The room was the largest he'd seen so far, consisting of six cells that had been knocked together, but it was still rather small according to the standards he'd come to expect. One long bench ran along the outer wall, beneath the six small, barred windows, and two tables stood at opposite ends of the long room. The rest of the room was a single long, open space. Books, bottles and equipment of every conceivable kind covered every available horizontal space, except for the table at the far end of the room that contained only a large glass globe that shone brightly with its own inner light. An elderly man with a hunched back and spindly legs was bent over this globe, his face lit from below like something out of a cheap horror film.

     The man straightened as much as his back would allow as Thomas entered, pausing just within the open door, and the younger man saw that the older man was almost bald, with just a few straggly wisps of hair clinging on above his ears. He had a long, hooked nose and a pointed chin, features possessed by many older wizards and caused by years of exposure to high levels of magic. If Thomas lived long enough, he might look like that himself one day.

     The man scowled at him as if he'd been interrupted in the middle of something very important, and Thomas felt himself quailing with apprehension. First impressions, he thought. Got to make a good first impression. He quelled his nervousness, therefore, and tried to give an impression of confidence and professionalism as he looked the older man squarely in the face. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "but are you the wizard Pondar Walton?"

     "Indeed I am," replied the elderly man, taking a few limping steps towards him. "And you, I presume, are one Thomas Gown, who graduated twenty five years ago and now fancies a spell in research. Hmm?"

     "Yes, master," said Thomas, falling effortlessly back into his apprentice humility and servility, essential when handling such a dangerous and capricious force as magic. When a number of wizards are working together, it is essential for one of them to take charge and for the others to follow his lead with unquestioning obedience. Any conflict, no matter how minor, could cause the subtle and delicate energies to slip out of control, with potentially disastrous consequences. "I see you've already got people working for you, though. Do you need more assistants?"

     "I can always find a use for a competent wizard, someone not afraid of a bit of hard work." His tone of voice, and the look in his eyes as he studied him, suggested that he strongly doubted Thomas would possess these qualities. "Even those incompetents I do get landed with are constantly being poached off me. That bloody fool Saturn's the biggest culprit. You stay away from that one, you hear me?"

     He jabbed a knobbly finger at him and Thomas stared at it as if it were a loaded crossbow. Pondar was already angry with him, and he'd only just walked in through the door! He nodded dumbly and Pondar relaxed, nodding in satisfaction.

     "Good. You'll watch who you associate with if you want to work for me. If I take you on, I'll expect you to stay with me. I won't take you back if your new master lays you off. Understand?"

     Thomas nodded again and hurriedly dropped his eyes. He wanted this position, wanted it badly. He wasn't going to risk it by offending his new master.

     Pondar took a few more hobbling steps until he was standing right in front of Thomas. He drew himself up to his full height, and the younger wizard was astounded to see that, even with his stooped back, the older wizard was a good three inches taller than him. He must have been a giant of a man in the days of his youth! He reached out to cup Thomas’s face in his hands, and the younger wizard flinched at the touch of the cold, bony fingers, but he forced himself to relax and let his arms hang loosely at his sides as the older wizard looked him closely in the eyes. "Blue eyes," he muttered. "You don't look the type to have blue eyes."

     "They used to be grey," replied Thomas. "They turned blue slowly over the years."

     "Indeed?" said Pondar, scowling as if he'd just admitted to suffering from some terrible social disease. "Interesting."

     He then turned Thomas’s face this way and that, examining it from every angle. He looked up his nose and pulled back his lips to examine his teeth. He then took the younger wizard's hands one at a time, subjecting them to an equally close examination, and finally told Thomas to open his jacket and shirt so he could examine his stomach. "Hmm," he said at last. "You say you don't know any alteration spells?"

     "I do know a few," replied Thomas as he buttoned up his shirt, his face and hands still crawling from the older wizard's touch. "Just simple ones, though. Nothing very special."

     "You know the termination spell, though?"

     "Yes, of course. It's one of the staple spells. All wizards are required to learn it as soon as they're capable of doing so."

     Pondar nodded. "You will read that spell every hour, to see if it changes, and if it does change you will memorize the new version immediately. If one of my experiments begins to go wrong, the rapid casting of that spell may be the only thing that can save our lives. I hope you understand that life in spell research can be very dangerous. About one in ten wizards dies within their first year here."

     "I understand," replied Thomas, swallowing nervously.

     "And you still want the job?"

     "Yes!" cried Thomas without hesitation. "I mean, yes, master. The opportunity to work in a place like this... The things I could learn..."

     The older wizard chuckled. "You're ambitious," he said. "Of course you are. You wouldn't be a wizard otherwise. Well, who knows? Maybe you will learn a thing or two here, but I warn you. The things you learn may not be the things you hoped or expected to learn. I've known more than one aspiring young wizard burn his spellbooks and give up magic for good after a few months here."

