The Magicians' Guild

'They have fields down near the servants' houses.'

Sonea frowned. 'Why wouldn't they just buy their food?'

'I've heard they grow all sorts of plants to make medicines from.'

'Oh.' Sonea looked at Cery, impressed. 'How did you find out so much about the Guild?'

He grinned. 'I asked a lot of questions, especially after I went looking around last time.'

'Why?'

'I was curious.'

'Curious?' Sonea snorted. 'Just curious?'

'Everybody wonders what they do in there. Don't you?'

Sonea hesitated. 'Well... sometimes.'

'Of course you do. You've got more reason than most. So, do you want to spy on a few magicians?'

Sonea looked up at the buildings. 'How are we going to look inside without them seeing us?'

'The garden goes right up to the walls of the buildings,' Cery told her. 'There are paths going back and forth, and beside them are trees with hedges on either side. You can walk between the hedges and nobody can see you.'

Sonea shook her head. 'Only you would do something this crazy.'

He smiled. 'But you know I don't take stupid risks.'

She bit her lip, still ashamed that she had suspected him of betraying her. He had always been the cleverest of Harrin's gang. If it was possible to spy on the Guild, he would know how to do it.

She knew she should tell him to take her back to Faren. If someone discovered them ... It was too frightening to think about. Cery was watching her expectantly. It would be a shame not to try, a voice in the back of her mind whispered, and I might see something helpful.

'All right.' She sighed. 'Where first?'

Cery grinned and pointed toward the Healers' building. 'We'll get into the gardens down there, where the road's dark. Follow me.'

He scampered back into the forest and wove his way through the trees. After a few hundred paces, he moved back toward the road and stopped beside a tree.

'The magicians are busy training right now,' he murmured. 'Or they've gone to their rooms. We've got until the night classes finish, then we'll dig down and hide. For now, we just have to watch out for servants. Stuff your cloak in your shirt. It'll only get in the way.'

She obeyed. Cery took her hand and started toward the road. Sonea looked up at the windows of the University dubiously.

'What if they look out? They'll see us.'

'Don't worry,' he told her. 'Their rooms are full of light, so they can't see anything outside unless they go right up to the windows and they're too busy doing what they do to look outside.'

Taking her arm, he pulled her across the road. She held her breath and searched the windows above them for watchers, but no human shapes appeared in them. As they entered the shadows of the garden, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Dropping to his belly, Cery wriggled through the base of a hedge. Following him, Sonea found herself crouching under a dense net of foliage.

'It's grown a bit since I was here last,' Cery murmured. 'We'll have to crawl.'

Moving forward on their hands and knees, he led her through a tight tunnel of vegetation. Every twenty paces or so they had to squeeze past the trunk of a tree. After crawling for several hundred paces, he stopped.

'We're in front of the Healer's building,' he told her. 'We cross a path, then go into the trees against the wall. I'll go first. Check to make sure the path is clear, then follow.'

Dropping to his belly again, he pushed his way out of the hedge and disappeared. Moving to the hole he had made, Sonea peered out. A path ran along the hedge. She could see the gap where Cery had pushed into the hedge on the other side.

Crawling out, she hurried across and pushed her way into the foliage. She found Cery sitting in the space behind, resting his back against the trunk of a large tree, facing a wall.

'You think you could climb this?' Cery asked quietly, patting the wall. 'You'll have to go to the second floor. That's where they have their lessons.'

Sonea examined the wall. It was made of large stone bricks. The mortar between was old and crumbling. Two ledges ran around the building, forming the base of the windows. Once she had reached a window she would be able to rest on the ledge while she looked inside.

'Easy,' she whispered.

His eyes narrowed, then he began searching his pockets. Bringing out a small jar, he opened it and began smearing dark paste on her face.

'There. Now you look like Faren.' He grinned, then grew serious again. 'Stay behind the trees. If I see someone coming, I'll hoot like a mullook. You stay put and keep real still and quiet.'

Nodding, she turned to the wall and carefully set her toes into a crack. Digging her fingers into the crumbling mortar, she sought the next foothold. Soon she was clinging to the wall, her feet level with Cery's head. She looked down at him and saw his teeth flash as he grinned.

Her muscles protested as she hauled herself up but she did not stop until she had reached the second ledge. Pausing to catch her breath, she turned her head toward the nearest window.

It was the size of a doorway and filled with four large panes of glass. She cautiously slid along the ledge until she could see into the room beyond.

A large group of brown-robed magicians sat inside, all gazing intently at something in a far corner of the room. She hesitated, fearing that one would look up and see her, but none glanced her way. Heart racing, she edged forward until she could see what they were staring at.

A man with dark green robes stood at the far corner. He held in his hands a carving of an arm with colored lines and words scrawled over it. The magician was using a short stick of wood to point at the different words.

Sonea felt a thrill of excitement. The magician's voice was a little muffled by the glass, but she could make out his words if she listened carefully.

As she did, a familiar frustration grew. Strange words and phrases made up much of the magician's lecture. It made as much sense to her as another language. She was about to give in to the ache in her fingers and return to Cery when the speaker turned and called out loudly: 'Bring Jenia in.'

The novices turned toward the open door. A young woman entered the room, accompanied by an old servant. Her arm was bandaged and hung from a sling tied behind her neck.

The woman smiled boldly and laughed at something one of the novices said. With a stern look from the teacher, the class quietened.

'Jenia broke her arm this afternoon when she fell off her horse,' he told them. He gestured for the young woman to take a chair. As he began to unwrap her bandages the smile fled from her face.

A bruised and swollen forearm was uncovered. The teacher picked two novices from the class. The pair ran their hands gently over the bruised arm, stepped back and gave their assessment. The teacher nodded, pleased.

'Now,' his voice rose to include the class, 'first we must stop the pain.'

At a signal from the teacher, one of the novices took the woman's hand. He closed his eyes and the room was silent for a moment. A look of relief passed over the woman's face. The novice released her and nodded at the teacher.

'It is always better to let the body heal itself,' the magician continued, 'but we can mend it to the point where the bones join and the swelling is relieved.'

The other novice slowly ran his palm along the woman's arm. The bruises faded under his touch. When the youth drew away, the young woman smiled and tentatively wriggled her fingers.

The teacher examined her arm, then replaced the sling, which the woman regarded with obvious disdain. He instructed her sternly not to use her arm for two weeks. One of the novices said something and the rest laughed.