The Allseer Trilogy

by Kaitlyn Rouhier

  Tomias approached apprehensively, settling in the chair even as his muscles tensed and his pulse quickened, instincts screaming at him to run and hide. He found it hard to speak now that he sat across from Nyson, and the danger of the situation he’d put himself in wormed its way up his spine.

  Nyson waved dismissively. “I’m no fool, Tomias. I know why you’re here. Care for a drink?”

  “No. Thank you,” he said, his refusal dripping venom.

  Nyson smirked, but there was nothing friendly or amused about the way his lips twisted. He settled the papers he’d been reading on the desk, and Tomias had to resist the urge to look at them. “It always comes to this. Questions arise, and it is in our very nature to seek out the answers. It is a nature I’ve been fighting against for many years.”

  Tomias inhaled sharply through his nose. “Don’t dance around this. I don’t care what your struggle has been all these years, Nyson, I just want to know what is going to happen to my student, what is going to happen to Kirheen.”

  “She and Ian committed a terrible crime. This is an incredibly delicate matter and one that could easily have consequences for all that live here.” His words were pointed and sharp, carefully aimed. “You’d have me slap them on the wrist and send them on their way, but what message would that send to the others? What they have done is unforgiveable, and every bonded here needs to know the price for such a crime.”

  Tomias ground his teeth, his anger simmering. “You think I don’t know what they’ve done? I know the implications of this, that this is something you aren’t just going to let them walk around from, but I need to know what it is going to happen to Kirheen, what is going to happen to my students?”

  Nyson leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh, his intertwined hands coming to rest in his lap. He regarded Tomias with a disinterested gaze, picking him apart, measuring his worth drop by drop. There was a game of chess taking place inside his head, and Tomias was just another of his pieces to be placed and used as he saw fit. He was evaluating the risk, and either Tomias would be found worthy or the conversation would be over.

  “Garild and Isa will be sent to the work camps,” Nyson said plainly, as if he were describing the weather outside.

  The words were a punch to his gut. Tomias could scarcely believe what he was hearing. He’d expected punishment for Kirheen, but not for Garild too. “You’re sending them away? Two perfectly capable students that could assist greatly against the Darkness, and you’re just going to throw them away?”

  Nyson had the audacity to smile. “This is not punishment for them, dear boy. I’m fully aware of their capabilities. I take no joy in sending them away, but they have been betrayed, and the pain from this will hinder them in all aspects of their lives. They need time to heal. Once they’ve had that, I will reconsider their position here in Sanctuary.”

  Tomias had seen the workers over the years. They appeared from time to time, helping with various tasks throughout Sanctuary. They’d always seemed so frail to him, so distant. They lived and breathed, but it was like someone had dimmed the light inside their heads, as if their sole purpose was turned to the work at hand. They provided a very needed service for Sanctuary, but at what cost? “I’ve seen the workers with my own eyes, dragging themselves around, overworked, underfed, and desperately in need of a laugh. You can’t tell me this isn’t a punishment.”

  Nyson loosed an exasperated sigh. “The workers are cared for just as well as you are here. They are clothed and fed, they have homes. They know their purpose, and their focus is what allows this place to continue to exist. They know what is at stake.”

  Tomias grimaced. “You talk about them like they aren’t even people!”

  “Don’t be a fool,” Nyson spat. “I’m well aware of what they are, of who they are, and they get treated well for the services they provide to Sanctuary. You are letting your emotions get to you.”

  Tomias wasn’t going to get anywhere pushing Nyson, and he was running out of time. He needed an answer, to let it settle in his soul so he could figure out what to do next. When he spoke, he dropped a wall over his heart, hoping to keep it intact while he got the answer he’d come seeking. “What’ll become of Kirheen and Ian? What is going to happen to them?”

  Nyson steepled his fingers and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Ian’s condition is declining rapidly. Trista tells me she does not expect him to recover. The extent of his injuries are more than his mind and body can handle.”

  “And so he dies,” Tomias said bitterly. “Just like that. And Herzin gets to walk away with the blood still dripping off her hands.”

