Breaking an Empire (13 page)

Gothren rounded on Holbenth with a fury unblemished by the early hour or the many rages already this night. “So,” he sneered, “am I to assume that what I
know
, right here” at this he jabbed himself fiercely in the head, “is wrong? That what another young, upstanding gentleman like this one told me was a lie? That one of
my
best students can’t even tell the truth to his own teacher? Or maybe I should look for other explanations, perhaps? After all, you’ve always been soft on Tarranau, haven’t you Holbenth? He’s never,
ever
, been the best student in your class. Oh no, not for the last
four
classes you taught him, either. Do you know why I grabbed you out of your bed at this hour when any other teacher would do? Because I wanted to see if you helped him with this. Oh yes,” at this Gothren began to shake a finger in the young teacher’s face. “Oh yes, I know about how you and some of the other young teachers grumble about ‘how poor old doddering Gothren is unfit to teach’, and the guilty looks you give me when I come by unexpectedly. I’ve seen them all, and I might just have to have a word with the other head teachers about this matter.”

Magister Holbenth stared and sputtered. “There has been no such thing, Gothren! I will not have you impune me with these slanderous accusations! None of the teachers with whom I associate myself have ever mentioned any statements of the sort that you bring forth here. And yes, Tarranau has been the best student in my classes. He is innately gifted at the style of water magic that I teach and he does well because of it. It is
not
because I play favourites. I’ll thank you to not repeat these accusations.”

“And Tarranau has been the worst in mine! Am I to presume that someone elsewhere so gifted in the arts of this school cannot transmute a single bucket of sea water to something potable within an entire week’s time? That a student who was about to receive our seal of approval in only a few short weeks would be worse than mere children who are five years younger than he is? Or that he has taken a dislike to the one teacher in whose classes he cannot perform? I’ll let you think on that, Holbenth. Now, this discussion is over, and you will sit quietly on that desk, right there” Gothren pointed with a single, thick finger “and you will not speak until spoken to. However, first, escort this boy out of the room; he’s crowding things up and getting in the way.”

All this time Tarranau had been stuck sitting on his bed, watching the fight rage back and forth between Magister Gothren and Holbenth. Now he struggled to his feet, and looked to Holbenth for further instructions.

“You might as well go to the dining hall or one of the study rooms and try and catch some more sleep. I’ll find you in the morning when we have everything sorted out.”

Tarranau grabbed a blanket and pillows from the bed. He would bed down on these to recover what little sleep he could.

“Leave those, boy. I don’t want you taking anything out of this room. You are still not yet innocent.”

With those words following him, Tarranau headed out to find a place of mental peace from the last hour. As he walked down the hallway, other boys who had been awoken by the shouting came out of their rooms, a few asking “What happened? What’s got into Gothren now? Why did I see Holbenth with a lantern? What’s going on?” He dismissed all of them with a brief shake of his head or a quiet “Not right now, I’ll tell you in the morning.” As these were the older students at the school, many of whom had seen Gothren’s wrath before, they slipped back into their rooms, careful not to draw too much attention while the teacher was still in the full flow of his rage and anger.

Tarranau made his way to the small but exquisite library, home to works that could be found nowhere else, and within which Tarranau had spent many a pleasant day. Finding a booth in the back, he leant there in a daze and attempted to come to terms with the results of the early morning awakening.

Tarranau knew he hadn’t taken anything. After all, he hadn’t even been in the school most of the day. Unfortunately, he had been alone, enjoying a private sunning on the beach, and thus had no people he could turn to for support, especially as the only time that he was back at the school was the time that he was accused of stealing the pendant. Although, if he hadn’t been seen coming out of the teacher’s rooms, he should be fine, since they couldn’t find an amulet in his room that he hadn’t stolen, after all.

