Intrigues: Book Two of the Collegium Chronicles (a Valdemar Novel) by Mercedes Lackey Page A

Trainee, and I thank you for your courteous treatment of the Archival records.”
    Well, that was a dismissal if ever he had heard one. Mags nodded, and trudged out the door and back to the Collegium buildings and his room at the stables.
    Both Bear and Lena were out—at classes for the latter, probably, and off tending someone for the former—so he left them brief notes outlining what he had found.
    :Look on the bright side,: said Dallen. :Now you won’t have to spend time going through those boxes anymore.:
    “I suppose,” he said aloud.
    :Well now that you know, maybe this will unearth some sort of memory for you. Maybe a word or two in your parents’ language, or a memory of what they looked like.:
    “That don’t seem likely. I’d’a thought I’d’a remembered somethin’ like that afore this.”
    :Maybe not. Memory is a funny thing. You know . . . smell tends to trigger it.:
    “But if I cain’t remember what m’parents smelled like, I cain’t exactly trigger one, can I?” he objected.
    :Not what they smelled like. The caves.:
    Huh. Now that Dallen mentioned it . . . he did seem to get nightmares more back at the mine when the sleeping hole got mucked out and the smell was more of damp, cold earth than it was of rotting straw and filthy children.
    “I’ll see if I kin ’member one of m’old nightmares,” he said, finally. “Don’ think I wanta bring ’em on me again. Useta wake up screamin’, an’ I reckon none of the Companion’s’d thank me fer screamin’ m’lungs out in middle of the night.”
    :Hmm. You are probably right. So what are you going to do?:
    “Right now?” Actually—he kind of wanted to take his mind off all of this, and let it rest for a moment. And he had a good idea what would do that. “Right now—I think I’m’a gonna find out about this Kirball.”

5

    :HERALD Setham,: Dallen said, instantly, and with tremendous excitement in his mind-voice. :You want Herald Setham. Wait a moment . . . :
    Mags waited patiently, shivering a little in the cold wind. Was the wind never going to stop blowing? There wasn’t even a hint of spring on it yet.
    Dallen was probably speaking to Setham’s Companion. That always took time. Of course, it would have been possible for Dallen to allow him to “hear” Dallen’s side of the conversation, but that would have ended up being confusing. It was also possible for him to listen to both sides, but that would have meant taking down shields, and getting permission. Companions were notoriously reluctant to let anyone but their own Chosen listen to them.
    :Archer says Setham will meet you at the new Kirball field,: Dallen told him, finally. :It’s where they’ve been putting in all those new obstacles.:
    “Aye, I know it,” Mags confirmed. He changed direction to head for the field, which actually had been part of Companion’s Field before it had been partitioned off. “Why ain’t they using the old course?”
    :Not big enough.:
    By now it was late afternoon, the sun was making long shadows with the Collegium buildings, and his stomach growled. He hoped that either the explanation wouldn’t take long, or that Herald Setham would be just as hungry as he was and willing to continue any discussion over food. It wouldn’t be long now until the dinner bell.
    “Why ain’t the old course big enough?”
    :Because they will have to fit two dozen or more people on it at the same time. They’ve finalized the rules, so we’re in luck, whatever Setham tells us is exactly how things are going to go now.:
    He saw the Herald—and his Companion—waiting for them beside the new rail fence that marked the boundary of this “ball ground.” He had expected Setham to be young; it had seemed to him that anyone who was getting into something like this was going to have to be young. He thought that his expectations were confirmed when, from a distance, the Herald seemed to be shorter than even he was. He was surprised to see, as he got nearer,