“It is,” Molara confirmed. “In fact, only the Black and the Purple have access to the most restricted information. Aside from the Supreme Commander, of course. As far as anyone else knows, I, and my fellow Purples, don’t exist.”
Kate blew out a breath forcefully. What other secrets were waiting for her?
As if reading her mind, Molara went on, “Don’t worry. I can help you out with the other things you don’t know. I am usually in the restricted section of the main library. You can visit any time. Well, after we’re finished with what we’ll do next.”
“There’s a restricted section of the library?”
“There is, and even its existence is secret. So…shh.” She put her slender finger to her lips, and Kate noticed for the first time the other woman was wearing a subtle purple tint on her lips. It matched the smaller stones on the chain worn around her hair and hanging on her forehead. There were six, three on each side of a larger red gem that looked much like a bloodstone.
“I see you have noticed my jewelry,” Molara said, pointing toward the stone resting on her forehead. “Yes, it is a firestone. It helps me to…focus my energies.”
“Your energies?” Kate noticed that the captain and the others around her were paying careful attention to the exchange, almost as if they were anxious to see where it would go.
“Yes.” Molara ran her fingers carefully through her long black hair, expertly avoiding the chain. “The Purple are responsible for the magic of the Order.”
Kate’s breath caught again. “Magic? I know the firestones are magic, and the stones used for taking oaths are magic, but I assumed they were artifacts, left over from some great mage far back in history.”
“Now, Kate. Really? Do you think that even magic items would never deteriorate, that enough of them were made ages ago, and there have been no other users of magic since then?”
Kate’s mind was whirling. Magic? She’d never heard of people using magic in modern times. But how did they…?
“The trial!” she said. “During the trial, the woman stared at me for a long time, and then she waved one of those stones over me. She was trying to see if I had magical talent.”
Molara shifted her gaze to the captain, and Kate caught him giving the Purple a small shrug. “Oh, you are a clever one. Yes, part of the trial is screening for those who can wield the energies, who can learn to cast spells. There are presently five Purple in all the Order. Of those, two reside here and three are…elsewhere.”
“That’s fantastic. How does it work? How do you cast the spells? What can you do?”
Molara tilted her head, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Oh, Kate, I think we are going to be good friends. For now, however, I will ask that you hold your questions. In front of all these, your brothers, I need to adjust your identification stone. We can talk of other things later.”
“Adjust my stone how?”
“It’s simple enough,” the Purple said. “I will encode your new position into it, giving you access to, well, basically everything. Including the secret section of the library. Of course, the oath you took prevents you from telling anyone without proper authorization about any of this, but the stone will allow you to actually pass through that doorway in the library. Just stand still for a moment. It will not take long.”
Molara stepped up to Kate, moved her hand as if she was about to plunge it into the top of the taller woman’s tunic, but then retracted it. “Please retrieve your stone for me.”
Kate fished it from where it hung between her breasts by its chain and held it out. Molara gently placed it in her palm, inches from Kate’s face. She whispered words Kate didn’t understand, Molara’s breath smelling faintly of berry, a stark contrast to the sweaty smells of the soldiers she was usually around.
Kate’s body grew warm, but part of it may have been the proximity of the beautiful woman mere inches from her face. She pulled her eyes away from Molara’s ice-blue orbs, focusing on her firestone pendant. The stone flared and then settled back to its normal glow. Molara let it down gently on the outside of Kate’s armor.
“All done. You will now be able to go into the secret library whenever you desire. If you like, I can show you where it is now.” She eyed the captain. “With your captain’s leave, of course.”
Captain Achard motioned with his hand in a rolling gesture. “Of course. The sooner our new recruit learns what she needs to know, the better. I will expect you in the training room down the hall tomorrow morning, Kate. We will be working with you physically as well as mentally.”
“Yes sir. Thank you, sir.”
“Great,” Molara said. “Just a moment.”
Kate’s eyes widened as the smaller woman pulled the robes over her head, revealing a snug tunic and breeches. She bundled the robes and her cloak and set them aside. Kate couldn’t help but notice that every man in the room stared at the Purple.
She looked very fit, not at all like the studious mage she seemed to be. Kate didn’t blame the men at all. Though small, Molar was well formed. Very well formed.
Molara tsked and rolled her eyes. She pulled a set of tan robes from a satchel she had propped against one wall. Then she pulled a tan cloak from the same small container. There was no way all that clothing fit within the thin leather bag. Kate blinked several times when Molara shoved her purple garments into the bag. It didn’t even bulge.
“It’s magic,” Molara said, adjusting her robes. “I’ll show it to you and explain how it works later, but the bag holds a lot more than it looks like it can from the outside.” She winked at Kate and flicked her dark hair. “Ready?”
Kate closed her mouth. It had somehow dropped open. She swallowed and finally formed the word “Yes.”
Molara put her arm through Kate’s and steered her through the door. As the two women left, a hissing sound followed them from the room; all of the Black brothers had let out the breaths they’d been holding in.
Molara chuckled—almost a giggle—as they made their way down the hallway.
