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  She glared at me. "You are a foolish woman to annoy me at the start of your exam."

  "Perhaps," I agreed. "I am, however, an honest one. Would you have me pretend I would enter your military when I know I will not, simply to temporarily appease you?" I smiled. "Besides, there's no way I will not pass this exam."

  "So you add arrogance to your offenses?"

  I wasn't sure how I had so firmly landed on her bad side, so I simply shrugged. But then, without looking, I began forming magic 'people,' allowing them to enter the room behind me. I didn't bother looking at them. I brought six of them in. Then I formed chairs and had them sit down. One began reading a book. Two others shuffled their papers.

  "What are you doing?" Senior Magus Flutarine asked. "You do not have permission to raise your magic."

  Quartain's lips quirked upwards for a moment, then she schooled her features.

  "I am a journeywoman of the school, Senior Magus Flutarine, and I do not require permission to raise my magic." I brought a magic dog in and had him move around between my magic people, accepting hugs and offering a few kisses. One of them threw a ball, and the dog chased after it.

  "Who is helping you do that?" she asked. "Whoever is helping, stop it right now!"

  "No one is helping me," I said. Two of my magic people turned to face each other, 'talking' animatedly. One flipped pages in her book, and two were writing in their paperwork. The last threw the ball for the dog again.

  "Stop this right now," she demanded.

  "Of course," I said. I waved my hand, and my animations faded away. "I'm sorry, it wasn't one of my better performances. I didn't think you were in the mood for too much fun."

  "You didn't even have to look at it."

  "I've had a little practice." I looked at Quartain. "Why do I suspect you're going to ask for a more complete performance on Sevenday evening?"

  "Because you know me well. Do you have anything new prepared?"

  "I've been a little busy playing with Mobius strips," I said. "I'll come up with something." I looked at Senior Magus Flutarine. "Will you be attending?"

  "She will," said Queen Hallamarie. "We will all be there."

  "Excellent. Indoors or outdoors, Senior Magus Quartain?"

  "Your choice, Kia," she replied. "But perhaps we should get back to the academic portion of your examination." I nodded agreement.

  "Senior Magus Flutarine," I said, "I will pass the academic portion of the exam. I think I have given you enough of a taste to know I will also pass the practical portion of the exam. I do not believe I am being arrogant. I am simply confident in the education I have been offered."

  "It is the height of arrogance to suggest you know best where you should serve."

  "I don't profess to know the needs of Ordeen better than the people here," I said. "It may be that my position will be a compromise from what would be optimal. I don't care. The queen made me a promise nine years ago, and I know she'll keep it. And I believe you would hate having me in the military, anyway. I tend to question authority."

  I shrugged. "I don't know why we're having this conversation."

  The senior magus studied me for a while, then she asked a question about magic theory.

  * * * *

  The exam was thorough. It consumed all of Fiveday and Sixday, and I felt thoroughly wrung out by the time we were done. I didn't remotely know everything I was asked, but I didn't worry about it. If I didn't understand after asking for clarification, I admitted it. At times, I was invited to make an educated guess. There were times I did so, but reminded them it was only a guess. There were other times I admitted I didn't know enough about the topic to even make an educated guess.

  I was also asked a great many questions regarding how I would handle certain circumstances I might encounter. A few I found terribly amusing.

  "What would you do if you were separated from your swordsman while at the market?"

  It amused me to tell them what I had done in the past. Then I turned to Quartain. "Doesn't she know anything at all about me?"

  "You allowed yourself to become separated from your swordsman?" Senior Magus Flutarine asked. She'd been quiet for a while.

  "Swordswoman," I corrected. "I didn't believe attacking a pushy shop owner was a wise choice, so I attempted to reconnect with Lunia first. When I was prevented from doing so, then I knew the separation was intentional, and I responded accordingly."

  "You could have been killed."

  "Yes, but I could be killed by a random stranger sticking a knife into my kidneys." I smiled. "If I had been killed, you wouldn't have to worry about my arrogant attitude."

