Mark of the Fool

Chapter 259: Finals and Final Preparations

And there they go, Alex said as the ship disappeared into the horizon. I hope they get back alright.

Lets just say they will, Theresa said. And not invite trouble.

Ive been praying to The Traveller that their tripll be easy, Selina said. I hope its a lot easier than ours was.

I hope so as well, Khalik said. I will pray to Zat-Ashtar that their journey will be quick, easy and comfortable, and that all they find at home is pleasant: as they left it, or better.

Thanks, Khalik, Theresa said. Lets hope that all the gods listen, and that no harm comes to my parents. Come on, lets get back to campus: if I stay here any longer, Ill just keep worrying myself half-crazy.

They turned away from the sea and left the harbour behind. On their way back to the sky-pier, Selina came up beside Alex.

Can we talk when we get home? she asked.

Oh yeah, he said. Ive got some time before its back to blood-magic.

Thanks, she said.

What are we going to do when you finish school? Selina asked her brother.

He paused, surprised by the question. The two of them had taken Claygon and Brutus for a walk, while Theresa was doing her morning meditations, and Khalik had gone home to catch some sleep before getting back to cramming facts about magical plant characteristics into his brain.

All around campus there was a frantic feeling filling the air that happened just before finals. Even though there were less students on campus than there would be in fall, winter or spring, there was still a lot of activity going on.

What brought on your question? Alex asked.

Mr. and Mrs. Lu leaving, Selina said. They wont be able to see us very much anymore, and we used to see them everyday. So, I was thinking that when The Raveners finally gone, well see them even less, like we talked about.

Yeah, but like I said, Im going to learn teleportation spells then we can see them every day if we want.

Yeah, butfrom where? she asked. Are we going to stay in Generasi? Are we going to the Rhinean Empire, will we go back to Thameland if The Raveners gone?

Youre really thinking far ahead, arent you? Alex said. Well, for one thing, since you want to learn to be a wizard too, theres no way youre going anywhere until you finish your four years of university. After that, youll be grown and can go wherever you want.

He glanced over his shoulder at the castle, imagining Selinabeing around his ageand attending the university with her own group of friends and schoolmates. Her own Khaliks, Isoldes and Thundarsbut, hopefully no Dereks.

I might be doing graduate studies too so wed be here at the same time, he said. Wont that be cool? Maybe Ill be a teachers assistant for one of your labs.

Selina made a face. Youd torture me.

Oh yes, Id be the hardest marker youll ever have, Alex grinned. unless you take Force Magic with Professor Ram, then Ill probably be in second place.

Ill just avoid all the classes you help in!

And Ill lie about the ones I help with.

She rolled her green eyes. Im trying to be serious, Alex. What happens when you and I graduate?

Well, then, thats going to be something well have to deal with as time goes on, he said. Look at this. He gestured around them to the stately buildings of campus and the students bustling about. After his performance at The Games, hed noticed a growing trend of students carrying their books and supplies around using forceball-hung baskets, forcedisks, or even Wizards Hands. It was kind of amusing to see some of his habits spreading.

Look at him, Alex pointed back at Claygon. If you told me a year ago that our lives would be so completely different, I wouldve called you crazy. And its only been likea year. Who knows whats going to happen in four years? More than eight, for you. Take some advice from your big brother, just worry about whats ahead of you. Time changes things. You cant do anything about whats happening in the next country, but you can do something about whats happening over the next hill.

Selina looked at him sceptically. I dont think Isolde would say that.

Yeah, but Isolde has the next sixty years of her life planned out. Look, maybe well stay here, maybe we wont. But for now, we just need to focus on whats next. You know, maybe as you grow up, you might find you want to plan the next sixty years like Isolde. Then, you can do that, itll be your choice. But one thing I do know for the future, is that we wont need to worry about where we are, because with teleportation spells, we could go anywhere we want. We could travel some place, then teleport back to Thameland or Generasi, or wherever, and turn in for the night. Thats the kind of future plan Im pretty sure about.

That sounds really cool, Selina said.

Well, one day itll be our reality. Just wait and see.

In the days following the Lus departure for the Rhinean Empire, time seemed to fly by.

Since the summer semester was extended, final exams were later than they normally would have been, which added to the confusion of first and upper year students arriving back on campus, while preparations for final exams were going on. There was a rush of students studying in the library, on campus grounds, practising their labs in the Cells while at the same time, there was the controlled chaos of move-ins and course selections.

