Guild Mage: Apprentice

"You had all better come inside," Julianne said, turning on her heel.

Liv had been preparing to withstand a tongue-lashing, and it took her a moment to hurry up the steps and into the house. Lady Julianne led them into the library, pulling the first guard she saw along in their wake with a crooked finger. "Guard the door," she instructed. "And don't let anyone but my husband in."

"M'lady," the guard said, inclining his head, and then took up a position just outside the room. Matthew waited for Triss and Liv to enter before him, then pulled the door shut.

"Well, let me have it," Julianne said, taking a seat. "What happened."

"It started out alright," Liv began. It did not escape her notice that Beatrice sat next to Matthew on one of the cushioned benches. "They wanted me to play the flower game-"

"Which she did splendidly," Triss broke in.

"Thank you," Liv said. "But then after that, Princess Milisant started saying these horrible things. About me, of course, but also my mother, and even you," she told Julianne.

"And you got angry," Lady Julianne guessed.

"I did," Liv confirmed. "But that wasn't entirely why. I just- you remember Mirabel Cooper?"

Matthew looked confused, but his mother nodded her head.

"She and her friend used to always be so cruel to me," Liv said, looking down at her lap. "Not just insults, but spilling ink on my dress, anything they could think of. And it never stopped. Trying to just endure it didn't fix anything, it only let them keep going. It didn't stop until I fought back. I realized - people like that. The princess is just like them. She won't ever stop unless someone makes her. So this time, I'm not going to suffer through it hoping she'll leave me alone. I'm going to fight back now, right at the beginning."

When she finished, and looked up again, Liv saw that Julianne was smiling. "I was worried, for a moment, that it was over something foolish," she said. "But I can't argue with your reasons, Liv."

"All the same, it's what the princess wanted," Triss said. "She wasn't even trying to be subtle: just as nasty as she could get, to push and push until Liv would have no other choice."

"But she's never even met you before," Matthew said. "This goes beyond mere snobbery. Why would she do this?"

"Because of me," Lady Julianne said. "I knew they were going to come at me while I was here, but I was hoping they would leave the two of you out of things. I think I underestimated the queen - or perhaps overestimated her."

"Can you get the king to step in?" Matthew asked his mother.

Julianne shook her head. "Not for a duel. If they broke the law, that would be one thing, but this is perfectly legal. No, what we need to do is to make sure that Liv wins."

"We thought we would go practice down on the beach," Liv said. "I was thinking that maybe Cade Talbot might help us, if we can find him. Or do you think Master Grenfell would?"

"I am certain he would, and will," Lady Julianne said. "You have very little time, my dear, and we can't waste it. Matthew, go to the door and send for every guard you can round up. Have them bring their crossbows. Oh, and tell someone to get both Mistress Trafford and Master Grenfell. He's to bring that great stone of his he always lugs around; I know he packed it. Who's to be your second, Liv?"

"Triss," she answered. Matthew stood up and walked over to the library door, where he stepped out into the hall.

Lady Julianne turned to the girl he'd left behind on the bench. "We could probably get you out of this if you want," she offered. "If you go through with it, your family will be perceived as taking a side. Against the queen, and with me."

"I said I'd do it," Triss told her. "I won't go back on my word. I would like to know a bit more about what I'm getting myself into, however. It seems like quite a mess."

"Yes, I suppose it's time I told you all a few things," Julianne said. "And if you're determined to stand with us, Beatrice, you deserve to hear it as well. I'll answer your questions after we put Liv through her paces. I don't want to waste the light."

Matthew stepped back into the room. "Everyone is being fetched," he said.

"Good." Lady Julianne rose. "Let's head on down to the beach. I'll meet you children down there; Matthew, you can show Beatrice the way. Liv, you probably want to get out of that dress."

"That's a good idea," Liv said. She hurried up to her rooms, where Thora helped her change into one of the gray dresses she'd brought from Whitehill. She took her staff and spellbook, leaving Thora to pack away the borrowed jewelry she'd worn to the tea party, and made her way out through the back garden and down to the sand.

The wind was whipping in off the sea, and Liv guessed there was only an hour or two of daylight left. Three of Baron Henry's guards were there, with loaded crossbows.

"Begging your pardon, m'lady," Piers said, as Liv reached the final step, "but the gulls? Are you certain?"

"Shoot every one of them that comes in range," Julianne said. She'd taken off her shoes, and was holding a long rod or wand in her right hand. It was bleached white, with inlaid sigils of gold and silver.

"Is that a bone?" Liv asked looking the wand over. The sight of it sent a shiver through her body.

"The bone of a dead god," Julianne said, nearly shouting over the wind. "When Miriam killed Sivis, she turned his two femurs into wands. The matching set was passed to her son, Lucan, and has been handed down through the family ever since. I want you to fight against this one, now, because I would bet anything the princess will have the twin when you face her."

"The king gave you that?" Triss asked.

