Page 46 of Insolence (Eisha’s Hidden Codices #1)
Itissa
W ell, she certainly knows how to motivate a girl.
I obey, poring over my amassed notes and the corresponding pages from my workbooks with urgency.
The material is more tedious than complicated; much of it I already know or am at least familiar with. But the exam is cumulative and will include everything covered since our orientation classes.
Until recently, it’s been nothing outlandish. But this past week, we’ve been covering the Practices of Magic. And with everything that’s happened between me and Sadrie, I’ve been distracted in class.
Our recent lesson on Conjuration comes to mind. I vaguely recall Elodie mentioning compulsion during her lecture. That is, the forcing of someone else’s hand to a mage’s whim.
Part of me can’t help but wonder if that’s how my pheromones work.
My stomach clenches as a wave of nausea overtakes me. Remembering what Elodie said about controlled breathing, I draw air through my nose and let it out through my mouth. After a couple of repetitions, I’m amazed to find I actually do feel a bit better.
Resolving not to dwell on distractions, most of my night is spent reviewing the Four Practices.
The Four Practices of Magic:
Mediation - Ritual tattooing. One of the two Practices a temple acolyte will master in order to become a high priestess.
A sacred, highly skilled Practice wherein the high priestess acts as intercessor between temple visitors and the gods.
During which, she coaxes the subject’s life-force into ink-dipped thread at the moment of skin penetration by blessed needle.
Applications :
Temporary - The shallowest layer of skin is inked with particular motifs to grant short-term blessings, i.e., luck in marriage, fertility, good fortune, etc. These will last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
Permanent - Deeper sub-dermal layers are inked with family crests to mark rites of passage, i.e., menses onset, marriage, giving birth, mourning a loved one’s death, and other, less common rites.
Alchemy - The crafting of enhanced or "Altered" items. Requires syphoned life-force to imbue objects or elixirs with certain effects or outcomes.
This is a more advanced Practice and will be delved into during the second year of apprenticeship and afterward.
Mastery is not required for high priestesshood.
Applications :
Nearly endless. Most common uses include detecting auras, defending one’s aura, creating or negating a certain type of ward, enhancing natural ability to perform other magical Practices, enhancing the effect of any singular Practice’s instance of application, such as buffering a ward while it’s being conjured, etc.
Item of Note : Altered items can be used by mages and natural humans alike.
Item of Note : Officially considered an Alchemy sub-Practice, (although some debate it ought to be considered its own Practice,) objects can be Altered to project convincing illusions.
While fascinating, this is by and large considered a soft art.
It’s generally implemented for entertainment purposes.
Conjuration - Manipulating life-force (usually syphoned) to evoke or bring forth something else entirely. A highly nuanced Practice requiring years of dedicated study. Mastery is not required for high priestesshood.
Applications :
Including but not limited to the casting of protective wards and barriers using syphoned life-force. Conjured wards are stronger and more versatile than those put in place via Altered items.
It is possible to conjure the equivalent of a personal ward using one's own life-force. This application can be used to strengthen one's aura against intrusion by others and will be studied in depth during the third year of apprenticeship.
A strong enough mage can conjure total compliance from another person by manipulating the life-force rooted their soul. Called compulsion , this application is considered to be dark magic and is highly unethical.
Item of Note : Physical objects and living beings cannot be conjured.
Divination - Foretelling future events by way of systematic methods. One of the two Practices a temple acolyte must master to become a high priestess.
Methods (may include but are not limited to):
Sortilege - The drawing of lots.
Lithomancy - The use of runes, stones, or other objects, or the reflected light from said objects.
Augury - The analysis of behaviors and flight patterns of birds.
Cartomancy - The use of a deck of cards.
Oneiromancy - The receiving of prophetic dreams.
Scrying - The use of reflective surfaces such as mirrors, water, crystal balls, or polished stone or metal.
Tasseography - The reading of tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments.
Chiromancy/Chirognomy - The reading of palms/the analysis of the whole hand. A polarizing form of Divination, regarded by some as a mere party trick, while others account it a legitimate method.
Item of note : In order for a high priestess to divine successfully, two circumstances must be true: 1. she must tap into her own life-force, and 2. she must be in possession of awakened Second Sight.
I study all night, finally losing consciousness on top of my scattered workbooks shortly before dawn. I’m jolted awake by the clock tower and have to blearily check my alarm clock.
9:00. Shit. No breakfast for me today, and I couldn’t have had more than ninety minutes of sleep.
I shimmy into fresh clothes and drag a comb through my hair at breakneck speed. Then jog downstairs and sprint across the courtyard, barely slipping into Sanctuary Hall as the first prayer of the day comes to a close.
W e pour into the courtyard after morning prayers. Absentminded and dreamy as usual, the betrothed amble back toward our residence. The three of us head in the same direction toward class.
Cara nearly walks into me, so I weave and practically step on Sadrie.
Set on disregarding me, as has been her habit since our argument, she turns to Cordelia. “Ready for the exam?”
“Morning, Tiss,” Cordelia sighs. “Didn’t see you at breakfast.”
“I slipped in quietly.”
Sadrie snorts and shakes her head, averting her eyes when I glance her way. A bolt of angry heat shoots through me. A snappy retort perches on the tip of my tongue when a too-familiar betrothed girl bobs into view.
We’re passing the Waymark when I notice her crossing toward the laundry lines against the flow of traffic. Walking on the other side of the tree, she lugs the type of wooden bucket used for composting kitchen scraps.
Her body language and pace distinguish her from the typical betrothed girl at a glance.
“She’s the only one that seems alert,” murmurs Cordelia, watching her too. “Have you noticed her around, doing odd jobs?”
A member of the Temple Guardsmen follows perhaps ten steps in her wake, sunshine glinting off of the wicked-looking dagger slung at his hip. His hand rests casually on the hilt.
“Who? Lydia?” whispers Sadrie, eyeing her up. “Yeah, whatever the rest of them are being given, it doesn’t affect her one bit. Probably why she’s always got a guard on her.”
“And why she’s never at meals or prayers,” says Cordelia.
The girl, Lydia , must get the sense she’s being watched because her head whips around, returning our stares.
I stop cold in my tracks. I thought you were dead.
Sadrie forges ahead, but Cordelia stops when I do. “What’s the matter?”
The prominent beauty mark and fall of sleek, dark hair are the first things I focus on past the sheer veil. The fact that her mouth is sewn gruesomely shut with thick, black thread registers almost simultaneously.
A strange mix of horror and relief splintering through me, I dredge up a thin smile, remembering that Elodie warned me against discussing her further. “Nothing worth mentioning.”
Setting my sights on the Learning Annex, I force my feet back into motion and pray my next words come out casually: “Let’s go pass that test, huh?”
The Screamer’s glare is palpable as we pass, her dark brown eyes alert and clear and angry.