with sharp claws up my front and onto my hair, spitting out more sparks as it crouched there.

Squinting through the sparks, I saw its tail lashing before my eyes. Whoops. More proof that the magics were unsettled. Poor Pip!

The little dragon hopped down from my head and crouched in the blankets, still lashing its tail. “Sorry,” I said. It gave me a glary glance and curled itself up to go back to sleep.

As tricksy as the magics were, I still thought the spell would work to blind an attacker for a few moments. After a while, the sparks faded and I could see again. I rubbed my good eye and read some more, figuring out a spell that would prick somebody all over with needles if he tried hitting me. No need to try that one out—I didn't want to prickle myself, or Pip.

There. I felt safer already. But I really did need to go out into the city to get a better feel for what was going on with the magics.

See?
I wanted to tell Rowan.
I don't have time for meetings and ducal magistering. I have more important things to do.

Trying to be careful of my bruised ribs, I put on my black sweater and my coat. I picked up sleeping Pip and put it on my shoulder.

As I slunk down the stairs past Nevery's study, I met Benet coming up.

“Here, you,” he said. “Where're you off to?”

I shrugged and tried to edge past him. Important wizard business. No fuss, if you please.

“No you don't,” Benet growled, and grabbed me by the arm; he opened the door to Nevery's study and dragged me inside.

Nevery was sitting in his usual chair; standing around the table were Magister Brumbee, looking plump-rumpled and worried, and Magister Nimble, the bat-faced wizard who didn't like me. What were
they
doing here?

Benet let me go. “Caught him sneaking out, sir,” he said.

“I wasn't sneaking,” I said. Not really. Only a little.

Nevery gave me a narrow-eyed look. “Going out? Where?”

I shrugged. If I told him what I was up to, he'd worry, and I didn't want that.

“
And
he hasn't had his breakfast yet,” Benet said from beside me, and folded his arms.

Oops. Very suspicious, me sneaking out before breakfast. “I won't be gone for very long.” I glanced at Benet, then at Nevery, and they were both scowling. Brumbee looked even more fretful; Nimble just looked smug, as if he knew something I didn't. “What's the matter?” I asked.

“Hmm,” Nevery growled. “Brumbee and Nimble have just brought the news. Another locus stone has been stolen.”

What? “Whose?” I asked.

“Mine!” Magister Nimble said in his whiny voice. “And I know who stole it!”

Oh, no. I knew what he was going to say. “It wasn't me,” I said quickly.

“Connwaer.” Nevery was giving me his most keenly-gleaming look. “What has your dragon been up to?”

I glanced aside at Pip, asleep on my shoulder. “Nothing, Nevery.”

“Oh, dear,” Brumbee said.

“Are you certain, boy?” Nevery asked.

“Sure as sure, Nevery,” I said. “Pip's been with me all night. It wasn't out stealing Nimble's locus stone. We had nothing to do with it.” I held my breath. He
had
to believe me.

Nevery nodded. “Well then,” he said, turning to Brumbee and Nimble. “You will have to look elsewhere for your thief. It wasn't Conn.”

“He's lying!” Nimble shrieked.

Nevery got loomingly to his feet, gray and threatening as a stormcloud. He glared thunder and lightning at Nimble. “Conn does not lie.”

Nimble gulped and went wide-eyed and silent; Brumbee wrung his hands and muttered his usual
oh dear me
's.

“Now,” Nevery said, still glowering. “Go away.”

I ducked out of Benet's grip and headed for the door.

“Not
you
, boy,” Nevery said, using his exasperated voice. “Them.” He pointed.

Benet opened the door, and the magisters scuttled out and down the stairs.

Nevery settled behind his desk again and looked me up and down. “Trouble, and somehow you're in the thick of it again. I don't know what to do with you, boy.”

“You don't have to do anything, Nevery,” I said. On my shoulder, Pip woke up and puffed out a cloud of smoke.

“Have a word with the captain,” Benet said, from behind me.

“Ah. A very good idea, Benet. I shall. Fetch my hat, cloak, and cane.”

“Yes, sir,” Benet said, and left the room.

A word with the captain
, Benet had said. “A word with Captain Kerrn?” I asked. “Why?”

Nevery glanced at me from under his bushy eyebrows, but didn't answer. Instead he got to his feet and went to the door. Benet met him on the stairs and handed him his things.

Benet gave me a buttered biscuit.

“Come along, boy,” Nevery said, putting on his wide-brimmed hat.

“Where're we going?” I asked. I put the biscuit into my coat pocket. Pip cocked its head, as if it was waiting to see what Nevery would say.

Nevery said something in a low voice to Benet, then put on his cloak and swept-stepped down the stairs. “You'll see when we get there,” he said.

