Page 19 of A Tower of Half-Truths

Eleven

The University of Leyport was located in the center of the city, a little over a mile from Steelforge Towers.

Not even a minute into the carriage ride, Mavery realized they could walk faster than the city traffic.

Carriages weaved through the lamp-lined streets in every direction, like a chaotic dance that somehow made sense to the drivers.

As part of winter’s swan song, snow had blanketed the city overnight.

Mavery poked her head out the window, but the view was little more than a drab, endless pattern of gray stone and red brick.

Some of the buildings were so tall, she couldn’t see the topmost windows, even with her neck craned.

Smoke bellowed from chimneys, casting a gray haze over what would have otherwise been a clear blue sky.

The roads had become a slurry of mud and half-melted snow.

Before she could take in any finer details, she was assaulted with the stench of horse shit and leaned away from the window with a groan.

Gods, did she loathe cities.

The carriage was slow, but at least it was relatively warm and clean.

Across from her, Alain’s knees bounced as he picked at a loose thread on the cuff of his robe.

Wizards and assistants were required to wear robes while on campus.

Alain’s reflected the University’s colors: deep plum with silver embroidery.

Mavery’s was solid black, one of Alain’s robes from his assistantship days.

It smelled of mothballs, the fur lining was overly warm and itchy, and it had too few pockets for her liking. She already missed her own coat.

A wrought-iron fence, twenty feet high and imbued with the blue auras of protective wards, cut off the campus from the rest of the city.

After exiting the carriage, Alain lingered on the sidewalk for a moment.

He gazed at the University’s main entrance with a look Mavery couldn’t quite place, though she assumed returning here after his long absence had left him with a mixed bag of emotions.

Alain took a deep breath, then passed through the open gate.

The University consisted of five towers that would have looked more at home atop an ornate cathedral, not arranged around this largely vacant quad.

Their marble exteriors gleamed in the late-morning sun.

With the recent snowfall, the campus was almost too bright to look at.

Mavery shielded her eyes as she followed Alain down the stone path.

“That’s the dormitory,” he said, pointing to the first tower on their left. “Going clockwise, you have the library, the Great Hall, then the towers that house the classrooms and faculty offices.”

The Great Hall was the largest of the buildings, with a domed roof and enormous stained-glass windows. The other four towers were, more or less, identical, with much smaller windows and staggering spires.

“How can you tell them apart?” Mavery asked.

“There are plaques above the doors, but that doesn’t prevent the occasional mix-up.

The first few weeks of the autumn term, it’s almost a daily occurrence to see a first-year come bursting through the doors, thinking they’ve found the classroom they’re late getting to, only to find themselves in the library—or worse, interrupting a faculty meeting.

” He chuckled. “I was that student a time…or ten. Never had a great sense of direction.”

“You were a student here?”

He nodded. “I’ve lived in Leyport my entire life. Well, apart from my six years at Barcombe Academy, but that’s only ten miles east of here, so it doesn’t quite count.”

Barcombe Academy was an elite preparatory school for mages.

Mavery recognized the name because it was the same school her former associate, Ellice, had attended.

Not that she wanted to reminisce about anyone in Neldren’s crew—Neldren himself, least of all.

But this was proof that Alain had come from wealth.

Now, if only she could find where he was hiding it…

“We have some time to spare before my meeting,” he said. “Let’s stop by the Great Hall. There’s something I’m very eager to show you.”

Despite being the main building on campus, the Great Hall was devoid of life.

It was between mealtimes, so the refectory contained only empty tables and benches.

As Alain led her down the main corridor, Mavery Sensed violet-hued auras that prevented sound from both entering and exiting the offices.

Only their footsteps echoed off the marble floors and wood-paneled walls.

They came to a lift at the end of the corridor.

Unlike the one in Alain’s apartment building, this one was powered by magic.

Inside the cabin was a metal panel that glowed with an aura Mavery had never seen before.

It was crimson and, unlike the steady pulsation of warding magic, it buzzed with energy.

Alain spotted her studying the panel and pulled out his notebook.

