Evading her master during his hangovers was a skill Emmaline had long mastered. Albrect could drink more than any man Emmaline had ever encountered and functioned perfectly well even under a prodigious load of drink but he was no more immune from liquor's revenge than any other. After she had bought him his breakfast she regaled him with tales of her evening. These tales were completely invented, a fact of which Albrect was well aware, and the master wizard questioned and picked at her tales trying to expose some falsehood or inconsistancy. It was training of a sort, for Albrect was as much a grifter as a wizard and in that respect he had selected a good apprentice. Emmaline wondered how that had come to pass Gold Wizards frequently bid on promising apprentices when they were presented, offering their own wealth against dues, or even paying the College for the privilege of a particularly promising apprentice, an investment they were happy to wring out of their students for the most part. What Albrect had paid for her she did not know, but her part in his various scams and schemes must have made him a neat pile of gelt over the past year or two.


"You are using too many generalties girl," Albrect grumped as he finished his eggs, sopping up the soft yolk with a crust of bread.



"I had been drinking," Emmaline replied defensively.


"And yet you were so articulate when we spoke last night? Tsk tsk," Albrect chided. Emmaline blushed at the thought of what she had been doing during that conversation.


"Fine, you may go, I shall expect you to bring dinner before you lose yourself to wine," Albrect gave in, issuing an impressive belch before shoving his plate away.


"Tomorrow I may have time to teach you something... I suppose I should do something," he grumped. Emmaline nooded eagerly.


"I have scrolls for you to deliver, be gone," he waved his hand. Emmaline fled enthusiastically, eager to get out of the tower. SHe went downstairs and retrieved the ring of luck. She had hidden it behind a lose rock, wound about with a few simple wards. She shivered with pleasure to hold it and resisted the urge to put it on only with an effort of will. Instead she strung it on a leather cord and slipped it around her neck, nestling it between her breasts so she could still feel it against her skin.


The Colleges were bustling with activity as Emmaline hurried across the campus. Part of her was tempted just to toss them into a bush and be done. Sigmar knew most of Albrect’s mail was the polite minutiae of college life and Emmaline very much doubted anyone would miss it. Unfortunately, there was no way of telling which of them might be part of some complicated scheme which he would have her hide for disrupting. Her fingers toyed with the ring on its cord as she rounded a corner and all but ran into a trio of mage apprentices.

“Hey! Watch where you are going!” one of them snapped, reaching out to shove at Emmaline. She skipped back and flicked him in the nose, sending him staggering back clutching at his face.

“Hey!” one of his companions yelled, looking more outraged then worried. Then his face clouded with confusion.

“Aren’t you the one who was harassing Mal?” he asked. Emmaline recognized the man, Gunther was it?

“Pfffft, he wishes,” Emmaline replied, rolling her eyes. She tried to push past but the three men were spreading out to block the path.