Chapter 1

1

The ponderous bell at the College of Mystic Arts tolled for the ninth time. With a final burst of speed Crevyn took his place at the end of the line of other men and women in the center of the courtyard just as the sound of the last chime died away.

The courtyard was surrounded by thick, tall walls topped with ramparts from its days as a castle, although these days no one patrolled the old battlements.

“What were you thinking?” Clover hissed at him. “If you’d been late, you’d have lost your chance to be either picked by a Master of Mystical Arts or get a place at the elite academy. I’ve never known Madam Audra to be so secretive. We usually know which it is.”

“I had to tend to the animals.” Crevyn kept his voice as soft as possible. “And someone had slashed open every single bag of feed and spoiled it. I had to run into town to get more. I couldn’t leave them without food. It’s my job to care for them.”

“I could make a guess at who was responsible for that.” Clover turned her head slightly, and the sun glinted off her red-gold hair. Crevyn didn’t need to look. He knew exactly who she’d be glaring at. Garvit.

A golden-haired man in the center of their line stood a head taller than anyone else. Broad of shoulder,handsome, and intelligent, Garvit was fawned over by many in their college. But as easy on the eye and talented as Garvit was, he was also arrogant, indolent, and more than happy to cheat his way to success.

Not that he considered it cheating. His attitude was basically to win by any means possible. Winning was all important, the means by which one did was, to him, immaterial. Rumor was that he’d even trickedhis older brother out of going to the college and taken his place.

It was hardly surprising that he’d find a way to reduce the numbers of his possible competition for a place either to be taken by a Master or for a place at the prestigious Arcane Arts Academy.

It was well known that only the best of the best went there. Those whose special talent marked them out for attention. It was the reason Crevyn had worked so hard to get into the college.

The College of Mystical Arts had an excellent reputation, and often saw its students selected for the Academy. Not that Crevyn believed that his talent was special enough to get a place there, but because of the excellence of the college itself.

Unlike Garvit, or even Clover, whose parents paid for them to be at the college, Crevyn continued to work to pay his way. Caring for the animals was natural to him, affinity with them was his special gift. He’d been a stable boy, a farm hand, and by time he was twenty, had finally saved enough to pay for his first year in the college.

Now, coming to the end of his second year, Crevyn, like the other students in his class, hoped to be taken as an apprentice by a mage. But to be picked by a Master—that would be beyond price. That he was one of those short listed had left him with many a sleepless night over the past few weeks.

There were only five of them in the line-up. There should have been seven. But Willow had tripped and fallen down a set of stone stairs and was in sick bay with a broken leg. That was also where Denton was, suffering from a bad dose of food poisoning. Crevyn considered himself lucky that his beloved animals hadn’t been harmed to prevent him for being in the final line-up.

The head of the college prowled slowly along the line. Her long, black cloak billowed behind her, and her silver-grey hair, pulled back tightly into an immaculate high bun, had not a single strand out of place. Her face was pale, only a shimmer of silver on her lids and a flash of red on her lips offered any relief from the pallor.

Feeling several tendrils of his own long, dark hair tickling his still-burning cheeks, Crevyn envied the way Madam Audra never looked flustered. Even when she conjured the most amazing electrical storms, only her cloak ever moved, no matter how strong the wind blew around her. Crevyn respected and feared her in equal measure.

For a second or two, Madam Audra gazed right at him, and Crevyn felt pierced to his soul, then she whirled around and went to stand on a raised dais a few feet away from them.

“I’m pleased to see you here. It’s a great honor for our college to have so many students who were considered good enough. You are all considered suitable candidates to be taken and personally trained by one of the Masters from the Arcane Academy. You will now follow me and meet the panel where they will select three of you. They will then set you a challenge. To be successful, you must fulfil that challenge as it is set. Remember that.”

In a solemn procession, with Audra leading the way, Crevyn and the others were taken back inside the college and into its great hall. At the far end, on the stage normally reserved for performances, a longtable had been set, at which several cloaked and hooded figures sat and awaited them.