Alex had made sure to pick his three choices early: compulsory second year magic lore, second year summoning, and first year blood magic with a plan to work hard enough to challenge the exam for credit, and get into second year blood magic in second semester. Hed been careful to choose courses so that his three classes would fall on the same days that he worked at Shales to avoid schedule conflicts, and the need to juggle his time with the expedition. Hed learned that any student member of the expedition team could withdraw from classes for a year, but that wouldve meant graduating later, and probably losing his job at Shales, neither of which Alex wanted.

Expedition preparations were really becoming solid now.

After a few more meetingsduring one it had been announced that the professors on the expedition team were entitled to use the time away from campus as a sabbatical year, and students would also be permitted to withdraw from classes for a year without penalty a new compound was erected on campus. It was called the Headquarters of Thameish Expeditionary Forces and had been magically built on an area of the universitys property near the sea. The area was surrounded by glyphed walls some twelve feet high.

The compound housed a laboratory, a storage building, meeting rooms, an infirmary, washrooms, and a small armoury. A detachment of Watchers had been assigned there while equipment, food, medical supplies and alchemical supplies were brought in over a period of days. Even though The Watchers were there permanently and the compound was never left unguarded, every member of the expeditionary team was provided with a unique circular card to allow them entry through the front gates, and into most buildings. Some areas were high security and heavily patrolled, barring access to anyone who wasnt a high ranking team member. The Watchers duty also included questioning, checking and recording identities, and time and purpose of anyone wanting entry to, or exit from, the compound.

After the demon summoner, Baelin had insisted that the expedition be absolutely secure, even if some folks felt inconvenienced. But no one complained since the memory of the demon assault was still raw.

As the mountain of equipment grew, the surveying teamsincluding Alex and his friendsspent hours training and being drilled in proper sample collection practises, proper documentation, and proper communication. In many ways, it felt like they were taking another summer course, one that was driving some of his cabal members half-crazy.

Well, at least much of it is review, Khalik groaned after emerging from a long, dull training session one day. Salinger has already taught us a great deal about sample collection.

Well, youre both luckier than me, Thundar grunted. Im learning all that stuff from scratch. Feels like my heads spinning.

Well have to burn all of it into memory guys, Alex said. Where were going, well need to have all this stuff down cold.

He remembered his, Theresas, Selinas and Brutus experience with the Silence-Spiders. It might be tempting to thinksince their group had come through the demon fightthat theyd be alright with any danger Thameland could throw at them.

but dangers had a way of letting one know theyd been taking them far too lightly.

The training sessions at the compound were actually a good review for Alex and Khaliks Magical Botany final, at least.

Salingers exam was part massive written test, part displaying and being quizzed on plants the class grew during the semester, and a final part centering on oral identification of poorly potted magical plants, then re-potting them with the appropriately amended soil.

Alex felt comfortable that hed done well when he and Khalik were on their way out of the botanical gardens clutching their re-potted plants. Professor Salinger had insisted each student take their plant home with them and, take care of them like you would a newborn. Alex wasnt really interested in having a newborn, plant or otherwise right now, but there was no arguing with Salinger.

Professor Mangals final summoning exam was nowhere near as benign as Magical Botanys.

First, there was the written test that involved defining the three types of summoning, an analysis of hypothetical word problems of summoners calling otherworldly beings, and then a final section involving translating names from otherworldly languagesto the common tongue.

For the word problems section, the class had to break down the written examples, explain what the summoners might have done right from a theoretical perspective, and what they might have done wrong. Thenusing a mix of theory and personal experiencediscuss what they themselves might have done differently, then explain their thought processes behind those ideas.

After the written exam, there was a break, then the practical exam took place on the following day.

Professor Mangal instructed the class to summon an elemental beetle, an elemental beetle swarm, and then finally, a BuBu. In the case of the demon, they had to communicate with it using words theyd learned in that particular demons language.

Alex had done rather well on that part of the exambetween studying and getting some insight from Baelin about when hed summoned and questioned the BuBu about Burn-Sawhed picked up a comfortable introduction to some of the demonic languages. Baelin had emphasised that summoned creatures were beings of chaos and the languages they spoke were very precise. Almost every nuance in pronunciation, speed, audio-prestidigitation and tone, could completely change the meaning of words and sentences. The Mark had really helped him in getting the fine points down.

