The trek to the castle was steep and dismal; a brisk, wet wind licked at them all the way, now at their faces, now at their backs as they struggled up the switchbacks on the mountainside. By the time they reached the castle, Silverdun was exhausted and damp. It was dark, and the wind here at the island's summit was even stronger.
Up close, the castle Whitemount was more intact than it appeared from a distance. It consisted of a single tower surrounded by a square courtyard. The outer walls were fallen, but beyond them the courtyard was well maintained. The interior walls of the castle were straight and in good repair; the glass windows clear and unbroken. The courtyard was deserted. If Master Jedron had any retainers other than Ilian, they were nowhere to be seen, though Silverdun would not have blamed them for remaining indoors on such a bleak night.
'Come on, then,' said Ilian, waving Silverdun on. He pushed open a heavy wooden door and entered the castle without further comment.
Inside, the castle was dry and cool. The main hall was decorated, though sparsely, in a style from decades past-clearly there was no lady at Whitemount. Than passed briskly through the spacious hall toward a set of wide spiral stairs that hugged the tower's interior. Silverdun followed. The stairs continued up several flights, with witchlit sconces evenly spaced along its length. Their light was tuned to orange, providing a glow that appeared warm but provided no actual warmth.
At the top of the tower, the stairs ended at a stout wooden door. Ilian knocked, and for a moment there was silence. Then a voice rasped, 'Come!'
Master Jedron's study occupied the entire top floor of the tower. It was comfortable without being lavishly appointed; tapestries hung on the walls; tapers were lit and placed in sconces around the room. A well-stoked fireplace burned opposite the door. In the center of the room Master Jedron sat at a large desk made of ebony, his boots propped up on the corner of the desk. Jedron's salt-and-pepper hair hung to his shoulders, neatly combed. His face was deeply lined, giving the semblance of extreme age, but there was clearly nothing frail about him. He had a glass paperweight in his hand, which he tossed absently up and down.
Jedron squinted at Silverdun for a long moment and then said, 'Who the fuck are you?'
Silverdun looked back at Ilian, who chuckled, but said nothing. Ilian retreated casually to a spot near the door and motioned Silverdun back toward Jedron with a nod of his head.
'Are you stupid?' said Jedron. 'I asked you a question. Who are you?'
Silverdun cleared his throat. What was this? 'I am Perrin Alt, Lord Silverdun. I'm here to present myself to you for training.'
Jedron looked baffled for a moment; then he burst out laughing, as if Silverdun had just told him the funniest joke he'd ever heard.
'What? You?' Jedron pointed at Silverdun, shaking with mirth. 'Oh, that's a good one! Who put you up to this?'
The tips of Silverdun's ears began to burn. 'I can assure you, sir, that this is no jest. Lord Everess himself sent me to you.'
'Oh, did he?' Jedron's laugh settled down to a chuckle. 'You can understand my amusement, of course.'
'I'm afraid I can't,' said Silverdun. He was going to kill Everess for this.
'Well, look at you! You're so fancy and sensitive, you're practically a woman!' Jedron took his feet down off the desk and leaned forward. 'Not that I haven't trained women, of course,' he said. 'That's not what I mean at all. But most of the women I've trained are quite a lot more manly than you, I'm afraid.'
The old man shook his head. 'And I thought the other new student was a disgrace.'
Silverdun rolled his eyes. 'I see. This is some kind of test, to see if I'll lose my temper under stress or some such. Am I right?'
With blinding speed, Jedron reared back and hurled the glass paperweight, which slammed into Silverdun's temple with astonishing force. Silverdun stumbled back; the pain was unbelievable. He reached out for some thing to support himself with, as he suddenly felt dizzy, but there was nothing there. Red and blue spots began to speckle his vision and his knees buckled. He sat down hard.
Silverdun's head throbbed; his entire skull hurt. When he looked up, his vision was blurred and slightly doubled. Jedron stood over him, looking at him with an appraising eye.
'Well, you were right about one thing, boy. That was your first test, and you failed it miserably, I'm sad to say.'
'Oh,' groaned Silverdun. 'And what test was that?'
Jedron looked at Silverdun as if Silverdun were the stupidest person he'd ever met. 'Dodging paperweights,' he said.