  She didn't care for that response, and Quartain frowned at me.

  "My apologies," I said. "If I have answered your question adequately, I wouldn't mind a fifteen-minute break to stretch my legs and collect some fresh air."

  In the end, after two intense days of questioning, they ran out of things to ask me.

  "Thank you, Ms. Shortshadow," Senior Magus Flutarine said. "You are dismissed. We will have our recommendation by the morning."

  "Thank you," I said. "I look forward to it."

  * * * *

  "Quartain?" I called out. "Mother?"

  "Kia," she called out. "Was I expecting you?"

  "You should have been," I said. "Are you alone?"

  She laughed. "Aren't I always?"

  I stepped through her house to her bedroom. She was sitting up with her paperwork. I kissed her cheek then sat down on the edge of her bed near her feet. I didn't turn to them, however.

  "Can you guess why I am here tonight?"

  "It's not to ease my feet?"

  "We'll see about your feet," I said. "Please don't be coy."

  "You want to know what Flutarine was up to during your exam."

  "Yes."

  "I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you."

  "I am tired of people playing games with me, Quartain," I said. "I am not going to respond well to it."

  She didn't say anything.

  "Is the queen going to renege on her promise to me?"

  She kept her mouth shut for that as well.

  "I see," I said. "Did you ever believe she would keep her promise, or have you been lying to me for nine years?"

  Again, she was silent.

  I stared at her. "You let me call you 'Mother' all these years," I said coldly. She didn't react, not in the slightest. "You would have let me tend to your feet tonight knowing all of you were about to betray me?" She still didn't say a thing.

  I stared at her. She looked at me dispassionately.

  "Seriously?" I asked. "You're not going to say a thing?"

  Still, she remained quiet.

  I stood up. "I see," I said. "I am left with two conclusions. Either you have all been lying to me for years, or you're playing another one of your games. I don't deserve either."

  I turned for the bedroom door and got three steps before she said, "Kia! Where are you going?"

  I stopped, put on the calmest face I could, and turned back to face her. I said nothing for ten seconds, giving her a taste of her own medicine, then turned back for the door.

  "Kia! Wait!" she yelled after me, climbing out of bed. "We're supposed to fight."

  I didn't bother responding but instead moved smoothly through her house and out the door. I closed it gently behind me. Then I stepped onto the grass, dropping tangle spells.

  A moment later her door opened.

  "Kia! Come back here!"

  I kept walking. I heard Quartain hurry from her house, and I knew the moment she stepped onto the grass. She was tangled immediately, falling face down into the grass.

  "Kia!" she screeched. "Stop!"

  I paused and turned around. Face down could be bad. I walked back to her and knelt beside her. The grass held her firmly. I soothed it slightly, asking it to let her breathe safely.

  "Kia," she said. "Release me. We'll go inside and talk about it."

  "I'm sorry, Mother," I said. "I'm tir
ed of your games. Goodbye."

  "No!" she yelled as I got up to walk away. "We're supposed to fight! Kia, we're supposed to fight!"

  I walked away, heading for the dormitory. As soon as I knew I was out of sight, I summoned my magic and blasted Eva's tracking spell out of me. I stopped, shuddering from the pain, then took a left turn and headed for the docks.

  I didn't really have a plan. But I didn't know whom I could trust. I thought I could trust Eva, but could I ask her to run with me? All she ever wanted was to be a magus. Could I ask her to give that up?

  I reached the docks and stared at Adept Cardartina's boat. I'd been invited on enough trips that I had learned to sail it, or so I thought.

  I took a dingy out to her boat, climbing aboard carefully. No one was there, and no one seemed to notice me. I made a small light, and I used it to prepare the boat as I'd seen Cardartina do it. It was tricky to get out of the harbor, but I made it without scraping anything.

  Just as I cleared the harbor I heard Eva's voice, magically amplified, calling my name. I enchanted my own voice and yelled out, "I'm sorry, Eva. I won't be a soldier. I'll love you forever. Goodbye."