“I can’t be in public with the purple on,” she said matter-of-factly. “No one is supposed to know the Purple Command even exists. To everyone else, I’m a Tan sister, a librarian and researcher. Just another boring bookworm.”
“You are definitely not boring,” Kate said, still trying to sort through everything that had happened in the last few minutes.
“Aww, that’s very sweet of you to say. I think we’ll be good friends, Kate Courtenay, as I said before. You have the access to listen to whatever I want to talk about, and I can’t begin to tell you how much that means.”
“I really appreciate it, Molara. There seems to be a lot I need to learn.”
“Oh, sweetie, you have no idea.”
They chatted amiably for the few minutes it took them to get to the library building. When Kate asked about Molara’s past, the Purple said they could talk about it when they got to their destination.
“Don’t trust that you are ever out of earshot of spies unless you’re in the secret section, or maybe in the heart of the Black part of the compound. The magic of your oath will help a bit in that regard—I’ll tell you how later on—but it’s better to develop a healthy caution. You’re in the Black now, Kate, burdened with secrets most of the Order will never know. We have to be careful.”
Kate nodded as they entered the library.
Molara stepped ahead of Kate to show her the way. They entered a hallway between sections of the library, one Kate had been through several times before.
This time, though, a portion of the wall glowed a dim purple.
Kate rubbed her eyes and squinted at the nascent section of wall.
“Is that…glowing?” she asked.
“It is. It recognizes your access rights. What’s more, it tells us that there are no unauthorized people around. If someone was near, it would not glow.”
Molara placed her hand firmly on the left side of the glowing part of the wall. Then she pushed.
The section of the wall swung inward.
“Let’s hurry.” Molara took Kate’s hand and pulled her into the next room. As soon as they cleared the doorway, the wall swung closed. When it sealed, light flared up around them, illuminating a small room.
Kate gasped.
Molara laughed. “Pretty neat, huh?”
“It’s amazing.”
“Just wait.”
The Purple stepped up to the door at the other end of the room—an entryway devoid of furniture—and opened it. The room beyond sprang into view when it too lit up without any overt actions from Molara.
“This is the secret section of the library,” Molara said. “I work here, and the highest level of documents of the Order are kept here. Let me show you around, and then we can have tea and chat for a while.”
Kate barely listened as she scanned the shelves she saw through a doorway.
“This is all yours? I mean, you’re the only one here?”
“Usually,” Molara said. “Sometimes the Black will come in to do some research, but if I’m in my room or my office, sometimes I don’t even know anyone else is here. My areas have special magic that is keyed to only me.”
“That is very impressive,” Kate said. “You must be important.”
“As I said, there are only five Purple in the entire Order. The head of the Purple is here at headquarters, but the other three are most often gone. So, yeah, I do have the run of the place.” She sighed. “On the other hand, I rarely get a chance to talk to others. Even when I do, I can’t really be friends with anyone because I can’t tell them about my life or my work.
“But you, Kate, you are a gift from the Creator. I hate to sound needy, but I so hope we can be great friends. I can tell you anything, and you can tell me anything about your work in the Black. We have the same high clearance, so we can speak freely. I can’t begin to tell you how important that is.”
“I would love to be your friend, Molara. To be honest, I don’t have any. Well, except for Wilfred, I guess. I’ve had a rough time in the Order. I don’t really fit in.”
“You’ll make friends in the Black. Just be careful they don’t all fall in love with you. A beautiful, smart woman who can best any of them in combat? You’re a dream come true. For a man in the Black Command, that is. The average Order soldier would probably be intimidated by you.”
Kate narrowed her eyes at Molara. “Are you intimidated by me?”
Molara flashed her gorgeous smile at Kate. “No. Should I be?”
Kate laughed. “No. Sure, I can swing a sword, but you, you’re a magic user. If I were smarter, I would probably be intimidated by you.”
“Never,” Molara said. “There’s no need for all that. We’re not men. We don’t need to compete.” The dark-haired Purple’s smile turned mischievous. “How about that tea?”
“Yes please.”
Kate liked the smaller woman already. Maybe she had finally found her place. She hugged herself and followed her new friend through another door into a small kitchen. She couldn’t wait to start asking Molara questions.
6
“So,” Kate said, “what’s your story?” She had already told Molara about her situation, her life in her family estates, and the history of her predecessors in the Order.
“It’s much different than yours,” Molara said with a laugh. “I wasn’t much of anything. My father was a chandler and my mother helped out at the shop. We weren’t rich, but we certainly weren’t poor, either. We lived in Vyrica, a fair-sized city in Galette.
“One day a man came to our town. He spent some time there, just loitering around. Or so it seemed. I found later that Ernin Korre is one of the Purple and has a special talent. He is able to detect ability. He can somehow feel when a person has the potential to use magic.
“It’s really a useful talent. There aren’t a lot of records dealing with the Purple, but I’d assume there is at least one person in every generation with such an ability, or our command would die out altogether. Aside from the testing with the stone during the trials, of course.
“Anyway, what he was doing was coming in contact with as many people as he could, trying to find one with the abilities he was looking for.
