События в этом рассказе происходят в Уайтхолле одновременно с 23-й книгой основной серии (Little Witches), но после The Muckracker's Tale
For Emily, the heroine of the
Kai is one such student. This is his story.
I wrote this novella to be as stand-alone as possible, but it takes place at roughly the same time as
CGN
I’d like to tell you about the time I scored the winning goal in a crucial game that made me the single most famous sportsman in the history of sportsmen.
Actually, I’d
… or about the time I won an honour duel with a silly bugger who was too busy posturing for the audience. I’d had all the time in the world to cast a fall-down charm on his pants and then hit him with a force punch …
… or about the time I took a penalty kick that accidentally on purpose hit the goalie in the face …
… and I’m certainly not allowed to tell you I really
Oink. Oink. Oink.
Yuck. Don’t ever let anyone turn you into a pig. Really. Do you know what pigs
She made it clear. I’m not allowed to lie. (I didn’t.) I’m not allowed to exaggerate. (As if!) I just have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. (I’m not going to get far.) And if I don’t listen to her, I’ll be going straight back to the pigsty.
But you know what? I am a great sportsman. And that is the naked truth.
My father was a storekeeper in Dragon’s Den. We have very little in common, beyond stubbornness and a complete and absolute loathing of those who don’t get what they have on merit. We fought like cats and dogs as I got older, because he expected me to knuckle down and
It wasn’t impossible. Sure, only the commonest louts played street games – that was what our betters said, at least – but there were games one could make a killing, if one was actually
Dad didn’t think so. Jousting teams recruited from the nobility, first and foremost, and we weren’t noble. Anyone could enter the Arena, by contrast, but the odds of winning one’s first fight were actually pretty low. I might die, he pointed out, in my very first fight. We fought a lot over that, too. I could have a pretty good life, he insisted, if I worked in the store and inherited it after him. But I wanted to reach the top.
And then my magic came in.
I was lucky. I won a scholarship to Whitehall. (Dad was so proud.) I started lessons … and got distracted, almost at once, when I realised there were
The old Grandmaster hadn’t given two forged coins for international sporting events. There were some teachers who thought differently, but they had to do it on their own time. The only sporting contest he supported was BattleBorne and even then, it had more to do with military training than our international standing. The new Grandmaster – Gordian – was different. He decided we were going to return to the big leagues. And then …
There was one hell of a scandal.