Brightly Burning Read Online Free PDF

time.”
    â€œAye. I’ll be going, then, Master Keileth, I’ve work to do.” Lan turned to look at his father, inarticulate protests freezing on his lips; Archer did not look at him at all. He was perfectly satisfied that he had done his duty, and Master Keileth dismissed him with a nod of thanks.
    â€œVery good, and thank you, Master Chitward. I hope that we will be able to please you with Lavan’s accomplishments.” Obviously that was what counted with Master Keileth—pleasing Archer Chitward, not his son.
    Archer opened the door and left without a backward glance at Lan; Master Keileth motioned impatiently to Lan to take a seat. “Sit down, young man,” the Master ordered when Lan did not immediately obey. “I’m not minded to put a crick in my neck looking up at you.”
    Lan obeyed him, gingerly perching on one of the hard wooden seats, and positioning himself nervously on the very edge of the chair.
    Master Keileth gave all his attention to the paper in front of him for a time, then looked up abruptly. His smile was gone, and his eyes held a calculating expression.
    â€œYour father is paying a great deal of money for this opportunity you are enjoying,” Master Keileth said abruptly. “I trust that you intend to make his expenditure worth his sacrifice.” His mud-colored eyes narrowed a trifle as he waited for a response.
    Lan immediately felt a surge of guilt; why hadn’t his father told him this? He flushed a little, and Master Keileth’s eyes showed that he had noted the flush and found it satisfactory.
    Lan dropped his eyes, and Master Keileth did not see the flush of anger that had followed the guilt. Why was Father willing to pay for this, but not to let me go home and live there? Why did he give up the house in Alderscroft where I was happy?
    He only raised his eyes again when he had his feelings under control. Master Keileth was watching him as carefully as a cat at a mouse hole.
    â€œI’m going to ask you some questions, Lavan, so that we know where to place you.” Another thin smile that did not reach the cool gray eyes. “You are fortunate in that your family chose to move when they did. Our school term is just beginning; we will not have to place you in a special class and give you extra tutoring to force you to catch up.”
    Without waiting for Lan to answer, the Master began asking, not a few questions, but a great many. Lan was forced to dredge up everything he had learned at the hands of the village priest and quite a bit he thought he had forgotten.
    By the time Master Keileth was done with him, he was sweating, and quite sure that the Master had decided he was a complete ignoramus. He sat slumped over slightly, feeling completely drained.
    Master Keileth gave no indication how he felt about Lan. He simply made more notes, ignoring Lan altogether. After what seemed like an eternity, the Master finally looked up again.
    â€œSatisfactory, given your limited education,” he said. “I believe we can place you in the Third Form.”
    Lan had no notion what that was supposed to mean, but when Master Keileth beckoned peremptorily, Lan rose and followed him out of the office and into the hall.
    They climbed to the third floor, the murmur of voices all around him. Master Keileth brought him into a corridor identical to the one below. This time, they went as far as the middle of the corridor—far enough to see that there were others branching from it—before Master Keileth stopped at a door and opened it without knocking.
    The sounds from within the room stopped immediately, and with a scrape of chairs, everyone in the room stood up.
    When Lan entered, he saw that there were eight adolescents, six males and two females, at small desks facing a larger one, at which an adult teacher presided. They were all younger than he, about fourteen to his sixteen.
    â€œHerewan, this is a new student, Lavan