“He found me.” She put one hand on her heart and gave Kate a comical bow.
“I was only thirteen years old at the time, but once he found me—running by him in the street—he wormed his way into my life. He followed me to our home, above the shop, and then went into the shop the next day and started up a conversation with my father. Soon, he was a trusted family friend.
“He was kind to me, and I was a friendly child—can you believe it?—so I enjoyed chatting with him. Little did I know that his true intent lay in determining what kind of person I was. And the strength of the ability I possessed.
“After more than a month, he finally explained himself to my father and mother.
“‘I am a member of the Order of the Fire,’ he said. ‘We search for those with special abilities, and I have discovered that your daughter, little Molara, has such abilities. I would like to offer her a place in the Order. Let your minds be at ease, though. She will not be fighting but will be performing research and other things that will aid the Order in very important ways.’
“My parents weren’t sure what to do. They had always planned on training me in my father’s trade so I could take over the shop one day. I was older than my brother, and the fact that I was a girl didn’t matter to my parents, though the community would expect my brother to inherit the shop. This opportunity, though, was something they had never considered.
“‘I’ll remind you that after whatever term of service Molara chooses, she will get a pension and, if she stays in for twenty years, she will be able to get citizenship in Brasea. Twenty years seems long, but she will still be a young woman.’
“My parents threw uncertain looks back and forth. I knew what they were thinking. It would be a chance for me to obtain citizenship and economic opportunity in Brasea, the most prosperous kingdom in Telusium. Many people would risk their lives for such a prize, and did by joining the Order to fight. Galette was not bad, but with the opportunities in Brasea, I could raise the station of myself and my family quite a bit if I joined the Order.
“That was all well and good, but what Ernin said next cinched it for me.
“He said, ‘There are very few magic users in Telusium. There are five in the Order, including myself. There is no better or more sure way to learn how to utilize one’s abilities and potential with magic than to join the Order.’
“‘I’ll do it,’ I shouted, surprising my parents so much my mother jumped out of her seat. ‘I want to learn to do magic. Like in all the old stories.’
“Ernin laughed. ‘It is not quite how it is in the stories, but we’ll never know what it possible unless you train and try.’
“I pleaded with my parents, though thinking back, I don’t think they needed much convincing. They asked several times, in different words, about the danger involved, and Ernin assured them that my tasks would be in the fortress, behind the walls and in the middle of thousands of soldiers there to protect me. A small detail of Order soldiers, including a woman, were dispatched to escort us, easing any fears my parents may have had with a young girl traveling far away with a man they hardly knew.
“In the end, I was inducted into the Purple, though to those outside of my small command, I was simply a helper who had been hired by the Tan to work in the library.
“And that’s about it. One of the Purple has since retired, bringing our number back down to five—two men and three women—with only me and our leader, Valerio Fiola, here in Gateskeep.”
“But what do you do in the Purple?” Kate asked. “I mean, is it like all the wizards and witches in the stories? Do you cast spells and make potions and all that?”
Molara’s ever-present smile dropped and she stared blankly at Kate.
Kate gulped. Did she just insult her new friend? Why couldn’
t she learn to speak to people without getting in trouble?
Molara stared. Kate fidgeted.
The seconds passed. In half a minute, Kate was ready to scream. Or to cry. Or to do both.
Molara’s face went into spasms and she broke out in a snorting, honking laugh. The Purple’s nose crinkled so prettily, Kate was tempted to make the “aww” sound people made over cute puppies or young foals.
“I had you going there for a second,” Molara said. “I can never keep a straight face for long. I got you good, though.” She snorted again, and her eyes went wide as she put her hand over her mouth.
That started Kate laughing, though she tried her hardest to be angry at the woman for teasing her like that. Soon, they were both holding their stomachs and had tears in their eyes.
It took a few minutes for them to settle down to where they wouldn’t giggle every time they looked at each other.
“Woo,” Molara said. “I haven’t laughed that hard in years. I am so glad you are here, Kate. It will be wonderful to have someone to talk to, someone to relate to.”
“I don’t think I have ever laughed that hard,” Kate said. “We have to do that more often. I’m still confused about what you do in the Purple, though.”
“Well, it certainly isn’t making things in cauldrons or blasting dragons from the sky with magic bolts. Though, now that I think about it, I do make elixirs and salves occasionally.” She shook her head and caused the little gem on her chain to swing back and forth. “No, if there were ever users of magic who did such things, I’ve never heard or read about them. Not in a scholarly work, at any rate.
“Magic is an aid, mostly. It helps us do things that could probably be done without them, though not as easily or efficiently.
“For example, I have made dozens of wands—the sticks with stones set in them—and hundreds of the smaller stones used for Order necklaces.” She pointed toward Kate’s chest. “May I see your stone?”
Kate pulled it from under her tunic and held it out as she had when Molara changed her access earlier.
“Ah,” Molara said, “Yes. I thought I recognized it. I made this one. Your eyes made it difficult for me to think when I held it before. I’m lucky I didn’t flub the modifications.”
Order of the Fire Box Set Page 21