  Part Two

  Hiding

  I headed north, first to Roltaria, Ordeen's nearest neighbor to the north. I left the boat moored at the harbor in Triton, the southernmost port in Roltaria. I had a small amount of money, and I used a little of it to send a letter to Cardartina, apologizing for stealing her boat and telling her where she would find it. "The port master has agreed to keep it for three months. You'll have mooring fees. I'm sure the queen can take the money from my accounts to pay for them, if my funds haven't already been seized. Kia."

  I sent a second note to Eva. It was short, mostly an apology and hopes she would forgive me someday.

  I used the last of my meager funds to buy supplies. I had just enough for a worn-out horse, an old army tent, and a few other necessities. I would be forced to live on my magic and my wits.

  Then I headed inland at first, and I made sure everyone I talked to knew I was headed east to Heltan, Roltaria's eastern neighbor. I traveled east for a week, stopping in each village and offering my services as a healer. I asked people to pay me whatever they could. Some people gave me a few coins; some gave me food. I arrived in one village, set up my tent, and healed everyone who came to me while some of the other villagers stood by.

  One man in particular looked particularly haggard, but he didn't present himself as a patient. He did, however, talk to some of my patients as they left my tent. But it wasn't until I was all packed and ready to leave that he approached me.

  "You don't demand payment," he said.

  "People pay me what they feel my services are worth," I replied. "I am just a minor hedge wizard trying to make her way in the world."

  He cocked his head. "You are not from Roltaria."

  "No, I am not." I didn't elaborate.

  He paused, and I turned to fully face him, my preparations to leave having been completed.

  "If you have need, you may ask. If I help, then you pay me what you feel the help is worth. Some accept my help and pay nothing. I would still help."

  "It's not for me," he said.

  "Who?"

  "My wife. Will you come?"

  I tied my horse back to the post and followed him. He lived in a nice house near the center of town. I didn't ask him who he was. He invited me into the house, and I could smell the sickness the moment I stepped inside. I immediately cast a wellness spell on myself before proceeding further.

  The man's wife was in bed, wan and hollow, and I thought perhaps near death. I hurried to her side. She was awake, but she wasn't lucid.

  "What is her name?"

  "Serenda."

  "And yours?"

  "Glim."

  "Glim, did you watch me pack?"

  "Yes."

  "I need the pack with the bowls. The entire pack. Leave the second pack, the one with the tent. Hurry."

  He ran from the house, and I turned my attention to his wife. I extended my magic and nearly cried with what I found. She had a wasting disease. I'd helped Hallow with one, and I knew the magic to use, but this woman's case was far more advanced than the one I'd helped to cure.

  I immediately began casting spells, carefully built spells that took several minutes to form. I cast one to help shore up her strength, and her color improved. I cast another to help clear her lungs, but I knew it wouldn't last. I was finishing my third when the man returned. He set my back down near the door then approached the bed.

  "She looks better," he said. "You aren't a charlatan."

  "No, Glim, I am not," I said. But I looked at him, and I knew my face was filled with pain. I stared at him for a while. "I'd have to stay for days, perhaps a few weeks to save her, Glim."

  "I'll pay you," he said. "I'm not rich, but I can pay you."

  "It's not the money, Glim. I am hunted."

  He stared for a moment before asking, "By whom?"

  "The queen of Ordeen."

  He rocked back. "A powerful enemy. What did you do?"

  "I refused to join the military," I said. "I don't know that we're enemies. I thought we were friends. I might have been wrong. Glim, I can't stay. They'll find me."

  "Can you help her, if you stay?" he asked.

  "I don't know. This is advanced. I can buy her time, but if I don't cure her, buying her time is not kindness. I'm young, Glim. I've only helped with the wasting disease once."

  "What are you?"

  I sighed. "I ran from Northmere School of Magic during my adept sorceress exam. Officially, I am still a journeywoman, but I would have passed the exam. I should be an adept now."

