Frost Prisms (The Broken Prism Book 5) Page 9
“I didn’t mean to sleep so long,” Hayden responded, motioning for Bonk to hop off of his shoulder and settle into an empty chair beside him. “I also meant to fix the damage I did to your back yard,” he said to Oliver, “but someone beat me to it.”
“My mother and I took care of it after you stumbled off like a drunkard,” he replied coolly.
The usual spread of different sized plates, bowls, and glasses were placed in front of Hayden by the deft hands of a staff member, who came back only moments later to load them up with the food from whatever course they were on right now. She even set out a small glass dish containing stewed bits of meat for Bonk, which he gobbled down gratefully.
“Where are Magdalene and Laris?” Hayden glanced around the room as though expecting to see them hiding nearby.
“They’re still at work,” Oliver remarked. “Not everyone gets the benefit of being able to sleep the day away after a few quick fights.”
“Quick fights?” Hayden made a face at him. “You try dueling half our Masters for hours on end and tell me how good you feel afterwards. Speaking of which…how’s Kiresa doing?”
Asher tried and failed to conceal a grin as he said, “He woke up eventually and hauled himself home. I’m surprised he declined the generous offer to join us for dinner tonight.”
“I think that you repeatedly rubbing his face in it had something to do with that decision,” Master Reede remarked dryly. “You shouldn’t antagonize the man any more than necessary; little though you like him, he is an ally of ours.”
Asher sighed and looked mildly repentant as he said, “I know, I know. So,” he regarded Hayden with professional interest, “how did you find fighting him as compared to fighting me?”
Aware of the attention of the others, Hayden answered as diplomatically as possible.
“Well, he was more aggressive than you usually are, but his casting was a little slower. Even though he obviously knows more spells than I do, I managed to get him locked in a battle of wills, because I knew I could win if we were matching Source power directly.”
Asher inclined his head and said, “I did try to warn him that you have more raw power than anyone I’ve seen, but I suppose it was a lesson he had to learn for himself.” For a moment Hayden thought he was going to receive a compliment, but then Asher changed tracks abruptly and said, “Willow tells me you were wasteful with your wands during your duel with him. You know you can’t afford that.”
Not used to being publicly criticized by his mentor, Hayden pursed his lips and said, “I know—he pointed it out to me as soon as we were done dueling. I’ll work on it.”
The Prism Master seemed to accept him at his word and let the subject drop for the time being.
“Not that it matters terribly at the moment,” Hayden spoke into the silence, “but how did I do on my final exams?”
It was Master Laurren who answered.
“Willow told me to lie to you if you asked about your exams; he thought the truth would only upset you and distract you from your lessons.” His voice was so light that at first Hayden chuckled, thinking that the Master was joking with him. When none of the others cracked a smile he said, “Wait, I didn’t actually do badly, did I?”
Reede shrugged and said, “Wil said that if he was going on exam results alone, he’d have to demote you to level-four wands. Not only did you botch half the exam, you even forgot how to spell ‘cherry’ at one point—it took him two pages to realize you weren’t actually talking about ‘sherry.’ ”
Hayden’s mouth dropped open in horror as Oliver chuckled in amusement. Master Asher shrugged consolingly and said, “It’s true that Kilgore thought you suffered a traumatic brain injury that you failed to report after grading your exam, but everyone realizes that you’ve had more important things on your mind recently. Forget about your classes for now and just focus on what matters; the rest can be sorted out once all of this is over.”
Hayden was still trying not to die of shame over his poor performance in most of his subjects, while Oliver continued to laugh at his mix-up with cherry wands with a complete lack of sympathy.
“Are you all here for some kind of official business, or just mooching off of the free food?” Hayden turned his attention back on the Masters, his sarcasm getting the better of him because he was still embarrassed.
Reede leveled his gaze at him and said, “For your information, Frost, the rest of us continue on our assigned duties even when you’re resting—including, sadly, making reports of our progress. Since this has become our unofficial base of operations, that means you’ll be seeing a lot more of us.”
Master Asher shrugged and said, “I’m just here for the food,” earning a flat stare from his colleague.
Bonk had finished all of his portion and half of Hayden’s by the time he turned back to his meal, and he chivvied the dragonling away and watched with ill-concealed delight as his familiar attempted to cadge food off everyone else’s plates instead.
“Who’s on your docket for dueling lessons tomorrow?” Master Laurren asked, after sacrificing his smashed peas to a relentless Bonk.
“Mandra, Kilgore, and you, sir,” Hayden replied. “I’ll need more materials before then though, since I used up all of my wands and prisms today.” He admitted the last part reluctantly, wondering if he was about to receive another rebuke for his wastefulness of wands. Fortunately it appeared that the others considered him chastised enough for the time being, because no one brought it up again.
“One of us will drop supplies off tomorrow morning,” Laurren waved a dismissive hand and got to his feet. “Since Bonk has cleared my plate for me, I’m going to call it a night and go relieve Kilgore at our post. Hayden, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Hayden bid him farewell and watched the Master of Abnormal Magic leave, soon followed by the others as they finished their meals as well. It was just him and Oliver left in the dining room now; his host apparently had manners enough not to abandon him there, or maybe he just didn’t trust Hayden alone with the good silverware.
