Faculty of Fire Read online

  To be quite honest, I felt rather hurt. What was going on here? I’d been enrolled in the most prestigious educational establishment in the entire world, and no one seemed to give a damn. Not to mention the small circumstance of girls firing crossbow bolts at me in my own room. As if I was so gruesome, I had to be fought off with crossbows. Chas had gone missing at just the wrong moment too, and now I was desperately curious to find out whether he’d got into the Academy or not.

  All in all, I was feeling pretty annoyed with whole wide world, so I decided to take a doze. And I made an honest effort, but the very moment my head touched the soft pillow, a stone hit the window. From the way the glass rattled, I reckoned it must be more of a cobblestone than a pebble.

  I warily opened the window a bit and glanced out. It was completely dark outside, but I still spotted a very familiar-looking figure with broad shoulders standing in the shadow of the house.

  “Chas, is that you?” I asked in a whisper.

  The figure stepped out of the shadow into the light of the nearest streetlamp.

  “No, it’s some other halfwit with nothing better to do than hang around under your windows,” Chas replied loudly. “Would you like me to sing you a serenade or recite a few love poems?”

  “What in the name of a dragon was that?” I asked just as loudly. “Couldn’t you find a bigger stone? My ears are still ringing.”

  “I’m sorry,” Chas answered, without the slightest hint of regret in his voice. “Only it wasn’t a stone, it was my shoe. There’s not even any dust round here, never mind stones. That’s life in the city centre for you,” he added, with a slightly envious air.

  “Big deal,” I grunted as I climbed out the window. “But then, I can’t even set foot outside the door after eight in the evening. If they realise I’ve gone out, they’ll comb the whole city until they find me. So stop shouting, will you.”

  Chas stepped back into the shadow and kept quiet.

  Amazing.

  I climbed down and dusted myself off, then tiptoed past the windows and joined Chas. I should mention that it really was very difficult to find any dirt in the centre of the city – the streets were kept clean by special spells developed by the faculty of earth.

  “Well then?” I was finally able to ask. “Did you get in?”

  Chas would clearly have liked to act mysterious for a while, but he couldn’t manage it, and he smiled happily instead: “Easy as pie. No sweat.”

  That was pretty much what I’d been expecting.

  “Congratulations,” I said sincerely, shaking him by the hand. “I never doubted it. Now you’ll study the unknown, learn the unknowable and all the rest of it.”

  “Aha,” said Chas, still with that stupid smile on his face. “I still can’t believe it. You should have seen the faces of those Craftsmen when I told them it was the second time I’d taken the test. Let’s go to the Golden Half Moon, everyone who got into the Academy is getting together there. There’ll a little party to celebrate and some official ceremonies.”

  I nodded in agreement and we darted past the windows of my house and set off along the street in the direction of the Golden Half Moon Club.

  The club was a gathering place for … well, for all sorts. The huge building had plenty of accommodation to offer, and there were plenty of takers, but not too many. The Golden Half Moon was a pretty pricey spot, if you got carried away, it would cost you an arm and a leg. The average inhabitant of the city couldn’t even afford to buy a beer there, never mind a dinner for two or more. And never mind the cost of a protective medallion to ward off the night’s predators.

  Like all the other buildings in the centre of the city, the club was almost completely made of gold (or, at least, covered with it). It was shaped like a half moon, or maybe more like the letter C. The entrance was located right at the very centre, on the inner side of the curve. Another distinctive feature of the Golden Half Moon was that it was almost the only single-story building in the entire city. The houses of the Great Families were two or three stories high, and in the slums they built skyscrapers of five or even six stories. Dozens of pretty large families were squashed into these immense beehives to save space. I can’t even imagine how people can live like that.

  As we left the yard of my house, we ran straight into a patrol of guardsmen. Naturally, today they were particularly zealous, but they left us alone once they spotted my (very slightly creased) Great House suit. No one wanted any trouble with the Great Houses.

  But on the way to the club we saw the guardsmen stopping and searching everyone they thought looked even slightly suspicious. We watched as they dragged several men off to the jail for further investigation. The municipal guard used to be a lot more tactful in the way it did things, but after the latest attempt on the life of the Emperor they really cut loose. There were raids in nearly every section of the city, and the guardians of the law became far more quarrelsome than they used to be. But all that didn’t affect the aristocracy.

  A couple of streets further on, we reached the Golden Half Moon Club. There was a crowd of people at the entrance, all very respectable-looking. Famous people from the arts, merchants and members of the Great Houses—all wearing protective medallions. I sighed when I realised how long we’d have to stand in line, but my fears were groundless – instead of the main entrance, Chas led me to one of the side doors. There was a member of the Academy standing beside the inconspicuous entrance, and I was surprised to see that no one was even trying to slip past him and jump the queue. Even the haughty members of the Great Houses patiently waited in line without trying to take advantage of the open door.

