CHAPTER 4

W hen I sat down with Master Adolphus the following day, he said, “Show me your personal shield.”

I shielded—an act that was almost automatic. He stared at me for more than a minute.

“And that has served you well?”

“So far. A fire demon struck me, and although it knocked me about twenty feet in the air, I was unharmed.”

He chuckled. “Except for a few bruises, I would expect.”

He was right, and I nodded.

“You mentioned a dhampir in Queen City that had a unique shield. Could you tell her affinity?”

“Water. Her aura was tinted with blue.”

“The shield she cast—you said your sword slid off it?”

I nodded.

“That’s because it was ice. Think of trying to cut an ice cube. But you can break the cube by stabbing it with a sharp pick, which, I assume, is how you killed her. All right. Time to teach you how to properly shield. I’ll cast the spell slowly so you can see how it’s done.”

I watched as he reached out to the ley line, grabbed threads of every size, shape, and color, and drew them to him. But he didn’t cast the shield around him. Instead, he chose a small tree in a pot about ten feet away from us.

He wove the threads into a blanket, much as someone would weave a basket. And rather than weave one thread at a time, he wove six, eight, even twelve strands at once. When he was finished, there was a coat of magic surrounding the pot and the tree. It glistened with multiple colors.

“You’ll find it is impermeable, even to your spelled sword, and almost any kind of magic someone might throw at it,” he said.

“But, Master, it’s slow. Even slower than casting a ward.”

He dissolved the shield around the plant, then recast it in less than a second.

“Practice. Kaitlyn, you are adept at several kinds of sloppy magic. To become a master requires practice and flawless technique. Now, let’s see you try. Start with two groups of two threads until you learn the rhythm of the weave.”

Two hours later, I had managed to weave a shield around a small plant in a pot the size of a beer mug. It hung together, but was lumpy and misshapen, and had gaps in the weave.

“Not bad for a first try,” he said. “Practice, and we’ll see how you do next time we meet. For now, I want to take you to the Guild Hall, have you meet Master Noah, and get you properly registered.”

The Guild Hall was fairly close—just up the hill and to the north of the university. I felt a slight tug of a ward when we crossed the threshold, but no one paid us any attention. Master Adolphus led me to a wide staircase on one wall, and we climbed up to the second floor.

The sign on an office read Office of Apprentice Programs , and we walked in. A receptionist—an aeromancer—glanced up, then back at her computer screen. We walked past her into an inner office. I got the feeling that Master Adolphus just went where he pleased and no one cared—or maybe they didn’t have the balls to stop him.

Master Noah turned out to be somewhere between the age of Master Greenwood and Master Adolphus. My guess was around two hundred. His dark hair had mostly turned to gray, but he kept it short, as was his neatly trimmed beard. His brown eyes were so dark that I could barely discern where pupil left off and iris began.

“Ah, is this our newest prodigy?” he asked, standing and shaking Master Adolphus’s hand.

“Our newest problem, more likely,” Adolphus answered. “Kaitlyn, this is Master Noah, the head of our apprentice program. He’s the one you complain to when I’m mean to you.”

Noah grinned and stuck out his hand. I grinned back and shook it.

We sat down, and Master Adolphus said, “Kaitlyn has been with us less than a week, and how many strigoi have you already removed from our fair city?”

I felt my face warm. “Uh, four.”

“So, you see that her charming, demure demeanor is all an act. My granddaughter assures me that she is teachable, however, if you can get her to sit still instead of seeking new adventures.”

“I understand you were involved in that unfortunate demon business a couple of years ago?” Noah asked.

“Yes, sir. I worked as a tracker in Queen City, and Master Greenwood asked me to help them find the summoner.”

“Well, we could occasionally use a good tracker here,” Noah said.

“She’s enrolled at the university this fall,” Adolphus said, “and she has her studies in magic. So her plate will be rather full.”

“Ah, but we all pitch in when we can, don’t we?” Noah said. “She’s available for Enforcer training this summer, is she not? I think that would be a better use of her time than running around the streets at night performing random murders, don’t you? And then we can call on her when we do need a tracker, and she’ll know our systems and protocols.”

Master Adolphus shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, I?—”

Noah beamed. “Good, then the matter is settled. When is your next free day?”

I glanced at Adolphus. He gave me a slight nod, and I said, “I guess tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good! Come see me—about two o’clock? And I’ll take you down to the Enforcer barracks and get you squared away.”

Noah gave me some papers to fill out, stamped the back of my hand with some kind of invisible ink that reeked of magic, handed me an ID card that was obviously also magical, and gave me a book on the apprenticeship program.

As we were beginning to take our leave, another mage showed up.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

“Ah, no,” Noah said. He introduced me to Master Otto Fiorina, his second-in-command, who was much younger. I estimated he probably hadn’t reached his hundredth birthday yet. Perhaps a little shorter than me, he was rather stocky, and his eyes were constantly in motion, almost as though he avoided looking directly at me. His aura showed that he was an aeromancer.

“Any time you need something, my door is always open—right down the hall,” Otto said. “No need to bother Master Noah. He is very busy.”

Master Adolphus took me around and showed me the building. It wasn’t as large and didn’t offer all the amenities of the Guild Hall in Queen City, but he told me their operations were spread out over four other buildings nearby.

As we walked down the hill toward home, he said, “I do not care for Master Otto and would prefer that you interact with him as little as possible. If you are in trouble, or need help, call on Master Noah.”

“Any reason I should know about?”

“Shall we say that I don’t agree with his politics. You’ll find a number of younger mages, especially in the Enforcers group, who consider me old-fashioned. I am, and you’re stuck with me.”

He gave me a look that didn’t brook any defiance and didn’t say anything else. I had zero desire to get embroiled in Guild politics, so I took his warning and filed it away. I wasn’t there to make friends or push any agenda. I was there to learn magic.

“What exactly are the Enforcers?” I asked.

“They are the Guild’s security force,” he answered. “In addition to guarding our facilities, they also patrol the streets—at night to safeguard against strigoi, and both day and night to keep the Knights Magica in check. The Knights have a propensity to bullying if not reminded of their place. During full moons, the Enforcers are very busy.”

“So, the men who came to clean up the strigoi bodies, those were Enforcers?”

“Yes. That is one of their duties. People get upset when they find dead monsters on their doorsteps in the morning.”