Vainglory 3.15 - Adept Thorn

Well, here we are a third of the way through book three, and I've sprung our first alternate POV on you. I have a lot I want to show about Haley, and I think things have gotten to the point where we need to see some of it through her eyes. Obviously, this is still Ward's story; he's still the main MC, but I hope we've all come to like Haley enough that we can read a chapter from her perspective now and then.

Hope you enjoy!

Plum

15 – Adept Thorn

Ward stared at the display of his brand-new hemograph; only two values had changed since the reading he’d taken earlier inside Doctor Croix’s shop, easy to spot because his previous values were displayed in brackets:

Accumulated Mana: 312 [0]

Anima: 43/100 [12/100]

“I pulled a lot of mana off that sorcerer’s body,” he said, looking up at Grace, who was still focused on the display.

She nodded slowly, smiling. “That’s nothing, though. Even after I used some of your anima, you’re almost halfway to full again. This is amazing, Ward!”

“Yeah.” Ward was still absorbing the fact, still coming to terms with the idea that spirits were a definite thing. All his life, like most people on Earth, he’d wanted to believe it. He’d wanted to have faith in…something. It almost felt like cheating to know—to look at a readout and measure the magical energy that could send his spirit out of this existence and onto a new one if he died. Wasn’t that the whole point of religion—faith? Did it make him somehow less-than to know something that other people had to believe without evidence?

“Having an existential crisis?” Grace asked, nudging his shoulder.

“Kind of.” Ward sighed, shaking his head as he closed up the hemograph. He tucked it safely into his satchel and then stood. “Well? Should we go and figure out what this key opens?”

“Yep! Or do you think we should wait for Haley?”

Ward shook his head. “Nah. I feel like this is a little urgent; I don’t want someone else to get to Thrund’s spellbook, and who knows what Haley’s gotten up to. She’s probably still flirting with Fitz.”

***

Haley waved to Fitz as she walked down the lane away from his family estate. He stood at the gatehouse, watching her go, with a silly smile on his face. As she rounded the corner and couldn’t look back at him any longer, Haley clutched the little list he’d written, occasionally looking down at the neat, almost flowery penmanship. He was so proper, but it was refreshing. Being with Fitz almost made her feel like her life had taken a different turn, that she’d never gone into the catacombs and, instead, had continued her education and allowed fine young gentlemen to court her.

It was a fanciful idea, and she knew it was just a distraction, but she enjoyed the little dance anyhow. She liked how Ward made space for her and Fitz to be alone; it made her feel like something was going on, even though there really wasn’t. Looking at the list again, she reminded herself that she had other interests, anyhow; she wasn’t upset with the road she was walking. It was just that sometimes it was fun to pretend there was a different path—romance, frilly dresses, strolls through flower gardens, fancy dinner invitations…

Haley laughed, shaking her head. “Stop your dreaming, silly.” She was feeling light and good; two hours of Gopah and then a visit with Fitz tended to do that. Gopah—that was what the list was for. Fitz had found her the names of the major schools but also the name of a master who only taught privately. When he’d mentioned the woman, Master Rose, Haley had been instantly intrigued. Another woman! It shouldn’t matter, but she’d never had a female instructor. What would she be like? Would she have a different temperament?

Then there was the name—Rose. Like Masters Elm, Stone, and others Haley had heard of, it was a name out of nature, though decidedly more feminine. When she reached the corner of two major streets, she approached a town watchman and said, “Excuse me, sir.”

He looked down at her and gave a double-take when he saw her pale, silvery eyes. Haley had grown used to such reactions, so her smile didn’t falter. “Need something?”

“Would you point me in the direction of West Gable Avenue?”

“Gable? Turn on Yandow Road—that’s the next one on the left up there. Go up the hill, and then you’ll see Gable. Look at the numbers to see which way you ought to go.”

“Thank you, sir!” Haley smiled, pleased by how easily it came to her. As she meandered up the lane, she wondered about that. Was she making so much progress on her corruption? All she’d really done was spend hours upon hours doing Gopah. Even Master Stone hadn’t expected her to be so successful. He’d thought she’d need to reach the master tiers herself before she could begin pushing the corruption out. Master tiers! She never thought she’d realistically be able to aim so high. She’d surprised herself with how quickly she’d grasped the forms of the white adept.

It felt like she was doing the movements perfectly during practice—far sooner than Master Stone had thought she would. He’d suggested it would be a year or more before she was ready even to observe the gray adept forms, but Haley thought she was close. With that thought warming her heart, she turned onto Yandow Road and made easy work of the steep hill as she climbed toward the distant street sign where she could already make out the word “Gable.”

She slowed when she saw a young woman sitting on a blanket on the sidewalk. Spread on the sky-blue cloth were dozens of beautiful, hand-made bits of jewelry. Haley squatted before the display, effortlessly lowering herself nearly to the brick pavers. With her knees folded almost to her chin, she reached out and tapped the blanket near a lovely bone and turquoise bracelet. “This is so pretty!”

