the crossfire if we mess up and the two of you begin to throw around sorcery.”
Julene sneered at him.
“I’ll be back,” Taniel said.
Taniel headed through the gates and toward the administration building. A series of signposts gave him better directions. The place was practically a town in and of itself. The buildings were huge, built of somber gray stone with towering spires and wide arches. They were separated by open spaces where students lounged on the grass. Taniel walked through a large quad and past the library. His rifle was getting looks.
“Can I help you, sir?”
A man of perhaps forty intercepted him as he headed up the stairs of the administration building.
“Powder Mage Taniel,” Taniel said. “Who are you?”
The man drew himself up. “Assistant to the vice-chancellor. Professor Uskan, at your service.”
“Professor,” Taniel said. “Is the vice-chancellor here?”
“He’s in Adopest on business. Pardon me, are you Taniel Two-Shot? The field marshal’s son?”
“Look, I’ve got a company of soldiers about to come pouring through your front gate. There’s a rogue Privileged on your university grounds. We’re hunting her on orders of my fa— on orders of Field Marshal Tamas.”
Uskan’s eyes grew wide. “Wha… No, you can’t fight here. This is a university.”
“We’ll do our best not to. Do you have an evacuation plan?”
“What? No…”
“Well, you should come up with one. Now. The soldiers are from the Wings of Adom. Send word for the students to get out.”
“Get out? We have almost five thousand students here! The campus is nearly a mile across! What do you expect me to do?”
“Think of something.”
“What about the Privileged?”
“We’ll deal with her.”
The man wrung his hands. “Privileged! There could be wholesale destruction! The repairs…”
“I’m sure it won’t come to—” Taniel froze. There she was, coming out of the library not a hundred yards away. Taniel began to breathe quickly. She wasn’t wearing her Privileged gloves. That gave him an advantage.
“Go on,” Taniel said. “You should evacuate the premises.”
“But what do I say?”
“I don’t know,” Taniel growled. He slowly reached for his pistol, trying not to look obvious.
Uskan swallowed hard and looked Taniel up and down. He gave him a beseeching look. “Just be careful of the Applied Sciences building,” he said. “It’s brand-new.” Taking a deep breath, he suddenly threw his arms in the air.
“Free lunch!” he yelled. “Free lunch, outside the north gate!” He began to run across the quad.
“Shit,” Taniel said.
The woman stared at him. He snatched a pistol from his belt, hesitated. People on the quad were slowly following after Uskan. Taniel gritted his teeth.
The woman began to sprint in the opposite direction.
Taniel aimed his pistol and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed across the quad. Taniel nudged the bullet at the last second to avoid hitting a student, cursing under his breath. The bullet missed the Privileged and lodged in the wall of the library. There was a scream. Students began to run.
Taniel took off after her, jamming the pistol into his belt and drawing his spare. She rounded the edge of the library, and Taniel skidded to a halt. She could be waiting just around the corner. Her sorcery would tear him apart before he could fire a shot. Taniel looked around. His eyes fell on the tower back behind the administration building.
The bell tower was the highest point on the campus. He backtracked, heading through the administration building and across a botanical garden. The garden was enclosed, giant sheets of glass held together in a latticework of iron above. He nearly fell into the pond trying to leap it, regained his footing, and headed for the door to the bell tower.
He took the stairs of the tower two at a time. He paused in a window about halfway up and surveyed the quad. He guessed he was five stories above the ground. No sign of the Privileged. He went up to the next window and looked. There. She was heading across the quad between the museum and a great galleried building with large letters proclaiming it to be Banasher’s Hall.
Taniel swung his rifle from his shoulder. He closed his eyes, breathing the calm of a powder trance, and refocused. When he opened them again, he could see her as if she were standing five paces away. She was a handsome woman, with sharp features and a mole above one brow. She walked briskly, still wearing her academic gown. She’d put on her Privileged’s gloves. She glanced over her shoulder once.