The Other Prism (The Broken Prism) (32 page)

Glancing at his remaining prism fragment, Hayden knew there was really only one way for him to save face right now, little though he liked accepting defeat. Putting on his best arrogant face, he smiled at Davis and said, “This is getting old. I’ll see you in the finals; hope you’re feeling better by then.”

At the shocked look on his opponent’s face, Hayden used his last spell to remove the anchoring effect on his feet, and he jumped off of the platform.

It wasn’t until he was hurtling towards the ground at an odd angle that he realized he had no prisms left to prevent himself from slamming into the ground and breaking every bone in his body.
He opened his mouth to scream just before a spell hit him and his descent slowed rapidly, though not enough to stop him from slamming face-down into the grass and biting his lip.

Groaning, Hayden wiggled his fingers and toes to make sure everything was still attached. He tasted blood from his cut lip, and either his nose was bleeding or else his sinuses had chosen an odd moment to drain
all over his face. His knee still ached from where Davis tried to break it, and his head was spinning like it thought he was still on the platform.

Hayden rolled onto his side and vomited all over the grass, dizzy and in pain. His stomach roiled loudly and he could barely stop puking long enough to breathe. When he was done retching for the moment, he rolled onto his back and wiped his mouth with the singed remnants of his sleeve. It came away bright red, which answered his question of whether his nose was bleeding.

The platform must have been lowered at some point, because he heard Davis puking from somewhere nearby, but he kept his eyes closed against the blazing light of the sun, his head throbbing with pain. He could hear Farrah arguing passionately with someone, her words floating into his ears but not making much sense.

“…could have slowed him down a lot more
than that! Why would you let him hit the ground that hard?!”

The Prism Master’s faintly amused voice replied, “He is not seriously injured. Now I suggest you go watch the Powder trials while I tend to him.”

If Hayden wasn’t seriously injured that was news to him, because he felt terrible. A shadow fell over him and Hayden opened his eyes to look into Master Kiresa’s face.

“Interesting enough for you, Frost?” the Prism Master greeted him. Hayden didn’t dignify that with a response, partly because he was coughing on his own blood.

Master Kiresa helped him to his feet, but the world was still spinning alarmingly and his bad knee buckled, so the Master half-carried him away from the Powder trial to a vacant patch of grass. Hayden tried to sit up, but after throwing up three or four more times, all he had the energy to do was slump onto his side and shut his eyes.

He had no idea what time it was when Oliver shook him awake, though it couldn’t be too late because the sun was still high in the sky. Oliver looked a little dusty, but otherwise he seemed the specimen of perfect health.

“You still alive, Frost?”

“I’m not sure,” Hayden groaned, deciding that honesty was the best policy right now.

“Well, get up if you can, it’s time to go home. If you can’t walk, we’ll leave you at
Isenfall until you’re well enough.”

The thought of spending another minute under the ministrations of Master
Kiresa gave him the adrenaline he needed to get to his feet and remain conscious. Reya and Darren were standing nearby; it looked like the latter was consoling the former on her loss.

Fortunately it was the Powders Master who was waiting for them at the translocation site, since Hayden had had enough of the Prism Master for quite a while. He looked them over to make sure none of them was missing limbs, wrinkled his nose a little at the smell of stale blood and vomit on Hayden, and then sent them on their way after a brief word of congratulations to Oliver for winning the Powder trials.

The main courtyard at Mizzenwald was the most beautiful thing Hayden had ever seen after his day at Isenfall. He swayed a little on his feet and stumbled into Oliver, who immediately stepped out of the way so that Hayden couldn’t lean against him and soil his robes. He would have fallen to the ground if not for the conveniently-placed cherry-blossom tree he was able to slump against.

There were a lot of people outside
right now, enjoying their free time before dinner with their familiars and their friends. Even Master Sark had his lemur outside with him, watching it go through a series of concentric rings. Master Asher was trying to tell his familiar, Horace, to stop bringing him dead rats when he caught sight of their group.