     Thomas nodded uncertainly, but he thought the older wizard had misjudged him. He was indeed ambitious, but for knowledge, not spellcasting power. For him, the ability to cast spells was just a means to an end, not an end in itself. But then, knowledge was just another kind of power, wasn't it, so maybe the older wizard hadn't been so wrong after all. "Does that mean I've got the job?"

     "I'll give you a chance, but you only get the one chance. Slip up, just once, and you'll be the subject of my experiments, not the performer of them." Thomas nodded his understanding. "Also, there are some ground rules you will abide by. There will be absolutely no casting of spells of any kind without my express authorisation so long as you're within twenty yards of this laboratory, and if you cast any spells close to someone else's laboratory I can guarantee that they'll be as angry as I would be. The elemental energies being harnessed here are so delicate that the tiniest quantity of stray magic can upset them. Break that rule and I'll peel your skin off. Understand?"

     It didn't sound like a threat. It sounded like a simple statement of fact, and the straightforward way he said it chilled Thomas’s heart. He nodded again, therefore, not trusting himself to speak in case his fear came out in his voice.

     "Good," continued the older wizard. "And you will not teleport, nor use a farspeaking spell, or use any other kind of long range magic within fifty yards of these buildings. Those spells generate more stray energy than almost any other, especially these days."

     "I thought we couldn't teleport at all any more," said Thomas in confusion. "Because of the interference. My family and I were almost killed teleporting here from the Overgreen Forest."

     "It's still perfectly safe over short distances," replied Pondar, suddenly sounding a little friendlier, almost conversational, as if Thomas’s meek, submissive attitude had placated him. "Say less than four hundred miles. They used to recommend a maximum of five hundred miles, though, so it must be getting worse. Keep an eye on the bulletin board outside the Great Hall. That'll keep you updated on the latest findings." He paused, as if thinking of something, before he spoke again. "I'll want to examine your spellbooks, see exactly what you're capable of. Bring them with you tomorrow."

     I've only got my traveling spellbook," replied Thomas. "All my other spellbooks are back home, out of reach if I can't teleport there."

     Pondar nodded. "Bring your traveling spellbook, then. I'll give you some full sized books and you can copy your spells into them. In your own time, of course. The maintenance of your spellbooks is your responsibility. Your days belong to me. Understand?"

     Thomas nodded, groaning inwardly at the thought of several long evenings spent carefully copying the intricate, ornate text, one elaborate letter at a time. Evenings he'd much rather spend relaxing, recovering from a long, tiring day. Oh well, if it had to be, it had to be.

     The older wizard limped over to a bookshelf containing a dozen fat, leatherbound books, faded and worn, cracking at the folds, that squatted like obscene toads, radiating an almost palpable sense of menace. "These are my personal spellbooks," he said. "They are not to be interfered with. They are protected by spells that will, let us say, strongly dissuade anyone from touching them again. This is not just an old man's paranoia. Many of the spells contained herein are so dangerous that the mere act of opening the book places the lives of everyone in the room in extreme peril. Since all wizards have an excellent memory, I don't expect to have to warn you again."

     "Yes, master," replied Thomas meekly.

     "Good. Remember all I've told you and I'll probably have no need to punish you. I don't enjoy punishing errant assistants, but the lessons have to be learned. An hour of agony now might save your life later. Maybe other people's lives as well."

     He examined the younger wizard, looking to see if his words had sunk in, and nodded in satisfaction. "It's almost sunset, too late for you to do anything today, but I want you back here tomorrow, at first light. Spend tomorrow just familiarising yourself with the layout here. I want you to spend the day just looking around, taking note of everything you find. The furniture, the equipment, the supplies. Where it is, what's next to it, what you have to walk past to get to it. If I tell you to go get Hood's Libram and half a dozen dragon's teeth, I want you to be able to rush straight to where they are and hand them to me two minutes later, while taking a route that takes you away from anything they might react with. Talk to the others, if you can do so without distracting them from their work. Introduce yourself and find out about them. The one with the stupid ponytail's Edward Parsley, the ugly one's Karem Kidthorne and the pretty one's Tassley Kimber. Watch out for her. She'll try to trip you, and if I catch you copulating when you should be working I'll skin the hides off both of you."

     "She's single then?" asked Thomas hesitantly.

     "Yes, unfortunately. A husband's what she needs to settle her down. If she doesn't find one soon I'll arrange one myself and she won't enjoy the husband I find for her. Either that or I'll give her the face of a dog. That'll put a stop to it."

