Aiden nodded. “Precisely. Her name started with an M…”
“Morgan?” Mae asked.
“Yes, that’s it. Morgan.”
Mae looked as though she had seen a ghost.
“Do you know this woman?” she asked.
Mae fumbled her words. “No… I… Just lucky guess.”
Before she could press her mother further, Cherin put her hand on Mae’s arm. “I must return to the kitchen. We’ve had a lot of people to feed—far more than the cook can handle.”
Mae could only manage a brief nod of acknowledgment.
“I am going to speak with the mayor,” she said. “Father, Shareis, if you would join me.”
“I will be with you in a moment,” Farius said.
She and Shareis proceeded outdoors. Shareis stopped her at the bottom of the steps. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I didn’t expect her, but we could use the help.”
“I didn’t ask the High Priestess. I asked my wife.” Shareis took her hand. “I see the tension on your face when you speak with her.”
“I just wish we could have a conversation without her judging me—or keeping something from me.”
Shareis looked back to the inn. “Maeva did seem distracted.”
“Hopefully, my father will get to the bottom of it,” she said. “She never opens up to me—except to spew criticism.”
Shareis put her arm around her. “Let’s go.”
Farius joined them in the town hall. Inside, a group of townsfolk were gathered around the council table.
“We’ve got to do something!” one citizen shouted.
She walked to the table. “We’re trying.”
“Who are you?” the man asked.
A tall, older woman with salt and pepper hair, stood. “High Priestess, it is an honor. I’m Agnes, mayor of Ashmar. I heard of your arrival. My apologies for not having visited you sooner.”
“I should have come earlier,” she said. “And sir, I know you’re scared—"
He scoffed. “I’m not scared. I’m mad! Something should be done.”
“What do you suggest?” Shareis asked.
The fast-speaking citizen relaxed his posture as he paused on her wife’s question. Before he could answer, Shareis pointed outside. “You can join the militia. We need strong, capable fighters like yourself.”
He nodded slowly, then retreated amongst the crowd.
“The Selandis and Masola armies are days away at best,” she said. “We cannot count on them to help us. We lost Brenloh. We must do whatever it takes to hold Ashmar.”
“Indeed,” Mae said, approaching from behind her. “You’re the mayor, I presume?”
“I am,” Agnes replied.
“Good. Then I trust you have the situation well in hand.” Mae reached for her hand. “We need to make plans to get you back to Selandis.”
“Why?”
“There are soldiers who can fight this war. Your place is in the Temple of the Ael’Shanar.”
Farius put his hand on Mae’s shoulder. “Our daughter has been doing a wonderful job.”
“Of course,” Mae said. “But it isn’t safe.”
“I’m more concerned for the safety of my people,” she said.
“As you should be, but—”
.
“I hate to cut short your little family squabble.” The dissenter in the crowd regained his courage. “But we have a town to defend. Take your princess back to her castle.”
Shareis took a step toward him. “Brave words for a man begging at the skirt of his mayor for protection.”
“Shareis, I—”
“I didn’t ask you, Proctor.” He snarled at her. “Get out of here.”
“My dagger has killed more of them than you have successfully opened pickle jars.”
The man took a swing at Shareis, but she blocked it, holding his clenched fist in the air.
He shook with anger. “We sure as hell don’t need your kind telling us what to do.”
She pulled the man’s fist back to his side. “Apparently you do.”
Agnes frowned at him. “I expect better from Ashmar’s citizens. This will not help our cause.”
“Excuse us a moment.” Mae pulled her aside. “Your safety is my top priority.”
“I am taking precautions,” she said.
“The order can protect you.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Our continent’s best chance for survival is our daughter’s courage and wisdom,” Farius said. “I would prefer her stay in a bubble of safety, but she is a leader, and leaders, especially in times of peril, do not have the luxury of playing it safe.”
Mae frowned at Farius, then turned to her. “If you insist.”
“I need to speak with the mayor,” she said.
Mae fretted. “About your wedding… I regret not being there at your celebration.”
“It was a wedding,” she said. “And not now.”
“Not in the traditional sense, but—”
“A wedding nevertheless.” She gritted her teeth.
Mae sighed. “It was a big moment for you, and I should have been there.”
She shrugged. “That’s up to you. If you still don’t accept Shareis…”
Mae glanced at Shareis near the council table and further lowered her voice. “I don’t know what to think of Shareis.”
“I’m not doing this again. We are at war and all you care about is the race and gender of my wife.”
She turned to leave, but Mae raised her voice. “These are not trivial matters.”
She spun on her heels and pointed at her mother. “You don’t have to be nice to me, but I do expect civility toward my wife. If you can’t treat Shareis with respect, then you can return to the Grove, the order, or wherever you sulked, and pray for our success against these monsters.”
Chapter 34
Later that day, Niv assembled Farius, Shareis, Frasie, Aiden, Lilly, Adrious, and Aja in her room in the inn. She sat in the rocking chair next to the fireplace. A single, dark orange shaft of afternoon sunlight illuminated her friends’ grim faces.