“Oh good, you’re back. How did the—mother of the arcana, what did they
do
to you over there?” he said loudly, drawing the attention of the other Masters and several students.

“I’m out,”
Reya addressed Master Willow directly. “The rest of them are going to the finals.”

She sounded miserable, and Master Willow frowned by patted her consolingly on the shoulder and said, “It’s hardly anything to be ashamed of. You made it quite far in the competition.”

Master Reede wrinkled his nose at the sight (and smell) of Hayden and said, “Good lord, Frost, did they feed you through a meat grinder?”

Hayden opened his mouth to answer, felt another surge of bile rising in his throat, and clamped his mouth shut with one hand until the feeling passed.

“You clearly need to see Razelle,” Asher stepped forward and took Hayden’s arm, steadying him on his feet and leading him towards the castle. “We’re going to have to start buying you more durable robes, since you keep coming back with them ripped, blood-stained, or burned to a crisp.”

“
Ungh,” Hayden answered intelligently, wondering if there was any way possible that this day could get worse.

He cursed himself mentally for th
inking that when he saw Zane, Tess, and Conner hurrying towards him.

17

Recovery

The last thing he needed right now were his best friends witnessing one of his un-coolest moments ever, but it was too late to hide from them now. Tess’s face was so pale she looked exsanguinated, and even Zane didn’t look like he was up to being sarcastic, which meant Hayden must look absolutely terrible.

“What happened to you?!”
Zane blurted out, taking Hayden’s other arm to help him inside and trying not to acknowledge the smell.

“
S’no big deal. I’m fine,” Hayden assured them all, though his knees nearly buckled again and they had to stop long enough to steady him.

“Yeah, you’re a specimen of
health,” Master Asher agreed pleasantly, dragging him into the infirmary and depositing him onto one of the beds. It was so comfortable Hayden nearly fell asleep on the spot.

“Conner, go get Mistress Razelle,” Asher instructed him.

“But you’ve got a Mastery Charm, can’t you just—”

“
Oh sorry, did I accidentally ask for your opinion on the matter?” Asher interrupted, and Conner shook his head and hurried from the room. Hayden suspected that the Prism Master knew how embarrassed he was and was trying to minimize the number of witnesses, which he appreciated.

“Tess, can you—holy arcana, you’re pale…are you going to pass out? No? Good, then rummage around those drawers and see if there’s anything useful.”

Tess moved out of Hayden’s line of sight and began digging through drawers of elixirs and bandages.

“
Laraby, get some warm water and bring it here.”

Hayden was content to lie
there and let them bustle around, opening his mouth to drink whatever they tipped down his throat and trying not to flinch as they tended to his scrapes. By the time Mistress Razelle entered the room he was actually feeling a lot better, or at least less nauseated.

“My word, what have they done to him at
Isenfall?” She frowned disapprovingly, going over him to make sure that nothing was broken.

“
Reede’s placed his bet on a meat-grinder challenge. I’m more inclined to think they tied him to a tree and took turns beating him with metal clubs. Tess, Zane? Want to weigh in before we get the truth?” Master Asher solicited pleasantly.

Tess just shook her head mutely, but Zane said, “Rabid-weasel fight?” and t
he Prism Master said, “Nice one; I hadn’t thought of that.”

With a little help, Hayden sat up in bed and leaned against the pillows.

“They put us on a platform about twenty feet in the air and told us the last one to stay on would win.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Zane interjected.

“Then the platform started spinning really fast and trying to buck us off while we fought each other,” Hayden added.

“Oh, well that sounds worse.”

Master Asher looked pensive and said, “How did it go?”

“Davis and I both took out Marc—the prism from Creston—right away. Then we anchored ourselves to the platform so we wouldn’t fly off and started fighting each other. It was hard to focus with all the spinning and tilting, and Davis kept trying to break my knee
caps since my feet were glued down, but we were pretty evenly matched. We used up all our prisms, and when I was down to my last spell I realized it was stupid for us to get into hand-to-hand combat when we’re both guaranteed a spot in the finals, so I dispelled my anchor and jumped off the platform.”

