Guild Mage: Apprentice

She needn’t have feared.

The word of power coiled inside her and sprung, like a guard dog or a mother wolf leaping to protect its young. Mana roared up from Liv’s belly, vibrating through her so that every bone in her body sang out with its hum. Two glistening knives of ice appeared in front of her, and before the stonebat could reach her, they shot forward as fast as any crossbow bolt. The frozen shards took the monster in its chest, hurling it backward in a spray of dark, stinking blood. The bat hit what was left of the door, then slumped to the ground, eyes blank and staring.

Liv lowered her hand and dropped to her knees, feeling utterly empty. Three spells on top of each other; she had never cast so much at once before. She felt frozen through, as if she’d spent hours outside playing in the snow, and she couldn’t help but begin to shiver. Her teeth chattered, and she curled around herself. At least it was over. She’d killed the bat, somehow. It was the first thing in her life she’d ever killed.

A horrid screeching came from the hallway. Wearily, Liv forced her head up and her eyes open. A second bat was forcing its way through the door. When it found the corpse of its companion, the creature lowered its head and sniffed once, twice. With its snout, it nudged the corpse. Then, it raised its head and fixed its eyes on Liv.

She couldn’t cast that spell again. If Liv had any Mana left, it was the barest hint. But she did have the ring on her finger. That was another thing she needed Master Grenfell to have taught her, that he hadn’t yet. If she survived this, she was going to have to make a list.

"I need you," Liv whispered to the ring, like a prayer. There was no possible way there was enough mana in there for another casting of Frozen Shards. But maybe if she stripped the spell down to its most basic elements…

"Celet’co Scelis," Liv gasped. There was nothing left in her, but the word wanted to be free. It scratched and clawed at her insides, scraping her raw and empty, and then it kept looking. For a breath, she didn’t think it would work, and the stonebat stalked closer, dragging itself over the corpse that lay across the doorway. Then, the spell caught on something in the ring. In an instant, Liv understood why the ring was made so that the back of the stone rested against the skin of her finger. The mana sucked through her finger, then up and out, just enough to fuel the spell.

A single shard of ice appeared in Liv’s right hand. It was so cold that it felt like it was burning her hand. She didn’t have the strength to get up, but maybe she had enough left to stab the thing a few times.

The stonebat closed slowly, this one more cautious than its dead companion. It leaned down to sniff her, once, like it had taken in the scent of the corpse. Then, it nudged her with its nose. It isn’t certain whether I’m dead or alive, Liv realized, and kept as still as she could. If it lowered its head just a little more…

The moment the bat’s eye was within reach, Liv stabbed it with the shard of ice, as hard as she could. The bat screeched and batted her aside with its wing. Liv was thrown across the room into the stone outer wall of the castle, not far from the window, and felt something snap in her chest. She couldn’t breathe.

The bat clawed at its eye, scrambling away from her in a panic. It was hurt, but it wasn’t dead, and that was it. It was going to kill her; there was nothing left. Liv couldn’t even move. Her eyes fluttered; she was so tired, and all she wanted to do now was to go to sleep.

There were shouts at the door, and men in jack of plate rushed in. The bat was pierced by spears, and battered by hammers. That’s good, Liv thought to herself. They won’t get the baby. That meant she could finally close her eyes.

☙

"Liv! Liv, wake up."

She was wrapped in blankets and furs, and a hand was shaking her by the shoulder. The movement jostled something in her side, and she couldn’t help but moan at the stabbing pain. With that, she was fully awake, and Liv opened her eyes.

Mama and Master Cushing were on either side of her, but she wasn’t in her room downstairs in the servants’ quarters. A quick glance around was enough to tell Liv she was in the small bed that had been moved into Lady Julianne’s sitting room for Emma. The room was lit by oil lamps, and she didn’t see any stonebats - dead or alive. The furniture was a wreck, though.

"Are you alright, dove," her mother asked her.

"Tired, Mama," Liv said. "And my side hurts, like something broke."

"Let me have a look," Cushing said. The Chirurgeon pulled back the blankets, and felt along Liv’s side. When he pressed on her ribs, she flinched and cried out in pain. "Cracked, I would say," he told them both. "I’ll wrap them up tightly. She needs to eat mana-rich food to recover her strength." He looked down at Liv, meeting her eyes for a long moment. "You saved our lives, Liv Brodbeck. Thank you."

