by Dean Cadman
“Would you mind me asking exactly what you did to render him unconscious before he was able to silence you?” the High Priest asked curiously.
“Their silence spell has never really worked on me… well, not in the way they intend it to do anyway. All I did was drain most of his magic reserves into my own, which caused him to lose consciousness,” Lusam replied, glancing over at the Empire agent. The High Priest’s eyes widened in surprise at Lusam’s explanation.
“Our teachings tell us that it is impossible to take another’s magic by force, Lusam. The only people to ever have shared another’s magic were the Guardians themselves, and they only shared it with their bonded dragons. It is, however, understandable given your lack of proper training how you might misinterpret what you just did to that Empire agent. But for now, we must thank Aysha you were able to do whatever you did, before he managed to silence you,” he said smiling at Lusam. Renn chuckled quietly to himself, gaining the attention of the High Priest as he did so.
“Do you find some amusement in my words, Renn?” the High Priest asked, giving him a stern look.
“Forgive me, Your Grace, I meant no disrespect,” Renn said bowing his head in deference, “but I’m afraid you have not been made fully aware of Lusam’s capabilities yet. May I suggest we speak further in private about this matter, Your Grace.” The High Priest gave a curt nod then turned on his heels without saying another word, and headed towards the far end of the main chamber. Lusam noticed a brief look of sympathy on Hershel’s face for Renn, but neither of them spoke a word as they all followed the High Priest.
They eventually passed through a large door at the far end of the main chamber and entered a long corridor. Lusam was relieved to see that only normal candles illuminated this part of the High Temple, instead of the magically powered lights that adorned the main chamber. As they walked down the long corridor they could clearly hear children’s voices and laughter coming from somewhere up ahead. Rebekah and Kayden were still holding Alexia’s hand, but the sounds of other children seemed to pique their interest somewhat. A moment later it became apparent that it was no coincidence the High Priest had chosen that particular route. He stopped outside the door of what they soon discovered was a classroom and knocked quietly, before opening the door.
“Good afternoon, Your Grace,” a woman greeted him, and her greeting was quickly echoed by all the children in the classroom.
“Good afternoon, Miss Hiroko… good afternoon, children,” he replied smiling at them all.
“Is there something I can help you with, Your Grace?” Miss Hiroko asked curiously.
“Yes, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if our two young guests here took part in your class this afternoon, while I discuss some important matters with their friends.”
“No, I don’t want to. I want to stay with Alexia,” Kayden said hugging her leg tightly.
“It’s okay, Kayden, it’s only for a short while. I promise I’ll come back for you very soon. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time with all the other boys and girls here,” Alexia said trying to reassure him.
“We were just about to have some cake and milk if you would like to join us,” Miss Hiroko said, holding out a plate of delicious looking cake.
“Do you promise to come back for us later?” Rebekah said quietly to Alexia.
“Yes, of course I do Rebekah. You two go and eat some of that yummy cake and have some fun while we talk about all the boring stuff,” Alexia replied winking at her. “Maybe Kayden could show Miss Hiroko how he makes his wooden spinning top move, I’m sure she would like that.”
“Oh, I would like to see that very much, Kayden. Could you show me, please?” Miss Hiroko said enthusiastically. It was the perfect distraction for Kayden, he was inside the classroom demonstrating his spinning top even before Alexia had the chance to say goodbye to him. Rebekah on the other hand was far less enthusiastic about it, giving Alexia such a sad look when she bid her farewell that it almost brought her to tears. At first Alexia felt angry that the High Priest had decided to do what he had done without discussing the matter first with her or one of the others, but when she thought about it more, she realised the less Rebekah and Kayden knew about Lusam and the Guardian books, the less danger they would ultimately be in.