  "You risk much trusting me," he said. "I bet there is a large reward for you."

  "I bet there is," I said. "Do you intend to collect it?"

  "My sister-in-law looks a little like you," he said. "She is bigger, but not big, and she has brown hair. If she wore her hair like yours and wore your clothes, she could ride out of town on your horse, and people would think it was you."

  I shook my head. "Not from her own village." I paused. "Can I trust you, Glim?"

  "I'll do anything to save my wife, Journeywoman."

  "I have helped her enough to shore up her strength. I'll leave you with herbs. You steep them in hot water. The scent is soothing. There is no magic, just soothing herbs. I will then leave and do what I do in the next two villages east of here. And tonight, your sister-in-law will take my place, and I will return here and try to help your wife. But Glim, I can't promise she'll live."

  "I can't ask for more than your best. Deirdre will set a long trail east before she finds her way back. We'll hide you. What do I call you?"

  "Call me... Ruby."

  "All right, Ruby."

  I dug through my pack and found the packet of herbs he could use, then demonstrated how to use them. Fifteen minutes later he led me back to my horse, carrying my pack for me, and he pressed a few coins into my hands. "Thank you," he said. Soon, I was on my way.

  It was late that night when I heard a woman's voice say, "Hail, the camp."

  I turned to the voice but I had a spell ready. A woman strode into my camp leading a horse. In the dim light, I had to agree she did, indeed, look a little like me.

  "Are you Ruby?" she asked. I inclined my head. "I am Deirdre. I believe I am expected."

  "I don't know if I can find my way back in the dark without traveling through the last two villages."

  "My daughter is here," she said, and a moment later, a teenage girl stepped into the light, leading her own horse. "She is Nierra. She will lead you."

  I nodded. I had already packed my medical supplies, what few I had. I moved the pack onto Deirdre's horse. We traded clothing, and I prepared to mount. She put a hand on my arm.

  "Glim is a good man, and he loves my sister. You are safe, Ruby."

  "Thank you, Deirdre," I said. "You need to leave a clear trail east, but the people pursuing me are fas
ter than you will be, and they are very powerful. You must disappear before they find you. I don't know how close they are. And this might be unnecessary; they may have let me go."

  "Do you believe that?"

  "No. They invested too much into my training to let me go so easily."

  "If they catch me, I won't say a word."

  "Yes, Deirdre, you will."

  "They would torture me?"

  "Of course not. They would use magic. You'll answer any question they ask. Don't get caught."

  She nodded. "I won't."

  I mounted, and a moment later, I followed Nierra south from camp.

  * * * *

  It took most of the night to return to Glim's home. I was exhausted when we arrived. I thanked Nierra, and she thanked me for trying to help her aunt.

  Serenda was doing as well as could be expected. I checked on her, renewed my spells, and then accepted a bed. I couldn't do more as tired as I was.

  Over the next several days, I poured my magic into Serenda. At first, I was simply trying to make her stronger. We were able to feed her weak soup, which helped, and she held on. Then I began to beat back the wasting disease, a little at a time.

  When I wasn't working on her, I slept, continually exhausted from the extreme use of magic.

  It was five days before Deirdre returned. "I left a clear trail east," she said, "almost to the Heltan border. I began moving faster, as if perhaps you realized you were being pursued, and near the end, I made attempts to disguise my trail."

  "Thank you," I said.

  "How is she?"

  "Holding on. A little stronger. It's too early to know for sure.

  I'd been there a week and was sleeping when I woke to Glim kneeling next to my bed, shaking my arm.

  "There are strangers in town," he said. "Asking questions about you."

  "How many?"

  "Three women and three men," he said. "The women are nearly as small as you are."

  "You didn't turn me in for the reward they're offering?"

  "How could I do that?" he asked.

  "How big a reward is it?"

  "Five thousand crowns."

  They wanted me back a great, great deal.

  "How do they describe me?"

  "Physically, very accurately. They even know what your horse and tent look like. They're not offering a name, and they're calling you a healer."