The Wandering Inn_Volume 1, page 339
Without another word she stepped aside. The students stared at her incredulously. So did Ceria.
“That’s it?”
One of the students, a young Drake, stepped forwards angrily. He pointed to the wall of ice.
“You expect us to melt through that? How? We came here to learn combat spells! Some of us don’t know any flame magic!”
“Not my problem.”
Illphres stood with her arms crossed, waiting for someone to make a move. Ceria hesitated. She knew her best flame spell, [Flame Jet], wasn’t nearly good enough to melt through a wall of ice. Maybe if she had time—
She was too busy staring at the wall to see another student stride up to Illphres angrily. He was corpulent—fat being too general a term. He was wearing robes and by the looks of him he was an older student, given that he was brave enough to call Illphres out to her face.
“This isn’t fair! We’re supposed to be taught by you unconditionally! You don’t get to impose a restriction like—”
He cut off sharply as the temperature around Illphres lowered. Ceria felt it lower from where she was standing; she saw the student’s robes suddenly frost over, and then he was stumbling away, sobbing, his clothing crackling with frost.
Illphres flicked a bit of frozen spittle off her robes as if nothing had happened. She spoke quietly, calmly to the other students.
“I’m allowed to test you. So I am. I don’t feel like teaching children who can barely cast [Light], so this is my condition. Pass it or fail; it matters little to me.”
“Fine then.”
Another student moved up. He was a Dullahan, and his fingers burned with flames as he put his head on his shoulders. He raised both his hands and aimed it straight at the wall of ice.
“[Flaming Swathe]!”
Ceria watched as a long stream of fire blew outwards from the mage’s palms, licking over the door and raising the temperature in the corridor several degrees. She exchanged a look with Pisces—he looked impressed as well. It was a [Flaming Swathe], a Tier 3 spell, but the student held it for over twenty seconds, which had to have taken quite a bit of mana.
When he eventually lowered his hands, the Dullahan was panting, sweat standing out on his head. He wiped it away with one gauntlet and smiled confidently as the smoke cleared. But then his face fell.
The barrier of ice stood in the doorway, not even slightly melted by the fire. Illphres shook her head as she look dismissively at the older student.
“A Tier 3 spell. Not even a good one at that; if you want to clear snow, use that spell. For this, you’d better have something better.”
She stared at the panting Dullahan. He couldn’t meet her eyes as he stepped back. Illphres looked around.
“Anyone else want to try? No? Then I’m going.”
She began to walk away. Silence followed her footsteps. Ceria couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Before she knew it, she’d raised her voice.
“We came here to be mages!”
Ceria shouted it at Illphres’ back. She couldn’t help herself. She raised her voice in outrage as the woman turned and regarded her silently.
“If you don’t want to teach us, take it up with the Council! But we’ve just started learning, and we need help, not an impossible task!”
A few students around her raised their voices in agreement. More spoke up, and then they were all shouting at Illphres. The woman just stared at them all without expression. She didn’t smile or frown—she didn’t even blink. It wasn’t just having a still face; it was as if her own face was frozen in place. It was so unnerving that after a few seconds, the noise had faded from the hallways once again.
When Illphres spoke, it was in a flat voice as she met Ceria’s eyes.
“Real [Mages] don’t need help. They forge their own paths. If you want someone to hold your hand, find another teacher.”
She turned and walked away. Ceria clenched her fists, helpless, as the blurred shape of Illphres disappeared down the corridor. Pisces patted her on the shoulder, and Cessic said something Ceria didn’t quite catch.
Slowly, the students began trooping down the corridor, not saying much. But they paused when they saw a ten foot high wall of ice right as the corridor opened up into the intersection. The wall left a feet of room near the ceiling, but besides that it was impenetrable.
In consternation, the students stared at the wall of shimmering ice. One student disbelievingly put their palm against it and found it stuck. As the shouting started, Ceria stared at the wall, and then at the mage standing at the far end of the intersection. It was hard to see the woman’s face through the distorted ice, but Ceria could swear she was smiling slightly. Then she turned and walked away.
Pisces stared at the ice as Cessic and Ceria just stood there in silence. He looked at Ceria.
“…How are we supposed to get out?”
—-
“We’re going to die here.”
Cessic made that announcement after twenty minutes had passed and the fifty-odd students had made no progress breaking down the wall of ice magic. Over half the students knew at least one flame-based spell, but no matter how they’d pooled their spells and attacked in unison, the icy barrier had resisted all the flames.
“It has to be a Skill! A normal [Ice Wall] spell would melt, however slowly. But this ice is practically resistant to flame!”
Pisces looked equally happy as she did concerned as he stared at the ice. Ceria just glared. Her spells had washed right over the wall without doing anything to it; and none of the other students still blasting it with low-level spells were having any better luck.
They couldn’t touch the ice, either, or they’d risk getting stuck to it. Several students had already tried climbing the ice, but they’d stopped after leaving good bits of their skin on the frozen surface. Now, most of the students were just standing around and talking, waiting for a higher-level mage to come by and rescue them.
“We’re all going to die.”