The High Priest led them further down the same corridor, which eventually opened up into a large circular room. Five more corridors led away from the room, each one equally spaced around its perimeter, but it was what Lusam saw in the centre of the room which caught his attention the most. In the middle of the room was a large round table with five chairs, three of which were currently being used by men dressed in priest’s robes. On the table in front of each man was what appeared to be a glowing gemstone. Each one was the size of a large apple, and each one glowing to their touch. The two unoccupied places also had gemstones set into the table, but neither of those two were glowing like the others, at least not until Lusam looked at them using his mage-sight, then he had to shield his eyes from the intensity of their blinding light. He instantly recognised them as much smaller versions of the huge floating gem outside the High Temple. The light they emitted seemed very familiar to Lusam, and it took him a moment to realise why. They didn’t glow like Renn’s blessed sword or Alexia’s bow to his mage-sight, instead they reminded Lusam of a person’s aura: a very powerful aura.
As he stood there staring at the closest gemstone, he found himself inexplicably questing out towards it with his mind, as if it were calling to him somehow. When his mind came into contact with it, he gasped inwardly at what he sensed. The gemstone was alive… no, not alive, but definitely sentient, or at least it was in part. It was the strangest feeling Lusam had ever known, and very difficult to describe. He could sense incredible sadness and regret emanating from the object, but by far the strongest emotion he sensed was anger. Not anger directed at him personally, but a more generalised anger, unfocussed anger, anger at the world around it—a world it could no longer truly sense. He tried to communicate with the object, and for a heartbeat he thought he might have gained its attention, but it soon became obvious that whatever it was, or had been, was no longer capable of any kind of logical thought.
“Lusam!” Neala called out, dragging him back to himself. When Lusam once more became aware of his surroundings, he noticed that he had somehow walked over to where the gemstone lay on the table without even realising it, and now Neala was desperately tugging at his hand.
“Are you alright, lad?” Renn asked sounding a little concerned.
“Err, yeah, I think so, why?” Lusam replied, feeling a little disorientated.
“We were all at the far end of the corridor by the time we noticed you were missing. When we came back for you, you were standing right there, staring into space. We tried to wake you up, but nothing seemed to work. What happened to you?” Neala said sounding very worried.
“I’m not really sure. I was looking at the gemstone’s aura using my mage-sight and it felt like it called out to me, so I reached out to it with my mind. It felt like it was alive somehow, with emotions and feelings, but no true consciousness. It’s hard to explain,” Lusam replied.
“Aura, what aura?” Renn asked looking at the gemstone.
“You don’t see it?” Lusam asked.
“No, all I see is a Power Orb, lad, or should I say five Power Orbs,” Renn replied, checking for himself. Lusam checked once more but the aura remained blindingly bright to his mage-sight. He didn’t understand why Renn couldn’t see it, but by the confused look on Hershel’s and the High Priest’s face he guessed that they couldn’t either.
“What are they?” Lusam asked, still staring at the gemstones.
“They are called Power Orbs. We use them to collect the magic from our priests and magi. Then that power is transferred to The Heart of the City, which in turn is what provides the power for our city’s defences,” the High Priest replied. Lusam knew he had to help strengthen the city’s defences with his magic, but he fe
lt far less enthusiastic about it now that he knew he would be interacting with those Power Orbs again.
“Did you know they were alive,?” Lusam asked, knowing how crazy the question sounded.
“Of course they are not alive!” the High Priest snapped at Lusam. His vehement denial took Lusam by surprise, and by the reactions of the others, them too. Lusam was sure he knew more than he was admitting, but decided against pursuing the matter further, in case it damaged his chances of finding out if a Guardian book was indeed hidden within the High Temple.
“Would it be alright if I made a donation of magic?” Lusam asked changing the subject. The High Priest’s smile reappeared, wiping away all signs of his previous scowl.