"No," Julianne answered. "My uncle Caspian did, when I was at Coral Bay. But the important thing today is to prepare Liv for what she will be facing. Master Grenfell," she called up the stairs. Liv turned, to see the old mage and the chirurgeon coming down to join them. "Walk us through the steps of a duel. Matthew, act as my second. Mistress Trafford, you're here to treat injuries."

"I see things are proceeding faster than we had ancitipated," Master Grenfell said. The wind whipped his hair back from his forehead, making the scar along his scalp stand out more clearly.

"Grenfell? Related to the Baron Ashford?" Triss asked.

"My nephew." The master mage handed his great chunk of mana-stone to Mistress Trafford. "Keep an eye on this for me, please. Here we had planned for the first duel to be fought by you, my lady," he remarked to Julianne.

"It's my fault," Lady Julianne said. "I didn't think she'd move against the children, at least not so openly or so soon. I should have been ready. Liv, it will be the Court Mage to the king, Genevieve Arundell, who oversees your duel."

"Is she a friend?" Liv asked.

Master Grenfell laughed. "Not if she knows Jurian is technically your master. Alright, here is how it begins," he said. "First, both of you must present every enchanted item or mana-stone you are going to use in the duel, to be checked over by the judge and both seconds. The point is so that neither of you will be unaware of what you're facing. The judge can bar the use of any magical item which they deem to employ only killing force."

"Because a duel is supposed to be till first blood," Triss explained to Liv.

"First blood, death, or if one person can't continue by the judge's count of ten," Grenfell confirmed. "Or if one person leaves the circle. You aren't supposed to be trying to kill anyone, but if it happens, death during a duel is legally distinct from murder. Present what you're bringing in with you."

"One of the two stormwands," Lady Julianne declared.

"Um, my staff," Liv said. "And my guild ring."

"Good. All of those are allowed. Seconds, any objections?" Grenfell asked. Matthew and Beatrice shook their heads. "Duelists, set your backs to each other." Liv turned around, as did Lady Julianne, and they pressed their backs together. "Fifteen paces," Grenfell called out. "One. Two…"

Liv walked out along the beach, taking a step each time Master Grenfell called a number, until she had taken fifteen steps.

"Seconds, confirm distance," Grenfell shouted. "At this point, if one of them is much closer to me than the other, the seconds could call for an extra step," he explained. "You both look fine. Turn."

Liv turned about in the sand, planting her staff in front of her. Master Grenfell muttered something, but she couldn't make out the incantation over the wind coming off the ocean. A circle of brilliant blue light flared up, extending from just behind her feet to curve all the way around to Julianne, encompassing the two of them. Grenfell and the seconds left the circle.

"Ready!" Master Grenfell called. "Begin!"

Before Liv could even decide what to do, Lady Julianne whipped her wand down like a riding crop. The world in front of Liv flashed blinding white, and a blast of heat and sprayed sand threw her backward, and when she hit the ground she tumbled end over end further still. Half a heartbeat later, she heard the crack of thunder.

"Victory to Lady Julianne," Grenfell shouted. "You left the circle, Liv."

Liv rubbed at her eyes, trying desperately to get her vision back. "What was that?" she shouted. "You didn't even say anything!"

When she could finally see again, the seconds, Master Grenfell, and Lady Julianne had all crowded around her. Tiny arcs of lightning were still sparking off the bone wand. "When you have practiced a spell sufficiently," the baron's wife said, reaching down a hand to pull Liv to her feet, "speaking the words aloud is no longer necessary. Merely thinking them is enough. And quite a bit faster, as well."

"If she can do that, I'm done for," Liv said. Where lightning had descended from the sky, a gout of sand looked like it had been frozen in time, at the moment of the explosion. It rose two or three feet high, knotted and ugly, like a cloud of smoke made solid.

"She'll need to speak," Julianne said. "The technique isn't taught until the second year at Coral Bay, and I can't emphasize enough how much practice it takes. That will slow her down. But I wanted to show you just how bad this can get, at the beginning. Alright children, all three of you: start with the worst. What are the dangers, what are the disadvantages. What does Liv need to avoid."

"Getting hit," Matthew said.

"Obviously." Liv rolled her eyes. "I can see how she's killed those other girls. If that struck me, I'd be dead. But even if she misses, it's blinding. She could have just walked over and took a rock to my skull in the time it took to clear my eyes."

"It's too quick to dodge," Triss said. "By the time you see it, you're already dead. You can't throw yourself aside or something."

"Good," Julianne said. Her tone was almost exactly like Master Grenfell's when he was teaching a lesson. "Now, the weaknesses. What can Liv take advantage of?"

"Strike first," Triss suggested. "Can you get her before she finishes that spell, Liv?"

"If you can't dodge it, maybe you can parry," Matthew suggested. "Not with a sword, obviously, but what happens when lightning hits ice? Does anyone know? I've never even heard of it happening."

"That will be our next experiment, I think," Lady Julianne said. "Liv?"

"She hasn't gone to college yet, has she?" Liv said. "Or joined the guild. And she's entirely human, right? No Elden blood?"

