Mirror Image (Schooled in Magic Book 18) Read online

  Mirror Image

  (Schooled in Magic XVIII)

  Christopher G. Nuttall

  Twilight Times Books

  Kingsport Tennessee

  Mirror Image

  This is a work of fiction. All concepts, characters and events portrayed in this book are used fictitiously and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 Christopher G. Nuttall

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

  Twilight Times Books

  P O Box 3340

  Kingsport TN 37664

  http://twilighttimesbooks.com/

  First Edition, November 2019

  Cover art by Brad Fraunfelter

  Published in the United States of America.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Prologue

  “AND NOW THAT WE HAVE EXHAUSTED all the trivial matters we wished to discuss,” the Chairman said, “we should turn our attention to the news from Heart’s Eye.”

  Grandmaster Gordian of Whitehall let out a sigh as the table came to attention, attendees straightening up as it dawned on them the committee was finally going to move on to something important. The Educational Committee rarely did anything useful, beyond reaffirming the status quo. The really important decisions were discussed in the back chambers, compromises hashed out and deals struck before the final decision was presented to the White Council as a fait accompli. Gordian himself had been tempted to decline the invitation to the council, even though he had a permanent seat at the table. It was ironic that the person who had finally given the council something useful to do was the same girl who had been the bane of his existence during his first two years as Grandmaster.

  Not a girl, not any longer, he reminded himself. She’s a young woman.

  “Ten years ago, Heart’s Eye was invaded by Dua Kepala, a necromancer,” the Chairman said, as if no one in the room was familiar with the story. “He held Heart’s Eye as his own personal fortress until Lady Emily killed him and reignited the nexus point, claiming Heart’s Eye for herself. By both law and custom, we could not take the building from her. Attempts were made to convince her to gift the school to its former owners, but they were unsuccessful.”

  “Naturally,” Professor Hector muttered, brushing his brown hair out of his face. He was a dumpy man who wanted to be more than he was, but never would be. Everyone knew he’d be a disaster if he were trusted with any position of responsibly. “Who would surrender something so valuable?”

  Gordian nodded, tightly. Heart’s Eye was literally priceless. The school alone was worth more than anyone, even the White Council, could reasonably pay and the nexus point... no one in their right mind would give it up, not for anything. A source of near-infinite power was beyond price, even if the owner could barely tap into its limitless potential. And, given what Gordian knew of Emily’s activities, it was quite likely that she could tap into its potential. Why would she give it up? He found it hard to imagine anyone wanting to give it up.

  “It has since become clear that Lady Emily and her supporters intend to open a university”—the Chairman stumbled over the unfamiliar word—“which will encourage the study of both magic and something she calls science, the source of the New Learning. Heart’s Eye will become the home of this... establishment. The Old Boys League has apparently accepted her decision and has offered her their assistance, in exchange for a presence at the school...”

  Professor Hector held up a hand. “They’ve conceded defeat?”

  “They’ve conceded that a presence at the school is better than nothing,” Gordian put in. “And who can blame them?”

  Hector’s eyes narrowed. It was against tradition, but... what choice did they have? Heart’s Eye had been ruined, the surrounding region devastated. Even if the Old Boys League had been gifted the school without any quibbling over the price, they might have found it impossible to restore the school to its former glory.

  “I can.” Hector glared around the table. “I read the statement, the call to pens and parchment. They’re flying in the face of tradition by denying apprenticeships, and...”

  Gordian kept his face impassive as an argument broke out. Hector had a point. Traditionally, students who wanted to gain their masteries apprenticed themselves to masters, serving them in exchange for a formal education. It made a great deal of sense, particularly in the more dangerous fields of magic. An apprentice could be given the kind of one-on-one education that was simply impossible in a school, where each teacher might be responsible for multiple students. It also made it easier to screen out students who couldn’t be trusted with such magics, although Gordian knew it was far from infallible. Despite everything, too many secrets were outside the White Council’s control.

  And yet, it also limits the number of trained masters, he reminded himself. There might be something to be said for expanding the apprenticeship program...

  He dragged his attention back to the table as the Chairman banged for order. “She is young,” the Chairman said. “But she is in possession of the school.”

  “And possession is nine-tenths of the law,” Gordian reminded them. “She has a nexus point. She cannot be dislodged by force.”

