“It might overload the local ward structure,” Caleb said. “If the ward is dislodged, it’ll collapse.”
“It depends on how firmly the ward is anchored,” Professor Armstrong said. “There are designs that allow magic to be vented into the air or dumped into the bedrock, but they have their advantages and disadvantages. We’ll look at those later.”
He smiled. “But enough of that now,” he said, nodding to the blackboard. The diagram changed, becoming something far simpler. “For the moment, I want you—in your teams—to construct these two wards. You will not find it easy.”
Cabiria reached into her desk and produced a hearthstone. “Why does he need three of us to put the ward together?”
Emily frowned. She could understand why a team might be required to ward an entire house, but a tiny hearthstone? One of them would have enough problems; three of them would just keep getting in each other’s way. There was no way they could do it as a team. She tapped the hearthstone, making sure it was inert before they began. Perhaps they were meant to take turns.
“If you set up the first ward, we can watch carefully and make unhelpful remarks,” the Gorgon said. Her thoughts had clearly been heading in the same direction. “We might see what you do wrong.”
“The trick is getting it right the first time.” Cabiria sketched out a runic diagram, carefully weaving the two wards together. “How does that look?”
“Very strong,” the Gorgon said. “But if one ward comes down, the other will collapse too.”
Emily nodded in agreement. There was no way the ward would last indefinitely. It was too weak, even after it was properly established. She thought the wards shouldn’t be so closely connected. The inner ward wouldn’t help tie the outer ward in place.
“I think we’d have worse problems if someone battered down the outer ward,” Cabiria countered. “Why do we need a sensing ward if someone is crashing through the walls?”
“It would be a little bit redundant,” Emily agreed.
“You’d also lose all sensing wards,” the Gorgon said. “You wouldn’t be able to track someone trying to sneak into the house.”
“Point,” Cabiria said. She winked. “But you have to learn to walk before you can run.”
Emily watched, carefully, as Cabiria set up the ward. It was an order of magnitude harder than the ward lines they’d crafted last year, she noted; the inner ward had to be perfectly positioned or it weakened the outer ward. She couldn’t help thinking, as Cabiria struggled to balance the two wards, that it would be easier to separate them. But that would have disadvantages of its own.
“Someone who casts a full-scale cancelling spell is going to bring your edifice crashing down,” she pointed out. “And you might not be able to counter it in time.”
“You can tune the wards to resist cancelling spells,” Cabiria pointed out. Sweat trickled down her face as she held the wards together. “Otherwise everyone would be using them to break through wards.”
“You’d need a lot of power too,” the Gorgon added. “Particularly if you wanted to cancel a household ward.”
“True,” Emily agreed. Could she cast one with a battery? It was certainly worth trying at some point, just to see what happened. If it worked, she’d have a secret weapon up her sleeve. “I wonder ...”
She broke off as Cabiria’s ward collapsed into a flickering mass of spellwork that vanished a second later. Cabiria snapped out a swearword, then picked up the hearthstone. It was cracked and broken, utterly beyond repair. Emily shook her head in amused disbelief. She’d never seen that happen before.
“You tried to force the ward into place,” Professor Armstrong said. Emily looked up. He was standing in front of the table, studying the hearthstone. “You need a delicate touch.”
“I thought the wards would work together,” Cabiria said. “Why didn’t they?”
“Because the wards aren’t static,” Professor Armstrong said. “And you didn’t account for that when you planned the spell.”
He turned and walked away. Emily exchanged a look with the Gorgon, then picked up a piece of paper and started to write out her own spell diagram. If Cabiria’s spell had failed because the nestled wards couldn’t cope with their own fluctuation, perhaps she could keep them further apart and only link them in a handful of places. Perhaps, if she was very careful, she could oscillate them both ...
“This should be workable,” Cabiria said. She’d been scribbling notes too. “If I limit the power surge ...”
“The ward needs a certain level of power to survive,” the Gorgon pointed out. “You’d be starving it of power.”
“Try to limit the intake.” Emily finished her own diagram and reached for a new hearthstone. “Let me see what I can do ...”
She concentrated, muttering the spells under her breath as she built up the wards. The first ward went together perfectly, but the second started to flicker out of control almost as soon as it was in place. It just wouldn’t stay still. Emily cursed, fighting to hold it together, but they seemed to be intent on collapse the moment she took her eyes off it. Fixing it in place seemed impossible. And then the first ward started to collapse too.
“Bugger,” she muttered, as the spellwork finally disintegrated. “What happened?”
“I don’t think your foundations were secure,” the Gorgon said. “Let me try.”
Emily nodded and watched as the Gorgon went to work. Her spellwork was a little more stable—she’d seen Cabiria and Emily both fail—but it refused to last more than five minutes without constant maintenance. It was better than hers, Emily acknowledged without rancor, yet it was useless. There was no way anyone could constantly monitor and maintain their household wards if they hoped to do anything else at the same time.
This would be so much easier with a nexus point, she thought, sourly. A vast source of power would let me build all the individual wards I want.
“It’s nearly time for lunch,” Professor Armstrong said. His voice echoed around the room, calling their attention to the front. “None of you succeeded. Don’t feel too bad about it, please. Very few sorcerers manage to get two wards working together on their first try.”
He paused long enough to let that sink in. “You will need to work hard to develop the fine touch you’ll need to put multiple wards into place,” he added. “It is not something you can master overnight. I would be surprised if any of you manage to master the basics by the first half-term. Practice, practice and practice some more.”
Emily rubbed her head. She could feel a headache coming on.
“I’ll see you all again, tomorrow,” Professor Armstrong said. “Dismissed.”
The Gorgon tapped Emily’s shoulder as she rose. “Coming to lunch?”
“I have to speak to the professor,” Emily said. “But I’ll see you down there.”