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you just a dead man? Does that dead brain of yours even have the ability to learn anything?”
    “I doubt it,” the biggest man, a red head that outweighed the mage and had him by a few inches, added looking like he was more trouble than the first apprentice who was actually smaller in stature. Both had more powerful magic auras surrounding them than Palose, however, which meant physical size meant nothing in a world of wizards and warlocks.
    “I am no puppet undead,” Palose stated still maintaining a slight smile of politeness. “My skin is still warm. I eat food and my heart beats like anyone. My master simply used a spell to revive me when a simple healer could not. It doesn’t make me brain dead.
    “If that is your only question...”
    The big red head and the other apprentice behind him, whose brown hair and features reminded him of the first young man save for the pointed ears, each placed a hand on a shoulder to prevent his moving away.
    “His skin is warm at least,” the third apprentice said casually. He seemed least hostile and the words almost came off curious to Palose’s ears.
    “I wonder if he stills bleeds red like a human or is he made of that black ichor like a wraith?” Selvor questioned half curiously and half threateningly. “Perhaps we should stick him and find out.”
    The smile had dropped from Palose’s lips, but he was calm as he reminded the three, “We’re in the library. I don’t think Geerloc and the other wizards would appreciate you getting blood on the floors or books.”
    Tightening his grip significantly to the point of it hurting Palose a bit, the red head, Malfaes replied with a wicked smile to his friend, “You know he’s probably right, Selvor. Maybe we should take him outside. We wouldn’t want the old men to ban us from the library before we become full wizards.”
    Selvor grinned with the same evil in his look. “You are so right, Malfaes. Let’s take him outside and continue this discussion.”
    Allowing himself to be led and letting the two holding make him walk, Palose followed Selvor to the large doors. He noted a tight smile from Geerloc as he passed and several wizards either smiled or looked away feigning ignorance. In Southwall, wizards and even fellow mages might antagonize each other. Some played pranks and some even escalated to violence between each other, but there were rules and they were enforced preventing too much from ever getting out of hand. Palose had to remember that he was no longer in Southwall.
    On the bright side, the mage was no longer the quiet young man who had suffered in silence when bad things happened. There had been apprentice wizards in his past that had liked to bully the cadet, but never to the point of blood shed. He had always taken the high road as much because the falcons would have disciplined him for fighting as the fear of the more powerful wizard apprentices. Until he had seen Sebastian dismantle a wizard in a battle circle, Palose had always believed that wizards were naturally superior.
    The thought of sentencing the man that was once considered a friend bothered him not for the first time. If he had lived, Sebastian might have brought a revolution of thinking to the battle mages of Southwall, though in retrospect if he planned to stay with Ensolus then perhaps shortening his influence was best.
    Reaching the doors in a short time, Selvor pushed them open with his free hands for the others. Once outside, Palose heard the doors slip close behind them with a solid thump.
    “So why does an apprentice wear a sword to the library?” Malfaes asked as he drew the standard issue weapon from the sheath. “Did you plan to open some letters?” the man laughed at his own joke, while Selvor glanced to the weapon in his friend’s hand and smiled confidently.
    Selvor scanned the mage trying to decipher the answer to that same question.
    “You know you boys really shouldn’t try tackling someone like me,” Palose stated