First Apprentice

Chapter 24 Part 4

I raised my head in time to see a couple put on the same filthy clothing they wore before they entered the bath. "Training tunics and pants are in the cedar chest in my bedroom," I said. "Nightgowns, shifts, and robes are in the second wardrobe. They won't fit, but at least they're clean."

Closing my eyes, I sank into myself. Strands of foreign magic clung to my core like spiderwebs linking us all together. As I watched, dew beaded on them and they thickened as if strengthened by each sip of cruju.

Someone nudged my shoulder. My eyes creaked open. Wearily, I turned my head as Stefan nudged the teapot into view.

"Need another?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'll be fine. Where's Dev?"

"Asleep in the"—Stefan hesitated—"testing chamber?"

"A magic-neutral room for testing experimental seals. It eliminates a variable. Is their magic stable?" I asked, glancing toward my bedroom.

Stefan beckoned to someone behind me. Bare feet padded across the floor and stopped, but I didn't raise my head to identify them. Too tired. If they wanted to kill me, I'd hand them the sword and laugh at the poor fool who inherited my seat from the afterlife.

"Their base colors returned thirty minutes ago. Still some white, but they'll survive," a man whispered.

My shoulders slumped in relief. No deaths tonight. Now, to ensure we all survived the week and my gates thrived.

Mind spinning, I mulled over the present situation. Did the healer lie when he told Helen they were all transferred to Shedi or was he also misled? Then the gross misinformation in Kevin's file...Clansman, my ass. Based on aura alone, he was a Dracon lord with a class two dae's magic—a false lord. That wasn't apprentice-level magic; it was seven-level magic.

If Kevin's was so inaccurate they mislabeled a false lord a clansman, how accurate was the information on my other sealers? Could any of them handle a gate alone? Were they equipped with proper weapons? They arrived wearing muslin uniforms when the invoice clearly stated wool, coatless when I was billed for overcoats, and I didn't miss how the same dented tin cup returned to the cruju pot four times. If they lacked basic necessities, they likely lacked the necessary weapons and training beyond the academy basics.

"Whose in charge in Dev's absence?" I asked.

"You are," Stefan replied.

I sighed. "I am the master sealer tasked with the Central Keystone, a gate that's due an attack. My first duty is and always will be to my gates. I cannot and should not be in charge. I will sign forms as needed, do everything in my power to get you proper equipment and training, and even teach you my personal seals, but I won't lead." A decision that tossed tradition on the ground and stomped on it, but I stood by it. "Now, who is Dev's second?"

"Tylar."

"And he's?"

"Here," Tylar said, placing a name to the voice. "What do you require, apprentice?"

"We need to move the worst cases into the testing chamber so they won't be poisoned a second time if my magic spikes again. Bed and all," I added in answer to his unspoken question. "I need an inventory of everything in your packs, including fabric type and weight. A list of your weapons and their senteris percentage. Your actual sealer ratings, a list of gates you've summoned in the past, and your skill levels with both clan magics and weapons. Don't lie. Our office holds twenty-nine gates. If I overestimate your abilities and assign a gate you can't handle, you'll die.

"I'd also appreciate the names of the healer or healers who released you after the head healer told my guardian administrator you were all transferred to a hospital on Shedi, then the imbecile who ordered you to join me when you clearly require further healing, and finally the reprobate who issued you summer kits for a Skeleton Ridge winter."

Heads swiveled as they gave me their full attention. Their auras, many still showing black flames from the cruju, turned mottled shades of red, orange, and green—rage, despair, embarrassment, and perhaps hope.

My hand dipped inside my tunic and brushed the warm metal of my amulet. When I pulled it out, Stefan stiffened. Interesting reaction. I cataloged it for later inquiry as I rubbed my thumb over the surface, testing the different channels until I found the one I needed. Tylar's hand appeared out of the corner of my eye and grabbed my wrist.

"The Seven won't help us," Tylar said quietly.

"I know," I replied, grimly reflecting on how Terry ignored my requests for the guardian administrators he previously used to maintain the gates he assigned to me. The Seven wouldn't help. They'd hinder and drag their feet until my gates fell. Their oaths be damned. "My guardian administrator Helen is a different matter."

I pressed my magic into the amulet, flinching when it hooked underneath my eyes like a beginning migraine. Lovely sensation Endellion created. The more I used the seals she concocted during and immediately after the first war the more I agreed with Uncle Manfred. She definitely wasn't right in the head back then.

"Alannah?" Helen's voice sounded half-asleep, but her mind brimmed with questions, instantly awake. Opening my mind to the link, I flooded it with my memories of the last few hours. When I finished, Helen cursed roundly then the connection stiffened as if she'd mentally straightened her spine. "What do you need?"

"Blankets and a quire of the parchment used for remote orders," I replied. "Once I've officially lent the funds, place a bounty on my gates and offer a two-year guardian contract for a healer under Rainer's original terms. A blood oath enforced secrecy clause is non-negotiable."

"Salary?"

"Fifteen heads per year," I said, throwing out my own salary as a starting point, "with a fifty head budget for an infirmary that will be constructed to their specifications. I'm negotiable." Probably ten times the amount needed, especially if we built an infirmary subplane, but I'd rather allocate it and not need it than have to fill out all the paperwork to lend myself more gold. Once was bad enough.

"Give me an hour," she said, dropping the connection just as Stefan dumped a pack out on my table and began sorting through the contents, tallying items as he went.

"Want some help?" I asked.