And you’re not the one who has to hand it out, I told myself, sharply. You’re not a student any longer.
“Take us to the storeroom,” I ordered.
Robin turned and walked down the corridor. It looked strikingly natural — he didn’t look as though he were in a trance or fighting to resist a compulsion charm — but I kept a wary eye for other students and tutors anyway. It was the weekend and most of the students would be tormenting the townspeople, while their tutors took a break from tormenting them, yet there was no way to be sure. We’d spent quite a few weekends in the school, raiding the library or experimenting in the spellchambers or, in one case, sneaking into a prefect’s room and enchanting her bed to toss her onto the floor the moment she fell asleep. She’d deserved it too… it would be ironic, I supposed, if we were caught because someone was trying to follow in our footsteps.
The storeroom was locked and warded, but a prefect had free access. Normally. I braced myself as Robin pushed open the door, revealing row upon row of shelves crammed with everything from simple tools and weapons to complex magical devices that needed an enchanter to craft them from scratch and then infuse them with magic. The handful of protective charms inside the door were designed more to warn unwary students than keep them out, but we carefully probed their structure before taking the spellware apart. I was not surprised to discover alarm charms, hidden within the warnings. Professor Bodoh never missed a trick.
“Stand there and wait,” I ordered, pushing the door closed. “Void?”
Void stepped out of the shadows. “We have to hurry,” he said. “Boscha may or may not be here, but even if he isn’t someone is probably monitoring the wards.”
“Over there,” Himilco said. He pointed to a shelf. “Be careful when you bring it down.”
I nodded as I hurried to the wardstone and held out my hand, checking for unpleasant surprises. The school’s wardstones were unique, designed to hold a ward and then, when the student was done, have that ward swept away without damaging the wardstone itself. It was a remarkable piece of work, even though I knew they’d never be used to anchor a real set of wards. They’d suffice for us though, if we were careful. I tested the stone, and then the shelf, and then the surrounding air before carefully lifting the wardstone from the shelf and placing it on the table. It seemed to glow with potential, just waiting to be used. I marvelled at its size — no bigger than a football — as Void picked up a chest and placed it beside the wardstone. We had to hurry. Time was no longer on our side.
The chest was dull wood, lined with iron. I braced myself and cast a handful of concealment and containment charms around the chest, sinking them into the wood. They wouldn’t last for more than a couple of hours or so, but they’d suffice. There was no way to carry the wardstone out without setting off every alarm in the school, yet if it was concealed within the chest it should be undetectable. I hoped. It wouldn’t be easy for us to walk out with the chest, no matter what charms we used. But Robin could.
“Done,” I said, as I placed the wardstone into the chest. “Are you ready?”
Void nodded, raising his hand to cast spells of his own. “On three?”
I counted. “Three… two… one… now!”
The chest clicked shut. Void cast his spell at the same time, interfacing with the monitoring wards and convincing them the wardstone hadn’t simply popped out of existence. I didn’t know if they’d notice — if you got through the outer layer of wards, the inner layer had a nasty habit of assuming you had every right to be there — but there was no point in taking chances. If we were noticed before we left, we’d have to fight our way out and that might prove impossible. Himilco stood ready to quash the wards if they sounded the alarm… nothing happened. I hoped that meant they’d been fooled. There’d be no escape if they’d sounded a silent alarm instead.
They can’t, I told myself. We’d have sensed something even if there wasn’t an audio alarm.
I took a knapsack, checked it for protective charms, and slipped the chest into the leather bag. Robin would have no trouble carrying it out of the school and it was unlikely anyone would try to question him. Prefects didn’t like being questioned and they tended to hand out everything from beatings to detentions to anyone who dared. I muttered orders to Robin, telling him what to say or do if someone got in our way, then waited for Void and Himilco to obscure themselves again before we headed for the door and out into the corridor. It was still empty, but — when we made our way down the corridor — we ran straight into Professor Bodoh.
It took years of practice to keep from swearing, or cursing in both senses of the word. The tutors weren’t stupid, but decades spent under Boscha had made them very good at not seeing things they didn’t want to see. Professor Bodoh, on the other hand, was observant enough to notice the faint signs something was deeply wrong with Robin and powerful enough to do something about it. The three of us would be hard-pressed to take him, if it came down to a fight, and even trying would set off alarms throughout the school. Hamilcar wouldn’t have the slightest idea what had happened to us until it was far too late.
“Robin.” Professor Bodoh scowled. “Why have you not shown our guest to the door?”
“He wanted to see the classroom, sir,” Robin said. “He was…”
“I asked him to show me,” I said, quickly. “It hasn’t changed that much since I left the school.”
Professor Bodoh said nothing for a long moment, then shrugged. “I suppose I can’t really blame you,” he said. “But I would have shown you if you’d asked.”
“I didn’t want to bother you,” I told him. Professor Bodoh had had a nasty habit of snapping at anyone who disturbed him unless the matter was urgent. He’d once told us that urgent meant a matter of life or death. “Robin was kind enough to show me the classroom. Please don’t punish him for it.”
Professor Bodoh nodded, curtly. “Show him out,” he ordered Robin. “And then resume your duties.”
I tried not to exhale in relief as we resumed our walk. Professor Bodoh might have noticed something and then… I shook my head as we made our way up the stairs, passing a pair of students clearly looking for a place to make out and several more returning from town with sweets, books, and whatever else they’d been able to buy or extort from the townspeople. I wished, not for the first time, that there was something I could do about it. Sooner or later, our treatment of the townspeople was going to bite us. Hard.
The other two stayed close behind me as we walked down the road and through the gatehouse — and the wards. Sweat prickled at my back. The wards weren’t designed to stop anyone from actually leaving, not when the school wasn’t in immediate danger, but Boscha could have adjusted them on the fly if he’d realised what we were doing. I glanced back, feeling magic flow around the school. Boscha shouldn’t be grandmaster. It should be someone who actually gave a damn about his students.
“Well,” Void said. His voice was so low I could barely make out the words and only then because of our mental link. “That went well.”
“Stay quiet,” I hissed. “We’re not home yet.”
I kept walking. There were dozens of students around us, some on the roads and others running through the woods. I felt a flicker of pity as I saw a young boy running for cover, a trio of older thugs following him. They tripped and fell as they crossed the road, their faces striking the cobblestones hard enough to break noses and teeth. Void had hexed them, the spell so low-power it was barely noticeable. He’d always been the best of us when it came to casting such spells.