At the end of the hall was a huge door. On either side was a matching black stone statue, sculpted to be some kind of spikey, armored creature, roughly humanoid, but with bug-like features, and each had an extra set of arms. Two ended in hands, while the other ended in swords.
“Those are a lot uglier than the mermaids. What’re they based on? Because I’ll avoid whatever kingdom that race is from if possible!”
“Those aren’t artwork, dummy. Those are some of Master Carcalla’s security.”
One of the statues tilted its elongated face to the side to study me with its blank stone eyes. I knew very little about the golems, beyond creating them required several different elements and a very skilled enchanter, and that they could be very dangerous.
“I’ll remain on my best behavior,” I assured it.
“They don’t talk. I wish I could say the same for you. Have a seat and shut up. Carcalla should be here in a minute.”
The room reminded me a bit of Bargemaster Gax’s office on Barge 519, in that this was clearly a place for a commander to ponder important issues and then hand down orders, except it was bigger and nicer in every way. Which was appropriate, since Carcalla was managing a far larger operation than one little Red mining cadre.
When we walked in, it wassoftbeneath my socks, and when I looked down, I was surprised to see the entirety of the floor was covered in short brown fur.
“It’s called carpet,” Joran answered before I could even ask. “Saints alive, you are a fucking bumpkin.”
There was a gigantic round table in the center of the room, and detailed maps of all the Core City’s many districts on the walls. There were books everywhere. Hundreds of them. More books than I’d ever seen anywhere, except maybe in all the market’s booksellers booths I’d ever passed by combined. If these weren’t just a display of wealth, and Carcalla had actually read all of them, he must be a very smart man.
There was a desk at the end of the room, with a couple of leather chairs in front. Behind the desk was a big picture window, from which could be seen some of the city’s magnificent palaces and bridges magically suspended high above us, golden, and currently capped in snow.
Unlike this slowly sinking neighborhood, those splendid floating districts were still safely anchored in place by air magic. They were governed by the watch. We got gangsters. I was a bit jealous.
I sat on one chair. Joran had to pull the sheathed cleaver sword off his belt to fit between the armrests of the other. Having his sword already resting on his lap would also make it easier for him to swiftly strike me down should his master say so. I doubted that would happen, because this marvelous carpetthing was far too luxurious to risk soaking all my blood into it. The two wizards remained standing by the table behind us.
A moment later, I realized it wasn’t a window behind the desk at all, because the image shifted, and we were no longer looking at the Core City, but at some strange realm, where the sky was made of furious clouds and dancing lightning, with incredibly tall but thin mountains stretching upward. I could see the distant lights of civilization clinging precariously to those rocky walls.
“You like the window?”
It was incredible. “Is it some kind of far seer?”
“Don’t be a rube. There’s no seeing into other realms except for when that realm is aligned through the Nexus upon the Great Machine. Today’s the 18th. That’s the third Landay of the month, which means today the gate’s open to Tarklinberg on the Plane of Earth. While that image there is of Beskrajan, upon the Plane of Air.”
“You’ve been there?”
“Yes, to both.” Joran was well travelled for a gangster’s lackey.
“So, it’s an image recorded from sometime before, placed as an illusion upon this glass.” There were even droplets of rain collecting on the window. It vibrated in its frame along with the thunder. It really felt as if there was a violent storm right outside. “That’s an impressive enchantment.”
“And a not too uncommon one among those wealthy enough to afford one. How is it a man who’s got no magic himself knows more about magic than an ostensible wizard who’s supposedly running a magical academy? Seems a bit suspect to me.”
I didn’t take his bait. I’d only been in the Core for a few months, and before that, every spell I’d learned had been self-taught. There was no shame to be taken from my lack of learning, because I’d done the best I could with what wasavailable and created my own opportunity along the way. “I never claimed to be that skilled. I’m just a lowly student who is temporarily watching over Gaul Haddar’s academy until he returns.”
“Seeing as how Haddar’s been gone the whole time your academy has existed, it seems more your endeavor than his.”
The Outcast Academy had been my idea. I’d been the one who had saved Haddar’s life and helped get his promotion to rank-ten master wizard. In return, his last act before leaving through the gate had been to order the formation of an academy in his name, as was the right of all rank tens. But I wasn’t going to explain all that to this mouthy thug.
“The Nexus Council saw fit to make us an official academy, so we must be doing something right.”
Joran snorted. “It sure don’t look like it to me.”
“You should file a complaint with the Council.”
The two of us remained quiet for a long time, as the window changed again, now showing some kingdom covered in more plants and wildlife than I’d ever imagined. There were vast trees hundreds of feet tall, and a multitude of animals, colorful birds, and weird little furry things leaping between the branches. I didn’t know what any of them were because we had hardly any animals on Fogo, and the only animals I’d seen so far in the Core had been for labor or eating.
The door by the golems opened. Carcalla had arrived.
Joran leaned over and whispered, “By the way, you overconfident bastard, that dirt monster rampaging when we arrived? That’s the result of a minor Elemental spirit lingering from a previous spell getting bound to a new one, which twists up the formula. You’ve got to purge the area periodically to avoid contamination. You’d know that if you had a fucking clue what you’re doing.”