“Play out the day in your head Tarranau, let’s see what happened. First, I woke up and didn’t realize that I had no classes, went to the classrooms, then finally figured it out. After that, got changed, grabbed some food and went off to the beach for the entire day. Enjoyed that, set out for home a little after sunset, got there, ate, and then collapsed with exhaustion from a great day out. The next thing that happens after that is waking up and being screamed at by Gothren. Bastard. If only he didn’t get his jollies by trying to break those who stood up to him. Not going to let that happen to me. Going to present my case in front of the more reasonable teachers if it comes to that. Well, not much more I can do about it until they finish up searching my room and find nothing. Gothren will have to eat crow at that point and I’ll have to be careful if he does. Vengeful sort, that.”

Tarranau shifted around as he tried to find a comfortable position in a chair clearly designed to keep the seated person awake and alert. Rest was eluding him, and so he sat fully awake, the events of the last day replaying over and over in his mind, till they latched onto one phrase: “that one of my best students”. Gothren’s best students were his lapdogs, people who would kowtow to him and act as yes men, pumping up his ego whenever he needed it, and listening intently to his every word as if it was a drop of long lost knowledge. They always got an easy ride through the school, because although they would never exert themselves in another teacher’s class, they always worked their utmost for Gothren, and their status as lapdogs prevented them from being given a poor grade by any other teacher.

Most students, Tarranau included, had realized that if they performed well in all of the classes without showing special favouritism to one or the other, they could avoid being embroiled in all of the back room politicking that infected the school. Unfortunately for Tarranau, and for several of the other boys at the school, they were overly talented in one area and lacking skill in others, meaning that they were seen as supporting one teacher against another. This was the case for Tarranau and Magisters Gothren and Holbenth, and since he was not skilled in the area of Gothren’s specialty, Gothren took as it a personal affront.

Now, it sounded like one of Gothren’s best students had tagged Tarranau for something he had not done. Tarranau worried that he had been chosen because of his closeness to a disliked teacher. In this case, the teacher was almost certainly Holbenth, one of the younger teachers at school who had some different ideas about how things should be taught here, ideas based partly on the teacher’s more closely remembered period as a student. He’d spoken to Tarranau about them; after all, Tarranau was the student with whom he most associated.

Tarranau wondered what Holbenth had done that might cause something like this, since there was usually a reason behind the petty squabbles of the school. Probably said something that drew the ire of Magister Gothren, or made fun of him. Tarranau knew why he had been chosen as the target, and it was that he was both the best student of Magister Holbenth and had the temerity to state that he wasn’t all that enthralled with the life of a ship’s mage. This was a sacrilege to those who taught at the school, all of whom had served on the barques. The only teacher who had taken it with any grace was Holbenth, who was still young enough to remember youthful rebelliousness and the desire to not be trapped in a laid out pattern of life.

A resigned acceptance that he might get the wish not to be a ship’s mage granted sooner than expected spread over Tarranau, and he was able to find sleep in the uncomfortable chair.

Tarranau was shaken awake by Magister Holbenth, his back cramping from the awkward night. The teacher stood there for a few moments, his hand on Tarranau’s shoulder, trying to apologize for what he was about to say.

“Magister Gothren found the amulet he was looking for. It was a trophy amulet, one of those he keeps on display behind his desk. Someone had snuck in, taken it down and run away. Gothren, when he discovered the theft, was overcome with anger at the temerity of the person who would dare to steal something of such personal importance. He began waking his favourite students, asking if they had seen anything. Finally, a boy named Fradich said he’d seen you carrying it. Information in hand, Magister Gothren came and got me, in order that he not be accused of planting the item or ransacking your room for no purpose. After that, well, you know what happened.”

“Magister Holbenth, tell me where he found the amulet. I’d like to know where it was planted, and how it happened.”