  There was a subtle shift in the Union Masters face, a flash of anger that burned bright in his slate blue eyes. “I know what she has done, and don’t believe for a moment that I will let her walk away from this without being punished. When the time is right, I will deal with her, but in the meantime, I don’t need you starting a crusade.”

  “I think that’s exactly what we need,” Tomias said sharply. “This isn’t the first time her hatred has caused harm, and this time it has cost someone their life! How can you be okay with that?”

  “I am deeply upset over this matter, but her punishment must wait. Herzin will be dealt with in time.”

  Tomias was growing desperate, the strained gates of his barely contained frustration unleashing a flood of bitter words. “Kirheen broke her bond. She did something foolish. What Herzin did was practically murder them both and she’s free to move about Sanctuary while Kirheen fights for her life. It’s disgusting that you’re letting this happen.”

  “Your tone is becoming entirely disagreeable,” Nyson warned. “I understand you’re upset, but I am not the person to be pushing. Watch your tongue, Tomias, or face the consequences.”

  Tomias stilled, clamping his teeth together with enough force he thought they might shatter. His hands trembled, and he gripped the arms of his chair, his fingers aching as he dug them into the wood. He couldn’t keep pushing Nyson, not if he expected to walk out alive.

  Seemingly pleased with Tomias’ silence, Nyson continued. “Kirheen made a foolish and terrible mistake, but she has also displayed remarkable talent. She is resourceful and determined, and her skill set could prove very valuable for the future. I need that sort of talent on the Council. Ordinarily, her crime would be met with exile, but I find myself leaning towards a certain degree of leniency, so long as I get what I want.”

  “And what is that?” Tomias asked carefully, keeping his tone as neutral as possible.

  “Kirheen dissolves her bond and commits herself to the Council, but her existence will remain a secret. To the others, it will be as if she were exiled, stripped of her bond and her power and set loose into an unforgiving world. That is the lie we will tell, the lie we must tell, or this will happen again. Garild and Isa will be given time to recover, and then I will see if they are worthy of joining the fight.”

  It came as no surprise that Kirheen was being pulled into Council affairs, but the manner by which it was happening was absurd. Nyson would keep her hidden, a prisoner to his secrets, and she’d simply cease to exist to the rest of Sanctuary while she carried out whatever business Nyson had planned. He’d come to know Kirheen well enough that he knew she’d never agree to the lie, that she’d never serve Nyson after what had happened. “Kirheen is strong willed. She’s stubborn. She won’t be lured into your affairs so easily.”

  “She will if their lives are on the line.” His eyes flashed dangerously, his sneer hinting to the darker meaning of his words. “Guilt and fear can make one behave in ways both irrational and unexpected. And I expect your help in pushing this along, in making this a reality.”

  Tomias swallowed hard, his mouth gone bone dry. “You’d hang that threat over her head? You’d willfully harm her and her bond mate to get your way? I can’t believe you’d expect me to aid you in that. I thought I knew you, that I understood you, but it seems I knew nothing at all.”

&nbs
p; Nyson gave the briefest of shrugs. “There is much you do not understand. You’re barely more than a child yourself and you’ve hardly got this world figured out, much as you’d like to think otherwise. Let me be clear when I say that what you want and what you think mean nothing to me, Tomias. I don’t expect you to understand the reasons for the things I do, for the things I demand, but I do expect you to follow orders. For your sake, and the sake of those you’re responsible for.”

  There were daggers in his words, lurking at the edges, just waiting for Tomias to slip. If his loyalty faltered, he knew those daggers would cease to be metaphorical, that one night he’d find one sticking out of his throat. Despite the very real threat of death, he needed to know the truth. He’d spent years in the dark, willfully wearing a mask so he wouldn’t be consumed by the questions building in his head, the fear of the answers he might find. They danced on the edge of his vision, laughing at his blindness, his reluctance to seek the truth.