  That didn’t go down well. Another argument broke out. Gordian sat back and waited, trying to determine where everyone stood. It was difficult to be sure. Gordian had no doubt the White Council would rule against Emily, if pushed. He also had no doubt that the council would find it impossible to enforce any ruling. Emily had a nexus point and enough knowledge to use it. His brow furrowed as a thought struck him. He, perhaps, was the only councilor who knew just how formidable Emily could be with a nexus point under her control. Everyone else would assume—and they’d be quite right, bearing in mind what they knew—that it would take her time to master the power. But they would be wrong. Devastatingly wrong.

  And the law is clear, he thought, grimly. Anything taken in honest combat becomes the property of the victor.

  His frown deepened as the argument raged on. Lady Emily might not realize it, but she had more allies than she knew—and people who would back her
because an attempt to seize the school would also fly in the face of tradition. The Gods alone knew how many fortunes had been built on something taken in combat. They would all be at risk if the White Council set a terrifying precedent by seizing Heart’s Eye.

  The dispute grew darker. Magic flickered through the air. Gordian braced himself, wondering who would cast the first hex. Too many councilors had too much wrapped up in the affair for it to end lightly, from the councilor who’d studied at Heart’s Eye to the councilor whose distant grandfather had won his fortune in a series of carefully-planned duels. Power started to build, a couple of magicians muttering spells to carve protective wards. Things were slipping out of control...

  “I think we have to admit something, right from the start,” he said, as if he were addressing a bunch of rowdy students. He rather felt that his students would be better behaved. “Lady Emily has possession of the school. And there is no way to take it from her, not legally.”

  “Not legally,” Professor Hector repeated.

  “And if we try and fail to take the school illegally,” Gordian asked, “where does that leave us?”

  “She’s lost her powers,” Professor Hector snapped. “She may not even be able to get into the school.”

  “Rumor claimed she lost her powers,” the Chairman said. “However, there are over a hundred eyewitness accounts of her defending herself against an assassination attempt at the Faire. I doubt she could have fooled everyone into believing she still had her powers, if she’d really lost them. The reports made it clear that she used a whole string of spells...”

  “They could have been faked,” Professor Hector insisted.

  Gordian snorted. He’d read the reports very carefully, from the first suggestions that Emily might have lost her powers to the final eyewitness accounts. The former were vague, crammed with innuendo and loaded with wishful thinking; the latter were cold, precise, and attested by some of the most respected magicians in the community. Gordian doubted they could all be fooled—and there was no way they could be fooled without magic. Emily might as well pretend to be alive.

  “And the only way to fake such spells would require the magic to cast such spells,” he said, dryly. “It seems a little pointless, doesn’t it? Why would she bother?”

  He went on before Professor Hector could think of another objection.

  “Furthermore, we have what seems like a workable compromise. Emily will build her university. It will, inevitably, take on the characteristics of a school. She will discover, as many have before her, that it will be difficult to train masters without one-to-one tuition. She may lay the groundwork for their education, but she will be unable to complete it. Her students will seek out masters so they can finish their training. And, in the meantime, the New Learning will continue to spread.”

  Professor Hector huffed. “Is that a good thing?”

  “Yes.” Gordian disliked Emily—he admitted as much, privately—but he had to admit she’d done a lot of good. Who would have thought that something as simple as phonic writing could change the world beyond recognition? The Old Guard might sniff at any change, but Gordian was prepared to embrace anything that would make his life easier. “The New Learning has already done wonders for us.”

  Professor Yael—a tall woman with more interest in theory than actual magic—leaned forward. “We still don’t know what actually happened at Heart’s Eye when the school was invaded. Do we?”

  “No,” Gordian said. Heart’s Eye should have been able to hold out forever, even against a necromancer. That it had fallen suggested... what? Treachery? Or... or what? There had always been strange rumors about Heart’s Eye, rumors suggesting that Schoolmaster Edmund and his staff had spent half their time researching magics rather than teaching, but none of the stories had been proven. If the Old Boys League knew something about what had actually happened, they’d kept it to themselves. “We may never know.”

  Or Emily may be in for a surprise when she reopens the school. Gordian couldn’t imagine something that could collapse the wards from the inside, not without direct access to the nexus point, but... he admitted, freely, that imagination wasn’t one of his strong points. He’d never had the mindset for theoretical magic. Who knows what she may find in there?

  He shook his head. Emily had walked into Heart’s Eye when it had been controlled by a necromancer. If she could handle that—if she had survived something that would have daunted an older and wiser magician—he was sure she could handle whatever surprises might have been left behind by the Schoolmaster. And besides, Dua Kepala himself had lived in the school for nine years. He’d had ample opportunity to remove any booby traps... if, of course, he’d bothered. Dua Kepala had been surprisingly sane, for a necromancer, but by any reasonable standards he’d still been dangerously irrational. He might simply have sealed up a number of sections and left them alone.

