“Very good,” Gordian said. “And you have drawn up the rules?”
Emily reached into her pocket and produced a small notebook. “For the club itself, I modeled the structure on the kingmaker and fencing clubs. Members will be ranked according to wins, losses and draws ... insofar as there are draws. I’ve copied the rules from the dueling league, with the principle exception of no lethal combat. Ideally, the members will not be seriously injured in dueling.”
“That might be tricky to enforce,” Gordian said. “The monitors might not catch any illicit moves.”
Emily nodded. No one—apart from Sergeant Miles—had realized she’d deliberately given Casper an opening, when she’d dueled with him. Unless the others had realized and kept their mouths shut ... no, she couldn’t imagine Master Grave letting Casper prance about in celebration if he hadn’t won fairly. The man was a stickler for the rules. Casper himself certainly hadn’t known.
“The arena will be spelled to keep combat as safe as possible.” She knew that wasn’t going to be easy. Small injuries happened all the time, no matter what the tutors said or did. Whitehall certainly wasn’t at risk of being sued if a student cut his finger or scraped her knee. “I was thinking that preparing the arena would make a useful project for some of the older students.”
“And give you some practical experience,” Gordian said, slowly. He nodded in apparent approval. “I believe Professor Armstrong would be happy to assist you. You’re still with him this year, aren’t you?”
Emily nodded. She’d passed her wardcrafting exam, somewhat to her surprise. Professor Armstrong wasn’t known for letting his students get away with anything. The theoretical part of the exam had been bad enough, but the practical side had been worse. She’d had to stand in the center of her own wards and watch, helplessly, as the examiners blasted away at them with powerful spells. She was honestly surprised they’d lasted long enough for her to pass the exam.
“I have another year with him,” she confirmed.
“I’m sure he will assist you.” Gordian cocked his head. “You may also wish to work with Professor Lombardi. The arena must come up to the league’s standards.”
“I will.” Emily sighed, inwardly. That was going to be a great deal of work, even if she could shovel some of it onto her fellow pupils. Coming to think of it, she’d definitely have to get Professor Lombardi involved ... perhaps even Sergeant Miles. The Dueling League’s rules were very specific. “I wasn’t planning to have students join the league.”
“They’ll want to join the league,” Gordian said. “And the less they have to unlearn, the better.”
Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The Dueling League had never struck her as particularly logical. She’d fought two formal duels in her life, one of which had catapulted her to the top while the other had knocked her all the way down to the bottom. And yet, no one had questioned her right to the championship. They’d merely started making plans to challenge her after she left Whitehall.
They won’t be doing that now, she thought. My ranking is no longer worth taking.
She pushed that thought aside. “The contest will consist of three rounds. For the first one, everyone who wins their duel will proceed; for the second, we’ll keep dueling until we end up with a handful of candidates. And then they’ll battle it out for the championship.”
“You’ll be knocking anyone who has a bad day out of the running,” Gordian pointed out, dryly. “There’ll be complaints.”
“It depends on how many people want to duel,” Emily said. Frieda had been enthusiastic, but she didn’t know how many others wanted to compete. The Sixth Years were going to be very busy over the coming year. Caleb and the Gorgon certainly wouldn’t want to waste time ... Melissa might want to take part, but she had a lot of work to do. “If we only have a handful, we won’t really need to run three separate rounds after all.”
“Magicians will want to compete,” Gordian said. “Don’t you?”
Emily shook her head. She hadn’t wanted to compete. Nor had Lady Barb. Casper had, she supposed, but he was the only one she’d met who’d been genuinely enthusiastic. Even Master Grey had soured on dueling, though he’d been too prideful to give up his ranking without a fight. She wondered, absently, if Jade or Cat had ever been interested in dueling. It was something she’d have to ask Alassa, the next time they talked. Jade certainly had the skill to be a good duelist.
“Others will want to compete,” Gordian said.
He leaned back in his chair. “I’ll expect you to have the club organized within a month of term starting. You can set the contest dates as you see fit, but I advise you to wrap the third round up well before the final exams. Your classmates will probably try to lynch you if they have to choose between the duel and their exams.”
Emily nodded. She wouldn’t want to take part in a contest while she was preparing desperately for her final exams either. She certainly wouldn’t have chosen to take part in a contest instead of her exams, but she could understand—she supposed—why some of her classmates would feel differently. Backing down—or out—was often seen as worse than standing up against insurmountable odds. It explained some of the odder moments of military and magical history. Better to die bravely, they reasoned, than be branded a coward.
“I’ll try to wrap it up midway through the second term,” she said. Hopefully, she could abandon the whole concept afterwards and concentrate on her exams. “By then, the club should be running on its own.”
“Very good.” Gordian gave her a look that suggested he knew precisely what she was thinking. “I’ll be announcing your election as Head Girl this afternoon. After that, you’ll be speaking to the Fifth Years tomorrow ...”
Emily sighed. She wasn’t looking forward to that, either.
“You defeated Shadye,” Gordian said. “I’m sure speaking to younger students won’t be that bad.”
“Hah,” Emily muttered. She was already dreading speaking in public. Alassa could do it, easily. She couldn’t. “Shadye didn’t want me to speak to him.”
Gordian nodded. “How did you beat him, anyway?”
Emily refused to allow the question to throw her. Gordian was hardly the first person to ask, although she’d always suspected Grandmaster Hasdrubal knew more of the truth than he’d bothered to admit. She’d always hidden behind the Sorcerer’s Rule and refused to answer, even though she feared that was coming to an end. Dua Kepala had guessed too much of the truth.
But she wasn’t going to tell Gordian. Not yet.
“I harnessed the power of a dying star,” she said. It was true. Technically. “And I crushed him with it.”
Gordian’s eyes darkened. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes. Do try not to be late.”
Emily rose. “Yes, sir.”
Chapter Six