"She shouldn’t have had to," Mama complained. "That’s what guards are for." Carefully, she leaned in to give Liv a hug. Liv closed her eyes and let herself enjoy it while it lasted. "I need to go help Lady Julianne, love," her mother eventually said. "She needs someone to teach her how to feed the baby, and I’m the only woman in the castle who knows."

"They’re both alive?" Liv asked. "I was worried, when I saw the knife. I was going to stay, but I just couldn’t, and then the bats came…"

"Alive, and doing well," Master Cushing said. "Though she shouldn’t be walking for a few days. I’ll send Sophie down to the kitchen to tell Greta to have something prepared for you. The bats have all either been killed, or driven off, so it should be safe enough now." He made her sit up, and helped her get out of her bodice. Then, he wrapped her torso tightly in long strips of linen. Liv wasn’t certain how it was supposed to help, but it did seem to keep her cracked ribs from shifting so much.

Liv let herself doze, until Sophie returned with a trencher of food. "Gretta cooked up some of the smoked venison for you," she said. "In a bit of fried garlic. It isn’t much, but Master Cushing says you need something in your belly."

"Thank you," Liv said, and began stuffing her mouth with bite sized chunks of meat. She couldn’t help but let out a groan of relief when the first sparks of mana began to hit her body. It felt like weeks since she’d eaten anything.

"Is it true you killed two of those monsters, out here?" Sophie asked her. "The guards had dragged them away by the time they let us out, but it looked like a wreck."

Liv shook her head. "I was only able to kill one," she managed, around a mouthful of food. "Stabbed the other one in the eye, but the guards killed it."

Sophie looked away from her. "You saved my life," she admitted. "Why would you do that, when I’ve been so nasty to you?"

"Doesn’t mean you deserve to die," Liv said, taking a moment to swallow so she could speak with an empty mouth. "Anyway, Lady Julianne and the baby. I couldn’t let anything happen to them. Is it a boy or a girl? Has she given it a name?"

"He’s a boy," Sophie said. "And his name is Matthew. He has beautiful eyes, you should see them."

Liv smiled, and grabbed herself another bite of venison.

☙

She did see the baby soon enough; once both Liv and little Matthew had eaten their fill, Mama helped her into the bed chamber to see Lady Julianne and the infant. He was red and wrinkled, and swaddled so tightly in linens that he looked like nothing so much as a potato. Liv was permitted to hold him while he slept, so long as she sat in a chair next to the bed.

"I’m told that we owe our lives to you," Lady Julianne said. She had a few pillows under her back, so that she could sit up without straining the healing incision. Master Cushing had absolutely forbidden the new mother from sitting up herself, without someone to help her. "That you faced down two of those bats by yourself, after the guards at the door were killed."

Liv avoided making eye contact by looking down at the baby. Carefully, she touched his cheek with one finger. "He’s so soft," she murmured. It was uncomfortable for everyone to be pointing out what she’d done; and truthfully, she’d rather forget it all. The stink of the stonebats’ breath, the terror when the first one had rushed her. Something had been bothering her, though. "How did they get in?" Liv asked. "Did they break the shutters?"

Julianne shook her head. "One of the shutters wasn’t closed properly, it seems. If I ever find out who’s at fault, they’ll be sacked immediately, but no one is admitting to it."

"It did all happen rather quickly," Liv said. "But I had a thought. Where was the open window?"

"On the second floor, just down the hall," Julianne said. "Or so I am told. The reason the guards were overwhelmed was that it was so close to us, and of course they came right for the room with everyone who could use mana together. An irresistable meal, I imagine."

"That’s rather unlucky," Liv said. "Very unlucky. And the bells meant that anyone who wanted to take shelter in the castle could, didn’t they?"

"Yes," the baron’s wife said. "I see where you’re going, but say it out loud, why don’t you?"

"Do we know whether that girl, Josephine, was let into the castle?" Liv asked.

"We do not," Lady Julianne admitted. "But now that you’ve said it, I am going to see that we find out."

It didn’t take long; the fact that the girl had entered once before, and that Lady Julianne had told the guards not to let her back in, had made certain all the guards knew who was being asked about. It was a young guard named James who admitted to it, shuffling his feet in front of the bed while Sheriff Porter watched. The baby was tucked in Lady Julianne’s arms, while Liv and Sophie both waited off to the side in case they were needed.

"Aye," James said. "My apologies, m’lady, but when the bell rung, I thought that meant anyone was allowed into the castle. We knew you didn’t want her about, but I couldn’t leave her outside the walls with those monsters coming."

