Page 13 of Witchcraft and Fury (Chronicles of the Divided Isle #1)

They forded a river where the blue and green of kingfishers flashed as they darted in and out of the sun.

In the late afternoon the trees began to thin, and soon they came into a large glade.

As they rode through it Solar noticed a small plant with leaves a vibrant violet in colour, with inky flecks at their edges and pure white veins and stems. She bent down to take a closer look, but Mae bucked her head and picked up her pace at the sudden movement.

As afternoon wore into evening they reached a second glade, and Loveday declared that they would set up camp. A small river flowed through the centre, rippling with fish that a detachment of imps quickly set about catching with miniature harpoons, whooping loudly.

Solar dismounted, weary and saddle-sore. She kissed Mae on the neck and received an affectionate nuzzle in return.

No one spoke much that evening at supper.

They wolfed down their food in exhausted silence, contemplating the morning ahead.

Loveday had announced that they would be camping in the clearing for a week to continue their magic and weaponry training, and Binns had made it quite clear that there would be the usual workout at daybreak.

Once they had finished their food, Loveday asked Solar to see to the horses behind the tents with him.

They went to each animal in turn, Loveday feeding them fruit and stroking them fondly.

He was silent, and Solar was beginning to wonder why she had been requested to join him.

Then, when they reached Mae, the wizard spoke.

‘Solar, how are you settling in?’

Settling in? thought Solar, stroking Mae. Binns picks on me during training, and Cal, Oswald and Wyman are doing their best to make my life hell.

‘Solar?’ Loveday prompted gently.

Solar swallowed. She realised she had been silent for a long time. ‘I’m settling in fine. ’

‘Are you certain? If there’s anything I can do, just say it. I know it can’t have been easy, leaving your mother and brother.’

‘No, really, I’m fine. Thank you, Sir Gaderian.’ She knew that she probably shouldn’t lie to her instructor, but she didn’t want him to think she wasn’t up to the challenge of studying in his encampment. What if he changed his mind about having her there and asked her to leave?

Loveday knelt to look her in the eye. He clasped her shoulder.

‘Your classmates are giving you a hard time. Binns is giving you a hard time. And they won’t be the only ones.

Ashwood hasn’t yet realised that it is ready for a new age, an age when witches and wizards work together for the good of the kingdom.

But you can show them, Solar. You can show them that all your talent is worth more than noble lineage, sacks of money or simply being born a boy. ’

His gaze was warm but fierce, and Solar found she couldn’t look away. ‘Sir Gaderian, no one here wants me to succeed.’

‘I do. And I want you to do one other thing for me, Solar, one very simple thing: never stop believing in yourself. Do that, and you will master magic seldom seen.’

They walked back to the campfire, and Solar spent the rest of the evening feeling happier than she had done since leaving Falcontop.

*

During the next morning’s class, Loveday tasked the trainees with making water boil directly, without first fanning the flames beneath. Solar went first, and she enjoyed little luck.

‘Solar, believe that you are the water,’ urged Loveday. ‘Feel the energy that would set it churning and boiling. Harness that energy and make it your own! ’

She narrowed her eyes in concentration, directing all her willpower at the simmering pot. But it was no use.

Wyman fared no better: first he glowered at the water until he was red in the face, and on his later attempts he merely looked at it with glum pessimism.

Bear achieved a gentle simmer, a vein in his temple looking like it might explode with the effort.

Pingot and Oswald both managed to bring it to a boil in mere moments.

In the second half of their lesson with Loveday they studied potion brewing theory. They sat on the riverbank making notes on rolls of parchment as Loveday identified plants and told them their magical properties.

Towards the end he picked a flower with blue petals.

‘Autumn blue is a common woodland flower,’ he said. ‘Using this flower, and with the right knowledge and equipment, a moderately skilled wizard can make Azure Euphoria, also known as Happy Potion. It brings to the drinker a state of bliss unimaginable to those who have never sampled it.

‘If taken in excessive quantities, side-effects include a vivid blue stain on the back of the throat, possible drowsiness and exceptional displays of friendliness and generosity to all. Most notably, excessive consumption causes the drinker to develop a magical bond with the potion brewer, a bond which compels them to grant anything that the brewer asks for.’

The class looked at the flower with vacant stares, the only sound Pingot’s scribbling quill.

‘That concludes our introductory lesson,’ said Loveday, ‘apart from to mention one bush that I want you all to look out for. Dusk bushes are identifiable by their violet leaves, which have white stems and veins and black flecks at the edges. The leaves can be used in a potion suitable for beginners known as Dusk’s Delight.

Simply simmer the leaves for an hour and add a pinch of saffron and you will have a potion that speeds up the drinker’s reflexes to such an extent that they become near invincible in combat.

The effects last half a day, approximately, and a vial of Dusk’s Delight commands staggering prices on the market. ’

The boys all exchanged excited glances.

‘There is a contradiction here, as I’m sure the sharper among you will have spotted: how can a potion be at once simple to brew and so expensive?

The price it commands is not due to the complexity of the magic, but rather the difficulty of sourcing the main ingredient: dusk bushes are exceptionally rare, and they grow only in the wild.

If any of you spot one in these parts, let me be the first to know.

I will see that you get a fair share of the profits. ’

Solar thought back to the bush she had seen in the other glade that they had passed through the day before.

Its leaves perfectly matched Loveday’s description!

If only she could go back there unnoticed and pick them …

but Loveday and Binns were never out of sight, she reflected ruefully.

She didn’t want them to get wind of the leaves’ existence if they really were so valuable.

