Chapter 14 #3
‘Well you are most welcome,’ Professor Lewellyn says quietly. ‘My mother was Allowayan and she was cast out from her home territory as a child when they found she was a wielder. What a different world this would be if we weren’t so divided by a simple twist of nature.’
‘Do you believe magic to be an advancement?’ a woman at the front, Elspeth, a masquier asks, leaning forward. ‘Or an anomaly?’
Professor Lewellyn smiles. ‘An intriguing question. The only data we have is based on the number of magic wielders, which is growing. Although interestingly, alchemists seem to be growing rarer, and those born are far more powerful. Yet, we are still greatly outnumbered by non-wielders in all three territories.’ She clicks her tongue.
‘Now, who can tell me about the Fair Age a hundred years ago?’
‘When swift technological advancement was the result of alchemists first discovering and developing their magic. Before, the only wielders of tangible magic were botanists,’ Betty says.
‘They worked to create a railway network, steam trains, skyplanes, electricity, the telephone … Without those few great minds and what they could create, we may not have the things we have today.’
‘Precisely,’ Lewellyn says, two red circles appearing on her cheeks. ‘And what led to the vast destruction and permanent estrangement between Alloway and the other territories in the Great War fifty-seven years ago?’
‘All those advancements,’ Fion says quietly, near the front.
I remember her from the Crucible because she was the first one to cross the courtyard safely.
‘Perhaps if Kellend and Theine were not so technologically advanced, so reliant on the work of alchemists, these inventions would not have been created. But now, as well as all the beneficial technologies, we have far more technical weapons, armoured land vehicles, bombs …’
‘So is magic good or bad?’ Lewellyn asks.
Mutters go around the room and no one raises their hand.
‘Always divides opinion, this subject. All of you, every last one of you, regardless of whether you become a full scholar or not, has the ability to do great good, or great evil with the magic inside you. If you take the whole population of all three territories, you are a minute number of that whole. Which makes you rare and valuable … and able to change the course of history. For better, or worse.’
As the hours become days, awaiting the next Ordeal, the heat and rivalry cranks up a notch, especially with the privileges given out.
Killmarth simmers with unrest and accusations.
A group of scholars are taking bets on which hopeful will get killed next, and I refuse to find out what my odds are.
Despite the Crown launching an inves tigation, with Caroline Ivey interviewing each hopeful on their whereabouts for each murder, the professors have no leads.
We’ve all taken to moving around the college in pairs or in threes, and I even had to ask Alden to accompany me on my early morning running loops. Just in case.
As Tessa and I leave Gantry one day after lunch, she suddenly grows still, eyes flicking to the far corner of the courtyard. I follow her gaze and spot them. Two figures, whisking quickly through the door of Darley Hall.
The forbidden hall.
‘Interesting,’ I murmur. It’s been drummed into us by the professors that entering Darley Hall is forbidden. That we’ll be cast out if we are caught entering. But at every step since I entered Alabaster House, they’ve also taught us to think outside the limits, to twist situations to our advantage.
‘How strictly is the rule to not enter Darley enforced?’ I ask.
Tessa shrugs. ‘I haven’t heard of anyone actually being told to leave. But then, I haven’t heard of anyone trying to get in there either.’
I ponder this, eyeing the windows surrounding the courtyard. ‘It’s almost as though they want us to exploit every advantage. What if it’s a test? To get in and out of there, discover a secret that could help in an Ordeal, gain an edge …’
‘I like your thinking.’ Tessa nods. ‘I reckon we could be stealthy enough.’
I don’t want to say, but I have an ulterior motive beside curiosity and potentially gaining an edge.
I’ve scoured the halls of Killmarth for any mention of my parents, and come up empty.
I only had that photograph that proves they were at Killmarth, and the knowledge that they met here.
But perhaps in Darley, I will find answers. It’s the only stone left unturned.
‘If we think we’re going to get caught, you wield and become a professor. I’ll wield and cast an illusion to hide.’
Tessa smiles at me. ‘It’s a risk, but …’
‘Yes. Exactly,’ I say. We’re risking our lives every day at Killmarth. I can’t get caught, I can’t get thrown out, but equally, I can’t fail an Ordeal if there’s a chance I could find something to help me succeed. It’s a calculated risk, and one I’m willing to take.
We move quickly, keeping our heads down, and reach the door to Darley.
I sweep my gaze over the courtyard, checking for any watchful eyes as Tessa tries the door handle, finding it’s locked.
Frowning at me, she tries it again and I sigh, nudging her gently out of the way.
Luckily, I know my way around a locked door.
Another skill in my rather alternative childhood training, something that, in fact, Dolly taught me.
I smile now, remembering her painstakingly explaining how the mechanism of a door lock worked, how the inner chambers could be shifted with two hair pins and a little concentration.
I remove two from my hair that I have taken to wearing, shifting the inner workings of the lock until I hear it click.
I nod to Tessa and we slip through, into Darley Hall.