Afterword - Eren - Pavel - Kiki
~oOo~
Later, looking back upon those first few weeks of Spring Term, Kiki, Eren and Pavel would find it hard to believe that so many exciting and bewildering events had been squeezed into such a short space of time - especially when they considered how humdrum the intervening weeks had been by comparison.
Their almost-miraculous victory over the villainous Stockfish had left them all feeling heady with excitement. For all of Pedone's words of caution, it seemed certain that they would be acclaimed for their heroic role in bringing the sorcerer to justice. It wouldn't be a public acclamation, of course - the powers-that-be wouldn't want to alarm the good citizens of Syran with tales of demons and sorcery - but perhaps there would be a private ceremony, with each of their headmasters presenting the celebrated apprentices with a special medal.
And if three young apprentices could take on a mighty sorcerer and win, then what else could they achieve? Better to ask what couldn't they achieve! For an all-too-brief moment, anything seemed possible, but cold, hard reality soon reasserted itself...
There was no ceremony - not even a private one - and no thanks either. The three apprentices were each questioned by their respective headmasters about the events of that fateful morning, but apart from a stern admonishment to avoid such dangerous entanglements in future, little more was said.
With the curfew still in very much in force at all of the city's schools of wizardry, several new measures had been instituted to prevent errant students from flaunting it. In many cases these restrictions were magically enforced, so the three friends had found it increasingly difficult to even meet up, let alone contemplate any extra-curricular activities. Suddenly it seemed that they were being given twice as much homework and almost as many chores; this, combined with their increasingly arduous lessons and tutorials, conspired to leave them almost completely exhausted when they did have some time to themselves. They didn't even get to see each other during lessons, as the joint teaching experiment had been indefinitely suspended.
They all tried their best to find out what had happened to Stockfish, of course - and Salazari too.
Father Pedone came to see Kiki just before returning to his parish in Nortark and assured her that Stockfish was still firmly under lock and key. Apart from the rumours that circulated amongst the student population - rumours of an unmasked sorcerer and a secret witch hunt by the Apparator General, determined to root out the unknown malefactor's sinister associates - however, the apprentices had no word of their enemy for several days after that.
Speculation as to the identity of the sorcerer was rife. Stockfish wasn't the only adept - or the only master, for that matter - who had been made conspicuous by his absence. Added to the usual list of suspects - hermits, itinerant researchers and creepy misfits - were the names of Carrick, Jayron and Salazari. The latter was a hot favourite, in spite of the fact that he'd been released from prison a few days after the incident in the Boneyard. Carrick hadn't been seen or heard of since he and Pavel had parted ways and Jayron had supposedly departed the city to 'pursue a research project'.
Then, about three weeks after the fateful encounter in the cemetery, Kiki had received a visitor: Archdeacon Varanal. The expression on his face immediately told her that something serious had happened, but it was not what she had feared.
"Given your role in his apprehension," the archdeacon had told her, after a token attempt at social niceties. "I felt that it was only fair to inform you that Master Stockfish is... well, dead."
He went on to tell her that the sorcerer's trial, which had been repeatedly delayed, had been due to begin a few days ago. That morning, however, his lifeless body had been discovered in his cell at the Consistory Court. Varanal would not be drawn on the details of Stockfish's demise, but said that there had been 'clear evidence of foul play' and - having examined the corpse himself - he was in no doubt it was that of the sorcerer. The Court had ordered an investigation, which was still in progress, but Varanal shared his own grim conclusions with Kiki.
"As you and your friends suspected," he told her. "I fear that Master Stockfish was part of a conspiracy that extends further than the city authorities dare to contemplate. And it seems that his co-conspirators decided to protect themselves from possible exposure by having him... eliminated."
Naturally, Kiki passed this news on to Eren and Pavel, although none of them had a real opportunity to discuss it. The three apprentices were, of course, frightened by the implications of this news - after all, if the conspirators are prepared to kill one of their own number, surely they wouldn't hesitate to eliminate a few apprentices?. Thankfully, however, they were too immersed in their studies to spend much time worrying about it.
But the memories of what they had seen and the discovered continued to haunt their dreams and prey upon their waking minds in rare moments of idleness. And they all knew, with fateful certainty, that the day would come when this dangerous knowledge would once again threaten their lives...
~oOo~
Not allowed to leave the college, the students began to congregate in the library, to the point of being a nuisance to the scholars. Soon new rules were implemented, giving students a limited time slot following lunch, and the rest of the day they could access the library only if they had a master's note explaining what specific research they needed to accomplish.
