Archer of the Lake Page 2

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  Caelfel had remained by Feraan's side for the majority of the day. ?She left only when Mother called for dinner for the fourth time, and only then because Father had stuck his head outside to rush her along. ?She had eaten her dinner so quickly it had made her stomach turn. ?Her parents noticed her impatience but they did not ask about it. ?When she had finished, they let her leave without question.

  But by the time she had rushed out to the garden again, Feraan had disappeared. ?This should have been good news because it probably meant he had awoken and felt well enough to leave. ?But Caelfel was disappointed; she had wanted to talk to him.

  "Caelfel?" ?Her father was a tall, greyling elf with a voice like smoke and ash. ?Eviat Gyssedlues was an old elf to be sure, much too old to marry her beautiful mother and much too old to have such a young daughter. ?His age had not stopped him from accomplishing either feat, and Caelfel always felt he had a special store of love, which was reserved solely for doting on his daughter. "He's gone," Caelfel muttered to herself as Eviat stepped up beside her.

  "Who is?" he asked.

  Caelfel took a single sideways glance at her father and, remembering her actions had been a serious crime, decided not to implicate her parents on the matter if she were discovered. ?"Nothing," was her answer.

  "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Eviat asked.

  Once more, it took a moment's hesitation for her to remember the significance of tomorrow.

  "Are you prepared?" he asked when she had said nothing. ?"The College of Sal'Sumarathar only accepts new students every fifty years."

  "I know that, Father. ?If things do not go well, there is always the College of Yamalvon."

  Eviat gave her a curious look. ?"Do you plan for things to not go well?"

  Caelfel wondered what the Council did to elves who committed treason and figured that expulsion from magical academia was the least of her concerns. ?Caelfel imagined herself being thrown into the fiery pits of Mount Ormr. ?Or maybe an execution would be something as simple as a public beheading. ?Caelfel was disturbed to find she accepted the mental images of her death with a cold indifference.

  "I have no such plans," she answered at length.

  "You will make me proud," Eviat mused with a distant smile. ?Caelfel wondered what her father thought of the most hated elf of Honey Water.

  "I hope so."

  She decided then that the best thing for her was to get as much rest as she could for her exams the next day but as she tossed in her bed, Caelfel found that sleep eluded her that night. ?She wondered if she was prepared for her exams and how Feraan fared. Then she speculated when the Council would discover her crime, and every time Caelfel heard an odd sound in the night, she thought the militia had come to take her.

  But no militia came, and sleep remained elusive as ever.

  Eventually sleep found her, only to be swiftly chased away by the watery light of dawn. ?She dressed in a short time, belting her long, silver-threaded blue shirt at her hips. ?The air in her bedroom was chilled, so she donned her cloak as well. ?Even so, Caelfel felt completely naked without her amulet. ?She didn't dwell on this and, pausing only to give her parents a brief hug, hurried out of the house to make it to her exams.

  The College of Sal'Sumarathar was built like a fortress and stood at the furthest edge of the city. ?It had its own magnificent gardens that boasted of every known plant, foreign and domestic, the one exception being the flower to make poison antidotes. ?It was a respectable school of magical academia and certainly comparable to the college in Honey Water's capital Yamalvon.

  The headmaster of the college was a patient sort of elf named Nimuath. ?Caelfel's mother Sylaera had studied with him when she first enrolled in the college. ?He was there to greet the masses that had come to apply. ?Since the College of Sal'Sumarathar only accepted students every fifty years, the selection process was hailed as a celebrated event. ?Caelfel was unsurprised to find a large crowd pushing their way to the front gate. ?Headmaster Nimuath was there to greet them all individually.

  Already, the selection was a matter of filtering. ?Nimuath looked each entrant over carefully, allowing some inside but sending many more away. ?Caelfel shoved her hands nervously into her pockets and found she could not meet Nimuath's eyes when her turn had come and she stood before him.

  "Caelfel Gyssedlues," he greeted her. ?She raised her eyes to see him smile. ?"Your mother was a powerful mage indeed. ?I sense she has passed her abilities to you. ?Please enter."

  The sudden elation and relief made Caelfel feel dizzy. ?"How can you tell? ?You've only just met me."

  "When you have studied magic as long as I have, you become sensitive to another's power. ?Your aura is green, by the way." ?He winked and ushered Caelfel through.

  She passed the gardens, cheeks numb from the late winter cold. ?Caelfel hurried through the grand entranceway where she had seen others go. ?When she was inside, she saw that the entrance hall to the college was made of elaborate stonework. ?Gems of all colors, both polished and uncut, decorated the walls with large deposits and thin veins. ?A stone dais sat in the center of the room, and on it was a round gem as large as a tree. ?It was smooth as marble, and colors seemed to shimmer beneath its surface. ?Caelfel felt a strange urge to touch it but when she noticed the others standing in the room, she suppressed the urge.

  They were all silent, all waiting for the selection process to end and for their exams to begin. ?The room was circular, so there was no corner for her to hide in. ?Instead she chose a space that did not put her too close to the other elves and waited as they did. ?Within an hour, a few more elves joined them in the room followed lastly by Nimuath. ?The doors shut behind him, and Caelfel heard locks falling into place.

