The Other Apprentice

9-1 | Uldrin

Quinn couldn't sleep. Upon returning from the swamp, the baron and villagers had hailed all of them as heroes, Madrigal especially. The baron offered them all rooms in his manor and promised a grand celebration in the morning.

Hero? She didn't feel like a hero. Madrigal had done anything worth cheering about. Did he really deserve to be celebrated for burning a few sticks out in a swamp? Couldn't he have just told them to get rid of the worty-whatsits themselves? Why was he playing this con game and making himself look more important than he really was? Was it all just a show?

She couldn't shake the doubts she'd had about Madrigal ever since meeting him, and they were eating at her. She'd tried to share her doubts with Tenet, but the excited townsfolk rushing forward had ended that conversation quickly.

The only thing keeping Quinn from exposing him as a fraud was his statement that a danger remained. She decided she would wait for now and learn more before deciding how to proceed, but she felt uneasy about the entire matter.

She sighed, looking out the window. Back in Highhold, whenever she was feeling anxious and needed to be alone, the rooftops had been her solace. A place where she could be above it all, see everything and be unseen.

The window opened easily. Swinging it out, she took hold of the roof and pulled herself up to gaze across the village and its mist-shrouded bogs. There really wasn't much to see. But at least she didn't see any monsters.

She laid back to watch clouds drifting lazily past twinkling stars and a waning gibbous moon. Suddenly, she heard a sound and sat up to see hands clinging to the side of the roof, and the sound of Tenet exerting himself as he tried to pull himself up.

She moved stealthily over, grabbing his arm and pulling him up beside her. "What are you doing here?"

Tenet brushed the dust off of a section of roof and sat down. "I saw you climbing out your window. I couldn't sleep either. Not after what you told me. Are you sure he can't use magic?"

Quinn sat beside him, her arms around her knees. "No. I'm not. I'm not sure of anything about him. A little more than a month ago, I was sure of everything about him. I was sure he was a danger. I was sure he was a monster. Now I'm not sure what he is."

"Do you think he somehow lost his magic?"

Quinn shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe he never had it to begin with. I'm not convinced he was ever a wizard."

Tenet paused a moment. "But what about Bickers? And the talking door knocker? Those were magic."

Quinn nodded. "Sure. But just because he has them doesn't mean he created them. I have a pair of boots. That doesn't make me a cobbler. We've never seen him do anything magical, Tenet. That doesn't sound like a wizard to me. What if he's not really Madrigal? What if the real Madrigal died a long time ago, and he's just pretending to be him?"

"Why would he do that? People fear Madrigal. And how would he keep the ruse up?"

"Possibly by having someone who can use magic. Did you notice the way he looked at Valryk earlier, like he was asking him a silent question? Something's not right about him either. Valryk's clearly not a guardsman. He did nothing when that drunk was throwing rocks at him, and he was no help last night. He didn't even draw his sword. And that's the other problem I have with all of this. Why would a wizard need a guy with a sword to protect him? This whole situation stinks, Tenet. And I'm going to keep my eyes on both of them tomorrow. And I suggest you do the same."

Tenet looked troubled but nodded in agreement.

"Come on. Let's get back inside before they notice we're not in our rooms."