Eren quickly realized that this would make the library a perfect haven from her fellow students for most of the day, and she begged her tutor for notes, doing extra research on anything vaguely related to her classes. When these excuses began to wear thin she kept pestering him all the same, until in frustration he told her that if she wanted a note so badly, she could go look up some information for him, copy it out, and bring him back the copy. This she was delighted to do, as it got her into the haven of the library and gave her an excuse to practice her formal writing.
The sight of someone writing in the formal style was enough to prompt another master to ask what she was doing, and once informed he asked if she would be interested in earning a couple of coppers - and library access - to copy out all the source information on the city's canals. Again she gladly took on the task, and soon other small commissions came her way. The coppers didn't amount to a lot, but it was an improvement on the nothing that had been left in her purse.
And of course she took added in some research of her own, when she could hide it, chasing down information that might make more sense of what they'd found in the tunnels. She had to be careful in researching codes, but she found enough to make her thoughts fizz with possibilities, if she could just get back to the tunnels to look at things again.
When the Summer break arrived, it was like a slap across the face. Suddenly even most of the masters were absent, research tasks dried up - and she had to deal with her family who were finally back form their tour. She shyly told them that, as a student, it wouldn't be right for her to appear on stage, which mostly seemed to relieve them. It seemed fabric was cheaper across the lake, and bolts of it had been disguised as props and smuggled back, and now needed turning into new costumes and set dressing. By the end of the break Eren's fingers had lost their ink stains and gained an array of needle marks, and her seamsmanship had worked its way up to indifferent. At least she'd managed to make herself new robes in the process (even if the hood did hang a little off-centre, and the fabric was perhaps not as rich as that of the better robes).
There was a surprising up side to this time, however, as her family had brought something else back too, a new servant. Sabyl had left the puritanical lands to the west and was happy to have a bed roll and regular meals in return for being the troops dogs-body. In fact, Eren realized, Sabyl was taking on many of the tasks that Eren had performed before she left for Imperial College. Had her family really treated her like a servant? But never mind that, although Sabyl was old - at least thirty - she was happy to have Eren as a guide around the city, and in return teach some of her own special knowledge: Rokari snake boxing. Eren struggled with the gliding footwork, subtle deflections, and darting strikes, but all the same she was enamoured. It was a magical world in its own way.
Still, in her own pallet at night, Eren would clutch the glass orb and think of the College, and urge the break to be finished sooner, so that she could get back to the real magic.
~oOo~
For perhaps the first time in his life, Pavel spent his time away from the Naval Academy as something of a recluse. He had to devote most of his time to his duties with the Dock Guard and the Ropemasters, but that mostly entailed sitting on barrels of tar or coiled ropes and watching nothing happen in the harbour. The boy would take himself to the end of the pier to watch the water, with a piece of chalk in his hand and the scap of paper he had stolen from Salazari. Sitting with his feet dangling above the water, he would draw endless circles on the planks or on the brass plates that marked out the berths, pausing only to look at the image of the wave on the paper or to go and find more chalk.
By the time the season was drawing to a close, Pavel had perfected his circles. To what end was a mystery, but something dark about Pavel's mood meant the other lads in the Ropemasters refrained from ribbing him about it. Curiously, the circles were drawn with Pavel's off-hand, his left. Perhaps more curiously, the boy seemed to find immense satisfaction from his circles, gazing at them with a peaceful smile on his face.
~oOo~
After the excitement of the last few weeks Kiki had been glad to be back in the relative tranquillity of Village life. Her mum listened with approval to all of Kiki's adventures; it was normal for a young witch in her tradition to go out in the world to gain her own experience. Her mother obviously noticed when Kiki hesitated about whether to tell her some things, but she did not press for the whole story. All in good time.
In her turn, Kiki's mother babbled excitedly about how she had sorted the problem of her new potion exploding - a break-the-beaker-type explosion, not one that blows the house down. She had heard back from her client that the patient was almost normal now, with the new potion.
As soon as she was fit, Kiki headed out into her place in the woods and met the unicorn. It was like something had just clicked and talking between them now just seemed natural, although if asked Kiki thought she would have had a hard time explaining how to anyone else.
He, of course, got the full story about what had happened to the horn that dark night. For a long time he just sat and contemplated. Kiki had not realised that unicorns could sit just like that, doing some complicated folding with their legs. Kiki of course did her best to copy.
Finally he looked up into her eyes.
"This is something that has never happened since what you call the time of legend," he said. "Before you decide anything you should hear this story..."