“Thank you, miss,” the woman said, smiling shyly as she tucked a strand of loose, straw-colored hair behind her ear. “I can add or remove a segment to fit your wrist perfectly, but from what I can see, it was made for you.”

“Oh?” Haley smiled at the idea, imagining the bracelet on her pale wrist. Should she consider such a thing? Would it hamper her in combat? The only way she could see that happening was if someone got ahold of it, but the strings holding it together would be easy to snap, wouldn’t they? “May I hold it?”

The girl ducked her head. “Please, miss.”

Haley picked up the bracelet, admiring how the polished bone was so smooth that it felt coated in a sheen of oil. When she looked at her thumb, though, she saw no residue. “It’s so smooth.”

“I polished it for hours, miss.”

Haley gave it a gentle tug, pulling one section of bone away from another. It didn’t have much flexibility. “What sort of thread do you have holding the bone chips together?”

“Actually, those are gut strings, miss—deer and hog. They’re quite strong.”

Haley nodded, softly clicking her tongue. “So pretty, but…” She almost said she would have to pass; she couldn’t have someone grabbing a bracelet, after all, taking control of one of her arms in a fight. She caught the words on her tongue, though, holding them back. She didn’t have to wear it all the time, did she? She could take it out at night and wear it to dinner or around the inn. “Okay, I’ll take it. I love how you set the turquoise into the bone chips.”

“I think it’ll be beautiful on you; it suits your fine skin.”

“Thank you!” Haley smiled. “How much?”

She could see the girl hesitate. If Haley were to guess, she was battling with being honest or asking for a higher price than she’d initially intended. After a moment, though, she smiled and said, “Just twenty-five glories. It’s the turquoise that drives the price, I’m afraid.”

“Very reasonable!” Haley reached into her belt pouch and lifted out a single, small, golden, fifty-glory coin. “Buy yourself something nice with the extra.”

The young woman flushed as she took the gold, immediately slipping it inside the folds of her blouse. “Shall I wrap it for you?” She gestured to a little pile of soft green tissue papers.

Haley smiled and shook her head, taking the bracelet and slipping it inside her silken robes, finding one of her inner pockets. “No, thank you. It’s for me.” Standing and moving around the girl, she added, “Have a lovely day.”

“I will! You as well, miss.”

Haley’s smile felt permanent as she made short work of the hill and stopped at the corner of Gable Avenue. She looked left and right, searching for house numbers, and determined that she needed to go left. As she meandered down the sidewalk, nimbly avoiding clusters of other pedestrians and street merchants, she noted that the architecture had changed. Only occasional businesses lined the street; most of the buildings were homes.

When she came to the house number Fitz had written for her, she could barely see the home through the thick, luxuriant foliage in the front garden. Pergolas stretched over the walkway, and they hung heavy with flowering vines. Shrubs and manicured trees lined the path, and Haley enjoyed the aromas as she deftly stepped from one paver to another, her feet near-silent on the stones.

At the end of the path, she found a wooden building with a high, peaked roof made of shining copper roofing tiles that looked like the scales of a fish. The front door was made of polished mahogany and was lined with yellow stained-glass windows. It had a warm, inviting look, almost like the house was smiling. Haley stepped up to the door and thumped the copper knocker twice.

“Come in, then,” a woman’s voice called.

Haley’s eyebrows lifted with surprise, but she didn’t hesitate. She turned the big copper knob and pulled the door wide. Inside, a high-ceilinged foyer gave way to an enormous atrium with an open, wooden floor at the center and planters around the edges. Vine-covered trellises lined the edges of the atrium, and the ceiling was open sunny sky. A woman sat at the center of the wooden floor, stretching.

She didn’t look old enough to be a master. If Haley were to guess, she’d say something like thirty or maybe forty years old, no more. Even so, she had an authoritative aura about her, and Haley was confident this was Master Rose, not one of her students. Meeting a master like this, in her own domain, no less, called for a deep show of respect, so Haley fell to her knees, pressed her palms together, and bowed her head low. “Greetings, Master Rose,” she said, putting her assumptions on display.

“Ah, a wandering adept. By the weight of your aura, I’d say white or gray. Am I close, traveler?”

Haley looked up, smiling, only to realize the woman couldn’t see her expression. She wore a black blindfold over her eyes. “I am currently mastering the forms of the white adept, Master Rose.”

“Simply Rose will do. I’ll judge your respect by your tone, not your words. Shed your slippers and sit before me, then, white adept.”

Haley hurried to comply, silently rising to her feet and tugging her supple leather shoes off her feet. Then, she padded onto the smooth, pale wooden planks. When she was directly in front of Master Rose, she silently lowered herself, bowing her head.

“Well, traveling from afar, with a strong aura, though tainted by something dark. Have you come to beg for my teachings, or am I just a curiosity you thought to gaze upon—an oddity of nature that you could tell your students about back on… Cinder?”

