Read Online Work Experience (Schooled in Magic Book 4) by Christopher Nuttall - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Nuttall
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Lady Barb’s father had felt. He’d raised his daughter, taught her everything from magic to letters and numbers, and then her mother had come back into his life and demanded custody, if only for a short while. It was utterly outrageous. “What happened?”
“There was a big shouting match,” Lady Barb said. Her lips twitched. “I overheard most of it, particularly when my grandfather joined in. In the end, I was allowed to go stay with my mother for the summer months.”
She shrugged. “The Travellers have a very light existence, but it isn’t an unpleasant one,” she added. “I rather enjoyed it, once I got used to living in a wagon and moving from place to place. My mother wasn’t a powerful witch, but she knew how to brew potions and use small magic. I learned a great deal from her.”
Emily remembered all the times she’d fantasized about her father – her biological father – coming back to take her away and shivered. Lady Barb hadn’t been unhappy, growing up with her father; if there had been a real custody battle it might easily have torn the family apart. But things were different for magical families...who knew? Perhaps they would just have booted Barb’s mother out of the house and told her never to come back.
“When I was sixteen, they offered me the chance to choose between Whitehall, Mountaintop or homeschooling,” Lady Barb continued. “I chose Whitehall. Most of my relatives were homeschooled, but I didn’t want to go straight into the family. Mountaintop seemed more ominous to me, for some reason. Most magical families send their children there.”
She snorted. “It turned out that I had a natural talent for healing,” she admitted. “Or so they said. My mother forced me to learn how to take care of patients while I was studying with her. It was simple to add magic to the mix once my powers developed properly. I don’t think it was a real talent. And I had to fight tooth and nail to convince them that I could become a combat sorceress. They didn’t want to risk a skilled healer.”
Emily heard the cold ice in Lady Barb’s voice and shivered. She’d been told, more than once, that careers in magic were often determined by a person’s talents...and if Lady Barb had looked like a skilled healer, Whitehall wouldn’t have wanted to steer her away from healing.
She looked up at the older woman. “Why did you want to become a Combat Sorceress?”
Lady Barb looked at her for a long chilling moment. “I grew up here,” she said, waving her hand around to indicate the house. “It was safe and warm, particularly for children. The worst danger was accidentally picking up something magical and we were taught, almost as soon as we could walk, to be careful what we touched. And my father was a decent man.
“Spending time with my mother was an eye-opener. I learned that people outside weren’t safe, that they were preyed on by those stronger than themselves...I had the idea that I could protect the weak and powerless, if I learned how to fight. And I was good at it.”
Emily nodded. “Why didn’t you apply to replace Sergeant Bane?”
Lady Barb scowled. “It’s untraditional for training officers to be women,” she said, darkly. “Young men tend to need more thumping before they learn to respect women as warriors – and most trainees are young men. Most of them are idiotic enough to convince themselves that they must’ve held back when they faced a woman on the training field, no matter how convincingly they were thrashed. But I may well return for Third or Fourth Year to give you additional training.”
Emily considered it. She hadn’t noticed any of the male students at Whitehall giving the female teachers grief, but most of the teachers – even Master Tor – knew their subjects well enough to convince their students not to mess with them. But Martial Magic, which was half physical exercise, might be a harder class for a woman to teach. There were only a handful of
“There was a big shouting match,” Lady Barb said. Her lips twitched. “I overheard most of it, particularly when my grandfather joined in. In the end, I was allowed to go stay with my mother for the summer months.”
She shrugged. “The Travellers have a very light existence, but it isn’t an unpleasant one,” she added. “I rather enjoyed it, once I got used to living in a wagon and moving from place to place. My mother wasn’t a powerful witch, but she knew how to brew potions and use small magic. I learned a great deal from her.”
Emily remembered all the times she’d fantasized about her father – her biological father – coming back to take her away and shivered. Lady Barb hadn’t been unhappy, growing up with her father; if there had been a real custody battle it might easily have torn the family apart. But things were different for magical families...who knew? Perhaps they would just have booted Barb’s mother out of the house and told her never to come back.
“When I was sixteen, they offered me the chance to choose between Whitehall, Mountaintop or homeschooling,” Lady Barb continued. “I chose Whitehall. Most of my relatives were homeschooled, but I didn’t want to go straight into the family. Mountaintop seemed more ominous to me, for some reason. Most magical families send their children there.”
She snorted. “It turned out that I had a natural talent for healing,” she admitted. “Or so they said. My mother forced me to learn how to take care of patients while I was studying with her. It was simple to add magic to the mix once my powers developed properly. I don’t think it was a real talent. And I had to fight tooth and nail to convince them that I could become a combat sorceress. They didn’t want to risk a skilled healer.”
Emily heard the cold ice in Lady Barb’s voice and shivered. She’d been told, more than once, that careers in magic were often determined by a person’s talents...and if Lady Barb had looked like a skilled healer, Whitehall wouldn’t have wanted to steer her away from healing.
She looked up at the older woman. “Why did you want to become a Combat Sorceress?”
Lady Barb looked at her for a long chilling moment. “I grew up here,” she said, waving her hand around to indicate the house. “It was safe and warm, particularly for children. The worst danger was accidentally picking up something magical and we were taught, almost as soon as we could walk, to be careful what we touched. And my father was a decent man.
“Spending time with my mother was an eye-opener. I learned that people outside weren’t safe, that they were preyed on by those stronger than themselves...I had the idea that I could protect the weak and powerless, if I learned how to fight. And I was good at it.”
Emily nodded. “Why didn’t you apply to replace Sergeant Bane?”
Lady Barb scowled. “It’s untraditional for training officers to be women,” she said, darkly. “Young men tend to need more thumping before they learn to respect women as warriors – and most trainees are young men. Most of them are idiotic enough to convince themselves that they must’ve held back when they faced a woman on the training field, no matter how convincingly they were thrashed. But I may well return for Third or Fourth Year to give you additional training.”
Emily considered it. She hadn’t noticed any of the male students at Whitehall giving the female teachers grief, but most of the teachers – even Master Tor – knew their subjects well enough to convince their students not to mess with them. But Martial Magic, which was half physical exercise, might be a harder class for a woman to teach. There were only a handful of
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