you wish,’ the boy acceded smugly, and waited for Trist to join him. After we had heard their boots descend the stair, Rory spoke. ‘I don’t like the sound of that. I warned you fellers about cullings before, just like my cousin warned me. They had an exceptionally large class the year he came into Academy. The commander that year did three cullings. He’d choose a test or an exercise of some kind, without any advance notice to the cadets, and those who fell below a certain score were simply dismissed.’
‘That’s brutal,’ gasped Oron, and the rest of us nodded grimly.
‘It is. But the commander then said that it was as fair as an ambush; that those who were always ready and alert survived, and those who were lax did not.’
I was suddenly reminded of Sergeant Duril’s rocks. I didn’t like the idea of a sudden culling, but the commander was right. It was fair in the same way that battle odds were fair. I scowled. I still hadn’t found the rock that I’d kept on my shelf. It was a minor thing, but it irritated me.
I shook it from my thoughts and opened my maths book again. I had been solid on the lesson; now I resolved to be absolutely in command of it. At the table, other cadets were doing the same. Gord sat silent, staring straight ahead. When he noticed me looking at him, he said quietly, ‘I hope Spink gets back soon.’
I nodded. Spink had passed his last section test, but not by much. I breathed a silent prayer to the good god that Spink’s efforts at study would be rewarded, and then hastily added myself to that petition as well. I bent my head over my books and tried to concentrate.
I looked up immediately when I heard boot steps on the stairs. Trist came in. His cheeks and forehead were red with cold from the outside, but his mouth was pinched white with fury. He looked round at us and seemed to be strangling on his news.
‘So? What did you find out? Did he tell you anything?’ Oron demanded of him.
‘It’s not fair! It’s not fair at all, and there’s no reason for it!’ Trist spoke through gritted teeth. He walked over to our hearth and stood with his back to us, warming his hands.
‘What is it?’ Rory demanded.
‘It’s not just an individual culling!’ Trist turned back to face us. ‘It’s going to be based on averaged patrol scores. Lowest patrol is out. One man with a bad test score could lose the Academy for his entire patrol.’
‘But why?’ The cry burst from several of us.
Trist tore off his gloves and slapped them down on the table. ‘Because the Academy overspent on horses and costs must be cut. So the colonel is looking for a way to get rid of some of our class. That’s what I think. Caulder gave me some lofty speech about how each patrol should lift individuals to a higher standard, and if we haven’t done that by now with our weaker members then we never will as troopers.’
Rory knit his brows. ‘That’s something like what Colonel Stiet said in that first speech he gave us at the beginning of the year. But I thought it was just inspirational, not that he’d actually hold us to it.’
Oron looked around wildly. ‘This means that no matter how well I do, no matter how hard I’ve studied, any one of you could bring me down tomorrow. I could be dismissed from the King’s Academy for something I had absolutely no control over.’
‘Spink.’ Caleb spoke the name like a curse. ‘Spink could do us all in. Where is he, anyway? Why isn’t he here and studying, like he should be? Doesn’t he care at all?’
‘He was summoned to the colonel’s office. Don’t you remember?’ I spoke the words dully. It came to me that alone of us all, Gord had acted on the colonel’s words from our welcoming speech. He had tried to lift Spink’s mathematical capabilities up to match his own. And then, in a wash of near despair, I thought of what else Gord had just said: that if anyone truly conspired to weaken the New Nobles in the Council of Lords, he would find a way to turn us against each other. If Spink’s failure sent all of us home, with the only future option of enlisting as common soldiers, how would our fathers feel about one another? Who would they blame?
‘Well, he’d best get back soon! I don’t want my career ended because some frontier lad didn’t know what eight times six was. You’d best drill him well, Gord, or it’s the end for all of us!’ This was Rory.
‘We’re counting on you. Make sure he passes,’ Trist added in a tone I didn’t like.
Gord lifted his head and looked at him steadily. ‘I’ll do all I can, in that I’ll offer him as much help studying as we both have time for.’
He lowered his eyes to his books again. After a moment, the silence in the room passed back to the normal shuffling of papers and scrubbing out of mistakes. Trist went to his room and came back with his own books. We made room for him at the table. He asked to borrow Oron’s grammar book to look up a Varnian verb. He did so, and jotted it down. Trist didn’t look up from his own work as he quietly observed to Gord, ‘You always sit next to Spink in maths class. And he’s left-handed.’
Every head at the table lifted. I looked at Trist in disbelief. ‘Are you suggesting they should cheat? That Gord should let Spink copy off his test?’
Trist didn’t look up at any of us. ‘Gord corrects all his work every night before Spink turns it in the next day. How is that so different?’
Gord strangled for a moment, then said tightly, ‘I’m not a cheater and neither is Spink. I tell him when he has the answer wrong, and show him what he did wrong. He still has to rework all the calculations himself.’
Trist’s voice was very calm. ‘So, if he could see your answers, and if he had time, he might be able to go back to the ones that didn’t match his and re-work them for the correct answer. That’s not cheating. It’s just, well, checking facts. Confirming calculations.’
‘I won’t. I won’t suggest it to Spink and I won’t enable him to do it. I won’t break the Academy honour vow.’ Gord’s voice grated low and furious.
‘The Academy honour vow also says that every cadet will do all he can to help every other cadet succeed. And your little quibble about letting Spink check his answers off your paper might end the career of everyone in this room. I’d say that’s breaking the honour vow in a major way.’
‘You’re twisting things,’ Gord replied, but he did not seem as certain as he had with his earlier responses.
‘No. I think this is a test they’re giving us. To see how well we hang together and protect our own. I think Caulder knowing about the culling is a fair sign that others will know, too. I think it’s a rumour that was meant to get out. To see how resourceful we’ll be about protecting our fellows.’
Trist made it seem so plausible. I glanced around at the others, and found in their eyes mostly acceptance of Trist’s reasoning. Natred seemed to share my doubt and there were furrows between Rory’s eyes, but the rest of them were nodding. I looked at Gord. He was not meeting anyone’s eyes. Instead, he began to stack his books. He gathered them in his arms without a word and rose to leave the table.
‘We’re counting on you, Gord. Everyone’s career is at stake here!’ Oron called after him. His tone was the friendliest I’d ever heard him use to the fat cadet. Gord made no response.
I stayed at the table long after my studying was done,