  He refused to remain blind any longer. “I want to know. I want to know the reasons. Before today, I never cared to share your burden, to have the answers, but I can’t keep ignoring the things I see. I can’t remain blind to it all. I can’t remain blind to the fact that I’ve never set foot outside of Sanctuary, that I’ve never seen the village where the workers live, that I’ve never seen the Darkness, or those that were sent to fight it. I can’t stop the feeling that we’re being lied to, that we’re jumping at ghosts. I can’t be loyal to secrets, especially secrets that we’ve sacrificed so much for, that my brother sacrificed for. So please, enlighten me. Make me understand. Give me the answers and I’ll give you my life. I’ll give you Kirheen. Just make this sacrifice worth something, make it mean something.”

  Nyson leaned back in his chair, his eyes regarding Tomias with something akin to pity. He felt weighed, his soul measured in the palms of the Union Master’s hands. The weight of the promise he’d just made pressed heavy on heart and mind, and he knew that if Nyson gave him what he asked, it would change everything. At least one truth he already knew. They were all pawns, being moved piece by piece into position. But for what purpose?

  “This world is complicated and dangerous beyond measure,” Nyson explained. “The information I have withheld, the secrets I keep, it has all been to protect and preserve all I have worked for. I value those that have aided in those efforts, that have sacrificed to keep Sanctuary safe, you and your brother included. The time was coming, drawing closer to a point where I could reveal the truth, but recent events have thrown things into disarray and I find myself having to question the loyalty of those closest to me.” His hand curled into a fist, his nostrils flaring briefly. “However, I can see when secrets begin to work against me, when they start to develop a rift, when the questions become more dangerous than the answers. You are, whether you were aware of it or not, part of a much larger plan. Up until this point, I have demanded only your loyalty, but if I am to share more of this burden with you, it will be your silence I ask for.”

  He rose from his chair, crossed the room, and procured a box from a nearby shelf. It was inconspicuous, made of smooth wraith wood that glowed brightly. He set it on the table between them, his expression somber. Tomias noticed the box had a lock and his heart thumped loudly in his chest, so loud he feared Nyson might hear it, might sense his apprehension and fear.

  Nyson reached into the pocket of his robe and from it he withdrew a small, delicate key swinging on a silver chain. He held it out towards Tomias.

  “I’m offering you answers, but the choice is yours. Once it is opened…”

  “I can’t put the answers back in the box.”

  “Precisely.”

  Choose wisely.

  The key was cold to the touch, but it warmed quickly in the palm of his hand, the silver chain glinting in the light of the glowing wraith wood box. He inserted the key into the lock with a trembling hand and turned it slowly. There was a click, a release, and he reached for the lid. Once you know the truth…

  He lifted the lid slowly, cautiously, as if the secrets held within might spill out and destroy everything. All he found within were an assortment of dusty, weathered scrolls. They looked old and frail, and he looked to Nyson for approval before reaching in and taking one out. The Union Master simply nodded.

  The stiff paper of the first scroll crackled as he unrolled it, and he feared what might happen if he were to accidently rip one of the pages. He looked down at a map, worn and faded but still legible. It took him several moments of study to realize he wasn’t just looking at a map of their little valley. “What is this?”

  “The world beyond the mountains. This is what exists beyond Sanctuary.” He shifted, weathered finger pointing to a small valley on the northern corner of the map. “This is Sanctuary, this little patch here.”

  Sanctuary took up such a small portion of the map. It was hard to imagine the rest of the world was corrupted, that they were all that remained. “And the rest of this belongs to the Darkness.”

  Nyson said nothing, his expression unreadable. Tomias rolled up the map, set it back in the box, and pulled out the next scroll. It was a faded piece of art showing a very large structure, with twisting spires rising into the sky, tall as the tallest trees. Smaller buildings dotted the landscape below it, a town stretching wide in all directions. A picture from before, from a time when they weren’t huddled in a valley chipping away at the Darkness one bit at a time.

  How many people had lived in that place alone? How many had died?

