Tempests and Slaughter. Tamora Pierce

on the shoulder. ‘Arram, what is it?’

      ‘I have a new class with Master Yadeen,’ he moaned in dismay. ‘Before breakfast!’

      ‘Hag roll the dice,’ Ozorne murmured. ‘Studying what?’

      Arram knew he must look as puzzled as his friends. ‘Juggling!’

      THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF CARTHAK

       The School for Mages

      The Lower Academy for Youthful Mages

      REVISED SCHEDULE OF STUDY, SUMMER TERM, 436 H.E.–

      SPRING TERM, 437 H.E.

      Student: Arram Draper

      Learning Level: Semi-Independent

      Second Morning Bell

      Summer Term – Juggling – Yadeen

      Autumn Term, Spring Term – Stones and Magic, Juggling – Yadeen

      Breakfast – Third Morning Bell

      Morning Classes

      Gems and Stones – Summer Term – Third-year student

      Religions – Autumn and Spring Terms – Third-year student

      Four-Legged Animals: Anatomy – Summer, Autumn, Spring Terms – First-year animal healer

      Language: Ergwae

      Lunch – Noon Bell

      Afternoon Classes

      Protective Circles – Cosmas

      Illusions: Objects – Dagani

      Basic Spellcraft – Summer, Autumn, Spring Terms – Fourth-year student

      Monkey, Orangutan, and Gorilla: Anatomy – Summer, Autumn, Spring Terms – First-year animal healer

      Supper – Seventh Afternoon Bell

      Extra Study at Need

       CHAPTER 6

       June 5, 436–March 18, 437

      ‘Inhuman,’ Arram moaned to himself as he lurched up the gently sloping path. ‘Should have – have stayed home with the family business. No friend keeping me up all night asking how I knew ’bout power if it was outside a shielded wall …’ He stopped for a yawn that made the hinges of his jaw crack. Then he turned down the roofed corridor that would lead him to the master’s workroom. Of course it was at the end of the walkway, past three gardens. Each had spraying fountains set in patterns of coloured stones. Arram would have loved to stick his head in a fountain to cool off – the sun had already turned hot, in only an hour! – but he had a long day ahead, beginning with Yadeen.

      The last workroom on the corridor was open. Arram found Yadeen leaning against the far wall. He always forgot how big the man was!

      He bowed. ‘Good morning, sir,’ he said nervously.

      Yadeen, wearing a loose pale linen shirt and breeches, nodded. He was turning something over in his large hands. Before Arram could guess what it was – it was small enough to be hidden in Yadeen’s grip – the master said, ‘Catch,’ and tossed it to him.

      The wooden ball hit Arram in the middle of the chest – not hard, but enough that Arram noticed it was there. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said as he fumbled and dropped the ball. He retrieved it. ‘I wasn’t—’

      ‘Catch.’ Yadeen calmly tossed another ball at him. Arram reached for it and dropped both that ball and the one he already held.

      ‘The idea,’ Yadeen said, ‘is for you to catch the first ball one-handed so you will be able to catch the second ball with your other hand.’ When he saw Arram glance around at the shadowy room, he said, ‘Let’s go outside, where we’ll have more light.’ He led the way to a patch of bare earth next to the building.

      ‘I don’t understand,’ Arram said when they halted. ‘What is this for?’

      Yadeen collected the balls from Arram’s hands and walked until he was fifteen feet away. ‘It is for concentration and coordination,’ he said, raising his deep, accented voice so Arram could hear. ‘Until you can fix your attention on one thing while your hands do another, you will be a very dangerous young mage, and not for the proper reasons. Catch.’

      Arram caught the first ball with both hands. This time he only missed the second ball, since he remembered to keep the first in one hand. ‘I’m sorry,’ he called.

      ‘Don’t apologize,’ Yadeen ordered. ‘Learn.’

      Through autumn, Midwinter, and into spring term, Arram, Ozorne, and Varice worked hard. Arram might have felt sorry for himself given the extra hour with the stern Yadeen in the mornings, but the same day that Arram began the study of juggling, Ozorne announced he was to apply himself to an hour of swordplay, on his mother’s orders. Varice, who never slept past sunrise if she could help it, decided to volunteer in the kitchens, in defiance of her father’s wishes. Unlike many of their fellows, the three never complained of trouble falling asleep.

      At Midwinter, Arram had the pleasure of buying more than trinkets for his friends. He got a fine pocket dagger for Ozorne and a carving knife of good steel for Varice. Each of them had obtained books that he had coveted all season but refused to buy, since he’d been saving his coin for presents. And for his birthday he got more gifts, not just from his friends, but from Masters Cosmas, Dagani, and Yadeen.

      ‘It is the custom for a master to do this for the student, but not the other way around,’ Yadeen said when he handed a package to Arram. ‘It is assumed the student needs every nit he can find, if not for now, when he has a stipend, then later, when he is on his own. Don’t bother to be grateful,’ he said when Arram opened his mouth. ‘I do poorly with gratitude. Open it.’

      Arram gently unfolded the beautiful blue-violet shoulder drape the master had used for wrapping – where he’d wear such an elegant garment he had no idea! – to find a polished red wood box, figured with dragons and griffins. He opened it to discover hand-sized balls, six of them, each different shades of reddish, brown, or black wood.

      ‘Juggling balls,’ he said blankly. He looked up at Yadeen and realized the master’s eyes were dancing. It was the first time he’d seen the man look humorous. ‘I don’t know what to say,’ he joked, keeping his tone flat.

      Yadeen clapped him on the shoulder. ‘I knew you would be pleased. Try them out before classes begin again.’

      Gifts from Cosmas and Dagani were books. Dagani’s was on great illusions, including one that was supposed to have lured all the world’s griffins out of the Mortal Realms and back to the Realms of the Gods. Cosmas’s book told of unusual mages: those who did not follow the normal path to a position as a teacher or a serving mage for a government or for a noble or royal house. Ozorne and Varice both leafed through it and shrugged, uninterested. They didn’t offer to show Arram the books they had received from Cosmas and Dagani, and Arram didn’t ask. He was too interested in his own books.

      If asked later, Arram would have said he didn’t remember the passing of the weeks. He did recall students from the Upper Academy lingering around Varice in the late afternoons. Arram was taking evening strolls through the halls with dark-eyed Sheni in January and early February, before she tired of his ‘headache-making big words.’ She left him for a student who hoped to be a healer when he reached the Upper Academy. It was just as well: Ozorne was bleak again and needed attention and reminders to take his medicine, as he had the previous spring.

      Varice ignored the older students. She made extra money giving new turns to spring garments for other girls, stitching on lace,