“Unless I can prove she was manipulated,” Emily said, stiffly.
“Correct.” Gordian looked up at her. “I didn’t expel her, not yet. Frieda will get a fair trial, as laid down in the rules. I am obligated to make sure she gets a fair trial. And you will have a chance to prove that your claims—and your charges—are true. But if she is found guilty, she will be handed over for ultimate judgement.”
“Fuck,” Emily said.
Gordian sighed. “On a different note, your behavior has been very poor,” he added. “You were appointed Head Girl, yet you failed to handle an obviously difficult student. You were too emotionally involved for your own good. Frieda ... should have been brought up short, a long time ago. There is a reason we try to keep a social gap between the older and younger students. Their concerns should not have any significance to you.”
And so you want me to turn in my badge, Emily thought, sardonically. You never wanted me to have it in the first place.
“Some students might be allowed a chance to correct their mistakes,” Gordian added. “I could pardon some of your errors, if they weren’t repeated. But I cannot look past blatant insubordination, disobedience and naked favoritism.”
He held out his hand. “Give me the badge.”
Emily reached into her pocket, feeling ... she wasn’t sure how she felt. She’d hadn’t wanted the badge, let alone the responsibilities that came with it. She’d wracked her brain to find a way to get out of being Head Girl. She hadn’t enjoyed disciplining younger students, patrolling the corridors or running the wretched dueling club. And yet, being stripped of her position and authority hurt. It was a punishment every bit as humiliating as being slapped across the face.
She was tempted to throw it at him. Instead, she merely dropped it into his hand.
“Another Head Pupil will be selected within the next day or so,” Gordian told her. He looked down at the badge for a long moment, his face unreadable. “You will clear out your rooms and office, of course. Pass student files to your successor, move your own possessions into one of the empty chambers. I expect you to do everything in your power to ensure the transition of power is reasonably smooth.”
“Yes, sir,” Emily said. She thought she should feel something. But, apart from a dull ache gnawing at her, there was nothing. Too much had happened in too short a space of time for her to feel much. Besides, losing her position was something of a relief. “I’ll see to it tomorrow.”
“Very well.” Gordian stood up. “I’ll ensure that Frieda receives the very best of care, Emily. Hopefully, Madame Samra or Madame Kyla will find evidence to back up your claims. The inquest will not hold Frieda accountable for anything done under any form of mind control.”
As long as it can be proven, Emily thought, numbly. She tried to remember what little she knew of the procedure, but there wasn’t much. She’d never thought she’d need to look up the rules for a formal inquest. Normally, there was a clear and unchallengeable reason for any expulsion. But at least we have hope.
Gordian looked up, sharply. “The Prosecutor has arrived,” he said. “She’s making her way here now.”
Emily nodded, slowly. “I should go.”
“Stay and tell them what happened,” Gordian urged. “She may as well hear the story from your lips.”
“Yes, sir,” Emily said.
She reached out with her mind, trying to sense the prosecutor’s approach, but there was nothing. The wards weren’t being cooperative. Gordian might not have managed to sever her connection to the school’s wards—her connection outranked his—but he had managed to limit her ability to manipulate them. Somehow, she doubted he’d let her get back down to the catacombs to erase his modifications.
I suppose I should be grateful that he didn’t simply try to kill me, she thought, morbidly. But he would have no way of knowing how the wards would react.
The door opened. She turned as the prosecutor entered the office...
“Fulvia?”
End of Book Thirteen
The Story Will Continue In
Graduation Day
Afterword
Well, here we are again.
Last year, when I wrote Infinite Regress, I noted that I disliked long-running book series where each book was nothing more than an oversized chapter. I felt—and still do—that the writers pad out their volumes to keep the series going as long as possible, even though it tends to be a little self-defeating. Quite a few people have told me that I would enjoy Game of Thrones, for example, but I have no intention of picking up a volume until the series is concluded.
My intention, regarding Schooled in Magic, was to work hard to ensure that each book would be relatively stand-alone. Obviously, later books would draw on earlier books—this book draws on ideas seeded as far back as The School of Hard Knocks—but they would not force the readers to wait impatiently for the next book. My first failure, insofar as that was concerned, was Infinite Regress/Past Tense. I found that there were two separate plots—the collapsing school and Emily’s journey back in time—and while I could divide them to some extent, I couldn’t tie the first one up without completing the second. Past Tense, therefore, followed on from the cliff hanger at the end of Infinite Regress.
I promised my readers, back then, that I would finish the first draft of Past Tense within two months. And I kept my promise.
The Gordian Knot had the same problem as Infinite Regress. There were elements that needed to be put in place before the original plot could actually begin, but those elements would either consume too much of the book or fail to receive the development they needed. Accordingly, I split the plot into two and ended this volume with a cliff hanger. By way of recompense, I intend to write Graduation Day within two months (September 2017) and—hopefully—have it out by the end of the year.
Thank you for reading!
Christopher G. Nuttall Edinburgh, 2017.
About the author
Christopher G. Nuttall was born in Edinburgh, studied in Manchester, married in Malaysia and currently living in Scotland, United Kingdom with his wife and baby son. He is the author of twenty-six novels from various publishers and fifty self-published novels.
Current and forthcoming titles published by Twilight Times Books
Schooled in Magic YA fantasy series
Schooled in Magic — book 1
Lessons in Etiquette — book 2
A Study in Slaughter — book 3
Work Experience — book 4
The School of Hard Knocks — book 5
Love’s Labor’s Won — book 6
Trial By Fire — book 7
Wedding Hells — book 8
Infinite Regress — book 9
Past Tense — book 10
The Sergeant’s Apprentice — book 11
Fists of Justice – book 12
The Gordian Knot – book 13
The Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire military SF series
Barbarians at the Gates — book 1
The Shadow of Cincinnatus — book 2
The Barbarian Bride — book 3