Chapter 10: "Tested" (part b)

(Is this your first time to the site? To start reading from the beginning- click HERE.)


Presumably, "up there" meant Madric's workshop. Heading up the staircase, Teine paused briefly to toss the journal and letter on the bed of his borrowed room, before practically galloping up the stairs to the top floor and Madric's office, hoping to overtake Hamoni. He was out of luck, though. Like most Aoife, she was swift and light on her feet. He'd have as much luck trying to catch her as he'd have playing tag with a barn-swallow. The effort left him embarrassingly winded, and even though the door was open, he paused outside on the landing to catch his breath. A radio played in the background, and Teine assumed they were continuing the broadcast from earlier.


"Damn it!" Hamoni cursed colorfully. From his position, Teine couldn't see her, but he sure heard that! "He really went and did it this time!" she groaned. "This cursed thing will not hold a charge today, no matter what I've done to it!"


"Might have to wait till after the storm," Madric suggested mildly. He sounded preoccupied.


Teine blinked. Then he knocked once awkwardly on the door frame and walked right in, interrupting them before they could say something he wasn't sure he should hear. "Here I am," he announced, holding his arms wide. "Test me!"


"Right then," Madric said, shutting the book he was reading and setting it on his desk. "Take off your clothes and sit on the stool by the window."


"What?" asked both Teine and Hamoni in unison, identical expressions of shock on their faces. Madric bent over with peals of unabashed laughter, reminding Teine of the little boy he'd once been that was preserved forever on canvas in the guest bedroom. Teine crossed his arms and gave the magician a knowing smile. "You really had me going there."


Shrugging, Madric wiped one eye, his grin crooked yet friendly. "Ah, sometimes the cheap entertainments are the best. Forgive me my odd sense of humor."


"Forgive you?" Teine asked, figuring now was as good a time as any. "I'll do more than forgive you. I'll pay you for it." He sauntered over and dropped the bait money into the Aoife's slender hands.


"Hmm. My humor pays well." Madric muttered, eying the silver coins. "What would a good dance routine get me? Perhaps I can end this life of drudgery and go on to a career as a performer?"


"Very funny," huffed Hamoni from her perch. She had her elbows resting on the desk opposite Madric's, and her dainty chin rested on her hands. She looked as though she were pouting as she watched the golden bracelet suspended in thin air above a glowing stand.


"I found them in with the furniture," Teine explained, trying not to stare at what Hamoni was doing to Marne's bracelet. He'd decided it was best to keep up the ruse about the money he'd been meant to find. Letting Madric know that he knew it had been placed there would not gain him anything, and it might peeve the Aoife if he made it sound like his plan had been too transparent. It was better left alone.


Pocketing all of the coins but one, Madric tossed him the spare. "Thanks, Teine. I appreciate your honesty. Now, hop up on that stool. You can keep your clothes on, I promise."


Comforted by the blandness and propriety of the exchange, Teine did as he was told, and when he thanked Madric for the finder's fee, he truly meant it. Madric's gift was still generous, no matter what his original intent had been.


As for the magical test, Madric spent a few minutes looking Teine over for any obvious distinguishing marks, asking him a handful of odd questions and passing a clear stone around different parts of his body. As nothing was painful, and the process was more amusing than alarming, Teine found his attention wandering. He listened to the continual din of the storm still raging outside and the soft music in the background and was lulled into a pleasant trance. So, when Madric passed the stone close by his forehead and it suddenly began to glow, Teine yelped and jerked away shielding his eyes.


"I think we have a winner," Madric commented drily. Hamoni immediately perked up and came in closer to watch.


Madric continued to pass the stone around, concentrating more on the area around Teine's head. The glow continued, dimming and brightening in different places and distances. "Very interesting." Madric muttered. "Hamoni, fetch me my journal. From my desk."


"Am I magic?" Teine asked. He was embarrassed to admit that the mere thought that he could develop any mystical abilities left him as breathlessly excited as he would have been as a nursling. It was easy to imagine himself wearing Inquisitor's robes like Prior Vihah, or summoning Elementals like the ones he'd seen from the night before, or perhaps other fascinating things that he didn't even know were within the realm of possibility. He waited, literally on the edge of his seat, for Madric's verdict.


Which did not come right away. As soon as Hamoni brought Madric's journal, the mage began thumbing through back pages, apparently looking for something.


"What happens if I am magic?" Teine persisted.


