All Richelle Mead's...
They walked outside, Dimitri dropping back a few steps to follow behind the girls. He hadn't been explicitly told to guard the Moroi, but the novices – and probably the Moroi, too – knew that had to be the purpose of the groupings. He and the girls walked in silence, hearing the other Moroi-novice groupings chattered quietly. Malina looked back at him more than once, her expression unreadable.
Dimitri stayed vigilant, cataloging the movement and location of every Moroi and novice, every shadow, and every tree – down to the stillness of the leaves in the calm, after-sundown air. He usually liked the trees but now he was irritated, they obstructed his view and created blind spots in his surveillance. His careful awareness of his surroundings also gave him information he would have preferred not to know: Zeklos had paired with Katya, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Nikitin led them across campus to the western wards. The western side of campus housed the physical plant, the generators, and the various other industrial machinery required to keep the large academy modern and functioning. It was a good choice for point of entry for the Strigoi, Dimitri realized. If by some chance she could have gotten through the wards she could have gotten far into campus before she was spotted.
The guardians had apparently had a similar realization. A good portion of the academy's guardian contingent was already there. "We need the wards redrawn," Nikitin told them, stopping and joining the others. Dimitri could barely see the four elemental specialization professors in the middle of the guardian phalanx. "As you can probably guess, we've been waiting rather anxiously for the sun to go down. We're going to be calling some names. Novices, please stick with your Moroi."
The earth specialization professor stepped closer to Nikitin. "This is all strictly voluntary. Malina Ivashkov."
Malina stepped up immediately and Dimitri followed, and four more Moroi were called in quick succession. There was a brief delay when the first student selected for air refused – clearly out of sheer terror – but very soon Malina, Catherine, a Badica twin, and Ivan Zeklos were conferring quietly with their professors. Dimitri and the other novices did their best to observe but not overhear.
Moroi specializations were generally obvious. Dimitri knew that Malina had specialized in earth and knew vaguely that Catherine specialized in water, and wasn't at all surprised that the Badica twin specialized in air. He was unsettled to hear Zeklos called for fire. He'd tried not to think about it too deeply, but he'd just assumed Zeklos specialized in air. Having that assumption proved wrong bothered Dimitri nearly as much as their agreement at breakfast.
Nikitin selected a fourth novice to guard Catherine and the remaining novices reshuffled to include her former Moroi under their protection. Nikitin then pulled her, Dimitri, Katya, and the Badica twin's novice aside. "I want you very close to your Moroi," he explained, clipped and quietly intense as always. "Each professor has an assigned guardian and the line will guard outward, but the process kicks up a lot and impairs visibility quite a bit. The Moroi are taking advantage of the extra guardian protection to teach the warding process, so we would like to see you demonstrating your basic bodyguard technique. Nothing fancy, just do your job." He handed each a silver stake and took his place with the other guardians. The other three novices looked to Dimitri. The novices had only practiced with silver stakes, never held them in true defense of Moroi.
Dimitri met their eyes and nodded – they all knew this was serious. He tilted his head and they separated and re-paired with their Moroi. Ivan and Malina stood together, completely focused on their professors' wordless preparations, and Dimitri and Katya joined them. Catherine and the Badica twin stood a few steps away, and their novices did the same. Dimitri confirmed the formation with eye contact and a small hand gesture: one-to-one guard of their assigned Moroi with paired cross-coverage if necessary. He didn't try to be in charge, but his status among the novices made him the de facto leader of their small group.
The rest of the novices and Moroi stood a few meters back, a mixture of confusion and relief on their faces. Dimitri stepped closer to Malina. She was completely absorbed in her professors' movements, but her arm brushing against his sent a rush of inconvenient and inappropriate warmth through his body. Malina didn't seem to notice.
"What's going to happen?" Katya asked Ivan in a low voice.
The Badica twin glared over at her, but Ivan answered as if he was speaking to an equal. His voice was just as quiet, and his eyes stayed on his professors. "The wards are weak, and we're supposed to learn how to fix them.
"What did Nikitin mean by the problems with visibility?"
"I don't know, I've never seen it in person."
"I've never even heard it described," she whispered. "How does it work?" Dimitri really didn't like them talking, but Katya was asking smart questions, questions he should have asked Nikitin. He swallowed his visceral response and listened.
"It's fairly straightforward," Ivan whispered back. "Four specialized Moroi, one for each element. Earth makes the trench, water basically makes it into mud, air aerates the mixture – you should be able to see the bubbles-, and fire half turns it to steam and half bakes it all, sealing the elements all together."
"How did the wards get weak?" Katya asked, still quiet and very serious. Moroi almost never talked magic with the novices – Dimitri couldn't figure out Zeklos's angle on sharing - but since the wards were part of the Strigoi defense, it was a fair question.
"The best way to break a ward is with a silver stake infused with all the elements," Malina spoke up, just as quiet. Dimitri relaxed a little, hearing Malina answer instead of Zeklos. "Silver holds the magic the best – maximum power, just like in your stakes – but any metal will work. Unfortunately, the wards can be weakened by any kind of elemental disturbance – storms, earthquakes, fire - that's why they have to be re-drawn so often."
"Can a Strigoi get through a weakened barrier?" Katya asked, more curious than alarmed.
"Once it's drawn, all four elements have to be disturbed to break it completely, but if it's weakened, a Strigoi would have a better chance of finishing the job before she got caught."
"Of course, the Strigoi still couldn't touch the barrier," Ivan added to Malina's answer, "but there's ways to get around that. I'm convinced that after a big storm all a Strigoi would need would be a back hoe and a really big match." It was so much like something Katya would say that Dimitri wasn't sure he'd heard right.
"I'm confused," Katya continued, apparently not responding to Zeklos's comment. "If regular elements can break it, what about the magic?"
"That's pretty much graduate level elemental theory," Ivan answered. He lowered his voice even more so only Katya – and Dimitri – could hear. "But my personal theory is that there isn't any magic, it's just a different kind of skill, manipulating the elements. I figure we could even test it. Give a dhampir - or a human, even - a flamethrower, a garden tiller, a heavy-duty water hose, and a tank of compressed air and I bet they'd get the same result."
Zeklos took a quick look away from watching his professors, checking Katya's reaction. Dimitri only caught the glance by accident - he was watching the area around Malina - and Zeklos's expression unsettled him yet again. Zeklos looked mischievous, with a genuine warmth as he looked at Katya.
"You're not serious." Dimitri could barely hear her, but he could tell she was grinning.
"Half serious. But I'm glad I made you smile."
Summer is apparently my writer's block season :-(, but I'm still working, just even more agonizingly slowly than usual!
Thank you again for reading!