glasses were speckled with seawater.
‘I’ll tell you on the way back to the school. There’s nothing else we can do here. The Masters have everything under control-and I think I’m going to pass out any moment.’
Eric grabbed Samuel just as his knees were buckling, and helped him remain standing, throwing Samuel’s arm over his shoulder. Goodfellow went to Samuel’s other side, and together, they carried him between them, pushing through the crowd of onlookers and heading back towards the School of Magic.
‘What did those Adept think they were doing out there?’ Goodfellow asked.
‘Trying to get themselves killed,’ Eric commented.
‘They thought they could help,’ Samuel replied, ‘but they were foolish to think so. The sea was too rough. If not for Master Glim, they would have been done for. When the ship exploded, I did everything I could just to pick them all up and get back into the harbour.’
‘Do you think there will be punishment for the two Adept?’ Goodfellow asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ Samuel said wearily. ‘I think rather that Master Glim will only tell them of their foolishness and warn them to act more wisely next time. Personally, I’d have them put in the stocks for a few days. They deserve much worse.’
‘Perhaps you will receive a reward for bringing them all back safely, Samuel,’ Eric suggested.
‘I don’t think so,’ Samuel replied. ‘Master Glim was unconscious and didn’t know what was going on. I don’t think he realised I saved him at all.’
‘You should tell him!’ Goodfellow stated.
‘No,’ Samuel answered, barely able to keep his eyes open. ‘I’m just happy to be alive. I’ve decided I don’t like the sea as much as I thought.’
The others nodded and they shivered their way back towards the School of Magic along the dark city streets.
A few days later, Samuel was sitting downstairs reading over his notes and chewing on a hunk of bread, when two Adept came stomping into the dormitory to find him. They loomed over him angrily with their arms folded and brows furrowed.
The two Erics were chatting idly at another table and they stopped to observe what was going on. Goodfellow blinked and adjusted his spectacles and Eric Pot looked on with concern.
‘You are Samuel?’ one asked.
‘That’s right,’ Samuel said, still chomping on his bread.
‘We are the ones you helped the other night, with the
‘Oh!’ Samuel exclaimed with sudden realisation. ‘Sorry. I didn’t recognise you. It was dark and wet. I didn’t have time to see who you were.’
The two Adept looked at each other before the second one spoke. ‘We just want to clear things up,’ he said. ‘It’s something of a delicate matter. Of course, we’d like to thank you for helping us, but now we find ourselves in a rather embarrassing position.’
‘Robert!’ Eric called out. ‘What are you two on about?’
‘Shut your mouth, Pot!’ the second Adept, named Robert, called back, shaking his finger at him. ‘We’re speaking with Samuel, so it’s none of your concern.’
‘You two are idiots! If not for Master Glim and Samuel, you’d both be dead now,’ Eric replied, with a hint of anger, but Samuel calmed him with a raised hand.
‘It’s not a problem, Eric,’ he said calmly. ‘Let them go on.’
‘Well, there’s a small matter of our reputation to attend to,’ the first Adept, Artam, said to Samuel. ‘Word has somehow been passed around that we caused all this trouble and that we needed you to save us. Now our names are as good as rubbish. We just can’t have everyone thinking that we needed some foreign apprentice to get us out of trouble.’
‘Which you did,’ Eric called out.
‘Shut it, Pot!’ Robert shouted again, throwing a vile look, but Eric just laughed and shook his head.
‘And what about Master Glim?’ Artam continued. ‘We all know he was responsible for saving us all and all this talk is only soiling his good Turian name.’
‘I understand,’ Samuel said. ‘But I haven’t spoken to anyone about it.’
‘Good,’ Robert said. ‘Then I trust we won’t have to speak again.’
The two Adept twirled in their cloaks dramatically and left.
‘They don’t seem very mature,’ Samuel stated.
‘That’s Artam Ritter and Robert Mundle,’ Goodfellow informed him. ‘They’ve always been troublesome and they don’t have many friends in the school. They like to make life difficult for any apprentices they come across, especially for us Outlanders. They’re both Imperials and they know it well. You’re lucky they haven’t bothered you before now.’
‘Well, they can do as they please,’ Samuel said, ‘as long as they don’t bother me any further.’
Eric laughed. ‘Good for you, but I’m sure they’ll try to make things difficult for you when they can. Let me know if they do. I wouldn’t mind getting my knuckles dirty on those two.’
Samuel laughed. ‘Very well,’ he replied, only just realising it had been a long time since he had been involved in a scuffle himself.
Samuel only had to wait another day before meeting the two Adept once again. While striding across the school grounds, he was confronted once more by the two young men, each looking furious.
‘Now people are saying we were crying when we came back to the jetty!’ Robert declared angrily. ‘And we are the laughing stock of all the Adept.’
‘I told you,’ Samuel stated plainly. ‘I haven’t said a thing and I can’t help what other people say.’
‘We know it’s your damned friend Pot! Well, we’re going to teach you both a lesson,’ Artam hissed. ‘It’s bad enough we have to put up with you Outlanders in the first place. You’re lucky to even have a place in the Order. You’re lucky the Emperor didn’t put you lot in chains. This is the last warning you’ll get.’
They turned and stormed away and Samuel shook his head before continuing on his way, himself.
‘What news of the boy?’ asked the thin voice of his dreams.
‘Stronger each day,’ replied the gruff. ‘He learns at a frightening rate. Some of his spells may now even eclipse mine. He only lacks confidence and experience.’
Silence.
And a moment later, ‘Can you control him?’
‘I believe so, but he grows ever sure of himself. He is not a child any more.’
The thin voice sounded full of thought. ‘He shows great hidden potential as we expected, but still keeps much to himself.’
‘Yes…and I feel that he has reached only a fraction of that potential.’
Still, Samuel was sure he knew who this gravelly-voiced speaker was, but the fog of his dreams kept him from putting the pieces together.
‘There are many mysteries around this boy.’ Again, long silence, then, ‘What about the ship?’
‘Nothing substantial, but I fear there was some interference from the Circle. Some of the sailors told of strange events in the few moments before it ran aground. Sailors are superstitious, but it could make sense.’
‘We should look into it. Seek Balten. The Archmage was not happy at all to lose his cargo and the loss of the books is a tragic blow. I cannot believe someone was not responsible for such misfortune.’
‘The Circle are never to be trusted,’ the gruff voice stated, ‘but we need them. Never forget that they may be playing us as much as we are playing them.’
‘We are all players and the played,’ the thin voice surmised. ‘All that matters is who finishes on top.’
‘And we play with dangerous company.’
‘Not for much longer.’ The thin voice carried no lack of satisfaction.
It was a few weeks later, in the Great Library-Samuel was beginning to think that Robert and Artam had lost their venom-when their promised moment of comeuppance finally arrived. He was browsing through the library
