Shannon took a deep breath in through his nose. She was right. Resisting might paint him with shades of guilt.
Now, even more so than before, he had to show that he had become an innocent researcher without political ambition. “If I cooperate, may I continue my research during your investigation?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Let’s begin with the misspellers. Why are they here?” Receding footsteps told Shannon she was walking back to her chair. Likely she wanted to sit down again. He didn’t follow. As the junior wizard, she could not politely sit while he stood. He remained by the window.
“In Starhaven,” he said, “as in other wizardly academies, a spellwright must achieve fluency in one of our higher languages to earn a wizard’s hood, fluency in both higher languages to earn a grand wizard’s staff. Spellwrights who cannot learn either may still earn a lesser wizard’s hood by mastering the common languages. But a few fail even this. Their touch misspells all but simple texts. Here, in the South, we call such unfortunate souls cacographers.”
Amadi grunted. “It’s the same in the North. We simply do not name dangerous spellwrights so.”
“In Starhaven, we do not believe such students are dangerous. We do not permanently censor magical language from cacographers’ minds; we permit them to fulfill what roles they can. At present there are maybe fifteen living in the Drum Tower. All but three are under the age of twelve.”
“Why so many squeakers?”
“Most of the older ones integrate themselves into the academy as lesser wizards.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Dangerous?” Shannon’s voice rose. “Dangerous to the cacographers? Possibly. Every so often, a text reacts poorly to their touch. Still, I’ve never seen an incident result in more than bruises or a misspelled construct. But are cacographers dangerous to wizards? Dangerous to spellwrights fluent in one or both of the world’s most powerful magical languages?” He snorted.
Shannon heard Amadi’s feet shuffle and guessed that she was shiftingher weight and wishing to sit down. “Magister, this goes against what I was taught, against what you taught me.”
He planted a hand on either side of the windowsill. “I taught you long ago.”
She clicked her tongue in frustration. “But I’ve read of these misspellers—cacographers, as you call them. Many witches and rogue wizards come from their stock. In fact, one such misspeller was an infamous killer. He was a Southerner, lived in this academy in fact. Now, why can’t I think of his name?”
“James Berr,” Shannon said softly. “You are thinking of James Berr.”
“Yes!”
Shannon turned toward his former student. “Berr died three hundred years ago. You do know at least that, don’t you?”
Silence filled the room for a moment, then Amadi’s chair creaked a loud complaint as she sat heavily.
Shannon stiffened.
“Please continue, Magister,” she said acerbically. “What have I misunderstood? What was so terribly benign about that misspelling murderer?”
Shannon turned away and spoke in short, clipped words. “It was an accident. One of Berr’s misspells killed a handful of acolytes. He admitted guilt and they allowed him to stay on as a low-ranking librarian. The boy was only trying to learn. No one would teach him, so he experimented. Unfortunately, two years later, a misspell killed several wizards. Berr fled into the deep Spirish savanna and died.”
“So cacographers are dangerous, then?”
“Not once in the three hundred years following James Berr has there been such a dangerous cacographer. It is the Northern fascination with misspelling that makes you suspect that every cacographer is a viper in the bush. A fascination, I might add, that has been championed by the counter-prophecy faction, much to the detriment of our academies.”
“Magister, I know you have tangled with the counter-prophecy leader-ship. But I would be careful what you say. Your own provost has spoken sympathetically of their interpretation of prophecy.”
Shannon pushed a stray dreadlock from his face. “And you, Amadi, where does your allegiance lie?”
“I am a sentinel,” she replied. “We do not play the game of factions.”
“Of course you don’t,” Shannon said coldly.
“I did not come here to be insulted, Magister. I came for information.” She paused. “So, tell me, are there any Starhaven cacographers with particular strengths?”
Shannon exhaled through his nose and tried to calm down. “A few.”“And has any cacographer learned to spellwrite in the higher wizardly languages?”
Shannon turned. “What are you implying?”
“The misspell that killed Magistra Finn was written in Numinous.”
Shannon stood up straighter. “I’ll not have you trying to blame a cacographer simply because you’ve been