“I’m sorry Tarranau, I was a little caught up in what happened. It was in a bucket of seawater on your desk. It sat on the bottom, covered with a little algae so it didn’t glint whenever anyone looked at it. Magister Gothren had looked everywhere else in the room, made a total mess out of everything, all your clothes and bed coverings sprayed about. That man is an utter pig, and could have at least behaved with some dignity, instead of wrecking your room out of spite. Then, after gleefully destroying everything, he looked around till his eyes alighted on that damnable bucket, and Gothren rolled his sleeve up and plunged in, fishing around until he came up with that muck covered amulet, almost capering as he waved it at me, yelling ‘I’ve got him! That child was trying to make a fool out of me, hiding it in the very thing I sent him for homework. I’ll see him expelled for this, you’ll see if I don’t’. With that, he skipped out of the room, far happier than I would have thought appropriate for a teacher who had found a student stealing. There was nothing I could do at that point, so I went back to bed and tried to salvage some sleep. Once I woke up I came here to tell you the bad news.”

“So, when is the disciplinary board going to discuss my case? And do I get to defend myself at all, or will I be ejected from a school where I have spent most of my life and my family’s money without even being allowed to speak up? OH! Fradich… that boy is a bully, and a petty thief. He tried to get money from me when I was younger, threatening to hit me. I scared him off, but he does that now to some of the younger boys who won’t talk to the teachers. Blast, if only I could get one of them to speak about it. I know they won’t; after all, I’m the sinking ship and no one is going to jump on board. I’ll get a lot of sorry looks and quiet apologies and ‘I’m sad to see you go’ murmured in my ear, and that will be that, me gone and the school resuming its normal course. I’m always glad to see empathy that will help me with my new aim in life. I’m sure you’re going to give me the money from the school coffers for this last term, aren’t you? After all, I’m certainly not going to be here to use what it paid for.”

Tarranau paused, looking at Holbenth, who was taken aback at the venom in the student’s voice. The teacher removed his hand from the apprentice’s shoulder and stepped away from Tarranau.

“Three days from today. Magister Gothren was pushing for the board to convene today, but the members decided they wanted more time to gather information, including from you and me. I might also remind you that I am your friend, so I do not deserve an outburst of that nature.”

“I know, I know, but you’re the only person I can talk to in these circumstances. If I speak like this to any other teacher, I get told off, and if I try and speak to a student like that, they wouldn’t understand. Also, you are the bearer of bad news, Magister. Few would react well to this. So, I have three days, at least one of which will be taken up talking to the members of the board, sitting around waiting on their whim and mercy, brought in to answer a question here, a concern there, and then sent to sit outside while they discuss my fate behind closed doors. Outstanding.”

“Tarranau, I’ve spoken to the board this morning, and they asked that you remain within a close distance of the school, and that you don’t go down to the docks district. They haven’t released the news of what happened here, but neither do they want you trying to leave Bohortha Eilan while still under the good auspices of this school. That means you should not go to that beach of yours, either. Sadly, the board have also asked that you not converse with other students. They don’t trust you, you see. Anyway, we should get your room fixed up, even if you’re not going to use it much. If nothing else, we can pack your things for later.”

Tarranau gave a shrug of the shoulders. “So they wish to make my last days here as unpleasant as possible? It doesn’t surprise me. I suppose I should be packing to leave, unfair though that might be. Still, I may be luckier than I expect. No sense worrying about it now though.” Tarranau made his way to his room, talking quietly to Magister Holbenth about happier times and places where things had not been so murky. As the student made his way across the school, he garnered reactions ranging from friendly and sympathetic comments to eyes down avoidance to the open sneers of a few students who took joy in seeing their betters fallen.

Magister Holbenth’s comments from earlier were particularly apt when he and Tarranau arrived; Magister Gothren had scattered everything, not bothering to keep clothes folded or off the floor. Items had been tossed about in petty vindictiveness, done just because it was possible to do so. The two men set about restoring things to their rightful place, doing so in a fitful manner, neither wanting to speak or come to terms to with what the packing likely meant. Soon enough, the quiet was broken by Holbenth speaking: “I’m sorry, but I have to go, I’ve got classes to teach. I likely won’t see you again until one of the disciplinary hearings. There will be plenty of things for me to do, including giving my own version of the search of the room to the board. Goodbye, Tarranau, and may water speed you swiftly.” That said, the teacher turned and walked out of the room, disappearing down the hallway before the corner at the end took him from view.