Magic's Pawn

'I think so,' he answered. 'If it doesn't flow smoothly, I'll have times when it's weak, and whatever I'm doing with it will be open to interruption when it

weakens?''

'Right,' Savil replied with a brisk nod. 'Only don't think in terms of 'interruption,' lad. Think in terms of 'attack.' Like now.'

She flung a levinbolt at his barrier without giving him any more warning than that, and had the satisfaction, not only of Seeing it deflected harmlessly upward to be absorbed by the Work Room shields, but Seeing that he shifted his defenses to meet it with no chance to prepare at all.

'Now that was good, my lad,' she approved, and Tylendel's brown eyes warmed in response to the compliment. 'So - '

Someone knocked on the door of the Work Room, and Savil bit off what she was going to tell him with a muffled curse of annoyance. 'Now what?' she muttered, shoving back her tall stool and edging around Tylendei's mage-barrier to answer the door.

The Work Room was a permanently shielded, circular chamber within the Palace complex that the Herald- Mages used when training their proteges in the Mage-aspects of their Gifts. The shielding on this room was incredibly ancient and powerful. It was so powerful that the shielding actually muffled physical sound; you couldn't even hear the Death Bell toll inside this room. One of the duties of every Herald-Mage in the Circle was to augment the protections here whenever they had the time and energy to spare. This shielding had to be strong; strong enough to contain magical 'accidents' that would reduce the sparse furniture within the room to splinters. Those 'accidents' were the reason why the walls were stone, the furniture limited to a couple of cheap stools and an equally cheap table, and why every Herald-Mage put full personal shields on himself and his pupil immediately on entering the door of this room.

Those accidents were also the reason why anyone who disturbed the practice sessions going on in the Work Room had better have a damned good reason for doing so.

Savil yanked the door open, and glared at the fair-haired, blue-uniformed Palace Guard who stood there, at rigid and proper attention. 'Well?' she said, letting a bit of ice creep into her voice.

'Your pardon, Herald-Mage,' he replied, his expression as stiff as his spine, 'But you left orders to be notified as soon as your nephew arrived.' He handed her a folded and sealed letter. 'His escort wished you to have this.'

She took it and stuffed it in a pocket of her breeches without looking at it. 'Oh, bloody hell,' she muttered. 'So I did.'

She sighed, and became a bit more civil. 'Thank you, Guard. Send him and whatever damned escort he brought with him to my quarters; I'll get with them as soon as I can.'

The Guard saluted and turned sharply on his heel; Savil shut the door before he finished his pivot, and turned back to her pupil.

'All right, lad, how long have we been at this?'

Tylendel draped an arm over his curly head and grinned. 'Long enough for my stomach to start growling. I'm sorry, Savil, but I'm hungry. That's probably why my concentration's going.'

She shook her finger at him. 'Tchah, younglings and their stomachs! And just what do you plan to do if you get hungry in the middle of an arcane duel? Hmm?''

'Eat,' he replied impishly. She threw up her hands in mock despair.

'All right, off with you - ah, ah,' she warmed, wagging her finger at him as he made ready to dispel the barrier the quick and dirty way; by pulling the energies into the ground. 'Properly, my lad - '

He bowed to her in the finest courtly manner. She snorted. 'Get on with it, lad, if you're in such a hurry to stuff your face.'

She Watched him carefully as he took down the barrier - properly - did so with quite a meticulous attention to little details, like releasing the barrier-energy back into the same flow he'd taken it from. She nodded approvingly when he stepped across the place where the border had been and presented himself to have the shields she'd put on him taken off.

'You're getting better, Tylendel,' she said, touching the middle of his forehead with her index finger, and absorbing the shield back into herself. Her skin tingled for a moment as she neutralized the overflow. 'You're coming along much faster than I guessed you would. Another year - no, less, I think - and you'll be ready to try your hand at a Border stint with me. And not much longer than that, and I'll shove you into Whites.'

'It's my teacher,' he replied impishly, seizing her hand and kissing it, his long hair falling over her wrist and tickling it. 'How can I help but succeed in such attractive surroundings?''

She snatched her hand back, and cuffed his ear lightly. 'Get on with you! Even if I wasn’t old enough to be your grandmother, we both know I'm the wrong sex for you to find me attractive!'

He ducked the blow, grinning, and pulled the door open for her. 'Oh, Savil, don't you know that the real truth is that I'd lost my heart to my teacher, knew I had no hope, and couldn't accept a lesser woman than - '

'Out!' she sputtered, laughing so hard she nearly choked. 'Liar! Before I do you damage!'

He ran off down the wood-paneled hallway, his own laughter echoing behind him.

She closed the Work Room door behind her and leaned against the wall, still laughing, holding her aching side. The imp. More charm than any five younglings, and all the mischief of a young cat! I haven't laughed like this in years - not the way I have since I acquired Tylendel as a protege. That boy is such a treasure - if I can just wean him out of that stupid feud his family is involved in, he'll make a fine Herald-Mage. If I don't kill him first!

She gulped down several long breaths of air, and composed herself. I'm going to have to deal