Chapter 47: Chapter 46

There was a lot of hushed whispering going on to make sure Malk didn’t overhear them. He was on the far side of the room by the door, but it was better to be safe. He could bring the whole plan down before it even got started. Fortunately, the man had to sleep just as much as anyone else, and he commonly slept on the same schedule Analia did.

Their basic plan was simple. They would leave more or less the same way Nym had gotten in, by sneaking by the guards using his scrying spell and flying out through a window. Analia would prepare a pack with clothes and valuables they could pawn, plus any hard cash she could get her hands on. Nym would be in charge once they left, and they would go straight to the mages guildhall as soon as the sun came up, before anyone noticed they were missing.

There were so many ways it could go wrong, but there weren’t actually a lot of options. Analia wasn’t getting out of the house without Malk, and there was only so much she could take with her without it becoming suspicious. Trying to lose him in the city was a bad bet, so they settled on stealth and disappearing before anyone could bring her back.

Nym wasn’t really comfortable with the amount of risk he was taking in the plan. If they got caught, Analia would get in trouble, but he could be executed for kidnapping a noble. The fact that she was leaving voluntarily probably wouldn’t factor into that decision. He tried to keep in mind the rewards if they succeeded. Analia’s money would make his life significantly better, and more importantly, her shared knowledge would finish rounding out his foundation so that he could begin creating his own magic instead of scrambling to steal scraps from books.

All he had to do was pull it off and get them both out of town.

* * *

“What are you studying tonight?” Bardin asked. “That doesn’t look like magic.”

“I needed a break from magic,” Nym explained. “I mean, I’ll have years to learn all of that, but there are so many other topics here. I wanted to read about something else.”

“And you chose… geography?” Bardin said, his brow furrowed as he looked at the title on the spine of the book.

“Also some history. I wanted to see if the names and places meant anything to me.”

“Any luck?”

Nym shook his head. “I’ll keep trying.”

Bardin tapped a finger against his chin as he thought. “If you’re looking for triggers to lost memories, it would probably help to have more recent study material. That country you’re reading about, Saldoral, doesn’t even exist anymore. It dissolved thirty years ago when the Korshic Empire successfully blocked all their trade routes in an attempt to starve them out. They were both shipping highland silks, but Saldoral had the better market share and better land to produce them.”

Bardin recommended Nym a few books that had historical information on events that had happened in the last few years, which Nym gladly switched to. In truth, he was looking for the next destination, and finding out that the country he was considering didn’t even exist anymore was a rather large problem.

 Analia left early, merely stating that she was tired of studying every night and wanted to relax. Bardin waved her off and returned to grading papers, which seemed to be going about as well for him as it had the night before. And Nym was left to his own devices, within reason.

After an hour, Bardin set aside his work and set down across the table. “Nym, can we talk?”

“We are talking right now,” Nym said, not looking up. He was afraid of having a conversation with the man. Bardin was more perceptive than he let on. He might already know about their escape plans somehow, or maybe he was ready to push the contract finally. Either way, Nym wasn’t going to like this conversation.

“I’m going to have the contract for you to look over tomorrow, but I wanted to go over some stuff tonight, get a feel for what you’re looking to get out of all this. That way, any last-minute changes can be made before I give you the whole thing.”

Nym tried not to show any reaction. Of the two biggest possible topics, this was the safer one. He was leaving in the next six hours, so all he had to do was play along. He could do that. Analia’s words from lunch came back to him. Bardin already had the contract ready, and he knew Nym was reluctant to sign it, so this was another pass at making it more palatable, an attempt to convince Nym that it was the best deal he’d ever get and would be worth all the years of servitude.

“Well alright,” he said, putting the book aside. “I guess first let me start by thanking you for letting me stay here this past week. I think I’ve gotten a lot more out of it than you have.”

“It’s been no trouble at all. You’ve provided some unique insights into alternative ways to do magic and honestly, I’m still scratching my head over your telekinesis spell. It’s worth it to have you here just so I can keep trying to crack that one.

“But let’s talk about the future. I understand that it’s intimidating to sign on for something for so many years, but maybe it would help to reframe that. You’re going to go to one of the most prestigious schools on the continent to learn magic from experienced and powerful mages who have decades of experience as instructors. A magical education really does not get much better than this. That’s the immediate benefit.

“After that comes the work. I want you to understand that we don’t expect you to slave away every second of the day for the house’s benefit. Mages do important work, and you’ll be paid a monthly stipend. Think of it as having a job waiting for you as soon as you finish your studies.”