“I’ve spoken with the mayor. Before nightfall there should be more barricades, bows and arrows, and supplies ready for us to defend the city. Regardless, we must decide our next move. Before I make my final decision, I wanted input from all of you.” She took a deep breath and rested her hand on her knee. “I believe Ashmar should be our last stand.”
“Shouldn’t we evacuate the rest of the civilians to Masola?” Frasie asked.
“Frankly, I’m not sure we’ll make it that far.”
“There are some good fighters in the militia,” Shareis said. “With more explosives, plenty of arrows, and a hefty dose of courage, we may yet be able to withstand a siege.”
“Masola and Selandis have a far superior army,” Aiden said. “We could really use their help.”
Farius shook his head. “Cadrin expects us to run, and he has undoubtedly prepared for that. We need a novel strategy…something he would expect us to do.”
“You know him better than any of us,” she said. “What do you suggest?”
While her father pondered her question, Aiden interjected. “Cadrin wanted to keep Olivia alive.”
“Perhaps because of her connection to Narelle?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Aiden replied. “Morgan wanted to kill us then, but Cadrin delayed our execution.”
“His interest in Olivia might be all that is keeping us alive,” Farius suggested. “We should seize the opportunity and rescue her.”
“I want to rescue her, too, but we are hopelessly outmatched,” she said.
Lilly looked to Shareis. “A pair of stealthy Proctors would be well suited to the task.”
“This town would lose two of its best fighters,” Niv said. “But rescuing Olivia is worth it.”
Shareis stood. “Only a sliver of daylight remains. We have no time to waste. We will leave immediately.”
She stopped them. “Wait just a moment.”
Lilly looked back to Shareis before leaving the room. “I’ll fetch some provisions.”
She knew her wife was best suited for the job, but she wished it was anyone else embarking on such a dangerous mission. She cared dearly for all her friends, but she couldn’t bear the thought of losing Shareis.
She took Shareis to the corner and lowered her voice. “I know you have to go, but everything is happening so fast, and I…”
Shareis rested her hands on her face and pulled her in for a kiss.
“Promise me you’ll come back,” she whispered.
The expression on Shareis’s face told her she wanted to make that promise, but she knew her wife was too honest and sincere to pledge something that might not be possible.
“I promise I will be careful, love,” Shareis said.
She held back tears as she hugged her wife goodbye. She lingered in the doorway and watched Shareis descend the staircase. She took a deep breath, closed the door, and returned to the rest of her friends.
“I can scout the woods by air,” Farius said.
“I still think that’s dangerous. But it’s been dangerous ever since those monsters stepped foot on our land. We don’t have a choice.”
“I will stay well out of range.” Farius pointed to his eyes. “As an owl, my vision is sharp.”
“I believe I can make bullets for the rifles we have taken,” Aiden said. “I have the tools at my father’s workshop.”
Frasie put her hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “I’ll help.”
“That will help tremendously,” she said.
After they left, Adrious and Aja approached her.
“I’m a fairly adequate healer,” Aja said.
Adrious scoffed. “Her modesty is impeccable. She is Masola’s best.”
“Your skills will unfortunately be needed. Thank you.”
“I’m not a skilled fighter,” Adrious said. “But I’ll be glad to help however I can.”
“We need all the help we can get,” she said.
“I have some information that might be useful,” Adrious said. “I’m afraid I don’t know anything about Cadrin.” He produced a tightly folded parchment from his vest pocket. “As for Morgan… Well, there is something you need to see.”
Chapter 35
Adrious sat on the floor in the High Priestess’s room and removed two pieces of paper from his vest pocket. “A few years ago, a quite unique blond-haired woman came to Masola looking for information on an artifact. She had a beautiful amulet—a dark metal necklace with a brilliant gold stone. I asked her where she obtained it, but she wouldn’t say.”
“She was in Masola?” Niv’leana asked.
“Indeed.” He meticulously unfolded the papers, careful to prevent any damage, and spread them out on the floor. “She said she found two tablets with the amulet and wanted me to translate them. I told her it would take some time and she’d have to leave them with me, but she wouldn’t let them out of her sight.”
“How did she end up on the other continent with Cadrin?”
“That was after we… Well, our brief relationship ended.”
Aja raised an eyebrow. “Relationship?”
“If you can call it that. A very temporary situation, I assure you.”
Niv set a lamp close enough to see the writing and symbols.
“Since she wouldn’t let me have the tablets, I had to take a rubbing of them.” He pointed to the left page. “That’s the original. The paper on the right is my translation. The language is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You see, unlike the writings of our continent, this script reads from left to right. This caused me considerable confusion.”
“How did you find enough source text to form a translation matrix?”
The High Priestess’s question impressed him. “It sounds like you understand linguistics.”
“I’m no expert. But I’ve read a lot about many different subjects.”
“A mark of a true intellectual. Fortunately, some symbols are named and broken into syllables. I parsed the sounds and meaning into our language. That was enough to get me started.” He pointed to drawings on either side of the rubbing. “You’ll note some parts have illustrations. With a great deal of inference, I was able to piece it together bit by bit.”
