Free Nature's Servant by Duncan Pile Page B

dramatically. Gaspi smirked. He’d come to like Everand over the last few weeks, but despite their newly-established peace, he couldn’t help laughing at the privileged boy’s unfailing pomposity. He never missed an opportunity to make a meal out of something, and as far as Gaspi was concerned, he looked like a right prat every time. Everand squared his shoulders and drew on his power. Gaspi could tell from the tingling behind his navel that he was drawing much more power than was necessary, but it wouldn’t matter. The device would do all the work anyway.
    Sure enough, layers of mist began to form over the quad, freezing into fine skins of ice and lowering themselves to the ground. Within about a minute, the process was complete, and the quad was capped by a thick covering of ice.
    “Excellent!” Owein said. “How do we undo it?”
    “Same way,” Gaspi said, “but just touch the lower part of the device instead of the top.” The pillar was clearly divided in two by an inch-wide indentation, and Gaspi placed his hand on the section below the line to demonstrate. “You wanna try it Owein?”
    “Sure,” the tall, blond boy answered, taking Everand’s place and pressing his palm against the part of the pillar Gaspi had indicated. With none of Everand’s theatrics, he sent a thin thread of power into the device, watching the quad intently as the ice melted away layer by layer until dry ground was exposed.
    “This is great Gasp,” he said. “But what about whackers?
    Gaspi nudged the crate besides him with the toe of his boot. “Grown right from the tree.” Everand bent down to remove the lid, and came up with a dark, polished length of koshta wood, with a flattened heel. A glance inside the crate told him that there were enough whackers for both teams in there.
    “The seeds are in there too, and Taurnil has the ice-boots,” he said, anticipating their further questions. “My guardian, Jonn, paid for them out of his wages.”
    “We’ll have to thank him then,” Owein said, taking the whacker from Everand and turning it over in his hands. “It might take us a while to learn,” he said. “We’ll just be stumbling round the ice to start with I guess.”
    “I’m going to teach you,” Taurnil interjected, speaking for the first time. “After Gaspi’s gone, we’ll arrange some times when I’m not on duty.”
    “Brilliant!” Everand enthused. “By the time you’re back, we’ll be able to give you a run for your money!”
    “You can try,” Gaspi answered, grinning. “I reckon I’ll come back to find you’ve just about learned how to go in a straight line.”
     
    …
     
    Gaspi was filled with nervous energy on the day he was due to leave. He was excited about studying elemental magic, but he hated leaving Emmy behind. The last month had been great with her; it would be like leaving some crucial part of him behind. Taurnil and Lydia were still here in Helioport of course, so at least she’d have her friends, but he knew she’d miss him just as much as he missed her. He was the one who had the exciting new thing to do, but she would be left with life as she knew it, with a big part of it missing.
    He was due to leave with Hephistole straight after breakfast, so there wasn’t much time for a lingering goodbye, but he figured that was no bad thing. He and Emmy had said all that needed to be said the previous night, and now that the time had come, he’d rather just get on with it. They met at Lydia’s room for breakfast, using the little kitchen in her corridor to cook up sausages and eggs, along with some toasted bread and a pot of coffee. Just as they were about to tuck in there was a knock at the door.
    “Come in,” Lydia said, and Taurnil entered the room.
    “I thought you were on duty,” Gaspi said.
    “I begged Trask and he swapped my shift,” he said. “Couldn’t miss your farewell breakfast,” he said, sniffing the air hungrily.
    Gaspi laughed. He knew Taurn would have wanted