Nym wondered if that stipend was even a fraction of what he’d make on his own. It didn’t matter. Even if they were offering three times that much, he still didn’t want it. He wanted freedom. He needed it. Nym refused to be tied down, beholden to anyone, forced to do someone else’s bidding. He might make an agreement, and he’d honor his side if he wasn’t coerced into it, but he was never going to be someone else’s servant.

He didn’t really know why he felt that way. Lots of people answered to someone. Kids answered to parents. Workers had bosses. Nobles ruled over all of them. The king, if this country had one, he wasn’t really sure, told the nobles how it was going to be. Or maybe it was a council, or the church. It didn’t matter who was in charge. The point was that Nym wasn’t going to voluntarily place himself under anyone else’s power. He was a free agent.

“That does make it feel better,” he lied. “Where did your team land on length of time?”

“It’s flexible. We’ve got a few paths for you to take through the Academy depending on what you want to specialize in that we need someone for. Some take longer than others, so of course they cost more. The shortest one we came up with is fifteen years, highest is twenty-three.”

“And that’s years after graduation, right?”

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“Correct.”

“Would I be staying here?”

“That depends on what the house needs. You might end up on assignment somewhere, though of course the Feldstal family is based in Abilanth, so this is where you would return to after finishing a job. We will of course be covering the cost to keep you fed and housed, no matter where your work takes you to.”

It wasn’t a horrible deal, all things considered, but it wasn’t what Nym wanted. All he could say was, “I think I understand. I’ll have to read over the actual contract to see if I have any more questions.”

“Great!” Bardin stood up and clapped a hand onto Nym’s shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it then. Enjoy learning about… uh… the Republic of Galthala? Nym, no offense, but your skin is a little light to be associated with them. And they are not friendly towards foreigners. Maybe look for memory triggers a bit closer to home.”

“Right. Thanks.”

Finding a new place to live was harder than he thought it would be.

* * *

The hardest part about sneaking out was the guard who spent all night in front of his door. Nym silently laughed to himself as he used the mind scrambling spell he’d learned ‘just in case’ almost immediately. It only worked for a few seconds, but that was all he needed to slip away.

Nym wasn’t completely clear on the aftereffects of the spell, other than that they weren’t permanent. It was designed to make someone groggy and unfocused in a combat scenario, so that they couldn’t defend themselves, and he knew that the guard would understand something was wrong once he snapped out of it. He just didn’t know if the man would realize what happened and set off an alarm.

Not willing to risk it, Nym sped along through the air. He was back in his old clothes, though he did have one set of the nicer clothes they’d provided him stashed away in a bundle he’d made by piling everything up on a shirt, folding it over, and tying it together with the sleeves.

All of Analia’s clothes had the anti-scrying runes stitched into them, which meant he couldn’t be sure she was at the agreed-upon meeting point. He would just have to show up and hope she’d made it. If not, he’d wait for a little bit, but one way or another, he was leaving before the sun came up.

After so many days of staying in the manor house, Nym was extremely familiar with its layouts and had a passing notion of the guard check points. They mostly avoided the personal quarters of the nobles, with only a few stationed here and there so as not to be walking around making too much noise. That did mean it was off-limits to Nym, but when he’d asked Analia how she was going to get out, she’d told him that was her problem and not to worry about it.

Nym made it to the fourth floor without getting caught and slipped into the parlor they’d arranged to meet in. “Empty,” he muttered under his breath. Of course, she still had a few minutes before their designated time, but he’d been hoping she’d be there and waiting.

He floated up to the ceiling and hid in the corner by the door, hoping that if anyone poked their head in to look around, they wouldn’t think to look up. Long, tense minutes went by as the meeting time came and went, and just when he was about to give up, the door creaked open and Analia stuck her head in.

“Nym,” she hissed, “Are you in here?”

“Yes,” he whispered back.

She jumped and looked up. “Why are you on the ceiling?”

“In case someone who wasn’t you looked into the room.”

“That’s… a good idea, I guess. Are you ready?”

“You’re late! I’ve been ready for ten minutes.”

She entered the parlor, hauling a large trunk behind her that floated on a cushion of air. Nym stared at it, aghast. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t bring that much stuff with you!”

“It’s not optional. All the money is in there, plus my clothes, and some books we absolutely need to have.”

“How are you going to fit that through the window?” he said.

She looked back at the trunk, a look of dawning comprehension on her face. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

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