Paul Collins - The Spell of Undoing

An hour later, someone knocked on the door. Lord Verris looked up from his desk. ‘Come!’ He placed the quill in its inkwell and smiled when the door opened. ‘Young Tab Vidler. Where have you been hiding?’

Tab glared at him. She had a cut on her cheek and her left arm was in a makeshift sling.

‘Ah,’ said Verris. ‘I see that you were in the thick of it. I might have known. Here, please take a seat.’ He offered Tab his own chair, carrying it around the desk and depositing it in front of her.

Verris had food and drink brought and Tab wolfed it down. In all the excitement and danger, she hadn't eaten anything substantial since the battle. When she was finished, Verris asked if she had had any more visions.

Tab was tempted to tell him the truth, as she had to Philmon. She believed that she could trust this man, this pirate and thief, probably more than most of the so-called honest citizens of Quentaris.

Yet still something held her back. As they said in Quentaris, you can't unscramble an egg.

Just then Captain Bellgard was shown in. Tab leapt to her feet, but the captain smiled kindly and waved her to sit down again. He seated himself nearby. Verris gave Tab a nod to speak.

Tab frowned, trying to remember everything. ‘I saw a big youth, a Tolrushian. He wasn't much more than a boy, but everybody took orders from him. He was very cruel, with fox-like eyes.’ Tab thought for a moment. ‘He had an advisor, someone called Genkis. Oh, and last night I couldn't sleep because my arm hurts. I had another vision.’

Verris nodded for Tab to continue.

‘There's a horrible, black creature – like a kind of big wolfhound. It kept hissing and spitting.’ Tab shivered at the memory of watching it. ‘Anyway, the boy-leader was yelling at some people, telling them they were imbeciles for letting Quentaris get away. He had two of them killed on the spot by a magician who vaporised them into a dark mist. He's… I think he's in desperate need of icefire.’

‘That's Kull Vladis you're describing,’ said Verris. ‘He's the blood-thirsty boy-king of Tolrush. His pet's name is Sherma. The Tolrushians use animals as slaves and fighters. What else did you see?’

‘Kull blames Quentaris for their plight. He says our army was having no luck with the siege and so we bewitched them.’

Verris’ lips moved with the merest hint of a smile. ‘Obviously, he doesn't realise we're in the same boat, so to speak. Perhaps that will prove useful.’

Tab shrugged. ‘Kull is telling his people that we know how to get back home to Amlas. And that we have a stockpile of icefire with which to fuel the propellers.’

‘If only that were true,’ said Captain Bellgard wistfully. ‘Our stock is pitifully low. We lose people every time we send a landing party out to find the gemstones.’ He sighed.

Verris gazed at Tab thoughtfully. ‘I'm going to ask you for a favour, Tab. You are free to refuse, if you choose. It is this – that you keep future visions just for our ears.’

‘Why?’ asked Tab. She didn't mind keeping silent, but she was curious.

‘Well, you're our secret weapon,’ said Verris. ‘With your help, we have a way to eavesdrop on Kull and his plans. I have no doubt that that could prove enormously helpful.’

‘Aye,’ said Captain Bellgard. ‘And that's putting it mildly!’

Tab shrugged again. ‘I don't mind. I've already told my friend Philmon, but you can trust him.’

‘Ah, yes,’ Captain Bellgard said, ‘the young ensign who tried to alert Crankshaft. I shall have to see about giving that young man a promotion, I think.’

Tab couldn't help herself. She clapped.

‘And now, before we let you go, is there anything we can do for you, Tab?’ Verris asked.

Tab stared back, blinking. No one, in her whole life, had ever asked her that question. She was dumbfounded. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

Verris smiled.

Finally, Tab said, ‘Could you help find my… friend, Fontagu? He disappeared during the fighting. I'm worried about him.’ She quickly described him.

Verris said, ‘If he still lives, he will be found and brought to your door.’ Tab felt a huge sense of relief. It wasn't like Fontagu to just vanish, especially when there were so many opportunities to brag about his heroic fighting exploits.

‘Is there anything else we can do for you, child?’ This was from Captain Bellgard. He was leaning forward slightly. For a moment Tab wondered how different things would have been if she'd had someone like him for a father, someone gruff but kind. But she swiftly pushed the thought away. There was something else she wanted, more than anything in the world. It was an ache within her, but she knew it could never now be fulfilled – because she'd been told she had no magical skill…

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

‘Well, you'd best be off then. You have a big day tomorrow and will need your sleep.’

Tab gave him a puzzled look. ‘What for?’

‘Well, naturally,’ said Verris, ‘you can't begin your training as an apprentice magician if you can't even keep your eyes open, now can you?’

Tab's eyes grew as big as plums, and there was a roaring in her ears. ‘A what?’

Hardly daring to believe her luck, an extremely nervous Tab reported for training at the Magicians’ Guild the very next morning.

She didn't know what to expect as she arrived at the Hall of the Initiates. Here a duty clerk peered owl-like over her thick glasses and mumbled, ‘Another initiate, eh? Name? Sponsor? Former address? Come along, girl, don't just stand there witless. I'm busy, as well you might be if you'd gather your thoughts. Dear me, I don't know where they find you all.’

Tab stumbled over her answers. After a harrowing time, Amelia, Philmon's cousin, was called to collect her.

‘Don't mind Mrs Haggerty,’ Amelia said as they walked between thick pillars. ‘I'd be rather short too if I had to sit in that hall day in and day out poking questions at every visitor. She calls us all good-for-nothings, you know.’

‘But the Navigators’ Guild is the most important guild in Quentaris,’ said Tab.

Amelia laughed. ‘That's just her way. Mind you, she doesn't talk to the magicians like that. Oh no, they'd turn her into a frog or something. But we're not magicians, not yet anyway. I mean, we don't have real powers.’ She suddenly gave Tab an odd look. ‘Maybe you do, though.’

‘Me?’ Tab shrugged. ‘I just have – visions… ’

‘Mmm,’ said Amelia. She led Tab along twisting corridors. Groups of students could be seen taking lessons in classrooms and in the leafy grounds. Magicians would look up annoyed as they passed, and Tab realised they were late for her first class. Amelia stopped outside a classroom door and knocked.

‘Come in,’ said a magician.

Amelia wished Tab good luck and hurried away to her own classes. Tab took a deep breath and entered. Several students looked at her with interest, even awe, though they were too busy copying something written on the blackboard to do more.

Tab stood just inside the door, not sure what to do. ‘You're late,’ the magician snapped. ‘Take a seat.’

Tab spied a seat at the back of the class and hurried to it. The students might think she was something of a hero for saving Quentaris, but it was clear the magicians did not or if they did, refused to give any sign. Perhaps they thought it would go to her head. Or maybe they were just peeved that she had seen something that they hadn't.

Tab sat beside a smiling girl called Seretha. In a hurried whisper she told Tab what they were doing. Tab got out a notebook she had been given – along with several textbooks – and started copying from the board. The class was on levitation, which didn't just mean making objects float in the air; it was also the method by which the magicians themselves flew.