"I won’t punish you for showing mercy," Julianne said wearily, closing her eyes. "Sheriff Porter, find that girl if you can. I suspect she’ll have fled the town, but perhaps you’ll get lucky. If you do get her, I want her brought here for questioning."

Lady Julianne was correct: despite two days of searching, no one could turn up any trace of the girl. Sheriff Porter even questioned Little Whit and Bill, at Liv’s suggestion, though both boys insisted they had no idea where she was. They’d been competing for her affections, apparently, which Liv found positively revolting; but then she hadn’t had a good impression of either one of them to begin with.

As the days went by, beasts from the rift were spotted less and less frequently. The stonebats had been the highpoint of the eruption, it seemed, at least so far as the townspeople were concerned. Already, operations were underway to recover the monsters’ droppings.

"The guano is rich in mana," Master Cushing explained, as he checked on Liv’s ribs three days after the attack. "It makes excellent fertilizer, and it results in produce that also contains trace amounts of mana. After every eruption, we have a crop that brings more coin than any four normal years combined. The last time, we had Eldish merchants all the way from Al’Fenthia, buying as much as they could transport. You won’t remember; you were too young."

Liv had been prescribed rest, much like Lady Julianne. She spent much of her time working in her book, where she recorded Wall of Ice. She’d agonized for hours trying to find a name that sounded better, but it truly wasn’t anything complex, and the simple name seemed to fit the spell best.

As the days dragged on, the worst part was that no one knew where the culling team was. The season had officially turned from winter to flood, and as soon as the sun rose every part of the castle was dripping water, while the banks of snow shrunk daily. The Aspen River was already running high, but still no word came from the rift.

Baron Henry had left orders to send for help if the party had not returned in twelve days, and it seemed by the lack of further assaults that the eruption had ended in half that. However, no sleigh came south from Bald Peak. Emma grew increasingly unmanageable in her father’s absence, but when her tantrums had ended, she often collapsed in tears. To Liv, at least, she had admitted that she was afraid for her father.

On the eleventh day since the eruption, finally, the guards raised the alarm. Sophie was changing Matthew, while Liv worked out an idea on a few sheafs of blank paper. She didn’t ever want to be caught and thrown aside again; if the bat had been left alone with her, she would be dead now. That meant she needed a thicker wall, or some other way of restraining any beast that attacked. She’d considered a cage of ice, or chains, or even whether she could lift herself up on a pillar, high enough that nothing could reach her. Unfortunately, Master Jurian hadn’t left her all of the words she might need to construct the spells she wanted.

"Lady Julianne," Sheriff Porter said, rushing into the room. "Two sleighs have been spotted approaching from the north."

"Only two?" Julianne said. They all knew that three had departed Castle Whitehill the day of the eruption. "They will be coming here. Be ready to treat the wounded - get Master Cushing and give him whatever he needs. And send word down to Maggie and Gretta to have as much hot food ready as they can. Any guards you can spare should draw baths, as I’m certain those will be wanted as well. Sophie, Liv, help me dress. I need to be in the courtyard when my husband arrives."

Liv’s spellwork was set aside in the bustle of activity, and not half a bell later, all three of the women were waiting in the courtyard, wrapped in thick cloaks and furs, along with Emma, the Sheriff, and Master Cushing. Even baby Matthew was there, swaddled tightly and warm in his mother’s arms, when the two sleighs rattled in. So much of the snow and ice had melted, Liv observed, that it must have been tough going for the horses who did the pulling.

Kale Forester leapt out of the sleigh as soon as it had come to a halt, ran over to his daughter, and lifted her into the air, swinging her around and clasping her to his chest. Emma giggled in relief, and grinned; Liv hadn’t seen her so happy since her father had left.

"Where is my husband?" Julianne asked.

"I need help to move him," Rhea, the midwife called from the second sleigh. Liv counted the knights that had gone with the team, and found that only two had returned. Rhea staggered out into the courtyard, clutching what looked like a trimmed branch, and using it as a walking stick. It was obvious to everyone that she was limping.

"What happened?" Julianne asked, starting forward with the baby in her arms, but Master Cushing put a hand out to stop her, and marched over to the sleigh with more speed than Liv would have expected from the old man.

"His back is broken," Master Grenfell said, climbing out of the sleigh. Liv saw that his head was wrapped in bandages, and that blood had soaked through. "He cannot walk."