  “We may have to rely on Lady Emily to tell us,” the Chairman said. “If she ever finds out...”

  “We may never know,” Gordian repeated. He’d want to know if there were something that could take down a set of invulnerable wards. Whitehall’s wards weren’t that much stronger. “But it’s also beside the point.”

  He cleared his throat for attention. “I think we have no choice but to wait and see what happens. Emily will find it harder than she thinks to run a school, let alone a university. It’s possible that someone will find a way to ease her out of her position, or even convince her that she doesn’t want it. And who knows? She may even do a lot of good.”

  “Hah,” Professor Hector muttered. “She’s your student.”

  “She was my student,” Gordian confirmed. “And that has given me some... insight... into her personality.”

  He kept his face impassive with an effort. There were a great many things around Emily that simply didn’t make sense. She was... odd, by any reasonable standard. She’d turned the world upside down, time and time again. She was a genius... and yet, there was something weird about the countless innovations she’d introduced. Gordian couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was there. It didn’t make sense. Emily herself simply didn’t make sense. She wasn’t what he would have expected from the daughter of a Lone Power.

  “We wait and see what happens,” he said. “There’s nothing else we can do.”

  “True,” the Chairman agreed. “And, if she does run into trouble, we can offer her our support.”

  “And she will,” Professor Hector predicted. “It... demeans us to play court to a slip of a girl.”

  “We have no choice,” Gordian said. “And if she learns a few hard lessons through trying to do everything herself, so much the better.”

  Chapter One

  THERE WAS MAGIC IN THE AIR. Too much magic.

  Emily took a long breath as Frieda led her through the city gates and into Celeste. Her senses were overwhelmed, almost blinded by the constant surges of magic all around her. Street performers roared and chanted, putting on performances for the city’s children and their families; shopkeepers warded their shops against intrusion while, sneakily, casting spells to entice the curious to inspect their wares. Hundreds of people, almost all magicians or bonded servants, thronged the streets, wearing everything from wizard robes to flimsy outfits that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Arabian Nights. And yet, the city was oddly muted. Nearly everyone used some privacy spells to keep their conversations to themselves. Emily found it a little disorienting.

  She gritted her teeth as the sense of pressure grew stronger, even though it wasn’t aimed at her. Her senses had sharpened in the last few days, as her body and mind struggled to embrace her magic again. She’d lost her magic for a handful of months, barely long enough to come to terms with the prospect of being powerless for the rest of her life, but it almost felt as if she’d never had magic. She remembered learning how to use her magic, of course, but then she’d been at Whitehall. She’d been allowed to grow into her powers at her own pace. Now...

  I�
��m the deaf woman who suddenly discovered she could hear at a rock concert, Emily thought, wryly. And the noise is deafening even if it’s great that I can hear.

  She smiled as they walked past a series of stalls, each selling the same potions ingredients. The owners waved at her, trying to convince her to stop and buy something—anything—from their wares. Emily had worried, the first time, they’d recognized her personally, before realizing they were doing it to everyone. She didn’t stand out in a crowd, not in Celeste. As far as the shopkeepers were concerned, she was just another customer.

  A trio of bondservants walked past her, wearing collars to indicate their servile status. Emily shivered, despite herself. She’d been told that most bondservants sold themselves into slavery, putting themselves in bondage to ensure their families would have a decent life, but she’d never believed it. The collars held more than just obedience spells. It would be very hard for someone to take the collar off, even if they were a trained and experienced magician. She doubted a mundane could do it at all. Someone could be forced to don the collar and then... she shuddered. They’d be enslaved for the rest of their life.

  And no one would give a damn if their master broke whatever agreement he’d made, she thought, sourly. Who cares about a slave anyway?

  She glanced up, sharply, as a street performer stepped into their path. “Hey, pretty ladies,” he said, with a smile that sent a shiver down her spine. “Come and see what I can do for you?”

  He cast a spell into the air. An image of Emily appeared in front of him. Emily studied it for a moment, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. He was trying to impress her, but honestly... she’d mastered such spells in her very first year. It wasn’t that hard to find out what she looked like from the rear. Alassa had taught her the spells when it became clear, to her, that Emily didn’t have the slightest idea how to take care of her appearance. It was something she’d never dared do before coming to the Nameless World.