“I supposed you were plummeting towards your doom when you realized you didn’t have any p
risms left to save yourself on the way down?” Master Asher asked casually.

“Yes,” Hayden frowned. “Master
Kiresa did slow me down a bit, but I still hit the ground pretty hard and landed on my face.”

“It looks like they hardly slowed you at all, judging by all the bruising and bleeding,” Asher pointed out casually, though that p
ensive look was back in his eyes.

“Did they offer you any treatment afterwards?” Mistress Razelle asked with mounting anger.

“I’m not sure. They dragged me away from the others and left me lying on the grass. They might have come back to help me, but I was unconscious until Oliver woke me up to come back here.”

Mistress Razelle, one of the most steady, kindest people he knew, looked like she was going to spit fire.
Just as she was threatening to storm Isenfall and give them a piece of her mind, Master Asher cut her off by saying, “Could I have a word with Hayden, privately?”

After making Hayden
drink four or five more elixirs while grumbling about teachers who deserved to fall into sinkholes, Mistress Razelle relented and ushered the others out of the room.

When they were alone
Asher said, “So, you’ve met Master Kiresa. Reading between the lines, I don’t think he cares for you much.”

Hayden snorted at that colossal understatement. “He sounded really cheerful when he was telling me how people occasionally die during the competition.”

Asher rolled his eyes. “What did you think of him?”

“I think he’s terrifying,” Hayden answered truthfully. “He was there to greet us as soon as we got to
Isenfall, and he walked us around this weird utility tunnel so we couldn’t steal secrets from the school or something. When we were alone, he was telling me all this stuff about how the world is a dangerous place and he wants to see me taken down like my father. You didn’t tell me he was friends with my father, by the way.”

Master Asher looked startled and said, “He wasn’t; Aleric hated him during the few occasions they ran into each other, before he became the Dark Prism, obviously.
They were both a bit arrogant and manipulative, so they were destined to dislike each other.”

“That isn’t what it sounded like, the way Master
Kiresa told it. He also said that he talked to you about swapping me for Davis over the summer to work on research projects, and that you said no.”

“Did he, now?” Master Asher looked thoughtful.

“Yes, and he said that you told him that you hated Davis, but that you were really just trying to keep me from studying with him. He said you protected me too much, but that I can’t hide behind you forever.”

Asher leaned back in his chair and said, “He’s not wrong about the last part. I do make an effort to shield you from what I can, and as you already know, I can’t always be there
when you need help, though I certainly try to be.”

Hayden nodded and said, “What about the rest of it?”

“It’s true that Kiresa wanted to exchange students for the summer, and it is true that I declined the offer. “

“How come?”

“For one thing, I can’t stand that arrogant little snot, Davis, but mostly I was hesitant to put you into Kiresa’s care for weeks on end.”

“Why?”

Asher gave him an exasperated look and said, “Heavens, Hayden, did you hit your head harder than I thought? You said yourself that the man was terrifying, and you think I’d put you at his mercy for an entire summer?”

Surprise, Hayden asked, “So you’re afraid of him too?” He had never really thought of Asher being intimidated by anyone.

The Prism Master snorted and said, “Hardly. But the man plays mind games with the best of them. You saw a bit of it while you were there. He told you he was friends with your father, probably tried to unsettle you constantly, see what makes you tick, find out what you’re willing to do to win…”

“That’s right!” Hayden leaned forward, amazed that Asher had guessed so accurately. “You mean he does that all the time?”

Asher sighed and said, “It’s his way of measuring people quickly, to see whether you’re useful to him, an ally or an enemy. I’m not entirely surprised that Davis is a bit demented, with him as an influence, trying to live up to his expectations.”

Hayden felt a fleeting stab of sympat
hy for his enemy, though it might have just been lingering chest pain from his fall.

“Well he obviously doesn
’t like me, so why would he want to do research with me before he even got to know me?”