“Where’s Lorn?” Hayden asked as the two of them departed the formal dining room, making their way past the library and in the general direction of Hayden’s guestroom.
Oliver arched an eyebrow at him and said, “Mother has decided that this is too dangerous a place for him to be, in the event that either Calahan or the Dark Prism catches us all here. He’s spending the indeterminate future at our cousin’s house in Wynir.”
“Ouch, I’ll bet he doesn’t like that one bit,” Hayden observed, recalling how little Lorn liked being excluded from the action in years past.
“No, he doesn’t, but it’s for the best.” Oliver shrugged and turned down the hallway. “Keep training, Frost. I don’t want to think that my family has put itself at risk for nothing.”
Grimly, Hayden nodded and watched his erstwhile enemy walk away until he had disappeared from sight entirely. He wondered what Tess and Zane were doing right now, and if they had guessed where he was hiding out.
I’ll see them again before it’s time to fight my father. I know I will.
It was what he told himself before bed every night, because otherwise he might lose the nerve to do what had to be done. And tonight, just like every other night, he wasn’t sure whether he believed it.
6
Aleric’s Helping Hand
For the next three weeks, Hayden’s life seemed to be on a repetitive loop: wake up, eat breakfast, duel a few Masters of the arcana, eat lunch, study magic in the library, eat dinner, go to bed. A few evenings a week were punctuated with meetings, which made things mildly more interesting, though there was rarely exciting news to report by any of the principal attendees. For once in his life, Hayden found himself jealous of Oliver Trout; at least he could leave the estate whenever he wanted to, and had businesses to run now that he had assumed control of some of his mother’s work.
He was sitting in another one of their biweekly status meetings, twirling a laurel wan
d idly around the fingers of one hand while he listened to the others give updates.
“Calahan is getting close to the breaking point,” Laris reported with ill-disguised delight. “He’s officially stripped Hayden of all honors and awards, and he’s almost prepared to declare him an enemy of the Nine Lands. As soon as that happens, we’ll be ready to begin the counteroffensive and have him removed from office.”
Master Willow was apparently not prepared to take his word for it because he raised an eyebrow and said, “Magdalene, do you concur?”
“Yes,” Oliver’s mother confirmed solemnly. She at least did a better job of appearing unhappy about tearing down one of her colleagues than Laris. “He’s convinced that Hayden must be hiding out with his father, or he would have been found by now.”
It felt odd to hear that he had officially had his medals and awards revoked, as though the events that earned them had been erased from history.
And yet, the Medal of Heroism and the Opalline Medallion are still laid out on the shelf in the guest bedroom. He can’t really take them away from me until he finds me.
“The Nine Lands are a big place,” Hayden pointed out mildly. “How can Calahan draw the conclusion that I must be hiding out with my father, just because his cronies haven’t tracked me down anywhere else yet? I could be living in a cave in Osglen for all he knows.”
Master Graus, who was typically quiet during these meetings, said, “He’s got Wanted posters out for you all over the continent, right next to the ones of your father, offering up a hefty reward for anyone who provides information that leads to the capture of either of you.”
“Oh,” Hayden raised his eyebrows in surprise. “It’s a sad commentary on my life that I just turned sixteen and this is the second time that I’ve appeared on Wanted posters, alongside the most corrupt mage of the century, no less.”
Asher half-smiled at the dry amusement in his tone.
“Since Calahan has made a big show of calling for you to come out in the open and meet with him to discuss tactics against your father, and obviously you haven’t shown, it gave him the ammunition he needed to declare you must be working with him to destabilize the government.”
Hayden rolled his eyes.
“If I had met with him like he wanted, he would have just locked me up in the Crystal Tower, told everyone I was using it as my base of operations while cooperating with the Council, and no one would ever hear from me again.”
“That’s an eerily close guess,” Laris said, looking faintly impressed with his powers of deduction. “You must have spent more time in Calahan’s company than I realized.”
Hayden shrugged and said, “No, he’s just not that hard to figure out once you get the measure of him.”
A few moments of silence followed this, and then Magdalene said, “Wallis reported in the Council meeting this morning that he laid eyes on the Dark Prism.” She turned to Hayden. “He claims that your father was at the outskirts of Locleth.”
“Where’s that?” Hayden asked with interest.
“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it. Locleth is a very poor town in southern Sudir; the residents there are lucky if they can keep a fresh supply of water and a roof over their heads. Few mages would choose to settle there, for obvious reasons,” Magdalene explained patiently.
“Then why on earth would my father be there?” Hayden wondered out loud. Surely the man wasn’t vacationing in a place that didn’t even have fresh water…
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Laris piped up, leveling his gaze on Hayden, who frowned.
“For the tenth time, I don’t know my father well enough to unravel all of his evil plans just because I’m related to him by blood,” Hayden explained. “Nor did we discuss his nefarious goals while inside the schism together, as I was suffering from insanity at the time and didn’t even know who he was until we left.”
