Great Library of Summershall, Austermeer
Aug. 29th, 2019 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raisedbybooklice"Elisabeth!" a voice hissed. "Elisabeth!"
Startled, Elisabeth jerked upright, casting around until she found the source of the voice. Katrien's face peered out from between two nearby bookcases, her braid flicking over her shoulder as she checked to make sure no one else was in sight. A pair of spectacles magnified her dark, clever eyes, and hastily scribbled notes marked the brown skin of her forearms, their ink peeking out from beneath her sleeves. Like Elisabeth, she wore a key on a chain around her neck, bright against her pale blue robes. The key marked them both as apprentices, the pale blue was a sign of an archivist-in-training.
"Is something happening?" Elisabeth whispered.
"I think you're the only person in Summershall who doesn't know what's happening. Including Hargrove, who's spent the entire morning in the privy," Katrien declared, shaking her head.
"Warden Finch isn't getting demoted, is he?" she asked hopefully.
Katrien grinned. "I'm still working on that. I'm sure I'll find something incriminating on him eventually. When it happens, you'll be the first to know." Orchestrating Warden Finch's downfall had been her pet project for years. "No, it's a magister. He's just arrived for a trip to the vault."
Elisabeth nearly tumbled from her chair. She shot a look around before darting behind the bookcase next to Katrien, stooping low beside her. Katrien was so short that otherwise, all Elisabeth could see was the top of her head. "A magister? Are you certain?"
"Absolutely. I've never seen the wardens so tense."
Now that Elisabeth thought back, the signs from the morning were obvious. Wardens striding past with their jaws set and their hands clenching their swords. Apprentices forming clusters in the halls, whispering around every corner. Even the grimoires seemed more restless than usual.
A magister. Fear thrilled through her, like a note shivering up and down the strings of a harp. "What does that have to do with us?" Neither of them had so much as seen a regular sorcerer. On the rare occasions that they visited Summershall, the wardens brought them through a special door and ushered them straight into a reading room. She was certain a magister would be treated with even greater caution.
Katrien's eyes shone. "Stefan's made a bet with me that the magister has pointed ears and cloven hooves. He's wrong, naturally, but I have to find a way to prove it. I'm going to spy on the magister. And I need you to corrorborate my account."
Elisabeth sucked in a breath. She glanced reflexively at her abandoned desk. "To do that, we'd have to go out of bounds."
"And Finch would have our heads on pikes if he caught us," Katrien finished. "But he won't. He doesn't know about the passageways."
For once, Fince wasn't Elisabeth's greatest concern. "If the magister catches us," she said, "he'll do worse than put our heads on pikes."
"I doubt it. The Reforms made it illegal for sorcerers to kill people outside of self-defense. He'll just make our hair fall out, or cover us in boils." Katrien wiggled her eyebrows enticingly. "Come on. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me, at least. when will I ever get to see a magister. How many chances will I get to experience magical boils?"
Katrien wanted to become an archivist, not a warden. Her job wouldn't involve dealing with sorcerers. Elisabeth's, on the other hand...
A spark blazed to life inside her breast. Katrien was right; this was an opportunity. Wardens were not frightened of sorcerers, and the more she learned about their kind, the better prepared she would be.
"All right," she said, rising from her crouch. "They'll mostly likely take him to the eastern reading room. This way."
[NFB for pre-Fandom shenanigans. Taken mostly intact from Sorcery of Thorns, Chapter Two, by Margaret Rogerson.]
Startled, Elisabeth jerked upright, casting around until she found the source of the voice. Katrien's face peered out from between two nearby bookcases, her braid flicking over her shoulder as she checked to make sure no one else was in sight. A pair of spectacles magnified her dark, clever eyes, and hastily scribbled notes marked the brown skin of her forearms, their ink peeking out from beneath her sleeves. Like Elisabeth, she wore a key on a chain around her neck, bright against her pale blue robes. The key marked them both as apprentices, the pale blue was a sign of an archivist-in-training.
"Is something happening?" Elisabeth whispered.
"I think you're the only person in Summershall who doesn't know what's happening. Including Hargrove, who's spent the entire morning in the privy," Katrien declared, shaking her head.
"Warden Finch isn't getting demoted, is he?" she asked hopefully.
Katrien grinned. "I'm still working on that. I'm sure I'll find something incriminating on him eventually. When it happens, you'll be the first to know." Orchestrating Warden Finch's downfall had been her pet project for years. "No, it's a magister. He's just arrived for a trip to the vault."
Elisabeth nearly tumbled from her chair. She shot a look around before darting behind the bookcase next to Katrien, stooping low beside her. Katrien was so short that otherwise, all Elisabeth could see was the top of her head. "A magister? Are you certain?"
"Absolutely. I've never seen the wardens so tense."
Now that Elisabeth thought back, the signs from the morning were obvious. Wardens striding past with their jaws set and their hands clenching their swords. Apprentices forming clusters in the halls, whispering around every corner. Even the grimoires seemed more restless than usual.
A magister. Fear thrilled through her, like a note shivering up and down the strings of a harp. "What does that have to do with us?" Neither of them had so much as seen a regular sorcerer. On the rare occasions that they visited Summershall, the wardens brought them through a special door and ushered them straight into a reading room. She was certain a magister would be treated with even greater caution.
Katrien's eyes shone. "Stefan's made a bet with me that the magister has pointed ears and cloven hooves. He's wrong, naturally, but I have to find a way to prove it. I'm going to spy on the magister. And I need you to corrorborate my account."
Elisabeth sucked in a breath. She glanced reflexively at her abandoned desk. "To do that, we'd have to go out of bounds."
"And Finch would have our heads on pikes if he caught us," Katrien finished. "But he won't. He doesn't know about the passageways."
For once, Fince wasn't Elisabeth's greatest concern. "If the magister catches us," she said, "he'll do worse than put our heads on pikes."
"I doubt it. The Reforms made it illegal for sorcerers to kill people outside of self-defense. He'll just make our hair fall out, or cover us in boils." Katrien wiggled her eyebrows enticingly. "Come on. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me, at least. when will I ever get to see a magister. How many chances will I get to experience magical boils?"
Katrien wanted to become an archivist, not a warden. Her job wouldn't involve dealing with sorcerers. Elisabeth's, on the other hand...
A spark blazed to life inside her breast. Katrien was right; this was an opportunity. Wardens were not frightened of sorcerers, and the more she learned about their kind, the better prepared she would be.
"All right," she said, rising from her crouch. "They'll mostly likely take him to the eastern reading room. This way."
[NFB for pre-Fandom shenanigans. Taken mostly intact from Sorcery of Thorns, Chapter Two, by Margaret Rogerson.]