  A quick estimate told Caelfel there were only about forty, perhaps fifty elves in the room. ?Of them, Caelfel only recognized Winwaloe from the hunting party the day before, and Daerad, son of Sal'Sumarathar's Head Councilor and Caelfel's childhood playmate. ?Daerad was the second youngest elf of their city, the first being her. ?Over the years, they had grown distant from each other until, finally, their personality differences severed any bond they might have had.

  Headmaster Nimuath strode to the gem centerpiece, circling it to address them all. ?"The College of Sal'Sumarathar teaches two branches of magic-the mundane and the auric. ?Each branch of course has their own fields. ?To be considered for acceptance, your examinations focus primarily on your auric abilities, as the aura is the measure of an individual's magical capabilities. ?Each of you passed the selection process because of your auras. ?Please understand, every elf is born with one, but that does not mean they all possess the same strength. ?I choose only those I felt could safely perform the magical tasks that would be assigned to them.

  "As a precautionary warning, you should all be aware that one's aura is not infinite. ?To perform any sort of magic requires a varying amount of energy, and while energy can recharge itself, it can also be depleted. ?If you are not cautious, it is quite possible to kill yourself while casting spells."

  Many of the prospective students exchanged nervous glances with each other, and Caelfel was one of them. ?One she-elf across the room from her with a tall frame and long, copper hair did not look the least bit concerned. Caelfel tilted her head curiously at her, but either the she-elf did not notice her gaze or simply chose to ignore her.

  Nimuath stopped his circling and continued. ?"The stone you see behind me is called the Eye of Ewyn. ?It can store, give, or steal auric energy. ?This will be how you take your examinations. ?I will call upon each of you one at a time, and the Eye of Ewyn will test your worth. ?You will either pass or fail. ?We will go by age, oldest first and youngest last."

  The she-elf with the copper hair was selected first, and the rest of them were herded into another, smaller room. ?Caelfel thought it looked to be an empty classroom. ?A greyling named Nadeth Kennyratear stood guard at the door. ?Caelfel knew him because he was friends with her father and she had been to hi
s house once as a youngling. ?Now she recalled Eviat mentioning that Sir Kennyratear taught at the college. ?If he recognized her among the crowd, Sir Kennyratear did not show it.

  "What's happening?" someone asked when gold light began seeping through the cracks of the door.

  "She is being tested. ?All of you will have your turn," Sir Kennyratear promised. ?The gold light fluctuated with strength, waning and waxing. ?After an hour of the light show, it disappeared entirely, and Nimuath opened the door to their holding place.

  "Next."

  Each elf was different. ?There were red lights, blue lights, and a multitude of other colors. ?Some lasted several minutes, occasionally an hour, while others only lasted a few seconds before Nimuath called for the next entrant. ?Caelfel lost track of how long she had been waiting for her turn.

  Eventually, only three of them remained-her, Daerad, and Winwaloe. ?But then Nimuath came for Winwaloe, leaving her and Daerad. ?Winwaloe's light was blue but very brief. ?Nimuath returned less than a minute later for Daerad, and, predictably, Caelfel was the last, waiting alone for her turn. ?Sir Kennyratear was with her of course, but with his silence, she might as well have been by herself.

  Daerad's light shone brilliantly white and continued for a while. ?She wondered what became of Winwaloe and suspected that the color of light she produced would be green, since Nimuath had told her that was the color of her aura.

  Caelfel waited and waited, picking at threads on her cloak or at her fingernails, and finally, when Daerad's light was extinguished, Nimuath came for her.

  "Miss Gyssedlues." ?She followed him to the room with the Eye of Ewyn. ?He put a hand on her shoulder as he gave her instructions.

  "You will put both hands on the stone, and it will measure the extent of your aura to the point where you will fall unconscious. ?You will be taken to the infirmary until you awake and are told your result. ?While you are touching the stone, the Eye of Ewyn will show you images. ?These images may be from your past, present, future, or they may mean nothing at all. ?Only you can see what the Eye shows you, and everyone sees something different. ?Do not be afraid. ?You will not be harmed. ?You may begin whenever you like."

  Caelfel stood in front of the stone, entranced by the waves of color shifting inside it. ?She reached with both hands and felt its warm surface.

  For a moment, all she saw was emerald green light, but then the light faded to the peripherals of her vision, revealing a wolf taller than any elf she had met. ?Darkness swallowed the image of the wolf, leaving a cold chill in its wake. ?Then the darkness gave way to show a house, an elvish house. ?The vision showed her where to find it outside of Sal'Sumarathar but nothing more of its mystery.

  The house disappeared within the wingspan of a raven that flew to the towers of an icy fortress that Caelfel had never seen before. She felt very cold at the sight of the tundra landscape.

  Then Caelfel noticed a face that melted the ice fortress into a great lake. ?The face was hidden from her, so Caelfel replaced it with another face from her memory. ?But before she could focus on the new visage, everything fell away to blackness as Caelfel passed out.