  When he saw my expression of surprise, Chas explained: “This is the entrance for the new pupils at the Academy. Can you believe they’ve booked a separate hall for us!”

  That really was hard to believe, after all, even I could only afford to book a table for two if I saved up for it beforehand … for a couple of weeks. I’d only ever been here once before, when I earned my first degree in the Art and, typically enough, I didn’t pay anything and I hardly ate anything either.

  “No kidding,” I declared rather vaguely.

  “Just play it cool,” Chas whispered as we stepped towards the door for new pupils. “If they ask, you got in too. Anyway, I’ll do all the talking.”

  The person standing at the door was dressed in dark blue, which meant he was one of the best senior pupils in the Academy. Chas approached him first, gave his own name and nodded in my direction: “He’s with me.”

  “I’m afraid this door is only for the new pupils.”

  I moved closer, to get a better look at the speaker.

  “Ah, hi there, Zach.”

  Looking closer, I recognised the senior pupil as my acquaintance Nick.

  “Hi,” I greeted him cheerfully. “Still working, I see.”

  “Believe me, this is pure relaxation,” Nick assured me, and added in a whisper: “This is your last free evening before months of hard graft at the Academy, so better make the most of it.”

  I was about to ask what he meant, but Chas tugged impatiently on my sleeve and we stepped through into the Main Hall of the Golden Half Moon club. Not simply the main hall, but the Main Hall. There’s a huge difference. I’ve never been in the Emperor’s reception hall, but even that probably couldn’t compete with the size and luxury of this space. There was an incredibly long table standing right in the middle, and in the corners there were smaller, more modest tables for about fifty people each. The walls were covered with gold and precious stones, and they positively glittered in the light of the lamps.

  My jaw dropped as I gaped at all this magnificence, and so did Chas’s. There was so much food piled up that I almost started drooling when I remembered I hadn’t eaten anything all day, apart from a scanty breakfast and three meat pies. The tables were almost all completely occupied, but people were still arriving, so many of them had no choice but to stand by the wall. I knew some of them, including my aunt, who had s
omehow managed to get here before Chas and me. But the gods be praised, she hadn’t noticed us yet.

  My attention was focused on the table standing in the far corner, because that was where the Craftsmen were sitting. And they were all Higher Craftsmen in grey livery and Teachers in red (the Teachers could always be recognised from their black belts). One of the Higher Craftsmen was my uncle.

  “You’re a sly one,” Chas said when he recovered his wits, and jabbed me in the side with his elbow. “On first name terms with senior pupils of the Academy. Next thing you’ll be taking tea with Higher Craftsmen.”

  I almost snickered out loud. After all, I really had drunk tea with Romius and he really was a Higher Craftsman. What a shame I couldn’t shock Chas with that – Romius and I had agreed that I wouldn’t tell anyone about our conversation.

  “Don’t exaggerate, he’s just an old acquaintance of mine,” I replied. “So, where shall we sit?”

  “Anywhere at all,” said my friend, with a wave of his hand. “At this stage it makes no difference. Only at the end of the evening, the new pupils will stay here on their own, to listen to the welcoming address from the Director of the Academy.”

  “You mean the Director of the Academy is sitting here somewhere?” I asked in surprise, looking round the hall.

  Chas looked at me as if I was an idiot: “Are you crazy? As if he had nothing better to do with his time. He’ll drop in for a couple of minutes at the end of the evening to give his speech. He’s got far more important business to deal with.”

  Chas spoke as if the Director of the Academy wasn’t a person of flesh and blood, but some kind of god.

  At this point my wandering gaze unfortunately came across Liz. I immediately pretended I hadn’t noticed her, but it was too late, she caught my eye and waved to me.

  “Hey, lads!”

  “Ugh, may a dragon take her,” I snorted.

  “We’ve been spotted,” said Chas, annoyed. “Now we’ll hear all about how great it is to be a Craftsman and what a shame it is you didn’t past the test. Some people just enjoy getting up other people’s noses.”

  We set off toward the long table with martyred expressions on our faces. Liz and a girlfriend were sitting there with a group of well-groomed aristocrats. From the expressions on their faces, you might have thought they were in some ordinary little snack bar, not the finest establishment in the golden city.

  “I feel really sorry for your infantile psyche,” Chas whispered to me. “But if you do get the urge to beat anyone, hold back for a couple of hours at least. I have to try all this free food before we get thrown out.”

  “Okay,” I replied quietly. I was feeling a little bit irritated too.

  We walked over to the jolly little group, wishing very much that they would all go to hell. Of course, we didn’t say that out loud, but the thought was clearly written on our faces.

  “Good evening, dear friends,” Chas declared in a grotesquely happy tone of voice. Noticing several empty chairs beside the girls, he asked. “And why are such beautiful girls sitting all alone?”