Oh. I followed Nevery down the stairs and out into the cobbled courtyard. The rain had stopped, but the sky was thick with gray clouds, and a morning fog hovered over the river, making the Twilight and the Sunrise banks invisible. Brown leaves covered the big tree in the middle of the courtyard, and a few black-and-white birds perched in the highest branches, like lookouts.

I dodged a pile of roof slates and ran a couple of steps to catch up to Nevery. “Why are you going to have a word with Kerrn?” I asked.

“You will be living in the Dawn Palace. Captain Kerrn must be told to keep an eye on you.”

“Nevery!” I protested. That was a terrible idea. Kerrn hated me! She'd put a guard on my every move! And I was
not
going to live in the Dawn Palace.

“Listen, boy,” Nevery growled. “We've got locus stone thefts and a crowd of idiot magisters who think you are the thief. Something is going on, and you're involved in it, somehow.” He swirled to a stop. “
And
there's this attack,” he said, pointing at my bruised face. He lowered his voice, as if talking to himself. “I will not lose you again, Connwaer.” Then he glowered at me from under his bushy eyebrows. “If it means sending you away from Heartsease, then so be it.”

 

Nevery kept a keen eye on me as we crossed the bridge and headed to the Dawn Palace, which sat at the top of the hill like a huge, pink-frosted cake. A chill wind from the river followed us, ruffling my hair and making Nevery's cloak swirl around him. We crunched down the drive and up the wide front stairs, where two palace guards stopped us. We waited just inside the door while one of them went to fetch Rowan.

“I hate this, Nevery,” I growled.

“It's to keep you safe, boy,” he growled back.

To me,
safe
meant
never doing anything interesting
.

At the sound of footsteps, I looked up. Rowan, followed by Miss Dimity, who carried a stack of papers.

Seeing my bruised face, Rowan's eyes widened. “Oh, Conn!” she said.

“It looks worse than it is,” I said.

She stepped closer and put her hand to my cheek. “It looks awful. What happened?”

I shrugged and listened as Nevery told her about the attackers in the courtyard outside Heartsease. “He'll be safer in the Dawn Palace,” Nevery said.

Rowan gave me a quick hug. “Yes, we'll take good care of you here, Conn. Miss Dimity has arranged the ducal magister's rooms, so they are all ready for you. I haven't had time to see them, but she says they are quite splendid.” She and Nevery turned and set off down the hallway, followed by the secretary. “I'll assign servants to look after you, too, Conn.”

I scowled, trailing behind them. I still hadn't agreed to be the ducal magister. And I didn't need
looking after
.

“Excuse me, Your Grace, Magister,” Miss Dimity interrupted then.

She was very good at interrupting, I'd noticed.

Rowan paused at the bottom of a wide, carpeted staircase. “What is it?”

“I
do
apologize
most
sincerely, but you have a meeting now with the stonemasons league.”

“Isn't that tomorrow?” Rowan asked impatiently.

“No indeed,” Miss Dimity said, and her eyes bulged. “See here, on the agenda.” She waved a sheet of paper.

“Yes, of course.” Rowan turned to me. “Conn, I have to attend this meeting, but Miss Dimity will show you your rooms, all right?”

No, it wasn't all right. I glared at her.

“You must hurry, Your Grace,” Miss Dimity put in. “It simply wouldn't do to keep them waiting.”

Rowan closed her eyes for just a moment. “I don't have time for this,” she muttered. Opening her eyes, she said, “Will you just
go
, Conn?”

Yes, all right. I gave her the slightest nod. She whirled and snatched the pages that Miss Dimity shoved into her hands and then hurried away down the hall.

“You seem to be well settled, my lad,” Nevery said to me. He rested a hand on my shoulder. “As it happens, I have a meeting to attend as well, so I must be going.”

It didn't matter what I said, because clear as clear he wasn't going to listen to me, any more than Rowan had. So I stayed quiet.

Nevery shot me one last
behave yourself
look and left.

“Well then!” Miss Dimity said, and scraped her lips into something that was supposed to be a smile, but wasn't really. “Come along.”

She led me up a wide stairway, then down a long, carpeted hall to a set of double doors with bronze handles and what looked like a puzzle lock. Tricky to pick a lock like that.

Miss Dimity threw the doors open. “The ducal magister's chambers,” she announced.

The main room was very fancy, a study with a few knobbly-looking wooden chairs and wobbly small tables with lace doilies on them, a patterned rug on the floor, and lots of shelves covered with more lace doilies and fancy dishes and silver statues instead of books.

“You see?” Miss Dimity pointed at the walls, where gilt-framed oil paintings of old men and women hung. “The former residents of these rooms, ducal magisters all.”