A Scholar of Magics by Caroline Stevermer

his own research somewhere on the premises. Fell’s study was just one of many in the orderly warren of the place. Even here, the peaceful energy and scholarly hush of the place was undisturbed.
    â€œWhat’s your favorite?” Lambert asked softly.
    Jane looked puzzled.
    â€œYour favorite opera,” he prompted.
    â€œOh.” Jane took her time about thinking it over. “ The Magic Flute, I suppose. Though some aspects of the magic bear as much resemblance to what they teach at Greenlaw as The Girl of the Golden West bears to your true golden West.”
    Lambert did not dare open any of the doors that were closed, for fear of annoying possible scholars within, but he led Jane through a quick survey of those rooms with doors ajar. None seemed a bit out of the ordinary. There might be books stacked on the floor until there was no room to walk to the desk. There might be scholarly journals stacked in the corners like straw or hay. But there was order to the disorder everywhere they looked. Nothing seemed to have been disturbed. Nothing, that is, until they reached Fell’s study, where the door had been left open a few inches.
    Lambert rapped on the door as he opened it farther and peered inside. “Uh-oh. Fell is not going to think much of this.”
The room was deserted Lambert sidled in and took a good look around.
    From one side of the room to the other, papers littered the confined space. A study lamp had been knocked to the floor, its green glass shade broken, though no oil remained in it to cause a fire hazard. If there had been a robbery, nothing seemed to have been taken and many objects of considerable value remained. There were gleaming brass astronomical models in each corner of the room, three armillary spheres and an orrery. An astrolabe lay half buried in paper on the desk. The glass-fronted bookshelves seemed undisturbed but every other surface was in complete disarray.
    Among the chaos covering Fell’s desk, Lambert found a set of plans, drawn with painstaking care, for a weapon that appeared to combine the properties of a telescope, a cannon, and a slide trombone. Either the cannon was incredibly small or the gun sight incredibly large. Lambert didn’t waste a moment figuring out the scale. He scanned the mechanical drawing long enough to spot the words “gun sight,” “Egerton wand,” and in larger letters “confidential” stamped on each sheet. He folded the papers hastily and slipped them into his pocket while Jane inspected the door lock.
    â€œWhat kind of a scholar of magic needs a lock on his door?” Jane’s disapproval was clear. “A very ordinary lock at that.”
    â€œWas it forced open?”
    â€œJudging from the marks here, yes.” Jane traced the gouged wood and scratched metal. “It wasn’t locked. Someone
didn’t even bother to try the knob first, just slid a knife blade in and pushed.”
    â€œHe must have been in a hurry.” Lambert started picking up papers and stacking them in no particular order. It would be easier to clean the place up once the floor was clear.
    Jane studied the room with sharp-eyed interest. “Whoever works here is a devil for armillary spheres.” She flicked a speck of dust from one of the nested rings of the largest armillary sphere and set the gleaming metal into silent motion. “Is this an orrery?” She moved along to the mechanical model of the solar system. She touched the crank and glanced up at Lambert. “Shall I give us a little extra spin?”
    Lambert said, “It’s an inaccurate model. The earth isn’t really in the center. The sun is. Earth and the other planets spin around it.”
    â€œJust like Glasscastle, in other words.” Jane moved the crank gently until the polished wooden planets eased into motion around the ivory orb representing the earth. Old as it was, the device had been well cared for. The mechanism made