Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7) by Christopher Nuttall Read Free Book Online

others’.”
    “I suppose,” Emily said. She felt sick to her stomach. “What are you going to do with the objects we found?”
    “Study them,” the Grandmaster said. “Do you want them?”
    Emily shook her head. “Just the books,” she said. “What do we do about the fortress?”
    “I’ll arrange for someone to take another look, in a week or so,” the Grandmaster said, as he gently let go of her arm. “If the Dark Fortress is completely drained of Shadye’s magic, someone else may move in...or it may be left abandoned. It takes a strong-minded person to live next to the Inverse Shadow.”
    He shrugged. “The orcs worry me,” he added. “Either they have a new leader or they’ve found a new chieftain. They might do a little raiding on their own account once the new generation grows to maturity.”
    “In a couple of years,” Emily said. Orcs grew fast . A baby might become an adult within a couple of years, ready to go into combat or start competing for mates of his own. “Will you strike first?”
    “We might,” the Grandmaster said. He turned and started to walk towards Whitehall. “Your friends will be arriving later this evening, Emily. I suggest you pack your bags, and wait in the library until they arrive.”
    Emily nodded, reluctantly. For some arcane reason, she hadn’t been allowed to move straight into the room she would occupy during term, even though she wouldn’t have slept there while she’d been in the Blighted Lands. Perhaps other students staked their claims to the best of everything, if they got there first, but she wouldn’t have done that, would she? Didn’t the Grandmaster know her better than that? She shrugged at the thought, wondering just who she’d get as roommates this time, and followed the Grandmaster back to Whitehall. It was funny just how much the school felt like home.
    “If you have time, write out a detailed report of everything you saw in the Blighted Lands,” the Grandmaster said, as they reached the doors. “And return that little monster to its normal form.”
    “Yes, sir,” Emily said, as Aurelius slithered off her neck and wrapped himself around her arm. She cast the spell and watched as the snake became a seemingly-harmless bangle, surrounded by anti-thief jinxes and runes designed to make it hard to see. “My friends do know about him...”
    “The last thing I need is someone deciding to save you from a Death Viper,” the Grandmaster said, dryly. “Or fainting when they see one wrapped around your neck.”
    Emily smiled at the thought, bowed to him and hurried up the stairs, back to her temporary room. It was small, with a bed, a desk, a set of bookshelves and not much else, but she was fond of it. In Sixth Year, she’d been told, she would have a room of her own; until then, she had to share with two roommates during term. At least she didn’t have to sleep in dorms, she reminded herself as she placed the bag of books on the desk. Mountaintop hadn’t been a very pleasant place to sleep, even when people weren’t hanging hexes on the drapes or practicing nasty spells. She’d been lucky, she suspected. If she’d gone to Mountaintop as a newcomer, she would have been as badly abused as Frieda.
    She sat down, glancing at the small pile of letters awaiting her. Caleb had written twice - she felt an unaccustomed warm sensation in her chest as she saw his handwriting - and Alassa had written several more times, probably to discuss her impending wedding. She opened her sealed drawer, picked up the chat parchment from where she’d hidden it and scribbled a brief note to say she was fine. Her friends would reply when they saw the message.
    Shaking her head, she opened the letters and read them one by one, making sure there wasn’t anything urgent she might have missed while she was in the Blighted Lands. Caleb’s letters were friendly, apart from a handful of thoughts on their joint project; she surprised herself by smiling after she’d