"All of that is correct, so far as I am aware," Grenfell told her.

"So I can probably hold more mana than her, right?" Liv asked.

"Don't count on it," Julianne told her. "She's second in line to the throne, Liv. She's going to be wearing a great deal more mana-stones than that ring you've got. With enough wealth, Aluthet'Staia can compensate. Don't expect to outlast her."

"Alright then," Liv said. "I still have one idea. But let's see whether an Icewall can stand up to one of your lightning blasts."

☙

Three dead seagulls, one mostly emptied chunk of mana-stone, and the arrival of one Cade Talbot later, they had an answer.

"Why," the dark haired boy asked, looking over the feathered corpses, lightning blasted sand, and shattered chunks of ice, "are you all killing birds on the beach? And doing-" he waved a hand. "Whatever this is."

Liv, skirts filthy with sand, gulped from a flask of watered wine, exhausted. She wasn't sure that she could pry herself off the dunes and back to her feet if the princess had stormed down the steps right at that moment.

"This is the boy?" Julianne asked, turning to her son.

"Mother, this is Cade Talbot," Matthew said. "Cade, my mother, Lady Julianne Summerset. And this is Beatrice Crosbie, and Master Grenfell, our court mage."

Cade nodded his head, but he was frowning. "You look like you washed up from a shipwreck, Liv," he said, and strode over to her. He reached down a hand, and she looked at it for a moment before accepting it. He easily pulled her back to her feet.

"Liv is training for a duel," Lady Julianne said. "You should probably walk back to your family's home, Lord Talbot. I don't think you want to be involved in this."

"Who challenged you?" Cade hadn't released her hand yet, and Liv found she had a hard time meeting his eyes. "Let me champion you, then. Whoever it is, I'll teach them a lesson."

"Someone made an impression," Triss murmured to Matthew. Liv shot her a glare, and was mortified to find the other girl was grinning like a fox.

"You can't do that," Liv protested. She pulled her hand free of Cade's. "It's the princess."

"I don't care who it is," Cade said. "She won't be able to cast very well with an opened throat." Liv blinked. What precisely was his family's word, she wondered?

"No," Lady Julianne said. "Liv is right. They need to learn that they can't beat her in a duel. More than that, they need to learn to be afraid of her. That's the only way to put a stop to this. I learned that lesson the hard way. We've lost the light," she said. The ocean was flecked with orange, where only a fragment of the sun remained over the horizon. "Enough for tonight. Beatrice, Cade, you are welcome to join us for dinner," she said. "Be certain you understand what it means to be with us, however."

"I've already picked a side," Triss said. "Can't go back now."

"Milisant is a brat," Cade said, after a moment. "Besides, I don't abandon a woman who needs protection."

"Up to the house then, all of you," Lady Julianne said, motioning to the stairs as if she was herding chickens. "Beatrice, you can clean up in Liv's rooms. Matthew, take young master Talbot with you. I won't have anyone coming to the table filthy."

Liv lugged herself up the stairs, though she had to stop and rest a few times along the way. Triss, Matthew and Cade waited with her each time, while two of the guards took up the rear of the procession with their haul of dead gulls. Lady Julian and the others, in the meanwhile, went ahead up to the house.

"I could carry you, if you like," Cade offered. He was smiling, and Liv couldn't tell if it was a joke or whether he was completely serious.

"Let her get cleaned up before you're all over her," Triss said. "Come along Liv. Show me your rooms." They did make it, eventually, and Thora must have been warned, for she had two basins of hot water, along with bars of pale green soap and towels ready in the sitting room when the two girls arrived. Liv considered for a moment going into her bedchamber to change, and then decided she was too exhausted to care.

"Do you have a plan, yet?" Triss asked, sprawling in one of Liv's chairs after she'd washed her face and hands.

"The beginning of one, maybe," Liv told her. She stripped down to her shift and stockings, piling all of her sand-encrusted clothing up in Thora's arms. "Icewall is actually more effective than I feared it might be."

They'd repeated the experiment several times, to be certain, drawing mana from Master Grenfell's chunk of stone whenever either Liv or Lady Julianne ran low. An Icewall wouldn't hold up indefinitely, and it was possible to blow a hole through it, but the spell was enough to block a lightning strike. Liv took a moment to scrub her face with warm water, than reached for her towel.

"Lady Julianne said it was less - conductive? - than water," Triss agreed. "I'm not entirely sure what she meant, but I know what I saw. You can block a shot, if you can get it up in time, and shaped the right way."

"Time won't be the issue," Liv said. She grabbed her spellbook, brought it over to where Triss was sitting, and found the page she wanted.

"If you can get the incantation right," Triss agreed, after reading what was written on the page. "On the other hand, screw it up and you could kill yourself anyway."

"So we check it, and check it again," Liv said. "We have all of the day tomorrow to experiment."

"First," Triss said, closing the book, "we need to get through dinner. Let's get you dressed and downstairs, before the boys forget about us."