"We'd have no choice but to report you," Madric intoned. To Teine, he sounded as though he were reporting the news of a loved one's demise. Something about the way he said it suddenly chilled Teine, as much as the thought had thrilled him only a moment ago.


"What happens then?" Although he wasn't sure he was ready to know, Teine had to ask.


Shutting the book with a snap, Madric looked Teine right in the eye and smiled warmly. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He picked up the stone again, and it continued to glow in areas near Teine's head. "Have you ever had the feeling that a moment you were experiencing had happened before?"


Teine shrugged. "Yes, but honestly... who hasn't? Even my Amagor-"


"Have you ever had a dream that came true?"


Teine tapped his finger thoughtfully against his front teeth as he grimaced. "Good or bad?"


Madric grinned. "Doesn't matter. Either."


He was about to say no and make a joke about all the 'showing up for class naked' dreams he'd had, when something jostled loose in his memory and he drew his breath in sharply. The hair on his arms all rose, too.


"What is it you're remembering?" the Aoife magician coaxed. "I can tell you remember something. Don't doubt it, just share. It might not mean anything."


"My Amagorra," Teine blurted out. "I had a dream she got sick and she was dying. She was laying in bed and looking me in the eye. It was as though she was trying to tell me something that seemed very important, more important than anything else ever, but she couldn't talk, and I couldn't hear her." Embarrassed, he blinked quickly, unsure where the moisture and burning sensation in his eyes had come from. He'd never been particularly close to his Amagorra- at least not like Leis was- but he remembered waking from the dream and feeling waves of regret and concern for her well being. "The next morning, when I woke up," he continued. "I asked my sister how she was doing, if everything was fine, and she said yes."


"So, it turned out to be nothing?" Madric asked, the glowing stone poised over Teine's right ear.


Teine shook his head, his mouth soundlessly mouthing the word "no." "Later that day, she collapsed on the way to the Commons for dinner. Clinician Nocdoramus had to do a surgery on her heart."


"Ohhhh." Hamoni breathed.


Madric shot her a stern look. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he repeated. "Now, have you ever-"


He didn't get to finish his question, because suddenly there was the sound of a sharp rap on the window nearest them. Then another, and then several all at once, like the popcorn they sometimes cooked over the fire in the Commons. "Is that hail?" Madric shouted, his question thick with incredulity. The crystal in Madric's hand brightened, then shattered violently, peppering both the Aoife and Teine with small bits of rock shards and dust. Nearly simultaneously, the device on Hamoni's desk that was suspending the golden bracelet made a loud popping sound, and was suddenly consumed all over with little flashes like miniature lightning. The bracelet fell to the desk, bounced once and rolled off onto the floor. "Get out of here!" Madric commanded, pushing both Teine and Hamoni firmly toward the door. "Now! I'll be right behind you. I just want to shut off the collector." He said something else after that which was lost to the torrent of pounding hail and a gust of wind that tore one of the shutters free and slammed it through the window. Glass scattered everywhere, along with hailstones the size of senta pieces.


Teine, accustomed from birth to doing exactly what he was told, when he was told, headed for the door. He sensibly covered his head as best he could with his gathered sleeve. As he passed the bucket where the captive water elemental was stored, he almost tripped over himself when he saw the translucent, bluish humanoid form raising out of the bucket on its own. One glance toward the larger holding tank confirmed his fears. Instead of just one barely formed watery fist, the clear vessel seemed to be swarming with the vague outlines of a mob of angry, watery captives. "Madric, be careful!" Teine yelled. When Hamoni stopped to stare, he swept the girl up and fled the room, despite her howling protest.


An instant later, Madric was on their heels, drenched from head to toe. He slammed the door to the office shut behind him, mopping the water from his brow. Instead of fear in his eyes, Teine could see the wild excitement. "Go!" Madric directed Teine and Hamoni. "Get everyone to the main floor and away from the windows!"


He didn't have to tell Teine twice. Bellowing at the top of his lungs to be sure that everyone heard him on every floor, Teine began the evacuation.

To read  Chapter 11, "Refugees and Orders" (part a), click HERE! 


 If you like the story, please spread the word! Subscribe to our feed, "like" us on Facebook, "follow" us in Blogger or just tell people!

The Gilded Shackle is the first book in The Evermancer Saga, a series of online serial novels. Go go right to the most recent chapter, go to www.evermancer.com.

To read the whole story, starting at the beginning, click HERE.