Sonea drew away from the window. She had just seen the magicians' legendary healing powers at work, something that few dwells ever witnessed. It was as amazing as she had imagined.
But she had learned nothing of how they had done it.
She climbed down. As her feet touched the ground Cery grabbed her arm.
'Did you see any healing?' he whispered.
She nodded.
Cery grinned. 'Told you this was easy, didn't I?'
'For you, maybe,' she said, rubbing her hands. 'I'm out of practice.' Moving to the next tree, she forced her tired fingers between the bricks, and hauled herself up again.
The teacher in the next classroom was a woman, and she was also wearing green robes. She was silent, watching her novices as they bent over their desks, frantically writing on sheets of paper and leafing through well- worn leather books. Sonea gave in to the ache in her arms and returned to the ground. 'Well?' Cery asked.
She shook her head. 'Nothing much.'
The next window revealed a class of novices mixing liquids, dried powders and pastes in small jars. The window after contained a single young man in green robes, his head resting on the open pages of his book as he dozed.
'The rest of the rooms don't have lights,' Cery told her when she reached the ground again. 'I guess that's all you'll see here.' He turned to point at the University. 'There are more classes to watch over there.'
She nodded. 'Let's go.'
Squeezing out of the hedge, they dashed across the path and pushed into the foliage on the other side. Halfway across the garden, Cery stopped and pointed to a gap in the hedge.
Looking out between the leaves, Sonea saw they had reached the strange masts she had seen rising above the gardens. They curved inward, as if bowing to each other, and tapered to a point at the top. They were spaced evenly around a large circular slab of stone which had been set into the ground.
Sonea shivered. A vaguely familiar vibration tainted the air. Disturbed, she put a hand on Cery's back.
'Let's move on.'
Cery nodded and, glancing one more time at the tall masts, led her away.
They crossed two more paths before reaching the wall of the University. Cery placed a hand on the stone.
'You won't be able to climb this one,' he whispered. 'But there's plenty of windows at the ground level.'
Sonea touched the wall. The stone was covered with rivulets and ripples running up and down the surface. She could not see any cracks or seams. It was as if the entire building had been made from one huge block of stone.
Moving behind a tree, Cery linked his fingers together. She rose and placed a foot in his hands. Stepping up, she peered over the window ledge and into the room beyond.
A man in purple robes was writing with sticks of charcoal on a board. The sound of his voice drifted to her ears, but she could not make out what he said. The drawings on the board were as incomprehensible as the speech of the Healer. With a pang of disappointment and frustration she signalled for Cery to let her down.
They crept along the building to the next window. The scene inside was as mysterious as the first. Novices sat rigidly in their seats with their eyes closed. Behind each seated novice stood another who pressed his palms against his fellow's temples. The teacher, a stern-looking man in red robes, watched them in silence.
Sonea was about to move away when he spoke suddenly.
'Come away now.' His tone was unexpectedly soothing for a man with such a hard visage. The novices opened their eyes. Those who had been standing rubbed their own temples and grimaced.
'As you can see, it is impossible to see into somebody else's mind without their good will,' the teacher told them. 'Well, not
His eyes flicked toward the window. Sonea quickly ducked out of view. Cery let her down, and she crouched under the window ledge, pressing her back against the wall and gesturing to Cery to do the same.
'Were you seen?' Cery whispered.
Sonea pressed a hand to her heart, which was pounding rapidly. 'I'm not sure.' Was the magician hurrying through the University now, intending to investigate the gardens? Or was he standing at the window, waiting for them to step out from under the ledge?
She swallowed, her mouth dry. She turned to Cery, ready to suggest they run for the forest, then stopped. Behind her, in the room, the muffled sound of the teacher's voice had begun again. She closed her eyes and sighed with relief.
Cery leaned forward and cautiously peered up at the window. He looked at her and shrugged.
'Keep going?'
She drew in a deep breath and nodded. Rising, they moved down the building and stopped under the next window. Linking his hands together, Cery lifted Sonea up.
Flashes of movement met her eyes as she peered through the window. She stared at the scene in amazement. Several novices were dodging and ducking about, doing their best to avoid a tiny point of light that flew around the room. Standing on a chair in one corner, a red-robed magician followed the progress of the speck with an outstretched hand. He roared at the novices: 'Hold still! Stand your ground!'
Four of the novices were already standing still. When the bright speck came close to them it was propelled away like a swatted fly. Gradually more of the novices followed the others' example, but the spark was quick. A few of the less skilled youths bore tiny red marks on their arms and faces.
Suddenly the spark vanished. The teacher leapt off the chair and landed lightly. The novices relaxed and grinned at each other. Afraid that they would glance her way, Sonea dropped to the ground.
At the next window she watched a purple-robed magician demonstrating to his class a strange experiment with colored liquids. In another she watched a group of novices working with floating globules of molten glass, shaping the glowing masses into intricate, glowing sculptures. Then in the next, she listened to a gentle-looking man dressed in red robes giving a speech on making fire.
A deep chime suddenly echoed through the Guild. The magician looked up in surprise and the novices began to rise from their seats. Sonea ducked away from the window.
Cery lowered her to the ground. 'That bell marks the end of classes,' he told her. 'We'll stay quiet now. The magicians will leave the University and go to their rooms.'
They huddled close to the trunk of a tree. For several minutes all was quiet, then Sonea heard the sound of footsteps beyond the hedge.
'... a long day,' a woman was saying. 'We're stretched very thin with this winter cough taking hold. I hope the search ends soon.'
'Yes,' a second woman agreed. 'But the Administrator has been reasonable. He has given most of the work to the Warriors and Alchemists.'
'True,' the first woman replied. 'Now tell me, how is Lord Makin's wife? She must be over eight months now ...'
The women's voices faded away and were replaced by boyish laugher.
'... had you fooled. He practically thrashed you, Kamo!'
'It was just a trick, merely,' a boy with a thick Vin accent replied. 'It will not work a second time.'
'Ha!' a third boy retorted. 'This
The boys burst into laughter but Sonea could hear another set of footsteps approaching from her left. The boys fell silent.
'Lord Sarrin,' they murmured respectfully as the footsteps reached them. When the steps had moved well past them, the boys' voices rose again as they continued teasing each other. They moved out of her hearing.
Several more groups of magicians passed. Most were silent. Gradually, the activity around the Guild dwindled and then ceased. By the time Cery pushed his head through the hedge to check the path, they had been hidden for almost an hour.
