Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,18

and chief among them was an emphatic ‘what did you do?’ Unfortunately, he had no better idea than she did. He shrugged and made his way down the row of seats until he reached the aisle so he could exit.

Since his class was located in the Engineering building, it took him a few minutes to reach the Healing and Psyche building, which was located near the center of the campus along with three other major buildings that surrounded what was known as the ‘quad.’ As soon as he entered, he found Ilona Fretz, one of the Healing Department’s administrative people, waiting on him. He knew the woman fairly well since she had been the person in charge of buying the potions he had created to pay his bills during the previous semester.

“How do you feel?” she asked immediately.

He gave her a strange look. “I have a headache. What’s going on?”

“I heard about what happened at the dam yesterday,” she replied. “We’ve been dealing with the consequences. Follow me. Master Courtney was very insistent that you should be thoroughly examined. Doctor Morris is naturally quite interested as well.”

“Interested in what?”

Ilona didn’t answer, and he was forced to hurry to keep up with her as she marched down the halls to an examining room. She opened the door and ushered him inside. “Take a seat by the table. The doctor will be here as soon as I inform him you’ve arrived.” With that she stepped out.

A few minutes later the door opened again and a small, balding man with white hair and a round belly entered. There was something distinctly jovial about the man, which was reaffirmed by the smile on his face as he regarded Will. “If it isn’t our aspiring duelist. I had a feeling I’d be seeing you again. You don’t live a boring life, do you?”

Confused, Will frowned. “Pardon me?”

The doctor chuckled. “Don’t remember me? I guess that’s to be expected. You’d lost a lot of blood last time we met—after your duel. I was the one who sewed you up.”

Will brightened. “Oh! My memory is a little fuzzy about that period. I suppose I owe you my thanks.”

Doctor Morris grinned. “I’m just grateful you seem to be in a better mood this time. What was it you said to me when you woke up?” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Oh, yes! You asked which vein was damaged and when I failed to answer immediately you said, ‘This fellow is a fucking idiot.’”

Will winced. Now he remembered their meeting. “I’m really sorry about that. I wasn’t entirely in my right mind at the time.”

The doctor waved one hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. We hear all sorts of things from people when they wake up after trauma. We were laughing about it the rest of the week.” The old man’s eyes were moving up and down, and he leaned closer, staring at the side of Will’s head. “Did this happen at the dam yesterday?” Reaching up with one hand, he probed the lump on Will’s scalp, causing him to gasp.

“No, sir,” he answered. “I got that last night.”

“How?”

“I fell,” Will prevaricated.

“Really?” responded Doctor Morris, disbelief in his voice. “It would be very unusual to get a knock on your noggin like this from a fall. It’s rare that people fall sideways. This looks more like someone rapped you with something small and hard. You aren’t still getting into fights, are you?”

“Only when I can’t avoid them,” said Will sourly.

“Ilona said you had a headache. Did you have that before you had your accident?”

“No, sir—well, not exactly. My headache now is from the injury, but I’m also getting short-term pains if I try to use spells. I think I injured my will while keeping the dam from rupturing yesterday.” Doctor Morris stared at him blankly, causing Will to hurry and add, “But I’m sure it will be better in a few days.”

The doctor nodded. “Yes, I see. You know a lot about injuries to the will, do you?”

He felt his cheeks coloring. “Well, it has happened to me once before.”

“Does