“I can see that. I was a boy when Primopolus’ magnificent tower fell over to crush part of the city. We all felt terrible for all the poor unfortunates caught in its path.”
“Have a seat.” I gestured at the finest of the stools Bognar had cobbled together out of scrap. You were supposed to offer your guests refreshments, but we were out of damned near everything. “Are you thirsty? We’ve got water. It’s from the canal rather than a globe, but it’s been strained and boiled.”
“I’m fine. Thank you.” Pivorotto grunted as he sat down. I wasn’t sure how old he was, but if he’d been a kid when the tower had fallen, that had been over fifty years ago, so I guessed he was about sixty. “All that walking’s hard on the knees. I’ve only been back in the Core for a couple of weeks. I suppose I got used to riding about on barges rather than marching everywhere. That said, I certainly don’t miss the endless, relentless, merciless heat of your realm constantly trying to snuff out my will to live.”
“I miss warmth.” I had no idea what brought such an illustrious man here, but I wasn’t about to ruin the opportunity. I pulled up a crate to sit on. “Is this about the Academy of Outcast’s request for a tester?”
“In a roundabout way, yes. My organization gets rather cross with those who can’t afford to pay us, but I must admit, when my fellow testers told me of your visit, I was intrigued. Of the legions I’ve given the test to, you stood out.”
“Going from a zero to a one, entirely self-taught, can’t be that unique.”
“It was more the audacity of your attempted bribery, followed immediately by your tragic death.”
“Oh yeah.” I had to chuckle. “About that…”
“I know, you faked your death at the hand of a Fire Elemental in order to break your contract, then somehow the rumor was that you were alive, but were a criminal who’d tried to assassinate Dardick Argent. All of Fogo was talking about it.”
“That was all a big misunderstanding. Me and the ambassador get along fine now.” Which was a bit of an overstatement, as I’d not seen the man since he’d written up the papers declaring us to be an officially sanctioned academy, while simultaneously cursing me for inconveniencing him and threatening me to not do anything which might give Fogo an even worse reputation than we already had. “We got that all worked out.”
“Good. Because later, the rumor in Fort Silver and among the barge cadres, was that not only was Oz Carnavon still alive and a free man in the Core, but now he was managing a magical academy for the brutal enforcer Gaul Haddar… While Haddar somehow went back to the Core and in the span of one day went up two ranks? The stories that came back through the gate were all very confusing.”
“Haddar won a duel against a mad rank ten who was the real assassin. Then he wanted to go back to hunting pirates, but before doing so, he declared the formation of an academy, as was his right as a newly appointed master wizard, and merely delegated the management responsibilities to me in his absence. We all look forward to his return. It’s all very standard really.”
“Uh huh.” Pivorotto looked around our haunted ruins, obviously too smart to buy in to my line of trogshit. “And where are the rest of your students?”
“They’re… on a field trip. They should be back soon.”
“And how many students do you have in need of testing services?”
“About a dozen. Well, it was. A couple of them left us and, sadly, two died… Yesterday.”
Pivorotto winced. “That’s unfortunate.”
“And to be perfectly honest with you, two more of our students are at the healers being treated for their wounds. I’m still not sure how we’re going to pay for that. It’s been a hell of a week, sir.”
“It sounds like Gaul Haddar’s academy has gotten off to a rocky start.”
“A bit. We do have potential, though.”
“Such potentialis what they always say during the funeral services of young mages after they tragically obliterate themselves. Do you have any instructors?”
“We’re still working on that.” Pivorotto had always struck me as a decent and honorable sort, so I wasn’t going to waste his valuable time trying to slap a coat of paint on a turd and try to convince him it was a nugget of gold. “To be perfectly frank with you, sir, all we’ve got is an official proclamation that we’re a school. We’ve got very little element to work with, no money, and this fine establishment you see around you, that we only got for free because nobody else wanted to be pestered endlessly bythe restless dead. Except now we’re beholden to the gang lord who rules this slum for letting us live and practice here. Our recent desertions and casualties are a result of us going on an adventure in pursuit of the rent. That’s just the beginning of our problems, as this morning has presented me with a deadline for another seemingly insurmountable challenge, and I shall not bore you further with my tale of woe… We do still need a tester, though.”
The old man seemed genuinely concerned for me. “This is quite the trial you’ve taken on here, Mr. Carnavon.”
“It’s never boring, I’ll say that. But with rank comes prestige and opportunity. In the off chance we somehow figure out our current problems, nobody was going to want to join an academy if they can’t rank up. The other testers showed me what your organization charges, and there’s no way we can afford anything even sort of approximating that. I got the distinct impression we’re beneath their contempt.”
“Don’t mind them.” Pivorotto waved one hand dismissively. “When the Council made getting our approval mandatory for everyone’s progression through the lower ranks, it was good for organized wizardry in general, and it was especially good for my guild’s business, but some testers developed an elitist attitude because of it. I feel we should be servants, not masters. My purpose is to help the talented reach their potential. Or in your case, the untalented, but fixated.”
I chose to take that as a compliment. “Thank you.”
“Tester Ritter gave you the standard rate, which is what we can soak the proper academies of the Collegium for. They can afford it. But each tester is an independent contractor, so we have some leeway in how we choose to spend our time. As long as we kick back a percentage of our labor, our guild is satisfied. That’s why I’m here.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Sometimes when we are contracted by poorer nobles to test their subjects for magical affinity, testers can agree to work for a pittance compared to our normal rates under an agreement that, should those ranked subjects grow in wealth or prestige, we will be compensated accordingly later. This provision is seldom taken advantage of, because most testers aren’t the gambling sort.”
“Are you?” I’d never heard of him frequenting the card tables around Fort Silver.
