Read Online Knights Magi (Book 4) by Terry Mancour - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Terry Mancour
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lifetime,” Rondal reminded, “you really should take advantage of that.”
“But we’re only here for a few more weeks!” Tyndal protested, as he collapsed into his bed. “Even if I read constantly, I could only manage a few!”
“Then read faster ,” Rondal insisted. “And quit letting a little female tail-wagging distract you. Yes, there are girls here. No, they will not make you a better knight mage.”
“But they would make me a happier one. Perhaps if you aren’t an Andrusine, you should have considered the life of a celibate monk,” Tyndal said, sourly.
“Perhaps you should have considered life as a stableboy, if magic is too cumbersome for you!” Rondal shot back with a bit of venom that surprised Tyndal.
“The gods didn’t really give me much choice in the matter!” snapped Tyndal in return. “Suddenly, I’m not so tired. I’m going to the library!”
“That,” Rondal said, “is the single most unlikely thing I think I’ve ever heard you say!”
Tyndal suppressed the urge to throw his fellow apprentice out of a window and escaped, instead.
The Manciple’s Library was usually locked when not in use, but Tyndal had made friends with the Manciple’s assistant by letting him see his witchstone, and now he had open access to the place. At this time of night it should be deserted, and he could study without distraction.
Only along the way he spied a distraction: one of the female students.
The Bovali boys had not mixed much with the regular students at the Academy, since they were there under special provision, so other than meal times or the occasional lecture they were directed to attend they had not gotten to know very many of the two-hundred or so nascent professional magi enrolled at the prestigious Inarion Academy.
While the students were overwhelmingly male, there were a number of bright young women whose position, Talent or the whims of fate had brought to the institution. Some chose to spend their afternoons and their evenings outdoors, studying among the many scattered benches that littered the campus. The benches weren’t quite reserved for the girls, but they seemed to flock to them like crows to a fencepost.
This one, if Tyndal was any judge, was at least sixteen or seventeen. She had the longest, darkest hair he had ever seen, and when she looked up from the book she was reading, her brown eyes glistened like well-polished jewels. An Imperial girl. Like Lady Pentandra.
And she was absolutely gorgeous. He didn’t care who she was, he suddenly had an inclination to start a conversation with this girl.
“Why, hello,” he said, automatically. “Is it interesting?”
“What?” the girl asked, taken off-guard and alarmed at the interruption.
“The book. Is it interesting?”
She glanced at the book and then back at him – big, gorgeous brown eyes. “It’s advanced biological alchemy, so no .”
“I hate alchemy,” Tyndal agreed. In truth he had barely studied it, not much more than the parts of it that led from lesser elemental theory. But he did not mind the deception: it wasn’t untrue. He did hate alchemy, what little he knew of it. But he had to give her something to respond to. “Although I’m getting better at it here,” he admitted.
“I just seem to get worse. Your name, my lord? I haven’t seen you in class . . .”
“I happen to be a special student,” Tyndal said, shrugging nonchalantly. “My master sent me . . . and another fellow . . . here for special evaluation.”
“Oh. That explains it then.” She went back to her book.
Tyndal blinked. He wasn’t used to being so casually dismissed by girls. He knew he was handsome and charming, because dozens of girls had told him so. Hells, plenty of grown and married women had told him so. Add in his title, position, and who he was apprenticed to, and he realized that the girl might just not realize who he was.
Of course, he
“But we’re only here for a few more weeks!” Tyndal protested, as he collapsed into his bed. “Even if I read constantly, I could only manage a few!”
“Then read faster ,” Rondal insisted. “And quit letting a little female tail-wagging distract you. Yes, there are girls here. No, they will not make you a better knight mage.”
“But they would make me a happier one. Perhaps if you aren’t an Andrusine, you should have considered the life of a celibate monk,” Tyndal said, sourly.
“Perhaps you should have considered life as a stableboy, if magic is too cumbersome for you!” Rondal shot back with a bit of venom that surprised Tyndal.
“The gods didn’t really give me much choice in the matter!” snapped Tyndal in return. “Suddenly, I’m not so tired. I’m going to the library!”
“That,” Rondal said, “is the single most unlikely thing I think I’ve ever heard you say!”
Tyndal suppressed the urge to throw his fellow apprentice out of a window and escaped, instead.
The Manciple’s Library was usually locked when not in use, but Tyndal had made friends with the Manciple’s assistant by letting him see his witchstone, and now he had open access to the place. At this time of night it should be deserted, and he could study without distraction.
Only along the way he spied a distraction: one of the female students.
The Bovali boys had not mixed much with the regular students at the Academy, since they were there under special provision, so other than meal times or the occasional lecture they were directed to attend they had not gotten to know very many of the two-hundred or so nascent professional magi enrolled at the prestigious Inarion Academy.
While the students were overwhelmingly male, there were a number of bright young women whose position, Talent or the whims of fate had brought to the institution. Some chose to spend their afternoons and their evenings outdoors, studying among the many scattered benches that littered the campus. The benches weren’t quite reserved for the girls, but they seemed to flock to them like crows to a fencepost.
This one, if Tyndal was any judge, was at least sixteen or seventeen. She had the longest, darkest hair he had ever seen, and when she looked up from the book she was reading, her brown eyes glistened like well-polished jewels. An Imperial girl. Like Lady Pentandra.
And she was absolutely gorgeous. He didn’t care who she was, he suddenly had an inclination to start a conversation with this girl.
“Why, hello,” he said, automatically. “Is it interesting?”
“What?” the girl asked, taken off-guard and alarmed at the interruption.
“The book. Is it interesting?”
She glanced at the book and then back at him – big, gorgeous brown eyes. “It’s advanced biological alchemy, so no .”
“I hate alchemy,” Tyndal agreed. In truth he had barely studied it, not much more than the parts of it that led from lesser elemental theory. But he did not mind the deception: it wasn’t untrue. He did hate alchemy, what little he knew of it. But he had to give her something to respond to. “Although I’m getting better at it here,” he admitted.
“I just seem to get worse. Your name, my lord? I haven’t seen you in class . . .”
“I happen to be a special student,” Tyndal said, shrugging nonchalantly. “My master sent me . . . and another fellow . . . here for special evaluation.”
“Oh. That explains it then.” She went back to her book.
Tyndal blinked. He wasn’t used to being so casually dismissed by girls. He knew he was handsome and charming, because dozens of girls had told him so. Hells, plenty of grown and married women had told him so. Add in his title, position, and who he was apprenticed to, and he realized that the girl might just not realize who he was.
Of course, he
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