Haley found her heart speeding up as Master Rose spoke. How could she tell she was from Cinder? The woman hadn’t even laid eyes on her! More than that, she could feel something in the master’s presence. Something was tugging at her, a tingle on the nape of her neck, goosebumps on her arms, a gravity that reminded her of Ward when he was at his most inspirational best. “I am a traveling student, Mast—Rose. I have no students of my own, and though I didn’t come to this world seeking you, I feel the threads of my fate entwining with yours, even as we speak.”

The woman smiled, halting her stretches to point her blindfolded face more directly at Haley. A slow smile spread on her full, red lips. “You do, do you? Well, who am I to argue with fate? I might accuse you of employing such wording to sway me, but I feel your sincerity, and, more importantly, the same threads tickle my consciousness. They’re thin, though, compared to some others that I sense pulling you in other directions. What do you hope to learn from me, white adept?”

“I wish to continue my studies. I feel I’m close to gray, and I must progress if I will ever clear this corruption from my spirit.”

“Yes. Corruption. Tell me, then, child, how did your soul become so marked? Did you dabble in arts you should not have?”

Haley felt the words sliding off her tongue before she could think about them. She didn’t want to lie to Master Rose but doubted she could have if she’d tried. “I died. My companion, a man of great power, used his sorcery to bring my spirit back to my body; he’d learned that I was bereft of anima and, thus, feared my spirit would languish and cease to be. He couldn’t bear the thought of it, so he risked the use of terrible magic to save me.”

“Ah. The folly of love—”

“He’s not my lover—”

“I’ll only warn you once not to interrupt me, adept. I didn’t say lover. I said love. If he had worked such a spell for you without love in his heart, you would have returned with more than a touch of corruption. Besides, it's plain as day to one who sees with eyes like mine—a thread of love runs from you, stretching toward the center of this city. Tell me, does your companion not await you in that direction?”

Haley lowered her head further. “You’re correct.”

The older woman tsked, shaking her head. “So many ties. I can see his aura on you—talk about dark! It’s not all his fault, though, is it?” She didn’t seem to be talking to Haley; rather, she was narrating her thoughts, so Haley didn’t interrupt. “You’ve had some great losses, your very life only one of them, but there’s his aura again, shoring you up.

“Normally, I’d demand that a student leave everything behind. I’d demand they cut all these threads and ties binding them to the world outside my domain. You’re too entwined, though, and it’s not just with him. He’s tied to something with true gravity, something that might affect us all…” She shook her head, sighing heavily. “No, I’m sorry, I cannot teach you.”

As Haley gawped at her, the blindfolded master began to stretch again. Despite the surge of despair that entered her heart, Haley refused to believe she’d been dismissed so easily. Master Rose could see much with those blindfolded eyes of hers, but she couldn’t see everything. Could she? “May I speak?”

“It won’t hurt me to hear your words.”

“You’re right about my companion. He’s a man with weight and a conviction of purpose. He came to this world because he fought against an evil cult back on Cinder, and the Assembly wanted to question him. He didn’t have to do that, however. He didn’t have to defend a city from the evil under their noses. He didn’t have to risk his life. When he brought me back from the dead, he nearly killed himself by casting a spell that was too difficult for him. Before that, he fought off a pack of mercenaries to defend me. Before that, he hunted through a city at night for the man who killed my parents. Before that, he saved my life and made me his partner in the catacombs of Tarnish. Before that—"

“Old gods, girl! Are you trying to make a case for this mysterious man or for yourself?”

“For me! Don’t you see? I know I have ties to him, but they exist for good reason! I need to help him. He makes foolish mistakes. Call it pride or shortsightedness or too much kindness—I don’t know! I only know that he tries to do good, and he needs me to help him when he takes on more than he can handle. Right now, I believe there are powerful people in this city who don’t want him to live very long! I need to help him, but I also need to be stronger and better and—”

“And you think I should entwine my fate with such a knotted mess?”

“Don’t you think a good life is worth risks?”

“Oh, hah!” Master Rose clapped her hands with a crack that hurt Haley’s ears. “This wayward adept has come to me, and now she lectures me about a good life! Hah! If the words didn’t sting with the weight of truth, I’d give you a sound thrashing for such impertinence.” She chuckled, shaking her head, the tails of her blindfold dancing over her shoulder.

“Truth?” Haley wondered if she’d heard the woman right.

“You heard me. There’s some truth in your words. I’ve not had a student for a while. Perhaps I’ve not involved myself in matters beyond my little domain for too long. Your mission to aid your companion, troubled as he may be, seems rather noble. I’ve felt the darker currents stirring in the belly of this great city. Perhaps your coming here was a sign.” Suddenly, she was on her feet, having risen too fast for Haley’s eyes to track. “Your name, adept?”

Haley leaned forward again, pressing her forehead to the cool wooden planks. “H-Haley.”

“Hmph. You'll need a more fitting name if you’re to be my student. I was comfortable and at peace before you came into my home. Now, you kneel before me, and I feel a distinct thorn in my side. That will be your name while you study here: Adept Thorn.”