First Witch's Tale

It was hard for me to tell if I was getting any better, even as I mastered the art of casting spells so quickly I barely had to think about it. The lessons took their toll. He drilled me for two hours, then sent me back to bed; I collapsed into the sheets and then woke hungry, feeling as if I hadn’t slept at all, for morning lessons. I was surprised the other tutors didn’t thrash me for being inattentive in their classes. Perhaps Master Falladine had had a quiet word with them. Or perhaps not. It was difficult to tell what he really thought about me, and the lessons he was giving me. There were times when he was almost fatherly and times when it seemed he couldn’t wait to be rid of me. I suspected - I hoped - he was pushing me in a bid to force me to stretch my magic further than ever before.

The denouement came faster than I had expected. I had nearly fall asleep in Master Sake’s classroom, something that would normally guarantee me a thrashing with his belt. It was no idle threat. I had seen him thrash a student - a male student - for mouthing off and falling asleep in class was great deal worse. And yet he merely glared at me.

“Get more sleep,” he advised sarcastically. I was torn between relief and irritation. The boys already resented me. They’d resent me more if I got away with falling asleep in class. “What have you been doing after hours?”

“She’s been spreading for Master Falladine,” Cemburu said, nastily. “She hasn’t been sleeping with him. She’s been doing something else.”

The classroom went deathly silent. Even Cemburu’s cronies, who I would have expected to titter and laugh at their master’s joke, kept their mouths shut. It was so quiet I thought someone had cast a silencing spell, so quiet someone could hear a pin drop. I had no idea how many people had noticed I had been going to Master Falladine’s office after hours, but it was clear rumours had been bubbling for days, perhaps weeks, before Cemburu brought them into the open. And yet … I wondered, suddenly, just how bad the rumours would be for Master Falladine. If the staff thought he was sleeping with one of his students …

And until recently, that wasn’t even a possibility, I thought. But now …

I turned to face Cemburu. “You are a lying little shit.”

Cemburu smirked at me. “You are spreading for him,” he said. “Do you deny it?”

“I challenge you to a duel,” I said. I had the brief satisfaction of seeing a flicker of uncertainty cross his face before the smirk returned. “The gods will defend the right.”

“I could not possibly be such an unmanly buffoon as to accept a challenge from a … lady,” Cemburu said. The conceit in his voice made me want to hit him again. I couldn’t tell if he really meant it or if he was trying to evade the challenge. “As a man of honour …”

“As a man of honour, you must either accept the challenge or leave the school,” Master Sake said, coldly. “Janis is a fellow student. She has every right to be outraged at your ungentlemanly behaviour and demand satisfaction. So too does Master Falladine. If you refuse the challenge …”

I could practically see the sudden panic in Cemburu’s eyes. If he declined my challenge, it would be taken as an admission he was lying and he would probably be expelled. There was no way he could back down and apologise, not to a girl. It would secure my position at the cost of his own. His only way out was to win … and even then, no one would take it quite seriously because he had beaten by a girl. I smirked back at him. It pushed him over the edge.

“Tomorrow evening,” he said. “I trust you can make the arrangements?”

“The staff will see to it,” Master Sake said. It wasn’t the first honour duel the school had seen. “Until then, the two of you will be isolated from the rest of school. I suggest you spend the time practising.”

He summoned two older students, who escorted us to our rooms. I guessed Cemburu was pleased at finally getting a room of his own, even though it probably wouldn’t last. My thoughts churned as I lay down on the bed, wondering if I had done the right thing. I might win a challenge and yet … people would always talk. I knew from experience that nothing, not even a brutal beating, could stop people gossiping. The old men and women back home were still talking about events that had happened when my father was a lad, involving people who passed away before my mother had brought me into the world. I hoped Master Falladine wouldn’t be smeared, afterwards. But I feared otherwise.