Before we landed on the American Isles, history entered a dark period for the circle. The Earth was shown to not be a flat circle at all, but a sphere of questionable regularity. The celestial planets were proven to move in ellipses, further weakening belief in the divine circle.
Then we discovered Rithmatics.
In Rithmatics, words are unimportant. Only numbers have meaning, and the circle dominates all. The closer one can come to perfection in its form, the more powerful one is. The circle, then, is proven to be beyond simple human reasoning. It is something inherently divine.
It is odd, then, that something man-made should have played such an important part in the discovery of Rithmatics. If His Majesty hadn’t been carrying one of Master Freudland’s new-style pocket watches, perhaps none of this would have ever occurred, and man might have fallen to the wild chalklings.
The chapter ended there. Joel sat in the empty workshop, back against the wall. A few thin ribbons of sunlight crept through the windows above, falling through the dusty air to fall in squares on the floor.
Joel flipped through the pages of the old tome. It came from the journal of one Adam Makings, the personal astronomer and scientist of King Gregory III, founder of Rithmatics. Adam Makings was attributed with discovering and outlining the principles surrounding two-, four-, and six-point Rithmatic circles.
The book came from Joel’s father’s collection, and was apparently quite valuable, since it was a very early copy. Why hadn’t Joel’s mother sold it—or any of the books—to pay debts? Perhaps she hadn’t known the value.
The book contained Makings’s theories on the existence of other Rithmatic figures, though he’d never come to any definite conclusions. That last part, however, proved more interesting to Joel than any other.
If His Majesty hadn’t been carrying one of Master Freudland’s new-style pocket watches, perhaps none of this would have ever occurred, and man might have fallen to the wild chalklings.…
Joel frowned, flipping to the next chapter. He was unable to find anything else on the topic of the pocket watch.
Very little was known of how King Gregory discovered Rithmatics. The church’s official position was that he had received the knowledge in a vision. Religious depictions often showed Gregory kneeling in prayer, a beacon of light falling around him and forming a circle marked with six points. The inside cover of the book had a similar plate in the front, though this one showed the vision appearing in front of Gregory in the air.
Why would a pocket watch be involved?
“Joel?” A feminine voice rang through the brick hallways of the dormitory basement. A few seconds later, Melody’s face appeared in the open doorway to the workshop. She wore a book bag on her shoulder and had on the skirt and blouse of a Rithmatic student.
“You’re still here?” she demanded.
“There’s a lot of studying to—” Joel began.
“You’re sitting practically in the dark!” she said, walking over to him. “This place is dreary.”
Joel looked around the workshop. “I find it comforting.”
“Whatever. You’re taking a break. Come on.”
“But—”
“No excuses,” she said, grabbing his arm and yanking. He let her pull him to his feet. It was Wednesday; tomorrow was the Fourth of July and the inception ceremony. There was still no word from the vicar about whether or not Joel would be able to attend, and the Scribbler had yet to strike again.
Many in the media were claiming Inspector Harding’s lockdown to be a success, and the last few holdouts on keeping Rithmatist students away were giving in.
Joel didn’t feel their same relief. He felt like an axe was hanging over them, just waiting to fall.
“Come on,” Melody said, towing him out of the basement and into the afternoon light. “Honestly, you’re going to shrivel up and turn into a professor if you don’t watch yourself.”
Joel rubbed his neck, stretching. It did feel nice to be out.
“Let’s go to the office,” Melody said, “and see if the vicar has sent you anything yet.”
Joel shrugged, and they began walking. The days were growing warm, New Britannia humidity rolling in off the ocean. The heat felt good after a morning spent down in the workshop.
As they passed the humanities building, Joel eyed a group of workers busy scrubbing the building’s side where the phrase “Go Back to Nebrask” had been scrawled two nights ago in the darkness. Harding had been furious that someone had managed to penetrate his security.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done by members of the student body, Joel thought. There had always been tensions between the rich, non-Rithmatic students and the Rithmatists.
Melody saw it too. “Did you hear about Virginia and Thaddius?”
“Who?”
“Rithmatists,” Melody said. “Students from the class ahead of us. They were out yesterday after church services. Ran into a mob of men who chased them and threw bottles at them. I’ve never heard of such a thing happening.”
“Are they all right?”
“Well, yes.…” Melody said, growing uncomfortable. “They drew chalklings. It made the men scatter in a heartbeat.”
Chalklings. “But—”
“No, they don’t know the Glyph of Rending,” Melody said quickly. “They wouldn’t have used it if they’d known it. Using that against people is quite a sin, you know.”
“That will still be bad,” Joel said. “Stories will spread.”
“What would you have them do? Let the mob catch them?”
“Well, no.…”
The two walked, uncomfortable, for another few moments. “Oh!” Melody said. “I just remembered. I have to stop by Making Hall.”
“What?” Joel said as she spun about.
“It’s on the way,” she said, adjusting the shoulder strap on the book bag and waving him along.
“It’s on the other dusting side of the campus!”
She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. “What? A little walking is going to kill you? Come on.”
Joel grumbled, joining her.
“Guess what?” Melody said.
Joel raised an eyebrow.
“I finally got to move on from tracing,” she said. “Professor Fitch is having me work from a pattern now.”
“Great!” That was the next step—drawing the Rithmatic forms from a small design to use as a reference. It was something Melody should have mastered years ago, but he didn’t say that.
“Yes,” she said with a flip of the hand. “Give me another few months, and I’ll have this Rithmatics thing down. I’ll be able to beat any ten-year-old in a duel.”
Joel chuckled. “Why do we need to drop by Making Hall, anyway?”
Melody held up a small folded note.
“Oh, right,” Joel said. “Office deliveries.”
She nodded.
“Wait,” Joel said, frowning. “You’re doing deliveries? Is that why you came down to get me? Because you were bored doing deliveries alone?”
“Of course,” Melody said happily. “Didn’t you know that you exist to entertain me?”
“Great,” Joel said. To the side, they passed Warding Hall, where a large number of staff members were moving in and out.
“The Melee,” Joel said. “They’re getting ready for it.” It was coming up on Saturday.
Melody got a sour look on her face. “I can’t believe that they’re still holding the thing.”