One of his classmates had made the same mistake hed made the first time hed tried Elemental Bettleshe was nervous from exam pressure and mispronounced a name. But, instead of stopping, she panicked and repeatedly tried to correct her pronunciation. The result was chaos. Her summoning circle soon contained the BuBu she was supposed to be calling, plus two other creatures from different planes. They proceeded to attack each other while trying to escape the circle to get at the students. Everyone began to panic and Alex moved beside Claygon, prepared for whatever might happen. Professor Mangal quickly intervened and dismissed the hostile entities. She then used the incident to highlight the importance of not being distracted, of using calm and proper pronunciation of names, and never giving in to panic: then repeating words which hadnt been mastered since doing so could be deadly. Alex figured his classmate wouldnt do well on that part of the exam, but Mangal talked to the petrified young woman about learning techniques to calm her mind if she wanted to continue with summoning. He doubted he would ever forget his own mistake, which reminded him of Amir.

His mistake had aged him a thousand years, but hed learned a lot about being precise from it, and he imagined Amir was learning a lot from his own mistakes as the days passed in prison.

After the summoning finals were finished, he got back to learning the rest of Life-to-Mana.

Alex didnt have much more of the spell to learn so he focused hard on practising it, until, a few days later, he could cast 100% of it. His feelings were mixed on Life-to-Mana. It was a good spell to know, but he disliked the unpleasant feelings that came with casting it. That sensation of his lifeforce being funnelled into his mana pool wasnt something he wanted to experience too often but, the upside was that Life-to-Mana was foundational for the next blood magic spell he planned on learning.

Mana-to-Life.

At first look, the spell seemed to be simply the reverse of Life-to-Mana, in that it funnelled his mana out of his mana pool and converted it into lifeforce. There were differences though, since there were extra sections of the magic circuit that made sure the converted mana wouldnt unbalance his life force: unbalanced life energies could cause long term, often debilitating health problems.

It was another spell to be careful with, but it would give him the ability to accelerate healingwhichd be really valuable. Now that hed gotten his first blood-magic spell down, Alexbegan working on a new second-tier summoning spell: Summon Aervespertillo.

Aervespertillos were creatures from the elemental plane of air bearing a strong resemblance to a large bat in every way but one. Their wings were massive, as were their ears, but they had no eyes. Instead, they navigated and communicated completely by sound and by feeling vibrations in the air.

They could also let out a startling sonic screech that stunned enemies andif enough of them screeched at the same timeeven deafen them. So, for scouting, theyd be very useful in the Thameish wildernessespecially at nightand since they could fly, Najyah and any of the team using flight magic wouldn't have to take to the skies and patrol them alone.

Alex was pleased his preparations were coming along nicely.

Hed also started making use of both his alchemy kit, and his connection to Kybas. Sourcing mushrooms from the goblin-wizardwhich Kybas had let him have free of charge since he considered Alex his and Harmless friendhed started his own alchemical ingredients garden. For now, he was only going to grow a couple of ingredients for two potions: Potion of Haste altered to do the exact opposite and slow opponents down, and a Sleep Potion that would send creatures off to dreamland. So, hed have two more aerosol potions for his arsenal.

A sleeping potionll be super handy if we have to capture beasts and bring them back, Alex said to Isolde as he worked the soil in his potion garden. The young woman had come along with Khalik to see how things were progressing.

I agree wholeheartedly, Isolde said.

Indeed, Khalik said. Better a deceived or unconscious foe than a fighting one. Thundar has also been working on his illusions, inspired by Woluds skill, no doubt. Having more deception on our side will put us in an even better position. I have to say, I like the direction our preparations are taking.

Yeah, so do I, Alex agreed.

Hed also started working with Thundar to come up with an illusion spell to hide The Mark on his shoulder. When they managed to perfect the spell, itd be a nice bit of spell-work to add to his spellcraft, and he could also stop worrying about The Mark being seen by curious, or problematic eyes in Thameland, or Generasi.

I suppose we shall soon see if all of our preparations are enough, Isolde said. We should be getting the call to proceed any day now.

Less than twenty four hours later, they got news from the higher ups: their team, along with other survey teams, would be heading to Thameland during the week before school began. Theyd be meeting with the locals, getting an introduction to the location, and starting to scout the area.

Generasis expedition to Thameland was a go.