“Where do we meet?” Quint asked.
“Anywhere.”
Quint grinned. “There is a garden that we can use since today is nice. We won’t be talking about anything others can’t overhear?”
Pozella shrugged. “Not that I know of. Today, I want to know what you learned since you left the fort.”
“Seven more strings,” Quint said. “My list is at the flat, but I am free until lunch.”
“Then let’s get some sun,” Pozella said with a smile.
The master’s limp seemed worse than before, but Quint hadn’t seen Pozella for months. The garden was empty. Pozella took off his uniform tunic and rolled up his sleeves. He urged Quint to do the same.
“Do you know which strings you want to learn?” Pozella asked. “Perhaps that is where we want to start. The minimum a Master knows is fifty strings, five of which must be psychic. You knew four, so that would be a good place to define more strings.”
“How many strings do you know?” Quint asked.
“I used to know one hundred and thirty-two, but,” Pozella shook his head, “I know I’ve forgotten some and haven’t learned many new strings. So, you want to learn one hundred?”
Quint blinked. “You think I can?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than learning words, but you are young. Why not? Let that be our goal. We can write them down and cross them off when you learn them.”
“I’ve already diagrammed all the strings I know. Forty-two are in my book. Eight more to go before to be a master, but I’m lacking physical strings and another psychic string,” Quint said.
“Then tomorrow, we will meet in the library. Sarrefo said there is a good one here.”
“On the same floor as my office. You can meet me there in the afternoon.”
Chapter Thirteen
Pozella showed up at Quint’s desk at one-thirty in the afternoon, and they found a corner in the empty library. Quint had brought his portfolio of spells. Pozella had seen most of the diagrams since Quint had learned so few while a servant.
“You made progress on how to cast strings. Tell me how you protected the supply wagons. The reports said little about your magic.”
Quint explained how he dealt with the sappers and used the strings in detail.
“You told Sarrefo?”
Quint nodded.
Pozella sat back. “I’m sure that is why Sarrefo summoned me. You could be in more trouble if he weren’t the commander.”
“Trouble?”
“You weren’t at your station during the battle. If you weren’t working in strategic operations, that might have been an option for an officer who doesn’t like hubites,” Pozella said. “The colonel likes you.”
“Despite my race?”
Pozella smiled and nodded. “Not all willots are bigoted haters, although that group is growing. Anti-hubite sentiment ebbs and flows.”
“What am I to do?” Quint asked, wondering how much danger he might face in the future.
“Do what you are doing. You have value to the wizard corps. I think you are safest where you are.”
“If Amaria Baltacco doesn’t have her father execute me,” Quint said.
“And who is Amaria Baltacco?” Pozella asked. His eyebrows shot up. “Not Emilio Baltacco’s daughter?”
Quint nodded. “She is in strategic operations.”
Pozella pursed his lips. “I see. Emilio is no friend of the hubites. I’ve known him for many years.”
“You will need more defensive strings. While the shield you used when tested remains useful, there are better physical strings you must learn to protect yourself. I’m sure your current magic instructor would find a way to have you out of the classroom when he taught them.”
“You mean I could have avoided the beatings I had to endure at the fort?”
Pozella nodded. “Those aren’t taught to raw recruits since they would use them to avoid punishment.” He smiled. “Punishment hurts, doesn’t it?”
“It does.”
Pozella spent the rest of the session reviewing Quint’s portfolio and stood. “I have homework to do, even if I am the teacher. I will devise a list of physical strings you will begin learning immediately.” He looked around the library. “I’ll talk to Sarrefo about a different area than this library. You’ll be learning destructive strings, and we wouldn’t want to damage the library, would we?”