The only problem was that some people couldn’t handle waiting. Cessic was pacing back and forth, hyperventilating as he panicked. Ceria sighed and edged away from him; the Lizardman was apparently claustrophobic, and he gave off fear that was starting to spread to some of the other new students.
“We’re not going to die, Cessic. Stop pacing. Just—stand over there and don’t look at the wall, okay? Look out one of the windows?”
“Do—do you think I could jump out of one?”
The Lizardman looked hopefully at one of the windows. Ceria shuddered and grabbed his tail.
“Don’t. It’s a long way down. Just wait, okay? Someone will melt the ice soon enough.”
“Okay. Okay. I’m going to…I’ll just put my head out the window.”
Cessic staggered away. Ceria and Pisces stared at him until they saw he was just looking out the windows rather than climbing out, and then they went back to sitting. In silence.
“I really don’t like her.”
“She does appear to have a most objectionable personality, doesn’t she?”
Pisces nodded to the other wall of ice blocking off the classroom. Ceria scowled and flicked a bit of dirt off the floor. She looked around and saw most of the other students were seated—save for a knot of furious students in robes. They were all older students, a group of five, the Dullahan, and the fat Human who’d gotten frosted by Illphres. They were talking fiercely, and Ceria couldn’t help but edge over a bit to listen.
“We’re third-year students! Illphres was supposed to teach us as well, but the woman doesn’t even respect other mages!”
The over-pudgy mage was talking to the others angrily, and they were nodding as they stayed out of spit-range. The Dullahan was wearing a sour expression as he stared at the ice wall.
“If I had a Tier 4 spell, I could have melted that ice. I wish I could have wiped that smug expression off of her face.”
“Well, if you want to learn it, there’s always the book. If we could pay someone to get it for us, then—”
The older students looked around, and saw Pisces and Ceria standing not-too-subtly near them. They broke off immediately. After a second of scrutiny, one of them raised their voices.
“You two, you’re new students, aren’t you? Shame you got Illphres as a teacher.”
Ceria and Pisces walked over. The other students introduced themselves.
“I take it this isn’t what normal teachers do?”
“Hardly.”
The overweight student snorted. He gestured towards the classrooms.
“Last year we had proper teachers, but this year the Council decided to make the selection process random. Hah! This is what we get. It looks like you two won’t be learning any combat spells unless you pass your entrance test.”
Dismayed, Pisces and Ceria exchanged a glance. The older students nodded in agreement. One of them grinned at the new students.
“Still getting to know the academy? I remember how confusing it was when I was a new student here.”
“That’s right. We still haven’t found where the illusion class is being taught.”
“Hah! Good luck with that. You could get the location from Calvaron, but he’ll change you an arm and a horse’s leg for it.”
The older students laughed again, but the Dullahan paused as he stared at Pisces.
“You’re that Pisces, aren’t you? If you trade me a rapier and a bell, I’ll tell you where the illusion classes are being held.”
“Ah.”
Pisces blinked in surprise, and then smiled apologetically.
“Sorry, but my personal accoutrements are not for sale.”
“Pity. Well, until we get this damn barrier melted, we’d best save our mana rather than waste it on this.”
With a flick of the hand the Dullahan indicated the ice barrier. He jerked his head and the other students walked away, saying goodbye to Pisces and Ceria. They found a secluded part of the corridor and began to speak intently again, this time making sure no one was near them.
“That was an odd offer, don’t you think?”
Pisces and Ceria stood in front of the ice wall, talking. Pisces nodded as he looked over to the other students.
“An offer to tell us where the illusion class was being taught for a duelist’s, that is to say, my, bells. That was the most direct trade I’ve heard so far, I believe.”
“Maybe you should have taken him up on the offer.”
Ceria joked, but Pisces just shook his head. He was very intent as he studied the older students from the side.
“Did you notice his companion’s expressions? They clearly didn’t expect his ruse to succeed, once again adding to my theory that the illusion class is, in of itself, an illusion.”
“Why offer if it wouldn’t succeed, then?”
“For the bell. Another clue. If he wants that for simple directions—well, if the class were so easy to find, it would be a very one-sided deal.”
Ceria raised her eyebrows.
“It’s that valuable? That little bell?”
“It is, to some at least. I—”
The young man broke off, shaking his head. Ceria knew he didn’t want to talk about his past, and let the matter drop. Instead, she perked up her pointed ears, trying to listen to what the students were saying. She caught only a fraction as the conversation from other students entered a temporary lull.
“…spell book. I’m sure it has at least one Tier 4 spell in it, but the protections—”
Then the babble rose and Ceria lost the thread. She sighed. More secrets, and this one sounded promising. A spellbook?
Pisces was looking repeatedly over to the group of students as well. Ceria saw him tap his lips thoughtfully, but he didn’t make a move to sidle over. She thought she saw him whisper something, but it might have just been a trick of the light.
As Ceria turned to check on Cessic, she saw a dark shape flit towards the older students. She turned back quickly, but whatever it was had gone the instant she looked.
“See something?”
She shook her head at Pisces and made a face.
“Great. There are rats trapped in here with us.”
“Rats? Are you sure?”