  With a shiver, he set the scroll in the box and reached for the only one he hadn’t yet looked at. It was more worn than the others, as if it had been taken out and looked over many times throughout the years. It was a sketch of a rough looking man, with wild eyes and a long scraggly beard. His features were sharp, carved from stone and brought to life on the paper. Above the sketch, written in faded red ink, was the word ‘wanted’. Beneath the picture was a list; use of dark magic, manipulation of the public, coercion, murder, heretical beliefs. Below that was a request for information, and that he’d last been seen fleeing north, and that other heretics had followed in his wake. There was a reward for his capture, dead or alive.

  Tomias shook his head. “I don’t understand. Who is this?”

  “His name was Elis. He was my father and the founder of Sanctuary.” Nyson fell quiet, his eyes drifting to the sketch still clenched in Tomias’ hands. He stared at it for a time, his expression slipping, years of exhaustion and grief no longer hidden behind stoic pride. It was there and gone again, tucked away and restrained. “He was a great man, granted a vision of a dark and terrible future for our kind. He knew what was happening in the cities, the upheaval, the soul rotting teachings taking root in the hearts of men. He knew what would come, what would happen to those with his gift, to those that defended the Allseer. He spread word of his vision, of what he’d glimpsed, and was scorned for what he knew to be true. But there were those that listened, and when he fled north, others followed. Together, they formed Sanctuary and began to grow their powers, to nurture them, so that one day they could strike back against those that drove us here in the first place, those that had been in Elis’ vision. They are a threat, a darkness that has spread across the world, and they must be stopped.”

  Those that drove us here.

  A darkness.

  Tomias had gone perfectly still, a cold sickening feeling creeping through his limbs, settling deep in his gut. He could smell the age of the parchment in his hands, could feel the texture of the paper against his fingertips. Stains from another time and another place marred the page. It was real and tangible, as real as the truth ricocheting through his very being. “No. No, that can’t be right…”

  So many years spent in fear, a culmination of words and stories that had tricked the mind into fearing what lurked beyond the borders of Sanctuary. A lie. They’d been bred for a purpose, their powers cultivated for a purpose, to fight against a corruption beyond their own land, a
human corruption.

  His fingers were numb and his grip on the scroll loosened. It rolled back together with a snap that made him jump. “Who else knows about this?” he managed to say, his eyes locked on to the rolled parchment that had changed everything.

  “Only a few,” Nyson said softly. Tomias could feel his piercing gaze, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet it. “I intend to keep it that way. We aren’t ready to face this threat. If we act too soon, we could lose everything. Do you understand what I’ve told you, Tomias? Do you understand the importance of this, why this secret must be kept safe?”

  “Y-yes. I understand,” he replied, his voice devoid of emotion. His mind was reeling, his thoughts spiraling out of control.

  Answers in exchange for loyalty.

  Answers in exchange for Kirheen.

  Just put the answers back in the box. Make it go away. Forget.

  Tomias slowly rose from the chair, his legs unsteady. “I need outside. I need air.” Everything was collapsing in on itself, years of his life called into question. He stumbled for the door, feeling as though he were moving through the world for the first time, a foreign land that was no longer his home.

  Nyson stopped him before he could reach the door, his grip tight on his arm. “Tomias. I gave you a choice. You opened the box, and there is no returning what you’ve learned. I know this is a lot to come to terms with but remember what you offered and remember it well. Your life, your loyalty. Those are mine now. What I’ve told you, what you’ve seen, does not go beyond this room. If I hear so much as a whisper on the wind, I will end your life and all those you hold dear. Do you understand?”

  He forced himself to raise his gaze, to meet the flinty eyes staring at him with burning intensity. “I do. My life is yours.” He bowed deeply to the Union Master before slipping out the front door.

  He tried to stay calm, to keep his mind filled with thoughts of loyalty and servitude. Bile burned the back of his throat, a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face, and his right hand twitched nervously. He squeezed it into a fist, hoping to hide his guilt, his anger, his fear. He could feel eyes watching him from behind, weighing him, judging until he’d slipped out of sight around the bend.