It was a short walk to the platform that held the massive harp, and Kilvic took his time covering it. Ariadne had succeeded in turning him from Moss’ idea the moment she’d asked him of its benefit. At that moment, he’d remembered something he’d always wanted to try since before leaving mount Trenon, and here was a splendid opportunity as any.
In Zeldric the art of performance was underappreciated. In truth, it was also underappreciated in a few other kingdoms. But it was worse here. Performances the likes of singing and the playing of instruments was at the heart of the kingdom of Almada’s belief however, where it was said to have originated from when the kingdom’s troubadours had migrated from its borders in search of newer audience who would marvel at their art.
As the saying goes: to be an Almadan is to be an artist.
Kilvic climbed the wooden steps to the platform, unnoticed by anyone but a few serving girls, the bartender,
When Kilvic arrived at his seat it was a while longer before the madness subsided. Many people came to their table almost immediately, offering their appreciation. Some spoke of a gratitude for being given the chance to hear something beautiful. A few people offered to buy him drinks and Moss advised that refusing such offers would be disrespectful. Kilvic had a feeling the boy just wanted more to drink. Still, he accepted the offers, receiving only drinks with the littlest of alcohol. And while the number of those who stopped by dwindled, and the tavern ran out of serving girls who hadn’t given him a note or two surprisingly bearing contents ranging from outright invitations to the free comfort between their legs to addresses and professions of sudden love, he wondered at how much longer they would stay.Kilvic and his companions stayed one more hour after his performance, during which he drank a cup of elderberry while Tudi watched him with open hunger and Ariadne wat
The air was cool with the teasing whisper of a promising winter when Kilvic and his companions stepped out of the tavern. The sun was still high in the sky, however, it was no confusion that they had lost some time. Kilvic tightened his hold on the bottle in his hand and turned down the tavern steps onto the sidewalk, and his friends followed.“I didn’t know you knew how to play the harp,” Moss said as they walked down to the nearest junction.Kilvic didn’t take his eyes of the road. “I know.”“Where did you learn?” Tudi asked.“Back home.”“It was a beautiful piece,” she said. “What’s the name?”“Clara,” Ariadne answered.Somehow Tudi had ended up beside Kilvic and Ariadne walked on the other side of the girl. Until now, she’d been busy ticking of a mental list on her fingers and frowning.“Just Clara?” Tudi
“…You were the one that chose him, remember?” one of the men with a scattered mop of hair on his head was saying. “We watched them, paid attention, and when you saw him play at the bar you chose him. ‘a boy that plays like that wouldn’t have much love for combat’ you said. Remember?” The man was frantic but the one that had led Kilvic’s quarry into the alley calmed him, then turned to the man in the jacket. “Were you followed?” “No,” Kilvic’s quarry answered. “How can you be sure?” “Because I used that running away technique you showed me,” he answered. “The one where I use the alleys and cross the roads. I don’t know why I had to do all that, I could’ve been here long sooner.” Then he turned to one of the other men, satisfied with his own answer, and asked, “What happened to your face?” The man questioned put a hand to his face then turned and drove a vicious kick into the side of one of the students lying on the floor, inciting a pained groa
Kilvic tapped Ariadne’s cheek, drawing her attention to him, and not just whatever she didn’t like about him. “I need your help Ariadne.” “Go fuck yourself,” she spat. “You never want anyone’s help, let alone my own.” He ignored her rage. “Well I need it now.” “Why should I help you?” “Because we’ll all die if you don’t,” he told her, soaking the words in sorrow and remorse. He could’ve gone over to Moss or Stratin, shaking them from the strong hold of the spell would be easier than shaking Ariadne; he knew them better. But they didn’t possess the skill she did, and he knew nothing about Tudi to help. He looked at Ariadne, eyes pleading. “Please, help me.” She ceased her struggling and looked at him with a frustrated sigh, but he could see she was now willing. “What do you want, mister Rudric?” He ignored the mockery in her voice. “A concordance spell.” “What for?” She looked at him, suspicious. “I won’t help you make Tudi pay
Morning found Kilvic and his friends in the headmaster’s office mere moments after their lesson under Haru’s tutelage. The morning was cold, and while winter was still weeks away, a month at the least, it could be tasted in the air.The room, walled in bookshelves, which though almost imperceptible, were covered in more books than the last time he’d been here, smelled of a type of incense he couldn’t name. The point of the summons was as clear as day. Deidrich, who now stood beside the headmaster’s chair, had come for them at some point during their training, and Haru had ended the lessons rather than release them to the guard’s care and have them miss any other thing he would’ve felt important enough to teach.‘And none of you recognize your captors?” Headmaster Skanriv asked for the second time since they’d entered his office, his old voice weary.Even now, Kilvic had not heard any question directed s
Kilvic’s time at the headmaster’s office caused him grave delay, and in order not to prove tardy to the second lesson of the day, Kilvic was forced to forgo his breakfast, crashing through a quick bath and a haphazard dressing.The lessons for the day proved a bore and a tasking ordeal, as linking sphere, the only class which he attended easily, wasn’t on the timetable for the day. He was forced to bull through the mental class, where the instructor continued to teach them how best to link with each other’s minds without corrupting their targets and themselves, which was all well and good when it was considered that the final test of the semester would involve linking with four students of their choice.Elemental class came immediately after, and like the one before it, Kilvic struggled to excel at the task required of them. Like the linking, summoning, and mind classes, it was the only other class where they actually indulged in practical exerc
Fyodan stood with one of the widest smiles on his face, topless and in Kilvic’s way where he stood a few feet from the door to the head student’s room, obstructing him and delaying his goal. “So tell me,” the hall representative was saying. “Do you think I’m pretty?” Kilvic swallowed his impatience. Being the last of his two friends to leave the training hall this morning, Haru had sent him to find the head student and give the boy a message. This had been his purpose for knocking on the door of a room he had been to only once before so early in the morning. Sadly, it was also the reason he was having to deal with another of Fyodan’s pestering. Gyra hadn’t been the one to open the door after his patience had begun wearing thin. And now Fyodan stood before him, topless, with a boyish grin. His hair was a disheveled mess and he still had his morning breath seeping through each word while he smelled of sex, but despite that, there was an appeal to his ap
The thought that an exercise in mind melding required a pen and a book was a tough concept to wrap his mind around. But the book before Kilvic was as unmistakable as the pain in his back from his morning lessons, and the pen, fueled with blank ink like burned wood twirled between his fingers, holding his focus.The instructor for the class was the same man who’d brought him to Skanriv’s office on his first day; the same man who’d been displeased for having been expecting him. That day, he’d looked mean and old in his robe and wrinkled frown but the first day he’d walked into the class and Kilvic had set eyes on him for the second time, he could have easily been mistaken for someone else. His smooth skin, the glint in his eyes, the smile always teasing his lips as if holding back the most exquisite of allusive jokes was the sharpest contrast to what Kilvic had seen. It was also the most perfected expressive lie he’d ever come across.