Cessic said that, coming over from the window to rejoin the other two. Pisces frowned as he looked around, and Ceria did too, although she couldn’t spot the dark shape.
“Either that or some large bug.”
“I wouldn’t mind a bug or a rat if that’s all we’ll be eating. You know, I skipped lunch for this.”
The Lizard moaned as he rubbed his stomach. Ceria was about to tell him to suck it up or go searching for the creature in question when Pisces suddenly called out.
“Hello? Is anyone there? We’re trapped here; we could use some help!”
Ceria turned and saw a tall figure through the distorted ice. It stopped and walked over towards them. Ceria held her breath as she saw a porcelain face, and saw the seven foot tall creation move as gracefully as a dancer. She heard Cessic gulp and the other students go quiet.
Piesces smiled in relief at the stone woman who looked as though she had traded stone for flesh. Cognita’s smooth face smiled slightly as she looked down at them.
“You are Cognita, yes? I hesitate to ask, but we’ve found ourselves trapped, you see. A [Mage] made this barrier and we can’t break through it.”
The Truestone Construct, the Golem who acted like a person, nodded. She regarded the ice wall as if she was staring at a speck of dust as she spoke.
“Ah. This is the work of Illphres. Stand back please, and employ any protective spells you know. I will remove this barrier.”
So saying, she let the students scurry backwards twenty feet before she lifted one delicate arm. Her dress rippled as her stone fist casually punched straight through the wall of ice with an impact that sounded like an avalanche.
Ceria and Pisces gaped as bits of ice showered down around Cognita. She raised her hand and punched twice more, and the wall collapsed. With ease, the Golem kicked the ice fragments aside and nodded to the students.
“The path is clear. I will have the rest disposed of soon enough, although the binding spell has already been broken.”
She nodded politely at Pisces and walked away. In silence, the students watched her go. After a minute, they began to file out, avoiding the jagged bits of ice.
Cessic paused after he’d cleared the broken ice wall. He put one hand against the stone wall, looking pale.
“I think I need to go have a lie down.”
Ceria and Pisces agreed with the sentiment, even if they weren’t so ill as Cessic. They slowly began to walk towards their rooms. Ceria stared at the broken ice, and wondered if she’d ever be able to match any of the beings who walked these halls.
—-
The two mages were tired after their small adventure, so they had agreed to take a brief rest before going to dinner. Ceria wanted to have a drink to wash away the stress, so they had agreed to find another party afterwards.
The funny thing about Wistram was that while all the mages studied magic, there was always at least one mage not studying and instead imbibing as much alcohol as possible. Something about rigorous and intense concentration brought it out in people, and the new students were only too happy to drink as much free liquor as possible until someone started throwing spells around.
But there was nothing in Ceria that really wanted to have a drink and relax. She stomped into her room, teeth clenched. She’d been in a bad mood all day, ever since she’d met Illphres. Now that she was alone, Ceria could give vent to her feelings at last.
“Aargh!”
She screamed as loudly as she could in her locked room. Ceria hurled her possessions around and then raised her finger and started shooting [Stone Dart] at one of the walls.
“That stupid—arrogant—mold-headed, sun-baked piece of tree fertilizer! That inbred—”
Shards of stone broke as the rapid stone missiles shattered against the enchanted stone. Ceria felt some fragments strike her and stopped as one cut her.
“Ow! Damn it!”
That just made her madder. She punched the bed, and then started ripping the covers and pillows off and stomping on them.
“Real mages? Real mages? I’ll show her a real mage! I’ll—”
She began kicking everything on the floor before she moved on to punching her bed and then a wall. Ceria let out her aggression on anything in sight—she normally found a quiet bit of forest to raise hell in when she was angry, but Wistram was extremely forest-deficient.
She’d always had a temper. As a child, Ceria could remember getting angry enough to burst and then chasing woodland animals around, punching foxes, biting sticks in half—
“Ceria? Ceria, are you okay? I hear noises.”
Ceria looked up, part of her pillow in her mouth. She spat out the feathers and called out, somewhat sheepishly.
“I’m—fine, Pisces. Sorry.”
“Ah, do you want to talk?”
“Um—”
A few minutes later, Ceria edged out of her doorway. Pisces only caught a glimpse of floating feathers and a very ransacked room before she practically chased him back into his room.
“Sorry about that. Did you hear—much?”
“No in so many words. Just…noise. I was concerned.”
Pieces offered Ceria his bed, since he only had one chair. She sat on it, and looked around. His room was different than hers; he had a large bed and an actual balcony on his, but besides that his room was very clear—almost austere. His rapier sat in one corner and Pisces had a few clothes in a pile on one side of the room, and nothing else.
“Nice room.”
“I shall take that in the spirit it was intended. I ah, notice you redecorated yours just now.”
Ceria grinned sheepishly.
“Sorry. Was I that loud?”
“Allow me to say it this way: you were audible through the stone. Was that ice mage that upsetting to you?”
The half-Elf shrugged, turning a bit red.
“It’s—okay, yes, she was. But it’s not just that. It’s just—I thought when I got here things would be different. I thought I’d learn magic, not get involved in petty…politics.”