No one looked surprised to hear this, though Laris and Magdalene did look disappointed. The latter opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the double doors of the dining room being pulled open by one of the staff. Magdalene raised her eyebrows at the tall, thin man who entered hurriedly and said, “I’m sorry to intrude, but you have a visitor in the entryway who demands to be seen.”
Obviously caught off guard by the unexpected arrival, Mrs. Trout asked, “Who is it?”
“It is Mrs. Isla Strauss, and I directed her to the sitting room and had Liss offer her refreshments while she waits. She seems most flustered and anxious to speak with you.”
“Isla?” Magdalene looked astounded. “I haven’t seen her in years, and she chooses now to bring her silly problems to me?” she was clearly speaking more to herself than to anyone else.
“Should I send her away?” the man offered, taking a step backwards across the threshold.
“No,” Magdalene decided at the last second. “Send her in, and I’ll see what she wants,” she sighed and addressed the others as the man left. “Isla and I used to be friends during school, but we grew apart after we left Mizzenwald. I can’t imagine what she wants to see me for now, but it’s best to have done with it.” She looked at Hayden. “I would not count her as an ally in what we are doing, so you all need to hide before she comes in.”
On cue, everyone at the table got up and began moving. Everyone with a Mastery Charm—which was everyone except for Hayden—gripped their Charm and cast a spell of invisibility upon themselves, standing silent and still along the walls where they wouldn’t be in danger of getting run into by Isla Strauss. Hayden, not having the ability to vanish himself at will, was forced to duck behind the red velvet curtains that were pulled shut over the massive windows. He felt foolish flattening himself against the windows and trying to prevent the curtains from fluttering when he breathed, while everyone else simply used magic to conceal themselves.
Isla was ushered into the room about two minutes later, where she found Magdalene Trout waiting, apparently alone.
“I’m sorry to just barge in like this,” she began before Mrs. Trout could open her mouth. “You know I wouldn’t presume to just show up at someone’s home uninvited, but I wasn’t sure who else I should tell; the rest of the Council members are such old sticks, and I hate talking to them unless I absolutely have to.”
Hayden could imagine Laris, who was standing hidden in the room near a tall potted plant, pursing his lips at this assessment.
“Calm down, Isla, you know I’m always happy to see a friend,” Magdalene replied in a falsely pleasant tone that didn’t really suit her, but it must not have seemed strange to her old friend, because Isla relaxed immediately. “I do admit that I was a little surprised to hear you came to see me this late in the evening…”
“I know it’s late, and again, I’m sorry—but I didn’t think it should wait until morning, and I still count you as one of my dearest friends, so I thought you should know what happened before anyone else.”
“Please, sit down and tell me what’s going on,” Magdalene gestured her towards a chair, glancing casually around the room at the hidden mages, who she could obviously still see.
Stupid Mastery Charms, Hayden thought ruefully. One day I’ll have one of my own and then I won’t have to stoop behind curtains anymore.
Isla fussed around for a moment and then settled into a seat, fidgeting with her thumbs and bouncing lightly in her chair.
Does that woman never sit still? Hayden couldn’t imagine how someone so bouncy and chatty could have ever been close friends with someone as self-contained as Magdalene Trout.
“It was him, Mags,” Isla blurted out at last. “The one they call the Dark Prism.”
Several of the Masters flinched noticeably, which Hayden only became aware of because it caused their invisibility spells to momentarily flicker out. Fortunately, Isla’s attention was wholly focused on Mrs. Trout and she didn’t notice the room full of hidden people. Hayden felt like a lead weight had settled into his stomach at the mention of his father.
“I didn’t just see him, Mags, I talked to him—he helped me.”
Now Magdalene released her friend’s hands and leaned backwards. “I think you must be confused. Few people who speak to Aleric Frost live to tell the tale these days, and he certainly hasn’t proven himself to be a friend to mage-kind.”
Isla shook her head and said, “I know it sounds crazy, but it was him, I swear it.”
Pursing her lips, Magdalene said, “Explain.”
“You know how I damaged my right Focus ten years ago in that stupid experiment in Powders? I haven’t been able to cast magic through it at all since then, and the imbalance was even making it painful to channel magic through my left Focus…”
“I remember,” Magdalene waved a hand to hurry her along. “What does that have to do with—”
“I was planting peas out in the garden today when he found me,” she interrupted. “He just walked up the garden path around the side of the house like he was taking a stroll. Nearly gave me a heart attack, seeing him after all these years and after hearing all the stories about what he’s done. I thought I was dead for sure.”
Magdalene frowned and said, “You mean to tell me that you were gardening at home, and Aleric Frost just happened upon you in your backyard?”
“I told you, it sounds crazy, but it’s what happened,” Isla explained defensively. “Anyway, for a minute we just looked at each other—I was too scared to even move in case it set him off—but then he just introduced himself, calm as can be. He took my hands and looked at them like there was something interesting on them, and then he said, “Your Foci are badly damaged.”
Magdalene was watching her friend in silence, a look of utter shock on her face. Hayden understood how she felt; none of this made any sense, but he couldn’t imagine why this woman would make things up for no reason.