She described what she saw, and the cabin filled with the sound of his scratching pen.

“This is a product of the Faisancy School,” he said. “Mending, destruction, and fabrications such as this one. Place your hand on the ‘ascend’ panel and focus a little of your arcana into it.”

She followed his instructions but still startled when the door shut and the lift began to rise of its own accord.

She stumbled backward and collided with Alain.

With her arcana no longer powering the lift, it lurched to a halt.

She stumbled again, and this time Alain gripped her by the arm, steadying her.

“I had a similar reaction the first time I used one of these.” He laughed. “It packs a punch, doesn’t it?”

For once, Mavery had no reply at the ready; all she could think of was her own foolishness. She slipped out of his grasp and replaced her hand on the control panel. Her face burned as they rode the lift in silence to the top floor.

Here, they entered a cavernous circular room. The only window was a round skylight in the center of the domed roof. But it was so high up, hardly any sunlight reached the floor below.

A wooden desk spanned the room from wall to wall.

Atop it were a pair of arcana-infused lamps that cast the immediate area in clinical blue-white light.

An assistant—judging by his black robes and youthful features—was seated at the desk, reading.

As Alain and Mavery approached, he held out his hand.

“Your pass,” he said without taking his eyes off his book.

“Oh, we’re not using any portals today,” Alain said. Mavery’s eyes widened. Surely she’d misunderstood him. “I’m giving my new assistant a tour, so we are only passing through, if you will.”

He chuckled. The assistant put down his book at last and threw Alain a hard, unamused stare. Alain’s laughter faltered, and he cleared his throat.

“Er, we’d simply like to see the room, if that’s all right.”

The attendant sighed. “Fine, but only for a few minutes. Keep to the center of the room and don’t touch anything.”

With a raise of his hand, a section of the desk swung forward. Mavery couldn’t detect any hinges, nor could she Sense another fabrication spell; whatever magic powered the desk was buried deep within the wood.

Mavery followed Alain into some sort of gallery.

The walls were lined with frames large enough to drive a stagecoach through.

There were fifteen in total, and each one housed an identical painting…

or were they mirrors? The magic in this room was unlike any Mavery had ever Sensed before.

Her mind reeled as she tried to attune herself to it, but she couldn’t grasp anything distinct.

It was like trying to describe the innate taste and smell of the wind. All she could Sense was raw arcana.

“This is the portal room,” Alain said.

She hadn’t misheard him after all. The portals were made of a gaseous, silvery substance that flickered in and out of existence. One moment, she could see the portals shimmering in their frames. The next, only the stone wall behind them.

“Each one connects to a similar chamber at the other fourteen wizarding universities across Tanarim, as well as the High Council’s tower in Montesse. That’s the capital of—”

“Dauphine,” Mavery said curtly. “Yes, I know my geography.”

“Of course.” Alain cleared his throat. “Er, anyway, these frames are more than simply decorative. They’re made of silver—permanent anchors for the portal magic.”

She spotted the frame engraved with Atterdell College of the Arcane.

It was hard to believe that the place she hadn’t seen in twenty years was now only a few steps away.

And if that wasn’t enough to marvel at, the frame alone had to be worth thousands of potins.

Never had she seen so much wealth contained in a single room—and there were fifteen rooms just like this one.

“I thought portal magic was a myth. Or, at least, it was only theoretical.”

“Portals are so highly regulated, seeing one outside of a room like this might well be like seeing a mythical creature.”

“How long have these rooms been around?”

“A little over a decade, so not long after you would have graduated. The High Council created them to facilitate scholarship, though students aren’t allowed to use them unless accompanied by a professor.

Even full-fledged wizards aren’t allowed to come and go as they please.

Each room is guarded twenty-eight hours per day.

You can only imagine how people would abuse them. ”

Mavery nodded. She could think of a few reasons why someone would want to hop across the continent in an instant. The attendant had mentioned something about a pass. One of those should be easy enough to steal…or forge…

But she was getting ahead of herself.

“On that note,” Alain said, casting a glance at the front desk, “let’s go before we overstay our welcome.”