“This script uses a set of repeating symbols in words, much like our vowels,” he said. “But it uses far more characters than any of our languages—by my count, at least twenty-five.”
“Interesting,” Niv’leana said.
“In any event, I will read you the translation. I have filled in a few words that were indecipherable.”
“Before you play this game, you must remember these things. The essence of the Creator is written upon its creations, and the wonder of man is written upon the heavens. For every facet of beauty in the sky, there exists its brethren gem on the ground.”
“As above, so below,” Niv’leana said.
“Precisely,” he confirmed. “As the Order of the Ael’Shanar teaches—the foundation of our magical system.”
“The laws of nature are hard like stone but bend like a green twig to the will of the wise. As such, the future of the world is unwritten, as its people write the story. Yet, there are chapters in this unwritten book. Each chapter passes to the next with three wars, and the story of these is told among the stars.”
“The first war shall be fought over bloodlines and race. The second is beckoned by a mad, wicked king or queen. The third surpasses both in scale. Metal frames will march through the woods, shooting flames that scatter wildlife, burn grasslands, and burst grapes fresh on the vine. The people will run screaming, their voices unheard and their feet know not where to carry them. The sky will choke with ash, the sun will dim, and the moonlight will offer its light no more upon the landscape.”
“A thundering voice from a deranged woman will echo across the land. Her hair blond as wheat, her eyes blue as glass, and her jaw firm as the most determined leader. A sailor betrayed by its whisper; the voice cast a spell with its force. On the wind, it will proclaim: the sacrifice is at hand.”
Niv’leana rubbed her arms. “I have chills. I have read plenty of prophecies written in books in the temple, but none are so precise or accurate.”
“Indeed,” he said. “The three wars are clear—the racial war is the Proctor War. The mad queen was Vorea. And now, the forest burns and the sky chokes with smoke.”
“The thundering voice could be the Skilla’s charm,” the High Priestess said. “Though Skilla do not speak when charming. I suppose it could be metaphor. She did enthrall Cadrin, the sailor. And as for the sacrifice is at hand… That doesn’t make sense. Cadrin said their goal was to get more coal.”
“Morgan clearly has an ulterior motive,” he said. “I think she tried to charm me, but I saw the signs and put an early end to our relationship. She probably used me to learn more about the amulet, just as she may be using Cadrin.”
Niv’leana examined the illustrations, then pointed to a picture of three stones. “What does it say about these?”
“It calls them the Gems of Creation. One represents light, another darkness, and the third is a balance of the two. At the heart of each gem lies a sentient being that embodies the antithesis of what the gem represents.”
“The Amulet of Balance absorbed all the reproductions of the magic I used, both light and dark,” Niv’leana said. “It gave me balance, but the avatar was anything but.”
“Exactly,” he said. “You cannot have one extreme without the other. The text states that inside the gem of light lies the Avatar of Darkness, and within the gem of darkness lies the Avatar of Light.”
“So rather than balance the two forces, Morgan is using the avatar within the light for her own dark designs. Proctors ascribe to a philosophy of balance because they see the corruption of light and the redemption in darkness. In their view, exclusively using one or the other is folly.”
&nb
sp; “Would the Amulet of Darkness help us?” Aja asked.
“I suspect the two would cancel out one another,” he said. “But that is mere speculation.”
“Any idea where we could find it?” the High Priestess asked.
He shook his head. “I’m not even sure where Morgan found the Amulet of Light.”
Niv’leana stared at the papers for a moment, then walked to the door.
“Where are you going, High Priestess?” Aja asked.
“Following a hunch.”
Chapter 36
Niv went downstairs and headed to Mae’s table. Adrious and Aja left to order some food from the kitchen.
She stood in front of her mother. “We need to talk.”
“Very well,” Mae said.
“Not here. Outside.”
Mae stood. “If you wish.”
She and Mae walked outside the inn. A few flakes of snow floated through the air as a bitter cold wind blew from the north.
“What is so important that necessitates us being in this horrible cold night air?” Mae asked.
“Where is the Amulet of Darkness?” she asked, then studied Mae’s eyes intently. She knew.
“What? I’m not aware of—”
“You do, and you know where it is.”
“How did you know about the amulet?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Where is it?”
Mae shifted uncomfortably. “What do you need with it?”
“I didn’t ask you that same question when you handed me the Amulet of Balance. I took the artifact on faith. I ask for the same.”
“These relics are powerful.”
She lowered her neckline to expose the scar left by the shattered Amulet of Balance. “I am aware. The amulet was part of me, and I sacrificed it to free you and the avatar.”
Mae took a step back. “I knew it was important to you, but…”
“You have no idea what I’ve been through,” she said. “You were absent through most of it. Every critical moment of my life has been without you, and the moments I’m with you I face your sternest criticism and judgement. I was the world’s most powerful sorceress. I say this not to brag, but to remind you that I have borne that burden—if not when I wielded the amulet, thereafter when its shards pierced my heart.”
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