     His eyes were smouldering, and Thomas realised that he was genuinely angry. This Tassley must have tried it on with the other assistants, he thought, and Ponder caught them at it. Well, he doesn’t have to worry about that with me. Not when I've got Lenny waiting for me back home.

     "Well, what are you staring at?" the elder wizard snapped. "Get about you! And I want you back here at sunrise tomorrow, at first light."

     "Yes, master," replied Thomas, and he hurried out of the room. He closed the door and then just stood there for a moment, breathless with excitement. "I'm a research wizard," he whispered to himself in disbelief. Okay, so his master looked as thought he’d be a hard taskmaster, but he was a research wizard even so. One of the elite! "A research wizard!"

     "You're a floor sweeper and a bottle washer," said a soft feminine voice, and he turned to see an attractive, sandy haired woman walking towards him, the hem of her white lab coat swishing softly around her feet. "Maybe in ten years you'll be a research wizard, if you can stick it here that long. Do you think you'll be here that long?"

      "I expect to be in the valley for at least seven years," replied Thomas. "Until my son graduates. Then I expect we'll be going back home. My wife is very fond of her homeland." He placed just the very slightest emphasis on the word 'wife', remembering Pondar's warning, but it was enough for him to see her eyes widen a little in reaction.

     "So, you're married," she said, smiling. "How nice. My name's Tassley Kimber."

     She held out her hand, he took it, and immediately her hand clamped hard on his, not letting him go. Thomas shook her hand for the sake of politeness and then tried to get his hand back, but she was holding on too tightly. He would have had to pull harder than politeness would allow to break her grip, so he allowed her to hold on to it for a while, all the time conscious of how soft and cool her fingers were. The firmness of her grip was intensely arousing.

     "Thomas Gown," he said. "Pleased to meet you. I look forward to being your friend and work colleague."

     "Friend and work colleague?" said Tassley, taking another step forward and gently stroking the hair out of his face. "I think we can do better than that."

     Thomas found himself looking straight into her clear, bright eyes and felt his pulse racing with every touch of her fingers to his cheek and ears. Her hips touched his and pressed against his hard erection. She leaned forward and Thomas felt his willpower, his will to resist, draining away...

     The touch of her lips to his snapped him out of the almost hypnotic hold she'd gained over him and he pushed her angrily away. "I'm married," he reminded her. "Very happily married. Do you understand?"

     "Lots of people are married," she replied, studying him closely. She cocked her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, smiling mischievously. "I was only trying to be friendly."

     "I'd like to be your friend," said Thomas sincerely, "but if I want that kind of friendship I've got a beautiful wife waiting for me back home. Excuse me."

     He gave her a slight bow, again for the sake of politeness, and then turned and headed out of the building, keen to get back to the common room before it was full dark.

☆☆☆

     "She did what!" exclaimed Lirenna in disbelief, and Thomas chuckled at the expression on her face. "Are you serious?"

     "Absolutely!" replied Thomas. "I swear to you that if I hadn't stopped her, she'd have tripped me right there and then in the corridor."

     "The whore!" swore the demi shae, her eyes flashing in anger. "The slut! I'll tear her face off! I'll rip her eyes out! I'll..."

     "Calm down! Calm down!" said Thomas, laughing and looking around the common room to see if anyone had overheard. "I can handle her! There's nothing for you to be jealous about, I swear. I hereby give you permission to read my mind anytime you want."

     "Don't be silly," said Lirenna, calming down. "I trust you. But if she throws herself at you again, I swear I won't be held responsible for my actions."

     "Fair enough," replied Thomas. "But only if I can be there to watch. I've seen you fighting with magic, but I'd love to see you fighting with your teeth and fingernails. That would be something to see."

     Lirenna stared at him. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she accused. "To see your wife brawling in the street like a common harlot."

     "I would count it one of the defining moments of my life," her husband replied with a perfectly straight face.

     Lirenna stared at him a moment longer, her mouth hanging open in astonishment, and then they were both laughing, shaking with merriment and leaning forward to grasp each other's arms across the small, round table. A few of the common room's other occupants looked up, and one of them shook his head sadly, appalled by the antics of the uncouth foreigners.

     "Come on," said Lirenna, standing and pulling Thomas to his feet. "Let's go."

     "Where are we going?" asked Thomas anxiously. "You're not going to..."

     "We're going back to the dwelling tree," said the demi shae, and now there was another look in her eyes. A hungry, predatorial look. "You're going to give me what you refused to give her."

     Thomas's face lit up with delight, and Lirenna exulted at the sight of it. "You're mine, human," she whispered into his ear. "By the time I'm finished with you, you won't have the strength to even look at another woman!"

     Her hand dug hard into his arm as she led him out, and Thomas followed eagerly.