“Oh, in a different setting
he might have acted differently towards you. Or, more likely, he wanted to determine the extent of your power and skillset. If he was impressed, he might try and manipulate you into turning against me and partnering with him full-time. If not, he probably would have found a way to set you up for failure, so that the Council of Mages would have all the evidence they’d need to keep you locked up for good. Needless to say, I wasn’t anxious to give him the chance for either.”

“Yeah, thanks for that.” Hayden frowned thoughtfully. “I’m going to have to start making a list of all the important people who hate me, so I don’t forget.”

Master Asher frowned and said, “People are only as important as you give them permission to be. In the end, Kiresa is just a man with a prism and a heightened sense of self-worth.”

“A man with a lot of prisms, actually. He was wearing his combat circlet the entire time,” Hayden corrected.

“Well, it seems as though I need to pay a visit to my counterpart at Isenfall for a friendly chat.” The Prism Master got to his feet and brushed some imaginary dust off of his robes.

“You don’t have to go fight with him because of me…I don’t want him thinking I’ve complained,” Hayden frowned.

“Oh, he’ll be expecting my visit by now. I’ll leave your name out of it entirely.”

Hayden didn’t see how he could be omitted from the discussion, since the only reason Asher could possibly be visiting
Isenfall tonight would be in response to the trial from earlier today.

“Okay, well…be careful.” He couldn’t help but notice that Asher was checking the prisms in his belt, which seemed unnecessary if he was really going over just to talk.

The Prism Master saw his concern and smiled. “Don’t worry, Hayden, I have only ever started one fight that I didn’t know I could win.”

It wasn’t until he left the room that Hayden realized he was talking about the fight with his father.

Tess and Zane must have been waiting for permission to come back in, because they were by his side as soon as the Prism Master was gone. Zane set down a tub of warm water while Tess wetted some strips of cloth.

“Mistress Razelle said we should help clean you up,” the latter said gently, sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Because you’re covered in blood and puke, and it’s pretty gross,” Zane added
for good measure.

Hayden flinched away from the cloth Tess was holding and said, “Are you sure you don’t have any homework to work on? Zane can help me get cleaned up.”

Tess looked slightly crestfallen at being told to go away, and Hayden immediately felt bad.

“You don’t
want me here?” She sounded really unhappy.

“It’s not that;
I just don’t want you sponging blood off of me.”

“Why not?”
She looked confused.

“Because it’s embarrassing, being seen like this,” Hayden clenched his jaw, wishing that he had more time to think through his words.

“But you’re not embarrassed having Zane see you like this…” she pointed out shyly.

“Yeah, well, he’s…he’s…” he struggled for the right words.

Zane rolled his eyes and said, “He means that I’m a guy and you’re a girl. He doesn’t like looking lame in front of the ladies.”

Hayden sincerely hoped that the blood stains on his face hid the color in his cheeks. He knew that Zane was probably right, but he didn’t like having him blurt it out loud. Tess looked like she had no idea what to think of the entire thing.

“Unfortunately, I don’t like you enough to mop your face for you, and since Tess has already seen your unsightliness and is still nice enough to offer, just man up and leave her to it.” Zane smiled winningly, and Hayden mentally vowed to find a way to mortify his best friend before the end of the year.

“Fine, fine,” he caved in, sitting still while Tess dabbed at the mess on his face.
It took a long time to clean him up, so Hayden told his friends all about his day in painstaking detail.

“…Farrah was about the only decent person there, and she’s not even from
Isenfall,” Hayden said when he’d finished explaining all about the trial in more detail. “She’s definitely the first girl who didn’t sound repulsed at the thought of being my girlfriend though. Maybe I’ll track her down in a few years and ask her out,” he joked to the others.

Tess dabbed at his cut lip with some foul-smelling green liquid that was meant to heal it and said nothing, while Zane was caught somewhere between a grin and a wince
.

“Anyway,” Zane changed the subject abruptly. “You’ve only got one more trial to go and you’ll be done with this wh
ole thing for at least two years.”

“Sure, then the only thing I’ll have to worry about is the Nine Lands going to war with the northern sorcerers. Life will be simple after that.” Hayden made a face, though truth
be told, he was more than ready for the I.S.C. to be over.