“That is a most gracious offer, Lusam, but one I’m afraid I could not risk you undertaking until after your training. We will of course teach you the relevant incantation that will enable you to contribute towards the city’s defences in due time, but it may take you a while to perfect it. But even before you attempt a power transfer, you must also learn how to detect when your magic is running low, otherwise the Power Orbs could drain you completely. I can see by the strength of your aura that you do not possess a great deal of magic, Lusam, so you must be especially careful during the process,” he replied smiling at Lusam.
Lusam looked at Hershel, wondering exactly how little he had told the High Priest about his abilities. Even though Hershel hadn’t known that Lusam had read a Guardian book when he first met him, he did know about his ability to hide his aura, and the fact that he didn’t need to speak any incantations to cast a spell—something he obviously had neglected to inform the High Priest about for some reason. He would have to ask him the reasons why later, but for now, he needed to reveal his abilities to the High Priest. If he didn’t, the High Priest would never admit to the existence of any Guardian book in the High Temple, let alone allow him to attempt to read it. Lusam could see how amused Renn and the others were by the High Priest’s ignorance of his abilities, but he hoped they wouldn’t make it too obvious and jeopardise Lusam’s chances of finding out if there actually was a Guardian book there.
Lusam was fairly certain the yearly reports his grandmother had sent to the High Temple must not have contained any reference to his ability to hide his aura. If they had, Renn would have already known about it, and probably found him much sooner than he did. He had already thought about it many times before, and concluded that there had been no advantage for his grandmother to inform the High Temple about his ability. If she had, and the missive had been intercepted, or there had been a spy within the High Temple, the Empire agents would have simply switched their tactics and killed all children, not just the newborn magi. Something she would never have allowed to happen.
“I hide the true strength of my aura from people, Your Grace,” Lusam said, knowing full well he wouldn’t be believed him until he proved it. The High Priest chuckled at Lusam’s statement then gave him a sympathetic smile.
“There is no reason to be ashamed of your limited power, Lusam. Aysha has blessed you with her gift of magic, something you should rejoice in, and give thanks for,” he said, still wearing his sympathetic smile, one that disappeared a moment later when Lusam lowered the shutter on his mind, revealing a blindingly intense aura for everyone in the room to see. The High Priest’s eyes widened in shock, and two of the priests still sat at the table gasped out loud at the sight before them. Lusam walked over to the closest Power Orb, placed a hand on it, and transferred most of his power into it, resisting the pull on his mind to reach out towards the strange object. The Power Orb glowed so brightly that it lit up the entire room, as if a sun had just risen there. As soon as Lusam removed his hand the intense glow lessened greatly, but didn’t completely extinguish itself like the other Power Orbs.
“Aysha be blessed,” the High Priest muttered to himself, still trying to look directly at Lusam’s blazing aura. Lusam lowered the shutter once more to conceal his aura, then waited for the High Priest to speak, which took much longer than he had anticipated.
“How… how is that possible? No one is supposed to be able to hide their aura. No one…” the High Priest half-whispered, still looking at Lusam’s diminished aura. Then he seemed to notice the glowing Power Orb on the table for the first time. His eyes widened again, and his mouth began to move, but no sound came out. Only Hershel remained within sight of the High Priest, the others had moved behind him, so he couldn’t see them struggling with their amusement. Neala had wandered off down one of the long corridors, unable to contain her amusement any longer, but Lusam doubted the High Priest would have even noticed if she had stayed. One of the other priests stood up and approached the Power Orb Lusam had just used. After giving Lusam a wary look he placed a hand on top of the Power Orb, closed his eyes and began an incantation. A moment later his eyes shot open, and he stared open mouthed at Lusam. He then approached the High Priest and whispered something in his ear. Lusam watched as the High Priest duplicated exactly what the other priest had just done, even down to the bulging eyes and open mouthed look after inspecting the Power Orb. He turned back to the Power Orb and picked it up very carefully, before turning back to Lusam.