Her entrepreneurial streak, nurtured during her years of providing for her family, still had not left her, and she had no intention of sharing any profits with anyone.

*

‘Fighting one-on-one is one thing, fighting in groups quite another. All a sudden you’ve got multiple blades flashing before your eyes, and comrades at your side who could save your life or help you skip the queue to the underworld,’ barked Sir Dirk Binns.

It was the afternoon, and he had divided the students into two groups of three.

He seemed to have done so in a way that would punish Solar for her behaviour during her last bout with Cal: she and Bear were to duel with the diminutive, maladroit Pingot at their side, whilst facing them were the malicious cousins Oswald and Wyman with the tall and lightning-fast Cal.

In their first bout together Solar advanced with Bear and Pingot flanking her.

Before any of them had time to blink, Cal knocked Pingot’s sword aside and sent him sprawling.

He and his sidekicks fanned out around Solar and Bear.

The two of them stood back-to-back, fending off the blows for a while, but eventually their defences were thwarted.

‘Sure you don’t want to run home, Humby?’ taunted Oswald. ‘The training ground is no place for fatties.’

‘Not on your life,’ replied Pingot coolly. ‘Fat is just protective padding.’

Binns had them reform and repeat countless times, and Solar and her teammates fared worse with every bout. Solar and Bear both took many hits, but Pingot was helpless against the onslaughts and, despite his defiance, suffered most.

This continued day after day until, on the fifth morning in their new location, Pingot did not get up for the morning run. Binns ordered Oswald to fetch him, and he was dragged moaning from their tent. His face was puffy, and he limped heavily as he ran.

*

Solar had first watch that night. Bear lingered at the campfire. He seemed to be waiting to catch her by herself, as if he didn’t want the other students to see him associating with her.

‘We can’t let this go on,’ he said once Binns had drained his wine skin, given a loud belch and stumbled into his tent, leaving the two of them alone. ‘They’ll kill Pingot if we don’t do something. We need to speak to Binns and get him to put a stop to it.’

‘I think we’d have more chance of actually winning a bout. Binns loves seeing the three of us humiliated. After all, he considers me a hag, Pingot a weakling and you a pious bore.’

Bear shot her an affronted look.

‘No offence,’ she added hastily. ‘But you see my point? We can’t rely on Binns. If we want to help Pingot we’ll have to fight it out.’

Bear shook his head. ‘We can’t beat them through strength alone.

The two of us are more or less evenly matched against Oswald and Wyman.

Well, actually, perhaps you are better than all of us bar Cal, but Pingot is next to useless.

It’s like three against two.’ He paused, and Solar saw how much it had cost his pride to admit that she was probably the better sword fighter.

‘Then we’ll have to be devious about it,’ Solar said, a sly note to her voice.

‘What exactly do you mean by devious ?’ he asked.

‘You remember the potion Dusk’s Delight Loveday mentioned the other day? He said all you have to do is simmer dusk bush leaves for an hour, add a pinch of saffron and—’

‘—Pingot’s reflexes will be magically enhanced. But what of it? I mean, you heard Loveday – the catch is that dusk bushes are amongst the rarest plants in the world. You could buy a castle with just a handful. Otherwise everyone would be brewing Dusk’s Delight before jousts, duels and battles.’

Solar told him excitedly about the violet leaves she had seen on the day they had moved camp, in the middle of the clearing they had passed through.

‘I didn’t recognise ’em for what they were at the time, ’cos it was before Loveday’s lesson.

But they were unmistakeable. The leaves were a vibrant violet, with pearly white stems and veins and black flecks at their edges.

If we were to collect ’em, brew the potion with a bit of saffron from Loveday’s stores and give it to Pingot, he’d be unstoppable!

It’d really teach Cal and his sidekicks a lesson.

We could go tonight; we’d be back before Oswald relieves me of my watch in a few hours! ’

Even as she said it, she felt a guilty twinge of hesitation.

She would do anything to help Pingot, but, if she was completely honest with herself, she enjoyed her duels with Cal and the others.

Especially with Cal. The way his sapphire eyes fixed her with their piercing stare.

How her heart thudded when their blades locked.

The savage, triumphant glee she felt on the rare occasions when she actually won and held him at her mercy.

The lingering sense that perhaps – just perhaps – he enjoyed them too.

‘You can’t!’ hissed Bear, his voice fierce and low. ‘Loveday will expel you if you are caught, and besides, you’ll never find the way in the dark.’

‘It’s worth the risk. I’m not watching Pingot receive one more blow from those three thugs.

’ She made a deliberate attempt to cast all thoughts of Cal and his lethal, entrancing movements from her mind.

‘My father always told me not to let bullies walk all over me, and I don’t intend to let ’em do it to my friends neither. ’

‘Pingot, the son of a great duke, your friend ?’ said Bear, sudden disapproval souring his voice. ‘Your father was a carpenter. And what would a carpenter know about such matters anyway?’

Solar felt her heart hammer as she held Bear’s gaze. Something was caught in her throat. Wisps of smoke furled between the two of them.

‘I really believed you’d come with me. You’re always going on about your sense of honour. Is there any honour in watching Pingot get beaten day after day?’ she asked.

Hesitation and the temptation to do something reckless flickered across Bear’s face.

They looked oddly out of place on him. For a wild, entirely irrational moment, Solar thought he was going to kiss her.

But when he eventually spoke it was with finality.

‘What you are suggesting is using a potion to cheat at duelling, and there is no honour in that. And besides, you are on first watch. You can’t just leave the camp. It is your duty to guard it.’