  “Because they’re a pair of stupid fools!” I almost blurted out.

  “Ah, our beaus have gone to say hello to the senior pupils sitting in the next hall,” Liz answered, with a hint of pride in her voice.

  “How charming,” said Chas, clapping his hands and putting on an absolutely stupid expression of delight.

  Liz turned her gaze on me.

  “How did you manage to get through the queue so fast?” she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

  “I’m glad to see you too, dear heart,” I said, forcing a smile.

  “I heard that you got into the Academy,” Liz’s girlfriend said, making eyes at Chas for all she was worth. He was actually slightly embarrassed.

  “Yeah,” he said and then (wonder of wonders!) he blushed.

  I could sympathise. My ex-girlfriend’s girlfriend was remarkably pretty, with red hair and a snub nose and also, surprisingly enough, a very wily, knowing look in her eyes. To meet a girl like that in Liz’s company was pretty miraculous, and Chas had obviously decided not to let the chance slip.

  “We haven’t been introduced,” he said, gallantly kissing her hand.

  I had the sudden feeling that my presence was no longer required, but Liz was clearly not that perceptive.

  “This is Nathalie,” see announced. “The daughter of Alexandrius Mitis, the Emperor’s new junior counsellor.”

  Hey now! This girl was obviously my social superior! Never mind Chas, whose family were merely the owners of the port of Mesk-Deino, which just happened to be the only one in the Empire of the Elirs. Ah, yes, and a few butcher’s shops in Lita. But all that didn’t even come close to making Chas the equal of members of the Great Houses – after all, it wasn’t a matter of wealth. Ancestry – that was what was really mattered!

  “Charmed, I’m sure,” Chas said breathily, gazing deep into Nathalie’s blue eyes. She lowered them in embarrassment and blushed.

  Hmmm, if a girl of her social standing could still blush, then it really was worth paying some attention to her. And the red-haired couple would look really good together.

  “How about you, Zach?” asked Liz, turning her attention back to me. “What are your plans for the future?”

  “Take the vows and become a monk,” I said, handing her the reply I’d prepared beforehand.

  Without really thinking why, I compared my ex-girlfriend with my recent acquaintance, who had such terrifying fangs and the most beautiful smile in the world. Liz was the loser on every count. I wondered if the winner and I would ever meet again.

  “I’m serious,” Liz persisted. “What are you going to do with your life? What can you do, apart from that music of yours?”

  I was beginning to get angry. Music was not something to be criticised, it was sacred.

  “I think that’s something you wouldn’t understand,” I said, as calmly as possible.

  I can’t stand it when anyone makes slighting remarks about music, especially about mine. Of course, Liz knew that, and she’d said that on purpose. But why?

  I pulled myself together and smiled: “How about you, Liz? What are you going to do?”

  “I shall devote my life to my beloved husband,” she replied.

  “Is that because you haven’t learned to do anything worthwhile?” I blurted out. I couldn’t help being delighted with such a shrewd answer.

  Liz started fuming, but the storm passed over – three few young men emerged from the crowd and came walking towards us. They were obviously the same young men who had gone to bow and scrape to the senior pupils.

  All three of them were wearing gold tuxedos. Oh, that terrible fashion …

  “Hello there, my love,” said the skinniest one, walking up to Liz.

  Chas and I glanced at each other in amazement: “This scarecrow is her future fiancé?”

  But then, everything was suddenly made clear.

  “Let me introduce you,” Liz said in a loud voice. “This is Nathalie’s brother, Angel.”

  Yes, that made it clear why she was dating him and why an enchanting creature like Nathalie was sitting in a group like this.

  “And this is Nigel and Lens, Angel’s friends and adepts of the Academy.”

  Chas and I both nodded in greeting.

  “And this is Zach and Chas,” said Liz, nodding at us. “I told you about them.”

  “Only the truth, I hope?” asked Chas, with a playful glance at Nathalie.

  My friend studiously ignored the fact that broad-shouldered, blond-haired Lens had stood beside the red-haired girl and put his arm round her shoulders. That is, Lens looked broad-shouldered beside me, just as I looked broad-shouldered beside Angel, but he looked very ordinary beside Chas. Not even the Great House golden tuxedo helped. Chas was wearing a silver one (the colour of the rich families).

  “Pleased to meet you,” skinny Angel said for all three of them, although the expression on his face looked anythi
ng but pleased.

  “You’re looking a bit crumpled,” Lens remarked, casting a disdainful glance at my outfit, which really was rather grubby. “Did you come in via the attic?”

  I disregarded his comment.

  “Chas and I have things to do …”

  “I’m talking to you!” said Lens, raising his voice.

  Chas looked up from studying Nathalie and peered at the big guy with blond hair.

  “Zach, did you hear something?” he asked, pretending to be surprised.

  “No, did you?” I said with a yawn.