“This Power orb was almost fully depleted before you touched it, Lusam, now it has more magic contained within it than it has had in living memory. It would have taken every priest and mage we have weeks to accumulate such a store of magic. How can you possibly be so powerful?” he asked, handing the Power Orb carefully back to the other priest, who bowed his head and hurried from the room, no doubt to strengthen the city’s defences with it.
“That is one of the many things we need to discuss, Your Grace, but I must insist we do so in private,” Hershel said, keeping his voice low so it didn’t leave the room.
The High Priest looked at Hershel for a moment, then nodded his head. “Very well, follow me,” the High Priest said, heading off down one of the other corridors.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at a locked door, and when the High Priest took a key from around his neck and began to unlock it, Hershel spoke again.
“Your Grace, are we to be allowed entry to the inner sanctum?” he asked in a surprised tone.
“What’s an inner sanctum?” Neala asked curiously. The High Priest gave her a look that suggested everyone should know what the inner sanctum was, but he allowed Hershel to answer her question all the same.
“The inner sanctum is the most sacred part of the High Temple. Only the High Priest and senior members of the priesthood are allowed to enter it… usually,” Hershel replied.
The door creaked opened to reveal a large rectangular room beyond. The room had very little in the way of furniture inside, just a single writing desk and several basic chairs. One wall of the room was lined with bookshelves that reached almost to the high ceiling, and the other had various portraits of what Lusam assumed were previous High Priests. At the far end of the room was another of the beautifully crafted stain glass windows, one that depicted various images of the world’s creation. Once everyone was inside the inner sanctum the High Priest closed the door behind them, then went to sit behind his desk. He didn’t speak for quite a while, instead he studied the faces of Lusam, Hershel and Renn, ignoring Neala and Alexia completely.
“I have allowed you all entry to the inner sanctum because this room has certain… safeguards built into it. Nothing we say in here will be overheard by anyone else, I assure you. First of all, I would like to know how you managed to charge that Power Orb without speaking an incantation?” he said looking directly at Lusam.
“I don’t need to speak to use my magic, I never have,” Lusam replied truthfully.
“Could you show me, please?” he said after a moment’s hesitation.
“What would you have me do?” Lusam asked.
“Anything will suffice, thank you. I simply wish to see what I believed impossible only a short time ago,” he replied, watching Lusam very carefully, as if he was expecting some trickery or
sleight of hand from him.
Lusam had already transferred a good portion of his power reserves to the Power Orb, so he didn’t want to do anything too magically strenuous. He hoped the magic he had donated to the city’s defences would be sufficient to protect the city long enough for him to read the Guardian book—if there was indeed one there. If there wasn’t a Guardian book in Lamuria, he knew he could always reclaim some of his power from the city’s shield if he needed to fight, but he also knew that would be a fight he couldn’t possibly win. He decided to create a simple light orb, letting it wink out of existence, and then recreating it several times over.
“And you can do that with any spell?” the High priest asked curiously. Lusam nodded, expecting him to ask for further proof, but instead he turned to speak with Hershel.
“You said that you wished to speak to me in private Hershel?”
“Yes, of course,” Hershel replied bowing his head. “I have joyous news indeed, Your Grace. Upon their arrival at Lamuria, Renn informed me that his party had discovered the actual location of Coldmont, and what’s more, they found one of the lost Guardian books there. Lusam has already read that Guardian book, as well as one other. He informs me that they found strong evidence suggesting the existence of a third Guardian book, here in the High Temple. Your Grace, if that’s true, we must allow Lusam access to it without delay. He believes he may be able to defeat the forces outside of Lamuria if he is able to read a third Guardian book, Your Grace.”
The High Priest remained silent after Hershel had finished reporting to him. Lusam had expected him to be excited by the discovery of Coldmont and the Guardian book, or at least ask some questions about it, but instead he seemed to be calculating his next move. Lusam knew that the less time they wasted the better, he simply had to know if there was a Guardian book there or not.
“So, is there a Guardian book here in Lamuria?” Lusam asked hopefully, watching his face very carefully.
