Richard Ford - Herald of the Storm

As he stared at his reflection in the mirror he reached into his mouth, gripping the tooth tight in finger and thumb.

It came away far too easily.

There was no pain, but he felt a dull ache of loss as he dropped it into the bowl of water in front of him. He watched as the tooth sank to the bottom of the bowl and came to rest with a clink, a crimson trail effervescing in its wake.

At this rate, by the time he graduated to the Caste he’d be all gums, like some old crone.

The door to his chamber opened and in she walked. He was clearly getting used to it: he didn’t jump or squeal and she hadn’t even caught him playing with himself this time.

‘Waylian. I need you.’

Of course she did. Obviously there was some menial work to do.

‘Yes, Magistra. Be with you at once.’

He expected her to go at that point, and later to find her waiting impatiently for him at the end of some corridor, but instead she entered his room and closed the door behind her.

Suddenly he felt naked and vulnerable. He was stripped to the waist, but it was more than that. This was intimacy he hadn’t bargained on.

‘How are you?’

What? She’d never asked him that before. How in the hells was he supposed to answer that kind of question?

‘I’m fine, Magistra.’

She glanced into the bowl where his tooth lay in the pale red water.

‘Clearly you’re not.’

‘It’s nothing. Just a …’ Just my bloody tooth fallen out of my head, that’s all.

‘I can give you a poultice for that. The sick feeling will recede in time too. You’ve done very well, Waylian. You should be proud; you’ve shown great promise. I knew I was right about you.’

He just nodded. He’d never been good at handling praise, and coming from Gelredida it was a strange thing indeed.

The Magistra leaned in close, almost conspiratorially as though she felt awkward saying the words. ‘She did not suffer, you know.’

That one came out of the blue.

Of course, he knew who she was referring to. Gerdy had died in the Chapel of Ghouls. Butchered like a piece of meat. Waylian had done his best to put it from his mind, but all he had done was lie awake at night, picturing that scene: Bram with the knife, the black wound spreading across her chest.

‘I know, Magistra. It’s just that … I don’t know. I wish we could have …’

‘Done something more? We did everything we could. You should feel no culpability. You acted with bravery. We did everything we could to save that girl. One man was responsible for her death and he has been punished, and a terrible disaster averted. For that you should be proud.’

‘Yes, Magistra.’

Though he heard her words and appreciated them, he couldn’t help but feel some of this had been his fault. Rembram had been his friend, and yet he hadn’t seen through his facade. He hadn’t spotted the signs. If he’d done that sooner, perhaps Gerdy would have lived.

‘I think it best if we do not mention the manifestation of your abilities just yet, either. I may need you beside me in the coming months, and if it is known you have shown some talent you might be … hobbled.’

What?

‘Hobbled, Magistra?’

‘Yes. So let’s keep this just between us.’

‘As you wish, Magistra.’ Though what she meant by ‘hobbled’ he had no idea, and wasn’t too sure he wanted to find out.

‘Very good. Meet me at the Crucible Chamber when you’re ready.’

With that Gelredida left and, gods , was that another smile she gave him as she went? No, it couldn’t have been. Who was he trying to fool?

He rinsed his mouth and spat out a gob of blood. Then donned his brown robe.

As Waylian made his way through the corridors, he found the sense of shame he’d felt in previous days was gone. The other students, whose gaze he had tried to avoid and whose whispered judgement he had feared, seemed to regard him in a different light. Respect, was it? Could there even be a degree of awe?

It was clear news travelled fast in the halls of the Tower.

Magistra Gelredida was waiting for him as promised in the antechamber to the Crucible Chamber. When he approached she gave him no scornful look, no silent rebuke. She merely strode towards the great brass doors, the iron bracelets already secured to her wrists, as the Raven Knights opened them to reveal the Archmasters waiting behind their pulpits.

As he and his mistress made their way to stand before the greatest magickers in the land, Waylian experienced little trepidation. When last he was here he had felt out of his depth, as though floundering in treacherous waters, but now he felt amongst his peers — his equals.

It was a shame they didn’t feel the same.

At first nobody spoke, but it was clear Drennan Folds was waiting to pounce, winding himself up to launch his attack. His eyes — one white, one ice blue — peered down with unconcealed fury.

‘Magick!’ he bellowed when he could contain himself no longer. ‘On the city streets! The gates to the Chapel of Ghouls left open! Our own Raven Knights murdered. You have much to answer for, Gelredida.’

She met his bluster with disdain. ‘It’s not like you weren’t warned, Folds. All of you were warned and no one helped. Well, almost no one. If it were not for the aid of Archmaster Laius the city would by now be infested with … I hate to think on it.’

‘You were party to this, Nero?’ Folds turned his anger on the man to his left. ‘You assisted in this madness?’

Laius could only shrug his assent.

‘Archmaster Laius saw the good sense of aiding me,’ said Gelredida. ‘And I left him little choice. If you must rail at someone, Drennan, rail at me.’

Drennan Folds turned back to her, his face red with rage. ‘ Rail at you? We should punish you severely. Practising magick on the streets like a common hedge witch. You should be-’

‘Be careful, Drennan,’ she said. ‘Just be careful.’

Waylian expected that comment to enrage the Archmaster further, but Gelredida’s veiled threat served to take some of the wind from his sails.

Hoylen Crabbe leaned forward. ‘I think Archmaster Folds is merely showing his frustration. These are testing times for us all, Magistra. I’m sure we will need to take this matter no further. Despite the reckless manner in which it was done, a potential catastrophe has been averted, after all.’

Drennan Folds looked furious at that, but he held his tongue.

‘And what of the catastrophe to come?’ Gelredida asked. ‘What has the Crucible decided regarding Amon Tugha’s impending invasion?’

It seemed none of them wanted to give an answer. It was down to the venerable figure of Crannock Marghil to reply.

‘We cannot act against the Elharim. The power needed to withstand that invading army would come at too high a price. We all know the cost of Bakhaus Gate; a debt so large cannot be paid again.’

Bakhaus Gate? What did this have to do with Bakhaus Gate? What cost?

Gelredida took a step forward. Waylian could see the frustration in her face, her jaw working hard as her teeth ground together.

‘It has never been proved that the Sweet Canker was our price for Bakhaus Gate. There is no way we can know that. And if we do not act on this, the Free States will suffer more than a mere plague. We will suffer annihilation.’

‘We don’t know that,’ said Lucen Kalvor, his sharp features looking more imperious than usual. ‘The Khurtas might be pillaging the north, but they are led by an Elharim. The people of the Riverlands are civilised. They can be bargained with. This Amon Tugha would not set the Free States afire just to watch it burn. It is clear he wants something more than to simply raze the city to the ground.’